"Do you speak Russian? Or maybe English?" Sergei asked the question in two different languages, after thoughtfully observing the stammering teenager in front of him.
(eng) "English? I speak little English…" spoke the younger boy.
(A/N, eng = English, fr = French, rus = Russian. It means that a certain remark is spoken in that language, it will happen only in those cases when the characters are speaking different languages in the same dialogue.)
(eng) "Thank God! What year is it?" He sighed with relief upon realizing that the connection was successfully established.
(eng) "It's 2024," the boy replied nervously, trying not to look the weird man in the eyes.
(rus) "Fuck! I was right! It's been two years!"
(eng) "Okay. Has S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2" been released yet? What about "Half-Life 3"?" Sergei wasn't really into computer games, but he has been waiting for those two to be released for a very, very long time.
(eng) "They not out…"
(rus) "Those bastards!"
(fr) "What is he saying?" Asked the older teen while the weird man was busy cursing some lazy developers.
(fr) "He asked what year it was, and if some games were released or not…"
(fr) "…I think he's insane. And why is he naked?! And that beard of his!" The older teen murmured throwing the man glances from the corner of his eyes. In the two years spent in the pod, Sergei's hair and beard grew quite a lot.
(eng) "Are there any survivor camps?"
(eng) "Yes, we be from survivor camp. It be in the Louvre." The boy answered cautiously.
(eng) "Are there a lot of people in that camp?" The bearded man asked giving teenagers the once-over. They were of medium height, skinny, dirty and quiet stinky.
(fr) "Gautier, he's asking if there are a lot of people in our camp, what should I tell him?"
(fr) "Tell him the truth. Who knows what he'll do if he learns that you deceived him? What if he punishes us?"
(fr) "Okay, brother," the younger one nodded and answered man's question: (eng) "Few thousand. We collect supplies and junk for camp."
(eng) "Without weapons?"
(eng) "We not get weapon, only camp defenders and high official's bodyguards have weapon."
(eng) "Right. What currency do you use? How can I buy or sell something?"
(eng) "Food and bullet."
(eng) "Okay, I'll escort you to your camp." Sergei told them after some thought. He already had a few interesting business ideas on his mind.
After a few minutes of walking, the teenagers led their new companion to the manhole. They encountered a few zombies on their way, but the boys knew a few tricks to distract them and escape.
The brothers tried to avoid even the slowest ones that could be bypassed easily. The younger boy explained that even the slowest ones could attract all the nearest zombies with their scream.
***
"Are you suggesting I go in there?" Sergei stood near the manhole and eyed the boys suspiciously.
"Safest way."
"Fine…"
The brothers usually traveled under the ground: they couldn't fight zombies so they would rather take the safest route even if it was the longest one. Besides, thanks to the water supply being out of work, the sewer was pretty much dry.
Luckily, they didn't have to roam the sewage system for too long, they reached the Louvre in about an hour. They crawled out of the sewers and appeared on the side of a wide road. One of Paris' oldest landmarks could be seen about a kilometer away.
"You go with us?" The younger boy asked anxiously.
"No." The man shook his head upon seeing his reflection in a nearby window: a tall, athletic man with an attractive body… But the problem was that he was absolutely naked, except for his feet that were wrapped in some pieces of cloth. And even those were now wet and stinky.
"I will find you later. Stay safe." He was really going to find them though. He almost died because of them, which in his opinion meant that they owed him. Besides it would be hard to find a doctor or someone who could read medical documents and translate them into English or Russian without their help.
He turned his back on the Louvre and headed in the opposite direction, his main concerns were some clothes and a backpack. The area around the Louvre was mostly occupied by rich people, however when the apocalypse came, money and luxury items quickly became worthless. When food and bullets became new currency, the rich became poor. Those in power were an exception of course. Judging by what the youngest of the brothers told him, the Louvre was ruled by government officials and they lived like kings.
The immediate area around the Louvre was free of zombies, criminals or stray animals of any kind, therefore all of the houses were completely looted. Seeing that, our naked hero headed in the southeast direction.
"Hm…" On his way away from the survivor camp he stumbled upon a barricade. It was made using broken cars and other debris, a simple yet effective protection from regular zombies.
Sergei climbed the barricade and gasped: the other side was swarmed by hundreds if not thousands of zombies. They wandered around chaotically and thankfully didn't notice their careless prey.
"That's why they travel through the sewers…" he whispered before returning to the safe territory.
In about an hour he finally found the spot with the fewest amount of zombies. There were three of them in fact and they were all ten to twenty meters apart from each other.
