Erika felt a hand grab her wrist and pull her hand away from her ears. “Get up and get ready to fight, I only had the one grenade,” Pinpoint’s voice said, cutting through the ringing left from the blast.

  She only thought of ignoring the woman for a moment before she scrambled to her feet, her mace already in her hand.

  “What the fuck was that?!” she heard Game Phreak scream.

  Erika didn’t have time to look at him though as a zombie lurched out of the darkness and raised a dangerous looking sword at her and clumsily lunge, only for it to crumple to the ground as Pinpoint shot it. But it was far from the last. Like a tide coming in, more zombies rushed out of the darkness, each of them wielding weapons as they rushed forward. Zombie after zombie fell as Pinpoint shot them, but it wasn’t enough to keep the horde back and Erika was dodging a clumsy slash from a wicked looking axe.

  The zombie was covered in small wounds that leaked rotting blood, but that didn’t stop it from swinging for her head. Erika battered the zombie with her mace, forcing it to drop the sword with a clatter of steel as she crushed its shoulder, but the loss of its weapon barely slowed it down as it bared its teeth and tackled her. Erika lost her grip on the mace as she went down, the weapon skittering off into the darkness, but she had other things to worry about. Namely the zombie on top of her trying to bite her throat out.

  “Grarggh!” The zombie roared, rancid spittle splattering across her face.

  Erika jammed her arm into the zombie’s neck as grabbed her shoulder with its good arm, its sharp nails tearing through her skin. Desperately trying to hold the zombie back, she grabbed for the dagger at her waist, a thrill of success running through her stomach as she slipped the weapon free of its sheathe. With all of her strength she stabbed the zombie in the side of the head and it immediately collapsed as dead weight on top of her as new strength trickled into her from the weapon. Using the refreshing energy from the dagger, Erika pushed the corpse off of her and scrambled to her feet as a bright flash lit the dim hallway.

  “Chain lightning!” Game Phreak screamed as a brilliant arc of power shot through the air and lanced into a zombie’s head. The zombie froze mid-step and started to convulse as more lightning leaped to a nearby monster. Again and again the lightning spread out until nearly a dozen monsters stood convulsing. It wasn’t long before the first zombie struck by the attack fell, the lightning letting it go to focus its power on the remaining monsters. Zombie after zombie collapsed, their heads smoking as the smell of cooked rancid pork filled the air. It was an impressive display of power, but it wasn’t near enough.

  Behind her, Game Phreak sagged to the floor, while ahead of them all Pinpoint danced between yet more of the monsters with casual ease, her gun absent as she used what looked like her lost mace to crush skulls one after the other. It seemed at first glance that between the experienced C-Classer and the newbie D-Classer, they had the zombies well in hand. Even though she awakened too, her power was F-Class and she was little better than a baseline human. She struggled to kill one of the zombies, she would just get in the way. Slowly catching her breath, Erika admired the fluid way Pinpoint moved, the way she delivered clean killing blows that dropped the monsters in a single strike. Though she wasn’t flashy or overwhelmingly powerful, she oozed inhuman control. It was like watching a well choreographed dance. But something seemed off to her. The longer Erika watched, the closer Pinpoint got to her. They’re pushing her back, she realized. For every zombie Pinpoint dropped, another lunged out of the darkness to attack her, and the constant pressure forced the C-Classer to give ground even though she far outclassed the monsters.

  Turning around, she waved at Game Phreak. “Hey, there’s still more monsters,” she yelled, but the newly awakened guy ignored her as he leaned against the wall of the hallway. “Hey, did you hear me? They’re getting closer,” she said, stepping towards the guy, but he ignored her. Irritated, she grabbed Game Phreak and pulled him up as she pointed at Pinpoint and the horde of zombies. “Hey, Pinpoint needs help! Do that chain lightning thing again!”

  Finally, Game Phreak responded, looking up at her as he shook his head slowly. “Can’t. Used too much power. OOM…” he gasped.

  Grimacing, Erika let go of the tired meta as she watched Pinpoint and the approaching zombies. As she watched, one of the zombies slipped by the hero and rushed towards them. It wore tattered leather armor, a scratched and dented helmet protecting its head, and it moved with more coordination than usual like the other zombies Pinpoint fought, but its arms ended in stubs at the elbows, like they’d been blown off, and a half empty quiver of arrows slapped against its leg as it moved.

  Not stopping to think, Erika rushed the zombie and slammed her fist into its nose, her fist braced against the hilt of her dagger. The zombie staggered back from the blow, but it was far from a fatal blow. Before the zombie could recover, Erika ripped its helmet from its head and stabbed down, the blade punching through rotting flesh and bone. New strength flooded into her as the zombie collapsed, but she didn’t stop to enjoy it and rushed into the fight.

  Pinpoint tripped a zombie and sent it stumbling towards Erika with a casual elbow to the back. Unlike the previous zombie, this one wasn’t wearing a helmet and Erika was able to plant her dagger in its skull. As that zombie dropped, another slipped past the C-Classer and lunged for her with grasping hands, leading to a short fight, but a short brawl gave her the opening she needed to finish the zombie with a stab as it tried to recover from being shoved into the wall.

