Zoey greeted him in a relieved rush. Edwin waited through her nervous questioning on his well being. She didn’t mention the missing injured folks or his gear. She finished by once more asking him if he was alright, or at least Edwin felt pretty sure that was what she said as he tried to lip read her rapid speech. His ears were still shot and all he could make out was her very muffled voice.

Edwin spoke haltingly as his injury made the process feel strange. “I’m ok. I just need to see Dan. I can’t really hear anything.” Zoey grimaced when she heard his words. Edwin was confused for a moment, but decided that she was unhappy that he was hurt so badly that he couldn’t hear her. He smiled to try to reassure her and gestured towards the dorms.

Walking through the back door into the dorm’s lobby gave Edwin a view of the crowd of people encircling Ava where she stood raised above them out in the courtyard. She was gesturing in different directions and people moved as she seemingly gave them commands. The mood seemed frantic though as Ava’s usual calm actions were filled with urgency. Her features were pinched tight and she brooked no arguments as she tried to salvage what came from the rescue mission.

Without a way to approach and no clue where Dan was, Edwin could only stand there and watch as the crowd thinned. Ava sent more and more people scampering off for purposes Edwin could only guess at. Eventually, she noticed them standing there and beckoned them over. She rattled something off to him but Edwin could only shrug and gesture to his ears. Ava focused on Zoey and the two had a quick back and forth. Ava clicked her tongue then jumped down from the raised concrete square she had been standing on. She beckoned them once more and led them back into White Hall. From the lobby she brought them down into the basement.

Opening the doors revealed a corridor of stacked supplies against the walls. Everything Ava had been ferreting away was packed into the tunnels below the dorms. The only illumination was a faint glow of light coming from the laundry room around the corner. The same oil lamp that one of the residents had been using days ago was once more put to use. When Edwin caught sight of who was in the laundry room he blanched. A sweaty looking Tony hovered over a blood stained Dan. Tony had a towel pressed up against Dan’s stomach. Several small blood soaked hand towels littered the floor. Edwin was too stunned by Dan’s appearance to notice Jason and LJ at first. They were squatting on the floor at the edge of the light working over a strange oblong oval shaped object. He hardly paid them any mind however.

Edwin turned to Ava and saw her grim expression as she studied the situation. Dan was basically the dorm's life line. While Edwin knew it was possible to heal by levelling up. The opportunity was rare and dangerous. If you were seriously injured your options for levelling up would shrink to zero depending on the injury. Dan prevented the issue, he offered nigh unlimited, safe, easy, and quick healing. If they lost him it would be devastating. Which led Edwin to wonder how Dan had been hurt in the first place.

Dan looked up at their arrival, he was awake but barely lucid from the look on his face. His skin was clammy and pale. Ava hurried over and pressed a granola bar into Dan’s hand. She gestured for Edwin to come over. With her cajoling, Dan managed to weakly slip the granola bar into Edwin’s open mouth. As Edwin chewed, his ears restored themselves. He felt the other minor bruises and scrapes fade away as well. The brief moment of healing only reinforced to Edwin just how important Dan was.

With his hearing returned Edwin could hear LJ muttering indistinctly, but Edwin paid it no mind. He moved over and spoke quietly to Tony, “Just how bad is it?”

Tony’s breathing was belabored and reeked of alcohol as the older man looked at Edwin with wide, bloodshot eyes. “Not, well, it’s, err. It’s bad” Tony said, tripping over his words. He glanced down at his blood stained hands pressed tightly on the towel.

Edwin reached over and put his hands on Tony’s shoulder. “You need a break,” he told Tony straight. Edwin directed his hands over Tony’s and prompted him to move away as he replaced him, keeping pressure on Dan’s wound. Tony collapsed into a nearby chair and closed his eyes.

“He needs to level up,” Ava muttered into Edwin’s ear. Edwin twitched as she had snuck up on him but made sure his hands remained steady.

“How do you propose that we manage that?”

“We either need to bring him outside or bring something to him, either way it needs to be done.”

Edwin shook his head. “He can’t be moved in this condition. I doubt he could kill something even if we put a knife in his hands and pressed something's neck into the blade. It would just slip out.”

“Then what do we do Edwin?” Ava snapped at him. “Are you just going to sit here and watch Dan die slowly? Or are you going to try and save his life?” Ava was right up in Edwin’s space. He grit his teeth and exhaled sharply in an attempt to keep control of his emotions.

“We have to try bringing him something,” Edwin said after a moment. His tone was clipped as he focused on saving Dan instead of getting into an argument with Ava. “I know I said he probably can’t kill something but I’m just guessing. If we hold a knife in his hand for him will he get the xp from it? I don’t know. But we have to try.”

Ava regained her composure and nodded in agreement. She stepped back and folded her arms.“The only thing nearby is the owls,” she said while tapping a foot on the concrete floor. “I will send everyone I can spare to try and catch some of them. Do what you can for him in the meantime.”

