At Mia's call, the small crowd inside the living room fell silent as all eyes turned to the woman. Isaac, still being dragged inside by the arm, barely had time to look up and scan the room for any familiar faces. In the end, he found only one.

  "No way… Kid, you're alive!" Daryl exclaimed as he pushed past the others. "Where the hell have you been?! We've been calling you for the whole night before the signal vanished."

  Isaac managed a weak smile. "It's a long story."

  The man snorted. "Oh, I'm sure it is. Come 'ere, boy!"

  For the second time that day, Isaac found himself pulled into an embrace, though this one was more of a bear hug than anything else. It also didn't last quite as long, and the moment they separated, Daryl turned to the others in the room, who were quietly watching the exchange.

  "Give us a moment, eh? I will call you all back in a few. For now, just focus on what we talked about."

  The group nodded and left without as much as a word, though one of the older men patted Daryl on the shoulder when he passed them. Soon, the room emptied of strangers, leaving only the Wests, Isaac and his team remaining. Though the latter was just standing awkwardly in the back. Not even James had anything to say, it seemed.

  "All right, come on, kid, sit down, you and your friends," Daryl said, gesturing to the couches around a large coffee table. He then turned to his wife. "Dear, if you could please—"

  The woman waved him off, already walking toward an archway that connected this room to the kitchen. "Way ahead of you. Just give me a minute or two before you start sharing stories."

  Daryl chuckled. "As you wish, dear."

  And so, as the woman disappeared into the other room, the rest of them moved to sit down. Isaac, meanwhile, took this moment to look around.

  He had been here before, but that was when the world wasn't threatened by an apocalypse. The place had always been tidy and well-organized, but now it was a mess. Boxes and plastic crates were piled in the corners, and the coffee table was covered in—

  "A map?" he muttered, scanning the perfect satellite image of almost all of Galt. This neighborhood was circled with a blue marker, while dozens, if not more, houses were crossed out with a red one.

  "You wouldn't believe what some people have hanging on their walls," Daryl said, shaking his head. "We found it in one of the houses. Mighty useful, if I do say so. Helps us track what we've already cleared out."

  Yeah, I can see that, Isaac mused. You definitely made more progress than the group back home. No surprise there, though…

  "What about those black markers, sir? Oh, and I'm Marie. This big idiot is James."

  Despite their male teammate's sudden shout of protest, Isaac only focused on Daryl and how he grimaced at this question. He had a bad feeling about this.

  "Pleasure to meet you, young lady," the man said, his tone somber. "As for your question… Those are the schools in the area."

  Isaac closed his eyes for a moment. "How bad is it?"

  Daryl sighed, his eyes glued to the map. "Very bad. The high school," he gestured toward the black marker at the edge of the city, "was the only one with survivors. Thankfully, a lot of them. The elementary and middle schools, though… It's a mess. A hellish mess."

  "But you cleared them?" Isaac pressed.

  The man shook his head. "No… We couldn't."

  Before he could ask why, Mia returned from the kitchen, carrying a tray full of refreshments. The broad smile on her face vanished when she took a single look at everyone around the table.

  "What happened?" she asked, placing down the tray. "What did you tell them?"

  Daryl only gestured to the map. It didn't take long for Mia to catch up. "Oh dear… How far did you get?"

  "That you couldn't clear the elementary and middle schools," James spoke up for the first time since they stepped inside. Marie shot him a look, but he just shrugged it off. "What? We're all curious."

  Mia sighed as she took a seat next to her husband. "It's a hard subject for everyone here. We were lucky that our Laura stayed home yesterday, but others… We thought we could storm the schools and save the kids there. It worked for the High School. Not so much for the other two... Dear?"

  Daryl lifted his head, wiping his eyes. "Like I told you on the phone, Isaac. Once we realized what was happening, I gathered every volunteer I could find and went straight for the schools. With over thirty people at my back, it wasn't hard to get there. But when we arrived?" He squeezed his eyes shut. "We couldn't even go in… And the noises… Dear God, the noises…"

  Mia patted her husband's back before looking at the trio. "The Interface gave them a warning when they got close—something about a Quarantine Site. A place where the Broken Strain corrupted the Immortal Mana so much that it's harmful to anyone nearby. Even standing at the edge slowly lowered their Virus Integrity. Some parents rushed inside anyway, but… they never returned."

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  "That's why we had to leave those places alone," Daryl whispered, once more taking over the explanation. "So many young lives lost, and we can't even put them to rest. Even now that some of us have awakened and gained a level or two, it's still not enough to survive that place. A minute and the integrity falls under fifty percent."

  Isaac grimaced, quickly stealing a peek at his teammates. At this point, Marie didn't look much better than Daryl, a few tears sliding down her cheek. James, though, sat still like a rock, his face vacant of any emotions.

  "Did…" Isaac began, knowing he had to say something. Letting everyone drown in grief wouldn't help. "Did the Interface say something else about those Quarantine Sites?"

  "Barely," Daryl answered after a moment. "The Wretched inside will be slightly stronger. And to get rid of it, every single infected has to be killed. How we're supposed to do that, I have no idea."

