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Ch12: Home Invasion 2
🕑 Added 2025-05-24 21:18:24 +0000 UTCAiden bolted from the side of the garage, sprinting low and fast across the narrow suburban street. His boots hit the cracked pavement with barely a sound, each step measured to avoid broken glass or loose gravel. The neighborhood around him was still silent, but that silence in this world was always deceptive—walkers had a way of hiding in the folds of shadow, in forgotten doorways or behind overturned vehicles. Any noise, any movement, could draw them like moths to flame.
The house directly across the street loomed ahead. A squat, two-story structure with boarded windows and faded blue siding, it looked more intact than most—less looted, less lived-in since the fall. That made it either untouched… or a tomb.
Either way, Aiden would find out.
He crossed the overgrown lawn in three long strides and reached the door. It was solid, weather-warped wood reinforced with old chains across the handle. Locked.
He didn't hesitate.
With a deep breath and a forward lunge, he raised one foot and slammed it into the door just above the lock.
CRACK!
The door exploded inward, splinters flying as the chain ripped free from the frame. The crash echoed louder than he wanted, but he was already inside, moving fast. He cleared the threshold and immediately swapped weapons—his bowie knife shimmering away into the inventory with a quiet blink as he summoned the bloodstained fire axe into his grip.
The handle was heavy and familiar. The dried blood along the edge had darkened, but the blade itself still gleamed under the faint light seeping through the broken slats of boarded windows.
That's when the sound hit him.
A low, gurgling roar from deeper inside the house. Heavy footsteps. Wet. Slapping.
Aiden didn't even have time to reposition before the thing emerged from the hallway ahead.
It was massive.
A walker—nearly seven feet tall, bloated and discolored, its skin stretched and pocked with open sores. Its arms were disproportionately long, clawed fingers dragging the walls as it barreled forward. It wasn't a standard infection—it was a bulge-class, the kind of mutation that occurred when a host had been turning for too long, absorbing too much rot and necrotic mass. Strong. Resilient. Deadly.
It charged with surprising speed, shoulder-first like a juggernaut.
Aiden twisted to the side just in time, narrowly avoiding the full impact. The creature plowed through a section of the wall, sending dust and drywall erupting in a choking cloud. Aiden staggered, then turned, raising the axe.
The bulge-walker whirled and roared again, dark ichor oozing from its mouth.
"Come on, then," Aiden muttered, breath steady.
It charged again.
This time, Aiden held his ground. Just before contact, he slid low and to the side, pivoting on one knee. As the beast lunged past, he brought the axe up with both hands and buried it deep into the monster's left thigh. The blade sank in with a wet crunch, and the creature howled, staggering sideways into the dining table. Its leg buckled, but it didn't go down.
Not enough.
Aiden yanked the axe free just as the thing swung a massive fist at him. He ducked, the blow missing his head by inches and shattering the chair behind him instead. He spun around the beast's back, planted his foot, and with a roar of his own, leapt onto the monster's back.
Using the axe like a climbing pick, he plunged the blade into its shoulder. It screamed—more an animal than human now—thrashing wildly, crashing through a wall and into the kitchen. Aiden held tight with one arm around its neck, pulled the axe free again, and with all his strength, slammed it down into the top of its skull.
THUD.
The monster spasmed violently, then collapsed in a heap, twitching once… and going still.
Breathing hard, Aiden climbed off the body, yanked his axe free with a wet squelch, and checked the hallway for more threats.
Nothing.
The house was silent once again.
[Elite Threat Neutralized – Bulge-Walker]
[XP Gained: +450]
[Loot Modifier Increased: +15% for this house]
[System Tip: Rare mutation drops possible in house interiors]
He wasted no time.
Aiden started his sweep of the house, now slightly damaged from the battle. Dust still hung in the air. The kitchen was partially destroyed, but in the pantry, he found a stockpile of sealed MREs, vacuum-packed and surprisingly untouched. That was rare. Into the system inventory they went.
In the living room, a gun cabinet stood overturned behind the broken TV stand. The door was half-bent open. Inside, he found a pump-action shotgun with three shells still loaded, and a box of 9mm rounds that had fallen into the corner. He took both, noting the slight rust on the shotgun's barrel. It would need cleaning—but it was serviceable.
The basement door had been hidden behind a broken painting. Locked. Aiden used the axe to break it open.
The basement was damp, dark—and filled with supplies. Whoever had lived here was preparing. Canned food lined old steel shelves. Tools, batteries, rope, a solar panel charger, and even a medical kit that looked barely touched. Jackpot. He swept it all into the inventory.
But most interesting was what lay in the corner: a sealed ammo crate with the U.S. military logo stamped across it.
He popped the latch and opened it slowly.
Inside: armor-piercing rounds, a flare gun, and a reinforced tactical vest folded neatly beneath a packing sheet.
He whistled low. "Someone left in a hurry… or never made it back."
All of it went into his inventory.
As he climbed the basement stairs and made his way back to the front door, the system chimed again.
The sun had begun its slow descent, dipping below the ash-colored clouds as the sky turned a bruised orange. The air was growing colder, sharper. But Aiden didn't stop.
There was no time to pause—not with the ticking clock of the system quest breathing down his neck, not with dusk crawling across the broken rooftops of suburbia. The quest timer hovered silently in the corner of his HUD like a noose tightening with every minute lost.
[Time Remaining: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes]
Aiden wiped a smear of dried gore from his jaw with his forearm and stepped over the crumpled corpse of the bulge-class walker behind him. His breath came in controlled, even pulls. No panic. Just focus.
