The Last Experience Point

Chapter 28: Points Required

Even if Zach was starving—and at the rate things were going, he might very well be pretty soon—he couldn’t imagine eating anything off the burned-up, horrendously smelling furniture in this sad excuse for a dining hall. Rows upon rows of wooden tables dotted the rather large area; most were blackened and charred, and in some places, they had simply collapsed. At the front of the hall was a counter long enough that it ran the width of almost the entire room, and at the ends of the counter on both sides were stacks of trays and plates—none of which appeared sanitary. A bit further into the distance, Zach spotted shelves containing tin cans filled with a muddy-looking liquid he was pretty sure wasn’t water.

At some point, we’re really going to need to find some, he thought. I’m so damn thirsty. Lienne and her brother must be too.

With the banging growing louder and louder off behind them, he knew there was no time to go searching for water. Even if there had been time, he highly doubted he could trust anything that came out of the rusted, brown-colored, grime-stained sinks that he spotted behind the counter. Also, he didn’t want to have to put Lienne down while he quenched his thirst.

“Are you okay, Lienne?” he asked her. He could tell from very slight body movements that she was beginning to wake up.

“Mmnn,” she moaned. “I’m…kay.”

“Can you hold on tighter?” he asked. “I’m going to start running, and I don’t want you to fall off.”

Unlike before, he was no longer carrying her over his shoulder; now, she was on his back. He had both his arms wrapped around and under her knees, and he’d placed her arms over his shoulders where they had drooped down as if limp. Now, however, she crossed them around his chest with just enough strength to reassure him that she’d be able to hang on.

“Let’s make a break for it,” Rian said.

With that, the two of them took off, moving hastily through this dining area as the constant banging on the shutter door became ever more frenzied. Zach resisted the temptation to twist his body and look behind to see if the Eeps were close to smashing through. Not only would it serve him no good, but it would distract him from the more important task at hand: finding a way out of here. Right now, he needed to focus only on moving forward. Lienne’s life was likely in his hands now, and if he screwed up, it wouldn’t be just himself who paid for it.

I never thought I’d be this kind of person.

Other than perhaps Kalana, Zach had never typically cared all that deeply about the lives of others. That wasn’t to say he was indifferent or callous, but he just simply never spent much time dwelling on the problems of people he didn’t know. Sure, if he could help a person in need at very little cost to himself, then of course he’d do it. But anything requiring more than a modicum of sacrifice, and he’d simply look the other way. It was for this reason he was surprised at how willing he was to throw himself into the path of danger for his two new friends. Previously, Kalana had been the only person in the world he’d ever consider risking his life for.

I still doubt I’d do it for a perfect stranger, though, he thought. If I ever end up in a situation like that, I wonder what I’d do.

With Rian by his side, the two of them maneuvered around a partially destroyed wooden table that, width wise, was so big it ran from one end of the room to the other. Then they continued to make their way across the dining hall, which seemed large enough to fit a thousand or more people. Perhaps it was more accurate to think of this place as something more akin to a cafeteria? But for who, though? Who would live this far below the surface of Galterra? From the small, vent-sized windows right below the ceiling in the corners of the dining hall, Zach once again spotted what looked like reddish clouds.

It can’t be what it looks like. It’s not possible.

Putting it out of his mind for the moment, he reminded himself to slow his pace so as not to get too far ahead of Rian, whose cardio was somehow worse than Zach’s. Then again, that big, heavy shield on his back probably had a lot to do with it—not to mention he was still holding on to Zach’s blade while Zach carried his sister.

“Rian, I know you’re exhausted, but we need to pick up the pace.”

Rather than reply vocally, Rian merely lifted his hand and waved, his mouth wide open as he took fast, deep breaths. Up ahead was another of the large, room-spanning tables. This time, Zach merely hopped up and on top of it, then ran across, causing Lienne to make a slight, wearied chuckle. From the abrupt vibration under his feet, along with the sound of a thump, Zach knew that Rian had jumped up behind him, and then the two hurried across before hopping down from the other side.

