In the aftermath of the explosion, we all piled into and on the remaining Humvees, SUV, and news crew van. I still can’t believe they filmed the whole thing. That also means my idiotic charge against the snake creature is probably recorded for all eternity. I think I finally found a reason to crash the internet.

  It also captured the final moments of Brett. That creature toyed with him. It knew Brett and Brittney were related. It taunted her and antagonized her. It played with him as much as it did her. All of that disgusted me. I wanted to spare a moment to comfort Brittney, the kid just lost her brother. She lost her mom less than a week ago. I couldn’t spiral though; it would be so damn easy. I needed to channel this towards something positive, or at least productive.

  We fell back to the next intersection and set a perimeter while we tried to check to make sure all the houses were empty. Our reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet, and they were due by now. They weren’t late… yet, but I needed to find out their situation. In checking in with them, most of them were bogged down in Shrewsbury. Some had been rerouted back towards the Sunset Hills portal, which badly needed reinforcements. It was being pressured again as well as both the neighboring Kirkwood Portals. That brought the total number of portals in danger or already breached up to seven that I knew about. I didn’t bother asking command about any others; they weren’t very helpful.

  We did have an additional 60 guys and a few buses headed up to us, and they should be to our exit off the interstate in a minute or two. That was something at least. We hopefully had a few minutes to before the orcs made their way this far. Hopefully our reinforcements arrived before the orcs did. I counted 4 Humvees that survived. We had the other 50 caliber machine gun, but nowhere to mount it. It was a pain in the ass to remove it during the fight, but we had troops that had strengths approaching 10. The ability to bench press over 400 pounds was a big boost to our capabilities. We lost many of those guys from the acid attack, but we still have a machine gun worth mounting somewhere. I checked on the folks, and we realized that we could run out of ammo if this went on for too much longer. Since I no longer had a rifle, I handed over my one remaining clip of enchanted ammo and as many other clips as I could to anyone who needed it.

  We had 2 guys with broken arms, and one with a broken leg. Even magical cookies doesn’t cure that instantaneously. They were holed up in the news van. I didn’t exactly give the news crew any choice in the matter.

  We had two other guys who were nearly killed by orc blades. They were stable, but the internal injuries were beyond healing potions and any cookies at our disposal. We really needed a higher end healer, but those were all situated in hospitals at the moment. I would love to have all the essential classes nearby at all times, but that was rather impossible. The only way to accomplish that was to kill enough enemies to take enough abilities that we lucked into some healing and other useful abilities. However, I think there is a reason we aren’t encountering healers among the enemy. All we see are troops with a solitary healing potion. We were thankful for them giving us supplies so readily, but there weren’t going to risk what healers they did have.

  I realized this war had changed me. I was becoming harder and a little bit more belligerent. I wasn’t sure that I liked that. It could be all the deaths I’ve witnessed, of both those I knew well and those I didn’t. The other possibility is the system was changing us, and I wasn’t sure if I liked that thought either. Even now I had a notification blinking at me for my attention. I had put it off this long, but I guess I should look at it before orcs rushed us again.

  LEVEL UP NOTIFICATION!

  NO CLASS TO LEVEL UP TO!

  Please find and choose a class soon or eventually you will stop accumulating experience. You have enough experience to reach sixth level and thus start a new class. The system does not provide new class cores. It is up to the individual to find them and incorporate them into their personal core.

  Great! I could hit 6th level, if only I had a class. I feel like the redheaded stepchild of the Wizard of Oz. I would be the government lackey without a new class. I think I was getting as bitter and jaded as Billy. That can’t be good. Clearly the blessing had worn off as well, because my thoughts were darker and not nearly as stoic and forthright as I felt the moment after the blessing.

  I had no easy way to get a viable class. This was going to be a problem, and I honestly didn’t quite know where to turn. Up until now, just about everything that could go our way when we absolutely needed it to, did just that. We’ve had setbacks, but everything was manageable. I just wasn’t sure how to manage all of this.

  Frank came up to me. I guess Will was back in his gunning spot. “Yo, Neal, what’s the plan?”

  “Pretty easy, blow those explosives once the first few break through. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to go. After earlier, I’m just not sure anymore. We have 3 shields; so, you, me, and one other will hold those while everyone else pours on gun fire.”

  “You’re carrying a shield? You? I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but we need a guy with more Strength and constitution to hold it. That’s just not you.” He may be harsh at the moment, but he wasn’t lying.

  “I’ll be fine. Besides, its time I spend time at the front with you.” My logic was shaky, but I wanted to put myself up there to protect the rest. It was stupid, but right now I didn’t care. We had lost a total of 18 people from the 60 militia with us. We had 5 more injured and an in no condition to help. So that left us with thirty-seven plus Frank, Nora, Vern, Will, Brittney, and me. I couldn’t count Joe unless he survived whatever was going on with the giant spider creature, and I wasn’t going to count Brittney, so all we had was forty-two. We had a cluttered roadway rigged to blow at the press of a button, and a relief force of some sixty people on their way to us. I had no illusions that 102 was enough people to retake the portal. 202 might have been enough, but not just the 102 of us.

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

  We needed to figure out how to thin their numbers much more than we had so far. We might have killed a few hundred orcs and one oversized snake, but there were more on their way. The gate was unguarded, so we didn’t know how many hundreds they would pour through every minute. Casualties be damned, this was the time to drop a few bombs near the portal and sort out any friendlies later.

