Terry was up early the next morning, wanting to get an early start and get to the city so they would have plenty of time to make it through. He went around waking everyone up and getting them ready for the coming day, as he was sure it wouldn’t be as easy as what they’ve been having. Sam grumbled as he woke her up but she got up and ate some food while he went to wake the rest.

“Katar, I have something for you.” Terry called him over.

When he made it to Terry he was surprised to be handed a new sword with improved stats, if only a little. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, I also have one for the rest of your group, or at least any of them that would like one.” Terry said and handed over nine swords and two daggers.

“They will use them well, thank you again.”

A message blinked in Terry’s HUD. Opening it up,

You have impressed Katar with your willingness to trust him and his people. You have gained 500 relationship points with the highland sect of elves and 50 points with Katar and Gantar. Your relationship has increased with Katar from neutral to friendly.

Terry closed the message and thought about what this would mean going forward. He was glad for the points, he could always use more friends, especially in this world. Turning to the others he watched them get ready and he went around offering a sword to his group, the men all took one and Penelope took a dagger. He also gave Susan her arrows and a pair of daggers.

Once the group was all equipped he had them move out. They would have to be on guard, as the screams and screeches got closer. It only took them two and a half hours to reach the outskirts of the city. When they got to it, he slowed down and started moving between cover as much as he could. There were plenty of cars still on the road for them to hide behind. There was even a smoky haze floating across the road they were on that obscured them.

They tried to keep quiet as much as possible but the ground was littered with broken glass and gravel, so that every step they took sounded like an air horn blasting out into the smoke. They ducked down behind a car as something flew overhead and swirled the smoke. His heart leapt into his throat as it went by, though thankfully it didn’t seem like it would come back.

Over the next several hours the group went from car to car and running in open stretches when they could. Coming to a bus on the road, they boarded it and rested while Terry, Izzy, Tamara and Katar huddled together and looked at the map.

“I think we’re about here.” Terry said as he pointed to a spot on the made only a quarter of the way through the city. Having found a map of it in a vehicle they looted.

“I think you’re right. Though I can’t believe we’re only that far into the city.”

“We been moving as fast as we can, without drawing de attention of every monster.”

“I know but it’s not fast enough to make it out of the city before night falls.”

“At least the smoke has been consistent so we can use it for some cover.”

Terry nodded at that. They had been lucky so far as the smoke seemed to cover the whole city in the haze and it’s helped keep them undetected, though who knew how long that would last.

As the four of them were huddled around the map, Gantar along with Bradley and Susan were keeping watch out the bus windows and listening for anything. Gantar hated that his father wouldn’t let him in on their discussion but he knew the importance of keeping watch. Which was why he was able to make out noises somewhere out in the smoke.

He waved at his father and got his attention and motioned he had heard something. Katar left the small group and made his way to his son. Looking out the window he tilted his head and listened. There were voices but he didn’t know what they were saying. Moving back to Terry he told him about the voices.

Terry moved to where Gantar was and listened to the voices. He could only make out a few words but they sounded human. With the smoke though it was hard to tell how far away they might be. “Okay everyone, there’s voices out there so we need to be quiet and fast. Let’s get out of here before they get any closer.”

With that the group exited the bus and were on their way again. He hoped they would be able to make it at least halfway through the city before night fell. He kept them going as fast as he could while still being quiet.

It took them hours and a few close calls with monsters before they made it to a spot that he thought would be a good spot for the night. It was a holiday gas station just off an exit. As the group made their way down the exit ramp to the station, they could hear a battle off in the distance. Though between who or what they didn’t know.

The group got to the station and it looked like it was undisturbed as all the windows were intact and the doors were still on their hinges. Opening the door and going inside, Terry, Izzy and Tamara moved about the store, making sure it was clear for the others. Nothing was inside it or in the car wash, which sat silently in the smoky haze.

As the group made their way inside, Terry had Pope put up an illusion for some extra protection. The group settled down for the night but they were all still a bit on edge from the trek through the city. They had still only gotten about half way through the city before stopping for the night.

As the group had made their way through the city and the few run ins with monsters Terry had let Izzy and the rest handle them so they would have a bit of a chance to level up some, so he didn’t even have any messages to check. Looking around he saw that most of the group was already passed out. Looking through his HUD he came upon his ability to communicate with Death and decided to check in with him since he wasn’t going to sleep that night anyways.

Activating the ability didn’t seem like it did anything to begin with since nothing happened but then he thought Hello?

HELLO, MY BOY! He heard in his mind and clasped his hands on his head as it felt like it was about to explode.

Can you turn your voice down, I think my head almost exploded from that.

Oh, sorry about that, is this better?

The voice was the elderly old man’s that he remembered from his time being dead. Yes, that’s much better, but I think I’m still going to have a splitting headache for a while.

Sorry, I forget that you humans have such fragile minds. Anyways, what’s up my boy? How are things going?

Yeah, I don’t want to have a splitting headache every time I come to talk with you, so please try and remember.

Haha, don’t worry my boy, I never forget.

And since you asked it’s been going well. I haven’t really run into that many monsters on my travels and I’ve only died once.

Oh, you died? I didn’t see you pop in; it must have been a quick visit.

Yeah, it was. I got eaten by a giant worm with teeth.

Ouch, that must’ve hurt.

