Chapter 17

I spent the next twenty-four hours in and out of ice baths. I hated those things. My ear stopped ringing the first night with the aid of Kate’s heals. Jude woke Friday morning. I had heard that Kate cried along with Nat, when the medic reported the news.

I knew that it was all due to Kate that she lived at all. Kate barely sleeping the last day and night, to maximize her Healing times, enabled Jude to recover as fast as she did.

That seventeen-inch long wound, would leave a scar for a while. A long while. I hoped it did not affect her too much emotionally. Yet I hoped she learned to not over reach so much until she became stronger.

Right after Kate and Nat left to get some much-needed sleep as they were ordered to, Heather stepped in my ice bath room inside their medical area of UE. It wasn’t large, but it was well stocked.

“What happened to you?”

“My Perseverance Skill got changed. Upgraded too, I think.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, drawing a stool so she could sit beside the large metal tub.

“Perseverance was one of my Endurance sub-Skills, somewhere during the fight, it upgraded itself. Don’t ask me when.”

“What did it upgrade to?”

“Will Power. Two words. I’m not high enough to read or even get the Skill normally, I think. And it’s an Attribute now. Not a sub Skill.”

“Any clues what it does?”

“Let’s me keep standing at the brink of collapsing a little longer? Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Did you break four?”

“Yes, I Leveled.”

“And?”

“Two Skill points. My full Endurance plus thee points were added to health, my Mana increased by one. I tried to add one of the Status points to my sub Skills. None took. Same with Will Power.”

“Weren’t able to, or did it reject you because of Level?”

“There wasn’t a mechanism for it. On the main Skills, when you click on them, there is a pull-down menu with the choice to add a point. The sub Skills don’t have that option. Will Power didn’t even have a menu.”

“You almost died. I don’t even know how you didn’t. Why didn’t you try to escape, or run away?”

“Punch drunk. I lost myself and couldn’t stop, I wasn’t thinking at the end, just trying not to die.”

“You could have run earlier,” she protested.

“No. I was trapped in a circle of my own making. By leading the zombies in a large circle, I had to make sure that they were close but not too close. The stairs let me thin the lines and reduce the number that could attack me all at once. The rearmost zombies were too far away at the tail. If I would have run, I would have ended up running through them or close enough. Either way, it would have just been me getting surrounded. At least my way, I had my back mostly free.”

“I saw your bruises. Your back was not free.”

“I did get surrounded once, maybe twice, I think. Not sure. The end of the fight is blurry.”

“Do not sell your life so cheaply in the future.” She was pissed. And worried.

She cared.

“Thank you,” I replied softly.

“We could not have taken that mob if they attacked en masse. Jude would have died and the rest of you were too injured for at least one or two more...” I shrugged, not willing to complete that thought.

“You need to trust your team more.”

“If Jude were mobile, my actions would not have been necessary. That girl needs a talking to, once she is up and about.”

I could tell Heather wanted to take a frying pan to my head, but I was in no condition for another beating and she knew it.

“Anything else?” Heather’s face pursed. She was not pleased and that line of thought wasn’t good for either of us.

“I forgot something in the white room.” pulling out the ice cream sundae, I handed it over. “Take a look at its description.”

“ ... running around with your friends all of the day long?” she questioned the item’s description.

“Why didn’t you take it while fighting the zombies?”

“I forgot about it. I was pressed, remember?”

That earned another scowl.

“You wanted something to study. Go take it to your scientists. Brownie points and stuff.”

“What do you think of our performance in the last run?”

“We sucked.”

Sighing at me as if I were a child who did bad, “details, Jason?”

“My placement was poor, my control was all over the place, I should have waited a few more days to stabilize my strength more since I threw two points into it before entering.”

“What about the others?”

“Edna was too passive, she let others take the boss on her side instead of stepping up. I know she beat up more zombies, but she is a much better fighter than Jude, that ghoul wouldn’t even slow her down. They should have switched places at the time. I didn’t see everything. I was fighting two bosses at once, so I might be out of place with my opinion.”

“Go on.”

