Danny walked toward a place that he didn’t think he’d ever be returning to. He was heading back to the Station. It was the only entrance to the tunnels that he knew about. As he walked through the city he drew gazes. His height and frame had always done so, but now he was also carrying a large case that looked like it held a weapon, which didn’t help.

People cleared out of his way, not wanting to get between him and wherever he was going. Not that Danny minded, it made it easier to naviage his way through the early morning hustle and bustle of the city. He took out his phone and called his sister.

“Yo.”

“Yo, what’s up?”

“I love you, Belle.”

“I love you too, what are you about to do?”

“Something ill-advised.”

“Of course, but what?”

“That woman I told you about, Tamm? She’s lured me into the tunnels and I’m chasing her down there.”

“Danny, that’s a terrible idea.”

“I know.”

“...”

“I’ll be okay, but if you don’t hear from me, give Henrietta a call. She might know something. I might have destroyed my phone again, you never know.”

“Danny. Don’t die.”

“I won’t.”

Danny put the phone away. He was wearing his usual sportswear, he had wondered if he should have worn something protective, but he didn’t own anything like that. Damn, I should have asked Smith for one of his vests. Smith probably had a whole bunch of protective gear, but he hadn’t offered anything.

When he thought about it, it made sense. If he was fighting another wizard, then magical defences were more important than conventional protection. It did make him wonder if there were magical clothes or armour he could pick up. Surely they exist. There was no way, in his mind, that wizards hadn’t made magical amour or something similar.

Either way, he wasn’t just fighting a wizard. He was also fighting a super magical zombie monster that had just killed another powerful super magical zombie monster and was consuming it for more strength. Only five of us left now.

Danny noticed something that was mildly terrifying. The being, the fighter who had bested all its opponents, was beginning to have more cohesive thoughts. It was beginning to plan. It wasn’t entirely controlled by its instincts anymore, at least somewhat. It’s getting stronger and smarter, great.

Danny had two opponents to worry about, the highly intelligent Tamm, and the incredibly powerful Fighter, his new uncreative name for the powerful being. He wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to deal with either, so he started brainstorming. Get up close to Tamm, neutralising her magical ability with his physical fighting ability. Stay distant from Fighter, using his spells to destroy it before it could close the distance and overpower him.

It was a simple strategy, but what else could he do? Would Tamm let him cover the distance? Probably not. Would Fighter let him just tee off on it? Probably not. He assumed that he and Tamm were actually coming to blows when or if he encountered her down in the tunnels. Her springing her trap on him felt like a pretty hostile move, and he wasn’t going to take any chances moving forward.

Of course, he needed to get information out of her and he wasn’t planning on killing her. He just needed to make sure she didn’t kill him and he anticipated that might get a little rowdy. He was actually far more concerned about Fighter. Tamm he could reason with, Fighter was almost certainly just going to try and eat him on sight. Something about their shared instincts told him that there was no peace to be found between them. Whatever they were, which hopefully Tamm would shed some light on, they weren’t able to coexist.

Tamm luring him into the tunnels served another purpose for him anyway. If he didn’t meet Fighter beneath the city, then Fighter was eventually going to come up to the surface to meet him. The powerful monster had just found another of the beings and made short work of it. Four of us to go. The final two beings were cowering, their drives to grow and consume had been completely overpowered by the desire to survive. They feared Fighter, who had killed most of the other beings.

Danny knew that they wouldn’t last much longer, Fighter was already hunting them down. They knew it as well and were trying to hide. Unluckily for them, all of them knew where each other was. There was no hiding from this link that tied them together.

Danny finally made his way into the parklands that held the Station. He considered pulling the rifle out now, just to keep the rabble clear of him but decided against it. Most of the people down here were substance abusers, likely currently abusing their chosen substances. Causing them to panic on mass would only lead to injuries and maybe deaths.

Danny prowled through the parklands, readying himself for his delve back into the shadowy underbelly of the city. Fighter then found another of the cowering beings, taking its time to torture it. It sent chills down Danny’s spine. Fighter slowly consumed the powerful being, treating it like a hapless snack. The screams and writhing made Danny’s blood run cold.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Then he realised. Fighter was doing it on purpose to unsettle him. It was watching Danny more than the being it was consuming, gauging his reaction. The final other being was already petrified, running mindlessly through the tunnels trying to escape its fate. Fighter watched Danny, cold and calculating. Fighter had some level of intelligence and it was using it to start its hunt for Danny.

What the hell am I up against here? Danny thought to himself. Death… an alien voice spoke in his mind. Realisations clicked into place for Danny. The beings had always been able to hear his thoughts, only now was one of them sapient enough to broadcast anything more than emotional reactions.

