Chapter 78

Ten flights of steps still managed to get Daniel’s legs burning a little bit, but the effects of the new world meant that he was not actually out of breath despite the fact he had jogged the whole way.

The three zombie floors were still locked up tight, but they could be dealt with later.

While he probably had hours before the cores went haywire, he set up his mattress. This time, he made it slightly more padded, knowing that it would not help but doing it anyway. Then he used his growth abilities to tie himself up. Strap his arms to his sides, fingers in tight bands, and legs roped together. This way when he started thrashing, he would not hurt himself, just the cores would do that.

Small mercies.

Protected from himself, his mind drifted upwards. The contrast between these floors and the ones below was significant. There were live humans, fewer ferals, and lots of monsters. Part of the reason was because they were residential apartments. There were pets in a good third of the living spaces.

They did not feel like pets anymore.

What he presumed were once budgies were now the size of crows. Cats, at least one that was now larger than a lion, his inquisitive mind kept cataloguing. Spiders without the continual spray of chemicals in the hotel rooms were more frequent, and they had grown bigger, faster, and scarier. A plant that was closer to animal than how scientists defined them filled a pot.

Daniel swallowed heavily.

The whole space did not necessary feel more deadly than the zombies, but it was different. His traps would need to change. Pressure traps might work fine against zombies, but if he was fighting birds then they were unlikely to be triggered.

His mind catalogued the key information. Over the five floors, there were over thirty humans still alive. Common areas in two of the five floors were clear, and for those it would just be a matter of getting there and grabbing the humans. It was actually a pity that he could not see further, because it was quite possible they might be about to rush up the full fifteen floors tomorrow.

First, with the central lifts closed, he needed to break into the next level, and the only requirement was that the apartment they broke into was empty of monsters. Just like the apartment above him now.

Determinedly, Daniel went to work, growing a spiral staircase in the middle of the room while plant drills went to work on the reinforced floor above him. Plants got into cracks and then expanded, and tiles fell down. There were a mass of wires and tubes of aluminium a couple of feet wide. Presumably electrical and air vents. His powers tore them to shreds, sometimes shifting them and other times breaking.

It was not like any of that mattered. The only thing that he was careful with was a big metal support beam. That he went around.

He felt the nausea in his stomach and immediately stabilised the process above him and gave his plants a set of instructions to keep growing.

Shocks started running through him. The electricity started deep inside him, and his muscles tensed beyond his ability to influence. The shocks had him throwing himself around. He smiled when the restraints did their job. There were no trailing fingers getting caught under him.

It was still painful, and he was jerking every which way.

This is power. This is for power. Daniel repeated that mantra over and over and over again.

The rush of energy finished abruptly. He tried to summon lightning and there was a zap between his fingers. More cores were needed, but he could feel that now he was at least getting closer.

It was still dark outside, and there was still a couple of hours of work to complete the staircase. He pulled up the backpack with his water bottle and the mass of tiny cores that contained the electricity ability. There were probably forty left.

He really needed to grow his power, and frankly, the impact of dosage seemed to be reducing. There had been no blacking out and no blood with the most recent overdose. With a shrug he swallowed all the remainder and went to work.

When he saved all the people above him, he would be a hero. They, unlike all those people they had exchanged Morse code messages with, were actually fighting back against the world. Reclaiming it as the masters of their domain as opposed to cockroaches existing in the cracks of stronger forces. Even as those uplifting fantasies played out, Daniel’s traitorous mind drifted back to Beau and those swinging feet.

That had not been him being a hero.

The kids would hate him and the adults would fear him. There would be lots of fake smiles and people eager to please, once those rumours covering the truth spread.

Did that matter to him?

His lips turned up.

Nope.

Daniel’s job was to see the kids to safety, and he would do anything necessary, even if that meant being the evil one.

Plus, who was to say that what he had done was bad? Once upon time in the Wild West, he was sure the sheriff would have run off undesirables or hung them in the same way. He knew if forced he could exile them. Just like window washers, he could put them on a platform and then lower them to the ground. It was the same as killing them straight out but wasted his magic. Another upturn of his lips.

He knew anyone observing him would have thought he was going feral.

Stuff them.

Hell, if people refused to help he would build that platform and tell them to go get lost. What he had done to Beau was more humane but exiling would white wash the guilt of the group.

The last piece of the staircase finished and the outside was leaking light. He wanted to get up and see the dawn but there was a ticking time bomb in his stomach. So he stayed on the mattress tied up.

Priscilla answered him when his mind reached out. She was back observing the three men that he had tied into position. They were awake, talking and scared as anything.

Another up curling of his lips.

They had been ready to kill Daniel, to give their buddy power. Whenever he started feeling guilty about them, that was what he remembered. The two of them standing next to the wall, axes ready, preparing to kill him when he stepped out to negotiate face to face. There was hysteria in their voices, and they were generally worried that he had locked the doors and had no plans of ever coming back down. Not that it mattered; one of them had almost got out of his bonds and was using the edge of his axe to slowly cut through the constricting wood.

Conduits spread all the way from where Daniel was down to the level twenty-two. Energy flowed down. The roots started growing. The man started thrashing to escape, but it was too late. If he had been free, then he probably could have escaped, but already partially contained, he had not chance. Then he was helpless once more, and Daniel had been only using his natural regeneration from eight stories away.

The man struggled, throwing himself left and right, but the vines kept growing, and then they started hardening and constricting in places. Soon he was once more as tightly secured as the rest of them.

“Joe!”

“I am alive,” Joe, the blacksmith, called out. “Just more stuck than before. Watch your words—he must be near. Plus, I don’t think he wants to kill us.”

“Why is that, Joe?”

“Because if he wanted us dead, we would be.”

Good, Daniel thought to himself. He needed them to understand that when he let them go it was because Daniel wished it and not attributed to weakness.

They were not a democracy. Daniel let that thought sink in properly. Democracy was a luxury when every day was not a struggle for survival. His words was law, and it was time for everyone else to learn that truth. Bleeding-hearted liberals could whine about it, but facts were facts.

He would save the kids and drag everyone else who was worthy along with them. If they failed to pull their weight, if they refused to do their jobs, he would not let them drag everyone else down with them. Who was he kidding? If they got in the way, he would act.

It was light outside.

Animal Sense went up and down. He could just sense people in the kitchen. His stomach growled at that thought.

Damn it, he thought in annoyance. How long till the internal firecrackers went off?

Even if he wanted to go down, there was no way he would attempt it now. A fit on the stairwell with all the spikes he had set up could well end up with his death.

Tamara and Ivey were getting breakfast; he should be there too.

Daniel distracted himself by focusing upwards. Rechecking each level, planning the fights. Thinking about traps that might work. Wondering which of the various options would be the best animal companion for Carly. He was sure once she got a powerful companion, she would feel safer, and that was important.

His stomach tweaked.

It was happening!

The first spasm went through him.

It was worse than last time. He wanted to scream.

His body went crazy, and despite being tied up, muscles tore. Sharp pain filled his legs, and it was like his hamstring ripped itself from the bone.

Forty! He was a fool. Why?

He was sure his screaming through the gag.

Why did he do this to himself?

Blackness took him.

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