Not really, it was pretty quick but coming back to my body still in its stomach was bad. Anyways, I wanted to talk with you about why there hasn’t been many monsters around me. I would’ve thought that there would have been tons of them.

Hmm, well let me check. Mm-hm, yep, oh, I see. Well, it looks like there just weren’t that many monsters spawning where you were traveling. And by the time you made it to the towns they had mostly moved on or scattered.

So, it was just because we were out in the middle of nowhere?

Yep, just bad luck. But don’t worry I’ve moved some more monsters towards your path, so you’ll have plenty more going forward.

Oh, great. Actually, that’s not bad, then my group can level up some.

Yes, your group is looking a bit lopsided.

Which reminds me, are the monsters scaled?

Scaled?

Yeah, like monsters that I fight are around my level where monsters that someone else fights is around their level?

Hmm, yes, that would be a good way of explaining it.

I thought so. So, how much of the human population is still alive?

Actually, there’s quite a bit left, almost thirty-three percent.

Wow, a third of humanity is left. That’s a lot more than I thought would make it.

Yes, well there was a lot of people outside of major cities and quite a few of them adapted fairly well to this whole thing, so they were able to help others, like you’re doing.

That’s understandable. Would you happen to know if my family is still alive?

Hmm, let me check. It took Death a few moments before he got back to Terry. It would seem that your immediate family is still alive and doing fairly well.

Terry left out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he had been holding. His family was still alive and he was getting closer to them with each day. Though eventually he would have to make this same trip back to check on his brother and his family. That’s a relief, thank you.

You’re most welcome, my boy. Though now if you don’t mind, I must get back to the others as they’re in the middle of a chess game and it’s getting pretty exciting.

You guys play chess? He asked in a skeptical tone.

Of course. What else are we supposed to do with our immortal lives.

There has to be some sort of deviation to it though.

Well, yes, there is. We play with planets and peoples.

At that revolution Terry was shocked, even though he shouldn’t be. They were basically gods, so why wouldn’t they play with people’s lives like that. Well, I guess that would make it more interesting than just playing with plastic pieces. Though if you ever play with Earth and us, make me something important, okay.

Haha, of course. You’re the most interesting person on that planet right now.

With that Death cut the connection and Terry was left with a still splitting headache and knowledge that his parents and brother were still alive. Getting up he took a vial of blood out of his special inventory and drank it. Izzy and Tamara had wondered how he was able to keep awake all night before, that was it. He just drank a vial of human blood and he was revitalized, hence why he didn’t feel like telling them. Plus, he didn’t want to do it too often as it made him feel a bit weird.

Mulling over what Death had said and that they would be encountering more monsters going forward, he walked around the small station. After what felt like his millionth pass around the store he came to a halt and tilted his head. He had heard something. Walking quietly over to the window next to one of his skeletons, he looked out into the darkness.

He could only see the pumps out in front of the gas station and a bit further than that but he knew he had heard something. A flash in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he turned to look at it but when he did there was nothing but blackness that he could see. Keeping his eyes on that spot he eventually saw another flash, it looked to be a few blocks down the road from the station.

Every once in a while he could hear a clash or muffled shout, he guessed that it was from the same spot that the flashes were coming from. As he watched the flashes seemed to be getting closer and the sounds where becoming a bit louder as well. He looked up at the sky but it was still dark and he couldn’t see the moon to even guess how much longer until daylight came.

As the flashes and noises got closer than he liked he moved over to Izzy and Tamara and woke them up. Motioning for them to go with him, he led them to the windows and pointed off in the direction the flashes of light were coming from.

“What do you think it is?” Izzy whispered.

“A battle of some sorts. And it looks like it’s coming this way.”

“Should we do something?”

“It’s dark out and we don’t know who’s fighting or how many are out there. I think we should either stay quiet and hope they pass us or wake the rest and try and sneak out before they get any closer.”

The trio just sat and watched the light show that was being played for them out in the darkness. It might have been different if they could see the battle but without knowing anything about it, it was a tough decision.

“It does seem ta be getting closer. We should hurry up and make a decision.” Tamara said.

“I agree.” Izzy seconded.

“Alright, alright. You two go start waking everyone up and make sure to tell them to be quiet.”

The two women nodded and headed off to wake the group. It took about five minutes to wake and get everyone up. Katar was one of the first awake and went over to Terry. “What is up my friend?”

Terry turned to Katar as he spoke, “there’s a battle out there and it seems to be getting close to us. We’re going to try and sneak out and get back on the road before it reaches us.”

“Hmm, I see. Why not help them out? There are probably humans fighting.”

“We thought about that but having a group of unknown people coming into a fight blind, wouldn’t really be smart. At least for us.”

Katar nodded at that and continued to watch the lights with Terry.

Once the group was all up and they were ready, Terry opened the door as quietly as he could and Izzy led the group out into the night. She knew to get back on the highway and so went the opposite direction of the battle towards the exit. Terry and a couple of his skeletons were the last to leave the store and as they did he could just make out shapes in the distance where the flashes of light were.

They turned and moved as quickly and quietly as they could but just as Terry got to the bottom of the exit he heard someone shout something. Not wanting to wait around he got the group up to a jog and they took off down the highway.

Not slowing down for a good thirty minutes, the group made it away from the fight. It was still dark out but he didn’t want to stop to rest, at least not yet. Izzy lead them down the highway and took the exit that turned North towards Minnesota.