The first thing David noticed as he struggled to his feet was that the dome was dimmer than before, or rather he realized after a moment larger, the edges were now beyond the trees and fence at the edge of the park casting far more shadow on their sleeping spot near the Obelisk.

  Peering through the Trees David could even see the far side of the road with parked cars now within the growing dome, though it was kind of flattening out looking more like one of those open shallow champagne glasses you saw in movies about the roaring twenties.

  By the time David finished his inspection Katie had shaken Carl awake for watch and was moving towards Where Mark was asleep in the honest to goodness tent on a double wide camping mat. David still understood why he and Carl had to make do, it wasn’t their camping gear after all but the ache from sleeping on the ground was annoying. Another thing they needed to address.

  Katie turned to the others and spoke softly “Camila is getting Sarah up to speed, she’ll introduce you once she’s ready.”

  She finished with a warning “Try to keep the noise down around here so we can get some sleep. I found the bench over there quite comfortable and walked around when I got sleepy.” She pointed off past the Obelisk.

  Carl and David moved away, by silent agreement heading to the pile of supplies to find something snack on and a drink. After a soda David felt halfway human and mindful of the others spoke softly to Carl.

  “How are you holding up? Did Mark heal you up completely or is the leg still bothering you?”

  Carl responded in the same soft voice “I’m fine, Heck, more than fine. When you get to my age you have some annoying aches and more than anything it’s what convinced me that y’all’s video game logic was good. It took a few treatments, but he fixed me up as good as new. What with Stamina and Health and stuff I’m better than I’ve been in years.”

  David smiled and nodded, before bringing up the topic that he really wanted to address. “Look man, before you took off you discussed getting out of the city. Then you came back. I’m glad, we’re glad you did, don’t get me wrong. I just wanted to you know, clear the air and hear from you what you’re thinking without the pressure of everyone being around…”

  Carl looked at him. Considered for a minute and gestured away from the camping group. “Let’s take a loop around check on the rest of the park while we talk, less chance of disturbing the others that way.” Less chance of anyone overhearing went unsaid.

  Once they were moving away from the camp checking the increased space in the barrier out Carl spoke again. “I guess my unburdening myself to you means you deserve an answer to your question.” He paused gathering his thoughts.

  “I’m not a wet behind the ears as you kids, yeah I know you’re all adults and all that crap but y’all lack life experience. Especially of the bad things that happen when the system breaks down.” Another pause.

  “I told you I’ve been involved in disaster relief before, years ago. I saw the best and the worst of people then. More good than bad in the moment of crisis but more bad than good in the aftermath. I’m not a prepper or anything, more’s the pity now. I guess they were right…” he shook himself then continued when it was clear David was listening.

  “I talked to you because you listen, and think on your feet, but mostly because you had a working car… Now I’m the type who wants to stand on his own two feet and take care of himself, then worry about taking care of others with the energy I have to spare. A city with broken infrastructure is something I’ve experienced and when you talked about it you hit a nerve. Once people wake up its going to get ugly, even without monsters in the mix…”

  “the difference is, once I really thought about what you said I realized that I wasn’t running towards anything, just away from hard work. I’ve defined myself by being the guy who takes on the hard, dirty work, its how I ended up in facilities – started as a handyman and listened when the old timers taught me stuff.”

  “I’ve been around and I’ve seen good leaders, seen more bad ones. What really convinced me to stay was you stepping up, even after you broke down. You picked yourself up and kept going, came back and fought to save us. I reckon you could be a good leader for this group. Unlike Camila, she is all fire and passion, I’ve seen the type before – great a leading you into a pickle not so great at getting you out again…”

  He concluded “So, I’m taking a chance on you, the planning session earlier reinforced my decision, so I think you’re doing fine. You need to step up and use that head of yours. Channel the little girls passion, she’s not wrong about saving folks, but do it smart.”

  David paused, surprised by the older man’s speech, he could see the logic but didn’t get there himself, at least not yet. Carl interrupted his thoughts.

  “I see I’ve given you a lot to think about, it ain’t something you need to respond to, at least not now. Why don’t we split up, sweep around the park and see what we see, give you some time to think.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  David moved off lost in thought scanning the area for signs of movement, though to be honest he would likely have missed anything sneaky as Carl’s speech had made him think about leadership, specifically his own.

  A few minutes later David was approaching the municipal building near the park entrance when he spotted the two girls sitting on a bench. Not wanting to startle the pair he approached quite openly and waved to get their attention.

  Especially in the dim light of the barrier Camila with her long dark hair and tan skin contrasted with Sarah’s paler skin and blonde bob in one of those light shades that might be natural but was probably a dye job.

  Now her blue eyes were open it made him feel maybe his guess was wrong. Sarah had a slightly rounder face and a heavier build with more breadth to her shoulders and muscular legs rather than the lean build of a runner. The pale white light of the barrier behind and above gave an odd effect as David thought she’s cute too. He then stopped himself. This was the literal end of the world and the last thing he imagined they wanted was a guy clumsily hitting on them.

