Trying to focus more on the rebirth option, more info appeared.
{Rebirth} (10T Gold) Warning: All gold upgrades will reset when buying this. You get to keep 3 permanent powers of your choosing while gaining a 0.10x permanent multiplier.
Gray grinned while reading. "Damn, if I keep buying this and moving from world to world, I'll keep stacking powers. That's not bad. I have to pick good ones for the next world..."
With no one around him, Gray purchased 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition and reloaded all his magazines, noticing he felt slightly faster than before. He bought a waist holster for 25 gold and settled his Glock into it.
'After tonight, we'll leave this camp. The CDC is a solid option since I remember there used to be a lot of dead soldiers around with plenty of guns. Trying to save the doctor there could come in handy later. Maybe I could show him a bit of what I can do and convince him to join the group.'
Walking over to the RV, he left his backpack inside. Afterward, he climbed onto the roof and stayed there, watching Jim, Dale, and a few others dismantle Glenn's car and the construction truck.
After several hours of work and finally swapping the radiator hose on the RV, Dale climbed up the ladder. "Do you mind some company?"
Gray glanced to the side and shook his head. "Go ahead; it's your RV after all," he replied, pointing to another chair.
After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Dale finally spoke. "It's good to know that there is still someone out there with some humanity left."
Nodding in agreement, Gray asked, "Are you referring to the Merle situation?"
"Yes..." Dale continued. "Not a lot of people would have done what you did, son."
"Yeah, not a lot of people are as dumb as me," Gray laughed. "He just reminded me of my older brother. I couldn't bear to leave him behind."
"Besides," Gray continued, "if we lose our humanity, what makes us any different from the walking dead out there?"
"I couldn't agree more," opening a water bottle and taking a sip, Dale continued, "Seems you were on the lookout for a bit, so you can go ahead and rest, I'll take it from here."
"Got it," Gray stood up and began to climb down. "I'll leave you to it."
Seeing that he had enough gold, he opened the shop.
[New Skill]
{Advanced Marksmanship} (8000 Gold)
Gold: 1596
After processing all the information, Gray walked into the forest to test out his new skill.
Finding a sufficiently open space, he took some empty bottles from his backpack and set them down before stepping back. He first tried shooting from 30 yards away. After hitting all 10 shots, he reset the bottles and moved further back.
After a while, he missed a shot and checked the distance. "Around 60 yards? Not bad!" Gray reloaded all his magazines before returning to the group. On his way back, he noticed Andrea and Amy walking with a bunch of fish in their hands.
'They'll probably punch me if I tell them I don't like seafood... but then again, I haven't been struggling as they have, so I guess I can't be picky,' Gray thought.
Once the sun set and the camp was dark, everyone gathered near the campfire, eating and laughing, except for Gray. He had his gun resting on his lap, looking out into the woods. Finally, he spoke up, "Can I ask you guys a question? I don't mean to be disrespectful since it's my first day here, but…"
"Why aren't you guys more worried about being out here? I don't know how you run things around camp, but everyone seems to be having a good time. I don't see anyone on lookout. I don't see people with guns or even a knife to defend themselves..." Gray stood up and looked around at everyone. "Don't get me wrong; being around people feels nice, we're social animals, but this isn't a picnic. There's real danger out there, and we don't even have walls protecting us to be this laid back." Finally, he walked over to the RV and climbed onto it.
"What was that all about?" Rick said while he climbed and sat next to Gray, "I don't know what happened, but that was unlike you."
"I know I just don't wanna see people die for making avoidable mistakes," Gray looked up at the sky and just exhaled, "I'm just rambling at this point, go join your family, Rick. I'll be okay."
Rick got up and grabbed Gray's shoulder, "Just remember you're not alone anymore, you're part of this group, and we've got your back."
After 5 minutes of looking around, he spotted some shadows moving in the woods. Before he could get up to get a better look, he heard someone from behind.
"I'm going to pee! Don't be a perv and peek, okay?" Amy announced as she headed toward the RV. But before she could come back outside, Gray slammed the door shut from the top.
Before she could say anything, Gray started yelling, "Walkers! We are surrounded!"
Taking out his gun, he began shooting. Every shot was a perfect headshot. From his vantage point, he could see almost the whole camp. He glanced at the fire pit and saw Shane with his shotgun, taking down walker after walker. Daryl, using his crossbow and tossing Merle a handgun, which he used to kill three walkers before he ran out of bullets, Rick, with his revolver, also dispatched four before grabbing Lori and Carl and making his way up to the RV.
Noticing the amount of walkers around camp, Gray got confused, 'There weren't this many in the show! What is going on!?' Even after killing 10 zombies himself, there seemed to be no end to them.
Making sure there were no zombies around the RV, Gray finally climbed down, meeting Rick and his family by the door, and opened it. Lori and Carl went inside, a few seconds after Andrea, Jacqui, and the Morales family followed, and finally Carol and Sophia.
Seeing still a lot of zombies around, Gray was the first to move, making a mental note of how many rounds he still had left in the magazines he kept shooting. Every shot that rang was one more zombie dropping. Finally making use of the advanced marksmanship he had acquired a few hours earlier, he kept running around camp, trying to save as many people as possible.
Once he shot the last bullet, everyone else had already caught up, shooting and killing the last remaining ones.
