Welcome to the LOD! And it is HELL.

WELCOME TO THE LIFE OF THE CLASS GHOST.

MONDAY.

THE 1ST DAY.

24TH OF jANUARY.

An annoying beeping of a blue steel watch echoed off the wood paneling of a bedroom, waking the sole occupant with a grumble.

"FUCK. MONDAY. WITH A STEEL PIPE."

The grumble came from a tall boy 14 years of age as he moved about his small-yet-spacious room seeking the material for a hot shower. Once under the nearly too hot water he started cleaning his 5 foot 11 inch frame while the slight stinging woke him a little more. Once his pasty skin was cleaned up the stll-not-awake-enough-to-be-considered-a-thinking-creature teenager got dressed in a thick t-shirt, denim jeans, workboots and a hoodie. His breakfast consisted off a warmed up chocolate muffin with a berry energy drink for that final kick in the ass to get going. As he sat at the counter, his HIDEOUSLY overweight mother waddled into the room.

"Got your project, Tyler?"

"Passed it in yesterday."

She grunted at this as Tyler pulled his packed to bursting backpack on his back.

"WAIT for your SISTER. There's ice on the ground."

He sighed in a tenored bark.

"I DO I miss the bus. Tell her to watch her step."

He walked out the door as his suddenly present stepfather roared.

"watch how you speak to your MOTHER! You are GROUNDED when you get back!"

Tyler just ignored him as he walked down the snow covered steps of his Berlin, new hampshire home. A frigid wind blew through the hillside neighborhood and the snow moved in drifts, but Tyler merely pulled his hoodie up over the winter cap that protected his ears. He walked down the steep hill to the corner bus stop to wait. His breath left clouds of white mist as he breathed.

"All hail Puff, the magic dragon."

He chuckled at his own joke as he waited for the rest of his group. A few minutes later more shapes appeared from the end of the streets that made up the four way intersection and approached the stop. Tyler noting one of them, a girl, and smirked internally. Wonder what Hailey's doin down this stop? The girl in question walked up without a word. She was half a head shorter then Tyler with straight black hair and pasty skin. Her eyes were brown and she had modest cleavege more a result of her pushup bra then actual assets. She was got up in a heavy winter coat and seemed to be freezing as she stood there while Tyler was in a mere hoodie with gloves and wasn't bothered in the slightest.

"Mornin Hailey."

She sighed at his greeting and retorted in a bark.

"Leave me the fuck alone, loser."

"Your HAIR is frozen SOLID."

"I KNOW."

"That's kinda cool."

Hailey had a new look of irritation.

"WHY are you bothering me?"

"Boredom."

"FUCK. OFF."

He chuckled at her cold shutdown. He was well aware Hailey couldn't stand him for some odd freakin reason, and it was mildly entertaining for the taller boy to poke her. Hailey shivered again and he noted her hands were pair.

"Think fast."

"Huh?"

The surprised girl caught the sealed pack of hand warmers he'd taken from his pack.

"Frostbite SUCKS."

She tore them open and held the things with a mild expression.

"Thanks."

"School's not losing a finger over."

Hailey smirked a little at that.

"So WHY do YOU have them, Tyler? YOU can't FEEL the cold."

He chuckled.

"I always keep a few packs on me in case I get stuck somewhere cold. Specially since last year."

She sighed as her numbed by the cold hands were warmed by the potent warmers.

"You really ARE a walking wal-mart."

"Good. 5 bucks."

"You wish."

"NOW it's ten."

"Prick."

Hailey had a more fond smile now on her face as the taller boy cracked his usual bad jokes before it died and she put her hands in her jacket pocket as more of their grup arrived. Tyler sighed internally as she took a step further away from him as the group of gus and girls all greeted her. Hailey may hate my guts around them, but when we're ALONE, she's pretty damn cool to hang with. Hailey was now trading salty jabs and counters with her friends as Tyler kept an eye out for the bus at the far end of the street.

"Hey, did ya hear? That new deep dives out."

Tyler perked up at this as one of the guys talked.

"Oh. You mean Lord of the Dead?"

The muscular guy flipped him off.

"FUCK OFF RETARD. we're talking."

"I have that game preordered. And preloaded. Annnd was a beta tester."

They ALL looked at him in mild surprise and Hailey lifted an eyebrow.

"Okay. ALL the gamertags got released. what's yours?"

Tyler smirked.

"Me? I'M GORELEECH666."

They blinked. And the guy that had flipped him off had shock on his face.

"BULL. SHIT. There is NO. WAY. YOU are THAT badass. Goreleech is a legend in the LoZ betabase. Loser."

Tyler smirked.

"What's YO tag, David?"

"Brawler3232."

"I'll be sure to add it to the list. See ya in hell, buddy. Hailey?"

She smirked.

"Fuck. Off."

"eh that's fine."

