Yeoman’s eyes were bleary when he got out of the car. He had been woken up by Gordan’s text, telling him the time and place of the meetup. It was at a warehouse in Brooklyn, and the place was two hours away by train despite being only thirty minutes via car. Yeoman shut the door and approached the building that his navigating system had claimed to be his destination. It had a rusty metal entrance, and beside it, there was a metal garage door. Apparently, Gordan had rented a warehouse.

Yeoman opened the door and stepped inside. There were a lot more people than he had expected. Gordan’s group hadn’t been this large when they approached him on the street after they had returned from the alien’s dimension. Yeoman didn’t claim to have a great memory or attention to detail, but there were definitely some people here who hadn’t been part of the hundred that had been abducted. Gordan must’ve invited some friends or perhaps hired some instructors. The majority of them were looking at Yeoman with an unfriendly look like he had gotten them all eaten by zombies, which, in a sense, he had.

Yeoman let out a tiny cough and closed the door behind him. The warehouse had been cleared out. There weren’t any shelves or chairs, but there were a few boxes, some filled with crowbars, pressed against the wall. Yeoman assumed that’s what they were going to be practicing with. It was probably tough for Gordan to find a bunch of weapons for everyone on such a short notice. Yeoman didn’t know anyone here, so he stood off to the side. He’d rather wait there awkwardly than get rejected by people who had died because of him; there were only a few more minutes before the scheduled time. Yeoman took out his phone, browsing through the front page of the internet while waiting. It was still filled with posts about the alien abductions, but there were posts of strange animals popping up too. His submission of the spider with wings had almost reached the top spot.

“Everyone,” Gordan said, his voice ringing through the warehouse. There was even a very faint echo that Yeoman suspected he wouldn’t have heard if he hadn’t optimized his body. “I thank you all for coming on such a short notice. We’re here today to prepare for the second stage. I’ve hired some instructors to help us out.”

Yeoman nodded. No wonder why it was so hard to sign up for a class yesterday. Rich people with connections like Gordan must’ve bought them all out. It made Yeoman wonder how the president and people in positions of high political power were doing. Surely, they should’ve passed the stage with flying colors thanks to their bodyguards, right?

Gordan cleared his throat. “All of us will be entering the second stage together, so I hope we can forget any grievances we may have with one another,” he said, making a point to stare at Yeoman. “As such, I’d like to start with a quick icebreaker to get to know one another. My name is Gordan. I am an entrepreneur, and during the first stage, I obtained a thousand points.” He nodded at the bulky, black man standing next to him.

“My name is John. I’m a coach at John’s Boxing Gym, and I cleared the first stage with one thousand five hundred points.”

“I’m Sylvia. I teach judo. I obtained two thousand points.”

Yeoman’s eyes widened at the woman who had just spoke. She had spoken with a Russian accent, but that’s not what surprised him. Two thousand points meant she either killed the smart infected and died without doing anything else, or she passed the stage, killed ten infected, and had the most Proofs of Murder. Seeing as how difficult it was to kill the smart infected, Yeoman assumed she did the latter. She was a killer.

An old man with liver spots on his skin stepped forward, raising one hand in greeting. “My name is Takeo. I am a karate instructor. I obtained one thousand five hundred points.”

A few more people introduced themselves, but there were only three instructors that Gordan had managed to hire; still, it was three more than Yeoman could’ve met on his own. Coming here wasn’t a bad decision. Gordan cleared his throat and gestured at Yeoman. Was he next? Yeoman stepped forward. “My name is Yeoman. I’m a biochemical engineer. I obtained four, err, three thousand five hundred points during the first stage. Despite how many points I obtained, I’m not that capable. The majority of it was thanks to luck and my two companions.”

The warehouse was dead silent. Everyone stared at Yeoman as if he were a monster.

“Fuck. I don’t want to introduce myself next after hearing that,” someone said and sidled over, hiding behind three other people.

Yeoman shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Considering how few people had killed the smart infected, it was no wonder why they were staring at him. Even though he knew the reason, it still made him uncomfortable. After a short pause, the introductions continued. Other than the coaches and Gordan, there were seven other people who had killed ten infected. The rest weren’t that impressive, about half of them having died and the other half only barely surviving. The half that died were the ones that had been with Gordan, so Yeoman wasn’t sure where Gordan had found the other half of people. They didn’t seem to be a part of the original cluster of one hundred.

When the introductions were done, John walked straight up to Yeoman. “You killed the smart infected?”

Yeoman nodded. “But it was through dumb luck. My friend held it in place while I killed it.”

“Where’s your friend now?” John asked, looking around.

“She’s at work,” Yeoman said. “My other companion is a bit of a loner.” Yeoman thought it didn’t make any sense. Cody wanted to be the main character, but his socializing abilities weren’t that great. Weren’t all main characters supposed to be eloquent and charismatic?

