Jeremy walked through what remained of his hometown of Carscott, two of his buddies behind him. Old Betty rested in his right hand, the familiar heavy weight of the revolver providing more comfort than his friends. People were unpredictable. Guns, however… as long as you treated them right, they would do exactly as expected.

He didn't put his complete trust in Old Betty though. After all, he hadn't been treating her very well for the last few days, firing her wildly and never stopping to clean her. But that's what the giant bowie knife strapped to his thigh was for.

He walked up the sidewalk to the front entrance of the latest house, noting the slightly cracked door. There most likely wouldn't be anyone left alive in there, but that wouldn't stop his group. People couldn't hide in the school forever, so these houses would eventually need to be cleared.

He pushed the door fully ajar and yelled out a greeting. He had found that it was easiest to fight the monsters out in the open. Since the first day, his closest brushes with death had all happened in the bowels of buildings.

No response from within the house. It looked like this one would have to be cleared the hard way. He walked down the hallway to the living room, his two friends following him.

But in the living room, not hiding in the slightest, was a monster. Jeremy's eyes widened and a scream escaped from his throat. Before he had a chance to process it, he was back outside on the sidewalk, hands on his knees. Tentacles and eyes flashed through his memory, images of an eldritch nightmare that didn't belong on earth.

His friends were gone. Dead to the beast or fled, Jeremy didn't know. All he knew was fear.

- Jeremy of Carscott, Inclusion +2 days 03:17 hours

The queen slowly emerges from the shadows.

It looks similar to the rest of the hive, but at least ten times larger, easily twice as long as I am tall. The body is proportionally much thicker as well, looking more like an alligator than the smaller variants, which look more like snakes with legs. Hopefully that will mean it isn't as fast.

For a moment, I hesitate. A monster that big… who knows how high its Numbers are? And the potential skills we can gain! If we can defeat this, maybe we won't have to be as worried when we face other monsters.

Greed fills me, but I forcefully push the feeling away. Sure, we could gain so much if we defeat the queen. If. We could just as easily die. And am I willing to trade Melete or Pallas' life for a boost in Numbers? Styx's life?

I flash the symbol for retreat with my left hand, waving my arm to ensure my friends can see it.

Carefully, we back away from the massive beast. Giant intelligent eyes follow our movements. It may be my imagination, but I believe I can feel the malevolent hatred in its black gaze.

Melete is still singing as we walk slowly away. Styx has taken her hand to help guide her, while Pallas and I edge backward, ensuring we aren't followed. In only a few steps we're deeper within the forest, but before my view of the hive queen is completely obstructed I see her take a step in our direction. But then the trees block my sight, and I turn and jog away with my friends.

According to Sam, the queen rarely leaves the safety of the hive burrow, and never ventures too far from the entrance. Our supplies are far enough away that, should we make it there, we will be safe from her.

Of course, the rest of the hive could follow us for miles, but we're equipped to deal with them.

We carefully run through the forest, keeping an eye out for any pursuers as well as landmarks. When I see two fallen pine trees forming an 'x', I point. We change our direction, jogging to our hidden supplies. I release the modifications from my ears and yell out.

"Sam! We're back, let's get out of here!"

Pallas and I struggle to free the wheelbarrow from the underbrush, and I question its usefulness. Now that we're so close to Clayton, do we really need it anymore? Our backpacks likely are enough to carry everything we may need for the next few days.

I decide to postpone that decision for later. We haven't seen any signs of pursuers, but I don't want to waste any time repacking when we're still so close to the hive burrow.

The wheelbarrow freed from the plants, I consider checking the compass to make sure we are headed in the right direction but decide otherwise. For now, we'll just go directly away from the burrow, and we can correct for it later.

"I presume your encounter was a success?" Sam asks, suddenly appearing at my side after dropping from the branches overhead.

I barely spare him a glance before nodding, focusing instead on making sure my backpack is secure.

