“Okay,” Joel sighed. “I think if they aren’t here, they’ve either been chased off, or they’re finding something to eat.”

  “That would be my guess,” Amanda said as she looked anxiously around.

  “Why leave the door open?” Luneira asked.

  “That’s what has me worried,” Joel admitted. “And then there’s the sign of the fire.”

  He gestured for them to follow, and they checked the rest of the house. They found water bottles in the bathroom, beside a small tub for a baby to bathe in. they also found a pair of bedrooms that were clearly for older children in their teens. And a master bedroom for a parent that was… untidy, like whoever slept in here got up and just… never came back.

  Joel had the horrible feeling that this was a pair of kids and their younger sibling. Their parent might have gone out and not made it back and these kids were doing their best as they tried to figure out what was going on. Going by the books and the video games in the room of the eldest child’s room, they probably had a handle on how the world worked. Just not the day-to-day survival stuff.

  Joel swallowed and turned to his group. “Let’s go. We’ll head home and grab some food. Leave it with a note and let them know where to find us.”

  “It disturbs me how generous you can be, my lord,” Luneira said.

  “The night hag is right, my lord. Sharing resources with one that isn’t part of our community is wasteful,” Jenny agreed.

  Joel was about to snap at the two of them before stopping himself. They were correct. Sharing wasn’t smart. The more people he gathered, the worse the incursion chance would get. But he couldn't just abandon some kids to die, either. Not to mention his quest. Pulling people into their home was part of that.

  “I understand what you’re both telling me,” Joel said, looking at the demons in turn. “But I need to do this, okay?”

  They exchanged a quick look before nodding. “Yes, my lord,” they replied.

  Joel nodded and stepped past, leading the way outside. He placed one foot on the front mat before something slammed into him from the side.

  Chapter Three

  “STACEY RUN!”

  “David!”

  Joel coughed as a fist slammed into his diaphragm. Whatever hit him was still on him. Falling to the ground, that blur slowed a little, giving him a single glance of a teenage boy. Maybe fourteen years old, wearing a dirty shirt and a pair of gardening gloves.

  As the boy wound back to punch Joel once more, a black mass enveloped him from behind. The terrified teen’s scream of terror vanished as his head was sucked into Luneira’s liquid form.

  “DAVID!”

  Joel snapped his head around. A tearful teenage girl clung to a young boy. She would have only been twelve or thirteen. The boy in her arms was much, much younger, going by the diaper he wore. Behind her, trailed a kids’ play wagon, laden with what looked like the food they had taken, most likely from a neighbor’s house.

  “Luneira!” Joel snapped. “Let him breathe!”

  The boy, David’s head, appeared. His eyes were wild as Luneira continued to hold him. “Stacey! Run!”

  The teenage girl gave a panicked look as Amanda and Jenny rushed out to try to help the situation. Which only made it worse. As soon as Stacey spotted Jenny, she turned and bolted for the street.

  “Shit!” Joel snarled. “Jenny⁠—”

  “I shall fetch her!” Jenny cackled.

  “GENTLY DAMMIT!” Joel roared as Jenny vanished into the ether, only to appear before Stacey.

  Joel worried she was about to do something stupid, but she must have heard him even as she used her movement technique. Rather than strike the teen, Jenny had a frown on her face as she threw her arms out. Which was the exact moment the girl used some kind of ability. She leaped off her back leg as Jenny stared in confusion. Right before the girl threw out a kick, which connected with Jenny’s head, knocking her to one side. The teen, landing on the ground still holding the child, took off at a dead sprint.

  “Shit,” Joel looked around. “Luneira, you need to stop her.”

  “Leave her alone, you fucking arsehole!” David threw a wild and mostly blind haymaker that had zero chance of connecting.

  “But, master⁠—”

  “Go Luneira,” Joel snapped. “Before she runs into some hellhounds or something.”

  Luneira made a grunt of annoyance and released David, who dropped to his knees, before springing up with a punch. This time, Joel was ready and swung his shield into position to block it.

