Stanley sat on the roof chewing on a strip of bacon jerky and watching a handful of oversized rats fight a handful of zombies. Next to him, Caffeine completely ignored the violence, he was focused intently on the bag of jerky and the hand that dipped in and out. Stanley passed him a strip and it vanished instantly. "You didn't even chew that." Stanley said to the pug, who wagged his tail and only glanced away from the bag for a heartbeat before continuing to stare and lick his lips. Stanley smiled and passed him another piece.

He couldn’t decide who to root for below. On the one hand he had zombies, undead, bad times. On the other side, fucking rats. As he watched, one of the rats got caught by a zombie and started squealing as it struggled to escape. A chunk of concrete smashed through the zombies head and it collapsed, allowing the rat to scramble away.

He scanned over them with his [Soul-Sight] but saw nothing that looked like the swarm leader from before. He stowed the jerky back in his pack and put it on. A minor effort of will had him upright in the air. He opened his jacket and lifted the pug to snuggle against his chest underneath the coat.

He killed the remaining rats and zombies before cracking their heads looking for cores. The oversized rats all gave up one but only about half of the zombies did. “Odd that.” He didn’t worry about it as he continued on his way south.

Stanley needed to find and kill the Invaders to get out of this prison and get home to Lee. He had realized eventually that the only undead he had seen since the night before, were the weak human zombies. There hadn’t been any more of the abominations or bladed skeletons. Also no more four armed talking skeletons either. There must be more somewhere or he wouldn’t be trapped. “Maybe they are hiding?”

He flew slowly, partially because the cold air hurt his face and also to keep an eye out for ambushing birds. He stayed relatively close to the tree and rooftops but not so close that something might suddenly pop out and grab him.

“Which way should we go, Caff?” He asked the dog. Caffeine just kept sniffing at the air.

Stanley kept his [Soul-Sight] active as he flew, and occasionally spotted a glow here and there but nothing more than random animals. “Where are all the humans.” He wondered. “I haven’t seen enough zombies to account for…” He paused his flight when he saw a much brighter glow up near the clouds. “Some kind of hawk or eagle…” He guessed as he squinted up into the gray sky. Whatever it was, it was moving away and quickly disappeared in the clouds.

Stanley clenched a slightly trembling fist and tried to calm his racing pulse. “I got this.” He was not used to fighting for his life and every potential conflict set his heart pounding. His life before had been almost completely free of actual physical violence, the worst he’d dealt with being occasional road rage and lately that had just been him resisting the urge to simply push the idiots off the road or fly his truck right over them. But now… now he had to adapt. Stanley was under no illusion that he would have a quick and easy flight home once he got out of here. With only the earthly, or formerly earthly creatures alone, not counting the Invaders, he suspected that it would be a nightmare trip home.

His musings stopped when another glow appeared ahead. Stanley slowed and flew higher, trying to get a better view. Below he could see three glowing souls that he was relatively certain were human and a large mass of the more diffuse souls that he knew the zombies had. The three humans were running ahead of the zombies down the street and one seemed to be limping while being half carried by the other two.

Stanley gave the skies another quick scan before he descended, just in case.

He hovered above the humans and ahead of the horde while Caffeine growled and tried to turn around inside his jacket. “Watch my back, Caff.” He murmured to the pug. “They're just weak zombies, nothing to get excited about.” The dog settled down, mostly. “You can watch the humans and cry at them for food.” Stanley added, as he settled gently on the street just behind the fleeing people and facing the horde. Caffeine whined and huffed at the humans over his shoulder.

“Good opportunity for some practice.” He thought as he willed his Resource bars to appear in the corner of his vision. “Minimum necessary force.”

He targeted the nearest shambling zombie and cut its head off with a telekinetic blade. “Just stay calm,” he told himself, as he targeted and killed another. He watched his Stamina while he kept picking them off one by one, making sure not to move his hands or even his head if he could help it. His stamina was going down but it was only 1% every ten kills or so, much better than with the rats. “Let's try something bigger.” Stanley focused while trying to breathe at a slow and steady pace. He almost lifted a hand, but instead folded his arms over his chest and around the whining pug.

