It was sunny with a clear sky and mild temperatures on an early May morning in SIlver Oak University. It was picturesque unless Sylas looked towards the ground to see the ravaged corpses of newly deceased humans and zombies with their heads smashed or otherwise missing a piece of their head.
Sylas was skulking alongside the building of his dorms slowly while keeping an eye on a three pack of zombies that were feasting on their latest prey. He could feel each bead of sweat dripping down his forehead, hear his heart thumping in his chest, feel the burning in his lungs as he accidentally held his breath in order not to be heard. He didn't know if the zombies would give up their current feast to hunt him but he wasn't willing to find out now.
The medical building Sylas was going to was normally a brisk five minute walk from his dorm room, but there was no way it would be that quick now. Sylas could feel what was left of his stomach contents threatening to come back up as he walked past the carnage of the past ten minutes. Screams could be heard every few seconds but none were close enough to him that he felt he should check them out. He didn't know if he could help them anyway.
As he was coming out from an alley between two buildings he stopped. In front of Sylas was a small path, lined with trees and bushes, a small fountain in the middle, and benches laid along the sides. This was a study spot for many students including himself and Samantha, but now there was something there that he never thought he would worry about.
There were several corpses littered in the park area. None looked human, at least not anymore. The flesh and blood was tinted green which Sylas assumed meant it belonged to a zombie from the little zombie corpses he'd seen so far. There were also corpses of squirrels that were torn apart, presumably by zombies.
The sight that made Sylas grip the bat until his knuckles were white was that there was a squirrel tearing apart one of the zombie corpses. This squirrel was larger than it should have been at around two feet length without its tail. Sylas decided to slowly back away and look for a way around, but when he took a step back
SCREECH
He stepped on a rock and it scraped against the pavement. Sylas froze and looked towards the squirrel seeing that it had already locked onto him with maddened eyes and started to run at him.
Watching the squirrel run at him to attack, Sylas drummed up all the courage he could muster and tightened his grip on the bat ready to swing at the incoming squirrel. He counted down in his head until he should swing
3
2
1
NOW!
Sylas swung the bat as the squirrel jumped towards his chest. Time slowed as he watched the bat inch closer to his opponent's body and as it smoothly glided directly under the squirrel. Time sped up as the squirrel continued on its trajectory, but it was only able to scratch Sylas's arm thanks to him swinging the bat thoroughly.
The squirrel flew five feet behind Sylas as blood started to spill down his arm. Lifting the bat above his head, Sylas immediately ran towards the squirrel before it could turn around and was able to bring the bat down on its body.
Sylas sighed and then started breathing heavily as the adrenaline stopped pumping. He mumbled "I've never been any good at baseball. I should have just tried to dodge instead of getting hurt like this". Giving a last look at the unmoving squirrel, he turned around and started to walk along the pathway avoiding the gore from the squirrel versus zombie fights.
SCRITCH SCRATCH
Sylas heard a weird noise behind him and turned just in time to have the large squirrel barrel into his chest. He was pushed back a couple feet and instinctively caught it until it started to use its claws to slash at his chest. Pushing the squirrel off his chest into the ground, Sylas was able to use the bat and land a light hit onto the squirrel, stunning it for a moment. He used this time wisely and resumed his two-handed grip on the bat, raising it above his head, and finally bringing it back down on to the squirrel.
WHAM WHAM WHAM
This time Sylas didn't stop after one hit. He kept bringing the bat back down until multiple blue screens popped up in his vision. He read through them one at a time.
[You have killed level 3 [Squirrel].]
[You have leveled up to level 1. Congratulations on joining the Integration.]
While reading the level up message from the system, Sylas felt the warm feeling that he had only felt at the start of this Integration wash over his body once again. It was still faint but it was a pleasant feeling.
Sylas looked down at the flattened and bloody mess he had just created, almost pitying the creature while being grateful that it wasn't him that was currently lying on the ground. He felt his chest where he was slightly bleeding and held pressure on his scratch wounds.
'It looks like humans weren't the only ones affected by this System Integration. I wonder if all animals have gotten larger and stronger like this or if it was just this squirrel.'
Sylas whipped his head back towards the path he was taking as he heard several voices yelling and what sounded like fighting. He crept over to the edge of the building in front of him sneaking a look around the corner.
There in an open area he saw three guys with bats taking swings at eight zombies that were stumbling towards them. Behind the guys were a group of people stacked against the entrance of the building watching as the three guys fended off the group of zombies.
Sylas hesitated on what his next action should be until one of the men batted down his active target and Sylas could see the furthest of the three men. A six foot man, rather athletic, with black hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, and a thin pencil moustache that Sylas had begged him shave plenty of times. This was Swain Shieldgrove. His roommate and best friend.
'They aren't human anymore. They're already dead'
Sylas steeled his resolve as he snaked his way behind the pack of zombies.
WHACK
With a sickening crunch that sounded wetter than he expected Sylas dispatched the rearmost zombie.
[You have killed a level 1 [Zombie].]
'Don't show up when I'm fighting for my life!'
The blue window disappeared as the closest zombie to Sylas turned around preparing to attack him. The zombie swung its arms in an attempt to catch its prey but Sylas stepped back just in time. He then swung his bat at the zombie's head while it was off balance and managed to strike true this time.
[You have killed a level 1 [Zombie].]
When he looked up for the next enemy he was met with a barely mustachioed smile and no zombies left standing.
"Sylas!"
"Swain!"
"Nice work! Thank God you're okay. Why are you here? Are you able to help us? Why is your shirt torn up? Are you okay?"
Swain rattled off several questions at once while Sylas chuckled and clapped his hand onto Swain's shoulder and let him know he was better than he looked.
Looking at the group of people behind Swain, Sylas recognized the other two combatants from Swain's baseball team from the games and practices he had attended, but he didn't know their names. The baseball teammates approached the duo and one of them asked what to do next. Swain immediately replied "Now that Sylas is here with my bat" Swain chuckled and winked at Sylas "We have an extra protector. We can get in this building and hunker down until some kind of help arrives."
The other two nodded at Swain's words until Sylas cut in "I can't. I have to go find Sam." Swain's face dropped in shock and was barely able to lower the volume of his shout to above speaking level "Sam! I forgot about Sam! Okay, let's go."
Sylas chuckled at Swain's constant optimistic and helpful attitude while his teammates acquired expressions of anger and impatience. "You can't just leave us now that he's come along! What are we supposed to do if we lose a third of our fighting force?"
Swain looked between his teammates and Sylas with a conflicted look. With a resolved look he was about to speak when Sylas cut him off. "Let's get your group into this building so you're a bit safer and you can find a room to barricade yourself in it. Or you can head back to the senior male dorm B. I left the doors propped open so you could get in and the path was pretty clear. There aren't really any rooms you can get in since the card readers aren't working right now though."
After a minute of discussion with the group, they all went into the science building they were standing in front of and went to the closest room which was a lecture hall. The four combatants, Sylas, Swain, and the baseball duo, went through the stadium seating quickly to ensure the safety of the group and found another small group of people hiding in a supply closet at the front of the lecture hall.
Sylas and Swain left through the door they entered after promising to come back to the group after their search and rescue mission was complete. Sylas filled in Swain on Sam's location so they started heading towards the medical building together.