We leave the bike room and enter the lobby. I had almost forgotten the bloodbath this room had become. Countless bodies strewn about filling the place with a horrid stench of iron and rot.

Angila stops and starts gagging, eventually vomiting. Andy gags too but manages to hold his stomach while Decker just covers his mouth and nose with his elbow.

“You really did all of this?” Decker asks me.

I nod at him feeling shy for some reason. Andy looks at me with shock.

“You monster.” he says

His words bring a frown to my face. Am I really a monster? Are you a monster for fighting to survive? Murder and death are a part of the world. Always have been. We have just been able to forget that it is through the modernization of civilization. I refuse to feel guilty because he doesn’t understand this new world yet.

I glare at Andy. My dislike of him is growing more and more.

“Monster? If it wasn’t for him I don’t think we would survive very long. Hell, I doubt we would have left that room. In my opinion he’s our hero.” Decker says.

His words of praise give me butterflies. My stomach is doing somersaults.

“Thanks” I mumble.

Decker nods his head and we continue. I hear Andy mutter something under his breath only annoying me further.

The kitchen is behind two doors set in the far wall after exiting the hallway with the bike room. Opening the door leads us into a hallway with two doors. One that leads to a storage area and the outside and the other to the actual kitchen. However the rooms are only separated by a thin wall and a door that’s always left open.

Decker cracks open the door to the kitchen and sticks his head in. Curious myself, I try something that I’ve read in many books. Taking a small amount of mana out of myself I spread it out like a gas. I feel the gas spread out to just about fifteen feet in any direction from me.

I can feel the contours of everyone and the hallway. In my mind I get a weird 3-D map of the area and everyone in it. Through the open door I get the sense of the area just through the door. A counter lines the wall and a table sits just outside of my view.

“Does anyone else feel a weird pressure?” Decker asks after closing the door.

“Yeah. It’s like the air just got heavier or something.” Angila says.

Andy just looks around in confusion.

Curious myself, as I don’t feel any pressure, let go of the small amount of mana filling the air. Decker’s body grows tense as I do so.

“It just vanished.” He says.

“Oh. Wait a second, was it this?” I ask.

I push out the gas like cloud of mana, filling the area around us.

“Yes.” He says looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry I was trying an idea. I didn’t realize you guys would feel it.” I say calling the mana back to me.

"What does it do?” Decker asks.

“Well I guess you could think of it as magical sonar or something. I get a sense of the things in my immediate area, even when I can’t see the area.”

“That’s pretty useful.” Decker says.

“Can you teach me?” Angila asks.

“After we clear the building.” I say.

It’ll be a little weird teaching someone older than me something. But stranger things have happened since the end of the world.

With the group expecting the pressure I activate what I’ll call my Magical Sonar and examine the kitchen. Between I and Decker we don’t find any immediate danger in the kitchen. We close the door and check the storage room. There a few zombies stumble around.

“Alright I’m going to race to the door and close it. Angila keep your distance while Andy try to take out the closer too. Joel will watch our backs and make sure we aren’t swarmed by anything. Everyone understand the plan?” Decker asks.

We all nod and get ready. Decker throws open the door to the storage room and runs to the door leading to the outside. Using the back of his sword, he knocks back one zombie standing in his way. Andy belts out a battle cry and dashes towards the nearest zombie.

Andy moves fast as he raises the bat and slams it against the zombies head. It falls to the ground with a thud but continues to move. Andy is forced to strike the zombie in the head a few more times before the light above it’s head flashes black.

The bat drips with blood and Andy stares at the mess he made at his feet. Unsure if he’s taking pride in his work or horrified at it. Angila manifests a Rifle Round and knocks down a zombie in the far side of the room. By now Decker has closed the door and stands guard watching the two, ready to spring into action at any moment.

I stand near the door we came through. Through my Magical Sonar I can keep tabs on the door to the kitchens and the one we just came through. It’s weird being able to feel more than you can see.

Andy picks himself up and looks around. Three zombies march towards him. Angila takes one out leaving just two. Andy charges forwards shouldering a zombie knocking it backwards. Then like a baseball player he winds the bat up and lashes out with a home run hit. The bat connects with the zombie’s head sendinging it flying forwards.

Before the zombie’s body even hits the ground Andy already has the bat raised over his head. The brown wood blurs and connects with the head just as it touches the ground. It explodes in a mist of red and pink mush.

