It was remarkable how normal the situation seemed from Edwin’s point of view. People sitting and eating breakfast while chatting peacefully. Edwin sat near the center of an impromptu maze of tables and chairs. And on these tables was a spread of fruit, sandwiches, and surprisingly several perishables like yogurt and milk. The refrigerators were well insulated inside Washakie’s kitchen and had kept things from spoiling.

Altogether, nearly 200 people, students and several staff from the dorm buildings were there eating. Way more people then he remembered hanging around the dorms than yesterday were here today. Apparently a lot of them came back while he was napping. They chatted among one another seemingly without a care. As if it was normal for the building’s lights to refuse to turn on. Which left only the morning sun to illuminate their activities. As if every day they ate breakfast with the ever present Wyoming wind lapping at their faces as it flowed through the smashed windows. Perhaps the strangest part of this scene’s juxtaposition was the bat colony roosting in the defunct light fixtures overhead.

Edwin had tried to run them off using some concrete shards but the crowd had jeered at him. He was shocked. The bats were wild creatures, creatures similar to the owls only without any sign of supernatural power. So these people just trusted the bats, figured they were harmless? Maybe the bats were biding their time before they attacked someone or so Edwin had argued. But 30 people talking at him had given his argument no weight and he had grudgingly capitulated.

So it was that he and Zoey sat in such a way that Edwin could keep an eye on the sleeping beasts. He would not be talked into being a fool by the crowd. He ate his meal in silence while Zoey eyed him occasionally, but Edwin had nothing to say to her as she had not spoken up when the crowd talked him out of running the bats off. Some backup she was.

His sulking ended as Edwin was one of the first to finish his meal. A nice peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a green apple. No matter how normal and foolish the situation was it was just too strange for him. He noticed Zoey was still chewing through her own sandwich and so he leaned back and sipped from his little milk carton.

Rather than thinking about what was going on around him, Edwin took the time to look at the people gathered in the dining hall.

For whatever reason, these 200 odd people had stuck around or returned to the dorms. Maybe they had been too scared, or maybe they didn’t know where else they could go. Or maybe they believed a rescue would be coming. Whatever it was, they all had their reasons, and Edwin decided they did not really matter to him.

Edwin mentioned to Zoey how unconcerned everyone seemed before she pointed out those with wary gazes among the crowd.

Between smiles and mouthfuls, he would catch them glancing over their shoulders or checking for one of their various improvised weapons littered about. Half of the glances were towards the bats overhead. Maybe they had heard his words but the message had been delayed by the energy of the crowd. Perhaps those with common sense realized Edwin had been onto something before they had stopped him.

“Such a cutie!” A girl nearby cooed at one of the bats.

Or perhaps they were just admiring the bats, Edwin thought sourly.

Unfortunately, for every wary person there were several others who seemed content to bask in the normalcy of the mood. People who refused to grasp the new reality of their situation.

Idiots, Edwin sneered in his head. But at that thought he paused. Were they idiots? Did he really understand the situation any more than they did? He was not sure. He certainly had a better grasp of what was going on and held the most physical power among the gathering to effect any change he wanted. Well unless someone had a gun. He would definitely still lose to a gun unless he got up enough concrete, but how much concrete was enough to stop a bullet. It was not something he was certain of and not something he wanted to be put into a situation to guess at.

Either way it was not like he knew why or how things had changed. But that was what today was about, trying to remedy his knowledge deficiency.

Reflexively Edwin looked at the bats once more then checked the windows to see if any owls were trying to sneak in. Nothing new on either front.

Zoey looked at him between bites and when Edwin did his nervous check of the bats and windows again, she spoke.

“What did Ava want earlier?” She asked with quiet curiosity, Edwin could barely hear her above the drone of conversation. He had been expecting this question but the gulf of silence that sprung up during their meal must have deterred her until he had finished eating.

“She wanted to talk about the state of the city, and what sort of options we might have,” he replied. “Apparently she and Tony were trying to make some plans when a bunch of people started returning yesterday so they got bogged down smoothing things out.”

