Their parents, naturally, were happy to see them home safe and sound. Solomon's mother swept Tiffany up in a hug, while his dad clapped him on the shoulder.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Not bad, all things considered," Solomon said. "We won't have to worry about the dungeon for a while, anyways."

He thought clearing the first floor without any major injuries was a solid accomplishment. Even if it had been a difficult slog, they got through it in the end. It hadn't been fun, and maybe some people had been traumatized, but they'd live. Besides, everybody was going to have to go through some trauma sooner or later if they wanted to survive in this new world.

Selfishly speaking, Solomon thought a few of them would decide to take the plunge and join them when they left town. Every person who signed up and knew their way around a weapon would take some of the load off of his shoulders.

"That's a relief," his dad said. "Some trouble popped up while you were in there."

"Oh?" Solomon asked. He didn't think it could have been anything truly disastrous, or he would have gotten some inkling on his way in. At the very least, his parents wouldn't have just been waiting calmly at home.

"There's been some action downtown," his dad answered. "You kicked over a hornet's nest."

Solomon winced. He'd known leading a jailbreak from the stadium would prompt a reaction. It was too bad that the aliens had decided to take out their anger on the innocent people downtown. On the whole, though, he was just glad that his family was safe.

"We're getting some refugees," his dad said. "Settling them in the neighborhood for now, but space is gonna get tight."

"How bad is it out there?" Solomon asked.

To hear the refugees tell it, apparently, things were pretty bad. The invaders weren't conducting a general assault on the downtown area. They would have ended up bogged down in the mass of people if they tried that, no matter how powerful they were. Instead, they had broken straight through the police barricade and made a beeline for the zone's dungeon.

Once there, they had set up a defensive line outside while a handpicked team broke into the dungeon itself. There had been at least one failed attempt to breach the line that had seen quite a few people killed.

Being cut off from the dungeon store was enough to prompt a lot of people to flee the zone. The water system had more or less stopped working throughout the city. Most people had noticed the failure coming and had stored enough drinking water to live off of for now, but the prospect of being cut off from any resupply was frightening. Not to mention the worry of what those unstoppable warriors would get up to once they left the dungeon.

Not all of the refugees had made their way to Solomon's neighborhood. As for the ones who had chosen to flee in other directions, he could only wish them luck. The people camping out in his area, though, were prime targets for recruitment to their new community.

"If they're already on the run," Solomon said, "a lot of them will come with us."

His dad nodded. "I've started putting out the word."

"Good, good," Solomon said. "We need to set a date to get out of here."

Part of him had wanted to drag things out to try and talk as many of his old neighbors as possible into coming with him. Now that the aliens were making a move, though, he couldn't afford any more dilly-dallying.

He cocked his head, thinking. Come to think of it, this was a big move. If the aliens were sending strike forces into the surrounding neighborhood, then those were forces that wouldn't be guarding their home base. They probably thought they were pinning down their mysterious attacker by going on the offensive. This could be his best shot to rescue Kanmi.

"Can you get everybody ready to go?" Solomon asked. "I should go and see if I can break Kanmi out."

His dad studied him for a moment. To the side, his mother and sister were both observing them carefully. His dad looked like he had something to say, but finally shook his head.

"I don't think I can talk you out of it," he said, "and I don't think I should, either."

"You take care of your friend, dear," his mom said, "we can get people ready to move."

Solomon smiled with relief. He could trust his parents to make the sales pitch. They'd probably do a better job than he would. All he had to do was focus on what was quickly becoming his expertise: killing people and breaking things. This time, in the service of busting his friend out of whatever prison the aliens had put together.

He wasn't exactly kitted out for stealth, but he thought he could do a reasonable job of sneaking around if he took the time to plan it out. Dressed in anonymous clothing, assuming he could find a way to disguise his missing hand, he'd be just another anonymous pedestrian. It still might be a little suspicious for him to be casually wandering around a budding war zone, but the ongoing conflict should create some openings in the defensive perimeter.

If he was going to do this, he would have to do it quickly. He couldn't expect the system's obstacles to stop the invaders. The most challenging fight would be against the other group of aliens who had been poised to take over downtown. Unfortunately, Solomon didn't think it was possible for both sides to lose. In the worst case scenario, they could be allies who would simply be welcoming each other to their new digs.

No matter how strong they were, though, clearing all of the monsters out of a dungeon would take at least a little time. Solomon could take the day to prepare and then make his rescue attempt under cover of night. That would give him the best possible chance, while the expeditionary team should still be stuck downtown.

He wished there was something he could do for the people downtown, but it just wasn't possible. He wasn't afraid of taking on a reasonable risk to help his friends and family, but he wasn't going to just throw his life away to rescue a bunch of strangers. His first encounter with the invaders had seen one of them disable him with contemptuous ease. Charging headfirst into a whole army that was trained to those standards was suicide, even if he could rally a few other people to the cause.

As long as he was downtown, he could try and put the word out to flee south. Maybe some of the people who were currently on the fence would listen and end up making it to safety. Otherwise, well, he'd have his hand full just pulling one person out of the aliens' clutches.