I woke up when the wind battered the windows so hard that my sleep-addled mind thought there had been an explosion. I fumbled around looking for my phone for almost a minute before I remembered where I was and why I couldn’t find it. Ah, shit. It was the morning of day three, and the apocalypse was still here.
Everything that'd happened up until that point hit me in a wave, and I instinctively curled up into a ball. Marc. Estelle, George… even my parents. Shit, so many people I'd grown up with, all dead. I tried to ignore it, but the bodies of the dead were everywhere out there on the streets. Hidden in cubbies where they tried to take cover from the monsters, or out in the streets where they were caught by them.
Oh god, the man who almost died last night… and the storm. The bird had flown in, and if the blizzard was anything to go by, decided to roost nearby.
I was still exhausted after the night. I spent the whole time making shields while the wind and snow hammered the school. I could still see the process for the shields in my sleep. Build a diamond frame of wood. Take a still warm armoured plate from April, who'd hammered holes into them. Nail the plates to the frame. Flip the frame over, nail the heavy rope hand hold into place. Done. Next shield.
By the time we stopped, it was supposedly early morning. Thanks to the storm, you couldn't tell. At least there were enough soft objects to sleep on now. The scavenger parties had done impressive work last night, considering their time limit.
They'd taken every mattress, every blanket, and every pillow from the surrounding houses. Personally, I had a small sofa for myself, while most of my friends had a mattress of some kind.
Sitting up, I looked around the classroom. I was alone, but the room had all the signs of my friends having slept there last night. The windows were covered with sheets too, probably in an attempt to insulate them from the sudden blizzard outside.
When I pushed the blankets off myself, the chill settled over me in their place. I shuddered and hugged myself, like that would keep the air from plundering my body for its warmth. A smell hit me as I shivered. Ew, oh god, was that my body odour? Why was it so… different? I needed a wash and a change of underwear.
I had one extra set of clothing, which I grabbed and quickly swapped into before I made my way to the bathroom down the hall. A bucket of chill water and a bar of soap was there. Cringing at the cold, I undressed and dipped my hands in the water. I washed what I could of my body, as fast as humanly possible, then hurried to get dressed again.
Once I was freshened up and a little more awake, I headed down towards the cafeteria. I was hungry as hell.
Idly, I wondered if that routine would ever feel like, well, a routine. It was clear the world wasn't returning to normal. So, assuming us Edgewood survivors kept our shit together and we weren't killed by the blizzard or monsters… well, mornings like these would probably become the norm.
Approaching the cafeteria, I saw a pair of fighters with tooth-axes and my makeshift shields. They each gave me a grateful smile, and one held up his shield, pointing to a fresh gouge in the metal. "Life saver, literally."
Giving them a shy smile and a wave, I ducked into the cafeteria. It was pretty empty… except for the large number of children who were causing chaos on the far side of the room.
Giving them a wide berth, I grabbed some toast and a bowl of cereal, then sat down to eat. The toast was, I realised, a little out of place. It was properly baked bread. The ovens shouldn't be working, though. How did they…? Right, the old fashioned way, with actual fire in an oven. Wild.
I was halfway through my breakfast when Ollie slid into the seat beside me. "Hey, it's the crafting hero!"
“Ollie!” I gasped, dropping my spoon so I could hug her tightly. “You're okay!”
Giggling, she returned the hug excitedly. “Yeah! The healers had me all patched up by this morning. I actually went out with the crew!”
I blinked. “You went out? You’re back already? What… what time is it?”
She laughed at my tired, dazed expression and said, “About one in the afternoon, I think?”
"God, that's late," I groaned. "The shields were helpful, though?"
"Hell yeah!" She smiled, and patted at her back where, indeed, one of my shields was slung. "Not my favourite thing to carry around, but it beats having your leg gored."
"I was actually going to try and make armour but… I'm not good enough for that yet," I said, lifting my spoon to start eating again. "Things seem calm right now, too. Is everything okay with Edgewood?"
"Yeah, things are okay. The scavenger groups have done some good work. Most people are way more comfortable now, and we have extra food. The blizzard is getting worse. Oh and there's a group that went down the hill towards Riddlebank who haven't come back, which has the cap and his folks worried," she explained.
Riddlebank was a suburb down the hill. It hugged one side of the river and was mostly newer, whereas Edgewood used to be its own town before the city grew and swallowed everything. It was why we still had a main street, actually.
Ollie lit up like she'd remembered something and blurted, "Oh right. I meant to tell you. So you probably don't know but people have figured out the new system a bit more."
I raised an eyebrow and gestured with my spoon for her to continue.
"Some folks got to level six, and guess what?" She said with her characteristic enthusiasm. When I didn't answer because my mouth was full, she barrelled onward. "They got access to choose a new class ability. No orbs needed. Oh and also some people realised that your level actually incrementally increases your stats according to where you've distributed any orbs you've gotten — like a multiplier or something."
Swallowing a spoonful of cereal, I asked, "Can you explain that last part more? What's the equation there?"
Ollie grimaced and blew out a long breath. “Uh. So actual numbers aren't known, but using Strength as an example, it's like, your body's base muscle strength, plus your level, times the number of orbs you have allocated to Strength. Except the multiplier is only like, one point zero one, or whatever.”
Nodding, I filed the information away for later. I’d spent the last few days running around trying to deal with one crisis after another. I hadn't actually taken the time to explore the new system that the Storm had forced on us.
I was on the cusp of level five right now, so maybe it would be worth going out to kill some monsters, help clear out the area.
"Buuuuut," Ollie said, drawing out the word. "Some of the people with non-combat classes realised something when they went out with the scav groups. Killing shit, or even just helping to kill shit, gives way faster experience than crafting. We have a few cooks who are level six now! This one suburban mom can actually boil water by looking at it. Just actual water, though. She tried it on a monster and nothing happened."
