I wake up and feel something solid beneath my head. Warm arms are wrapped around me. When I open my eyes I see Xander holding me close and sleeping peacefully.
This guy. What happened to keeping watch?
Just as I'm about to wake him up and give him a piece of my mind, RINA chimes in.
[I am enough. The drone is sufficient enough for me to see. There was no need to keep him awake so after a few hours I recommended he rest. Though punishment is necessary for certain actions, keep in mind that survival is of the utmost priority. Tured subordinates are weak.]
"Did he have to sleep like this? Maybe I should put him on the couch tonight."
[If I may state my opinion, Successor....]
"What is it RINA?"
[This human has good potential. His genes would easily integrate with a system of his own, allowing for incredible growth. With access to enhancement resources, he would make an ideal right hand.]
"Really? How can you tell?"
[Analysis of vital signs show major fluctuations in your presence. Rapid heart beat, elevated temperature, and pupil dilation. Plus, Successor, he has already expressed his desire. Remember that loyalty is a major factor in synchronizing with the main system.]
All this information has me lost in thought. The AI Mechanic skill is useful, but I didn't think RINA would recommend it so soon. Though she told me about it, its level is special grade which means I would need 100 basic DNA crystals to get it.
I am so lost in my thoughts that I don't even notice when Xander opens his eyes. His deep voice pulls me out of my head.
"Good morning gorgeous."
I roll my eyes and try to escape his arms, but this only causes him to hold tighter. Even though I'm not upset, I decide to pick at him a little.
"For someone who should have been on watch, you look extremely comfortable."
He lets out a small growl, flipping me onto my back and holding my hands down so I can't escape.
"You are sneaky. That little bot of yours is impressive, but you should program it better next time. I was able to lay right beside your helpless, sleeping figure."
His face leans down close to mine causing me to struggle. Damn it, I should be stronger than him but he has my hands pinned.
Forunately, his plans are interrupted by a loud security alarm. A notification rings out.
[Several zombies within 20 meters of the temporary base. Prepare for extermination of enemies.]
I look at Xander who is clearly disappointed as he lets me go. He heard the drone too, we have some creatures to kill.
It takes less than 5 minutes to get our weapons and make our way to fight.
The drone gives me some idea where the enemies are located and this helps us to position ourselves on the second floor. A group of five zombies approach the front door and there are individuals numbering 10 scattered around the rest of the property. Bangs start as they begin their attack, trying to break through our defences. However, their efforts are futile.
The group of five at the door gets eliminated quickly and I jump out the window to get down. Xander tries to follow but I warn him to stay.
"Go to the other windows and take out strays from up there. Don't complain and do as you're told. Think of it as punishment for sharing the bed without permission."
I take off in a run before he has the chance to argue with me.
It's easy to kill a few strays before I make my way towards other houses in the area. With my new storage space I am eager to fill it with supplies. If I'm lucky, I could find guns and ammo but my expectations are only food and water.
As I approach the first house I see the door is already smashed to pieces. Inside I smell blood and the faint hint of decomposition. The living room is a crime scene and there are signs of struggle all over the house. Distant moans tell me that there are zombies lurking. With my axe in hand, I search the residence and eliminate any threats I find.
During my search I loot some drugs, a first aid kit, a case of bottled water, dozens of canned food, and various non-perishable items. There was also the 12 basic DNA crystals from kills and a skill fragment from levelling up.
I open my status, distributing crystals for stats and using the fragment to get an additional drone.
Amanet Hunt: Level 4 (300/800 EXP)
HP: 250/250
Stamina: 175/175
Strength: 16
Agility: 16
Physique: 16
Intelligence: 16
Abilities: [Inventory (Lv. 2): Store things in a 500 space inventory]
[Appraisal (Lv. 2): View detailed information about items and people]
[Marksmnship (Lv. 1): Increase shooting accuracy by 10%]
[Security Drone (Lv. 2): Summon 2 drones to search surroundings for materials or enemies]
Though I want to save crystals for the Mechanic skill, I need strength to kill stronger enemies.