Stanley sent a wide mental blade straight ahead into the approaching zombies at head height. Dozens of zombies collapsed and opened a large gap in the horde. “Not bad, only 1% Stamina…” Next he floated back into the air and started picking them off again. It was harder to pull off the decapitations from the higher angle and when he tried the wider attack it went low and crashed into the ground, leaving only a few beheaded and a lot more still moving with bisected torsos and legs. “Damnit.” He cursed and then cursed again when he realized he was getting worked up.

He suddenly heard someone shout behind him. “Sonic Wave!” There was a humming sound and a handful of zombies to his right were knocked backwards and toppled over. Stanley could see them still moving as he turned around.

The three humans had apparently stopped as soon as he landed and started killing. One of them had both arms outstretched and looked like he was about to collapse as he swayed on his feet.

“Why the hell did you stop running!” Stanley shouted at them. Caffeine, now facing the horde over his shoulder, started growling. Stanley spun and swatted the front row backwards. He immediately regretted it when he saw his still visible Stamina Bar noticeably drop a few percent.

“Fuck!” He spun back to the humans who were still just standing there and staring at him. Stanley caught himself before yelling this time. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and looked at the buildings lining the street. When he saw what he wanted, he grabbed the three people and lifted them and himself up onto the flat roof of a laundromat. All three screamed, gasped and yelped respectively. Stanley had a brief moment where he almost dropped them when he felt a resistance to his ability. It felt similar to when he had been trying to grab the rat leader, almost slippery, but he managed and set them down gently, for the most part, on the roof.

Stanley set himself down into a seated position, closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. “I’m too angry.” He thought. “Why am I so angry… Oh maybe it’s because the world ended and I’m trapped in a fucking…” Caffeine licked his cheek and squirmed around, trying to escape from inside the jacket. “Relax.” He breathed slowly in… and out.

Stanley unzipped and let the pug free before zipping up against the cold air. “Breathe…” He heard Caffeine’s nails scraping on the roof as he trotted over to the new people with quiet barks and whines. “Hi cutie!” A woman’s voice said.

When Stanley felt normal again he opened his eyes and looked at the other people on the roof with him. They were all bundled up in winter clothing. The woman was petting Caffeine while he sniffed at the limping man’s leg and the last man was looking around nervously. All three jumped when he opened his eyes and he saw the glow of their Souls shiver. “Right.” Stanley looked away from them and floated into the air, still cross legged and looked up at the sky and then at the zombies. A few were approaching the building and the rest seemed to be walking in random directions.

He deactivated his [Soul Sight] and floated closer to the trio before settling back down. “Hi.” He tried to smile but it must not have worked from the way they all just stared at him. Stanley cleared his throat and coughed a bit. “Have you guys seen any skeletons with sword-arms?” They just stared at him. “Any skeletons with four arms, wearing robes?” He added.

“Um no?” The woman spoke up. “Just zombies, some giant birds and a huge rat…” She trailed off as Stanley frowned.

Stanley shook his head. “They’d probably be dead if they had.”

“Any giant undead?” She was shaking her head when the man with the wounded leg spoke. “What class did you get?” He asked quietly. Stanley wasn’t listening as he thought about where to go from here. “And how the hell did you do that?” The man almost shouted and Stanley looked up in surprise. Caffeine hopped back and barked once at the man and Stanley smiled at the dog. “Shut up Dan!” The man standing near the edge hissed. “You're drawing them this way.”

The wounded man just started muttering so Stanley ignored him and turned to the woman. “I’m looking for the Invaders.” His fingers made air quotes on the word invaders. “We are trapped in here until we kill them.”

“What do you mean trapped?” She asked, glancing around nervously. Stanley waved vaguely towards the distance. “There’s a wall, you can’t see it til you get close but it won’t let us out. If you touch it, it says something about invaders, blah blah, no one can leave.” Her eyes were wide as she listened to him.

“I killed one of the raid leaders and it was a four-armed skeleton that had a shit ton of these little bladed skeletons and a huge…” Stanley shuddered at the memory. “...A huge…” His hands were shaking as he stared at them.

