Melody woke to the smell of wet concrete, old metal, and something cooking somewhere far away. Grease, onions, and the faint metallic tang of canned meat drifted through the stale air, accompanied by voices she couldn't quite make out. For a moment, she couldn't understand how she was smelling anything at all. The last thing she remembered was concrete crushing her back, her leg trapped beneath the rubble, and Leo's golden fleece keeping them alive while the dragon circled overhead. She remembered closing her eyes and waiting for the pain to stop. Now there was something soft beneath her, and the unbearable pressure against her chest was gone.
She tried moving, only for a sharp ache in her left leg to bring everything rushing back. Her eyes opened, and she instinctively reached toward where Leo had been lying beneath her.
He wasn't there.
Melody pushed herself onto one elbow, ignoring the protest from her back as she searched the cramped space around her. She was inside a subway car, or at least something that looked like one. Small battery-powered lanterns cast uneven amber light across the ceiling, illuminating metal handrails and dirty windows covered with cardboard and black plastic. Someone had laid a thin mattress across the floor between the seats, with folded blankets underneath to keep it from resting directly against the cold metal. An old sheet hung from one of the handrails, separating her little corner from the rest of the car.
Leo was lying on another mattress beside hers, close enough that the edge of his golden fleece brushed her arm. Someone had pulled a gray blanket over him, though it did little to hide the blue-gold light pulsing beneath the fabric. His eyes were closed, and his face was pale, but she could see the slight rise and fall of his chest.
Melody reached over and placed two fingers against his neck anyway. She found his heartbeat almost immediately, steady and reassuring beneath her fingertips, but left her hand there longer than necessary. She'd watched him survive injuries that should have killed him, yet some part of her still expected him to stop breathing the moment she looked away. When she finally withdrew her hand, she brushed a few strands of hair from his forehead and noticed that someone had cleaned most of the blood from his face.
"Well, I'll be damned."
Melody turned toward the voice.
An older man sat on a folding chair near Leo's feet, thick glasses resting low on his nose. His gray hair was thinning, and the white coat hanging loosely from his shoulders had enough stains on it to suggest laundry hadn't been a priority lately. A battered medical bag rested beside his chair, along with several rolls of bandages, a flashlight, and a plastic bottle of water. He'd been writing something on a clipboard when she woke, but now he was watching her with an expression somewhere between relief and disbelief.
"You're actually awake." He glanced toward Leo. "And the kid's still breathing. Two miracles in one day."
Melody tried sitting up properly. Her back complained, followed by a deeper, grinding pain from her left leg, but neither came close to what she remembered beneath the rubble. Someone had wrapped her leg in bandages and secured a makeshift splint around it. Most of the cuts along her arms had already closed into angry pink lines, and the burns covering her shoulders were little more than patches of tender skin. Her leg had been crushed, though. She remembered the sensation clearly enough that looking at it now made her stomach turn. The fact that it was still attached, much less healing, was something she wasn't particularly prepared to think about.
"Where are we?" she asked, her voice coming out rough and dry.
"Twenty-third Street. Park Avenue South." The man reached for the bottle beside him and offered it to her. "Southbound platform. Six train, if that still means anything."
Melody took the water and drank before she could stop herself. It tasted faintly of plastic, but her throat was so dry that she barely cared. She forced herself to slow down after several mouthfuls, then looked past him toward the open subway doors.
The car had apparently been sitting here since everything fell apart. Someone had converted one end into a makeshift infirmary using old sheets, shower curtains, and whatever else could be tied to the handrails. A woman lay across three seats with her arm wrapped in bloody bandages, while another patient slept beneath a coat on the floor. Several half-empty bottles of antiseptic, packets of gauze, and an IV bag hanging from a bent coat hanger made up most of the visible medical supplies.
"Name's Alvarez. Doctor Alvarez, though most people down here have started calling me Doc." He adjusted his glasses and picked up the flashlight. "Now hold still. I want to see those eyes."
Melody reluctantly cooperated as he checked her pupils, examined the burns on her arms, and asked her to move her fingers and toes. His expression became increasingly troubled the longer he examined her. When he reached her left leg, he carefully loosened the bandage enough to inspect the skin beneath it, then stared for several seconds before wrapping it again.
