“It’s crowded,” said Sean, overlooking St. Lucas High. It had a fence around it and had enough area to fit ten full-sized football stadiums effortlessly and have room to spare. It certainly wouldn’t have fit at the center of the city —everyone knew that it was home to the filthy rich or the geniuses.

He’d visited it a few times back when Madison attended it —she had full tuition. Not that Uncle Edmund couldn’t have paid the tuition. He could be called ‘filthy rich’. As one of the leading scientists of the country, he knew a lot of influential people even if he didn’t have much money on hand —people who wouldn’t bat an eye at the tuition fee of fifty thousand Crescents.

You could buy a house like Clara and Chris’s with two years’ worth of tuition for St. Lucas’.

They’d changed clothes. Sean got back home and grabbed yet another plain shirt, but this one was dark blue —he didn’t like flashy clothes. The cloak was back in the inventory so he looked mundane if anything. This time he was wearing Nike sports pants. It wasn’t the real deal but was comfortable nonetheless.

Liz had changed as well, now wearing his mom’s clothes. The orange shirt she’d been wearing was drenched in blood but her pants hadn’t been, so she’d simply changed the shirt. Now it was a black one instead. It wasn’t too thin but not too thick, perfect for spring. The breastplate was worn over it and the blade was sheathed to her left.

She’d cleaned it after she got to Sean’s place and asked him for oil after she cleaned the blood off with her now-useless shirt. Her reaction when she got to his place was that of utter shock and Sean had seen her make an expression other than a thin smile or a maniacal cackle —she’d jumped back.

He’d tried to eat the heart of the vampire but it was most certainly not in one piece after the stab and seemed to have exploded as well.

They were standing across the street from the school and there was a long line of people outside the gates and guards stood near the gates, asking them questions before letting them enter. They’d parked their bicycles somewhere close but not too far away. Riding a bike with his left arm with practically no skin was hard but not impossible. Most of the pain was gone now, courtesy of his Heart Factor.

That’s when Sean heard a familiar voice —it was Mr. Ishida.

“So you did come,” said the old man with a hearty smile. He had a hiking cane in hand, back slightly hunched forward. Holding hands with him was Eve and not too far behind was Oliver.

They’d taken a slight detour so Mr. Ishida and his family had managed to get there first. It would have taken six hours for Sean if he walked at a slow pace but if he walked faster, he could have made it in four hours. He supposed he’d left Mr. Ishida’s about six hours ago so that added up.

“Two lovebirds, I see. There is nothing wrong with having fun when you are young,” said the old man and chuckled. Liz didn’t react or speak up and simply looked at the old man with a neutral expression. Her poker face didn’t include furrowed brows or anything that’d make her look angry and was just a neutral one as if saying she did not care.

“We’re relatives,” said Sean, trying to be polite. They were technically relatives and she’d be his cousin-in-law if she married Chris, and so far it seemed like there was no problem in their relationship —looking for her boyfriend during the apocalypse gave off a good message, “There’s a lot of people here. I hope you find your daughter, Mr. Ishida.”

“At least you didn’t leave during the night,” said Oliver as he finally came up to them, hands crossed. There was a large hiking backpack on his back, “You should have eaten something. It would have spoiled in a day either way.”

“I wasn’t hungry,” said Sean but his stomach disagreed. It rumbled and he finally felt the hunger —he had some snacks so he’d live. He hadn’t eaten for an entire day and simply didn’t have the time to truly notice that. He then added, pointing at his backpack, “Now I am but I’ll be fine. This backpack is full for a reason.”

“You better be. Don’t go around making me feel guilty. I wouldn’t let a kid starve,” said Oliver haughtily and looked to the side —at the line. It was a long one that had around forty people, but most of them were in groups so, in reality, they were moving in quite fast, “Damn, this place is packed. We should get Akari and leave for the farm. It’s probably as packed as a bunker in an apocalypse movie.”

“The ones with zombies?” asked Eve, the girl. She spoke with that child voice, as Sean called it. It was a tiny bit squeaky and there was a small accent. But it still sounded fine, though. It just made it easy to hear a child and pick up on how they talked.