“Fuuuck!” He screamed and punched the roof.

The building shook underneath him and the man watching the zombies yelled. “They’re coming this way!”

“Good!” Stanley yelled back. “Let them fucking come!” He screamed. “I’ll kill all the fucking…” Caffeine’s head appeared in front of him and a huge tongue slapped over his face. Stanley sputtered and stopped screaming as Caffeine whimpered and whined at him. Stanley shuddered and cradled his face in his hands as he fought against the tears threatening to spill out. Caffeine crawled into his lap and licked at his face in between sad whines. Stanley wrapped his arms around the pug, buried his face in fur and worked to get his breathing back under control. He slowly calmed down.

Finally feeling better and slightly embarrassed, he looked up. All three of the wide-eyed strangers quickly looked away. “Sorry guys…” He started. “I…” He closed his mouth. “I don’t know these people, I don’t care what they think of me.”

Caffeine gave him another cheek lick and then climbed out of his lap while sniffing intently with his nose pointed at the sky as he wandered towards the edge of the roof. Stanley let him go, not at all worried that the weak zombies or even falling off the roof could hurt the pug. He activated his [Soul Sight] and quickly scanned the sky before deactivating it again.

He looked at the wounded man. “What happened to him?” He asked the woman who was watching the dog wide-eyed. “Is he gonna turn into a zombie?” The man in question looked away from Caffeine and glared at Stanley.

“Rat bite.” The woman replied.

“Hmmm.” Stanley stared at his blood stained jeans. “There is a healer north of here, he could fix that.” He thought about it. “Maybe northeast of here.”

Caffeine suddenly growled and then released one of his deep, booming Barks.

Stanley launched himself into the air and activated his [Soul Sight] as he turned, already reaching out to grab Caffeine as adrenaline spiked.

A bright Soul sailed through the air and disappeared into a building across the street. A moment later an inhuman screech sounded out from the building and every zombie in sight turned as one and headed straight for the roof the others along with Caffeine were on. “Shit!”

The pug had grown bigger, not massive but more the size of a large dog and after the screech he tilted his head back and howled.

You have heard the Howl of the Beast Lord.

+5% Effect of All Attributes to Friends

-5% Effect of All Attributes to Not Friends

“What the hell!” Someone yelled, but Stanley kept his attention on the building where the bright soul had vanished inside. “Is it another Leader?”

The soul appeared from behind the building and he was ready. “No running and taking shots at me this time.” He grabbed it with his power, feeling the familiar resistance. It tried the same thing as the rat but he was expecting it and when his mental grip slipped the thing was already on its way up into the sky.

As it reached the top of its trajectory it slowed and he got a good look at it. It was a zombie. A zombie with glowing red eyes that were locked onto him.

He wrapped it up tight in a crushing grip before it could fall and right as it screeched again. A ball of gray smoke fell from its mouth and towards the street below. Stanley tried to push it away but felt something akin to water running through a clenched fist as it wobbled past his power and hit the street.

When the ball hit, it exploded across the ground and swirled around a large number of the zombies before vanishing. Red glows lit up in the eyes of every zombie that had been touched by the smoke. “That can’t be good.”

The new red-eyed zombies all sped up and the ones near the building immediately started jumping to the edge of the roof and clawing their way up onto it. Stanley looked back to the zombie leader and could’ve sworn it was grinning at him as it struggled and twisted in his grasp.

“You want to go down?” Stanley said. “Sure. I’ll put you down!” He drove the leader headfirst into the street. It left a crater in the pavement but Stanley still felt it resisting his power so back into the sky it went before his grip slipped.

He spared a glance towards Caffeine while it sailed upwards and saw a red-eyed zombie climb onto the roof next to the man who had been keeping watch. The man stumbled back and fell over as he yelled in fear.

To Stanley’s surprise it ignored the man and launched itself across the rooftop at the pug instead.

Before Stanley could react it had reached the dog, who neatly hopped to the side and as it sailed past gave it a deep but not very loud woof. The zombies' momentum abruptly and violently changed direction and it plowed into a few others climbing onto the roof and they all went back over the edge. "He's fine."

