Breakfast today consisted of cold hot dogs and mushy apples. Served on the side with an assortment of half drained liquor bottles and a small mountain of beer crates. Edwin made due with a bottle of water.

Washaki was a mess from last night's party. Flipped tables and strewn chairs created a haphazard maze. It was a predicament Edwin had bravely ventured through in the search of food. Some wise soul had had the foresight to lay out a small collection of grab and go foods; for which he was thankful.

There were no garnishments to be found, so his hotdog sat in it’s bun unadorned, it looked rather sad. The mushy apple did nothing to alleviate the quality of the meal. A figure on the floor who had been passed out only minutes ago stirred as he neared them and groped blindly for a large bottle of vodka nearby. Edwin watched with disgusted amusement as they tilted it back and took several long pulls before gently placing the bottle back down and passing out.

Shaking his head he moved on and scanned the hall. All over the place, mixed in between the furniture, prone figures lay collapsed. Off in the corners many people were tightly wrapped together under blankets or in several cases starkly nude. It stank of cigarettes, alcohol and weed, even with the blown out windows. Edwin decided to take his breakfast outdoors.

Outside, he looked up at the sky and wondered what time it was. The sun was high enough that it illuminated the streets, hanging somewhere out of sight towards the horizon. It was easily visible above the horizon outside of town. Laramie’s meager skyline did nothing to hinder the warmth the early morning sun brought to the city. The pitted asphalt beneath his feet was already greedily drinking it in.

Several small groups of people milled about in the street connecting White Hall to Washaki. They were chatting without much care as they finished their own breakfast of hotdogs and fruit. A couple of those up and about were enthusiastically washing down their meals with spirits. Edwin held back an involuntary wretch as he watched someone guzzle a third of a bottle of Jack Daniels. Apparently there were some people ready to keep the party going. They were in the minority though.

Edwin took a bite of his hotdog and meandered among the crowd. He kept his ear open and listened to the gossip filtering around. The nearest group was discussing the party last night and Edwin was quick to move on down the sidewalk. A group of three guys were huddled up and as Edwin approached he was rebuked from their heated discussion by a trio of glares. He averted his gaze and crossed the road before continuing. The trio resumed in undertones behind him. A larger group was splayed out across the stairs adjacent to White Hall and talking much more openly. Those who noticed Edwin sildling closer ignored him without a second glance. Their conversation topic grabbed Edwin’s attention immediately. Groups of people had been found in some of the nearby neighborhoods and buildings. Most notable were the larger groups clustered at the churches nearby. As many as 20-30 people in some of them. Every church that had been checked was inhabited. Which was curious as there was a church right across the road even on the other side of the building. That it was occupied had escaped his attention.

The group was spitballing on how to deal with their new found neighbors. Most of the church groups had been low on supplies and were going to be forced into taking action soon. Either today or tomorrow the streets were likely to be filled with looters. Competition was guaranteed to arise. The dorm group held the numerical superiority over any of the smaller groups, if they had more firepower was up for debate, as no one had been seen displaying a skill. However firearms were easy to conceal and it was unknown how well armed the other groups could be.

Edwin kept an ear to the conversation as he let his mind turn over the information about the other groups. He did not have any solid plans for what to do for the rest of the day besides meeting Chuck at the hospital and letting him know about what happened to the police. Beyond that he only had the vague goal of increasing his chances of survival. He could see several different pathways that would likely increase his chances.

The wizard's threat hung over him as a literal Sword of Damocles. He had considered whether he would run into the wizard again, and Edwin thought it more likely that the man would hunt him down if he grew bored. Edwin had seen the wizard casually use a translation spell, fly, project magical barriers, and hurl lightning like nobody's business. He figured it more likely than not that the wizard would have a spell to track him. He felt pressured to grow stronger faster because of this. Edwin believed his best chance would be to figure out stat points and commit himself to a build. The tests with Zoey seemed to indicate that stat points could directly empower him. Gaining more of them through levelling up or any other strange method that might exist was only secondary at the moment however. He had no way to spend his own points! His status screen was impossible to call up on his own and only showed itself briefly when he levelled up. He must be missing something in regards to the whole thing.

