Richard didn’t know how long he had been on his knees. Someone was talking to him, but he couldn’t understand what they said. He simply stared ahead, wondering what kind of existence made it so Death was an actual being. For whatever reason, he seemed to recall an image of a robed individual, sometimes skeletal, with a scythe. Was that an image of death from his old life? It definitely didn’t fit the being that had now disappeared into the darkness.

  “Richard!”

  The voice sounded so terrified that he had to focus on who had called him. Amber was on her knees, about ready to grab his face and force him to look at her. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “I’m… fine.” Richard wasn’t sure why he had said that. He didn’t know if Amber had asked a question. His mind was hazy at best. Despite having his world turned upside down when he arrived at base two, this experience with Death made him feel like his life was still getting flipped over.

  “Didn’t you hear?”

  Richard tried blinking at Amber, giving his head a little shake. His mind was scrambled, and he had a hard time focusing.

  “Come on, Richard.” Leylah extended her hand. “I’ll make sure you get to Lucy’s.”

  “I’m… fine,” Richard said again.

  Leylah and Amber exchanged nervous glances. Leylah then gestured toward Fang. “Amber, you stay here with Fang. I’ll make sure Richard visits Lucy.”

  Amber nodded, then walked over to the cowering figure curled in a ball next to the silos. Leylah grabbed Richard’s shoulders and helped him to his feet. He didn’t even question how she did it, because he was too busy questioning other things.

  “Others… other’s worse off… I don’t… need….” Richard struggled to get his thoughts working through his mind.

  “Richard… you are the one most seriously injured now,” Leylah said.

  He couldn’t comprehend it, because it was all part of the situation he was having a hard time understanding. Dead. All the seriously injured were now dead. Death himself had come. He collected their souls.

  “Can’t… can’t be….”

  It wasn’t until Shrub was right in front of him that Richard noticed the goliath. “Richard?” Shrub asked.

  “I don’t know what’s happening. He’s so scattered right now,” Leylah’s voice shook as much as Richard’s body.

  Shrub studied Richard’s torn arms, then gave a grim nod. “Come on, friend.” He scooped Richard into his arms once again. “Leylah, you come too. You have a few injuries.”

  Richard struggled again with his mind. He stared at the chipped tree armor. A horror gripped him as he saw a stained amber color completely soaking him. “You’re injured. Blood. You bleed.”

  “I’ve already seen Lucy. I’m healed. You’re not.”

  Leylah had to run to keep up with Shrub’s long stride. Richard stared at the sky, which was lit again with balls of light. He focused most of his energy on staring at the cooldown timer on his healing ability. It had about two and a half hours left. He wouldn’t mind staring at the timer for the rest of the time.

  “Lucy! Where do you want him?” Shrub asked.

  Were they already in the healer’s building? How broken was his mind?

  “Shit!” Yes, they were inside the healers. It was impossible to mistake Lucy’s swearing. “Those arms look bad. How close was he to Death?”

  “Near the silos,” Leylah said.

  Lucy swore again as Shrub eased Richard onto the bed. Richard stared at the ceiling, positive he could still see Death’s smile. Tears raced down his cheeks even though his mumbling was calm.

  With a surprisingly gentle touch, Lucy lifted his arms, then tapped her glasses and studied the cuts. Richard kept watching his cooldown tick down so he wouldn’t have to see the image of death floating on the ceiling.

  Lucy ran into the back room as more injured came into the healer’s building. It wasn’t long before all ten beds were filled, and the instructions were being passed down that only the truly horribly injured could be in a bed. Healing potions were passed around.

  “Drink this, newbie, and fast,” Lucy said.

  Richard didn’t question it, because he didn’t have the capacity to. He drained it, and it was like his focus returned with a snap. Death wasn’t wandering around in his peripherals anymore.

  “What… the hell?” Richard asked.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Have you leveled up?” Lucy asked as she dumped a potion onto cloth bandages.

  It was the first question someone had asked him since Death had left that Richard could understand with a clear mind. He looked at his levels. “I’m… yes. I’m almost to level seven.” Two whole levels because of this fight. For some reason, it felt gross to say that. So many people had died, and he computed it down to experience points and leveling.

  “If you haven’t already, unlock the ability to heal basic wounds. If you want, you can even artificially raise that basic level to advanced, but it’s up to you.” Lucy glanced around before she found a guard standing near. She pointed at him. “You there. Wrap this newbie’s arms with this, then kick him out to level up. I have more injuries to tend to.” Lucy then turned toward Richard. “The binding will keep your injuries in place. I don’t have time to stitch them up, so you will have to do that on your own with the ability. If your wounds haven’t healed in a week, let me know.”

  Lucy then disappeared to the next person groaning on the bed. The guard took her place, picking up the bandages that Richard was certain Lucy had soaked in some potion, but when the guard picked them up, they were dry.

  “I’m glad you’re alright,” the guard said.

  Richard was pulled from his thoughts as he studied the guard. He had a shaved head and tired brown eyes. Richard figured his own eyes were as tired.

