Jack returned the same way he had left, albeit with suspiciously clean hands. Most apartments kept bottles of water somewhere, and it wasn’t like water could go bad. If anything, Jack was just surprised that there was still water so close by. Then again, an hour’s run might not be close for a sedentary settlement.

And of course he remembered to pick up the sewing supplies.

Sensei watched Jack waltz straight towards the gate he was holding open with suspicious eyes. Only briefly did his attention waver to the backpack of random loot Jack carried.

Jack handed the bag off to Sensei once the gates were closed.

“I don’t know where to bring this.”

“You were gone for four hours.”

Jack nodded, satisfied with his efficiency. “I brought presents.”

“I know.”

Jack undid the various belt buckles that he had used to strap the gun and armor to his back. Still standing in the gate, which itself was sandwiched between a school bus and a large truck, Sensei collected the tech.

“We had a theory that the monsters and items and whatever came from the three deities in the murals.” Sensei handled the gun awkwardly. The thing as a whole was much larger than any gun on earth, and its handle was clearly meant for differently sized hands.

Jack snorted a laugh. “Gee, you think?”

Sensei’s eyes narrowed as he studied the gun. “There’s no bullets. It’s an energy weapon. But there’s no power source.”

“How can you tell?” Jack asked.

Sensei shrugged. “I can’t. I’m assuming. There’s no moving parts, and nothing rattles when I shake it. Nothing is meant to be removed, like a magazine. There’s no openings that suggest external ammunition, unless we’re assuming that the high tech race didn’t advance beyond muskets. And even at that, the barrel is-”

Jack stopped him before he could peer down the barrel of the gun. Habit. After a brief second, he released the otaku.

“The barrel isn’t discolored, or deep.” Sensei finished. “No physical projectiles. There’s no evidence. And based on Hiro’s report, they didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger once they were lined up. That meant, at least on a basic visual inspection, the guns were operating normally. So we’re not dealing with some bullshit half-life gravity gun.”

The name tickled a memory, but Jack hadn’t played the game. He folded his arms, disinterested. “This stays between us?”

“For now.” Sensei conceded. “I can’t keep secrets forever.”

That was about all Jack could rightfully expect. It was acceptable. “What’s next? Do you know where other doors are? Preferably from the other two deities.”

“Depends. Although I can make some guesses from the… items you’ve brought me, I don’t know what you know.”

“Your omniscience doesn’t tell you?” Jack raised an eyebrow.

“You need to tell me.” He said.

Jack sighed. He compiled the information he felt was pertinent and formed a report in his head. But before he could even speak, Sensei interrupted him.

“Fucking christ…” He paled, closing his eyes and rubbing a hand down his face.

Jack’s eyebrows furrowed. “I didn’t even start yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. You just need the intent to.” Sensei fell back against the school bus’ grill, sitting on the bumper. He groaned into his palms. “Fucking hell. They’re sentient, you know?”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “I know.”

“We could, like, negotiate?” Sensei shuddered. Probably a preemptive response to what Jack was about to say.

“I don’t want to.”

“That’s… why?”

“Shouldn’t you know why?”

“You’re a psychopath.” He said. Plain and simple. Not an accusation, so much as a label for Jack.

Jack nodded. “But I’m not stupid.”

“They had family-”

“So did we.” Jack barked at a normal volume. He had used the commanding tone that his deep voice afforded him to get many people’s attention when he wanted it. It was simply the most effective method. “And the instant they saw us, they trained their weapons on us and pulled the trigger. I’m not the smartest person in the world, but I’m not blind either. You and I both know what happens next, or did you not pay attention in history class?”

Jack hadn’t even paid attention in history. Well, not to the stories themselves. He paid attention to the people within them.

Jack leaned in, glaring down at the sweaty man. “Complacency will get us killed. Kindness will get us killed. Running away will only buy them time. You look outside these walls and tell me if you think I'm still the monster here.”

