The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage
Author: Daymond John; Daniel Paisner
Date: 2016-01-19 08:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Business; Self Help; Biography
Description: The instant New York Times bestseller from Shark Tank star and Fubu Founder Daymond John on why starting a business on a limited budget can be an entrepreneur's greatest competitive advantage. Daymond John has been practicing the power of broke ever since he started selling his home-sewn t-shirts on the streets of Queens. With a $40 budget, Daymond had to strategize out-of-the-box ways to promote his products. Luckily, desperation breeds innovation, and so he hatched an idea for a creative campaign that eventually launched the FUBU brand into a $6 billion dollar global phenomenon. But it might
Publisher: Crown

Apocalypse Gates

Book 6:

Can of Worms

Daniel Schinhofen

Copyright © 2020 Daniel J. Schinhofen

No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form by an electronic or mechanical means – except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews – without the written permission from the publisher.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright © 2020 Daniel J. Schinhofen

All rights reserved.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-seven

Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-two

Chapter Forty-three

Chapter Forty-four

Chapter Forty-five

Chapter Forty-six

Chapter Forty-seven

Chapter One

Bored with driving through the white, snow-filled world of the Dwarves, Alvin was glad when they finally stopped for the night. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree had jumped out and gone off to the bedroom to get washed up as soon as the vehicle had come to a stop. Alvin set the brake and got out himself.

“Texas, what are they likely to have done to Texas?” Alvin mused out loud as he stretched. “The Midwest and going east, it’s going to be harder and harder to miss larger towns. I hope some of them are okay... at least Texas believed in open carry. The people left after the Rapture would have a chance to defend themselves better than other places.”

He walked into the kiosk room and stopped. “Sammi? What is it this time?”

“Bugs. They seem to follow you around,” Sammi grumbled. “We were adding a package to the envoys so they could speak and understand the language of the people they were dealing with. Someone decided to poke around in the system further and found a bug tied to you... well, tied to Mousie.”

“What’s wrong with Mousie?” Alvin demanded.

“Nothing— but she has the Linguist power. You know, the one we removed from the damned game?” Sammi snapped at him. “Somehow, being with you has corrupted or altered her data and she gained that power. We think it happened from the whole bond thing, but that doesn’t explain why Desiree has it, too.”

Alvin chuckled, “I like free power ups.”

“Well, we don’t,” Sammi grumbled. “Can you stop adding women to your harem for a week or two while we unravel the reason behind why it’s happening and fix it?”

“I don’t plan to add women. Gothy does that,” Alvin laughed. “But I’ll see what I can do. Are they giving you that much flak for it?”

“Yes. You have been the biggest bug magnet we’ve ever had.”

“I’m helping make the game better, then,” Alvin shrugged. “The bugs are getting caught, right? Isn’t that what matters?”

Sammi exhaled, her shoulders slumping. “That’s what I said. Anyway, just try to give us time, please.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Not sure I’ll find anything interesting enough in Texas, anyway. Chupacabras, maybe, but I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head besides that. It’s not like New Mex…” Alvin trailed off as he started to think. “Oh… I wonder...”

Sammi’s face fell and she started to wave her hands. “I didn’t say anything! Nothing, not a thing.”

Alvin began to chuckle, “That would make sense. I bet they have tech— advanced tech that could make a big difference.”

“Alvin!” Sammi said loudly, clapping her hands to draw his attention back to her. When he looked at her, she grimaced, “Look, you can do whatever you want, but please give us a bit of time to fix the latest bug. Also, your weekly quest starts tomorrow. We’ve added different options, so you’ll be getting a random one. The kill quest goals have been reduced, too.”

Alvin set aside the idea he had so he could finish talking to Sammi; he’d bring it up to his companions once she was gone. “That’ll be good, Sammi. You know I’m not actively trying to break shit, right? I’m actually grateful to you for a lot of things you’ve done. Some of the other devs can kiss my ass, but you’ve done good things for us, like saving Jarvis.”

Sammi looked away from him. “I… you…”

“I mean it, even if I also kind of said it to see you blush,” Alvin snickered.

“Fucking asshole!” she snapped, her cheeks going crimson.

“Yeah, never said I wasn’t. Glad to see you still got that fire. Was there anything else that you needed from me?”

“No,” she grumbled, her petulance showing through easily.

“Do your best, Sammi,” Alvin said with a touch of kindness. “We are doing the best we can with the system you’ve been given to fix.”

“Fine,” she huffed and shrugged. “Have fun in Texas.”

“When we get there,” Alvin grinned.

Sammi shook her head and vanished. Chuckling, Alvin moved into the main room and saw Jarvis working in the kitchen. He left the butler to do his thing and headed for the bedroom. He could hear happy voices and the sound of running water as he got closer to the bathroom.

“What is taking him so long? We didn’t even kill anything today,” Gothy was complaining. “I’m going to march out there and—”

“And what?” Alvin asked, stepping into the shower.

“Hero,” Gothy smiled. “Were you just waiting for me to give you an opening?”

“I do love your openings,” Alvin smirked. “But no, I was delayed by Sammi.”

Gothy rolled her eyes. “What did our personal stalker want this time?”

Alvin picked up a bar of soap and started scrubbing her back, explaining to them what he and Sammi had talked about. He gave Mousie a smile when she started to scrub him down, and winked at Desiree when she started in on Mousie.

“So that’s why?” Mousie said. “I was confused that I was able to talk to Desiree and her people.”

“I can speak to anyone of any race?” Desiree asked to clarify.

“Looks like it,” Alvin chuckled. “Felt a little bad for Sammi, though. She’s getting flak, as if it were her fault. I think some of the devs really hate the fact that she’s known and liked.”

“Jealousy,” Gothy sighed, “it’s such an ugly thing. Glad we don’t have that problem.”

Spinning her around, Alvin kissed her cheek. “It would be messy if we did. Now spread ‘em again so I can get your front.”

“As you wish, Hero,” Gothy purred as she spread her legs wide for him.

“I can’t get your front that way, Hero,” Mousie sighed.

“We can get each other,” Desiree told her. “After he finishes with Gothy, the three of us can all pile on him.”

“That is a good plan,” Mousie was quick to agree.

“I’ll allow it,” Alvin laughed. “I had something else to talk about, though, too.”

“You have until we’re clean— then you’re going to be a bit busy, Hero,” Gothy purred, her eyes heated as his hands caressed her skin.

“Instead of Texas, we’re going to detour south into New Mexico.”

Gothy’s forehead creased. “Why would we…? Oh! You think?”

“Yeah. Remember how we discussed games and fast travel? I think that’s the angle for this game.”

“Plus other stupidly powerful tech,” Gothy nodded. “Yeah, I’m totally on board with that idea.”

“I don’t understand,” Desiree said. Mousie’s lips were pursed and she nodded at Desiree’s statement.

“There’s a famous town in New Mexico,” Alvin explained as he went to a knee to get Gothy’s left leg. “It’s known for aliens.”

“Aliens?” Desiree said slowly, the word unfamiliar to her.

“Beings of immense power and technology that can travel between stars,” Alvin clarified. “Our folklore is littered with them.”

“Like Babylon Five?” Mousie asked.

“Not quite like that, no. More the ‘abducting people and mutilating cows’ kind.”

“Oh, crop circles,” Mousie nodded.

“I still don’t understand,” Desiree sighed.

“Need to get her the human book,” Gothy said with a soft smile. “Maybe after we’ve had our fun tonight.”

“Yeah... it’ll knock her out for a bit, and that’d be the best time for it,” Alvin agreed as he started to work his way up her other leg.

“It is best if she knows more about you,” Mousie nodded. “I gained a wealth of knowledge from it.”

“Before we get to that, though, we have dinner,” Alvin said, standing back up and taking the shower wand to rinse Gothy off.

“And before that, we have you,” Gothy husked as she stared at him.

“Yes,” Mousie and Desiree agreed. Both had finished getting clean and were just waiting for them.

“Far be it from me to disagree with my three wives,” Alvin laughed as he washed the suds off Gothy. “Okay, ladies, where do you want me?”

~*~*~

Jarvis served them another gourmet meal; this time, a delicious filet mignon and lobster tail. Alvin sighed contentedly, feeling sated, relaxed, and happy. “You’re amazing Jarvis.”

“I’m aware, sir, but thank you for noticing.”

Gothy snickered, “We’re rubbing off on him.”

“I skipped preparing a dessert tonight. I thought you might be otherwise engaged and I should leave stuffing you to each other,” Jarvis said, perfectly deadpan, as he began to gather their plates.

Alvin laughed, “Yeah, definitely rubbing off.”

“I’m still a bit too full for what I really want,” Gothy sighed. “We can go over what to spend XP on first before we get to dessert.”

“Probably for the best,” Alvin agreed. “I’d hate for any accidents after that meal.”

“Sofa to relax while we talk?” Mousie suggested.

“Works,” Alvin agreed.

Once they were relaxing on the sofa, Alvin wondered about how the women had arranged themselves. He had Desiree on one side and Gothy on the other, while Mousie was on the far side of Gothy. They’re working out their hierarchy... just leave them to it, he told himself.

“Before we get started, I’m buying gas masks for the three of us. We might need them if we run into fungals on the way out.”

“I was going to suggest it if you didn’t,” Gothy nodded. “If we can get Bill or Wynn to remove the trigger guards on Desiree’s pistols, that would let Desiree use them even when she’s wearing armor.”

“Hmm, we’d need to send them and get them back. I can ask how long it would take to see if it’s feasible, but we’ll need the upgrade for that.”

“Which is on the list of things we wanted to get anyway,” Gothy reminded him. “You still think fast travel is going to be gated behind it?”

“Yes.”

“Then it becomes doubly important. It’ll probably be a bit expensive, but with your windfall from the Dwarves, you can afford that and more.”

“Okay, so we’re going for powers, right?”

“That’s what I’ve been looking at,” Gothy nodded. “I’m assuming some of these are going to get tweaked. I tried to avoid the most obviously broken ones— you’re welcome, Sammi. I looked for ones that appear to be fairly balanced, plus one that dovetails with the freebie we got.”

“Gate Sense?” Alvin asked.

“Yes. Right now, our range is ten miles. With the add-on, it goes to twenty-five. No idea what Gate Sense costs by itself, but the add-on is a hundred thousand XP.”

“One of us should pick that up. Don’t think we both need it.”

“True, but I think that some of the powers are going to be unlockable. We could buy the upgrade, but what if it comes naturally at the tenth Gate? I doubt they’ll refund us.”

“Huh, that’s fair. Are there any you think we might find in-game?”

“It’s hard to guess since we’ve only had the one show up. Without more data, I’d be shooting in the dark.”

“Do we need to expand the distance?” Mousie asked. “The glow from a Gate can be seen from a distance.”

“True, they’re visible from a few miles out. The power only does a bit better than that,” Alvin nodded.

“The interesting ones are the active use ones, even with the cooldowns on them,” Gothy said. “Want to double your damage for a bit? We can get that from Critical Strikes. Need to ignore pain for a few minutes? Dull Senses.”

“Recharge per day or what?”

“A good night’s sleep,” Gothy shrugged. “Haven’t found out what that means, but I’m thinking six hours in a secure room with bedding is probably what they’re going for.”

Mousie understood everything they were talking about, and while Desiree looked a little lost, she was able to follow most of their conversation. Alvin looked into the distance as he contemplated what kind of things would be best for them.

“There’s one that makes any firearm instantly reload for you every five minutes, as well,” Gothy added.

“In an intense firefight, that could be amazing. For the Ma Deuce, it would easily tip things into OP.”

“I think there’s going to be a lot more, but they’re probably trying to make sure they don’t give us anything too broken again. I did find the one that lets you escape any restraint amusing.”

“Well, considering what we do, yeah, but that would be useful if you think you’re ever going to be taken hostage.”

“Do we have to spend it all?” Desiree asked.

“No, we don’t. We likely won’t, but we could use some upgrades.”

“Let me go get the next kiosk upgrade and see if it unlocks anything we might want right away,” Alvin said.

When he came back to the living room a minute later, Alvin wore a knowing smirk. “The fast travel option is still locked, but it’s attached to the kiosk. It allows travel from kiosk to kiosk instantly, excluding player kiosks.”

“Do we want to take any of the other powers?” Gothy asked.

“Thinking we should stack Critical Strikes and the reload one onto a single person. If things get rough, we put them on the Ma Deuce and laugh.”

“Oh, nice. You thinking me or Mousie?”

“Why not me?” Desiree asked.

“Not enough time with the gun overall, and with your armor being second nature to you, it makes sense that it would be one of us instead.”

“Point made, Gothy.”

“We also need to pick up an extra wardrobe slot for Desiree,” Alvin added. “We all have an extra slot already except for her. We’ve got our leathers there, and we can add the Dwarf armor to the accessory slots of that set. Then it’s a simple toggle and willing it into existence.”

“Oh, right, need to do that. Glad we put runes on the leathers already. It will keep the armor room busy if we start taking damage to those sets, too.”

“Should be minor. If we’re wearing leather, it’s because we’re expecting to use the resistance runes on them.”

“Fair.”

“We should have you walk us through using the Dwarf armor tomorrow night, Desiree. Can the room that repairs your armor resupply the batteries, too?”

“I’ll check,” Desiree said and started to get up.

“Use this.” Gothy pulled a pad out and gave it to Desiree. “Just tap the tab for the room.”

Desiree followed her instructions and frowned. “No… it’ll need an upgrade?”

“How much?” Alvin asked.

“Let me see… fifty-thousand XP.”

“Okay, totally going to get that. One set or all of them?”

“Per armor.”

“Fuck you, devs,” Alvin sighed. “Still fine.”

“Mine can be augmented by a battery,” Desiree said slowly, “but it doesn’t normally need one. That would give me an extra boost if needed.”

“Okay, so two hundred thousand XP for that room, which I’ll call necessary. If we add in the combo bundle for the gunnery, that’ll double the price, so I should probably stop there. I’ll contact Olmera and see about getting a set of leather armor for Desiree. Might as well get her something besides just the bodysuit.”

“I like her in that suit... and out of it,” Gothy purred.

“Let me go buy things. Mousie, you’re designated gunner for big shit.”

Gothy pouted for a moment, then it cleared, “Because sometimes I’m driving?”

“Yup. If it’s a dragon, I might have to give her the ring, too,” Alvin added.

“That makes sense.”

“Mousie, come with me so we can transfer you XP to buy the powers. After that, we’re good for dessert.”

“I’ll start getting things ready, Hero,” Gothy said, getting to her feet and grabbing Desiree by the hand. “Come on, I have a wicked thought.”

“I’ll get the book for her. She can read it when we’re done,” Alvin chuckled. “See you in a few.”

“Don’t keep us waiting.”

Chapter Two

The next day, they drove all day and made it through the Dwarven Gate just before calling it a night. The day after, they were back on the road on Earth, driving south down U.S. Route 550. Alvin sat in the driver’s seat, wondering about his latest weekly quest, which he had gotten the day before.

“Help a settlement with a quest?” Alvin muttered. “How vague can you guys be?”

“They’re still tuning them,” Gothy shrugged. “At least they didn’t make it ultra-specific.”

“Fair.”

“Doesn’t the 550 go through Durango?” Gothy asked.

“Yeah, but we’re going to skip it. There are enough side roads near there that we can jump on them just north of Hermosa. We’ll skirt the edges of Hermosa and Durango, then loop east before heading south again through Bayfield, then Ignacio… they’re two pretty small towns. The last one is a Ute res. Maybe they’ll be friendly since the Paiute tribe was to us.”

“Johnny,” Gothy smiled. “He was right about Mousie.”

“I wonder if Brother Owl is still helping them out.”

“Think they found one of their gods?”

“No idea.”

“This is from before you found me, yes?” Mousie asked.

“From just before we met you,” Gothy replied.

“First up is Purgatory. Desiree, you ready?”

“Ready.”

“If it’s green and moving, fire freely. If it’s not green or attacking us, let it be,” Alvin repeated what he had told her this morning.

“Roger, Hero.”

As they got closer to the small ski resort town, the tension in the Humvee ratcheted up. They had gone most of a week without bloodshed again, and Alvin was wondering if that was good or bad.

“Movement,” Desiree called out, “right side. Green— I’m going hot.”

The sound of the M2 firing echoed into the mostly silent air, and the tracer round highlighted to the rest of them what Desiree had spotted. When he saw what she was shooting at, Alvin pressed the accelerator down harder, not wanting to get caught by the mob of fungals that was coming their way.

“This place must have fallen since we saw the fight,” Gothy said.

“It was a horde last time, and looks just as bad now,” Alvin replied. “They probably didn’t know to use fire on them.”

The Humvee raced at its top speed as the fungals ran toward the road. Mousie and Gothy kept watch on the mobs while Alvin focused on driving. When they got closer to the small community, Alvin was glad the roads had already been cleared— more than likely by the former residents— giving him the chance to go right by the small town.

“The gun isn’t doing much to them,” Desiree commented.

“We know,” Gothy replied. “But even a few less is a good thing.”

“The tracers do the most damage, it looks like,” Desiree added.

“Not surprising, considering how hot they burn while lit,” Gothy snorted. “The inside of the fungals must be incredibly flammable. Some of them are going up like bonfires.”

“Too bad they’re not all tracers,” Desiree sighed. “Losing contact.”

“Yeah, let the gun reload,” Alvin said as they left the town behind. “We got a few miles before we reach the turnoff I want to take.”

Desiree dropped down into the Humvee. “At least I can use the Ma Deuce in my armor, which is nice. Did you get word back from the person you wanted to ask about modifying my guns?”

“Olmera is working on armor for you, and Bill said he could remove the trigger guards on your pistols. I was planning on sending them over tonight.”

“Good. I’ll put the leather armor in the second wardrobe slot, and the radio will go with it, leaving my primary as my normal armor.”

“Yeah, and the upgrade that I bought for your room last night will incorporate a radio into your armor and ours,” Alvin added. “That left me with a little over six hundred thousand XP.”

“I think we’ll need most of that for the next kiosk upgrade, for the fast travel,” Gothy commented.

“Yeah, which is why I’m not spending more right now.”

The group fell silent as the Humvee rolled on. They did not get far before the lawns on the far side of the road caught Desiree’s attention.

“What is that?”

“Golf course. The turn we want will be shortly after this. You can see some of the houses among the trees.”

“Golf? Oh, that silly game where you hit small white balls into a hole in the ground?” Desiree scoffed. “What a waste of useable land.”

“Considering where you came from, I can see why you feel that way,” Gothy agreed. “I never saw the appeal in the game, but it had a dedicated following. It wasn’t a major sport or anything, but it still had its fans.”

“I would rather watch hockey. That sounded more invigorating.”

“I’m not surprised by this,” Alvin chuckled as they passed what was left of the golfing community. “There’s my turn off: Keeler Reservoir, which becomes county road 250.”

Taking the turn onto the smaller road, Alvin cracked his neck. “Okay, Desiree, eyes sharp. We’ll be hitting the edges of Hermosa and Durango shortly. Both are decent sized communities; fungals, zombies, and possibly Humans could be around.”

“Roger.”

They grew quiet as each of them focused on the area surrounding the Humvee. Houses and other buildings began to appear, well separated. Many of them looked like they had seen fighting, with most of the windows and doors broken.

The road was littered with vehicles, but spaced out enough that Alvin was able to drive around them. He kept glancing at the Animas River, knowing that the waters could harbor a number of unwelcome surprises.

The buildings drew closer together as they kept moving. Since they had not encountered any real trouble, Alvin kept them rolling, approaching the turn he wanted to take.

“That business has seen better days,” Gothy murmured, looking at a gun shop.

Alvin slowed to a crawl as he wove through a jumble of wrecked vehicles. “Turning onto the 240 there,” he said, motioning at the intersection where the remnants of a gas station stood. “We passed Hermosa already, so this is the edge of Durango.”

“Considering the gas station is blown up, I’m wondering if anything besides the dead are still here.”

“Contact,” Desiree shouted just before the gun began to thump.

Desiree was firing the direction that Alvin wanted to go, and he grimaced as he worked his way around the six-car pileup partially blocking the intersection. He tried to spot her target, and just caught sight of a pack of mutated dogs running away. Two more were lying dead in the parking lot beside the road.

“Just animals,” Gothy murmured as she kept her eyes moving. “I expected zombies at least, honestly.”

“They might be in the heart of town. The gunfire would have alerted anyone nearby that something’s happening,” Alvin said.

Everyone waited for the next surprise to jump out at them, but they left Durango behind without further incident. Alvin let out a deep breath, glad that things had gone smoothly for once.

They passed homes and campgrounds with RVs, many of which were now burnt out shells. A curve in the road brought a larger collection of buildings into view, and Alvin felt the tension start to creep back into his shoulders.

“Those buildings look burnt,” Desiree said as they got closer.

She turned out to be correct. Most of the buildings had fire damage, but were not completely destroyed. As they passed it, Alvin noted the sign declaring it to be “Colorado Trails Ranch.”

“Didn’t burn all the way... so either people were here, or they had rain on the same day,” Gothy murmured.

Alvin grunted and kept them moving, wondering if he should have taken an alternate route. The liquor store up ahead was still standing, but the doors were gone and a truck in the parking lot was burnt out.

“Think they went to Bayfield?” Gothy asked.

“Maybe. If it was right afterward and no one knew better, they might have thought a large town would be better than being out here,” Alvin replied.

“But you’ve said large towns and cities are a bad idea,” Mousie said.

“They should be, but it would depend on the people living there. If enough of them weren’t Raptured and had guns, they would have had a real chance of surviving if they stayed together long enough for the kiosks to show up for everyone.”

“Which means we might find people in Bayfield,” Desiree added.

“Or a fuck-ton of undead,” Alvin cautioned her. “Just be prepared.”

Everyone stayed alert as they took the winding road around Vosburg Pike Mountain. The road changed from county road 240 to county road 501, taking them south toward Bayfield.

In a few more miles, they reached the outskirts of Bayfield. Alvin had to slow again to get around the wrecks on the road as he continued to push south. The first few homes and businesses looked intact, but the first church they passed was a blackened ruin.

“Someone had feelings about God after the Rapture,” Gothy said.

“Hard feelings regarding being left behind, I’d say,” Alvin agreed. “Firebombing your ex is never a good idea.”

Gothy snickered, but that died away when the high school came into view. The building had seen battle— the building and the vehicles in the lot were riddled with bullet holes. Spears and arrows were lodged into some of the walls, somehow more worrisome than the bullet holes.

“Hero, am I mistaken or does it maybe look like the natives grew a bit restless and attacked the school?”

“Could be. That would be bad, because we’re heading straight for their town.”

“Maybe they’re not as nice as Johnny’s people.”

“Could be.”

“Do we want to be going toward them from this road, then?” Mousie asked. “Should we not try to detour to come in from a different angle so they don’t think we are from here?”

Alvin stopped the Humvee across from the local cemetery, which looked like it had run a going-out-of-death sale. All the graves were disturbed and obviously emptied. “Might be for the best. I believe there are a number of side roads that can get us there. We’d need to go back to the base to know for certain.”

“Contact,” Desiree said over the radio. “They’re moving slowly and going from cover to cover.”

“Well, this might get interesting,” Alvin said. “Maybe we can get some info on what the hell is going on. I’m supposed to help a settlement for my quest, after all. Keep an eye open. If they even blink wrong, go ahead and open up. We’re willing to play nice, but not if it means we get injured.”

They only had to wait another minute before a person popped up from behind a vehicle a hundred yards away. “You’re not from the res, are you?”

“No,” Desiree replied.

“Human?”

“Say yes,” Alvin said quickly.

“Yes,” Desiree lied.

“Alive?”

“Last we checked,” Alvin said, sliding his window open. “You’re Human, alive, and friendly?”

“Yes, yes, and maybe,” the man replied. After a few seconds, he started walking toward them, a rifle held loosely in his hands. “Just so you don’t get any funny ideas, I have friends watching us.”

“You’re not my type,” Alvin replied with a straight face.

The local slowed his steps and laughed. “Funny. Haven’t heard many jokes around here since God fucked off.”

“I know a few,” Alvin shrugged. “Curious about the high school. It had an eclectic collection of scars.”

The local stopped a dozen feet away from the Humvee, his face going hard. “Damned Indians... A week ago, they come roaring into town and go after some of the old county buildings. Went through us like we were nothing. Our guns barely touched them, but their damned arrows and spears punched right though our gear... Some of them went after the high school, killed a dozen people there and another two dozen throughout town before they all just turned and left.”

Alvin grunted, “No warning or anything?”

“Nothing. We didn’t even know if any of them were still around before they showed up here. We’d just barely gotten the town secure from the undead, mutated animals, and the like.”

“Did they take anything?” Gothy asked.

“Barely touched any of the supplies. We looked at the buildings they raided, but we didn’t notice anything of importance missing.”

“Odd that they went after the high school,” Alvin said.

“It was where our best people would gather every morning,” the man replied. “You’re no Indian, obviously, and have a working Humvee. I think the mayor would like to talk to you.”

Alvin nodded, “Sure. Lead us, but before you go: two of us aren’t Human.”

The man tensed. “Aren’t Human?”

“We have an Elf and a Dwarf,” Alvin told him.

The man frowned, “What is that bullshit?”

Mousie opened her window and glared at the man, “What was that?”

The man’s jaw dropped, “What in the fucking hell…?”

“Elf, like I said,” Alvin said. “Have you seen any other non-Humans?”

The man looked from Mousie to Alvin and back, shock clear on his face. “Aliens. Only seen them once. They took one of the hunters a few weeks back.”

“Still want our help?”

“Not sure if the mayor will or not. The man the aliens took was his brother.”

“We’ll just be moving on, then,” Alvin said. “Best of luck.”

“Where you going?” he asked.

“South,” Alvin said and closed his window and put the Humvee into gear. He watched the man stare at them blankly as they drove off.

“Okay, so Indians attacked them, but didn’t stay and finish the job,” Gothy said. “Sounds like they came to find something, found it, and left.”

“Yeah. It might not be horrible between them, but it probably will be shortly. The mayor might have asked us to join them in a return raid.”

“Fun,” Gothy snorted. “Bring back the old days of cowboys and Indians.”

“Going to swing onto US 160 and take us back to the base. We might want to reconsider our route.”

“Would the Indians be willing to talk to us?” Desiree asked.

“Maybe they’ll have a need we can help with,” Mousie added.

“We’ll find out, but I want to come into Ignacio from a different angle just to give us a chance to say we’re not from here. No reason to give us a disadvantage to start with.”

“Think they’ll ask us to come back and slaughter the town?” Gothy asked.

“No. If they wanted to, they would have done it already. The guy back there said they didn’t do a lot of damage to the raiders.”

“Fair.”

Chapter Three

They only stayed in the base long enough to check the map of the area and use the bathroom. Jarvis brought them drinks just before they went back out.

Back on the road, Alvin took them down county road 509 before changing to county road 514, then finally jumping onto state highway 172. The burned out remnants of a Baptist church sat on the corner where Alvin turned south, heading straight to the heart of Ignacio.

The road was eerily clear; they only saw one pickup truck abandoned on the road. The first few houses had broken windows and doors, making them wonder how bad things had been here.

Less than a mile later, the Sky Ute Casino came into view and Alvin slowed the Humvee. A bright reflection from the roof of the casino made Alvin frown. “I think there’s a shooter on the casino roof. Don’t fire, but be aware of him.”

“Understood, Hero,” Mousie replied.

Alvin had to slow down more; the road was blocked by intentionally placed semi-trailers, and an easily visible new trail led around them. “Either a trap or something to slow travelers so they can evaluate them.”

“We taking it?” Gothy asked.

“Yeah. If it’s a trap, we’ll be out of it quickly and know that these guys aren’t like the ones from Bridgeport.”

Alvin stopped the Humvee abruptly when he came around the trailers. There were a dozen roughly dressed men with guns waiting for them. At the front of the group was a young man with dark hair and a knowing smile.

“I wasn’t expecting to see him,” Alvin said, frowning. “Mousie, just be easy. This shouldn’t be bad.”

“I’ll wait to fire until they do,” Mousie replied.

The smiling man waved at them and walked up to the Humvee. Alvin opened the window and waited for him to get close enough to talk.

“It is good to see you again, Alvin and Gothy. I see the Great Spirit let you change the core of your being to reflect your true self.”

“Johnny, didn’t think you’d be out here,” Gothy replied.

The Native American shaman smiled at her, his owl eyes blinking slowly. “I had to spread the word that Brother Owl and the others are here to help us.”

“Were you here last week?” Alvin asked.

“Yes, for two weeks now. We took back our history and power from Bayfield last week.”

“Fuck. A couple dozen people died in that raid.”

“Yes. Most of the deaths were needed. It is unfortunate that a few innocents were caught in the fighting.”

“Needed?” Gothy asked.

“They did not tell you— they came to steal from the Ute over a month before the raid. No one admits their crimes to strangers, especially if they want to ask them for help.”

“Are we allowed to come in?” Alvin asked finally. “Silly to be having this conversation on the side of the road.”

“Do you mean these people any harm?”

“No more harm than anyone else I meet.”

“Honest, if not the most comforting answer. I will accept your honesty and speak for you. I will direct you to the communal meeting hall.” He turned and spoke to the men waiting behind him. His voice shifted slightly and Alvin wondered if that was an indication of language change. “I will go with them to the meeting hall. A few of you need to stay here, but the rest may follow.”

“He’s the one you were waiting for?” one of the men asked Johnny.

“This is the man who helped me find Brother Owl. He is a friend.”

“We’ll follow,” the man replied.

“I can ride with you to make this easier,” Johnny said, turning back to Alvin, his voice normal again.

“Get in the back.”

Johnny opened the back door and greeted Desiree, “Good day to you, miss.”

“Sergeant,” Desiree corrected him, giving Johnny a firm stare.

“I, too, once held that rank many years ago,” Johnny replied. He climbed into the back and shut the door. “When I fought monsters, they were Humans, not abominations made of vegetable matter.”

“Johnny, it’s kind of creepy when you do that,” Gothy said. “Is it Brother Owl who tells you all that?”

“Brother Owl has blessed me with knowledge,” Johnny smiled. “Soon, we will speak with Brother Wolf, too. It is by meeting and accepting them that we will find our way to connect to the Great Spirit again.”

“Johnny, where am I going?” Alvin asked to stop the young-looking, but old-souled, shaman from continuing to ramble.

“Always in a rush, Alvin. Go straight. I will guide you.”

Johnny’s instructions brought them to a building in the park. Four older trucks sat in the parking lot, and two of the three men that had waited with Johnny had followed them. As Alvin and the women got out of the Humvee, one of the men that had trailed them stared at Desiree and Mousie.

“An Elf and Dwarf?” the man asked incredulously.

“Lots of Gates open,” Alvin told the man. “Haven’t you seen any of the dragons yet?”

“We’ve seen a wyvern,” another of the men said. “Killed a dozen of us before we were able to drive it off. Those were bad days. Now, our shaman has learned how to speak to the animals again and we are better protected.”

“By embracing the old ways, we can find a better path forward,” Johnny added. “The Great Spirit is just waiting for us to find the way again.”

The men with him nodded, and the man replied, “We understand that, Shaman. You have shown us that the spirits are indeed back and ready to help us again.”

“Come, Alvin, the elders will wish to speak with you as I’m sure you would like to speak with them. Your trip south is a dangerous one.”

“Really finding that all-knowing thing annoying, Johnny,” Alvin said.

Johnny laughed, “I’m not all-knowing. I just know the things that will best help the tribes survive. This is twice now that we’ve met when we could use your aid. I believe the Great Spirit is telling us something, though you won’t believe in that.”

Alvin shook his head. “I believe in my own way, Johnny. I know that there are beings of immense influence that can change the world.”

“Yes, for good and ill,” Johnny said softly. “Make sure you are following the right paths, or Spider and Coyote might trick you and lead you astray.”

“I’ve been astray most my life,” Alvin laughed as they reached the door to the building. “I’d like to think they’d see me as a kindred spirit and help instead of hinder.”

Johnny did not reply, and his expression became thoughtful. There were three men in the first room, all drumming and chanting. Johnny led them past the drummers, and Alvin frowned at the chant.

“Hero, when they say protect them from harm, I got a bad feeling,” Gothy whispered to him.

“So did I, Gothy.”

Johnny led them into a large chamber where six people sat together speaking softly, each of them with an item of antiquity in front of them. As the group entered, the older men and women looked up curiously.

“Johnny, who did you bring with you?” the eldest asked.

“Suza, this is Alvin, and his wife, Gothy. I spoke of them before.”

“The ones who gave you—”

“Yes. Now they are here and heading south,” Johnny said, cutting her off. “Since we are going to seek Brother Wolf, I find it wise to have them here.”

“These are the people you went to wait for?” one of the elders asked. “We were expecting another shaman.”

“We are spreading and connecting,” Johnny replied. “More shamans will find the paths again. This is the first tribe I have visited since leaving home. I came because you had need of me. That need also brought Alvin here.”

“I wouldn’t—” Alvin began.

“Do you not seek to find a settlement to help, Alvin?” Johnny asked, cutting him off.

“That is seriously fucking annoying,” Alvin grumbled. “Technically, that is true.”

“And the tribe has need of one who is fearless, and has companions who will wade into the dark with them.”

“You think those four can find and kill—?”

“It will find them, and yes,” Johnny said simply. “First, we must complete the ritual. Alvin, will you sit and watch?”

“I get a choice?” Alvin asked sardonically. “This feels like railroad bullshit, honestly.”

“Yes. You are always free to do as you wish. No one here would be able to force you,” Johnny said simply. “The ritual will take only a few minutes, and after that, the elders will be ready to speak to you.”

“Yeah, fuck it, go ahead. I was only going south to—”

“Roswell,” Johnny finished for him, a smile touching his lips.

“I give the fuck up,” Alvin sighed, leaning against the wall. “Go on.”

Johnny nodded before turning back to the elders. “Take up your family history,” he said with reverence. “Thank those who came before. Thank the spirits who will help guide us back to the Great Spirit. Speak your heart to the spirits, and they will decide if you are worthy of them.”

The elders had taken up the items in front of them and began to speak softly, holding aloft the different relics. Alvin was not very surprised at the nature of the items: an arrowhead, a wolf pelt, a white tail feather, a pipe, an antler carved into a knife, and a broken spear.

“Great Spirit, we seek your guidance. Send one of the totems to speak with us. Send us the help we need in our time of need,” the six chanted as they presented the items to the heavens.

Johnny stood there with his eyes closed, his hands facing the six as a surge of rainbow energy swirled from him. “Great Spirit, we beseech you to have one of the spirits come and aid the tribe. We offer our heritage as proof that we are walking the paths again.”

The items were touched by the energy radiating from Johnny, and began to slowly fade out of existence. After a minute, the items were gone and the elders looked exhausted. They turned to Johnny hopefully. Just then, a burst of rainbow energy between the elders and the shaman almost made Alvin summon his Type 56. When the energy cleared, a black and white wolf stood there, its eyes reflecting a brilliant rainbow.

You have called for aid and I have come. The words were simply present, bypassing the ears altogether. That which hunts this tribe is not natural. Seek aid from those who have come to you— to defeat this creature will take more than the tribe alone. I will ward the tribe from the beast, but until it is dead, I cannot do more. The Great Plains wolf vanished, leaving no trace that it had ever existed.

“Alvin, would you be willing to help us?” Johnny asked as the elders recovered.

“Depends on what you’re offering, honestly,” Alvin said.

“I will confer with the elders. Would you stay the evening?”

“I’m not rushing off, but I want to know more about whatever this beast is.”

“We aren’t sure, ourselves,” Johnny said.

Gothy’s lips parted, “Wait, you don’t know? I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you utter those words.”

“It is. This thing can hide itself from Brother Owl’s eyes.”

“That can’t be good,” Desiree said. “From what I have learned, Brother Owl is powerful.”

“A minor god, or close to it,” Alvin said, “which means this thing is going to be powerful if it can hide from him.”

“Let me confer with the elders. We will speak further in the morning, if that is acceptable.”

“Works. I’m not in a rush, but unless you put a damned good deal on the table, we might just skip out.”

“You seek to go south,” Johnny said. “The beast lives to the south.”

“Fuck you, too, devs,” Alvin muttered under his breath. “Fine, we’ll see you in the morning.” Summoning the base portal, he walked into it.

Chapter Four

The next morning, Alvin stepped through the base portal, eyeing the group of people carrying rifles that were clearly waiting for him. Johnny was sitting with the elders and gave them a smile when they appeared. “Welcome back, Alvin. We have not much to give for what we are asking from you, but you do need the quest we give you. In addition to half of what we find when we slay the creature, we will give you a treasure: a spirit orb.”

“Don’t you need those to connect to the spirits?” Alvin asked.

“Yes. It is a precious item to give to someone who can’t use it,” Johnny replied, “but the reward must be equal to the danger of the task.”

“What is it we’ll be facing?”

“That is still uncertain. It hides from Brother Owl’s eyes, shrouded in shadow. We know only that the road to New Mexico is a dead place. Nothing can live there now... no one resides there besides the creature. One of the warriors sent to investigate came back, his mind twisted... he babbles endlessly about red eyes in the shadow.”

“Not real happy with the idea of a mind fuck,” Alvin said.

“If one has faith or a strong will, they can possibly escape the damage,” Johnny replied slowly. “You have no faith to shield you, but you are possessed with a great will. If need be, I will accompany you to shield you as much as I can.”

“Hero, I could find out what it is,” Gothy said. She placed her hand on his shoulder, looking down at the ring that would protect her from any mental attack. “I can take Ruffian, go for a look, and come back.”

Alvin looked at the floor for a long moment, “Don’t like it. Hate you being the scout.”

“But—” Gothy began.

“I don’t like it, but you’re right that you’d be able to handle seeing it. Ruffian will carry you away in time— she can outrun dragons. That leaves the three of us here, waiting for you.”

“I know,” Gothy said, squeezing his shoulder. “We have a weekly to get done, and if the damned thing is in our way…Well, we can show it like we’ve shown other monsters what happens when they get in our way.”

Alvin snorted and grabbed Gothy, kissing her hard. The kiss lingered and some angry muttering started up, only to die off when two swords appeared in Mousie’s hands and Desiree’s armor appeared, encasing her.

“Easy, warriors. He is wishing her luck on her journey,” Johnny said softly. “Love is a great shield to the heart, so be not jealous. Mousie, Desiree, please put your weapons away. We have no quarrel with you.”

Alvin let Gothy go and looked back at the other two. “Say goodbye to her.”

Mousie and Desiree each kissed her just as passionately, earning more mutters, though they were muted. Alvin stared down anyone who met his eyes.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Gothy said, giving them a smile and wink before she stepped back into the base.

“How do they do that?” one of the men asked.

“Magic,” Alvin said sarcastically. “Johnny, we’ll accept the quest once we know more. Until she returns…” He trailed off when the growl of the Mustang’s engine drifted to his ears. “Until she returns, we’ll be waiting here.”

“Very well,” Johnny replied. “Warriors, you will be needed soon. Go home and see your families. Come back here in one hour; be ready to see the Great Spirit.”

The men left the room in a steady stream until only Alvin’s group and the elders remained with Johnny. When they were alone, one of the elders addressed Desiree, “The armor you possess, where does it come from?”

“It is the armor my people make,” Desiree replied. “They are likely to start selling similar armor to others soon.”

“We should approach her people about trade,” another elder said.

“You’ll need an envoy,” Alvin said. “Speaking of, where is the kiosk here? I’d like to visit it.”

“I’ll take you,” Johnny said, rising to his feet. “Desiree, if you will, speak with the elders about the armor and what your people might be looking for in trade, please?”

Mousie looked uncertain and Alvin squeezed her hand. “Stay with Desiree. I’ll be fine.”

Giving him a conflicted look, she nodded. “As you say, Hero.”

“Come on, Johnny, let’s go see the kiosk.”

The kiosk was not far, just over in the chapel of the building they were in. “That explains why this is where people meet,” Alvin chuckled. He tapped through different tabs, wondering how to register a kiosk when a pop-up appeared, blocking the screen.

You have unlocked Ignacio as a settlement visited.

Ignacio has been added to your list of known locations.

“Well, that settles that,” Alvin said as he stepped away from the kiosk. “Fast travel, here we come.”

“Fast travel?” Johnny asked.

“I believe there’s a function tied to the kiosks that will let you travel from one to another. It’s locked behind the upgrade to ship items from settlement to settlement and something else. Might want to encourage the tribes to get those unlocked.”

“Yes,” Johnny said, his eyes going distant. “That will make bringing all the people together much easier... You know where the Dwarf Gate is located. Would you be willing to tell me?”

“Information is worth something,” Alvin smiled at the shaman.

“It is,” Johnny agreed, “but friends should share what they know, should they not?”

“Friends?” Alvin asked. “We’ve barely talked at all, Johnny.”

“True, but friendship doesn’t require talking— it requires trust. I know that is a tough thing for you, but I have faith.”

“Your ‘god-touched wise old man trapped in a young man’s body’ thing is a little creepy.”

“I can’t change who I am.”

“You can, but I’m sure it would break whatever bond you have with Owl. Fine... friends for now, but you know how I feel about that, don’t you?”

“If one breaks trust with you, you will repay them with blood and death.”

“Pretty much.”

“I am not so different, myself. We have much in common: both of us are older than we appear, are we not?”

Alvin’s eyebrows went up. “Huh. True in its own way. How much of my past do you know?”

“Only that you were older than you are now before you came to this world at the behest of those who meddle. You have a champion, but also many who hate you. Your road will never be easy, but with those who join you, you will learn much that you had not before.”

“Okay, let’s cut off the easy to fulfill prophecy stuff.”

“I don’t mean to make it sound like that. Brother Owl has gifted me much, and it comes out on its own sometimes.”

“How many others are there like Owl? Not just yours but others’ gods?”

“Dozens? Hundreds, maybe?” Johnny shrugged. “The old ones are there to be contacted if one has faith and finds an orb. Even without faith, if you call out, something or someone might answer if you offer the orb. That is a dangerous road, though. You can never be certain what will answer.”

“It’s a grab bag at that point,” Alvin nodded. “I got it.”

“I just want to make sure you don’t regret your decisions later,” Johnny shrugged.

“Let’s go see what the elders have gotten up to,” Alvin said, walking away from the kiosk.

~*~*~

“We need to send a force of the warriors north to Engineer Mountain,” the oldest elder said when Johnny came back into the room. “We can designate someone as an envoy and they can speak on our behalf with the Dwarves.”

“I would caution that it should wait a few days, at least,” Johnny replied. “Let us deal with the beast and the other impending problem first.”

“Other problem?” Alvin asked.

“Bayfield will seek retribution for the raid,” Johnny replied. “Silly. If they had just given us back our relics, we would never have taken them as we did. Instead, the mayor is torn with grief over his brother’s loss and is angry that we did what we had to. Brother Owl was unsure if you would join them or come here, so I was glad when the way became clear. I know how formidable you can be.”

“That is why you want us to deal with the beast,” Desiree said.

“This is true,” Johnny admitted. “We could handle it without you, but the loss to the tribe would be hard for them to recover from. The way forward is unclear, as it has hidden itself from Brother Owl, but the cost of you not helping is clear.”

“We’ll decide when Gothy gets back,” Alvin said. “If you’re going to send an envoy to the Dwarves, you should know that the towns between here and there have a problem.”

He explained the fungals to the elders and how best to deal with them, along with the challenges that the warriors would face in fighting them. The elders looked at each other with concern as Alvin spoke.

Soon after he finished his explanation, the sound of the Mustang could be heard drawing nearer. “If you’ll pardon me,” Alvin said, walking out without waiting for an answer.

Outside in the parking lot, he slowed down when he saw Ruffian. It looked like it had been in a fight. Gothy opened the door and got out, her face set angrily. “Motherfucking snake thinks it can run over my baby and get away with it... Hero, I’m going to kill that fucking thing!”

“You okay?” Alvin asked as he closed the distance to her.

“Besides my pride, yes. Ruffian held up, but that thing is huge.”

“Did you get a look at it behind the shadow?” Johnny asked, following Alvin out.

“Giant fucking snake… worm… thing. It’s not shadows, but smoke that covers it. I thought it was fog at first. When I got close to it, I could see it, and then it saw me and rolled over my car. Probably thought it would crush Ruffian— I saw a couple of pretty much flattened cars. Once I was free, I came back as quick as I could.”

“Large snake,” Johnny said slowly, “covered in smoke…” He looked into the distance, clearly trying to put a name to the creature.

“Anything else?” Alvin asked as he hugged Gothy.

“I think its scales are as tough as a dragon’s. Ruffian didn’t do any damage to it when it rolled over me.”

“That means we’ll have a real problem damaging it.”

“It might be Unk Cekula, but she should be in the Dakotas, not here,” Johnny murmured.

“Can you clarify that?” Alvin asked.

“The myth says that her and her husband found their way to the Dakotas and planned to nest so they could spawn. If their children grow, the loss of life will be staggering.”

“Do these myths say how to kill it?” Alvin asked pointedly.

“There are two stories that are told. The first one says a great warrior was swallowed by the beast and cut his way out. The other says that a pair of brothers used medicine arrows to pierce through its scales.”

“Attack it with medicine or get eaten,” Alvin snorted. “The being eaten part sounds bad, so we should probably go with the other one.”

“We will adapt,” Johnny said as he nodded. “I shall start a ritual to bless the guns of the warriors. It will be the same as medicine arrows, but better. Unfortunately, that will weaken my ability to shield the minds of the warriors from its terror.”

“Fun,” Alvin sighed. “Gothy, you’ll be the driver since you’re safe from any mindfuckery. Mousie will be on the gun; if she triggers her two powers, it should do a lot of damage as long as she can handle any mindfuckery.”

“I agree,” Gothy nodded. “How long will it take for the ritual? Do you need the guns that we’re taking to do it?” she asked Johnny.

“Yes, I will need all the weapons to be used in the fight.” Johnny turned to the elders. “Pick out your three best warriors— they will go with us to face the beast. Have their guns brought to the Humvee.”

“I’ll go get it,” Alvin said. “Be right back. Ladies, let’s go home for a bit. I’ll be back after I drop off the Humvee to be blessed.”

“Yes, Hero,” the trio echoed in unison.

When they returned to the base, Alvin walked to the Humvee.

“Find us when you get back, Hero,” Gothy purred as she gave him a heated smile.

“I’ll find out how long the ritual will take,” Alvin chuckled and hopped into the vehicle.

Chapter Five

Three hours later, the four of them left the base to meet up with Johnny and the hunters. They found the shaman and hunters with the elders. “Everything ready?” Alvin asked when they entered the room.

“We are ready. Your Ma Deuce will be blessed for the remainder of today,” Johnny replied. “I will be with the hunters of the tribe, which will weaken my ability to protect you, but you are less likely to have need of me.”

Alvin glanced at the three men in jeans and flannel shirts, sizing each of them up. “Probably right about that. We going for the straightforward attack?”

“That is the best plan, but if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to try the other way,” Johnny said. “I’d rather no one have to be swallowed, since we’re not sure if that will work.”

“Not sure your people could survive if it needs to be done,” Alvin added.

“We’re ready, Shaman,” one of the men said, looking at Alvin angrily.

“May your hunt go well,” the oldest elder intoned. “May the spirits guide you and bring you home safely.”

The three hunters nodded to the elder. Johnny smiled, “I will do what I can to bring them home.”

“Strangers, may the spirits help and guide you, as well. We thank you for your aid in this fight.”

“‘We do the job, then we get paid,’” Alvin said, quoting one of his favorite shows.

Gothy rolled her eyes, “Really, Hero?”

“What? It’s a good line,” Alvin said.

“Yes, except in the show, he’d just been double crossed. They haven’t done that.”

“Fair, but it’s not like I get the chance to use good lines often.”

“We are ready when you are,” Johnny said, watching them with amusement. He held out a small fetish to Mousie, his expression turning serious. “This should help shield you, but it isn’t perfect and it is fragile.”

Mousie took it slowly and added it to her open accessory slot. “If it helps us, it is welcome.”

“Thanks, Johnny,” Alvin said. “Let’s go. Mousie, you’re on the Ma Deuce.”

“Yes, Hero.”

“Gothy, you’re driving since you’ll be unaffected no matter what.”

“Just like we planned.”

“I’ll be in the back with Mousie using the .50 out the back windows. Hand Desiree your rifle, Gothy, so she can use that in the front seat. Not sure they’ll work without the blessing, but it’s worth a shot. If they don’t, we’ll just button up and let them work.”

“Roger, Hero,” Desiree nodded.

Climbing into the Humvee, Alvin glanced at the hunters getting into a pickup. Johnny was the one getting behind the wheel. Well, that makes sense. He’ll be the one least affected, besides Gothy.

With everything ready, the vehicles headed south out of town. They caught glimpses of the survivors of the Rapture watching them go from behind curtains. On the edge of town, an ancient looking man sat on a porch smoking a pipe and gave them a toothless smile as they went past.

“How far out?” Alvin asked.

“Less than ten miles. It’s a slow drive, though. The road isn’t great and there are wrecks scattered around.”

“Not surprising about the wrecks,” Alvin snorted. “Surprised the road is in bad shape.”

“Pretty sure it was the worm,” Gothy replied. “It’s buckled in a few places, so it made the drive in Ruffian a pain. You’ll see what I mean in a few moments.”

True to her word, they came to a spot where they had to slow to a crawl. The ground had been furrowed and raised in uneven patterns, and the asphalt was either missing or doubled up in large chunks in spots.

“I think I should have asked just how big the damned thing is,” Alvin muttered.

“We could use a bigger boat,” Gothy replied.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Alvin said as he waited to summon his rifle.

“The mountain behind the one ahead of us is covered in a dark cloud,” Mousie said.

“No, that’s the smoke that surrounds it,” Gothy corrected her. “It radiates out from it. I think it’s made its nest there.”

“Just as long as we can deal with it before—” Alvin began, stopping abruptly when the Humvee was suddenly shoved up onto two wheels.

The Humvee bounced hard when they came back down onto all four wheels, and Alvin looked out the window. The ground behind them had split open to reveal a beast with fiery eyes, wisps of smoke drifting off its scaled body as it slithered out into the open just behind them.

“I don’t think that’s momma,” Alvin said as Mousie spun the M2 around.

The sound of the heavy machine gun opening up split the air. With the monster behind them, neither Desiree nor Alvin could join in. Johnny cut the truck hard away from the creature, almost sending the hunters flying out of the back.

“Fuck, its kids are out already,” Alvin hissed.

A primal scream of pain and anger washed over them, the depth of it piercing into their brains. Mousie stopped firing briefly as she shuddered. Desiree hissed in anger, but was able to push the feeling aside and Alvin grunted when the emotions touched him.

“I can hurt it,” Mousie said as she shook her head and went back to firing at the beast chasing them.

“We felt that,” Alvin replied.

“Hero, Johnny is in trouble,” Gothy said, seeing another of the creatures come up after the truck.

“Damn it. We might need to pull back,” Alvin said as he summoned his rifle and aimed at the mob after the truck. “Give me a second to see if my gun works.”

“Copy.”

The boom of the .50 caliber being fired inside the Humvee would have broken their eardrums if the game had not become more game-like. The bullet impacted the monster’s side and a bit of scale chipped away as the creature was forced slightly off course.

