“If you try any shit, that’s it, kid,” said Logan as he dragged Matt out of the cabin by the back of his collar. As he struggled to get away, his feet scrambled against the ground, his face blooming an unhealthy red.

According to Matt, Tasha and Jack were still alive, and they’d fled with the others to a neighbouring property. Logan wanted to believe him, but for them to all be alive seemed too good to be true. Besides, if that were the case, what the hell had they fled from? Matt would have had to be the same level as everyone else when he showed his true colours, which meant that he should have been outnumbered. For them to just flee and let him take control of the cabin? It defied belief.

Not to mention that Jack would never let this squirrely fucker steal his mother’s cabin out from under him. With its solar panels, it was the best option for survival. The cabin had power, the others didn’t. And there was another complexity to the property that made Logan’s stomach twist. It had been the last place Jack had seen his family, and many of his daughters’ belongings, pictures, keepsakes… all of it was here.

No, there was no way.

It wasn’t possible that they’d packed up and left just like that.

Matt must have done something to make them leave.

“You better not be lying,” said Logan. “If you fuck with me, you’ll get no more chances. My patience is on a hair trigger these days. I’m not the same man who led you across the lake. They’ll be no more giving you the benefit of the doubt. I’ve learned my lesson the hard way.”

“What would I try?” Matt spat, wiggling, his collar pulling tight around his neck. There was a white line on his throat where the circulation had been cut off. “You’re the one that’s called Idiot! That’s not me, bro! I know you’re way too high leveled.” His voice dropped into a mutter. “I wouldn’t have a chance.”

Logan eyed the top of his head, giving him a considering glance as he weighed whether to release him and let him walk on his own. Then he thought of the axe that he’d fashioned into a trap, of all the innocent people he must have killed. Instead of releasing him, Logan tightened his grip around his collar and pushed him forward, practically picking him up as he forced him outside.

Dragging Matt around the side of the cabin, he pushed him, then kept a loose grip on the back of his blazer. “Well,” Logan barked. “Where are they?”

“I told you,” Matt complained, turning his head and giving him a glare. “They’re down the shoreline.”

“Where?”

“At the neighbour’s.”

Logan scoffed. “That’s sure convenient. Just leave them there, leave an enemy on your doorstep? Besides, I was already there. The property is empty.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Not that neighbour. I said down the shoreline.” He pointed with his index finger in the opposite direction… towards Logan’s cabin.

Matt didn’t know that Logan knew that way like the back of his hand. He doubted that he even remembered that it was Logan’s family’s property.

Logan narrowed his eyes. Or did he? This could be a way for him to get Logan to lower his guard. And yet he didn’t know what it would accomplish except piss him off more.

He released his grip on the back of Matt’s blazer and then pushed him forward, making him trip over a clump of green beans. “Walk!”

Matt scrunched his nose, his mouth in a thin line. “Fine.” Hunching his shoulders, he clambered over the green vines and moved towards the field that separated Jack and Logan’s property. Over here, the signs of rot hadn’t yet spread, the green bean plant looking healthy and smelling of sugar.

Logan couldn’t trust it though. Hell no. There was no way he was letting anyone harvest this plant, not with that risk. If it were infected with diseased undead fungi at the shore, it could be infected everywhere. For all he knew, people would eat it, and the undead fungi would go to roost, transforming them into zombies. Logan still remembered what had happened to Martin back at the resort, the way the fungi had spread and transformed his tongue into a flower tentacle.

No, if he had his way, he’d light this thing on fire. But he couldn’t, not without risking Jack’s cabin.

As they made their way into what used to be the field between the two properties, Logan couldn’t believe his eyes. This is where he’d managed to increase his agility attribute by creating an agility ladder. It had been a dry, bare field, full of dirt and the occasional weed.

Although the pine trees were still there, the field had disappeared. In its place was nothing but green vines. The damn plant had spread more than he’d realized. It must go on for at least a mile, and he’d yet to see the end of it.

“Why did you let the green beans spread?”

Matt turned his head and smirked. “You said you changed, but you haven’t. You still can’t see the big picture!”

“Enlighten me,” Logan said flatly.

“Everything wants to eat us, monsters talk, the world is on fire. Why wouldn’t I want to drown the world in self-replicating beans? I’m just going along with the theme. Besides, if someone can’t deal with a little itty-bitty plant, then sorry, not sorry. They’re not worth the air they breathe.” He paused and then flashed Logan a bright smile. “Plus, it’s fun.”

