My skeleton rushed over in a sprint, and despite the urgent situation, I thought that I should start thinking of a name for my minion. 

We followed behind, brandishing our weapons. 

"Elijah, let my skeleton handle the grabber. Nobody get close!"

Just as I spoke, the Grabber in question released the man. His entire front side was now horribly disfigured, looking like he had been repeatedly slashed and burned by acid. Whatever happened when he was grabbed, it wasn't pretty. 

My skeleton bypassed the zombies, immediately chopping at the Grabber. Although the Grabber went to grab my skeleton, it was met with a bone blade. This chop cut into its shoulder, making one of its arms fall limp. 

Still, the other arm wrapped around it and began pulling it in. My skeleton was unable to resist its strength, but even without being able to chop with its axe, it continued to punch and claw at the Grabber. 

A couple of the Grabber's ribs were broken under my skeleton's assault, but beyond that, it was unable to do much. My skeleton was restricted, and the Grabber bent over. 

Still, despite the pain of seeing my skeleton be destroyed by the Grabber, it had taken the crucial role of being the bait. Now, the Grabber was preoccupied with my skeleton, allowing us to quickly kill the rest of the zombies, which only numbered 8. 

Then, Elijah used the last of his imbuement to slash at the Grabber. He severed its spine in two, causing it to collapse and release my skeleton. Then, he decapitated it with a few chops at the neck. 

I rushed over to my skeleton, pulling it out from under the dead Grabber.

"Skeleton!"

---

[Skeleton Sentry]

---

My skeleton was mangled, its lower half completely detached from its upper. Half its torso was crushed, with an arm entirely dissolved into boney mush. Still, its head and some of its ribcage remained. The fire within its eyesockets still blazed, as if unwilling to be bested by an opponent. 

I quickly recalled it, the remainder of its body turning to ash and reforming the bone rune on my forearm. 

I sighed in relief. No matter what, I couldn't have it die, or it would take an entire week to reform it. I was glad that it managed to survive. 

Still, that Grabber was unbelievably deadly. If someone got snatched, they were finished. My skeleton barely lasted a minute with it, and hardly did any damage. It was Elijah who circled around it while it was occupied and killed it. 

"Jack!"

My head suddenly turned at the call, my gaze falling on Elijah. 

He was holding a... shovel? I tilted my head oddly, though I still felt a bit of excitement considering the only place he could have gotten it from. 

He jogged over to me, shoving the shovel into my hands. "Here, check it out while I handle the others."

I grabbed it as he entered the locker room. The shovel looked like some kind of combat shovel, with one half of the head's edge razor sharp and another half serrated. It could even fold, becoming smaller for storage. 

That wasn't all though. 

---

{Combat Shovel}

Remarks: Dig holes, kill zombies, dig more holes. Nothing is more versatile than the combat shovel!

---

"Not a sword or a gun, but a shovel..."

I mumbled as I read the information about this tool. It was nothing I couldn't already figure out. Still, I was both surprised and baffled by this sudden drop. 

Turns out, not only could zombies drop abilities, but they could drop items. Truly game-like, and I wasn't complaining. 

Only, I wondered what the difference was between this shovel and any other tool. Why did it have an Archive? Did it make it special?

We'd have to find out after killing a zombie with it. 

Thankfully, those zombies were the only ones in the stadium. After Elijah talked with one of the coaches, he was told that those two athletes who had been scratched eventually succumbed to the infection, turning into zombies. And when someone went to check on them, they were attacked. 

The first injured athlete had turned into the Grabber, and the Grabber had gotten its hands on several people, turning them into zombies within mere moments. Like that, a small group of zombies formed and everyone had shut themselves in the locker room. 

But of course, they couldn't shut the door in time, and the zombies got their hands in. They entered a fight over the door. 

That was when we got here, just in time to prevent the zombies from breaking in. If we had gotten there even a minute later... we may have come back to nothing but a graveyard full of our teammates. 

But other than around a dozen deaths, everyone was okay. It was tragic to lose people we knew, but there was only so much we could do. 

"Jack!"

"Kevin?"

I raised my head at the call. Kevin came jogging, smiling widely. 

"We thought you guys had died, Jack. It's good to see you back alive." He smacked my back in glee. 

I chuckled as we shook hands. "It's good to see you too. How is everything?"

"It could be better." He let out a long breath. "We're running out of food, and even water is dwindling. I see that you've found some people though. Please tell me some good news."

"Yea. We found a hideout with survivors." I nodded as he glanced at the three outsiders from the store. "These people volunteered to help."

"Help how?"

I pat my bag full of pipes that stuck out of the top. "These are all makeshift weapons that we're going to arm everyone with. Elijah!"

"Yea!"

At my call, Elijah responded, walking over with the other coaches. 

Everyone seemed to listen in, looking at us expectantly.

"We should explain our plan."

"Got it. Everyone! If you could all pay attention for a minute..."

With a loud voice, Elijah gave everyone a rundown of the plan. 

It was simple. We'd arm everyone and then fight our way to a grocery store. There, we'd have all the supplies we needed, along with other survivors to help us. 

