Chapter 2

When the priest passed, I removed the strap buried in his beard and pulled on the helmet until it popped off and slammed my chin. If my tongue were out, I would have bitten it in half. The shell and visor were thick and unmarred, despite the battles. His face wasn’t so fortunate.

Hundreds of fights left his cheeks disfigured with gashes, and his nose looked like someone hammered it flat. His face was a timeline. Patches of soft, youthful skin, crows feet spread over the years, and layered scars stacked from his encounters. How many battles had he survived? He fought powerful beasts beyond anything I had seen, and he survived until I came along and killed him. If God really existed, I’d have to answer for what I did to one of his warriors.

After struggling for a few minutes, I removed his protective vest and strapped it to my body. Even with the straps stretched to their limits, it was loose. The cross had to go. I wasn’t part of The Order and didn’t want a fanatic chasing after me. A metal club with a block and five serrated flanges hung from a loop on the vest and looked like an easy weapon to swing.

I searched the priest and found two knives tucked inside a waistband, a holster with no pistol, and most importantly, a supply pouch. Before reviewing the contents, I tore at the slippery wrapper of an energy bar until giving up and biting a corner open. My hands shook, and the tips of my fingers were numb, but once the fragrant aroma of chocolate, peanut butter, and dried cranberries wafted out, all my worries drifted away.

No amount of acting tough could mask how much I craved sweet foods. After one bite, my body floated in the air as if I were on a tube, flowing down a winding river. I wanted to devour the remaining bars, but fought the urge and wiped the drool from my face. There was one remaining piece of equipment I knew of from Mike, and I needed them badly.

Frontliners had contact lenses called scanners fused to their eyes for battle. The ability to determine particle mass from energy outputs and view anybody’s ID in the database from soul signatures was powerful. Not to mention night vision and the way scanners outlined essence like infrared.

After a little prodding, the scanners released from the priest’s eyes, and I fused them to mine with essence. Thirty seconds after the melding completed, the scanners synced to the chip in my neck, and for the first time since the cities fell eight months ago, I reviewed my body’s status.

Name: Amy Sullivan Age: 22 Expansions: 47 Essence-Particle Mass: 1.437g Expansion Mass: 0.063/0.094g Particle Output: 190.5W Attenuated Eff: 31.4% Attenuated Mass: 0.471g Attenuated Output: 59.8W Soul Status: Abnormal Body Status: Sub-Optimal

I gripped my legs and clenched my jaw to hold back the smile splitting my face in half. I wanted to dance around the cave while yelling until my vocal cords exploded. Finally, I had a way to strengthen myself.

I could only use 31 percent of the essence stored in my soul for physical strengthening, but before I patched the priest’s soul to mine, that percentage was zero. Now I could use the decay energy and transfer the particles throughout my body wherever I needed them.

The changes were incredible and explained why it took so long to clear the corruption and bind the priest’s abilities.

I only stitched five percent of the priest’s soul, but my particle mass doubled, and it took three times longer than Lia—whose entire soul I bound to mine. Like me, she couldn’t hold on to the energy released, meaning after I took her in, nothing changed, other than my ability.

According to the news, the essence particles that bound themselves to our souls decayed and released an energy people absorbed to fuel their bodies. Essence strengthening required a lot of energy, and a portion came from the particle decay itself. I understood the concept but had no way to experience it for myself.

I spread essence particles through every muscle and allowed myself a moment to take it in. The waves of energy washed over me like a warm bath on a frigid night. Each layered expansion of my soul would bring me a little closer to surviving the apocalypse.

With a good grasp of my body’s potential, I checked on my soul’s status to see how the system recorded the change.

Soul Status: Abnormal - Multiple Signatures Detected Amy Sullivan: Weaver Lia Sullivan: Seeker William Roberts: Essence Manipulation

Every soul had a marker, and the system logged everybody with a chip into the database. The priest was in the database, and his ability was common amongst frontline fighters; common, but powerful.

Other than the metal club and knives, The Order created his equipment from squid based materials, which allowed particle manipulation and damage repair. His vest and helmet were shields capable of strengthening and self-healing. I’d need practice.

Body Status: Sub-Optimal Essence Corruption: 7.4% Injuries: None Illnesses: None Genetic abnormalities: None Physical Impairments: None Neurological Response: 63.4%

The constant fleeing and stress of being hunted left my body and mind exhausted, which lowered my neurological response. I hadn’t cleared all the corruption I gained from the priest, either. The fighting tired me, and somehow the system calculated my response time and gave a percentage of normal. Although my soul healed injuries, I didn’t know how to overcome exhaustion outside of sleeping. I didn’t look forward to more fighting.

Most scabs were physically stronger than me, but they weren’t overwhelmingly strong. I could handle one or two with my ability as long as I could grab them. They stopped growing stronger when their souls reached their maximum potential and hit a barrier. The pressure from their soul’s expansion reflected inwards, and it collapsed.