After the funeral, the days passed by like the wind. Soon the first day of the fourth week began and Jim was during this time a very busy person. He not only trained his senses but also his combat abilities with Dave.
By now his injuries were not only healed but Jim felt stronger than ever before. After reaching the third rank he underwent a quality change that enhanced his strength, speed, stamina, senses, and reflexes. It was not comparable to the person he was just a week ago.
Training together with Jake, Jim was finally able to perceive his own stream of energy. He was even able to occasionally see the aura of others. He was still far from controlling this stream of energy and manipulating where and how much of this energy would be transported, but being able to feel this stream was very helpful.
It was also at this time that Jim realized how much of a difference talent made. He and Jake began training at almost the same time, but Jake left him quickly behind and was already able to clearly perceive the aura of everyone around him surpassing even Solaire.
During this time Dave was also able to form a group of a dozen people to defend the church. They were the best of the best you could say, as everyone in this group had some sort of experience with combat. Be it from a hobby or the military like Dave himself - he was after all an old comrade of Solaire’s.
Together with Dave, this group of thirteen were all of the second rank and a force to be reckoned with. They had the experience Jim’s group mostly lacked and could even go against rank three mutants without too much trouble, as long as they couldn’t fly. Flying enemies were rather troublesome to fight.
With all the preparations finished Jim could finally return to the school. If it was for him he would have left long ago but Solaire insisted that he was fully healed and everything in the church was organized and protected properly. Solaire decided to go with Jim in case they were attacked by a potential rank three or even four mutant.
Solaire was so careful because the situation in the school wasn’t clear. They send some people over to check on the situation but no one of this group ever returned. Solaire didn’t want to lose more people or send Dave and his group, they were needed for the defense and he couldn’t risk losing them.
They would move in a small group of elites. One that was easy to defend and was able to easily advance or retreat. In the end, this group consisted of only four people. Solaire, as the leader, Jim because he was of the third rank, and Jake because he had superior senses when it came to sensing this energy. This ability was vital to determine the strength of their enemies and know about potential ambushes in advance.
Lastly, Solaire decided to take Emma, as she proved the last few days, while hunting with Dave’s group, to be a very capable archer and most importantly calm headed person. Someone who can cover them and make sure to distract or lethally wound their enemy at the right moment was vital for their strategy. Without her retreating would be a lot harder.
It would have been even better if Clay was here as he was the person who literally found out the most about their current situation and would be a huge asset to understand what was happening around them. Above all from what Solaire told him he was the one with the best control over this energy, as he was already able to control his own stream and sense this energy better than anyone else.
Besides this Jim noticed that Jake was a lot happier since they started to train together and slowly returned to his usual self, as he had someone to talk to and the training served as a good distraction.
Making his last preparations Jim got to the iron gates where everyone was already waiting and ready to go. Jim still used his machete, curved black knife, and shield. Solaire didn’t have any weapons besides a military knife as his flames were already the best weapon one could ask for, not to mention that his body was not the youngest anymore, which didn't change the fact that he was by far the most experienced person around and would beat them in melee combat without a problem.
Jake still used a longsword with a broad shield - but he didn’t intend to use them, as he wasn’t a good fighter and was supposed to supervise the situation - while Emma used a longbow and also carried a knife around.
With everything ready, the group made their way to the school and strangely didn’t encounter many mutants. Most of them were rank one and some few were rank two, who were by now not a threat. Jim could easily kill them by himself.
Noticing this absence of mutants the group didn’t feel glad but worried and Jim couldn’t keep himself from getting a bad feeling. The group prepared to fight a rank three or even four mutants. In the end, they barely fought anything. It was very strange. All these mutants had to be gone somewhere and someone must have killed the people they sent.
The only good thing about this was that they were able to quickly traverse the streets and soon reached the school without problems. His eyes opened wide when Jim was finally able to look at the mount where his school used to be.
This building was not recognizable and resembled a makeshift fortress more than anything else. Built from freshly cut logs of trees a huge wall blocked the only pathway up the school.
