Chapter 2 What The Others Missed

"Hey. You."

I looked up from the van's engine bay. A woman was standing at the edge of the parking lot, watching me with her arms crossed and her head tilted like she was trying to figure out if I was brave or just stupid.

"They're gathering everyone at the community center," she said. "It's not safe out here."

"I know."

She waited like she expected me to say something else. I went back to what I was doing.

She walked closer. I heard her footsteps slow when she got close enough to see what my hands were actually doing. The axle housing had come loose easier than I expected, the Salvage ability doing something I still couldn't fully explain, like my hands just knew where to press and pull and separate without me thinking about it.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Taking it apart."

"I can see that." She stopped right beside me. "Why?"

I held up the piece of metal. My panel was already running an analysis on it, tagging it, categorizing it, giving it a name inside the System that made it something more than scrap.

"Because it's worth something," I said.

She looked at the metal. Then at me. Her eyes moved to my panel hovering in the air beside my shoulder and I saw her read it the way everyone else had read it tonight.

She didn't laugh though. She just made a small sound and looked at the van again.

"Scavenger," she said quietly. I'm not mocking you... Just reading.

"Yeah."

"I'm Nora." She held out her hand. "Healer class. Which apparently makes me very popular tonight and I needed five minutes away from people grabbing my arm."

I shook her hand. "Jace."

"You're not coming to the shelter?"

"Not yet."

She looked down the street. I could see her thinking, weighing something. Then she sat on the hood of the van like she had decided to give me those five minutes out here instead of alone.

I went back to work.

The second component came free and my inventory absorbed it automatically, a quiet pull at the edge of my awareness, like dropping something into a bag you can't see but can always feel. My Loot Sense was running constantly now, painting the edges of my vision with faint markers wherever something of value was nearby. The collapsed storage unit near the fence was lit up like a Christmas tree.

"The wave is coming," Nora said. "Someone inside has a Tracker class. They're saying seventy-two hours until the next one."

"How bad was the first one?"

"Bad enough. Three people from the night crew at the factory on fifth didn't make it." She paused. "Kevin came back talking about you."

I moved to the next vehicle without responding.

"He said you were standing alone in the parking lot talking to your panel." Another pause. "I don't think he meant it as a compliment."

"He never does."

I crouched beside the rear wheel of a delivery truck and activated Material Analysis again. The panel bloomed open immediately.

ITEM: 2021 Delivery Truck. Heavy damage. Left rear assembly.

HIDDEN COMPONENT DETECTED: Carbon reinforced brake housing. Salvageable into Tier 1 structural plating.

ADDITIONAL HIDDEN PROPERTY: Trace System residue detected in frame. Origin unknown. Recommend further analysis.

I stopped.

Trace System residue. In a truck frame. I had no idea what that meant but the word unknown sat in my chest in a way I didn't like. I filed it away and kept moving.

By the third vehicle I had filled a corner of my inventory I hadn't even known existed an hour ago. My Adaptive Storage was already shifting, making room, organizing the components by type without me asking it to. The ability descriptions had said the inventory expanded based on variety and quantity and I was starting to understand that it meant something more than just space. It meant the System was actively responding to what I collected, like it was paying attention.

Nora had gone quiet beside me. I glanced over and she was watching my hands work with an expression I couldn't fully read.

"You're fast," she said.

"The ability does most of it."

"No." She shook her head slightly. "I've watched four people try to break down a car door for weapons tonight and not one of them managed it. You're pulling apart engine components with your bare hands in the dark."

I looked at what I was holding. She wasn't wrong. The Salvage ability was doing something beyond just guidance. There was a precision to it, a certainty in my hands that had never been there before tonight.

My panel chimed softly.

MATERIAL THRESHOLD REACHED.

NEW CRAFTING OPTION UNLOCKED: Scavenger's Brace. Tier 1 Armor Component.

ADDITIONAL UNLOCK: Salvage Blade. Tier 1 Weapon. Materials sufficient.

Nora saw the notification flash across my panel. She leaned forward and read it.

Neither of us said anything for a moment.

"You can make weapons," she said.

"Looks like it."

She was quiet again. Then she stood up from the van hood and looked back toward the community center.

"Jace." Her voice had shifted. "Roman Steele is in there right now telling everyone that useless classes need to contribute labor or they don't eat."

I looked up at her.

"He's making a list," she said. "Your name is already on it."

I set the component down slowly and checked my inventory. Fourteen pieces. Two unlocked crafting options. A blade I hadn't built yet but could.

Seventy-two hours until the next wave.

And the most dangerous thing tonight wasn't outside the shelter.

It was inside it.