It all had started maybe half an hour into their trek. Much too close to the base, in Alice's opinion.

"Careful, another Street Shark is coming! Get ready for soul comparison." Alice sent the warning the moment she could feel the soul entering her range.

"Position?" Carl's voice entered her mind.

Alice put her hand on Debby's shoulder while the rest of the group spread out around them. Closing her eyes, Alice concentrated on the image of her Soul sense before sending it out in real-time to the people around her.

Moments later, Max took a step to the side just in time for the stone-skinned shark to jump out of the ground into the empty air. At the highest point of its jump, Carl suddenly sped forwards, accelerating at inhuman speeds, his arm extending in a punch.

His fist stopped a few centimeters in front of the creature, allowing it to finish its arc. With the sound of a boulder hitting asphalt, it flopped on the ground, dead.

Their first encounter hadn't even been close to as smooth of a process as this. Instead, it had been chaos, especially since there had been several of them. Alice had been barely able to keep up with warning everyone, as she was the only one who could tell if someone got targeted, and even worse, her ax hadn't been able to injure the creatures since they were covered in several centimeters of stone.

Out of all of them, it had been Debby who mind-blasted the things, stunning them while they jumped out of the ground, allowing her husband to finish them off. Carl had a Skill called Ten-inch punch that allowed his fist to connect with whatever was ten inches in front of it. With the right timing, that meant he could punch the insides of the creature's bodies.

It was only after that that they figured out that Alice could project her Soul sense through the telepathic network. However, the network had a limit on the amount of information it could transmit, making everyone else only capable of telling the positions of the souls, but not which belonged to whom. Even worse was that they still saw from Alice's perspective. That problem had been solved through a simple trick. With someone standing a fixed distance from Alice, the other got a second point of reference and could simply compare their own position to that of Alice and her partner to find their own position in Alice's Soul sense.

Working the kinks out of this tactic that they had dubbed the 'soul comparison' had taken a few attempts, but now on the fifth attack, they pulled off a clean win.

"Everyone fine?" Alice asked out loud, the network having been reserved for 'action' reports

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to take a break soon. This Skill uses little Mana but lots of Stamina," Carl explained his situation.

Not for the first time, Alice wished she had an attack Skill. The Street Shark's stone skin made Alice unable to injure them with her ax and Ava's knives. And since it was stone, even Daniel's lightning did almost nothing. Out of all of them, Debby could stun the creatures for a while, but it cost too much Mana to be sustainable, Carl could kill them quite easily with his Skill, and while Harry could kill them with one of the several guns he was carrying, he didn't do so because it was impossible to get a shot at them without anyone standing in the line of fire.

Alice had even tested binding one of their souls. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, it actually gave her the Skill the creatures used to move through the ground. In theory, that Skill would allow Alice to get through their armor. In practice, the Skill worked permanently within a few centimeters of her skin and turned any kind of earth or stone into a highly viscous fluid. When she bound a second soul, both of them permanently, the material became a little less viscous.

Not only did that mean she would have to fight the creatures barehanded because the effect didn't extend all the way to her ax, but it also meant that she was slowly sinking into the ground. Ava had suggested that they should fashion her some kind of platform shoes so that the ground would be out of range of the effect. Alice, however, rejected the idea on account of the increased risk of stumbling and falling, followed by her basically having to stand up while lying in a puddle of honey.

"Okay, how many shots do you have left?"

"Two or three, depending on how long we walk in between."

"We are more or less on the outskirts now, right?" There were maybe three houses left before they would have to cross a long stretch of road without any buildings. It would take at least half an hour to cross that distance and get to the city.

"Let's clean one of the buildings and take a rest on the first floor. The Sharks shouldn't be able to get us up there," Alice looked at the sun in the sky, "Rather, let's stop here for today. The Sharks weren't something we could predict, and it is already relatively late. Instead of taking the risk and trying to cross the distance to the city, I think it would be better to go at it tomorrow when we are at full strength and know how to deal with them. And maybe, we are lucky, and they will just move away in the meantime."

Alice looked in the round seeing everyone nod. There were some nuances to it, though. More than anyone, Harry had a satisfied expression, like a teacher who saw their student perform excellently. Ava, on the flipside, seemed a little impatient and annoyed but accepting. Then, there was Deb, who had the most relieved expression. Of all of them, the woman had the lowest physical Stats and base fitness. And of course, then there was Carl, who also looked relieved, but for very different reasons than his wife.

