[Player Log Start!]
[Log Holder: Verity Monroe]
[Level: 1 – Boss Stage]
“We’ve got three goals.” Tench reminded them all, “Do damage control, by curing anyone who’s bitten, but not turned. If they’ve turned, you need to kill them using those antibiotics Terry has gotten. That’s goal two, spreading the antibiotics as fast as possible to all of them. And goal three…”
“Stopping the King Zombie.” Verity finished for him.
“Very kind of you to lay it out on the table for us.” Jared nodded, quite sarcastically, “Not like we’ve been here the whole time, living through this nightmare longer than you.”
“Now isn’t the time to be petty.” Tench smiled at him, narrowly avoiding an arrow another one of the last remaining people in Hygeia flung at a stumbling zombie. It fell easily from that one hit. Either the zombies were getting weaker, or these people were quickly leveling up their aim at an almost impossible level. She wished that they could get their hands on the Console again to use up all the Exp. Points she had racked up over time.
“I know you guys are upset at me for taking this long to provide backup.” Tench started to say, his voice soft and guilty.
“Who said that?” Terry signed; speech having long lost him, “I don’t think so.”
“Yeah!” Michael agreed, “You’re not as crucial as you think.”
“Was that meant to be… reassuring?” Tench grimaced, “Because that’s just mean, man.”
“Sorry.”
“We need to put together a proper plan. Instead of that… rubric you listed out.” Asadullah added in, focused on the one important factor of this conversation, “How do you plan on spreading this zombie killing antibiotic?”
Terry made an explosion motion with his hands, which the subtitles helpfully translated into, “Dust Cloud.”
“And who’s going to make that?” Verity asked, “Like, pound the medication into powder and throw it everywhere? It’ll need a lot of the stuff.”
“I have a good amount on me.” Tench revealed, digging through his pack to pull out a sheaf of pill packets, “Not enough to be throwing around wholesale, though.”
“These creatures are moving around in a calculated formation, instead of the randomized track they were taking before.” Michael realized, looking over the awning they were standing on to watch the line of zombies pacing in front of a building’s entrance, acting almost like… guards.
“Must be the King Zombie’s doing.” Jared decided, “It’s controlling all the others, right? Called in that second wave, too. We gotta kill it, that’ll stop this all.”
“Yes!” Verity nodded, “Me and Michael will take point on that one. You guys… work on the other two goals. Try and find survivors. We’ll bring the main beast down.”
“Why me?” Michael squeaked. Everyone looked at him. His pale face flushed red, “Right. Sorcerer. Fire at my command.”
Terry raised his hand, and then twisting it into a questioning gesture. He was volunteering to go for it, or was maybe asking why he wasn’t being asked to go.
“You have so little stamina that you can’t even hold Vera’s gun coat for an extended period of time.” Tench told him, phrasing it as delicately as he could manage. Terry wilted.
“We need you to help herd the zombies into a place once the others have taken out the King Zombie.” Asadullah added, “Your expertise is something special. You know where the other caches of antibiotics or bunkers are kept?”
Terry beamed at him, brushing his hands through his teal hair, which was more brown these days than artificial blue-green. Verity needed to get out of here before they started being any cuter than before.
“Michael, what are your mana points looking like?” She asked. His eyes lit up green, the telltale panel alerting them all that he had activated his Computer Affinity ability. Once the light died behind his eyes, he took a step back, taking a breath.
“Just enough to make it work.” He explained, “How much combat are we looking at?”
Verity pointed over the roof they were standing on and into the tightly packed epicenter of the zombie hoard, “Fighting through that.” She told him, “Do you mean it when you say that you can make it?”
Suddenly, her friend didn’t seem all that certain.
“I mean need some pick-me-ups.” He admitted, “But we haven’t reached the part of the System where the magic mechanics are properly fleshed out, so the only way to get it back is to rest. My mana points are currently at 20 out of 50, and it takes ten minutes to regain each mana point.”
Ugh that was… that was… Verity scrunched her forehead, trying to work it out mentally.
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“Five hours.” Asadullah volunteered, “That gives us time to start hitting up those caches and bunkers we’re looking for. While Michael stays here and doesn’t overexert himself.” He glanced at Michael accusatorily. The young sorcerer shrunk into himself.
“Fine.” Verity sighed, letting her frustration go, “Everyone huddle up, check your guns and how much ammo you have.” Everyone around her glanced around awkwardly, looking at their hands and feet.
Right. Tench couldn’t kill anyone, Asadullah had knives on his hands, and Terry had… something on his arm that ate all organic matter. They had no way to hold a gun, or maybe even knew how to shoot one.
Jared grabbed one of her snub-nosed ones, looking it over with his piercing eyes, “I’ll take this.” He told her, “You got the right… heh, caliber of bullets for this?”
She rolled her eyes and pulled out a clip for him. She knew the contents of her jacket so well she could pick out the right size with just the feeling of them on her fingertips.
“Thanks.” He grinned at her, tucking into his front pants pocket, replacing it with a wadded-up hand-drawn map he had apparently been keeping in there. He spread it out on the raw floor of the roof, revealing what looked like a top-down look of the whole of Hygeia.
