“This is your apartment?” Bee asked.

  “What’s with the attitude?” I replied. “You live in a mansion or something?”

  “It’s probably the meth-lab vibes it’s giving off,” Panda remarked.

  We stood out in front of the old four-story apartment block that I’d called home before my eviction. It had an ugly off-white fa?ade of wooden boards and a red-brick foundation. The narrow windows were dirty and pee-colored stains ran down the walls below the air-conditioning units that sprouted the bottom of windows here-and-there. Most of the blinds were shut and the power was clearly off. Still, the warm glow of candlelight was visible through two of the shuttered windows.

  The block was placed in a strange spot, since all the other houses around it were all designed for one family and cost three-to-four times as much per month to live in. Not to mention, they were all two- or three-stories tall as well, with nice yards, garages, and colorful stainless exteriors. Perhaps the apartments strange spot was what had made it feel special. Like an island for poor bastards like me to live in, while being surrounded by those who could afford to look down on me.

  I looked up to the top floor apartment on the corner.

  “They took down the newspapers I covered the windows with,” I complained.

  “Big surprise,” Panda replied.

  “This apartment is kind of infamous,” Bee said. “There’s been like two murders here in the last four years.”

  “Must’ve been after your time,” Panda said.

  “I don’t remember,” I replied.

  I looked around at the narrow grass lawn that surrounded the entrance. There was no sign of Kevin anywhere. Although there was a chance he was waiting for me inside.

  “Let’s go see if my stuff is still here,” I told Bee.

  She gave me a look, but didn’t say anything, dutifully following me as I walked through the rusty fence gate and went up to the front door.

  I grabbed the handle and twisted it, but it was locked.

  I yanked on it a bit harder, and the entire handle came off.

  “Woops.”

  With a small punch against the lock, I created a hole in the door and frame, destroying the mechanism and opening the door.

  “How’d you do that?” Bee asked, surprised. “Is your balloon glove magical?”

  “He is,” I replied.

  “He?”

  “His name is Brock. He’s Australian… I think.”

  “Does he talk?”

  “Usually, but not at the moment. He’ll start talking when the Great Game begins tomorrow… I think.”

  I tapped the quartz box in my front pocket. “This is a transport cage holding my familiar Lordie.”

  “Does he also talk?”

  “Kind of,” I said. “Although, most people can’t understand him. Also, he sounds like Morgan Freeman.”

  “What kind of familiar is he?” she asked as we walked through the lobby hallway to the staircase leading up.

  “He’s a hand-spider thing. He’s got seven fingers and a mouth in his palm. His favorite food is Twizzlers.”

  “Cool. Do I also have to wait until tomorrow to meet him?”

  “Yeah.”

  We reached the second floor and Bee’s shoes made a little bit of noise as they scraped along the floor. The noise caused hushed voices to flare up from behind a nearby door and I was pretty sure I heard the sound of a crossbow being loaded. No doubt the people who’d survived here in the last six days had learnt to fend off intruders.

  Instead of sticking around, we hurried up to the third floor where the smell of weed was pungent in the air, along with the stench of fermenting garbage.

  “Bob’s still here,” I realized. “That guy has lived here for at least 10 years, and I haven’t ever seen him face-to-face. We used to sometimes talk through the door though.”

  “No one here seems to have fortified their homes,” Bee said. “A lot of our neighbors did that. My parents too. But it didn’t really help them when Milton’s gang came through…”

  “I’ve been meaning to ask,” I started as we went up to the fourth floor. “Why were you trying to kill him in the bathroom? It sounded like he was already fighting for his life before you pulled your improvised shiv on him.”

  “He was in the bathroom because of me,” she said. “I mixed laxatives and detergent into his beer. I was about to sneak into the bathroom when no one was looking and… well, anyway, then you stormed into the hideout and killed everybody. I’d been pretending to be their friend for a couple days in order to get close enough to him.”

  “Damn,” I muttered.

  “I know, revenge isn’t good.”

  “What? No, no, that’s not what I meant. I was just surprised at how well you planned it all out.”

  “Don’t encourage her,” Panda scolded me from where he was sitting on Bee’s shoulder. “You know very well that revenge is bad.”

  “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” I told Bee.

  “Who?”

  “Oh right, you still can’t hear Panda.”

  “What’s he saying?” she asked.

  “Oh, nothing useful. Just stupid stuff about how revenge is bad.”

  “Oy!” Panda complained.

  “Personally, I think revenge is great!” I said. “I’m really looking forward to killing the Mayor and Chief of Police again later today.”

  Bee nodded. “I’m glad Milton’s dead.”

  Panda sighed. “You had the chance to steer her away from the morally-evil path and you already blew it…”

  We came to a stop in front of my apartment.

  “The door looks different,” I commented.

