“Well, if we head upriver, we can reach the Zorin Bog and my mother’s warren,” Lika said, glancing back the way she had come. She didn’t sound excited by the prospect.

She sighed. “Even if we wanted to, we’d have to go through Ashtae Forest and the elves’ territory to get back. That might be a risk.”

The fire was still burning near them, spreading in the grass. The plants were relatively wet, and the fire was spreading slowly, but it was still spreading.

"Well, we should do something quickly, before we fricassee,” Noah said. “Do you know where the humans are? I mean the refugees of Emporia specifically, not just humans as a species.”

Lika started to shake her head no, but then cocked it to the side. “Well, I don’t know for sure, but… Whatever works, works, right?”

“No one has any idea what you’re talking about, shortstack,” RED said. “I suspect that might even include you.”

Lika tapped her chin, her eyes staring into nothing. “Well, what I’m saying is I think I can figure this out. I know about where the borders of the Ashtae zone are. Or at least three sides of the borders. I know where us goblins made our homes, and I know where the elves make their homes, kinda, based on their raids and our scouts. So, it stands to reason I can logic out about where the humans are.”

“Where’s that?” Noah asked.

Lika pointed vaguely back the way Noah had come. “That way. And maybe also kinda across the river. Maybe. But that way for sure.”

Noah frowned. It wasn’t much to go on, but… “You’re saying we have to go through elf territory to reach your people directly?”

“Yeah. They left a contingent at the bridge, multiple sword and bow elves and a deckbearer as well. You might be able to pull a victory off, Noah, what with your magic crossbow. But I wouldn’t bet on it—we’re down to me, you, your companion, and my two goblins.”

Her face briefly went tragic, and she glanced over at one of the goblin corpses in the grass. But after a couple seconds she shook herself back and faced Noah again.

“Did you get a companion card?” Noah asked, trying to change the subject.

“Nah,” Lika said, then picked at one of her teeth. “My perks were for better use of material cards and crafted token cards, and for making cheap Golem cards even easier to use. I actually can’t get cards with a high-Power cost, because of my flaw, so even cheaper versions of already cheap golems worked out well as a perk. My rare card is a Golem creature that buffs other Golem creatures and helps me gather overland material token cards.”

“You have Golem type?” Noah asked. “So do I.”

Lika rolled her head back, stared at RED for a moment, then rolled it back. “Huh. Imagine that. I never would have guessed.”

I’m surrounded by jackasses. “Har har. What other types did you get?”

“Fire and Mortal,” Lika said.

“I got Mortal, Golem, and Lightning,” Noah responded.

“Almost twinsies. Kinda fun for five seconds, but I hope we don’t have too much trouble over card splitting. I mean, I could have used your Scrap Yard card in my deck, to increase my material expertise even further.”

Noah sighed. “Let’s just head to where my people are, and see what we can figure out on how to proceed.”

“Well, don’t think to betray me ‘cuz you’re all human, or you want to bang some hot human girl or something. You swore I’d get the realm card, right?”

“I’ll help you, but I’m not murdering my countrymen for it,” Noah said.

Lika stared at him without saying anything.

Noah glanced back. “We should get going, before that fire becomes a real problem.”

She gave a sharp nod.

The two of them, followed by RED and then her two remaining goblin buddies, turned and headed back in the other direction—southeast.

***

“So, how does your super crossbow work?” Lika asked an hour or so later. Her breathing was slightly labored, despite the slow pace they had kept. She occasionally winced when her bad foot came down.

Despite that, her hands were linked behind her head, she was staring out over the river. Her voice was elaborately casual as she asked her question.

Noah was pushing the sparkly pink bike across the grassy plains as he walked southeast, with Lika walking next to him. He almost laughed at her blatant attempt to seem non-interested, but disguised it with a fit of coughing. She glared at him suspiciously as he hacked.

He wasn’t worried about the basic concept of guns spreading to a people with black powder—they would learn from someone soon, even if they didn’t figure it out themselves.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

And besides, early muskets or whatever weren’t gonna go up against an AR-15. “The gunpowder—like you have—creates a super-heated gas and shoots a metal bullet out the far end of the tube.”

“The gas can do that much damage?” Lika asked.

Noah gave her a raised eyebrow, and enjoyed it when her cheeks went darker green.

“Of course it can, right?” Lika asked.

“Yeah.”

Before the conversation could continue, something whipped past Noah’s head, stirring his hair. He heard the distinctive crack of a rifle.

From a couple hundred feet ahead someone shouted, “Stop there! Hands up!”

Noah dropped into the grass, yanking Lika down beside him. His bike fell on him seconds later.

There was another crack and metal bang. A notification box informed Noah that RED had been shot by ‘unknown assailant.’ That was enough for RED and the two remaining goblins, who dropped into the tall grass next to Noah.

“I think that ambulatory corpse-in-waiting just shot me,” RED said. “That’s pretty much the same as volunteering to be experience points. Summon the flechette gun, please, I’d like to handle this one personally.”

“I think it’s just jumpy humans,” Noah said. “I mean, it has been the apocalypse for a day, and you look like a killer robot. Hell, you are a killer robot. We can talk to them.”

“I hate you.”

Two more cracks, and shots passed over them where they lay in the grass.

“Or we can explode them,” Lika said, pulling a vial off her vest and holding it forward consideringly.

“Huh, shortstack has some redeeming features,” RED said. “Who would have guessed?”

