Chapter 10: Into the Ruins
We left at dawn on August 20th, when the streets were coldest and the zombies were slowest.
Downtown Seattle was six miles from our apartment. In the old world, that was a twenty-minute drive or an hour's walk. In the apocalypse, it could take all day or kill us before we got there.
I'd spent last night planning the route obsessively, checking and rechecking my notes from the novel. The Stormbreaker sword was in the Sentinel Tower, a glass office building on 4th Avenue. Forty-second floor, corner office. Guarded by a Boss zombie that the System had spawned specifically to protect it.
In the novel, Lucas Reed had reached it on day six at approximately 2 PM. He'd fought the Boss for thirty minutes and barely survived.
We were going to get there first.
"Final equipment check," Maya said as we gathered by the apartment door.
I had: hunting knife, crowbar, backpack with water and medical supplies, flashlight, rope.
Maya had: baseball bat, backup kitchen knife, similar supplies.
Lisa had: kitchen knife, a wooden board with nails hammered through it (her improvised weapon), and fear in her eyes but determination in her jaw.
"Remember the plan," I said. "We move fast but careful. Avoid fights when possible. Only engage if we have no choice. If anyone gets seriously hurt, we abort and retreat."
"And if we run into the protagonist?" Maya asked.
"We don't," I said firmly. "Lucas Reed won't be at Sentinel Tower until 2 PM. We'll be in and out by noon."
"You hope," Maya corrected.
"I hope," I admitted.
We descended the stairs and stepped out into the apocalypse.
The city looked worse every day. More fires in the distance. More bodies in the streets, some moving, most not. The smell of rot was becoming normal, which was horrifying in itself.
We moved in formation: Maya in front, me in the middle, Lisa in back. Silent except for necessary warnings. Hand signals for zombies spotted, danger, stop, go.
The first mile was relatively clear. We encountered seven zombies, all Tier-1 shufflers. We took them down efficiently, Maya's Power Strike skill made her bat swings devastating, cracking skulls with single hits.
[ZOMBIES KILLED: 7]
[POINTS EARNED: 21](I got 21 because Reader's Privilege gave me bonus points)*
The second mile got harder. More zombies. Tighter streets. We had to detour twice to avoid large groups.
At the two-mile mark, we encountered our first Tier-2.
It came around a corner at full sprint ,a former businessman in a shredded suit, moving impossibly fast with those distended jaws and too-long limbs.
"Tier-2!" I shouted.
Maya stepped forward and swung her bat, but the zombie ducked ,actually ducked ,and lunged at her. She barely dodged, and its claws (when had it grown claws?) raked across her jacket.
I jumped in with my knife, using my Basic Knife Fighting skill to aim for weak points. Throat, joints, eyes. The zombie was fast, but I was faster with my increased Agility.
My knife found its eye socket and punched into the brain. The Tier-2 dropped.
[TIER-2 ZOMBIE KILLED: 1]
[POINTS EARNED: 35]
"Thirty-five points for one zombie," Maya panted. "That's more than three Tier-1s."
"But way more dangerous," I said. "We need to avoid these when we can."
We kept moving.
By mile four, we'd killed three more Tier-2s and lost track of how many Tier-1s. Our weapons were covered in black blood. We were tired, despite Maya's Enhanced Stamina and my improving Constitution.
Lisa was struggling most. She wasn't used to combat, wasn't used to running for her life. But she kept up, and she didn't complain. I had to respect that.
"Break," Maya called when we reached a relatively clear intersection. "Five minutes. Drink water. Catch your breath."
We huddled behind an overturned car. I pulled out my notebook and checked our position on the map.
"Two more miles," I said. "Then downtown proper. That's where it gets really bad."
"Define really bad," Lisa said between gasps.
"In the novel, downtown Seattle had the highest zombie density. Hundreds, maybe thousands. They congregate in urban centers." I looked at them both. "We'll need to move through buildings when possible. Use fire escapes and back alleys. Avoid main streets."
"And if we get surrounded?" Lisa asked.
"We run," Maya said flatly. "We're not heroes. We're scavengers trying to grab something valuable and get out."
"Speaking of which," I said, "we should talk about the Boss."
I pulled up my notes. "The Boss zombie guarding Stormbreaker is called a Sentinel. It's bigger than normal zombies, smarter, and way stronger. In the novel, it had some kind of enhanced durability , Lucas had to hit it dozens of times before it went down."
"How did Lucas beat it?" Maya asked.
