Face to face, out in the heat. Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street.
For the kill with the skill to survive
— Excerpt from "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor

In the corridor of one of the buildings of Fujimi Academy, there is an intense face-off happening at this very moment. Rather, one of them is already running to the other.

This very moment is Martin Harvie's most dangerous situation he had ever faced. Even the orphanage director's killer gaze is not this scary.

While he feared horror movies and this zombie, he feared for his life even more. He was not about to let this zombie fodder to kill him without fighting back.

Martin quickly gathered his wits and prepared to receive the enemy the was quickly approaching. He held his makeshift spear with two hands and imitated one of the poses he once saw in games and movies on what he thought was the proper way to hold a spear.

He lowered his hips and set his feet apart in the position of a horse stance except he was facing the enemy sideways. His grip position was one on the near-end and one in the middle while trying to point the sharp-end to the quickly approaching enemy.

His hands felt clammy and his breathing was slightly labored due to his earlier exertions or maybe the fear is also a contributing factor.

9 meters…7 meters…5 meters…

Just a few more meters and the enemy will be in the range of his thrust.

3... 2… 1…!!

He pushed the spear with all his might, with all his body while hoping to one-shot the zombie in the head. Unfortunately, the enemy has dodged or rather he has missed his chance to strike the head and instead, accidentally flung his body straight into the zombie and violently collided with it and taking it with him.

He doesn't know right now if he's lucky or unlucky as the makeshift spear that was supposed to strike the head had gone through its body instead thereby, taking it in the process.

He was not able to arrest his momentum and they both harshly landed on the ground, bruising his arms and ribs while losing his grip on the makeshift spear in the process.

One can call Martin Harvie an idiot but he knows an opportunity when sees one. The zombie felt the blow to its body as while it was still wailing and moving, it was unmistakably weakened right now.

He left the makeshift spear lodged in its torso for now as it was not able to get up with something stuck in its body.

He was debating in his head whether to leave it or finish it, however, he quickly decided to just kill it.

He has never once thought he was killing a fellow human because…obviously it was not. There's no such thing as conscience when it comes to zombies. It's kill or be killed.

Plus those precious Karma would get away if I just left it there right?

He quickly jogged straight the upper floor as he remembered passing by an emergency box with a fire extinguisher… and an ax.

A fire extinguisher might be heavy and might be enough to beat a zombie head to a pulp but he needed something long term. He needed to survive three days for goodness sake! If his hunch is correct, he might even need to kill some more of these monsters to gather up more karma. Better to make it a habit now rather than die later.

After a tiring climb, he saw the emergency box and with one nicely placed elbow strike and the ax is mine. Its time to Gordon Freeman on those bastards.

I would have liked to also take the fire extinguisher too, but at this point, it would only be a hindrance. It's really heavy and unhandy.

*BANG!*

That was when I heard a loud sound of something breaking from the outside. It seems the commotion outside has quickly escalated. I took a peek outside and the sights sent shivers down my spine.

I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all.

For just a short time, one zombie had quickly multiplied and made a party, or rather, that's a horde of zombies, isn't it?

I definitely didn't like what is happening at all.

I quickly ran back down the stairs while carrying my newly acquired trusty ax and immediately caught the sight of the flailing monster that is still on the floor and appeared to be trying to get up.

The keyword was 'it tried'.

I cautiously approached and surely it noticed me. It tried to claw at me while I'm at a range. What an idiot.

I was now at a striking distance, however, just a little bit I'll also enter its range too. It also increased its struggle and for a second, I thought it was able to stand up.

My excessive caution must have made me jump back instinctively.

'I might not be cut out for this.' Martin shook his head in disappointment at not being able to finish the job immediately and heavily sighed in relief that the worst has not happened yet.

He took a deep breath and steeled his resolve.

He approached the struggling monster on the ground and prepared to strike at its head. As if sensing its demise, tried to desperately reach him, however, Martin was not daunted and quickly brought down the ax with all his might and chopped at its head.

"That sounds as if a watermelon has been smashed" Martin numbly commented. He wondered if it will also be the same sound if a human head has been smashed. Such thoughts were running through his mind while dislodging the bloody disgusting from its head.

*Ding! Ding!*

Erasing the grim thoughts forming inside his head, he took notice of the messages by the system. Seeing the messages, he grinned at his harvests.

[You have received 10 Karma.]

[Due to constant exertion, your STR, CON, DEX, and WIS has slightly increased!]

"Not only do you receive karma for killing these monsters, but I also get something for all of those running!" Martin loudly proclaimed and whistled in appreciation. Now, some of his suspicions have been answered.

