<Alex, Real - S.O.S., Street Outside Fallen Base>

Even without the benefit of hindsight, Alex realized that what they were doing was colossally stupid.

The block-sized building was clearly overrun with undead of various kinds, many enraged and actively searching for things to destroy.

There were quite a few variants—even some that Alex hadn't seen before—among many that he had.

There were the standard fodder monsters, as well as some ravager variants, but it seemed that the bulk had been bone lurkers, flesh golems, and something called a slither-bane.

He never actually saw that type of creature, not really, but as he was effectively spamming Analyze as he ran, and that gave him a deluge of responses without him really knowing what had triggered each.

He also saw one or two death squires, though they were all only seen as glimpses through upper level windows as the stalked past.

Alex had no doubt that they'd jump out if they actually noticed him and his group. While he'd welcome the Curse Resistance training under most circumstances, they were far from safety, and there was a potentially salvable person before him.

The turned initiate was still twitching on the ground, and Alex didn't think that that was because of the undead beneath it.

After all, completely bludgeoning was one of the few ways to bring down most undead with relative rapidity.

With the cacophony coming from the actively burning building, John and Pilar felt freer to act for the first time on that trip.

Flame seemed to grow from the building in quite a few tendrils, each drawing a direct line to one undead or other, bathing them in flame and removing them from the field of battle.

Funnily enough, the blazes throughout the building seemed to have finally reached a point that the fire suppression system triggered, putting a time limit on Pilar's supply of easy flame as well as on the greatest source of distracting and muffling background noise.

John didn't go crazy, but he did begin to squeeze off regular shots at the opponents which seemed like they might be the most problematic, minimizing the power to keep the sound down… at least that is what Alex tried to charitably assume, as he otherwise had no idea how the man was picking his targets or what he was trying to accomplish.

Still, Alex trusted the gunman, so he didn't take the time to ask.

Natasha and Grant were a storm of stabs, slashes, and heavy blows, clearing the way in Alex's wake, taking advantage of the distraction his quick run was providing.

Alex only took all these details in with half an eye as he vaulted over a hunk of rubble to land directly beside the massive something that was supposedly a turned initiate.

He slapped his hand down on the charred flesh, and poured health into the man. Heal, restore.

Within the charred, brutalized near-corpse, Alex could sense the overwhelming presence of the twisted life of undeath. Even so his health latched onto the lingering threads of Life within the creature and fought for its supremacy.

Unlike with the non-Initiate Phil, it was an uphill battle from moment one.

I feel like a nosey world-power trying to topple a small country's government so one more favorable to me can be empowered. That left a rather awful taste in his mouth, but given that the 'government' he was toppling was an undead horror, he would just have to bear through the bad association.

Around him, his companions were fighting off the growing groups of incoming undead. Thankfully, nothing truly nasty had taken notice of them, and Pilar was able to wield fire to remove the bodies and help mask their group's presence, but that wouldn't last forever.

Sudden pain accompanied a shift in Alex's perspective as the turned initiate moved.

It's hand latched onto his neck and lifted him from the ground faster than should have been possible. It was possible that Alex hadn't been paying enough attention to the physical side of things, but he thought he should have been better able to block such a thing.

Alex managed to choke out. "Stop! I'm healing you!"

A fire of unvented rage sparked within the undead eyes, and the creature roared, "NO!"

It lifted him higher. Alex grimaced against the pain, growled, and summoned his dadao from his Inventory, chopping sideways to remove the creature's hand at the wrist, letting him fall back down to earth. He panted a couple of times before solidifying his resolve. "Yes."

Alex's tone was filled with finality as his offhand slapped against the battered, burned chest once more, renewing his battle with the undeath trying to maintain control within. The creature's now off hand lay wriggling on the ground nearby.

It was odd in a way. Alex felt more like he was directing units in a real time strategy game than like he, himself, was fighting. Given he was doing his best to change rather than destroy, he fought to keep a recurring 'Woolooloo' out of his thoughts.

Focus, Alex. He tried to let his health do as it needed to, all too aware of how horribly his attempts at minute control had gone in the past.

The creature beside him writhed and fought, but Alex was ready now, and he kept out of the way of its comparatively feeble attacks.

The undead energy within the creature fought just as much—and more effectively—than the beast did.

"How much longer?" Grant's question came out after a grunt of effort, his hammer caving in another undead skull.

Alex grimaced. "A minute? I'm fighting an uphill battle, and I don't want to be half-dead when I'm done."

John responded. "Better half dead than all dead, and us with you."

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Alex growled, considering the words for only a moment before agreeing. "Fine!"

With an effort of will, he dumped a thousand health into the turned, burning through two-hundred-fifty MP to the rapid transfer. That was more than fifteen percent of his total health and more than ten percent of his mana.

He saw the power roll through the downed man, charred flesh falling away to reveal a naked human within the formerly massive husk.

The man was healed, but he didn't seem conscious. Still, the task was done, and Alex knew that they needed to move. "I've got him. Withdraw, eyes out for a good place to hole-up for a reset."

Without another word, Alex scooped up the man and started to run back the way they'd come. His companions were now able to keep up and screen him as they went, given his burden. With the fires mostly out, things seemed to be calming within the former base, and that meant that there would be more and more powerful undead coming out sooner rather than later.

They were a block away in less than a minute, and Alex almost laughed. He felt like a bandit, having stolen someone back from death.

I've saved him. I didn't let this one down. A smile pulled at his lips.

Two blocks later, his Detect spells showed an open building that was empty of both the living and the undead, and so they all dove inside, Pilar quickly burning the few undead who were near enough to have seen them enter.