Edwin grunted in acknowledgment as Ava strode out of the room. She passed by Zoey who was still hovering near the entrance. Edwin noticed that Dan’s eyes were closed and he started talking to him to try and wake him back up. Despite increasing his volume, Dan didn’t stir and Edwin felt the pit of worry in his thoughts grow deeper. Edwin got to the point where he was nearly screaming at Dan before LJ placed his hand onto Edwin’s shoulder. Edwin recoiled and met LJ’s somber gaze. No words were exchanged as the two commiserated over Dan’s plight.

Edwin felt helpless as he watched Dan’s chest rise and fall in short, shallow breaths. To try and distract from the gloomy atmosphere Edwin said aloud for everyone in the room, “What are you guys working on?”

“You remember that box we brought back?” LJ queried in reply. He indicated with his chin when Edwin nodded. “Well that’s what was inside it. I guess Ava managed to get the box open but couldn’t get this to work. Earlier she was asking around if anyone had a skill and when Jason mentioned his, she told him to check this thing out down here. He’s been spaced out since he started messing with it.”

“Any clue what it is?” Edwin asked.

“Nope,” LJ replied with a shrug. “It’s pretty much a featureless egg with some sorta control screen. Must be some sorta tech or something though since it's working with Jason’s skill.”

An unpleasant silence descended over the room as LJ moved back over to join Jason on the ground. Tony stood up and shuffled out of the room without a word while Zoey came over from the door to peer with interest at the object. Edwin maintained pressure but Dan was out of it and only getting worse. Edwin closed his eyes to try and think of something else while time passed.

A few minutes passed and Edwin was unprepared when something sent a rolling rumble through the room. He fell half across Dan. Boxes of canned foods rattled and threatened to tip over as the others squawked in alarm. Zoey and LJ got up and set above securing the wobbling pillars of goods. Edwin regained his footing and hurriedly reapplied what pressure he could. Jason remained in whatever trance had stolen over him when he interfaced with the object and so he didn’t react to the rooms trembling.

“What the fuck was that?” LJ asked with wary anger. “No seriously, what the fuck?”

“That’s not anything good,” Edwin replied equally wary. He had a sinking suspicion about what it was and it promised nothing good. A second stronger shockwave rocked through the room and several of the stacked goods collapsed. Edwin stayed on his feet, having expected it. LJ ran over to Jason to prevent anything from falling on him While Zoey gave up and moved to the center of the room. The smell of canned fruit spread through the room. An overpowering sweetness that clashed with the metallic tang of Dan’s blood and the stink of everyone’s unwashed sweaty bodies.

The lamp flickered as the chair it sat on rattled, so Zoey picked it up to steady and protect their light source. The door down to the basement slammed open in the stairways above and the sound of people rushing down the concrete stairs echoed into the laundry room. Residents came down the stairs in a hurry and began to funnel through the tight corridor deeper into the tunnels in the dark. From the top of the stairs Ava’s voice trailed down, “Keep going, don’t stop. Go as far as you can. We need room for everyone.” She continued to direct the residents as they flowed down into the tunnel.

Everyone glanced their way but when they saw Dan’s blood stained form they cast their gaze deeper into the hallways and scurried on. None of them were carrying owls or anything else they could offer to Dan to gain xp. With how weak Dan was he wasn’t likely to live for much longer. Edwin had been doing his best to ignore the growing stain of blood as it soaked through the towel, but at some point when he readjusted his hands they squelched as he pressed back down and an unpleasant grimace showed his distaste with the feeling.

Another shockwave followed the second one and after that they came at a steady rhythm, growing stronger as their source stomped towards the dorms. Edwin could make out the rattle of gunfire as the mechanical drones arrived in the airspace above White Hall and unleashed their rotary cannons against an unseen foe. Ava came rushing down the stairs with Roy in tow. Half his shirt was coated in dried blood but he looked hearty and whole. He helped Ava ensure the doors were shut before the two of them moved into the laundry room.

Roy stepped over to Dan and cursed when he got a good look at him. Ava needed only a glance to recognize the truth. At some point Dan had stopped breathing. His face was ghostly white as his body failed from blood loss. Edwin didn’t consciously recognize that Dan was dead until Roy’s small outburst. He gave up keeping pressure on the towel and collapsed against the row of washing machines on the far wall.

“How bad is it up there?” Edwin asked when he caught Ava looking at him.

“I would not recommend going up there,” she said and twitched as an explosion louder than any before sent the few holdout stacks of food crashing to the ground. “Whatever engagement there is between the large machine and the flying men has made its way here. The one throwing fire everywhere has set alight the entire campus from what I can tell. And he had been reinforced by several others. They seemed to be on the defensive however, unable to do anything to the large machine, and were instead trying to ward off the small aircraft. With some small manner of success.”