Gaining xp was pretty opaque at the moment as well. So far only killing monsters or people had yielded any. No quests, no deeds or achievements. Socializing and crafting were less explored options but socializing seemed like a dead end.

Edwin had so far managed to scrape through several fights with quick thinking and luck on his side. His concrete control had proven key each time. The text given when he received the skill didn’t hint towards any systematic skill level. Yet it was almost an inherent quality of these sorts of things. Regardless, he did not have the psych to spare on experimentation so any attempt at raising his skill’s level would be killing two birds with one stone ala fighting something. Edwin chuckled, with his power it was entirely possible to kill multiple birds with the same “stone”.

Combat with anything he had encountered sounded unappealing though. The owls moved in groups and each one could paralyze him with a glance. The centaurs were large and powerful fighters who had shown a propensity for ambush and improvised tactics. Greater dangers also stalked the streets. The quilled buffalo herd, the wizard and his comrades, the giant mechs, and other unknown dangers, least of all were the other residents of Laramie. He had only Zoey who he could partially trust to watch his back. If he could meet up with some of his friends he would feel better, but they were across town.

Edwin’s thoughts were interrupted by Teresa nudging his foot. Zoey stood behind her and Edwin noticed the rest of his scouting group clumped together further away.

“Oh hey,” he said with a small smile. Teresa turned and marched off to the others without a word in return.

Zoey stepped forward and wrung her hands together. “Edwin we’re uh, about ready to head out,” she said in lieu of a greeting.

“Head out where?” He asked in reply.

“To scout, loot, and probably, uh, fight, yeah?”

Edwin looked at Zoey with a perplexed gaze, just what exactly were her expectations here. Then he decided to just roll with it. He nodded his head, a wise understanding look stole over his face and he clasped his hands behind his back.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Edwin said before pausing and walking past Zoey. “We have many things to do today so it’s best if everyone shows up soon. Anyone missing?” He asked. He looked around to get a quick headcount.

“Just Austin,” Teresa said tersely.

“He won’t be joining us. I removed him from the group,” Edwin said before he strode past Teresa towards the others. “So you guys are going to come with me again? No one has any complaints?”

Jason and LJ stood to one side. With their arms crossed they glared at Edwin. Nick and Shaun stood across from them. Shaun was puffing on a cigarette and only gave Edwin a cursory glance before shrugging. Nick stood with a wide stance, his hands free by his sides. He was wearing a pair of dark oakleys that hid his eyes. Edwin noticed the blue tint to the lenses as Nick turned his head to look directly at him.

“I’ve got something to say.”

“Let’s hear it then,” Edwin answered. The two of them squared off several feet apart. Nearby chatter ceased as people noticed something stirring.

“You’ve got some guts just walking up and acting like nothing’s happened. Like you didn’t have your little freak out yesterday and just ditched us all.”

Edwin’s brows creased into a sharp glare. His hands bunched into fists by his sides. He had to unclench his jaw before speaking.

“I’ve got some fucking guts, huh?” Edwin sneered. “Funny coming from you. One of the guys who thought he could just stomp off yesterday, acting so high and mighty, only to come running back to me. Then what? You just show up the next day with your sunglasses and your hands in your pockets.” Edwin stepped closer and his nose crinkled as he caught a whiff of Nick. “You fucking reek man, did you spill half the bottle down your shirt when you tried to drink it?”

Nick glared back at Edwin. His hands tightened to fists and he brought one up to point sharply at Edwin’s chest. “Fuck you Edwin! Just who do you-” Nick started to say before Edwin cut him off and shoved his arm to the side.

“No, fuck you!”

Nick stared back his teeth grit and his posture tense.

“If this is how you’re gonna be Nick. Then you can just shut the hell up and piss off. I don’t have time to deal with your bullshit. You’re just some random dude to me. So do me a favor and fuck off.”

Nick seemed to grow even angrier, his neck flushed red and he looked one moment away from lashing out. But he reeled himself in and turned his back to Edwin.

“This is fucking bullshit man, I’m outta here. You coming Shaun?” Nick asked as he stomped away.

Shaun snorted. “Nah man, he just made you his bitch. Plus, Edwin’s an alright guy and he’s hella scary with that concrete shit. I figure he’s worth sticking around with. Not my fault if you can’t see what’s what.”

