Allistor called to her from the water. “It’s actually quite refreshing in here. You should join me! And yes, you can swim too, Fuzzy.”
The bear cub didn’t hesitate, charging into the shallow water then leaping toward Allistor as Helen quickly finished scrubbing and laying out his clothes. Then she stripped to her bra and underwear and hopped in to join the fun. The water was cold, but not terribly so. The sun-warmed shallows were invigorating. They swam around and dunked each other, Fuzzy being very careful not to scratch anyone with his claws.
After fifteen minutes or so, the two humans walked back up onto the beach. Both of them looted the dragonwing’s corpse, getting some pieces of chitin, two hundred klax each, and a translucent wing each. The wings were highlighted in their inventory, likely making them some kind of rare crafting material. Allistor looked around and found a log to sit on while they dried off. There was evidence of a fire pit right in front of the log, but neither of them was cold enough to feel the need for it. They sat in companionable silence, basking in the sun and watching Fuzzy chase small fish in the shallows, or just roll around in the water, using the gravel to scratch his back.
When the sun and breeze had dried them enough, Allistor and Helen got dressed. She put her same clothes back on, he pulled dry ones from his inventory. They called Fuzzy out of the water so he could dry off too, and the bear complied, hesitantly. He was still a cub after all, and bear cubs love to play. To mollify him a bit, Allistor engaged him in a game of tag. The two of them chased each other around the cleared area, occasionally tackling and wrestling each other. When the bear was reasonably dry, Allistor gathered up his still damp clothes and they all piled back into the truck.
Even with the fishing side quest distraction, they reached the outskirts of Laramie just after noon. The city was in much the same condition as Cheyenne, with only a few areas heavily damaged. One large area, about two square city blocks, had burned to the ground, and there was evidence of a few other isolated fires. Most of the homes and retail buildings had smashed windows, and there were old, dried blood splatters in many places.
“Somebody put these fires out. Kept them from spreading.” Allistor observed as the truck crawled down a main street. It was relatively clear of vehicles, which was another sign of survivors.
Five minutes later as they approached the heart of the city’s downtown district, a man stepped out and pointed a rifle at them. “Hold!” he shouted.
Allistor slowed to a stop and put the truck in park, turning the engine off. He opened his door and stuck both hands out, like he’d seen so many bad guys do on TV. “We mean no harm!” he shouted. Helen copied his movements on her side, and the two of them exited the truck. “My name is Allistor! I lead a group of survivors not so far from here. I was hoping to find more here in Laramie, and here you are!” He gave the man his friendliest smile.
The man’s rifle barrel lowered slightly as he straightened up. “Allistor? We got a system message about you. Something about a Citadel?”
“Yep! That’s me. I built a Citadel in Cheyenne. You know about Strongholds and safe zones?”
The man nodded his head. “I read about ‘em. We tried to build one, but the message thing said we didn’t have enough resources.”
Allistor grimaced. He’d managed to build the Warren with less than a dozen people and just the food they’d gathered from the convenience store, plus whatever resources were in the city hall cellars. If these people didn’t have enough resources to create a Stronghold, then they weren’t doing well. Rather than sharing that thought aloud, he called out.
“Hey, we’ve got a bunch of food with us. Just caught some fresh fish. We could share, if you’re hungry. How many of you are there?”
The man lowered his rifle. “There are eighty of us here. Other groups spread out around the city, too. But it’s hard to get supplies. The biggest group in town is run by an asshole named Barden. He and his boys steal from us and the other groups if they catch us foraging, and only let us keep just enough to stay alive. Took some of the women, too. They’re better armed than we are, and mean as hell.”
Helen shook her head. “Seems like we find a few assholes everywhere we go. Always somebody choosing to prey on others instead of working to keep each other alive.” She dropped her hands and added, “My name’s Helen.”
The man blushed slightly. “Sorry. Bad manners. Have to be suspicious of strangers these days. My name’s Daniel. Welcome to Laramie, such as it is.” He stepped forward, offering a hand to Allistor and Helen. As he did so, five other men and two women emerged from various points of cover all around them.