The farther they traveled, the more the sound of banging dampened, yet this brought little comfort to Zach, as he knew that the purple, sharp-winged creatures flew more than fast enough to catch up. That was why, even as they left the dining area behind them and entered into a fairly narrow passage with more of the cages to both sides of them, he did not want to let up. The only issue was that Rian simply didn’t look capable of maintaining their current speed. The boy was fading fast.

Easing up just a bit, Zach asked, “Are you okay?”

As he’d done earlier, he waved a hand, but this time, he said, “I’m good. It’s just…dude, it’s not normal for mobs to chase us like this.”

“What do you mean?”

Still breathing heavily, he explained, “Most mobs have a pretty short de-aggro radius.” He stopped speaking for a moment, and it was obvious that he was struggling. “If—if you get away from them, they turn around and walk back to their spawn. But these must be pursuer-type mobs: let’s just hope they’re type-B.”

“Type B?”

“It means…ah, hell. I’m too…too out of breath to explain.”

“I can explain it,” Lienne said, now sounding far more awake and alert. Though her voice was still somewhat weak, Zach was glad to see she was recovering very quickly, as they were likely going to need her sooner than later. As Zach hurried down the dark, cage-filled hall with Rian by his side, Lienne began to speak.

“There are two kinds of pursuer-type mobs: type-A and type-B. The type-B mobs are just mobs that have a much, much, much larger de-aggro radius than normal mobs.”

“And the type-A mobs?”

He could feel her tremble on his back. “Those ones will chase you forever until killed. If you swam across the ocean to another continent, they’d follow you. Even if it took them years.”

A chill ran down Zach’s spine at the idea of him aggroing a mob, running away, thinking it was gone, getting on an airplane, flying somewhere, and then one day in the middle of the night, having his door broken down by some Gods-knew-what kind of creature, which then began ripping him apart while he slept.

As Zach tried to shake the unsettling thought from his head, he and Rian scurried along until finally reaching the end of this particular section of the cage-lined hallway, where they came upon a large, oval-shaped opening that led into another, identical passage. Though it had quieted a great deal from the distance they’d gained, Zach could still hear the banging on the shutter door, which implied the Eeps had not given up their chase.

“If they’re still coming after us, does that mean that these are type-A mobs, Lienne?”

“Uh, not necessarily. Some type-B mobs have a de-aggro radius of several-hundred miles. Usually high-tier bosses do, at least from what Zephyr told us.”

She now sounded far more energetic, and she was gripping him much more tightly. From the feel of it alone, Zach was pretty sure she’d turned her head sideways and was now lying against the spot between his shoulders like it was a pillow.

“Can you walk?” he asked her, even as he felt her stiffen as if disappointed. In truth, he didn’t mind carrying her at all. That was part of the reason why he needed to stop. Painful as it was to admit to himself, Zach knew it wouldn’t take a whole lot for him to fall head over heels for someone like Lienne. In that sense, continuing to let her piggyback on him longer than necessary was just too…well, dangerous.

If Kal said she’d wait for me, then I would bet my life she’s keeping her word. What would that say about me, then, if I were to go and…with Lienne.

Even knowing this, the temptation was almost unbearable. Lienne was so damn hot, and she seemed to like him, and…and why was he thinking about this again? Especially here of all places. Just stop, damn it. Stop! Kalana was the one for him, and they’d promised each other as much. So how could he be such an ass that he’d even let himself think such an awful thing?

It’s the distance, he thought. It makes it so easy to forget how much I love her.

“I think I’m okay now,” Lienne said, sounding somewhat dejected, though Zach had the sense she was trying to hide it. The fact that it made him regretful—that it made him question if he’d made the right choice—brought out another bout of shame and confusion. He wasn’t supposed to feel like this. So why did he?

Just stop thinking about it, dammit! he told himself. Just stop. Stop thinking about it. Poof, it’s gone. Just…just quit it!

Zach paused for a moment, coming to a stop in front of a particularly gruesome cage so that he could set her down carefully. He tried his best to avert his eyes, but he still caught an unfortunate glimpse of whatever horror had been going on inside this woefully inhumane prison cell. From the stains of old, long-since dried blood and the scraps of tattered rags scattered in four different places near a dirt-covered bed, it looked like whoever had occupied this cage had been put into some kind of machine that stretched their body until all four limbs were torn off at the same time.

