The hundred-odd rescuers who had set out for the town finally regrouped at their planned rendezvous point.

  It wasn’t much of a place—just a small clearing between two abandoned houses—but it was defensible and easy to spot. One by one, small teams filtered in from different streets and alleyways, escorting frightened survivors with them.

  For a few minutes, there was nothing but quiet counting.

  People checking faces.

  Looking for friends.

  Looking for family.

  Looking for the ones who hadn’t made it.

  When the numbers were finally tallied, the truth settled over the group like a weight.

  Eighteen rescuers hadn’t returned.

  Some had died fighting hobgoblins.

  Some had been caught out alone by roaming monsters.

  A few had simply disappeared in the chaos.

  Eighteen people who had left that morning with hope and determination… would never see the safe zone again.

  No one said anything for a while after that number was confirmed.

  But the rescue team had not failed.

  Not even close.

  Because standing in that clearing now—crowded together, frightened, injured, and exhausted—were more than two hundred and fifty people who hadn’t been there that morning.

  Two hundred and fifty lives pulled out of a city that had turned into a nightmare.

  Two hundred and fifty people who had been hiding in houses, trapped in shops, barricaded inside cars or office buildings.

  Two hundred and fifty people who would have died if no one had come.

  Most of them had seen the fighting.

  Seen humans battling hobgoblins in the streets.

  Seen monsters fall.

  Seen people die.

  Shock had taken many of them.

  Others had simply gone very, very quiet.

  Once the rescuers explained that there was a safe zone—a protected place where monsters could not enter—no one argued about leaving.

  They just wanted to get there.

  Quickly.

  The column formed carefully.

  Rescuers spread along the edges, guiding the civilians into a loose but controlled formation. Those with weapons took the outer ring, while the rescued townspeople were kept toward the centre.

  Children were lifted onto shoulders.

  The injured were supported between friends or family.

  And slowly, cautiously, the long line began moving.

  At the rear of the column, Zane walked with the rearguard.

  His temporary team moved with him, scanning the streets behind them. Every shadowed doorway, every broken window, every alley mouth received a long, careful look.

  No one wanted to be surprised from behind.

  Not after today.

  The city was quieter now than it had been earlier.

  That didn’t make it safer.

  It made it worse.

  Zane could feel it in the way everyone moved—alert, tense, expecting something to burst out of the silence.

  Only one member of their group wasn’t with the rearguard.

  Kai.

  The healer walked near the middle of the column, where the injured had been gathered. A faint, steady glow appeared every few minutes as he placed his hands on another wounded survivor.

  Cuts closed.

  Bruises faded.

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  Broken skin knitted back together.

  He was moving slower than he had that morning. The constant healing was taking its toll, even with the System helping him recover.

  But he didn’t stop.

  Not while people still needed help.

  Every so often his eyes drifted toward Tash.

  She walked nearby, helping guide some of the younger kids along the road, her voice soft as she reassured them.

  Kai kept checking.

  Making sure she was still there.

  Still safe.

  The group moved through the city with careful discipline.

  And it worked.

  Mostly.

  A pair of goblins tried to rush the column from a side street.

  They didn’t get far.

  Three rescuers stepped forward and cut them down before the creatures even reached the outer edge of the group.

  Later, a hobgoblin emerged from a smashed storefront, roaring as it charged.

  That fight lasted a little longer.

  Still, the creature went down beneath a flurry of blows and arrows before it could do more than injure one of the outer guards.

  The civilians watched all of it with wide eyes.

  Some in horror.

  Some in stunned fascination.

  But none of them screamed.

  None of them ran.

  They had learned too quickly what panic could cost.

  So the column kept moving.

  Street by street.

  Block by block.

  Toward the safe zone.

  Toward the strange patch of protected ground that had become their only refuge in a world that no longer made sense.

  As they left the town limits, the rescuers began to notice something else.

  The monsters were thinning out.

  Fewer goblins.

  Fewer hobgoblins.

  The road they were walking down wasn’t safe—but it was quieter than the roads in town.

  Zane frowned slightly as he walked.

  Something about that bothered him.

  But he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.

  Ahead of them, someone called back quietly.

  “We’re close.”

  A murmur passed through the column.

  Relief.

  Exhaustion.

  Hope.

  The safe zone wasn’t far now.

  What none of them knew—

  What none of them could possibly know—

  Was that while they had been fighting their way through the city…

  Something else had been growing back at the dungeon entrance.

  Fear.

  Questions.

  And anger.

