Edwin walked with purpose. He had a box of granola bars under one arm and a 12-pack crate of root beer in his other hand. An empty backpack was slung over his back. Since Ava had set the crowd loose there was a feeling of hanging tension around the dorm. People scurried back and forth carrying things towards White Hall.

Everyone had rushed off to loot the surrounding buildings and they were now bringing back the first haul. Besides that, the bison were gone, the cops had left, and Ava was corrupting his squad to her wiles, but Edwin did not feel the tension that everyone else was laboring under. His task at hand was simple, and he would soon be venturing out of sight of the dorm. Whatever mood hung over the dorm was irrelevant for the rest of his day.

Zoey trotted along behind him. She carried both her own shield and spear and Edwin’s as well. There had been a lot of excitement today and no one had eaten since breakfast, which was several hours ago. Considering he was about to lead these people into potential danger he figured the least he could do was give them some snacks for lunch. The snacks themselves had been swiped from Washaki.

Edwin eyed a group of three rushing past him. They carried a mix of clothes and toiletries, smart things to loot in his opinion. Essentials to have on hand when everything looked so uncertain. Others carried packaged food and bottles of water. People were stacking their loot in separate piles in the lobby.

Edwin’s group had gathered together and looked to be waiting around for the moment. They were lounging on a wide concrete staircase between the north side of the building and the sidewalk. They still had their gear near at hand which was something Edwin was relieved to see. Most of them were circled up around Ava but Teresa and Austin each sat alone. Teresa looked to have zoned out, but Austin was staring at his clenched fists.

Wonderful, Edwin sighed. He had zero interest in dealing with Austin’s roiling emotional state. Hopefully he would not challenge Edwin for some sort of perceived slight or need to assert himself. Considering he likely had a skill now, Edwin did not want to be blindsided by some magic bullshit. Hopefully Austin would be able to vent himself on some poor creature or inanimate object later on while they were out and about.

He caught Ava’s eye as he approached and she stood up which brought the chatter to a halt.

“Ed, great timing!” She said bubbling with enthusiasm. “I need to see how the others are faring, I trust you will be able to accomplish what I asked you?” Her smile was wide and she seemed to bounce in place. Their eyes met and he saw a strange gleam there.

“No prob,” he found himself saying before he broke eye contact and proffered the goodies to the group.

No matter how aloof Edwin had convinced himself to be, anxiety still gnawed on his thoughts. The immediate tension that suffused the dorm wasn’t present among his group. Ava had probably calmed whatever worries they had, somehow.

Here and now, with Ava asking him to follow through on two points they agreed to, he found his worry growing. His nonchalance slipped away and his hands involuntarily clenched. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck.

Fucking hell, he swore in his head. Ava’s probably been corrupting these people to her wiles and now I have to lead them across town and back. How can I trust any of them to have my back? I barely met these people and yesterday was a disaster. Now we’re just going out again?

Edwin’s thoughts were starting to spiral before his eyes flickered back to Ava. She daintily stepped between the circle of people that surrounded her and stood right in front of him. She flashed him a brilliant smile before turning and stepping away. He watched as she disappeared around the corner of the dorm.

Edwin shook his head to clear his thoughts. It was time to focus on the present. Greedy hands picked at the boxes he carried and he relinquished them with no resistance. He turned to Zoey and took his weaponry back from her.

I wonder why Ava left so quickly? He found himself thinking as he watched everyone grab a granola bar or two and a root beer.

Once everyone was settled again Edwin decided to get things started. “You,” he said and pointed at Teresa. “Did you get an ability yesterday?” Her eyes widened and darted side to side several times. She nervously swallowed the rest of her granola bar and took a sip of rootbeer.

“Yeah. I can teleport,” she replied flippantly after a moment. Her eyes fixed on the ground between her feet, with some of her hair covering her face.

“What really?” One of the guys said. The chatter died down and everyone turned to stare at Teresa. She stood and crossed her arms. Turning her head to the side she sniffed.

“Yes, really,” she said, drawing out her words to exaggerate them.

