Solomon had never seen the city so deserted. Even when he'd staggered home after being kicked out of a bar at closing time, he'd at least had a few of his fellow degenerates around to keep him company. The onslaught of deadly animals and the neutering of human technology, though, had the streets eerily clear.

They still drew quite a bit of attention as they rode down the street. The clop-clop of hooves on asphalt echoed off the silent houses all around. Sometimes Solomon only saw the flicker of motion out of the corner of his eye as somebody moved a curtain to take a peek. Some observers were more obvious. Despite the worries weighing him down, Solomon couldn't help but smile when he saw a little boy who couldn't have been far out of kindergarten with his whole face pressed up against a window, watching him ride by.

That moment of good cheer faded quickly. They were riding through a heavily populated area. Not as heavily populated as the downtown core or the university campus, no, but still, there were a lot of people in the surrounding square mile. More than enough to clear out riffraff-level monsters like the raccoons, as long as they worked together. Instead, people were fortifying themselves in their homes and waiting for somebody else to handle things.

Solomon couldn't quite blame them. Thinking back to the apartment he'd shared with Katie, he remembered their neighbor's names. When it came to their neighbors, he wasn't sure. And he certainly wouldn't have been eager to put his own life on the line for them. Nor would he have found it easy to trust them to watch his back during a fight.

Sharing a drink with somebody once or twice a week was more than enough to maintain a smooth and friendly ambiance within their apartment building. It fell short of the kind of bond that inspired people to go to war together.

It was a sobering thought. How many people did he know who he could trust with his life in their hands? Pretty much his immediate family. He would have put Katie on the list a week ago, but she had very firmly removed herself from consideration. He might add Kanmi to the list someday, when he felt he could trust more than just the fact that their interests were aligned. For now, though, it was only three people: his father, his mother, and his sister.

All the more reason to get Tiffany away from whatever disaster was unfolding on campus as soon as possible.

They moved through the outskirts of town to the beginnings of the downtown core. Finally, Solomon saw some signs of humans trying to exert control over the government. He was approaching the intersection where he would turn right to go to the university, where continuing straight would take him to the heart of downtown. There, on the street leading further downtown, a group of policemen were manning a barricade.

Solomon studied them as he neared the intersection. Three of the men had billy clubs in their hands. The fourth had a sword. It seemed the police were starting to adjust to the system's changes, but they were still holding on to pieces of the old world. Or, to be fair, they may have been mostly worried about wrangling panicky civilians and decided to keep edged weapons to a minimum.

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While he studied them, the cops were openly gaping at him. He raised a hand in greeting.

"Hello there."

"Who are you?" the cop with the sword asked. The others watched on, wary.

"I'm heading to the campus," Solomon replied. "Heard some bad rumors. You guys know what's going on?"

"I asked you a question," came the answer.

Solomon frowned. He didn't want to spread his name around when there was even an outside chance it could put his sister in danger. He was pretty sure he and the police were on the same side, though. He could be reasonable.

"Name's Solomon," he said. "Now, the college-"

"You got some kind of id," the cop interrupted.

"I left it at home," Solomon snapped. "You wanna give me a ticket?"

Solomon had used to be the kind of guy who was polite after being pulled over for speeding, in hopes of a reduced ticket. With monsters running around the streets of the city, though, he wasn't in the mood to submit to any bureaucratic nonsense.

"Buddy, I have had a very long day," the cop said. "Your attitude isn't helping."

"Yeah?" Solomon said. "Come do something about it."

The balance of practical force usually tilted in favor of the police. Between their horses and their system-granted abilities, though, Solomon was confident that he and Kanmi could subdue all four of the cops if they had to, let alone get away. They seemed to sense it, too. For all his bluster, the sword-wielding officer didn't make any move to come out from behind the barrier.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot," one of the other cops said, playing peacemaker. "The mayor is asking everybody to shelter in place. She also wants us to collect contact information from anybody who looks like they can handle themselves."

Solomon raised an eyebrow. They had a funny way of asking for help. Well, fine. He was being offered a chance to de-escalate, so he figured he might as well take it. He didn't really want to get in a fight with the first people he'd seen trying to provide at least a little public safety.

"I'm happy to chat with you guys later," Solomon said, only lying a little bit, "but I have people I need to find on campus."

The cop nodded. "Fine by me, but be careful over there."

"Why?" Solomon asked.

"They organized a Campus Watch, to clear out all the monsters," the cop said. "They've got the whole campus pretty much locked down. Nobody goes in, nobody comes out."

Solomon frowned. "You let that fly?"

"We're a little busy right now," the cop replied. "Any neighborhood where nobody's dying is pretty far down the priority list."

Solomon grunted and turned to guide his horse towards the campus. He would have appreciated some help, but he hadn't expected much once he saw how little of the city the police were trying to secure.

He still held out hope that some college kids had just gotten a little crazy after all the changes wrought by the system. Maybe the kids would listen to reason. Otherwise, his pistols ought to prove pretty persuasive.