The passageway was rather long for a home, opening out into a wide space at the other end. Halfway along, on the right-hand side, was the open door where the light was shining from. Kaelyn was leaning on the wooden frame of the door, looking a few paces to her right. There were two more wolves lying on the floor just beyond the open door, in a spreading pool of blood. They weren’t what Kaelyn was looking at though.

  A metre or so beyond the wolves, Kian rested against the wall next to the room he must have come in from. His hands drooped out to his sides, the assault rifle resting against his open palm. His head was slouched, and Charlotte had her arms wrapped around his neck, screaming and wailing into the wall behind him. Carmen squatted beside Charlotte, a consoling hand on her back, holding back her own tears. Charlotte’s mum was on her other side, arm around her shoulders.

  I could tell Kian was dead. I could tell that quite well now. I’d seen it enough today. It didn’t stop it from hurting every time. Didn’t stop me from remembering the stillness of their bodies, the light gone from their eyes, the tugging of my heart as it felt like a chunk of it was being ripped out.

  I quietly made my way through the passage towards Kaelyn. “What happened?” I whispered as I stood next to her. She didn’t bat an eyelid, as if she knew I was approaching before I got there. She watched over the other four with a look that seemed like she was recalling something. Her tone was subdued, almost melancholic.

  “They’re strong girls,” she said, turning to look at me. “They dealt with these three…” she indicated the wolves in front and the one back on the stairs, “… and then Kian appeared from the door. Charlotte turned and hit him before realising who it was.”

  “I didn’t know,” Charlotte howled at me, tears streaming down her face. “Th-they came through the sa-same door,” she said through her sobs. She breathed heavily, gulping air. “I th-thought it was another one. I di-didn’t know until it was too la-late.”

  Then her eyes widened and took on a wild look as she narrowed in on me. “You can save him, can’t you?”

  The desperation was clear in her voice. I was a little taken aback. I’d known Charlotte a long time. I’d never seen her lose her composure like this. I looked at Kian. The slouched head, the lifeless arms. This wasn’t something I could joke about. Not Kian.

  “I ca–”

  “We agreed not to.” Carmen cut in firmly.

  I didn’t recall agreeing to anything, but before I had the chance to speak, Charlotte swung her head towards Carmen with her wild green eyes and pleaded, “Just this once? We’ll be more careful next time.”

  “No. What if something happens again? To Kian? To me? To you? How long before we kill River to live ourselves?”

  “And if it was the other way around?” Charlotte said, her tone fierce now, though the tears still streamed down her face. “What would you do if Kian had the gem and you’d killed River?”

  Carmen glanced at me before turning back to Charlotte. “We agreed that we can’t ask him to do that. That he shouldn’t do it.” Her tone was less firm. Unsure.

  “He did it for you so many times.”

  “And look what it almost cost him,” Carmen spat back. “I don’t want to lose him and I don’t want him to go through that pain again.”

  “But it’s okay to lose Kian?” Charlotte’s eyes darted to me, whites visible all around the green irises. She had the manic look of a caged animal, desperately fighting to stay alive. “He’s your brother.”

  “You can’t ask him to do that,” Carmen repeated. She stood and backed away slightly.

  Charlotte’s wild eyes darted back to Carmen. “Do you think he’ll be able to live with the pain of Kian being dead? With the knowledge of knowing he could save him? You think that’s better for him?”

  They were talking about me like I wasn’t even present. Carmen’s eyes narrowed at Charlotte. “I don’t think you care about what’s better for him. You want what’s better for you.”

  “Alright, both of you calm down,” I interjected but I shot Carmen a look, though she wasn’t paying attention to me. This conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere good and that last comment was uncalled for.

  Charlotte wasn’t having any of it as she stared daggers at Carmen. “Yeah, and what about you? Now you care about River’s pain? Were you thinking about his pain when you were out there fucking those men?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Okay, well that was really uncalled for.

  “ENOUGH,” I shouted at both of them. Carmen jolted, and looked at me, anger in her eyes. Whether angry at me for telling Kian and Charlotte about her infidelity or angry at herself for being unfaithful, I couldn’t tell. Charlotte looked at me, eyes still a little wild, the look of a child’s innocence on her face. She started to realise where she was. She looked at Kian again and quietly sobbed. Her mother had remained quiet throughout, and just held her daughter around the shoulders, a hand rubbing her back.

  “D’you know if they got the map info?” I quietly asked Kaelyn. Carmen had walked further towards the front of the house.

  “Yes,” she nodded over her shoulder. I peeked in to see Tom writing stuff down in a notebook. I looked at Kaelyn, wondering what it was I was meant to decipher from that.

  “He’s writing down the locations of the flags.”

  “Got it.”