"Let's raise a little hell, shall we?" He climbed down the barricade and approached the closest zombie. Of course he ended up making a loud noise and all three of them took notice of a delicious fresh meat. One of them ran towards him with two others limping behind it, while Sergei leisurely swung around his bat, patiently waiting for his new friends.
"First one!" Sergei bashed the quickest zombie's head in one swift movement.
"Second!" The second zombie finally limped closer, only to be hit in the head as well.
"And the last one! But not least ha-ha…" The third zombie was limping quite badly and moved at a snail's speed, thus Sergei was forced to go get it instead, in order to put it out of its misery.
"This thing's quite heavy. How much do you weigh? Four kilos? Five?" Sergei observed his bat that was covered with brain matter.
It was heavier than a regular bat, but seemingly sturdier.
He felt fatigue in his hands upon killing those zombies. If he would be forced to kill 10 or more of those things he would tire himself out on the eighth one and probably become an easy prey even for a crippled zombie…
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ACCUMULATED ENOUGH EXPERIENCE POINTS AND ATTAINED LEVEL 2. YOU RECEIVE 2 STAT POINTS.
"Status!" Sergei whispered excitedly. It would've been stupid to speak louder considering a bunch of zombies wandering in the distance, he attracted enough attention already.
LEVEL: 2
EXP: 0/10
STAT POINTS: 2
STAMINA POINTS (SP): 4/8
MAGIC POINTS (MP): 10/10
STATS:
STRENGTH: 11 (14)
DEXTERITY: 9 (11)
STAMINA: 8 (10)
DURABILITY: 13
MAGIC: 10
SKILLS:
HAVEN
"Hm… My stamina points are the lowest. So I'll place all of my points in stamina! I have enough strength to one-shot those bastards but I lack dexterity and stamina." He thought out loud as per usual.
After placing 2 points in stamina he immediately felt much better. His latest kills gave him four survivor's coins and one egg that weirdly looked like a Kinder Surprise…
THE EGG OF REWARD - UNWRAP IT, EAT THE CHOCOLATE AS AN ENCOURAGEMENT AND OPEN THE CONTAINER: YOUR REWARD IS INSIDE. IF THE CONTAINER IS EMPTY - YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK.
"Sounds like a bullshit… Hmm, this chocolate is so delicious!" If System says that something is edible then that's how it is. Without much thought Sergei unwrapped the chocolate egg and ate it. Inside was a plastic container with a pair of tiny shoes in it.
THE PACKAGED REWARD - TO UNPACK IT SIMPLY THINK ABOUT THE REWARD WHILE HOLDING IT IN YOUR HANDS.
The message appeared the second he took the shoes out of the container. Looking at the mini shoes he thought about unpacking them and they were instantly replaced with their enlarged version. They turned out to be dark-brown leather hiking boots.
LEATHER BOOTS, GIVE +2 TO STRENGTH WHEN WORN.
"What a luck! And plus two points to strength! Nice! Equipment of a highest level!" Our hero happily celebrated his good luck, without realizing how mistaken he was…
He quickly removed dirty wraps, wiped his feet on nearest zombie's clothes and put on his brand new boots.
It's been such a long time since his feet felt this comfortable, he couldn't help but moan in pleasure when his tired feet felt warm and comfy.
"Arghhh…"
"Grruhhh…"
Growling sounds interrupted Sergei from admiring his new shoes. Two female zombies came out of a nearby building.
"You want my new shoes huh?! Well fuck you!"
The undead ladies weren't fast but ended up attracting other zombies in the area with their displeased growls and Sergei found himself surrounded by another six hungry monsters. Some of them came out of buildings, some jumped through the windows making more noise. Some even jumped through upper floors' windows ending up breaking a few bones but still trying to reach the fresh meat.
"If you weren't so dumb and slow I would've ran away but… Thanks for free experience, ha-ha…" Sergei never valued humans in his life, let alone undead. Trying to survive on the streets without any relatives or a roof over his head, he learned how to make money on anything and everything.
Killing eight clumsy, chaotically moving zombies was much easier than unloading a cement truck when you're twelve.
Bang! A zombie's skull cracked scattering brains everywhere.
"It's much easier to kill one zombie after adding two points to strength… What's this?"
One of the slowly limping zombies suddenly started running like a sprinter! It skillfully avoided obstacles and could jump really high! The sprinter even easily jumped over the car!
Regular zombies had soulless eyes akin to those of a dead fish, it was even hard to tell what a zombie was looking at. But this one's eyes were clear and were fixed only on a human.
