At a small store....

 

"Shit! What happened? My head hurts...ugh!" A young boy cried out as he tried to move. However, he soon found out that he was tied up and hung over some metal pipes.

 

"What's this? What's going on? Why am I like this? Hey! Gem! Where are you? Is anyone out there? Hey!"

 

The young teenager was Dem, the victim whose identity was stolen by Blank. As he struggled and shouted for help, a growl emitted out from behind the front door. The growl was soft at first so Dem did not hear it.

 

However, when the growl amplified, Dem stopped screaming. He stared wide-eyed at the direction of the growl. There was a zombie...no...three zombies! The three zombies must have been attracted to his struggling!

 

"No! Don't come here! Get away! Get away!!" Dem struggled to escape, but the bindings were too tight. Just as the zombies were about to reach him, Dem swung his legs up and clasped onto the metal pipes above him.

 

With this position, the zombies could not reach him. Dem grinned and stuck out his tongue at the zombies. "Haha, you can't get me now, you dried-up sons of bitches! Hahah-eh?"

 

CRACK! BAM!

 

Maybe because the metal pipes were rusted and could not support the weight...maybe because all that struggling from Dem may have loosen up the metal pipes...either way, the pipes that Dem hung over broke free and the unlucky teenager landed on the ground with a loud thud. As Dem winced at the smartness of the fall, he saw three shadows looming over him. The zombies!

 

Dem murmured in defeat as the zombies lunged towards him. "Well, crap!"

 

SYSTEM: DEM OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO ZOMBIES!

 

..........

 

"Arthur, King Jo, you're finally here!" Gem smiled as she greeted her friends. They had just arrived at the mayor's office after a long tiring trip of running and mowing down zombies.

 

Arthur nodded towards Gem and Blank. He motioned them to follow as he headed to the second floor. "Gem, Dem, I've made you wait."

 

"Oh, not at all, isn't that right Dem?" Gem shook her head and looked at Blank for confirmation which he gave after a few seconds.

 

Arthur continued up the stairs while he asked a few more questions. "Why didn't you take the flag if you got here before we did?"

 

"We wanted to let you have the honor of claiming victory." Gem replied.

 

"I see. That's good too. Hmm? Dem, how come you seem different today? Like you're tired. Usually, you're restless and would wonder about."

 

Blank quickly replied with a small chuckle. "I'm just excited we can finally win over them Pocket Writers Association."

 

"Ah, yes. That's true. Those PWA's are really hateful, especially that Eden bastard."

 

"Yea."

 

After that, there followed an awkward silence. Finally, the four arrived at the mayor's room. Arthur kicked the door open and checked to see if there's any zombies hiding about. Once he made sure that the coast was clear, Arthur pointed towards the flag that stood beside the mayor's rotten desk.

 

"There it is. Come, let's go get it."

 

Blank rushed towards the flag and was just about to touch it when Arthur asked in a solemn voice. "Dem, what are you doing?"

 

Blank spun around and hastily replied. "Um...I'm just getting it and handing it to you."

 

"Oh? Dem, are you really Dem?"

 

"W-What are you saying? Of course I am." Blank stuttered as he realized that his cover may have been blown. He edged slightly closer to the flag as he continued to face Arthur with a calm expression.

 

Gem rushed up and tried to defend Blank. "What do you mean, Arthur? This is Dem. Who else could it be?"

 

"I don't know," Arthur replied with a shake of his head and pulled Gem to his side, "he seems unusual. No...not just unusual, he's entirely different! Who are you? Speak!"

 

Blank grimaced and tried to convince Arthur once more. "I'm Dem! Honest! I'm your friend De-"

 

SYSTEM: DEM OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO ZOMBIES!

 

When everyone in the room saw the following system message, a range of different emotions emerged from each of the Writers' faces. Arthur had a look of 'See, I told you so' while King Jo and Gem had a look of astonishment. Blank, on the other hand, had a look of 'Oh crap, my cover is blown'.

 

Immediately, Arthur raised up his hand and commanded. "Activate! Knights of the Round Table! Summon Lancel-"

 

Blank didn't waste any time waiting for Arthur to finish casting his ability. He turned around and grabbed the flag. He was just about to dive out the window when another message appeared.

 

SYSTEM: TIME PERIOD ONE HAS BEEN REACHED! UNLEASHING FIRST BOSS - ZOMBIE SWARM - IN 10...9.....

