For a moment silence remained in the room. They were in a difficult situation that was hard to resolve with their current force. Emma was the first one to speak and asked, “Do we even have to fight?”
Slightly confused Max asked back, “What do you mean with that?”
“I’m just a bit confused why Troy's group doesn’t just change locations. I mean they could go to another part of the city or even leave it. Why would they stay?”
For the first time thinking about this, Max's forehead started to wrinkle, “You are right it doesn’t make sense. They started to hunt humans because there were no other mutants but if that was the reason they could always go to another part of the city.”
Nodding her head, Emma explained, “That was also my thought. Even if they are resolved to kill us they need a reason. Troy wouldn’t have formed a group without them having a similar goal. We must overlook something.”
“No there is another possibility," spoke Solaire while stroking his beard. "After hearing so much about Troy I’m almost sure that he is a capable leader and not stupid. No one stupid could survive up till now. I guess that something or someone is in the South that is so important for him to risk his life for. But judging from his character the chances are small that there is such a person, which means he is looking for something else.”
Widening his eyes Max suddenly realized something, “You could be right. I found it always weird why he changed his location so often. Just taking the supermarket near the school would be the best spot if he wanted to kill us. But every time we encountered them their position changed. It was like he was searching or preparing for something but I’m not too sure what this could be.”
“Couldn't it just be that they wanted to hide their base location?” Jim asked.
Shaking his head Max said, “That can’t be. They didn’t even try to hide their base when they fled. They blandly made a fire and were not hiding their presence at all.”
Realizing the strange behavior of Troy. The people around the table began to think. Eventually, Evelin said, “I’m not sure but I think that he is preparing for a battle with the wolves. It doesn't make sense that he searches for something. What could he possibly search for in this mess? Even if he were searching for something by now he surely would have found it.”
Hearing this the group realized that it indeed didn’t make sense. After another moment of silence, Solaire stood up and fetched a map of the city out of his backpack. It was the same map he previously used to show Jim the location of the raven's nest.
He put it on the table and looked at Max, “Mark the points where you saw Troy and his group.”
Taking a moment to orientate himself on the map Max got a marker and marked all the spots. After he was done Solaire took the map and looked at it. Seeing the points on the map his eyes widened as he said, “That is indeed problematic.”
“What is it?” Jim asked, worried. For him, the points in the map didn’t say much as they were just following randomly along the south of the city.
Ignoring Jim’s question Solaire asked, “Do you know of any other abilities they could have? Also, when was the last time you saw them?”
Thinking for a moment Max said, “I don’t know if they have any other abilities. We only noticed Troy messing with our sight and we last saw them…”
“About four days ago,” helped Dennis. “Why do you ask?”
Hearing this Solaire sat down and stroked his eyebags to shake some of his tiredness away. Sitting up straight, he asked another question, “Can any of you sense this new energy? It looks like an aura of light if you see it.”
Seeing everyone shake their heads, Solaire explained, “Okay it isn't that important for now. Important is why Troy didn’t attack us when we came to the school. The commotion we caused on our way here was big enough to be noticed from quite a distance. We are a small group and from our appearance, easy prey. The only reason why I could imagine them hesitating is that they knew that we have two rank three in our group-”
Interrupting him Dennis asked, “Wait, what do you mean with two rank three?”
“Right,” said Solaire, while shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “Both me and Jim are of the third rank. More important, is the incoming threat of the wolves. Troy most likely is luring them here as we speak.”
Shocked by this revelation Max asked, “What how could this be? They can’t just lead over three dozen wolves to us, they would have to make such a big commotion that the wolves feel threatened, not to mention that their survival would be unlikely.”
Nodding his head Solaire said, “Precisely, for this reason, he is constantly changing his location. He is hunting lone strays from the group to weaken them, strengthen himself, and more importantly anger them. At some point, the wolves would be so angry that they would search the whole south to find the culprit.”
Realizing where this was going Jake said, “At this time he will show himself and lead the group to the school. After reaching us he would pretend to enter the school when he in reality would hide somewhere. With that, the whole wolf group would attack the school assuming that Troy belonged to the group in the school. In this chaos, they could reap immense benefits. You have to remember that you don’t have to kill a mutant to absorb a part of its energy, you just have to be close enough.”
