“He’s dead?” I muttered, the shock crashing through me. I stared at the piles of ruined building around me, but what I was really seeing was the last time I saw Henry.

His eyes had narrowed as he smiled at me. “Ah, Jyn girl. Taking part in a secret government mission, huh? Well, no matter how tall the mountain is, it cannot block the sun. Take care of yourself, and stay away from the wrong people.” He patted my shoulder and passed me a bag of snacks for the plane ride.

That same Henry, the one who’d cared about my life the most since I stepped into this town, was gone?

“How can you not know?” The guy holding the wheelbarrow snorted.

My brows pulled together and my eyes burned, but I didn’t let myself cry. I’d done way too much of that lately. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I wasn’t in Eden or Garden City when it happened. I just got back.”

He paused, his brows rising high in surprise. “Well, you’re one lucky shit. I wish I could say the same.” He scowled and motioned to the people scavenging around the debris. “We’re the ones left in the hostel. Most of us went to Gate Square to fight. The hell with that, it was a massacre. Then the monsters started crashing through E District. Leslie,” he motioned to the woman who was excited pulling out cans of green beans, “was here when it happened. A bunch of Two-Headed Earth Trolls attacked the hostel. That stupid old man,” his hands tightened around the handle until his knuckles were white, “actually tried to fight them. He was just an old man with a limp. What the hell was he thinking? He should have just run like everyone else. Of course he was gonna die.” The guy’s voice was so thick that he stopped talking. I couldn’t tell if he was just plain angry at Henry or grieving or both.

I nodded slowly, accepting the reality. I was used to people dying. It was an occupational hazard of being a Hunter. But I honestly never thought Henry would die before me. I thought he’d grow old and die a natural death, still helping people in the hostel.

“Anyway,” the guy grouched and jerked his head toward the rest of the people. “If you wanna eat, you have to help dig it out. The Association hasn’t sent food since the Gate Surge, and who knows when we’ll get more. You should be glad I’m willing to let you have any at all. Most Hunters are already starting to fight over food.” He left the wheelbarrow and joined the other Hunters.

I stayed still, thinking about everything. The more I saw, the more I couldn’t help thinking about the pictures and stories from when the Gates first appeared. The apocalypse that wiped out half the human population. Did that just happen again? Was I going to be able to stop the parasite while there was still a human population to save?

I blinked out of my thoughts and jumped over to other Hunters, careful to control my moves so that I didn’t freak them out. I didn’t care much to help them, but I know if Henry was here, he would have. There were more pressing things on my mind, but I still stayed and helped them dig out all the usable food we could find. They didn’t notice when I moved the heavier pieces of metal, wood, and brick out of the way to make it easier for them. Frost had collected in the shaded spots, but we kept working anyway. An hour later, they were happy with the pile of food we’d transferred to the partially collapsed gym.

While they excitedly started a fire to feast on the spoils of our work, I went back to the rubble. My room had been in the Northwest corner on the third floor. When the building fell, my stuff could have been scattered around, but I chose to start in roughly that spot, digging for the safe that had been in my room. I should have moved my stuff out of it before I left, but I didn’t think anything would happen. Sure as hell not this.

I grabbed a four-foot piece of carpet and pulled it aside, dragging all the debris on top with it. I wasn’t winded or even tired, but I could feel certain muscles start to complain. My body was built for fighting, not construction work. It required a whole new set of muscles that didn’t get used often.

I took a drink out and tipped my head back. While I wiped my mouth, I glanced at the ground … and paused.

The drink vanished from my hand as I crouched down. Carefully, I extracted a picture from the bits of wood and twisted remains of a computer around it. The worn frame was broken and what glass was left was in tiny shards cutting into the picture behind it. But I could still see the happy faces of the family that Henry missed so much.

My chest squeezed tight, just looking at his face and knowing that I’d never talk to him again. At the same time, seeing this picture, I didn’t feel so sad anymore. Henry waited for years to rejoin his family. Now he finally had.

I painstakingly cleaned up the picture and glass as best I could. I didn’t have a way to fix the frame — out of the ever-growing list of miscellaneous things I kept in my Items Bag, tape wasn’t one of them for some reason — but I pushed it back together until it was presentable. Slowly, I walked over to where Henry’s garden was. It was mostly covered in junk, but there was still a half smooshed, small white flower peeking out. I kicked the rubble away until the flower was free, then bent down and propped the picture up.

