<Alex, Real - Return to Safety, City Streets>

Alex ran in front of their group, Natasha right behind, followed by a puffing Henry—he'd apparently put very few stats into Physical Fortitude—then John and Grant bringing up the rear.

John was still carrying the still unconscious, former spider lady. His face was a mask of focus as they all ran toward where we'd left his wife and the other un-turned Initiate.

Grant was apparently augmented enough that he had breath to spare, because after they'd gone half a block or so, he asked, "While we have a moment, how was it that you were infected right as we arrived, Henry?"

Henry glanced back with wide, incredulous eyes. When Grant simply smiled, waiting patiently, the young man wheezed out, "No idea. Got bit, didn't see what, things went black, you were there."

Grant grunted. "Fair. So, likely System manipulation."

Henry opened his mouth to try to respond, but then just threw his hands up. "No idea."

That was all the conversation they had as they killed the few undead on their way to Pilar.

They were just arriving at the building when Alex thought to ask. "Henry?"

"What," Henry gasped back.

"What's her name?" He indicated the woman that John was still carrying.

"Oh! Makri. That's what she introduced herself as at least. Not sure if the System actually forces real names?"

Alex grunted at that. "Good enough. Thank you."

Henry waved vague acknowledgement as he bent over, panting.

Natasha and Grant were looking around, both frowning.

The street nearby was worryingly empty, and they could hear vague sounds coming from above.

John didn't stand on ceremony. "Let's go! She might be dying."

That was enough for Alex to get moving again, despite a feeling that they were running into a trap. John was right, they couldn't just let Pilar be on her own.

They charged across the open lobby and to the stair doors. Flinging them open, Alex ran up the stairwells, finding the hindmost of the fodder still stumbling upward, two full circuits of the stairwell up.

Those first couple died without even turning around, but soon enough the noise they were making had undead faces looking over the railings from up above.

Moments later, the first of the fodder variants tumbled down the relatively small center of the shaft, banging off the railings on the way down and groaning and ineffectively flailing at the Initiates as it shot past, spattering on the concrete floor at the bottom.

If it had just been a few, that would have been fine, but after the initial ten or so, the bottom of the drop wasn't quite as hard any more, and the rain of undead was continuing to increase in ferocity. Those on the bottom had others landing atop them, but that wouldn't last long. Soon, their group would have undead coming up from behind as well as coming down from above.

Speaking of that direction, the closest fodder were staggering back down toward them, the descent giving them speed that they usually lacked.

If the sounds coming from above were any indication, ravagers and possibly more were beginning their descent as well.

As Alex began to uphill slaughter, he comforted himself with a thought. At least none of these will be attacking Pilar.

Given the slow nature of the fodder, the pressure from behind as their group ascended remained rather light, leaving Grant in a perfect position to keep them safe on that side.

To the front, Alex cut and ashed the way forward, feeling more like he was clearing a path through an overgrown jungle than truly fighting. Behind him, Natasha kept a watchful eye on the situation, thrusting past him and casting the occasional Force Shield to help keep the pressure off of Alex.

In the middle of their group, John managed the other Initiates, Henry needing to be kept back from the central railing and the nearly continual undead body-fall and the inherent spray as those bodies bounced back and forth on the way down. Makri was still upon his shoulders. Though, she was now wrapped in a painter's tarp that John had had in his Inventory for who-knew what reason to ensure she didn't get re-turned without them noticing.

Alex gave a little smile. He wished that he'd been able to grab such a useful thing. You never know when you'll have a need to keep the liquid off.

But that was all the mental space he had to spare.

Unfortunately, their progress was hitching as Alex had to consistently leave the front to Natasha for moments in order to pulse healing into the others, removing the undead plague spread to them by the… mist.

That is, he had to do that until he remembered the interconnected nature of the undead and their various parts—the very connection they used to infect others—and he ashed any mist that came into contact with him.

It took an unfortunately large bit of mana and health when looked at on a per second basis, but it turned the slowly red-fog-filling stairs into an ash-blown one. Still not pleasant by any means but far, far less dangerous.

He still had to provide healing on occasion as sometimes a particular undead sprayed one of his companions without any of the awful coming near him, but it was monumentally less frequently.

