“Ugh…” Erika groaned, her everything throbbing with pain. Her head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. The sound of her blood pumping filled her ears. Slowly, the cotton filling her head faded as sensation and hearing came back to her. The dull crackling of flames. The drip of something liquid falling onto stone. She felt tired. Maybe she’d just rest for a bit.
Wait. Were those footsteps? A dull click and the rasp of cloth on stone whispered from down below.
“—ssa!” A jolt of energy flooded into her limbs as she heard the zombie’s hiss. She needed to get up! She needed to fight! Ignoring her body’s protesting, Erika lurched to her feet as she opened her eyes. Her vision spun, but she could make out a dark, blurry figure speeding for her. She dropped into a fighting stance. Or tried to, but she couldn’t get her arms up fast enough before she felt strong limbs wrap around her, pinning her arms to her sides. She tried to struggle against the hold, but the grip was too tight. Fuck, she thought to herself as she mentally prepared to feel teeth biting into her flesh. But the bite never came.
“—’re alive!” A woman’s voice sobbed as she felt something wet and warm drip against her chest.
Her vision slowly cleared until she could make out a woman’s bun just below her chin, the hair black in the dim blue light. Pain shot through both of her arms as the woman hugged her and sobbed into her chest. “Ow!”
The woman released her and jumped back as if shocked, and Erika finally recognized her. Black hair tied up in a bun, the lightly tanned skin of someone who used to get a lot of sun but now spent far too long indoors, the thin and wiry frame of a gymnast or a runner. “Mary?”
Mary rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, the hammer she held narrowly missing her skull. “Y-you’re alive…” she hiccupped. “I-I thought you were dead too…” she sobbed.
Erika slumped against the stone wall as her arms slowly stopped hurting. “Yup, alive and kicking,” she grunted, slowly rotating her shoulders.
“Oh God Erika! We’re in a portal! Brandon’s dead!” Mary started to sob harder, talking fast as she described what had happened to her.
Erika barely paid attention, focusing on her own body. Her arms hurt and felt heavy, her legs too. Her back was aching like she’d been run over by a truck or tried to play full contact football against a 300 pound linebacker. But she didn’t feel any sharp pains, so nothing seemed broken at least. Wait, she had a way to check that. “Status,” she whispered, calling her power.
Name: Kira Nakamura (Alias: Erika Sato)
Age: 22
Race: Meta-Human
Power: Super System (Class F)
Available EXP: 800
Purchased Powers: Sturdy Bones (Class F)
Strength: 6
Vitality: 8
Dexterity: 8
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 9
Conditions: Mild Stab Wounds (Bandaged; Healing); Significant Bruising (Healing); Blunt Force Trauma to torso, right arm (Healing); Bruised Spine (Healing); Mild Concussion (Healing); Significant Life Drain (Regenerating); Mild Internal Hemorrhaging (Healing); Mild Dehydration; Moderate Hunger
“Fuck,” Erika muttered, seeing all the new conditions listed on her status. She needed a hospital. But she was glad to see that there were no broken bones listed. Her first purchase already proved itself worth it, even if it hurt like hell to get.
“—and then I heard a zombie and rushed up the stairs and found you just—”
“Zombie?!” Erika asked, cutting off Mary. That was when she heard it. Another set of shambling footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Fuck, Mary get behind me!” Erika moved, ignoring her aching muscles as she darted forward and grabbed Mary’s arm, pulling her up a few of the spiralling steps as another zombie came up behind her. The hilt of the knife dug into her side, reminding her that she still had a weapon. Wrapping her hand around the hilt of the knife, Erika drew the blade one handed, revealing the long, double-edged blade of the dagger she found. Holding the knife upside down, she stabbed down with the blade, piercing through the top of the zombie’s skull in a single strike.
The undead’s glowing eyes winked out as it fell, the corpse rolling back down the stairs with the sound of wet meat. A wave of heat poured out of the dagger and up her arm as Erika stumbled back, bumping into Mary who let out a startled squeak.
*Ding!* You—
Erika ignored the notification as heat spread from her arm to the rest of her body. Wherever the heat went, it seemed to ease the aches and pains she felt, like she was soaking in a hot bath. The heat seemed to focus on her neck, chest, and back, growing almost uncomfortably hot before it vanished, almost as if she imagined it. But she definitely hadn’t. Whatever just happened, she felt better than she had just a few seconds ago. Flicking her eyes to the bottom of her still open status page, she checked her conditions, her eyes widening as she read.
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Conditions: Moderate Bruising (Healing); Minor Blunt Force Trauma to torso, right arm (Healing); Minor Bruised Spine (Healing); Mild Concussion (Healing); Life Drain (Regenerating); Mild Dehydration; Moderate Hunger.
Erika touched the bandages on her neck in surprise. It didn’t hurt anymore. As if the wounds left by the meta’s claws magically vanished. In fact, reading through her conditions again, she noticed that almost everything seemed to have eased just a bit. The “significant bruising” was now moderate, the blunt force trauma and bruised spine were minor, and the life drain, whatever that was, seemed less serious. The internal bleeding remembered seeing earlier was completely gone as well. Even though she was a meta now, she didn’t have any healing or regeneration powers. Whatever just happened, it had to be related to the dagger she found. What the hell was this thing?
Sighing, Erika carefully sheathed the dagger and turned back to Mary who still had her eyes fixed on the zombie. “Are you okay?”
