--- 28 Days Later

"It's been a month. Has that chubby bastard cashed in that loot yet?"

A gravelly voice whispered from behind a shack a few yards away from Van's trailer.

"Not yet." A quiet mousy voice whispered back. "Wait. There he goes. He's got his hood and is carrying his loot bag with him".

"Payday!" the gravelly voice nearly blew his cover.

*Shhhh* The mousy voice snapped.

" I'll go tell the boss, you make the pick up and come back to the hideout. "

The gravelly voiced thug understood his orders and kept a keen eye on his targets every movement. Quickly, the thug noticed something strange.

The target had not completed his morning routine or taken any jobs. Instead he went straight to the shop stalls. After some short haggling, the thug watched a pile of tokens spill onto the stall counter too.

"That's gotta be 4, no 5 thousand tokens right there" He said to himself excitedly.

The thug continued to tail his target. The kid made a few stops along the way. Buying a baseball bat and a small fanny pack.

Eventually they reached a quiet area with no witnesses.

"Finally"

The thug watched as the fanny pack was loaded with 2000Ť. And placed under a nearby tree with the keychain attached to the zipper.

As soon the coast was clear, the thug snatched the fanny pack and ran towards the hideout. There were a few moments that he felt someone was watching, but he was confident enough in his speed that even if he was followed they couldn't keep up.

Racing past trees and out of the settlement, the thug reached a construction site. Even at full speed and minimal breaks it took 30 minutes to reach it. And no one in the whole crew was as fast as him. That's why he was the designated runner for pick up.

The unfinished building was tricky to navigate if you didn't know the way. In fact, one false move and you would fall to your death.

The thug had finally reached the middle floors, which could be considered the top floors in terms of completion. The frame of the building extended higher but never reached its full potential.

Greenery had covered most of the outside of the building as the forest slowly reclaimed the area that was meant to be a parking lot.

Inside the largest room on the highest complete floor sat a man surrounded by guards and women on each side.

Everyone dressed plainly compared to the man who was obviously in charge. He wore a matching faded jean jacket and ripped jeans without a shirt. A skull keychain hung from a necklace over his chest. His boots matched the twin holsters on either side of his belt. Twin hatchets hung at his hips as he stood to greet the thug.

"Boss!" The thug delivered the fanny pack before falling in exhaustion.

"It's heavier than expected, feels like 2500, no 3000 in here" the leader tossed the fanny pack in his palm before throwing it to a guard.

"Lock this up with the rest."

The guard left immediately without a word.

"Why are you here?"

The thug fidgeted under the boss' heavy tone. 

" I-I um, I just wanted to--."

The thug stumbled over his words.

"Shut up you idiot! I'm talking to him" the boss pointed behind the thug.

Near the entrance of the large room stood Van. His hood covered most of his face while his red bandana mask covered the rest. He held a baseball bat that rested on his shoulder. His other hand was plunged deeply into his pocket. So deep, that his clothes dragged down.

The baggy sweat suit covered every inch of Van except his glowing eyes. His stare burned with murderous intent.

Unfazed, the boss marched towards the intruder.

Stunned, the thug stood frozen in place.

"I asked you a question, you son of a bi-"

*crack*

The bat swung so quickly it was just a blur swiping past the boss's face. His body flew like a rag doll to where he once sat.

When the bat returned to rest at Van's shoulder, the boss was left with a crushed eye socket and broken nose.

The thug quaked in fear as he watched his boss reeling in pain on the floor. 

The women ran for safety as the guards swarmed Van on all sides.

In the blink of an eye, Van leapt over the heads of the guards, landing near the boss.

Using the tip of the bat he lifted the bloody face off the floor then leaned in close.

"Call them." Van's eyes pierced the boss's one good eye.

"Call who?" The boss shuddered in pain.

"All of them". Van let the boss's head drop back to the floor. 

"Raise the alarm! Call all hands back to the hideout! The boss looked up at Van with searing hate, as he clicked the back of his skull keychain. " Kill this cocky bastard!"

The words echoed out as loud as the air horns blowing throughout the hideout.

At least fifty more people spilled into the room with more on the way. All gripping their flickering keychains.

Van pointed the end of his bat towards the gathering crowd.

"This is the part where I offer each of you the chance at mercy if you leave now. But I already know that you have all taken lives in order to join this group."

*Hahaha*

The boss crawled over to his chair and propped himself up, holding his sides from laughter.

