The place smelled absolutely awful when Grey emerged from the van, looking around. There were at least eight men and women standing, watching a man making tiny, precise cuts on a sheet of leather, explaining what he was doing each step of the way… and glancing up at the group who arrived.

This looked to have once been a farm; there were animal pens in every direction, a massive barn… now… there was what seemed to be an oversized carport attached to the barn, and a long row of steel tubs and plastic drums, all of them giving off some of the most terrible fumes…. And none of the people working seemed to care.

The man backed up a step after a few minutes…and gave some directions. The others.. Apprentices, apparently.. Started cutting at their own sheets of leather, as he stepped close.

He was wearing a heavy black apron of some unknown, glossy material, had burn marks across his face, and a complete lack of hair… and apparently cared enough that he wore some sort of mask, though it currently hung loose on his neck.

He looked the group over as they stepped out… and shook Sledge’s hand when he stepped up first. “You the folks with the Fire Chitin?”

Sledge nodded. “Over five thousand pieces. Can put it where you’d like. Got some regular stuff, too, but apparently its not needed.”

The man sighed. “Yeah, no. Overflowing with regular ant chitin. Could make a circus tent out of what I already got. Fire stuff, though? Both the cops and the firefighters would have great use for it. I’m gonna prioritize the fire-fighter stuff myself… you wouldn’t believe how much they’ve been working lately, and some lightweight fireproof stuff will make a huge difference for them… but we should have yours within a couple days. If you could come here?”

He nodded at the barn; there were stalls which had clearly once held horses, now piled high with raw materials, mostly in neat stacks and bundles. “I’ll need to make sure its actually fire resistant before I give you the total. If you want to drop it off, I can pay fifty grand now, make a suit, test it, and give you the rest this evening?”

Sledge looked back at the others… then nodded. “Of course. Know anybody good with weapons?”

“Blacksmiths yes, gunsmiths yes. Both of em making Uncommon-grade first time, every time, with harvested materials. Probably already in the Guild app, but I can pass you a phone number or address, too.”

The group started emptying out their extradimensional storage; dull piles of orange-red squares, varying in texture but all exactly the same size, forming up in the stall… in enormous numbers. The stall was almost filled by the time they’d finished… and the man looked it over… picking up a square and examining it more closely.

“Oh? Very nice. Uncommon material type, slightly tougher than the regular stuff… substantially improves fire resistance… perfect.”

He looked around… and snapped his fingers. “Sometimes I forget about this system stuff. It flat-out tells me anything I make with it will be extremely fire resistant. I’ll get you the half-mil now…” He closed his eyes… and reached into nothingness. For a moment, it was as if his arm ended at the elbow. Then… He pulled it out. A small silver briefcase appeared in-hand… and he snapped it open.

“One… two… three….”

He nodded, and extended five thick bundles of 100s to Sledge… who took one look at them… and passed them out to the others.

Grey accepted his bundle… and immediately placed it in storage.

“Well, folks. I’ve got people to teach, and shit to do. I can’t promise tomorrow, but I can promise two days. Uncommon minimum.”

They nodded… and the group headed back to the van. Sledge looked at the others.

“We’ll check for more jobs, so as not to waste the day; maybe grab lunch first, if thats good with you folks?”

Star nodded. “Hell yes, bro.”

The others nodded as well. Grey blinked. They were siblings? Was this… a family? Or perhaps a group of childhood friends? “Lead the way. I’ll follow in the truck.”

***

Grey had never been a fan of chain restaurants, for the most part. Some of the steak-houses, he was fine with, even some of the fast-food. But the chains where there were TVs everywhere, blaring noise to the point you could barely hear yourself think, much less talk to whoever was across the table…

It wasn’t the best. The seething rage that was all he could still feel seemed to spike a bit at the constant noise… though it wasn’t as if anyone planned to talk. He didn’t know which one they were in; only that it had green and red neon lights outside… and he would never come back unless he had to.

The news was…. Unpleasant. In the middle east, the ‘Antpocalypse’ was in full swing, and Australia had it even worse; most of its population was on the coast, and while it was busily eradicating the growing swarm of Bulldog ants, its coasts had been seized by a variety of Kraken; which appeared to be descended from the blue-ring octopus.

