By the time David finally got to go to bed after speaking with Sarah the others were stirring.

  Camila was still going strong, while Sarah was apparently well rested. Mark and Katie were also alert and moving around. He noticed that all three of the runners were bright eyed and alert while he and Charlie were flagging.

  The final piece that made David have an aha moment was when Carl, far older than the rest of them, was up bright and early looking alert and well rested while Billy, Charlie and himself were all struggling. The guys without Stamina basically…

  As sleep claimed him David was promising himself that he would get Stamina soon dammit, yet another purchase…

  The next thing David knew he was being shaken awake by Mark. As he woke the smell of coffee filled his nostrils and he groaned noting that the ambient light had gone from the glowing dimness of night inside the safe zone to the brighter light of day with faint shadows on the ground indicating they would have another sunny day.

  “We didn’t know how you like it so its black. Creamer and sugar are over on the picnic table” Mark gestured across the area where David could see the others moving around. More importantly there were several people in a cluster around the Obelisk.

  At least some of the survivors were awake! Seeing the direction of his gaze Mark nodded.

  “Yep, they started waking up over an hour ago. It’s time to get moving. We let you, Charlie and Billy sleep as much as we could while we dealt with them. They will hold the fort down here while we go out in a bit…”

  Katie was busy cooking with another pot of something on the camp stove and Camila was helping her. Billy was up and speaking with a couple of people who he guessed were from the shelter.

  Groaning and feeling distinctly sluggish David shuffled over to the camping table and found creamer and sugar. Once he fixed the coffee up and started to drink he began to feel more awake and after a few minutes he dragged himself off to deal with his morning business, again thanking Billy for the code that opened the rest rooms.

  He paused, this was another problem they needed to figure out, after reflection he put it firmly on the problems for later list and got on with his routine.

  Once David had sorted himself out, which included finding himself a new toothbrush from among the supplies from their raid on 7-Eleven, he sorted himself out with a second cup of coffee.

  Adequately caffeinated David looked to the cluster of people who were going through the tutorial and asked “Do we want to wait for them?”

  It was Camila who responded “No, they know the deal and are going to stay here. Probably work on skills or something. We need to get moving if we are going to follow the plan we discussed last night...”

  David nodded, then responded. “It’s more risk for us but I think we have to go for it.”

  He looked at Charlie, clutching another monster energy drink, and then at Billy who was nursing a coffee while Bessie sniffed around near him.

  “Look, you guys will need to give us a minute or two to – I figured out that Stamina can deal with lack of sleep but I don’t have it…”

  Camila looked surprised for a second then thoughtful, finally her eyes lost focus in that way that told him she was querying her status. Finally she responded, soft and half to herself.

  “Madre de Dios, what are we becoming? You’re right. I’m down some stamina and I feel fresh. Rested, ready to race even. I was up later than you with Sarah…”

  By this point they had made their way over to Katie and David was handed a paper bowl filled with oatmeal and a PB&J sandwich to go with a refill for his coffee.

  When he looked at the mass of food in surprise Katie replied seriously “Carb loading, we figure this is like running a race, you need fuel.”

  After the first bite of oatmeal David discovered two things; first, he was very hungry and second that Katie could prepare a mean oatmeal even with the random crap they looted. As he wolfed down his bowl he saw Billy and Charlie arrive in their huddle and get food.

  As the three of them ate, Camila led the discussion. “So, we survived through the night and now we know that we can save people by bringing them here. We even know they wake up faster so that means we need to focus even more than we planned on rescuing as many people as we can as fast as we can. Anyone have any objections?”

  Before Camila could continue Katie spoke up “we still need supplies…” she indicated the piles of bulging trash bags from 7-Eleven.

  “This will run out fast. Plus I need more cooking capacity than just a camp stove. We need tables, chairs, shelter, more food, medicine.” Seeing Camila frowning she stopped.

  “OK, so it can’t just be saving people.” As she tried to take back control Billy asked a question, surprising everyone as he had been so withdrawn yesterday.

  “Is this place really safe? Do we know if this barrier is going to keep growing or vanish?”

  Charlie was the first to respond, excited as always to move towards game mechanics type discussions “Dude, good question. Let me check quickly!”

  He didn’t move to touch the Obelisk and after a moment continued. “Super easy, my increased magic made that a breeze – so the safe zone will continue to grow around the Obelisk until it reaches equilibrium.”

