Everyone present gets their fill, but in the end, we decide to not bring the other people out. Fun or not, it’s unsafe.

Instead, William and I task some of the fighters with serving the rest of the food for dinner inside the safe zone. The atmosphere slowly dies down as people leave one by one, until only a handful of us are left. It's me and Emily, who returns by my side at some point, and then there’s William and a few of his men. Jessica wandered off as well without me noticing, leaving only Luna behind.

We put out the fires and cover the pits just as evening rolls in. When we get to the last of them, I have a hard decision to make. I could just let it go. Call what happened here a fluke, a happy little collusion of circumstances that worked itself out. Move on with life and let William handle it.

But I can’t. I already stepped on his toes twice, so it’s better to have that discussion now rather than later.

As if reading my mind, William plops on the ground next to the last fire and says, “sit.”

It’s not an order, William doesn’t do those. He has the rare talent of turning everything into a request, a personal favor from you to him that always ends up benefitting all parties involved. So I sit. He sends the others off to keep watch, and I ask the same of Emily when she tries to sit next to me.

She tenses up, not liking it. But I don’t let up, and eventually, she realizes that I’m serious. She walks off and finds a tree to climb, leaving only me and William around the dying fire.

He waits a while before he speaks, staring off into the embers.

“Some of my men told me that you…helped…during the last fight,” he says. “That you gave orders to the civilians to gather up, and that you took control of the western defenders.”

“I did,” I admit, but I don’t try to justify or excuse myself.

“And only a few hours later, you do this.”

“Yeah.”

He takes a stick and pokes the ashes, exposing the wood beneath to air. The embers take a breath and burn a little hotter.

“Out with it,” I say, seeing as William falls silent. “Are you mad or pleased? Do you want me to back off and let you do your thing, or do you want help?”

William chuckles. “The latter. A lot's going on and I can't handle all of it myself.”

“I noticed.”

“What did you notice?” He asks a leading question when I don't elaborate.

I tell him everything, and a few of the details take him by surprise. Turns out that, among other things, he doesn't yet have a system in place for people to report back to him. He's jumping around from task to task, only asking for updates when he thinks he needs them.

All of that is very weird and out of place for the man. Not only has he been the chief of police for nearly a decade, he’s an army veteran like Pops. They should know better than anyone how to establish a chain of command.

When I bring this up, William gives me a tired smile. He doesn't explain anything, and although I can't tell what exactly he's planning, I can at least figure out that it's all intentional.

He's not letting people die by any means, but he's not giving it his all either.

I could press the matter, but it doesn't feel like it's my place to. William is the closest thing we have to an authority figure, a leader of sorts, and I'd rather avoid conflict with him.

So instead, I try to give him a few pointers.

“You should try to repeat what happened here today. Even if the store owners don't give up their stock, it looks like most of the monsters are edible. Also, look for Karen's son. He can offer advice on the system stuff, maybe help you devise some strategies. Old tactics don't work too well against the monsters.”

William lets me finish, nodding along as I speak. It's clear he's puzzled this much out by himself already.

“Why not help me yourself?” He asks when I'm done.

“Can't. I'm leaving first thing tomorrow morning to find Mike. There's another safe zone in Dianne's neighborhood. I need to make sure he's fine and maybe bring those people back here.”

“You know, Tom said the same thing,” William complains. “He actually wanted to leave this morning, I barely convinced him to stay.”

“Figures. I didn't imagine I'd go alone.”

“No way to convince at least you to stay?”

“None.”

“Okay,” the man sighs.

He slaps his knees and climbs to his feet. I do as well, and we recall everyone as we walk back to the safe zone. On the way, William asks me to at least help with guard duty tonight.

That much I can oblige.

He shows me a rooftop, so Emily and I climb up. It'll be just the two of us, pulling two shifts through the night and sleeping in turns. Or at least that's what I expect, until I get up and find Jessica there.

“You're just in time,” she says.

I want to ask what she means by that, but she flicks a finger in my direction and a notification blooms before me.

Jessica Harper - Level 3 Broodmother has targeted you with Hivemind.

Do you wish to accept?

Warning: This is a psychic skill that will create a direct mental connection between you and one of Jessica’s pets. Jessica is not a member of your party. Only accept the request if you know and trust the skill caster.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Jessica?”

“Hurry up,” she says.

I sigh, but I accept the connection. Before the link even forms, I already know what I’ll see. As my mind and senses split down the middle between mine and Polly’s, I make out Dianne’s neighborhood. There are more walls surrounding the area than there were in the morning, and more people are on patrol along the perimeter.

Monster corpses blanket the fields around the safe zone, but people are going between them, gathering them up in piles. I turn my…Polly’s head to get a better view, and I see other piles. Older ones, made up of blackened bones and ash. They’re burning the bodies.

I try to flap Polly’s wings and take off, and it briefly looks like I’ll plummet to the ground. But then Polly’s instincts kick in, and she takes flight properly. Those instincts flood my own body, but they feel alien. Out of place.

The experience is still unpleasant, but now that I know to expect it, it’s not nearly as bad as the first time.

I focus and fly closer. Dianne’s house is near the heart of the safe zone, and I see yet more people going around, dragging monster corpses off their properties.

“Mike?” I call out.

“You don’t have to use both mouths,” Jessica says.

I grumble, but I focus harder. Some of the people stare at me — at Polly — in awe and stupefaction. A few toss things at her, and one goes to pull out a gun from a holster.

