<Alex, Real - Return to Safety, Home Base>

Much to Alex's relief, the outer barrier for their base—the one that cut across one of the streets leading into the circuit around the high school—came into view without any greater incident.

They had continued to encounter fewer and fewer undead along their route, even coming across some groups already moving, and seeming to have crossed their path by accident as they headed somewhere else.

Those within the high school seemed to have noticed something—or more likely Pilar calling ahead had drawn them out to greet them—because Kaylee and a few of the non-Initiates were visible over the wall as it came into view.

Henry gasped… well, he let out a more audible gasp around his now regular gasping as he struggled to keep up. "That?... Is… Base?"

Natasha glanced back at him. "Yes. We have more than a thousand behind our walls."

"A thousand Initiates?" He visibly brightened, straightening up even as they kept jogging forward, the very idea clearly giving him new energy. "With that potential—"

Natasha cut across him. "No, only eight Initiates."

"—we can…" He huffed again, almost stumbling. "What?"

Grant grunted, filling him in despite the weight.

They were almost to the wall when he finished, and Henry groaned. "Waste of resources. Why?"

Alex decided not to argue with the young man. He did make a mental note that the boy lacked proper compassion, however. Even if they weren't real people, it was good to try to protect them if possible. He wouldn't sacrifice Initiates for them to survive, but that wasn't the question on the line.

Why wouldn't they want to help?

True, the quests didn't hurt either, but they lined up with what he'd want to be doing anyway. For all he knew that's why he'd gotten the quests in the first place. The System wanted them to be their best selves and all that… maybe.

As they reached the walls, ladders and ropes were lowered down, along with a stretcher, Kaylee having been forewarned of their incoming needs.

They loaded first one of the unconscious Initiates up, then the other, John sending Pilar up the ladder while that was sorted. That also let her be on overwatch as their Flame Mage, so no one really had an issue with it. After that, Henry then John and Grant climbed up while Natasha and Alex waited, keeping their gaze focused outward.

Natasha grinned as John reached the top. "Another quest complete."

Alex started to nod, then hesitated. "The quest…" He groaned, putting a palm to his forehead. "Frozen nuggets…."

She gave him a searching look. "Yeah? What about it?"

"...The question mark." He turned to look in the direction the undead had seemed to be moving.

Kaylee leaned over the wall and called down. "Alex? Natasha? You two coming?"

Alex looked up at her, then back out. If he went up, that would complete the quest, Natasha was right, but if he did that, would he be able to help the others? There were real people out there, and as much as he felt grateful to be helping the non-Initiates, Henry had been right in one sense. Initiates were real.

He growled. He wanted to enter the safe area and level up, then charge back out to help, but again, that would most likely end the quest line. If it would just mean that he was stronger to be better able to help, he'd forget the quest and do it, but the System seemed to have a way of altering the timing of things, and he had no doubt that if he completed the quest, he couldn't then come back out and save the people.

Natasha shook her head and sighed. "No, Kaylee, I think we're going to investigate something."

John's head popped back into sight. "The quest? Mine just completed, pending 'outstanding Initiates.' I think that means I can't get anything more, but I might still get credit for the two of you… when you return."

Kaylee looked back and forth before sighing. "Go. I'll have them fill me in."

Grant looked down. "Should we come?"

John and Pilar appeared, clearly ready for whatever answer Alex gave.

Alex hesitated. "I… I don't think so? If this weren't a tutorial, I'd say yes in a heartbeat, but in here, I'm concerned the System would prevent you all from helping, giving yours is marked complete. That could mean that a boss fight is triggered to keep you away, or any number of other things. Otherwise, I'd love to have you. Be ready for our return, though?"

Grant grimaced, but slowly nodded in understanding and agreement. "Yeah… that does seem likely. Sure." He sighed and shrugged. "Good luck!"

Alex nodded, turning to Natasha. "You don't have to come."

She shook her head and huffed. "Foolishness. I'm not letting you go alone, and you are still my easiest path to level and get back to my husband and son. Don't you take that from me."

He raised an eyebrow at her, then huffed a laugh in return. "Very well. Let's go."