Is this place even real? Zach wondered. Mobs aren’t biological. So maybe whatever happened here happened to mobs and not real people?

The thought grew on him, and it came close to providing something akin to comfort, but then he recalled that mobs disappeared when killed, and these bloodstains, scraps of clothing, and old, rotten clumps of flesh and bone were clearly remnants of something that had once been alive in the biological sense. It just didn’t make any…it just defied logic and reasoning.

“I don’t think you should even think about it,” Rian said, patting him on the shoulder as if reading his thoughts. He gently guided Zach so that he turned away, which was a good thing, because he really didn’t want to stare at it anymore.

“Since we already stopped, I guess we can rest for a few more seconds,” Zach said. “But we really, really need to make sure we keep moving as soon as we can. Those things are going to break through any second now.”

As if in response to his very words, an unmistakable crashing sound rang out from the direction which they’d come. Even from this distance, the bang of the shutter door breaking apart came through loudly and clearly. His lips peeling back in alarm, Zach briefly locked eyes first with Lienne, and then with Rian. Without speaking a single word aloud, Rian handed him his sword, Zach grabbed it, and then all three of them turned and continued to run, now with a sense of urgency far greater than before.

“Gods-damned Eeps,” Zach growled, sprinting down yet another narrow hall lined with cages to both sides of him. Although none of the mist from earlier rose up from the floors here, it was still extremely difficult to see, as the only source of light to be found was that which came in from the small window in each cell that looked out onto a world of red.

The flooring changed once more to concrete, and his feet made a click as he raced across section after section with Rian and Lienne, all while the sound of screeching Eeps grew nearer. The damned things were just too fast! It was also demoralizing to think that with all the distance they’d put between themselves and the purple creatures, it had barely bought them a minute’s worth of time.

“Forget pacing yourselves!” Zach cried, as with a glance over his shoulder he saw the first few Eeps fly into view. “Run for everything you’re worth. Go!”

Despite his own command, Zach exercised all of his restraint in order to not take off like bullet and leave his two friends behind. It was clear that they were going to have an issue here, though, as Rian was struggling really badly, and Lienne, whom Zach was fairly certain could almost keep pace with Zach, was deliberately refusing to leave him the dust. Neither of them were.

“There’s something up ahead!” Lienne shouted. Then she pointed. “Over there!”

Zach looked where she indicated. Just a bit ahead of them was an opening the size of a small door that led into a far wider area that looked sort of like a factory floor. But it was what lay about two-hundred feet beyond this point that made Zach gasp, as he realized there was yet another shutter door; only, this one was even larger than the last one—significantly so.

The previous one had been the size of a garage door, but this one was the size of a movie screen in one of the fancier theaters that Zach had only been to a few times. Towards the bottom-right corner of it was something that looked like a pedestal with two red-lit buttons, which must have served as the controls.

Making their way through the small opening, Zach stopped short. “Lienne!” he called out to her.

She zipped by him, but then she too stopped, spun around, and faced in his direction, as did Rian. “What is it?” she asked.

He motioned with his hand for her to keep going. “See if you can figure out how to get that thing open. Rian, can you help me find something to barricade us in here?”

“Great idea,” he said.

Lienne turned back around, presumably heading for the two red-lit buttons that Zach hoped would operate the shutter while he and Rian immediately began looking for something they could use to slow the Eeps down. Zach scrambled frantically as stress, fear, and panic all mixed together to create a storm of chaos that made his vision blur as his body tensed up.

The screeching became so loud now that, like before, it would likely be impossible to communicate with Rian. They had, at most, half a minute before the first few were able to fly inside this much-larger area with them.

Zach searched for literally anything he could use along this mostly empty stretch of concrete floor and what looked eerily like plastic traffic cones. He spun around in a full circle, darting his head every which way. Quickly, he realized that, even if he did find something, he wouldn’t have time to bring it over to the door-sized entryway and plug the gap. There was nothing nearby him except a black basket a few feet from him. He doubted he’d stop the Eeps with that.

