The addition of a large number of people who were already awake to their raid had changed things.

  Previously they would have been stacking comatose people up like firewood in the back of a truck, worrying about them not suffocating each other rather than having places for everyone to sit, or juice boxes and snacks for hungry kids.

  The crowd of newly awakened survivors was getting restless, except for the airport staff they all wanted to get home as quickly as possible with loved ones to check on.

  Sarah, Katie and Mark inevitably had the best handle on things by the time their operation to loot swung into high gear. They were the ones who spent most of their time with the new people who weren’t helping with the looting which Camila, Carl and David were organizing.

  Charlie mostly answered questions about the System and put on magic displays for the kids.

  It turned out that the passengers were split, most of them were locals living within a couple of hours of the airport with a substantial minority who were visiting from farther afield.

  There were two main questions: First, variants on when can I go home to check on…

  Second, and far more heart wrenching, I was travelling with… Where are they?”

  This group were increasingly demanding to be allowed out to sweep through the airport looking at the dead or, failing that, to get to the safe zone as fast as possible if that was where other survivors could be found.

  David didn’t have the heart to tell them that almost all the survivors they had rescued and taken to the safe zone were from the other terminal. He wasn’t sure if Mark, Katie or Sarah were being any blunter with them but somehow doubted it.

  The employees had a significant group of those wanting to check on family and friends and given the ungodly hours they worked most had cars. This led to, despite repeated warnings from David and the others, the first step in their mission.

  People scattering.

  "Right now, we have immediate priorities. Clear the airport, collect supplies, get everyone back safe." Faced with an angry rumble David gave ground.

  “I’m prepared to do a run to people’s cars first, but I can’t stress enough how dangerous it will be trying to drive solo.”

  A heckler yelled. “We need to get to our vehicles; you aren’t even the Government so why should we listen to you?”

  Camila nodded, clearly frustrated by the people she wanted to save being the main impediment. She had been speaking with Harrison and turned to the crowd, now over the worst of their shock and restive.

  "Dios Mio! Right, come with me. Harrison, you lead the way. Everyone, come here, anything else can wait."

  The group moved back to the barricade in front of one of the exits and made short work of breaking it down before they moved out into the upper floor of the terminal. Finally, Camila, with prompting form Harrison led them up another flight of stairs to an executive lounge. Tall glass windows gave a panoramic view of both the airport and the city beyond it, painting a picture.

  “That! That is what you have to contend with.”

  Camila gestured sadly towards the city. The light of the early August afternoon was unforgiving.

  While the tall buildings of downtown hadn’t fallen the view was heartbreaking. There were several palls of dark black smoke. The bases of two were close enough to let them see active fires. Not little fires either. Big, uncontrolled fires, the sort of fires which modern US cities were generally spared.

  “Why do you think at least half a dozen fires are burning out of control within sight of us right now?” Camila’s question was harsh.

  “There is no power, sure there is water, but everyone was like you or worse those who died and became enemies.”

  “Even if the fire departments had people, some roads are blocked by crashed vehicles. Some are impassable because of zombies and worse things. People are being hunted in the ruins, picked off. I just want you to try and come to somewhere safe to start with.”

  By the end she just sounded resigned, half pleading with people to see things her way.

  David turned to the crowd once it became clear this was Camila’s whole point.

  “Everyone gets to make their own mind up. I’m not some dictator, nor are my friends. We just need you to understand that it is extremely dangerous out there, IF you want to convoy with us to get to the safe zone and work from there you can. If you want to go your own way to try to reach loved ones, we understand and wish you the best of luck.”

  Someone asked the inevitable question.

  “What about a gun? I want one of those guns you’re carrying, you know the fancy stuff you lot are toting around. I’d be safe then.”

  Carl responded to this. “Ain’t happening. We are happy to let you go. Happy to keep you safe if you stay, and ONLY happy to arm you if you prove that we can trust you to have our backs going forwards.”

  David nodded.

  “What he said. Right now guns are letting us help a lot of people, literal thousands in the safe zone depend on our ability to use them to keep us alive as we forage for food and supplies.”

  There was grumbling and a few people clearly looked like they wanted to argue the point. Most of the raiders looked uncomfortable about it but they accepted David and Carl making the call. Quite a few looked like they were willing to shoot people if they kept pushing…

  After that they just had to move things along and ran into the first detail they should all have thought of. Given the size of the airport only a handful of cars were within walking distance – employee and long term parking lots weren’t being served by courtesy buses after all...

