Allistor nodded. “Good enough for me. And yes, we can build walls around the whole thing.” He thought about it for a moment. He was pretty sure, despite his claims a few minutes earlier, that he needed more people to create a Stronghold. So he tried something.
“I’ll tell you what. You and your people come with me to the stadium after lunch. I’ll create the Stronghold, and you can all stay one night as my guests without taking the oath. Get a good night’s sleep, and have time to think without having to watch your backs. In the morning, you can choose to join me, or come back here and try to continue as you have been.” After a brief pause, he added. “I’m going to kill Barden either way.”
“What about the other groups? There are some good people out there.” Bob asked.
“One step at a time.” Allistor answered. “Again, not to sound like a dick, but I’m confident that Helen, Fuzzy, and I could hold our own against your people if it came to that. So I’m comfortable having you in my home, so to speak, for a night without you swearing loyalty. But I’m not foolish enough to invite several hundred people I don’t know inside the gates without having an oath in place. I’d be asking to have my throat slit. And I have people depending on me. If, in the morning, you all decided to join me and swear the oath, then we’ll bring in the other groups one or two at a time, and expand as needed.”
Bob nodded his head. “Good answer.”
“I’ll swear the oath right now.” Austin said in a surprisingly calm and sincere voice. Several others nodded their heads.
Allistor smiled at him. “Thank you, Austin, I appreciate the support. But I’m guessing your family has something to say about that.
Virginia shook her head. “No… I think he’s right.” She looked at Bob, who nodded. “An hour ago, I thought you were just some kid on a power trip. But you obviously know what you’re doing, and you care about your people. You’re feeding eighty strangers their best meal in weeks on the off chance that we wouldn’t kill you outright. My family will swear your oath and join you at the stadium.” Austin beamed at her as she spoke.
“Thank you, Virginia. I accept.” Allistor reached out a hand and patted hers. He gave Bob a smile and Austin another wink.
A few others opened their mouths, but Daniel held up a hand to interrupt. “Before any more of us go making promises, let’s talk to our people. We’ll eat lunch, and put it to a vote after.”
The smell of grilled fish was already filling the air, and nobody objected to a lunch break. Allistor regretted not taking the opportunity to help with the cooking and potentially raise his skill, but he’d needed to have the talk with these folks.
As it turned out, Virginia’s family was larger than just the three Allistor had met. Austin’s parents appeared when the bell was rung to call everyone together for the meal. He introduced them, and explained that they’d been on guard duty all night, and had been asleep since. Allistor wasn’t sure, but he thought he could create a Stronghold with just that family, himself, and Helen.
They all sat for the meal, during which, several of the survivors approached Allistor and Helen to thank them for the food. Fuzzy snored contentedly over by the grills, having eaten a gluttonous amount of fish parts. He lay on his back, paws in the air, one of them occasionally twitching as he dreamed his bear cub dreams.
When the meal was done, Daniel gave the entire group a quick rundown of Allistor’s offer. He opened up the floor for questions, and Allistor and Helen answered them honestly. When it was done, Daniel surprised Allistor by adding, “I believe we should join Allistor and his people. Today. Now. I’ve never been so tired in my life as I am right now. A safe place to lay down my head tonight sounds pretty damn good to me. But I won’t ask any of you to join me. You all need to decide for yourselves.”
He sat down, and Virginia stood up. “My family and I are joining Allistor and Daniel.” As she looked around, every single one of the gamers stood, almost in unison. They gave each other and Allistor a round of fist-bumps with grins on their faces. The others began to stand in ones and twos, then small groups. Eventually, all but about twenty were on their feet.
Daniel looked at those still sitting. He picked out one of them, a middle-aged man with graying hair and a white beard. “Ray, you have a concern? Speak up, and maybe Allistor can address it.”
Ray nodded, standing as the others all took their seats. “Seems to me this kid is in over his head. How old are you, boy? Are you even old enough to drink?”
