“You were wonderful,” she cooed, looking at him half like she wanted to give him a bear hug and half like she wanted to dump a bucket of water over him. She took a middle ground, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. “I am definitely going to show my appreciation later.”

Suddenly, light bloomed around them. The hallway was brighter than it had been with electric globes. The damage of the event that the marauding zombies and Daniel’s running battle had done to the place was revealed. It was trashed.

He startled, but his eyes automatically drifted to the woman’s whose lightning had saved him. As he had guessed, she had conjured a ball of light which hovered above her, probably under her control. She stood proud with the same determined look with an edge of hysterical that Ivey had maintained for most of the day. Then again, what normal person wouldn’t be affected by this and be on the brink? Despite that, she had left safety to help.

“Thank you,” he said carefully, not sure how to judge her.

“I am just glad we could kill it together,” she said, surprising him once more with an English accent.

Not wanting to stare, he looked away and then stared in askance at a hole in the plaster between two rooms. He couldn’t remember making it, but it could well have been his size. The dazzling bright light really highlighted that they were in the middle of the apocalypse. Shredded carpet, urine stains, and splattering of blood.

“I’m Tamara,” the girl volunteered. “What now?”

“We need everyone to move to a new set of rooms,” Ivey declared, taking over the conversation. “Dan will reinforce and then in the morning, we finish clearing the floor. I am not sure we want to attempt exploring by”—she waved at the glowing ball of energy—“that. Then after we own the level, we push down to ground. Let’s move,” Ivey said. Her playful nature vanished as she focused once more on the job of keeping them all safe.

They returned to Trudy’s room, and the smell hit them immediately. The hotel had fused windows without a balcony, so the lack of ventilation was an issue, but Daniel was confident he could create some holes going forward. Surely some roots could pry open a window. In their next base, he would make it a priority.

While Ivey bullied everyone into action, Daniel assessed the situation. They were still in danger. The old lady was comforting Trudy, who was on the bed with her older kids curled up around her. Gabby, the young teenaged girl, was sobbing quietly while her brother Zach had his head tucked into his mum’s lap, perfectly skill. The male from the corridor was sprawled on the second bed like he owned it, holding the sword Daniel had created for Anthony against him in a possessive manner. Daniel wanted to be petty and take it back, but resisted the impulse.

“Move, move,” Ivey was telling everyone.

Tamara followed him into the room.

“Babes,” the guy said in greeting, the girl behind him finally deigning to move. He stood, brushed off non-existent dirt off his clothes and then looked straight up at Daniel.

Poser was all Daniel could think. He had never liked this type of charismatic dandies.

“Jayden,” the man said, holding a hand; he had a thin, athletic build.

“Daniel,” he answered formally, shaking the man’s hand.

“This,” Jayden said hefting the sword, “is not bad, but the blade is dull.”

“It’s wood,” Daniel objected automatically.

“As I said, not bad. Now introductions. I assume you have met my fiancé, Tamara.” He nodded toward the girls whose lightning had proven so useful in the previous fight. “Trudy,” he said, waving. “And other lady is Elaine.”

Elaine looked up at her name but did not appear to want to engage.

“We don’t have time for this,” Ivey said, moving subtly to separate them. “There are a pair of interconnected suites just down the hallway. We should move before it’s fully dark.”

“Why not here?” Trudy objected.

“Because we can’t air it out,” Ivey said patiently. “The other rooms will be more comfortable and a lot safer once Dan has reinforced them. This is what we are going to do.” She ruffled his head. “Daniel will wash and change.” She wrinkled her nose, but her eyes sparkled. “And then he will build defences. While he works, the rest of us will collect all the food and water we can find, along with as many wood scraps as possible.”

“Why would we do that?” Jayden asked. Tamara tried to shush him, but he ignored her. The man even physically squared up against the smaller Ivey. He was going to be trouble.

Ivey seemed to have a different opinion and openly rolled her eyes. “Because Daniel needs to protect us in case there are more of the monsters, and he needs wood.”

Jayden looked like he was about to object, but Tamara elbowed him, so instead of arguing further, he just nodded. “Lead away.”

Ivey appeared more than satisfied with the acquiescence. “Let’s move,” she ordered.

Daniel got to work. On the way to the rooms they had selected, Daniel knocked down three doors. Two touches and they fell out. He snagged one, figuring that the other adults could bring the others. Given their exposed state while scavenging, he did not lose himself in his work but kept an ear open instead. Ready to run and protect anyone who needed.

Tamara and Jayden came back with the last door, and he shut the room off from the corridor with his growth magic, reinforcing and sealing it.

Finally, they were safe.

Daniel’s stomach exploded in pain. It was a thousand times worse than anything that he had ever experienced. He did not even have time to cry out as the agony knocked all physical control of his body out of him.

He woke, once more curled in front of the door, a pillow under his head and with Ivey sitting protectively next to him. His whole body was shaking, and when he blinked, it was like an ice pick slamming into his mind.

She noticed him waking, and her hand brushed his forehead and soothing healing washed through him. The ice picks faded and some of his trembling slowed down.

“How long?” he rasped, surprised by how dry his throat was.

“Five minutes,” she told him, handing him a water bottle with a couple of sips in it. He pushed himself to a sitting position and used the water to wet down his mouth.

“That sucks.”

“Just the price of power,” Ivey said sympathetically. “I would do it if he could.”

