We moved as a single unit toward the second-floor door. Nicholas took a deep breath, gripped his aluminum bat, and slowly pulled the heavy metal door open.
The hallway was filled with a thick, gray fog. The emergency lights were flashing red, casting long, rhythmic shadows against the lockers. Down the hall, three figures were huddled over something on the floor. The sound of wet tearing filled the silence.
[ENEMIES DETECTED: 3x SHAMBLERS (LVL 1)]
"Stay behind me," Nicholas whispered. His voice was shaking, but he stepped forward.
The monsters heard the scuff of his sneakers. They turned all at once. One of them was still wearing a "Volunteer" vest from the ceremony. It let out a raspy growl and lunged.
Nicholas didn't wait. He stepped into a perfect batting stance—shoulders square, eyes locked on the target. As the first zombie got within range, he swung with everything he had.
CLANG!
The sound of the aluminum bat hitting the creature's temple echoed like a bell. The zombie was thrown sideways, its head snapping back from the force. It slammed into a row of lockers and didn't get back up.
[EXP GAINED]
"One down!" Nicholas panted.
The other two monsters rushed him. They were faster than the first. One tried to grab his jersey, but Neveah darted forward and poked it hard in the chest with her hockey stick, pushing it back just enough.
"Finish it, Nick!" she yelled.
Nicholas swung again. A low, horizontal strike took the second zombie out at the knees. As it fell, he brought the bat down in a vertical "tomahawk" chop.
[CRITICAL HIT]
[LEVEL UP!]
A soft, golden light pulsed around Nicholas for a split second. He stood up straighter, and the exhaustion in his face seemed to vanish.
[NICHOLAS CHAVEZ: LEVEL 2 SLUGGER]
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: LINE DRIVE]
• Effect: Increases swing speed and guarantee a "Knockdown" on Level 1 enemies.
The last zombie hesitated, its milky eyes darting between us. Nicholas looked at the blue window in the air and grinned. He felt the surge of new strength in his arms.
"My turn," he said. He stepped forward and swung a lightning-fast "Line Drive." The bat moved so quickly I could barely see it. The hit was so loud it made my ears ring. The last monster was sent flying back five feet, landing in a heap near the bridge entrance.
[AREA CLEAR]
Nicholas lowered the bat, leaning on it as he caught his breath. "Whoa. I actually feel... stronger. Like I just had a protein shake or something."
I walked up and checked the hallway. "That's the System," I said, looking at his updated stats. "It's rewarding you for the combat. In psychology, we call it 'Positive Reinforcement,' but this is much more literal."
Neveah hurried to his side, checking a small scratch on his arm. "Are you okay? Did it touch you?"
"I'm fine, Nev. The bat kept them back," he reassured her.
I looked toward the end of the hall. The glass doors to the bridge were just ahead. Beyond the glass, I could see the Science Building.
"We need to move before more of them hear that noise," I said, gripping my thesis. "Nicholas, you're Level 2 now. You lead the way to the bridge."
"The bridge is a bad idea," I said, stopping them before they reached the glass doors. "It's a literal display case. If we run across that, every monster in the quad will see us. We'll be trapped in a tube with nowhere to go."
Neveah looked worriedly through the glass. "But the bridge is the only direct way. How else do we get in?"
"The air vents or the maintenance tunnels," I said, thinking back to the campus map I had memorized for a research project on environmental stressors. "There's a service crawlspace that connects the basement of the dorms to the Science Building's heating unit. It's cramped, but it's hidden."
We doubled back to a small, heavy gray door labeled MAINTENANCE. Nicholas pried it open with the end of his bat. We climbed down a short ladder into a narrow concrete tunnel filled with thick pipes.
As we moved through the dim, yellow light of the tunnel, a loud, mechanical whirring sound echoed from ahead. It was followed by the sound of metal grinding against bone.
"Wait," Neveah whispered, her heart skipping a beat. "I know that sound. That's a power tool."
We rounded a corner and found the basement workshop of the Science Building. In the center of the room, a tall guy in a grease-stained jumpsuit was holding a heavy-duty industrial floor buffer. But he hadn't just plugged it in; he had modified it. He had strapped jagged pieces of scrap metal and saw blades to the spinning base.
It was Grayson Adler.
He was swinging the heavy machine in a wide circle, the motor roaring. A zombie tried to lunged at him, but the spinning blades of the buffer caught it, sending the creature spinning across the room like a top.
"Grayson!" Neveah screamed.
The guy looked up, his face covered in soot and sweat. He kicked the power switch on the buffer, and the blades slowed down with a menacing hiss.
"Nev?" Grayson gasped, dropping the handle of his makeshift weapon. "I was trying to reach the dorms, but the tunnels were crawling with those things."
[PARTY MEMBER ADDED: GRAYSON ADLER]
[CLASS: COMBAT ENGINEER]
[LEVEL: 2]
[EQUIPMENT: THE "WHIRLWIND" BUFFER (MODIFIED)]
Type: Heavy / Area of Effect
Skill [Overclock]: Grayson can force the motor to spin at 200% speed for 10 seconds, but it might overheat.
"Nice 'science project,' Grayson," Nicholas said, looking at the spinning saw blades with a grin.
Grayson wiped his forehead and gripped the handle of his machine again. "I had to do something. The system kept telling me I lacked 'offensive capabilities.' I disagreed."
I looked at the group. We now had a Tactician, a Healer, a Slugger, and an Engineer.
"We're a full party now," I said, my psychology brain already calculating our survival odds. They were much higher than ten minutes ago. "Grayson, we need the clinic on the first floor. Can your buffer clear a path through the lobby?"
Grayson looked at the heavy metal door leading upstairs. "This thing eats through concrete. It'll eat through zombies just fine."