Richard didn’t know how to check the food in the oven, but it proved a great distraction. He grabbed a board, doing his best to ease the pan out of the oven to check if it was done.

  They weren’t. It took him longer to figure out how to check the pan of food, but it seemed like Fang was content to think through the brief conversation he and Richard had. Richard, therefore, was perfectly fine struggling with the food and easing it back in the oven.

  He brushed off his hands as Fang approached him. Richard did everything he could not to stiffen in anticipation.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just scared,” Fang said.

  “Don’t apologize. We’re in the middle of an apocalypse. If you weren’t scared, I’d be worried.”

  “I know, but some people channel their fear to do what you and Leylah did last night. Rush after the monsters with a sword and help everyone. All I did was… drop. And curl into a ball.”

  “You want to be a farmer?” Richard asked.

  “Yeah. That’s all I ever want to do now. I do not want to take a single step outside the fence. If anyone saw what I did, they wouldn’t want me outside either. I’ll drop and be useless.”

  Richard watched the flames under the oven flicker. “There’s nothing wrong with being a farmer.”

  “Isn’t it a coward’s choice?” Fang asked.

  “There are no coward choices in an apocalypse.” Richard was repeating what Dmitri had said. He didn’t care. It was comforting, and Fang needed comfort. In fact… “Dmitri is a farmer. No one calls him a coward.”

  Fang glanced at Richard, surprised. “Really?”

  “Yes. Really. It’s a brave choice to choose a class that means…” Richard sighed, staring at the fire. “That means you will see so much death.”

  Fang let out a sigh, then folded his arms. “I… suppose you’re right.”

  “Survivor’s guilt is a hell of a thing.” Richard mulled over his own thoughts about last night. “I guess that, too, is something we’ll have to live with in an apocalypse.”

  The pop of the fire and sizzle of roasting veggies filled the silence. Fang was no doubt still thinking about what Richard had told him, and Richard felt inadequate and hoped his copy and pasted words helped Fang out.

  Richard pulled the pan out, smiling. “It’s ready.”

  It wasn’t ready. The potatoes could have been in there another few minutes at least, but Fang was starving.

  Fang took fistfuls of food into his mouth, chewing as he glanced at Richard. “Do you want some?”

  “No, I…” Richard trailed off, then pulled up his skill tree. He remembered Lucy’s sharp instructions how it would be better to wait until dinner. After all, his healing had gone from basic to advanced today, and he could now heal two wounds. His hunger could move from basic to advanced, but…

  But then he wouldn’t be able to share a meal with Fang. A meal where they could ignore the future for at least five minutes.

  Richard sat across from Fang, pulling a plate to him. “Yeah, I’m famished.”

  They devoured the food. Richard thought it would take ten minutes. It was more like three. Once he started, he didn’t realize how hungry he was. He wasn’t sure if that was part of the ability, or just plain adrenaline numbing his hunger cues.

  When they finished, Fang figured out how to get the sink working so they could wash the dishes.

  “Thank you,” Fang said.

  “It’s… all good. You needed a break.” Richard felt himself relax a bit. If Fang was thanking him, then maybe that meant the conversation went well. He certainly felt like he was just throwing out inspirational quotes and hoping they would stick.

  “I think you’re going to be a leader, if not the leader,” Fang said.

  Richard’s brows furrowed. “Um… no thanks.”

  “No? Why not?”

  Richard took the pan Fang washed and dried it off. “I’m no leader.”

  Fang laughed, then shook his head. “You’re clearly the leader of this little group of newbies.”

  “What? How? What makes you think that?” Richard tried not to sound offended, but he hated the idea of him being in a leadership position.

  “We all sort of agreed you were when you talked to Lucy the first day without being afraid. That’s real leadership material.”

  Richard couldn’t help it and burst out laughing. He seriously thought Fang was pulling his leg, but when Fang made no motion to correct himself, Richard kept laughing.

  “There’s no way my ability to talk to Lucy gives me leadership qualities,” Richard said.

  “It does, though.”

  “She’s a woman who lets people know how she wants to be treated upfront. Sure, there’s probably a story behind it all, but for now, the best course of action is to be nice.” Richard sighed. “Honestly, that’s solid advice for anything.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Fang elbowed him. “Another leadership quality, no?”

  “Stop.” Richard slid the dried-off pan into the cupboards. “Seriously. I was nice to Lucy. Leylah was the one who sprinted after splicers. I officially crown Leylah the leader of the newbies.”

  Fang shrugged. “If you say so.”

  Richard shot him a glare, but he wasn’t too mad. He thought again about Leylah, how easy it was for her to pull out a sword and throw herself into danger. She was more than ready to be in an apocalypse, and the rest of them were trying to catch up.

  Richard and Fang walked out of the mess hall right as some farmers entered it, no doubt those on dinner duty. Fang watched them go with sadness in his eyes.

  “I’m… sorry. I might have lasted,” Fang said.

  “No, you wouldn’t have. Believe me, Fang. You were not in a good state. Thank you for coming to me.”

  “Thank you for being willing to help.”

  Richard nodded. He was more relieved that Fang considered what he did help. Of course he wanted to help Fang, but those intense feelings of wanting to run away were hard to ignore.

  They noticed that a larger group of people were by the hole. They made progress in fixing it, but Richard could see they needed help. Richard slowed his steps, then glanced at Fang.

  Fang stared at the gaping hole and the forest not that far from the gate. “I’m going back to the farmlands.”

  Richard nodded. Fang returned to the soil and plants while Richard moved toward the opening. They were slowly but surely patching the hole. Richard guessed they would want to finish by nightfall.

  “Need any help?” Richard asked.

