Chapter 60 – Moving out
By the time Jack decided to leave, Sanguina no longer felt like something that would collapse the moment he stepped outside its boundaries.
That mattered more than anything else.
He stood near the outer edge of the settlement, not at the exact line where the forest began, but close enough that the difference between controlled space and everything beyond it was obvious.
Inside, movement had structure.
Outside, it didn’t.
Jack let his gaze move across the clearing one more time.
The divisions Adelaide had put in place were already taking shape, not as finished districts, but as defined spaces that people respected without needing to be reminded. Materials were stacked where they were supposed to be, the central path remained clear, and even the residential area had begun to separate itself from the rest in a way that made movement easier instead of more crowded.
It wasn’t finished.
But it worked.
Behind him, footsteps approached.
“You’re actually leaving,” Hanna said.
Jack didn’t turn immediately.
“Yeah.”
She stopped a short distance away, her attention shifting past him toward the forest.
“You just got out of a fight that should’ve killed you,” she said. “You could wait.”
“I could,” Jack replied. “But that doesn’t help much.”
She didn’t argue with that.
Instead, she exhaled quietly.
“Fair.”
Jack turned slightly.
“You’re staying,” he said.
Hanna nodded.
“Someone has to keep them from getting sloppy,” she replied, glancing toward the Sisters, who were already moving through controlled drills again.
“That’s why you’re here,” Jack said.
She didn’t disagree.
Adelaide approached next, her steps steady, her attention already on the conversation before she fully joined it.
“I assume you’re taking a group,” she said.
Jack nodded.
“Small one.”
“That’s good,” she said. “We don’t need half the settlement leaving at once.”
“No,” Jack agreed.
She studied him briefly.
“You’re stable?” she asked.
“Enough.”
That was the only answer she needed.
“Then we’ll manage here,” Adelaide said.
Jack didn’t doubt that.
That was the point.
He shifted his attention toward the group waiting nearby.
Not large.
Four people.
Sophie stood at the front, her posture more relaxed than before, but still controlled, her attention already focused outward rather than inward.
Two others stood slightly behind her, both part of the Sisters, both quieter, but not uncertain.
The last was one of the newer fighters, not as experienced, but steady enough to follow direction.
It wasn’t about strength.
It was about cohesion.
Sophie glanced at him as he approached.
“We’re really doing this now?” she asked.
Jack nodded.
“Yeah.”
She adjusted her grip slightly.
“Good,” she said. “Standing around is starting to get boring.”
One of the others glanced at her.
“You got hit yesterday.”
Sophie shrugged.
“Barely.”
“It wasn’t barely,” the other said.
“It was enough,” Sophie replied.
Jack let that exchange settle for a moment.
“Stay aware of spacing,” he said. “Don’t cluster. If something’s stronger than expected, we pull back instead of forcing it.”
They nodded.
No hesitation.
That was enough.
Jack turned slightly toward Adelaide.
“If something changes,” he said, “you handle it.”
“I will,” she replied.
He paused briefly, then added, “Use the system if you need to.”
“I plan to,” she said.
That was expected.
Hanna crossed her arms.
“Don’t die,” she said.
Jack glanced at her.
“I’ll try.”
“Do better than that,” she replied.
He didn’t argue.
Jack stepped forward, crossing the invisible line between Sanguina and the forest beyond, the shift immediate even if nothing physical marked it, the structured calm of the settlement giving way to something less predictable.
The squad followed.
The trees closed around them quickly, the light shifting as the canopy filtered it into something dimmer, the ground uneven beneath their steps as the controlled terrain gave way to natural growth again.
Jack slowed slightly.
Not stopping.
Adjusting.
“Stay close enough to support,” he said, “but not close enough to get in each other’s way.”
Sophie nodded.
“Got it.”
They moved deeper.
The sounds of Sanguina faded behind them, replaced by the quiet of the forest, broken only by movement that wasn’t theirs.
Jack extended his awareness outward, not through the system, but through habit, tracking shifts in sound, movement, and space as they moved forward.
Different.
Not harder yet.
But different.
“Contact ahead,” Sophie said quietly.
Jack had already noticed.
A group of Ironhide Boars (Lv.11–12) moved through the undergrowth ahead, larger and heavier than anything they had fought near Sanguina, their bodies thick with muscle, their movement slower but more deliberate.
Stronger.
Jack slowed to a stop, raising a hand slightly.
“Those aren’t Stalkers,” one of the Sisters said.
“No,” Jack replied. “They’re not.”
Sophie shifted her stance slightly.
“Do we engage?”
Jack studied them for a moment longer, watching how they moved, how they spaced themselves, how aware they were of their surroundings.
Then he nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “But we do it clean.”