Logan latched onto Peter’s shoulder with his talons and then pushed him towards the side of the house like a sack of flour. Peter’s feet scrambled onto the ground, trying to brace himself, but it was laughable how easy Logan found it to overpower him. His back slammed into one of the garage doors with a slam, his head making an unhealthy crack, and a plume of blood sprayed the white door.

Shit. Logan had forgotten about his newfound strength. All that waiting—poor Ernie cooking inside of the pouch—would be worth nothing if he accidently killed the man. Letting up on his grip, he removed his talons from Peter’s shoulder with a wet squelch.

Ernie seemed to have no concerns about injuring the man. He leaned over Logan’s shoulder, peering into his face with his mouth gaping in eagerness.

Peter blinked, dazed, and then let out a hiss of pain.

Logan dissolved his facemask so that he could look directly into his eyes.

Taking another blink, Peter rallied, his eyes narrowing. “Are you crazy? Don’t you know who I am? You just sealed your death sentence, ass-wipe! You don’t attack an agent of the Kingdom!”

Logan scrunched his nose and then latched onto his shoulders again, firmly, but this time, he didn’t dig in his talons. Yet.

“Tell me where the rats are taking people.”

Peter gave Logan a narrow-eyed look. “Why should I…” His expression became unfocused, before he stilled and his mouth fell open. “Your level.” His eyes bulged in shock. “How are you so high leveled!”

“By killing little jerks like you, asshole. And if you don’t answer my questions, you’ll join the rest.”

“Logan,” said Ernie, one of his tentacles twitching in excitement. “Are you sure I can’t make humans into minions? He’d make a nice addition to my army.”

“No humans,” said Logan, firm.

Peter’s eyes grew wider. “You bonded with that thing?” And then he smiled, his body becoming boneless, his eyes sly. “That must be an awful lot of work. Having to deal with a talking octopus!”

Logan took a step back, frowning. Something about the fucker was making him uncomfortable. He was starting to suspect that he wasn’t all there. But there was nothing for it. Lara and the kids depended upon him finding answers.

Now that Logan wasn’t holding him down, Peter straightened and touched the back of his head with a wince. “So you want to know about my friends? I wouldn’t blame you. You’re high leveled, I can see that. But look at you, forced to bond with a slimy creature in return for the bonded companion boost. What if I told you that I had a way for you to keep the skills you obtained from that thing while not having to deal with its chatter?”

Logan’s attention sharpened. “Oh?”

“Slimy thing?” Ernie muttered, outraged.

“Ernie, I’m going to act odd, out of character. Like I don’t enjoy being bonded to you. It’s not real. I’m just saying it to trick him.”

“Humph. Then that means I can say mean things about you as well!”

“Er. Sure.” Ernie sounded a little too excited.

Logan cleared his throat and pretended to look uncomfortable. “He can hear everything I say, you know.”

Peter raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Got you in a bind, huh? See, if you’re not strict with them to start, they’ll walk all over you.”

“Yes. The… octopus is spoiled. And it never leaves me alone, always wanting to cling to my shoulder, be involved in everything I do. I was never an animal lover.” Logan shrugged. “But what can you do. I needed every advantage I could get, and the octopus allowed me to survive.”

Ernie puffed as if in offense. “Stupid human! See if I help you with your squishy human needs again!” Jumping off Logan’s shoulder and onto the ground, Ernie mirrored the asphalt and scurried to a bush where he huddled underneath the leaves and glowered.

“That’s quite the convincing acting ability,” said Logan.

“How do you know I’m acting?”

Peter laughed. “You’re in for it now! It’s like you have a nagging wife!” Then pulling down on his shirt, he straightened. “Boy, are you going to be excited. What if I told you that you could get the same benefit from that thing but you wouldn’t have to deal with its chatter? You wouldn’t have to deal with it at all. No insulting you. No spreading its slime onto your shoulder.”

