By the time Jax reached the perimeter of Sector 33, the clock had ticked past nine in the evening. The wasteland was draped in heavy shadows, broken only by the flickering glow of a kerosene lamp near the valley entrance.

Under that solitary light, Gareth and the others were busy sweeping the battlefield, clearing away debris and insectoid carcasses.

Gareth squinted into the darkness. When the dim light revealed Jax’s silhouette, he froze for a split second before his voice cracked through the silence.

“Jax! Jax is back!”

The shout acted like a trigger. The entire team dropped what they were doing and sprinted toward the entrance.

Barnaby reached him first. The large man was a mess, tears and snot streaming down his face as he enveloped Jax in a crushing bear hug, refusing to let go.

“All right, all right,” Jax grunted, patting the giant on the back. “You’re a grown man, Barnaby. Stop blubbering. Get off me.”

Gareth arrived a moment later, scanning Jax for injuries. “You hurt?”

Jax shook his head, extricating himself from Barnaby’s grip. “I’m fine. Just get me some food. I’m starving.”

His stomach twisted in agreement. The last thing he’d eaten was a scavenged ice cream around noon—a rare luxury that felt like a lifetime ago. He had planned to bring some back for the team, but the chaos at the mountain pass had ruined that idea. Looking back, the journey had been a dance on the razor’s edge of death.

Annie hurried over, bringing whatever leftovers they had scrounged up.

Dinner was cold roasted Sandworm meat and a bowl of congealed rice gruel. She looked apologetic, offering to heat it up or find something fresh, but Jax waved her off. He shoveled the food into his mouth, the grit and cold grease barely registering against his hunger.

“This is fine,” he mumbled between bites. He swallowed hard and gestured toward the perimeter. “By the way, how did you hold the line? The Sentry Tower and the Howitzer… they’re still active.”

Silas shuffled his feet, looking guilty. “It was… well, Barney said we should jam those crystals into the slots on the towers. We just did what he said.”

Jax shot Silas a sharp look. The man’s eyes darted away, evasive. Clearly, they had figured out the fuel mechanism of his System structures.

Jax didn’t lash out. Their Loyalty stats were stable, and as long as they didn’t sell him out, their initiative was actually a benefit. Besides, it was time to stop keeping them completely in the dark.

He scraped the last of the gruel from the bowl, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked at the group.

“Take the night off,” Jax said. “Stop working.”

The group paused, sensing a shift in his tone.

“I need to know,” Jax continued, his voice steady. “Are you with me? Genuinely?”

Silas was the first to straighten up. “Boss, you don’t have to ask. I’m one hundred percent loyal.”

Jax nodded, shifting his gaze to Gareth.

Gareth hesitated. He felt a strange compulsion, a subconscious urge to submit that he couldn’t quite explain. It gnawed at the back of his mind, tracing back to the time Jax had patted him on the head like a subordinate. It was subtle, but it was there—a leash he hadn’t realized he was wearing.

“Me too,” Gareth said, his voice lower.

Jax turned to the siblings. “And you?”

Annie looked at her brother. Kaleb chewed his lip, calculating.

“As long as we make Credits,” Kaleb said, meeting Jax’s eyes. “I’ll follow you. You have the power to keep us alive. I don’t know where you got these towers, and I don’t care. As long as there’s food and my sister is safe, I’m yours.”

“Mhm,” Annie added, nodding vigorously. “Same here!”

“Good.” Jax leaned back. “I assume you’re all dying to know where these towers, the Black Room, and the tent came from?”

Eyes lit up around the circle. They leaned in, breathless with anticipation.

Jax smirked. “Okay, I’ll tell you.”

He paused, letting the silence stretch.

“It’s a secret. Don’t ask.”

The group collectively slumped, their expressions twisting into a mix of confusion and frustration. It was the verbal equivalent of a slap in the face—building them up just to drop them off a cliff.

Is he messing with us?