I didn’t share Henry’s beliefs, but I’d seen him paying homage to his family a couple times when he thought no one was watching. Since Henry’s family was gone, he’d never get a funeral. At least I could do this much for this wonderful man. I took two small kerosene candles out of the expedition Items Bag I still had, lit them, and set them next to the picture. Not knowing what else to do, I simply knelt down in front of the picture and bowed my head.

“What are you doing?” Leslie came over, bringing with her the smell of warm corn. She held a can in one hand and a spoon in the other. The can must have been hot because it was wrapped in cloth. She stared at me in curiosity while she possessively clutched her food.

I motioned to the picture. “Giving him a funeral. It’s the least I could do, after everything he did for me.”

She bobbed her head and shoved a scoop of corn in her mouth. She chewed for a bit, then asked around the pocket of food in her mouth, “Why did you come back? If you were hoping to scavenge a fortune, you picked the wrong place. The Association took all the safes they could find when they dropped the dump truck off.” She scowled at the vehicle.

I blinked at her. “The Association took all the safes?”

She bobbed her head and swallowed her bite. “Yeah. The property of dead Hunters without family belongs to the Association. They’re sitting on a gold mine right now. You think they’re gonna let it get stolen away? We got to keep ours, since we were here at the time.”

I glanced at the makeshift home in the gym. “I thought they were providing housing for the Hunters that lost theirs. Hotels and stuff.”

Leslie shrugged. “For the stronger Hunters . They ran out of room for people like us. The Association said they’d work on finding us housing soon, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Especially before all this mess is cleaned up.” She nodded at the broken hostel then looked pointedly at the men around the campfire behind her. “These guys are alright. At least I know them. Better than a bunch of people I don’t.”

I hummed in thought. It sounded like my safe was most likely with the Association right now. At least I could check there before I dug through a whole building. It was more travel time, but it could save me a lot of useless digging. After I found my safe, and my mother’s bracelet inside, I’d come back and help clean up the hostel. I’d lived there with these people for a year. I didn’t have that much attachment — if any — to them, but I could do that much before I walked away forever.

In the end, I left them all the leftover camping gear the Association gave me for the expedition to Las Vegas. Because I stayed with Kesstel the whole time, the only thing I’d used was the camping chair and even that was very lightly used. They couldn’t have been more excited and hoarded the items — one-person tent, chair, small pots and pans, firewood, campfire griddle, and other odds and ends — into the gym. While they moved, I could feel eyes staring at us from a distance. Other Hunters looking for a quick grab to make their lives easier. Whether the E hostel Hunters were able to keep the gear I gave them, well, that was up to them.

*****

I’d just entered Gate Square, heading to the Hunters’ Association Headquarters, when I noticed a familiar face in the mass of Hunters in the square. Some were working, others waiting outside the Association building, and some looked like they were simply taking a break and talking.

I couldn’t resist sighing in relief before I called out to her. “Emma!”

Emma paused midwalk, falling a few steps behind her team and turning my direction. They were just like everyone else in the city, wearing junky work clothes and covered in sweat and grime. Emma’s dark hair was pulled up in a messy bun and there was a dirt smear on her cute face.

Her eyes lit up as soon as she finally pinpointed me. “Jyn! Oh my goodness! You’re alive!” She ran over and threw her arms around me hard enough to almost make me step back.

I hugged her just as tight. Thank god at least one of my special people was safe. I was starting to think I was going to lose everyone.

She started talking a million miles per hour, her excited words mixed with sobs and tears. “I was so scared! I couldn’t get a hold of you! Miss Bethany said you were on a mission for the Association, but that could mean a bunch of things. Then the Gate Surge and all the monsters. So many people died. When I couldn’t get a hold of you, I thought … I thought…” She sniffled hard. “But you’re okay!”

I patted her back soothingly as her team walked over to us. “I’m okay. I’m glad that you are too.” After she calmed down a little, I stepped back and greeted the rest of the team.

They all muttered a greeting, except the ‘new guy’ Russel. He just frowned at me, obviously still confused at how to class me.

Mason gave me a smile. “It’s good to see you.”

