After an eternity of chaos and blood, the night finally ended. The sun’s disc broke the horizon and its searing light revealed a field of corpses. The school stood, its windows shattered and the lower floor ruined, but the natural chokepoint of the stairways had held. A weary cheer rose from the second floor as a box appeared in Jill’s vision:

Local Quest Complete: Survive the first night.

Contribution bonus: +1.7x

Noncombatant savior bonus: +2.6x

53,000 Experience Gained!

You are now Level 16!

The rush of gaining four levels at once hit hard; too hard. Jill had been exhausted and at her limit hours before, hours spent driving in never ending circles. Crush one monster, dodge a larger one, reinforce one side of the school before a new wave could breach it, repeat again. Even though not one monster had breached Bertha’s armor to kill her, they had done their best, and more than once the windshield had cracked under their assault. The tension, stress, and terror of it all twisted the level-up high from ecstasy to agony, and Jill’s vision went black. The feeling drained out from her and she settled into sleep.

A monster stalked her dreams, full of fangs and blood and the promise of death. But then it got pancaked by Bertha, whose horn blared a cheerful deep bass ‘Hiiiiiiiii!’ as she blew past, which was nice. Jill slept a lot better after that.

“Hey Jill.”

‘No. Comfy seat is comfy.’ Jill half thought and half didn’t.

“Junkmouth!”

‘Heh.’ She liked that nickname. She turned over just a bit, burrowing away from the annoying noises, which continued next to her.

“Do you think she’ll hit us if we touch her?” Ras’ voice drifted through the fog.

“Only if you do it wrong. I can give you tips if this is your first time.” Babu replied. Jill smiled a bit as her dreams turned spicier. The much younger man really could be dead sexy when he had confidence. Too bad she was taken, but hey! Dreams didn’t count.

“Just because I don’t slut myself out like you doesn’t mean that-” Ras said, but got interrupted.

“I am not a slut! Just skilled, don’tcha know” Babu said with a sniff. “I just happen to be popular, unlike you.”

Ras started saying something, but their argument had annoyed Jill enough. “Go nuzzle a grundle somewhere else,” Jill said, the words coming out in an annoyed moan, “I’m sleeping here.”

“Well, we tried being annoying,” Ras said, giving a theatrical sigh, “so time for drastic measures.”

There was a flash of light and ice water soaked Jill from head to toe.“Clitclamps!” She yelled, limbs flailing in shock. She opened her eyes and glowered up at Babu, who was pointing a finger at her. The cold and wet seeping through her clothing vanished the moment he stopped pointing.

“Wakey!” Babu said. “You’ve got shit to do. He,” he pointed at Ras, who looked particularly put out, “can explain. I’m going to go hunt down some breakfast.” He started whistling and ducked past his brother to hop out of the cab.

“Whats up?” Jill asked.

“Babu was supposed,” Ras stressed the word, “to be the one to tell you while, but...” he rolled his eyes. “The survivors in the school want to talk with you. There’s a committee.”

Jill snorted. “Of course there is.” She took a look out the windows, noting that they were much thicker than they used to be. “Any monsters left?”

Ras shook his head. “They stopped at dawn, but Captain Tanner thinks they’ll be back. She’s the one in charge.” He paused. “Well, mostly. She’s in the military, but on leave and some of the others don’t want to listen because she’s new or something? It’s complicated.”

“Lord save me from local politics…” Jill said under her breath, then turned to her gun rack. All that was left was a nine millimeter handgun in a holster, but that was better than nothing, so she took it and strapped it to her hip. She stretched her arms up, expecting the usual sequence of snaps and pops her spine gave these days, but none came. Now that she was awake, she felt alright. Surprisingly and suspiciously so, given that she had slept for just a few hours, but that was a worry for another time. “Where am I heading?”

“Second floor, east side. They’re meeting in the library.”

Jill nodded. “Mind standing watch? Wouldn’t want something to crawl inside my girl when no one was looking.”

For a moment Ras looked like he was going to say no, but he just sighed and nodded instead.

It turned out that Bertha’s final slide had left her near the main entrance, so there wasn’t far to walk. Jill hopped down from the big rig, giving her a pat as she went only for her hand to come away sticky. The big rig was splattered all over with mud and guts. Jill frowned, concentrating for a moment through [Customize], and she willed her truck clean. The outside shivered, little ripples flowing from front to back, and the muck cascaded off to reveal gleaming waxed paint.

“Woah,” said one of the men guarding the front entrance to the school. He was in pajamas but holding a triple barreled, glowing gun. “That was cool.”

Jill winked at him, a satisfied smile on her face. “That she is,” she said as she passed.

