“So let me get this straight. You guys live in a decrepit mining town surrounded by half-rotted birds and bloodsucking wolves, and you want us to move there?” Shana, a particularly vocal Veilstrider from Treetop Village asked as she trudged beside Buttercup.

  “Yeah! It sounds bad, but it’s actually pretty awesome. It feels like the set of a horror movie.” Hannah bubbled

  “You’d be a horrible real estate agent. The trial is bad enough already, and I’m not trying to LARP as the first victim.” Shana blanched.

  “It’s not that bad. We’ve been working hard to fix it up. Built a big wall that our friends Harvey and Elena are magically reinforcing as we speak. Julian built some cots to sleep on, so we’re not all on the ground anymore.” Hannah encouraged.

  “Our outpost wasn’t anything fancy, but it sounds a lot nicer than your place,” Shana grumbled.

  “Yeah, I agree. I don’t know why the System gave you guys a nice, safe treetop village to live in when our outpost was already home to a few dozen Zombies.” Julian commented.

  “There are zombies!” Shana shrieked.

  “Not anymore. We killed them all!” Hannah cheered.

  Hannah knew it sounded strange, but she was trying to keep everyone’s spirits up. Even she would’ve thought she had a few screws loose before the integration, but sometimes it took a little cartoon crazy to convince people their lives had really changed. Every survivor she met was still clinging to the hope that there would be some safe haven just around the corner. Hope was good, but not when it made people pretend the world could be just like it used to.

  They’d walked through the living forest for days, constantly fighting off whatever new brand of hungry beast wanted to turn them into lunch. None of the survivors from Treetop Village had a single skill, so Hannah took it upon herself to try to incapacitate the beasts before letting the group finish the kill. Some were too strong not to go all out against, but a single kill was usually enough for multiple levels for the women. They’d grown from mostly level 3s and 4s to all being around level 10, and they couldn’t wait to finally reach another outpost and craft their first skills.

  They set up a campfire each night, sharing ideas for their class skills and debating what types of professions would be best. Hannah reminded them to choose something related to their old life and personality, but more fantastical options quickly drowned out any basic ideas she provided. She couldn’t really blame them. Her mind was racing about what to do with her own new skills.

  Days of killing monsters from Buttercup’s back had gained them both a lot of levels. She’d reached level 23 in her class and 20 in her profession, meaning she had one class and two profession skills waiting for her at the Loom. Her fighting style had changed a lot with Buttercup, and he'd basically become a mobile turret for her these days. He was fast and nimble, able to dodge around enemies and get her into advantageous positions while all she had to focus on was hitting her shots. With her strongest skill requiring 10 hits in a row, having a second set of legs to keep her mobile was a lifesaver.

  Hey Buttercup? How do you feel about a skill that uses your antlers as a shield? Hannah thought to the buck below her.

  I like shields. Anything that keeps me from getting hurt sounds great. The buck thought back through their telepathic link. Even though they spoke through a mental connection, he still had a voice in her head. He sounded like an excited child, constantly amazed at the world around them while still being afraid of the dark.

  Good. I have two, so I think I’ll aim for a shield skill and something that helps you move quickly without jostling me around so much. She continued.

  Ok! Sorry I make you miss sometimes. It’s hard to stand still with sharp teeth running at me. He apologized.

  You don’t have to apologize for anything, sweetie. You always do a great job! Hannah reassured.

  The buck had leveled all the way up to 19. When he hit level 10, he’d gained the ability to store ambient essence in his antlers. It didn’t do much in combat, but it increased the density of essence around him, helping their troupe recover faster while slightly increasing his own leveling speed. The days of getting an easy level just for ignoring one of Harvey’s stupid ideas were gone, but the boost helped supplement the boatloads of food Hannah had to feed him to maintain a strong leveling speed.

  “Is that… a hotel?” Julian asked, breaking her train of thought.

