“I can hear a disturbance ahead, someone is killing zombies, in a coordinated fashion.”

  David’s radioed update was calm and measured, the responses not so much,

  "That's not ominous at all,"

  Katie’s muttered comment probably wasn’t meant to be heard over the radio, still it came through clearly.

  “I see there is a great disturbance in the force, as though many voices suddenly cried out and were silenced…”

  Charlie’s on the other hand clearly was.

  They continued deeper into the city, the evidence of violence interspersed with signs that people had been involved. Here, bullet holes pocked a storefront's concrete facade. There the reddish-brown stains said a person might have bled out, a the blood trail leading to a broken doorway wasn’t exactly hopeful but it spoke to something happening after the initial event…

  The city was dying, now resembling the start of a war, damage accumulating, danger present. Normality was almost a shock when it appeared, though the ongoing lack of power made that a rare sight.

  Then they found the neighborhood, just before they hit the highway to go to the airport.

  David was concentrating on his spiritual senses, so Carl and Charlie saw it first. The abrupt slowing of the truck made David focus on what he was seeing rather than his new hearing.

  There was nothing for his new hearing, headless bodies didn’t attract Nath.

  The street was marked, on both sides and in the middle with bodies. Not lying on the ground. Displayed.

  Each corpse had been decapitated and impaled on stakes, marking a boundary, serving as grisly sentinels. Some were clearly zombies, their decomposing flesh and dark viscous bodily fluids marking them as undead. But others were fresh. Too fresh. Blood still pooled at the base of several stakes, dark and wet in the early morning light.

  "Oh my god," Katie’s voice came across as choked, clearly she could see enough to understand why Carl had slowed.

  Carl brought the truck to a stop. The convoy halted behind them, and David could see faces pressing against windows, registering the horror.

  "Some of these were people," Carl said, his voice tight. "Given the amount of blood some of them were alive when..."

  He didn't finish. Didn't need to.

  David counted quickly. Six stakes blocking the street, two people and four zombies. Maybe more around the corner. The placement was deliberate, the spacing precise. Someone had taken time to do this, to make a statement.

  David paused, the stakes had been driven through the sidewalk, and the pavement. That took strength, obscene strength, more than Camila had, he was sure. It also made no sense, his brain couldn’t turn off despite the bile in his gorge. Those stakes were improvised, they shouldn’t have been strong enough to punch through the road.

  He felt an icy rush of fear, magic. A kind of magic they hadn’t encountered yet.

  "Who does this?" Katie asked choking over the radio.

  "Someone sending a message," Carl answered grimly. "Question is, to who?"

  David pushed his spiritual hearing to the max, sending his spirits out in all directions to expand his senses. He could feel something, just beyond the grizzly barrier, he focused on it even as he heard the sound of Nath, not from ahead but agitated, responding to the death cries he had heard earlier. He tuned them out after a brief check showed no signs of R’Nath.

  The other presence was out of sight, in one of the buildings flanking the road, higher up. Was it on the roof? He wasn’t sure. It registered as a soft buzz to his hearing, reminding him of that first terrible encounter with a mutant. Some instinct, whether his or the Nath’s, screamed to him that this was bad.

  "We need to leave," he said urgently. "Right now."

  "David?" Carl questioned before acting, still not sure what he was seeing.

  David grabbed the Radio and addressed everyone.

  "Something is watching us, from beyond that fucked up barrier. I don’t know what, though I have my suspicions that it’s a mutant. Can we back up and divert?”

  The team didn't question it. Mark spoke tersely, even as he started to reverse.

  "Lead vehicle, we've got maybe fifty yards we have to reverse to enter a side street moving away from that…"

  Then Sarah’s voice came sharp and urgent.

  “Movement, I have zombies emerging from the side street, they look agitated and they are moving towards us.”

  David whipped around. His senses told him there were a dozen with more coming, converging in response to the death cries.

  "Do we advance?" Katie asked.

  David made a snap decision. They were trapped. He formulated a plan of attack. It really came down to what he knew, and what he didn’t.

  “No, we dismount and fight our way free. Drivers, stay in your vehicles. I want two squads forming up on the lead truck, one each side. Watch for problems from in front of us. Do NOT engage unless threatened. Watch high, there is at least one observer at elevation.

  All other squads form up on the rear truck, everyone prepare to engage zombies. There are NO, repeat NO fast zombies or casters in my sensory range, I am dismounting to support you. Let’s wipe these poor bastards out and move on.”

  He tried to convey his confidence in dealing with the zombies. Practically he wasn’t even thinking of them as a threat for him, and hence for the group.

