Mark was panting lightly.

He was currently running between two apartment blocks. He wanted to avoid small enclosed spaces, but the evening was nearing. If he didn't find a place to settle down soon, he might have to take his chances in one of them. Boe was trotting next to him when Mark spotted something further up the road. On one of the corner intersections, there was a small theater. Mark made a snap decision. If anywhere was going to be safe, then a large open space to spot incoming attacks would be best.

The downside of this plan was that there would probably be more Corrupted in that place. However, if he could clear them out quickly he would probably have a decent vantage point of the whole intersection.

Clicking his tongue to get Boe to follow he moved towards the theater.

He was fortunate and there were no Corrupted all the way up to the entrance. Looking in he could see the multicolored lights of the snack dispensary. Looking up along the building he could see a second story, probably meant for either staff or someone living above. That would be his goal for now. Quietly as possible, he snuck in.

The room was a mess. Popcorn and discarded plastic cups littered the floor. While posters and light fixtures were ripped from walls.

He didn't see any charging bodies at first so that was a good sign. Walking forward he drew his weapons, Glock in the left hand, matchet in the right.

The first thing he did was check behind the counter. He did not want a repeat.

The theater had two cinema blocks and a small restroom just before two sets of double doors.

Beyond that, a single door led to a set of stairs.

Mark stopped at the double doors and readied himself. A handprint of dried blood was streaked down the left door handle. Someone had placed a metal bar between the handles as a makeshift lock

Mark had poked his head into the restrooms just to make sure nothing would cut off his escape routes.

Boe began growling gently at the doors.

Removing the bar and pushing the bloody set of doors open he walked in. The room was dark, only the light spilling in from behind him illuminated a patch of the room. Mark took a step in. The first thing he noticed was the stench. Decay and rot invaded Mark's nose. Forms lay still amongst the seats. Mark could just make out the nearest one.

A Corrupted corpse, this was a graveyard. Boe suddenly whipped around and growled menacingly. Mark turned and raised his gun at the same time as he heard the sound of a shotgun racking a live round.

He was staring down the barrel of a gun held by a silhouette. Mark was certain it was a man, but he couldn't tell much else.

Then the man spoke.

“Son, this right here is a Mossberg 590 a1 and it will blow a hole right through you, so I suggest you lower your weapon”

Mark wasn't even tempted.

“Sorry Sir, not happening. And no disrespect but if you do decide to shoot I hope you have a fast trigger finger because if I go down nothing’s stopping Ol’Boe here from ripping your throat out”

As if to punctuate that, a deep guttural growl came from Boe.

“Son, I’m not playing!”

“Neither am I” Mark delivered coldly.

Mark had faced literal hordes of Corrupted, survived mutant trees, and left his friends to give them a fighting chance.

If anyone thought he’d let them put him down now, then they had another thing coming.

“You’re not making this easy on me here,” the man said.

“It's not meant to be easy, but how about this? Let me pass and I’ll leave. I was just looking for a place to rest for a while, I mean you no harm”

“Oh would you both stow it, he ain't no zombie George. Put the damn gun down. He doesn't look like the type either.” a feminine voice joined them as another silhouette moved into sight.

“Joslin. Get back to the kids” the man named George growled.

“Oh hush, doesn't he remind you of Tommy, lord knows where he is right now,” she said moving into the room. She didn't have anything in her hands.

“Darling-”

“Tut-tut, now I’m going to count to three, then both of you are going to lower your weapons. Does that sound good? 3,2,1,” she said with authority in her voice.

Mark watched as George slowly began to lower his weapon. At first, Mark hesitated but when he saw George relaxing so did he. He slowly followed suit, still not lowering his guard.

“Wonderful, now what can I call you darling.”

After some hesitation, he responded.

“Mark.”

“Great, well Mark we're going to back out of the room now and give you some space,” she said.

They both disappeared from the doorway.

Mark cast [Shape Mana] and wrapped it around his body. He tried to adjust it to near see-through, then walked out.

In the light, he could see the couple were both in their late 40s. The man still had his gun lowered and she stood there without a weapon in sight though that didn't mean a whole lot with the apocalypse being what it was.

“Right, Thanks,” Mark said as he began to move to the exit, not turning away from them.

“Wait, Mark, listen we thought you were one of those Zombies. I’m sorry for the heavy welcome, but you can't be too careful these days.”

Mark stop and nodded, showing he thought nothing of it.

“With that said it’ll be dark soon, you should stay here. Now I can’t let you upstairs, but the second Cinema is open and clear of zombies” she said with sincerity

“Hang on a moment Joslin we should think this through, ask the others”

She turned to him and whispered something, which he returned right away.

Mark watched them argue and he could help but think of how his own parents used to bicker. He should probably move on. But he was exhausted. If they'd let him stay down here then he’d take it.

“-okay, okay fine,” she said.

George spoke up.

“You can stay, but if you set foot upstairs I’ll start shooting”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Mark nodded his thanks.

“I’ll be gone in the morning,” he said.

She smiled.

“Okay well, then we’ll leave you alone,” she said as they backed towards the flight of stairs.

Mark watched them go.

They seemed like normal folk, but that didn't mean anything in the apocalypse. He didn't quite mistrust them but he certainly wouldn't drop his guard around them.

He moved to check out the other cinema. Looking inside he found it empty of corpses or danger.

Setting up in a small corner he sat down for the first time in what felt like hours.

Now that he had a moment to himself, everything that had happened over the last couple of hours came rushing back.

Killing the tree, Grace's betrayal, The system targeting him, and leaving the group.

