We didn't stop running until our legs felt broken.
The forest opened into a shallow lake, the muddy ground was scattered with rocks, there was nowhere good to hide. But at least nothing followed us.
We collapsed where we stood.
There were only nine survivors left.
Mira. Me. Owen. A pair of siblings who hadn't stopped holding hands. A quiet older man with a staff. And three others I hadn't paid attention to.
One of them was bleeding badly.
"Shit I can't, I can't feel my fucking leg," he said, panic creeping into his voice.
A woman knelt beside him, hands glowing faintly. Healing magic. It was weak. Barely flickering.
"It's not enough, nowhere close," she whispered. "I didn't put enough points into it…"
The glow faded.
And the man screamed.
Then stopped.
The system chimed.
Eight.
Enough watching.
Enough guessing.
I opened my status window.
AVAILABLE STAT POINTS: 10
I took a breath.
Don't rush.
The system wasn't asking what I wanted to be forever.
Just what I needed right now.
And I needed to survive.
I allocated them slowly.
Not all ten.
Just four, that would be enough.
Two into endurance.
And two into perception.
The change was subtle.
My breathing steadied. The pain in my ribs felt… less. The world sharpened around me, the sounds felt clearer, and every movement was easier to track.
I stopped.
Six points left.
Mira noticed.
"You didn't finish allocating."
"I know."
She nodded once.
The ground trembled faintly.
Not close. Not yet.
The system chimed again.
NOTICE:
ADAPTIVE THREATS INCREASE OVER TIME.
We moved again before the night returned, slower now, more careful. The forest thinned into broken plains dotted with stone remnants, they were the signs of old battles, old failures.
History repeating.
We weren't the first to come here.
As we walked, Owen drifted closer to me.
"You called directions back there," he said. "... Well not that many people listened, that's not the point here."
I didn't like where this was going.
"We need leadership right now," he continued. "Someone to decide what we are going to do."
I shook my head. "Thats going to get people killed."
He smiled weakly. "So does hesitation."
I didn't answer.
But I watched him after that.
The system hadn't said anything about betrayal.
It didn't need to.
End of Chapter 6.