Dawn on evacuation day arrived not with hope, but with a grim, grey determination. Lucas stood by the hole in his wall, now a permanent exit, and surveyed his party.
Eleanor wore the padded jacket over her dress, a backpack of medical supplies and food strapped tightly to her. Mark leaned on his broom-handle-turned-walking-stick, his face pale but set. He carried the frying pan in his free hand.
Then came the Thralls. Mem stood at Lucas's right, porcelain gleaming dully, silver needle held ready. Scribbles was secured to Lucas's backpack with a belt, a weird living satchel. And Volt, the newest addition, paced silently on polymer paws, its green lens scanning the dark hallway, a low hum emanating from its core.
They looked like the rejects from a fantasy yard sale.
"Okay," Lucas said, his voice low. "The rules. Stay close. Stay quiet. I lead. Mem is rear-guard. Volt is scout. We move as a unit. We do not stop to look at interesting things. We do not help random strangers screaming in the distance. Our only objective is Greenhaven Park, three miles straight down Central Avenue. Clear?"
Eleanor and Mark nodded, eyes wide. The Thralls, of course, said nothing.
"Good. Let's go."
They moved into the hallway for the last time. The stairwell down to the lobby was a nightmare of shadows and echoing drips. Lucas went first, shield up, club ready. Volt slipped past him, its lens casting a faint, cone of green light ahead.
They encountered their first street-level threat in the looted, shattered lobby. Two more [Detritus Lurkers] were rooting through the ruins of the mailboxes. They were Level 1. Trash mobs.
Before Lucas could even give an order, Volt shot forward. Its metal jaws clamped on the neck-cable of one, and a jolt of electricity—a weaker version of its old [Electro-Jolt]—crackled through the creature. It spasmed and fell still. Mem dashed the other's core with a single, precise thrust of its needle.
[Experience Gained (Party).]
It was over in seconds. Efficient. Silent.
"Okay," Lucas breathed, impressed despite himself. "That works."
Pushing through the broken glass doors was like stepping onto another planet. The air was thick with strange pollens and the smell of ozone and decay. The sky still swirled with unnatural colors. The asphalt of the street was cracked, with glowing violet moss growing in the fissures. Abandoned cars were everywhere, some overturned, others sprouting crystalline growths from their hoods.
Central Avenue was a canyon of death and silence.
They stuck to the sidewalk, moving from cover to cover—behind a bus, through a shattered storefront. Volt would scout ahead, then return with a soft chime. Clear. They'd move.
For the first twenty minutes, it was tense but uneventful. Then, they heard the crying.
It came from an alley ahead. A child's voice, whimpering, scared. "Help... please..."
Eleanor froze. "A child..."
Mark's grip tightened on his stick. "We have to—"
"No," Lucas cut in, his voice harsh. "We don't."
"Lucas, it's a *child*," Eleanor pleaded.
"It's a *sound*," Lucas countered, his [Scavenger's Eye] pulsing a faint, warning red in his mind as he looked toward the alley. "In a world where monsters are made of garbage and toasters. It's a trap. A classic lure. We go around."
He herded them across the street, giving the alley a wide berth. As they passed the mouth, Lucas glanced in. There was no child. Just a shape in the shadows that looked like a pile of rags with too many thin, spidery legs. It stopped crying as they passed.
Eleanor looked away, her face pale with shame and relief.
They were two blocks in when the real attack came.
They erupted from the sewers—six creatures that looked like hairless, bipedal rats with hands too big for their bodies and teeth like rusty nails. [Scrap-Gnawers. Level 2].
They didn't screech or roar. They just swarmed, fast and silent.
"Form up!" Lucas yelled, shoving Eleanor and Mark behind him against a car. He raised his shield just as two Gnawers leapt. Claws scrabbled on the plastic. Mem engaged three, its needle a blur, cracking bones. Volt unleashed a wider [Electro-Jolt], stunning two more.
One got past. It scrambled over the hood of the car and went straight for Mark.
Mark screamed, swinging his frying pan. He connected with a solid *CLANG*, knocking the creature back. But another was right behind it.
Lucas couldn't turn. He was holding two at bay with his club and shield. "Scribbles!" he shouted, desperate.
The Tome-Hound, still strapped to his back, vibrated violently. Then, it did something new. It spat a glob of its [Minor Corrosion] acid, not at the Gnawer, but at the car's antenna above it. The metal sizzled, snapped, and fell, sharp end first, impaling the creature lunging at Mark through its shoulder.
[Critical Hit!]
The Gnawer shrieked, pinned.
Mark, seeing his chance, brought the frying pan down on its head with a sickening crunch.
The fight ended seconds later. They stood panting in the sudden quiet, surrounded by twitching corpses. Mem was chipped. Volt had a long scratch on its flank. Lucas had a deep gash on his forearm.
"Grandma," Mark gasped.
Eleanor was already there, her hands glowing green over Lucas's arm. The bleeding stopped, the pain dulled to an ache. [Minor Mend]. It wasn't a full heal, but it was enough.
[Combat Concluded. Significant Experience Gained.]
[Mark Jenkins (Civilian) has reached Level 2!]
[Skill Unlocked: [Basic Improvisation] - Slight bonus to using non-standard items as tools or weapons.]
Mark looked at his hands, then at the bloody frying pan. He didn't look happy. He looked sick. But he also looked stronger.
Lucas checked his map. They'd traveled half a mile. It had taken an hour.
He looked back at his ragged party, bloody but unbowed. At Eleanor, already checking Mem's porcelain for cracks. At Mark, who had just leveled up from pan-frying a monster. At his three loyal, monstrous Thralls.
They were alive. They were together.
"Five more blocks to the river bridge," Lucas said, wiping his club clean on a Gnawer's fur. "Then we're halfway. Let's keep moving before the respawn timer kicks in."
The grind, it seemed, was a group activity.