“Are you more mad that you killed somebody who surrendered, or that a bunch of scared kids are afraid of you?” Jess asked.

  Joel sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t do a good thing.”

  “They weren’t doing a good thing either,” Jess pointed out.

  “This isn’t some tit for tat nonsense,” Joel argued.

  Jess shook her head. “No. This was a bunch of grown men trying to hurt a bunch of kids during the apocalypse. And when push came to shove, you made it so those men couldn’t hurt those kids, or any other kids, ever again.”

  “Are you a therapist?” Joel asked.

  “Not unless sucking dicks counts as therapy,” Jess smirked.

  “Who—”

  “Finish that sentence and I’m not going to.” Jess narrowed her eyes. “And between you and your therapist. You could do with the stress relief.”

  Joel stared at her while his brain ticked over a few times. It was only when Jess sighed and reached for a hair tie that he realized she meant now.

  “Close the door Joel.”

  “C’mon, up you get.”

  Joel flinched as something poked him. When he opened his eyes, Jess was standing beside the bed. The world had that familiar purple tinge. Otherwise, everything looked pretty much the same as it did when they were awake.

  “I’m up,” Joel said, pushing himself upright. “Have the others gotten here?”

  “Not yet.” Jess shook her head. “But I haven’t left the house either, so they might be waiting for us outside.”

  With those words, there was a knock on the door. Joel took Jess by the shoulder and kept her back as he took the lead. She was dressed for combat, but he was still the tank of the group.

  “Really?”

  “You’re squishy,” Joel grunted.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m the tank,” Joel corrected himself. “Your tits are squishy, though.”

  He felt the smack on his arm and ignored it as he reached the door. Pulling it open, Amanda gave him a grin before she spotted Jess.

  “Come in,” Jess called. “We’re still waiting on a few.”

  “Right,” Amanda said with a nod and slipped inside.

  “No good morning kiss?” Jess asked.

  Amanda froze and turned a terrified stare in Joel’s direction. “Am I in trouble?”

  “Do you think you’re in trouble?” Jess asked.

  “Maybe,” Amanda said and shuffled nervously. “I… get that I probably crossed a line⁠—”

  “You certainly did,” Jess agreed with a nod of her head.

  Amanda frowned. “I don’t regret it, though. He saved my life and… I’m sorry if that makes you upset. I’ll respect things from now on. I just… needed to do that at least once. Just… so I know I’ve done it.”

  “You only wanted to kiss him once, and that’s it?” Jess asked, moving around to get a better view.

  “I wouldn’t go further than that,” Amanda said and frowned up at the tall woman. “I’m not trying to steal him. I’ll get over it.”

  “You ever kissed a girl?” Jess asked.

  Joel glanced at Jess and frowned when she refused to look at him. Instead, she was staring right at Amanda.

  “I… I don’t…”

  “I’ll rephrase that.” Jess’s smile was wide. “Would you be interested in kissing a girl?”

  “I’m not gay,” Amanda pointed out.

  “Neither am I,” Jess smirked. “At least, not entirely gay. It took me a few years to get Joel to actually talk to me. But I’m not the only woman sharing his bed.”

  “Wait…” Amanda frowned and looked at Joel. “Who? Marlene?”

  “Me,” Luneira announced as she walked in, with Jenny beside her. “She’s talking about me.”

  “I thought that was a joke,” Amanda said and blushed, before freezing as she turned back to Jess. “Wait… you mean…”

  “Yep,” Jess smiled. “So if you want to be a good girl and have a little chat with me later. Maybe we can talk about getting you a little more than a chaste kiss.”

  Amanda squeaked and rushed for the door, yanking it open before fleeing into the street.

  “Jess, was that really necessary?” Joel said and frowned at the statuesque blonde.

  She smirked and stepped up to his side. “If she’s not wet from the idea of joining us, I’ll let you put it in my ass.”

  Joel flinched, then frowned. “How would you prove that?”