"I saw that leg when they brought you in. Wasn't sure you'd keep it. Now most of the swelling's gone, and I can barely find the worst of the bruising." His gaze moved toward Leo's fleece. "Thirty-seven years I've been a doctor, and whatever that thing is doing, it's doing a better job than I could've managed with an entire hospital."
Melody looked at Leo again. The light beneath his blanket continued pulsing with the same gentle rhythm, apparently unconcerned with how impossible its existence was supposed to be. She'd already watched it repair an injury that should have killed him, but seeing it work so quietly still felt strange. No incantations, no concentration, and apparently no limit to its willingness to keep fixing things.
Outside the train, someone shouted for help moving something heavy, followed by several voices answering at once. Melody shifted toward the open doors and finally got a proper look at where they'd ended up.
The platform was considerably more crowded than she'd expected. Families sat against the tiled walls on sleeping bags and blankets, while others had claimed sections of the platform using suitcases, cardboard dividers, and shopping carts. A few battery-powered work lights illuminated the center of the station, but most of it remained dim. Plastic grocery bags hung from railings, children's backpacks were stacked beneath benches, and empty water bottles had been arranged beside a trash can someone had apparently decided was worth keeping.
A woman sat against the wall with a sleeping toddler in her lap while an older boy leaned against her shoulder, carefully turning the pages of a picture book. A little farther down, two men in filthy jackets sorted through scavenged clothing. One had a thick beard and a sleeping bag that looked considerably older than the apocalypse itself. He moved through the station with the familiarity of someone who had been spending nights underground long before the rest of these people arrived, and Melody wondered whether the end of the world had actually changed his living arrangements all that much.
Near the middle of the platform, a group of teenage girls occupied several benches beneath an advertisement for a Broadway show that probably wasn't going to be performed anytime soon. Most wore matching school sweatshirts over athletic shorts or leggings, and a couple still had volleyball knee pads hanging around their ankles. One girl was braiding another's hair while a third sat with her knees pulled against her chest, staring at a phone whose screen remained stubbornly black. Their bags were piled together beneath the benches, with a volleyball resting between two backpacks.
There were elderly people, office workers still wearing the remains of expensive business clothes, and others who seemed to have arrived with nothing but whatever they'd been carrying when the world ended. Five days ago, any of these people could have been standing beside her on a subway platform without earning a second glance. Now they were sleeping beside complete strangers because the streets above had become too dangerous.
"How many people are down here?" she asked.
"Eighty-three, as of this morning." Alvarez glanced toward the platform. "We had more. Some left the first day, and a few didn't make it."
Melody noticed a small collection of flowers resting beside one of the tiled pillars. Most were already wilting, their stems wrapped together with a rubber band. Beside them sat a child's drawing of three people holding hands beneath a yellow sun, carefully propped against the wall where nobody would accidentally step on it.
She looked away.
"Most of them were already here when it happened," Alvarez continued. "Waiting for trains, sitting in the cars, coming down the stairs. Then the power went out, everyone started screaming, and part of the ceiling came down. Some got out. Some couldn't. A few decided they'd rather stay underground than find out what was happening upstairs."
He rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses.
"Turned out to be a pretty good decision. Especially once those things started appearing."
"The monsters?"
"That's what everyone's calling them. Can't exactly argue with the name, can you?" He gave a tired little shrug. "People came down the stairs screaming about giant spiders and things with more teeth than a shark. One of those creatures followed a group right into the station. Three men tried to kill it with a fire extinguisher and a metal pipe. Two of them ended up in here, and the third never got back up."
He nodded toward the platform, where a few people were sitting around a battery-powered radio that seemed determined to produce nothing but static.
"Every day, someone comes in talking about something new. Walking corpses, giant bugs, animals that aren't animals anymore. Half the streets are filled with things that want to eat you, and the other half are buried under buildings."
Melody could certainly confirm that last part. In five days, she'd encountered more varieties of monsters than she'd seen in entire seasons of some anime. She looked toward the far end of the platform, where the tracks disappeared beneath a mound of collapsed concrete. Twisted electrical conduits hung from the ceiling, and the rails vanished into the debris.