Zoey chewed through another bite, she had gone for the thicker peanut butter option and it was proving to be a workout for her mouth. She washed it down with a swig from a water bottle and then asked another question, “Well, what did she say? What’re our options?”

Edwin fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth for a moment. He considered how best to phrase it.

“Well,” he started. “She asked me how many people I thought were still in the city, I told her I didn’t know but it can’t be that many. Between all those who left in their cars and all the uh, all the deaths, there can’t be that many still left. Though there is probably a good portion of people who decided to try and tough out whatever is happening. We couldn't pick a number but the city has definitely emptied out.”

Zoey nodded and hummed her agreement before she gave Edwin a look that plainly said, keep going.

“So, aside from who’s still in town, we couldn’t decide where within the city was likely to be safe or dangerous. Ava asked if I would be willing to take the group from yesterday to check a couple of places out. Several grocery stores, gas stations, and the hospital up the road chief among them. The food and water here in Wash is only enough to last about a week, maybe a week and a half. So we need to find some more supplies and see if we can find anyone else. Friendly or otherwise.”

“Makes sense,” she said. “What did you think about all the stuff I scanned last night?”

Edwin stroked his chin and thought back to the previous day. He ruffled through a pocket and pulled out the notebook and laid it on the table. He opened it to the list he’d written and handed it to Zoey.

Her eyebrows crept up as she read through it. She looked at Edwin with an expression of mild surprise that requested an explanation. Feeling uncertain, and not entirely remembering what he put, Edwin snatched the notebook back and glanced over it.

“Stat points. Grinding. Other skills. Recon,” he mumbled to himself. Looking at Zoey he cleared his throat. “Yeah, so I wanted to talk to you about,” here, Edwin paused and lowered his voice, “about the stat points. Two of the other three goals are already getting taken care of by meeting up with the scouting party, and grinding is something that we can worry about later. But stat points are something that might be extremely important to make use of right now.”

One of Zoey’s eyebrows settled but her right one climbed even higher. “How so?” She asked with her voice matching his hushed tone.

“Well, if they actually determine or represent our raw strength, endurance, toughness or hell, our luck. Then if we can use stat points to increase those, we might become stronger, tougher or even luckier. If we get into another fight I wouldn’t mind being tougher,” he finished with a wry grin.

Zoey’s eyes widened. “You really think that could happen?”

Edwin’s grin shifted to a smirk. “At this point?” He gestured around. “I think anything is on the table, and if what’s happening is like those stories I was telling you about the other day. Then not only do I think it could happen, I think it’s likely to work.”

“Oh whoa,” Zoey exhaled a breath she did not realize she had been holding. “So how do we see if it works?”

“Ahh, yeah,” Edwin said sheepishly. “You are going to have to test it, Zoey. I can’t see my status screen but if you scan for yours you’ll be able to see if you can even spend the points to increase your attributes.”

“Ok,” she said a moment later. “I’ll do it.”

Edwin noticed as her eyes briefly flickered blue and then watched as her eyes darted back and forth focusing on the air in front of her. Edwin then turned the notebook to the page that bore Zoey’s transcribed status screen. Looking at it he noted it was outdated.

“Zoey,” he interrupted her. “Can you write your current screen underneath your original one here?” He asked. Edwin drew a line below the top third of the page which held her status screen at level five. Wordlessly Zoey took the proffered book and pen and quickly filled in the center third of the page with her new status screen. She handed it back to him when she finished.

Status Window

Name

Zoey Wright

Title(s):

N/A

Age

16

Gender

♀

Level

7

Race

Human-1 (Psych)

HP

160

Psych

170

Strength

8

Capacity

10

Vitality

9

Acuity

10

Agility

9

Endurance

10

Dexterity

9

Luck

10

Unspent Points: 35

Zoey was now level seven. Comparing her old status to the new one, Edwin determined that her HP and psych appeared to each have raised ten points per level. What that implied he was not sure. To understand further he would need to know exactly how HP related to someone’s actual life and health. Besides that, she had gained five additional stat points per level which totaled up to 35.

