A/N: I personally love this opening line. It might cross the line though.

“On a scale of 1 to a pedo in prison, how fucked are we?” Zig asked and she looked at the rest of the people in the house. “I’m thinking at least an eleven.”

“Can’t say I don’t agree.” Charlie grunted. “If they’re as dangerous as you say, then any group that runs into a wendigo will have several casualties at best. Might even get wiped out entirely, especially since it seems like they’ve got those servant cultist things.”

“Do you think that they’ll all have that? TJ said that it seemed pretty ready to just kill them because it wanted to, even if the System called them its cadre.” Zig argued back. Those two were the only ones who didn’t just let TJ’s report settle over them, with Stanton leaning back in his chair and looking at the ceiling while Laura chewed on her lip. The two representatives of the hunters continued their arguing back and forth until Stanton finally spoke.

“If these things are meant to be a representation of the eventual Boss, there can’t be too many of them, right?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” TJ responded, the quarreling couple going quiet. “When I asked the System, I got nothing. Just an additional explanation of what an Elite is.”

“Frustrating though that is, it makes sense.” Laura answered. When TJ and Stanton looked at her, confused, she shrugged before answering, “As far as I can tell, the System doesn’t give specific information about the Tutorial itself, except for the requirements for clearing it. When it is general information about what a Tutorial is, or even this entire contest to Ascend, it seems willing to answer. The answers that it gives regarding specifics are always in response to specific questions made with additional information that an individual acquired within the Tutorial itself.”

“I’m sure you said something important there. Care to say it in Cro-Magnon for the rest of us?” Stanton asked after a brief pause. Laura laughed, seeming half embarrassed and half in genuine mirth.

“Specific questions about the Tutorial, like how many people are left living, or how many pukwudgies there will be, will never be answered. If it’s about how the System itself works, like general rules to acquire an Occupation, it will answer. If you want to know something about the Tutorial, like what an Elite is, you need to have learned about the existence of an Elite beforehand. Or, as we’ve learned from TJ, that there is a definitive perimeter of safety that is constantly shrinking. How nobody already asked that is beyond me.”

“Which is why we can’t just ask what the Boss will be, or what a wendigo’s weaknesses are.” TJ added on with a nod as he disregarded the praise he received. He’d asked as much and received a resounding silence in response.

“Exactly. Though, it never hurts to try.”

“And again I ask, what are we going to do about this?” Zig asked. “If you ended up like that from one of them, then we need to figure out what to do.”

The rest of the group obviously agreed that something needed to be done, but had no idea of what it could be. Each idea, from “everyone travel together,” to “make TJ travel with each group that goes to get levels” was shot down for reasons of practicality, to it defeating the purpose in the first place. Eventually, Laura raised a hand and brought the discussions to a halt.

“We can sleep on it. Tomorrow, I will be making the announcement requiring that every member of the community take direct steps to increase their levels. I know that there will be no shortage of resistance to my declaration, but it needs to happen. My primary concern will be with enforcing the rule, since there is not much that we can withhold from the reluctant or incapable.”

“There shouldn’t be anyone that’s truly incapable of going out.” TJ flatly replied. “There’s plenty of Disciples to ensure nobody is actively dying, and though I feel badly for those like Granny Penny that struggle to move, they’ll get better the more they level, and we can’t provide for those unwilling to work. Those who refuse to work for the good of the whole won’t eat what I provide.”

“We can’t starve people!” Zig shouted back, her eyes flashing with rage. “It’s unconscionable!”

“It’s happened all throughout history.” TJ countered, though his stomach twisted, knowing what he was suggesting. “You feed every homeless person you ever see? You give all your money to people who are struggling? How many single parents do you know that are living paycheck to paycheck and miserable? Did you spend all your salary on them? And they deserved more than someone who just stays in their house and provides nothing to everyone else!”

“I tried. I gave what I could. And more than that, we’re in a position now where we can help other people. I like helping people! I like being a good person, a protector, and helping those who are struggling more than me. Don’t you?”

“Yes.” TJ shrugged helplessly. “I do. I’ve always liked helping people.”

“Then why would you–”

“Now, I won’t go hungry, weaken myself, for the good of someone who refuses to admit that we’re stuck in this now. I won’t. My son needs me, and I’ll happily work with people who understand that this is life now. But if someone wants to be a leech off of me risking my life, then they can go parasitize someone else.”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“This is hard, TJ.” Laura cut in. “Everyone here is miserable with the hand we’ve been dealt, and it won’t help us to alienate everyone as they’re making a hard transition. I agree that there should be benefits for assisting in the effort to protect the rest, but we can’t make it mandatory to fight. It will end in extra deaths, low morale, and possible political unrest.”

“There’s less than 200 people here, Laura.” TJ retorted. “It isn’t real politics. We tell people how it is, and then they’ll do it or pay the damn consequences.”

“And what if ten hungry old people decide they can’t fight for food?” Laura responded, her voice soft and gentle but firm. “What if Granny Penny thinks she simply can’t do that, and ends up starving in a room, alone? What if a member of the hunters decides to feed her? Do we then reduce the rations they get and endanger the rest of the hunters to prove that Penny should have starved to death because she was afraid?

