Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Zane was as silent as can be as he slowly and cautiously crept outside of the door to the nurse's office. Though he had some difficult as he ensured there was at least some kind of a small barricade in place to stop the advance of a potential forceful invasion.

Still, he managed to slip by the small crack in the door, perhaps because of his borderline malnourishment. Or perhaps it was due to his expertise at hiding in hard to get to spaces, a skill he had picked up in his childhood for important reasons.

However, the young man managed to slip past the door. He did so with nothing on his person except for the clothes on his back and a knife in his hand. Choosing to leave behind the gun belt, he had scavenged off of the school's police officer earlier in the day.

It was now nighttime, and whatever survivors that may exist within the school's walls were either asleep or crying alone in a safe location. However temporary that may be… As for Zane, he was the only one who dared to walk through the halls.

Why did he have such gall? Perhaps it was a death wish, and if anyone were to observe him doing this, they certainly would think that was the case. But the reality of the situation was that Zane had recently come to learn that he may have gained a unique power after consuming what was described as a "Blood Crystal."

Then again, he might also be on the verge of death and hallucinating after consuming that putrid substance. Because of this uncertainty, he needed to prove to himself that the overlay in his vision, which was almost like that of a video game, was indeed reality, and not a trick his mind was playing on him while suffering in its death throes.

If the system was to be believed, then Zane now had the ability to walk among the dead, at least under two conditions. The first condition was that he was alone, and not surrounded by any other member of what can be classified of the "living."

The other condition was that he did not outwardly provoke a member of the dead. Thus, Zane carefully stalked through the shadows of his school, which were now littered with the rotting corpses of those who had been picked clean to the bones, and those who had been turned into a member of the undead.

Yet this scent of decay and death was not the least bit disgusting Zane. Perhaps it would have been earlier in the day, but now all he felt was a sense of calm and serenity, as if he were lying in his bed whose sheets had not been cleaned in months, and thus surrounded by his own musk.

This was a frightening prospect, and while Zane was zoning out and enjoying the scent of death, he accidentally walked right into a member of the living dead. The dark-haired and ashen skin youth froze on the spot, fearful that he may have just met his untimely end.

Yet this accidentally brush with the walking dead was far from what Zane had suspected. In fact, Zane could now see the same blood red lettering that the system was written in appearing above the creature's head.

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[Walker – Tier I Undead]

[Level – 1]

[Hp: 10/10]

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The so called Walker simply ignored Zane and his accidental nudging as if it were something natural. After all, the lower tier was dead completely and utterly lacked any form of intelligence and would quite commonly stumble into one another without any reaction.

Zane's black eyes opened wide, showing the slightest trace of emotion within them, an emotion known as surprise. This undead truly treated him as if did not even exist! No, that was not entirely right… It treated him as if he were one of its own kind.

So it turned out that this system, which had magically appeared in his sight after consuming a blood crystal, and said he had a unique skill that allowed him to seamlessly blend in among the dead, was actually reality?

If this was the case… Then Zane had an enormous advantage in terms of surviving this apocalyptic situation. Especially early on, when people were incapable of scavenging at night due to fear of accidentally getting lost or killed.

Knowing this, Zane looked nearby and found a corpse that most likely belonged to a freshman by the size of its skeleton, whose entire flesh had been picked clean. What wasn't devoured, however, was the student's backpack, which Zane was quick to grab hold of.

Whether the pack had supplies or not, Zane was quick to search for. Unfortunately, it was filled with nothing but useless materials like textbooks, journals, pencils, et cetera. But the bag itself was worth holding onto. Thus, Zane quietly dumped its contents out before briskly walking through the halls.

Just like the previous Walker, all the other dead within the school completely ignored Zane as they wandered about aimlessly, few of which even bothered to break into the barricaded classrooms, almost as if they were waiting for something.

Zane used this time to scavenge for more food and water from the cafeteria, and to check in on the survivors. He peered through the shattered windows of the barricaded doors, seeing if he could glimpse through any potential gap.

Most of the classes appeared to be maintaining order, as the students had yet to realize that society itself had collapsed around them. In fact, from what Zane could see, most of the teachers had done a decent job of keeping their students in check, especially the younger students, who had yet to form a sense of autonomy as adults.

It was while Zane was searching through the classrooms that he heard a noise from nearby. A sort of crash. As if someone or something had fallen down the stairs. Zane was quick to turn the corner and reach the staircase, where he saw a familiar face.

Though Zane did not care to bother memorizing the names of his classmates, some of which he had shared classes with for four whole years, he could never forget a face once he saw it.

And it was because of this that Zane knew who this dorky looking kid was that was groaning in pain as he stumbled to his feet after falling down the stairs. Zane looked at the young man with an emotionless expression as he spoke in a hushed tone to the fool.

"You there… What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The young man fixed his glasses as he was startled to his feet by Zane's voice. He could hardly see Zane in the dark, partially because Zane's hair was as black as night, as were his eyes, and he just so happened to dress in mostly black as well.

But after adjusting his glasses, he could very clearly see the figure of Zane, which caused the boy to speak up in shock.

"Zane? I thought you abandoned us! What are you still doing here!?!"

