Arty raised his hand slightly, he didn't respond, he focused on the metal in the door frame, as the metal trembled. Then a small visible ripple could be seen moving in the metal, then it suddenly snapped back into resonance with a small popping sound.
His eyes narrowed, a slow, dangerous smile formed. "Yeah, this will do just nicely, I can work with this." he said quietly.
The sounds on the other side of the door became a muffled sound almost like the timer had reset. Then a moment later with a metallic twang, the door didn't break all at once, it failed in pieces.
The first crack ran through the inner panel like a fault line, sharp and sudden, the steel peeling back like skin splitting, just enough to expose the structure beneath.
The second impact widened it, turning a fracture into a weakness, and the third drove something through it, a grey, blood-smeared hand forcing its way into the gap with a jerking, relentless pressure.
Leah swore under her breath. Tom took two steps back. Dale tried to stand and failed halfway up, his body refusing to cooperate with the urgency his mind was throwing at it.
He didn't move, his hand remained raised, fingers slightly spread, his focus locked on the door as something new settled into him. Not instinct, not quite control, but a strange, deliberate awareness of the metal itself.
It was like waking up with an entirely new sense, one that had always existed but had been invisible until this moment. Every beam, hinge, and weld sang its own silent note, and yet, he understood them all.
It wasn't just a surface anymore, it was structure, density, stress, a network of force and resistance that he could almost map out the molecules in his head without trying.
The system hadn't lied; it had just left out how it would feel. The hand pushed further through the crack, followed by the distorted shape of a forearm, the bone bending at an angle that would have broken a living person.
The thing outside didn't care, it didn't stop. it simply forced more of itself into the gap, tearing flesh against steel as if pain had been removed from the equation entirely.
"Arty!" Leah snapped.
He exhaled slowly. "Yeah, I see it."
Then Arty focussed all his effort on the door, he viewed the weak points the frame, the hinges, then the metal started responding to his intent.
Tightening with another snap a subtle shift, a compression of structure that pulled the hinge back into alignment and forced the warped section of the frame inward just enough to reduce the gap.
The snap caused the door to realign severed the hand stopping the advancement, for a solitary moment nothing happened. Then the pushing started once more, even harder, he could feel it, not physically it wasn't that simple.
Yet close enough that his jaw tightened as if resisting pressure directly through his own body. "Ok… Let's try this again," he muttered.
He pushed harder this time, the metal creaked, the hinges groaned under the strain of two opposing forces, the crack shrank by another fraction.
The arm outside twisted violently, trapped now between closing steel and unyielding frame, and for the first time since it had appeared, something like resistance showed in its movement.
Leah didn't wait, stepping in and brought the tyre iron down on the exposed limb, once, twice, three times in rapid succession, the impacts snapping bone and crushing muscle until the arm went slack.
The pressure from outside didn't stop, if anything it increased, more bodies with more hungry force, jamming that arm in the door gap.
"They're piling up, from behind that first one!" Tom shouted.
Arty could feel that too, the weight, the cumulative push against the door, his ability strained against it, not failing, but not holding easily either.
The connection to the metal wasn't effortless, it wasn't free, every adjustment, every shift in structure pulled something from him, a drain that built with each second, he maintained it.
The system flickered, a warning line appeared at the edge of his vision.
Energy Drain Active
No numbers, no explanations just a simple statement. "Of course, nothing was free." Arty griped.
"Arty," Leah said, lower now, controlled. "Talk to me."
"I can hold it," Arty said. "Not forever. though."
"How long?" Came Leah's question.
"I… I don't know." Said Arty truthfully.
Tic…
00:00:03
Tic…
00:00:02
Tic…
00:00:01
The timer from the stabilisation protocol hit zero.
00:00:00
The subtle reinforcement that had been holding the rest of the structure together faded like a breath released, leaving only Arty's strength to fight the tidal wave on the other side of the door.
The next impact hit harder, the door buckled, he pushed back once more with everything he had left.
The metal groaned under competing forces, his control tightening the hinge while the external pressure tried to tear it free.
The connection in his mind sharpened, lines of stress and weakness lighting up in a way that made him understand exactly how close this was to failing.
"That was too close, we need another plan," Tom said.
"Working on it," Arty replied through clenched teeth.