"Who do you think you are? Some kind of hero? Mercy? Your the one who's gonna be begging for mercy. My crew is over 100 members strong!"

"53." Van cut in coldly.

"Huh?" The boss cocked his head in confusion.

"You have 53 members. Including the ones you had following me and watching my home." Van continued. "Most of your crew work as Scavs but that symbol you use gives them away. The other 50 or so in your count are just people indebted to you. And trust me, they won't be showing up to save you today."

Van finally lifted his other hand from his pocket and dropped a handful of dented and crushed skull keychains.

Away from prying eyes, Van was able to complete the prerequisites of his emergency mission.

During jobs, he followed anyone with a keychain. If they seemed desperate like Davis was, then he approached them. Collecting their keychain and assuming their debt took little convincing. 

Maybe it was his charisma stat at work? After talking to so many people, he also managed to earn a new skill.

The blank stare from the boss was shared by most of the others in the room. There was even a guy in the back using his fingers to do a quick head count and confirm.

"Just get him!" The boss sent waves of attackers to Van. But Van had hardly moved from his spot. He took the stance of a batter at base and prepared to swing.

[SKILLS

Force (¾)Expert- Charge up your strength to deliver a powerful strike. Active. Cost: 10 SP ]

The boss was sent straight up. His head crashing into the ceiling, leaving him dangling like a human chandelier.

[Defeat the Bandit Leader 1/1 (Complete)]

The thugs swarmed Van all at once. One by one broken bodies were sent flying in the air. Some managed to get in a strike before being sent skyward. A punch to the back of his head, or a shallow swipe with a knife barely did any damage.

[HP 498/505

SP 510 /600

EP 0/10]

[Defeat all Bandits 7/53 (Incomplete)]

The endurance stat not only increased SP but overall durability too. His improved strength gave him the power to defeat his enemies in one hit. Thanks to his preparations Van was able to shrug off incoming attacks and deal devastating damage.

But that was more than could be said for his clothes. Every slash cut away his hood and shirt until there were only rags left.

[HP 401/505

SP 270/600

EP 0/10]

[Defeat all Bandits 31/53 (Incomplete)]

The thug that retrieved the fanny pack had not moved from his spot. As we watched the battle unfold he stood in awe. He couldn't believe that this was the same person he tailed for a month.

Before him stood the chiseled body of a warrior.

As more lifeless bodies plopped on the floor, ghostly mist flowed towards Van. 

It was just like when he slayed the zombies. This mist was called Ectoplasm, and only those with Variants could see it. After using his analyze skill he learned that this was the form experience points took. And that all infected people released it. No matter if they were dead or undead. 

Van had already made peace with his decision to take human lives. To protect his family, he planned to take many lives on that day. To him, a group of killers and thieves deserved no mercy.  And his plans for attack showed just that.

With his stats and skills he could kill in a single hit to a vital area. Since he was facing living and not undead, he didn't need to buy several blades. Such an act would  alert  the spies and be a waste of tokens. Blades dull and break from extreme use. Van didn't need to cut off the heads of the living. He just needed to break them.

Van tore off the rags and approached the thug standing amongst the scattered bodies.

The thug starred up into a pair of glowing menacing eyes. Van was a lot taller up close. And nothing at all like the reports made by the spies.

Tears rolled down the thug's face.

A quick series of  downward strikes prevented any chance of begging for undeserved mercy.

*wham*

*wham*

*crack*

*crunch*

Van wasn't sure if it was the sounds of a  skull cracking or his bat breaking. But he felt at ease having completed his quest. Next he checked his stats.

[STATUS

HP 287/505

SP 10/600

EP 10/10

Level 28--[4,322/4,500]--Level 29

(STR)ength: 80

(END)urance: 50

(DEX)terity: 41

(PER)ception: 100

(INT)elligence: 41

(CHA)risma: 28

Points: 0]

Just short of gaining a level.

Next he quickly confirmed the completion of the emergency quest.

[Emergency Quest

Defeat the Bandits

Recon

Locate the Bandit Camp. (Complete)

Identify all Bandits 53/53 (Complete)

Combat

Defeat the Bandit Leader 1/1 (Complete)

Defeat all Bandits 52/53 (Incomplete)

Time to complete: 22 minutes.]

Incomplete!?

One of them must have escaped, and there's only one place they would go.

Van ran out of the room in desperation. He could only hope that he could reach Violet in time.