Zade had a calm air to him, a gentle smile, and quite the fit stature. He was probably 6'2" or so, only a little shorter than Zarek himself, and had a slim, powerful build. His suit wasn't particularly tight, but when it moved, the way the shadows moved across the lines of his body made it obvious that he was packing something quite powerful beneath all the layers.
He looked like an elite calisthenics athlete, and this sort of body was one of the many types that translated well to the apocalypse and the evolutionary push of the system.
At the start, everyone who awakened their Talent was given F- stats in everything. The exceptions were those with superior Growth Potential like Priya, who might have been given a few F+ stats right from the start.
But how could everyone's stats be worth the exact same? Even setting aside Talent, the effectiveness of one's stats, how well they were used, and what range on the spectrum their strength actually fell on were all factors decided by you and you alone.
It was safe to say that there would be very few unfit people who managed to make it very far unless they changed their lifestyles, and GBI was among the first to realize this core truth.
"Oh, that atmosphere doesn't feel the best here," Zade said with a light chuckle. "I'm sorry if the grumpiness is due to our asks being too heavy or demanding. I can only say that, as with all things in life, if you perform well, I'll make certain that none of you leave here unhappy."
Zade spoke as though he cared about the head-butting going on in here, but he got to the point immediately, skipping over it as though it was unimportant.
And that was because it was.
"Right now, there are four main hubs of the city that are relatively zombie-free—ah, I don't like that term very much. Let's just call them monsters. The goal of all four of our hubs is to clear the entire city within three months. A tall task, I know.
"But as with any tall task, we start small and work our way up. As the first here, all of you will have the best chance to build up merit, and when the time comes, you'll benefit the most. It's all of your chance to either return to the elite status you had before all of this happened, or to forge a new life for yourselves."
Zade pointed toward a map of the city to the side. There were four green, shaded circles that occupied the north, south, east, and west. Then, dotted between them were various red circles—or, rather, territories.
These shaded red areas weren't in the same circular shape as the green shading because they were carefully selected to have naturally defensible regions once they were cleared.
For example, what Zarek immediately picked out as the natural target for today had a city park and a river running through it. There was a bridge that cut off the left side, and to the right there was a subway network that went right underground.
From a glance, Zarek could tell they probably planned to blow up the subway and turn it into a trench, blockade the bridge, then use the river as a natural barrier.
Once this region was secured, they would move on to the next.
It was a smart plan forward, especially for humans who weren't adept at war.
The areas were small and manageable. If they did well, they could slowly push the line of defense back.
But the question was… how much had they scouted out these regions? Were they already aware of what Hubs might appear? Had they mapped out Godsfall Tears as well?
He wasn't asking for their safety—he hardly cared. Rather, he wanted to know how much of this he could take advantage of.
"This region here will be our first target. We'll be blockading the bridge today, the easiest of the tasks. The details will be handled by your superiors. All you have to do is listen and kill those monsters as fast as you can. Those that perform the best will be given appropriate rewards and even better accommodation.
"For free," he emphasized.
A woman raised her hand. Zarek remembered her as Enissen, and she carried one of the more common Talents that gave her better attunement with bladed weapons than most. She had likely gone from a normal woman in her early 30s to better than any sword master Earth had ever created in a single breath of time.
"Yes?" Zade asked with a smile.
"Will the government be involved in any of this at any point in time?"
Zade chuckled. "Look around. Have you seen the government around?"
Enissen's lips parted, but in the end, she closed them. There was nothing else to say.
"Hey, point dexter." Zarek spoke without raising his hand. "You mentioned superiors. How'd you go about choosing them? It's been a few days at most."
Zade's smile didn't fade as he looked Zarek up and down. "Well, I chose people I trusted, of course."
"Do you suit types usually have people you trust that much?" Zarek asked, a clearly pointed question.
"Well, maybe not in the corporate world, but we… we're just a bunch of meatheads who like the gym. There's no corporate subterfuge for me to worry about here."
"Mm, is that so? I'm a bit of a meathead, too."
Priya tried to stop herself from laughing, but she couldn't manage it. She turned her face away and chuckled into Zarek's arm.
She wasn't the only one—most seemed to have forgotten that Zarek had implied he could scan their stats earlier.
Zade chuckled as well. "Well, if you perform well, maybe we can discuss these things. My friends aren't just people I trust, they're also built for this world."
Zarek's eyes practically lit on fire. "So am I. But you don't seem to be in fighting attire right now."
"Neither do you." Zade grinned.
"Touche."
The two men looked toward one another, an odd resonance forming between them.
**
The path to the bridge was littered in danger, but it was hard to feel very unsafe when you were riding in huge trucks that mowed everything in their paths down.
These trucks carried much of the materials they would need to complete the barricade—mostly heavy sandbags, but there were also even more bags of cement.
They'd lay out the sandbags first, then build up the cement walls behind it, cut up the bags, then pump up the river water to douse them and set them.
At that point, it would just become a matter of protecting the cement bags for long enough that they had time to harden before they were knocked over.
It was a good plan. But rocking in the back of a moving truck plastered with Global Fitness Incorporated on the sides wasn't nearly as fun when there were no seat belts or even actual seats.
Luckily, the rumbling came to a stop soon enough—only to be followed by the bashing to the sides of the vehicle.
The Turned were already here.
Zarek grinned. "Look alive."
He ripped up the truck doors, not letting the light that came flooding in stop him from swinging down and taking two heads in one fluid motion.
…
"Refused to give his summary of his Talent, you say?" Zade received the report with a raised eyebrow.