"...I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you," Grace said again while, looking down to the ground, her hands shaking.
Sam simply stared at her for a moment when the old man suddenly stepped forward.
"Grace, I'll ask you one last time. Is this your final decision?" Sam asked seriously while straightening his back. His eyes were clear, and his voice steady. Everyone turned their attention towards him as he spoke.
"Yes..." Grace said softly, unable to meet Sam's gaze.
"Then so be it. From today onwards, we're strangers," Sam declared, turning his back and walking toward the elevator shaft where Maya stood.
"Hey, miss. If you want to stay, I'm sure we can find some room," said the young man in beach clothing, holding a staff.
"Dimitri!" the old man huffed in a low voice as he shot the young man a disapproving look.
"Father, I'm the only magician in the group. If there were two of us..." The young man's voice softened as he approached his father, however the old man simply waved his hand, silencing the young man.
"Why would I want to join up with people like you? I'd rather take my chances with the monsters out there" Maya said as she looked down at Grace with disdain before turning and following Sam out.
"Talk about being ungrateful. Fine then, leave but that staff stays here!" Dimitri said, eyeing Maya's staff greedily. He waved his hands and the men and women who seemed to be guards suddenly surrounded Sam and Maya again.
"No! Just let them go..." said the old man, and his subordinates and son looked shocked.
"Don't make me repeat myself!, Let them leave!" Yelled the old man who seemed annoyed at the actions of everyone around him. The people quickly made way for Sam and Maya, who climbed down the shaft and soon disappeared.
"Father! We needed to get that staff!, this is a matter of our surv-" Dimitri yelled, and his father suddenly slapped him across the face, dropping him onto the ground with a surprised look on his face.
"Father...I..."
"You stupid idiot! Didn't you not see the look on that man's face?!" The old man said angrily while looking down at his trembling hands. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down while using the sword to stead himself.
"His...face?" Dimitri asked in complete confusion
"In my entire life, I've only seen that look twice before. The look of an animal with nothing to lose. Both times were met with unprecedented bloodshed. The first was man who had been held in a Siberian prison for 30 years. He escaped by chopping off his own finger and fashioned a makeshift key and then slaughtered all of the guards in their sleep. The second was from a man whose family was killed in-front of him. He spent the next decade slowly torturing the family and friends of the people who were involved before finally finishing the culprits themselves. Both times, those men had that very look on their face..."
"B...but...even if that were the case! what could he do against all of us?" Dimitri said while rubbing his still-stinging cheek.
"I didn't get this far in life and business by being an idiot like you. No, I got this far by knowing who to ally with, who to crush, and who to avoid messing with. He is definitely one to avoid messing with..." The old man said as he sat back in his lawn chair.
"He didn't seem that scary to me..." Dimitri said as his father shot him another look, causing him to quickly turn away.
"Hurry up and close that elevator door! Barricade it properly as well! I want nothing else coming up from there, on the double!" The old man yelled, while trying to calm himself down.
Meanwhile, down stairs, Sam and Maya had returned to their floor. Maya looked at Sam, who hadn't spoken the entire time.
"Sam..."
"Don't worry about me. That wasn't a complete waste either; I saw something strange while we were up there..." Sam said, walking over to a nearby window and pointing at a peculiar phenomenon in the distance. Maya stood beside him and strained her eyes.
"Do you see it?" Sam asked as Maya squinted.
"Is that...a golden pillar of light?" Maya asked in disbelief.
"Looks to be. We couldn't see it earlier since the sun was outshining it, but that definitely seems to be a beacon of sorts," Sam said, rubbing his chin.
"A beacon? But is it telling us to go over there or stay away..." Maya said, turning her head towards Sam.
"That's definitely the question. If this world really does follow video game logic now, then that's one of two things. It's either a safe zone or a boss zone. Either way, it's the only lead we have, so I'll be going," Sam said, walking over to the stairs.
"Wait, we're just going to walk there?" Maya asked in disbelief as Sam nodded.
"The streets are filled with cars and monsters, so driving will be impossible. It will be faster to just go on foot. I'm not forcing you to come. You're welcome to stay here if you want, I'm sure they'll still let you join up with them if you want" Sam said with a cheeky smile while, making his way down the stairs.
"What do you mean? Didn't you say we'd stick together until we reached somewhere safe?. Why would I stay in that dangerous place..." Maya said, while quickly following behind Sam.
Sam and Maya descended the stairs as quietly and discreetly as possible. Luckily, they did not encounter any monsters on the stairs, and after 15 minutes of quiet movement, they reached the first floor.
Sam carefully peeked out from the staircase into the lobby, where three Kobolds were rummaging through the blood-stained lobby, fighting over random items.
"Let's take them by surprise. Don't shoot your fireball until I say so..." Sam said, quietly placing down the bag of supplies and tiptoeing towards the first Kobold.
'My toothpick's range is a maximum of 6m, not too close but not too far. Any further than that, and I lose control, and it comes flying back towards me like a bullet,' Sam thought, carefully stepping closer to the preoccupied Kobold.
Once within range, Sam used his Telekinesis to fire the toothpick at the creature's head. It made an eerie buzzing sound as it cut through the air and quickly collided with the back of the creature's neck, leaving a massive hole.
"Wow..." Maya couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. The other Kobolds noticed their comrade falling and immediately came running.
"Now!" Sam said, pointing towards the closest Kobold. Maya jumped out from behind the wall and shot a fireball at the creature. The fireball struck the creature, immediately engulfing it in flames. Meanwhile, Sam's toothpick burrowed into the eye of the last Kobold, causing it to screech in pain until it died.
"Phew, that was scary," Maya said, patting her chest to calm down.
"Yet you didn't make a single mistake. You're definitely cut out for the apocalypse," Sam said, looking around curiously.
"Oh, what might this be..." Sam thought as he walked over to a corner of the room filled with different weapons covered in blood.
"Are these their victims' weapons? Are the Kobolds collecting them?" Sam mumbled in disbelief, picking up a staff similar to Maya's from the pile.
"All those people..." Maya mumbled to herself.
"Don't think too much about it. Feeling bad won't change anything. Let's take these with us for now," Sam said, opening an extra duffle bag he had found in Maya's apartment. He placed all the weapons into the duffle bag but kept a sword in his hands.
'I can't equip it, but that doesn't mean I can't use it. Not being able to equip just means I won't be able to use the weapon's traits,' Sam thought as he waved the sword around until he was satisfied.
"We need to make it there before the sun goes down," Sam said to Maya, who nodded seriously. Maya picked up the supply bag Sam had been carrying and stood with him at the front door that had been destroyed.
"Let's go" Sam whispered as he quietly moved into the street.