The group silently observed as Edwin re-asserted his place as the leader. That was not a message just for Nick, but for all of them. Austin was gone and now Nick was getting kicked out. Edwin did not need nor want to deal with burgeoning or outright threats and hostilities against himself. He might not have any sort of unique knowledge in regards to what was going on but he carried a big metaphorical stick and had some experience with being in charge of people his age. Even more outright, he didn’t ask these people to follow him around. Tony had stuck them together and social inertia had brought them to this point. They were free to walk away.

Edwin’s message here was clear.

If they want to work with him, then they will need to follow what he says. If they want him to throw his power around against the monsters out there, then they had better not be at his back with a knife. He needed to get stronger and having people to help him would be safer than going solo.

Nick moved away and the group fell into an uneasy silence. Their thoughts revolved around Edwin’s move here. He was trying to show he could be a strong leader. They wanted to know if he would keep to this new ideal or if he would crumble again. He had broken down yesterday. If he did that today, if it happened at a moment where their lives were on the line, then they could die. To die because he failed them a second time, it fostered raw indignance in each of them at the thought. If he could match the act though, following Edwin was a path to strength, a path to their own skills and an additional assurance of safety underneath the safety afforded by his skill.

“Good.” Edwin said to break the silence. “Has everyone eaten breakfast?” Heads nodded in reply and several people murmured quiet affirmations. “Ok, now, does anyone have any suggestions for where they think we should poke around today?”

While he had come down harsh just a moment ago, those still here had implicitly agreed to abide by his choices. That was the stick to his approach. Edwin pulled out a metaphorical carrot and asked them for their opinions. By giving them some agency back, he hoped to smooth out some of the ruffled feathers.

“I want to check my house out,” Zoey said immediately after he asked. Edwin turned to her with surprise. He was not from Laramie, so he had done his best to put his family out of mind, he was in no place to worry about their welfare right now. But for those with family in the city it was only natural they would want to search for them. Edwin should have considered that already. It was the 5th day since this mess started. It could be hard to find anyone’s relatives out there. Same goes for his friends, if they were still in town, he couldn’t be sure where they were.

“Me too,” Teresa spoke up.

“My brother lives on the west side of town,” LJ added.

“Ok, so family,” Edwin said with a short head nod. “Anything else?”

“I want to kill some shit,” Jason declared. “I want to level up and get my own power.”

Edwin answered slower this time. “That is something we will look into. But I’m not doing anything risky. If we find a good opportunity we can give it a shot. No promises though.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed but he acquiesced with a shrug a second later. Now was not the time to push back against Edwin. Jason figured it was pretty likely they would find something to fight. If Edwin wanted to bitch out he could always take LJ and split off. That was much riskier though, he would prefer to have Edwin backing him up. He had gotten close to his own power against those centaurs freaks. Just one more chance like that and he might hit the jackpot.

Shaun offered nothing up so Edwin ended the impromptu strategy meeting and made sure everyone was ready to be out until lunch. They split up to go grab their gear. Coming back with his backpack and weaponry Edwin found Zoey similarly kitted out only lacking her own backpack, her pistol was obviously sticking out of her pocket. Edwin took the time to retrieve his own from his backpack and tuck it into his own pants pocket. People eyed the piece but no one commented. Jason and LJ both still held a spear and shield. Shaun only had a shield as he had lost his spear while fleeing yesterday. Teresa was likewise unarmed. Her crossbow ditched in an effort to run away faster. Edwin frowned and went to go check with Tony. But he couldn’t find him. Ava noticed him inquiring and solved his plight by offering a hatchet for each of them. Teresa had an unpleasant look on her face as she accepted the weapon. Without a shield she was the least armed among them.

After a final check Edwin turned and walked off away from Washaki and the dorms. He wanted to visit these smaller gatherings that had taken hold of some of the local churches. Once his curiosity was satisfied they could branch out into the surrounding neighborhoods in search of Zoey’s family. She told him her Mom’s house was in that direction.