"Is the tunnel blocked?"
"Both directions, as far as anyone's been willing to check. Northbound side took a beating too. We lost most of the entrances when the buildings started coming down. There's one staircase we can still use without climbing over half the station."
He pointed toward the opposite end of the platform, where someone had pushed several heavy metal cabinets together to create a makeshift barricade. A man holding a baseball bat stood beside the narrow opening, talking to another man who had a pistol tucked into his waistband. Neither looked particularly comfortable with the responsibility, and the one holding the bat kept glancing nervously toward the stairwell whenever he heard a noise from above.
Beyond them, daylight filtered weakly down the stairs.
With most of the tunnels and entrances blocked, the station had become something of an accidental fortress. Anyone trying to enter had to use that staircase, which certainly made defending the place easier. Of course, it also meant that if something dangerous managed to force its way inside, there wasn't exactly a convenient second exit. Melody found herself studying the ceiling for cracks, remembering how easily the dragon had destroyed the buildings above her.
A sharp argument broke out near a folding table covered with canned food and half-empty boxes of crackers. Two men were standing across from each other, one holding a grocery bag while the other pointed at a small stack of supplies.
"You said two cans per family. That's what you told us yesterday."
"That was yesterday. We didn't get as much today."
"So what, my kids just don't eat?"
"I'm trying to make it last, man. You think I'm doing this because it's fun?"
The argument drew several curious looks, though most people seemed too tired to get involved. A woman carrying a baby turned away, while one of the volleyball players stopped what she was doing to watch. Melody understood why they were arguing. Eighty-three people needed a surprising amount of food, and even if someone found a grocery store that hadn't been destroyed or picked clean, there was still the problem of getting there and back alive.
Before either man could get any louder, someone approached from the far end of the platform.
He was a tall man in his late thirties or early forties, wearing a dark green jacket with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of work boots that had seen better days. There wasn't anything particularly imposing about him. He didn't carry a visible weapon, and his clothes were just as dirty as everyone else's. Yet several people moved aside as he approached, and the argument quieted before he even reached the table.
Melody watched him listen to both men, occasionally nodding as they explained themselves. He didn't appear irritated by the disagreement, though the exhaustion around his eyes suggested he'd been dealing with similar problems for a while. After examining the supplies, he called over a woman carrying a notebook. They spent the next minute rearranging several cans and setting aside a smaller collection for the families with children. Neither man looked particularly happy with the solution, but they stopped arguing, and the taller man clapped the one holding the grocery bag on the shoulder before continuing toward the stairs.
"That's Gabriel," Alvarez said. "Gabriel Walker. He's the reason this place hasn't completely fallen apart."
Melody watched Gabriel stop beside a teenage boy struggling to move a box of water bottles. He helped lift one end without being asked, carrying it to a nearby bench before continuing toward the stairs, where several people appeared to be waiting for him.
"He in charge?"
"More or less. Nobody elected him. He just started helping when everything went wrong, and eventually everyone started looking to him whenever something needed doing. First day, he was pulling people out of the damaged cars. Second day, organizing food and finding somewhere for people to sleep. By the third, he'd convinced a few people to start going outside for supplies."
Alvarez glanced toward Gabriel again.
"Convincing them wasn't easy, either. Can't say I blame anyone for refusing. We lost a man yesterday trying to get into a pharmacy. Gabriel was the one who had to come back and tell his wife."
Melody looked toward the crowded platform, suddenly wondering which of the women sitting among the survivors had received that news. She couldn't imagine being told someone she loved had died looking for something as ordinary as medicine, especially when the world had only been like this for five days.
Near the stairs, four people were getting ready to leave. Two carried backpacks, another wore an old construction helmet with a flashlight taped to the side, and the fourth was examining a paper map spread across a wooden crate. Gabriel joined them, checking their equipment and pointing out several places on the map before folding it and slipping it into his own backpack.
They didn't look particularly eager to go. One of the younger men kept adjusting the straps of his backpack, pulling them tight before loosening them again. Another stood with his arms crossed, staring toward the daylight filtering down the stairs as though he were seriously reconsidering every decision that had brought him here. Gabriel spoke to him for a moment, placing a hand on his shoulder before stepping aside to let him make up his mind.
