"I'm not going to leave until I kill her!"
Reidar stared at Jake. The boy's sudden outburst had caught him off guard. Jake's eyes were fierce, his voice trembling with a mix of anger and despair. Lena turned to face him, her expression shifting from surprise to concern.
"Kill who, Jake?" Lena moved closer, her steps slow and careful like she was approaching a frightened animal.
Jake's tears streamed down his face. "Her," he said. "The spider!"
Reidar exhaled, the tension draining from his shoulders. For a moment, he'd feared the boy meant he wanted to kill a person. "What spider, Jake?"
"The big one," Jake choked out between ragged sobs and trembled as he pointed a shaking finger toward the window, his gaze fixed on some distant horror only he could see. "The one that… that got my mom and dad!"
Reidar's mind clicked the pieces into place. The boy's high level, the haunted look in his eyes. Jake wasn't just surviving; he was having a war; he was carrying out his personal vendetta against the monsters.
Lena's gaze met Reidar's. Both of them understood the situation now. They understood why Jake was here alone.
He was a child, armed with nothing but a devastating trait they still needed to figure out, who had clawed his way to a level that would make adults envious. All fueled by a grief so deep it had become his only purpose.
"Where is it now?" Reidar asked, his voice low. "This spider."
"Its nest is in the old theater downtown." Jake's gaze drifted toward the spotless clean window, his eyes on some distant point beyond the glass.
"I… I can't get close. There are too many monsters around it." His small hands clenched into trembling fists, while his knuckles whitened against the faded fabric of his trousers. "I'm going to kill it."
Lena went to Jake and pulled him into a firm hug. "Don't worry, Jake. We are here now!"
Reidar watched Lena with a tight expression. Surely, going to hunt this spider, or whatever it was, wasn't the best of ideas.
He gave Lena an uncertain look before nodding toward the hallway. "Lena, A word."
She gave Jake's shoulder a last squeeze before following Reidar into what appeared to have been the master bedroom.
The room didn't even have a single speck of dust. It looked like Jake did his utmost best to clean and tidy it for his parents, almost as if they would come back one day, and they would be happy to see the room so spotless.
On the dresser was a framed photo showing a smiling couple. They were Jake's parents, or so Reidar assumed, with their arms around a younger, beaming Jake.
The bed was neatly made, but a child's worn-out sneakers sat abandoned near the closet door.
Reidar closed the door most of the way and kept his voice low. "Are we sure this is the right move? We don't know what we're walking into. A spider that a level 53 survivor wasn't able to k—"
"A kid, Reidar. Just a kid." Lena's gaze hardened, her lips pressing into a thin line as she shook her head slowly. She was disappointed. Reidar should have had more empathy than her regarding kids, and yet he wasn't showing it.
In truth, it wasn't that Reidar wasn't feeling it; it was just that he was worried. Things were changing compared to Havenwood or the Three Lakes. The monsters were getting stronger at unprecedented rates, and the church's presence didn't make him hope well.
He started feeling anxious, a cold dread coiling in his gut that had nothing to do with monsters or levels. For his parents, who were old. For his wife, whose face he desperately wanted to see. And for his son. The fear wasn't just that he wouldn't find them; it was that he would, and he'd be too late.
"Yes…" He sighed. "Sorry… but it doesn't change the problem. This beast isn't some common pest. It could be a boss-level creature. And based on what Jake said, it must likely live inside a nest, which implies more than one. We're talking about a significant detour, a major resource drain, and a colossal risk."
Lena crossed her arms. "It will for sure delay us. But look at the alternative. We can't just leave him here. And if we don't deal with this spider, he'll never agree to come with us. This isn't a negotiation for him; it's a mission. His mission. We either help him complete it, or we abandon a powerful, traumatized child in a monster-infested city. Which option ends with him alive in a week?"
Reidar ran a hand over his face. She was right. He nodded, conceding the point. "You're right. We can't leave him. But we can't charge in blind. We need intel. What kind of spider? How many? What's its level? Its abilities? Jake's been watching it; he must know something. We plan this task like the operation it is, not a revenge quest."
"I never said we wouldn't have."
Reidar glanced back toward the cracked door, toward the boy waiting in the other room. "We get the information first. Then we decide if and eventually how to kill it."
Reidar and Lena returned to the living area and sat on the floor across from Jake. The boy's eyes were still red, but he'd stopped crying, his expression hardening into a determination that shouldn't have been there for a kid his age.
Jake was eleven, but eleven-year-olds were still kids, although they reasoned better than what an 8-year-old would.
This meant they had to be careful about what they said or asked him. Reidar leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"Jake, come here…" His face was all smiles. Jake approached him.
"Sit down."
The kid did as instructed. He wasn't stupid. Jake saw Reidar and Lena's level and knew at first glance they were strong. This was basically his best chance to kill the spider, and he had to take it. If that meant obeying, then so be it.
"What can you tell us about this spider?"