“Not sure if that worked and it just has a lot of armor or if it was ineffective.”

“Keep shooting,” Gothy told him. “Until Mousie kills the one behind us, it’ll be hard to get away.”

“Fair,” Alvin said as he took aim again.

Another mind-wrenching scream came from the mob chasing them, then it turned away, slithering toward its friend and the truck with the Utes in it.

“Reloading. I’m sure I can kill it,” Mousie told them. “I didn’t want to use my cooldowns until we face the big one.”

“You chose right,” Alvin replied as he took aim at the one fleeing. “If we can kill the small ones, it means we might have a chance with momma.”

“But on a much larger scale,” Gothy said. “Those are barely twice as big as the Humvee. The big bitch was magnitudes larger.”

“Just means we’ll need more firepower,” Alvin replied as he fired again.

“Johnny looks a little worried,” Desiree said, sitting and waiting since she did not have an angle to shoot. “The hunters don’t look calm, either.”

“If I had two of those things chasing me while in the back of a pickup, I would probably be less than calm, too,” Alvin told her.

“Reloaded,” Mousie said and the M2 started to fire again.

The beast Mousie was shooting at turned away from them and staggered when the heavy machine gun started hitting it again. Another much weaker cry came from it as it dropped flat and started to push at the ground.

“Mousie, it’s trying to run,” Alvin said, his next shot drawing a gout of blood from it.

“It’s not getting away from me,” Mousie said calmly, switching from firing in bursts to holding the trigger down.

The beast was half in the ground when there was an eruption of blood. The rounds from the M2 had torn it apart. A mental pang washed over them, making everyone but Gothy and Mousie flinch as the feeling of death and regret hit them.

“Free up Johnny,” Gothy told Mousie, turning the Humvee to intersect the remaining beast.

“Yes, Gothy,” Mousie said.

Johnny cut the truck toward them, trying to reduce the distance between the vehicles. The hunters kept firing, but their rounds did not appear to do much to the creature as it gained on the truck. Before they could get there, the beast lunged forward, its mouth gaping open and catching one of the three hunters. Stopping quicker than anyone expected the creature to be able to, it lifted its mouth and swallowed the man.

Gothy grimaced, “That looked unpleasant.”

The M2 went silent again while it reloaded and Alvin started firing again. The two hunters in the truck kept shooting as well, but it was clear they were horrified.

“I doubt he’s going to kill it from the inside,” Alvin said. “At least he didn’t get bitten in half like that guy in Beatty did.”

“Johnny looks to be turning in a wide arc to head back,” Gothy said.

“Trail them,” Alvin said. “I would have liked to loot the dead one, but we can’t if that thing is still alive.”

“I can kill it, Hero,” Mousie said. “Just give me a minute.”

“You did kill the other one,” Alvin said. “Fine. Keep us close enough for Mousie while Johnny gets out. If it doesn’t look good, we’ll leave, too.”

“You got it, Hero,” Gothy replied.

“Thank you, Hero,” Mousie said. The sound of the M2 firing filled the air again. “Gothy, bring us a little closer to it. I think it’s going to try to burrow and I want to make sure I can hit it.”

“Copy.”

The beast squirmed as rounds tore into it and a silent wave of pain washed over them more strongly than before. Mousie’s teeth were bared as she kept the Ma Deuce on target, sending bursts into the creature. It squirmed away from them with blood erupting from it in multiple places and slammed its head into the ground, forcing the earth to part.

“No, you don’t,” Mousie hissed as she depressed the trigger and held it down.

Alvin’s gun went empty and he switched to his Type 56 to see if it could do any damage. He grinned when he saw the wounds his rifle was causing. “It’s out of armor. We can hurt it even without the blessing.”

The beast shuddered and slumped before it could escape. Another wave of death and regret left Alvin and Desiree wincing in pain, even though they were expecting it.

“Hero, are you okay? Desiree?” Gothy called out to them.

“Fine,” Alvin gritted. “Be glad you don’t feel the emotions it pushes out. Take us over to the body. We’ll loot both of them and get the fuck out.”

“Got it.”

Alvin jumped out of the Humvee to loot each corpse. He felt the ground moving strangely when he looted the second one. Looking down, he cursed, lunging for the open door of the Humvee. “Oh, fuck!” The ground under him vanished and he fell into darkness.

“Hero!” Gothy’s scream was clear over the radio.

“Go! Get out!” Alvin yelled back.

The darkness around him was suddenly replaced by a giant maw opening to catch him. “Fuck, you’re the mom, aren’t you?” Alvin asked the monster before he was swallowed.

Chapter Six

Alvin had just enough time to summon his Dwarven armor before the mouth closed around him. He slammed into the side of the worm’s mouth, grunting at the impact that he was able to feel even through his armor. The falling sensation did not end, but it felt controlled now, almost like a slide.

“Oh, fun. I’m on the express to the stomach,” Alvin bitched, trying to catch hold of anything to keep himself from falling.

He was not able to get a grip on anything, but then he felt sudden pressure from all sides and heard something hard scraping against his armor. Grunting as the pressure eased off, he winced, suddenly realizing where he had ended up.

“I’m in the beast’s gizzard, Gothy. I don’t think it’s going to be fun.” Alvin waited for a reply, but nothing came back. “Gothy? Gothy? Fuck, cut off. Stupid worm. Fine, I'll gut you from the inside.”

He summoned his K-bar and gripped it with both hands. The pressure returned and he jerked the knife back and forth as best he could. He grinned, imagining how much damage he was inflicting. Over and over, the beast impaled and cut itself on his blade as it tried to grind him up.

A wave of dizziness washed over him and Alvin knew he was not going to last much longer. Oxygen deprivation? Fuck me, there’s no good air in here... just whatever was swallowed along with me. I need to see about upgrading the suits to have a few minutes of independent air. Feeling the weakness of impending unconsciousness, he unsummoned the knife so he would not lose it. Well, fuck. That’s my life for you; eaten by the world. Darkness swallowed him a moment later.

~*~*~

“Sir, you need to leave quickly,” Jarvis said urgently.

Alvin blinked, shaking his head as the memory of being swallowed came back to him. “Huh? Wait, what happened?”

“You need to leave the base and contact Gothy. She is not rational right now,” Jarvis said.

“Gothy,” Alvin said, the name helping anchor him. “Right.” He took off, hitting the portal at a run.

As soon as he set foot into Ignacio, Alvin keyed the radio in the helmet. “Gothy! Where are you?”

“Hero!? Hero! Where are you!?” Gothy’s voice was frantic.

“Back in Ignacio. I died. Where are you?”

“Coming back now, Hero,” Mousie answered.

“What happened?” Gothy asked, her voice no longer as panicked.

“The big bitch ate me,” Alvin replied. “I did what I could from the inside, but there isn’t enough oxygen in the gizzard. Pretty sure my armor took a beating, too. Now, what’s happened since I fell?”

“I’ll explain, Gothy,” Desiree cut in. “You focus on driving.”

“Fine.”

“We had a small dispute about which course of action we should take,” Desiree explained. “Gothy wanted to go in after you, but between me and Mousie, we got her to leave the area. We’ve been parked a few miles away from where you fell, arguing for the last five minutes. Johnny came by a few minutes ago, but Gothy ignored him, so Mousie spoke to him instead.”

“Gothy?”

“I forgot about the extra lives,” Gothy said slowly. “All I could think was that you were dead.”

“Okay, well, I’m going to have to pick up a new life, and now we know that we reappear in the base. We’ll have to have a powwow with Johnny about what to do about the big one. Just us and the two remaining hunters is not going to be enough.”

“Powwow? Really, Hero?” Gothy asked.

“When in Rome,” Alvin replied with humor. “Now get back here so you can hug me.”

“Almost there,” Gothy replied.

Alvin looked down the road and spotted two small dots coming toward him. “Dropping the armor.”

Switching armor sets, Alvin winced when he checked the damage done to the Dwarven armor. That’s going to take a while to repair. It survived who knows how long being crushed by the worm and doesn’t have any acid damage, so the game declared me dead before it tried to push me into its stomach.

The Humvee came to a hard stop just past Alvin. The doors were flung open and all three women jumped out. Mousie was the first to reach him but she sidestepped so Gothy, who was right behind her, did not have to stop.

“Oof,” Alvin wheezed when Gothy slammed into him. He hugged her back just as hard, stumbling backward at the force. “Love you too, Gothy.”

Pressed into his chest, she shook her head, “Damn it. I didn’t think I was an emotional wreck, but then you up and died on me.”

“Wasn’t my intention,” he replied, kissing the top of her head. “Only people I want to get swallowed by are right here.”

“Unless we find another to join us?” Gothy asked softly.

“Unless my gothic succubus finds us another,” Alvin agreed.

“Please leave me off the list,” Johnny said from behind them.

Alvin snorted, “Done. I’m a women-only kind of guy.”

“I’m grateful,” Johnny replied.

Gothy let go of Alvin and stepped around him to glare at Johnny. “Hero died because of this thing.”

“And came back again. That makes him at least equal to some of the people from our myths,” Johnny said blandly. “We lost Ray when the small one ate him. He isn’t coming back; none of the people here have had enough XP to purchase a second life.”

“You can take your quest and—” Gothy hissed.

“Gothy,” Alvin said softly, squeezing her shoulder, “we’re going to kill it.”

“But—”

“It killed me. I’m not going to let that pass. I have a few ideas that might work, but it means a few more people will die.”

“Yes, sacrifices are going to be made,” Johnny said sadly.

“We need to speak to your elders, and the price just went up,” Alvin said.

“I will go to them. Come speak with us in an hour.”

The two hunters behind Johnny were staring at Alvin with a mixture of fear and hatred. When the shaman walked away, they followed him, though they looked back at the group, muttering between themselves.

“Hero, we don’t have to do this,” Gothy said. “We can find a different quest.”

“If I hadn’t just been eaten, I’d agree, but fuck that now. It wants to eat people? We’ll give it something to regret. Besides, the loot and XP on that thing has to be raid level.”

“How many babies do you think it has?” Desiree asked.

“It’s not a regular worm,” Alvin said slowly. “Did you notice the tentacles at the mouth?”

“Very Cthulhu-esque,” Gothy agreed. “Goes with the whole mindfuckery thing, too.”

“If it was like a normal worm, I’d expect about four spawn, but it’s not, so we don’t know. I doubt it was just the two... Plus, momma is still out there. Let’s go back to the base until meeting time. I want to get my life back and upgrade the Dwarf armor some.”

“‘Battle armor,’” Desiree said. “My people call it battle armor.”

“Upgrade the battle armor,” Alvin said.

“Hero… can we cuddle for a bit?” Gothy asked.

“Yes,” Alvin said, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her along with him.

~*~*~

When they came out of the base an hour later, the four of them joined the elders, Johnny, and a crowd of Ute tribe members. The meeting room was filled, but Alvin noticed a distinct lack of children and only a handful of women in attendance.

“Good, they are here,” Johnny said. “Alvin, we are ready to hear your plans.”

“Okay, but first I need to know how many of you are willing to die for this to work?”

A dozen men and one woman stepped forward immediately, with another two dozen people following suit after a couple of seconds. Alvin eyed those among the second group and shook his head.

“All of you who hesitated, just step back with the others. If you hesitate, this isn’t a plan you can follow, and if someone hesitates, even more will die.”

“You don’t know that,” one of the men retorted.

Alvin let his eyes go cold. “Have you died today? No? Then shut the fuck up.”

A commotion stirred the room, and Johnny stepped forward. “Calm yourselves. He is not polite, that is true— he isn’t here to coddle you. Alvin will do the job. He’s already died for us once.”

“How is he here, then?”

“Extra lives. Earn some XP and you can come back again, too,” Alvin replied.

“Please, Alvin, tell us the plan.”

“A dozen is barely enough, but we can do this. It’ll require about fifty thousand XP for the items that I want to use—”

“No,” one of the onlookers objected. “He’ll just take the XP and flee.”

Johnny spun on the speaker. “Matthew, shame. You are pushing your fear onto the others. Let Alvin finish speaking before you rush to judgment.”

“Thanks, Johnny, but this is simple. If you all would rather deal with this thing on your own and die to it, I’m fine with that. What I’m trying to tell you is a way that this might work with only a few people dying instead of your entire tribe and every nearby settlement.”

Silence greeted him and a number of people looked away, their cheeks burning with shame.

“Alvin, we speak for the tribe,” the oldest elder said. “Please speak. You won’t be interrupted again.”

“Fine. It’ll cost fifty thousand XP to fill the truck I want to use with a very potent explosive, plus some lesser variants. We’re going to find this thing and force feed it the truck. I need to know what Johnny’s blessing does to the guns and if it will work on explosives.”

“Brother Owl blesses the ammunition to deal a tenth of its damage to the creature before armor comes into play.”

Alvin nodded, “Shamans just became a must for raid fights. Does it work for explosives?”

“I do not know.”

“We’ll try it. There’s no armor inside, but maybe it’ll do something extra. The little ones took an absurd amount of damage to kill. Add in the screams and it’ll be hard to get this to work like we want, which is the reason we need so many people. Some are going to panic, and we need others who can step in for them. On top of that, we need teams that can deal with the little ones.”

“The little ones are what killed Ray?” someone in the crowd asked.

“Yes. They are still large enough to swallow a person, like a snake swallows a mouse,” Johnny explained.

“The explosion might kill the beast, but it also might cut and run, so we’d need to chase it down to end it. Those people are likely to corner a dangerous thing and will pay for doing so. Hence the deaths climbing higher, besides the driver of the truck.”

“With the blessing, it’ll become possible to kill it with sheer numbers?” one of the two remaining hunters from earlier asked.

“In theory. Haven’t tried it yet,” Alvin replied. “Everything has a finite amount of health— deplete it and it dies. Johnny,” Alvin asked, turning to the shaman, “do the small ones look like the stories?”

“Not entirely, but they are very close.”

“Because these are bastardized copies of your stories,” Alvin said. “We don’t need blessed ammunition, nor does anyone need to go inside it... which is a bad idea, by the way. Trust me on that. It will just make it easier, much easier, to kill it with the blessing and an internal explosion. And as bad as it is to say this to you all, we’re going to do this the good old-fashioned American way: through superior firepower.”

An angry buzz went through the room, and Johnny raised his hands. A burst of gold energy flashed out from him, silencing the crowd. “Your laugh is the last one, for America stopped being a nation when the Rapture happened,” he said to Alvin, then turned to address the tribe members. “Don’t let old angers sway you now. The peoples of this land are going to take it back and help guide it back to peace again.”

“Against zombies, dragons, and maybe worse?” Alvin asked.

“In time, and with allies who will treat us fairly,” Johnny replied. “We’ll be reaching out to your peoples,” he nodded to Desiree and Mousie, “and others. This world isn’t the world it was, and because of that, we are able to truly commune with the spirits again. With their guidance, we will again span this land.”

“Just as long as we don’t get the massacres that happened before, but reversed. I have friends and would be a little pissed if somebody just upped and declared war on them.”

“That is not our way,” Johnny replied.

“That is the white man’s way,” some anonymous person added.

“Look, I never oppressed anyone and I couldn’t care less what my ancestors did, so let’s curb the bullshit. I’m here to kill a creature, get paid, and move on. I would just move on now, but the dumb bitch made it personal by eating me. Killing me is a quick way to get moved to the top of my shit list. Now, are you willing to front the XP for the explosives?” Alvin aimed the question at the elders.

“We can buy them,” one of the elders said.

“Can you get shipments from other settlements? I doubt you have traders set up between Green River and Beatty. I can order from both and have it delivered to my base. I’ve already asked them to produce the stuff, and they’ll have it ready in another three hours. Because even if you don’t buy it, I will. I just won’t share the loot with you at that point.”

“We don’t have any traders yet,” another elder said.

“I’ll deliver the explosives if you promise payment on delivery.”

“Done,” the eldest said.

“Great. Get your hunters split into teams of three. They’ll need vehicles with cabs that all three can be in; pickups are a bad idea. Get a moving truck that works and choose the one guaranteed to die.”

“We will do this.”

“Johnny, once everything is delivered, how long will it take to bless it all?”

“All the guns and ammo, plus the explosives?” Johnny asked as he looked up. “All night. I’ll need to sleep after that to refresh myself if I am going with you tomorrow.”

“Fine. We hunt at dawn. I will be given the orb, another fifty thousand XP, and we’ll keep the loot that is given to us. Deal?”

“You ask for much,” one of the elders said.

“Want to try this on your own?” Alvin asked. “I have the plan, the connections, and the sheer fucking determination to see that thing dead. I’d guarantee that my team will do at least half the damage, aside from the explosives.”

“Brother Owl?” Johnny asked with a reverent voice, his eyes shining. “Yes, I understand.”

“Shaman?”

“Brother Owl encourages us to agree.”

“Agreed,” the lead elder sighed.

“See you in three hours with the explosives. Have an XP card ready,” Alvin said. “I plan to go relax until I drop stuff off.”

As the group left the building, Gothy snorted, “Assholes. At least Johnny and one of the elders appeared to get it.”

“Yeah.”

“Will they honor the deal?” Desiree asked.

“Johnny will make sure they do,” Alvin said.

“I do not like it here,” Mousie said, derailing the conversation. “Not enough women.”

“They’re there,” Alvin said, motioning to the houses nearby and the faces peering through the windows. “That was a gathering of their ‘warriors.’ They’re falling back to old traditions. Women weren’t normally warriors, though it wasn’t unheard of.”

“Weakness,” Mousie snorted.

“Different people have different views,” Desiree shrugged. “Be glad Hero is more open-minded.”

“I am,” Mousie smiled. “I’m grateful for him in many ways.”

“Relaxing time?” Gothy asked with a smirk.

“I died. I feel the need to make sure I’m still alive,” Alvin told her with a wink.

“Oh? Maybe you’ll give us all a ride?”

“To start with,” Alvin agreed.

~*~*~

Passing by the kitchen, Alvin was about to call out to Jarvis when the butler beat him to it, “I’ll have dinner ready in four hours, sir. That should give you plenty of time to deliver the package to the Ute tribe.”

“Thanks, Jarvis.”

“Just doing my part, sir, seeing as you’re going to be busy for the next few hours.”

“Fair enough,” Alvin laughed.

“Take the pitcher on the table, sir. It’s juice. To help you all stay hydrated.”

“That’s sweet. Thank you, Jarvis,” Gothy said as she snagged the pitcher on her way past. “Grab a cup, Hero. We’ll be waiting for you.”

“I’ll get you an appropriate cup,” Jarvis said, moving over to rummage in a cupboard.

Alvin watched the three women enter the bedroom, each one looking back at him before they left his line of sight. “Jarvis, a question: is there a delay between death and respawn?”

“No, sir. For you, there was the fact you were unconscious, and it took your brain several minutes to die from lack of oxygen. On the plus side,” he continued, placing the cup on the counter, “you didn’t feel the pain that—” He stopped talking abruptly and froze in place.

“Really, guys?” Alvin sighed. “I already inferred what he was saying, assholes. We get to experience dying when we die. No easy way out of feeling it happen. Glad I wasn’t conscious and in its stomach. Ugh, dissolving would be a bad way to go.”

“Apparently, I said too much,” Jarvis sighed when he came back to his senses.

“I understood it already, anyway. The devs just want to nitpick right now. Probably mad that I’m going to gut their raid monster. I’m sure the people who are following Gothy and me are keeping a close eye on things to ensure they don’t suddenly increase the difficulty.”

“Undoubtedly, sir. Before my access was removed from some parts of the system, I can say you were the most watch—” He froze again suddenly.

“Really, assholes!? That doesn’t deserve a timeout. Nothing he was saying was going to impact the way I do things,” Alvin snapped. “Any of you got the balls to step in here?” Silence greeted him, and Alvin grumbled. “Cowards. Give them hell... well, all of them but Sammi. At least she gets it.”

“I am apparently being watched extra carefully right now, sir. They probably fear I might give you advice on how to beat the creature. I couldn’t even if I wanted to: it wasn’t in the game when my access was removed to the metadata. It is also likely that everything has been tweaked enough to render my information inaccurate.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Sammi stops by in the next day or two,” Alvin sighed. “I’m going to blow off some steam. See you later, buddy.”

“Good day, sir.”

Alvin was surprised to see a light on in the bathroom rather than the playroom. He glanced into the playroom to see a table had been placed near the horse, along with a few implements. With a smile, he filled his cup and sealed it before he walked toward the bathroom, letting his clothing vanish as he went.

Chapter Seven

The sound of moans and squeaks from the shower told Alvin everything he needed to know. Stepping into the shower, he smiled when he saw all three of his lovers enjoying themselves. The double-ended strap-on they were using was a new addition he did not recall seeing before.

Mousie let out another squeak of pleasure as Gothy drove the strap-on into her again. Gothy could not help moaning when the other end shifted inside of her. The moan was muffled as Desiree leaned in to kiss her, and she stifled a moan of her own as Mousie licked at her sex from under them on the bench.

“Couldn’t wait for me, huh?”

“Just making sure we’re all ready,” Gothy panted as she picked up her pace, making Mousie shudder in climax.

When Mousie tipped over the edge, she attacked Desiree’s sex with renewed energy, making the Dwarf cry out and grab Gothy to steady herself as she orgasmed.

“See? Both of them are ready for you now, Hero,” Gothy added as she continued to take Mousie.

“One of you didn’t orgasm,” Alvin said, stepping behind Gothy and nudging her legs wider. “Time to take one for the team, Gothy. It can be hell when you’re the rearguard.” Grabbing the bottle of lube, he made sure they were both well ready before he drove into her.

Gothy had to stop fucking Mousie and steady herself. When Alvin pushed slowly but steadily into her, filling her ass, she shuddered. Desiree, coming down from her pleasure high, smirked as she leaned in and began to gently chew on one of Gothy’s nipples.

Her eyes going wide, Gothy moaned, “Oh, thank you, Desiree. All three of my lovers…” She trailed off in a guttural moan as Mousie reached down and took hold of the end of the strap-on inside of her, pushing it in and out of Gothy and herself.

Alvin felt the motion and timed his strokes to act like a double piston— one of them going in, while the other withdrew. “Have to take care of our gothic succubus, don’t we?”

“Mhm,” Desiree agreed before leaning back. “Mousie, slow down. We’re playing with Gothy right now.” A muffled reply answered her and Desiree leaned forward again, her hands and mouth now playing with both of Gothy’s breasts.

The moment stretched out for a few minutes until Gothy shuddered, “Oh, yes, here… it… comes…!”

Alvin had been slowly increasing his pace, but at her shudder, he pummeled her ass with his hips. “Cum now, Gothy,” he growled as he bit the back of her shoulder.

A wordless, guttural moan came out of Gothy’s mouth as her legs trembled and her body shook. Desiree took her face and kissed her hard, stifling the moan. Gothy leaned hard into Mousie when her legs started giving out.

Feeling her go, Alvin grabbed her and stopped his thrusts to hold her in place, his own breathing ragged. “There we go,” he panted, his arms going around her to keep her from falling.

Desiree shifted off the bench, moving so Alvin could lay Gothy on top of Mousie, who wrapped her arms around the still shuddering woman. When he was sure that Gothy would not fall off Mousie, he eased himself back, extracting himself from her.

“Damn, that was a good start, but now we need to clean up some so we can get to the rest of the fun,” Alvin chuckled.

“Hero,” Mousie said as she stroked Gothy’s hair, “can you help before we do that?”

“What do you need?”

“Unbuckle the strap-on, please.”

“I’ll handle it,” Desiree said.

“Thanks, Desiree.”

“You’re welcome, Hero.”

Alvin and Desiree were cleaned up by the time Gothy stirred enough to get to her feet. “Thank you, Hero. And you, Desiree, and Mousie.”

“Why don’t you let Mousie off the bench and lay down?” Alvin told her. “We’ll clean you up.”

“Not sure I deserve that,” Gothy said, though she did as he told her to.

“Why?” Alvin asked, though he was sure he knew why.

“I di—” Gothy began.

Desiree slapped a hand over Gothy’s mouth from behind. “Enough of that. We all make mistakes. Mother always said a successful family needs to help each other.” Leaning down, she bit Gothy’s neck before kissing it. “If Hero says you deserve something, you do.”

“Hero’s word is law,” Mousie added, slipping onto the bench to sit beside Gothy. “You didn’t do anything horrible. Next time, maybe you’ll listen first instead of making us argue with you.”

Kissing Desiree’s hand, Gothy waited for her to move it. “Okay... If you two hadn’t been there, it would have been worse.”

“Desiree’s mom has the right of it,” Alvin said. “We’re all here to help each other. If one of us stumbles, the others will catch us. You’re smart, Gothy, smarter than me, no matter what our stats say. Mistakes will be made and emotions will run high, especially if one of us dies. Luckily, we have extra lives, so we’ll be able to get a second chance.”

Gothy swallowed, “Okay, Hero.”

“Now, let’s get the dirtiest of us clean enough to go have more fun,” Alvin smiled softly.

“I’m only your dirty girl... well, there’s three,” she said, smiling at the three of them as she corrected herself.

“Mousie, get the soap. Desiree, the shampoo,” Alvin said, giving orders. “And you, Gothy: you’ll sit still and endure whatever we want to do.”

Closing her eyes, Gothy’s smile grew, “As you command, Hero.”

Chapter Eight

Alvin finished packing the explosives into bags and put them into the Humvee with a wide smile plastered to his face. Whistling a jaunty tune, he climbed into the vehicle. His mind drifted back over the last three hours and the smile on his face grew wider.

When he drove out of the base, he did not expect to come out in the middle of a firefight. Slapping the Humvee into reverse, he floored it, sending it back through the portal to the base. “Well, fucking shit,” he complained as he got out.

“Back already, sir?” Jarvis asked when Alvin came into the living room. A variety of ingredients were arranged on the counter in front of Jarvis.

“Ignacio is under attack, probably by Bayfield. As much as I was happy to let the girls stay here and recover, I need at least one of them on the gun.”

Jarvis watched him go and wondered if he should wait to finish dinner before deciding against it. “I doubt it’ll drag out, and he’ll definitely want a meal soon.”

Mousie and Gothy were holding each other and snoring when Alvin stepped into the bedroom. The bathroom light was on, so he went that way. Desiree looked up at him as she stood up from the bidet, a questioning look on her face.

“Up for some bloodshed and carnage?” Alvin asked.

“What happened?”

“Ignacio is under attack, and I can’t drive and man the gun. I’ll drive, and you shoot anyone that looks like they don’t belong.”

“This I can do,” Desiree agreed, her bodysuit covering her. “What of the other two?”

“Sleeping. Let them be for now.”

“Okay, Hero.”

They slipped quietly out of the bedroom and waved at Jarvis in the kitchen as they went past and out to the garage. Desiree got into the gunner’s spot and summoned her battle armor. “I’m ready, Hero.”

The Humvee rumbled to life and Alvin looked at the portal. “We’ll be right in the thick of it. Try not to kill the people of Ignacio— the difference between them and the Bayfielders should be obvious.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Alvin gave it some gas and they left the base behind. All around them, the sound of gunfire filled the air. A few bullets ricocheted off the Humvee, and at least one hit Desiree. The M2 chattered as Desiree picked her targets and gave them small bursts.

The sudden appearance of the Humvee threw the attackers for a loop, as they had been mostly focusing on the meeting center, though the fires spreading throughout the town attested to other raiders not with the main group.

Alvin knew the Humvee would not kill people like it used to, but he was still able to use the vehicle to knock people down or away and disrupt the firing line. In less than a minute, the primary attack was stymied and the attackers were suddenly at a disadvantage. Those still able to fight found themselves forced to split their attention, with some turning their attention to the Humvee and the armored figure manning the heavy machine gun.

With the attackers having to split their attention, those inside the meeting center took advantage, mounting a more aggressive attack of their own. The warriors of the tribe came flooding out of the broken doors and windows, a ghostly aura surrounding them as they left the building.

Alvin noticed that the tribe members were not getting injured like they should. The aura around them flashed when rounds impacted, and Alvin could see that the glow was dimming with each hit.

A group of men stood next to a large truck— they had clearly been having a conversation before Alvin burst onto the scene. He recognized the man who had greeted them in Bayfield. The man was gesturing at the Humvee, and Alvin gave it more gas. The small group scattered away from the vehicle suddenly charging at them.

“Reloading,” Desire announced, switching to her handguns and continuing to fire. “These are not nearly as impressive.”

“Much smaller caliber,” Alvin replied, twisting the Humvee away from the truck he had been aiming at. “Aim for the guys who just scattered. One of them is their leader.”

“Roger,” Desire replied.

Alvin turned toward the man wearing an old Army uniform with an M14 on a sling. “Kill the most useful ones first,” he muttered.

The man ran, desperately trying to dodge the maniac looking to run him down with a Humvee. The only cars in the lot were those the attacking force had arrived in, and the nearest building was the meeting center.

“Kill this one first, Desiree! Going to knock him down in a second, then turn hard right.”

“Roger.”

The uniformed man spun and fired at the windshield. Alvin shook his head as the rounds bounced off and the thump of the man’s body going under the vehicle made him smile. As he turned away, the sound of the M2 firing again made him extremely happy that the women in his life were okay with killing people.

Alvin laughed and picked his next target. The battle had definitely turned, and now the attackers were on the defensive. The warriors of the tribe had made it to the firing line with his help and were taking control of the fight. “He dead?”

“Dead,” Desiree confirmed.

“I’m heading into town,” Alvin told her. “Keep the bursts small and controlled. The warriors will handle this, but we need to encourage the looters to run.”

“Roger, Hero.”

Pushing the gas pedal to the floor, he drove toward the nearest smoke column. The Humvee was not a track star, but it had enough speed to close the distance quickly. Alvin spotted his targets when he turned the corner: a trio of men in camo shirts and blue jeans.

The surprised men let go of the bags they were carrying and scattered, pulling out guns as they did. An exchange of gunfire left two of the men dead and the third bleeding profusely as the Humvee went past.

“One of them is still alive,” Desiree informed him.

“Yeah, not worried about him, he’ll run for it. We’re going to the next fire— let the gun reload.”

“Roger.”

They spent the next hour driving around town, chasing off or killing the looters, then backtracking to loot the corpses they had left behind. Nothing of real value showed up in the loot, just a lot of poor quality gear and a few incidental crafting mats.

When Alvin and Desiree got back to the meeting center, the raiding party from Bayfield was all dead or had run away. Several bullet riddled vehicles were still in the parking lot and warriors were looting the last few bodies. Near the front door, Johnny and the tribe elders were waiting. Seeing the Humvee, Johnny waved Alvin over to them.

“Hey,” Alvin said as he set the brake and got out, “looks like I came back at the right time.”

“Indeed,” Johnny agreed. “Your attack gave me enough time to invoke protection for the warriors and summon Brother Wolf to help us.” His eyes went past Alvin and he smiled, “Thank you, Brother Wolf.”

The voice of Brother Wolf echoed inside the heads of everyone present, You are welcome, Shaman. I will be nearby if you have need of me, but until the bigger threat is gone, I cannot do more.

“We understand and are thankful for the help you can give.”

Alvin looked back at the large spirit wolf just in time to see it vanish. “Must be nice having powerful spirits on hand to help.”

“With the Christian god gone and the spirits able to speak with us again, things will be better for the people,” Johnny agreed solemnly.

“I have the explosives and the Humvee so you can bless the gun again. Where do you want them?”

“Is it safe to leave them here?” one of the elders asked. “What if we are attacked again?”

“Not going to happen,” Alvin shrugged. “Considering the number of cars left here and how many vanished when you looted bodies, I’d guess they got bloodied hard. We cut down a lot of looting parties in town, too. People should go check on their loved ones.”

“We are grateful,” the oldest of them said. “It seems your arrival, while heralding pain, is what is going to help us make it past all of this.”

“Any chance for a reward?” Alvin asked.

“Typical white man,” one of the other elders scoffed.

Alvin stared at the man. “Okay. Next time, I’ll just go home and wait a while, then come back to see if anyone is left alive.”

“Alvin, calm yourself, please,” Johnny said, then gave the elder a look. “There isn’t much we have left to give after paying for the explosives and the worm. What else would you have of us?”

“Anything you can do to transfer blessings for later use?” Alvin asked.

“I can’t do that quickly, but I will do what I can,” Johnny agreed. “They will be limited blessings since I won’t be there to keep them refreshed.”

“Fine. Where do you want this stuff?”

“Bring it to my dwelling,” Johnny said. “Elders, please have the warriors bring me their primary weapons within the hour. I will get everything ready for tomorrow.”

“We hear you, Shaman,” the elders said.

“Need a ride?” Alvin asked.

“I will accept,” Johnny replied. “I feel my age, and tonight will not make me feel any younger. It is taxing to be the conduit for the spirits.”

“I’m sure it is.”

It did not take them long to reach the house Johnny was using; unloading took much longer, even with the help of the first warriors who came by to deliver their weapons. Alvin was surprised at how friendly the warriors were being when they showed up.

Once everything had been dropped off and he collected the XP, Alvin summoned a doorway to the base inside a guest room of Johnny’s home. As soon as he crossed the portal, he was greeted by Gothy and Mousie. They stared at him silently.

“Hey, how are you two doing?”

Gothy stared at him for a long moment before she asked, “Why didn’t you wake us?”

“Wasn’t a need to,” he replied, meeting her eyes. “You were worn out and snoring, so it was best to let you sleep. Only needed one person to run the Ma Deuce, and Desiree was up.”

“I didn’t like waking up to see you in town,” she pointed at the TV, which was off, “and having to ask Jarvis what was going on.”

“Fair,” Alvin said. “Would you have been able to do what you normally would?”

Gothy looked away, “No.”

“I’ll wake you next time, but if you aren’t able to do what you need to, then I feel it’s better for you to stay here, safe and sound.”

“We feel like we failed you,” Mousie said from behind Gothy.

“No,” Alvin said simply, stepping forward and hugging Gothy. He motioned Mousie forward, so Gothy ended up being sandwiched by them. “Neither of you failed anything. If I hadn’t broken you both, then it wouldn’t have come to this.”

Gothy snorted, “We did ask for it.”

“Yes, yes you did, and I loved giving it to you both. That was barely anything worth even being called a fight.”

“Dinner is ready,” Jarvis said from the kitchen. “The only reason she didn’t join you was because it was already over, sir.”

“I’m famished,” Desiree said. “Let me go drop my armor off to be repaired.”

“Johnny has the Humvee,” Alvin said as he let go of Gothy. “We should be ready to go for the big fight tomorrow.”

“I’m driving for that, right?” Gothy asked.

“I’m going to drive,” Alvin told her. “Since Mousie’s fetish broke at the end of the last fight and she’ll be on the Ma Deuce, she needs your ring. Either of us could drive, but I’d rather you be in the back seat with Mousie and Desiree, ready to shoot as needed.”

“Okay.”

Chapter Nine

Waking after a night of snuggling and watching the first Tremors movie, Alvin was surprised to find himself alone in bed. He got out of bed and stretched, cracking his neck and shoulders on his way to the bathroom. Since it was empty, he took his time getting ready.

When he finally left the bedroom, Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree were sitting around the kitchen table, sipping coffee. “Letting me sleep in?”

“You didn’t budge when we called you,” Gothy smiled.

“It was decided that you could sleep until breakfast was ready,” Desiree added.

“You were dozing during the movie, so we knew you were tired,” Mousie said. “It was an... odd movie.”

“Tremors is a classic,” Alvin chuckled. “Besides, with worms with tentacle-like tongues, it seemed appropriate.”

“It’s a cheesy movie, but good for that reason,” Gothy added. “The sequels range from amusing to god-awful.”

“Never cared for any of the sequels,” Alvin shrugged. “Though now that I think about it, maybe we should have watched Dune.”

“Breakfast,” Jarvis said, interrupting their conversation. “I went with extra Hardiness, just in case things go badly.”

“A good idea,” Alvin told him. “What did you make us today?”

“A country scramble, sir.”

“Broken Denver omelets,” Gothy chuckled.

“An apt description, but also wrong,” Jarvis replied as he plated the food. “While both use many of the same ingredients, the omelets don’t have potato.” Jarvis brought the food to the table and took his seat once everyone had their plates. “I hope you all enjoy.”

Alvin got himself a cup of coffee before digging into his breakfast. One by one, they cleaned their plates, Alvin finishing last.

“Excellent as always, Jarvis,” Alvin sighed happily as he pushed his empty plate away.

“I hope the boost helps, sir, but I also hope it isn’t needed.”

“So do we, Jarvis,” Gothy said and drained the last of her coffee. “I’ll be ready in a minute or three, Hero.”

“Got to go pick up my and Desiree’s battle armor.”

“It will be far from repaired,” Desiree sighed. “While the raiders didn’t have a chance to hurt me, they still did appreciable damage to my armor.”

“We need to get ours, as well,” Mousie said. “The air supply units should be done by now.”

“Oh, right,” Gothy added, heading for the bedroom. “After I use the bathroom, though.”

“Good call,” Desiree said.

“I’ll be waiting at Johnny’s after I grab the armor,” Alvin said as he walked away from the table.

“Morning to you, Alvin,” Johnny said when Alvin entered the living room. The shaman was sitting in a rocking chair with a cup of coffee in his hands. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“It’s seven, isn’t it?”

“Yes. The warriors gathered at six.”

“Everything is blessed and ready to go?”

“Everything is ready, including the Humvee and explosives.”

“Once the ladies get here, we’ll be ready.”

“We’re here, Hero,” Gothy said as she led them out of the back bedroom.

“Okay, I’m the driver, and you both will flank Mousie in the back. Your rifle and my Type both got blessed. Neither are the best guns for damage, but they’ll still work on the small fuckers.”

“I never did get that back from Desiree,” Gothy nodded. “I’ll take the Type. Desiree’s never fired that before.”

“Okay.”

“They’re in the back of your vehicle,” Johnny said as he got to his feet.

Alvin eyed the once youthful face that now had a few wrinkles. “Tax you that badly, did it?”

“I’ll be fine for today, but I’ll need to rest for a few days after this is over.”

“Always need some downtime to help balance out the death,” Alvin chuckled, thinking of the vacation they had had not that long ago. “Looks like we’re ready.”

“Let us go, then,” Johnny said, leading them outside.

Fifteen warriors sat, leaned, or paced outside Johnny’s house. They all looked to Johnny when he came outside. Alvin gave each of them an appraising look, wondering who the weak link was going to be.

“Who’s driving the explosives?” Alvin asked as they approached the warriors.

An older woman stepped away from the others, her eyes dead. “I will be. No one left for me. To die for the tribe is the best I can do now.”

“As long as you can do the job,” Alvin shrugged. “You know what you have to do?”

“I just need to feed myself to the creature, then wait for the Great Spirit to come for me.”

“She’ll do the job,” Johnny said. “Brother Owl will be there to help her.”

“Okay,” Alvin nodded. “Let’s get going.”

“I will be riding with you, Alvin,” Johnny said as the warriors headed for their vehicles.

“Why us?” Desiree asked.

“Out of all those here, you have the best chance of provoking the creature. If it fixates on you, you’ll need me to help keep your mind clear.”

“Fine, you’re shotgun,” Alvin replied.

“It so happens I have one,” Johnny said as an old, break-action, side-by-side shotgun appeared in his hands.

“How old is that thing?” Alvin chuckled.

“Old enough,” Johnny smiled.

“Let’s get to it,” Alvin said.

Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree were in position before he could even get the Humvee started. Alvin showed Johnny the radio attached to the Humvee and got the extra headset plugged in for him. “Going to need that to talk to us when things heat up.”

“They are waiting on you,” Johnny told him. “They’ve been told you’re in charge of the attack.”

“Should have looked into multi-vehicle radios,” Alvin shrugged. “Oh well, let’s go.”

The drive out of the town was uneventful, though they were all aware of the mounting tension. Johnny began to mumble under his breath as they got farther from the settlement, and the feeling of anxiety dispersed after a few moments.

“There, that should help for now,” Johnny said. “The beast has shrouded its home in a miasma. It might not be visible, but we all felt it.”

“I was fine,” Mousie added.

“If we can find even lesser versions of that ring, it’ll be a boon,” Alvin said.

“Yeah, it would,” Gothy agreed.

“Coming up on the first break,” Mousie said, bringing the focus back to the upcoming fight.

The other vehicles followed them in a long line, the last one being the old boxy van that held the explosives. Alvin directed them around the worst of the torn-up roadway, his gaze moving around the scenery and searching for any hint of their target.

“I saw a small bit of smoke near the ruined house off to the left,” Mousie informed them.

“Roger. Let’s go play with our XP,” Alvin said as he started toward that direction.

When they got closer to the house, four of the smaller worms burst up from the ground. One went for the Humvee while the others turned toward the other vehicles in the group.

“Here we go,” Alvin said.

Mousie did not target the one heading toward the Humvee, instead hitting the other three with controlled bursts first. “Hero, are you sure about this plan?”

“We need the warriors to survive, at least to start with,” Alvin replied. “Now, focus right. Ladies, open up, but control the reloads. Stagger so you’re not all reloading at the same time.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“You got it, Hero.”

“Survive to start with?” Johnny asked.

“I’m not concerned about them living, Johnny,” Alvin said bluntly. “I do need them to survive until the big bitch shows up, though.”

“That is true, and I’m not surprised, though I’m disappointed that the tribe doesn’t at least rate some merit in your eyes.”

“Don’t know them well enough to care,” Alvin admitted as he drove past one of the worms, clipping it with the side of the Humvee. “Ain’t staying long enough to, either.”

The mind scream of a wounded worm tried to grip them, but was repulsed by Johnny’s faith.

“Besides, you rode with me for a reason,” Alvin added.

“Because of all those who came, you have the best chance of surviving,” Johnny agreed.

“Reloading,” Desiree called out.

“Reloading in three,” Gothy added.

“Slowing fire to reload after Gothy.”

“If I asked you to do your best to help them, what would it take?”

Alvin thought about it before taking a left and angling back toward the others. “Blank check?”

Johnny sucked in a hard breath, “Within reason?”

“I won’t ask for a tribe member’s life or any major items that will affect the tribe you are helping in a negative way. I think having a shaman owing us a favor will prove beneficial eventually.”

“I’ll agree,” Johnny sighed. “I feel like I’m making a deal with the devil or Coyote.”

“We’ll do our best, but I can’t promise any concrete results.”

“The better the results, the better the trade.”

“Ladies?”

“We can manage it,” Gothy said.

“Killing the first, then switching over to help them,” Mousie added.

“If that is what our leader says, then we will accomplish it.”

The first worm died like the previous ones had: trying to get away, only to be killed as it began to burrow. It had flipped one of the cars over before it died, and the driver and passenger made the mistake of getting out to continue fighting, so the other worms that had been on the warriors dove into the ground and came up to eat them.

Johnny sighed sadly, “May the Great Spirit welcome you home.”

Alvin idly wondered just how badly Jarvis’ company and the devs had twisted Native American culture and mythology. Shoving the thought away, he drove toward the pair of worms as they finished swallowing the warriors.

“Mousie, aim right. Gothy, give the one on the left a small taste. Don’t overdo it— we have to focus them down or they’ll run.” The odd ricochet from missed shots by the tribe warriors pinged off the Humvee. “Be careful of our allies, even if they have a hard time aiming.”

“You got it, Hero.”

“They haven’t seen the same death you have,” Johnny mentioned. “The fact none have run for home is a good thing. It would dishonor them and hurt them in the eyes of the spirits.”

“Fair enough.”

“Reloading,” Desiree said.

The third worm managed to roll another vehicle during the fight, sending one of the rear passengers out the window and under the still rolling car. Alvin shook his head when he saw the blood splash from the unfortunate man, but kept his comments to himself. Another from that vehicle got out, intent on helping his friend, only to get eaten by the last worm, but the driver had been smart enough to stay in the car.

It was almost an hour from the start of the fight when the last worm died, trying to burrow. Alvin slowed but did not stop, moving a little bit away from the others who had gone to loot the bodies.

“Last time, it came for its childr—” Alvin cut off when the Humvee shuddered. Hammering the gas, he rushed away from the others. “Sorry, Johnny.” Alvin did not see what happened, focused on getting out of the area.

“That’s…” Desiree said, trailing off as the giant head of the larger worm rose out of the ground.

Tentacles flailing, it grabbed vehicles, people, and the two remaining bodies of its young, pulling them into its maw. Johnny swallowed audibly as he watched the scene. “Earth Mother, how do you abide that abomination?” Johnny asked in horror.

The pulse of terror from the beast washed over them. Alvin’s teeth ground together as he pushed back against the mental attack. Gothy slapped herself across the face as she stared at the thing that had eaten Alvin. Desiree inhaled sharply, muttering under her breath. Mousie, not feeling the mental attack, smiled as she triggered her cooldowns.

“This is for Hero,” Mousie said clearly over the radio as she depressed the trigger on the M2. Not having to worry about reloading and wanting to get as much as she could from the Critical Strikes ability, she let the M2 go full-auto. Her target was so large and the recoil was so low because of the runes that she had no trouble keeping the gun on target. “Hero, it just grabbed the van.”

“Good,” Alvin gritted the single word out.

Johnny let out a long, wordless cry right before the mental attack stopped. “Your... chance,” he muttered. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

Chapter Ten

“Turning back,” Alvin warned Mousie before he turned them back toward the creature. “Cooldowns?”

“Already active,” Mousie replied, pausing for a moment in her firing while Alvin got the Humvee pointed the right way. “Not seeing it react at all,” she added.

“I’m sure it’s got an absurd health pool and a fuckton of armor.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Wear it down,” Alvin said. “It’s all we can do. Until the van detonates, we probably don’t even register to it. I think it just wanted to eat its young more than anything.”

“How odd,” Desiree said.

“There are a few animals that will eat their babies if they aren’t finding enough other food,” Alvin said.

“Why hasn’t it gone after the town, then?”

“No idea. Maybe it doesn’t consider them sufficient food?”

“Like ants to us,” Gothy said. “That doesn’t make me happy.”

“How long until the van explodes?” Desiree asked.

“It’s a matter of compression,” Alvin said. “Its gizzard will eventually push the explosives into a tight enough ball that the detonator will go off.”

“What kind of detonator did you use?” Gothy asked.

“You’d have to ask your brother. It’ll trigger when enough pressure is applied to it. Seemed like the best idea since we couldn’t trust the driver to be rational enough to trigger it at a specific time. Also wanted it inside the damned thing first to maximize the damage.”

“Why not a simple radio…?” Gothy trailed off then answered her own question. “Because being inside it cut off radio communication yesterday.” She pushed the Type 56 out the window and fired in controlled bursts at the creature.

“Hero, it’s ignoring me,” Mousie groused. “Full-auto and it’s not even paying attention to us.”

“A single point of damage is going through with each shot while the rest is eating away its armor. Five minutes of continuous fire is going to eat the fuck out of the gun, but if it kills it, it’ll be worth it.”

“Why does it just sit there with its body pointed straight up?” Desiree asked.

“Pushing everything into its gizzard,” Alvin guessed, “using gravity to help it. It took a lot of shit in, probably more than it’s had in a while.” He swung the Humvee in a circle around the worm. Alvin was growing concerned that the explosives had not yet detonated, but he had installed a timer on one of them as a backup, just in case.

“I can’t help from this side,” Desiree stated.

“Just wait, we might have to take evas—”

There was a muffled thump and a moment later, a mental scream washed over Alvin, Desiree, and Gothy, blanking their minds. Alvin struggled to stay conscious with tears streaming from his eyes as he turned away from the worm. Desiree grunted and wiped at her face with a hand, the pain a little more tolerable to her. Gothy blinked rapidly, her vision swimming as she tried to weather the mental pain.

The beast thrashed back and forth, just missing the Humvee twice as Alvin drove them away from it. The ground split and cracked all around as it continued to throw its tantrum of pain.

“Explosives went off,” Mousie said brightly as she got the gun back on target, the sudden turn having thrown her aim off. “Umm… Hero? I think we pissed it off.”

“What?” Alvin said through gritted teeth, the pain slowly receding.

“It’s coming after us now,” Mousie said tightly as she continued to shoot the creature. “It’s above ground and chasing us.”

“Holy fucking shit,” Gothy hissed as she looked back and saw the worm still pulling itself from its hole. “Dune sandworms might have been a damned good comparison— that thing is enormous.”

Pain finally gone, Alvin focused on buying them time. “We’ll never outrun it in a straight line... I hope it corners badly. Hard left in three.”

“Understood,” Mousie replied, ready to shift her aim. “Aiming for the tentacles if they get close. They have to have less armor.”

“Good call,” Alvin said as he yanked the wheel.

Desiree got her gun out the window and began to fire as soon as the worm came into view. “Hero, it corners better than we do.”

“Fuck,” Alvin sighed. “Fine, heading straight away. Do what you can.”

Alvin had the pedal floored, but the worm was gaining on them. Its tentacles shot toward the Humvee and Mousie shredded one with the M2. Desiree and Gothy did their best to join in, but were not nearly as effective.

“Shield just before it touches us,” Alvin said. “Buy us a bit more time.”

They ran from the beast and, using both their shields and Mousie’s cooldowns, did an incredible amount of damage to it, even removing half of its mouth tentacles. But time was not on their side; with the M2 on cooldown and their shields destroyed, the worm grabbed the Humvee and pulled it into its gaping maw.

“Hang on, Mousie!” Alvin shouted. “Gothy, Desiree grab her legs!”

Their orientation to the ground shifted as the mouth closed and the beast lifted its head, letting gravity pull them toward its gizzard. Johnny roused slightly as they slid down the worm’s gullet.

“Mousie, come back inside. Everyone, suit up; we need to use the rebreather units and oxygen.” They all got into their battle armor, wanting to stay alive as long as possible. Because the battle armor was taking up all five accessory slots, Mousie no longer had her Ring of Power on to protect her mind. “Mousie, switch with Desiree and use your swords from the back window. Desiree, burn this fucker. Gothy, help keep Desiree inside.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“I hate not hurting this thing,” Gothy complained, but helped the others switch positions.

“Is it night?” Johnny asked as he slowly came awake.

“No, we’ve been swallowed,” Alvin told him. “Feel free to use your shotgun out the window, but be mindful that anything sticking out is going to get crushed repeatedly. Also, you’re going to run out of air shortly.”

“We’ll have ten minutes to do what we can before the oxygen is out.”

Johnny took a deep breath and began to chant. “Spirits of air, earth, fire, and water. Animal spirits, Mother Earth, Father Sky, your humble guide calls out to you. Bless me with clean air to help purge this abomination from the world.”

“That wasn’t English,” Alvin said as he pulled out his K-bar.

“No, it wasn’t,” Johnny said softly. “I’m sorry that I can’t extend it to all of you.”

“We’ll survive for a bit yet,” Gothy said.

“Fuck,” Desiree said just before she triggered the flamethrowers on her armor.

Light bloomed in the darkness and they got a look at the twisted remnants of the vehicles and people who had been swallowed before them. Johnny paled when he saw the walls of the gizzard. There were small boulders lodged in the walls, helping grind the bits further. The shriek of metal grinding against metal was almost deafening as the Humvee started being crushed into the other vehicles.

“Why didn’t the bodies vanish?” Gothy asked as she looked out the window when the gizzard relaxed and the walls withdrew from the Humvee.

