Chapter 68

They started preparing for the fight. Ivey sat near him as he worked.

“What is on your mind?” he asked finally.

Ivey shrugged. “You were here and being around you makes me feel safe.”

“Are we a couple?”

She shrugged once more. “I want to be, but . . .” She clearly did not want to talk about it. He could almost see her searching for a different topic. “Do you think we would have died if Janice had not been there?”

“Yes,” he answered, pausing from his work to look right at her. “Or at least Carly or Tamara would have—or both.”

“That is what I thought.”

“That kid teleport skill is super powerful,” Daniel continued carefully. “If they are attacking kids who can’t get hurt, then . . .” He deliberately stopped speaking, not wanting to come across as a manipulative monster.

“They are not attacking us.” He could see the look in her eyes, and she was on his side. She wanted them here too. “Where is your mana at?”

“Low.”

“Finish it and come upstairs.” She got up and rushed up the steps, a whirlwind on a mission.

After finishing the trap, he followed her.

When he got to the next floor, she had called a meeting of everyone. It was being held in the corridor near the lifts that they did not dare interact with for fear of the moths that fluttered in those central wells. Daniel looked around, impressed; their numbers were growing. Too many for a single room to fit.

“What is this about?” Beau yelled from the back, somehow sounding irritated like Ivey had disturbed him from doing other more important things. Then he pushed through to the front.

“We were overwhelmed saving floor twenty-eight. Janice was supposed to stay behind, but a zombie got through to her, and her child interface abilities saved her life.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Trudy asked suspiciously.

“Because if she had not been there, we all would have died. I think we need to use all the tools at our disposal.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jayden declared, standing up.

“Tamara is only alive because of Janice,” Ivey shot back.

“And I am very thankful,” Jayden agreed smoothly. “But this is not happening. Real men and women do not use kids as bait.”

Real men and women fight was the thought that went through Daniel’s brain—and why the hell he was he interfering!

“Without Janice being there, all of our fighters would be dead,” Ivey told the room.

“I will not let it happen,” Jayden insisted. There were murmurs of agreement.

It is not up to you. Daniel felt like screaming at the man. Why the hell was Jayden getting involved?

“Jayden, as you know, we are not forcing anyone to fight,” Ivey said sweetly, letting the words hang there. “We are all volunteers and kids should get the same chance.”

“No,” Trudy said.

“Absolutely not,” Jayden confirmed.

“Trudy.” Ivey’s voice was soft with sympathy. “I know you want to protect your children. Everyone does, but we have talked about this. It is a new world. They need to become stronger and gain combat skills to survive.”

Trudy nodded. It was encouraging, and Tamara had a tight grip on Jayden’s arm. Clearly telling him to be quiet.

“They get one teleport per day, and once that is done, they are out till it recharges, but while they have that safety net, they might as well get experience.”

“No.”

“Are you volunteering to fight, Jayden?” Ivey’s voice was withering.

“That is not relevant. We need a strong ethical base if our society is going to prosper.”

“No,” Ivey screamed, suddenly angry. “We need to survive. Look out the fuckin’ window. We don’t have the luxury for that shit.”

“How we respond under adversity is a mark of our fibre.” It felt like everyone in the room was nodding along with Jayden, and even Daniel saw his point. While adding the kids to the mix would help the fight, was it worth compromising his morals? Maybe Jayden was not that bad?

Alarm bells range in his mind. It was external to him. Priscilla! He got a wash of support from her that seemed to lift a cloud from his mind. He remembered the carnage upstairs and the wider damage that would have occurred. Why in all the hells was he listening to a coward like Jayden preach morality?

Contentment came from the bond.

Next to him, Ivey was nodding almost like she was going to accept everything that Jayden had said. Daniel clearly recalled the look of determination downstairs, and it made little sense that she would have changed her tune that quickly. Daniel squeezed her hand.

He could help! He channelled his anger and disgust. “Are you really that clueless? Your girlfriend’s thigh got ripped to the bone. I only just survived and believe me, if I die, you guys don’t stand a chance. All that matters is survival, and mark my words, Jayden your chicken shit cowardice is noted. That is a mark of your fibre.”

“I don’t have a combat class.”

“Ivey is a healer and has stabbed mutated humans to death.”

Ivey’s hand grabbed Daniel’s warningly and halted his tirade.

“Daniel is right,” she said coldly. “If Daniel dies, we don’t make our way out. And I have killed ferals, and my class does jack-all to help. And I am a slight girl.” The insult hung there. “Moralising is stupid. The world where we had the luxury is gone. It is just us and our strength. The fact is that we only have a small group that will fight and if that cores dies, then willing or not, combat class or not, then everyone else will have to fight or die, but by then it will be too late. The kids, Zara, Zac, Zoey”—she nodded to Trudy—“Janice, Carly, and Tom will only survive if we adults protect them. Today Janice saved us, and if anything can the fighters who are protecting everyone to survive, we need to use it.”

