“What's the plan for today, Karl?” Doug asked.

“Not yet. Everybody eat first. Think about your own preferences and we'll talk the plans through after we finish breakfast.”

Lots of people grabbed pieces of paper and started writing things down while waiting for others to eat. Chenelle whispered to her husband for a minute and then went to care for the babies for a while.

Karl finished his meal and saw that Doug was the only one still eating. Doug noticed and gestured for him to get started, his mouth full as he shoveled down fuel.

“All right. Let's list our goals; we've got a lot of them. Start with the most urgent.”

“Food!”

“Baby food and diapers!”

“Rescuing more people!”

“Killing as many monsters as possible.”

“Better equipment.”

“Clearing out the mill.”

“Dealing with the two big threats to the mill—hobgoblin fort and the marsh folk army.”

“Making money.”

“Looting things to auction.”

“Leveling up.”

Jake was rapidly writing notes; Maria was as well. Jake handed his copy to Karl, who looked it over for a moment.

“All right. We need to combine goals in our plans. The highest priority is food, baby food, and similar perishable supplies. We have got to get those so we don't starve. Somebody needs to figure out what stores near here would have groceries, how far they are, so we can pick a direction. That definitely happens today.”

“I'll do that now,” Annie volunteered.

“Second: Jake, can we prepay for the Safe Zone here, like adding time on the meter? Do we lose hours if we do it early?”

“We can do it early but it resets the counter.”

“Okay, then we want to do it when the timer has almost run out.”

“Add the kitchen, please,” Maria urged. A round of nods followed that suggestion; barricading the kitchen windows would be a pain, but so was risking monsters wrecking their food.

“On it.”

Karl pressed his hands together. “Next priority is rescuing people. In addition to the obvious moral imperative, we are stronger together. Each of us here is more benefit to the group than burden. That means more food needed as well, but the benefits will outweigh that. Also: rescuing people guarantees killing monsters, leveling up, looting for coin, may help with getting equipment, and can be combined with some food gathering and looting for auctions.

“That leaves the mill and the threats to it. I think sending one of our scouts to look into things is a good idea, but let's see what manpower we have left after dealing with the first two projects. We need--”

“Holy shit.”

In ordinary times the quiet exclamation might have gone unheard, but everyone was on a hair-trigger for threats the past couple of days, so Karl and everyone else turned to Jake, who was staring at a notification.

“Holy shit,” he said again.

“Jake?” Karl prompted.

“Maria! Your artwork auction. It sold.”

Maria blinked, then asked, “How much?”

“Two gold and forty silver.”

For a moment you could have heard a pin drop. Then it was hard to hear anything as everyone started cheering and talking at once. Doug pounded the table. Jim punched the air. “We're rich!” Annie exclaimed.

“EXCUSE ME,” Maria's sharp tone cut through the noise. “I am rich.” Everyone else stopped talking and stared. Maria held up a hand for quiet, then added, “I will, of course, give a large part to the group, but that is my choice.” A silence fell. Maria took a breath through her nose. “You all saved my life. I have not forgotten that. But I am not a communist, and Karl is not a king. I ask that all of you remember that as well.”

“Of course,” Karl said, inclining his head to her.

“Let us start with a gold. I give one gold to the group. I will probably give more. But I cannot give away weeks of security for my home without at least thinking about it first. Jake is the quartermaster, yes?” Everyone nodded. Maria and Jake stared at each other through their interfaces for a moment.

“Thank you, Maria,” Jake said, and some of the tension left the room.

“Money is for solving problems,” Maria replied simply.

“All right,” Karl said, “that adds an item to the to do list. Jake has been shopping for items that might be useful. Jake, do you have lists people can look at?” Jake nodded. “All right, then after this planning session everybody talk to Jake and vote on what you think we should spend money on.” There was a general murmur of anticipation.

“Okay, I think next we figure out who wants to be on which team. We need people to stay here at the Safe Zone, people to go grocery shopping, and people to go on the rescue mission. If we can spare a scout to check on the big threats, that would be a fourth.”

“'Don't split the party' is classic gaming advice,” Jake pointed out.

“I understand, but we don't really have a choice, except on the scouting.” Karl ticked off on his fingers. “We can't take the babies into fights, so they stay here, which means at least one adult stays with them. We must get food unless we want to spend the gold on buying meals from the shop, and that would last a few days at most. And we can't afford to delay on rescues any longer.”

“Do them sequentially?” Doug suggested. “All those going out stay together and get groceries, and then go back out on rescue?”

“That's a good idea, but maybe rescue first?” Terry said. “Every time we search a place we can raid it for food and leave a note on where the Safe Zone is. Plus the gold is an emergency buffer on the food if we don't gather enough; it might be worth it to buy food for everyone for one day.”