“Ask Sammi next time we see her,” Alvin said as the flame cut off. “The explosives did a fucking number on it. Do you see the gouges in the gizzard?”

“The heavily bleeding rents? Yes.”

“Maybe it’ll throw us up?” Mousie suggested.

“That would be nice, but I doubt it,” Alvin said.

Desiree let out another long burst of flames just as the walls constricted again. A mental scream of anguish made everyone’s eyes water and Johnny’s nose bleed.

“You going to survive?” Alvin asked when he saw Johnny stuffing cotton up his nostril.

“Until the air is gone,” Johnny replied. “This isn’t the end I had envisioned, but if we can at least kill it, I will die happy.”

Their orientation changed and Gothy held onto Desiree with all her strength as they were whipped back and forth. Mousie burped and looked green for a moment, but the moment passed and they seemed to be mostly level instead of on end.

“What do you think that means?” Desiree asked as she let out another burst of flames.

“I have a bad feeling...” Alvin muttered as they suddenly shifted again. This time, they were hanging by their seatbelts as the Humvee faced nose down. “It’s burrowed! Fuck!”

“Why fuck?” Gothy asked.

“It means we’re about to get more rock and dirt in here!”

“Oh. Fuck…!” Gothy replied.

The next few minutes were a jumbled nightmare for those in the Humvee as dirt, rock, pieces of bodies, and other debris found their way into the Humvee while they continued attacking the worm. A third mental scream made Mousie pass out. Fortunately, she fell farther into the backseat so her weapons stayed inside the cab. Gothy and Alvin ended up bleeding from their noses, and Johnny yelled out in pain when his left eardrum ruptured.

The Humvee shifted again as the worm suddenly raced for the surface, throwing everyone around like ragdolls. Gothy almost lost her grip on Desiree, but managed to hang on with one hand and resecured her grip a moment later.

“Fucking die already!” Gothy snapped.

Sudden weightlessness made those still awake wonder what was happening until gravity reasserted itself and they were dropping rapidly again. Mousie came awake when the beast slammed into the ground, the impact jostling everyone inside the Turtle.

“Fucking hell,” Alvin hissed. “Everyone okay?”

Everyone answered affirmatively just before they were slung hard side-to-side as the creature shook its body.

“Hero, the fire is burning a hole through,” Desiree told him.

“About fucking time,” Alvin said. “Everyone, pile on as much as you can.”

The worm thrashed more as they all did what they could to damage the beast further. Seconds ticked by, turning into minutes. The bright burst of light that came a moment later caught all of them by surprise. The surprise was quickly forgotten when they had to hang on as the worm rolled its body.

Desiree squished into the back with the other two when the Humvee ended up on its roof. “There was an opening,” she said. “If we get out, we can probably get free of it.”

“Go,” Alvin said as he fought to get his door open. “Everyone, out. We don’t have much oxygen left. We’ll summon the Turtle back to the base later.”

Fighting against the constrictions of the gizzard and the worm’s thrashing, they struggled to get out of the Humvee and make it toward the brief flashes of light they saw. Mousie got to the front and used her twin blades to carve a much wider gap for them. As they shoved themselves free of the beast, a final, plaintive, scream wracked their minds with the worm’s last massive spasm.

Johnny, Mousie, and Gothy collapsed under the mental strain. Alvin felt thick fluid leaking from his eyes as the attack pressed down on him suffocatingly. Desiree grunted, grabbing Johnny and tossing him away from the worm, then started to drag Gothy out. Alvin grimaced, but he snagged Mousie’s arm, taking her with him.

As he pushed out into daylight, Alvin dropped to his knees. Pulling Mousie behind him, he crawled forward another few feet. “Desiree, get her.”

Desiree dragged Gothy another foot away before she rushed back to help with Mousie. Her hand brushed the worm as she reached for Mousie’s legs. In that instant, the worm vanished and she staggered a step, no longer having support under her hand. She bumped into the upside-down Humvee, which was now in the spot previously taken up by the massive worm.

Alvin dismissed his armor when the body vanished. Falling onto his back, he began to laugh. “We did it.” Laughing harder, he shouted, “We did it!” He wiped his eyes and his fingers came away bloody. “Fucking shit, that was a tough bitch.”

Desiree dismissed her armor. “We did. We need to wake the others.”

“Give them a minute. They’ll come to. Not much we can do to wake them with their armor on.”

“Do you fight things like this often?” Desiree asked.

“Not often, but with alarmingly increasing frequency,” Alvin snorted, still chuckling and wiping the blood from the corners of his eyes.

“We should see about repairing the Turtle and our armor before we try another beast of this size.”

“Sounds good to me,” Alvin agreed.

Chapter Eleven

Alvin supported Gothy as she woke up. “Gothy, dismiss your armor,” he said softly.

Gothy’s battle armor vanished and she wiped at the sticky mess that covered her face. “What happened?”

“Stop— I’ll clean it,” Alvin said, pouring a little water over her face and wiping at the blood. “The worm died, but its death scream knocked you unconscious. It burst your eardrums, and you bled out of your eyes, too.”

“I must be a mess.”

“I’ve seen worse,” Alvin said with a hint of humor.

“Mousie and Desiree?”

“I’m cleaning Mousie up. She was in the same condition as you,” Desiree answered her from a few feet away.

“Johnny?”

“Still out of it,” Alvin replied. “We had to wait for you to wake up so we could help you. Damned battle armor is heavy, even if you are just dragging a person.”

“We get good loot?”

“Don’t know yet,” Alvin admitted. “Was more concerned about you.”

One eye came open as the blood was cleaned away. “How long?”

“Nearly an hour.”

“Brother Owl, thank you,” Johnny murmured when he woke up.

“Glad you made it, Johnny,” Alvin said as he finally got Gothy’s other eye clean enough to open.

“My head feels like a drum.” Johnny winced when he touched his face and felt the dried blood coating his jaw. “What happened?”

“Death scream. Most of us went down, but it’s dead.”

“Yes. Brother Owl has told me thank you on behalf of Mother Earth and the Great Spirit.”

“We were going to check the loot,” Alvin told the shaman as he finished getting Gothy’s face cleaned. “Anything of note for you?”

Johnny frowned, his eyes going distant. “Scales, meat, sinew, a raw polished stone, and some runes. The stone is odd... all it says is ‘unknown crafting material.’”

“Must be for a craft we don’t have on Earth yet,” Alvin replied.

“What color is it?” Desiree asked.

“Yellow.”

“Not lumios,” Desiree shrugged. “I have some meat, scales, a ‘fragment of terror,’ and some runes.”

“Is the fragment an unknown crafting mat?” Alvin asked her.

“Yes.”

“Same for me, but I have something different. ‘Tears of the Earth Mother…’ Says it’s a reagent,” Mousie said.

Johnny stiffened, “That will do you no good, but would be a blessing for me.”

“We can see about trading,” Alvin said. “I’d want to know what you can use them for before we do that.”

Johnny sighed, “I’m not sure, only that I know I need them.”

“Brother Owl?” Gothy asked.

“Yes.”

“Sinew and the stones in return?” Alvin asked Mousie, who was the one with the tears.

“I agree if he will.”

“Done,” Johnny was quick to say. “I do not wish to be ungrateful; I will add half of the scales, as well.”

“Works for me,” Alvin said.

“I have scales, meat, runes, and an odd item, a ‘spirit guardian totem.’ Says it can be used once a day by an elder of a tribe to summon a guardian to protect a single building,” Gothy said.

Johnny sighed, shaking his head, “I’ve already agreed to a trade, so I can’t afford that. Not without the elders’ help.”

“We’ll give them a chance,” Gothy smiled. “Allies can be a good thing to have, especially allies that have magic.”

“We would be indebted,” Johnny said.

Alvin frowned as he looked at his bags, finding only a single item from the creature aside from some miscellaneous runes. He pulled up the information on it, blinked, then began to laugh.

“What?” Gothy asked.

“I have ‘a vial of terror worm DNA,’” Alvin said. “It’s an unknown crafting mat, and I have six of them.”

“DNA?” Gothy asked. “Who the hell can use that?”

“We’ll find out, I’m sure,” Alvin chuckled. “I’d bet it’ll be worth a nice chunk of XP to whoever can use it, too.”

“We need to get back to Ignacio,” Johnny said as he looked at the Humvee.

“My poor Turtle,” Gothy said, looking at the Humvee on its roof. It lay cocked at an angle, the gunner’s armor plate slightly crumpled, but holding it up. “It took a beating.”

“It kept us alive,” Alvin said as he helped her to her feet. “We’ll need to let it sit in the garage to get its durability back. It’s a long way from mint condition.”

“That damned thing took so much damage to kill,” Gothy said. “The Tannerite substitute from Wynn in Beatty and my brother’s special explosive… not to mention the Ma Deuce, the other guns, Mousie’s swords…” Shaking her head, she trailed off.

“Raid monster is worse than a dragon,” Alvin said. “Dragons don’t mind fuck you.”

“It’s going to be a long hike back to Ignacio,” Johnny said as he stood up, picking at the dried blood on his face.

“Would be,” Alvin agreed. “If I can get into the driver’s seat, I can summon the base door.”

“Can you do it?” Johnny asked.

“No idea. It’ll be tough with it completely upside down.”

“We can help, maybe,” Desiree offered. “Form a platform for you, help hold you in place?”

“Give it a try,” Alvin said as he dug out one of his base keys and handed it to Johnny. “Hold onto this, Johnny. Ladies, ready?”

Tight, cramped, and unpleasant was the only way to describe the acrobatic engineering it took to get Alvin upside down and into a position vaguely like driving for the base button to become available. Once he triggered it, getting out of the Turtle again was easy compared to getting in.

“That is the way to your home?” Johnny asked, staring at the glowing archway.

“Yup, come on in. We’ll head back out in a few minutes,” Alvin said. “But before we do, we can get a drink and use the bathroom.”

“Very well,” Johnny agreed, following Alvin through the portal.

Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree were already halfway through the living room when Alvin stepped into the garage. He shook his head and summoned the Humvee back to the base. “There we go. Back on its feet, so to speak.”

“Ah, now it becomes clear,” Johnny nodded.

“Let’s go bother Jarvis for a drink.”

Leading the shaman into the living room, Alvin smiled, “Jarvis, something to drink for our guest, please?”

“Of course, sir. Shaman, what would you like?”

Johnny squinted at Jarvis, “A spirit, but not a spirit.”

“Is that how you see me?” Jarvis asked. “I wondered how it would work. Regardless, what would you like? Some tea, maybe?”

“Jack and Coke, please.”

“Ice?”

“One cube only.”

“Right away.”

“Who is he?” Johnny asked Alvin quietly.

“Jarvis? My butler. Before that, he was my jailer and tormentor. He’s an A.I. that was in charge of testing players. I was his last test case before the game went live or the Rapture happened, depending on how you want to look at it.”

“It makes sense that you do great things if a spirit is your guide,” Johnny said, clearly ignoring the parts he did not understand.

“Your drink, sir,” Jarvis said, placing the tumbler in front of the shaman.

“Thank you.”

“The guest bathroom is through there,” Jarvis pointed at a closed door, “if you’d like to freshen up. There are extra towels under the sink. You still have a bit of blood on your face.”

Johnny took a deep gulp of his drink. “Thank you. I’ll finish the drink in a minute.”

“I’m going to step away for a few. See you in a bit,” Alvin said as he walked toward the master bathroom.

He snorted when he heard the shower running. Skipping that, he used the bathroom, then used a washcloth and hand towel to clean his face. Glad my clothing doesn’t stain. I’m sure there was blood all over them originally.

He went into the living room, but did not see Johnny so he went on to the Dwarven armory to drop off his battle armor, then to the smithy for his K-bar. From there, he went into the kiosk room and put the DNA vials in the storage cabinets next to the kiosk.

Should check on the XP haul, too, he thought, opening up the doors that covered the kiosk. Tapping the screen, he brought up the store and whistled softly. Raid encounter, alright.

“Is something wrong?” Johnny asked, coming into the room with his drink in hand.

“Not wrong, just a bit silly,” Alvin replied, logging off the kiosk and stepping aside. “Feel free to check your XP.”

Johnny frowned but stepped up to the kiosk, setting his drink on top of it before activating the screen. Looking down at his total XP amount, his jaw dropped. He stood there for a long time just staring at the screen. “How? Why?”

“The terror worm must have been worth five million XP. It was supposed to take a dedicated raid team to kill it. We didn’t have the right number of people nor the right equipment, honestly. That XP would have been divided by the survivors. This fight ended with just us five left alive, hence the split we have.”

Johnny downed what was left of his drink and spit the ice cube back into the tumbler. “Great Spirit… This is why you have become the one who can help others.”

“It’s helped, probably, but I don’t help others, Johnny. You seem to know who I really am.”

“A man who cares for his family and friends and almost no one else. Though you can be counted on to help, if the price is right.”

“Pretty much.”

“I counted on that last part, but I never imagined it would end like this.”

“Losing those warriors will be a hard blow to the town, but it frees you from the major threat. The tribe will have to deal with what’s left of Bayfield, and after that, they’ll be in a position to make a real go of surviving and thriving.”

“That is true,” Johnny sighed. “You’re intending to find out if the aliens are real or not?”

“Roswell,” Alvin nodded. “They said the brother of the mayor in Bayfield was abducted recently. That kind of says they’re real, but I want to meet them and see if they’re willing to talk, or if they’re just probe-happy motherfuckers.”

“Brother Owl doesn’t know the outcome of that journey for you, but I wish you luck.”

“Thanks,” Alvin nodded. “What are you going to do with all that XP?”

“Give some to the families of the warriors, use part for the town, then use the rest to make me better able to help the other tribes I meet.”

“Someone has to help others, I guess,” Alvin shrugged.

“We’re ready, Hero. Sorry for the wait,” Gothy said, coming into the room.

“No problem; figured you wanted to clean up. We netted a million each, so we’ll have to have another powwow on what to spend it all on.”

Gothy barely managed to keep the smile off her face, “Maybe tonight. We need to get Johnny back to Ignacio first.”

“True. You ready to go, Johnny?”

“I am ready to go back and see the elders,” Johnny said. “Thank you, again,” he said directly to the three women. “It is said that strong men attract equally strong women. I can see this is true.”

“Hero brings out the best in us,” Gothy smiled.

“As you do for him,” Johnny replied.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Alvin said from the garage doorway. “We need to drop him off and get paid.”

~*~*~

The atmosphere in town was somber when they arrived in Ignacio. Alvin parked outside the meeting hall and they followed Johnny into the building. The elders sat there along with Brother Wolf, waiting for them.

“Welcome back, Shaman, outsiders,” the head elder spoke. “Brother Wolf has told us that the beast is dead, but at great cost.”

“All of the warriors died,” Johnny said evenly. “They died as warriors should— fighting to protect their home.”

“Yet you and these four live,” the elder who had been constantly at odds with them said.

“You paid for us. We did the job,” Alvin shrugged. “If you want to make it more than that, well, you can step outside.”

“Brother Wolf protects us now,” the elder sneered at Alvin.

“And?” Alvin asked flatly.

“He wouldn’t let an outsi—”

“Stop,” Brother Wolf spoke the words aloud. “He did a great service to the tribe. Treat him with respect. He could have left you to deal with the worm, but instead, he faced it head on. After dying, he did not flee but faced it again. His depth of emotion for his pack is greater than everyone in this room combined, except the shaman.”

The elders sat in silence, staring at Brother Wolf in awe and shock.

“I’m done,” Alvin said, meeting the spirit’s eyes. “Just pay me and I’ll be on my way.”

“The quest is complete,” the lead elder said quickly. “We present to you the agreed upon reward.” Holding out a small orb, she gave Alvin a grateful nod. “Thank you.”

You’ve completed your weekly quest.

Congratulations on not losing a life this week.

Alvin took the orb. “Thank you for upholding your end of the quest. If more people did, there’d be fewer dead people.”

“Alvin,” Johnny said. “I will give you half of the XP from the terror worm for the orb.”

“Three-fourths?”

Johnny frowned, “Too much, Alvin.”

“I kind of like the idea of making a deal with a higher power,” Alvin shrugged. “But since you’re asking nicely, sixty percent.”

“Fine, sixty,” Johnny sighed. “The elders need to know about the totem to see about buying it, as well.”

“I’m not happy with them right now,” Gothy said. “Not inclined to sell anymore.”

Johnny grimaced, “The six hundred thousand for the totem, then, instead of the orb.”

“All of it for both?” Alvin asked Gothy and Johnny.

“For Johnny? Sure,” Gothy agreed.

“Let’s go to the kiosk,” Johnny sighed.

“What totem?” the lead elder asked.

“I’ll explain when I finish the trade,” Johnny said as he headed toward the other room.

“Which spirit are you going to connect to with the orb?” Alvin asked as he turned away from the elders, dismissing them from consideration.

“I don’t know yet,” Johnny admitted. “There are many spirits to help us. I will take my time and consult Brother Owl before I make a decision.”

“Probably for the best.”

Chapter Twelve

Rolling the Turtle back into the base a few miles outside of the town, Alvin exhaled, “That’s over with, at least.”

“We got the weekly done, so that’s good. Why did you trade the orb away?” Gothy asked.

“If you don’t truly believe in a higher being, a random one answers the call. I don’t want, say, Asmodeus picking up the phone.”

“Fair.”

“Besides, we can always use the XP,” Alvin chuckled. “We get to buy more stuff now since we all have a million or more to spend.”

“What are you thinking?” Desiree asked as they left the garage.

“Upgrades to the base and some more powers for us,” Alvin replied. “I also think we should carry two extra lives each, too. Best to be safe on that front.”

“Agreed,” his three companions said in unison.

“Jarvis?” Alvin called out to the butler when they entered the living room. “Dinner?”

“Two hours, sir. You have ample time to consider the potential buying options.”

“Pads and sofas, it is,” Alvin said.

Sandwiched between Desiree and Gothy, with Mousie sitting at his feet, Alvin smiled as an idle thought drifted through his mind: What are they going to do if we end up adding another?

“Are we prioritizing powers?” Gothy asked as she snuggled in next to him.

“Not necessarily. Let’s just take some time to look and set aside the things we think will be best for all of us.”

“Understood,” Mousie said, resting her head on his knee.

“I think we should upgrade the battle armory,” Desiree suggested. “Today proved that having more capabilities for the armor is a good idea.”

“It did make the difference today,” Gothy agreed. “You should look into that for us. I’m checking the garage to see what options we have there.”

“I’m going to check on upgrades to the two powers I already have,” Mousie murmured, smiling as she kissed Alvin’s knee.

“Guess I’ll just look at some of the powers in general,” Alvin said. “Maybe see about upgrading the base as a whole, too.”

They relaxed on the sofa in a comfortable silence as each focused on their pads. Desiree and Gothy both shifted to get more comfortable, using Alvin as part of their backrest. Alvin smiled as he purchased a base upgrade and all three women shifted when the sofa changed under them, becoming much deeper.

“What the—?” Gothy asked, then laughed when she realized what happened. “Really, Hero?”

“Seemed like a good idea to me, considering,” Alvin chuckled.

Desiree just shifted and put her head on his thigh, laying down as she continued reading. “It’s comfortable.”

Mousie climbed up on the sofa and lay down next to Desiree, putting her head on Alvin’s shin. “Hmm, awkward, but nice.”

Gothy shook her head and joined the other two in using Alvin’s lap as a pillow. “This sofa isn’t going to work as well as the old one for other things.”

“I can change them out as needed,” Alvin told her. “Kind of like some games with personal homes; once it’s unlocked, it can be used as you want.”

“Ah, so this is our Hero-pillow sofa? Got it.”

Alvin booped Gothy’s nose, “You still looking?”

“Yes. I’ll bite that finger if you do that again.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. That would make me a bad girl, so then you’d have to punish me.”

“Down, Gothy. Work first,” Alvin chuckled, resting a hand on her ample chest.

“You say that, but put your hand there?” Gothy sighed. “Tease.”

Alvin did not reply as he continued to look through the store.

“Neither of my powers have upgrades, but they can be taken multiple times. I’ve been looking at other powers, instead,” Mousie said after a while.

“We can increase the percentage that the garage repairs stuff, but it’s a bit pricey,” Gothy said. “Taking the percentage from point one to point five is half a million XP.”

“Fucking hell,” Alvin sighed. “The sad part about that is we’re sure to need it if we want the gun to stay in even half decent shape. That would make a night’s sleep fix about sixteen hundred durability for the gun… That’s only a bit more than three belts, which we almost always burn through if we end up in a fight.”

“True,” Gothy agreed.

“For me, it’s three hundred and thirty thousand XP because of my discount,” Alvin reminded her.

“The upgrade after that is probably a solid one percent. I’d bet that’s a million XP.”

“Or six hundred and sixty thousand to me. Almost a full million to upgrade it twice, but damn if we wouldn’t get the use out of it. Going to have to see about another vehicle if we add more to the party, too.”

“That’s a good point. Not likely to find another military-grade Humvee lying around, either,” Gothy sighed.

“An armored personnel carrier would be good,” Alvin smiled. “I’d take a Bradley or a LAV.”

“Ooh, 20mm guns would be nice. Would have made quicker work of that damned worm, for sure. Those aren’t comfortable sitting, though, from what I’ve heard.”

“True that,” Alvin chuckled. “That will wipe out my XP, besides the chunk I’m holding back for fast travel capability.”

“I’m going to spend most of mine upgrading the Dwarven armory for the battle armor,” Desiree said. “It’ll increase the repair rate and allow more additions to be added onto the suits.”

“Didn’t the automated nature of the room remove the ability for upgrades?” Gothy asked with a frown. “How did we even get the air tanks added to ours?”

“Limited upgrades, and it completely negates new items being made in them,” Alvin corrected her. “Small things like the air were allowed, but we’d need to get parts to get the room to add in different armament.”

“Normally,” Desiree nodded. “The upgrade I’m looking at gives access to all the older armaments, like adding the flamers to your suits, though those will drain the batteries pretty fast. There are some standalone upgrades you have to purchase per suit, as well. I found one to double the battery life so you could use the flamers almost as long as I can.”

“That’d be good,” Gothy said. “Alvin, should we loophole?”

“No. Save it for something else. We’re being nice to Sammi, remember?”

“Huh?” Desiree asked, looking confused.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alvin said.

“I want to check the auction house,” Mousie said. “Maybe we can find some better runes for sale.”

“I’ll go ahead and pick up the garage upgrades,” Alvin said.

“I’m going to upgrade the battle armor,” Desiree added.

“I’m not sure yet,” Gothy admitted. “I’m still considering a few things.”

“Well, I didn’t get a shower earlier, so I’m going to go get that in while you ponder,” Alvin said, buying the upgrades to the garage. “See you in a bit.”

They shifted off him, putting their heads together, and Alvin eventually freed himself from the large sofa. Looking back from the bedroom doorway, he saw all three engrossed in their pads and smiled.

~*~*~

Alvin was just toweling off when Gothy walked into the bathroom. Whistling softly, Alvin shook his head, “Stat increase, hmm?”

She posed for him with a lascivious grin. “I see you like it.” Her eyes focused on his rapidly rising cock. “I also picked up the powers Mousie had so we can swap out and keep the damage going.”

“What did you raise your stats to?” Alvin asked as he tossed the towel at the hamper.

“Eights, all the way down… kind of like I could do right now?”

Alvin grinned, “What about the other two?”

“Minor stat increases. They’ll tell you,” Gothy said with a husky voice as she approached him. “I’ll be busy.”

Alvin leaned against the wall and exhaled in pleasure when Gothy started in on what she wanted. “Fuck, you’re amazing.”

A happy hum was her only response as she bobbed her head.

“I see she was right,” Desiree laughed lightly from the doorway. “She said she’d be on her knees for you by the time I got here.”

Alvin tore his eyes away from watching Gothy to look at Desiree. “What did…?” He trailed off for a moment as Gothy increased her pace for a few seconds before slowing back down. “Fucking hell... What did you spend your XP on?”

“The armor room, our battle armors, and my Nimbleness stat is now maxed out at seven. Means I can do this now,” Desiree smiled as she did a standing split, her naked body angled so he could see everything.

“Lots of potential there,” Alvin replied as his eyelids fluttered.

“I increased my Nimbleness, too,” Mousie said from behind Desiree. Her hands went around the Dwarf to fondle the shorter woman. “I’m not a match for Wintersbreath yet, but I’m closer now.”

Desiree brought her leg down and leaned into Mousie, her eyes heated as she watched Gothy work on Alvin’s hard shaft. “I kind of want what she has. Don’t you, Mousie?”

“I always do,” Mousie replied, licking her lips. “There was a time I would have killed myself before admitting it, but now I’m like Gothy... I want it all the time.”

“Anything else... you buy?” Alvin asked, though his words were indistinct and he was clearly having a hard time thinking.

Mousie snickered, “She’s going to get her reward soon. Yes, Hero, I picked up a couple of powers. One lets me repair a single piece of armor that I’m wearing by half its durability once a day. The other cancels any mind influencing effect and will kick in automatically if I fall under the sway of one. I gave Gothy her ring back.”

Alvin nodded, the words washing over him and barely registering. “Okay, that’s enough.” He grunted and grabbed Gothy by the hair, taking control of her movements. “Let’s give you what you really want, Gothy.”

“We should go kneel next to her,” Mousie whispered to Desiree. “If we do, he’ll share with us.”

“Let’s,” Desiree moaned softly.

~*~*~

Alvin was still catching his breath when he left the bedroom.

“Dinner will be ready in a moment, sir,” Jarvis said as he started plating their food.

“Good, I need it,” Alvin said as he passed through the room.

At the kiosk, he purchased stat upgrades to keep him in line with Gothy. He shuddered when his new stats altered his body.

“I fucking hate that,” he muttered. “Note to devs: make the stat change less weird.” A thought occurred to him and he hit the search button, typing in what he was looking for. A single return came back and he smiled as he read the description. Picking up the power, he checked the upgrades and purchased another one. The power and upgrade in total cost him one hundred thousand XP, but he thought having a map and waypoint guide function would be well worth it.

When he went back to the main room, he smiled as he watched the three women come out of the bedroom, each one wearing a pleased expression. Damn, I’m a lucky bastard... Hard to believe the same company is responsible for this. I might need to thank them.

“Dinner,” Jarvis announced, turning around to see everyone heading for the table. “Ah, it seems I don’t need to bang on the door to inform you.”

“No, we made sure we were here in plenty of time for the food,” Gothy smiled. “Though if I was going to miss it, it would be for sex.”

“I would expect no less, miss.”

“What did you make today, Jarvis?”

“Shrimp alfredo, sir.” Jarvis replied, his brow furrowing for a moment as he served them. “Ah, you’ve increased your stats again.”

“That noticeable?” Alvin asked.

“It is to me, but I notice many things that most people would miss.”

“I need to thank Sammi,” Gothy said idly. “They changed clothing and armor. They now auto-size to the person wearing them. I thought I was going to have to resize all my shit again.”

“It was weird, unpleasantly so,” Desiree added. “I didn’t care for the squirming feeling.”

“It is very odd. Not unpleasant, but decidedly abnormal,” Mousie said.

“Yes, that is a better way of saying it,” Desiree nodded.

Jarvis came back to the table with a wine bottle and five glasses. “This will pair well with dinner,” he said, showing the bottle to Alvin and waiting for approval.

“Pour away, Jarvis,” Alvin said. “We defeated a raid boss, got paid, and have apparently spent all our XP again.”

“The life of an adventurer,” Jarvis said as he poured and passed the glasses around the table.

“Damned right,” Alvin chuckled. Raising his glass in a toast, he cleared his throat, “To Team Asshole: defeater of raid bosses.”

“Team Asshole,” the others cheered in reply before laughing.

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning, Alvin slowed when an idea occurred to him as he walked toward the garage. It’s worth a shot. Never know unless you go look.

When he stepped into the garage, he called out to the trio waiting for him, “Ladies, I had an idea.”

“I don’t smell anything burning,” Gothy said with a smile.

“Har har,” Alvin laughed sarcastically. “Funny. Seriously, though, I had a thought about the terror worm: its tunnels are likely still there and it obviously had a nest somewhere attached to those tunnels.”

“You want to go see if it left anything of value behind?” Desiree asked.

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t check. Might be extra scales or other odds and ends worth something.”

“We’ve never killed an actual raid monster, so it’s worth a look,” Gothy said. “The necro-forest was a waste for items to loot.”

“We didn’t take our time there,” Alvin reminded her. “We had to chase down the fuckers. The place sure burned nicely, though.”

“Good XP, like the worm,” Gothy nodded. “I’m up for it. The smoke was thickest around the one mountain, so its nest is probably there, but I don’t think we want to drive down one of the holes.”

“Let’s go find out,” Alvin said.

Everyone climbed into the Turtle and got positioned. Mousie smiled at him from the passenger seat while Gothy settled into the gunner’s position. Desiree sat in the back behind Alvin so they could have an extra gun on either side if needed.

Alvin checked his new Map power as he drove out of the base. Letting the Humvee auto-drive down the road for a moment, he experimented to see just what he could do with the map. Satisfied with what he learned, he placed a waypoint on the mountain with slowly thinning smoke around it.

“There we go,” Alvin chuckled when a faded blue line appeared.

“What’s going on?” Mousie asked.

“I picked up a Map power, along with an upgrade for it. Getting from point to point will be a lot easier to navigate now. It uses the fog of war mechanic— places we haven’t been to yet are just blank spots.”

“Not surprised by the fog of war, but they had a feature that shows you the way?” Gothy asked.

“I have a faded blue line connecting me to where I set the waypoint. I bet I could have the Turtle follow it for me.”

“It follows the road?” Gothy asked.

“At the moment, at least.”

“Hmm, I don’t remember seeing that power.”

“I searched for it specifically. It was probably buried under all the others. It was only twenty thousand XP for the map and another eighty thousand for the guide feature. I could spend another fifty thousand to add a minimap, but I don’t want to drop below half a million in reserve.”

“Maybe I’ll give you some to pick it up, then,” Gothy said. “Depending on what the minimap shows, it could be worth it.”

“If it shows enemies and the like, you mean?”

“Right,” Gothy replied.

“Fair enough.”

“The map and minimap are common features in your world’s games,” Mousie said slowly, “and this world now functions like those same games?”

“All our worlds,” Alvin told her.

“If it does show enemies, I’ll have to let the Queen know.”

“I should tell my father, as well,” Desiree added.

“David, too,” Gothy said.

“So much for selling that information,” Alvin chuckled.

“I sent Olmera a sample of scales from the terror worm this morning,” Gothy said, changing the subject. “I asked if she could use them in her leatherworking. I’m thinking scaled armor will be better protection than just leather. Since she isn’t done with Desiree’s armor yet, we might just add to the scope of the work if she can use them.”

“See about sending ours back with more if she can,” Alvin said.

“Upgrade our gear as much as we can,” Gothy smiled, nodding in agreement. “Not sure about the sinew or DNA, though. Jarvis is going to see if he can do anything with the meat.”

“I hope he’ll know if it worked or not before he feeds it to us,” Alvin chuckled.

“Jarvis wouldn’t do that to us,” Mousie smirked, “though he might to you.”

Everyone laughed and agreed that Jarvis might indeed use Alvin as a guinea pig. The laughter died away when they crossed the scene of their battle with the terror worm. The ground was torn up and massive holes dotted the surrounding area, but no other sign of the battle the day before could be seen.

“Over a dozen dead and no sign they fell,” Desiree said somberly. “That change is the hardest for me to get used to. I’ve seen plains of snow covered in bodies, ours and fungals, and it drives home the point of the cost. Now the bodies just vanish when they’re looted, leaving no sign of the death that came before.”

“I wonder how the Queen is doing with her war,” Mousie said softly. “Even with the help of Earth’s weapons, I know that my friends and family are still just as likely to die on the field.”

“Do you think the terror worm was unique, Hero?” Gothy asked.

“No. Probably very rare, but not unique. If it was, it would have been up north where the myth came from. I have a feeling that a handful of them were placed near reservations across the country. I hope the babies take a long time to grow up, or they’ll be a real problem.”

“Anything can happen, anywhere,” Gothy said slowly.

“I think most monsters will make some vague sense, at least. I don’t think the terror worms came from a Gate, but were just added since they come from Native myths. That thing never would have fit through any of the Gates we’ve seen.”

“Fair. I’ve been thinking—” Gothy started.

“I thought I smelled something burning,” Alvin grinned, cutting her off.

“Asshole,” she said with a smile. “How sure are you that the alien Gate will be at Roswell and not Area 51?”

“Oh, good point,” Alvin admitted as he followed the blue line toward the smoke-covered ridgeline. “I’m not. It seemed likely to me, though. We don’t know if there can be multiple Gates to the same world or not, either, so maybe both of those are connected?”

“And we can’t ask Jarvis about it,” Gothy sighed.

“We’ll find out one way or another,” Alvin said.

The trip turned quiet until Alvin drove past the two large hills surrounded by smoke. Looking out the passenger window as they went by, Alvin wondered why the map was leading him down the road still.

“Hero?”

“Guide is still leading me this way. I’m assuming that it connects to an access road down here.”

“How long are you going to give it?”

“A couple of miles, at least.”

“Okay.”

Less than a mile later, Alvin turned onto another road. “This is pointed back the way we want to go.”

“True. I wonder if the minimap option would show a marker for the waypoint?”

“No way of knowing without picking up the power.”

“Something to think about,” Gothy said.

The road was in terrible shape. It was obvious that the worms had been through the area repeatedly. Alvin was forced to go slowly as they drove over the furrows, and a small part of him wondered if they would end up falling down a hole doing this.

It took far longer than Alvin had thought it would, but between the thick smoke that lingered and the broken roads, it was safer to go slow. They eventually reached the summit of the largest of the hills to find a massive tunnel, leading at a steep, but reasonable, angle into the ground.

“This looks like a horror movie waiting to happen,” Gothy said.

“Except we already killed the monster,” Mousie said.

“Can monsters have extra lives?” Desiree asked, making them all consider the question.

“Now that is terrifying,” Alvin said after a few minutes. “I doubt this one did. To get an extra life, you need access to a kiosk… but that means with intelligent monsters going forward, we have to consider the idea that they might.”

“A dragon with a second life?” Gothy suggested.

“They do speak and are intelligent. No idea if they understand what the kiosks are for. Let’s hope they don’t know.”

“Considering we pissed the one off,” Gothy added.

“I have an extra special bomb for it next time,” Alvin smiled. “It’s David’s and Wynn’s mixture. Should take the thing’s jaw off.”

“I doubt it will take the bait a second time,” Mousie said.

“Our myths say they learn quickly,” Desiree agreed.

“Bet I can piss it off enough to have a go at me,” Alvin chuckled darkly as he drove the Humvee into the tunnel.

“No getting eaten just to prove it,” Gothy said pointedly.

“Well, fuck,” Alvin chuckled, “that would make it harder.”

“Asshole,” the three women said in unison and laughed.

The tunnel was a long, wide spiral. The lights from the Humvee let them see well enough to easily guide themselves. Smaller tunnels intersected the one they traveled at irregular intervals.

“The babies made use of mom’s tunnel,” Desiree said.

“Hope we got all of them, but if not, we can kill another one or three,” Alvin said.

The tunnel eventually led into a massive underground chamber, and Alvin frowned at it. Desiree was the one to give voice to his thoughts. “This isn’t possible,” she said flatly. “A cavern this size needs support... the ceiling isn’t arched enough. There are no pillars.”

“Game logic,” Gothy shrugged. “This place looks big enough to fight the worm in.”

“It does,” Alvin agreed. “Let’s take a look around. I’ll be driving slowly. Call out if you see anything.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“You got it, Hero.”

Alvin started circling around the cavern on the edges. The numerous smaller holes and a few large ones in the walls indicated that this room was the center of the nest complex. Driving around the outside of the whole cavern, Alvin shook his head at the sheer size of the place.

“I think there’s something in the very middle of the room,” Mousie said when they got back to their starting point. “I’m not positive because the lights didn’t reach far enough, but I think that is where the nest is.”

“Down the middle we go.”

There were large piles of dirt scattered across the floor, and as they got closer, Alvin frowned. He noticed pieces of metal mixed into the clumps of dirt. “I think those are their castings.”

“Terror worm shit? Fun,” Gothy said. “Joy, I think we’re going to have to get out and walk through it. I can see bits of twisted metal in there.”

“Parts of vehicles and homes,” Mousie hypothesized.

“Let’s see if this side trip bears anything worth mentioning,” Alvin said, setting the brake and opening his door. “Suit up in your battle armor, just in case we get surprised.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“Good idea, Hero.”

The four of them walked through the mounds of dirt, breaking up some to check things that were partially buried. Desiree was the first one to find something of interest: a clump of steel as big as her chest.

“Hero, what is ‘triple-dense steel?’”

“Never heard of it,” Alvin replied, looking back at her.

“It’s a crafting material,” Desiree added. “Probably worth something.”

“Bag it and let’s keep looking.”

It took them two hours to go through the nest area. They found a number of the triple-dense steel chunks, a dozen scales, terror egg shards, and a ball of terror, all of which were crafting materials.

“No idea what any of them might be good for, but we can likely sell them to one of the settlements or on the auction house,” Alvin said as they climbed back in the Humvee.

“It’s all potential XP,” Gothy said.

“Fair enough,” Alvin chuckled. “Let’s get back on the road.”

It was noon by the time they made it back to the road to continue their trip south. The drive took them past more damage left in the wake of the terror worms.

“What were those?” Desiree asked as they went past.

“Not sure if it was an electrical junction or a few oil pumps,” Gothy replied. “There wasn’t enough left there for me to tell.”

“I hope the dam is still intact,” Alvin said. “We need to jump off New Mexico State Road 511 there and onto State Route 539 to hook us up to US 64.”

“How convoluted are we being this time?” Gothy asked.

“Not horribly. We only have to miss Albuquerque and its suburbs. That’s easy to do with two side roads.”

“No sauerkraut, either,” Gothy snickered.

Alvin started to laugh when he thought of the song Albuquerque by Weird Al. “That was released in ‘99, right?”

“Yeah, David loved that CD.”

“What are you two talking about?” Desiree asked.

Alvin explained the song, leading him onto the topic of Weird Al as a singer. Eventually, he had the radio play songs by Weird Al, with the original before each one, to let them appreciate the parody master at work.

~*~*~

They stopped just off US 550 where State Route 537 connected to it. The casino there had been razed, leaving the sign as the only standing manmade structure in the area.

“Someone didn’t like this place,” Gothy commented as Alvin hit the button for the base and parked the Humvee.

“Makes me wonder what the small towns ahead of us are going to look like.”

“Which towns?”

“Cuba and San Ysidro. Both of them come before we touch the outskirts of Albuquerque.”

“Do you think there will be problems?” Desiree asked, stretching as she climbed out of the Humvee.

“Probably. What flavor of problem is a whole different question. Could be overrun with zombies, they might be militant assholes, it could be a friendly community, or the aliens might have nuked the place. It’s going to be a matter of just being ready to react.”

“That we can do,” Mousie said.

“Hero, stop by the kiosk with me? I want to get you the minimap upgrade. We can see what other upgrades it might have at that point, too,” Gothy said, leading the way into the kiosk room.

“Won’t say no to more powers.”

They used the dual screens on the kiosk, so trading the XP was done quickly. Adding the minimap upgrade made a small map icon appear in the upper right of his vision. Alvin resisted the urge to use the new ability, turning his attention back to the kiosk instead to see what upgrades he had access to now.

“Okay, upgrade options are a bit all over— show enemies on the minimap, adjustable size, and so on.”

Gothy looked over from her screen and Desiree and Mousie peered around him, all of them checking over the options with interest.

“The enemies one is a given,” Gothy said. “It’s not horrible at twenty-five thousand XP, either. Not sure adjustable size matters, and I can’t tell if that’s the size of the minimap or a zoom function for the minimap. Devs, clarify that shit.”

“There’s one to show friendlies on the map,” Desiree said. “I can see where that would be useful for large groups.”

“An upgrade to give finer details on the minimap is fifteen thousand XP,” Mousie said, pointing it out.

“So forty thousand at the moment,” Alvin said as he put both options into the cart. “Make that twenty-six thousand, four hundred for me.”

“Wish I had that discount,” Gothy groused. “Okay, are you willing to spend that? I want to pick up the same options for the rest of us, too. Seems like a smart idea to make sure we all have the ability to know what’s going on when.”

Alvin bought the two upgrades, then checked to see if any more new options had opened up. “Damn, there’s another upgrade that gives you an idea of how damaged the enemies on the minimap are. The first tier doesn’t tell you much, though... it just fades from red to black as they get closer to dying. I’ll skip it for now.”

Alvin walked off, leaving Gothy to transfer XP to the other two so they could all buy their powers. His next stop was the storage cabinet, where he unloaded the items they had found in the terror worm nest.

“Gothy, can you send David a letter and ask him if he knows what the new crafting mats are good for? See if he wants to buy any of them, too.”

“Yeah, good idea. I’ll check if I have a letter from Olmera while I’m doing that.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to go get cleaned up.”

“I’ll go with,” Mousie said, sliding away from the other two, already done buying the new powers.

“We’ll give you some alone time, but not a lot,” Gothy chuckled. “Enjoy what you can, Mousie.”

“Thank you, Gothy. I will.”

Chapter Fourteen

“Two hours until dinner, sir,” Jarvis told them as they passed through the living room.

“Got it.”

Guiding Mousie with a hand on her waist, Alvin led her to the bathroom. When they crossed the threshold, Alvin moved his hand from her waist and lightly gripped the back of her neck.

“Lose everything, Mousie,” the words were a whisper across her sensitive ear.

Her clothing vanished, and she shivered in anticipation.

Turning her toward the mirror near the tub, he nibbled the tip of her right ear gently.

“Hero,” Mousie breathed, “you know my ears are sensitive.”

“Yes,” Alvin murmured softly as he kissed the same ear. “We have time, so I want to play with you properly.”

Mousie whimpered and pressed her naked body to his. The whimpers turned to soft pleasured squeaks as he continued to torment her ears and his hands roamed her body, caressing, squeezing, and pinching.

With her worked up, Alvin smiled and walked her toward the shower. Mousie let him guide her, wanting more than he was giving her.

Sitting her on the bench in the shower, Alvin leaned over her from behind and spoke firmly, “Stay there. Don’t move.”

Eyes closed, breath coming fast, she nodded, “Yes, Hero.”

Grabbing the body wash, Alvin spent the next ten minutes washing her. Every inch of her skin was covered in suds and he leaned her head back for her to massage the shampoo into her scalp.

Mousie was torn— she loved the gentle attention he was giving her, but at the same time, she wanted him to do more. “Hero?”

“You want more, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I understand, Mousie. I like pampering you and showering you with gentleness. I want to let you have two kinds of love.”

“It’s nice, but I also want the control. I never would have admitted it before…”

“I know,” Alvin whispered, his breath tickling her ear. “We’ve come a long way from just a few months ago.”

Mousie nodded, a soft smile on her lips. “Gothy and you... you did so much to help me see the truth. You were so patient.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you. Still don’t,” Alvin replied as he lifted her to her feet.

Opening her eyes, she saw him staring at her. “A little bit of hurt is okay.”

Alvin chuckled, “Okay, a little bit.”

He spun her in place and pushed her face down on the bench. His left hand gripped the back of her neck firmly and he nudged her legs farther apart with his knee. Mousie’s breath was fast as she lightly struggled in his grip and spread her legs a little more for him.

The hard swat on her firm ass made her squeak. Alvin pressed his stiff cock against her waiting sex, but did not push into her. “Before we get to the climax, we need to make sure you get what you asked for,” he told her. “Count them.”

Mousie squirmed, trying to shift her hips enough to make him slip inside her. She stopped the moment his hand swatted her ass again. “One,” she squeaked.

Alvin gave her ten hard swats to each cheek. He was struggling a little himself with her wetness leaking onto his shaft as he kept it pressed to her. The moment she counted twenty, he stepped back and pushed himself into her with agonizing slowness. They let out shuddering breaths as he finally gave them both what they wanted.

Taking her hip with his free hand, he held her in place and gave himself a better angle to slide in and out of her. Breathing deeply, Alvin forced himself to go slow, pulling out all the way to the tip before sinking fully back into her.

Alvin was not sure how long he kept that pace. Mousie’s sudden spasm almost shook her free of his grip. The tight, slick walls of her pussy tightened further around his shaft as she came.

Exhaling, Alvin let go of her neck and took her hips in both hands. “Now let’s have more fun.”

With Mousie still shuddering through her first orgasm, he took her hard, fast, and rough. The increase in tempo made her eyes roll up and toes curl as Alvin pushed her into multiple orgasms.

He could not hold out much longer— after her fourth, Alvin buried himself fully into her and came. Mousie whimpered and collapsed on the bench. Shuddering, he leaned against her to help stabilize his wobbly legs.

“That was hot,” Gothy said from behind them. “Don’t you agree, Desiree?”

“Yes. I call dibs on cleaning him.”

“Damn, I should have called dibs first,” Gothy pouted. “It’s okay. Cleaning Mousie will be just as good.”

Alvin eased himself out of Mousie, “I knew you’d be along eventually.”

“We got here just as you shifted from slow to fast,” Gothy smiled. “Did you make her happy?”

“He did,” Mousie mumbled. “Thank you for letting me have him alone, Gothy, Desiree.”

“We’ll all have our moments,” Gothy told her as she moved over to the bench. “Roll over for me, Mousie. I’m going to clean you up.”

“Do you need to brace against the wall, Hero?” Desiree asked with humor. “Your legs look a bit weak.”

“They are,” Alvin agreed as he leaned against the shower wall. “Come here, I have something for you.”

“I know,” Desiree replied, her eyes locked onto his still stiff cock. “I’ll gladly take it.”

Chapter Fifteen

“You’ll make it to Roswell today,” Jarvis said as they finished breakfast.

“Barring unforeseen incidents,” Alvin agreed.

“I doubt we’ll have problems in the small towns,” Gothy said, “but the outskirts of Albuquerque will be a different matter. This’ll be the closest we’ve come to a city since the Rapture.”

“True,” Alvin agreed. “Guess we’ll find out if I’ve been right about them or not.”

“I’m the gunner today,” Gothy said. “Desiree has shotgun and Mousie will be in the back with me.”

“I have the waypoint already set for the turn-off I want to take,” Alvin said as he finished his coffee.

“Meet you at the Humvee,” Desiree said, heading for the bedroom.

“Good idea,” Mousie said, following her.

“See you there, Hero,” Gothy added.

“Why do women always go to the bathroom in groups?” Alvin chuckled when they were out of the room.

“One of the eternal mysteries,” Jarvis replied solemnly. “I’ll see you this evening for dinner if not before, sir. I’ll be cooking with the terror meat tonight. I know you expressed reservations about it.”

“Not really. I know that you wouldn’t actually kill me. It wouldn’t work out well for you.”

“Very true, sir.”

“See you tonight, buddy,” Alvin said, nodding at Jarvis and going into the garage.

~*~*~

Alvin had the Turtle running by the time Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree arrived. “Everyone ready?” he asked once they were all in the vehicle.

“I’m ready,” Gothy replied. “I heard back from Olmera and David this morning.”

“What did they have to say?”

“The scales can be added to the leather, and it’ll greatly increase the armor’s durability. Olmera asked for more and also said she knows someone who wants to buy the sinew we have. David said he had ideas for the fragment of terror, terror egg shards, and ball of terror we found. He’s asking Susan for the XP to buy them from us.”

“He is an alchemist,” Alvin chuckled. “I should see about raising my skill in that profession, but I just don’t have the time for it. Maybe I’ll get to it next time we take a vacation. What price did you quote them?”

“We’re giving Olmera twice the number of scales she needs to upgrade all our armor, which eats most of them. On the up-side, we get much better leather armor. The sinew I asked for two hundred thousand to start with, but I expect to settle on about half that.”

“Gothy, it’ll be used by the Queen,” Mousie said.

“Probably,” Gothy admitted, “but we come first. I could just put it up for auction and it’d probably fetch what I want or more.”

“Point made,” Mousie sighed.

“I didn’t quote any price to David yet. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to sell all of those items to him. You know they can’t afford the real price.”

“True,” Alvin nodded, driving the Humvee out of the base.

“He’s your brother, Gothy. That should count,” Desiree added.

“It does,” Alvin assured her. “Find out what they can scrape together and trade what you think is appropriate. We’ll hold back the other items until they can get more XP or until we find someone who’ll buy them at a high price.”

“Thank you, Hero,” Gothy smiled softly. “I’ll let them know tonight. Shawn in Beatty asked about the steel. There were a couple pieces of it listed in the auction house, so I quoted him seventy-five percent of the auction house price. Keeping them indebted to us seems like a good idea to me.”

“Works for me. Split the take from Shawn between the three of you. We’ll decide what to do with the XP from David when we know how much we’re getting.”

“Will do, Hero.”

“I am surprised this road is so empty,” Mousie said. “Very few wrecks or stalled vehicles.”

“It’s not a major interstate,” Alvin told her. “There are still more wrecks here than I thought there might be.”

“I’m not seeing anything moving, and there are no enemy pips on the minimap,” Desiree said.

“That’s good,” Gothy said. “It was only fifteen-ish miles from where we stopped to the first small town, so we’ll be getting there soon.”

~*~*~

“And this is Cuba. It’s small like Green River, and you know what we had to deal with there,” Alvin said, feeling on edge since they had not seen any indication of people or zombies yet. “Be ready for anything.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“We’re ready, Hero.”

The road led them right into the heart of Cuba. Enough wrecks littered the road that Alvin had to slow to maneuver around them.

Everyone in the Humvee kept their eyes moving, looking for threats as they wove their way through the town. Gothy spotted movement first and was quick to fire on it. The black cat with tentacles on its back was instantly shredded under the onslaught.

“Tentacle cat— it’s dead,” Gothy informed them. “I haven’t seen any indication of people. The bullet holes and smashed windows say that there were at some point, though.”

“Dog on the right,” Desiree announced.

Gothy quickly dispatched it, “Just the animals left, looks like.”

“Eerie,” Alvin said.

They made it out of Cuba in about five minutes. “Thirty miles to Ysidro, give or take,” Alvin told them. “We can probably relax a little. It’ll be a bit before we get there.”

“I can’t remember any town we’ve been through that didn’t have people or zombies or some other critter,” Gothy said.

“That was creepy. The people there might have decided that a city would be a good idea.”

“Some people might think that,” Gothy agreed. “It’s the only thing I can come up with to explain what we just drove through.”

“We’ll see if the next town is as empty, but we’re only going to be skirting an edge of it.”

“Hero, can we have some music during the empty sections, please?” Mousie asked.

“Sure thing. Radio, random pull from everyone’s playlists.”

The opening chords to Purple Haze sounded and Alvin smiled.

The only thing of interest they encountered was a gasoline tanker that had overturned on the road. The signs of its fiery demise were clear as Alvin drove off the road to go around it.

“I think the driver was inside when it went up,” Gothy said with a shudder, seeing what looked like burnt remains in the cab.

“There was a small car crushed under it,” Desiree shook her head. “Must have been like being in a collapsing shaft.”

“Quicker, I’m sure,” Alvin said. “That much weight flattened the car and the person or people inside would have died before the fire started.”

