Max profoundly apologized to Sarah for almost running her over.

Sarah gave him a warm laugh. “Don’t sweat it. Actually it’s good to see you, I wanted to talk to you anyways. Do you have a moment?”

“Uhh sure,”Max said, less smooth than he would’ve liked.

Sarah beamed at him. “Perfect. Walk with me.”

Max followed her. Lately he felt a bit weird around Sarah. They had shared an intimate moment the first night after the Nodefox den. The night when everything was still so fresh and Dave layed there bleeding and hurting. He felt a real connection to her since then.

Also they had spent lots of time together, just talking and enjoying each other's company. Almost as much as him and Dave probably. But during the last few days he started feeling a bit weird around her. It wasn’t that Max was awestruck by her beauty and her wits, although those were charges he wouldn’t deny. It was simply that something felt different, and he wasn’t sure if it was him and he had done something, or if it was just in his head.

They walked in silence for a few steps until they were a bit away from the rest of the camp, then Sarah picked up the conversation again.

“Mira has been acting weird lately.”

Max hadn’t expected that. “What do you mean?” He asked surprised.

Mira pursed her lips. “I mean she isn’t as withdrawn anymore. She walks around more cheerful.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? That she isn’t as withdrawn anymore I mean.”

Sarah cocked her head a little to the side. She sometimes did that when thinking, and Max thought it was pretty cute in a way.

“Well yeah of course it’s a good thing. I said she was acting weird, not that I’m worried about her.” She sighed. “My bad, I started this off wrong. How do you feel about Mira’s interest in Dave?”

Max paused and almost missed a step. “Wait what? Mira is interested in Dave?”

“At least I think so. She has been asking me a lot about him lately, and I saw her watching him train more than once.”

A sly smile spread over Max’s face. “That’s awesome.”

“It really is, isn’t it?” Sarah returned the smile. “I just wanted to get your opinion about it. You know, as Dave’s friend and kind of our leader.”

Hearing Sarah call him a leader soured his mood immediately. Not enough to paint over the fact that a girl was interested in Dave, but still a little. For almost twenty years Max had been playing wingman for Dave, trying to get him a girlfriend, or at least go out and meet girls. Sometimes he was successful, sometimes less so.

A shudder went through Max as he thought about Dave’s last girlfriend. Angela. They had only broken up a short while before he and Dave went on their trip. Or rather she had cheated on him with his boss and then left him. He still felt a little guilty for ever introducing them to each other.

They had been kind of happy for almost three years, but that was more because Dave really went to all lengths to make her happy, not because Angela was a nice person. Another shudder went through Max just from thinking about her.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard a single word from Dave about her since this whole thing started. While backpacking she came up quite a few times, especially when they were one or two drinks deep into a night. But nothing for the last two weeks.

What surprising upsides an apocalypse brought with it.

Max chuckled to himself at the thought. Then he realized Sarah had asked him a question.

“Sorry, what was that?” He said a little embarrassed.

Sarah raised an eyebrow at him and laughed. “You and Dave are a lot alike, you know that? Both of you just vanish into your own thoughts from time to time.” Then she sighed, her voice suddenly very serious. “Do you think it would be a good idea for them? Having a relationship during all of that I mean?” She gestured around them.

“Actually I don’t see why not. They could both probably use a little fun right now. I think we’re all worn a little thin with all the stress.” Max paused and turned his eyes down, seemingly struggling to bring the next words out. “To be honest I’m a little worried about Dave and his constant training. It seems like he’s hiding behind it.”

Sarah nodded softly. “It does seem a bit unhealthy doesn’t it?”

“Yeah exactly. But at the same time nothing is healthy right now. And maybe excessive training is really what we need right now...” Max tore his eyes away from the forest floor they were walking on, and looked towards Sarah. “I saw you working on your Skills diligently as well.”

“Is that a question or an observation?”

“A compliment really.”

Her frown turned into a blush and she looked away, seemingly pleased. “Thanks then.”

“So you think it would be good for them? Don’t you think it could complicate things a little with us all on this small clearing and stuff? What if their relationship turns sour?” Sarah looked down and had an unusually timid tone in her voice.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Max thought for a second, gave a little chuckle and then answered. “As I said, I think it would be good for them, good for all of us really. But don’t worry, I know Dave. He probably hasn’t even noticed Mira has a thing for him. He’s pretty deaf in that regard.”

Before Sarah could say another thing, a shout interrupted them.

“Ahh there you are Max! Do you have a moment? I need to show you something.” Sam shouted from behind them, hand raised in greeting.

Max smiled apologetically towards Sarah. “It was nice catching up with you. Maybe see you later?”

And with that he walked away towards Sam, leaving Sarah standing alone and shaking her head.

“And Dave’s supposed to be the deaf one.”

“What’s up Sam?” Max greeted him with a fist bump.

“Not much man, me and Bixby wanted to talk to you.” He returned the fist bump. “About the Nodefoxes we saw yesterday I mean. He send me to get you”

Max's carefree smile slipped for a second. A watchful observer, somebody that knew Max for a long time, would’ve seen the underlying tension that Max carried with him then. The face of constant worry he held within himself.

But Dave wasn’t there to see it, Sam didn’t notice it and so it went unobserved. Sam simply continued on while he steered Max back towards the camp. Bixby met them halfway there.

