The girl unfurled herself from the chair. Her long hair cascaded down her, reaching all the way to her legs. She was rather thin, looking like a stray breeze would sweep her away. Thankfully there was no wind here in the hotel.

“I haven’t managed to get my things in order yet, please give me a moment.” The girl spoke slowly, stepping down from the chair.

“Abbie, we’re not leaving yet. They just wanted to be introduced. Nick has organised for Doyle’s team to get us out of here in two days.” Maddy said with a sigh.

The girl looked contemplative for a moment, lost in her own thoughts.

“Ah yes, there it is. See Mads, I told you we’d be leaving soon.” Abigail said, her face unmoving.

Now this wasn’t what Nick was expecting at all. He’d been picturing a sullen recluse, maybe a Japanese styled hikikomori or something. Not a deadpan gothic child. Nick didn’t know how to deal with goths, he’d managed to avoid them so far in his life. They were a distant spectacle, not something he’d have to actually interact with.

“Well, everyone, this is Abigail. Abbie, this is everyone. Forgive her eccentricities, she’s a Shaman.” Maddy introduced.

Now this was the first Shaman that Nick had actually met, and it certainly excited him. From his trip to the 75th he’d learned a fair bit about them, and he knew that they were the closest thing to wizards that he’d ever find in this place. Though other than their future seeing abilities Nick wasn’t too sure on what they actually did.

“Hi, I’m Nick.”

Abigail took another long moment to herself.

“Hmm yep. You’re okay.” She eventually said.

Nothing more though. She just looked at each of the members of the family for a bit then would nod. When she finally got to Lily she paused for a while longer, long enough that everyone started to get more uncomfortable than they already were.

“Oh. You’re the interesting one.” That was all she said.

Abigail then walked back over to the armchair and curled back up into it. Maddy sighed.

“I’m sorry about her. She’s been like this ever since she got that damn class. All she does is mope around and do rituals all day. She gets all this stuff delivered from the Parklands.” Maddy gestured around the room. “No idea how she’s paying for it. I’ve given up asking.”

Maddy looked truly resigned. Nick could imagine how tough of a situation it was for her, he remembered her mentioning she’d lost her friend. That combined with a sister who’d become some sort of esoteric goth would be enough to leave anyone in a state of disarray, let alone having to manage with it for a year. Getting everyone down to the 71st floor was going to be a good thing, he was sure of it. Once the more existential threats were dealt with they could focus on these things. Not that Maddy’s personal business was Nick’s, but he now considered her a friend and he’d be there to help her out. If she wanted.

Maddy then ushered everyone out of the room. Aware that they weren’t in a private space, Nick invited Maddy back to the family’s room. Once there everyone sat down, apart from Nick who was absolutely ravenous. Nick made his way over to the kitchenette and pulled a couple of meals out of the oven. Fully planning on having them all to himself. Though to be a polite host, he pulled some confectionary out of one of the cupboards. He then sat down with everyone else and began chowing down. Between bites he asked Maddy for the time. He really needed to get a clock for himself.

He found out that it was just past midday, he’d been unconscious for a good six hours. Nick thought that was a little short for a man that had been literally dying, but who was he to say. Once he was done he told everyone that he’d be heading back down to the 71st floor. He was probably going to try and meet up with Rina and Paige, he had learnt a lot from his conversations and wanted to see what else he could pick up.

Maddy didn’t react well when he mentioned that he’d been hanging out with a group of Executioners.

“They’re not a bunch you really want to be associating with Nick.”

“Why’s that? They seemed pretty nice, definitely weird, but nice enough.” Nick was confused. Rina especially seemed like a pretty decent person.

“They’re pretty much all Stained Nick. That’s why they wear masks. They’re definitely the strongest of all the factions, but they trade a lot for that strength.”

Now Nick was confused, weren’t the Stained the definitely-not-zombies the family had encountered on the first day? That and neither Rina or Paige had worn masks. He brought this up to Maddy.

“No, those are the Infected. Being Stained means you’ve taken in too much taint and the pills can’t remove it. That’s why you’ve gotta make sure you’re regularly taking pills guys.” Maddy explained, turning to the family.

That caused Nick to check for his own supply of pills, he’d had to have gathered close to a hundred of the suckers now. Wait, he’d been keeping them in his pocket. Where were they? Had they fallen out while he was running through the car park? The sticker hadn’t fallen out, but did the pills? Had someone taken them from him when he was unconscious? That would be a little cheap of them. He asked Maddy if she’d seen anyone take the pills from his pocket. She said she wasn’t sure, but Tony had all his gear so he might have them.

Nick then went back into the previous conversation and repeated his earlier question.

“Two of the people in the group didn’t wear masks?” He asked.

“Some people in the Exes aren’t Stained, they just use normal classes. Some of the people just don’t care about showing people that they’re Stained.” Maddy said with a shrug.

It gave Nick a lot to think about, it didn’t look like Rina was what Maddy was calling Stained. Paige on the other hand, Nick could still vividly picture her yellowish eyes and pale skin in his mind. Paige was probably in that second group of people Maddy mentioned. Even with Maddy’s warnings Nick was probably still going to go hang out with them. Aside from the three recruits, they weren’t that bad.

