The two break apart after some hugs and tears are shared.

“Where’s Daniel and Craig?” Abby asks.

Her father’s smile drops. His shoulders shag and he hangs his head. His large hands rise to his face as he starts crying but not out of happiness.

“Dad, what's wrong?” Abby asks.

“I had to do it.”

Silence falls in the room as it feels as if the temperature is dropped by a few degrees. I feel my heart sink as connections form in my mind.

“Do what?” Abby asks.

Pangs of pity cry out through me as I realize that the girl hasn’t made the connections herself. I want to walk over there and do something for her. Give her a hug or something. I don’t know. I just know that it doesn’t feel right standing here doing nothing.

“What did you do dad?” Abby asks.

“Craig. He… He attacked me.” Her father says.

His words are broken apart by sobs. They come slowly as if he can’t believe them himself.

“He was trying to eat me or something. I didn’t mean to….” He falls silent.

“Dad?” Abby’s voice is barely audible.

“I shoved him away and he…” More silence.

The memories seem too raw for him to go on. The pain and anguish in his face are so real I can feel my heart breaking in sympathy.

I’ve never been close to people. Let alone have any family that I truly felt love for. But just seeing the pain in his eyes makes me feel as if I lost someone important to me myself.

“He fell out of the window. Craig is dead and it’s my fault.” Her father falls to his knees sobbing.

His hands raise and the large man starts beating himself in the head. Each strike seems powerful enough to knock a man out. After a few strikes I see blood dripping down the side of his face.

Should I stop him? I look to Andy and Kyle hoping that either of them will know what to do. They both look at the scene apparently just as unsure of themselves as I am.

Abby stares at her father. Tears streaming down her face. She falls to her knees and wraps her arms around her father.

“Dad, it's not your fault.” She says through tears.

Isn’t it? I mean he didn’t mean to but he still indirectly killed his son didn’t he? Granted his son was probably a zombie so it could be argued that he was just releasing his son from whatever torment that is being a zombie.

“He fell because of me. He died because of my actions.” Her father says through sobs.

“No. You didn’t kill him.”

“YES I DID!” Her father yells.

Silence falls, only being broken by the large man’s sobs, as the two stare at one another.

“You’ve been locked up in here since the start. Things have changed. People just turned into zombies. The undead. It’s sad and there’s nothing we can do about it. As the ones left behind it should be our duty to kill the zombies that took our friends and family.” Abby says.

Her words sound like they belong to someone much older than she is. Someone much more wise and that has been through far more. I’m honestly surprised to hear them from her.

“I wish I knew why Craig turned. I wish I could go back in time and stop it. But I can’t. You made sure that his body wasn’t used to hurt anyone. You saved him from that fate. So please stop hurting yourself. I still need you.” She finishes.

Her father freezes at the last part of her speech. I don’t think he bought the majority of it. But seeing his child before him. Telling him that she needs him. I think that’s what’s broken through to him.

“I’m sorry my little bird.” He says,

He hugs her again. Jealousy rings through me again as I wish I had a father like that. But I know I don’t deserve it.

I turn away from the scene. It’s too much for me. I take a second to steal my heart before turning back.

“What about Daniel?” Abby asks her father.

“He left to go visit your mom after you left for work. I haven’t heard from either of them since the earthquake and everything went down.” Abby’s father says.

“We have to go search for him.” Abby says.

She turns away from her father and looks back at us. Her green eyes pleading. I feel my stomach do a summersault under her gaze.

“I won’t help.” Andy says.

Tears form at the edge of Abby’s eyes. I snap my attention to Andy as anger builds in me.

“Dude what the hell?” Kyle asks Andy.

“Think about it. How far away is he? Do we have any clue where he was when the earthquake happened? I’m not going to risk my life on the vague hope of him being somewhere out there.” Andy says.

I forcefully calm the rising anger in me as I notice my mana glowing just beneath my skin. Andy has some good points. Even if he was a dick about saying it. Still I don’t want to be the one to tell Abby no.