“Prove it,” someone else said. Edwin glanced at the speaker and noted that it was Nick,

His eyes flickered back to Teresa only she now stood in the road. She staggered but regained herself and turned to look at the dumbstruck crowd.

“See, I can teleport. No problem.”

No one spoke, instead they all took a moment to process Teresa’s ability. It was not flashy or time consuming, instead in one blink she was somewhere else. Edwin noted that she had teleported in the direction she had been looking and that she had arrived in the same pose she left in. That did not necessarily mean those were limitations of her teleportation but they might be. Something to keep in mind, Edwin decided.

“Holy shit,” Nick exclaimed. Teresa stuck her nose up and marched back to reclaim her seat.

Edwin turned to look at Austin, who for the most part seemed to have ignored the commotion Teresa created. The group followed Edwin’s gaze and Austin must have felt the weight of stares because he turned to look at the group.

He spoke up before the question was asked. His voice came out slow and raspy. “I can take on other people’s pain for a bit.” His explanation was confusing. His explanation could mean a lot of things but Austin volunteered nothing else. Instead turned his gaze back to his fists and hunched over. His expression twisted into a snarl and Edwin decided to leave him to it for now. He seemed content to brood.

Austin’s skill sounded strange enough that it probably wasn’t something he was making up to try and fool them. But how did it work? Edwin wondered. Was it a damage absorption skill? A healing skill? Or did it do something else entirely?

No one had said anything after Austin spoke so Edwin turned to ask the last person whether they had gotten a skill or not. “Jason, you went through the light show yesterday too. Did you get a skill as well?”

“No,” Jason answered quickly. He was leaning against one of the handrails spaced across the stairs. His arms were crossed and he looked perturbed. “I didn’t. I'm guessing ya gotta do that whole shaking like a fish on land song ‘n dance to get something special. All I got was that blast of light and a message telling me I was level three.”

Everyone erupted in chatter after Jason stopped speaking. Someone commented on how crazy Teresa's ability was. Someone else asked what Austin had meant. No new information was forthcoming however so Edwin set about grabbing his own snacks. He took a seat away from the others and munched on his granola bar. Shield and spear on the stairs next to him.

Zoey sidled up next to him with her own snacks. “What do you think of their skills?” She asked him quietly.

“Hmm,” Edwin hummed while pondering her question. The crowd was getting a little rowdy as people started imagining what sort of ability they would get and LJ was vigorously punching the air as he described a mega punch sort of power. He shouted with each jab and a particularly loud exclamation broke Edwin from his thoughts.

“Teresa’s skill seems very useful. For recon, for combat, probably other things as well. Though I do wonder about the limitations on it. It probably consumes a lot of psych so she should only be able to jump several times a day. Or maybe even less. Once a day? Once every other day? I’m not sure. I’m not really sure how psych recovery works yet,” Edwin extrapolated in an undertone. Zoey listened attentively between sips of root beer.

“It’s possible,” he continued, “that Austin’s skill could be super useful. But he doesn’t seem to understand how it works very well or at least he isn’t interested in sharing more about it. So it’s probably a non-factor for any immediate combat we will get into. And, it’s unfortunate that Jason didn’t get a skill but he is only level three and it seems like level five is the entry barrier.”

“Did you think he might be lying?” Zoey asked.

Edwin finished the last gulp of his root beer. He crushed the can and set it to the side as he considered her words. “He could be,” he agreed. “If he is we can only hope he’s concealing it for some selfish purpose and not for a reason like the skill requiring a human sacrifice or something ridiculous.”

“What?” Zoey said in alarm. She kept her voice quiet and leaned closer to him, her eyes narrowed. “You think that could be what it is? He has to kill people for it to work?”

“Nah, not really,” Edwin answered with a chuckle. “I was just spitballing. If I had to guess, I’d say he wasn’t lying. He seems like the type to boast. Also, I’m also pretty sure you get a skill at level five. I remember my message saying something like that at the time.” Zoey nodded in agreement.

Done snacking, Edwin stood up. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. “Try and finish up guys,” he said. His voice was bored with a practiced regularity. “We’re going to leave soon.”

