So yeah, I was good enough to be a carpenter! But of course I already was a badass exterminator.

  "Thanks, Ayla. So what was all the ruckus last night for?" Asked Donn.

  I looked over at Mary, and we both smiled devilishly at each other. Emily and my brother were standing there, looking stupid while we sniggered behind our smiles.

  "Guess who just got a couple kilos lighter!" Mary exclaimed. Not a bad way of putting it, I suppose.

  The two of them looked puzzled for a second before Emily got a brainwave. "Did Helena go into labor?" She asked. Throughout the week and a half we had been here, Emily showed interest in Helena. She had a certain tenderness in her gaze whenever she looked at her. Of course any normal person would too, but not me. No sir, not me. I had been stuck with that feeling in my gut that reminded me of the thousands of ways everything could go wrong, along with all my responsibilities and the pressure I was under every time I looked at her.

  "Yep! And nothing has gone wrong!" I said. God, it felt so freaking good to be free of my burden! It was only then I truly understood how free I was!

  The two of them smiled, almost as if sharing thoughts and conscience.

  And right as we were finally happy, something went wrong, because in this shitty existence, pain is a given and happiness is but a mere concept. Fuck my life.

  We all heard as an emergency siren began blaring. It was a sharp intermittent tone that sent chills up our spines every time it sounded. Then, a group of people ran up the stairs to our floor and began hammering my door, or the one opposite to where I was then.

  "Ayla!! Ayla, get your ass ready!" It was Tyrone calling out to me. He sounded so tense that I almost took him for someone else; it wasn't like him to sound so bloody stressed. I immediately opened the door of my brother's flat, and I saw that there were four other soldiers with him.

  "Tyrone, what's going on?" I meekly asked.

  "Ayla! Get ready, go get your saw and gear, and meet us at town hall as soon as you can; every second counts! And all of you!" He moved onto the others inside the apartment. "Go to the hospital and help with moving civilians! Everybody move!"

  Tyrone then shoved me into my own apartment after I opened it. Whatever was going on, it was heavy and bad, really bad. But what could it be? The alarm was still blaring. The alarm... that meant it involved the entire city, and about what Tyrone had said about civilians, had there been a breach in the walls? If so, that was a massive issue. I couldn't stop to think; I had to act. I went to my room and got my shield along with my military clothes I had been given; they offered quite a lot of protection.

  When I was done, I dashed out and saw the others looking scared and confused. I told them to get a move on and to follow orders. We all hurried down the stairs and parted ways as I was destined for the town hall. It was a big hall this time, not the crummy excuse Dongle Town had. No, this was a real historic building. There were soldiers everywhere, and my heart was beating like it wanted to combust in flames. I saw Brigg's squad there and also Tyrone. I went to talk to them. We were all in the receptacle.

  "Yo guys, what's going on?" I asked.

  Tyronee turned to me and delivered the news. "There have been reports from Kingsveil that a massive swarm is heading here. We're talking earth-shaking amounts of undead.

  "Fishtail has just spotted another group moving in on us!!" Shouted someone. That sent us all into disarray. I couldn't hear myself think over everyone there shouting.

  "SILENCE!!" Sounded a voice as powerful as a bomb. The voice came from atop one of the two stairways that gave access to the upper sections of the congress room. It was Plague. "Everyone! Gather in the congress room for debriefing. Now!" He snapped.

  So we all obeyed. Everyone swarmed into the room. It was like a Roman amphitheater, a central stage with a semicircle of stands and seats for the crowd. Now, instead of debating taxes and corruption, we would all be getting informed on what was going to be the end of our life in this place. I sat next to Tyrone; on my other side was some random dude. Cooper was sitting below me, and I could see a bead of sweat rolling down his neck, and it wasn't the heat. On the central stage, Plague was standing beside Cayde.