The bottom floor of the school was still a disaster, but it was obvious to Jill that in the few hours she’d been asleep there had at least been a token effort to clean. Glass had been roughly swept into corners, leaving a clear trail down the center of the hallways. The monster bodies had been dragged away, the blood smears contrasting the cheerful pastel colors of the tiles and walls. But for all that the bottom floor was still mostly empty, the survivors naturally avoiding what had just hours before been a killing ground.

There were more guards at the top of the stairwell, where guns and swords had held off the monsters that had made it inside. The floor and walls held the evidence of that battle, with slashes and holes all over. Jill gave a respectful nod to the guards as they passed; for all that she had had an awful, bloody night, she had the power and safety of Bertha on her side. All these brave souls had were their own skills and whatever weapons they could scrounge.

The second floor was packed with people, but it was organized and far cleaner than below. Some of the classrooms had been converted into sleeping areas, with individuals and families claiming little areas as their own. In another there were children playing games and coloring in books under the direction of a young man with a falsely cheerful expression. But it was too quiet, and the red eyes and snot crusted sleeves told of the night that those children had endured.

“Ok kids, snack time!” the man said, clapping his hands. Jill’s gaze snapped to him and for just a moment she felt the urge to line up and patiently wait for food, before the effects of the magic slid off of her. The children had no such resistance and there was a muted cheer from them as they obediently lined up.

Then she was past, heading towards the east end of the floor and the library. The walls of this section of the school were covered in small animal-shaped cutouts of brightly colored construction paper, each labelled and initialled in shaky handwriting. Jill paused right outside the library to admire a rabbit in a hardhat with a shovel labelled ‘Broc by RD’. It really was remarkably good.

Through the door came raised voices.

“No! We’re safe here now, we can’t just abandon that!” a man’s voice, on the edge of snarling.

“We’ve gone over this. I’m not saying we abandon this location, just that -” a woman’s, tired but calm.

“That we send half the men with guns away looking for people that are probably dead? Don’t be irrational.” The man cut her off.

Jill rolled her eyes, took a fortifying breath, then rapped her knuckles on the door on her way in. “Morning.” She said. “You all wanted to see me?” There were four people seated around a table that was meant for children and far too low to the ground.

“Yes, Miss…” The man that had snapped said, his sentence trailing off to ask who she was. He looked to be in his late thirties and was the best dressed of the bunch. He even looked like he had found time to shave. Jill didn’t answer, instead shifting her gaze to the others.

“Thanks for coming, Ms. MacLeod. I’m Captain Amelie Tanner.” Said the calm, tired woman. She was wearing camouflage pattern pajamas and very pregnant, with dark circles under her eyes. She was also very armed, with a handgun on each side of her chest in an unbuckled holster, an AR-15 assault rifle on the table in front of her, and knives on her thighs.

“Andrew Berry. I ran the HOA around here, for all thats fucking worth.” Another man introduced himself. He was dressed in torn jeans and a t-shirt obscured with bloodstains. He kept tapping the fingers of one hand on his thigh, and with the other he kept a tight grip on a glowing sci-fi rifle.

“Nice to meet you Jill! I’m Mia Francis.” Said the last person at the table, a younger woman who looked oddly familiar to Jill. She was on the shorter side, with a tightly woven braid of black hair that fell to her mid back.

“And I’m Vice Principal Lawson.” Said the better dressed man who didn’t know who Jill was.

Amelie leaned forward. “Thank you for helping out last night. I don’t know where the hell you came from, but I’ve never been happier to see farmer armor rolling in.”

“The defenders were doing well enough under my instruction, but yes, thank you for showing up,” Lawson said. Judging by the looks that Mia and Andrew threw at him, Jill doubted he had much to do with any fighting.

“Anyone would have done it, and my passengers like to play hero," Jill said with a shrug.

The captain smirked. “Sure they do. Anyhow, we need to figure out what the hell’s happened and none of our cars are working. We want you to take me and a half dozen other grunts west while the rest stay here. The highschool and an armory are just a few miles down the road and over the highway, next to the airport. It's not far, but I’m not sending anyone on foot right now if I can help it.”

“Or,” Lawson said with a glare, “we could not ruin the defenses here. We need to wait for the army to come to us, they’ll know what to do.”

“What the fuck are you on about, she IS Army!” Andrew said. “We’ve been over this like a dozen times.”

“Not in that condition she’s not.” Lawson said with a gesture to Amelie’s stomach.

Sounds of disgust rang out around the table. Jill met Amelie’s eyes and they shared a look of understanding.

“Sure, I can do that,” Jill said. “I can’t stay around here too long though, a half day at most. My friends need to get to their family in Billings and then I’m going all the way east to Boston.” Mia, who had so far been mostly silent, perked up.

“That's fine,” Amelie said. “I’ll pick some people and get downstairs. Give us twenty minutes?”

“Look,” Lawson said before Jill could respond, spreading his hands wide while addressing Amelie. “This seems really important to you, so how about we just send like half a dozen guys? Then things here will still be ok if the monsters come back.”