Stanley turned back to the descending zombie leader whose arm was swinging towards Stanley as if throwing something. He reflexively blocked with his power and an impact knocked him backwards through the air. He stared in shock at what his shield had blocked. "A tooth!"

The zombie was reaching into its mouth again when he sent the tooth back. He was pleased when he managed to hit the thing. Unfortunately, the tooth only punched through the undead's chest without appearing to slow it down in the slightest.

More and more Barking was coming from the pug below and Stanley was already sick of the clever zombie. He grabbed it as its arm cocked back and he turned it around before driving it into the ground again. And again.

He saw its bloody hand grab a piece of shattered concrete and was ready when the creature threw it at him. "Way too smart." He thought. "You have soo got to die."

He caught the chunk of concrete and slammed the zombie into the ground facedown, he saw its hands and feet digging into the pavement in preparation to run away but before it could the small piece of concrete smashed into the back of its head with everything Stanley could muster. The rock floated upwards, stained red and went down again, and again.

Stanley didn't stop until its Soul faded.

He was gasping for breath when he turned back to the pug but relaxed when he saw Caffeine sitting calmly on the roof, his tongue dangling as he panted happily.

Stanley smiled and floated down to sit next to the pug who immediately jumped onto his crossed legs, licked his face and struggled to roll over without falling onto the roof. Stanley obliged by flipping him over and rubbing his belly while he whispered. "Who's a good boy? You're a good boy!"

"What the fuck was that!" The woman yelled. Caffeine leaned up briefly to glance around before he relaxed back into his belly rub. Stanley looked at her and the other two. They were all looking around wide-eyed at the zombie remains still on the roof.

"Guess you haven't seen that before?" Stanley asked.

"Of course not!" She yelled again. "We would be dead if we had."

Stanley glared at her. "If you attract more I'm leaving." She closed her mouth.

"How are we supposed to survive something like that?" The man next to her said quietly.

"Didn't you get a Class?" Stanley asked him. He nodded. "I got Arborist."

Stanley stared at him. "Isn't that a tree thing?" The man nodded.

"So you can make trees defend you or something?"

The man just looked at the ground and shook his head. "I can help them grow faster and healthier."

Stanley looked at the woman expectantly.

"I'm a Wood Worker."

Stanley sighed. "Why? Didn't you get a better option?"

"I thought…" She started yelling but quieted when he reactivated his [Soul Sight] and her Soul shivered. "I thought it wasn't real… a hallucination or something." She finished softly.

Her Soul was a frightened shade of sawdust and smelled like brown. "Hey that one almost made sense!" Stanley looked over at the man who had used a sonic attack. "What'd you get?" he asked while examining his Soul. It smelled like a nostalgic song and chimed with the color of sadness. "Maybe the undead I got this from had different senses."

"I'm a Musician." The man was giving him an odd look as he spoke. "Are you using a skill right now?" He asked Stanley.

"Yep." Stanley said without elaboration. "Why?"

"There is something in your eyes…" He said slowly. "And I can feel it when you look at me."

Stanley was curious. "What does it feel like?"

"I… it feels like something is wrong… but I don't know what." He shook his head. "Your eyes… It feels like looking through a doorway into a cavernous darkness and something is in there watching me." He shivered and broke eye contact. "It's unpleasant."

Stanley deactivated his skill and the man stood up straighter.

"You stopped." Stanley nodded. "What is the skill? If you don't mind."

"I was looking at your Soul." The man flinched and Stanley grinned. "Relax. It's supposed to tell me about people but I think it's broken."

"My Soul…" The man said thoughtfully.

"Yea. I got it from the necromancer. Er the Raid Leader."

"So that really was you?" The woman said. "We saw the message earlier."

Stanley nodded jerkily and focused on giving Caffeine a very thorough and full coverage belly rub.

"It said it had brothers." Stanley said softly. "I need to find them and kill them."

"It spoke?" She whispered.

The man with the injured leg spoke suddenly. "The Miasma."

Stanley looked at him. "What Miasma?"

"The Debuff?" The man said. Stanley started to shake his head but then remembered something. "I Resisted it, last…" He swallowed. "What about it?"