“I’d say that you’re spouting something too good to be true just so I won’t stab you with my talons.”

“Well, I can’t deny that I don’t want to be stabbed! But no, it’s not too good to be true. Brother, you wouldn’t believe what I have access to. And if you’re willing to join us, we’ll share it with you.”

“Share what?”

Peter extended his hand and pointed to his finger. “See that?” He had clean hands. Not a speck of dirt to be found. On his index finger, he wore a garish ring, a ring that had a distinct aura. Logan felt his stomach drop. His suspicions weren’t unfounded, then. That ring looked just like Thorin’s clone ring.

Logan continued to pretend to be clueless. “A ring? So what.”

Peter giggled. “It’s not just a ring! That, dear sir, is an octopus.”

“What.”

Peter gave Ernie a furtive look and lowered his voice. “It’s not specifically an octopus, but it was an animal like it. It’s called a skill ring. On another world, this animal had the ability of communication. Telepathic communication. As you know, you can bond with animals and pick up their abilities, but it’s a heck of a hassle.”

Under the bush, Ernie had frozen.

“Go on,” said Logan.

“So our organization has a solution! We’re in an integration, and Earth is becoming part of the Collective. A Collective of other worlds. And those worlds and people have figured out a way to get around the problem of bonding. It’s brilliant, really. Get the same abilities without having to deal with the animal.”

“Logan, ask him how.” Ernie’s voice was tense.

Logan held back a wince. Once Ernie learned that Logan had already known how it worked, he suspected he was in for an earful. Some well-deserved scolding.

He’d decided to hold back the information from Ernie, believing that he’d be doing the right thing. The ‘Sky People’ had to be so powerful that Ernie wouldn’t have any chance against them, and once he learned what they were doing to the other octopuses, he’d want to drop everything and rescue them.

But Logan was convinced that as it stood, he would have no chance. Even accounting for his minion ability and the advances he’d made, Logan wanted him to survive. And right now, there was no way he’d be able to overpower people like that.

It was all conjecture, of course. But he would have done the same thing if Lara were in Ernie’s place. He wanted him to survive. He had to.

“How?” asked Logan.

“That’s a trade secret! But I’m telling you, if you join us, it’ll be something that you’ll get access to along with everything else.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Logan eyed him carefully. “You’re trying to recruit me.”

“Of course I am! Do you know how many levels I’d—”

Logan pushed his hand against Peter’s chest and slammed him into the door. “You want me to sign a contract, take advantage of me just like that kid.”

Peter winced. “No no no! That’s only for the weaklings, for the slave workforce! The high value prospects get better treatment. They’re the cream of the crop!”

“Workforce. That’s where the rats took the kid?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t lying to that kid, you know. So he signed a contract. It’s not my fault he didn’t read all the way through. But even saying that, I saved him! If he hadn’t gone with us, the monsters or the XP harvest gangs would have gotten him eventually. This way, he has a chance to survive.”

Logan was starting to get a sense of what was going on, and he didn’t like it.

“What does the workforce do?”

“What do you think? They work!”

Even accounting for anyone who agreed to go willingly, there had to be thousands who hadn’t cooperated. The kid was just that—a kid. Most of the adults would have been harder to trick. And that meant Lara. Hell, Lara was a lawyer! She never would have signed that contract. “What happened to the people who didn’t sign?”

“Well,” Peter hedged.

Logan tightened his grip and dug in the tips of his talons.

He hissed. “That wasn’t me! I wasn’t involved!”

Worry knotted inside of his stomach, a festering worry. This time, he let two inches dip into the man’s shoulder so that blood poured down his arms and chest.

He let out a screech of pain.

“What. Happened.”

“Okay, okay! Just stop! The rats would have happened! Those ones you saw were just the hunter seekers. If people don’t go willingly, then they still go, just not quite so… peacefully.”

“So they’re still alive?” Urgency was in his voice.

“Well, most of them, I guess. For now.”