“The ones with all those flying monsters. We watched it a week or two ago. Remember?” asked Oliver, patting her on the back, but his attention was drawn away when Liz started to walk away. Sean waved a lazy goodbye at them and followed.

She was walking fast. So fast that Sean had to jog to catch up to her.

They got several glares and groans. Of course, they would —they looked like they were cutting in line.

“What happened?” asked Sean after he finally caught up to her, holding her wrist.

“That’s my dad,” said Liz and gestured at one of the guards with her head. There was a genuine smile on her face. Not a small one and most certainly not a murderous and maniacal one. She practically had stars in her eyes.

So he let go.

“I’ll come tomorrow,” said Sean and she almost ran at the guard to the left and opened her arms wide. Then she hugged him.

“Liz!” shouted out the guard and hugged her back. He casually lifted her up to the air with both hands, as if lifting a baby and let her down after giving her a peck on the cheek. He was a huge man, looking like a bodybuilder or a bouncer so the job of a guard fit him well, “Your mom and I have been worried about you. She’s waiting inside in the central building. I’m a bit preoccupied, as you can see. She’ll be happy to see you.”

Liz turned around and looked at Sean. He simply gave her a thumbs up and she turned back to her father.

He stared at her for a second and then at the air before him —it was obvious what he did. He looked at a Status Screen.

“Ah, it’s actually afternoon so she’s at the building in the left,” the man then added afterward and Liz nodded. She gave him a peck of her own. They hugged for a while and the heartwarming scene eased the previously pissed people —no one was a stranger to not being able to find their loved ones.

Liz waved at Sean and gave him a thumbs up. He answered her with a nod of approval along with a smile and she started running at the building to the left. She missed her family, no doubt.

But then he remembered something.

“Liz!” shouted Sean and she turned back. He beckoned for her to come. She did and they stood on the two opposite sides of the fence, one inside and the other outside.

“What?” she asked rather impatiently, undoubtedly looking forward to meeting her family.

“I have something for you. Chances are, you’ll need it more than me. I can’t even use it,” said Sean and pulled off his backpack. Then he pulled out the dagger. It was probably something used by hunters if it was left there along with a message from his family. It only made sense. And it had the shape of a cross on it.

“Oh my god,” she said, beaming. She was giddy now. Sean enjoyed seeing her smile. Seeing anyone smile, for that matter. Especially if he was the cause of it. It was a basic feeling that all humans felt. Satisfaction, undoubtedly, “My first hunter weapon. That’s awesome.”

“Good luck,” said Sean and gave her a thumbs up.

“I’ll treasure it,” said Liz and put it in the same holster as her blade, somehow managing to fit it there, “And I’ll be sure to bathe it in blood every day.”

Sean stared at her.

“I’m kidding, of course,” she said and turned away from him after giving him a nod. And with that, she started to run toward the building to the left.

Now, he had to meet his own family.

The smile faded from his face as Liz left and he turned to look at the distance —another five kilometers and he’d be at Uncle Jeremy’s. He lived on the other side of the river and it could be seen from here. They were close but the river was wide, almost fifty meters in width. The closest bridge was several kilometers away —that was the only thing that made it far away from here.

There was no need to force a smile on his face now.

He waved at Mr. Ishida and his family who were now standing in line and made his way back to the bicycle. He’d have to ride there as well. He’d be there within an hour at most.

Inversely, he could use a boat but he didn’t like being on the water —it made him feel as if the boat was about to flip and he’d choose a longer trip over travel by sea any time of the year.

So riding, it was.

***

The scene on the other side of the river was different. There were bodies now —both of humans and mosquitos. The stench was horrible and some were rotting, even without blood. They were certainly not mummified but were close to that, with how they looked.

It was nothing he wasn’t used to. Back in Veidrheim, the huts smelled as bad as that and he’d slept in them. He’d fought the vampire in a house that smelled as bad as this.

But it was disturbing nonetheless, how different it was.

Were all the bodies thrown here?

