The Game Cafe in Marvel and DC

21 – Kyle’s Journey, and Tutorial

[A/N: So, in my D i s c o r d I had a poll and conversation with my members about their opinions in regards to the Player journeys, and the conclusion we came to, after both the poll and arguments, was that I should have dedicated chapters for the players and their journies, but also summarizing of important events or details of other player's journies]

[A/N: Also, this chapter is 2,387 Words long, so enjoy]

[A/N Current Time: Just on Monday, my Father had a major heart attack, he's fine, but I'll be having to keep an eye on him whenever I'm not working, so don't expect large chapters, at least not next week, here's the chapter early, I typically post it at 10 PM]

After Kyle successfully completed the trial and became the tribe's champion, he was gifted with a few stimpaks, a Vault-13 Jumpsuit, and a metal flask painted blue with a bold '13' on the front of the flask.

Unfortunately, they did not give him any firearms, but after asking, they did give him a bow and a quiver of arrows, which was better than nothing.

He was also informed of a place called Klamath, given some paper cash from something called the 'New Californian Republic,' and given some basic supplies that would last long enough for him to get there.

Before leaving the village, however, he helped around the village, getting a couple more supplies from the process, such as a few pouches of Healing Powder, some more food and water, and he even managed to have one of the tribesmen sharpen his spear.

From there, he actually learned a bit about the village and the people that inhabited it. The people were certainly tribalistic, but still quite smart, due to learning from the Holo-discs they got from the Vault Dweller's Vault that had a wide variety of information, it just baffled him that they chose to remain living their Tribal way instead of modernizing and making a proper town, but he could see why they chose this way of life.

Even though their village was going through hard times, everyone still seemed happy and quite close, and everyone treated each other like one big family, they even treated him like family and gave him their wishes for his long journey ahead.

It made him happy that his descendants would grow so close, even if they were not precisely 𝘩𝘪𝘴 descendants by technicality.

So, after a few hours of interacting with his descendants, he set out, feeling better after learning as much as he could about his descendants.

---

"These...games, truly allow us to live in a different world?" Asked a rather large and buff bald man, covered in scars and tattoos, a rather cliche-looking thug, if you asked Zeref.

"That's right, Mr...?"

"Volkov."

"I see...Volkov, was it? What were your thoughts in regards to the game trailers?" Zeref asked, getting ready to note any feedback the man might give.

"Fake."

"Too good to be true?" I replied, getting a simple nod.

"How about I make a deal, try the game, and pay for an hour session, if you think the game and everything I have stated in regards to them is false even after playing, I will refund your money and add a little bit on top to make up for your time. However, if everything I have stated were to be correct, you will have to recommend my store to at least three of your friends or trusted acquaintances, deal?"

Seeing the apparent loophole, the thug took the bait and pulled out the money he had available in his wallet.

"Wonderful, what game would you like to play? Do note that no one has played Project Zomboid as of yet, and Fallout while it would definitely prove my words, I suggest you try project zomboid for your first session as it will be easier for you to...adjust."

"Whatever you say, how do I do this?" The man asked after walking over to a computer.

"All you need to do, is find a computer, sit down, and create your account, once you have done that, click the green play button on whichever game you choose in the 'Games' tab."

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So, following Zeref's instructions, Volkov created an account named Bloody Fist, and with difficulty in using the mouse, switched over to the game's tab and selected a game.

And to Zeref's pleasure, he chose Project Zomboid.

Guiding him through the process from behind the counter so that he wouldn't scare off the customer, the man pressed [Play] and went still in his chair, as if a statue.

Sending a part of his mind to watch, he went back to waiting for more customers.

Meanwhile, in the game, the man, Volkov suddenly found himself standing in a doorway, looking upon a couple in a damaged room with the sound of lightning and rain coming from behind him.

The couple, a man and woman, were in the corner of the room, the woman, incredibly pale and looking sickly and on the break of death.

Her leg was wrapped up in a bloodied bandage, and her face was pale and lifeless, the man, in tears with blood coming out of his mouth, had his arms wrapped around the woman's neck, hugging her in his grief.

Volkov stood still for what felt like minutes as the man continued to cry into the shoulder of the woman, who was clearly dead or near death, and the rain and thunder echoed from behind him.

Volkov didn't know what to do, he found that he couldn't turn around or look away, his vision was trapped looking in the room, and only then did he notice floating words to the left of the couple.

[Tutorial]

[Solo]

[Multiplayer]

[Workshop (Coming soon!)]

[Quit]

The thug didn't know what to think.

He was just in the cafe, expecting to easily be able to scam the freak and get some free money...he didn't expect the freak to speak the truth, if this even is real, and not some drug-induced hallucination or power of the freak.

Either way, the thug didn't know what to do, he couldn't move, and could only move his eyes and mouth, but no matter what he said, the couple didn't react.

Fear, the thug felt fearful of his new situation, was the freak going to rip him open and sell parts of him after knocking him unconscious or drugging him?

It took a few more minutes as the man's gaze kept returning to the couple and the floating words before he was able to move on and try something else.

He could only move his eyes, so, he tried focusing on the words instead, looking away from the scene on the other side of the room.

And when focusing on the word 'tutorial', he was surprised to find new words appearing before his eyes as the room dimmed and turned pitch black.

"These are the End Times."

"There is no hope for survival."

"This...is how you died."

The thug found himself standing alone in what looked to be a cabin's kitchen when another message screen showed up at the corner of his eye.

[Welcome to Project Zomboid!]

[Soon, you'll die horribly. No one will mourn you, and you will be swiftly forgotten. Everything will have been for nothing!]