After several seconds, the man picked up his bag.
Melody couldn't decide whether that was bravery or desperation. Probably both.
What caught her attention, however, was the weapon hanging from one scout's belt. It was a short blade with a dull green edge, its surface uneven in a way that made her immediately suspicious. The others carried ordinary things: a crowbar, a baseball bat, and what looked like a kitchen knife taped to the end of a wooden handle.
"Scavengers?" Melody asked.
"That's what we call them, though they're mostly just people willing to go outside." Alvarez nodded toward the group. "They look for food, medicine, anyone who's still alive. Gabriel goes with them most days."
"What's with that sword?"
"Funny story, actually. One of the boys killed something a couple of days ago. Some kind of giant insect, from what he told me. Said the thing disappeared after it died and left that blade behind."
Melody raised an eyebrow.
"Just appeared?"
"That's what he claims. Mind you, the boy nearly lost his arm getting it, so I don't think he's eager to try again."
Alvarez shook his head, looking toward the scouts with a mixture of concern and admiration.
"There's something else, too. A few people say they felt stronger after killing one of those things. Like something went through them when the creature died. I wouldn't have believed it myself, but I've seen people do things they couldn't do a week ago."
Melody considered that. Killing monsters, growing stronger, and occasionally receiving strange equipment sounded suspiciously like the progression systems she'd spent years encountering in games. Except there were no guides explaining the rules, no convenient way to check whether a monster was too powerful, and certainly no guarantee that trying to gain experience wouldn't get you killed.
She glanced toward Leo, remembering the dragon's lightning and the feeling of his body going limp against her shoulder. Having magical equipment hadn't made either of them particularly safe. These people were going outside with baseball bats and kitchen knives.
"God's looking after us," Alvarez said. "That's what I believe."
Melody turned toward him.
"God?"
"Blessed by God. That's what I call the ones who've received these abilities." He nodded toward the scouts. "One of those boys can make sparks come out of his hands. Another says he can see things in the dark that the rest of us can't. Not exactly enough to take on the whole city, but it's something."
He adjusted his glasses, watching Gabriel help one of the scouts tighten the straps on his backpack.
"Gabriel's one of them too. He says he found something after his first fight, some kind of artifact. Won't say much about it, but I believe it's helped him survive. He came back with a broken rib the other day, so whatever it does, it certainly isn't making him invincible."
Melody studied Gabriel more carefully. He didn't look particularly strong, and there was nothing unusual about his equipment beyond a small object tucked beneath his jacket that she couldn't identify from this distance. He was currently struggling to pull a stubborn zipper closed on his backpack, which wasn't exactly the sort of thing she'd expect from someone with extraordinary strength.
"What does his artifact do?"
"Couldn't tell you. He keeps it to himself."
That was fair enough. Melody wasn't exactly advertising everything she had collected either, and after everything she'd been through, she couldn't blame someone for wanting to keep a few advantages private.
"I don't know why God chose some people and not others," Alvarez continued. "Maybe there's a reason. Maybe we're supposed to use what we've been given to help the people who weren't so fortunate."
Melody didn't argue with him. She wasn't interested in debating religion with an exhausted doctor who had spent five days keeping strangers alive with scavenged medical supplies. Besides, she didn't actually know enough about the Mana Fall to tell him where the power came from.
What she did know was that there had been a voice. She remembered the question she'd heard when everything began, the invitation to Awaken, and the power that followed when she accepted. There were recognizable rules connecting the monsters, the equipment they dropped, and the people discovering strange abilities. Alvarez interpreted those changes as blessings because that was the explanation that made sense to him. Melody recognized something that behaved like a system, though neither explanation told her who had created it or why.
Near the volleyball players, one girl was demonstrating something to her teammates. A faint shimmer briefly surrounded her fingertips before disappearing, drawing a mixture of excited whispers and nervous laughter from the others. The girl looked almost as surprised as her friends, holding her hand up to inspect it before trying again.
Melody watched her for a moment. The girl seemed delighted by whatever she'd discovered, but none of her friends were volunteering to go outside and test it against a monster.
She couldn't blame them.
