It took us only a few minutes to get moving. Kurt divided up our peanuts into eight equal portions - one for each person awake - and doled out a little caramel syrup to cover them. He’d found paper towels somewhere, so the mess wasn’t as extensive as it could have been. TAF shared their resources too, so we each got half a granola bar.

The result was less “meal” and more “thirst-inducing sugar-laden snack,” but it was better than nothing. I felt ravenously hungry, probably due to the fact that my last solid meal had been over 24 hours prior.

Byron, Davi, Kurtis, and I each drank half a water bottle, then tucked the other two inside the pile of tarps.

I glanced around. “We ready?”

Kurtis laughed shakily. “Ready as we’re going to be.” He clearly wasn’t looking forward to helping me guard the right side of the cart, but he didn’t have much choice. I’d given him some tips on strikes and blocks yesterday - had it been only yesterday? - when we’d been trapped in the airport breakroom, but he’d never struck anything with a weapon in his life.

I’d have preferred to have Byron or Davi walking beside me, but Davi was still limping and Byron and Twinkles would be pushing the cart, since both had taken ranged abilities that they could use one-handed. Avalanche and JoeyT would guard the left side of the cart, while Davi would throw out shields to guard us as she rode. The last member of our group still awake, Zephyr, was more-or-less dead weight. She’d taken a stupid ability called Assisted Strike that helped her not miss her attacks on enemies. I felt sorry for her and I hoped we could get her help, but I had trouble keeping the incredulity off my face when I heard her ability. Woo. Great choice. Powers never before within reach of humankind, and you take the one lame-ass thing that could be completely replaced by a little bit of practice. We’d found a small bag of bolts for her to throw, but since the ability didn’t increase the force of her strikes, I doubted she’d be useful as more than a distraction until we got her healed up.

That was if she threw anything at all. I didn’t know the poor kid, but she didn’t look like she was doing well. Even sitting still seemed taxing, and Avalanche kept trying to convince her to lie down. I could see why her friends wanted to hurry to the next building. We had healers with us, yes, but who knew what state Zephyr would be in by the time they woke up?

I could see why the others had been nervous as we made our way through the warehouse. I didn’t see anyone out-and-out fighting yet, but we passed more than one group that seemed to be teetering a hairsbreadth away, screaming insults, calling each other thieves and worse.

Sensei Hank would definitely tell me to leave, I thought. “The best form of self-defense is to leave before a situation gets dangerous.” Be nice if we weren’t fighting monsters on the way out, but we don't get much choice about that. They'll still be here later.

I’d been worried people might try to stop us from opening the door to leave, but no one seemed focused on guarding the exits. There wasn’t any organization. Most people got out of our way after a cursory glance. The six of us still standing made us one of the larger groups working together, and TAF’s matching jerseys implied a degree of unity and coordination. With our valuables hidden under a tarp, no one decided it was worth their time to mess with us.

We drew some attention in the last seconds we spent in the warehouse, as Kurt picked up his axe and Avalanche and JoeyT grabbed sledgehammers. They’d offered to loan me their last sledgehammer - and I’d debated taking it - but decided the additional power wasn’t enough to justify taking a much slower and less flexible weapon.

“Hey! Where’d you get those?” someone called.

I ignored the question. We’d be gone in seconds, and I doubted they’d chase us out into the monsters for answers. “Kurt and Avalanche hold the doors. JoeyT and I will go out first, then Byron and Twinkles push the cart out. Follow as close as you can.”

I didn’t wait for a response, throwing myself out the door and leaving Kurtis scrambling behind me to catch it before it swung closed.

The small window in the door had provided some visibility, but I still held my staff ready as I exited, ready to fend off an ambush from the sides.

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None came.

Attackers began charging at us the moment the door opened - most notably a spacedog only ten feet away - but nothing had been lying in wait.

I appreciated the small mercy; dealing with a stream of enemies was far easier than dealing with a coordinated assault.

Not easy. Just easier.

Fighting multiple enemies is something I’d trained for. Even if a lot of my training hadn’t carried over, to this fucked-up situation, I at least knew the principles. For example, when you’re fighting multiple enemies, victory is a lower priority than survival. You don’t try to finish off any individual, you just try to keep them from hurting you for as long as possible, until the situation changes. Maybe you escape. Maybe help arrives. Maybe you do enough incidental damage that you whittle down your opponents. If you can, use your enemies against each other. With people, that means using your footwork, using one attacker to shield yourself from others, maybe knocking someone into another person coming at you to trip them.

The little monster fucks could jump like fleas; I doubted I could use them to block each other. Maybe I could knock them into each other, but I couldn’t afford to devote my attention to perfect strikes or throws. Speed and balance would be king here.

The first monster was on me in barely a second, and I swept my staff forward to knock it back, sending it tumbling end over end. Even before the strike finished, I was bringing my foot around in a kick against an oncoming monster from the left, then shifting my weight as my foot landed, spinning to check the area behind me. I was just barely in time to notice a leaping monster and get my staff in front of it in a motion that was less a strike and more an awkward block.

It stopped the monster from reaching my face, but didn’t knock it backwards. A wildly flailing claw tattered the left sleeve of my buttondown as the monster fell to the ground, and droplets of blood scattered through the air.

I couldn’t afford to give the injury much attention. The first monster I’d knocked away would be back soon, and I had seen two more approaching as I spun… plus, the monster who'd shredded my sleeve had already landed on its feet and was about to lunge once more.

My kick against it would be weak - I didn’t have space or time to put my body into it the way I ought - but I activated my Powerful Blow and the monster sailed away.

I should be using that more often.

The thought was fleeting, a little chagrined, but I was mostly fighting on survival instinct, falling back on years of martial arts training. It was hard to remember my new options, even if my Sprinter augment was making my footwork faster than it’d ever been before.

I kept moving, turning in a circle, trying to keep the many enemies in view. JoeyT had run up behind me to slam his sledgehammer down on top of one of the monsters, taking it out of the fight fairly conclusively, but leaving him vulnerable to one of the new spacedogs charging forward. A blue Force Shield from Davi was all that kept JoeyT’s back intact long enough for Avalanche to move forward and put the second monster out of its misery. Byron and Twinkle were both looking behind me, and each fired a missile at targets I couldn’t see.

Those were my responsibility. I turned my back toward JoeyT and Avalanche, trusting them to guard my rear.

A monster was coming back toward me along the ground, but slowly, favoring one bleeding foreleg. Its fur-stuff was on fire as well, and the monster was making a horrific noise of pain. I dismissed it for the moment; it would reach me later than the second monster I saw, the one tensing its muscles to jump.

I moved to block, but Davi was ahead of me, a Force Shield halting its leap in midair. A step forward brought the stunned monster into range, and I knocked it toward the wall of the building. That left only the slow, injured monster for me to deal with. I activated Powerful Blow once more, bringing my staff down atop it with backbreaking force, then turned to survey the scene behind me.

No more monsters were on their feet.

Smoke drifting up from where JoeyT’s hammer rested on the ground suggested that he’d just finished off another foe. Kurtis looked like he might be about to faint, but he’d found the courage to approach the monster I’d knocked back toward the building, and he was jerking his axe out of its guts. I watched for a second as he awkwardly brought his weapon down again: this time, the monster perished.

I could see more monsters in the distance, but this side of the building, too, didn’t seem to be experiencing the instant respawns of the area near the airport. We’d bought a moment to breathe.