Decker walks out onto the roof carrying his sword in its scabbard. He’s wearing his black suit jacket that he had me grab.

“Ready?” He asks.

“Yes sir.”

“To start off you need to learn some basic stances.” Decker says.

He walks over to me and then assumes a stance. He places his feet wide and with one foot just slightly ahead of the other. He bends his knee just slightly.

I imitate his stance as best as I can. Moving my feet apart and slightly bending my knee.

“Where is your weight placed?” He asks.

“Umm. My feet?” I offer.

He chuckles.

“Your weight should be more on the balls of your feet. This stance can lead into a few attacks. Mostly a powerful lunge, however it can bleed into other stances easily.” He says.

He stomps forwards demonstrating what he means. Then he resets his stance and starts flowing into others. His movements remind me of a dance more than a fighting style.

To understand better how he’s positioning himself I activate my Magical Sonar. The mana wraps around the man and I feel his every movement. Down to how his muscles bulge and stretch.

“Do you get it?” He asks after returning to the original stance.

“I think so.” I say.

Comparing his stance to mine I find that my weight is placed more on my heels then the balls of my feet. So I correct that and continue comparing how we’re holding ourselves.

His knees are bent less than mine so I fix that too. I also find that the muscles in his back are more tensed then mine, making him stand straighter than I am.

After correcting a few more differences I find myself in a stance very similar to his. Once I get here Decker smiles at me.

“You learn a lot faster than me.” He says. “Now do some jumping jacks and then get back into that stance.”

“Why?”

“In a real fight you should be able to fall into this stance instinctively. You shouldn’t have to think about every single movement of the body. So we’re going to drill this stance until you can fall into it as easily as you breathe.”

So the hours pass with me doing wild activities to shake the feeling of the stance from my mind. Then I try to get back into it. After a while Decker stops showing me the stance and has me perform it from memory.

I find that memorizing how my body is supposed to feel in the stance is far easier than I expected. I assume it’s from my high Intelligence stat. I should find a book and try to memorize it to see if I can actually remember better now. If my Strength stat is anything to go off of then I definitely should be able to memorize things far easier than I could before.

I’m starting to feel tired when Decker calls an end to the training. I can no longer see my breath hanging in the air anymore.

“I think it’s about time we head back down.” he says.

I feel a little disappointed at the contents of the lesson. I mean when I thought he was going to be teaching me to swing a sword it would have a lot more sword swinging instead of me just posing.

“I know this probably wasn’t as fun as you imagined but a solid base will give you far more benefits then me just giving you a sword to swing.” He says while smiling at me.

With that we leave the rooftop and head back down to the seventh floor. Once there we find most of the other people eating food.

“Good morning.” Decker says as he walks into the room.

“There’s Coffee. Hot Coffee.” One of the people from the restaurant says.

I guess Angila brewed a few more pots.

“Yes I know.” Decker says while smiling to the person.

“So today we need to handle a few things. Luckily for us Joel here has done us a huge service. Instead of moving all of those corpses outside he found a way to get rid of them.” Decker says while placing a hand on my shoulder.

“How did he manage that?” Abby asks.

“He has a skill that lets him scavenge the bodies. They evaporate into smoke and leave behind something.”

“What do they leave behind?” Kyle asks.

“Random junk.” I say.

“That's like some shitty looting mechanic.” He says.

I agree.

“How did you get the skill?” Rebecca asks.

“From the Quest Scavenge.” I say.

“That quest costs like 75 points. How did you get so many?” Jessica asks.

“He’s on the hunting team dummy.” Rebecca says.

I feel awkward at the attention and wish that someone would switch the topic of conversation. I look towards Decker hoping that he will progress the conversations. Lucky for me he does.

“Either way, that saves the Builders a lot of time. Now we can focus on actually fortifying the building.” Decker says.

“What about the Hunters?” Abby asks.

“Well first I think you guys should go to the CVS store and gather supplies from there. With the police car I don’t think we’ll need to send the Scavenging team after you. Instead I think I’ll take them to Tom's Hardware and Lumber. It's over the Harris bridge but it has a complete lumbar yard and lots of other construction material.” Decker says.

“So we’re going to be lugging back planks of wood all the way back here?” Rebecca asks.

“No, we’ll take one of the trucks down in the garage. They’re work vehicles so the keys are with the HR desk on the second floor.” Decker says.

“Is Andy okay?” Kyle asks.

His question seems to cast a blanket over Angila and Decker.

“Sadly not. So I hope that it’s okay to ask you guys to go to CVS without him.” Decker says.

Personally I’m fine with it. I don’t mean to be mean to the guy but he didn’t really do much. So now we don’t have to worry about keeping him safe. Granted I failed at doing that anyways.

“That’s fine with me. What about you guys?” Kyles says, looking towards me and Abby.

“My daughter will not be going out there again.” Nathen says.

Silence fills the room as Abby glares at her father. He looks back at her with determination in his eyes.