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  “That’s because you destroyed the last one,” Panda said.

  “‘Rodriguez’,” Bee read out loud, looking at the name on the door. “Is that your surname?”

  “I’m not Mexican!” I exclaimed.

  She took a step back in surprise at my outburst. “I didn’t say you were…”

  I sighed. “Sorry Bee, it’s a sore spot for me. Also no, it’s not my last name.”

  Feet pounded on the floor inside the apartment as someone ran to the door. The lock was turned and the door flung open.

  “Lucas!?” shouted a disheveled-looking woman in her mid-thirties.

  She paused when she saw me standing there.

  Then she suddenly realized that we might not be here for a friendly visit and immediately slammed the door shut. However, I was quick enough to jam Brock in-between the doorframe and the door, stopping her from closing it.

  “I don’t have any money!” she screamed, while yanking on the door with all her weight.

  I didn’t even feel it crushing my hand thanks to the balloon glove.

  “We’re not here to rob you,” I told her. “I’m just looking for Kevin.”

  She stopped pulling, and her head appeared in the crack of the door for a moment to ask, “Did they take your child as well?”

  “They did. Damn Skinstealers.”

  “Skinstealers?” she asked.

  Panda sighed loudly.

  “What’s a Skinstealer?” Bee asked as well.

  At her voice, the woman turn her attention to the teen. “You’re the first kid I’ve seen since Lucas disappeared along with his friends.”

  “I’m not a kid, I’m sixteen.”

  “Did your friends also disappear?” she asked.

  “They did.”

  “Do you want to come in? I’ve got some food and clean water I can share.”

  Bee shook her head. “We’re just here to look for Gambit’s friend.”

  “He was more than a friend,” I said. “He was family.”

  “Seriously Gambit, knock this shit off. Your goddamn toad isn’t here!”

  “You don’t know that,” I told him. “And he’s a frog not a toad.”

  I turned back to the woman and asked, “Have you seen a bullfrog with a collar that has the name ‘Kevin’ on it? I used to live in your apartment, so I thought he might’ve come back here to find me.”

  “You put a collar on a frog?” Bee asked, sounding impressed.

  “I thought you said it was your child,” the woman replied. “But no… I haven’t seen any frogs around here. Or dogs or cats. It’s like all the animals disappeared too…”

  I sighed deeply. “Damn, I was really hoping I’d find him here.”

  “He might’ve gone to a pond or a lake,” Bee said, trying to cheer me up.

  “You’re right, I shouldn’t give up hope.”

  “Gambit, for fuck’s sake, forget the damn toad! You’ve gotta get going and find our friends before the Great Game starts, remember?”

  I ignored him and looked at Rodriguez. “I’ll save your son soon, don’t you worry. The ants kidnapped them all, but I’ll free them.”

  Although she was probably wondering what I meant by ants, she clearly believed in the conviction of my voice, since she didn’t say anything and just nodded.

  “Also, try to get some weapons for tomorrow,” I advised.

  “What’s happening tomorrow?”

  “The Great Game begins.”

  We walked north towards downtown, traversing the piled-up cars on the roads, while keeping an eye out for ambushes. According to Rodriguez, the big roads and even some smaller streets, were all controlled by gangs demanding ‘tolls’ from anyone wanting to pass.

  Through either good timing or luck, we managed to make it quite far before we encountered our first such ambush. We’d made it to an overpass that crossed the highway from Madeville. There were off-and-on-ramps on either side, but these were totally clogged with cars. The cars abandoned along the overpass were pushed aside and created a straight path across, unlike the highway below which was a total disorganized mess that would be much harder to cross.

  “I wonder if one of the busses did this,” Panda said. “They seem pretty sturdy. Unnaturally-so.”

  Before I could respond, two figures jumped down from between the piled-up cars and blocked the way in front of us, with two more appearing behind us, sealing us in. Lastly, three guys climbed up the ‘walls’ made by the cars and looked down at us.

  They were all dressed like leather-loving wannabe bikers, with bald heads, fat-rolls in the back of their necks, and belts with elaborate and polished steel buckles. They wielded baseball bats and knives and were doing that ‘we’re the bad guys’ laugh as they closed in on us.

  “Well, well, well,” said one of them standing above. He had a tattoo of a lipstick kiss on his forehead which was very distracting. “Look who walked into our turf. Hope you weren’t planning on crossing our bridge without paying.”

  Bee hugged the katana she’d looted from the PP Gang. “It’s not a bridge,” she muttered quietly.

  “Bet I can guess what your fetish is!” I blurted out, pointing at forehead guy.

  “Oh, you’re a jokester? You’ll find that—”

  “Pup-play!” I yelled, interrupting him.

  They all stopped laughing and looked at each other in embarrassment.

  “I think you nailed it,” Panda remarked.