 

"What? Zombie swarm?" Gem replied in shock. Arthur and King Jo both paled in fright.

 

8...7....

 

Blank hugged the flag and, taking advantage of the distractions, dove out the window with a loud crash.

 

6...5....

 

"Oh no! He's escaping!" King Jo cried out as she witnessed Blank dive out the window.

 

"No worries about him! He'll die to the zombie swarm. There's no time, we need to defend ourselves! King Jo, somehow set up a perimeter! Gem, make it twice as strong!" Arthur roared out as he steadied his nerves.

 

4...3....

 

"Gotcha!" King Jo nodded as she raised her hands up and remarked. "Activate! JoKing! This room as a bunker is no joke!"

 

"I understand!" Gem replied as she began to chant. "Activate! Gemini! This bunker room has twice the defense!"

 

2...1....

 

Blank landed onto the ground outside and tumbled a bit. He winced in pain as he felt his ankles. One of them was swollen. He must have twisted it while landing. Blank continued to run as far away as he could however....

 

0!

 

SYSTEM: OWL OF THE POCKET WRITERS ASSOCIATION HAD PERISHED TO HOMER AND ARSENAL OF THE YOUTH WRITERS!

 

The ground began to rumble and an endless sea of zombies appeared out of nowhere. The large swarm swept away at the mayor's office as well as all other surrounding buildings. Blank was naturally swept away as well.

 

In the process, he let go of the flag and they separated. Many buildings collapsed. Luckily for Arthur and his small group, their room was intact. Once the zombie swarm receded, the system messages came.

 

SYSTEM: BLANK OF THE POCKET WRITERS ASSOCIATION HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: KEYES OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: MANDY OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: GINO OF THE POCKET WRITERS ASSOCIATION HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: HOMER OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: FAN OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

..........

 

"Gino! Go to the woods and flank them! We'll draw his fire!" Eden shouted as the six Writers edged towards the forest on the side of the road.

 

Once they were close enough, Gino dropped his shield and dashed into the trees. Arsenal tried to land a couple of shots but Eden raised his shield over his head blocked two of the bullets.

 

The others pierced the ground or the trees, but Gino wasn't hit. Eden and the other four continued to draw closer to the base. They were only about a fifty meters away when suddenly, a girl stood up from the base.

 

The girl raised her hands and shouted. "Release the fans!"

 

WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL!

 

The unique decorations on the building turned out to be fans. As they turned on, a powerful generation of wind force began to push them back. While they struggled with the wind and the bullets, a device was suddenly thrown out of the enemy base.

 

The device, carried by the generated wind, arched towards the five Writers and with a click, latched onto Owl. However, because of the distractions, Owl did not notice the device. 

 

The Writers continued to push forward and the wind continued to push backward. The opposing forces canceled each other out, resulting with a stalemate.

 

Suddenly....

 

SYSTEM: TIME PERIOD ONE HAS BEEN REACHED! UNLEASHING FIRST BOSS - ZOMBIE SWARM - IN 10...9.....

 

"First boss? I've never heard about this!" Arsenal shouted as he saw the message. He looked towards the others and they both shook their heads.

 

"Shit." Homer replied. "How will we survive that?"

 

"Maybe I can use my fans?" Fan suggested as she walked to the side.

 

Arsenal snapped his fingers and gave Fan a thumbs up. "Good idea! When the zombie swarm arrives, summon your biggest fan in that direction and blow the zombies away from our building."

 

"Okay."

 

8...7....

 

Gino was rushing through the forest, trying to encircle the enemy building when the message popped out. As soon as he saw the message, his face paled with fright. Shit! Ten second countdown?! He needed to return! Gino turned around and retreated back to where Eden and the others were. Can he make it? Or...no! He must make it!

 

6...5....

 

"Dammit! Zombie swarm! What do we do?" Eros cried out in panic.

 

Eden patted her shoulders and calmed her down. "No worries, I'll just summon my Garden of Eden and we can escape into it."

 

"Wait! Gino is still out there! What about him?" Owl exclaimed, his face full of worry.

 

"There's nothing much we can do. I'm sure he saw the message as well and is returning to us any minute now." JJ replied as they blocked another bullet.

 

"Any minute? We don't have a minute!" Kit roared over the bellowing winds. "Eden, put up you Garden of Eden. Owl, have one of your owls circle the Garden from above! I'm sure Gino will be able to determine where the Garden is."

 

4....