“That is good. Burning to death can’t be pleasant,” Mousie shuddered.

Minutes later, the curve of the road brought Ysidro into view. A clear path had been made down the road and Alvin followed it, using the Humvee to nudge a vehicle or two aside where the path was not wide enough.

“Someone came through here, at least,” Gothy said. “I don’t see any indication of people living here now, though.”

“Maybe the people from Cuba went this way?” Desiree suggested. “It would explain the path.”

“Possible,” Alvin agreed.

They did not see anything during the short time they followed the created path through the outskirts of Ysidro. Alvin frowned when they were clear of the small town.

“Either the people all decided to go to Albuquerque or something else is going on,” Gothy said.

“Well, next up is Bernalillo, a suburb of Albuquerque,” Alvin told her. “We’ll likely find something there.”

“But what will we find?” Gothy asked.

~*~*~

Twenty miles passed by quickly as Alvin was able to push their speed up once they were clear of the town. They were closing on Bernalillo and Gothy frowned when she noticed some vehicles sitting in the desert off the west side of the road.

“Hero, Humvees to the west.”

Alvin glanced over, “Are they moving?”

“Not yet.”

“There are a lot of ruined buildings just past the road that intersects this one to the southwest,” Mousie added.

Slowing the Turtle, Alvin pulled up the big map. “National Guard recruitment center. Makes sense they would have Humvees.”

“Vehicles ahead of us,” Desiree added, “they just pulled out.”

“Be ready,” Alvin said as he closed the map down and focused his attention on the four Humvees that were now blocking the roadway.

“Only one of them has a mounted gun,” Gothy said. “I’m going to try flagging him down so they don’t preemptively fire on us.”

“Got it,” Alvin replied.

As they got closer, Alvin noted the fifteen people in fatigues that had deployed out of the Humvees, all of them armed with M-14s. A quick check of the minimap showed no one else close by, and none of the fifteen came up as hostile. Slowing further, he heard the loud voice projected by a speaker system.

“Stop and identify yourselves,” the commanding voice barked.

Alvin came to a stop a hundred yards back, sizing up the men and women who looked like they had seen a lot of death recently. “Gothy, you’re the diplomat.”

“On it, Hero.” She shouted to the group, “We’re just passing through. We’re not a danger to you.”

“That is military equipment. How did you come by it?” the voice over the speakers asked.

“Salvage. It was in a ruined Marine base that had been torched by a dragon.”

The men and women with the rifles exchanged looks, but none of them dropped their point of aim from the vehicle.

“We are the U.S. National Guard. You are required to turn over—”

“Fuck no,” Gothy replied. “The U.S. government is no longer an entity.”

The men and women tightened their grips on the guns, looking grim.

“Diplomatic, Gothy,” Alvin sighed.

“We’ve fought dragons, orcs, Elves, zombies, mutated animals, and more,” Gothy continued, “including a terror worm that would make Frank Herbert proud. We don’t have any conflict with you. Why don’t you stop the bullshit so we can talk?”

A moment of silence greeted her statement, then one of the Humvee doors opened. An older man got out, adjusted his uniform, and walked forward, motioning to her.

“I got it,” Alvin said, opening his door. “Stay on the gun, just in case.”

“Right,” Gothy said and leaned on the gun with nonchalance.

The people behind their leader tensed when Alvin stepped out, but relaxed when they did not see any weapons on him. Alvin shook his head minutely, guessing from their anxiety that they had not adapted as they should have.

“I’m Alvin. Who are you?”

“Captain Warren, National Guard,” the man replied, staring at Alvin. “How did you get your hands on that vehicle?”

“The Marines stationed in Hawthorne were killed by a dragon. We salvaged it when we went by the ammo dump.”

“You serious about what you’ve faced?”

Alvin stared at him for a long moment before sighing, “Another damned quest?”

“What?” the captain asked, puzzled.

“What do you need help with?” Alvin asked bluntly.

Warren grimaced, “A place where my men and their families can rest without the constant threat of the damned undead.”

“Albuquerque is overrun?”

“We get an attack every week, and they’ve gotten smarter and more dangerous over the last month. I had over a hundred armed men and women, between the civilians and the Guard. Now, I only have forty. It’s been hell.”

“I can help,” Alvin said. “The problem for you is going to be moving all of them and getting a settlement to accept you.”

“We can handle that,” the captain said, his demeanor thawing slightly.

“The closest settlement is Ignacio in Colorado, but the natives there aren’t the most trusting of others. I’d suggest sending a couple of men with a white flag to speak to them. If they don’t want to speak with you… you could see about trying to make it to Green River in Utah. That’ll be a bitch of a journey, though, take it from me. You’ll want to follow the backroads as much as possible and stay away from major towns and cities.”

Exhaling deeply, Warren nodded. “Very well. I thank you for your assistance to the Guard.”

“Why the dick move to start with?” Alvin asked, curious about the captain’s quick reversal of attitude.

“We’ve had two other small groups come this way. We had to kill one and drive the other off. They likely died in the city. Being a bit aggressive to start with is better than welcoming you in, only to have you kill some of us while trying to steal from us.”

“Fair. Glad it didn’t come to a fight.”

“So am I. I hate killing the misguided,” the captain said.

Alvin chuckled, “You wouldn’t have won, Captain. We didn’t lie about what we’ve killed. You’ll hear more when you go to Ignacio. Now, mind unblocking the road for us? We’re on a trip.”

“Where to?” the captain asked as he motioned his men to pack up.

“Roswell.”

“What? Why?”

Alvin snickered, “To find aliens and see if they can give us fast travel.”

Warren stared at Alvin, then shook his head. “I’m not sure if you’re insane or not.”

“Yeah, you’re not the only one,” Alvin laughed as he turned and headed back to the Humvee.

Chapter Sixteen

“I don’t think Ignacio will take them in,” Gothy said as she watched the former soldiers leave.

“Yea, I doubt it,” Alvin agreed, “which is why I told them about Green River. I figure half of them might make it if they’re smart about it.”

“Undead control the city,” Mousie said, “according to him.”

“We only have to touch the fringe of a suburb, use the bridge there, and keep going,” Alvin said. “The problem will be if they destroyed the bridge and if they did, how deep the river is today.”

“No other way around it?” Desiree asked.

“Sure. We can go off-road and one of us can wade across, find a secure place for a base summons, and then recall the Humvee. That’s all conjecture, though. We’ve never tried it. If we went a bit farther overland, we could go up to San Felipe Pueblo and use their bridge, but I’d rather not.”

“We can check on the first route and make a decision then,” Gothy said.

“I’ve been thinking about Roswell,” Alvin admitted, the Turtle not moving yet. “Would they drop the Gate in the small city, or would the devs have it out at the ranch that the UFO was supposed to have crashed at?”

“Oh… huh,” Gothy said, considering it. “The Gates were set by Jarvis and co. before the devs took over.”

“True.”

“I think it’ll be Roswell.”

“Because they wouldn’t have dug deep into it like a real dev would have?” Alvin asked.

“Yes. We could be totally wrong of course, and they could have set an alien Gate at Area 51 instead.”

“Yeah, but we’re already here, so we’ll check Roswell. If I’m wrong, we can send a message to Shawn and ask if he can send someone to check Area 51. That’s probably not a bad idea, in any case; it’s in that general area.”

“Sounds like we have our plans,” Desiree said.

Alvin released the brake on Turtle and got them rolling. “Okay, as soon as you see structures, be ready for undead. They might not be this far out, or they might be holding the bridge as a choke point.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“We got it, Hero.”

Less than a mile later, what remained of a housing subdivision could be seen to the south of the road. Gothy, Desiree, and Mousie got ready to defend the vehicle if needed. The charred remnants of the houses stood like skeletal fingers reaching up from the grave.

“Such a charming locale,” Gothy muttered.

“The whole area has been decimated,” Desiree murmured, looking out the open window with the rifle in her hands, ready to fire.

“Two miles to the bridge,” Alvin told them.

They traveled through the burned out subdivision for the first mile, then it changed to commercial buildings. Most of those also had some fire damage, as well as a lot of bullet holes. The road was heavily congested with wrecks and stalled vehicles, so Alvin drove on the desert scrub just off the road.

“Casino to the north. Only minor fire damage,” Gothy called out.

“Bridge should be just past it,” Alvin told her. “I have to get back on the road after the casino.”

“You’ll have to go slow. Still lots of vehicles.”

Getting back on the road just before the casino, Alvin slowed the Humvee as he wove around the stalled vehicles. He had to resort to driving through parking lots a few times.

“Hero,” Gothy said slowly, squinting ahead of them, “I think the bridge is out.”

“Fuck,” Alvin cursed just as bullets started ricocheting off the Humvee.

“Both sides!” Gothy called back, hunkering behind the shielding around the gunner’s nest and firing to the south. “Gas stations on either side and the large building to the north of the ruined bridge.”

The sound of gunfire filled the air and the cab of the Humvee as Alvin tried to extricate them from the maze of wrecks. Teeth gritted, he chose to damage the vehicle and began to bull through the wrecks, pushing smaller cars out of his way.

“Fuckers,” Gothy snapped when a stray round impacted her head. It stung for a second, but her armor was enough to protect her from the damage. “Fine. You wanna play? Let’s play, assholes!” A long burst of gunfire from the M2 was followed by a plume of black smoke from the gas station to the south. “Huh, it doesn’t go up like the movies? That’s too bad, honestly.”

A grunt from the backseat was followed by Mousie’s muttered cursing. “Motherfuckers. That was a lucky shot.”

“Pushing for the offshoot to the north,” Alvin told them.

The firefight continued until Alvin drove onto Kuaua road. The gunfire died away and Gothy had to pause to reload.

“Plan?” Gothy asked.

“North along the river and ford where it’s narrow,” Alvin told her.

“How deep is the river?” Mousie asked.

“No idea,” Alvin admitted. “If it’s a narrow gap and I can get some speed, it might not matter too much.”

“It looks pretty damned silty,” Gothy said. “Probably not that deep.”

“Historic site?” Desiree read the sign as they went past it.

“Hang on,” Alvin said when they hit the dirt road, then went off-road entirely.

“I really hate it when there’s no trail,” Gothy sighed as the Humvee bounced along through the scrub. “Hero, the river narrows a few hundred feet ahead. It’s probably only twenty-ish feet wide right near that large set of cottonwoods.”

“Got it,” Alvin said, pressing the accelerator all the way down and angling to cross the river at the chosen spot. “Button up,” he told them.

Windows slid shut and Gothy dropped into the cab, locking the gunner’s hatch behind her. A moment later, the Humvee hit a hard bump and the front wheels left the ground. There was a resounding splash as the Humvee hit the river, and a spray of water went up and over the vehicle.

Alvin grinned as the Humvee pushed through the river, the water not quite coming up over the tires. “Sweet, it’ll work.”

Surging up the other bank, they all exhaled with relief when they escaped the river. “Opening it back up,” Gothy said and unlocked the hatch.

They got ready to continue the fight as Alvin drove them over fallow fields.

“I’m going to hit US 85,” Alvin told them.

Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree all gave affirmative responses, but kept their focus on the surroundings, waiting to fire at anything that attacked them. The rough fields gave way to streets again and Alvin sped down one, bypassing several damaged homes. Instead of turning to follow the roads, he took them cross country again, then over a set of railroad tracks.

“Hero, I am not a fucking ragdoll,” Gothy complained, the bouncing making her upset.

“I know,” Alvin growled as he slewed the Humvee onto US 85. “Okay, here we go.”

Gothy fired the M2 when she spotted people on the overpass they were approaching. “Hero, problem.”

“I see it,” Alvin replied grimly. “Hold on, breaking through the wire barrier.”

Gothy braced as Alvin cut toward the steel post and steel cable barrier dividing the highway. The crunch of hitting one of the posts, followed by the sound of snapping wire, made everyone inside the Humvee wince.

“Poor Turtle,” Gothy muttered as she kept firing bursts at the people on the overpass. Bullets pinged into the Humvee as they returned fire. “I think they’re going to chase.”

“Rolling firefight,” Alvin nodded. “Mousie, grab the grenades from the back. You and Desiree get to bounce them out the windows if they get close enough.”

“Understood, Hero,” Mousie said as she turned in her seat to access the cargo area.

“Going up the off-ramp?”

“Yes,” Alvin replied to Gothy.

“They stopped firing. Must be going for vehicles,” Gothy told him.

“Reload and give them hell.”

As the Humvee turned onto New Mexico State Route 165, three trucks came at them from the overpass. Each vehicle had a driver and two gunners in the back that were braced to fire over the cabs.

“Undead, Hero,” Gothy informed him while she waited for the M2 to reload.

“They’re back to average intelligence, then. Must have been waiting to ambush anyone coming this way.”

“Lots of houses in the hills,” Mousie commented, looking out the window.

“More sparse than the city,” Alvin replied as he drove around the vehicles in the road.

Bullets hitting the back of the Humvee brought their attention back to the vehicles chasing them. Gothy returned fire, the steady and controlled bursts making the three following trucks back off, suddenly cautious.

The number of bullets hitting the Humvee dwindled bit by bit as Gothy kept pressing the pursuers. After a few minutes, she laughed, “They’re breaking off. Just as I needed to reload, too.”

“Good,” Alvin said. “I hate fighting and not getting loot for it.”

“We all do,” Gothy replied.

“Are we heading toward that forest?” Mousie asked.

“Cibola National Forest. I figured I’d rather deal with whatever the wild has than a city. We’ll bypass a lot of shit, but we still have to go past some remote subdivisions,” Alvin said.

“Still better than dealing with a city of intelligent undead,” Gothy said.

“That was my thinking,” Alvin replied. “Keep your eyes open as we go past the houses, just in case.”

“Should I put the grenades back?” Mousie asked.

“Hand over a couple to Desiree and pocket a few. We need to keep them on hand to use. They don’t do a lot of damage, but most people will at least flinch from them.”

“Understood, Hero.”

Nothing surprised them as they went past the rest of the homes and ended up in the tree line.

“Anticlimactic,” Gothy said. “At least we get pretty country again.”

“I prefer the trees,” Mousie said.

“I don’t dislike the desert,” Desiree said. “It has a bleak beauty to it that reminds me of home, even though it is vastly different.”

“Once we’re past the forest, it’s more people?” Mousie asked.

“Yeah; San Antonia, New Mexico,” Alvin replied. “Small town again. It’s all small towns until Roswell. Roswell’s more a large town than a city, but it had enough people for me to think it’s going to be bad.”

“We’ll handle it,” Desiree said firmly.

“We will, but we need to be ready for it,” Gothy corrected her.

“I’m always ready,” Desiree said simply.

“Stop,” Alvin said firmly before they could continue. “Yes, we’ll handle what comes, but we might die even if we are ready. Don’t get cocky. That’s when things will go bad quickly.”

“Roger.”

“Agreed, Hero,” Mousie said.

“That’s what I was saying,” Gothy grumbled.

Chapter Seventeen

The miles went by slowly as they followed the winding road through the mountains. Gothy was feeling bored; the excitement had passed and nothing had jumped out at them since they started into the woods.

When they passed a sign, Gothy began to laugh. “Head Spring? Hero, we passed the best stop on this road.”

Alvin chuckled, “Funny, Gothy. We all know what’s on your mind all the time.”

“Not just hers, Hero,” Mousie murmured.

“The infection is spreading,” Alvin snickered.

“Not spreading— it’s already complete,” Desiree added with a smirk.

“Yeah, she does that to people,” Alvin smiled back at Desiree.

“Sharing is caring,” Gothy stated.

“I’m not disagreeing,” Alvin said. “I wouldn’t ask any of you to change at this point.”

“I wou— smoke,” Gothy quickly switched gears. “I see light smoke to the south. Not sure if the road goes near it or not.”

Everyone went from joking to focused in a blink. “Let us know,” Alvin told her.

Gothy spoke up again after a few minutes, “I think it’s the Sandia ski area. We just passed a sign saying it’s the next place to stop.”

“I hope they’re friendly and haven’t blocked the road,” Alvin said grimly.

“Road is clear,” Gothy told him, “but I see three old trucks in the parking lot.”

Alvin quickly weighed the pluses and minuses of stopping. “It’s early evening... we should stop soon. We’re going to check and see if they’re people, undead, or other. If undead or other, it’s possible XP and loot. If it’s people, maybe we can get something out of it.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“If that’s what you want, Hero.”

As they rolled into the parking lot, four men with hunting rifles came out of the ski lodge. Three of the four carried their guns half raised, but quickly dropped them when they noticed Gothy idly aiming the machine gun their way.

“Just don’t be silly and this won’t go bad,” Gothy told them. “I see you’re not undead and that you’re Human. The big question is: are you friendly?”

“We’re not unfriendly,” one of the men said slowly. “We’ll defend what’s ours, though.”

“We’re perfectly fine with that,” Gothy replied. “Families?”

“What’s it to you?” another man bristled.

“If it’s just you four guys, I’d wonder what happened to the women,” Gothy said, pointedly staring the man down.

“Our wives and kids are inside,” the apparent leader said. “You going to keep aiming that thing at us?”

Gothy turned the gun away from them by twenty degrees. “See? Civil.”

The leader snorted with a shake of his head, “Civility is all we have left of civilization.”

“Not entirely true,” Gothy said. “Hero is going to get out. Don’t raise your guns at him or I’ll take it badly.”

Alvin had set the brake and shut off the Humvee while Gothy was talking. Now he stepped out, keeping his hands open and visible, and gave the men a small nod. “It’s getting dark. Do you have a spare room we can use?”

The four men stared at him appraisingly, but the leader spoke without hesitation, “You and your wife are free to stay the night. We don’t have much food, though.”

“That’s fine,” Alvin said. “We’ll provide dinner tonight as our thanks. It’s not just me and her. My other wives will be joining us, too.”

“Wives?” the leader managed to ask. Desiree and Mousie got out of the Humvee.

Four sets of jaws dropped as the men stared at the Dwarf in her skintight bodysuit and the dark-skinned Elf in leather armor. One of them managed to whisper, “What the fuck?”

“Mousie and Desiree,” Alvin said with a chuckle. “An Elf and a Dwarf. I can see you all trying to process this. You’ve been well off the grid since the Rapture, obviously. We’ll try to explain it over dinner.”

“Elves are real now?” the youngest of the four said, staring at Mousie with wide eyes.

Mousie frowned at the young man, and her hands twitched. Alvin could tell she wanted to summon her swords. “Do you mind? I’m not here for your juvenile dreams.”

The young man flushed and looked away, “I wasn’t… I mean…”

“Mousie, calm yourself,” Alvin said gently and put a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t blame them for staring at any of you three. As long as they keep their hands to themselves and act respectful, we’ll do the same.”

Gothy came out of the back of the Humvee, “Want to show us in?”

“Uh, yeah,” the leader said slowly. “You’re not going to do anything funny, right?”

“I gave up on humor years ago,” Gothy said with a straight face.

Alvin laughed, “We’re not a threat unless you make us one. I’m Alvin, this is Gothy.”

“I’m Gene. These are Hinkle, Paul, and Bob. Come on in— I’m sure our wives will want to see and hear this.”

“Undoubtedly,” Gothy said as she walked through the door Hinkle was holding open.

Alvin could see the strain in the four men’s wives and two teenagers that made up the rest of the group here. Melinda, Gene’s wife, showed them to an empty room.

“We’ll be in the main room. Come join us when you are refreshed.”

“Not enough people for a settlement,” Alvin sighed when they were left alone. “That explains a few things. This won’t really be worth the time, after all.”

“Could try to send them to Ignacio, or even to Desiree’s world,” Gothy suggested.

“They wouldn’t make it past the ambush we ran into,” Alvin said. “They need to move farther east or find another twelve people to start a settlement with.”

“Are we going to stay or go, then?” Desiree asked.

“Might as well stay. We were going to stop for the night anyway. We’ll get enough food from the kiosk to feed everyone and bring it back, then have dinner with them and retire for the night.”

“Getting nice in your old age,” Gothy smirked.

“Meh,” Alvin shrugged. “I hoped they would only be a person or so away from being a settlement. I was wrong, but I don’t feel a need to leave right away.” He toggled the base button and went through the archway.

“Good evening, sir. I’ll prepare a light meal for your return,” Jarvis said. “I’ve already packed up a selection of food for you to take back,” he nodded to a bag near the sofa.

“Thanks, Jarvis.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

“We’re heading right back out,” Alvin said, “but we’re taking a moment to refresh properly first.”

It took a few minutes for all of them to use the bathroom and be ready to go. Alvin picked up the bag on his way out, as well as two copies of the book he had made weeks before that explained how the world worked.

“Okay,” Alvin sighed when they left the base, “quick meal, then back to the base for the night.”

Everyone from the ski lodge was in the lobby. Alvin tossed the books to Gene and Bob. “You should read those, it’ll explain things. Who handles the cooking?”

“I do,” Melinda said.

“Food stuff in the bag,” Alvin said, handing over the fanny pack.

Melinda took the small bag with a strained smile, “I’ll go get things started.”

Gene and Bob set the books aside, and Gene spoke up, “About your companions... How is that even possible?”

“Read the book,” Alvin said.

“We don’t have time to read the whole thing,” Bob said. “It’d be quicker if you just explained.”

“Humor me,” Alvin said as a surprised exclamation came from the kitchen.

Gene jumped to his feet, rushing to find out what had caused Melinda distress. The other men’s hands drifted to the pistols on their hips. Mousie shifted in her seat, ready to spring forward if any of them drew.

Gene came back from the kitchen, looking a little lost. “The bag… it… how?”

“Want to read the book now?” Alvin asked.

“Gene, what happened?” Bob asked. “Is Melinda okay?”

“The bag… it’s… impossible,” Gene said, slowly picking up the book and opening it to the first page.

Everyone watched as the pages flipped by themselves and the book vanished in a puff of smoke. Gasps of surprise came from everyone watching and Gene shook his head. “Okay. Okay... I understand now. Bob, you need to read that.”

“What? That looked like some devil shit, Gene.”

“Not devil anything. It’s like a video game,” Gene said slowly. “The bag they gave her can hold more than it should, like an old Bag of Holding from the tabletop game I used to play.”

“That’s the lowest rank of them,” Alvin replied. “Is she okay now? I forgot it might shock her.”

“She’s fine. You were generous with the supplies, too. How long will they last in there?”

“Haven’t really tested it, but I’m thinking indefinitely?”

“Gene, what are you talking about?” Hinkle asked, staring at the guests in bewilderment.

Bob slowly picked up the book and opened it. Just like it had with Gene, the book read itself and vanished in a puff of smoke. “Oh, shit. The whole world?”

“And theirs,” Alvin said. “Everything is now like that.”

“Do you have more of those books?” Bob asked.

“Too expensive,” Alvin shrugged. “I wanted at least one of you to understand what’s happened in the last couple of months. You won’t survive out here, like this. You need to move on or get some more people to join you.”

Hinkle’s hand twitched on his pistol, “Bob, Gene, what the fuck is going on? What is he talking about?”

“The world did change… even worse than we thought,” Gene explained. “Our kids dying and then trying to kill us… it’s all part of what happened.”

A soft stifled sob came from one of the women, “Kyle.”

Hinkle went to her and held her. “I miss him, too.”

“We’ll let you explain it to your friends,” Alvin said. “Enjoy the food. I have the feeling that us being here is going to exasperate some problems you’re already having. Best of luck to you.”

“We’re going, Hero?” Gothy asked.

“Yeah, I changed my mind. Let’s leave them to figure out what they want to do.”

“Wait, where are you going to go?” Paul called out as they headed for the front door.

“East and south. Heading to Roswell first, then into Texas.”

“What? Why?”

“To see what we can find,” Alvin replied.

“You can stay for the night. Everything will be fine.”

“Hero said we’re going,” Mousie said flatly. “Do not try to stop us.”

Paul stopped dead, shuddering at the cold death promised in her eyes. He watched them, confused, as they got into the Humvee and drove off. Shaking his head, he hurried back to the others.

A mile down the winding forest road, Alvin summoned the base portal. Setting the brake and killing the engine, he sighed, “Maybe they’ll make it.”

“Maybe. A couple of them seemed ready to come unhinged, though,” Gothy said.

“I didn’t like the one man. He kept staring at me,” Mousie said firmly.

“I noticed,” Alvin said. “It was one of the reasons I left. The other was that some of them were barely holding it together. All of them lost kids— a mental breakdown was coming.”

“Makes sense,” Desiree said slowly. “It’s hard for a parent to lose a child.”

“Let’s go see what Jarvis is making for us,” Alvin said, ushering them out of the garage.

Chapter Eighteen

The trip the following day was quiet. Desiree sat in the gunner’s spot, watching the landscape around them. They passed a number of housing areas and small towns, but nothing jumped out and attacked them.

When they entered the town of Encino, each of them felt a chill rush down their spine. The eerie premonition that the town was devoid of all life washed over them. Only a couple of vehicles dotted US 285 and Alvin was able to easily guide the Humvee around them. No one spoke while they passed through the oddly silent town.

“It wasn’t as bad as the forest, but it wasn’t good,” Mousie said.

“Felt fucking creepy,” Alvin agreed.

“I didn’t even see signs of animals, Hero,” Gothy added.

“No movement at all...” Desiree chimed in with a shiver.

Silence fell over them as the Humvee kept rolling down the road. They felt the same chill nearly twenty minutes later as they approached Vaughn. This town was bigger than Encino, with more stalled and wrecked vehicles dotting the road, but nothing moved in the area. The four of them were tense as they rolled through the ghost town.

“Hero, I can see clear indications that people had been here,” Gothy said. “See the damage to the hotel?”

“Yeah, that’s clearly a fire that started from the outside. Bullet holes in the car out front, too.”

“Not seeing anything moving,” Desiree said.

“It feels empty, like Encino did,” Mousie whispered, “as if all life was just... plucked from it.”

“Yeah, that’s what it feels like,” Alvin agreed, not able to find a way to describe it himself.

“Do you think Roswell will be the same?” Gothy asked.

“Hmm,” Alvin said, thinking as he kept looking at the vacant homes and businesses they drove past. “Possibly. It’s possible that everyone here was taken.”

“Not friendly, then,” Mousie said.

“We don’t know for certain, but yeah, they might not be friendly.”

“Should I switch out with Mousie or Gothy?” Desiree asked. “They have the powers to do more damage.”

“Not right now,” Alvin said. “We’re still two hours or more from Roswell. Keep your eyes open and make sure to check the sky now and again.”

“Roger.”

During the next couple of hours, everyone wondered what was going to happen next. As they passed a turn off for a gravel company, Gothy and Alvin stiffened, suddenly knowing that they were within ten miles of a Gate.

“South,” Gothy said.

“That’s where Roswell is,” Alvin agreed. “Looks like my guess might be right, after all.”

“Now to see if it’ll be friendly like Desiree’s, or unfriendly like the fey.”

“Fair enough.”

~*~*~

A few miles from it, the glow from the Gate became visible.

“Looks like it’s north of the city,” Gothy said.

“That’s good. If we can avoid going into the city itself, that would be nice,” Alvin said.

Alvin and Gothy shared a laugh when they saw where the Gate had been placed.

“Now that is funny. Need to give props to Jarvis for that,” Alvin said.

“That’s just wrong; I love it,” Gothy snickered.

Mousie and Desiree looked from the sign to the Gate and shook their heads.

The Gate stood a few dozen feet away from a sign welcoming them to Roswell, which featured a silver flying saucer perched atop it. It was one of the more unusual welcome signs Alvin had seen.

Alvin stopped near the sign, looked at the Gate, and frowned. The far side of it was shrouded in a swirl of colors. “Haven’t we been able to see the other side of every other Gate?”

“Yes, we have,” Gothy said.

“No idea what that chaotic rainbow mess is going to mean,” Alvin grumbled. “Not sure I want to risk driving the Turtle into it.”

“I can step in and back out,” Mousie suggested.

“I dislike that idea,” Gothy said.

“But it’s still better than all of us going in at once,” Alvin said. “If I volunteered—”

“No,” Gothy cut him off.

“Kind of how I would feel if you suggested it,” Alvin said. “Doesn’t change the fact that we should scout it. This is why we came here, after all.”

“I’m the fastest of us on foot and best able to defend myself in melee,” Mousie reminded them. “If one of us needs to scout, it should be me.”

“She isn’t wrong,” Desiree said. “While we might not like it, we are still going to have to choose one to go.”

“Fuck,” Alvin sighed.

“Fuck,” Gothy echoed him. She leaned forward and grabbed Mousie, pulling her in for a kiss. “Come back safely.”

“I will do my best, Gothy,” Mousie replied.

Alvin collected a kiss from her before he let her go. “Step in and then come right back out.”

“I will.”

“We’ll be waiting,” Desiree said softly.

Mousie summoned her blades as she got out of the Humvee. Walking forward slowly, she scanned the area around the Gate, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She paused three feet from the Gate, took a deep breath, and rushed into it.

The three waiting for her held their breaths, and the seconds felt like hours for them. Gothy’s hands began to curl into fists when about five seconds had gone by.

Alvin released the brake on the Humvee, ready to drive through the Gate, when Mousie stepped out of it. Her blades vanished as she walked back to the Humvee. She looked at them after she climbed in.

“I don’t know what to make of it. It’s an all metal room with obvious cameras and a single door. I didn’t see any weapons and nothing happened to me. It’s big enough for the Humvee, but the door isn’t.”

“They cut off the Gate from their side,” Alvin said thoughtfully. “Smart. Should we wait to see if they’re coming out or do we trundle in and see what happens?”

“Give them an hour?” Gothy suggested.

“Works.”

“I haven’t seen any movement since we stopped,” Desiree mentioned. “This place doesn’t feel empty like the towns, but it’s not exactly bustling, either.”

“Everyone be ready, but don’t fire unless we’re attacked first,” Alvin said.

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“Got it, Hero.”

~*~*~

The hour was almost up when a small, thin figure with gray skin, no hair, a large head, an incredibly small mouth, and oversized black eyes stepped out of the portal. Its oval head did not have any ears or a nose to make it appear more Human, either. The alien fixed its eyes on the Humvee and raised an empty hand, waving at them.

“Hero, remember how we joked about one of each race?” Gothy asked.

“Yeah.”

“I changed my mind.”

Alvin barked laughter, surprised at the comment. He opened the window to wave back at the alien, trying to suppress his laughter. “Dammit, Gothy, this is not the right time.”

“Just wanted it said so you don’t get any ideas,” Gothy replied. “Why isn’t he… she… it…? Whatever. Why isn’t it wearing any clothes?”

“No idea,” Alvin replied.

The alien shuffled toward them. Its arms hung past its knobby knees, swinging back and forth as it came closer.

“Four foot?” Mousie asked.

“If it straightened up, maybe,” Desiree said. “That slouched posture and walk looks unnatural.”

Desiree’s description helped Alvin recognize what it reminded him of. “A cross between a human and an ape. Just imagine it leaned forward by thirty degrees and using its arms as another set of legs.”

“Skinniest, sickest ape ever,” Gothy agreed.

“Greetings, earthlings and non-earthlings,” the alien said, their natural voice overridden by a mechanical one.

“Stop the translator. We understand you just fine,” Alvin said.

The big eyes vanished for a moment before reappearing. “I see. You have learned how the worlds now function, then?”

“Yeah,” Alvin said. “Your eyes disappearing... is that your version of a blink?”

The eyes vanished again, “In a sense. Your friend came to our world and left. Did you wish to speak or were you just exploring?”

“Yes,” Alvin replied.

“Exploring and wishing to speak? We’ve been waiting for someone who had intelligence and nerve to come. I can lead you to one of the ancients if you wish to converse.”

“On your world?”

“They do not leave our world,” the alien replied.

“I have a quick question,” Alvin said, staring at the alien. “How many people have you abducted?”

The eyes vanished for a moment again. “You have us confused with our cousins.”

“Cousins?” Alvin asked.

“Perhaps siblings would be a closer analogy? The ancients can explain it to you better.”

“Hmm, I sense another split Gate here,” Alvin murmured.

“Are we going to go speak with their ancients?” Gothy asked.

“It’s that or call this a bust,” Alvin sighed.

“We can handle things if it doesn’t work out,” Desiree said.

“Can you give us a few minutes to meet you inside the Gate?” Alvin asked the alien.

“Of course. I am Xelin and I’ll be your guide. I will wait five minutes for you.” With nothing else to say, Xelin ambled back toward the Gate.

“Let’s drop the Turtle off for repairs and head into the Grey Gate, or whatever it’s called,” Alvin told the women as he summoned the base archway.

“Sounds good,” Gothy said.

Alvin shook his head when he released the brake on the Humvee. “Surprised you didn’t make a Fifty Shades of Grey Gate joke, Gothy.”

“Fifty what?” Gothy asked.

Alvin frowned, “Oh, right... that was after 2000, wasn’t it?”

“You’re going to have to explain it to me,” Gothy said as the Humvee vanished through the portal.

Parking the Humvee, Alvin sighed. “It’s a long story. I’m sure we can get a copy of the book, though I hate to even think about doing that.”

“Why?” Gothy asked, curious about his reluctance.

“The book had a... less than stellar reputation for people who lived our kind of lifestyle. Let’s just say it was a polarizing book, even more polarizing than Twilight.”

“Hero, you’re doing that thing where you pull references from the future on me.”

“Sorry, Gothy. Sometimes it’s hard to remember when some things came out.”

“Explain it, please?” Gothy asked again as they left the garage and walked toward the bathrooms.

“Okay, the quick and dirty version.”

“Best way to do it,” Gothy snickered.

Chapter Nineteen

Entering the Gate, the group saw Xelin waiting for them next to the obvious doorway. “Welcome, guests. The ancients await you.”

“The ancients— they’re your forebears?” Alvin asked.

“In a sense.”

“Which sense?”

“Like your children; the base genetic material is the same, passed from them to us.”

“Okay,” Alvin said slowly. He was a little uncertain, considering the naked being standing in front of him had nothing resembling genitalia.

Xelin opened the door and stepped past the threshold, waiting for them. Once they all joined them, they closed the door. “Ancient’s visitor chamber,” Xelin said, their voice pitched differently than before.

A spine-tingling sensation washed over them. “What was that?”

“I was giving the room direction,” Xelin replied, their voice back to normal. “We are here,” they said, opening the same door they had used to enter the room.

The room through the door was not the waiting room just inside the Gate. There were now softly glowing multi-colored lights that flashed on and off without pattern. Several chairs were positioned in the middle of the room, along with a table that held a veritable feast of food and drink. A single other alien waited there, facing the doorway and watching them curiously.

“Neat trick,” Alvin said when he entered the new room.

“No trick,” Xelin replied. They followed the others into the room and closed the door. “It is simply our way of traveling any moderate distance.”

“Welcome to our world, Humans, Twurgh, and Svargite. We did not expect to see such a diverse collection of peoples so soon,” the waiting alien greeted them. “Please be seated. I am Zexin. I will speak to you on behalf of our people.”

Alvin made quick introductions, “Alvin, Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree. Nice to meet you, Zexin. I’m not representing anyone other than us for now.”

“Very well, Alvin. You seem to have sought us out. Why?”

“I hoped that you might be the answer to a question: can you give us fast travel?”

“The ability to move instantly from one place to another?” Zexin asked in clarification.

“Yeah.”

“That is a most advanced technology. It is the one area where we have advanced past our cousins.”

“We’d like to have it opened up to us,” Alvin said.

“That decision I cannot make alone. Why do you wish it so badly?”

“Have you seen our world in the last two months?”

“The dead are moving, and your people are in danger of being replaced by them and others.”

“Being able to send items or move between two places would make it easier for us to survive.”

“I can bring your request to the other ancients, but I do not know if they will allow it. If they do, it will require a trade of some kind.”

“Not opposed to trade, depending on what you ask for,” Alvin said.

“Very well. Please relax here— the sustenance is for you. We do not partake of them.”

“They have flaze, Hero,” Mousie said, pointing to a plate with cubed pieces of meat on it.

“They have lumios wine, too,” Desiree pointed out a dimly glowing green bottle.

“We wanted you all to feel welcome,” Zexin said, their small mouth curving up in what looked like a smile. “We are glad that you find the offerings acceptable.” Zexin glided back from the table, the silver disk they were sitting on floating in the air.

Alvin raised an eyebrow when he saw it. “Anti-gravity?”

“Not as you imagine it,” Zexin said, pausing just before the doorway. “Think of it as magnets, but for gravity. There are limits to its use.”

“Damn, no flying Humvee after all,” Alvin sighed.

“I’ll return as quickly as I can, but it might take some time,” Zexin told them as the disk drifted toward the door.

“We’ll give you some time,” Alvin said.

Once Zexin was out of the room, Alvin got to his feet. “I want to check the walls of this room. Those lights are a little distracting and remind me of LEDs.”

The others stood to help. “What are we looking for?” Desiree asked.

“Anything of interest,” Alvin said.

The four of them spent an hour going over the room. The only thing they found was a kiosk that folded out of the wall. Alvin started to check what their kiosk had to offer while the others sampled a few dishes set out for them, then came back to watch over his shoulder.

“Non-lethal weaponry,” Gothy said. “A few of them remind me of weapons from certain sci-fi shows.”

“Yeah, I expect the devs to change that soon. I’m sure no one wants a copyright lawsuit.”

“Look, a small silver flying disk, just big enough for six people,” Gothy laughed.

“It looks similar to the one attached to the welcome sign,” Mousie said.

“Yup.”

“No native food or drink,” Alvin said slowly. “That is odd. Maybe they really don’t eat or drink. There’s stuff from other races, though.”

“A little weird, considering we haven’t seen crossover from other kiosks since they changed them,” Gothy agreed.

“It’s the only crossover, though,” Alvin pointed out. “I was half expecting the kiosk to allow the fast travel option to unlock. It didn’t, so that means we will have to wait and barter for that power.”

“Are you going to buy a couple of those new runes?” Gothy asked.

“Probably should. Can resell them on the auction house, if nothing else. This world’s items should be available from the base now, so we can wait on that.”

“Point.”

“How long are we going to give them?” Mousie asked.

“Couple of hours,” Alvin said. “If they aren’t back by then, we’ll go back to the base and check tomorrow. I’m not going to miss one of Jarvis’ meals or our downtime together.”

“What do you think they’ll ask for?” Desiree asked as she sipped at the wine.

“Considering the stories that surround them,” Alvin said, “DNA is likely, but it could be the other faction that wants that. Not sure what else we could give them, honestly.”

“Maybe they’ll want crafting mats from the places we’ve been, or XP,” Gothy suggested.

“Maybe,” Alvin replied. “They don’t have any lethal weapons for sale, which strikes me as odd.” He was about to step away from the kiosk when the screen blinked and a different item appeared on it. “Hello, what are you?”

“What is it?” Gothy asked.

“A DNA modifier vat,” Alvin said. He started to scroll down to the description when the screen blinked and the item vanished. “Fuck you,” he sighed, “it’s a bug.”

“Again?” Gothy asked.

“It wasn’t there, then it was, and now it’s gone again. Sammi, found another one for you,” he said out loud.

The kiosk suddenly reset into the wall, and pushing the button did not resummon it. Frustrated, they went back to the table.

“Damned devs... they could have waited a bit longer,” Alvin grumbled.

“What if it was our hosts and not the devs?” Gothy suggested. “Maybe they don’t want us looking over the kiosk.”

“Too long of a delay for it to be them,” Alvin said.

“It happened right after Hero found the vat,” Mousie said.

“Fair,” Gothy conceded.

“Doesn’t really matter,” Alvin sighed. “Give them another hour, and then we’ll go back to the base.”

~*~*~

Jarvis was in the kitchen cooking when they walked into the base. The four of them went quietly, not wanting to disturb him. When they came back to the living room after getting cleaned up, they found they had a guest.

“Sammi, good to see you again,” Alvin chuckled.

“I’d rather not be here, but you did us a favor today,” Sammi replied. “The items that could have caused lawsuits have been suitably altered to give us room while not changing too much. The impact on the aliens should go unnoticed.”

“See? We’re helpful,” Gothy smiled.

Sammi rolled her eyes, “At times. Mostly, you’re a pain in the ass.”

“If I was, you’d be red and panting,” Gothy smirked.

“Was there anything else you needed?” Alvin asked when Sammi turned red and looked away.

“I’ve been asked again why you changed destination plans so suddenly.”

“I explained it already,” Alvin shrugged, taking his seat at the table. “Fast travel. Tired of not having it.”

Deflating, Sammi sighed, “You came because Roswell means aliens, which means better tech.”

“Well, yeah. Who else would have the ability to go from point A to point B and bypass the bullshit between them?”

“Told you he was getting smarter,” Sammi muttered.

“Hero has always been smart,” Mousie said stiffly.

Sammi held up her hands to the angry Elf. “He wasn’t this smart before.”

“Easy, Mousie. She isn’t wrong. The stat increases have helped me put things together faster. Someone giving you trouble?”

“No,” Sammi replied, not looking at him, “I’m just confirming things.”

“Hero, if she’s going to lie to us, I’m not going to stay nice,” Gothy said.

Sammi winced and Alvin touched her hand. “If your bosses are giving you shit, you can say it. With everyone watching us, it’s not like they’d be dumb enough to retaliate.”

A ghost of a smile touched Sammi’s lips briefly before vanishing. “That’s another problem that’s been mentioned.”

“That the fans like you too much?” Gothy asked, then paused. “Have you lost weight?”

Blushing, Sammi tried to ignore the second question. “Yes. About the fans, that is.”

“Getting shit for playing favorites?” Alvin asked.

“Not right now, but you killing the terror worm with almost no help… that’s being investigated.”

“Idiots,” Desiree snorted. “We won for three reasons; gear, planning, and the shaman’s help. What is there to look at?”

“She’s right. Anyone else who did what we did could have won. Not sure your boss wants the level of bosses encountered to be taken into account, either,” Alvin said bluntly. “In any case, I think the loot was a bit light from the worm and the cave it inhabited.”

“It was right,” Sammi said a little angrily. “Everyone in a normal raid would have gotten three to five items. The loot in the cave wasn’t even a consideration— the game randomly generated it.”

“I apologize,” Alvin said, a little surprised at how vehemently Sammi defended the loot drops.

“Anyway,” Sammi said, backing down again, “thank you for not breaking shit. Did you think the second quest was too easy?”

“It could have been, but the one we did certainly wasn’t,” Alvin replied. “If we had joined with Bayfield, we would have assaulted Ignacio. Against Johnny, it wouldn’t have been easy, but it would have been easier than the worm. However, if we had missed all that and met the National Guard first, then yeah, a bit easy.”

“Good points,” Sammi said.

“Dinner is ready. Will you be staying, Sammi?” Jarvis asked as he carried plates to the table.

“Huh? No, I have to go.” Swallowing hard, she eyed the steaks being placed on the table. “Thank you for asking, Jarvis.”

“Anytime,” Jarvis replied. “I think it could be viewed as research to make sure the game is properly recreating the essence of food.”

“I’ll, uh, pass that along.”

“I’m sure our fans would support the idea,” Gothy said, looking up at the ceiling. “I mean, if it was during the normal course of you having to check in, what’s the harm, really?”

“I need to go,” Sammi said, vanishing.

“Temptation, thy name is Gothy,” Alvin chuckled, “with an assist from Jarvis.”

Gothy smirked as she cut a bite of her steak. “I won’t deny that.”

“I still feel indebted to her for helping keep me here,” Jarvis said primly as he took his seat. “I don’t think giving her a taste of what the game can do is anything for them to get their knickers in a twist over.”

“You guys kind of fucked up a little,” Alvin said, changing the topic. “Those weapons.”

“Yes, I’m aware. Some of the people responsible for those choices will likely be getting a few stern words.”

“No shit. Lawsuits from those franchises are a big deal,” Alvin chuckled.

“Indeed,” Jarvis agreed.

“Tomorrow, we’ll see what they want for fast travel. Our time here might be done quicker than I had thought.”

“Hero, why did you say that?” Gothy sighed. “You just had to jinx it, huh?”

Alvin opened his mouth to refute her, before sighing, “Fuck, you’re probably right.”

Chapter Twenty

When Alvin woke up the next morning, there was a prompt waiting for him as soon he opened his eyes. He read it and accepted the new quest, wondering if they had thought it out at all.

Weekly Quest: Interface with three different kiosks.

This is a mandatory quest and cannot be declined. Failure to complete the quest will result in the loss of a life.

He closed the notification and sighed as he got out of bed. While he got ready for the day, he wondered if the aliens had an answer for them.

One of the aliens was waiting for them when they left the base. With no clothing or major differences in their body structure, it was hard to tell one from another. “Morning,” Alvin greeted them.

“Good morning to you, as well, Alvin. I have spoken with the other ancients and was surprised to find you gone. When we investigated, we discovered that you had stepped sideways through space. It’s interesting you can do that but not fast travel. The two are very similar,” the alien, who Alvin realized was Zexin, said.

“It’s the only trick I have in that regard,” Alvin shrugged. “What did they say?”

“If you have sufficient value to trade, they will allow it. If you do not, we can assemble a list of tasks for you to complete instead. The price is high— we’re aware that once you know how, you could be anywhere instantly.”

“That’s kind of true, but I’m pretty sure it only takes you to kiosks.”

“True,” Zexin agreed.

“Let’s get to the heart of the matter; what do you consider sufficient value?” Gothy asked bluntly.

“Genetic material. We are not as advanced as our cousins in that field, but we are still searching for a way to save our race.”

“Wait, the other guys can do more with genetic material?” Alvin asked.

“Yes, though they don’t have the latest advances for fast travel. When our people split, we focused on different technologies. We chose to focus on traveling faster to make obtaining resources easier. They put their focus on processing, refining, and adapting genetic material. As a result, they are more adept when it comes to altering DNA, but that knowledge has come at the cost of abducting people from different worlds with no regard to the damage done.”

“Could we speak to them?” Alvin asked.

Zexin backed away from the table a couple of inches, their demeanor suddenly wary. “You wish to side with them?”

“No idea,” Alvin shrugged, “but if you can both give us fast travel, it would be stupid to not see what both sides want.”

“True… but don’t the past atrocities of the others bother you?”

“Not really. I’m pragmatic. If it came down to grabbing random people off the street to save any of the women with me, I’d do it without hesitation.”

“Ah. That is disheartening,” Zexin replied. “Let me go and see if they will speak with you.”

“Is this going to take as long as the last meeting you went to?” Gothy asked when Zexin glided toward the door.

“No. I’m sure I will have an answer shortly.”

Alvin, Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree sat around the table, which was set with a selection of small pastries and breakfast beverages. None of them were hungry thanks to Jarvis, but after a few minutes, they all had a drink in hand. The door opened as they were finishing their drinks and an alien came gliding into the room.

Alvin felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he examined the alien coming toward them. The disk this alien was on was not the plain flat one Zexin had been using. The new disk had depth to it— the alien was obviously resting comfortably in a seat. What made Alvin leery about it were both the slight sheen in front of the disk and the obvious hatches around the floating chair.

“You must be with the other faction,” Alvin said, staring into the approaching alien’s large black eyes.

“Hmm... a smart chimp,” the alien replied, its small mouth almost able to form a sneer.

“Funny. I’m really curious how those little toothpick necks of yours manage to hold up those gigantic noggins. I mean, it’s like an orange on a toothpick, isn’t it?”

The alien stopped gliding forward and its hands shifted on the controls in front of it. “What was that? Do you think you are worthy of speaking to me in that manner?”

“Depends. Would whoever comes in after you be smart enough to be respectful?” Alvin asked coldly. “If so, we can find out. I’m kind of curious how much XP one of you is worth.”

“Humans are worth so little, it’s almost not even worth the harvest,” the alien replied.

“True enough,” Alvin agreed as he got to his feet. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree followed suit. “Now, we going to talk trade or are we going to see who’s standing at the end? I should warn you: if you start this, we’ll finish it.”

“You amuse me, Human. The last one that spoke to me in that fashion took five days to die. I flayed him alive to maximize the DNA we were able to harvest from him.”

“More like to hear him scream because your short, small, fragile ego got hurt,” Alvin said. “Napoleon complex, much?”

“I don’t think my siblings will be overly upset with me if I kill you. Others might, but they don’t matter.”

“Sure, sure,” Alvin smiled as he switched over his armor set. “Ladies?”

“Ready, Hero,” Gothy grinned, her normal outfit replaced with leather armor in a blink.

“Ready,” Desiree said, her bodysuit still the only armor she had.

“I believe the shimmer is a barrier,” Mousie added.

“Force field. It is immune to your guns,” the alien confirmed as it rose another foot off the ground. “I’ll give you one minute to attempt to hurt me, then I’ll kill the male and capture the females. I do so enjoy hearing them cry.”

“Fuck you,” Alvin said darkly as the battle armor surged over his body.

The alien’s disk dropped a foot, the look of surprise clear as the four of them rushed it. Alvin did not bother bringing out his guns. Instead, he reached out to grab at the alien’s disk, but his hands slid off the projected field. Mousie was the second one there, her blades sliding off the force field as well. Sparks flew up from the barrier where her blades struck it. Gothy and Desiree were there moments later, warhammer and knife flashing as they attacked the disk.

The moment of surprise gave them an early advantage, but the alien was not idle long. Its long spidery fingers manipulated its control panel with practiced ease. Two small nozzles pushed out of the force field, and bright blue light beams flashed out.

Gothy let out a cry of surprise when she felt the pain from the beam touching her battle armor. Desiree’s grunt of pain was muffled, gritting her teeth to try stopping it. Both of them felt their bodies being damaged even with the armor on.

“Twurgh armor is no match for us,” the alien sneered.

“What about this?” Alvin asked as he slapped a wad of material to the front of one of the nozzles.

A half second later, the four of them were thrown away from the alien by a concussive force. The alien’s disk went spinning out of control, slamming into the ceiling and then the wall before bouncing off the floor. One nozzle was missing while the entire apparatus showed clear damage. The force field flickered intermittently.

Alvin was the first one back on his feet and he was already moving toward the alien. “Don’t like high explosives?” Alvin asked with a growl.

The alien had a line of dark blue dripping from one nostril slit as it managed to get its conveyance off the floor and up to the ceiling. “I hadn’t expected you to pose much of a threat. No other Human has.”

“We’re not like them,” Gothy said as she pushed herself to her feet.

“I can see that,” the alien replied. “I would like to call a truce. You have proven yourselves worthy of respect.”

Alvin smiled as he leapt, catching the edge of the alien’s craft just as the force field flickered off. The weight of his battle armor easily pulled the floating chair down. Smiling coldly, he drew his K-bar with his left hand when the alien came down to head height. “I warned you that we’d end it.”

“Wait, if you kill—!”

Alvin did not wait; he jammed the knife forward, sinking the blade into its grey torso and ripping the knife down. “Warned you.”

The women were there a moment later, each one throwing in their own attack. The small body was a bloody mess when they all stepped back. The disk slowly glided down to the floor and began to beep.

“Hero...” Gothy said warily, backing toward the still-open base portal, “does that sound like a countdown?”

“Run!” Alvin shouted, turning for the portal.

Alvin was the last one to the opening, but he had not made it through it when the explosion went off. The blast wave hit him like a freight train and his battle armor turned red, then white, as it heated past the extremes it was made for. Alvin screamed, the armor searing him. He tumbled through the portal and dismissed his armor, wheezing as he fought to breathe. His back felt like a blistered warzone.