“Nat is still too inexperienced with her Fire Staff while working in conjunction with others. She has improved a great deal, but that was from solo training. Not supporting from the back or side. She is also overly reliant on the staff for hand to hand instead of shooting off Fireshot.”

“Kate, I have no clue how to improve what she is doing. I don’t know how much Mana she is using or anything else. For you, I’m not sure. You were mostly helping those two and I didn’t see much of your efforts. You would know better than me. Edna too.”

We discussed the main fight while I soaked and froze my balls off.

Helping me exit and dry off, I felt numb. I had soaked too long, Heather led me to a small room with a single bed and summoned the medic. The inner tube-like wraps soon covered me head to toe. Filling them with air, I was squished and ‘compressed’, as the treatment required for deep bruises, like most of mine were.

Neither my boss and friend nor the medic stayed long. Making sure I had a buzzer, they left me to sleep off my wounds, both women exiting soundlessly.

Chuckling to myself, I felt that I looked like the Michelin man from the advertisements. I was covered in white oval balloons.

Francis returned from who knows where that afternoon, and pitched in on the Healing.

Saturday, wearing matching new white dresses, Kate, Natalie and Jude attended their graduation. Heather and I sat in the stands and watched the ceremony, not that she spent a single minute off of the phone, but went, nonetheless. The girls didn’t have to know.

Nat and Kate both insisted on pushing Jude’s wheelchair. The latter wasn’t pleased, but it was the only way she would be cleared to attend. In faded black gowns, the kids and parents waited through the sermons and encouragements until names were called. Those three were first after the honor students, on the account of Jude’s disability, followed by five others on crutches and other instruments of assistance.

The football stands were filled by families cheering and celebrating. It was a hopeful and enjoyable atmosphere.

I sighed in remembrance of mine. Too loudly, I discovered after the fact. I drew my blonde companion’s attention.

We met the ladies after commencement ended near the front of the stage, talking to a familiar older woman. I promised to take all of them out to dinner and a show after, but Edna bailed and took a Caribbean vacation to heal up, leaving me with the four remaining teammates.

“Real mothers do not break their daughters arm four times in six years.” Nat stood between Jude’s mother and her friend, loudly stating her position.

“Don’t speak out of your ass, slut. Move away from my little girl.” I stepped forward and caught Mrs. Smith’s hand which went back to slap my favorite extrovert.

“Mother, I did not invite you because I never want to see you again.”

Screaming too loudly for the time and place, “Let go of my hand!” she tugged. My strength had just passed the threshold of human, similar to my Endurance. There was no way she would be able to move me unless she used a crane.

Ignoring Jude’s parent’s demand. “Do not raise your hand or your voice to my friends. Heather can you summon security please?”

She didn’t have to bother, one of the teachers already apparently had.

Jude’s mother tried to kick me, I twisted her arm and made her kneel. My iron grip held her rigidly in place.

“Mother, you ruined my life, please don’t ruin my graduation too.” Jude was on the edge of tears.

The trio of security, off-duty Chicago police, listened to our stories. Heather flashed her badge; the title of deputy director carried a lot of weight regardless of what US Agency it was attached to.

As a parting shot, “it would have been nice if you came to my graduation sober for once, instead of high as a kite like always.”

Despite protests, or because of them, the officers present took another look at the irate woman in their hoped-for custody. There were always incidents during graduation; at best they hoped for a slap and yells between family members, at worst were the shootings. A high relative was nothing new to them. If the woman could calm down, she would be released as soon as the children were out of sight. Otherwise, an afternoon getting fingerprinted was in her future.

Calm was never a part of Mrs. Smith’s makeup when it came to her daughter, unfortunately.

Heather remarked to me that she saw them cuff her as we left the field. Jude was pissed, and the other two girls weren’t all that pleased.

Adding insult to injury, Kate’s stepdad appeared just as we hit the turnstile. Groaning, the Terrible Trio stopped and made nice.

“Sorry Conrad, I didn’t think you would make it. We have reservations already and a play after. How about brunch tomorrow?” Kate asked, nicely.

“Who are your friends Katie?”

