For the rest of the morning I walked up and down all the streets in our neighborhood and pointed out where any left over shattered squirrels were. I was followed around by most of the guards who hadn't gotten extra levels from goblins and pointed them to backyards, sometimes a building, where the monsters where lurking. That's what everyone had started calling them. Monsters. There had been some back and forth between creatures, monsters, and even crazy animals. At some point everyone had just stopped calling them anything besides monsters as the term to call the...Things that had come into our world. During lunch I was successful in finding a mentor who taught me how to make wraps for my weapons using parachute cord. Shanise was twelve years old and had only made friendship bracelets. She let me have enough cord to wrap my weapons after she gave me a short lesson on braiding them together. We found out that Knot Making was a skill once she started teaching me, she had five levels in it. After lunch my group walked the five minutes to the nearest park to start our 'training session'. We sat in the green grass under some thirty foot tall trees at the edge of the park. Mike started off reading out of his notebook and gave us a decent recap about Skills and Titles while I focused on my handles. I actually managed to make some decent wraps, they included wrist loops, after only a few false starts. When I was done I had four levels in Knot making. While I was doing that Mike went over what we had about skills and titles for Gilberto and Terrance as well as Stew. A few minutes after I finished working on the wraps for my weapons Mike's lecture moved on to his theories abuot the Skill system. That was about the time I noticed Stew's eyes were glazing over and decided to move on to practical applications. I stood up and started talking. "Thanks Mike. I talked to Sam about this so we could have time to work on more than theory. So I think it's time we move on. I think everyone except Gilberto has [Thrust]?" Everyone except Stew nodded. "I get why Mike and Meagan have it but why do I? Or you, Dave? You just have a hammer and an axe. It doesn't even make any sense." Stew said. I got a bad feeling in my gut when I heard that. "Stew, have you even tried to use it?" I asked. "No. Why would I? I have a club, not a spear." Stew said. I couldn't believe that Stew had Mastered his Club Initiate Title almost a full day previously, been through multiple life or death situations and had left a potentially useful skill without even trying it. "What?" Stew was looking at us with a confused look. Mike began yelling at Stew, calling him an idiot as well as other names. I stood there appalled. I knew Stew had a laid back style but this? Coasting through school on C's because you don't want to do homework? Fine. Playing video games through your fathers birthday because you got caught skipping class? Whatever, not my problem. Stew can be a shit. But this? Next thing I know I'm yelling at Stew full throttle. "WHAT THE FUCK, YOU SHIT! Do you have any idea what it feels like to fight with shattered legs! How about having internal bleeding and watching while everyone dies! How about just plain dying." I started calming down after that but I still looked at Stew intensly as I continued. "Fuck Stew. If you don't get it together you will know. I got nothing but you guys now. My mom hasn't been there since my dad died and when this happened she was visiting her 'friend' downtown. She was fucking high when the shit went down and I don't think she could have made it. I really don't want to lose anybody else. Let's pull together all right?" Stew looked down at the ground but he nodded. "Yea Dave. None of us have as much any more. I hear you." I looked around at the others. Mike had known that when my mom visited her 'friend' downtown it meant she was trying to get a little extra out of her dealer and usually spent at least one night. He understood. Gilberto had turned away and was hunched down with his hands in his pockets, obviously uncomfortable. Meagan's reaction was the worst, she had a look of shock and horror on her face. I felt my face redden and looked away from her. "Let's all pull together guys. OK? Meagan? Gilberto?" I asked. Mike and Terrance were already looking at me nodding. Meagan and Gilberto both nodded at my question and mumbled affirmatives. ‡ Congratulations! Leadership is now level 3, +1 Skill Point ‡ I took a few minutes alone before I walked back to join the group. "Sorry about that guys. So [Thrust]. It can be used by more than spears." I held my hammer in my hand and getting in a stance I pointed myself at a tree. When I activated it I payed more attention to my Stamina then I ever had before. Not only did it flow into my weapon but into my legs and feet. Suddenly it fired off. The Stamina in my weapon fired out the of the handle driving it forward. Less than a second after that the Stamina in my legs and feet fired me forward a foot. The foot thick tree shook as my hammer hit it. I asked everyone to perform their own versions. Mike and Stew both ended up looking very similar to mine, with both weapon and body movement. Meagan's though was different. Meagan kept her feet on the ground and when she activated it her spear