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  Estellese nodded a little "Right, everyone ready then?" She asked, she was holding her club a little awkwardly with her burnt hands, and Kaden took note of that but he didn't say anything.

  Mendelen nodded and everyone stood up. "Ready. Lets clear the door." He said as they all prepared to go back outside.

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  Next chapter: Aftermath, first steps forwards.

  Chapter 3: Aftermath First Steps Forward

  ~~ Chapter 3 : Aftermath, first steps forwards. ~~

  Mendelen nodded and everyone stood up. "Ready. Lets clear the door." He said as they all prepared to go back outside.

  "How are we going to get out? If the house collapsed the door and stairs will no doubt be blocked by the debris that fell on it" Estellese pointed out. Kaden and Mendelen looked around at the group, also wondering the same thing.

  "We unscrew the door, pull it off the frame. Then we will just have to dig our way out of the debris. We can pull the bigger debris into the basement to get them out of the way. It's going to take a while to actually get out of here." Zanath replied simply. He pulled a screwdriver out of his pocket and began working on removing the screws that kept the door attached to the door frame. After a moment he pulled the door off the frame and stumbled back, trying to hold it up. "Someone grab this." He instructed.

  "On it." Mendelen said as him and Estell quickly walked over and took the door from Zanath, they carried it out into the basement and placed it up against the back wall before returning. They looked up at the stairs that lead the way out of the basement, of course the stairs were completely covered in debris by the collapsed house, and the way out was completely blocked. "Alright, Kaden search the basement for more tools. See if we can find some hand saws or something to cut the boards we're not able to move. Everyone else, form a line, we'll grab whatever we can pull out and pass it down, whoever is in the back places the debris in the pile near the back wall." He said.

  And with that they got to work. Kaden returned with a handsaw he found and joined the line to help move the debris. It was four long hours of work, with a couple breaks, before they finally caught a glimpse of the sky, there wasn't much light coming in now. Zanath took a quick glimpse of the moon and determined that it was around midnight, if time worked the same in this world which he assumed it did.

  He pushed the last few boards out of the way and climbed up out of the basement. His three new companions followed along behind him moments after and looked around. All of them took a defensive stance, standing almost back to back as they all faced different directions. There was nothing there though, they were in the clear for now.

  After a moment, Kaden laughed softly and lowered his makeshift club. "We look like a buncha idiots standing around with sticks like this. None of us even know how to fight." He said. But right as he spoke Estellese and Mendelen spoke up.

  "I know how to fight." Mendelen replied.

  At the same time Estellese said "I've taken some martial arts." Which grabbed the attention of Mendelen.

  "You've taken martial arts too? I've gotten a black belt in a few different styles." Mendelen asked, keeping his voice down and gesturing for the group to follow as he began walking down the street.

  "Yeah, I'm no black belt but I have taken enough classes to know what I'm doing." Estellese replied. She and the others in the group followed along behind Mendelen, keeping on guard and on the lookout for more monsters or the dragon.

  Kaden was a bit shocked, "Wait you both know martial arts?" He questioned, the realization that he was the only one who didn't have any skills that were useful in this world hit him rather hard. He bit his lip and looked down a little. He wasn't going to be outplayed like that, he wasn't going to settle for anything other then being the strongest and best player in the group.

  "Yes, I have. And it seems she has too." Mendelen replied. "It may be a good idea if me and Estell do the fighting, while you two back us up and cover our backs. That way we reduce the chances of anyone getting hurt."

  "That sounds like a good plan." Estellese replied.

  "No way. That's a stupid plan." Kaden stated. "We have four people, why would we cut our manpower in half by only having two of us fighting?"

  "We are not cutting our forces in half, we are taking a defensive approach. This way we have a strong defense and nobody gets hurt." Mendelen countered.

  "And we have a crappy offense, so we can't take down our enemies quickly. No matter how strong your defenses are they won't protect you from everything, something will eventually break through. If we kill off our enemies quickly they won't have a chance to hurt us, we won't need defense." Kaden stated.

  "Zanath what do you think?" Mendelen asked, trying to solve this more diplomatically.

  "Both approaches have their pros and cons. I do not care either way." Zanath replied simply and briefly, keeping his attention on the skies.

  "You don't talk much, do you?" Estellese asked him, giving Zanath a curious look.

  "Nope." Zanath replied simply. "I'm in introvert. I think more then I talk. Don't let that bother you though, I do like the company, just not all the time."

  "Anyways, it's two against one Kaden. Just stick with our plan." Mendelen said.

  Kaden looked as if he was going to argue further, but before he could speak he heard something shouting and growling in some foreign language. The four of them turned to see a group of six goblins walking out of an alley. It seemed like one of the goblins was the leader of the group, that one, unlike the rest, actually wore more then just a loincloth and had a metal helmet. The leader was shouting something in its native tongue and pointing at the four humans in front of him.

  "Fine, I'll follow your plan. But if things even start looking bad I'm doing things my way." Kaden stated, watching as the group of goblins began approaching them.