“So how do we do this?” Zoey asked. She was grinning now and Edwin could see the excitement in her eyes. Her last bit of sandwich sat forgotten on her plate as she perched on the edge of her seat.

“I think you should start by,” Edwin said, a matching grin stretching his lips.”By following me out of here. We will do some tests to try and see if anything changes after spending points. But this is not the place to do that.” He stood and carried his plate towards a growing stack of dirty dishes. Zoey followed the weaving trail Edwin took through the chaotic seating.

More than one pair of eyes tracked them but besides a momentary pause in conversation breakfast continued on without them as they left. On the way out Edwin nodded to the guy milling about the entrance. He was using a fireman’s axe as a crutch to lean on lazily. The lookout yawned in reply to Edwin’s nod and then they set off.

They walked in companionable silence for a minute before Zoey noticed Edwin walking towards one of the frat houses across the road.

“Why are we going here?” She asked curiously.

“They’ve got a bench press setup in here,” he answered slyly. His lips crooked into a small smirk as he glanced back at Zoey. “I’ve been inside a couple times before and the bench should still be there. Some sort of tradition or something.”

Her confused expression turned into a scowl when Edwin chuckled at her. But she realized his intent a moment later. “You want me to lift weights to see if the stats change anything?” She asked a little incredulously.

“Got it in one,” he said.

The door to the building was unlocked and as they entered the integrity of the structure seemed to have weathered the wizard’s battle well enough. Walking around Edwin noticed discarded items dropped or forgotten. Laptops, TV’s, food, and clothing were everywhere, abandoned by the brothers when they left the place. But as he predicted the bench was still occupying an otherwise empty room on the second floor. The bar sat on the rack with a 45-pound plate on each side. Besides the glass from a shattered window, the room was bare. He quickly swept it against the wall with his shoe.

Looking between the bench and Zoey’s antsy fingers, Edwin repressed another chuckle. He walked over behind the bar and patted it several times with a fake wistful look on his face.

“Ahh, the memories I have in this room,” he said then sighed. “It’s a shame.” Before Zoey could ask what he meant, Edwin perked up and dramatically gestured to the bench. “If you would, m’lady?”

Zoey laid on her back on the bench bewildered. Out of sight, Edwin muffled a laugh as he watched her tension bleed away. Her hands now rested calmly against her stomach. “Have you ever used one of these before?” Asked Edwin.

“No, I haven’t,” she answered.

“Alright, we’ll start ya with just the bar. I want to see what your max is and then we will check if you can go beyond it with more strength stat points.”

As Edwin explained to Zoey, he removed both the weighted plates from the bar and fit them back onto the stand nearby. Edwin returned and stood above her head once more, ready to spot her. He explained to her how he would be there to catch the bar if she ever dropped it and then he told her the form she should use when lifting.

After some testing, Zoey was pleased to find that she could press 60 pounds once. She had been shaky and Edwin had to assist slightly but, 60 seemed like it was good to use as her max.

Edwin instructed Zoey to stand and stretch for a little bit while he went downstairs to hunt for some water bottles. He returned successfully several minutes later. There he found Zoey calmly working through a stretching routine. Her face lit up when he offered her water and as she sat down on the bench he broached the topic.

“So, I think you should try out placing one point into strength, err well, see if you can even put points into your stats,” He said. Zoey nodded as she took another sip. “And you're sure you didn’t get any messages about your strength increasing from working out or anything like that?”

His voice was tinged with hope but Zoey shrugged and shook her head. “Sorry,” she said.

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, let’s see if you can spend those points. We’ll start ya off at 60 pounds again to see if you notice a difference.”

Edwin held his breath when he saw the flash in Zoey’s eyes. Then she screwed her face up in concentration. Her eyes widened and she looked at him, her face blank.

“Edwin,” she said solemnly. “It worked. My strength is now nine.”