“What the —” Billy muttered, staring over my head where my title bar would be. “Where did your rank go?”

I paused, not surprised at all that he was the one to point out what I didn’t want to talk about. “I lost it.”

“The hell? How do you lose something like that?” he demanded.

I pointedly looked at Emma and changed the subject. “Are you guys helping with the clean up? How damaged is your Guild?”

There was an obvious mood change in the whole team, ranging from upset to sad.

“Is it that bad?” I wondered aloud. I thought the Guilds didn’t get too damaged.

“Well, it’s not really the state of the building, it’s the state of the Guild,” Mason explained. “President Price is, well, not right in the head right now. I heard he took part in an Association mission, lost a bunch of money and Mr. Hans, his cousin. He was missing an arm when he came back. The arm has been fixed, but now I hear he’s becoming paranoid. He’s lashing out at everyone. Even his right- and left-hand men, who were his cousin’s bodyguards, left the Guild.”

“If you ask me,” Kip, the Mage, huffed, “the President has it out for us. I swear he’s making our team do all the worst jobs. Even lower ranked teams are getting better treatment than us.”

Emma bit her lips. “We thought we’d look around and see if there are any other reputable Guilds taking team recruits right now. There’s a lot of empty slots in Guilds right now, you know? So a lot of them are trying to boost their numbers so they can jump in rankings.”

“Or maintain them,” Healer Morgan added.

I nodded slowly. The rest of the city was in shambles, with Hunters digging food out of ruins, and the Guilds were still playing politics. Ugh. But I couldn’t help paying attention. “So Price has been bullying you?” My head tilted to the side, thinking. I warned him not to touch my people. What an idiot. “It sounds like he really doesn’t want to keep his arm, huh?” I muttered to myself. Kesstel wasn’t the only one that could take it off. Or should I take off more?

Emma’s eyes widened. “What?”

Mason frowned. “Do you … know how he lost it?” Then he paused. “You just came back from a mission. Were you on the same mission?”

There wasn’t a reason to deny it so I nodded.

Billy let out a low whistle. “How did you manage that? What happened?” Curiosity burned in his eyes, ready for dirt to fly.

I pursed my lips. “Price and Blake pissed off the wrong people. Two S Hunters.” That was all they needed to know.

The whole team gasped.

“No way,” Emma muttered. “That’s so stupid!”

“It sounds like we really need to leave, then,” Mason said softly. “I’d hate to get caught in the backlash, especially if it damages our reputation too. We have a good one, and there are several other Guilds interested in us. We were just seeing who would give us the best offer.”

The team nodded in agreement.

“Are you going to join a Guild yet, Jyn?” Emma asked. “You’re so skilled and knowledgeable, I don’t know why you haven’t yet.”

I smiled and shook my head. “Nah. I have a partner, and that’s all I need.”

She blinked. “Who?”

“Kesstel Noblé.”

Kip choked with the rest of the team. “The Noble? You’re partners with the Noble? How is that even possible?”

I smiled at her then glanced at Mason. “The two right- and left-hand people that left, were they Mark and Penny?” The last time I saw them with Price, the tension in the air was palpable.

Mason seemed surprised that I asked. “Yes.”

Under his breath, Billy muttered, “Tight lipped as usual.”

I snorted and looked at him to retort.

All the sudden, my chest tightened almost painfully as my whole body screamed in alarm. Instinctively, I threw up a mist barrier around us. A sudden pulse of magic detonated from the giant black arch in the square. The magic rippled through the air and ground, vibrating everything like a blaring subwoofer without noise. Hunters were thrown off their feet and glass rained down as every window that hadn’t been broken yet shattered.

The magic hit my dome barrier and slid it across the ground five feet, the whole group with it. The pressure was so immense that my knees almost gave out. Emma and her team were flattened, even with the barrier buffer.

“What’s going on?” Emma screamed with the rest of the shocked Hunters in Gate Square.

The magic coming from the Gate let up, but the black arch of the Gate started to warp and twist. At the same time, a siren rang out in the air.

“Another Gate Surge!” Mason yelled in horror. “How is that possible?”

Suddenly, the sky dimmed. The bright sunlight faded and an eerie red tint colored the world.

Shocked, I tilted my head and stared as the cloudless blue sky turned blood red. “No…”

*****