“That’s not the point!” Sensei argued. Jack could see the gears turning in his head as he attempted to form a viable rebuttal.

Jack looked back into the camp as the first rays of sunlight shone over the walls. “Just because we’re all living together does not mean we’re civilized. Not any more.”

“Civilization is what makes us human.” Sensei said. “Without it, we’re no better than animals.”

Jack’s fingers brushed up against each other, and he felt the slits at the tips where his claws set hidden. He had more he could say. There was always the argument that humans have always been animals, and that their way of survival was simply the most effective. That survival of the fittest didn’t always have to be about physical strength, and only recently humanity has embraced a different kind of ruthlessness.

But while Jack was a smart man, he wasn’t that smart. Still, even he knew that this argument wasn’t going anywhere. They were each set in their own ways of thinking, and no amount of arguing over morals was going to change the others mind.

“I’m going for a wander.” Jack announced, leaving Sensei behind to deal with the loot and information.

His mood was soured, but there was nothing he could do about it. Jack shrugged it off as best he could, used to this kind of frustration. Dealing with humans was… difficult. Most living things were difficult for Jack to deal with. He didn’t really know how to treat animals, since supposedly hurting them was bad, but butchering was ok, and self defense was a good thing? Humans were marginally better, since Jack could talk sense into the smarter ones. The stubborn and stupid though…

A dog barked, and Jack watched Anubis bolt in his direction from the houses. Jack sighed, stepping out of the way when the animal jumped at him. He found it easier to just not interact with living things as often as possible.

Current apocalypse not-with-standing, of course. Jack was enjoying it so far. The rules were simple. Kill or be killed. That, Jack understood.

Alice came running after her dog, leaping to hug Jack in the same way Anubis had just tried. Jack’s instincts to catch her hesitated now that she probably weighed more than him. It was just long enough for Alice to absolutely body him. They fell to the ground in a heap that Anubis quickly joined.

“Jack! Why weren’t you still in bed!? I was looking for you! Why didn’t you wake me!? You had me so worried that I lost you again!!” Alice’s tears were mostly for show.

Jack sighed. A difficult task, with his sister weighing so much now. He rubbed her head with one hand and held off Anubis with the other. “Good morning.”

She snorted out a laugh, her tears forgotten. Alice got off of him and calmed Anubis with a few words. “Why are you up so early?”

“I’ve been up for a while.” Jack said. “Decided I needed to stretch my legs.”

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Alice nodded to herself and yawned. “You and Anubis both. Shall we?”

Jack rose to his feet and followed after his sister. They walked around the perimeter of the encampment, not saying much other than commenting on various crops that they passed. Of course, this early in the season, it was mostly just dirt, but still. Jack eyed up the farmland, forming a mental image of the amount of vegetation that would result from it.

“That’s not a lot of food.” He observed.

Alice’s expression softened. “Yeah… I know. The adventurers and I don’t get to eat any. Neither do most of the guards.”

Jack’s expression complicated. “What? Why?” He didn’t bother to hide his opinion that he thought that was stupid.

“Because they can go outside the wall.” Alice explained. “Which means they can collect food from elsewhere.”

While that was a fair point, Jack knew from experience that nothing that was still edible tasted good. Except jerky. Jack liked jerky.

“I thought only the adventurers went outside the walls.”

“They’re the only ones that go exploring. The guards still leave the walls sometimes, but they stick to the known safe areas. But, sometimes…”

“You said you live outside the walls.” Jack said. “With a bunch of animals? How are you safe all the time?”

Alice chuckled. “Like I said, I wasn’t always like this.” She gestured to her muscles. “It’s only recently that I’ve felt confident enough to go between without some sort of escort.” Her eyes lit with excitement. ”Hey! I need to head back to the clinic today. Wanna come see my babies!?”

Jack gave her a smile. “Sounds good.” Whether he wanted to or not was irrelevant. His sister wanted to show him something, so he would go.