Helen elbowed Allistor. “Smooth move. Drove us right into an ambush.”
He shook his head, feeling embarrassed. “I didn’t hear any warnings from you, miss lookout.”
Daniel chuckled. “Don’t sweat it. We’ve had a lot of practice defending ourselves lately. A few of us have military training. When we heard your engine approaching, we figured it was Barden’s guys. Thought maybe we’d take a few of them out.”
Allistor nodded, shaking the man’s hand. “Sounds like a good idea to me. We had to do the same for another group of survivors not so long ago. Some assholes up there attacked and trapped them in their Stronghold, nearly starving them out. Then, after we helped them get free, and moved them to my Stronghold, the same group attacked us there as well. We’ve killed maybe twenty of them now. And a trio of tweakers that tried to kill us in Cheyenne.”
One of the men who’d walked up from behind said, “Damn, son. Sounds like you’ve been busy.”
Allistor turned, nodding his head. “We’ve also killed a sixty-foot void titan that stomped my home town flat, three dragons, a massive level 22 turtle monster thing, and a bunch of other critters. Cleared a couple dungeons, too.”
“Dungeons? No shit! What were the bosses like?” Daniel asked, suddenly grinning and rubbing his beard.
“Ah, a brother gamer!” Allistor held out a fist for Daniel to bump. Two of the other men, and one of the ladies, held out fists as well. Allistor looked surprised. “All of you?” As they all nodded, he grinned. “I guess that makes sense. With the new system, us gamers were bound to recognize it early and do better than some of the other folks.”
One of the ladies said, “I’m Virginia. That’s my husband, Bob.” She nodded toward the man next to her. Neither of them had been among the gamers, but her next question let Allistor know they’d made an effort to learn the new system, at least. “So, you’re the guy who built the Citadel? Is it true that the monsters won’t spawn there?”
Helen answered first. “It’s true. Allistor has built a Stronghold in his hometown, another in Cheyenne, along with the Citadel, which is the old shopping mall. And a couple small Outposts scattered around. That’s how I met him. Each one is a safe place, where the monsters don’t spawn. They can still attack from outside, which is how we ended up fighting that last dragon.”
“That would be epic!!” One of the younger gamers pumped a fist in the air. “Real life dragon battle! How’d you kill it?”
Virginia rolled her eyes. “Forgive my grandson. Austin gets excited about fighting. Still thinks it’s a game. Even after seeing some of his friends and family die.” Austin lowered his eyes for a moment and mumbled an apology, but when he lifted his gaze again, Allistor could still see the familiar gamer lust in him.
“Nothing to forgive. If I hadn’t been focused on trying to save my own ass at the time, I might have thought it was epic, too.” He winked at the young man.
Another man cleared his throat. One of the gamers. “My name’s Richard. And I hate to break up the party, but it’s not safe out here in the open. We should head back.”
Allistor nodded along with the others. He turned to get back in his truck, when he remembered Fuzzy. “Uhh… guys? I’ve got somebody else to introduce you to first. I sorta accidentally bonded with a grizzly bear cub…”
“No way!” Austin practically shouted. “You got
a pet already? Are you some kind of hunter class?”
Allistor grinned at the kid’s excitement as Austin and the others watched him open a back door of the truck and let Fuzzy out. The bear jumped down, and stood next to him, facing the crowd, sniffing. Allistor scratched his head, “It’s okay buddy. They are friendly. Fuzzy, say hello to Daniel and the gang.”
Fuzzy chuffed in a friendly manner at the group, and Austin dashed forward. Startled, Fuzzy growled and took a step back, causing the kid to pause. “I’m… sorry. I didn’t mean to. Can I…” His voice drifted off.
“Sure, he likes to have his ears scratched. Just move slowly.”
Austin slowly approached the rest of the way, one hand held forward as if he were allowing a strange dog to get his scent. Fuzzy obliged, sniffing carefully for a moment before licking the hand. Austin crouched down and began to scratch both the cub’s ears at once, which Fuzzy didn’t mind at all.