After a few minutes of silence, the first one to speak was Merle, "Damn boy! I knew you saved me and all, but Jesus, you need to teach me how to shoot like that!"
"Not the best time for jokes, Merle, come on, let's check on everyone..." Gray started walking towards the RV, seeing all the bodies, he started checking all of them, making sure they were all dead.
'The only ones I could save were Jim and Amy...' Gray thought before grabbing a flashlight and moving into the woods, checking for more zombies.
5 minutes later, Rick joined him, "Seems you were right."
"I didn't wanna be, but you guys were too laid back," Gray continued, "I just feel bad for the ones that didn't make it."
Eventually, the night passed, and the sun came up. No one had slept that night; instead, they were alert, waiting for more walkers to show up. After multiple people checked the woods and the area around camp, they finally let their guard down.
Gray, seeing the sunrise, checked his gold, opened the upgrades tab, and got the next one.
[New Upgrade]
(30000 Gold) 1500 Gold/Hour ✔
[New Hourly Rate]
4,328 Gold/Hour
Gold: 8,391
Making a mental note, he noticed that the next upgrade was 12 hours away. Deciding not to buy anything for the time being, he joined the group that had started to dig graves for the dead campers.
By 12 pm, they were done.
One by one, the bodies were lowered in, no speeches at first, just silence.
Then Dale stepped forward, clearing his throat. "They were good people," he said. "They deserved better than this world gave them."
Rick placed a small marker at the head of one grave. "We move tomorrow morning," he said firmly. "This place isn't safe anymore."
On top of the RV, Gray was keeping watch, his eyelids growing heavy since nobody had gotten a wink of sleep. Going over to Dale, he asked him for the time, also told him he was going to take a nap and to wake him up at 5 PM, then went to sleep inside an empty tent.
Being woken up, the first thing Gray did was get the next upgrade.
[New Upgrade]
(50000 Gold) 3000 Gold/Hour ✔
[New Hourly Rate]
8,078 Gold/Hour
Gold: 1671
'Damn...I can almost buy an advanced skill an hour...'
Gray got up and saw everyone moving around camp, some of them next to the fire pit. He sat next to Andrea and Amy.
Eventually, Rick and Shane joined them from the woods. "Listen, we talked it over, and we decided to head for the CDC. The most important thing is sticking together, so for those that agree, we leave first thing in the morning," Shane said, looking around at everybody.
With nothing to do for the rest of the day, Gray pulled out the notebook and started doing math, "13 hours for the next upgrade...so 6 AM." Standing up, he walked around the much smaller camp, scrolling through the shop, and finally got something that would come in handy later on.
[New System Upgrade]
{System-Integrated Map (1 Mile Snapshot)} (200 Gold) Upgradable
Right after buying it, Gray saw the new addition added to his vision on the top right corner of it, to be exact, 'That's nice, and it doesn't take too much of my vision, when I don't focus on it, it turns transparent,' he thought before making his way towards the RV.
After an hour, he had enough gold for the next multiplier.
[New Upgrade]
(7200 Gold) +0.05x ✔
[New Hourly Rate]
8,401 Gold/Hour
"Nice! This multiplier will literally pay for itself in less than a day, and I could get the next upgrade in the same amount of time," Gray said while keeping watch.
"Who are you talking to?" Amy asked as she climbed up the ladder.
Surprised, Gray replied, "Just to myself," he chuckled. "I thought I stopped doing that when Rick came along."
"I see," Amy continued. "Do you mind if I sit?"
"Go right ahead."
After a few minutes of silence, she was the first to speak. "You don't talk much, do you?"
Gray laughed lightly. "What can I say? I'm a shy person."
"A shy person who killed more walkers than the entire camp combined." She continued, "What did you do before all this anyway?"
"I was just a regular guy."
"Regular people can't do what you did last night, but that's fine...keep your secrets." Standing up, she moved close to Gray and kissed him on the cheek. "I just wanted to thank you for saving me and warning the others..."
Dumbfounded, Gray muttered, "You're welcome," as he stared at her, watching her laugh and walk away, not noticing the other person watching them.
"Seems like you'll be getting some attention, boy!" Merle said, grinning at Gray.
Gray exhaled and got up. "Quit it, Merle. What do you want anyway?"
"We need to talk about tomorrow."
Hearing the response, Gray began to descend. "Sure, what's up?"
"What's your plan for tomorrow? Are you going to go with them to the CDC?"
Gray nodded. "That was the plan. Are you and Daryl not coming?"
Merle sat down next to a tree and nodded. "I don't know how I feel about taking orders from Officer Friendly over there."
"Yeah, I get that, but I think the CDC is the best option so far. If it's still standing, that means there will be meds and supplies," Gray explained. "Even if it's not, I have plans for afterward."
"Oh?" Merle stood up. "What kind of plans, boy? You already have a place in mind?"
"Yeah, if the CDC is a bust, I know of a place that is safe enough for a few months. With a few reinforcements, it could become a place to call home." Gray looked into Merle's eyes and continued, "So why don't you stick around for a few more weeks? I wouldn't mind the help."
"Okay, I'll talk to Daryl. But if this place you have in mind is also a bust, what are you going to do?"
"We'll see when we get there, but first, the CDC."