After the Virus advancement and a quick check of his loot, there wasn’t much left for Isaac to do. He simply consumed his new Mutagen and relaxed. Carmela slept beside him, while Harry sat nearby, staring up at the sky as if it held the answers to life itself. And maybe for him, it did. Trying to figure out the Dream-wielder was a lost cause anyway.

  Time passed. Minutes blurred into hours, and somehow, no one found them. Isaac counted five separate groups that passed above, but not a single one noticed the trio resting among the rocks. At first, he thought that maybe it was the work of Harry’s illusions, but the man denied ever using his skills to hide them.

  Apparently, all those groups were just that blind. Or the desert somehow hid them that well. Either way, he wasn’t about to complain.

  With no one bothering them, they remained in the rocky enclave for over ten hours before Carmela finally stirred, interrupting Isaac’s ongoing game of War with Harry. Which was a shame, really. He had just started winning after ten straight losses.

  Still, with their third teammate up and about, Harry gathered his cards and transformed. Then he left, saying that he needed to listen to his dreams before they headed back to the Safe Zone.

  Strange, but nothing that unexpected from their more than half-insane companion.

  Afterward, things moved smoothly. Carmela slipped away to change into fresh clothes, and when she returned, the two of them shared a meal. As they ate, she asked about their escape from the Quarantine. For obvious reasons, she didn’t remember much after using her third ultimate.

  Isaac kept things short, giving the woman a brief rundown of how the entire mountain had collapsed after their escape. He also took this time to study her. The bags under her eyes. The slumped shoulders. And how her arm shook as she lifted her water bottle.

  He clicked his tongue. “I can still carry you if you need more rest.”

  Carmela frowned, looking down at her hands. “I will be fine,” she said after a moment. “I have been a burden long enough.”

  Isaac rolled his eyes. “You’re part of the reason why the Magma Queen is dead. I wouldn’t call that a burden.”

  “Be that as it may…” She crossed her arms, averting her gaze. “I can fly on my own, Isaac. A bit of fatigue won’t bring me down. I’m a Lorenzo, after all.”

  Sure, whatever you say, Isaac drawled internally. Though a quiet part of him admitted he would probably act the same way in her position. He ignored it and spoke aloud.

  “Just let us know if you feel worse. That’s all I’m asking.”

  Carmela’s lips curled into a faint smile. She leaned forward slightly, her eyes locking onto his. “Don’t you worry, Mr. Walker. You will be the first one to know.” Then, she straightened, her grin widening. “Now, are we good to leave? I require a long bath.”

  Isaac blinked, watching the woman rise to her feet and stretch like a cat.

  The hell just happened?

  Before he could think too hard about it, Harry returned and shifted back into his human form. “The skies are clear, my dear allies,” he declared. “Unless something is blocking my dreams again, our journey home should be uneventful.”

  “Wonderful news,” Carmela said, hiding a yawn. “I will take point, if you two do not mind. You can match my pace.”

  No one objected, and so, they all transformed. They had quite a long journey ahead of them.

  Contrary to what Isaac had hoped, the trip back was anything but straightforward. Sure, they reached the jungle of the yellow zone without a single issue. Just over four hours of flying in a straight line.

  Easy. Calm. No stress.

  Then they stumbled upon a battle between a group of humans and what appeared to be Zerian invaders. None of them hesitated before diving in to help. Not even Carmela stayed behind.

  If that had been the only interruption, it wouldn’t have been an issue. Exhausted or not, wiping out a few unsuspecting aliens was child’s play for them. Unfortunately, the universe seemed to be out to get them—or at the very least, to slow their return to the Safe Zone.

  They ran into three more Zerian squads after that. Two level-35-plus Nest Guardians that went berserk on a group of Hosts. Five separate encounters with people who recognized their Legacy forms and wanted to chat. And then there were the countless instances where they had to swoop down to save a Host who had bitten off far more than they could chew.

  All this took time. A lot of time.

  What was supposed to be a twenty-hour flight turned into nearly two days of constant interruptions and detours. It was only when they returned to the green zone that they could travel pretty much uninterrupted.

  “I shall take my leave now, friends,” Harry said once they stopped a fair distance away from the Safe Zone’s barrier. “It has been a pleasure fighting by your side in all those wonderful battles. I shall message you once I rest.”

  Not waiting for a response, the man inclined his head and shot back into the skies. Isaac snorted and turned to Carmela.

  “Might be best we split up, too,” he said. “Higher chances we avoid people this way.”

  The woman tilted her head, a teasing smile on her lips. “Scared of big crowds again, Mr. Walker?”

  He huffed. “Just want to get some sleep as soon as possible.”

  Her smile widened. “Of course,” she said and stepped back. In a blink, she transformed. “Rest well, Isaac.”

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  Just like that, she flew away too, leaving him alone among the empty ruins of Broken Hopes. He let out a sigh and shifted too. As nice as it was to work with his fellow Pioneers, some time away from them would definitely do him good.

  Almost there…

  Thanks to another baggy hoodie and his mask, Isaac slipped into the Safe Zone unnoticed. Like always, there were plenty of people mulling about, talking or running somewhere. He passed them all with a smile and headed straight for the house he shared with his friends.

  Once there, though, he stopped dead in his tracks.

  What in the love of…

  Right in front of their home stood a wooden stall. A busy one at that. A line of people stretched down the street, all waiting for their turn. Worse, for some reason, the stall was manned by James’ twin sisters and no one else.

  Isaac ran a hand down his face.

  I was gone for three days. Three, he lamented in his head. I thought he was joking about putting them to work... Apparently not.

