We encountered some minor mobs while en-route to the 7-Eleven at West Coast. We stopped and quickly dealt with the weird-looking trash monsters. They looked like four-foot-tall praying mantises, but with hermit-crab-like shells made out of black trash bags. They skittered around with their sharp front legs clicking on the road, and every time they moved, bits of rubbish spilled off their backs. It was… weird.

  Siva leapt off the bike and went on a one-boy frenzy, tearing them down. There were only eight of them anyway, so I didn’t even leave the seat of the bike. I chose to snipe from where I was. I crafted more flame arrows, and, as it turned out, rubbish like old newspapers and food containers was really flammable. We made short work of them.

  My heart wasn’t really in it, though. I was still thinking about how I’d become a killer. A real one this time. But what was the difference between what I’d been doing since waking up in this nightmare and now? All I’d done was kill, kill, kill. Was it just because he was human? The weird PMD riders and the cyclists Shawn ran over were human too. Or at least human-like. And what about the Pontianaks? They were sort of human… I guess. Except, you know, ghost-type mobs.

  I pushed the thought aside and focused on the road as Siva got back on. We received some minor XP, gold, the usual potions, and, of all things, a broom and dustpan set, together with a can of Ridsect insect spray.

  We reached the 7-Eleven without incident and rode right up to the store. The bus was gone, but plenty of people were milling around outside. Someone had found those crowd-control ropes, and a queue was forming up to the door. It looked like the entrance to a nightclub on a Friday night.

  I spotted Jess sitting at the same stone table and chairs where I’d had my parlay with Rajan. She had her face buried in her hands.

  “Long day?” I asked, forcing a smile and clapping her lightly on the back before taking a seat.

  Siva went off to talk to the people waiting in line. We still hadn’t found anyone who looked like his sister or matched her name. I could tell it was wearing him down, but there wasn’t much else we could do except keep asking around.

  Jess looked up wearily and sighed. When she spoke, it was barely above a whisper, and she didn’t bother to use chat.

  “Almost all of them took some kind of fighting class,” she said. “We only have a few healers and support classes. I tried to talk to them before they went in, helped them pick something they thought they could handle… but most came out with swords and armor and…” She trailed off, resting her forehead on the table.

  I couldn’t help but smile. What did she think was going to happen? After the first batch came back bragging about their loot from the pangolin fight, everyone wanted a piece of that. People wanted a chance to live, and this was their way of doing it.

  “Uh… where’s Shawn?” I asked, glancing around.

  Jess lifted her head just enough to give me an exasperated look. “That idiot took the ones who already finished class selection to grind. Said it’d be good experience, and if we had a few more pukers, maybe the rest who don’t have the stomach for combat would change their minds.”

  I reached over and rubbed her back as she groaned lightly into the stone table, having already placed her forehead back on it.

  “I remember when I first met you,” I said quietly. “You froze at the checkpoint and couldn’t even cast a spell. But look where you are now. You’ve changed a lot in a short time. They’ll step up when it counts. Just like you did.”

  She didn’t lift her head when she replied, her voice muffled. “If you try to give me one more pep talk, I’ll cut you. Then I’ll tell you exactly which muscles I just cut. I can do that, you know. I’m a doctor.”

  But then she raised her head, gave me a small, tired smile, and said softly, “Thank you.”

  I gave a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder and decided it was time to check in on our resident Necromancer.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Chris: Shawn, how are things?

  Shawn: Hey buddy, how’d things go with the Temple?

  Chris: I’ll explain later when you get back, but, uh… yeah. We need to talk about it.

  Shawn: Ten-Four.

  Siva: Just where exactly are you?

  Jess: And how many did you get killed?

  Shawn: Nearby. And give me some credit. No one’s dead. Yet. And even if they were, hey…

  Jess: Shawn.

  Shawn: Relax, we’re almost done. Be back soon to pick up the next batch.

  I closed the chat as Siva came over and took the other seat. Farah had taken over door duties, and Shaheerah was organizing the ones already decked out in armor and weapons off to the side. They looked like they were waiting to go on a school excursion. Most of them looked excited, but some looked apprehensive. They’ll learn.

