There is something you should know about me. I am very lazy. That's not to say that I am useless. No, the opposite is true. Once I start something, I will sure as hell finish it.
The problem comes whenever you try to get me to start something... Because I will do everything in my power to procrastinate and generally waste time.
Since I was young, there was only one person who could make me do something I didn't want to. And I ran away from him to another country when I started university.
And, when I set eyes upon the monstrous cat, a minor dilemma presented itself to me.
Should I be true to my lazy self and go look for another car? Not bothering fighting the cat, which would surely be dangerous and possibly life-threatening.
But then, I would have to spend more time searching for a new car, which I don't want to do.
Or, should I just... Kill it?
I quietly slunk away from the car, careful not to make any overt sounds that might wake the sleeping beast.
Moving quietly down the empty street, I made my way to the rest of the group. They had gone to look for supplies while I searched for the car and I remembered which house they had entered.
Coming to a stop in front of a dilapidated bungalow, I looked around carefully, checking I wasn't followed.
When I was sure it was safe, I stepped over the fallen garden gate and walked up the cracked cobble path to the house.
Its roof had sunken, sagging inwards slightly and roof tiles were scattered about in the front garden.
Usually, I would just cut across the grass to get to the front door of these sorts of houses, the problem was that I might need a machete to get through this grass.
The garden itself was massively overgrown. Grass towered at over half a meter in height and weeds and flowers larger than any I'd ever seen peppered the overgrown garden. It looked almost like someone had cut a chunk out of the rainforest and placed it here.
While I walked down the overgrown path to the front door, I smelt something familiar coming from the house.
The smell drifted through the still air of the quiet suburban street. Almost casting a spell on me. I knew this smell like the back of my hand. It was familiar and yet distant and strange.
When I pushed open the front door of the house, it creaked eerily on its broken hinges, almost falling off completely. And a wave of the smell wafted out, hitting me dead in the face.
In a flash, I ran down the halls, straight into the kitchen. The lights were off, so the kitchen was being painted in a strange reddish hue by the faint sunlight that streamed through the windows.
At the stove, a gas fire flickered, heating a pot that simmered and bubbled, releasing an enchanting smell through its half-open lid.
My stomach growled restlessly, betraying my hunger and eagerness to eat what Kashyap was cooking.
He wasn't making anything crazy, like rat meat stew or something. Thankfully, it hadn't come to that yet. Although most fridges had stopped working due to the power being cut off. That didn't mean that all food was useless.
Case and point, one of my long term companions over my first month of university. Baked beans are practically the perfect food for those who don't know how to cook... and those that have no refrigeration. Originally, I fitted into only the first category, but now I can say I am a proud member of both.
"Do you need any help?" I asked Kashyap eagerly. I was looking forward to showing off by cooking the only food I knew how to.
He shook his head and gestured towards the adjacent living room. There, Kyle was slumped over a couch, asleep. His face was scrunched up and he twisted about restlessly. It must not have been a peaceful sleep.
But then again, with what he had experienced, could you really expect sweet dreams after such a tremendous upheaval in your life.
I wanted to dive onto the sofa and join him in resting, it had been an exhausting day after all. But, before I could, August's footsteps creaked out from a room at the end of the hallway.
When I caught sight of him, I was shocked to find that his face looked a little pale, he almost looked sickly. 'Ah, so his crazed actions have finally caught up with him,' I thought.
But I couldn't have been more wrong.
I tried to greet him, but he raised one finger to his lips, shushing me. His finger was shaking violently and combined with his pale face he looked ghostly.
He gestured for me to follow him back down the corridor, into the room he had just come out of. And I quietly followed him to the entrance of the room.
When he had left the room the first time, he had closed the door tightly behind himself. And it was in front of this door that we came to a stop.
In a quiet, raspy voice, he pulled me close and whispered to me. "Have you ever seen a dead body,"
Taken aback, I tried to pull away, but his grip was tight, like a vice and he wouldn't let go. He just looked back and forth between me and the closed door.
"Why do you think I would have seen something like that?" I hissed quietly.
August shrugged and thought about it for a second, "You just seem to be taking this whole apocalypse thing very calmly, and the way you kill rats is too calm, too calculated, almost like you've done it before."
I was slightly shocked because he wasn't wrong. I had seen a dead body before, not that I had killed it. So in the end, I nodded begrudgingly, "I have seen one... but only once," I said to him quietly.
August nodded solemnly and looked me in the eye intently, "You know what's behind this door... right?"
"Yeah," I said glumly.
"Ok, then don't look. It's... really bad." He said seriously.
We both stood quietly beside the door, each one waiting for the other to make a move. In the end, it was August who spoke first, "Don't let Kyle in here no matter what, I don't like the guy much, but he doesn't need to see this right now."
We both nodded again and returned to the kitchen, where Kashyap was busy making food. He pottered about from around the kitchen, since the electricity wasn't working he was forced to use a small gas camping stove we had found in the shed outside.
The first meal I ate in the apocalypse wasn't some exotic monster meat or precious herb that could grant me enlightenment. It was beans on toast. The beans were burnt by the shoddy gas cooker and the toast was nothing more than stale bread we found in the kitchen.
Perhaps because of the intense fighting and long walk, this was the best meal I had had in my entire life. When I swallowed the scalding hot mouthful, an intense heat blossomed from the bottom of my stomach.
I didn't care that I had just burned my mouth because it felt too good. At that moment, I wouldn't have traded the beans on toast for ambrosia.
When we finished eating, we didn't bother washing the plates. Kashyap looked like he was about to, but I just threw mine out of a smashed window. It spun gracefully like a Frisby, disappearing over a nearby hedge.
August and Kyle followed suit, and then even Kashyap joined in. Anyone in a nearby house would have had to watch out in case a dirty plate hit them on the side of the head as they played in their gardens... not that anyone was playing in their gardens anymore.
After throwing the plate, Kashyap looked thoughtfully at his hand and tensed his forearm, "That went way further than I had expected," He muttered to himself.
"Same," Kyle said, "I don't think I've ever been able to throw something that far before."
"It should have something to do with the system," August chimed in. "I've reached level 8 and I feel twice as strong as I used to."
Kyle looked curiously at August, "What was your strength when you first opened the system?" He asked.
"Why?" August asked suspiciously.
"Just wondering," Kyle said nonchalantly.
I could almost see the gears in August's head-turning as he looked for the hidden joke. When he didn't find what he was looking for, he could only answer honestly, "I had 8 strength,"
"Hah!" Kyle shouted with a wild grin, "Mine was 9, tough guy."
August shrugged, playing it off like he wasn't bothered, "What does it matter? I have more strength than you do now. What level were you again? 3?"
Kyle still smiled smugly, "6 actually. So think about it for a second. No matter what, when we reach the same level, I will always have one more strength than you."
August went quiet for a second, thinking this through, "Not if I change my stat configuration," He finally said.
"What's that?" I asked, butting in.
"It's the little message that shows up when you level up. You know, the [Stats distributed evenly according to preset settings.]" August said.
I nodded, I did remember seeing that in my messages.
"Well, you should be able to change those settings, right?" August said.
Before I could say anything, Kyle cut me off, "I'll just put all 4 stat points per level into strength then." He said smugly.
August grimaced, "Don't you dare," he said lowly.
"Just watch me," replied Kyle.
Thus, we spent the rest of the afternoon, fruitlessly trying to figure out a way to change the preset settings of the system.