He looked up the street as the rest dismissed him again and spotted the bus approaching. The clanking thing more or less slid to a stop and the group climbed aboard. tyler grabbed a seat in the middle as the rest walked by and Hailey passed. A piece of paper landed on the seat as she passed and he snatched it without looking. The thing had a name on it and he smiled under his pulled down hood at the gamertag. Bostonbitch32. Nice, Hailey. REEEEEEEALLY nice. he slid the paper into a hidden pocket on his hoodie and settled in for the ride to school as the rest of the riders all talked about Lord of the Dead. A new experience in deep dive virtual reality open world survival horror game. The premise was you, the player, were dropped into a postapocolyptic world in random points. According to the developer, Shadownet, a billion players could spawn in a thousand times each and NEVER see the same spot twice. That was because LOZ was the single most ambitious virtual reality project ever undertaken. The goal was to create a life sized, living, breathing continent made of the entire landmass of planet earth inside a gameworld with no loading screens, no lag, no glitches. The sought for goal was to create an entirely new world inside a computer with near perfect mirrors of human conscience in the Nonplayer controlled programs. Shadownet, achieved this goal. As the game was said to be hundreds of thousands of miles of ingame world with every biome, enviornment, level of human habitation, and everything else imaginable. Tyler, along with one million other lucky bastards selected from a bidding pool, had been gifted the honor of beta testing the first 50,000 miles of the game for a period of 18 months. These players' names had been immortalized as the FIRST SURVIVORS ingame on a wall like the Vietnam Memorial in D.C. Tyler's tag, Goreleech666, was one of them and had built a reputation as a HIGHLY skilled zombie killer and scavanger. He'd been the only player in the entire beta tester pool to NOT die the ONCE. That had earned him the title of Unkillable. And paranoid. Tyler smiled as he reflected that. I'll dive when the servers open up....and do some hunting. Show them who I am inside a world where there are NO rules. The bus ride passed without incident and the teenager was among the middle group getting off. He went inside and to his first class and the teacher smiled as he sat in his seat.

"mornin Tyler."

"Morning Mr Butain."

Mr butain was an older man in his late forties that taught social studies and was Tyler's homeroom teacher. Tyler settled in his seat and was leafing through his latest encyclopedia on military hardware as the rest of the class walked in. They all took seats and the class started as Tyler closed the book.

"Freak."

He didn't react as a jeer was thrown at him from the guy behind him while the teacher took attendance. once that was done, MR Butain faced the class.

"Alright everyone. I have news."

Tyler pulled out his book again,

"Berlin Junior highschool along with numerous other schools across the country have been selected to take part in a Social experiement inside a deep dive experience, called Lord of the dead."

Tyler froze at this announcement and the class were also surprised. Then the teenager reacted. he sat up and lifted his hand. which made the teacher lift an eyebrow.

"Well there's a rare sight. Tyler? A QUESTION already?"

"Yeah...justa....do you have any idea what that game ACTUALLY is, MR Butain? Like ASIDE from the adverts?"

The teacher sighed.

"it's another zombie apoloclypse-"

"NO it is NOT."

Tyler's amused disagreement made the class look at him as he talked.

"LoZ is a HELLSCAPE pretending to be a videogame. You FEEL everything. And it hurts like HELL when you get bit. Gunshots, feel like the real thing. For god's sake, the ZOMBIES? HAve VARIENTS like from RESIDENT EVIL and some are freakin MEAN. I shit you not, one a them? Is THIRTY FEET TALL, is MADE FROM A TANK, and throws CONCRETE at you. I hit that thing with a 105mm tank shell....and all it did was make mad. Yeah. What is this social experiement?"

The class were all looking at him mildly surprised by his exacting insight and MR Butin frowned.

"HOw do YOU know so much about it, Tyler? The game JUST dropped."

"I was a tester."

"Oh my god. HOW?"

He shrugged with a smile.

"I got lucky."

"What's your tag?"

"Goreleech666."

Mr Butain sighed.

"okay. NO. YOU are NOT TOUGH ENOUGH to be THAT guy. You will have detention for trying to impersonate him after the conclusion of the test. Try that again and you're NOT taking part."

Tyler pulled his laptop out now.

"If the school got picked for a test like that, MR Butain, something tells me I CAN'T refuse."

He logged into his email using the school WIFI and smirked as he saw a new one.

"I thought so. Sorry, Mr Butain. even if the BOARD said I couldn't, I'd still have to dive. Proof is right here."

Tyler spun the laptop around and the teacher's growing irritation was replaced with mild surprise.

"An invite to join the test by the senater herself? Hm. I got one a those. It proves nothing."

"That's fine. I'll do that myself."

Tyler put the thing away and the teacher refocused the class.

"The total number of participants for the experiement is estimated to be at 100,000,000. Other countries are also taking part and the number is rising as we speak. the test is to be a live simulation of a zombie apocolpyse and how the youth and select adults would survive in such a scenario. Our adventures will be braodcast to the world as a TV show like a nonstop livestream. As per the requirements for the test, all M and above rated materials are engaged with NO FILTERS WHATSOEVER."

"JESUS CHRIST."

Tyler's EXTREME shudder made them ALL look at him again.

"Oh my GOD. Okay. YOU are going to need extreme therapy after this one. Them bastards are NASTY. errr. I STILL have nightmares from that slime thing's harem."

He shivered again and Butain sighed.

"ONE MORE OUTBURST and you are going to the office, Tyler. STOP TRYING TO SCARE US."

Tyler shivered again before he smirked.

"This is gonna be so freakin funny. when are we diving?"

"Tomorrow you will bring in your helmets if you have one. if you DO NOT, one will be provided for you. You will all gather in the gym and be given hospital beds as the point is a nonstop dive meant to last for 3 solid months."

Tyler frowned now and sat back as the news had them ALL blinking. 3 MONTHS for a TEST? Uh-oh. Okay. There is something inside this box and it ain't nice. Tyler raised his hand again and the teacher looked at him tiredly.

"What?"

"So we'll inside a deep dive for three solid months?"

"Yes. You'll be incoluated as in a hospital."

"Okay. And the NETWORK?"

"Is being upgraded to military level speed and reliabilty."

"Uh-huh. Oh this is gonna be BAD."

Mr. Butain lifted an eyebrow at this as Tyler sank into a VERY thoughtful hunch.

"Tyler. WHAT is going to be BAD?"

He looked at the teacher.

"This DIVE. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up, and I feel like I'm about to jump off a cliff. Be on your guard people. There is something else to this EXPERIEMENT. And it ain't nice. How do I know? I got a bad hunch."

