The first sound I heard wasn't an alarm—it was Viktor scraping a metal chair leg against the floor like a gong.
"Rise and shine, murder hobos!" he called out. "Time to go kill things that aren't human for once!"
A groan rippled through the camp. Someone threw a crumpled jacket at him. It missed by a mile.
I was already up. I'd been awake since Nicole relieved me, but I'd stayed curled on the bed, pretending to sleep. Listening. Breathing. Thinking.
Sol stirred first from our group, rubbing his face and sitting up with that quiet grace only he had. Giselle and Laney followed—one stretching out with a yawn, the other already checking gear. Kyle was dead asleep until Mitch yanked his blanket away. Curses followed. So did laughter.
Liam and Logan were wordless as they stood and began packing with muscle memory precision. Nicole handed Sloan a protein bar without a word, and Jesse was still swearing under his breath about needing coffee.
Our group—my team—was awake, alert, and moving with rhythm. Uneven, but real.
From deeper in the store, behind a stack of overstuffed couches, I heard distant movement. Voices. The clink of weapons or armor. Not ours.
Marco's group, most likely. Maybe Wei Shen's. They weren't part of this operation. Whatever they were doing, I wasn't interested unless they got in our way.
The camp's single bathroom created a short line, but people cycled through—brushing their teeth with bottled water, tying their hair back, and splashing cold water over their faces. No one talked much. Everyone was focused or pretending to be.
I headed to the small cooking station we'd built out of camping gear from the sporting goods store—folding stove, single burner, and a battered cast iron pan. I'd salvaged a few cans the night before and stashed them behind a busted shelving unit.
Breakfast was a mess of: Powdered eggs from an emergency ration bucket, Spam slices, seared in oil packets from a survival kit, Trail mix crushed into a kind of gritty topping, and a packet of instant coffee, brewed over a small campfire burner that hissed every time I tapped the metal rim.
The smell was halfway between a military mess hall and a survivalist fever dream. But it was warm. And filling. And real.
Nicole approached as I started plating it on scavenged paper trays.
"Spam trail mix scramble," I said dryly. "Gourmet, if you lower your standards enough."
She smirked. "I ate worse in Kandahar."
Kyle sniffed it and muttered, "That better be caffeine or I'm committing a war crime."
Sol handed out the trays while I poured coffee into plastic mugs. Viktor got two—he was already eyeing seconds.
As the group gathered in a loose ring, eating in silence or soft conversation, I stood near the map I'd drawn on the wall with a permanent marker. A rough layout of the mall. Stores. Entrances. Maintenance tunnels. I had Viktor help me since he worked here—he should know where all the good supplies were and places where people or goblins would hide.
At 0755, I clapped my hands twice.
"Gear up. Five-minute warning."
Everyone moved. Armor tightened. Weapons holstered. Blades checked. I scanned my own loadout—katana, pistols, throwing knives, one dagger at the small of my back. Sol was ready too—bow across his shoulder, boots laced high.
Nicole gave her team a sharp nod. "No solo moves. No glory grabs. If it moves and snarls, you put it down. If it runs, you track it."
From beyond our camp, I heard Wei Shen's guards talking low. A few grunts of effort. Something heavy being dragged or moved. Marco's people, maybe. But no one from their side came into view, and I wasn't about to chase them down. If Marco wasn't going to show, then not my problem. The quest will be complete with or without him. Once everything was packed, I signaled for everyone to head to the entrance.
At exactly 0800, we were at the front of the store. I saw Marco with fifteen people, including Jasper, who was glaring at me. Wei Shen and his family stood nearby with four guards.
Marco met my eyes from across the room and gave a curt nod.
He walked over before we started the final checks.
"We'll be searching the floor for my daughter. I'm not interested in following your lead," Marco said plainly. "But if things go bad, I'd like to know we can count on each other. That goes both ways."
I studied him. "You do what you need to. Just don't get in our way."
He gave a grim smile. "Wasn't planning to."
Wei Shen stood at the rear, arms crossed, unmoving. I guess he wanted to send us off.
As I turned to leave, he spoke, his voice level but carrying weight. "You have courage, Jasmine. Just make sure you return with the same number you left with. Strength means nothing if you waste it recklessly."
I met his gaze for a second. There was no challenge in his tone—just a quiet warning wrapped in observation.
I turned to my group. "We're moving. The plan is to sweep the second floor. We'll be entering from the east stairwell—two stores down from here. Charlie team leads since Viktor is most familiar with places in the mall. Bravo, Delta, and then Alpha will follow. Once we get to the second floor, we go to the main crossroad in the mall. It's the center of the floor. We'll split up—Alpha goes north, Bravo east, Charlie south, Delta west. We regroup at the center in two hours."
I looked around the circle.
"The goal is to sweep the floor for supplies and clues about the missing women. Most importantly—stay alive. You can't level up if you're dead. There could be hostile people, so stay on guard. Trust no one."
Viktor folded his arms. "Isn't the north side the electronics wing? Are you sure Alpha can handle the crazies? They've probably leveled up a lot. What if any team gets in serious trouble?"
"Yes," I said calmly. "That's why we're going in smaller groups. Harder to detect. If you run into something you can't handle, radio in your location, the type of enemy, and how many. If you can't speak, double-press the button on the side of your radio. That's our silent signal. That's the signal something's wrong. Team leads will stay in constant contact. Report when you enter and leave a store—and whenever your quest updates. Got it?"
No one said anything.
I gave a final nod. Without another word, we left the furniture store.