  “Yeah.” He focused on the way the guard wrapped his arm. “I’m… glad you’re alright too.” It seemed like the right thing to say. The guard gave a defeated grunt.

  “I’m Evan, by the way,” the guard said.

  “Richard.”

  “Good to meet you, Richard. Our base camp just got a lot smaller. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.”

  Richard swallowed, then closed his eyes. “Does this… happen? A lot?”

  “No.” So much emotion tumbled out of that single-syllable word. “Final numbers aren’t in, but…” Evan shook his head, tears in his eyes. “I lost a lot of good friends an hour ago.”

  Richard flinched. “I’m so sorry.”

  Evan finished bandaging Richard’s arm. “Lucy said she didn’t care what you do to level up, but if you’d like my advice? Even though it might hurt, don’t artificially level up your wound skill. I guarantee that by the time you finish healing your arms, it will level up on its own. As hard as it is, unlock a new ability.”

  Richard pulled up his skill tree. “So should I go for the master health ability?” It was the ability to reduce the pain of unusual wounds by 10% which sounded amazing. He didn’t get his hopes up, though, when he saw Evan shake his head.

  “Unfortunately, you can’t open a master ability for your survivor class until you have all the advanced-level skills unlocked.”

  Richard gave a defeated sigh as he looked at his skill tree again. The last two skills he had to unlock were the advanced physical skill of increasing his kick strength and the advanced mental ability of being better at navigation. Neither felt immediately necessary. With his gaining two levels, he’d have two more points to unlock abilities.

  Evan held out a hand, and Richard took it. His arms still throbbed, but Lucy was already moving to the next person in bed. If he could do this on his own, he would. Especially as he passed people who had lost limbs. Already the throbbing was dying down.

  Evan helped him toward the door. “Do you need help to reach the orb?”

  “No, thank you. I’ll be fine.” He didn’t dare ask Evan to be away from a place where someone might need him more.

  Richard stared ahead as he moved through the building. Some of those injuries looked so much worse than what he experienced until he remembered he couldn’t focus on anything. What had Death done to him?

  “Richard?”

  He turned at the sound of his name. Amber, Fang, and Leylah ran up to him, worried. Richard was struck with the thought that he had once considered what might happen a month from now. How would their personalities change? Would they become more hardened? They didn’t need a month. Just a few days in an apocalypse to experience things he wished he could forget.

  Fang threw his arms around him and gripped him tight. “If you’re not allowed to have hugs, stop me now, but I can’t not hug you.”

  Richard tried to smile as he returned the hug. “I can have hugs.”

  “Good. I’m not letting go for a while.”

  Richard chuckled. “I’m fine.” He tried not to imagine it, but Fang reminded him of a puppy. In fact, Richard would not be surprised at all if that was the animal he could change into when he got his gift.

  “I have to level up, though,” Richard said.

  “We all need to,” Amber said.

  Richard looked at Leylah, nodding. “What level did you reach?”

  “I’m almost at seven.”

  “Same.”

  Fang finally let Richard go, and they all headed toward the orb. Amber and Fang reached level five. They talked about the strategy of what they should do, because it was easier than facing the problem all around them.

  In the end, Richard took Evan’s advice and unlocked the last two advanced abilities. He hoped that almost shooting to level seven would help the pain lessen, but it didn’t. His arms still ached, and it only got worse. He tried to remember how many wounds he had on his arms and how long it would take to heal them all. He was very tempted to make sure someone woke him every three hours during the night to ensure he kept healing his arms, but he realized his arms might keep him from sleeping, anyway.

  Richard glanced around at the base two, which was once again flooded with light. There were so many dead. Dmitri and others were busy collecting bodies, the splicers in one pile and the deceased camp members in another. No one was going to bed tonight. Probably not until tomorrow night. Not with the gate torn open to that demonic forest.

  He felt eyes on him, and Richard met the gazes of Leylah, Fang, and Amber. He then looked at Dmitri and the very few surviving members not getting Lucy’s help.

  “Come on.” His voice was heavy. “They placed us in the middle of the silos to protect us. We’re now raw numbers for a group of people that took a heavy loss. Let’s go help.”

  The three of them nodded. Richard had been avoiding facing head-on what had happened, but he knew he couldn’t avoid it forever. Not in an apocalypse. The four of them moved toward Dmitri, quietly offering their services. With a grim face, Dmitri asked them to sort through the dead, looting the bodies when they gave a prompt, either for the splicers or the deceased.

  Richard quietly got to work, placing the loot in the growing piles around them. He tried not to cry, but he also didn’t dare go numb. He simply threw himself into this job, giving himself up to the dull rhythm of it all. Pushing himself despite the pain in his arms.

  Between the job and monitoring the cooldown, Richard refused to think of anything else. When the cooldown finished, he mentally chose it again. The pain lessened, but it didn’t disappear. He simply carried on, going back to the grim job.

  It wasn’t until his second cooldown had another hour left that he realized his cheeks were soaking wet.