Having already gone through his current stats, Shaun knew the next step was to get Ava a better weapon. Trying to take out a zombie using a knife when you’re unaccustomed to death and killing was extremely dangerous and many would die this way.

It was because of this that he decided to come here before everything went down, he recalled finding his first gun just outside of the city in a farmhouse, the one he and Ava had been standing a short distance from.

“Holy shit!” Ava’s voice sounded out with her phone in hand.

“S-Shaun-” she stammered “Something is wrong within the city.”

Though she didn’t clarify, the screams coming from her phone’s speaker made it clear what she was referring to. Currently, the internet was still operational and there were many people filming what was going on outside with shaking hands. He already knew exactly what was going on, the twenty percent of people that got turned practically as soon as the sky turned red were scratching and biting any human they got their hands on. He knew very well that the first day half of all the people on the planet turned into zombies, with many others turning in the following week.

Still, he stopped in his tracks after hearing Ava’s shaky voice, “Ava, when you saw the system’s message, did anything strange happen to you?” he asked with a serious expression.

Overwhelmed by all that was going on she remained quiet for a few moments before answering, I’m not sure, why?”

Shaun had a pensive expression and organized his thoughts before answering “I had a vision.” He finally said, “I think I can tell the future.”

Ava looked at him with a dumbfounded expression before finally forming a word “What?”

Knowing it would be a difficult thing to believe he pointed towards the farmhouse not far away “Like, I know there is a working shotgun in that house with ammunition in a cabinet.” Before waiting for her to speak he continued “I also knew about these zombies before even checking my phone, as do I know that regular bodily harm will have no effect on them.”

Though she probably should’ve focused on the fact that Shaun claimed to be a seer, she looked back at her phone as she swallowed “Zombies? Like the ones in the movies?”

Shaun looked at her and nodded “Pretty much.” She struggled on what to say next but finally decided “Ava, I know things are overwhelming right now, and trying to make sense of things might take time. But for now, please pretend what I’m saying is all real and act as if it is. We really don’t have the time to sit around and relax all day.”

Hearing his words Ava calmed her emotions as she took a few deep breaths in and out, “Okay, I’ll believe you. What’re our priorities?”

Hearing her now calm voice, Shaun was surprised, to say the least, at some point everyone would have to turn over a switch like she just had, accepting things as they were instead of trying to hold on to old logic, it was just that the speed at which she did was surprisingly fast.

“First we have to go get the gun within the farmhouse, after that we can have a look at going into the city and establishing a base of operations.”

Shaun’s voice was calm but inwardly he had to admit he wasn’t certain how he would go about the second part, the first week of the apocalypse was extremely chaotic and few actually managed to do anything of importance in that period of time.

“Okay…” Ava paused for a moment before asking another question, “The zombies, do you think they’re only in the city or could there also be some in the farmhouse.”

Shaun shrugged, “I’m not sure, we should assume there are zombies in any house and around any corner we go.”

Ava nodded before moving towards the farmhouse together with Shaun, though it was only a short walk Shaun quickly felt the difference between his current body and the one he had before. Though he wasn’t tired yet by any means, he could feel that every step seemed to take a small percentage of his energy, something he used to only feel when unleashing powerful attacks.

Sighing internally, he focused back on the job at hand as he looked at the farmhouse they were approaching, he took his knife out of his bag and affixed the sheath to his belt, something Ava copied even though it took her a bit longer.

“All right Ava, how many zombies do you think could be inside?” he asked, intending to see her initial talent for clearing buildings.

Ava paused for a moment as she looked at the farmhouse, it had two floors and seemed decently modern. There was a tractor and some other machinery on the side of it.

“It seems like a simple family’s home, There probably live between three and five people here meaning we should assume that many zombies,” she stated, some confidence in her voice.

Shaun smiled as he corrected, “You’re mostly right but the house doesn’t have a garage and I can’t see a car around, meaning at least one person isn’t here. It’s also entirely possible the entire family is out. Still, let’s proceed with caution.”

Ava nodded as she began feeling nervous again, she stopped thinking too much of what was going on and tried to take things in as they came but the current situation was still a lot to handle. “Should I go in first?” she finally asked after mustering up her courage “I got a brown belt in karate.”

Shaun gently shook his head as he responded “No, I’ll take care of this, just stay close and try not to panic as much as you can.” though the second half of the sentence probably wouldn’t help much, he hoped her will wouldn’t tank after her first encounter with zombies.

“Here we go then,” Shaun said quietly as he stood before the door. He recalled some of the tactics he used in the earlier portions of the apocalypse before reaching down for the door handle, “Tch, locked.” 

Not bothered too much by the small setback, Shaun moved towards the closest window, he couldn’t see anything suspicious through them but that didn’t say much. Grabbing a large rock from the ground, he took a few steps back before throwing it right at the window.

“CRASH!!”

Unimpeded by the glass the rock flew right into the house, creating a large hole in the window.

Ava was just about to ask what he was doing when she saw movement within the house. It was a lady of about fifty years old, she moved towards the broken window as a slow pace before her eyes locked onto Ava’s.

When they did, Ava felt momentarily terrified, the eyes of the lady were completely red and she couldn’t see any pupils.

“Over here you old bag!” Shaun shouted out while waving his hands.

The old lady looked over at him before opening her mouth.

SCREECH!!!

Ava and Shaun immediately moved their hands towards their ears as the ear-piercing screech reached them.

“F*ck, it’s a screecher!” Shaun yelled out, grabbing his knife as soon as the screech ended. He knew that wasn’t the end of it though, screechers were extremely dangerous in the early stages of the apocalypse for the simple reason that they attracted any other zombie that could hear them, it also didn’t help that any older zombified human had a small chance of becoming a screecher, there was no way to differentiate between screechers and normal zombies at all before a fight.