Another commotion near the stairwell interrupted her thoughts. The scouts had finished preparing to leave, and someone was moving the heavy cabinet aside to let them through. Gabriel helped the guards drag it across the concrete, clearly exerting himself despite the assistance of two other men. Once the opening was wide enough, he said something to the scouts, earning a few nervous smiles.
One of the younger men looked back toward the platform before leaving. A woman near the food table raised her hand, and he gave her a small wave in return before disappearing up the stairs.
Gabriel followed last.
The barricade scraped shut behind them, leaving the station noticeably quieter for several seconds. Melody watched the woman lower her hand and return to sorting cans, though she kept glancing toward the staircase.
Apparently, sending people outside wasn't something anyone had gotten used to yet.
Melody shifted her weight and carefully lowered one foot onto the floor. The cold metal sent a shiver through her bare toes. Her boots had been removed and placed beside the mattress, along with a small collection of her belongings. Someone had folded her damaged jacket and placed it nearby, but when she reached toward where she'd normally keep her snake sword, she found nothing.
She frowned and searched around the mattress, checking beside the seats and beneath the folded blankets. Her dagger wasn't there either, and she couldn't find Leo's axe among their belongings. She looked through her boots, then carefully lifted the edge of the mattress in case someone had placed the weapons underneath it.
"Where's my sword?"
Alvarez looked up from his clipboard.
"Your what?"
"My sword. And my dagger. We had an axe too." She gestured toward her belongings. "They were with us when we were attacked."
He glanced at the clothes and boots beside her bed, then shook his head.
"There weren't any weapons with you when they brought you in. Just the clothes on your back and that glowing thing your little friend's wearing."
Melody stared at him for a moment, trying to remember exactly what had happened during the fall. She'd been holding the dagger when the lightning struck. That much she was certain of. She could still remember her fingers locking around the handle as electricity raced through her body, but everything after that was a confused collection of impacts, pain, and falling debris. She could have dropped it, or someone could have taken it.
Neither possibility made her feel particularly good.
The snake sword was powerful enough to cut through golem stone, and although it had been almost useless against the dragon, that didn't mean she'd stopped needing it. The dagger was even worse. Those spectral wings had saved her life repeatedly, allowing her to cross rooftops and survive falls that would otherwise have killed her. Without them, moving around the ruined city would become considerably more dangerous.
Five days collecting useful equipment, and one encounter had apparently been enough to cost her almost everything. Wonderful.
"You can ask Gabriel about it," Alvarez said. "His people were the ones who pulled you out, so if they found anything nearby, he'd probably know where it ended up."
Melody glanced toward the staircase where Gabriel had just disappeared. Of course. The one person who might know what happened to her equipment had conveniently gone outside to risk his life.
"How long have we been out?"
"Brought you in about six hours ago. You were both unconscious when they found you, and neither of you was in particularly good shape." He set his clipboard down. "One of the scouting groups was checking the shops around Broadway when someone noticed a light coming from a pile of rubble in an alley. Thought there was a fire under there at first. Turned out to be your little friend's jacket."
Melody looked toward Leo.
"They found us because of the glow?"
"Pretty much. They said the whole place had come down on top of you. There was barely enough room beneath the concrete for either of you to breathe, but that glowing thing was shining right through the cracks."
Alvarez explained that the scouts had initially thought they were looking at bodies. It wasn't until one of them managed to get close enough to see Leo breathing that they'd realized someone was still alive. They'd called for help, brought back a crowbar and a small hydraulic jack scavenged from an abandoned vehicle, and spent the better part of an hour clearing enough debris to pull them free. One of the larger slabs had apparently fallen against a section of twisted rebar, leaving a narrow pocket beneath it instead of crushing them completely.
Melody remembered the weight settling across her back and the terrifying certainty that there was nowhere left to go. If that piece of concrete had fallen a few inches differently, even the fleece might not have been enough.
Four strangers had spent an hour digging through a collapsed building to rescue them, then carried both her and Leo through streets filled with monsters to reach this station. She felt a little guilty for immediately suspecting someone had stolen her weapons. Not enough to stop worrying about them, but enough to recognize that these people had already done considerably more for her than they were obligated to.
