David's spiritual hearing tracked the agitation behind them, all converging on St. Augustine's.

  "They're still responding," David said, gripping the dashboard with aching hands. "More of them. A lot more. I don’t know how many people there are in the city but I get the sense there are a lot of zombies now."

  Camila's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "How many?"

  "I can't tell exactly. There is just a sense of scale to the responses to the death cry that seems larger somehow, like each time it happens there are more Nath to respond."

  David still worried about how this zombie death signal drew these creatures, Nath to a location, he didn’t think it did more than that but what if... So far once they left the area, the zombies lost interest.

  Good to know. Terrifying, but useful. Something tickled at his thoughts there – a half formed idea.

  Charlie sat in the back seat, unusually quiet. His face was pale beneath the bruises, his hands trembling slightly.

  "You okay?" David asked, turning to look at him.

  "That thing almost got you," Charlie said. "If I'd been a second slower..."

  "But you weren't," David said firmly. "You saved me. Again."

  "What if next time I'm not fast enough? What if I run out of mana? What if…"

  "Charlie," David interrupted. "You can't think like that. We all did our jobs. We all survived. That's what matters."

  But he understood Charlie's fear. David had frozen when the standing zombie appeared. He had known there was something but he had still frozen in surprise and then stopped while the tried to think about it. That moment of paralysis had nearly killed him.

  If Charlie hadn't been there...

  David pushed the thought away. Dwelling on near-misses would drive him insane.

  "How's your mana?" David asked instead.

  Charlie's eyes went distant, checking his status. "Not too bad. I didn’t say before but I’ve increased my magic reserves, I'm up from tossing four or five firebolts to six maybe seven."

  "We need to work on that," David said. "Either increase your pool further or find ways to recover faster."

  "Add it to the list, there is so much to learn!" Charlie muttered. "I’m also going to boost my attribute, I figure a more lethal firebolt will count as an entirely different kind of efficiency… What’s the saying, the best defense is a REALLY good offense?"

  Despite everything, David smiled. Charlie's humor and system enthusiasm in the face of horror was becoming familiar. A coping mechanism that probably kept him sane.

  The park's beacon grew larger, the pillar of light stretching into the darkening sky. Twilight was falling fast, shadows lengthening across empty streets.

  "We made it before full dark," Camila said with relief. "That's something."

  They pulled into the park, passing through the expanded barrier of light. The instant David crossed the threshold, he felt the change. Then got another piece of good news. A familiar old pickup truck was parked next to his mostly trashed car. Carl was back.

  The constant whispers that only he could hear fell away too. Not gone but muted and blocked by the soothing white noise of the barrier. Pleasant background noise instead of invasive presence at the edge of understanding.

  The safe zone's influence, dampening the Nath's signals. Soothing and reassuring even to him with his mutated senses.

  David slumped in his seat, exhaustion hitting him like a physical blow. The adrenaline that had kept him functional was draining away, leaving behind aches and bone-deep weariness.

  His wrists throbbed. His nose ached. His entire body felt shaky and weak.

  But they'd succeeded. Twelve people saved, including the ones from their supply run. A whole family with children.

  Billy appeared as they parked, his face drawn with worry. "You found people? I heard the engines and thought..."

  "We found them," Camila confirmed, climbing out stiffly. "Twelve total. All unconscious, all need help getting settled."

  "Carl?" David asked.

  Billy's face fell. "Over by the Obelisk, his leg is bothering him a lot, he’s sitting and I think it may be hard for him to get back up... I told him about healing and Katie but he didn’t really get it and neither of us knew how you did it…"

  "Mark can help him now," Katie said, emerging from the van. "More if he buys health like David did."

  They began the process of unloading survivors. Twelve unconscious people was a lot to manage. They carried each one carefully to a clear area near the obelisk, arranging them on sleeping bags and blankets they'd looted earlier.

  The mother and her three children got special attention. Katie fussed over them, checking pulses and breathing, adjusting blankets to keep them warm as night fell and the air began to cool.

  Mark used his skill liberally, much to David’s relief. Upon seeing what it did to David it wasn’t hard to convince Carl to buy health and the relief on his face was immediate.

  The ability to convert his health into magical healing without all the hoops Katie jumped through was incredible and their bodies repaired fast, weeks of healing in minutes.

  Still, Mark’s mana pool was running low by the time he finished, leaving him visibly drained. It wasn’t entirely clear whether he was overcasting as nobody really wanted to sit slowly recovering to figure out the limits of the skill.

  "I need to rest," Mark admitted. "That skill takes more out of me than I expected."

  "We all need rest," Camila said. "It's been a very long day."

  David checked his phone. Just after seven in the evening. He wasn’t sure when he came round but there was a lot. While he was tired he was also hungry and thirsty.

  But they had work to do first.

