I can't help but smile at Nancy’s take-charge attitude. I'll have to remember not to give out orders. After all, this isn't my family. It may be difficult not to default into ‘boss mode’ because my sister is about Nancy’s age.
Each sibling moves into their assigned position and starts to walk along the road. Nancy quickly outpaces her brothers as she jogs to the abandoned cars, looking inside each for scavengable items. Frank, on the left side of the road, scans for danger and signs of other people.
Joe, short for a 14-year-old, moves to the right side of the road near the forest and mimics his brother, scanning as he walks. I have to jog a little to catch up with the kid.
“Joe, is it? I'm Anthony.” I hold my hand out for him to shake. His bowl-shaped sandy blonde hair swings as he turns to look at me. Seeing my outstretched hand, he shakes it and smiles at me.
“Hey, Anthony. Nice to meet you.” He sneaks a look at his sister Nancy then turns back to me. “We shouldn't talk so loud though. Nancy will get mad if we make too much noise.”
I lower my voice to a whisper and ask him, “Does your sister always take charge like this?”
The kid smiles at me, and I see that he has a gap between his two front teeth that makes his smile extra charming. “Yeah, she's always bossy like this when Mom and Dad aren't around.” He glances to see if his sister can hear him. Then adds with a slight giggle, “I call her Nagging Nancy when she can't hear.”
I have to stifle my laughter at the kid’s nickname for his sister. I wonder if Marie has a similar nickname for me. Maybe when I'm not around, she calls me ‘Argumentative Anthony’ or ‘Too Tough On Me Tony.’
We travel down the road for about an hour before Frank finds human tracks leading into the forest. During that hour, Nancy has found a purse, an assortment of nuts and bolts, a first-aid kit, a baseball bat, and a large canteen. Joe has scavenged some berries, and I have made an improvised weapon out of a fallen branch. One thing that the Zelda Mario dungeon taught me was that anything could be a weapon.
The stats on the weapon aren't great. It does one damage and has a durability of 10, but it's better than not having a weapon at all.
When Frank finds the tracks that lead into the forest, he calls out, and we all walk over to him. After examining the tracks for herself, Nancy agrees that this is probably the trail we're meant to follow. She hands the baseball bat off to Frank. Gives the empty canteen to Joe and keeps the purse, the first aid kit, and the nuts and bolts for herself. Then she orders the group to follow the trail.
These kids must have some unique tracking ability because all I see is the forest floor. Still, I follow their lead since I don't have a better idea.
We follow the trail for ten minutes before I hear an odd crying sound. I ask the group to stop, and though Nancy gives me a dirty look, the rest of the group stops. I close my eyes and listen intently. I'm about to chalk up the sound to my imagination when it repeats. Someone is crying for help ahead.
Without thought or explanation, I run ahead towards the cry for help. Crashing through some bushes, I see two people being attacked by three Zombies. A lanky black man is on the ground clutching his arm. Defending him against the zombies is a thin blonde woman wielding a knife.
I rush forward, smashing the branch in my hands over the head of one of the zombies. I see a red two floats away from the zombie. The Zombie turns towards me, and I see it's rotting visage glare at me. The flesh on its face has chunks missing as if they have fallen off and one of its eyeballs hangs from its eye socket. The creature shuffles forward and takes a swipe at me with its jagged, broken yellow nails. I move out of range of its clawed hands and avoid the attack. The undead creature continues to stumble forward, arms outstretched. I take a couple of swings at the creature, and while I do damage, it seems to shrug off the hits as it continues to move forward.
I hear a shout behind me and turn around to see Nancy, Frank, and Joe charging into the fight. The trio rushed past me and worked as a team to draw away the other zombie attacking the woman with the knife.
The few seconds it takes me to notice this almost costs me dearly as the zombie finally catches up to me and tackles me to the ground. The weight of his body presses down on me as we crash to the ground. I'm able to shove the branch against the creature's neck preventing it from tearing out my throat with its jaws. However, its sharp fingernails slash at me, causing red threes and fours to float away from me. The creature’s putrid breath is almost a weapon on its own, and I almost gag at the smell of decay. It takes me a minute to get my feet under the zombie's body and kick out, sending it flying away from me. Getting back to my feet, I see the zombie on the floor struggling to get up. Taking advantage of the creature’s position, I repeatedly hit the zombie with the branch in my hands, until the branch breaks. With no weapon, I improvise and stomp on the creature until it stops moving.
You’ve defeated a Zombie Shambler, level 5. You receive 25 XP.
I ignore the notification and look around to make sure the other zombies are taken care of. Nancy and her brothers have already taken care of their zombie and are helping the woman with a knife deal with the last one. With one last crack of the bat, Frank finishes off the zombie, and it falls to the ground dead. Well, dead again.
The immediate threat gone, I take a moment to catch my breath and check out my health. I'm down to 120/150. Ouch. If one zombie can do that much damage, I can only imagine what a group of them will do. I need a better weapon. Maybe something ranged. Thoughts of wielding a crossbow like Daryl pass through my mind. I can be the badass crossbowmen of the group. Well, except that I don't know how to use a crossbow, and I don't think I can pull off the biker look.
While I pull my mind from thoughts of becoming a zombie-killing badass, Nancy is treating the wounds of the two people. The man on the floor has his left arm wrapped in gauze, and the blond woman sits next to him, holding his right hand. While everyone is distracted, I use Absorb on the zombie next to me.
Absorb has failed to capture the essence of the defeated foe. Please try again.
Drat. I bet these zombies have some cool abilities too. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to try again.
While the two new people are distracted, I use inspect on them.
Suzie - NPC
Health 24/30
Suzie is a southern bell that is protective of her family and is a valuable member of the survivor group. Wife to Thomas.
Thomas - NPC
Health 19/30
Thomas was an IT consultant before the Zombie Apocalypse. Now he’s struggling to make sense of the brutal place the world has become. Husband to Suzie.
Oh, so they're NPCs not Users. Also, they have health bars, which means that they could be killed. No Bueno if these are the people we’re supposed to escort. Even though I already know their names, it’s only polite to introduce yourself.
I walk up to the sitting couple and kneel down to speak to them. “Hi, I'm Anthony. What's your name?”
The blonde woman looks up and answers in a southern accent, “Hi, I'm Suzie, and this is my husband, Thomas. Thank you for saving us.”
Nancy, finished bandaging up their wounds, says, “You two out by yourselves in the woods seems dangerous. What are you doing out here?
Suzie looks slightly embarrassed but answers, “Yes, it was a little foolish of us to be out here alone, but we didn't have much choice. The group we were with was running out of food quickly. We left to try and find help or more supplies. Will you come and help us?”