Every window they could see was either completely barricaded or covered with curtains. They couldn’t see much from this distance, but it certainly wasn’t what they expected to see. They were prepared to see a field of carnage, corpses, and a school in ruins, instead, they found out that everyone not only seemed to be doing fine but reinforcing the school into a makeshift fort. To say they were surprised by this sight would be an underestimation.
Deciding to investigate the group carefully made their way over to the fort. Closing the distance to the entrance the group could see the wall of wood in more detail. Seeing it up close the group noticed that the wall was not only large with a height of more than four meters, but had multiple windows following along it. A total of three holes in each side of the door seemed to function as shooting holes, as they were on the upper half of the wall, where it was hard to reach, but perfect to shoot from.
In one of these windows, Jim was sure he saw a shadow passing by. The windows were only as wide as a person's and only high enough to tighten the bow without too much trouble. They could also be used with spears, as he saw brackets on which they could be rested on.
Standing before the door they realized that it wasn’t built of wood but metal. Looking closer Jim noticed that it was a wooden door reinforced with metal plates. Not really knowing what they should do Jim shouted, “Hello?!”
At first, nothing happened but after a moment a voice came from a window at the top of the wall asking, “Who are you?”
Slightly confused, Jim answered, “I’m the one who should ask that. Who are you and where is Max?”
“What!” Slightly startled, the voice said, “How do you know about Max? Are you one of the people from Troy?”
“What? Who is Troy?” Jim asked with bewilderment.
“Don’t play dumb if you are not from Troy who are you then? What person can even survive to this point? Especially with such a small group, you are way too suspicious,” responded the voice from the other side.
Annoyed, Jim said, “Look I don’t care who you think I am, just go to Max and say that Jim wants to speak with him.”
After that, there was a moment of silence before the voice asked, “Are you by chance, Jim Hawk?”
“Yes, who else would I be? I don’t have time for this just get Max already,” responded Jim, annoyed.
Now realizing who the person in front of the wall was, the person behind the wall face-palmed himself and finally dared to look out of the window and said,
“You should have said that directly,” seeing Father Solaire every worry the stranger had on his face vanished. “Solaire thank the sun you are safe. Wait a moment, I’m coming down.”
Shortly after the group heard how the lock of the door was unlocked and a person came out. “Sorry for the waiting,” holding his right hand out he said, “I’m Jasper Ross.”
Seeing the person Solaire exclaimed, “Ross my friend I haven’t seen you for weeks. It has been quite some time since you prayed with us.”
Scratching the back of his head Jasper responded, “You know how it is. I was invested in one of my projects and was interrupted when a dog smashed my door open, can you believe it?”
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Shaking the hand of Jasper, Jim took his appearance in. Jasper was a man in his thirties, with dark brown hair, a thick beard, and dark brown eyes. Shaking his hand, Jim noticed from his firm grip and rough palm, that he must work with his hands a lot. You don’t get these kinds of hands while working in an office.
Overall he was a pretty normal-looking man and wore nothing special other than a brown apron. He didn’t look like a fighter. With a smile, Jim looked into the eyes of the man and said, “It’s nice to meet you. Just out of curiosity are there no guards?”
“Oh, there is no need to worry. I just did the talking because the guards don’t talk that much. I’m here to reinforce the walls but I’m almost done anyway. I suppose you want to meet Max right?”
“Yes, that would be perfect,” replied Solaire with a smiling expression.
“Alright then follow me,” said Jasper while turning around. Following him, the group got past the walls and were surprised by what they saw. A total of six archers and half a dozen people, armed with spears and shields, were standing battle-ready at the wall, in case they were attacked.
Traversing through the school Jim was shocked by the countless activities everyone was doing. They encountered many who threw them curious gazes, especially after noticing Solaire’s presence but didn’t speak with them. Everyone had some sort of task to accomplish and they were eager to do so.
It was almost as busy as in the church, with the difference that the church had even more people running around. Jasper led them to the room of the previous school principal. Jasper knocked on the door and said, “Max, here is someone who wants to see you.”
