“ATTACK!” Xilbit cried, waving the spear that he’d ONCE AGAIN taken from my cart.

“Damnit all, NO!” Dale growled back. “What was it Ichnick told you? Don’t attack unless THEY attack first! Are they attacking?”

Xilbit stared at Dale with a confused look on his face. “Yes?”

Dale sighed and shook his head. “No, they are NOT attacking. They are pointing weapons at us, but NOT moving forward. NOT moving forward means NOT attacking. Get it?”

Ichnick followed with a long litany of hisses, clicks, and grunts. The chief’s eyes eventually lit up with understanding. For a two-and-a-half-foot tall lizard creature, he was pushing every last button Dale had in him. After a couple minutes, Ichnick had corralled the group together and they were all meekly watching the approaching group of humans. Xilbit was wearily holding the spear pointed at the person that looked to be leading the group.

Dale looked over the bedraggled group. The apocalypse was now roughly four hours old. For that short of a period, these people shouldn’t look this beaten down.

“You and your little scaley friends can just stop right there.” A burly man growled stepping forward with a large stick of hardwood. Dale remembered a friend of his talking about truckers carrying sticks like that to do quick tire pressure checks.

Dale had his spear standing next to him, his right hand on it while the butt firmly rested against the pavement of the freeway. “We’re going around you.” Dale stated in a calm, firm voice.

“I said stay there.” The burly man took a step forward.

Dale lifted his spear into both hands and held it across his body without pointing it at the man. “Look, I’m sure you’ve had a long day. I’ve had a very long day. Me and my ‘scaleys’ as you call them are going north so I can link up with my kids. If you try to stop me, I will consider it you putting my children in harm’s way. What would you do to a man that put your children in harm’s way?”

Dale waved Ichnick to the left so they could pass the group. Ichnick very calmly guided his kobolds that direction.

The man’s jaw tightened at the obvious challenge to his authority. A couple of the people looked down hard, their faces seemed to be flush. Looks like others had ‘challenged’ the burly man’s authority and been stomped on for their trouble.

“What are they dragging in their cart?” The man growled, pointing at Dale’s four wheeled cart he’d picked up at Tractor Supply.

Dale took a deep breath and shook his head. “None of your concern.”

The tall, burly man was staring hard at Dale. He glanced at the people behind him, then at the kobolds, and then back at Dale. Dale knew when the fool made the decision. It was written all over his face.

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Quick as a snake, the man shot forward.

The past hour, Dale had been working with the shaman on how to better use magic. They’d discussed, practiced, and even had a small little spar where the two use various tricks against each other. One such was grease.

It wasn’t really making actual grease. What he did was remove friction completely from a patch of ground in front of the burly man’s feet. There was even someone in the group who’s eyes had gone wide when the magic was being cast. They hadn’t said a word, though. Beating on people is a very bad way of obtaining loyalty.

The burly man’s foot hit the patch and slipped right out from under him. He wound up on his back with a loud curse.

Dale stepped forward and held his spear point against the man’s chest. “Y’all may want to look away if you’re squeamish.” Dale stated.

Dale stabbed the man directly in the throat. He pushed the spear tip in until he felt the crunch of bone and then shoved hard. A pop told him he severed the man’s spine. The threat was gone.

“ATTACK!” Xilbit cried.

Dale turned and shot him a look.

“Um… NOT ATTACK!” Xilbit cried out.

A quick look showed that the rest of the kobolds weren’t going to move even if the attack order was valid. Good, they could learn.

Dale looked up at the group. “I will leave one of you to loot him. Looks like he was trying to build his own little kingdom.”

One of the women walked up and kicked the corpse and then spat on it. Then she took off running toward the ramp that Dale had just used to get on the freeway. A taller woman walked over and laid her hand on him. The body disappeared. She nodded to Dale and then walked south on the highway after picking up the tire thumper.

A man kneeling where the body of the burly potential thief had been spoke up. “You killed him.” He looked up at Dale. “You’re a monster.”

Dale snorted. “This isn’t going to be a story where the lead character refuses to kill nasty people based on social constructs and ideals about morality. The man threatened me. He hurt many of the people here. This was self-defense. If you don’t agree, I’m sorry. I’m not running for office or expecting you to follow me. That man was going to hurt more people. If I would have left him alive, I would have to watch my back because he would most likely have followed me.”

Dale backed away towards the group of kobolds. A man and his wife and little girl broke away from the rest. They walked over to Dale.

“Can we come with you?” The man asked him. His little girl had a small rat sitting on her shoulder.

“Your daughter chose magic?” Dale asked.

The man and woman both grimaced and looked down at their daughter with discomfort.

“I’m Steve, my wife’s name is Mary. Our little girl’s name is Anna. Yeah, she pulled us out of our car after it had flipped over and completed a quest or something. We don’t understand anything that is going on right now. But somehow you do.” Steve explained, his eyes desperate.

“Sure.” Dale nodded and waved for them to get behind him as he walked backwards watching the gathering break down into little groups and individuals.

Lastly, the younger man who’d seen the spell on the ground and not say anything walked over with his hand held out. Dale looked down at it. “Nice to meet you, but I’m not shaking hands right now.”

The guy chuckled. “Fist bump then? No other way to trade contact info.”

Dale lifted his hand up a little while still holding the spear. The other man tapped his knuckles to Dale’s. A small screen showed up in the corner of his vision. It gave the details of the man who was now walking away.

“Shoot me a message when you get settled. Good to keep a line of communication going.” With a wave, he walked to the other side of the freeway. He was likely headed deeper into Rock Hill.