“Right!” Ben barked, while Dan clobbered a spider with his hammer.

  “Everyone, get ready to follow. The shadow bitch showed me what happens if those spiders bite you, and it’s worse than you could imagine.”

  He blinked away his fears. Seeing Jess melting away while begging for his help… Shaking himself from the funk, Joel reapplied bolster, before facing the doorway filled with spiders.

  “MOVE!”

  Joel charged. Ben looked back and saw him coming before grabbing Dan. They pulled back as Joel dropped his shield and ploughed into the spiders. They were numerous, but not particularly heavy. The first row flew back, and Joel followed it up with a bash, knocking another handful flying as well. The door wasn’t far, and most of the spiders had come from further into the store.

  “GO!” Joel yelled as he swept the blade around, carving into the stunned spiders before him. “GET TO THE EXIT AND START SIPHONING FUEL!”

  He heard footsteps rushing past. Buster let out a yelp as one of the spiders darted in. But Amanda cut the spider off with a stab to the face that nobody saw coming. Which was the point. One by one, the others ran while Joel hacked and slashed. Until finally a cool hand grabbed his shoulder.

  “Master, let’s go!” Luneira tugged on his arm.

  “BASH!” Joel swung his shield, knocking the spider’s back once more, before turning and shoving Luneira ahead of him.

  She seemed surprised by him putting her first, but she turned and ran as the others stood at attention. Jess pulled her bow back, letting an arrow loose into the spiders while Ben held up a jerry can. Dan was coming over with one as well. Joel spotted a truck with the tailgate down and realized where they’d gotten them from, so he didn’t question it as Ben lobbed his into the hallway. Joel watched it skid past into the spiders, while Dan opened his and started dumping it on the floor.

  As Joel shoved Luneira out, he watched Ben pulling out a lighter, before a whomp of flame sounded behind him. The spiders screeched and Joel, free of the building, turned as the first row of the arachnids scrambled around, spreading the fire as they sought an escape. With them covered in webbing and garbage, it only made things worse and even as they retreated, it took the flames with them.

  “Oh fuck,” Joel panted and bent over.

  “What the fuck was that?” Jess said, moving over. “And are you okay?”

  “What happened?” Joel asked. “When I froze, what actually happened?”

  “Nothing, at least at first,” Jess frowned as she touched his cheek. “You just stood there staring at the wall with a dumb look on your face.”

  “I’d be offended by that, but I think I know what you mean,” Joel said. “That shadow… whatever it was, it put me in a trance. To me, we went right through the store and we started this fire from the other side. Only when we got here, everyone except you had been taken inside and it was… killing Marlene.”

  “Me?” Marlene asked, as Timothy held her hand.

  “I’ve no idea why. It was just using you all for bait and got me to go back in there. Next thing I knew, my abilities weren’t working and spiders were coming in…” Joel looked Jess in the eye and copped her chin with his hand. “I saw…”

  Jess frowned and nodded. “You said it showed you what the spiders did?”

  “Yeah,” Joel nodded. “Sorry. It just… when nothing worked, and the spiders weren’t actually coming near me, I realized it was a dream. Next thing I knew, you were screaming at me and Luneira was fighting a giant shadow.”

  “It came for you,” Luneira nodded.

  “Achos,” Jenny spoke up. “They infect your mind and force you to relive your worst nightmares. Then feed on it.”

  Joel looked at Jess before nodding. “Yeah… I see that.”

  Quest update: Secure and expand your territory, while engaging in diplomacy with your neighbors. Conquer, befriend, or destroy.

  You have discovered several threats to Philadelphia.

  Threats dealt with: 2 of 3

  “Great.” Joel wiped away the notification as the flames slowly consumed the building. “Thanks Morpheus.”

  You’re welcome.

  Joel rolled his eyes and swiped that away as well.

  “Let’s go home everyone.” Joel shook his head. “I’m… pretty done today.”

  “Tonight, you mean?” Dan asked.

