Ethan, Chris, and Henry moved like they'd rehearsed it. Ethan and Henry held the line while Chris's steel tube kept stabbing for the zombie's neck, over and over, relentless.

After a few punishing minutes, Chris finally drove the steel tube clean through, snapping the Tier 2 zombie's neck.

They all dropped to the floor, gulping air. That one had been rough.

"Yeah… guess it's time to switch weapons," Henry said, looking down at his steel tube, now bent into a sad arc.

"Mine's bent too," he added. "Took the brunt of those hits."

"It's hollow. Lasted this long—can't complain," Chris said.

"Where are we even supposed to get new weapons?" Henry rubbed his wrist. "And honestly, I kinda got used to the steel tube."

"I was thinking about that," Ethan said. "Option one, we grab a fire axe. Should be great for zombies—go for the neck, one swing, one head. Option two, we hit the gym and find a few barbell bars. Those things are solid. Bring one down and the skull just pops."

He glanced at the warped pipe in his hand. "I'm leaning barbell bar. Feels closest to the steel tube. You two?"

"I'm with the bar," Chris said. "Crowd of zombies? One swing clears space."

"Same. Fire axe is too short," Henry said. "You'll end up wearing whatever's in their heads."

"Gym it is."

They were on the same page in seconds. Ethan walked over to the corpse. A moment later he pried a pea-sized crystal core out of the zombie's skull.

Chris and Henry watched, fascinated. They couldn't tell what made it different, but even so, they could feel this crystal core was stronger than the ones before.

Ethan triggered True Sight and studied it. Same pure, condensed energy as always—but this one held a lot more of it.

Heat flickered through him. He wiped the core on his shirt and swallowed it.

It hit like a breaker thrown back on. The crystal dissolved into raw power that rushed his veins, lit up nerves, sank into muscle. In the star chart in his head, the second point on the first star flashed to life.

As that point ignited, a stronger surge washed back through his body. Pleasure spiked so hard it almost buckled his knees.

It took a while for the flood to settle. When it did, Ethan curled his hands into fists. Power gathered and coiled, dense and ready. Excitement sparked in his chest.

Before he'd eaten any crystal cores, one punch from him was a little over a hundred pounds. After the first point lit, it jumped past two hundred. He'd eaten a few more cores since and pushed it over four hundred.

Now, with the second point blazing? He was past six hundred, easy.

Feeling that weight behind his hands, Ethan couldn't help the grin. In this apocalypse, numbers like that meant a better chance of waking up tomorrow.

Looks like I was right. The more points light up on the star chart, the stronger I get.

Nine stars in all, each with five points. Every point is a leap. What happens when a whole star's lit? And if all nine go bright…

"How is it?" Chris asked. Henry leaned in, just as curious.

"Second point lit," Ethan said, smiling.

"Big bump?"

"Yeah. I figure one punch is at least six hundred pounds now."

"That's huge," Chris said, breaking into a grin. "With you stronger, we've got a much better shot."

"Don't get too comfortable," Ethan said, shaking his head. "It's only going to get harder from here."

"No matter how hard," Chris said, steady, "we're going to make it."

"Yeah, I think we rank the same way zombies do," Ethan said. "Light up one point on the first star and you're Tier 1. Two points is Tier 2. Next step is getting you two to Tier 2 as well. Right now, two Tier 1 crystal cores each will push you to the peak of Tier 1. After that, one Tier 2 crystal core gets you over the line. Tier 1 cores are easy. Tier 2 zombies are the problem—they're rare."

"No big deal," Chris said. "Zombies are evolving. Not many Tier 2s today, but tomorrow? Bet we see more."

"Fair." Ethan nodded. "It's getting late anyway. Let's sort out the weapon situation and head back. Nights are bad news."

"Mm."

They set off for the gym. It was a long walk, and with their steel tubes all but totaled, they kept their pace cautious.

With Ethan leading, it took them more than half an hour to reach the athletic complex. The doors were secured with a chain and padlock. It took them forever to work it open.

Inside, they followed the hall to the equipment room, popped the lock, and a sea of sports gear greeted them.

They didn't browse. They went straight for the barbells, stripped the plates, and came away with three six-foot barbell bars.

They hefted them, testing the weight, and immediately grinned.

Alloy steel. Solid. Heavier than their hollow steel tubes and balanced like a dream.

"This feels amazing," Chris said. "No more worrying about bending it."

"Yeah. With these—and me at Tier 2—if we run into another Tier 2 zombie, I can turn its head into paste," Ethan said, confidence surfacing.

If they'd had bars like this earlier, they wouldn't have gotten beat to hell.

"Sun's almost down. Let's head for the dorms."

"On it."

Armed now, they moved with a different kind of ease. Any zombies that wandered too close got pulped. Wherever the bars fell, skulls burst and sprayed.

"This weapon is too damn fun," Chris said, amped. "Every hit lands."

"These are just regular trash mobs, not even Tier 1," Ethan said, amused. "You two Tier 1s bullying them—proud of yourselves? There's a Tier 1 in that pack over there. Go try that."

"Say less."

They sprinted. The mindless zombies perked up at the charge and rushed to meet them.

That went about how you'd expect.

The bars rose and fell, heavy and precise. Anything they touched went down with its head smashed open. In under a minute, more than a dozen zombies—mutated zombie included—were sprawled and still.

"Which one was the mutated zombie?" Chris asked Henry.

"No idea. We just went ham. Now they're all dead."

"…"

"So how do we find the crystal core?"

"Ask Ethan."

Ethan could only shake his head at the two knuckleheads. He pointed at a specific corpse.

Chris jogged over and dug out the core.

"Which of us is eating this?"

"Either. Same difference."

"Chris, take it," Ethan said. "You push up first. If we run into a big horde, we'll need your the art of the kill to grind them down."

"Got it."

Chris didn't stand on ceremony. He wiped the core off and popped it into his mouth.

When he finished digesting, they set off again. The extra zombie smashing had slowed them down; by the time they reached the dorms, the sky had already gone dark.

The building was quiet. Everyone else had probably holed up in a supermarket or a convenience store instead of coming back. A round trip at night was a risk, and not everyone was as… unhinged as the three of them, still roaming around like it was nothing.

To be fair, strength was only part of it. What really let them move like this was Ethan's True Sight.

Without it, they could blunder into a horde in no time. And then it wouldn't matter how strong they were—they'd still be dead.

...

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