Once their plan of action was confirmed, the team began their assault on the nearest house. It couldn't even be called a fight. The first of the four Monkeys occupying the house died the moment it looked out of the window, sniped by Harry. The second followed just a moment later, falling from the roof, fried by a bolt of lightning. The remaining two held on a little longer, but only as long as it took Alice and Ava to reach them. Both girls were irate and stressed out after feeling completely useless in the last few fights. Ava, even more so than Alice.

We're developing quite the violent tendencies, Alice realized. We should probably have a talk about that.

"Whew!" Debby fell onto the couch with an exhausted sigh. They had all gathered in the living room of the house after cleaning up the worst of the Monkey's leftover food, both before and after it had been eaten. Despite being on the ground floor, it was safe thanks to the basement underneath.

"You girls have been doing this every single day?" the woman asked, continuing before anyone could answer, "I've got to give you a bit more respect. This is exhausting!"

"It gets better if you have higher Stamina. You can go longer and recover faster," Ava interjected helpfully.

"I got a level a while ago, so I'm going to do exactly that. But I actually meant more mentally exhausting."

"You get used to it. Besides, it helps to have a clear goal. Your son, was it? If you think you can't go on anymore, think of him and the possibility that he comes to find you. It will keep you going," Alice helped out too.

"Then, what is your goal? If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't. It's my brother. He went on a school trip to New York. According to Al, I'm going to meet him sometime in fall, so until then, I want to be as strong as I possibly can," Alice omitted some of the more confusing details.

"And yours?" the woman now asked Ava.

At some point, the girl had ended up behind Alice, now hanging off her back with her arms over Alice's shoulders. The girl is definitely getting better at this whole stealth thing, Alice realized.

"Staying with my girlfriend and making sure she doesn't die on me," the redhead answered with a grin.

"You two are?" Debby raised a curious eyebrow.

Alice blushed a little, looking to the side. Everything was fine if it was just her and Ava, but whenever she had to talk openly with other people about it, or when Ava did, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

"Ehem. Actually, there is one more thing that helps. Good sleep!" Alice tried to change the direction of the conversation, "And in that vein, has anyone here noticed something changing about their sleeping patterns? And I don't mean waking up with nightmares, but in the sense of needing more or less sleep than before?"

Alice looked in the round. The other two girls denied it. Daniel and Max were in the open concept kitchen, collecting food for everyone. They hadn't noticed anything either. Carl looked up when Harry made him aware, the old man had dragged him away at some point, showing him how to throw a proper punch.

Now with the man's attention, Alice repeated her question.

"Actually, now that you say I've been waking up before Debby recently," the man confirmed.

"Do you have some Skill that could be the cause? Or, what's your highest Stat?" Ava asked for more information.

"A Skill? I don't think so. I have only three Skills. The punch, the one that makes me faster, and a defensive Skill. But they all use a lot of Stamina, so I have a lot of that," the man answered, clearly proud of himself.

And for the first time, Alice thought that he had all right to be. Actually, she was a bit jealous. How could it be that the man had only three Skills, and they were the three most essential Skills of a warrior? She, on the other hand, had a total of eight Skills, if she included those she got from her bound souls, but still not a single standard warrior Skill. Sure, he wouldn't have the utility she had. He couldn't survive the kind of wounds Alice could. And sooner or later, he would run out of Stamina when compared to Alice, who could, in theory, continue fighting for eternity as long as there were enemies and she killed them fast enough.

Still, she was jealous. She shook her head, getting her mind back on track, "Deb, did you already make a report to the Captain about our current situation? If not, ask him if he knows anything about the sleep thing or to ask around at least. It would be useful to know for planning the night watch."

"Sure, I will ask him," the woman answered, closing her eyes a moment later.

"Done, he said he would ask around. Now, Ava, you have to tell me more about you two!"

"Oh, gladly!"

It appears, Alice thought, like my diversion has failed.

While Ava walked over and fell into the couch next to Debby, Alice stood up from the chair she had been sitting on, walking over to the kitchen.

"Did you two find anything?" she asked the two men raiding the pantry.

"Yeah, some stuff," Daniel said, "Most of the things in the fridge and freezer have already gone furry, but we found some cans. Beans, corn, or strained tomatoes, it's your pick. Also, toasts, we could try toasting them on the camping cooker. And some glasses of jam that were still closed, so those are still good as well.

And finally, it seems the people who lived here were some kind of coke connoisseurs. Like, seriously, they have exactly one bottle of every brand, and nine out of ten I have never heard of or can even read the label cause they're written in Chinese or Arabic."