  “Well,” Jess said, her smile looked a little nervous. “Unless I’ve read way too far into this, either you’re going to end up with another girlfriend in the near future, or you’ll be able to test if I have a new kink or not.”

  “Surely that would be painful?” Jenny nudged Luneira.

  The night hag frowned and tilted her head. “I would have assumed the same. At the very least, it would be degrading.”

  “Does it matter if it’s degrading if you orgasm?” Jess asked.

  Luneira frowned in thought while Jenny just looked confused.

  “Alright, let’s just make sure she’s okay and that there’s no impyle about to carry her off,” Joel grunted and made his way outside.

  Amanda hadn’t gone far. She was standing by the road under one of the trees in the front yard. She heard them coming and turned, giving Joel a wide smile. Almost like nothing had happened, and she’d been there the whole time. Joel had a moment of worry before brushing it aside. Now was not the time to figure out relationship issues. There would be plenty of hellhounds and worse roaming about. If left to their own devices, they could create an incursion in the morning, and that would be far worse for everyone.

  “Alright ladies⁠—”

  “Hey Joel!”

  Joel turned and spotted Timothy heading over with Marlene at his side. “And gentleman,” Joel corrected himself. “Marlene, is Jess okay to come out with us tonight?”

  “Let me give her a check.” Marlene moved over to Jess, who pulled her top to one side to show the scar from the arrow.

  Whatever Marlene was doing, it just looked like a little light to him. So he ignored it and continued as the various members of the community began to step into the world of Morpheus.

  “We’re going to break into teams. I want at least one of those teams to stay inside the walls. Another to patrol just outside them. I’m going to range out and check the area.”

  “Not towards Paradise,” Jess growled.

  “No, probably south towards the store. There’s probably still a bunch of food and stuff down there. I don’t want people getting hurt while looking for something to eat.” Joel assured her.

  As he spoke and outlined the plan, several more people wondered over. Dale brought some of his group, who listened in. They looked nervous about the idea of having to fight, but he rallied them to his own cause. In the end, Peter, with a handful of the more skittish volunteers, were going to guard their little safe zone and work on a few crafting skills. Dale was going to take a few of the tougher, but less nervous, members of his group and patrol outside. Which left Joel wondering if he needed to break things down even further.

  “There’s a lot of us,” Joel pointed out.

  “We’re also the most vulnerable,” Jess said, pulling away from Marlene, who had a concerned frown on her face.

  “What is it?” Joel asked.

  “Nothing, I’m fine,” Jess shot Marlene a look.

  Joel glanced around. Emily was over by their house with Helen and the kids. Including David, Stacey and Tommy. With him was Luneira, Jenny, Amanda, Timothy, Jess and Marlene, along with two more who were part of Dale’s group. They had decided amongst themselves to push harder than their friends and opted to stay in Joel’s group.

  “Jess—”

  “I said I’m fine!” Jess snapped, suddenly going on the defensive. “It’s just a small debuff.”

  “Debuff?” Joel narrowed his eyes. “What kind of debuff?”

  “A point to accuracy,” Marlene spoke up. “Her shoulder is healed, but the debuff is sticking around for another day or so.”

  “And I have Buster,” Jess said with a glare as she summoned the hellhound to her side. In his battle form, the beast looked ferocious, even as it panted and sniffed the grass.

  “Fine,” Joel said and rolled his eyes. “I’m going out with Luneira, Jenny, and Amanda.”

  “Excuse me?” Jess crossed her arms.

  “You’re sticking with Marlene, Timothy and… I’m sorry I didn’t get your names?”

  “Dan,” the first one added. He carried a hammer. Literally a claw hammer, but the handle was long enough to hold in two hands.

  “Ben,” the other said and smiled politely. He, of all things, was carrying a longsword. From the fancy hilt, it looked like he might have been a LARPer or Ren fair before all this happened. Which meant he was likely competent and had a decent class.

  “Great,” Joel said. “You can follow us out.”

  “I don’t need to be babied,” Jess said and stomped her foot.

