7 Chapter 7

It really didn't take me very long to figure out that I could also upgrade the walls, floors, doors, and just about anything else that I could see that wasn't naturally occurring like plants and trees. I decided that since it was only a couple of hours until dark I would spend the rest of the day farming exp and then head out tomorrow to play lumberjack and then upgrade the building around myself as best I could to further increase my defenses.

I did go ahead and place the rest of my blocks at various points around the building upgrading them as I wnt, going out from the original wall two blocks so that I could go prone and better shoot while also leaving gaps in between each of these "spokes" that jutted out from the building so if any zeds got close to the building I could easily lean over and take them out.

I spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between going loud with the hunting rifle to draw in zombies to using the M4 to take down any fished in groups of deaders. I did take one small break at farming exp to go ahead and deconstruct most of the previous group's attempts at building a greenhouse and grow boxes. I then built a schematic I had found called a "farm plot" that was basically a 3x3 box filled with dirt that I could plant seeds in. 

I had seen from the system notes on the schematic that the farm plot allowed any planted crop to grow to maturity in three days and all I had to do was use the system to plant the seeds. I set up 20 of these farm plot blocks in rows of 4 along the center of the rooftop area, leaving the edges of the rooftop clear for me to patrol and kill enemies from. 

I made a trip downstairs for a short bathroom break and when I did I detoured to the basement to grab some seed packets for corn, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots. I thought about grabbing some of the seeds for fruit trees but I didn't want to risk that much weight bearing down on the roof if System high speed growth fuckery caused the trees to be too big and heavy thus collapsing my new home.

I planted four plots each of the potatoes, mushrooms, and lettuce while doing 3 plots of tomatoes and corn, and finally two plots of carrots. If they really did mature in three days then I would have to look into expanding the plots and getting more of the different kinds of veggies I had seeds for growing while also figuring out how best to store them. I knew that when they were in my personal inventory space they were basically frozen in time, I was thinking the system storage containers like the three chests downstairs might be similar but I needed to check before growing so many veggies that they go to waste because I can't preserve them in time.

It started getting dark around 8pm and the clock portion of my HUD started flashing a bright blood red, probably a system warning feature to let you know bad things were coming, and when I noticed the fading light I stopped using the hunting rifle and focused entirely on clearing out any deaders in the area. 

I also noticed, at long last, signs of other survivors as I could see multiple locations throughout the city spread out before me. There were smoke trails, likely from campfires and cooking dinner before night hit as well as several buildings that were slowly lighting up like Christmas trees as their inhabitants were turning on various light sources. Small buildings here and there seemed to be using mostly torches but there were a couple of larger buildings using electric lights.

The signs of life I was seeing were still too far away for me to hear anything but it was reassuring, and just a little scary honestly, to have finally confirmed that I wasn't really alone in this area. The little bit scary part was why, right when my system clock started flashing red, were all these different survivor locations suddenly announcing their positions with so many lights? 

I knew the zombies didn't see very well, I had managed to sneak up on several as they walked around the streets, and they seemed to be most sensitive to noises. My system had already warned me about the zombies becoming more aggressive while also having better senses but is there something more to it? Do they not realize that putting up lights makes them a beacon for the dead… or is not having lights even more dangerous than actually having them somehow?

I wasn't sure and I didn't have anywhere near enough information to really judge but I knew my game plan hadn't changed any as I was going to head for the bunker and seal it up tight leaving the building itself dark and quiet as the grave. Hopefully this would be enough to get through the night peacefully, time would tell.

I kept quietly taking down any zombie in range with the silenced M4 and watching the signs of life in the distance as I tried to figure out how far away they might be and how much of the day's light I might burn up trying to reach them to strike up a conversation. I wasn't sure I could make it all the way there and back in a single day, especially if I wanted to have time to observe the groups to get a feel for if they would be open to trade and conversation or if they would try and kill me rather than talk to me.

I had just decided that I would take my time and set up several safe houses between here and there, where I could break the travel time up so that I could take a day to get close, another day to observe them and if things looked good a third day to actually make contact. This seemed like the safest option really and made sense to me so it was what I would shoot for in the coming week unless something more pressing occurred. I didn't really need to loot anything at the moment with what I had lucked across today.

I noticed my clock had just turned to 9pm and was no longer flashing red, it was just a solid red now, and in the back of my mind a creepy horror instrumental tune played for a few seconds followed by an evil chuckle before fading away. 

"Well, that's not an ominous sign or anything System. You are REALLY not shy about warning me it's night time eh?" I muttered under my breath as I kept watch on the streets around me. It took a few minutes but I started seeing movement in the distance. Just flashes of movement as things seemed to streak from one point to another. It was dark, and I wasn't planning on lighting up a torch or anything to get a better look but I found I didn't really need to after just a few minutes. 

