“It’s going to crush us!” Bianca shouted as the monstrous tax collector swelled, more of his body bursting the gauze that was keeping it all in.

Not knowing what to expect, Hiro cast his hands forward and invoked {Instant Discount Ozempic} just when it seemed like the monster was mere seconds away from exploding. A giant syringe formed in the air and jabbed into their overweight opponent, which caused him to shriek like a classroom full of schoolgirls.

“What the shit is that?” Bianca cried as the toxic {Instant Discount Ozempic] dispersed into the monstrous tax collector’s body.

The creature stopped growing.

He belched and convulsed as viscera and fluffy white hunks of fat flew out of his mouth. With nowhere to go, Hiro and Bianca were quickly covered in the bile that reeked of sewer.

The change in their opponent was instant. He went from pushing several tons to rail-thin, the monster emaciated, weak, barely able to keep himself up, his health bar just barely at the ten percent mark.

“Gross!” Bianca said, who now stood behind her fluffy shield, which was no longer pink.

Hiro moved forward and delivered the finishing blow to their opponent.

Level up!

You have new followers!

As Soul Essence poured into him, Hiro peered ahead to find an exit, one which had been blocked by the gauze-ed up fatso. There was light beyond.

“We did it.” Hiro glanced down at his arms, which were covered in the monstrous tax collector’s bile.

“Come back,” Bianca told him once it seemed like Hiro was going to move on. “I have a skill that can help. Watch.”

Bubbles appeared around her fingers as he approached. They washed over Hiro, completely cleaning the guts and monster blood off him. He didn’t realize how grimy he was until he looked down and saw his clean arms and his jeans, which still had holes in the knees.

“It won’t fix that,” Bianca said. “Also. Seriously, bro, what the fuck was that move you just did?”

“A One Hit Wonder.”

“A what?”

“You haven’t gotten any?”

“Like I said, I’ve mostly been teaming up with others. I only did the one solo mish.”

“You should go out on your own. You’ll get more powers.”

“You’re telling that to a defenseless teenage girl?” Bianca flourished her hammer and sent it into a sheath. “Kidding,” she said as she placed her fuzzy pink shield on her back. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Agreed.”

Bianca puffed her cheeks out. “I still can’t believe that just happened. We got a crapton of followers, though.”

“I gained a level too.” Hiro briefly checked his phone to find the note from his Companion.

“I gained one back in Central Park,” Bianca said as they moved on. “Probably due for one soon. Where were you going next? You never told me.”

“You never asked,” Hiro told her as they came to a large pipe, one that funneled to a drainage system for the park. He looked around, not familiar with this section of the massive park. The trees partially obscured Hiro's view of both his beacons and the ones signaling a merchants. “Do you know where we are?”

“Near the Upper West Side. I used to jog here.”

“I need to go to the subway tunnels near Columbus Circle. Heading to a merchant to upgrade my vape pen.”

“Can I have a hit?”

“It’s not that sort of vape pen.”

“Columbus Circle is that direction,” Bianca said. “I wonder if we’ll have to fight the Columbus statue there.”

“I already did.”

“Really? You’re tearing shit up, aren’t you?”

Hiro grinned under his mask. “Something like that.”

They came to a path lined with trees, the limbs of which riddled the pathway. “So… Are you going to invite me to come with you, or what? I could shop.”

“Sure. But after—”

“I know, I know, you probably want to go off on your own like a big loner. It’s the best way to get the good stuff.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“The problem is above us.” Hiro gestured to the floating red boats. “They are known as Spectators.”

“Duh. My Companion told me.”

“The Spectators are coming. I think I’d like to rest when they do so I’m not part of the initial wave. It will help me get a better understanding of what they are able to do.” Hiro checked his phone.

01:05:57:13

01:05:57:12

01:05:57:11

“Last twenty-four hours, right?” Bianca asked as she checked hers well, which had a little dongle hanging from it.

“Yep. And I plan to start the last twenty-four hours with a long rest. There’s really no telling what happens when the gates open. Do you have a gate you plan to go to?”

“There’s one on the Upper West Side, but I never recruited anyone. Some people I met previously will be there, I think. If they’re alive. They kind of sucked, though.”

“Then you can come to my gate.”

“It’s your gate now?”

“You know what I mean. The Financial District.”

“Ugh. That’s all the way downtown.”

“It is. But there will be people there. In fact, I plan to meet with them before the Spectators drop.”

“And do what? Have a block party?”

“There are some Hunters I’ve been meaning to kill,” Hiro said, thinking of the Bunny Triplets. “They’re in Bryant Park. The three have long rabbit ears that turn into blades.”