He pulled his laptop now.

"And I need to send up a flare."

They all watched as he opened his email and hit a group name before typing into it.

"Code Demon on the dive exp. Slimer in the dungeon and adjust as needed. The DEMON is on edge."

He hit send and the guy behind him smirked.

"So now you're a freakin LARPER?"

A nearly INSTANT reply came.

"We're ALL on edge, Gore. there is something VERY wrong here. Snake and Spider have eyes up."

The guy behind Tyler blinked.

"GORE? what the hell?"

"Goreleech666 is a bit of a mouthful. Sooo they just call me Gore. alright."

He sat back and typed in a fresh message.

"Deteriorating gasmask in a Bloat nest protocol. Let's NOT get jumped by a freakin Bouncer this time, LOOKIN AT YOU TERMITRON!"

The reply?

"FUCK YOU GORELEECH THAT WAS A FLUKE!"

"So's a royal flush, but it only has to happen once."

"I fuckin miss yo dark dumbldore sayings, bro. eyes on."

"Fangs out."

Tyler chuckled as he closed the laptop.

"I freakin miss those lunatics."

Behind him the guy had a new look of surprise on his face.

"Yo he called him Goreleech on his EMAIL. wait termitron?"

Tyler chuckled darkly now.

"Why speculate, Max? Tomorrow you'll find out first hand. Just WHO Goreleech really is."

MR Butain rubbed his eyes.

"Okay fine. If you are NOT Goreleech666 in the ingame menu when we dive tomorrow you will be suspended for impersonation. if you ARE we'll apologize."

"Deal."

The class started asking questions as Tyler settled in his chair with his mind running tomorrow's dive over and over as he planned his new playthrough. Once the last question was answered MR Butain smiled.

"The rest of the day is yours to prepare for the dive as it is a full life simulation. The library is open for studying up on anything you think you might need."

Tyler smirked at this news and plugged his laptop into an outlet.

"The one problem i kept running into was I know fuckall about how to build things like generators and connecting them. Thank god for the power of google."

The 6 hour school day was spent with Tyler studying how to build varying machines and maintaining them while the rest of the school aside from a few deligents fucked around with a surprise freeday. The day ended and the teenager headed home still running the information through his head. He walked inside his house and found his parents sitting at the table with a stool by the table. His stepfather nodded to it.

"We heard about the test."

Tyler nodded and sat down.

"Listen to me. there is something VERY wrong with this experiement. I sent up a flare. ALL my crew are feeling the exact same way."

His mother frowned.

"Can you refuse?"

"I don't think I can."

His stepfather, Clark, rubbed his eyes.

"Three months inside a videogame world. and Lord of the Dead no less. That beta ended MONTHS ago and you STILL sometimes wake up screaming."

Tyler nodded.

"ALL ingame content is enabled this time. This one is gonna be bad. I'll put it in perspective. The game I played? was rated M. The version WE'LL be playing? HAS NO rating."

They nodded gravely and his mother looked at him.

"We'll be watching."

Tyler smirked.

"I got this. LoD is MY world."

They smiled at this confidence and Clark looked at him.

"Felicia will be taking part too-"

"She'll die in the first fifteen minutes. NO. I am NOT playing rescue to a beached whale."

"She is your SISTER-"

"No. HALF. SISTER. At best. Anda. Hi? I HATE her. So. NO. Now i got more researchin to do fore the dive tomorrowa. Bye."

He hopped off the stool as his parents went off on him for this. Tyler walked up the stairs to his room as a hurt sniff was heard from his obese sister's room.

"I hate you."

"Good. I'll be sure to put your zombie down like the overweight yet helpless dog you are."

He shut the door as she burst into tears at this hateful remark. Tyler then went over to where his heavily stickered deep dive helmet sat on a stand. the thing resembling a red dragon's head from his favorite anime and he smiled as he patted the thing.

"Tomorrow we'll be goin deep. This time it'll be for real."

The excited teenager sat at his desk for another massive round of research on building and assembling combustion engines from scrap. Dinner was pizza and soda as the parents wouldn't be seeing their kids for the next three months outside a TV screen and Tyler smirked at the nerves on bis overweight sister's face as the meal went on. The teenager went to bed with a smile.

"I am going home tomorrow."

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THE LORD OF THE DEAD.

THE SECOND DAY.

TUESDAY.

25TH OF JANUARY.

Tyler woke the next morning with an energy born of excitement. Once fed, showered and dressed he went up to pack his custom ordered deep dive helmet into his military grade carrying case that was also plastered in half naked anime girl stickers with the needed cables and wires before he locked the thing with the twin steel keeys he carried around his neck. Happy with his security he headed downstairs where his sister had her pink helmet in hand and was shaking in frightened nerves as she hugged their parents. Tyler merely grabbed an extra energy drink from the fridge.

"Enjoy the show. And I hope you're ready for the nightmares."

He walked out with his case in hand to the bus stop. There he downed the second energy drink before pulling a THIRD from his pack and cracking it open as Hailey walked up with her crew all sporting their own cases. Then they noticed Tyler's.

"JESUS."

"Of COURSE he's a disgusting weeb."

"Ugh. wait is that a SNAKELADY?"

"Oh my god there's a centaur!"

"Is....is...that a SPIDERGIRL?"

Hailey had a new look of disgust on her face at the naked animalgirls and Tyler smiled.

"ALL ny collections, anime, HENTAI, music, PORN and movies are downloaded on my helmet. So, NORMIE TRASH, you will be exposed to PROPER culture. and if any of you have a VADER HELMET, ya got no room to bitch. mainstream trash."

Hailey snorted.

"Okay. EPIC roast. And I feel attacked."

Tyler smirked now.

