A smile breaks across Decker’s face. He stands placing his warm hand on my shoulder.

“I knew I could count on you. However strong you are, I don't want you out there alone. Hopefully some of the others choose to help. At the least we should try and give the opportunity to get a class.”

He turns around looking out at the city. An air of uncertainty spills out from him as he gazes at the city. Like in every apocalyptic movie pillars of smoke rise high into the sky.

“I don’t know what's out there and I don’t know what the best thing to do is. But I do know that we can’t sit idly by. With every passing moment the zombies have the ability to get stronger. It’s going to boil down to them or us.” He says.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Long term. Either the living will eradicate the dead or the dead will consume humanity. Until that moment the most we can do is take out as many as we can and survive.”

Thinking it over I see his logic. Both sides grow stronger from killing the other. While the zombies have the advantage of growing their numbers at the same time as their strength. We living people have the advantage of critical thinking. The zombie Butcher was smarter than any other zombie but at most it was just an animal.

“So for now what do you want me to do?” I ask.

“For now, heal up. Rest and recuperate. Tomorrow night we’ll see how many people want to stay. Out of those we’ll find out who's willing to be part of your scavenging party.”

“What if they don’t want to be?”

“Well there’s a lot to do in the building. We’re going to need to remove all the rotting bodies. That’s going to take a few days at least with that group of twelve. Then we’ll need to remodel some of the floors into living spaces and such. We need to figure out a way to cook food. Along with other things. Lots of jobs for people to do. Sadly I don’t see all of them being willing to do them.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I say

“On another note. How late do you think you can stay up?”

“Probably all night if I push myself. I’m used to being awake at night anyways. Why?”

“I think I want someone I trust watching the food tonight. I don’t know if anything will happen but I’m worried about the new people. Some of them may try to run off with more food than we can spare. And you and I didn’t nearly die for nothing.”

My heart flutters at the idea that he trusts me. I agree to stand guard for the night and Decker leaves me on the roof.

I sit down alone letting the breeze wash over me. It’s chilly up here reminding me that fall is around the corner. Closing my eyes I pull in the mana from the air around me. As I do so I realize that there’s less ambient mana up here but it feels lighter, burning less as it passes into me.

The energy circulates around me as it flows into me. It slowly fills the pool in my core as I sit there. I feel at peace.

The air around me shifts as I hear the flapping of wings. I open my eyes to see a crow land on the ledge of the building. It turns around with a few hops and stares at me.

Bright electric blue eyes meet mine as the bird faces me. My brows furrow as I stare into the eyes of the large crow. A level of intelligence stares back through the strange colored eyes of the crow. As I focus on the creature a blue box appears above it.

Raven

Level: 3

Hp: 10/10

Oh so this is a raven. Does that mean the blue eyes are natural? The tingle in my mind rings off making me feel like it’s not.

So this little guy is a level three. Does that mean other animals can gain levels too?

The idea of a level 20 wolf sends a shiver down my back. Given enough time zombies might not be our only issue to worry about. I should tell Decker about this.

I cautiously turn my attention away from the large bird. I start pulling mana back into me wanting to refill my pool.

After a few moments I feel the mana in the air change. Instead of fumbling towards me part of it glides off away from me. Opening my eyes I see a strange glow coming form underneath the feathers of the bird.

I watch in shock and awe as the mana in the air slowly funnels towards the creature. As if it senses me watching it, it opens its eyes and caws at me. It almost sounds annoyed as if I just interrupted it.

“I’m sorry.” I offer it.

The bird nods and returns to drawing mana in. My mind races with ideas as I watch the bird. So not only can animals level up but some even have access to mana. Animals are going to be so much more dangerous in the future I can’t even imagine.

The food chain is probably crumbling in ecosystems around the world at this very moment. Animals eating each other gaining levels and strength. Do they get to distribute Attribute Points like we humans do? Do zombies?

So many questions and never any answers. The tingle in my head rests silently as I contemplate the animal before me.

After a few moments I decide that it’s no use thinking about animals leveling up right now. It’s not like I’m playing a video game where days pass by in minutes. Only time will tell me how much the world has changed.

I close my eyes and focus on my own mana pool. The energy in the air flows into me as I do so.

I open my eyes when my mana pool is completely full and see that a few hours have passed. The sun has already begun to set behind the horizon.

I groan as I stretch out feeling pain blossom in my chest as I do so. A caw stops me as the raven in front of me looks annoyed again. It spreads it’s large wings and soars off into the sky.

“I’m sorry.” I call out to it.

I hear a door swing open and footsteps slap against the concrete floor of the roof. Turning around I see my eyes fall on to green ones. That Abigail girl slowly walks up to me and I get the feeling that I know her.

She stops a few paces away from me. A sweet smile plastered on her cute face. A white chef's jacket covers her torso hiding most of her small frame. Brown hair is let down reaching to just above her shoulders.