  Joel shot the man a dirty look, and Dan held up his hands in surrender.

  “So it was bad, huh?” Jess asked.

  Joel nodded. “Real fucking bad.”

  Their room was quiet. The blinds were pulled and the morning light filtered through in a couple of places. People had started to awaken with the sun in the days after the first night. Without electric lights, it was harder to give a reason to stay up late, pushing everyone’s sleeping pattern earlier.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Jess asked. “You’ve barely looked at me this morning. I feel like I’ve done something wrong.”

  “Sorry.” Joel turned and faced her. “I just… The spiders. Their bite… It was bad, Jess.”

  “So it was me,” she said and smiled softly. “Why does that bother you so much, especially now that you know it wasn’t real?”

  Joel swallowed and took a deep breath. “Because I’m falling in love with you, and it tore my heart out watching you die like that in front of me.”

  “O-oh,” Jess mumbled…

  Joel and Jess stared at one another for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make this awkward.”

  Jess frowned and shook her head. “No Joel, you don’t need to apologize. And actually, I probably owe you one.”

  “Really?”

  “Joel.” Jess sighed. “You just told me you loved me, and instead of saying it back, I stared at you for ten seconds and made you doubt our whole relationship.”

  “Our… I mean… You’re forgiven,” Joel said and attempted a cocky grin.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Jess groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “You’ve already forgiven me and I still haven’t said it.”

  “Well—”

  “I love you, ya big dumb idiot,” Jess growled and turned to look back at him. “I know we’ve tiptoed around it since this whole thing started. But I can’t imagine being with anyone else and I’ve already seen how you react if something tries to hurt me, so it’s obvious where you stand on the idea.”

  “Well…” Joel frowned. “That brings into question a few other things to discuss⁠—”

  “If you’re talking about Luneira, Jenny and Amanda, don’t overthink it too much.” Jess shook her head. “Monogamy was pushed by wealthy old men as a way to ensure their offspring were truly their own. They never quite practiced it.”

  “That doesn’t sound right, considering what we’re discussing,” Joel pointed out.

  “True, but I was just making the point that it’s all bullshit.” Jess shrugged. “The way I see it, is girls are kinda cute, and I kinda wanna kiss em. At the same time, watching the way you square up to anyone who looks at me twice gets me all hot and bothered.”

  “You’re not going to start flirting just to get my attention, are you?” Joel asked in a nervous tone.

  “Why would I do that, when I can just press my tits into Amanda’s chest and ask you which of our nipples is pointier?” Jess asked.

  Joel shifted in the bed to free his erection, and Jess smirked as she recognized the movement.

  Her eyes traveled downwards and a grin curled her lips. “Hey now,” she said and wrapped her warm fingers around his shaft. “Why would you think I wanted this further away from me?”

  “I… um…” Joel blinked, before leaning in.

  Jess let out a delighted gasp as he kissed her. Their mouths met, and she tightened her grip on his cock.

  “JOEL!”

  Joel jerked and sat up.

  “Just ignore them⁠—”

  “JOEL! YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!”

  There was an urgency in the voice. One that Joel recognized. Something had happened. Jess picked up on it too, as she rolled away from him.

  “If this is something stupid, I’m going to be pissed,” she snorted as she got up.

  “Doesn’t sound like it,” Joel grunted, feeling frustrated as he tried to tuck his erection into his pants.

  They hurriedly got dressed and opened the door. Luneira and Jenny were on the other side of the door, waiting for them. Joel didn’t bother addressing the fact for now. He just made his way down the hall with Jess behind him and opened the front door. Dale stood there looking like he had some bad news.

  “Oh thank fuck, I didn’t want to try and break in,” Dale murmured. “We… we found him this morning and… Shit… I just need to show you.”

  “Found who?” Joel asked as Dale led them around to the side of the house.

  That wasn’t particularly confusing. They had taken the fence down to make it easier to run pipes from the unit complex behind Joel’s house. Dale led the way, and a couple of the people who had come with him stood on the other side. The looks on their faces made Joel nervous. He wondered if he was about to walk into a trap or something when he followed Dale around the building.

