The last kilometer had turned into Ace’s inner voice repeating the command to take one more step. When she finally finished the trail, the sky was darkening, and wisps of orange were gathering on the horizon. She didn’t notice that she was finished at first. Instead, she stumbled on a step, pitched forward as both hands left the backpack’s straps, and flailed for something to stop the fall. Her right grabbed air, but the left curled around a wooden post, and instead of tumbling ass over teakettle she managed to swing around, back to safety.

“Damn that was close.” At least she was wide awake now, her heart beating in her throat. She stopped and observed the town spread out before her.

*5P xp gained* Briny Breeze discovered

It looked big, but not at all like the old pictures she’d seen of New York City and pretty much any place in California. There was a distinct tightness to the middle, buildings touching and rising a few stories, and then came spread. The further away a place was to the center, the better chance it had of being bigger and wider. She couldn’t read the signs from up here, it was too far and the light was fading fast, but she could make out a few fast-food restaurants that were popular. Better Burgers had a big red “B” down and to the left, while Coffee & Tea’s white cat logo sprouted up from many different areas.

“What I really need is a beer.” She paused, thinking about how much her arm and feet were paining her. “Vodka if they have it.”

She started down the wide steps, legs protesting the difference in movement from how she’d been hiking for the past few hours. The bottom led to a small information hut on her left, and there was some light flickering in the window. Ace stopped next to it, shaking her head to clear the slight dizziness that she couldn’t seem to get away from. From the inside she could hear someone talking, voice muffled by the thick log door.

“Hello?” she called out, putting action to words by knocking. The voice stopped.

“State your name!” The barked command came from the window on the right. “And business!”

“Ace, scavenger and trader. Who are you?” Trade, sales, and bargaining was part of the scavenger skill set, weren’t they? She waited. A loud click sounded from the door and it swung inward. Outlined by the light were a large frame and a long gun. She froze. They hadn’t shot on sight, so she just needed to get past any trigger reactions.

“Saul. Forest side defender.” They took a step forward and without the light blinding her she could see them more clearly. An orange shirt contrasted nicely with dark brown skin, collar open against a bushy black beard that curled out to about mid-chest length, topped with a thick mustache. Eyes narrowed in concern as they took in her bloody bandages and bedraggled state. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Some weird wolf/tiger creature attacked me.”

At that they automatically raised their gun and started scanning behind her, putting out an arm to usher her inside.

“I killed it though. It’s dead.”

Not a twitch. Didn’t cheer either, but she’d take not being shot as a type of celebration.

“We can talk ‘bout that inside. An’ I’ve got a first aid kit, too. Not much in it, but there might be somethin’ I can give for your arm.”

Ace limped into the room and sat down in the nearest chair, glad to have a place to take the weight off of her feet. The place was small, only a single room, but she could see a sign for a toilet at the furthest end. A few wooden shelves held several books about flora and fauna in the area, and the desk in the corner had a sign above it that said “Hiker Check-In,” with the slogan “It’s hard to rescue you if we don’t know you’re missing!” underneath. Two camping lanterns were lit and positioned across from each other, spilling golden light into the room while keeping most of it in the corners. The door shut and the lock was reset. Saul propped their gun up in the corner and then turned to study her. She took the opportunity for a little bit of study back. Tall, solid-looking with square shoulders, and straining against khaki shorts. Delicious eye-candy.

“Your feet are bleedin’.”

She looked down, wincing at the reddish-brown footprints leading to where she’d decided to sit.

“I don’t have shoes. And I used my only shirt as bandages.” After getting clawed by the creature she’d hoped the injury would stop on its own, but eventually she’d given in and wrapped her arm up tightly in Maddy’s ranger uniform. Considering how shitty she was feeling, she might have left it a little late. “...you don’t seem surprised by my horns.”

“Why would I be?” Saul snorted, rubbing a hand over their head. “You’re not the strangest person I’ve seen, just the newest.”

“You don’t have any mutation though.” Saul looked fully human and was hitting several of her “I’d fuck that” buttons.

“Not that you can see.” They squatted down next to her and gestured for her foot. She held up the right one and he inspected it, silent as he demanded the left one. “You said it was dead?”

