Headshot: One in the Gut (Book 1 of a Zombie litRPG Trilogy) Read online

  And who knows? Maybe I’d get lucky, and I'd find one of them glitching out or something. There was even the chance that I could catch one of them off guard, since the Survivors were often cocky, arrogant blowhards who liked to toy with their victims, especially at this early stage of the game.

  For a second, I imagined these new, jagged teeth of mine biting down on a Survivor’s exposed throat, ripping and tearing right down to the vertebrae. In the Beta there hadn’t been a taste when you did that, but rumor had it that there sure was now. I didn't know what it would feel like, but I had it on good authority that the game went out of its way to make it worthwhile. After all, in Headshot I was a Zombie. If they couldn’t make the thought of chowing down on raw meat and fresh grey matter, what was the point? The AI would do everything in its considerable power to make the steady drip drip drip of the dopamine no doubt trickling through my veins turn into a lusty splash if I ever did get to sink my teeth into prey.

  My mouth was watering. Just thinking about the chance to take a bite out of one of them was making me drool, and I wiped at my chin with the back of my hand and did my best to pick up the pace.

  It didn't really work. A speed of 3 is pretty awful, to be honest. It was faster than a normal human could walk, but not by much. I certainly wouldn't be catching anybody, at least not if I had to chase them down. I was pleased to see that Deep Dive studios had seen fit to remove the Stamina indicator. The Beta rule had meant that the Zombies got tired, but it didn’t look like that was going to be an issue anymore.

  I shook my head, trying to force myself to focus on the task at hand. If I got ahead of myself, I’d miss something. I needed to keep my senses as sharp as they possibly could be, and try to remain hidden at the same time.

  That wasn’t proving too difficult, with the combination of the power failure and my Hide in Shadows ability. Once they sensed me making my way into the city, a few other Zombie players started leaving their houses too, and as I glanced around I could just pick out the hints of movement as they also headed to the street.

  I wasn’t surprised to see that most of the other players paused at the street, looking one way and then the other. I’d chosen to go deeper into LA, but they knew how dangerous that would be. The cities always were. The Survivors could fortify the buildings, snipe from the rooftops, maybe even use the sewers to avoid us or attack our flanks.

  It would be the seat of their power…

  But if you headed south, away from Los Angeles you’d be in the minority. It wasn’t as if there weren’t Survivors in the surrounding suburbs, and if you didn’t stick with the safety in numbers option than you may very well be sticking your own neck in the noose.

  I’d been the first one to the street, and so I took a chance and stepped away from the shadows as I headed toward LA with as much confidence as I could muster. The others had taken my lead before, and as I felt their number swell behind me for a moment, no matter how fleeting, I was at the head of the Horde.

  Chapter 4

  The Beta had prominently displayed a Stamina bar at the bottom of my vision, but an hour later I was grateful that they’d ditched it in the launch version. The bar was gone, and it seemed like I had as much energy as I needed. The undead didn’t need rest, which was a nice touch.

  Because of that we made steady progress, even though we sure weren’t in danger of breaking any land speed records. The suburbs were changing. The houses were smaller, and so were the front yards. It wouldn’t be long before we left them behind for good and entered the crowded killing zone that I feared LA would be.

  There were a lot of other Zombies around me. I wasn’t in the front anymore, since our little band of lurchers had joined up with more and more of the same. We were one big parade at the moment, and I could pretty much set myself on autopilot and glance around me as I moved with the mass of free players.

  I looked over my scab-ridden shoulder at the long line of allies behind me. There were so many of us that we choked the streets. I’d always known the number of players in the Beta would be dwarfed by the launch day masses, but this was insane. Was everyone on the planet playing Headshot?

  It certainly looked that way. Some of them weren’t really taking it very seriously, though. Now and then we’d push past a Zombie who thought it’d be funny to turn around and try to force his way in the opposite direction. A few rogue Zombies even tried to block our path or simply lay down in the street, only to get trampled beneath our feet. Maybe their game had crashed, but we went right over the top of them without a second thought.

  Another ten blocks in, and I was starting to get nervous. With no way to communicate a plan, the new players were going to get murdered if they didn’t get their act together fast. Some people were just standing there, flailing their limbs at us wildly and watching with undead joy as our ranks moved past.

  I shook my head sadly. There was no room for tourists in here. It might be nice to watch everyone go by, if you really wanted to experience your first time in the game like that, but you weren’t going to last long.

  I motioned to them to follow us, but they either misunderstood or didn't care what I was saying and simply waved back.

  All I could do was shrug and try and make myself forget them. They were as good as gone already. In a couple of hours when the Survivors swept through these streets looking for stragglers the slacker noobs would probably still be there, slack-jawed and impressed by their own deaths.

  And then their game would be over for the week. They’d be stuck in their dead-end jobs, or with their meals in front of the TV amongst those family members that had already been kicked out of the game as well. Maybe they had other games to play, and maybe they didn't.

