Chapter 22 – Promise is a Promise

Jake was already in the corridor before Sloane finished the sentence.

“She was by the machine earlier,” Sloane said, keeping pace. “I went to check on her and the other kids but she was gone. The food bag too.”

“Other kids?”

“There’s a few of them,” Chloe added as she tried to keep up. “They lost their parents on the day—”

She didn’t have to finish her sentence as Claire ran alongside them. “Sloane and a couple others have been taking care of them, keeping their minds busy to stop thinking about other things.”

Jake glanced at Sloane. He didn’t think she cared that much, though, he often struggled to know what other people were thinking about.

They approached the system machine. The bag of food was on the ground and three men were scanning through it, saying they’d hit the jackpot.

Stupid, Jake thought. I shouldn’t have left it with her. What was I thinking?

Their words, however, made him mad.

“When we said we’d eat her, you should have seen the look on the girl’s face—”

“Right—”

Sloane picked up the pace and slammed a kick into the first man. Then, she grabbed hold of the second finger and bent it back with a snap. In one swift motion, she’d already unsheathed her sword and placed it against the third man’s neck.

The second man screamed out in pain, holding his hand.

Her eyes were serious. “The girl,” she said. “Where is she?”

“My finger,” he spat. “You broke it you fucking bitch!”

She pressed her sword tight against the other man’s neck, drawing blood. “That’s not the only thing I’ll break.”

“She went down that way!” The man cried out. “Said something about a bear. She was talking to herself—she’s gone batshit crazy.”

Sloane kept her sword on his throat, pressing it tighter.

“Sloane!” Claire spoke up, holding the swordwoman’s arm. “Don’t—”

Clicking her tongue, Sloane sheathed her sword and started running down the hall. Jake ran past the men, his eyes stopping on them for a second.

They froze, shivering, only for Jake to run past without doing anything.

On the way, they banged on every single door, checking each room for the girl. Jake was becoming increasingly irritated. She was probably hiding somewhere, eating. Or playing. She was fine.

All of this was a waste of energy. A waste of time. He could have been practicing his skills, drawing in more mana. There were thousands of other things he could be doing besides searching for a damned girl.

And yet he ran anyway, following Sloane.

The utility closet was the last room they searched. Jake opened the door, only to blink at the sight he found himself looking at.

Hanna was sitting down with her back against the wall, clapping, cheering.

A beast stood in front of her, twice the size of her. It was a bear cub, fluffy, orange and red and white and… chubby.

For a moment, Jake was confused. Then he noticed something was missing. Her bear… had come to life. The bear spun around, hackles raised as it defended Hanna.

“Hero!” She shouted upon seeing Jake.

He frowned. “I’ve already told you, I’m not a hero. Now explain what your teddy bear is doing… alive.”

“It’s my Trait,” she said, pulling back the bear against its will into a big cuddle. Sorry, little guy. “It’s called—” her eyes hazed over as she opened her system, reminding herself of what it was named. “—Puppeteer! It brought Pom to life!”

Jake met Sloane’s eyes. “Pom?”

“My bear!”

“…Right,” Jake said, rubbing his temples. “And you’re in the utility closet… because?”

“Because Pom wanted to wake up!”

The bear—Pom—noticing that no one was a threat to its master, relaxed, letting itself be an oversized plushy to the girl as she sank her face into its incredibly lush fur.

Jake definitely didn’t want to do the same.

“Well,” Sloane said. “That can’t be good.”

“Tell me about it,” Jake added. “What’s next, the apartment’s going to grow legs and walk away?”

“What? No. I’m talking about that.”

Jake followed her pointing finger to a set of pipes that had been smashed in, water dripping, though it was now only an intermittent drip that was about to stop at any minute.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Claire gasped. “That’s our drinking water,” she said. “It was flowing faster before. That’s what we all relied on when you were away. Why would someone do such a thing”

Jake put his hands in his pockets. “To sew chaos.”

Sloane frowned. “Why would someone do that?”

For a moment, Jake took a breath, then, against the nagging that told him not to inside his head, explained everything he had seen and felt with Chloe. From their first fight when she made a mistake by pushing Arthur down onto his knee. To the moment in the hallway on the upper floor, to the ambush with the goblins, destroying Glenn’s bowstring.

“At first I thought it was just that, a mistake,” Jake explained. “But now I believe she’s doing it on purpose.”

Sloane thought about it for a moment, as if unsure. “Why would she do that?”

Jake shrugged. “Why do people do many things? Greed? Power? Satisfaction? It could be a Trait or Skill, the more people panic, the stronger she gets.”

Claire fiddled with her lower lip. “How do we explain this to the others?”

Jake turned to her. “You believe me?”

“I trust your instincts, Jake.”