Richard said, “We’ll lead you back. It’s only a few blocks. We’ve sort of walled off a section using cars and trucks.”
Austin got back to his feet as Fuzzy hopped back into the truck. Allistor looked to Helen. “If you wouldn’t mind driving? I’ll walk with these guys.” She nodded and got in the driver’s seat, and they all set off at a brisk pace toward the center of town.
Chapter 2
Doggone Good Seats
The walk back only took a few minutes, and Allistor noted with approval that each of the party walking around him kept their heads on a swivel, constantly looking out for danger. He decided to break the ice.
“So, besides the asshole humans, how bad has it been here? A lot of monsters spawning?”
Daniel shook his head. “I’m not sure what you’d consider a lot. The first few days were rough, because most folks didn’t know what to expect. Those canid things, and the octopoids, they spawned inside houses and businesses without warning. So a lot of folks died in those first couple days.”
Allistor sympathized. It was much the same in his home town. People making the mistake of going outside after dark, or leaving windows and doors open. A lot of his neighbors were already dead by the time the void titan showed up.
“How many survivors do you think there are here in Laramie?” he asked as they circled around a burned-out truck.
Daniel thought about it for a while, then said, “Best guess, a thousand? There are groups scattered all over. I met a group the other day that had actually fled Cheyenne, and only made it this far. Barden and his people attacked them, killed several, and took their vehicles.” He paused, looking ashamed. “I would have taken them in, but we don’t have enough food as it is…”
Allistor stopped walking, causing the rest of them to pause as well. The brakes squeaked slightly as Helen brought the truck to a halt.
“Listen. I can provide you with food, and shelter. And this other group as well. I’ll go into the details later. Do you know where they are now?”
Richard nodded, saying, “I just saw a couple of them foraging yesterday, over that way.” He pointed roughly southwest.
Daniel nodded. “Smart. They put us between Barden and themselves.”
Allistor said, “Let’s get you guys and your people a good meal, then you can show me where they are. I’ll talk to you about Strongholds. I came here to Laramie with the intent to set one up.”
They resumed the trek to their base, which was literally a city block with a four-story apartment building that was surrounded by a makeshift wall of cars, trucks, and buses lined up bumper to bumper. Daniel raised his rifle in the air, and three guards on the roof returned his salute. One of the cars rolled aside, and the group passed through the barrier. Helen parked the truck, and she and Fuzzy joined the others inside. The first floor of the building sported a wide open lobby with a reception desk and an elevator bank in the back. Allistor immediately noticed there were lights on inside. Virginia caught him noticing, and said, “Yeah, we picked this building because it had solar panels on the roof. Before the water stopped running, we actually had hot showers.”
Daniel led them out a side door from the lobby into a courtyard that was completely enclosed by wings of the building on three sides, and a brick wall with a gate on the fourth. There were several grills set up, along with long tables and benches. “We stole these from the school down the street. The gym was a shelter for a little while in the first few days, until a pack of those canids spawned in there. It… wasn’t pretty.” Bob explained.
Helen coughed to get Allistor’s attention, holding up three fingers and looking significantly toward the grill.
“Oh! Uh, here.” Allistor walked over to the nearest table and produced three of the giant lake trout, setting them on the table. “Anybody got a good trout recipe?”
There were gasps of surprise from the gathering crowd, and runners were sent to bring someone that Daniel said would be able to cook the fish. Heads popped out of the windows above, looking to see what the excitement was about. Soon more than half of the residents were crowding into the courtyard.
Helen added to the excitement, pulling some supplies from her own inventory. She brought out some potatoes and carrots from Nancy’s garden at the Warren. When she saw some wide-eyed and hungry looking kids staring at her, she also produced a big bag of chocolate kisses, handing out one to everyone. Allistor grinned at her, saying, “You raided the goodies at the mall, huh?”
Shrugging, she just gave him a small smile. “Hey, I didn’t know how long we’d be gone, and a girl needs her chocolate.”