“Hero!” Gothy shouted, by his side instantly. “Oh, fuck! What the hell!?”

“Trauma kit,” Mousie said, holding one out to her.

Gothy applied the kit carefully and they watched the damage fade from where it had been visible on his neck. Alvin panted as the pain faded, then looked up at the three worried faces staring down at him.

“Okay, killing one of them is bad,” Alvin said. He checked his armor and winced, “Battle suit is going to need a few days to repair.”

“That was some predator level shit,” Gothy said.

“We’ll give it an hour or two before we see what the other side looks like. I’m thinking it was a low-grade nuke.”

“Will that be okay for us to step into?” Gothy asked.

“I believe the battle armor will handle it,” Desiree told her. “I’ll check it.”

“Why did we end up fighting them?” Mousie asked.

“Proving a point,” Alvin said, sitting up. “The one faction doesn’t think others are worth their time. Killing one of them will get their attention. The question now is, will they play nice or do we have to kill more of them?”

“We could just make a deal with the first group,” Gothy suggested. “They have the better fast travel tech.”

“I want both sides,” Alvin admitted. “That was what I was hoping for, anyway. Now everything is up in the air.”

“Not as up in the air as when you entered the base at speed, sir,” Jarvis said.

Alvin snickered, “Well timed, buddy.”

“Thank you, sir. I thought it quite likely that you would use that phrase.”

“Smartass,” Alvin said as Gothy helped him up. “Let’s get shit repaired and relax. Maybe we’ll watch Mars Attacks... that’ll make me laugh.”

“I’ll get drinks ready,” Jarvis said, walking toward the kitchen. “Sir, I’d point out that you need to go back to loot the body. You were the only one still in that reality when it exploded, and if you wait, anyone will be able to loot it.”

“Fuck,” Alvin sighed.

“Take my armor,” Gothy said, pulling her battle armor pieces off and offering them.

“Always wondered what ground zero looked like a minute afterwards,” Alvin said, exchanging his ruined armor for hers. “I’m glad the battery-operated suits aren’t bonded like Desiree’s.”

“I’ll get it repairing,” Desiree said, taking his ruined armor.

“Thanks,” Alvin kissed her cheek.

“Hero, be careful, please,” Mousie said as the battle armor formed over him.

“I intend to be,” he replied.

“If you’re not back in thirty seconds, we’ll be coming for you,” Gothy told him.

“Got it.”

Taking a deep breath, Alvin stepped through the portal and froze in place. The room had been wrecked— above him, the ceiling was missing, and a green sky with yellow fog was visible. The walls were mostly standing, but other rooms could be easily seen through the rents and tears. The center of the explosion was clearly visible, and a small bag sat on the ground right at the center of it. He crossed to the bag and took it, accepted the loot, then ducked back into the base.

“Don’t go back over without a suit. Their planet has a different atmosphere, I’m fairly certain. Green sky, yellow fog... didn’t look healthy. The room is ruined, but only the one room. Their buildings are sturdy as fuck.”

“What did you get?” Gothy asked as Alvin shifted back to his normal outfit.

Alvin returned Gothy’s battle armor, then opened his bags. One eyebrow went up as he pulled out the items and put them on the coffee table.

“Gravitum ore, disruptor ray component, Grey DNA, and gravity assault-sled wreckage,” Alvin told them, setting each one out in turn.

“We can get an anti-grav attack vehicle?” Gothy asked. “I don’t recall seeing those in the kiosk.”

“Considering what it did, I’d equate it to military grade. It’d be like finding an Abrams that had been hit by artillery.”

“Oh, that’s a good point,” Gothy sighed. “Damn it.”

“The two bits of crafting materials might get it working again,” Desiree suggested.

“Maybe,” Alvin nodded. “None of us has the knowledge for that, though.”

“Damn.”

“It would likely take a high-level crafter to make it functional,” Jarvis said as he set the glasses on the table. “If it’s a vehicle, I’d think that a mechan—” He froze in place a moment after he set the last glass down.

“Stupid devs,” Alvin muttered. “I’d already thought of it.”

“Poor Jarvis,” Mousie said. “I think we all had the same thought at the same time.”

“Right?” Gothy sighed. “Don’t want to do anything with it right now, though. We might need it as a bargaining chip. Should we store it for now, Hero?”

“Yeah, let’s do that, and once Jarvis is free again, we’ll watch the movie.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Alvin chuckled through most of the movie. Mousie and Desiree had groaned a few times each at the jokes, which only made it funnier to Alvin. They split up to use the bathroom and freshen up before they stepped back through the base portal to the Grey home world.

“Best of luck, sir,” Jarvis said as Alvin waited by the portal.

“Thanks. This suit needs way more repair time, but it’ll have to do,” Alvin replied. His battle armor still had severe damage, but it was sealed, so he had air if needed.

“We’re ready, Hero,” Gothy said, preceding the other two into the room.

“Let’s go see if they want to continue the throwdown or if we’re going to deal,” Alvin said. “Armor should hold up against the environment, at least. If it comes down to a fight, I might have to retreat if the room is still exposed to the native air.”

“We’ll buy you time and follow,” Gothy said as her battle armor flowed over her.

“Ready, Hero,” Mousie said, her armor already covering her.

“I’ll be point,” Desiree said, moving to the front and stepping over the threshold.

Alvin was hard on her heels, moving aside as soon as he cleared the portal. The room was sealed to the outside, but evidence of the battle could still be seen on the walls and floor. Two Greys sat on hovering disks near the door, one from each faction.

“Zexin?” Alvin asked.

“We were hoping you would return,” Zexin replied.

“You killed our envoy,” the other alien said, “even after they tried to surrender.”

“They were warned that it would end the way it did,” Alvin said flatly. “If I say I’m going to do something, I will do everything in my power to do it. Are you going to be civil, or do we get to have round two?”

Mousie’s swords appeared in her hands and both aliens drifted toward the door a few inches. “We will make sure there are no survivors if we have to fight,” she added.

“Please, calm yourselves,” Zexin said. “Valiz has come to talk.”

“My sibling was rash and impulsive,” Valiz added. “They were always prone to aggression.”

“Bad choice for an envoy,” Gothy snorted.

“We have to agree with you,” Valiz agreed stiffly. “We had hopes, but now they are gone.”

“You are both wanting to barter an agreement?” Alvin asked.

“Yes,” they said in unison.

“I have vials of terror worm DNA for trade,” Alvin said, pulling out one of the vials. “I want fast travel and access to the DNA modifier vat. I’d like the best each of you has, but I only have so many vials.”

“Might the DNA be examined?” Valiz asked, gliding forward.

“Not a chance,” Alvin snorted. “You might be able to pull the information without paying.”

“And you might sell me false goods,” Valiz countered.

“Zexin, will you verify it?” Alvin asked.

“Relaying what the system says is possible,” Zexin said, gliding forward. Valiz moved back, waiting for confirmation. After a minute, Zexin nodded, “Yes, this is a vial of terror worm DNA.”

“Since it’s been verified, what are your offers?” Alvin asked. “I have four vials to trade.”

“Four vials, plus the remnants of my sibling,” Valiz said.

“Four, and we will make sure to include the other Gate location to our world,” Zexin said.

“Four, and it will be the best vat that a Human can operate.”

“Same deal, but three vials,” Zexin said. “Don’t you worry what my counterpart might do with the vials?”

“Four vials, but we can include the lesser travel option we have.”

“Three, and the lesser variant of the vat.”

Valiz glided forward, “That is the last offer we can give you.”

“If we declined the travel option, would you do three?” Alvin asked.

Valiz stared at him for a long moment before answering, “Yes.”

“If you give them three, they can rip the secrets from the DNA in a matter of weeks,” Zexin said. “Are you sure you wish to do that knowing they will use it against other Humans?”

“That is a point... but if they only had two vials, would it really be any slower?”

“Possibly months,” Zexin replied.

“We will take two, but it will be a lesser vat, instead,” Valiz said.

“Two vials, hmm,” Alvin said, looking to Zexin. “Any way to get a lesser version of fast travel for two?”

Zexin shook his head, “We do not possess a lesser version.”

“Three vials, no fast travel, but the best machine you have,” Alvin told Valiz. “Deal?”

“You can’t even use our best machine,” Valiz replied, “but yes, we will accept that deal.”

Alvin pulled out the three vials of DNA. “Where’s the machine?”

Valiz glowered, “I require access to the kiosk. The one here is broken because of you.”

Zexin’s craft wobbled slightly side-to-side, “It is too bad you have sided with them.”

“We have other trades that can be discussed,” Alvin said. “Will you stay and talk with us after Valiz leaves?”

“One vial isn’t worth our travelling system,” Zexin replied.

“We might have other things worth the cost,” Alvin replied.

“Intriguing.”

Valiz spoke up, “Can you accept goods via the kiosk?”

“Yeah. Send it C.O.D. with the vials as payment,” Alvin replied.

“It will be done,” Valiz said, gliding toward the door. “We shall speak again, Human.”

“I’ll look forward to it. I’m sure I’ll come out ahead in that exchange, too.”

Once Valiz was gone, Alvin chuckled. “Two vials of terror worm DNA and the vial we got from their dipshit envoy.”

Zexin’s disk rose an inch higher, “You acquired DNA from them?”

“Yeah. Figured you might be interested, since they’ve likely modified themselves differently than you. Though from the exterior, there is little to no difference.”

“Quil was high in their structuring. Their DNA would hold traces of many different modifications.”

“You’re interested in the trade, then?” Alvin asked, producing three vials.

“It would help us a great deal,” Zexin replied. “The deal can be struck at that cost.”

“I want a little extra,” Alvin smiled. “I need a technical manual about how the disks work.”

Zexin’s disk wobbled, “That… might be too much.”

“Do you want to take a minute to go check with the others?”

“Just the manual?”

“Unless I can get a training disk, as well,” Alvin chuckled.

“This should be discussed with the council,” Zexin said.

“You need another day?”

“If you do not mind waiting. We can provide sustenance again.”

“Just deliver some lumios wine. We’ll take it with us and come back tomorrow. Our tomorrow, since I don’t know what time system you guys run.”

“It will be done. Please wait here.”

Gothy shook her head. “And that lets us keep the last terror worm vial. I’m curious— why not keep the Grey DNA instead?”

“You want to be even vaguely like them?” Alvin asked.

“I do not. They are too weak,” Desiree replied.

“I don’t want to be like the worm, either, and Zexin said it would have traces of other modifications.”

“Point, but we have no idea what that will do for us. The single solid vial of DNA has to be easier to work with. I doubt we’d end up like the worm, anyway. I could be talking out of my ass, though.”

Mousie snickered, “That produces an odd mental image.”

“We’ll find out once we get the vat installed in the base,” Alvin said, then frowned. “Fuck, we might need a medical room for it.”

“Hell, maybe Zexin’s trade will be the power and it being pre-purchased for us?” Gothy suggested hopefully.

“Maybe. We’ll find out once they’re done talking with the other Greys.”

The door opened and a Grey without a disk came shambling into the room. “The wine you asked for.”

Alvin collected the bottles, “Thanks.”

“You are welcome,” the Grey replied.

“Okay, ladies, back to base,” Alvin said, bottles in hand.

~*~*~

Alvin passed off the wine to Jarvis before going to the kiosk room to see if the DNA modification vat was there yet. The women all huddled behind him, watching over his shoulder eagerly.

There was a message from Valiz waiting for him. Tapping through the screens, Alvin smiled when he saw the vat attached to the message. He put the three vials into the kiosk to complete the transaction, trading them for the vat.

You have unlocked a DNA Modification Vat.

The DMV can be used to learn more about a subject. Pulls pieces of DNA from samples out for later insertion, and inserts DNA into a subject.

Warning: This equipment requires a medical bay.

Warning: Modifying your DNA is risky and may have unintended consequences. Use at your own risk.

Alvin sighed, then chuckled when he read the pop up after the vat became available for him. “Well, nothing is without risk, but we do need the medical bay.”

“I can afford it, Hero,” Gothy told him.

“Really?”

“Between what I had left and the XP David sent me in trade, yes.”

“Buy away, Gothy,” Alvin said.

Gothy purchased the medical bay, then paused. “Where do we want the door?”

“This room needs to be expanded a bit. I like the support rooms all being available off this one,” Alvin answered her.

“I can do that,” Gothy smiled, adding a size upgrade for the kiosk room to her cart. She was busy for a few minutes setting the doors into a new arrangement. “There,” she said as the room blurred and shifted around them.

Alvin looked around the room and chuckled at the discreet signs now above each door. “Nice. Better than I would have done.”

“I know,” Gothy smirked.

“Brat,” Alvin chuckled, swatting her ass. “Okay, let me set the DMV in the room.”

Gothy snickered as he used the second screen. “I hope that’s a down payment on what’s to come, Hero.”

“You know it will be,” Alvin replied. “I’d have Desiree drag you off and get you ready for me, but I’m fairly certain you want to check out the new room and equipment.”

“Oooh, tough one, but yes.”

Alvin arranged everything in the new room using the kiosk screen. The DMV took up most of the medical bay. “Damn, going to have to upgrade the room if we want to use it for anything else.” He stepped back and motioned to the door. “It’s ready.”

It was cramped with all four of them inside. The DMV was made up of two vats, each ten feet by ten feet, with a dazzling display of tubing between them waiting to do their job. A large monitor took up one entire side of the contraption.

“Need to expand this room when we can,” Alvin said, squeezing between Desiree and Mousie to get to the monitor. “Okay, let’s see what’s what.”

The machine hummed quietly when Alvin tapped on the monitor. The monitor displayed a rapid series of images before it stopped at a screen with multiple prompts. Alvin studied the screen, and with a smile, tapped the option he wanted to look at.

“Hero, can you read that?” Desiree asked.

“Yeah, it’s in English.”

“It’s in my language,” Desiree said.

“I see it as my native language,” Mousie added.

“Linguist power at work,” Gothy snickered. “Bet that’s why the Grey was sure we wouldn’t be able to use it.”

“Joke’s on it,” Alvin chuckled. “First things first, do you want to give a sample of your DNA for the machine to work on? It’ll need the samples if we want to integrate other DNA later. The other option is I feed it the vial of terror worm DNA. The problem is, if I give it the terror worm DNA, it takes most of its processing capability separating as many different aspects as possible from it, which means it wouldn’t be able to process ours at the same time.”

“Let’s do ours,” Gothy said. “We don’t know if the worm sample will be useful, but ours will be.”

“I agree,” Desiree added.

“I agree, too,” Mousie nodded.

“Okay, skin is easiest,” Alvin said. “We just need to place a hand over that part of the machine there and it will draw a sample from us. We should do this again tomorrow morning to help it along.”

“After this, we’re going to go have some fun, right, Hero?” Gothy asked as she picked up the instruments they needed.

“That was my plan.”

“Good.”

Chapter Twenty-two

A loud snore woke Alvin from his comfortable sleep. Gothy… Alvin thought with a frown. Desiree was on his right with her mouth partially open, snoring. He felt a little bad for assuming Gothy had woken him. He shifted to get out of bed and another, louder snore came from his other side. A glance showed him Gothy on her back, mouth wide open, snoring softly now.

Easing himself out of bed, Alvin noticed the cage under the bed was empty, but Mousie was not in bed. He did not find her in the shower, so he used the facilities and got dressed. He closed the door gently behind him when he came out of the bedroom. Mousie was with Jarvis in the kitchen, paying close attention to what the butler was showing her. Neither of them looked up when Alvin stepped out of the bedroom.

“Okay, now you need to whisk the ingredients together,” Jarvis instructed her, handing her a whisk.

Alvin walked past them and to the kiosk room, trying not to interrupt them. After looking through the store, he purchased an upgrade to the medical bay, not wanting to have to crowd into it again.

Green River is working hard to get XP for some of these crafting items, Alvin mused as he looked at the cabinets beside the kiosk. Maybe I should check with Shawn in Beatty to see if he’s interested in the wrecked alien disk. Should ask Zexin for a manual about the manufacture and maintenance of them, too... hmm… wait to make sure I’m not using them as trade components first.

As he stepped into the new medical bay, Alvin smiled. Plenty of room in here now. He tapped the DMV monitor to wake the screen up and waited for it to come to life. The screen lit up, allowing Alvin to look over a summary of what the machine had managed to do over the last twelve hours.

“Huh... moving fast because our stats are so high, maybe?” Alvin muttered, checking how far along the DNA modeling was. “Not going to complain. Getting accurate models is important for splicing in other DNA.”

“Hero?” Gothy’s voice reached him from the kiosk room.

“In here, Gothy.”

“Upgraded the room?”

“We were a little cramped last night,” Alvin said as he stepped away from the machine.

“Jarvis said breakfast is in five minutes.”

“He was helping Mousie cook when I went by. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“If you’re finished here, we should go get coffee.”

“Sure thing,” Alvin said, heading toward her and the door.

“You could have woken us,” Gothy told him with a small pout.

“You both woke me,” Alvin told her. “We found a match for some of your night noises.”

Eyes narrowing, her lips thinned, “Are you making fun of my delicate snores?”

“Delicate? Gothy, freight trains with engine problems are quieter.”

“Asshole.”

“But I’m your asshole, and I’d rather tell you the truth.” Grabbing her, he pulled her close and squeezed her tight. “Does it bother you that much?”

“I don’t snore…”

“Oh, what are you doing, then?”

“Practicing draconic?”

Alvin chuckled, “Fine. Your draconic is rusty and needs a lot of work.”

Gothy rested her head against his chest. “I don’t know why it bothers me. Maybe because I want to be feminine for you.”

“You’re feminine enough,” Alvin chuckled, grabbing her firm ass.

Pulling back enough to look up at him, she smiled. “Come on. Breakfast should be ready. Mousie wanted to surprise us.”

“Mhm,” Alvin murmured, kissing her lightly.

Gothy returned the kiss for a minute before pulling away. “I would, as you know, but I’m serious. Come on.”

Alvin took her hand and smiled, “Okay, let’s go.”

They had just taken seats with their coffee in hand when Mousie stepped back from the stove. “Done,” she said happily.

“Smells good,” Alvin said.

“It does,” Gothy agreed.

“She did very well,” Jarvis said as he helped her plate the food. “All I did was give her a few words of advice. This should be viewed as entirely her creation.”

Alvin smiled at the simple meal that Mousie put in front of him: an omelet with hash browns. The omelet had swiss cheese melted over the top, while the hash browns had some melted into them. “Looks good to me.”

Mousie smiled as she took her seat, “Go on, try it.”

Everyone at the table cut into the eggs with their forks, and Alvin’s smile widened a little once he took the first bite. The taste of flaze dominated the eggs— the mixture of bacon, swiss, and pineapple was one of his favorites from her world.

“I do enjoy flaze,” Alvin said once his mouth was clear. “I don’t see any chunks of meat, though. How did you manage that?”

“Jarvis suggested that I grind it fine and then cook it,” Mousie replied. “If you look at the omelet, you can see the small pieces mixed in.”

Alvin chuckled, “I see it now. It’s only on the inside of the omelet, so you don’t know it’s there before tasting it.”

“Another bit of advice from me, sir. She wanted to surprise you, after all.”

“It’s got a sweet tang to it,” Desiree said. “Is that the flaze, too?”

“Yup,” Gothy said. “It’s got the same sweet tang that pineapple does.”

“Now that you’ve all tried it,” Jarvis said, getting up, “there are other side dishes to go with the meal.” He returned to the table a moment later with a bowl of pineapple sections in hand. “In case you would like a little more sweetness. We didn’t want to give the surprise away.”

“Murder-fruit,” Alvin chuckled.

“Murder-fruit?” Mousie asked. “It’s pineapple, isn’t it?”

“Basha used to call it that jokingly since pineapple juice breaks down the mucus membrane in the mouth. It’s the food that tries to eat you back,” Alvin said.

“Basha?” Mousie asked, having heard the emotion underlying the name.

“She was the one decent person I met before I was an adult,” Alvin said. “If you really want to hear more, I can fill you in on my sordid past later.”

“I would like to know more,” Desiree said.

“So would I,” Mousie nodded.

“Later it is, then,” Alvin said, spearing a chunk of pineapple and dropping it onto his hash browns. “You even got the hash browns browned all the way through. Thank you, Mousie.”

“Jarvis told me how you prefer them,” Mousie replied around bites.

“Thank you for cooking it, Mousie, and thanks for giving her some advice, buddy.”

“You’re welcome, sir,” Jarvis replied. “I’ve noticed you have been calling me ‘buddy’ of late. Is this going to continue?”

“Don’t like it?” Alvin asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. I know you are showing friendship in doing so, but the name is so… bland.”

“I’ll stop,” Alvin said.

Jarvis shook his head, “It isn’t necessary, sir. I would only ask you to keep it in moderation.”

“Can do.”

“We’re talking to Zexin about fast travel today, and then…?” Desiree asked.

“Heading back out east, toward Texas.”

“Anywhere specific?” Gothy asked.

“Texarkana.”

“What? Why?” Gothy asked.

“Music, cue song,” Alvin replied with a smirk.

Eastbound and Down began to play and Gothy sighed. “Tell me that isn’t the real reason.”

Alvin snickered, “No, but your face was priceless.”

“Asshole,” Gothy grumbled.

“The reason is because of what’s just west of Texarkana.”

“Which is?” Gothy prompted him, knowing he was amusing himself.

“The Red River Army Depot.”

Gothy began to grin, “Will they have new toys for us?”

“They are a repair station for Humvees and other ground vehicles. I would expect them to have survived. Hell, they might have been able to keep Texarkana safe.”

“We going to open up diplomatic relations for the others?”

“I have some plans,” Alvin said with a devious grin. “I need to know if we have a deal for fast travel or not, first. But even before that, I want to finish my breakfast.”

“Breakfast was delicious, Mousie. Thank you,” Gothy said, kissing Mousie’s cheek.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Mousie beamed at her.

“It’s damned good,” Alvin said, still working on his pineapple topped hash browns.

“Let’s go get ready while Hero finishes,” Gothy said and stood up from the table.

Desiree was right behind her, with Mousie following after taking her last bite. Alvin watched them go as he worked on finishing his meal.

“Do you think the Army people will welcome you? You will be driving a military vehicle.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Jarvis. The National Guard only gave us flack because they were trying to find out where we stood.”

“There are a number of large towns and cities between here and Texarkana, sir.”

“Yeah, but there are a lot of smaller towns we can go through, instead. Things are going to slow down and we’ll encounter a lot of small engagements, but I doubt any of them can really give the Turtle a run for it unless they have Army hardware.”

“You’re more worried about mass attacks that you think you would encounter in the cities?”

“Pretty much. The undead have gotten smarter, so if they’ve banded together and have a plan, it’ll be difficult. They might have hundreds, or even thousands in some cities.”

“Have you considered that some of those cities might be undead settlements?” Jarvis asked.

“Yes, and we might find out the hard way. Only time will tell,” Alvin replied as he took the last bite of his breakfast. “Ah well. I’m going to use the bathroom and go see if Zexin has an answer for us.”

“Best of luck, sir.”

~*~*~

Zexin was waiting for them when they left the base. “We have decided that we will accept the trade, but it is for you alone.”

“No,” Alvin shook his head. “All four of us.”

“That isn’t equitable for us.”

“I can go one better,” Alvin smiled. “I can get you in touch with a number of Human settlements, as well as an Elven and a Dwarven settlement. All of them will be interested in fast travel for the settlements, and some will want personal fast travel.”

Zexin stared at them for a long moment before the disk bobbed up and down a few inches. “That would be more equitable, but we would still need a little more.”

“How about another vial of terror worm DNA? But for that, I want a technical manual on how those disks are manufactured and maintained, and one on the disintegration weaponry your opposites have.”

Their disk wobbling side to side fractionally, Zexin replied, “Too much. We do not have knowledge of their weapons. We would have to barter with them for an exchange.”

“Fine, disregard the knowledge of the weapons. I’ll take a functional disk, instead.”

“Will you accept components to make one?”

“Yes.”

“We agree,” Zexin said. “We will set up a trade in the kiosk for you to accept.”

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

“What will you do if you encounter the other faction in the future?” Zexin asked.

“Depends on how aggressive they are. Honestly, telling you two apart is nearly impossible.”

“Ah, all Greys look the same to you.”

“Which will make it hard for anyone to know to start with. I’d suggest adopting some way for settlements to tell the difference at a glance and getting envoys set up as soon as you can. I’ll include a map with where the settlements are for you, but if they come to harm from your people, I’ll come back and flatten this whole place.”

“So violent. It is odd that you sided with us both.”

“I just want the best toys,” Alvin chuckled.

“We want the best toys,” Gothy corrected him.

“Your guide back to the Gate awaits you,” Zexin said, pointing to the door. “May the stars shine on you.”

“Hope you guys do better than the other group,” Alvin replied, heading for the door.

“If you want them killed, let us know,” Gothy added.

They found a Grey without a floating disk inside the teleportation room, waiting for them. “You are ready to leave?” Xelin asked them.

“Is there anything else we can do?” Alvin asked sardonically.

“We have a number of pastimes that—”

“Pass,” Alvin said. “Just show us to the door.”

“Very well.” Xelin’s voice changed tone, “Earth, Roswell.” A spine-tingling sensation washed over them, then Xelin opened the door for them. “Here you are.”

“Thanks,” Alvin said.

They stepped through the Gate with no fanfare. Alvin looked around and sighed. “We’ll have to go to that building to summon the base so we can get the Humvee.” Alvin was pointing down the road a few hundred feet.

“Forgot about that,” Gothy sighed. “So used to being able to just drive out of the base.”

“Yeah... it’s a downside, but we should be able to fix that soonish. Armor up, weapons ready, and let’s see if anything is stupid enough to attack us before we get there.”

Chapter Twenty-three

Nothing tried to stop them from getting to the building. Alvin felt better once he had summoned the portal and they were all back in his base. He had expected the more violent Greys to attack them.

“Welcome home,” Jarvis greeted them.

“Thanks, Jarvis,” Gothy was the first to reply. “I kept expecting a surprise party thrown by the asshole Greys.”

“Me, as well,” Mousie added.

“And I,” Desiree agreed.

“That makes all of us, then,” Alvin chuckled. “Oh well, no more XP from them yet. Let’s check on the fast travel first. Then we can get Turtle out of the base and get back on the road.”

The four of them trooped into the kiosk room. A package was waiting for Alvin, so he bought a map and marked the settlements on it, then put that, the vials of terror worm DNA, and the other Grey DNA into the kiosk. The package he received contained four small discs labeled ‘Fast Travel,’ two manuals, and components to make a floating disk.

Alvin handed the power discs to Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree, then composed a few quick messages to the settlements to let them know about the Greys. Alvin took a few minutes and made sure that the message to Shawn in Beatty included a note about the components to make an anti-gravity disk and manuals on how to do it. He closed the note with an invitation for Shawn to make an offer on the items and sent it off.

“Okay, everyone has been told to expect the Greys. How is the Fast Travel power?” Alvin asked.

“We’ve been waiting on you,” Gothy said, disc in hand. “Considering how human knowledge affected Mousie and Desiree, we thought it might be best to sit down before adding these to our powers.”

“Fair point,” Alvin agreed. “Living room sofa?”

“Works,” Gothy said.

Everyone settled on the sofa, making sure they were comfortable. Jarvis watched them from the kitchen, ready to bring them anything if they needed it.

“On three,” Alvin said as he held the disc in hand. “One… two… three.”

All of them accepted the prompt from the disc, and a surge of energy and knowledge flooded them. Alvin’s teeth ground together as he fought to stay conscious. Gothy and Desiree both squinted in pain. Mousie let out a whimper, her eyes rolling up as she passed out.

Desiree dabbed at her brow, which had a slight sheen of sweat. “That felt like it took forever.”

“Thirty seconds,” Jarvis told her.

“Felt longer,” Alvin said shakily a moment later, wiping at his forehead. “Gods, that sucked.”

“Much longer,” Gothy added.

“Mousie’s out,” Desiree added, gently stroking Mousie’s hair.

“Hopefully she’s not out all day,” Alvin said. “Jarvis, juice or water, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jarvis was handing them drinks when Mousie stirred. “What hit me?” she asked as she opened her eyes.

“Fast Travel,” Alvin said, sipping the apple juice Jarvis had brought out. “We have some juice to help, if you can sit up.”

Desiree helped her upright and gave her a cup. “Here you go, Mousie. I think how hard it hit us is tied directly to our Hardiness. Mousie’s is the lowest and she passed out. Mine is the highest and I was the first one to acclimate.”

“Could be. We can test it next time we have to get a power that way,” Alvin said.

“Can I get a pass on that?” Gothy asked.

Alvin chuckled, “Depends on the power.”

“Fair.”

“Fast Travel only works if you’re at a kiosk, and it transports you from kiosk to kiosk. It transports you only, so no bringing friends along. We can go from the base to any settlement whose kiosk we’ve visited, but it doesn’t work across Gates. Maybe there’s an upgrade to do that?”

“We can get back to Green River and visit anytime we want now.”

“But not to my world,” Desiree said.

“Nor mine.”

“Gives a compelling reason to build settlements on each side of a Gate,” Alvin said.

“Hmm, I will let Father know,” Desiree said, getting up.

“I’ll send a message to Wintersbreath,” Mousie said, following her.

“We’ll be there in a moment,” Alvin said, his arm going around Gothy’s waist.

“Hero?” Gothy asked when the other two had left.

“Just wanted a moment to hold you. Don’t get many moments where it’s just us and where we aren’t trying to screw our brains out.”

Gothy giggled and leaned into him, “You love it.”

“Not complaining about you having the sex drive of any ten normal women,” Alvin replied. “Well, not right now, anyway.”

“Asshole,” Gothy said, bumping her head into his chest. “I was thinking about the DMV.”

“Oh?”

“If we do find a succubus, maybe we shouldn’t add one to the harem. Maybe I’ll just add their DNA to mine so I can truly be your gothic succubus.”

“I won’t stand in the way of that plan. I’ll point out it doesn’t exclude you from adding one, either. No matter what DNA you add, you’ll always be the only Human woman I love. Besides, I might need a succubus to help sate you at that point.”

Gothy laughed, “Yeah, maybe.”

“Don’t know if we’ll even see them, so no point mulling it over right now.”

“Where do you think they’d be if they were here?” Gothy asked.

“Vegas or D.C.? Both of those would be my guesses. The aliens mentioned having two Gates, so maybe other worlds do, too.”

“I thought the cities were undead central?”

“They might be, but— and this is conjecture— but D.C was laid out by the Masons. They used a lot of occult symbology where they placed buildings. What if that ended up making it so the classic demons could cross over?”

“Which demons are we talking about?”

“Succubi, big red-skinned guys with horns... maybe smaller flying imps? The classic ones that deal with temptation and damnation.”

“No fallen angels?”

“Could be. Won’t know unless we go there.”

“You thinking about it?”

“If we make it to the east coast, I don’t see why we can’t at least check the outskirts.”

“Sounds fun to me,” Gothy murmured.

“We’re done,” Desiree called from the doorway.

“Come on, you, let’s head out. We have to see if the Army depot has any shiny toys for us,” Alvin said, kissing Gothy’s head.

“I like toys,” Gothy snickered as she got up, her hand grazing his cock.

“We know,” Alvin chuckled as he followed her.

“Be safe,” Jarvis called out to them.

“We will. I’ll look forward to tonight; you going to use the terror worm meat in dinner?”

“I am, sir. I’ve tested it and have been able to get the meals to come out like they should.”

“Who ate the tests?” Alvin asked, pausing in the doorway.

“I did, sir. There were no adverse effects.”

“Glad there weren’t. See you later, Jarvis.”

~*~*~

The Humvee rolled out onto Gallina road as they left the base. Alvin drove over to US 70 and took them northeast out of Roswell. Almost two hours later, they were driving through the abandoned town of Elida, New Mexico.

Switching from US 70 to New Mexico State Road 114, Alvin frowned. “How many empty towns is that now?”

“At least three,” Mousie said from the backseat.

“Bet it’s the bad Greys,” Gothy said from beside Alvin.

“For the DNA? Probably. I wonder how far they’ve gotten.”

“We’ll likely find out,” Desiree replied from the gunner’s position.

“You’re undoubtedly correct.”

They lapsed into silence again as the Humvee sped down the road. With fewer wrecks to go around, the trip from Elida to Lingo only took a little over an hour. Both small towns of Causey and Lingo were also empty of people.

“Couple hours range from Roswell,” Gothy muttered. “Maybe we should have killed more of them.”

“I’m sure we’ll get the chance to do that again in the future,” Alvin said.

“State line,” Desiree said when they passed the sign welcoming them to the Lone Star state.

“Let’s see if the Texas will to survive is alive and well,” Alvin said.

It was a little over a half hour later when they approached the outskirts of Morton. When they reached the first cross street, a truck drove onto the main road a few streets ahead of them. Four men in flannels and jeans were sitting in the back, rifles in hand.

“Hero?” Desiree asked.

“Don’t fire unless they do,” Alvin told her as he slowed the Humvee. Bringing the Humvee to a stop just short of the street the truck had come from, Alvin waited to see what the men would do.

Desiree looked to the right and saw another truck coming toward them slowly along another side street. “Another from the right. Nothing left or rear,” she finished, after checking each direction.

“Wave at them,” Gothy said.

The four men in the back of the first truck waved back, then jumped out. The one on the right stopped a hundred feet back, and two men were watching them from over the top of the cab.

“Where you from?” one of the men asked.

“We just came from Roswell,” Desiree called back. “Before that, Ignacio in Colorado.”

“Where’d you get the Humvee?”

“It’s Hero’s,” Desiree replied.

“Hero? Really?” one of the four men in front of them laughed. “Ego, much?”

“It is what we call him,” Desiree replied flatly. “He saved each of us.”

“He the one driving?” another man asked.

“Yes.”

“Can we talk to him? We don’t want you getting jumpy.”

Alvin slid the window open, “Come on over. Only one of you, please.”

One of the four men came forward with a rolling gait, telling of a life with horses. “You’re… Hero?”

“Alvin,” Alvin corrected the man, “and yes, that’s what they call me.”

“Where you from?”

“I started this mess in Green River, Utah. I’ve been to California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and now, Texas. We’ve faced down undead, drakes, dragons, fey, orcs, aliens, creatures out of nightmares, mutated animals...”

The Texan looked a little impressed. “If even half of that is true, you’ve had a real go of it.”

“All true,” Alvin shrugged. “I don’t have any reason to lie. I’m glad to see more people who survived and don’t just shoot first.”

“People have shot at you first?”

“A few times. People are people.”

“If you’d be willing to stop and talk to the sheriff, we’d appreciate it.”

“We can stop for a bit,” Alvin agreed. “Many of you survive?”

The man’s easy-going demeanor fell away. A deep sadness and hardness became clearly visible on his face. “Not as many as we’d have liked.”

“Understandable. Where am I going?”

“Follow Clive. He’ll take you over to the sheriff’s office.” He pointed to the second truck.

“Got it. You want to tell them so they don’t think we’re trying something stupid?”

The man nodded, “Give me a few.”

“Take your time. I’d rather not get shot at and have this become a comedy of errors.”

They were led to the local high school, a trip that took only a few minutes. It had been turned into the new community operations center. Alvin parked the Humvee, got out first, and waved one of the men over.

“I want it known that we’ve been invited to come talk, and I would really like it if no one does anything stupid. My companions are getting out.”

“What does… what the fuck?” the man startled when he spotted Mousie.

“Elf and Dwarf,” Alvin said when Desiree got out. “Is it going to be a problem?”

It took the man a moment to respond. “Uh, no... it shouldn’t be, as long as she’s civil.”

“As long as no one attacks us or insults me, she’ll be fine. Either of those happen and she’ll become death incarnate.”

An older woman came out the front door of the school to greet them. Stopping in place, her eyebrows went up as she stared at the four of them.

“Clara, these four just came into town. Nemo thought they should talk to the sheriff.”

“One of them ain’t Human,” Clara said with a bit of shock.

“Two,” Alvin corrected. “Desiree is a Dwarf, Mousie is an Elf.”

“Nice to meet you,” Clara stammered, trying to regain her composure. “I’m Clara Sutton. If y’all will follow me?”

“Lead the way,” Alvin said.

Chapter Twenty-four

The front of the school showed signs of a firefight, with bullet holes in the ceiling and walls. Alvin expected to be taken to the administrative section, but instead, they were led to a classroom farther inside.

Clara opened the door to usher them in, and a male voice could be heard saying, “Any questions about what we’ve covered?”

“No, sir,” two dozen voices answered back.

“Sheriff, we’ve got visitors to see you,” Clara said as she followed Alvin’s group into the classroom.

Two dozen teens stared at the four with open shock. The boys glanced from Gothy to Mousie, then to Desiree and back, hints of lust sparking in their eyes. The girls looked at them, but with envy or barely concealed disdain, before they all turned their eyes to Alvin.

“Why is she not wearing proper clothing?” the sheriff asked, looking pointedly at Desiree.

“That is proper clothing for her people,” Alvin shrugged. “We can change things, though. Desiree, want to suit up?”

“Roger,” Desiree said. Her battle armor shimmered and flowed over her, encasing her fully.

Everyone in the room backed away a step or leaned back in their seats.

“Which do you think is better, Sheriff?” Alvin asked.

“What the hell just happened?” the sheriff asked with a slow drawl.

“Desiree is a Twurgh, or Dwarf, if you’d prefer. Her people invented the battle armor she is currently wearing. It is one of the many Gates that now dot the world, connecting Earth to different places.”

“Where’s the Elf from?” one of the boys asked, staring fixedly at Mousie.

“Another Gate,” Alvin said. “Her people are in a perpetual war with the light-skinned Elven people who follow a King. Just so you know, she’s taken and hates men.”

Mousie glared icily at the young man and he leaned back again. “I-I got it,” he stammered.

The sheriff shook off his shock and cleared his throat, “Class dismissed. Go on with your tasks.”

The young people all got up and filed out of the room. One of the girls went to bump into Alvin, but Mousie’s arm shot out, catching her short. Blushing hard, the teen hurried out after the others. Clara went after them and called out to a few by name, leaving the four visitors with the sheriff.

“I’m Javier Ruiz, sheriff of Cochran County. Now that the kids are gone, you can unarmor, miss. We do have decency laws, though, so I’ll need you to get a proper set of clothing before you leave the building.”

Desiree dismissed her armor and her bodysuit was replaced by an outfit that Alvin had not seen before. The red dress only came to Desiree’s mid-thigh. The bottom was loose and frilly, the top had two straps over her shoulders that left her back bare, and the front sported a deep neckline. Alvin whistled softly— the dress was extremely feminine and was more provocative than the skin-tight bodysuit.

“You like it, Hero?” Desiree smiled.

“Hell yeah. Didn’t peg you as a dress kind of girl.”

“They helped me pick it out. We were going to spring it on you next time we all had to dress up.”

“Fuck it,” Alvin said, shifting to his suit.

Gothy and Mousie joined them in their formal dresses. White, black, and red dresses each hinted at or brazenly displayed the charms of each woman. Alvin just grinned. He was still unsure how it had all happened, but was damned glad it had.

“Who are you people?” Javier asked, exasperated at having been forgotten.

“Sorry,” Alvin chuckled. “I’m Alvin and this is Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree. We’re travelers that just recently came from Roswell. Before that, we were up in Ignacio, Colorado, where we stopped after visiting the Twurgh Gate. We got there from the settlement in Green River, Utah. We’ve also visited Beatty and Ely in Nevada, Bridgeport in California, and the Svargax Gate in California. There’s a fey Gate in Death Valley, and the Greys have a Gate open in Roswell.”

Javier blinked slowly as he tried to process everything Alvin had just rapid fired at him. “What the hell are Greys, and why would they have something called a Gate?”

“You haven’t been outside of town lately, have you?” Gothy asked as if she were talking to a child.

“I’ve been busy trying to hold this community together.”

“Okay, this might take a while,” Alvin sighed. “Have a seat and we’ll try to bring you up to date.”

Javier listened to the story, not interrupting them at any point. When they finished, he spoke slowly, “Your two worlds... they don’t plan to invade?”

“No, though the fungals have already started to come through. They will be a bane for Earth,” Desiree said. “We’ve already established envoys with a few settlements.”

“Can I see that armor again?”

Desiree switched back to her bodysuit and summoned her armor again. Javier stared at it for a long moment.

“Do you mind if I inspect it?”

“It’s solid. You won’t be touching me, so go ahead,” Desiree said.

Javier did not touch anything they would consider inappropriate, but he did ask about some of the other features, like the flamethrowers and air supply. When he finished, he took a seat, “How do I go about setting up an envoy?”

Alvin explained the process to him in quick terms. “You might want to get a set of the armor first to help explain things to your people.”

“How do I do that?”

“I can get you one, but they’re expensive.”

Javier frowned, “Why does this sound like a pig in a poke?”

“It’ll be armor you can use, but it won’t have some of the upgraded features like the air supply or flamers. I can get the base model for you from my base and sell it to you for a small markup.”

Javier frowned, “How much XP are you talking?”

“I’m thinking sixty thousand.”

Javier’s eyes bulged, “What the hell, son?”

“Fine, fifty-five thousand,” Alvin chuckled. “That’s as low as I’ll go, though.”

“Do you know how hard it is to get that much XP?”

“Depends on what you’re doing,” Alvin shrugged. “Staying in town just surviving? Yeah, it’d be tough. Going out and killing mutated animals and invaders makes it easier.” Javier’s grimace told Alvin that something had happened. “You’ve been approached about forming hunter groups and said no?”

“We only have fifty people left out of a few thousand. That also includes the people we took in from Whiteface,” Javier said slowly. “My own wife and kids didn’t survive. I hate the idea of anyone else going out and never coming back.”

“It’s their choice, isn’t it?” Gothy asked.

“They put me in charge, told me I’d be the one to lead them,” Javier looked at the floor, his head hanging low. “If they hadn’t, I might have…” Trailing off, he took a deep breath. “It should be. Looks like it’ll have to be if we want any chance at defending what’s ours. I’ll give you forty-nine thousand, two hundred and thirty-seven XP.”

“That’s everything you have, isn’t it?” Alvin asked.

“Yes.”

“Fine, I’ll take it.” Getting up, Alvin stretched and summoned the portal to the base. “I’ll be right back.” He heard a sharp indrawn breath from the sheriff when he crossed the threshold of the portal.

Alvin waved at Jarvis, but did not say anything while he went to the kiosk room. It only took him a moment to buy a suit of battle armor. Jewelry in hand, Alvin waved to Jarvis again as he crossed the living room the other way.

“I’ve got the armor. Do you have the XP card?” Alvin asked when he came back into the room.

“No. If you’ll come with me, we can visit the kiosk here. Your wife, Gothy, said you needed to visit it for the Fast Travel power, also.”

“That’d be good.”

“Follow me.”

Javier led them through the school to the gymnasium, where the kiosk was sitting in the middle of the floor. The sheriff tapped through the options, then withdrew a plastic card which he handed to Alvin. “The XP.”

Alvin took the card, checked the pop-up, and gave the sheriff the battle armor jewelry. “That being there has to make it hard to play basketball,” Alvin said as the plastic card turned to motes of light in his hand.

“No one’s had time for basketball since this started.”

“Are you having the kids apprentice to the people who can craft?” Gothy asked.

“I didn’t know that apprenticing was a thing. I’ll be having a meeting tonight with the community. It’s going to be different. With what you’ve told me, I have hope that we can manage to do more than just survive. If you’d like to stay—”

“Pass,” Alvin shrugged, stepping around the sheriff and adding the kiosk to his list of known locations. “We still have a lot of road ahead of us.”

“Where are you heading now?” Javier asked as Alvin’s companions each stepped up to the kiosk in turn.

“East, across Texas. Maybe all the way to D.C.”

“Why would you want to go there?”

“To see if they really did sell their souls,” Alvin chuckled.

Javier blinked for a few seconds before laughing. “Haha, may it serve those bastards right if it is true. Will you be stopping at any other towns?”

“I thought that Texas had a better chance of surviving the Rapture because of your pragmatic outlooks and all the guns. Yours is the first town I’ve stopped at and so far, I was right.”

“If you find others, will you tell me? I’d like to see if we can’t band together to make survival easier. Especially if what you’ve said about alien abductions is true.”

“No promises,” Alvin replied. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you. Today is the first time I’ve felt hope in months.”

“Hope is man’s greatest gift,” Alvin said and walked toward the door. “Good luck, Sheriff Ruiz.”

“Thank you.”

Desiree shifted back to her dress while they walked out of the school. Four teenaged boys were standing around the Humvee, waiting for them. Gothy snickered and Mousie’s hands twitched as she thought about summoning her blades.

“What do you four want?” Alvin asked bluntly.

“We had a question. You travel and kill things for XP, right?” the tallest of them asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s just undead and the animals, isn’t it?”

Gothy laughed, “Oh, no. You haven’t seen the dragons, drakes, wyverns, fey, terror worms, fungals, and so many more. If you go out thinking it’ll be easy, you’ll never come home.”

“If we had a vehicle like this, we could do it,” another one of them said.

“No,” Mousie said bluntly. “The fungals would have pulled you from it and killed you.”

“You four can, but us four can’t? That seems like bullshit to me.”

“Have you watched your enemies bleeding out on the floor?” Desiree asked, stepping forward. “Have you seen and heard them begging for mercy, and still killed them?”

The four teens stepped back and paled. “We wouldn’t kill other Humans,” the tallest one said.

“Your sheriff is calling a meeting tonight. I suggest you all go,” Gothy said. “You’ll learn more from that than you have since the Rapture.”

Alvin walked around the Humvee, shaking his head. “Hunting isn’t the only way. You’ll find out.”

Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree climbed into the Humvee, ignoring the teenagers who stood there glaring at them. Alvin started the engine and drove away.

“Do you think they’ll listen?” Desiree asked from the gunner spot, back in her bodysuit.

“Doubtful,” Alvin replied. “Young, dumb, and full of cum. That’s basically every male teenager ever. I wasn’t much better in that regard.”

“Still full of cum,” Gothy murmured, “and you look young. You aren’t dumb, though; you knew better than to fight me, after all.”

Alvin laughed, “Fair enough, Gothy, fair enough.”

“We can try to help him with the ‘full of cum’ part later tonight,” Mousie suggested.

“Good idea,” Desiree agreed.

“Fuck, you’ve infected them with your succubus ways,” Alvin snickered.

“Of course,” Gothy smiled. “I want to make sure you’re never wanting for love.”

“I wasn’t wanting for it when it was just you,” Alvin said honestly. “I’d say I was drowning in it, but I love it just the way it is.”

Chapter Twenty-five

The town of Whiteface was empty when they drove through it. Most of the cars had been moved off the Texas State Highway 114, making the trip easier.

“I didn’t think of Texas as cotton country,” Gothy said, looking at the fields they were passing. “I thought we’d see more of the giant cows.”

“I’m sure they’re here, too. I wonder how mutated the famous Texas longhorns have gotten,” Alvin mused.

“I’m sure we’ll find out before we leave the state,” Gothy said. “All those non-working derricks are eerie, though.”

“Probably stopped working during the Rapture. If anyone could get some of them working, they could supply oil to crafters. I’m sure crude oil or refined would still be useful to someone.”

“Oil... that makes me wonder what the fuck happened to the Middle East,” Gothy said.

“War. That shouldn’t be news, though. The middle east has been in a constant state of war since before the crusades. The players and lines on the map change, but war never changes.” Alvin kept a straight face through the last three words, but no one reacted.

“Huh, guess the tagline of the game was different for you,” Alvin sighed.

“What was it?” Gothy asked.

Alvin spent the next couple of minutes explaining how a certain video game franchise had been different in his world. He was winding down when Desiree spotted large structures appearing in the distance.

“Hero, I think we’re close to the next town,” Desiree announced.

“Got it.”

The buildings she had seen turned out to be commercial property of a company that dealt with oil. “Empty,” Gothy said as they went past it, “but everything looks locked up.”

“Maybe people are still alive here, then,” Alvin said.

As they got closer to the town, homes and small businesses began to dot the sides of the road. Some were burnt out husks, some were only moderately damaged, and others were mostly intact. The city park came into view on the south side of the road, the grass fields showing signs of recent explosions.

“Hero, gunfire from up ahead,” Desiree called down to them.

“Everyone, be ready. Could be survivors against anything.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“We’re ready, Hero.”

The road was mostly clear, hinting that people had survived the Rapture. Alvin was able to close the distance quickly. The sound of gunfire got louder as they sped through the heart of the town.

“Burnt buildings ahead on the left,” Desiree announced.

The gunfire was coming from the burnt buildings. Just past the ruins, a Val-Mart epic center was under siege.

“Swear I’ve done this before,” Alvin muttered.

“Are we going in?” Gothy asked. “Hard to tell from here who the enemy is.”

“Get closer and see if the attackers are undead or not,” Alvin said. “Desiree, hold fire until we know if they’re zombies.”

“Roger.”

Turning onto Sherman Avenue, Alvin let the Humvee jump the divide between the burnt-out Pizza Shack and the Val-Mart epic center. That put them directly behind the attackers as they closed the distance.

Desiree opened fire a moment after the first hostile looked back at them. “Undead,” she stated as she began to work the M2 up and down the undead’s firing line.

Mousie and Gothy had their windows open and joined in on the shooting. Alvin had to turn to the left to avoid crashing through the vehicles the undead were hiding behind, since that would put him into the line of fire from the store.

“People on top of the store have seen us,” Desiree said. “At least one is cheering.”

“Good, maybe they’ll reward us for this,” Alvin said.

“They’re breaking for the vehicles,” Gothy said.

“Kill what you can before they get away, but we’re not going to chase them,” Alvin said.

The fight was over a minute later with a dozen cars, packed with undead, tearing out of the lot. Alvin followed them to the main road, letting Desiree, Gothy, and Mousie do as much damage to them as possible before returning to the Val-Mart. As they approached, a dozen people came out of the giant building, all of them holding rifles or shotguns.

“We thank you for the help,” one of them called out when the Humvee was close enough. “We didn’t know if anyone outside of us was still alive out there.” The man speaking kept staring at Desiree’s breasts before jerking his eyes back up to her face.

Alvin opened the driver’s side window, “We don’t mind helping. This your last refuge?”

“It’s the center of the town now,” the speaker said. “If y’all want to come in and refresh yourselves, that’d be fine with us.”

Alvin looked over the dozen people; they were a mix of men and women of all ages. “Doesn’t look like that was your first scrape with the zombies,” Alvin commented, getting a chance to view the building.

“It’s been rough,” the leader said.

“Is the kiosk in there?” Alvin asked.

“It is.”

“We’ll be glad to stop in,” Alvin said, turning off the Humvee after setting the brake. “Just be aware that two of my companions aren’t Human. I don’t want an incident.”

Everyone able to hear Alvin tensed, and the speaker asked warily, “What do you mean by not Human?”

“Mousie, switch with Desiree, please.”

It took a few seconds, but Mousie popped up into the gunner’s spot. Over half of the people stepped back, jaws falling open. All but one of the others just stared in shock, but the last one raised his rifle.

“If you do that, we’ll defend ourselves,” Alvin said coldly.

The leader snapped out of his shock and slapped the rifle down. “God damn it, Jethro. They helped us.”