"Omae wa, oi na shinderiiu."

"NANI?"

He smiled knowingly at Hailey's reply and her friends were looking at her with narrowed eyes and David glared at her.

"Are YOU a weeb TOO, Hailey?"

"Oh fuck no. That's just a common meme."

"Oh."

They shrugged and Tyler chuckled.

"It seems there are lots a things they don't need to know."

Hailey smiled knowingly.

"Hy."

"Arigotu."

David sighed.

"Greeat. NOW they're speaking weeb language."

"BITCH it's otaku."

"FUCK YOU LOSER."

The bus arrived as tyler's terrified and hideously overweight sister waddled to the stop. The teenager took his seat at the middle and surprisingly Hailey sat beside him. He looked at her curiously and she smiled.

"Nerves. I've heard rumors about LoD."

"The rumors are WRONG. that game is a NIGHTMARE. I did the beta on M rating. ALL features engaged....it has NO rating. It's like you took the nastiest torture porn, night of the living dead, walking dead, the most disgusting monster hentai, and threw it into a blinder and hit obliterate. You'll see. HOW they got to MAKE this game I will NEVER know."

She nodded with nervos eyes.

"How bad?"

"Keep your pants on and don't turn your back to the zombies. they make a mess every time they getchya."

"JESUS FUCK."

She shuddered at the unsaid and tyler smirked humorlessly.

"Yeah. And it makes stuff too. Hills have eyes.....the sequal."

"Okay. Stop before I run away screaming."

He chuckled as the bus got rolling.

"This is gonna be good."

The trip to the school was quieter then usual and an atmosphere of excitement, nerves, and uneasiness permeated the students as they approached the suddenly far more ominous school. Like a funeral procession, the buses lined up at the school and the doors opened....with not a student moving this time. aside frowm Tyler.

"Hey, scoot."

Hailey looked at him wide eyed as he got up without hesitating.

"Okay."

Her usually strong, confident bark was now a mere squeak and he chuckled.

"You're kinda cute when you play scared schoolgirl, hailey."

"FUCK. YOU."

"Better?"

"eh kinda."

"Just get pissed. works wonders for fear when you're pissed off bout something. Come on ya punkrock knock off."

She snorted and followed the taller boy as he stepped of the bus. He walked up the long courtyard that was now lined by reporters with camers eager to get shots of the students entering the school. A long line of cement barricades manned by in-uniform military police led from the buses to the doors and Tyler was the first one walking along it as a reporter leaned over.

"Are you nervous about taking part in the Lord of the Dead experiement? Fox News!"

Tyler smirked as he looked at her.

"Course not. That hellscape is MY playground. MY name. Is GORELEECH666. And I am going home."

He walked into the shool entrance that led right to the now packed gym lined by beds for the divers. The hallway to the gym had more reporters of a higher rank snapping photos and clamoring for predive interviews as tyler walked into the gym. A man with a tablet looked at him.

"Name and gamertag."

"Tyler Naamani. Goreleech666."

The man nodded.

"Bed 6. And make em look stupid, Gore."

"HA."

The teenager went over to the indicated bed where a nurse was waiting with several cables, tubes and an IV. She smiled as he set his case with the helmet on the bed.

"Nice to meet you, Tyler. I am Clare. I will be overseeing your body while you're inside the game."

He chuckled at this.

"Nice to meetchya, Clare. I can see I'll in VERY good hands here."

The blonde nurse chuckled as he took his sweatshirt off.

"Oh my. A raunchy and cocky teenager. I will be SURE to keep a taser handy."

"Sounds like we already got a spark between us. I LIKE it."

"OOOh you're good."

"I got a few ways."

"On the bed."

"Yes clare."

"Oh jesus."

He chuckled as he watched the rest of the school all gather around their beds and set cases down. Tyler took his other shirt off to go bare chested for the electrotes to be attached as the rest started setting up their helmets and he noted the needed cables were attached to the bed.

"Oh mine are better."

Clare smirked.

"Oh by all means. See if you can hook it up PROPERLY then."

Tyler opened a panel on his case and pulled a set of neon blue cables that would light up when connected to juice and dropped to the floor to replace the stock with his own higher grade. Once the lights were set he pulled the two keys off his neck and set them in the locks as the now curiously looking at him school watched. He turned the keys with a smile and pulled the dragon head from inside. the blood red thing was opened in the front like a medievial helm and was trimmed by gold with the shape of a dragon head. Clare blinked as he hooked the cables to it.

"Okay that thing is AWESOME."

"Custom ordered."

"Damn."

Tyler laid o the bed and pulled the helmet on.

"um, Tyler? You need to wait to dive for the rest."

"I figured Clare. It activated when i pull the visor down. Kinda like iron man....but I'm a dragon Emperor."

She whistled as he got comfy and the IV was implanted. He smiled as reporters were moving from bed to bed getting the divers' faces known. The Diver then turned his attention to his helmet as it lit up with glowing eyes and noted the internet connection. He hit a button on the thing and a projection of the visor was seen he could interact with. He then hit upload and Clare looked at him as a bar apepared.

"Are those cheats?"

"nope. they're my customized antihacking software and a few other bits that'll make my dive more fun. Plus will make sure the network won't fuck with my helmet. it TRIES TO, I'll get a headsup."

A reporter came over with a camera and smiled.

"And here is bed 6. What is your name, Diver?"

Tyler smirked.

"I'm Tyler. But the name you REALLY need to know? is GORELEECH666. That is MY gamertag."

The lady nodded with a smile.

"Are you nervous to dive into the dark world of Lord of the Dead?"

"Oh hell no. I am ESTATIC! I am going home!"

His eyes lit up with a wild light now and the reporter smirked at the intensity.