Edwin let his breath out and Zoey grinned, breaking her facade. Exasperated Edwin could only shake his head and gesture for her to get on with it already. Zoey laid back down on the bench and Edwin moved to spot her. She breathed deeply and shook her arms before moving them to the bar.

“Wait,” said Edwin. “Do you feel any different? Notice any changes?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, her confusion obvious. “I sort of think I felt something but nothing really feels different right now.”

“Well let’s give the bar a try,” he said.

Immediately Edwin noticed a small difference. When she pressed 60 pounds earlier, Zoey had been red in the face and strained throughout the motion. She had been huffing and puffing when she pressed the bar off her chest struggling not to drop it on herself. She had grit her teeth and struggled through it.

Now she only took one deep breath and unracked the bar in a smooth motion. She held it above her chest without shaking then just as smoothly she pressed it up. Edwin reached forward to help guide it back onto the rack but she grunted, “No, I’ve got it.”

Edwin watched in growing amazement, as Zoey pressed the bar out twice more before she was once more beet red and puffing like a racehorse. He helped her guide it back to the rack. She jumped to her feet and pumped her arms around. A wild grin filled her face and she laughed uproariously.

“Well, well,” Edwin commented mildly. “You think it worked?” She was too exhilarated to reply to his dry remark. A moment later she started to calm.

“That's!” She nearly yelled between half-stifled giggles. “Wow, that was awesome! I’m going to put more points into strength. Edwin put some more weight on the bar. Let’s see how high I can go.”

“Whoa!” Edwin exclaimed. “Slow down there, missus muscle. You don’t want to just dump all your points into strength only to regret it later. You don’t even know what kind of build you want to go for.”

Zoey cocked her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. “Build, Edwin?” She asked. “Is that some gaming term?” He nodded and she spoke again before he could. “But I want to put more points into strength, I feel really good right now. Like, really amazing.” She gazed down at her hands, clenched tightly into fists. “I feel,” she trailed off, “powerful.”

Edwin eyed her, watching for the telltale flash of blue in her eyes, but Zoey seemed to heed his advice and did not dump more points into strength. While she continued to look at her clenched fists, Edwin launched into a dialogue about potential builds that might be viable. It was mostly speculation at this point.

It took Zoey 20 minutes before the strength high she was on, dulled enough for her to focus on what Edwin was telling her about how to build an RPG character. He was forced to go over everything again but Edwin didn’t mind talking about this. It had been on his mind since the first screen popped into being in front of him and he realized how RPG like the world had suddenly become.

“So even given only basic information about what the stats do, you can kind of guess that capacity and acuity are sort of fill-ins for intelligence and wisdom as you would find in a more traditional RPG.”

“Edwin.”

“I guess this system won’t artificially make you smarter. Which I guess I don’t mind, in all the stories I’ve read it’s always been very arbitrary how much smarter the characters really become.”

“Hey, Edwin.”

“Besides the author saying the character is now smarter you don’t really see any change in their behavior. I mean I’ve heard it is supposed to be hard to write intelligent characters. Which is why I think more authors should break the trend of intelligence artificially boosting the character's intelligence. Especially since they never write any real changes to the character who is supposed to be smarter.”

“Edwin!” Zoey yelled to break his exhaustive rambling. “Can you get back to possible builds we might use please.”

“Oh right,” he said and scratched his cheek.

While he’d been going on and on Edwin had prompted Zoey to put a point into each one of her stats and they had performed tests to try and notice any difference. Zoey had been kind of out of it so she had just gone along with what he said. As far as the results went, she had not really noticed much difference when points were added points to the different stats.

Her status screen changed and her HP went up ten when she put a point in vitality and she gained ten psych points when she put a point in capacity. When testing agility she ran through a stretching routine and claimed she felt it was a little easier afterwards, but Edwin was leaving an asterisk in the notebook next to that one.

Citation needed. He chuckled to himself.

For the other stats, Edwin either did not know how to test them or could not think of a way to do it inside this house discreetly.

