The entire school was soon a blazing inferno, visible for miles. Afraid that the fire might attract zombies to the scene, Stu, Lucky, and Luna quickly left the area. Madhouse, unfortunately, had made off with Luna's glider, so they were forced to walk, and Stu was obliged to carry Lucky.

  They took shelter about a half a mile away, in the attic of an old house. After checking the place for zombies -- there didn't seem to be any around -- the three of them sat down together and had a quick bite to eat. Luna was especially hungry -- she hadn't eaten in a couple of days -- and she tore into their supply of potatoes with gusto.

  "Where did you say you found him?" Luna asked Lucky, her mouth full of food.

  "In the subway," he supplied. "He helped me kill the Brute."

  She stopped chewing. "You really did it? You really killed the Brute?"

  "Yeah. Well, Stu did most of it, I guess. He threw a knife in its eye."

  She looked at him, impressed. "You did?"

  He shrugged. "I did."

  "What were you doing with Madhouse back there?"

  "I didn't know who he was. He said his name was Hauser. He helped me fight off some zombies after I fell through the floor." He shrugged again. "I thought he was just a lucky survivor."

  "He's a son of a bitch, that's what he is," she muttered. "He stole my glider."

  "What happened to you, anyway?" Lucky asked. "We've been looking for you."

  "I've been looking for you," she returned, punching him in the shoulder. "You little snot. When I found out you'd gone looking for the Brute, well, I got in my glider and headed for the subway entrance on Bleeder's. But I ran into the Wild Pack on the way. This guy Sever kidnapped me, stole my glider, drove me out to Southside. They kept me locked up in this little room for a day and a night." She clenched a fist. "Sever took the keys to my glider, gave them to Madhouse. That's what he told me. I figured they were keeping me around to repair it if went bad, but..." She made a disgusted face. "I don't know, maybe they had something else in mind. Anyway, the dynamo engine running Southside failed last night. All the lights went out. I managed to break out of the room they were keeping me in...and that's when I found out the place had been overrun with zombies. Sever was dead, the Hyena was dead, everyone was dead."

  "Madhouse said they got in through the underground parking garage," Stu noted.

  "Maybe," she said. "Anyway, I wasn't about to leave without my glider, so I started looking around for Madhouse. That's about when I ran into you." She leaned forward a bit, staring at him, studying him. "Who are you?"

  "I told you," he said. "My name's Stu."

  "You're not a Pale Rider," she said. "And I know you're not a Blader or a Bad Guy. You from Soda Stand? Beggar's Town?"

  "He's from another world," Lucky chimed in.

  Stu facepalmed. Lucky simply couldn't resist telling that to everyone they met.

  "Another world?" Luna said skeptically.

  "It's a long story," he said wearily.

  Lucky proceeded to tell her his side of the story, going over everything that had happened since the Brute had attacked Harbor. He told her about getting lost in the subway (although he still refused to use the word "lost"), meeting Stu, running from the zombies, and encountering the Brute; he told her how he had agreed to become Stu's guide in this world, and how the two of them had gone to Harbor, only to find that the settlement had been attacked by Madhouse and his Wild Pack.

  Luna was furious. "He attacked Harbor?" she sputtered. "He killed Ben?"

  "He killed a lot of people," Lucky said sadly. "He had a Centurion rifle."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "I noticed that," she said. She slammed a fist on the floor. "I should've shot him when I had the chance. If I had known what he'd did to Harbor..." She had to take a breath to steady herself. "But Penelope was headed to the Big Green?"

  "That's what Jessup said," Lucky said. "Hopefully they made it there all right."

  "Hopefully."

  "So what do we do know?"

  "We have to get my glider back," she said firmly. "Obviously."

  "Obviously?" Lucky said, incredulous. "What's obvious about it? We were lucky to get out of Southside alive. You really want to go out there and fight the Wild Pack now?"

  "What do you suggest we do?"

  He frowned. "I don't know. I was thinking we could catch up with Jessup. Find a boat, get to the Big Green, regroup with Penelope and the others."

  "I'm not running away," she said. "Not after what they did to Harbor, and not while they have my glider. I'm going to find Madhouse and I'm going to kill him."