Thankfully no one questioned him. He was worried that faith in his leadership might have dimmed after the centaur fight. Two of them had been killed and a third had run off, not to be seen since. There might have been something he could have done to prepare for that but it had come out of left field. Edwin had not even considered being ambushed by another sort of enemy right outside the dorms, their nominal safe zone.

That no one was questioning him was probably because he still held the majority of the group's firepower in his fingertips. He would need to do better, make sure they did not get ambushed, or at least try to make sure no one else died today. That might be difficult depending on what they run into later.

“I need to go get someone, be ready when I get back,” Edwin informed them as he turned towards White Hall. Several minutes later he found Dan in Washaki. Dan was spoon feeding a girl with a large gash on her knee. Edwin watched with interest as the gash sealed itself with each bite she swallowed. He approached Dan when the girl’s wound was finished healing.

“Dan,” Edwin greeted.

Dan yawned as the girl he had healed walked away. “Oh, hey Edwin.”

“I need you to come with me. We’re going to the hospital,” Edwin launched right into the reason he had sought Dan out. “Ava wants us to heal Thomas and bring him back here. So we basically need you for that to happen.”

Dan rubbed his eyes and checked his pocket. He pulled out a hunting knife in a leather sheath. A small smile crept onto his face and he huffed out a breath of air. “Well, guess I’m good to go,” he said sarcastically.

Edwin sighed. “Here,” he said before he helped Dan secure the sheath to his belt. He shrugged when Dan eyed his spear and shield. “If we get attacked, I’m gonna be using these to keep stuff away from you. Hopefully you won’t need to fight at all.”

Dan sighed in return. “Fair enough. Not gonna argue about it.”

With Dan in tow, Edwin returned to the group. Their granola wrappers and soda cans were jumbled together on top of the steps and most of the group was running through individual warm ups. Stretching, or light calisthenics. Jason was rotating his shoulders back and forth. Edwin was glad to see they were sort of taking things seriously.

“Gather up,” Edwin called out. He unslung the shield from his back and planted his spear against the ground. “We are going to escort Dan here over to Ivinson Memorial Hospital. We dropped a guy off there the other day and with Dan’s healing skill we are going to fix him up and bring him back. Should be pretty simple. Hopefully we won’t run into any trouble.”

He got some head nods and bland replies of okay and why not in response. As good an answer as any. “Before we go I want to tell you guys some stuff,” Edwin added. “If we get attacked again, I want us to stick together. Last time we got pretty spread out and it led to some problems. So keep close if it happens again, alright.” Another round of head nods and assurances answered him.

Edwin exhaled, Oh boy, here we go, he thought to himself.

“We are gonna walk along Grand till we get close to the hospital then cut through that big parking lot there and take the road up to it. Let’s get going.”

The walk along Grand Ave. was quiet. The ever present Wyoming wind accompanied them as they walked past the battered houses and shops along the road. Most of them had broken windows, slight damage from the earthquake on the first day had cracked the road and sidewalk in some places. Burned out skeletons of buildings were sprinkled around, Edwin even saw another wrecked airship down a side road. Abandoned cars dotted the road and trash lay in the gutters. The town was looking worse for wear. Despite the quiet, everyone was on alert, there was no telling what might be lurking beyond the next intersection. The owls were silent hunters, and the same could apply to any manner of man or beast.

No matter what lurked nearby out of their sight, the group swiftly reached their destination unmolested. Approaching the hospital, Zoey called out that she saw movement, everyone halted. Some of them took cover behind nearby cars while others ducked over to the hedgerow to hide.

Someone hollered from the hospital and the group tensed, ducking down further. Nothing followed the shout. Edwin quietly urged them forward and the group cautiously began to move towards one of the large entrance ways on the ground floor of the building. To get there they needed to cross a fairly open parking lot. While walking across the paved stretch, Edwin noticed pools of dark liquid blood spread across the ground. Disturbing drag marks told a story of how the hospital had been faring. Someone had been fighting here and the casualties had been dragged away. Most of the lines seemed to move towards the north side of the parking lot, while several led back towards the doorway the group was approaching.