Walking into the intersection adjacent to the dorms and the start of the school’s campus proper, Edwin continued to lead them across it and down Ivinson Ave. A block down the road, past a small parking lot there were several free standing buildings spread out around the block. Two churches made their home here. The group quickly realized neither one was still standing. This area had fallen victim to the uncontrolled fire that had spread around and burnt down some larger swathes of the city in the wake of the sky battle that first evening. This was nearby that crashed wreck that Edwin had initially investigated, only up the road from it. No one was squatting here, Edwin supposed “nearby churches” had been referring to some of the other ones.

If they continued in this direction they would pass by several more churches before they reached downtown. From here on the road, Edwin could see to an extent how far the damage had spread and those buildings were similarly burnt out shells. A lot of buildings in Laramie were brickwork, so the exterior walls still stood, but the roofs had collapsed and the interiors were ashes. There were more churches where people might have congregated downtown but Edwin did not want to venture that far when there were closer places in other directions.

The sun was hard at work heating up the city from the clear blue sky above. Edwin started to wish he had brought a hat. His pale skin was weak to the sun and he hadn’t thought to bring sunscreen. He snorted at the thought of applying sunscreen.

Shaun and Teresa were still rooting around in the church so Edwin let his gaze drift down the road towards downtown. The large revolving searchlight pathed past him. It’s green light faint from a distance. He regarded it with worry. The green was the same color as many of the blinking lights on the mechs. The fact that a mech the size of the huge one was able to traverse the city without giving itself away was worrying. He was worried that the tower might be related to the mechs in some way.

“Hey,” Zoey called out softly. Edwin glanced at her and raised his eyebrows. “My Mom’s place is a couple roads away, is now a good time?”

“What’s the address?” Edwin asked her somewhat gruffly.

“It’s on the corner of 10th and Sheridan.”

“Uh, yeah sure,” Edwin answered. Teresa came out of the church and moved their way. “We can take a wide path. I don’t want to get any closer to downtown so we’ll wander over to your Mom’s house and then go back along Grand.” He turned to address the approaching girl, “where was your place Teresa?”

Teresa replied, “my parents live up across from Slade Elementary. On Sully Street.”

“Hmm, that’s pretty far out of the way. Maybe after lunch we can try to swing by there.”

“What about my brother?” LJ cut in from nearby. He had wandered over to listen in with Jason. Shaun was still in the church somewhere.

“You said he lives on the west side, and I’m not passing through downtown,” Edwin said with a shrug.

“The hell man!” LJ cursed. “That’s fucked up. So you’re just gonna leave my family to die?”

“Look,” Edwin said sharply and turned to point at the searchlight. “See that shit, see how close it is to downtown? I am not going to just walk right into that mess. That’s probably where that big ass robot is from, and it would take too long to walk around to get to the west side.”

LJ was fuming. He looked one more word away from lashing out. Edwin felt some sympathy for him. But he was not so sympathetic that he would stick his own neck out like that for someone he did not even know. So he settled on a compromise.

“Alright, listen LJ. I’ll make you a deal. If you find a car that runs, I’ll go with you around downtown to check on your family. But that’s on you, find one that works or doesn't.”

“Asshole,” LJ snarled. He paced back and forth thinking. “Fucking fine! I’ll get a car and you’ll be my guard. You better not bitch out on me.”

Edwin felt his annoyance resurface. “Shut the fuck up!” He snapped back. “I said I’d go, so I’ll go. Where’s Shaun, I want to get moving.”

Shaun rejoined them a couple minutes later. Not caring what kept him, Edwin set them moving. They trudged in quiet pairs towards the corner Zoey’s Mom’s house was on. Edwin and Zoey were on point, While Jason and LJ walked several feet behind them, they were muttering under their breath so that Edwin could not make out their words. Behind them trailed Teresa and Shaun who ignored each other for the most part. Teresa was tense while Shaun walked languidly, without concern, holding his hatchet and shield with a slack grip.

They made quick time to their destination. The searchlight tower loomed larger overhead as they had to move closer towards it. Approaching the house, Zoey’s tension started ratcheting up with each step. It was a single story ranch style house. Blue shingles covered the sloped roof and large windows let light soak in. The exterior seemed well kept, a nice lawn and a thriving garden adorned the property. All the windows were blown out but the door looked intact.

