6.

The town burned behind them as Bianca’s cleansing flames consumed it all. Mom had helped drag their prisoner away from the strip of town while Santi patrolled the edges. [Gust] would send the fire screaming back in on itself rather than letting it grow and spread. Delilah and the two other scouts had been treated and sat away from the prisoner, often shouting encouraging words as Santi ran around in circles on his firefighter duty.

Tank had rejoined the team and the rest of them had set off under Torin’s leadership. Santi knew the older dwarf had the experience and skill to lead them, but he still worried. If that crab had spread the curse in its colony then they could be looking at a tough fight without him.

As he slowly suffocated the fire, he worked his way back toward where the prisoner was. The great thing about magical flame was how fast it faded away when mana no longer fed it. Normal flame was easy enough to smother with the proper application of [Air Manipulation]. He could have made a killing working in the hills and mountains in the north before the integration.

“You all done Mr. Firefighter?” Delilah drawled as she sat with a bandaged leg out in front of her. A bad gash had cut her down to the bone but a bit of time with Tank had made it a rather simple, but long, cut. The scout was small and compact like a gymnast with a pixie cut of black hair and freckles covering her face from hairline to chin.

“For now, keep an eye out in case it takes off again. Ignore the screaming.” Santi passed by them and he heard some chortling and suppressed giggles as the two other women laughed at Delilah. Santi didn’t think they were laughing about him implying what he was going to do to their prisoner.

“Mom, he say anything?” Santi asked as he walked up to them. The man was still laying on the ground and looking pale from blood loss.

“Just begging.” Mom had a hard look on her face as she stared down in judgment at the raider.

“Alright. What’s your name?” Santi stood a few feet away from the man and kept his voice calm. His instincts were betraying him, telling him to smash the man and listen to the harmony of agony in the summer air.

“It’s in you. I can see it. Just like it got all of us.”

“The curse? It’s trivial, I’ll ride it out and destroy the cursebearer and I won’t have to worry.” The prisoner chuckled, quick and sharp exhalation that expanded into a full blown belly laugh. He leaned back on the ground and just laughed.

“Tony. My name is Tony,” he finally managed to get out.

“Ok, Tony. We found those girls on the side of the road and what you did to them. You’re not coming out of this. Your only choice is slow or fast, you understand?”

“I deserve it. We all do. It…it gets into your dreams. You smell it, the blood, the pain, you start to crave it. You don’t understand what it is and who she is.”

“She?”

“Mercy. She calls herself Mercy.”

“How dramatic. Where is she?” Santi had seen his fair share of over pompous people who had found their end eventually.

“Don’t know. She found us at the border, in the mountains. We were doing ok, but she came from the North with a bunch of people. Fighting and killing anything that walked. Join or die. That was all she offered us. She burnt down our home and forced us to move.”

“How many?”

“Fuck man. Who knows. We’re always gaining people, but we’re also losing people constantly. Its a fucking bloodbath every day. Survival of the fittest. Mercy chooses who she raises up, is given her gift she calls it.”

“An infection?”

“Yeah, that’s what the System calls it. It changes them. Those who survive it, they evolve, can start getting levels past twenty-five.”

“How many have received her gift?”

“100 or so. They fight and die all the time too though. You don’t understand, when you’re in that camp, it's in the air, the ground, and water. You just need to cut and cut and hit and see the blood fall. I’ve seen mothers kill their sons, husbands their wives, brothers murdering the brothers, it's a nightmare, an unending beautiful nightmare,” his face cracked wide in a manic smile as blood dripped out of his nose and eyes.

“What were her plans?”

“Fight. Kill. Move. That’s all she ever did.”

“And you don’t know where she’s moving too?”

“South and East, toward Nevada.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Other than that you don’t know her numbers, her intention, or her goals?”

“No.”

“Mom. Can you do this? I shouldn’t be doing anything that reeks of bloodshed for now.”

“Move.” Mom gently guided him away with a single hand while glaring down at the doomed prisoner. The man’s smile continued on even as the broadhead of the spear passed through his chest.

“Leave the corpse. When Bianca comes back I’ll have her burn it,” Santi said as they moved back towards Delilah and the others.

“How bad is it? This infection you have now?”

“I don’t know. It’s marked as lesser, so it shouldn’t be a major concern as long as I don’t feed it.”

“By fighting?”

“By giving into the thrill of the fight.”

“Your father was ok with you having your secrets. You know too much and you don’t act like my little boy who went away just a few months ago. I still see him now and then, and I know my Santiago is still there. When you’re ready, I’m willing to listen,” Mom spoke quietly and without looking at him. It was the closest anyone had come to calling him out for a long time without explicitly knowing.