"You Resisted?" The man sighed. "Of course you did. Well what I meant to say is that it is stronger that way." He pointed towards the city. "So maybe…" He shrugged.

Stanley was nodding. "That could mean something. It's a start at least." He looked at the man. "Thanks. That's a good…"

Caffeine growled from his lap while looking up into the sky, Stanley activated his sight and found the offender. “Hello there.”

The squawking seagull hit the already shattered street with a crunch and went silent.

"Thanks for the information." He told the man, and waved into the distance. "Like I said, a healer that way."

They were all staring at him. "What?" The musician looked over the edge of the roof at the bird.

"Oh yea, fuck seagulls!" Stanley shook off the memory of plummeting out of the sky.

"Anyway… good luck, I've got monsters to find and kill." He floated cross legged into the air, sight on and scanning the area as he continued to rub Caffeine’s belly. "It really has gotten easier to fly." He mused.

"Wait!" The woman yelled up at him. "Don't just leave us here!"

Stanley looked down. "My bad." He picked them all up and set them on the street. "There you go."

“Wait, wait.” She continued. “We’ll die if you leave…”

Stanley stopped listening when he saw another bright soul appear around a corner and dash towards the trio. “Son of a bitch.” His hands shot out as his power slammed the creature face down into the street. At the same time a parking meter was ripped out of the sidewalk in a cloud of concrete dust. Before the glowing red eyes could even find him above, the metal pole stabbed through its head and into the pavement below with a loud crack.

“I’m getting better at this.” He thought as he watched the Soul glow fading. When it was gone he relaxed and his hands settled back onto the pug and he glanced at the three people standing on the street. All three flinched when his [Soul Sight] landed on them. “They’re gonna die out here…” Stanley looked at the fading glow on the still form of the impaled zombie. “Are the zombies leveling too?” He thought about the brother and sister who had helped him last night. “She has a chainsaw… that should be… fuck!”

He sighed and floated down to hover above the street while he checked his power reserves. “80% Psi and 40% Stamina. Hmmm…” He suddenly remembered something and shook his head. “Can’t believe I almost forgot the cores.”

“Caff you want cores?” The pug cocked his head and scrambled to roll upright until Stanley set him on the ground and then he took off like a rocket towards the zombie remains scattered around. “He’ll find em better than me.”

Stanley looked at the other humans. “Can you swing a parking meter?” He asked the musician.

“What?” The man seemed confused so Stanley ripped another one free of the sidewalk and after a moment's consideration he broke the top off as well, leaving only a metal tube. He levitated it in front of the man until he hesitantly took it and started to swing it around.

Stanley repeated his weapon crafting for the other two. “Does this mean you’ll help us?” The woman asked. “These sticks won’t save us if another of those shows up.” She gestured at the impaled zombie.

Stanley sighed. “I’m going to regret this.” He looked at them. “Yea. I need to check on the healer anyway.” He saw hope appear on their faces and looked away. “I won’t die for you.”

He saw Caffeine sprinting towards him. “Also, you only get to keep what you kill yourself.” The pug leapt into the air and sailed at him with tail wagging and something glowing in his teeth.

He caught the dog who dropped the core onto the ground and immediately turned and jumped free of his power and sprinted back down the street. “Good boy.” Stanley smiled at the energetic pug and looked at the core.

Congratulations! You have found a [Core Fragment(Shard)].

[Attribute Shard(UnCommon)](F Rank)

Effect: +1 All Base Attributes

Absorb [Yes/No]

“Very good boy.” He thought. “Was this from the red-eyed one?” He looked at the body with a parking meter sticking out of its head. A thought pulled the improvised weapon free and moved the corpse aside. There was nothing there and instead of cracking its head open he decided to wait and see if it would fall out.

“There’s another one.” The woman whispered. Stanley surged upward as he spun. Down the street the opposite direction Caffeine had run was a lone shambling undead. “God damnit, woman!” Stanley closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing as his heart rate settled back down. While he was waiting he absorbed the Shard.

+1 All Base Attributes

Willpower Attribute Fortifying +1

When he opened his eyes and looked down, the three people were just standing there and warily watching the zombie. “Well?” Stanley asked. “Who wants to kill it?”

