The Journey back to the village was uneventful for the scout party. Jack was still positioned in the middle of the group but didn’t let it bother him much. In reality, the group positioned themselves in this manner to protect him. If Jack knew this, he would probably laugh out loud.

Less than an hour of traveling later, the outskirts of a small village could be seen.

No way! They made this much progress in only a few days?!

Unknown to Jack it had already been nearly a week since his arrival on Eidolon.

There were tents set up in a large perimeter. There had to be over a hundred. Groups of people could be seen doing simple tasks like tending fires, skinning small animals with carbon blades, or participating in the construction of the few wooden buildings in their nifty little village.

Jack was completely astonished. They had made so much progress in such a short time and even had a stable environment. Whoever managed this settlement must be one hell of a leader.

The leader of the scouts stopped at the edge of the village and turned back to the men in formation. “Everyone but Henry and Andrew are dismissed. You can return to your tents and get lunch. Take a break, there’s a good chance you’ll need it.”

As the men wearily dispersed back to their tents to eat and rest, the scout leader looked at the remaining 3 men. “Henry, Andrew… and YOU, follow me. We need to inform Kane about what we found.” Jack knew the man meant him. He didn’t know what this guy’s problem was, but he didn’t think he’d be able to take his high and mighty attitude for long.

Jack passed several tents and small constructs during the trip to this village leader the irritating scout had mentioned. In the center of the village-sized camp stood a large tent, clearly stitched together from smaller ones. The group entered the tent to see a man using a large cut log as a desk with a smaller one carved into a makeshift chair.

The man had long light brown hair hanging down to the middle of his neck, neatly parted to the side. Fair tanned skin and a slim but muscular body made the man seem like a stereotypical surfer dude. The only difference was the man was wearing military attire like the rest of the survivors.

Hearing the newcomers walk into the tent, the man looked up from a makeshift map he was drawing on the surface of his desk with a crude charcoal pencil. “Ah! Nathan, you’re back. I hope we have good news regarding the new camp location.”

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The irritating scout that Jack now knew as Nathan gave his response straight to the point.

“Yes, but there’s both good and bad news it seems. The area around the large rock formation is almost perfectly ideal for a permanent location for a settlement and it’s fairly close to the only river we’ve managed to locate so far.”

Kane leaned forward in his log-chair and placed his elbows on his desk. “What’s the bad news?” He asked seriously, all positive expression gone from his face.

“The scouts found what seems to be the aftermath of a battle between two or more extremely large predators. The area was covered in blood and the trees for dozens of feet were decimated. It’s clear that whatever lives in the area isn’t something we can take on now, I’m afraid not even you could do it.”

Those last words got Jack’s attention. Based on the wording, it seemed that this Kane figure was quite something. Jack’s curiosity was peaked from this moment on. He wanted to find out more about this man. Even Mr. Ego, seemed to have respect for him.

Kane seemed to feel Jack’s gaze as he turned to him next. “And you are?”

Jack was surprised to see the man address him directly after having Nathan ignore him for so long. He thought he might get to like this guy.

Seeing that the man wasn’t so uptight, Jack relaxed and went on to answer the question.

“I’m Jack. I was just picked up by Mr. Grumpy here from that same area you wanted to scout.”

Jack jerked his thumb to point at Nathan who bristled at the nickname.

“Pfft, Hahaha. Ok… Jack. Having a good sense of humor is important, especially in this new world. “ Kane narrowed his eyes “Now, would you mind telling me why you were in the area and how you’ve survived this long in the first place?”

Jack felt the hairs on his neck stand up as he looked into the eyes of the village leader.

This guy is dangerous. I don’t know how I know… I need to be careful here. I don’t think I’d lose in a fight, but I’d rather not find out.

Jack’s heart pounded, not in fear, but in excitement. He hadn’t realized yet, but he liked danger. He liked things that could threaten him. He enjoyed the feeling of being on the edge. It’s what it felt like to be a predator in a world of predators, and he wanted- no, NEEDED to be on top. He NEEDED to get stronger and the only way to do that was to encounter strong enemies.

Jack didn’t recognize these feelings for what they truly were and instead interpreted it as a sense of anxiety.

Calming his heart, he repeated his made-up story for the third time.

Kane mulled over Jack’s words for a few moments before coming up with a verdict. “ Ok, according to everything we’ve seen so far your story checks out. I think it would be for the best if you joined us. We really need the manpower, and you look like you could be a big help around here.”

Jack immediately knew the man was going for flattery on this one. Appeal to someone’s pride and you can get them to do things they normally wouldn’t do. He knew this tactic. His father used to use it all the time. He knew what Kane was doing but didn’t care much. Staying in a village might be a good thing for him.

I’ll check it out. If I don’t like it here, I can just leave and find another group later.

Jack smiled and vocalized his decision. “Sounds good. Where do I sign up?”