Daniel bought the weapon for one hundred and fifty silver coins.
A Smith & Wesson M&P9 Shield M2.0 materialized in the palm of his hand, its matte metal still slightly cool.
He spun it once to check the weight before handing it to Julie.
"This one's yours." He guided her thumb. "The safety's right here. You switch it off when you're about to shoot and put it back on the moment you lower the gun. No exceptions."
He handed her extra ammunition and showed her how to reload the pistol. Julie repeated the process without any difficulty thanks to her previous training with the Glock.
She absorbed every instruction with the seriousness of someone who knew that, sooner or later, it would mean the difference between staying alive and becoming another statistic.
Raising the M&P Shield, she lined up the sights with the marked tree trunk and fired.
The gunshot tore through the silence of the clearing.
Lowering the pistol, she examined the impact on the trunk before gesturing toward the Winchester with her chin.
"Can I try that one? It looks pretty deadly."
"It is." Daniel nodded. "But unless you've got a secret reserve of Spiritual Energy I don't know about, it's just a very fancy piece of wood in your hands."
Julie pouted but didn't argue. She put away the pistol and assumed the stance he demonstrated next, fists raised and feet shoulder-width apart.
"Unarmed combat now." He demonstrated the block, his arm slicing through the air with calculated precision.
"Because one day your gun will jam, or you'll run out of bullets, and you'll need to know what to do with nothing but your own hands. This might also unlock a new skill."
They spent the next hour repeating strikes and dodges, Daniel correcting every flaw in her posture with a patience he reserved exclusively for her.
Every now and then, his eyes swept across the treetops, waiting for another target.
No crows appeared.
When Julie finally began showing signs of fatigue, they ended the training session and headed back.
As they approached Colony House, they noticed an unusual number of residents gathered together, talking over one another.
Daniel spotted Donna organizing the small chaos and walked over.
"What's going on?"
She crossed her sturdy arms.
"Jim called a meeting at the diner. Sounds like it's something related to electricity."
Daniel raised an eyebrow, mildly interested, and exchanged a quick glance with Julie before the two of them headed toward the motorhome.
They drove the short distance into town at a slow pace, following the small crowd.
Looking out the window, Daniel noticed that the crows, which normally hovered nearby while monitoring the townspeople's every move, were now keeping their distance. He could only make them out by squinting toward the sky.
[It seems your target practice demonstration has left the flying puppets with post-traumatic stress disorder.]
"Let them think they're safe." A lethal smile curved his lips. "I'll ignore them for a while. Once they regain their confidence and come close again, I'll strike."
...
In front of the diner, nearly all of the town's residents had already gathered, forming an anxious semicircle.
"Daniel!"
Ethan ran toward them the moment he spotted them, with Tabitha following at a more measured pace.
"I helped my dad and Jade figure out how to use the electricity."
"Careful there, squirt." Daniel ruffled Ethan's hair. "If you keep using your brain like that, the government will find you and start taxing your ideas."
"I don't care about taxes as long as I can keep playing your video game," Ethan shot back, drawing a short, nasal laugh from Daniel.
"Everyone, pay attention," Jim called out, raising his voice enough to drown out the chatter. "We all know the electricity in these houses makes no sense. The wires don't have any copper inside them, and they aren't connected to any generator in town. But somehow, the electricity is still flowing."
He demonstrated by picking up a table lamp and flipping the switch. Even though the cord wasn't plugged into any outlet, the bulb lit up without hesitation.
"We haven't been able to power any of our electronics directly from the outlets, but we've figured out how to solve that problem."
Jim's voice filled with vibrant excitement, the kind of euphoria only an engineer experienced after finally solving a stubborn puzzle.
He unscrewed the light bulb from the lamp and pointed toward Jade, who stood beside him holding a hair dryer with its wires stripped at the ends.
Jim connected the exposed wires to the lamp socket, screwed the bulb back in, and switched the lamp on.
Jade pressed the switch on the hair dryer. The motor came to life with a low hum, hot air pouring from the nozzle.
A wave of astonished murmurs spread through the crowd.
Donna, who had lived there for over three years without ever discovering that trick, stood there with her mouth hanging open.