John nodded, bobbing his head up and down. “Alright, alright, that’s cool. What kind of combat experience do you have?”

“Nothing,” Yeoman said. “I’m not a physically active person.” When he saw John’s look of doubt, he added, “I only look like this because of the optimization.”

John grunted and walked over to the wall. He opened a box that was near the crowbars and pulled out a boxing target. “You optimized your body, but what else did you do with your spare points?”

“I added gorilla and chimpanzee muscles,” Yeoman said, a burning feeling embracing his cheeks. He really should’ve gotten something else.

John frowned as he grabbed the target, equipping it to his right hand. “Alright. Punch this as hard as you can. I want to know just how strong those muscles are.”

Yeoman nodded. He was curious too. He took a step forward with his left foot and punched with his right hand as if he were throwing a baseball. There was the sound of a miniature explosion, and John’s arm was thrown backwards as if it were hit by a truck.

“Goddamn,” John said, raising his eyebrows. “You could kill someone with that.”

Sylvia stepped forward. “Fight me,” she said. “I always wanted to wrestle a gorilla, but the zoos would never let me in.”

Yeoman wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “I, uh, already said I don’t have any combat experience.”

“That’s fine,” Sylvia said. “Neither do gorillas.”

Once again, Yeoman couldn’t formulate a proper response. Hadn’t the woman heard John say his punch could kill people? He didn’t want to hurt her on accident.

“Stop,” Takeo said, grabbing Sylvia’s shoulder. “Can’t you see? He’s not confident. Let me train him first. He likely has no control over his own strength; if he fights you, he could seriously injure you.”

Sylvia snorted and shrugged off Takeo’s hand. “Fine.”

Takeo smiled as she walked away. He came up to Yeoman. “Would you like to learn under me? I can turn you into the perfect killing machine.”

Yeoman blinked hard. What? “I read online that karate was meant to be used as self-defense. Martial arts aren’t learned to kill people. Isn’t that the case?”

“Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right,” Takeo said. “The best defense is a great offense. No one can hurt you if they’re dead.”

The logic was pretty sound, but at the same time, Yeoman thought it was very flawed. “How much do you charge?”

“Charge?” Takeo shook his head. “That’s not something for you to worry about; Gordan already paid me.”

Yeoman looked at Gordan, who nodded with a small smile. Yeoman repressed the sigh that wanted to come out. If only everyone were as forgiving as Gordan, then the world would be a much better place. Although Gordan was only helping him to help himself survive, Yeoman didn’t mind. He still felt pretty bad about luring the entire herd to the camp.

“Come with me,” Takeo said. “If anyone else has no combat experience, you can follow along as well.”

Yeoman and a portion of the group split off. Takeo swept his gaze over the people who had followed him before nodding. “We will begin with some light warmups to stretch the body. Do as I do.”

The light warmup was really light. There were some arm-swinging motions, some hip-twisting motions, some neck-tilting motions, some leg-stretching motions while crouching. It didn’t take very long before Takeo ended it. “Since you are all beginners, I’ll teach you the katas first. The katas are the best tools to teach someone the fundamentals of fighting. Do as I do and memorize these movements.”

Yeoman didn’t know what to expect, but he did as he was told. It wasn’t difficult to follow Takeo’s movements. They were actually pretty simple. As Takeo performed the first kata, he spoke after each new movement. “The stance is the most basic one, the zenkutsu-dachi; in English, it is the forward stance. Your weight is primarily placed on your front leg. Completely straighten your back leg. Your front toes should point forward, and your back toes should point outwards at thirty degrees. Your feet should be shoulder width apart from side to side and one and a half shoulder widths from front to back.”

With Yeoman’s optimized body, he had no difficulty in performing such a simple stance. Not only had the optimization increased his strength, it had also improved his balance, his flexibility, and his reaction speed. He had an even better body than a world-class athlete; all he needed to do was learn how to operate it. His movements were unnatural at first, but with Takeo’s explanations on the punches, blocks, and turns involved in the kata, Yeoman’s movements became more and more fluid.

“The important thing is to practice your kata every day,” Takeo said. “It is the difference between a master and an amateur. If you have to think about how to perform these movements, you have already lost. Practice them until they are engrained in your body’s memory. It is the same as learning any other skill.” He ended the kata and stared at the group. “Now, do it without me. If you can’t remember, look at your neighbor who does. I shall go around correcting the mistakes within your form.”

Yeoman’s memory might’ve been improved thanks to the optimization, but it wasn’t to the point of memorizing something at a single glance. Why was that? Was there an option in the alien’s dimension to gain an eidetic memory? He hadn’t seen it, but it wouldn’t hurt to search for it after the end of the second stage.

“Focus!” Takeo kicked Yeoman’s front leg from behind, forcing him to bend it even further. “Focus on each and every action. Remember how you move your body. Perform the movements slowly. Be conscious of your breath. Time the ending of your movement with the last of your exhalation. Inhale as you move to build power. Exhale upon release.”

