025 – Pack Leader

Time to Seal: 00:40

“Hot damn. I think our girl is a bit cooler than I had given her credit for,” Lucy said.

“Your fault for not paying attention to who your charge truly is,” Gabriel said. Even in the frenzy of combat, the pride in her words felt like a belly rub. Reaching past my cynicism, right into the endorphin glands. If my emotional capacity wasn’t stunted by all the killing I was doing, I probably would have gotten teary-eyed. I had spent most of the night thinking Gabriel was disappointed in me and that she regretted me as her charge.

I opened party chat. It was already flooded with short tactical exchanges as the others coordinated their defense.

[“I’m back, sorry for taking so long. Clearing the corridor leading in from the truck bay.”] I wrote.

[“Thank god you made it. Awaiting your arrival. Could really use another body here.”] Jamie wrote.

[“Eve. I thought there was a bug on my UI just earlier, but others saw it too. Have you been flying overhead, going roughly 200 mph?”] Ash asked.

[“I did.”]

I ignored the follow-up questions. While my arrival and rampage had sufficiently disrupted the group at the truck bay, they would soon start pouring back into the station, and I would prefer if I was reunited with Jamie and the others by that time.

That did not stop me from slapping a paw onto a ballistic shield and stuffing it into my inventory. There were corpses wearing SWAT gear here, fully automatic weapons and all. While I was strolling through the city, the others had fended off a SWAT team.

I refreshed Focused Fury, got my refund, and kept clearing toward the others. I reached level 8 on the way there.

The fact that I was 20% taller and more thoroughly covered in blood than I had been at any point this night, didn’t stop Jamie from grinning when he saw me. I bumped my head against his hip in passing, and he ran a hand through my fur while I did.

They were gathered in a large room I hadn’t been in before. Something akin to a living room, complete with couch, television, and a small kitchenette, where Stephen was already at work. I couldn’t spot Liz or Constance among those present, though there were two blue dots nearby on my map. Instead, Roslyn and Jason were here, sitting on the couch, their posture answering the question my mind hadn’t even arrived at yet. Clark wasn’t with them, and he wouldn’t ever be again.

I had left them after the ice storm, hadn’t guided them to the fire station, and Clark had paid the price. Of course, I had planned to. But then I got distracted, my mind got assaulted by Hell’s magic, and I had never thought of those people again.

On some level I had known I couldn’t have done anything to save Mike. Frank I might have saved, if I had been more focused, more determined. Those people? I absolutely could have saved Clark. Could have gritted my mind against Hell’s attack instead of getting distracted by a devil whispering sweet nothings.

Every face turned to me. I hadn’t even realized I had started growling. While Roslyn’s face was a mask, Jason’s didn’t hide the anger, the hatred. I couldn’t blame him.

Anthony approached me cautiously. “Eve? You okay? Can you go out and swap with Liz? She’s with Constance, clearing out those who are climbing in through the windows and the roof.”

[“Can do.”]

“Before you go,” Stephen said. “You look like you can eat fast. Do that.”

He pulled a burrito out of his inventory. I still felt sick from having failed that family. But the smell and hunger allowed instincts to overtake guilt. In two bites, the burrito was gone and I had that buff back.

I headed for Liz and Constance while Anthony guided me through the building via chat. He was starting to live up to his class, clearly somehow seeing the building’s layout on his map.

On my way, I opened the list of level 8 perks. Gabriel had said they would be good ones. They were—and a decision was impossible. I minimized the list without picking one.

[Solitary Apex – Passive

+4 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +4 Constitution when no allies are within 50 meters. Bonus increases with Instinct skill.

Dense Musculature – Passive

All forms count as 300% of base mass for collision and knockback calculations without affecting movement speed. Gain natural armor equal to higher of (Constitution or Level) in all forms.

Pack Leader – Passive

Empathic Sense: perceive the physical and emotional state of nearby party members. Party members within range receive +2 to all attributes. Bonus increases with Instinct skill.

On-kill Effect: Heal all party members within range for 5% of their maximum health.]

They all felt like they were mocking me. Mocking my inability to save others, the pride at my exploit, the attempt to kneecap my leadership by picking that Inaptitude. Not that they weren’t strong. But one forced me to give up on this community, to give in to Lucy’s path. The other was highly situational, depending on how good 8 armor was. And that last one… no, not that one.

A gunshot rang out from the direction of the other two, and I picked up pace. I found Liz and Constance flanking a door, both looking out of breath, their clothing shredded in places, covered in blood in others. There was only a single red dot in the room behind the door and I banked on it expecting a human-sized target. I rushed past them, immediately ducking to the side once I crossed the door. The zombie got a shot off, but it went wide, the only damage being my hearing. Firearms were far too loud indoors.

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Going for the arm first, I ensured he wouldn’t get another shot off before I finished him.

[“Liz, you can rejoin the main group. I’ll hunt the other invaders with Constance.”]

The two women looked in. This kill had been anything but clean. I may or may not have taken off its head when I shook its neck like a chew toy. Possibly I was developing slight anger issues as this fucking night kept piling on the trauma.

“Jesus,” Constance muttered.

“Yeah, I’m out. Happy hunting,” Liz said.

[“You can see them on your map, too?”] I asked Constance.

She nodded.

[“Then you tell me where we go. By now you know this building’s layout better than I do.”]

“Okay, follow me.” She took the lead.

“Take a deep breath, Eve,” Gabriel said. “I know you are angry. At Hell, at the Blessing, at yourself. You are telling yourself that it is your fault Clark died. But it wasn’t. Even discounting the specific attack Hell wielded against you, imperfect actions when faced with the Apocalypse aren’t failure, they are inevitable. And while this attack’s effect wasn’t as immediate as the Wild Hunt was, it was essentially the same. The Beacon attacked your mind in much the same way, preventing the most rational course of action, without giving you any option to properly defend against it.”