I waited until respawns started appearing in the parking lot before I retreated, shutting the solid door behind me in the face of another charging spacedog. The group on the hillside - or what remained of it - was framed by the doorframe for an instant as I did so. Only one person was still standing.

Realistically, there wasn't a point in waiting, but I stood by the door, ready to pull it open if I heard human voices outside.

I didn’t.

The building was every inch the warehouse we’d expected from the facade. To my left, I could see piles of rock and gravel. In front of me was a shelf filled with bags of cement powder. To my right, I could see sheets of drywall and stacks of plywood. If there were price stickers on the shelves it would feel like I was in Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Maybe somewhere there’d be better options for weapons. I should look. Probably sooner, so they weren’t all claimed… if the people who worked here hadn’t already claimed them.

I couldn’t bring myself to move. The ground looked inviting, but the idea of laying down was repugnant. What if something attacked? I needed to be on my feet, able to dodge. I compromised by leaning back against the wall.

Byron found me there a little while later, his lanky frame relaxing as he caught sight of me. “Glad you made it in, dude. You were really something.”

“We gotta get out of here.”

“What?” Byron stared at me.

It took me a minute to organize my thoughts. I hadn’t meant to say that, but now that I had… I believed it.

“I don’t want to go out with a big group again. We needed them to get out of the airport, but we can’t trust them. You saw what happened; everybody lost their heads just when things started to get easier. People just saw a change and panicked. That killed people. We can’t put our lives in the hands of a mob.”

“We can’t fight monsters with just the five of us. Especially not if they start coming back in seconds again.”

“They’ll still stop if we can take them down without killing them.”

“Sure, but… there’s safety in numbers. And just because you’re a ninja samurai doesn’t mean the rest of us can back you up.”

“Safety in numbers, my ass! We left at least eight people out there to die!”

Dozens of people turned their heads.

I guess I’d been shouting.

Whatever. They could glare. I hadn’t been saying anything that wasn’t true. If it made people feel guilty, maybe they should have fucking helped.

Byron stepped close to me and spoke quietly. “If we leave, it’s not going to make people any safer.”

“It’ll make us safer… and at least I won’t have to watch when they die.”

Byron looked troubled, but he turned away. “Well, we can’t leave yet. John’s still asleep and Davi’s ankle is pretty screwed up. Kurt’s trying to figure out what the situation is as far as water and shit. Come on.”

He led me over to a corner, where John was stretched out along the floor. Next to him, Davi lay on her back with her ankle resting on top of a nearby cardboard box. The ankle was exposed, wrapped with layers of gauze. I could already see a hint of red soaking through.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

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Davi shook her head, face frustrated. “When I put weight on it, it feels like I’m stabbing a sword through my leg, but I don’t have a lot to compare it to. The only other serious injury I ever suffered was a broken arm when I fell out of my cousin’s tree house.”

“Does this feel better or worse than that?”

She laughed, a little hysterically. “I was eight! I don’t remember how the broken arm felt.”

Byron squinted at me. “What would it mean if it felt better than that, anyway?”

“Uh… I don’t actually know.”

Davi let out a groan. “Classic Vince.”

Byron shook his head, chuckling slightly. “He’s pretty dumb for a smart guy.”

“Hey, I got my Ph.D. in planes, not people.” I didn’t really mind their ribbing. It felt… normal.

We sat - or in Davi’s case, laid - together in silence for a while until Kurtis returned, pulling the canvas wagon behind him.

He looked… worried.

I let him sink down against a nearby shelf before I started interrogating him. “So? What’s the bad news?”

“What isn’t?” he asked, his voice bitter. “No, sorry, that’s not useful. Alright, uh… good news first. There were nine people here who hadn’t taken abilities yet, and they all took healing abilities to try to help our wounded.”

“That’s great!” Davi said. “Do you think we’ll be able to find someone to fix my ankle?”

Kurtis shook his head. “Nope. All the new healers have joined the old ones. They’re fast asleep. There's not a single person awake and able to heal in the building. I saw Sarah - the clipboard lady - down too.”

“How are the wounded?” I asked.

“Seven of them are doing… fine,” he said. “The eighth bled out even after a healer did his best to help. The other 40 or so? It really just depends on how bad their wounds are and how good of a job we do at bandaging them. I think at least five more are going to die.”

“Fuckin’ hell,” Byron said.

“Safety in numbers,” I said, not bothering to keep the venom out of my voice.

“What?” asked Kurt.

Byron waved a hand. “Vince thinks we should get outta here fast. He doesn’t want to wait for everyone else. Just get a small group of people we can trust and… go.”

Kurtis looked down at his feet. “That… might not be a bad idea.”

“What? You’re crazy, man. Davi can’t walk, and John can’t keep his eyes open. We gotta wait until that changes, at least.”

“Not necessarily,” Kurt said. “There are some big, uh, I dunno what you call them. The big flat carts for moving construction supplies. I don’t think we could do it with just us, but if we could find a few more people willing to go, those are a lot bigger than the little baggage carts. A few of us could work together to push, while everyone else defended. Anyway… I think it’s a bad idea to stick around.”

That got all of our attention.

“Why?” I asked. “Is there no water?”

Kurtis grimaced. “I wouldn’t say none, but a lot of what’s here is really dirty. They didn’t have a lot of big, clean, containers to store it in. And… there’s no food we didn’t bring with us. I traded away a cup of caramel syrup for some peanuts, and a few more cups for four water bottles but… there’s about enough food here for every adult to have a snack. I’m pretty sure all the clean water’s going to be gone in a few hours, so I’d drink up before then. No one can take it out of our bellies. As far as I know, anyway. Any of you get enough Points for more abilities? I didn’t.”

I checked my Interface.

Points: 178 (Threshold reached. Ability selection available.)

I hadn’t earned as many Points as I’d hoped, probably because we’d been actively trying not to kill the monsters, but I’d gotten enough.

“I’m just a bit short,” Byron said. “Up to 112.”

“145 for me! I can pick one,” Davi said.

“Me too,” I offered.

“Great,” Kurtis said. In spite of his positive words, he sounded frustrated and looked tired. “Davi and Vince, stay here and talk your choices through. Don’t take anything too dumb. Byron, you’re with me. I’ve got some people in mind I want to talk to. Let’s grab a cart-thing and see if we can find others worth leaving with.”