Allistor stood to answer. “You’re absolutely right, Ray. I am in over my head. So are you, and Daniel, and every single human here. There are freakin’ dragons flying around eating people, and alien monsters hiding under our beds. I didn’t ask to become a leader, it just sort of happened because I knew a little bit more than my neighbors about how to stay alive in our new world. And I certainly didn’t ask to become a lord. You can blame Helen for that.” He turned and winked at his companion, who blushed. “But the fact is, I have become a leader for my people, because somebody had to. And while yes, I am young – only twenty – I have more experience with fighting and living in this world than anyone I’ve encountered so far. I’ve made mostly good decisions so far. But most importantly, there isn’t anyone more motivated than me, or willing to do more than me, to make sure you, your family, and the rest of us all thrive. I want us to become a nation of badass humans ready to take on whatever the universe throws at us. And I have risked my own neck nearly every day to make that happen.”
Ray looked at him for a good long while. His face was difficult to read, though he was clearly weighing Allistor’s words. Allistor decided to add a little more to his argument.
“Ray, I’ll tell you this right now. If you want to take my place, to be the leader of hundreds, maybe thousands of survivors, I’m all for it. Prove to me that you have the skills needed, and that I can trust you, and I’ll promote you to big boss right then and there, and go spend a few days fishin’ with Helen and Fuzzy.”
This earned a few laughs from the folks gathered around. Even Ray cracked a small grin. Sitting back down, he said, “Fair enough. I’ll follow you.”
Since everyone had retaken their seats, Daniel called out. “Is there anyone else who has questions? Or that doesn’t want to join us at the stadium? Now’s the time to speak up.”
A woman near the back of the crowd stood up. “How do we know that you won’t order us to go on some suicide mission or do something else against our own best interests? If we refuse such an order, will the oath kill us?”
Allistor took a deep breath. These people weren’t going to like his answer, but he needed to be straight with them.
“I can’t promise that I won’t get any of you killed. There are going to be times where fighting is necessary. In your case, we may need to fight against Barden’s group. People may die. I am not a one-man army, or all-powerful. If we’re going to thrive, we’re going to have to do it together. We’ll all have to make sacrifices, and some of us likely will give our lives. Including me. I can’t and won’t promise you otherwise.” He took a breath as his voice started to crack.
“But what I can promise is that I won’t intentionally throw lives away. The most valuable thing on Earth right now is a human life. I want to preserve as many as I can. As for the oath… to be honest, I’m not positive. The notice I got when Helen first took the oath was that the penalties were variable depending on the seriousness of the oath and the consequences from breaking it. Like, if your breaking the oath results in someone getting hurt, the penalty could include death.”
Daniel nodded. “Yeah, the system so far seems very ‘eye for an eye’. I killed one of Barden’s guys a week or so ago, and when I did, I got rewarded all kinds of Fame Points and stuff. He looked to Allistor, who was fervently hoping that Daniel didn’t mention that one got xp and loot from killing other humans. The fewer folks who learned this, the better. Daniel seemed to share this point of view and didn’t mention either.
Helen spok
e up next. “As Allistor mentioned, I was the first to take the oath with him. It was one I made up myself, and was a simple pledge of loyalty. It doesn’t keep me from telling him he’s being an ass when he’s wrong, or even from disagreeing with him.” She gave him a light smack on the back of the head, smiling at him as she did so. “The oath isn’t meant to control any of you in any way other than to keep you from betraying or harming him, and each other.” As she looked around at the mostly blank faces, she added. “And I’ll add that I only swore my loyalty to Lord Allistor here after he swore an oath to protect his lands and the people on them with his own life. An oath that the system registered, and will hold him to. Plus, he saved my life. Oath or no, I’d lay down my life for him.”
“What do you mean ‘the system registered’?” Austin asked.
Helen shrugged. “When he swore to me, there was a blue flashy light that surrounded him, then sort of seeped into him. I can show you, if you’re still willing to swear?”
Austin nodded his head, and Helen had him repeat the simple words. When he did, the same blue glow surrounded him, fading into his body.