  “Charlie, you come with me. Time for you to earn Stamina…”

  His friend swallowed nervously, then nodded. Before speaking quietly.

  “We got this don’t we man.”

  David decided to transmit and spoke to everyone.

  “I could take all the zombies on my own. The squads watching the front will warn us if anyone comes to join the party. Mutants are allergic to lead, and Carl is there in the first truck so if they do come I’m seeing fatal lead poisoning in their future.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "We're in trouble if there’s more than one or two," Carl said quietly, checking his weapon, “I have limited lines of fire from the cab and even with my skills I can’t handle lots of those quick bastards.”

  "Yeah," David agreed also soft and off radio.

  “Swap off with one of the others so you are out with a better shooting position and keep them calm. I hope this is a territorial marker, so if we back away they won’t immediately attack…”

  Then he swung out of the cab and followed by Charlie started to head for the rear.

  The nearest zombies were already lurching toward them, drawn by the death scream and focusing on the people deploying due to their noise and movement.

  "Hold position!" David's voice cut through the tension. "Let them come to us!"

  The raiders shifted nervously, weapons gripped too tight, remembering the tide of undead and darkness that overwhelmed them a day ago.

  David could feel their fear radiating outward, a palpable thing in the air between them. He stepped forward, placing himself at the front of the formation.

  "Watch me," he said, projecting confidence he hoped would catch.

  "These aren't smart ones. They're slow. Predictable. We've done this before."

  The first zombie shambled within range, its milky eyes locked on David. He could hear its Nath spirit, a dim murmur of hunger and purpose.

  Consume. Move. Hunt.

  "HALT."

  The command rippled outward, catching all the approaching zombies in its wake.

  They froze mid-step, bodies locked in place by the weight of his will, leading to the inevitable pratfalls that accompany sudden paralysis when in motion.

  One of the raiders gasped. David moved smoothly, feigning nonchalance as he theatrically pointed to one zombie, then ripped the spirit out of it. The slump as tension left its limbs was obvious.

  “It’s as easy as that. Now you will have to use a weapon to kill it or a spell. Charlie why don’t you show them how?”

  Charlie swallowed and fire bloomed. Now a death scream erupted, choked off by the destruction caused by Charlie’s magic.

  "See?" David called back to the others.

  "Simple. Now your turn."

  The raiders hesitated for a heartbeat, some pointing to where more zombies were emerging further down the street.

  Then one of them, a middle-aged woman with a Louisville Slugger, stepped forward and swung. Her bat connected with a wet crunch. Another followed. Then another.

  David turned and saw Charlie, frozen after his initial success. His knuckles were white on the grip of the machete he had picked as a backup weapon, and his breathing came too fast.

  "Charlie." David kept his voice low, just for his friend. "You with me?"

  Charlie swallowed hard. "Yeah. Yeah, man, I'm here. I just feel like something is going to hit me from behind if I move or cast."

  "No man, I’ll ice anything that tries to touch you. I need you to do exactly what I do. Stay close, watch my back."

  Then he advanced toward two more zombies lurching to catch up with the first, now defeated group. David could sense others converging from further back, drawn by the death cries but not yet in range.

  "Halt."

  The zombies stumbled and stopped; one even kept its footing. David pivoted smoothly, letting muscle memory take over. Crowbar up, strike down. The familiar resistance of bone giving way. The death scream.

  He glanced at Charlie. "Your turn. That one." The second halted zombie, still on its feet, was three feet away, arms reaching forward in a grotesque parody of greeting.

  Charlie raised his machete, blade trembling slightly.

  "It can't move," David said quietly. "You've got this."

  Charlie's jaw tightened. He took one step forward, then another. The machete came down in an awkward, chopping motion that caught the zombie in the shoulder rather than the head. It wasn't enough. The creature began to shudder, fighting against the Halt even as black ichor leaked from the wound.

  "Again," David said. "Head this time."

  Charlie reset his grip and swung properly. The blade caught the zombie across the temple, and it collapsed in a heap. The death scream rang out confirming the kill.

  Something shifted in Charlie's expression. The fear was still there, but underneath it David could see determination taking root.

  "That was one," David said. "See how many you can get without dropping below half Magic”

  The next pair came in at angles, forcing them to split their attention. David watched as Charlie unleashed his fire, this time on a moving zombie. He caught the right-side zombie the pivoted and repeated the casting. The younger man's movements were cleaner this time.

  Still hesitant, still showing the tremor of adrenaline and fear, but functional.