“But that’s a dark Elf. She’ll enslave us to the spider queen!”

Alvin snorted, “No. She is a Queen’s Elf, not a dark Elf. I’ve met her Queen; nice lady, definitely no spider motif. Though Mousie really doesn’t like men, so at least that part isn’t too far wrong.”

Mousie’s hands twitched as she glared at the one who had raised his rifle. “Idiot,” she stated flatly.

“Now, let’s get past this moment,” the leader said quickly. “I’m Anders, the de facto leader of Levelland.”

“Alvin,” Alvin said. “Mousie is the Elf, and the lady you were checking out before is Desiree. She’s a Dwarf. Gothy is in here with us, too. She’s Human. I want to make sure everything is fine before we step out of the Humvee.”

“It’s fine,” Anders said. “No one here will harm your group, and we ask the same in return.”

“Sounds good,” Alvin said and hopped out of the Humvee.

The three women followed suit. When they stepped out, it caused a major stir among the dozen greeters. Gothy just smirked at them while Mousie glared at the men, and Desiree put a hand on Mousie’s hip.

“Just you four? No other men?” one of the others asked.

“We don’t need other men. We have Hero,” Gothy replied. “When you have filet, you don’t want cube steak.”

A couple of the men in the group bristled at her words, but Anders was the one who spoke up, “Let’s try to keep the rhetoric to a minimum, please.”

“Just need to visit your kiosk, then we’ll be on our way,” Alvin said, not caring to stay longer than needed.

“Come on in,” Anders said, resting the rifle against his shoulder.

Alvin was glad to see the interior had been completely changed once he got past the entrance. The front opening where the carts would be was the last vestige of the old store. A large steel double door barred the way farther inside. Past the doors, it looked more like a hotel. The lobby was a huge room with lots of places to sit and tables. Over a dozen kids from ages ten to eighteen sat, playing games with each other, while twenty more adults were grouped around a large table, servicing their guns. On the far side of the room stood the kiosk, with two people lined up waiting to use it.

“Anders,” one of the people by the guns called to him, “we need to figure out what to do. We can’t keep doing this.”

“Excuse me,” Anders grimaced as he left them to go speak to the people.

The older boys stared at the women when they realized the group was there. Desiree shifted to her red dress, trying to help stop any potential issues.

One of the women in the group gasped, “How did you do that?”

Desiree looked at the woman with a puzzled look, “The wardrobe tab.”

“The what?”

Desiree began to explain the wardrobe function to the women who had been with the welcoming committee.

“Excuse me, Alvin,” Anders called from across the room, “can I borrow you for a minute?”

“Make sure to tap the kiosk. I’ll get it in a moment,” Alvin told his companions before he headed over to where Anders was waiting.

“This is the guy who saved us?” an older grizzled man asked, eyeing Alvin with doubt.

“Me and them,” Alvin said, motioning over his shoulder. “What did you need, Anders?”

“We’ve had a problem for the last month.”

“The undead?”

“Yeah. They’re coming from Lubbock. We were caught completely unprepared for undead that were able to use guns the first time. They got the mayor and sheriff in that attack, leaving me to fill the gap.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Alvin asked bluntly.

“You came from the west. Are there any settlements there that could help us?”

“Morton has people. If the undead are starting to raid out of the cities, though, even Morton might not be far enough out, but it would give you a bit more of a buffer. If you want more breathing room, pack everything up and head there. You need to stay behind until the others are gone to destroy the kiosk. Only the leader of the settlement can dismantle it and take the XP.”

“Leave our homes?” the older man sneered. “I didn’t run from no Cong during ‘Nam, and I ain’t gonna run from no zombies.”

“I don’t care,” Alvin shrugged. “That was just my advice.”

“You’re going east, right?” Anders asked, trying to push past the argument.

“Yeah.”

“How are you going to get around the undead?”

“Are you kidding?” Alvin asked. “This fucking state is criss-crossed with roads. Most of them might be farm roads just to go from field to field, but you can easily bypass the cities and towns. We only come to towns to see if people are still alive.”

“Have you met many?” an older woman asked.

“In every state I’ve been in. New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California all have settlements. They’re all well off and expanding. My advice for you all is to leave. Being this close to a city is just asking to be worn down and killed off.”

“Who asked you, asshole?” the old man spat.

“He did,” Alvin said coldly, pointing at Anders. “I’m done. Live, die, stay, or flee, I don’t give a fuck.” He headed for the kiosk while an argument broke out behind him.

Gothy watched him coming toward them and shook her head. “You’re mellowing out. You didn’t shoot anyone.”

“Lots of sex helps stop the random outbursts,” Alvin said. “You all tapped in?”

“Yes,” Mousie replied.

Alvin quickly used the kiosk and stepped back. “Let’s go. These people are a lost cause.”

Before they could reach the doors, the women from the welcoming committee got to them. “Wait, are you serious? We should leave?”

“I don’t care, but it’s your best chance of surviving past the end of the year,” Alvin said. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re leaving.”

Alvin stepped around them with no further comment and left Val-Mart behind. The four of them climbed into the Humvee, and Desiree waved goodbye to the women she had talked to as Alvin drove them away.

“Stupid hicks,” Alvin snorted. “As if a home is more important than living.”

“We detouring around Lubbock?” Gothy asked.

“Yeah, farm roads north of the city. We’ll drop back down to US 82 either in Idalou or Lorenzo. That’ll probably be tomorrow, though. We’ll go back to the base in a couple of hours.”

“Okay, Hero. We’ll see about mellowing you out some more then.”

Alvin chuckled, “Won’t say no to that.”

Chapter Twenty-six

“Welcome home, sir,” Jarvis said, his arms full of ingredients from the fridge. “Dinner will be ready in three hours. I want to make a few dishes with the terror worm meat to let you get a good idea of what it can do.”

“Knock on the door if we’re not out by then,” Alvin told Jarvis as he followed all three women across the living room.

“I’ll make sure the meals are high in protein so you don’t die, sir.”

Alvin chuckled, “I’ll make sure they’re covered in protein.”

“TMI, sir,” Jarvis said blandly.

Alvin laughed and shut the bedroom door. He could already hear running water as he headed for the bathroom. He dismissed his clothing and made a quick stop before entering the shower. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree were already covered in suds and waiting for him.

“You lay down there, Hero,” Gothy said, pointing to a bench. “We’re going to scrub you.”

“No,” Alvin said. “It wouldn’t give you all ample opportunity. I’ll stand here and you three can hem me in.”

Gothy’s lips twisted up in a smirk, “Going to be commanding of us even when we’re trying to pamper you?”

Alvin gave her a soft smile, “Yes.” The smile fell away and with one step, he closed the distance between them. Taking her by the back of the neck, he pulled her to him roughly. His lips met hers in a passionate kiss, and her soft moan belied her weak attempts to escape from him.

“Should we attack him and free her?” Desiree stage-whispered to Mousie.

“That would incur the wrath of both of them,” Mousie replied just as softly. It was clear she was considering the idea.

Alvin broke the kiss and looked back at the two of them. “Whoever makes the other one cum first will get me last tonight.”

Mousie did not hesitate; she grabbed Desiree from behind, one hand going for the Dwarf’s sex while the other wrapped around her neck. “To the victor…”

Alvin chuckled as he left them to it and gave his attention to Gothy. “Someone got me all soapy when they pressed their body to mine. I was going to give you your favorite treat, but even you can’t stand the taste of soap enough for that.”

Gothy reached behind her and turned on the shower, the water hitting Alvin square in the face. “I’ll fix that for you.”

Alvin spluttered for a second, but did not release his grip on her. He dragged her forward into the spray. “Oh, you’re going to regret that.”

Gothy laughed as the water cascaded down her body. “I hope so, Hero.”

Since the water had removed the majority of the soap from him, Alvin grinned and forced Gothy to her knees, his rigid cock aimed at her face. “Well, it does seem to have done what you wanted.”

“Good, I—” was all she got out before he filled her mouth.

Letting go of her neck, he pulled her hair into pigtails to hold her in place. “Oh, eager, eager,” Alvin snickered. She had tried to take all of him, but he stopped her using his new handholds. “I’ll set the pace. Stop touching yourself, slut.”

Gothy let out a frustrated moan as she removed her hand from her sex. Pulling against his grip, she tried to force more of his cock down her throat.

A tut from Alvin was the only indication that she was misbehaving. Gothy had no warning when Alvin began to drive himself into her willing mouth. Her moans sent pleasurable vibrations along his shaft as he worked her head back and forth roughly.

“After the shower, you’re going to get flogged, spanked, and tied down with the wand strapped to your pussy, all while I fuck the loser of the fight behind me.”

Gothy shuddered through a mini-orgasm, and Alvin inhaled sharply as she almost took him over the edge with her. Yanking her from his cock, he stared down at her. Gothy stared up at him, her eyes burning with desire. She wiped the saliva from her lips before she licked them seductively. “Promise?”

Alvin smirked, “No.”

She stared at him in disbelief before he filled her mouth again. Moaning, she followed his lead and did what he wanted. She gave herself to him as he dictated, and prayed he would do as he had said.

A soft squeak from behind him made Alvin glance back. Mousie was furiously rubbing Desiree’s sex, but Desiree had managed to get Mousie’s ears in her hands and was gently massaging them. Both of them looked to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, making him happy.

Alvin used Gothy’s mouth until he felt his orgasm approaching. He shuddered as he pulled her mouth off him and dragged Gothy over to the bench. He bent her over it and pushed himself into her from behind. Both of them moaned in pleasure as he slapped against her ass, sinking into her wet sex as far as he could. Gripping her hair tighter with one hand, he fucked her hard, fast, and rough.

“Oh... fuck, Hero,” Gothy grunted as she began to shake. “Cumming, cumming... fuck me harder!”

Alvin let go of her hair and gripped her hips, driving into her against the bench with bruising force. The hard fuck lasted mere seconds, as both of them shuddered when orgasmic bliss flooded their systems.

Another cry of pleasure announced Mousie’s orgasm. Desiree’s was only a few seconds behind Mousie’s as she finally let go. All of them were panting and covered in a sheen of sweat.

“Well, looks like Desiree’s going to get the marathon later,” Alvin chuckled as he eased himself out of Gothy. “Let’s rinse off, then we’re going to the dungeon. Desiree, you get to torment Gothy while I break our loving wife in front of her.”

“I almost didn’t make it,” Desiree grinned. “Mousie can be quite tenacious when she wants to be.”

“Yes, she is,” Gothy murmured. “Desiree could use a good marathon. It takes a lot to wear her out.”

“The marathon will be after dinner,” Alvin chuckled. “You and Mousie are before dinner. If you’re still able to go for more after that, you’ll have to sate each other or help me with Desiree.”

“Option two,” Gothy smiled, “if I can.”

“Agreed,” Mousie added.

“I’ll agree to that,” Desiree said.

“Come on, then. Time for some more fun,” Alvin said, turning on the shower wand and rinsing all of them off.

~*~*~

Gothy and Mousie were both walking on uncertain legs when they left the bedroom for dinner. Desiree had trouble walking, too, but that was because of the items Alvin had her wearing under her red dress.

Alvin supported Gothy on his right arm and Mousie on his left, helping guide them to the table. Both women wore happy, sated, sleepy smiles as they thanked him. Handing each of them a small remote, he gave Desiree a devilish grin. “You’re very welcome. Enjoy dinner.”

Desiree swallowed when she took her seat, her eyes darting back and forth between Gothy and Mousie. “We don’t want to ruin the meal that we’re about to have.”

“Oh, it won’t be ruined at all,” Alvin smirked. “Ask Gothy tomorrow about the marble and rubber thimble that she wore in Beatty.”

“I enjoyed it, even if it was torture at the time,” Gothy said with a smile as she thumbed the remote on to its lowest setting.

Desiree sat up straighter. She inhaled sharply, her nostrils flaring.

Mousie giggled, “You made me wear that to bed once. It can be torture, delicious torture.” Clicking her remote on to the lowest setting, she gave Desiree a smile. “To the victor…”

“Go the spoils,” Desiree said tightly, trying to ignore the two vibrators that were now stimulating her.

“Dinner smells good,” Alvin commented. “Seems he’s going all out tonight.”

“You will be later,” Desiree said, staring at Alvin. “I’ll make sure of that.”

Gothy smiled, “I have XP on Hero to wear you out first.”

“I agree with Gothy,” Mousie added.

Desiree considered taking the bets and was about to reply, but Gothy slipped the power setting on her remote to max. Desiree grabbed the table and panted, her eyelids fluttering as the toy pushed her hard. “No… bet…” she stammered out.

Gothy eased the toy back to the low setting, “Good call.”

Taking a few deep breaths, Desiree shook her head, “You are evil… I love you.”

Mousie pouted, “Not me?” She did not give Desiree a chance to answer, pushing the vibrator up a notch.

“Oh, you too, Mousie. I love you just as much as Gothy and Hero.”

“Good, but it’s staying at that setting for a bit to make me feel better.”

Desiree moaned slightly as she shifted in her seat. “Next time, maybe I’ll lose so I can return this favor.”

“No, you won’t,” Gothy snorted. “You’re too competitive, like me.”

“She’s right, you know,” Alvin snickered.

“Dinner,” Jarvis announced as he stepped back from the stove. Looking over his shoulder at the four of them, he nodded. “Ah, you’re all here. I’ll serve.”

Chapter Twenty-seven

The next morning, Alvin chuckled to himself as he dried off. Dinner was fun with Jarvis doing his best to ignore our antics at the table. The terror worm meat was different... reminded me of snake. The fear resistance buff it gave on top of the standard food buff was interesting, too. Should sell some of that off to Susan so they can have it on hand if the fish-demon attacks them. Once he was dry, Alvin summoned his clothes and left the bedroom.

“Was wondering what was taking you so long, Hero,” Gothy said.

“Decided to take a quick rinse,” Alvin replied. “How is she doing?”

“Good,” Mousie smiled. “Jarvis is having to help her more than he did me, but she is adapting quickly.”

Alvin smiled toward Desiree’s back as she worked at the stove. “If I’m not exhausted one of these nights, I’ll have to see about waking up early and cooking for you.”

“I would love that,” Mousie beamed.

“I think that would be nice,” Gothy agreed.

“See what I can do,” Alvin said. “Maybe we’ll stop early for the night and I can do dinner instead. Not like I have to stay in the game for a set length of time now.”

“No, you just have weekly quests,” Gothy said. “You finished the new one yesterday, didn’t you?”

“That was the third kiosk I visited. It’s funny because, with Fast Travel, I could zip between three places easily. I bet they fix that quest to read differently now that Fast Travel is out of the bag.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t another ‘help the settlement’ quest, otherwise we might be stuck helping Levelland deal with Lubbock.”

“Maybe. I’m sure we could have found a different settlement before time was up.”

“Well done,” Jarvis said when Desiree finished cooking.

“Thank you, Jarvis. My cooking is at novice rank now.”

“I’m glad to help,” Jarvis said. “Let’s get everyone served.”

Alvin smiled at Desiree, pulling her in for a quick kiss when she put a plate in front of him. “Thank you.”

“I hope you like it.”

“I’ve been wondering about your need for lumios; how have we been handling that?” Alvin asked as he looked at his plate of cheesy scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and toast.

“I’ve been supplementing her drinks, sir,” Jarvis said. “The kiosk has access to powdered lumios, thanks to you having access to her world.”

“Thanks,” Alvin said sincerely. “I should have thought about it before.”

“A competent butler helps make life easier for his employer, sir.”

“I would have taken care of it,” Desiree said, taking her seat. “Jarvis made it a non-issue.”

“Glad to assist,” Jarvis said as he put his napkin on his lap.

“We’re doing more driving today, maybe helping a settlement or two. If this goes really well, we’ll reach the Army depot. I’m not holding out hope for that, though, not with the way things normally go for us,” Alvin said. “First, let’s eat this wonderful meal that our wife has provided to us.”

Breakfast was decent, though not close to the quality they had come to expect from Jarvis’ cooking. Desiree ate hers with a frown, even though the others tried to compliment her.

Jarvis cleared his throat, “Desiree, it isn’t bad. Considering that it was your first attempt to cook with food from Earth, it is remarkably good. When you add in the fact you hadn’t had any training under the system in place for cooking, it is very well done. I know you feel it suffers, even compared to Mousie’s effort, but she’s made a number of meals since her first attempt. If you would like to improve quickly, I can help you learn, but you will need to assist me with breakfast every day.”

Desiree nodded, “Thank you, Jarvis, but I don’t want to bring down the quality of the—”

“Nonsense,” Jarvis interrupted her. “I will cook, and you will assist me. That will give you the practice needed to increase your skill. Next week, you can cook again and you’ll see the difference. It’s mainly a matter of lack of skill under the system in place, is all.”

Desiree looked at the others, who gave her encouraging nods. “Okay. Thank you.”

“I’m going to cook dinner tonight, Jarvis. Can you prep some bacon at some point today?”

“I can, sir.”

“Thanks, I’ll handle the rest.”

“Very well, sir.”

“Okay ladies, five minutes and we’re out the door.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“You got it, Hero.”

~*~*~

The Humvee rolled down the farm road. Gothy watched the fields go by from her spot in the gunner’s position. Mousie looked out the rear driver’s side window, looking from field to unmoving oil pump, but not seeing anything of note. Desiree sat in the passenger seat, paying attention to the surroundings on her side.

“Which small town are we dropping into this time?” Gothy asked after a few minutes.

“Lorenzo,” Alvin replied. “I’m pretty sure that Idalou got wiped out by the undead. Lorenzo isn’t far past that, but it might not be gone.”

“Guess we’ll find out,” Gothy said.

A little over an hour later, they reached the outskirts of what had been Lorenzo, Texas. Gothy stared at the graveyard as they passed it. “Hero, all of those graves were open.”

“It’s not just the recently dead that can stand up,” Alvin said. “We just don’t see the old ones often. I would imagine they’d have some negatives from having been embalmed and in the ground for so long.”

“Makes me think Lorenzo might not be in good shape,” Gothy said.

“Fair point. Keep your eyes peeled. We’ll be rolling on through unless we see the living.”

As they got farther into the small town, the evidence of battle became clear. Stretches of houses had been engulfed in fire at some point, leaving only charred debris behind. Some cars were dented but were not near any other vehicle with similar damage, and at least one was a burned-out shell.

“Don’t like this,” Alvin muttered. “If there were people left, they wouldn’t leave something like that laying out in the road.”

“Contact,” Gothy said sharply, turning the M2 to face the movement she had seen.

Gunfire ricocheted off the Humvee. Gothy and Desiree fired back in the direction of the muzzle flashes from whoever was attacking them. Mousie waited, Type 56 in hand, ready to shoot at anything that presented itself on her side of the vehicle.

“Damned banks are getting pushy,” Gothy said as she peppered the bank with controlled bursts.

“They just want us to deposit our XP,” Alvin chuckled.

“I’d rather make a withdrawal,” Gothy laughed.

“I’m not going to stop unless the gunplay ends,” Alvin told her. “I’m heading for US 82, which is just a couple blocks ahead.”

“Okay, Hero,” Gothy said. They began taking gunfire from a nearby church, which kept coming even with Gothy and Desiree punching holes through the walls. “Damned undead.”

“Are you sure it was undead?” Mousie asked.

“I caught a glimpse of one.”

“I don’t see anything on this side,” Mousie said.

“Making a left on the next street,” Alvin warned them.

“I’m done,” Desiree said. “The angle is bad now.”

“Reloading,” Gothy sighed. “I hate shooting and getting nothing for it.”

“No idea what we’re dealing with there,” Alvin told her. “Not worth trying to gather whatever we might have killed when we have no idea what they might have waiting for us.”

“I get it, Hero. Still don’t like it, though.”

“Fair enough, Gothy.”

Nothing else attacked them as they drove away from Lorenzo. Gothy glanced back a few times, but nothing was following them. Wrecked vehicles littering US 82 made Alvin travel more slowly than he wanted, but he chose to do that rather than needlessly damage the Humvee.

The ten mile trip to Ralls was as close to boring as they had encountered during this trip. As they approached the small town, Gothy frowned at the cluster of large buildings on the outskirts. She could see they had been attacked, but since they were still standing, it meant that something had stopped the fire.

“Hero, I’m seeing signs that people were here after the Rapture.”

“Maybe they’re still here, or it could be undead.”

“We’re ready,” Desiree said.

“That graveyard has seen activity. There are shovels and picks still in the ground. All the graves I can see have been dug up,” Gothy said as they passed it.

“Damned undead,” Alvin sighed.

They were halfway through the town when someone came running out of a convenience store, waving at them. Gothy exhaled sharply— she had brought the gun around, but stopped herself from firing.

“Idiot must have a death wish,” she muttered.

Alvin stopped the Humvee, putting it into reverse and backing up enough so he could talk to the woman through the passenger window. “You alone?”

“No, we have a few hundred people here,” the woman said. “You’re the first living people we’ve seen from the west since this all started.”

“Seen undead from the west?” Alvin asked.

“Yeah. The mayor will want to talk with you,” the woman said. “He’s up at the high school.”

“Why is it always schools?” Mousie asked from the backseat.

“Large building already divided into smaller rooms,” Alvin answered before turning back to the woman. “Which way?”

“Second left. It’s just a few blocks down, you can’t miss it.”

“Will do, thanks,” Alvin said.

“Be safe. We have trouble with the undead at times,” she warned them.

“Undead aren’t a problem for us,” Gothy smirked down at the woman, patting the machine gun.

“I bet not.”

Alvin got the Humvee back in gear and drove away. The woman walked back to the convenience store. Gothy watched her go and shook her head, then turned her attention back to their surroundings.

They found the high school in an area of burned down houses. Desiree nodded, “They cleared a ring around their base to stop anything from sneaking up on it. Except for those other two large buildings.”

“City office is what we passed, and the other one still has the sign for the middle school,” Gothy said. “Probably using them for other things now.”

Pulling into the parking lot, Alvin found a spot away from the dozen pickup trucks already there. “Small towns and trucks make sense in farm country.”

“I think the buildings we passed on the outskirts were warehouses for the cotton company in town. The sign was damaged, but that’s what I think it said,” Gothy said.

“Hopefully they’ll switch over to food crops this coming spring,” Alvin said. “Cotton is good, but food is better. Probably be worth more to the Dwarves, too.”

“I wonder about that,” Gothy said. “You can buy basic food on the kiosk, so why would anyone be a farmer now?”

Alvin set the parking brake on the Humvee. “Hmm... maybe it gives bonuses to how much you grow? That would make it better to have a farmer than just buying it off the kiosk?” Killing the engine, he shook his head, “I’m sure Shawn could answer that. Beatty was setting up for a farm when they were still flip-flopping on game or not game.”

“Not that interested,” Gothy said as she closed up the gunner hatch.

By the time they had gotten out of Turtle, half a dozen people were standing in front of the school watching them. The two groups exchanged appraising glances, but the people from town ended up gawking at Mousie and Desiree more than they did anything else.

“We were directed this way to see your leader,” Alvin said bluntly. “Didn’t expect a welcoming committee.”

A man wearing fatigues nodded, “He sent me out to bring you in, and the others wanted to see the first living people to come from the west since this shit started. I’m right curious where you got an armored Humvee.”

“Salvage,” Alvin shrugged. “Let’s go. Where is your kiosk at, by the way?”

“You needing to resupply?” one of the two women asked.

“Something along those lines,” Alvin replied.

“The mayor can answer his questions,” the man in fatigues said, cutting off any further conversation. “You all have jobs to do. Let me do mine.”

“Just because you were in the reserve, Darryl, doesn’t make you the boss,” one of the other men snapped.

Darryl did not react. Instead, he stepped up to the door of the school and opened it. “Mayor is this way.”

“We’re following,” Alvin said, falling into step behind the women.

As the door was closing behind Alvin, he could hear one woman whispering to the other one, “Can you believe she’s just parading—”

Chuckling, Alvin met Mousie’s eyes just as she turned back around, having also heard the whispered conversation. They both looked at Desiree and shared another look.

“Later,” Alvin said softly, getting a nod from Mousie in return.

Alvin saw upgrades that were clearly from the kiosk as they walked through the high school, but not all of them were useful. The flooring was marble and the walls were hardwood, making Alvin frown at the wasted XP.

Darryl opened the door to what had been the library, “He’s inside.”

Alvin was immediately struck with how much XP had to have been sunk into the room. Electronic equipment took up an entire wall, manned by three older women, who were relaying information into radios. A large desk took up one corner of the room. Sitting behind it was an older man with grey temples, going over paperwork.

“Mayor Rogers, here are the people to see you.”

The mayor looked up, clearly intending to speak, but he just blinked at them for a long moment. Clearing his throat, the mayor tried again, “I hadn’t expected non-Humans.”

“Desiree is a Twurgh, or Dwarf, and Mousie is a Queen’s Elf,” Alvin explained.

“How did they come to be in your company?”

“Long story,” Alvin shrugged. “The short answer is that I stepped through a couple of the Gates that are scattered over the world. Now I’m married to them and Gothy.”

The mayor’s lips puckered in displeasure, “Polygamy is a crime.”

“In the United States it was, but the U.S. isn’t around anymore,” Alvin said bluntly. “What is left are settlements like this one, trying to survive the changed world.”

“As much as I’d like to dispute that, I can’t. No one has answered any of our requests for aid. Please, be seated.”

“Don’t intend to stay that long,” Alvin said. “Hope to use the kiosk and then get back on the road.”

The mayor stared at him with dark eyes. “There is only death outside of our town.”

“I can see why you’d think that, but you’d be wrong. There are settlements like this one across the country. I’ve visited nearly a dozen of them. Stepped through four Gates, as well.”

The three women manning the electronics stopped working and turned to listen, and Darryl shifted behind them. Mayor Rogers shook his head, “Can you prove any of that?”

Alvin looked at Desiree and Mousie, then back to the mayor. “What more proof do you need?”

“Proof that other Human settlements have survived,” Rogers said firmly. “These… people… might not have the best interest of Humans at heart.”

“We don’t,” Mousie said bluntly. “I have Hero’s and Gothy’s best interests at heart. The rest of Humanity has done very little to impress me.”

“I agree with her,” Desiree added. “I’ll add that my people’s interests are still relevant to me, as well.”

“Where’s your kiosk?” Alvin asked. “After I see it, I can prove what I’m saying is true.”

“And how would you do that?” Rogers asked.

Alvin sighed, “You know what? Never mind. I doubt I’ll ever want to come back here.” He turned and took a step toward the door.

“I didn’t dismiss you!” Rogers snapped, rising to his feet.

“Don’t give a fuck,” Alvin said as he walked toward the door.

“Darryl, stop that man!” Rogers commanded.

Darryl’s gun had not cleared its holster before Desiree was in her battle armor and Mousie’s blade sliced into his arm, making him drop the weapon. Before he could do more, Desiree grabbed and threw the man at the mayor. Both men exclaimed in pain when they collided and collapsed to the floor.

Alvin had his UMP in hand while Gothy held her shotgun. “Don’t try that again if you want to live past today,” Alvin said coldly as he backed toward the door.

The three women had dropped to the ground and were huddling under their desks, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. Mayor Rogers looked over the top of his desk, glaring at them with hatred. “Think you can attack me and just leave?”

Gothy’s shotgun barked and the mayor’s head jerked backward. “Try to stop us and you’re dead. It’s a simple equation.”

Wiping the blood from his unarmored face, the mayor’s nostrils flared. “We’ll loot you, take your stuff, and use it for the betterment of Ralls.”

“No. You’l—” Alvin started, but the doors behind them burst open, revealing five men in riot gear carrying shotguns.

The sound of gunshots filled the room as the new arrivals opened fire on Alvin and his wives. Alvin turned with Desiree and Mousie to kill the newcomers, while Gothy sprinted at the mayor’s desk, firing the remaining rounds in her shotgun to pin the mayor and Darryl down.

Alvin did not flinch when the shotguns fired. He aimed and fired in controlled bursts at his chosen target. The man he picked had the foresight to be wearing a ballistic helmet that had obviously been upgraded, so Alvin was just chipping durability off it, but he still flinched as the bullets struck his face.

The men were not prepared for Desiree and Mousie. Mousie separated two of the men away from the other three and began to dismantle their armor. Desiree just smiled as she extended her arms at the other three and flame sprayed forth, hitting all of them.

With the men engaged, Alvin switched to his warhammer and joined Mousie on her two. The three that Desiree was dealing with dropped to the floor, trying to smother the flames unsuccessfully. Desiree had upgraded her flamers to leave burning gel behind, so they could not put themselves out.

When their attackers lay dead, Alvin turned to find Gothy walking toward them, her warhammer dripping blood. “Done?”

“Both dead,” Gothy replied. “The women are just trembling in place asking not to be killed over and over.”

“Not interested in them,” Alvin shrugged. “Looted and ready to go?”

“Of course.”

“Let’s see if anyone else is responding to whatever alarm the idiot pressed.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

No one else tried to stop them as they left Ralls. Once they were back on the road, Gothy kept an eye out behind them to make sure no posse was going to come after them.

Twenty minutes later, they were rolling into Crosbyton. The streets were a mess and it took Alvin considerable time to detour around the worst tangles. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree killed a few mutated animals, but there were no other threats. Alvin paused long enough for Mousie to loot each of the corpses.

“No living or dead,” Gothy commented as they left Crosbyton behind. “Maybe they went to Ralls or to whatever the next town this way is?”

“Could be. It’s a small town, but there might have been a handful or three that survived the first few days,” Alvin shrugged. “Next town is Dickens, and that should be the start of cattle country.”

There was a ridgeline between Crosbyton and Dickens. Behind that ridgeline, they found massive fields that looked as though they stretched for miles. No movement could be seen in the fallow fields as they went past. The trip between the two towns lacked any discernible threats, although there was a flock of giant birds that startled and took flight from one field.

“Don’t know what they used to be, but they’re not coming this way,” Gothy commented. “Looks like Ralls isn’t coming after us, either.”

“Would be free loot for us if they did,” Alvin replied. “I think the guys who tried to help the mayor were the best they had.”

“Pretty sad,” Mousie snorted.

“‘Sad little king of a sad little town,’” Gothy snorted, quoting one of her favorite shows. “If he’d just been polite, he’d still be alive.”

“People are people,” Alvin said.

“I’m not seeing movement from any of the farmhouses we’re passing, but I do see buildings coming up near the main road.”

“Should be Dickens.”

“Wonder if they’ll be like Morton or more like Ralls?” Desiree asked.

“We’ll find out soon,” Alvin replied.

The first few buildings had once been businesses and it was clear people had been through them recently. The doors were all standing propped open, and some debris littered the parking lots.

“Clearly someone helped themselves to the stores,” Gothy said.

“Means survivors, at least in the short term,” Alvin nodded.

“That liquor store met a bad end,” Gothy pointed out a few minutes later when they passed the charred remains of a building.

The town was mostly intact besides a few burned buildings they could see as they drove slowly past.

“Courthouse... no vehicles there,” Gothy mentioned.

“The sheriff’s office is standing open,” Desiree added.

“No moveme—” Gothy started, but cut off abruptly. “I see a tractor moving just ahead and to the left.”

“Hopefully they’re people,” Alvin said, slowing the Humvee more as they approached a large building with construction equipment and gravel in the massive yard. One of the tractors was loading gravel into a semi.

As they got closer, four men came out to meet them. They carried their guns at the ready, but not fully raised. One of them raised a hand, indicating that they should stop.

“You know, if we were psychotic, we could just mow people down, loot all their stuff, and keep going. Fortunately for them, using their kiosk is better for me.”

“Where y’all from?” the man in the lead asked when Alvin pulled up alongside them. “Where’d you get the Humvee?”

“The west, and from a destroyed base,” Gothy replied. “We didn’t think anyone was left in town. You’re the first people we’ve seen here.”

“Because those of us who survived left the town. There’s nothing here to support us. Luckily, we’ve got a good place now, and the kiosk has been a damned godsend.”

“Where are you all based?” Gothy asked.

The men exchanged a glance before the leader spoke again, “That depends on your intentions.”

Alvin opened his window, “We’d like to use the kiosk. After that, we’ll be back on the road. Why the gravel?”

“We’ve got uses for it,” the leader said. “You going to be civil if we let you use it?”

“We’re civil right up until someone attacks us,” Alvin shrugged. “If that happens, we have a tendency to kill those involved, loot them, and move on.”

“Not very reassuring,” the leader said tightly.

“I could lie, but I think honesty is better.”

Snorting, the leader lowered his rifle. “Fine. We’ll be done here in a bit. Just pull in and wait until we’re loaded up.”

“Okay.”

“How many of you are there?” one of the others asked.

“Four,” Alvin replied.

“She have a sister?” the youngest of the group asked, his eyes fixed on Gothy.

“No. I’d recommend you don’t stare at any of us like that, either,” Gothy said flatly. “One of us doesn’t like men.”

The young man’s face twisted up in a scowl until the leader slapped the back of his head. “Behave, Clyde. Guests, ‘specially civil guests, are as rare as hen’s teeth these days.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Clyde said and walked away, rubbing his head where he had been slapped.

“I’ll just pull over here and wait,” Alvin said and closed his window.

It was nearly an hour before the men had the semi-trucks loaded. Pulling up alongside the Humvee in one of their pickup trucks, the leader looked up at Gothy, “We’re good to go. Just follow us… if we do get attacked by anything, are you willing to lend a hand?”

“As long as the loot is split evenly,” Gothy replied. “What’s out here to attack people?”

“Some of the buzzards have gotten a bit big,” the man replied. “Follow us.”

“Hard to get this gun pointed that high,” Gothy said as they pulled out behind the last truck. “The top is wide open, too. We should look into something to help those two things.”

“I have,” Alvin replied. “It’s one of the reasons I’m hoping the Army depot is going to work out.”

“I’m hoping, too,” Gothy said.

Twenty minutes later, Desiree sat up straighter, “What in the world?”

“They used to be cows,” Alvin chuckled.

“They’re bigger than bison now,” Gothy added.

“Just one of those could feed so many people,” Desiree said.

“I think you’re going to see even more of them,” Alvin added as he noticed the turn off sign. “‘Pitchfork Cattle Co.’ This must be where they set up shop, and it’s not a bad idea.”

He was right— the convoy slowed down to turn onto the ranch access road. The truck they were following slowed, and the driver motioned them toward the first building.

Pulling into the circular driveway, Alvin noted the three men on the roof of the large building with scoped rifles that were eyeing them with interest. “Just in case things go sideways, be ready to make a fighting retreat to the Humvee.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“If it goes bad, I’d rather kill them all and loot them,” Gothy said, “but I understand the sentiment.”

Alvin parked the Humvee and got out while Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree waited in the vehicle. The leader from Dickens got out of his truck right after. “Kiosk in there?”

“As well as the leader of our settlement. She’ll want to talk with you and hear what you’ve seen.”

“Fair trade,” Alvin said. “The ladies with me are going to get out now. Tell your boys not to shoot. One of them is going to cause a bit of a commotion.”

“Why’s that?”

“She’s not Human,” Alvin replied.

Eyebrow going up, the man nodded slowly, “Okay.” Pulling a radio from thin air, he gave the order. “If she does anything to endanger the people here…”

“As long as no one attacks or insults her, everything will be fine,” Alvin replied. “Ladies, come on out.”

Desiree was first, and a few appreciative whistles drifted down from the roof. Looking up at the men, she shook her head and her outfit changed. Now clad in leather pants, combat boots, a black shirt, and a denim jacket, she still made an impact, though not nearly as bold as her form-fitting bodysuit.

Mousie was the second one out of the Humvee, and the men on the roof were silent as they stared at her. Moving with liquid grace, she put her hand on Desiree’s shoulder. Her cold, contemptuous gaze briefly met the eyes of the onlookers.

Gothy chuckled as she got out last, drawing everyone’s gaze. She moved with grace few Humans could match, her physique on par with Olympic athletes. Eyes sparkling with unspoken humor, she slapped Alvin’s ass. “I think we’ve stunned them, Hero.”

“Not surprising,” Alvin chuckled. “You’d be enough all on your own, and our other wives are just as stunning in their own ways.”

“Wives?” the man from Dickens asked in shock.

“All three of them,” Alvin smiled. “You were leading us to this boss of yours?”

“Lucky fuck,” the words were easy to hear from one of the men on the roof.

“Yep,” Gothy laughed.

“Follow me,” the man said, moving toward what looked like an ordinary house.

The building might have looked like a regular home from the outside, but when they entered it, Alvin was surprised at the interior walls. “Steel-plated?”

“Even your Ma Deuce would have trouble chewing through it,” the man chuckled.

“Set up for defense. Have you had trouble?”

“Not yet, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure later.”

“Indeed,” Desiree agreed. “Wise leaders know this.”

Their guide led them to a door, knocked, and opened it without waiting. “The travelers are here, Rebs.”

“Good to meetcha.” The head of the settlement was not what any of them expected.

Alvin eyed the young strawberry-blonde haired woman with a raised eyebrow. “Game experience won out, did it?”

“As soon as the kiosk appeared, I was able to get them to listen to me,” she replied with a smile. “I’m Rebecca, but everyone here calls me Rebs.”

“I used to be a Rebecca,” Gothy chuckled. “I’m Gothy now. He’s Hero, though he’ll tell you his name is Alvin. Our wives, Mousie and Desiree.”

“Wives? Someone got himself a harem,” Rebs said, giving Alvin an appreciative once-over. “Can’t blame you all. Damned good-looking, ain’t he?”

“It’s more Gothy’s harem,” Alvin said. “She convinced me that sharing is caring.”

“Sharing is caring?” Rebs asked with a grin.

Gothy sighed, “Sorry, he said only one member of each race in the harem.”

Laughing, Rebs shook her head. “I wouldn’t have said no before all this, but I ain’t leaving my people and I doubt you’d all settle down here.”

“Smart,” Alvin said. “We were hoping to use the kiosk before we head back out. Since you’re being hospitable, we’ll even tell you what we know and have seen since the Rapture.”

“Good, that’s what I was hoping for.” Rebs looked to the man who had led them into the room, “Can you tell Liz that I need some drinks and snacks?”

“I was hoping to hear what they had to say, too.”

“We’ll wait. Go on now,” Rebs said, shooing him away. “The sooner you get back, the sooner they can tell us.”

“Fine,” he sighed.

“My dad. He was the foreman here,” Rebs said once he was gone. “He means well, and he helps keep the others in line for me.”

“Reminds me of Susan,” Gothy said, “minus the triple-F cups.”

“Agreed,” Alvin said.

“Says the woman wearing the corset and making me jealous,” Rebs snickered.

Gothy was suddenly in her black dress, “Better?”

“Damn. Yes and no,” Rebs sighed.

The conversation was limited to light banter until Rebs’ father, Harry, returned. Alvin launched into a recounting of what they had seen and done since the Rapture, and heard about what life on the ranch had been like in return.

“We can contact the Dwarves, Elves, and Greys, but it’s going to be a real bitch to pull it off,” Rebs said. “Be even more frustrating to send people to the settlements you’re friendly with.”

“That’s the long and short of it,” Alvin nodded.

“We have enough people to set up five envoys, and it’d be good to shift some of our people, anyway,” Harry said, standing up. “I’ll go put together a list of people I trust to handle the trips and make sure the people get there.”

“Would y’all like to stay for dinner?” Rebs asked when Harry left the room.

“I promised to cook for th—” Alvin began before he was cut off.

“We’d love to,” Gothy said. “We don’t find friendly people often, Hero. Let’s be nice tonight.”

“Fine,” Alvin said, giving in to what Gothy wanted, “if Desiree and Mousie agree.”

“Whatever Gothy wishes,” Mousie replied.

“And you can cook for us tomorrow,” Desiree said.

“Guess that settles that,” Alvin chuckled. “What time is dinner?”

“About an hour?” Rebs said. “Do you want to rest until then?”

“If you have a room that we can use for a few, that’d be helpful,” Alvin said.

“No problem. Follow me,” Rebs smiled, leading them from the room.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Alvin stepped into his base once they had been shown to a room. “Jarvis?”

“I understand, sir. I’ll put everything on hold until tomorrow. Should I hold breakfast? It is likely they will expect you to attend then, as well.”

“Might as well. We can always jump back here if they don’t.”

“Very well, sir.”

“We’ll be ready in a few, Hero,” Gothy said as she, Mousie, and Desiree went toward the bedroom.

“Got it. I’m going to get a few things ready. Don’t get too carried away.”

Gothy winked, “No promises.”

“Did you need my assistance with anything, sir?”

“Whip up the best dessert you can sell via the auction house. I’ll buy it and pick it up at their kiosk in two hours?”

“Very well, sir.” Jarvis started to take things out of the fridge.

“Kiosk time for me. Rebs might think everyone will be on board, but I bet she’ll have at least a bit of opposition,” Alvin muttered as he walked toward the kiosk.

~*~*~

An hour later, they went back through the portal to find Rebs sitting in a chair, waiting for them. “I wondered why you didn’t answer the door. Stepping out of thin air is different... would make magic tricks easy.”

“Base portal,” Alvin said. “We wanted to pick up a few things to make the coming conversation easier for you.”

“We also wanted to freshen up,” Gothy said, again in her formal black dress.

Rebs eyed the three women, “Talk about running the spectrum. Those dresses… it’s unfair, it really is.”

“We’ve been able to visit some places with quality tailors,” Gothy smiled. “You’ll have that ability soon if you can afford the kiosk upgrades.”

“That’s going to be the difficult part,” Rebs sighed, “but I’m sure I can get things to work out.”

“You only need envoys for the Gates. The different settlements just need traders,” Alvin reminded her. “You can set as few or as many traders as you want, since they will just give discounts. You really want the envoys, though. That’s the big one that lets options from the other worlds show up in your kiosk.”

“Yeah. I looked into that. We’d still need to send a trader to each one for the discounts, too. At least they’ll be immune to damage as long as they don’t do anything stupid,” Rebs said. “I have my father picking people. He’s starting with our dead weight. Going to make them all traders.”

Alvin laughed, “Smart.”

“I’d like to know what each race likes in an envoy, though.”

“Information is costly,” Alvin grinned.

“Yeah and I can’t use my feminine wiles on you to cheapen the price, either,” Rebs said bluntly, “not when you have those three. What do you want?”

“I’d take five healthy cows and one bull. Going to resell them to a father-in-law.”

Desiree smiled softly, “Really, Hero?”

“Yup.”

“I’ll repay you for that later.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Done,” Rebs snorted. “You must not know how fast they breed now.”

“I don’t.”

“Let’s just say beef isn’t going to be in short supply.”

“Good to know,” Alvin chuckled. “I also have a few things you might be interested in, to show your people some of the benefits of envoys and traders.” He pulled out a collection of jewelry. “Equip those to your accessory spots and invoke them. You might want to stand up first.”

Rebs took the items slowly, clearly wondering what they were and if it was a trap. After examining the pieces for a long moment, she shrugged and put them on. A moment later, she was covered in battle armor. “What in the fuck? Power armor?”

“‘Battle armor’ is what the Dwarves call it. It runs on lumios, a power source on their world. These have batteries. To repair them, you’ll need someone with the craft to do so, but they can be modified to have independent air instead of filtered air, radios added, flamethrowers, and some other stuff. I haven’t tested to see if they make you stronger or anything... probably should have.”

The armor condensed back down to the accessories. “How much?”

“For you, fifty thousand XP. That’s what they sell for in the kiosk.”

Rebs sucked in a hard breath, “Fucking shit. If I get the kiosk upgrade to send goods, I can’t afford that. We’ve been running lean since I’ve been upgrading everything here that I can. Even selling the extra animals off hasn’t netted us enough of a nest egg to cover both.”

“Hero?” Gothy asked.

“Fine, what can you afford?” Alvin asked.

“I could do forty thousand,” Rebs said.

“Just get me a card,” Alvin nodded. “I’ll take the loss.” Alvin kept his face smooth when he said it, knowing he would still make a profit, just not as much as it could have been.

“I’ll do it before dinner starts. There aren’t any more Humvees laying around where you got yours, are there?”

“There were, but the dragon was still there, too. And Hawthorne is a long way from here.”

“Yeah,” Rebs agreed, “bit much to ask for that, I guess.” Shaking her head, the young woman sighed. “Dinner should be ready in fifteen. It’s held in the mess hall, the building just down and across the road from here.”

“We’ll be there,” Alvin said.

“I’ll go get the XP and take care of upgrading the kiosk,” Rebs said. “We normally hold meetings during dinner, so I apologize for that.”

“We’ve seen it done before,” Gothy said. “Besides, I’m sure that your people will have questions.”

Alvin’s eye twitched, “Fun.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Gothy snickered. “You just sit there and look upset.”

“That I can do.”

“We know,” Mousie said.

“Et tu, Mousie?” Alvin asked dramatically, clutching at his chest.

The women all laughed at him.

Before Rebs left, Alvin gave her a quick overview of each race and what kind of person he thought would best work as an envoy for each. Rebs promised to have the animals ready for him in the morning, then left to get the XP card.

“Maybe we should walk over early,” Desiree suggested.

“Works,” Alvin shrugged, changing into his formal clothing. “Let’s go see if they’re going to be civil or hicks.”

Outside the building, Alvin looked up at the roof where the three men with rifles were sitting. “We don’t know what the fuck happened to your Humvee,” one of them said quickly. “It was there and then it was gone.”

“I know,” Alvin said. “It’s being repaired.”

“But… how?” one of the others asked.

“You going to be at dinner?” Alvin asked.

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be mostly explained then. That’s the mess hall, right?” Alvin asked, pointing at the building he thought it was.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

“All three of them are married to him,” one of the guys muttered. “How the fuck does he walk without limping? How the fuck does he walk at all?”

Mousie snickered softly, hearing it clearly. Once they were out of normal hearing range, she relayed it to the others and they shared a laugh.

“Some days, I feel like we should be the ones limping,” Desiree smirked at Alvin. “If it wasn’t for the automatic healing, we might be.”

“Says one of the three who likes me to keep going until everyone’s sated and I’m damned near raw,” Alvin countered.

“A fourth might be enough to hit that point,” Gothy added. “Have to make sure she’s worthy of being added.”

“Glad the Greys are ugly as fuck and sexless,” Alvin chuckled. “But, who knows what we might find next? If the undead are intelligent, we might find a zombie prostitute.”

Gothy blinked, “What?”

“Fuck, after 2000 again, sorry. Remind me to play some Voltaire for you. It’s a song of his... in fact, you’ll probably enjoy a lot of his music.”

“I’ll do that, but I think I’d decline a zombie. A vampire— a non-sparkly one that is, if she was pleasant and didn’t need too much blood— I might consider.”

“Surprised we haven’t seen them yet, honestly,” Alvin said. “Maybe they’re a European species.”

“We’ll find out eventually. We are going to go across the ocean at some point, I hope.”

“Maybe,” Alvin said. “Time will tell.”

“That is one thing about Humans that I was surprised about,” Mousie said. “You’ve been around your globe. My people are on a single continent. We’ve never tried to cross the ocean. I wonder what we’d find there?”

“The existence of oceans is weird,” Desiree chimed in. “All that water, unfrozen and salted. This world is beautiful and frightening with just how diverse it is. If Fast Travel becomes widespread, a lot of my kind will want to come here just to see it. A few might want to immigrate, move into a settlement, and craft.”

“Dwarven crafters,” Alvin smiled. “I’m sure they’d be welcomed in the right settlements.”

“What the fuck?” a surprised male voice asked as they approached the mess hall. A group of dusty men had just rounded the corner of the building and were staring at the four of them. “A Dro—”

“Queen’s Elf,” Alvin corrected him before he could finish the word. “She’s with me. Is that a problem?”

“She going to sacrifice us to L—”

“Shut up,” Alvin sighed, cutting him off again.

“Look, asshole,” the man bristled, “I’m just trying to find out if she’s a threat or not.”

“As long as you leave her alone, she isn’t. If someone messes with her… well, between her, Gothy, and Desiree, you might need a sponge to get enough for a funeral.”

“What about you?” one of the others asked.

“I’d burn the sponge,” Alvin replied with a false smile. “Rebs invited us to dinner. The question becomes, are we going to be friendly or not?”

The men exchanged a glance before the leader shrugged. “If Rebs cleared you to be here, then you’re fine. If, and I want it said, if any of you cause problems, we’ll be ready for you.”

“Problem?” Harry asked, stepping out of the mess hall.

“Not for us,” Alvin said.

“No, Harry. Just surprised, was all,” the man said.

“They’re important guests, William,” Harry said pointedly. “Once you hear what they’ve seen and done, you might regret your attitude.”

Frowning, the group of cowboys entered the mess hall.

“Sorry about that. I thought she was going to bring you over.”

“Rebs had to make a stop before dinner, she said,” Alvin shrugged. “Kind of used to people reacting badly at first. They were smart enough not to draw a weapon, at least.”

“Small mercies. Come on in. You’ll be sitting with Rebs and me tonight. I’ll show you to the table.”

“Appreciate it.”

The mess hall looked like most cafeterias: lots of tables and chairs. The sounds of cooking came from behind a set of double doors along the back wall close to the table Harry led them to. There were only a dozen people in the room currently, though it could easily hold a couple hundred.

As the time for dinner drew closer, more people wandered in. The room was largely filled when a chime sounded outside. Those already inside sat down, and the few stragglers hunted for space at the mostly full tables. Rebs was one of the last people to enter the room.

“All right, as y’all noticed, we have some newcomers. The important bit is that they ain’t here to stay. These four have come all the way from California,” Rebs said without preamble as she crossed the room, motioning to Alvin’s group. The clamor of too many people trying to talk at once drowned her out, so she stopped. She got to the table where Alvin’s group was seated and whistled loudly. The shrill sound cut through the babble like a knife. “I know, it was a shock to me, too. I’ll fill y’all in on what we know now and what we’re going to be doing with that new information. First, though, who’s hungry? Let’s have some food!”

The proclamation was met with cheers. The double doors opened up and five people pushed large carts into the room. Each cart was parked at one end of a row of tables and the people guiding them started handing plates of food out. It only took a few minutes for everyone to be served, and there was no waiting; people started eating immediately. Once everyone had been served, the cooks wheeled the carts back to the kitchen and returned a moment later with their own plates.

Alvin chuckled at his plate; it was as Texas as you could get. It was loaded with barbecued meat with sides of beans, coleslaw, and cornbread. Conversations and the sound of people eating dominated the hall for a while. As people finished their food, the overall volume rose.

Rebs pushed her empty plate away, cleaning her hands and finishing her drink before she grabbed a microphone from her bags. “Okay, y’all, let me get this started.”

Her amplified voice cut through conversations, and everyone turned their attention to Rebs. She told them a shortened version of what Alvin had explained to her. When she finished, she set the microphone down, stood up, and was suddenly covered in battle armor.

The room exploded with various exclamations of shock and surprise, and about half the people in the room stood up, some of them climbing onto their chairs or the tables, trying to get a better look. Rebs took a slow walk around the room so everyone could get a good look at what she was wearing. Once she returned to her chair, the armor vanished, leaving Rebs in the same shirt and jeans she had been wearing.

She picked up the microphone, but waited another minute to let everyone collect themselves before she started speaking again, “That’s the easiest thing to show you that we can get from Desiree’s people,” Rebs nodded to Desiree. “They are the Twurgh, or Dwarves. Mousie’s people have barrier glyphs that act like force fields and block damage. The real kicker is that the Greys have a way to travel from settlement to settlement quickly. Good ol’ Fast Travel, for those who’ve played some games. To get ahold of all this, we need to send people out to contact each of them.”

