The new group were all tired and hungry after their escape. It was understandable, so I didn’t give them a hard time and instead encouraged them move into the middle abode of the three. While they were settling in, I called everyone else together: there were still things that needed to be discussed without the newcomers.

  “He said there were twelve demons in the wave that defeated them, what do you guys think?” I looked at Jessica and Lucas primarily, we were still just standing outside in the open air.

  “Nearly double what we experienced on our second wave. He claims there were thirteen defenders in total, but we were only nine ourselves. The math isn’t mathing on that,” Lucas said.

  “I don’t get any bad feelings about them.” Jessica said.

  “Me either,” I said. “But the vague recollection of how many demons there were bothers me a little bit. What level were they?”

  “Mostly eighteen or nineteen. One of them is level twenty-one. You can probably guess who.”

  “Luis?” Jessica gave a nod in confirmation. It was probably typical for the strongest to be the one in charge, so that made sense. “The varying number of demons they faced at least tells us something. The more people you have, the more demons will come.”

  “It creates a dynamic where you can’t harbor dead weight,” Lucas observed.

  Jessica agreed, “So there’s a limit to how much good will we can offer to strangers.”

  “There always was.” This post-apocalyptic world was tough and we had to match its challenges, step for step, never trying to hide. Trying to opt out must have doomed thousands. “Keep an eye on them and we’ll act accordingly,” I said, “something will slip out if their real story is shady.” Out of all ten, there was bound to be at least one yapper.

  “Right,” Lucas responded, “I’ll see you two around, there are somethings I want to confirm as well.” He swiftly left, leaving Jessica and I alone.

  “Any chance you’d like to go on a date with me?” I asked playfully.

  “A date?”

  “Well… truthfully I wanted to test some things I read in the grimoire.” Specifically, the Life Leeching ability. I needed to put my undead to work, and while I wasn’t sure they actually needed to ‘consume’ the corpses, as the energy transfer sounded oddly similar to the system providing me sustenance through my soldiers, I couldn’t rule out they were separate things.

  “Let’s go in five to ten minutes then?” Jessica smiled, “I have to talk to Evee quickly and I’m ready.” She kissed me on the cheek and then raced off to the third abode. I found myself standing there in a stupor holding my cheek. Such moments of sweetness had dwindled considerably, it was nice to be reminded they still existed in some capacity.

  I had everything I needed on me, so I leaned against the abode and gathered my thoughts. According to the grimoire, it was important that my undead ‘consumed’ their prey. While that was taking place, I needed to recite an incantation, focusing on the energy created in their consumption.

  There was a link between my undead and I, so I should be able to feel the energy flows. The book didn’t say exactly how challenging a skill was to learn, or how long or many attempts I needed or should make.

  Jessica returned in just two or three minutes. “Welcome back,” I said.

  “Hi,” she said coyly.

  “Are you ready?” I asked.

  “I’ll be your guide.” She laughed and then moved towards the gate leading out of the abode’s compound. We were both level twenty-nine now, there wasn’t much that could actually cause us a problem in the wild, outside of stumbling upon a demon encampment. Given Jessica’s high-level tracking, we were perfectly say.

  Our walk along the road towards the horizon was a leisurely one. I had already pulled my undead troops out and fanned them out around us. Nothing could strike us from the sides or back unexpectedly.

  My left hand held my bone wand, and the right held Medusa’s shield, which I promptly placed onto my back. The free right hand reached down and rubbed against Jessica’s hand, “We’ve never held hands before,” I said.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Something about such an innocent and even childish motion like that created a moment. But for the red hue hammering down on us, it would have been perfect. Still, we walked in blissful silence for several minutes with our hands locked.

  “There’s a ghoul off the road there.” Jessica pointed to behind a half-shack, the remnants of a once prosperous homestead.

  I sent just two regular undead soldiers forward and they dragged out the ghoul, flailing and screeching; but regardless of its efforts it couldn't escape their death grip. “This thing used to be a nightmare for us,” I observed. The ghouls were fast and powerful, and without a long-range weapon, infection from their attacks was a real possibility.

  “It feels like it was only yesterday,” Jessica added.

