Approaching Sheep who stood in front of the group, I looked at all of them. A near even mix of women and men knelt there, looking towards Sheep and I with expressions of unease and worry. Looking at Ghost and Melody, who looked back at me, I motioned my head towards their cars.
“Search the cars. Don’t touch their food and water, leave it alone. Any weaponry is to be taken out and stored in the base.”
“On it.”
“Got it.”
Looking back at the group who seemed rather confused, I found a pair of eyes that were looking at me with determination and spoke to the man.
“Who are you?”
“Commander Geralt of the Research and Development Division of the United States Army!”
“Why are you here?”
“In search of water to refill our bottles and in search of our friends and family who were also sent to this damned world.”
Looking at each person, I didn’t see anyone flinch and turning my gaze back to Geralt, I frowned for a moment while thinking of what to do. I’m not a fan of holding up so many people, nor keeping them tied up or anything.
“So you’re only after water?” Staring at the man, I wanted to see if he’s telling the truth, though I had no way to tell.
“No, we were also hoping to set up a camp here if there wasn’t anyone so we could leave some people behind, mainly those who have weakened.”
“So you were planning to leave people here to die?”
“I would do no such thing! We would’ve assured their continued survival before leaving them here!” Geralt gave me a fierce look. I knew he wasn’t lying from that expression.
Our situation with food and water allowed us a lot of room, we had brought a lot back from our world. I didn’t have the heart to turn fifteen people around if they truly didn’t have water.
Seeing Melody walk over to me, I guided her a bit away from the group.
“They have like, nothing. A few really damaged and rusted guns, broken weapons but that’s it. Unless they’ve found hiding places that we can’t see, they basically are a pack of Husks away from death. They have scraps of food and no water at all, it’s honestly amazing they’re still going.”
Looking at the group on their knees, I took a closer look and saw over half of them looked starved, their complexions terrible and their eyes looked desperate.
“Are you sure there isn’t anything or any hiding places?”
“Short of pulling the cars apart, yes.” With Melody sounding so confident, we walked back to the group while I looked towards Sheep.
“Young miss, how do you look so clean? Your skin and hair are clean compared to the lady next to you.” Looking at Geralt, who had been the source of that question, I ignored him and went over to Sheep, dragging him away a bit.
“I don’t know what to do, Deven.” Speaking softly, I told him the truth. “They’re not a threat, just a bunch of starved idiots who need water, but we have so much shit from our world that we can’t possibly hide it from their eyes…we stuck a lot of it outside!”
Deven just stood there, hand on his chin, thinking. “Ruby, introduce yourself to them first, establish rapport with the-”
“I know how to meet people!”
“Let me finish. Once you have rapport and spoken for a bit, offer water and food in exchange for manpower. If they don’t have anything then we can use them for their manpower. We have plenty of food, perhaps not enough to feed twenty five people, but at the very least we can spare a bit to get them on their feet. A fifteen man squad is pretty valuable.”
“I thought of using them for manpower, but what if they get greedy and turn on us?”
“A bunch of Lvl 1s trying to take on a group of Lvl 2s? Unless Lemon leaves his minigun around, we aren’t bei-”
“I don’t want to kill anyone…” Sighing lightly, I looked at Deven. “I don’t want to abandon them either.”
“Then…shit, Ruby, I’m the same.” Sheep sighed with annoyance before shaking his head. “Alright, I’ll let you talk and back you up if needed. Let’s just aim at a cooperative relationship with them.”
Turning back to the group, I walked up to them and spoke directly to Geralt.
“I’m Midnight of Unity, the clan that has claimed this place as our base.”
“Oh, Unity? Are you the lot that killed that totem thing?”
I felt confused for a moment before my mind jolted, remembering how the System had apparently announced our victory to everyone as a form of encouragement.
“Yes, we are, along with a dragon.” Sheep quickly took over for my stunned self. “I’m Sheep of Unity, the second in command to Midnight.”
“Well met. You guys have accomplished more than any group by at least introducing yourselves.” Geralt looks satisfied.
“You said you wanted water, right?” As I looked around, I could see they needed more than water. Seeing Geralt nod, I exchange a nod with Sheep. “We can offer you both water and food, but not for free.”
“Nor do we expect it for free. What do you need, Lady Midnight?”
“Knowledge and manpower. We’re building a base and need the help. We won’t keep you prisoner either, nor point a gun at you twenty four seven, but if you want water and food we’ll need to exchange it for something.”