  “Big man needs a shield to fight a kid!” David taunted.

  “I’m not trying to fight you,” Joel grumbled as he kept the shield up.

  “Well, maybe I’ll fight the bitch then!”

  Joel had a moment to think about what he said before David spun towards Amanda. The thief let out a yelp as David rushed towards her. Joel, seeing Amanda backpedaling, let out a snarl. Before he could land a hit, though, Amanda almost… vanished. Joel noticed it this time. He didn’t see or hear anything, just, one moment she was backing up, the next she was standing to one side while David flailed around in confusion.

  “BASH!”

  The teen spun and threw up his arms as Joel’s shield smacked into him. Then yelped as he flew back, crashing through the fence dividing this yard from the neighbors. The teen rolled, getting to his feet with an unsteady gait.

  “I think right there’s enough, don’t you think?”

  “Joel,” Amanda squeaked.

  Joel heard the tone and slowly turned to see what had her attention. A grizzled older man stood in the neighbor’s yard. Clutched in his hands was an old-fashioned double-barrel shotgun. Joel didn’t know if it was loaded, or if it would work. But he wasn’t dumb enough to risk startling the old man.

  “David, you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” the teen grunted. “They got Stacey though.”

  “Did they now?” the old man narrowed his eyebrows.

  Right before a green blur stepped out of the nether behind him. His eyes bulged as a knife slipped under his chin. Jenny pulled back, and Joel dropped to the ground as the shotgun went off. The shot went high, striking the gutters on the roof.

  “Fucking christ enough!” Joel roared.

  “You have my sister!” David tackled Joel from behind.

  Joel rolled along the ground, taking the teen with him. He threw out an arm, taking David by the shirt, and slammed him into the ground.

  “ENOUGH!”

  “Master?” Luneira called.

  Joel looked away from the teen face down in the dirt and glanced back down the road. Stacey looked to be in tears while clutching the boy to her chest. Other than being completely covered in black slime that was slowly dragging them back to the house, she appeared unharmed.

  “Okay,” Joel sighed, before giving David a firm shove into the ground when he struggled. “Jenny, don’t hurt him.”

  “Don’t we have enough shit going on without you fuckers coming into make things worse?” The old man snarled.

  Joel let out a long sigh as he took in the situation for what it was. “Luneira, let Stacey go.”

  “How do you know my name?” The girl whimpered.

  “Because David here has been shouting it since this started.” Joel shook his head. “Look, this is all a misunderstanding.”

  “Sure it is,” the old man grumped. “That’s why there’s some crazy green chick holding a knife to my neck.”

  “I’d have cut it off if my master had willed it.”

  “Not helping Jenny,” Joel growled, before looking back at Stacey. “Please don’t run. We don’t want to hurt you or anyone else.”

  “Then why were you in our house?”

  “He’s fucking lying,” David spat.

  “Don’t you fucking start,” Joel said and shoved him into the ground again. “For everyone’s information, we’re scouting and saw the front door open.”

  “It wasn’t open,” Stacey frowned. “I told David to close it.”

  Joel looked at David, and the teen slumped. “I… might have left it open.”

  “David!” Stacey stomped her foot, which finally jostled the child in her arms enough to fuss. “No Tommy, no. It’s not safe yet.”

  “If I let you go, are you going to do anything stupid?” Joel asked the teen.

  “Maybe,” David grunted.

  Joel rolled his eyes before standing. With his grip on the teen’s shirt, David was yanked off the ground, where he flailed for a moment. Joel set him on his feet and gave him a firm shove over to his sister, before David whirled around with his fists up.

  Right as Joel swung his massive sword into the ground in front of him. “Do I have your attention?”

  “David,” Stacey whimpered as Tommy started to complain.

