CHAPTER 31 — Bending the Rules
ELION — POV
Dinner felt… normal?
And that was the strangest part.
Warm rice, pan-fried vegetables, seasoned chicken, canned corn, even a jar of homemade-looking sauce Meso kept in her cold storage. The bunker hummed quietly with power as we all sat around the central table sharing plates like it wasn't the end of the world.
For the first time in days, nobody was running. Nobody was hiding in fear, starving. Nobody was bleeding and reminded that we could die tomorrow.
I saw people relax without meaning to:
Aaron swinging his legs under the table while humming a song from Shrek. Lily stealing bites while trying to make conversation with Rea. Sarah smiling despite the exhaustion in her eyes. Danny and Delilah keeping close, whispering quietly to each other. Rea eating with the quiet intensity of someone who'd had to live off scraps before all this.
And to my left Alexiy…
She kept looking at me.
Like she wanted to ask ten questions but was trying very hard not to.
Across to my right, Meso had her chin propped in her palm while she stared around the table like she was observing a zoo enclosure.
She wasn't smiling.
But she looked… quiet, thoughtful
And for her? That was either very good, or very very dangerous... but she looked, like she was glowing under the harsh florescent lights. She was absolutely breathtaking.
We simply had a nice relaxing meal.
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When everyone had finished eating and Sarah started gathering dishes, Meso hopped up onto her feet and clapped loudly.
"Okay! The food was good, but the celebration needs to end. Playtime's over." She pointed dramatically at the hallway. "Time for the tour. Come on, let's go, goats. Chop chop."
Lily groaned. "Why goats?"
"Because goats follow anything and scream when startled. Very accurate~"
Aaron: "Baa."
Lily: "Aaron, no—"
Meso: "Correct~, Who's good boy!"
She winked at Me, and I felt like I saw Sarah nearly fainted.
I sighed. "Let's just go before she adopts him as her lab assistant."
Meso snapped her fingers. "That's not a bad idea, honestly."
"Nope! Let's go," I rush to stand reaching for Alexiy's hand as I stood for door trying to get Meso to forget that idea, before it's to late and Aaron becomes like her. Apathetic to everything.
She led us down the cleaned main hallway, boots clicking softly on the polished concrete.
"Welcome to 'Bunker 005'. Not my magnum opus, but she's stable, reinforced, and 80% explosion-proof."
"5? You mean you have for more?!" Rea actually was the one who was most shocked about this. Her calm composure breaking as Meso casually dropped info, but little did she know she wasn't done.
"Five? No in total I have 17 different bunkers and safe houses across the world."
The silence that followed was deep as everyone seemed to need to a moment to understand just how insane and rich Meso was to have 10 underground bunkers and 7 safe houses.
"Why only 80% 'explosion-proof'?" Lily whispered.
"You want 100%? Build it yourself." Meso snapped back as she kept walking.
I snorted.
The first stop was a large door labeled GYM.
Meso slapped a keypad and it slid open with a hiss. Inside were racks of weights, bars, padded mats, punching bags, two treadmills, and a the back half the room was build like a playground with bars and platforms placed, almost like a unfinished construction area.
"Typical gym equipment, and the back half is 200 feet of 'Parkour field' for mobility training."
Lily whispered, "So like… you built all this? Like this feels as if you were prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse."
Meso smirked. "You learn fast."
Rea's eyes lit up like a predator seeing a rabbit."This is… a good setup."
"It's a basic setup," Meso corrected. "Something to keep people active. It'll get better."
Meso continued the tour next down the hall was the, MEDICAL BAY.
Light by more florescent lights and painted very white. Rows of cabinets, above steel counters, the room smelt of that antiseptic smell. There was also a full surgical table. Two oxygen tanks. A wall freezer labeled 'MED STIMS'.
Delilah got pale. Danny put a hand on her shoulder.
Sarah blinked rapidly. "You… built all this."
"Not alone," Meso said lightly. "I stole about half. And custom built the rest. Oh but I modified everything. Let's keep walking." Meso just off her genius as if it was nothing and to her it was probably felt that way. She really didn't feel proud about building all this, to her it only made sense.
Next was a room with the sign, STORAGE A.
She opened the door and the group gasped.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves packed tight: from vacuum-sealed grains, rice towers, and canned soups, to crates of dehydrated meal packs, tanks of filtered water, and even more water filtration packs, stacks of ammo, an entire shelf of medical kits, Bins of clothes in different sizes and kinds.
Sarah looked like she could cry with relief.
"Is… is all this really for us?"
"For the base," Meso corrected. "But yes. You can eat it. Try not to die on it."
Then she gestured to the next door.
Meso gestured dramatically at the empty storage room.
"Storage B. It's empty... for now. Elion, unload your sins here."
I stepped inside, cracked my knuckles, and opened my Inventory.
Dozens of trash bags appeared in neat stacks—like I'd robbed a landfill instead of a supermarket.