“Joel right?” She asks after our eyes meet.

“Yeah. And you’re Abigail?”

“You can call me Abby.”

“Alright Abby. What are you doing up here?”

“Waiting to ask you something.”

“And that is?”

“Did you go to Applewood Middle School?”

Her question catches me off guard as she’s correct and I had expected her to ask about magic or something. While it’s not uncommon for people to know of my hometown, few rarely know it by name, let alone the name of it’s schools. I nod hesitantly but curious as to what she’s getting at.

“Did you have Mrs. Fawley for fifth grade homeroom?”

Again she’s correct and I scour my memories for any girl that looked like her. I nod again slowly.

“How do you know?”

She jumps up, startling me. She pumps her fists into the air and lets out a giggle that sounds as sweet as bubble gum tastes.

“It’s me Abby! I sat across from you for like half of the year. I had blue hair back then and wore glasses instead of contacts.” She lists off excitedly.

Her words finally jog my memory as I picture the mousy little girl with blue hair and large glasses that made her eyes look tiny. We sat across each other for half the year but rarely spoke to one another. However, we were the only two kids in the class who didn’t really have a group of friends.

“Jesus, what are the odds?” I ask.

Her excitement is infectious as I feel my heart race at the idea. Out of all the people to be stuck in that freezer and out of all the people to open it, it was us.

“What happened to you?” I ask.

“Lots of things. I moved away that summer and came here. After school I was working my way through culinary school. What about you?”

“I stayed in Applewood until I graduated. Then I moved here and started working as a security guard. Who would have imagined that we have been working across the street from one another for who knows how long.”

“You’ve changed so much. Your eyes aren’t glued to the ground any more. And you’re a lot taller than I remember you being.” She says while laughing.

“Yeah a lot has happened since middle school. I mean you aren’t a blue haired mouse anymore.” I say

We both laugh. Once our laughter dies down an awkward silence falls us. Despite having lots of things we can talk about, our conversation seems to have ended. Looking at her I see that she has something she wants to say.

“Is everything alright?” I ask.

Then it’s like someone flicked a light switch. The glee on her face only a moment ago disappears, replaced by a sad little girl. Tears well up in her eyes as her head falls.

“I don’t even know how to unpack that question.” She says followed by a sad chuckle. “The world has ended hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. At least the one we knew.”

“Why don’t you seem more sad about all of this?” She asks

I take a second to think over her question.

“The way I see it, the world hasn’t ended. We are still here. All it’s done is change. Sure there’s a lot of death in the world but that’s just how life goes isn’t it? Just now that death is at our doorstep and wants to eat us. I can either sit here and cry about it or I can try and do something about it. I recently decided to stop sitting around letting life pass me by. So I’m doing something about it. I’m fighting back against the zombies. I don’t know. I feel like I’m rambling at this point.”

My words trail off as I feel like I’ve wandered too far away from the topic. Honestly I don’t know why I’m not that upset. Just about everyone I knew beforehand is probably dead. But then again I didn’t really have anyone that I cared about. No friends. No family. I was alone.

“What about your family? Aren’t you concerned about them?” She asks.

Her words bring forth a rage in me that I’ve spent my whole life repressing. Memories of my father and mother flood me. Very few of them are good.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I say.

She takes in my words. She turns out to the setting sun.

“I’m deathly worried about my family. My mom live across the river in Washington and my dad lives only a few blocks away. But those few blocks seem impossible to cross. I’d love to try and go see them. To make sure that they’re okay. But I don’t have the means to protect myself or get there.”

Her words fly into the air leaving us in silence once again. I watch as the last rays of sunlight sink below the horizon, finally bringing about night. Turning in the opposite direction I see the last sliver of the waning moon rise above the horizon.

“Can you teach me?” Abby's voice breaks through the silence.

Turning back to her I see the tears gone from her face. In its place resolve and determination.

“Teach you what?”

“To fight with magic?”

“I don’t know, I’ve just been doing whatever I can to survive. It’s not like I’m Decker who knows how to actually fight. Are you sure you want to be asking me?”

“Deadly. I want the power to fight back. I don’t just want to be holded up in a freezer. I want my freedom back. And as you can see I don’t have the body to fight hand to hand.”

Something in her words resonate with me. When I first faced down a zombie I was imprisoned in fear and ran. The second time something in me changed as the desire for freedom and the ability to reinvent myself flourished in me.

“If that’s what you want.”

“Promise me.”

“What?”

“Promise me that you’ll teach me.”

I feel a flicker of annoyance build in me. Does she not believe me when I say that I will?

“Fine, I promise to teach you to fight with magic.”

My words elicit a cute smile from her that dissolves the annoyance immediately. She thanks me and gives me another beaming bright smile.