 

"Fan, it's almost time! Get ready to set it up!"

 

"Okay! Activate! Fan of the Giants! Giant Revolving Fan!"

 

3....

 

"Eden, it's now or never!"

"But Gino!"

"No buts! We can only hope he can arrive here soon!"

 

"Alright! Activate! Garden of Eden!"

 

2....

 

With the Garden of Eden summoned, everyone rushed towards the safety of the interdimensional space. However, it was at this point when Arsenal fired another shot. Because the PWA Writers had turned around, their backside were exposed. Using the homing device that Homer launched out, Arsenal fired at the selected target.

 

PAK!

 

Owl was hit! He crashed into the ground, a hole in his chest where the heart was. Owl died instantly. When Eden and the others entered the Garden, they hadn't heard Owl's demise.

 

Only when they turned around did they see Owl laying in his own pool of blood. With a flash of light, Owl was kicked out of the RP before Eden could reach over and drag him into the Garden.

 

"No!" Eden cried out.

 

1....

 

"I'm out! Where's everyone? They must have entered Eden's Garden of Eden! B-But...why? Why don't they tell me where the space is? Why?!" Gino exclaimed in a state of panic as he exited the forest.

 

0!

 

SYSTEM: OWL OF THE POCKET WRITERS ASSOCIATION HAD PERISHED TO HOMER AND ARSENAL OF THE YOUTH WRITERS!

 

The ground began to shook as a sea of zombies appeared out of thin air from the west. Fan dropped down the gigantic fan on their building's west side and turned the fan on.

 

Eden stepped out of his Garden and waved for Gino to come his way. As the zombie swarm surged through the buildings towards them, Gino rushed forward with his hand reached out.

 

But yet, he was swept away. The zombies collided with Gino and carried him away. The look of panic imprinted in Eden's mind. He tried to reach out for Gino's outstretched hand but was dragged back into his Garden of Eden by JJ.

 

Eden struggled free and glared at JJ but he could not bring up any words of anger. After all, the other Writers depended on his Garden of Eden for safety.

 

If he perished through reckless actions, he would drag down his teammates. And that was something he could not afford to do. Eden sighed with regret and could only watch the zombie swarm swept across their dimensional space.

 

The zombie swarm continued on for a good minute. While Eden and his friends were safe within the Garden of Eden, Arsenal and the two other Youth Writers were not.

 

Although the giant fan was able to keep the majority of zombies away from their building, there was always some stragglers who managed to slip through. A zombie reached out from the midst of chaos and clamped onto Homer.

 

With a scream, the young teenager was dragged into the swarm. Arsenal tried to grab Homer, but the actions was too fast. Arsenal was unable to react in time.

 

"Fan! Get behind me! There seems to be a few wanderers! Don't let them drag you down!"

 

"Got it- Uwaah!"

 

"Fan!" Arsenal turned and grabbed Fan's hand. A zombie was grabbing onto her leg. "Don't let go, Fan! Hang on!"

 

"I'm trying! Don't let go Arsenal! Don't let me die!"

 

However, no matter how hard Arsenal held on, Fan's hand began to slip from his grasp. Little by little until finally, the hold broke apart.

 

"Nooo!" Fan cried out as she was dragged into the sea of zombies.

 

"Fan!" Arsenal cried as well. He grabbed a hold of the gatling gun and fired into the zombies. "Aaaargghh!"

 

When the zombie swarm receded into the distance, a row of system messages appeared.

 

SYSTEM: BLANK OF THE POCKET WRITERS ASSOCIATION HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: KEYES OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: MANDY OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: GINO OF THE POCKET WRITERS ASSOCIATION HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: HOMER OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

SYSTEM: FAN OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO THE ZOMBIE SWARM!

 

..........

 

Lala and Amisa had just arrived at the miniature Statue of Freedom. Along the way, Amisa took care of all of the zombies with the help of her twin lion gods - Shu and Tefnut.

 

All Lala did was hid behind a tree and watch Amisa do all the work. When they reached their destination, a system message popped up. Something about a zombie swarm coming in ten seconds.

 

"Did you see the message? What should we do? Do you think Shu can use his power over air and wind to float us above the zombies?" Lala asked once she finished reading the message.

 

"I can...but that will take a lot of Creativity. I don't have much in my reserves right now and I don't know how long this zombie swarm will take. This won't be a good gamble, in my opinion." Amisa shook her head as she explained her reason.