She reached into her pocket and felt the familiar warmth of the white stone resting against her fingers. At least, for whatever it's worth, that hadn't gone missing. Leo was still wearing his fleece too, which was considerably more important than anything she'd lost.
Melody carefully placed her feet on the floor again, wanting to test how much weight her left leg could support. A dull ache traveled from her ankle to her knee as she stood, forcing her to grab the nearest handrail. The pain wasn't unbearable, but her balance felt wrong, and she quickly realized the muscles in her leg were nowhere near as recovered as the skin suggested.
"Easy there," Alvarez said. "Just because that thing's healing you doesn't mean you need to start exerting pressure on it. Let your body rest."
She reluctantly sat back down. Her body seemed determined to remind her that she had, in fact, been crushed beneath a building less than a day ago.
"By the way, Gabriel's been asking about you two since they brought you in," Alvarez continued. "Said he wanted to talk when you woke up."
"Why?"
"Probably because four people nearly got themselves killed digging you out of a building. And because you apparently survived something that destroyed several blocks of the city."
Melody felt her stomach tighten.
"The dragon?"
"That's what it was? We heard the thunder down here, and some of the scouts saw it flying over the rooftops. One of them came back looking like he'd seen the devil himself." Alvarez shook his head. "People are scared. Now some are wondering whether even the underground is safe. Gabriel's trying to keep everyone calm, and then his scouts come back carrying two people who survived being buried in the middle of all that destruction."
He glanced toward Leo.
"And one of them is wearing something that can apparently heal broken bones."
Melody didn't like where that conversation was heading.
She looked at the golden fleece, then toward the people living outside the train. Eighty-three survivors, most of them frightened and desperate, with dwindling food and limited medical supplies. Leo's fleece could help people, and after seeing some of the injured survivors, she understood why a doctor would find it so remarkable. It was also the only reason either of them was still alive.
She didn't want to assume the worst about Gabriel. From what she'd seen, he seemed genuinely interested in keeping people alive, and his scouts had already proven they were willing to risk themselves for strangers. But if someone else's child was dying, would they accept being told that Leo needed the fleece more? Would they even care that taking it away might kill him in the future? Could they use it without Leo? Would they take Leo away from me?
"Relax. Nobody's asking you to hand anything over," Alvarez said, apparently recognizing her expression. "Gabriel just wants to talk when he gets back. Probably has the same questions the rest of us do."
Melody looked at Leo again. His color was better than it had been when she first woke, and she adjusted the blanket covering him before settling against the wall. For the first time since the dragon attacked, she wasn't running, fighting, or desperately trying to stay alive. There was a roof over her head, people nearby who seemed genuinely interested in helping, and enough quiet that she could finally hear herself think.
Unfortunately, having enough quiet to think also meant there was nothing stopping her from remembering the things she'd been trying to forget. The pawn shop exploding, Leo throwing himself between her and the dragon, the helplessness of watching her sword scrape harmlessly against its scales. She could still remember the lightning racing through her body and the impact of the brick wall against her back. When someone dropped a metal crate near the barricade, she flinched hard enough to send another stab of pain through her leg.
That was going to get annoying.
"Get some more rest," Alvarez said, returning to his clipboard. "Gabriel and the others probably won't be back for a few hours."
Melody didn't particularly enjoy the idea of sitting around waiting for someone else to return, especially when her missing equipment might still be buried beneath a building. But considering that standing for more than a few seconds was proving difficult, there wasn't much she could accomplish by arguing.
The next several hours passed slowly. Melody drifted in and out of sleep, never quite managing to rest for more than a few minutes before some noise from the platform woke her again. Every time she opened her eyes, she checked Leo's breathing before allowing herself to relax.
The station had developed its own strange rhythm. People came and went carrying water bottles, sorting supplies, and arguing quietly about whatever needed doing. The volleyball girls eventually abandoned their phones and started playing cards, while a young boy spent nearly half an hour rolling a tennis ball along the platform until someone asked him to stop before he lost it down the tracks. Alvarez moved between patients with the exhausted efficiency of someone who had forgotten what a full night's sleep felt like, occasionally stopping to check Melody's leg or offer her another drink.
