One moment, Ethan Miller was idly channel surfing, a half eaten bowl of popcorn in his lap, engrossed in a late night rerun of The Walking Dead, mentally critiquing the characters' latest questionable survival choices. The next, a blinding, disorienting flash, a sensation of immense pressure, then… nothing.
Darkness. Then, pain. A throbbing headache, a stiff neck.
He groaned, forcing his eyelids open. He wasn't on his comfortable couch. He was lying on a cold, tiled floor, the acrid smell of disinfectant and something else, something coppery and unsettling, filling his nostrils. Fluorescent lights hummed aggressively overhead. It looked like… a hospital hallway?
Panic, cold and sharp, lanced through him as disjointed, alien memories flooded his mind memories of this body, a young intern named Ethan Miller, working a grueling night shift at Harrison Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. But overriding those were his memories, his life, his world where The Walking Dead was just a TV show.
Transmigration? No way… this only happens in novels!
Then he heard it. A sound that chilled him to the core, a sound he knew intimately from countless hours of watching his favorite show: a low, guttural, inhuman groan, followed by a wet, shuffling sound. It was close.
Before he could fully process the impossible, a series of clear, concise notifications materialized in his vision, crisp and blue, like a high tech heads up display.
[Transmigration complete. Soul integration with host body 'Ethan Miller' successful.]
[Welcome to the world of 'The Walking Dead'. Timeline: Initial Outbreak – Day 0.]
[Supreme Survival System activated – Transmigration Assistance Package initiated.]
Ethan stared, his mind reeling. It was real. He was in The Walking Dead. The apocalypse he'd watched unfold on screen was now his horrifying reality. The System, something he'd only read about in webnovels that often featured transmigrators, was now his.
[Newbie Transmigrator Package awarded. Open now?]
A simple [Yes/No] prompt hovered.
His original world knowledge, his TWD foreknowledge, was crystal clear in his mind. This System… this was his cheat, his only chance.
"Yes!" he thought, his voice a strangled whisper in his new throat.
[Opening Newbie Package...]
[Item Acquired: Survivor's Machete (Common Grade – Durable, Sharp).]
[Item Acquired: Filtered Water Bottle (Full – 1 Liter).]
[Item Acquired: High-Energy Ration Bars (x3).]
[Item Acquired: Basic First-Aid Kit (Small).]
[Battle Points (BP) Awarded: 50 BP.]
[Initial System Functions Unlocked: Status, Inventory (Sub-Dimension), Basic Map (Local Area), Survivor's Exchange (Shop – Limited Initial Stock).]
[New Primary Mission Issued: Survive the Initial Chaos.]
[Mission Objective 1: Exit Harrison Memorial Hospital alive.]
[Mission Objective 2: Find a temporarily secure shelter.]
[Rewards: EXP, BP, System Upgrade Voucher (Minor).]
A sturdy machete materialized in his hand with a faint shimmer, its weight reassuring. The other items appeared in a mental "inventory" screen the System displayed. Fifty Battle Points. He already knew what those would be for.
The groaning outside the hallway door he was slumped against grew louder, accompanied by frantic scratching. He had no time to waste. His foreknowledge screamed at him: hospitals were deathtraps, ground zero for the infection.
He scrambled to his feet, his new body feeling a little unfamiliar but young and relatively fit. He checked his 'Status' via a mental command.
[Host: Ethan Miller]
[Health: 100/100]
[Stamina: 100/100]
[Strength: 5 (Average)]
[Agility: 6 (Average)]
[Endurance: 5 (Average)]
[Perception: 7 (Slightly Above Average – Host Soul Influence)]
[Battle Points (BP): 50]
His perception was slightly higher, likely due to his transmigrated soul's awareness. Good. He'd need it.
The door shuddered violently. He knew what was on the other side. Aim for the head. Destroy the brain. Sound draws them.
He gripped the machete, adrenaline surging. The System flashed a small, helpful prompt: [Weapon Analysis: Machete – Effective against unarmored walker craniums. Recommended strike: Downward chop or lateral slash to neck/head region.]
The door burst open. A figure in a tattered patient's gown, eyes milky white, jaw slack and bloody, lunged in with a horrifying groan. Walker. His first real walker.
Ethan didn't hesitate. His foreknowledge, combined with the System's cold, tactical overlay highlighting the creature's head, guided his strike. He sidestepped its clumsy lunge, the machete whistling through the air in a clean, downward arc. It connected with the walker's skull with a sickening crunch. The creature dropped like a stone.
[Hostile Neutralized: Walker (Standard). BP +1. Current BP: 51.]
One point. It wasn't much, but it was a start. More groans echoed from further down the corridor. Screams, distant but drawing nearer. The hospital was falling, fast. He had to get out. The System's basic map showed him the layout, highlighting stairwells and exits.
He moved quickly, silently, his TWD knowledge invaluable. He avoided using the elevators, knowing they'd be death traps. He stuck to the less populated corridors where possible. When he encountered more walkers, he dealt with them efficiently, his movements still a little clumsy in this new body, but his strikes, guided by knowledge and System prompts, were brutally effective. Each kill added another BP to his tally.
The emergency stairwell was his best bet. He reached it, finding it relatively clear, though the sounds of chaos from the floors below were growing. As he descended, he saw the carnage: panicked staff, terrified patients, and the dead relentlessly pursuing the living. It was exactly like the show, but the smell of blood, fear, and decay was overwhelmingly real.
He knew he couldn't save everyone. His priority was his own survival, then finding a secure place to plan. His foreknowledge gave him a crushing advantage, but also a heavy burden of what was to come. Atlanta would fall. The world would burn.
He finally reached the ground floor loading dock, which his System indicated was less chaotic than the main entrance. After dispatching two more walkers with swift machete blows (BP now 55), he kicked open a service door and stumbled out into the dawning light of a world irrevocably changed, the sounds of sirens and distant screams filling the air.
He was Ethan Miller, a transmigrator, armed with future knowledge and a Supreme Survival System, standing at ground zero of The Walking Dead. His first mission objective was complete. Now, to find shelter, and then… then the real game of survival would begin. He had to get stronger, quickly. And he knew, with a chilling certainty, that many familiar faces, friends and foes, awaited him on this bloody new path.