They arrive and Michael makes a claiming decision

The smell of antiseptic and sweat hits you first, undercut by the faint, fading smell of spicy curry. The Patel family’s living room had been transformed into a field hospital, dominated by the bed where Engineering Sergeant Kristen Vanders lay pale and utterly still. Her girlfriend, Staff Sergeant Josephine Garcia, hovered near her head, her usually sharp features drawn tight with worry, fingers gently smoothing damp strands of blonde hair from Vanders’ forehead.

Dr. Reyna Cruz met you just inside the apartment door, her green eyes serious. "She woke briefly," she said quietly, her voice low and precise. "Disoriented. Asking questions we couldn't fully answer. Her vitals spiked, she got agitated, demanding to speak with whoever was in charge which is why Sergeant Zhang went to find you…but then she just… faded out again." She gestured towards the bed where Dr. Mia Cruz was adjusting an IV line, which you had to assume was part of the equipment and supplies that were kept in the ambulance that they brought with them to his stronghold. "Her body’s still healing; it just seems that the disorientation and stress must have taxed her."

"Damn," you muttered, running a hand through your short brown hair. You needed to talk to Vanders to explain things yourself before the confusion set in deeper. Now she was **** again. "How long?"

Dr. Emma Cruz stepped forward, her presence calm and maternal. "A few hours, most likely. Her readings are strong, much stronger than yesterday. This is exhaustion and soreness, not regression. She’ll surface again soon." Her weathered face offered a reassuring smile. "The antibiotics and fluids are doing their job."

You nodded, absorbing this. The Cruz women—Reyna, Emma, Mia, and Jenna, standing near the improvised supply table—had managed to stabilize Garcia's veteran girlfriend since finding Vanders half-dead in the burning streets after she had managed to shoot down dozens of zombies in battle. An even more impressive feat given the societal collapse over the past week. They’d earned more than just sanctuary as far as you were concerned. They had earned rewards and stability to go with it, so you decided on the spot that it was time to fully honor Zhang agreement with them to make it all official.

"Good," you said, your voice firming. "That’s excellent news. Thank you. Truly." You looked at each of them in turn. "As a thanks, and to give your family proper space, I want to offer you one of the two three-bedroom empty apartments on the fifth floor. Fully furnished, untouched since their families fled at the beginning of the outbreak. Yours to secure and make your own. Pick whichever one suits you best."

Relief washed over their faces, a collective softening of tension. Jenna, the veterinarian, beamed. "Seriously? That’s…amazing. Thank you, Michael!"

Reyna’s own professional demeanor cracked into a genuine smile. "That’s incredibly generous. We have been dreading that we would be practically living out of our ambulance when the situation in our old neighborhood became untenable until we found your people."

Emma clasped her hands together and looked at her daughters with relief in her eyes before turning back to him. "Bless you, young man. That’s a big weight off our minds."

"You have earned it," you replied with a smile and a nod. "And given your now especially invaluable medical expertise, I am sure you will earn more rewards and supplies in due time. But for now, go take a look to see which apartment you would rather pick," you suggested, gesturing towards the door where Sergeant Zhang stood silently at attention, her dark eyes watchful. "You said yourself that Vanders is stable, and Garcia and Zhang are here. We can handle things for a bit while you decide where you want to sleep from now on."

With murmured thanks and quick, purposeful movements, the Cruz women gathered their immediate medical kits and filed out, closing the apartment door softly behind them. The living room then felt larger and quieter, suddenly dominated by the rhythmic rasp of Vanders’ breathing and the low hum of a battery-operated monitor Mia had left running near the cot.

Garcia hadn’t moved from Vanders’ side, her gaze fixed on her girlfriend’s face. Zhang remained near the door, posture rigid, but her gaze flickered towards you, her expression hard to read.

"Where are the rest of the Patels?" you asked Zhang, scanning the room. It was unusually empty.

"In the Carter family kitchen, sir," Zhang replied crisply. "Helping Melissa prep the feast. Only Anjali's here; she said she needed the restroom." She nodded towards a closed door down the hallway.

Right. Anjali Patel, the sharp-eyed eighteen-year-old girl scout with over a hundred badges to her name. You are sure her experience in various hands-on skills will come in handy sometime, but right now she was out of the way for the moment. And that solidified your thoughts in a given path as you tilted your head slightly in Vander's direction.