“As a doornail.” Ace nodded, then sucked in a breath through her teeth as a particularly sensitive spot was touched.

“How?”

“Jammed my canister of bear mace into an eye, then beat it down with a branch.” Her foot twitched and she almost kicked them in the face. “The carcass should still be on the trail to the ranger station.”

A nasty smell wafted up from behind her. It was faint, sticky at the back of her throat, and the odor reminded her ever faintly of the cave. She coughed, covering her mouth with a hand until she regained her breath.

“Nice. That’ll be easy to check.”

Her heartbeat went sky high as she remembered that she’d heard talking earlier; usually, more than one of voices meant more than one of people.

“Where the fuck have you been hiding?!”

Several thin fingers entered her vision, cracking as they moved and a hand placed itself onto her right shoulder.

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

“In plain view, like a spider waitin’ for the fly to enter its web.”

Ace twisted her neck and arched her back to get a glimpse of this mysterious new person, but a chuckle from Saul made her stop.

“Don’t mind ol’ Tom. He’s annoyed because at the exact moment he uses the restroom you came strollin’ up. Also at needin’ to replace Amber tonight, so he’s tryin’ to act all mysterious.” There was a raised eyebrow from Saul. “Tryin’ bein’ the keyword.”

“I can act better than you at any rate,” came a quick reply, followed by a loud crack. “Listen to me girl, he’s utterly useless.” The voice was different too, less breathy and reedier. From behind her stepped out a short, very thin man with blonde hair and a pencil-thin mustache. She compared the two. It seemed that for all the mutations Saul was missing, Tom had gotten them. First, she noticed that his eyes had decided to move from their normal place on a human’s head, which would also explain why he was wearing a vest; they were vertically aligned on his chest, going up between his pecs.

After that, the other changes seemed to be afterthoughts of body horror. There were maybe five more she could see and hear, or scent/taste if the man’s rank smell was a mutation: His ears were one, elongated just like every single elf in every fantasy game she’d ever been thrown into. Scales covered his skin, a dusty brown in most places with a few tan colored ones thrown in. His legs were stick thin, similar to a flamingo, and there was the whole bone-cracking thing completing his skeletal look. She’d never heard someone move like that outside of Bone Warriors - ARISE!

“Yeah, keep lookin’ horn girl.” He licked his lips and let his eyes drift up to her head. “Like you ain’t got nothin’.”

She sent him a glare coupled with the middle finger. “Fuck off.”

“Children,” scolded Saul, rolling his eyes. “Okay... um, Ace, right?”

She nodded.

“Interestin’ name. Anyway, here’s the deal. Other than some bandages, which you’ve already got, we don’t have that many medical supplies. Regardless of that, I’m not supposed to use them on a stranger.”

“I’m not a stranger,” she protested, turning her smile to full. Bluffing had worked earlier, so she might as well try again. “You know my name.”

There was a snicker at that.

“Lady, you don’t live here,” commented Tom, “you don’t have family here, and there ain’t no one that can vouch for you. That’s what makes you a stranger.”

“What he said,” agreed Saul, inclining his head to the other man. “But, we’ve got a vet that’ll be happy to treat you, if you’ve got some good items in trade.”

Ace leaned against the back of the chair, trapping her backpack. Her time still wasn’t up, but she was sure it was getting close to the five-hour requirement and she’d be damned if she didn’t get the stupid achievement for carrying it. That weapon and land were hers.

“Depends on what you’re looking for.” She needed to draw out the conversation, or at least not unpack everything up here.

“Food, water, basics like that,” snapped Tom. “What? You think we’re stupid? You think we want somethin’ like an old Cher record? Doesn’t matter if you have one an’ it’s still sealed in plastic, no one’s got the electricity to run it.”

“Look, asshole. Let me explain slowly so you can understand with your one working brain cell. A friend of mine helped pack, so I’m not sure of everything that’s in there—”

Tom stepped closer, fingers cracking while they wiggled.

“Let’s open it up then! Gotta see what you’ve got ‘fore we take you to the vet. Be a fool’s errand if you’re empty.”

