Solomon was more comfortable on the horse after their lunch break. At least, his rate of HP loss went down, even as he picked up the pace. He still didn't feel natural in the saddle, but there was plenty of road between them and Eugene. By the time he rode up to his parents' house he thought he'd at least be able to convey a reassuring impression.

His parents should still be there. Assuming they kept up their current rate of speed, it shouldn't take them more than a day or two to arrive. Solomon thought it would take a little longer than that for society to break down completely.

His confidence was shaken as they reached the outskirts of Glide. A mound of rubble had been piled up across the road at a spot where the highway passed between two hills. On either side of the road, a ditch had been dug to block off the flat terrain. As Solomon pulled his horse to a halt, he saw four men stationed behind the barricade, all armed with what looked like the cheap melee weapons from Mort's catalog.

Solomon wasn't sure quite how to open the conversation. The choice was taken from him as a man stepped up on top of the barricade. He seemed to be the leader of the guards. At least he looked the part, lean and grizzled and wearing a sheriff's uniform.

"You boys speak English?" the man asked.

Solomon was surprised, but on reflection, it was a reasonable question. Kanmi was wearing plate armor and was obviously not human to anybody who got a good look at him. Solomon, for his part, was wearing an assortment of armored clothes purchased from the system, not to mention the hook he had in place of his left hand. Add that to their unnatural mounts and they were quite the exotic pair.

"I'm from Eugene," Solomon said. "Drove out to the forest to go hiking a couple days ago."

"You picked a hell of a time to get away from it all."

"Tell me about it," Solomon said. "Look, you got somewhere to put us up? We're headed to Eugene, but I don't want to be on the road at night."

"Maybe," came the reply. "What's his story?"

Solomon glanced at Kanmi. Yeah, that was a reasonable question.

"He's not from around here," Solomon said. "He works for me now."

"That so?"

"Yep," Kanmi said, popping the 'p' sound. "Can we get on with this? I've been on this planet for a day and I haven't even tried the beer yet."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The sheriff startled when Kanmi spoke. He spent a moment in thought after Kanmi spoke, then sighed.

"I guess you two can't make things much worse," he said. "Come with me, I'll get you settled."

Solomon dismounted from his horse, then dissolved it with a thought and tucked the token in his inventory. Kanmi followed suit a moment later. That got a reaction from their audience, which is what Solomon had been aiming for. He thought the locals were more likely to listen to advice when it came from somebody who obviously had some mastery of the system.

They introduced themselves to the sheriff, Dale Donaldson, and shook hands, then followed him through the barrier. As they fell in step behind him he glanced back to where the horses had been.

"You've been figuring out this system thing, huh?" Dale asked.

"A little bit," Solomon said. "How have things been going here?"

"The first day was the worst. The town was divided into four zones, so we only knew what was going on in our part," he said. "It was a relief when the walls came down. Far as what we've been doing, mostly checking on folks to make sure they're all right and killing the little critters running around everywhere."

"And building a roadblock?" Solomon asked.

Dale gave him a look. "The last guest that came rolling down the road wasn't as friendly as you two."

They were beginning to reach what passed for downtown Glide. Three blocks of gas stations, restaurants, and convenience stores, all meant to entice weary travelers who were slowed down by the highway's reduced speed limit as it passed through town. There was, of course, no vehicle traffic. Solomon did see a few patrols, pairs of men carrying melee weapons and keeping a sharp eye out for system-generated monsters.

"You seem to be holding up pretty well," Solomon said. When he'd pictured his return to civilization, he'd imagined running into a lot more panicky people.

"Everybody pretty much sheltered in place," Dale said. "It helps that we've got plenty of food on hand to tide us over until we figure out this dungeon coin stuff."

It was good to hear that they had at least explored that much of the system. Solomon wondered if it would be possible for him to give them enough of a leg up to preserve human control of the region.

He hadn't had much of a chance to make long term plans. For now, he just wanted to get his family and maybe some friends together and bug out to the middle of nowhere to fort up and stay safe. It should be easier to keep themselves safe, though, if they had a friendly neighbor in Glide.

"Anybody taken a run at the dungeon yet?" Solomon asked.

Dale shook his head. "We've had our hands full. A couple of guys went to take a look, but the warning message scared 'em off."

Solomon nodded. That was a perfectly sensible decision. He wouldn't have tangled with the dungeon himself if he hadn't been stuck all alone in the middle of nowhere with Mort egging him on.

"I live right up through here," Dale said, taking a turn off the main road. "I've got a couple spare bedrooms you guys can use."

"Thanks," Solomon said.

"I figure we all have to pull together when something like this happens," Dale replied. "I might want to pick your brain about how to use this system, if you don't mind."

"No problem," Solomon said. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of a friendly human stronghold guarding the road that led to his territory.