"What was that light over the hummer?" Tom asked Kedron as they stood beside the vehicles watching out for more reinforcements.

"Oh, that was Briana. She's a Cleric and has a shielding spell. It puts up a shield that she can control the shape of. It's not super strong yet, but it'll stop most normal projectiles." Kedron said.

"That's handy. Hey Derek, why don't you do that?" Tom asked.

"Because she must be a more caster-based Cleric and I'm a tank Cleric," Derek replied. "Depending on which god you chose you get powers related to their specialties. We needed a tank so I chose a god with more melee powers."

"These specialties are tough to keep up with," Tom said.

"That's why people normally focus on their own classes and what's good for them. I just happen to know more because I was in the group at work that specialized in game mechanics so I know more about classes. That doesn't mean it all applies here, but a lot of it has so far." Derek added.

"So now I can add cop killer to my resume," Austin said as he walked over. "My father was a cop. This kinda hits home. I heard stories about dirty officers, but it wasn't so real until now."

"Must be hard to deal with," Tom said.

"It is a little, but it's these kinds of people that gave men like my dad a bad name with some communities. I guess I've kinda always believed they should be put down." Austin replied. "Made the job a living nightmare for the good cops who only wanted to help people."

"My uncle hated cops. Always trying to stop his moonshine runs." Clay said.

"Moonshining is illegal," Austin said.

"I'll tell ya what's illegal, the process the government had in place for making alcohol! Always telling you it's too strong or you have to pay taxes or it could be dangerous for people if it's not controlled. Bunch of power happy fuckers." Clay continued. "A man should be allowed to drink whatever he wants and not have to pay an arm and a leg for it."

"Think anymore will come?" Kedron said to Tom as Clay continued to rant about the government.

"Maybe, but this is a pretty small town. Likely not a ton of officers like in a bigger city, and these were just the dirty ones. Usually, that's a few bad apples ruin the bunch situation, not an entire force filled with them." Tom replied.

"I hope so. I really don't like having to kill people but threaten me and mine and your ass is grass." Kedron replied. "Especially since that one fucker shot me in the fucking leg!"

"Yeah, that was a dick move," Tom agreed. "But I say we get out of dodge before we find out if more are coming. If they chase us we can deal with them then."

"OK. Let's head out then." Kedron agreed.

Loading up, the team pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to the highway heading north. It was still dark, and with cars in the roadway periodically the going was still slow. No other pursuers showed themselves, and the group was glad.

Kiera pulled out a piece of jerky in the car and gave it to Squirrel praising him for coming to her aid. Jerky himself also appeared in the car on Tom's shoulder and nuzzled against his head.

"And just where were you during all this you little fucker? We could have used some invisible help there in getting keys or something." Tom asked.

"Jerky no want get killed. Jerky small. Jerky not good help. Jerky help show James where to hide." Jerky said.

"It's true. Jerky was the one who told us you all were in trouble." James said.

"That reminds me, wasn't it your turn on watch? If you had been there you could have alerted us to those dirty bastards approach!" Derek scolded.

"Clay and I were out back. We didn't know they were coming because they had their headlights off. The lights are all out so we didn't see them coming. If we had been inside we might have been surprised with the rest of you." James said defensively.

"Or you could have at least seen them pulling up and woken us." Derek countered.

"Maybe, but it all worked out," James said trying to brush it off.

"But it might not have! You need to take watch duty more seriously next time. Keep an eye out and get us up so we can be ready." Derek chided.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"You're right, I'm sorry. We will keep a lookout next time." James said.

"There won't be a next time with the two of you. I'm not putting you both on the same watch. Crazy and ADHD clearly don't mix well. I guess I'm partly to blame. I put you two together because you seemed to hit it off so well." Derek said.

"Well, there you have it. Not my fault." James said.

"Oh, it's still totally your fault. But in this world of danger, I'll give you a small pass." Derek said.

"Yeah dickweed, you really fucked up back there. Next time I'm on watch with you and you will pay attention." Kiera said. "Don't need you off picking fucking daisies or whatever. But thanks for coming to save us. I'll give you that one."

"And that was some pretty cool magic there DeeDee," Jay said. "You had those vines all over that guy and your hands were behind your back."

"Yeah, that was tough. I couldn't see the hand gestures, but it still worked. And my knight in shining armor came to my rescue as well." DeeDee said looking over the back at Graham.

"Nobody messes with my wife. That asshole got exactly what was coming to him." Graham said.

