The fiery sunset dimmed and gave way to the dark night sky, just like the hope in my heart. One by one, the stars came out, spreading across the dark blue void.

Slowly, I stepped back from Kesstel. I was willing to follow him and I liked him, but that didn’t mean that I was ready for an intimate relationship. I shifted to his side and looked up at the night sky. There was no light pollution here, unlike in Eden, and my enhanced sight helped differentiate the colors in the sky. For the first time, the fullness of the solar system was revealed to me.

My lips parted as I stared at the view. It was gorgeous. Still, there was another thought on my mind. “How many of those stars have habitable worlds like this one?” I whispered. “Only seven of those lights are planets from this solar system. The rest are solar systems and galaxies with countless worlds. It makes me wonder how many of those lights are the parasitic planet’s next targets. And how many planets have already collapsed, but we can’t tell because the light hasn’t stopped reaching Earth yet?” I paused. “Maybe even your world’s light is still visible right now.”

Kesstel’s hand closed in a fist.

Ah, I didn’t mean to make him sad. My finger reached out and touched the back of his hand. He turned his until our fingers hooked together. I wasn’t ready to talk about the heavy subjects again, so I reached for a lighter one.

“Have you had dinner yet?” I asked. “I haven’t, so why don’t we eat?” I turned and looked around for a place to sit. All I saw on the flat roof was dirt and the garbage. The skylights were covered with curved semi-transparent plastic bubbles, but they were all broken and jagged looking.

Kesstel looked around too. He picked out a large space and waved his hand. A fifteen-foot camper appeared right there on the ground.

I gaped. “You brought that?”

He frowned at me. “The Association gave it to me with all the other equipment I needed for the stay. Didn’t they give you one?”

I snorted and shook my head. “No, they gave me a tent and sleeping bag. Oh, and a camp chair. At least they gave me a full two weeks’ worth of food and snacks.”

He hummed under his breath. “Generous as always. They must have assumed we’d share. I noticed mine is larger than the other Hunters’.” He walked toward the camper. “There’s a shower if you want to clean up before eating.” He stepped into the dark camper. A second later, several ceiling lights flicked on inside.

The thought of being clean sounded heavenly. I admit, that was a problem I hadn’t thought of until today. But how did they fit a shower in such a small place? I followed him into the camper.

To the right of the door was a full-sized bed, half hidden behind a folding curtain. To the left, a small counter and stove sat below a cabinet. Across from that was a raised box with a door and white lid over it. Maybe a storage bin? A small eating nook with a table and benches took up the space on the other side of the kitchenette. There wasn’t a single inch of unused space in the camper, everything tidy and clean, and decorated in tans, blues, and faux wood.

“It’s really nice. I’m impressed that you could fit this in your Items Bag.” I ran my hand over the smooth wooden countertop.

Kesstel went to the storage box. “It came with the industrial Items Bag they gave me.” He looked at me over his shoulder. “I take it they didn’t give you one of those either?”

I shook my head. “Just a normal one with a bunch of equipment in it.”

He humphed under his breath and opened the white lid to the box. I’d thought it was for storage, but I was wrong. Inside was a toilet with a small space next to it, all white plastic. Kesstel took a shower curtain from his Items Bag and hung it on a square rail on the ceiling directly above the toilet area. That was when I noticed the water nozzle on the ceiling.

He demonstrated how to turn the shower on then stepped back. “There’s a water purifier, but that doesn’t mean there’s endless water. Hot or not. We can replenish the water from a water Mage, but that won’t happen until we meet up with the rest of the team.” With that, he slipped by me and left the camper.

I stood in place, feeling awkward. Did I really have to undress in a place that another person — a man — was going to live in too? My fist thumped on my thigh as my mind ran in circles. It just felt wrong being naked somewhere that wasn’t my bedroom or bathroom. I couldn’t help but glance at all the closed windows and the locked door, as if they were going to blow open any second. Still, this was my life until the Las Vegas Portal closed.

I steeled myself and took the fastest shower of my life. The water hadn’t even warmed up all the way before I was done. Still, after the dirty day, I was more concerned about being clean than being warm. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought such flowery shampoo, I thought as I toweled my hair dry after I was dressed in jeans and shirt. Embarrassed, I opened the windows to air out the camper then went out.

Kesstel was sitting in one of two camping chairs, staring up at the night sky. He glanced at me when I came to a stop next to him. “You could have taken longer,” he commented then started to stand. “Let’s go in and eat.”

I shook my head and dropped into the chair next to him. “Why don’t we eat out here?” I motioned to the sky.

Apart from the occasional monster cry, it was quiet. The dark hid the desolate atmosphere of the abandoned city. Right now, it was easy enough to pretend it was just me, him and the endless night sky.

He nodded and sank back into his chair. “I’ve already eaten, so you go ahead.” He took out a drink and twisted off the cap.

I took out my dinner — a deli sandwich with chips and a gatorade. My two weeks’ of meals included fourteen sandwiches with chips and drinks, fourteen cereal packets with milk, and fourteen MRE instant meals. If we weren’t done with the mission in two weeks, we’d meet with a supplier outside of the city and refill our needs.