Gods-damn it, he thought. There’s basically nothing in here. Nothing I can move, anyway!

Honestly, while at first he’d thought this looked like a factory floor, now that he was actually inside of it, he was pretty sure it was an empty parking garage. Though difficult to see thanks to the warped, badly cracked concrete, he was certain he could make out faded lines here or there.

“There’s nothing!” he screamed, hoping Rian could hear him over the chorus of hideously loud screeches. Rian looked his way, either by sheer coincidence or because his words had reached his friend’s ears; either way, the look they exchanged said more than enough—he knew they were in deep shit.

But what more could they do? There was just nothing in here. Well, except for a few old-looking DEHVs on the very far end of the lot that probably didn’t work anymore. Other than that, the closest object nearest to him was a small black basket above and to the left of the door that contained a few black devices that actually looked like—

Wait a minute.

Switching his grip on his blade so that he now held it in just one hand, he reached inside and grabbed something within as the first few Eeps flew into the room. The purple creatures bared their razor-sharp teeth as they lifted up into the air and, with a screech, began to swoop back down to attack the three of them. Rian was staring at him as if desperate for him to come up with some kind of plan, and Lienne had finally gotten the shutter to begin slowly lifting up. Not that it would matter at this point, because the horde would just follow them through it.

Unless…

Zach’s terror peaked at such a level that he was willing to try anything. Removing his hand from the basket, he glanced down at what looked like a small, black, circular device with two silver buttons on it: one showed a picture of an old-fashioned padlock being opened, and the other displayed the exact opposite—that very same padlock being closed. With literally no better ideas coming to mind, he pressed the unlock button.

This is never going to work. There’s no way a DEHV is actually going to—

Zach’s eyes widened, his mouth fell open, and he threw out his arm, pointing to the far side of what he was now certain was a parking garage. Two loud chirps came from that direction, and the foreboding darkness was chased away by a pair of two red lights from the rear of a vehicle.

“Rian!” he screamed, even as he threw himself backwards and away from “Eep 2L,” which snapped with its deadly teeth at the air where his face had just been. “Follow me! Hurry! Lienne! Follow!”

Through some miracle—through some Gods-blessed act of pure, good fortune—his voice was just loud enough to be overheard by his companions, and both began moving in his direction even as Rian banged his shield in the face of an Eep that had just nipped at his ear. To Zach’s relief, he suffered only a minor cut. In fact, it only really occurred to Zach that, if they were destined to die here, Rian’s death would be, by far, the slowest and most painful. It would take the two-hundred-plus Eeps a good twenty minutes to finish him off, whereas for Zach and Lienne, it would be over in under one.

We can’t let that happen!

Even with a one-handed slash, Zach was still able to put out the exact 25 damage needed to fell the Eep closest to him as he waited for Rian and Lienne to reach his side. In the area Lienne had just been standing, the large shutter was now nearly half open.

To Zach’s utter horror and disbelief, he now confirmed with his eyes a very real, very terrifying fact that there was indeed a dark, crimson sky filled with equally red clouds awaiting him beyond the shutter. It was, emphatically, an “outdoor” area. An underground…outdoor…area…

How? How is that even possible?

If not for the fact that his life was mere moments from ending, he would have been too stunned to move. What he saw was so mind-blowing that it was almost paralyzing. Yet with Lienne and Rian depending on him just to live beyond these next few moments, he pulled himself together, turned around, and began to sprint.

For the first five seconds, there were, at most, about eight of the Eeps in the parking garage with him. Two seconds later, that number was around twenty. A second after that, it was closer to fifty. And by the time that Zach, Rian, and Lienne had bolted halfway across the parking garage to where those beautiful red lights awaited them, all two-hundred-plus Eeps were now right on their tail, shrieking madly at them.

Rian and Lienne must have truly come to trust his judgement, because it was only in this moment that they seemed to realize what he was planning. He could visibly see their eyes widen as they finally took in the sight of the DEHV in the direction they were running. This meant that they had come to him blindly without even knowing what he intended—and still trusted him anyway to the extent that they followed without question.

