Summer slowly came to an end in a most unproductive manner. Jake found the God's Fist prairie area empty of Maws to hunt. He had wiped out hundreds of them before exhausting it. While some monsters did literally appear out of nowhere as if they sprouted like mushrooms. The stronger they were the longer it would take for that to happen. Nor could anyone he talked to predict how it was going to happen or when. That left him back to the problem the group had before, finding targets worth fighting in large numbers. Killing roaming monsters was inefficient.
His original plan after exhausting his current hunting ground was to head towards another Hub. On foot, it would take most of a day. It would be a pain, but while school was out was his best bet to manage it. That or he would have to have the Mayer cover for him.
Jon was still researching his new armor and the strange way his weapon had upgraded. The armor was impressive enough but Jon said it was all within his projection. Jake wasn't so sure his projections were always accurate but the older than he seemed teen played it off. His weapon upgrading as it had was the bigger mystery. Jon still did not know why it hadn't upgraded at first. Nor how it had consumed a completed weapon to upgrade. They had tried feeding it a few other weapons and armors but nothing else caused a reaction.
Not the shotgun, rifle, bow, or staff they had picked up from Clive's general store. None of them had been absorbed.
But the real reason he had stayed around was Nira. Clive was keeping an eye out on her, the two loan sharks as skeezy as they were did actually have a contract with her. They had overcharged her, but not by much. Apparently, the customized top end tech armor really was expensive. Her staff had been top tier as well. The dimensional trap item that blocked teleportation skills wasn't super rare, but still expensive.
Clive promised to keep an eye on her but said she was mostly working with different groups and was actually making enough money it looked like she would be able to keep up her payments. Jake was impressed. That was no small sum to be farming out. But being basically invulnerable to any monster one was likely to find around her helped. Jake again wondered if he should join up with another group. One that had a transport skill or vehicle that could head out to the more monster rich regions. But the thought of grouping up with anyone terrified him.
Thus, the first day of class came. Jake barely slept, spending most of the time worried. Everyone by now knew about Cassandra's death. Probably all the details, at least the story told to normal people. He almost gave up and decided to just drop out of school. But his father waking him up with breakfast made for his first day back. Looking both hopeful and worried forced Jake to move forward.
Still, he dragged his feet and made it to his new class right before it started. Tom and Micky were in his class again. He had never seen the two so subdued when they greeted him. It was unnerving and made the situation far more awkward. Even more than their strained condolences about Cass. "She was a bit of a snob, but you two somehow got along. I'm really sorry man." Tom's way of approaching it made several of the other classmates wince. But Jake didn't care. He knew Tom well enough to know that was just his way.
Jake mostly just wanted the class to start so everyone would stop looking at him or trying to talk to him. To his surprise, Gerri showed up, apparently in their class too. She stopped at his desk, just standing there. When he glanced up she was pale and looked as if she hadn't slept in ages. She even looked to have lost weight, not that she had much to lose before. She opened her mouth, then closed it and walked away. Tom and Micky both made some comments but Jake ignored them. Class had started, finally.
Once class started things became more normal. Everyone simply forgot about Jake. After all, other than Tom and Micky he didn't really talk to many people before. Lunch he sat with Micky and Tom out of habit more than anything. Gerri showed up and sat down, just as she had when Cass would join them. Not saying a word. Tom and Micky looked at her with surprise and even blatantly in their normal way asked her what she was doing sitting with them.
She didn't answer and when they started to push it Jake snapped at them to leave her alone. Gerri barely glanced at him but it was enough to see her appreciation for what he had done. It wasn't that he liked Gerri or wanted her around. But, he knew she was close to Cass and in a way saw her as a kindred spirit in their shared grief.
School ended and Jake left the building behind. He wasn't in a rush to get home but couldn't lie that he felt relieved to be leaving school. It was loud and noisy, everyone seemed to care and focus too much on things he now felt were just so… unimportant. When he turned the corner from school he was shocked when Gerri was standing there on the sidewalk. Off to the side but just standing there. She didn't look up and so he just walked on, ignoring her.
"Um, Jake." She spoke up when he was right next to her, about to pass her.
