Chapter 99

By the time he reached their makeshift kitchen, the mood was morose. Everyone was hanging around in the nearby rooms, drawn to the light that Tamara and others were generating to push away the darkness. In a few minutes, the lights, at least in the kitchen, would be killed to let them communicate with the separated survivors. In other rooms with blackout curtains, they would be maintained. It had not happened, but Daniel was scared some flying creature would be attracted to the light and crash in from outside.

His stomach growled, and he grumped internally.

“Everyone,” he yelled. He was still in the corridor, speaking right outside the kitchen. People moved to listen, and he gave them a moment to turn to face them. “I know this feels like today was a disaster, but tonight we are a lot safer than we were this morning. We have grown our numbers and combat strength, and there is nothing dangerous left up there.” He pointed straight up. “We are winning. We have lots of food and water, and before anyone asks, yes, we had to kill the monster up there. Left alone, it would have come for us, eventually. The floors were not a barrier to it.”

There was silence. “Couldn’t you have blocked it like you do with the stairwells?” The woman had been crying, which was not surprising since they had lost a lot of people upstairs.

“No,” he answered gently. “The people who fought can confirm, but it was putting holes in the floors. It might have taken days to get down to our level or hours, but it would have come and it was killing everything.”

“We could have engaged it then,” the women pointed out.

“I thought about it,” Daniel admitted. “The question is whether our strength would have grown more than its own. I figured attacking it now with all of us gave us the best chance. What happened if it attacked us in the middle of the night? Caught us by surprise, killing half of us before the rest could respond? We couldn’t afford to wait, but there were also the survivors from the penthouse. They had held it back for days, and I gambled they would hear us fighting us and help.” He nodded in the general direction where the family slept. “And that bet was the right one. They helped, and it was the only reason we won.” Daniel hesitating knowing that he had not said enough and he couldn’t let them fracture when they were so close to coming together. “Listen. I know none of this is fair. It sucks and we have all lost, but the Alpha event happened. We can’t change that. All we can do is to survive, and that means fighting, getting stronger, and looking after each other.”

His stomach grumbled again, loud enough for everyone around him to hear.

“I just wanted to say, the losses today were devastating to me personally, and those who died were heroes. To honour them, we need to keep going. I have sworn to get the kids to safety, and I intend to drag them and the rest of you along with me.”

There were no cheers to greet his words, but he felt a slight increase in resolve.

“Now I need to eat.”

He grabbed his food and sat down, Ivey on one side with Dave next to her. Jayden sat on his other side, and of course Tamara beyond him.

Given the hunger pains, he had been dreaming of something solid, but instead Gabby brought over soup. Daniel looked at it in disappointment. Then the smell reached him. It was intoxicating. His mouth watered. Curiously, he ran a spoon through the liquid. It was thick and filled with lumps of white meat. He fished a lump out and bit into it. Yum. Taste was chicken, texture was crustacean, and given what they had fought during the day, he figured it was probably termite. His mood dropped. Those creatures were bastards. What was, was? Nothing he could do now. He ate like a starving man and had a fresh bowl delivered just as he finished the first along with two pieces of toast. “Bread?”

“Three days old, but still good.”

It was crunchy, and dipped into the liquid, a perfect addition to the meal.

Outside, the last of the light vanished.

“We should reach out to the others.”

“Raraf.”

Jayden brought back beers for everyone, and Daniel cracked his open. Dave was in position, and just like the day before the survivors started updating each other using Morse code.

Daniel drank his beer and then the next one while letting the numbers wash over him.

“You are not listening to anything are you?” Tamara asked next to him.

“No,” he admitted.

“Not as bad as yesterday,” she told him. “Only a couple of groups are missing.” The unspoken message was that meant they were probably dead. “But they are all struggling. They are very excited about what we have done.”

Daniel looked at her. They kept the room in darkness while using their Morse code, but he could see her white teeth.

“Yes, Dave has spent twenty minutes updating them.”

“And . . .”

He saw the shrug. “Most of them need help.”

“What?”

“Every group is trapped and usually being stalked by creatures stronger than them.”

Daniel leaned back into the wall and sighed. Was it too much to expect that someone else could take charge? Why did it have to be on him? “All of them?”

“A couple of groups are making progress, but progress does not mean they will succeed.”

There was something in Tamara’s tone. “What?” he asked.