I had thought they would be excited at the proposal, but instead they all seemed suspicious, fearful and two of them seemed to have given up hope. I couldn’t help but share a look with Sheep before turning my attention to Geralt, who is staring right at us, as if trying to determine if we were lying. He suddenly sighed.
“Cass, are they trustworthy?”
Another voice spoke up, a woman and spinning my head to one of the ones who had light brown hair, hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, I saw them speak up.
“Yes. They don’t want to kill or harm us, in fact they are confused on what to do with us, but they do not wish us harm and want to avoid hurting us. It appears they have a secret that will force their hand if we try and take it for ourselves, as long as we don’t be greedy arseholes we’ll be fine. In fact, a working relationship will bring great fortune to both sides.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the entire group went from their suspicious or fearful looks to ones of hope and happiness, confusing everyone in our group. Her words spoke the complete truth of our matter and it convinced everyone without so much as a question.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Then we will accept your proposal, young miss. And if any of my men have any ideas about this secret of yours, I will personally handle it and execute them if they try anything, you have my word on it.”
Looking towards Sheep, who stared at the woman named Cass, I looked over everyone else in our group, all of whom nodded back. Knowing they all trusted my decision, I looked at Geralt and motioned with my head.
"Then it's a deal." I slung my sniper over my back as everyone withdrew their weapons. "Before we let you guys in, we will need to pat you down."
"I'd be worried if you didn't. Go for it. A few of us have knives either on our waistbands or ankles. You lot, raise your hand so they know who has one so they don't shoot you if they find it." As I saw about half the group raise their hands, I organised for Sheep and Dawn to pat everyone down, we waited while they did so.
Seeing the various knife's ranging from kitchen knives to combat knives be pulled out, I looked at Geralt with a questioning gaze as he responded.
"I apologise, we always have these knives on hand and didn't have the time to take them off. I didn't want to give you the wrong idea by saying it earlier and waited until we came to a friendly arrangement."
I understood his words. If things broke down and we really did shoot them, those who had knives wouldn't just idle about and would've fought. As the last person is searched and cleared, Ghost takes all the weaponry back to the base. Turning to the crowd, I gesture with my head once more.
"Follow me, I'll give you the tour."
"I take it it's more of a 'don't go here' tour?" Hearing the serious tone in Geralt's voice, I just nod once before leading them towards the base. Upon passing the first building which revealed the freezers and fridges that were connected to the solar powered generators, I heard confused gasps and astonished whispers.
"They're off limits. I'll break anyone's hands if they go near them." Without glancing back, I kept walking until we reached the well in the centre of the base.
"Ah, so it's true you have a water supply." Turning to Geralt, I shrug and look over the crowd who seemed a bit excited. They had seen the various objects that we couldn't shove into a house which had all been labelled as off limits.
"Okay, so the campervan over there is off limits. There will always be an armed guard there so don't go near it, got it?" Seeing the group nod, say 'got it' or look towards Geralt who nodded before they mimicked him, I pointed my thumb at the well behind me. "Same goes for the well. We don't have any shelter for you guys to sleep so you'll need to bring your cars over."
"Drew, Sanders, go fetch the cars and park them where they instruct you to." Geralt looks at two men and I gesture my head wordlessly at Jupiter. Seeing them go, I point towards the foundation for the housing.
"We are building houses here with our own hands. We plan to have running water, electricity and comfort for all of them. I don't know what Jobs you have, but if it's related to building then you'll be with them. If it's related to combat I'll be sending you with a team that will be getting supplies from a town and if it's related to machinery or weaponry you'll be working with me."
"Sounds like you have your shit sorted. As expected of the clans that the System announced. Good, I rather like the idea of a give and take relationship, far better than being robbed again at gunpoint. Listen up all of you! Until we leave, you are all to take your orders from this young miss! Don't bother coming to me either, I'll tell you to bugger off! Work hard and we'll get rewarded, got it?!"
"Sir, yes sir!" Cringing a bit at how the entire group just stood at attention, I quickly reminded myself that they had said they were military and that it's to be expected.
"For now, I want you guys to just rest and take this time to recover a bit. We'll get food going soon, so find a spot and get yourselves ready. Geralt, I want to speak with you."
"Understood, do you mind if I bring my Lieutenant along?" Giving him a nod, I see him turn to the woman named Cass, who nodded and came over to us. Taking Winter and leaving Sheep in charge of everyone, I led them to the campfire near the campervan. Sitting down, I turned my attention to Cass.