As they got closer Zoey suddenly bolted towards the front door. She tossed her spear down and clasped the knob but failed to turn it. The house was locked. She dashed over to the garden and lifted a fat, merry looking garden gnome with a red santa hat. She grabbed a spare key from beneath it and set the gnome back down before hurrying to unlock the door. The rest of them had reached the door by then. Edwin picked her spear up and leaned it against the wall. After opening the door she entered without a word. Shaun made to follow in behind her and Jason blocked his path.

“It’s her house, let her check it out,” Jason said while eyeing Shaun.

“Whatever man,” Shaun acquiesced.

Teresa began to investigate the various garden gnomes spread through the front yard. Zoey’s mom was apparently a collector. Various themed gnomes stood side by side, each posing differently. Many of them had props. Edwin took an interest in a soldier gnome, dressed in khaki fatigues with a green camo helmet sat too largely on its head, covering its eyes. While the rifle it held seemed to be slipping from it’s fingers, it’s stubby arms were unable to keep hold of it. Another was dressed as a chef, with an apron and the tall white hat, a pan and spatula held by its sides. Another dressed as a purple robed wizard with a tall sparkly hat. Teresa and Edwin spent their time examining the wide variety of gnomes. The others poked around the yard. Shaun went across the street and broke into one of the houses by smashing the doorknob with his hatchet.

Zoey came out a little while later. She had a sweatshirt tied around her waist and a full backpack over her shoulders.

“My Mom isn’t home,” She answered their unspoken question. “I left her a note though, in case she comes by. Just letting her know that I am alright and staying at White Hall.”

“I see,” Edwin said quietly. “Well, let’s be on our way then. Someone go get Shaun.”

Shaun came out of the house he had entered following LJ a minute later. He was carrying a duffle bag that looked half full. Edwin ignored it and got them walking back towards Grand Ave. As they moved though he could make out a tinkling noise from the duffle bag.

After several minutes of walking through the smaller neighborhood roads Zoey suddenly stilled. Everyone came to a stop after noticing her. “What’s that?” She whispered and pointed to something off on one side of the road. Edwin squinted where she was pointing and brought his shield and spear up.

They had been walking down the middle of the road and Edwin sent everyone to crouch behind several nearby parked cars. “Be quiet and be on the lookout for whatever that was,” he said with a muffled voice. Peeking down the road, Edwin noticed nothing. From where they crouched he could see Jason and LJ’s looks of anticipation. Shaun seemed more concerned with how the duffle bag sat on his shoulder. Teresa stared intensely down toward the indicated spot. Zoey caught his glance and gave him a meek smile.

“Ok, I don’t know what it was. But it looked pretty small. If it’s hostile we can probably take it. Just stick together and watch each other's backs. Shaun, get ready to ditch the bag if something happens. We’ll come back to get it if need be. But you don’t want to get held up by it,” Edwin said.

Edwin stood up and motioned for the others to follow. He raised his shield up and held his spear point forward, ready to jab at anything that jumped out. Zoey stepped up next to him, her shield in line with his. Jason and LJ fanned out to his left while Shaun crept to the right. Teresa hovered behind them. With slow and sure movements Edwin led them towards the disturbance.

They were on high alert, eyes checking behind every tree and car they passed. Each lawn was scrutinized as they moved by. None of them glanced up however. So they missed the moment a tiny body flung itself off a tree branch overhead.

It barely made a sound as it thumped quietly down onto the road in front of them. Everyone snapped their attention to the small red squirrel as it landed on all fours. It looked normal, sleek and clean fur with a bushy tail. Small beady eyes regarded them for a moment before it made a strange barking, cough noise and dashed off down the road they were following.

Edwin turned to look at Zoey, who met his eyes. Shaun started to laugh while Teresa huffed. Jason grumbled something to LJ but neither of them made more of a fuss.

“Did you get a good look at it?” Edwin asked Zoey, emphasizing look when he said it subtly.

Zoey’s eyes turned from his face to regard a screen floating in the air only she could see. “Oh shit,” she said in surprise.

“What is it?” Edwin quickly asked. “What’s it say?”

“I’m not sure. Let me tell you the description,” was Zoey’s uncertain answer.

When she had scanned the squirrel she got a message that read

A once common red squirrel, now empowered.

