By the time Pierce woke up from his nap, the sun had already begun its slow descent toward the horizon.
For several seconds, he stared blankly at the ceiling, his mind still hazy from sleep. Then the memories returned. His father. His mother. The backyard. The graves.
Noah slowly sat up.
The living room was quiet. The curtains had been drawn, leaving only thin strips of orange light creeping through the gaps.
Across the room, Levy sat near one of the boarded windows, his back against the wall and his scissors resting loosely in his hand.
"Finally awake."
Pierce rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "How long were we out?"
"About three hours."
Noah nodded and pushed himself from the couch. His body felt noticeably lighter than it had before they went to sleep.
The aches that had settled into his muscles after everything they'd been through had faded considerably, and the short rest had done wonders for his physical exhaustion.
His mind, however, was another matter.
As he walked into the kitchen, his eyes briefly passed over the backyard through a crack in the boarded windows.
He could still see the old tree.
The freshly turned earth beneath it.
Noah quickly looked away.
His stomach growled.
He opened his backpack and pulled out the snacks he had planned to munch on during classes, handing Levy a granola bar and keeping one for himself before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
They ate quietly at the kitchen table, neither of them making any attempt to fill the silence.
The silence wasn't uncomfortable; there just wasn't anything that needed to be said.
Once he finished eating, Noah leaned back in his chair and stared toward the boarded windows. The groans outside had grown more frequent as evening approached, drifting through the quiet neighborhood from several different directions.
His thoughts returned to the System.
EXP. Levels. Attribute Points. Power.
If killing walkers made him stronger, then there was no reason to sit around while they continued wandering outside.
Noah stood and reached for the spear he had brought down with him.
"I'm heading back out."
Levy looked up from the table, crumpling up the wrapper.
"To do what?"
"Get stronger."
Levy studied him for a few moments. He clearly understood there was more behind Noah's answer than the simple desire to gain EXP, but he wasn't gonna be the one to press him about it.
Instead, he stood and reached for his own weapon—a kitchen knife he found in the drawer.
"I'm coming."
Noah gave a small nod.
He checked the locks throughout the house before opening the front door. The cool evening air greeted them immediately, carrying the faint scent of rain that still lingered from earlier.
The sun hung low above the rooftops, bathing the neighborhood in shades of orange and crimson. Under different circumstances, it might have been beautiful.
Instead, walkers wandered through the streets. His once peaceful, untouched streets.
Several of them turned toward the sound of the door opening.
Noah stepped onto the lawn with his bag slung over his back and tightened the grip on his spear.
The first walker lurched toward him.
He met it halfway.
His spear drove through its skull with enough force to send the corpse stumbling backward before collapsing onto the pavement.
Noah tore the weapon free and immediately turned toward the second, sweeping the blade across its neck before it could reach him.
The third approached from his blind side, but Levy stepped in and drove his scissors into its temple.
The walker crumpled.
Noah looked down at the bodies for only a moment before turning his attention to the street where more walkers staggered around aimlessly.
"Come on."
Levy followed without complaint.
For the next several minutes, Noah moved through the neighborhood with a single purpose. He stopped avoiding walkers and began searching for them instead, crossing streets and cutting through yards whenever he spotted another group.
At first, the fights were simple. A few walkers here, several more there. Noah's increased Strength made every swing of his spear considerably more powerful than before, while his enhanced Agility allowed him to move around the slow-moving creatures with an ease that would have been impossible only hours earlier.
But Noah wasn't fighting with the same careful efficiency he'd shown inside the school.
He was angry.
Every walker he killed brought the memory of his father back into his mind—the image of that familiar face twisted by decay. The wedding ring still wrapped around a rotting finger—the sound of his father's final groan.
So Noah kept moving, trying to bury the memories beneath the mountain of corpses left in his wake.
He drove his spear through another skull, ripped it free, and immediately turned toward the next.
A walker reached for him, and he stepped aside before burying the spearhead beneath its jaw. Another stumbled toward him from across a driveway, and Noah closed the distance before it could get within arm's reach.
The translucent notification that appeared afterward barely registered.
〔+5 EXP〕
He kept going.
Levy eventually noticed.
"You're going to burn yourself out fighting like that."
Noah didn't stop walking.
"I'm fine."
"You've been saying that for the last twenty minutes."
Noah's gaze settled on another group farther down the street.
"Then I'll say it for another twenty."
Levy sighed but didn't argue, following behind him.
The walkers continued to come, drawn toward the sounds of combat. Some wandered out from side streets, while others emerged from houses with doors hanging open. Noah fought each one that crossed his path, sometimes chasing down the stragglers who tried to wander away.
As the minutes passed, the fights began to feel different.
It wasn't because the walkers were becoming stronger or appearing in overwhelming numbers. Noah was exhausting himself.
He swung harder than necessary, putting his entire body behind each strike instead of relying on the controlled movements he'd developed earlier. When a walker stumbled out of reach, he pursued it rather than letting it come to him. When two approached from different directions, he charged between them instead of waiting for a better opening.
Levy noticed the change but stayed close, stepping in whenever Noah's recklessness created an opening.
"You don't have to chase every one of them," he said after Noah walked down another walker that had wandered across a driveway.
