The monks moved in as Finley and Sonya got to work. The order of business was walls twice their height, to start with. Sonya had said something about making a bigger wall this time. She would live up to that, if nothing else.

"We want to make it two acres at least," she said, extending her arms encompass two city blocks worth of space. "As this will be the safe zone. Or staging area. Where I put my tent for certain."

Finley nodded using his own hands and eyes as a crude measurement of space.

"I don't grok what an acre is, but if you show me, then I'll probably understand. You humans and your varied units of measurement. Weren't you the one who told me about killer meters?"

"Kilometers. They are like leagues but different," Sonya said, waving her hands. "Not better, just different. Though Anthony and his people, they will use absolutely anything except the metric system."

"Your strange words make me believe that we are not too different," Finley said, raising plant roots through the dirt wall, fixing it in place. "You should hear what the orcs do in their counting methods."

"They got a slew of zombies in the center of town now. I think I see Stella stabbing a few with a spear. She wouldn't be doing that unless they were doing the double tap."

Finley finished a section twice as wide as his arm span, and paused to inspect his work. Sonya sidled up next to him.

"That is such a specific rule. I had never thought about this."

"I love that. You're a good guy, Finley. It just shows that you weren't a killer before. That's normal. Did most people fight monsters in the before times?" She said, raising up the next block of earth. "Back on earth all the guys where I was from were good but it was a bit too-"

"Too good? Is that a thing?"

"No more like, they were too passive. I wanted someone who would treat me like a lady, but I never got that. What I got was guys that treated me like a buddy and things weren't clear as to their intentions."

"That sounds rough, buddy," Finley said, unsure of the protocol. Courtship was not something that he was keen to experience at the current moment.

Sonya completed another block. They found it easier to work block by block and had gotten into a rhythm. On top of the part that they had already worked, two people were on lookout, having taken the opportunity to get above the madding crowds.

"Thanks, I guess. Ah, hold up a tic," Sonya said. "They're heading in now."

"Alright."

The pair paused their work. All eyes were on the first house as Sophie tried the door.

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It was unlocked.

"Does nobody lock their doors here?" Sophie said, pulling the door all the way out. "Were you all raised in a barn or something?"

Stella held the spear at the ready in case of a zombie. Sophie backed her up, a second spearhead, always good in a fight or a tea party.

"No gods, no masters," Stella whispered as she put just the tip of her spear inside the door.

They waited a tense five seconds before heading in. Bob walked in with his crossbow fully loaded and raised like his eyebrows.

The first room was empty, opening into a hallway. There were a few doors, as well as a stairway to the second floor.

Stella opened the door to the first one, letting Sophie take point next. She hiked up her grip on her spear before looking into what was obviously some a disheveled living room. Bob walked through quickly before turning back to guard their rear.

Sophie motioned to hit the next door, and they continued on. Door after door opened and none of the rooms had any hidden zombies. They kept their posture up, clearing room after room as nothing came up.

They exited the back of the house, then went around it twice looking for anything else out of the place. They waved to the caravan, half a block north. Two men waved back.

"Bob, do you want to take point next?" Stella said.

"Let's go then," he said.

The back door of the second house was entirely missing so they made their way to it. A single zombie walked out, it having the slowest reaction time that Sophie had ever seen.

Bob sighted it down, shooting it in the head. Then it jerked back, giving Sophie a chance to dispatch it up close.

She took that option.

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"A larger lot this time? I can say that I blame you for making this one larger than the last," Finley said, putting the last touches on the southern wall. One of the biggest changes was adding some ramps and stairs on what would be the interior of their staging area. It was something that Anthony had suggested.

"I like a bit of land to stretch out. There's only so many houses here that we can expect to find zombies in as well," Sonya said.

With the newest design, there would only be an escape route to the north, though they could easily make one in the road to the south. Sonya had demonstrated that she could just as easily lower the earthen wall if needed. Finley just didn't like feeling trapped.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Bob and his crew were working their way to create a safe perimeter. Finley expected less zombies here than in Plainsmount, due to the distance from other sites. Here, nomadic dwarves and other species roamed the plains with their tribes. Or at least they had done so.

"I'm wondering if any of the nomadic people here made it. It's a long shot. I don't know why I was spared," Finley said.

"How would we know? About the nomads, I mean. Would they be visible?"

"The ones I met had yurts with them when they traveled. A few of the tribes even had orcs with them. Their green skins and the yurts were a stark contrast with the rest of the plains."

"That would be imminently noticeable. Especially with the savannas like this. I'll keep my eyes peeled."

"Thanks."

Bob gave them a thumbs up. They moved up to create the side walls on the east and the west. The southern wall was thick enough to stand on top of and walk about. It was a point of pride for the resident warlock, something that Sonya had worked hard to do. It took them a little bit of time to join the Northern and Southern Walls on both sides. Satisfied that they were at least secure for now, Finley and Sonya took a break.

They returned to the wagons and horses. Anthony was breaking out tenting supplies. Several hands were helping him set up a sleeping tent not far from the houses, as others brought out anything useful.

Finley wished that he could set up a fire for the camp but he had other things to do. As the elf in charge of the horses, he needed to do a cursory inspection before he ate.

Sonya handed him a sandwich of indeterminate origin. The pair of them ate in silence for a little bit. He didn't want to know where it had come from, and she didn't say. It tasted in between well cooked and overcooked.

Before too long they were back at it. A pair of warriors guarded the opening to their staging grounds. One of the monks was the look out on the southern wall.