“Worse, what if those same ten hungry old people storm the store and fight for a fistful of bread or a mouthful of rice? Do we incarcerate them, and take more people off the front lines to guard our makeshift prison? Do we kill them and instate a form of fascism in the hopes that the military state we create and the ideals we enforce allow us to find success?”

As Laura poked holes in TJ’s certainty, he wavered. He’d sworn to do what was necessary to see his son, and even to kill whoever he needed to, monster or otherwise. Even so, he knew he couldn’t justify the slaughter of, though not the innocents, but definitely not the necessary.

Unable to respond, unwilling to admit how wrong he’d been, TJ threw up his hands and stalked out of the house. Charlie started to get up to go after him, but TJ heard Stanton saying something as the door closed behind him.

“Give him a minute. He’s–” the rest of Stanton’s words were cut off by the slamming of the door. TJ felt and knew how petulant he was being, but even so, he couldn’t keep himself from walking out into the yard and taking a series of breaths that didn’t serve to calm his temper. The cold air felt nice on his face as he rolled his shoulders. Another minute passed before Stanton, going off the heft of each step, walked out. The old man merely stood in companionable silence beside TJ for a time. The silence stretched on, and TJ felt his embarrassment grow as they stood.

“I get we can’t kill everyone who doesn’t help out.” TJ growled. “I know we can’t just starve out anyone who won’t level up, but we have to do something! There has to be something to do to keep people focused. We can’t sit around and do nothing, because if we do, we’ll all die!”

Stanton didn’t look at TJ, though he did nod in agreement. Then, after letting TJ continue to grumble, he asked, “What do you think we should do?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Do you want to be in charge?”

“Never. I’d go crazy, and I need to be out here killing things to make sure that I can at least live to see my son.”

“You know what Laura’s Occupation is?”

“Yeah.”

“Bureaucrat.” Stanton said as if TJ hadn’t said he’d known. “I don’t know what fresh hell she went through to have that be her Occupation instead of just her job before, but she chose it. Trust her to be good at it.”

TJ sighed and patted the old man on his shoulder. He didn’t feel the need to comment any further on it and walked back to the cabin. Before he could walk in, though, the door opened. Laura nearly bumped into TJ and raised both hands in surprised.

“I apologize. I didn’t see you.”

“No worries, Laura. Sorry I gave you a hard time. I’m on your side, let me know what you need me to do tomorrow.”

The Bureaucrat simply nodded, as if she’d never doubted that he would happily do what she needed. “For now, simply stand beside me tomorrow when I make the announcement. I am planning on addressing our town at 8:30. You’ll be there?”

“Sure. Have a good night, Laura.”

“Of course. Thank you for your willingness to help, and all that you’ve already done for us.”

Then, without looking back, Laura walked away from the cabin and towards the general store. Before long, her omnipresent shadow, Jeff, came out of the woods, surprisingly close, and escorted her home.

“I don’t like him.” Stanton grumbled to himself as they turned back towards the cabin.

“He’s a bit freaky, yeah.” Zig said as she and Charlie walked out of the cabin, arms linked. “Not a bad guy, though. I think he just really wants Laura. Don’t think she’ll ever go for him, though.”

“I wouldn’t have thought you two would be together.” TJ shrugged. “So weirder things have happened.”

“Why not?” Zig demanded, her left hand trailing higher up Charlie’s chest. “He’s hot and a good kisser, nothing wrong with having someone in bed with you.”

Stanton grumbled and pushed his way between the two into the house. Zig exaggeratedly stumbled back, shaking her fist at the crotchety old man.

“Forgive him.” TJ sighed while he wanted to do the same. After so completely putting his foot in his mouth earlier, though, he was loathe to. “And me, for that matter. Two sad widowers might have a different approach to it than you guys. Have a good night.”

Zig sputtered at the direct admission of Mari’s death, but Charlie nodded as he walked away. Though he didn’t physically pull the apologetic, unsure how to react girl, Zig quickly bobbed her head with a muttered “sorry,” and hurried off to walk with Charlie. TJ chuckled, and, before wandering into the house himself, decided to gather up the pelts laid forgotten on the porch’s bannister.

Inside, TJ found a somewhat unobtrusive place to lay the pelts out in the comparative warmth from the fire. Though he was sure the smell would have disgusted him just a couple days before, he didn’t mind, and after an Appraisal confirming to him that these were Well-prepared javelina hides, TJ found himself boiling the intestines to use as cords for whatever he decided to make with the hides. He lost himself in the flickering flames, watching as they danced and sang. TJ imagined he could hear something they were saying, and supposed he might just be, considering he heard the wind speaking nowadays. With his MP partially recovered, TJ idly used Wind Manipulation to stoke the flames until his Primitive Craftsmanship convinced him that the intestines were done for tonight. A part of him wanted to move ahead with processing the horns and claws from the wendigo already, but he decided against it. Instead, he laid the intestines out to cure as he instinctively understood was necessary, and finally he walked into the same place where he slept the night before. Tomorrow was another day, and would begin the fifth day since the apocalypse came.

Strangely, though, TJ slept soundly, his dreams formless and relaxing.