“How’s he doing?” Daughton asked the doctor.

The doctor had deep bags under his eyes, but that was nothing unusual. He looked to perpetually be in a state of exhaustion, the meager ration of the remaining coffee not enough to feed his pre-inclusion caffeine addiction.

“Better than expected,” Doctor Matthews replied. “Honestly, much better. I’ve never seen a cleaner amputation in my life, even before the inclusion. Even the blood loss was fairly minor, compared to what I’d expect based on how long it took you to get him to me. If I had to guess based on his injuries, it looks more like the leg was amputated in a top-of-the-line medical facility, not torn off by some monster. Which shouldn’t have been possible, by the way, no matter how strong the kid’s grip. Something else should have given long before the leg.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you, doctor,” Daughton replied in answer to the man’s skeptical look. “Make sure you take care of him, though. He saved a lot of lives.”

“Of course,” the doctor replied, affronted at the implication that he’d do anything else. “I’ll let you know when he wakes up.”

“His friends here?” Daughton asked, glancing around the lobby as if the teens might be hiding beneath the couch.

“Yeah, in his room. Barely left his side, even to get their own injuries looked at. Need to speak to them?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’ll take you to them,” the doctor said as he turned back down the hallway, only to hesitate after a single step. “If it’s not too much trouble...go easy on them. I don’t have the experience in psychology to diagnose, but those two are showing some strong symptoms of PTSD, even ignoring the recent trauma.”

Daughton frowned and nodded.

Less than a minute later, he stood outside the door of Atlas’ room, Melete and Pallas in front of him.

The girl stared at him hatefully, but the boy just looked tired, large puffy bags under his eyes as he spoke up. “What do you want?”

In the wake of yesterday’s attack, Daughton had taken the time to track down the records of these kids’ real names, surprised at what he’d found. They were, by far, the highest Numbered individuals he had encountered since the inclusion. And even before the inclusion, the highest of these kids’ Numbers were some of the largest he’d ever seen.

Daughton had to assume their skills factored into the way they allocated their Numbers, though he couldn’t understand how. But why else would they specialize so heavily?

Either way, he would normally be apprehensive meeting these two so soon. They were clearly not coping well with yesterday’s tragedy, and they had more than adequate strength to take that anger out on him.

But he just couldn’t bring himself to care. He felt even more tired than the tall boy looked, exhausted by a long night of logistics and heavy decisions.

“First of all, I want to apologize, as well as say thank you. As refugees, it was our job to protect you, and we failed. But if not for your presence last night, many more soldiers and refugees would have lost their lives. So once again, thank you.”

They didn’t react. If anything, Melete just looked angrier now than she was before.

“Secondly, I want to give you a heads up on the future. This announcement will be made public later this morning to the rest of Bothell, but I wanted to tell you first.” Daughton took a deep breath. “It was foolish of us to try and stay here so long, last night has taught us that. It has become clear that our current situation is not tenable in the long term, not without reinforcements or resupply. As such, we will be retreating from the town as soon as possible, aiming to leave a week from today, making for the military base in Tancy. We understand that not everyone will like or agree with this decision, and many refugees will refuse to come with us. But I want to personally request that you accompany us on the trip, to aid in the defense against monsters along the route, as well as provide instruction to myself and my soldiers regarding some of the recent changes in the world.” Daughton raised a hand before either of them could respond. “Now, I know after last night you might not be inclined to help. And I am not inclined to ask. But as you saw, we clearly need your help. We can ensure that your less capable or injured family members and friends are well taken care of, and we can compensate you in other ways. And I don’t want you to decide now, so think it over.”

“And finally,” Daughton took another deep breath, readying himself for the most difficult part of this conversation, “regarding your friend, Styx. There is a small cemetery to the west of town, we’ll be having funerals for our fallen soldiers tomorrow morning. I understand she had no family in town? We can have her funeral at the same time, if you like, or you can choose to carry it out yourself.” As he spoke, he could hear Melete’s teeth grinding together as her glare got even sharper. But then Pallas tiredly rested a hand on her shoulder, and just like that her anger drained away, leaving dead eyes that stared at Daughton without any emotion. “I’m...sorry. She was very brave. And she deserves the highest honors our country has the ability to bestow, for her courage. But unfortunately, all I can do right now is offer my consolations, and my admiration.”

Eventually, Pallas responded, his voice choking. “Can...we get back to you?”

“Of course,” Daughton answered. “Just come to the police station. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll bury her with our men. Tomorrow morning at ten.”

Pallas nodded, then turned and guided the smaller girl back into the room where their other friend lay unconscious, one less leg than he had yesterday.

Trips like these had always been the worst part of his job. But until a month ago, he had only had to do this duty once.

Daughton shook his head. In the last month he’d had to do this more than he’d ever believed was possible. And he was worried it was only going to get worse.