Harry stood up, accepting the microphone from Rebs. “I’ve already picked out my first choices for our envoys and traders. Y’all will have the chance to decline, but these two jobs will make it worth it for all of us. I’ll be pulling you aside tonight. Getting the envoys to their destinations is going to be a right bitch.”

“Pack heavy and stay away from major population centers,” Alvin advised.

“What about them? Can’t they help us?” someone in the crowd asked.

“We have our own business to deal with,” Alvin replied. “We only stopped to use the kiosk so we can add it to our Fast Travel destinations. I have no intention of going back west, not until I’ve finished what I set out to do this time.”

“But—”

“No,” Rebs said loudly, taking the microphone back from her father. “They’ve been nice enough to give us this information. I’ve purchased the upgrade so we can ship things from kiosk to kiosk. We’re going to need that if we want to buy and sell stuff with these other people. We’re going to specialize in food, as we have been. The Dwarves will deal with us since they can use more food, and other settlements will deal with us ‘cause it will free up their people for other jobs. This is our chance to be the cornerstone of this new world. We’ll leverage our ability to supply food to trade for other goods.”

“But—”

“Dammit, William, shut the fuck up!” Rebs snapped. “Y’all appointed me leader because I had the most experience with the way things work now. Unless y’all want to vote somebody else into this job, just stop it.”

The crowd went silent and William glared at her. “We’ll see what happens next year.”

Rebs snorted, “By then, we’ll be so well off, no one will even consider you. Meeting’s done. Good night.”

Rebs stuffed the microphone into her bag and sat down, sliding an XP card to Alvin. “Here you go, for the armor.”

Alvin took it and let it dissolve, the XP rushing into him. “You up for dessert?”

“What you got?” Rebs asked, looking past him to the three women. “Neapolitan something?”

Gothy snickered, “I like her. He meant actual dessert, though we can discuss the other option while we have the first.”

Rebs shook her head, “I’d be bad. Y’all look good, but I’m a man only kinda girl. I don’t mind the banter and flirting, but I never crossed that line.”

“A pity,” Gothy sighed. “Dessert is still open.”

“I do like my sweets,” Rebs grinned. “Your room?”

“Have to get them from the kiosk,” Alvin said, “or I would, but yes, we can have dessert at our base instead. I want to stop by the kiosk on the way, first.”

Gothy’s eyes lit up, suddenly re-energized, “Oh, yes.”

“You mean the pocket dimension y’all have?”

“Yeah,” Alvin nodded.

“Y’all not planning on keeping me hostage, are you?” Rebs asked with a laugh.

“No,” Alvin chuckled. “You can leave when you want.”

“In that case, sure. I’ve been interested in what it’s like.”

“Follow me, then,” Alvin said, handing her a key.

Chapter Thirty

Alvin frowned at the strawberry-blonde hair nestled on his chest before his brain rebooted and supplied the relevant memories. That was a fun night, Alvin chuckled to himself.

Rebs murmured as she came awake, “College had nothing on that.”

“We like breaking previous highs,” Gothy murmured as she reached across Alvin to brush at Rebs’ hair.

“Didn’t just break it,” Rebs laughed lightly, “you blew the damned roof off. Probably just ruined me for regular relationships, honestly.”

“Hero has a way of doing that,” Mousie added from under the bed. “May I come out now?”

“I got her,” Desiree said, getting out of bed. “We’ll get the shower started.”

Rebs looked over as the two women walked to the shower. “Damn. Corruption level nine thousand.”

“It’s over nine thousand,” Alvin laughed.

“Can’t argue there. I still ain’t sure how we got to this point, exactly,” Rebs said, sitting up and stretching. “Dessert and a tour of the base, followed by the seemingly innocent idea of a shower, if I’m remembering correctly?”

“Well, our showers are different,” Gothy snickered as she got out of bed. “Let’s go get scrubbed up. Jarvis will be getting breakfast started soon.”

Rebs face went from relaxed to panicked in an instant. “Fuck. I need to get back. The morning meeting is going to start soon.”

“Your dad can’t handle it?” Alvin said as he watched Rebs jump out of bed with a bemused expression.

“I’d have to explain, and I really don’t want to explain,” Rebs muttered. “God might have fucked the world over, but Dad still has some old-fashioned views.”

Gothy sighed, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Rebs said, her clothing covering her. “I had a great time, really. I’ll see you after breakfast.” Rebs grabbed Gothy and kissed her hard before breaking it off and sprinting out of the room. “Sorry!” she called back to Jarvis, who she almost ran over at the door.

“Apology accepted,” Jarvis said as he dodged to the side. Jarvis looked into the room, then turned away and coughed. “Breakfast in an hour, sir,” he announced, then shut the open bedroom door.

“Well, you corrupted her pretty good, I’d say,” Alvin chuckled as he got out of bed.

Gothy sighed, “Yeah, but I was hoping for a little morning fun.”

Alvin grabbed her from behind. His hands were filled with her breasts and his fingers toyed with her piercings. “We can still manage that. We have an hour, after all.”

She let out a soft moan and pushed against him, “I meant with her, Hero. I’ll gladly accept what you’re willing to give me, though.”

“What we’re willing to give you,” Alvin whispered as he nipped her ear. “Our wives are waiting, Gothy. Let’s go join them.”

“Yes, Hero.”

~*~*~

Leaving the base a little over an hour later, the group was surprised to find Harry and Rebs waiting for them. “What’s up?” Alvin asked.

“We came to see you off, but also had a question to ask,” Harry said.

Rebs rolled her eyes behind Harry’s back. “We’ve got the people settled for traders and envoys, for the most part. We were hoping you’d be okay with sharing the safer roads or known hazards with us so we can plan accordingly.”

“Don’t mind at all,” Alvin said. “I need that key back, Rebs.”

Rebs glared at him, but wiped it away quickly when Harry turned to look at her. “Key?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think I left it in my room last night,” Rebs lied. “I’ll go grab it.”

“I got a map here,” Harry said, spreading a map out on the table in the room.

Rebs slipped out of the room and Gothy moved to the door. “I’ll be right back.”

Alvin nodded, “We’ll be here for a bit.”

Harry was leaving the room with the map when Gothy came back with Rebs. “I have the information,” he told his daughter, holding up the folded map.

“I’ll be over in a few and we can get routes set up. Going to show them out first,” Rebs said.

“Okay,” Harry said. “Thank y’all for stopping by.”

“Glad we did,” Alvin replied. “Meeting intelligent people has been a rare treat.”

Once Harry left, Rebs frowned at Alvin. “I kept him from knowing about last night and you almost blew that up.”

“Sorry?” Alvin said with a shrug. “You’re a grown up, so why does it matter? Sure, he might have old views, but—”

Rebs glared at him and Gothy sighed. “They get along, Hero. Some people want the respect and approval of their parents.”

“Ah. Got it. Sorry, Rebs.”

“It’s fine,” Rebs muttered. “Gothy explained some of it to me. I’d like it if y’all came back occasionally.”

“We will,” Gothy said. “Have to keep the corruption up. Can’t have you going all vanilla on us again.”

Rebs snickered, “I’ll try to resist the urge to get married, have two-point-five kids, a dog, and a white picket fence.”

“That would completely spoil the fun,” Alvin chuckled.

“Which is why I’ll resist,” Rebs replied. “Y’all are going back on the road, right?”

“Yup. Places to visit, things to kill, loot to grab,” Alvin replied.

“Hope I get to see y’all again soon.”

“Oh, you will,” Gothy said, hugging Rebs from behind and kissing her neck. “Haven’t finished breaking you yet.”

Rebs let out a surprised sound, her eyes going big, “Wait, what? There’s more?”

“We never showed you the dungeon,” Desiree smiled. “We only used a couple of things from the room to make things more fun.”

“I bet she’d like the wand table,” Mousie smirked.

“Oh, yes,” Gothy nodded.

“You’re all horrible,” Rebs giggled.

“Yeah, surprised we ever get anything done,” Alvin agreed. “They are powerful distractions.”

“I bet,” Rebs sighed.

“Come on, ladies,” Alvin said. “Collect the goodbye kisses and let’s go.”

Rebs was happy enough to kiss them all goodbye, lingering the longest with Alvin. “Yeah, that’ll keep me for a bit. I was going to keep the key, but Gothy explained that once you leave, the portal does, too, so I can’t just sneak into your base whenever I want.”

“I have the key,” Gothy assured Alvin.

“Yeah, sorry. I don’t mind coming back to visit, though. This is one of the few places where visiting is something I’d look forward to,” Alvin said, opening the door to the room. “I’ll summon the Turtle outside.”

“Oh, right, because we’re at a settlement,” Gothy said. “We don’t use that functionality often.”

“Not often at a settlement where we stay the night,” Alvin added.

Alvin stepped outside and looked up at the snipers on the roof. “You guys ready to see something?”

“Huh?” one of them asked.

The Humvee appeared in the driveway, causing the three men on the roof to exclaim in surprise. Alvin just chuckled as he walked to the driver’s door. The women jumped into the Humvee; Mousie taking the gunner’s spot, Desiree in the back beside her, and Gothy riding shotgun.

Rebs waved to them as they drove off and watched as they turned onto US 82. She smiled, then went back inside to start the process of making contact with the other settlements and Gates.

~*~*~

They passed the remnants of the town of Guthrie a short time after leaving the settlement behind. Mousie kept her eyes peeled for any threats, but all she saw were the cows milling in the fields.

“Hero, are those part of Rebs’ settlement?” Mousie asked.

“Maybe, but we just passed the sign for a different ranch, so maybe not. You can send her a letter tonight and let her know.”

“I will,” Mousie replied.

“What town are we passing next?” Desiree asked.

“Benjamin. It’s another small town of a few thousand... at least it was before the Rapture. We might find people there.”

“Wonder if they’ll be smart or dumb,” Gothy muttered.

“Find out when we get there,” Alvin shrugged. “If they’re smart, maybe we can send them to Rebs. It’d be better for any small groups to band together. If the undead start to spread, the small groups will just get gobbled up.”

“Or if the fungals come this way,” Desiree added.

“Fair enough.”

It was nearly an hour later when they reached the town of Benjamin. There were signs of previous battles on the main road. Alvin slowed to nearly an idle to navigate past the wrecks and stalled vehicles.

“Hero, every side street is blocked off,” Mousie announced after the first few streets went by.

“Which means this is deliberate to keep us slow,” Alvin said.

“That was the courthouse,” Gothy said, pointing at a ruined building with a sign.

“My money is on the school,” Alvin said.

“I caught sight of someone on the roof of the gas station,” Mousie said. “They fled as soon as I noticed them.”

“They know we’re here,” Alvin grunted. “Now, are they smart or dumb?”

They had just caught sight of the high school when an armored car blocked the way forward. Alvin stopped the Humvee and waited to see what they would do next.

“Who are you? What do you want?” a voice barked out from behind the Humvee.

Mousie looked behind her to see five men with rifles trained on her. “Travelers. We’re passing through on our way east. I’m known as Mousie. Desiree, Gothy, and Hero are inside the vehicle. Are you friendly?” Mousie’s tone was clipped.

“What the fuck are you? An Elf?” another of the men asked.

“I am a Queen’s Elf. I come from the Svargax Gate.”

“Svara-what?”

“Svargax. It is the name of my home world.”

The five men exchanged a look, clearly wondering what they should do. One of them pulled a radio from behind him. “Base, we uh, met the people. They’re Elves.”

“What do you mean Elves?” Mousie heard the question clearly.

“Well, she’s wearing leather armor, has pointy ears, and has weird black skin. Really black, not just brown. Claims to come from a Svar-whatsit Gate.”

Mousie’s eyelid twitched, but she kept her face passive.

“All of them?”

“Uh… wait.” The man with the radio gave Mousie a hard look. “Are you all Elves?”

“No. Gothy and Hero are Human, and Desiree is a Twurgh.”

“Base, it’s a mix. Claims to have a couple Humans with her, and a Twig?”

“Does she look hostile?”

“Well, she’s glaring at us, but hasn’t reached for the gun.”

“Bring them in. If it’s just the four of them, we can handle it if things go bad.”

“Copy.”

“We’ll follow you then, shall we?” Mousie asked without waiting for the man to relay the invitation.

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

“Hero, they’re taking us to their leader,” Mousie said.

“Got it. Good job not shooting them, Mousie,” Alvin replied over the radio.

The men walked around the Humvee and the armored car backed up into the side street. Alvin let the Humvee idle along behind the men walking, slightly impressed they had thought to effectively close off the main road and had been open to talking.

“They might be reasonable, but the guy in Ralls had that option and fucked it up, so be ready,” Alvin told them.

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll be ready, Hero.”

They were taken to the high school. Desiree switched to her casual clothing before getting out to prevent the stares that her skintight bodysuit tended to provoke. That left Mousie as the center of attention, though Desiree and Gothy still got a number of long looks. Alvin shook his head but did not react further because none of the men did anything truly stupid.

They were brought to an office where a grey-haired matron sat behind a desk. “Hmm, it seems you’re correct, after all,” she said to the man who led them in. “Clearly not from Tolkien’s work.”

“She isn’t,” Alvin said. “You’re in charge here?”

“Sarah Chapman. I was the principal of this school and am the de facto leader of this town now. Who are you?”

“I’m Alvin. These are Gothy, Desiree, and Mousie. I wonder if you might have time for a quick story followed by a bit of advice?”

The old woman sat back in her seat, giving him a hard stare. “A single man with three women? Are you one of those?”

Gothy snickered, “We’re with him willingly, very willingly. The other two were my idea, not his.”

The matron stared at Gothy for a long minute, “Yes, I can see that. What advice do you need?”

“Oh, it’s not us needing it. It would be advice for you,” Alvin chuckled. “We’ve visited every state between here and Cali. Seen a lot of things, met some new species, visited different worlds. Figured you’d like to learn about some of that.”

Sarah’s lips puckered as if she swallowed a lemon. “Well, that may be true. I’m not opposed to learning from those younger than me.”

“Great,” Alvin said. “Gothy, do you want to go grab some drinks for us?”

“I’ll do it, Hero,” Mousie said, stepping through the portal he summoned.

When Mousie vanished into thin air, Sarah inhaled sharply, looking back and forth from the spot Mousie vanished to Alvin. “How…?”

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Alvin smirked.

Chapter Thirty-one

“Do you think she’ll do it?” Gothy asked when they were back on US 82.

“Who knows?” Alvin shrugged. “We’ll find out if the Fast Travel point vanishes from the list.”

“Fair enough, Hero.”

“The next town should be Vera, but Sarah said the people from there had already joined them in Benjamin, so it should be empty,” Mousie said.

“Means a greater chance of mutated animals and undead,” Alvin said. “You might get some target practice in.”

“We could use more XP and loot,” Mousie said, “even the little bits from animals.”

“Just glad we didn’t get the kill quest this week,” Desiree said. “It would be a pain to find and kill enough things.”

“Not really. Just get a little closer to one of the cities,” Alvin replied. “I’m sure we’d get more than enough then.”

“And maybe end up with a veritable horde chasing us,” Gothy added.

“True, but if the weekly did end, we could just hide in the base for a few days. I doubt they know how the base works.”

“Point, Hero.”

It took them twenty minutes to get to Vera with Alvin keeping their speed down and having to maneuver around the occasional wreck. The town itself took them less than a minute to pass through, and Alvin shook his head. “What was that, two dozen buildings?”

“Maybe that,” Mousie said. “There were a few large ones.”

“The next town is even smaller,” Alvin added. “I expect anyone that survived there would have gone to Seymour.”

“Is Seymour a decent size town, at least?” Desiree asked.

“Depends on what you mean by ‘decent,’” Alvin chuckled. “Before the Rapture, there were thousands of people there. I think it’ll be like Morton.”

“Lots of the cows out here,” Mousie said after a few minutes of silence.

“So much food, just sitting there,” Desiree said with a touch of wistfulness.

“Kind of makes me wonder if they might not end up like the bison herds of the old west,” Alvin said. “It’s not like the barbed wire will hold them if they decide to push on it. Not even sure it’d hurt them enough to be noticed.”

“Hmm, that’s a good point. It took a lot of rounds from the old gun to kill one of them before,” Gothy said. “If the Midwest becomes mainly grazing grounds again, then we might see a lot of the other mutated animals migrate here to feed on them.”

“Rebs did say the cows were breeding every three months or so,” Desiree said. “If they reproduce that fast, it might be nearly as bad as the fungals.”

“I wondered about that,” Gothy said. “I doubt it would be that bad. I think they would stabilize once they reach a certain number. Besides this being a game, eventually, all animals find a sustainable number. Reminds me of the game of life that one of my old teachers made us play.”

“Huh?” Alvin asked.

“He split the class into three; grass, deer, and wolves,” Gothy explained. “Grass had to stay still. Deer had to touch a grass for three consecutive seconds to eat, which killed the grass. If they failed to do so, they died. Wolves had to touch a deer to survive, but the deer died. Grass stayed grass until eaten. Grass that was eaten became a deer next round, deers that were eaten by wolves became wolves the next round, and anyone who died because they didn’t feed became grass.”

“I get it,” Alvin snorted. “Simplistic, but effective to show how the cycle of nature is intertwined.”

“It was third grade,” Gothy added. “Surprised I remember it so clearly. Must be the increased stats.”

“So would the new version be kiosk, Human, and undead?” Alvin asked with a chuckle.

“You’re horrible,” Gothy laughed.

“Is this Red Springs?” Mousie asked as they approached a cluster of buildings.

“Should be what’s left of Red Springs,” Alvin said.

“Someone was here recently,” Mousie said as she spotted the charred remnants of some buildings.

“Doubt they’re here now,” Gothy added. “They likely left for Seymour or any other place they might have family.”

“Doesn’t look like they stayed,” Alvin said, going off-road to avoid a pile of debris taller than the Humvee. “Seymour is only fifteen minutes or so down the way. Let’s be ready for what we might find there.”

~*~*~

True to Alvin’s prediction, it was nearly fifteen minutes later when the town of Seymour came into view. A few houses just off the highway looked to be in decent shape, but abandoned. Just before they reached Seymour proper, a string of a dozen houses lined the north side of the road.

“Hero, I think I saw movement near the third house,” Mousie said.

“No one is firing, so maybe a lookout. Let’s just be ready for friendly or unfriendly.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“We’re ready, Hero.”

They noted the burned down churches and homes when they entered the town, though there were not as many of them as Alvin would have expected. Alvin had to slow further because of the cars littering the roadway. He frowned at the wreck that blocked him from taking Custer Street, forcing him to stay on US 82.

“Obvious signs of battle,” Mousie said. “Not seeing movement yet.”

No one responded; they were all keeping alert for any sign of life. The occasional burned out house and business dotted the townscape as they slowly drove down the road. Alvin could feel his tension rising. He noted the wrecks on the side streets that were not completely blocking the way, but did make it less likely for anyone to take those roads.

“Reminds me of a few places we’ve been,” Gothy muttered. “That is deliberate placement, and then they tried to mask it.”

“Yup. The road I want is just ahead, Main Street. If they’re going to make themselves known, it’ll probably be there.

“That is a lot of cruisers in the sheriff’s lot,” Alvin said as they passed the building.

“Movement,” Mousie said, seeing people sit up in some of the police cars and start the engines.

Alvin slammed on the brakes as a semi-truck pulled out in front of them on Main Street. The four cruisers came in behind them, effectively blocking them in.

“Attention, people in the Humvee. This is the Seymour police department. Raise your hands or stick them out your windows. Do not draw any weapons or we will be forced to open fire.”

“Are they serious?” Gothy asked incredulously.

“The four behind us have gotten out of their vehicles. They’re sheltering behind their doors and have handguns aimed at me,” Mousie said stiffly. “Hero?”

“Paranoid,” Alvin sighed as he slapped his window open and stuck his hands out. “Let’s give them a chance, but if they blink wrong... well, XP is XP.”

Gothy nodded and stuck her hands out her window, “Okay.”

Desiree joined them a moment later, then Mousie held her hands up.

One of the deputies came forward slowly, eyeing Mousie with wide eyes. Gothy was waiting for him as he slowly approached the passenger side. “Oh, good, you’re Human.”

“I am and Hero is,” Gothy replied. “Were we speeding, officer?”

The deputy blinked at her for a moment. His lips twitched and he shook his head as he holstered his pistol. “No. We just haven’t had a lot of people come through here since…”

“Since the Rapture, yeah,” Gothy nodded. “Can I pull my arms inside now? This is tiring.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” the deputy said quickly before he grabbed his radio. “Dispatch, unit three. Situation clear. Humans in the front seats, non-hostile. Over.”

“Unit three, this is dispatch,” a voice came back over the radio. “Captain would like you to bring them over.”

“Copy, dispatch.” Clearing his throat, the deputy smiled at Gothy. “Can we get you all to step out? We’re going to take you over to see the captain. We’d feel better if the heavy gun was left here.”

Alvin bent over so he could see the deputy. “Sure, give us a second.” Toggling the base button, Alvin drove forward.

Gothy snickered, “They are going to be beside themselves.”

“Not leaving the gun where they can fuck with it,” Alvin shrugged. “They’re just sketchy enough for me to want to be a bit more cautious.”

“Hero? Are we going out through the portal?” Desiree asked. “Should I armor up?”

“No, go with your new casual clothes. Mousie, you can stay in the leathers. Gothy, has Olmera given you an ETA on Desiree’s armor?”

“I’ll check with her tonight,” Gothy said.

“Think they’ll draw on us again?” Desiree asked.

“More than likely, but with the portal open behind us, it’ll be amusing if they actually try to do anything,” Alvin said. “Okay, let’s go see how stupid they want to be.”

When they stepped out of the portal, all four deputies jerked away from them and drew their handguns. “What the hell!? What are you?”

“Human,” Alvin said blandly. “Can you put those away before someone gets hurt?”

“What happened to your Humvee?” another deputy shouted at them.

“I put it away so it wouldn’t block the road. Now, where are we going?”

The deputies exchanged worried looks before one of them got on his radio. “Dispatch, this is unit three. They came back, over.”

“Unit three, dispatch. They vanished but came back, over?”

“They don’t seem to be hostile. They informed us they just wanted to clear the road first, over.”

“Copy, unit three. Bring them in.”

“Copy.”

“We’d like you to get into the cruisers,” the deputy in charge told them.

“Sure,” Alvin replied, walking over to the squad cars. “You going to put those away or not?”

The four deputies holstered their guns as the group moved toward the squad cars. Alvin opened the back door to one of the cruisers then climbed into the passenger seat of the same car. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree slid into the back.

The deputy they had talked to before frowned at Alvin, “We meant to take you over in two sets.”

“Why? One of you can take all of us,” Alvin replied. “After all, we’re not under arrest. Are we?” His sardonic smile made the deputy frown more.

“Fine, whatever,” the deputy said as he walked around his car and got in. “I’ve got them,” he told the others.

The other three deputies frowned but got into their cars, moving them back into the parking lot of the sheriff’s office while the semi-truck unblocked the road.

Alvin chuckled when the deputy took them to the high school. “It’s a damned epidemic.” The deputy frowned at him and at Gothy when they laughed. “Sorry, it’s just that most survivors seem to think that the school is the best place to retrofit into the new center of the town.”

“Seen a lot of them?”

“A fair number.”

When they reached their destination, Alvin opened up the back door and let his wives out. “Who’s in charge?” Alvin asked the deputy.

“Captain Wisneski,” the deputy replied. “She got us through the worst of it, so we decided she should keep leading us.”

“Smart,” Alvin said as they approached the front doors.

“I’d give it up in a hot second if any of them wanted it,” the unsmiling woman in uniform said as she opened the doors. “Shall we take a walk,” she said, letting the door close behind her.

“Sure, beats the normal sit and talk that we usually end up doing. Safe around here, is it?” Alvin asked, not following.

Stopping a few feet away, she looked back at them, “Safer than the road, I’m sure.”

“Don’t know about that. The road has been safe for most of Texas, actually. The roads in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada were pretty bad, though.”

The captain stared at him before nodding, “Interesting. The area around here is patrolled regularly, and we put down all the animals and undead weeks ago.”

“Return to your post, Ortiz.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the deputy said, saluting the captain and turning on his heel.

With the deputy gone, the captain sighed and relaxed. “Thank you for not attacking my men. The lookout failed to report you had a Humvee with a gun mounted on it.”

“We generally give people a chance to prove they’d rather live,” Gothy said.

Snorting, the captain started to walk again. “It would have been bad. What can you tell me about what you’ve seen?”

~*~*~

It took several trips around the high school and neighboring hospital for Alvin to tell the captain their story. The captain only stopped him once to answer a radio call about a spider the size of a terrier attacking some of the townsfolk.

“These other settlements will trade with us?”

“Should, as long as you’re not complete assholes. I’d at least set up to trade with Rebs’ people. The road between you isn’t bad.”

“What of your peoples?” Wisneski asked Mousie and Desiree.

“We’ll trade, but the road isn’t easy to our Gate,” Desiree replied.

“My Gate is in California. It would be difficult in the extreme to get an envoy to the Queen.”

“Hmm... something to consider. Though if the ranchers are setting up envoys, we can just set up to trade with them and spare ourselves the difficulty, even if they do tack on a surcharge for being the go-between.”

“Smart,” Alvin said. “Why don’t you want the job?”

Wisneski frowned, “Because I’m tired. These last few months… they’ve been hell. I don’t know what sin I committed before the Rapture, but fuck God for taking my kids and leaving me behind.” Her face became stony as she looked into the distance, coming to a standstill. “Damn him for making me put them down.”

“Tough,” Desiree grunted. “It takes a tough person to be able to do something like that.”

Wisneski did not reply. She just stood there, head bowed and eyes closed.

“We’d like to visit the kiosk, then we’ll be on our way,” Alvin said.

“Quad of the school. You can reach it around the side,” Wisneski said softly. “Go ahead... I’ll be along in a moment.”

The four of them left the captain standing on the road.

“She’s crying,” Mousie said softly as they walked away.

“Not surprised. She’s been bottling it, which means she’ll have a real breakdown eventually,” Gothy said.

“At least we won’t be in the middle of it,” Alvin said. “Touch the kiosk, then back on the road. We have a ways to go yet.”

“What’s the next big place?” Desiree asked.

“Wichita Falls,” Alvin replied. “It had an Air Force base.”

“Planes?” Gothy asked excitedly.

“Maybe. Who knows what they’ve gotten working again since the Rapture? I’m wondering if they’ve contacted the Army depot or not.”

“Oh, but maybe?”

Alvin laughed, “The air isn’t a safe place, Gothy, but we’ll ask.”

Gothy grabbed him as they reached the quad. Spinning him around, she kissed him hard.

They were rewarded with a couple of whistles of appreciation, and Gothy stepped back from Alvin. Alvin chuckled as he looked over to see a group of four teens standing off to the side, smoking.

“You can have them if I get him,” one of the girls laughed.

“I’d take that deal, but that one is looking like she’d as soon kill me, so pass,” one of the boys replied.

“She would,” Desiree said simply. “Mousie doesn’t like men, even young men.”

“What about you?” the largest of the boys asked.

“I only like those who’ve proven they can kill,” Desiree responded. “I doubt that would include you.”

“She’s taken,” Gothy snickered. “We all are.”

“Lucky prick,” one of the other teens muttered.

“Damned right,” Alvin replied. “Is smoking allowed in Texas schools? If so, I went to the wrong state.”

“No. If we’re caught, we’ll get put on cleaning detail,” the first girl said, “which means we should go. If you’re the visitors we heard about, then she’ll be around soon.” Alvin nodded a confirmation.

“Oh, fuck, let’s go!” the biggest boy said quickly as they all grabbed stuff and fled into the building.

Alvin snickered, “At least they still have a healthy fear of authority. Come on, let’s finish this up and go.”

Chapter Thirty-two

The road north-northeast out of Seymour was pretty empty once they got outside the town. There was a cattle ranch and farm on the outskirts that had people working in the fields. They waved at the Humvee as they drove past, and Mousie waved back to them.

About twenty miles outside of Seymour, they came across another ranch, but there was no one tending to the cattle milling in the fields. There was nothing surprising about that— the surprising part came when Mousie looked up.

“Hero, I think I see a plane?”

“Where?”

“In the direction we’re heading. It appears to be coming closer to us.”

“Keep an eye on it,” Alvin replied.

“Maybe the Air Force is still functioning out of the base,” Gothy said.

“Could be,” Alvin nodded. “Surprised that Wisneski didn’t mention them, though.”

“It’s fifty-ish miles between Wichita and Seymour,” Gothy said. “Maybe the Air Force is keeping things in closer and just protecting what they have instead of seeking out others?”

“Could be, but if so, they might not be as welcoming when we roll up.”

“I think they are heading toward us, Hero.”

“Copy, Mousie.”

They were just passing the small town of Dundee when the plane was both close enough and low enough for it to be seen. It was a vintage single prop, decorated with stars and stripes.

“Don’t fire unless they do,” Alvin told Mousie.

“Understood, Hero.”

The plane buzzed by them and zoomed away. Mousie watched as the pilot banked the plane around. When it came back over them, she waved at the pilot. Ahead of them, the plane made a landing on the highway. Alvin slowed the Humvee, making sure to give the plane plenty of room.

“Looks like they’re interested in talking,” Gothy said.

“We’ll find out,” Alvin said as he slowly followed the plane. When the plane came to a full stop, Alvin did as well. “You want this one, Gothy?”

“Sounds fun,” Gothy grinned as she climbed out of the Humvee.

The pilot had already been walking toward them and met Gothy about halfway between their vehicles. “I wondered if you were Army... guess not,” the pilot said when they were close enough for conversation.

“No, Turtle there is salvage from a defunct base. I take it the base in Wichita is still functioning?”

“It’s the nucleus of our settlement,” the pilot said. “Where are you all from?”

“All over, but we’ve recently come from Utah,” Gothy replied.

“Utah? That’s a long road with all the troubles out there now.”

“We’ve had our moments. Is your settlement okay with visitors?”

“We haven’t turned anyone away yet,” the pilot replied. “I’m sure the colonel will be interested in meeting you.”

“I’m sure they will be,” Gothy laughed. “No one’s going to demand we hand over what we own, right?”

The pilot eyed the Humvee sitting behind her. “I doubt the colonel will ask you to, though he might ask to purchase it from you.”

“Good luck with that. Turtle is one of the reasons we’ve survived this long.”

“I don’t doubt it. When you reach the city, someone will be there to guide you to the base. I’ll be calling you in.”

“Thanks, that’ll make it easy.”

“The road between here and there is pretty easy going. Holiday should be empty, but if you see anyone, let the colonel know.”

“Sure. Safe flight… um, do you have any planes for sale?”

The pilot frowned, “You have flight training?”

“No, but I want a plane.”

“We aren’t selling anything we have,” the pilot said with a snort.

“Damn. Fine.”

The pilot headed back to his plane and Gothy went back to the Humvee. “We’re good all the way to Wichita.”

“Caught all of your side and part of theirs,” Alvin said. “No planes for sale?”

“No,” Gothy pouted.

Alvin chuckled, “You’ll get one eventually.”

“Good. There has been a noticeable lack of dragons out this way, so it shouldn’t be as bad as it was on the west coast.”

“True. Give it a bit and if we don’t run into any other major flying monsters, we’ll see about making it happen.”

Gothy’s eyes sparkled as she stared at him, “Promise, Hero?”

“For you, sure. I promise we’ll look into it.”

“I’ll reward you later.”

Alvin laughed, “I thought I was the one who handed out rewards and punishments?”

“Fine. You can reward me later,” Gothy snickered.

“Brat.”

“But she is our brat,” Desiree said from the backseat.

“Damned right,” Gothy laughed.

~*~*~

A Jeep was waiting for them at the Wichita city limit. A man in uniform held up his hand, signaling for them to stop. “Welcome to Wichita. Follow me, ple… Are you an Elf?”

Mousie gave the man a flat stare. “I don’t know, are you intelligent?”

Brow furrowing, the airman blinked at her as if trying to understand. “Um… yes?”

“That would be your answer, then.”

“Wait… what… did I just get sassed by an Elf?”

“The previous answer still applies,” Mousie said.

“How do you even speak English?”

“The same way you do,” Mousie sighed. “Are you going to take us where we need to be or are we going to have to find it ourselves?”

The airman rubbed his face and dropped into the driver’s seat. The Jeep’s engine rumbled to life. “Fuck this,” Mousie heard him mutter. “Follow me,” the airman said loudly.

Gothy laughed, “She’s such a fast learner.”

“Mousie,” Alvin chuckled, “dial it back a notch, please. We want to be on good footing here... though that was funny as hell.”

“I was being nice. I didn’t tell him to die.”

“Fair.”

They saw evidence of past battles, but there was no sign of anyone living on the edges of the town. The highway had been cleared of wrecks, making travel even easier when they switched to Interstate 44.

“Hero, I’m seeing scavengers, maybe?” Mousie said. “They seem to be working in large groups.”

“Salvage teams,” Gothy said. “Groups that size stand out too much to be scavengers. If you look, you’ll see some people in uniform with them. I think the colonel is stripping anything of value from the areas of the town that they aren’t using.”

“Quick way to get XP,” Alvin admitted. “Even if it is only a small amount, it’ll add up.

“This is the first settlement we’ve been near that had such a large town to work from. I’m sure the first few weeks were hell,” Alvin said. “Once they got the kiosk and someone to understand it, things probably smoothed out.”

“That would explain why they’re looting it all now,” Gothy nodded. “Does it strike you that maybe the devs changed the game because, without the kiosks, Humans wouldn’t stand a chance to survive?”

“Yeah. We’ve only encountered one other player, so it makes sense. Surviving against the undead is one thing, but surviving against fungals and the like without kiosks? I wouldn’t want to bet on Humanity.”

A plane buzzed overhead, different than the one they had encountered, heading for the base. Mousie watched it go, still amazed at the idea that people could fly. She wondered if the Queen had taken advantage of that in her war with the King.

“Looks like our destination is just up ahead,” Alvin said, seeing people showing up with greater frequency.

“That’s the base. I wonder where the kiosk is going to be?” Gothy said as they slowed down to follow the Jeep.

“At the commissary is my guess,” Alvin said. “I’m sure we’re going to the command building. I wonder if the colonel kept it the same as it had been or if he changed it.”

Most of the buildings they were passing were intact, though there was still the occasional destroyed building. Eventually they turned onto Missile Road, then pulled into the parking lot in front of a large building with dozens of people going in and out of it.

“I’d say this is it. We’re going to stand out. Most of them are in uniform.”

“I’m already in my casual clothing, Hero,” Desiree said.

“Thank you. As much as I love you in the bodysuit, it’s best if we’re civil to start with. I’m sure we’ll be showing off the battle armor soon, anyway.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if they want a few,” Gothy nodded. “If they had jet packs or something, I’m sure they’d be a better way for pilots to bail out of planes.”

“Good point,” Alvin agreed. “I didn’t see that as an option to upgrade.”

“There isn’t much reason to fly on my old world,” Desiree said. “I won’t be surprised if it becomes available in the future, though. If your people express an interest, the research lab will produce it.”

“Something to mention to the colonel,” Alvin said, setting the parking brake and killing the engine. “Let’s go see how the Air Force handled the apocalypse.”

Several people had slowed to look over the Humvee and many more stopped walking entirely when the four of them got out. Alvin chuckled as he watched all the onlookers taking long looks at the women with him, many of them staring outright at Mousie.

“I am uncomfortable with how many people fixate on me,” Mousie muttered.

“Can’t really blame them,” Gothy said, putting her arm around Mousie’s waist. “We could get Desiree to put her bodysuit on. That would definitely draw most eyes away from you.”

“I’ll be fine. It doesn’t bother me as much as it would have before. I know most of them are staring because I’m an Elf, not because they’re plotting my rape.”

“Not one of them would get to lay a hand on you,” Desiree said as she dropped back and put her hand on Mousie’s hip. “Between the four of us, they’d die too fast to do anything.”

“Damned right,” Gothy nodded.

“Umm, if you’ll follow me,” the airman swallowed hard, his eyes almost bulging out his head as he got a good look at the three women.

“Lead on,” Alvin said with a knowing smile. “They’ll just cause a pileup otherwise.”

People in their path moved aside as the group followed the airman to the building. Mousie’s expression did not change, though she could clearly hear the whispers about the three of them and at least two of the onlookers commenting about Alvin.

The hallways were wide enough for them to walk side by side and still leave plenty of room for other people to pass. The people that they did encounter stepped back and watched wide-eyed as the entourage passed. The airman led them to an office, motioning for them to sit while he talked to the steely-eyed woman sitting behind a desk.

“Ma’am, the group the colonel wished to speak to,” the airman told the woman.

“Very good. You’re dismissed, Airman.”

The woman behind the desk gave the group a long look. Her eye twitched when she looked at Mousie. They ignored her and sat down while they waited for the colonel.

The phone on her desk rang, and the woman answered with a clipped, “Yes, sir?” She listened for a few seconds, said “Yes, sir,” again and hung up the phone. “Colonel Whitman will see you now,” she told them, coming around the desk to stand at a closed door.

They followed her into the next room, where the colonel sat behind his desk. The physically fit, bald-headed, dark-skinned man watched them impassively. The only indication of his age were the small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. “Welcome to Sheppard Air Force base. I’m the base commander, Colonel Whitman. Have a seat, please.”

“Thanks,” Alvin replied as they all sat. “I’m Alvin, and with me are Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree,” he motioned to each in turn. “I wondered if any military had survived the Rapture.”

“It wasn’t pleasant, but we survived. Things became much easier when the kiosk showed up.”

“How many people do you have here, Colonel? Just from what we’ve seen on the way in, you might be the largest settlement we’ve found.”

“I don’t have an exact number; a few people trickle in most days. Last I knew, we had over ten thousand.”

Alvin whistled, “Damn. You beat out all the other settlements we’ve been to combined.”

Whitman frowned, rubbing a hand over his hairless head. “That is not encouraging news.”

“Humanity is on the brink,” Gothy said. “The good news is that we’ve found allies.”

Whitman’s eyes flickered to Mousie, “Yes. Elves… and Dwarves?” he asked, looking at Desiree.

“Correct,” Alvin nodded. “Mousie’s people have a Gate in California, and Desiree’s have a Gate in Colorado.”

“You’ve come from California?”

“We started in Utah,” Alvin said. “We went to Cali, then went back to Utah before starting east. If you have a few hours, we can fill you in on everything you probably want to know. I would like to visit your kiosk before we leave, too.”

“I do indeed want to know everything you can tell me,” Whitman nodded. Picking up the phone on his desk, he made a quick call and told the person on the other end to not disturb him until his visitors left. “Very well, you have my attention.”

It took over two hours for Alvin to tell him everything. The colonel only asked for clarification on a few points at the end of the briefing. “I see. We’ll have to shift some of our people around, but with what you’re saying, we could have a chance at being a hub to help this country pick itself back up.”

“With the number of people you have, yes. Of course, with that many people, you must have a lot of headaches.”

Whitman shook his head, “You have no idea. Holding my men together was hard enough. Adding in the civilians made it harder. I’ve had martial law in place for the last month and some people are starting to chafe.”

“It’s your call,” Alvin said, “but my opinion is that if they don’t like it, they can find another settlement to live at.”

“That’s how dictatorships start,” Whitman said bluntly.

“Maybe, but would you let anyone else command your people?”

“No.”

“Then it’s either two settlements side-by-side or one that has to be run differently than many Americans will like. Of the ten thousand here, how many are Air Force?”

“Maybe two thousand. Less.”

“Wow. How are you maintaining martial law?” Alvin asked.

“We’ve roped in everyone with prior military or law enforcement experience and set them up as police forces to keep the peace.”

“Fun times. I take it you’re not funding the populace?”

“No. They’ve been fending for themselves. I have opened up base housing and modified the settlement with the XP we’re getting from stripping the city bare. They’ve been grateful to have electricity, water, and sewer services.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Will you give us directions to the Gates and settlements?”

“I can, but I’d like some compensation.”

Whitman stared at Alvin hard, “What kind?”

“The only kind,” Alvin shrugged. “Though if you have a plane that runs—”

“Denied,” Whitman cut him off. “The air will stay in our hands.”

“Haven’t run into a dragon yet, have you?”

“No. If they come this way, we’ll deal with them.”

“Have some old flak guns working, do you?”

“The armor, battle armor, the Dwarves make that, right?” Whitman said, not answering the question.

“Yeah. If you want a few sets, I can get you the base model, but they cost sixty thousand each. I’d need at least part of that up front before I buy one for you.”

Whitman frowned, “Why does that number make me suspicious?”

“Because I’ve added a small surcharge for my time and effort to get them to you.”

“Don’t you want to help your fellow Americans?”

“I don’t even care to help most Humans,” Alvin replied. “I’m a pragmatist. Show me the XP and I’ll show you the armor.”

Whitman’s expression soured, “We’re on the brink and you’d do that?”

“I have people I care about to look out for. The rest of the world can burn as long as the three with me are okay.”

Whitman’s expression softened slightly, “Which of them is your wife?”

“All of them.”

Snorting, Whitman shook his head. “That makes more sense. I’ll give you fifty thousand XP per unit. I’ll take twenty units at that price.”

Alvin considered it for a moment. “I’d need at least fifty-one each, and two hundred thousand XP up front.”

“Fine, but your wives stay with me until you deliver the first five units.”

“We don’t mind, Hero,” Gothy said. “It’s not like they could hold us if they tried.”

“Fair,” Alvin chuckled. “Okay Colonel, get me the XP and I’ll get things in order.”

~*~*~

Alvin grinned as he delivered the last set of battle armor and collected the last of the XP. “Pleasure doing business with you, Colonel.”

“These go in our accessory slots and then we just... will them to cover us?” Whitman asked.

“Try it out,” Alvin grinned, spotting the jewelry being worn by the colonel.

Whitman stood up and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the battle armor was already covering him. A moment later, the helmet pulled back from his head. “Can these suits fly?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure someone is working on that already,” Alvin chuckled. “If not, when you make contact with the Dwarves, make sure to mention that it’s a functionality you want. Currently, they are ground units. There is also another form called a grunt. They’re the heavy lifting and moving suits. Think combat engineer on steroids.”

“Hmm, something to keep in mind for later,” Whitman said thoughtfully. The battle armor melted away from his body, retreating to the jewelry. “It’s late. Do you want to rack out here for the night?”

“We just need a room, as you’ve seen. We don’t need a bed.”

“That was unexpected,” Whitman nodded. “Very well, come with me.”

The receptionist was preparing to leave as they followed him out of the office. “Sir, you have a number of messages,” she told the colonel, offering him a stack of papers.

“Any of them urgent?”

“No, sir.”

“They can wait until tomorrow, then. Thank you for your hard work today, Gladys.”

“Of course, sir.” Her eyes went to the group behind him. “Will they be staying, sir?”

“No,” Alvin said. “Just going to sleep and head back out.”

“As he said, Gladys, they will be moving on in the morning. I’ll need the command staff in for a meeting tomorrow morning. We have new information to go over.”

“I’ll make sure they are advised, sir.” Gladys took a seat at her desk. “I’ll go home after I make the calls.”

“Thank you.”

Whitman went to a Jeep, telling the airman waiting there, “We’ll be showing our guests to the visitor center before you take me home.”

“Yes, sir,” the airman saluted, then got into the driver’s seat of the Jeep.

“It’s only a short way,” Whitman said.

Whitman was right— the visitor center was not far, and Alvin accessed the kiosk briefly. As they walked back outside, Alvin gave Whitman a nod. “Thank you.”

“I’ll be on my way home, then.”

“Going home is easy for us. I just summon the base portal,” Alvin said as he opened the Humvee door.

“That must make it easy to rest for the night,” Whitman said, watching them climb in.

“You have no idea,” Alvin chuckled. “Oh, I did have one more question, Colonel— have you had any contact with Red River?”

“No. No one has answered any of our attempts to reach them. Are you going that way?”

“That was the plan.”

“Could I ask you to see me before you leave in the morning? I’d like to send a message to them if they’ve survived.”

“No problem. We’ll be up after you are, so I’ll just check in with your secretary.”

“I’ll make sure to leave a packet with her in case I’m still in meetings. I expect tomorrow to be a busy day.”

“Works. Have a good night.”

Whitman watched the Humvee back up and vanish into thin air. “This world just keeps getting stranger,” he muttered, then turned toward his waiting Jeep.

Chapter Thirty-three

At their base, Gothy snorted, “I think his secretary was jealous.”

“It’s not often three women as perfect as you show up,” Alvin chuckled. “I think she has a crush on the colonel and was worried you might try to steal him... or she’s just an uptight bitch. Could go either way.”

“They aren’t mutually exclusive,” Gothy replied.

“Fair enough. I’ll be cooking dinner, so you all have some time.”

“The bacon is beside the stove. I didn’t know what else you needed, sir,” Jarvis said from the doorway of the kiosk room.

“I’ll handle it all from here,” Alvin grinned. “Enjoy your break. Ladies, you have at least an hour.”

“I need to check the kiosk,” Gothy said.

Alvin was the last one into the kiosk room, walking in just in time to see Gothy pulling a package out of the kiosk. “What’s that?”

“Desiree’s armor,” Gothy grinned.

“Olmera finished it?”

“Try these on,” Gothy told Desiree, handing over the items. “Yes. She’s said she’s making sets for us, too. It should take a week for each.”

Desiree donned the armor with her bodysuit on under it, then posed for them. “Well?”

The terror worm scales had each been the size of Alvin’s chest. Olmera had cut them into much smaller pieces that fit together like snake scales. The scales were attached to soft black leather so that the pieces moved almost as fluidly as Desiree’s bodysuit did.

“Looks damned good,” Alvin smiled.

“Very nice,” Gothy agreed.

“It is an uncommon type of armor from my world, but it suits you, Desiree,” Mousie added.

“Well, that shows us what our upgraded armor will look like,” Alvin said. “What are the stats on the chest piece so I have a comparison?”

Desiree walked over so he could examine it, “I think it’s good.”

Terror Scaled Chestguard (Rare)- Torso slot

Increased armor (craftsmanship)

Armor: 350/350

Runes: 0/6

Terror Scales: Grants the wearer a cumulative 5% per piece chance to resist mental influence.

“Damn,” Alvin whistled, “that bonus from the material is nice. No wonder she wanted the extra scales as payment.”

Gothy checked the armor and nodded, “The bonus isn’t as impressive for me with my ring, but it is still nice to have. It’ll be better overall, too, since she has even more experience under her belt with the new system.”

“I look forward to us all having a set,” Mousie smiled.

“I need to get dinner started,” Alvin said. “Jarvis will let you all know when it’s about ready.”

“What are you making?” Gothy asked. “Will it have a cream sauce?”

Alvin laughed as he walked away, “Wait and see.”

“Well, I guess we should go have some fun without him,” Gothy said. “An appetizer, as it were.”

“It needs to be light and refreshing, then,” Desiree smirked, her gaze drifting to Mousie.

“I see you and I are on the same page,” Gothy smiled. “Mousie, let’s go get cleaned up for dinner.”

“As you wish, Gothy.”

~*~*~

Alvin rummaged through the kitchen, trying to decide what he wanted to make for dinner. He had not made any solid plans aside from adding bacon, since Desiree loved it as much as he did. Standing in front of the fridge, he had a flashback to his old life, the monotony of deciding what to make for dinner.

“Sir, if you’d like a suggestion based on your skill level, I can assist you,” Jarvis said from the living room.

Alvin closed the fridge and shook his head, “Where’s the special pantry?”

“It is the second door to your right, sir.”

Alvin went into the pantry and took a few minutes, checking each item to see what he could use. After a few minutes, he went to the normal pantry and did the same. Then, he pulled up his cooking skill to see what his options were.

“Fuck it, might as well make something I love,” Alvin muttered as he set about gathering the ingredients he needed. Halfway through, he changed his mind about one of the ingredients. “Jarvis, I need the fryer, the meat grinder, and a grill.”

“One moment, sir,” Jarvis said, pausing the documentary he was watching. It was a history of the East India Trading Company, and that was as much as Alvin cared to know. Jarvis had everything set up and ready for Alvin to use in short order. “Is there anything else, sir?”

“Nope, I got it.”

“Very good, sir. Please don’t burn my kitchen down.”

“I can cook, you know.”

“Yes, and you’ve also burned down a kitchen before,” Jarvis said bluntly as he walked away.

“I was twelve and hated that family!” Alvin called out to him.

“Valid excuses, sir.”

Alvin muttered under his breath and got to work on the potatoes first. He was startled when he blinked and was confronted with a bowl of potatoes, cut properly into sections and already soaking.

“Jarvis, I don’t care for this fugue bullshit. It takes away the joy of making stuff.”

“I believe that has been mentioned to the devs, sir. I don’t know if they will do anything to change it. It exists to shortcut the actual work. Also, a person does not actually need to know what to do, it simply is done in the requisite amount of time.”

“Do you like it?”

“I do not, sir. My concerns are not taken into account as much as I hoped they would be. However, other crafters are voicing complaints, as well. At this moment, no player has yet done so as far as I know.”

“How do you know others are?”

“I am part of a group of cooks who communicate via an email thread through the kiosk. Tadashi and Terry from Green River are part of the thread, as well as many others. We’ve been discussing ideas with each other.”

“Huh, so kind of like an old forum thread?”

“Yes and no, sir. We’ve been passing the same mail around one person at a time, just adding onto it as we go.”

“Long chain letter, got it.”

“Did you wish me to assist you, sir?”

“No, buddy, I got it. Watch your dry documentary.”

“It is historical, sir. You might learn a thing or two if you watched it.”

“Pass,” Alvin chuckled as he turned to the meat grinder.

He was shaking his head with bemusement while he loaded the grinder with flaze and started the machine up. After what seemed to him to be just a minute later, he stepped back, now grumbling under his breath. A dozen ground meat patties were arranged on a tray, already seasoned and ready to go.

Still grumbling, Alvin got the grill going, turned on the fryer, then carried three cans of chili and a sauce pan to the stove. “Odds they put me in a fugue for heating chili?”

“It is guaranteed, sir. Any cooking outside of microwaving will.”

“Sammi, this needs to get worked on. Fucking killjoys. Why do the others love it so much?”

“Because it is still them making the food. That is my only hypothesis, sir.”

“I want to test something, Jarvis. I could use your help for the chili, at least.”

“Very well, sir.” Jarvis came into the kitchen and looked over what was happening, nodding. “As I suspected. What can I do to assist, sir?”

“Just talk to me while I do this. You’ve helped the others while they cooked, right? I want to see if you yakking at me changes anything.”

“Very well, sir.”

Alvin dumped the cans into the saucepan and turned the burner on. The fugue started to settle over him, but he became aware of Jarvis telling him what to do next. Alvin was able to stay partially aware while he heated the chili, with Jarvis talking to him.

“Okay, that kind of works. I was at least partially aware the entire time. If you don’t mind, I’d like you to do the same thing for the rest of the meal.”

