For the next couple days, she was in and out of the library, practicing skills like Archery, Horseback Riding, and Skinning between sessions of studying books or scrolls. She discovered Navigation and combined it with Cartography, enabling her to create detailed maps as she traveled with Allistor. She spent a little time with cowboys, helping to care for the livestock and raising her Animal Husbandry skill to Level 4.
In fact, she spent a good part of her time off with the horses and cattle. It didn’t hurt that one of the cowboys had rugged good looks and a singing voice that made her tingle a little.
*****
The morning that Allistor was supposed to meet up with Helen and set off on their trip to Denver, he woke well before dawn. He gently kissed Amanda’s forehead, careful not to wake her as he slid out of bed and grabbed a quick shower. After writing her a note and leaving it on his pillow, he slipped out of his ridiculously large bedchamber and made for the elevator that would take him down to the main floor, and breakfast.
But as he descended, the elevator stopped after only one floor. When the doors opened, he found a surprised Helen staring at him. As she began to mumble some kind of flustered greeting, the cowboy standing behind her tucking in his shirt did the same.
“Ha! Good morning, both of you.” He grinned widely at Helen, who was now blushing. “I’m guessing you both slept well?”
The cowboy, now over his initial surprise, chuckled and gave Allistor a wink that Helen didn’t see. They both got on the elevator and continued downward. Allistor couldn’t resist teasing Helen a bit as they walked toward the dining hall. “So, Amanda told me she thought she heard someone fighting below us last evening. Something about thumping and screaming. I asked Nigel, but he said no one was injured. You guys hear any of that?”
Helen snorted. “Shut it, Viscount Allistor. You and her ladyship weren’t exactly quiet yourselves.”
“Heh. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m simply starving. I hope they have pancakes. And bacon and eggs. Maybe one of those dragon steaks? Think they have any of those left?”
Chapter 7
Grass, Gas, and Snack Cakes
Over breakfast they discussed their plans for the trip to Denver. Amanda had decided, much to Allistor’s chagrin, that he was the most likely among their people to be injured on a regular basis, so she was going to accompany him. Helen welcomed her happily, and when they both turned and stared at Allistor, the cowboy, whose name was Nathan, laughed heartily.
“Yer outnumbered and surrounded, partner.” he said, earning a pat on the leg from Helen as she continued to stare at her boss.
“Clearly.” Allistor pretended to complain. He had no qualms about bringing Amanda along, she had handled herself well at the hospital. And it never hurt to have a healer around. With a grin for Nathan, he added, “So I guess you’ll have to come along to even things out.”
The cowboy looked surprised. So did Helen. “Really? What about my duties on the ranch?” he asked. “I don’t want to leave the fellas a man short.”
“They can recruit someone to take your place for a week or two.” Allistor countered, even as he noticed Helen trying to shut him up. She was frowning at him, and very subtly shaking her head no, at least until Nathan turned to look at her. At which point she adopted a smile and started nodding.
“Yeah, that’d be great!” she said in a tone that probably sounded happy to Nathan, but Allistor could tell was fake.
“Cool! I’ll grab my gear and meet you back here in ten?” Nathan didn’t wait for a reply, hopping up from the table after grabbing a last piece of bacon and jogging away with it.
As soon as his back was turned, Helen kicked Allistor under the table. “What the hell, man?”
Allistor gave her his most innocent face as Amanda poked him in the ribs. “What?”
“Just cuz I hooked up with a cowboy doesn’t mean we’re a friggin’ couple. I’m not trying to have his babies or anything.”
“Babies? I mean, isn’t that kind of sudden? You just met him a few days-”
He didn’t get to finish the sentence as Helen kicked him again, harder this time, as Amanda simultaneously elbowed him in the ribs. Both women were giving him dirty looks.
He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll make it better. Let’s bring somebody else. We’ll use one of the RVs, that way were not all crowded into the truck with Fuzzy. Who should we bring?