"I bet my ass this one's a trouble." Our hero thought out loud and gave a mental command. "Enter the haven!"
Sergei appeared in his haven, sweating profusely. That sprinter zombie really freaked him out. After all, one bite meant a certain death. Killing regular slow-ass zombies was one thing, but killing that freaking acrobatic sprinter was totally another. This one could take away his bat and beat him down with it… Setting aside those negative thoughts Sergei boiled some potatoes and had a hearty lunch.
"What if I go back there… and that monster is waiting for me? I'll be dead before I know it!" Sergei imagined appearing on that street and immediately having his neck bitten off. "There's no way the System didn't foresee this! System, is there a way to know if someone is waiting for me at the haven's entrance point?"
YES.
"What is it?" Sergei's face lit up with joy.
FIND OUT YOURSELF.
"… I hope your developer burns in hell!"
After a short cussing fit, Sergei decided to see if he could find anything useful in the shop. Luckily he found the "Camera" app. The app allowed to view the haven's entrance point, but it cost 300 coins! At the moment he had two coins and about 200 kilos of potatoes.
He looked at his field and nodded, first sprouts have grown and it wasn't too long before the next harvest.
For the experiment he planted a few potatoes outside of the special field, but even after three days they only sprouted a little, harvesting them was out of question. It should take about three weeks for them to fully grow.
Sergei was able to buy the "Camera" app after selling 295 kilos of potatoes, however after the purchase the laptop started an update and it lasted for a whole day… Thus, to avoid wasting time, Sergei had to prepare the field and sow another crop of potatoes.
THE UPDATE IS COMPLETE.
"Finally!"
It's been four days since he's been locked down in haven and Sergei was bored to death. He wasn't just sitting around of course, he's been vigorously recovering with the help of his healing massage, exercising and etc… But he was still so bored!
The man ran to his laptop and clicked on the "Camera" app. The device setup took a few seconds and Sergei's latest entrance point finally appeared on the screen. System called it the "entry point". Just like in video games the camera could be moved with the help of the computer mouse and a few buttons - but only within three meters from the entry point. The camera could be turned and twisted, it could see through ground and objects, but to his chagrin it couldn't see through zombies. He wanted to see how they looked from the inside…
Fortunately for our prisoner, there was only one battered looking zombie in the area, the regular kind, not that freaky sprinter. To be completely sure Sergei zoomed in on it's eyes and they were empty and soulless.
Wielding his bat, our hero left the haven and cracked the poor unsuspecting zombie's skull. He picked up the coins and looked around. The street was filled with abandoned cars, a few zombies could be seen wandering in the distance, but thankfully the area was quite peaceful. More importantly the sprinter zombie was nowhere to be seen!
Sergei needed some clothes and equipment so he entered the closest apartment building. It was a nine-story middle-class building. There were a few zombies on the stairs but they weren't an issue: Sergei would easily kill them off if there were only one or two of them, and if there were more he would just hide inside his haven. After they dispersed he would attack them stealthily. He would appear, kill them and disappear again, the "hit and run" tactic that Sergei perfected in his childhood evolved into "hit and disappear".
Upon entering the building our novice marauder blocked the entrance, then proceeded to kill all zombies on the stairs. There were seven of them and they generously lent him their coins, 11 coins in total. After doing a floor-by-floor sweep, he began systematically checking the apartments, starting from the ninth floor.
Knock-knock-knock.
(eng) "Is anybody home? No? Then I'm breaking down the door!" Said the naked man in fancy leather boots and kicked down the door. Breaking the door with his increased strength was a piece of cake, besides his physical condition improved significantly and the penalty on his stats almost stopped having any effect. He had 15 active strength points out of 16 and was now one and a half times stronger than an average human.
"And here are the residents!" He smiled and prepared for battle. Two middle-aged women ran out of the rooms and bolted towards an unwanted guest. They were practically running toe-to-toe, but the narrow hallway didn't allow them to run side-by-side, so they ended up hindering each other. Each wanted to be the first to take a bite of a juicy man and didn't intend to move out of their rival's way!
It could've become a risky situation if they attacked him together, but they were getting in each other's way so Sergei easily killed both of them.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ACCUMULATED ENOUGH EXPERIENCE POINTS AND ATTAINED LEVEL 3. YOU RECEIVE 2 STAT POINTS.
"Place them in dexterity!"
Sergei was still concerned about the fast zombie that he encountered earlier: what's the use of his strength and stamina if he can't avoid an attack? One bite and you're a deadman… Deadman who will become the undeadman.
