Chương 50: 2.19
Bursting through the last layer of soil, I greedily gulped in the oxygen, uncaring at the way my chest burned with each breath. Then collapsed forward, not caring that my waist and below were still buried in the earth.
Once my breath regulated I recalled the events before my sleep.
Fueled by adrenaline, I scrambled completely out of the soil and glanced around the field for incoming dead. Only there were none. In fact, even the crater site I'd been in had vanished, the entire field was now rich in almost jungle-like vegetation, not a speck of plain soil.
"What the fuck?" I cursed, trying to grasp how my surroundings had changed so suddenly. Was this even the same place?
"Well, the results were better than anticipated," System spoke without a semblance of an apology.
Too weak to argue with it I pulled food and water out of my dimension, tucking into them until my stomach ached and threatened to throw it all back up.
It took a while to find strength in my legs, still, I staggered as clumsy as the dead towards the beach, nervously scanning the corpses on the sand. Many of them were heavily charred making it hard to tell their features, though none wore wetsuits at least. Did that mean they had all gotten away okay?
Feeling itchy at the soil that had gotten into every nook and cranny, I stripped off and wandered into the sea. I'd asked System to boost my inner temperature, yet the water was nowhere near as cold as I'd expected.
Feeling the warm sun on my bare back I had an odd thought.
"System, what is the date?"
"I was unconscious too, so I don't know."
"Great," I sighed, drying and dressing in some random clothes I pulled out of the dimension, not caring for fashion, just wanting to cover my cold skin. Though it was warmer, it did not feel like the summer weather Hannah was used to yet.
"Can you at least point me in the right direction?" I groaned, climbing back over the dunes, frustrated that I had tossed the shoes from the fashion store for the stuff in the supermarket warehouse. My riding boots were left on the boat.
"Yes, I'm picking up a lot of souls I can send you there?"
Though there was a town nearby the college should be closer, either way, closer to people closer to roads with road signs, I'll get there eventually.
The trees seemed much taller than before, making me feel much smaller as I wandered through the shaded undergrowth, watching out for sharp stones and sticks hidden amongst the greenery.
As before the sounds of the forest overwhelmed me, making me want to vomit, they were so much louder than before.
"Thank you Master," a branch caressed my bare cheek making me freeze.
"Master?" I asked out loud, confused.
"It seems whilst we've slept the trees have continued to eat using you until they no longer needed to," it paused before cursing, "damn, there are so many nuclei, it's a shame they're all friendlies." Did that mean I could eat plant nuclei too? Somehow, that felt worse than eating zombies when they were all conversing in my head.
I never encountered a single zombie or animal whilst in the forest. It was only about half a mile later on the road that I found signs of the dead. A group of five moved towards me, fast.
"Fuck," I drew my swords, angry and confused at their speed, even their skin had a weird green glow instead of decaying sores. "Increase my strength and speed."
"Looks like the trees weren't the only ones to change whilst we slept, your energy is low take it easy," System warned, sounding confident in me and not at all sounding worried.
I on the other hand tried my hardest to gather my wits and ignore my aching feet as I dodged their sharp claws. Yes, claws, not nails.
It felt more like I was being attacked by a pack of wolves, not the dead. After getting a few minor flesh wounds I panted heavily over the last decapitated corpses below my feet.
"Heal me," I ordered System as I cracked open their skulls one by one, fishing out nuclei in each one.
System never replied.
"System?" I called out loud, frustrated and angry at the pain.
I tossed four nuclei away into my dimensional space and took out some boiled water to clean the last one and swallow it. I'd made a point to boil water using the pots and pans from the supermarket inside the dorm during preparations to discretely stash away.
I pulled out some extra-strength painkillers and begrudgingly took them, pissed at System for going silent on me. It could at least numb the pain. Had I offended it? Or had it broken?
My thoughts grew more frantic as I staggered along the road, following the signs for the college. More dead approached me, just as fast, though at most there were only two at a time. Though their eyes were still hazy, they could sense me just as easily as if they could see me. The smell of the blood from my wounds likely helped that too.
Eventually, my weary and heavily bloodstained self reached the college grounds. The entrance was moved further down the road, with a large metal door instead of a boulder. Two people stood atop the entrance, holding guns.
Before I could wave a hello I found myself dodging a bullet.
"Shit, did you see how fast that one is?" One guard cursed, firing again.
I was too tired for this shit.
I waved my sword to deflect the bullet, "I'm alive." My voice was hoarse and quiet, I cleared my throat and shouted as loud as I could, "I'm alive."
"Fuck, David stop," the other guard pushed the gun of his companion aside "it's Hannah."
Seeing them lower their guns, I let out a large sigh of relief and staggered towards the now-opening gate.
"Brother?" I blinked in amazement at Will who stormed through the gap looking ready to murder me.
Despite this I still threw myself in his direction, no longer caring if he caught me.
Quà tặng
-- Nhận quà Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực