David's wrists screamed every time he gripped the steering wheel.

  The airbag had wrenched them backward when it deployed, hyperextending both joints. Now they throbbed with each small movement, swelling visibly even as he drove.

  Blood still dripped from his nose, running down his lip to his chin. He wiped it away with the back of one aching hand and left a smear across his face.

  Beside him, Charlie was in worse shape. His nose had clearly broken on impact with the passenger airbag. The bridge sat at a slight angle, both eyes already starting to bruise purple. Blood crusted his upper lip and chin, and more kept flowing despite his attempts to stanch it with his shirt.

  "This sucks," Charlie mumbled through the fabric pressed to his face. "This really, really sucks."

  David couldn't disagree. Every pothole sent jolts of pain through his wrists. The damaged windshield made seeing difficult through the spider-web of cracks. The constant effort to keep the car going straight made his injuries feel worse.

  They'd saved people today. But at what cost? So far, every foray had ended up with injuries, though thankfully no fatalities, yet.

  Behind them, the zombie horde had stopped pursuing once the convoy pulled out of range. David checked his mirror obsessively anyway, expecting to see them, or something worse, appear around every corner.

  His altered hearing tracked whispers in the distance. Multiple sources, a background murmur that seemed louder and clearer than before. The death scream seemed to have cleared his ears, almost like popping your ears after a flight when the sudden equalization of pressure was both painful and returned a clarity you didn’t know was missing.

  Small mercies.

  The van ahead suddenly activated its hazard lights. Brake lights flared as Mark slowed the vehicle.

  David hit his own hazards and carefully brought the damaged car to a stop. The grinding sound from the front wheel well hadn't improved. If anything, it had gotten worse.

  Charlie lowered the bloody shirt from his face. "Why are we stopping?"

  "Good question," David said, his voice nasally from his own busted, bleeding nose.

  Camila appeared at his window, her face pale but composed. "We need to talk. Plan. We can't just drive around aimlessly."

  She was right. In their panic to escape, they'd fled without direction or coordination. No way to communicate between vehicles. No clear destination.

  David killed the engine and immediately regretted it as the afternoon heat started seeping into the car. But they needed to preserve fuel for whatever came next.

  "Everyone out," Camila directed. "Quick meeting. Stay alert."

  David climbed out carefully, his wrists protesting even that simple motion. The world swam slightly, adrenaline crash hitting hard now that immediate danger had passed.

  Charlie emerged from the passenger side, still holding his shirt to his nose. The fabric was soaked red.

  Mark and Katie approached from the van, both looking shaken but functional. Katie's eyes widened when she saw David and Charlie's injuries.

  "Oh my God," she said. "What happened?"

  "Airbags," David managed. "Deployed when we hit the zombies."

  Mark immediately shifted into medic mode. "Let me see. Charlie first, that nose looks bad."

  Charlie pulled the shirt away. His nose was definitely crooked, blood still flowing steadily. Mark examined it with gentle touches that still made Charlie wince.

  "Broken," Mark confirmed. "Needs to be set before the swelling gets worse. David, show me your wrists."

  David extended his hands. Both wrists were swollen, painful to rotate. Mark palpated them carefully, watching David's face for reactions.

  "Sprained, maybe worse. Hard to tell without an X-ray. Your nose looks better than his, I think it’s just bloody, maybe a fracture but I don’t see deviation. You need to ice everything, rest and avoid using them for a while. "

  "Can't really do that," David said. "Someone has to drive."

  "I can take over," Camila offered. "Your car's trashed anyway. We should consolidate into fewer vehicles."

  David wanted to object but she was right. The sedan was barely functional. Windshield cracked, pulling hard right, strange grinding noises. It might not make it back to the park. Still, losing a vehicle before it failed felt wrong somehow.

  "What about the survivors we rescued?" Katie asked, looking at the back of the panel van. "Are they okay?"

  David's guilt intensified. "I don't know. Mark tied them down but still…"

  Mark moved quickly to open the back of the Van. Once he checked on the man and woman his face grew grave.

  "It’s hard to tell as they are unresponsive, but I don’t think they are too badly hurt. His shoulder has been wrenched from the strapping and looks like it is swollen. He’ll be sore when they wake up. If they wake up. Still, we need to be careful and try to avoid high speed driving."

  The weight of that settled over the group. They'd saved people from the zombies. But their desperate escape had likely injured him.

  "We did what we had to," Camila said, reading David's expression. "We're all alive. That's what matters."

  Charlie made a sound between a laugh and a groan. "Speak for yourself. My face is killing me."

  "Because your nose is broken," Mark said. "I need to set it now, before the swelling makes it impossible. It's going to hurt."

  "How much hurt?" Charlie asked nervously.

  "A lot," Mark said honestly. "But quick. David, Camila, hold his arms. Katie, talk him through it."

  Charlie's eyes went wide. "Wait, can't I just buy a healing skill? Or use Health to fix it?"

  "Do you have Health as a resource?" David asked.

  "No, but I could get it, right? I've got experience from those zombie kills."

  "You could," David admitted. "But that's expensive. You'd need to buy the resource, then probably buy a skill to use it effectively. That's hundreds of experience points."

  Charlie's face fell. Then determination replaced the fear. "Fine. Do it. I'm not wasting experience on healing when I need to get my Firebolt stronger."

  "This is going to suck," Mark warned.

  "I know," Charlie said, gritting his teeth. "Just do it quick."

  David and Camila grabbed Charlie's arms as Mark positioned himself. Katie took Charlie's hand, murmuring encouragement.

  "On three," Mark said. "One, two—"

  He didn't wait for three. There was a sickening crack as he snapped Charlie's nose back into position.

  Charlie's scream echoed across the empty street.

  "Done," Mark said, holding pressure to stop the renewed bleeding. "It's straight. Should heal properly now."

  Charlie was crying, tears streaming down his face. "That was more than 'a lot,'" he managed through sobs.

  "Sorry," Mark said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "But it had to be done."

  David flexed his aching wrists. His own injury wasn't as dramatic but no less limiting. He could drive like this, it just hurt. He probably couldn't use weapons effectively. Couldn't even hold something as heavy as the crowbar without pain shooting up his arms.

  "We need a healer," Charlie said, wiping tears from his eyes. "A real healer. Someone who can fix this stuff without everyone having to waste experience on healing stats."

  "That would be nice," Katie agreed. "But we work with what we have."

  "What we have is a busted car and two injured fighters," Charlie said. "This sucks. We need to get back to the park and figure out actual strategy, party composition and stuff like that. Dig into the system and min max, look for synergies…"

  David wanted to agree, but he couldn’t help but think that momentum was important too. Actually accomplishing things before everything was up and running was huge. Yes, they'd rushed into the supply run without proper planning. Without considering what would happen if things went wrong.

  Things had gone wrong.

  "Okay," Camila said, taking charge. "David, you and Charlie ride in my car. We'll leave yours here for now. Mark, you and Katie in the van with the unconscious survivors. We head back to the park, get everyone safe, then we plan our next move properly."

  “I don’t think we want to abandon the car – that’s a big resource loss plus we have to unload all the stuff that’s in it costing more time.” David countered.

  “I can drive as long as we head straight back, then I’ll pick up some system stuff to fix me up quicker. I already bought health and just need to pick up something to make it work. The Obelisk can fix me up quickly then we can head out again.”

  The others nodded in agreement, Charlie last, seeing Camilla staring fiercely at him.

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  "What about Carl?" Katie asked.

  Right. Carl had split off hours ago, injured, to get his own weapons and supplies. They had no idea if he was okay, if he'd made it to his place, if he was coming back.

  "Billy can fill him in if he shows up while we're gone," Mark said. "We can't search for him and complete the mission. We have to prioritize."

  It felt wrong, somehow. But Mark was right. They couldn't wait. Couldn't risk more people.