“Dad, can I talk to you in private?” Abby asks.

Her voice sounds colder than I’ve ever heard. The two stand and walk to the opposite side of the floor. The tones of their voice echo back to us making me feel as if I’m eavesdropping.

“So how about this coffee?” Someone asks.

A small conversation springs up between that person and Angila about how she made the coffee. I’m grateful for the conversation as it drowns out whatever conversation that Abby and her father are having.

I get why he doesn’t want her going outside. Every time she has so far she’s been attacked by high leveled zombies. But at the same time leaving the building has been her choice.

I think he should let her go. But I could just have a scanted view on controlling parents. I ran away on my own when he tried to stop me from going to college.

The conversation on coffee ends when Abby and her father walk back to us. Her father looks upset but Abby has a smile on her face.

“I’m going.” She says while taking her original seat.

“I’m going too.” He says.

Decker frowns at this.

“Actually I was hoping you’d come with me and the Scavengers.” Decker says.

“My daughter’s safety is my number one priority.” Nathen says.

“I get that. But you can’t just focus on her short term safety. I don’t know how much you know but we’re preparing for a possible invasion.” Decker says.

“Invasion of what?” Nathen asks.

A blue window appears in front of Decker. It’s the Safe Zone management screen. Decker points towards the timer on it.

“When this hits zero we’re assuming that we are going to be sieged by zombies or that the zombies are going to be stronger. Or any number of bad things. Your daughter has proven to be resourceful and capable of taking care of herself. But what happens when this building is swarmed with powerful Zombies?”

“What happens if she’s swarmed out there?”

“Did she get hurt yesterday?” Decker asks.

“No.”

“Does she seem like she thinks she can’t handle going outside?”

“No but how will me going with you help her later?”

“You will know many of the tools that we will need to fortify this place. You will save us time in collecting the right resources and start on getting our defenses built up faster. If you are to go with the hunting group I’m sure that you can help them but only if they need a distraction. You’re a lower level than her. If anything you’ll be a hindrance to them. But if you come with me we can help you to gain more strength. You will help ensure the safety of this building. I don’t see any benefits to you going with them.” Decker says.

“Then why doesn’t she come with us?” Nathen asks.

“I’m going with Joel.” Abby says.

“Why?” Nathen asks.

“He’s the strongest person here. I feel safest when I’m with him.” Abby says.

Her words make my face feel hot and my heart race. Nathen on the other hand looks like he’s been stabbed in the gut. He looks at me with a gaze I can not describe.

“Will you protect her with your life?” Nathen asks me.

“He already has.” Abby says.

Nathen’s expression softens at this. But then it instantly hardens back into something of resolve.

“Do you swear to protect her with your life?”

I know the answer in my heart. He didn’t have to ask me multiple times. Abby has already gone out of her way for me. I owe her.

“Of course. I swear to protect her with my life.” I say, meaning every word.

Nathen smiles at this.

“Fine, I'll come with you this time.” He says to Decker.

“Thank you.” Decker says.

The room feels to lighten after this. As if the topic just discussed had caused a weight to fall onto us.

“While you’re gone what will we do?” Jessica asks.

“Well there’s still lots of blood and other gunk that needs to be cleaned up. On top of that we need someone to keep an eye on Andy.” Decker says.

Some grumbles come from the people that are left to clean up the mess of the corpses. But it’s not like they’re willing to go outside and fight the zombies. So I don’t really get why they’re complaining.

“Alright, any other question?” Decker asks.

Silence follows.

“Alright. Then finish eating then get ready. I’ll meet the Hunters and Scavengers down in the garage.”

With that people start to leave the area. Abby stands and gives me a strange look that I take as some kind of gratitude. After she and Nathen leave Decker turns to me.

“Thanks for helping with Nathen.” He says.

“I didn’t do anything.” I say.

This causes Decker’s eyebrow to raise.

“So you’re actually ready to die for her?” he asks.

“Yeah?”

“Alright.” He says.

Decker walks away after saying that. Does he not believe me? Why is the tingle in my head buzzing? Is it trying to warn me of something? It feels like it’s trying to warn me.

I shake the feeling and try to think of what I need. A weapon would be nice. Granted I can make one from concrete I should at least see if there’s an easy quest that awards a simple weapon. That way I don’t have to waste mana every time there’s a fight on just getting myself a melee weapon.

I walk to the Quest Board and start scrolling through the long list of quests. Some ask me to kill some number of animals for an item based on the animals. Like one wants me to kill fifteen wolves for a Dire Wolf Dagger. Whatever that is.

After some searching I find this quest.

Available Quests:

Quest Name:

Reward:

Difficulty:

Cost:

Basher of Brains

Bronze Warhammer

F

50

Kill 25 creatures with a hammer

I purchase the quest and then head to then start looking in all of the storage rooms of the building. In one of the IT supply rooms I find an old looking hammer. I test it’s heft and take it with me and head towards the garage.