North Avenue next to the Bank of America Plaza, SoNo, Downtown, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Thursday, October 31st, 18:25

"You can't leave my luggage behind!" Gucci Karen whined. "There's important stuff in there!"

"There's no room inside!" Sara shouted back. "We came here to rescue people, not designer clothes!"

"We could strap the luggage on the roof," someone suggested.

"Why don't we go on a convoy?" Another person said.

"We are not making a convoy!" Hainsworth declared firmly to end the argument. "Sara will have a hard time defending a single vehicle, if you want to drive your own car, then you'll be on your own!"

"Dammit, Hainsworth! Get everyone on the bus! We don't have time for this! The sun is setting!" Sara desperately pointed out.

"Are you afraid of the dark? Gucci Karen drawled. "Poor thing."

"Shut up, bitch!" The girl saw red and shrieked as she approached GK. "You have no idea of what is going on! The world where you were some bigshot rich lady is FUCKING OVER!" Sara shout-spat right in the woman's face. "The dead are coming and they will get their pound of flesh out of all of you unless we get the fuck out of here!"

The woman raised a hand to slap Sara. The girl dodged the hand with ridiculous ease, then jumped on the bus roof in a single bound.

"I swear to... that if these people give me any more grief, I'm gone. Good luck with All Hallows Eve and the undead, suckers. Hainsworth, declare martial law, draft these idiots, or do some shit to put these civilians in their place."

"I'm not going without my luggage!" Gucci Karen demanded.

"Then fucking stay behind and die to whatever hell-spawn finds you first, woman. Or go back to your shit tower. I don't care. Goodness, why did I agree to come. Oh, right. To rescue Princess Cupcake!"

There's always a princess, a fairy, and a hero. But this time, things were a bit skewed, to say the least.

"Sara, we..."

Sara flipped back to the ground. "Okay, you'll get your luggage. Hey, everyone, I need to do some renovations to the bus!" She climbed inside and drew her knife. People already in the bus moved away, clearing some room. Pulling on the emergency exit lever next to the window, she said with a grin, "I always wanted to do this," she pulled and the steel cord woven into the window frame cut the rubber keeping the window attached to the frame. She pulled, pushed and the window fell down on the street.

Then she infused her knife, and cut the bolts holding the bench in place. she hoisted the bench and threw it into the parking lot on the other side through the hole in the side where a window formerly sat. Then the next bench.

"Sara," Hainsworth's voice came from behind her. "Take only eight benches out. That'll be enough room."

They finally got every person, piece of luggage, and pet into the bus. Ted, apparently Cupcake's boyfriend would drive wearing a bulletproof vest, and Hainsworth wanted to go lying down on the roof with the Barret ready to improve the ventilation on any building with hostiles.

"Use the radio's earpiece," Hainsworth told Sara. "We're going to use a two-way channel for real-time communications. This way we can react against threats as they happen."

"What?"

He showed his own ear. "It's on the back of the unit, you can detach it, it's Bluetooth paired at the factory."

She opened her belt pouch and checked the back of her radio. Then she clicked her tongue. "This shit is too big for my delicate girly ears, Major. It was designed for six feet soldiers with elephant lobes." She was irritated and flighty. Her cantankerous nature was in full bloom and she was against everything on principle. Even an earpiece.

"Give it here, I'll adjust it for you."

Sara rumbled a growl. Hainsworth fiddled with some ratcheting mechanism causing some clicks to be heard and shrinking the earpiece loop. It fit snugly against Sara's ear.

"Microphone has a sound filter to pick up only your voice. We'll calibrate it now, speak something," he pressed a button on the main unit. "Now."

"I fucking regret coming to this mission because honestly the people here do not deserve to be rescued, not even Princess Cupcake why did the bitch have to scream when she looked at me, what the fuck is wrong with that woman? Is this enough?"

Hainsworth sighed deeply. "Yes, thanks for sharing your honest thoughts." His voice came from both the air and the earpiece with a tiny delay.