  "We need to organize," David said, forcing himself to focus. "Supplies, security, shifts to watch the survivors. We can't just pass out and hope everything's fine. We also need to eat and drink. Debrief about this run. Plan what to do next."

  "He's right," Mark said reluctantly. "Someone needs to stay alert in case people start waking up. They'll be confused, scared."

  Katie ever practical weighed in “We need food, something hot not just snacks and chips, plus we need food ready to go for anyone who wakes up, or anyone who finds us and is already awake. I’ll cook something but we will need more supplies soon.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Everyone paused looking at the pile of loot that they grabbed from the 7-Eleven. At the time it seemed like a lot but as they thought about the fact that there were now nearly twenty people here it suddenly didn’t seen like enough.

  “Okay people, lets set up and cook then we can eat and talk.” Inevitably it was Camila who had the last word.

  It was most of an hour later by the time Katie had a stew sorted out and various snacks and condiments arranged.

  As everyone dug in, surprised by how ravenous they were the conversation began. First, they filled Carl and Billy in on what they had done and seen. Billy looked both glad and sad when he heard about both the dead and the survivors.

  Carl looked introspective and slightly guilty as the group described rescuing the family, though he nodded along.

  Next it was his turn to fill them in on what he had done. “Well, it was a fairly easy trip back to mine. Didn’t see any signs of trouble and I took some time to sort myself out. Had a shower, got clean clothes and weapons.” He paused to gesture at his heavy-duty work clothes, then the holstered pistols he was openly carrying. “Then loaded some stuff I thought would be useful in the pickup and headed over here to check on you guys.”

  Everyone nodded then asked about the supplies. “Mostly tools, some food and water, couple of changes of clothes, a tarp. That sort of stuff.”

  David jumped in at this point looking around. “That brings up one of the major points we need to think about. Supplies are going to go fast, especially if we help people and keep rescuing them.”

  “Which there is no way we are not doing Tonto.” Camila’s reversion to Spanish showed her irritation at the suggestion of not helping.

  “I wasn’t suggesting that we would stop, I’m more worried about handling acceleration. If we get up to fifty or a hundred people here, or folks start waking up on their own and coming here… We need to get in front of this.”

  Charlie chimed in “I checked with the Obelisk and it’s estimating that Sarah wakes up tonight, the other folks we rescued will wake up tomorrow.”

  Mark then chipped in “We need a better way of rescuing people, it’s great that they come out of their coma’s once here after a while but we need to keep them healthy until then. Sure having them rolling round in the bottom of a delivery van works… We did manage to injure at least one person when we had to escape. We need better transport for the survivors and more medical resources. IV drips would be really helpful. I’m surprised that people haven’t been more dehydrated after a couple of days…”

  Katie then chipped in. “More resources in terms of cooking and the like too, we were all hungry when we woke up and it was only Billy sharing some food he had that tided us over… I can’t make bigger batches of food with what we have here so even feeding those we rescued will take time. At least light isn’t an issue” she gestured to the barrier which shed enough soft light to make the night light up like summer in northern latitudes – soft glow making a perpetual twilight though it might be a strain to read.

  David nodded in agreement “We don’t have the people to tackle everything at once. So prioritize.”

  “Rescuing people, we can worry about feeding them later.” Camila’s response was immediate.

  “Rescuing folks, our biggest problem is manpower.” Carl looked meaningfully at David reminding him of their earlier conversation. “I had some time to think about it and we need a critical mass of folks doing stuff to be safe and sustainable. More people fighting will be important but just as important is the support staff. Plus the supplies to allow those people to be effective.”

  “Rescuing people, because it’s what heroes do.” Charlie voted, despite the comic book sentiment nobody called him on it, all remembering how it felt to get those kids out of harms way.

  “Get the gear to do it properly, then rescue people.” Mark opined. “look, what we really need is a more efficient way to help and that’s already been figured out. Paramedics, Fire departments, Police. They all have gear that is optimized to help.”

  When he saw he had everyone’s attention he continued “Focus on paramedics for a second, both because I know their stuff and its probably most relevant. Medical supplies, proper ones, are going to be key – we can’t rely on magic alone. Plus things like the stretchers that ambulances carry make it much easier to move unconscious people and load them into cars or trucks or whatever.”

  David nodded thoughtfully and seeing that nobody immediately had something to add picked up. “OK, I think Mark made a great point. If we could get an ambulance and some stretchers that would transform our rescue efficiency.” He paused then continued.

  “Most people are spread out all over the city in their homes – we could break down doors and check on them but that negates what little protection homes offer.”

  Carl’s snort in response was clearly audible “Plus get your ass shot if they are awake…”

  David continued “We need places where people would have gathered early in the morning when this happened. Places which are open so we don’t spend time breaking down barriers which could protect any survivors. That means airports, train stations, hospitals.”