They made their way up to the seventh floor just to be safe, and Grant kicked open an office door, allowing them all to enter a large corporate suite.

As his eyes caught the hints of a breakroom off to one side, Alex was ashamed to find his mind wandering to thoughts of getting more coffee. Still, we have to collect resources while we can…

He laid the man he'd been carrying down on one of the reception area's couches, and Pilar pulled a blanket from her Inventory to cover him.

John frowned. "Why didn't you heal him?"

Alex sighed. "I did. There's nothing more my health transfer can heal. He's among the living again, though."

Natasha patted Alex on the shoulder. "That's a good start."

The man was emaciated, as if he were just on the edge of starvation, but everything Alex could detect said that he was in as good a health as he could be.

Pilar frowned. "He looks a bit like that guy you guys came back with, Phil I think?"

Alex grunted. "Yeah… Though, he seems worse off."

John put in his thoughts, then. "I talked with Phil and his wife, can't remember her name…" When no one provided it, he shrugged and kept going. "He'd only been turned an hour or so before we got there."

Alex was giving a slow nod. "Where we have no idea how long this guy had been turned."

"Exactly."

Alex sighed. Then, he did what he really should have done earlier, and used Analyze on the unconscious fellow.

Human, Warrior Level 15

Conditions and Infirmities: Re-turned to the Living Weakness of Departed Undeath

Alex sighed. "He has a couple of conditions or infirmities. I'd bet they are responsible for his current state. Hopefully, when he wakes up, he can tell us more."

Natasha frowned. "That raises the question."

Everyone looked to her, but no one said anything, so she sighed and shook her head.

"Do we take him back to the school, or do we go back to the base?"

"Go back?" Grant frowned.

Alex, though, nodded through a grimace. He'd been trying not to think about it, but he'd known he couldn't avoid this. "Yeah… she means that this guy is quite unlikely to have been the only turned in there."

Grant's eyes widened. "Well, put a hotdog in a hamburger bun. I really should have considered that."

Pilar gave the former demolition man an arch look over the language they'd all heard, but Grant seemed oblivious.

Alex nodded once more. "These are real people. They aren't just set-dressing for this horror show. We need to save them if we can."

John cleared his throat. "There's more. Assuming the whole building doesn't burn down, and the activation of the fire suppression systems indicate that isn't likely, there have to be at least some resources in there that could help us."

Alex groaned. John was right, and Alex knew that he should have considered that. Instead, he was wrestling with his conscience over the need to go back. Now his conscience and pragmatism were aligned, and he didn't really like what it said about him that such made him more inclined to act than his conscience alone. "We need to save them, if we can." As all eyes turned toward him, Alex sighed. "Alright, we have to go back, but we can't carry him, and we can't leave him alone."

Grant grimaced. "We can't help anyone if we're dead."

Natasha frowned. "True enough, and we don't know what's in there."

Alex knew some, but he'd already shared that. "I don't want to be the type of person who doesn't try. That might make me a deadman, but for right now, that's the choice I need to make."

Grant closed his eyes for a moment, then gave a slow nod. "I'll go with you. Though, I still think it's not the best choice… Does seem like the right one, though."

"I will as well." Natasha was matter of fact in her statement, straight to the point.

Pilar held up her hand before pointing to the unconscious man on the couch. "I'll stay with him."

That caused Alex to cock one eyebrow.

John, though, responded first. "That might be wise. I'll still go with you, Alex."

Alex frowned, but then it clicked. With the fire out, and water and fire suppressant everywhere, Pilar would be at a disadvantage, and if she powered through, there would be danger of rekindling the fire while they were all within the building.

Her staying behind made sense, and he was glad that everyone was considering the pros and cons of their own powers rather than relying on him to watch out for pitfalls. Not that such hadn't always been the case, but this was a good, stark reminder of it.

"Alright." Alex nodded. "Let's go, then."

The four initiates turned and headed back out, Alex only delaying for a moment to sweep through the breakroom and grab a few canisters of coffee grounds, along with a few other miscellaneous items.

Soon enough, they were running back up the street toward the tower of smoke they could see in the near distance. It's amazing how hotter fires mean less smoke…

Pilar would call Kaylee and give their people back at the school an update while she waited with the recovering Initiate.

The four slowed as they drew closer to the no-longer-burning base, finding fewer undead than they'd expected in the streets. A pulse of Detect Unlife gave Alex the mixed news.

On the positive side, it seemed that the formerly concentrated undead had largely spread out into all the surrounding buildings, likely combing through each one, top to bottom.

On the negative side, he had no way of telling which—if any—were recently turned, and so if they truly wished to find all the turned initiates, they'd have a difficult time doing it. Thankfully, it did seem like the greatest concentrations of undeath were still within the base, so he had hope that the most powerful—including the likely turned Initiates—would be in there.

They leaned into that positive potential, punching through a group of undead as quietly as possible to get off the street and gain access to the former base.

They entered a world of char, smoke, lingering heat, and shattered bodies.

Uncounted undead had been defeated in the rooms and halls around them, and it seemed that these Initiates hadn't had a convenient way of disposing of the fallen. Even the fire that had temporarily raged through here had only mostly destroyed the bodies, and if the slow shifting and occasional other sounds were any indication, it hadn't always been as thorough as needed in keeping the undead down.

Well, that's likely one reason the base fell.

With that happy thought, Alex and his companions pulled out their lights and dove into the charred darkness.

There was loot to discover, monsters to slay, and—hopefully—Initiates to save.

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