"Okay, it's good that we won't have to go at our reserves. General weirdness of people aside, how are you two doing?" Alice tried to do her best impression of a concerned leader. Actually, she was a leader and concerned, so it wasn't an impression at all.

"You know me. I'm always waiting for a plane to fly by and lose its cargo of other shoes. But that could happen no matter where we are, so I'm no better or worse than at any other time," Daniel answered.

Alice still wondered how the guy could be so pessimistic about the whole thing and still so relaxed. On the other hand, could it be called pessimism if he was right? If they hadn't Alice's Soul sense, or Debby's telepathic network, or Carl's Ten-inch punch, that proverbial 'other shoe' would have taken the form of the Street Sharks.

Rather than a pessimist or realist, Alice realized, that guy is more fucking Zen than buddha himself. He realized he could die any fucking second, made his peace with it, and just went on to make the best out of the time he had left.

"H-how can you people be like that? I'm a nervous wreck over here, constantly fearing for my or your death, and you are... like that!"

Max's little outburst reminded her a little of Ava's. The one where she confessed. Alice almost chuckled at the thought but realized that that would be very inappropriate.

"Right!" Daniel seemed to come to a realization, "None of you actually know, do you? You could say that I'm more or less used to all this. Not the magic and monster hunting, mind you. I'm talking about the death part. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor a few years back, so I might die any given day. So, since I can't go out and have fun anymore, I thought I might as well help out as long as I'm still here. After all, there isn't much of a difference between dying from a brain tumor or a monster. I will be dead either way."

Alice thought she would need Max's help if her jaw fell open any wider. It definitely wasn't what she had expected. Especially not since he was talking about it like he was talking about the weather.

"Why didn't you say anything? Jenny could have taken a look at you, and we might even be able to heal you!" Max exclaimed, equally excited and agitated.

"Nah. Can't really do anything if I get some Stat or Skill that does something, but I would rather not have someone mess around with my head. The tumor is close to the limbic lobe, the part of the brain that does emotions.

Ever heard of Phineas Gage? He was a railroad worker in the eighteen-hundreds. He had an accident where a metal rod got driven straight through his brain, injuring his limbic lobe. He survived but became an entirely different person.

So, yeah, I would rather die as myself than live by killing the person that I am. Well, that's at least how I see it."

"Honestly, I don't know whether I should pity or respect you more," Alice said.

"Meh. Pity gets you strange looks, respect gets you a beer. I know what I prefer!"

"Pity could get you a girlfriend."

"Yeah, the fucked up attention-seeking kind that tries to use your situation as a status symbol," he replied dryly.

"Yikes. Bad experience?"

Considering how he changed the subject, Alice judged he had.

"Did you know that there are women out there who would marry mass murderers? Despite never having met them and only after they went to prison for the rest of their lives?"

"No, I did not. And I don't want to know what's going on in those girls' heads."

"You know, this is not helping," Max commented.

"Ehh, Sorry?" Daniel apologized.

"No... No, it's fine. I've got to deal with this on my own, I guess. You know, maybe it's not a bad thing if at least one person keeps being nervous."

"If you think so, you do you. You guys can go on getting us food. I'm gonna go over there and check in on those guys in the meanwhile," Alice bade her temporary farewell as she pointed at Harry and Carl.

Alice looked over. Ava and Debby were still talking, but they had relocated, looking out of the window to check for threats.

"Yo, you two mind if I join in?" Alice asked Harry.

"No, I don't, at least. Just showing this guy how to punch someone so that it actually hurts. If he couldn't punch you literally in the gut, they would barely do anything. An absolute waste of all those muscles of his," the old man said, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Oi, I'm not that bad, old man!"

"Then try and hit me, boy."

Carl didn't wait, immediately throwing his fist forward. Alice had to admit, it was a little pathetic. Her reflexes and perception had improved tremendously over the course of several life and death fights, so when she looked at the man's attacks, she was pretty sure that even she could dodge them relatively easily. Sure, not as perfect and elegant as Harry was doing, most of the time not even moving his feet, but she was sure that she could at least get her shield in between.

Before, he had always attacked while moving towards his target with his Skill, but when he was standing still like this, he barely seemed like a threat.

"Stay. Still. You. Damned. Geezer!"

"See? Can't even hit an old man," Harry looked at Alice and shrugged, blindly dodging the next attack.

Alice was pretty sure that the man was cheating.