Tanya stared at the corpse.

It had fallen awkwardly, half-curled like some monstrous animal mid-stumble. Its chest was even more skeletal up close, the ribs jutting through taut, inky skin like the slats of a broken cage. Below that, powerful haunches flexed even in death, long and meaty like a kangaroo's, but bulkier. It had too many arms—at least six, maybe more—folded and twisted beneath its bulk. They didn't match in size. Some were thick and muscular, some spindly and long like they'd been taken from entirely different creatures.

Then, as Assistant withdrew the sword, she saw a faint light glowing through the cracks of the shattered chest. Right where the sword had pierced deepest.

"What's that?" Tanya muttered, leaning closer. The smell wafted into her nose, sweet but wrong, like a mouldy desert. Assistant dropped the sword to the floor with a clatter, and Tanya stepped away from it. It was inside the wood right now, but she didn't trust it.

Mrs. Eceer stepped up beside her, careful not to let her bare feet step into any of the pools of black. She squinted at the pulsing glow, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know," she said after a beat. "It doesn't look like a heart. It's not organic."

Tanya knelt. Up close, the glow became a swirling core of some kind—encased in bone, maybe, or some resinous material. It throbbed faintly, not with life exactly, but with… presence. Like something was still in there. Watching. Waiting.

She almost reached for it, then pulled back.

The achievement message was still floating in her vision. Mini Boss Slayer.

She wasn't used to notifications coming through before the danger alert. She focused on it and it opened up, a stream of alerts coming in behind it. She ignored those for now.

• • •

Achievement: Mini Boss Slayer You've confronted a force far beyond the ordinary and lived to tell the tale. Through sheer grit and determination, you've taken down your first Mini Boss.

Achievement Boon: you now have an entry on this type of monster in your Progression Menu.

• • •

Mini boss.

Her breath hitched. She remembered that conversation from what felt like forever ago when she'd used her Restricted Question to find out monster weaknesses for Phantom Brand. It hadn't explained much about them, just that they were one of the biggest threats in the area.

She exhaled, her voice low. "They were mentioned in me Restricted Question as one of the biggest threats here."

Mrs. Eceer shifted her weight from one foot to the other, eyes not on the corpse but on the space just in front of her where her Interface would be. Her finger twitched. Tanya assumed she was getting it up from her Interface to look for herself.

"This…" She nodded toward the dead creature. "This is a tier below a regular boss."

Silence settled in again.

They didn't say what they were both thinking—but it was there—a shared thought vibrating in the quiet.

If this was a Mini Boss then what the hell was waiting above that?

Tanya noticed Fahad looking between them. He had a startled expression with huge doe eyes and a sticking-out bottom lip. Tanya wasn't sure if he was going to celebrate or cry.

"Let's get your mum back somewhere comfy, right, Fahad?" Tanya said. "You think you're strong enough to help?"

Fahad nodded, still dazed. It seemed to be the right thing to say because he looked down at his mum and then back at Tanya and said, "I know I'm strong enough."

Tanya circled the counter to Ishita.

Mrs Eceer was still prodding through the air with wrinkles forming across her forehead. "Everything I ask about that sparklin' ball in the mini boss' chest is restricted," she said. She wafted her hand to dismiss it and then marched to the back door. "I'll fix this."

Tanya leant down to carry Ishita's shoulders. Fahad stayed by her feet, and Assistant floated over to her middle to steady her back. Tanya guessed she could do it without them, seeing as Mrs Eceer could, but there was no harm in getting help.

"What happened?" Ishita croaked as Tanya's hair brushed her face.

Tanya smiled. "You're awake."

Fahad dropped to his knees and shuffled over to her, plonking his head on his mum's chest and wrapping his arms around her. The lantern had still been tight in his grip, but he tossed it to one side to hug her better, and it disappeared back onto his hand.

Ishita coughed and winced.

Tanya dashed forward with her hand out. "Oi, be careful there, bud. She's still recoverin'."

Fahad pulled back. "Oh, sorry."

"It's… okay… babu,' Ishita said between shaky breaths.

"We're gonna get you comfy, ain't that right, Nurse Fahad?"

