Uncomfortable, worried, and having entered one of the lightest sleeps of his life, Zach popped out of his sleeping bag as soon as he heard the groaning coming from a few feet behind him, where Jimmy had been placed after they'd decided to take a five-hour rest just past inn room 209551.

"Oh, shit," were the words Jimmy spoke as Zach saw his form rolling over from one side to the other. "Fuck happened to my bed?" Seconds after speaking those words, he began to snore.

Zach, springing up, hurried over to his side, crouched down, and grabbed his shoulder, shaking him. "Jimmy? Are you okay now? Hey, Jimmy. Wake up!"

This caused Rian to wake and Lienne as well, as the two of them had been sleeping nearby. Both of them then also got up and hurried over, which in turn caused Olivir and Kolona to rise from their own sleeping bags. Before long, a number of other adventurers were getting up as well, several of them refusing—likely out of fear—to look Zach directly in the eyes, making him wonder if he'd gone too far earlier.

Probably.

As numerous figures made their way to Jimmy, the sound of rapidly tapping feet from Fluffles and Tyson, who coincidentally happened to be running side by side, joined the growing commotion. But Zach focused only on Jimmy for the moment.

"Who's shaking me?" he asked, his eyes slowly opening. Then he made a confused, annoyed expression. "Zach, the fuck? Let a man sleep." Zach refused. He shook him some more. So now, Jimmy yawned, sat up, and stretched. He scratched his short black hair. Then he yawned again and said, "Man, I can't even remember coming this far. Wait a second…"

Jimmy licked his lips then made several clicks with his mouth as though he were trying to taste something on the tip of his tongue. He immediately looked over his shoulder at Tyson and asked, "Did you give me Xanax? Why do I feel like I've just been drugged? And if I was, did I do it on purpose or did somebody slip something in my drink? For the record, I'm okay with either, but I just wanna know."

Tyson laughed. "Technically, yes, I drugged you, Jimmy."

"So that's why I can't remember shit. Oh well. Did I at least have fun?"

"No."

"Seriously?"

Zach, overwhelmed with relief to see that Jimmy was okay, resisted the urge to hug his friend, as he knew Jimmy hated anything overly touchy-feely. "Gods, I thought you were going to die, Jimmy. I'm so glad you're okay."

"Huh?" he asked. Then he yawned for the third time and added, "Shit, I need a drink."

"No you don't!" Rian, Lienne, and even Tyson all shouted at him at once.

He frowned. "What's going on with you people?"

Zach paused a moment, unsure of how to explain to him what happened. But he decided it would be best not to delay and to just tell him the truth outright. And so he did. He told Jimmy exactly what had happened to him, and exactly how close he had come to death. Jimmy listened to all of it with a blank, plain expression. And when Zach finished, his reaction was immediate.

"Nah, that ain't happen," he said, shaking his head. "Bullshit."

"It's not," Zach said. "You really did have seizures and all kinds of other—"

"Nope," he said, in total denial. "I'm not some bitch. I wouldn't go out like that."

"Well, you were about to," Rian said, no humor or mockery in his voice. That alone should've been proof enough of how serious this was.

Jimmy got up, stretched again, and picked up his staff. If he had been a level-1, he probably wouldn't even be able to open his eyes for another few days, let alone shrug off his near-death experience. "Let's change the subject," he said. "I'm good now. I can lead the raid."

"Like hell you can," Donovan growled at him. Having now awakened, he stormed over to Jimmy, his armor already back on his body. Without warning, he grabbed Jimmy and yanked him into a hug, giving him no choice in the matter. "You son of a bitch! Don't you ever pull that shit again, mother fucker."

"Okay, okay," Jimmy said, looking uncomfortable. He pulled away. Then he stared at Donovan, who Zach now realized was staring at him. "Something…happen between you two?"

"No," Zach and Donovan both said at once. To Jimmy, Zach said, "Everything's fine. If you're okay, we should probably keep moving now, since I just accidentally woke the entire raid up."

Jimmy looked back and forth between Zach and Donovan, skepticism on his face. But eventually, he sighed, shrugged, and grabbed his things. "Lead the way."

*******

Anelia, lying on her belly about ten feet away from the window across the room, adjusted the scope on her ether rifle. It was a rare-quality long-gun that she'd purchased for a fortune from an adventurer. In fact, all her weapons were paid for in gold, as ether guns didn't drop from the carefully curated mobs located on guild estates. She'd had to do a whole bunch of jobs to make back what this weapon had cost her, yet despite this, she'd only used it a handful of times over the years, with most of them being recently.

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There we go, she said, increasing the magnification on the rifle so that she had a much clearer view of the refugee camp, where a man with short and curly brown hair was ambling slowly across a patch of grass towards a table serving eggs, toast, and other breakfast foods. Right on time.

It was early in the morning, and Anelia, lying prone farther inside the 2nd floor apartment she'd rented, was completely hidden in shadow. Now, she began lining up her shot carefully, her finger near but not on the trigger. Anyone with sense knew never to touch the trigger until it was time to shoot. She controlled her breathing, slowing it and taking control of her reflexes.

