Dan glanced to the side and fired his pistol again at an incoming agent that reached the sidewalk. The agent flopped backwards and his body hit the pavement.

“Angie, are you sure we can trust this guy?” Dan asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Angie said. “Are you two coming or not?”

He exchanged glances with Li, who responded with, “No other choice. We need to relocate.”

“Alright then,” Dan said. “Angie, you go first and we’ll cover you.”

Dan attached his pistol to the side of his coat and equipped his shotgun. His peripheral vision caught sight of a zombie who sprinted towards their building and jumped, grabbing the ledge of the roof in just a single bound.

“I guess we found the cursed zombie,” Li muttered.

The cursed zombie quickly pulled himself up and attempt to charge straight at them. Dan’s trigger finger was faster as the zombie took a point blank shotgun blast to the torso and fell backwards flat on his ass. Rememebering he held a pump-action shotgun, he slid back the handguard before readying the next shell. The cursed zombie got back up and Dan blasted him again, putting a second shotgun shell into the zombie and putting him down.

“They didn’t say the cursed zombie could survive more damage,” Dan said.

“That guy has pulled up Angie already,” Li said.

“You go next, I’ll cover you,” Dan said.

Dan glanced down on the street and saw numerous zombie agents running towards the building. He stepped closer to the edge and looked down. A zombie was already climbing above the window below him and Dan’s response was a swift shotgun blast to the face. The zombie agent tumbled back down to the ground.

“Dan, you’re up next. Let’s go!” Li shouted.

Dan looked back and placed his shotgun along his back. He saw Li extanding both hands towards him and Dan ran as fast as he could to gain momentum for a jump. Dan put all of his strength into his legs and then lept off the roof. Dan feet hit the side of the building and his hands managed to grab Li. The stealth specialist pulled him up and through the window and Dan clumsily tumbled through.

Dan inadvertently fell on top of Li and the two collapsed into the floor.

“You’re heavier than I expected,” Li remarked.

“I work out a lot thanks to Jane,” Dan said. “If you’re not gaining enough muscle, she’ll just whoop your ass.”

“Are you two assholes done fooling around?” Angie said. She looked at them both with a scowl on her face.

Dan promptly got off of Li and stood up. He extended his hand and helped Li back on his feet.

“Angie, you should cool off with the insults,” the agent said. “These two might carry you through the entire tournament. I suggest you be a little bit more considerate towards them.”

“And who might you be?” Li asked.

“This is Miles,” Angie said excitedly. “I used to be on his team before I was reassigned to Jane’s squad.”

Dan wanted to pull up Miles’ stats, but remembered that his HUD was restricted in this match. The agent that stood in front of him was a few centimeters shorter than him. His hair was dark brown and slicked back and he featured a goatee with a prominent scar on his left cheek.

“Pleasure to meet you. Miles Venator,” he said. “Are you Dan Orion?”

“That’s me,” he said. Dan reached out to the agent and they both shook hands. “Good to meet you.”

“And you must be Li Phantom. Angie calls you a party pooper apparently,” Miles said.

Li stared at the agent, then glanced at Angie. “That sounds about right.”

“I heard you two did all the heavy lifting during that heist you went on with Michael Cynosa,” Miles said.

“Well, we did have to carry a giant casket through a hotel while being pursued by Kodak agents,” Li stated. “Dan and I took on a few tier two Kodak agents.”

“Good shit gentlemen,” Miles said. “Angie is lucky to have you as her new teammates. When she told me about her transfer to Jane Sunheiser of all people, I warned her not to fuck it up.”

“Hey,” Angie said, frowning at Miles.

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Their conversation was cut short by the rapid footsteps outside and a zombie agent leaping from the roof Dan and his team had been. Dan turned around and saw the zombie unceremoniously grab the edge of the window, lose his grip, and tumble down to the ground.

Dan already brought up his shotgun and pulled the trigger, blasting another leaping zombie agent flying towards them.

“What’s your score so far?” Miles asked. The agent stood right behind Dan’s left side.

“My team’s HUDs are disabled because of a constriction. I believe I’m at five,” Dan replied.

“And you gunned down a cursed zombie too,” he said. “Not bad agent.”

The edge of Dan’s eyes caught rapid movement and he saw the cursed zombie back on his feet. The zombie shoved another zombie agent aside and lept off the roof toward their window. Both Dan and Miles raised their shotguns and both simultaneously blasted the cursed zombie at point blank range backwards. The zombie landed back on the roof and rolled another few meters before tumbling to a halt.

“This space is too cramped,” Miles said. “We’ll be overwhelmed if we don’t make it to the roof.”

