Chapter 66 - The Uncertain Future

We arrived at the airport at quarter past noon. Having a wristwatch was a boon sometimes, although every time I looked at the face I was reminded of all the people who hadn’t survived the first week after the Event. The world had changed. Some of us had managed to change with it. Others, not so much. It was a bittersweet thought.

Almost the moment we crossed onto the open area of the runways, the avians took notice of us. I grinned as I saw a flock of them take to the sky, winging our way. I wasn’t worried. Kara had her bow out, and my archers were at the ready… But I didn’t think we were going to need them.

As soon as the bird-people came into range, I ordered Sue to use their new special attack. The titan looked skyward, tracking the incoming targets. Then Sue opened their mouth and spat an enormous fireball directly at the avians.

I’d added the Fireball spell to her using Minion Augmentation, and it turned out to be an excellent idea. It was like riding my own skeletal Godzilla into battle, and I was loving it! The Fireball detonated against one of the bird-men and caught a second in the blast. Both of them tumbled to the ground, burning as they fell. The thuds when they hit the pavement were audible even at a distance.

The rest of the flock decided that discretion was the better part of valor. They turned around and fled back to their tower.

I looted a pair of tier two Charisma stones from their dead. Holy crap, but I was getting a ton of those things. That was unfortunate, because I really didn’t want the sort of control they gave over other people, and I didn’t want Turner to have more of them either. It was a sticky moral dilemma I still hadn’t figured out. I felt confident I could keep my Will high enough that he wouldn’t be able to manipulate me, but what about other people?

Farnsworth and his team strolled out to meet us partway across the runways. He was shaking his head and grinning when he saw me riding Sue. “Of course you found a dinosaur. Where the hell did you find a dinosaur?”

“Class trip,” I replied with a grin to match his. “The goblins I mentioned, the ones causing us issues west of here?”

“Yeah?”

“They won’t be bothering anyone anymore.”

“Nice. Well, looks like you’ve taught the birdies a lesson about screwing with you, too,” Farnsworth added. “We could use that sort of firepower. I don’t think I’m going to be allowed to let you bring that thing inside the walls, though.”

I’d expected as much. They liked me as an ally well enough; they just didn’t trust me, not wholly anyway. I’d gone and done my own thing when they couldn’t or wouldn’t send people to help Alfred. More than that, I was just too strong. Farnsworth couldn’t stand against me, not with Sue at my side, and I was pretty sure he was the strongest fighter they had. If I wanted to cause trouble for the Guard, I could. None of their other residents could say the same. Even the ones strong enough to make waves were under the control of Turner’s Charisma.

It wasn’t a major issue, since I wasn’t planning to stay long anyway. “Not a problem. I’m making some trades and heading back out. But these are the refugees I was telling you about. They could use a place to stay.”

“They’re absolutely welcome,” Farnsworth replied. He turned to address the entire group. “Everyone works, here, mind. There’s no slacking. If you’re a fighter, you can join our Guard force. Or you can help in a lot of other ways. Up to you. But more hands are always good to have.”

I stuck around for a few hours while Alfred and his people were run through medical, checked out for any major problems or illnesses, and given temporary lodging. Farnsworth took me to Maura where I swapped in a bunch of my less useful stones for credits. Not the Charisma crystals, though. For now, I hung onto those.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Fourteen credits gave me enough bargaining power to pick up a lot of stuff I figured I was going to need, with a big focus on food. Setting up that fort again was going to take some time, and I wanted to be sure I had the supplies to make it work. I traded in most of the credits on foodstuffs, but some I spent on more frivolous things. I’d remembered how much I liked coffee from the cup Kara brought me earlier, so a tin of instant coffee went in the pile, along with several big water bladders, a couple of cots, sleeping bags, and actual pillows.

Yeah, I didn’t need a pillow, but damn, sleep without one for a week and you’ll miss having one, too. The Guard must have raided an outdoor-living store, because they had a ton of camping supplies. I grabbed some camping cookware, too.

