Three sharp knocks rattled the warehouse door, breaking the morning silence.
Boyd opened his eyes instantly, his hand finding the holster by pure reflex.
Beside him, Father Khatri, who had already been awake for quite some time, raised his head and sat up.
"Sheriff." The voice outside belonged to Kenny. Tense, but controlled. "It's me."
Boyd let out a long sigh before unlocking the door.
The moment it opened, Kenny's eyes swept across the interior of the warehouse in a single motion, making sure both men were unharmed.
Without waiting for any questions, Boyd began recounting everything that had happened.
Kenny remained silent, listening attentively from beginning to end. The concern on his face gradually gave way to something much harder to define.
When Boyd described the semicircle formed by the creatures and their synchronized retreat, the deputy slowly crossed his arms.
"They understood the entire plan."
"In a matter of seconds," the sheriff confirmed. "Then they stood there watching us like they were enjoying a mediocre circus show."
Kenny's jaw shifted subtly, as though he were chewing on the information before accepting it.
"They're getting smarter."
"Or they've always been this smart, and we're the ones who took too long to realize it." Khatri stood as he spoke and motioned for the deputy to come inside.
"Come in. Let's not discuss this out there."
The three gathered in the middle of the warehouse. The only light was the gray, uncertain glow of dawn filtering through the cracks in the wooden walls in thin, uneven beams.
"The crows," Khatri said, arriving at what seemed like the obvious conclusion. "It's the simplest explanation. They saw the alcohol being hidden. They probably overheard the plan."
Boyd kept his eyes fixed on a random spot on the floor as he thought it over.
"Then any strategy that relies on surprise will have to be prepared inside a place protected by a talisman."
"We shouldn't blindly trust what Sara tells us." Kenny frowned. "It's still hard to believe that anything in this place actually wants to help us."
"But everything she's told us so far has turned out to be true," Khatri calmly replied, defending his protégée. "Did you forget that she warned us about Rick?"
Kenny merely pressed his lips together without answering.
"I'm not trusting her blindly," Boyd said. "I just think that, for now, it's still the most plausible explanation."
"Maybe," Khatri continued, steering the conversation in another direction, "we'll get different results if we use something deadlier. Something they can't predict or avoid so easily."
He paused briefly.
"A grenade, for example."
The suggestion lingered in the air.
Khatri turned to Boyd, making it obvious who the only person in town capable of obtaining that kind of weapon was.
The sheriff closed his eyes for a moment and massaged his temples.
"Let's get this over with," he muttered, already resigned to the prospect of negotiating with the blond kid once again.
...
The motorhome remained parked beside the sheriff's station.
Boyd knocked twice with his knuckles, firmly enough to wake anyone inside.
Inside, Daniel let out a long sigh of irritation. He was still comfortably buried beneath the blankets, with Julie nestled against his chest and her legs tangled with his.
The knocks made her wake with a small start, blinking slowly as she tried to understand what was happening.
"Who the hell is it?" he grumbled quietly, placing a kiss on his girlfriend's bare shoulder before carefully slipping out of her embrace.
He put on nothing but a pair of dark sweatpants and walked to the entrance, his bare feet sinking into the plush carpet.
When he unlocked the door and stepped outside, his face was the very picture of morning grumpiness.
"Do you two have any idea what time it is?" Daniel asked, leaning one shoulder against the doorframe and raising an eyebrow as he looked at the visitors.
"The creatures only just crawled back into their dens. The sheriff's station needs to have more civilized business hours."
"I didn't come here to discuss your mood, kid. We have business," Boyd replied bluntly.
The word business had barely left the sheriff's mouth before Daniel's irritation vanished as though it had never existed.
A salesman's smile immediately appeared on his face.
"Why didn't you say so?" He opened the door all the way and made an exaggeratedly welcoming gesture. "Come in, make yourselves at home. The Apocalypse Express is always open for premium customers."
[Your capitalist streak is enough to bring a tear to my eye. If Hell had a stock exchange, you'd be the majority shareholder.]
"Be quiet and take notes if you want to learn how to make money," Daniel shot back while closing the door behind them.
"No beating around the bush, Daniel. How much would a grenade cost?"
Daniel had already checked the shop before. A standard military grenade cost one hundred silver coins.
Under normal circumstances, he would have charged the equivalent of four chickens, earning two hundred coins after devouring them. But his current situation was different.
