Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide

Chapter 2: Waking Up With a System and Powers

Donald groaned as he opened his eyes. What happened? It felt like he had been zapped with electricity. As he sat up, memories from before he lost consciousness hit him like a truck. That had actually happened. It was a miracle that he hadn't died from being zapped with all that electricity. The thought that followed was of the zombie that had come after him.

At the sight of the zombie lying mere inches away from him, he scrambled away to put some distance between them. When it didn't move, he grabbed his ax and poked it with it. It didn't even flinch, and he poked it even harder. Seeing it still frozen, Donald breathed a sigh of relief. The moment passed quickly as he slapped his cheek to knock some sense into him.

Just because the one zombie in front of him wasn't moving didn't mean that he was safe yet. His head spun in all directions, searching for signs of other zombies, but there was not a single trace of them anywhere. Well, at least the moving ones. There were several bodies or pieces of bodies strewn throughout the office. Keeping himself from vomiting, he clutched his ax close just in case.

[The user has awakened. Proceeding with the introduction.]

He wasn't ashamed to admit that he screamed at the sight of the message popping in front of his eyes. Given the situation, to a certain extent, anyone else would react in the same way. Placing a hand over his heart, he stared at the floating message in front of him. His mind worked over time to process the appearance of the floating message as more popped up in front of him.

[Greetings, new user. Congratulations on becoming the first awakened before everyone else.]

[For this achievement, you will be given a gift box as a reward.]

The moment he finished reading the text, a blue gift wrapped box appeared right in front of him, floating in the air. Staring at it, Donald refused to come anywhere near it. Who ever heard of such a thing happening in the midst of a zombie apocalypse? It was outright unbelievable and suspicious. This might be some kind of ploy to kill him or something.

[This isn't a trap, user.]

[To survive the zombie apocalypse, a rare few have been given a system and powers.]

[You happen to be one of the few fortunate ones to survive the initial wave.]

Donald studied the message warily as he asked, "Did you just read my mind?"

[In order to better support the user, the system has been given access to your mind.]

[It's mandatory.]

That answered his next question. "Why should I believe you?"

[This system is bonded to the user.]

[If the user dies, the system also dies.]

Frowning, he considered the system's words. If it was really telling the truth, then it was on his side and would do its best to make sure he survived. Unfortunately, he had no way to confirm this. It could be spouting out lies to trick him and leave the moment it got tired of him or after it managed to get him killed. However, he had a feeling that he didn't really have a choice.

Lowering his ax, he said, "Okay, I'll believe you for now, but you better explain everything."

[Of course, dear user. The system will do its best to support you.]

[What do you wish to know?]

"Where did the zombies come from? What did you mean by awakened? What powers? Initial wave? What's in the box?" Donald asked as the questions flowed out.

[Someone was given a system and powers to infect as many people as possible. The system is unsure of the reason or how it happened, but in order to stop the zombies, the user will have to find this person and kill them.]

"What?" he blurted out, but the system continued on as if it didn't hear him.

[An awakened person is someone who was lucky to receive a system and powers. This increases their chances of survival and the possibility of killing the source of the zombies.]

[The system will help you grow stronger and possibly provide benefits essential in the current situation.]

[Everyone is given a random power based on several factors ranging from personality to the environment.]

[There will be several waves of zombies, which will get stronger the longer the source is alive.]

[The gift box has a random reward that can help you survive.]

Digesting what he just learned, Donald studied the floating box. It was a lot to swallow, but he got the gist of it. Basically, someone decided to start the zombie apocalypse for some unknown reason, and the only way to stop it was to kill them. He also had superpowers, which he apparently needed to figure out. Taking a deep breath, he tried to keep himself from freaking out.

After several moments of internal screaming, Donald asked, "What's my power?"

[You have the power to manipulate electricity.]

Donald blinked. Then he chuckled before it erupted into full blown laughter. Of course, of all the powers he could have gotten, it was to control electricity. All it took was getting electrocuted. Did that mean if he had been set on fire, he would have gotten fire powers instead? When he finally calmed down, he reached out to claim the gift box.

[Congratulations.]

[You have been rewarded with the power to manipulate fire.]

Gaping at the message, he could only say, "Seriously?"

[Error. Anomaly detected. Patching through to the administrator.]

[Connecting...]

[Correction. There is no error. The reward will be distributed as expected.]

[The user will obtain the power to manipulate fire.]

He couldn't believe his luck. Just moments before, he had been thinking about having fire powers, and the system handed them out to him as a gift. However, he didn't like the message from earlier stating it was an error. The system obviously didn't expect him to obtain fire powers when he opened the gift box. Was it rare to receive another power?"

[The user is correct.]

[Everyone is entitled to only one power. Having multiple powers is strictly forbidden. However, it was determined that the user can have two powers as long as the user focuses on one of them.]

Donald couldn't believe his luck. This was like winning the lottery. With electricity and fire at his fingertips, he was certain no one could lay a hand on him. It was unfortunate that he had to decide which power would be his main one, but it was better than nothing. Carefully considering which would be the better power, he came to a decision.

"Make electricity my main power," he declared.