“If I had secrets, I wouldn’t,” the geas tried to slow him down, but he managed to force the words out before it constricted tight around his throat like a garotte.

“Ok. I love you, regardless.”

“Love you too, Mom.” The blood was still dripping off of her spear from the execution blow.

“What infection?” Delilah asked, this time without the sly smile and flirty looks.

“Curses. When you clear them you have to be careful not to let them spread. It can infect you, bleeding into your personality and behavior. If you continue to let it fester it’ll consume you until you become a curse anchor.”

“And what’s what was in them is now in you?”

“I don’t think that sentence makes sense. But, yes I’m infected by their bloodlust. I have a much higher willpower than they did. I’ll control myself until we destroy the origin of the curse.”

“Big words,” one of the other girls said. Tammy? Denise? Kammie? What the hell was her name?

“I have my family and friends to keep me in line,” Santi said.

“Someone wants to keep you in line,” the third scout said, looking at Delilah with a sly smile. Delilah blushed but didn’t look away from him.

“I don’t think Chloe would approve of that,” Mom said with a straight face. All three of the other girls stilled and their smiles grew more wooden. Chloe had a reputation for bloodshed and violence that was becoming a bit worrying.

“Fuck it, shit or get off the pot,” Delilah said with a bit of her old swagger. Santi noticed she wasn’t quite as boisterous as she had been minutes ago.

“Can you tell me how the new program is working with Daniel?” Santi asked, eager to change the subject.

“Trying to get us to spill on the boss?” The third girl asked. She had grown a bit more serious and there was a hesitancy in her words. Could be they had something to hide, or it could be nerves about talking bad about Hana and Daniel.

“No, I just want to see how everything is developing out here.”

“It’s going good. Lots of little monsters that we kill, find survivors and send them towards Homebase. Find possible supplies that haven’t been destroyed and mark them down for Rayleigh. Pretty easy stuff for the most part,” Delila said.

“Anything strange going on? Monsters acting weird or people wandering around being psychos?”

“Like these assholes were? No nothing like that. Got some people who are running around looking for fights. Lots of people not knowing how to get past the level cap too. They always ask when we show up and tell them we have people who are Acolytes.”

“Any of those crazies running around killing monsters seem willing to come and sign up with us?”

“Maybe if someone other than us was asking. You or Cam or even Chloe. Someone stronger than them. They don’t respect us since we’re capped and haven’t gotten beyond the cap.”

“Remind me when we get back, I’ll have Yessenia bump you three to the front of the line for meritorious service to the community.”

“We can wait our turn,” the second girl said. She had a bit of a scowl on her face.

“You’ve done a great service to the community, you deserve the reward.”

“No. We can wait. It won’t look good if only fighters get to go past the cap or skip the line. We don’t need that type of negativity around us,” the girl explained.

“Is it that bad in the main part of the camp?” Santi asked, genuinely curious. The last few weeks he had been swamped with fights, training, and organizing the further development of the camp. He hadn’t had time to walk around and listen to the common people.

“It’s not quite there. But now that the camp’s calm and all the monsters are gone from the region, they’re starting to question why all our resources are going towards the fighters and not towards infrastructure. Only a few crafters or farmers have gotten the levels up and they’re all close to you guys. Or were close with your Dad. People are starting to talk about it and I’d rather we not be part of that conversation,” she said.

“Well, shit. I’ll have to talk to Yessenia when we get back. Maybe a lottery system or something.”

“Or get a second person doing the rituals?” Delilah asked. There was a hint of an answer in her question. She had someone in mind and was hoping to see how receptive Santi was to the question before risking her reputation and relationship with him.

“Do you have someone in mind?”

“A friend. He’s in one of the other scout groups,” Delilah said, eyes keen and interested in the conversation. The other two girls looked at her and comprehension bloomed bright across their faces and wild smiles appeared.

“Keegan?” the second girl whispered to Delilah loud enough that even Mom could hear her.

“Yeah, Keegan. He’s one of the best we have. Can’t sneak around to save his life, but he makes traps and lures and has more monster kills than anyone except Daniel and Hana. He’s also level capped but he has some treasures that should improve his affinity and power it all, he just needs it to get done,” Delilah said in a rush.

“Alright, I’ll ask Daniel and Hana about him when they come back. Do you know where he is currently?” All of the girls suddenly looked pale and drawn as their faces blanched.

“The North, he was headed further up the highway towards the mountains.”

“Shit. I think our plans are going to have to change a bit, Mom.” Santi looked over to Mom who simply shrugged. She couldn’t care where they went right now, she just wanted to be out and doing something.

“Alright. When Tank gets back I’ll have him bust out the healing potions and get you all on your feet and then we’re heading to the North.”