  I looked over at the others and at Kian’s limp body. I already knew what I was going to do. I’d known since I turned the corner into the passage. There was no other option. Sure, I needed to be careful with how I used the gem, but there was no way I could allow any of them to die and not do something about it.

  Especially not Kian.

  Even more than Carmen – and I would already give the world for her – I couldn’t lose Kian. Of all the people in the world, he was the only one who could truly empathise with being me. Besides – I looked down at the mess of my arm, blood streaking down the discoloured, green-tinged skin – I was convinced that the wolves had some sort of venom in their teeth, not unlike snakes. I could feel paralysis setting in and slowly moving through my system. I would have needed to reset anyway.

  “Do you know how to use this?” I asked Kaelyn, showing her the assault rifle in my left hand.

  “I think I can work it out,” she replied. “I saw you all. I just have to press that small button in the hole?”

  I nodded. “It will force you back, so you have to fight it to keep it steady. Keep the parents with you. I need to move Kian and Charlotte over there with Carmen.”

  “Why do you need the girls?”

  I looked her in the eyes. “I don’t want them to remember. The argument. Nor killing Kian. Once I have them over there, I need you to shoot me from no further than where they are now. Any closer and you’ll be reset too. And make sure I die.”

  She nodded towards me. “It will be as you say.”

  “The parents will be seeing this for the first time. Tell them to keep it quiet and not to ever mention what really happened here. I’ll make something up. Once you’ve killed me, take them and join us downstairs where I set the reset point.”

  I know. It was surreal to be so casually talking about being killed. But what was this? Reset six? Seven? I’d lost count. It was becoming a part of my routine even if it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I could still feel every stab wound that Darren had inflicted on me earlier. Every shattering of my skull when I’d shot myself in the head.

  I wouldn’t tell Carmen that. Yeah, dying hurt. But seeing my friends and girlfriend die hurt more. I could live with dying myself, knowing it would bring them back.

  I looked at Charlotte, quietly sobbing into Kian’s shoulder. It was seeing his dead body again, having seen Carmen’s death multiple times that brought it home to me. I would keep them alive, over and over again. I couldn’t promise them that I wouldn’t.

  What I needed to do was figure out how to restore myself like the System had, even if I ran out of resets. If I solved that problem, then I’d have more breathing space. As it was, it was a last resort. Until I could figure out the restoration, I would still need to be careful. I’d need to make sure these guys were too.

  I passed the rifle over to Kaelyn, then walked past Charlotte and her mum and over to Carmen at the other end of the passage. There was a window at the end, Carmen leaning against the wall next to it, looking out onto the front lawn. She turned to me as I got closer, tears on her face as well as regret. When she saw it was me, the tears came faster. She opened her mouth to say something, but I got in first.

  I held my damaged arm up to her. “You did a hell of a lot better than me. I let one of the damn things bite me. I think they have venom in their teeth.”

  Immediately, whatever she was about to say was forgotten, as she grabbed my arm gently and looked at it. She looked at me through her watery hazelnut eyes.

  “You can’t keep doing this. If we lose you, we lose Earth.”

  “Then I just have to make sure you don’t lose me.” I smiled at her and drew her in for a kiss. “I need you with me. And I need Kian and Charlotte. Even Kaelyn now. I can’t do this on my own. Yeah, I lost my mum and it’s been hard ever since. Kian’s been there for me since the beginning. And then I met you.

  “And you too, Charlotte,” I said louder, looking over to her. She turned to me and listened.

  “I need all of you with me for what we’re going to face. I can’t lose any of you. So, frankly – you all need to get better at not dying.”

  Kaelyn was the first to laugh. A soft chuckle, but it broke the tension. Charlotte and Carmen joined in, though tentatively, torn between mourning and levity. Mary – Charlotte’s mum – had a forced smile on her face. She didn’t know what I could do.

  “Bring him over here.”

  Kaelyn walked over to Charlotte as I turned back to Carmen and grabbed her gently by the chin with my good hand, lifting her lips to mine. When we finished kissing, I looked her in the eyes. She nodded with a look of determination.

  Once Kaelyn and Charlotte had brought Kian over, Kaelyn took Mary back to the room and shut them in. They didn’t need to see the next part.

  Charlotte tried to object, saying that only Kian and I needed to reset.

  “You’re having a laugh, aren’t you?” I replied. “Look at the state of you. I’d rather neither of you remember what’s just happened.”

  I swept my arm back and showed them the wolves. “See that. That’s what you’re both capable of. I need that Charlotte and Carmen. Not the ones arguing with themselves and feeling guilty for something they couldn’t avoid.

  “Kaelyn. When you’re ready.”

  The girls closed their eyes and as we waited for the gunfire, system messages popped up in the corner of my vision.

  [Loot Available]

  [Quests Available]