"LoD is MY WORLD. So please. By all means. ENJOY your stay....in MY HELL."

"HELMETS ON!"

A military bark was heard for the diving to start and Tyler pulled his visor down with a smirk. The red eyes of the dragon head helmet lit up like emeralds now and Tyler settled on the bed as his voice was heard in a new, hard bark.

"LET'S GO TO HELL TOGETHER!"

His vision flickered as that was the passcode for the dive to begin. The way it worked was by using a microscopic needle to pierce the spinal column just under the skull and hijack the brain. The result was a fully immersive 5 senses experience, called Deep dive. Tyler blinked and when he reopened his eyes he was standing inside a white room surrounded by the masses all taking part in the experiment. Before the tall teenagert was a podium he pressed his hand onto with a smile. A sultry, imperious purr was heard as it lit up blood red.

"Welcome Home, Goreleech666. I've been waiting for you."

His ENTIRE class were looking at him in shock as he confirmed he really WAS a legendary gamer. Tyler smiled warmly.

"It's good to be home, Rias. Dark Start."

"My favorite. Show em what my favorite servant can do in a new world."

Tyler was redressed in a tight fitting black tanktop, black jeans and black combat boots with fingerless clothes on his hands. he did a few movements and nodded. Then he looked at the panel that said Lord of the Dead and smirked.

"See ya in hell, everyone. Try not to die in the first ten seconds."

He hit the button for the game and glowed bright red as the seductive voice of the anime devilgirl waifu was heard again.

"Oooh, you'll be dropping in at the same time."

"Alright. HURRY UP PEOPLE, i got shit to do."

He then looked at the podium and hit a button for a scan of his helmet and smiled as all his collections were still there. As well as a new plugin for the broadcasting of his ingame life to the masses. He smirked and pushed on the icon and nodded as he saw he had complete control over it. Good. This is gonna be so fuckin funny. Tyler spent the time waiting for the rest to ready up poking around the podium adjusting various aspects to better enhance his diving when the last player readied up and Rias was heard again.

"Go forth my beloved servent ad show them the true power of the Black Dragon!"

Tyler smiled as the floor opened up underneath him and the entire populace was dropped en mass. Tyler's vision was black as he dropped through the blackened tunnel to his spawn point and the drop only took 30 seconds before he was spit out 4 feet above a grassy field. He landed like Iron Man and rose to his full height inside a blood smeared park surrounded by battered and broken fencing. Bodies, hundreds of them, were strewn about the park with horrific wounds and signs of being eaten or shot or both. The air was full of the scent of burning meat, wood, rubber, smeared blood and far off explosions and screaming. Tyler cracked his neck and looked around for a direction to walk in. The park sat inside a small town surrounded by lush forests and the Diver flicked his wrist to bring up a set of floatng buttons that were his ingame interface. he hit one for messages and his friendslist and nodded as he saw the 1,000,000 names of the beta testers all blinking from offline to LoD. Next he brought up the friend request feature and typed in BostonBitch32 and sent the resguest. Hailey replayed in seconds,

"Tyler?"

He smiled.

"In rthe mess!"

"Oh thank god. I have no idea where I am! It's some rooftop!"

A screenshot was sent to him and he nodded as he saw the skyline.

"You're in the starter town of Havoc. It's like the ingame tutorial area. Stick to the town and keep your head on a swivel. Lasts ten hours and by the end you'll know exactly how to do this."

"Will you help me?"

"When we link up."

"Oh thank god."

He chuckled and walked towards the fence to his right and vaulted it. He was faced with a bloodspattered mainstreet decorated in mutilated bodies and the survivor walked along the street taking in the carnage with a mildly intrigued smirk. I don't know this town. That's kinda cool. As he walked along the deserted streets the floating buttons of his interface pinged. He opened them and noted it was the videocall feature. Curious, he hit the answer icon and was faced with a miced up woman reporter and she smiled professionally.

"Hello? Goreleech? Can you hear me?"

Tyler immediately turned the volume down.

"TOO loud and clear."

She nodded.

"I am Sarah with Fox News. Can you walk us through your playstyle?"

"Um, NOT in the moment. i can do some interview shit when i hole up for the night or when I feel i'm safe enough."

The anchor nodded with her smile unphased.

"When will you be safe enough, Goreleech? America is curious to see how the best tester of Lord of the dead plays his game."

"No clue when, Sarah. Right now-hm?"

A shadow was seen passing by a broken window and tyler blinked.

"Oh shit. A SHADOW wraith already? fuck. I gotta bail."

"WHAT IS GO-"

He ended the videocall as the shadow was seen again to his right. He sighed as he dropped into a well balanced crouch.

"Ooooh I FUCKING hate these things. Okay, where are you you undead flesh addict?"

He closed his eyes and let out a low breath as he focused on his earing....and heard a slight russel to his right. He did not move as the rustling got louder as a sound of EXTREMELY soft footsteps approached from behind him...and he dove to the side as the thing pounced. It missed and he, still with his eyes closed, pounced onto a solid form, grabbed it by the neck and gave a vicious twist. There was a sickening crunch and he reopened his eyes to reveal a lithe and black skinned figure beging thrown to the ground by the irritated survivor.

"I REALLLY fucking hate these things."

He sighed again and looked at the dead undead. It was basically a slender black man covered in blood with jet black eyes. Tyler flipped it over with a foot and noted the thing hadn't dropped anything so he shrugged and got moving. As he went he got another ping and opened the videocall to find Sarah ready with her interview.

"was that a challenge, Goreleech? And WHY do you hate them so?"

