“You want to contact the admin?” Rain said.

“Yes,” Gary replied.

Rain nodded and produced the glitch stone Gary had seen her use earlier. The palm-sized crystal still glowed in Gary’s presence, but the glow was fainter than he’d seen earlier.

“Here,” she said, “You can use this.”

Gary took the ochre-coloured crystal. “How does it work?”

“Twist the base in an anti-clockwise motion to activate the connection.

Gary examined the crystal and saw there was a faint seam running around the lower half. As instructed, he twisted the lower half.

He heard the same voice in his head that had informed him that the system was seeding.

Thank you for contacting Admin. Please note that we are experiencing a high call volume, but your connection to us is important. If you are contacting us to report a general system glitch, please choose option one. If you are calling to report a personal system glitch, please choose option two.

A call waiting service, Gary thought. Why am I not surprised?

Please note that the admin is only responsible for ensuring the system runs as it is supposed to. We are not liable for any misfortunes that occur during or after a reality’s seeding and initiation. We are not responsible for events or misfortunes which occur within your or any other reality. This includes, but is not limited to, personal injury, personal death, the injury and death of loved ones and/or relatives, the collapse of society as you know it and so forth. We appreciate you contacting us. Please choose now.

“Uh, option two, I guess,” Gary said.

“You don’t need to say it out loud,” Rain commented, “Just thinking it will be enough.”

“Right, thanks.”

Option Two.

Are you contacting us to report a personal glitch in the system?

“Ye...”

Yes. Yes, I am.

Please hold.

Your connection is important and will be dealt with shortly. We will now play some reality-appropriate music for your enjoyment and relaxation.

Gary’s mind was flooded with the opening bars to Vivaldi’s Concerto No. 1‘Spring’. The upbeat violins had been poorly recorded, giving the concerto a tinny ring. Gary was hard pressed to think of a tune more at odds with the current situation.

“I’m on hold,” he said.

Rain nodded, “They’re usually busy.”

Five tense minutes passed as Vivaldi’s Spring continued to run through his mind. The voice apologised again for the delay and assured Gary that his connection was important to the Admin.

“This is nuts,” Gary muttered. He glanced over at the Big Burger Bar. He could see the lights from mobile phones inside, and could make out Jonathan and the others. They were all standing in a circle, appearing to be having an animated discussion.

The tinny version of Spring continued.

“Is there any way to shut the music off?” Gary asked.

Rain shrugged. “Not that I know of. You can just break the connection by twisting the base clockwise again.”

Another few minutes passed. The longer this went on, the more tense Gary felt. They should be on the move again. Gary had a feeling it just wasn’t safe to be out in the open and exposed like this. The violins continued to play.

Gary tried to block it out, but it was as if they were playing right inside his ears, making thinking difficult.

On the motorway, he saw another car drive past.

We really should get out of here. It’s not safe.

*

Jonathan stepped into the Big Burger Bar to find the rest of the group standing together. Aside from himself, Gary and Rain, there were eight others; two teenagers Chantelle and the emo looking kid. Then there was Peter, the middle aged zombie-apocalypse know-it-all and the woman who had lost an eye in the church. Fran, the older woman who had suggested they all followed the government’s advice, a younger man and one other man and another woman, who were in their thirties and seemed to be married.

In all the haste, fear and confusion, Jonathan hadn’t had time to do a roll call and check for everyone’s names.

As soon as he entered the Big Burger Bar, the hushed of the group fell silent.

“What’s going on?” he asked, flashing his torch around the space.

The eight people regarded him with mixed feelings. Now that their fear points had worn off, and they had consulted with each other, there were clear signs of dissent.

It was Fran who spoke up.

“We’re not sure that all of this is the best course of action,” she said, after clearing her throat.

“Right, Fran, we’ve already been through this. Right now, this is the best course of action, isn’t it?”

“Is it though?” the teenager said.

“Look, I know things are crazy right now, but…”

“It’s him, though, isn’t it?” Fran said, “Him and that weird blue skinned woman. I mean, what is all that about? Is that the actual colour of her skin or is it some kind of tattoo?”

“I don’t think it’s a tattoo,” Jonathan said. “I think that’s her natural skin colour.”

