17.

“Is it me, or is there a giant line in front of your house?” Daniel asked. He was standing with his hands on his hips as he stared at the line that stretched from the backyard gate to the sidewalk in the front of the house. Thin tendrils of pale gray smoke, nearly invisible in the afternoon sunlight, rose behind the house. Santi cocked his head and took a deep whiff, sucking in a thousand smells.

Beans, tortillas, eggs, rice, burning wood, and hot metal. Mom and Dad were cooking it seemed. Santi knew his Dad loved to cook, always relishing the looks on people’s faces as they started to eat his food. Mom, well, she cooked because that’s just what she did. Santi had never heard her profess a love of cooking or even an enjoyment. Rather it was a task she accomplished with great proficiency.

“I think my parents are cooking. At least nobody is in the house,” Santi said, walking by the line and through the front door. The smells from his parents cooking wafted in, sneaking through the backdoors. His stomach growled and he looked enviously at the line of people in the backyard.

His parents and a few others had emptied out the backyard of all the tubs that Santi had been planning on using for evolutions. Six fires were burning, massive pots sitting above open flame and several flat skillets were being used as tortillas were being cooked. Bianca stood in the corner of the kitchen looking at the backyard. Santi could hear her stomach growl, but she wasn’t moving.

“Don’t want to get enlisted?” Santi teased.

“I’m so hungry, but if I go out there my Mom will make me cook. Santi, go and get a plate of food for me.”

“Where’s Cam? Get him to do it for you.”

“Santiago, go and get me a plate of food,” Bianca ordered.

“Why did I rescue you?” Santi groused as he walked out the sliding back door and into the chaos of the backyard turned kitchen. Now that he was in the thick of it, he could see that everyone was dropping off odds and ends. Those who had earned coin from loot boxes dropped off a single coin in a collection bin. Others dropped off canned or dried food, bottled water, sanitary wipes, anything of value.

Santi’s eyes bulged at the pile of wealth accumulating in front of his parents. A single one of those wooden coins had the value to pay for everything here. Basic non-mana infused foods were nearly worthless. They lacked the nutritional values needed to fuel higher evolved people. Santi could enjoy the food but it wouldn’t do much for him in the long run.

Appropriately leveled beast meat or skill grown crops were the way to go. It had been a slowly growing concern for Santi as he began to realize that the faint hunger in his stomach wasn’t being sated when he ate. Once a few more people were evolved they were going to have to try to find something to hunt to eat. He would settle for those mutated grasshoppers at this point.

“Santi, you need a plate?” His dad had a wide smile as he plated up a paper plate with beans, rice, eggs, fried potatoes, and scrambled eggs. Mom threw a pair of tortillas on the plate without looking, her eyes locked on the mass of masa in front of her and the tortilla press she was working.

Santi thanked his parents and ran away from the glaring eyes from all the people he had just cut in line. The plate was nearly bending with the weight of food on it and he quickly handed it off to a thankful Bianca who started wolfing it all down. Daniel was looking peckish and sauntered out of the house and grabbed a plate himself before coming back in.

“Santiago? Did you eat like this everyday?” Daniel asked. A hint of reverence in his voice as he made a taco out of the ingredients.

“Yes. Also, tear strips out of the tortilla and use it to scoop everything up. Little bit of everything in each strip.”

“Santi, this is the stuff of the gods.”

“My Dad and Mom cook really well. I took it for granted growing up. Always thought there’d be another meal. Then one day there wasn’t,” Santi finished in a whisper staring into the kitchen.

“Must be nice to have everyone back then,” Daniel said as he pulled a piece of tortilla free and mopped up the plate.

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“Yeah,” Santi wiped at his watery eyes and ignored the weird looks his sister and Daniel were giving him. He thought he had been beyond this, the increase in his willpower having been able to repress his rampant emotions.

They were back. He had his family again. His best friend again. So why the fuck was he crying.

“My Mom never really cooked and my Dad’s idea of cuisine was opening a can of beans and a piece of toast,” Daniel supplied.

“That sounds absolutely horrific,” Bianca said around a mouthful of food.

The door banged open and Yesi came stomping in, her face a thundercloud. Bianca grabbed up her plate from the kitchen counter and scooted into a corner as Yesi stood there fuming. Santi decided with his new advanced stats and superhuman durability he could jump on this grenade.

“What’s the matter?”

“Mom! She made me move everything for the evolutions! All of it!” Yesi was yelling, tendons popping out of her neck.

“Where’d you put all my stuff? The treasures?”

“Still in your room. I just moved the tubs and water buckets. We’re closer to that gross pond. Less trips that way.”

“Have you gotten ready to do it for anyone else?”

“Chloe said you told her to wait?”

“Yeah. Won’t be long. I think the distribution center will have what she needs to upgrade her affinity. Tank should be ready and I have a few treasures that will work well for him.”

“Alright, I’ll go and find him. Do you have a list of all the treasures and shit you had?”

“No, I just threw them all in the bag.”

“Damnit Santi!” She snorted in anger and ground her heel on the floor.

“Why?”

“I think some stuff is missing. Can’t be sure because someone doesn’t keep records.”

“Sorry, was more worried about keeping everyone alive. You know, life and death battles. Next time I’ll write it down,” Santi snarked back, even if on the inside he was kicking himself. If someone had stolen some of his treasures then he’d have no way of knowing. He really needed a vault or something.

“No need to be a smart-ass. Tank, then who?”

“There’s a few others. I’ll spread word. I have a few special pieces set aside for people who are family.”

“You got some for me?” Daniel blurted. Finally his facade had cracked, naked avarice on his face. It was enough to make Santi want to smile. While not as loud and brash as Chloe, Daniel still had a burning desire to gain levels and strength.

“Yes. Just need one more piece, you’ll probably have better luck finding it than me. I have what’s needed for Hana. Cam and Bianca shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

“Chad?”

“He gets the standard evolution unless something falls into our lap. This new rift in the distribution center should have plenty of strength. Probably could fuel multiple evolutions at the same time.”

“Is it really that big?” Yesi asked.

“The one I used didn’t even have more than eight hours to absorb mana and potential. This one has been sitting for weeks. We have enough low level treasures to boost specific stats, that rift stone to fuel the rite, and then the affinities.”

“But, do Tank’s today?”

“Yeah. There’s a shoe box under my bed. Has his name on it. Should have the right ingredients for his evolution.”

“Sweet. The other’s?”

“Aside from the family and Rayleigh, everyone gets the basics.”

“Got it.”

“Did you get levels? From my evolution?”

“No, but the loot box was enough.”

“Damn, I was hoping planning out and doing the ritual would be enough to satisfy your class requirements.”

“It’s fine. I’m a Planner, not a wizard. I’ve been looking at maps of all these walls and they’re a mess. Tank said I should go and talk to Marisol, she’s in charge of all of the supplies. That would be the best place for me to level when I’m not doing evolutions.”

“That sounds like a good plan. Marisol is ok, bit stuck in the mud. She’s a schemer though.”

“Tank will be with me. He said he’d make introductions.”

“Sounds for the best.”

“He said you could do it, but you’re socially stunted and lack the most basic of manners and social graces.”

Daniel snorted and started coughing as food went down the wrong pipe. Bianca simply smiled at it, Santi shot her a dirty look but couldn’t refute the statement. He could be polite and socially acceptable when he wanted. It was just, most of the time he didn’t want to.

“Start up on the evolutions. Tank, Chad, Adam, and Hana for sure. Bianca go and find Cameron and anyone else who’s stuck in the twenties. We’re clearing out the distribution center and getting your levels.”