"We don't know why it works," Jim admitted, raising his hands to calm the growing excitement. "We only know that it does. And if we can connect enough wiring between the light fixtures and the batteries, we'll have more than enough power to send out a signal."
"We need more wire!" Jade's voice rang through the street with feverish urgency. "Any kind of conductive wire. Search everywhere. Old cars, appliances. Anything you can find. Let's get to work, people!"
The effect of his words was immediate.
A crowd that had gone so long without any real hope of escape suddenly saw a direct path home. People scattered through the town like a starving swarm.
Daniel watched the entire scene with little interest.
Beside him, Julie touched his arm.
"I'm going back to Colony House with Fatima," she said, hesitating for a moment as her eyes followed her friend, who was already walking away with steps much slower than anyone excited by the news should have. "She hasn't been doing well since the massacre."
"Be careful." He stole a quick kiss before letting her go. "If anyone gets any funny ideas, shoot him."
Alone, Daniel walked to the side of the street, where a rusted fence surrounded the old swimming pool. An overturned car rested in the empty pool, its floor covered by a thick layer of dirt.
He stopped there for a moment, staring into the empty pit with a thoughtful expression.
An idea began taking shape in his mind, still incomplete, but promising enough.
I'll think this through later. Then he headed back toward the motorhome.
…
At the sheriff's station, Donna walked in without ceremony after knocking twice, finding Boyd rummaging through drawers and cabinets in search of any forgotten wire.
"Kenny told me about last night." She leaned against the wall. "So what's the plan now?"
"I'm still thinking."
In truth, he'd had a plan worked out for hours. He simply had no intention of sharing the details with her—not until it worked.
Only Kenny and Father Khatri knew. The fewer people who were aware of it, the smaller the chance the information would leak before the right moment.
Donna watched him for a few more seconds, dissatisfied with the vague answer, but chose not to press the issue. She gave a single nod and left while Boyd sank back into his thoughts.
...
Minutes after the meeting, in the clinic's courtyard, Kristi was using a pair of pliers to pull thick bundles of wire from inside a disabled ambulance.
Kenny walked over carrying an old globe-shaped table lamp under one arm.
"What's that?" Kristi asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
"It was in the trunk of our car when we arrived." A nostalgic smile appeared on his lips. "It was my desk lamp back in college."
"That's adorable." Kristi's comment drew a soft laugh from him.
"The globe actually opens." Kenny's fingers found the hidden latch. "My roommate used to go through my stuff, so I used it as a secret hiding place."
"And what do you keep in there now?" she asked curiously.
He rotated the globe, opening it in half to reveal the hollow compartment inside.
"When I was still studying, I liked sitting at my desk looking at all the countries, thinking about the places I'd visit someday. After I got here, I started writing down the places I want to see if we ever make it out."
Kristi took the piece of paper and slowly read through the list.
"Costa Rica... Hawaii... Iceland. Nice."
"Have you ever been to any of those?"
"I've barely been outside Grand Rapids." She laughed awkwardly. "But I've always wanted to."
Kenny swallowed hard, clinging to that tiny emotional opening.
"Well... maybe... if this whole radio thing actually works... maybe we could go together."
The silence that followed lasted longer than any answer should have.
The lightness vanished from Kristi's face, replaced by a bitter mixture of sadness and guilt.
"It doesn't have to be Iceland. There are plenty of other spots on my list," Kenny hurriedly added, panic creeping into the edges of his voice.
She hesitated before looking at him apologetically.
"Look, Kenny. I really like you... A lot."
"But?" he asked, silently praying there wouldn't be one.
Kristi chose her words carefully.
"But I'm engaged. You know that."
Kenny forced himself to nod, his shoulders sinking beneath the weight of rejection.
"Right. Of course. I understand. I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said anything."
He was already crouching down to gather the wires scattered across the ground. "I'll take these."
"I'm sorry," she murmured, her eyes glistening.
"No, it's okay... I'll go see if anyone else needs help."
He turned and walked away quickly, unable to stay there for even one more second, leaving Kristi alone with her own regret.
...
On the porch of Colony House, Ellis limped forward heavily, leaning on an improvised crutch to keep the weight off his injured leg.
