Day two in the land of the dead....and it's already weird.

THIS IS LORD OF THE DEAD. NOT AS EXCITING AS YOU'D THINK.

THE THIRD DAY.

WEDNSDAY.

26TH OF JANUARY.

DAYS IN GAME: 1.

Tyler woke the next morning with a small groan. He sat up in the king sized bed and looked around with a mild frown.

"What in the blue FUCK did I do last night? where-oOOOOH."

Memory returned and he was instantly wide awake as the realization he was back inside Lord of the Dead hit him. He retrieved the airweight pistol and went to the recliner where he shotgunned the gatorade in an attempt to wake himself up. He then looked at his supplies.

"Alright. I need a better pack, and more food for da end a the day."

He slung the small canvas pack on his shoulder and choked down a leftover slice of pizza before he unlocked the basement door and pushed it open. The survivor walked out and looked out the window of the front door. The street was empty and so he walked out with the glass mace in hand like a pacestick as he left his shelter. Tyler looked around at the houses on the street and headed down the road away from the small town. Nothing of use for me there. See what else I can find. He walked along the street whistling a tune peering into different cars and trucks as he passed their wreckages on the road and he left the town far behind. As he walked he got bored and opened his panel.

"Okay. Ladies and rejects, allow me to introduce you to Trip. Innocent of D. Highschool DxD's first opening song."

He hit play and the heavy guitar riffs were heard in the background as he walked. They are going to love some a the fights I'll get into and the soundtrack I'll do em do. The town vanished into the background as the lone survivor walked along the road leading through a small forest. The asphalt smeared here an there in blood from whatever being killed and the occasional pileup of cars was also found. A few hours later Tyler came to a mild surprise at a four way intersection. A small barricade of military trucks wit concrete barriers was seen and he tilted his head at this.

"A military blockade? So soon? Huh."

He hefted the bat and approached the thing with his music still going and it swapped to a new song that made him smirk.

"Undead. Approprieate."

He reached the barricade and saw a group of three zombies in military uniforms shambling about. Tyler hefted the glass mace and rushed the first with a wide swing. There was a solid THACK as the glass mace made contact and the zombie dropped. The other two moaned and turned towards the teenager, only for the return swing to take one in the chops. Tyler smiled as he slammed the metal bat onto the head of the last zombie and it dropped.

"Annnd it's a grand slam."

He looked around at the fur transport deuce an a half trucks now. A single tent was set up in the middle of the barricaded section and he got to work dismantling the green tent.

"I got my shelter for the time being. Since camping IS a large part of LoD."

The tent was dropped and packed away in it's bag before Tyler pulled the door of the first truck open. Only to shrugg as the beds were empty.

"Now THAT makes sense. It'd be too easy if I found military hardware that quickly."

He hopped down and went to the small field kitchen by another truck. There he found a pair of Meal Ready to Eats. Or MREs. He shrugged and tossed the things into his pack before took a shar of glass, put it on the ground, and spun it. The tip pointed to the road leading left and he followed it away from the blockade. Tyler followed the road for a few hours until he came to another town this time set against a large forest. This town even had a water tower as rh approached. The teenage survivor looked the buildings over as he walked in to the town limits when he noted one shop. A hunting shop. I might be able to find a better backpack in there. He walked over as a shadow moved from the corner of his eye. He sighed as he hefted the glass mace.

"I FUCKING hate these."

He whirled around and smalled the bat into the face of the Shadow Wraith as it pounced and it dropped. Tyler then vaulted through the window of the hunting shop and found the place to be empty of zombie life. He went to the clothign section and was pleasently surprised by what he found.

"OH SCORE! Hunter grade travelpack complete with backrack!"

The thing weighed a solid 9 pounds unloaded but Tyler didn't care as he strapped the thing on after reloading the canvas bag's goods into it. The bag itself he tied to the side as an extra bi of storagre and went to the ready meals section where he found 4 of the instant meals. The store was empty then and tyler headed out with his new equipment. Alright. Now I'll just add to the rack. Do it right and I can carry several hundred pounds of equipment and loot. He walked down the street seeking a suitable house to raid when he stopped outside a brick building that made him smile. Town police station. This'll either get me nothing or a better gun or something else entirely. Tyler walked to the shattered front door of the precinct and was treated to a bloodsmeared mess. Makes sense since the police would just treat the infected as insane before they realized it was something else. Tyler had the glass mace up as he walked through the battered steel doors and offices seeking the evidence lock up and the armory. He found the evidence locker first and smirked as the thing was locked up tight.

"Let's see if I still member how to do this."

