Chapter 6

• The crash woke everyone.
• I was already moving before I’d even fully opened my eyes, bat in hand. Ash was right behind me, crossbow loaded, his face tight.
• Reese’s voice was already cutting through the panic. “Get to positions! Now!”
• I sprinted toward the source of the noise… the east wall.
• A gap the size of my arm had opened in the barricade, a jagged hole letting in the night air. The pounding on the other side was frantic, desperate.
• Anna was clutching Eli near the far wall, wide-eyed. Mark was trying to help board up the hole, but his hands shook so badly he could barely hold a plank steady.
• “Move!” I barked, grabbing the wood from him and slamming it into place. The impact made my shoulder scream, but I ignored it.
• From outside, I heard the first moan.
• Then another.
• Then dozens.
• The system chimed in my vision:
• > Emergency Mission: Reinforce breach before swarm reaches safehouse.
• Time limit: 3 minutes.
• Reward: +200 SP, +1 MP.
• Failure: Safehouse overrun.
• “Reese!” I shouted. “I need two people here, now!”
• Her glare could’ve cut glass, but she waved over two men. “Help him!”
• They grabbed planks, and together we hammered, shoving the boards into place as the pounding grew louder.
• Ash called from the west side. “We’ve got movement here too!”
• Shit.
• I didn’t stop hammering until the boards were solid, then spun toward Ash. “Hold them off!”
• By the time I reached him, three infected had managed to push halfway through a cracked window.
• I swung. The first went down hard. The second grabbed my sleeve, nails tearing fabric. I smashed its skull into the wall, then kicked the body back outside.
• Ash’s bolt dropped the third.
• We barely had time to breathe before another crash echoed through the room. This one from the north wall.
• “They’re surrounding us,” I said.
• “No kidding,” Ash replied, reloading.
• The attack lasted almost twenty minutes. By the time it was over, the safehouse smelled like blood, sweat, and splintered wood.
• We’d held them back. Barely.
• I dropped onto a crate, my arms heavy, my lungs burning.
• The system’s voice echoed:
• > Mission Complete: Reinforce breach before swarm reaches safehouse.
• +200 SP, +1 MP.
• I glanced around. Lily was crying quietly in the corner. Mark was pale, sitting against the wall with his head in his hands. Reese was pacing, eyes sharp, looking at me like I was the problem.
• And that’s when she said it.
• “This is happening because you opened the door yesterday.”
• I straightened slowly. “Excuse me?”
• “You brought in more mouths to feed, more people to protect. Now we’ve got more noise, more heat, and more risk. And tonight, it almost cost us all.”
• Her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. People were shifting, glancing between us.
• The system chimed again:
• > Passive Objective: Maintain control of safehouse leadership.
• Failure will result in -2 Charisma and loss of influence.
• I stepped toward her. “We were attacked because this city is crawling with the dead, Reese. Not because two people needed saving.”
• “You think you’re the only one here who wants to save people? The difference is, I know when it’s too late.”
• The silence that followed was heavy.
• I could feel the eyes on me, weighing, deciding if I was worth following or if Reese’s way made more sense.
• I forced my voice steady. “If you want to survive what’s coming, you’d better start thinking beyond the next five minutes. This safehouse won’t hold forever. The swarm is coming, and when it does, you’ll wish you had more people capable of fighting instead of fewer.”
• Reese folded her arms. “So what’s your big plan, hero? March us all into the street and hope for the best?”
• “I plan to be ready before the swarm hits. Which means we need supplies. Weapons. Stronger defenses. Or… we leave.”
• That word leave made the room stir.
• Anna’s eyes locked on me. “Leave? Where?”
• “Somewhere that’s not a giant beacon for every infected in a three-mile radius,” I said.
• Reese snorted. “Yeah, because running around out there’s real safe.”
• Ash stepped in before I could fire back. “She’s not wrong, but neither is he. Staying here forever isn’t an option. And we won’t make it out there without preparation.”
• We broke into groups, one to reinforce the barricades, one to take stock of supplies.
• I took Ash and Mark to check the storage room and the smell was too much. Something in here had gone bad.
• We found the source; two sacks of potatoes in the corner, black and mushy.
• “Half this food’s going to spoil in days,” Ash said.
• “Which means we’re low already,” I replied. “Enough for maybe three days if we ration.”
• The system dropped another notification:
• > New Mission: Secure a week’s worth of food before the swarm arrives.
• Time limit: 48 hours.
• Reward: +400 SP, +3 MP.
• Failure: Severe morale loss and increased risk of desertion.
• I didn’t need the system to tell me what low morale looked like, I could see it already. People were scared, hungry and angry.
• And angry people made bad decisions.
• *************
• I didn’t sleep much.
• Every sound outside made my grip tighten on the bat. Every creak in the building made me think of the boards giving way.
• Around 3 a.m., I heard movement in the storage room. I slipped over silently and pushed the door open.
• Lily froze mid-step, a can of beans in her hands.
• She looked at me, guilt written all over her face. “I… I was just hungry.”
• Her voice was small.
• I took the can from her gently. “You’re not the only one. But if we don’t make this last, none of us will be around to be hungry.”
• Tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t want to die.”
• “Then help us make sure you don’t.”
• ********
• By morning, the decision was made.
• I stood in the middle of the garage, everyone watching. “We’ve got forty-eight hours before the big swarm. We either fortify this place enough to hold… or we get the hell out.”
• Reese crossed her arms. “And who decides?”
• I met her stare. “We all do. But understand this… if you stay, and the swarm hits, I’m not coming back for you.”
• Murmurs rippled through the room. Anna held Eli tighter. Mark kept his eyes on the floor.
• The system chimed, giving me my answer before they did:
• > Branching Objective: Choose your path — Fortify or Evacuate.
• Once chosen, the timeline cannot be reversed.