The group arrived back at the church. The other believers lowered their heads as T’balt walked between them.

  They whispered, “He’s come back.”

  “The Redeemer has returned.”

  He made his way straight for the pulpit, looking out at his people as they revered him, gathered in the room by Arthur. He spoke to them all.

  “We are at war…” He paused. “As I told you all before, we are being hunted by a cruel man, the likes of which none of you have ever seen. He goes by the name of Monan, and his sole goal is to kill me. And by association, he wants to kill all of you. I’ve seen the future where he’s successful. It isn’t pretty… But this time I’m not going to sit back and let him strike first. We’re going to hit him in the heart before he even has a chance to realize he messed with the wrong group of people.”

  They all cheered, having unconsciously agreed to follow T’balt to the ends of the earth. But for now, they just had to follow him to the city, into the heart of downtown.

  T’balt took thirty of the church's best fighters, including Cannon’s band of wrestlers. They waited out on a block a mile away, waiting for the scouts ahead to survey the hotel.

  Cannon, Acelin, and Ellie were nearby as T’balt continued to add things to his book that he remembered. “The Bear always has some form of explosion loot, which is hard to deal with. He can make explosions within about a 2-meter radius of himself. I guess I can’t really call him the Bear. Without Acelin around, they don’t wear their masks. Hmm… then there’s neon, the spider, the shadow loot guy, and… those are the main ones I know of. If we have to deal with them, it’ll be a tough time. Should I try to handle them myself or go straight for Monan?”

  He was talking to himself in that mode that no one around him could understand. Like he was far away from Earth.

  “You shouldn’t keep bringing Acelin on these things,” Ellie said. “I know you have your plan, but… it still doesn’t feel right.”

  He broke back into reality, noticing her. “To be honest with you, I don’t know if anything I’m doing can be considered right.”

  The answer shocked her into silence.

  “It's admirable, though, how much you think of him,” said T’balt.

  “I just can’t help but believe that in times like these, children should be kept pure. As much as they can be. Otherwise, I feel like the world we remember completely disappears.”

  “I don’t know. I think it's already too late for him.”

  “Maybe you’re right. But at least you should talk to him about it. Make sure he’s okay. He looks up to you.”

  “To me? He’s only known me for a few days.”

  “He does. I can tell by the way he looks at you. I don’t think he has many male role models in his life. I’m sure Cannon can tell, too. That’s why he tries so hard to keep playing with him.”

  T’balt considered, not knowing what’d he even had to say to the kid. “I can’t really think about that kind of stuff right now.”

  One of their scouts returned with news. “Redeemer,” the man said, breathing heavy.

  “What is it?”

  “We checked the hotel you asked us to… It was empty.”

  “Empty? Are you sure you had the right one?”

  “Yes, sir, the large one on Plateau street.”

  In a huff, T’balt followed them all back to the hotel only to find out that what they’d said was true. The entire hotel was completely empty. It didn’t look like anyone was there in the first place.

  There was no graffiti or even leftover trash. Not abandoned but never used. It looked the same as it would have before Zero Day. “What happened? I’m sure this was the right place.”

  “Sir. A note.” One of the believers handed him a slip of paper.

  “Where’d you find this?”

  “It was taped on the elevator. It looks like it's from Monan.”

  T’balt looked at the messy handwriting. It was signed by the man himself. Above the signature, it said, “Didn’t think I’d take it easy on ya, didja Redeemer.”

  T’balt tossed the note aside after the frustration hit him. He should’ve suspected as much. Monan was crafty. He likely saw this move coming a mile away and posted the base for the bandits somewhere completely different.

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  That was the worst part of the game. T’balt could change the events of the timeline, but so could Monan, making whatever T’balt’s planned useless.

  “That’s a bad thing, right?” Ellie asked.

  “Hm?”

  “Just wondering why you were smirking.”

  T’balt didn’t realize he was. Racking his brain around a new strategy in real time, it was really feeling like a game now. It was something that excited him about the RPGs he always played. But he had to calm himself. He was still using people’s lives to play, so he had to be careful and maintain reverence.

  He brushed off Ellie’s comment. “Everyone, pack up and head home!” He shouted to the team. “We’ll have to regroup. Monan moved the base. He figured out that we were coming.”

  As the others were wrapping up and heading back for the cars, T’balt noticed Acelin, checking out the hotel. He ogled the amenities, the arcade, the giant spaces, and especially the batting cages out back. “I’ve always wanted to see the inside of a hotel like this,” the kid said to himself.

  Then T’balt remembered that it might’ve been Acelin who chose this hotel as the base in the first place. He was a kid after all. Even as Nrv, a place like this must’ve been exciting for him.