"I'm not a duplicitous person, Major. All aboard. The freight straight to hell is about to depart!"

*

*

North Avenue intersection with Somerset Terrace, Poncey-Highland, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Thursday, October 31st, 18:55

The world ended at rush hour. And the day ended ten minutes ago. The bus was stuck in the intersection, too many crashed cars to be a coincidence. They appear to be deliberately moved to make a barricade.

Sara infused her spear, slashed the support column of the SUV, then the roof, the support column on the other side, and flipped the vehicle on its side. Finally, she slashed the chassis, splitting the bulky car in two, then in four pieces. She then boosted Prowess and tossed each part onto the grass.

"Why is she doing that?" Martha asked through the window. "Wouldn't it be easier to just push and drag the cars?"

The major on the roof pressed mute on his earpiece.

"Let her. She needs to burn some energy, vent some of her anger," Hainsworth replied, then glared down at his daughter. "I wonder whose fault is it for her being so angry."

He scuttled to the side of the roof while Martha sat on the window hole so they could talk with some privacy. It would take some time for Sara to clear the blockade. The bus couldn't go any further because the avenue crossed a freeway two blocks ahead.

They had already strayed east too much. The place they crossed on foot was already almost a mile to the southwest.

Martha wilted a bit. "Dad, she's not human," she whispered.

The Major suppressed his first reaction to deny that, and asked, "Why do you say that?" He had his suspicions too. Why only Sara displayed those powers? Who were her mysterious backers?

"No, never mind, just forget what I said," Martha waved a dismissive hand. Then she grumbled to herself, "why hasn't the bell rang today yet?"

Automatic gunshots ratcheted away the silence. A woman inside the bus screamed. Ted misstepped on the gas then floored the brakes, causing the bus to lurch. Outside, Sara flinched with the shots.

"She's dead!" A man shouted.

Hainsworth unmuted his radio, "Sara!"

"I'm fine!" She replied. "Get your civilians to safety, we got Tangos ahead."

True to her word, Sara did a backflip with the spear shaft across her stomach. She then kicked the road and ran out in the open, shouting taunting jeers that had no place in a lady's mouth as she ran toward the suppressing fire.

"Bloody hell!" Someone gawked.

Sara spoke on the radio, "I'll keep their attention on me. Abby, how many? It takes three to tango."

True to their MO, the terrorists were in the apartment building on the right side of the narrow street. Two of them were shooting with AR-15 rifles from windows on the third floor. Sara dashed through the hail of bullets, then flipped a parked car to get some cover and crouched behind it. The terrorists kept shooting the car.

With her infused spear, she cut pieces of the curb, then dropped the weapon, and took one triangular piece of concrete. She walked out, took aim, and tossed it. She took six shots but one of the Terrorists went down with a smashed skull. She took another and threw. The guy ducked and avoided the flying brick, but then the Barret popped behind her. Hainsworth shot through the wall underneath the window.

The third guy started to run deeper into the apartment building, judging by the outline. Ducking quickly to retrieve her spear, Sara leapt with her spear extended and crashed through a window on the second floor. She ran inside the apartment, slicing the hinges off the front door with an infused slash, pulling the door out to run after the escaping terrorist.

She caught up with him on the staircase. It was dark inside and his flashlight bobbed too much to see anything of him but the outline Abby drew. Sara threw her spear, striking his spine right below the neck. The terrorist fell down but didn't die. Sara drew her gun and shot him in the head, ending his suffering.

She felt the burgers clamoring for freedom inside her stomach. Cannibals and rapists, cannibals and rapists, cannibals and rapists, she kept repeating to herself.

> The MP spent in the last hour was replenished.

> You gained 2 points of Skill Boost.

Skill Points were getting expensive if she needed three kills to gain two of them. But Abby replaced her spent MP, so it might be fine.

Heeding Abby’s warning, Sara ran back the way she came.