"Yeah?" He glanced at her, she had her head down. When she looked up he took probably the first really good look at Gerri. She had mousy brown hair, and freckles across her pale face. Plain brown eyes and a little upturned nose. It was something about her nose that made him think of Cass, almost as if they had the same nose. But other than that she was nothing like his now deceased girlfriend. She was skinnier but not in a good way, more flat, more boney, more plain than Cass had been. That was just it, she was plain. Almost invisible. No one noticed her, not even Jake. Especially when she was always beside Cass for comparison.
"Can… can we talk?" She looked him in the eye for a bit, he could see the dark bags under hers.
"Uh, Sure." He shrugged. He hadn't ever really liked Gerri. But it wasn't like he hated her, the worse she ever did was defend Cass from Tom and Micky's comments before he started dating Cass. At the time he had found her annoying, later when thinking back he would get annoyed with Tom and Micky instead.
"Thanks." She said then just moved to stand next to him as if she planned to walk with him. He shrugged again and started moving, expecting her to talk as they walked. But she just followed beside him hugging her backpack, not saying anything. It was an uncomfortable silence and Jake didn't know what to do. So he just walked in that strained silence.
Before long they were at his house and he stopped at his door to stand there waiting. She glanced at him and then just stood there, looking down while hugging her backpack to her.
"Um, did you want to come in?" Jake ended up asking and she nodded. He found it too weird but let her in anyway. He had her sit at the kitchen table and offered her something to drink which she refused. Then they just sat in silence, it was getting to the point Jake was about to ask her to leave when she spoke up.
"Cass really liked you. I think she even loved you." It was again such an odd thing for her to say out of the blue. There had been some rumors about Gerri that Jake had laughed about in the past, about why she was always following after Cass. Jake also remembered some comments Cass had made.
"Did you like her… I mean… like…" He blurted out.
Gerri's head snapped up and she looked at him, a mix of shock and anger. "No!" Her expression cooled. "I mean… I loved Cass. But not like that." She actually blushed some, it added some much needed color to her pale complexion. "Cass… Cass was my sister." She finally added.
Jake blinked. "What?"
"Cass's dad is also my dad. He had an affair with my mother." Gerri said then sighed. "I know, imagine that. The girl that lives in the poor part of town is the illegitimate child of a rich lawyer. It is too…" she waved her hand some as she looked for the word.
"Cliche?" Jake provided.
"Yeah, that." She looked him in the eye for a moment then looked down. There was silence again. Then she started to cry, softly. "I miss her so much. No one knows that she was my sister. We always had to keep it a secret. I don't get along with any of her other friends, most of them just see me as that "poor" girl that hung around Cass. Only Cass was ever nice to me. Really nice, not fake or wanting anything or anything." She looked up at Jake. "You… you weren't mean like the others even if you did ignore me all the time." Jake felt a twinge of guilt, her words were true. "Cass always said you were actually a really good person." She paused and seemed to swallow some. "I was hoping. Maybe you would let me talk to you about her sometimes?"
Jake just looked at her and saw her for what she was. Someone who had lost someone important to them and had no one to share their grief with. Guilt washed over him, she didn't know the truth. That he had been the one that killed Cass, had taken her away. Numbly Jake nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that too." His voice sounded strained and Gerri gave him a relieved smile thinking he truly was a kindred spirit. Not knowing it was guilt more than anything that was driving his actions.
**********
Jake logged in just as soon as Gerri left. He felt the weight of his guilt on him renewed, it filled him with negative energy. He needed to release it and killing some monsters would be the perfect release. Standing at the looking for group board he was searching for any groups looking for members for something dangerous. Not to join them, but to steal their planned hunt for himself. It was considered bad manners but right now he just wanted to fight something. Needed that.
"Merc?" Jake froze as someone spoke up behind him. No one but his small group of friends had ever used that name. Everyone called him the D rank demon or more often now just Demon.
When he turned around he was a bit shocked to find someone he had never met before.
"Who are you?" His tone came out more angry than he expected. The woman didn't seem to notice.
"Um, I'm Susan's friend." Her tone was best described as meek. Soft and weak sounding.
"Who?" Jake frowned.
"Oh, um Gadget's friend. I'm the vehicle crafter." She looked to be staring at his chest, unable to look him in the eye.
"But… you were supposed to be a guy." Jake blurted out.