For the first time since we’d left the airport, all of us were able-bodied and on our feet. Even so, no one suggested leaving the cart behind: we’d all learned how quickly things could go wrong.

Our trip started off well enough. Byron and I had quietly discussed the possibility that monsters would start reappearing instantaneously again due to our massive group size. Maybe the respawns had only slowed earlier when our exhausted members had dropped our group below some threshold of conscious fighters.

Far-fetched? Sure, but there wasn’t any kind of manual for what was happening. No rules, no explanations. The possibilities were endless. It was better to be prepared for anything we couldn't rule out. Even though respawns had stayed slow, we still couldn't be sure group size wasn't a factor. We hadn't gotten an exact count of our group earlier, so we could only guess whether it was larger or smaller than our current band.

Answers were beyond us, but the monsters weren't springing instantaneously back to life when we killed them.

Good enough for now.

We were still on the frontlines of the expedition, but others had joined us, brave individuals armed with cleaning implements and construction tools. More importantly, hundreds of people marched behind us. The gentle hills and nearly empty parking lots meant that we spotted the monsters from a great distance away, and most were taken down by a barrage of missiles long before I had to think about fending them off.

I felt almost relaxed. Not relaxed enough to stop scanning for threats, but relaxed enough to make a check every few seconds, instead of being constantly on high alert.

We’d initially planned to stop after about a half a mile, but as we got closer I could make out the signs on some of the buildings: snow removal, aviation security, construction support…. Nothing helpful.

I glanced up at the sky. In August, the sun was still high in the late afternoon, but the mountains would make night come on swiftly. These fields would become a lot more dangerous in the dark.

“We’re doing well!” I called out. “Veer right. Let’s keep going. No point in starting and stopping. I want to make it there and get something to drink.”

Zephyr mumbled something, but I couldn’t make it out.

“What was that?”

Avalanche snapped at me. “She said she’s thirsty, okay? You can understand what she’s saying if you try. It’s not that bad.”

Kurtis stepped in, playing peacemaker. “He just didn’t hear. We just want to make sure you guys are good to keep going. We’re partners, right?”

“Right,” Avalanche muttered, suddenly looking embarrassed. She glanced around at her team for confirmation. “We’re good to keep going, right? Yeah, we’re good.”

John spoke up, his voice a surprise. He’d been walking a little way behind us, staying close but out of danger. “I might need to hop on that cart. I’m sorry, kids. Not as young as I used to be. Feeling a little lightheaded.”

“It’s not a problem, sir.” Twinkles pulled the cart to a stop, waiting for him courteously. He met Avalanche’s eyes for a second, and even as a near-stranger I could see the message he was trying to send his teammate: Cool down. Play nice.

John jogged a little, hurrying to catch up, then lowered himself to the cart with a sigh. “Thanks, son.” He looked around at TAF as we started rolling forward again. Most of the crowd was still following us, only a few splitting off toward the snow removal building. “What kind of team did you say you all were?”

“We played a game called Legend Scramble together.”

The answer didn’t seem to clear much up for John. “What kind of ball do you play that with?”

I could see Twinkles’ face contort at the question. Bolero put a hand to his mouth, covering a squeaking noise somewhere between a sneeze and a hiccup, while Avalanche couldn’t hold back a snort.

JoeyT didn’t even try, guffawing loudly. “What ball, he asks! What ball! I’m dying!”

“It… doesn’t use a ball?” John asked.

“We’re an eSports team,” Bolero said, his own laughter eking out.

“And… that doesn’t use balls?”

I jumped in. “eSports means competitive video gaming. They sit in front of keyboards.”

John looked aghast. “You’re pulling my leg.”

I grinned. “Nope.”

He twisted around to look at our TAF compatriots, his hands curling in front of him to indicate an imaginary stomach. “But… you’re all in such good shape! Shouldn’t you be… uh… sorry…”

John floundered as he realized how rude he was being, but his inarticulate amazement only made the members of TAF laugh harder. John grew red and embarrassed.

Twinkles took pity on him, reaching over the handle of the cart to pat the older man’s shoulder. “If this were the early days of eSports, we probably would have been more, uh, schlubby, but that hasn’t been true in years. Exercise, getting decent sleep, eating healthy… it’s all part of our contracts these days. It might be a mental game, but the body affects the mind, you know?”

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“Oh. Uh. I see. I see.”

John still sounded horribly embarrassed. I couldn’t blame him. JoeyT’s raucous laughter had proved infectious, and those of us who weren’t openly chuckling at John’s expense bore wide smiles. If past patterns held true, he’d do his best to change the subject any time now. Not that there was much to talk about out here. Each time a monster attacked, it was dead in seconds. The ranged abilities might not be strong individually, but the monsters still couldn’t survive a dozen hits.

“Say,” asked John. “Is that lizard girl alright?”

Avalanche cut off mid-snicker. “She is not a lizard girl, she’s-”

“She just doesn’t look like she’s doing well. Sweetheart, you feeling okay?”

The obvious concern in John’s voice overrode Avalanche’s anger at his insensitive phrasing.