He found Fatima sitting beside Julie, the two of them stripping insulation from wires while chatting.
"We need to talk." His voice came out more serious than he intended. "It's important."
Fatima stopped what she was doing, raising an eyebrow before following him without asking any questions.
"It was right here that I first saw you." Ellis stopped near the old greenhouse, gesturing with his chin toward a stretch of road.
"You were driving that Beetle, going around and around for hours. Your tires hadn't even blown out yet. Then you parked right over there."
"I remember." She looked at the spot for a moment before turning back to him suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"I've been thinking a lot about what you told me." He shifted all his weight onto his good leg.
"About going home. About us. And the truth is... I don't even remember who I was before I saw you getting out of that car. I don't want to find out who I'd be without you."
Fatima's heart began to race, wondering where this would lead.
Ellis tried to bend one knee, instinctively wanting to kneel like any man would at a moment like this, but a sharp stab of pain shot through his injured leg, making him wince.
"No!" She grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Stay on your feet, you idiot."
"You're the love of my life, and that's true anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter where, because you're my home... and I want to be yours." He pulled a twisted piece of copper wire from his pocket, crudely shaped into a ring.
"Will you marry me?"
"I love you." She cupped his face with both hands.
"Wait... Is there a 'but' coming?" he asked, his hopeful smile wavering because he still hadn't heard the official yes.
"There's no 'but.'" she whispered, laughing through her tears. "I will."
Ellis slipped the makeshift ring onto her finger, and the two kissed, sharing a rare moment of humanity amid the growing madness of that place.
…
There was a little over an hour left before nightfall when Julie returned to the motorhome.
She found Daniel sprawled across the couch, his feet resting on the coffee table as he watched some random movie while smoking.
"It's been a while since I saw you smoking," she commented, taking off her shoes and waving away the smoke with her hand.
"I didn't want to turn you into a passive smoker."
"And what's different now?" she asked, sitting down in the empty spot beside him and crossing her legs.
"Even if you wanted to smoke, it wouldn't make any difference." He shrugged. "As your attributes keep increasing, the side effects become basically irrelevant."
Julie rolled her eyes and motioned for the joint. Daniel handed it over.
She took a drag. The moment the thick smoke hit her throat, she started coughing uncontrollably, tears instantly welling up in her eyes.
Daniel let out a deep, genuine laugh, making her glare at him irritably as she caught her breath.
"You know, I told you Kael gave me this vehicle," he said, changing the subject as he took the joint back, "but I never showed you everything this magic box can do."
"What do you mean?" Julie frowned, grabbing a bottle of water to soothe her throat. "Does it have hidden machine guns in the ceiling?"
"Better. System," Daniel ordered out loud. "Activate Mode Two."
[Upgrading your humble sardine can to the pinnacle of divine luxury.]
Julie instinctively stepped back as the side walls began expanding outward, pushing the interior space wider. The ceiling rose silently.
Two spacious sofa beds appeared, inviting and comfortable. The television expanded to cover the entire wall, transforming the living room into a private movie theater.
The tiny kitchen gave way to dark marble countertops and a flawless central island. The compact appliances rearranged themselves on their own, creating a space worthy of a luxury home featured in an interior design magazine.
Julie slowly shook her head, an incredulous smile spreading across her face.
"After everything you've already told me," she murmured, "I think I've lost the ability to be shocked by anything."
"But surprised?"
"Very."
She began exploring the newly expanded interior, checking the two guest bedrooms first. Finally, she opened the door to the new master suite and froze at the sight of the enormous bathtub.
Daniel walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist with quiet possessiveness. He slowly kissed her neck.
"We'll try that bathtub after dinner."
Julie immediately felt warmth spread through her body, tilting her head to give his lips better access.
Before things could go any further, the rough rumble of a diesel engine echoed outside.
Daniel reluctantly let go, stepped out of the bathroom, and walked to the window, pulling back a corner of the heavy curtain.
A massive bus rolled down the town's main street.
"I wasn't expecting them to arrive this soon," he murmured, more to himself than to Julie.
"What is it?"
A calculating smile spread across Daniel's face.
"Looks like some new customers just arrived."
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