  She scanned the forest ahead and saw what he meant. Cutting above the trees, she saw what looked like a modern hotel, complete with curtained windows facing out towards the forest. She channeled essence into her Essence Hawk skill, and the bird appeared on her shoulder.

  Go check it out. She commanded, a single flap of its wings sending it soaring towards the building. In moments, she felt the telltale signs of dozens of essence abilities being used recently.

  “There’s Veilstriders.” She confirmed.

  It only took a few minutes for the group to reach a clearing where a wall of tree trunks, similar to the one surrounding Veils End, ringed the massive building. Just like their little frontier town, it was like a chunk of the real world had been ripped away and plopped in the middle of the forest, with a clear line where the trees gave way to a parking lot.

  “Hello? Anyone here?” Hannah called out, looking for a gate.

  “What’s the password!” A male voice shouted back.

  “We don’t know. We’re from another Outpost and came looking for more survivors!” Hannah replied.

  “You… you are? Um, just a second. John!” The voice shouted as they heard footsteps running away from the wall.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He sounded young, probably close to her age. It only took a minute before she heard a small group walking towards the wall.

  “You say you’re from another outpost? What does your Race say on the Status Screen?” A deeper voice called out.

  “A Veilstrider,” Julian replied. “We’re all from Earth. My name’s Julian Romano, and I used to be a firefighter in California.

  They heard the sound of wood scraping just around the corner, an unseen gate sliding open. An older man nearing his early 50s, wearing leather armor, strode out, his jaw dropping when he saw the man standing beside Buttercup.

  “It’s really you.” The man gasped.

  “Cap?” Julian hesitated. “You died too?”

  “Trying to save you! You had just gone back in to find the father when his wife told me there was a boat in the garage with a full gas tank. I rushed in after you to tell you to jump down into the pool instead of taking the stairs when the damn thing exploded!” The man laughed, running over to pull Julian into a hug.

  “So that’s what that explosion was! I’m sorry that warning me got you into this mess.” Julian laughed.

  “Nonsense. We all knew the risks when we signed up.” He chuckled.

  “You guys worked together?” Hannah asked, bewildered.

  “Yeah! He was the Captain of our company ever since I started at the station! John, this is Hannah. We’ve been together since day 1, and picked up the rest of the group at another outpost a few days east of here.”

  “Nice to meet you all. Everyone, come in. We can get you settled. It looks like you haven’t had a good shower in days.” John asserted.

  “You guys have showers here?” Shana rejoiced.

  “Yep! Showers, pools, a fitness center. It’s still a hotel, though, so the gym isn’t anything special.” John answered.

  “This place rocks.” Shana laughed.

  “Do you have a Loom?” Hannah asked.

  “Of course! I can bring you to it once you’ve all washed up. We’ve still got plenty of empty rooms for everyone. We'll just need to grab some keys from the front desk.” John smiled.

  They walked through the parking lot, marveling as the glass sliding doors silently opened at their approach. The tiled floor was clean, and Hannah had to stop Buttercup from eating the hedges lining the outside wall.

  “Is that air conditioning? And carpet! Oh my god, guys. There’s carpet!” Shana squealed.

  “This isn’t what your outpost is like?” John asked after signalling a teenage Veilstrider behind the front desk to grab a batch of room keys.

  “Not even close.” Julian groaned. “Their outpost was a city of treehouses.”

  “That doesn’t sound too bad,” John questioned.

  “Ours is an old zombie-infested mining town,” Hannah grumbled.

  “Oof. That’s not great. Well, you’re here now. That’s all that matters.” John smiled. The young man returned with a handful of keys on rings, each with a tag displaying a different room number. Grabbing one, John turned to address the group.

  “Now we don’t have enough rooms for everyone to get their own, so I’ll have to ask that you find at least one other person to share with. I know it’s not ideal, but we all have to make sacrifices.” He announced.

  “Make sacrifices?” Hannah whispered to Julian. “They’re basically on vacation! How did we not see this place during the vision?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the System only lets us see the closest outpost, so we wouldn’t all die searching for the comfy hotel.” He replied.

