LOGINSix weeks had passed since the end of the world.Siera’s bunker had become an efficient machine. The drones patrolled the one square mile, the hydroponics bay was producing vast amounts of strawberries, tomatoes and wheat. Eva’s squad had cleared the area of zombies within ten miles, and Frank had set up a little brewery in the bottom tunnels, making a surprisingly decent beer using the stored barley.As Siera sat in the command centre, going through her inventory, the alarm went off.It wasn’t loud like it would if there was an attack. Instead it rang a gentle chime.Siera tapped her screen. Her camera feed showed a man standing alone outside the fence. He looked like a skeleton. Long, gaunt limbs covered in rags. His hair was matted with dirt and blood.However, Siera knew who he was."Marcus..."Julian walked over to look. "He was supposed to be dead. I saw him head into the woods with the horde.""He’s a cockroach." Siera said. "He managed to survive."She watched as Marcus droppe
Everything ran quite smoothly in the bunker for three weeks.Siera woke early each morning, patrolling the perimeter with Julian, and then worked in the expanded hydroponics bay. With Space Level 10 unlocked Siera was able to triple the size of her garden. The wheat was growing up to her waist, the potatoes were large, and the chickens were producing plenty of eggs to feed an entire village.Eva had settled well within her squad. They were so disciplined they did all the hard work, guarding and scavenging. The mobile lab was now safely tucked away in the compound and they even had the blueprints for the antidote. They were actually getting somewhere!Of course Siera knew not to get too comfortable. This was the apocalypse after all.One Tuesday afternoon,Siera was looking over the drone footage of the valley around the bunker when a huge convoy of military vehicles approached. They were not zombies though. They were heavily armed and armoured. They had a black flag with a red skull e
The base was deemed abandoned.That was the first mistake.Siera turned the wheel of the truck and listened to the crunch of the tires on the dead leaves and crushed concrete. The military base loomed before them, a desolate landscape of Quonset huts, chain-link fences, and a crooked watchtower.Julian raised from the back seat and pointed. “Tracks,” he said. “Fresh.”Siera narrowed her eyes at the tire marks in the dust that led directly to the administrative building. Eva aimed her rifle. “You said it was empty,” said Eva.“It was in the book,” said Siera. “But the book is changing.”They got out of the truck and fanned out. Dead silence reigned over the base. Not a bird, not a squirrel. Only the swish of leaves stirring in the wind.Siera reached into her space and produced a little drone. One of the toys she had stolen from the underground lab. She tossed it into the air and watched it vanish behind the administrative building, vanishing into its shadows. A picture formed on her w
They had to leave before sunrise.Siera drove the truck, with Eva in the front seat and Julian in the back with a mounted machine gun. Frank stayed behind to guard the bunker."You sure you can trust her?" Julian had asked just before departure."No." Siera had replied. "But she would make a good shield if she is immune. If not a good target."The road to the city was littered with wrecks and cracks, with occasional wandering zombies.Siera drove with the grill guard on, running over the minor obstacles.Eva navigated to the north side of the city. "The lab is located underground. It was a black site military base. I know the way to the lower levels, most entrances are blocked by debris."They parked inside an abandoned hospital parking lot, from there they had to navigate through the corridors and halls of the hospital before reaching the entrance to the lab.Siera kept her crossbow at the ready, scanning their surroundings.The entrance was a maintenance shaft with a ladder leading
The system interface flashed with ominous red lights, an unpleasant sensation akin to the putrid smell of decaying fleshThere will be generated a new ‘Protagonist’.Siera couldn’t sleep that night, with her feet on the control panel and Julian busy wiping the barrel of his rifle. Meanwhile, Frank was baking bread using the stock of Siera and the flour.“If the system wants to write a new protagonist,” Julian muttered, “that means the laws of fiction still apply. We’ve got to not just fight the undead but the author as well.”“Let him write,” Siera said, chewing on a piece of jerky. “Doesn’t matter what he writes I’ve hijacked the story arc. I’ve got the base, the shelter, and the resources. Even if a new ‘Protagonist’ appears, what can he do? Send a nicely worded letter?”“The system will give the new protagonist exceptional plot armor,” Julian said. “Every conspiracy theorist’s dream finding weapons caches, meeting survivors who turn out to be immune, and sneaking past roadblocks
The bunker seemed colder, when they returned.As Siera walked down the empty storage bay, the sound of her boots on the concrete echoed back at her the mistake she had made. She had let her guard down. She had been merciful, when the Black Serpents had stolen her shelves bare.But as she walked the space, she checked her system. The stolen goods were back in her inventory, but she would need to replenish the physical shelves in her bunker, because she had made a mistake, trusting her space. If she were to be separated from her pendant, or if the technology were to fail, she would need to have alternate supplies."Frank," Siera said, her voice reverberated within the large room. "I need you to seal the intake room. Weld the door shut. From now on, nobody is to be allowed inside the perimeter fence, without a full background scan."Frank gave a grim nod. "I'll get the blowtorch."Julian was already at the command center, inspecting the newly upgraded stealth camouflage technology along