  The rest of the raiders were starting to find their rhythm. The initial terror was giving way to something more controlled. David caught glimpses of teamwork forming organically.

  Two raiders working together to bring down a zombie.

  Someone calling out a warning to their neighbor.

  The tide was shifting. David gestured to the next group of shambling corpses. "Let’s get this done, nice slow steady advance, we want to give the trucks the space they need. You’re your eye on the prize. Tell me afterwards where your overflow XP is going and if you level anything!"

  David used Halt to control the field and make sure that none of the raiders were under any pressure. Charlie took more kills, soon it was becoming a competition. He heard a team arguing for one shot kills, another calling for Halt, he obliged.

  “Keep talking to each other. You have this!”

  Charlie let out a breathless laugh that bordered on hysterical. "Holy shit. Holy shit, we can do this! Fuck those zombies!"

  "You did." David clapped him on the shoulder. "Now everyone stay focused, we need to push through the intersection, so I want two squads covering the side street. Keep watching high as well. Try to rotate so that one person is watching for problems while the other engages.”

  David continued to coach the group, thinking of everything that could go wrong and the habits that might stop it.

  After a few minutes the fighting around them was winding down. The last few zombies fell to coordinated strikes from raiders who were starting to believe they could actually do this.

  The death screams faded into silence, leaving only the ragged breathing of exhausted raiders. David did a quick count, no casualties. Brief eye contact with Mark and a mouthed question confirmed this.

  A few showed minor injuries, scratches and bruises from close calls, but nothing serious. Still he called out.

  “Anyone who took even a scraped report to healer for a pick me up.”

  No one had frozen completely. No one had run. Most importantly, they were looking at each other differently now. Seeing teammates instead of strangers.

  "Everyone okay? We need to hold this position so that the Trucks and Buses can divert. Anyone know if we can get the big vehicles round to the highway this way?"

  One of the raiders, a younger guy with a fire axe, raised his weapon in triumph.

  "We fucking did it!"

  A ragged cheer went up. Not loud, they weren't stupid enough to attract more attention, but real. Genuine relief and the first hints of pride.

  "Good work, I need two teams on each road, the rest of you move the bodies so the Trucks can back up.”

  There were grumbling complaints at that, still as David stood in the intersection so he could support in boh directions people moved to obey. He turned back to Charlie, who had gone still with his eyes unfocused. Reading system notifications, probably making decisions about what to unlock.

  "You getting Stamina?" David asked.

  Charlie blinked back to awareness. "Yeah, but there's a problem. I can't buy it right now."

  "Why not?"

  "I need to touch the Obelisk to actually purchase the resource pool. The advance just unlocked my ability to get it."

  Charlie's expression fell. "We're hours away from the safe zone if we follow the plan."

  David felt something click in his mind. A memory of the Herald's parting words when he'd linked himself to the Obelisk.

  You are linked to the Obelisk. You touching them is just as effective.

  "Try something," David said slowly. He extended his hand. "Touch me. See if you can access the purchase option."

  Charlie looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "What? We aren’t in the safe zone man"

  "Just try it. Herald said I was linked to the Obelisk and implied that the range wasn’t just the safe zone. We know it had influence further than here, hell I woke up with a system at least this far from it. Might be worth testing."

  Charlie shrugged and clasped David's hand. His eyes went wide.

  "No fucking way," he breathed. "Dude. Dude, it's working. I can see the purchase option."

  David felt a small drain on his own reserves, barely noticeable. Like the Obelisk was using him as a conduit to complete the transaction. Charlie's grip tightened.

  "Buying it. Buying Stamina right now."

  A moment passed. Then Charlie sagged slightly, releasing David's hand with a grin that could light up a city.

  "It worked. Holy shit, it actually worked."

  He pulled up his status, eyes scanning rapidly.

  "I've got Stamina now. And I can feel it. Like there's this whole new battery I didn't know I had."

  “You just need a relevant stat and it will be really useful. Endurance is a game changer for me even without skills…”

  Then the implications hit David like a freight train. If he could serve as a link to the Obelisk anywhere within its wider zone of influence, that changed everything.

  No more waiting until they got back to make purchases. No more delaying critical upgrades because someone couldn't reach the monument itself. They could adapt and improve in real time.

  "We need to test this more," David said, mind already racing through possibilities. "See what else works through the link. But right now, we need to move."

  He raised the radio to his mouth and spoke. "Intersection is clear. Repeat, intersection is clear. We can start moving the convoy now. Stay sharp everyone.”

  Carl’s voice came back tense “good to hear, we have movement here, repeat we have movement here.”