"We're taking the initiative here! We didn't find the military, and we can only wait for so long. So we're gathering our forces! That grocery store is going to be our home for the foreseeable future, and with enough people and weapons, we're going fight back against the zombies. We're going to carve out a place in this city just for us! We have weapons here for every single person, and tomorrow morning, we're going to set off and fight our way to the store."

Elijah slipped off his bag, taking out over a dozen pipes and poles, many of which were fashioned into spears. 

The rest of us did the same, creating a large pile of weapons. The athletes all looked at it, conflict written on their faces. 

"Tonight, we're all going to rest. Eat the rest of our food, fill your stomachs. Tomorrow, we're leaving this place. The store is only a couple miles away, and with all of us carrying weapons, killing our way there won't be difficult. Does that sound like a plan, coaches?"

He turned to the adults in the room. Well, we were all adults, but the coaches were our seniors. Sure they were only responsible for training us, but the relationship between an athlete and a coach went beyond training. 

They were mentors, guides, leaders. They were people who pushed us to become our best. So while nobody was better prepared for this apocalyptic situation than the other, we still looked to them for approval. We thought them wiser than us, and their words were a source of confidence. 

The head coach eventually nodded. Then, he turned to the rest of the athletes, almost as if he were doing one of our team meetings. 

"Fighting is a big risk, and I know everyone is apprehensive about going out there and facing zombies... but we can't stay here for long anyway. Our supplies won't last us another two days, and after that, we can only wait to starve. It's times like this when we need to move forward, not stay put. The time for waiting has passed. Tomorrow morning is the time to fight. So, do as Elijah said, and eat your food. Prepare yourselves tonight, because we're leaving tomorrow. And everyone is going to go. Nobody is getting left behind. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Coach."

The athletes all acknowledged him, some out of habit, some out of belief. Still, regardless of any reservations, everyone was going to leave tomorrow. 

That's when I saw it, another alert from the Archive.

---

{Mission Triggered}

{Form the Militia}

You have inspired hope, sparked the machinations of development and prosperity. It's only the first step, but the first steps are often the most important. Nothing can happen without them.

Mission: Move your people and ensure their lives as they migrate to your new hideout.

Failure Conditions: 70% or higher death rate.

Rewards: Based on survival rate.

Survival Rate: 103/103

Remarks: Your people are the brawn necessary to secure a potential community. Without them, the community can only wait for death to come. Become the shield that protects and inspires progress. 

---

I was shocked when I saw the mission, almost showing it on my face. My heart rate spiked for a bit before I calmed down. 

I understood what it wanted me to do, and its appearance wouldn't change anything. Still, I was amazed that it could give missions or quests like this. For now though, unless Elijah saw the same thing, I would play it cool and keep it to myself.

We proceeded to hand out the weapons under Elijah's lead. They weren't fancy, and many of the pipes were even rusted. But it was better than nothing. 

Once everyone was equipped, Elijah took some people out to go and practice. The zombies around the stadium were sparse, and they could safely fight a few without attracting hordes. 

I followed him. Everyone needed to get rid of their fears. They had become reclusive, wishing to stay hiding in the dark. Now, they needed to move into the light and face their enemies. They needed to know how to defend themselves, how to stab with their spears, how to swing at the zombies with their heavy pipes. 

And surprisingly, it went incredibly well. Many of them were able to kill a zombie, though some threw up not long after from the grotesque sights. Still, the advantages of being an athlete in this situation were showing. 

Athletes had strong minds, particularly college and pro athletes. They pushed their bodies to their limits regularly. They went through constant suffering and pain to become better. And if one didn't have a strong mind, one would give up, unable to force themselves through that pain. 

None of our athletes were weak, and when faced with fear, when faced with a challenge, they pushed themselves forward. Their resilience was put on display, and they tore past their fears. 

Some even became eager to kill more zombies, shoving down their fear by bursting with aggression. For a time, you could hear men and women yelling in resolve, bringing down zombies with their sorry excuses for weapons. 

And at some point when I felt that I had seen enough, I stepped forward. I found a zombie that was lingering near a group a distance away from the stadium. Approaching, I took out my shovel, and with confidence built on facing a Screamer and a Grabber, I smoothly slashed out. 

*Slice!*

The blade of the combat shovel glided through the zombie's neck, outright decapitating it. 

Then, I was pleasantly surprised.

---

{You have killed [Zombie - Type 1]}

{You have received [Ectoplasm - Type 1]}

---

"This weapon allows me to get rewarded!"

I had an epiphany. 

Only things that were 'awakened', as I called it, could receive rewards from kills. My unawakened knife couldn't get me rewards. Not even kills would be acknowledged. But my ability, and this awakened shovel, could. 

Anything acknowledged by the Archive could receive the benefits of the Archive. 

The only exception to this rule was if the Grace Period was active. But that was only active for the first day of the apocalypse. I had been able to get awakened and rewarded during the Grace Period with my regular knife. 

