Rescue

As Grant and the kids stood in front of the hospital's main building, Grant looked around to get a better picture the condition of things.

The building, which had been five stories tall, had been reduced to two or three stories in some areas due to damage but a large portion of the building remained undamaged.

The biggest surprise was that the electricity for the building still appeared to be functioning at full strength because Grant could see light coming from many of the windows that lined the side of the building.

Whether that was because of the power grid still functioning or the fact that they were using the backup generators that existed in the basement, Grant wasn't sure, but it was surprising none-the-less.

After standing there for a few minutes and taking it all in, Grant realized that Leonard was looking at him with an anxious look on his face as if begging for Grant to start moving again and stop delaying.

Morgan, who seemed wholly unaware of the reason they were there, looked more scared than anything. Grant figured that was because she was acutely aware that the hospital was the base of Andrew and had probably heard bad things about the place.

"Sorry Leonard, I got absorbed in the state of things here. I'll walk ahead and you follow. No need to take unnecessary risks."

Leonard just nodded his head quickly to show his understanding and started to jump in place like a little kid who had just walked into a candy store and was overly excited.

Grant, knowing that Leonard's excitement may all be for naught if they find the kids' mother dead or dying, let out a deep sigh before he started to walk towards the double doors that marked the entrance.

As Grant and the kids approached the double doors, they slid open as they normally would and Grant was welcomed by an unexpectedly surreal scene.

The inside of the hospital was a stark contrast to the outside. It appeared as if somehow, the building had remained unaffected by the happenings of the world outside.

Of course, parts of the lobby were dirty with mud from outside and some furniture had been destroyed, but it looked more akin to the aftermath of a huge party than that of the apocalypse. Their were even people laying all around the open area of the lobby just hanging out or doing whatever odd jobs they were tasked with.

It appeared as if the people here, were privy to a much better lifestyle than the ones outside.

Even more surprisingly, a young lady was actually sitting at the reception desk near the entrance as if she was just working her normal 9-5 job.

Grant, having been part of a team of low-voltage construction workers who had worked on building the tower that he now stood in, knew the layout pretty well even without asking where to go.

However, he still walked towards the lady at the reception desk to try and get an understanding of how Andrew had utilized the space and where he may have kept people locked away.

The young lady at the counter quickly greeted Grant as he approached.

"Hello sir, how may I help you?"

Grant, half expecting the girl to be extremely rude at him and the kids, was caught by surprise by how cordially she had greeted them.

"Uh.. yes, so, the kids behind me, their mother may be here. She was taken hostage by Andrew a couple weeks back and they are looking for her. Her name is... wait Leonard, I don't think you ever told me your Mom's name, what is it by the way?"

"It's Lauren, Lauren Rodes is her full name. Have you heard of her miss? Is she still here?"

The receptionist, who had been listening to their conversation, finally spoke up once again, "I'm sorry young man, by orders of Andrew, I cannot discuss the state of any people within this building unless you are authorized to receive that information. If their is nothing else..."

Not wanting to play some back and forth game with the receptionist, Grant cut her off, "Andrew is dead miss."

The receptionist, having her little speech cut off by Grant at first looked annoyed, until she finally registered what Grant had said, "You're lying! Is he really?!"

"He is. And I can say that with absolute certainty, considering he died by my hand."

Silence reigned over the lobby for the next few moments. Grant had no reason to keep his voice down, and with the tall ceilings and open space, his voice had easily carried to the farthest corners.

After a few moments, their was a cacophony of noises in the area. Some people cheered, cried, laughed, jeered at Andrew's fate, and some even looked sad at the fact that they had lost their ticket to a better life.

Grant made sure to take mental note of the people who looked disappointed at Andrew's death. It was likely that they were the ones who enabled Andrew and he wasn't going to let them off without an explanation if that were in fact the case.

After a few moments passed, Grant decided to press the issue once more with the receptionist who was currently jumping up and down cheering as if she had just witnessed her favorite sports team win a trophy.

"Miss, can you answer the kids question? If you just answer his question, we'll leave you be to celebrate or whatever."

The young lady quickly calmed down before she looked at Leonard, "You said her name was Lauren, right? She should be on the third floor in one of the isolation rooms. At least that was the last place I saw her. Best of luck kid. I'm going to go see my own family! I'm finally free of this place!"

Without even replying, Grant began walking towards the staircase with Leonard and Morgan in tow. Listening to the conversation between the older people, Morgan appeared to realize the reason for their visit and was tugging on her brother's sleeve as they walked.

"Leonard, are we here to get mommy?!? Is she okay?!"

"I'm not sure Morg, I hope so."

"You lied to me! You said she was gone!"

"I'm sorry, you'll understand when you're older. I didn't want to give you false hope..."

Not wanting to interrupt the brother and sister, Grant just continued to walk into the stairwell and up to the third floor.

When they reached the door onto the third floor, Grant turned to face Leonard and Morgan.

"I don't know what we can expect when we walk through this door. So I'm asking you, stay here until I get back. I promise I will find your mother and return immediately after I do."

Leonard, clearly reluctant, agreed in the end. He knew that Grant only had their best interest at heart, at least based on how he had behaved up until that moment, so he was willing to put his trust in the man.

Grant slowly opened the door of the stairwell and walked out onto the floor.

He had expected to see people everywhere, considering how large the building was, it could easily house thousands of people if they just managed the space well, but instead he saw no one.

Literally, no one.

The hallway whose only lights were coming through the windows of the doors that led into the patient rooms looked like it should be abandoned rather than in use.

Soon though, Grant realized why he saw no one actively walking the hallways.

He could sense an Enlightened Tier monster on the floor.

[What the actual fuck is an Enlightened Tier monster doing here?! This makes absolutely no fucking sense! Was Andrew batshit crazy?! Well... okay, he clearly was... but this is just stupid! How was he supposed to feed these... wait.. if this is a prison of sorts, then he never planned on letting these people go and this is supposed to be some form of torture?!

Either you starve to death or you try to escape and die by the monsters hand?!]

{The only saving grace is that the monster is clearly weak and has likely been artificially leveled. Most likely by killing low level humans endlessly.}

[Jeezus fuck! Don't scare me like that Sherlock! You can't just interrupt an inner monologue like that. I was lost in my own mental world, you know?!]

{I thought you were talking to me. Was that not the case? Were you just talking to yourself? Maybe you and Andrew have more in common than you'd like to admit.}

[Man... almost an entire day without hearing your voice and its ruined in the final hour...]

{Rude.}

[Blah blah, whatever, doesn't matter what we do, that monster needs to die. Even if it's artificially created by feeding it low level humans, it will still be worth a lot of experience and have a mana stone!

Time to hunt baby!]

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A/N: We are fast approaching the end of the volume 1 and leading into the bigger story as a whole. I'm really looking forward to what comes next! I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has been with me for the past few weeks and contributed to the growth in popularity of this story! I am eternally grateful for your support!

I have three questions for you guys and would love some input in the comment section.

1) Is the age old question. I already have a preference of my own, but I honestly do not mind and read stories that have both: Harem or no?

2) Someone mentioned this, at this point it feels like 20 chapters ago, but mounts. Would you guys like to see a unique mount, an animal of some sort, or just stick with cars and planes such as what we normal folks use today?

3) Does anyone have any particular skills or 'classes' if you were, that would be fun to have in the story? We're about to embark on mass training and recruitment, so I will have an abundance of people to present skills for. I already have the main ones picked out, but I want to give you guys an opportunity to contribute your own suggestions.