Waking early the next morning, the team gathered their things in their inventories and made their way to the lobby.
"How was your stay?" Clarice greeted them at the front desk.
"It was wonderful Clarice. We truly appreciate everything you did for us. The meal was wonderful last night." Tom said.
"I'm so glad you liked it. The town wanted to do something to repay you for your help, so they thought a nice meal would be a good start." Clarice said. "Now if you would all head outside, they would like to express their gratitude one more time."
Confused, the teams went to the front door and began to exit. Outside was a sight none of them expected to see. A procession of men standing along the walkway out of the building stood at attention, and as they began to walk down the walkway toward the courthouse, they one by one drew swords and held them over the adventurers.
"What is this for?" Tom asked as they continued to walk under the swords.
They got their answer when they reached the end of the lined-up men and John was waiting for them.
"We didn't know how to adequately thank you for what you did for us here. So we thought a form of honor would be the greatest tribute we could offer. We also have a supply of food to send you with." John said. "We owe you so much, especially you Seth. You put yourself in harm's way time and time again for us and we are eternally grateful."
John bowed low at the waist to show his respect for Seth and the others. Tables had been laid out next to both of their vehicles and they had been loaded with food for them to take on their journey.
"This is too much. We can't take all of this from you. We were just doing what we thought was right to help everyone out." Tom said.
"And that is exactly why you deserve it. You could have just left this town the way it was and never looked back. We aren't your responsibility and you are already on your way to solving a global problem. But you still stopped and did what you thought was right." John said. "And for that, we thank you."
Cheers erupted from the crowd that had gathered outside the hotel.
"We won't forget you. And Seth can come back as soon as we are finished. We won't keep him from you." Tom said.
"Seth is free to make his own decisions. If he wants to come back, we will welcome him with open arms. But if he chooses another path, we will be OK now." John said winking at Seth.
Gathering up all the food that was provided, the team placed it into their storage and then loaded up into the vehicles, Seth joining Kedron and his team in the H2. They rolled the windows down and waved to the people gathered as they set back out for the highway and continued on their journey.
Continuing on 287 North, the team encountered many more vehicles on the road as they worked to clear a path to their destination. In between towns, there were far fewer vehicles to remove, but once they reached a small outskirts town or a larger town, they had to stop far more often.
At several points, there were goblins that had set up on the road and were waiting to stop travelers on the road. It appeared that others had stopped as there were tire marks indicating a vehicle had stopped in a bit of a hurry.
The team pulled up alongside each other and rather than stop, they sped up. The goblins began to jeer at them and shake their crude weapons in the air at them at their approach at first in an attempt to intimidate the travelers. It wasn't until it was too late that the goblins realized that the vehicles were not going to stop and the teams made goblin pudding on the roadway, their crude barricades breaking to splinters under the heavy SUV tires.
The next major town the adventurers encountered was Witchita Falls. This town appeared to be in the middle of some kind of battle that could be seen from the highway. The teams stopped to see what they could see and noticed that it was a fight between two groups of people and not monsters. They were shooting at each other and slinging spells back and forth in a dangerous flurry of activity.
"I don't think this is one of the places we should stop," Derek said.
"What if someone needs our help?" Tom said.
"There are probably a lot of people that need our help. But if we go in now we will absolutely get dragged into a war that we can't afford to be a part of." Derek said.
Tom slumped his shoulders as he knew Derek was right.
"I've been in this situation before when I was overseas. You'll see this kind of thing among tribes out there and when we did get involved it would take days or weeks just to figure out which side to help. Everyone has a sob story for why they are in the right and the other is in the wrong. The short of it is that when the dust clears, there are no real winners and both sides are usually partially in the wrong." Derek said.
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"That makes sense. Alright everyone, load up! We aren't stopping here." Tom called.
Everyone agreed without hesitation and the teams took off again. With little in the way to slow their progress through this part of the journey, the team made better time than they did when in the metropolitan areas. They still had to remove vehicles and kill off some goblins, but they made it to the outskirts of Amarillo without too much issue. Here, the city seemed to be more established than most of the others they had come across.
"Can we stop for the seventy-two-ounce steak?" James asked. "I've always wanted to try it out."
"That can't still be open you know," Kiera said. "Not with everything that's been going on."
"You don't know that! And Texans are really protective of their meats." James said.