Once I’d wrapped everything I needed, I had it brought out to the main gate. Sue and the rest of my undead were waiting for me just outside, and the Guard helped strap the packages to Sue’s bones.

“You sure you won’t stay?” Farnsworth asked. “We could use you, and you’d be as welcome as your friends.”

I wasn’t entirely sure that was true. Colonel Turner had been a gracious host, as always, but he still gave off the vibe that he wasn’t wholly comfortable with me around. My high Will made me a threat to his control, and that would be enough to make any leader nervous. Coupled with the fire-breathing dinosaur, it was hard to blame him for not rolling out the red carpet.

“I won’t be far,” I told him. “You run into trouble, just send a runner to let me know. I’ll come help. You’ve got my friends here, after all—I put a lot of work into getting them someplace safe. I’m not just taking off and leaving them.”

For now, anyway. I still worried about my parents. They were over a hundred miles away, which was only a couple hours drive in the old days. Now? It would take me days to get that far, even with Sue to help. Sooner or later I needed to make that journey, but it wouldn’t be today. The distance for that trip was long, and I wanted to be as strong as possible before I started off.

“Good enough,” he replied. “Be safe out there. Though I think I ought to be saying that to the monsters, when you’re around. You won’t have too much to worry about.”

Kara came outside the gate, a large backpack slung over her shoulder. She’d re-armed herself, too—better bow, lots more arrows, improved armor, and that was just what I could see without peeking into her pack. She was huffing a bit under the load, but Farnsworth helped her get the pack attached to Sue’s back.

“You bring enough gear?” I asked, amused.

“Everything I need!” Kara replied. “I’m ready for the next adventure.”

“Of, good. Because if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that we have plenty of that ahead of us,” I replied. I was already seated on Sue’s back, so I reached down a hand to Kara. “Up you go!”

She pulled herself onto the titan’s back, settling in just behind me. The other undead formed up around Sue, and we were ready to get underway.

Cheers and shouts caught my attention, and I looked to the right, toward the wall around the base. Alfred was there—Samson too! With them were maybe a dozen of their other people, all of them waving and cheering as we set off.

“Be safe out there!” Alfred called. “And thank you, Selena. For saving us, for bringing us here. You too, Kara.”

“Best of luck to you both!” Samson called.

“Back at you!” Kara hollered back. “We’ll be fine. Selena’s the toughest bad-ass in the area. See you all soon!”

I looked back at Kara and raised an eyebrow. “Toughest bad-ass?”

“Who else would it be?” she replied, grinning.

Boy, I hoped that she was right, but I wasn’t so sure. There were other forces out there in the world. By this time, some of them would likely be at least as strong as I was. A few might even be stronger. I’d grown a lot, learned a ton, and become more powerful through all these crystals than I’d ever thought possible. These were still early days, though. The Event happened a week prior, and in such a short time it felt like everything had changed.

The truth was, we’d barely scratched the surface of what was to come. Humanity had begun adapting to the Event. Many of us had died; those still alive were stronger and better suited to survival than we’d ever been. New societies like the one at the Guard base were beginning to form and flourish.

Where things went in the long run, though, was still anyone’s guess. But that was part of the adventure, wasn’t it? Not knowing what would happen next? I’d come to expect the unexpected, and even relish the danger, which was almost as weird to me as the Event itself had been. I wasn’t the person I’d been, before. None of us were.

“Well, let’s go set that fort up,” I told her. “Then we need to see out exploring more of this new world. There’s a lot out there, and I want to see all of it.”

“Sounds great to me,” Kara replied. “Lead on, McDuck.”

I groaned at the pun, and she just laughed while I set Sue into motion, moving us back across a runway that was notably clear of nearby avians. They watched us from a great distance, but none of them tried to get close enough for Sue to Fireball them. Further proof they weren’t stupid animals, which made me wonder if there wasn’t a way to cooperate with them rather than fighting them.

A question for another day. That day, the sun was warm and bright, the sky clear, and we were riding off toward the uncertain future in as good shape as I could ask.