Hugo hadn't been able to talk to Greg for long before he'd heard the terrified screaming. That was a shame. He was about to explain that there were fake people when the commotion had interrupted him. Greg had started moving almost immediately, cutting short Hugo's attempt at explanation.

He followed him closely, hand fondling the knife in his pocket. He was glad to have it. His stuff had been lying nearby once he got himself freed. Part of him wanted to beat that fat shit into a pulp, but he also couldn't imagine himself handling the situation better. At least his daughter had made sure he wasn't helpless.

They arrived at the room that was the source of the commotion. Frank stood in the middle of it, sword wet with blood. The mousy woman stood beside him, as did Hugo's daughter. He didn't see the other man that had been with them. More distracting were the two bodies. An old woman lay in the far corner of the room, unmoving. A teenage boy was cut damn near in half at an angle from his shoulder.

The sight made him ill. He fought down his gag reflex, as Greg began to freak out. Hugo noticed something, even as he struggled to keep his stomach from emptying. There was only a bit of blood. He'd butchered enough deer to know that didn't make sense.

He averted his eyes from the scene, moving them on to the three people in the middle of the room. Frank was coldly answering Greg's questions. Hugo watched him scratch his head. He then watched his daughter and the other one tense up, as if that meant something.

Brook, who'd arrived with Jim shortly after, seemed to notice too. Hugo saw him turn and start moving away out of the corner of his eye. The movement caught his attention and he turned his head slightly just to see the old man take his first two steps. Something about it seemed wrong. He acted by reflex, catching Brook's arm with a lunge step, stopping him.

"What you leaving for?" Hugo asked him.

Brook looked at him for a moment, not saying anything, then without warning punched him in the throat. Hugo reacted, but only enough to avoid getting his larynx caved in. He dropped like a sack, clutching his throat.

***

Frank saw Brook turn to leave. Somehow they seemed to know when they'd been compromised. Hugo stopped him for a second, for some reason, but took a hard blow and collapsed. Maria screamed out in panic just as Greg reacted to the events behind him by turning.

That was all the opening Frank needed. He sprung forward with the power and speed of an apex predator, his superhuman physical abilities utterly overwhelming Greg and Jim, who were distracted for a short moment. He tackled Greg hard, knocking him into Jim. They both fell in a heap. He pivoted and leapt over them towards the departing figure of Brook.

The skinwalker was moving far faster than a man Brook's age should be able to, but it was no match for Frank's stats. He caught up to it as it made its way down the stairs. Two long bounds down the staircase caught up with the fleeing enemy. Frank didn't give it time to counter-attack or pivot back. He swung as he arrived, a diagonal chop that forced it to throw itself down and to the side.

The first attacked failed to hit, but Frank simply took another two bounds to get down to the next landing, then used the wall to push off and reverse his direction, springing away off of one foot and returning towards his target. It was scrambling back to its feet as he got close enough to try again. This time there was no mistake. His sword bit down right through the skinwalker's neck.

Skinwalker(Level 8) defeated. Frank awarded 3015EXP. Hugo awarded 400 EXP. Frank awarded a Magic Ring.

Frank scooped up the plain gold ring that had appeared in front of him and returned up the stairs. Jim was helping Greg sit. He looked like he'd had the wind knocked out of him. Hugo was gasping for air while Maria kneeled beside his prone form. Bill and Rina had stepped into the hall and were standing awkwardly. They looked at Frank as he returned.

Frank didn't waste any time. "Hugo's confirmed human. He got experience, probably for delaying the skinwalker." He saw Maria shake in response to that.

Frank continued to move closer. He watched as Jim flinched away at his approach. "Let Greg recover. You know first aid right? Go help Hugo. He took one to the throat."

Jim obeyed, more out of fear than anything else. He clambered over to Hugo, and Maria shuffled aside to let him take a look. Jim looked at Hugo. "Just a spasm," Jim said to Maria, feeling his neck. "He'll be okay." His voice was not reassuring in its tone, but Maria looked reassured nonetheless.

Frank couldn't bring himself to relax. He had something else to do. He thought about the skinwalkers as he waited for Greg to recover. He had an inkling of how to test for one now, after seeing all the corpses. They barely bled. He'd need a live one to confirm on, though. Right now though, he needed to speak with Greg.

Greg finally got himself breathing normally. He looked at Frank, a mixture of fear and revulsion in his eyes. Frank looked back at him impassively.

"You've got a serious problem." Frank pointed towards the room he'd just left. "I'm going to explain it to you, then I'm going to offer you a trade. Then I'm going to get ready to leave here."