“That’s it.” She looked around the room. “That’s all there is to it. No legalese or clauses offering up your firstborn.” She winked at Austin, who was examining the bare skin on his arms, looking for any physical change. After a moment, his eyes unfocused, and he said, “Hey, there’s a little icon on my interface now that says I’m oathbound. Cool!”
Daniel raised his hand and addressed the woman who’d asked the question. “Does that answer satisfy you?” When she nodded and sat down, he asked again, “Anyone else have questions?”
No one spoke up. In a corner near the grills, Fuzzy broke the silence with a loud fart.
Shaking his head and grinning, Daniel asked, “Alright then, if you are not willing to swear loyalty to Allistor and, by extension, the rest of us… please stand.” Daniel waited for half a minute for people to think it over, and when everyone was still seated, he said, “Great, seems like we’re all in agreement. Let’s get this oath thing over with, and get packed.”
Helen stood in front of the group. “Is this everyone? Anyone still asleep or out somewhere?”
Virginia did a head count. “There are two children not here.”
The same woman that had asked about the oath spoke up. “My kids have colds. They’re sleeping.” Helen nodded, and administered the oath. Each person repeated the words back to her, and the blue glow penetrated all of them.
“Thank you, all of you. And welcome! Our first order of business is to get all of you safe for the night. As Daniel mentioned, load up all you can carry in, or on, your vehicles. Helen and I, and Fuzzy if I can wake him up…” He paused while a few people chuckled. “Will go ahead to the stadium and scout it out. As soon as you arrive, we’ll establish the Stronghold and figure out the details of housing and feeding everyone.”
As the gathered survivors dispersed, Allistor asked Richard, who was standing nearby. “Anything I should know about the stadium? Any groups to get through between here and there? Anybody currently calling it home?”
Richard shook his head, rubbing his chin at the same time. “It’s not like we have formal territory boundaries established, so you might run into some foragers out there. If they’re not Barden’s folks, or they don’t confuse you with Barden’s folks, they should be friendly enough. As for the stadium, I haven’t been there in a couple weeks. Don’t think anyone else has, either. We pretty well cleaned it out of food and stuff in the first week. We saw evidence of those canid things running around in there.” Richard pulled up his interface and shared his map with Allistor and Helen.
“Great. Thanks for that. We’ll head over there and scout the place. Secure it if we can. If we find something we can’t handle, we’ll pull back and wait for you guys. How many fighters do you have?”
Richard grinned. “You met us all out on the street, pretty much. Austin can shoot, but his family keeps him here. He’s a little… enthusiastic when it comes to fighting. Some of the others can defend themselves well enough, but I wouldn’t call them trained fighters.”
“Good enough. We’ll see you at the stadium.” Allistor shook the man’s hand, then Daniel’s as well. Waving to the others, he went to retrieve a softly snoring Fuzzy.
Back in the truck, they made their way down one city block, then another, weaving through abandoned cars in areas that hadn’t been cleared. It was only about a mile from the group’s base camp to the stadium.
Helen spotted movement when they were within sight of the building. Pointing off to her right down a side street, she said, “Just saw two people walking. They saw us, and ducked around a corner.”
Allistor considered stopping, but his priority was to reach the stadium and clear it. They could make more friends, or enemies, after. “Keep an eye out. And try to note the location on your map. We’ll come back and look for them later, maybe.”
Continuing on, they reached the stadium and found the wide chain-link gate standing open. Allistor was able to drive the truck right in under the concrete stands that stretched up and out above like a giant bowl. Rather than park the truck and walk the whole circumference, he drove through the wide walkways that had once been filled with people on game days. The truck easily fit between the massive concrete columns that held up the structure.
They passed empty concession stands that had clearly been ransacked, though it was hard to tell whether the culprits had been human or animal. They passed locker room entrances, maintenance shop doors, elevators, and open walkways leading in to the field. When they’d made a complete circuit without finding any people or monsters, Allistor stopped the truck. He got out and went to the gate, closing and latching it. He didn’t engage the simple padlock that hung there, as he wanted his new friends to be able to get in. He just wanted to make sure that canids or other non-humanoid monsters wouldn’t be walking right in at his back while he and Helen tried to secure the place.