You understand me?

Yes. Fighter struggled to find the right word, which gave Danny a shocking insight into how its mind was working. It wasn’t an emerging sapience. It was remembering. It had once been a human and it was regaining its cognitive functions, albeit slowly.

Great, this thing could end up as smart as me.

Yes.

Danny’s thoughts were no longer safe, if they ever had been in the first place. What am I supposed to do? Not think?

No. Think. Share.

Yeah, no. Danny concentrated on the link he shared with Fighter and the one other remaining being. He had realised he could affect this link while trying to sleep last night and wanted to see how far his control went. As he continued his walk he was so focused on this metaphysical link that he closed in on the Station without noticing. He had realised that he could mute the link between them, but it meant he wouldn’t be able to track Fighter anymore.

Danny easily decided that not having a creepy voice in his head, reading his mind, was a worthy trade-off for not knowing where the being that could quite possibly be the death of him was. At least you won’t be able to track me either. With one final projected thought, Danny muted the link.

It was suddenly very quiet in his head. He hadn’t realised how used to the constant presence of the other beings he had become. Danny then snapped back to reality and found himself staring down the city of tents that made up the Station and the barrel of multiple guns. Things were starkly different to when he had last been here though.

He immediately recognised far more of Anton’s guys around the space. They were armed. He could also see some of them trying to work with mana, a lot of people here were. It was a chaotic mess, poorly made mana constructs popped in and out of existence constantly. The inhabitants of the tent city were incredibly on edge, even more so than usual for gear users. Danny’s eyes then were quickly drawn to the entrance of the tunnel.

The mana there was strange. He had become used to the constant very low level of mana in the world around him, but that also allowed him to notice when that was disrupted. The entrance to the tunnel was clearly strange, the mana was warping around it. It was just subtle enough that it would likely be hard to notice, but when Danny had an entire sense dedicated to the stuff, it was like a spot in his vision being a different colour. It stood out like a sore thumb.

As Danny emerged from the treeline and entered the clearing of the tent city many eyes had turned to him. Guns were pointed, casuing Danny to stop moving. His eyes lasered in on everyone pointing weapons at him. He recognised a few faces and they began to recognise him.

The bulldog man immediately barked an order and people began lowering their weapons. The man cautiously approached Danny. “G’day Danny, what brings you here?”

“Heading into the tunnels.” Danny nodded at the tunnel entrance. “What’s going on here?”

Instead of answering Bulldog took out his phone and made a call. “Anton, Danny’s here. Yep.” He handed the phone to Danny.

“Danny.”

“Anton.”

“Why are you back at the Station?”

“Heading down into the tunnels. Get to the bottom of a few issues.”

“...” The man paused. “Do you know the situation?”

“The situation?”

Bulldog bristled at the word. The entire group of goons bristled. The entire tent city bristled.

“The zombies have been coming out of the tunnel, attacking people. It’s spreading. We have to put them down quickly.”

“Sorry? What?” It sent Danny for a spin. He had thought he knew more about the zombie situation than anyone else.

“The creature you encountered? They’ve been coming from the tunnel, a couple in the last week. When they attack people they spread whatever it is that’s turned them into the zombies.”

Danny baulked for a moment. That sounded incredibly significant. “Have you called the police? Or anyone? That sounds like a serious problem.”

“We’ve had it under control.” Anton dismissed.

“Have you?” Danny looked around the Station, everyone looked terrified and on edge.

“We’re having an issue with the Triad. They’ve decided to try and take the Station from us.”

That explained why almost everyone was posted up around the edges of the camp, with only a few close to the tunnel. “Anton, we’ve all seen the movies, this is how the world ends. People need to know.”

“...You’re going down there? If you can’t sort it out we’ll get others involved.”

Danny shook his head. This was far more of a problem than he realised. His connection to the super zombies had convinced him that the problem was under control, or at least he knew what was going on. The fact that there were still other zombies, that he had no connection to, worried him.

“More questions,” he muttered to himself. “Alright, Anton. Tell your guys not to shoot me when I come out though.”

Once word went around that Danny was going into the tunnels to sort out the zombie problem everyone in the tent city appeared to relax somewhat. All of Anton’s guys knew Danny, he had a level of credibility in their eyes.

Danny did his best to ignore the human suffering surrounding him as he walked through the camp toward the tunnel entrance. The homeless living here were pretty close to zombies themselves. It made him sad to see the inhuman conditions they were living in, but that wasn’t the problem he was here to solve. For now.