“Another woman.” both women said at the same time. Allistor looked confused for a moment, then rolled his eyes. “Seriously? You’re gonna throw her at the cowboy? That’s… diabolical. Are you that afraid of a relationship?”
Helen shook her head. “Just keeping my options open. He’s not a bad guy, as far as I can tell so far. But I didn’t exactly choose him for his deep thoughts.” She smirked at them, and Amanda laughed.
“Me either.” She shoulder-bumped Allistor gently, taking his hand at the same time. “I just thought he was semi-pretty. Turns out he has a brain. Don’t write the cowboy off too quickly.”
Allistor decided to take her words as a compliment, beaming at Helen. “I’m pretty. You heard her.”
Both women snorted and got up. Amanda said, “I need to go gear up. Helen, help pretty boy here pick another party member?”
“Yup.” Helen gave her a thumbs-up. “I think I know who we should bring.” As Amanda walked away, Helen scanned the people sitting at various tables in the former food court area. Spotting her preferred party member, she shouted, “Dawn!” and waved the woman over. Looking at Allistor, who was still sitting, she said, “I saw Dawn practicing at the archery range when I was there. She’s really good. And she’s already level 8. Mostly from hunting parties. So she should know how to behave out there.”
When the woman arrived at the table, she smiled openly at them both. “Hey Helen, Lord Allistor, good morning.” She was of medium height with long brown hair and a trim, muscular build. Her posture was rigid, almost military. A woman who was used to hard work.
“Just Allistor, please. And good morning to you, too. I hope we didn’t interrupt your breakfast?”
“Nah. I was just shootin’ the shit with some of the fellas. Talking about the last hunting trip. What can I do for you?”
“How’d you like to take a little road trip? To Denver.” Helen asked.
“Really? With you guys?” She scratched Fuzzy’s ears as he sniffed curiously at her leg.
“With us, and a few others. It’ll be close company, even in the RV. And we might be gone a few weeks. Also, we don’t know what we’ll find there, so it could be dangerous. In fact, assume it will be dangerous.” Allistor let her think about that for a few seconds. “No hard feelings if you pass. Absolutely none at all.”
“Ha! Don’t threaten me with a good time!” Dawn grinned at him. “I get myself on every hunting party I can, so I can be out there killing those things. They took my parents and the rest of my family. I owe them some payback.”
Helen looked at Allistor, who nodded. He liked this woman, and kind of felt bad knowing that Helen might sacrifice her as an offering to the cowboy at some point. He decided it was none of his business.
“Good! I’ll go gear up, meet back here in ten?” Dawn smiled.
“We’ll be taking the RV, so meet there.”
“Great! Lots of space for gear.” Dawn was already moving.
Allistor was confused by the statement until he looked at the woman’s hand and didn’t see a storage ring. As she hustled away, he mumbled.
“Shit. We don’t have storage rings for everyone, do we?”
Helen shook her head. “Some folks have bought their own, and you gave out a bunch to the original crew. But no, lots of folks don’t have them yet. The folks with the Leatherworking and Tailoring skill have been making some solid backpacks for people.”
Allistor dashed over to the market kiosk, which wasn’t far away. He did a quick search for the hundred-slot storage rings, and found thirty of them available.
The price was two hundred klax each, but he didn’t hesitate. Having his people able to carry the gear they needed, and store the loot they found, was invaluable. There was a reason the VR games gave players inventory bags to start with. Carrying everything you need without them was cumbersome, noisy, and in this world, could get them killed. He purchased all thirty of them, and made a mental note to ask Michael what he needed to start enchanting rings for storage.
Looking around, he spotted Ramon having breakfast. Keeping two of the rings for Dawn and Nathan, he handed the rest to Ramon. “Hey man, could you take charge of these? Make sure the people going out on hunting parties have one? For now, they’ll just be loans. They can return them when they come back. I’ll work on getting one for everyone to keep.
“Sure thing, Allistor. I was actually going to ask you about this at our next meeting. I’d like them to start grabbing stuff like technical manuals while they’re out. Anything that might help us level up skills. Especially mechanical and trade skills. I don’t know if they’ll help, but if they do, it’s a cheap way to skill up.”