The apartment was still intact, but what made our newbie marauder upset, was the fact that it was inhabited by women, and judging by their joint photo wearing wedding dresses, no man ever lived here. That's why Sergei couldn't find any suitable clothes. However he completely ransacked the apartment: he took chairs, clothes, toothbrushes, soap, shampoos, he even found some spam and pasta. Anything that wasn't screwed or nailed down was transported to the haven - even the craziest of apartment thieves would never do that.
The second apartment on that floor turned out to be completely looted. No food, no clothes… even the cookware was taken. Only some pieces of furniture, household appliances and other rubbish was left.
The third apartment was still inhabited by humans, they shouted something threatening after he knocked, but as he couldn't understand what they were saying, he just left them be and moved on.
The forth apartment was protected by a huge iron door, so he could do nothing about it.
The next untouched apartment was found on the forth floor. Three zombies were standing right behind the door - maybe that was why the apartment was not looted - he saw them through his camera. He approached the door, transported to his haven, inspected everything through his camera and returned to the real world.
To deal with the three of those, Sergei set up a barricade made of stolen furniture in front of the apartment door, then kicked down that door and prepared for battle.
The zombies desperately raced towards an intruder, jostling and shoving each other but ended up crushing into a wooden cabinet, which became their final obstacle. While the hungry undead tried to get through the obstacle, the cunning man killed them one after another - delivering blows from above.
Sergei didn't enter the apartment so it would be easier to swing a bat, besides why enter when the hosts are coming out to welcome their guest anyway?
The only downside was that the cabinet ended up covered in blood and brains… Sergei decided not to return it to the haven, besides it's contents were useless anyway - just some women clothes.
After a thorough search Sergei thankfully found some trousers and a shirt of his size. But the pants turned out to be bright yellow and the shirt - pink… After ransacking the apartment, our hero continued his journey, there were a lot of other apartments left, after all, there was no such thing as too much loot. Thankfully in one of the looted apartments he found a medium-sized hiking backpack and black leather gloves.
Unfortunately the rest of the apartments were either already looted or still inhabited by humans.
Wearing the latest fashions, our fashion disaster opened his new backpack and filled it with washed potatoes. He wanted to bring some water as well but all of the bottles were empty…
Sergei teleported to his haven and filled a couple of half-liter bottles with spring water, put them in his backpack, then after checking his entry point, returned back to the real world.
The watch that he confiscated from a dead zombie's body showed 4 p.m. and since it was summer there was a lot of time left before dark, but our fashionista decided to hurry to the Louvre.
The bodies of previously killed zombies were scattered around the street but thankfully none of them were moving and Sergei successfully reached the barricade and got through it. And voila, his destination was in a walking distance.
The Louvre was turned into a fortress; countless of police officers were guarding the perimeter behind the makeshift but still impressive fortifications. The military was also present, wielding more powerful armament along with some military equipment.
"Not bad!" Sergei was pleased with what he saw. There was a higher chance of finding the right person in such an organized camp.
After praising the camp's leader, the man in a pink t-shirt approached the checkpoint. It was almost evening, which meant that all of the scavengers and hunters were returning to the camp. On several checkpoints, the police officers were checking everyone entering (for bite marks) and their loot to make sure that there was nothing "posing a threat" to the camp.
Sergei quietly joined the end of the line. To his surprise, the majority of the scavengers consisted of young teenagers, carrying backpacks behind their backs, but there were also some who carried their loot in their hands or in different bags.
"Next!" Finally it was Sergei's turn. He had to wait for half an hour!
"Hm, Sir, there's a newcomer." The officer called for his captain upon seeing a weird looking man. And no wonder - in front of him stood a tall, well-built man wearing bright-yellow pants, pink shirt, leather boots and gloves, with a long beard and uncut sloppy hair, with a camouflage hiking backpack behind his back and a bloody bat hanging from the said backpack like a keychain. It was one heck of a look…
(fr) "Who are you and where are you from?" Asked the confused officer but the weird looking guy didn't understand a thing.
(eng) "Do you speak English?"
"Yes." The officer replied and paused. "Are you a foreigner?"
"Yes." Sergei nodded.
"I've never seen you before. Is it your fist time in our camp?" The officer asked as if struggling to remember if he's seen this man before.
"Yes."
The officer's eyes lit up upon hearing the stranger's answer and a small malicious smile appeared on his face.
"Purpose of your arrival?"
"A safe place to stay for a night and trade."
"Good. Very good. Show me what's in your backpack," the officer declared with a wide smile.