After a moment, a voice came from the other side which said, “Let them in.”
After opening the door Jim could see how multiple people sat around a table to discuss something. Looking at the new guest everyone was surprised. At first, Max's eyes widened in shock, before a smile replaced the shock on his face. “You are finally back.”
Looking around, Jim saw a total of five people sitting around the table. Max was sitting at the end. On his left sat Dennis and on his right a beautiful girl, which Jim had already seen before because she was a member of Max's group and relatively popular. Evelin was one of the few people that could sing and proved this on several festivals and was a member of their school band. She had long curly red hair, shimmering light brown eyes, and freckles following across her cheeks.
The other two people were also from the original group that were there to enforce the rules but Jim couldn’t really recall their names. Not really caring about them, he came straight to the point, as he looked at Max and asked, “What happened while we were gone?”
“I should be the one asking that? What took you so long and where are the others?” Max asked while looking behind him.
Hearing this Jim avoided eye contact and said, “We got into a fight with a rank three mutant. A raven that ambushed us… Lukas didn’t make it out alive. I avenged him, but it was already too late to save him. I was nearly killed and needed almost a whole week to recover. Charlotte stayed behind together with her family. Clay and Chris on the other hand parted ways with us.”
With his brows furrowed Max thought for a while before saying, “That is unfortunate. I somewhat expected this to happen sooner or later but it is still very unfortunate. Also, what do you mean that Clay and Chirs parted ways?"
Shaking his head Jim said, "I don't know what they thought but they wanted to return to their village. Don't ask me how they expect to get there uninjured, but before I was awake they already were gone. I wish I knew how they were doing."
Nodding his head Max said "That is indeed unfortunate but nothing can be done about the past. Sadly we also lost a few people, including Felix who was one of the few good fighters in my group,” said Max while muttering, “...all because of this damned Troy.”
Hearing this name for the second time Jim couldn’t help himself from asking, “Who the fuck is Troy and why didn’t you send anyone to tell us about your situation we half expected you to be dead. We took days to make sure the church was safe before leaving in the fear you were exterminated by some strong mutant.”
“Troy happened, “cursed Max before explaining, “A few days after we left we were out hunting to keep the vicinity safe and encountered this psychopath who introduced himself as Troy Fletcher and together with his group of lunatics demanded the weapons we had. We obviously refused and in response broke into a battle.”
Now even more confused Jim asked, “He started a battle? Just like that, because of some weapons?”
“Yes,” responded Max with a tired sight. “Take a seat. I think we have much to discuss. I’m sure a lot happened the two weeks you were away, but the same applies to us.”
Nodding his head, Jim and the others sat down and turned their attention to Max who was taking a deep breath to explain, “Okay to summarize our experience of the past few days we have to begin at its source. Jim, you said you fought a rank three mutant. Was it also able to control other mutants?”
“Yes,” confirmed Jim. “It was able to control a small swarm of birds and somewhat influence other mutants to fight us, humans. It didn’t seem like it had complete control over them, but it certainly was enough to lure them into a fight with us.”
“Oh, that is new,” said Max while thinking for a moment. “That problem didn’t occur for us, fortunately. As you know, our little city is surrounded by a lot of mountains and a thick forest, but did you ever realize how many fucking wolves this forest has?”
Confused Jim asked, “Wolves? They never came near the city so I have no idea how many there are.”
“Yeah, the same went for more until…” Max took a breath with a pained expression. “Until we encountered this monster. Because our school is located southeast, we are relatively near the forest and mountains. Sadly we found that the past few days a rank three wolf was running around with his pack of at least three dozen wolves and killing every other mutant they encountered.”
Shocked, Solaire joined the conversation and exclaimed, “By the sun this is horrible. Don’t tell me these wolves have already reached the second rank?”
Falling in his seat Max replied, “Not everyone, but yes, most of them. The problem is that they turned their attention to the city, as more humans and mutants are gathered here. More specifically, the whole south of the city was made into their hunting ground and we couldn’t leave the school without the fear of stumbling into a pack of wolves we would never win against.”
