As Vessa ran down the hall, her heartbeat pounded in her ears. If she survived this, she would dedicate time to running. Her current capabilities were pathetic as, for the fifth time, Vessa had to stop and rest against a wall as she kept track of the group in her head.

  Seven more had joined but three had died and Vessa was worried she wouldn’t get to them in time, though what Vessa was going to do when she got there she didn’t know. She had been lifting her number throughout this whole thing. Could she do that for them?

  It had never been mentioned at the Homes or the Base, but then why would the Base say anything on it when they were training her to be an assassin? And the Homes? Why hadn’t they? It didn’t matter right now, and Vessa needed to focus. Unless she wanted to be stuck on a ship full of undead routinely getting attacked until the Umbaan came.

  Assuming it was them and not someone else. That sparked a memory of the Umbaan rep saying there was no escape even after the dream, so definitely them.

  Vessa wanted to face palm, but she didn’t dare impede her vision.

  She had asked who, and he had said a necromancer among others. Well, at least she knew it was them and not another group that wanted possession of her.

  Finally getting her breath back, Vessa started running again, and moments later she had a chance to test if she could lift another’s number as a 35 male began to drop heading for 0%.

  She grabbed hold of the number and lifted as she would lift her own number. It worked. It felt different and clunky, but still his number was rising.

  Male 35: 100%

  All the other numbers began to drop, and she grabbed them, holding them still. The dropping stopped and Vessa’s breathing got harder. Her head pounding as it hadn’t before.

  Vessa had to stop, collapsing to the ground as she gasped for breath. The numbers in her grasp slowly rising despite something pushing against them.

  Holding others’ numbers was almost intuitive, unlike teleporting, but the energy it took from Vessa was way more intense.

  The ground felt like it was moving, and her head spun. All she could focus on was breathing. If a hoard of undead found her, there was nothing she could do.

  Vessa wondered if she’d be able to hold the numbers while being bitten by undead. Probably given the similar training she had for holding on to a target while in pain.

  Eventually the something trying to bring down the group of numbers stopped and Vessa could focus on more than breathing. She let go of the numbers and immediately felt better. Vessa got up and walked towards the group, now 20 in number, though whether Vessa had lifted the new ones or just the original, she didn’t know.

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  As Vessa walked, her number rose back to 100%. Slowly she could hear the thud of boots and Vessa froze, goosebumps rising as she realized what that meant.

  Only in what direction were they coming from? Vessa turned and looked behind her to see familiar faces rounding a corner. They had no numbers, and she realized they were from the dead end door. Why had they stopped waiting?

  It didn’t matter. Vessa was running again, the memory of being eaten coming back in horrible clarity and propelling her into an all-out sprint.

  Just like the last time the undead were gaining on her. Vessa kept running towards the group of numbers. Only realizing at that moment she probably looked like one of the undead.

  Her clothing was torn, and it had bite marks traced out by her dried blood. There was nothing to be done for it and whatever that green light had been, it seemed a way better way to go than endlessly being eaten until the necromancer got bored.

  Once again, a hand on her shoulder and Vessa reached out, trying to find their numbers. Her mind screaming not again as she fell towards the ground. The first bite and she was trying everything to get free. The numbers spun around one number as Vessa tried kicking again, to no avail.

  Then most of the undead left her and the two remaining got shot repeatedly by a green light which burnt holes through them.

  Vessa laid on the ground for several moments, catching her breath and reacquainting herself with the pain of bite marks.

  At least they wouldn’t attack her again for a while. The group’s numbers began to drop and Vessa grabbed them, slowly lifting them and giving up on the idea of getting back up until after the fighting was done.

  Fingers felt at her neck as Vessa focused on breathing.

  “Is she dead?” A familiar voice asked.

  Male 35: 100%

  “No, and she isn’t turning.” Vessa let go of the numbers again and opened her eyes to a group of mostly men staring down at her.

  “Fuck!” Someone said and Vessa’s number tried to drop with her instinctively catching it, and green light hit to either side of her.

  “What the hell?” Another set of green light hit around her body as she held her number at 100. Why didn’t it take the same energy to hold her own number up?

  “Hold fire.” The same familiar voice said.

  Male 35: 80%

  “Inmate Vessa?”

  “That would be me, and you’re the one I saved from dying,” Vessa said and the brunette agent offered her a hand up, which she took. Vessa was back to standing and looked around the group finding the blond agent, his back turned to them, gun pointed down the hallway.

  She looked back at the group and met the brunette agent’s eyes.

  “Prove it.” He said.