“It’s a school,” I stated dryly and quietly. Out of all the buildings that I had expected to be infected by a hive, a school just didn’t find itself on that list. Perhaps it was my own naivety that kept these two parts of my life separated but it came as a shock once we had arrived at the hive; I didn’t yet know how I felt about it.

“A damn shame is what it is,” Jonathan replied, his tone firm. From this simple reaction alone, I got the sense he considered clearing hives a duty rather than a means to fame or fortune. An honest soul.

In front of us stood two tall, grey-block buildings. They were plainly decorated without ornamentation and looked rather unimaginative. Maybe it was different before chunks of wall had been torn down by the purple limbs criss-crossing the structure, I didn’t know.

“So, we just go right on in?” Luna asked, her tone lacking the solemnity that Jonathon’s had; she seemed to treat this hive as any other. 

“Yes.  The plan is to enter through the reception,” Jonathon said, pointing towards the doors leading out to some stairs leading to where we were, “And then walk to either of the four stairwells in the main building to see which are unobstructed.”

“Why the stairwells? The hive is on the top floor?” I asked, curious.

“Probably. We’ll take one floor at a time, though. Just in case. Are you ready?” He asked everyone. In return, he got a variety of grunts, affirmations, and nods.

However, as soon as he began walking towards the reception area of the school, S2 suddenly spoke up.

“It’s a bad idea to enter through there,” It was still unnerving to hear a voice so like mine from someone other than me.

“What?” Owen asked in response. “Where else we supposed to enter?” He was surprisingly aggressive.

“I don’t know. All I know is that there are a large congregation of monsters in that area there,” S2 replied, pointing towards where Jonathon had pointed to.

“Do you know that from your Specialisation?” Jonathan asked, his voice calm in comparison. S2 nodded.

“I see. Is there another entrance?” He asked.

“Probably.” Was S2’s uncertain answer. Jonathan seemed to digest this information while I was thoroughly fascinated. This was the first time S2 had used her Specialisation to my knowledge and for something that shared the name, it functioned so dissimilarly to my own, you’d think it was a completely different System Specialisation.

For one, she sensed danger in that entrance. I would need to specifically think about danger and then see actual danger to come to that conclusion; it seemed to be a whole lot more  intuitive for S2.

Secondly, her uncertainty. I knew my Specialisation wasn’t perfect but, from my experience, it was binary--either exactly wrong or incredibly wrong. To answer ‘probably’ about something in the future… I doubted whether I’d ever get that response from my Specialisation.

“I don’t think it’s anything to worry about,” Owen piped up once silence had descended. “It’s just a weak hive; if we lure out the monsters one by one, then it should be fine,” He insinuated.

Luna, interestingly, was silent throughout. I passed several glances her way, only for her to look right back at me, an indecipherable expression on her face. I was curious about how she was taking this whole situation.

“Yes; an ambush seems best,” Jonathan concluded. “How many of you can fight?” He asked our group.

“Both Charlotte and I can use a bow,” Luna obviously explained (the bows we were carrying should’ve been self-explanatory) “And they can both use knives,” She pointed towards the servants. Both seemed content for Luna to explain their abilities.

“More than I expected. Okay, what we’ll do is set up a perimeter outside the reception,” Jonathan began. He had taken a leadership role over both teams, not that I would’ve taken it myself, anyway. “Both you girls,” He pointed towards S2 and me, “Will keep an eye on the monsters inside so they can’t get the drop on us-”

“Monsters don’t leave the building,” Owen swiftly interrupted.

“It’s just a precaution,” Jonathan placated. “Once everyone is in position, Candace will draw the monsters out, preferably one at a time,” He turned towards the auspicious woman, eyeing her purposefully, “And then we take them out.”

“Sounds good,” Luna gave her approval.

And, with that, started the first time I got to experience what seasoned and veteran users experienced when clearing hives. Only the weakest and smallest hives could be cleared by brute force and simply killing whatever crossed your line of sight. For larger and stronger hives, strategy and preparation became much more important.

It was this reason why Specialisations that were only useful for killing monsters had diminishing returns the stronger they got--that is, until they reached such an insane point that they’d be incredibly strong. However, so few people got to that point that they were referred to colloquially as ‘gods’. 

To be able to clear a large, strong hive on your own made you a god in the eyes of today’s generation.

For the vast majority of people, abilities that allowed you to set up fortifications, control monsters, and control the battlefield were the most useful you could have. A gun could kill monsters but utility Specialisations were irreplicable.

What we had set up where was just pushing whatever we could find--rubbish bins and what-not--to created barricades that blocked line of sight. These were arranged in a semi-circle in front of the doors to the reception. While crouching behind it, we were mostly hidden (easy for S2 and I, much harder for Owen).

It was loose and didn’t provide protection and I was actually unsure of the reason for this but Jonathon assured me that this was what we should do and so I followed along. I mostly just stayed out of the way, though; with the giant of a man Jonathon was, as well as the two deceivingly strong servants, the whole thing was arranged in minutes.

Next came the actually killing monsters part. Once we were finished with the preparations, a grin was plastered on Owen’s face, one he seemed unable to take off.

The last preparation was simple; S1 listened in quietly and then tried her very best to describe the sound of the monsters to Candace. To my ears, I heard nothing but the flowing of air.

Throughout the whole thing, we were mostly silent; the monsters allegedly didn’t have impressive sensory perceptions in the report, Jonathon told us, but it was better safe than sorry.

In the quiet breeze that flowed through the clearing, there was nothing. There were no birds singing, no humming or buzzing of people moving in the background, no cars creating tumultuous noise off in the distance. As I crouched down below this improvised barrier, the whole world seemed somewhat dead.

It was dull, like my ears were deafened. The only thing you could hear was the scrapping of concrete beneath the boots of any one of us.