  "The shelter next then" David said, his voice thick from his swollen nose. "Billy said there are people there. We should still try to help them."

  "After this?" Camila looked guilty as she gestured at their injuries and the damaged car. "You're in no shape for another mission."

  "Then I rest, but not for long." David paused, then continued. "We get Mark and you to pick up skills by carrying the rescued so you complete the quest. Then we figure out healing for me and Charlie. If I’m right, we can go before it gets dark."

  He checked his phone. Late afternoon. A few hours of daylight left.

  "That's not much time," Katie said.

  "It's what we have," David replied. "People are dying every hour we wait. If there are survivors at the shelter, they need help now."

  Camila met his eyes for a long moment, gratitude there for taking her usual position, mixed with guilt about him being hurt. Then she nodded, back on the plan now she didn’t have to push for action over his injuries. "Okay. We go back, we prepare properly, then we hit the shelter. But David, no more hero runs through zombie hordes. We do this smart."

  "Agreed," David said, meaning it. “Maybe Camila should bring up the rear in the sedan, I’ll try to get my car back and she can backstop me if it fails. Charlie, you can ride with her so we can transfer quicker if things go wrong.”

  Nobody objected and people quickly redeployed then they hit the road again.

  As they drove toward the park's beacon, David's mind worked through problems. His wrists needed treatment. Charlie's nose would heal but the pain would limit him. They needed better weapons, better coordination, better planning.

  And they needed to understand the death scream mechanic. Every kill summoned more zombies. That changed everything about how they could operate.

  His necromancer senses…

  He paused. He had freaking magical hearing. Necromancer senses sounded kinda lame, he would have to come up with a better name for the skill. It felt like a skill even though the system didn’t agree.

  Before he went down that rabbit hole he focused on his senses and tried to track the ambient whispers as they drove. Nothing close but always present now. A background hum of undeath that made his skin crawl. At least it distracted him from the ache in his wrists as he fought the pull of the car.

  They saw more shambling figures in the distance at first. Some on four legs, some walking upright. All aimless, wandering without apparent purpose.

  David didn’t know if it was coincidence, but when they started to get close to the Obelisk he stopped seeing and hearing the dead, instead the low humming of the barrier filled his ears. The death scream was the signal. Maybe the humming was too, like those plug in rodent repelling things you could buy.

  The park's barrier appeared ahead, noticeably wider than before, and relief flooded through him. The ache in his arms was manageable, but he was glad to pull over.

  Everyone stopped outside the barrier of light and killed the engines. David could see how far the zone had expanded since they'd left. Now it reached nearly to the park gates.

  "Mark, Camila, you need to carry the survivors across the threshold. That'll complete your quest and give you your first skills."

  Mark and Camila exchanged glances. Neither had managed to complete a quest or gain skills yet. They'd been too focused on survival.

  "What kind of skills?" Camila asked.

  "You need to choose, based on what resources and attributes you have." David explained. "Katie, Charlie, and I all got important abilities from our first skills. It's worth doing."

  Mark nodded and climbed out of the van. He and Camila carefully extracted the male survivor, supporting his weight between them. The man's dislocated shoulder made positioning difficult, but they managed.

  As they crossed into the safe zone, David watched from outside the barrier. The light seemed to pulse slightly as they entered, welcoming them.

  Both Mark and Camila stopped mid-step. Their eyes went distant in that telltale way that meant system notifications.

  After a moment, Mark's face broke into a surprised smile. "Holy shit. I got options for skills. A lot of options."

  "What are the choices?" David called out.

  "Healing skills. Combat skills. Defensive skills. It's like a menu, some of them need me to buy attributes first."

  "Take your time," Katie said from beside him. "Choose something useful."

  Camila spoke up “I have choices too, but let’s get these people situated first.”

  David wanted to guide them through selection first, but recognized Camila was right.

  Billy appeared from where he'd been sitting with Bessie. The dog was still unconscious but breathing steadily, her condition unchanged.