“Jesus Christ Oliver…” Mia said under her breath, shaking her head.

“Why is he even here?” Jill asked.

“Hey!” Lawson looked constipated.

“The Principal’s missing, so it's his building.” Amelie said with a sigh.

Jill shook her head, pitying the poor children. “Twenty minutes sounds good, I’ll see you there.”

The meeting broke up, with everyone standing. Amelie walked off and started calmly giving orders, Andrew following along behind. Jill moved to go.

“Oh, Jill?” Lawson said. “When you come back, don’t tear up the grass so much. You know, if you can, I know driving a ‘big rig’ can be hard.”

Jill stared at him for a moment. “Would anyone mind if I just fucking shot this assclown?” She asked loudly. She didn’t wait for a response, turning on a heel and stalking away. “As if I can’t fucking dodge grass…” she muttered to herself.

The sound of fast footfalls behind her made Jill look over her shoulder: Mia was hurrying to catch up with her. Jill didn’t stop, but she did slow down a bit so that the shorter woman wouldn’t have to run just to keep up.

“Sorry about Oliver,” Mia said, “he’s an awful person but…” She paused. “I was going to say he’s got the school board’s ear and his brother’s the police chief so it's best to just go along and keep your head down, but maybe that doesn’t matter anymore. Not like they can do anything worse than a million monsters.”

“Hooray, there are some sprinkles on this shit donut of a day.”

“Right! Haha. Um,” Mia put on a bright smile, “anyway, I want to ask you a question if thats ok. You said you’re heading east right? Do you think I can catch a lift? My family’s on the way, just off the thruway in New York, it would only delay you by like an hour.”

Jill glanced at Mia out of the corner of her eye, sizing the short woman up. She seemed nice enough, but the drive was likely to get rougher the farther they went. Jill could probably afford to take her as a passenger, but it would be better if Mia could help the defense. “You ever fired a gun?”

Mia stopped dead, then burst out laughing.

“What?” Jill looked around in confusion.

Mia held a hand dramatically to the side, fingers wide. Gold light poured out, swirling around her once before congealing into a gigantic chaingun, complete with thick carrying strap and a crate of ammunition.

“You’re fucking chaingun lady?!” Jill yelled. “Of course you can come! That thing is wicked. And you saved my ass like five times last night!” She debated for a second, then decided to keep talking. “I uh, owe you an apology. I thought for a moment you were that lawdick’s assistant.”

“Oh god no!” Mia said, face twisting in disgust. Another flick of her hand and her chaingun dissolved back into gold light. “Can you imagine? I’m the school nurse.”

They descended the stairs. “The school nurse. With a chaingun?” Jill said. She shook her head. “And I thought they were crazy in Texas.”

Mia laughed. “I didn’t have it then. I got it from the System and then made it soulbound, like your truck.”

“You know about that?”

“Yeah. Ras said so earlier when he was talking with us. Andrew wanted to know why it was still working.”

For a moment Jill was annoyed that Ras had spilled about Bertha, but she pushed that down. It's not as if the information was particularly important after all.

“We’ll have to see if the two of them will play nice together. Maybe Bertha can solve your reload problem.”

“Who’s Bertha? And how?”

They exited the school. “The truck’s Bertha,” Jill said. “And the turrets are magic and make ammo from pixie farts or something. Here, let me show you.” Jill sent Mia the box for [Mana Substitution], then decided to check on the rest of her status while the woman read it.

Jill MacLeod

HP: 390/390

Class: Battle Trucker

Tier: 1

MP: 570/570

XP: 131,221/136,000

Level: 16

Body: 39

Mind: 36

Spirit: 57

Conditions: Hungry

Class Powers: None Selected

9 points available to assign.

(+) Bonus to Class Power effectiveness.

(+) Bonus to Class Powers which boost Soulbound vehicle.

Soulbound Modular Vehicle ‘Bertha’

Armor: 7980/7980

Durability: 57,000/57,000

Mana: 57,000/57,000

Module:

Tier:

Upgrades:

Cargo

1

-

Command

1

-

Habitation

0

-

Propulsion (Ground)

1

Torque Converter (1/1), Utility Wheels (1/3)

Turrets (Small Arms)

1

Mana Substitution (1/1), Dakka (1/5)

Armor

1

-

Upgrades Available:

Module Upgrades

Dimensional Customization (1/2)

Exactly as she expected with higher numbers, except for the last ability:

Dimensional Customization (1/2):

1) The cosmetic and structural configuration of ‘Bertha’ can be slowly changed, as long as module limitations are not exceeded.

2) The external and internal volumes of ‘Bertha’ can be independently changed, as long as the external volume of ‘Bertha’ is not reduced below it’s starting value.

A grin spread over Jill’s face. “Oh man. Babu is going to freak the fuck out.”