He dropped to a knee with a slender piece of plexiglass he slid into the lock of the door. He jiggled it a few times and gave a twist. there was a click and the door slid open.

"Open SAYS me."

He walked in and went to where the confiscated firearms were to be stored and shrugged as he found nothing. Next he headed for the basement where the armory was kept. He picked the lock for the weapon's closet and went inside where he ws rewarded for his efforts with a handgun laying in a corner.

"OOOH interesting. A skorpion machinepistol with the 7 round magazine. That thing is weak, unreliable, and you'd need a thirty round mag to make it worth the time. Same time? I am taking it as I can add a fire selector later."

He took the 7 round machinepistol and found an extra magazine of seven 32 ACP rounds behind it. He left the police station and headed down the street with the safely tucked away inside a pocket on the large backpack. Tyler walked along the street of the town when he found the local grocer and smiled as he went inside. A few zombies were beaten down and he looted a supply of cereal, some more liquor, more cigerates, and a refill on butane fuel for his lighter. Tyler lit a cigerate up as he headed out before spotting a house at the end of the block he kinda liked and headed for the two story thing. Again he vaulted through a broken window and found a single zombie in the kitchen he put down with a single shot from the bat. Next he headed to the master bedroom where he locked the door and opened the top drawer of the beauru and smiled.

"Another airweight .38 special revolver and 10 more bullets.""

He took the rounds from the gun and the gun itself before he lifted the bed to find another briefcase. He took it out and picked ghe lock as with the last. He opened it and whistled.

"Wow. Okay THAT'S kinda cool."

Inside was a mass of authentic nazi memorbilia from world war 2. Tyler took the swastika arm band out and whistled.

"Never seen one in person before. Kinda cool. Oh yeah."

He unblocked the reporter and Sarah appeared as if on cue and he smiled.

"I'mma take a few minutes to do minor crafting."

She smiled.

"we're live with Goreleech inside the Lord of the Dead experiment as the player seeks a moment of rest for crafting."

Tyler ignored gthe intro as he looked the nazi material over.

"Goreleech, a question from one of our celebrity viewers."

Tyler smiled.

"On screen, Sarah."

she chuckled at the reference and a second panel appeared to reveal a mountain of a man with red hair and Tyler blinked.

"HOLY. Termitron is going to be so pissed I got the terminator first."

The austrian actor chuckled in his deep boom of a voice.

"I will be sure to blow his mind."

"Her. Termitron's a woman that likes big booms."

"Ha. FAirly warned. Now. MY question pretains to the material you are looking at, Goreleech."

"Shoot."

The actor faced him.

"WHY are you so happy to find such relics of intolerance and hate?"

Tyler shrugged as he looked the stuff over.

"Cause I'm a history buff and the second world war one of my favorite periods to learn about. Plus all this is authentic nazi paraphnielia and it's kinda cool seeing it first hand. This is REAL gold and REAL silver. I can use it too. Juuuust not entirely sure HOW yet."

The actor nodded.

"I see. I admit i ws worried we were glorifying a supporter of the third reich."

"Here's a fun fact. Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace price for his work in rebuilding germany in 1938."

The actor smirked.

"I see what you did there."

"Yeah I like fuckin with the media. Google it."

Tyler pulled the next photo out....and blinked.

"HOLY SHIT I know him. eric Hartmen. One of THE most legendary pilots of the entire war. I am keeping this."

He put the photo away and the actor lifted an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"The messerschimt BF109. One of my favorite aircraft of all time. Annnd y top anime of all time has a character based off him."

".....a tribute to an icon and a plane."

"eh pretty much."

"You are an odd one, aren;t you?"

"Yeah. In the beta I once ran around with a cowbay hat an bullwhip for no other reason then to pretend I was Indiana Jones."

The actor chuckled as Tyler felt the briefcase over seeking false bottom,

"I figured."

He poped the bottom out and smirked as he was faced with a small handgun.

"Okay. That is MUCH more like it. Luger PO8 nine millimeter parabellum with ten round magazine and two full extra mags. Okay. I have my proper sidearm."

He put the airweight revolver in the briefcase with the extra rounds and put the luger in it's place. The actor on the screen smiled.

"An icon indeed. I am glad we had this chance to speak, Goreleech."

"Same here, John. Enjoy the show."

The actor left and Sarah returned on the other screen.

"That was John Astaman, America. Now we have some viewer questions, Goreleech. Sally from washington asks what the name of the anime you referenced is."

Tyler smiled.

"Strike Witches. 3 seasons. 1 movie. And fully dubbed. I've seen it ten times and is the only show to contest Highschool DxD for my top favorite anime of all time. All I'll say? Watch it. Seriously."