Nodding his head Jim asked, “Okay I understand the threat of the wolves, but what has that to do with Troy?”
“Right,” said Max with anger in his voice. “We encountered him before the wolves and as I said demanded our weapons. After refusing we could feel our vision blurring or in some cases directly turning blind. We didn’t know what was happening and before we realized it Troy rammed a dagger through the heart of Felix. He died immediately, which was a wake-up call for us. We couldn’t clearly determine the situation so we retreated.”
“How big is this group of Troy,” asked Soalire while stroking his beard.
“From what we saw they are a group of six and should be of the second rank otherwise they wouldn’t have survived until now,” replied Max. “In the past, we were of similar strength and they avoided us, but with the threat of the wolf, they are desperate for better weapons and more strength. The mutants are getting scarce after the wolves started killing them en masse. But they didn’t have to kill mutants to get more of this energy and reach the next rank, they could also just kill humans.”
“Wait, you want to tell me there is a group of murderers running around the city killing humans to absorb their energy?" Jim asked with shock.
“Yes,” confirmed Max with a gloomy face. “The biggest problem with this is the strange ability from Troy. He somehow can affect our sense of sight, to either be so blurry that standing upright is hard or sometimes directly turns us blind and you can imagine how hard it is to fight with your vision limited or completely gone.”
Hearing this Jim's interest immediately peaked. This was the third ability he knew of and they seemed to be very rare. He also understood the huge problem an ability like this had. In a fight where every moment counted, not being able to see was devastating. Especially as this was the sense humans relied the most on.
Thinking this he turned his attention back to Max. "Over the past two weeks, we were very busy reinforcing this place to keep us somewhat safe from the countless threats, like the wolf. Since we couldn’t leave the near vicinity without risking our life we were somewhat forced to spend our time reinforcing the school.
Together with Jasper's craftsmanship and a lot of improvising we fell the trees behind the school and built a wall with them and closed most windows off, because of the accident with the birds. I don’t want to risk another bird sneaking into the building.”
“Yes me and my father had quite the challenge to put this wall up so quickly but I’m proud of our accomplishment,“ remarked Dennis from the side.
“Wait, Jasper is your father?” Jim asked with bewilderment.
Making a weird face Dennis replied, “Of course, we have the same family name. Dennis Ross and Jasper Ross? You should know after hearing this that we have to be related. Unless you didn't know my last name?”
Laughing slightly embarrassed Jim said, “You know you are not the most talkative guy in class-”
“Jim!” Interrupted a shocked Dennis. “We went for six whole years into the same class and you didn’t even remember my name?”
Laughing Jake said, “You shouldn't take that to heart Jim is just very bad with names. I’m surprised he was even able to remember the first name of everyone here.”
“Hey!” exclaimed Jim while looking at Jake. “Since when do we betray each other? Names are just hard to remember you know!”
Hearing this Jake only broke into another burst of laughter. “Sure if you say so.”
Ignoring the two Solaire turned his attention to Max. “I think I roughly understand your situation, or is there anything else we need to know?”
“No, I think that is everything important,” replied Max after thinking for a while.
“Good,” said Solaire with a nod. “Then allow me to explain the events of the past few days.”
For the next few minutes, Soalire recounted everything that happened and what they learned in the process. While they were talking Jim also realized that the school grew in numbers and now occupied about eighty people from which about two dozen were able to defend themself to some extent.
This sounded like a lot but after talking with Max more Jim realized what a huge threat the wolves really were. While the raven was still building its group and wasted many beasts in attacking the church, the wolf was different.
It not only had a huge group of wolves, but they were also far stronger than anything they faced so far. A wolf was not any animal but a fearsome predator that was high up on the food chain. Not only was the start point of a wolf advantageous but they were also of a high rank with most of them being in the second.
Looking at everyone in the room with a stern face Max asked, “So do you have any ideas how we can defend ourselves against this threat and Troy?”