*

*

North Avenue intersection with Somerset Terrace, Poncey-Highland, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Thursday, October 31st, 19:20

The people on the bus were screaming out of sheer horror. They were using flashlights to see inside the bus, and someone decided to illuminate in the direction of the highway. A horde of about thirty ghouls was shambling toward the bus, and after the first warning shout, every light shone in that direction, causing a panic.

"DON'T SHOOT!" Hainsworth shouted from the roof. "You shoot, you die!"

"Dad, do something!" Martha cried.

The Major issued instructions firmly and slowly, "Stay inside the bus and remain calm. Get away from the opening and any windows."

Easier said than done. The bus was crowded. Perhaps Sara should've removed all benches and let people sit on their luggage, Hainsworth thought.

But every survivor in the bus had seen at least one person try to shoot the ghouls and how they ended. Nobody drew a firearm to fight against the undead. But that didn't help with the feelings of powerlessness.

Sara ran up the street, jumped on the half-cleared car barricade, then jumped on the bus. "I'm here," she told Hainsworth. "Stay put, I'm going to deal with these."

That would raise the minimum cost of killing each ghoul to 11 MP and would preclude using Boost on anything else. With a sigh, Sara jumped down onto the avenue and charged with her spear. The flashlights illuminated her from behind.

The first thing she noticed was that these ghouls had glowing red eyes. They were walking upright with more coordination than the dried husks she fought before. Also, they seemed faster than usual. Glad that she had a weapon with a long reach, she infused the spear and stabbed.

The lead ghoul dodged. She then slashed down and cut a gash through the undead's torso. Mana flushed from the spear into the undead, ending—

Abby warned.

The ghoul ducked, dashed, and countered with a clawed hand dripping with venom. Its countenance was malignant and angry, and the glowing eyes were trained on Sara.

She also noticed that none of them called her name. These corrupted ghouls didn't seek the salvation she could offer. They just wanted her lifeblood and Mana.

Her spear was discharged so she had to infuse it again. Mana poured into the weapon and she slid her hand up the shaft to fight in close quarters, then stabbed its neck.

> You recovered 17 MP.

She was fighting at a loss unless she could deliver strikes to vital spots.

A ghoul approached from the side. Sara reeled backward. The crowd approached, some moving around to circle and entrap her. Definitely intelligent.

"I'm shooting their legs," Hainsworth voice came over the radio as the Barret fired and blew the undead's left ankle and caused a spray of asphalt dust and debris to burst forth. The undead fell on the ground, still trying to claw Sara.

"Yeah, but just the legs," Sara replied as she infused and stabbed another ghoul's head.

"Keep the lights steady," he shouted to the bus passengers.

Hainsworth aimed and shot at two other ghouls while Sara dispatched another three. She was basically working for free because Abby was focusing on replenishing the spent MP. This wouldn't be the first fight of the night, and she needed the magical endurance. This time, even with her maxed Skills, she wouldn't dare try to crush hearts like before.

Two ghouls came at her at once, and she was struck across the right arm. The venom started to necrotize her skin. Hainsworth shot one of their legs off. Panicking, she withdrew.

"What the hell?" She cursed, her arm burning as it became numb.

Sara glanced at the highway. The situation was getting untenable. "More undead incoming. We'll be overwhelmed!" She shouted.

Hainsworth replied, "I see them. Ted, spin us around. We need to go back the way we came!"

The bus lurched forward as a panicking Ted got the gear and pedals all wrong. Then it went backward, accelerating too fast. It climbed on the sidewalk and backed-up on a parked car, pushing it into the store through the glass windows. People on the bus shouted and screamed as they were shaken around like matches in a matchbox. A few got landslided by free-moving luggage.

"My bad!" Ted hollered and moved the bus forward. The rear bumper, however, remained stuck to the other car, detaching with a loud screech.

A loud sound that drew the attention of several undead to the shining vehicle full of juicy people crammed with a month worth of Mana. Said people screamed as they saw the undead quickly approaching, running, not shambling or walking, and against their best judgment, a panicking woman drew a pistol and burst the head of a ghoul.