I’d heard MREs weren’t that bad tasting, but I wasn’t going to try it out right now. All I wanted was to enjoy a ham sandwich under the night sky. Since I could already feel Kesstel’s barrier around us, I knew that was perfectly possible.

“I take it you didn’t find the Portal?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s not in this location.”

I nodded and swallowed my bite. “Did you actually kill monsters, or did you just run around looking?”

He glanced at me, frowning. “Of course I eradicated monsters as I went. I made a deal to get our passports, and I’ll hold up my end of the bargain.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his admonishing tone. “Right, right.”

“What did you run into to get so sandy?” he asked.

We talked about our day as I ate. After I was done, I looked at him. “Can you look at something for me?”

He paused at my serious tone and nodded.

I took the Orc’s sword out of my Items Bag. “Do you know how to track things?” I handed him the sword. “I need to find where this sword came from. I think it came from the Portal we’re trying to find.”

Kesstel held the sword and shifted it in his hand. “It’s not very well made,” he muttered. “The blade is crooked, and the grip on the handle is off. The balance is poor.” He held it up, the light of the camper gleaming on one side of the blade while the moonlight lit up the other. Then he shook his head. “I’m not a tracker. You’re different, since I know what to look for when I feel for you, but unless I know what the monster feels like, I can’t just find them.” He handed me back the sword. “It seems like the monsters in the Portal have some semblance of a civilization. That’s very unusual.”

I didn’t want to hold the sword longer than I had to so I immediately stored it away. “Yes. They do.”

He frowned. “You sound so sure.”

I bit my lips and nodded. “I’ve —” My voice was cut off by the System. I paused and closed my mouth.

Kesstel didn’t miss that second. His eyes narrowed as a frown marred his face.

“I’ve fought them before,” I finally said. Apparently it was vague enough that the System allowed me to finish it. “Fought and miserably lost.”

“I see,” he whispered.

“If you see another sword like that or a Red Orc, let me know.”

His brows lifted. “A Red Orc?” he asked in surprise.

I looked at him. “You know about them?”

He nodded. “Yes. While I was under control of the parasitic planet, the people of one of the worlds that I raided turned into Red Orcs after they were injected with energy crystals. But that world completely collapsed. It didn’t even turn into a remnant world under the parasite’s control. It just vanished. That’s all I know about them.”

“Hm.” I tapped on my chin. “Honestly, you know more about them than I do. All I know is that they’re big, ugly and red.” And their swords hurt. But I didn’t say that last part out loud incase it upset Kesstel.

I stood up and stretched. “It’s late. We should join up with the rest of the team.”

Kesstel stood up and glanced at the camper. “We don’t actually have to. We can stay here. The team is a mile to the northwest of us right now.”

I looked in that direction. Sure enough, I could spot a few lights in the distance barely visible between the buildings.

“They have safety in numbers,” Kesstel continued. “But we’ll be just fine here. We’ll meet up with them in the morning.”

I paused then nodded. It’s not like I really wanted to share a camp with Blake anyway. I simply suggested that we go back for the sake of being a team player. Then again, Kesstel was his own team. “Make sure you tell Charlie what we’re doing,” I reminded him. “And find out what time we need to meet up.” I paused. “You can PM her, right?” I didn’t have the option, but Kesstel must have.

He didn’t look too interested in checking up with her, but he opened his Guide and tapped on the screen.

I folded up the chairs, walked to the camper and leaned them against the side. It wasn’t until I was standing back in the camper that I realized a problem. There was only one bed. Kesstel said he was planning on sharing the camper with me, but where was I supposed to sleep?

My lips twitched and I went back out. Or planned to, if Kesstel wasn’t in the doorway.

He looked up at me. “What’s wrong?”

My fist thumped on my thigh before I noticed it and forced my body to stop the movement. Why was I always so nervous when it came to Kesstel? “I was going to set up my tent.” I’d never set one up before, but the instructions said it was an easy, three-minute set up, so I should be okay.

His brows wrinkled in a frown and he examined my face. Then he stepped forward, using his body to force me back into the camper and shutting the door behind him. “I’m not going to let you sleep on the ground while I lounge on a mattress.” He pushed on my shoulder.

We were already so close together in such a tight place that there was nowhere to go. He easily overbalanced me and caused me to sit back on the bed behind the folding curtain. I blinked up at him, alarmed.

“You sleep there.” He patted my head like he was appeasing a spooked cat then walked to the back of the camper where the table was. After a minute of adjusting things around the table, he set the table top down flat on the gap between the bench seats and laid the bench pads down over it all. In the end, it created a narrow, not quite twin sized bed. “I’ll sleep here.” He motioned to the new bed.

I stood up. “I should sleep there. I’m smaller than you.”

He shook his head. “But that bed has a curtain and you’re a young lady. Stop making a fuss and listen to me.”

No matter what I said, he wouldn’t budge from his decision. In the end, I collapsed onto the full bed. So many things had happened today that I was exhausted and couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. I was in a foreign abandoned city full of monsters, but with Kesstel reassuringly close on the other side of the curtain, I felt safe enough to fall into a deep sleep.