  But if they didn't learn fast, they wouldn't have any time to learn it all.

  Eventually, we left them behind. It was an evolution, of sorts. Anyone who wanted to screw around did it early, and those with the patience to press on remained with the massive army we were funneling into the city.

  Suddenly, the sky a block ahead of us flared into life as a searing light threw long shadows and bright pain into the night. A moment later the sound of the explosion washed over us, and then the shockwave rattled the ground beneath our feet.

  Something a block ahead of us had exploded into a shower of flames and a column of thick black smoke that blotted out the stars. A roar went up ahead of us as Zombies died and others rushed to attack.

  I could hear metal raining down around us, hissing as the shards of shrapnel embedded themselves in the bodies of nearby Zombies. I couldn’t be sure, but my instincts told me that the detonation had been some sort of car bomb. If the Survivors had that sort of firepower already, we were all going to have a lot of spare time this week…

  I froze, only to be shoved along by the press of undead flesh trying to get to the fight. They were eager, but they weren’t thinking. There was no way that was the end of it. If the Survivors could set one of those massive explosions off, there would be more of them, just waiting to go off at the opportune time.

  The buildings ahead of us were on fire too, collateral damage from the bomb. That meant the streets would be lit up like the Fourth of July. It would be a shooting gallery, and I had no interest in rolling the dice so early in the game.

  I took a hard right and fought against the crowd, pushing and shoving my way into the mouth of an alley. We were already on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and that meant that the streets were getting more and more narrow. I’d been hoping that at least a few of the others would duck down this side street with me but none of them did. They were too eager for an encounter, their eyes glazed over with the bloodlust that I probably could've felt as well if I was willing to give myself over to it.

  But I had to be smart. I had to be careful.

  Instead of following the horde I continued down the alley and worked my way across the next block, keeping to the shadows and moving as quietly as I could so that I could loop around on an
other angle to where the car had detonated.

  Once I got there, I crouched in the darkness and watched Zombies pour mindlessly into the city, right into the teeth of the ambush.

  Whoever had put this together wasn’t any sort of military genius. The bomb had probably gone off too early, but either the Zombies were too eager or the Survivors really did know what they were doing after all. The inevitable muzzle flashes and staccato gunshots erupted over there from a couple of dozen windows all at once. I saw more Survivors burst out of the surrounding buildings and open up with a stunning amount of firepower.

  They tore the Zombies to pieces. Here and there maybe one of our enemies went down, but the battle was over before it even had a chance to begin.

  I sighed. At least only a headshot could kill us. It was literally the name of the game, after all. But I didn’t see how any of the Zombies could be higher than level 1 or 2, which meant we were easy pickings.

  But let's just say that you didn't need to kill us in order to disable us. We might be able to still crawl after you on our shattered legs or survive with a missing arm, but since we were already moving at a snail’s pace, anything that slowed us down pretty much meant a guaranteed death somewhere soon after.

  Worse, the Survivors weren’t idiots. Far from it. For a group of players who had only been playing this week for, what, three and a half hours they had an enormous amount of resources and communication.

  It sure felt to me like they’d been given some sort of head start. Where had they found these guns already? Every other time I played Headshot during the Beta, in the first couple of hours you could see a Survivor and they’d run like hell even though they could probably take you out just with their hands and feet if they really had to.

  I think the one thing everybody in the game was going to realize real fast was that there was no such thing as a fair fight. The Zombies had always been at a disadvantage, but this was a whole new ballgame. I know the Survivors paid for the privilege of kicking our asses, but they were sure getting their money’s worth right now.

  Watching the one-sided fight made me feel sick to my stomach. These guys were prepared. Maybe they were a premade, a group of players who knew each other in real life and had already made plans. Maybe they’d just gotten lucky and found some hidden cache of weapons, but whatever the reason, they were mowing down every Zombie stupid enough to engage in the frontal assault without remorse.

  And all I could do was watch it happen. The more I saw, the more certain I was that this wasn't just a hastily prepared ambush. As another car detonated in the back of the thick crowd of zombies, spooking them and forcing them deeper into the city, toward the bullets that were tearing them up, I saw how much shit they were about to catch.

  And sure enough, one by one, boom boom boom, cars detonated up and down the street, taking out waves of zombies in the terrific shrapnel and concussive force.

  I snarled in the back of my throat, frustrated at our lack of tactics. The wind picked up and blew in my direction, bringing with it the sweet smell of their cooked flesh. It actually made my stomach growl. Even from a couple of blocks away the heat wave that washed over me from the coup d'état was almost overwhelming.

  And the noise! I pressed my rotten hands to my ears for a moment, trying to block it out. The sheer pain the Zombies were throwing out of their throats, the agonized shrieks…

  Right then, you’d never have been able to convince me that the players didn’t feel those deaths. They lived it, right up until they weren’t living it anymore. The free, penniless zombies that had made up our pathetic horde were getting their asses kicked, and they'd wake up at what, 3:36 in the morning, according to the clock at the bottom of my minimal Heads Up Display, with a pained snarl on their lips, bathed in a cold sweat.