"Did you see Austin wailing on that one dude?" James said excitedly. "Fucking hilarious! He threw himself on top of the guy after Jay swept his feet out from under him and just started headbutting his face! Just WHAM WHAM WHAM! Totally brutal!"

"You weren't so bad yourself dick shot," Tom said.

"Oh, that's totally your nickname now, dick shot," Jay said.

"I'll wear it with pride. Anyone can shoot someone in the chest, it takes a real marksmen to blow someone's knob off." James said.

"Admit it, you were aiming for his chest and missed," Derek said.

"Was not! I was recapturing our bloody prince moment. Shoot 'em in the dick and ask questions later." James said.

"Bobby also turned into a bit of a monster on that state trooper," Graham said. "That guy was messed up!"

"Well, he was about to be tortured. I'm sure he was just returning the favor he did to others before us." Tom said looking in the rearview mirror.

"Probably. But still, that had to hurt getting stomped in the chest so hard," Graham said wincing at the thought.

"Fucker had it coming," James said. "That sick son of a bitch deserved much worse than he got. Did Kedron shoot him with his own gun?"

"No, he had one on him. Pulled it out of his inventory. It's a smart idea. We should all probably get weapons like that for if we are in a situation where we need another weapon." Derek said.

"Good call. Next time we stop somewhere we need to see if we can find a vending machine to get them for everyone." Tom said.

Continuing to chat as they drove the party had to get out and move vehicles out of the way several times before the sun began to rise. The party felt lucky to have survived the encounter. Each one knew it could have gone far worse for them. If even the other backup had been there sooner the fight might have gone differently. No one brought it up though, just happy to be on the way again.

When the teams reached Decatur, they noticed more activity in the city. People here seemed to be in more of the state that Dallas had been with the streets more clear now. There were even people out moving the bodies off to a burn pile at the edge of town as they could see smoke rising from that direction.

"They really seem to have a system in place here for getting things cleared up," Derek commented.

"Yeah, I wonder if we can talk to someone about it?" Tom said.

Still slightly reluctant to talk to people, the team nevertheless decided to investigate and see if they could make some connections. Pulling off the highway they drove into the town. When they got to the edge of the city, there was a barricade put in place with guards standing on watch. The two men on guard were wearing tactical gear and one of them put his hand up indicating that the vehicles should stop.

The team stopped and the guard approached their vehicle.

"State your business here," The man said without any preamble.

"We are just traveling on our way to the Grand Canyon to investigate the quest and were hoping to find somewhere to stop and rest for a bit," Tom said.

"You'll have to check in with the mayor, but we do have some places you could stay. We just don't want any trouble here, ya hear?" The man replied.

"We definitely don't want trouble. We had enough of that last night in Rhome." Tom said.

"Yeah we've heard reports of something going on there, so we have increased security to be sure no one tries anything. Few people came from there saying people were going missing. Know anything about that?" He asked.

"Probably the dirty cops in the town. They tried to take our stuff and were planning to kill us afterward, but we uh...stopped them." Tom said.

"You kill 'em?" The man said.

"Well, we um..." Tom started to say.

"I'll take that as a yes. We actually consider that a good thing. We were worried they might make their way here. Glad to hear they likely won't." The guard said. "Head down this road and then park at the courthouse. Ya can't miss it. Its the big building looks a bit like a castle. The mayor is there during business hours and he can help sort things out for you." The guard said and stepped back as the other man moved the arm of a barrier gate up for the cars to pass through.

Just before they started moving the man asked, "Hummer's with you right?"

"Yeah, they're with us," Tom replied.

Gesturing for them to proceed, the man stood back at his post and smiled at them. Letting off the brake, Tom drove forward and down the street. There were people out in the streets picking up trash, and some with trucks loading the bodies of people and monsters onto trucks. Everyone had a job and seemed to do it without complaint.

The courthouse came into view and it was impressive. Tan colored stone work adorned the outside of the building with a red shingled roof covering the top. Several turret-shaped structures were along the outside of the face of the building giving it a definite castle feel. Except for the huge clock tower that jutted out of the top, this building could easily have passed for a modern castle.

Finding a place to park along the outside, the teams got out of their vehicles and looked around the town. People stared back at them for a moment, then seemed to go back about their business.

"It's weird right?" James asked.

"Yeah, it's weird. But it feels...normal?" Tom replied, unsure how to feel at that moment.

"Guess we should go in to speak with the mayor," Kedron said.

Turning to go inside, they were greeted by a man wearing a white suit and black string bowtie.

"Welcome to Decatur travelers. I hope you are in good spirits on this fine day!"