237 miles separated Rodger from home - from her. When he reduced it down to an abstract number - something he could scribble down on a scrap of paper, the distance didn’t feel so impossibly long.

One step after another, he trudged down the cracked street, carrying a heavy pack.

Ever the pessimist, he knew that number didn't capture the reality of the situation. Even in the best of conditions, the trek through hundreds of miles of wilderness would have been arduous. But now, with how the world had changed…

Rodger turned his head and listened carefully, using his increased Perception to its fullest extent. In the distance, birds chirped, and a low rumble grew in intensity. After confirming that it was empty, he hurriedly strode into the nearest alley and hid behind a black dumpster. Danger was approaching; he could feel it.

Hidden in the shadow of a small commercial building, he watched on as, in a chaotic mass, the group burst through Walmart's front door. One by one, stragglers followed behind. Hot on their heels, an overwhelming number of Bone Rats gave chase, shambling after them.

Following a man who carried a shovel, the group sprinted toward the hospital. A teen tripped and fell to the ground. In their mad dash, most didn’t even notice. However, an older woman did. She turned back to help him up.

Rodger grimaced.

Within moments, the Bone Rats were upon them. The two did not survive for long.

Momentarily distracted, the Bone Rats pushed against each other, forming a pile as they tore into the duo. When they were done, nothing would be left.

A hive of activity surrounded the hospital as the group and those in it raced about, trying to barricade the entrance. They locked the doors and then stacked furniture and other items behind them. It was shoddy work at best. It wouldn't hold an intelligent creature for long. However, the Bone Rats were, well, as dumb as rats; the hastily made barricades would likely prove to be effective.

Upwind of the monsters, Rodger was reasonably safe from their detection. Still, he needed to get out of here before things got worse. There was nothing he could do to help; even so, he hesitated.

As Rodger stared out at the mass of swarming Bone Rats, he came to a realization: he wasn’t strong enough to make it home. Not even close. The hordes of monsters would eat him alive before he even made it halfway.

The solution was clear to him.

Back on the first night, he had been teleported from his home and thrown into a dilapidated park with another man. Before they could get their bearings and exchange a simple greeting, a wolf - mutated by the System, pounced upon the other man. Working together, they were able to slay the beast, but in the process, the other man, a big, burly sort, had been bit and slashed multiple times.

More blood leaked from the other man’s body than he knew was possible. Rodger tried to tie a tourniquet around his most worrying wound - a large series of holes in his arm, but the other man laughed off his attempts to help as he spotted a glowing stone in the shape of a wolf’s tooth.

Not knowing what a Skill Stone was, Rodger watched as the other man snatched it. Then, a moment later, it disappeared in a flash of gray light, and suddenly, the man had the supernatural ability to track down whatever he desired. Or at least, that was what he had claimed.

Using his new power, the man pointed them in the direction of the Safe Zone. However, he didn't make it. Not long after they left, he died. It was a strange thing; one moment, he walked about as if he was fine, and the next, he collapsed. Even stranger, next to his corpse, a glowing stone in the shape of a wolf's tooth materialized.

Hidden in the shadows, Rodger pulled a torn piece of cloth out of his pocket.

“[Track],” he slowly intoned.

Congratulations! Track has reached Level 4. +1 Skill Point.

A mental arrow, more of a magnetic pull than anything else, pointed him to one of the nearby commercial buildings. His target - Phil was inside. Phil had been discreet; no one else had noticed, but he knew what he had pulled from the Old Golem's remains. To his senses, the jagged junk crystal had shone brightly - stronger than the Skill Stone Ron had retrieved from the Deep Ants and many times stronger than [Track]'s Skill Stone.

More than just an intuition, he knew that whatever Skill laid inside would be powerful - powerful enough to secure his journey home.

Bone Rats swarmed the hospital, searching for a way in. He frowned. It would be a tight window to get in and out before all hell broke loose. Still, it was possible. If he succeeded, there'd be no consequences; no one would ever know what he did.

There was no time to waste. Yet, waste it, he did.

For simply, he was horrified at how easily he had considered murder. He had always known that, at his core, he was darker than the average person, but he'd always tried to suppress that information. Living a normal life, he almost could. But now, he couldn't.

“[Track],” he said again, activating the Skill.

Congratulations! Track has reached Level 5. +1 Skill Point.