All of us turned to gaze at Zephyr, who stumbled woozily. “I hine… I can ‘ake it.”

Bolero was by her side in an instant. He placed a hand on her scaled skin. “Holy crap! She’s burning up. But… there’s nothing to heal.”

“We didn’t clean out the wound well enough!” Avalanche said. “She’s getting sick!”

Zephyr shook off Bolero’s hand. “I ok. I good. Let’s go.”

“No way,” he told her. “You’re not walking. Not like that.” He tried to pull her back to the cart, but was unable to move her until JoeyT and Avalanche came to help.

“I can ‘alk,” Zephyr mumbled, but when her friends made her sit, she stayed sitting.

“Cover her with the tarp,” I said. “If she’s too hot, shade might help?”

“Can’t hurt,” said Bolero. “How… how far until the ValuCo?”

I shrugged. “A ways yet, I think.”

Kurtis pointed. “I talked with some people at the last warehouse. You see those white buildings in the distance?”

“Those them?” Avalanche asked.

Kurt shook his head. “No. Those are the halfway point.”

“Should we… should we stop?” Avalanche asked. “We could go back for one of the buildings behind us, get out of the sun, and…”

“And then what?” Twinkles asked. “You think there’s going to be water to spare at the-” he paused, glancing back. “The US Flight Standards Office? If Zephyr's dehydrated...”

“No.” Avalanche’s voice was small. “Fine. Let’s hurry, then.”

We picked up the pace, and the crowd behind us matched speed… more or less. I could see our followers spread out a little bit as some members couldn’t quite keep up. There were still a lot of them. They could probably keep each other safe. I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to tell our allies not to hurry, especially as Zephyr didn’t seem to be getting much better, even with shade overhead.

The petite purple-scaled woman had laid down, hands loosely clutching one of the poles. Her body slid from side to side as the cart bounced, but she didn’t seem to be aware of it. Her eyes were open - barely - and as we passed the white buildings Kurt had pointed out, she started to talk. Her newfound speech impediment had made it difficult to understand, but I had the feeling she wouldn’t be making sense now even without it. Her voice lilted and dropped in a singsong way.

“She’s delirious,” Twinkles said quietly.

“We’re almost there,” I said.

I could see the building in the distance, red ValuCo letters standing out starkly against its white facade.

Our group had grown silent, the only noises Zephyr’s feverish musings. Our lead on the rest of the pack stretched. We started having to fight more monsters, but, blessedly, the monsters themselves seemed to have grown more sparse. Why? I had no idea. Figuring things out would come later.

This is it, I told myself. The final stretch. Stay focused.

A day of fighting together had made us a well-oiled machine.

Kurtis, Byron, and Twinkles had gotten the timing on their ranged attacks down, landing hits just before one of us reached the monsters. Even if their abilities weren’t that powerful, making the spacedogs flinch at the right moment gave us an opportunity to finish them off. The few times someone made a mistake, Davi was ready with a Force Shield to spare us from the consequences.

I don’t know how long it took us to get there. Forever? Five minutes? Probably somewhere in between. The distance between us and those behind us continued to grow, our mad charge much faster than everyone else’s cautious advance.

A wrought iron fence surrounded the building, too thick for our bolt cutters. I doubted JoeyT could have knocked it over.

Fortunately, luck was smiling on us for the first time all day: a semi had spun out of control, carving up trails of dirt from the road. The fence had stopped the semi… but not before the semi had bashed out a section right in front of its cab.

“Praise the Lord,” said John.

“Must have happened yesterday,” Byron said. “Same time as when the plane hit the building.”

“Who cares?” Avalanche said. “Let’s go!”

We almost took injuries in the last few feet, when a pair of spacedogs rushed out from underneath parked semi trucks with almost no warning, but I managed to knock one away by reflex, letting Avalanche finish it off. Twinkles practically buried the other in Ice Bolts, the tiny monster twitching as it weathered hit after hit.

Then we were there. Kurtis laid a hand on the employee entrance, and the small door - too small for our cart - glowed blue. John sprung to his feet, turning to help the rest of us lift Zephyr and stagger inside the building. Kurt closed the door behind us.

I was panting, adrenaline coursing through me. For a moment, my eyes couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. It was all too much, too confusing, and my mind was still running across the parking lot, waiting for another monster to strike.

We were standing in a small clearing in the midst of ceiling-high shelves. Pallets were piled upon upon pallets, massive stacks of goods wrapped in paper and cardboard and plastic.

Byron was the first to recover, picking up the axe Zephyr was no longer using, angling the head to slice away the plastic on one of the bundles nearby. I watched him stupidly, not able to parse what he was doing until he reached inside and pulled out a jug of apple juice. He removed the lid and took a deep chug straight from the bottle.

We all watched him, mesmerized. The amber liquid was highlighted by the building's skylights as he tilted it back, reflected glow making it seem like liquid gold. It seemed almost unreal, too beautiful to be real.

Byron finished his drink, the level in the bottle noticeably decreased as he lowered it to find us all staring at him. He raised an eyebrow, stepping to the side as he gestured to the sliced-open packaging.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”