23.

It took several hours to organize and find volunteers. The shock of the world’s ending hadn’t worn off at all yet. The boost in stats had helped some though as they were able to boost their willpower and intelligence enough to function. Others were just desperate or mad, not needing the stats to be functional. Either way, Santi couldn’t afford to care that much.

His plans had already been derailed, his original plan of building a small and elite group thrown out the window. Nearly two hundred survivors were clustered into the small building. It wouldn’t take long for everyone to consume the supplies Santi had bought. These early day missions would be critical for the short term survival of the group.

Once levels started coming, especially the jump from Initiate to Acolyte, they would be able to worry about more long term threats than starvation and dehydration. In the meantime, Santi had scrounged together a team to lead into downtown and start raiding supplies. It was only the second full day since the system’s arrival and the stores should be in decent condition. If anything, with the boost in the world’s rating, there might be more supplies. The monsters unleashed on the world may have reaped more souls than the first time.

“Is everyone ready?” Santi asked his crew. Daniel and Paulie were the only two he really knew. Paulie had managed to earn a Brawler class with his only skill so far being a passive for blunt weapons. He was still carrying around the lead pipe he had found from somewhere, but he had also added a hammer to his belt.

Daniel was actually the highest rank, a level five Sneak. It was the early stages to a Scout class, one that was actually fairly solid. Daniel had taken Skulk as his first skill, the one that let him blend in with shadows. His second was a weak attack ability called Pierce which did as it suggested.

“We go and rob a bunch of grocery stores. Pretty simple plan, Santi.” Paulie was bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation. Santi thought it had to do with the upcoming larceny.

“Remember, stick together no matter what. Everyone has a buddy and we do not break line of sight with them.” Santi reminded everyone of his cardinal rule. He had stated it nearly a dozen times already, but he knew it would take blood for them to really understand.

“You’re with me,” Chloe said as she wrapped a hand around Rayleigh’s elbow. They were two of the only three girls on the team. More were on Tank’s team, but for the most part not many of them had managed to get any fighting classes right away.

Chloe had managed to snag the Fighter class, which was the most advanced class Santi had ever heard an Initiate earn. Most people who had managed to make it through the night only earned the Survivor class. It was the class Santi had originally earned himself. It wasn’t a handicap, but it definitely wasn’t an advantage.

Rayleigh was a lvl 3 Brawler like Paulie, and she kept her golf club clutched to her side. She had been silent since coming out of the healing room, but Santi didn’t know her at all. She could be severely traumatized, a likely outcome of being speared through the chest, or she could just be a naturally quiet woman.

The final girl was a Survivor who had taken the only skill the class was offered, 6th Sense. It was a fairly basic danger detection skill, but it was the only one they had at all. Hana had been partnered with Daniel as their scouts.

The rest of the team was filled out with some brawny guys who had helped hold the line. Trevor, a level three Brawler. Justin, a level 3 Scrapper who had wrapped like a boxer, and Beto, another level 3 Brawler. Santi had figured out that those who had used blunt, improvised weapons had managed to unlock the Brawler class and they all used a mixture of bats or hammers. It might have actually been the most common class among the survivors.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

That reminded Santi, they needed to do a census. Figure out everyone’s classes and skills. It was the best way to work out teams. Most of the Brawlers were using their passive, but as more skills were added, there would be branching pathways. Pathways that he needed to know if he wanted to be effective.

Paulie and Beto were attached to Santi as a trio rather than a duo. He was planning on the three of them being in the thickest of whatever fighting there had to be. Paulie, well simply, he trusted him. Beto was a slightly older Hispanic man in his early 20’s. He was all stringy muscle with watchful eyes, unlike Trevor and Justin who were walking walls of muscles.

“Ok, so we head for the closest store first. Keep an eye out for anyone who looks like they could be useful. We don’t enter houses unless we have to.” Santi had horror stories of trying to clear dark houses filled with monsters and rotting corpses. Memories that he had no desire to add to. They would eventually have to start looting houses, but for now Santi wasn’t going to be doing it.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Paulie said as he burst out of the dim building, throwing the door open to allow a stream of brilliant sunlight to penetrate the gloom. Santi had to blink away tears as he followed him out. The grounds were deserted, Tank having already left with his much larger raid team. Nearly thirty people had volunteered to go with him on the shorter run.

They left through the cracked wall, a half dozen people stationed outside of it, and started to head downtown. Santi had passed out after the last fight, but Tank had led people in burning the bodies of the goblins. Gas had been siphoned out of cars and bodies had been piled up into an intersection and set alight. Now it was just a smoking heap of half burnt bodies with thick black smoke wafting off of them.

“Damn, really thought those would burn better,” Paulie groused as they steered around it and headed away from the quiet side streets. Daniel and Hana were ahead of them, Hana walking cautiously with her head swinging around constantly while Daniel clung to the shadows of houses.

“Bodies are hard to burn,” Santi said. He wasn’t as worried about an outbreak of disease now that he had thought of it. He was certain they were using some type of drug or potion to boost themselves at the expense of their potential.

“You say that like you have experience burning bodies,” Trevor muttered behind Santi. Santi decided to ignore him. Word of his unusual actions had traveled around the group, but nobody had decided to push him on it yet. Santi wished he could tell them but the geas was growing stronger by the hour.

It took them nearly an hour to reach the outer edge of the downtown region. It wasn’t far, but several times they had hid off to the side. Once for a horde of goblins that had been running by. They were the same red skinned variant that they had seen earlier with the weeping sores. Their arms had been filled with loot taken from homes, everything from food to kitchen appliances.

The second time had been a large group of human survivors. They had been wild eyed and near manic, forty or so middle aged adults jogging with only a handful of weapons. Santi was tempted to step in, but stopped himself. The heartless part of him, the survivor of an apocalypse, knew they were all deadweight. They were running on panic and adrenaline, racing along streets and crying as they searched for safety. They hadn’t realized there was no safety, that the world had devolved into something primitive.

Everyone had looked at each other with guilt in their eyes after they emerged from their hiding places after that group ran away. Fear was rife in his group too, but they were controlling it. Santi knew he had something to do with it, his presence and plans had given them a life ring they could cling to. They all knew that could be them, running and crying without a plan or hope.

“We’re almost to the first store. Stay close,” Santi whispered to them as they started to bunch up. The idle streets full of homes had morphed over the last several minutes. Large apartment complexes and small strip malls and restaurants dotted the wide roads. It was eerie, seeing all the cars parked and the roads empty. On occasion they had seen survivors darting around, but most looked like they were clinging to their homes.

Corpses had grown more common as they got downtown. The myriad of bars and late night eateries would have been packed at nearly midnight. A massacre that Santi had no desire to wade into. They were still on the edges of the downtown region, the tall buildings rising a few blocks away. Their target though was a sprawling, squat building with an empty parking lot. They darted across the road, abandoning the cover of the deserted cars and homes for the wide open street.

“Hey! Don’t go in there! It’s haunted!” A voice yelled out as they started crossing the parking lot towards the door. Santi spun to see a handful of people crouched down behind the counter of a hair salon. They were peaking their heads out and waving for Santi and the rest of them to come to them and not closer to the store.

“Shit. Let’s see what they want, then we hit the store,” Santi ordered.