  “This is all a misunderstanding,” Joel said, loud enough for the old man on the ground to hear. “We’ve had problems with another group, so we were checking to see if there was anyone else around. We saw the burns in the front of your house here with the door open and decided to check it out. I’m not blaming you for the mess in there, but we figured out pretty quickly that there were some teens and a kid. We had just discussed heading home to grab you some food and water to leave alongside a note when you tackled me at the front door.”

  “We were scared,” Stacey said in a trembling voice as she struggled not to cry.

  “I’m not blaming you.” Joel held up his hand. “This really is just a big misunderstanding. Just David here got in some punches, you ran and then your neighbor pulled the gun which…” Joel turned and looked at the old man. “How does that thing still work, anyway?”

  “No idea, it’s part of my class,” the old man grumped as he slowly stepped away from Jenny, who leered at him angrily. “My rifle doesn’t, though, only my break actions.”

  “You have more guns?” Joel asked.

  The old man stared at him for a long moment before licking his lips. “Will you kill me if I give ‘em to you?”

  “Oh, fuck my life.” Joel shook his head. “Nobody is dying here! Full stop! Jenny, Luneira, Amanda, we are leaving. We’ll be back in a couple hours with some food for the kids, then we’ll fuck off again and leave you to it.”

  “Master, what if⁠—”

  “Nope,” Joel cut off the pouting green woman. “This went far enough already. Let’s get out of here.”

  “You’re just leaving?” David gaped.

  Joel shook his head. “Told you already. This was all a misunderstanding.”

  “But… where are you going?” Stacey asked.

  Joel groaned and shook his head. “Fuck fucking fuck.”

  “Language,” Stacey hissed.

  Joel stared at her, and the way she was now trying to hold Tommy’s ears. The tot was fussing quite badly now, and she was doing her best to juggle him.

  “Either of you seen a doctor recently?” Joel asked.

  “No?” Stacey frowned.

  “Great, when I come back, I’ll have a cleric with me.” Joel shook his head.

  “And just what the hell is a priest going to do?” The old man had gone from enraged neighbor defending kids, to complete befuddlement.

  “It’s a class, like whatever you’ve got going on,” Joel waved him off. “Let’s go ladies.”

  The old man flinched as Jenny suddenly vanished, only to reappear beside Joel a blink of an eye later. Luneira, currently in her muscular warrior form, plumped up and assumed her more soft disposition before hopping over to join him as well. That left Amanda awkwardly waving goodbye and hurrying over as Joel continued on their original walk down the street.

  At the end, they found a park. It wasn’t a particularly great park. A few trees, some plastic bins and a kids’ playground with a slide were just about all that was there. Along with some rubbish that had been dumped by the locals. From the looks of it, likely before the world went to shit and not after.

  “Come on, keep an eye out,” Joel grumbled.

  “Watch the trees, impyles sometimes sit in them,” Luneira murmured.

  Joel glanced up but didn’t see anything. They crossed the park, following a concrete footpath until they emerged on the other side. This road led back south towards the looping road that brought them in to begin with. They marched along, checking the nearby homes once more. Sure enough, there were signs of habitation here, too. Not a lot, but a house with a one-thousand liter plastic tank on a pallet, situated on a roof with a bunch of hoses coming out, was a sign there was someone living there. They also had a six foot tall fence right around their property to keep people out.

  With the incident with the teens firmly in mind, Joel kept walking. He wasn’t here to pick fights, he just wanted to figure out if there were people. It seemed that while a lot of homes were empty, there were, in fact, a lot of survivors.

  “You think about planes?”

  “Huh?” Joel glanced over at Amanda, who was frowning.

  “Planes,” Amanda said. “This all happened at night, and then everyone shut down. What do you think happened to all the planes flying up there?”

  “Morpheus?” Joel suggested.

  All participants were tested equally.

  Joel froze, and the rest of his team noticed the troubled look in his eye. “You mean they’re dead?”

  Survival was a prerequisite for entry to Morpheus.

  Joel sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “That’s fucked up.”

  “What’s fucked up?” Amanda asked. “We can’t see your little conversation with Morpheus.”