His balance stood at 4,910 coins. He only needed ninety more to reach the goal he had in mind, and he intended to spend everything the moment he got there. Running out of capital now wasn't an option.
"If you bring me eight chickens, I'll sell you a grenade."
The wrinkles on Boyd's forehead deepened.
"Can't you lower the price? Animals are getting harder and harder to find," Kenny argued.
"I'm charging a fair price for having a monopoly on this town's weapons market," Daniel replied with a logic that, from a certain point of view, was impossible to dispute. "A billy goat, like the last one, would work too."
The sheriff bit the inside of his cheek while weighing his options.
Resources were painfully scarce, but the previous night's failure had made one thing clear: if they wanted to keep trying, they needed something far more destructive.
"I'll think about it." Boyd's tone made it clear the negotiation was over.
Daniel simply gave a nod without pressing the matter. As he watched the weary expression on the sheriff's face, a few pieces began falling into place in his mind. Even so, he decided to confirm his suspicion.
"What happened last night?"
Boyd saw no reason to hide it. He let out a heavy sigh before recounting the creatures' macabre choreography, the way they had retreated in perfect unison, and Smiley's mocking grin as he watched the fire trap fail.
Daniel listened without interrupting. He hadn't expected that, but the monsters' intelligence didn't come as much of a surprise.
"Before you leave and finally take this funeral atmosphere with you," he called out as the two men turned toward the door,
"I just wanted to let you know I've expanded my product catalog. I now sell chocolate bars and alcoholic drinks too, in case post-failure depression calls for a little comfort."
Kenny swallowed hard. The mere mention of chocolate made his eyes light up slightly, and his mouth watered involuntarily.
The sheriff merely grunted in acknowledgment, opened the door, and walked down the steps without looking back.
As soon as the door was locked again, the bedroom curtain slid aside. Julie stepped into the living area wearing nothing but Daniel's black leather jacket, the hem reaching halfway down her thighs.
"Looks like things are changing quite a bit compared to the storyline you told me about," she murmured. The concern showed not just in her voice, but in the tight line of her lips.
"It doesn't matter." Daniel walked over and wrapped his hands around her waist. "We just need to become strong enough to crush whatever changes come our way."
His gaze drifted to the faint dark circles beneath his girlfriend's eyes. The previous night had been demanding, and Julie still didn't have the same physical recovery ability he did.
"Just look at you. You look like you've been run over by a tractor," he teased, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb.
"Go finish that daily quest. With those two reward points, you'll be able to advance one sub-level. Getting stronger will wipe out that fatigue in no time."
Julie stretched, chasing away the lingering laziness.
"Alright. The quest asks for ten push-ups and twenty sit-ups."
Daniel raised an eyebrow. He remembered that his own daily quest had required fifty push-ups and one hundred sit-ups. Compared to that, Julie's Subsystem seemed calibrated for an elementary school PE class.
He decided to keep that comment to himself. Complaining to the System had never solved anything.
Julie settled onto the carpet and began the exercises. Her breathing became uneven for a few moments, more from lack of practice than actual exertion, but she completed the entire routine without much difficulty.
As soon as she finished the last sit-up, she turned her attention to the invisible interface and allocated her reward points.
"The panel updated," she announced, sharing the information with him.
[Life Level 1 — Peak Human]
Strength: 11 / Endurance: 11 / Intelligence: 11 / Speed: 11
"I also received the two attribute points as a reward," she added, showing a small, satisfied smile.
"Put both of them into Endurance," Daniel instructed as he headed to the kitchen to prepare something for them to eat.
"Why?"
"Because I intend to keep being a very devoted boyfriend."
Julie watched his broad shoulders as he walked away.
That's the only way I'll have any hope of keeping up with him in bed.
She discreetly bit her lower lip before assigning both points to Endurance, raising the attribute to thirteen.
The change was immediate.
A pleasant warmth flowed through her bloodstream, dissolving the fatigue that had settled into her muscles and sweeping away the last traces of sleep from her mind.
It felt like waking up after a perfect night's rest, as though every part of her body had been completely renewed.
"This is amazing," she whispered, getting to her feet with a lightness she had never experienced before.
Daniel turned from the sink with a smile full of ulterior motives.
"Since you're feeling so recharged, how about testing that new Endurance right now?"
Julie rolled her eyes as she walked over and rested her hands on the counter.
"No way. The moment you start, you completely forget the word 'stop.'"
They both knew she was only teasing him. The memory of the previous night still made the insides of her thighs tingle in anticipation.
