A whole month passed.
Not all at once.
It passed in little bits.
One dangerous road at a time. One night locked behind doors. One morning spent checking if the street outside was safe to walk.
And then somewhere down the line, people stopped counting the days.
Lagos was changing.
And Adams noticed it as he walked down a street which would have been unforgiving to cross just a matter of weeks ago.
A pair of men worked together, ropes slung around a wrecked vehicle as they attempted to remove it from the road. Someone had pushed open the shutters on a small provision store nearby, offering up bottled water and canned food behind a metal barrier.
A generator coughed to life somewhere down the street.
Adams kept walking.
Riven was beside him, a bag of monster materials cradled in his arms. Elena walked on the other side.
"Careful," Riven said.
Adams peered ahead.
A monster wriggled free from around the side of an abandoned bus.
Smaller than the ones they had been fighting at the start of their journey.
Adams drew out Gravemarsh.
The beast lunged.
He sidestepped and slashed upwards.
The weapon passed through the creature’s neck.
It landed on the ground and Adams drew the blade across its hide before sheathing it again.
Riven crouched and pried the core free.
"Another one."
"You want it?" Riven asked.
"Obviously."
Elena sighed.
"You’re going to fill that whole bag."
"That’s the plan."
They kept walking.
A month ago, each fight had felt like an emergency.
Now they had started to get into a rhythm.
Not an easy one.
Routine.
They had learned the difference between dangerous and safe streets. Between safe and cleared buildings. Between what noises meant a monster was nearby and what ones meant the area had already been purged.
Sometimes it took them hours before they saw a single monster. Sometimes they came across nests and spent half a day emptying them.
They had lost things along the way.
Gained others.
Adams had gotten stronger. So had the others.
He opened his status while walking.
> [Name: Adams Albert]
[Level: 24]
[Class: None]
[Strength: 31]
[Agility: 35]
[Vitality: 31]
[Intelligence: 25]
[Spirit: 27]
[Soul: ERROR]
He closed it again.
Riven gave him a sidelong glance.
"You checking again?"
"No."
"You definitely checked."
Adams ignored him.
Riven smiled and kept walking.
They had changed too.
Riven’s equipment no longer looked like the work of a man fumbling around trying to survive the apocalypse in the middle of an experiment.
His work had more refinement, and the materials he gathered from the monsters were being turned into weapons, armor and tools.
Some of them had already been sold off to other survivors.
Elena had become busier as well.
Everywhere they went, it seemed, a settlement had someone injured.
Sometimes it was monsters. Sometimes it was regular human injuries like a broken leg or a festering cut.
Her hands rarely got a rest.
And people were starting to take notice.
Not because they knew her name.
Because word had gotten out.
A woman who could heal.
That was all it took.
They reached the end of the street and a military vehicle rolled past them.
Adams watched it go down the road before disappearing around the corner.
Military patrols were becoming more common.
Not everywhere.
But enough that radio towers were coming back online and phones worked in specific parts of the city.
Messages could be passed on more.
The silence which had clung to Lagos for the first few days was dissipating.
And a radio crackled from an open shop.
"...communication has been restored with several regional centers. Residents are advised to remain within secured areas wherever possible. Government personnel are continuing—"
The broadcast broke up.
Noise filled the shop before the sound of the transmission kicking back in again.
"...reports continue to come in from Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. Similar incidents have been confirmed outside Nigeria."
Riven stopped walking.
Adams cast a glance over his shoulder.
The broadcast continued.
"International communication remains limited, but contact has been established with several foreign authorities. Further information will be released when—"
The radio cut out.
Nobody said anything.
They already knew enough.
Whatever had happened to their city hadn’t just stopped at the border.
Adams kept walking.
Riven followed. Then so did Elena.
There was still plenty of work to be done.
But for once since it had all started, it didn’t really seem endless.
Humanity was pushing forward again.
Two weeks ago, a road had been too dangerous to use
Now, trucks were passing through it.
A week ago, people had been sleeping inside a shopping complex.
Now, some of the shops were open again.
Buildings had lights on at night. People were working on generators. Collecting water. Growing food in any space they could find.
The world hadn’t gone back to how it had been.
But it had stopped being broken.
That evening, Adams, Riven and Elena stopped inside an abandoned office building.
Riven dropped his bag down on the floor.
"I hate stairs."
"You’ve been complaining about stairs for three weeks," Elena said.
"Because stairs haven’t improved."
Adams sat beside the window.
Outside, a military truck trundled down the street.
Another one followed after it, and a group of civilians walked along the pavement, bags in their arms.
No one was running. Screaming. It was like looking at an ordinary day.
Then something crashed in the distance and everyone looked up.
A few seconds passed.
Nothing came.
Riven heaved a sigh of relief.
"Probably someone dropped something."
Adams looked outside again.
"Probably."
He had learned not to automatically assume something was wrong.
The night settled over the city and for once they didn’t have to fight as they slept.
Elsewhere in Lagos, someone was running.
Mira’s footsteps pounded against the pavement as she looked back over her shoulder. Three military vehicles were pulling through the street behind her.
She turned sharply into an alley and a burst of gunfire impacted the wall beside her.
Mira raised one hand and a spell flared at the back of her.
The blast sent debris flying through the alley, forcing the soldiers to slow down.
She kept running.
Her breathing was getting heavier.
She turned left. Then right. Another street. Another alley. Footsteps followed.
She pushed herself forward.
The alley ahead was narrowing.
Mira pushed herself out into an enclosed courtyard.
She stopped.
A wall stood directly in front of her.
Dead end.
She turned around and soldiers were already coming in from both sides.
More poured in from behind.
Rifles came up.
Mira slowly backed towards the wall.
An officer took a step forwards.
"Miss Mira, under the order of the Grand Marshal, you are under arrest."
Mira stared at him.
For a moment, the only sound was the breathing of the two of them.
Then she wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
"Bullshit."
Her eyes darkened.
"You just want a scapegoat."
The soldiers tensed their grip on their weapons.
Mira raised her hand.
And the air around her began to waver.