“Can’t you just…” The woman started but Stanley cut her off. “What if I’m busy? What if I’m fighting a horde of red-eyes? Will you just let it eat you?”

“I… I don’t...” The metal pole in her hand was shaking. “I’ll do it.” The musician stepped forward, weapon raised like a baseball bat.

Stanley watched the zombie veer towards the man as he stepped slowly closer. “Use your skill.” Stanley called. “Knock it down and it’ll be easier to kill.” He glanced at the other two. “All of you should be using your skills… at least the ones that cost Mana, not Stamina. Save your Stamina for running.”

The musician had stopped advancing at his advice and was standing still while staring at the zombie. He lifted a hand and thrust, palm forward, at the zombie. Nothing happened.

Stanley scanned the sky and feeling paranoid, flew higher to scan the streets nearby. Down the street he saw Caffeine running back and forth sniffing at stuff, further out he saw the dim souls of regular zombies but no bright souls or birds were in sight. When he came back down, the musician had backed up a few steps and repeated his previous action, though this time he yelled “Sonic Wave!”.

A humming sound caused ripples like heat waves, which crashed into the zombie and knocked it over. The man staggered and clumsily stepped forward with weapon raised.

Stanley just watched, though he was ready to block if it looked like the man would be injured, but he wanted to let the man get his kill on his own.

It took a few swings but the zombie died with a crushed skull and the man staggered away and looked like he might puke. After a few moments he straightened up and looked at his kill.

Stanley floated closer. “Don’t forget the Core.” The man turned. “I heard you mention that before but I don’t know what it is.” Stanley pointed at the zombie. “It appears in the head when they die.” He paused. “At least I’m assuming it appears after they die…” He trailed off. “Kind of hard to test that.” He realized.

“What happened the first time?” He asked. “Did your skill not work?”

“I was trying to cast it silently like you do.” He said while nodding. “But I think it needs the sound to amplify… at least that's the feeling I got.”

Stanley thought about it. “So could you snap your fingers and cast your attack that way?”

The man looked at him, considering it, before he turned away and snapped his fingers. A hum filled the air and a ripple sped away from his outstretched hand, sending dirt and pebbles dancing away. “Hah! It worked…” He smiled and trailed off as he stared at the metal pipe in his hand. “Can you get me another of these?” He asked, while gesturing with the pipe.

Stanley shrugged and ripped another parking meter out of the ground and levitated it to the man.

His eyes widened and he quickly covered his ears when he saw the man lifting one pipe up before he slammed it into the other.

The clang reverberated and grew into a deafening roar that tore into the pavement and shattered windows in a cone of destruction heading away from the man who collapsed onto his hands and knees in the street.

When the reverberations faded, Stanley uncovered his ears to hear the man laughing as he sat back on the ground.

“Not bad.” Stanley said just as another boom shook the world and Caffeine appeared next to him, already grown to the size of a horse. The pug growled as he crowded up against and circled around Stanley, looking for a threat.

Stanley put his arms around the big dog. “It’s okay Caff.” He told the dog who began shrinking back down while sniffing at the pipes the other man had dropped.

The man who caused the commotion was staring wide eyed at the pug. “Wow… How big can he get?” He asked softly.

“Bigger…” Stanley forced away memories of a giant pug and hot blood in his face. “You’re a good boy Caff.” He kissed the top of Caffeine’s head. The dog wagged his tail while looking up at him, then turned and raced away, this time without any booms.

Caffeine stopped at the second red-eye corpse and a low ‘woof’ turned the things head into a dark stain across the pavement, leaving behind a glowing shard, which the dog snatched up and raced back to deposit it at Stanley’s feet before he turned and ran off again.

“What is that?” The other man asked as Stanley levitated it up into his hand. Stanley thought about the man stealing it for a moment before he floated it over to where the man was sitting.

“Touch it.” He said and the man only hesitated briefly before he reached out. Stanley saw his eyes widen when he made contact. “Yea.” Stanley said as it floated back to his hand and he absorbed it.