"He does have a point there," Derek said. "How about this, we can drive by and see what it looks like. But if it's closed, we head out of town to camp for the night."
"Deal!" James agreed.
Driving through the town, it felt a lot more like Dallas had looked. There were still signs that the atrocities had been occurring here, but they were being dealt with in a healthy way, unlike Decatur had been. As the team pulled up to the Big Texan Steak Ranch, they noticed that there were actually people still eating at the restaurant.
"Well, I'll be damned. It is open still," Kiera said.
"YES! STEAK TIME!" James said. "I wonder if I can kill my own cow?"
The team hopped out of the car and walked up to the entrance. Opening the doors, they were greeted by lanterns lit around the building with people sitting and eating their meals in armor of various types.
"Welcome to the Big Texan Steak Ranch! My name is Jennifer and I'll be your host tonight!" A young woman said with a strong southern accent, standing at the hostess' desk. "How many in your party?"
Her appearance was not at all what anyone had been used to in their previous life. Where before they would likely have been wearing some kind of uniform, this young lady was wearing leather armor and carrying a crossbow across her back.
"Umm...thirteen I suppose," Tom said.
"The only place we have big enough for that many people is out on the patio. Is that going to be ok?" Jennifer asked.
"Sure," Tom said still feeling awkward at this encounter and feeling unsure what to say. "Before we go out there, I have to ask. Are you all still actually taking money?"
"Oh no hon, we are a monster core only establishment. you'll have to pay with those. Do you not have any?" Jennifer asked.
"Oh, no, we do. We just didn't have money," Tom said feeling relieved.
"Well, then that shouldn't be a problem. Now if you all would just follow me, I'll show you outside." Jennifer said as she turned to take them out to the patio.
Walking through the restaurant, the people inside didn't even look up from their meals at the people walking through with armor on. To them, it was just another group of people going to have dinner. When they got to the table, it was set up as a long sitting area with enough space for twenty people. Taking their seats, Jennifer set menus in front of each of them.
"Now obviously we recommend the steak, as it's our specialty, but we do have other options such as chicken and hamburgers. We even have some salads for the weaker folks." Jennifer said. "And if anyone wants to try the seventy-two-ounce challenge, just let your waitress know!"
She turned away without another word and walked back to her station. A few moments later another young woman wearing armor came to the table, but she was wearing a sword at her hip instead.
"Welcome to the Big Texan Steak Ranch! My name is Julie and I'll be taking care of you today. Is this anyone's first time here?" Julie asked.
Everyone raised their hands.
"Awesome! I'm so happy you all came to see us." Julie said. "Can I start you all out with something to drink? Unfortunately, we are out of sodas at the moment, but we have water, sweet tea, and lemonade if anyone wants that."
Everyone ordered their drinks and Julie left to go grab them. Sitting and staring at the menu, most of the team felt uncomfortable with the situation but were still enjoying the normalcy of getting to eat at a restaurant again. Julie brought out all the drinks sat them down and went to take their orders.
"Now, what will we be eating this..." Julie began when she was interrupted by a small battle cry that came from the parking lot.
The entire team pulled weapons out of their storage and began to get up.
"Ugh...not again. No, no, you all just sit and relax, we got this." Julie said as she turned and pulled her sword from its scabbard.
Leaping over the banister lining the outdoor patio area, she was joined by several other women and men all carrying various weapons as they charged into the parking lot. The team all looked at each other with wide-eyed confusion. Sounds of battle came from the parking lot behind all the cars parked out there. The sound of steel against steel, cries of pain, and swearing all could be heard as something went down just out of sight.
A few minutes later all was silent and the waiters and waitresses that had gone into the parking lot all came walking back up to the patio, blood splattered on their armor and faces. Julie walked back over to the table and let out a breath as she resumed.
"Now where were we?" She said.
Everyone just stared at her.
"This happens often?" Kiera said.
"More often than I would like. Those little green bastards are drawn here by the smell of the food. But it's nothing we can't handle. We just want you to have the best experience possible." Julie said smiling at them, a drop of blood running down the side of her face.
"Cool! I'm gonna do the seventy-two-ounce steak challenge!" James said, seeming to dismiss everything with that explanation.
Julie reached into her inventory and pulled out a cowbell. She rang it and held it over her head.
"WOOOOO! We got us a seventy-two-ounce steak challenger right over here!"