Richard placed his palm over the orb and waited for it to turn blue. Once it did, he unlocked the last ability in his survivor skill tree.

  Master Physical (active) (basic) (cooldown 1 hr)

  Increase punch strength by 50%

  He sighed, then glanced at the kicking skill he kept forgetting to use. If he never used them, they would never get stronger. He had plenty of opportunities to kick or punch something today, but getting used to a system was hard. He studied his entire skill tree to refresh what he had.

  Basic Health (passive) (advanced)

  Reduce hunger by 40%

  Basic Physical (passive) (advanced)

  Increase strength by 40%

  Basic Mental (passive) (basic)

  Increase likelihood of finding best escape by 10%

  Advanced Health (active) (advanced) (cooldown 2hrs)

  Heal (two) wound(s)

  (This is for your body only)

  Advanced Physical (active) (basic) (cooldown 2 hrs)

  Increase kick strength by 50%

  Advanced Mental (passive) (basic)

  Navigation skills improve by 20%

  Master Health (passive) (advanced)

  Reduce the sensation of unusual wounds by 40%

  Master Physical (active) (basic) (cooldown 1 hr)

  Increase punch strength by 50%

  Master Mental (passive)(basic)

  Know best materials to build (basic) weapons

  Richard was surprised to feel more dejected than excited. He had unlocked his first skill tree. Once he reached level ten, he was supposed to get two new skill trees to unlock more abilities, but he would have to wait until Amber or Fang hit level ten. Considering Fang was unconscious through most of this fight, he had a bad feeling Fang would be the one who had fallen behind this time.

  Richard kept walking, then slowed once again when he heard quiet sobbing. His stomach lurched until he heard someone else whispering. That was fine. It meant someone else was having the hard conversation with the—

  “Richard?”

  He froze, then slowly turned around. Dmitri was there, kneeling next to a sobbing Amber. Richard struggled to keep his face neutral.

  “Hey.” Richard felt like a jerk the minute he said it. Of course he was concerned about Amber. The sight of her sitting on the ground with her head buried in her arms made his heart twist. He was just afraid that if he lingered too long, he might—

  “Amber has had nothing to eat. Could you take her to the mess hall? I’m sure she’ll feel better once she’s had something,” Dmitri said.

  Richard didn’t react. Inside, a single voice was screaming so loud everything else was drowned out. He took a deep breath and silenced the screaming voice.

  “Of course.” Richard walked over to them. Dmitri smiled, giving a quick nod before he stood up and headed back to the wall. Richard’s throat felt coated with shattered glass as he braced against the wall and slid down until he was sitting next to Amber. “Hi.”

  She was trying to calm her sobbing. Richard felt like a jerk, second-guessing everything he wanted to say. The fear of how his tone might come across made the silence stretch between the two of them. Richard cleared his throat.

  “Dmitri’s right. You should eat something.”

  “I’m not hungry.” Her voice was so small, yet certain. “I don’t think I could ever eat again.”

  “Is this about killing the Mol?”

  Wrong thing to say. He knew the moment Amber’s sobs resounded again. Richard rubbed his chin, then ended up covering his mouth as he considered his next move. What did people usually do when comforting others? He was acting as though he had never received comfort himself. This was too similar to everyone requiring him to comfort Fang. The only reason that went well was because Richard pulled some bullshit “higher-power” card, assuring him that Order sent him here for a reason. Perhaps it wasn’t bullshit to everyone else, but Richard was surprised Fang believed it so readily.

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  He let out a sigh, then did what he assumed Amber might need and placed his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him, clutching his shirt and sobbing. Richard hugged her, and she remained that way for a while. Richard did little else but rub her back and let her.

  He’d rather be fighting an army of Mols. But he also didn’t want Amber to feel abandoned. So he did the uncomfortable thing and was quietly there for her.

  Eventually, her sobbing died down. His shirt was soaking wet, but he didn’t draw attention to it.

  “Dmitri’s right. Let’s get you something to eat,” Richard said.

  At least this time they didn’t have to go to the silos and cook anything. They entered the mess hall, and there was a large pot of protein slurry with some fruits and veggies on the side. The mess hall was completely empty, as the battle was still going on. Richard set Amber down at one table before he picked up two trays and piled protein slurry into the bowls. He got a wide variety of the strawberries, blackberries, carrots, and celery that was out there for an option before he sat down across from Amber and passed her tray over.

  “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a bit of everything.”

  “This is fine.” She picked up her spoon and stirred it around the slurry.

  Richard dove in because once he saw the food, he realized how famished he was. Perhaps it was his hunger blocking ability, but either way, he started eating. He had been up since the crack of dawn and pushed his healing body to the max fighting off Mols.

  While he chewed, he touched his chest and still felt his lungs were warm. He tried mentally choosing the heal wound ability to see if that would work, but it didn’t activate. He would have to ask Lucy about that. His lungs weren’t healed all the way, but his ability wasn’t working on them.

  Amber rested her head against her hand as she kept swirling the protein slurry around. She was deep in her mind. Richard didn’t know if she’d even taken a bite yet, despite the huge dent in food on his own tray. He slowed down, trying to smile.

  “It’s… okay. It’s okay to feel bad about this,” Richard said.

  Amber didn’t look at him, but she gave off the impression that she had been pulled out of her thoughts by Richard’s words. “I suppose I should be happy to hit level seven. Killing the… what I did gave me so much experience when I needed it.”

  Richard gave himself a moment to think about what he should say, and his mind came up blank. He found it easier to kill the Mols because he immediately saw them as some sort of monster. What Richard couldn’t get out of his head was the way Marcus looked at him after Richard told Fang that if they didn’t kill them, the monsters would instead kill the survivors. Marcus had given him such a strange look. But the thing was, Richard was right because soon after, a Mol attacked Fang.