  Stifling a groan, he approached the stall from the side, ignoring the annoyed glares that followed him. He was about to open his mouth when one of the twins turned to him and huffed.

  “Excuse me, sir,” she said, stepping away from the stall with her chin up. “If you want to sign up for the raid, you need to get in line. Sorry! That’s just how we run things.”

  Isaac almost tripped over his own feet. He recovered quickly, cleared his throat, and lowered his voice. “Sarah, right? I’m James’ friend. Isaac. Remember me from LA?”

  The girl squinted up at him, eyes narrowed as she scanned him from head to toe. “Mr. Isaac? Prove it!”

  Prove it? he echoed internally. How? I can’t transform here even if I wanted to. Wait!

  In one swift motion, he pulled up his sleeve, exposing a bit of the Root’s tattoo. At the same time, he took off his mask while keeping his hood on, so only Sarah could see his face.

  The girl’s eyes widened.

  “Oh! It’s really you, Mr. Isaac!” she whisper-shouted. “Big bro said you were off on some big mission!”

  Isaac smiled faintly. “Yeah, well, I’m back.” He frowned then. “But what are you two doing here? Where’s James? You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

  Sarah crossed her arms, pouting. “We’re helping. Duh. And we’re doing just fine without anyone babysitting us, thank you very much. Lis and I can handle writing down a few names. We’re not stupid.”

  Uh oh. This was spiraling fast. Isaac raised both hands in surrender. “Never said you were. Just asking, that’s all.”

  “Uh-huh. Sure you were,” Sarah shot back. “Now I need to help my sis. You can go inside. Big bro and the scary lady are there.”

  And with that, she turned on her heel and marched back to the stall, leaving Isaac staring after her in disbelief.

  Did I… did I just get told off by a thirteen-year-old? He blinked. Yeah. Yeah, I think that just happened.

  He shook his head, refusing to think about this any longer. He was too damn tired for this. That had to be the only reason a kid managed to one-up him.

  Yep, that’s definitely it. He nodded to himself, heading for the door. He froze just a step away from it. Hold up. Scary lady? It can’t be, right?

  Yet the moment Isaac stepped through the now open door, he spotted only two people inside. James and Elaine, sitting at the table buried in stacks of paperwork. He couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

  She already has kids calling her scary! You can’t make this shit up.

  To say his friends were surprised to see him laughing in the doorway would have been an understatement. Once they recovered, they thought he had gone insane, but that quickly changed after he explained the reason for his amusement.

  James cracked first, snorting before breaking into full-blown laughter. Elaine, meanwhile, just scowled at them both, arms crossed. That only made Isaac laugh harder.

  “It’s not my fault!” she tried to explain herself. “They met me right after I had to deal with a bunch of idiots!” she continued.

  Isaac barely heard her through his laughter. In his exhausted state, it was the funniest thing he had heard in weeks.

  Eventually, the laughter died down. Despite her visible annoyance, Elaine still welcomed him back, and James followed it up with a clap on the shoulder. From there, the conversation descended into a game of twenty-one questions directed at him.

  Isaac answered them as best he could but kept his replies short. His friends were curious, sure, but he was the one who had been out of the loop. As such, it was no surprise that the moment the questions stopped, he finally asked one himself.

  “All right. Give it to me. What’s going on with the raid?”

  James and Elaine glanced at each other and shared a nod. Then, once they started talking, it took about an hour for them to stop. Isaac was honestly impressed that he managed to sit through all that.

  To make a very long story short, things escalated quite a bit after that message they sent to every volunteer. Word spread even faster than before, and in the span of the three days he was gone, the number of people willing to join the raid in one way or another had doubled already.

  It got to the point that his friends had to call on everybody they knew to help them with the organization. Daryl and his group. The Colonel and Cooper. Harry’s and Carmela’s allies. Even James’ Uncle and some of his contacts.

  Exactly 179 people. All of them working toward making the raid something more than just a mad dash across the Battleworld. And sure, what they had was still far from perfect, but they were getting there.

  This was proved by what Elaine revealed to him at the end.

  “We had a few stronger guys stop by,” she began. “Thought they just wanted to talk and sign up, but then, they all handed us this.”

  She produced six sheets of blue paper and arranged them across the table. Isaac blinked, his mouth opening slightly. It was a blueprint. Not for a skill, though. No, this one showed how to craft a certain item—a very powerful one at that.

  “This…” he muttered. “The worm…”

  James snapped his fingers. “Bingo, boss. This is the edge we need to put it down. And then…” he trailed off, his grin growing.

  “Then I step in,” Isaac finished. He looked up. “How? Where did they get this?”

  “Patron missions,” they replied together. “The audience obviously knows what we are planning and decided to help in a more unorthodox way,” Elaine continued. “They aren’t the only ones, too. A few others have shown up with gifts since then. Weapons. Armor. Resources. Not a lot, but better than nothing.”

  Isaac hummed, tapping his fingers against the table. “So the worm… It’s part of the plan now?”

  James shook his head. “Not yet. Couldn’t make a decision that big without you and the other heavy hitters. This stuff can only get us so far.”

  Makes sense, Isaac thought, his gaze lingering on the item’s description. It will help a lot, but the rest is on us.

  He swallowed. “All right. Let’s say I’m in. What do you need from me?”

  Elaine grimaced at that. “Patrons. We’re all trying to reach ours. We need every little advantage we can get against the worm and the Zerians. Patrons can give us that.”

  “For a price, of course,” James added.

  Of course. Isaac sighed. “Will see what I can do. If anything, Rakin should be at least amused by the idea.”

  The older man clapped. “That’s the spirit, boss. Operation: Zombify the meaty worm is a go!”

  Elaine scowled. “We are not calling it that!”

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