The first drone was left with Xander at base, I can now summon another to accompany me which increases my safety when looting. If I'm lucky it will locate an advanced enemy for me to test my new stats on.
A total of an hour is spent going through the first house and when I exit Xander is right there. Because I wasn't expecting him to be there, I run right into him and almost knock him over. The gene enhancement is no joke. Xander catches himself before he falls and I can hear his frustration as he talks.
"Do you know how worried I was? You've been gone an hour. I thought you ran into trouble."
I sigh and put my hand on his cheek. This kid will be the death of me.
"I'm fine. I'm stronger than I look. If I tried you would be on your ass, so stop worrying."
He rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything. He just places his hand over mine and gives a deep sigh of his own. I grab his hand and send the drones to search for houses with resources. This will save some time.
Since I jumped from the second floor it isn't easy to get back inside Xander's place. The lower floor entrances were blocked off by us when we arrived. To conserve energy we decide to stay outside and wait for the drones to give us information.
We use this time to collect broken boards and metal poles from nearby. With these we can make a fence.
The current house is open to enemies in every direction. Even a basic fence will give us extra time to react if there is a large group of zombies.
By mid-afternoon the drones have located three abandoned houses with good supplies and one that seems to hve a survivor inside. The doors are intact and all the windows are blacked out with the exception of one. This one faces the street and has words written on it.
'I'm Alive'
Two words with a lot of meaning. Who knows if it is still true, but there is a chance.
Unfortunately, outside this house are several advanced zombies. The drones scan them and show levels above 10. A muscular brute is banging on the sides trying to break through and he is making dents in the outer wall. Another is on the roof just sitting there.
They certainly act like they know someone is inside.
In addition to the advanced ones, close to thirty ordinary zombies are scattered around the property. It's the highest concentration I've seen in the suburbs.
At this rate, that person will be dead in a few days at best.
"The drones found someone who is alive. They're in a desperate situation and we need to help, but there is no way we can take that many."
I decide not to tell Xander about the occupied house yet.
We raid the three supply houses and I think about how to help the person in danger. In the last place, I finally find something useful. A liquor cabinet that is filled with high percentage spirits. Perfect material for explosives.
With empty bottles from the recylcing bin and strips of ripped up shirts that I looted, a batch of Molotov cocktails can be made.
"Now I can deal with that horde."
It takes effort to resist the urge to go over immediately. I can only settle with leaving a drone for surveillance. It's too late and the number of enemies will skyrocket in the dark.
The walk back to our base takes thirty minutes due to avoiding trouble. We can take a more direct route but I'm honestly too tired to deal with more enemies today after clearing the three houses we looted.
Xander boosts me up and follows after so we can climb in the window we jumped from.
Though I'm close to levelling up, it isn't urgent. My main focus is the 8 new DNA crystals I now possess. Basic crystals are so common that it is unfortunate I can't use them for more.
[Successor, reminder that you have six more basic skills available for learning.]
"Thanks RINA, I know. But what is the limit of these things? I get skill fragments from levelling up, but I want to use these DNA crystals. Is that possible?"
[Of course. Crystals can be traded in the Store for different survival items. Prices vary, but five crystals can obtain one skill fragment of the same grade. The skill fragments you obtin from level ups are not restricted by rarity as they can be used to upgrade any grade skill.]
The information makes me smile. I immediately pick three new abilities, [Store], [Map], and [Virus Resistance]. The remaining five basic crystals get traded for a basic skill fragment in the newly opened store.
The store skill is self explanatory and will get a more diverse selectionas I upgrade it, but I decide to read the descriptions of the other skills.
[Map (Lv. 1): A digital view of the surrounding area up to 1 km. Supplies and people found by your drones will be marked. Red for enemies, green for friendlies, blue for neutral.]
[Virus Resistance (Lv. 1): Your body now produces virus antibodies that allow you to fight the zombie infection. Recovery time after exposure is currently 12 hours.]
