Pause System: Harem In The Apocalypse
chapter-8

Gray returned to the top of the staircase, ignoring the new path that was now open after defeating the boss on the first floor.

"Huh?". Gray blurted out unintentionally. While going up the stairs, his body tripped, causing him to stumble.

When he leaned back to avoid falling headfirst onto the staircase floor, his leg slipped on the pool of dry blood beneath him. Resulting in him losing balance.

'Shit-'

[Pause]

Without a doubt, the fall back down the staircase would have killed him. He would have lost his life had he not been able to [Pause] and catch himself in time.

After he sighed, he continued up the stairs. Every once in a while he looked down the pit beside the staircase on his path to the top, imagining what would have happened if he had fallen down the pit instead of the staircase when he first entered the labyrinth.

It literally looked like the abyss. As he pondered these things, he reached the top.

As he looked up, he wondered just how he could escape? The labyrinth was quite a far way down.

Gray contemplated how to climb up for some time before deciding it would be best to climb up.

He could pause the air beneath him, creating a platform on which he could leap up in order to reach the top faster and more efficiently, however, this would require more stamina than simply pausing a body part.

Of course such a feat would not have been possible without his ability.

He slowly began climbing up the walls of the labyrinth, using his skills. As he scooted his body upwards, he paused and unpacked his hand at the exact moment. Having failed twice before, he did this again and again, but by his third try he had mastered it.

Five minutes and 49 seconds had passed since he began this third climb. He would have been out of breath by now if not for the fact that he placed all of his remaining points into stamina. But even with the extra five points he was struggling.

As he climbed, he panted heavily. As a result of how long he had been straining his arms, they had grown numb.

He was battling infections all over his body, his teeth ached from not brushing them, and the stench coming from him was clouding his thinking.

It was the hunger, the fever, and the thirst that had reached the point where he wanted to drink his own urine if it helped.

It was clear from his status.

[Possessor: Gray Caliber

Race: Human

State: Fatigued / Greatly Injured

Level: 2

XP Required For Level Up: 65/200

[HP: 8/11] [-4 Injured / Infected]

The unfortunate situation couldn't help but bring back bad memories.

"Damn it…". He cursed as he panted, but there was no sign of the top.

[Pause]

He scooted up once again when all of the sudden. There was a change in the air.

[You have left the labyrinth]

At that moment, he felt it. As the sunlight brushed the top of his head, he felt its warmth. Confused, he looked up, his eyes widening.

He felt his heart begin to pound as he saw it. A vast blue sky.

Gray, unsure of why it suddenly appeared, picked up the pace and climbed faster and faster. The hole seemed to grow wider as well.

'Just a bit more-'

A humanoid figure suddenly flew past Gray. It was as if time stood still as he felt as if he had made eye contact with it. He looked down to see what it was, but before he could, it was too far down for him to see.

Even though he just climbed up it, everything and the stairs seemed unrecognizable. All that was beneath him was pure darkness.

'A person just fell…?'

While Gray paused and unpaused on his ascent, his hand moved faster and faster as he advanced.

100 meters…

Another humanoid figure fell past him, this time from the other side. Even more concerned than before, Gray continued on because stopping wasn't an option.

50 meters…

Another three figures, this time from the other direction.

10 meters…

The figure was heading straight toward him this time. Gray looked it straight in the eye as it drew closer, they were on the verge of colliding.

[Unpause]

Gray leaped from the wall before he could fall, watching as the figure passed right by.

[Pause]

The air under his legs paused, creating a platform under his feet before he leapt off of it and fell into the wall. His heart was pounding like crazy.

He saw it clearly this time: it was a corpse. What the hell could have possibly been happening outside for corpses to start falling? He wondered

The moment he reached the ledge, he couldn't wait to climb up and feel the fresh breeze. However, he didn't.

Something was definitely happening outside, his gut was screaming out danger. Futhermore, even if it wasn't, The military could be waiting for him outside the Labyrinth to bring him in for questioning.

No matter how tired he was, he had to play things carefully, so before going up fully, he leaned over to the edge to see what was waiting for him.

When he did, his eyes widened.

It was something he could never have imagined.

Blood bath, a scene straight out of hell. In the distance, corpses lay on the ground with flies swarming around them. The cars left out in the open, some with their windshields smashed and others with blood splattered all over them.

Smoke was rising from the surrounding buildings, almost filling the sky.

But that was no where near the worst.

There were corpses wandering around. Yes, corpses. There was no way they were people; some of them were missing arms, while others were missing legs, dragging their bodies as they moved. There were no pupils in their eyes, and their skin had turned pale even more than Gray's.

When Gray saw this, only two words entered his mind.

'Zombie Apocalypse.'

As he had seen a lot of movies in this genre, he certainly wasn't stupid enough not to recognize what was going on right away. However he still couldn't believe that such a thing was possible.

An explosion nearby suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

*KABOOM!*

The sound of a loud explosion reverberated far away from where Gray was, but the shock wave was so loud that some of the glass panels in the buildings nearby shattered.

Gunshots reverberated through the air, followed by blood curdling screams.

After that, like starving animals, the corpses began to run toward the direction the sound had come from, the car alarms once again blaring, disorienting some.

As they rushed after the sound, they could be seen falling into the labyrinth's hole as their bodies fell from the opposite side. One after the other, they disappeared into the hole. One problem was there were just too many.

Chaos reigned everywhere.

'What the hell happened?'

Gray who had no idea what to do now, was caught off guard by a sudden notification.

However, the notification did not seem to have come from the system, but rather from his phone, which was in his pocket.

"You're still working?" He questioned as he pulled it out.

Looking at the icon on the phone, he noticed that the notification had been 3 missed calls from an unknown number. Gray's phone was on one percent.

A single voice mail was left.

There were still zombies in the area, due to obstacles blocking their path, they were unable to chase after the sounds. A few lacked the mobility of having legs missing which is another reason why they couldn't

Either way, they weren't leaving.

While he waited for the nearby zombies to move away from the scene, and judging by all the noise it wouldn't be long until they did, he decided to play it since he was curious.

By tapping the screen, it played.

At first, Gray could only hear static. He thought the problem was the volume, so he turned it up a few bars, but the problem reappeared.

There was a loud static noise that alerted the nearby corpses.

'Shit!' He cursed, quickly climbing over the edge, he was about to turn off the phone, when all of the sudden-

"Brother… He-Hel-"

The voice was cut off.

In shock, Gray looked at the phone as his pupils dilated, despite the static he heard it clearly. The screen was off, he tried to turn it on, but it seemed as if the battery had run out. The voice mail was cut off as a result.

'Did I… Hear that right…?' Gray questioned.

Gray's thought however, was interrupted by a loud groan as he spotted a zombie sprinting at him.