“Jason and Heather, they are our bosses.”

“You have a job?”

“Yes, I have a Weapon and am a Hunter now.”

“That’s dangerous. People die in those things.” His timid attitude shown through. No wonder he wasn’t the best salesman. Even Paula could be forceful when cornered.

Or was that fierce?

“Can we talk about it tomorrow? Jude’s hurt, she got in an accident and needs her meds.”

“If you insist. Make sure you come straight home after.”

“I don’t live there anymore. While in training, I have to stay with my bosses. I’ll call you at nine tomorrow. Thanks for coming to my graduation.”

After giving the mousy man a quick hug, she created separation between the two, by pushing Jude’s wheelchair forward. We followed closely. I just hoped that Nat’s mother didn’t complete the trifecta.

“Don’t worry, mom won’t show, she expects me to come to New York. My apartment’s lease runs out on the thirtieth of June, she’s forcing me to go to her or get my own.” Nat responded, as if reading my mind.

As if the previous encounters never happened, our dinner was fun, their parents never mentioned and three lively young women, enjoyed new taste sensations by trying the more exotic menu choices.

Jude held her nose and squealed when trying escargot in garlic sauce, for the first time. Nat’s ‘no way in hell’, was heard across the room. Using a tiny fork, Kate did attempt the snail, no chewing was involved.

I thought they were fairly tasteless; the buttery garlic overpowered the rubbery meat. Heather also took a pass. A quiet one.

Just outside the theater, we took more pictures. The restaurant had a place for the few graduates that reserved the limited seating to take pictures while waiting for their table to be readied.

My Fair Lady, at the Chicago Theater, wasn’t half bad. The girls, all four of them, thoroughly enjoyed the play. Me, not so much. I had tried, no back stage passes were available after Saturday’s showing. Not that they seemed to notice the lack.

They did run onstage, rolled in Jude’s case, for us to take pictures of them. The staff was very cooperative. They couldn’t roll up the curtains, but they could make sure that the girls were not interrupted.

Heather and I swapped vehicles after cake and ice cream at my place. The van was wheelchair accessible, not that Jude really needed it, but we were playing it safe.

I crashed on my sofa that night. Jude stole my bed and the other two miscreants each had a bed of their own to choose from. She could and did walk, and just had to be careful of ripping apart her stitches before Kate could finish working her magic.

My wounds were healing insanely fast after that first day of near constant ice baths. According to my status, I had healed five health per full night of sleep. When I asked Heather, when no one else was around, she replied that she only recovered one health per night, the same as my old healing rate before I broke 11 Endurance.

When asked why, I responded with my recovery rate, which silenced her. I also got that, ‘are you even human anymore?’ look.

My recovery rate did not make my Portal inspection report. Pretty much everything else did though.

Saturday evening before bed, I did throw up an advertisement on the net for keys and chests of any color found inside the dungeons. I’d be willing to pay in cash or in silver nuggets. That website took me the last few weeks to build and secure. Paula helped a great deal on the security aspect and pretty much everything else, saying that she wanted to pay me back.

For what? That went unsaid and unasked.

She loved her second full spa treatment that I sent as a thank you gift. I think I discovered her weakness in my ultra-shy friend.

Sunday morning, I had twenty-five responses: twenty gold keys and safes, four silvers of each and one brass key. The brass offer looked genuine, the rest were suspect. Maybe the silver lockbox was legitimate. Possibly a key, but I doubted the rest after seeing the pictures. One of the gold keys looked like mine; I still doubted it.

I dropped off Kate and Nat at Kate’s former apartment for brunch with her stepfather Sunday morning. The guy with the brass key wanted five hundred silver for his key, but we agreed on three hundred. He said he could put and take it out of his inventory and sent a video of it disappearing which cinched the deal, the gold key and the silver key holders did the same trick. The gold key holder wanted a thousand for his but accepted five hundred silver for it and the silver guy was willing to take three hundred nuggets for hers, she was just hours away by car. A Purdue student in their engineering program.