Tyler set his pack down and pulled two bottles of 150 proof liquor he then stuffed with wads of american hundred dollar bills. Once the accelerate was in place he took the bullets from the airweight to retrieve the gunpowder and brass caps he also poured into the drink to make sure it went off as intended. For a wad he tore a strip from the blanket of the bed he tied into a knot and wedged into the necks of the bottles for an oddly airtight seal. Tyler smiled as he crafted two more such molotov cocktails.

"Alright. I got me some fun here."

The bottles were replaced in side pockets for easy reach and he went to the bathroom seeking the medicine cabinet that yielded a few bottles of pills. These made him smirk as he returned to the bed.

"Alright what i get....Oxycotin, percocet, oh. Melotioin. Cool. I got painkillers and a relaxant. Not sure how I'll use the relaxant yet, but the rest I can DEFINITELY use."

He looked at the pills inside,

"eh. Bout 5 each. Makes sense."

Sarah looked at him from the screen.

"Another question from a doctor this time, Goreleech. Doctor Willard Montgomery of the Surgeon General asks how healthcare functions in game."

Tyler smiled.

"A one to one replica of out there. You get SHOT you have to DIG the bullet out and no detail is spared. I once had to stitch my arm up after i got slashed by a psychopath with a machete. That sucked. the game draws the line at invasive surgery as that's just not something we'd be able to do. But for the most part it's the same."

Sarah looked at the panel beside her for more questions as Tyler used a ziplock baggie to hold the remainder of the gunpowder from the .38 special rounds he'd use as a makeshift inceindary grenade. Sarah smiled.

"Lucy from Los Angeles asks if you have a significant other, Goreleech."

He smirked.

"I'm straight and like girls. I am single FOR THE MOMENT and am actively looking, Lucy."

Sarah's eyes lit up at this and the raunchy teenager saw it.

"Hey don't worry, Sarah. hot MILFS are VERY much welcome in any pile!"

The now caught offguard anchor had to strain to keep her professionalism.

"Appreciate the compliement....but you're too young for me."

"eeeeh it's only illegal if ya get caught...and rules are KINDA different in here!"

"Oh god."

TYler chuckled at her growing discomfort and the survivor let her off the hook,

"enjoy the shows! I usually charge...buuuut I think can make an exception."

She looked at the panel, striving to ignore the raunchy comments.

"Greg from North Carolina asks where you learned to make gunpowder molotov cocktails."

Tyler chuckled as he noted a slight blush on sarah's face now.

"I learned in game. LoD is VERY big on experiamenting and seeing what happens if you do this or that. I learned how to rig a damn good carbomb too. I use em alot in crowded cities since the blast draws every zombie for a solid MILE to it. And KEEPS them there for about two days. Useful for setting up mass killzones or getting yourself a breather."

He looked at Sarah.

"Now I have a question, Sarah."

She refocused and smiled.

"Of course."

"How bad has it been for the rest of the nonbeta tester player base?"

"They are still moving through the game's extensive tutorial level, Goreleech. At the last number, roughly 45% have reached the halfway point of the tutorial."

"Yeah make sure someone tells them that what they're doing is NOT the actual game but the lesson on HOW to PLAY the game? Caaaaause it's KINDA hard to tell otherwise."

"We will do so and do our best to discourage hiding in the safezone."

"Iiiit's not safe, Sarah. The game will step in on it's own once the AI systems detect starting area milking. A horde will attack and they'll be CHASED out. REGARDLESS of where they are in the tutorial. And there is some SERIOUSLY VITAL SHIT in the later tutorial they NEED to know. Like it's the LITERAL fate of their ASS."

Sarah nodded.

"The warning will be passed along."

"Coolzies. I'm done here. I gotta get moving."

"We will watch with baited breath."

HE smirked.

"Try not to have too much fun, Sarah. You'd need to take a shower after a session as I make a MESS of you every time!"

He closed the panel laughing at her new MINDBLOWN expression and the survivor headed down.

"Oh my god is it fun to fuck with the reporters. that's it, I'm doing one naked in a pool or something. Okay i need a MAP."

He walked along the street seeking another store or something when he came to a large brick building that made him smile.

"Fire department. It's another small town, BUUUUT I need a map."

He walked inside te main garage and noted some tanks hanging on pegs for the firefighters. He tapped a knuckle on the oxygen tanks and shrugged.

"eh. empty."

He next went to the chief's office and found it to be empty. Tyler slid down the firepole and left the garage with a shrug.

"Makes sense. Not even a fireaxe."