Fahad's eyes shone. "I get to be a nurse?!" he yelled.

Tanya held her hand up and lowered it with pursed lips.

"I get to be a nurse?!" he repeated, quieter.

"Yep. Your mum's gonna need lots of care. One, two, three, up." Tanya picked Ishita up, pushing her arms beneath Ishita's armpits and lowering Ishita's head onto her shoulder so it didn't dangle backwards. Fahad held Ishita's ankles, Assistant nearby. They crab-walked to the tattoo chair. Each step was a smack of their shoes, pulling away from the black goo and then splatting back down into it.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Tanya was shocked at how light she was. Ishita was a slight woman, but even then, Tanya had to adjust mid-air to keep from flinging her upwards slightly.

They lowered Ishita onto it, and Tanya's hands came away coated in the black ooze. It must have spread into a puddle around her. She was shivering slightly from the chill. Tanya hadn't noticed until now, but the substance was cooler than the rest of the room. It hadn't bothered her, but with Ishita's Vitality being lower, she guessed it must be the icing on the cake of the cold room. With the newly smashed glass, cold air blew through the battlements and every gap between the planks. As Mrs Eceer was handling reinforcements, the cold was her first priority.

Banging began in the kitchen as Mrs Eceer hammered into the door.

Tanya wiped her hands on her skirt. It was covered in enough sludge that she mostly smeared it around. "First, our patient's gonna need some water to drink and clean her up a bit and some clean clothes. I'll go find clothes if you get me some water ready and pour it into a pot." Tanya looked towards Assistant and then glanced towards Fahad intentionally. Assistant twitched a finger for yes, subtle enough that Fahad didn't seem to notice. "The best nurses get nurse's assistants," she said.

"Cool! Let's go," Fahad said to Assistant. He jogged into the kitchen with Assistant in tow.

"I'll get ya somethin' pretty, don't you worry," Tanya said, hand on her shoulder.

Ishita rolled her eyes, and the corners of her lips turned upwards. "I'll accept…anything…dry," she wheezed. Her teeth chattered quietly.

"Well, ya must be gettin' better then if you can be all picky—wantin' specifically dry clothes." Tanya tutted. She gave Ishita's shoulder one last squeeze, then stood and moved toward the shop's front. The broken barrier groaned faintly in the wind. Cool air slipped through the shattered frame and stung her cheeks.

The flat was just up the stairs. One door over. Tanya hadn't heard a single sound since they killed the Mini Boss, so hopefully, that meant it was still empty.

She grabbed the keys on the way out, easing open what remained of the front door, boots crunching glass as she stepped out into the street. The cool air hit her properly now—sharp, biting. She had to focus on it to feel the extent of the cold, otherwise, it was more refreshing than uncomfortable. The bodies were scattered up to the scaffolding, but there were more near the parlour than elsewhere.

She turned slightly and looked up.

The door to her flat was closed.

Tanya frowned. That was… interesting. The monsters had broken through the glass, gone straight for them. The door was still shot from her first fight; a single hit from one of them would have knocked it clean down. No scratches on the stair rail, no busted doorframe, and no sign of curiosity.

So they could tell, somehow, they could sense people.

She remembered something she'd learnt in GCSE biology about how animals adapted to their environment. They didn't have much that looked like an ear, and their nostrils were big, so she assumed they used smell over hearing. Although she didn't know that they followed Earth rules at all, maybe they had some magical hearing sense or even clairvoyance. The lock clicked. Technically, she could have just shoved it down, but this was quieter.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She froze. Her heart snapped tight in her chest.

A woman.

Up the road, maybe thirty paces away. She was strolling. Her hands were tucked into the front pocket of oil-stained overalls, and her long hair was braided into two thick blonde plaits that bounced slightly as she moved. She had rosy cheeks and keen eyes, peering into car windows as she passed. There was something metal on her arm. She didn't look frantic or even concerned. The only sign she even knew about the apocalypse were splatter of black across her legs.

Tanya's breath caught. Instinct kicked in.

She ducked back inside the shop, heart thudding in her throat. The door creaked as she shoved it shut behind her.

