David won the argument about driving. Pointing out that the other walking wounded had helped load and his magic aided recovery was going well…

  The drive back was uneventful, if stressful as they moved through the abandoned city. There seemed to be more signs of activity, though they didn’t investigate either the furtive movements they occasionally saw or the more obvious shuffling figures of the occasional zombie.

  David still felt strained and, if only to himself, admitted the others had been right to make him rest. Even now with his condition improving he struggled with the nagging aftereffects of whatever he had done to himself, not as bad as earlier but it was still like driving after a really draining day with a nagging headache rather than a full blow migraine.

  While he had driven solo on the way out this time Charlie had been assigned to ride with him and the two of them passed the time in idle conversation and inevitably more system speculation.

  Then Charlie asked a question that stopped David cold.

  “Hey, man I’m curious. What’s it like getting a skill reward? Practice was kinda cool like slowly clicking things into place almost like I dunno accelerated on the job training…”

  “Damn, that’s another thing we missed! You can get that first reward for just carrying someone across the barrier. Hell, Sarah can too. Then we have enough people for all of us to get the save our people reward IF we carry them across.”

  Then he swore “Fuck, the barrier is growing and we can drive right through it now, if we don’t stop before it we lose the chance!”

  Rather than risk things not working due to the strange rules the system imposed he flashed his hazard lights causing the convoy to pull to a halt a couple of streets away from the park.

  Almost before he could think Camila was out of her truck.

  “David, are you alright?”

  Mark was close behind her from his truck where he had been keeping an eye on Sarah and Katie to make sure they were doing fine.

  “Look guys, I’m fine. Charlie and I were talking and I just realized that he never got the basic reward for carrying someone into the safe zone, neither has Sarah. On top of that we have the save your people reward. IF each of us carries ten people into the safe zone. It would be unbelievably stupid NOT to grab those rewards. Plus getting the people who are awake inside to help carry folks in would earn THEM free skills. That is a total game changer.”

  Charlie then chipped in “Especially when you factor in that each of those skills is the start of a whole skill tree! Plus we might get lucky and with good pairs of skills open up even more stuff. The system is really about powerful skills!”

  When everyone looked at him weird, given how they had been told it was all about resource pools and attributes to use them Charlie continued.

  “Look, David and I figured this out while he was convalescing because I advanced my firebolt past level 5 and was told new skill options are available once we get back to the Obelisk!!”

  His obvious excitement and the recency of the discovery mollified people a little.

  “You see, resting actually did more good than just helping you recover.” Sarah chimed in.

  This was when they got perhaps the biggest surprise of the day. Someone came round the corner and waved.

  The team reacted with the paranoia of recent combat, starting to look for cover before the stranger called out.

  “It’s OK! There is a safe zone at the foot of the beacon, don’t freak out when you see the barrier of light just drive through and someone can explain everything.”

  The group shared confused looks, who the hell was that? Where had they come from?

  Seeing their hesitation he called out, clearly not wanting to approach an obviously armed and nervous group.

  “It’s safe! I’m Matt, I live by the park just ahead. The area is safe, the pillar of light is protecting us. We heard there are weird things out there, zombies and maybe even worse but it’s safe here, just turn right at the next intersection and you’ll see the barrier ahead. You can drive right through!!”

  As the others started to relax David had a moment of paranoia gesturing at them to wait. None of this made sense. So he called out a question of his own.

  “Hey Matt, pleased to meet you. Do you know Billy? How is he doing?”

  Matt’s face light up. He yelled back “Are you Billy’s friends? The ones rescuing people?”

  Camila at this point had had enough. Speaking softly to David she muttered “Chill estupido.”

  Then louder for the Man at the corner. “Yes we are! Glad to hear people are waking up. Are there people who can help us with the survivors we rescued?”

  Matt’s demenour changed. “You mean there are people in the trucks? Why didn’t you say something? What do you need? We don’t have many medical supplies but we can help.”

  With that out of the way the team remounted their trucks and moved quickly to the edge of the barrier. David absently noted it had grown again and now engulfed houses on this approach to the park, when they left it still hadn’t spread nearly that far.