Andy stands above his prey breathing heavily. Watching I realize that he’s run out of stamina. That speed boost is impressive but how much stamina does a person need to keep it up?

The third zombie stands to its feet looking at the heaving Andy. I look to Angila and see that she is bent over holding her head.

I form three rounds of Mana Bullets and send them flying into the chest of the zombie. Each bullet knocks it’s health down by two points. Andy seems to realize the danger looming over him as he tries to jump away from the zombie. He manages to trip over something and falls to his butt sliding a little.

The zombie recovers from my minor attack and tries to lunge for the food right in front of it. In the corner of my eye I see Decker’s body tensing as he readies to attack. Wanting more praise from him I conjure more Mana Bullets and let them fly into the thing. It’s health drops to one as it stumbles backwards.

After its health reaches one I realize that the Mana Bullets do nothing but carve tiny holes in the zombies flesh. Even though I’ve attacked it enough to kill it, it’s health sits at one. So you can only kill them through head shots. Does that mean you can’t kill a person with lots of small attacks? Or is this because zombies can only be killed by destroying their brains?

I push the thoughts out of my mind. At this moment it’s no use trying to pulze out this strange system. The fact of the matter is that you need a headshot to kill the zombies.

“Go for its head Andy!” I yell.

My words seem to stir something in the frozen man. He scrambles to his feet taking the bloodied bat with him. He winds up and swings out towards the zombie. The bat connects with a wet thud dropping the thing’s health to zero. It falls to the ground leaving the room in silence.

With the obvious threat gone Andy and Angila fall to the ground trying to recover from the small battle. Was I like this when I started? I’m only level ten but I feel as if I’m leagues above them. Thinking about levels brings a question to my mind.

What are you thinking about kid?” Decker asks.

I turned to Decker, shocked by his question. His dark eyes fall on me with an eyebrow raised. Can he read minds? This isn’t the first time that he’s realized I wanted to say something but wasn’t.

“I was curious about what level everyone is at.” I say.

After a second I get my first answer.

“I’m level five.” Decker says.

"Level three.” Angila says.

“Level two.” Andy says quietly.

Out of them all Decker is the only one I feel like is near my level. Yet he is only level five. I wonder if that’s part of being a Warrior or if it’s because Decker has that monk training under his belt. Stuff to handle later.

I conjure a ball of mana letting the blue light illuminate the dark kitchen. Being one of the only rooms with no windows to the outside it remains pretty dark. Walking through the place I find no zombies. I open the walk in freezer and see if anything in there is useful.

“What are you looking for?” Decker asks.

“Another reason I wanted to get to the kitchen is that I’m starving. I haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday evening.” I say.

“Sadly there isn’t going to be anything to eat in here. We only stock the kitchen when we have catering events planned and during this time of the year we don’t have any such events.” Decker says.

My shoulders shag as I close the door to the freezer.

“Would it be wrong of me to break into the vending machine upstairs?” I ask.

“Bring me back a poptart.” Decker says.

“If you’re going to get food, bring me back some chips.” Andy says.

Angila remains silent as I look to her for any requests. With nothing else said I leave the kitchen and walk to the stairwell. I make my way up to the fifth floor where I find two vending machines. One full of snacks and the other of drinks.

Preferring to not damage my baton any further I pull a ball of mana out of me. I force it into the shape of a long rod. I hold the energy like a bat. I pull back then swing out.

Glass shatters to the ground under my attack. I hear a bag or two pop through the tinkling of the falling glass. I run the rod of energy along the edges of the vending machine clearing any remaining glass.

I break into the other vending machine giving me access to countless drinks and snacks. I collect some pop tarts, chips, jerky, and water for everyone.

A little bit later I’m back in the kitchen dishing out my ill gotten gains from the vending machines. Is it ill gotten if a board member gave me permission?

The food wasn’t exactly filling but after so long without food it feels heavenly to just be eating something. As I eat I notice that with each bite my mana pool replenishes just a bit more. Jumping it from just over three quarters to nearly full by the time that I’m done eating.

After we all eat and rest Decker asks if everyone is rested and ready to look at the garage. Finding my mana pool full I agree along with the others. We leave the kitchen and make our way to the other stairwell near the fire command center.

Once in the stairwell I make my way from the back and unlock the security gate that separated the garage and the rest of the building. Looking back at the others I receive a nod from them all. We start the descent into the underground garages.