"Okay. I'mma make this one clear. DO NOT BOTHER ME, UNTIL I MAKE CAMP. I need to FOCUS and you are getting in my way. Make a LIST and ASK ME, when i say I am save. do so before, AND I WILL ACTIVATE A KILL PROGRAM THAT WILL FRY YOUR CONNECTOR."

Sarah had a new look of strained professionalism on her face at this.

"You are refusing to give America the glimpse they clamor for into your playstyle?"

"I tried."

He closed the call and hit the block button.

"I will unblock you at the designated time. Until then, sit down, shut up and enjoy the ride."

The teenager then looked around at the street when a large house with smashed windows got his eye. That one looks pretty. He walked over to the two story building and climbed in through an open window. Why the window? Cause the front door is too mainstream. He was inside the laundry room of the home and noted a long rod used to hold towels attached to the wall. Tyler smirked at this as he ripped it off the wall and hefted the now improvised bat. He waited a moment listening to the sounds of the world before he nodded and opened the laundry room door. The next thing he was faced with was a long hallway smeared in blood from the initial panic of the outbreak and went for the kitchen. He opened the fridge and was pleasently surprised to find a still sealed bottle of gatorade inside.

"And it's my favorite flavor too."

The bottle was slid into a pocket and he went to a cupboard....and smirked.

"OOOOH HELLLLO liquor. 150 proof Smirnoff vodka and one of good ole Jim bean bourbon. ALSO 150 proof."

He looked at the bottles.

"I got a molotov cocktail in the vodka...and a DAMN good time in the bean. OOOH i can HEAR the outrage now. Okay next bit."

He went to the living room and found the remains of the homeowner on the floor after being eaten alive by masses of undead. Tyler made a point of crushing the dead man's skull.

"Just to be SURE he's PROPERLY dead."

Tyler then headed up the stairs...as a low snarl was heard that made him smirk. MUCH better. usual walker prick. Okay. This time I'mma find me a big bible or something and am gonna beat a zombie to death with it. BEHOLD THE POWER OF GOD....MUTHAFUCKA! i kill me. He chuckled at his own stupid sense a humor as he moved along the hallway seeking the source of the snarl...until he found the culprit inside the bathroom by the toliet. whiiiich gave him a NASTY idea. Ooooooh i have always WANTED TO DO THIS TO SOMETHING! Tyler snuck up behind the naked woman zombie, kicked her knee out and slammed her head into the toliet's full bowl to DROWN IT IN A TOLIET. Tyler was laughing hysterically as the thing thrashed to no avail.

"enjoy your swirlie from HELL! Life's a toliet, allow em to FLUSH YOU AWAY! What a SHITTY way to go. WOW. SOMEONE got tanked. Jesus christ, lady, your life was SHIT."

Several REALLY bad puns later, the zombie went limp and he chuckled as he let the drowned thing go.

"Okay. I had a little TOO much fun with that. dammit now i wanna drown Termitron in his own piss again. Poor bastard."

The IMMENSELY satisified teenager next went to the bedroom at the far end of the hall which happened to be the master bedroom. The place had been tossed about in a clear struggle and the window leading onto the roof was broken, indicating a flight. Tyler went to the bed and lifted the matress to reveal a sealed briefcase hidden in the boxspring. He took the heavy leather thing and sat on the bed and looked at the reels for the combonation as he used a small screwdriver to move the things....

"Ah. This number has the LEAST amount of dead skin."

He moved along the reels using the same trick and pushed the buttons t open the thing. Inside was a set of DvDs with titles like the Princess and the witch, fairy and the wife, cheerleader and her stepmom, and other young on MILF porn material. Tyler smirked as he looked at the forty or so disks.

"Not bad, people. SADLY, I already have these. And yes they ARE real. And i do enjoy them from time to time. Normally I charge for shows, soooo I'll start a tab."

He put the porn aside and tore the false bottom of the briefcase out to reveal the REAL prize. Tyler smirked as he saw another set of BURNED DvDs and looked at the first title.

"A good girl, she;s her daughter, all KIDDIE porn now. Ha. Seems THIS lady was a predator. Oooor had a weird taste in hentai. Eh."

He put the case aside and went to a buearu now and opened the still present top drawer...to reveal a airweight 5 shot revolver with five rounds in the cylinder and an extra 5 bulletsloose in the drawer. Tyler chuckled as he took the tiny revolver out.

".38 special airweight. Usual starter revolver to de max. And next to useless in anything real."

He pushed the safety in and hid the gun inside his pocket before going to the closet. He opened it...and got pounced on by a zombie that had been locked inside it. The 6 foot 6 inch tall, 340 pound behemoth lunged at the teenager...only for Tyler to drop his shoulder step back and kick the knee of the zombie all in the manner of 2 seconds. teh zombie was dropped to the floor and Tyler was on it in a flash with an arm around it's neck. He gave a violent twist and the neck of the thing shattered. The teenager smirked as he stood tall.

"Nice try, asshole."

He looked the zombie over and shrugged as he found no loot before looking into the closet and finding a small blue canvas bag. Tyler took the tiny thing and shrugged as he dropped the liquor bottles and gatorade into the thing.

"eh it's a start."

Next he looked around the closet and shrugged as nothing else was useful. He climbed out the window and noted the sun was rising to the highnoon position and dropped off the first floor porch roof. Tyler walked along the street whistling a tune heading for the center of the small town seeking the town shops which didn't take long as he found the main street of the town and smiled as one shop was an outdoor sportcenter. It was only a one floor corner store, but it was still the best place to loo for survival equipment. Tyler walked through the shattered door to see a group of four zombies shambling along the carpeted floor and Tyler pulled the towel rod. He walked over to the first zombie and slammed the rod into the thing's had with a ferocious force. There was a dull clunk as the metal impacted and the zombie crumpled. The other three zombies' eyes lit up at the noise and gurgled as they moved towards the sound...only for Tyler to NOT be there. as the things reached their dead comrade, the rod slammed into the back of the head of one more and the two remaining turned towards the clunk...and Tyler appeared behind the third with another swing. The last zombie was hit as it faced him and Tyler smiled.

