Game-To-Death: Utopia

Ally could not see clearly what was happening on the other side of the balcony but she recognized the voice the scream had belonged to. It is her neighbour, the kind old lady in her fifties. The rotten corpse was slowly approaching the figure huddled at a corner, helplessly flailing a frying pan in front of her in an effort to defend herself from that hideous monster.

Ally could not stand still any longer. Sweat formed on her forehead. The water that had not fully evaporated after her shower made her shudder from the chill of the night breeze. Ally gripped the wooden sword tighter in her hand. She only had one chance. She determined the trajectory of her aim and calculated the distance and resistance she might face from the wind and gravity.

Estimating the highest percentage of success, Ally threw the sword in her hand, aiming for a strike that would impale the back of the zombie's head just as it came within a 3-step distance from Mrs Kent. In her heart, she was sending a prayer to God so that her sword would meet its target. She believed in the theory that the brain is the control centre of an organism, whether it be zombie-fied or not. It would be risky to aim at any other parts of the body although the percentage of hitting its target would be higher, because it might not incapacitate the zombie completely.

Ally watched on as Mrs Kent's eyes close in horror as if fainted while the sword got closer and closer to its target. Everything was moving as if in slow motion. It must be due to her heightened feelings and senses. However, just as Ally thought that her aim had succeeded, a fierce wind blew and the sword deviated from its course. Ally's heart dropped to her stomach. At the same time, the zombie, as if it had discovered the existence of the weapon, turned around and Ally saw its melting face for the first time. But that isn't what's important right now. The most important part was, the zombie's movement had miraculously placed itself in the path of the sword again!

In a split second after it had turned around, the wooden sword pierced through its eyes and the zombie stopped moving altogether. Blood spurted out at first but a few seconds later, the whole corpse vanished into thin air. All that was left behind was the wooden sword that fell onto the floor after its target disappeared.

Following that, a melodious chime sounded in Ally's head, similar to what would have happened if she had killed a monster in the virtual world. And, as expected, a system prompt appeared in front of her. Even the design of the screen and notification prompt reminded her of the game she had been playing, although it was plainer and less colourful than in the game. Oh, also the fact that this is happening in the real world, not the virtual one.

CONGRATULATIONS! You are one of the first 10 players to achieve FIRST BLOOD in this new world! These are your REWARDS!

As the prompt faded away, three treasure boxes appear in front of her. On each one is a huge '?'. In addition, there was also an ominous flashing '!' sign that appeared next to them. Ally glanced at the 4 symbols that had appeared before her, an incredulous smile on her face. First blood? New World? Rewards? Had she fallen asleep inside the game capsule and is now dreaming? The Zombie appearing might had been an acceptable phenomenon at this age of scientific experiments and AI recreation, but what are these prompts and game-like settings? Had the game finally driven her crazy? Ally pinched her right cheek with her hand. Err…. It hurts. She pinched harder. The result was… Nothing had changed. She did not 'wake up' from the pain or escape this 'dream'.

Her head shook at the abrupt change in reality. The shock might had not settled in completely at first, but the sequence of events that followed had given Ally enough time to digest what was happening, processing her thoughts. She had always been an intelligent person, she knew that, and known for her calm demeanour in critical situations, but that was in the game where she had extensive knowledge and research to back up her decisions! How was she supposed to react in this situation? Call the police? Contact NASA? No, the latter is not an option because she had no idea what the hotline for NASA is. Moreover, wouldn't the police call centre already be flooded with calls at this moment? Would they even be able to explain the situation to her? She doubted that.

So, the only option left was to just let it be for now and explore the possibilities and analyse the situation herself, using whatever knowledge she had in her limited brain capacity. First of all, her finger moved to touch the flashing '!' sign.

When her finger made contact with the sign, a new prompt appeared in its place. Ally's eyes widened in surprise…