The zombie's body lies motionless as I hear my heart beat in my ears. My breath comes out in ragged painful bursts. Looking around I see a small horde of zombies leaving the second level of the garage. Most pooling around the car that Angila and Andy escaped to.

Decker quickly recovers from his powerful leap and makes his way over to me.

“You okay kid?” he asks.

I try to say yes but an extreme pain explodes in my side. Each breath I take stokes the fire of pain in my side. Looking down I raise my shirts looking at the skin underneath.

Black and purple skin reveals itself. You can almost see the outline of my ribs by the hue of the bruised skin. I tentatively press against the area eliciting more pain.

‘“You might have broken a rib. Stay back and don’t exert yourself. I and the others should be able to handle this group.” Decker says.

I nod and carefully walk to the wall that holds the entrance to the stairwell. I lean against the wall and carefully slide to the ground. Taking shallow controlled breaths as I do so. Almost scared to do so I open my stat screen.

Personal Stats:

Attributes:

Value

Name:

Joel Dylan

STR:

10

Level:

11

DEX:

6

To Next Level

480/500

AGI:

7

Sex:

Male

END:

12

Age:

18

INT:

55

Class:

Mage

WIS:

11

LUC:

4

HP

22/100

CHA:

5

Mana

120/120

PER:

8

WIL:

6

Free Attribute points:

3

I breathe a sigh of relief after watching the screen for a while. While my health is still frighteningly low it’s not falling as I feared it would. I was worried that my lungs might be punctured or I might be bleeding internally. But that would most definitely lead to my health dropping over time.

I dismiss the screen and turn my attention to the battle in front of me. Decker pulls the sword from the zombie’s body with a gross suction sound. He takes a second to wipe the blood off the blade letting it gleam a nice silver.

“Angila!” Decker yells. “On my signal start shooting the zombies closest to you.”

Angila nods her head. Her face is an ashy pale color as she looks at the zombies already reaching for her. They push up against the car, rocking it slightly.

Decker takes a breath, calming his nerves I assume. Then in a burst of speed I didn’t think humanly possible he becomes a black blur. He rushes headlong into the crowd. His sword dances in beautiful arcs leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

He dances in and around the zombies in the back. With each step he takes another zombie falls. With each swing of his sword another flash of black lights up amongst the blue boxes above their heads. I lose count after thirteen as he carves a path through the zombies.

Then just as quickly as he jumped in he dashes out. He slows down considerably as he starts making his way up to the gate again. The zombies closest to him follow as well as those that were close enough to be sprayed with the blood of Decker’s fallen enemies.

I’m left in awe as in only a few seconds he massacred over a dozen zombies. I’ve done something similar, but I had the benefit of a barrier and using my mana. This man just jumped in head first and came out without a scratch.

“FOLLOW ME!” He yells.

His words echo in the enclosed concrete space. The zombies further from his turn their attention away from the car. Something in them takes a second to decide that he’s going to be an easier meal to get at. The hoarder starts their slow march towards him. However, a sizable amount still swarms the car refusing to be distracted from the meal just beyond their grasp.

Moments after the zombies split into two groups, Decker thrusts a free hand up in the air. His thumb is sticking high.

“NOW ANGILA!” He yells.

Blue lights float above the car coming from Angila palm. She takes a second to make them spin and another to choose a target. Slowly but surely zombies start dropping. Two becomes four then six and soon ten. The group around the car is thinned considerably, however Angila stops killing them.

“I’m out of mana!” She hollers.

Looking inside of me I find that my mana has been restored. I push past the pain and conjure Rifle Round after Rifle Round. The blue spinning balls of energy zip across the garage into the heads of zombies, killing them instantly.

Each shot takes considerably more effort to form and maintain. I feel mana bleeding out of the orbs as I lose my focus on them because of the pain. However, I continue to pick them off.

I only stop my assault when two more zombies remain by the car. Feeling more secure in Angila’s and Andy’s safety, I turn my focus onto Decker.

His sword dances in the air as he slowly presses forward into the group. After a second he leaps back creating breathing space between him and the horde. As the zombies press in he starts a slow march forwards again.

By the looks of it I know he won’t be able to continue at that pace forever. Even at his level he has a finite amount of stamina. And his footing is going to get more and more difficult to maintain as the zombies continue to pile up.

Looking back towards the car, anger flares up at me as I watch the most useless one of us cower in fear. He shakes on top of the car holding the bat close to him. His eyes are closed tight as if doing so will allow him to deny reality.

“ANDY!” I yell. “Stop being a chicken shit and get your ass in gear!”

My voice shocks me as I’m brought back in time. To a moment where my father was screaming for me to come out of hiding. My voice sounds so much like his that I feel ice water wash over my spine.

My words seem to have struck a nerve in Andy. I don’t know if it was the name calling or because it was I that called him out but something seemed to have started a fire in him.

“FUCK YOU!” He screams back.

His eyes snap open as he looks around. The two still rocking the car moan under his gaze. A blue orb manifests from Angila’s palm drawing Andy’s attention. She shoots down one of the zombies leaving a single one.

