Chapter 2: The EMT's Instinct
The Atlanta streets are a graveyard of abandoned cars and sporadic gunfire echoing from distant blocks.
Scott moves carefully between the vehicles, the System's interface tracking his progress with cold efficiency. A minimap has appeared in the corner of his vision, showing his location as a blue dot and marking nearby threats as red blips. Three walkers cluster around an overturned delivery truck two blocks north. A small group moves slowly along Peachtree Street.
None of them close enough to matter.
The pharmacy waypoint pulses steadily in his vision, guiding him through the maze of destruction. He's learned to trust the System's navigation—it routes him around the larger groups of walkers, keeping him in cover when possible.
"Just like the show. Three days in, most people are still figuring out that you have to destroy the brain. The real nightmare hasn't started yet."
A child's scream cuts through the morning air like breaking glass.
Scott freezes, the EMT training that saved his life screaming at him to respond. The sound came from the direction of his waypoint—two blocks south, near the pharmacy district. High-pitched, desperate, the kind of terror that bypasses rational thought and goes straight to the gut.
[OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE DETECTED]
[RESCUE SURVIVORS IN DISTRESS]
[REWARD: VARIABLE XP, KARMA BONUS]
[WARNING: HIGH RISK ENCOUNTER]
"I could ignore it. Keep moving. In the show, families like this die all the time. Background casualties. The math is simple—every time I deviate from getting stronger, I risk not being able to save the people who matter later."
The scream comes again, closer now. A little girl, maybe seven years old.
Scott's feet are already moving before he finishes the thought.
The pharmacy sits on the corner of two major streets, its windows boarded up with plywood that's been partially torn away. Fresh scratches score the wood—fingernail marks from people trying to claw their way inside. Or out.
The screaming is coming from inside.
Scott approaches from the side, using parked cars for cover. Through a gap in the boards, he can see movement—shadows shifting in the dim interior. The System's minimap updates with new information.
[SURVIVORS DETECTED: 3]
[WALKERS DETECTED: 6]
[DISTANCE TO TARGETS: 30 METERS]
"Six to one odds. And I have to keep the family alive."
He edges closer to get a better view through the gap. The family has barricaded themselves behind the pharmacy counter—a Hispanic man in his thirties, a woman who might be his wife, and a little girl with dark hair pulled into pigtails. The man's left arm is wrapped in a blood-soaked t-shirt, and from the way he's holding it, Scott can tell the wound is bad.
The walkers are spread throughout the store, shambling between the aisles with mindless persistence. They haven't reached the family yet, but it's only a matter of time.
Scott activates Analyze on the injured man.
[MARTINEZ, LUIS - BITE VICTIM]
[INFECTION STATUS: 73% PROGRESSION]
[TIME TO TURN: 4 MINUTES 12 SECONDS]
[AMPUTATION REQUIRED WITHIN 2 MINUTES FOR SURVIVAL]
The blood in Scott's veins turns to ice water. In four minutes, Luis Martinez will become one of the things trying to kill his family. And from the medical supplies visible behind the pharmacy counter, Scott might actually be able to save him.
If he moves fast enough.
Scott pulls the chef's knife from his belt and checks the pharmacy's rear entrance. The lock has been broken, hanging loose on twisted metal. He slips inside, moving with the careful silence his EMT training taught him for domestic disturbance calls.
The first walker doesn't see him coming. Scott drives the knife into the base of its skull, angling upward into the brain stem. It drops without a sound.
[WALKER ELIMINATED]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 50 XP]
The second one turns at the sound of the body hitting the floor. Scott moves faster this time, grabbing it by the hair and driving the blade through its ear canal. Efficient. Clinical.
"Two down. Four to go."
"Help us!" The woman's voice carries desperation that makes Scott's chest tight. "Please, someone help us!"
"Maria, quiet," Luis whispers, his voice already getting slurred. The infection is moving faster than the System predicted.
Scott creeps closer, using the shelving units for cover. Three walkers cluster near the front of the store, attracted by the family's voices but unable to figure out how to get behind the counter. The fourth is closer, maybe ten feet from the family's position.
"I need to get to them fast. Luis has maybe two minutes left."
The System offers him a choice.
[COMBAT OPTION 1: STEALTH APPROACH]
[SUCCESS CHANCE: 65%]
[RISK: MODERATE]
[COMBAT OPTION 2: DIRECT ASSAULT]
[SUCCESS CHANCE: 85%]
[RISK: HIGH]
[COMBAT OPTION 3: DISTRACTION]
[SUCCESS CHANCE: 40%]
[RISK: LOW]
Scott chooses option two.
He bursts from cover, sprinting toward the cluster of walkers. The knife takes the nearest one in the eye socket before it can react. The other two turn toward him with mechanical precision, mouths opening in soundless hunger.
The first one lunges. Scott sidesteps and brings the knife up under its jaw, punching through soft tissue into the brain. It collapses against a display of cough drops, sending bottles scattering.
The last walker is faster than the others, maybe fresher. It catches Scott's jacket sleeve as he tries to pull back, yellowed teeth snapping inches from his throat.