*Ding~!*

And it seems you receive a slightly pleasant-sounding notification for completing the quest however, I don't feel very happy at all~

[Congratulations Player! You've completed the quest 'Tutorial Quest: Man Up!!']

---

[Tutorial Quest: MAN UP!!

Description:
Regain your courage and defeat the fiend that's been haunting you.

Main Objective:

1. Kill the janitor zombie (1/1). - COMPLETE

Bonus Objective:

• Kill it within 3 hits (2/3) - COMPLETE

You will receive 200 Karma!]

---

If you total all my gains, I have received an increase in physical and mental faculties and also 210 Karma for killing the zombie and completing the quest. I only have 790 Karma more to go. Yay~

If I don't receive any more quests from this moment, it means I will need to kill 79 more of these monsters to complete the quest, however, if I just do that then I would not be satisfied with the outcome.

If I'm doing these then I should probably do it all the way. If I pace myself, and not be surrounded, I'll be able to kill more of these bastards.

I'm also wondering what the reward will be for the bonus objective. So my current goal right now would be to safely escape from this place and probably find a shelter to hide while killing as many zombies as possible and then to survive for 3 days.

If I'm transported in this world just for a test, I'm hoping this world is not a permanent fixture. Damn!

It seems the shit really hit the fan. As I've finished my musings (I really got to stop this habit), I've heard the commotion outside and it doesn't sound fancy at all. I tell you.

I quickly went down the stairs to the second floor. I won't be able to run for a while due to my tiring battle (yeah, right?) so a quick jog was used to preserve my energy.

This may sound stupid but going down the building is the only option I have right now. If I chose to go to the rooftop, I'm pretty sure that I will be trapped and worse, instead of being able to stay there for three days, I'll probably die in one day.

When Martin reached the ground floor, he was finally formally introduced to the chaos that was the zombie apocalypse. The janitor zombie does not count.

The disorderly cacophony of groaning, screaming, and crying was present everywhere. There were shouts, screaming for help. There were produced by the undead monsters and there were the heartbreaking sobs and chokes that should be plentiful if it's being heard in this chaos.

There was the usual crowd of teachers, students, other faculty staff contributing to the chaos. There was also some miscellaneous civilian that was most likely already zombies even before entering the campus area.

You could see the people desperately defending themselves from the onslaught of this unexpected horror. They were probably planning some boring activities like going home to play games or even or having fun in someplace downtown before these horrible events have befallen to them.

What's sad however was that you could also see some people taking advantage of the chaos to feed their hidden lusts and desire.

Honestly, such a sight disgusts me. Not only do they only think of themselves, but they also harm others just to feed their sick fantasies.

I, however, was not much different from any of them. While these sad and horrifying things are happening in front of me, I can only think of saving myself and earning some points before hiding myself for the next three days.

*Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!... (+8 more)*

[You have received 10 Karma.]

…

..

.

[You have received 10 Karma.]

It seems some of these people noticed me and didn't know what to think. I was just bashing these monsters' heads left and right. Whatever came at me was hacked in the head and if I'm not careful, I might even accidentally kill people if someone accidental came at my vicinity. Heck, the earlier sounds of notification were already annoying with me that the system probably took notice and stopped the sounds altogether.

I might be able to finish the main quest before leaving the campus at this point. That was if I don't get suddenly overwhelmed and deplete my stamina. I'm actually surprised that I'm able to last this long. It's possible that my continuous activity is actually also improving both my mind and body. Probably the powers of the system.

I'm slowly getting accustomed to killing these things like I'm more able to sense the pattern when they would attack or evade a particularly dangerous area where I might be surrounded.

These are probably the reason why some people took notice. I don't know what happened but, maybe, because of seeing me vigorously fighting back against these things that they were able to gather some courage to also push back.

I think I'm saying 'probably' a bit too much. Haha.

That was because I was not sure about myself. I don't even have an itty-bitty bit of understanding of my situation. Much less what is happening right now.

It's each man for himself right now and anyone thinking of saving another person in this situation is either a fool with a death wish, a despicable person with a suspicious alibi or they have a genuine excuse like what I'm seeing right now.

That was the moment however that I was able to see a group composed of students that looks so unnatural and exotic to the eyes, you would think them from a fantasy world. In which world does a student have that those kinds of racks. It's too big to be natural but such movements were too natural to be fake.

Don't even mention the blonde nurse in their group. If the student has unnatural looking racks on such ages, the nurse has the racks so impossible you might as well think she has her own rules of gravity in her person. Seriously, who runs on those without losing their balance. Respect man.