Logan’s hand spasmed reflexively and Peter wailed.

“What do you mean, for now?”

“The ones that go by force don’t sign contracts! That means they can do whatever they want with them.”

Forced labour? Even the children? His mouth dried as possibilities too numerous to count swarmed through is mind. He needed to save them!

“Logan, ask him who Pied is,” said Ernie.

Ernie was right. He needed more intel. But tears were streaming down Peter’s face, and he had a mulish expression, his eyes wary. Biting his lip, his expression became faraway, as if he were listening to something in the distance. Then he gasped. “You don’t want to join our outfit. You don’t care about it at all. You’re going to…”

Logan slammed his hand into Peter’s chest again and then grabbed his hand and tore off his skill ring. Like hell was he going to rummage through his mind.

“No!”

Throwing it into his spatial collar, he blew out a breath of air. He was never good at acting and in a way, it was a relief. It was getting harder to hold back his expression of distaste. “I’m going to burn it to the ground,” he said as he dug his talons further into the meat of the man’s shoulder. “Rat-fucker, you wondered how I’d gotten so high leveled? It was crushing jerks like you into mush. Unless you want to join them, you better tell me everything.”

Peter scowled. “It’s you that should be worried, asshole. You think I joined the outfit for shits and giggles? We moved thousands of people! We’ve dealt with other high leveled assholes like you! But I suspect I might have come across a do-gooder; a goody toe shoes. Well, you’ll never learn! Nice guys don’t survive the apocalypse, ass-wipe. And against Pied, you’ll be the one to regret it.”

“Who is Pied?” Logan ground out.

Peter flashed him a wicked smile. “He’s an immortal.”

Logan blinked. “A what?”

“Where have you been, under a rock? You know, an immortal!”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“Not just an ass-wipe, but social media illiterate as well. Christ.”

Logan ground his teeth. The rage he’d barely kept at bay since he’d found out Lara and the kids had gone missing was clawing at the walls of his restraint. After all, Logan hadn’t fed the Cursed Rope since Rattlesnake Island, and it was doing everything it could to ratchet up his anger and turn it into a firestorm.

“Don’t fuck with me.” Underneath his hand, he felt a distinct crack.

The man wailed, his eyes red and streaming. “Okay, okay, okay! Fuck, just stop! Stop!”

“Answer the question.”

“An immortal is someone who’s over level 1000! Oh please, stop! It’s a threshold; it means you’ll never age; you’ll live forever, you’ll…” Trailing off, he looked behind Logan, his eyes unfocused. Then sniffling, he snorted and glared. “You’re in for it now. You should have taken me up on the recruitment offer. Now it’s too late, and frankly, I don’t want you.”

An immortal sounded like something from a fantasy movie, not reality. And Peter acted as if it were well-known. Was it possible that more information had spread on the internet while Logan had been stuck inside the trial dungeon? He’d managed to turn on his phone and receive text messages, but data was down. Who’s to say that information about the Collective and other things hadn’t spread? If what Peter was saying was true, it was possible that he was dealing with an alien from another world.

And if they knew about the skill rings, could it be the ‘Sky People’? And yet, the ocean was hundreds of miles away. What would they want with the Okanagan?

Too many questions. Not enough answers.

But unfortunately, Logan suspected he was running out of time.

Off in the distance, he became aware of something that sounded like a crowd. As if thousands of people were marching, feet pounding the earth. And gradually, he sensed a pressure in the air, a killing intent.

It wasn’t coming from Peter.

“Logan,” said Ernie, scrambling over to him and jumping onto his shoulder. “Something’s coming.”

Peter laughed. “You asked me what happened when they didn’t sign the contract, when they didn’t cooperate? Ass-wipe, you’re about to find out.”

Making a snap decision, Logan removed his talons from the man’s shoulder and then taking a fistful of his hair, twisted his neck, breaking it with a snap.

Ding!

