Page 16 of 3013: Hellion

“Seriously?” Xian chuckled and shook his head. “What are the odds?”

“You know him?”

“He’s a friend of mine. Don’t worry, she’s in good hands.”

“She better be,” she growled in warning, then she huffed out a breath. “I am just not used to being separated from her. I need to get through that barrier.”

“I’ll hand over the jammer I made,” Cosmo offered. “It got us through the protection barrier, but I swear, my device didn’t have anything to do with the explosion or the holos coming to life.”

“No, a creature eating one of the power cells did that,” Xian grudgingly explained.

“The creature did not eat it. The power cell is just damaged,” Jaya corrected. “I saw it myself. I attempted to reach it, but itis in the contained area. I am sure my sister will fix it once she is able. Is there somewhere safe we can put these two while we search for the others?”

“I told the others to head to the arcade in the next section of the city and wait there until we can get the barrier down,” Xian said. “It’s a big building that has a ton of games and a full kitchen with working food consoles.” He paused for a second, then added, “But it can get pretty loud in there. Can you secure the doors to make sure the zombies can’t get in?”

“Aye, I can do that. If you show me where the arcade is, I can transport us there.”

“Actually, it’s not too far from here. Right now, we’re close to the border of this sector, and the arcade is in the next one over. It’s on the pier near the big Ferris wheel.”

“I recall seeing that when I flew around the island.”

“You shifted into a dragon earlier?” Eddie exclaimed. “Damn, I can’t believe we missed seeing that. Can you—”

“No,” Xian growled.

Whatever the kid was asking for, the answer was definitely no.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I don’t see why you have to drop us off at the arcade. Can’t we just go with you? I mean, you can, like, kill everything in your path with your pinky, so we should be safe.”

“No,” Xian repeated.

“Aw, come on, bro.”

These fucking kids, Xian thought with a mental snarl. “No, you are not coming with us. If we are going to be rescuing other people, then we can’t be worried about keeping you safe.”

“He is right. You should just stay at the arcade and wait for us,” Jaya said in a much friendly tone.

“But—”

“Or I can just put you to sleep until we are finished.”

Eddie swallowed hard. “We’ll wait for you in the arcade.”

She smiled brightly. “I thought that would be your answer.”

Chapter Six

They decided towalk to the arcade instead of transporting there since it wasn’t that far. It also gave them the opportunity to search for other staff members in the area who might need help.

On the way, they didn’t encounter any more natural disasters, but they did run into another group of zombies shortly after they started walking. When they turned a corner, more than a dozen zombies had been frozen in place like statues on the street. However, as soon as the undead caught sight of them, they attacked. Xian destroyed several of them using his blaster, while Jaya took care of the rest with her fire whip.

Without magic, the only way to stop the zombies was to shoot them in the head or sever their spinal cord completely. It might have seemed a little gruesome, but Xian, Eddie, and Cosmo assured Jaya that it was simply part of the zombie lore for the game. Since the boys had been disappointed they hadn’t gotten a chance to join in during that brief battle, Jaya promised to let Eddie and Cosmo take care of the next group of zombies they encountered.

“Are you sure about that?”Xian asked using their bond as they continued to walk.

During their walk, she had grabbed hold of his hand. At first, he had felt awkward as hell about the simple act of holding her hand, but now, he found comfort in that connection with her.

“This is what they came here for. To play. Since we are going to be locking them away soon, we might as well let them have a little fun while we can supervise and ensure they do not harm themselves.”

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