The first thing that Eric noticed upon his return was that the crowd had shifted somewhat.
Before, they were scattered all over the place, concentrating loosely at the area in front of the dungeon. It wasn’t a coincidence that they did so though, it was because the supply storage was there, and the crowd gravitated toward it.
However, the crowd was now concentrated around something different. He scanned the area, identifying the direction that the crowd was facing. He followed where they were facing and noticed a destroyed cabin.
It took him a moment to recognize it, but when he did, he was a bit surprised. That’s my cabin, isn’t it? he thought to himself.
Eric chuckled internally. If he were being honest, he didn’t really care. Before the integration, the only things he cared about in terms of personal property, were his phone and his computer, even then, he was fine with losing his phone. The cabin had neither.
He really only used it to rest, or he would’ve if had gotten the chance, and recently he had given it away, to be used by the three leaders of the city refugees.
Eric turned to Marcus, who had stopped pushing the platform cart at the same time that he stopped moving. Eric fixed his grip on the blue crate he was holding, moving it slightly, signaling to Marcus that he was going to put it on the cart.
Marcus understood what Eric wanted to do and walked toward him. He moved some of the other equipment that was already on the platform and made enough space for Eric’s crate.
Eric put down a plastic crate full of various electronics, and both he and Marcus stared at the various items on the platform for a second, making sure that nothing fell. Seeing that everything remained in its place, Eric turned toward the crowd.
He walked through the crowd, maneuvering as best he could so as to not cause a disturbance. Even though the crowd was very tense and talked in hushed whispers, it was very calm. It was almost as if something had stunned them into their current state.
As he advanced, he raised his head to look at what was in front, quickly noticing two large figures near the cabin. He could clearly make out the two people, one was Alex, and the other was one of the people who had come from the city, one of the three who were supposed to be using his cabin. He makes Alex look tiny, Eric thought to himself.
Upon arriving before the two, he noticed that behind them were three seemingly unconscious people.
Eric quickly looked at the three unconscious people, noticing some bruising and small traces of blood across their bodies. However, he also noticed that some of those injuries looked considerably older than anything they could’ve gotten today. All in all, Eric didn’t consider it anything major, he barely qualified them as superficial wounds when compared to the wounds he had suffered lately.
Eric turned his attention toward Alex, his expression not hiding the anger he felt. He then turned to the stranger, not really getting anything from him, his face was beyond impassive. The stranger’s face wasn’t one of indifference, Eric could tell that it was more professional than that, like he was used to hiding his emotions.
Finally, having gathered all he could through sight alone, Eric spoke. “What happened here?” he asked. “You guys do that?” he added, pointing at the three bruised people.
Alex, finally noticing Eric, lost most of his tension. “They jumped Caleb while he brought some food for them,” Alex answered, pointing at the man beside him.
“And the cabin?” Eric asked, ignoring the mention of Caleb.
“It was a lot of them, Eric, but only these three tried to fight us,” Alex said, turning to look at the crowd. A good number of people recoiled the moment Alex turned to look at them.
“You should understand, it’s been a rough few days,” the man said, finally speaking, his face unchanged.
Eric was stunned by his deep voice. “That’s cool…” he said like a child. He shook his head lightly. “Sorry, who are you?” he asked, regaining his composure.
“My name is Connor,” he answered simply.
Eric nodded at his answer, storing the name in a place in his mind that ensured he would never forget it, unlike so many others. “Still, how?” Eric asked, gesturing at the destroyed cabin.
“Skills,” Alex answered. “A good chunk of them have body reinforcement skills. I’m pretty sure most, if not all, of them are level two, but when that many people attack, even at level two, the cabin didn’t stand a chance.”
Eric was about to ask another question, when Alex raised his hand, stopping him. Alex then looked around, quickly finding his target, David, who was currently watching the situation unfold from behind the crowd.
Alex, having caught David’s attention, pointed at his spot and at the cabin. David seemed to have understood what Alex meant and nodded. He called some people from nearby and started walking toward the cabin, tools in hand.
“Let’s go,” Alex said to both Connor and Eric as soon as David was close enough. However, as they walked, Alex noticed Marcus. “You forgot about him, didn’t you?” he asked, glancing at Eric, who looked at Marcus with a bit of astonishment. “Let’s help him, and then we’ll go meet the others.”
They moved all the stuff Marcus had brought with him to the back of the workshop. The carpenters had made a small adjoining room so that he could store excess stuff in there. It took them a moment because of just how much stuff they had brought back and how limited the space was, but they accomplished their task.
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Eric noticed that while he rarely talked, Connor was very adept at working in a team. It wasn’t that he was good at following orders, it was more about him knowing where he was needed and how.
He knew before Marcus did that he was going to struggle to lift something up, so he would grab the other end. He would move things out of the way, before they became an inconvenience.
They were small things, but Eric noticed them all. It wasn’t that he was hyper-focused on Connor because he thought he was cool, of course not, they were obvious things that anyone would have noticed.
Eric turned the corner of the cabin and stepped into the workshop, greeted by the sight of four people inside. Stella, Anna were there, along with a woman and a man he didn’t know but did recognize from when he helped move them into the now destroyed cabin.
The man was older, maybe in his late fifties, early sixties. He was muscular, not gym muscles, but manual labor muscles. He had the type of muscles you develop when you repeat the same action multiple times regardless of form or future health complications. All his hair was white and short, including his beard.
In contrast, the woman was considerably younger, at most, early thirties. She was wearing clothes similar to what Connor was. Light clothes with light armor on her chest, arms, and legs. She had dark brown hair and piercing brown eyes that gave the impression that nothing could be hidden from them.
However, none of that mattered to Eric, he was more interested in the mosaic flower tattoo on the back of her left hand. He found it neat and detailed.
