The long awaited morning finally came and the trio where looking exhausted not physically but mentally from all the processing they did during the night.
The moment they got out of their various huts, it collapsed, turned to smoke and vanished.
"I guess that's why it specified the one time use on instant huts." Zeke said looking at the location his hut once was.
"I don't think we can stay here any longer. If this is similar to the apocalyptic world I've red of, then there has to be a SafeZone somewhere." Ace said.
They didn't say anything instantly, they just looked at each other.
"So you're saying we should just walk around aimlessly looking for something we don't know if it actually exists." Zeke said. "What if we come across some more dangerous than those zombies we faced, what do we do then.?"
"You have a point, but the what if we stay here and something more dangerous than the zombies come. Both choices are risky, who knows we might even encounter some people." Ace said.
"Yeah right, what if the people we come across are dangerous what do we do then?" Zeke agrued.
"Zeke, Ace is right. We need to go out and explore and also search for our families, sitting here isn't gonna find them." Lloyd joined in.
Zeke released a defeated sigh and smile at them.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Zeke said " But first what do we eat I'm starving. It's not like we could just go out and start hunting for food."
"I have a solution to that. When I was on my shift I browsed through the store and I found out that the supplies section sold food." Ace said.
Lloyd and Zeke checked and indeed food was available there. They purchased some bread and leather pouch containing one litre of water.
After spending some minutes eating, they began their journey to the unknown. The first few minutes of their journey was dead silent, they were all focused on the views they were seeing.
They saw the strangest creatures. A four winged bird, a flaming monkey, a hawk the size of an ostrich and many more.
"Whoa, I feel like I'm in a fantasy novel." Lloyd finally spoke.
"It does. I just hope that all the creatures we encounter are friendly." Zeke added.
After that, it was another section of silence. They just kept on looking at the beauty of this new world they were in.
After about three hours of walking they came across something, something disturbing.
They felt like throwing up the food they had ate a while ago.
There were five dead bodies stacked on each side, flies swarming them and the bodies released an offensive smell.
"Was it the zombies that did this?" Zeke asked while covering his nose.
"I don't think so. Look at the way they were killed." Ace said.
They were all killed in a similar pattern. A huge hole was in the left side of their chest, also their hearts were all gone.
"I think whatever killed them took their hearts." Ace said from his observation.
"Don't say. It may come back to finish it's meal and I don't want to be here when it does." Lloyd said.
Lloyd was the first to leave, the others followed from behind.
Now they no longer admiring nature's wonders, but instead they were on high alert. Whatever sound they heard startled them. From snapping twigs to birds songs sent chills down their spine.
Eventually they decided to take a break from the walking and get some rest. During their break they bought some food from the store and they ate.
"We will have to fight some monsters eventually." Ace broke the silence.
"What are you talking about?" Lloyd asked.
"Even if we find a SafeZone, we'll need coins to set up a settlement there. And the easiest way I know of to earn coins is by killing monsters. And if we eventually got attacked by people, we'll need a way to defend ourselves and we can't do that with the three skills we have." Ace explained.
"What about selling wood and other materials to the Store. That generates coins too." Zeke added.
"Yeah that's true." Lloyd said.
"That could earn us some money, but how fast would that be. And besides one way or the other, we'll eventually fight something or someone. Why don't we just prepare ourselves and be ready when the time comes." Ace said.
Although Zeke and Lloyd still wanted to agrue, but what Ace said made a lot of sense.
"Why don't we take a few minutes nap." Lloyd suggested.
"You guys go ahead, I'll keep watch. We don't know what could be out there." Zeke said.
"Are you sure? If you want I could keep watch why you guys get some rest." Ace offered.
"Don't sweat it. And besides we can't leave all the work to you." Zeke said with a smile.
"Alright. Just a few minutes nap and as soon as you notice anything strange, inform us at once." Ace said.
"Will do." Zeke replied.
Lloyd and Ace went to sleep on a tree that looked somewhat comfortable, while Zeke sat on a fallen tree and hummed a song softly.
Some hours passed, Ace woke up from the sound the wind, and scanned the area briefly for a few seconds.
"Oh no." Ace cried out.
He saw that Zeke was asleep and also Lloyd.
"You idiot, I thought we said a few minutes." Ace yelled.
Ace angrily walked towards where Zeke was sleeping and gave him a hard kick at his stomach.
"Ouch." Zeke screamed.
He opened his eyes and saw Ace standing in front of him looking as angry as ever.
"Why'd you do that." Zeke said.
"You where the one who suggested to keep watch and wake us up after some minutes, so how come you're asleep. And to make things worst, it's almost night time.". Ace yelled pointing at the skies.
It was indeed almost night, the sun was almost out and the moon was just a few minutes from taking over.
"About that, I got bored and didn't know when I snoozed off." Zeke smiled nervously while rubbing the back of his head.
"Snoozed off. Ahh, I should have known it was a bad idea keeping you on guard." Ace said frustrated.
All this while Lloyd was still there sleeping, Ace also walked towards him and gave him a kick at his stomach.
"Wake up you dumbass, how can you sleep over all this yelling." Ace yelled.
Lloyd slowly open his eyes, looked around, stretched his body abit and went back to sleep. This angered Ace even more.
←←←←←←←^^^^→→→→→→→→
↓ Flaming Foot HAS BEEN ACTIVATED↓
←←←←←←←↓↓↓↓↓→→→→→→→→
This time with he's legs on fire he stomped it heavily on Lloyd stomach.
"Alright I'm up." Lloyd screamed.
"I don't think it's a good idea to continue travelling when it's dark. We'll sleep here tonight and tomorrow we continue our journey." Ace said, now looking somewhat calm.
They crafted some Instant Huts for the night and also set a small campfire in the middle. Tonight Lloyd was cooking meat soup.
He bought the things he needed from the store, which was a bit expensive, but he bought them anyways.
After ten minutes of cooking, it was done and they ate, although the soup was that good, it wasn't bad either. The night was a quiet and cold one as none of them was in the mood to have a conversation.
After eating Zeke and Ace went to sleep while Lloyd kept watch.
He sat by the campfire thinking about his family. Were they safe or even alive, are they worried about him as he is about them.
Two hours were gone and Lloyd was still sitting by the campfire thinking.
'I think some time has passed. It's Zeke's shift now.' Lloyd thought.
He decided it was time to wake Zeke up and swap with him. He was about getting up when he heard something strange from the distance.