  "You're back," Billy said. "Did you find people?"

  "Two so far," David confirmed. "Planning to get more. How's Bessie?"

  "Same. Still waiting." Billy's voice carried hope mixed with fear.

  "She'll wake up," David said, trying to sound confident.

  While the others moved to get the two survivors set up comfortably David focused on his own needs. He ached and wanted relief, so he settled with his back to the Obelisk as he called up his status.

  He noted that he had filled his experience meter again, hit overflow and, he paused and grinned to himself despite his discomfort, had finally levelled Necromancer!

  He quickly moved to set his overflow back to system initiate, recognizing that without an attribute his health wasn’t very useful – he was injured, even recognized as such by the system but his health was still at 100%. That made no sense for a moment until he remembered the tutorial.

  He quickly queried the Obelisk about healing and attributes and discovered that he could currently select Vitality, Toughness, Growth and Faith to enable his health.

  Further inquiry confirmed that Vitality would let him recover, Toughness would mitigate damage as it happened by using Health and Growth was weird – it would constantly drain his Health to promote growth.

  This really left him with one choice – Vitality, which was a pity. That was when he got the second nasty surprise. He couldn’t actually get the attribute with his available experience as his System Initiate title apparently needed more than 200 XP to reach level four.

  By this point the others had come over and joined him. Mark and Camila having emerged from their status screens, looking energized despite their exhaustion.

  "I picked Infuse," Mark announced, nodding towards Charlie. "It’s a Healing skill. Let’s me stabilize injuries with mana and accelerate recovery, especially for those with Health. Won't fix everything, but it'll help."

  "Boost," Camila said. "Temporary buff that burns Stamina fast to give me a big edge. Seemed useful."

  David felt a weight lift. They had a healer now. Rudimentary, but functional, he silently thanked Charlie for pointing out that gap. Camila had something flexible, he could already see situations where that would help.

  "Test them," David suggested. "Mark, can you do something about Charlie's nose and my wrists? I have health and he doesn’t so we might learn something…"

  Mark approached Charlie with new focus. "Let me try. First time using a skill besides accepting it."

  He placed his hands near Charlie's face, not quite touching. His eyes went distant with concentration. Then he spoke a word that wasn't quite English, more like shaped intent given voice.

  "Infuse."

  A faint glow surrounded Charlie's face. Not bright, just a subtle luminescence.

  Charlie gasped. "It doesn't hurt as much. Like someone turned down the pain dial."

  "It's not healed," Mark said, pulling back. "But the magic should handle some pain and act almost like an internal dressing if I understand the skill description."

  "What about David's wrists?" Katie asked.

  Mark tried again, placing his hands near David's swollen joints. The same faint glow, the same shaped word.

  The sharp pain dulled to a manageable ache. The swelling didn't go down, but the throbbing agony receded to something bearable. Then David felt a rush, like warm water flowing over his wrists from deep inside himself, soothing and washing away the injuries.

  "That's amazing," David said, flexing his hands carefully. Still hurt, but functional. "How much did that cost you?"

  "Mana," Mark said. "Maybe twenty percent of my pool for each use? Not too bad, but I can't spam it."

  "Still better than nothing," Charlie said, touching his nose gingerly. "Man, I'm glad you got that. But we really need a dedicated healer. Someone who can actually fix stuff, not just make it hurt less."

  "One step at a time," Camila said. "We have limited experience and limited options. We work with what we have."

  "Okay," David said, addressing the group. "We have maybe two hours of daylight. Billy says there's a shelter at St. Augustine's church. Potentially thirty or forty people there, mostly with health problems. They need help."

  "We're going now?" Katie asked, looking at their injuries.

  "Mark's spell helps, I might want him to cast it on me again to see if it can do more but I’m functional and sore rather than walking wounded now" David said. "And we can't leave them another night. Not after what we've seen."

  He thought about the transforming people. The ones covered in greenish slime, writhing as something changed them from inside.

  "Every hour we wait, more people might transform," David continued. "We need to move."

