Chapter 57 - The World We Lived In

My undead army was in pretty good shape. Thanks to my crystals, I could Animate sixteen tiers worth of undead, and Control another sixteen. I wasn’t maxed out, but I was fairly close.

For Controlled undead, I still had Hope at tier two, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at tier one, and six remaining tier one skeletons I’d captured from various graveyards.

My Animated ones were a mixed bag, too. I had four goblin zombies at tier two each, plus another four skeleton warriors at tier two. I’d shifted over to quality over quantity. The extra jump in power from tier one to two seemed to make a lot of difference in a fight, so it just made sense to maximize the power of my troops.

I focused on giving the tier two undead the new weapons, too. Between the bows I’d scavenged from homes and the ones I’d looted from dead goblins, I had enough to arm all four goblin zombies with bows. They had an Agility boost of some sort, which seemed to make them better archers, so they got the ranged weapons. The spears and shields I’d just bought went to the tier two skeleton warriors; since they were larger, bulkier, and a little stronger, having them form the core of my shield wall made sense.

I’d also merged together the stones I’d acquired from Maura, where I could. The extra Will stones I’d bought were enough to boost my Will up to tier four, so I did that right away. That ought to bring me close enough to Colonel Turner’s Charisma that I could better keep my head around him.

The Minion Augmentation stones were burning a hole in my pocket. I wanted badly to check one out and see how exactly they worked, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to add yet. There was a lot I didn’t know about them, and I wanted to make sure I maximized the value of such a rare and powerful asset. I’d give it a little more thought before using them.

Once my little army was re-armed properly, I surveyed my crystal setup and spares again:

Magical Stones

Point 1: Black Stone (Tier 5) - Control Undead

Point 1, Outer Ring: Black Stone (Tier 2) - Curse

Point 2: Black Stone (Tier 5) - Animate Dead

Point 2, Outer Ring: Black Stone (Tier 2) - Contagion

Point 3: Black Stone (Tier 4) - Drain Life

Point 4: Clear Stone (Tier 4) - Will

Point 5: Clear Stone (Tier 4) - Agility

Spare Stones

Black: Animate Dead (Tier 3), Animate Dead, Augment Undead (Tier 3), Augment Undead, Control Undead (Tier 3), Drain Life (Tier 2), Harm (Tier 2), Harm, Health to Mana, Heal Undead (Tier 3), Heal Undead

Clear: Strength (Tier 3), Agility (Tier 2), Agility, Stamina (Tier 2), Stamina (Tier 3), Charisma (Tier 2), Charisma, Will (Tier 2)

Gray: Minion Augmentation (x2)

I was in good shape. I’d come a long way since the Event blew my life up. Was that a week ago? I tried to backtrack how long it had been, and I was pretty sure it had only been five days. That was insane! How had the world changed so much in so little time?

Mom and Dad would’ve been proud, anyway. They were tough; I knew they were out there defending their home against all comers. I’d accomplished a lot in less than a week. Hopefully it would be enough to make a difference here.

Farnsworth came over to me as I got ready to leave the pet camp where my undead were stored. “What’s next, Selena?”

“You don’t have to escort me everywhere, you know,” I said. “I’m pretty sure I can find my way around now.”

He coughed into his hand. “Actually, I do. Orders.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Because I’m tier five?”

He nodded.

“That’s just stupid. You really think I’m going to ruin the good thing you guys have going here?”

“No,” Farnsworth answered, blunt as ever. “I think you’re a good kid, who has been helping other people out more than most folks since this mess started. If you were under my command I’d be thrilled. But you’re also unarguably one of the most powerful people on the base right now. If you decided you wanted to fight us, we’d win. But you’d do a lot of damage.”

“And you’re with me to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

He nodded again. “Got it in one.”

It seemed like a shitty waste of the man’s time to me, but I couldn’t fault his logic. It was a little frightening to have a soldier tell me his base was so scared of me that they had one of their most powerful fighters tailing me all day just in case I went nuts. I was used to picturing the military as being above it all, able to handle whatever came their way.

But that was before. Now, one person with enough of these stones could outfight a hundred, maybe even a thousand people without magical upgrades. It was a world we all had to get used to.

“I was thinking I should check on Kara, see how she’s doing. Then I need to meet with Colonel Turner again, as soon as he can be available,” I said. “It’s past noon, and those goblins will certainly come after my friends come nightfall, if they haven’t already. We need to get back to them to get them here soon, or it’ll be too late.”

Farnsworth winced at that. “Selena, I don’t think you’re going to get a lot of help from the colonel on that score, not right away. We’ve pulled back from scouting for more survivors over the past two days, thanks to the bird people. We still have people going out for supplies, and if they happen across survivors they invite them as well. But only east of here. Not west. Any people we send west are met with immediate resistance.”