  So they started to steal. While there was some muttering at this people were adjusting their thinking fast. Or David supposed ignoring the things that made them uncomfortable.

  So that was how a couple of buses meant to take passengers out to planes on the runway and a smaller open sided vehicle meant to move about a dozen airport staff around found themselves doing a tour of the various parking facilities.

  It still took them the best part of an hour to get people to their cars. While some had always planned on returning to convoy with the group the numbers actually increased when David and his friends had to dismount from the staff vehicle to clean up a few isolated zombies. Actually seeing dead people trying to kill you got through to people who had been hiding, never seeing the threat, better than any speech.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Well, we lost nearly fifty people who are trying to get home alone. How many of them do you think will make it?”

  David didn’t want to reply to Camila’s question. His silence was answer enough though.

  Her face darkened as their now expanded convoy swept back to the mustering area that Harrison had suggested. He didn’t know what exactly she muttered to herself in Spanish, but it didn’t sound complimentary.

  “What was that? I don’t speak Spanish.”

  Sarah provided the translation as Camila muttered something else, which probably wasn’t any nicer than the first thing she said.

  “She said ‘for fuck’s sake, what the hell are they thinking?’ I’m not going to translate the last bit unless someone asks me nicely Cammie…”

  The last was said sweetly and Camila flushed and stared daggers at her friend.

  “Don’t you dare, Sarah. I won’t have you messing around for fun.”

  Sarah just smiled, then mimed shutting up.

  Carl filled the silence in a way that suggested that he too understood what had been said.

  “Now that y’all have finished bickering like an old married couple can we please get to looting and get out of here?”

  For some reason that made Camilla blush even more.

  "I need to go with you. To search for Jennifer."

  "Look, Marcus was it? You're not trained for this, you don’t have a system or any practice. It's dangerous."

  "I know." Marcus's voice was steady despite the fear in his eyes.

  "But I can't just wait here. If there's any chance she's alive, I need to be there."

  Mark understood the impulse. It was the same drive that ultimately pushed him to follow Katie into hell, so he just nodded.

  "Alright," then he gave his conditions. "But you stay with the support teams. You don't engage unless absolutely necessary, and you follow orders without question."

  Marcus nodded quickly. "Whatever it takes."

  The same conversation was being repeated over and over as they sorted out the hopeful and desperate people who had been travelling as a group.

  "Alright people," Camila's voice carried across the group.

  "We’re moving out. David is just finishing his scouting.”

  At puzzled looks from the new people Charlie helpfully jumped in.

  “Like the dude can scout with magic. Which is super awesome and a reason you want a system!”

  Camila frowned and got them back on track.

  “We clear the freight terminal and the support areas, grab every useful thing we can carry, or quickly load onto a vehicle then we get the hell out of here before dark."

  Sarah rose her voice.

  “For the group staying in this terminal, you will be anchored on two radio teams of raiders and you ONLY get to proceed if David gives us the OK. Got it?”

  There was some grumbling, David kept his eyes closed as he used his spirits to make a final sweep of the area, trying to convince himself it was safe to split the group.

  Ultimately, he understood that there was no way they could avoid doing it without threatening people who were desperate to look for loved ones. He didn’t envy them, as he knew that most would find their answer in the charnel house left behind by their main battle to defeat the zombies.

  The Nath presence was scattered, manageable. Nothing like the concentrated horde they'd already eliminated. As long as people were within reach of a radio team of raiders they would be safe.

  With his final nod the two groups separated, David and his friends moving to secure the supplies.

  Harrison appeared at David's side as they headed towards the second terminal.

  "Question. This system thing. This magic. Is it going to get worse or better?"

  David considered the question seriously.

  "Both, probably. People will get stronger, learn to use their abilities. But the threats will escalate too. This is just the beginning."

  "That's what I thought."

  Harrison checked his sidearm, a practiced motion.

  "We're going to need to adapt fast."

  "Yeah," David agreed. "We are."

  The older man nodded then asked another question.

  “Is it really like a video game, you know with notifications and a frag count and stats and stuff?”

  David let his spiritual hearing expand, listening for threats. Then he replied once he was sure nothing was close enough to need attention.

  “Yes and no. I guess it’s a bit like that but mostly it’s stuff you can do, and a lot of what I would frankly call video game quality of life stuff like inventory, tutorials, gear and wiki’s is missing. Oh, and the carefully curated challenges are definitely NOT a thing.”