By late afternoon, the light filtering down the stairwell had faded to a dull orange. Someone switched on another pair of battery-powered lamps near the food table, and Alvarez brought her a handful of crackers and a piece of dried meat that tasted considerably better than it looked. She ate slowly, watching the barricade while the fleece continued its work on her injuries. Leo stirred once, shifting beneath his blanket with a quiet sound that might have been the beginning of a word, but he settled again before she could make sense of it. She rested her hand on his shoulder and remained beside him.
She was still sitting like that when the scouts returned.
The first indication was a distant scraping sound from the staircase, followed by someone shouting down toward the guards. The man with the baseball bat hurried to the barricade, and a moment later the heavy cabinets were being shifted aside.
Two scouts emerged carrying backpacks that appeared considerably lighter than when they'd left. Their clothes were filthy, and one had a bloody bandage wrapped around his forearm. A third followed, supporting another man who was barely managing to walk. His right leg dragged awkwardly beneath him, leaving a faint streak of blood across the concrete.
Melody watched the guards rush forward to help.
There were four of them.
She counted again, remembering the five people who had disappeared up those stairs earlier that afternoon. Gabriel was the last to enter, his green jacket torn near the shoulder and his face streaked with dirt. He was carrying a backpack in one hand and a bloodstained length of metal pipe in the other. He handed both to one of the guards before immediately helping the injured man toward the infirmary.
The woman who had waved goodbye to one of the younger scouts hurried toward the barricade. She searched the returning faces, looking past Gabriel toward the staircase. When nobody else appeared, she pushed between two people and tried to look up the stairs.
"Where's Daniel?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Gabriel stopped what he was doing.
Melody couldn't hear everything he said from inside the train, but she saw the woman's expression change. Her mouth opened slightly, and she looked toward the staircase again, shaking her head as Gabriel spoke. The man with the bandaged arm turned away, staring down at the blood drying on his sleeve.
A moment later, the woman began crying.
There wasn't any dramatic announcement. Nobody rang a bell or gathered everyone together. Gabriel simply stood with her while she cried, one hand resting against her shoulder as people quietly moved around them. After a while, another woman approached and guided her toward the benches, where several survivors made room without being asked.
Melody watched the entire exchange, her stomach sinking.
She'd seen people die since the Mana Fall began. She'd seen monsters tear through streets, buildings collapse, and things happen to human bodies that she'd rather not remember. But watching that woman search the staircase for someone who wasn't coming back felt different. It felt like seeing Leo hold his dieing sister.
He'd been alive a few hours ago, standing right there with the others, adjusting his backpack and looking nervous about going outside. Now he was gone, and the people who knew him were going to have to continue living in the same cramped subway station without him.
The supplies they'd recovered didn't look particularly impressive either. A few cans of food, several bottles of water, and what appeared to be a small bag of medical supplies. Certainly not enough to feed eighty people for very long.
Gabriel remained near the entrance for several minutes, speaking quietly with the guards before helping Alvarez settle the injured scout onto one of the empty mattresses. Up close, Melody could see the exhaustion in his face. His hands were trembling slightly as he removed his torn jacket, and there was a fresh cut along his jaw that he apparently hadn't bothered to clean.
He didn't look stronger than when he'd left.
If anything, he looked like someone who had barely survived.
Alvarez began examining the injured man's leg, asking one of the nearby survivors to bring more bandages. Gabriel stayed long enough to explain what had happened, though Melody could only catch pieces of the conversation. Something about a creature they hadn't seen until it was almost on top of them, a narrow street, and Daniel being separated from the group.
Apparently, they'd tried to go back for him.
They hadn't been able to.
Melody looked down at her own bandaged leg, remembering what it felt like to be helpless beneath the rubble. Without Leo's fleece, she'd probably still be lying there, assuming she hadn't already died. These people didn't have anything like that. When one of them got hurt badly enough, there was no guarantee they'd survive long enough to return home.
She understood why so few people volunteered to go outside.
Gabriel finally stepped away from the injured scout, rubbing his face with both hands before looking around the train. His attention settled on Melody, and for a moment, he simply stood there, apparently surprised to see her sitting upright.
Then he approached.