Thus, they proceeded up the stairs, even managing to keep the pattern going as some ravagers and bone lurkers joined the throng of fodder.

By the time they reached the floor on which they'd left Pilar, Alex was spent.

He thought he knew the answer, but he checked his stats just to have exact numbers to put to it.

Alex Johnson HP: 1032/5840 [5940] SP: 791/4977 MP: 177/1980

He was honestly a bit concerned about getting back to the base under the current circumstances.

Still, as they reached the proper landing and found the open doorway charred and blackened, they all put on a bit of steam, drawing deep and finding a second wind.

They were close, and their companion needed them.

There were surprisingly few undead left, though the whole lobby area was devastated, ash and burnt lines everywhere.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The entrance to the office suites that had held Pilar was sealed off though, a literal wall of fire blocking the way, and the last three undead seemingly oscillating between wanting to try their luck to push through it and wanting to turn and come at the newly arrived group.

John made it easy for them by drawing a gun with his free hand and blowing all three heads off with three rapid shots. "Pilar? Honey? If you can hear me, let us in! There are some fodder coming behind us, but we cleared out the immediate area."

In a show of utter trust for her husband, Pilar immediately dropped the barrier, ushering them all inside and reactivating the skill or spell right on their heels.

Pilar rushed her husband, giving him a quick kiss, then helping him with his burden, the two laying Makri down on a free couch.

"Were you successful? Being on an upper floor kept me from discovery for a while, but once I was detected… well, you saw the flood that came my way." She quickly glanced to Henry before returning her gaze to Makri. "He's one too? What happened to her?"

Alex cleared his throat. "I happened to her. She was turned, and I had to put her down. She was… She wasn't cooperating with rescue." He gestured to where the other one lay. "Has he woken up?"

Pilar grimaced. "For a moment, but he quickly passed out again. He said he felt incredibly weak, and that his notifications said he was under some kind of powerful infirmity locked away 90% of his stats."

Alex's eye twitched. "Infirmity? Not wound? Are you sure that's what he said?"

"That's what he said." She nodded in calm assurance. "Why? Is that bad?"

He grimaced. "Trucks with no breaks!" He threw up his hands and began to pace. "Are you flipping pancakes with a waffle maker?"

His companions gave him some odd looks, but otherwise let him get the feelings out.

Henry stared at him with an open mouth until Grant leaned over, likely explaining the odd expletives.

Less than a minute later, Alex wound down. "... and the hamsters' mother, too."

He then stood there, panting slightly as his eye twitched.

"Well…" Natasha cleared her throat. "After that colorful display, do you care to explain?"

"I mentioned infirmities before, right?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded. "Right! I'd forgotten. They take your Life to heal them, right? And even that is an act of power on your part, meaning you don't think the rest of us could do the same."

He nodded. "That's right. I'm not sure that they heal on their own. Ever."

Henry frowned. "Wait? You can heal him?" He had moved over to the man. "That's Mike. He's quite the fighter if you can get him back on his feet. He was a bit of a jerk, but not in a bad way. He razzed everyone, but looked out for us." Henry actually looked like he was getting excited at the idea. "So, can you?"

Alex threw his hands up. "I'd love to, but one point of Life is equivalent to ten thousand health."

Henry's eyes widened. "You have more than ten thousand HP?"

Alex shook his head. "Nope. I can go into a sort of deficit, but not too much or I'll just end up killing myself. From the sound of it, it's not going to be as simple or cheap as regrowing a finger."

Henry frowned, seeming confused and glancing toward the others. John shrugged in response to the look. "He blew off his own finger with magic, then regrew it. It was apparently expensive?" He shrugged again. "No idea, honestly. Alex just sort of does things that make our 'magic' seem mundane."

Alex stopped his pacing, looking at John in shock. "Really? That's how you feel?"

The rest of his companions nodded, Grant going so far as to give him an incredulous look. "Alex, you have un-turned the undead, kept each of us from turning multiple times, ashed the undead so they can't come back, and you're like half our level, yet you easily match us."