  And that’s where Joel spotted him.

  “Shit, is that Dan?” Joel asked.

  “Ben isn’t handling it well,” Dale sighed. “They were buddies. Apparently, Dan went for a walk this morning and didn’t come back.”

  “Who found him?”

  “Me,” a middle-aged woman spoke up in a nervous tone. “Got up to piss and heard sounds outside my window. When I got there, he was twitching, but…”

  Her expression twisted. She was ashamed of herself for not helping. But the reality of the situation was that if she had tried… Whoever did this to Dan probably would have done it to her as well.

  “Nobody saw anything else?” Joel asked as he made his way to the unit.

  The doorframe was cracked. It looked like they’d used a crowbar and broken the wood around the lock to get in. Joel pushed through, and Ben was sitting in a nearby chair with a haunted look on his face.

  “Ben, you okay?”

  Ben shook his head, but didn’t say a word. Joel nodded at that and made his way upstairs. Poor Dan was hanging by the neck. A thick rope held him steady, and that was anchored to a child’s bed that was now pushed up against the wall where it had been dragged under Dan’s weight.

  Joel stuck his head out the window and looked around before grimacing. He looked down and watched Dan’s body sway for a moment, before reaching down to grab his collar. With his enhanced strength stat, it was easy to pull Dan up and bring him back into the room. Which was when Joel spotted the paper. Stuffed in the back of Dan’s shirt, it was held in place by the rope.

  Joel plucked it out and unrolled it.

  “My people died here,” Joel read. “Yours shall too, unless you surrender to Paradise. The moral authority and rightful rulers of this town.”

  “Fuck,” Joel snarled and dropped the paper.

  Jess plucked it up, having followed him upstairs. She read it over and made an angry noise before handing the note on. Luneira and Jenny couldn’t read it, so they handed it to Dale, who took it downstairs. There, a furious roar echoed and Joel turned, pushing past the ladies to get down where Ben was fighting to get past Dale.

  “LET ME GO!”

  “You’re not thinking, Ben!”

  “HE KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!”

  “Ben!” Joel rushed over and grabbed the swordsman by the arm. “Calm down!”

  “Calm down?” Ben whirled on Joel and threw a punch.

  Joel caught it on his chin and met Ben’s eyes as they both came to an understanding about the difference between their stats.

  “If you want to kill Mitch,” Joel spoke as he pushed Ben’s fist away. “Then you come with me and we kill him.”

  “When?”

  “Soon as fucking possible,” Joel snarled before looking back at Jess. “It was bad enough when he was fucking around doing as he pleased. As far as I’m concerned, this means war.”

  “Can we fight a war?” Jess asked.

  “One way to find out,” Joel growled.

  Chapter Seven

  “Morpheus, any kernels of wisdom?”

  No.

  “Fair enough.”

  “I still can’t believe it responds to you like that,” Marlene said.

  Joel shrugged. “Wasn’t my choice. I just have a stupidly high faith score.”

  “Is that what determines it?” Marlene asked softly. “That’s my lowest stat.”

  “It’s the same for most of us,” Jess spoke up. “Joel’s the only freak.”

  “Hey!” the man in question complained.

  That got a snicker out of a few of them. Jess hushed their group once more, and they fell into silence. Making too much noise might give them away. The plan needed a level of discretion. At least at first. Their plan was a massive risk for all involved.

  After their night patrol, and the burning of the shopping center, which looked untouched in the daytime, the inclusion chance had plummeted to single digits. Which, to Joel’s understanding, made it extremely unlikely that there would be any threats roaming about that weren’t already here. Like the eaer hiding on the school oval. Joel still wasn’t sure how to handle that beast. Which was a relief, since his current quest had been loose enough on the details he thought he might just have to.

