The zombie’s arm slammed down on Max like a club.

He met it with a pot lid, shoving a burst of strength into it as he did.

His Skill box flared, and his improvised shield held under the strike.

Zombies? Did he get sucked into a Scenario? How?! There was no prompt. The System hadn’t given so much as a peep.

His surroundings were still the same, dark spruce covered with snow to his left and a trio of snowed-in houses to his right. He’d been in the middle of digging out the path when a hulking figure lunged at him.

He wasn’t sure who had left the soup lid in the yard, but he was glad they did.

The zombie groaned, gray skin shining in the moonlight.

The zombie was wearing a dark hoodie and torn, bloodstained jeans. Seeing those street clothes made his stomach sink.

He couldn’t know for sure, but something about the sight made his instincts squirm. This wasn’t a summons. Someone had killed this guy and brought him back.

The zombie swung down again, and Max dodged to the side. The narrow path didn’t give him much breathing room, but the zombie's motions were easy to read.

He’s fucking strong, though!

Even though his Skill, Max’s arms ached from two hits.

“Willam! Get out here. We’re under attack!“

Max could spare enough attention to see four more zombies sprinting towards the house to his right. William had said he was taking a nap.

He can’t sleep through this racket, can he? Max‘s stomach dropped as the lead zombie broke through the front door in two hits.

He was so distracted by the other group he didn’t react in time to a flash from his left.

A tightly packed chunk of ice clipped him in the shoulder and burst. He staggered back.

The zombie was on him again, swinging and bitting and snarling.

A man came into view from the road, carefully climbing up a snowbank as he went. He had a mug in one hand and a snowball in the other. He was lanky, with pale skin and short blonde hair.

He waved to Max. “You’re doing pretty good! Benny here can usually crush someone with one of those swings, and you ate two!”

Humans. They were being attacked by humans.

Max had expected that, but a hot flash of rage still rushed through him.

He dodged another swing and then bolted for the man.

He must be some summoner or necromancer. So unless his Class was hideously unbalanced, he shouldn’t be able to make something as strong as the zombie and be a threat himself.

Max activated his second Skill as he threw the pot lid at the man. It sailed through the air like a frisbee.

With his first Skill still connected to it, the lid counted as an extension of his body.

Reunite

Uncommon

Effect: draws two points of your body together. Will not cause injury to self.

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Range: Self

Energy cost: variable

Max blasted from his feet, pulled to the pot lid like a magnet.

The necromancer’s eyes widened, and he let himself drop flat. 

Max canceled his Skill as he passed over the man. He tried to right himself midair but still came down hard. He rolled across the snow before scrambling to his feet, his hands stinging from the cold.

The necromancer laughed, coffee spilling from his mug. “Well shit, you about took my head off. Does your Class revolve around dishes or something?”

Max had lost contact with the lid for too long, and he couldn’t feel it anymore. And with how much snow there was, he doubted he’d find it before one of the zombies reached him.

With a growl, he ripped his coat off and wrapped it around his fist before charging back toward the man.

The necromancer studied him. “No, you’re like Luis. Enhance objects, I’m guessing? Neat trick.”

“I can use tools too.”

He tossed the snowball at Max, and it was only then that he realized it was glowing faintly.

He hurled himself to the side and angled his coat between him and the projectile.

The thing detonated, ice spraying in every direction.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Max’s Skill was simple at first glance. Enhance held object, temporarily making it a part of you.

The nature of the enhancement shifted depending on the object and his desire, but making things sturdy was easy.

He’d been a little bummed about the Skill at first. People were throwing around fireballs and running up walls, and here he was, making a bat hit harder.

Then his Skill saved his life a few times, and he stopped being such a dumbass.

As a spray of icy shrapnel washed over him and was stopped by his coat, Max could’ve kissed the Skill.

It didn’t block everything. A few shards slammed into his shoulder. They cut straight through his shirt and into his skin.

Freezing pain lanced up and down his arm, but at least he was alive.

There was a crash from the house and a blast of noise and orange light. William was awake.

A System prompt flashed in the corner of his vision. “Necromancer And Friends have initiated an area claim. Using the Warlord Trait- Max cut the prompt off as he scrambled to his feet.

 The necromancer blinked at him. “Ha. I’ll be honest; I was kind of expecting that to kill you. Hold still for a second, would you.“

The man pulled out a second ice ball and hurled it at Max. His heart stopped.

