The concrete room was freezing cold. It was completely silent. In the center of the room, there was a heavy metal table. On top of the table lay a dead man. His name was Finn. He was a young, brave scout from the Sanctuary. Just three hours ago, Finn had been standing on top of the newly built wooden wall. He had been watching the dark forest, guarding the camp from wild zombies. He did not scream. He did not call for help. He had simply fallen backward off the wall and hit the dirt. Dead. Jonah stood in the corner of the cold room. His massive arms were crossed over his broad, iron-scarred chest. He stared at the young man’s body. Jonah felt a heavy, dark stone of guilt in his stomach. He was the leader. He was supposed to protect his people. Kevin stood next to his father. The young giant held his iron mace tightly. His one good eye was full of sorrow. Lisa wheeled her chair up to the metal table. She was wrapped in thick wool blankets to protect her crushed ribs from the cold

They reached the top of the high, rocky cliff. The wind up here was brutal. It blew the snow completely off the flat rocks, leaving only solid, slick black ice. "The line stops here," Kevin whispered. He pointed his iron mace at a small pile of snow near the edge of the cliff. Jonah gripped his sledgehammer tightly. He stepped forward. He expected to find a monster. He expected to find a man in a white mask. He found nothing. The cliff was totally empty. But as Jonah looked closer, he saw that the pile of snow near the edge was not natural. It was a small mound, perfectly shaped to block the wind. Jonah reached out his thick, scarred hand. He brushed the loose snow away. Underneath the snow, there was a thick, white canvas blanket. The blanket was covered in fake, plastic pine needles and small pieces of white glass. It was designed to look exactly like a snowdrift. "It is a ghillie blind," Jonah said softly. He pulled the white blanket away. Underneath the blanket, there was a

The night was completely, perfectly black. The gray ash and white snow fell from the dark sky. The wind howled against the thick concrete walls of the Sanctuary building. It sounded like a giant beast crying in the cold. Inside the building, it was warm. The small fire burned in the metal trash can. The bright orange flames danced in the dark room. The fifty survivors were sleeping. They lay on old mattresses and thick wool blankets. They were exhausted. They had worked all day building heavy iron maces. They were terrified of the invisible sniper on the mountain. They just wanted to rest their tired eyes. But Jonah did not sleep. Jonah sat on a wooden crate near the heavy metal door. He held his massive, forty-pound iron sledgehammer across his broad knees. His dark brown eyes were wide open. He stared at the dark wall. He could not stop thinking about the red warning text. [HOST 'JONAH' HAS BEEN SCANNED BY AN UNKNOWN ENTITY.] [WARNING. YOU ARE BEING WATCHED.]The words burn

Jonah slid down the wall to the floor. He coughed violently. Dark red blood sprayed from his lips. He stared at the ghost in absolute disbelief. A normal human punch cannot throw a giant across a room. The ghost was not a normal human. The ghost was using System magic. The two other ghosts in the room did not join the fight. They stood near the broken window. One held the bag of C4 explosives. They watched their leader fight the giant. They were observing him. They were gathering data. Jonah wiped the blood from his chin. His chest heaved up and down. His human strength was not enough. The assassin was too fast. The assassin hit too hard. If Jonah wanted to stop them from stealing the bombs, he had to cross the line. He had to use the curse. Jonah closed his eyes. He reached deep into his mind. He found the switch for the Adaptive Reward Conversion. “Wake up,” Jonah commanded the machine. Instantly, the pain from his bruised knee and his battered stomach rushed into the system

The cold wind blew through the broken concrete walls of the armory. It carried the gray ash and the white snow into the dark room. Jonah stood in the center of the mess. He looked down at the broken black glass tablet on the floor. The dark purple light inside it was completely dead. The screen was spiderwebbed with cracks. "Bring it to me," Lisa whispered. Lisa sat in her wheelchair near the hallway. She looked incredibly tired. Her crushed ribs caused her pain with every breath. But her dark eyes were sharp. She was a master mechanic. She understood machines better than anyone else in the broken world. Jonah bent down. His massive, scarred hand gently picked up the broken pieces of the black glass tablet. He walked over to Lisa and handed them to her. "Can you read it?" Jonah asked. His deep voice rumbled quietly. "I broke the screen." "I do not need the screen," Lisa said. "I just need the memory chip inside." "Let us go to the main room," Kevin said. The young giant held h