 

"That's okay. I guess it's time for me to show you what I can do."

 

"You sure you can do it?"

 

"Trust me."

 

"Uh...."

 

"Trust me. I can do it."

 

"Fine, I trust you."

 

...3...2...1...0!

 

"Here they come! Stay close to me!" Lala remarked as the ground began to shake and thousands of zombies appeared out of nowhere.

 

As Amisa stood by Lala's side, Lala raised her hands up and commanded. "Activate! La La Land! Sleep Domain!"

 

A ripple shimmered from within Lala and began to expand outwards into a large, hemispherical domain. As the zombies dashed through the domain, they began to slow down immediately. In a matter of seconds, the zombies fell to a deep sleep.

 

Amisa looked at the comatose zombies and couldn't help but ask. "Zombies can fall asleep?"

 

Lala laughed and confirmed. "Of course! If they have even a sliver of consciousness, they will be affected. Those zombies only move because of some remaining consciousness within them. If they did not have consciousness, wouldn't they still be in their graves?"

 

"Is that so?"

 

"Yep!"

 

The zombies continued to swarm and the pile of sleeping zombies increased. Lala, having  expanded her Sleep Domain three times already, was beginning to feel a bit drained.

 

Amisa saw her fatigued look and summoned Tefnut to provide her with some healing moisture. After a while the zombie swarm receded and a number of messages flooded their view.

 

"Oh no! Blank, Gino, and Owl are dead!" Lala sighed.

 

"At least four enemies died to the zombie swarm so technically we're winning the war." Amisa comforted her.

 

"Yea, you're right."

 

"So, what shall we do now?" Amisa asked as she looked at the pile of sleeping zombies around them. There were probably hundreds!

 

"You need to kill them all."

 

"All of them?"

 

"Yea, if I deactivate my ability, they will wake up. So, you must kill them all before I can relax."

 

"Alright! I got it! Activate! Beast of Ra! Summon Shu and Tefnut!"

 

With a flash, two lion-headed people stepped out of the Creativity-formed portal. They were Shu - the lion god - and Tefnut - the lion goddess. Together, they were the twin lion gods. Both Shu and Tefnut knelt before Amisa and saluted.

 

"What are your commands, Princess?"

 

"Kill all of the zombies within this domain!"

 

"Yes, my Princess!"

 

..........

 

Keyes came back to find Mandy fast asleep on the floor. She must have been tired, having used her ability numerous times. Keyes walked up to her and laid down the machine guns she was carrying. She tried to be as quiet as possible, but the clattering guns woke up the light sleeper.

 

"Hm? Oh Keyes, I-I wasn't sleeping! I was just resting my eyes." Mandy jumped up in surprise when she saw Keyes looking over her.

 

"Don't worry about it. It's okay. You've done a lot today so a little rest is acceptable." Keyes dismissed Mandy's excuse with a wave. "Here, I've got the weapons. Let's charge out and head to the post office."

 

"Alright."

 

Mandy and Keyes each grabbed a machine gun and a couple of magazines. They charged out the police station and started firing at the gathered zombies. When an opening showed up in the masses, the two girls squeezed through.

 

From there, it was the open road. Mandy led the charge while Keyes covered their rear. The zombies gave chase but their slow mobility caused them to fall behind.

 

Slowly, the distance between the girls and the zombies increased. The girls only stopped once the zombies were completely out of sight.

 

"Whew! That was a close one!" Keyes muttered as she laid down her burning weapon.

 

"Yea, don't forget to reload. We don't want you to run out of bullets while shooting at more zombies." Mandy replied as she reloaded with another magazine.

 

"Gotcha."

 

Suddenly, a system message appeared. The girls stared at the message in shock. Zombie swarm!

 

"Shit! There's a boss in this RP?" Keyes grabbed her gun in full alert.

 

"Who cares about the boss. Didn't you see that it says 'first boss'? That means there's going to be another one!" Mandy panicked. "What should we do?"

 

"I don't know! There's no buildings to hide in! Let...let's head back to the police station! We can use that as our bunker."

"Alright!"

The two girls rushed back to the police station. When the building appeared in their sights, the countdown had reached zero. The ground began to rumble and a giant group of zombies appeared right beside them. They stared at the zombies in horror as their memories flashed before their eyes.

 

"Noooooo-uugghh!"

 

The zombie swarm completely swallowed the two girls, killing them instantly and leaving no trace of their presence. A series of system messages marked their demise.