“I’m sorry. It was unfair of me to ask.” Abby says.

“We can go on our own.” Her father says.

Abby shakes her head.

“No, it's too dangerous. If he’s alive we can only pray that he can survive long enough for us to grow strong enough to look for him.”

“That’s bullshit. Who are these people anyways? To tell me I can’t go looking for my own son.” Her father’s voice rises as he grows more angry.

“Why haven’t you gone looking for him yet? Or even your daughter? Why did you barricade yourself in here?” Andy asks.

Abby’s father shoots to his feet. His face is a bright red as he looks down at Andy.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? DO YOU THINK I DIDN’T TRY?” Her father yells.

Abby’s father stomps up to Andy. His hands grab Andy by his shirt collar and pull him off the ground with ease.

“The first thing I did was try and leave.” Abby’s father says.

His voice drops from a yell to an almost whisper. Every word drips with anger.

“I was swarmed by those freaks. I barely made it back in here alive. They beat against that door for hours and hours. It was only a little bit ago did they finally quiet down.” He says.

Andy grabs the large man’s hands, anger apparent in his face too.

“Let me go!” He yells.

“STOP IT EVERYONE!” Abby screams.

Silence falls on us. Abby’s father lets go of Andy who falls to the ground with a thud. He rubs his throat while glaring daggers at Abby’s father.

“Jesus guys have you forgotten what’s going on outside? This isn’t the place to be fighting like this. Hell we should actually be trying to leave.” Abby says.

“And go where? Where did you guys come from? And what happened to the freaks beating on the door?” Abby’s father asks.

“We’re staying in an office building. It’s secure and safe. I don’t know about the zombie at your door. We’ve only seen crippled ones.” Abby says.

“Wait, how have you guys been surviving?” The large man asks.

“We’ve been fighting the zombies.” Kyle says.

“How?” Her father asks.

“You’ve seen those floating screens right?” Abby asks.

She blows into a short explanation about the system. How we can gain magic and how we’ve been using them to fight back against the zombies.

“Is that why I’ve felt stronger ever since barricading myself in here? I was given a choice between a mage and warrior. I picked warrior because I just wanted the screen gone.” Her father says.

“Yeah. We don’t fully get it but the system has given us a chance to fight ba…”

THUD!

A loud bang at the door stops Abby’s sentence in its tracks. All of our attention snaps to the door which is bombarded by louder and louder thuds.

“Dammit they’re back.” Abby’s father says.

I push my mana outside of me and around the edges of the door. On the other side a single figure slams itself against the door with enough ferocity to cause the door to splinter.

“I don’t think the door will last.” I say.

“Get what you need to. We may have to fight our way out.” Kyle says.

Kyle raises his spear at the door. I can feel the muscles in his body tensing as he readies for battle. Behind me I feel Andy raise his bat as if it was some kind of shield. Abby’s mana pushes on mine and mingles with it as she activates her Magical Sonar.

“What the hell is that?” Abby’s father asks.

He stares down at his daughter who is glowing a faint blue now. He takes a step back as he feels a pressure push in on him.

“Mana dad. I told you that we’ve been using magic to fight back.” Abby says.

The door thuds again and with the sound a visible crack along the door appears. With each subsequent thud the crack grows larger.

“Seriously we don’t have a lot of time. Get what you need.” Kyle says.

“I only feel one but there may be more in the building. We never got to the third floor.” I say.

“Dad grab whatever you think you need and try to find a weapon.” Abby says.

I can feel Abby’s father hesitate. His mouth opens and closes as if he wants to say something but doesn’t know the words. Then he turns and runs out of the room we find ourselves in.

The door splinters more and I can finally see through it. On the other side a stocky beast of a zombie rams itself against the door. It’s skin is a grey mess of what looks like cancerous growths.

Abby’s father comes back into the room holding a metal bat just as the zombie bursts through the door.

Zombie Brute

Level: 20

HP: 100/100

Shit.