Mary jumped again at the attention and wiped her eyes. “I-I’m fine…”
Erika nodded. “Great, well we should get moving, the portal isn’t going to clear itself,” she said, starting down the stairs. She got just a single step before she felt hands grab her from behind and she started to turn, her hand going for her dagger before she realized it was just Mary.
“Wait!” Mary’s voice was filled with panic. “Didn’t you hear what I said earlier? We need to hide until someone comes to rescue us!”
Erika had in fact not heard what Mary said earlier, but she didn’t want to let her know that she’d been ignoring her. “It could be hours, maybe even days before anyone enters the portal and finds us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a water bottle or snacks on me, and I’m getting pretty hungry and thirsty. We should fight our way through and try to escape.” Gesturing to her body, Erika pointed at her ripped, torn, and burnt clothes. Not that she would’ve been able to hide much eve if her clothes were brand new. Women’s clothing rarely had anything useful for that. Like bagginess. Or functional pockets.
Mary rapidly shook her head, her nails biting into Erika’s arm as she gripped harder. “We can’t! There’s too many zombies in here! Brandon’s dead! Who knows who else they might have gotten! We need to hide until Freezer Burn clears the portal!”
“Freezer Burn?”
“You know, the hero that saved you! I saw his cold flames right before I found you!”
“Cold flames? You mean like those?” Erika pointed at one of the torches sitting in a small alcove lighting staircase.
“Yes! Wait… I’ve seen those torches all over the place…”
“Yup, I broke one earlier and it exploded with blue flames.”
“So… Freezer Burn isn’t here?”
“Nope, just me.”
“Fuck!”
***
“Look, you can just hide in that room I showed you,” Erika said, holding a new mace and torch in her hands. Mary followed along just behind and to the side, holding her own torch and her hammer. After Erika explained what the torches’ flames did to the undead, she was quick to claim one for herself, though she vowed not to hit anything with it, afraid of causing another explosion.
“No… it’s safer if we stick together, but don’t take too many risks! You can’t die too!”
“We’ll be fine,” Erika said, turning around a corner. And was immediately tackled by a lunging zombie that slammed her into the wall before they went tumbling, her replacement mace and the torch clattering as she lost her grip on the weapons.
The zombie growled, its jaws opening wide, but Erika jammed her arm into the undead’s neck, keeping its snapping jaws away from her throat. Somewhere to the side she could hear more zombies growling and Mary screaming. Using the stone wall as leverage, Erika shoved the zombie back with all her might, sending it stumbling into another shambling corpse as it rounded the corner with a growl. Glancing about, she saw Mary slamming her hammer into another zombie, slowly battering it down, but she didn’t have time to search for her own dropped weapon before the two other zombies were after her again. With no other choice, Erika pulled the strange dagger again and dropped back next to Mary. A quick stab into the back of the neck dropped the zombie that was attacking Mary, who frantically stabbed her torch into it, setting the undead aflame.
“We need to run!” Mary shouted, and Erika agreed. As they turned to run, Erika stopped as a she heard something coming from the gloom ahead. The rattling of armor and powerful footsteps.
“Shit,” she cursed, dropping into a fighting stance. “Something’s coming from behind, we’re pinned in.” Behind her, she could hear Mary crying.
“Not again, not again, not again,” her friend whimpered.
“Shop. Upgrades,” Erika muttered
EXP Balance: 1,000
Upgrades:
>Shop Upgrade (Class E) - Upgrade Super System Shop to Class E. Unlocks additional options. 25,000 EXP
>Strength Point (Class F) - Raise Strength Statistic by 1 point. Repeatable Purchase. Limit: 8/10. 250 EXP
>Vitality Point (Class F) - Raise Vitality Statistic by 1 point. Repeatable Purchase. Limit: 8/10. 250 EXP
>Dexterity Point (Class F) - Raise Dexterity Statistic by 1 point. Repeatable Purchase. Limit: 10. 250 EXP
>Intelligence Point (Class F) - Raise Intelligence Statistic by 1 point. Repeatable Purchase. Limit: 10. 250 EXP
>Willpower Point (Class F) - Raise Willpower Statistic by 1 point. Repeatable Purchase. Limit: 10. 250 EXP
1,000 EXP. Enough for four stat points. It wasn’t much, but she could use the extra Strength. Still, she hesitated, memories of the agonizing pain from her first purchase fresh in her head. She wasn’t sure if buying the stats would incapacitate her, but she might not have a choice but to take the risk. Cursing herself for not talking to Mary about watching over her while she bought points earlier, Erika started to focus on making the purchases, only to stop as a man’s voice boomed down the hallway.
“ Please clear a path!”
Erika slammed herself against the stone wall of the hallway, Mary doing the same a split second after her as a metal clad figure rushed past them, a well polished sword gleaming in the blue torchlight. The hero’s cape flared out theatrically as he swung his sword, a single slash beheading both of the zombies. The bodies and severed heads fell to the floor, the zombies’ jaws still moving for a few seconds before their glowing eyes went out.
*Ding!* You have defeated Zombie (Class F)! You have gained 100 EXP! Congratulations!
A booming laugh came from the armored figure as he turned around and lifted his visor, revealing a face Erika had already seen once before today. “Fear not maidens, for White Knight has arrived to rescue you!”