The monsters weren’t willing to go too far inland; only perhaps half a mile from a body of water; but the problems it caused the nation were enormous. Shipping had ground to a halt, homes had been abandoned; and millions had died.

The worst part? They were now able to spray out a gaseous cloud of their poison; anyone even coming close to them without a full bodysuit and respirator would die shortly unless their Endurance was over 25 or they were a Serpentfolk; and the moment the mask slipped… paralysis and death.

It ended with an open call; Australia was seeking serpentfolk, individuals with enough durability, and those willing to become serpentfolk, for a ‘Retake Australia’ campaign. Unfortunately most of Australia’s airports had been struck by either an ant swarm, or one of the Kraken; so the ability to get in was limited.

It was a bit depressing. Some of the Americans had celebrated as Iran fell; as if it were some sort of divinely ordained punishment. Australia… dimmed some of that joy.

He studied it thoughtfully. Should he go to Australia? Merely having picked Serpentfolk should buy him a flight over there; and the level opportunities would be enormous, should he join some military unit hunting Kraken.

The others watched him as he stared at the TV… Sledge was the first to speak up. “...You have family in Australia?”

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“...No.”

He considered for a moment. “I might well be the last of my family left here, in Texas. And this….” How effective would he be against a Kraken? Not very. He’d need to level up in skills to get the job done, wasting upgrades on things that weren’t useful against a Fire-wielder, things to help kill squids.

He could level up Curse, a bit. That would be useful; weakening his enemy as the swarm of Undead poured over them would be a useful thing… and would be equally useful against a Kraken. And poison didn’t work on undead, so if he made some zombies big enough to hack off a tentacle…

“I’m considering volunteering to go help.”

Sledge nodded. “It would be an important job. There’s a bunch of Chosen over there helping, including from other countries, but… well. There’s outbreaks everywhere.”

Sledge’s phone buzzed… and he slid it out. “..Ahh. Speaking of which. Care to come check out a pet shop? Not even a mile away, they just evacuated it. Not sure what was going on, but there’s at least one big, dangerous critter in there.”

***

The journey to the petshop was fairly swift; it took longer to pay the check and get to the vehicles than to drive to ‘El Paso Rare and Exotic’.... A mid-sized building which currently had at least three people outside, staring at it and talking to each other; wearing red shirts, khaki pants… undoubtedly employees… but about a dozen parked vehicles. Not the best sigh.

As they climbed out of the van… and truck; Sledge took the lead, stepping up to the employees.. And looking at the shop. “So. What do we have here?”

The first employee; his hair was short, dark, curly, and from the pimples and general demeanor, he was most likely a teenager; jumped… and looked back at the store.

“Well. For the past few days, everything’s been getting bigger. Especially the lizards, the bugs… the stuff we usually give live food. Last night, while we were out, one of the aquariums was broken. We opened three hours late because we spent the whole time cleaning up after it… and looking for a centipede that was missing. When we finally gave up and opened…”

He pointed at the store. “Thats when we realized there were missing animals all over. There was a giant centipede… and not like… normal pet giant, I mean like… seven feet long, that burst out when some kid was looking at a gerbil. It… it ate the kid. The kids parents when they tried to save her… and we ran. Locked the door behind us.”

Sledge blinked. “....Were… there any other customers in there?”

“If there were, there aren’t anymore! The screaming stopped while we were on the phone with the cops, and from the sound of things… I think its eating the other animals.”

They’d run, and locked the other people in there. Sledge, and the others, were horrified. For his part, Grey just shrugged. “Just one giant centipede? Easy enough.” He drew the shotgun; made sure it was loaded with buckshot, just in case… and stalked forward.

When he kicked open the door; he might not be able to pick up a car with a 14 strength… but he could flip one. And the metal frame of the door broke with an audible crack, the door swinging inward…

Revealing a horrible, grisly mess. A massive creature; perhaps a centipede, once, but now with stray limbs coming out of the top and bottom of its body, and a massive, multi-toothed maw at the front, covered with blood, feathers, and bits of cloth… gave out an unholy shriek as it charged the door…

Grey leveled the shotgun on the beast… and fired, from less than ten feet away… the shell taking the beast in the torso as it leapt, grabbing him by the arm, leaving a pair of nasty gashes, as it hurled him into the air… the shotgun flying as he landed on the rooftop with a painful crack.