  By the time they reached the safe zone…

  Things there might not be nearly as safe as they remembered.

  ____________________________________________________

  Max, Skippy, Kaitlyn, and their friends quietly slipped away from the crowd gathered around the dungeon entrance.

  Behind them, the noise kept rising.

  What had started as angry questions had turned into something that Max and Kaitlyn could only think of as political grandstanding between Staff Sergeant Scott and Tarni. Neither man had raised his voice much, but the crowd certainly had. People were shouting accusations, demanding explanations, arguing among themselves about who was responsible for what had happened the day before.

  Max didn’t like it.

  Neither did Kaitlyn.

  It felt wrong. Like everyone had decided the most important thing to do right now was find someone to blame.

  So when Barry drifted away from the edge of the crowd and quietly joined them, none of the teenagers questioned it.

  They all knew him.

  Barry had come running with Tarni yesterday when everything had first gone wrong. He had fought alongside them, helped keep people safe, and never once acted like he was better than anyone else.

  More importantly—

  Skippy liked him.

  The small marsupial padded over the moment Barry approached, sniffing him carefully before allowing Barry to crouch down and give him a gentle scratch on the head.

  That settled it.

  If Skippy trusted him, then Barry was alright.

  Together they slipped away from the tense knot of people surrounding the dungeon entrance and headed back toward the house that served as the centre of the safe zone.

  The house stood raised high on thick wooden stilts, its weathered boards creaking softly in the afternoon breeze. People were resting nearby or leaning against the support posts, but the space underneath the house was mostly empty.

  They weren’t allowed inside.

  Zane had been very clear about that. Something about being tied up by their toes if they went in without an invitation.

  So the group ducked under the house instead, settling in the cool shade beneath the floorboards.

  It was quieter there.

  The angry noise from the dungeon entrance faded into a dull background murmur.

  Mia flopped down against one of the support beams with a sigh of relief.

  “Much better.”

  Barry gave a small smile but didn’t say anything, glancing around at the group instead.

  That was all the invitation Max needed.

  Within moments he had launched into an enthusiastic explanation about Skippy.

  How the System had offered him the bonding option.

  What the System message had said.

  And what a Bonded Companion was supposed to mean.

  Skippy himself seemed quite pleased by the attention. He sat upright on a low wooden beam like a tiny king while Max talked, occasionally flicking his tail or tilting his head as if he understood every word.

  Barry listened patiently the whole time, nodding along while Max explained everything.

  When Max finally finished, Barry only had one question.

  “Guys… I didn’t see Zane or Bell back at the dungeon.”

  He looked between them.

  “Where are they?”

  Max and Kaitlyn both hesitated.

  They exchanged a quick glance.

  Before either of them could decide what to say, Sam burst out with the answer.

  “They went with a big group of people to rescue people from town.”

  The words came out in one quick rush.

  Barry blinked once, thinking that over.

  “Right,” he said quietly.

  For a few seconds he seemed lost in thought.

  Then he asked another question.

  “Which direction will they be coming back from?”

  Sam didn’t hesitate.

  He pointed straight out past the far side of the safe zone, toward the distant road that disappeared into the trees.

  “From that way,” he said. “The road from town comes in over there.”

  Barry followed the direction of Sam’s finger and nodded slowly.

  “Thanks.”

  He reached down automatically and scratched Skippy behind the ears again.

  Then he stood.

  Max blinked.

  “Uh… where are you going?”

  Barry started walking out from under the house.

  “Going to meet them.”

  He said it simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  Outside, he headed straight across the safe zone toward the road Sam had pointed out.

  Max watched him go for about three seconds.

  Then he grinned.

  “Well… I was already thinking about going that way.”

  Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow.

  “You were?”

  Max shrugged.

  “Of course. Someone has to be the first one to see them coming back.”

  That part, at least, was true.

  All of them had been thinking about it.

  The rescue group had been gone for hours. Everyone in the camp was waiting for news, even if most of them were distracted by the shouting near the dungeon.

  Seeing them return first would mean knowing what had happened before the rest of the camp did.

  And maybe—

  Just maybe—

  being the ones to tell everyone that the rescuers were safe.

  One by one the others stood up.

  Sam.

  Mia.

  Hayden.

  Kaitlyn, after a brief sigh.

  And Skippy, who bounded happily out into the sunlight beside Max.

  Together they set off across the safe zone, following Barry toward the distant road leading back to town.

  None of them were sneaking now.

  They all knew exactly where they were going.

  They were going to be the first ones to see the rescue group coming home.