The group traveled along the outskirts of the city for a few hours before darkness started to creep in. They were lucky and got through the thickest part of it and made it to the outer edges of the suburbs though they still weren’t out of the woods yet. When they finally found a house with an intact door, they moved into it for the night and Pope got to use one of his abilities to hide them a little better. But Terry knew that any higher-level monster would be able to sniff them out fairly easily.

He entered the house first, coming into a living room with over turned furniture and blood on the walls. He had the rest of the group wait outside while he looked through the house for any monsters or survivors. He made his way into the kitchen, which was a mess, flour was all over the counters and cereal crunched under his feet as he made his way through. Luckily the windows all seemed to be intact as well.

After looking through the kitchen he made his way upstairs, wincing with every creak and pop of the stairs. Reaching the top of the stairs he turned left and made his way down the hall, seeing blood smeared hand prints on the wall and drag marks on the carpet, didn’t bode well for finding survivors. He checked the rooms for anything but only found more blood and over turned furniture.

Going back along the hallway he check the rest of the upstairs. It had only been a couple days since this whole thing started and he knew it would only get worse. Not finding anything in the rest of the upstairs he made his way down to the group and got them inside before night totally took over. He had his skeletons spread out and cover the windows on the main level but wasn’t able to cover them all. It was something at least.

He moved into the living room and saw the guys had righted the furniture, which included a couch and two arm chairs. Sam of course was already laying down on the couch like she owned the place. Whatever, I’d rather not be in her company anyways he thought as he went into the kitchen and sat at the table with Izzy.

“What do you think happened here?” Izzy asked him as he sat down.

“About the same thing that happened all over the place when the darkness lifted.”

“What darkness?”

“Right after the flash of light in the sky the whole world was covered in a darkness so black you could barely see ten feet in front of your face. Didn’t you see it?”

“No, it was already light out when I came to.”

“Huh, well it was there. It was kind of creepy.”

“So, you know about all this?”

“Not all of it, no. But I’ve played games that had similar mechanics, like leveling, experience points and such.”

“How does it all work then?”

“Well in the games, you got experience for killing creatures and completing quests. Here though you can also get it from killing people it would seem but not for a year.”

“Why would someone want to kill people for experience?”

“They usually give better amounts than creatures. And there’s all sorts of sick people out there who want to kill people ‘just because’.”

Izzy shook her head in disbelief. “Well if I have to be around Sam much longer, I can totally see why some people may want to do it.”

“I totally agree. I’m not sure how much more I can take of her crap.”

“Hey, you think tomorrow if we see anything that I might take a shot at them?”

“Sure, I suppose you want to try and level up.”

“Yeah, I can’t have you fighting all my battles.” Izzy said and punched his shoulder.

He liked Izzy, she was cool and a no-nonsense kind of person. “I’ve got my skeletons watching out for anything so I’m going to see about getting some sleep. Hopefully princess out there won’t be waking me up again.” He moved off to the front door and sat down in front of it. Even though it was still close to Sam, he wanted to make sure he was the front line if anything decided to try and come in.

The group made it through the night without incident and after a quick breakfast they got moving. With Terry and Izzy in the front and the skeletons surrounding the group. He could tell the group was starting to get used to his skeletons as they weren’t giving them as many weird looks as they had been. He was also getting better with his armor; it wasn’t so awkward and cumbersome as it had been when he first got it. He would’ve liked to have gotten new stuff but didn’t want to waste the bodies or chance that one of the group would catch him summoning it.

Luckily the stretch of road the group was on was fairly straight but there was nothing really along it, except for a lone gas station or two that were marked on the map. He figured it would still be a few more hours before they got to the nearest station, which made him think about the Clarity’s shop, if it had one. Pulling up his messages window he hit reply to Death’s note and sent a quick question about a shop or store or something they could buy better equipment at.

While Terry was thinking about it, he looked in his regular inventory and checked to see what things he had looted so far. He had a dozen pieces of lint, two horns of the tricerawolf, four tricerawolf fangs, ten tricerawolf scales, two units of tricerawolf poison and ten tricerawolf claws. Wow not a bad haul for two fights, He closed his inventory with that thought.

“So, uh, where exactly are we going?” Sam asked.

“Well, I’m heading to my parents place up North.”

“What, North? I don’t want to go North.”