“How the hell did you find a working DEHV?” Lienne yelled. Zach could only barely hear it.

“Worry about it later!” Rian replied, answering for him. “Just run!”

As if sensing safety ahead and imminent death behind, Rian, for the first time, was able to run at a speed that almost matched Zach’s. The panic and desire to live must have given him that last bit of juice needed to force his legs to cooperate with his desire to move just a little bit faster. Together with him and Lienne, Zach ran with every last drop of strength in his body towards what he now saw was a yellow, very bizarre-looking DEHV that appeared to be in far, far better condition than it’d looked from a distance.

The vehicle was smaller than any DEHV he’d ever before seen, and its hover engines were not plainly visible, which meant they must’ve been tucked somewhere out of sight beneath the DEHV’s body. The ground tires were also pre-extended as if whoever had operated it last had intended to traverse non-hover supported lanes. What really struck Zach the most, however, was that between its two rear, red-colored lights was a graphic depiction of what sort of looked like a horse mid-gallop. It almost served as an apt metaphor for their current situation. He also had never before heard of the DEHV manufacturer printed just below its rear bumper.

“What in the fuck is a Ford Mustang?” he shouted.

“Who the hell cares?” Rian shouted. “If it moves, we’re using it!”

The screeching grew louder—now to the point of pain. Zach didn’t dare look over his shoulder. He didn’t have to, either. He could actually feel a sort of wind on his back from the flapping of those damn serrated wings. At most, they were just twenty or so feet behind them—and gaining very, very fast.

The moment they reached the DEHV, Zach opened the door, dived inside the driver-side, and then slammed it shut. Rian and Lienne both dove inside the same rear-left door, practically flying together inside the backseat.

Literally a tenth of a second after both of their doors were shut, an Eep flew directly into the window to Zach’s left, taking 10 damage and delivering a nasty crack. “Go!” Rian screamed at him. “Go, go, go!”

“I don’t know how to drive this!” Zach shouted back. “What kind of controls are these? Where’s the hover panel? What is this bullshit?”

“Just figure it out, Zach. We’re gonna die!”

Panicked, Zach tried to remember the one and only lesson his dad had ever given him. In Whispery Woods, people had to be nineteen to drive a DEHV, but parents were allowed to give supervised lessons when their children turned 17. Zach, even on his one—and only—outing, had proven himself something of a natural. That was why he’d been fairly sure he could save them in this thing. But this particular DEHV looked like it was made by some kind of alien. He didn’t see the switch above his head that was supposed to make it drive in reverse, though he reasoned from the labels on the stick to his right that the stick would do it for him. But wait…if that was the case, then where was the evacuation slider? He couldn’t find it. He also couldn’t find the barrier generator. Hell, forget the barrier generator—Zach couldn’t even find the fucking hover switch! In fact, the only thing he recognized for sure were the acceleration and deceleration pedals, and even those looked off.

“Zach!” Lienne screamed. “Hurry!”

She let out a terrified cry as her window cracked just as Zach’s had. And then she yelped again as it exploded into a shower of glass; this, as the swarm surrounded the vehicle, screeching so loudly that Zach shook with the terror of their combined, horrific shrieks.

“Just go!” Rian shouted. “Please!”

Frustrated, afraid, and having no idea how to even operate this Gods-damned DEHV, Zach moved the switch to the R position and stepped on the acceleration pedal while turning the steering wheel all the way to its right, causing the DEHV to lurch backwards with a loud “rmmmv!” What in the name of the Gods was that noise? It sounded nothing like any DEHV he’d ever heard before. Hell, from the smell alone, you’d think this thing was powered by gasoline or something.

As if.

Nearly crashing into a concrete pole, he only just managed to avoid careening into another, similarly bizarre-looking DEHV as he gained a bit of distance from the swarm of Eeps while the DEHV glided backwards towards the middle of the parking garage. Slowing down somewhat so that he could turn the steering wheel to left, Zach ignored the shouts and cries of terror from Rian and Lienne as the Eeps began pecking and banging on the hood, rear, and sides of the vehicle. Three even flew inside, and Rian began to punch them until they flew back out.

