"Ten durability points per hour," Hailey said from the driver's seat, her voice quiet but steady. "That's the burn rate in category two fog. We have ten thousand each, so the math looks generous, but it's not. Higher density pockets burn faster. If we hit a category three zone by accident, it could jump to fifty per hour.""So watch the timer," Kyle said."Watch it like your life depends on it," Hailey confirmed. "Because it does."Kyle looked at his bracelet. 9,990 already. The fog was eating through it like acid through paper."Plus ten points to Hailey for the briefing," Kyle said, typing on the terminal. "And plus five to Scarlett for breaking Vivian's illusion earlier without being asked."Scarlett did not acknowledge the points. She sat beside him staring out the window at the yellow nothing with the same flat expression she wore for everything.Kyle's hand found the edge of Scarlett's sleeve and gripped it as the fog pressed tighter against the glass. Visibility had dropped to

"You could always go down there yourself." Riley crouched near the edge of the roof, scanning the horde below with her pale eyes. "Wave your arms around. Maybe they'll laugh themselves to death.""Very helpful, Riley. Truly. You're a beacon of support.""I'm a beacon of keeping you alive despite every cell in my body screaming not to." Riley glanced back at him with a cold smile. "You're welcome."Bianca pulled the last tie free. The black cloth fell away and revealed a blade so large it looked like it belonged in a myth, not a woman's hands. Seven feet of dark steel, wide as a man's thigh, the edge gleaming even in the gray fog light.Kyle stared at it. "You've been carrying that this whole time?""Under the back seat." Bianca stood and lifted the blade with one hand, resting it across her shoulder like it weighed nothing. Her dark eyes swept over the horde below with the calm focus of a predator counting its meal.She picked up the empty scabbard, held it over the edge, and kicked it

Kyle sat on the rooftop of the wrecked repair shop with three hundred sixteen star stones piled between his legs and five women standing over him like a jury that had not yet decided the sentence."We need to test it," Scarlett said, her golden eyes flat and fixed on the fog below. "One discovery is not a pattern. It could be the zone. It could be the density. It could be a system error.""Or it could be me," Kyle muttered. "The walking loot box.""We'll find out." Scarlett turned to Bianca. "Go into the fog. Kill ten corpses. Come back and report the drop."Bianca picked up her massive blade without a word and dropped off the roof. The fog swallowed her in two seconds. They waited in tense silence. Seven minutes later, she climbed back up the withered vines with gray dust on her jacket and nothing in her hands."Ten kills," Bianca reported, brushing bone fragments off her sleeve. "Zero drops. Not a single stone.""My turn." Riley vaulted over the edge before anyone could argue. She wa

Kyle watched her go with his lip still stuck out. Then he sighed and sat down on the concrete, hugging his knees to his chest.On the other side of the roof, near the withered vine ladder, a different kind of tension was building."She's getting soft on him." Riley's voice was low, but it carried across the open air. She stood with her arms crossed, her pale blue eyes aimed at Bianca. "And so are you."Bianca leaned against the railing with her blade resting across both shoulders, her dark eyes half closed. "Excuse me?""Don't play dumb." Riley stepped closer, her jaw tight. "You carried his gear into the SUV without being asked. You covered his flank during the fight downstairs. And just now, when that corpse was chasing him, you moved toward him before Scarlett even raised her hand.""I was being practical," Bianca said, her voice smooth and unbothered."You were being soft." Hailey spoke up from behind Riley, her quiet voice carrying a rare edge. "Like Scarlett. He's turning you."B

Then he dropped his hands and looked at the pile of remaining stones. Over two hundred of them, glowing white, scattered across the rooftop like fallen stars."Give them out," Kyle said.Riley's head snapped toward him. "What?""Forty percent. Split it between the five of you." Kyle grabbed a handful and held them toward Bianca. "They don't work on my Mental Power anyway, and we're pushing deeper into west side fog tomorrow. I need all of you stronger, not me sitting here crying over rocks that my brain refuses to eat."Bianca stared at the stones in his outstretched hand. Her dark eyes moved from the stones to his face and back again, like she was checking for a trap."Just take them before I change my mind," Kyle snapped. "What, you want me to beg? I'm handing you free power. Grab it or I'll feed them to the fog."Bianca took the stones. Her fingers closed around them without a word, but something shifted in her dark eyes, a brief, unguarded flash of surprise that she buried before