Hearing this, Max almost couldn’t believe it but looking at the map again he realized that this would explain why he changed his base so often. He wasn’t searching for something, he was changing hunting grounds, while avoiding the main group of wolves.
Putting his hand on his chin while thinking, Max asked, “How long do you think we have?”
Stroking his beard again, losing himself in thoughts for a moment, he said, “I’m not sure but when this was his plan from the beginning then we don't have much time left. I would say tonight or tomorrow.”
Startled by the date Max asked, “So soon? Are you sure? Couldn’t we maybe go out and find him before he could proceed with this plan?”
Shaking his head, Solaire said, “No, it's too risky. Maybe I’m wrong and we would be searching in enemy territory. We don’t know where Troy is at the moment, we can only hope that I’m wrong.”
“I hope so," responded May with Worry. "Just to be sure we have to prepare for a war,” turning to Jim he advised,” You should go with Jasper to let him repair your armor.”
Looking down on himself Jim noticed that he indeed needed a repair as his armor was only barely sewn together after his countless battles and could need a professional repair. Having this thought he asked, “Wasn’t Dennis' dad only working with wood?”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Oh lad that is what I do for a living,” said Jasper with a deep voice. “My hobby on the other hand is smithing and leather work surrounding the weapons and armor of the Medieval Ages. I’m not the best at making full plate armor as I always preferred a good leather armor, which your armor falls right under and is easy to repair.”
Nodding his head in understanding Jim and the rest of his group split up. Solaire and Jake stayed to discuss their defense strategy. Emma went around the school to see where she could help.
Leaving the room with Jasper he had the chance to look around the school and was surprised by how organized it was. Everyone had their job and their own space to work in.
There was living space, a kitchen, a dining room, various storage rooms, and even some small workplaces where they repaired clothes. Interested Jim convinced Jasper to make a small detour to the garden and was surprised to find out that the whole garden was turned into a field with various plants.
With many trees felled there was much more space for crops and he could see potatoes, wheat, carrots, tomatoes, and even some herbs. This field would never be enough to feed the whole city or even all the survivors, but it was a beginning that could be expanded on.
Going downstairs Jim entered something he could only describe as a messy workshop. Jasper repurposed one of their biggest storages into a workplace, that not only was used for repairs but was the place where all the weapons, armor, and other lethal tools were stored.
This place had guards at all times and most often Jasper was here to keep an eye on the weapons to make sure they wouldn’t be stolen and at the same time could work on armor or the weapons themself.
It was the same storage Dennis previously encountered the rats in. The room was full of shelves, stands, and tables that held several weapons and armor that surprised Jim. He knew their museum had quite the collection, but he never realized how many they really had.
Turning around to follow Jim’s gaze Jasper said, “Beautiful, right? I brought my own weapons over with the help of Max. You can never have enough weapons right?”
After saying that he started to laugh while holding his stomach, after a moment he calmed himself and stated, “You can just put the armor on one of the tables.”
Nodding his head Jim followed his suggestion and asked, “I never knew we had someone in our city who was smithing weapons just as a hobby. Normally something like this would spread around the town like wildfire considering our city isn’t that big.”
“Hahaha,” laughing for a while Jasper asked, “You know that there is a smith that is maintaining the quality of the weapons in the museum, right?”
Seeing Jim nod in confirmation Jasper smiled and pointed at himself. “That would be me. I never made a big deal out of it, as it was my hobby and I was just glad to work with some of these masterpieces. Some of the weapons were actually smithed by myself, but many of the weapons here lack in quality, as I never intended them to be really used in a battle.”
Hearing this Jim was impressed and they conversed for a while before he was hushed out of the workshop so that Jasper could concentrate on his work. He would come looking for him if the armor was fully repaired.
With nothing better to do, Jim explored the school and talked with some people, while eventually going on top of the roof to get some fresh air and a better view of the city. Looking at the setting sun which was almost completely gone Jim just enjoyed the moment.
*AHUUUUU*
Right after the sun vanished behind the horizon Jim heard a loud howl of a wolf that echoed through the whole city.
*tsk*
Annoyed, Jim stood up and mumbled to himself, “Of course, Solaire had to be right.”
Quickly going down to the room of the head principal, Jim noticed that everyone was panicking and rushing from one place to another.
Avoiding the masses, Jim finally made it back, only to find Jake, Solaire, and Max at the table. Looking at them he asked, “Where are the others?”