Without a focus or some other item to ground the Skill, its effect was weak. But that did not matter to him. The fact that it had activated at all told him all he needed to know: Clover was still alive but was trapped inside the building.

He shouldn’t have cared about the kid; he had met him just a few hours ago. Yet, he did.

Rodger remembered what he had told Clover a few short minutes ago: “Don’t look out for anyone other than yourself. Anything more than that will get you killed.”

He sighed.

Skirting around the edges of the conflict, Rodger avoided the Bone Rats as he returned to Walmart. In his heart, he hoped that maybe if he committed a good deed now, it would offset the crime - the sin he was about to commit so that when he returned, and she looked at him, she would not see a monster.

Feeling like a hypocrite, Rodger entered Walmart for the second time that day. He stalked down the soaked halls, guided by a vague pull as he activated [Track]. Water splashed as he stepped through puddles. More so than following the vague instructions handed to him by the Skill, he followed a trail of destruction.

On that trail, he paused as he passed a fallen Bone Rat. Its form was beaten and battered - someone - likely Clover had cut a triangular hole into its chest. He blinked, taken aback by the savagery of it. Clover had not struck him as the type of person capable of such violence.

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He continued till he reached a back corner of the building. There, in a pool of blood, a headless mutated rat rested. Jagged rows of sharp bones jutted out of its back, impaling themselves into metal shelves forming an impassable wall. Rodger couldn't help but wonder what the hell had happened. It looked like the monster's growth had gone haywire - like it had eaten something it shouldn't have.

Sensing he was close, he activated [Track] once more. A tug pulled at his attention.

Congratulations! Track has reached Level 6. +1 Skill Point.

Perhaps thirty feet away, Rodger spotted a knocked-over metal shelf surrounded by a random assortment of items that blocked its lower half from view. He had to admit, it was a clever idea. It wouldn't hold up under human observation, but it was probably enough to stay hidden from any low-Level monster.

After retrieving the wheelchair, he trudged forward and shifted the items out of the way, revealing Clover's unmoving form. For a moment, he thought he was dead - Clover was unnaturally still, but blue letters still hung above his head, so he knew that was impossible.

He cringed at the extent of Clover's injuries; his arms had been slashed, and he was missing a finger. Carefully, he muscled him into the chair. Then, retracing his steps, he pushed him out of the building.

Outside, the situation had further descended into chaos. Deep Ants, led by a Level 6 [Hive Queen] with a blood-red title, warred against the Bone Rats in a brutal melee. Of course, the residents of the hospital weren't so lucky as to have the monsters forget about them; a large contingent of them slammed into the entrance, slowly forcing it open. It seemed that the monsters' desire to devour people was stronger than their desire to consume each other.

He paused, momentarily unsure what to do next. He was still on a timer; every second he spent out here made his plan less likely to succeed. Which made the question of what to do with Clover all the more pressing. He couldn't just leave him out here. That'd leave him worse off than if he had just left him in the building.

He pushed his Perception to its limits, searching for something, someone...

To his right, in the next building over, he spotted a blond teen watching the battle; only the top of her head stuck out from behind the counter. A plan formed in his mind.

Crouching, he silently pushed Clover to the coffee shop. Then, with a soft jingle, he pushed open the door and entered the building.

Immediately upon seeing him, the girl screamed and chucked a coffee machine at his head. He leaned out of the way and held out his hands. "Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. I need your help."

She looked at him critically, reaching for another coffee machine. However, before she threw it, a glint of recognition crossed her face, and she calmed somewhat. “What the hell did you do to Clover?” she asked as her hand snaked along the counter, plucking a knife from it.

Rodger's lips twitched upward. He liked her. She was paranoid enough to survive this new world.

"You know him?" She slowly nodded. "Good. You see the blue light over there." He pointed, not waiting for her to reply. "That's the Safe Zone. I'd appreciate it if you would take him there," he said simply.

“What?” She took a moment to process what he said, mulling over his words with a sour expression. “You want me to go outside in the middle of all this.” She gestured vaguely at the mutated animals warring outside.

"Do you want to be stuck in this coffee shop for the rest of your life? The situation out there isn't going to get any calmer." Rodger had never been very good at persuasion. "I'll cover for you," he added after a brief silence.

She hesitantly nodded.

Rodger made a few last-minute adjustments, and then, before long, the girl was pushing Clover out the door, sprinting away wildly. No monsters moved to follow her.