Maria spoke up. “As long as we make a good faith effort to gather food, I'll put up more money to feed everyone for a day.”

“Thank you,” Karl told her sincerely. “That helps.” Others nodded or grunted approval.

“Let's combine it even more,” Annie said. “We pick a grocery store, and search for survivors all along the road there. If we get there, we load up and see what else we can do.”

Karl looked around the room to get a feel for the group. The plan seemed to be shaping up. “All right. Let's take a few minutes to choose our route and--”

“Quiet!” Michael hissed, jumping to his feet. Others did as well; people started moving towards windows to peek past the barricades. When Karl glanced to the side Terry and Jim had both vanished, and he nodded in understanding. A few seconds ticked by.

“It's survivors!” Terry called from upstairs. “Coming towards the front door! Three visible. I don't see any monsters.”

People started scrambling forward to move the barricade. Karl noticed that Michael had summoned his bow to his hand and nocked an arrow, and made no move to put it away.

He's right, Karl realized. They could be a threat. He paused, then thought hard at the System: Gee, it would be really nice if I could tell whether they are being honest with us. I think I'll concentrate on that. Hint, hint.

“They're stopped about fifty feet away,” Terry called more quietly.

“Ask Chenelle to get line of sight on the door, please.” She was upstairs with the twins and Terry. “I'm going out there to talk to them.” Some of the group was damping down their enthusiasm after seeing the wariness in the others. People made way for him as he stepped past the barricade and opened the front door slowly.

“Hello?” Someone in the group outside called.

“Hello!” Karl answered, stepping out. “I'm going to come forward about ten feet and stop.” He needed to come out that far so that Chenelle would have line of sight to heal him if things got hairy. He walked slowly, taking his first look at the visitors.

As Terry had said, there were three of them, two in front, one behind. The one on the left was a short, chunky young woman with a mostly shaved head of black hair. She held a shield, wore some sort of armor and her other hand was empty but flexed repeatedly.

The one on the right was much taller, thin, with very dark skin and hair pulled back tightly. She was also quite beautiful. She held her hands out to show they were empty. Karl couldn't see any armor on her.

The one in the back was of medium height, pale with short red hair sticking out of a hoodie. Karl couldn't tell much else about them. All three showed clear signs of combat experience in their ready stances and obvious situational awareness.

“I'm Letisha,” the one on the right said in a voice meant to be cheerful but was loaded with wariness. “Is this the Safe Zone?” She was clearly intended to be the speaker for the group.

“Hello Letisha, I'm Karl. Yes, three rooms of this house are a temporary Safe Zone. We're trying to gather survivors. My apologies for my caution, but may I ask your intentions?”

“We'd like to learn a bit more about you, first. How many of you are there, if you don't mind my asking? And do you have room for more?”

“Fair questions. There are twelve of us, though three are very young. If you wish to join us, we'll make room.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“How are you organized, if I may ask?”

Karl nodded. “Well, we haven't had a vote on it, but I've been acting as a leader and we divide up the work.”

“Are there women in your Safe Zone?”

Karl was surprised by the question, then realized that he shouldn't have been. “Yes. Um, let's see...four. Five if you count the baby.” With each of his replies, he could see a little tension leaving the newcomers, although they stayed wary.

“I don't mean to be rude, but would it be possible for one of them to come and talk to us?”

“Certainly. I'll ask one of them to come out.” Karl could tell by their expressions that someone already was. He glanced back long enough to see that it was Maria, then immediately returned his focus to the visitors. Maria spoke up.

“Hello. My name is Maria Sanchez. This was my parents' home. These people rescued me, and we are working together to gather resources and save more people. Now, if your worries are laid to rest, would you be so kind as to reciprocate? I believe Karl asked you your intentions.”

“Well...I guess we'd like to visit, and if we all like each other okay, we'd like to join your group, please.” Letisha gave a glance at the woman next to her in the middle of speaking.

“Then the three of you are welcome in my home,” Maria said evenly.

The newcomers glanced at each other. “Um...would you be willing to take in one more?” Letisha asked hesitantly.

“Your scout is welcome too,” Maria said dryly.

Out of the corner of his eye, about twenty feet away, Karl saw a figure shimmer into existence as a fourth new person dropped stealth. The younger black woman smirked, shrugged, and said, “Sorry about that.”

“Not a problem,” came Terry's voice, as she dropped stealth from a perch on the sloped roof directly above the other scout, who jumped and whirled to look up at her. Terry looked completely casual, lounging on the tiles as if they were an easy chair as she smirked at the newcomer. Karl did his best to hide his smile.

“Damn, girl, can you show me your moves?”

“Be good and I'll share what I can.”

“For that, girl, I'll be awesome.”

