I put enough distance between me and the creature and turn around. I use Hammer Time to launch the first hammer at the monster and score a direct hit on its head. A red 30 floats away from the creature, but it hardly seems to notice as it starts to glow red again. I dodge to the left and use Roll. Even with those abilities, I’m clipped by the passing creature and feel my right arm snap.
A piercing pain shoots through me, and I grit my teeth to stop myself from passing out from the pain. Staggering forward, I grab the hammer I dropped and look for Bob the Brute. I see him tearing his way out of one of the homes, but his charge ability has gotten him stuck in the collapsing house. I take the opportunity to use Hammer Time to lob hammers at the creature until I’ve run out of TP. Some of the hammers don’t hit, but most slam into the creature's body, causing 150 points of damage and dropping the monster's health bar to a quarter full.
The Brute finally extracts himself from the collapsed building, and I throw another hammer at the creature. While the hammer hits, without the ability Hammer Time giving it extra power, it only does 5 points of damage. The creature laughs at the pitiful amount of damage I do as it strides towards me.
A quick glance around tells me that I shouldn’t expect any help from anyone else. All the other survivors are trying to plug the hole in the wall and fight the Shamblers trying to get through. Each zombie doesn’t have much health after coming through the traps, but there are just so many the survivors are having a hard time.
My back to the wall the survivors are trying to defend, I know my time here is almost done. A few feet from me, Bob the Brute roars, forcing me to cover my ears in pain from the sound. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice an oval-shaped object fly through the air and lodge itself into the open mouth of the roaring zombie.
Bob the Brute’s hand clutches at its throat, and it tries to stick its massively oversized fingers into its mouth to dislodge the object, but its fingers are just too big. A second later, there’s the sound of a muted explosion, and a green cloud of gas pours out of the monster’s nostrils and mouth.
I shout in joy as I realize what happened. Someone threw the last corrosive grenade into the monster's mouth. Immediately, the monster's health starts to drop as the gas melts the zombie from the inside. Bob lurches forward and searches for the person that threw the grenade. His eyes lock on someone behind me, and I turn to see Joe turn pale as the zombie takes his first step towards the boy.
I know the zombie only has seconds to live, but that’s more than enough time for him to reach up and snap Little Joe’s neck. I rush forward, swinging the hammer in my left hand with every ounce of strength that I have at the zombie's stubby legs. I hear the crunch of bone and a red seven floats away from the zombie. The Brute’s head swings towards me, and its large fist glows red.
The next thing I know, I’m flying through the air and crashing through some building. Glass and wood cut into me and when I land, and the world spins around me briefly before I pass out.
Chapter 27
When I open my eyes again, I see three sets of concerned eyes looking down at me. It takes me a moment to remember that they belong to Nancy, Fred, and Joe. I sit up quickly, unsure of where I am, the room seems to tilt with the sudden movement.
“Take it easy there. You took a pretty nasty hit to the head.” Turning slowly towards the sound of the voice, I see Juan sitting in a wooden chair, his clothes wrinkled and stained. His weathered face actually has a small smile on it for once. “We were a little worried about you when that purple creature knocked you through the building, but you pulled through ok.”
My hands massage my throbbing temples, but I ask, “What happened? The last thing I remember is going up against that big muscled zombie, Bob the Brute.”
“Yeah, you saved me, Anthony.” Little Joe says excitedly, “After I threw the grenade at the boss, it came to kill me. You jumped in and saved me.
Frank snickers and tells Joe, “Well, he just saved you from dying in the dungeon and having to respawn.” Turning to me, Frank continues, “You distracted the boss just long enough for the corrosive grenade to finish the last of the boss’s health. It then collapsed dead and plugged up the hole it made in the wall, and we were able to kill the rest of the zombies. Once the last of them were dead, we finished the quest.””
Nancy blushes slightly, puts her hand on my shoulder and continues, “Thank you for saving Joe. If you hadn’t distracted that huge zombie, he would have missed the end of the mission and lost out on a bunch of XP. Mom and Dad would have been so mad about that.”
I stare at her hand for a moment before gently removing it from my shoulder. “Uh, you’re welcome. I was just doing what anyone would do.” Speaking to Frank, I ask, “If we finished the mission, why are we still here, and where’s all the XP?”
Instead of Frank, Juan answers, “Yes. You have saved Safe Haven. The others have already picked their rewards but wanted to stay until you chose yours.”
A blue screen pops up with three different reward choices: A high damage sniper rifle with optical scope, a pump action shotgun with a detachable magazine, and a portable class B trap construction bench.
I choose the portable trap construction bench since I’m relatively sure I can purchase the first two rewards somewhere else in the real world. Once I select the bench, it materializes in front of me. It looks like a small card table with a series of circuits embedded into the surface. There are a few buttons in the bottom left corner. One turns the trap bench on, and it glows with an interface just like the other crafting bench, except this one only has two starter recipes. I guess I’ll have to unlock more by combining new components or purchasing recipes from the System. I press another button, and the card table folds itself up until it’s the size of a small laptop and I put the item in my inventory.
“Thank you for the reward, Juan.”
“It’s no problem. It’s the least I could do for one of the four Caballeros.”
Joe jumps up and down and explains. “It means we’re like four knights or something. At least that’s what Nancy says it means in English.”
Juan laughs at the boy’s excitement. “Yes, Little Joe. That’s what it means. To us survivors, you four are like valiant knights that have saved us.” Then, checking his watch, the man continues, “Well, it’s time for me to get back to repairing the wall and patching up the community. Goodbye.”
With that, the leader of the survivors leaves the small building.
“Now, that the NPC is gone. How do we get out of here and where’s all the XP we were promised?”
Little Joe laughs, “We already got the all the XP rewards. You were just knocked out. Look at your notification logs silly.”
I mentally command ‘Notification Logs, ’ and a list of the most recent notifications pops up.
Your party has defeated the boss Zombie Brute Bob, level 9. Your share is 45 XP.
Congratulations, you’ve survived the last wave of zombies.
Contribution
Trap kills312
Personal kills26
Total XP earned9030
Congratulations. You’ve reached level 8.
You’ve completed the quest - Save the Survivors - Part 3
You receive 3000 XP.
“Holly crap, that’s a ton of experience.”