Only a skeleton crew remained inside of the camp. Everyone else was working salvage operations, concentrating on the two houses inside of the walls.

As soon as Bob's team cleared a house, Andrew and his crew would get in. They would take whatever was useful, then leave. If they found anything they would take it to the staging grounds to be sorted by the skeleton crew.

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It took two hours to identify all the remaining zombies in Arva and kill them. The rest of the time started the salvage process. None of the owners remained. There were no sign of any nomadic people, much to Anthony's chagrin.

He examined the first batch of salvage. Precious few medical supplies joined his hoard.

The salvage teams had sorted items into useful and slightly less useful piles. Aside from the food, nothing stood out as much as the gauze they found. The long thing paper like wraps were on point. If Anthony ever needed to wrap someone head to toe, he would be able to turn them into a mummy.

He shuddered at the thought of a powerful undead mummy, hoping that this world didn't have such horrors.

He didn't know what he didn't know. He wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Anthony had burning questions about how this world worked with all the card powers that were seemingly everywhere before. If everyone had a cool superpower, did that make everyone super? Or were they all just normal, and he was just the odd man out.

That night he wanted to make a fire. So Anthony took the time to dig up a large space for him to put coals and firewood. Over the half hour it took him to set everything up, Anthony focused on the calm quiet task of preparing a cool fire. The meditative task reminded him that a the hard work had a calming effect on his nerves.

He could build a bonfire if nothing else. Something to warm the night that he expected would be chilly.

He wasn't even sure that they had a pot to put over it that could match the area.

To make stew? Such a pot would be need to be enormous. He decided to be a bit less ambitious with his fire pit. That just seemed about right.

Before long, Finley was hauling in logs from one of the sides of the houses. He made a neat pile that would make a woodsman proud, splitting a few pieces out for kindling. There wasn't a question about what he was doing. He wanted the warmth.

He grabbed some flint and steel. Then he pushed with his mana to set the entire thing ablaze. He double-checked how far the edge of the fire was from the grasslands and was satisfied at his first attempt. They would be able to sit nearby the fire and not have to worry about sparks.

The kindling took.

Finley warmed his hands on it. Then he turned them over several times. Closing his eyes, he imagined that it would become a roaring flame before too long. The goat lord would protect them.

He saw several people looking at him as the fire blazed. No longer just a few embers in the pile, the fire felt alive in his eyes as a flickered.

An elf could get used to it. Sonya and Finley joined him after a while. They sat in silence, as if waiting for something to happen. When Stella finally showed up, she had a large cook pot in tow. It looked like she was carrying it herself from the angle.

"It's all mine now," she said, "though it probably won't be traveling with us."

Stella turned slightly, showing more than he expected.

"Whoa."

Carrying the pot required the combined effort of Bob and Stella. The two had a long wooden pole on which the pot's unwieldy handle rested. They set it down nearby the fire pit.

It was a clear upgrade from many of the smaller dwarven equivalent that they had seen. By human standards it was up to their navel and heavy enough to give Bob and Stella a fight. They set up a stand on either side for the pot to rest on.

Finley directed them to place it over the pot using a metal pole to bridge the gap.

Bob fought for his life as they placed the cook pot right where Finley wanted it. Sweat poured down his face as they finally placed it on top of the fire pit. Stella, was undisturbed, despite carrying at least the same amount of burden. Finley for his part was just glad no one got burned.

"I'm impressed that you were able to handle that so well," Sonya said. "That looks like it belonged somewhere though, right?"

"No, it was in-get this- a smithy! Though good luck getting it up and running now."

"Stella, Bob looks like he needs a shower. How are you so-"

"Clean? It turns out that I can stay cool with a very specific application of ice magic. It is quite convenient," Stella said.

"She won't share those secrets with me of course," Bob said from his prone position a few feet away from the pot.

"Really, I would rather you shower, just to check to see if you have any zombie bites, then it's on you. I can't be having an undead meat shield boyfriend. You gotta be more proactive about checking for bites," Stella said, winking slow enough for everyone around to notice.

Bob continued to lay in a heap. Finley walked over to him and extended a green hand, helping him up.

"She drives a hard bargain, that one," Finley said.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Bob took a deep drink from his water skin, draining it. He held it upside down to drain the last drops.

"We're going to need some water for this. That probably means that we're going to need to get some well water," Finley said. "There's a cart over there behind that building. I'm going to see if we have access to the well yet."

"There's a well?" Stella said.

"Yeah, should be in the center of the town," Finley said. "I don't want to use all of our water if we can help it. We need to restock."

Finley and Bob walked to the first building and grabbed the cart, moving it from where it was. the hand cart had one barrel on it. It had been left there for long enough that whatever water had been stored in it had evaporated.

"This might be good. I'll make sure to get it cleaned before we use it," Bob said, inspecting the barrell. "I think that they collected rain with it, based on where it was against the wall."

"Probably so. It's difficult to get water here so they would do what they could to keep it."

"They probably needed a better barrel design then," Bob said. "Andrew can fix this crack, I hope."

The side closest to the wall had a crack. Finley inspected it, feeling along the inseam.

"The wood is too old for me to grow it back. I'll take this to Andrew. We have another barrel that I can use for the well, and I'm sure that there are enough barrels in this village for us to salvage."

"There's some good wood here," Bob said. "Just not enough. There aren't enough trees here. We could use a lumber mill or something. Do you know where we could find a lumber mill?"

"That would be great but no, I have no idea."