  Camila looked torn. "Your wrists..."

  "Are better than they were. I can drive. And Charlie can still cast Firebolt. We're functional enough."

  "We should eat something first," Katie said practically. "Drink water. Take five minutes to not be in crisis mode."

  That made sense. David's stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn't eaten since... when? The sandwich Katie made? That felt like days ago.

  They grabbed supplies from the van. Water bottles, some of the food they'd looted from the 7-Eleven. Energy bars and beef jerky, quick calories that didn't require preparation.

  David ate mechanically, watching the lengthening shadows. Every minute they delayed was another minute for people to die or transform.

  But Katie was right. They needed to be functional. Needed to think clearly.

  Charlie sat beside him, munching on an energy bar despite his swollen face. "Hey, David? About what you said before. About survivability vs. damage."

  "Yeah?"

  "I've been thinking. My Firebolt saved you back there. Twice. If I hadn't had that spell ready, that zombie would've gotten you."

  David nodded slowly. "That's true."

  "So maybe damage is survivability," Charlie continued. "Kill them before they can hurt anyone. Isn't that safer than letting them get close?"

  It was the same argument from before, but David understood it better now. Charlie wasn't wrong, exactly. High damage did prevent threats from reaching you.

  But it only worked if you saw the threat coming. If you had mana. If you didn't miss.

  "Both matter," David said finally. "Damage and defense. But Charlie, you can't cast if you're dead. You need to be able to survive long enough to use your spells."

  "I know," Charlie said quietly. "I'm just scared, you know? I keep thinking about what would happen if I run out of mana. Then I'm just a kid with a hockey stick."

  "Then we make sure you don't run out of mana," David said. "We fight smart. We retreat when we need to. We work as a team."

  Charlie nodded, but David could see the fear hadn't left his eyes.

  They finished eating in silence. Mark treated the unconscious survivors, using his spell to stabilize their conditions. The man with the swollen shoulder got special attention, though Mark didn’t try to do more than cast.

  "He needs proper medical care," Mark said. "But I've reduced the inflammation and pain. When he wakes up, we can deal with it properly."

  Billy watched all this with quiet interest, still stroking Bessie's head. "You're really going back out there? After everything?"

  "People need help," Camila said simply.

  "You're all crazy," Billy said, but there was respect in his voice. "Brave, but crazy."

  Maybe he was right. Maybe they were all insane because they were not hunkering down in the safe zone and waiting for rescue.

  But David had seen too much to believe rescue was coming. They were on their own. And if they didn't help, who would?

  "Okay," David said, standing up. His wrists protested but held. "Let's get organized. I don’t want to chance my car until we figure out what is wrong with it. So, let’s unload everything that won’t help keep people from bumping around from the van. Then we use it, plus the other car with Camila, Charlie and me. We position vehicles for a quick escape like I suggested before."

  "Weapons check," Camila added. "Everyone has a primary and a backup."

  They did a quick inventory. Katie had her kitchen knife and smaller blade. Mark had his baseball bat and chisel. Camila kept her aluminum bat and hammer. Charlie had his hockey stick plus his Firebolt spell. David had his crowbar and machete, and upon testing and a second cast from Mark they were both usable with his mostly healed wrists.

  "One more thing," David said. "If we run into trouble, we retreat. No heroics. No last stands. We get out and regroup."

  "Agreed," Mark said firmly.

  They loaded back into the vehicles. David settled into the passenger seat of Camila's car.

  "We need to move," David said. "Daylight’s burning."

  Camila didn't question, just started the engine. Mark followed suit in the van.

  As they pulled away from the park, David watched the barrier of light recede behind them. Safety left behind with the now familiar increase in tension as they left the influence of the Obelisk for another mission into danger.

  But this time they were smarter. Better equipped. With an actual healer and more skills between them.

  This time they'd do it right.

  The church spire appeared in the distance, and David felt his stomach tighten.

  Time to find out how many people they could save before darkness fell completely.