Without waiting a moment longer, he took off at a run.

He kept his speed below a sprint—even if he could have kept such a pace for quite a few blocks—because he had no idea how far they had to go.

Natasha matched his speed, but she stayed behind him and to the right, ensuring her spear could lash out to cover their right side at a moment's notice.

Alex kept his focus forward and toward the left, naturally falling into the mindset of relying on her to watch her chosen side.

He pulsed Detect Unlife and Life every so often, but he was still on the lower side with his mana so he didn't do so as often as he'd have liked.

As such, they were caught slightly off guard when they began to hear the clear sounds of fighting in the distance down a cross street.

The city wasn't perfectly quiet by any means, and the nature of the place caused most sounds to fade into almost haunting, directionless background noise rather than carry. Even so, it was obvious that a lot of fighting was going on just a couple of blocks ahead.

There weren't any gunshots, at least none that stood out, but there was the occasional whoomp that made Alex think of explosions of one kind or another, along with things that sounded like static discharge on a larger scale.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He glanced back at Natasha, and they shared a nod before putting on greater speed to reach the corner in question as quickly as reasonable.

They both slid to a stop and peaked around, finding chaos.

The undead milled and churned, seeming to swarm around a moving point near their center. In that center, Alex caught flashes of quite a few people.

To confirm, he pulsed Detect Life. "By Joseph's coat. There's almost twenty people in there."

Natasha's eyes widened. "Can we actually help?"

Alex grimaced, looking around again. "I…"

He wanted to help, but he didn't want to lead Natasha to her death. If it were just him, he'd already be charging, but she'd come to help him, and that changed things…

She gave him a look that made him think she suspected what he was considering, and she was unamused. He growled. "Fine." He nodded once, squaring his shoulders. "It's the right thing to do. We go."

She nodded. "Alright." A smile tugged at her lips as her eyes flicked to the left side of his chest. "Now, get out there and do your best."

Alex glanced down briefly, chuckled, and patted the pin. "I always try."

Now, Alex could have gone in slashing and cutting his way through the throng, and that would likely have ended with a host of undead turning and setting upon him, and those in the middle being barely helped, if they noticed a difference at all.

That in mind, he almost chose to dive into the mass before triggering a Force Burst, using that spell to clear out a twenty foot diameter sphere of the creatures, but even that wouldn't have ensured them a chance to break free.

Instead, he decided to try something… not exactly new, but still, it was something that he hadn't used in a combat situation before.

In the past, he'd been able to ash piles of re-killed undead with a single pulse of Basic Life Transfusion—even if it wasn't any less expensive.

As such, he quickly verified the text of that skill as he finalized his plan.

Basic Life Transfusion (Uncommon) It is good to have something that you believe in, something to fight for. In this case, you've taken 'I will give my life for the cause' quite literally. What's more, you're better at it than most! Spend Mana to transfer your Life between yourself and a target. Damage or Healing at the Caster's discretion. Damage or healing done is equal to the Caster's Health Points (HP) or life force sent. Costs half that amount of Magic Points (MP) to transfer. Repairing the non-living will take 4x energy, damaging the non-living ¼. Repairing that which was never alive—such as mundane metals—will take 4x greater than that, damaging ¼ as much.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the skill stated or implied that the 'target' had to be an individual creature. Pumpkin spiced lattes, he'd targeted objects like a bank of lockers—doors and other attendant bits included—and that had worked like a dream.

He still felt like direct contact was needed, so he couldn't simply indicate a swarm of flies or something, but these undead? Pressed as close together as they were?

It should work perfectly.

Without further delay, he sprinted around the corner, hitting a dead sprint in only a couple of strides.

The undead were utterly oblivious to their approach—Natasha close on his heels—clearly focused on those in the center with a fanaticism that was beyond the usual.

More System oddities for the tutorial? He obviously wouldn't get an answer, but it was the last thought he had before he engaged.

He had to cut down two straggling undead with a Multi-Strike as, if he hadn't, he'd have left them at his back while he tried this plan.