“Oooooo, that sounds fun.”

Hiro thought back to the person they’d used to bait him. “It is anything but fun. There was also the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat, a Survivor who hunts other Survivors, but she can wait, and she seems to stay closer to the East River.”

They reached the Shops at Columbus Circle. All of the front entrances were shattered, glass scattered across the sidewalk.

Bianca stopped to look up at the mall. “I used to come here a lot. There’s a food court on the second floor.”

“The merchant is underground.” Hiro continued toward a golden beam that dipped into the ground near the closest subway entrance.

“I ate there too,” Bianca said as they took the steps down, Hiro prepared to draw his katana.

They turned a corner and came to an open underground food market. Hiro vaguely remembered picking up orders here for people who lived in the vicinity. He couldn’t remember all the restaurants, but he did remember a dumpling place and a spot that sold wicked Venezuelan food.

It was strange seeing the underground food court abandoned. It was even stranger seeing the merchant, who sat cross-legged atop an overturned plastic trash can.

Bianca was startled when the form shifted in the blanket fell off its body, revealing the body of a conjoined twin, an elderly man and woman fused together below the neckline.

“Welcome, Survivors,” the man said, his voice gravelly but firm.

“Bienvenidos,” the woman whispered.

“I’m here to upgrade my vape pen,” Hiro said.

“Are you hungry?” the woman asked in heavily accented English. “We have Survivor Tenders made from plantains, yams and beans.”

“No, just the vape pen.”

Bianca pursed her lips. “What else do you have? Wait, did you speak Spanish earlier? I was obsessed with Duolingo for a summer after treatment. ¿Qué tienes? Mi amigo y yo queremos comprar algo interesante, por favor.”

The woman looked at Bianca with swollen eyes. “Sorry, niña, we don’t have too much interesting things. Just food and upgrades.”

“We have Survivor Tenders,” the man said. “Really good, too. We are upgraders, Los Mejoradores.”

“Can you upgrade my shield and his vape pen?” Bianca asked as she whipped her furry pink shield around. “I would say that in Spanish, but I don’t remember learning those words. Duolingo is letting me down again.”

“Sí, claro,” the woman said. “Each, four thousand followers. Are you sure you aren’t hungry, niña?”

Bianca hesitated. “Do I look hungry?”

The man spoke again. “We only started offering food because there is so much down here.”

Hiro took a look around and wondered what the strange merchant was talking about. From what he could see, all that was left in the underground restaurants were grease traps, packaging, and the occasional utensil.

The woman extended her hand to Bianca, and the man extended his hand to Hiro.

“You want them at the same time?” Hiro asked.

“Sí, claro,” the woman said as Bianca gave over her shield over. “Four thousand to upgrade the shield. Four thousand to upgrade the vape pen. Deal?”

“Deal,” Hiro said as he did the same with his vape pen.

The man jammed it beneath the blanket that covered their shared body, the woman doing the same with Bianca’s pink shield.

Hiro heard the distant sound of tinkering. This was quickly replaced by blood curdling screams like their followers had been stuffed in a meat grinder. He had to look away as he heard the sound of crunching bone.

For her part, Bianca laughed. “The Doom System is so freaking dramatic. Loco.”

“Sí,” the woman said softly. “Muy trastornado.”

Hiro watched as the blanket covering the two surged as if the wind pushed by. He never got a full glimpse of what was under the discolored blankets, but he did see their skeletal like ankles, their long, bony toes covered in charms.

The blanket settled, and the screams subsided. The man produced the vape pen, which looks the same as it ever did, just a bit shinier.

Unique Item: Kiri Yōso Vape Pen

Grade: B

Description: The Kiri Yōso Vape Pen now takes advanced specialized cartridges with potent effects. The status effects will only target allies or foes within the Survivor’s vicinity. Vaping is totally healthier than smoking. Totally.

“Good, no?” the man asked.

“And there are Healing cartridges?” Hiro asked him.

“There are, but we don’t have them. Like I said. We just upgrade things and we have some food.”

Bianca pulled her shield in tight. Doing so released a blast of furry pink tentacles that ripped down the sign of one of the restaurants. She laughed with glee. “The tentacles are even better now, nice! Come on,” she told Hiro as she turned to the exit. “Let’s go fight the bunny people you mentioned. That sounds fun.”

“I don’t know,” Hiro called after her. “I promised another—”

“You don’t think we can’t kick their asses together?”

“They are extremely violent and unpredictable.”

Bianca laughed. “And so are we. Let’s make them regret the day that they decided to cosplay as evil-bunny-rabbit-people.”