Shrub was an older newbie. This surprised Richard and the other newbies. Apparently this was his first three months as a guard, and Richard had a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that Reggie was actually stronger than Shrub. Reggie had been here two years, which was way longer than anyone else. Richard wondered what it would be like to live two years in this apocalypse, let alone being stronger than a forest goliath.

  “The system really is the great equalizer,” Reggie said, patting Shrub on the back.

  “It’s strange that I feel somehow weaker than in my old life at the Shrouded Domain.” Shrub looked at his massive forest hands. “I don’t like it.”

  Leylah was curious about that and kept asking them questions. Richard watched Leylah and realized that the small woman had already decided on her class. He could see it in the way her eyes glowed with excitement whenever they talked about being a guard. Reggie, Shrub, and Leylah started their own conversation. They might not have meant this, but they broke away from the other group, talking among themselves.

  “What about you, Elias?” Amber asked. She dared to do what no one else wanted to do: involve Elias in the conversation.

  At first, Elias hadn’t heard Amber, lost in his own thoughts. When the silence persisted, he glanced over and saw everyone looking at him. He frowned. “Pardon?”

  “How long have you been here?”

  Elias narrowed his eyes like she had asked him a personal question. Not for the first time, Richard wondered what the hell had happened to Elias to make him so paranoid.

  “Seven years.”

  Richard had guessed this. He even got the hint that Elias and Dmitri came at the same time. And yet, knowing that so many scavengers hardly make it a year, Elias’ declaration of seven years sounded immortal.

  That quieted Leylah and her group, too. Richard glanced at Amber, wondering if she was going to continue the conversation. The obvious question to ask is why, if Elias had way more experience, was Marcus the leader instead. Richard doubted he’d ever want to hear that conversation.

  “Wow, that’s a lot of years,” Amber said.

  Elias stared at her, almost bored. “And?”

  Richard felt himself prickle at Elias’ tone.

  “I’m just saying, it’s a lot of years.”

  Elias was about to say something when Marcus butted in. “I think now is a great time to go over more rules about scavenger duties.”

  Elias closed his mouth, an arrogant smile flickering across his face. Richard had to look away. Marcus must have a skill to push conversations away when he needed to. He pointed out plants at the edge of the forest, giving them a more hands-on lecture. Their future lectures would be looking at pictures from a book. He didn’t mind this learning experience outside the wall, because there were no creatures ready to kill him. He also loved that they never set foot in the forest. Being this close was enough. What surprised him was being able to identify the five point flower Marcus said was common for basic healing potions.

  They walked around the wall, and Richard saw the ocean. He didn’t know why he expected the water to be red. Probably because everything else was different here, and red waves made sense in an apocalypse. From the fog of his past life, there was something familiar about the crashing waves and blue ocean. The water here was the same as the water on Earth, except for the added fear of not knowing what was below that surface. Which… was also true about Earth, but this was an apocalypse planet. Richard already expected something to be right below the surface.

  “Alright, newbies stick with me.” Marcus pulled out a scroll from the small of his back, checking a few things before looking up. “Savannah, Meredith, and Elias?”

  Elias shot Marcus a dark look. Marcus rolled his eyes. “Savannah and Meredith, stick together on the beach, please. See if you can find any basic or advanced water-based creatures. Elias, go find us some clams.”

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  Elias said nothing before heading out deeper onto the beach. Savannah and Meredith visibly relaxed once Elias left. They turned toward Marcus, and he handed them the scroll.

  “Find what you can on this list. Until Elias comes back, I’ll be taking the newbies to harvest some seaweed.”

  Savannah and Meredith nodded, mostly focused on the scroll. Marcus turned his attention toward Reggie, who stood up straight.

  “How would you like to divide yourselves up?” Marcus asked.

  Reggie slapped Scrub on the back. “Stay with Savannah and Meredith. They’re higher level, but they don’t have any guard skills. I’ll stick with the newbies.”

  Shrub nodded, then stood with his hands behind him as he moved behind the two women, making sure he watched the forest and the ocean at the same time.

  Fang stuck close to Reggie and Marcus, involving himself in the conversations there. Leylah, Amber, and Richard walked behind them, but not too far.