  Looking visibly frustrated as she tried to get the group moving in the direction she wanted Camila changed tack “Any other priorities or objections or tangents we want to go down?”

  There was a moment of silence with Charlie looking crestfallen, obviously not wanting to irritate the Latina.

  Then with no objections Camila resumed. “So, most of the people in the tutorial now are where we were and will need time to be ready to leave the Safe zone. We have to get out there and find people. They can head out to get supplies, and some will probably want to go to their homes and stuff.”

  David nodded, already running the options. It was kind of like a 4x game. They could get a big efficiency boost here… After a few seconds he spoke up “OK, I agree with Camila. The key is people come round faster here. That means less risk and more chance for them to get out in front of stuff. It is all about momentum.”

  Seeing he had their attention David continued “Katie, you need lots of stuff that is basically ready to go in those houses that are now in the safe zone. I don’t know how fast it is growing but we know that staying inside is fairly safe, and you can get to your first skill but it isn’t instant.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Mark nodded “Plus, those people who live there should start coming round if they are OK faster.”

  Katie looked conflicted “We can’t just take peoples stuff or make them share though…”

  Camila was clearly frustrated “We are going round the houses, we talked last night we need to act now! Are you all little Perra’s or are you going to do something?”

  David paused, sure he had just been insulted, then stood up and turned to the others. After a deliberate pause he spoke “We discussed this. Now we have slept on it. Camila is right, we put the plan into action. So final check: Transport, hospital then wherever else people would be out and gathered early in the morning commute – I’m thinking either the station or the airport.”

  After he paused and nobody interrupted him he continued “Any better ideas to save people?”

  Camila took a moment to get her obvious reflex to continue the fight she was expecting under control. Then somewhat grudgingly she spoke “I do like the idea of hitting the stations and airport, lots of people to help. So maybe this wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

  David continued “We discussed a plan last night, at least for the first parts, any new ideas?”

  Camila looked angry, again, and spoke first “we plan. And plan. But we need to go soon.”

  When everyone nodded David, who could feel his own blood pressure mounting, spoke somewhat sharply “the more we plan the better things go.”

  Charlie spoke up sounding hesitant. “Umm, guys. I think we might be doing this wrong. If we want to save people our best bet is not to try and carry them one by one to safety or even truck load by truck load. Its to kill the things which are going to attack them.”

  David shook his head. “It’s too dangerous, we don’t have the kind of training and power to do that. Carl will run out of ammo, you and Sarah and I mana and the others will get tired. We have to try to save people actively.”

  Charlie flushed nodded, then changed tack. “We agreed to save people, we need more trucks to do that. So let’s get them. Why don’t we just hit U-Haul?”

  Everyone stopped for a minute. Then Camilla beamed at him making him flush.

  “Now that’s a great idea! Any objections? No? Great!”

  Mark looked like he wanted to say something, likely about paying but he didn’t speak up with Camila in full flow.

  David looked round at the team with him. Camila, Carl and Sarah were in the pickup truck with him, nobody trusting the beaten up car David had been driving. The others were in the box van driven by Mark.

  They now had to drive through the first intersection to clear the safe zone barrier, which was spreading far faster than David anticipated. Carl took directions from Camila while Mark followed them, she apparently had returned their U-Haul when the group moved into their apartment.

  To David’s surprise the murmur of the Nath he could pick up with his spiritual hearing didn’t become clear until they were almost half a mile from the Obelisk, not too far from their destination, and it wasn’t long after that they saw a lone zombie shambling along the other side of the main road.

  It barely reacted to their approach. Sarah, who was riding in the bed of the pickup, called out “Should I take the shot?”

  Camila glanced at David who asked “how far?”

  Camila shrugged and said “a few blocks”

  As David began to analyze and plan he saw a bolt of frosty energy shoot towards the Zombie and explode some distance beyond it followed by Sarah cursing.

  As they went past Sarah shot a second bolt, this time from no more than ten yards away, clipping it and causing the creature to stagger as icy waves spread across its body.

  As Sarah swore again she yelled “Slow down! This is harder than it looks”

  Carl looked at David but he yelled back “no, we carry on with the plan this isn’t important.”

  As the group continued the zombie, finally reacting, turned toward the box van following them. As the van passed the creature, there was a flash of light as Charlie took a shot, nailing the creature.

  The familiar shriek, clearly audible to David, rose after a moment.

  “We got it, or at least it shrieked. Now we see if we were right.”

  After another few blocks where they saw a couple of zombies shambling purposefully towards the scream as they reached the turn for the U-Haul location.

