Night of the first day.

Crowds of zombies walked among the shopping arcades in endless searches for prey, listening to the shuffling steps and howls of each other. Sometimes the zombies, out of boredom, awkwardly shook hands with each other, and then moved on. Some found funny toys for themselves, like a bicycle or simply chair legs, while others tried on clothes. But no matter what they were distracted by, it did not last long and soon they again continued their endless searches.

One zombie was so impudent that he suddenly slapped his neighbor in the face. Fortunately, the victim had a helmet, so he only stared at the offender in bewilderment. It seemed that having realized something, the victim stopped paying attention to the fool and went on to do more important things.

That night it was cool, with very light rain drizzling, however, the moon and some of the stars were not hidden behind the clouds and illuminated the deserted counters and scattered goods around the bazaar. Sometimes the zombies raised their heads up and the lights of celestial bodies were reflected in their white and emotionless eyes.

- Apchh!

Suddenly, the zombie heard an atypical but familiar sound and suddenly rushed towards its source. The sound came from an iron container nearby. The zombie rushed towards it and leaned against the iron wall, trying to punch a hole in it. Realizing that it was useless, he moved to the side and tried to open the doors of the container, but even then he failed. Other zombies came running at the sound of hitting the container, but the helmeted one did not pay attention to them. The container was only about 2.5 meters high. The helmeted one jumped up and, pushing off from the door handle of the container, caught onto its roof, after which he climbed up. There was a wooden partition in the center of the roof; as soon as the zombie touched it, it moved. He pushed the square piece of wood aside and finally opened his way inside. It seemed that the helmeted man smelled the smell of fresh, warm meat and rushed inside.

- No, no, please don’t! God save me, please! No, don't come...

But the helmeted man did not pay attention to the woman’s pleas. With a trained movement, he grabbed the victim by the head and delivered a strong blow to her head against the wall of the container to stun the victim and not allow her to interfere with the meal, after which he dug into the victim’s neck, tearing piece after piece from it. The helmet was in the way, but the zombie was already used to it and knew perfectly well how to solve this problem using the right angle.

Suddenly a picture appeared before the zombie's eyes. He fell to the floor unconscious, but after a few seconds he opened his eyes.

What happened? I remember standing in the fitting room, making a system choice and then seeing something... I don’t remember anything else, as if it happened a second ago. Is it over? I don't feel my body, I don't feel anything at all.

A message appeared before my eyes.

Attention! The process of canceling zombification has begun, which will last from three to five hours. The nervous system will gradually return to normal. Other zombies will start to show aggression towards you after about 30 minutes, during this period you should not attack the zombies otherwise they will start attacking you back. It is recommended to find a safe place and treat the wounds.

Can the system cancel zombification? How far technology has come... But this is not the main thing now. Lying on the floor, I watched as the zombies jumped in one after another, after which each tried to leave a bite on the unfortunate victim on the floor. But victim was already dead so even if there is primal zombie among them it was a useless time waste. Experience was already stolen.

Since I reached level 20, was it me who killed this victim? How many people did I manage to kill and devour?

Status.

Name - Rick.

Race - Human (process of abolishing zombification)

Level - 20

Strength 30

Agility 27

Stamina 30

Toughness 30

Inventory 1 cubic. meter.

Auction

One question per day (locked)

Store (locked)

Mind (locked)

Unallocated characteristics - 20

Credits - 0

Neither the amount of experience nor the number of people I killed was indicated, maybe it’s for the better. I didn’t see anything and don’t know anything, I fell and woke up in a cast. And in general, I didn’t kill anyone, at least consciously.

It seemed to me that I felt something, but this is not certain. In any case, just like the first time, I’ll just listen to the advice of the system. First, you need to urgently get out of here.

I stood up and glanced at myself. Covered in dried blood and other unpleasant secretions. There was fresh blood on my lips, I touched them with my hand, but again I didn’t feel anything, I shouldn't accidentally bite off my tongue. I tried to spit and it turned out that a piece of meat fell out of my mouth; it didn’t take me long to guess who it belonged to. I thought I was going to throw up, but I didn’t even have a gag reflex. I stood up and looked around, it was dark here and the light from the hole on the roof only slightly illuminated the surroundings. There were some notebooks, school supplies and the like inside this container. I grabbed one of the bags, you never know. Then I remembered about the inventory unlock and decided to try it. Mentally clicked on the inventory in the status, after which paid attention to the bag, it became, as it were, marked with a slightly visible outline. I wished the bag to go into inventory and it quickly disappeared into thin air. Having checked the inventory in the status, I saw the inscription - School bag.