Her scent of sweat was stronger and more distinctive now that the living room was less full here, mixed with the sterile smell of bandages and Purell. The tall blonde looked temporarily fragile against the rough blankets, a stark contrast to the formidable soldier you had heard she was but given the circumstances that was to be expected. Garcia finally looked up as you approached, her dark eyes tinged with concern.

You stopped beside the bed, looking down at Vanders as you allowed your thoughts to get more loud and direct. Because it hit you that this was it. A great window. She was sleeping, unaware. Claiming her awake and recovered, especially after the trauma she’d endured and her likely confusion, could be messy. Dangerous even. She might fight before you could write what was needed in time. She might panic.

Doing it now though…it would be pragmatic. Necessary. It would secure her loyalty, her safety and harmony within your group instantly. It would smoothed over the rough edges of explanation when she awoke and give the group you were now responsible for another very skilled soldier for their protection and well being of your people, thereby leading to more possibilities and options to improve their lot by being able to manage more risks more easily for the sake of gaining rewards to match.

It was the responsible thing...wasn’t it?

The familiar weight of the marker was an oddly comforting presence in your pocket. Just worn plastic and ink, yet charged with the terrifying, intoxicating power that had become your anchor in this recently shattered world. You’d used it on the Rodriguez sisters, on Kira, on LT Mills and her squad, on the women you had rescued from that despicable gangster, on everyone else that still lived in the apartment building…each time, that initial flicker of confusion, then the settling calm of absolute obedience. Safety. Control.

A part of you still recoiled at the unethical nature of it all. But a bigger part of you kept yelling inside your head that this way, it would be far easier to secure harmony and cooperation for your growing group to band together in self-defense as immense dangers kept mounting all around you. And that if you played your cards right this way as you kept expanding and securing your positions, you may just be able to make sure the people you now had a duty to look after to the best of your ability had a reasonably good chance to not just survive for a long time in an increasingly cruel, harsh world but to thrive in it compared to other smaller, more divided groups. And the value in that dream in the face of societal collapse was simply too important for you to ignore.

So, you made the decision. Swift, and final. Your hand dipped into your pocket, fingers closing around the cool plastic barrel of the marker. The action felt both momentous and utterly mundane somehow. You stepped closer to Garcia and Zhang, who stood shoulder-to-shoulder now near Vanders’ pillow.

"Sergeants," you said, your voice low, cutting through the quiet hum of the monitor and Vanders' breathing. "Could you please go look across the balcony for a moment to see if you can spot any dangers nearby? Most of us in the building are busying ourselves with organizing the new supplies we found today and preparing the feast, but we should not drop our guard. I would like your combined assessment."

Zhang saluted and said, "Sir, yes, sir," before immediately moving in the direction of the balcony, and Garcia soon followed after a brief sigh. So, with Anjali still away from the living room, you were alone with the sleeping warrioress.

You looked at her for a long moment as you contemplated what you were about to do before caressing her beautiful blonde locks around her forehead. "You know Vanders," you found yourself saying softly, despite knowing she couldn't hear. "I have found myself growing to care a lot about the members of your team...particularly Lieutenant Mills and your wonderful, not-so-secret girlfriend," you muttered with a chuckle as you remembered your previous night of tender passion with her while you were experimenting with the capabilities of your ownership claim. "Sorry about putting Garcia in a position where she was technically cheating on you before we found you. I will admit, I got a bit drunk with power as everything was starting to sink in...and I suppose that feeling hasn't fully stopped if I am honest with myself given what I have decided to do to you, pragmatic as my reasons may be," you acknowledged as you inclined your head with a sigh. "But for what it's worth, I will do what I can to make it up to you in more ways than one from now on. And to your girlfriend too, for that matter."

She said nothing in response and didn't even stir at your words. So, you took a deep breath and decided to get on with the writing before Zhang and Garcia returned from the balcony. And so it was that you wrote the name Michael on the back of her hand and allowed it to fall above her covered belly

With the deed done, it was only a matter of time before she woke up and the claim was solidified in her mind. But given the sound of the footsteps behind you and the accompanying gasp, you got sufficient proof that it still worked as you turned around and saw Garcia's jaw drop to the floor while Zhang's eyes widened.

A/N: Well, that's it for now, so thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy it, and if so, please remember to leave a comment if you can spare a minute or two.