His mind spun until he came to the conclusion that he need to get his goals in line. What were his main priorities right now?

First and foremost was to get to Prospect Park. The allure of safety the place represented paled in comparison to finding Donny, Daphne, and Ethel.

He had been stupid to think the Grace situation wouldn't blow up in his face. Now Donny was being controlled like a bloody sock puppet and it was all his fault. He should have wrestled Donny away from her the moment he realized what she was doing. But he held out hope that he could have solved the situation with civility. The lesson he learned from this was that you don't give people like her room to maneuver. If something like this ever happened again he would solve it right away, with force if necessary.

There is no medicine in this world for regret. He had chosen to walk down this path. Now he had to correct its course. He’d find Donny and remove Grace from the situation and hopefully, Daphne could forgive him.

Perhaps he had laid it on a little too thick but he had to make sure she would leave with Ethel. Now he just hoped he saw her again so he could apologize for what he'd said.

Mark spent some time using [meditate] while Boe kept watch. He was just reaching full when a loud PING echoed out into the world.

His prompts came up on their own.

World Inventory has been implemented.

***

Marketplace has been implemented.

***

Trade features have been implemented.

***

Dungeons will begin to spawn in 48 hours.

Deferred rewards released

Rewards: 1x Bronze rank Path chest

Roll: Yes/No

It seemed like a couple of features were just unlocked at the same time. With everything going on, he had lost track of time. The world inventory was active. Mark looked at the prompt, shrugging his shoulders he hit ‘Yes’. A moment passed a new prompt popped up.

Item acquired: Defensive Bracers(Bronze)

Item lvl: 10

Resistance + 50

Prana + 10

Description:

Spells that use Prana are 10% more cost-effective

Mark blinked in surprise. He tried to will it out of his inventory and was equally surprised when it worked. A large pair bronze colored arm bracers appeared in his hands. They were of simple design, starting just before the wrist and ending below the elbow. With a piece of smooth purple quartz set into the metal. The gem reflected light, almost as if something was moving inside it.

Without hesitation, Mark slipped his fist into the bracer. Right away it warped and shrunk down to fit his forearm, repeating to process with the other he felt a strange sense of power fill him. Like it was his but not his.

He brought up his status.

4 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(4 + Sector reward: x4)

Spell Acquired: Invigorate

Through the flooding use of Prana, the user can replenish what was lost.

Recover stamina at the cost of Prana.

It was a simple explanation, of a simple spell but Mark liked the idea. He would be able to keep fighting and keep moving as long as he had Prana.

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 11

Next level: 115/121

Stats:

Resistance

Aura

Mana

Prana

100 [+50]

0

48

106 [+10]

Unspent stat points - 0

Corruption value: 3.78%

System Points: 125.0

Skills: Meditation

Spells:

Passive Regeneration(Self)[2], Force bolt[5], Prana Pulse[2], Regenerate[3], Draw Corruption[1], Corruption recovery[2], Shape Mana(Force)[4], Invigorate[1].

World inventory. Marketplace. Trade.

There were quite a few changes to his page. The stats were self-explanatory and he assumed the points were for the marketplace, which he want to look at but decided to put off for now. Though the greyed-out trade hub didn't make sense until Boe began to growl. Mark got ready. There was a quick knock on the door.

Mark had left his status open and the moment the door opened the Trade window lit up. Right. Someone had to be near.

Mark didn't relax his posture as Joslin walked in holding a bowl of something and two spoons. Steam was coming up from it and the scent of stewed veg and meat filled the room. Mark's stomach growled.

“Hello darling, we were just having supper and I thought you might like some,” she said.

She walked further into the room, and George appeared near the entrance.

“I’m just going to leave it here. Oh and-” She took one of the spoons a scooped up a mouthful from the bowl.

“To prove it's alright,” she said through a mouthful.

Walking back they began to leave the room.

Mark wanted to leave it be, but he just couldn't.

“I have a question,” Mark said catching their attention.

Smiling she turned, George simply stood there giving him an assessing look.

“Shoot,” she said

“Are you planning on staying here? Because Prospect Park is a nearby safe zone. Staying here is just as dangerous as moving.”

Her face dropped and after a pause, she spoke.

“We know the evacuation point you talking bout, but can't we move right now. When everything first went down there were a lot of people in the theater. We banded together to kill the majority, unfortunately, quite a few of us got hurt during it. So we can't move until they are well enough”

Mark frowned in thought, he could offer his help, but would they take it, was the question. Did he even have time?

“None of you picked Prana? How many of you are hurt?” he asked

She chuckled.

“I ain't giving you our numbers mister, and no. No one picked Prana,” she said while crossing her arms.

Mark made the decision even if it would take him a little longer he’d help these people if he could, he'd have to make it quick though.

He was putting them in danger just by being here.

“Fair enough, Listen I’m a healer I can help get the injured up and moving.”

She looked suspicious.

“It's mighty convenient that you just happen to appear in our moment of need, are you from Henry’s crew?” the edge in her voice grew sharper.

George started to look antsy once more.

Mark raised his hands and said.

“Yes, it is convenient. No, I’m not from anyone’s crew and what I ‘want’ is for you guys to make it to the safe point.” he said, ready to act at the drop of a hat.

She seemed to watch him as if she could tell lies from truth just by staring at someone. Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion.

“Well that's mighty kind of you, but we are going to have to speak with the others before making any decisions,” she said.

Mark nodded as he picked up the stew and took a bite. Even if it was drugged he was sure he could heal it.

“Sure take your time”

'just till the morning' he thought