  “And I don’t need to find out that a small debuff is the reason you get injured or even killed,” Joel growled. “I’m not stopping you from going out, but you better fucking believe that I will find a way to tie you the fuck up and leave you here if I have to.”

  Jess blinked back her shock before pouting and turning away. “Fine.”

  Joel nodded to himself and made eye contact with Marlene. “Keep her safe for me, okay?”

  “I’ll do my best.” Marlene smiled. “But you know she’s meant for you, right?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jess asked.

  “That you’re both extremely capable, hard-headed individuals with attitude problems,” Timothy said with a sigh. When he noticed everyone staring at him, he quickly added, “Or not.”

  “Cute.” Jess shook her head and nudged Marlene. “You can keep him. I kinda like the idea of being smaller than my man when he throws me around.”

  Marlene blinked in shock and glanced at Timothy, who was equally confused. Likely because Timothy was taller than Marlene. But neither were taller than Jess. And Jess was dwarfed by Joel, who scratched his nose as he watched.

  “We good?”

  “Not without a kiss,” Jess said and hurried over.

  Joel leaned down, and their lips met for a few seconds. When he pulled away, Jess smiled and turned to Amanda. “No kisses for you until after our chat, okay?”

  “O-okay,” Amanda said, then blushed and turned away once more.

  Jess winked at Joel before making a shooing gesture. It was Joel’s turn to roll his eyes, and he led the way over to the fence. Climbing atop a truck, he leaned over. There was nothing on the other side, but there were a handful of hellhounds further down the road. In fact, there were a few dozen of them when he looked further out. Dotted in random places, almost like a video game where you’d stumble into the fights spaced out around an open map.

  Joel shook his head and swung his legs over. Above he heard a soft screech and the flutter of wings. When he looked, he spotted an impyle settle nearby watching them. Sensing eyes on it, the creature flung itself off the wall in an attempt to flee, right before an arrow slammed into the creature, knocking it from the sky.

  “Told you I could do this!” Jess called.

  Joel rolled his eyes and waited for everyone to climb over. With everyone gathered, he pointed at the store.

  “We’ll make our way down. When we reach the park, Marlene, I want you to take your group to the right and swing around. I want to make the shops safe. So my group will push through the shop itself and we’ll meet on the other side. Then swing around the car park on the left as we come back. Got it?”

  “Why did you address me and not Jess?” Marlene asked.

  “Because Jess is part of my team. I’m just sticking her with you while she’s recovering, and my threat remains in place if I hear one fucking complaint.”

  “Fuck, alright, I get it,” Jess huffed as she crossed her arms, clearly having been about to speak.

  “No heroics from anyone,” Joel warned the group. “We patrol to keep the incursion chance down. Not to save the whole town. If we rescue hundreds of people, we’ll probably face a horde like Paradise did.”

  “What do you think those two are?” Jess gestured to Luneira and Jenny.

  “She has a point master,” Luneira said. “I was drawn here by the inclusion chance. There is likely more of my kind in the area.”

  “Mine as well,” Jenny added. “I would be cautious about going into dark buildings.”

  “Got it,” Joel confirmed. “In that case, we’re definitely going inside.”

  He started walking and flinched as an arrow flew over his shoulder. The closest group of hellhounds was looking his way. One of them fell with an arrow stuck in them. The other two snarled and rushed up towards them. Jenny blinked into view, carving the last in line to pieces, while Joel wound back his sword and cleaved the final member of the pack in half.

  “It’s only been a few days, and I already feel like I’ve been doing this for years.” Joel shook his head as he swung the massive sword.

  “It’s probably because we do it night and day. Literally, we’ve just gone to sleep and woken up here to do it all again,” Amanda pointed out. “Literally twice the experience in half the time.”

  Joel nodded at that. He couldn’t argue with the logic. Even if it felt strange. He kept their groups moving. Another impyle took to the sky, coming from a gated complex they passed. The gates were open and there wasn’t anyone inside that Joel could spot. He thought about checking it out, but that would come later. The last thing he wanted was to claim the land and have the incursion chance spike again.

