The principal and vice principal introduced themselves. The woman in the suit, the one who seemed to be making life most difficult for the new students, was the principal.

“If they do not have paperwork, that will make integrating the children difficult,” she continued. “Though we will, of course, accommodate them as best as we can, I am afraid that they will have to be put in remedial classes at the very least.”

“Our friends are talking to the mayor right now,” Baara said, voice desperate. “I'm sure they'll figure something out!”

The Vice Principal's smile faltered. “Don't... don't put too much hope into that, hm?”

“Wait,” Josh said with a frown. “Friends? Who else is there?” He looked over the crowd again. It looked like everybody he had seen at Manny's entertainment nights, minus the adults of course. “Did some of...” He didn't want to remind them of their parents. “Did anyone else come?”

Baara looked down at the ground. “Not very many. Most stayed behind to help with the, you know, the defense.” She took a deep breath and managed a smile. “Manny's wife and mother came, but Manny was lost before the last retreat. And of course Mama was sure to send us—”

She was interrupted by a voice drifting from out behind him.

The voice sent chills down his spine.

It was the voice of a ghost. The voice of a dead woman. It reached out, grabbed his spine, and ratcheted up his brain to a thousand percent. In seconds, he went through every single possibility in his mind.

It couldn't be.

Vashti could have sent them out to keep the kids safe. They would be superior choices for numerous reasons. They were high-leveled, with a diverse suite of abilities, and they were experienced in combat.

But he couldn't help but feel that it was wishful thinking. He would have sent them out to keep them safe, but Mayor Vashti would have had different priorities. She would have wanted to keep them close, to help burn the horde more at the end.

This could be a monster. A voice mimic, something trying to draw him into a trap. Yes, that was it. That was the only thing that made any sense.

He looked down at Baara, but she wasn't readying the big spear on her back or moving to defend herself. She didn't even look worried.

His mind went to even more absurd places. All sorts of nightmare scenarios. Maybe Baara was a flesh-mimic. He didn't know her that well. Maybe the whole town was a mimic nest, a trap made just for him.

It was a mad thought. Mad, self-centered, and delusional.

But it was the only thing that made sense. The only other option was... impossible.

Slowly, as if the whole world was a set made out of sugar, Josh turned around.

Three people stood at the door. One was tall and skinny, with a cowboy hat and two pistols holstered on her hips. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and was glaring at him for ignoring her.

The second was a short dark-skinned woman, with a hammer bigger than she was on her back. She wore a skirt that she could run in, a light top that would work for exercise, and a grin so broad that it looked like her head might split in half.

The third was a black man with a large Afro and thick glasses. He wore the simple collared shirt and slacks of a teacher or professor, though they had clearly seen better days. He didn't seem to be armed, though Josh recognized shroud focuses on his arms.

“Well?” Mary asked, cocking her head. “You gonna just stand there gawking all day?”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Josh stepped forward, pushing through the gaggle of children, and gave her a massive hug. He picked her up bodily and crushed her in his arms without saying a single word.

She didn't protest. She just laughed and patted him on the back. “Yeah yeah, you big lug. Get it all out.”

Josh held her for another few moments, then put her down. He wiped his eyes, pretended not to notice Mary doing the same, and grinned. “Should have known I couldn't get rid of you that easily.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a big grin. “I'd have haunted you so much.”

Something clutched onto Josh's side. He thought it was one of the kids at first, but when he looked down, he saw Ruth clutching onto him, her face buried in his chest.

“We thought we lost you,” she whispered. She looked up, eyes shimmering under her mask. “You got grabbed right in front of me! I thought I got you killed because I wasn't good enough!”

He smiled and patted her on the head. He understood the sentiment. He had thought... He had thought that he was all alone again.

“Sorry, I got kidnapped by an elf.”

Ruth cocked her head in confusion. At least she didn't look like she was about to cry any more.

Darius adjusted his glasses. “Is that supposed to be some sort of new slang?”

Josh sighed, but he couldn't actually suppress the massive grin on his face. “No, unfortunately not.” He looked around. The kids and the teachers were all looking at them with various levels of curiosity. “You were doing something for this lot, yeah? Why don't you finish this up, and we'll find somewhere to talk.”

Darius gave the news from the mayor. While there were no backups for paperwork, Josh's friends had managed to convince him to accept the word of the kids on what classes they belonged in. If they fell behind, well, they'd fall behind. They could always be put in remedial classes later.

The principal seemed to think that the lack of paperwork was a personal affront. As if they had specifically decided not to bring all that when they were fleeing a monster horde. But she folded in the end, and the vice-principal was excited to have so many new faces.

Baara promised she would keep the kids focused on their schoolwork. Unspoken was the fact that if they were distracted, they'd have less of a chance to think about what they had lost. It would hit them eventually, but they could... mitigate the damage.

Josh thought Baara herself was doing something similar. She seemed fine, but she also had an important task to organize. Once she finished getting the kids settled, she might just collapse.

They had also managed to secure housing for everyone from the village. That had apparently been a bit trickier, as space was at a premium out here. Well, relatively. The mayor certainly wasn't going to just hand out a couple acres to newcomers like what happened in Gilroy. Still, Ruth had managed to talk him down to a reasonable rent. Or what she called a reasonable rent. Josh's eye twitched uncontrollably when she gave him the number. The adults would be able to cover it for the kids, with some trouble.

“And that's why we're on the south side!” Ruth finished, with perfect timing. She spread her arms wide to show off as they arrived at their new home. It was a squat log cabin, one of eight in a row, right next to the palisade. “We're on the third ring, so farthest from the pit. We're on the south side, so farthest from the trade routes.” She smiled and shrugged. “But I don't think it's so bad! It's cheap!”

“The kids are going to have to walk quite far to get to school,” Darius said. He looked over the accommodations and pursed his lips. “I don't suppose there is some sort of taxi service that they will be able to avail themselves of?”

Mary waved her hand flippantly. “Nah, they'll figure something out. We got other stuff to talk about.” She elbowed Josh in the ribs. “Elfy problems, right?”

He grinned. “Yeah, something like that.” He nodded at the cabin. “Let's get inside, get settled. I'll tell you everything.”

The cabin was completely empty. There was no furniture. No tables, no chairs, no beds. Not even any cabinets. It was nothing but a wooden cube made out of logs that had been cut down, stripped of branches, and stacked in place. There wasn't even mud packed between the logs, so they would provide almost no protection against the heat in the summer or the cold in the winter.

He sighed. “Maybe we should chop down a couple trees first. Start building things.” His rear would appreciate a seat, even one without a real cushion.

“Oh no,” Mary said. She forced him to sit on the floor. The rest of them sat around him in a semicircle. “We're getting this out of you if it's the last thing we do. That means we're doing it now.”

He looked at his friends. Friends he had never thought he would see again, who he had already resolved himself to having lost forever.

That aching emptiness in his heart was already being filled again.

He smiled. “Yeah. There's a lot to go over.”