I heard the sounds of metal scraping on stone and when I quietly made my way to the side of the building facing the street I could barely make out the scene of the manhole cover for the sewer system in the center of the street being pushed aside by a massive clawed hand. 

I watched, in growing horror, as first one and then many 8-9 foot tall muscled zombie monster masses climbed their way out of the manhole and then took off at a quiet spring in various directions, clearly hunting for their next meals. The biggest thing I noticed was simply how quietly they moved and the fact that they were actively searching for prey. 

The only thing I took away from this was that while smart enough to hide during the day and use the manhole cover to open and close their lair entrance, they didn't seem smart enough to open doors, cars, and other such obstacles. They COULD climb but only by grasping something in range and then doing a monster pullup to get on top of things. 

Their claws were quite sharp as well since when I saw two of them bump into each other it instantly turned into a haunting and eerie howling match that devolved into the two of them slashing at each other with swipes so quick I couldn't even see the the strikes landing only the after effects of long gashes and chunks of flesh ripped free.

The two fought for only a handful of seconds before the larger of the two ripped the head of the smaller monster free of its head and as soon as the head was removed the eerie howling immediately ceased and the winner left the body where it fell and returned to prowling around hunting for a meal. Yeah, I was NOT fucking with these things. I almost turned around and left at that point, I still wasn't seeing why people were putting up lights but as I was turning away from the street below and about to head to the basement I caught a strange glimmer out of the corner of my eye.

I turned and didn't see anything in the street at first but when I focused I could just barely make out the sound of heavy steps but I couldn't see WHAT was making the noise. I could see a few regular old zombies wandering around in the street heading towards where the bigger brutes had been wailing and fighting just a minute ago and when I was sweeping my eyes across where I saw the flash I suddenly saw a health bar and name pop up on my HUD.

Name - Night Stalker

Type - Tier 5 Special Zombie

HP - 1000/1000

Weakspots - Head

System Notes - No, just no. Fuck this thing and whatever sick fuck decided to make this thing a reality. It's quiet, it's got a chameleon like invisibility that it only drops when it's physically attacking its prey to increase their fear, it's heavily armored and shrugs off most damage that isn't .50 caliber or better unless you are shooting it in the head. The only reason this thing hasn't wiped out humans yet is that it HATES light and will stay away from light sources even if it see's prey. Sleeps like the dead in very hard to reach locations during the day. Avoid these things if you possibly can.

I still couldn't see it but based on where I was looking I knew it was there in that street and by moving my eyes and seeing when the HUD note disappeared I could roughly see it was moving away from me. 

I immediately focused on one of the big and fast moving bruisers to get their deets.

Name - Albino Hunter

Type - Tier 4 Special Zombie

HP - 200/200

Weakspots - Head, neck, spine, heart, legs, UV light, gas based poisons

System Notes - They are fast, strong, and have extremely good senses. They mostly come out at night… mostly. UV light seems to greatly damage them and they are fairly easily killed when forced into chokepoints and enclosed areas where they are unable to use their enhanced speed and strength to their full advantage. They are also solo hunters and while they will group up to hide when the sun comes up they are well known to attack each other and other types of zombies that come between them and the prey they have set their eyes on… or just because they bump into each other as you have seen. Not nearly as dangerous as Night Stalkers, seriously fuck those things with a big iron stick sideways while it's on fire.

Jesus Christ the day time is like a kindergarten daycare while the night time is like a PHD program at Harvard in difficulty difference. I had seen enough for one night. I had honestly been feeling pretty confident about being able to roam around at night especially with a system but now? Yeah, hell no, I was gonna run and hide like a scared little forest elf like all the rest of the humans on this world until I learned more and grew a LOT stronger. 

I quietly made my way back inside, locking the roof hatch, and then slowly made my way down to the basement. The hidden stairway leading to the basement didn't really have a door or other locking mechanism and since I had destroyed the glass mirrors to get in it wasn't hidden anymore either.

Not wanting to leave these open I quickly made some wooden blocks and a wooden door which I put in place and upgraded to full solid wood, which thankfully made no noise, before closing and locking the door. It might not do much against the kinds of threats I saw tonight but hopefully it would give me enough time to react if they broke in. I went down to the armory and quietly made several trips back and forth moving guns, ammo, and gear from the open room into the bunker area before stacking everything in a corner of the generator room.

I would need to spend some time tomorrow making more storage boxes and then sort it all out then. I then closed the hatch door between the armory and the warehouse before heading into the bunker area and closing that hatch as well for the night.

I flopped down onto a reclining chair that was SUPER comfortable and felt the exhaustion from a full day of activity creeping up on me and was about to just say screw it and go to bed before I remembered… I reached level 13 today and I had points to put into stats and perks!

"Now let's see what we can do to even the odds between me and these zombie bastards." I muttered to myself while mentally opening the needed System windows.