The creature made it a few steps closer to the group… before it just started twitching, writhing about… the shotgun slug must have hit something vital, as it was no longer able to advance at all.

Most of them continued to stare in horror… Sledge, however, simply lifted his hammer… and stepped forward, crushing the beast’s twitching skull with an audible, horrific, sound, a combination of crunch and splatter.

The twitching stopped. He glanced up at Grey… who had crawled to the edge of the roof, looking over. “...Should probably let me lead, next time.”

Grey shrugged. “Sorry. Figured it wouldn’t be a problem.” He looked down at his torn shirt-sleeve, and the nasty gashes. “...Might need a few stitches. Toss me a bandage?” He sat on the edge of the roof… he didn’t even see who tossed him the white roll, as he started wrapping his arm;the first few layers immediately turned red as the blood soaked through… but by the time he’d finished the roll, it appeared contained; staying white, as he tied it off.

When he grabbed the roof’s edge with his good arm, and dangled down… before dropping off, Sledge frowned. “...Thats… while cool under pressure is good, Grey, a little fear can keep you alive.”

Fear… wasn’t a thing, anymore. But he did need to stay alive to kill the bitch. “...I’ll let you take the lead next time. We should sweep the place. The centipede might not be the only thing that mutated.”

Sledge nodded. “Alright. We’ll check for survivors, and for any other threats.”

One of the other employees, an older woman; gently nudged the centipede with her foot. It twitched again, and she backed off with a yelp. “... If this place opens up again, I’m not here. I quite. I’m going… the hell out of here. Maybe I’ll move in with my daughter for a while.”

As the group entered the pet store… it looked terrible, and smelled worse.

Broken aquariums. Torn-open cages. On its rampage, the centipede had eaten rabbits, lizards, hamsters, and a truly abundant amount of fish. But it wasn’t just the killer that grew bigger, stronger; everything in the area did. There might be…

Sledge raised his hammer, about to crush a giant vibrant purple spider perched atop a shelf; it was at least a foot across… but it raised its forelimbs, and backed away a few steps. He blinked.

“...Are you… surrendering?”

It let out a low chittering sound… and stepped forward… the fuzzy purple and white arachnid looking at Sledge with its four eyes. It raised a single limb, then lowered it… backing up a bit further.

Star let out a shriek, raising a hand… only for Shockwave to knock her hand aside. “Its a jumping spider. Not venomous. Friendly enough. Just because its big, doesn’t mean it has to be hostile. Its a pet.”

Star glowered at him… and stomped her way out of the pet store, as Shockwave rolled his eyes. “Ugh. You’d think it was a demon, the way she acts.”

Sledge shrugged. “To be fair, most of the giant critters we’ve met have been hostile predators. I think this guy is only gonna be hostile to things smaller than him. But… if he were to be human-sized, that might include kids. Or dogs. Even at his current size he might nab a cat.”

Grey studied the creature, curious about what examine would say.

Jumping Spider; Level 1 Minimal threat.

Nothing useful. The ability to leap and climb would be handy in an undead. But if you could train a spider as a pet it might also be useful. Especially since they’d get smarter, as well as bigger and stronger, with level. “It could be useful, eventually. If you take care of it, it should be loyal; might help kill some other beastie.”

“Ehh. No way. Sis hates spiders. She’d move out in a heartbeat. And, well. If you keep it… I don’t think she could work with you.”

“Hmm. They should have my house ready by now. I’ll take him home… if he wants to go?” Grey extended his arm to the spider; which studied him closely for a moment… before backing up, and tapping some glass. There was a glass case that the creature had apparently picked up and moved behind another, broken case; possibly the one the spider itself had been staying in.

Grey looked closer. There was an egg sack in it, attached to a branch; of unusually large, glistening eggs. “Ahhh. She’s protecting her babies. So I should take them as well?”

He reached out… and carefully slid the glass case out. The creature chittered… and leapt onto Grey’s shoulder, watching each movement closely. Sledge took an involuntary step back at the spider suddenly less than a foot from his face… and the giant fangs right beside Grey’s.

“I’ll give them a place to live, don’t worry. I’ve even got an enormous amount of dead ants to feed them… nice and fresh… when the time comes.”