“Do it.” Allistor put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m taking a party to Denver in a few. I’ll set up an Outpost as soon as we’re there so we can talk. Let Nigel know if you need me.”
Fist-bumping Ramon, he walked back over to Helen, who was trying to get Fuzzy to do tricks for bacon. The bear was resisting, preferring to rely on his cuteness factor to mooch treats. He knew his audience well, as Helen eventually just gave up and handed him the bacon.
“Sucker.” Allistor teased as he sat down. “He’s got you wrapped around his little… claw.”
“Helen shrugged. “Not my fault. I think he has a really high Charisma stat.”
Amanda joined them then, rifle over her shoulder. Allistor saw Nathan approaching not far behind her. When he took a seat next to Helen, Allistor caught them up. “A woman named Dawn is joining us as well. She’s got some archery skills, and you never know when you need to kill something quietly.” He looked at Nathan, feeling a little sorry for the guy. Tossing him one of the storage rings, he said, “Stow all your stuff in here.”
Nathan thanked him for the ring, and took a moment to move all his items into the storage slots. “This is great! Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Just be sure and leave at least half the slots for loot.” He paused, then asked, “You mind grabbing one of the RVs, make sure it’s got a full tank? Meet us at the gate.”
The Citadel was only about a hundred miles from Denver, straight down the interstate. But they wouldn’t be getting highway mileage having to weave around abandoned vehicles. Plus, Allistor preferred to take the back roads when possible, where they might find likely spots for foraging or to create another Outpost. And they didn’t know for sure that they’d be able to gas up anywhere in Denver. For all they knew, the whole city could be a smoking ruin. Each of the RVs was equipped with a pump and tubes that could be used at gas stations without power, or to siphon gas from other vehicles. Still, it was better to be sure they had enough fuel to get back, just in case.
Nathan nodded and set off toward the exit and the motor pool.
Dawn returned a few minutes later, and they all piled into the RV. Fuzzy tried to claim the shotgun seat, but Helen shooed him away, saying, “Unless you can read a map, that’s my seat, buddy.” Fuzzy tried his best cute face, but to no avail. He settled for curling up on the floor behind Helen. The others settled onto the bench seats that lined both walls behind the two front chairs.
Allistor handed Dawn her storage ring, and had a repeat of his convo with Nathan. Amanda had decided to drive to start off with, so she fired up the engine and they were off. Nigel operated the gates for them, and they were on their way.
Fuzzy was snoring before they were even outside the Cheyenne city limits. Dawn was enchanted by the cuteness, and Allistor began to wonder if the bear did indeed have some kind of Charisma boost. Bear cubs were naturally cute, but Fuzzy seemed to take it a step further.
He chatted with Dawn and Nathan as they wound their way down back roads that Helen located as she worked to level up her Navigator skill. They stayed roughly parallel to the interstate as they moved south, occasionally crossing under it and back again. It turned out Dawn had worked at a large nursery where they grew flowers that supplied a lot of the flower shops in the area. When Nathan asked her what life at the nursery was like, she snorted. “I hauled a lot of shit. Fertilizer. Horse shit, pig shit, cow shit. Half my day was spent shoveling shit and spreading it around.”
Nathan had worked on various local ranches in three states, beginning with his own family’s ranch as a kid. When he got older, he had an itch to see some new sights and joined a rodeo for a while. But he lacked the skill to be a professional bull rider, so he went back to what he knew best – wrangling cattle.
They stopped a few times along the way. The first time was when Helen spotted a house with a very nice boat on the trailer parked next to it. “We should hook the boat to the back.” When she turned and saw Allistor looking at her with one eyebrow raised, she added, “I mean, we might have to cross a river where a bridge is out, or something.”
Allistor didn’t mind, and it was a nice boat, so he just nodded. “Let’s check out the house. Might be some canned food or weapons or something.”