By the end, Grant had a twinkle in his eyes, and Alex realized that they were messing with him… at least partly. Still, the words reminded Alex about his banked experience, and he checked, but this was apparently not a 'safe location'. Well, I guess that I can't level here…

Henry was frowning. "Wait… what? Half your level?"

Alex felt a tingle, indicating someone was using an analysis skill on him, and grinned as he finally got the notification he'd been hoping for, the one confirming the theory they'd had.

Attribute Level-Up: Basic Resistance - Examination Level 1 → Level 2

Henry shook his head and blinked a few times. "I am completely baffled by what I'm seeing."

Alex suppressed a smile at the literal translation of the young man's clearly profane exclamation.

"How are you 'NotAlex'? How does that even make sense?"

Pilar frowned, and Alex felt another brief chill. Before Pilar could say anything, however, John leaned over and explained quietly.

Grant took the events in stride, picking up the teasing where he'd left off. "See? Alex is inexplicable."

Henry looked around with mouth open for a long moment before he just shook his head. "Whatever. So? Can you heal him?"

Alex sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I can try, but not here. We need to get back to the base."

They all turned to look at the doorway as another shape darkened the far side before pushing through, falling through and apart to add to the growing mound of ash on the inside.

Pilar shrugged. "The smarter ones kept the fodder back. This is just free XP for me."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Free?"

"Effectively. The ongoing cost is barely more than my recovery, so I can't do it forever, but we'd all be ready to die of boredom before I had to stop."

Alex's face shifted to a smile, but before he could say anything more, Pilar shook her head.

"It gets much more expensive the larger I make it, and some of the stronger undead could push through. It's not a 'broken' defensive skill, unfortunately. Great for choke-points though."

Alex grunted. "Good to know."

On a whim, Alex used Analyze on Mike.

Mike, Initiate Danger Level: None, unconscious Infirmity: Late Onset Rigor Mortis, 2421 Life to Cure

Alex grimaced. "It would take almost half my Life to cure him, and that, in turn, would take me nearly a month to recover, even with the boosts to my healing."

He chose to not show off the ring he'd gotten. Though, he needed to give Pilar hers sooner rather than later.

Henry deflated. "And that would leave you weakened for that whole time."

Alex nodded.

"That's the rest of this scenerio…" The young man sounded quite dejected.

"And then some." John added. He then looked at Makri. "And that doesn't factor her in."

Alex sighed. "No, no it doesn't."

Just so he would know, Alex used Analyze on her as well.

Makri, Initiate Danger Level: None, unconscious Infirmity: Late Onset Rigor Mortis, 1327 Life to Cure Missing Arm, 443 Life to Cure Missing Leg, 629 Life to Cure Missing Torso Portion, 740 Life to Cure

Alex grunted. "Even with her… removed limbs, it would take less to fully restore her… Henry?"

Henry glanced at him, seeming hesitant. "Yeah?"

"Between the two of them, which would you say had higher Physical Fortitude?"

He snorted. "Mike by a lot."

Alex sighed, nodding. "That's probably a portion of the difference in cost, then. It seems to be proportional to the person's Physical Fortitude, though there are likely other factors as well."

That got a round of grunts of acknowledgement and agreement.

Instead of falling into further complication, Alex shook himself. "Okay, we need to get a move on then. Eat, drink, take five, then we move out. Plan?"

Everyone but Henry nodded, responding almost in unison. "Plan."

Henry grimaced, then nodded. "Sounds like a plan, sure."

Alex pulled the Ring of Regeneration (Mana) from his Inventory and tossed it to Pilar. "John will explain. Let's get to it."

She caught it before turning to her husband, food and water already coming to hands throughout the group.

Grant took pity on Henry when it seemed that the boy didn't have any of his own, and the two sat on a couch on the far side of the room, beginning to exchange some basic details.

Natasha walked up to Alex as he regarded the two with a slight frown. "What?"

Alex shook himself, his expression fading toward a small smile. "Just thinking about friendship after the apocalypse. I'm not sure if it's easier or harder."

Natasha snorted then patted him on the shoulder. "Eat, Alex. We have a heavy burden, and a long run ahead, at least in pre-System terms."

"Yeah… fair enough."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.