"So either you have supernatural hearing, clairvoyance or an amazing ability to read people."
Cass gives me a toothy grin. "Close. In our world I studied human behaviour, finding ticks and tells for when one is lying or concealing matters. Combined with how you looked uncertain on what to do and the fact you kept glancing at the base I figured out you must have a secret you don’t want us to know."
"I'm surprised you told me that much."
"Because I can tell that if we are honest and upfront with you all then it will benefit all those that we are with. You do not wish to harm us nor hold us prisoner which is why I want to work with you all."
"I understand. So why are you all out here?"
Geralt took over and started speaking. "It is as I said earlier. We are looking for our loved ones who came to this world with us. We have been on the road since a week into finding ourselves out here and have come across many groups and camps. You have by far treated us the best, most places demanded everything we had or wanted the women of our group to be used as their playthings.
"We do not wish to settle here but some of our men have started to lose the will to keep going. They wish to stay at a place and just live, so we planned to come here after finding a map that showed possible water. We would've worked to find a way to get them as much food as possible before continuing on, coming back here often to check up on them."
Glancing at Winter who smiled gently, I looked at Geralt and Cass.
"Truth be told, I don't want dead weight here. We are open to the idea of people staying here but they need to pull their weight, including in combat."
"I wouldn't dream of leaving those who won't contribute. Perhaps a few days seeing a functional and good group of survivors will do them some good. It's a far better welcoming then what we received at other camps."
Turning to Geralt, I frowned a bit. "What other camps have you found?"
"Campsites that other survivors have set up. The closest one from here is about two days away with around ten people. They had tried to rob our belongings but half of them were marked as Useless while the other half hadn't even gotten a Class yet. We left them where they were, but it’s like this with many camps."
Leaning back and taking in his words, I leaned forward. "You mentioned people marked as Useless, what are they?"
"Useless are those that have not done anything since arriving in this world. No kills, no quests done and so on. Basically the bottom of the barrel, dead weight. I can't fault them though, many of them arrived in this world against their wills, forced to comply and since they didn't comply are now branded as Useless. To make matters worse for them, they are cursed to have the strength of a small dog, and that is not an exaggeration. However it is said that if they accomplish a task the System provides, they will not only be unmarked but given a very hefty reward. But none have achieved it since the task they get given is to kill two hundred Husks alone."
"So they’re being punished by the System? It can take away strength?"
Glancing at Winter, we both grimaced. We had thought the System gave us strength and knowledge to assist us, but to know it can take it away is a very scary thought. Though it does sound like you need to be doing absolutely nothing, it's the fact that one can have this punishment in the first place. What else can this System do? We still don’t know enough.
“Thanks for telling us about this.. Did you by any chance know of places of interest others might not be able to conquer, like military bases, mine sites etc?”
Geralt frowns while thinking before looking at Winter and I. “I assume you’re both Lvl 2?” I nod as he exchanges glances with Cass. “We in fact know of several places like that, extremely dangerous places too. In exchange for that information, we’d like to know about Lvl 2, we only know it makes you stronger, not what you get.”
“Deal. So, about Lvl 2…” Winter and I shared all of the information we knew about Lvl 2 while Geralt had Cass fetch several maps and help us find our location and routes to those new places. Looking over the maps, I felt a sense of excitement for some reason, an excitement that gamers only knew too well. That feeling of finding a new place to grind!
Once we exchanged information with the two, I told the pair about our experiences so far and what our plans were. After hearing the plans to build up the base, Geralt nodded while thinking a bit.
“As I mentioned before, we’re a part of the Research and Development department of the military. We don’t just research weaponry but our focus is on base building. Now, we’re more used to researching ways to set up a temporary base quickly and effectively, but to research this we also learnt how to build a base from the ground up. I believe it’ll be best if my guys work on building the base up for you guys until we have a few houses, how does that sound?”
“That sounds good, it’ll let us free up my guys and have them handle heading to the town or working on the farm.” With a small smile, I agreed with the plan. “What about research into weaponry and machinery, how are you guys with that?”
“So and so. Machinery we know a bit of, weaponry we know a lot about. As for the farm you mentioned, we know a lot as well, as I mentioned our focus had been on establishing bases so we may have more uses around building the base and farm.”
“We like to play to our strengths so we’ll have you guys focus on those two then. I look forward to working with you, Geralt.” Holding my hand out, he nods strongly and leans forward, taking my hand.
Shaking my hand, Geralt smiled lightly. “To a strong partnership.”