After all, how could anyone get rewards, how could they evolve, if nothing on Earth was acknowledged by the Archive? Everyone who was brave enough, or lucky enough, to have killed a zombie during the first day was rewarded, and they became the basis by which everyone else would grow using the Archive. 

Even Elijah could only awaken because of the reward I gave him. If not for me and my generosity, he would never go beyond his human limits. 

I suddenly felt incredibly lucky. My momentary sense of crisis and drive to kill a zombie, with a knife I shouldn't have had on me, was now the most important step I had ever taken in my life. That single moment had unlocked the gates of evolution for me.

I didn't bother killing more zombies after discovering the properties of the shovel. Despite my endurance, I was still rather tired from the day. Killing zombies wasn't an easy pastime. 

I walked back as Elijah and Kait trained more of our athletes. Maybe because we were the ones who had gone out to scout, but myself, Elijah, Kait, and Coach Todd had become the leading authority.

More than that though, Elijah had shown himself to be a rather charismatic leader. He took the stand when announcing our plans, and he discussed things with the coaches on our behalf. While I was the one who had formed the plan in my mind, I didn't mind letting Elijah take the spotlight. 

At the very least, we had bonded quite a bit over the last couple days. We both valued each other's abilities, both combat-wise and leadership-wise, and due to my generous gift of an ability, we had a mutual trust in each other. It was clear that we'd be working together for the foreseeable future. We were taking control in this chaotic situation. 

"Jack!"

As I passed by the large group of athletes that were training, Elijah jogged over to me. My gaze rested on him. He was one of our best throwers, and a really big guy. He stood several inches taller than I, and despite not being totally shredded and sculpted like me, he was absolutely stronger. 

It seemed like he had thinned out over these past couple days though, maybe through a lack of voracious eating like usual. With hard training came large appetites. With how many calories we naturally burned, it wasn't surprising that many of us had lost weight, even over a short period of time. 

I nodded to him. "What's up?"

"I had my guesses, but does that shovel really get you rewards for kills?" He asked while glancing at the tool in my hand. 

"It does," I confirmed his suspicions while handing it back to him. "I've come to the conclusion that anything acknowledged by the Archive takes part in the Archive's game. When I killed a zombie with it, I got an Ectoplasm."

"Nice!" He cheered with a wide smile. However, he didn't take the shovel from me. "You keep it then. I can already imbue weapons with my Energy, so I can use anything. You don't have such a weapon though. Oh, speaking of, how's your skeleton?"

I sighed while stowing the shovel. "It almost lost all his health. I barely retrieved it before it died, thank god. But it'll take a while to heal."

"Ouch. Well, tell it I said thank you, I guess. Without it acting as the bait, we might have lost more people to that Grabber. That thing was seriously deadly."

Elijah shivered a bit. You were basically dead as soon as that thing got its hands on you. The only reason Elijah dared to go near it was because it had been eating my skeleton and was totally distracted. 

I chuckled at Elijah's thanks to my minion. 

"It's alright. It's a minion, and it served us well. In fact..."

Suddenly, something in my mind clicked. I looked back at the stadium.

"Hang on. I'm gonna go try something."

"Alright. I'll be out here if you need me."

With a wave, I ran to the stadium, entering its long hallway. 

In the middle of the hallway outside the locker room, the Grabber's body was gradually cooling. Nobody had even touched it, and a large pool of blood had soaked the floor. 

I didn't care about that though, stepping through the blood and up to the corpse. 

"Sustains itself with the bones of its enemies... Let's see if that means what I think it does."

I called upon my boney friend. Only its torso materialized on the floor, the hips still in the process of slowly reforming. 

I pointed to the Grabber. "I'm not sure what you need to do, but go ahead and use that corpse to 'sustain' yourself."

Then, as if eager, the skeleton used its single arm to drag itself over. With a swift motion, its hands dug into the Grabber's back. 

Its fingers easily tore through the rapidly decaying flesh, resting on the spine. I could see the exposed bone and how my minion grabbed it. It was way too gory for my taste, but I was too curious to turn away. 

Then, before my eyes, the bones of the Grabber seemed to disintegrate. It turned into splinters and crawled up my skeleton's arm. These splinters rapidly reformed its other arm, which promptly dug into the Grabber's ribcage and went to work. 

Like that, the skeleton used its mysterious power to destroy and absorb the bone matter of the Grabber. Its entire body was reformed within the minute, but it still didn't stop. 

Reforming its own body only seemed to consume a third of the Grabber's bones. The rest... seemed to harden the skeleton. 

I could see the shards disintegrate further and sink into my skeleton's body. It became taller, and the pearly white bones became a tinge darker, as if stained with ash. 

After it had finished, it stood straight. It was now as tall as me, having grown a few inches. 

---

{[Skeleton Sentry] must be upgraded to Stage 2 before increasing its Power further.}

{More details have been unlocked}

[Skeleton Sentry]

Ability: A minion of bone who will faithfully carry out any of your basic orders. This minion sustains itself with the bones of its enemies. It can be summoned and unsummoned at any time. Should the Skeleton be destroyed, 7 days are required to reform it.