Yeoman put away all his distracting thoughts and really thought about the movements. They were simple, and it was easy to see how power was supposed to be delivered to each strike. Whenever he forgot the next step of the kata, Takeo would take the same position as him and perform the following movement, only continuing when Yeoman showed signs of hesitation. It was clear Takeo was giving him special treatment, but Yeoman didn’t mind. He’d answer Takeo’s dedication with his own determination. To prevent himself from dragging Cody and Ella down, Yeoman needed to learn.

After the group performed the first kata three times, John came over. “So, when are you going to actually teach them how to fight?”

Takeo snorted. “One must learn to walk before learning how to run.”

John chuckled and waved at the group. “If any of you are bored of this and want to box, you can follow me.”

Was John poaching students? Maybe he thought having more students under him would be useful for the upcoming stage. However, Yeoman wasn’t too interested in boxing. A human’s legs would always be stronger than their arms, and a combat technique that didn’t make use of leg strikes just didn’t make sense to him. It was clear that not a lot of people agreed with him though; a large portion of the students split off, going with John. John glanced at Yeoman, but seeing as he stayed put, the black man shrugged and left with his new batch of pupils.

Takeo nodded at Yeoman. “It’s time to move on to the second kata.”

Yeoman nodded back and stepped into the ready stance, the hachiji-dachi, as Takeo called it. Once again, Yeoman followed along to Takeo’s explanations while copying the old man’s movements. The second kata was very similar to the first kata, but there were kicks thrown in as well. After the first couple of kicks, Yeoman felt like he got the hang of it. Afterwards, Takeo made him perform the second kata three times before making him perform the first kata once more.

When Yeoman finished, he looked at Takeo. The old man was frowning. “The next part, I’m supposed to teach you the different kicks. Under normal circumstances, you’d have a partner holding the target for you to hit, but your strength is too great. Any partner you have won’t be able to stand it, and it wouldn’t be good for your development if you held back to not injure them. Tomorrow, I’ll bring in a sandbag for you.” Takeo nodded. “For now, I’ll teach you more katas.”

“No,” Sylvia said, approaching the small group of people. “You can train the rest of them with the targets. I’ll teach Yeoman for now.”

Takeo laughed and stepped in front of Yeoman, partially blocking Sylvia’s view of him. “Karate has plenty of grappling skills. Judo isn’t necessary.”

Sylvia frowned. “Are you willing to bet on that?”

“If you don’t mind losing your eyes,” Takeo said. “Karate gets a lot of flack in modern times. People always say a fight winds up on the ground, and karateka have no way to defend themselves once on the ground, but it’s simply not true. The modern rules have crippled karate. It’s illegal to grab someone’s trachea. It’s illegal to gouge out their eyes. It’s illegal to squeeze and twist their testicles. It’s illegal to pinch their flesh and twist it off. It’s illegal to manipulate small joints. It’s illegal to stomp on an opponent while they’re on the ground. I don’t train in the modernized karate created as a way to counter boxing’s popularity. My karate originates from Okinawa, the birthplace of karate.”

Yeoman was a bit nervous upon hearing what Takeo wanted to teach him. Throat crushing? Eye gouging? Testicle squishing? Just thinking about those things made him squeamish, and he definitely wasn’t going to be using them on any infected. Just thinking of eyeballs being squished by his fingers were enough; he didn’t need those eyeballs to be filled with yellow pus too.

Sylvia narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing in a place like this then?”

Takeo laughed. “America has more opportunities. My son moved here first, and after my wife passed away, I got a little lonely, so I joined my son here. I teach karate to make some spending money for my granddaughter.”

Sylvia nodded. “I’ll let you teach Yeoman for now. In the next stage, before it ends, I want to fight you. No rules.”

Takeo chuckled again. “I’m already so old. How about Yeoman fight in my place?”

Sylvia stared at Yeoman. After a moment, she turned around and walked away without replying. Yeoman was a bit confused by her response, but he didn’t have time to think about it. Takeo patted his shoulder and smiled, revealing yellow and black teeth. “I’ll teach you the third kata now. Before the week is over, I’ll teach you all of Shorin-Ryu Karate’s katas. There’s eighteen of them. You won’t master them, but if you repeatedly drill them, eventually you’ll learn to perform bunkai on them.”

“Bunkai?”

“Take movements from the katas and demonstrate them in actual combat.”

Yeoman nodded. It made sense to him. The katas were forms teaching the proper way to move and stand. All he needed to do was figure out when to use those stances in combat. It was a little like solving engineering problems. The katas were the formulas he had learned, and bunkai was the application of said formulas to problems. Of course, it was easier said than done. His near-failing grades in college that were only saved by the curve was proof of that. “I understand.”

Takeo smiled and nodded, patting Yeoman’s back. “Excellent.”