Noah didn't answer.
He caught up to it and drove his spear through its skull before tearing the weapon free and turning toward the next.
His breathing was becoming heavier now.
Not enough to slow him down.
At least not yet.
Each breath came a little deeper than the last, and the muscles in his arms were beginning to ache beneath the repeated strain. The anger keeping him moving was starting to compete with the exhaustion settling into his body.
Still, Noah pressed on.
Another walker fell.
Then another.
His movements remained fast and powerful, but the precision he'd shown earlier was beginning to slip. His swings grew wider, his footwork less deliberate, forcing Levy to compensate whenever Noah left himself exposed.
"You're going to wear yourself out before we even get back."
The answer came quicker this time. "I'm fine."
He wasn't.
Levy frowned but said nothing.
Noah turned toward another walker.
He raised his spear, drew back, and swung.
The blade struck cleanly, decapitating the walker.
Noah stood over the corpse for a moment, breathing through his nose as his chest rose and fell beneath his clothes.
Then another notification appeared.
〔Level Up!〕
Noah stared at the translucent message, realizing he had reached Level 4.
He summoned his Status Screen and stared at the numbers hovering before him.
〔Status〕
Name: Noah Fowler
Level: 4 (5/800 EXP)
Title: Pioneer
Strength: 20
Agility: 15
Constitution: 15
Intelligence: 8
Magic Power: 10
Fixed Stats:
Luck: 6
Willpower: 7
Attribute Points: 7
Talents: Spearmanship
Abilities: Synthesis
Weapon: Steel-Tip Spear
Noah stared at the screen for several seconds, but the satisfaction he'd expected never came. Seven Attribute Points couldn't bring his parents back. They couldn't undo what had happened at school or erase the graves waiting beneath the tree.
Still, they were something.
He dismissed the screen and looked toward Levy.
"How much did you get?"
Levy glanced at his own Status Screen before answering. "Not enough to keep up with you."
A faint smile tugged at Noah's lips, if for a moment.
His attention shifted toward a larger group gathering farther down the street. Several dozen walkers were slowly converging on their position, drawn by the sounds of the fighting.
Levy followed his gaze.
"You planning on fighting those too?"
Noah considered it for a moment before shaking his head, coming to his senses.
"We've got what we came for."
His gaze shifted in the opposite direction of the oncoming group. "I know a convenience store sitting on the corner just a couple minutes away."
Levy nodded—anything to take a break away from the endless slaughter.
"Lead the way."
They began moving toward the store, leaving the growing horde behind them.
By the time they reached the building, the last rays of sunlight were disappearing beyond the rooftops.
Levy glanced at Noah. "When you said it was a couple minutes away, I didn't actually expect it to be a couple minutes away?"
Noah's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know," Levy said, kicking a loose piece of stone. "I was totally expecting it to be: it's down the street, but it's like a five-minute drive or something."
"Ohh, I know what you mean." Noah let out a soft chuckle. "A friend of mine pulled that shit all the dang time."
Levy laughed, "Tell me about it."
As they shared a much-needed laugh, a white, one-story building came into view as they turned the corner.
From the outside, the convenience store appeared relatively untouched. The windows were intact, the shelves inside still seemed to be stocked, and there were no obvious signs that anyone had already looted the place.
Noah slowed as they approached.
"We'll have to go around back."
"The bell?"
Noah nodded. "If those doors still work, we're going to announce ourselves to everything within earshot distance."
They circled around the building until they found the employee entrance behind a row of dumpsters. Noah tested the handle.
Locked.
He tightened his grip and pulled.
The old lock resisted for a moment before giving with a sharp metallic snap.
Noah slowly pushed the door open and listened.
Nothing.
He stepped inside, keeping his spear raised as he examined the narrow hallway beyond. Levy followed him and quietly pulled the door shut behind them.
The building was dark and eerily silent.
"No walkers," Noah whispered.
They checked the back room before cautiously moving deeper into the store.
Once they were certain the area was clear, they split up.
"I'll take the pharmacy aisle," Noah said.
"Then I'll grab the food."
They moved through the aisles carefully, checking every corner before proceeding. Noah gathered anything he thought might prove useful: painkillers, bandages, gauze, disinfectant, hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment, and cold medicine.
Levy worked through the food aisles, prioritizing items that could survive without refrigeration. Canned tuna, beans, soup, vegetables, instant rice, noodles, energy bars, and bottled water disappeared into their bags.
Neither of them spoke much while they worked. It was easier than thinking about what waited outside.
A few minutes later, they met near the registers with their bags nearly full.
Levy looked down at the supplies they'd collected and let out a quiet breath.
"This should keep us going for a while."
Noah nodded.
He glanced toward the front windows.
More walkers had begun wandering through the streets outside. Their silhouettes passed occasionally beneath the dim evening light, their movements slow and aimless.
"We shouldn't stay here much longer."
Levy adjusted the straps of his backpack.
"Agreed."
They made one final sweep of the store before returning to the employee entrance.
Noah quietly pulled the door open.
The darkening neighborhood waited outside.
This time, neither of them lingered.
They slipped into the street and disappeared into the evening.