“Fun.”

“We’re in a video game, bro! You bet your ass it’s fun.”

Logan frowned at the back of Matt’s head. For someone who was in danger of losing his life, he sure didn’t act like it. Matt had always been off, but Logan didn’t know him well enough to tell if he were acting like this because he was a squirrely, weird little thing, or if something else was up.

“So you’re telling me that Jack and Tasha. That the others are holed up in the cabin next door, living peacefully while you lure in unsuspecting users so you can kill them?”

Matt came to a stop, his shoulders dropping. He paused, just breathing, then turned his head slightly, his eyes glinting playfully as he looked at Logan. Tilting his head like a reptile up at the pine trees around them, he shrugged. “They’re there. On the property, just like I said. But you take my words so literally.”

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Logan ground his teeth. His patience was just about done. He was on a time crunch. He needed to deal with Matt so he could make the place safe for Lara, the kids and the others, and then tackle his Build an Empire Quest. Playing verbal sparring with a pimply nosed kid barely out of puberty didn’t fall in with that plan. He was wasting time here.

“Matt, you—”

He turned and faced Logan with a strange little smile. “You didn’t change at all.” Then with a look of concentration, he braced his feet against the spongy green vines, his arms ducked to his sides like a skier getting ready to jump.

Logan had a second to blink before Matt had launched himself into the air, jumping from the ground to the top of the pine trees around them as if he were on a boomerang. Laughing, he aimed right for a wire that Logan realized that he’d rigged up top on the tree canopy, similar to the trap in front of the door. Hitting the wire with his hand as he soared past, knives, axes, even a sword, went flying right at Logan’s head.

Snorting in derision, Logan raised his arm and shielded his face with his forearm guard. The knifes clanged against his exoskeleton like metal hitting stone. The sword flew towards his chest like a javelin, but it had the same effect. It had taken Thorin’s sword to get through Logan’s armour, a sword manufactured by the System. Even Arsen’s daggers hadn’t been strong enough to get through. Regular old knives and swords were like throwing a fork against a metal plate.

As the weapons flew towards Logan, Matt had taken it in with an eager, avid look, only for his mouth to twist into frustration as Logan bashed them aside. Growling, Matt launched himself into the air again, jumping over the green vines and going for another wire up above in the tree line.

Logan raised his eyebrows in disbelief. Well, he could give him points for persistence. Somehow, Matt hadn’t realized that someone Logan’s level, over a hundred levels above Matt, meant that he was shit out of luck. How he possibly thought that he could kill Logan was—

Fuck!

What the hell was that?!

Logan glanced down at his arm in disbelief. Whatever had flown at him had managed to shatter his forearm guard and slice deep into his arm at least two inches deep. A piece of what Logan could only describe as shrapnel was hanging from his arm, a metal strip that was thin and about ten inches long, the width the size of the sword that had clattered to the ground. This metal shone and radiated an aura that reminded him of the chains from the strength trial. Something manufactured by the System.

But either way, it was surprising, but it wouldn’t stop Logan.

Logan pulled the metal out of his arm and then dropped it to the ground. With a moue of concentration, he removed a handful of sand from his spatial collar and then reformed his shattered armguard. He was injured, but he could already tell that [Regenerate] was sealing the cut. And with [Idiot’s Paradox], the pain felt like a papercut.

“Are you done?” Logan said, his voice flat.

Matt screamed, a scream full of anger. “Why won’t you die?” He’d let himself drop to the ground, bouncing against the green vines, but then leapt into the air again, jumping ten feet and launching into a run towards Logan’s cabin.

Matt was really starting to piss him off.

And just how the hell had the little bugger managed to get a hold of metal that Logan had to assume came directly from the System? A regular piece of metal wouldn’t cut through his armour. On top of that, Logan hadn’t encountered enough people to judge whether jumping was a rare skill, but the fact that he’d only obtained it through a System item, his Pink Sock, made him think it was rarer than most. After all, he’d gotten access to it through his Tree Fridge. The System market didn’t exist yet, which was why his lodestones were so desirable. It was almost as if…

No.

It couldn’t be possible.

Logan felt rage surge through his chest, his heart racing, his mouth dry.