“Master Sergeant, I get that you guys are in the middle of your own war here, but I’m not letting my friends down,” I told him. “We’re going back to get them. With or without you.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. I just don’t think you’re going to get much help from the base. Not right now, not with everyone already on high alert and worried about the avians attacking our base.”

I didn’t doubt him. That was the vibe I’d been getting here since arriving. “Doesn’t change my plans. Where is Kara right now?”

“Probably getting lunch at the dining facility. Come on, I’ll take you there,” Farnsworth said. “I can get you a lunch on the house, at least.”

A short trip back across the base brought us to the building with their dining hall. It had been deeply modified, of course. Without power, the indoor stoves and ovens were trash, so they’d blown out the wall of the building, knocked it right down, and set up a series of shelter tents over the open space just outside it. There, they built cooking pits and wood-fired ovens. I could smell something good cooking from a ways off, and my mouth started watering.

“Is that pizza?” I asked.

Farnsworth shot me a grin. “Yup. Today’s the first day they’re serving it. We have buckets of tomato sauce and more flour than we know what to do with, but cheese has been an issue. We found a good supply of the stuff sealed in wax blocks, though. It won’t taste precisely like something from Blaze, but what I hear is they’re getting close.”

He led me into the line, and ordered us each a personal pizza. I took mine and a large plastic cup full of water, and followed him into the dining area proper. The lighting was dim inside, but there were enough windows that it was workable. So much had changed—we were going to need to relearn things like candle-making, I guessed, if we wanted interior lighting. Unless there were spells that did that. Maybe there was some crafting spell that could create lights that worked for a long time?

Like I said, so much to learn.

I spotted Kara already seated with a few locals and waved to her. She spotted me, waved back, and Farnsworth changed course to go to her table. We joined the collection of folks she’d been conversing with.

“Selena! How’s it going? This place is amazing!” Kara said. “We need to get the rest of my group back here as soon as we can. This will be perfect for them.”

“Yeah, it will,” I replied. “That may be trickier than we’d hoped, though.”

I explained the situation with the bird people, and how the Guard base was pretty much playing defense for the time being. The implications I got from Turner and Farnsworth were that they intended to push back hard against the avians, soon, but that they weren’t ready for it yet. Our friends didn’t have time to wait.

“So I’m going back anyway,” I told Kara. “These guys have a base to defend, and hundreds of civilians to protect. They can’t send a large enough force to punch through the enemy lines, and they’re not ready for a big showdown against the avians yet. But I don’t need to punch through them; I’m hoping I can slip past, instead. Then I’ll get Alfred and his people together and bring them back here.”

“Sounds good. When do we go?” Kara asked.

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to come,” I told her. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, either. She wasn’t weak, but she wasn’t as strong in combat as me. She wasn’t even close. Kara wouldn’t be a burden, but this trip would be risky enough for me. It could be deadly for her.

“It’s dangerous, yada yada. I get it,” Kara replied. “But they’re my friends, too. I’m in.”

I looked into her eyes, saw the determination, and just nodded my acceptance. Sometimes, you have to just take people at their word and roll with it. “Okay. Then we need to go sooner rather than later. Come nightfall, the goblins will be even more active, and we’ll be easier to ambush, too.”

“But the avians won’t,” Farnsworth pointed out. He’d been mostly silent while I filled Kara in, but now he chimed in with some useful thoughts. “They’re much less active after dark. They pretty much all retreat inside, leaving a few guards out to watch for attacks. If there’s any time you can slip past them, night would be best.”

I wasn’t sure that was going to work. We’d already been away one night. For all we knew, the goblins had been attacking Alfred’s people for twenty-four hours already. If we didn’t move soon, it might be too late. The night would bring more danger from other monsters, too…

“He’s got a point,” Kara said. “And I have that NightVision stone you gave me. Using that, I ought to be able to spot any traps like the one that giant spider set. If waiting a few more hours maximizes our chances of success, we should think about it.”

“Can Alfred hold out that long, though?” I asked.

Kara nodded. “I have faith in him. He’s done a good job so far. He’s got a warrior’s heart.”

How different that description sounded from the man I’d known in my classes! Alfred had changed a lot. We were all changing; I’m sure I was different, too.

“Okay, if we’re going to wait until nightfall, we should get some sleep first,” I said. I turned to Farnsworth. “Is there a place we can crash for a few hours, get some rest?”

“Sure is,” he replied. “Finish your meals, and I’ll get you to a quiet room you can use until dusk.”

We had a plan. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was better than not having one. I wished the military had just been able to take all of this off my shoulders, that they’d simply had the troops to go fight the bad guys, save the good guys, and I could watch from relative safety. I was tired. Bone-deep exhausted, and the thought of going back out there into the mess the world had become didn’t appeal.

But this was the world we lived in, now.