Warren awoke to the delicious aroma of cooking bacon and the sound of percolating coffee. He sat up in the recliner chair, surprised to find someone had placed a blanket over him during the night. He then glanced around the room until he spotted Valentina standing by the hotplate.

  She turned and smiled at him. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

  Pushing off the blanket, he staggered to his feet like an old man. His back ached, and his neck felt stiff, but at least the pain in his side had subsided. As he probed his ribs with his fingers, he realized the soreness had almost disappeared.

  He pulled up his character sheet to see his health had returned to 2/2. Apparently, being a squire came with improved healing. Normally, an injury like his should have taken days to heal. But he was almost back to normal—aside from having slept funny.

  “Good morning,” he said, running a hand through his tousled hair. “I see you’re feeling better.”

  She pressed her plump lips together. “Not all the way, but I’m feeling like myself again. Those meds really did the trick, doc.”

  At the mention of the antibiotics, he bent down and grabbed them from his bag. Bringing them over the Valentina, he popped one out of the blister pack. “I’d like you to take another dose.”

  She gave him a brilliant smile. “Are you going to nurse me back to health?”

  “I’m just looking after my patient.”

  “Nothing more than that?” Valentina winked at him. “I always hear about patients falling in love with their doctors. You’d better watch out.”

  As she spoke, he became very aware of what she was wearing. Or in this case, what she wasn’t wearing. Instead of her usual baggy uniform, she was dressed in a yellow tank top, which accentuated the firm swell of her breasts. And her round ass and toned legs had been squeezed into a skintight pair of yoga pants.

  Valentina chewed on her fingernail as she watched him. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took some of the clothing. I had to change while I washed my combat uniform.”

  “No…of course not,” he said hurriedly, averting his eyes. It felt wrong looking at Valentina with the way he felt about Kassandra. But he had to admit, the green beret was a stunning woman. If she hadn’t pursued a career in the army, she could have easily been a fitness model.

  “What do you have cooking?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “I found some bacon and eggs in your bag,” she said. “And a loaf of bread, along with some butter. I thought we’d have a nice breakfast. You know, I used to cook grub for my squad all the time.”

  A voice from the doorway interrupted them. “Do I smell bacon?” Kassandra asked as she entered the room. She stopped short and frowned as she took in the scene. “I thought you were going to cook me breakfast, Warren?”

  He gave her a pained smile in return. “I slept in a little and Valentina beat me too it.”

  The blond-haired soldier placed a hand on her hip. “There’s plenty for everyone.”

  Kassandra walked up to him, her heels clicking on the concrete floor. Once she reached his side, she poked his shoulder lightly. “I guess you still owe me.” She then continued toward the cooking food.

  He’d been afraid Kassandra would be upset, but at least she seemed fine with the situation. And he did owe her for helping him last night—and for saving his life once again. Before the day was out, he’d have to think of something nice to do for her.

  He followed Kassandra over to the food, his stomach rumbling at the sight of the crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, and hunks of bread slathered in butter. There was also a stack of plates and cutlery on the counter beside the hotplate. Had Valentina raided the house for supplies while they were gone?

  Warren was too hungry to care about the origin of the mysterious table ware. He waited while Valentina dished out a heaping portion before handing it to him. With the steaming food in hand, he returned to his comfy chair.

  His intention was to eat slowly, but his hunger betrayed him. He wolfed down the food, scraping every last morsel from the plate. Once he was done, he returned for a few more slices of bread.

  When it felt like he couldn’t eat another morsel of food, he leaned back in his chair and let out a contented sigh. As strange as it sounded, if the world wasn’t ending and his sister wasn’t being held captive, he’d probably be having a good time.

  Not only was he staying with two beautiful women, but for the first time in years, he didn’t feel stressed out. In the apocalypse, there were no bills, no looming student debt repayments, and no work performance reviews.

  Now, there was only survival. And while the situations he’d found himself in had been dangerous, once they were over, the anxiety had disappeared like a light switch going off.

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  Was this how his ancestors had felt? Fighting a Sabretooth tiger might have been stressful, but afterwards, their bodies would have returned to a baseline of stress. There would have been none of the constant pressing worries that everyone seemed to live with these days.

  He luxuriated in the feeling of being full for the first time in days, not wanting to stir from his chair. But he knew he needed to return to leveling his combat deck. He had a new goal in mind—he needed to reach level 25 to defeat the Vudha Overmind squire.

  As his mind turned toward the floating eyeball, he pulled up his map. He could only see for a limited distance surrounding his location—with no ability to zoom out—but aside from Torovox the Destroyer, all the monsters he could see were under level 10.

  Where were the higher-level challenges?

  Going forward, he’d have to start scouting further away from the cabin. Maybe there were pockets of high-level creatures and monsters hiding among the hills. Alternatively, they might grow stronger the longer they existed.

  There was a third answer to his question that was disquieting. Maybe nothing higher level existed out there. There was the possibility he could never grow strong enough to defeat the Vudha Overmind. For all he knew, the system wasn’t fair.