  The others nodded at that. Mark immediately spoke up “Hospital first, we can get that ambulance… pick up some IVs, rescue medical staff…”

  Camila interjected face dark “What about the zombies and monsters? We can’t leave them locked in with people…”

  David paused and thought “We can’t control that and don’t have the people, yet to sweep systematically clearing monsters. We have to plan to deal with them when we see them. I think we should be more proactive there because each one dealt with is one less to kill people.” Unspoken was the sweet rush of XP and the benefits it would bring.

  David took a deep breath anticipating a fight with his next statement. “To do that we need to embrace this system stuff. Everyone needs to buy in, get skills and aim for maximum impact.” He looked around.

  “We need to work as a team, and for now that means coordinated builds and a plan to maximize our chances of success.”

  Charlie was immediately in “Hell yes! Bigger challenges need better builds! I’m obviously the magical DPS, David, you’re crowd control so what does everyone want to be? Mark, healer surely?”

  His enthusiasm was infectious and people knew enough to start chipping in.

  Carl patted his guns. “I don’t know all this video game terminology but I’m a shooter so I can deal with stuff without it being close enough to hit me.”

  Mark surprised David with his response. “I’m thinking Paladin build, melee and healing.” He then glanced at Katie making it clear why he was choosing that.

  Katie seemed to take this as her cue “I’m the tank I guess, I’ve got more ability to deal with injury than the rest of you, at least until we get more abilities or someone has a better idea.”

  Camila snorted “No, no tanks. We don’t aim to get hurt to slow down the enemy, that idea was always dumb. I’m the close in damage. Boost is great for that.”

  Billy quietly added “I don’t know what I’ll do. It depends on exactly how much Bessie can contribute but her senses are sharp so scout maybe?”

  They fell to further discussion of tactics and how each of their emerging skillsets could help, it was long after food was finished by the time they had tactics for their next raid hashed out.

  "I'll take first watch," Camila volunteered. "I'm too wired to sleep anyway."

  "I'll stay up with you," Katie said. "Two sets of eyes are better than one."

  That left David, Charlie, Mark, Carl and Billy to rest. Not ideal coverage, but better than everyone collapsing simultaneously.

  David wished he could turn his brain off but he wanted to plan for every contingency, though exhaustion made coherent thought difficult.

  "Sleep," Camila said, reading his expression and body language. "You're no good to anyone if you collapse."

  She was right. David found a spot away from the main group, close enough to hear if something went wrong but far enough for some privacy.

  Charlie settled nearby, looking like he wanted to talk. "Hey David? Thanks for today. For taking the lead and letting me do my thing rather than dismissing me as the kid."

  "It’s OK," David said. "You talk a lot, your enthusiastic about the system which some of the others don’t get but you acted when it mattered. That's what counts."

  "I was scared though. Really scared."

  "We all were," David admitted. "Being scared isn't a problem. It's what you do despite the fear that matters."

  Charlie was quiet for a moment. Then: "Do you think we'll ever stop being scared out there?"

  David thought about that. About the constant low-level terror that had become his new normal outside the safe zone. The hypervigilance, the jumping at shadows, the knowledge that death waited around every corner.

  "I don't know," he said honestly. "But maybe we get better at functioning anyway."

  "That's not very reassuring, bro."

  "It's honest though."

  Charlie laughed, the sound slightly manic. "Yeah. I guess honesty's all we have now."

  David closed his eyes, intending to just rest for a moment before actually sleeping. His mind kept circling back to the day's events, analyzing and categorizing.

  The death scream summoned zombies to a location, not to specific prey. Range seemed to be at least a few blocks, maybe more. Response time varied but seemed relatively quick, minutes rather than hours. They had a plan for it now, but it was untested.

  Standing zombies and the four-legged variety also implied a progression. That woman had been reaching for him with clear intent. So maybe they weren’t the classic zombies after all. He had to remember they were some alien pest or parasite or something call the Nath. Not the zombies of media.

  How many of those were out there? What triggered the transformation from crawler to walker? Was it time, learning, something else? What made them scream? How did they relate to his Necromancer bloodline? Could he do more than just hear them, helpful as that had proven to be?

  David's brain spun through possibilities until exhaustion finally dragged him under.

  He dreamed of whispers and burning bodies and children who wouldn't wake up.

  When hands shook him awake, David jolted upright with a gasp, crowbar somehow already in his hands.

  "Easy!" Katie said, backing away. "It's just me. You were having a nightmare."

  David's heart hammered against his ribs. He looked around wildly, trying to orient himself. Still in the park. Still in the safe zone. Still alive.

  "What time is it?" he managed.

  "Just after midnight. You've been out for about four hours."

  She grinned. “It’s your watch, Camila will be up for a while I guess…”

  Then she burst out with the really big news “Sarah is awake!”