"Mrs. Eceer," she hissed, crouching low to stare through the window. She was nowhere near close enough to see through the gap, but it didn't stop Tanya from looking. "Mrs. Eceer, come through."

From the back room, footsteps approached. Mrs. Eceer emerged, wiping her hands with a rag. "What is it now?"

"I've done the water!" Fahad called from the kitchen. He appeared in the doorway with a big grin and a mixing bowl of water. Assistant perched on his shoulder. "Oh? Where's the clothes?"

"There's someone out there," Tanya said quickly, eyes flicking toward the door.

Mrs. Eceer froze. "What do you mean there's someone out there?"

"I mean—" Tanya's voice dropped to a whisper, tense and sharp. "—there's this woman. Just walking. Further up the street."

Mrs. Eceer stepped toward the window, keeping low. "What's she doing?"

"I dunno. Just… just staring into cars. Like she's shopping for one."

"Is she armed?"

"I don't know. I just saw her for a second," Tanya hissed, voice tight. "She looked normal. That's what's weird."

Mrs Eceer pressed her back to the wall beside the boarded window, peering through a crack with one eye, then retreating when she didn't see her.

Tanya stayed crouched, mind racing. She looked too. Her hands flexed, trying to decide if they should be gripping a weapon.

"So what do we do?" Tanya asked.

They each glanced at the window to peer again every few seconds.

Mrs Eceer pursed her lips. "We stay inside and stay quiet."

The seconds stretched.

Every so often, one of them would shift, just enough to steal a glance through the boarded slits of the window—but the woman wasn't in sight. Tanya crouched near the door, her knees aching, pulse loud in her ears. The only sound was Fahad gently sloshing the water in the bowl as he tried not to spill it.

Tanya heard Ishita whisper something and turned to see Fahad lowering the bowl to the floor slowly, his eyes set on Ishita as if checking if it was quiet enough. Then, he padded over to Ishita, who looked pale but aware. She raised her hand weakly, and Fahad latched on to it, shuffling closer.

"Hold my hand, babu," she whispered.

"Okay," he whispered back, nodding seriously.

Still no sign.

Tanya held her breath as she peeked again. Nothing. Was she gone?

Then movement.

A pale shape drifted past the edge of the window.

Tanya froze. Mrs. Eceer stiffened beside her.

The woman had reappeared.

She stopped outside the parlour, her head tilting as she looked across the wreckage. Her gaze settled on the car crashed into the kebab shop, its back bumper still skewed into the pavement. She stepped toward it, not minding the mess of bodies around her. She picked her way over them with quiet ease, then leaned down to peer into the driver-side window.

Tanya didn't breathe.

The woman lingered, circling the car. Then, slowly, she looked down—at the nearest corpse. Her eyes followed it. Then another. She turned and noticed the way they'd fallen. Her head turned toward the parlour, toward them, as if she were mapping the lines of carnage back to their origin. Back to the shop.

"She's clockin' us," Tanya whispered.

They watched as the woman began to walk again, but this time, she was heading their way.

"She's walkin' over," Tanya hissed. "Now what?"

Mrs. Eceer had gone pale, her lips drawn tight. Ishita stirred slightly. "What's happening?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"If we move Ishita now, and she comes in, we're caught off guard," Tanya said quickly. "If she's looking for violence, Ishita and Fahad are too easy a target."

Mrs. Eceer's jaw clenched. Her eyes never left the window.

"We wanna catch her off guard," Tanya said. "I'll go out an' have a word. Try to settle things. If it goes sideways… you back me up, yeah?"

Mrs. Eceer didn't like it. Tanya could see it in her eyes.

But she nodded.

Mrs Eceer staying was the obvious choice. She had barriers to protect the other two.

Slowly, Tanya stood up.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned. Assistant was behind her.

"I know things aren't great right now, but you'll come, yeah?" Tanya whispered.

Assistant didn't need to respond. It was already climbing back onto her skin. Taking the sword out would only escalate things, and she didn't want to go near it if she could help it anyway.

She looked down at Assistant, now two-dimensional on her arm, and let out a breath.

At least I'm not alone.

She made her way to the door.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.