  “Yeah, and this moment will feel that way in the future too.” I sent Spikey #1 forward with his zweihander and he cleaved the ghoul in half through the crotch, like slicing warm butter. “Did you get faster?” I eyed him curiously and then looked at Jessica, “Sorry in advance.” I didn’t know how this was going to look.

  The two undead that were originally holding the ghoul fell to the floor and started ravishing the decayed flesh. I had to repeat an incantation while focusing on any energy my summoned troops might have received. “Unending Hunger. Taste of flesh. Feast.” I whispered under my breath.

  But nothing happened. The sustenance I received from the system came through at the same exact moment Spikey had chopped it in two, nothing came from them gnawing on the corpse.

  “Next one.” I said.

  “Did it work?”

  “It didn’t work yet.” Despite the energy not being there, the incantation’s words were not meant just for that collection. Unending Hunger was the trigger to have my minions devour, Taste of flesh was the incantation that allowed that devouring to create a special energy, and Feast was my engorgement and subsequent life stealing ability.

  We decided to walk among the ruins as it was more likely to have ghouls and zombies. There were dozens, in fact, and my lesser squad members went out and brought them back with Jessica’s directions. There were seven in front of us now flailing, each held tight under the tight grip of an undead soldier.

  “Unending Hunger.” I said, and then my skeleton bit into the neck of a living ghoul and eventually ripped the head clean off. I couldn’t help but look at Jessica. She had seen plenty with me, but watching a skeleton rabidly and viciously bite the head off an enemy was something else.

  “Taste of Flesh.” I repeated. “Feast.” And there was nothing again. Still, I didn’t grow discouraged. I closed my eyes and envisioned the world through my undead, repeating the incantation with each kill.

  It must have been the last, or second to last. “Unending Hunger,” I repeated. A moment later I felt the energy from my sustenance, my soldier had killed its opponent immediately, but there was something else a moment later. A similar form of energy, nearly identical.

  “Feast.” And the newly formed energy traveled in some miraculous way to each of my undead. A light and ghastly green glow covered each and every one; even crazier was that the chipped tooth of one of my rabid skeletons regrew in real time.

  “It worked.” I said.

  “It worked? That’s great!” Jessica was excited despite not understanding what happened. It was a joyous occasion, but the message of Mutated leveling up scared me terribly.

  “If some day I’m not human, could you still love me?” I asked rather ambiguously.

  She paused for a moment and my heart caught in my throat, “We’ll become monsters together.” She smiled the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. I couldn’t stop myself from embracing her.

  “That really might happen.” I said. I worked up the courage on her words to check Mutated. Previously, I had gained certain ‘benefits’ like immunity to poisons or my no longer needing actual food to survive. There was a new line there now.

  I thought hard about what exactly strength meant, as the wording wasn’t the most clear cut. I checked my stats to see they were the same as before. I did feel a bit lighter on my feet… the shield wasn’t as hard to pull off my back.

  “Let’s do a few more,” I said, not wanting to go back without finding out all I could about this process. We walked further into the farmland.

  “There’s something,” Jessica pointed, “It’s not weak,” she warned.

  “What could be out here? A demon?” Jessica saying “it’s not weak: was alarming, because she wouldn’t say the same about a singular demon.

  “It’s right in front of us,” she added. And yet I couldn’t see it. There was only the remnants of a structure that had been covered in overgrown shrubs and vines.

  “I don’t see it,” I took a few more cautious steps forward, undead gathered close. Jessica set a few traps behind us and we moved forward carefully.

  “It’s behind that,” She pointed at what appeared to be the remains of a storage shed reclaimed by nature. “I’ll lure it out.” Somehow with her by my side I wasn’t scared in the slightest.

  Jessica nocked an arrow and shot it at what appeared to be rusted metal, hoping to make a commotion. Instead a massive roar shook my ears and the entire ‘structure’ stood up.

  The thing we thought was a shed was in fact a behemoth, and it rose from the ground angry as hell after being woken from its slumber. Jessica’s arrow was poking out its backside.

  “Can I handle this?” I asked.

  She nodded with a smile, “Go for it.”