"I am SOOOO glad they are as stupid as always."

They again dropped nothing on death and the scavenger moved through the store to the racks where he found a metal baseball bat with a rubber grip. he smiled as he took two of the metal bats down and left the mangled towel rod behind.

"Batter's up, bitch."

The second bat was tied to the bag as a backup for when the other broke and Tyler went to the glass counter that normally contained handguns and knives. The glass had been shattered and the good looted, but the teenager took some of the larger pieces of broken plexiglass and his bat before tapping the INCREDIBLY strong and sharp shards into the bat to create a truly hellish mace. Tyler nodded once finished.

"And now it's a glass mace. TRUST ME PEOPLE. these HURT like HELL."

The next stop was the backroom of the shop where the safe was kept. Tyler put his ear to the door of the safe and turned the dial listening for the telltale click...and smiled as in under 60 seconds he had the door open. Inside the safe was merely rubberbanded wads of cash and nothing else. Tyler took the cash though. american hundreds burn like you wouldn't freakin believe. So freakin chemicals in em i can use em as wads for the molotovs. OR as a freakin accelerate. Tyler went back out and to the shelves that'd usually be stocked with equipment but were skeleton empty. He shrugged and left the store and went to the gas station across the street. I need a working lighter. The station was empty of zombies and Tyler snagged a few packs of snacks from the shelves before moving to the hardware section where a metal lighter was found still in the wrapping.

"Ask and you shall recieve. Alright."

He looked around the station before noting the masses of cigerates still present behind the counter and snagged a couple cartons of his favorites from the beta. And a pack for himself. The teenager lit a cigerate and chuckled as he walked along the street.

"I can practically HEAR you frowning Mark. Whaddya think I'd do in here?"

Tyler walked out and down the street seeking anything else of use in the town. I'll crash in town for the night and head out along the highway in de morning. Loot won't respawn here for 2 full days. ZOMBIES respawn in 8 hours. On the dot. The survivor walked along a suburb street now seeking an house of interest when a large white home with a garage was spotted. Tyler hefted his glass mace and walked to the closed door. The door was locked but the keen eyed teenager spotted a small panel with a seam that when pushed opened to reveal a hidden pocket. The house keys sat in the pocket and Tyler walked inside and locked the door behind him. The house was rather nice with thickly carpeted floors and a large open kitchen. The wary teenager went to the basement first and found the place to be fully furnished and finished with a futon bed and minibar. Tyler smirked at this as he searched the house from top to bottom.

"Alright. This'll be my hideout for de night."

The house was empty of zombies and Tyler went around pulling blinds and curtains closed while also locking up doors and windows until he was happy and went to the kitchen. He opend the fridge and found a large bottle of ketchup, a two liter of pepsi, and in the freezer was a pair of frozen pizzas. This made him smirk as he turned the stove on...and it beeped to life.

"A gift from the devs. They did the same damned thing the opening day a the beta. Enjoy, cauuuuse it'll be few an far between till you get your base set up."

TYler had his dinner in the oven and brought his supplies to the basement before pulling out the futon, finding it to be a king sized monster with memory foam everything. Tyler retrieved his dinner, sat in the extremely comfy recliner with a table before him and smiled.

"Alright. I'm safe enough for a chat people."

as if they'd been waiting with baited breath for the nod, the ping appeared and Sarah was on the other end of the videocall. Tyler smiled as he waved the two liter at her.

"evenin Merica! In yo FACE!"

Sarah smiled her professional smile.

"Are we safe enough to continue where we left off, Goreleech?"

"It should be quiet fo the next five minutes. So who's up?"

The anchor smiled.

"We will start at the beginning. The Shadow wraith."

Tyler chuckled as he munched.

"I FUCKING hate them things."

"Is because of their COLOR?"

"KINDA. Them things are next to invisible in dimly lit to dark areas, ALWAYS ATTACK FROM BEHIND, and appear when it'd irritate you the most. Plus, if the get the drop on you, they are UNGODLY fast too. A SWARM of them, is a near death sentence if you DO NOT see it coming."

Sarah looked at him.

"A few viewers were wondering if you were a rascist due to the hate portrayed to the colored zombie."

"Ha. I'm an asshole. Good enough."

He munched on his pizza as Sarah moved to the next question.

"There is CHILD PORN inside the game world, Tyler?"

"Oh of course there is. And it's all digitally generated too. NO LIVING PEOPLE, took part in it's creation. But it is as REAL as if it were."

She blinked.

"The material you recovered was created by a computer?"

"Pretty much. And it's IDENTICAL to how it would be out there."

"How disturbing."

"Least it was HUMAN ON HUMAN this time."

"Oh my god."

"Yeah. It gets FUCKED in here."

Sarah shivered.

"A question was submitted by a viewer regarding the airweight pistol. Your thoughts on the quality?"

Tyler shrugged.

"eh. it's not my speed it'll do the job. It's a pure starter and backup revolver in it's entirety."

"what is your current goal?"

Here he crossed his arms.

"For the time being I'll be keeping it stealthy and as quiet as I can. I need supplies, weapons, and gear for long treks. So I'll be roaming alot looking for fresh towns. Once I DO find what i'm looking for, it's on to step two. Pick out a plot and claim it. It'd need to be somewhere with easy access to raw materials like wood, in spitting or less distance of a town or city, and this last one is optional. Is in an easy to defend area. Once I got my plot, it's on to step three. And that is BUILD. I'll build my base and start branching out further and further from it. Step 4....is start back at step one and do it all over again."

