Chapter 46 - Gunpowder Burns

As the meeting broke up, I approached Alfred. He flashed me a smile, hints of the annoying, gawky med student he’d been a week ago still there on his face, although so much had changed that I knew he was no longer that man.

“What’s up?” Alfred asked.

“I was hoping I could go check in with Kat, before we head out,” I said. “Just to say hi, let her know I’m okay.”

“Yeah, that’s no problem,” he replied. He called out across the room, “Kara, how long will it take you to get ready to go?”

“I can be ready in twenty minutes or so,” she replied.

“Sounds good. Meet over by the ropes when you’re set,” Alfred said. Then he turned back to me. “We’ve got a little time. Why don’t you come with me, I’ll take you to her?”

We proceeded through their lair, the squalor and grime still getting to me. They’d only been in this place for less than a day, but it was a mess. I didn’t want to think about what the bathrooms looked like—I caught a whiff as someone came out of one, holding their nose. It was rank.

Dozens of people trapped in a closed space without running water, flush toilets, or the ability to bathe. The whole place reeked.

Alfred saw me looking and grimaced. “Yeah, I know it’s bad. And getting worse.”

“This won’t work as a base,” I told him. “Not in the long run. You’ve got no water, no easy routes in and out, and frankly, not even close to enough defenders.”

“We’d have more defenders if you joined us. Your undead would make this place a lot safer.”

I shook my head. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, and my spells would add something. But it’s not enough, not by myself. Even with my undead it wouldn’t be enough to keep this place secure. Sooner or later someone is going to hit you harder than you can fight, and it’s gonna be a mess.”

“What do you suggest, then?” Alfred asked, his voice getting hot.

It hadn’t been my intention to piss him off. “You need to get these people out there, Alfred. These crystals, they’re not really optional anymore. If people want to survive, they’re going to have to learn to fight.”

His shoulder sagged, telling me that he knew I was right. Alfred looked away. “I know. I do know! But how do I get them to do that? These people are scared, Selena. They’re terrified. Most of them are too scared to step outside, let alone actually go on a scouting run. The idea of fighting a goblin isn’t even on their radar. I don’t know how to fix that.”

I didn’t, either, although I had suspicions about how it was going to resolve itself. People who didn’t get on with living were going to find themselves dying. I figured probably half the population was already dead, and that was only going to continue plummeting as time went on. Once the food in supermarkets and shelves ran out, what then?

Hunting and farming were going to become part of most folks’ lives. That, or getting out there to fight monsters. Probably some of each, if I was being honest with myself, which wasn’t all that appealing. I had only a limited clue about basic gardening. Farming was way past my skill level.

“Here we are,” Alfred said. “Room 314. She’s inside. Kat’s been watching a lot of the kids, especially the ones who…whose parents didn’t make it.”

I winced at that. As bad as the Event had been for everyone, it had to be a lot worse for kids. Kat was good at handling rugrats, though. She always had been. “Good call on the job for her. Your idea, or hers?”

“Hers,” Alfred replied, opening the door for me. “Kat? Someone here to see you.”

Kat was in the far corner of the room, surrounded by a pile of kids. The youngsters looked like about kindergarten age, give or take a year or two. Kat had a book in her hand—was she reading them stories? She startled when the door opened, reaching for a baseball bat on the floor beside her. A good reflex. Then she saw it was Alfred and relaxed. “Yeah? Who?”

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I stepped inside. “Me.”

“Roomie!” she shouted. With an effort, Kat got herself back to her feet, grabbing the crutches from where they rested against the wall beside her. She was still missing most of her leg below the knee. No prosthetics easily available these days, I guess. I wondered if we could make her a peg leg or something? Kat the pirate?

She started toward me, and I met her partway, where she scooped me into a hug. Somehow even with just one leg Kat still managed to act like she was pulling me up off the floor. She relaxed her grip, looking me up and down with an excited grin.

“You did make it!” Kat said. “I knew you would. Figured you’d run off to join someone who wouldn’t backstab you, but it’s good to see you. Been rough for us.”

“I heard. I didn’t find another group, although I’ve got a lead on one. I’m taking off with Kara to go see if the Air Guard base is active. I have a hunch they’ve turned themselves into a place for refugees to gather.”

“That would be excellent,” Kat replied. “We were almost torched to death last night. We could use someplace safe. These kids have already been though enough.”