Ace leaned away from him, mouth twisted with disgust. Saul slid his bigger body between the two of them and laid his hands on Tom’s shoulders.

“I’ll open this when I see the vet or your town’s trader,” she snapped, craning her head around Saul to glare at Tom. “Not a minute before then.”

“Tom.” Saul put his back to her and turned towards his partner. “It’s fine. Why don’t I take her down to see Bee, an’ I’ll send someone up to relieve me?”

“Why don’t…” Tom’s voice trailed off, his face contorting and turning red. “Fuck you. And fuck her. That’s the only reason you want to take her down, ‘cause you wanna fuck her!”

“I can decide for myself who I’d like to fuck, and trust me,” Ace made sure to look Tom up and down, then she flicked her eyes over to Saul. “It’s not you. Not if you were the only human I knew.”

“Quiet!” shouted Saul, turning to deliver a glare to her and then Tom. Well, she didn’t see it since she was looking at his shoulders, but it was a fair assumption to make. “Tom. You need to keep lookout. Try not to get caught jackin’ off again when my replacement makes their way up here.”

He turned to Ace, back to Tom, and she had to bite her tongue at the show of trust.

“An’ you. I’ll need you to walk. You gonna be able to do that?”

Ace stood up, hissing slightly as she put pressure on her feet again. Earlier they had just been battered, now they throbbed, felt swollen, and hurt like hell. Great improvement.

“Slowly, yeah.”

“Then I’ll help you down. Tom,” Saul said, his deep voice breaking the word into three. “How ‘bout this? If you go back an’ get me a pair of my shoes, I’ll take your next three shifts.”

The other man’s mouth fell open and she would have sworn the smell in the room became worse.

“Five shifts.”

“Three, Tom. No more an’ no less.” Saul looked back at Ace, then turned and lowered his voice. It didn’t matter since he was easy to hear even when whispering, a fact that she took delight in. “An’ I’ll forget about what I found you doin’ last week. Or do you want me to bring it up at the next meetin’?”

The answer to that was Tom slamming the door open and hustling outside, not bothering to shut it behind him.

“Nice blackmail.”

Saul’s back flinched. When he turned around, his cheeks were a little darker and there was more than a hint of embarrassment rolling off of him. He also wasn’t able to look her straight in the eyes... she was beginning to see why Tom had replied that his acting was better.

"Sorry you had to hear that.”

Ace shrugged. She sat back down and sighed in relief as her feet went up again. Even with shoes she wasn’t going to be moving fast, but it would be much better than continuing to travel barefoot. Maybe she had missed a way to get those hiking shoes from the corpse in the cave... she shook her head, looking back up to where Saul was staring at her.

“It’s fine. Way the world works in most places.” She shuddered. “Thanks for getting him to leave me alone, he’s a creep.”

“Tom’s... Tom’s had it a bit rough. His kid died in the apocalypse, an’ after his skin changed his wife left him. Said she didn’t want to be married to a snake.”

“Seems like the kind of guy who was an asshole before.”

Saul shrugged.

“Don’t know. We lived in the same city, but we weren’t friends with the same people so I didn't know him until all this happened. Things like the end of the world change a person, an’ I can't say it’s always for the better.”

“What about you?” She nodded toward him. “You don’t seem to have changed.”

“All of my mutations are on the inside.” Saul rubbed his head again, then walked over to where another chair was. He turned it around, then leaned forward on the back of the chair. “Like my diet. It’s weird. I can’t eat bread or rice anymore, just meat. An’ it doesn’t matter if it’s from little tiny insects or normal things such as steak, or fish. I’m also a lot more sensitive to light.”

“It hurts you?”

“Blinds me,” he agreed. “The two lanterns in here are the most I can handle, so I’m good for night shift at least.”

Ace nodded, listening as Saul talked about some of the other mutations he’d seen from others passing through and from the people who lived in Briny Breeze. It was an amazing list and she really wished she could hear the names and conditions of several he talked about, such as claws instead of hands, skin that was dryer and suddenly more flammable, and even someone who had gone instantly from being a teenager to living their midlife crisis. As he started talking about a woman called Unicorn, she became aware of a soft ringing inside her head.