  Amber brushed her cheek to dry some tears, and Richard forced himself to be in the moment.

  “It’s alright that you feel bad about it,” Richard said. “I get the impression from all the survivors that we newbies weren’t supposed to get thrown into so much death and killing yet. I think they had an entire system to ease us into the life of people living in the apocalypse, but…”

  “But things have gotten so bad that we have to step up,” Amber said.

  “Yeah. Something like that.”

  Amber’s eyes flooded with tears again. “What if I can’t, though? Why is it that you and Leylah stepped up with no trouble at all, but Fang and I…” Amber placed her spoon against the tray, looking away. “What if this breaks us? What if it breaks me?”

  She wiped another tear, and Richard closed his eyes to keep the desire to run at bay.

  “A little breaking never hurt anyone,” Richard said.

  Amber’s eyes widened, and Richard realized he hadn’t thought about his words long enough. Then again, if he didn’t think about them, he and Amber would sit in silence the whole time.

  “What I mean is… of course, being in an apocalypse will push you beyond your limits. None of us remembers our past lives, but I doubt we had this kind of apocalypse to deal with back home.” Richard took a bite of protein slurry. “We have to make choices we wouldn’t otherwise make. And many of them are scary. That’s why things like the apocalypse are… are never meant to last so long. It does things to a person’s psyche. Understanding that killing a Mol is something you yourself never want to do for a long time is nothing to be ashamed of. You broke a little, and it’s okay to know that about yourself.” Richard picked up a carrot and ate it, trying to hide the fact that he was just talking flowery words to sound good. Why couldn’t Dmitri have chosen someone else to do this?

  To Richard’s utter surprise, Amber nodded, wiping her tears. Richard was struck with an incredible epiphany.

  “What class are you thinking about choosing?” Richard asked.

  “Farmer. No doubt farmer. I can’t be a guard; I refuse to be a scavenger,” Amber said.

  Richard’s chest filled with hope. “You know what you should do? You should talk with Elwyndor. She’d have loads of advice for this.”

  Amber dried her tears. “You think so?”

  “Yes! If you want to be a farmer, talk to other farmers about how they’re adjusting to this life. I bet there are a lot of farmers who never imagined they’d be in the position of a guard, defending base two, and their thoughts would help you.” Richard was almost weak with relief at such an idea. He was even more excited when Amber looked as though she was considering it.

  “You’re right, I should,” Amber said.

  Richard didn’t relax until Amber started eating her protein slurry.

  Once their meal was done, Richard walked outside with Amber. There were still many people on the wall, but they weren’t moving around as much.

  Amber looked towards the western wall protecting the farmlands. “I see Elwyndor.” She then hugged Richard tight. “Thank you. I owe you one.”

  Richard smiled at her before she left for the closest ladder. He then gave a sigh before heading to Lucy’s. He walked in to see Fang awake on the bed. That brought another wave of relief that almost weakened him.

  “Richard?” Lucy asked.

  “Hey, I wanted to check up on Fang. Also… is there a reason my lungs still hurt?”

  “Because healing hurts,” Lucy said like this answered all his questions.

  “Okay, but I hit my healing ability, and nothing happened,” Richard said.

  “Because your lungs are already in the process of healing. It’s just going to hurt,” Lucy said again.

  Richard sighed. “So… not instantaneous?”

  Lucy smiled at him, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted her smiling at him like that. “Not with a wound like that.”

  Richard chewed on the inside of his cheek, then focused on the reason he had come here. He walked over to Fang, giving a pathetic wave. Fang waved back.

  “You okay?” Richard asked.

  Fang glanced at his hands. “I… survived.”

  “And I’m really glad you did,” Richard said. “I didn’t want you to die before I gave you a piece of my mind.”

  Fang stared at Richard, confused. Richard just chuckled and shook his head. He had some time to think about what he wanted to say, but by now he knew he just needed to let it out. “I’ll be okay. Thanks for being concerned about me when I was having a hard time, but I promise I’m fine.”

  Fang looked at him as though trying to remember before it dawned on him. “Oh, right. But… but it’s been…”

  Richard shrugged. “We’re in the middle of an apocalypse. It’s just going to be hard.”

  “But you shouldn’t do things alone,” Fang said.

  “I know, but you also shouldn’t force me to do something I don’t want to. Kind of like… how I sort of told you to kill the Mol before it killed you.”

  “Oh.” Fang glanced down at his perfectly fine chest. “I suppose that makes sense. Then again, I should have killed the Mol before it killed me. Like you said.”

  “Would you want to kill the Mol?” Richard asked. He was genuinely curious about what Fang’s answer was going to be. Judging by the way Fang couldn’t keep eye contact, he had a guess.

  “I suppose a man allergic to killing animals could learn to survive in an apocalypse as long as an incredibly stubborn guy could occasionally ask for help,” Fang said.

  Richard couldn’t help himself and chuckled. Fang smiled, and Richard was struck with the thought that he didn’t want Fang to die. In a roundabout way, he felt like this was the start of a friendship in an apocalypse.

  They talked a bit more before Lucy excused them both, giving Richard permission to sleep in his own bed tonight.

  The Mols were gone by dinnertime, and Richard was given the job of working in the fields. He had almost lost Fang today. Despite everyone having lost someone in the past week, their newbie group remained alive. Richard considered how hard it would be when the first person in his newbie group died. It was a morbid train of thought, but after the week Richard experienced, he couldn’t help but think about it. He was almost glad Amber and Fang wanted to be farmers. That meant they’d live longer. It was probably he or Leylah that would die first.

  It was a macabre thought. It stayed with him as Richard went to sleep that night.

  It vanished when he woke up to Fang’s muffled screams as two dark figures stood over his friend, smothering him with a pillow.