  The sun was beating down on them, and Richard could feel the salt in the air. He heard the rhythmic crashing of the ocean, and for the tiniest moment, he could almost pretend he wasn’t in an apocalyptic world. But the wind rustling the forest close to where they were made his head jerk in that direction. It gave him a lot of comfort to see Reggie was already studying the rustling leaves.

  Richard turned his focus to Amber and Leylah. “Well, we’ve been here almost a full day here on this planet. What do we think about that?” Once again, he found he needed a conversation. He made a mental note to himself that this was far more out of a strong desire than what he wanted. Something in his past life was driving him to do this, and he was curious to figure out why.

  “Kind of mixed feelings,” Leylah said.

  Amber let out a shaky breath. “Completely understandable.”

  “Right? This is so crazy. My entire world has been flipped upside down. I’m still coming to terms with the fact that I apparently died.” Leylah shivered, rubbing her upper arms. “But… this is also kind of exciting. I essentially have another chance at life, and I’m going to use it.”

  Amber winced. “I sort of wish my second chance at life didn’t involve an apocalypse.”

  “That’s understandable, too,” Richard said.

  Amber shook her head, shivering.

  “Do you two already know what classes you’re choosing?” Leylah asked.

  Richard and Amber glanced at each other before Amber shook her head. “Uh, no. Not yet.”

  “It’s hard to decide when we haven’t tried them all out yet,” Richard said.

  “Fair enough. Though I’m already asking for guard. I feel it in my bones, you know?” Leylah asked.

  Richard was almost jealous of how certain Leylah sounded. He wondered what it would feel like to already know what class to choose.

  “How are you so certain? Aren’t you nervous about it?” Amber asked.

  “I honestly don’t know, except it just feels like a class I’d do well in. Maybe it was something about my past life.”

  Richard began chewing on the inside of his cheek. He wasn’t about to say it out loud, but Richard doubted Leylah would have joined anything remotely “guard-like” in her old world. Maybe that was why she was so drawn to it. Because she couldn’t before.

  Amber’s head jerked around. “Do you hear that?”

  Richard thought she was changing the subject to not point out Leylah’s shortness, but then he heard it, too. Someone was crying. No, a baby.

  Amber headed for the ocean, and Richard grabbed her wrist, his eyes wide. “No, Amber.”

  “There’s a baby.” Her eyes took on a glassy quality. “A baby in the water. They’re so scared!”

  Richard’s stomach dropped. He couldn’t deny the entranced look in Amber’s eyes now. “Think about it, Amber. We just came from Lucy’s apocalypse sex education lecture. There are no babies here.”

  Marcus appeared out of nowhere, putting himself in front of Amber so she was forced to look at him. “Richard’s right, Amber. You’re being lured.” Marcus nodded toward Richard. “Good remembering. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. Both of you watch her. I’ll go take care of the lure.”

  “What about Reggie?” Richard asked.

  Marcus cracked a smile. “Tear Reggie’s attention away for a simple lure? No, I wouldn’t want to bother him with something so trivial.”

  Richard appreciated that Marcus kept it light, even as he waited until they had a secure hold of Amber before he let go. Richard watched, curious, still hearing the faint cries of a baby. He started getting worried as Marcus walked into the water. Richard wasn’t strong. In fact, all three of them were at the same level. Why was Marcus having Richard help hold Amber back? Reggie should do this. It would guarantee that Amber would be successfully held back.

  Those cries sounded sincere. Even if, logically, he could explain that this was clearly a trap, something inside him felt sick at the thought that Marcus was heading toward that baby’s cries while holding a dagger. What kind of psychopath would do something like that? This was a baby, clearly distressed, and Marcus was going to murder the infant?

  Amber struggled in Leylah and Richard’s grip. Tears formed in her eyes. “No. Please, no. Not the baby.”

  The water lapped against Marcus’s shins when he slammed the dagger down. Richard gasped, feeling the weight of the lure lift off his shoulders. It was so huge that he practically stumbled back, his grip loosening on Amber. Amber collapsed to the ground, covering her face and sobbing. Leylah stared at Richard, then glanced at someone past him. Richard spun around, expecting an attack, but they saw Reggie there, holding a club. He nodded, smiling.

  “Well done, you three. I’m impressed.” Reggie slipped the club into his inventory.

  Richard’s stomach churned. What exactly was Reggie planning to do with that club if something happened?