I sent the brass key holder, via registered package, the silver to his house in Mexico City. It was worth the gamble for that price after receiving a copy of his photo of his ID. I did the same for the man from Bath, England. A little over a thousand nuggets for one of each key type was outright theft on my part.

The others were obvious scams or wanted the sun, moon and stars for their stuff. The California gold Key holder wanted ten thousand silver nuggets for his key.

No one had that much silver. I was one of the richest outside of the military, and was only a little past half-way to ten thousand nuggets myself. I wished him good luck with that request.

The rest of the responses asked on my website, demanded, how I got so much silver.

I responded with a partial truth. ‘I found a diamond in an Indigo Portal worth 2500 silver.’ I wasn’t sure which one of us found it.

That tidbit of information exploded the forums.

Aside from the ones cursing me and/or calling me a liar, the number one response was; ‘WHERE?’

I grinned while reading through the responses over the madness that I caused. I called Heather on the way to Perdue to meet the seller with the plans I finalized last night during my lack of sleep. My couch was never meant for more than an hour nap or four hours of lounging so I had spent most of the night awake.

I also dropped a link to my new pay-to-join website, which had that and other information of Indigo silver stashes on it.

Once they paid, there was a second tier that they could access for a small additional price. The NDA added to the site, was one I got from the net that they had to electronically sign before joining.

I grinned knowingly. I didn’t expect to make much money off of it, but some was better than none. Also my believability levels would increase in the future, if the information was handled correctly and the price was reasonable.

The key and safe information, I would not release, someone else could do that.

The seller was at a large dorm, a freshmen girls-only one.

My dark skinned, hoodie covered contact, had a long, barely healed scar under her left eye. She limped and looked miserable. I withheld my wince on seeing Miss Bell for the first time.

“You guessed it; I’m not going back in. Half my party died.”

“You are Caitlin Bell? Are there no Healers in the area?”

“He wants fifty thousand dollars to remove the scars. I don’t have that much. Plus, Roger’s a braggart and a coward. He went in once and pissed his pants. Everyone knows about it.

“Can you skip class for a few days?”

“I’m on summer vacation, classes have been over for a couple weeks.”

“How is the rest of your party?”

“Fine, I guess. Kim and Lanita are talking about going back in, if they find more people.”

“One second.” *Click, “Kate? ... Can I borrow your services later tonight and tomorrow, maybe a week or two? A scarred girl your age ... a favor to me named later from me ... thanks.”

“Miss Bell? If you give me the key, I can take you to someone that will heal you. Her best friend was wounded worse than you on the third floor of an Indigo on our last run, so she will have to split time between both of you. I will also ask you to give me a full write up on your dungeon runs, if you could.”

“She’ll heal me?”

“She’s Level 2 in Healing.”

“I thought only the army had Level 2s?”

“My team is pretty good. Are you willing to risk the opportunity?”

“To get rid of my scars without plastic surgery? You have to be kidding. Let me prep a bag. How long will it take?”

“A couple weeks at most. She does have a primary patient, her best friend.”

“I can be second, third or ninth. Wait here please. Oh wait, your name is Jason, right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you the one that does all the Indigo write ups, on the Forums?”

“That is probably me.”

“COOL! Give me fifteen.”

Caitlin Bell, came back loaded for bear.

“What is your weapon?” I asked once we left the dorm area.

“Darkness Magic.”

“Darkness?”

“Yeah, no else has it that I know of.”

“Have you considered just staying on Violet until you get stronger?”

“Ants are boring.”

“Zombies and Ghouls are deadly,” I countered.

“My face got wrecked. No way do I want to go back.”

“Your choice, but you have a unique or at least a rare profession. I bet you will get hordes of requests once you Level up a few times. They might even pay for you to go with them.” My arguments didn’t hold any weight to the girl with a three-inch facial scar.

“What happened in that run?” I asked once inside my car.

“Derrik fell. A zombie bit his ankle and didn’t let go. Once he fell, I didn’t have anyone protecting me.”

“And the rest?”

“The ghoul was too fast. I’m the one that killed it. The rest looked like they were moving in slow motion. Even Lattie couldn’t keep up with it.”