  But he might not get to experience any of this stuff at the church. T’balt almost felt bad. Ellie was right in a sense. The world after Zero Day was no place for a kid to be. They needed a space to play, to wonder, and to imagine. Not a place where they only worried about fighting for their lives.

  “You coming, T’balt?” Cannon asked. “The boys want to get cracking on dinner.”

  T’balt considered a moment. “You go on ahead. I want to search the area a bit more.”

  “You sure? I can stay with you then.”

  “No, it's okay, really, Cannon. Go be with your friends.” Cannon only went reluctantly when he sensed what T’balt was doing.

  “What about you, El?”

  “I think I’ll stay too,” Ellie said. “Save me a plate?”

  “Only the biggest for you.” Cannon smiled and walked back to the cars with the rest of them. It was just Ellie, Acelin, and T’balt there then.

  Ellie nudged T’balt forward.

  “I know.”

  Acelin made his way into the batting cages, looking up in awe at the size of the place. He positioned himself on the home plate, kicking his feet like he was imagining himself at the center of a big game. But there was no one there. Just him without a ball or a bat.

  He sighed. But when he looked up, his bat appeared to him. T’balt was handing one over that he found behind the hotel counter.

  “Wanna play?”

  T’balt threw a pitch, light with none of the loot enhancements. Acelin swung, missing only slightly but putting all his force into the bat.

  “A little lower,” said T’balt. “But it’s a good swing. You’re a natural.”

  “Shut up,” Acelin said. “I’ll do better.”

  “No, really… It’s a compliment.” T’balt threw another pitch. Another miss. “I used to play in high school, so I know a thing or two.”

  “You played?” Another ball clanked with the rear fence.

  “Yeah. I wanted to go pro, but my coach told me to focus on my grades. Guess he didn’t think I could make it. So I never tried. But I didn’t go to college either… You want to straighten your feet and bend your legs slightly.”

  Acelin did as he said. Ellie watched in the background, sitting cross-legged on top of a table with some canned drink she found. The next pitch Acelin connected with. Nothing special. Would’ve been a solid foul ball grounder. Ellie clapped.

  “See! You’re a pro already,” T’balt exclaimed.

  “I never actually played baseball before,” Acelin said.

  “Really, not even Little League.”

  “No… my dad never had time. He said it was stupid.” He tightened his grip on the bat. He hit the next pitch, this time more solid.

  “Really. That’s a shame. You would’ve been great at it.”

  “Yeah.. well, my dad never let me do anything. He was never home. And he would get mad at every little thing I did.” The next shot went straight down the middle. For the first time, T’balt had to duck behind the safety net.

  “Right…” He got into position to throw another pitch.

  “I hated my dad.” The bat cracked against the ball, and it ripped through the safety net. He could hear the electricity surging as the ball put a dent in the wall behind him. When he looked back, Acelin was practically surging.

  T’balt decided to wait a minute before throwing his next pitch. “So, whatever happened to your dad. Did you run away from him?”

  “He’s gone,” Acelin said, bouncing the bat off his toes. “The demons got him on Zero Day. So it's fine. It's good.”

  “What do you mean good? It's not good to wish something bad on your parents.”

  “T’balt!” Ellie called to him. “There’s something I should talk to you about.”

  “Sure.”

  But as he walked towards her, a fire lit in front of him. It was sudden, in less than a second, a spontaneous combustion. In that split second, he knew exactly what happened. “An explosion.” But he couldn’t avoid it.” He felt the heat singe his chest, and he flew backwards.

  “T’balt!” Ellie ran over to him, preparing her hands for healing. He was clutching his chest, feeling like he was breathing in magma. Burns reddened his skin all over.

  Ellie’s eyes turned red. She saw the second explosion coming, but she wasn’t fast enough to avoid it fully. It blew her away down to her back. She avoided most of the damage, but not enough to stay on her feet.

  She held a hand to herself on the ground, hoping to heal the wounds. She looked around for the source, and that’s when she saw Vikram waltzing over to them, holding a baseball bat of his own.

  “Too bad. My boss hired me to take you punks out. Didn’t honestly think it’d be this easy, the way he hyped you up. Guess I’m just that good.” He stood over T’balt’s battered body, ready to unleash the final strike. “Bad end, Redeemer,” he said.

  Acelin saw it all happen. Seeing the kid, Vikram just looked over him with no sense of threat. But Acelin’s skin was cracking with raging blue cracks of light. The electricity surged, and suddenly, Acelin had Vikram by the arm.

  “You interrupted my game.”