I was happy that I wasn’t wounded anymore, but I also felt a little depressed again, after all, I would never be able to return the favor to Martin.

“Was he your friend?”

“I guess I didn’t know much about him, though. We met when the city became weird, and we walked together for a day, but he taught me a lot.”

“Sorry. We met him before those guys, but we didn’t have time to warn him, and we couldn’t stop them from doing what they did. We didn’t have the numbers the necessary, and they had firearms.”

For a moment, I thought those were just a bunch of excuses. But Harry made the right decision; besides, it was too stupid to risk his life and his friends’ lives for a stranger. He did what he could by stopping and treating my wounds; he shouldn’t be criticized; besides, he probably spent a lot of water to clean my body. Water which is currently scarce in the city, he was indeed a good person.

“I understand.”

What the hell was I thinking? Besides, even if I’m not wounded anymore, the city still was full of monsters. It only takes a single mistake for me to lose an ear again, I can’t even see myself being able to fight against those giant bats. Little by little, I was improving, but those things can fly, and they were even faster than the rats.

“Well, are you hungry? We have some food, though I’m sick of it already.”

I guess Harry and his friends had a lot of luck, while I only had bread and cookies to eat, he got sick of the food that he had. But soon, I understood why. He gave me a plastic bag full of potato chips and soda.

“You guys aren’t going to live much with this kind of food.”

“I’m aware of that, but that was all the food that we managed to find. It was in the vending machine of our apartment building.”

Since they probably were college students, Harry and his friends didn’t have a lot of time to cook their food; maybe they didn’t like to cook. But that was weird, I found a vending machine in the first hospital, it wasn’t destroyed, but it was empty. Whatever, thinking about it was a waste of time. Like someone like me would find an explanation, instead of worrying about I began to eat. As expected, it was tasty, that kind of food wouldn’t fill my stomach, no matter how much potato chips I could eat. Besides, soda wasn’t in the top of my list of best beverages.

“I want a lemonade.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, I was just talking to myself.”

That was rude, but Harry understood that my words weren’t intentional.

“I see, by the way, why are you crossing the city? You must have a good reason, after all, you continued to walk even when you looked like crap.”

“I’m trying to find my parents and siblings; they live in downtown.”

“So, you live by yourself, huh? You look pretty young for that.”

“Mind your own business.”

Again I was rude, as I thought. I don’t handle very well with people like him, but yet he didn’t take offense; instead, he laughed.

“Sorry about that. Anyway, if you are going to downtown, then why are you going in the opposite direction of ST Louis Street. It’s the easiest and fastest way, after all.”

“Because that street is blocked, there are too many rats, and I even could see a strange shadow from afar. It was there that I got my ear cut off. Come to think of it, I didn’t notice, but that shadow looked quite familiar… ah! Damn it; it was another horde of rats.”

Since I was angry, I didn’t notice it immediately, but now it was clear. That shadow was another horde of rats; it seemed that they were around something, but what?

“Really? Ah man, such bad luck. We wanted to follow that path too, and we wasted three days for that.”

It seemed that Harry was even more naïve than me; he didn’t doubt my words even for a second. He would probably have even more difficulties than me to survive. Since they helped me, I owed them a few answers, but I wasn’t interested in their destination. It was time to move on, but I couldn’t do that before I thanked the person who healed me. So I decided to wait in silence, but Harry wouldn’t let me do that.

“I guess we will have to follow that path, the monsters are stronger, but they are few. By the way, you fought a lot in the last few days, right?”

“Yes.”

“How many times did you break your limits, and what options did you choose?”

Now that was a troublesome question, why was he interested in that? He wasn’t a bad person, but I still didn’t want to tell him that. After all, that information could be used against me in the future. For example, since I break my sensorial limit, I was weaker in comparison to those who decided to break their physical limit. In close quarters, anyone could easily defeat me.

“Do I really have to answer that?"

“Oh, you are suspicious of me. I can understand the reason for that, but don’t worry, I only need to know that to convince her. If you broke your limit at least two times, she wouldn’t have any reason not to let you join us. Our families live in the northern part of the city; we can walk together until downtown.”

“And when did I say that I would join your group?”

