Dawn broke slowly over the dead city, and Devon hadn’t moved from his post all night. He had spent the whole time watching the zombie auras shuffle aimlessly, marveling at how much detail he could now see with his enhanced Death Sight range. The skill was absolutely amazing.Before, the auras were just blurry blobs of color and intensity. Now, he could clearly see individual movements and almost perfectly sense the strength of every single creature just looking at its unique signature.The regular zombies glowed with a dull black gray. The giants, when they occasionally moved into his range far to the west, burned with an intense darkness threaded with almost neon green.Raline stirred right beside him as the sunlight grew stronger. She blinked herself awake, yawned, then looked at her brother with serious concern.“Did you get any sleep at all?”“A little,” Devon lied smoothly. “You were low key hogging all the blanket though.”She gave his arm a light punch. “Liar. You pulled watch

Devon moved through the dead city with a fluid grace he had never possessed before. His B Rank body flet like a perfectly tuned machine, every step was precise, every move was clean and efficient. Bony easily kept pace beside him, the skeletal horse’s hooves making barely a sound on the cracked asphalt.His Death Sight painted the world in layers of information. Regular zombies looked like dull gray black blobs. Any living creatures — like a few rats, birds — showed up as tiny bright sparks of orange light. And far to the west, those three massive giants flowed like dark beacons.Devon counted roughly thirty zombie auras within a five block radius. That was enough to test his skills properly.“Stay back and watch,” he told Bony. “Only jump in if things get bad.”The skeletal horse snorted and went up onto a raised parking deck where it could get a clear view of everything.Devon approached the first group consisting of five zombies awkwardly staggering near a tree. He wanted to start w

They left through the service door, moving fast through the deep shadows of the early morning. Devon’s Death Sight showed the city like a glowing three dimensional map, with every single zombie aura clearly visible within a kilometer radius.The three giants were still hanging out on the western side of the city, roughly around eight hundred meters from where Devon was right now. He definitely needed to get closer, but not too close. Two hundred meters would be ideal. Close enough to observe, far enough to bail if things went sideways.Devon and Bony moved carefully through the ruins, taking a zigzag path to avoid zombie groups. His enhanced agility made climbing over the rubble was trivial, and Bony’s undead grace let the skeletal horse easily keep pace right alongside him.About twenty minutes later, they reached a half collapsed parking building that gave them a good vantage point. Devon climbed to the third level while Bony waited below.From this height, he had a clear view of th

“What kind of something?” Williams barked.“I don’t know! It was… it was just watching me in the shadows!”Devon focused on the storage area. At first, he saw nothing unusual. Then, in the far corner behind some stacked boxes, he caught a faint flicker of something. An aura so incredibly faint it was barely visible.It wasn’t the dull black gray of the zombies, or the bright orange red of the living humans. This was something completely in between.“Everyone stay back,” Devon ordered, drawing Caldemor in one smooth motion.“What is it?” Lee asked, her rifle aimed at the storage door.“I’ll find out.”Devon approached slowly, his enhanced senses on high alert. The ghostly aura wasn’t moving, it was just there.He reached the stacked boxes and peered cautiously around them.A child stood there, staring back at him.Devon froze completely. The child looked maybe eight years old, wearing rags covered in dirt and dried blood. But the most disturbing part was the child’s eyes. It was totall

They climbed back down to the main floor.“I won’t let you down,” Devon suddenly said quietly.“You better not. If you fail, we’re all dead anyway.”*******Back inside, Lee was drilling some of the civilians in basic spear techniques, on how to hold the line, and how to thrust without exposing themselves. Raline was teaching first aid basics, showing everyone how to put on tourniquets and pack up bad cuts.Devon found Bony chilling in their usual corner, the skeletal horse was relaxing but still on alert. He sat down next to it, gently petting its bony face.“Two more days, then everything goes to hell,” he whispered. Bony clacked its jaw softly.Devon checked his cooldown. It would refresh in around six hours. Once it did, he would have his full arsenal ready.“Devon!”He looked up to see Raline rushing over, her face flushed with excitement.“I found something in the pharmacy records. Medical files from before the city was moved.”“What kind of files?”She held up a folder. “Patien