  “It’s okay guys, now’s the time to embrace your true selves,” I told them.

  Before any of them could figure out how to respond, I punched the car that forehead guy was standing on. Nothing happened. Not even a sound emerged. I instinctively knew that Damage Delay had triggered, so I immediately ran at the guys in front of us. I leapt at the one on the right and drove my fist into his stomach.

  Then the car shot into the low concrete wall and went airborne as it flew off the overpass, taking forehead guy with it.

  I smashed my right elbow into the left guy before he could react, immediately knocking him into one of the abandoned cars. As he fell onto the ground unconsciously, the other one was sent flying as well from my delayed punch.

  Bee ran up to me, brandishing the katana and looking back at the wannabe bikers.

  “They’re not worth any experience,” I told her. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  She didn’t question my argument and together we ran across the overpass, while the pup-play gang put up a half-hearted attempt to chase after us, severely confused by what they’d just witnessed.

  After half an hour, we reached the outskirts of downtown. I’d purposefully gone slow to allow Bee to keep up. Although it would probably have been more efficient if I just put her on my back and ran as fast as I could.

  “Yeah, don’t do that…” Panda told me. “She still doesn’t fully trust you yet. Also, she’s got a sword.”

  We’d passed by a restaurant and a small elementary school that both had the lights on, as well as people guarding them from outsiders and gangs. It felt kind of strange seeing so many people out and about, and I had to wonder just how many of them would die as soon as the Great Game began. It seemed like most of the survivors I’d encountered before going back in time had been people who’d either been lucky or hadn’t been inside a public facility when they were all turned to dungeons.

  “You know, it’s quite an insidious trap,” I said.

  “What is?” Bee asked, as she looked through a duffle bag on the back seat of a car that hadn’t yet been broken into.

  “The Great Game. They turn the places with lights on into dungeons, which means all the people inside those buildings become monsters. The same thing happens with the busses, trains, and other public transportation.”

  “Even planes?” Bee asked, pulling her head out of the car and holding a jar of pickles.

  “Planes?” I repeated.

  “Yeah, I saw a plane two days ago. It flew very low over the city.”

  “Gambit, I don’t want to alarm you,” Panda started, “but a plane monster is absolutely going to destroy Castleburg…”

  “I wonder if anyone was on it,” I said. “But anyway, I don’t know about plane monsters. I haven’t encountered one of those. However, the metro to Madeville turned into a giant serpent thing with arms that spoke Japanese. It was called something weird, like Chichi Chika.”

  “Hitokui Chika,” Panda corrected me.

  “Oh right, ‘Hitokui Chika’,” I repeated.

  “‘Underground man-eater’?” Bee said. “That’s a gruesome name. But why Japanese?”

  “Apparently the metro was made by a Japanese company,” I said with a shrug. “You were always translating the creepy things it said. Stuff like ‘Stop running and get in my belly’.”

  “Maybe you really are from the future,” Bee said. “Only my friends know I speak Japanese.”

  I put Brock’s purple thumb against my chest and said, “I’m the real deal.”

  “So, who are we looking for in downtown?”

  “Samantha. She should be working in one of those ugly office towers. She’s a total asshole though.”

  “Then why are you trying to find her?”

  “She got killed in the future, so I’m trying to fix that. She’s one of those disgusting ‘Greater Good’ types, but she was at least trying to help people a little, which is more than most were doing.”

  “What about me? Do I also die in the future? Is that why you’ve come back, to save people who died?”

  “It’s kind of a long story to be honest. It’ll make more sense once you can see Panda, since he’ll be able to explain it better than me.”

  “I’ll be able to see him?”

  “Yep.”

  “You’re not gonna tell her about the insanity thing?” Panda asked, his tone suspicious. “Wait, are you going to make her inspect me with the looking glass again!?”

  I ignored him, while trying to look around for an office building that looked like it might still have power on. After all, if Samantha was still working despite the apocalypse, I figured she’d have chosen a building where the lights were on.

  “Oy!” Panda yelled, trying to get me to acknowledge him.

  I power-walked away from Bee whose shoulder he was sitting on, while he kept yelling at me to look at him.

  I rounded a corner and bumped right into a short woman with glasses and a clipboard. She wore a brown business suit and skirt, and strapped around her left leg was a machete.

  “Didn’t see you there,” I said, helping her back up. Her eyes were wide as she took in my appearance, and I was worried she’d pull her weapon on me.

  “What are you doing, Camilla!” came the sound of a familiar voice.

  Then loud clicking of heels approached as a woman with a blonde perm, a blue suit, and a pen behind her right ear walked up to us. At the same time Bee caught up to me as well, bringing Panda with her.

  He immediately stopped his complaining when he saw the woman.

  “Well, that was easy,” he deadpanned.

  “Samantha!” I shouted excitedly.