  "At twelve thirty today, we received a radio transmission from Kingsveil that informed us that a substantial horde of zeds was making its way here. The swarm paid no heed to the small town; not even a single walker turned away from the horde. From the reports made by their gifted, the swarm is headed straight for us with an elapsed time of eight hours. Five minutes ago, we received a similar transmission from Fishtail telling a similar story, this time with an elapsed time of six hours. I have my reasons to assume this isn't a freak event; this is a coordinated attack from the man responsible for the whole apocalypse. All guards are tasked with taking care of their sector of the wall. All of those who are not assigned to a post shall help fortify all sections and help transport crates of cure grenades. As for the plan of action, I, along with a few selected individuals, will go around all the perimeter of the wall and plant CURE mines. From my predictions, the bulk of zeds will fall to the mines, and most muties will too. However, mutants will not be as likely to be affected, so pick off any stragglers with guns or any other means. Now get to it, people!" Plague had this way of making you feel both terrified and somehow brave. He knew what he was doing, but that didn't make the situation any less terrifying. I could definitely do a lot here, but the settlement was massive! I didn't know how the hell Plague expected us to take on what seemed like half the zeds in the country, let alone do it in the historic center of a city! Where we are at the biggest disadvantage we could ask for! It would be one thing to be at the top of a dam, or a bridge, or anywhere where we had the high ground and a route of escape. Inside the complex there could have been maybe two thousand Zeds tops. Now we were looking at millions! That's like a lot more!

  So everyone made their way out of the room; some looked gloomy, and others looked like they were about to shit their breeches. So yeah, we were fucked. I guessed that the members of Plague's suicide squad included me, so instead of vacating the room, I went down the stairs to talk to the big man.

  "How big of an area can you cover?" "Plague?" asked Cayde.

  "Big enough of an area, I assure you." Was his answer.

  "I need numbers. Can you cover the main square at least?"

  "Yes, don't worry."

  Then, Plague noticed me out of the corner of his eye.

  "I have a special job for you. Ayla, I've been working on a little something ever since you made that blue ball of energy, and I think you'll like it."

  He took out an EpiPen-looking injection thingy.

  "This will give you a temporary power boost, and I'm hoping it'll be enough for you to take care of all the mutes along the way." His confidence was... rather lacking. Whenever Plague tried to sound hopeful, it usually meant he knew shit was going to hit the fan. I felt as if my stomach dropped to my knees, and I felt a void in my gut.

  "Thanks, but I can't take care of all of them; I can't be everywhere at once!" I exclaimed. Though I could easily hold down a small space, an entire town was a stretch too far for me. Though it's true that I was by far capable of miracles, this wasn't one I was confident in. Though that booster could be interesting.

  Then I noticed Brigg's squad had pulled up; they too didn't have a post.

  "Ah, I needed you guys. You are our last line of defense against the zeds. You will all be posted up in the hospital. Coop, I'm sorry, but you have to stay focused." Plague sounded cold, just as he always did when he was giving orders, but Cooper didn't need to be told twice to focus. He looked almost eager—no, that's not the word. He looked proud of his responsibility and scared at the same time. There was, after all, a newborn with his blood inside the hospital.

  Sofia had something to say. "Sir, we need everyone who can help for this, including civilians."

  "Don't worry, it's all accounted for. Every elemental has been posted up on the rooftops, just in case." Plague said. Yeah, we were going to need everything going for us.

  Now, I had to stay calm over all of this. My brother was going to be on a rooftop, but I knew Mary was going to be in the hospital helping with anything she could do. I had to protect her at all costs.

  "Now, Cayde, Ayla, and I will go set up defenses all around the place. Move out, teams!" He said that, and that was where it all truly began.

  Briggs's squad left, and that left us three alone. The general, the mystery, and me.

  "Cayde, do you think you can make these?" Plague asked. He was holding a cure grenade, which looked just like any other smoke grenade with its tube body and standard everything, but it differed in what it held. Instead of providing an obscure cloud of cover, it was going to produce a cloud of greenish-white smoke that would neutralize any Zed that came into contact with it. But what did he mean by make them?