“Then let's go do the introductions, shall we?” Terry stood, then did a flip off the roof and landed perfectly, close to Karl. “I'm Terry.”

Karl smiled. Two days ago she was terrified to make a jump just like that.

**

“Clarissa is my little sister,” Letisha began. “We were driving when the System hit, trying to get to...well, I guess it doesn't matter now, so I can say... We've got a friend about sixty miles north of here who told us a while back that if the shit ever really hit the fan we were welcome. We figured this probably qualified,” she added to general amusement.

“We'd hoped to make better time but there were...delays. So our car died on the highway when the System hit, and we rolled to a stop. We saw monsters appearing in the distance and we both picked up stealth trying to sneak out of there. Once we realized we were going to have to fight sometimes, we'd do this thing where we'd spot a lone monster, I'd be bait, and Clarissa would attack them from surprise. We both got good at it.

“We started working our way north on side roads but it's been slow going. We got chased sometimes and managed to outrun some of it. The first night we broke into someone's house, killed the monster inside and barricaded ourselves in a closet. The second night...” Letisha glanced to her short companion, who grinned.

“The second night, they broke into my house. I'm Jo. Tabby and I were about to hunker down in the pantry because it worked the first night. We had a standoff for a while, two against two, which is funny in hindsight but scared the crap out of all of us when it happened. We didn't trust each other enough to share a room so I told them they could have the hall closet.

“Early this morning, something spawned in the house and started attacking the pantry door. It was this big ape-like thing called a 'carag' I think it was. Well, to make a long story short, Clarissa backstabbed the thing for us when they might well have just stayed hidden in the closet and let the thing kill us.

“And a minute later, we've got the chance to run while it's busy with the two of them, but we can't just leave them like that, you know? So we all helped kill the thing, and then they helped us put out the fire, and by that point we were basically BFFs.”

“Well, halfway,” Clarissa corrected. “This was all of three hours ago.”

“Don't mind her, she just likes being grumpy.”

“I haven't had my coffee.”

“You said you don't drink coffee!”

“So you see my problem. Get used to it.”

“Eat another candy bar, you're hangry.”

“I was born hangry.”

Jo had a wicked grin, but cut off her next retort. “Anyway, we start comparing notes on how to kill monsters, and we decide to team up and explore. Once we killed some shit together we figured out how to work together a little. We got to Walnut Street maybe an hour ago, and Clarissa spotted a note saying two survivors had headed this way. We walked up it, saw the chalk notes you left, and came here.”

“Thus it was written,” the redhead spoke up. It was the first words they had spoken.

“This is Tabitha,” Jo said with a wave. “She's...my partner.” She said the last firmly, looking around, but everyone in the room was suddenly looking at Karl. After a moment he noticed. It took him another second to get it. They think because I'm old, that I'll have a problem with lesbians or the first black people I've seen since moving here, or both.

“Well, what are you all looking at me for? I'm old, I don't have time to be a bigot. Live Free or Die.”

“What?” Annie asked.

“It's the state motto of New Hampshire.”

“I know that, but...what about it?”

Karl sighed, then tried to explain. “This state is famous for individualism, for independence. People can take the motto different ways, but to me it means you do your thing, and I'll do mine. Live and let live. Don't let anybody rule over everybody else.” Karl shook his head. “People can't afford to be fighting each other if humanity is to survive. We don't have time for petty biases.” They looked at him.

“In other words, I don't care. I hate everybody equally. Welcome to the group.”

He saw multiple people at the table looking at the newcomers, smiling and shaking their heads.

“Okay, I find everybody equally annoying.” They kept smiling and Karl rolled his eyes. “Anyway, as you can see we've got a list of names and classes, so if you think you'd like to stay feel free to add yourselves. Which is a sneaky way of asking, 'So what can you do for the group?'”

The four looked at each other. Letisha said, “Clarissa and I have stealth.”

“Would you be willing to scout for our teams?”

“Only if we stay together, but given that, yes, certainly.”

“Thank you. Jo, was it? I take it you're a warrior or something like it?”

Jo nodded. “Protector. I've got some specialized abilities for defending someone else. I stick with Tabby.”

“How did you get the armor, if you don't mind my asking?”

“I built it over the weekend, and then chose it to be upgraded just before the starting bell on Armageddon.”

Karl blinked. “How did you know?”

“It was a guess, but seemed like a good investment.”

“Well done. I read that first System message a hundred times and didn't realize until the two hour warning that armor would have been a good idea.” Karl paused. Tabitha was making no move to say anything, so after waiting a few moments he prompted her, “Tabitha? May I ask if you have a class?”

Tabitha huddled in her hoodie, and only said, “I like fire.”

Jo spoke up after checking that Tabitha was done speaking. “She's a pyromancer. Basically she does fire magic and only fire magic. She can do a flamethrower thing, but it drains her pretty fast. Plus she has a couple of other spells.”