+1 All Base Attributes

Willpower Attribute Fortifying +1

“Like I said, you keep what you kill.” He waved at the zombie the man had killed. “Though that is likely just gonna give a chip or maybe nothing.”

Skill [Soul-Sight] Level Up

Stanley smiled. “Bit by bit.”

“That was great Arthur!” The woman said and Stanley turned to see the other two had walked up to join them. “Dammit. Gotta stop letting shit sneak up on me.” He noticed that the woman was holding what looked like a wooden spear instead of the pipe.

‘Arthur’ sighed as he climbed to his feet. “It used up more Mana that time.” He said. “Almost half, so I can’t use it more than twice before I’m pooped.”

“It’s loud too.” The other man added and gestured down the street where a few regular zombies were shambling towards them.

Stanley looked at the two of them. “Your turn.” He glanced at the wood spear as he spoke.

“I used my skill.” She said, somewhat defensively. “It should be stronger than the pipe, I think.”

“It's a good idea.” Stanley told her. “I didn’t even think of that.” He glanced at the approaching zombies. “I’ll hold back two so…”

“No.” Arthur said and climbed to his feet. “We got these.” He swung his two pipes experimentally and started walking. “Oh but maybe watch out for the fast ones.” He added.

“Sure.” Stanley floated higher, sight still active and scanned the skies and the ground as he went.

He saw Caffeine coming back and when the pug saw him up in the sky he howled his adorable awoowoo. Before Stanley could pick him up there was a boom and the pug came flying at him. He laughed, caught the dog in his arms and showered him with pets and good boys, before the pug climbed into his jacket and started snoring almost immediately.

The trio below pulled it off with only minor hiccups. Once when the spear went straight through the zombie and it almost reached her as it simply pushed forward. Arthur kicked it over and she left the spear in place which made the zombie easy pickings as it struggled to get back upright with a stick in the way.

The man with the limp mostly stayed back which was understandable but he did manage to finish one off when the woman tripped it with her spear.

Stanley didn’t spot any red-eyes from his lookout and he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad as he really wanted to get his stats up. “And I can kill them quick and easy if I’m ready.”

At that thought he pulled up two more parking meters. “I’ll be ready, motherfuc…” He squinted into the distance.

“Shit. I should have kept flying.”

A few minutes later Stanley was flying slowly next to the trio as they approached the huge crowd of people below.

He had discovered that if he got them to agree to being carried, at least somewhat, the resistance to carrying them dropped to almost nothing. “So either Willpower or the Soul is what fights my power…”

“Five Red-Eyes inbound.” He said to the others. “You take the walkers. I’ll try to get all the Red-Eyes before they buff the rest but…”

“We got it.” Arthur shouted over the wind. “We’ll head for the grocery store.” He pointed at the small dollar store across the street from the crowd of maybe a hundred people. “Hopefully there are some fighters down there.”

Stanley could hear the yells and screams now but he also heard booms and saw flashes of different colored light so maybe they weren't all useless.

He set them down in the street along with Caffeine who was growling and squirming to get free. As soon as he dropped them he shot towards the one Red-Eye near the store, each hand gripping a metal pipe in a sweaty, shaky palm. “I’ve got this. I’ll kill them all!”

The glowing eyes spotted him and he saw it start to move when a deafening howl sounded out.

You have heard the Howl of the Beast Lord.

+5% Effect of All Attributes to Friends

-5% Effect of All Attributes to Not Friends

The zombie froze up for just an instant and Stanley didn’t. Its arms and legs were wrapped up tight by his power and before it could even start struggling it was slammed face first into the parking lot. A metal pipe shot from his hand and buried itself almost completely into the ground, after going through the zombie’s head.

Stanley lifted back up high as a familiar Bark sounded and one of the bright souls went flying away from the crowd. “Next closest one. There!” He ripped a signpost out of the ground as he went and the second one didn’t even see him coming. It spit out a ball of gray smoke right before it was violently face planted into the sidewalk and a new sign was posted through its head. The gray smoke dissolved and faded along with its Soul.