Danny's jaw dropped, and Delilah whispered something that sounded like a prayer. Sarah just blinked slowly, like she was rebooting. This was the first time the really saw my Inventory skill in action.
Meso stared.
Then she sprinted across the room, grabbed one bag, opened it—
—and pulled out half a deli counter.
Neatly packed meats. Vacuum-sealed slices. Cheese blocks. Even a whole rotisserie chicken.
She froze.
Turned slowly.
"...You hacked the system."
I shrugged. "More like… bent it."
She exploded.
"GENIUS!! PURE. UNFILTERED. GENIUS. MWAHAHAHAHA—THAT'S MY ELION! You Insane Bastard! Look at you!"
Lily clapped like she was witnessing a magic trick, and Aaron looked at me like I'd just turned water into Doritos.
I lifted another bag and dumped it. Clothes from the grocery store spilled out. Hoodies, jeans, socks, kids' jackets, underwear, all different sizes.
Another bag— sodas and juice sloshed.
Another— pharmacy meds, painkillers, gauze, cough syrup, ointments.
The room filled fast. Bag after bag.
Meso circled me like an excited shark.
"Explain. NOW."
I rubbed the back of my neck."Well… the Inventory skill says it can store 10,000 items. It never clarified what counts as one 'item'. So I tried something."
I lifted a bag stuffed with deli meats.
"What if the item isn't the food… but the container?"
Meso started shaking in excitement.
"I theorized a bag full of stuff still counts as a single object," I continued. "And it worked. I'm glad since it ment we didn't have to leave anything, even the junk food I stole from my job on the first day."
Lily gasped dramatically. "He admits it! It's official he's a 'Degenerate Hero'!"
Aaron whispered, "You're like… a 'Loot Wizard'."
"Where did you hear those words!?" Sarah half asked and half yelled at her children.
Meso looked euphoric.
"Elion… do you realize what this means?"
"Potential infinite hoarding..." I respond as if my mind wasn't already thinking of the best way I could optimize my own skills.
Her eyes glowed.
"This. Is. BROKEN! I LOVE IT!!!"
I shrugged modestly. "Yeah, well… I wanted to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. Especially frozen food."
I tapped the Inventory screen.
"I'll keep most of the frozen stuff inside for now. Time stops in there; so it won't go bad anytime soon. But I want to keep as much space open for future opportunities." I said with a smirk, thinking about future places to raid and getting more supplies, and loot.
Meso clutched her head like she was in pain. She was really hamming this up. Either she didn't take her meds, or she's just trying to be a goofball to lighten the mood for the others.... The only problem is I don't think she's making the best impression...
I sighed and looked around Sarah, and Danny were looking scared, Aaron was trying not to laugh and Lilly was laughing. Alexiy looked concerned as if she worried about Meso. Rea and Delilah were both watching expressionlessly.
Then Meso jumped up and spread her arms open and shouted "A perfect exploit! It feels like a perfect loophole. This is Beautiful~ You are simply Magnificent." She pointed at me dramatically. "Never change."
"Please don't encourage him," Lily muttered.
"Too late," I grinned.
I dumped the last few bags and the others helped spread the supplies around.
The food was stacked neatly, and the clothes lightly organized, Sarah said she would do more tomorrow. The medicine sorted, and some of the better ones were put back in my inventory. There were sodas and water shoved taking a whole shelve of the room.
Meso looked around proudly.
"My god," she whispered. "We're rich."
I smirked.
"Welcome to the apocalypse."
Meso then jumped as if she just remembered that she was supposed to give a tour and so she quickly shoved us out of the room and down the hall. The room was Armory. Guns lined the walls and in the back I saw crates of ammo.
Next she gestured me forward, and I dumped all the guns and ammo we took from the gun shop. After looked over she looked at me and spoke softly, "Now lets give ones to some you think should have weapons."
I opened the top bag.
The air shifted.
Sarah froze as I handed her a handgun.
"No," she said quickly, hands trembling. "I— I can't. Guns are… I've never— I'll freeze."
I stepped closer and lowered my voice.
"If you freeze?"
Her eyes met mine.
Then I said it:
"Then you look at me. I'll tell you what to do. And you do it. You don't panic. There won't be guilt. This is just for survival. I doubt you'll ever need to use it... but better you have it than don't."
Sarah inhaled sharply. Her mind racing with possibilities, of endings where she chose not to take the gun and what could happen.
I saw her fear cracked. Revealing steel underneath.
"…Okay," she whispered. "Y-You tell me, and I'll do it."
I handed her the gun.
She accepted it with both hands.
But when I turned to Lily—
"No," Sarah snapped. "She's sixteen."
Lily crossed her arms. "Sixteen and still alive."
I sighed. "Lily, I'm not giving you a gun until your mom approves."
....
.....
...
Ten minutes.
TEN MINUTES.
Of arguing.
Of pleading. Of Sarah clutching her temples like she was choosing between heart attack and aneurysm. Of Lily giving speeches about "future reproduction ratios" and "laws don't exist anymore, Mom—adapt or die."
