2.

“This list is unbelievable. You would strip us of our greatest fighters while you go out on a lark!” Abraham’s voice boomed in the small room, rebounding and assaulting them all as he continued on his tirade. Santi fought to keep from rolling his eyes at the man's over-the-top theatrics. He wanted them gone, so why was he fighting so hard about it?

“It’s not a lark. We don’t know what is in our surroundings past a few blocks from our walls. We need to explore and see what the rest of the city looks like. We’ve been through this,” Santi said, exasperated.

“Because you leave us vulnerable. The best of the best. Gone!” He flung his hands outward as if throwing seeds to the wind.

“You’ll have plenty of strong defenders while I’m gone. Rayleigh is near Chloe’s equal and Tank is better than Penelope.”

“Two of seven.”

“Alright, I’m tired of this dick waving contest. Let’s get to a vote and try to be productive. Those who vote aye to Santi’s expedition?” Helena cut them off at the knee just as they were starting to get into the meat of the fight. Santi was sure it was the fact that he had more personal power than Abraham. The man had an important job, but for the most part he got the leftovers that Santi left him.

“Aye,” Tank said immediately.

“Nay,” Marisol said.

“Nay,” Abraham growled, glaring at him with a smug look. The little shit knew that they were relying on his vote to approve the expedition.

“Aye,” Helena said after a moment of consideration. Abraham’s smug look dissolved like sugar in hot water.

“Don’t look so startled, we need to see what’s around us. In fact, I wish to propose two other expeditionary missions. More limited in scope, obviously.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Tank said, moving to support the older woman without hesitation. Political back scratching at play. Santi rankled at it but knew what he needed to do.

“As do I. Do you know what expeditions will be sent out?” Santi asked. He was wondering where she wanted to send out exploratory teams.

“Downtown and to the area surrounding the distribution center. We need to see what the heart of the city looks like and to see the situation there. We’re also getting dangerously low on supplies.”

There it was. Helena and Marisol had planned this. They had backed Santi and Tank into a corner with Helena’s support, and now they had to support this. There was a rift for sure, either there or close by to the distribution center. Santi would have normally been against the plan, the rift too dangerous for them. Yet,they were all beginning to push against the tier border and when they finally tipped over they’d be able to tackle the rift.

From there the meeting dissolved into a logistics meeting that had Santi’s eyes glazing over in boredom. It was important work, but damn it was boring. Having everyone starve to death wasn’t in the best interest of survival. Supplies were allocated toward Santi’s expedition and he was left to go and get everyone he had named. They’d all agreed on joining him already, but he had to alert them that they’d actually be going and when.

Santi didn’t want to spend time waiting on this. Tomorrow morning at first light they’d set out to go and find his family. They didn’t know that, but it was what was planned. Any type of monster nest, rift, or powerful beast would be killed. They were going to acquire the levels for the few who needed them and any and every treasure needed for powerful evolutions.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Chloe was with Rayleigh and the other girls from her dorm. They had taken over a house close to Homebase and were very particular about their visitors. There were a dozen former college girls living in the house in a replica of a sorority house. One that focused on killing monsters and harvesting parts. The girls who weren’t fighters focused on working on other parts.

Harvesting beast meat, learning what monster parts could be useful to their survival. The beginning of a tannery had been started and a crude forge was being built in the house next door. It had all the trappings of the initial stages of a crafters market. With a bit of time and effort, Santi was sure they’d be producing gear of decent enough quality. He was looking forward to some decent armor and the sooner the better. He was burning through clothes at a catastrophic rate.

Chloe was sprawled out over a couch, a pillow on her face. The house was too stuffy and hot for anyone to truly be comfortable to sleep easily. After their evolution the inconvenience of temperature would become something minor. Their durability and stamina so high that nothing short of mana infused storms would bother them.

“Hey, lazybones, we’re on!” Santi yelled at her, not daring to enter their home beyond poking his head inside.

Chloe’s arm rose lazily, wrist snapping straight and middle finger extending as she huffed underneath her pillow. She had volunteered for every mission that they had run, wearing herself down in her quest to level. Santi was quietly impressed with her fortitude. She had little to no training with the axe and yet threw herself at every problem as if the correct application of focused violence was the solution. She hadn’t been wrong yet.

Santi left her alone and went and rounded up the others. Daniel and Hana were, as always, with each other. The two had shacked up together after coming back from the goblin nest. They were nestled together in a shared house with a mix of other college aged survivors. The house was fairly tidy and only had a few people lounging around in the living room.

Still, they didn’t really acknowledge him. There had been a growing distrust for him over the last week. His knowledge base and the fact he couldn’t tell anyone how he knew was driving a wedge between himself and the rank and file. Those who fought with him didn’t particularly care, but the ones who didn’t watched him with wary eyes. Especially the scavengers.

It was going to be unfortunate when Santi had to arrange an accident for Abraham. The man was a malevolent pest who wished to cling to whatever little iota of power he could grasp. If only his talent matched his ambition. Once they were more stable.

He paused right outside of their room and rapped on the doorframe. He heard rustling and cursing and then Hana poked her head out to give him a quizzical look. Her short hair was disheveled and she had a cat that ate the canary smile.

“We’re on. Tomorrow, first thing.” He left them and the musky smell that had wafted out of the door when she opened it. Everyone was handling the initialization differently. Some threw themselves at every problem, some threw themselves at each other.

Chad and Adam were on guard duty. Perched on top of a house with their respective weapons, they watched the edge of their territory with an alertness that Santi approved of. Both of them were serious and dedicated men. It was a shame that Tristan had been injured and left behind in the leveling spree of the last week.

“We’re on! Tomorrow before dawn!” Santi yelled up at them. Both men just gave him thumbs up and went back to scanning the streets around their corner. There were people perched on almost every roof in overwatch. The War Chief’s raid had imprinted itself on them.

Penelope was the last member he had to find. The healer was actually in Homebase. A late twenty-something with dark brown hairs and caramel eyes, she still wore her nurse scrubs as she helped out in the infirmary. She clung to the mundane, the remnants of the old society and life she had once had. It gave her the strength and comfort to continue on.

Everyone had their own coping methods.

“Hey, we’re approved to go. You’re still good to go with us?” Santi asked. She was the weakest link of the group. She had only ran a few missions outside of the security of their compound, but aside from Tank she was the best healer they had.

“Yeah. I told you I would be good to go. In the morning?”

“Yup. I’ll grab you and we can get going first thing in the morning.”

“Sounds good.” She went back to her patients while Santi slunk back to his room. He struggled somedays to cope. How could he throw himself over and over into dangerous situations, but the little politicking needed to run a community left him exhausted?

He laid down in his stuffy room and brought up the list of spells again. He had three open slots and couldn’t leave power sitting on the table. While [Air Manipulation] would be useful, taking a few spells instead of it would provide better utility. Now he just needed to find out which ones to take.