"Yeah, we crushed them! They were no match for my skill!" Melete yells happily.

"Yeah, but there were still a lot left. So we don't want to hang around here too long in case they follow," I say. Sam directs its gaze to me, and I answer the unspoken question. "The queen showed up, so we decided to bug out rather than finish them off."

"Really? The queen left the burrow?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, and she was huge," Melete says. As she explains I tighten the last strap on my backpack, glance around to make sure we’ve grabbed all of our supplies, and then gesture for us to move out. "...but she just glared at us as we left. Probably a bit scared after seeing the number of dead bodies we left behind." Melete pauses and looks at her hand, a grin forming on her face. "Speaking of Numbers…"

"Later," I say. "We don't want them to be able to surround us. Your skill is powerful, Melete, but there's no way we'll be able to keep them all off of you if they can climb trees."

She pouts and I see her tap twice on her arm before turning her attention outward, back on the alert.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I take the lead, attempting to pick a path that won't be too much of a hindrance for the wheelbarrow. Pallas is pushing it, his significant strength enabling him to easily keep up despite the additional weight. Melete and Styx have dropped back to either side of Pallas to help watch our backs while Pallas focuses on the path. Sam scuttles on the ground next to me.

We continue our jogging pace for another twenty minutes until I call for a break. We haven't seen any signs of pursuing monsters, so I think we're safe enough to take a bit of a breather.

My leg is throbbing where the hive monster bit me through my pants, so I search through my bag for medical supplies. I can fix it easily enough with my skill, but I still don't know if my wounds have the potential to heal or get infected while 'covered' by my skill. The small cut I modified a week earlier on my hand has long since scabbed over, but with my skill deactivating for around eight hours each night, I can't tell if the rate of healing was affected by my skill being activated. In either case, I don't want to risk an alien infection, so I pull out a bottle of disinfectant and a rag to clean my leg.

Melete is sitting with her arms behind her, breathing hard. I make a note to slow down the pace of our future retreats. If we had been caught by the hive mid-run, she might not have had enough breath to use her skill.

Pallas and Styx are also sitting, but both seem to be keeping a good lookout. Neither of them appear injured from our conflict, although Pallas is in dire need of another shower. He's using one of his spare t-shirts and a bottle of water to clean the blood off of his face, to limited effect. Holding the medical supplies, I walk a few yards away from our group behind a bush, telling my friends I'll be right back.

Once out of sight, I pull my pants down and examine the injury. There are two puncture holes in my thigh, streaks of blood dripping from each. I can't tell how deep they are but they don't hurt nearly as bad as my earlier leg injury, so carefully and calmly I wipe away the blood.

"Do not worry. The hive do not have any venom or poison." I startle at the voice, reflexively pulling up my pants before turning and seeing Sam right next to me.

"Don't do that," I say, relaxing when I realize who it is. As much as I still don't fully trust Sam, for some reason I feel much more comfortable with my pants at my ankles in front of Sam than I would in front of the rest of my friends.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to alarm you, " Sam says. I continue to wipe at my wound, wincing at the sting of the disinfectant. "Why do you continue? There are no poisons to be concerned about."

I talk as I work. "Maybe not, but I'm mostly just worried about dirt and other natural contaminants." Once the wound is clean, I focus on my skill and watch as the skin stretches to cover the holes, my leg healthy once again. "I don't know how much you know about germs or bacteria, but sickness has probably killed more humans than any animal or war."

Sam responds as I pull my pants up and walk back to my friends. "That is interesting. Alatir do not get sick, at least not in the way you describe."

We walk around the bushes and I make eye contact with Styx, smiling. She smiles in return as I continue the conversation. "What way do you get…"

My voice trails off. In the trees behind Styx, ten feet above the ground, malevolent black eyes stare out at me.

No, not at me. At Styx.