Once Zach managed to orient the DEHV properly so that it faced the now-open shutter door, he took a guess and moved the stick to “D,” then slammed his foot down on the acceleration pedal. This caused another bizarre roar, and the vehicle took off with a speed and responsiveness that shocked him and pushed his entire body back into his seat. What the hell kind of DEHV was this?

“Just hold on tight, guys!”

He picked up speed, flying out into the surreal world of crimson clouds and red skies, and then he let out a shocked gasp as it finally dawned on him that, yes, this was a indeed a real place they were now in, and it was indeed under a blood-colored sky. It also appeared to be daytime somehow, despite the fact that it should have been several hours past midnight.

Zach’s brain struggled to keep up with the world around him as so much information hit him so quickly that processing it all was a challenge almost as great as any he’d faced so far. Directly in front of him, he spotted what appeared to be a wide, two-lane road with a yellow dotted line running through it. It seemed to go on for a good long while. To both sides of the road was the occasional patch of yellow-brownish grass broken apart by dirt and the occasional tree stump. In the sky far above, though it was not raining, a constant barrage of lightning was visible in the space between clouds. Far into the distance, there seemed to be something that may once have been a beautiful, grand bridge, but was now completely destroyed, with its entire middle section missing as though it’d broken off.

“Eeep! Eeep! Eeep!” the horde cried.

Zach realized he could see them through a mirror above and to his right. He swore, loudly, as they were still continuing to chase him, only now there had to be even more of the Gods-damned things. Maybe three hundred in total.

“This is the biggest bullshit in the history of bullshit,” he growled, slamming his foot down on the acceleration and watching as a red, needle-like object that likely represented speed began to turn clockwise. What kind of archaic vehicle was this?

Soaring along the road, Zach gripped the steering wheel tightly as it dawned on him that there were virtually no—if any—Grav Rails in this DEHV, which meant that, however difficult it may have been to believe, he was personally in control of the entire vehicle. He could literally drive it off the road if he wanted to. Nothing was actually keeping him in place.

“Faster, Zach! Faster!” Lienne cried.

“I’m trying, Gods-dammit!”

The steering wheel, like the rear of this odd-looking DEHV, also contained the same logo of a horse mid-gallop, and as Zach turned it slightly to keep himself in the middle of the road, he found it difficult to breathe as the broken window was letting in an unbelievable blast of air, which hit his face like a physical blow.

“Eep! Eep! Eep!”

“They’re gaining on us,” Rian said. “Get us in hover mode. Hurry!”

“I…I don’t know how!”

“Push buttons, then!”

Lienne leaned forward in her seat and pointed at something, which was only possible because none of them were wearing safety harnesses, which Zach knew was unwise—and apparently so did the DEHV, because it continued to beep and show a symbol of a silhouette wearing one above the steering wheel. “Try that!” she said, pointing at a black knob below what appeared to be a touchscreen of some kind.

Zach nodded and pressed it. He regretted it immediately. A jolt of panic shot through his body as, at a volume almost as loud as the screeches from the Eeps, a man’s voice began to scream at them—just absolutely scream at them. The sound of it came from all around them, too.

“Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the—FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!”

“Turn it off!” Lienne screamed. “Turn it off!”

Zach tried banging his hand against the button again, but it only seemed to make it even louder. Even more strangely, he soon realized that what he was listening to might have actually been some kind of music. Since when could people listen to music while driving? That was a big no-no. It was almost as serious as the driver using a cell phone while the vehicle was in motion. This must have been some kind of highly illegal, black-market DEHV, this “Ford Mustang.”

Looking again at the misplaced rear-view mirror, he saw the Eeps steadily gaining on them, and now several of them were almost to the point of reaching the rear bumper. This, as the strangest music he’d ever before heard blasted in his ear, announcing that something was “wrong” with him.

Something’s gotta give indeed, Zach thought.

Once again trying to turn off whatever music this was, he took one hand off the steering wheel and began to jam buttons at random. For some reason, this caused him to feel even more wind—this time on the top of his face. Confused, he glanced upwards—and then let out a cry as he saw that the entire top of the DEHV began to slide backward and open up. Why would someone make something that could do this?