“No,” Jayden said. “I am drawing a hard line at using kids for fodder. It is cow—”

“I want to,” Zac yelled out bravely. Trudy shooshed him.

“You are an—” Once more, Ivey’s hand stopped Daniel’s exploding temper.

“Were you going to call us cowards for suggesting this?” she said mildly. “Because from where I am standing it is cowardice to not use them. Being too scared to use a weapon because it looks bad ethically.” She made a gesture. “It is almost worse than being too scared to fig—”

“We are a democracy here,” Beau said, suddenly interrupting Ivey before she could finish. “And we will not let you throw insults and pretend you are better than us because you are fighting.”

“Yes, we vote,” Jayden said with sudden confidence. Daniel wanted to throttle him. The arsehole was not even risking his life, and based on old world sensibilities, he was attempting to deny them a tool they needed to keep themselves alive.

Silence reigned briefly.

“Hands up if the kids are not to be used as bait,” Beau proposed.

“Everyone, raise your hands,” Jayden ordered.

“We are not voting on a loaded statement like that, Beau, no matter how much I dislike the idea of my kids in any kind of danger.” Trudy’s voice dripped with disdain. “And Jayden, democracy is not commanding people to vote your way. You should both be ashamed of yourselves. Daniel and Ivey are right—the world has changed. But Jayden and Beau are right about sacrificing ethics.”

Both Jayden and Beau smirked, as if they were sure they were going to win despite being called out, but Trudy’s next words wiped their gloating right off their faces.

“Children are not pawns. As my son has demonstrated, he has free will. They deserve to have a voice in something that concerns them so deeply. So here is the question we will all vote on, including our children present: do we allow the children to choose to use their system protection in order to protect our fighters?”

Most of the non-combatants’ hands were already raised before Trudy’s interruption but they lowered quickly. Alisha’s hands had stayed down and Daniel noted that a scattering of the fighters had also voted with Jayden.

Beau ignored Trudy. “The majority have spoken,” he declared. “You guys can keep playing at being heroes, but you are not risking the kids.”

“You did not count our votes,” Janice said, gesturing at her friends standing with her.

“You are underage, you don’t get a vote,” Beau told her.

“Whose rules?” Tamara asked in an angry voice.

“Whatever,” Beau said, “Even with them, you don’t have the numbers.” The prick was right, Daniel realised. The kids made it close but did not get them over the line.

“We are not voting,” Ivey told them. “They are happy to help, their parents are not objecting, and frankly, it is no one else’s business.”

“We protect . . .” Jayden trailed off under Tamara’s glare.

“Not how democracy works,” Beau said snidely. “We have voted. The kids stay.”

“Who said we were a democracy?” Ivey said.

“We are in Australia, you foreign bitch.”

“Hey,” Daniel said, stepping forward and getting his club ready before he even thought about anything. “Apologise.” Beside him, Dave had also taken a step.

“I am not apologising to your little tart.” Dark magic was gathering in Beau’s hands.

“It is okay,” Ivey said, springing forward and putting a hand on both of their arms.

“Apologise,” Daniel insisted. His club was screaming for blood, and Ivey was clearly as Aussie as everyone else in the room.

“Or what?”

Daniel activated speed for just a moment to leap forward, then the micro speed-up vanished. He had seen this used often enough against him to imagine what his movement must have looked like. A blur and then suddenly the distance between the two of them were halved. “Apologise.”

“Sorry,” Beau said with an angry glare. Ivey’s hand landed on Daniel’s shoulder, warning him off any further escalation.

“Watch your language from now on,” Daniel told him.

“Raraf.”

Beau shot Dave the sort of glance that you gave to a mangy dog. “I don’t want a fight.”

The dark magic spluttered out, and he turned and stalked away. Several other men hastened to follow him.

“No need for violence,” Jayden said.

“Shut up.”

“Dan!” Tamara said angrily.

“Just worked up,” he admitted, putting his club down. It, too, felt dissatisfied with what had gone down. It had wanted to drink.

“Trudy? Are you okay if Zara comes with us?” Ivey asked.

“I want to,” Zac immediately said.

“Next time,” Ivey assured him.

Zara didn’t move, clearly scared. Zac stepped forward, and for a moment, Trudy hung onto his shoulder and Daniel could see her desire to pull him back and stop him from going into danger, but the mum took a big breath and released the T-shirt.

“Stay safe,” she ordered her son, and then made eye contact with Daniel. “Teach him and keep him safe.”

Daniel nodded, and then all the fighters headed straight downstairs and spent another thirty minutes preparing their traps. It would have been more comfortable upstairs, but tensions were too high.

Ivey, Tamara, and Ingrid discussed the plan. They wanted to apply the same concept they had used to clear level twenty-four. They would draw the zombies up from level twenty-one to a killing field on level twenty-four. If luck was with them, the traps would do all the work.

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