Greg looked at Frank, then at Frank's sword, then back at Frank. He didn't say anything. His face and eyes still betrayed his feelings, but he simply nodded silently.

"The town has been infiltrated by skinwalkers. They pretend to be human, then when they have a chance, kill as many people as possible, sabotage as much as possible." Frank looked at him. "If you have a higher knowledge then their level, the system will reveal them. Otherwise, they blend in. They might not bleed a normal amount if you cut them. I need to find one to test it. That's your problem."

"Now, for the trade." Frank pulled off his glasses. "If you or anyone else know of the location of some quality road bikes and bike trailers, then I'll trade these for the location if I don't find some myself.

Greg's eyes widened after a moment of looking at the shades. Frank put them back on.

"If you go look in that room, you'll see the two corpses disappearing are not human. I'm going to go find what I need before it's completely dark."

Frank addressed his companions. "As soon as Maria's dad is okay to move, I'm leaving."

He stood waiting, adrenaline still on high from the fight. It took Hugo a minute but eventually, he started breathing normally, his gasps fading away to steady breathing. He stood up. Neither Jim nor Greg spoke, perhaps afraid of him.

Hugo and Maria got to their feet, which Frank took as a prompt to start leaving. He turned and headed for the stairs, snagging his pack along the way. He only started to calm down when he heard the sound of footsteps following him. The thought of them not coming with him had occurred, and while it wasn't a disaster, he didn't relish the thought of starting over and trying to find more companions when he arrived in Seattle. The three he'd gained had already seen the hard stuff and stuck with it. He'd gotten very lucky so far.

He stopped just outside the hall, waiting for the others to follow him out. Maria, Rina, Bill, and finally Hugo stepped into the setting sun after him. Hugo looked at him with undisguised anger, while the other three had more complicated gazes.

"First priority is somewhere to shelter for the night. I'm going to sleep early, get up at first light, hopefully, get out of here before noon if bikes can be acquired." Frank spoke to them.

Maria suggested they camp out at the gas station they had stopped at. It had an extendable metal grating for security and could lock from the inside. Frank thought about it, deciding it was a good option as any. At least this early, the grating would probably provide meaningful protection.

With Hugo following his daughter's lead and the other two deferring to Frank, they made their way back to the station. Once inside, Frank closed it up as best he was able. Fortunately, the keys were sitting under the counter. The employee on shift must've taken them out of his pocket when everything happened. With the place closed up, it was getting quite dark. There was only really one thing worth doing left, and that was figuring out what was going to happen with Hugo, and by extension Maria.

He could tell at a glance the man was angry at him. Justifiably. Frank wasn't sure how to approach that. He didn't regret leaving him. It was still the right call. Apologizing would just be a lie, and given what he'd done to him, would be inadequate regardless. There really wasn't much he could do. Either Hugo was fine or he wasn't. Frank could take precautions in case he tried to get revenge tonight. Easy ones. But either they sorted it out quickly or he'd have to leave him behind. That probably meant losing Maria too.

Maria and Hugo had immediately gone to the corner of the store to talk privately. He'd have to see how that shook out. While he waited to see if that talk resulted in anything, he fixed himself another meal from what was on hand in the gas station. Bill did as well, Frank saw. He didn't look hungry though, struggling to eat. Rina didn't eat anything. She just bedded down.

Within a few minutes, it was truly night and the lack of a moon made it difficult to see much. Hugo and Maria finished their talk, and it was Maria who approached Frank.

"Dad's not going to do anything," she said, in a whisper. "In the morning he's going to go and start searching for my mom and brother."

Her head tilted down, but Frank couldn't tell what face she was making in the darkness.

"What are you going to do?" he asked her.

"Leave with you," she said. She turned behind her, towards where Hugo was sitting in the corner. She didn't say anything else. Maria walked back to her dad and sat down beside him.

Frank got himself ready to rest. He wasn't going to sleep tonight. Not with an angry, potentially hostile man next to him. With his vitality and constitution, he could handle a day no problem. He wanted Maria to be willing to leave with him, and he wanted to demonstrate that he had empathy to all three of his erstwhile companions. To lose someone with real potential because he was leery about a man who couldn't even threaten him would be wasteful. Being able to make hard decisions was one of the most important capabilities needed to survive. But Frank also knew from experience best that making every hard choice would break you eventually. He didn't want to risk driving Maria off by forcing her to choose between him and her dad now when she'd already made the choice later.