Back in the sky Stanley found the next one in the middle of a whole swarm of almost identical glowing red-eyes. Unfortunately, for the zombie, Stanley could see its Soul and it almost looked surprised when he bypassed the rest to attack it. It wasn’t surprised for long however and it launched itself into the air with horrifying strength and speed.

“Fuck you!” Stanley screamed as he slapped it into the ground and planted his remaining pipe through its skull. The pipe vanished into the ground under its head and he was about to start trying to rip its head all the way off when all the boosted zombies suddenly toppled as they lost their speed and the glowing red from their eyes.

They were still moving but only slowly. Stanley confirmed the fading Soul and pulled himself back upwards with heavy breaths. He looked at his Stamina. “18% I’ve got this.”

Another booming Bark and Stanley saw a Bright Soul fly away with Caffeine in pursuit. “You really are the best Caff.”

For a moment he thought it was over but then a new, even brighter Soul appeared from inside the store they were all running towards. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”

Stanley charged, ripping up two more sign posts and firing them like bullets at the zombie, even as he ripped up more. The Red-Eye roared and every zombie in Stanley’s sight instantly gained glowing red eyes.

His projectiles arrived and the Red-Eye leaned to the side and dodged one post, then casually snatched the other out of the air and threw it back at Stanley.

His eyes widened and he managed to slap it aside enough that it missed him. But when his focus came back to the zombie it was already leaping through the air straight for him.

Stanley desperately pulled himself sideways as it barreled down on him. It missed him but one claw scratched a hole through his jacket sleeve and the zombie bared sharp teeth in a horrifying smile while its other arm snapped around with a decapitated zombie head in its hand.

And threw it at him.

Stanley blocked the zombie head projectile. It still hit like a cannonball and sent him arcing clear out to the edge of the parking lot where he slammed into a tree which cracked behind him. Though his impact was softened slightly by the backpack full of food and water that he had forgotten he was still wearing.

Stanley slid to the ground, the breath knocked out of his lungs, and the zombie appeared in front of him, claws diving at his face.

He blocked again and the impact finished off the tree behind him and sent him tumbling across the grass and into the trees. When he stopped tumbling his backpack was gone and he was flat on his back in the grass. He tried to call out for Caffeine but his lungs wouldn't pull in any air.

Before he could even think about flying away, the Red-Eyed zombie was above him. “No!”

Claws descended towards him and slammed into his shield with a Boom. “No!” The other clawed hand slammed down at him as the zombie screamed in an inhuman howl.

“Noo! Not again!” Stanley clawed at the glowing crack in his mind, desperate for power, for anything that could save him. The power didn't come, something was in the way...

The zombie didn’t pause in its relentless pounding as Stanley’s vision started to tunnel into darkness and he squeezed his eyes shut. Boom! Boom! Boom!

It suddenly stopped. Stanley opened his eyes to see a wooden spear sticking out of the zombie’s eye. Behind its frozen form he saw the woman gripping her spear with determination in her eyes and anger on her face. “She did…”

The zombie turned abruptly, and faster than he could track, it ripped her head from her shoulders.

“No…”

Stanley was in a daze as he watched the blood fountain into the air, while her body collapsed bonelessly. The zombie pulled the spear out of its head in one fluid motion and grinned at Stanley as it raised the spear overhead, pointing directly at him. Stanley stared up at the sky visible through the hole in its head.

“I hope you’ll be okay Caff…”

The spear began its descent, and the world around Stanley exploded into a raging storm of wind and shattered trees. The hulking form of a beautiful, giant, gray pug was suddenly standing just a few feet behind the Red-Eye.

The dog opened his mouth and a zombie arm, still clutching a wooden spear, dropped onto the ground. Caffeine growled at the zombie which seemed surprised by its missing arm. It still struck out towards Stanley with its remaining arm and the world shook again. Stanley blinked and the zombie stood still, arm raised, and its head missing. The pug now on the other side bit down on something in his mouth and the zombie finally collapsed to the ground.

You have Defeated an Enemy General! Contributions Earned. Class and Skill Experience Earned.

"I'm alive..." Stanley smiled as tears blurred his vision and darkness encroached on his consciousness, then a whimpering pug crashed into his face.