  The yes was resounding. Richard dove in, trying not to feel jealous of other people who could carry three or four blocks. Richard stuck with his one, and he was straining every time. Eventually he would grow in levels, but for now, he did what he could with what he had.

  This work was time-consuming. He knew they weren’t racing the sun, because those globs of light were bright. No doubt they were racing to get this all done before the darker, more nocturnal creatures in the forest woke up.

  Once again, Richard found himself alone with his thoughts. No one wanted to talk; they only focused on filling in the hole. Timick, Kali, and a few farmers were mixing a concoction together before soaking the stone blocks in it. It must be some sort of protection potion. Richard didn’t want to know what that demon tree monster was if it could destroy the gates before. Hopefully, there wasn’t another one in the forest. That was a bleak thought.

  Richard instead forced himself to think of something else. He was going up a ladder, placing his one stone, and feeling like he was in the way of people who could carry more stones. He was doing something, though.

  Richard’s mind wandered to the strange time anomaly. If it was supposed to be a skill, he wished it had happened before half the survivors died. Then again, maybe not. What could he have done if he had traveled back in time and started yesterday over again? Warn people? Maybe they wouldn’t think he was crazy. After all, he was placing a stone block on the wall that was magically protected by these people, one of whom was a centaur. This strange time anomaly shouldn’t be that weird.

  Yet he still didn’t dare mention it. Even if there were a way to go back in time to warn everyone… what good would it have done? This was clearly a massive attack, one they barely survived. And what if he went back in time to the start of the attack? He was assuming he’d have a good hour or two to warn people, but that might not be the case.

  Despite the randomness of the time anomaly, Richard was glad it hadn’t been triggered. He didn’t want to experience that again.

  They finished the wall an hour after someone threw the light potion. Richard ignored dinner completely, saying he got an early dinner when others asked. He would rather keep working on fixing the hole than the job he noticed a few others doing, quietly taking out bags toward a mass grave dug outside the wall.

  The gates slid back into place, and the wall was complete again. Richard gathered at the bell for a group meeting. Dmitri read the names of the deceased, and everyone repeated the names. Richard whispered the names under his breath. He thought this was cultish before, but a part of him understood. This was such a horrible thing. Despite the levels, the skills, the abilities, they were nothing more than a group of people tasked with holding the apocalypse back. Faced with Death himself, what more could they do but give a moment to whisper the names of the dead. Names of people he thought he would get to know better. Jace. Amrynn. Otrin. Meredith. Reggie.

  Izzy became the new leader of the guards. She held the orb, receiving her fourth skill tree as she struggled to hide the emotion on her face. Timick did not bother hiding his tears as he held the orb to become the leader of those with a more specialized gift.

  Richard kept working in the farm until someone told him to go to bed. There was still so much work to do, but he couldn’t deny that he needed to sleep.

  He woke up to a bell, his stomach plummeting. This was it. The time anomaly. He’d gone back in time and was forced to relive the entire experience.

  “Richard?” Fang asked, his exhaustion leaking through his voice.

  “What happened? What’s the bell for?” The tendrils of sleep still clung to him.

  “Backup, I think. Just calling for backup.”

  “How many times did the bell ring?” Panic hit his voice.

  “Not enough. It’s okay, Richard. They haven’t broken the wall again.”

  That was all Richard needed to hear. Fang knew they had broken through the wall, and that it didn’t happen now. Richard hadn’t jumped back in time. He practically collapsed in relief.

  He was back running toward splicers with sword in hand. His thoughts were toward how the time anomaly placed him back here, instead of the more plausible idea that he was dreaming. All he cared about was his need to kill.

  The splicers ran from him, shrieking in pain. An unnatural amount of fear was placed on their animal faces. They were terrified of Richard as he cut them down. Some of them limped away on their stitched legs. The pain was so visible on their faces as Richard kept killing them, ignoring everything but his mission to kill.

  “Stop,” Richard said to himself. “Stop, they’re hurting.”

  He watched himself cutting the splicers down. There was no reason for it. Richard did it because he reveled in their cries. He twisted his sword inside them, laughing at their screams. When they were gone, Richard jumped over the wall to find more. He needed more death, more carnage.

  Richard gasped, sitting straight up in his bed, hearing the bell again.

  “How many? How many rings?”

  “Richard?” Fang asked.

  “Are we doing this again? Did they break the wall?”

  “Richard, whoa.”

  He was crying. He tried not to, but the nightmare haunted him. The fear came back in full force. This time he felt Fang put an arm around him.

  “Do I have to do this again?” Richard asked.

  “What?”

  “The invasion. Breaking the wall. Fighting the splicers.”

  “I don’t… Richard, that already happened,” Fang said.

  Richard would have collapsed if he hadn’t already been lying down.

  He ran from the splicers. They were running on all fours straight for him, with elongated arms that made them impossibly fast. It didn’t take long before he was thrown against the wall, breaking it all over again. The splicer, who had a monstrous face, dug his jaws into his belly and ripped open his stomach. Richard screamed, even though he felt no pain.

  “That’s the guy we all thought was our leader?” Amber asked. She sounded so calm as he was being eaten alive.

  Richard was drenched in cold sweat as he sat up again, hearing the bell.

  “How many? How many?” Richard gasped.

  “They haven’t broken the wall. It’s alright, Richard.”

  Everything slammed into him at once. All the emotions, the fear, he couldn’t handle them. He felt Fang’s arm around him, and Richard broke down. So many times waking up tonight, wondering if he had to live through this nightmare all over again while living out demented versions in his dreams. Richard covered his face, trying to keep back the sob, but he would have better luck holding back a river. Fang hugged him, and Richard couldn’t ask him to stop. His body shook with exhaustion as he did nothing but sob.