  "Luna--"

  "We have to stop them," she insisted. "Madhouse isn't like the other gang leaders. As soon as he finishes off the Pale Riders he'll turn on the Bladers and the RNT's, and by then none of them will be strong enough to stop him. Do you really want to see Madhouse running things in Meku City? Sitting at the top of the food chain?"

  "Am I missing something?" Stu asked. "Didn't the zombies kill most of his men, back at the school?"

  She snorted. "A few dozen, maybe. The Wild Pack is huge. There are hundreds of 'em out there."

  "Oh."

  "We've got to find him," she said, nodding to herself. "We've got to hunt him down."

  "That's a lot easier said than done," Lucky grumbled. "He has your glider."

  "Don't remind me," she grumbled back. Then she turned to look at Stu. "Are you in?"

  An ICON message popped up in front of his face:

  Quest Available: Madhouse Mayhem

  "Madhouse Mayhem?" He didn't like the sound of that, and for the first time, he hesitated before pressing the "Yes" button to accept the quest. Did he really want to get wrapped up in this? And what would happen if he chose "No"?

  He had gone up two levels and received four skill points for completing the "Looking for Luna" quest, which was significant; simply killing ordinary zombies didn't really seem to do much for his stats any more. He needed these quests to level up, and he needed to level up to become stronger, to gain more skills, to get himself safely across the country and find Dr. Snowe in Lon Halos. Could he really afford to turn down these quests?

  He sighed and touched the "Yes" button. "I'm in," he said.

  "Good," she said, satisfied. "Now what's this about you coming from another world?"

  * * *

  He told her the same basic story he had told Lucky, about Virge and Wayman and being marched through a portal into this ruined zombie-world. Needless to say, she didn't believe him. In fact she became even more suspicious of him, convinced that he had concocted this wild story in order to cover something up.

  Fortunately Lucky was there to vouch for him. "He killed the Brute," he said. "He saved my life. He saved your life, too, running you out of that fire."

  "I would've gotten out of that situation just fine," she snorted. "You're the one who can't take care of yourself."

  "Are you kidding me? Who killed that glowie just now?"

  "You hurt your ankle," she sighed. "What are we going to do about that?"

  "I can walk," he protested.

  "Let me look at it."

  He reluctantly pulled off his boot and showed it to her. It was a little red, and a little swollen, but it didn't look too bad. Stu had had similar injuries when he was Lucky's age; he thought the kid could probably walk it off in a couple of days. In the meantime he'd just have to limp.

  While the two of them were preoccupied, Stu opened the ICON system's menu to check his stats. He was surprised to find that his status had finally changed -- he was no longer a "Noob."

  Stuart Brakely

  Level 10 "Survivor"

  HP: 145

  Well, "Survivor" was better than "Noob", he supposed. He wished he understood the system better -- how had he gone from "Noob" to "Survivor", for instance? Was it just a matter of leveling up? Or had he done something, performed some action, that had caused it to change? Were there other designations he could unlock? And did these mean anything, as far as his stats were concerned?

  He ran through the skill list, too, looking for something to purchase with the nine skill points he had collected. He was almost halfway to the skill he really wanted, Regeneration, but there were plenty of other options and it seemed like a waste to throw all of his points into one skill when there were so many other useful ones to choose from. "Zombie Radar", for example, which cost five skill points for the first level, would allow him to detect any zombies within a radius of fifty feet, and "Super Jump" and "Boulder Smasher" sounded good, too.

  In the end, however, he decided to play it safe, spending two points on the "Speed Freak" skill to enhance his speed. Like Strong Arm, this skill did not have to be activated; it was a permanent stat boost. He kept the remaining points in reserve, for emergencies, but also with an eye towards Regeneration.

  "What are you doing?" Lucky finally asked him, puzzled by the way he was moving his fingers in the air as he scrolled through the menu.

  He dismissed the window and waved it off. "Ah. Nothing."

  "Weirdo," the kid muttered. "Oh, by the way..." He reached into his backpack and removed Stu's Midnighter, which he had lost during his fight with the rager. "I grabbed it."

  "Hey!" It was a shame he had lost all of his other belongings -- the history book and all the other supplies in his backpack -- but at least he had the gun back. "Thanks."

  "You're going to need it," he said ominously. "You're going to need all the help you can get, if you plan to take out Madhouse."

  Stu accepted the gun from him. "Madhouse Mayhem, eh?" he murmured under his breath. "I guess that sounds about right."