[So, let's make sure you go out fighting!]

[As this is the Tutorial, Pain has been set to 10%, and due to your choice of the 'Virtual Game Mode,' you do not have access to the many perks and abilities Classic Mode players will have access to]

[Now, let's get your blood pumping, follow the arrow at the top of your vision to the next area, where it's definitely safe!]

Eventually, when he did move and follow the arrow, he was led into the adjacent room which featured a living room along with a large wooden crate, piano, stairs on the far end of the room, and various other pieces of furniture.

Suddenly a groan came from outside, causing the man to jump, as the screen of words once again appeared, this time flashing.

[Dead Person Alert!]

[You're going to have to do some looting if you want to survive an attack!]

[Head back to the marked counter in the kitchen, and we will learn to steal!]

When he got to the counter indicated by the arrow, he suddenly felt incredibly hungry, as a new screen appeared.

[Starvation can be delayed by looting food from the homes of the recently deceased!]

Opening the drawer in front of him, he gagged upon seeing a dead and obviously rotting rat.

[Looks like someone's got a rumbly tummy! Time to eat!]

[Eat the dead mouse!]

[We should probably pick up that empty bottle too. Dying of thirst is horrid]

The thug grabbed an empty bottle that was inside the drawer with the dead rat, and slammed the drawer closed, causing a new screen to appear.

[Or not...pussy]

[Oh hey, better fill up your bottle before the water supply is cut off]

"Want to say that to my face?!"

In response to his aggressive words, nothing happened, leaving the arrow pointing to the sink nearby.

He muttered something indecipherable before walking over to the sink and filling the bottle up with water before drinking everything in it and refilling it again.

[Let's see what's in the other cupboards!]

Grunting in annoyance, he walked over to the marked cupboard and found a frying pan inside.

[Well, it's near enough a weapon!]

With the frying pan in hand, a new message appeared.

[Oh my! Is it getting hot in here? Let's pop open a window and get some fresh air while your lungs are still inflated!]

This time, the arrow pointed over to a kitchen window, and heading over to it...revealed what looked to be an incredibly plae man with a large red hat and a knife lodged in their back.

Stuffing the full water bottle he had in hand into his pocket, he switched the frying pan to his left hand and slowly opened the window with his right.

[Quietly climb through that window, and beat that zombie to death!]

Ignoring the message, the thug took a deep breath and climbed through the window as quietly as he could.

He lightened his footsteps, and slowly crept closer to the zombie, raising the frying pan with both hands overhead, and once close enough, swung with all his might down onto the zombie's head, causing it to groan as it fell to the ground.

He held the frying pan, ready for the thing to get back up, but it seemed it was so weak, that it couldn't even manage that laying on the ground and squirming.

Walking over, he once again raised the pan and brutally began smashing the zombie's head in.

The words told him to grab the knife, which he was already grabbing for, and with the knife in hand and a frying pan in the other, the thug felt kind of ridiculous.

The Thug didn't know what to think about this situation he found himself in, but at least he was moving and progressing by doing what the words told him to, even if the words were a bit rude.

Was that freak actually telling the truth? Was this really a different and completely virtual world in which he could live a different life?

Pushing open a wooden door along the fence, the words suggested he crouch and quietly sneak around the fence into the vegetable garden just on the other side.

Doing so, revealed a zombie eating a corpse, causing Volkov to nearly throw up.

He slowly crept closer, gagging internally as the stench only got worse, before he was directly behind the zombie, and with the hunting knife he had in his right hand, he lodged the blade as deep as it could go into the zombie's skull, killing it nearly instantly, causing it to fall completely onto the other corpse, dragging the knife with it.

Standing straight, he turned away from the zombie and promptly threw up.

Dry heaving and on the ground on all fours, the thug, completely emptied his stomach of all its contents.

Wiping his mouth, he climbed back up to his feet and walked over to the two zombies, and grabbed the backpack off the zombie he killed.

To his surprise, the rucksack was surprisingly heavy, and when opened, he was shocked to see a shotgun and boxes of shells.

Putting the frying pan in the bag, and sliding the knife into his pocket, he grabbed the shotgun, and loaded it, giving off a faint smile as he racked a shell.

Climbing over the wooden fence, he crept to yet another building, where he could see a broken window, which the words told him to climb through, so, using part of his shirt, he pushed the glass out of the broken window and climbed through, not cutting himself in the slightest.

He seemed to be in some kind of storage shed, and following the word's directions, he walked over to a covered window, and opened its blinds, revealing two more zombies in a fenced area eating a corpse through the bars of the window.

Taking a deep breath, he walked over to a locker, and noticing the fresh clothes inside, began taking off his clothes and getting redressed.

Now equipped with military boots, military camo cargo pants, and a hoodie, with a leather jacket over it, he walked over to the locked door with the shotgun in hand, and walked outside, seeing a port-o-potty a few meters away.

Walking outside and turning left, he walked over to the fence, and seeing the zombies distracted, climbed over it, not making a loud enough sound to attract their attention.

With created blocking their sight of him, he peaked over, and using the crates as support, took aim, and fired.

The bang that arose, echoed out to a long distance, definitely gaining the attention of every zombie within a few miles.

Both zombies he shot at flinched, and were definitely hit by the rounds, but seemed to shrug off the damage and turn towards the thug, before slowly shambling towards him with their arms raised, as if going for a hug, intent on eating him.

He fired again, this time taking one of them down, and with another shell, the other zombie went down too.

Suddenly he flinched, he could hear a lot of groans and snarls coming from around him, and looking back past the fence, revealed a nightmare, a horde of zombies coming from the forest surrounding the cabin, and all heading towards him.