“I don’t know what I did!” Zach yelled.

“Well don’t change it!” Lienne yelled back. “I can use this!”

Glancing in the mirror, he saw Lienne climbing up to her knees before coming to a stand in the back seat until the top half of her body was hanging out of the DEHV. The number of laws that broke alone could be counted on seven hands. Pointing her staff at the incoming Eeps, she screamed, “Val En Flemir!”

The blue, missile-shaped flame burst out of her gem-tipped staff, and for the first time since coming to this “floor”—if that word still even meant anything—Zach watched as it finally found its mark. Apparently, while flying full speed, the Eeps lacked the ability to dodge as easily as they normally could, and so Zach literally roared in cheer as he watched Lienne strike fourteen of them at once, dealing a jaw-dropping 47 damage to each.

Then, standing up to join his sister, Rian steadied himself with one hand, gripping the side of the DEHV, and with the other he threw his axe at the leading Eep, which was just about to fly into his face and again killing it in one shot. Zach watched as the axe returned to his hand, and then for some reason a bunch of words popped up in the air behind the DEHV and began chasing after the vehicle behind them just like the Eeps. They looked familiar, these words. They were words that, amid all the horror going on around them, Zach had forgotten all about and did not expect to see.

Level up!

+1 str (6)

+1 lck (2)

Somehow, with his heart pumping in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins, and a swarm of hundreds of vicious, winged bastards trying to turn him into mush, Zach still found room in his heart to feel disappointment and roll his eyes at yet another garbage level up. Seriously, was this the extent to what he had inside of him? Was this all he could do or be? Well, at least his strength increased this time around. And also his luck, which did…well, he didn’t really know what it did. But hey! A two-point level up was still better than one, right?

As Lienne pointed her staff at the next batch of Eeps that pulled ahead of the pack, she drew a deep breath as if readying herself to fire another missile, but not before both she and her brother looked over their shoulders at Zach, and in unison, shouted, “Grats!”

“What?” he shouted back.

“It’s…it’s something you say when someone in your party levels up.”

“What, seriously?” he asked, annoyed. “Forget that! Keep these things off our—”

His words cut off as he watched, in absolute shock, as every Eep—down to the very last one—came to an abrupt halt. They simply stopped midair as if they’d hit some kind of invisible wall. Then, each and every one of them spun around in the air and began to fly back the way they’d come. Lienne raised her staff high in the air and cheered, as did Rian. “We left their range! We did it!”

Refusing to feel even an iota of relief until he was absolutely certain it was safe to do so, Zach kept his eyes on the retreating Eeps, who indeed did seem to be taking off at full speed back towards the hellish dungeon that they’d escaped from. Now, with the horde and Zach moving in opposite directions, it wasn’t long at all before they’d flown out of view.

With another cheer, both Rian and Lienne turned around and sat back down in their seats while Zach fumbled with the vehicle’s strange buttons, at last discovering how to shut off the music and close the top of the DEHV. Ahead of him, the road continued to stretch on, and the three of them were taken beneath an overpass that seemed to wrap around in a wild loop and lead to yet another road moving off into the distance.

Where in the name of the Gods are we?

Zach surveyed his surroundings. To both his left and right, he could see an endless array of burned-out, ruined husks that appeared to have once been medium-sized buildings. In several places, their DEHV shot by what looked like destroyed shopping centers with their own burned-up parking lots. But it was what was directly ahead of him that really gave him his biggest shock of the day.

As he continued to drive, he spotted a massive green sign with large, bold white letters roughly a thousand feet ahead of him that said the following:

-----> Exit 7A: Newark Intl Airport

-----> Holland Tunnel

↓ Continue straight for: B2->B3. Rest and food area ahead. Points required.

Zachys Calador: 480 points

Lienne Astafort: 390 points

Rian Astafort: 450 points

Swallowing nervously, Zach asked, “I don’t suppose you guys can explain any of this to me, right?” Both shook their heads, and Zach sighed. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”