After we drove a few hundred feet past the checkpoint, we started to see people camped out on the grass. We kept driving, and more tents filled with people came into view. It quickly became clear that every open space in Fort Bragg was filled with people huddled together in fear and desperation. They were crammed together like people in New York City on New Year’s Eve, though the atmosphere was far less jovial.

As we drove, I looked over the crowd and estimated that there must have been more than a hundred thousand people huddled within the perimeter established by the soldiers of Fort Bragg. Holding such a high density of people in such a small area would naturally create issues over time, but those issues were far less pressing than the threat posed by Diluvians and Uruks.

“Is this where everyone went?” Liz asked from the passenger’s seat.

“Apparently,” I muttered. “This is the only Army base in North Carolina. Other than the [Town] north of Charlotte, this is probably the only safe place in the state.”

“Not to be negative, but why are we here?” Carlos asked. “We’re not like these people. We don’t need to seek safety in numbers.”

“It’s not about safety,” I said. “Liz, can you roll your window up before I say this next part? Thank you. The truth is that I wanted to find a relatively safe place that’s right on the edge of the [Greater Dungeon’s] territory. I want to talk to my ‘loyal subjects’ while also making sure that a bunch of armed men are nearby just in case negotiations go sideways.”

“But…” Claire began to say. She looked down nervously as she chose her next words. “What about all the people here? What will happen to them if you accidentally draw an army of monsters to the Fort?”

Carlos’s brow furrowed, and his mouth opened to speak. I could tell that he was about to say something unnecessarily hostile, so I cut him off. With a quick word and an easy smile, I said, “Don’t worry. I won’t let it get that far. If thousands of them come for me, I won’t let them reach Fort Bragg. I’ll just…”

In the world’s easiest game of charades ever, I made a finger gun and pressed it to the bottom of my chin. I pulled back my thumb like the hammer on a pistol and let it fall forward. “Pow.”

“That’s not funny, man,” Carlos said, frowning deeply.

“Don’t say that shit!” Liz shouted.

“It’s…” I said, stopping the strange sadistic happiness I felt upon seeing them worry for my safety. “Look, I don’t want to get all emotional again, so I won’t talk for too long about it. Just know that I’m ready to die in order to prevent something worse from happening. Remember when I told you guys about my meeting with Epsilon. It was in my mind. It only stopped because it knew I was about to kill myself.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As I pulled the RV into an empty plot of land on the outskirts of Fort Bragg, I quietly lamented the change in perspective the rest of the group must have had at that moment. In an instant, I had gone from “lunatic” to “suicidal lunatic” in their eyes. They couldn’t possibly understand that the threat of death was the only way I could realistically continue to function. I didn’t have to worry about losing my mind completely like my father, because I knew that would never happen. No matter what, I would die as a human.

“How long have you been feeling like this?” Carlos asked.

“About four years now,” I answered quickly. I rose from the driver’s seat and began disembarking the RV.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“I really don’t like to be a drama queen.” I was getting really tired of talking about myself. The other three surely had problems of their own. Who were they to throw the first stone? “I’m fine. Let’s just move on.”

“You are not fine,” Liz said.

“I’m just as fine today as I was yesterday.” I looked around at the area around us and saw an empty patch of dirt that would serve as a good spot for a campfire. Pointing my finger at the ground, I chanted, “Fire Arrow.”

The ground erupted into a plume of fire and molten rock, and all of our shield generators activated as the heat spread in all directions. Evidently, an MDC fire spell was a bit much to start a campfire.

“Come on, let’s start a fire.”

“Are you sure?” Claire asked.

“It’s tradition,” I said, quickly changing the topic. “This is our first night together as an adventuring party. We need to start a campfire.”

“That’s why you took all that wood,” Carlos said, snapping his fingers. “Come on. Let’s get the wood and camping chairs.”

Within a few minutes, the four of us were sitting around a fire that, through the heroic efforts of Carlos and Claire, was reduced from a blazing conflagration to a lightly smoldering campfire.

When we were seated and I saw Carlos producing a sinister-looking bottle from the RV, I quickly navigated over to my [Menu] and added two to my [Speed] stat.

Name: Vinzadir

Class: Eldritch Alchemist

Level: 6

MDC: 20+48/48

Body: 14

Fortitude: 16

Power: 13

Speed: 14

Mind: 17

Reason: 18

Perception: 15

Memory: 18

With my [Body] stat now at 14, I looked up from my [Menu] just in time to see Carlos push something in my hand. It was a small glass cup with a clear liquid contained within. With just a whiff, I could tell that the glass was filled with unmixed vodka. Though most people would be nauseated by such a drink, the elegant simplicity of vodka was quite appealing to me. When asked, I would always answer that it was my favorite drink.

When I looked over at Liz’s glass, I saw that it contained a margarita of some kind. I vaguely remembered Liz saying she had a fondness for margaritas, but I couldn’t remember the time frame in which she told me particularly well.

“Carlos,” Liz said with a disapproving smile, “you do remember that we all got drunk yesterday, right?”

“It’s a special occasion,” Carlos said. “Let’s call this our end-of-the-world party.”