They spent an hour looting the house, which yielded up a surprising amount of goodies. Besides the boat, there was a fully stocked pantry that held enough food to feed the group for weeks. Amanda found a stack of clean sheets and blankets, as well as a decent first aid kit. There were twenty-four bottles of wine in a wine fridge in the kitchen, which Dawn slid into her storage ring. They also snagged a few pots and pans, as the RV hadn’t been stocked with utensils yet. The small kitchen operated off a propane tank, so they could cook decent meals if they needed to.
Allistor found a couple shotguns and a hunting rifle in a gun rack in the basement, and a Colt .45 in a nightstand drawer. There was ammo for all three on a shelf in the rack. The house had an office with several full bookshelves, so Allistor took a few minutes to search for anything Ramon could use. The closest thing he found to training manuals were a half dozen gardening books on a bottom shelf, along with a couple cookbooks.
Nathan had the boat hooked up by the time they exited the house. They unloaded most of the canned goods and food items into the boat to free up their inventory space, and they were off again.
As they rode along, Allistor opened one of the cookbooks. He’d earned the basic Cooking skill, and was curious about whether Ramon’s theory was correct. His mother had taught him some basic cooking skills as a kid. He could boil pasta, and bake cookies, and cook a pot roast in a crock pot. But he was by no means a skilled chef.
So, starting with the first recipe, he read through carefully, thinking about what the various ingredients would do, whether they were meant to add to consistency, or flavor, and how they might interact with each other. It happened to be a chili recipe with a wide variety of ingredients. When he was through reading it, he got the notification he was hoping for.
Skill Level Up! Your Cooking skill has increased by +1
He handed Dawn and Nathan a cookbook each, and explained what he’d just done. They both began to read just as earnestly as he had. By the time they stopped again, Allistor had gained two more points and each of them had learned the skill and gained a point.
Helen had called the stop as they approached the outskirts of Denver. She’d spotted a gas station food mart that still had all its windows intact. That was a rare enough sight that it had caught her attention. Amanda pulled into the lot and right up next to the glass doors. They piled out, weapons at the ready, and peered through the dusty glass to look inside.
The interior appeared to be intact. The shelves were still upright and stocked, though the normal selection was greatly reduced. Allistor motioned for the group to split up and circle the building. He, Amanda, and Fuzzy went left while Helen took the other two ar
ound to the right. A minute later they met up at the back door. A quick check of the dumpsters revealed no critters lurking, though something had clearly pulled some of the trash out and ransacked it. Nathan tried the back door and found it locked, so they made their way back around to the front.
The glass doors opened with just a bit of squealing, the hinges having not been used for a while. Helen started inside, then stopped and backed out. “Man, let’s leave the doors open for a minute. It smells pretty ripe in there.”
Fuzzy, not seeming to mind the odor of rotted burritos, ham sandwiches, and ice cream strolled right in with his nose in the air. Allistor watched him carefully as the rest of them waited outside with the doors propped open. Eventually, Nathan volunteered to go through and open the back door for a little cross-ventilation. He held his breath as he walked through, grabbing a six-pack of soda on his way to prop the door open with.
Eventually, when the place had had a few minutes to air out, they all braved the smell and stepped inside. A quick check of the entire building told them what Fuzzy had already indicated – that there was nothing living inside. Stepping back out after grabbing some lukewarm drinks from the shelves, Helen tapped Allistor on the shoulder.
“This would make a great Outpost. It’s close to Denver, but obviously nobody has been here in a while. It has gas, and if you turn on the electricity we can use it as a refueling station. There’s enough non-perishable food in there to feed a small group for a week or more. And you could put some bunks in the office or stock room.”
Everyone was nodding in agreement before she was even through talking. Allistor pulled up his interface and chose the Outpost option. As the familiar light surrounded them, he added a wall around the place, and the usual electric, water, and sensor system. When the light faded, the glass storefront had been altered to stone walls with smaller windows. The interior hadn’t changed much, except the lights were on and the coolers were now humming.
Shadow Sun Expansion Page 13