And then an alien, illogical sound rang out. Cognitively, I knew Candace was making that sound but it was impossible; no human being should be able to make such a resonance like that. Furthermore, the sound reverberated throughout my whole being, and it felt like it was echoed by the circular arrangement we had constructed.

Amplified and aimed towards the doors, the guttural, unnatural sound with random clicking thrown in travelled inside and only a few seconds after she shut her mouth, with slow, methodical steps, we all saw the creature that slowly pushed open the door.

It was a short, stout thing--barely standing four feet tall. It was quadrupedal with its flesh hanging off its body like solid ice cream--frozen in a permanently dripping formation. It’s flesh all came together towards the top where, open to the sun above, a hole protruded deep into the flesh; a wide, gaping maw with dozens upon dozens of teeth accentuated the whole.

Little tendrils of flesh, articulated three ways each, sprouted out from that whole, like the legs of a spider. It was a monster of grotesque design and completely unlike anything I had seen before.

Why couldn’t you be something cute instead?

It came out in tentative steps--at least, they seemed tentative; the thing had no feet (mere spindles for legs) so it may have just been how it worked normally--before an arrow, with no prior signal, lodged itself in the side of the creature.

With an alien squeal of pain, piercing to my ears, the monster shook, and the arrow popped right out. However, without being given a moment of reprieve, I took up my own bow, looked over the barrier I was behind, I shot an arrow quicker than I had ever before.

Perhaps all that training is paying off?

As soon as my arrow struck it in what could’ve been either its throat or torso, it staggered back slightly before shaking the arrow loose. Perhaps the layered appearance of flesh meant it would be hard to pierce?

However, as blood began dripping down its sides from where the arrows had landed, another creature hobbled towards the door. It was faster this time, more purposeful, clearly hearing the cry of its brethren.

Another arrow hit the first monster, and it was shaken loose once again. It seemed ranged attacks weren’t that helpful here, though it certainly looked weakened.

Any thinking I could do on the physiology of these things was swiftly benched as another and another creature headed towards the door.

It seemed that Jonathon’s plan of luring the out one at a time wasn’t going well, and I sent an annoyed glance in his direction. He missed it.

Instead, Jonathan’s eyes were focused on these things. As soon as the group enlarged to contain six of them and no one, as quick as a man his size could move, he hopped over the barricade.

As soon as his feet landed on the floor, all six beasts turned towards him (at least, I think they did. It was kind of hard to understand their orientation.) Without giving them any time to react, in a near instant, both his feets were covered in steel, the harsh sunlight glinting off them as he charged towards the first one.

With a fierce punch to the side, the relatively small and lightweight beast skidded a few feet to its left. An arrow struck it and Jonathon moved onto his next prey.

What emerged was this repetitive farce. Once Jonathon would punch a creature--sending an untold amount of force through its whole body--arrows would swiftly pepper it, bringing it to a standstill. Then, Jonathan would cross the few feet to the nearest monster, directed by me.

After he punched the first one, combat had begun for me and I instinctually activated my Specialisation. I took a quick glance at each and every monster to get a grasp on what they would do next, and then I would direct Jonathon to bother the closest and most vulnerable enemy.

This all resulted in a swift and brutal beatdown. Once Jonathon began punching those he had already punched, his steel-clade fists brutalising the creatures, blood splashed against the concrete, creating a strong contrast in the bright light.

With only a few swift hits, he brought a beast to the ground. Arrows hitting the others prevented any from attacking Jonathon from behind, not that he would’ve been uninformed about it, however.

Both servants stayed away from the fighting at risk of being hit by a stray arrow. Owen, for some reason, also did not involved himself in conflict.

And so, relatively quickly, the fight was over. Six dead monsters laid on the ground, shrivelled and lying in pools of blood, and Jonathon was breathing deeply. It was somewhat uneventful and, honestly, surprisingly safe.

The monsters seemed unable to even attack Jonathon, let alone deal him any harm. Perhaps this was what a well-organised team was like?

Taking only a few seconds to catch his breath, Jonathan trailed over to the first monster he killed. Interested, I sat on top the rubbish bin I was hiding behind and watched.

Both his hands were covered in steel--I suspected keeping his Specialisation active wasn’t as draining as it was for me--and he roughly grabbed the throat of the creature. With his other hand, he plunged it into the wide, disgusting mouth and with one quick movement, pulled his arm back. 

Out came a tooth that he gently placed on the ground next to him. He repeated the motion, pulling out another tooth and then another. Seeing this, Luna prompted both S1 and S2 to do the same thing but to the other monsters.

With the three of them, it took barely any time for all the monsters to be thoroughly defanged.

“What are you going to do with these?” Luna asked Jonathon. S1 stood by her side, her hands bloodied and holding a pile of teeth.

“Harvesting monster resources,” He began, still out of breath--he held an open plastic bag underneath S1’s hands, already half filled with teeth,“means we can sell them. If you’re getting the heart, the rest of us need to be paid somehow,” He answered.

With a simple glance from Luna, S1 emptied her loot into the bag, which Jonathon swiftly sealed up with a zip-tie. That bag disappeared into the backpack that Candace was carrying with her.

“S2,” Jonathan spoke loudly, his face grimacing--I’m glad I’m not the only one who dislikes that name--turning towards the servant sitting besides me, “Is there any immediate danger if we head inside?”

S2 closed her eyes and, from sitting besides her, I could hear take a sharp intake of breath. She swayed for a bit, leaning against me for a few seconds, before opening her eyes and jumping to her feet.

“Nope! It’s much safer than before.” Her Specialisation seems to take a toll on her, just like mine does.

“Well then,” Jonathan stretched his back, his muscles and bones clicking as he did so, “I believe it’s time we head inside.”