“We need relief on the west wall!”

Liz’s shout carried over the tumult. The sheer numbers of the early morning were gone, replaced with slow, strong enemies. The latest was a cross between a gorilla and an armadillo, complete with leathery armor plates covering nearly the entire body. The only thing that had kept the much deadlier creatures from overrunning their waning defenses was their incredible lack of intelligence. They reacted slowly, didn’t plan at all, and generally seemed like they were created specifically to be a wall of flesh.

“You heard the lady, up on the wall! We’re already halfway through the day!”

Adam worked to ferry new weapons and ammo around. The crafters were on a half-hour rotation system now. Every half hour, one person stopped working and their relief took over. That had extended how long each of the six could work non-stop. That was working well, though with almost ten hours left in the day, he had no idea if it would hold up.

Kyra was a different issue entirely. She was manic from exhaustion. There was one other ‘healer’, if they could be called that. While Kyra had her divine-blessed lay on hands ability, there was an old woman who had an ability that, when boiled down, staunched bleeding. While it didn’t sound wildly useful in general, during their ongoing war it was a life saver, literally. The old woman worked in triage, figuring out who could be patched up with her ability, and who needed to see Kyra immediately.

Her strong, yet old voice was thick with a northern English accent. “Another one coming in, Priestess.”

That was another thing that they had stopped fighting. With the way Kyra glowed with golden light every time she healed, the soldiers had started calling her priestess. It had got to the point where Kyra was offered a job change, and she had wearily but gratefully accepted. The new job worked retroactively, granting her additional wisdom, and further boosting her healing. It had also come with two new skills: Caitrín’s Waters, a skill to refresh Kyra and anybody in a three meter radius that was friendly to her, and Lesser Regeneration, a long heal-over-time. She rotated between all three. Her mana was constantly dangerously low, risking activating her Life to Mana skill.

“Thank you, Greta.” Kyra brushed a sweat-soaked lock of hair out of her face. “Adam, do you need something?”

“No, but you need to take a break.”

“Tell our soldiers to stop getting wounded, and I will.”

He shook his head. “We’re at the closest thing we’ve had to a lull since this all started. Take fifteen minutes.”

“I can’t, there are too many wounded.”

“No, Priestess, there aren’t.”

Kyra looked at Greta, startled. “What?”

“You’ve set everyone to healing. None have come from the walls in the last few minutes.”

Adam shook his head and started out of the tent. “Kyra, get some rest. You need it. I have a bad feeling. I’m going to go check on the wall.”

Kyra opened her mouth to argue, when Greta put a surprisingly strong hand on her arm.

“No, love. Just have a seat.” She guided the young woman to a makeshift cot. “You can take a breather. Old Greta has it covered for you.”

Kyra nodded, but the exhaustion was so deep, she was asleep before she could lift her head. Greta gently laid the exhausted healer down, then started checking on the remaining patients. Most of the ones still in the tent were mind-shocked more than physically affected.

Adam looked at the walls, noting that nobody appeared to be in combat. He scanned for either pink hair or stark white. They were nowhere to be seen. Until he spun in place and found them standing near the gates, visibly arguing with an unknown man. He jogged over.

“What’s going on?”

“These women,” the guy said with a sneer. “They won’t let me leave.”

“If we open the gates, that’ll start a rush that we probably won’t be able to stop. It could kill everyone,” Liz said with anger biting around the edges of her words.

“There’s nothing out there!”

“Which is why we are so concerned,” Raven said.

“Oh, I see how it is. Because you two are shacking up–”

“Choose your next words very carefully,” Adam said. He didn’t step in the way, nor did he try to shield his friends. He knew they could handle themselves. Better than the angry level four that was trying to intimidate them.

“Or what, you’ll hit me?”

Adam laughed, catching everyone off guard. “Hit you? No. I just won’t stop them.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Yeah, like these girls can do anything.”

Adam cleared his throat, stopping the braggart. “Pay attention bud.”

The guy shook his head. “Nah, I don’t need to listen to you assholes. Open the gate, I’m leaving.”

“Why?” Liz looked at him, fists clenched so tightly Adam could hear her gloves creaking.

“Because I didn’t sign up for this shit. I didn’t survive out there,” he said with a nod at the wall, “to take orders from some uppity–”

Liz took one smooth step in and grabbed the man by his collar. The man smirked like he had been waiting for her to make a move, but the smirk disappeared a split second later when she grabbed his belt. She planted one foot, spun in place, and threw the man thirty feet, over the wall and into the clearing beyond. He screamed as he flew, high, loud, and very frightened.

“Fragile masculine bullshit,” she said as she dusted her hands off. “We’re better off without people like him anyway.”

Adam shook his head. “We really shouldn’t be throwing people like that.”

“I’m going to sue you!”

“He’s obviously fine,” she said. Adam hung his head, shaking it. The idiot was still ranting about pre-system actions. It obviously hadn’t set in yet that the old world was dead and gone. They had no idea where they were on Earth, or if they even were on Earth at all anymore.

“I’m gonna fuck you up!”