  While the team quickly explained to Matt the need to physically carry people across the barrier for rewards David paused, something was off.

  He closed his eyes and focused on his spiritual hearing. He realized that there was a new, for lack of a better word, direction he could hear in. Before there had been a constant murmur of voices contributing to his headache. Now those voices were silent, which was nice.

  He poked at that strange direction mentally and received a sense of fear, then of hiding.

  Even as he tried to process David saw Matt hurry off to assemble people. They had spread out and started doing their own things once they awoke it seemed. Most were still in the safe zone, after Billy told them of the dangers. Some, mostly younger game savvy types had started practicing skills.

  Quite a few people had already taken cars and immediately headed out to rescue nearby family and friends, some without even doing the tutorial.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  While Matt was away the team began the process of moving people across the barrier.

  David spoke to them all. “Look, I know it sounds silly but ONLY carry ten people across the barrier, we need as many people as possible to get skills and it sounds as though dozens are here now.”

  It should have been straightforward. Carry them across, let the safe zone's influence help them recover, stop at ten and let other people carry one across until everyone was safe.

  But then they discovered the first body.

  Katie made a small, choked sound. She and Mark were about to load another person onto a stretcher for her to carry across the barrier.

  In an instant, his hands moving across the middle-aged woman they'd just gone to pick up. His expression grew grave.

  "She's dead," he said quietly. "Died during transport. I'm not sure when."

  A cold weight settled in David's chest.

  They checked the others. Most were stable, still breathing, still held in whatever stasis the system provided. But many showed early signs of deterioration. Sunken features, papery skin, lips dry.

  "They're dehydrating," Mark said, horror dawning in his voice. "The system is keeping them stableduring initiation, but it's not providing hydration. They're dying of thirst while unconscious."

  The implication hit everyone at once.

  All those people still waiting to wake up. Spread across the city and beyond. Trapped in their beds or on their floors. Not all of them got the system, but even those who made it that far were on a clock. One that was running out.

  David pushed himself to think, cursing the nagging headache forcing his brain to kick into high gear despite the exhaustion.

  "We need information. First, will the safe zone help stabilize them? Second, can we do anything to get water into them, buy them the time, literally just hours they need?”

  Mark was pragmatic “We need to triage," he said. "Figure out who's at highest risk. Get water into them somehow."

  "They're unconscious," Katie said, her voice shaking. "We can't make them drink."

  Charlie simply stepped across the barrier and they could hear him asking “System Help, will…” there was a pause then he continued “system compatible people who are still undergoing initiation be helped by the safe zone.”

  There was a pause then he spoke again “No Dammit, not quicker waking up medical help to support their bodies until they wake up!”

  There was another tense pause then “Yess! Fuck the cost.”

  Charlie emerged a second later. He quickly explained.

  “Right, system help to the rescue. The safe zone has finite resources and will prioritize those within it who are initiating. Help lots of people and the benefits of the zone per person diminish. Help too many people and the protection will weaken. Go further than that and the zone could collapse.”

  "Then we need to wake them up faster." David looked at the beacon rising above the safe zone. "With new people are awake active defense becomes possible, probably inevitable. If the safe zone is prioritizing initiation and accelerating the process, we need to get everyone here as fast as possible."

  "And what about the ones we can't reach?" Sarah asked. "The ones trapped in locked houses or behind barriers?"

  No one had an answer for that.

  The sun was high in the sky, afternoon with its heat well underway. Even as they spoke more people arrived with a hubbub of voices and urgency.

  Seeing incipient Chaos David jumped up onto the bed of the truck they were unloading and shouted.

  “We need to get people INSIDE the safe zone as quickly as possible. Everyone is dehydrating badly and the risk of dying instead of waking up is increasing fast. On top of that IF you are initiated and have completed the tutorial there are rewards for helping people.”

  There were well over a dozen people gathered he could see and probably more who could hear him through the barrier.

  “I want you to buddy up! Each of you needs to make sure you have the quests earn your first skill and save your people. Then bring ONE person across the barrier and see if you can get a few drops of water into them.”

  Someone called out from the crowd “Won’t they choke if we pour water down their throats?”