“If I could get you some training, would you be interested in going back in? Violet first? Maybe Indigo if you impress?”

“Why? Just because I have Dark Magic?”

“Partly. You also said you were the one to bring down the Ghoul boss. That isn’t easy for a 1^st Level Hunter.”

“I have awesome reflexes.”

“And your hand-eye coordination can’t be bad either.”

“I rock at ping pong.”

“If you are interested you can train with my team.”

“Your team got hurt,” she protested.

“On the third floor of Indigo. One of the girls tried to solo a Ghoul in a horde of zombies and paid the price. She killed it but got badly injured.”

“You are really on the third level of Indigo?”

“Yes. All six of us broke through Level 2 in experience, a while ago.”

“Shit. Why couldn’t I have found you instead of those lame asses?”

“You just did. Think about it.”

Heather will be ecstatic.

“What about the key?”

“Give it to me after your scar is gone. Kate is our team’s Healer, she’s damn good.”

“Why would she go in those things, she can’t fight?”

“Maybe not yet, but as we all Level up, she will eventually learn a spell or two that will be more than decent. Besides, think of your own team. How useful would a Healer have been for you? Do you think that you would have any issues giving that person a full share?”

“No.”

My sales pitch ended.

Kate was a little sad and strangely happy, “Conrad wasn’t planning to kick me out. He was going to only charge me rent until I was ready to get my own place.” Kate blurted when I entered my house with Caitlin in tow.

“That’s good, isn’t it? This is Caitlin. Kate, she suffered from a collapsing frontliner from a zombie.”

“Hi. Ignore him. He has no manners. Jude’s in the other room. Jason, bring in your guest’s bags.”

One successfully-transferred girl. Bags I could do, I set her three suitcases in the hall to have girls sort them later.

“You get paid to train?” I heard from my bedroom.

Go get her, Katie!

I walked outside in the backyard on the phone, informing Heather of our latest recruit. She told me that Darkness Magic was rarer than I knew.

We all planned on a two-week hiatus after the last run. Everyone, besides myself that was. I kept on clearing and marking the first floor of untouched Violets, four days a week. The other days were spent with my builder and moving.

I already signed for the condo downtown allowing the girls to move in before I could. They did leave the master bedroom and the smallest one, for my office. Splitting the two bedrooms between the four went smoother than planned. Cait was still unconfirmed about training or entering a Portal again, but they were working on her.

Cait roomed with Jude to make their scar healing go that much faster. The Chain +1 Skill did work on healing. We were all pleased.

Fucking-Ecstatic was more like it!

The movers came and went. No breakage, not even a single picture frame!

Edna returned from her stay in the sun all tanned and smiling. She didn’t even mind the white scar remnant under her chin.

“Kate will get me when she Levels up. Jude needs her first,” was the only explanation she was willing to give about her lack of concern over her facial scar’s presence.

“Want to come play in a blue? Heather got us one.”

“Is that where you have been soloing?”

“Nope. Never been in this one before. What do you say? You, me and four airheads hunting down skeletons wielding swords and sometimes wearing armor?”

I had been briefed on the Blue’s first two floors. Skeletons equipped with a variety of melee weapons and bosses in armor carrying greatswords. All of them were damage-resistant against edged physical attacks and had the basic stats of normal healthy humans. The Bosses were upgraded versions, across the line. From what I read between the lines, they had all sixes in attributes and Level 2s in combat ability. Their actual Weapon Skill Levels varied quite a bit. One of the reports stated that the boss was better than the Ranger who wrote the Blue Portal report.

He might even had been a Level 3 with his weapon.

To me didn’t sound like he ‘might have been’, he was Level 3.

Weaknesses of all the skeletons, were the neck and head. Crushing the ribcage would also kill the fleshless, undead monsters, yet much more difficult.

“When?”

“We have been waiting for you,” I grinned, “to get tired of surf, sun and cabana boys waiting on you hand and foot.”

Snort

Caitlin was irritated that she wasn’t invited to go exploring with us. Even if she continued to refuse to ever enter one again, it was a further sign of her weakening stance. Her friendship with Jude and the rest, had deepened in her stay with me at my rented condo.