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  With Erika’s help finishing off zombies, the pressure on the C-Classer lessened, and soon all that remained were a few zombies that Pinpoint quickly finished off.

  As the last zombie fell, Pinpoint turned around and looked towards the front where the sound of fierce fighting could still be heard. “Keep watch back here, I’ll be back.” Before Erika could say anything, the C-Class hero ran between the survivors, unnaturally squeezing herself between them as she headed to back up White Knight.

  Notifications finally popped up as she watched Pinpoint rush into the next fight, and the numbers she saw made her eyes widen.

  *Ding!* Your party members have defeated Zombie Soldier (Class E) x25! You have gained 1250 EXP! Congratulations!

  *Ding!* Your party member has defeated Zombie (Class F) x51! You have gained 510 EXP! Congratulations!

  *Ding!* You have defeated Zombie Soldier (Class E) x9 with assistance from your party! You have gained 3375 EXP! Congratulations!

  *Ding!* You have defeated Zombie (Class F) x17 with assistance from your party! You have gained 510 EXP! Congratulations!

  The number of zombies they killed was enormous, but it was the Classes of the monsters that caught her attention. Many of the ones they’d killed were a full Class stronger, and worth far more EXP than the ones they’d encountered before. She was tempted to call up her Shop and see what she could purchase with all the EXP, but thought better of it as the memory of her first upgrade and Pinpoint’s words ran through her head. She had no idea how long the upgrade process took and didn’t want to risk incapacitating herself for some minor boost. Besides, Pinpoint told them to keep watch, and the way Game Phreak was barely moving, she didn’t trust him to handle even a single zombie right now.

  “Hey, are you okay?” she asked, stepping over to him.

  “Y-Yeah… just drained. Need to rest,” he grunted, not looking up at her.

  “Right.” Leaving the newbie to rest, Erika glanced at the group of survivors who were all staring up ahead and then back to the dead monsters behind them. Patting the dagger at her waist, she frowned. If more zombies showed up all she’d have for protection is an exhausted gamer guy and a glorified knife. Hardly an arsenal. She missed her mace. But, she thought to herself as she eyed the dead monsters, maybe she could find a replacement.

  ***

  Whether it was Pinpoint’s grenade or the fierce hand-to-hand fighting after, most of the weapons the zombies had been using were useless hunks of broken wood and metal. The only weapons she found still in decent condition were a sword and something she could only describe as a too-long wooden baseball bad covered in dark metal studs. She tried swinging the sword around, but it felt like she would just cut herself trying to use it, and in fact she managed to cut herself just trying to test the edge with her thumb. Wrapping her thumb in a strip of cloth from her thoroughly trashed shirt, she set the sword on the side. Maybe someone else could use it.

  Looking over the other weapon she found, she sighed. Like every other weapon but the dagger she’d found, it wasn’t in the best condition. The metal bits were rusty and the wood stained with what looked like old blood. But hefting the oversized bat, it felt comfortable in her hands. The stained wood was surprisingly smooth and splinter free, and though it looked old, it still felt sturdy with a bit of flex in it. Erika gave it a test swing and nodded at how comfortable it felt to use. It wasn’t a sword or anything that seemed like it’d take a lot of training to use well, it was just an oversized bat, and that she knew how to use.

  New weapon in hand, Erika started to move back to Game Phreak when the screaming started.

  “Run! Hurry!” One of the survivors shouted as a group of them charged past the resting meta. Erika caught John’s panicked face as he ran past, followed close behind by most of the group. One of them stopped to try and pick up Game Phreak while the others pushed and stumbled down the hallway.

  “What’s going on?!” Erika demanded, joining the woman trying to drag Game Phreak to his feet, only to pause as Mary whipped her head around, her eyes wide with fear.

  “There’s too many monsters! The heroes are losing Erika, we need to run!”

  Erika looked ahead through the dimly lit hallway where she could finally see the fight raging ahead now that the way was clear. White Knight was picking himself up as Pinpoint danced through a group of zombies. As she watched, a blast echoed down the hallway, but Pinpoint was still slowly being pushed back. White Knight charged back into the fray, his sword bisecting zombie after zombie, but still the two were being pushed back.

  Erika recoiled as a hand grabbed her arm and she jerked back before she realized it was Mary. “We need to go! Come on, help me get him up!”

  Blinking, Erika wordlessly grabbed one of Game Phreak’s arms, and together the two women hauled the protesting gamer to his feet. Mary wrapped his arm around her neck as she started to walk, half guiding, half dragging the newbie hero.

  “Come on, you gotta move,” she yelled. “Erika, help me move him, he’s too slow!”

  Looking at Mary struggling to move Game Phreak, and at the fight that moved steadily closer, she shook her head. “I’ll buy you two some time to catch up to the others.”

  “What?! Wait—”

  Erika ignored her friend as she started to walk, then jog, then sprint towards the fight ahead, the air rushing in her ears as she got closer. Readying her new weapon, Erika watched the two heroes move as she chose her target: a zombie clumsily swinging an axe around. She pictured the zombie’s head like it was a pinata as she got close and swung with all of her strength. Rotten blood and brain matter splattered across the other zombies as her new weapon crushed its head and the headless corpse crumpled to the ground. But she didn’t have time to enjoy her success as a handful of zombies turned around and charged her instead!