“I saw the damage. It’s the smoke that made me come make sure you all were okay,” I told her. “If the Guard base is taking people, Kara and I will find out, then come back for all of you.”

“And if they’re not, then we’ll just have to find someplace that is,” Kat replied, her tone way more upbeat than I remembered. Her lower lip trembled, though. She wasn’t actually as optimistic as she wanted to sound.

I glanced over at the kids. They were probably why. I could get behind spreading some hope around when young kids were in the room. “That’s right. Might take some time, but we can survive this.”

Alfred coughed. I looked his way. “We’re getting close to time for you to head out.”

Instinctively, I glanced at my watch. It had been about fifteen minutes since we left Kara to her packing, so he was right. She ought to be ready before too long. I let my sleeve drop back over the watch, but Alfred saw the movement.

“Does that thing work?” he asked, pointing to my wrist.

“Yeah, it’s a wind-up. They still work. Just electronic ones don’t.”

“Interesting. It’s not just electronics, though. Cars don’t work, but that could be an electrical thing. We did some tests, though, around guns and other explosives. Turns out, gunpowder still burns,” Alfred said.

“It does?” Having some firearms would change everything!

“Yeah, but it just burns. Slowly. No explosions,” Alfred said. “We emptied out a few pistol rounds to check. Gunpowder is basically good for starting camp fires now, and not much else. I found a pack of firecrackers. Same deal. They smolder, slowly burning, but they don’t go bang. Not anymore.”

“Well, wind up clockwork things seem to still function,” I said, showing him my wrist. The watch was big for me, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

He stared at it a good while, nodding to himself. “That’s good to know. Most watches used batteries, and those are all toast. But if we can find some more wind-up ones, that could help us a lot in terms of coordination. I’ll make sure my scout teams keep their eyes open for more.”

I gave Kat another hug goodbye, and she told me to hurry back with good news. Then we were on our way back to the opening at the center of the building, where all the ropes waited to lower us to the ground. Kara wasn’t there yet when we arrived, but she didn’t keep us waiting long.

When she walked over, she’d changed her clothes. She wore sensible boots, jeans, a light long-sleeve shirt with police body armor over it, and carried a good size backpack. At her hip was a quiver of arrows, and she had a bow in her hand.

“Archer?” I asked.

She nodded. “I used to shoot for fun before the world exploded. Now I shoot to survive. I’ve got a tier two Agility and tier one Charisma stone, too.”

I wasn’t sure how much good the Charisma stone would do. I’d never messed with that one much. But maybe I ought to experiment more. After all, Kara here was on Alfred’s inner council, and she was on her way to hopefully meet with a bunch of military officers. Having some extra Charisma couldn’t hurt with those sorts of things, right?

“We’ll see if we can get you some more stones along the road,” I said.

“I’m game for that.”

“Good! I’ve got a few archers among my undead. Stick with them as much as you can, stay behind the main shield wall, and I think we’ll be fine.”

Alfred had a few of his people toss the ropes over the edge, so Kara and I could descend. Once we’d hit the bottom, I rallied up my undead. Hope was especially happy to see me, woofing and barking.

Kara spotted her and gave her scritches where the ears would have been on a living dog. Hope’s tail thumped against the ground so hard I worried for a moment she was going to snap it off.

“Dog lover,” Kara explained. She was beaming at Hope. “Doesn’t matter what breed.”

“Is bone dog a breed?” I asked with a laugh.

“I guess it is, now,” Kara replied. She stood back up, shifting the pack on her shoulders. “We ready to get this show on the road?”

“I am. Let’s go see if we can find somewhere safe for these folks.” Before it was too late, I didn’t add.

The late afternoon sun was already moving toward setting, and we had a lot of walking ahead of us. Travel at night would be much riskier than a daylight trip, but I wanted to get as far as we could before we stopped to rest. That meant making the best possible use of the daylight hours remaining.

I shouldered my own pack, and passed mental orders to my undead regarding our marching order. The tier one skeletons were my scouts, again. Rosie and Guildie were my rear guard. The tier two undead, including Hope, stuck with Kara and I, forming a solid phalanx of shields with a scattering of bows behind them. We were as prepared as I could make us.

With that, we set off into the evening, ready for whatever the night could throw our way. I hoped!