  “It’s not…” Joel frowned. “Doesn’t matter. Just… They said that everyone was tested equally and only those who survived were integrated.”

  “Morpheus, that’s fucked.” Amanda frowned, only to yelp as she received her own pop up. “Justify it however you wish. There were people on those planes that could have survived in any situation that didn’t involve falling from forty-thousand feet inside a metal box they were trapped in since before you got here. The rest of us were at home, safe and comfortable.”

  While Amanda continued to shake her head and grumble at Morpheus, Joel continued to lead the way. They reached the intersection at the end of the street and turned left onto the ring-road once more. There were just two houses on the right, before hitting a patch of trees going back into some hiking areas.

  Which set Joel on edge as they approached. Luneira and Jenny must have sensed something as well. They fell silent and kept their head on a swivel, looking for any signs of movement.

  “This is so fucked,” Amanda huffed. “So many people dead. For what was practically an oversight of stupidity.”

  “Amanda—”

  “I mean, what were they supposed to do?” Amanda continued to complain. “Even with your strength you couldn’t survive hitting the ground at six-hundred⁠—”

  “AMANDA!” Joel snapped.

  The thief jolted and then frowned. “Why are you⁠—”

  “SHH!” Joel held up his hand.

  Amanda fell silent, and the four of them stood there, listening. “I don’t hear anything.”

  “Which was fine on the first day when everything was silent. But we’ve been hearing bugs and insects again lately,” Joel pointed out.

  “I’m going to get up onto the footpath here then,” Amanda moved to the left side of the road and furthest from the trees. She might have gone further except for a tall fence around the front of a property here.

  “Let’s just keep moving,” Joel said, his brow furrowed. “I don’t see anything, but it doesn’t feel right here.”

  “I believe you are correct, master,” Luneira said with a nod. “Something is… wrong.”

  Joel slowly made his way over to join Amanda as far from the trees as possible, before noticing something moving in the grass at her feet. Something long and thin, with a scaly texture.

  “Amanda!” Joel pointed.

  She looked down. And then screamed as a second of those creatures Joel had spotted coiled around her leg from behind. Joel watched in horror as a dozen of what turned out to be vines coiled up her legs and torso before she was yanked into the fence. The thin metal buckled as Amanda’s body was caught under it.

  “HELP ME!” Amanda screamed.

  Joel rushed over and grabbed her hands. Whatever was on the other side pulled and Amanda slipped further under the fence, while Joel dug in his heels and pulled back.

  “What the fuck is this?” Joel snarled.

  “Drave!” Jenny snarled. “We need to cut the vines and get her free!”

  “Don’t let me go!” Amanda pleaded.

  “Nobody is letting you go.” Joel tightened his grip on her. “Jenny, Luneira, get over there and cut the vines already!”

  Jenny vanished with her blink, while Luneira undulated her body, springing herself off the ground and reforming into her battle shape as she fell to the other side of the fence.

  “It hurts,” Amanda whimpered. “It’s squeezing too tight.”

  Joel gritted his teeth as something on the other side hauled back hard. Amanda screamed as she was pulled through the fence while Joel was dragged into it. Rather than let go, he lowered his head and struck the thin metal with his forehead. As the drave continued to pull, Joel held firm, and the fence finally gave out, falling aside as a massive green plant monster forced itself out from beside the house.

  Luneira wasn’t doing very well against the creature. Every time she got close enough to swipe at it, the vines would lash her. The liquid form she could shift into made those attacks rather useless, but she too couldn’t harm the plant.

  Jenny, on the other hand, was doing damage but not fast enough. Blinking into position, she had time to reach down and slash one of her daggers across a vine before blinking to avoid the strike that swiped through the air a moment later. And if they had time to whittle the creature down, that would be enough. Except the plant was mobile and slowly coming towards them, with a gaping maw filled with teeth that resemble the thorns on a rosebush.

  “Joel, please!” Amanda shrieked as the vines tugged on her once more.

  “I have to let you go,” Joel snarled.