The World of the Dead (A Zombie Survival Quest)

[pyroflare77]

You decided against dealing with however many of the dead were trapped in that room, which from the looks of it just seemed to be another bedroom of sorts. You proceeded to search the rest of the house for any useful supplies that you could take with you.

One thing that definitely pleased you was that the previous family had water bottles in their fridge. You wrinkled your nose at the stench of spoiled food, but quickly grabbed the bottles and placed them in your backpack, also adding some more canned food to it along with a spoon to make it easy to eat from the cans. While you were here, you also scarfed down a can of peaches you found in the home.

You didn't expect to find any clothes that fit you in the bedroom available to you, but at least you found a working flashlight. In the bathroom there were various toiletries and towels that were useless to you or would take up too much space in your backpack. You did find a bottle of painkillers, which could come and handy. And a roll of toilet paper sure beat the hell out of using leaves.

You certainly felt more stocked up now. You were confident that you could last a few days out there in the wild without having to stop somewhere else. There were plenty of other things in the house, but you either couldn't see much reason to bring them or because it would make your backpack too full. It was already getting filled up... you could fit a few more things in there, but who knows if you would find something soon that could fill it up?

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: Full
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] Keep the backpack space open and head out.

[] Keep the backpack space open and search a few more homes to see if you could find something really useful.

[] Try and eke a few more things in (write in what you'd want to take, considering what's in a common home.)

 

[pyroflare77]

When things are mostly improv and you can't think of anything but when you do, it turns out a lot shorter than expected.

---

It was time to hit the road. It was a long way to Pattaya, but following the main routes would lead you straight to the city. The main issue was how to follow these routes...

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: Full
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] Follow the highway completely. It's not like there would be a risk of getting ran over due to the clutter of abandoned vehicles.

[] Shadow the main routes so that you're always nearby but not directly on the highway. It felt like the safer idea.

[] Try and find a map to take back roads. The less dead you have to deal with, the better, even if the trip may take longer.

[] You can't really make this decision until you see how the roads are first hand.

 

[pyroflare77]

You might as well see how the roads were before you made your decision on how to travel up the country. It was a few miles away to Route 41 from your current location, and hopefully you would have good fortune and be able to not only get there safely but also be able to traverse the highway.

You slipped out the window and quickly darted to the trees before any of the zombies around you took notice. Carefully you proceeded while avoiding open spaces and keeping quiet. It was unnerving navigating through these dead-infested areas, but you kept your cool and pressed forward.

You kept an eye open for any gas stations as you got closer to the highway, because you could certainly use a map for the times you would be forced off the road. Your thoughts were soon drowned out by several hungry moans. You panicked for a bit until you realized the dead still didn't know where you were. There was about ten to twenty of them surrounding a car, futilely shaking it and beating on it. Was someone in danger?

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: Full
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low (Rising)
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] Try and lure the zombies away from the car so you could see what's inside.

[] Time to crack some heads.

[] This was far too dangerous. Leave them be.

 

[pyroflare77]

There was no way that you could leave whatever was in that car alone until you were sure that it wasn't alive. You've seen these monsters go after corpses if there wasn't anything living around. It was risky to grab the attention of so many, but it was just something you had to do.

You put your fingers to your lips and made a sharp, prolonged whistle. As soon as the zombies started to turn their heads towards the source of the sound, you moved elsewhere, making sure to stay within the brush. Some of them started to peel away from the car while some remained fixated on what was inside. Regardless, you could see a man perk up from inside the car, peeking outside the recently vacated driver seat window in confusion.

He was alive. He needed to be rescued.

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: Full
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low (Rising)
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

*Critical Decision*

[] Fight the zombies that came to your whistle.

[] Ignore the zombies you lured away and fight those near the car.

[] Reveal yourself and make even louder noises to enable the man to leave his vehicle.

[] Look for a nearby building first to get a safe place to lure the dead away.

 

[pyroflare77]

Engaging this many dead would just likely get you overwhelmed and consumed. The greatest advantage people had over them was keeping a cool head and being able to outsmart them and lure them away. This was exactly what you were going to do. But first you needed to find the place you were going to lure them to. Just leading them away would never work: they had to be closed inside a building or they'd be on your tail in no time.

So you began to look around for a nearby building to corral the dead into. Hopefully the man would keep a cool head and stay in the car. It was the only way for him to stay safe for the time being. You left your hidden spot in the brush and moved down a hill towards some buildings you saw in the distance. No doubt there would be more dead down here, for they were always ever-present.

Sure enough, heading to far to the left or right would be a bad idea based on the number of walking corpses in the vicinity, but there were two immediate locations before you that seemed like an ideal place to lure the dead around the car. One was a standard house that had been broken into, and the other was a small convenience store that had a few zombies roaming in front of it. The house looked safer, but the convenience store may have a map inside...

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: Full
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low (Rising)
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] Play it safe and investigate the home.

[] Look for the map in the convenience store.

 

[pyroflare77]

The convenience store's location was far too... well, convenient, to pass up. With the highway journey looming before you, this was the best shot at getting a map of the country before you set foot on the road. The man in the car would just have to remain patient as you took care of this. There were just a few problems visible shambling outside the store, and who knows how many were in the store's depths, but you couldn't see any of the dead through the broken windows.

This had to be a quick smash and grab job before you corralled the zombies back towards the store. Leading them into the store probably wasn't a good idea because of its size, and you doubted that there would be another way out other than the front door. Hopefully you would find the map easy enough.

You calmly walked up to the store, composing yourself for the coming fights. The two preta in your way were an elderly woman and a thin young man-- hardly anything that would put up much resistance. But you knew not to ever underestimate these creatures. Their grabbiness could always provide trouble and their impossible pain tolerance meant your blows had to strike true to crumple them.