With her right arm on fire, Sara still dispatched another three ghouls at the rear of the chasing pack before she heard the gunshot. She watched with wide eyes as a wraith climbed out of the now dead undead corpse. Nothing like the previous ones. It was gaunt and skeletal, wearing a frayed black cloak and with sharp fingers stretching to the length of Roman gladii.

Martha stared straight at the floating spectral undead, screaming her brains out.

"Sara!" Instead of going against its killer, the wraith focused on the girl as it called her name with unbridled malice and a wicked grin.

From that night forward, the tutorial had ended. The true nightmare had begun.

The training wheels had come out on the Apocalypse.

*

*

North Avenue intersection with Somerset Terrace, Poncey-Highland, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Thursday, October 31st, 19:40

The wraith swooped in, intending to claim Sara's life. The girl slashed with her infused spear, and the allegedly spectral undead parried the blow with its sword-fingers. The other oversized hand came down on her. She ducked and spun the spear around as she shifted her grip, bringing the butt to bear upon the wraith's diffuse lower half. The Mana discharged and the undead dissipated.

"Fucking hell, they are too strong. What idiot shot the ghoul? Why are you letting fucking civilians shoot?"

"I didn't. What happened? Nobody died in here," Hainsworth asked, then shot another leg off.

"Someone blew a ghoul's head but the wraith came on me instead of seeking vengeance. They're getting smarter!"

"I'm okay!" The culprit, the delirious and frightened woman who shot the ghoul said. "They can't kill us!"

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

On the roof of the bus, Hainsworth shouted as loud as he would. On the street dozens of yards away, Sara winced.

The panicking survivors didn't care. Emboldened by the success of the woman who shot the ghouls and didn't die, they hastily threw the windows open then emptied their magazines on the ghouls.

Ted picked that moment to finally find first gear and floored it, causing the bus tires to screech as it turned back on North Avenue and caught speed, almost tipping on its side.

"Sara!" Hainsworth called.

"Fucking hell!" She replied.

"Sara!"

"Sara!

"Sa~ra? Come out and play!" One of the wraiths lilted.

"Sara, welcome!"

"Sara, please die!"

A slew of newborn wraiths was out for blood. The only living creature nearby, Sara, considered her life choices.

*

*

North Avenue intersection with Somerset Terrace, Poncey-Highland, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Thursday, October 31st, 19:40

Only the lights from the stars remained to keep the girl company as the runaway bus became a tiny dot in the distance. No moon whatsoever, it had set right after the Sun.

"The fuckers left me behind!" Sara complained.

The radio was getting some static now.

"Turn around! Turn around!" Hainsworth shouted over the radio. "Turn around, dammit. We will not abandon her! Sara!"

The signal was weakening fast. Despite using an encrypted channel with factory-coded asymmetric keys exclusive to each set of devices, the tactical radio wasn't intended for long-range communications out of information security and battery life concerns.

"Fucking hell, Hainsworth. You're on your own," Sara cursed, then heard only garbled words over static, then nothing.

Despite the bus having more people, Sara still had confidence in her System Skills. Despite then being granted by a fucking gaslighting alien parasite. But she couldn't mope or throw a hissing fit. The wraiths hadn't given her some room or time to have a heartwarming farewell conversation. While she cursed on the radio, Sara also dodged and struck against the airborne undead while she ran away from their pedestrian flesh-bound brethren.

The terrain was against her, the lighting was horrible, and the floating undead phased through cars and debris while she had to jump, stumble, trip, and pray.

Of course, riding the bus and accommodating the refugees' requests to take their luggage was a terrible idea. Sara was so out of her game trying to cope with murder that she took the easy route and caved in. The girl decided the fight wasn't worth it and bolted, let the wraiths be someone else's problem. She ran down Somerset Terrace, south and homebound. Now she was on the run, hunted by a horde of intelligent undead.

She was getting out of breath, just because every nerve in her body was flaring up. And the poison in her arm was spreading. She feared soon she would lose mobility in that arm.

Abby suggested.

