Victor ran in and jumped on the bug’s back. The Vintaric noticed and tried to shake him off, but to no avail. He stabbed down over and over, using his Infuse Attack without any care for the consequences. With every blow, its carapace cracked a little more.

But all good things come to an end. the monster regained enough composure to throw Victor off its back. He went skidding across the rocks again while it charged up another blast. And without Lillie around, he would have to dodge it.

Victor tried to dodge at the last minute to conserve strength. Even with all his effort, he only barely managed to get out of the path of the tank shell. It hit the wall behind him instead, crushing another room into rubble.

But that rubble revealed the barrel of something. Victor saw it gleaming underneath, his enhanced AR-15 from the shop. That was his ticket. A single straight shot to the mouth would surely end the Vintaric.

He tried for it only for another of the Vintarics to drop down in front of him. Where had he come from?

It tried slashing but Victor had no time. A few bullets later it was down. He materialized another magazine out of the air and reloaded his pistol before continuing running. Behind him, Amadeus was struggling and hoping that he would return.

Victor landed on the rubble just as Amadeus screamed in pain. He’d had a piercer hit his shoulder and raise him into the air. Victor tried not to look, instead cutting his hand trying to dig the rifle out.

More screams came out and grew fiercer. Victor finally found the AR-15 and aimed it square at the monster. But the Vintaric saw him well beforehand. He held out Amadeus in front of him. Victor wouldn’t get a clean shot, no matter how much he tried.

The Vintaric must have known that, the way it so mocked him. he wanted nothing more to rip its head off its shoulders, but he couldn’t. Amadeus raised a rebellious hand and shocked the monster enough for a split-second space.

Victor aimed and fired an infused shot in that opening. Only for it to miss completely by its head. Victor cursed a million curses in that moment. The Vintaric raised its piercer again and stabbed again.

Victor shouted in protest. But the claw stopped short of Amadeus’ heart by only inches. A pane of light stopped it. Looking over, Victor saw Lillie raising her hand once more. The Vintaric noticed too, the instant its face turned towards her.

And then it fired the blast it had been holding in its mouth. One second Lillie was there, and the next only a smear remained on the ground.

Victor’s mind went blank. Amadeus screamed and ripped the piercer out of his shoulder. He grabbed onto the Vintaric and moved to its back. And then he released the largest shockwave Victor had ever seen.

Lightning crackled as the bug let out a scream. Its mouth opened wide and Amadeus stared at Victor expectantly.

A single click. The bullet travelled quick and true. The Vintaric’s scream cut off in an instant. And it fell to the ground limply. The monster was dead and they’d won.

[Ability Unlocked: Weapon Power Siphon]

[Ability Unlocked: Strength Boost]

[Ability Unlocked: Spee-

They’d won.

And he’d let Lillie die for it.

Victor walked slowly towards the body of the Vintaric, mind bereft of thoughts. Amadeus was on the ground crying and shocking the corpse. It twitched with his every move, but showed no signs of coming back.

Victor looked away from the sight, away from where Lillie had last been. The only place he’d found to look at all were the skies, where more Vintarics waited for them. Had they all been there? Waiting and watching Victor struggle like a child against a lion?

And were they about to attack him now that their champion had fallen? Victor wouldn’t have it. He aimed into the air and scared them off with a spray of bullets. The cowards dispersed in but a few moments.

****

A restless day had passed and the deaths were tallied up.

Their losses were numerous. Umer, Dean and a number of other adults had died or been devoured. Audrey looked like she was about to collapse. But either through a sense of duty or numbness, she kept going. For Angel Heights, and the kids that had survived inside it.

Victor had listened to her word without complaints. He’d moved the kids away and was clearing up the rubble on the top floor. Find anything useful, she said. He’d gathered the rest of his gear, and stripped the bodies of clothes they could use.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Amadeus picked them up and took them down where they could be buried…. No, they wouldn’t be buried, would they?

Why go through the trouble when the corpses or smoke would only attract others? They’d probably be put thrown somewhere. That was the most reasonable action they could take.

He crushed a rock at the thought. His new strength had made it somewhat easier for him.

“Where do we put these?” someone asked. Victor looked up to find the same man who’d tried to rob him only days before. He eyed the man quietly, unsure of what to say.

“Okay…?” the man replied, turning away and down the stairs.

Get yourself together, man… he punched himself. The pain wasn’t any lesser or greater than it should’ve been, a balancing mechanism of his stat, he supposed.

But that also meant it didn’t distract him any. Instead, to get his mind away from things, Victor walked into the room the kids had been hiding in. There, he was witness to a sight that baffled him. the Gameboys he’d gotten them, spread across the room as if someone had been using them recently.