  The airport felt different now, less oppressive. They'd proven it could be cleared, that the zombies weren't invincible. But he knew better than to get comfortable, letting his spiritual hearing flow out again even as he answered the other man’s string of questions. It didn’t take long to realize that they had a few games in common, and that none of them were, at least according to David, really like the situation they now found themselves in.

  Finally, David was paid for his vigilance.

  "Contact ahead," his call caused the group spread around him to visibly tense. "Small group of zombies, maybe five or six."

  "Fire teams ready," Carl ordered. "Let's make this quick and clean."

  The familiar rhythm of combat began again. David watched, analyzed, prepared to support where needed.

  But this time felt different. This wasn’t a fight for survival, but one they had courted. Well, that and the fact that a half dozen zombies didn’t even register as a threat any more.

  “Let’s try not to use any ammo.”

  They were fighting to build something better, and they would need every bullet they could in the future.

  The Freight terminal fell with surprising ease. The zombies were scattered, isolated, usually trapped somewhere and lacking the concentration they'd faced earlier.

  David's spirits provided early warning for each group, allowing the fire teams to set up perfect ambushes.

  It became almost mechanical. Spot, position, eliminate, move on. There were good moments though.

  "Over here," Katie called from near an office. "I've got survivors!"

  The group converged quickly, finding three people huddled behind the desk inside. A pathetic defense that had somehow worked.

  Mark began checking them over while Katie offered water and reassurance.

  Another was when they reached the main fuel farm, located next to the freight terminal and away from the passenger terminals for fire safety.

  Harrison proved to have a little showman in him as he led them round the corner of the freight terminal and gestured grandly to the fenced off area of the fuel terminal.

  There was a lot of fuel here… Even if much of it was aviation fuel and useless for regular vehicles and the rest was diesel this was still a lot.

  David's mind raced with possibilities. Fuel was going to be a critical resource. Gas stations wouldn’t even be able to pump what they had on hand without power. They would run out quickly if someone did manage to get the fuel without the regular resupply that would never come.

  This supply could keep them and others going for a while.

  The question was whether they wanted to make this more than a resource spot? After thinking it over for a second he realized they couldn’t, too far from the safe zone which he felt was the future.

  Still, when Harrison showed them how to fill a diesel fuel tender and he counted the vehicles up he realized they had another problem.

  Where could they put all their new acquisitions?

  He turned to the others, especially Camila, Sarah and Katie who had known about their little training area.

  “Now I’m seeing the scale of this stuff we need somewhere to park vehicles, fuel tenders and stuff if we want our own logistics base. It needs to be near or in the safe zone for obvious reasons. We also need a lot of space like a warehouse for storage. Any ideas?”

  The others looked thoughtful. Then Camila spoke quietly.

  “The place we went, the abando. It’s at the edge of an industrial area. Anyway, the businesses around the edge have started to struggle because of what’s on the far side, filling the whole middle of the zone.

  It used to be a mill for like a hundred years or something. When that finally closed at the end of the last century it sat vacant for a while and finally got taken over by the city, unpaid taxes I think...

  They used it for a while for buses and stuff. Then they had to stop a few years back because of all the pollution, I’m pretty sure there were lawsuits. I guess Phil probably knows all about it. The main thing is that while most of the smaller lots are owned privately it’s always been a blight on the area, abandoned, decaying buildings and grand plans to restore it that went nowhere. After the pollution came to light everyone was up in arms. Lawsuits and crap that still hasn’t been sorted out. All the businesses that could left, something about the pollution spreading.”

  David nodded, considering, did the value of land change in this new world? Even as he pondered, the conversation continued with Camila explaining more about the history of the area.

  “Wow, Camila, I’ve been living here for a few years, and I never knew any of that, we always used to bitch about how useless the politicians were to let that happen, like it must be taxes and regulation, zoning or something holding them back. How did you find out?” Mark’s question recaptured David’s attention.

  “I volunteered at Church. Helping the homeless, Father Mendez always took the time to explain why things were the way they were and how we could help. Plus, I read the waiver I had to sign to do the food and sox drive – we used to go in there for that.”

  Nobody really had an answer to that.

  Carl’s reply was positively glacial.

  “So, you’re saying, yes there is space, conveniently right behind our meeting spot, not too far from the safe zone. But, by the way, the reason nobody wants to use it is that it’s poisoned?”

  David closed his eyes and asked the System help a question.

  As the answer arrived, he looked at the others and grinned.

  “I think we just found ourselves a new base of operations.”