Who’s the older sibling again? Jack joked to himself.

They were passing through the housing area of the encampment when Jack spotted a person up ahead. She stood with her feet shoulder width apart, arms crossed, and with a nasty glare. She was also directly in their path.

“Uh oh.” Jack said without emotion.

“Oh shit.” Alice grumbled. “What do you want?”

“Take a guess.” The confrontational girl snapped. Which was funny, because while she was tall for a girl, she was still within normal range. Which meant while Jack was taller than her, Alice towered over the average girl. And yet, here she was, on the verge of threatening them without backup. Jack’s opinion of her started pretty low.

“I’m not giving you my pig.” Alice said.

“If you’re not going to contribute, don’t come back.” Her attention turned to Jack. “And if you had any conscious, you wouldn’t stay either.”

“Because?” Jack didn’t like people who didn’t have valid reasons for things.

“We don’t have enough to feed you.”

Jack peeled back his lips with a finger, displaying his teeth. “I don’t eat vegetables any more. They’re all yours.”

Alice whipped around. “You- Jack! That’s not healthy!”

Jack shrugged. “Came with the territory of being a predator I guess. Last time I tried, I threw up.”

“That doesn’t matter-”

“It kind of does.” Alice snapped at the girl. “Besides, he’s an adventurer! They don’t get to eat from your stupid garden anyway!”

“And what do they do for us, huh?” She growled. “Besides instilling a false sense of confidence in the others? There’s nothing out there except for things that want us dead! When they screw up, and they will, what happens to the rest of us when they bring back something they can’t handle? What happens if those goblins or whatever spot us and decide they want what we have? We have to stop taking chances!”

But they already know where you are. Jack’s eyes narrowed. It was impossible for the three other communal monsters to not know about Clearview. It was simply too large of a target to miss. They probably just left it alone in the same way they left each other alone. Out of fear that if they fought, they might not win.

“Stupid.” Jack couldn’t help but mutter his thoughts.

“What?” She glared at him.

Alice rolled her eyes. “Come on Jack. It’s like talking to a brick wall.”

The girl turned around as they passed her, seething. “I approached you alone out of respect. Next time, I’ll bring the others.”

“Good to know.” Alice waved over her shoulder, urging Jack onwards.

“Who’s she?” Jack asked, once they were out of earshot.

“Blake. Resident garden girl. Farm kid who knows about crops and stuff, so she was the one put in charge of caring for the farm.”

“She’s right though.” Jack said, much to Alice’s incredulity. Jack placated her before she could speak. “About the fact that they can’t feed everyone. Everything else she said was just… stupid. Do you have some maps of the area?”

“Why?”

“It’s faster than exploring to get a lay of the land.”

“If you just need that, I can tell you that there’s a convenience store over that way about a block. The gas station next to it blew up a while ago, so nothing’s been near it since. It’s pretty safe. Over there’s just more houses, and in that direction-”

“Alice?” Jack said patiently. “Map please.”

Alice huffed. “Right. It’s in the meeting room.”

They decided to cut through the center of the encampment rather than to continue around the perimeter. Along the way, they passed the Adventurer’s Guild House, and a searching Hiro. Upon seeing Alice though, his expression brightened. He jogged over, and Alice greeted him cheerily.

“Where’re you headed?” Hiro asked, placating Anubis with scritches.

“Meeting room.” Alice said. “Jack wants to look at a map.”

Hiro perked up. “I have maps!”

“You do?”

Hiro nodded, clearly happy to be of use. “They’re in my room! Do you…?”

Alice grinned, marching right back into the house. Hiro and Jack followed. Jack noted with some small amusement that Hiro’s expression was slowly growing more flushed the closer they got to his room upstairs.

Alice hesitated at the top of the stairs, so Hiro showed her which room was his, holding open the door for her when clearly it wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t like the door was going to close behind them.