As for builds, Edwin had been gung-ho when he walked over here with Zoey but once he realized how little they knew about what was going on and how much effect these stats could have he became hesitant. This was something huge, something that might determine whether they would live or die in the future and he was expected to just go with his gut feeling? Guns were one of the big unknowns here. Whatever had run the wizard off had been shooting at him. Yet the crossbowman had shrugged off three point blank 9mm rounds to the chest. For all he knew an evenly distributed build was more advantageous versus a specialized build. Melee or ranged, magic or physical, or some other esoteric fighting method he didn’t know about.

So Edwin was cautious and found it difficult to rein in Zoey. She wanted more strength after the tremendous boost it gave her and how wonderful she claimed it felt. When really, it had only marginally made her stronger. Even if you reasoned more points would have a greater effect Edwin felt it was better to wait.

On Zoey’s end, she was itching to feel that surge of strength once more. Listening to Edwin prattle on about stats and builds and the various stories he was familiar with was boring. Even though she tried to focus on what he was saying. But he had said something that left an impression on her.

“If you put a lot of points into strength you are probably making yourself into a melee character. A frontline meat shield or maybe like a club wielder or something. Basically, the guy that charges in and fights face to face.”

Zoey did not like the sound of that. Her experience fighting could be summed up as jumping on collapsed owls, and the blurry adrenaline filled memories from the skirmish with the centaurs yesterday. She had been so hopped up on adrenaline that she had not been thinking straight, relying entirely on her reflexes and reaction speed. It was terrifying in retrospect. Her life had been spared by a slab of wood, her inclination to flinch away from things that looked painful, and Edwin’s help. Anything she might have done out of how she would normally act could be attributed to the adrenaline high. No, Zoey did not fancy herself as a rough and tumble frontline fighter.

She would wait and see what other ideas Edwin might come up with. He mentioned something about guns during his monologue. If they could find some and if they worked maybe he would let her use one. She was a decent shot, or so her brother said.

Or...Perhaps, she thought. Maybe, just maybe, Edwin would figure out a way to teach his magic? That would be cool. Though he had seemed pretty certain he couldn’t with Teresa yesterday.

The pair spent nearly an hour in the frat house. But eventually their time ruminating and planning was ended by a shout. Walking to a window that looked down onto the street between the house and the dorms, Edwin saw someone running down the road and with their hands cupped around their mouth. They were calling for him, shouting his name.

Edwin felt a twinge of annoyance, why did they have to come looking for him now? He was just about to test if he could use his own points.

“We better get down there and see what’s up,” he said to Zoey as she guzzled down the rest of a water bottle. Grudgingly he left. After all, he had promised Ava he would take the group out and she was probably impatiently waiting for him or something.

Moving through the hall towards the stairs Edwin mentally imagined putting three points into his vitality. When he next managed to level up that should be something easily noticeable on his status screen.

He stumbled at the bottom of the stairs, a strange twinge in his muscles tripping him up. He paid it little thought, maybe it was some activation effect of his increasing vitality, or probably he was too busy trying to imagine he felt a strange feeling that he tripped and imagined one all on his own. Some sort of strange logical loop where he created the feeling all on his own or something.

Either way, someone needed him in a hurry and there was no way he could test whether it had worked or not. Unfortunately, Zoey’s scan did not reveal his hp to her.

Jogging onto the street Edwin called out and caught the attention of the runner. They turned to him and their expression lit up when they spotted him. He rushed over.

“Edwin!” He cried as he neared. “Help, we need your help.”

“What’s going on?” Edwin asked.

“We,” he panted slightly. “There’s—over there someone’s trapped underground! We need your help.”

What the hell? Underground? Edwin wondered. Confusion was plain on his face as Zoey’s own expression matched his. The runner picked up on it.

“Yeah, under Orr Hall, where it all collapsed. Like down in the laundry room or something,” The runner explained. His eyes darted back and forth between their faces. “You can hear them screaming man,” he shared with a lowered voice. “It’s creepy as hell.”