“Fine then don’t. I’m not stopping you.”

Sam huffed and pouted at that but didn’t say anything else.

“I’m fine with heading North, got nowhere else to go.” Izzy chimed in.

Most of the rest of the group nodded their heads at that. He was fine with them following him, except for Sam, he only tolerated her because it would look bad if he just kicked her out and left her on her own.

The group traveled East for most of the day and finally got to one of the two gas stations, just as the sun was beginning to set. They picked up their pace as they saw the station come into view. The building was fairly small, just a little convenience store that sold gas and a few convenience items. There were two gas pumps out front and one door leading into the building with an ice machine off to the left of the door.

He hoped he wouldn’t find the same scene as the first gas station he came to. He was cautious as he approached the door and pushed on it. It wouldn’t budge. He tried pulling it, even though there was a sticker that said “Push”. Cupping his hands against the glass he looked into the store but didn’t see anything. “Hello, anyone in there?” he said as he was still looking for any movement. “You guys stay here; I’m going to check out the back” he said pulling away from the glass and turning to go around the back.

He checked the side as he made his way to the back but didn’t see any doors or openings to get in. When he got to the back corner, he peeked around it and was relieved that there wasn’t another pile of bodies. Though as bad as it was, he was running low on them.

He found a door in the back but even that one was locked. He knocked on it though saying “anyone in there? We just need a place to rest for the night.” Pressing his ear against the door he listened for any movement but didn’t hear anything. Sighing he moved back to the front. “Well looks like we might have to smash the door in.”

“But…but isn’t that a bad idea?” Sam asked quietly.

“It is but if we want to be in the building to rest it’s about the only option we have.”

“Wait!” someone said from inside the building.

Terry turned and looked inside the building and saw a girl, she looked to be about eighteen or nineteen. He could hear her whispering something to someone but couldn’t make it out or see who she was talking to.

The girl moved to the door and unlocked it, moving a rack away from it before pulling it open. “Don’t smash the door, it’s the only thing keeping us safe.”

“We won’t, we just thought it might be the only way in.”

He led the group into the small store. He looked around and counted fifteen people huddled in a circle behind the counters. Most of them looked healthy enough but this situation could impact anyone’s health in unknown ways. There was an older man, maybe in his late fifties, that was giving him the stink eye. He didn’t pay the man much attention though.

“What are those things?” the girl asked in shock when she saw his skeletons.

“They’re mine, they won’t hurt you.”

“Umm…” She turned and looked at the old man who shook his head. “Sorry but they’ll have to stay outside.”

“That’s fine, they can keep a look out anyways.” He said as he mentally ordered two to stand out front and one to watch the other sides.

The girl shut the door and locked it, pulling the rack back in front of it for good measure. He could see that Sam was about to say something stupid and he put his hand on her shoulder. She looked his way with a scowl, he just shook his head. She got the meaning of that but she wasn’t happy about it. Izzy lead the group to a back corner and got everyone settled down, even Sam, while he stayed with the girl.

“Thanks for letting us in.”

“You’re welcome, just don’t make me regret it.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep them in line. Have you guys been here since this whole thing started?”

“Mostly. My dad” she pointed at the old man “got everyone inside before things really got out of hand. We’ve been in here ever since.”

“Have you all picked your classes or anything?”

“No, my dad says that we shouldn’t play into whatever scheme this is. That if we have faith we’ll be protected.”

He just shook his head. “Well I really hope that’ll work for you.” He didn’t want any trouble and knew that he wouldn’t be able to talk the man out of his beliefs.

“Thanks, I hope so too.” With that she turned and went back to her circle and he turned to his.

“So, what’s up with them?” Izzy asked as he got to the group.

“The old man believes this is just some sort of faith test and that they won’t be harmed if they have faith.”

Izzy just stared at him, “you’ve got to be kidding me.” She almost shouted. “Those people are going to get slaughtered.”

“I know but it’s not our place to tell people what is and isn’t right.”

“But…”

“If we want a place to stay tonight, we’ll keep our mouths shut.” He looked at Izzy and then the rest of the group, lingering a bit longer on Sam. They all nodded their heads in acknowledgment. “Now try and get some sleep.”

He took up his usual post at the head of the group in case anything, or anyone, tried anything. He even had one of his skeletons discreetly keep an eye on the store, in case someone wanted to try anything.