An hour later, a familiar truck is seen slowly heading north and away from Atlanta. Trailing behind the truck is a small herd of walkers..
Honk! Honk! Hoooonk!
Michael, who's driving the truck by himself, pressed his palm against the horn and unleashed a loud metallic bellow that slightly shook the truck's cabin. To the walkers, the sound was an irresistible lure since their brains are hardwired to follow the loudest stimulus; the massive blast of the horn had drowned out everything else, the wind, gunfire, and even the scent of other survivors. The loud noise forces the entire herd to ignore the outliers and turn their attention toward the moving truck instead.
'It's unfortunate since there's still a couple of hundred of them' Michael thought. He really wants to kill all of them for the points, but his "gas tank" is almost running dry and he also has to save on ammunition rounds for the grenade launcher.
He watched the dead in the side mirrors while keeping their distance. The urge to plow through them kept nagging at him like an annoying fly that kept buzzing around his head, but Michael resisted the urge as he knew he'd be in trouble once the truck loses momentum. Which would waste all the efforts and gas that were spent luring them all the way out here if that happens.
Survivor Information
Name: Michael Fisher
Level 5 [EXP: 1146 / 2000]
Age: 29
Strength: 7
Agility: 6
Vitality: 6
Enhancement(s): 0
Weapon(s):
Skillet
Machete
Claymore
Sig Sauer P320
Winchester 1892
Old Folding Trench Shovel
Six Barreled Grenade Launcher
Module:
Alchemy Store
[Second Module Locked]
Coins: 5411
Bringing up the [System] window after a long while, Michael's eyes quickly went towards his current assets.
'Over 5000 already..I can already buy a lot of things with that, but supplies aren't really an issue right now.' He thought while rubbing his chin.
He's been trying to save up to buy a serum, but it seems it's a goal too far for him right now.
Antiviral Serum
A technological medicine of the future. It can cure any viral infections not beyond the Year 2100. It must be strictly administered within the first 5 minutes of the infection.
Cost: 20,000 Coins.
'20,000 is really a lot looking at it now. It looked and sounded easy at first, but it's actually hard to reach that kill count just relying on a mere sword or a rifle. So the problem now is where would I even get a weapon that would help me achieve that level of kill count?' He thought it was a reachable goal before, but as weeks passed. He realized it wasn't that easy because just swinging a sword or using a firearm is just not cutting it, he needs something drastic if he wants to achieve that 20,000 coins.
While his mind was drifting off, a thought suddenly hit him when he spotted a flock of birds flying east.
'Birds…an attack helicopter! Why haven't I thought of that? But where would I get something like that? Maybe Fort Benning?' he mused, a grim half-smile tugging at his lips.
'It's feasible , and I doubt there'd still be a herd lingering there.'
Hooooonk!!
Up ahead, Michael spotted a fork on the road and gave one last loud horn before stepping on the gas and immediately took the turn off, effectively ditching the herd.
Behind him, the herd continued heading north while a few at the front followed his tail.
It took a while, but Michael eventually returned to the hospital.
"How did it go? Are you okay?" Glenn, with Nolan behind him, exited the building to receive him.
Getting down from the truck, Michael walked towards them while dusting off his pants.
"They're gone, for now." Michael replied, then he looked at Nolan and showed them the multiple puncture holes on his denim jacket and there seems to be some plastic under it. "Also, good job. That idea of making an armor out of plastic folders saved me earlier."
"It's a proven method." Nolan responded with two thumbs up and added. "But they actually managed to bite through your jacket huh."
Glenn was looking at the damage on his jacket and felt slightly doubtful. "They're decaying, but their bite is actually that strong?"
"Yeah, compared to us, they do not feel any pain. This allows them to exert more force than normal." Michael cleared his doubts.
"On another note, how was it inside while I was busy down here?"
"They didn't do anything, but I learned something after sneaking up to the upper floors."
The three continued their conversation while walking and made their way back inside the hospital.
After Glenn was done telling him what happened during Michael's clash with the herd, Michael let out a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! I told you, didn't I? Those fools would immediately think of doing something stupid and it turns out I'm right. But anyway, where's Daryl?"
Going up the second floor, Glenn replied. "He's keeping an eye on the fifth floor. By the way, what do we do about the bodies outside?"
"Leave it. It's not our problem to take care of. Also, have you guys gathered things that might be useful to us?" Michael asked as he opened the door to the second floor hallway.
"Yeah, we stored them inside those two rooms." Glenn answered and pointed towards the private rooms close to the stairwell.
Michael walked over and opened one of the rooms. He was immediately greeted by boxes scattered on the floor, from large pieces of equipment to small ones.
There are boxes of manual blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters and even an autoclave. There were also some medical equipment and supplies that would be useful during or after pregnancy.
"There were still a lot of things lying around? I thought they'd already taken most of them by this time." Michael was genuinely surprised since he wasn't actually expecting a huge haul when he told them to start looting the place.
"We were also surprised. I guess they probably weren't expecting that there'd be people like us who'd shamelessly loot their place amidst an important trade." Nolan chuckled, but Michael grew quiet and Glenn also looked at him in silence. He already knew the significance of what they did and what impacts it would cause if the people living in this building found out about it.
"Let's keep this to ourselves, shall we?" Michael placed his hand on Nolan's shoulder and looked at him with a smile.
"Why are you looking at me?" Nolan somehow felt offended by his actions.
"Because you can't keep a secret." Glenn was the one to respond.
"Oh come on, I.am.not."
Michael and Glenn just stared at him in silence.
"Alright, fine. But how am I supposed to know that Daryl and Mady were keeping it a secret? Like why?" Nolan felt wronged.