“That’s a little unfair, isn’t it!?” Jake cried out. But he did not say anything more. He had no right to argue. He slumped down onto the floor and hugged his knees, not wanting to be looked at. 

Desaray smugly lifted her snout in the air before turning serious once more. “How’s Mike?”

“Still asleep. His pulse is strong as far as I can tell from what you taught me before.” Becky replied as she watched Desaray walk over to Make and begin checking his pulse. 

They were in the front entryway of one of the office buildings not far from the school bus stop, where Mike, Jake, and Yu got on. Because it was an office building, only the front door was unlocked, so they could not go any further without a card key to get inside. It was the area where the mailboxes for each office were held. 

The carpet on the floor was nothing more than an industrial version that was easy to clean. It looked to have been cleaned just recently if you did not count the new stains that the four of them had added to it. With white painted walls and wood trim, it looked neat and tidy as any entryway could be.

Mike was leaning up against a side wall while Yu sat on the floor next to him with a worried expression on her face. She was worried about Mike’s condition. He had saved her when he could have just left her, and because of that, he was now unconscious. She couldn’t help but be moved by his self-sacrifice. She knew she was not the best-looking girl around, and Mike might not be the cutest-looking guy, but he was someone who was willing to put himself in harm’s way to save her, unlike a certain handsome boy who was still shaking in the knees.

Desaray frowned as she let go of Mike’s wrist. “I can’t be sure what is going on. His pulse seems fine from what I can tell, as Becky said, but other than that, unless we get him to a hospital, I do not think we will know what is really wrong with him. The only issue is that there is barely anyone around and monsters all over the place. Which means we will need to bring him there ourselves. The closest one is the Lenox Hill Hospital which is on the other side of Bethesda Terrace…. We are currently on West and 67th St. It will take us about thirty minutes or more on foot, rough estimate, if we rush, but if we run into monsters, it will take longer. Which means….” 

Desaray looked up at Jake and pondered for a moment. “Jake, if you want to redeem yourself, then you will need to help us move Mike unless you are willing to see your friend suck in a coma like this for who knows how long.”

Jake lifted his head. He really did not want to leave the safety of the building, but…. He looked over at Mike and bit his lip. It was not like he could stay here forever, he knew this, but he was still scared of the unknown. He took a deep breath and stood up. “I-I will carry him.”

“Are you sure? If you drop him out of fright, he might die, then it will be on your head.” Becky asked with a snort. 

This only fired Jake up more to do this task, as he was already annoyed with Becky from the earlier argument. “I won’t drop him!”

“Alright, no fighting, we will need to work together. I will take point with Becky watching the sides. Yu will follow behind Jake and assist him if needed. But before we go, I need to look at a few things. We will also need to search for weapons outside. There are plenty of cars, so we can just loot them for anything useful to protect ourselves with.” Desaray was trying to be a realist. The situation was not a situation they could just abide by common laws. Anything went now, and the most important thing for them at this time was protection.

“Then just tell us when you are ready.” Becky had no problems with Desaray’s plan. She just hoped Jake would not wuss out again. No one else had an issue with Desaray’s plan either. This allowed Desaray some time to figure out her new menu thing. 

She sat down next to the door with her hind legs crossed under her as she poked at the menu screen for a few moments before muttering: “Close status window….”

She had no idea if would work, but luckily, it did. “So the window is voice activated? Open status window.” Once more, the status window appeared in front of her. With a sigh of relief, Desaray closed the menu again before standing up and going to open the door but was quickly stopped by Jake. “Where are you going?”

“I need to see if I can cast my ice breath. If I can, then that means I can make our trip a little easier if it does not consume too much mana.” Desaray replied.

“Wait, so you were not lying!? You really have a game-type system?” Jake asked. He thought it was a joke!

“Why would I lie about something so stupid? Do you think I like looking mentally insane? Luckily I can open and close the menu now, or I would have to live the rest of my life with a blue transparent screen in front of me that only I can see. Jake, I did not realize you thought so little of me. Once we get to the hospital, you can stay there and watch over Mike. At least there, you will be safe. I hope anyway….”