But they couldn’t have! Amadeus wouldn’t charge them again, he knew it! Victor rushed down and towards the bottom of the floors. Ashley was discussing cremating the bodies while Isabelle helped clean up the clothes with Elsa.

“Audrey!” Victor shouted for her. The old woman came out of a room with red puffy eyes.

“Where’s your generator?” he asked. They had to have one for all the power they were supplying.

Audrey must’ve noticed the charging cable by his hand, because she asked her own question in response.

“Did they…?” she said before shaking her head. “No, I don’t need to know. It’s downstairs, in the basement. Bring up the brooms when you come back.”

She walked away and Victor made his way to the basement door. It had been knocked off its hinges and he was forced to remove it entirely to proceed. Down the stairs he went until he came to a wide, open space. The generator’s hum was loud here, drowning out his own thoughts.

Victor went to the nearest port and found signs there already of use. But just to confirm, he placed the charger inside along with one of the consoles.

Orange. It was charging.

And that’s when the truth of the matter became clear to him. The kids had found the generator room, found the port and knew enough to charge their own devices. They’d played the games loud in the early morning, attracting the Vintarics to them.

And it’d happened only because Victor had been stupid enough to allow it. He’d been the one to provide the consoles in the first place, in a misguided attempt at cheering them up. And now Dean’s life, Lillie’s life, was his sin to bear.

With measured steps, Victor walked back up the stairs and out into the open. There were people wincing and suffering. There were talks of another expedition for more Seeds. Amadeus came down and sat down beside a wall. Some of the kids walked around and helped to reorganize. Leo patched up cracks in the walls and considered fixing the top floor entirely, but Audrey shot him down.

And Victor’s mind screamed at him to leave. Because he didn’t see any of them. He only saw dead men walking, and him the reaper come to take them away.

“We’re going,” Victor said aloud.

“What? Vic, but with everything going o-”

“We’re leaving, Amadeus. Or don’t you want to see your family again?” Victor asked.

Amadeus looked and felt guilty. He raised himself off of the floor and fell in turn with Victor.

“I’m sorry, Audrey. But I need to find my family too,” Victor told her.

She didn’t look mad at him at all. He hated that even more. It would’ve been easier had she kicked him out herself.

“If you’re going to go, you might as well have some extra protection,” she told him while placing something in his palms. He didn’t need to see it to know that it was a Seed. Something that felt warm in his hand, almost uncomfortably so.

“I-I can’t take this, Audrey. Your people need it more,” Victor complained. She shook her head once more.

“We harvested a few from the bugs. This is the most I can spare, so just take it, lad,” she told him. Then she reached up and planted a kiss on his forehead.

“Good luck to you, Victor. And good luck to you, Amadeus. Safe journeys,” she told the both of them.

It seemed that only a moment had passed when the both of them entered the car once more. The soft seats seemed foreign, and they were missing one of the passengers they had come with. The Beetle was loaded with rations, fuel and whatever they could need for the journey ahead. And yet still the two of them checked it over a thousand times before proceeding.

The garage door was open, so when a silhouette appeared outside, Victor and Amadeus readied their weapons.

“Relax, it’s just me,” Isabelle revealed herself. She tried to smile but gave up halfway.

“What are you doing here?” Victor asked accusingly.

“Just seeing you two off.”

“Well, you’ve done it. Thank you. You can go back now,” Victor said, slamming the trunk of the car. He got to the shotgun side seat and opened the door, but Isabelle was near the other window, looking through.

“Victor. It’s going to be a tough road ahead. For you and us both. Don’t you think we should walk it together?” Isabelle asked.

“I’ll walk it with my family when I meet them.”

“You have to have considered the obvious, Vic.”

“Well, I haven’t. And I don’t need to hear it from you. Go back, Izzy, before another swarm comes and follows you,” he told her.

“And you’re going to go along with him?” she turned her head to Amadeus. He was silent.

She looked disappointed with the both of them. That was good. How it should be. She walked away silently, without even a goodbye. Amadeus kept his head down the entire time.

“We’re ready,” he said moments after, when they’d double and triple-checked everything they could.

They took out the car. For Audrey’s sake, they even closed the garage door. Somehow, they found a clear path out of the city easily. The ‘Now Leaving Los Angelas’ sign passed and Victor took one look back just in case.

He’d never found her body in the rubble. Not anywhere. In some ways that was more heartbreaking, as he couldn’t even give Lillie a proper burial. Victor sighed, hand still clutching the Seed Audrey had given him.

He’d need all the strength he could get. To survive and make it through the other end. To find his parents, and feel safe once again.

The Seed sank into his skin.

[Seed Integrated: Pyreborne Ember]

[Ability Unlocked: Flame Vault]

[Ability Unlocked: Basic Fire Manipulation]

[Ability Unlocked: Unlock Thermal Sense]