Hiro’s room looked remarkably average. A single bed tucked in the corner, a nightstand next to it full of clutter, and a desk against the inner wall. Between the desk and the nightstand, covering nearly the entire wall, was a map comprised of several smaller maps arranged to line up the roads to make up a larger total. They were pinned to the wall with thumb tacks, and blobs of yarn circled some areas.

Alice whistled. “Nice detective wall.”

Hiro blushed further, this time from embarrassment. “It’s not totally accurate. Uh, the yellow yarn is the lizards, the green is goblins, and the red is the rat people.”

Jack mentally noted that his red yarn was several months out of date. There was no way there were so many pockets so late in the game. By now, they almost certainly would have conglomerated into one giant civilization.

Jack pointed to the blue yarn. “That’s Clearview?”

Hiro nodded.

Jack took only a moment to memorize the wall. Aside from the blue yarn circle, there was only one other blue pin, a fair distance away from the encampment. It sat on the border between the city and the farmland beyond. Alice’s clinic most likely. Since Hiro claimed the rest was inaccurate anyways, Jack just used the time to study the city layout.

“Are you going back to the clinic after this?” Hiro asked with some trepidation.

Alice nodded. “Gotta feed my babies!”

“When will you be back?”

“Soon, I think.” Alice thought. “I don’t know. Jack?”

“Hm?” Since when did he get an opinion?

“You’ve been walking for a while to get here, and now you’re safe. Do you want to stay and rest a while?”

Jack almost laughed. “No, thanks. I’d rather explore a bit.”

Alice sighed. “You know you’re not getting paid, right?”

“I know.”” Jack said.

Alice theatrically leaned closer to Hiro, stage whispering. “Dude was loaded before the apocalypse. Had like half a million in the bank!”

That was something Jack barked a laugh at. He had more money than his sister, yes, but he wasn’t that rich. He was still in his early twenties, there was no possible way he could have saved up that kind of money.

Fat load of good it did him now, of course, and that’s what Alice was making fun of.

Jack gestured to the wall, though he wasn’t really referring to anything on it. “How much have you guys killed? I want to know how populated the city is.”

Hiro grounded himself with the change in topic, distancing himself from Alice. “We only kill when we have to. So not much.”

“Give me a number.” Jack urged.

Hiro gave it some thought. “Well, we go hunting almost every day, between us and the guards, but we don’t always get something. So I’d say about five monsters a day? Those are the more animal-like ones so we can eat them. A few of the guards have a Hunter Apocrypha, so recently our success rate for bodies dropping has been higher, meaning we’ve been hunting less. Maybe one a day on average now?”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Why the change?”

“Because most kills just disappear into that black smoke. Sometimes the loot drops are lucky, and we get meat, but we’re aiming for the body to stay intact so we can butcher it.” Hiro explained.

Jack nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

Unfortunately, Hiro didn’t have much more to say. He just shrugged. “Yesterday was rare, like I said. We normally only kill when we have to. Normally missions aren’t too important that we can’t just retreat and do it later, so I’d say between the guards and our excursions, we’ve probably killed a little over two hundred monsters?”

Jack’s eyebrow twitched. So little? On his own and on average, Jack killed over a hundred monsters a day! And that was counting the winter months where he killed basically nothing while preparing his giant trap!

“I see.” He said.

His mind wandered. Clearly, it was normal for people to hunt as little as possible. Sensibly fearing death, Jack reasoned. If Jack was to fit in with the rest of everyone else, he’d have to abide by those same social conventions. The sneaking around bit would come naturally to him, so he didn’t worry about that much, but Jack almost felt itchy about needing to restrain from hunting as much as he was used to. And he hadn’t even started yet!

Alice must have noticed his plight, because she put a hand on his bicep. “It’s ok Jack. You’re safe now. You don’t need to fight just to survive anymore.”

Jack snorted, looking away. “Tell that to Blake.”

“The food argument?” Hiro asked.

Alice rolled her eyes. “The food argument.”