  "Estell, stand a short distance away from me, fight defensively, dodge or parry then counter. Do not block, based off the damage that first goblin did to Kaden, these things are pretty strong. Zanath, come here and cover my back. Kaden you cover Estell. You two don't attack until we do, follow our lead and just follow up on our attacks. They will likely dodge or block us, when they do you guys strike them. It's your jobs to do that, and to help prevent us from being attacked from by more then one at a time." Mendelen instructed. To which everyone nodded and moved into positions, then raised their makeshift clubs and braced themselves for the fight. They were outnumbered, and in an open area which was bad. But, they were counting on the goblins not being overly intelligent and not working well as a team.

  Just as they had expected, the goblins rushed forwards without much coordination. Just a six man, or rather a six goblin charge at the four humans. Some goblins ran faster then others and arrived long before their allies instead of all arriving at the same time, and that was what gave the humans the chance to win this fight. The first goblin to reach the humans went for Mendelen and Zanath. It swung it's club for Mendelen' ribs but Mendelen was quick to jump back and evade the blow. "Now!" He called out, he was in the middle of jumping back and the goblin was in mid-swing so neither of them were able to attack.

  Zanath heard the order to go and lunged forwards, slamming his makeshift club into the side of the goblin's head, striking with the side that had the pointed nails sticking out of it. It was a quick and decisive strike, he killed the goblin almost instantly then pulled back to move behind Mendelen again.

  The rest of the goblins were catching up fast, the leader and one other ran for Mendelen and Zanath, and the other three rushed for Estellese and Kaden. Estellese took a few steps back and braced herself as she watched the three incoming goblins. Kaden mirrored her movements, and doing as he was told waited for her lead before attacking. The three goblins rushed them almost in a triangle formation. There was one goblin in the front, rushing Estellese head-on, then there was two goblins behind him, heading towards Estellese's left and right sides.

  "Don't let them surround me! Pus
h back the one on my left." Estellese ordered. As the first goblin rushing in for a frontal attack reached her she lashed out with her makeshift club, swinging the club for the goblin's head. Although she did not expect this attack to land, it was a diversion. As expected the goblin reached up and grabbed the club, carefully avoiding grabbing the nails sticking out of it, and with the goblin's inhuman strength it was able to catch and stop her attack as if it were nothing. But she expected the attacked to be blocked in some way, as the goblin grabbed her club she delivered a quick but strong stomp to the goblin's kneecap with her heel, breaking it's kneecap and sending the goblin toppling down to it's knees as it cried out in pain. She pulled her club back, but the next two goblins were closing in on her fast, and she would not be able to dodge both of them at once.

  But, that was Kaden's job. As Estellese made her move on the first goblin, Kaden rushed forwards after the goblin that was trying to move around to her left. Swinging his club very fast and quite hard at the goblin's head. The goblin, of course, saw that coming and jumped backwards to evade being struck by the club but that was the plan. As that goblin jumped backwards it gave Estellese the space she needed to jump to her left and dodge the goblin that was swinging a pipe at her from her right. "Now attack right!" She said quickly as she narrowly dodged the goblin on her right.

  Following her lead Kaden turned and quickly lunged at the goblin on her right, he was left open after he attempted to swing at Estellese and missed. He dove in and bashed the goblin in the head with his makeshift club, his attack lacked power since he had to hold his club left handed due to his right shoulder being broken, but it was enough to knock the goblin down. And as soon as the goblin was knocked back Kaden stepped forwards and slammed the club down on it's head two more times, finishing it off.

  The goblin with the broken knee was starting to get back up, but Estellese was focused on the third and final goblin, the one Kaden had pushed back moments ago. Kaden rushed over and attempted to slam his club down onto that goblin's head too, but the goblin once again acted quick and grabbed the club, yanking it out of Kaden's hands and this time being prepared to block a kick. Kaden was forced to back off, but thinking quick he swept the pipe the last goblin had dropped off the ground and flung it at the goblin's head as fast as he could. Making a loud "Clank" sound as the metal pipe struck the goblin's forehead and knocked the goblin out.

  Estellese was focusing on her own goblin, she had jumped infront of it when she dodged. The goblin was quick to swing the wooden plank it was carrying down at her head, and she knew she would be unable to block the goblin's inhuman strength. So she used her club to bash the goblin's plank to the side, pushing it away from her and making it miss. As soon as the plank narrowly missed striking her Estellese threw a jab at the goblin's throat, striking hard enough to make the goblin stumble back and begin to choke. Thinking that was her chance, she followed up her attack by swiftly swinging her makeshift club down at the goblin's head. But the goblin was quick to deflect the attack with his own weapon. Estellese was not going to let the goblin win this fight though, as her attack was deflected she delivered a powerful kick to the side of the goblin's head, spinning her body with the kick to make it strike harder. The goblin let out a yelp of pain and was knocked to the ground, disoriented from the blow. And before it could recollect itself Estellese brought her makeshift club down on it's head and finished it off.

