Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

his hearing, his attention focused and breath held, as if the sound of an exhale would give away his position.

When the entity was fifteen feet away, it exited the plant cover and Gus saw a humanoid figure, slowly shambling toward him. Gus’ brain did two things. The first was to trigger a jolt of adrenaline as he dropped into a crouch, ready for attack. The second was correctly ascertaining that only one type of creature shambles. *Ding!*

You have just unlocked the skill: Wreck-ognize.

Wreck-ognize: You can now recognize and identify basic stats of various creatures. More information available as this skill levels. Since you like to wreck inanimate objects, you probably feel the same about living creatures. Critical areas will be highlighted in your display. As you defeat enemies, information will populate the bestiary database and define a range of their typical stats.

100 XP awarded

790 XP to level 4

Gus shivered as the information on the creature displayed along the upper border of the display:

Shambler (Level ??)

HP: ??

MP: ??

Special skills: ??

“Nick! What the hell, is that a zombie?!” Gus screamed mentally, paralyzed on the spot as his brain tried to assimilate what it was seeing. He stared at the zombie, who in turn stared at him, jittering his head left and right while maintaining constant eye contact. The zombie clawed his arms outward and moved toward Gus in an aggressive but slow manner. A red aura outlined the Shambler and the yellow highlight made its return, lighting up the head and spinal column. Gus jumped back and sidestepped to keep some distance between himself and the creature.

“Do not let it touch you, Gus!” Nick screamed, giving Gus a start and another accompanying jolt of adrenaline that broke him from his shocked state.

He gritted his teeth and watched his step carefully. No way he was going to trip and be set upon by this thing that could barely walk like suckas in thousands of zombie movies. Gus held onto Razorback and quickly crouched to grab rocks, lobbing them at the Shambler’s face.

This seemed to have little effect, so Gus got the idea to bend a small tree branch back and waited for the zombie to come closer. Wanting its creepy hug, the Shambler approached arms outstretched and walked right in the path of the branch. The zombie was flipped on its back, where it flailed about like a giant, gray desiccated bug.

Gus approached the head and lanced Razorback into the top of the skull… only to have it deflect away from bone. Razorback was sharp, but it didn’t sink into the skull like a rotten cantaloupe as seen in all the zombie movies. The zombie was now reaching around his head instead of in front of it, making another assault too risky without getting scratched. This shouldn’t be this hard!

Luckily the zombie seemed to have lost the ability to stand up, or was so distracted by Gus that it did not access that particular set of skills. Gus spied some bamboo by the river. He quickly sliced off a long shoot of bamboo at an angle and used it like a lance to poke the creature in the neck. He didn’t have the strength or skill to dual wield his bamboo spear and Razorback, so he tossed the weapon behind him so he could handle the bamboo more easily. The close range it required to use made it less than ideal for this fight. He tried lancing the zombie again, but he succeeded only in pushing the zombie sideways on the ground. The creature’s skin was dry and tough, like leather.

“This isn’t working!” Gus shouted in frustration. He lifted the bamboo high overhead and swung the bamboo down on the creature’s head. There was a loud *tonk!* as the bamboo connected, but the zombie only flailed around more as a measly red ‘-3HP’ floated up from his foe. He tried laying the bamboo across the zombie’s chest and stepping on the other end with one foot, Captain Morgan-style, but the zombie was wiggling and gesticulating so much that Gus couldn’t keep the bamboo in place.

Gus’ anger flared as he felt all his attacks easily repelled by this shriveled, beef-jerky looking creature, who should not be a threat, lying there on its back. He let out a guttural yell as he used the bamboo to stab the zombie over and over in the face. His plan was to go for the eye socket, as the bone should be thinner behind the eye. Again and again he hit the creature as it turned from side to side, reaching and grasping.

Gus got bolder after multiple attempts finally tore the skin, revealing a cheekbone smeared with a black slime. He was losing stamina quickly, so he had to do something different. Panting and lining up his shot, he made his move and plunged the sharpened tip down and finally hit the eye. BAM, direct hit! The wedge of sharpened bamboo penetrated and sunk in four inches. The zombie shook like it had been electrocuted, and its flailing slowed considerably. Since the zombie did not die instantly, Gus picked up Razorback and stabbed the other eye. That seemed to do the trick. A chime sounded.

You have killed a Shambler (Level 3)! 500 XP awarded!

290 XP to level 4

Bestiary updated.

Skill gained: Small blades (Level 1)

Small blades: Allows more proficiency with smaller sharp-edged melee weapons. (5% increase in damage x level)

100 XP awarded

190 XP to level 4

Yanking Razorback out, Gus scuttled back and fell in a heap. Black ichor stuck to the blade, dripping off in rivulets like runny tar. Gus wiped the blade as clean as he could on a nearby tree trunk, getting most of the ooze off the blade. After a couple minutes, when the adrenaline surge began to fade, he stood and approached his foe. Gus had limited medical knowledge, but this former human was grayish and had a dark leathery skin, which hung intact but in a loose, jowl-like fashion everywhere. From the wounds he