Another walker collapsed, a clean puncture wound running straight through the center of its skull.
Noah barely spared it a glance as he pulled his spear free and turned toward the next target. A few yards away, Levy drove the tips of his scissors into a walker's temple before twisting them loose with practiced ease.
The corpse crumpled at his feet.
Compared to yesterday, the difference was night and day.
Their movements had grown sharper with every fight. Any hesitation they'd carried during their first encounters had gradually disappeared, replaced by calm and deliberate strikes that wasted neither time nor energy. Noah no longer needed to think about where to place his feet or how much force to put behind each thrust. His body seemed to understand what needed to be done before his mind could catch up.
A walker stumbled into his reach.
Noah's spear swept forward, piercing its skull before he smoothly withdrew the weapon and stepped toward the next.
Three more followed.
The first walker lunged with both arms outstretched. Noah pivoted aside and drove the spear through its temple. Before the body had even finished falling, he turned and struck another through the eye socket.
Levy finished the third a moment later.
Three bodies hit the pavement in rapid succession.
A series of translucent notifications flickered through Noah's vision.
〔+15 EXP〕
He dismissed them with a thought.
The two continued down the block, clearing the remaining walkers from the street with a level of efficiency that would have seemed impossible only a day earlier. The once-impassable roads were slowly becoming easier to navigate, and the growing number of corpses scattered across the asphalt served as an unpleasant reminder of how much progress they'd made.
More importantly, Noah could feel himself drawing closer.
Not physically.
Something else.
He summoned his Status Screen while walking.
〔Status〕
Name: Noah
Level: 4 (485/800)
He stared at the number for a moment.
Level 5.
He remembered the System's description.
Awakening.
Unlike his previous levels, reaching Level 5 wasn't supposed to be a simple increase in attributes. Something else would happen, though the System had offered him no explanation beyond the single word.
Noah had no idea what an Awakening meant or what kind of ability it might grant him.
That uncertainty bothered him.
He dismissed the Status Screen and tightened his grip around the shaft of his spear.
Whatever waited at Level 5, he intended to find out.
"You spacing out?"
Levy's voice snapped him back to reality.
Noah looked up just in time to see a walker stumbling toward him from the side.
He closed the distance in two quick strides and drove the spear through its eye socket.
The walker went limp immediately.
"I was thinking."
Levy snorted.
"Dangerous habit."
A faint smile crossed Noah's face.
"Yeah."
They continued down the street.
Another walker wandered into their path, and Noah dispatched it with a single thrust. A translucent notification appeared in the corner of his vision.
〔+5 EXP〕
〔Level 4 — 490/800 EXP〕
Noah dismissed it before glancing toward Levy.
Levy had just finished off another walker and was wiping the dark blood from his scissors against the creature's sleeve.
"Where are you at?"
Levy summoned his Status Screen and quickly scanned it.
"Eighty more EXP."
Noah gave a small nod.
"Not too far off."
Levy dismissed his screen and looked farther down the road. A small group of walkers had begun drifting into view from the neighboring streets.
"At this rate, we're probably going to have to leave the block to level up."
Noah rested the butt of his spear against the pavement for a moment and followed his gaze.
He was right.
Most of the walkers in the neighborhood had already been dealt with. Aside from the handful wandering farther down the road, the streets were considerably quieter than they had been yesterday.
Noah looked around.
Beyond the rows of familiar houses, the road would begin to run toward the commercial district. The convenience store they'd visited the previous evening sat somewhere ahead, surrounded by several other businesses Noah remembered passing countless times on his way home from school.
A gas station stood near the intersection.
Beyond it was a small shopping plaza that served most of the neighborhood.
He'd never given any of those places much thought before.
Now they represented something far more important.
Resources.
Levy followed his gaze.
"So?"
Noah adjusted his grip around his spear.
"No reason to stay here."
They continued down the street, finishing off the few remaining walkers that wandered into their path. Dispatching them had become almost routine.
As they left the neighborhood behind, the scenery gradually began to change.
The quiet residential streets gave way to wider roads lined with businesses. Cars had been abandoned wherever their drivers had lost control, many resting at odd angles after colliding with curbs, traffic lights, or one another.
A city bus sat diagonally across an intersection, its doors hanging open. A delivery truck had plowed halfway through the front of a flower shop, leaving shattered glass scattered across the sidewalk.
Despite the destruction, the traffic lights continued cycling from green to yellow to red, faithfully directing vehicles that would never come.
Noah found himself slowing.
"...Weird."
Levy glanced over.
"What?"
"The power."
Noah pointed toward the illuminated traffic signal overhead.
"I figured it'd be out by now."
Levy followed his gaze, his expression becoming more thoughtful.
"I was thinking the same thing."
Neither of them knew enough about the city's electrical infrastructure to understand why anything was still functioning. Maybe backup systems were keeping certain areas online. Maybe the grid simply hadn't failed yet.
Whatever the reason, it was another reminder that they didn't understand nearly as much about the world as they thought they did.
They continued walking.
A metallic clang suddenly echoed somewhere farther down the street.
Both of them stopped.
Several walkers nearby reacted almost simultaneously.
Their heads turned toward the sound.
One by one, they began shambling in the same direction, leaving their previous paths without hesitation.
Noah watched them for a moment.
"You seen that?"
Levy nodded.