A grin split his face as he punched forward with his left hand, striking the outermost of the tightly packed mass on his side.

With a burst of power that dropped his mana all the way down, along with a crazy burst of his own health, he imparted health and the command to kill and ash every undead toward the center, then radiating outward until the power and health ran dry.

He staggered as the two resource pools were significantly drained all at once, a splitting headache blossoming at the lack of any mana, and his body feeling suddenly gross at the loss of health.

In a frozen moment, something oddly akin to a verdant green sharpie line shot across the exterior of the creature he touched, moving from one to the next through the swarm until it made it to the center. When that was achieved, the green line sprouted tendrils all along the length, each extending in tandem to either side, flowing from one touching undead to the next until the lines began to look faded toward the tips.

Then, the moment ended, and time moved forward.

Every undead that the green line had traveled across burst into ash in one great conflagration, revealing the mass of Initiates at the core, even as the bordering undead fell inward at the sudden lack of pressure on one side.

The Initiates on the outside carried riot shields for the most part, with a few other, more cludged together versions here and there.

There were weapons of various kinds, and Alex even saw a few obvious magic users hurtling spells out in various directions.

At that point, Alex fell to a knee involuntarily—his stamina dropping by three hundred points in the wake of the violent expulsion of power—the world spinning, but he still managed to see how many of those within that outer ring were injured.

Each shield radiated an odd, black light, which one of the inner Initiates was running around and refreshing in what seemed to be a never-ending circuit. That kept most of the undead back a bit, but the stronger variants pushed through the rotting light to attack even as they fell apart.

On the far side of the circle, one such had just reached over and grabbed onto a shield bearer. Another Initiate was actively blurring forward, either incredibly fast or with his personal time accelerated… somehow.

He tore the flesh golem's tendril free, but it latched onto him instead, splitting into an enmeshing web even as it latched on, twisting and crushing as it pulled him from the circle with a gurgled scream.

There was an odd silent detonation as a puff of various goods—including some clothing, canned food, and other odds and ends—exploded outward as the corpse was dragged away. It might have been funny under other circumstances, but in the moment, Alex saw it only as final confirmation of that man's death.

Natasha slid to a stop beside Alex, screaming at the Initiates. "RUN! Through the opening, NOW!"

She wasn't in striking range of any undead, as Alex had cleared a nearly twenty-foot wide swath through, but she still kept her head on a swivel, looking in all directions as she stood protectively over Alex.

The group only hesitated for an instant before breaking into a staggering run.

It wasn't pretty, and their coordination was obviously still growing, but they did make it work.

The man who had been casting black light on the shields seemed to decide something, and a massive pulse of power rolled out from him, seeming to temporarily stun every undead as the whole group disengaged and fell into a staggering sprint.

That Mage almost fell, but two of his fellows swooped in, taking up position on either side to help him escape as well.

Natasha pulled Alex to his feet, shoving him into a run, back the way they'd come, even as she pulled out her phone. "Follow! We have a defensible position close. Seven blocks."

Distraught faces let her know that they didn't see that as close, but the dark-light mage chivied them forward even as he himself was half-carried. The undead were breaking free of his working, and he was clearly exhausted, but he wasn't stopping. "Come on, we aren't losing anyone else if we can help it. A nice run, then we're safe."

His eyes met Alex's, and Alex saw the clear plea for his own words to be true. Alex gave a slight nod and tried to smile, even as he was turning back forward once more, needing his full focus for the run ahead now that he was so drained.

Most of the undead were slow, and those that weren't were largely mired in the mass of slower undead as they'd been trying to fight their way toward the Initiates in the center.

A few more advanced undead had been exposed by Alex's actions, but they were fended off and either left behind or slain by the group as they moved.

Fire and lightning lashed out, incredibly effective against the individual targets, now that they weren't being swarmed.

Even so, with near to twenty Initiates running around him, all that Alex could see in his mind's eye was a replaying memory of the single, incredibly fast Initiate, the one who had saved his fellow, only to die in his place.

Self recrimination bubbling up from within. If I hadn't delayed. If I'd been faster… We could have saved more.

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