  But until he knew that for a fact, he needed to continue with the assumption that he could win. And that meant heading back to the dungeon.

  With a grunt, he rose up from the chair. He frowned slightly, as he realized his father had made the same noises as he got older. But then again, his dad hadn’t just gone ten rounds with orcs before fighting a floating eyeball birthed from nightmares.

  “I want to head back to the dungeon,” he stated. “Right now, I need to focus on leveling up.”

  Kassandra furrowed her brow. “Are you sure you’re ready? You were pretty beat up last night.”

  Warren probed his ribs again with his finger. “To be honest, I feel a lot better. I think having a combat deck comes with faster healing.”

  “Maybe your body just toughened up after getting punched by your sister for so many years.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “My sister always did have a mean left hook.”

  “Let me get changed and then we’ll go,” Kassandra said. “The faster you level up, the faster we can save Lisa.”

  Valentina stepped forward. “I’m going to.”

  Warren froze in the midst of shouldering his backpack. He hadn’t expected the green beret to want to accompany them. “I don’t think that’s a good idea...”

  “I’m feeling better already,” Valentina said, crossing her arms. “Until the army shows up, you’re the only one who can kick the alien’s asses. That means I’m going to help you in any way I can.”

  “The dungeon is dangerous,” he continued. “I don’t know if I can keep you safe.”

  “Good,” Valentina said. “Because my plan is to keep you safe, doc. Like I said, I owe you for patching me up. And for risking your life again for me last night. I know something bad happened at the resort.”

  “We ran into some orcs,” he said. “Along with a floating eyeball.”

  Valentina’s eyes widened. “A floating eyeball? And I thought the whales were fucking weird.”

  “But you don’t have any ammunition,” he pointed out. “How are you going to fight?”

  Valentina grinned. “I thought you might say that.” She walked over to a tarp on the side of the room. Flinging it back, she exposed a pile of rifles, pistols, and boxes of ammunition.

  “Where did you find that?” he exclaimed. “I thought all the weapons were destroyed in the battle against the Slaviigolaris.”

  “I was poking around in the woods, and I found a cache down by the solar panels,” she replied. “I think I would have liked your dad. Was he a survivalist by any chance?”

  “Not that I know of.” Warren walked over and examined the equipment. Unfortunately, there were no anti-tank weapons in the pile. But at least he wouldn’t have to use his bare hands while his deck was on cooldown.

  He reached down and picked up a colt .45 before sticking it in his belt. Then he grabbed an AR-15 and slung it over his shoulder. Finally, he collected a few magazines and stuck them in his bag.

  Once he’d armed himself, he turned back to Valentina. “My advice as a doctor is for you to rest for a week.” When she opened her mouth to reply, he held up his hand. “But you’re an adult and we can use all the help we can get. However, I have to warn you that the dungeon is dangerous. Both Kassandra and I were injured last time, and I had to use my deck to heal our wounds. But I can’t heal you—my cards don’t work that way.”

  “Guess I’ll just have to not get injured, then.” Valentina walked over to his side and grabbed a rifle. “That’s pretty much been my plan in the army—don’t get shot.”

  “Great plan,” he said, dryly.

  She shrugged. “It’s been pretty effective so far.”

  He looked over at Kassandra. “We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”

  His friend nodded and grabbed a pile of clothing from the shelf.

  “I’m going to change as well,” Valentina said. Without skipping a beat, she peeled off her shirt, exposing her black bra underneath. Her firm, tanned breasts strained against the thin material.

  Warren quickly averted his gaze. Apparently, they weren’t too worried about modesty in the army.

  While both of the women were changing, he set about collecting more supplies. He added a few bottles of water to his backpack, along with some ready to eat food. For good measure, he also grabbed another handful of ammunition.

  You could never have too many bullets.

  When he was sure Valentina was done gearing up, he turned back to face her. She was wearing her camouflage uniform, along with combat webbing, and a light helmet. Once again, she looked like a badass soldier.

  A moment later, Kassandra emerged from the bathroom wearing snug cargo pants and a tank top. If possible, she looked even hotter than when she was wearing her latex superhuman outfit. Her heavy breasts were pressed together, nearly overflowing the top. Meanwhile, her low riding pants exposed her toned midriff.

  She is absolutely stunning.

  He exhaled as he focused on the mission at hand. While he enjoyed being around two beautiful women, it could be distracting at times. And right now, the last thing he wanted was to lose focus.

  The first boss of the dungeon had been difficult enough. And after facing the orcs, he knew fighting something level 2 was exponentially more difficult than something level 1.

  But he felt he had a better strategy this time. He would send in Duskwalker first and then use Kassandra to defend himself. If the fight dragged on, then he could cast Sword of Deimos to help his minions finish the fight.

  It might not be a perfect plan, but he felt it would work. Regardless, it was the only one he had. When he had expanded his deck further, he could come up with some more complicated strategies. But for now, simple worked.

  He glanced around the room to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. Then with a nod to the ladies, the group set out to continue their delve into the Dungeon of Terran Life.