He started to pull up his coat, but the zombie had almost caught up to him. If he used the coat, he’d be deciding if the zombie or the grenade killed him.

Desperately, he threw his coat to the side and activated Reunite.

The coat didn’t travel nearly as well as a pot lid. It made it all of 5 feet before a gust of wind pulled it up short.

His feet left the ground, and his coat jerked towards him, but he knew it wouldn’t be in time.

Nearby, a howl tore into the night. Then a massive green shield slammed into place in front of him.

The grenade went off with a crack! and was stopped dead by the shield. Before Max could figure out what was happening, a man impacted the snow beside him.

He landed shoulder first, cratering the snow before rolling head over heels.

He scrambled to his feet, spitting out ice and snow as he moved. He wore a bright pink hat, a dark orange scarf and puffy, and raised hands covered in pink gloves.

He was young, somewhere around nineteen or twenty, with pale skin, brown eyes, and somewhat dull features.

There was a faint sheen of blue light around the man that hugged his skin like a suit of armor, sticking with him as he moved.

He rolled his shoulder, and with a start, Max realized his arm was in a cast.

The stranger glanced at him, and Max was surprised to find open concern in his eyes. “You good? Injured, bit?“

Max shook his head. “Ah…Bit of ice to the shoulder. I’m fine.“

The man grinned. “Awesome.“

He stepped around the shield, and Max saw his smile vanish before he stepped out of sight. He followed him.

The zombie had moved to stand by the necromancer instead of attacking the newcomer.

The necromancer had his phone up, and was speaking frantically in a harsh whisper.

The stranger gave a sharp whistle.

The necromancer glared at him and started to speak.

The stranger didn’t give any outward sign. One second he was standing there, glaring at the man; the next four emerald green shields the size of his fist appeared around the necromancer.

The necromancer had good instincts. Max would give him that. He gasped and immediately threw himself to the side. The shields followed him, slamming straight down like hammers. One missed, but the other three struck home.

The man’s hoodie erupted with grey light, stopping the shields cold.

A part of his Class? No, he mentioned someone named Luis and how Max’s Skill reminded him of him. The guy must be some kind of enchanter or crafter.

The shield vanished, then reappeared around the man again.

The zombie tried to get in the way, but it was too slow. The shield slammed down again, and the man shouted as they beat him into the snow.

He tried to roll, to get up, to do anything. But each time he did, one of the shields would vanish and then reappear already in motion.

The shields crashed in a steady rhythm, and after only a few seconds, the man went still.

For a second, Max thought he’d killed the man. He wouldn’t have been terribly shaken up over that. The guy had just tried to murder him in cold blood.

He deserved it.

But the stranger jogged over to him and nudged him with his foot. A moment later, the guy vanished in a flash of blue and green.

The zombie went berserk, flinging itself at the stranger.

A shield caught it in the teeth. The zombie's head bounced off, but it wasn’t dazed. It kept on the man, snarling and reaching.

Max moved to help him when a massive form crashed into the zombie from behind.

The thing had to be at least 4 feet tall at the shoulder and was built like a tank.

It slammed headfirst into the zombie's lower back. It crumpled.

Before it could recover, the dog, and it was a dog, a massive, glowing dog, scrambled up and clamped its jaws on the zombie's head.

Crunch.

The noises from inside the house had vanished. Before Max could feel fear, a prompt filled his vision.

Congratulations! With the help of Old Timers Inc., you have successfully defended your territory.

He stared at the man as William burst from the house, an old woman Max didn’t know on his heels and a basset hound following her.

“Jesus, Steven! Are you okay?” She asked.

The stranger, Steven, nodded. “There was enough snow that it wouldn’t have hurt that much even before the System. I couldn’t afford to waste time making a ramp. I wouldn’t have gotten there in time.”

The woman sighed and massaged her brow. “You about gave me a heart attack! You can’t be doing acrobatics with a broken arm!“

Steven threw up his hands, then thought better of it, lowering his broken arm as if trying to hide the cast. “It’s almost healed.“

The woman started to speak when Max cut in. “Who are you people?! Also, thank you for helping us. You saved my life, but what the hell?!“

Steven turned to him and smiled. “We are,“ he paused, and his smile dropped slightly. “Old Timers Inc,” he said dryly.

The old woman beamed as the massive dog—was it a malamute?—Rubbed his head against Steven’s side. “We’re here to help.”