Beyond the river, there were old houses and the part of the city that no one bothered to make a part of the city. The city had extended to all the other three sides, but never past the river. Giving the houses on the other side electricity and running water was all that the mayors had done for the longest time.

It was as if it was intentionally ignored if anything.

Still, some of the rich lived there. There were only a few old warehouses and manors there, and Uncle Jeremy’s was one of them. Sean’s grandfather had passed away before he was born but they said that it belonged to him before Uncle Jeremy came to possess it.

He hopped off his bicycle after getting there.

It was old and the fence had mostly rusted. The gate was a classic, old one made of metal. It was chained together, giving off the image of being abandoned. He knew there was a back door. It was in the middle of the forest so no one that didn’t have business there would know how to enter it. Sean, on the other hand, had business there and knew how to enter.

From the large gaps in the fence, Sean could see the manor in the distance. No lights were on but he caught sight of blurs. They looked orange and Sean’s mind instantly turned to the fight scenario, dismissing the flight one. He was ready, the spells formulated within his mind.

But the blurs sped away from the mansion and Sean caught something else out the corner of his eye —it was his mom.

His eyes widened.

So they were there.

He almost shouted out but before he called for his mother, she was gone, back inside the house.

Sean smiled.

He was almost back home. Home wasn’t where he lived, but where the people that lived with him were —his mom and dad. It felt relaxing, to know that he was there. But there was a sense of anticipation in his head. He almost had his answers. It was within his reach now and the family that had been metaphorically lingering in the distance was right in front of him, physically.

But then he frowned.

It was a peculiar feeling. Anytime he tried to be happy, or rather, anytime he felt any emotion other than anger and longing, a deep pang of guilt pierced his heart out of nowhere and he was reminded of that —the fact that Clara was gone. He was reminded of the fact that he just wanted to forget.

And then he felt it —the anger. It was a resentment so deep it made him clench his teeth as hard as possible any time he thought of those filthy beasts.

Yes, he was home.

He was back where the hunters were —back where he could learn how to best kill them. And learn to kill them, he would. He’d take pleasure out of it. He’d pull their guts out before the life faded from them and-

Sean stopped.

He simply sat down, leaning on a tree, and ruffled his hair with his right hand.

It felt like his dad was doing it for a second but he noticed that it was his own hand helping ease the pain.

Would this feeling disappear if he drunk some alcohol or smoked cigarettes?

He stared up at the clear sky. There were no clouds, no planes, nothing. Only the sun hung proudly in the sky. The sun… yeah, he could drag them out of wherever they were and turn them into ash with the sun.

“Clara,” mumbled Sean.

He was finally alone now. So close to his family, yet alone. Away from Liz and no one was nearby. Not a single, living soul in the vicinity. If he shouted from here, maybe his family could hear him from inside the mansion, maybe they wouldn’t.

But he wanted to be alone now.

He’d finished everything that moved him forward now and at the end of the road, he found nothing, literally.

In Veidrheim, he was driven by his desire to get back. Even before then, he was driven forward by university and grades. Before that, by school, and before that, by kindergarten. Before that, he was driven forward by his parents dragging him everywhere.

Right now, there was nothing left but his vengeance.

Said vengeance was resting now and regret had taken hold of him.

Regret that said that he was late because he was too intent on getting stronger. Regret that said he could have made it back faster had he not rested and hadn’t broken his body in the first place. Regret that said that he could have made it back just by quitting after he completed the first mission.

He pulled his backpack off his back. It was grinding against his ribs when he leaned on the tree so it was a welcome relief. From within, Sean pulled out the six-pack of beer. It was in a nice package that made it comfortable to pull out and carry. He then put it near him and pulled one out.

For a second, he stopped.

Then he said fuck it.

‘Dad would even encourage me,’ thought Sean and he shot a Mana Ball at its tip. It was a small, condensed one that shot clean through the top, leaving only a rather clean cut —not enough to cut lips.

His dad always told him to be strong and to never show weakness. But all alone, he could be himself —there was no need to hide anything, for he was alone.

He downed it.

He was no stranger to alcohol but had never drunk much of it, let alone six bottles when not partying.

But he would today.