“Don’t shoot!” I plead. “I’m Jack, Mike’s brother!”

The would’ve been shooter takes his hand away from the holster, wide eyed.

“Jack?” He says incredulously. “Did you turn into a god damned bird?”

I try to search my memories, to put a name to the face, but I come up empty handed.

“It’s a long story, but no, I didn’t. Just take me to Mike.”

“This way,” the guy says and starts walking.

I fly after him — or Polly does. I make her do it. God, this is confusing. Mike is on Dianne’s back porch, talking to a few others.

“Mike!”

He looks up at me and damn near shits his pants.

“Jack? Did you turn into a fucking bird?!”

“Long story, but no.”

I land not so gracefully next to him, and he sends the others away so we can chat in peace. We spend the next few minutes catching each other up, but my little brother is fine. Better than fine, actually. He started this safe zone himself and is leading it, bringing in more survivors and supplies.

I’m damn near close to crying with both sets of eyes.

They have similar numbers to our own, which includes the fighters. They’re safe — he’s safe. Hell, he’s probably safer than us.

“I saw that boss kill notification,” Mike says. “Congrats.”

“Thanks. Did you guys find the other bosses?”

“Not yet, but we haven’t been looking too hard either.”

“How come?”

Mike rubs the back of his head. “Thing is, this first siege works differently from the rest. Did you read the entries in the events tab?”

“Yeah,” I answer, unsure of where he’s going with it. Then, as I think it over, the realization clicks. “Experience doesn’t get banked during this first siege.”

“Yup,” Mike says. “And there’s an unlimited number of monsters to go around. It’s a great opportunity to do some power leveling.”

I frown, and Polly mirrors the gesture. “I didn’t think about that.”

“We can abuse the fuck out of it,” Mike says, his chest swelling with pride.

“Not really. We already had a boss coming for us, that’s why I killed it.”

“Shit.”

“And it gathered a huge horde on the way. Like, over a thousand monsters.”

“Double shit.”

“You two done?” Jessica asks. “Hivemind has an ongoing cost and I’m nearly out of mana. Trust me, you don’t want this skill to snap off by itself.”

Mike and I hash out a few more details, deciding to look for the bosses after all. Better to confront them on our terms than wait and be sitting ducks. I tell him I’ll be there at first light, but he asks me and Pops to not come just yet. If we all cram together into one place, we’ll have a harder time ranging out to find the bosses and end the siege.

I don’t like it, but as I lay down, I tell him I’ll think about it. At the very least, we have to repeat these chats. We say our goodbyes for now, and Jessica cuts the connection. My mind reels again, and I take a few minutes to let it settle as I digest the new information.

I feel a bit like crying from the psychic strain, but instead, I laugh. Who would’ve guessed, Mike inherited a bit of a heroic streak as well.

“William put you up to this, didn’t he?” I ask Jessica, who stares off into the distance.

“Yup,” she readily admits. ”And Tom is next after my mana regenerates.”

I don’t say anything, letting the silence linger as I stare at the darkening sky. The first stars of the night appear above our heads as the light of the sun vanishes beyond the horizon. Jessica fidgets, clearly waiting for something, and she speaks first when she sees I won’t.

“I’ll be sending Polly over a few times a day to keep in contact with them. Will you stay here to help if I do that? William really needs the both of you, more than you know.”

“I’ll talk to him about it in the morning.”

She looks like she wants to say something else, but she doesn’t. Instead she nods and takes her leave. Emily, who’s been silent through all of it, sidles closer and sits next to me.

“What do you think? Should I stay or should I go?”

She says nothing, just takes my hand into hers and gives it a reassuring squeeze. I’m not sure what she means, but I get the impression that she doesn’t care. She’ll try to follow me either way if the last twenty four hours are anything to go by.

“Can you take the first shift and wake me up around midnight?”

She nods, so I close my eyes. Her fingers slowly slip from mine, but then she grabs on again and squeezes harder.

“Jack?”

I open my eyes and look at her, but she’s staring at the sky. It’s not yet completely dark, but more and more stars appear by the minute. Emily stares intently at the sickle moon on the horizon, only the outline of her face visible from this angle. I push up into a sitting position and go to ask what’s up, but then I catch a flash of blue out of the corner of my eye.

I turn to look at the moon as more lights flash across the sky. Hundreds, thousands, millions of them. My heart skips beat after beat. They look like comets or falling stars, a web of brilliant cyan trails burning over our heads before dissipating. Others come out to stare, and I hear quiet murmurs filled with fear and wonder from the streets below us.

The spectacle lasts for a few minutes, then it ends just as abruptly as it started. A final flash of cyan light, bigger and brighter than the rest, cuts across the moon’s face and lights up its whole surface for a brief moment. When that trail vanishes, we all see a second moon in the sky, about a tenth the size of our own.

“What the…”

It hovers next to our own moon, stabilizing into an orbit around it. My heart races. Will we have to deal with aliens on top of everything else? The object clearly looks like a spacecraft of sorts, made out of smooth, shiny metal. We stare at it for a long time, holding our breaths in anticipation, but it doesn’t do anything else. No smaller ships leave it to land on Earth and invade us.

The tension remains thick in the air, but people slowly file back inside. I finally let go of Emily’s hand and lay down to sleep. She goes to sit on the edge of the roof overlooking the outside of our safe zone, and before I fall asleep, I see she’s still focused on the alien craft.

She’s probably wondering about the same thing I am: just what the hell are we in for?