“Let’s get going then,” Dan responded.

Dan’s entire team followed closely behind Miles as they exited the room and kept a brisk pace through the hallways. As the group moved methodically through the hallways and up the staircase, Dan encountered more Alpha agents. Each agent nodded towards Miles, so Dan assumed these were his people.

The group reached one last flight of stairs leading up to the rooftop and Miles kicked the door open, causing the entire slab to loosen at one of its hinges. The door flung open and hung slanted off of one hinge.

“I ain’t paying for that,” Dan remarked.

This got a chuckle out of Miles. “It’s all good, bro.”

Miles’ people totalled a team of five agents. A few of ther faces lit up when they saw Angie.

“Holy shit, you survived the heist with Michael?” An agent with short cropped blond hair asked.

“Of course I fucking did you weirdo,” Angie snapped. “Shaun, I told you I would pull through.”

“I hate to interrupt the reunion, but we need to deal with these zombies,” Miles said. “We’re going to funnel all of them through this entrance and they’ll be easy pickings for us. Is that understood?”

Dan glanced to the side and saw flashes and gunfire through the fog of other agent teams fending off zombie agents advancing on them from the streets. One by one, Dan saw less and less muzzle flashes and gunfire became more sporadic.

He looked back at Li who also observed the chaos in that direction and the two exchanged glances. Neither of them needed to speak as they sensed what they had both came to realize.

“Divide and conquer Miles,” Li stated. “You have two full teams of agents here. You’re going to need a few of us at the edges taking out any zombies that try to jump or climb up from the sides. These guys are still agents after all. They’re not all dumb enough to approach us through one chokepoint.”

“Good thinking,” Miles.

“Li and Angie, you guys go to the sides and get your five kills,” Dan ordered. “I’ll stick with Miles and his folks to guard that roof entrance.”

“Understood,” Li said.

“You got it,” Angie replied.

Both of his teammates walked over to the edge of the roof facing the road and buildings across the street. The rooftop entrance protruded along the center rear of the roof furthest away from the road.

“Miles, I guess we’re both going to keep watch, depending on who else needs their five kills.”

Dan glanced at the gunfire on Li and Angie’s side, both of them already laying into the zombies rushing them from the streets.

“We got a lot of them coming out way,” Li shouted. “I count at least thirty-five zombies.”

Miles cocked his shotgun. “Let’s get ready for them. And Dan, maybe stay a bit further back. I need one of my boys up here because he’s only at three kills.”

“I understand. But don’t make me stare at your ass too long,” he snorted.

One of Miles’ teammates walked up to them. He was a bulky agent who almost rivaled Allen Draco in height alone. “I like this guy. He’s funny.”

“The big bro is James Vandal,” Miles said.

“Good to meet you James,” Dan said, nodding to the giant of an agent.

Dan caught more movement at the corner of his eye, but not from zombies or other survivors. The blue transulscent walls that served as barriers to keep agents confined into this area began to shift. Dan scrutinized all four walls around him and saw they all phased through buildings and other objects and closed in.

The arena was becoming more cramped.

The blue barrier that approached from the side of the rooftop entrance continued approaching dangerously close to toward them. And it wasn’t stopping.

Dan tapped Miles on the shoulder and pointed toward the approaching blue wall. “That’s not good.”

Dan glanced at his teammates who were still shooting downward at the zombies. “How are you guys with kills.”

“I’ve surpassed five kills as of now,” Li said.

“I’m at three kills,” Angie said.

The blue barriers continued to condense the town and arena. The barrier closest to Dan reached the building they stood on and slowly but gradually began eating its way through the building. Miles and his teammate were still shooting down the staircase at incoming zombies before Miles noticed the ambient blue glow to his side.

“Back, get back!” Miles shouted.

Dan also backpedaled away from the blue barrier that was slowly sectioning off part of the building. After another seven seconds, the blue wall enveloped the entire entrance to the roof, cutting off the survivors.

The situation had now changed. They could no longer sit and funnel the zombies through the narrow staircase up the roof and farm easy points.

“Oh shit, that’s not good,” Miles said.

Dan looked around and saw the looks of apprehension and frowns on the faces of Miles’ team.

“We’re agents, we adapt when things turn shitty,” Dan tried reassuring him.

“I appreciate the optimism bro,” Miles said. “But the blue barrier blocking the entrance isn’t all. We all just got an update through our HUDs.”

Since Dan had no access to his HUD, he had no clue what else could go sideways for all of them. But Miles had another bomb to drop on them.

“The kill count requirement has changed. You need eight points to progress instead of five.”