Tyler eaded for the edge of town as the sun started to sink and he noted this. So he looked at the buildings around him and noted a multistory apartment building that had a roof above the trees. This made him smile as he went behind the place and climbed up the fire escape to the roof. Here he set the tent up in the cover of the entry into the building itself. Then he dropped to the lower floor and pried open a window in an apartment to climb inside. The first thing he did was lock the door and then head to the master bedroom where he loaded the mass of blankets and laid them in the tent on the roof. He did this to every room he could reach and the result was a VERY comfy pad on the secured roof. Then he dropped down the first room again and looked in the drawers and cabienets. This yielded a working metal flashlight, a thick roll of duct tape, numerous chemicals, food, and a pocketknife. He returned to the tent and set the supplies outside it before he went to every room in the fire escape's reach and returned with a surprising mass of materials including a pair of binoculars. He then tore apart a mass of furniture for wood and brought the firewood to the roof where he built a small pyre for his dinner and threw a wad of hundreds onto it. The bonedry wood went up with a woosh and he smiled.

"Set."

Sarah appeared on the panel with a notepad and he smiled.

"I'm set for the night, sarah."

She did her intro as Tyler took a mass of glass jars with lids over and a mass of the chemicals used in cleaning and sanitizing. The reporter then looked at him.

"what are you attempting to create, Goreleech?"

"Sanitizer grenades. They're effective against slime based mutations and hurt like HELL when you splash people in the eyes. That one there is good ole ammonia and I can make it into a low grade acid. The flashlight I'll craft into a makeshift headlamp for exploring dark houses. And more of the same."

He then climbed onto the roof of the roof access shed with the binoculars and panned around the still light area. He smiled as he saw several towns and cities in the far distance along with radio towers and other such construction.

"Looks like I'm in a northwestern portion of the United States. I need to head SOUTHEAST as this region has VERY intense rainstorms and I am not ready to get caught in an inland hurricane."

He hopped down and got to work crafting his new batch of chemical warfare. Sarah smiled.

"Is there a region in particular you would like to visit, Tyler?"

"Yeah. The Southwestern quadrant. That was where the beta test took place and there's supposed to be a wall commenorating it. I'd like to see what they did."

Sarah smiled.

"As would the world, Goreleech. You say the United states is part of the game world?"

"A fair few places are, Sarah. Italy, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Austrialia, Britain, and many more besides. Those are just the ones we discovered. Remember, the ingame world is supposed to be well over twice the size of all landmass on earth combined into one massive supercontinent. don't ask me how they do it, I've no idea."

She nodded with a chuckle.

"Technology is amazing-"

A low rumble was heard overhead and Tyler went BONE. WHITE.

"It's HERE."

His horrified tone sent shivers down the entire viewing population and he looked up. Flying overhead at a height of two miles, was a gigantic amaglamation of rotting flesh in the shape of a black dragon. The immense creature was well over a thousand meters long with wings 4 thousand meters wide. The thing soared overhead and Tyler was shaking in nervous awe as he beheld the thing with unblinking eyes.

"Skull Dragon. SKALROC. The Lord of the Dead."

The world watched in horrified awe as the immense beast winged it's way through the sky and Tyler noted it's flightpath before sending up a flare to the beta base.

"eyes on Skalroc. Repeat. Skalroc is airbourne."

He send a screenshot of his location atop the roof and the direction the black zombie dragon was headed in.

"ALL clear. None in flightpath."

Tyler breathed a sigh of relief as the dragon was lost to sight.

"Okay. That thing is passive unless provoked."

He returned to his fire and took a spare bottle of whiskey out and took a long pull at the thing to steady his nerves as a white faced Sarah appeared on the screen.

"THAT is the DRAGON YOU FOUGHT, Goreleech?"

He nodded as his nerves recovered.

"Yeah. His name is Skalroc. He is the TRUE Lord of the Dead in this game. And it'd take a million experienced players to kill it using tanks, helicopters, ANTISHIP MISSLES, and a NUKE. And we'd STILL, lose more then half our force. It summones hordes, has steel for skin, and regenerates from kills made. ONE serious gust from the wings can conjure a tornado. TWO, and it's an F5. if he REALLY doesn't like you, he spits on you. And then you are eatne alive from the inside out by microscopic mites. He killed ME like that once. i STILL have nightmares from that fight. But my GOD, do you feel invinicble when you bring him down. we killed him in the beta ONE TIME. And that was it. we've peaked."

Sarah smiled.

"Are there other enemies like skalroc in the game, Goreleech?"

"Probably. For all WE know? Skalroc is a LOW TEIR FODDER BOSS! And that is not a cheery thought."