That seemed to have struck more of a nerve in him than my foul words. He rolls off the hood of the car falling to its side. While the zombie beat on the trunk of it. In a burst of speed, nowhere near Decker’s level, Andy dashes out from the side of the car.

In a spinning attack he drives the shaft of the bat into the back of the zombie’s head. The zombie’s head flies forwards smashing into the window of the truck, bringing its health down to zero. Andy screams in triumph and turns to the horde.

At his scream a chunk of the horde snaps their focus back. The single kill must have bolstered the guy's confidence as he doesn’t cower from the attention of the horde. Instead he belts out his battle cry that reminds me of a child pretending to be an anime character.

He races forwards swinging his bat wildly. The zombies closest to him are knocked back by his wild attacks. The zombies that he knocks to the ground continue to move. He isn’t doing enough damage to kill him. And he isn’t taking the time to kill the one’s on the ground crawling after him.

Knowing that my words wouldn’t be heard through whatever battle craze that’s consuming him, I turn to my mana. Taking what I have left I push out my Magical Sonar until I feel his body. Focusing on his bat I let the mana in the air be a conductor for my spell. I cast Mana Saw on his bat much like I would my baton.

His weapon glows blue and starts causing the blue lights in the air to flash black. I feel the mana inside of me drain little by little as he fights his way through the horde. Then suddenly I feel like someone dumped cold water over me.

PING!

Level Up

My mana reserves fill to full as the screen in front of me vanishes. The sensation leaves me shivering. A pounding headache beats behind my eyes.

Knowing that this battle is over I start manifesting Rifle Rounds. Ten instantly pop into existence in front of me. They still bleed off considerably more mana than before but I’ve grown used to the pain. Taking aim at the still living ones at Andy’s feet, I kill them with a thought. Ensuring his safety.

I make sure that he’s still in range for the Mana Saw before turning my attention to Decker. Despite moving at human speeds he’s still facing down the horde as if it was nothing. His sword dances through the air as if it was a silver ribbon.

Taking aim at the zombies near him I clear a path in front of him and to his side. He takes the hint and races out from his position with his back against the gate. He races down the ramp leading to the street, meeting up with the battle crazed Andy.

At that moment Andy seems to collapse. The glowing bat falls from his hands as he stumbles to the ground. His body drops as if he was a puppet who had it’s strings cut.

Decker just barely manages to catch the man before he collides with the concrete floor. He starts dragging him back away from the crowd. As he does so, zombies lunge for them.

My Rifle Rounds zip through the air covering Decker’s and Andy’s retreat. The horde grows more and more thin as the humming blue balls of man eat through their numbers. Within seconds the horde drops to just under a dozen.

The headache in my mind now feels like someone beating me with a hammer. I ignore the pain and continue to deplete my mana pool. Once I’m out of mana only seven zombies remain.

A single bolt of mana zips out from above the car knocking the numbers down to six. Decker throws the unconscious Andy towards the car. He whirls around grasping the handle of his sword with both hands. The blade pointed towards the horde.

Decker’s shoulders heave up and down as he breathes heavily. Sweat drenching his long black hair. As soon as the first zombie steps in range of his sword he takes a harsh step forwards.

The blade moves through the air silently as Decker raises it and brings it down all in one fluid movement. His foot stomps on the ground just as his blade slices into the skull of the zombie. It’s health instantly drops to zero.

The blade moves up leaving the zombie to fall deftly. Decker takes a step back bringing the blade back to the same level it was at before he attacked. Two zombies draw in close and Decker lashes out.

The sword drops down to his right leg before being brought up in a diagonal arc. The blade traces through one zombie's head, stopping just above the other zombie. Then the sword flashes and strikes down towards the ground, splitting the other zombie’s head.

Both zombies drop to the ground, killed instantly in the single strike. The fourth zombie lunges forwards, not giving Decker a chance to reset his stance. Instead his breath comes out as a hiss as his sword flashes again and swings upward. The blade passes through one arm and stops just above the monster's head. Then with another powerful step Decker brings the blade down into its head.

He quickly takes a step back analyzing the last two zombies. They shamble forwards, slowed even more by the bodies on the ground.

Decker alters his stance, forming a wider base with his feet and positioning the sword up near his head. Then with a powerful twist of his body the blade races out piercing one zombie through its eye. Before the box above it’s head even flashes black Decker pulls the blade out of it.

He spins letting the blade arc out. Cutting into the neck of the final zombie. A spray of blood sails into the air as the head of the zombie falls to the ground. It’s body falls as we all breathe a sigh of relief.

The horde is dead. The building is cleared. We’re finally safe.

A booming voice breaks the silence of the garage.

“CONGRATULATIONS! A Safe Zone has been established. Owner of the Safe Zone is Joel Dyllan, for contributing the most in establishing the safe zone.”

The voice rings through my head making the head ache only worse. The pressure in my head becomes too much. The shadows extend as I feel the darkness in my mind consume me. Sweet blissful sleep embraces me like a mother’s hug.