Liz growled, stomping toward the battlement. A dozen people watched her approach and scattered out of her way. Raven trailed behind, all concern. Adam followed as well, but he found himself wondering if he would step in should Liz go too far. He didn’t want to order her around, not when she was just coming into her own. But he also didn’t want her killing citizens, prospective or otherwise.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Oh my god, he’s one of those kind,” Raven said with a glance at Adam.

“I am Richard Blake Wellard the Third!”

“Oh, for fu–” Liz cut herself off with another growl. It came from deep in her chest, and with her increased stats, most of the people around her could literally feel the vibrations from up to five feet away. “Listen here, blowhard!”

“Blowhard?!” Richard’s voice rose to a screech. “When we get back to New York–”

Liz pulled an arrow from her quiver, nocked it, drew back to her cheek, sighted, and loosed in less than a second. The arrow passed between his legs and opened a very shallow cut on his thigh. He stopped moving, staring down at his leg in disbelief.

“These slacks cost a thousand bucks!”

Liz drew another arrow to her cheek, looking down the shaft and aligning with his chest. Adam stepped up next to her, but resisted the urge to put a hand on her arm or weapon.

“Liz, he’s a nobody.”

“He’s a danger to our settlement.”

“I’m going to sue you back to the stoneage!”

The idiot was standing in the clearing, scuffed, dirty, covered in sticks and leaves. Blood dribbled from a cut on his forehead, as well as his leg. He was stomping, screaming, waving his hands. Bizarrely, he was still wearing his suit, though it had obviously seen better days. Adam wondered if the man had been wearing it for the entire three weeks.

“Hey, moron,” Adam said. That cut the man short, though his face went a shade of red usually reserved for vegetables. “We’re in the stoneage now, in case you didn’t catch that.”

“I will kill you! I’m going to burn your village, salt the earth, and piss on your ashes!”

Richard had both fists raised to the sky as he swore vengeance. He was completely unprepared for what happened next.

Liz squinted, then adjusted her aim and let the shot go. Raven gasped. Adam’s eyes widened when he realized she had actually taken the shot. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. All three watched as the arrow wobbled in flight. Their enhanced perception almost made it trivial. The blowhard had yet to even realize his death was approaching. He jumped again, screaming in rage. Adam saw a smirk spread on Liz’s face like a blooming sunflower.

The broadhead arrow streaked in, and Adam thought for sure it was either going to hit the man in the eye or the throat, but it was hard to tell with how much the idiot was moving around. Then it struck. The arrowhead cut a groove across the man’s left cheek, taking his ear clean off, and slamming into something just behind him. It died on impact, but that didn’t stop its momentum. It slammed into the back of the man, bowling him over.

“Contact!”

Adam’s jaw dropped. Now that he was looking, he could see dozens of shapes in the grass. They looked like a cross between a thirty-foot-long anaconda and a chameleon. It had no legs, scales that shimmered and shifted in the light, and a long, diamond shaped head. The natural camouflage explained why nobody had spotted them. His respect for Liz went up another notch.

“Get back in here, dumbass!” Liz roared at the man, letting four more arrows fly. Every shot killed one of the snakes.

Instead of listening to her, Richard Blake Wellard the Third grabbed at the side of his profusely bleeding head, screaming in pain and rage. He flipped Liz off from his prone position. Liz watched impartially as one of the nearby lizards coiled, then sprang at the man. His screaming was cut short by eight-hundred-pounds of angry lizard smashing him into the ground.

“Good riddance,” Liz said. She sighted down another arrow and let it loose. The arrow multiplied in flight, striking six lizards down. Raven threw out Eligu’s Surprise, her multiplying trap, and that exploded into nine different traps with a wild range of effects. One of the lizards exploded into butterflies that scattered and flew away. Another turned into a living inferno that lost its shape a second later, falling as regular fire on the ground. With no fuel to feed it, the fires guttered and went out in the mud. A third turned into a crystal statue that shattered from internal stress when its momentum carried it into the wall of the fort.

“Your abilities are so cool, but so gruesome,” Adam said. He watched the last arrow land and simply cause the serpent to explode into little gibbets. “Absolutely disgusting.”

“Yeah,” Liz said with a shake of her head. “I really hope after the tutorial, I never have to use it again.”

Raven bumped her hip. “Even if you don’t it’s pretty cool. And you’re basically keeping this entire side safe by yourself.”

Liz looked at Raven and smiled. “Thanks, babe.”

“Ooh,” Adam said with a smile. “She called you babe!”

Raven blushed, then did a twirl with one finger in her hair. “I know!”

“Get back to work, you trolls,” Liz said with an eye roll. “I’ll need more arrows soon.”

Adam saluted with his left hand in a lazy imitation of the french. “Oui, oui, madame.”

Liz swatted at him, which he dodged with a laugh. He left them to start running around again. The fighting was ramping back up, with the snakes attempting to slither up and over the walls. Luckily, they were relatively weak. It seemed the camouflage was their primary way of staying safe, since their skin did little to stop blades.

“We’re going to be fine,” Adam said with a sigh.

A roar shook the world.

“Why did I have to open my mouth?”