I start to yell, but the queen has already jumped and is falling directly towards her, ready to crush her under its massive body. I try to warn her, to grab my weapon, to come to her defense, to do anything. The moment stretches on, seeming to last an eternity, but my body and mouth move as if in molasses. There’s nothing I can do. I can’t warn her. I’m too slow.

Styx, however, is not too slow.

She must see something on my face because she reacts instantly. She throws her body to her left.

The claws narrowly miss her, the creature’s body crashing into the ground with a thump. Styx transitions from a frantic dive to a graceful roll, but before she can complete it the monster’s tail swings out, impacting against her side. She is knocked to the ground. As the monster brings back its tail I notice spikes adorning the end. One of which is stained red.

“No!” I yell, and time resumes. Melete at Pallas jump to their feet, Melete already singing. I wince, but I don’t stop moving. The queen is crawling towards Styx’s body. I have no time to check if she is okay, I have to get to the monster first.

I don’t have a weapon, having foolishly set the shovel down before cleaning my leg, but as the pain from Melete’s song rises I realize I don’t need one.

I run at the queen from the side. The queen hesitates in its pursuit of Styx, glancing instead at Melete, but I don’t stop running.

I leap from the ground and land on the queen’s back, scrambling to hang on. The back is smooth and scaly, and I struggle to gain purchase with my fingernails. Despite the difference in size, the queen immediately reacts to my presence on her back, turning in place. Luckily, she turns in the same direction that I am sliding off, and I manage to reposition myself and get a better grip.

I remove all other modifications from my body. The pain in my leg joins the pain in my head from Melete’s song, but I ignore it. Instead, I turn my focus to my right thumbnail and block out the rest of the world.

I’m not sure how much time passes like this, riding the back of the monster and focusing on my skill. I lose all track of time, but it can’t be more than a second or two. When I finally come back to awareness, I’m still on the back of the queen, hanging on for dear life.

My thumbnail is different. Four inches long, razor-sharp, and more solid than a nail has any right to be, I feel another pulse of pain, but this time in my chest. I push it away with the rest of the pain.

I raise my hand above me and plunge the nail into the queen’s back. It pierces, and the queen reacts immediately, dropping to her side and beginning to roll.

I’m dragged along for the ride, my thumbnail sliding through her skin like butter. I hear a pop come from my thumb, but I don’t feel anything. The ground is rushing towards me, so I frantically throw myself off of her back, my thumbnail ripping out a chunk of flesh as I fly free. I land hard a few yards away, barely able to breathe. I’ve avoided being crushed and have injured the queen, but I’m in even worse shape. The pain I pushed away fills me, becomes my entire world. I try not to move, hoping the pain will disappear, but it only gets worse.

I dismiss the modification to my thumb and try to grow the skin back over my ears. The change happens slowly, as if the skill itself is fighting me, but eventually my ears are sealed and one source of pain fades. I need to get up, to get back into the fight. My friends need me. With a colossal effort, I get an arm underneath me in preparation for rising.

But instead I brush my thumb against the ground and collapse back onto my side in pain. It would be so much easier to just lay here, to rest. I see lights at the corners of my vision, but I realize my eyes are still closed.

No! I can’t, I won’t pass out now. I fight what seems to be an impossible battle, pushing against the sweet oblivion that calls my name. I focus on the fight, on the danger I’m in, the danger my friends are in. The danger Styx is in.

I spend an eternity locked in a stalemate, refusing to fall unconscious but also unable to move or even open my eyes.

The stalemate is finally broken by a new feeling, one completely unexpected. A feeling I’ve never felt before the inclusion, but one I’ve become accustomed to over the last few weeks. A rush of power as the Number on my palm changes.

The queen is dead.

A small voice yells at me in my head to get up, to check on my friends. That they might still need my help, that there might be more dangerous enemies around. But another part of me, the part of me that has stubbornly kept me awake and fighting, relaxes.

I fall unconscious.

S: 102

D:100

W: 321 (+1)

I: 102

C: 72

?

Skills: Adjust:Self