"You're awake." His voice was tired, but he managed a small smile. "That's good. We weren't sure you were going to make it."
Melody glanced toward the injured man Alvarez was treating, then back at Gabriel. Up close, she could see small burns along his knuckles and a dark stain spreading across the sleeve of his shirt.
"You're Gabriel?"
"Yeah." He pulled an empty folding chair closer and sat down with a quiet groan, wincing as he settled his weight. "Gabriel Walker. I was with the group that found you two this morning."
Melody looked toward Leo, who was still sleeping beneath his blanket.
"Thank you," she said. "For getting us out. I don't think we would've survived much longer down there."
Gabriel followed her gaze, studying the faint blue-gold light coming from beneath the blanket.
"That thing of his helped quite a bit. I've never seen anything like it. Well I also hadn't seen magic a week ago either." He paused, then looked back at her. "But I'm glad we found you. We could use some good news around here."
Melody wasn't sure what to say to that. She looked toward the open doors, where several people were gathering around the food table to sort through the supplies the scouts had managed to recover. The woman who had been crying earlier was sitting with another survivor near the far wall, staring at the floor while someone held her hand.
"I'm sorry about your friend," Melody said.
Gabriel's expression changed slightly. He followed her gaze toward the woman, then lowered his eyes.
"Daniel." He rubbed the back of his neck. "He was a good kid. Worked at a hardware store a few blocks from here. Knew where we could find tools and supplies without having to search every building."
He stopped for a moment, looking down at his hands.
"He volunteered because his mother was down here. Wanted to make sure she had enough to eat even gave up some of his portions."
Melody looked toward the woman again.
Gabriel let out a tired breath before leaning back in his chair. He looked as though he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep, but after a moment, he straightened and glanced toward Leo.
"So, I' guessing you fought something nasty, right?"
Melody nodded.
"Yeah. A Dragon."
Gabriel studied her for a moment, apparently trying to decide where to begin. Melody could almost see the questions forming behind his eyes. She imagined he wanted to know what the dragon looked like up close, how they'd survived, and whether it was still flying around Manhattan.
She had questions of her own.
"Actually," she said, glancing toward the belongings beside her mattress, "when your people found us, did they happen to recover any weapons? I had a sword and a dagger, and Leo had an axe."
Gabriel frowned, thinking back to the rescue.
"We found an axe near the edge of the rubble. One of the boys brought it back with the rest of the equipment." He glanced toward the open doors. "I can have someone get it for you."
Melody felt a little relief at that, though it didn't last long.
"What about the sword and dagger?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"Didn't see either of those. There was a lot of debris, and we were mostly focused on getting you out before the rest of the building came down."
Melody looked toward her empty boots, remembering the dagger's handle locked in her fingers as the lightning struck. She'd been certain she was holding it until the moment they hit the wall, but apparently that wasn't enough to guarantee it had survived the fall with her.
"Are they important?" Gabriel asked.
Melody looked back at him.
"Yeah," she admitted. "Pretty important. Um, I'm assuming you have gotten an artifact of your own right?"
He nodded slowly, then glanced toward the station entrance.
"Artifacts...Yes, I've got one. Definitly important if they are your artifacts. Well, I can't promise anything. But if we get a chance to go back that way, we can take another look."
Melody appreciated the offer, though after watching what had happened to Daniel, she wasn't particularly eager to ask anyone to risk their life searching through rubble for her equipment. She'd have to find another way to recover it once her leg healed, assuming the weapons were still there.
Gabriel leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees. His gaze moved briefly toward Leo's fleece before returning to her.
"There's something I wanted to ask you, too. About that dragon."
Melody felt her stomach tighten at the mention of it, though she tried not to let the reaction show. She remembered its enormous wings spreading across the storm, the lightning gathering between its teeth, and the complete helplessness of realizing that nothing she carried could even scratch its scales.
Gabriel seemed to notice her hesitation.
"We don't need to get into it right now," he said. "You've been through enough, and I should probably let Doc finish looking after you."
He pushed himself upright, then paused beside the chair.
"But when you're feeling better, I'd appreciate knowing what happened. People are scared enough already. I'd like to know whether that thing's going to come back."
“Yeah. Me too…” Melody mumbled.