The familiar concrete and twisted metal of the Aurora Bridge materialized around Zeph as the tutorial's extraction completed. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows through the skeletal remains of Seattle's skyline, and the ever-present smell of rust and decay filled his nostrils.
Home sweet apocalyptic home.
His enhanced hearing immediately picked up the subtle sounds he'd grown accustomed to over three years; the distant growl of something hunting in the lower districts, the crack of settling rubble, the whisper of wind through broken glass.
But notably absent were the sounds of heavy breathing, nervous shuffling or the distinctive wheeze that marked Buster's presence.
They were long gone.
'Smart boys,' Zeph thought, scanning the bridge approaches with eyes that now processed visual information with level 1 enhanced clarity.
The tactical situation was obvious once he considered the time differential. Tutorial dungeons operated on accelerated time; roughly two hours inside equaled one hour in the real world. He'd spent what felt like six hours clearing the dungeon, which meant three hours had passed out here.
Three hours was more than enough time for Chen and Buster to realize what was coming and make themselves scarce.
And honestly? Zeph respected the tactical decision. They'd shown him killing intent. They'd coordinated an ambush designed to end his life slowly and painfully.
In their position, he'd have done exactly the same thing; get as far away as possible from the inevitable retaliation.
But respect didn't equal forgiveness.
Zeph had a simple philosophy when it came to survival: anybody who demonstrated the will to kill him had forfeited their right to continued existence.
It was nothing personal, just practical threat assessment. People who tried to murder you once tended to try again if given the opportunity.
Buster had been useful entertainment for months, a predictable source of amusement in an otherwise grim existence. But the moment he'd teamed up with Chen and waited in ambush, he'd crossed the line from harmless nuisance to legitimate threat.
Now they both had to die.
'But where would they go?'
Zeph settled into his analytical mindset, the same cold calculation that had kept him alive for three years.
Two newly awakened scavengers with more ambition than sense, probably level 1 or 2 at most and grand dreams and goals for a 'brighter' future, which the ruins obviously couldn't provide.
They'd want out. Fast.
There were exactly three ways to leave the Seattle ruins safely. The northern pass was controlled by a pack of mutated wolves that even experienced awakened avoided. The eastern route led through dead zones where the mana density could kill unprotected humans in hours.
But the southern tunnel...
'The Underground Bazaar.'
It was the worst-kept secret in the ruins—a semi-permanent trading post built in the old Metro tunnels, where scavengers gathered to trade goods and information.
More importantly, it was the terminus for the Underground Railroad, a smuggling network that could get people to the nearest sanctuary for the right price.
Unfortunately, it only allowed awakened to access their services. If not, Zeph would have evaporated the day he found out about it. But apparently, unawakened ants weren't worth the ride.
But those that were newly awakened and desperate to escape? They'd head straight for the bazaar, pool their resources, and buy passage on the next transport heading toward Northern Bastion.
'Chen's got a decent stash of salvage from his scavenging runs,' Zeph calculated. 'Buster's too stupid to save much, but he might have grabbed something valuable over the years. Between them, they probably have enough to buy basic passage.'
The timeline worked too. Three hours was exactly how long it would take to reach the bazaar from here if you knew the safe routes and moved quickly. They'd be there by now, probably haggling with the transport brokers or waiting for the next scheduled departure.
'Which gives me maybe six hours before they disappear forever.'
Zeph wasn't the type to let threats slip away into the night. He'd hunt them down eventually. His memory for grudges was as long as his memory for useful survival information.
But it would be much more convenient to settle this now, while they were still predictably located and before they could establish themselves in a sanctuary where casual murder was frowned upon.
He turned toward his base, already planning the gear he'd need for an underground expedition. Enhanced hearing would be invaluable in the tunnels, where sound carried strangely and ambushes were—
The whisper of displaced air reached his enhanced ears a microsecond before his eyes registered the arrow's trajectory!
Swish!
Zeph's body moved without conscious thought, his enhanced agility and newly sharpened combat instincts combining in a fluid backstep that carried him just far enough to avoid the projectile.
The arrow passed through the space his heart had occupied, close enough that he felt the fletching brush his hoodie!
An ambush!
His head snapped toward the source of the attack, enhanced hearing already tracking the distinctive sound signatures of two people trying very hard not to breathe.
There, crouched behind the concrete barrier at the far end of the bridge, were Chen and Buster.
Both looked as shocked as he felt.
Chen held a compact crossbow that was still vibrating from the shot, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Buster crouched beside him with his chainsaw held ready, but his expression suggested he'd been expecting their ambush to end the fight before it started.
Neither of them had anticipated their target would be fast enough to dodge a surprise shot at point-blank range!
'Well, well,' Zeph thought, his surprise rapidly crystallizing into something much colder and more dangerous. 'Look what delivered itself to my doorstep.'
He'd been mentally preparing for a hunting expedition through the underground tunnels, possibly hours of tracking and investigation to corner his prey. Instead, they'd saved him the trouble by staying right here and attempting another ambush.
'Either they're braver than I thought, or stupider than I imagined.'
Probably stupider. Chen's shocked expression suggested this hadn't been part of the plan. Zeph's lips curved into a smile that had nothing to do with humor and everything to do with predatory satisfaction.
The expression seemed to hit both attackers like a physical force. Chen actually flinched, his grip on the crossbow wavering. Buster's face went pale beneath the grime, and his chainsaw's idle trembled in his suddenly unsteady hands.
At the end of the day, they were still just sixteen year olds. It was understandable for them to feel terrified.
They'd seen that smile before, in the moments before Zeph had dismantled their previous attempts at revenge. But this time was different. This time, the smile carried the weight of genuine killing intent.
This time, the Ghost of the ruins was done playing games.
"You know," Zeph said conversationally, his voice carrying easily across the bridge, "I was just thinking about you two. Wondering where you'd run off to, whether I'd have to track you all the way to the bazaar."
He took a single step forward, and both attackers tensed like rabbits sensing a predator.
"But here you are, saving me all that trouble. Delivering yourselves right to my doorstep like good little prey."
The smile widened, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Zeph registered that his enhanced hearing was picking up the rapid acceleration of two heartbeats echoing off the concrete around them.
Fear. Pure, primal, animal fear.
'Good,' he thought, reaching behind his back for Phantom's familiar grip. 'They should be afraid.'
After all, they'd just declared war on something that had spent three years becoming very, very good at killing things that threatened it.
And unlike his previous encounters with these two idiots, this time he wasn't planning to let them walk away.