Nicole grabbed his equipment, and we headed to the edge of the camp. I made sure to check her equipment until Nicole playfully shooed me away. I watched her disappear into the stairwell. I sighed before heading for my bedroll and lying down, finally letting my body rest.
Tomorrow, I'd focus on leveling the others. Maybe check the first floor solo. We need to get started on the missions.
But for now, I could afford to shut my eyes.
Just for a little while.
The first thing I registered was the sound of boots on tile.
I blinked awake, fingers already curled toward my sidearm out of habit. A silhouette moved toward the camp's edge, a woman, tall, confident stride, blood on the knuckles. Nicole.
She didn't look hurt; she just looked tired. Her red hair was now tied back, her face smeared with dirt and sweat. A few of the others stirred as she stepped inside, but no one reached for their weapons. Either they were sound asleep, or they were used to the sound of her boots by now.
Nicole dropped her pack with a soft grunt and crouched near the flickering fire. "You're up."
"Light sleeper, remember?" I sat up, brushing dust from my arm. "You make it through?"
She nodded. "Fourth floor's mostly clear. I swept the west and east wings, minus one blocked hallway near the north end. Debris was packed in tight—looked intentional. No way through without noise."
I frowned. "Collapsed ceiling?"
"No. Shelving and furniture. Looked like it was dragged into place."
My eyes narrowed. Sounds like a fallback position or something they didn't want others to see.
"Any signs of people?" I asked.
"No humans. Just goblins in the area." Nicole glanced toward the far wall, where the young man, our half-conscious survivor, was still wrapped in Liam's jacket. "Most were asleep. Caught them off guard."
"How many?"
"Six. Took them out quietly. Leveled up to six before the last one fell."
I nodded. "Good. Keep the loot. You earned it."
Nicole rubbed at a fresh scratch near her temple and smirked faintly. "I was going to keep it anyway, but you were right about one thing. No flashlight made things... interesting."
"Still alive, though."
"Disappointed?"
I gave her a flat look. "Never… I still need you anyway."
Nicole chuckled, then stretched. "Anyway, I'm going to crash. That kid talks, wake me."
"Will do."
She started toward her bedroll, then paused, glancing back at the barricaded hallway. "That north wing gives me a bad feeling."
"Yeah," I muttered. "Me too."
The morning passed in a haze of weapon maintenance, ration sorting, and quiet conversation. Most of the camp was still asleep or pretending to be. Liam moved between tasks with his usual calm, keeping an eye on the survivor, our ghost of a guest, without pressing him.
I waited until the sun had crept high enough to cast weak light through the broken skylight before approaching.
He was sitting up, arms wrapped tight around his knees, gaze locked on nothing. The jacket Liam had given him had slipped off one shoulder, revealing a mess of dark purple and red bruises. They were fresh, raw, and angry-looking. Some marks were splotchy, others clearly caused by blunt force. Recent. Maybe hours old. Maybe yesterday. Either way, he hadn't had a chance to heal, and his body hadn't seen real rest since whatever hell he crawled out of. I crouched beside him and offered a protein bar and a bottle of water.
"You don't have to eat now," I said, voice low. "But you should drink."
He took the water with shaking fingers, and I waited.
Ten minutes passed before he finally whispered, "They took them."
My ears perked. "Who?"
"My group," he said hoarsely. "Five of us. We got separated near the pharmacy wing on the second floor. We were hiding… then we heard a voice."
His hands clenched around the bottle.
"A woman. She told us it was safe. She… smiled. Said we could follow her to safety."
He looked at me now, really looked. There was terror there, but something sharper underneath.
"She was tall, maybe five-eight or five-nine. Slim, like a dancer. Long dark brown hair, straight and pulled back in a braid. Pale skin, clear, like she hadn't been outside much. Her lips were red, like lipstick, even though no one else was wearing makeup. Eyes were gray, sharp… like she was always studying you. Her dark jacket hugged her frame, looking tactical, but too clean, too fresh; it had just come out of the package. No dirt, no blood. Just… perfect. Too perfect. She kept smiling and speaking softly—too softly, like she wanted to help… or seem like she did. But her eyes didn't match the way she spoke. She never blinked. Not once."
That made me still.
"Another man was with her," he added. "He didn't talk. Just stood there. Watched us. Big guy. Pale eyes. Cold."
"Did they attack you?"
He shook his head slowly, voice barely more than a whisper. "Not at first. She told us to walk ahead. Said she was leading us to safety… That she knew a clear path."
His fingers curled against his knees. "She smiled the whole time. It felt wrong, but I kept walking. I didn't want to, I really didn't, but something in my head just said to trust her. Like… even though I was scared, I couldn't stop moving forward."
He swallowed hard.
"Then I heard the screams behind me. One of the girls… she yelled my name. I turned around and saw the guy, the one with her. He'd been walking behind us the whole time, quiet. He had this… calm look on his face, like none of it mattered. He was dragging one of the others back by her hair. Just handed her off to something in the dark."
Jasmine and Nicole exchanged a look, but Eli wasn't done.
"They didn't even run. They just stood there. Like they'd done it before. She told me to keep walking and smiled at me like it was all fine. But I bolted. I heard the others screaming… I didn't look back. I couldn't."
His voice cracked. "I ran. I shouldn't have. But I ran."
I didn't blame him.
"Do you remember where this happened?" I asked.
He nodded slowly. "Somewhere between the pharmacy and the toy store. They had signs… glowing ones. I think we were near that neon book café."
I rocked back on my heels, my mind racing to make sense of it all.
He wasn't lying. His fear was too raw.
The description, especially the woman, sent a ripple of unease down my spine. Nicole hadn't said much about Nadia since the system dropped, but this fit the woman's description. The strange pull must be one of her skills. The man with her could've been anyone, but something told me it wasn't random.