  But my question would be answered in no time. From Cayde's open jacket, a thick plume of black smoke began forming. He reached his hand into it, and I was getting more and more confused by the moment. He reached in, and his hand almost seemed to disappear into a void before resurfacing with three cure grenades. Ok, what the fuck was happening? Who is this guy? Why was he so important, and why could he do this?

  "What the—?" I said.

  "Impressed, aye? As the very concept of destruction, I can make anything designed to kill as long as I can pull it out of myself. Neat, isn't it?" He nonchalantly said. So then it was true. There existed gods and other things, so did that mean Plague was actually telling the truth when I met him? He had claimed to be the king of Plague; from there came his name, but I hadn't taken him seriously. I mean, his name was pretty stupid by itself, so I always supposed it had some meaning, but I had assumed it was the name he had gotten from F.U.C.K., given that he was a magician of the infection. Now it all somewhat made sense.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  "Good, could you do the knife trick?" Plague asked.

  "Oh, yeah, sure. Where do you want it?" Cayde answered as he pulled out an ornate knife. It was curved and brutal, made with the sole purpose of combat. It was long, curved like a lightning bolt, and decorated with a sick-looking black grip.

  "Just outside the town, right where you came in."

  Cayde drew a circle on the floor with the tip of the knife surrounding us and then cut his arm a bit to wet the blade with blood, then he shanked the blade into the floor, and I felt the world vanish. It's hard to explain what happened. It was like the earth swallowed me and spat me out somewhere else. So now we were standing in the exact spot outside the perimeter wall where I had met Cayde. I was in over my head with this. All I witnessed just confused me more and more. It had gotten to the point where I just didn't give a fuck anymore. I mean, you can't really blame me. I could lift cars with my mind, my brother could shoot lightning, and Mary could literally change her own shape to make weapons, so I gave up on logic a long time ago. But I must admit that this was quite the stretch of what I could simply accept.

  We immediately got to work setting up defenses. Plague told me that he was planning on making corridors to control where the zeds could come from, and that was going to be my job. I was the demolition and construction girl. I asked Plague for clearer instructions, and he told me that in total, there were forty-six different streets that touched the wall, and Plague was aiming to cut off all of the smaller ones, so that made about thirty-nine streets to take care of. We began on the northeast side, which was by far the oldest part of the city and the one with the most winding streets.

  The only street that was to be left clear was the avenue that reached the back of the city hall, which was big and wide. Plague got to setting up the smoke traps while Cayde covered him in case any Zed came to him. I was told to begin demolishing buildings to section off the place.

  So I got to work. I started by taking care of the junctions. It was a simple procedure, really; I just had to want to move the buildings to the side for them to collapse and then rearrange the rubble so that it created as high a wall as possible. I was getting really strong. If I could collapse buildings now, then what would I be able to do with the booster?

  However, my shenanigans were causing a lot of noise. I began seeing zeds coming towards me, but they were not a problem for me anymore. I could easily dispose of them by crushing their bones, chopping them up with the saw blade, or simply popping their heads like a grapefruit. I could do so much; it was almost hard to choose how to dispose of them. In total I counted about fifty per street, and I took care of about twenty just in the north part. After every one I cleared, I would go back and check up on Plague and his mine planting. More than mines, they were setting up tripwire grenades all along the street. I had to watch my step in case I set them off prematurely.

  "Ayla, We're done here; let's move to the east now. And also, try making that blue orb of energy again; I need to see what you can do with that." Plague said. Of course I knew I could do it; after all, I had done it without even wanting to, but I didn't know how I did it, which sucked ass.

  "Sure, I'll give it a try." I reasoned that the first thing I'd have to do was think about what had triggered that reaction in me. I tried remembering what I was thinking at the time. I remember my skin felt like I was being crawled all over by a thousand ants, all induced thanks to the tension in the room and the incessant screams of Helena. Though something did catch my attention. I remember looking at the lamps on the ceiling and feeling warm from the light; I was being slightly calmed by the light. So then I reasoned that I must have wanted more light. And it must have been that wanton for light that spawned that ball of blue energy.