[You have defeated Peter Salibron! Triple experience granted for defeating a member of your own species!]

For a second, he blinked in disbelief at how quickly he’d managed to kill another person. A person, not a monster. Then scrubbing his hair and pinching his nose, he gave himself a mental talking to. Now wasn’t the time for moral reflection. He’d made the smart choice. The only choice.

He’d learned enough, and although he would have liked to interrogate the man longer, there was no way he was keeping an enemy at his back while facing whatever was coming. Plus, he suspected that he could find those rats again by using [Life Fabricator].

Follow the rats, find Lara and the kids.

There was no time to loot the body, so Logan didn’t bother, throwing the corpse and all his belongings inside of his spatial collar, then reformed his facemask and removed his sword.

“What’s coming?” asked Ernie, leaning forward and staring into the distance.

Before Logan could answer, the first monster came around the corner.

Logan scanned it with [Idiot’s Inspect]:

[Two-Headed Rat Level 31. Bred for its offensive capabilities, this rat has spraying venom that paralyzes its victims. Chop off a head and two more grow back.]

[Highest Stat: Agility. Characteristics: Persistence. Hidden name: N/A.]

It was the size of a frigging horse! Other than the size, it looked like a rat—same rat-like, sinewy body, black fur, and long, five-inch-long claws. That’s where the similarities ended and bizzarro world took its place. After all, the System identified it as a ‘two-headed’ rat, and there was a reason.

It had two heads.

Along its sinewy neck were two rat heads, each with its own snout, whiskers and red eyes. Intelligence seemed to lurk within those eyes, calculation.

That wasn’t the worst of it. After all, it was only level 31. That was nothing.

But it didn’t stop there.

Another two-headed rat followed it, followed by another, and another. So many that the ground shook, dust falling down from buildings as if an earthquake were shaking the street.

There had to be thirty of these monsters. Thirty horse-sized rats.

But behind them was a different variation.

[Three-headed Rat Level 62. Bred for its offensive capabilities, this rat has spraying venom that paralyzes its victims, as well as a stabbing tail with a barbed end. Chop off a head and two more grow back.]

[Highest Stat: Agility. Characteristics: Persistence. Hidden name: N/A.]

Holy shit! They were the size of draft horses! Still, even though he was seeing what had to be a hundred of these fuckers—maybe more—they were still only level 60 to 70. Its offensive capabilities seemed tricky, but as long as he didn’t cut off a tail or a head and took a body shot, he could come out on top.

And then he got a glance at the monsters behind the three-headed rats.

Oh shit.

[Four-headed Rat Level 120. Bred for its offensive capabilities, this rat has spraying venom that paralyzes its victims, a stabbing tail with a barbed end, and a body covered in armour-like chiton that cannot be pierced with a normal weapon. Chop off a head and two more grow back.]

[Highest Stat: Intelligence. Characteristics: Leaders and experts in tactics. Hidden name: Fang.]

At first, Logan had confidence that he could come out on top. He’d taken on five hundred flying snakes, after all. But this was an endless stream of monsters, a swarm of what had to be thousands of the fuckers. And what the hell, level 120!

Ernie shifted on his shoulder. “Even though I rival all, sometimes, the smartest decision is to flee and to live to fight another day. After all, your sister is not in this swarm; this is not where we need to be.”

Logan hesitated. Ernie had a point. Although the Cursed Rope was clamoring to be fed and anger was surging through his body, he had the presence of mind to understand that victory wasn’t guaranteed.

Since he’d escaped from the trial dungeon, he had confidence in his abilities, but that was against known quantities. It was possible that these higher leveled monsters could give him real trouble. Plus, he didn’t have the luxury to spend time fighting monster swarms. He needed to find Lara.

“You’re right. I think we’ll skip…”

The rats were pouring down the street towards the house. It was a residential street, which meant that he could escape the other way.

But he couldn’t.

From the other direction, he saw the first hint of the same swarm.

He was surrounded.