After everyone took a moment to process the weight of what I said, Miranda finally spoke up readying her rifle, "How do we know you won't turn into something like what's been hunting us?"
"I guess you don't, but whatever this is has made me stronger and has let me kill two of those things. If it means we have even the smallest increase in the chance of making it out of this alive, isn't it worth the risk?" I ask waiting for their reply.
After quietly deliberating amongst themselves they finally agree to let me live.
"Alright, how do you suggest we get out of this station?" Miranda asks slowly lowering her rifle and allowing me to turn around.
"Well, the first thing I noticed is these bastards are quick, squirrelly, and like to ambush but aren't afraid to chase down their prey. So I suggest we all arm up with shotguns so we don't have to worry about everyone's lack of accuracy, and traverse the station, back to back, to a back exit near the loading docks since the main door is locked." I suggest with my shotgun lowered.
"Not bad, I guess you can actually come up with a plan instead of winging it like an idiot earlier. Let's get going." Miranda says with a hint of judgment in her voice, before switching with everyone to a shotgun.
I help everyone to load their guns and make sure their safeties are off, as well as how to position and hold the gun when firing. And after a few dry fires, we're as ready to go as we'll ever be. Minus Pompous, I left him with an empty gun. Nearly blow my head off once, shame on you. Nearly blow my head off twice? Still shame on you! Seriously, stop nearly blowing my head off!
Anyways, once we're loaded up, I give Pompous the ammunition and some spare weapons to carry around so that this scouting mission wasn't for nothing, and I lock the armory behind us as I take the key with me, and a little something extra, before looking for an emergency exit map.
Which I find near a stairwell after a few minutes of searching, luckily none of those things ambushed us in the meantime.
I motioned for everyone to watch the door as I slowly creaked it open... To reveal an empty stairwell... With no lights... Because of course there's a pitch black stairwell in this Police Station!
I give Pompous and a few other students flashlights from the armory and pray that Pompous doesn't club me in the back of the head with it... Though I'm not hopeful based on his track record.
[Ain't that the truth! ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ I'm starting to think he's more likely to kill you than any infected. lol.]
'Shut up!' I shout in my head before the sound of a door opening shocks me awake and everyone tenses up as the sounds of hurried footsteps of thick boots makes their way closer to us before a panicked police officer barges towards us....
Which terrifies one of the students with a gun... I couldn't see who, but it was already too late to shout hold your fire, as as soon as one fired, the rest let loose as well... And my method for dealing with those boney bastards was proven right... Unfortunately so for the police officer who learned the power of several shotgun blasts first hand.
[Damn... That's messy. ⊙.☉]
Unfortunately, the other students barely had a moment to process their collective overkill before the nightmare inducing clattering and skittering could be heard coming from the direction of the police officer. Causing all of us to run haphazardly down the darkened stairway before finally reaching the basement that will lead us to the Police Station's loading dock.
And it's just our luck, someone locked the door into the stairway blocking our way forward with everyone panicking as the clicking speeds ever closer down the stairway. In a moment of desperation, I place the barrel of my shotgun against the lock and pull the trigger.
And with a now open door, I barely feel the sting of one of the pellets ricocheting back and tearing into my right arm as we all shove ourselves through the damaged door and barricaded what remained of the door with several heavy-looking filing cabinets that seemed to be set aside in the hallway as extra storage.
The creature starts crashing against the makeshift barricade causing everyone to begin panicking. But my face goes blank as I receive an unexpected notification.
[Impromptu Quest Generation Complete]
[Quest Completed]
[Quest Conditions]
[Host's minions eliminate a possible threat to the host's safety.]
[Reward Calculation Complete]
[System Reward Override Authorization Accepted]
[Reward: Gene Modification {Regeneration - Baseline}]
[Does the Host wish to activate the quest reward? Yes/No/Later]
(Pima? What's this? When did I complete a quest and what's this about minions?)
[Just shut up and accept the damn reward! That barricade won't hold long and I've maxed out my system authority so you better survive this or I'm gonna-]
A bright red screen interrupts her.
[System-Host Interface Theris flagged for improper use of system authority. The system's higher functions will temporarily be offline while this matter is resolved. Thank you for your understanding and we wish you a pleasant day.]
(What the fuck is going on?!) I shout in my head before time starts to speed up back to normal, and the sounds of those skeletal zombies banging against our barricade can be heard as I am left with a choice.
[Does the Host wish to activate the quest reward? Yes/No/Later]
(As annoying as Pima can be at times... They've rarely steered me wrong yet... And whatever they did to get me this reward must have been important, to get them in this much trouble. Fuck it!) I click yes, as I feel the barricade at my back start to give way as everyone nearby scrambles to find anything to reinforce it. I'm greeted by a pale blue light that makes me almost cackle like a madman.