  I focused between my hands; I wanted light. I tried to fool myself into thinking I was being covered again in warm light as

  I saw blue crackles and sparks appearing in between my hands. I now knew what part of my brain activated that, and I could now more comfortably trigger it, so I did. I focused, and a blue sphere of pure energy appeared in between my hands; it emanated a warm heat, and it reverberated nicely. I was afraid to touch it; maybe it burned to the touch. But a thought in the back of my mind told me to touch it. I slowly reached a wary hand and caressed the surface of the ball. It was warm to the touch, but not too hot. It was smooth and even, and it was solid. I felt really prideful. I made and was maintaining a blue orb of energy, the same one that had carved a hole into the hospital's ceiling. Speaking of which, I had to figure out why it had done that.

  Everyone held their breath at that moment, even I. I was fascinated by that sphere, the enigmatic ball of blue I was going to call it.

  "Fascinating, it is the color of infinite temperature, well, the maximum allowed temperature in the universe." Said Plague.

  "There's a maximum temperature?" I asked, dumbfounded. I knew there was a minimum temperature where particles almost ceased to vibrate, but I never considered there'd be a max.

  "Yes, Ayla, there is. The Planck temperature is the temperature the universe was at when it was one instant old, so not only is it the point where any particle would probably turn into a black hole, but it's also the point where every law of physics just says no. But I doubt it's that hot."

  "Why the doubt?"

  "Because if it were that hot, it would be emitting the sun's entire lifetime of energy production in every direction at every instant, or in other words, we would be vaporized so quickly and with such violence that the atoms in your body would probably undergo a nuclear reaction. So it's just a coincidence in color then. Still, when you made it at the hospital, it carved a steaming hole into the ceiling, and it left the area glowing red hot. Try lowering it to the ground." He ordered.

  I could control the sphere perfectly, like it was a thought in my head. It had even more control over it than I had over normal objects. I obeyed and slowly lowered the ball.

  The moment it touched the asphalt, a thin trail of white smoke began slithering its way, engulfing the ball in a coat of haze before rejoining back into that little thin white line. It also smelled like fresh road that was still being worked—that tar smell.

  "More, Ayla, more." Said Plague.

  So I did; I lowered it more and faster. Now a heavy sizzling started sounding, and the trail of smoke turned into a plume. It was also beginning to smell really badly. I lifted the ball because I couldn't bear the smell anymore, and I observed the concave hole the ball had made. It wasn't deep, but you could definitely tell it was just some pothole. The black asphalt had become liquid again.

  "So it really was you who did it; I misjudged you." Said Cayde.

  "Yeah, I'm stronger than you thought!"

  Even though we were standing outside, I couldn't feel worried enough not to raise my voice a little bit.

  We then finished the rest of the mines there and moved east. It was east where we were due next.

  "Yeah, but you're still no match for me." He answered.

  "Really? I'm literally a universal anomaly with unparalleled potential, and you think you can beat me?"

  "I know I can beat you."

  "He's right, Ayla," came Plague.

  "Now you're agreeing with him?" I said playfully. "What a good friend you are."

  "Please don't gaslight me or whatever it is you're trying to do. Now team, we head to the east while you, Ayla, keep knocking down buildings, got it?"

  "Yeah, sure," we both said. The main goal of knocking down buildings was to create funnels and barriers to concentrate the horde of zeds only to where we wanted them. By doing this, we both slow them down and make our lives easier by being able to focus our troops in less space and knowing it's fine to do that.

  The pure old center of the city gave way to the not-so-old part. The tight pebbled streets gave way to wider roads and taller buildings. I almost felt bad having to take down such nice constructions. The windowsills were neatly decorated with ornate wrought iron grills, and every ledge and seam had some decoration. It was a shame having to take down such pretty houses, but it couldn't be helped.