Helen offered up a suggestion. “I know you want to wait until the others are here before you claim this place as a Stronghold. But you could start with an Outpost, then upgrade it. And claiming it as an Outpost will tell us whether anyone or anything else is here.”
“You’re a genius!” Allistor grinned at her. He’d been planning just that, but didn’t figure it hurt to give her credit for the idea. He opened up his interface and clicked through to the appropriate tab. When he clicked YES next to the Outpost prompt, he received a familiar message.
This structure is currently occupied by a life form that has a prior claim to your own. To claim the structure, you must kill the prior occupant, convince it to relinquish its claim or banish it from the vicinity for twelve hours.
Allistor shared the news with Helen, who sighed deeply. “Well, damn. It’s gonna take a while to clear this place. Hey, Fuzzy? Do you smell any people, or monsters?” She looked down at the bear cub sitting by their feet. He snorted once, then lowered his nose to the ground. They followed him as he wove his way around the area, sometimes sniffing the ground, other times raising his nose and seeming to scent the light breeze that drifted through the concrete passages.
They’d gone maybe a quarter of the way around the outside of the stadium when he huffed, then began to growl. Turning toward one of the walkways that sloped upward toward the field and into the stands, he looked from the tunnel to Allistor and back.
Allistor stepped forward and laid a hand on the bear’s head, scratching his ears. “Good job, buddy. This makes up for that ass-blast you embarrassed me with earlier.” Helen laughed behind him.
“Right. So somewhere in there is a person, or people, or monster, or whatever.” He drew his shotgun from inventory, and Helen equipped her rifle. “I’ll go first. Let’s take this slow. If it’s people in there, they might be friendly.”
Taking the extra precaution of casting Barrier to place a magic shield in front of himself, he moved upward into the short stadium tunnel. When he ne
ared the other end, he crouched low and hugged the wall on one side. A view of the stadium opened up before him, the wide open expanse of the field, the hundreds of rows of color coded and numbered seats. As he paused to scan the area, no movement caught his eye.
When Helen poked him with her rifle barrel, he turned and whispered, “This sucks. I don’t see anything, but there are a dozen tunnels like this one on each side. Could be something or someone hiding in any one of them.”
Helen whispered back as she peered around him at the field. “What do you want to do? Go back for the others? Maybe split up into groups and clear this place?”
Allistor thought about it, but shook his head. “No, I don’t want to put them in danger unless absolutely necessary.” Leaning his back against the cool concrete wall, he took a minute to think.
“Only one way to get this done quickly. You and Fuzzy wait here. I’m gonna walk out there and make some noise. If something comes out and tries to eat my face, please shoot it.”
Helen snorted. “Maybe. But you’re gonna owe me some more chocolate for saving your scrawny ass if I do.”
Allistor adopted a mock offended face. “Amanda says my butt is cute.”
“She probably also told you you’re the best she’s ever had. We do that. It’s good for your egos. You pout a lot less and get more stuff done that way.” Her grin told him she was teasing, but he made a mental note to check with Amanda anyway.
“Right. Thanks for that confidence boost right before I go out to play bait.” He smirked at her. One last quick scratch of Fuzzy’s ears and a ‘Wait here with Helen, bud.’ and he straightened up to his full height before walking casually out of the tunnel exit and down the stairs toward the field. When he was several steps down, he began to whistle a little tune. The sound warbled a little from nerves as he descended the stairs. He felt very alone and exposed out in the open.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs he stood there, just above field level with a knee wall between him and the sidelines. Spinning slowly, he paused to look at each tunnel on both sides of the stadium. Most were dark in the early afternoon light with the sun nearly straight above. Changing his tactic, he hopped over the wall onto the field and coughed loudly. Once, then again. When that didn’t elicit any reaction, he called out. “Rover! Here boy! C’mon Rover! Stupid dog, always running off…”
Shadow Sun Expansion Page 3