Indeed, I didn’t have any reason to refuse. I was already considering that if they were heading to downtown. But with the city in that state, I had to select more carefully my teammates. Besides, I didn’t want to follow the orders of a carefree person like him. I didn’t have any problems following someone’s orders, but that person had to be smart and capable of considering all situations.

“Do you have any reason to refuse?”

“A few, but first of all, don’t go deciding things for me. By the way, you said something about her not letting me join your group, so you aren’t the leader. That means you can’t make such decisions by yourself.”

“Sorry about that and yes, you are right. I’m not the leader, but we should team up anyways, the city right now is too dangerous to walk alone or in small groups.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

He had a point, even more since he said something about a more powerful monster. It didn’t look like it were the bats since they fly in groups. Come to think of it, the person who healed me probably couldn’t fight well since she had a support skill. Since that was the case, it was normal for Harry to want another member; after all, alone, it was hard to protect his friends.

“Well, in that case, you should talk to your leader first.”

“That’s not necessary. I won’t let you join this group.”

Even though she was beautiful, her sudden appearance almost made my heart stop. With her arms crossed, she approached Harry, and after that, she punched him in the stomach. She didn’t look, but she was quite strong, after all, I saw the pain in Harry’s face.

“Don’t go deciding things by yourself!" Rose said. "What did you think when you decided to make a stranger and unstable kid join our group?”

Was I unstable? I guess I was; the incident proved that. Besides, my last choices also reinforced the fact that she was right.

“But Rose," Harry insisted. "He looks pretty calm to me right now, and I think he is skillful enough.”

Rose had a long straight black hair tied in a long ponytail, she looked to be the kind of woman who would always wear formal clothes, but she was wearing plain and comfortable ones instead. She was a bit tall for a woman; I guess she could work as a model. Her eyes were brown, and I could see some tension in them, she looked to be very smart, since she didn’t immediately trust me as Harry did.

“What do you mean by that?" Rose asked. "Did you forget that he was half-dead when we found him? And don’t forget about his actions, he would only bring trouble to us.”

Even though she was criticizing me, I felt that she was a person smart enough to be my leader. My evaluation of her was high; on the other hand, she didn’t look like she had much charism. Harry seemed to be charismatic, but he was too naïve, in my opinion.

To my surprise, even though I could see well in the darkness, I almost didn’t notice the person behind Rose. She was kind of small, she looked a little bit like Rose, but she was red-haired, and her hair wasn’t that long. Her eyes were also brown, but instead of tension, I felt some fear in her eyes, like she was a bullied child. She was wearing a dress… she looked like she was going to a picnic.

“Oh, this one is Sarah." Harry said smiling She was the one who healed you.”

Since he ignored Rose and acted as nothing had happened, she punched him again.

“I’m really thankful for your help; someday I’ll return the favor. I swear it.”

“Don’t worry about that," Sarah said nervously, "I just did what any doctor would do in my place.”

She didn’t look shy, but she wasn’t very friendly either, and she looked afraid to maintain eye contact, even though it still was a little dark. The sun was rising; it was probably because of that those two woke up. Anyway, it was annoying when someone avoids eye contact; it wasn’t like I did something to make her fear me. Or perhaps I did, she probably saw me acting like a mad dog.

“Don’t bother;" Rose said." She won’t need your help.”

The two sisters were a pain the ass, in different ways. That was probably for the best, join them would make things a bit safer, but it would be too tiresome.

“Well then, can you guys give my bow and quiver, the sun is rising, and I need to find my parents and siblings.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Join us.” Harry said.

“I told you to not decide things on your own!” Rose shouted.

Again, Rose reprimanded him, and he got punched. I was wrong; all of them were a pain in the ass.

“Rose, don’t be too stubborn," Harry said nervously. "You are aware that we can’t move forward by ourselves, we need at least another person in our group.”

“No, we don’t need him." Rose crossed her arms. "Besides, you are too naïve; you didn’t even doubt him when he mentioned that horde of rats.”

“Well, that’s true." Harry frowned. "Ok, let’s say that he lied and nothing is blocking St Louis Street, there’s no horde of rats, but those guys went to that direction, and I want to keep you two away from them.”

Harry had a point, she didn’t believe me, but she knew about the ten criminals. Frustrated, she began to bite her nails.

“Fine, let’s turn back and face those things;" Rose said. "We became a little stronger after all. And you can join us, but if you can’t keep up with our pace, I’ll leave you behind.”