The boy was a bit too loud, causing Zane to rush forward and wrap his hands around the young man's mouth, while shooshing him with his free hand.

'Shhh! You fucking idiot! Do you have any idea how sensitive these fucking walkers' hearing is? Are you trying to get us both killed?"

The man mumbled through Zane's hand, before Zane finally sighed and released his grip, allowing the young man to speak.

"I'm sorry, Zane… It's just that… The others are hungry… and they forced me out to get food for them!"

Zane was curious just who this kid was grouped together with, and was quick to ask, simply because at this point in time any other group of survivors in this school were now considered hostile, at least so far as Zane was concerned.

"Others? Who the hell sent you?"

The kid looked away with a bit of shame on his face before admitting that he had shacked up with the "toughest" kids he could find for protection from the walking dead.

"Ryan.. and his gang…"

It took Zane a moment to search his memories for the name Ryan.. After all he seldom bothered to remember the names of his classmates, as previously mentioned, and it was only after Zane's confusion became apparent that the bespectacled kid sighed before informing Zane who he was talking about.

"You know… Ryan… Ryan Parker… The captain of the football team?"

Zane instantly knew who the bespectacled kid was talking about and was quick to nod his head in silence.

If this kid was looking for food for those jackasses, then Zane had a duty to stop them… There was only a limited supply of food within the cafeteria, and though Zane had scavenged some of it, he refused to allow the rest to fall into the hands of those he considered being rivals in the game of survival.

Because of this, Zane was now pressed with a predicament… How did he get rid of this kid before he could accomplish his mission? Luckily for him, a scenario immediately presented itself, as a Walker crossed the corner and immediately saw both Zane and the young man standing beneath the stairs.

The Walker immediately growled, quite loudly, which signalled all the other Walkers in the vicinity that it had found something to eat. This caused Zane to spring into action. Before the bespectacled kid could even react, Zane had dashed off in the opposite direction of the Walkers.

Realizing that Zane had once more abandoned him, the kid began to scream as he ran after Zane in an attempt to catch up with the man.

"Wait! Wait for me!"

Zane glared daggers at the other student, now wanting to silence him permanently. If he could just escape the range of aggro, the Walkers were most likely to treat him as a member of the dead again… But so long as this little dork tried to stick close to him, Zane would continue to be threatened by the Walkers.

The moment Zane turned the corner of the hall, his worst fears were realized… Rather than run immediately into another group of Walkers, the creature that had been stuck in his thoughts since earlier that day was standing in front of him.

The member of the dead stared curiously at Zane, perhaps because the bespectacled kid had yet to catch up with him. The intelligence behind its lifeless eyes was apparent, as it struggled to comprehend the idea that Zane was a member of its species, despite very clearly having the features of its prey…

The system displayed a frightening bit of information to Zane as his black eyes fixed themselves on the intelligent creature, who was playing with its claws, almost as if pondering whether or not it should kill Zane on the spot.

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[Stalker – Tier IV Undead]

[Level: 🕱]

[HP: ???]

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Zane had enough experience with RPGs that when a creature's level was not visibly displayed and instead replaced with something like a question mark or a skull, it meant certain death if one was foolish enough to attack it.

Thus, Zane had every instinct to run past the creature before the walking time bomb that was following him could catch up with him. And just when Zane was about to take his step forward, that very fear manifested itself.

The bespectacled kid ran straight into Zane at full speed, but he was so small that he did not manage to knock Zane over. instead, he fell onto his ass. The kid was just about to yell at Zane for a stop when he caught sight of the Stalker, which bared its claws and fangs. It was just about to pounce when Zane did the unthinkable, freezing the Tier IV Undead on the spot…

Before the Bespectacled kid could even realize what had happened to him, he felt a stinging sensation in his chest. Upon looking down, he noticed that there was a knife in his heart, one that Zane had put there... The student gazed in disbelief at what felt like a lifetime, but in reality was no longer than a second before saying his final words.

"I trusted you!"

Zane was expressionless as he heard these words. Instead, he pulled the blade from the young man's chest, allowing the wound to bleed out more rapidly. All the while, he made a cold and callous remark to the young man he had just killed.

"And that's why you're dead…"

These were the last words that the young man heard as all his senses went black. Zane wiped the bloodied blade on his victim's shirt before sheathing it and stashing it away.

By the time the Walkers caught up with Zane and the now deceased student, they saw the Stalker staring curiously at Zane. Zane did not show any hostility to the clearly intelligent creature that easily had the ability to take his life, and instead looked at it straight in its lifeless eyes before asking the question that was most important to him.

"Was that enough?"

The creature once more displayed its intelligence by scurrying off into the shadows. Since it could not figure out what exactly Zane was, or what his abilities were, it would rather flee than get itself involved in a potentially fatal fight with an anomaly.

As for the Walkers, they ignored Zane entirely and rushed past him to devour the corpse of the bespectacled student who Zane had so ruthlessly murdered.

Zane would not stay behind to witness such a gruesome sight, and instead wandered off through the halls of his school, now extremely cautious about this Stalker, and the fact that it would be observing him from here on out all while hiding in the shadows.