Thirteen houses. One street. One mission.
House 4
The next house was a one-story house with a rusted swing set and shattered windows. The door was ajar.
Inside, the smell hit him first—musty air soaked in decay. Aiden stepped over a torn-up sofa and quickly swept through the house. In the kitchen, he found canned soup and a sealed jar of instant coffee. A hallway closet yielded duct tape, a box cutter, and a toolkit with a rusted hammer.
In a back bedroom, two walkers stirred—former teens by the look of their faded hoodies and skeletal frames. Aiden dispatched them silently with the Bowie knife, blades slicing through softened skulls with grim efficiency.
[Walker x2 Neutralized]
House 5
A more modern two-story.
Aiden entered through the garage, careful not to trigger the hanging wind chimes made from bottle caps. Someone had rigged them as an early warning.
In the attic, behind a false wall panel, he found a prepper stash: jerky, bullets, antiseptic wipes, and an old revolver with six loaded rounds. Jackpot.
He logged it all into the inventory and left through the back.
House 6
Burned-out. Half the roof had collapsed.
Still, he found value.
In the charred remnants of the garage, he salvaged lengths of copper wiring and a bundle of nails. Scorched, but usable.
A half-crushed corpse groaned under debris—Aiden finished it cleanly and moved on.
House 7
Occupied.
A walker with its arm missing shambled toward him as he kicked in the door. It hissed, catching the scent of him immediately.
Aiden raised his axe, sidestepped, and brought the blade down into its collarbone, the edge cleaving through ribs with a wet crack.
He searched the house fast. Medical cabinet upstairs—gauze, scissors, a half-used bottle of antibiotics. Into the inventory.
[Walker x1 Neutralized]
House 8
Locked tight.
He went through the back window, crunching over broken glass.
Found a pantry with vacuum-sealed rice, protein powder, and even a case of bottled water. Upstairs, a storm shelter hidden in the floor had more: a scoped hunting rifle, a solar-powered lantern, and a worn map with markings across the state.
[Special Item Acquired: "Pre-War Hunter's Map"]
House 9
A walker met him immediately at the threshold, lunging from behind the curtain.
Aiden stumbled, grabbed a table lamp, and smashed it into the walker's head, then finished it with his knife to the temple.
Looted fast: clothing, batteries, a rain poncho, canned ravioli. Nothing fancy, but survival didn't care about luxury.
[Walker x1 Neutralized]
House 10
Another two-story.
Clear downstairs. Upstairs was something else.
He heard them before he saw them—two walkers in the bathroom, one slamming into the glass shower door, the other trapped between a sink and the wall.
Aiden moved quickly—one axe swing through the door, then a second to finish the trapped walker. Blood pooled around porcelain as he searched the medicine cabinet: peroxide, iodine, and a mirror flask of whiskey.
He pocketed all of it.
[Walker x2 Neutralized]
House 11
This one was empty, but heavily looted.
Still, Aiden found a collapsible shovel behind the washer, some rope, and three glowsticks in a child's toy box. Small stuff. It could matter later.
House 12
Basement horror.
He entered through the side door and was met with a horrible stench. In the basement: a walker chained to a post, growling weakly. It had been someone's loved one, kept alive—perhaps in hope. Or punishment.
Aiden stared for a moment. Then finished it.
He found a generator nearby. Small, battered, but salvageable. He stored it with a grim nod.
[Walker x1 Neutralized]
House 13 – Final House
This one felt wrong the moment he stepped in.
Too quiet. Too clean. There were footprints in the dust—fresh.
He moved silently through the halls, axe raised.
In the living room: a dead family is seated around a dining table, perfectly preserved. No rot. No smell. All shot in the head.
Aiden kept moving.
In the study, he found what must've been the father's last stash—ammo boxes, an old katana in pristine condition, and a notebook labeled "Day 42: We Gave Up."
He read the final entry.
"No help. No hope. The radio's gone silent. We stayed too long. God forgive us."
He packed the katana and stepped out into the dusk.
Final System Update
As Aiden walked back toward the street, dusk now firmly laying its blanket of shadow across the neighborhood, the system chimed sharply in his vision.
[System Notification][Quest Complete: "Home Invasion"][
Total Houses Looted: 13]
[Walkers Killed: 8 Standard, 1 Bulge]
[Loot Value: High][Grade: A+]
[Rewards Granted:]
• Blueprint: Reinforced Survival Shelter (Level 2)•
Skill Upgrade Token x1•
Bonus XP: +1200•
Special Item: "Hunter's Map – Regional Supply Caches Unlocked"
Aiden looked at the burning horizon.
The air had grown cold. The wind carried distant moans. Walkers would become more aggressive at night. He had minutes, maybe seconds, before the next wave started moving.
But his pack—and his digital inventory—was full.
Full of food. Tools. Weapons. Knowledge.
The day hadn't just been survival.
It had been progress.
He turned toward the road, katana on his back, axe in hand, and vanished into the coming night.
[Ding!]
[Player: Aiden Smith
Level: [6]
Exp: [593/600]
DEX: [10] +5
STG: [12]
ST: [12]
INT: [20]
WIS: [16]
LUK [16]
[Skills]
[Dedicated Learner] Passive
+15% Learning Rate
{Every 10 Intelligent points = to 5% boost}
[Stealth] LV.2 [Exp 22/200]
+15% Less chance to be noticed
+10% Damage on Sneak Attack
[Scavenger] Passive
+20% Chance to find something of use when looting
+10% Chance of finding Rare items
[Lucky man] Passive
+10% Luck when it comes to luck-based chances