The rifle, which was pure black and looked quite a bit like a real machine-based gun, did not function like her other weapons, in which she exerted herself each time she pulled the trigger. For this weapon, the exertion required per shot was paid in advance via a bolt-action exertion lever atop the weapon. Each time she pulled it back, there'd be a satisfying click, following which she'd be hit with a Medium-Low exertion cost. The round would then be chambered, and she could fire it hours or even days later if she wanted.

It's too crowded, she thought as she followed the man with her scope. I need to hit him while he's getting a plate.

He'd made a terrible mistake in deciding to show himself today. The man was a refugee leader by the name of Felton Yinrah, and he was actually one of her higher-priority targets. Anelia had been looking everywhere for him to no avail. But all that changed when she'd been able to bribe a local patron at a pub on the south-east side of the city where he used to work before the war. The man, who was formerly a bartender, was now one of the key figures organizing the level-1 resistance against the Royal Roses.

And he was worth a hell of a lot of gold.

Anelia readied herself. As soon as he reached for a plate, she would take the shot. She needed to be perfect. Failure to strike her target would not only risk having him run off, but also, there were children around, and hitting one of them would be unforgivable. And so, she lay in wait. She was good at what she did precisely because she was patient: precisely because she didn't rush. As soon as he stood where she needed him to be, she'd take him cleanly through the heart. And then, there'd only be three left.

*******

"I'm scared," the resistance leader said, looking nervously at the cooking station where the other refugees were heading to get breakfast.

"It's okay, sir," Kalana said to him over the Comm. "I promise you I won't let anybody hurt you. I will catch the bullet when it comes. I swear it."

"All right. I trust you, Princess Kalana."

Wearing a big, baggy robe and a cap that covered her ears, Kalana had disguised herself as one of the human refugees. Currently, she was sitting and eating breakfast at a picnic table with Trelvor and Seiley. The two sat across from her, and she sat on the side facing the cooking station, where she had a view of the apartments across the street as well as the resistance leader, Felton Yinrah, who was being really brave in agreeing to bait the assassin this way.

The fact that they were here at all was all because of Alex, who had contacted Kalana early this morning with an idea for a sting operation to lure out their bounty hunter. It was a plan already in motion, but it was one that he claimed would go much more smoothly and safely if she got involved. At first, Kalana had been hesitant, because she didn't want to play games with people's lives, but after Alex had laid out his plan, she'd thought it over and eventually agreed to it. She was confident in her ability to move fast enough. She was sure she could save the man. But she needed to concentrate. She needed to be ready to spring into action the moment the rifle was fired.

"Kalana, have him move a bit faster," Alex said over the Comm line. "If the assassin sees him hesitating, he'll get suspicious."

"Okay." Kalana tapped the side of her face. "Felton, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Princess Kalana."

"Can you walk a bit faster please? We don't want to spook the assassin."

"Of course. I'm sorry. I'm just a bit nervous."

"Don't worry. I gotcha."

Kalana trained her eyes on the apartment building. There were four possible windows where the shot could come from, as each were open and overlooked the park where breakfast was served to citizens in this part of the safe zone each morning. She pursed her lips, becoming angry just at the thought of someone going around murdering people after she'd worked so hard to end the bloodshed. She was so, so angry. And surprisingly, so was Alex. He was just as incensed over this as Kalana was.

He cares so much about the lives of ordinary people, she thought.

Kalana knew that he was suffering just as much as she was in watching the Royal Roses abuse, torture, and kill so many of the people here. Revenge wasn't an excuse, either! It wasn't okay what they were doing. It didn't matter how mad they were at the Guild of Gentlemen. It didn't make any of it right!

For this reason, Kalana vowed to arrest the assassin and make him confess on the record to being hired by the Royal Roses. From there, her mother would demand the Royal Roses abstain from any further involvement in peacekeeping operations in the city. Vim would then either have to concede to her demands or risk a confrontation with the Elves, who would be well within their rights, morally speaking, to forcibly remove the Royal Roses if they didn't knock it off.

"All right," Felton said. "I'm approaching now. Here I go."

******

Vim, pacing back and forth next to Haisel Ragora in the underground command bunker that had once belonged to King Morrison, kept checking the time to see what was taking so long. "Is he dead yet?" he asked his second-in-command, who was leaning over a computerized table containing numerous screens filled with maps and other information.

"Anelia has cut all communication," he said. "She does this right before she's about to take her shot."

Vim, on edge, wanted this over and done with. Hiring a bounty hunter to execute resistance leaders in a safe zone wasn't exactly a sanctioned activity. The fallout from being caught would be devastating. It was a massive risk he was taking, but one that was necessary to bring this filthy shithole of a city to heel.

Why couldn't they just accept that they'd lost? That it was over? Why did they have to resist? These dumb fucks!

Continuing to pace restlessly, he moved in a way that was awkward, as he wanted to make sure he stepped over or around all the dried blood that seemed to be everywhere in the room. The two vampires had made a mess of the place, and it was very difficult to clean, much of it lingering as stains. Hopping over a particularly filthy spot where the king's severed head had been left for his forces to recover, he wondered why Princess Kalana and her mother were refusing to answer him on the Comm line. Were they up to something? Or was he just being paranoid?

"Haisel, have you been able to—"

His words cut off as a red, glowing light popped up on the map in the area they were monitoring. "A shot was just fired!"