The Typing of the Dead/Chapter 2: Muddy


 * For Novices

The chapter starts out with the mysterious Goldman issuing a threat against all AMS agents. Apparently he will be throwing everything he has at you. This level has many routes depending on what actions you take, and you can even end up with a different boss fight. You gain control with an immediate plot fork in the form of an out-of-control car speeding toward you. A zombie is attached to the windshield, and you can take him out to save the driver. If you save him, you'll proceed past him on an overland – and potentially shorter – route. If not, he'll crash into a building, and your route will be through there instead.

Leg 1a
Head past the car you saved and you'll immediately get your first shootable bonus on the right. Right after it appears, two zombies will jump out of the back of the van on your left. You'll then head up the stairs to an alleyway between buildings, taking out two more zombies on your left as you ascend. Once you're in the alley, watch the rooftops for a paddle and knife-wielding zombie. He jumps down, flips around and generally shows much more alacrity than most zombies, and he takes three words to kill.
 * Missions: Repel all zombies for 30 seconds.
 * Bonuses: 4

Moving farther down the alley triggers the mission, where you'll have to defeat all oncoming zombies for 30 seconds. The majority of them come at you from down the far end of the alley, but occasionally some will pop out of the shuttered window on your left. The ones from the window are much closer to you, but only take one letter to dispatch. Make good use of word canceling if you don't think you can finish a longer one when a zombie pops out of the window.

Around the next corner to the right is another bonus item, followed closely by a single-letter zombie bat coming down from the rooftops. Head left to find two child-zombies banging on a door, behind which you can hear someone pleading for help. This isn't a savable innocent however, so take your time with the two zombies if you need it. Once they're taken care of, a human boy is flung to death from above. When you look up, you'll see a zombie in one of the windows, and he throws two axes at your, both of which can be handled with single letters. After he moves back inside, two more zombies come around the corner from the left.

It's hard to get everything in the next part, but immediately after killing the last zombies, the third bonus will pop up on the green crates in the right corner of the alley, and when you turn the corner a zombie bat will coming flying at you very quickly. It's only one letter to take it out, but you have very little time to react, so be prepared. Once you go down the stairs and take a right, the next zombie (another paddle one) will drop down from the first arch you go through. He takes three hits, then you move on past the last bonus of this leg to a locked gate with a body in front of it. Here the game gives you ample time to pick up the key. If you do so, you'll be one step closer to getting on the quick route, otherwise you'll be headed down to the wharf.