The two zombies growled as they noticed your approach. You simply made a light jog over to the old woman and delivered a flying knee straight into her jaw. You heard her teeth loudly clack together as her mouth was forcefully shut from the blow, and she flew back and down to the ground. The man came at you from the side, and you baited him by extending one of your arms before spinning around and delivering an elbow slash to the unprotected side of his head. You wasted no time seeing him fall to the ground as you walked into the store.

You heard a few more zombies fussing at your sudden entry from the back of the store, but fortunately it did not take long to find what you came here for. You threw your backpack on the counter and quickly unzipped it before cramming the map in there and zipping it back up. You walked out of the store, kicking the man in the head as he slowly tried to get up to knock him to the ground once more.

You ran back to the car before the zombies near the store could follow you or draw the attention of more of the nearby dead. It looked like your former distraction had no lasting power, because the mob of zombies had surrounded the car once more, uselessly slapping their arms against it. Now how were you going to get all of their attentions?

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: High
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low (Rising)
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, map, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] Whistling worked before, but you'd probably have to do it multiple times from different angles.

[] Quietly walk out and wave your arms around to silently get their attention. They still had peripheral vision, right?

[] Find a rock and chuck it at one of their heads.

[] Perhaps shouting would get them all to you quickly?

 

[pyroflare77]

You looked around for something, anything you could use to gain their attention without being loud and potentially drawing in zombies from elsewhere. You did see a few small rocks around... they weren't too small like pebbles, but their size still left things to be desired.

You picked up one of the stones and chucked it on top of the car. It had a small metal thud and rolled off, but this didn't gain the attention of any of the dead. They were probably too stupid to realize the rock came from your direction... maybe that would change if you nailed one in the head.

You picked up another rock and threw it indiscriminately at the general height level of the crowd, since you didn't feel like assaulting any dead children if you could avoid it. The rock hit a man in the head, and he turned towards your direction. You couldn't stop now, or else he would just turn back towards the car.

You began rapidly picking up rocks and throwing them in the direction of the car. So long as you hit one of the zombies, they seemed to react to it. Thankfully, other zombies on the side of the car closest to you began following the few heading your direction. Unfortunately, the zombies on the other side of the car were completely oblivious to anything other than the man inside.

With an infrequent but steady stream of stones, you began to lure the zombies towards the street you just came from, throwing a final stone into the convenience store for good measure to hopefully lure some of them inside. You didn't stick around to corral them any further, but you at least got a good distance between them and the car.

You ran back to the car and stepped into view of the once again confused man inside of the car. The remaining zombies were all crowded around the passenger side of the car, so he opened the door and quickly ran out of the car, tugging a backpack along with him. You called him over with your hands and the two of you quickly moved through the brush to lose the few zombies that just realized that their canned food had escaped the container.

"I think we lost them," you said as you looked behind you after some time. You weren't exhausted, but the man was panting from having ran.

"Oh, thank the heavens..." the man finally said. "My car broke down and I was trapped in there for three days..."

Was there anything you wanted to ask the man?

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: High
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low (Falling)
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, map, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] Write in.

 

[pyroflare77]

"I am Kanasanan," you said with a polite smile. "What is your name and what did you do before all of... this?"

"I'm Budin..." the man said, "...I was managing my store when all of this madness started."

You kept an eye and ear out for any sudden signs of danger, but for now, things seemed safe where you were. "Did you travel from Route 4?"

"Yes... the road was getting cluttered with abandoned vehicles, so I started to take a side road when my car suddenly broke down. I would have died if you didn't come and save me."

"Where were you heading to?"

"Singapore. I heard it's actually safe there... please, do you have anything to drink or eat? I'm starving..." he said lowly.

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: High
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low (Falling)
Equipment: Eight cans of food, four water bottles, combat knife, map, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] Give him a can of food and a water bottle.

[] Your paths diverge here. Bid him farewell.

 

[pyroflare77]

It did not even cross your mind to not help Budin. You set down your backpack and opened it, riffling through the contents until you produced a water bottle and a can of food. You handed the bottle to Budin, who snatched it from your hands and quickly opened it before practically pouring the whole thing down his throat.

While he drank, you took the knife and cut open the lid on the can of pasta, handing it to Budin as he scarfed down the contents.

"Thank you so much..." Budin said lowly, looking somewhat embarrassed of his gluttonous actions. You zipped up your backpack and slung it over your back once more. "Are you going to Singapore, too?" he added.

You shook your head. "I'm afraid not. My wife and daughter are waiting for me in Pattaya."

"R-really? I heard that city is a walking graveyard! You know they are safe?"

You did not know. You had brought no phone with you, and had no opportunity to locate one until right now. But would a cellular device even have batteries remaining at this point? But... of course they were safe. They had to be safe.

"Yes, I do," you said. The thought crossed your mind that they might have heard that Singapore would be safe, but it was probably too dangerous for them to get too far from your home. They would not be there.

"I see. That's great. I wish you all the best... but..."

"Yes?"

"Perhaps you can accompany me for a bit? Now that my car is shot, I'm planning on finding a boat and sailing along the coast down the Singapore. I can find you a boat, too, and you can sail up to Pattaya."

You had little idea of how to operate a boat, but it's not like you would be going out into the ocean. Sailing alongside the beaches sounded doable for sure... but there was no guarantee that a boat would be found. This could end up being a waste of time...

Kanasanan:
Health: Full
Stamina: High
Sustenance: High
Stress: Low
Equipment: Seven cans of food, three water bottles, combat knife, map, three candles, matchbox, lighter, deck of playing cards, spoon, flashlight, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of painkillers.

[] You would continue on foot.

[] Sure, go with Budin to find a boat.