Scott slams his forehead into the walker's nose. Cartilage crunches, and dark fluid spatters his face. The grip loosens just enough for him to drive the knife through its temple.
[MULTIPLE WALKERS ELIMINATED]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 150 XP]
[SKILL UNLOCK: FIRST AID RANK 1]
"Behind you!" Maria screams.
Scott spins to see the final walker rounding the counter, moving straight for the little girl. She's frozen in terror, tears streaming down her face as the thing reaches for her with decomposing fingers.
Scott's throw is pure instinct and desperation. The knife tumbles end over end, catching the walker in the back of the skull. It pitches forward and goes still three feet from the child.
[CRITICAL HIT: WALKER ELIMINATED]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 75 XP]
The pharmacy falls silent except for Luis's labored breathing and Maria's quiet sobbing. Scott retrieves his knife and hurries to the family.
"You're hurt," he says to Luis, switching into his professional voice. "Let me see the arm."
Luis pulls away weakly. "No, it's—it's not bad. We just need to get out of here."
"Sir, I'm an EMT. Let me help." Scott gently unwraps the makeshift bandage. The bite is deep, semicircular, and already showing signs of infection around the edges. Dark veins are starting to spider out from the wound.
[INFECTION STATUS: 91% PROGRESSION]
[TIME TO TURN: 47 SECONDS]
[AMPUTATION REQUIRED IMMEDIATELY]
"Maria, I need you to hold him down," Scott says, grabbing supplies from behind the counter. Surgical scissors, gauze, alcohol, a small propane torch someone left behind. "This is going to hurt, but if I don't do this right now, he's going to die."
"What are you—no, wait—" Luis tries to protest, but his words are slurring badly now. The infection is shutting down his nervous system.
Scott positions the scissors just below Luis's elbow. "I'm sorry."
The amputation is brutal and fast. Luis screams once before passing out from shock. Maria holds her daughter's eyes closed as Scott works, cauterizing the wound with the heated blade of a box cutter. The smell of burning flesh mingles with the pharmacy's antiseptic scent.
[FIRST AID CHECK: SUCCESS]
[PATIENT STABILIZED]
[AMPUTATION SUCCESSFUL]
[SKILL ADVANCEMENT: FIRST AID RANK 1 → RANK 2]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: EMERGENCY TREATMENT]
Scott wraps the stump in clean gauze, his hands steady despite the horror of what he's just done. Luis is pale and unconscious, but his breathing is regular. The dark veins around the amputation site are already starting to fade.
"Is daddy going to be okay?" The little girl's voice is barely a whisper.
"He's going to live," Scott tells her, and means it. "But we need to get him somewhere safe while he recovers."
Maria clutches her daughter against her chest. "Thank you. Oh God, thank you. I thought—I thought we were all going to die."
Scott helps them gather supplies—antibiotics, pain medication, clean bandages. Enough to keep Luis stable while his body recovers. As they work, the little girl stays close to his side.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" Scott asks.
"Elena," she whispers. "Are you going to come with us?"
The question hits Scott harder than he expected. In the show, families like this were footnotes—unnamed casualties who existed to show how dangerous the world had become. But Elena is real. Her fear is real. The way she trusts him despite everything is real.
And Scott knows that if he stays with them, if he tries to protect them long-term, he'll never become strong enough to change the big moments. The deaths that matter to the overall story.
"Save who you can, when you can. But don't lose sight of the bigger picture."
"I can't stay with you," Scott tells Elena gently. "But I'm going to help you get somewhere safe. There's a place called Grady Memorial Hospital. Go there. Tell them you need help, and don't take no for an answer."
"Grady will fall eventually, but not for months. It'll give them time."
He helps Maria support Luis as they plan their route. The hospital is six blocks away, mostly through residential areas where the walker population should be lighter. Maria has a car parked two blocks from here—if it's still there, if it still runs.
As they prepare to leave, Elena tugs on Scott's jacket.
"Will we see you again?"
Scott looks down at her—seven years old, covered in dust and tear tracks, but still hoping. Still believing that adults can make everything better.
"I hope so," he says, and discovers he means it more than he expected.
The System chimes softly as he watches them disappear into the broken city.
[QUEST COMPLETED: RESCUE SURVIVORS]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 200 XP]
[KARMA BONUS: +50 XP]
[LEVEL UP! 2 → 3]
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: FIND SANCTUARY]
[ESTABLISH OR LOCATE A SAFE ZONE]
Scott stands alone in the ruined pharmacy, knife in hand, watching Atlanta burn around him. He's saved three people today. In the show, they would have been statistics. Here, they have names and faces and a chance at tomorrow.
The weight of that responsibility settles across his shoulders like a physical thing. Every choice he makes ripples outward, changing the story in ways he can't predict. Every life he saves is a victory, but also a reminder of all the ones he can't save.
"This is bigger than just surviving. I can change things. Really change them."
A new waypoint appears in his interface, pointing northwest toward the outskirts of the city. Toward the quarry where Rick's group will eventually make their stand. Toward the people he knows, the faces he's watched die again and again in syndicated reruns.
Scott adjusts his grip on the knife and starts walking. The game has changed, and he's the only player who knows the rules.
Time to start winning.
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