We stepped out of the Arrival Hall and breathed in the heavy night air. The cool breeze carried the faint scent of damp concrete and something metallic, like rust. The distant hum of the wind provided an eerie backdrop, broken only by the occasional crackle of trash tumbling across the ground.

  Siva and I stood at the top of the stairs, taking in the view. Before us was the arrival bus terminal sitting empty and silent. Broken crowd barriers, control tape, and scattered debris like empty drink cans and food wrappers littered the floor.

  The place was quiet, except for the argument Shawn and Jess were having further down at the bottom of the stairs. Shawn stood with his hands in an “I surrender” position, not saying much, while Jess gestured at him, clearly agitated. I wasn’t paying much attention, though. My mind kept returning to the number of survivors who had died here. It had all been a trap.

  This was the first time I’d seen the system get clever. The first two boss fights had been straightforward; they were just bosses. The Zoo’s objective had been different, but it wasn’t malicious. This one? This one was designed to kill.

  I was snapped back to reality when Jess raised her voice. Shawn spoke too softly for me to hear clearly.

  “You controlled me! How dare you!”

  “You cast what on me?”

  “Love, Actually? That’s the name of your spell? Love, Actually?”

  I smiled despite myself and sent Shawn a private message.

  Chris: You okay there, buddy?

  Shawn: Nope.

  Chris: ‘Love, Actually?’ Did you name that spell?

  Shawn: What? No. Later.

  “You think we should go down there and, I dunno… help?” Siva asked nervously beside me. I was about to say no, until I saw Jess brandishing her scalpel, and Shawn slowly backing away.

  I sighed. “Let’s get down there before Jess kills him.”

  We rode back to base in silence. Shawn drove, and I took the passenger seat. Jess and Siva sat in the back of the double-cabbed Grave Digger truck. Jess gave a slight, surprised reaction when we walked over to the truck, but otherwise, she remained silent. She was still fuming.

  I wondered about Jess. I knew being forced to fawn over a guy like a screaming schoolgirl at a K-Pop concert was degrading and, well… immoral. But I couldn’t help but think there was more to it than just that. Maybe her anger wasn’t just at Shawn, but at the whole situation. She was overwhelmed, like the rest of us. We were all stuck in this nightmare together. She didn’t ask for any of this. Neither did we.

  How was Shawn and Siva doing, too? Shawn was uncharacteristically quiet. I knew he didn’t want to use that spell. It had hurt him. And Siva? He'd always been so dependent, but I noticed his eyes were growing wilder after every grind. He was losing himself. As were all of us.

  When we reached our base, I asked Siva to give Jess the five-minute tour, and we gave her the master bedroom so she could have privacy and access to her own bathroom. I chose to sleep on the couch in the living room. The other two guys took the other two bedrooms. It didn’t really matter in a world like this, but we all needed some semblance of privacy.

  As I lay there on the couch, trying to unwind and purposely not opening my loot boxes or notifications, I tried to tie together the different threads running through my mind. The system gifting a dangerous weapon to Jess, the checkpoint lock changing, the cleverly executed trap, and, most of all, what Azim had said. He’d been given the chance to control the population. Why? And by whom?

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  I was beginning to formulate a plan when Jess interrupted my thoughts. She had come out of her room and was sitting right in front of me on the coffee table. She was looking at me hesitantly, like she was weighing something, unsure whether to speak or stay silent. Her presence and the sudden shift in the air, brought my mind crashing back to the present.

  I sat up and acknowledged her with a nod. I let her take her time. We had all the time in the world.

  She took a deep breath, seemingly to calm her resolve, and spoke.

  “I… I want to leave the party,” she said.

  I nodded. “May I ask why? Is it because of what Shawn did?”

  “What? No. I… I get why he did what he did. It saved us, and I’m not really that mad at him. Not anymore. It’s just…” She hesitated. I could see her wrestling with something, as though she was afraid to say more. I could tell she wasn’t fully at peace with her decision yet, and it made me wonder what she was holding back.

  “Take your time. It’s okay.” I smiled encouragingly, trying to ease the tension.

  God, I’m so tired… It wasn’t so long ago I sat in a similar house, in a similar position, having a very serious talk with another woman. I’ve been through this before… and yet, it feels different now. I don’t know if I’m the right person to give her advice, but I can’t just leave her to make this choice alone.

  “I’m not a fighter. I’m a doctor. All the fights I had with my friends… I hung back. They did the fighting while I just healed who I could. And I… I took an oath not to do any harm, and I know this world has gone to shit, but I need to...” she paused as I held up my hand.

  “Listen, nobody could go through what you’ve gone through, what we’ve gone through and not be changed by it. I’ve been lucky. I’ve not had to see any party member die. I was alone when this started. But Shawn and Siva have both lost people. Same as you.”

  I let the silence hang between us, giving her time to process.

  “I’m afraid…” she finally continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “I’m afraid that, back at the immigration, I wasn’t able to cast the spell to save everybody.”

  I nodded. “But… in the end, you did. You figured the way out. You gave us the breathing space for Shawn to cast that ridiculous spell. You did save us, Jess. It was you who gave us that opening. What was that spell, anyway?”

  “Holy Nova,” she replied. “I can only do it once a day, and it’s basically a spell that hurts evil creatures. There’s… everyone and every creature has an alignment. I can see it. Not everyone can. Only those with a Divine class have the ability, I think.”

  That’s interesting. They’re really leaning into the TTRPG system.

  “Wow. Really? What’s mine? How about the rest?”

  “You’re Chaotic Neutral. Siva is Lawful Good, and Shawn is Chaotic Good.”

  What the fuck… Why am I neutral? I get the chaotic part, but why neutral?

  “Anyway, that’s beside the point,” she continued, clearly ready to get past that.

  I held up my hand again. “Wait. Before you say anything, what will you do out there alone? At least stay with us until, I dunno… if we find a healing guild or a field hospital or something. Don’t go out there alone.” I gently placed my hand on her shoulder and continued, “And I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say, we’d love to have you around.”

  She raised her hand and started massaging her temple, clearly still conflicted.

  “We do a lot of stupid shit, and we could really use a healer,” I continued, my voice a bit lighter, trying to break some of the tension.

  “Yes, we do. Lots of stupid shit.” Siva added, leaning against the doorway to his room. He had stepped out mid-conversation, his voice casual and lighthearted.

  Jess turned in surprise at Siva’s voice, a brief flash of irritation crossing her face.

  “Especially when Chris does the planning,” he continued with a smile.

  For a moment, I thought she might snap, but instead, she let out a small laugh, more from relief than amusement, and the tension was gone.

  She laughed uncontrollably until she started sobbing, which turned into deep cries of pain and release. She'd finally let it out. I leaned forward and held her as she cried, letting her release all her pain.

  Siva’s expression had turned to one of worry.

  Chris: It’s gonna be ok now.

  Siva: You sure?

  Chris: No. But it’ll be ok in the end.