“There is a large group two towers away.”

“Like us?”

In the dark, he could see Tamara shake her head. “There are forty adults and thirty kids under ten, most under five.”

“What?”

“There was a creche, and they need help? They are right up on the top floors of the building and sealing every exit, but they think they have days, a week at most.”

“Why?”

“There is a hive of insects under them, and it knows that they are up there.”

“Knows?”

“Yep. The hive is hunting them. They can plug the holes, but eventually they are going to be overwhelmed.”

“You want us to save them, don’t you?”

Another nod, barely perceptible in the darkness. “Maybe?” Daniel heard the uneasy laughter under the words.

Jayden returned. “What are you guys doing?”

“Talking about saving the world,” Daniel said with a sigh, waving in Dave’s direction.

Jayden squeezed between the two of them, wrapping Tamara in a protective gesture. Daniel wanted to tell him he had a girlfriend so the other man did not need to worry, but held his tongue as it would send all the wrong messages.

“What do you think, Jayden?”

“I think you, me, and everyone in this room should flee to the country at the first chance,” he told them. “Just a small group. Bringing the others will doom us.”

Daniel suddenly felt that the man’s words were insightful.

“Save those we can,” Jayden told him. “But we look after the core. We are the core. No more kids; they will slow us down.”

Daniel thought about it and agreed. That was exactly what he should be doing. He shouldn’t be focusing on saving everyone. There was a core group, and that was whom deserved his protection.

Priscilla bit into his ear.

“Ouch.”

“What?”

“Splinter,” he lied instinctively.

His mind was in turmoil. What the hell had just happened? For the first time in a while, he looked right at Jayden. Everything he had spoken had been despicable. He should have rejected it immediately. But he hadn’t. Instead, he had listened to the words and even considered following them. Suspicion flared. The man’s words had been too convincing to him, and it was a magical world. On that first day, what had Jayden had said his class was? Actor class or some bullshit.

Realisation flooded through Daniel. Had Jayden just been using magic to influence him?

“Look after the core”—that is what Jayden had been saying, and then he had clarified that he meant to look after only the five of them and abandon everyone else who was not useful. Before Priscilla’s bite, Daniel internally had been agreeing with him. Why? Because they had been on the same floor when the event occurred? It was not logical, but he had been accepting the man’s words. Jayden had been using a mind-altering skill.

Daniel sat, not moving. Part of him wanted to run or confront Jayden. Another part wanted to make the man disappear, similar to what he had done with Beau. Instead, he kept breathing. Mind control. Now that he knew, he could counter it.

“Anyway.” Jayden leaned closer. “We need to look after ourselves. Just our core.” Daniel pinched himself before Priscilla had to take action. “The four of us who were in that room on the first day.”

What a snake. He was actively encouraging Daniel to abandon Trudy and the Kids. Little Zac and the baby.

“Sounds good,” Daniel said evenly.

Jayden looked away, and Tamara was still looking at him. He shook his head, and her eyes widened slightly. Daniel looked away.

Jayden’s arm was looped around her waist. Was she in this relationship willingly? Or was he using his powers to manipulate her?

Now he was being silly and seeing issues that were not there. Tamara had been on holidays with him before the Alpha event. They were a couple. There was no need to mind control even if Daniel believed it was unnatural that she was with Jayden.

“Good chat,” Jayden said with a confident smile. “I think I am going to head to bed.” Without releasing Tamara, he turned and walked out. Tamara stood up with him, and the couple happily walked away.

“We will fight tomorrow,” she called out as she left. “Upstairs and down.”

“They are so cute,” Ivey said, watching them go.

“Raraf.”

“She is lucky to have someone like him,” Ivey said.

Dave, where he stood packing up their equipment, did not respond positively to that second statement. Then when their eyes met, Dave gave an extravagant shrug. Maybe he needed to do something about Jayden, but what? He would not eliminate someone just because he was a potential rival for a girl’s affection. Especially when said girl had already chosen the other man.

Daniel looked down at his hands and club. Life was easier when it was all about bashing monsters. Tomorrow. Daniel smiled to himself. That’s what he would do. One monster at a time. The club throbbed approvingly. Priscilla pictured them collecting chip packets from each room till they filled an entire closet.

“And if bashing monsters means I save some more kids?” he whispered to himself. Then he was fine with that.