“Well, I’m not being racist or anything, but it’s a bit much, isn’t it?” Fran huffed, “She’s weird and she’s dangerous. And so is Gary. I mean, have you seen the look of him? His teeth and those fingernails? And after what he did in the church, biting that teenager…”

“My boyfriend,” Chantelle pointed out, “He killed Mikey, didn’t he? And then my mum and dad got killed by those bastards...”

“Look, technically, yes, Gary did that, but it was in self-defence if you recall.”

Chantelle dropped her eyes to the ground.

Pretty sure she’s still in shock, Jonathan thought. Actually, I think they all are.

“I’m still not sure why we aren’t just heading back to our homes,” one half of the married couple spoke up. “I’m James. This is Gemma.”

Jonathan held up his hands as the group all started talking at the same time. Most of their comments were about either getting home or not trusting Gary and Rain.

“I don’t know about any of this,” a middle-aged man spoke up, “I’m Martin...Look, I think we should be giving Gary the benefit of the doubt, I mean he got us out of there...”

His voice trailed off.

“We’ve already been over this.” Jonathan said. “Look, none of us knows what is going on. We are pretty sure that any populated areas won’t be safe right now. I mean, I’ve got a flat to get back to, but it’s in a housing estate in Oxford. The last place any of us can afford to be right now is where there are lots of people. For one thing, we don’t know how many zombies there are out there and for another, people are going to panic and fight each other, aren’t they? At least this way we have somewhere to shelter for a while as we work out what to do next.”

The group looked doubtful.

“I know we’ve all got friends, family and loved ones out there...”

“I don’t,” the skinny teenage boy chipped in. “I’m not bothered. By the way, I’m...hm...let’s see. Goremaster. Yeah, you can call me Goremaster now, I guess.”

Jonathan blinked, “Excuse me? What’s your real name?”

“That’s my real name,” the skinny teenager said, “Goremaster. It’s what I call myself online anyway, so I’m going with that.”

Chantelle scoffed, “Oh, fuck off Cain. That’s his real name. I didn’t see you helping when we were fighting Gary and that.”

“I was watching to see what happened, wasn’t I? And it’s Goremaster now, thank you very much.”

Jonathan shook his head, “Fine, whatever, Goremaster. Jesus. So as I was saying, we’ve all got friends, family and loved ones except for Goremaster here. I know we’re all worried about their safety, but the best thing we can do right now is focus on keeping safe.”

“And what about Gary, hey?” Goremaster said, “it’s a bit rich that we’ve all decided to just trust him after everything that happened, isn’t it?”

More murmurs of agreement.

Jonathan paused. He could see the way this was going. These people were scared and confused and needed something, or someone, to bring them together.

“Look, I hear your concerns. I do. And if it comes to it, you can be sure that I’ll deal with Gary,” he said.

“And the weird woman?” Fran asked, “She’s more dangerous than the bloody grave digger if you ask me.”

“Well, her too, if I have to. I’ve already levelled up and I’ve got this sword. I don’t think either of them will be too much trouble to deal with if we all work together.”

“Are you saying we should kill them?” Chantelle asked. The memory of her first attempt to kill Gary and the consequence were fresh in her mind.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Goremaster said. “It’s all experience points, isn’t it?”

“Only if we absolutely have to,” Jonathan nodded, “If either of them becomes an actual threat to our group, then we’ll take whatever action we have to, okay? We have to stick together on all of this, and if that means we need to deal with whatever dangers we encounter, then we will.”

Putting ‘our group’ into his little speech was smart. He saw the others relax as he did so. He didn’t want to hurt either Gary or Rain, but if the group of survivors were turning against the odd pair, then Jonathan was sure about which side he wanted to be on.

It was a practical calculation. There were more people in the group than there were of the other two. And that meant there was a better chance of survival sticking with survivors than taking the side of the outsiders.

There’s got to be safety in numbers, right?

A notification popped up:

Leadership challenge passed.
Gain a +5% bonus when attempting to lead anyone in the current group.

Jonathan nodded to himself, satisfied.

He’d united the group on his side, using Gary and Rain as the necessary potential outside dangers.