"She's new," I said, trying hard to ignore how awkward that made me feel. "Her name is Lianne."
"Let me guess. You're her guardian?"
I nodded, taking a step closer towards him to whisper, but he took a step back and shook his head.
"Why don't you come inside? We'll talk there instead of out here." He offered it with a grin.
Fredrick walked past the corpse and into his house.
I followed him inside and sat down on one of the chairs.
Lianne sat on a cushion on the floor, leaning against the wall, watching me curiously.
Frederick walked over to the kitchenette, grabbed something from the fridge, and brought it over to me.
"Here," he offered, holding out a bottle of water.
"Thanks." I accepted it gratefully.
"Would you care for some juice, Lianne?" He held a carton out to her and shook its contents for a dramatic effect.
Lianne looked over at me, requesting permission to accept. I nodded, and she reached out for the carton with glee.
I watched as she drank half of its contents in one gulp, making a loud slurping sound along the way.
Then she started coughing violently.
I rushed over to her side and helped her sit up, handing her my bottle of water.
After a few moments of coughing, she recovered enough to drink more water.
"Thank you." Lianne smiled weakly, reaching out to give me a hug.
I froze momentarily before hugging her back, feeling her soft hair tickle my skin.
Ding!
[Level 1: Resource Creation]
[Goal: Attain 12.5% of your link's serotonin level within 48 hours. For every hour of a satisfactory deed, you receive a 0.5% increase. This will result in increased levels of trust within the bond and make your link happy.
Reward: Transmute basic elements into food, water, and supplies.]
The message flashed across my vision, and I narrowed my eyes, realizing what was going on.
'This skill isn't a joke; it's actually real!'
"Bud, you're zoning out again, aren't you?" Frederick chuckled lightly.
My head snapped up to face him, and I patted Lianne on the head, giving her an affectionate smile as she rushed over to swipe a magazine off the table.
'They can't see the notification.' I realized.
"Sorry," I said, shaking my head. "But I had a long day today, and I'm tired."
"Nooo!!!" Fredrick yelled out in a panic.
Whoosh!
He was swift enough to close the distance between them and snatch the magazine from her hands. Fredrick's eyes bulged with panic, and his breathing quickened.
"What are you doing? That's my special collection!" He yelled, glaring at Lianne, who giggled cutely, oblivious to its content.
'You fucker! How can you keep such explicit magazines out in the open?!'
I glared back at him angrily, clenching my jaw tight.
"Calm down, bud. I wasn't expecting any visitors anyway. It's just an ahem—you know! No biggie since she didn't, you understand." Frederick laughed, returning the magazine to its place on the shelf.
"I'm sorry..." Lianne replied sheepishly, turning around and sitting on the cushion, watching me curiously.
"Here, read this instead." Fredrick handed a comic book to Lianne and gave her another carton of juice and a bunch of crayons.
"Yay! Color sticks!!"
Frederick sat down across from me and took a drink of his own. Then he began talking, making small talk while I drank the remaining contents of my bottle.
"Do I need to ask?" Fredrick asked after a moment. "How long has she been with you?"
I looked over at Lianne drawing capes over some of the characters and shrugged.
"Since two days ago."
"So she hasn't even had time to settle in yet."
I chuckled and shook my head.
"No, she hasn't."
'Mia managed to murder my youth on a grand scale. Even I need time to process this.'
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"Well, first off... Is she the reason you had things complicated before our boss had you fi—"
"You already know the answers to that, right?" I countered through gritted teeth.
"Yes..."
"Then why bring it up?"
Fredrick hesitated for a second, then sighed and leaned forward.
"Because you're acting strange around her, Allen."
I blinked and tilted my head to the side.
"Am I?"
"You are, yes," he replied. "You've never been this way with any other children we've been asked to babysit in the past. I thought you hated kids."
I stared at him for a moment, then decided to change the subject.
"Wouldn't it be sensible to cover yourself when you go outside?" I asked.
Frederick raised an eyebrow.
"I don't mind other people seeing me, but it is. You know I love being free and open about myself."
I nodded slowly, staring at his exposed chest. His muscles were firm and defined. The light breeze caused the tips of his orange hair to flutter and dance in the air.
'What shit is this?'
I cringed, shaking my head at the weird scene that played before me.
"You were bleeding earlier," I noted.
Fredrick looked down at the clot forming in the corner of his chest and then at my face.
"Yeah, that's nothing new," he said dismissively. "If you'd like to take care of it, though, feel free."
"Fuck you! I'm not into that shit!" I protested.
"Don't worry; I'm not asking because I think you're hot, either."
That got my attention, and I recalled the situation we were all in.