It was annoyingly lacking details, if this was a feature of Zoey’s low level or just a limitation of the skill he still was not sure. At the least it gave him a hint that this was no ordinary squirrel. He suddenly wished he had a scan of one of those owls or one of those bison to compare this squirrel’s too. Did empowered mean it had a skill like the owls? Or was it only marginally affected by the system?

“Here,” Edwin said and turned his backpack to her. “Get the notebook out and jot this down.” The others regarded them with strange looks.

“What is going on?” Jason asked.

“Zoey has a skill,” Edwin replied after a moment's deliberation. “It told her that the squirrel is empowered somehow. So we need to be careful.”

Large old trees lined the road they stood in the middle of and the branches reached out across to touch in the middle. The rapid shaking of these branches alerted the group to new arrivals. Now wary of the branches above Teresa was the first to spot them and she swore quietly. She raised her hatchet in meager preparation and started to back up. Jason, LJ, and Shaun followed her glance but were not so affected as she was. Perhaps it was lingering arrogance, or just an inability to grasp the new dangers around them without an obvious display, but when hundreds of beady black eyes stared down at them from above, a certain amount of caution should have been given. Especially after a warning of abnormal squirrels in the area.

Edwin swore when he saw them and hurriedly raised his shield above his head. Zoey slipped the book and pen back into his pack and hastily joined him. Edwin’s eyes darted from squirrel face to squirrel face.

Jason broke the tension by shouting, “Hell yeah! Come get some you tree rats.”

His provocation caused a reaction among the squirrels as they erupted into furious chittering and barking. Their small lithe bodies started to dart around the branches. With their pace and number it was impossible to focus on any one squirrel at a time. They were a confusing blur overhead. LJ gulped and stepped away from his friend.

Without a signal, one squirrel rocketed down towards Jason. Who stood isolated after aggressively walking forward.

As it fell, the squirrel’s skin bulged and it’s muscles writhed and expanded. It slammed into Jason not as a small hand sized squirrel but as a huge, house cat sized squirrel. It landed on his face and bowled him over. With an angry bark it set to gnashing at his face with sharp jutting teeth and claws. Jason’s roar of pain shocked everyone else out of their stupor and into action.

Jason dropped his spear and violently tore the large squirrel off his head. He scrambled to his feet. His face was a mess of scratch and bite marks weeping blood. A particularly deep scratch over his left eye bled quickly and obscured his vision.

The situation quickly escalated out of hand as squirrels started to rain from above. In the second it took them to fall, their bodies changed. They bulked up three, four, even five times as much. Their long incisors lengthed into cruel tiny daggers, their sharp claws toughened into deadly sickles. Their bodies grew proportionally and maintained their general squirrel-like appearance. Only magnified to larger levels with their faces twisted into snarling masks as they descended upon Edwin’s intruding group.

Edwin yelled wordlessly as he tried to smack a squirrel out of the cloud of them with his spear. His shield rebuffed several of them while he missed his mark. He had braced himself and managed to stay on his feet. A squirrel landed on his backpack and bit down on his right ear. Edwin dropped his spear and awkwardly punched over his head. He hit the squirrel and it tore free the chunk of ear in its jaws.

Around him the others screamed as the squirrels tried to drown them in furry fury. An explosive whip-crack report stunned Edwin as Zoey brought her pistol to bear. More followed in quick succession and she emptied her rounds into the sea of squirrels. Her pistol ran dry in seconds, Zoey stood there with the gun clicking empty as she screamed in pain and anger. She threw the pistol at the nearest squirrel in front of her before turning and running.

Edwin fumbled for the pistol in his pocket. He snapped it up and pulled the trigger only for nothing to happen. The safety was on and he had yet to chamber a round. He had no chance to fix that as more furry bodies nipped at his legs and hurled themselves towards his upper body.

Nearby, Shaun and LJ were back to back attempting to keep a handful of squirrels at bay while Jason waded through a throng of them, ignoring the small bodies as they gnawed and tore into his arms and legs. He was shouting incoherently as he lashed out.

Further away from the fight, Teresa darted around a squirrel as they both dodged one anothers attacks.

A deep rumbling bark reverberated through the street. The force behind it shook everyone. After it passed, the squirrels turned and dashed away. Edwin readied his gun and unloaded into their fleeing backs tagging several.