  What Joel did pay attention to was the plants along the side of the road. After the drave, he didn’t quite trust them. The trees might be harmless, but they could hide a monster pretty well. Those vines came under a fence, after all. Joel frowned at the grass, slowly getting taller, and reminded himself once more he’d check the gated complex. Right now, he pushed on and slowed as they reached the park in question.

  A footpath led off to the right past a children’s playground and then a drainage ditch that wrapped around the shopping center. He stopped long enough to let Marlene’s team pass, though not without Jess stepping in to collect a kiss.

  “Be safe,” he growled at her.

  “Arf,” Buster nudged him as he followed his mistress.

  Joel watched the hellhound for a moment before shaking his head. The creature was smarter than a dog, sure. But he didn’t want to think about the possibility of them being as smart as people.

  “Alright,” Joel said. “Let’s go.”

  Amanda slipped up to stand beside him. She was a thief. Not great for head on conflict. By comparison, Luneira stuck close and to the rear, keeping watch over everything. Her main job was to act as crowd control. Throw herself into the way of smaller monsters and hold them down. Meanwhile Joel would keep them busy by defending and drawing their attention. That left Jenny and Amanda to deal as much damage as they could, without overly risking themselves.

  Amanda, with her strange ability to distract an opponent, would have an extra step if she wanted to rush in and out like Jenny. But it was entirely possible, and Joel knew she had been practicing with the wraith.

  “Eyes up, there’s plenty of places to hide out here,” Joel said and nodded at the collection of abandoned vehicles in the parking lot.

  Which was just in time for Jenny to blink out behind a row, and a hellish yip to follow. When she blinked back to Joel’s side, he turned to face them as a trio of hellhounds bounded over the parked cars towards them. Luneira rushed past, throwing herself at one of the hellhounds, taking it down. Joel pushed in front of Amanda, keeping her safe as he prepared to handle the first hellhound.

  “Quick step.”

  “Huh?” Joel turned as Amanda rushed in.

  The hellhound turned toward Amanda as she blurred into view. It floored Joel how easily Amanda slipped past his notice. The hellhound let out a snarl as she carved a knife down its side. The hellhound wasn’t dead, but it wasn’t able to follow up with her as it tumbled to the ground. Joel was stunned as Amanda turned with a grin, only for the last hellhound to leap at her.

  As Joel’s heart leaped into his throat, Jenny blinked into view, stabbing the hellhound in the neck and dragged it to the ground at Amanda’s feet. The thief let out a squeak of fright and bounded away from them both. Joel let out a huff and walked over to the badly injured hellhound before hacking its head off with a swing of his sword. The last hellhound was being held by Luneira. It twitched madly as she suffocated it within her blob form.

  Ignoring the memories of when she tried to do that to him, Joel turned to Amanda, who was chastising herself.

  “Amanda—”

  “I’ll do it better next time,” she said and crossed her arms. “Stupid.”

  Joel had to agree. “A little,” he said. “At least the part where you didn’t move again. The rest of it was pretty cool.”

  “I didn’t even kill it,” Amanda pointed out.

  “You didn’t need to,” Joel said, reaching out to pat her shoulder. “I was perfectly capable of killing it myself. What you did was put it in a position where it couldn’t defend itself. Which made killing it much, much easier.”

  “That’s not much to a hellhound, though, is it?” Amanda pointed out.

  “Nope,” Joel agreed. “But if you did that, to something more dangerous. Like a bunch of Mitch’s friends, or worse… Then you might be the difference between life and death. That skill of yours, hide. It doesn’t last long, but it affects everyone around you.”

  “Really?” Amanda asked.

  “I couldn’t see you at all when you used it,” Luneira offered.

  “I lost track of you as well,” Jenny added. “My ability is a short range teleportation that I can only use once between where I am and a defined position that I can see. Yours is more limited in having a lower speed and a second skill to make it dangerous. It is also more flexible in some situations. By combining quick step with hide, you could do what you just did, to multiple targets with little chance for them to defend themselves against you.”