  A shout interrupted me from my thoughts. Orcs were spotted closing the distance. They weren’t moving as fast as they were before. The first group was only fifteen or twenty. The wave tactic was gone. We gave Hal from the first squad a shield to go along with mine and Frank’s. The three of us filled the largest gap in the road, which we really couldn’t cover.

  We had the 50 calibers stay silent for as long as we could. We couldn’t waste ammo from our biggest hitters. Brittney kept the spare 50 caliber in her ring. I doubted that we would be able to make use of it now. Once the first few orcs got within range people started shooting them. I kept my eyes peeled. There had to be a commander of some sort to change up their tactics. A commander hopefully meant someone with a class I could use. I knew it was selfish in light of all the death, but all their deaths would come to no value if those that remain couldn’t become strong enough to effectively combat the demonic hordes.

  The first few orcs didn’t make it to me, they would get close, but combined gunfire brought them down. I was thankful because I wasn’t remotely ready for a melee against creatures that would likely eat an NFL linebacker after chasing him down. Just in case, I put on the minor necklace of protection in the hopes that it would make me slightly harder to smash. I was lucky there weren’t level requirements to wearing any of these items yet, or I would be having massive problems about now.

  Then one finally charged me, I got low to the ground with one knee literally on the asphalt. I angled the shield so that it would brace against my shoulder and that entire side of my body really. The orc swung his axe overhead into my shield and my whole body was instantly in pain. The axe didn’t penetrate the shield, but it smashed shield further into my bracing shoulder. I fell backwards and barely caught myself with my free hand on the ground to stop the falling from being any worse. This was either going to be the longest worst day I ever have, or the shortest.

  Ane axe came in from behind and over my head. Hank, wielding the broad axe of armor bane, brought it down on the overcommitted orc smashing the the blade through his shoulder plates and down into his chest. The orc shrieked. He clearly wasn’t ready for Hank’s attack. He stumbled as the axe slid from his wound. The orc moved past me to engage hank directly, leaving me to get my ass back up to attempt to slow down the next one.

  Hank didn’t have lifelong training in the use of an axe, but all these level ups helped him improve his axe fighting skill artificially in addition through the excessive use he has had with it the last 3 days. All that leveling of the skill showed now, as out of the corner of my eyes I saw Hank sidestep the orc’s next attack and deliver a punishing blow to the orc’s wrist. With the orc being reduced to one hand, Hank easily dispatched him.

  That idea would have pleased me more, but I had other problems. I had more orc problems. I tried to push into the block of the orc only to see the edge of my riot shield shear away. I looked and saw the slightly blue and purplish hint to the orc’s blade. Fuck! Magical blades were becoming more common, and over a dozen of the militia had something magical and sharp. This blade looked different, more powerful, and if I weren’t trying to avoid the business end of it I would love to identify the damn thing. Hank must have seen me struggling, as his axe came in to block the next blow. Hank was strong, as he worked out at the gym pre-apocalypse at least 5 days a week. I still don’t know why the system gave him the class for paintball enthusiast.

  The orc slid past me as he and Hank engaged more thoroughly. This left me to try to defend against the next orc that was bigger and stronger than me. I was really beginning to think that me holding a shield was a bad idea. I blocked the third orc a little better than the previous two. I wanted to believe I was getting better at this, but the truth was the orc just wasn’t as strong as the previous two. I was actually able to use leverage to push him back a few times, but had to quickly retreat after each shield push to prevent him getting around the shield and taking my head off. This could have gone on for a bit, but a second orc advanced. In tandem I was outmatched. The first grabbed the shield while the second swung at my now unprotected legs. I couldn’t dance away. I was spared from the ring I wore, but the cut still pierced my skin cutting through muscle, and deflecting off bone. I crashed to the ground mostly under the shield.

  I heard the roar of gunfire overhead, and realized there was a lot more guns firing than before. I hoped that was our reinforcements. I couldn’t really move well at all; I was crawling with one leg useless. I crawled over a body thinking it was an orc. Then I saw the face: Hank.

  My mind whirled with the implications of our big strong axe man going down. Was he alive? That was the first thought, which answered quickly by slice through his face and his jugular vein. My eyes searched in my immediate surroundings looking for one very important thing: his axe. It was a big weapon, but it was powerful and deadly. I knew I wouldn’t be very good with it, but maybe someone else would. I scoured the ground immediately around both with eyes and with my hands. Having a weapon like that might make me feel safer in this insanity.

  Screams, shouts, gunfire, and the cries of the injured assaulted my ears. The scent of something only associated with gunfire combined with coppery scent of blood did not help my sense of smell. I was feeling overwhelmed with all this as I put a hand on a handle. I looked down to see Hank’s axe. I gripped it and crawled further towards what I hoped were our troops. Collapsing after a few more feet I had to address the leg problem. I couldn’t move effectively if I didn’t try to heal my leg. I reached into my pouch for an orc potion, but none were left. That was a first in a long time. I selected a pair of cookies which did thankfully fill my hand as I pulled it back out of the pouch. The cookies weren’t instantaneous, so I started chewing on them while hopefully staying out of the way of any more direct conflict. Somewhere along the way I lost the shield, and I honestly don’t know where. This defense had become a bit of a shit show, mostly because I was a very bad choice to hold a shield at the front.

  This was something that I was going to have to live with for the rest of my days, however long or short they may be.