Dead squirrels littered the ground and more lay dying amongst them thrashing. It was a sickening wash of blood and screaming squirrels. Seeing his foes sent running, Jason raised his arms and yelled in victory. Everyone else took the chance to breathe. Edwin bent over and tried to catch his breath. Zoey came jogging back and picked up her pistol.

Jason took to stomping on the dying squirrels with cruel delight. LJ joined in a moment later with his spear.

“Hey!” Edwin yelled to get their attention. “We need to go now, did you not just hear that huge fucking monster sized bark? That’s gotta be a god damn giant squirrel. We’re leaving now.”

For a moment Jason looked ready to rebel, but he began to move towards Edwin, only to pause momentarily twice to send his spear down to finish off another squirrel each time. Edwin shoved the smoking barrel of his pistol back into his pocket and snatched his spear up. Unwilling to wait he then turned and jogged off as the others fell in around him. They retreated back towards Zoey’s Mom’s house. Rather than pushing on past the squirrels territory. There could be more of them in that direction.

Jason was running to catch up with them when the street was suddenly carpet bombed with eye searing novas of light. Each one of the six of them was surrounded by a blinding corona. The group paused as they were enveloped. A happy chime sounded in their heads and blue screens manifested before each of them, invisible to all but themselves. A phantom image that displayed their individual status.

Edwin kneeled down and whipped out his notebook without taking his eyes off the screen and brought the book up in one palm. His eyes darted back and forth from the notebook and his screen which was superimposed over it. He was glad to discover the screen did not vanish when he did this. He proceeded to copy his status screen down into the book. He then dropped the book and tried to push his finger into the number next to his Capacity stat. Nothing happened and Edwin sighed and glanced down to the book on the pavement. The screen vanished.

He was shocked when a second chime announced the arrival of another screen.

New Skill Acquired:

Second Wind: The ability to partially restore personal energy.

Edwin froze in place as he unconsciously read through the message. He had just gotten a new skill, at the same time he had just levelled up and was now level ten. He assumed the correlation was not by chance. Edwin closed his eyes to think for a moment. Second Wind seemed like it would be a useful tool in his limited arsenal. If it worked like it seemed it would, he could be more liberal with his use of terrakinesis. His eyes opened to find the new screen gone and hastily copied the message down while it was still fresh in his mind.

As no other messages appeared, Edwin turned to check his squad. The others were crowding around Jason, who lay on the ground writhing. His neck muscles bulged as he cried out in silent pain. It seems that was enough to push him over the level five boundary. Jason was acquiring his skill. His level five skill anyway. If other’s followed the pattern Edwin seemed to be, they would get another skill as well at level ten. Edwin wondered how many more skills he could get, one every five levels wasn’t a bad rate at least. Looking at Jason, Edwin was relieved to find that gaining a second skill didn’t trigger the same painful seizure attack.

Zoey looked to still be blinking spots from her eyes as he looked at her, standing nearby. She was panting but seemed to otherwise be in good condition.

“Did everyone level up there?” Edwin asked her quietly.

Zoey turned to him and nodded. “Pretty sure,” she calmly said. Her heaving breaths from a moment ago were now gone. Edwin noticed that the biting, fiery pain in his ear was absent. He reached up to confirm it. The ear was whole and undamaged. Likewise everyone else looked to be wound free and well rested. Only the tears in their blood soaked clothes told of the frantic melee from minutes ago.

While the others watched Jason, Edwin put away his notebook and reclaimed his abandoned weaponry. There was no time to dally or talk about their level ups. A squirrel of an assumed great immensity was somewhere nearby.

Edwin really wanted to know what Jason’s new skill was. If it was a combat skill things could turn ugly. If Edwin lost his monopoly of force on their team, the new dynamic he was trying to push could collapse and turn into some sort of mutiny. In that scenario his best option would be a clean break, letting the two sides split and go their own way.

Jason climbed to his feet as everyone watched. His eyes were unfocused as he came down from the pain. He refocused after a moment, and read the invisible screen in the air before him. His expression shifted from a grimace to confusion.

Edwin was expecting a yell of triumph, what did this confused silence mean?