  Instead, he, Jess, Amanda, Marlene, Timothy, Luneira and Jenny had made their way north. Passing by the school’s southern edge where the eaer was, they stopped short of the gated community where Helen had come from. This far from the web, their group had crept west, following the fence line along, hoping to avoid any danger. Eventually, after hitting a row of empty homes, their group crossed a street and were now hiding in a copse of trees.

  They were positioned just north of the empty field that made up the park where the roaming horde had attacked. Joel knew if he crept forward, he’d be able to see the temporary walls they’d put up. He didn’t need to, though. Jenny had already snuck ahead and checked things over, ensuring that those walls were under construction. A large section on the eastern side was still made of the original, mostly temporary structure. More of a fence than a wall, really.

  The western side was made of brick and solid panels. The work of someone with some actual construction skill. Whether that was a class like any other, or if it was just the hard work of someone during the daylight hours, Joel didn’t know. Nor did he particularly care. His interest in the wall extended only as far as it took to break it or climb over it. Something he was waiting to do, as Ben, Dale and their crew got into position in the houses south of the main gate. That gate where Mitch had added several decapitated human heads to go along with the monster ones.

  They had shared a few hushed discussions about the sudden change. The best they could come up with was that Mitch must have gained an ability. That or someone close to him had. The only other explanation anyone could think of was simple insanity.

  Joel didn’t know what they’d done or who they were, the people mounted on the gate. He could only assume they were the voices of reason within Mitch’s camp. The people that Joel likely would have liked to have around for when this all went tits up. Because the moment it was obvious there was a problem and drawing attention to the south, things were going to go very, very wrong for Mitch and anyone who got in the way.

  “This is something we’re going to have to be careful about in the future,” Jess whispered. “Make sure somebody’s always watching, in case someone slips in during the night while we’re all asleep.”

  “Hopefully we thought of it first,” Joel agreed. “We’ll have to take some steps. Figure out a way to keep everyone safe at night. Maybe a proper wall. Guard rotations.”

  “It already happens on a natural level,” Marlene pointed out. “Some of us go to bed early, others quite late.”

  “But so far as we know. Nobody has woken up in the night for any reason,” Timothy added in. “So there’s still a few hours where everyone is asleep, leaving us all vulnerable.”

  The way he glanced over made Joel frown slightly. True enough, in that vulnerable period, Luneira had slipped into Philadelphia and tried to suffocate them. But she was operating as a monster sent by Morpheus at that time. Even she had admitted since that her motive was more instinct than rational thought. She didn’t even have memories of where she came from before this, outside some vague notions of her people and their overall culture.

  “Master.” Jenny appeared.

  Joel flinched slightly. “Didn’t see you leave.”

  “That’s the point, master,” Jenny said with a smile. “There’s movement on the walls.”

  Joel nodded and looked over his group. It was still a little earlier than he expected. The sun was down. Joel had hoped that would be enough to get the parents and kids out of the way. He didn’t want to wipe the entire settlement. The goal was Mitch and whoever was working with him. Not the people likely stuck inside staring at the heads on posts while figuring out how best to get by.

  “Remember the goals,” Joel announced to the group. “We stick together. Follow behind me. I’ll smash the fence. We go in while they’re distracted and give whoever we run into a single chance. If they drop their weapons and leave, we let them go. If they fight…”

  “They die,” Jenny said, giggling softly, before frowning when everyone glared at her.

  “She’s not wrong.” Joel rolled his eyes. “Keep Marlene in the middle. She’s our healer, so keep her safe.”

  “Really not feeling great about this,” Marlene pointed out.

  “Having second thoughts?” Joel asked.

  Marlene shook her head. “No. I get why this is happening and I get what we’re trying to do. I just don’t like it.”

  Timothy reached over and squeezed her shoulder. She turned her head and smiled at him. They were a cute couple and Joel had zero intentions of getting in the middle of that. He’d heard enough whispers about how many women were in his life. He made a point to stick the happy couple on a bit of a pedestal whenever he could. If only to emphasize the point that he wasn’t simply collecting women.