“Well that’s not disturbing,” Edwin drawled. His attempt to lighten the mood was met with silence. Several people shot him harsh glares. Edwin grimaced internally, that had just backfired.

The group was silent as they dodged the pooling blood and readied themselves for trouble. Almost to the entrance, someone from the hospital finally emerged to meet their approach. Edwin recognized him. It was the gruff man who had helped Edwin clean himself when they had dropped Thomas off.

The last several days had been tough for him as well. His coat was caked with dried blood and Edwin noticed a fresh bandage tied to his left thigh. The man walked with a small limp to compensate. A revolver was holstered on his hip and a rifle of some sort was cradled in his arms as he moved slowly towards them.

The man paused and idly drummed his fingers on the gun. “What’s going on here?” He gruffed. “What’s with the spears and shields?”

“We’re making do with what we could find. I don’t think you need to be told why we need them,” Edwin answered and gestured back towards the parking lot behind them. “We’re here to pick someone up. You might remember, we met the other night when we brought him here. You gave me your shirt.”

Recognition sparked in the man’s eyes and he nodded. A momentary lull paused the conversation as the man seemed to consider something.

“I reckon your friend’s in no condition to be going anywhere,” he said after a moment. “Since he was torn up and all. What sorta game are you playing here?”

“No tricks,” Edwin said to head off any confusion. He pointed to Dan. “Dan over here can heal him up to working condition.”

The man’s eyes narrowed and his fingers continued to drum on the rifle. This close, Edwin noted it was a pump shotgun. Edwin also noted a bandolier slung across the man’s chest. Spare slugs lined the bullet loops on the bandolier.

“Say, I believe ya. Is that all you're here to do?” The man asked in response.

“Yessir, we just want to fix him up and be on our way.”

“Can your friend fix other people too?” The man suddenly asked.

“Uh, probably?” Edwin answered with hesitance. This man likely had someone he cared about stuck in the hospital as well. His interest in Dan was clear.

Dan stepped forward “I’m willing to try sir. I‘ve been able to help people recover from some nasty physical wounds over the past couple days. If they are hurt in some other way, I don’t know if I’ll be able to do anything.”

The man eyed Dan for a moment before he let go of the barrel of his gun with his right hand and stepped forward towards Dan with his hand extended. The pair shook hands firmly.

“Is it a skill?” The man asked as he beckoned the group into the hospital. “You’re confident you can fix your friend and get him walking out of here. So you must have a skill right?”

Since Dan had already stepped forward and agreed to help people in the hospital his skill would end up revealed, so Edwin saw no reason to try and further conceal its existence. It was intriguing to note that this man was already thinking in terms of skills. He likely had one of his own considering he was probably the cause for the blood out front. Something to be wary of.

“Yes, it’s a healing skill,” Dan answered. “But it works a little strangely.” His grin turned wry as he spoke.

They entered on the ground floor and found a bunch of concerned faces looking their way. People holding random things, improvised weaponry similar to what a lot of people back at the dorm were using. No one else had a gun. The man raised an arm to calm them down and started to explain. The crowd relaxed. More than one of them breathed a sigh of relief.

When he reached the point where Dan had volunteered to heal people he looked to Dan, and Dan stepped forward to wave to the crowd. Dan explained how he wasn’t sure if he could help people who were sick or people with mental trauma, but already people’s expressions shifted to hope and excitement. Someone turned and bolted into a hallway calling for someone. Edwin’s group startled and tension spread as weapons were raised.

“Peace, peace,” the man quieted everyone down. “Daryl’s just excited is all. He had himself all worked up to do some fighting and now you’re here telling him you can fix his little girl. He’s run off to get the doctor.”

“No prob,” Edwin said lightly. “My name’s Edwin by the way.” Edwin shook the man’s hand.

“My name’s Chuck. Good to see you’re still kicking kid.” Chuck turned and hung his blood stained duster jacket on a nearby light fixture. The rest of his clothes were clean enough, and since no one else in the lobby was covered in blood, Edwin assumed the jacket must be for intimidation, or it was just a way to help keep his other clothes clean when things got dirty.