But nobody voiced the complaint. In the Apocalypse, knowledge was power, and no one gave that up for free. They swallowed their curiosity, though the awe in their eyes remained. Whatever Jax was, he was capable of miracles.

Jax stood up and walked over to the central pillar of the Tier 1 Bastion. He placed his palm against the rough stone surface.

[System Alert] Structure: Tier 1 Bastion Status: Upgrade Available Cost: 100 Refined Iron, 100 Starstones

Jax checked his inventory. He had exactly enough.

“Finally,” he breathed. “Upgrade.”

A blinding flash of light erupted from the Bastion, bathing the campsite in a stark, unnatural glow.

Gareth and the others shielded their eyes, gasping as the structure began to shift and grow. Stone groaned, reshaping itself under the influence of the System.

Ten minutes later, the light faded.

The small, cramped fortification was gone. In its place stood a sturdy, single-story structure made of dark gray brick and tile. It occupied a six-by-six meter footprint—thirty-six square meters of secure shelter.

Jax walked a lap around the new building, running a hand over the solid walls. It was far too large for his original perimeter wall to enclose now.

Inside, the layout had changed completely. There was a central living area and four distinct rooms. The floors were still raw stone, and the rooms were small—barely four square meters each—but they had windows and solid roofs. Compared to the wretched shanties of The Sprawl, this was a palace.

“Am… am I seeing things?” Gareth rubbed his eyes.

“If you are, then we’re sharing the same hallucination,” Silas muttered. “A house just appeared out of thin air. Just like that.”

“Brother,” Annie whispered, tugging on Kaleb’s sleeve. “Do we get to live in there?”

“Maybe,” Kaleb said, his voice trembling with hope. “It’s big enough. Maybe we can finally sleep indoors.”

They looked at Jax with puppy-dog eyes, their curiosity about the magic forgotten, replaced entirely by the desperate desire for a roof over their heads.

Jax turned to face them, grinning at their dumbstruck expressions. “What are you waiting for? Pick a room.”

A cheer went up. They scrambled toward the door.

“Hold it,” Jax commanded. “I’m assigning them.” He pointed to the smallest room. “Annie, that one is yours.”

“Thank you, Jax!” She beamed, practically skipping inside. Even with the cold stone floor, it was a sanctuary.

Jax turned to the three men—Kaleb, Gareth, and Silas. “You three take the living room.”

Their faces fell.

“Don’t look so miserable,” Jax said. “It’s plenty of space. Besides, starting tonight, you three are on rotation for the night watch. You need to be by the door.”

They nodded, accepting the logic even if they hated the lack of privacy.

“Barnaby and I will take this room,” Jax said, claiming one for himself and the giant.

That left two rooms. Jax designated one as the Supply Depot for water and rations. The last room was the “Guard Quarters”—a dedicated sleeping space for whoever had just finished the graveyard shift, ensuring they could get uninterrupted rest the next day.

Once the assignments were settled and the bonfire was relocated outside, the team settled in.

Jax didn’t sleep immediately. He sat outside the new Bastion, staring up at the oppressive swirl of dark clouds obscuring the moon.

His mind drifted to the massive creature beneath Mount Sepulcher.

What tier is that thing? he wondered. Is that the kind of monster leading the next Insect Swarm?

He looked toward the narrow valley entrance. The terrain was a natural choke point, but it had a flaw.

“If we get surrounded, we’re sitting ducks,” Jax muttered. “The towers are strong, but they can only fire so fast.”

He needed a force multiplier.

A thought sparked in his mind. He recalled the movement patterns of the Creepers—mindless, following the path of least resistance.

“Right,” Jax whispered, his eyes narrowing. “They follow the road.”

He picked up a sharp stone and began sketching diagrams in the dirt.

“If I can force them to take a longer route… make them walk through a kill zone…”

He drew a winding line, a maze of walls forcing the imaginary enemies to walk past the same turret multiple times.

Tower Defense 101: The Maze.