“Hi, I’m Lydia. Are you done ogling me?” she asked, her tone kind at first, but turning sharp toward the end. The shift in her voice caught everyone by surprise.
Eric raised an eyebrow, clearly entertained by her. “No,” he replied with a smirk, “I’d actually like a better look.”
“No.” Stella interjected sternly. “We’re actually here to work. So, stop whatever this is,” she said, looking directly at Eric.
Before the atmosphere became any more awkward, the older man spoke up. “She means well,” he said, padding Lydia on the shoulder. “Name’s Samuel, but I prefer Sam. Shall we get down to business?” he asked, adjusting himself in his chair. “First things first, who’s in charge here? Don’t wanna step on any toes.”
The four turned to look at Eric, who was clearly ignoring their gazes.
“Ignore them,” Eric said, waving his hand dismissively. “I consider myself more of a landowner, while these two,” he gestured to Stella and Alex, “are like maintenance and security.”
“Sounds like we work for you,” Alex said as he leaned against the wall. “When do we get paid? What about benefits? Dental?”
“When people start paying rent,” Eric answered as his smirk widened. "But for now? Yeah, you’re stuck on minimum wage. Sorry, tough economy and all that.”
Alex clicked his tongue. "Fine, I really need the job," he said, his face seeming to be downcast.
Eric looked at Alex with a bewildered expression. "If I didn't know you, I might actually believe you. You rich fuck."
Alex chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. But what does money even matter now?" he said, with a mocking grin. "It’s all about credits these days."
The light banter that the two exchanged eased the tension that was in the room, making the others smile a bit.
“You guys done?” Stella asked, amused as she shook her head. She turned her attention to Sam and Lydia, who seemed a bit lost. “Do you guys know how many people came with you?” She paused to reconsider her question. “No, how many were supposed to arrive with you?” she corrected.
Sam and Lydia looked at each other, both expecting the other to speak up. Sam, noticing that Lydia was reluctant, took the lead. “Not going to lie to ya, we weren’t really keeping track. Not by the end anyhow.”
“Don’t you guys have a way of checking that?” Lydia asked.
“Only the people currently on our land,” Eric answered her. “But I think Stella wants to know in case we need to go and retrieve some people.”
“I can tell’ya that ya should,” Sam said, his face suddenly suddenly lighting up with hope. “We got scattered like three different times. In fact, let us go right now. I’ll lead ya!” he exclaimed, suddenly full of energy.
“Stop,” Eric said in a monotone voice. When Sam turned to look at him, Eric casually gestured to Stella, as if to imply it hadn’t been him who told Sam to stop.
Stella shook her head slightly. “We can’t really send people to look through the entire road,” she began. “I think we should post some sort of signage that leads them to us. With the ease that you had getting here—barring the trolls—it should be safe for everyone else.”
Lydia hadn’t really been looking at anyone in particular, but as soon as Stella said the word “trolls,” her eyes darted to her, anxious for her to finish speaking, so she herself could jump in.
“Speaking of the trolls, how did you guys defeat them so easily?” she asked, her voice hurried and tinged with desperation.
Alex was about to answer, but upon seeing the desperation in her expression, stopped to reconsider his answer. It was clear that she didn’t want an actual answer—she wanted a reason to admonish herself.
She wanted an answer that would say to her, “If these people could do it, why couldn’t you?” It would serve as a justification for the guilt she felt.
Everyone else in the room had also noticed the true intentions behind Lydia’s question, it was clear as day—except for Eric.
Eric was always a coin toss: he either picked up on to the slightest of gestures and inferred something so obscure it would appear that he made it up, or the current situation, where everybody but him knew what was going on. Luckily, before Eric could speak, Anna stepped in.
“We had several advantages.” Anna said as she tapped the ground with the tip of her sword. “The safe zone weakens monsters, so the trolls weren’t as strong here as they were in the city.” She then pointed toward the dungeon. “That dungeon made us stronger. According to Alex, you guys haven’t really killed anything, right? We have. We’re all level ten.”
Anna spoke with the calm and understanding tone of an emergency service worker. She was like a firefighter, explaining what happened, why it happened, and emphasizing the parts that made it clear that there wasn’t anything Lydia could’ve done given the circumstances.
Lydia’s expression visibly softened. They had no way of knowing if Anna’s words had actually resonated with her on some level and had managed to change her perspective. But right now, they didn’t have the luxury of reassuring her, they had much bigger issues brewing, which they seemed to have forgotten.
Stella was the first to remember as she shot a glance at Eric, thought about it for a second and instead shifted her gaze toward Marcus. “What about the garden?” she asked with a furrowed brow, feeling somewhat angry though she wasn't sure who it was directed at.
Marcus was a bit startled by Stella’s rapid change in demeanor. “Everything is fine,” he said slowly, inching his body away from her. “It’s just… it was too much food. We helped them most of the way, but they wanted to rest, so we arrived first.”
“Don’t eat the peppers,” Eric added with a laugh.
“Yeah! Definitely don’t eat the peppers,” Marcus confirmed, his expression showing a hint of fear.
Everyone looked at the two, their faces filled with curiosity.
----------
The crowd that was gathered outside had calmed down. While some people were initially more than ready and willing to forcefully demand more food, Alex’s quick and domineering display of physical aptitude had more than quelled their feelings of rebellion.
Furthermore, seeing how everyone else who seemed to already be a part of this community was just ignoring them, they felt like their fire had been doused with the water that was their indifference. Neither their hunger nor their thirst had changed, but their spirits had.
Somewhere in the back of the crowd, a quiet exchange took place as one person whispered into another's ear, handing them a knife.
It was a brief interaction, barely noticeable given the situation, and the crowd was too preoccupied with their own issues to pay any attention to what was happening around them.