Zombie Apocalypse Online

Zone 0- Area 0

" Oh man, C'mon c'mon c'mon! " There I was, sitting on the floor next to the door tying my shoe and making sure I had the directions to the shop I needed to go to.

Right now it was about 12:15 and if I hurried on my bike it'll only take 10 minutes to get to the place I need to get to.

As I rushed down the stairs, I heard my mom and sister call out to me.

" Stay safe Kazuto, and try to be back within half an hour! "

" Yeah, will do mom! "

" Yeah! What mom said, try to be back quick! "

" I'll try, Sugu! " Now I was running out of the house towards my bike, hoping that this whole situation goes as planned.

Oh yeah, if you haven't guessed already, my name is Kazuto Kirigaya and I'm 14 and was a beta tester for THE most technologically advanced game on the market right now, ZAO, or Zombie Apocalypse Online. It runs on the nervegear, a virtual reality headset that lets you literally DIVE into a game, sweet right?

The shop I'm trying to get to would have my reserved copy of ZAO, and they would not resell it unless I sent them a message saying that I wouldn't need it anymore. That's not the problem though, the problem is ZAO goes live in 45 minutes so I gotta get my copy, get my account to play ZAO situated, then I guess I'll be in the home stretch.

I can probably be in and out of the shop in 5 minutes, after all I did prepay for ZAO so I just gotta go in , tell them what's what and show them the beta tag I got, sign some papers, then I can finally go back to the world I actually like.

" Aw man, come on! Mam would you walk faster please? " Out of nowhere, some old lady was up ahead of me on the side walk where I was riding my bike. I couldn't turn because traffic, but that meant neither could she.

" This was gonna take longer than expected "*sigh*

( Around 20 minutes later )

" God, I finally mad it. " After having to stay behind that old lady for about 10 minutes, I had to haul ass just to make it here within the schedule.

I walked in to the store apparently called Game Game and walked up to the cashier at the counter.

" Excuse me! " The guy at the counter had his back turned to me, he was probably doing some sort of inventory on the products at the checkout. He turned around and dropped the clipboard he was checking the products on.

" Oh, s-sorry kid, you must be here to buy a copy of ZAO, but we ran out already.

" You're on the mark about me wanting a copy of ZAO, but I have a reserved copy. " I pulled out the tag that said BETA on it.

" No way, you were in the beta? I need to go get you your copy, it's in the back, I'll be right back! " He went off to go get my game so I just picked up a random gaming magazine and started to skim it.

The guy came back relatively quick though.

" Hey, beta kid, I got your copy right here! " I looked at him with a plastic bag in his hand, so I set the magazine down and went up to him and got what I came for.

" Thank you sir, now I'll be off! " I accepted the bag and walked off.

" No, kid, thank you for actually letting me meet a real beta tester! " I turned around and tried to smile at the man, I just wanted to get home as fast as possible though, so it was a little difficult.

" Uh no problem, it was my pleasur- Ahh! " I was mid sentence when I bumped into someone as I was walking out of the shop, which ended with us both on the ground.

Man I need to watch where I'm going more often.

I dusted my self off and turned to look at who I just knocked over.

' Just my luck... a pretty girl. ' I thought in my head.

I took a closer look at the girl and she seemed about my age, brownish-blonde kind of hair, and finally... those stars that were her eyes, they were blue, almost turquoise even.

" I-I-I'm s-sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. " Man, I suck at talking to girls.

" Let me help you up. " I offered her my hand, and she reached out and grabbed it.

" Thank you, and I should have been watching where I was going as well. "

" Yeah, maybe we both could have been more careful. So why are you here? If it's for ZAO then you're out of luck, he's all out. "

" Yes I am here for ZAO but my copy was reserved, I was one of the lucky 800 to get a special reserved copy. Seeing as you have a copy were you one too? " She pointed at my bag with the game in it.

" No, I was actually a beta tester for the game. "

" Wow, you're even more lucky than I was if you were a beta tester! My names Kotone by the way. "

" Kotone huh? Well my names Kazuto, nice to meet you! " I reached out for a handshake and she accepted it.

" Say Kazuto, this will be my first time full diving so, can you show me the basics of ZAO when we get online? "

Damn, she wants me to help her. But I'm a solo player, what should I do? Ah well it would be rude to say no.

" I guess I can show you the ropes a little bit. "

" Really? Thank you so much! " She was smiling and looked like she couldn't contain her excitement.

" It's no problem, really. Anyways, as soon as you make your avatar and successfully enter ZAO you'll spawn in the town square, straight ahead would be a fountain. I'll be sitting on it my name is gonna be Kirito, okay? Find me and I'll show you around. "

" Okay, got it Kazuto! Well I gotta get my copy of ZAO and you probably have to go home so I'll be seeing you in game, bye! "

" Alright, bye " With that I walked out the door and waved at Kotone as she went up to buy her copy.

Now time to start the ride back home, I guess.

(Around 10 minutes later)

" Hey Mom, Sugu I'm back ! " I walked into my house and saw my mom preparing to go to work and I heard my sister get her stuff for kendo.

" Hey Kazuto, took a little longer than expected, huh? "

" Yeah mom, it did. "

" Well I need to go to work, don't play that game for too long. " With that she got her purse and left. I could hear the car start up.

Then I heard someone come down the stairs.

" Kazuto, you're back! I need to go to kendo right now, but there's leftovers on the table if you're hungry. " She pointed at the table and I saw a bowl with plastic wrap on it.

" Anyways, Bye Kazuto! " She put her shoes on and as I looked out the window I saw her run in the direction of her school.

I got the whole house to myself, and what am I gonna do? Obviously play ZAO.

I ran up the steps plugged up my nerve gear layed down on my bed and prepared myself for the full dive.

Little did I know, nothing could have prepared me for the events that were about to unfold...

" LINK START! "

End of chapter 1