“Yeah,” Edwin said after a moment. “About that, have you guys been alright here? We’ve had a fair share of trouble and we ran into a couple cops who said they’d stopped by earlier. They said there’d been an attack.”

Chuck resumed tapping on the stock of his shotgun. “Those God forsaken centaurs have been hitting us every day. Today they brought those bison by for some dancing. But nothing came of it. We’ve been managing well enough.”

“Hmm, we’ve seen the centaurs and the bison. Not something I want to run into out in the streets.”

Chuck huffed a laugh and nodded. “You won’t catch me out there either.”

“Have you not been keeping watch outside the hospital then?” Edwin asked intrigued.

Exhaling, Chuck shook his head. “I’m the only one here with a proper weapon, and everyone who is still here is here for someone else. So no one wants to wander off. Those officers have kept us updated though. Did they tell you about their camp on the road outside’ve town?”

“Yeah, I wanted to ask if you’d checked it out, but I guess not. We’ll have to take a look for ourselves.”

“Be careful,” Chuck warned. Edwin nodded, though it went unsaid that he should be wary out in town. Even here in the hospital they were not very secure.

While Edwin and Chuck talked, Daryl had returned with a haggard looking middle-aged man wearing a white doctor’s coat over blue scrubs and a surgical mask. The doctor wore thick glasses and his coat and scrubs were stained dark in several places. Whether with blood, dirt or something else Edwin could not tell from across the room. Daryl quickly brought the doctor to Dan and they started speaking quietly. The doctor motioned for Dan to follow him and everyone in the lobby eagerly flowed together to create a procession in their wake.

Edwin didn’t join the crowd and when Chuck looked at him he simply said, “I’ll keep watch. Dan can handle himself.”

The crowd quickly vanished down the hall. Edwin set his weapons down, took a seat near the entrance and examined the lobby. Besides a bunch of jumbled sleeping rolls on the benches and in the corner the place looked normal. As if nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

Several minutes after he sat down people started shouting. Edwin jumped to his feet and reached for his shield on the ground. The shouting didn’t seem to be dying down but before he could move to investigate Zoey came jogging back out. Edwin prompted her to speak with a look.

“It’s just some lady freaking out when she saw Dan’s skill fix Daryl's daughter’s broken leg.”

“Oh,” Edwin said blankly. Tension drained from his shoulders and he slouched back into his chair. His shield left where it was. “People are too hysterical sometimes.”

Zoey just shrugged and took the seat opposite of his flanking the door. The shouting soon ended and Edwin zoned out. He was trying to figure out how full his psych points were at the moment. He should be full or nearly so, after levelling up from the centaur fight. He hadn’t really used any psych since, besides making that access tunnel to the girl trapped underground.

Zoey anxiously bounced her legs up and down, the heel of her shoe tapped obnoxiously on the smooth linoleum floor. Occasionally emotionally charged voices could be heard shouting in elation from deeper in the hospital. Things seemed to be going well back there. Dan was working miracles and the people loved him for it.

Time passed and around an hour later the crowd filtered back into the lobby. Edwin noticed new faces among them. Most of the people came out with large smiles on their faces. When Dan and the doctor came out Dan was frowning. The doctor had his arm around Dan’s shoulder and was talking quietly into his ear. Edwin aborted his movement to go and speak with Dan. Whatever the doctor was saying he looked to be trying to console Dan.

Edwin’s group had split up into smaller cliques and while Dan and the doctor spoke they slowly migrated back towards him. As LJ and Jason moved his way Edwin noticed a third person with them. It was Thomas. He came walking into the lobby with a cocky strut and a sneer. Edwin frowned as he watched him.

The last time he had spoken with Thomas, the guy had seemed a bit unhinged. Edwin had volunteered his information to Ava during their discussion and Thomas had freaked out and called him a liar. The current sneer on his face did little to change Edwin’s opinion of him.

