Atlas and John settled into the newly made tavern, the comforting buzz of activity surrounding them as they ordered their meals from the vending machines.

“Thank goodness we don’t have to hire cooks with these machines here,” Atlas said as he tapped through the menu and selected a hamburger and fries, quickly entering his table number.

‘I can’t believe we were sitting in the dirt eating Soylent a week ago, and now I’m sitting in my own cozy tavern with a double cheeseburger.‘

John, already picking out his own meal, nodded in agreement, "I know, right? I’m getting tacos myself. Real ones! Not taco flavoured protein bars!"

"The best thing is," Atlas added, smiling while leaning back in his chair, "every meal we buy is subsidized by all our new visitors."

"Yeah," John said, his tone shifting to something more serious, "and that’s going to be a big thing here. Some of our citizens have already talked to me about how other people want to buy houses here and get citizenship. What do you think, Atlas?"

‘There are going to be so many issues to deal with, now I really know why Atlas looked me up before day one, pre portal. No single person could handle this.‘

Atlas paused, considering the implications. "That’s an interesting problem. On one hand, we want to keep our team cohesion tight, but on the other hand, it makes no sense to just shut everybody out. How do you feel about an auction?"

"An auction?" John looked intrigued.

"Yeah," Atlas continued, "why don’t we start auctioning off private residences, and each residency comes with citizenship to Fort Bone?"

John rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That’s an interesting idea. How many are you thinking about?"

"With our population of about a hundred people right now, maybe ten a day?" Atlas suggested.

John quickly shook his head. "Isn’t that too many?"

"Wait, you’re right," Atlas admitted, reconsidering. "Ten a day, and we’d be full up in no time. Alright, let’s go with three a day."

"That sounds more manageable," John agreed. "It gives us time to let the new people blend in."

"And it also gives us more time to get more leadership points," Atlas added. "Our capacity is 500 people for the whole town right now, but unless we start taking over more settlements and dungeons, that capacity isn’t going to be near enough for us to be the hub of an empire."

"So how are we going to sell those three residency slots?" John asked, curious.

"Easy," Atlas said with a grin. "I’ll take you over to the government kiosk later. All we have to do is enter the live auction button, announce it, and a holographic screen will pop up in the air with the countdown and timing."

"Smart," John said, already thinking ahead to how this could shape Fort Bone’s future.

‘‘‘

Snedlie grunted as he filled in yet another pit from the latrine, the stench rising around him like a curse. ‘With this new Fort Bone settlement turning into a town, I wonder how much longer they're gonna keep me on shit duty.‘ While it technically hadn't even been a month yet, every day doing this job was hell on Snedlie.

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He wiped the sweat from his brow, pondering his future.

‘I guess it doesn’t really matter. Not like there's a job worse than this.‘

He dug deeper, his shovel biting into the dirt, and his mind wandered to the idea of just walking away from it all.

‘The pros? Freedom. No more digging pits, no more smelling like a damn sewer. The cons? Death in the wilderness, torn apart by whatever the hell's out there.‘

He’d been wrestling with this thought for a while now. Not much else to do besides thinking while you're digging pits for poop. He was sick of newcomers staring at the sign glued to him as well. The original Portal Crushers, more or less ignored him, but tourists took the time to read the sign with his crimes on it and laugh.

Lost in thought, Snedlie didn’t notice the woman approaching until she was almost on top of him. She was a Black woman with a Covid-style face mask on, clearly one of the new visitors, definitely not a Portal Crusher. “You’re Snedlie, right?”

He looked up, irritation flashing across his face. “Yeah, so you can fucking read. What the fuck do you want?”

“My name’s Shaniqua,” she said calmly, unfazed by his attitude. “And what I want is to help you.”

Snedlie raised an eyebrow. “Help me? Oh, you’re paying off my fine? Mighty fine of you. Mighty fine,” he said, a smirk on his face.

“Something like that,” Shaniqua replied with a smile. “Well, follow me. I’ll tell you all about it.”

Snedlie didn’t need to be asked twice. If someone was offering a way out, he was damn well going to take it. The latrines could wait. He threw down his shovel and followed Shaniqua to a quieter part of the settlement. There, waiting in the shadows, were two other people—a man and a woman.

“Name’s Reggie,” said the man, with a shifty look in his eyes.

“And I’m Claire,” the woman added, her tone cool and detached.

Shaniqua crossed her arms and leaned against a tree. “So, Snedlie, how do you feel about getting out of here?”

Snedlie snorted. “That’d be great. What do you need me to do? Nobody wants me to do anything for free, so let’s cut the bullshit.”

Shaniqua’s smile widened. “It’s real simple. What we need you to do is for you to help yourself.”

Snedlie narrowed his eyes. “Cut the crap. What is it EXACTLY you really want me to do?”

Shaniqua stepped closer, her voice lowering. “Ha! Cut the crap. Guess you’ve got a lot of experience with crap, right?” She laughed. Snedlie wasn’t amused by the wordplay.

“What we’re gonna have you do is something that’s gonna fuck up Atlas and the Portal Crushers. But it’s gonna help you, and it’s gonna free you. How’s that sound?”

A slow grin spread across Snedlie’s face. ‘Fuck up Atlas? Yes, please! If he could escape and fuck up Atlas that would be Christmas coming early.‘

That was music to his ears. He had no loyalty to this settlement, no love lost for the so-called leaders who ran this place. “That sounds fucking great,” he said, his mind already racing with possibilities.

He didn’t care what it was. As long as it got him out of shit duty and out from under Atlas’s thumb, he was all in.

‘Fuck Atlas and his fucking laws.‘

Shaniqua looked around carefully, her eyes scanning the surroundings to make sure no one was within earshot. She leaned in closer to Snedlie, her voice low and conspiratorial. "You're still listed as a citizen here, right?"

Snedlie shrugged, a scowl crossing his face. "Yeah, not that it does me any good. They don't give me any coins, so I can't buy anything."

Shaniqua smiled. "That's perfect. What I need you to do is help me out with something tonight when the demon dogs attack."

Snedlie's eyes widened in alarm. "What? Fuck that! I’m not fighting no damn dogs! I'm not gonna be bait! I already dodged that bullet once." He remembered Ronald's grisly execution as bait for the demon dogs.

Shaniqua chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Oh no, it's something much safer. But before we get into that, why don't we get you cleaned up, get a couple of beers and a good meal into you?"

Snedlie blinked, surprised by the sudden generosity. ‘This is definitely turning out to be my lucky day,‘ he thought, unable to suppress a grin.

They headed to the new bathhouse-slash-sauna spa, where Snedlie got cleaned up for the first time in what felt like forever. By law, he still had to wear the jumpsuit with the sign attached reading "thief," but at least after a dousing in the river nearby, it wasn’t completely reeking of the latrine pits anymore. His clothes were now wet, and while he didn’t smell like roses, it was a vast improvement. The sign unfortunately was still very legible.

“Now that you don’t stink, let’s go discuss our plans,” Shaniqua said.

Changes would come to Fort Bone. And they were shitty ones,