"What the hell? Couldn't you have said that before?" She replied while running down some other street she didn't know the name.

"Dude, it's too good to be true. What the fuck are you talking about?"

Sara paused and looked behind her. She didn't need light to see the incorporeal undead and the ghouls were still too slow as compared to her enhanced speed that could make Olympic athletes feel geriatric. She wasn't being chased. She stopped and jumped on the rooftop of a four-floor apartment building. She looked around, trying to find her bearings.

*

*

Ensley Street, Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Thursday, October 31st, 20:00

Sara turned off the lights out of fear of attracting the wrong kind of attention and getting shot. She had to navigate with only starlight and her enhanced body's senses. She was back to the Old Fourth Ward but too far to the east. Which, in her case, wasn't that bad. She needed to go to Panthersville and Stonecrest Lake, after all.

"Abby, do you know where on the map the Sky Pencil is?"

"Can you outline it in my vision? Not too bright, just a light gray rectangle."

Soon a gray rectangle, smaller than a real pencil appeared. Then a blue oval next and below it, probably representing the lake.

The girl jumped down from the building, and then mixed dashes and jumps as she made her way out of Atlanta and into the suburbs. The undead-infested John Lewis parkway had a concrete roof which was intact probably due to the transformation and skewed spatial conditions of the highways. Thick cables from the nearby tower were spread around it, cold and inert from a month without power. She easily crossed one of the major danger zones by jumping and running on the roof.

Then the Universe said, "fuck you, Sara," as it rang the bell.

**************

DOOOOOOOM!

**************

"WHY NOW?" Sara cried as she came to a full stop on the roof of an apartment complex.

Abby complained, her voice denoting a lot of concern.

That remark irritated her in no small amount. "What the fuck, are these on a schedule? Why haven't you – EEK!"

Every hair in her body rose as a wave of Mana washed over her from behind. It felt ancient, dark, foreboding, and with a sense of utmost finality. She felt her feet unresponding, numb, glued to the roof. Slowly, Sara turned around.

There, barely illuminated, was a tall and gaunt figure. It was wearing some kind of threadbare dark robes that went all the way to the highway roof and covered their head with a hood. They held some implement in their hands, a long shaft with some bulging at the top. She couldn't tell what it was but she already had a hunch who was there.

She heard the sound of bones rattling as the entity moved. "Greetings, Sara." Their voice was deep and gravely, without emotion or haste.

Hunch my ass, she was certain what that thing was.

"Oh, fuck no!" Sara tittered. Were it not for her Composure, she would be a quivering mess of fear and existential dread. She could still feel it, the Skill just kept it from overwhelming her reason. "No, no, no. Stay away from me! Don't fuck with me!"

Her spear made a metallic noise as it clattered on the rooftop. She had no mind to pick it up.

Why had this entity come for her? Why? She was too young to... meet that.

Sara cursed her legs, cursed her mortality. Maybe she should have used the feather back on the balcony and claimed the power of her bloodline to herself. Maybe she would be flying away right now. But the feather was in her bedroom along with her important things.

"I waited for a long time to meet you," the entity spoke, then chuckled, "But not to have intercourse."

"I know what you want from me. I refuse. Stay away! Shoo, shoo!" She Managed to walk backward a couple steps.

"Do you really, Sara?"

The entity reached out with an arm. The sleeve moved back and revealed a skeletal hand. Not a single shred of flesh, skin, or even sinew on it. The pearly white bones seemed to glow under starlight.

That was the trigger for Sara to finally find the strength to run. And run she did. Like she never had before. The girl leaped off the building's roof, crashed into a tree but was already cracking the branch she landed on as she pushed it with all her might to bound away. Next, she crashed on a house's roof, scraping the shingles off to reveal the thermal insulator beneath. The girl scrambled back on her feet and dove down on the backyard, running in a beeline across the suburbs, through fences, kicking benches, eyes focused on the rectangle that meant home.

She had to get away from that entity. The Mana they emitted reeked of... death and oblivion.