Jason and LJ were casually chatting and pushing against each other. Thomas stalked behind them and didn’t stop to stand with them when they reached the circle of people around Edwin. Instead he pushed past Teresa who had to take a step back to regain her balance. He stood tall before Edwin and glared at him. For his part, Edwin merely crossed his arms and returned the sudden glare. His spear and shield were behind him against the wall.

The peaceful mood in the room vanished as those nearby noticed the growing tension. Some of them reached for their weapons while Jason and LJ seemed to watch Edwin like a hawk, likely determining how he would deal with a dissenter.

Edwin raised his eyebrows as Thomas’s glare intensified. When Thomas saw the raised brow he spat at the floor by Edwin’s feet. Without saying a word he turned and stalked out of the hospital. Edwins’ brows were no longer the only ones raised as people gathered around him to question what had just happened. Edwin could only shrug, Thomas was some sort of crazy. Jason and LJ returned to chatting, Edwin didn’t notice the glances they occasionally threw his way.

Chuck marched into the group. His face was set in stone and he had a white knuckle grip on his shotgun. He called out to Edwin, “Is that guy gonna be a problem?”

“I can’t say. I barely know him. But he’s probably heading back to the rest of our group so you should be good,” Edwin answered as best he could.

Chuck sighed and rubbed his eyes. He relaxed his grip on his shotgun. Edwin noticed that he kept his space from everyone. No one was within several feet of him. It was enough room to say, turn and level his weapon to anyone’s chest. Chuck was definitely being friendly with them, but he was wary of them all the same. Edwin could respect the man’s vigilance.

Dan came wandering over and Chuck turned and thanked him. Dan shook his head and apologized, he told him he was sorry he hadn’t been able to help. Dan waved it away, his face still upset.

Edwin caught Dan’s eye, “what's wrong?” he asked.

Dan looked upset as he replied, “my skill, it doesn’t work on everything. Mostly just recent wounds, trauma stuff. I could only help some of the people here.”

Edwin exhaled. Dan’s skill was very useful even with those sorts of limitations. He could see how the limitations would weigh down on Dan though.

The hospital lobby filled up as more people streamed in from the back. They were gathering around Dan and thanking him. So Edwin stepped away. He retrieved his equipment from the wall and made to step outside. Thomas was nowhere to be seen. The others trickled out after Edwin. Until only Dan was still inside.

They loitered in the parking lot for another five minutes before Dan came out with Chuck and the others trailing after him. Several more minutes passed with heartfelt thanks. Emotions flowed freely as people praised Dan. It was starting to get awkward and Edwin was thinking of a way to wrench Dan away from them. As he was pondering Dan turned to him and his face said it all. Like a cry in the night “Edwin, save me dude!”

Edwin stifled a snort and motioned for Dan to walk towards him. The crowd grew quiet when Dan moved away from his spot in the center of them. Before they could start up again Edwin called out, “Let’s get going guys. We’re burning daylight.”

The hospital crowd had a mix of unhappy frowns and perturbed glances as Edwin absconded with the healer but in the end they didn’t raise a fuss. Dan quietly thanked Edwin as the group formed a loose blob with the two of them at the center. Edwin shrugged, he wanted to leave nearly as much as Dan did.

Edwin mentioned to keep an eye out for Thomas as they made quick time back to the dorm. He wanted to drop off Dan before they set out for his second objective this afternoon. They were going to check out that police camp and see if it was all those officers made it out to be.

They needed to verify if the claims were true. Those two men yesterday could have been impersonators or lone wolves. If they had been legitimate then Edwin was interested to see the state of how the city’s authorities were faring.

Perhaps they had a better grasp on the situation then he had managed to scrape together. If nothing else, those guys had some amenities on hand, they had recently drank coffee. Probably not made with something electric but still, access to coffee and cooking supplies was something Edwin was interested in.

When they could see the dorm down the road, Edwin sent Dan on ahead. They hadn’t seen anyone on the roads but he didn't plan on running into Ava. Dan could explain everything about the hospital to her.

As Edwin had the group double back, he glanced to the sky and noticed a dark plume of smoke crawling up from his target direction. A spike of adrenaline lit his veins and he grit his teeth at the sudden surge.

“Of fucking course,” he swore with feeling.