“Well, you're the first mage we've seen, so you're especially welcome, Tabitha.” Karl leaned back and clapped his hands for attention. “Okay, everybody, we've all got our stories to tell, but let's save that until we're not burning daylight. Annie, have you made a list of grocery stores?”

“I think so.”

“God, what I wouldn't give for a proper detailed map of the area,” Karl grumbled.

“How about three silver?” Jake asked.

Karl looked at him, startled. “Do it!”

“On it!”

“What's he doing?” Clarissa asked. A few moments later, she added, “...and what the fuck is that?”

Karl did his best to ignore the excited conversation over by the Shop pedestal that ensued. He noticed that Letisha stayed at the table though, for which he was grateful. Annie went down the list of grocery stores with everyone. While she was doing that, Jake came over and handed Karl an alien tablet just like the one Jake carried with him constantly.

“Ugh, I was hoping for a big piece of paper I could spread out.”

“A paper map doesn't have a clock and a compass built in.” Jake pointed out the three icons. “Just work it like a regular pad.”

Karl sighed and nodded. “I'll figure it out.”

“Oh, may I?” Letisha asked calmly, holding her hand out. Karl raised an eyebrow at her.

“Please.” He held it out.

The moment it left his hand, Letisha snatched it towards her and looked the thing over quickly, practically vibrating with suppressed excitement. Her fingers flew, hesitated, flew again, her eyes wide. After a few seconds, she glanced up at Karl, visibly restrained herself, and laid the tablet out in view on the coffee table, displaying a map. She kept one finger touching a corner of the pad.

“Just tell me what you want to see,” Letisha said.

“Our immediate surroundings.”

“What's the address here please?”

“138 Walnut Street,” Maria answered.

“Range?”

Karl furrowed his brow. “Say half a mile.”

The map changed. Letisha hadn't moved a muscle. Karl shook his head and leaned forward.

He made requests and Letisha altered the map to comply. Karl asked to see the route Letisha and Clarissa had followed, and quizzed her on what was they had seen along the way. He started proposing paths for the group to follow. People debated a little, and they decided to search Oak Hill Road on the way to Bill's Market.

Letisha wanted to stay in the Safe Zone to learn how things worked and volunteered to take care of the children and defend the Safe Zone in case of attack. Clarissa was staying because Letisha was. Maria and Anna didn't have a class or level, and wanted to practice somewhere closer to home. Clarissa offered to take them out one at a time to find small monsters to kill. Daniel bravely promised his parents that he would be good again while they were both gone.

Jim volunteered to scout the mill and the threats near it, now that they had more people.

The remaining eight people were all going out as one group. Even Jake was reluctantly putting away his pad in order to get some experience and loot some gear for his Tinker class. They all cleared a lot of space in their inventories in the hopes of bringing back lots of food.

As they formed up outside, Karl ran through things in his head one more time. It was already a few hours after daybreak. “All right, here's the plan. Don't worry, I ran it by Danny before we left.”

Almost everyone laughed a little. Jo looked confused. Tabitha huddled in her hoodie for a couple of seconds, then shouted “HA!” startling everyone into another, bigger laugh. Jo looked even more befuddled.

“We're going to run,” Karl said. “We're going to try to run as much as possible. Terry's the fastest and can scout, but even if she doesn't have time, we're going to barrel on in. For one thing, we are much stronger today and a larger group. That might scare some creatures off, which would be very useful information to have all by itself.

“We'll figure out what pace we can keep up. But we simply don't have any more time to waste if we're going to save people. Since we have to reach Bill's Market, we're going straight there. Then we'll go house to house on the way back. So let's get moving.”

“Karl!” Jake called.

Exasperated at yet another delay, Karl growled, “What?!”

Jake was grinning at him, and stepped forward. “We all decided.” The tinker gestured to pull something out of inventory and held it out to him. “A paladin must have his shield.”

Karl stared.

The shield was large, almost a curved rectangle but with a point at the bottom. System grade, the strange metal gleamed. A “T” divided it into three areas. The bottom two held simple maps of the two hemispheres of Earth. Across the top half, the shield bore the motto Live Free or Die.

Karl felt tears in his eyes. His voice choked up as he answered. “It's perfect. Thank you.” He searched for more words but just shook his head in wonder. He took it from Jake, put it onto his left arm, and instantly knew how he had been using Shield Bash all wrong.

“Besides,” Jake added, “I don't think any of us could bear the sight of you mangling one more poor innocent trash can lid!” At that everyone cracked up.

“All right, all right, let's go!” Karl shouted. Feeling stronger than he ever had before, he led them off at a rapid and quickening pace, thinking a battle cry in the privacy of his own mind:

For Humanity, and Earth!