Rodger sighed. His good deed for the day was done. What came next, he didn't look forward to. But it was the only way he could possibly return home. He had to do it if he ever wanted to see her smile again. A sinking feeling grew in his gut as he snuck amidst the chaos, following the faint signal [Track] produced.

Through some combination of luck and skill, he remained undetected as he arrived at the small shop - a trendy rock and crystal store that Phil hid inside. He peered through a window.

Phil crouched next to a large chunk of quartz with his hand outstretched. His forehead wrinkled in concentration. A moment later, the crystal flashed as its structure transformed. White dust fell as the chunk of quartz turned into a snake. Taken aback, he watched as the crystal golem slithered across the ground, seemingly following Phil’s commands.

Rodger ducked down, careful to stay out of sight. He took a deep breath for a moment, questioning his actions. It wasn't too late to turn back. No. He resolved himself. Maybe if it had been someone else, he wouldn't have done it, but… he didn't like Phil. He had it coming. The man was a bully. The world would be better off without him. A thousand more justifications ran through his head.

He took a deep breath and drew his knife, then circled around to the back of the building. He would only get one shot. Quietly, he opened the back door. It had been unlocked - a rare stroke of luck.

He stalked forward, passing through a supply room. His heart rate quickened as he stepped into the main showroom. Phil still had his back turned. He was unaware.

Crushing any remaining doubt in his body, he lunged forward. At the last moment, Phil turned. He wasn’t fast enough. Eyes wide with shock, Rodger’s blade sunk into his chest.

“Wha…” Phil’s words slurred as he ripped out the knife.

Rodger stabbed him again.

Stumbling back, Phil gripped at his hand, keeping the blade lodged in place.

He noticed the crystal snake rapidly slithering toward him out of the corner of his eye.

Half picking up the other man, Rodger drove him forward, working up a considerable amount of momentum till they crashed into the store's front glass window.

They crashed through it, landing in a heap. Rodger pressed his advantage, stabbing the other man till he stilled.

Hands dyed red with blood, he sat there for a moment in a daze. He couldn't believe it had all ended so quickly. "I'm sorry," he said, finally. He did not know who he was apologizing to, the man or himself.

A rush of blue screens appeared - more than the usual amount for a kill notification. He ignored them for now. A phantom blue crystal slowly materialized alongside Phil's corpse, gaining size as grain-by-grain specks of crystal coalesced. He tried to grab it, but his hand passed right through it, displacing grains of magic as if they were fire flies that were swept away by the wind - the crystal was not yet a completely physical object. More so, to his touch, it was a conglomeration of cold energy and magic.

The other Skill Stone had not taken nearly as long to form.

Glancing up, he was forced to tear his gaze away from the forming Skill Stone. A trio of Bone Rats charged toward him, their positions staggered. Far ahead of the others, the first arrived, and he was forced to dive out of the way as it lunged at him.

Shit. He shuffled back, further away from the Skill Stone, as the Bone Rat pursued him. He swiped at it, keeping it at a distance.

While he could fend off one indefinitely, fighting three Bone Rats simultaneously would be impossible. Through sheer numbers alone, they would overwhelm him. He clenched his fist. He needed to grab the Skill Stone and get out of there as fast as possible; nothing else mattered. However, a new player entered the equation before he could execute his plan.

A strange Bone Rat that walked on two legs and had a purple name tag emerged from the shadows and plucked the now physical and fully formed Skill Stone from the ground. It tilted its masked face, staring at the glowing crystal.

At that moment, the other two Bone Rats arrived. He cursed under his breath again. He had a choice: stay and fight against the odds for a slight chance of retrieving the Skill Stone, or run away and live to see another day.

Taking one last glance at the strange monster, Rodger turned tail and fled. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Step by step, he raced down broken city streets till the trio of Bone Rats no longer pursued him.

Alone, he breathed heavily. He had killed a man, and it had been for nothing. He almost wanted to laugh. It was so pathetic.

He tried to wipe the blood off its hand, but they would not come clean no matter what he did - some residue always remained. He shook his head; it wasn't important.

Walking, he continued forward till the road reached its end. Swallowed by a towering forest filled with trees the likes of which he had never seen before, civilization reached its end. He looked side to side. There was no break in the tree line - from the looks of it, the forest wrapped around the entire city.

He took one last glance at a knocked-over mile marker, then trudged into the unknown - 235 miles to go.