"They flocked to the sound like a flock of seagulls to a burger."
Noah's eyes followed the walkers as they slowly disappeared between the buildings.
"Yeah—what? That was the first thing that came to mind?"
Levy shrugged.
"I'm craving a burger."
Noah shook his head. He didn't give it any deeper thought.
The walkers and Levy.
They'd already seen walkers react to sounds plenty of times. It wasn't something they needed to investigate right now.
They continued onward.
The farther they ventured from Noah's neighborhood, the more signs of the previous day's chaos became apparent.
A sedan had mounted the sidewalk, its front end wrapped around a telephone pole. Shopping carts, backpacks, and scattered groceries littered the pavement as though their owners had abandoned everything in the middle of running for their lives.
The shopping plaza eventually came into view.
Its parking lot was surprisingly quiet.
A few walkers wandered between abandoned vehicles, occasionally bumping into shopping carts or light poles before continuing without a change of pace.
Levy quietly dispatched the closest one while Noah scanned the storefronts.
His attention settled on a sporting goods store.
"...Look."
Levy followed his gaze.
The automatic glass doors stood partially open, one hanging crookedly from its track. At first glance, it looked as though the damage had been caused during the initial panic.
Then Noah noticed the shelves beyond the entrance.
The camping section had been stripped almost completely bare.
Entire rows had been swept clean, leaving empty hooks and wire racks behind. The fishing aisle told the same story.
No backpacks.
No flashlights.
No tents.
Very little of anything useful remained.
Levy frowned.
"Someone's already been here."
Noah stared through the broken entrance.
The realization settled over him slowly.
Until now, the city had felt empty.
Not anymore.
Whoever had entered this store hadn't simply wandered inside and grabbed whatever happened to be nearby. The most useful equipment had been taken first.
Tents.
Tools.
Rations.
Survival gear.
Someone else had been thinking ahead.
Levy adjusted his grip around his scissors.
"So we're not the only ones looking for supplies."
"No."
Noah kept his eyes on the storefront.
"Let's hope every other place worth searching isn't like this."
Neither of them moved for a moment.
The city suddenly felt different.
It was still filled with abandoned cars and wandering walkers, but the emptiness no longer felt absolute.
Someone else was out there.
Someone who had survived long enough to gather supplies and move through the city without being noticed.
Noah stepped toward the entrance.
"We should check inside."
Levy nodded.
The automatic doors had long since stopped trying to close. One hung crookedly from its track while the other had been forced open, leaving a wide enough gap for them to slip through.
Noah entered first.
The store was dim and quiet. The faint smells of rubber, heavy canvas, and industrial oil lingered in the air.
The scavengers had been thorough.
Row after row of shelving sat barren, stripped of anything that could make life easier for someone trying to survive.
Noah moved slowly through the aisles, scanning rather than simply looking for obvious supplies.
People in a hurry made mistakes.
People under pressure overlooked things.
Sure enough, the farther they went, the more forgotten items began revealing themselves.
Levy crouched beside a fallen display and pulled out a tightly wound coil of paracord.
"Still useful."
Noah nodded.
"Take it."
Levy tossed it into his backpack.
A few aisles later, Noah found several unopened packs of rechargeable batteries hidden behind a row of empty cardboard boxes. Two emergency blankets sat beside them.
He picked up the batteries.
"These'll help."
Levy nodded.
The blankets, however, were left behind. They had limited space, and carrying everything they found wasn't practical.
They continued searching.
What remained wasn't impressive, but it was useful. A portable water filter. A couple of multi-tools. Several pairs of dry socks. Reinforced leather gloves.
Nothing designed for fighting walkers.
Everything designed to keep a person alive.
Noah was about to move toward the checkout area when something near the emergency exit caught his attention.
He stopped.
There was dirt on the floor.
And within it were footprints.
Fresh ones.
Noah crouched beside them.
The edges were still crisp.
One footprint.
Then another.
Then another.
The trail led toward the rear exit.
Levy approached and lowered his voice.
"Walkers?"
Noah shook his head.
"Can't be."
He pointed toward the impressions.
"Walkers drag their feet. Their tracks wouldn't look this clean."
Levy followed the trail with his eyes.
"So... someone came through here."
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
Levy looked toward the rear door.
"You think they're still around?"
"I don't know." Noah stood. "But we're not going looking for them."
Levy nodded.
"Good."
They made their way toward the front of the store.
As they stepped back into the parking lot, the morning sun hit them almost painfully after the dim interior.
A few scattered walkers wandered between the abandoned cars.
One noticed them.
Levy dispatched it before it could get close.
The two continued deeper into the commercial district, passing a succession of dark storefronts—a laundromat, a pet supply shop, and a pharmacy with its glass facade blown out across the sidewalk.
Noah kept moving.
There were plenty of places worth searching.
But the footprints had changed the way he looked at the city.
They weren't alone.
As they rounded the next intersection, the buildings grew taller and the streets noticeably wider.
The silence became almost oppressive, broken only by the occasional groan echoing between storefronts.
Then—
Bang!
The sharp crack split the silence like thunder.
Both Noah and Levy froze.
Neither needed to ask what they'd just heard.
The sound echoed through the empty streets before fading into silence.
Noah slowly turned toward the direction it had come from.
Levy did the same.
Somewhere farther down the commercial district, someone was still alive.
And they had a gun.