  Off the main drag the area was deserted, and unimpressive, little more than a fenced off lot lot with a sign stuck up on the side of the attached building which appeared to be a garage. There were however several vehicles in the lot with the distinct U-Haul paint job and a few other cars parked as well.

  Moving quickly Carl pulled up close to the entrance as David jumped out followed by Camila. The two of them assessed the lock on the gate and David went to work with his crowbar.

  After a couple of minutes of him heaving and grunting Camila finally said “let me try.”

  David shook his head and responded automatically “no I’m stronger.”

  She laughed “no magic man, you aren’t. Let’s see if magic strength means anything.”

  Pausing David looked at her, then nodded offering her the crowbar. Camila quickly inserted the tip and tried prying in a couple of directions. Once she found a good angle the really went to work and David heard her say “boost” softly, then as her muscles bulged she gave the chainlink gate a series of massive heaves rocking the anchoring post and bending the metal of the closing mechanism as she forced the thing.

  The lock, which had resisted David, popped open with a shriek as the long crowbar did its job.

  Ignoring the inert security cameras on a pole overlooking the place Camila tossed the crowbar back to him saying sarcastically “I’m sure you just loosened it for me…”

  She then pulled the gate open allowing Carl and Mark to drive their vehicles inside. When they reached the rolled down metal doors securing the building and saw more padlocks she gestured, inviting David to proceed and open them, her body language betraying her amusement.

  He smiled, held his hands up in surrender and with a courtly bow offered the crowbar to her. “Milady, your humble bag man suggests this fine crowbar…”

  This made Camila snort wordlessly as she took the tool and again applied her skill to the problem.

  Fifteen minutes later the group was getting ready to move out having broken into the office and secured the keys for the two largest trucks on the lot, each easily double the size of the box van they were already using.

  David was wondering where Camila was as he pulled the truck he was driving towards the open gate. Seconds later she emerged from the garage area holding a grease-stained tool bag and juggling several items which she threw into the cab before climbing in.

  “We need more tools, and things which could serve as weapons” she gestured to the hydraulic bolt cutters and tire irons she had been juggling. “Now, we need to follow the others, you watch the road, I’ll look for cell phone reception again. As she said this Camila’s eyes dropped to her phone as their convoy moved out.

  As planned their route took them away from the main road where they had killed the zombie and towards their next destination, one which David felt much less confident about because he fully expected it to be crawling with zombies.

  He was proven right as the murmur in his ears grew louder and sitings became more frequent. Perhaps the most important telltale was when they saw a zombie wearing an open backed gown.

  Again they saw that like lions in Africa the zombies seemed not to understand that people in vehicles were prey. So they were able to move past fast and cause little agitation.

  After scouting they started to drive around their target and once they were well away from the entrance put their plan into action.

  Finding an isolated zombie they pulled up close enough for Sarah and Charlie to have clear shots. Now they were stopped both casters hit and the zombie collapsed with the expected scream.

  As soon as it did David yelled “Go, Go!”

  Carl, Mark, David and Katie quickly rolled out, moving round towards their real target on the far side of the hospital.

  The plan was simple, using the death wail to attract the zombies away they would get a clear run to the front entrance and be able to go after both the ambulances and any survivors. They would pull back as soon as the zombies stopped being drawn away.

  As they turned onto the main road and approached the hospital entrance having driven a around the complex of buildings the convoy abruptly came to a halt. They had apparently misjudged the undead reaction time. There were still stragglers moving towards site of their earlier ambush.

  It seemed that when they couldn’t get towards the death wail directly, due to for example a large building in the way, that they while still remaining highly agitated didn’t just pick and direction and go but, perhaps due to their poor senses, did a lot more milling than expected.

  “Madre de Dios, there are so many of them.” Camila sounded shocked form where she was in the passenger seat of David’s U-Haul.

  David nodded, blinking away tears. Dozens of figures were milling around, some wore hospital gowns or scrubs making it clear that both patients and staff had turned. The doors to the hospital opened, a sign of emergency power holding on here and a couple more shuffled out of the building.

  There was no indication they had detected the vehicles and once one found its way around the corner the others started to follow. David strained his ears trying to pick up the murmur that seemed to shift as they made progress.

  Camila spoke, her voice breaking, “we need, we need to go.”

  David nodded watching as the others reached the same conclusion. Carl, driving the pickup truck, started to move as the last of the undead vanished round the corner.

  It was show time.