Sarah nodded as a new sound of rumbling was heard and Tyler sighed.

"Greeeat. A marauder clan."

He walked to the edge of the roof as a steel plated dune buggey was seen drifting around corners with the roaring engine drawing zombies from their dens in the dozen. Tyler smirked as he saw the buggy drift around a corner, slam into a phonepole, and was subsequently overrun by zombies with screams of pain coming from inside.

"Idiots. I'll look your stuff over in the morning."

Tyler returned to the tent and explained to a VERY curious sarah as he sat down.

"Those were Nonplayer controlled, or NPC, characters. Marauders are basically raiders that have some equipment and vehicles. They prey on any they see and do stupid shit like that all the time. They're as smart as most humans and behave exactly like normal humans too. That buggy will be dead by the time I wake up in the morning but that's fine. I'm more interested in their weaponry. A single-"

There was an explosion and Tyler looked to see a minor fireball rising into the sky.

"Scratch that. The buggy exploded. Eh. It'll burn itself out by morning. And there'll be a mess a dead zombies out there too."

He shrugged and set an instant meal on the fire.

"I can expect a rifle or something from their idiocy. Or more bullets at the least."

He fed on the filling instant meal and Sarah smiled.

"It seems action is picking up in Lord of the Dead, ladies and gentlemen of America. Let us now go to the comments from Twitter!"

Tyler was given control of the panel and he chuckled at the thirsty comments from his shirtlessness the previous night.

"Hot ladies only. Not interested in dudes."

He got a mass of amusement and the survivor finished his meal and smirked as he removed his shirt again.

"Alright people. I'll show off more for ya in der mornin."

The panel closed and Tyler settled in the surprisingly comfy tent and laid the luger beside him.

"Night two in the hole. In de mornin, I'll head straight south. See what I can find in a larger town."

IT GETS BORING AT TIMES. BUT HEY. COMES WITH THE TERRITORY.

THE FOURTH DAY

THURSDAY

27TH OF JANUARY.

DAYS IN GAME: 2.

Tyler woke the next morning on his belly in the tent and sat up with a smile and stretch. He left his tent and found another bright sunny day as he made breakfast shirtless. Once fed he looked over the edge of the roof and noted the dune buggy had indeed burned itself out with piles of dead zombies all around it. That made him nod.

"Town like this only has 2,500 head at best. And most will have died last night."

He packed the tent up and left the blankets to drop down the fire escape. He reached the last layer and smirked as he saw a single zombie in reach of something epic. He leapt off the railing,

"Hiten Mystrugi Style: Ryuotsuitsan!"

And slammed the glass mace into the head of the thing with enough force it nearly SPLIT it in half! Tyler chuckled as he landed lightly and got moving.

"That will ALWAYS be cool, and you cannot convince me otherwise."

He walked out of the alley and went to where the body of the first marauder lay in the street. The marauder was a woman and had been raped before being eaten alive. Tyler noted a crowbar in her hand covered in blood and shrugged as he crushed her skull.

"Sorry. We're not fighting crabs here."

The next maraudar had a 12 inch combat knife in his hand and Tyler took the steel thing before hanging it on his chest. Then he reached the dune buggy itself. The gas tank had exploded and with most of the steel frame in the rear melting under the intense heat. Tyler looked at the storage rack for their supplies and smirked as a few bags were still intact. He took the first duffel bag over and unzipped the thing to reveal a set of tools to repair the buggy. He frowned and took the second, smaller bag over and sighed as he opened it.

"Okay. These were a lone pair seeking supplies. No food, and the buggy was most likely stolen from a larger band. Ugh."

The second bag contained porno DvDs. NOTHING ELSE. Tyler shrugged and left the mess.

"That'd be too easy anyway."

He headed south through the town and left down. Skalroc had flown north and Tyler was not interested in seeing him again ANNNNNNYTIME soon. The lone survivor walked along the road leading through the forest. THe forest was silent save for a few birds and animal calls and Tyler smiled as he enjoyed the peace and quiet. A few hours later he came to a police roadblock utlizing their cruisers. The lone survivor hefted his bat as he approached but found no zombies. He shrugged and picked the locks in the trunks of the cruisers open. Inside he found a pair of first aide kits, a few 12 gauge shotgun shells, and a baton he left behind. Tyler left the cars behind and continued on his solitary march. The sun went down and he made camp behind some trees. Sarah appeared on the screen and he smiled as he made a cold meal of cereal.

"Welcome to Lord of the Dead. Some days are boring as hell. Then others...puts a Micheal Bay film to shame."

She nodded and they went about their usual interviewer shit before Tyler settled down for the night.