Chapter 38: The Choices of Survival

"That’s going to be an interesting story."

Zarek glanced at the people gathered around him. Judging by their expressions, they weren’t particularly amused.

Mara folded her arms. "Then start talking. What happened downstairs? And where’s the man who went with you?"

Zarek leaned against the nearest wall, careful not to put too much pressure on his injured ribs.

"The storage room was there. So was the armory. Unfortunately, something else was waiting for us."

He told them about the creature in the lower corridor, how it had worn the faces of the dead and used their voices. He kept the account brief, but the blood on his clothes made it clear that the thing hadn’t been easy to kill.

"As for the man who came with me," Zarek continued, "he didn’t make it back."

"So it can imitate people?" someone asked from the crowd.

"Faces and voices, apparently." Zarek shifted his weight, wincing when his ribs protested. "I wouldn’t trust anything that suddenly looks familiar down there."

The warning unsettled them more than the description of the fight. A monster they could recognize as a monster was one thing. Something capable of wearing a familiar face was another.

Mara asked a few more questions, trying to determine whether the creature had been alone and whether Zarek had noticed anything else in the lower corridor.

He answered what he could, but he wasn’t about to pretend he understood something he had barely survived.

Once she’d gathered enough information, Mara turned her attention to the box.

Their agreement still stood. Zarek had investigated the missing team’s disappearance and recovered supplies, so he was entitled to two-thirds of the weapons and ammunition, along with half the medical supplies.

He opened the box and let her examine its contents.

Mara’s expression tightened slightly as she looked through the recovered equipment. .

Zarek had, of course, already stored the best equipment in his System Space.

He set aside the weapons and ammunition he was entitled to, along with half the medical supplies.

Mara inspected the remaining supplies but didn’t challenge the division.

Once the supplies had been sorted, she brought up another problem.

"Our food won’t last much longer," she said, looking around at the gathered survivors. "We need to decide what we’re going to do before we run out."

The announcement drew a fresh round of murmuring.

According to Mara, there were two realistic ways to obtain more food.

The first was to approach the survivor groups on the upper floors and try to trade for supplies. The second was to send an armed group outside to search for food and bring it back.

Neither option was particularly appealing.

Trading meant dealing with people whose intentions they didn’t know. The upper-floor groups might be willing to negotiate, but they could also demand unreasonable prices or refuse to share anything at all.

Going outside would give them more control over what they obtained, but it would expose their people to the monsters and desperate survivors roaming the streets.

"We can’t keep waiting for someone else to solve this," a man near the stairs argued. "If we have weapons, we should use them and get our own food."

"And if the people upstairs have enough to trade?" another survivor countered. "Why risk our lives outside before we’ve even tried?"

The discussion grew louder as more people joined in.

Mara let them speak. She didn’t immediately side with either group, nor did she pretend that one option was obviously safer than the other.

These people would have to live with the consequences of the decision, and she seemed to understand that forcing an answer on them without hearing their concerns could create more problems than it solved.

Zarek watched her from beside the box.

Mara was better at this than he’d expected. Even with food running short, she was keeping the discussion from turning into a fight.

A capable leader could be useful.

That thought brought another question to mind. Why hadn’t his system flagged her as someone with exceptional potential? She’d demonstrated enough competence to earn his attention, yet no notification had appeared.

Perhaps leadership alone wasn’t enough. Perhaps the system recognized a different kind of potential entirely.

He couldn’t be sure, and he wasn’t going to waste time guessing.

Another question bothered him. Mara seemed to think the upper floors might have supplies worth trading for, but what made her believe that? Had those survivors stockpiled food before the collapse, or had they found a way to keep obtaining it?

Zarek filed the question away. He could investigate the upper floors himself when he was ready.

For now, he’d had enough of the shelter.

His ribs hurt, his body needed rest, and he had something more interesting to think about than a room full of hungry people arguing over their future.

Elsa.

The sudden increase in strength he’d experienced downstairs had come at a suspiciously convenient moment. She had been with Ayesha while he’d been away, and he wanted to know what had happened.

He left Mara to continue the discussion and carried his remaining supplies toward the apartment.

By the time he arrived, the pain in his ribs had become difficult to ignore. He set the box down and found Elsa and Ayesha inside, both alive and apparently safe.

"What happened while I was gone?" he asked. "Anything unusual?"

Elsa explained how the three dead bodies they’d found earlier had begun to transform. She and Ayesha hadn’t waited to see what those things would become.

They fought them before the changes could finish, killed all three, and threw the bodies out of the window.

Zarek listened, wanting to know how the fight had gone and whether either woman had been hurt. Once he understood what they’d dealt with, his suspicion about the sudden strength increase grew stronger.

A pleased grin spread across his face.

So that was probably what had triggered it.

He still didn’t understand exactly how the system calculated the value of an achievement, but he was beginning to see the connection between Elsa’s progress and his own growth.

The more capable she became, the more valuable his investment might prove to be.

That was a prospect worth exploring.

Unfortunately, his body had other demands. The fight downstairs had left him battered, and he wasn’t going to become stronger by collapsing from exhaustion after every encounter.

He needed to rest before exploring the upper floors or taking another unnecessary risk.

There was also Ayesha.

She still wasn’t bonded to him, and he couldn’t keep postponing that step while the world grew more dangerous around them. He needed more strength, more advantages, and a better understanding of what the Investment System could offer him.

He eased himself down to rest. His ribs needed time to recover, but he couldn’t keep putting off the next bond forever.

Ayesha was here, the world outside was getting more dangerous, and he needed every advantage he could obtain.

Once he could move without aggravating his injuries, he would turn his attention to her.