blurred it went so fast. "Woah!" My eyes flew open when I saw that. "Do you mind if I try [Thrust] with your spear? I want to see if I can go that fast too." "Mike, didn't you tell me Dave was known for being quick?" Terrance whipped his head around to look at me and drawled "With the ladies?" Everyone laughed. I decided that was a good thing. "Fuck you." I replied with a smile. I took Meagan's spear and got in the same position as she had used and cleared my mind. [Thrust] was more than just an image it was an intention and I focused on activating it with a single mindedness that had been foreign to me a few days ago. I focused so intently that I was a little suprised when Stew interupted me. "Maybe he was known for being quick but I guess now he just can't perform." I ignored the laughter this time, looking at the spear a little confused. "Mike? Can you give it a try?" I held the spear towards him. Everyone calmed down when they saw I was still serious. Mike had no better luck than me. It turned out Stew couldn't thrust with a spear either. I got him back for his crack when he tried but we got back to it quickly enough. We found out that all of our skills that we thought were the same weren't transferable. I couldn't do [Shattering Blow] with a club and Stew couldn't do it with a hammer. My [Two-Handed Blow] skill worked on any weapon I could get my hands on. We decided that our skills might not be as amazing as we had thought, at least not yet. After we figured that out we moved back to practicing our [Thrust]. By changing what we pictured when we activated it we managed to change them slightly, Meagan could move a bit and everyone else wouldn't move as much. We practiced our skills for about six hours until the sun touched the horizon. Gilberto and Meagan headed back home while the rest of us headed back to Stew's house and ate cold sandwiches for dinner. After we ate Terrance headed home and I decided to lay down on the couch in Sam's living room. I used my skill points on a Title I'd had for awhile now and hadn't explored. I Mastered Zombie! I was a little disappointed I didn't get raise dead or something but since I got it for not dying all the way rather than actually dying I guess it made sense. I did get some nice Attribute bonuses and an ability that might be useful one day. I fell asleep considering Shattering Blow and how instrumental it would be against the ogres if we found any more. Zombie - Been there done that, not going back •Res+1 •+20% resistance to Death and Ice Spells •Res+1 •Str+2 •Gain Ability Zombie's Constitution - When an attack would reduce your HP below 1 it instead reduces it to 1. Can activate once every 24hrs It was the screams that woke me early the next morning. Was what I would say if I was being melodramatic. Really it was the hammering on the front door as someone yelled for Sam. I stumbled sleepily to the door and unlocked it. The door was flung open before I could touch the knob. One of the guards rushed in and started talking to Sam. I saw he had made it to the top of the stairs while I opened the door. He started down the stairs as the man started talking quickly. "Something really bad is happening Sam. A lot of noise and screams coming from towards St. Johns and the bridge." Now that the door was open I could hear a noise like distant thunder. "Is it coming our way?" Sam asked The man shook his head. "Head back and keep your eyes open. I'll make sure everyone is on standby and head over to the guard post at Ida." Sam turned to me as the man ran off. "Dave can you get Stew up?" "No problem." I answered. When I came back down from shoving Stew out of bed I found Mike was already dressed and waiting in the living room. "Can you see if Terrance is willing to come along with us? I'll get ready and meet you at the guard post on Lombard and Ida." I said. Mike nodded and took off. I got dressed and grabbed my gear before I bullied Stew into moving a little faster. Once he was ready I told him where we were meeting up I took off running out the door. The air was cool in the way that promised heat later in the day and behind me I could just see the sunrise changing the sky. I didn't expect Stew to run along with me but he did move at a jog. After the high school had been cleared the guards had expanded our area by putting a guardpost a few streets south at Lombard and Ida. We now had an area that stretched about 3/4 of a mile from Lombard to Fessenden and bordered a wavy stretch of terrain that ran along the hundred foot ravine where the trains used to run. The final side ran along Ida and bordered the high school. From the Lombard and Ida post we could see the dungeon where we had beat the Rat Men and giant spiders as well as a corner of the area that the Cathedral Park Neighborhood Association had assumed control of. We had heard talk about expanding even more but Sam said he wasn't supporting it until we had enough people to make it necessary. When I reached the guard post I saw Sam standing behind the cars that had been set up as a barrier. I went up to him and asked what was happening. "Can't tell. Just the smoke and noise." He pointed SouthWest, in the direction where St. Johns bridge was. Smoke and dust was rising into the sky. It was lit from below by the flickering orange