  “You wanna go with the next batch?” Siva asked, pulling a banana from his inventory and peeling it as he spoke.

  “Nah… I’ll pass,” I said. My mind was still… preoccupied.

  Jess laid a hand on my arm and sent me a private chat.

  Jess: You know how many people died on my operating table, Chris? I was an ER doctor. I know.

  I turned to look at her, meeting her eye. How… How did she know? But it was different, wasn’t it?

  Chris: Yeah… But…

  “Hokay… I’ll give you guys some space,” Siva said, making to get up. He’d clearly noticed we were having a private conversation.

  “No. Stay. Please. We’ll wait for Shawn and, erm… I’ll share everything,” I said, gently pushing Siva back to his seat.

  Shawn was true to his word, and it didn’t take long for him to return. The personnel carrier rode into the car park and parked nearby. About thirty people came out, most talking animatedly, but some had a haunted look on them.

  Shawn disembarked last with a huge grin plastered on his face. He gave us a quick salute from afar before making his way to Shaheerah and pulling her aside to talk.

  After some words to her, he came over and took the last remaining chair. He gave everyone a look before lighting a cigarette and tossing me the pack. I silently lit one and took a deep drag.

  “Spill it,” Shawn said.

  I raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

  “Your fucking armor is torn, you look like you haven’t slept in weeks, and your fingers are shaking. The good doctor here is playing nice with you, giving you time, and Siva is also too nice or too scared to say anything,” he said, pointing at my arm between puffs of smoke.

  I glanced quickly between Siva and Jess. Jess gave me a reassuring smile, and Siva just looked down. Sheesh… was I that easy to read?

  I took a long drag on the cigarette and recounted all that happened, from our first contact outside West Gate to me blasting Marcus and setting him on fire.

  They listened attentively. By the time I was done, I noticed Shaheerah loading up the bus with more people who had just had their system activated and equipped. I pointed and was about to ask when Shawn interrupted.

  “Hey, Shah’s got this. You look at me instead,” Shawn said, meeting my eye.

  “First, you gotta stop worrying about them. None of us had any guide or tutorial when we first started,” he said, but Siva gave an obvious fake cough, bringing his fist to his mouth.

  I gave him a warm smile and clapped his shoulder. That wasn’t true. I had Siva. But I guessed it was like that for Jess and Shawn and even Siva himself. They all had to learn the hard way.

  “Secondly, that Marcus fuck, if you hadn’t done what you did, he’d kill you. Without a second fucking thought,” Shawn continued, waving his hand around for emphasis, causing more smoke to billow from the end of his cigarette.

  “So you keep on doing what you gotta do. If people are trying to kill us, like I said the last time, what are we gonna use? Harsh language?” Shawn said emphatically.

  “Chris… I know it sounds bad coming from me. And I had a hard time with this too. Especially me, but if push comes to shove, I know what I’ll do,” Jess said, putting her hand on mine and giving me a reassuring nod.

  “Yeah… Fuck them…” Siva added. “If they come for you, they come for us. We’re the four horsemen, and we take care of each other.”

  We slowly turned to stare at Siva. That was the most he’d spoken since we got back. His eyes were intense but also… sincere. At this point, I’d never been so glad to be part of this team, for their warmth and support.

  I nodded and gave them the first genuine smile since I got here. Shawn turned sideways to light another cigarette when a gust of wind rushed past his face and cut the cigarette in half. Jess had her hand raised and was pointing at Shawn, who just sat there slack-jawed as what remained of the cigarette dangled from his bottom lip.

  “Smoke in front of me again, and next time I’ll aim lower. Much lower,” Jess said with a grin. That broke the tension as we all laughed, ignoring the commotion behind us from the shocked people who had just witnessed Jess’s [Wind Blade] spell.

  I raised a hand to signal all was okay, and Farah gave me a quizzical look. I motioned again that everything was fine.

  “You know what…” I said, “Let’s get on the next trip. Let’s go kill some mobs.”

  We continued laughing as Shawn still sat dumbfounded, with a horrified look on his face.