Wait, crafting gave experience? Why didn't I know that? Had I just not noticed when I got experience that way, or was there something about my situation that made it so I could only gain experience as Silver? When I concentrated, I could feel that my Tinker class was level four, same as my Fallen Angel class. Weird. I'd need to do some research when I had time.
Ollie, oblivious to my internal thoughts, continued, "So we were thinking, what if we take you out and grind some levels for you? You're super important for the community. Maybe you'll level up enough to make armour!"
Ohhh no… this was a problem. If I could only level up as Silver, and my friends took me out as Kai… it would be a complete waste of time. How could I even begin to explain things and keep my identity as Silver a secret. Fuuuuuck.
"Um… I think… like, the armour thing is more of a knowledge problem…" I mumbled, completely unconvincing even to myself.
She pouted. "Come on. It'll be fun, and helpful too."
"I'll think about it," I hedged, while trying desperately to think of a way around this problem. I needed to change the subject… "So the blizzard, is it getting bad?"
She gave me a look that said she knew I was deflecting, but she answered my question anyway. "Sorta. The wind has mostly died down, and the snow is stopping and starting. The real problem is the cold."
"It's fucking freezing,” I agreed, although it wasn't actually cold enough to see your breath in the cafeteria or our shared room.
She leaned forward, nodding while she murmured. “It's not just the cold. Since the blizzard has calmed today, the cap sent folks out further. They came back saying they swear there were things out there."
I felt a chill creep down my spime that had nothing to do with the cold. "What things?"
"Nobody got a clear look, but they reckon the things skitter," she said, way too excitedly. "Isn't that creepy?"
"Ollie," I groaned, shuddering as my brain conjured all sorts of nightmarish monsters. "Why is it that every time you say the word ‘creepy,’ it sounds like you really mean ‘cool’."
She threw her head back and laughed, “Oh my god. Okay. Yeah, you got me. I do like spooky shit.”
I rolled my eyes, and did my best to scowl at her. “I will never forgive you for making us all watch The Conjuring.”
Giggling, she nudged my shoulder with hers, "You're such a precious bean."
"Totally. I'm just a delicate little flower," I joked, fluttering my eyelashes.
She laughed again, but slowly, her expression shifted into confusion. Her eyes traced down my cheeks, then over the rest of me. "Actually, though. Why do you look… what's different? Why do you feel different?"
Ohfuckshitcrap. She'd noticed my vanished facial hair.
Running my fingers down my cheeks like I was feeling my stubble, I tried to shrug it off, "Oh, yeah… I found a razor."
"I mean yeah, but…" she coughed and leaned in, deadly serious now. "Dude… have you noticed any weird changes with your body?"
I looked down. “U-um… what do you mean?”
She shifted, suddenly looking uncomfortable. Her eyes darted around for a second, then she leaned in. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course.”
"Okay. Um… here, just look," she whispered and pulled up the sleeve on her jumper.
What the… I leaned in, peering at her arm like I was trying to decipher an ancient text. On the back of her forearm was this strange pattern of raised dark blotches. The pattern was a sort of repeating delta formation with the point of the V's facing her wrist.
"What the heck," I muttered, and reached out. Pausing, I glanced up for permission and she nodded. When I touched them, they were hard but with a small layer of skin and fat between them and the open air.
"Spikes, maybe?" I guessed after a moment. "For defence? Have they been getting bigger?"
"Yup," she said softly.
She looked anxious. Crap. Okay, if she was going to share this with me, then the least I could do is help her feel a little less alone.
Putting my hand over hers, I squeezed. "Okay, yeah. I've noticed my body is different. All my thicker body hair is gone. No chest hair, no facial hair, and minimal leg and arm hair. It's weird."
"I'm not alone. Thank fuck," she muttered, closing her eyes in relief. "Dude, I'm scared. Are we turning into monsters?"
"No," I replied instantly. "I doubt it. Did you know there's normal animals out there with special abilities now? I saw a squirrel with chameleon-like abilities. Maybe it's like… our classes are giving us a few physical things as well as our abilities?"
"I hope so," she sighed. "It's scary. At least you just look a little girly. I'm growing monster spikes on my arms."
Girly. I looked… a little girly…
I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. Missing body hair, bumping my hip, getting called soft, or told that I had twink energy…
Surely not. I wasn't turning into Silver, was I? It was supposed to be a binary transformation thing — one to the other. If it wasn't that, though… what the hell was I turning into?
"I mean that in a nice way!" Ollie blurted, interrupting my spiralling. "It's cute. Are you shorter too? I don't have to look up quite so far anymore."
Shorter? Oh no.
My face fell into my hands. "Not helping, Olivia."
"Oi!" She laughed. "If you call me that, then I'm calling you Kaiden… no! Kaia! Because you look girly!"
I froze, and warm and fuzzy butterflies exploded in my gut like a grenade. How did she… did she know? No, she'd have said something. Did she just… jump to the same name that I had?
This was too much. I needed to leave. Grabbing my tray, I stood up. "Ha ha. I'm going to go see what's happening at the workshop…"
Her joking expression fell. "Oh, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry…"
"Nah," I said with a false smile and a shrug. "It's fine. I started it anyway. Sorry for calling you by the other name…"
She followed me when I handed my tray in. "Oh, I don't actually hate my name. It's just that everyone calls me Ollie so much it takes me a second to register Olivia. Plus, it makes people laugh when I complain."
"Alright… drama averted then," I said with a shaky but real smile. "Want to come see the workshop?"
“Sure,” she said, standing up.
Okay. It was very clear that she was still much shorter than me. I didn't point it out, though, and went to deliver my dishes back to the kitchen.