Oops. I digressed. Sorry about that. Anyway.

This group of people was effectively monsters left and right. They even look to have a balanced party of a tank, an off-tank, ranged DPS, coordinator or strategist (might be), and a healer (nurse). If you don't know any better, you would think of them running a dungeon run. What more RPG can you get with that? Magician? As if…

Judging from their movements, they might or might not have a plan to either resolve the current situation on the campus or to escape the current predicament. I'm more than willing to bet that they plan to escape out of the campus. At this point, the population of the living and the dead is obviously tilted to the later.

It probably wouldn't hurt to try going with them. Right now, I'm really feeling the exhaustion settling in my bones, and honestly, I'm already sick hacking these bitches to pieces.

And so I immediately bolted into their direction making a monster train in the process. Oops!

"Hey! Wait for me!!" Shouting is a really bad idea at this point, however, I just don't care anymore.

Fortunately, some of them looked back at my position and was immediately horrified at what they saw and what happened. I swear I saw some of them run faster after seeing me. I don't blame them. Who would have a horde of fans composed of zombies chasing them? What's more, I shouted out loud. Surely, such noise would attract even more of them?

I think I saw even saw some of the teachers getting stampeded after my shout. There was even this one particular guy in the pinstripe desperately running in the same direction before being swallowed by the horde. I don't know if it's one of their friends but I honestly feel sorry for what I did.

After turning into the school building, I saw a row of cars, and of those is a bus. I immediately sped up my running as I saw the car starting up. What the heck, they're so fast!

I saw some of them arguing on the doors of the bus. If I were to guess, the guy was arguing about waiting for something while the orange-haired girl (is that dyed?) wanted them to drive away already.

Good guy! I love you!

I was about 10 meters away from the bus when the horde had appeared at the corner I came from. I put all my strength into reaching the bus. It seems they couldn't wait for me and already started driving off; however one of them, that one guy was still waiting at the doors while holding on a pole and was extending his hand in my direction.

4… 3… 2… 1 meter!

"Agghhh!" I shouted in exertion as my adrenaline-fueled run had earned me a hand that had immediately pulled inside the bus.

Before I was able to thank the guy, the doors had immediately closed and the driver quickly sped up. Damn! That was really close!

I closely held at the poles and immediately found an empty seat. I splayed myself on it while calming myself down. My heart is beating so fast it might explode. I feel so clammy and uncomfortable right now. Sweat was streaming down my face and I feel really cold inside like. I just feel like passing out right now.

"You okay there?" I heard from beside me. It seems that guy also chose to find an empty seat that was coincidentally next to my seat. I didn't notice. He was looking at me as if worried that I might really pass out. Honestly, such a good guy.

Aside from the sound of the motors and occasional banging sounds that can be heard at the front of the bus, it was quiet on the bus. They're probably still reflecting on what they've just experienced.

Back to the guy. I just raised my hand at him gesturing for him to wait and a little later after settling my breathing and feeling the warmth coming back, I looked at him while my raised hands gestured thumbs-up while nodding at him.

I'm still really winded and was not able to speak but regardless, I hope I was able to convey my gratitude.

After a couple of seconds of more calming down,

"...Martin Harvie ...Thanks for the help." I gave more formal words of gratitude while introducing myself and offering a hand for a handshake.

The guy who was about to turn around was surprised to hear me speak however, why does he look like he was more surprised about something else.

"Komuro Takashi, It's nothing. Just trying to help." It seemed like he hesitated a bit there before shaking my hand.

Right after, it seemed like he was troubled about something.

"What's wrong, bro?" I spoke to him right after. Surely asking would not hurt?

He started, seemingly surprised that I asked. He looked at my face while he looked to be puzzled or confused with something.

"Do you want to ask something from me or something?' I made it easy for him to straight up just ask. It's probably better to clear things up or drama might ensue. I really hate dramas. It's just unneeded stress and we don't need additional stress right now.

"Well… Are you a foreigner, or some kind of exchange student?" He seemed to have struggled with something before finally asking his… incredibly mundane question.

What the heck? Don't tell me that's what he's really troubled about? I was so sure he would about those people I left, killed by the zombies.

Feeling my tension deflate, I scratched my head in confusion until I threw my concerns away and just flat out accepted with a nod.

It seemed he was content with that. He returned to his corner after throwing a 'later' at me with also a nod.

I also returned to my own corner, hoping to recover more of my lost energy.

Since there were no obvious concerns at the moment, I think it's time to check my harvests.