The chat continued for a while and Henry got up to grab some lunch for everyone. Nick said goodbye to everyone, it was time for him to get back working. Lily and Benny both gave him big hugs. Both Lily and Maddy told him not to do anything stupid like running around the car park alone, in the middle of the night, without any sort of light, again. Nick said he’d give it a strong consideration.

Henry walked with Nick out of the room, apparently different ovens had different foods inside them and Henry had found his favourites already. Once they were outside the room, the man put a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Nicky, don’t do that again.” The man pulled him into a hug. “I know this situation is crazy. I know that you’re trying your best. I’m sorry that it’s fallen onto your shoulders, I’m trying to work out what I can do. But please, please Nicky. I don’t want to lose you too.”

The man hugged him tightly. Nick didn’t have any words right now, he just hugged his dad back. It was only after a while like that, that Nick broke the silence.

“I’m sorry dad. I’ll be more careful. I’m so close to making this work, then we can relax a bit and work something out.”

The man grunted and pulled away, ruffling Nick’s hair with one hand. “You’re a good kid Nicky. Your mum would be proud.”

The two walked in silence towards the bar, Henry kept on walking through, towards whatever ovens he’d remembered. Nick walked towards Tony, seeing his gear all lined up on the bar counter.

“There he is, was wondering what was taking you so long.”

“Almost dying takes it out of a man, ya knoss Boss?” Nick replied.

Jacob was standing around with Tony and sniggered at Nick’s remark. The shifty looking man was doing a fantastic job at making Nick not like him.

“Yeah well, you’re still alive and you’ve got work to do. I’m letting you keep the new chest piece you found, hopefully you'll get some use out of it.”

“Thanks Boss.”

Tony had a superb skill for souring Nick’s mood. First he interrupts his family moment, now he is letting Nick keep the loot he found himself. What a guy. Whatever, it was time for Nick to get out of here. Nick put the armour on, wrapped his wrists and knuckles up and got ready to leave. Then he remembered an issue he had.

“Say Boss, you don’t happen to have a bag or anything, carrying loot is just a bit of a hassle.”

Nick saw Jacob frown, and Tony reached out towards him. Jacob very reluctantly unclipped a small bag from his belt and handed it over to Tony. Nick was suspicious, what would he do with such a small bag?

“This is one of my most valuable items. The prized possession of the man that came before me. You can use it.”

Nick took the bag from Tony, questioning why it was so valuable.

“Uh, thanks boss?”

Tony grinned. “Put your hand in the bag, kid.”

Nick was apprehensive but did as he was told. Nick was shocked as his hand just kept going further and further into the bag, an edge nowhere to be found. Nick’s shock must have been pretty obvious as Tony’s grin only widened and Jacob’s frown deepened. Nick’s fingers finally brushed something and he grabbed onto it, it was a small foil shape, curious he grabbed it and pulled it out.

The small packaged item made Jacob blush and was quickly snatched out of Nick’s hand.

“It’s just unethical to travel without protection, right?” The man remarked, unasked.

Nick wasn’t one to judge, but of course Jacob was using the totally awesome magic bag to carry condoms. Now it was Tony’s turn to scowl, he slapped the back of Jacob’s head.

“I told you only to use the bag for the trade items! Not your personal crap!”

Nick decided it was a good time to leave.

“Thanks boss, I’ll make sure to put this to good use.”

With that Nick turned and jogged off, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire of a potential argument. He’d already said goodbye to his family so he could leave straight away. He made sure to grab some bottled water from the bar before he left though, he was sick of drinking soda.

On his way out he found Gareth in his usual spot, sitting on the steps leading out of the car park.

“Thanks for the help Gareth. Sorry for turning up in such a state.”

“Jeez kid, you almost gave me a heart attack. What the hell did you run into?” Gareth asked.

“One of those Trickers that sits on the ceiling, nasty bugger it was.” Nick sighed.

“Yeah that’ll do it to ya, that’s why everyone has a team kid. Nobody makes it solo very long.” Gareth said, looking like he was reminiscing.

Nick changed the subject with a smile.

“I found that thing you told me about.”

“Oh?” The man looked surprised. “And?”

“Brawler. New skill increases my damage the more I hit something.”

The man whistled. “Sounds pretty good. A good class as well, though not very popular.”

Gareth didn’t have to explain that one. Nick found it very understandable that most people would want to make sure there was a weapon between them and the monsters. Not everyone was crazy enough to want to get so close to their opponents. Nick was certainly feeling it after his close call.

“Thanks Gareth.”

“Say nothing of it, kid. Least I could do.” Gareth said with a sad smile.

Nick didn’t stick around, he had a lot of exploring to get done. He jogged through the car park, not stopping for anything. It was only when he made it to the ramp that he briefly stopped to have a chat with Luciano and his team. After that he went down to the 71st, said hi to everyone and kept his jog on. He made it to the hotel in record time.

Nick looked around the dinning room for a bit but couldn’t see the familiar Exes anywhere, so he decided to stop in and speak to Doyle for a bit. He made his way through the kitchen and found the leader sitting in the same spot as last time. Nick saw that he was talking to a man wearing clothes that distinctly looked like they were from the Parklands. He wasn’t close enough to hear the conversation and there were people actively blocking him from getting closer. Nick was insanely curious but he realised it was probably a trade deal, which would justify the confidentiality.

That was until he noticed that Paige was also sitting at the table, but wasn’t engaged in the conversation. His curiosity exploded again.

Why was she there?