"He had an SSS-rank ability called Precognition. He could see attacks coming before they happened. Made him nearly impossible to hit."
"And we don't have that."
"No. But we have teamwork, preparation, and the element of surprise. The Boss doesn't know we're coming."
"That's a pretty thin advantage," Lisa muttered.
She wasn't wrong.
We finished our break and moved on. Miles five and six were a nightmare.
Downtown Seattle was a warzone. Zombies everywhere , clustered around abandoned cars, wandering through broken storefronts, attacking anything that moved. We had to backtrack four times to avoid large groups.
At one point, we hid in a coffee shop for ten minutes while a horde of thirty zombies shuffled past outside. Lisa covered her mouth to muffle her breathing. Maya's hand was white-knuckled on her bat. I held my knife and prayed they wouldn't notice us.
They didn't. We survived by staying still and quiet.
Finally, at 11:27 AM, we reached Sentinel Tower.
The building was glass and steel, forty-two stories of corporate excess. The ground floor entrance was shattered, glass everywhere. Inside, the lobby was dark and empty, or seemed empty.
I used my Inspect skill, focusing on the shadows.
[ZOMBIE - TIER 1] x4
[ZOMBIE - TIER 2] x2
[Threat Level: Moderate]
"Six zombies in the lobby," I whispered. "Four Tier-1s, two Tier-2s."
"Can we avoid them?" Maya asked.
"Maybe. There's a stairwell on the left side. If we're quiet..."
We entered slowly, stepping over broken glass as carefully as possible. The zombies were in the far corner, clustered around what looked like a body. Feeding, maybe, though zombies didn't actually eat, they just killed.
We made it to the stairwell door without being noticed.
Then Lisa stepped on a piece of glass that crunched loudly.
Every zombie head swiveled toward us.
"Run!" Maya shouted.
We crashed through the stairwell door and started climbing. Behind us, footsteps ,the Tier-2s were chasing us, fast.
"Keep going!" I yelled. "They can't climb as well as we can!"
We took the stairs two at a time, weapons ready. At the third floor landing, one Tier-2 caught up. Maya spun and hit it with Power Strike, the enhanced blow sending it tumbling back down the stairs.
We didn't stop. Couldn't stop. Kept climbing.
Floor 5. Floor 10. Floor 15.
My lungs burned. My legs screamed. But we climbed.
At floor 20, the chasing zombies finally gave up. We could hear them below, groaning in frustration, but they'd stopped climbing.
"Break," Maya gasped. "Need... break..."
We collapsed on the landing, panting like we'd run a marathon. My System interface showed my Stamina at 35/110. Dangerously low.
"How much farther?" Lisa asked.
"Twenty-two more floors," I said.
She groaned.
"We rest for five minutes," Maya said. "Then we finish this."
Five minutes felt like five seconds. Then we were climbing again, slower now but steady.
Floor 30. Floor 35. Floor 40.
Finally, we reached the forty-second floor.
The door to the office level was closed. Through the small window, I could see darkness and what looked like abandoned cubicles.
"This is it," I said quietly. "The corner office is on the north side. That's where the sword is."
"And the Boss?" Maya asked.
"Probably guarding it directly."
I checked my points: 201 total now. Maya had 86. Lisa had 63. We'd gained a lot from the journey here, but I was still saving mine for emergency skill purchases.
"Ready?" I asked.
"No," Lisa said honestly. "But let's do it anyway."
We opened the door and stepped onto the forty-second floor.
The office was a maze of cubicles and desks, all abandoned in a hurry. Coffee cups still on desks. Computers dead. Papers scattered everywhere. It would've been eerie even without the apocalypse.
We moved toward the corner office, weapons raised. The door was closed, but light came from under it ,sunlight through the windows.
I used Inspect on the door.
[BOSS ZOMBIE: SENTINEL]
[LEVEL: 5]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]
[WARNING: This enemy is significantly stronger than your current level]
Level 5. We were level 2 and 1. This was going to be bad.
"Maya," I whispered. "You and Lisa stay out here. Be ready to help if I need it, but don't engage unless you have to."
"What? No. We're doing this together—"
"If we all go in and all die, this was pointless," I interrupted. "I have the best combat skill and the most points. Let me try first. If I can't handle it, we all retreat."
Maya looked like she wanted to argue, but she nodded. "One minute. If you're not back or we hear you dying, we're coming in."
"Fair enough."
I took a breath, gripped my knife, and opened the corner office door.
The Sentinel was waiting.
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