He shifted his focus, not just the hinge or the frame, the bars inside the door, the internal locking mechanism, slow and steadily the metal started to respond once more, resisting him yet it started to move back into place.
The internal bar bent slightly and started spreading wider, reinforcing the lock, redistributing the force from the impacts across a wider section of the frame.
The next hit didn't push as far, the one after that didn't either.
Leah saw it. "It's working,"
"For now, it should hold." Arty replied.
His vision dimmed at the edges, just slightly but enough to start seeing stars everyone noticed him.
The system flickered again.
Energy Low
"That's a new one," Arty muttered.
"What's new?" Leah asked.
"Nothing good." Arty spoke lightly.
Dale's voice came from behind them, strained but sharp. "You're burning something internally, aren't you? how long can you keep that up."
"I sure am, and honestly I do not know how long I can hold it for." Arty said.
The problem was simple, the solution wasn't, "he could hold the door for time at least, but then what." He thought to himself.
Zombies didn't get bored, they didn't get tired, so far they didn't decide to try somewhere else, they stayed until something changed or something more interesting took their attention.
The system flickered again.
A new line appeared.
Skill Proficiency Increased
He almost laughed. "Now you tell me."
Leah caught the shift in his expression. "What?"
"I'm getting better at it."
"Great," Tom said. "Do that faster."
He adjusted his grip in the air, fingers tightening slightly as he focused harder, refining the control rather than just forcing it.
The strain didn't disappear, but it changed, becoming more efficient, less raw effort and more directed pressure, the door steadied, not permanently, not safely, just enough, enough to think and to choose.
He looked away from the door for half a second, scanning the warehouse interior again, this time not just as space, but the material contained within.
From the shelving, the steel beams, pallet racking, the forklifts, there is a lot of metal and potential in this room, Arty started to formulate a plan.
"Tom," he said.
"Yeah?" Tom replied.
"Those racks," Arty nodded toward a section of pallet shelving near the door. "Can you bring them to me?"
Tom followed his gaze. "Bring them how?"
"Knock them down, pull them apart bring anything that's metal over here… use the forklifts"
Tom blinked. "You want me to bring you a shelving unit… to the door?"
"Yes."
"That's insane."
"Probably… Just do it anyway." Arty said.
Leah didn't question it. "Let's go, I'll help you too." she said.
Tom got to work, so too did Leah, as fast as they could, because at this point, insane plans were the only ones left.
He shifted his focus again, maintaining pressure on the door while reaching outward, extending that strange awareness into the nearest shelving unit.
It felt different at range, less precise, harder to control, like trying to move something with numb fingers, the metal resisted him, Arty pushed back the metal creaking under the strain.
Tom grabbed a piece of shelving with the forklift, the combined force enough to break it free from its resting position and lift it across the concrete floor toward the door.
Outside, the pounding intensified in response.
"Faster!" Leah snapped.
Tom hauled harder. The shelving slid into place against the door just as another heavy impact landed. He pushed his powers harder, the force transferring and distributing, He didn't stop there, he reached for the structure of the shelving itself. Focussing and compressing the additional steel it bent to his will.
The metal twisted inward, locking against the frame, reinforcing the barrier with a crude type of welding... The strain hit him immediately, way harder this time, his breath hitched, vision dimmed further, with a mother of all headaches starting to form.
The system flashed again.
Critical Energy Level
"Arty," Leah said, closer now, her hand on his shoulder. "You can stop if you need to."
He shook his head. "No not yet."
Because for the first time, they had something that might hold, he didn't believe it would hold permanently, but enough to provide some immediate safety.
Anything longer than five minutes would be a bonus, long enough to matter, the pounding continued, relentless and unyielding in the effort expended.
Less effective, the door didn't crack any further, the frame didn't give, the barricade would hold for now. Arty lowered his hand slowly, the connection to the metal faded, the strain didn't it lingered as he staggered half a step.
Leah caught him again.
"Easy," she said.
"I'm good," he replied automatically.
"No, you're not… Take a minute to regather yourself, we need you now." Leah almost scalded him.
Behind the barricade, the world kept trying to get in, inside, for the first time since the group stepped inside, they had bought more than a few seconds.
He looked at the system, at the empty crystal count, the debt stared back at him, at the warnings, then back at the door. As a quiet realisation settled in, power wasn't the advantage, time was and had just spent everything he had, just to buy a moment.