“Pleasure to see you Max.”

“Same to you my Nodefoxy friend. How you doing dog?”

Bixby looked confused for a second. He sometimes still had trouble dealing with the human mannerisms, especially with Max and Ryland and their excessive use of slang. But he collected himself again.

“Listen Max. I fear I have made a bad discovery. Come let me show you.”

Bixby led them through their small clearing to the opposite side. The side where Dave had seen the group of Nodefoxes less than a day ago.

“I found some new tracks here this morning.” Bixby said gesturing to the other side of the barrier. They were only standing a few feet away from the slightly shimmering air.

“How fresh? Are you sure they’re not from the group yesterday?”

Bixby gave him a flat look. “Yes I’m quite certain. Otherwise I wouldn’t have troubled you with it. There seems to be a regular Nodefox patrol around here.”

“So that means it will only be a matter of time until they find our shield.” Max said looking out into the woods.

Dave’s spear was swatted away like a fly. In return a fist caught him square in the chest, almost sending him flying. He coughed painfully a few times.

“Shit I’m sorry Dave.” Ryland said guiltily.

“No it’s alright. I asked you to go a bit harder.” Another cough. “But let’s take a break.”

They both settled down onto the clearing. Dave fell more than he let himself down softly.

Yesterday he asked Ryland if he wanted to train a bit together. As much as Dave was improving, he also needed to stay sharp in the face of danger. And with Rylands level of strength by now, even a slap was danger.

At first he was surprised by how agile and fast Ryland was. He thought him a brute before, plenty strong and head first through the wall. But while sparring Dave was quickly proven wrong.

Ryland was a surprisingly competent fighter. He knew what distance to keep to best disable Dave’s spear and he had a good sense of timing. There weren’t a lot of feints in his repertoire and most of his fighting relied on his strength, still whenever he got a hold of Dave, it was game over. So their fights stayed exciting.

But still Dave couldn’t quite go all out against him. He only fought with his spear, leaving out Spark, so as not to overwhelm him. And of course he only used the blunt parts of his spear, hindering him further. Even though Sam was less than a hundred meters away, Dave didn't want to risk serious injuries.

More than that though, Dave also tried to stick to the basics. Sometimes his instincts screamed elaborate movements or action movie-like sequences at him, but he ignored them and stuck to the fundamentals. Mainly working on his thrusts, his footwork and his sense of distance. He had watched enough Kung Fu movies and Karate Kid remakes to know the value of having good fundamentals.

So with all the restrictions placed in himself, Dave and Ryland found themselves relatively evenly matched. Although Dave was pulling ever so slightly ahead. In the beginning they had both roughly won five matches out of ten.

Now a day later Dave it was more like six out of ten for Dave. A subtle difference, but still an improvement that gave Dave a sense of pride.

“You good for another round?” Ryland called over.

His chest still heaving heavily and his ribs still aching Dave gave the only logical answer. “Ready when you are.”

And so they both got off the ground and seized up again.

Dave began slowly circling to Ryland’s left. He had learned it to be his slightly weaker side. Ryland was playing none of those games though and instantly took off towards Dave.

“Ohh that’s new.” Dave brought out sarcastically. Ryland gave him a smile that turned into a wild grin as he was getting closer.

Dave feinted a few thrusts to keep Ryland on his toes, but he simply ignored it and kept coming. In the last moment before Ryland would’ve slammed into him, Dave pivoted to the side avoiding his charge by a mere inch.

His spear thundered down towards Ryland’s legs. Still in motion as he was he couldn’t do anything but take it. With a grunt Ryland came to a stop and turned back towards Dave again, they stood less than two meters away.

Ryland exploded into a takedown, one of his favorite strategies. Forcing Dave to take a small leap backwards. But Ryland wasn’t finished and followed up with another dive for Dave’s legs.

This time Dave brought the butt of his spear down on Rlyand’s shoulder, shifting his momentum slightly to the left and sidestepping to the right.

In one fluid motion he turned his spear around and pointed the tip towards his friend kneeling on the ground.

“Alright, that was a short one,” Ryland laughed. “Shouldn’t have gone for the second take down attempt after seeing you were too far away.”

Dave held out his hand to pull Ryland up. “ And I should’ve landed a cleaner hit on your leg, disabling you. But well that’s how we learn. Thanks for the round.”

“Always man. And that shit hurts enough as it is.” Ryland drew in a deep breath while getting to his feet.

“Enough for today? I might need Sam to patch me up”

“Yeah enough for today.” Dave said, looking up at the slowly darkening sky. “I might do another round of cycling and leave it at that.”

“Alright see you for dinner later.”

They clasped their hands together and drew in for a half hug. Then Ryland was hobling of towards the camp.

Now to the important part. Dave checked the notifications he had dismissed during todays training. Immense satisfaction flooded Dave as he saw the message that had popped up during the fight. After almost two weeks of training it was nice to see the definite progress his training was getting him.

*Congratulations, your Soul Weapon Skill has reached Level 9.*

Just one more level for the next milestone. Dave smiled eagerly as he sat down for another round of strengthening his Mana channels.

Tomorrow he would have to fight with Max again. He hated it, but he knew it needed to be done. Letting tomorrow's problems be tomorrow's problems, Dave settled into his meditation.