The antibodies are definitely worth more than a basic skill so I put the skill fragment into it and level it up, reducing the recovery time to 6 hours. The infection will cause me to be sick but I won't turn. It makes fighting less stressful. I was worried I would be scratched or bitten and it would be over.
Despite me havinv resistance, I wish I could upgrade Xander now. Waiting until he can earn crystals himself is too far off.
[An advanced skill has similar effects, however the method is unorthodox.]
"What is it RINA?"
[Intimate Enhancement is a skill that allows you to enhance an individul without a system through a physical connection. The more you want to enhance, the more intimate you must be. I didn't mentionthis before as it is an odd skill that I thought you would not want.]
Learning about this skill is surprising but it does make me uncomfortable. How intimate would I have to get for him to acquire [Virus Resistance]?
It's a basic skill, but will it matter what level I want to give him? Or will they start at level 1? So many questions remain and I know RINA can't answer them all.
I decide to shower while Xander sorts out some of the items we got. I was going to put them in my inventory but I couldn't with him around. Keeping it secret for now is best. It's not that I don't trust Xander, I do, but who would believe it. Although he may write it off as science stuff, he isn't that stupid.
When I'm done washing up I make dinner. The cans include beans, corn, and even corned beef. Using some fresh potatoes left in the kitchen, I make some corned beef hash with baked beans. It's simple but filling. We have to use the fresh produce before they rot.
Luckily, the electricity is still on. The power will fail in a couple days, sooner if there are problems with the equipment.
"Tomorrow we need to go save a trapped survivor." I let Xander know the plan and I see his discontent.
"You found someone? How when I was with you the whole time?"
I roll my eyes and point at the drone beside me before explaining.
"I have another drone that isn't here right now. It explored the neighbourhood. Remember when I sent them to find supplies? It would have taken days to search through all the houses myself to find good stuff."
"Fine, your drone found the guy, but it's dangerous. You said trapped which means lots of zombies."
Reaching out my hand, I hold his.
"Xander, I'm going to make some Molotov cocktails with some of the stuff we found. Between us, we will save them. I know you are upset about having another person around, but you can't condemn them for selfish reasons."
He sighs and slowly nods in agreement.
"Whatever. I get we need more manpower. Just don't trust them too easily. You're too kind."
We finish dinner and start to settle down for the night. Xander showers and I grab a random book to read. There aren't many options but they are mostly best sellers in the crime genre. Seems he likes these kinds of books. The odd one is historical fiction, so I pick The Book Thief. It passes the time until Xander emerges in only a towel.
I avert my eyes which causes him to chuckle. My face heats up and I try not to think about the sight of his bare chest.
The bed sinks as he sits behind me, placing his arms around my waist. His lips touch my neck and I involuntarily let out a moan.
I feel Xander smirk at my reaction and suddenly his kisses on my skin get more urgent.
His touch leaves tingles on my skin that feel electric and he lets out a primal moan.
"Fuck, I want you."
He turns me around and pulls my body as close as possible, kissing me until I am out of breath. It is passionate and full of desire. His hands move from my waist to my ass and he squeezes tightly. A possessive tone is in his voice.
"I'm going to make sure that newbie knows you're mine."
He licks and kisses my neck once again until he leaves a large hickey. Another moan leaves my lips.
"Xander... please, we can't."
Despite my protests he doesn't stop and leaves another mark on the top of my left breast.
"Don't worry, I won't go any further tonight. I just want to leave my mark and show you what kind of pleasure I can bring you."
This man is too good. My body starts to ache in anticipation of more.
Then he stops, giving me one more kiss before he gets up. He looks at me and smirks at my situation.
"You look like you're enjoying yourself. I'll give you more if you ask." I can tell he is teasing me, but I can't say anything.
I let out a frustrated huff and turn away from him, laying down for rest. This causes Xander to chuckle. Then the light goes out and I slowly fall asleep.