Bruce had already pulled all of the licenses needed to begin building my new house. The title search and insurance came out clean after three days of searching.

...

Sunday, the second of June, we entered the Blue Graveyard, as the Rangers referred to the dungeon.

Immediately at the end of the stairs, an eight foot, rusted wrought iron Gate appeared before us. The iron fence’s peeling black paint was noticeable contrasted to the rusting pits along the iron posts. The double-sided hooked tops dissuaded anyone from climbing the fence from inside or out.

A heavy fog covered the sparse grass with thin broken gravestones lined up in long even rows. An occasional mausoleum dotted the landscape. Most were small, yet a large one was reported in the center of the graveyard, from where the bosses emerged.

“NO WAY IN HELL!” Nat shuddered.

“Jason did you leave something out of your report?” Kate hid behind me. Even Edna looked uncomfortable.

And it wasn’t even my report, Heather had given it to me first to read over.

“It’s just a graveyard.” A few of the reports did mention an uncomfortable feeling on entering the dungeon.

I didn’t feel anything different.

“I think Jason should go kill everything. We will guard the Gate.” Jude’s suggestion was seconded by Heather, of all people.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Kate agreed.

“Jason, go scout around. We will wait here,” Heather ordered.

“Okay. I’ll look around, I don’t know what the big deal is, it’s just like the Mall.”

“Don’t leave us,” Jude stopped me.

“Okay, what’s going on?” I turned around. Four and a half very scared women stood there showing signs of not going further, come hell or highwater.

“Don’t you feel it?”

“Feel what? I feel the dampness of the fog and smell the earthiness of fresh dirt.”

“I don’t know how to describe it. It feels scary.”

“And the rest of you?”

They were in a consensus. Even battle-hardened Edna felt ill at ease.

“I think what you are feeling is part of the test.”

“What test?” Heather demanded.

“The dungeons are the testing and training grounds. I thought everyone knew that.”

I received two sets of awkward looks and three sets of hostile ones.

Knowing when to retreat, or not to in this case, “Edna in front, diamond formation. I’m in back, Jude left and Nat to the right. Remember; neck, head and upper rib cage are the vulnerable spots. If the limbs become detached, they stop moving. I am not going to fight in here unless you need me. Training, remember?”

They weren’t happy.

They were loud about not being happy.

They were very loud and threatening, about being very unhappy.

But we ended up entering the graveyard with me at the rear, with the change of orders that I would not hold back.

I promised that I would not hold back.

Women!

When the first skeleton warrior broke through the ground, I was this close to being the only one left. Thankfully, they made their morale check (grin) and didn’t flee. I had to step forward and use the hammer end of my Axe to crush its skull, since none of my ladies were moving.

Five more yellowed white skeletal white bodies broke through the ground surrounding us.

“Wake up!” I shouted.

Them not reacting was scary. Edna moved first. Her action spurred the rest, though slowly. Edna decapitated her opponent. I pulverized two more skulls, Kate’s heal returned one to an unmoving state and Jude kept the last one busy until Heather finished it off. Nat cowered in fear, crying.

Her reaction was surprising. She was the most energetic of the lot. Maybe her overactive imagination worked against her here.

Kate comforted the cowering teen from one side, with me on the other. No one mocked or teased her. They all understood. More than I did, at least. I still did not feel the sense of dread that the rest did.

“Kate, switch with Nat please.”

“Natalie, trust me, trust us. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

It took her a few minutes to calm down. Edna made her stomp and attack the piles of inactive bones with her staff to feel better about herself. Our plan was to turn left and work in a spiral inward hopefully clearing the graveyard that way and not leaving anything behind us to ambush us later. Moving much slower than our plan, we started hunting again.

The next few encounters were pretty much the same. Edna improved the fastest. Heather was okay after a half dozen fights. Kate was super effective against the skeletons if she struck their heads; Jude was almost as good as Edna with her Undead Slayer sub-Skill if she too hit them in the head or necks, but Nat was having serious issues. The skeletons scared the girl silly, where the zombies hadn’t.