An alien invasion had begun, and here we were, hiding behind the walls of a building with a child and no plans at the moment. There were probably thousands of aliens roaming the streets of Estrovale, looking for humans to control or kill.
"We need to leave soon anyway," Frederick continued as if reading my thoughts. "We'll be heading out in an hour or so. We have a meeting scheduled with your boring life."
My eyes widened in surprise, and I shot a questioning look at him.
"I know you always wanted an adventure, Allen. But that's not what we get paid for."
"You just had to remind me of our miserable lives again, didn't you? Fine. Let's go. But I won't be thrilled until I see some action."
Frederick smirked at me, stood up from the chair, and walked away.
Lianne was still sitting there, oblivious to our conversation, and started to draw on the characters again. I couldn't help but smile as I watched her.
–––––––––––
"What's with the bag?"
Fredrick nodded to the bag strapped over my shoulder.
I turned toward the sound of his voice and saw him leaning against one wall of the room. He was watching Lianne as well, and his gaze shifted to mine after a few seconds.
"Oh, that? It's a bag. It carries stuff."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Stuff? Like food and stuff?"
"Uhhh..."
"Uncle Ally rich." Lianne spoke up, her hair full of crayons. She pointed to her stomach, where her belly button was hidden beneath a drawn superhero insignia.
Frederick laughed and clapped his hands together once.
"Wait a sec!"
I mentally prepared myself for what was to come.
'Here it comes.'
"You got cash in there?!"
I nodded.
"How much?"
"About... six mil—"
Cough! Cough!
Fredrick held up a hand, and I stopped talking.
"Sorry, can you repeat that, but a lot slower?"
"Six million, nine hundred and eighty-seven thousand, thirty-two dollars in cash!" I blurted out.
Fredrick's mouth dropped open. Then he pulled up his hands to make a brief calculation, probably on our average yearly income.
"Holy shit!"
His reaction was contagious, and I found myself laughing too.
"No shit," I mumbled between bursts of laughter. "But it's not really mine. It belongs to my sister; uh, well now that I think about it, yeah, it belongs to me now."
Frederick shook his head and sighed.
"You don't get it; you have with you about 87 years worth of our yearly income, and it's fucking useless in the world right now."
'Ah, I almost forgot; we are still in the middle of an alien invasion,' I thought to myself. 'That's why the driver was so shocked when I paid for our ride here.'
"Hahaha!"
"Allen, bud, are you alright?"
It took a second for me to realize Fredrick was addressing me.
When I looked back up at him, he looked concerned about how I held the bag, which was resting on my lap.
"So you're telling me I can get whatever I want within our reach as there's chaos out there?" I asked, trying to hide the frustrated smile tugging at the corner of my lips.
"Well yeah, you know that," he answered while nodding his head. "The point is, this money will be useless for us now because we're going into an unknown zone. No one gives a flying fuck about money anymore. If someone needs something badly enough, they'd take it from whoever has it, like that dead trash tried to do to me a few minutes ago."
'Mia, is this some sort of punishment?'
I felt tears form in my eyes as I imagined all I could have achieved with my newfound wealth.
"Yeah, man, it sucks, doesn't it?" Frederick chuckled. "That's why we need to leave ASAP before more people start showing up here. Plus, if we stay here any longer than two hours, we might end up with a gang banging down my door, wanting to rob us blind. I'm not bulletproof, you know."
Raising the bag over my head, I threw it onto the ground. Its landing made a noise that reverberated throughout the entire house.
Stomp!
Stomp!
"Fuck your timing!"
Stomp!
"Fuck the invasion!"
Stomp!
"And fuck everything else! Ahhhhh!!!"
My outburst brought Lianne to stare at me with worry.
"Is Uncle Ally okay? Is Uncle Ally hurt?" she asked.
Frederick placed a reassuring hand on her head and gave her a slight smile.
"He's fine. He just lost it for a minute, but he'll be good soon enough."
"Okay!"
Lianne returned her attention to her drawing.
"Alright Allen, settle down!" Fredrick said this while holding his hands out in front of himself. "Calm yourself, or we'll be leaving without you!"
I swallowed hard and cleared my throat before speaking.
"Right. Yeah." I said as I wiped the tears off my face. "Alright. So let's go then, I guess."
Frederick smiled at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing." He replied. "I'll go get a few things first so we can get out of here faster. You wait here."
As he walked towards the hallway, I sat next to Lianne again. She had finished her drawing, but instead of putting it away, she stared intently at the picture, tracing lines along the paper with her fingers and giggling.
"Look! What I drew," she said proudly.
I leaned forward to see what she was referring to. What I saw shocked me.