Jason chose that moment to snap out of his reverie. “I got it!” He cheered, oblivious to the current happenings. He looked around and took in everyone’s expressions. Jason stood up and his knees cracked in displeasure with how he had been crouching on them for so long. “Guys it’s a-” he said, before another explosion rocked the room and sent Jason tumbling off his feet.

“What the fuck was that!” Jason exclaimed.

“Trouble,” Ava answered succinctly. “Now hurry and tell us what exactly this device is.”

“We’re in luck then,” Jason smirked. “This little beauty is an honest to god shield generator like something out of a movie. Even better is that I know how to make it work. So whatever trouble comes knocking we can just hide inside and it won’t be able to get us.”

Jason’s explanation prompted surprise from everyone in the room. Ava arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Get it up and running then,” she commanded. Jason turned back to the device before Ava continued, “Tell me, how large an area can it protect and how strong exactly is the generated shield? Does it let air pass through it and can we exit from the inside while it is still running.”

She pressed him for the details and Jason looked chagrined as he stretched before bending back down to the device. “I didn’t check, once I figured out what it was and how to turn it on I stopped messing with it to come and tell everyone.”

The sounds of fighting above the dorm intensified in the lull while Jason set to work on the shield generator. The room was rocked with tremors as the large spider mech filled the air around White Hall with explosions. When the first shot landed on the dorm it rattled the room far more intensely than any before. Jason was jolted from his work and cursed before he resumed with a furrowed brow and pursed lips.

Residents screamed and moaned and whined. Every manner of expression filtered through back to them from deeper in the hall. Curses and prayers in equal measure. When the next explosion rocked the dorm over their heads the upper half of White Hall came crashing down and thundered against the parking lot in a cacophonous avalanche of debris.

Edwin was thrown from where he leaned against the washing machine and caught himself on his hands and knees. The ceiling above them cracked and dirt plumed through the cracks filling the air with dust. It sheeted down in waves and started to pile up on the floor. Edwin pressed his nose and mouth into his elbow crook to try and eek out a fresh breath of air. The noise of people hacking and coughing was added to the deluge of sound filling the tunnel.

“I got it!” Jason yelled and suddenly a transparent, spherical shaped, blue tinged, soap bubble popped into place. It lined the walls, ceiling, and filled the cracks above while stretching through the door and came to a stop just outside. One of the nearby residents noticed and jumped to their feet. They ran at it and banged their fist against the barrier. It was unyielding against their attempts. Nothing gave a visible indication that the resident was even hitting the barrier, no sound resounded and no visible wave from where their fist met the half opaque shield.

“No one can get in,” Zoey yelled.

“Should I drop it?” Jason called in a panic.

“No!” Ava surged to her feet and raced over to Jason. More residents were attracted by the first and they set to beating on the barrier with everything that had at hand. “Leave it up, or we will die too.”

Zoey ran over to the doorway and raised the oil lamp to better see outside the shield. The next explosion sounded muted compared to the last one but the residents reacted as if it was the loudest one yet. They screamed and surged against the barrier. The ceiling split and dirt poured down upon them like a crashing wave. The concrete ceiling gave way and chunks rained down among the dirt, breaking bones and killing anyone who caught one to the skull. Above the forcefield the cracks multiplied and the ceiling pressed down harder against the shield.

The floor beneath them rolled and jumped. Zoey stumbled and the oil lamp was thrown from her grip. It crashed against the concrete floor by the table Dan was laid up on. A pool of oil spread from where it landed and caught a spark. Suddenly the forcefield’s interior was ablaze and filling fast with smoke. The table caught fire and the flames leapt to the other nearby furniture.

Face down and prone, Edwin coughed into his elbow as he struggled to find fresh air. The air was thick with choking smoke and dirt. From where he lay he had no clue if the smoke was building up in the forcefield or if it was bleeding out and up through the rents in the building’s foundation. He felt helpless as he laid there. A battle between titans waged above his head and tore the town apart. There he was, unable to leverage his meager ability in any meaningful way, reduced to base human cowering.

The only thing he could focus on was the grime which coated his tongue and the nearby flames. With a tight squint he could see their flickering shape nearby and he was keeping a sharp watch on them to see if they inched closer. He was on the edge of attempting to flip the concrete floor tiles to see if he could smother the fire but he was more scared that he would splash the oil everywhere and set himself and the others alight.

Edwin was forced to close his eyes because of the stinging smoke. He couldn’t even watch the fire. Instead he lay there and sent out prayers and pleas of every flavor. He was granted no reply or reprieve. He lay on the floor and weathered the events besieging the city. Beneath the forcefield he didn’t move until the ground no longer shook, the fire had guttered out, and the smoke had cleared. It was eerily quiet as the sun dawned on the seventh day since the world ended.