Noah pushed her hand with the vial back against her vest and shook his head no. I bet they do think we’re monsters. I mean, three goblins and a robot might be hard to process…

“We’re not monsters!” Noah shouted as loud as he can.

“Speak for yourself, fleshloaf,” RED quietly muttered.

Noah gave him the stink-eye. “Not helping.”

“Wasn’t trying to.”

One of the people shooting at them yelled, “Then come out with your hands up!”

Noah grimaced and yelled back. “I’ve been shot at—by gun or bow—by every single person, bar one, that I’ve come across since, well, everything. Not about to get assassinated now.”

There was silence for a moment, then someone shouted, “I’m coming out, but my partner will have a gun trained on you. It’ll be mutually assured destruction.”

Noah sighed and raised his head from the grass. An older man, in his forties or fifties, was walking forward in overalls, his hands up. He started about three hundred feet away. As Noah stared, he realized there was a hunting blind that appeared to be a couple bushes in the grass. He could see a rifle pointing out from the firing slat.

“Good tactic,” RED said. “One’s vulnerable. Shoot him and we’ll slowly flank the other.”

Noah ignored his homicidal companion card. I don’t have anyone that can actually use a gun, and everyone with me is nonhuman, so…

Noah stood the rest of the way and brushed himself off. “I’m coming out!”

He walked up, hands at his sides, palms forward. As he did, he noticed that the other man was walking with a pronounced limp. He reached him about halfway. The man took a quick glance around and then extended his hand. “I’m Gregory Rodriguez. Call me Greg.”

“Noah Smith,” Noah said, grasping it.

As they shook hands, Noah took Greg in, noting further details. There were puncture marks in the pants of his overalls, and the clothing was stained red around the holes. The man’s face was dirty, and there were clear tear marks left in the grime across his face—tears from red-rimmed eyes.

The front of his overalls were also stained with a reddish-brown smear.

“What happened?” Noah asked, concern and curiosity overwhelming him.

Greg stared off into the distance. “Monsters, just like the damn words said. These new gods, trying to kill us all. And they did, mostly. Emporia was overrun almost immediately. A ton of horrible, mutated wildlife gone rabid. Even a god damned T-rex with porcupine spines.”

Noah thought about what he was saying. “Emporia was lost?”

Greg nodded. “Yeah. They got my daughter, newly married just last month. She had dinner with me two days ago to tell me she was pregnant. The monsters got her and her husband both. I heard them dying. The beasts ate them.”

“I’m sorry,” Noah said, feeling in his soul the utter, mind-blowing inadequacy of his words.

His heart almost seized up as he thought about Hope, in a far larger town. Please don’t be dead. Please.

“Sorry about shooting at you,” Greg said with a shake of his head, not seeming to notice Noah’s momentary panic. “We weren’t sure what was going on, and what with… everything, we thought you might be more monsters. World’s gone insane. Insane and evil. It’s the devil’s world, now.”

Noah got ahold of himself—panic wouldn’t help Hope. “Well, I’m not a monster. Just some guy, trying to make his way back to his pregnant girlfriend, in the same insane world.”

“I’ll pray for you, that your girl doesn’t end up like my little Lily.”

The man choked, and tears ran down his still face. There was a pause, and Noah was pretty sure no one had any idea what to say.

Eventually, the man coughed. “Sorry.”

“I get it. Really. My own Hope is pregnant and in danger. I don’t know what’s happened to her.”

There was another awkward pause.

Noah broke the silence. “I’m still trying to reach her—Hope, I mean. My girlfriend. The first step is, I need to find the, um”—Noah held his fingers up in air quotes—“Remnants of Emporia. Do you know where I can find them? Is that you?”

The man’s blinked. “I think so. Certainly I’m from Emporia, and we’re remnants at best. I’d say you’ve found us.”

“Who are you, exactly?” Noah asked, shifting where he stood. “I mean, I get most of the picture.”

The gun shifted slightly, glinting in the sun. Noah stared at it, still trained on him from the blind.

Greg must have sensed his concern, because he turned and waved. “It’s alright, Jack. We’re fine.”

Then he turned back. “It’s about what you think. We’re the few that escaped from the beasts that overran Emporia—the beasts and the giant demon-trees. The last eight hundred of us or so are holed up in fields of five large farms which we escaped to, near the edge of the new rivers.”

Five farms for eight hundred people? That might make enough food, modernly, but with no way to store the food, they’ll have problems. Not to mention that they only have five homes…

“How?”

Greg sighed. “The farms were commercial vegetable operations, greenhouses, large sheds, and now useless vehicles all. But we’re converting the huge sheds into barracks, with tents inside. We’re drinking river water, and eating a ton of vegetables right from the fields. We’ve only had a few hours here, but some of the police guys got us organized fast once the monsters lost interest. We’re trying to re-establish ourselves. A few of the people that made it out had some newly useful skill—carpenters, farming, one guy that actually knows old-fashioned pottery. Our new home is just a couple of miles back. He—Kevin St. Clair, I mean—has me and my partner out here to make sure we aren’t surprised by monsters again, since I don’t know anything useful and don’t have any family left.”

“Who’s Kevin?” Noah asked. “The mayor?”

“No, the mayor, and all of the city council, are dead. Except this one old librarian lady that somehow made it out. Kevin was a sergeant in our tiny police force. But he got a deck of the magic cards. Plus, just recently, he got that card that says we can get a ‘realm,’ whatever that is.”

Noah glanced back at Lika, then past Greg in the direction of the farms that held his fellow countrymen. “Yeah, we’d better meet him and talk.”