And she probably would. She was tough enough for it.

He was leaning against the door and so, with physical contact established, he threw his mind into strengthening it further. When he opened his eyes again, Ivey was gone. This time, with the extra wood, he took his time to do a proper job. Creating full-on spring-loaded traps on the outside of the doors would be hopefully strong enough to take down even one of the reinforced zombies. Daniel placed signs warning of the traps in English in case a crazy human was exploring.

Once both external doors were protected, he dealt with the inside areas. First, creating ventilation by growing some wood tendrils through the soft rubber that fixed the windows in place. He created hollow tubes that air could circulate through, but remembering the bugs, he grew a mini mesh that would not impede air flow but ensured nothing could creep through.

There were four beds available. Elaine, Trudy, and the kids were in one room, and Daniel created extra defences over their beds first and then did a similar thing in his room. At the end of the process, each bed was encased in a cocoon. It would only last one or two blows from a zombie, but it would delay them and stop smaller monsters completely.

“Not zombie proof,” he complained, looking critically at his own work.

“Feral mutated humans,” Ivey reminded him with a laugh. “And I think it looks snug and romantic.” They crawled through a narrow opening, and the flap shut behind them, sealing them inside. It was immediately dark, even though Tamara probably had her ball of light active.

“It is like when I used to build cardboard forts as a kid,” Ivey said with delight, and he heard her tapping on the thin wood in appreciation. “So awesome.” She gave him a passionate kiss. “If there was more privacy?”

She snuggled up against them.

“If there was?” he asked, knowing it was naughty.

She kissed his ear. “Well,” she whispered in his ear. “I wouldn’t be whispering.”

“What?”

“Just teasing,” she admitted. “I am beat and after today . . .” There was a pause. She kissed him on the cheek. “I am happy to be with you.”

But not tonight were the words left unspoken, and even if she was interested, Daniel knew he was not. Those zombies they had been people and then Anthony . . . His mind needed to process the harsh reality of life before he could think of doing more.

“It is okay,” Ivey whispered to him, having picked up on his subtle sucking in of breath and all of his muscles tensing. “I am here and we will look after each other.”

Daniel’s mind whirled, thinking everything through. What did he want to do tomorrow morning? There were so many options and he did not know the right things to do. What did he think about eliminating zombies? Anthony? Could he protect the kids? The thoughts were relentless.

Trying to focus on actions. The philosophical was beyond him and was not something he wanted to consider. Survival, that was tangible. Focusing on it could keep him grounded.

Should they use the fire stairs to escape and head out into the country? Part of him screamed yes, but there were practicalities to deal with. In these cramped spaces, his ability to generate traps and alter the environment had already been a lifesaver. However, as that last zombie had shown, the ability was strongest when he was being defensive. Turtling up and adjusting his traps and wood growth to meet the threats. When he had no chance to prepare, he was no better than a normal warrior. The fights without the benefit of his prepared tools had proven that. Given an entire day, he might have worn that creature down. Maybe? But probably not he was not so arrogant that he felt like he was invulnerable. Eventually, he would have made a mistake and the way it hit, the creature would only have needed to make one.

Was it therefore better to not rush to escape? Should he be working at bunkering down in the tower? Slowly conquer it floor by floor and suffer the pain of the cores while he got more and more powerful?

Or should instead of defending their space should he be taking risks to save other humans? There were almost certainly more out there on the other floors. Trapped like Elaine, Tamara, and Jayden. Should he be pushing out to save those strangers?

Daniel did not know. Ivey was cuddled into him and from her breathing, she had found the oblivion of sleep.

“Sweet dreams,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head. She stirred contently.

The other couple were still fidgeting. He heard a bang as a head or elbow hit wood and a muffled curse. He wished he could sleep but despite or the intense exercise, that hour of fighting the zombie and not to mention all the demanding work of channelling his growth ability, he was not sleepy at all.

Daniel concentrated once more on his choices. It was not solely up to him, but he suspected that Ivey, while opinionated, would follow his lead. Trudy would want to leave as soon as possible, after all. She had the ghost of Anthony here. As for the others, he had no idea what their view would be.

It was a no to running. Ivey was right; they needed to get stronger first, and he remembered that creature he had seen in the ocean and Ivey had said there were similar creatures on land.

He shivered. After fighting a zombie and giant bugs, he could imagine what going up against something like that would feel like. His traps had struggled against reinforced zombies. They would be useless against a monster that was elephant sized, and he was not sure land animals were limited in size anymore like they used to be. Ocean creatures and insects had lost their own size restrictions and he could not see why land monsters would be spared the changes.

Leaving the hotel immediately was definitely out of the question. He needed to be a lot stronger before they could even consider facing something like bigger, reinforced zombies.

While he had promised to save Trudy and the kids, leaving the hotel now would doom them. If monsters on this floor were so strong, what would wait at ground level of their building? Without his tricks, Daniel knew he would be overwhelmed easily. That made things easier; it was just a matter of how fast he claimed the tower. And whether to go up or down?

Ivey was definitely asleep, he noted, and the other two had stopped moving. His own mind was running at a thousand miles per hour.

Curiously, he tried trying to bring up his status. Wavy green lines appeared, but the text was unreadable. Apparently, he needed Ivey to be consciously helping him to access his stat page. That was a pity, as he wanted to know if he had gained anything from the zombie cores he had consumed.