Leaving my thoughts about this for later, I looked around again. There were already 6 zombies in the container; no one else seemed to be in there. I couldn't find a way to get back onto the roof from here, maybe there was a ladder somewhere in the dark or something, but there was no need. I found the entrance door to the container and opened it from the inside, after which I closed it from the outside and sent the key to the inventory. Letting this zombies alive and trapped inside might be useful you never know.

Zombies scurried around the market and behaved completely differently. Some were moving around at an accelerated pace, some were trudged, others were digging somewhere, and so on. Finding a pattern in their behavior was not easy.

Movement was difficult, even walking normally without almost feeling my legs turned out to be quite difficult, but I slowly began to get used to it.

The moon illuminated a little but I still went towards the nearest light source that I saw in one of the neighboring containers. It was empty inside and there was a lamp burning. Finally I was able to examine myself properly. First of all, I was struck by the absence of a significant piece of flesh on the left leg in the calf area. The wound was covered with dried blood, but I wouldn't be surprised if I saw bare bone underneath it. The thumb of the left hand was unnaturally curved, and the little finger and part of the other finger were missing on the right hand. Otherwise, the body had puncture and cutting wounds in various places and the body armor was clearly damaged, although it was difficult to understand from what exactly. Taking the mirror in my hands, I examined my face. Fortunately, the helmet did its job and despite all the suffering it went through, my head remained intact for the most part. But the face looked terrible. In the reflection I saw a terrible bloody mess, the upper lip and partly the lower lip were missing, partly the teeth were missing, and those that were there caused only horror. The rest of the face didn't look much better, although I was hoping that if I took off the guts and blood makeup it wouldn't be so bad.

In any case, I came to the conclusion that the body urgently needs to be saved, everything else will wait. I checked the parameters in the status and seeing that stamina is responsible for regeneration, I already made decisions in my mind where I would spend the free parameters, but first I needed to find the nearest pharmacy and then a safe place, there is not much time, I will have to take a shower later.

Having figured out what part of the market I was in, I headed towards the pharmacy and soon got inside; the doors were open.

I had to spend some time choosing what I needed, including bandages, ointments, antibiotics. After which began to collect almost everything in a row as long as there was enough space in my inventory. I took out my school bag and stuffed it with what I could as well, somehow putting it on myself, I still didn’t feel its weight. I gave priority to various painkillers, I hate pain.

All that remains is to find a safe place. One of the containers or any other enclosed space were quite good options, I could definitely sit out, but how would I get out later given the crowds of zombies around? Having thought about it, I decided that I needed to get away from this bazaar; around this market there were mostly fields, and from time to time there were rare residential buildings. I decided to run as far as possible and find some kind of basement in one of these houses, preferably one that could be closed from the inside.

I spent about 10 minutes in the pharmacy, I didn’t feel any pain yet, but little by little the feeling of owning my own body returned. Having left the territory of the bazaar, I ran into an open field and moved towards the supposed dwellings. As was promised zombies around were ignoring me completely.

At first I ran hesitantly at normal speed, but gradually gained momentum and realized that I was running so damn fast that the Olympic champion would be jealous. After all this primal zombie transformation was worth it! These parameters are a magical thing. Having cheered up, I soon reached a nondescript two-story house. Similar huts of various sizes were lined up between the fields, but not too closely. At least it's much better than a bazaar full of zombies.

Running up to the house, I looked around a little, then tried the front doors - they were open. Walking through the rooms, including the second floor, I did not find anyone. Finally I found on the floor a wooden door with a handle leading to the basement and tried to open it, but despite the newfound strength I couldn’t open it, if it went on like this I would break off the handle. While I was thinking about what to do next, the door opened from the inside, I only managed to see the outlines of a female figure in the twilight of the basement, as well as the inscription.

Primal Zombie

A shot sounded and being hit I flew about three meters away, landing heavily on the wall. Fortunately, I still had my bulletproof vest on and I didn’t feel any pain, but I really felt fear and the instinct of self-preservation. While still in flight, I was looking forward to landing on the ground and immediately rushed away from this house. Another shot sounded behind me, but this time it missed. Having run out of this snake’s den, I ran away with all my might. There were less than 10 minutes left to find a safe place.