Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

“Up we go!” Daniel shouted as he grabbed the edge of the stone and tensed his muscles to lift it up.

Yet, just as one could expect from a sizeable piece of concrete, it wasn’t an easy task.

‘If it was going to be easy, he would kick it off himself a long time ago,’ Daniel thought as he felt fat drops of sweat slowly trickle down his forehead.

He pulled on the piece of rubble with all his might… but the most he managed to achieve was lifting its side by a few centimeters.

‘I guess I need to roll it off, just like I did before,’ he thought, allowing the stone to slip out of his hands only to then attempt to pull it again.

A few attempts like that later, the piece of rubble finally gained enough momentum to unlodge itself from its place and then slide down the pile of ruins.

“One more to go,” Daniel announced out loud, hoping his words would reach the ears of his friend buried underneath.

“I can see it, you know?” Norbert asked, appearing in its ghost form right on top of Daniel’s shoulder.

“Damn, man!” Daniel jumped out, almost smashing his fists into the ghastly projection. “Don’t scare me like that!” he asked in a slightly raised voice.

Even though Daniel wasn’t the one to fear ghosts or zombies, it didn’t change the fact that the current situation made him quite jumpy.

‘Do I have the time?’ Daniel thought, sending a glance to the side, where he wreaked havoc just a few moments earlier.

“The coast is clear for now,” Norbert’s ghost reported as soon as he noticed where Daniel’s stare went. “You can focus on trying to help me out; I will keep the lookout in your stead,” he proposed before vanishing on the spot, only for his ghost to appear several meters away.

‘Back to work, I guess,’ Daniel thought before moving his hands to the other stone that his colleague marked out before.

This time, thankfully, the piece of rubble turned out to be far easier to move. And while Daniel didn’t have enough strength to fully lift it, he was more than capable of moving it aside.

“Done!” Daniel shouted as soon as he pushed the stone to the side, allowing it to drop down to the bottom of the pile of rubble.

“Thanks, man,” Norbert’s ghost appeared right by Daniel’s side. “Be warned, though, a new group is coming,” Norbert’s ghost informed his friend. “Can you deal with them while I will try to free myself?” he requested, only for the ghost to disappear.

“Sure thing,” Daniel replied, even though he couldn’t see the person he was talking to anymore.

He jumped down the pile of rubble without any hesitation. He then shook his arms in the air as if preparing them for the looming fight.

And sure enough, just a few moments later, a huge group of zombies started to fall down the staircase, indicating that the entire horde on the upper floors was now attracted to their presence.

‘This could be dangerous,’ Daniel thought, moving forward in rhythmic steps along to the tune of the music that started to play out in his mind.

Ever since he discovered the nature of his system, Daniel felt pressed to become better at using it.

‘Judging by how pressed that young lad from before was to perfect his ability to use it, this should be the greatest source of our strength in this new, changing world,’ Daniel thought, clenching his teeth when the music in his mind reached its first staccato.

And so, Daniel swung his fists, counting the number of zombies he fell along with the jumpy rhythm of the tune.

‘I wonder if I could find a working VR set,’ Daniel thought as he immersed himself in the fight, turning his punches, kicks, and blocks into an intricate dance.

The zombies no longer appeared as the mortal enemies that were out for his blood, or rather, brain. Right now, they were his partners in this strange dance, all voluntarily participating in what could only be called a slaughter.

BOOM!

A sudden explosion of noise right by Daniel’s ear broke his momentum and focus, throwing his sense of rhythm off.

‘What the hell,’ he thought, feeling how the mysterious force behind his fists vanished into nothingness.

But he couldn’t stop his fists any longer. And when his knuckles smashed into the head of what used to be a student of the school… Daniel failed to finish the zombie off with that single hit.

The zombie’s head turned at an unnatural angle only to then brush its broken teeth against the skin of Daniel’s fist.

‘Fuck,’ the officer cursed under his breath as he jumped to the back. It was only then that he finally got the time to look to the back to check what the heck was this familiar sound all about.

“Don’t thank me!” Norbert said with a smile, lowering the gun he wielded in his hand.

‘So he didn’t lose his weapon,’ Daniel thought, noticing the point only to then shake his head.

“Brother, I’m sorry, but can you fight any other way?” Daniel requested as he shook his arms to get rid of the residual blood on them. He then reached out to the bottom of his skirt only to tear a small piece out of it and first clean the broken skin on his knuckles from the foreign blood before wrapping it around to keep the wound relatively clean.

“Huh?” Norbert shook in surprise, not expecting his former senior officer to request him to give up his greatest weapon. “How else am I supposed to fight?” he asked, clearly confused by the order.

“The shooting throws me out of my rhythm,” Daniel explained, only to shake his head and look towards the horde of zombies to judge how much time he had left. “Just like that ghost of yours, I got some sort of a strange ability. But for me to use it, I need to keep the rhythm of my fight!” he quickly explained the situation in the simplest way he could figure out.

“Ah, sorry about that, then,” Norber quickly admitted to his mistake. “I didn’t know,” he added as he lowered his head in apology.

“You couldn’t know,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “Also, this ability of yours, can it do anything more than acting as a lookout?” Daniel asked.

‘If the systems are our greatest ace cards, then I need to somehow get him to use and develop his as well,’ he thought, turning his eyes to his colleague for but a moment.

“I…” Norbert hesitated for a little only to end up averting his eyes while a shameful blush appeared on his cheeks. “I don’t think…” he shook his head. “No, I just don’t know,” he finally said only for the look behind the young officer’s eyes to steel up. “But I will do my best to find out!”

“Good,” Daniel nodded his head with satisfaction only to turn his eyes back towards the zombies. He then took a few seconds to hum a new tune under his nose before taking a step forward and starting the dance again.

“Let’s hope you will find it out quickly, for those abilities of ours are our best bet for survival!”