  But it wasn’t over yet. Halfway between the slaughter and my hiding place even more guns started up, and I saw Survivors burst from a few of the side streets and mow down the zombies that finally trying to get away from the killing ground.

  Shit. This was getting way out of hand. Those Survivors knew what they were doing, and they were going to level like mad men after this. Even if I made it out, I’d be so underpowered that I’d have to spend the rest of the game hiding out.

  I needed to escape. I needed to run, if the shambling speed of 3 I had could even be called “running”. As I turned to go I saw that the battle was practically over. Survivors wielding baseball bats and spiked clubs were wading through the tangled mass of broken Zombie bodies and delivering finishing blows, yelling to each other in words that I couldn't understand, though I could guess what they were saying.

  They were bragging. Hell, they were probably shouting “Ding!” and comparing their new skills, boasting and flaunting whatever critical hits they were getting off the prone, helpless victims.

  I felt like I was sinking into mud, watching that. The other team was becoming better by the second. I could practically see them becoming even more efficient killing machines, and all I could do was hope that my Hide in Shadows ability protected me from them as I hurried away as fast as my shoddy attributes would allow.

  Chapter 5

  I didn’t have a destination, other than trying to put distance between myself and the Survivors. I didn't really know where I was going at all, but at least I heard the footfall at the end of this alley and saw a flicker of movement an instant before a Survivor screeched to a halt out on the main street, swiveling his head to peer into the shadows right where I was standing.

  His teeth were bared. There was a wild look in his eyes, and I held my breath, which was the moment that I realized that I was really breathing. Even in my moment of panic, hunted as I was, the new information lit my brain up. This was new. Sure, it was realistic, but for an instant it was also so scary and claustrophobic that I almost panicked.

  Could I feel my heart beat? The blood of blood in my ears?

  No.

  I had to focus. The lack of “normal” bodily functions didn't matter right now. The only thing that was going to be of any importance was whether or not I survived.

  Sure enough, right on cue, the Survivor saw something he wanted to check out and decided to turn and come into my alley.

  Motionless, I studied him as he approached. At least he didn't appear to have a gun, though that didn't mean he was weaponless. He carried a nasty looking baseball bat that someone had decided to pound thick, 10-inch nails through. Judging by the Gore that dripped from them, I was clearly not going to be his first kill of the night.

  Had he seen me? I hoped not. I had no clue what skills the Survivors had, and I certainly had no idea what level this guy was. For all I knew, at level 3 they got an ability called Ignore Hide in Shadows, which would really make my life a living hell.

  There was a sound from the mouth of the alley back behind him, and I watched as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. A moment later somebody said something from behind him and the Survivor with the bat turned around to look at them. That gave me an opportunity to silently press myself into shadows where the brick wall met the asphalt. I froze, telling myself over and over you're just a pile of rags. You're nothing. Forgotten. Abandoned. Garbage. Not a player, not an exposed back of the head waiting for a bat to find it.

  The Survivors were done talking. I heard one of them move away down the main street, and whatever they were talking about was done.

  The crunch of heavy combat boots crunching across broken glass and debris. I was glad that the programmers had added the fact that I didn't breathe into the game. It meant that I could lay perfectly motionless, as dead as my reanimated body should've been.

  Closer and closer he stomped, and every now and then I heard a rustle of garbage as he poked through it with either a steel-toed boot or the bat itself. Since my face was down, I had nothing to look at other than the experience counter in the bottom left of my vision. I hadn’t really been paying attention to it before, since I was so concerned with just stay
ing alive. The last time I remembered what the number had been it had been (23).

  But not anymore. It was (36). Not bad. I would need another sixty-four points to get to level 2.

  I suppose that was fair. After all, I hadn’t really done anything other than watch a battle go wrong and try to get away, unless you counted the endless walking I’d done on the way into LA. I guess I had avoided an ambush, but that was more through cowardice than cunning.

  But the experience I was getting was climbing, and fast. (48), then (51). And then it jumped all the way to (54). And then (58)…

  But how?

  From (58) it skipped to (63), then (69), then (74), (79), (88), finally slowing down at (93).

  That was when I realized that the Survivor had already passed me. I gained all of that experience at the increased rate when he'd been as close as he had been, but now that he’d given up searching and had left the alley to look for more victims, my experience rate slowing down, going back to normal.

  I still didn't want to move. I didn't think that the game would be so silly as to let me know if I was being watched simply because my experience was changing. If anything, I’d only get access to those abilities and experience increases when I was aware of the person that was near me.

  So, I counted to a thousand. And once I had, I did it again. I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary in all that time, but my experience only crawled (94).

  You can’t lay here all night, I told myself, slowly pushing myself to my feet and turning my head back and forth as I scanned in both directions. He was gone.