light of flames and touched at the top by the pink light of the rising sun. Somewhere below the smoke the thunder had become clearer "It sounds like buildings collapsing, doesn't it?" I asked. "It's fire. Fire and collapsing buildings. They make a lot more noise than you would think." One of the guards answered my question. The noise from collapsing buildings grew nearer as the smoke spread. Mike and Terrance arrived at the same time as Stew. "It looks like it's going right into the area that the Cathedral Neighborhood group took over." Mike said. "Yea. Right towards Burr. Where Meagan's house is." I said. "I'm sure that they noticed something odd going on. Somehow I doubt she would get caught by whatever that is." Stew said as he motioned towards the pillar of smoke and dust rising into the air. "I'm not worried about her getting caught. Do you honestly think she would run away?" I asked. Stew looked uncomfortable and grunted. "Sam. I'm going to go take a look. I'll try not to get caught by whatever is knocking buildings down." I didn't bother looking around as I said it. "It might be better to wait until..." "I'm going. Meagan would do the same for us." I looked Sam in the eyes this time. He nodded, "Be careful then." I returned his nod and took off running. "Wait up Dave!" Mike called out from behind me. I slowed down so Mike, Stew, and Terrance could catch up. We ran towards Burr St. together. And that is when we started to hear the screams. We had made our way over to a cross street and started down it towards Burr. Curtains in nearly half the houses we passed were moving. Most of the rest had doors that had been kicked in. We were only a street away when I saw Marcus, Meagan's dad, helping a woman and a girl about fourteen years old away from the nearest source of noise and smoke. We stopped in front of them. "What's going on? Where's Meagan?" I asked. "Please, Meagan wouldn't listen. She went with Gilberto towards the monsters. She said they could handle it. Can you help her, please?" The woman had mascara running down her face as she asked her question. "She's been fighting with you hasn't she? Please. They headed down Willamette. Towards the monsters." I thought I saw tears in Marcus's eyes as he talked. "We'll do our best. Head over towards Lombard and Ida. Ask for Sam and tell him that Dave sent you. Try to answer his questions as well as you can." We ran down Burr and turned onto Willamette. We didn't have long until we saw a few more people running away. They passed us with wild looks in their eyes. Mike tried to tell them to head to the guardpost like I had told Marcus to do. They didn't slow at all. Flames lit up the area ahead of us where the main thoroughfare turned a sharp corner towards the intersection next to Safeway. The crackle of flames had hidden the noise of fighting until we turned the corner. Gilberto was throwing {Fireballs} at an ogres head and face followed by Meagan jumping in to smack it in the head. They hadn't done much damage but the fireballs coated it's head and blocked it's sight letting Meagan smack it with near impunity. I grabbed my hammer in both hands and ran at it. I jumped up to plant my foot on it's back and lifted myself high enough to deliver my new higher leveled [Shattering Blow] down on the top of it's head. I jumped away from it after my blow landed. A crack formed and it fell down to it's knees groaning. As it began to list over to one side Meagan shoved her spear into the crack and yanked to the side. Half it's head broke off and fell to the ground. ‡ You have defeated Lvl(10) Ogre +300XP ‡ "Are you guys OK?" I asked. Meagan was breathing heavily as she nodded. "Yes. I think that was the last one around. The others went towards the park. We saw what it had and... We had to try." Gilberto pointed towards something in the flickering shadow as he replied. I frowned and walked closer with Mike and Terrance. Inside a bus shelter was a group of people. A man, woman, and a younger kid lay twisted and broken on the ground. Terrance vomited on the side of the road while Mike walked away covering his face. Stew was staring into the smoke above us. "We hurt it at first. Then it did the rock thing and we couldn't do much. I'm glad you showed up." Gilberto said. "Just the one ogre? These three people?" I asked, testing. "There were others in the distance, all of them were carrying stuff. This one had these three." Meagan said. "OK. Gilberto can you give them a cremation. We need to get back to our area and tell Sam what's going on and we won't be able to carry them." "Come on. There's enough of us. It wouldn't be that hard..." Stew started. "We need to move and we can't count on all of these ogres having already returned to their lair. Gilberto please." I said. "Jeeze. That kid couldn't have been more than twelve. This shit is messed up." Stew started complaining to himself while Gilberto released a fireball that covered the bodies in flame. The heat was so intense that the bus stop melted and slumped towards the ground. Glass shattered as the metal twisted and deformed. "You're right Stew. This isn't OK. Let's go talk to Sam. We aren't going to let it go." I relaxed just a bit as we started back. No one had mentioned the half devoured infant under the pile of bodies.