I couldn't believe how helpless I was as the life left Dave's eyes. This figure who was little more than a ghost to me during the four years we had been at high school together, he was now so much more. He had saved my life. He had been the first to get to level 2 as well as get a title. This shy dork was supposed to be the hero, I could tell. That was how it was supposed to work. I knew he would have said I got a Title and another level first but I did it running. The same thing that I had done for years. Staying active so I didn't have to go back to a sterile feeling home. Keeping my parents satisfied with minor achievements so I didn't have to deal with their disappointments. Just running until I could feel good. All of those made the extra level and title feel ridiculous. Stew stood up and started ranting. "Is Dave dead? Dave is fucking dead. This shit can not be happening. We won, Dave shouldn't be dead!" Mike walked away, his hands on his head. That's when I realized I was crying. Large tears were running down my face and splattering on the backs of my hands. Lifting my hands I caught them in my palms. I hadn't even cried this hard when Grammy died. Maybe I could help him though. He had done something earlier when he bandaged me up, given me some kind of blessing. If I could figure it out maybe give it to him, no it had boosted my HP Regen. Somehow I doubted a dead body would have a Regen rate. But he wasn't really dead, right? Ms. Geld, my freshman biology teacher, said that a brain could survive up to five minutes without oxygen, that was the same year I was swimming so it had stuck with me. Sam walked up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey kids. I know this is hard but we should get inside. In case anything else shows up." Stew and Mike both looked at Sam, desperate for direction. In that instant I had a terrible flash of hope. Terrible because I would be relying on the very system that had done this to us. But it did give the slimmest glimmer of hope. I smacked Sam's hand away and began tearing at Dave's shirt. The holes and tears caused by the squirrel attacks helped me get started. Ripping it off I toss it away and move to kneel next to his chest. Hands are grabbing at me, pulling me back. Sam and Stew are trying to restrain me. Sam says something but I don't care what it is. Mike gives me a look of concern and horror. I look at Mike as I yell at Sam and Stew. "Let go of me you idiots! I need to start CPR." I felt bad when I saw hope flare in Mike's eyes. He would likely be as devastated as me when this didn't work. Dave had said it though. We have to do this. Sam reluctantly let go of me while I continued yelling. "He said the system was doing something. We just have to buy it time!" Mike arrived and pulled Stew off me. I dropped to my knees next to Dave. I put my hands one on top of the other before I put them in the center of his chest, just above the bottom of the sternum. I push and there's hardly any give. I don't think I'm doing it right. Closing my eyes I think back to a swim class I took five years ago. I've been using my arms, I need to use my whole body. I rise up and lock my arms. When I put my weight on him his chest drops an inch, I stop when I feel his ribs creaking. I need more though. I heave myself down and ignore the feeling of his ribs straining. Two inches down then I release. That feels right. Now that I have that I need to get the timing right. Much faster. Counting out loud I start to speed up. When I hit twenty I think I have it. I'm straining but I have close to two compressions every second. When I hit thirty I can feel myself sweating freely, a few hairs that have escaped my short pony tail are plastered across my face. Moving to his head I tilt it back. Taking a deep breath I pinch his nose and place my mouth over his. Blowing into his mouth, I watch his chest rise out of the corner of my eye. I repeat the breath and move back to his chest. Once I count to 20 I see a notification pop up. ‡ [Basic CPR] unlocked at level 5 +4 Skill Points ‡ ‡ [CPR] unlocked ‡ ‡ CPR(Basic) - Chance to give temporary HP with every compression. Higher levels increase chance of temporary HP. Cost 2 Stamina per second. ‡ ‡ CPR - Chance to give temporary HP with every compression, breaths extend time temporary HP lasts. Higher levels increase chance of temporary HP. Cost 3 Stamina per second. ‡ "I think it's working." I call out. "He has a sliver of, of blue in his bar thing." Sam responds. "They're temporary HP." I gasp out. My Stamina drops steadily. While giving him rescue breaths I notice my vision narrowing. "Help." I start compressions. Suddenly Mike is across from me. "What do I do?" "Just push after I give him two breaths." I give the breaths and fall back as Mike takes over compressions. "The HP is starting to fall." Sam must be watching with a skill because I have no clue what Dave is at now. "Faster Mike. And count them out." I saw when Mike got [Basic CPR], his motions firmed up and the confidence was palpable. When my Stamina was about halfway I got back in position next to Dave's head. "When you hit thirty I want you to stop compressions so I can give him two breaths. Then you start again." Mike nodded while he continued counting. At thirty he stopped and glanced at me. Two steady breaths and I sat back. Mike immediately began compressions again. With the two of us working we managed to keep our Stamina stable, it wasn't rising but it wasn't dropping very fast either. For the first few minutes I kept getting notifications that [CPR] and [Basic CPR] had gone up. After they started giving me more information I stopped paying attention to them. One of them was letting me see his HP, and it was slowly dropping. Our CPR was showing diminishing returns. I also knew that if Dave's HP hit zero again we would lose this chance. We would lose Dave. At the ten minute mark Mike told us he was about to hit zero Stamina. "Stew, take over for Mike." "What? I don't know how to do it." Watching Mike struggle I grew exasperated at Stew. "Neither did Mike. You need to do this Mr. Eight. We're make or break right now." Stew stared down at Dave as he quietly replied. "It's 10 now, actually." I screamed at him as Mike ran out of steam. "You're a perfect 10 Stew. Now get going!" I gave Dave two breaths and Stew started compressions. He caught on quickly. The temporary HP was dropping lower. I lost count not long after that. My Stamina only returned enough during Stews compressions for another two breaths, nothing else. I lost sight of everything except those two breaths. Until Stew paused one final time. I bent towards Dave, and kept going right past him. My head hit the ground. I heard yelling that faded into the distance.