Until Sarah broke.
"Fine! FINE. But Elion teaches you. And if you shoot your foot off, I'm grounding you even in the apocalypse."
Lily fist-pumped. "Best day ever."
Aaron looked at me with wide, hopeful eyes."Do I get one?"
"No." I said gently. "You'll get one when you're old enough to drive."
He pouted. "What if I become like… seven times stronger—"
"No."
"Eight—?"
"No."
"…okay."
Delilah and Danny each got guns. Rea checked hers with a soldier's reflex. Alexiy inspected the pistol I handed her with gentle respect, not fear. While not needed, and honest I prefer if they didn't use them, against humans they were a great threat... and a better weapon than most.
Meso clapped sharply.
"Good. Now the ones who are brave or dumb enough to join the 'combat group', follow me."
Sarah stayed behind with Aaron and Danny, they went back to the living room to clean, or bedrooms for sleep. Lily wandered off to look at the movies again. The rest of us — me, Meso, Rea, Alexiy, and Delilah — followed Meso into a study room with the big wall map.
Meso spread blueprints on the table.
"Tomorrow's outing," she began, "is purely reconnaissance, resource scouting, and controlled combat. Think of it as a field exam."
Rea nodded sharply.
Delilah spoke, barely audible. "I'm not… joining the fight. I don't want to be fully part of whatever your doing. But I want to protect my brother."
Alexiy and Rea exchanged glances.
Meso tilted her head.
"That's fine," she said simply. "Your presence changes the emotional dynamic anyway."
"…The what?" I asked.
"Nothing~ You don't need that lecture yet."
She tapped the map.
"Tomorrow: Elion, Rea, Alexiy, and myself. Four-unit squad. Delilah stays with Sarah and Danny. Lily is banned from leaving until she can shoot without closing her eyes."
A muffled "HEY—I HEARD THAT!" echoed from the living room.
"You were meant to," Meso called back.
She rolled up the maps and pointed at the door.
"Okay. Go rest. I need to prepare some gear. Don't die before sunrise."
She spun on her heel and vanished into the medical bay.
The others filtered away.
Eventually the room was quiet.
I found myself leaning against the bunker's rear wall, letting the adrenaline fade. The hum of generators vibrated faintly through the metal.
Footsteps. Soft.
Familiar.
Alexiy stepped into view at the end of the hall, her hoodie sleeves tugged over her hands, her hair slightly messy from earlier.
She hesitated — then walked toward me.
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Elion… can we talk?"
I nodded and followed her down the hall — into my room, the first one near the corner of the living quarters. It was quiet inside, almost too quiet, the kind of quiet where even your heartbeat feels loud.
The door clicked shut behind her.
I turned toward her. "Lexi, what—"
Before I could finish, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my neck.
Her body pressed fully into my chest — warm, soft, trembling just slightly.
I froze for half a breath… then held her back, my arms snaking around her waist and pulling her tight.
"You must be hungry," she murmured into my hoodie. "I can… tell."
I swallowed, the instinct in me sparking awake like flint striking stone.
"Are you sure?" I asked quietly. "I don't want to push you."
She leaned back just enough to meet my eyes — cheeks pink, breath soft.
"Yes," she whispered. "I trust you. And… it's okay. Really."
My hands settled on her waist.
Hers lifted to the back of my neck.
And then — slowly, gently — she tilted her head to expose her neck.
I felt the hunger flare, hot and sharp.
But I didn't lunge.
I stepped closer, brushing her hair aside with my fingers, letting my lips touch her skin first—just a feather-light kiss—before opening them.
Then I felt my fangs descend and I bit.
Softly.
She gasped — a tiny, breathy sound against my shoulder — and her whole body shivered. Her fingers clutched my hoodie and neck, holding me tighter as her pulse thudded warm and steady beneath my lips.
I drank only a few gulps.
Just enough to settle the ache. Just enough to melt the fire in my veins.
When I pulled back, I gently licked and kissed the spot gently — once, twice — then lifted my head.
Her breath shook. Her cheeks were flushed all the way to her ears.
"Elion…" she whispered. "I like it. When you drink my blood. It feels like… I'm giving something to you. Keeping you alive."
I brushed her hair behind her ear, thumb tracing her cheek.
"You are," I murmured.
She swallowed — then suddenly pushed lightly on my chest.
Not to stop me.
To guide me.
I let her, and she eased me back onto the bed until I landed on my side. Then she crawled beside me and lay facing me, so close our foreheads almost touched, our breaths mingling in the space between us.
Her fingers curled gently against my shirt.
Mine brushed along her waist.
For a long moment we just… existed.It felt quiet and warm. a kind of closeness I had felt in years. The apocalypse felt very far away.
Then—
Her voice broke the silence.
It was soft, almost careful. But sharp enough to cut through everything.
"Elion… what is Meso to you?"
My heart didn't stop.
But it changed rhythm.
This was a heavy shift.
Things were... complicated.
I opened my mouth—