  Mark responded “David is right. A few drops wrung from a cloth at a time will be absorbed. It’s slow work but could save their lives!”

  David continued, gesturing to the woman Katie had found. “Time is running out! These people were all alive when we rescued them less than an hour ago and they are dying while we dither.”

  Then everyone did something that surprised David. Instead of more discussion and debates and strategizing they just started helping. Sure, there was some conversation and even arguments within the group but the

  From within the safe zone more people arrived. Maybe a dozen more including Billy. Then more.

  Seeing the familiar figure and Bessie David gestured him over.

  “Gab this guy, you got him?” David saw his friend off realizing that he too could get a skill this way.

  Then he turned to bringing more people in himself, keeping count to make sure to stop at ten. Well, he would stop if there were enough people to get everyone inside.

  Something warm and tight and powerful surged in his chest. Hope.

  He hadn’t even realized it was missing until he saw dozens of strangers moving people they never met to safety. Just ordinary everyday people pulling together to help.

  They weren’t completely efficient but the numbers were branded into David’s mind.

  They had somehow crammed one hundred and seventy nine people into the back of the trucks. Three had died in transit.

  Over a hundred people had woken up in the safe zone.

  His count there was less accurate because once the seven of them had carried ten people each across there were no double carries.

  They'd won a victory today. Killed the threats, saved a lot of people. But as David looked at the three bodies they'd failed to save in time, at the deteriorating survivors who, despite wet cloths and help from their fellows, might not have enough time left. Sure the system said they would but it wasn’t infallible.

  The team's exhausted faces made the victory feel incomplete. Still he couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his lips.

  They weren’t shouldering this alone, his people, humanity were starting to fight back.

  Sure they were a drop in the bucket but it was happening.

  There was confirmation that everyone near the safe zone had been protected to some extent. The houses within the safe zone encompassed several city blocks and once the urgency of the situation sunk in breaking and entering was the name of the game.

  Not a single mutant chrysalis had been found and mortality was remarkably low, confined to the very old and sick.

  None had been infected with the Nath.

  They had over a hundred people with skills now. An actual fighting force.

  More people were waking up every minute and being hustled through the tutorial.

  The apocalypse wasn't just about fighting monsters and leveling up. It was about time. Resources. Choices that carried weight.

  In theory they now knew that each of these people weakened the safe zone a little, ate away at a finite pool of benefits that he presumed came from Mana.

  Time was the one resource they couldn't afford to waste. It was also the resource that multiplied with every survivor who completed the tutorial and scaled with the power of their systems.

  Looking around he saw the rest of the team.

  Katie was organizing a group that had set up a communal kitchen using backyard grills in the park and was busy cooking up a storm.

  Carl was organizing with the various home owners to make sure that any perishable food that wasn’t already bad got to Katie and her crew to cook. He was also organizing weapons, both improvised and not.

  Billy and Bessie were in the heart of the kids and pets zone. Billy spending his time walking stressed pet owners through the steps to save, and bond, their companions. Bessie was playing with the kids who’s parents were busy with other things.

  Mark was working with the other medically inclined people who had woken up, either those who picked medical type skills or nurses and caregivers. There were a couple of trainee doctors too he thought. They were doing the rounds of the survivors trying to lift the burden of life support from the Obelisk.

  Camila and Sarah were out organizing and leading teams to go door to door and move people into the safe zone. It turned out that boost and an improvised Ram was enough to get through most doors fast. There was also someone who could pick locks helping, David didn’t ask why…

  Charlie was answering questions and helping by the Obelisk with the tutorial and its aftermath.

  As the team raced around, David allowed himself one moment of weakness. He leaned against the truck he had just parked facing outwards towards the city, breathing hard.

  A check of his status showed that he was mostly recovered. His Mana Strain was down to (moderate) and the systemic damage was gone. He should check in with Mark for another round of healing.

  They'd saved some. Lost some. And the clock was still ticking on the city as a whole.

  The price of victory, he realized, wasn't just what you paid to win.

  It was what you lost even when you succeeded.

  David turned to gather people, this was a war and they needed to fight bigger battles.