Matt had crafted metal into a weapon, metal that he didn’t recognize. System generated. He’d launched himself into the air, jumping, just like Logan did with his Pink Sock. Either Matt had somehow gotten access to exclusive System items, or he’d gotten into Logan’s Tree Fridge.

It was the only explanation. Somehow, the acne-ridden, squirrely, murderous sociopath had gotten access to his Tree Fridge and bought items that Logan assumed only he had access to. What the hell! The frigging thing’s lodestone had his palm print!

First, Matt had done who knew what with Tasha and Jack and the others, then he’d let the green beans loose, purposely spreading them and making them uncontrollable, not to mention murdering what had to be hundreds of people to level up as much as he did. And now, Matt had stolen Logan’s Tree Fridge.

Logan could admit to a bit of pride—he knew that was a flaw based on how he’d managed to screw up by luring the rats into a stampede. He knew that it was something that he needed to overcome. And yet, Logan couldn’t help how he felt. At this point, his anger had been simmering at the thought of what Matt might have done with Tasha and Jack, but what had ignited a firestorm was the fact that Matt had stolen from Logan. Stolen something that was precious to him.

The Tree Fridge hadn’t been free. It was no walk in the park. He’d gotten access to it because of Eleanor, because of what happened with Buttercup. Logan had made a resolution to change, and the System had recognized the wisdom of that decision and awarded him for it.

For Matt to have gotten access to something that Logan had gained through heartache was FUBAR. But if it were true, if it were true, why was Logan surprised? He’d learned by now not to trust the System. For all he knew that damn glitchy AI minion might be back, remaining hidden but pulling the strings of everything.

There was only one way to find out.

Matt had gotten to the edge of Logan’s family cabin in the amount of time he’d taken to process this. And Matt wasn’t Logan. In addition to having his own Pink Sock, he had over a hundred levels on him on top of his stealth player status which made his attributes way out of whack with his level. Bracing himself, crouching and tensing his muscles, Logan launched into the air, his feet breaking through a layer of vines with a percussion noise, and then rocketed into the air like a bullet.

The wind battered him as he flew, his arms at his sides, his mouth in a thin line. He soared over the green vines, skimming the tip of the pine trees and then kept going, making a beeline for Matt’s back.

Matt heard Logan coming, but he looked behind him rather than up, leaving him unprepared as Logan tackled him like a cannon ball. This time his scream was full of panic rather than anger. Windmilling his arms, he tried to dart to the side, all in vain.

Logan slammed him to the ground face first and crushed his nose and mouth into the green bean pods. As soon as he did, he must have dislodged a pod, which the damn plant considered harvesting, triggering the self-replicating effect. Matt screeched as the vines underneath his nose suddenly doubled, pushing both Logan and Matt up another foot as the plant multiplied.

Logan held Matt to the ground, tightening his grip on his arm until he heard a crack, and then jerked on his combat boots, pulling first one off—a white utility sock—and then the other.

No.

On Matt’s foot was a sock that looked exactly the twin to Logan’s own Pink Sock.

As Logan stared, Matt exploded into movement and kicked his legs, wiggling, doing everything he could to get away. “It’s mine! It’s mine! You can’t have it! You can’t steal it!”

Logan squeezed Matt’s other shoulder, tightening his armour-covered fingers in a punishing grip. “If you don’t stop moving, I’ll break this arm as well.”

Matt stilled with a wail, panting, the back of his neck red and sweaty. “You steal everything! You’re a liar! A thief!”

Logan snorted. “If you got this from where I think you did, then you’re the thief, kid, not me.”

Matt wailed again as Logan peeled off the sock with a grimace, holding it between his thumb and finger with disgust. Was there a way to disinfect a System item? With a frown, Logan willed it inside his spatial collar and then climbed to his feet and backed away from the kid.

And truly like a spoiled child, he hit the ground with his fists, kicking his feet against the green vines before he hissed and clutched his arm.

“Well,” said Logan. “Get up. You should be grateful that I didn’t just kill you outright. I know you’re young. And a psycho, but how could you have possibly thought that attack would work? You’re only possibility of getting out of this was leading me to Tasha and Jack. You just fucked that up, kid.”

Matt climbed to his feet, giving Logan a mulish look. “I did lead you to them.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“They’re here.”

Logan gave his surroundings a pointed once over and then scrunched his nose at Matt. “Kid,” he said dryly.

“They’re here. They’re underneath your feet.”