  "What about luring them out? Away from the site?" Marie suggested, wiping her tears.

  Daryl shook her head. "We tried that already. Not a single one stepped outside the buildings. All we could hear were the shrieks and screeches coming from within."

  Damn it.

  "Enough about that already," Mia declared firmly. "What happened in those schools is horrible, but we can't do anything about it now. One day, we might find a solution, but for now, please let's change the subject… Isaac! Tell us why you weren't answering your phone yesterday."

  There it is… Feeling all the eyes on him again, he shrugged. "The Pioneer Trials."

  Cue the shocked gasps from the Wests.

  "This means…" Daryl whispered, trailing off. "We had two of ours disappear when they killed their twentieth Wretched, but they never returned. But you did, kid." He chuckled as if he couldn't believe himself. "You did. You're one of the six they mentioned!"

  "What happened there, Isaac?" Mia asked once she recovered from the shock. "What did you have to do there that only six of you have returned? Thousands went, and yet…"

  Do I tell them? He asked himself, looking between the people in the room.

  He had ignored Tyler because, quite simply, he didn't know the man and didn't care enough to explain himself. But here? The Wests were good people who had always treated him well. As for his temporary teammates? They weren't so bad.

  "I can't talk for the others who took the trial, but I…"

  And so he proceeded to explain his arrival in the large chamber filled with weapons and then his trek through the dark hallways. It wasn't until he reached the part where another Host attacked him in the forest that he hesitated.

  "I wasn't alone there," he finally admitted. "And I'm not talking about monsters."

  It took James to say what everybody was probably thinking. "They put you against another Host? That's fucked up."

  Isaac kept his face expressionless. "I didn't know it was another Host at that time. Even if they didn't look like a gremlin, they definitely weren't human. It wasn't until I… well… until it was over that the Interface told me who I just defeated. A Salirian, another host."

  "Oh my," Mia muttered, placing her hand over her mouth.

  "Aliens are real," James said under his breath. "Cool, I guess."

  Marie instantly shot him a glare at that and punched his shoulder.

  "Are you fine, kid?" Daryl asked, ignoring everyone else. "I know you said it wasn't a human, but still…"

  Isaac shrugged weakly. "I'm good, really. What happened, happened… Besides, it was self-defense. I wasn't the one who attacked first."

  The older man nodded. "True that. Just remember, Mia and I are here for you if you want to talk. It doesn't need to be today, tomorrow, or even a week from now. Keep it in mind, please."

  "I will."

  "Good, good." Daryl smiled under his scruffy beard. "Now, that had to be the end of the trial, right? With the other Host gone?"

  Isaac frowned. "No. There was still a boss waiting for me in the final ruins. A massive gremlin, if you will believe it. Almost caved my chest in, but in the end, I won. Then the Interface gave me my rewards, some time to recover, and then I returned right where I left on Earth."

  "So, to put it simply, you are built different, boss?" James quipped. "If only you and five others managed to make it out, that has to mean something."

  "Maybe." Isaac shrugged. "I could have died plenty of times during the trials, but my regeneration always stitched me back together. If not for that, I most likely wouldn't be here."

  "Just how high is it, kid?" Daryl asked, his brow furrowed. "We have a guy with us that already has regeneration at tier five of Feeble, but he heals nowhere near as fast as you describe."

  Oh…

  "Now? Developed four. Back then, it had to be like two or three tiers lower."

  The older man whistled. "Then either the difference between the grades is huge, or that Origin of yours is quite something else. Hell, most awakened get something simpler. Fire, wind, water, and the like. You know what I mean. There are some outliers with stuff like sound, glass, or even wood, but no Blood."

  "Good to know," Isaac muttered. "And what about you?"

  Daryl grinned and raised a single hand. Above his palm formed a long shard of sharpened rock. "Origin of Stone," he said. "And my lovely wife here has fire. They might not be as rare as your Blood, kid, but trust me, they are still mighty useful."

  "I don't doubt that."

  "You better not." Daryl chuckled. "Anyway… Now that we got the worst out of the way, tell me, what are you three doing here? I'm happy to see you, kid, but that's quite the walk from where you live. It's risky, even for someone like you."

  "About that, sir," Marie spoke up before anybody else could. "We came here with Isaac as representatives of another group. Our leader thought it would be best if we all coordinate if we want to clear the city fast."

  "Oh? Do tell, young lady."

  Marie glanced at James. "The radios, quick."

  That got their third teammate moving. He quickly fished out the two devices and offered one to Daryl.

  "They are already set up with the right channel. You just gotta turn it on," he explained. "Tyler, our leader of sorts, also has one. He will explain everything better than we can."

  Daryl looked up. "Isaac?"

  Put on the spot again, Isaac nodded. "It's legit. They asked me to lead them here, and their plan isn't half bad."

  Daryl hummed, flipping the switch at the bottom of the device. "Well... Let's hear it then…"

  To read more, you can visit my Patreon (always between 24-26 chapters ahead):