Chapter 45: The Price of Survival

Several days passed, and Zarek’s daily routine gradually became more interesting.

Every morning, he took Elsa and Ayesha outside to hunt mutants. The rest of the day was spent training, resting, and preparing for their next outing. It wasn’t an exciting routine, but the results made it worthwhile.

Ayesha had improved the most in areas where she had initially struggled. She no longer stood in one place, waiting for a clear shot while a mutant charged straight at her.

She had learned to use abandoned cars for cover, change positions after firing, and keep enough distance to give herself time to react.

Her aim had improved as well.

She still wasn’t as experienced as Elsa, but she was becoming more reliable with every hunt.

Elsa, meanwhile, continued to refine her combat skills. She had already spent considerable time fighting mutants alone, so the training wasn’t teaching her how to survive from scratch.

Instead, it was helping her correct mistakes, conserve energy, and deal with threats more efficiently.

A mutant that might have forced them into a difficult fight several days ago could now be handled without much trouble.

Even when two or three attacked together, the women could deal with them far more confidently than before.

Zarek found their progress particularly satisfying.

He had suspected that the system’s assessment of their potential meant they would grow faster than ordinary people. Watching them improve had turned that suspicion into something much more convincing.

Their progress was simply too fast to ignore.

Of course, they weren’t the only one getting stronger.

Zarek had continued hunting on his own whenever he had the opportunity.

His injuries from the fight with the human-faced monster had healed completely, and the permanent physical enhancements he had received through his investments had continued to accumulate.

Every time Elsa or Ayesha achieved something worthwhile, Zarek received another return.

The additional strength might seem minor individually, but the effects were stacking up. Compared with the day he first received the enhancement, his physical abilities had improved tremendously.

The difference became obvious whenever he fought.

Mutants that once required careful movements and precise strikes were becoming easier to kill. Even his sword felt different in his hands, its weight and movement more familiar than before.

Sometimes, he wondered what would happen if he encountered that two-faced monster again.

The memory of its fingers crushing his ribs was still fresh enough to irritate him. He could remember struggling just to breathe while the creature held him down, convinced that his next mistake would be his last.

Now, he was confident he could kill it with ease.

That thought brought a grin to his face.

During the following days, however, he hadn’t encountered another monster wearing a human face. The mutants he found were ordinary compared with that abomination.

It was disappointing, but there was no point wasting his time searching for something that might not appear.

He had more important things to do.

For one, he needed to keep his investments growing.

Food was hardly a concern for Zarek anymore. Elsa and Ayesha needed to eat, of course, and he provided them with enough supplies to keep them healthy and capable of fighting. But he had stopped thinking of those supplies as a simple expense.

They were investments.

When the women used what he provided to improve their abilities and accomplish something worthwhile, he received returns through the system.

The rewards could make the original investment more than worthwhile, and the permanent enhancements he had already received were proof enough of that.

From his perspective, there was little reason to complain about feeding two women when doing so could make him stronger.

Elsa and Ayesha occasionally seemed puzzled by how comfortably they were managing their supplies. Neither had directly questioned him about it, though. They had their suspicions, but they also had more immediate concerns.

Besides, their lives had become considerably better since meeting him.

They could fight more effectively, their chances of surviving a hunt had improved, and they no longer had to face every danger alone.

Zarek wasn’t a kind man, and neither woman had forgotten that, but the results of their training were difficult to deny.

Their attitudes toward him had changed accordingly.

Elsa’s favorability had reached 50, while Ayesha’s had risen to 40.

Zarek was pleased with the numbers. They were moving in the right direction, and he was beginning to understand how much patience and continued investment could accomplish.

For now, their progress was enough to keep him satisfied.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the other survivors in the building.

While Zarek and the women were becoming stronger, the people occupying the lower floors were facing a problem that weapons alone couldn’t solve.

Food.

The survivors had managed to secure some weapons and ammunition, giving them a better chance of defending themselves against mutants.

But hunting and scavenging were proving far less rewarding than they had hoped. The surrounding streets were dangerous, useful supplies were becoming harder to find, and every trip outside risked losing people who might never return.

Their existing food stores were shrinking.

Rationing had helped them stretch their supplies, but it couldn’t solve the problem indefinitely. People could endure hunger for a while.

They became much harder to manage when they started wondering whether there would be anything left to eat the following day.

Mara was beginning to feel that pressure.

She had to listen to complaints, settle arguments over supplies, and make decisions that could put people’s lives at risk.

Sending another group outside might bring back enough food to buy them a few more days, but it might also leave them with fewer people and nothing to show for it.

Continuing as they were would only delay the inevitable.

They needed another source of supplies.

That left the upper floors.

There could be survivors up there with food, equipment, and resources worth trading. If Mara could establish contact with them, perhaps the people under her protection would finally have a way out of their current predicament.

The problem was that she knew almost nothing about them.

She didn’t know how many survivors occupied the floors above, how well armed they were, or whether they had organized themselves into groups.

They might be willing to trade, but they could just as easily refuse to share anything with outsiders. Worse, approaching them without knowing what to expect could provoke a conflict her people weren’t prepared to handle.

Mara couldn’t afford to send her people into an unfamiliar situation without knowing what awaited them. Yet doing nothing would only allow their food supplies to dwindle further.

She needed someone capable of handling the dangers upstairs, someone who could protect himself if negotiations turned hostile.

Zarek was an unsettling choice. His willingness to kill without hesitation made him difficult to predict, and she had no reason to believe he would help her out of goodwill. Still, he possessed weapons and combat abilities her people couldn’t match.

Mara disliked the idea of relying on him, but she was running out of alternatives.

Eventually, she decided to speak with him.

When she found Zarek, she took a moment to gather her thoughts before addressing him.

"Zarek, I need to discuss something with you."

He glanced at her, waiting.

Mara hesitated briefly, then met his eyes.

"I want to make a deal with you."