  “Julian,” John called. “Why don’t you guys take some time to rest, and we’ll meet for dinner in an hour? We put the mirror in the restaurant down the hall, so you can buy your food and join me at a table.”

  “Sounds good, Cap. We’ll go find our room.” Julian agreed.

  “Our?” John asked, holding two keys in his hand. “You haven’t moved on from Elizabeth already, have you?”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. Why did everyone assume she was trying to snake her way into Julian’s bed? They were friends trying to survive the apocalypse together. This wasn’t about high school relationship drama. It was about getting everyone home to their families.

  “What? Of course not!” Julian blanched, his body tensing as he sensed her annoyance.

  “Good. We may still make it home, and I’d hate to see your family broken by all this.” John smiled, handing Julian the key in his left hand. “I’ll give you a room with two queens then. Hannah, I notice that the Buck you were riding is standing in our lobby. I’m not saying the hotel’s no pet policy still matters, but do you think you could leave him outside?”

  “He’s my bonded beast. It’s part of my Profession, it lets me talk to him telepathically, so you don’t have to worry about him destroying the place. I’ll make sure he’s good.” She assured.

  “Even so, let’s leave him outside. Ok?” John continued.

  Anger flared up in her heart, but a comforting hand on her shoulder calmed her down. She hid the emotion before politely asking Buttercup to wait outside. He didn’t care, since there was plenty of landscaping for him to snack on. She’d stopped him from ruining at first, but was happy to let him run wild if they were going to treat him like a wild animal.

  They said their goodbyes and headed for the elevators. The key was for room #1342, so they pushed the button for the 13th floor and marveled as they ascended.

  “It’s barely been a week, but this already feels so foreign to me.” Julian laughed.

  “I know. I can’t believe a place like this even exists. We’re in the middle of a murder forest and somehow there’s running water?” Hannah asked.

  They found their room, swung open the heavy door, and stared at the magnificent forest out the window. Pristine greenery stretched for miles until it met the infinite wall of darkness that cut the trial ground into one continuous band. It looked beautiful from up here, and Hannah almost forgot all the dangers lurking below.

  Something about the quiet rumble of the A/C unit and the faint smell of bleach from the sheets nearly broke something in her brain. It was all so normal, but she knew the world was anything but. The tracks in the carpet left by her own muddy boots were evidence enough of that.

  “You want to shower first?” Julian asked.

  “Why don’t we just shower together? Everyone we meet assumes I’m your little girlfriend.” She mocked. It was exhausting having to explain to every person they met that she had stuck with Julian out of friendship, not some lust for power. He was the strongest man they knew, so everyone assumed she was trying to ride his coattails.

  “Who cares. We know the truth, and that’s all that matters.” Julian comforted.

  “I’m just tired of everyone underestimating me.” She cursed.

  “As you should be! You’re stronger than I am!” Julian laughed.

  “And don’t you ever forget it, pretty boy.” She chuckled. He couldn’t work on his profession out in the wilderness, so he’d slowly fallen behind despite having already reached level 25 in his class. He’d gotten a notification saying he’d reached the limit of the G grade and assumed he’d be stuck until they got back to Veils End, but found that his race level still increased despite his profession stagnating.

  Stepping into the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her blonde and bone-white hair had turned almost brown after being constantly covered in mud, blood, and dirt. It was knotted and disheveled, and matched the general disarray of the rest of her body. For the first time since the trial began, she stripped away her clothes and enjoyed a warm shower.

  Steam fogged the glass shower door as she basked in the scalding water. It was hot enough to be uncomfortable, but she’d been wandering out in the cold for so long she didn’t care. Tears of joy joined the water streaming down her face as she pumped the cheap hotel shampoo into her palm, the scent reminiscent of citrus and vanilla.

  Were they really going to leave this all behind and head back to Veils End?