  Meanwhile, Mendelen and Zanath were dealing with the leader of this goblin pack and one other goblin. "I'll distract the leader and keep him busy. You focus out the other goblin, keep him close to me. As soon as you give me an opening I will turn on the normal goblin and we'll overpower him, then we bring down the leader together." Mendelen instructed as the two goblins rushed at them.

  "Got it." Zanath answered as he stepped out from behind Mendelen and stood beside him instead, keeping just a few feet of space between them. The lead goblin rushed for Mendelen since he had been in the front before, and the second goblin started going for Mendelen too. But as the second goblin started moving towards Mendelen Zanath moved in and cautiously swung his makeshift club for the goblin's head, just a quick and light swing not intended to strike the goblin but intended to force it to back off and get away from Mendelen. The goblin stumbled back to dodge the club and turned his attention to Zanath. This goblin held a short and light metal pole, as he turned to Zanath he swung the pole for Zanath's head. But the man was quick and ducked underneath it, as he ducked the goblin changed the direction of the attack, swinging down at Zanath instead. Seeing the change of attack Zanath swiftly tucked into a roll and rolled to the side to evade the blow, at the end of his brief roll he was in a crouching position and saw an opening. It wasn't part of the plan, but it was an opening. He sprung up and tackled the goblin to the ground, grabbing the goblin's head mid-tackle and slamming it down into the concrete road as he tackled the goblin, knocking it out on the spot.

  The leader of the goblin pack was bearing down on Mendelen, as soon as it reached him it lashed out with a downward strike for his head, which Mendelen parried and pushed away with his club. Mendelen tried to followup the parry by elbowing the goblin in the face while he was vulnerable but the goblin simply shoved him back with it's free hand, it's inhuman strength letting it almost throw Mendelen backwards with a simple push. As Mendelen stumbled back from the push the goblin rushed in and swung it's club horizontally at Mendelen' head. Mendelen was quick to slam his own makeshift club up into the goblin's weapon-wielding arm, driving the nails in his makeshift club into the goblin's wrist and forcing the goblin to drop it's own club. The goblin shrieked in pain and its club was unintentionally thrown off into the distance when it let go, but he was not going down. The goblin lashed out and grabbed Mendelen by his throat, with it's inhuman strength it could easily crush the man's throat or snap his neck. Thinking fast Mendelen dropped his club and grabbed the goblin's wrist with one hand, his other hand rushed to slam a punch into the goblin's elbow, breaking the goblin's arm and causing the goblin to cry out in pain as it was forced to let him go.

  Mendelen saw Zanath finish off the other goblin and saw that Zanath was ready to help. Taking advantage of the goblin leader being momentarily stunned from the pain, and having no weapon to strike with, Mendelen pushed himself forwards and in one swift movement pulled the helmet off the goblin's head with one hand and shoved the goblin back towards Zanath with his other hand. Making the goblin stumble backwards into Zanath, who promptly landed the finishing blow, a club to the back of the goblin's head. And with that the fight was over, Kaden and Estellese were just finishing their fight and the coast was clear.

  Mendelen' clothes and the bandages that were wrapped around the wound on his side were starting to turn red, he was bleeding through them all. All the quick movements from the fight and him needing to use his arms to attack was tearing open the wound on his side and making it worse then it already was. Nobody there, except for Zanath, was in good shape; Estellese's hands were still burnt and in searing pain from holding the club; Kaden's back was also burnt and hurt from moving, thankfully he hadn't needed to use his right arm. But out of the three Mendelen was the worst off, he was bleeding and at risk for bleeding out if his wound kept getting worse.

  "Everyone good?" Mendelen asked, panting lightly. As he spoke he looked over the helmet he had taken from the goblin leader and decided to keep it.

  "All good." Estellese replied.

  "Grocery store is just around the corner. We need to get there quick before we run into anything else. Or before something comes to find out what all the screaming was about." Kaden stated as he picked up his makeshift club and the pipe. He looked around at the dead goblins. "No EXP or loot for killing things? What kind of crappy game is this?"

  "If you want loot you could take their loin cloths. That's the only thing they got on them." Estellese teased. "Anyways, lets go. Before something else finds us." She stated, and with that the group rushed down the street, straight to the nearby groce
ry store. Thankfully there was nothing between them and the store now but they didn't know how long their luck would be lasting at this rate.

  As they approached the store they were thankful to find that the door was unlocked, and as they slipped in they saw that like the rest of the town, nobody was here. There was food on the shelves, a pharmacy in the back, everything a normal grocery store had. Everything except people. "Grab as much food as we can. Also, any perishable food that you really want to eat, take it now. If this game is as realistic as it seems to be, all this food is going to go bad soon due to nobody running the store and the store having no electricity. And it's already been without electricity for two days." Mendelen stated. And with that everyone scattered to find what they wanted from the store.

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  - Next chapter: Chapter 4: On the run, escaping Oline City.

  Chapter 4: On the Run

  ~~ Chapter 4 : On the R un, E scaping Oline City.