  As David approached Camila introduced him. “Sarah, this is David. One of the people I’ve been telling you about and the one who helped me get you here.” She paused. “David, this is my roommate Sarah. It’s her camping gear that has made this whole thing as comfortable as it’s been so far."

  David smiled at both women and replied “Pleasure to meet you Sarah. It’s been a tough day since we all woke up and I’m glad you are OK now?” He extended his hand to shake hers as he asked the question. She quickly took his hand and responded, her face flushing slightly red. “Hello David, I’m sorry you had to see me like Snow White or some damsel in distress. I hope I wasn’t too much bother?”

  David smiled in return. “No bother, helping you actually gave me a reward from my system. Has Camila explained all this crazy stuff to you?”

  She frowned and said “It all sounds like some crazy game. Why is it so complicated?”

  David quickly replied. “Actually It isn’t. I’ve been thinking about this all day. We all messed up when we did our tutorials. You need to pick up Health, it literally keeps you alive and enables miracles in terms of healing.” He paused then spoke again “Then I think a second resource to do something useful with an attribute so you can get a skill. Of course this only works because Mark has a healing skill…”

  Seeing he had their attention he continued “After that you need to get an attribute for health so you can use it without help. Then you have caught up with your instructor but I think we want to round out with whatever gets us to more useful skills.”

  Both girls looked at him, then to his surprise rather than arguing both nodded in agreement.

  Camila sounded thoughtful “that makes a lot of sense. I think we need to make sure everyone has that argument ready for the new people when they wake up.”

  Sarah then spoke up “that sounded sensible, I still don’t get this whole Obelisk thing. If it’s a tutorial why didn’t it walk you all through that?”

  They quickly segued into a conversation where both of them took it in turns to catch Sarah up on what was going on, adding their opinions on the why and how where they had them. David quickly started going into more detail once it became clear that Camila had already filled her in on the big picture stuff.

  Finally, Sarah agreed that doing her tutorial made the most sense now she had context. David asked her to pay attention to the process so they could refine the pre-tutorial speech.

  As Sarah headed over to the Obelisk to start the tutorial Camila jerked her head indicating they should not follow yet. They moved back to the bench and sat down.

  Camila spoke immediately “Thanks for helping with this whole system thing. I don’t get this loco magic as well as you and Charlie. I wanted to ask you to keep helping Sarah with it, she knows less than I do about this stuff and I want her to make good choices.”

  David nodded then asked “Why me? If I’m being honest I think Charlie probably has more of this figured out than I do…”

  Camila grimaced. “Look, don’t tell him but I just find Charlie well, a bit much. I don’t think Sarah will have a problem with him but she is the type to well, push people to go for what they want.”

  There was an awkward pause. “So you noticed that Charlie has a crush on you. Are you worried that Sarah will be upset?”

  Camila flushed “no, no, nothing like that. She will be cool with it. We aren’t like together or anything! She will just encourage him. She would totally get a kick out of that and out of my reaction. Plus, she is a big believer in living life and the sins of omission being what you end up regretting.”

  Camila seemed to add the last bit to try and defend her friend and not paint her as a troublemaker.

  David nodded “I get it. I won’t make you a promise I might not be able to keep and I won’t lie if she asks but I’ll offer to help once she finishes her tutorial. We should still have some time left on watch so it’s no skin off my nose.”

  The two of them stood up and started moving back towards the Obelisk seeing Carl loop in from the other side of the park. Seeing them the older man swung towards them his arm raised in greeting.

  “Camila, David. I don’t see Sarah with you, I take it she is doing well?”

  Camila smiled as she responded “Yes, thank God! She was hungry and thirsty, but she is fine. She is doing her tutorial now. I can introduce you once she finishes…”

  “No rush, David and I are on watch so if you’re awake sure. If you need shut eye I can introduce myself or David can do the honors if he has met her?”

  David nodded in response.

  “Sure, did you see anything of interest on your loop?”

  “Not really, the barrier has spread to cover the houses on this side, at least the first row are mostly inside now…” Carl’s laconic delivery paused as he saw David’s reaction.

  David’s face showed both surprise and concern. He thought furiously about the implications. First because he was stiff from sleeping on the ground houses inside the safe zone meant rooms, with curtains or blinds as well as beds.

  Then he stopped, it also meant people, every house was probably occupied. With the casualty rates they had seen so far that meant there were probably zombies and transformed in at least some of them.

  Focusing on Carl David asked “Did you see or hear anything odd?”

  Carl looked at him funny and asked “why? It’s been quiet.”

  When David looked even more worried he looked at him before growling “Look, just spit it out. What did I miss?”

  “There are probably people in those houses, some of whom have turned into monsters. We don’t actually know how this ‘safe zone’ thing works. So there could be monsters in here with us…”

  Carl summed it up nicely “Well shit, that isn’t good.”