Three days passed without much happening in the building.
Michael spent calmly trying to do quest when he could and planning how to go further. The reinforced door held it's ground and their floor stayed clear.
The base was growing although slowly he could notice it happening which was the most important part.
He had added a storage unit in the second bedroom, a water collection system rigged to the bathroom pipes and a proper reinforced covering on the living room window with a narrow viewport he could check without exposing himself to anything outside.
The apartment didn't look like an ordinary apartment anymore, it looked a lot safer.
[Base Tier 1 — Shelter: 73% complete.]
[Remaining upgrades for Tier 2: Basic Workbench, Perimeter Alert System.]
He was so close to upgrading his base to tier two that he couldn't help but smile.
Sera on the other hand had been quiet all this time, only making small conversations here and there and not asking any questions that would make Michael feel awkward.
She was good company, she made the space feel less empty without filling it with noise.
She was also still watching him although no longer suspicious, rather she had a look of respect that hadn't been on her face before.
---
On the morning of Day Twenty One Sera came out of the kitchen holding two cups of something hot and Michael stared at her like she had performed a miracle which in current circumstances she basically had.
"How," he said.
"I found instant coffee in room 603 during the early sweep." She held one out. "It's only three packets though, I had to ration."
He took the cup with both hands and the smell alone did something genuinely emotional to him. He hadn't had coffee in three weeks and he hadn't realized how much he missed it until this exact moment.
They sat on the floor of the living room with their backs against the wall and drank in silence for a while and it was the most normal thing that had happened to Michael since the apocalypse began. Outside the dead things groaned and shuffled and did whatever dead things did and in here it was just two people and lukewarm instant coffee and a quiet that didn't need filling.
"Are you reaching Tier 2 anytime soon?" Sera asked without looking at him.
He glanced at the interface. "I just need two more upgrades. It won't take more than 2 days Maybe."
"What does it unlock?"
"It gives use better defences, a power grid and a greenhouse option." He paused for a second. "Also a barracks."
Sera looked at him over the rim of her cup. "Barracks."
"For more people. When we find them."
She didn't ask any more questions and just stayed silent, this was part of the reasons why Michael told her about the system in the first place.
After a moment she just nodded and finished her coffee and that was that.
[Bond Event: Quiet Morning — Shared. +1 Bond Point — Sera. Current BP: 3.]
---
The noise from downstairs happened at around eleven in the morning and it wasn't the usual noise they heard.
The usual noise was ambient, groaning and shuffling and the occasional distant crash of something falling over. This one sounded way more different.
Three heavy impacts in quick succession sounded, like something large hitting a wall, followed by a sound that came up through the building's floor like a tremor. Then after a second of silence the sound of screaming echoed.
They sounded like human voices and didn't sound like it was only one person, Somewhere around Floor 3 or 4, although they were muffled by concrete and distance it was completely unmistakable.
Michael and Sera were on their feet before the echo finished.
He pushed the Territory Pulse as far as it would stretch toward the lower floors. The range was still limited at Tier 1 and Floor 3 was fuzzy at the edges but what he could make out was enough to make his stomach drop a little.
The signatures down there were big unlike the Rotters they fought this was more larger.
"Something bad is downstairs," he said.
"I heard it too." Sera already had the fire axe in both hands. "How bad?"
"I don't know but it sounds big"
"And the screaming?"
"It's probably survivors." He moved to the viewport and angled for a look at the street below. It was dead and empty as always, the building entrance just out of his sightline. "Maybe people hiding in the lower floors."
Sera didn't say anything for a moment and he didn't look at her because he already knew what the expression on her face would be.
"We can't leave them," she said. It wasn't really a question or a statement, it was just something she was putting out there because it needed to be said out loud.
Michael looked at the reinforced door then at the storage unit through the bedroom door, properly stocked for the first time since the world ended.
Then he opened the shop.
[Smoke Canister x2 — 40 SP. Tactical Flashlight — 25 SP.]
He bought both of the items without thinking too hard about it and pocketed the canisters and clipped the flashlight to his belt and picked up his axe. Sera watched him gear up and waited.
"Do you have a olan?" she asked.
"Go down, find the survivors and bring them back."
She looked at him. "That's it?"
"I'm working on the details on the way down."
"Michael."
"It'll be fine."
She held his gaze for a second then adjusted her grip on the axe and looked at the door. "It better be."
He checked the quest that had appeared in his vision.
[Rescue Quest — Survivors In The Dark. Locate and extract survivors from Floors 3 and 4. Reward: 300 SP + Bond Point per survivor rescued + Barracks Blueprint Early Access.]
Bond Point per survivor rescued.
He looked at that part for just a moment longer than necessary then closed the interface and unbolted the door.