  The biggest avenue was definitely in that part of the city, and Plague wasted no time getting to work setting up row after row of mines, all supplied by Cayde. I still didn't know who he was. So far I knew that he was one of Plague's acquaintances and also a god of destruction, but he didn't seem that way. Usually, when people think of a god, they think of a three-meter-tall person wearing robes and being absolutely jacked, but not some average-looking guy. Well, average-looking is a bit of an overstatement. Cayde was really handsome and had an incredibly well-toned body, but he wasn't three meters tall or had flames for hair; he just seemed like a normal bodybuilder, and even still he was leaner than most bodybuilders. He was also really hard to decipher. He was either angry at the world or acting extremely cocky; he had no in-between point. And Plague just kept saying how strong he was. I couldn't really understand that Cayde was so strong; I mean, I could lift ten-ton trucks with ease now! With my mind! If Plague claimed Cayde could beat me, then he knew that somehow Cayde could bypass that one extremely advantageous thing I had in my favor. After all, I only needed to keep him floating in the air and he wouldn't be able to touch me.

  We were almost done with the east side and were now heading southeast, which kept the same theme as the east. There were also fewer zeds than there had been in the north, which I don't understand why was the case. Everything went swimmingly, and we were done with everything in two hours. That left us another six to prepare before action began. We entered town through the west side, and I was tasked with helping carry boxes of cure grenades to the different patrols posted up on the wall. All of them had someone who could shoot fire, and posted on the rooftops of the different buildings were a lot of civilians. The roofs were both really safe and also greatly advantageous spots. From there, people could fire upon the horde in the streets and be safe from them.

  "Ayla, let's go over our plan once more." Said Plague.

  We were standing in front of the hospital, where I had been told to seal every entrance and exit.

  "Ok, I'm taking care of all the mutes that don't get killed by the cure gas. Sofia is in the hospital... Wait," I just realized something. Weren't hospitals equipped with oxygen lines throughout the entire buildings?

  "Plague, doesn't the hospital have oxygen lines?" I asked.

  The moment I asked, his eyes went wide as dinner plates. "Shit, you're right, Sofia can't be posted in there."

  He turned around to radio something.

  "Briggs! Change of plans, you're now on wall duty effective immediately. Exit through the front door."

  I heard him yell.

  I was just about to seal the front door with a pile of road I had ripped out before, so I was delayed by having to wait for her to get out. Two minutes later, she and her squad left, but Plague told Cooper to stay posted inside the hospital. Plague called in a squad of titans to take their place. That was the first time I would really see what titans were about. They had been made with strength in mind, and they were massive. The shortest one of the five was two meters and weighed about two hundred kilos of pure bone and muscle. They were goliaths, literally. I felt intimidated by them; they really did seem like they could take on zeds in a brawl, like Tyrone had said.

  "Cayde, we need weapons," said Plague.

  "Sure." Cayde stepped forwards and got to organizing the five titans. "One of you will take a zweihander and take the front hallway; the rest will use these." He reached his hands into his black mist that emanated from his bare chest and pulled out a sword bigger than I was. He held it with one hand, even though the weight and torque on his wrist should have made it buckle under the load. He handed the blade over to one of the titans; after that, he made four battle axes appear along with full-body shields for the four of them. "The four using the axes, you will be in charge of stairways and narrow doorways." The shields looked normal-sized in the hands of the titans, but once you got closer, you realized that they were big enough to serve as a sleigh for two people riding side by side lying on their backs with room to spare. It made me feel insecure about my dingy saw shield; it didn't hold a candle to them.

  After the titans entered and I sealed off the entrance, Plague got to organizing the last-minute preparations. And all the while I couldn't stop thinking about my brother and Mary.

  "Plague, where's my brother?" I asked.

  "He's posted on one of the roofs. He's safe; don't worry. And Mary is in with the rest of the people in the hospital; she's also safe. Now, you stick with Cayde; he'll bring you around to whatever section of the wall needs you, but if the wall is breached, he'll take you to the top of the hospital. Don't do anything stupid; I don't want to lose you." That was the first time I ever heard Plague sound warm and kind, and that was when I realized this was serious. Whatever I had imagined was going to happen, it was wrong. I was in for a mountain of surprises.