Sarah nodded.

"Where did you learn to craft the glass mace?"

"Magyver."

She chuckled.

"A classic. And now we've reached the portion of the interview where we open up the comments for you to interact with, Goreleech."

A second screen appeared and Tyler noted it as a lifestream panel for him to customize the chat and how the stream worked. He smirked and spent fifteen minutes setting up the stream until he hit the open button. Nearly immediately a mass of comments appeared and the screen was filled. He whistled.

"Slow down people, i can't read that fast. and my jokes DO NOT suck! I am FUCKING hilarious I dunno what you're talkin about."

A comment in gold appeared before his eyes,

"Are you going to kill other players?"

He shrugged.

"eventually, Broncsking555. Playerhunting is a VERY lucrative venture and is HIGHLY entertaining."

A second gold comment appeared,

"What's the most dangerous zombie type you've encountered?"

"Ooooh, good one, Index333. The most dangerous I've encountered would have to be the dragon. It's about the size of an aircraft carrier, is made up of bodies, and does breathe fire. It's a zombie dragon made from the bodies of humans and other zombies. That thing is a GOD. It tanked a NUKE to the FACE. The beta had 1,000,000 players. And it took us ALL to kill it. And we STILL lost more then 75% of our force. I, was among the survivors and was one of the ten that dealt the killing blow. On death, it explodes, and drops 15 TONS of the RAREST loot in the game. It's NAME....is Blackskull. And it appears at random. Thankfully, it is a peaceful monster that will only attack if provoked, or hungry. 9 times out of ten you see it, it will leave you in peace. And you have to be level 25 for it to consider you food. BUT. Take a SHOT at it, and it WILL react. no matter WHAT level you are."

The chat was quiet for a few minutes as tyler talked and whe he stopped, the teenager pulled the two liter and sighed as he took a swig.

"I don't know HOW or WHY they chose this game to the experiment in. I really DON'T. There is some deep, DARK shit in here. Some of it still gives me nightmares. and i don't even dream most a the time. Zombies aren't the only things in here. NOR are they the most fucked up."

He shivered.

"There are creatures down there. Monsters that haunt the dark places where even I fear to tread. And those monsters are STRONG. Some can tank a direct hit from a bunker buster bomb. Others....like the feel of the living. And when they scream. And when they impregnate them. MOSt often against their will. You people had BETTER buckle up. For we are going into the depths of hell. And you will witness the depravity of the demons themselves.....FIRST HAND."

He looked at the still silent chat with haunted eyes.

"It is not the things above ground I fear. It is what I cannot see, in the DARK PLACES, that give me nightmares. I invite you, to come with me on my journey. And look the devil's favorite minions in the eye."

He smirked and let out a dark chuckle.

"I hope you bring enough bullets."

He took a drink from his two liter and the spell was broken as the chat was still for a SOLID ten minutes as the dark speech and story sank in. Then a flood of awed replies and exclamations of fear were seen. Tyler chuckled as he watched the racing messages.

"Like i said. Welcome to hell. Please enjoy your stay."

Sarah appeared witj a distinct look of nerves in the face of Tyler's intense speech.

"THAT was INTENSE, Goreleech. The next interview will be scheduled for tomorrow night?"

He shrugged.

"Or whenever I find a suitable bunker to hole up in, Sarah. LoD can be unpredicatable at the best of times."

The anchor smiled.

"Now a viewer question. What weapon are you MOST looking forward to aquiring?"

Tyler whistled at this one.

"DAMN. okay that's a good one. There's every weapon from every country in this game and all of em are viable for one reason or another. My PARTICULAR favorite is the SPAZ12 12 bore combat shotgun. That thing is MY go to shotty for a zombie apocolypse. Why? CLEVER GIRL. But the gun i'm MOST looking forward to pickin up this time round? I'll say the Kar98K german bolt action rifle from WWII. I found one at the end a the beta and was a LOTTA fun to set up on a rooftop and plink zombies all day."

Sarah smiled.

"An old relic indeed. WHY a NAZI Germany weapon?"

"Cause those bastards knew how to make a damn good gun. And be honest, I seek out weapons from the war. At a BASE they have a higher durability, are simplier to maintain, and hell. I could MAKE a Kar ovef a FIRE with an OAK tree. And since every platform is already tried and tested in an ACTUAL WAR, you know you can rely on them more then most modern day firearms."

He looked at a clock on the wall in the screen.

"I got time for two more fore I gotta crash people. I gotta lotta walkin in the mornin."

sarah smiled.

"What AMERICAN guns are you looking forward to, Tyler?"

"M1 Garand. that FUCKING ping. ONLY reason....and the Browning Automatic Rifle. why? Cause it hits like a truck and I can BEAT zombies to death with it."

She looked at the last question.

"The last question for the night. Are there any celebrities you look to as inspiration?"

TYler smirked.

"Oh plenty. Annnd none of em are real."

She smiled.

"They are not real?"

"I am a loud and proud weeb. Or anime buff. MY icons, are ANIME characters. NO ONE does stories or characters WORTH A DAMN, like Japan does. Why do ya think I use a BAT? Highschool a the Dead, Muthafucka. Takashi is a dingbat."

He chuckled ad sarah nodded.

"I am SURE there will be much to discuss Tyler. For now, this has been Sarah anders, fox news."

Tyler closed the videocall and smiled as he went to the bed.

"Those poor bastards have no idea what's heading their way. And THIS TIME I am NOT going into the Underdark."

He took his shirt off and slid the airweight revolver under the pillow as he laid on the king sized monster with a groan. The teenager smiled as he got comfy.

"Sahh it's good to be home!"