"Alright. Save that energy. We need to eat, then go see your mom."
The night before, after discovering the rune tattooed on Daniel's thigh, Julie had asked for one of her own as well.
That was when he revealed that the necklace he had given her was already enchanted.
After learning that the rune had been enchanted to prevent its wearer from seeing spirits, Julie came up with the idea of giving it to her mother, which would solve the problem of the dead children's apparitions.
Daniel agreed with the plan and even reinforced the enchantment, injecting additional Spiritual Energy to strengthen its effects.
The two of them even discussed the possibility of creating mental protection runes for Jim, Tabitha, and Ethan.
In the end, however, they concluded that the wisest course was to postpone the idea.
If the crows tried to probe any of their minds and encountered an unexpected barrier, it could attract unwanted attention.
…
Julie and Daniel found Tabitha in the front yard of Colony House.
She frowned slightly when her daughter held the necklace out to her.
"But, sweetheart..." Her fingers wrapped around the polished stone as she examined it curiously. "You seemed so happy with this gift. Why are you giving it to me?"
Julie didn't hesitate to use the excuse she had prepared.
"It's just... Dan's going to make another one for me using a pretty stone I found in the forest, right?"
She finished the sentence turning to her boyfriend.
"That's right." Daniel played along without missing a beat. "And she said this one suits you much better. That's why she decided to give it to you."
Before Tabitha could ask another question, Julie quickly unclasped the necklace, slipped the chain around her mother's neck, and fastened it in place.
"It looks beautiful! And please, don't take it off no matter what, so you don't accidentally lose it. We still have to check the traps."
She spoke so quickly that she barely gave her mother time to respond before walking away alongside Daniel toward the forest.
They only had time to hear Tabitha thank them before disappearing among the trees.
The two of them made their way through the woods, checking one trap after another.
Their streak of good fortune over the past few days, however, seemed to have finally come to an end. None of the traps had caught any animals.
Realizing that his Spiritual Energy had almost completely recovered, Daniel abandoned his original plan of continuing Julie's firearms training.
Instead, he decided to return to the motorhome and take the opportunity to create the new rune.
On the way back, they passed by Colony House.
Dozens of residents were celebrating on the lawn while several men made the final adjustments to the massive wooden tower that had just been erected on the mansion's roof.
The sight made Julie absentmindedly bite the tip of her thumb.
As soon as they stepped into the motorhome, she broke the silence.
"Even if my mom isn't digging that hole anymore... couldn't whoever is on the radio find another way to punish my dad?" Concern echoed through every word.
"Wouldn't it be safer to sabotage that tower? We already know it isn't going to bring any rescue."
Daniel was curious to find out what the voice would say in this altered timeline. Even so, Julie's reasoning made sense.
"And how do you suggest we do that without causing an uproar throughout town?" he asked, keeping his tone calm.
"I can use the Inventory." Julie looked up at him. "When no one's looking, I'll store the radio in the dimensional space."
Daniel shook his head.
"That's way too risky. It's best to use the Inventory as discreetly as possible. Don't let anyone notice, and don't forget about the crows."
"The last thing we want is for those things to start paying attention to you... at least not until you're strong enough to face the creatures on equal footing."
After a brief moment of thought, he added,
"I could do it instead, since those things already know I have that ability. But even if the radio or the wires disappeared, do you really think your father would give up?"
Julie thought about it for a few seconds.
"No." A sigh escaped her lips. "He'd take it as proof that he was on the right track... and he'd become even more paranoid than he already is, suspicious of everyone."
Daniel nodded. It was exactly the reaction he expected from Jim.
"Don't worry so much. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it."
Julie responded with a small nod, looking somewhat more at ease.
"I'm going to try creating the Stealth Rune now." Daniel materialized the notebook and the needle.
Julie's face immediately lit up. "I can't wait to test it."
"It'll take me a little while to finish." He pulled a large chocolate bar out of his Inventory and held it out to her. "In the meantime, spread the word about the new products. You can eat it, it's yours... just don't forget to use it to advertise."
"You can count on me." Her expression grew even brighter.
Julie had seen countless sweets in the shop that made her mouth water, but she had managed to restrain herself.
With only twenty silver coins, every purchase felt wasteful, and asking Daniel for anything had never crossed her mind.
He had already explained that he needed to save up five thousand coins to buy his new weapon.
After she left, Daniel focused all of his attention on the notebook's blank page.
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