The fish were quickly removed to a prep area to be cleaned, with Fuzzy following behind, his nose in the air. Allistor warned the folks that Fuzzy would want the guts and unused parts, and nobody objected. Taking a seat on one of the benches, he waited for the group that had greeted him to sit down as well.
“Before we get started, is there anyone else here that needs to hear this?” Allistor looked around. Daniel shook his head. “Fine, then I’ll give you the background, and you can decide whether I should make the offer to all your people.”
Allistor told them his whole story, from day one of the new era they found themselves in. He gave them the short version, as the detailed story up to that point could fill a whole book. When he was through, he added, “I plan to create a Stronghold here. I’d prefer to do it with a group of good people like yourselves, but I’ll do it regardless. You’ve heard some of the benefits of becoming my citizens, and there are more I haven’t shared because I don’t know you that well yet.” He paused and looked around at each of the faces. A few still seemed skeptical. “I can help get rid of Barden. In fact, I’ll kill him myself if one of you will show me where he is and point him out. It’s in my own best interests, since I plan to have a Stronghold here, one way or the other. And ideally, I’d like to bring all the groups together, all thousand of you, and build a Stronghold big enough for all of us. Or move some folks back to the Citadel at Cheyenne, or the Warren. Plenty of room there.”
Bob spoke up first. “But we’d have to swear an oath to you? Accept you as some kind of king?”
Allistor nodded. “An oath of loyalty. Basically, it keeps you from betraying or harming our people. I’m not some tyrant ordering people to kiss my feet or send me their daughters. What I want is for all of us, humans in general, to get as strong as humanly possible before our year is up. So that we can take and hold as much of the Earth as possible, then take the fight to the asshat aliens that brought us here.”
“Right on!” Austin pumped his fist in the air, but when he saw that he was the only one, he lowered it again, looking sheepish.
Daniel had been looking thoughtful through the whole conversation. After throwing Austin a look, he asked, “What’s stopping us from creating a Stronghold of our own. Why do we need you?”
Allistor shrugged. “You tell me. Why don’t you have a Stronghold by now?” He looked around, finding a few angry faces staring back. “I’m not trying to be a dick, it’s a serious question. If I had bee
n in your shoes, I’d have found a way to consolidate the other groups and eliminate Barden by now. I’d be damn tired of going to sleep wondering if an octopoid was going to spawn in my bed every night.” That got some heads nodding.
“What I can offer in the short term is food, resources, and a safe place. And the willingness to take on Barden. Between us, I think Helen and I have enough resources in our inventories to qualify for a Stronghold right now. If you agree to join us and swear the oath, we can pick a good spot and create a Stronghold before dark. You and your people can sleep in safety. Then in the morning, if one of you is willing to guide me, I’ll assassinate Barden. Sometimes cutting off the head of the snake is good enough. If that doesn’t work, we’ll kill some more of his people. But you told me they took innocent prisoners, so I’d like to make things as surgical as possible.”
Bob looked around the group, getting nods or shakes from each of them. “Looks like we need to discuss this a while. Can you wait until morning?”
Allistor thought about it. He didn’t like the idea of sleeping in an unsecured location. There were no respawns in this world, and one stupid mistake could end everything.
He shook his head. “I’m going to create a Stronghold this evening, if for no other reason than to have a safe place to sleep. You guys can take until morning to decide if you like. I’ll leave the invitation open.” He looked around at the group. “Some of you gamers have probably put some thought into this already. Where would you put a Stronghold around here?”
“The stadium.” three of them stated together as others offered up places like “the hospital” and “city hall.”
Richard was one of the three that had voted for the stadium. He clarified, “War Memorial Stadium. It’s not far from here, close to the interstate and the railroad tracks. If you can put walls around it, it’s tall enough to see the whole surrounding area. Room inside to grow crops. Lots of covered space under the stands for housing, et cetera. Even more if you include a couple of the adjacent buildings.”
Shadow Sun Expansion Page 2