“I’ve been filling this in with all the evacuation plans and quarantine areas and failsafe protocols the people have mentioned around me.” He explained, pointing out circles and routes marked out in green, “The ones in green have some backing behind them. Even if it’s just hearsay and gossip. Especially the bit about the seed bunkers, and the one for the founders.”
“This place has founders?” Asadullah asked. Verity couldn’t argue with his confusion. The many people of Hygeia had never mentioned any founders or important people. Except for one important fact.
“Have you forgotten about the Mob conspiracy?” She asked bluntly, “That was very important.”
“Okay, yeah.” Asadullah grimaced, “It is very easy to forget.”
“Easy to forget the people vanishing in thin air in front of us?” Terry asked, waving a hand in front of his eyes to amplify the word ‘vanishing’. Asadullah pouted at him, not taking the jab seriously.
“But that clears it up, yeah?” Jared asked, “Because that means the first place we check is what they stashed in the room they knew wasn’t going to be used.”
“What? Why would we do that?” Tench asked.
“Video game logic.” He reasoned.
“Kid, you were eleven the last time you played a video game.” Tench sighed, “How would you remember video game logic?”
“I don’t see the point in arguing about this. We’re going to check it out eventually either way. Not like you have any better ideas on where we’re supposed to start.” Verity pointed out, “Where’s the bunker?”
He tapped the circle on the edge of the barrier of Hygiea, right below Hygeia Hall, the place where they had been led to first upon entering Hygeia, “Right under here, apparently.”
“If you must know, I do know where they keep the medication. I’m a doctor, remember?” Tench interjected, looking faintly amused and disconcerted, “The main stores are by the proper medical facilities.”
“Which will be overrun by monsters by the time we get there.” Jared brushed off, “All the people in there are sitting ducks. Waiting to get bitten.”
“And we want to help them stop turning, right?” Terry added, “That’s why I’m here. We should go help them in the medical area. Knock out two things at the same time.”
Asadullah nodded quickly, “Yeah, I’m with him on this.”
“Split up, then.” Verity surmised, “Tench, Asad, and Terry go to the medical area. Michael stays here and recovers. Me and Jared go to Hygeia Hall. Whoever finds it first… who cares. Just get out alive.” She couldn’t find it in herself to come up with a witty stake.
Everyone nodded and fell into their roles, stowing weapons, and food, and picking out fire escapes.
Michael simply sat and pouted, stuck on recovery.
“Keep your guard up.” Verity told him sternly, “You never know when a zombie with a level high enough to climb a ladder will get up here. Do not sleep. Unless you’ve got some Samaritan watching your back.”
“Please find a Samaritan to watch your back.” Jared added as his bit of advice, “You’re going to need all the backup you can get, and without us or your special powers, you might get overwhelmed. Don’t leave things like that up for chance. Take advantage of the few pros of your situation.”
“They’re right in earshot, you know?” Asadullah pointed towards the people dotted around the roofs of nearby buildings. It was startling how many buildings Hygeia had, considering that they were barely allowed to go into any.
“Your hearing stronger.” Terry reminded Asadullah with his hoarse whisper, instead of the sign language he had resorted to for the majority of the time they had spent here. Asadullah nodded, as if he had forgotten that.
“But they could still have heard you from this distance. And notice the way you were very obviously pointing at them.” Tench added, not any less put off by their behavior. He slung his pack over his shoulder, fastened the strap around his midsection, and began climbing down his selected fire escape. Terry went after him, with Asadullah turning into the smallest cat imaginable and sitting on his shoulder.
Verity picked off a flake of blood that was still caking her skin and crossed over to the fire escape she had judged to be the most conducive to their destination. Jared followed after her, wrestling with his map and giving her a rundown on the route they planned to take, “You could already tell that we are… not close to the Hall. At all. The quickest route would take us right past the main group of zombies and eurgh.” He shuddered, making the entire rusty staircase shudder alongside him, “You can see why that’s a bad idea.”
Verity hummed, trying to focus on both Jared and the zombies waiting below with their mouths agape, as though they would simply fall into their mouths. The metal gave another shake, and she considered the idea that they might be onto something with that. Humoring Jared, she asked, “So what path do you want to take?”
Another step down. Another creak. More shuffling of paper. She could almost ignore the bloodbath below, as the lecture continued.
“See, the best idea is to head to the perimeter, stick close to it, and then circle around to reach the Hall. But it could easily take more than a day.” Jared explained, “Considering the breach in the walls are where the zombies are coming in from, we should always stay on our guard, though, even if the solid barrier on one side seems like it would provide a solid defense.”
“It’s the best option we have, though.” Verity pointed out diplomatically, “Doesn’t have to be perfect.”
“Yeah!” Jared agreed, sounding less sure than Verity would have liked. That wasn’t good. Jared could bullshit his way out of the most unlikely odds. If this was bad even for him, then she didn’t want to know their chances of getting out.
All she could do was turn her back, and jump into the sea of zombies below. Clearing the path for Jared to come after, and also, by some miracle, staying in control of herself.
[Player Log End!]