“It’s settled then! Welcome to the group!” Harry said smiling.

What a weird group, even though most guys would be happy staying alone with two beautiful girls, Harry welcomed me and looked pretty pleased. Rose didn’t trust me, but she didn’t have any reason to do so. Besides, she only wanted to keep the group safe. On the other hand, Sarah didn’t show any reaction with the news. It seemed that she would follow her older sister’s orders without a second thought.

After a not so healthy breakfast, Rose decided that it was time to move, and thanks to that I could see their weapons. Harry’s weapon was a short but broad sword. I didn’t know much about medieval weapons, but I knew that one since I saw it in a movie about gladiators. It was a Gladius. But its quality was poor since it was made of iron, it was probably an excellent sword to block attacks. Rose’s weapon was a plain-looking but very sharp knife.

“So you fight in the front line.”

“No, I don’t.” Rose answered

To my surprise, Rose dropped her knife; however, that knife stopped midair and then began to fly around her.

“Are you serious? Telekinesis!?”

“That’s right; that’s my skill," Rose said. "By the way, even though you don’t look smart, you didn’t tell Harry what your skill can do. I compliment you for that. However, I need to know your skill to form a good strategy.”

“I guess that makes sense. It's called concentration; each hour while I’m awake, I obtain a bonus to the range and attack of my shots.”

“It looks pretty useless if you ask me, how much is the bonus and what’s the level of your skill?” Rose asked.

I didn’t look at that screen in a while, but that was a good chance.

Skill List:

Concentration – Level 01 54%

Crosshair – Level 09 3%

“1% each hour, the bonus disappears when I sleep, it's still level 01. Also, I have another skill, Crosshair. It makes me see a crosshair and helps me to aim. This skill has been a lifesaver since I didn’t have much experience with bows before this incident.”

“You have two skills? Why?” Rose asked surprised.

“How should I know? It suddenly appeared when I woke up three days ago.”

All of them became surprised because just like Martin, they only received a single skill. That alone made Rose even more suspicious of me. But I didn’t care, I was only using them to find my parents and siblings as soon as possible, and they also were using me. That was our relationship; we didn’t have to become friends.

“By the way, my skill name is Troll’s Life-force. It makes my wounds heal faster when I’m sleeping.” Harry explained.

“Good for you.”

I wasn’t interested in his skill since it couldn’t be as impressive as healing wounds or moving objects with the power of the mind. But it looked pretty handy.

Sarah’s weapon was a whip; it didn’t fit her image of a quiet girl. Could she even use that properly? After all, it was a weapon difficult to handle.

“In that case, you and I will attack the monsters." Rose declared. "As always, Harry will stop their advance, and Sarah will give us support after the battle. We kill them as quickly as possible, but my main job is to keep Sarah safe, understood?”

That was pretty much obvious, after all, she was her younger sister, and she could heal us, but it would be useless if she dies.

“Yes, but can’t she use that whip?”

“She is still learning, with her actual accuracy, she can’t fight,” Rose explained.

“I still feel the pain when her whip hit my butt on the first day, hahaha! I thought that I did something bad, and then she punished me for it.”

“It wasn’t on purpose; it was an accident!” Sarah blushed.

Harry looked quite happy with that… what a weirdo. On the other hand, Sarah looked embarrassed.

“Anyway, since you use a bow, I can guess that you broke your sensorial limit, right?” Rose asked.

“Yes.”

“Then, can we trust you to track the monsters before they ambush us?” Rose asked.

“I can try, but I don’t think my senses are at that level.”

“All right, let’s move on, here’s your bow and quiver." Rose frowned. "Now, what should we do with this?”

Rose gave me my equipment, but then she showed a weapon that I didn’t hope to see again: Martin’s crossbow. Without hesitation, I decided what to do with that.

“Give it to me, it’ll be useful in the future, and its attack it’s terrific. It’ll be my last resort until I find more powerful foes.”

“Good," Rose said. "Then you’ll use it sooner than you think because we will find an enemy more dangerous than twenty of those rats.”

That was probably the creature Harry had mentioned before since it was better to know beforehand, I decided to ask what kind of monster we would face.

“What kind of monster will we face?”

“Cats,” Rose answered.