Noticing Jim’s arrival Solaire said, “They are preparing for the attack. Are you ready to fight?”
“Sure am,” replied Jim with a confident smile.
Nodding his head Solaire said, “Good at least you are motivated, remember this courage, you gonna need it. This is going to be a long fight.”
“Alright, so what is the plan?” Jim asked, coming straight to the point.
“We are going to fight a war of persistence,” replied Jake. “Max and the rest transformed this into a fort and we are sure gonna put it to good use. They can only attack the wall and this is where we will hold them off.”
Nodding his head Jim said, “Okay but just in case what do we do if they break through?”
“Then we are going to fight until the last man stands,” responded Jake with a shrug. “They can’t get in easily but the same applies to us. If they really break through we can’t just walk out. Especially if we consider that the whole vicinity of the school will be full of mutants.”
Understanding what Jake meant by that. Jim made his mind up. Either they survive or die trying. Looking at Jake he asked, “So are we just going to hold them off at the wall in the hope we can kill them all?”
“Yes, that is pretty much it,” confirmed Jake with a nod. “There isn’t much we can do besides defending ourselves and keeping our losses low while trying to kill as many enemies as possible.”
Looking over to Solaire Jim asked, “Can you not just burn them all? I mean you did the same thing in the church.”
“I sure can," replied Solaire with a chuckle. "We just have to hope that they sent enough mutants so that I can constantly replenish my energy. The moment I have to use my own reserves I will stop, I have to spare that for real emergencies. Sadly I’m not the youngest anymore. By the Sun, I wish I would be young again but no one can win against time. If I were a few years younger I would go out there and fight them in the open, then they wouldn’t escape the ranges of my flames.”
Shaking his head, dejected Jim said, “I guess you are our only option,” looking at Max, he asked, “Just in case, how are our current forces looking?”
Without hesitation, Max replied, “Apart from the people standing here we have a total of seven people, together with Emma eight who can use the bow. Arrows are scarce and we only have about ninety of them so they can’t shoot many. For fighters, we have a total of fifteen who reached the second rank and can somewhat defend themselves. The rest are not mentionable and would die in seconds.”
Hearing this Jim began to rapidly think. This battle was completely against their favor and to be truthful it didn’t look very good for them. They were not only outnumbered by foes who were stronger than them but had to worry about Troy and his group. The only advantage they had was the wall and the moment it was taken down, they would go down with it.
After a moment of silence, Jim asked, “Can you now determine how long we have before they reach us?”
Shrugging his shoulders Max said, “I don’t know. Not very long. Could be an hour or just mere minutes. The only thing I know for sure is that we have to be at the wall, when they attack,“ tuning to Jim he suggested, “You should get your armor from Jasper and a spear. You can like this machete as much as you want, but for this battle, it does not have enough reach.”
Nodding his head in understanding Jim gave his farewells, “I will be off then, see you on the wall.”
Coming to Jasper, who was frantically doing some last-minute work on some of the equipment, he barely glanced at him before quickly throwing him his armor and a well-crafted spear with a cross guard below the tip, before pushing him out of his workshop.
Quickly putting on his armor he soon arrived at the wall with a spear and shield in hand. The shield was still his round shield from their first visit to the museum. He didn’t use it, while fighting the raven, due to his injured arm, but he always used it when fighting rank one or two mutants. By now he was even utilizing it properly, or at least better than before.
Going up the few steps on top of a small platform that was built along the wall to give them the advantage of the high ground, while attacking from the windows. Solaire, Max, and Jake were standing together peeking out of one of the windows while conversing with lowered voices.
The wall was already fully equipped and battle-ready, while three dozen people were doing various things, making the wall feel even more cramped. Some prepared the spears, while others were hurrying to reinforce the wall further or repair it if needed. The archers nocked their arrows to be able to quickly attack and the fighters made a last check on their equipment.
Arriving before the group of three Jim asked, “How is it looking? Are they already here?”
Shaking his head Jake said, “Not yet,” he then looked out of the window and corrected himself, “Oh… never mind. There they are.”
“Really? Let me take a look.” Shoving Jake to the side, Jim looked outside of the window and was shocked by what he saw. By now too much had happened for him to be surprised by this, but he still couldn't stop himself from muttering, “Well, this is going to be a problem.”