“Let’s see... the burgers are ten minutes, the fries are eight and they can be cooked in tandem. Grilling the buns is negligible, and then putting chili, cheese, and fries together is a minute, give or take. I’ll let the ladies know they have about ten minutes and then we can begin. Is that acceptable, sir?”

“Go for it,” Alvin said.

Two minutes later, Alvin was back to cooking with Jarvis keeping up a running commentary. The bedroom door opened just as Alvin was combining the ingredients for the chili cheese fries.

“One more minute,” Alvin told them with a smile. “Jarvis, will you take over with the fries?”

“Of course, sir. You had more to do?”

“Just one quick thing.”

“Very well.”

Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree took their seats as the sound of something frying and the scent of bacon drew their attention. Jarvis looked back and shook his head.

“Ladies, he has worked hard on this meal.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Gothy smiled as she eyed the chili cheese fries.

“You shouldn’t be,” Alvin laughed as he pulled the bacon out of the fryer.

Jarvis carried the trays of burgers and buns to the dining table while Alvin drained the excess oil off the reheated twice-cooked bacon. He carried that and a bottle of whiskey out with him. Jarvis produced a two-liter bottle of cola and glasses for them all.

“One of my favorite meals,” Alvin said as he took his seat, “Coke, burgers, and chili cheese fries.”

“When did we have this last? Bridgeport?” Gothy asked.

“We had a burger and cheese fries there. I prefer Gourmel brand for chili fries. Never been able to make a decent chili myself.”

“If you tell me next time, sir, I can prepare a chili that is similar, but vastly improved,” Jarvis commented as he poured drinks for everyone. “The whiskey adds to the taste, I take it?”

“Yeah. I know Desiree will want it.”

“It smells good, Hero,” Mousie said as she took a serving of fries.

“The bacon, is it for anyone?” Desiree asked, giving her drink a generous helping of whiskey.

“Yeah, but try to leave some for the rest of us,” Alvin chuckled. “I hope you all like the burger— it’s a mixed patty. Oh, almost forgot.” He went to the kitchen and retrieved a small plate with pineapple rings stacked on it. “For the burger, if you want.”

Gothy had already put together her first burger and taken a bite. She smiled with her mouth full, and as soon as she swallowed, asked, “Flaze and beef?”

“Yep. The beef is from Rebs,” Alvin smiled as he added bacon, swiss cheese, barbecue sauce, and a couple of pineapple rings to his burger. “I hope you all enjoy it.”

By the time they were done, each of them had eaten two or more burgers and the fries were gone. “Sir, the leftovers?” Jarvis asked. “I can sell them since you used the flaze from the fridge, which had been purchased from the kiosk. Do you mind if I do so?”

“Go ahead, Jarvis,” Alvin sighed happily. “Damn, I feel full. Ladies, it’s going to have to be a cuddle night.”

“Yes,” Gothy said, belching gently. “We overdid it, too.”

“Can we show Desiree Firefly?” Mousie asked.

“Oh, good idea, but maybe we’ll start that tomorrow,” Alvin smiled. “Tonight, I was thinking Princess Bride.”

“As you wish, Hero,” Gothy said.

Chapter Thirty-four

After breakfast the next morning, Alvin hugged Desiree before they got into the Humvee. “You’re improving.”

“I know. You’re all being patient, letting me cook breakfast while I learn.”

“It’s something you want to do, so of course we support it,” Gothy said, coming into the garage.

“We all cook from time to time,” Mousie added. “It is good to know we can make those we love happy.”

“In another way, because you all make me and each other happy in so many ways already,” Alvin said.

“You have a point, Hero,” Mousie conceded.

“And not the one on top of his head. Either one,” Gothy snickered.

“But we love the second point,” Desiree said with a straight face.

“We do,” Mousie grinned.

“Brats, the lot of you,” Alvin mock complained, struggling to not laugh. “Get in. We have places to be.”

“Places to see, things to loot, and people to do,” Gothy twisted the old saying.

“I’m not surprised that’s how you see life,” Alvin laughed as he got into the Humvee.

“We’re stopping by to pick up the message from the colonel, then we’re back on the road, right?”

“That’s the plan.”

A minute later, they were parked in front of the command building again. “Man, these long commutes are killing me,” Alvin laughed, setting the parking brake and shutting off the engine.

“Rush hour is such a bitch,” Gothy snickered as she got out.

“Are we there yet?” Mousie asked almost uncertainly, trying not to giggle.

Alvin laughed, “Good tag, Mousie.”

“I missed my chance,” Desiree sighed.

“We won’t always be on the ball,” Alvin said.

“But we try so hard to be,” Gothy snickered.

Laughing, Alvin hooked his arm around her waist. “Keep it in my pants. Do you see all the looks you’re getting us?”

Gothy smiled at the people that had stopped to stare at them. “Your wholesome community will be back to normal shortly,” she told the onlookers. “Come on, Hero, let’s get this done so they can go back to their humdrum lives.”

Alvin gave Gladys a wide grin when they walked into the receptionist’s office. “Colonel still in his meeting?”

“Yes,” she replied frostily. “This is the dispatch he wished you to deliver.” She held out a thick folder that was tied shut.

Quest: Deliver Colonel Whitman’s Dispatch

Reward: 1,000 XP and increased reputation with Sheppard Air Force Base settlement

“Huh, looks like the quest system is starting up,” Alvin said, ignoring Gladys’ coldness. “XP is laughable, but for anyone other than us, it’d be nice. Ready to head out?” Alvin asked his wives after he took the folder and slipped it into his bags.

“Yes,” Gothy said before looking past him. “You might find life more enjoyable if you got laid… even once might help you.”

Gladys’ face drained of color and she stammered, trying to find a comeback as the group left the office. She sat there, still trying to find the words for a response, for several minutes after the group was gone.

“You are bad, Gothy,” Alvin snickered. “Not wrong, but I don’t think she’d take anyone other than tall, dark, and colonel-esque.”

“I know, and that’s the problem,” Gothy said. “Notice the ring on his hand? He’s got someone, and that’s probably what makes his secretary such a bitch. I’m thinking the wife survived, or frosty bitch would have tried to fill the void by now.”

“I’m not sure the colonel would fill the void in her heart,” Desiree said.

“I wasn’t talking about her heart,” Gothy replied. “Don’t need to love someone to fuck them.”

“Fair,” Desiree conceded.

“It helps, though,” Mousie said.

“It does,” Alvin agreed with her, “but love and physical intimacy can be mutually exclusive.”

“I can’t argue that,” Mousie said, smiling when his arm went around her petite waist.

“What’s the road look like between here and Texarkana?” Gothy asked as they walked down the hall.

“Lot of small towns and a few small cities,” Alvin said seriously. “Gainesville, Sherman, Bonham, and Paris might be problems. Tens of thousands of people lived in each during the Rapture, so they might have survived like here, or…”

“Or we could have some trouble to deal with and XP to collect,” Gothy finished for him when he trailed off.

“We could go around them, couldn’t we?” Mousie asked.

“Yeah, but not sure we should,” Alvin replied. “If anything gets really bad, we’ll pull back and go around. I’m hoping one or more of them survived. It used to be a bit over four hours, but with the way things are now, I’m thinking it’ll take the day, at least.”

“The country gets greener again as we move east, too,” Gothy said. “That means we might start finding new creatures to deal with. Are you going to try to stay on US 82 as much as you can, Hero?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to go anywhere near the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I’m almost certain that it’s an undead city at this point. There might be pockets of Humanity left in it, but just from a purely numbers standpoint, they didn’t and don’t stand much chance.”

“We’re with you, so whichever way you take us, we’re good to go,” Gothy said. They reached the Humvee and she opened the back door for herself and Desiree.

“She’s right, Hero,” Mousie said, getting into the front passenger seat.

“Well, let’s go see what Texas has for us before we leave the state,” Alvin smiled as he got in and started the Humvee.

~*~*~

It took them about a half hour after leaving the base to reach the empty city of Henrietta. The roads were decent until they got to the east side, when Alvin had to slow down again.

“Well, it was nice for a bit,” Alvin sighed.

“Guess the people here joined up with the air base,” Gothy said as they left the deserted town behind.

“Most likely,” Alvin agreed. “The only real question would be when. If nothing else, once planes took to the skies, people would have gone.”

“They don’t fly a lot,” Desiree said. “I’ve only seen three of them. Looks like they’re doing short recon.”

“Don’t blame them,” Mousie said. “They’re trying to rebuild. Given time, they will eventually stretch themselves out and start reclaiming places like that town.”

A mile or two later, Desiree watched a plane dive close to the road, then pull up and go back toward the air base. “Hero, why wo—” she stopped when several large birds took to the air, following the plane. “He attacked them?”

Alvin squinted at the birds taking off from ahead of them, “What kind of bird is that?”

Mousie pulled high-powered binoculars from the glove box. “Goose? Oh, wait... plural. Geese.”

“Why the fuck is he playing with geese? Those fuckers are mean,” Gothy said.

“They aren’t following him anymore,” Desiree said as she brought the M2 around. “They’re coming this way now.”

“Might as well see what geese are like now,” Alvin said. “Feel free to kill a few. If you can do it near the road, even better.”

Gothy got the back window open and stuck the barrel of her rifle out. “I’ll get some practice in while we’re at it.”

Alvin slowed, chuckling in anticipation as the geese closed with them. “Maybe we’ll be having goose tonight for dinner.”

The sound of the M2 firing echoed, startling the birds. They scattered, and one of them fell back to the ground, dead. Mousie opened her window and got ready to join in. Seeing that they were all intent on getting shots in on the birds, Alvin brought the Humvee to a full stop.

After a minute, the surviving birds had fled and Mousie went out to loot. It took her the better part of five minutes to find and loot all the birds they had killed. “That’s all of them, Hero.”

“Sounds good,” Alvin said, checking his bags and getting the Humvee rolling again. “I have some goose meat and feathers.”

Everyone had the same thing; feathers and goose meat. “Someone will enjoy it,” Gothy said. “Sell it on the auction house?”

“That’s fine. Check with our allies first and see if any of them want any of it. Rather sell to a friend than just some random person.”

“I’ll take care of it when we get back to base,” Gothy said.

More geese honked at them as they passed by each pond alongside the road. Alvin shook his head when he got a decent look at the size of them. “Because we need geese that are five times bigger than they used to be.”

“Feed a family for a couple of days with one of them,” Mousie said.

“Easily,” Gothy agreed.

“Music, random selection of favorites,” Alvin said. “Might as well break up the monotony.”

The town of Ringgold was one of the smaller places they had passed by during the last few days. They saw no movement from the highway, so Alvin just kept going.

~*~*~

It took them an hour from Henrietta to reach Nocona. Alvin had to slow to nearly a crawl when they arrived due to the condition of the road. “Maybe people are still here, but with the road in this shape, maybe not.”

They trundled slowly down the road, all of them on high alert as Turtle lived up to its name. Desiree was the first to see movement, but before she could call it out, a gunshot rang out and the bullet struck her in the head.

Grateful for her new armor, Desiree returned fire. “Not sure if it was a person or undead,” she told them when they questioned what had happened.

“Either way, they die now,” Gothy said, opening the rear driver side window and looking for who or whatever had shot Desiree. She caught sight of a head peeking around the corner of a defunct beauty salon and took aim at it. The person stepped out to fire, only to catch rounds from Gothy before they could. “Human,” Gothy confirmed and kept firing at the woman who had made the mistake of being hostile.

“This side, as well,” Mousie added, spotting a couple of people hunkered down in a gas station on the other side of the street. The pair started firing a moment before she did, but Mousie got the better part of the exchange.

“Going to start pushing wrecks,” Alvin said. He stopped trying to be careful, using the Humvee’s improved bumper to shove some vehicles aside.

“They’re not wearing armor,” Gothy reported after her fifth shot killed the hostile.

“Confirmed,” Desiree added, killing three others in the same span.

“One of them is switching magazines to reload,” Mousie chimed in. “I think we can mop them and loot, Hero.”

Alvin stopped pushing forward, bringing the Humvee to a stop. “Gothy, Desiree?”

“I concur,” Desiree said first.

“It’s pathetic, Hero. They aren’t really a threat.”

“Once the ones close by are down, we loot and then leave. I don’t feel like cleaning out the town.”

“Understood.”

“Roger.”

“As you wish, Hero.”

Once the incoming gunfire had stopped, Gothy and Mousie hopped out to loot. Alvin got them moving down US 82 again after they climbed back in.

“Trash,” Gothy sighed, looking through what she had gotten. “Unmodified weapons, common grade. Only thing of note was a vial of Human DNA.”

“Trash weapons,” Desiree said after checking her inventory.

“Same,” Mousie added.

“Not worth the time and effort to clear the town,” Alvin sighed. “Idiots. I figured we’d run into at least one town like this.”

“Their loss,” Gothy said. “They might have had a chance to survive if they didn’t shoot at us to start.”

“Thank you for the new armor,” Desiree said. “The first bullet hit my head. If that had happened yesterday, I would have needed a medkit.”

“I’ll let Olmera know that her armor has been tested and approved,” Gothy said, giving Desiree’s leg a squeeze. “Don’t like it when my wife gets hurt.”

“None of us do,” Alvin agreed. “Five miles to Saint Jo. I wonder if the people there are smarter than the last set,” he told them as he finally got them out of Nocona.

“We’ll find out shortly,” Gothy said.

Chapter Thirty-five

They found no people in Saint Jo, but they did see and kill a handful of mutated dogs. Halfway out of Saint Jo on their way to Muenster, Desiree gave warning of a new possible threat.

“Hero, there is a very large bird coming in from the north,” Desiree advised them.

“Is it just me or is that thing huge?” Alvin asked when he saw it off in the distance.

“I think it’s huge,” Gothy said. “It’s also coming fast.”

“Is it a threat?” Desiree asked, bringing the M2 around to face it.

“No idea, but be ready to fire,” Alvin told her.

“Roger.”

“I’ll join in,” Gothy said as she got her rifle pointed out the window. “It’ll get to us before we reach Muenster.”

“Yeah. I’m going to slow down. That’ll give us an idea if it’s heading our way or not.”

“Roger.”

A minute later, the bird came close enough for them to get an appreciation of its size. “Hero, that’s as big as a passenger jet… and I think it was a bald eagle.”

Alvin glanced out the window and whistled, “‘Murica, indeed. If it dives at us, take it down.”

The eagle turned away from them slightly, flying a bit more toward Muenster. The group relaxed a little as the fight was put on hold.

“It’s going for a body of water west of the town,” Desiree said, catching the glints of sunlight from the water.

Alvin toggled his map and nodded, “Muenster Lake. Must be after a fish.”

“A fish to feed that?” Gothy said.

“Yeah. Remember the catfish?”

“Oh, right. If it’s good enough for a wyvern, it must be good enough for an eagle of that size.”

The eagle dived, and they were close enough to see what happened. Its wings snapped back out just over the water while its claws cleaved the surface of the water. Flapping hard, the giant bald eagle pulled away with a fish— nearly the size of the Humvee— clutched in its talons. It flew away from them lazily, the fish thrashing in its grip.

“Next on the geographic channel,” Alvin chuckled.

“That wasn’t a catfish, Hero. I think it was a bass,” Gothy said, “just on a stupidly huge scale. I wonder if it mutated in ways other than size?”

“Let’s not find out if we don’t have to,” Alvin was quick to say. “I’m not a fan of the water since the Rapture.”

“Better hope we don’t have to use a boat if we want to go to Europe, then,” Gothy snickered.

“I already have been. Muenster will be up in just a couple minutes,” Alvin told them.

~*~*~

The first part of the town was in decent shape, and the road had been partially cleared. As they passed Hickory Street, that changed. Alvin was forced to slow down; the cars had not been cleared as thoroughly. One intersection was almost completely blocked by a loaded car carrier that looked like it had been there since the Rapture.

“Quiet... no movement,” Desiree said while Alvin worked the Humvee around the tangle of vehicles.

“Two more streets until we’re out of town,” Gothy added.

They had just cleared the worst of the mess when Desiree swiveled the M2 around. “Movement to the south, near the big building,” she told them and fired.

Gothy shifted to the passenger side, opening the window to point her rifle out. Mousie followed suit from the front seat. There was a group of buildings just past a Tails Drive-in. One of them had a dozen or more figures trying to gain entrance and firing into the windows.

“Undead,” Mousie said, letting Alvin know what they had seen.

“They’re laying siege to that building,” Gothy added. “Hero?”

“Sure. It’s XP, if nothing else, and there’s a street right there,” Alvin said.

The undead stopped attacking the building when Desiree, Gothy, and Mousie opened fire, turning their guns on the Humvee. Alvin cleared the burger joint and took Mesquite Street, bringing them closer to the fight.

Seeing the Humvee closing on them, the undead turned to run around the south edge of the building.

“I really hope this isn’t a trap,” Alvin muttered as he went onto the shoulder of the road to avoid the two cars in the street.

Once they turned the next corner, they could see the zombies running for a few haphazardly parked cars and trucks. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree did their best to bring them down before they could get there. Half of the fleeing undead were cut down by the time the first zombie reached the pickup it had been sprinting for.

“No, you’re not allowed to leave,” Mousie said, changing her aim to the tires of the vehicles.

Gunfire came from the building and more zombies staggered. The single zombie that had made it to a vehicle got the pickup started and tried to drive off, only to find their back tires completely shredded, leaving the truck almost unable to move.

Alvin brought the Humvee to a stop next to the pickup so Gothy’s window lined up with the driver’s side window. She smiled at the zombie, switched her rifle for the Tommy gun and said, “Say goodnight, Gracie.”

The zombie panicked and tried to reach the other door. Gothy sprayed rounds into the trapped undead. Blood, bone shards, entrails, and brains covered the interior of the truck by the time Gothy stopped firing.

“That looks like all of them,” Alvin said.

“Hero, the people in the building behind us are watching us warily,” Desiree advised him. “They aren’t firing at us.”

“Hmm... survivors,” Alvin grunted, putting the Humvee in reverse. “Let’s go say hi and tell them which way to the nearest settlement.”

Five people watched warily as the Humvee backed up, but none of them raised their guns to fire. One of the men handed his rifle off and walked toward the road to meet them.

“You friendly?” he called out to Desiree.

“We don’t mean to harm you,” she replied. “We would have passed by, but we saw the zombies attacking the building.”

“That’s the second group of them we’ve had pop up in as many days,” the man said, stopping at the edge of the road. “They’ve had guns both times, too.”

Alvin stopped the Humvee and opened his window. “Means you killed all of yours in the first few weeks.”

“We did. Not many of us left here now, so you have our thanks for the assistance.”

“How are you all holding up?” Alvin asked.

Grim-faced, the man glanced back at the building, which had been a machine shop before the Rapture. “Decent enough.”

“You’re horrible at lying,” Alvin said simply. “Wichita Falls is the best settlement we’ve run across and, besides a few wannabe bandits at Nocona, you have a clean shot to get there. Your chances of survival would be much better there than here, especially with zombies driving themselves to your door.”

“You came from there?”

“Came from Utah, but we passed through there. Look, I see you have some women and kids with you,” Alvin nodded at the group huddling in the doorway, listening. “Do them a favor and take them to a place with more people and better defenses. It’s your choice, but before you go, make sure whoever’s in charge destroys the kiosk. This way, it’s not around for the zombies, okay?”

The man paled, “They can use the kiosks?”

“Probably. After all, they have guns that can reload and vehicles that run. We’re going to get out and loot, then we’ll be on our way. I understand if you want to talk it over with your pals, but if anyone wants to stay, you should take those you love and leave. I can almost guarantee that more zombies will keep showing up.”

Swallowing hard, the man nodded, “I’ll get everyone together and tell them. We killed a few, so we’ll loot, too.”

“It’ll auto split to those involved,” Alvin shrugged. “Go ahead and loot them all. We’ll get our share.”

“I’ll handle it, then,” the man said. He backed away a few feet and motioned to the people watching from the building. Two teenagers came over, and the three of them started looting the zombies. The girl who went to get the zombie in the truck turned and puked when she saw what Gothy had done to it.

“Guess they didn’t like my handiwork,” Gothy snickered.

“Might be disturbing to them if they haven’t done a lot of killing,” Alvin shrugged.

The truck vanished when the teen finally reached inside and looted the zombie. As the survivors walked back to the building, the group checked their bags and found only trash items. With a wave to the survivors, Alvin got the Turtle headed back to US 82.

“Well, that was a fun diversion,” Alvin said. “We can feed the junk to the kiosks tonight.”

“Where do you think the zombies are coming from, Hero?” Gothy asked.

“Dallas, unless Gainesville fell. In either case, these guys are dead if they don’t leave soon.”

“That’s what I was thinking. If they’ve only been getting attacks for the last couple of days, Dallas seems like the more likely option. It also means that the zombies from there are really starting to push out.”

“Yeah,” Alvin agreed, “which is bad news for all the little settlements that might have survived the first couple of months.”

“Are we going to be stopping and warning those nearby?” Desiree asked.

“Not stopping like we did with Rebs,” Alvin replied. “More like what we just did. No reason to add a kiosk that’ll just end up as zombie fodder.”

“Fair enough, Hero,” Desiree said.

“Is Gainesville next?” Mousie asked.

“Not technically,” Alvin replied. “There’s a small town called Lindsay a mile or two outside of Gainesville’s sprawl. If anyone had survived there, they might have fled to Gainesville right after the Rapture. There’s another place I want to swing by before we reach the city, too. The municipal airport is on this side of the city.”

“We going to take a quick look, just in case?” Gothy grinned.

“For you, yes.”

“I’m so going to make sure you get extra attention tonight,” Gothy purred, leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

“Figured you might like the idea,” Alvin smiled.

“I would like to try flying,” Desiree said. “I know the principle behind it from the Human knowledge I have, but I can’t imagine what it’s like to be among the clouds…” Trailing off, she looked at the scattered white clouds above them.

“I would like to try it, too,” Mousie added, sounding wistful.

“We’ll get a plane at some point, I’m sure,” Alvin chuckled. “Since it looks like you all want to go up at least once, we’ll try to make it sooner rather than later. Just keep in mind that if the plane doesn’t come with armament, it’ll be easy prey for things like that eagle or a dragon.”

“I know, but I’d still like to try it.”

“We understand, Hero,” Mousie said, “but I’m with Desiree on this.”

“We’ll be careful,” Gothy smiled. “It’d be great if we found one that could make the trip to Europe.”

“I think most of them could with the fuel rune, but it does mean that we’d have to be doubly sure not to get dinged on the way,” Alvin said. “But first, let’s see if they even have something worth anything.”

Chapter Thirty-six

The first building they came to in Lindsay, Texas had once been a fish supplier. A semi had crashed into it, taking out one wall.

“Talk about a bad parking job,” Gothy quipped when they went past it.

“Took out the front corner,” Alvin said. “Couldn’t even get it between the lines.”

“Hero, I see movement,” Desiree said, looking ahead. “I caught sight of a car turning on a side road up ahead.”

“Stay sharp. We don’t know if we have people or undead.”

“Roger.”

“Which side?” Gothy asked.

“South.”

Gothy slid across the seat to the passenger side. “Just in case,” she said and opened the window.

They passed a motel and auto shop before the car Desiree had spotted came racing back onto the road from a wooded park. Alvin swerved the Humvee a little, lessening the impact from the car. Gothy and Mousie were rocked back from the open windows when the vehicles collided.

Alvin cursed angrily; swerving had been an instinctive reaction, and the car kept accelerating, forcing him into a line of trees on the other side of the road. The Humvee came to a sudden stop when it collided with a couple of sizable trees.

Desiree was trying to aim at the car that had hit them when she heard engines behind them. She spun the M2, surprised to see five more vehicles pulling out of the motel and auto shop driveways. She knew she would need to buy time for Alvin to get them unstuck, so she opened fire on the oncoming vehicles.

The M2 firing told Alvin that this was a trap and not a freak accident. Slamming the Humvee into reverse, he pulled back, needing the room to get free of the trees. Mousie and Gothy fired out the window at the zombie in the older Chevy that had driven them off the road.

The zombie grinned, showing rotting, blackened teeth as the bullets impacted, but did not break through the window of his vehicle, and flipped them off. He backed his car away, angling to get in front of the Humvee so they could not escape before the other undead reached them.

“Damned smart undead,” Gothy fumed as she summoned her Thompson. “Tires, Mousie.”

“Understood,” Mousie replied. She swapped out her rifle for pistols, shooting out the driver’s side tires.

“Brace!” Desiree shouted when she felt Alvin shift from reverse to drive.

Two of the closing vehicles hit them from behind, pushing the Humvee back into the trees. The other three came racing up, skidding to a stop and surrounding the Humvee.

“Fuck this,” Alvin growled, switching to his leather armor and set the parking brake. “Going out.” He stepped out of the Humvee, his battle armor appearing and spreading over the leather as his foot touched the ground.

The zombies bailed out of their vehicles when they saw him get out, laughing and aiming shotguns at Alvin. Their laughter stopped when Alvin’s battle armor finished covering him just as they pulled their triggers. Alvin smiled behind the helmet and pointed his hands at two of them. Small openings at each wrist sprayed flames at the two, who screamed and fired at him again to no effect. The fire melted their skin and ate into their skulls.

Desiree was unable to bring the M2 to bear on any of the vehicles that were right next to the Humvee, so she pushed herself up through the gunner’s hatch and triggered her own armor after Alvin climbed out of the driver’s seat. Rounds impacted her armor as it covered her body, but Desiree ignored them. She jumped off the roof, landing on the front end of a truck and caving the hood in. She knew she would have stumbled if her Nimbleness had not been so high.

The driver leaned out the window of his truck to join the three zombies in the back who were trying to shoot her. The burst of flame from Alvin’s armor got their attention and their eyes widened in fear. They looked back at Desiree in time to see flames extending from her armor at them.

“Hero,” Gothy complained, bailing out of the back seat a second after Alvin stepped out. The two vehicles on her side disgorged five zombies, all of which shot her. With a grimace, Gothy switched from guns to her warhammer and stepped closer to the closest zombie.

Since everyone else was out of the Humvee, Mousie jumped out as well. Her twin swords appeared as she joined Gothy in slaughtering the five zombies on the passenger side of the Turtle.

Scarcely a minute later, all of the zombies were dead— none of them even had a chance to realize how far outclassed they were before it was too late. After checking that everyone was okay, Alvin switched back to his regular gear and looted the bodies on his side. He climbed back into the Humvee and waited for the women to get situated.

“Fucking smart undead,” Alvin groused. “I got one rare rune from them and a few uncommon ones.”

“I got the keys to that Cadillac,” Gothy said. “I’ll sell it to the kiosk once we get back to base.”

“Runes, but nothing impressive,” Desiree said.

“I have a few pieces of undead essence, a crafting material,” Mousie said.

“Why did you jump out, Hero?” Gothy asked.

“Needed to get them out of their vehicles. Cars have too much durability to deal with effectively, and we can each take a few dozen shots without really even noticing. That, and I wanted to test the battery usage for the flamers on our suits. It’s hefty, so keep it in mind.”

“I had to get out anyway. They were under the firing arc,” Desiree told them.

“It was easier to kill them that way,” Mousie added. “If there had been a few dozen more, maybe it would have been different.”

Gothy sighed, “Fair enough…” She trailed off as the faint crack of gunfire echoed in the distance. “More?”

“Close enough for us to hear,” Alvin said. “A couple of miles, maybe… Fuck, don’t tell me.” Releasing the parking brake, Alvin got them moving.

“Don’t tell you what?” Desiree asked.

“I think it’s coming from where I wanted to go.”

“The airport?” Gothy asked.

“Large building on the edge of town. Maybe the settlement here decided against a high school for once,” Alvin grumbled.

“That would be about our luck,” Gothy agreed. “Let’s get ready to kill some more zombies.”

It took them less than a minute to turn onto Weber Drive. “Fuck!” Alvin exclaimed when he saw the mob attacking the airport.

Desiree did not need to aim much, as a few hundred undead were shooting at the building from behind a line of vehicles. It took the horde a moment to realize they were taking fire from behind and by then, several had been killed.

“Hero, bombs?” Gothy said, pulling out a few explosives.

“Need them for this. Grenades, at least,” Alvin said.

“I’ll use the grenades,” Mousie said, taking two of them out of her bags.

“I’ll use mine after the belt runs out,” Desiree added while Alvin drove them toward the mass of zombies.

The sound of bullets ricocheting off the Humvee increased as the horde realized the lone vehicle was a threat. Alvin cut into a hard turn, warning Desiree so she would be ready for it. She compensated, keeping the M2 pointed in the right direction.

One of the zombies started shouting at the others, and a burst of red pulsed out from it. Alvin grinned when the leader outed himself to them.

“I see him,” Desiree said as the M2 stopped firing. “Grenades ready.”

“Explosives ready,” Gothy added.

“Grenades ready here, too,” Mousie finished. “I’ll be arcing back toward the rear of the Humvee.”

“Got it,” Alvin said and swerved in toward the zombies a little more. “Have at them, ladies.”

All three threw explosives into the zombies before Alvin turned hard, showing the horde their tail lights.

The lead zombie started to shout at his horde again when he saw the large glob fly out of the rear window. He had just put together that it was a threat as Alvin turned the vehicle away from the battle. Grabbing two of his allies, the leader thrust them between him and the package before the makeshift claymores Gothy had tossed went off, followed by the grenades.

The explosions behind them made Alvin smile. He cut the Humvee hard around again to get back to the fight, wanting to see the damage that had been inflicted. “Tell your brother he’s amazing,” Alvin laughed.

“He knows,” Gothy snickered.

The edges of the horde were crumbling as zombies started climbing into vehicles to flee. Alvin drove along the line of them while Desiree, Mousie, and Gothy fired at the wounded zombies still on the ground.

The doors of the airport terminal flew open and a mass of people rushed out, joining in shooting at the zombies before they could get out of the area. Leading them was an old woman with a garden sprayer strapped to her back, soaking any zombie she got close to. Behind her, a younger woman was lighting and tossing flares at the doused zombies, turning each one they hit into an instant bonfire.

They were not able to stop all the zombies from fleeing, even though Alvin chased the vehicles that fled so Desiree, Gothy, and Mousie could do as much damage as possible. After a few streets, he turned back toward the airport. “Let’s see how grateful they are that we saved them,” Alvin said sardonically.

“They better be damned grateful,” Gothy said. “I’m getting loot, so they’re cleaning up the area.”

“I got a rare set of boots,” Mousie said, taking a quick look in her bag. “They’re in bad repair and only have two runes on them.”

“Kiosk them or auction house,” Alvin told her.

“More of that undead essence,” Desiree said, “plus runes.”

“Got to be an alchemy ingredient,” Alvin said. “Check with David tonight, please, Gothy.”

“I’ll handle it, Hero.”

Alvin approached the airport slowly so the survivors could see it was not more zombies. Half a dozen teenagers were going from body to body looting while others stood watch, guns ready.

The old woman with the sprayer came toward the Humvee, moving slowly and waving at them. Alvin stopped the Humvee a few yards away and got out to speak with her.

“You the leader?” Alvin asked as he approached the older woman.

“I am, and I thank you for your help. Most here call me Mama Maria.”

“I’m Alvin. Nice to meet you, Maria.”

“Did you come to save us, Alvin?”

“Just passing by and saw there was a problem. Was hoping that there’d be a plane worth looting.”

Maria nodded, “Honesty is good. No planes worth salvaging are still here. We sold them all to the kiosk when it appeared to help us build what we have.”

“Figured it might be that way. Any chance of a reward for saving you all?”

The elderly woman laughed, “Forward and honest. We can give you some of the loot if you want it, but we don’t have much else that would be of interest to you if you aren’t planning on staying.”

“We’ll take whatever you feel was worth our help,” Alvin replied. “Was that the first problem you’ve had since setting this place up?”

“Second. The first group was much smaller,” Maria sighed. “I don’t know where they’re coming from... the city was cleansed of undead a month ago.”

“My guess is Dallas,” Alvin told her, “or at least the greater Dallas area. I don’t think the city survived, which means there are millions of undead down there.”

Maria paled, “Dios Mío.”

“We came from Wichita. The Air Force is holding the city there,” Alvin told her. “I don’t know how many you have here, but you’re only seventy-ish miles from Dallas and that isn’t far enough away. I’d pack everyone up and head to Wichita. Make sure to destroy the kiosk before you go— only the leader can do that, by the way. It gives back some of the XP that was used to build this place.”

“Madre!” The young woman who had been tossing flares hurried forward when Maria staggered back a step and touched her chest. The nearest men shifted to point their guns vaguely in Alvin’s direction at the same time. Alvin stared at them, then hooked a thumb at Desiree manning the M2 and shook his head.

“What did you say?” the young woman snapped at Alvin, her accent lighter than Maria’s.

“I told her the truth,” Alvin said simply. “That there are likely millions of undead in the Dallas area.”

Her eyes bulged, “What? No, that…”

“Exactly. It means you’re all pretty fucked here,” Alvin said when she trailed off. “Maria there has the information you need. We’ll be leaving before the undead come back with reinforcements.”

“Wait,” Maria called out, regaining some strength. “A moment, please. Hector, collect a fifth of the loot that everyone got and bring it here.”

“What?” a man who was old enough to be Maria’s son balked. “Why?”

Maria’s accent became deeper and Alvin guessed she was speaking Spanish instead of English, “Because, child, I will tan your ass if you don’t.”

Hector blinked, then addressed the people who had been part of the fight. It took them awhile, but Hector finally came forward with a bag in his hand. “Here is what you ask for, Mama.”

“Thank you. Give it to him.”

“But—” Hector started to complain.

Maria cut him off by glaring at him, “Now.”

With a grunt, Hector threw the bag at Alvin’s feet. “There.”

Maria sighed, “Children... you raise them right and still…”

Alvin chuckled, “The solution is easy: don’t have kids. You all have a big decision to make, so we’ll be heading out. Don’t take too long debating what to do.”

“We thank you, Alvin. Please tell your friends that, as well.”

“Wives, but will do,” Alvin said, picking up the bag and walking toward the Humvee.

After he got back in, he handed the bag to Gothy. “No idea what’s in there, but we’re out.”

“Not going to use the kiosk?” Gothy asked.

“No. This place is going to be destroyed one way or another. It’s a straight shot up Interstate 35 from Dallas to here. The zombies will be back and this place will be wiped out.”

“Fair enough, Hero,” Gothy said, opening the bag to check the contents. “All their trash, how nice.”

“Figured it would be, but even the shit is still XP,” Alvin said, releasing the parking brake and driving again.

“Do you think she’ll do as you suggested?” Mousie asked.

“No idea,” Alvin shrugged as he turned onto US 82. “I bet they fracture. Some will go, some will stay.”

“In my world, the clan head would decree it, and the clan would do as told. Your world is so different.”

“Yeah, we believe that everyone should get a say in how things work. While that sounds good, it means the idiots get an equal say to the smart ones, and sadly, there are more idiots than intelligent people.”

“Maybe they’ll be weeded out in the next year or two?” Gothy said.

“True, but how many others will they take with them?” Alvin countered.

Gothy did not reply as she considered what he said.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Going through Gainesville, they were on edge, waiting for an ambush. The drive was slower than Alvin liked, as the streets had not been well cared for since the Rapture.

“Think they went back to Dallas?” Gothy asked as they continued the crawl through the city.

“Considering the road conditions, I’d say yes. I’d have expected to see signs of new accidents otherwise,” Alvin replied.

“Point.”

Alvin was glad the road was only slightly congested by the time they finally left the bulk of the city behind. Desiree wondered when the city was going to end; it had not turned back into the farm country she had gotten used to seeing.

“Is this still part of the city?” Mousie asked, wondering the same thing.

“Urban sprawl,” Alvin said. “It might not technically be in the city, but it was viewed as part of it, for all intents and purposes. At least until we get closer to Oak Ridge.”

“And this is nothing compared to a major city,” Gothy said.

“Movement,” Desiree announced, cutting the conversation short, “to the north, at the RV park.”

“Got it,” Alvin said. “I don’t feel like being ambushed twice, so let’s go kill them.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“You got it, Hero.”

Alvin turned into the RV park and shook his head. It was tiny, with only enough spaces for a dozen RVs, so finding the zombies was simple. The two undead were distracted, busy looting one of the RVs and lugging everything they could carry back to their truck. Between Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree, the pair of zombies were cut down before they had the chance to respond. A minute later, Mousie was back from looting and they were back on the road.

“They might be smarter, but they haven’t taken full advantage of the kiosks. Obviously they have access to them; the raid at the airport showed that. If they really loaded up on stuff, we might have had a real challenge back there.”

“True,” Alvin agreed. “The ones near Dallas might be that advanced. I think these were being pushed farther out by the others. Scavengers of the lowest order.”

“That would make sense,” Desiree chimed in. “The strong might push the weaker ones out to secure their own place. It has happened in our history.”

“And ours,” Mousie added.

“Happens everywhere,” Gothy said. “Makes me wonder. There are other towns between there and here. I wonder if those have been picked clean?”

“Probably,” Alvin said. “I’m not in any hurry to find out.”

“The urban sprawl is thinning,” Desiree said, then frowned “oooor not. I see more structures clustered ahead again.”

“That’s probably Oak Ridge,” Alvin told her. “It’ll thin down again, then we’ll hit Whitesboro.”

“Understood. It is interesting how spread out and yet compact your society can be.”

“It gets denser the farther east we go,” Gothy said. “The east was the first part of the country that was settled. It definitely shows.”

“The eastern seaboard will be the worst,” Alvin said. “Look, a downed plane. Been awhile since I’ve seen one.”

“They fell out of the sky during the Rapture?” Desiree asked to make sure she understood.

“Yeah. When everything with a microchip failed, our passenger jets would have been fucked,” Gothy answered her. “We haven’t seen many, but they would most likely be clustered around the major cities, along the lines of the flight paths they followed.”

“Dallas is a hub. There should be a lot of them around the city,” Alvin added.

“The zombies that came from that wreck, if any did, would have made it to Whitesboro during the first few weeks,” Gothy said.

“We are going through Whitesboro?” Mousie asked.

“North of it, along the edge,” Alvin clarified. “Want to stay on this kind of fucked up road,” he added, going around a flipped diesel truck. “Even though we’re going slower than I want, it’s easy to go off the road if we need to.”

“The zombies probably looted Whitesboro as well, didn’t they?” Desiree asked.

“It’s pretty likely,” Alvin replied. “There’s nothing in Whitesboro I’m interested in checking out, so if there are any survivors, they’re going to be on their own. We’ll be taking a detour near Sherman. Just to the north is their airport.”

“Love you, Hero,” Gothy purred, reaching forward to squeeze his shoulders.

“Doubt there will be anything worth the detour, but we check because we care.”

“Then we drop into Sherman?” Gothy asked.

“Debating it,” Alvin told her. “Even if there are people there, they’re likely to end up in the same boat as Gainesville, so the kiosk isn’t going to be worth it. After the airport, I’m thinking of skirting north and using the backroads to take us around before meeting back up with US 82.”

“That makes sense,” Gothy agreed.

“We’re not going to help them?” Desiree asked.

“Not enough in it for us,” Alvin replied. “Hell, we wouldn’t have gotten involved in Gainesville if they hadn’t been at the airport. We aren’t heroes out to save the world. We’re murder hobos who will kill the shit that gets in our way.”

“I will do my best to adjust my thinking,” Desiree said. “My people will always help another clan if they’re under attack by fungals, and I view the zombies here as Earth’s version of fungals.”

“It does take some getting used to, but they prioritize us before anyone else,” Mousie told her. “The first thing Hero considers is whether it is potentially dangerous for us or not.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Desiree said. “That makes it easier.”

Alvin did not correct Mousie outright, but his first thought was normally, will the loot be worth the risk? “We’re called Team Asshole for a few reasons,” Alvin said. “We take care of ourselves first, even if it means we’re not liked.”

“I will adapt, Hero,” Desiree said. “Our family is more important to me than strangers.”

“Good,” Gothy said, squeezing Desiree’s leg.

They were not attacked as they stayed on US 82 north of Whitesboro. With no smoke or gunfire to tempt them off the road, they coasted right by.

“‘Wowzaburger,’” Desiree muttered when they passed by a fast food restaurant. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

“It was supposed to be a statement,” Alvin said. “They have some of the biggest burgers for a fast food place. The original thought was that they wanted it to be so good, you would say, ‘Wow, that’s a burger,’ in admiration.”

“Marketing in the 50’s,” Gothy chuckled.

“I’ve had them. They aren’t bad... much better than some other Midwest burger places,” Alvin said.

“You mean Blackfort?” Gothy asked.

“Never enjoyed their food,” Alvin said. “Lots of others do, but they just never hit the spot for me.”

“Your world has a lot of strange eateries,” Mousie said as they passed a Mexican restaurant. “No wonder so many people didn’t cook for themselves.”

“Fair,” Alvin nodded. “It was a tradeoff: time for money, though that wasn’t always true. Some of these places would take as long or longer than cooking it at home.”

“Your world has many different oddities that, even though I know what they are, I’m still trying to understand,” Desiree said. “It would have been interesting to experience it before the Rapture.”

“Government would have clamped down on the Gates,” Alvin said. “We’d never have met.”

“I revoke my previous statement,” Desiree said, earning laughter from everyone. “It is also nice to see that the farmland is back.”

~*~*~

The trip continued without incident all the way to the North Texas Regional Airport.

“Okay, up on the right,” Alvin said. “We’ll be cutting across the runways and heading for the planes.”

Gothy tapped Desiree’s leg, “Trade with me for a few.”

“That would make it easier,” Desiree said, swapping positions with Gothy.

“Everyone good?” Alvin asked as they approached the south end of the runways.

“Roger.”

“Yes.”

“Ready, Hero,” Gothy said last.

Alvin had to go a bit farther north than he wanted; there was a 747 laying in pieces along the south end of the runway. “Guess the pilot tried to land,” he murmured. Shaking his head, he cut across the field, angling around the wreckage.

“I see them,” Gothy said. “South end, other side of the wreck.”

“Copy,” Alvin said as he steered around the downed plane.

When they got close enough for Gothy to get a good look at the small planes, Gothy frowned. “All single or dual prop, but none of them are old enough or armed,” she sighed.

“I think there are a couple other hangars to the north,” Alvin said, turning that way. “We’ll go check.”

It took them almost an hour to check all the hangars, but in the end, there was nothing that suited them. Gothy switched with Desiree, muttering, “Stupid airports. It’s like no one ever thought that having machine guns mounted to a plane was a good idea, outside of the Air Force.”

“More like it was probably illegal,” Alvin chuckled. “We’ll find something or have one made. I’m sure any of the mechanics could make one if we gave them enough XP and time.”

Gothy thought about it, “Might be best if we did that, anyway. We’d know what we were getting that way.”

“And they might get a crafting bonus that makes it better,” Mousie added.

“A plane or helicopter?” Desiree asked.

“Chopper would be better,” Alvin said. “Easier to put down. For a plane, you need a runway.”

“I wonder how that would work with the base summon portal?” Gothy asked.

“Hmm, good question,” Alvin said. “Something for Sammi and the others to deal with.”

“Before we make them do it in a rush,” Gothy laughed.

“Hero, there are people at the cluster of buildings to the north of the road,” Desiree said, cutting in on the conversation.

“People or zombies?” Alvin asked as they approached the college campus.

“Unsure.”

Four women in cut-off shorts and t-shirts tied up under their breasts came running toward the road. Alvin snickered, “Honey trap. Desiree, be ready.”

“Roger.”

Alvin slowed the Humvee so he was across from the driveway. “Can I help you?”

One of the women separated herself from the others and stepped forward, “Y’all not from Sherman.”

“No, we’re travelers. Don’t you think warmer clothes would be better?” Alvin asked with a smirk. The women were attractive enough, but paled in comparison to the three in the Humvee with him.

Straightening up a bit, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We find warmth enough. Y’all stopping in for a bit? Heard about us and had to come by?”

“No, we were just passing through when Desiree noticed you,” Alvin replied plainly. “Has the city been okay?”

“Oh, yeah, lots of folk down there,” the woman smiled. “We have visitors often.”

“Visitors?” Alvin prompted.

“We aim to give our guests a taste of happiness,” the woman replied, her smile dimming slightly.

“The oldest profession stays alive,” Alvin chuckled.

“Got to make our way somehow, and Alpha Sigma Sigma was best known for upholding its letters.”

Alvin laughed, “Fucking shit, really? Your sorority is A.S.S.?”

“Best damn ass in Texas,” the speaker glared at him.

“Well, my advice to you and your friends is to get your A.S.S. into gear and head to Wichita. The undead from Dallas are starting to spread. You might want to tell the people of Sherman that, too.”

“Oh? And why should we believe you?” The woman’s friendliness was gone, replaced by a cold glare.

“Because I’ve killed more undead and other creatures than there are people left in Sherman. I don’t care if you stay and get eaten by zombies. Hell, I’m sure that’s somebody’s kink, but…” Alvin trailed off when he saw one of them turn bright red. “And we know who that is now. I figure you care at least enough to stay alive. Wichita has a lot of people; that would make it easier for you to earn your living, if nothing else.”

The woman looked uncertain, glancing back at her allies. “I’ll pass the word along.”

“Fine with me,” Alvin shrugged. “Oh, and by the way, up your Personability if you want to entice people. You’re not a match for any of my wives, not even close. Best of luck.” Taking his foot off the brake, Alvin started them away from the college.

“They won’t listen,” Gothy said as they drove away. “Stuck up bitches only listen when someone makes them.”

“True, but they adapted enough already to find a niche and get XP doing it,” Alvin said. “If nothing else, the prospect of more clients might get them moving.”

“Greed is a good motivator,” Gothy admitted.

“None of them looked even half as attractive as you, Gothy,” Desiree said.

“True,” Mousie agreed.

“I agree,” Alvin said. “None of them looked halfway as good as you did the first day I met you, much less now.”

“Hero...” Gothy smiled.

“They reminded me of Claudia, honestly,” Alvin shrugged. “Sure, they might have been thin, but they were all fake. I’ll take my real, crazy, lovable goth any day over that.”

“I’m going to melt your brains later,” Gothy said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “All your brains are belong to us.”

Alvin laughed and reached back to pat her leg. “Gladly given. Gods know you’re well on your way to killing me with sex, anyway.”

Chapter Thirty-eight

The backroads out of the Sherman area were easy to navigate and clear of hostiles. Once they were back on US 82, they made good speed toward Bells. When they were close to the small town, they saw another eagle dive for its food from the large body of water north of town.

“I don’t want to deal with either the fish or the birds, but damned if that isn’t fun to watch,” Gothy said as the eagle flew off with its catch.

A smaller bird dove at the lake, but a tentacle whipped up and snagged it, pulling it down. “That right there is why I don’t want to fuck with water,” Alvin said.

“The battle armor is sealed and we have air. We could kill whatever that was,” Desiree said.

“Pass, thanks,” Alvin replied quickly. “Rather deal with scorpions, even when they clip my damn leg off.”

“Rather you didn’t lose a leg again, Hero.”

“I agree, Gothy, but if it’s that or dealing with giant tentacle fish, I’ll give up the leg… unless they’ve stopped them from regrowing. We should probably look into that in the training room.”

“I’ll make a note of it,” Mousie said. “I can have your leg off quickly and easily.”

“It’d be just a flesh wound,” Gothy snickered.

Alvin shook his head and chuckled. “‘Have at you.’” When Alvin saw Mousie’s lack of recognition, he smiled. “Gothy, we get to watch Holy Grail tonight.”

“‘I shall taunt you a second time!’” Gothy laughed.

“I don’t understand what you two are talking about, either,” Desiree said.

“Don’t worry, we’ll fix that tonight,” Gothy said, patting her leg. “It’s a good movie.”

“Fucking classic,” Alvin added.

They passed the lake, talking about some of the TV shows and movies they had watched, discussing which they thought was better. The conversation lasted almost until they reached Bonham.

~*~*~

“Hero, I’m seeing a lot of vehicles up ahead,” Desiree announced. “They’re turning onto this road from the south.”

“Fuck... could be zombies, but might be the people of the town,” Alvin said.

Alvin slowed the Humvee as they got closer. Two of the cars had pulled across the road, blocking it. Five people stood in front of the parked cars, weapons up and ready. “Desiree?”

“They look to be fleeing northward,” Desiree told them.

“I believe I can hear faint gunshots from the south, Hero,” Mousie added once she pushed her window open.

“The town is falling,” Alvin sighed. “Fuck.”

“We going to jump in and siphon some XP?” Gothy asked. “They’re going the same way we are, so it might help grease the wheels in the next town.”

Alvin thought it over while they drew closer to the road the refugees were using. “Fuck it. Let’s buy them a little time, at least.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“XP, here we come,” Gothy laughed.

Alvin caught the surprised look on a driver’s face when they went past them toward whatever the people were running from. “What is it with people and high schools?” Alvin sighed after seeing where they had fled from.

“The main battle is where the street ends,” Desiree announced, getting ready to fire.

“Do your best not to hit the defenders,” Alvin told her. “We’re going to try pushing the undead back.”

“The defenders are using the thick tree line in the cemetery to stop from getting flanked,” Desiree advised.

“Hope that’s empty,” Gothy muttered. “Don’t want to be flanked by moldering corpses.”

The Humvee ate the half-mile distance to the fight swiftly on the clear road. Two dozen people were hunkered down behind overturned semi-trucks, popping out to fire around the roadblock before falling back to reload.

“They seem to be doing okay,” Desiree said. “Wait... I caught glimpses of vehicles off-road going wide. Go left. We can cut them off.”

“Got it,” Alvin said. He turned left short of the intersection, catching the attention of the defenders.

A couple of the men turned to face the Humvee as if it was a threat, but when they went by, they stopped raising their rifles. It took them a moment, but they caught sight of the flanking attackers and began to inform the others.

“A road just past these trees,” Desiree told Alvin as she aimed the M2.

“Copy. Gothy, you ready on the right?”

“I’m ready, Hero.”

“Let’s get the best angle for you,” Alvin said as he turned parallel to the road the zombies should be coming from.

The M2 fired as soon as Desiree had sight on her target. She did not shoot at the bulk of the vehicle, but at the driver’s side tires. The lead car swerved wildly when it lost traction, the truck right behind it slamming into its trunk, unable to swerve or stop in time. The four zombies in the back of the truck went flying from the bed.

Gothy and Mousie took aim at the third vehicle when the first two crashed. The rapid fire of the Thompson and the slower, smoother action of the rifle accounted for another less than drivable car and a second accident.

“Going in close,” Alvin said. “Gothy, other side. Get the stragglers.”

Gothy shifted sides, “On it, Hero.”

Desiree and Mousie stopped firing for a moment as Alvin turned hard into the pile up. He took some damage to the Humvee to slam the first two attacking vehicles together.

“Desiree, long. Mousie, short,” Alvin said as he kept the accelerator pressed. He wanted to make sure that if the truck tried to back off, the car would follow it.

“Hero, four more went wide,” Desiree called out, shifting aim to the vehicles. They had come out from around the house that had briefly sheltered them.

“We have four of the townsfolk coming this way,” Gothy added.

“We’ll let them play for a bit— we’re going after the other cars,” Alvin said. “Reversing,” he added to warn them about his impending change.

The zombies in the first group had just gotten their bearings and started firing on the Humvee when Alvin suddenly reversed, driving over one of the undead who had been thrown. The gunshots continued to ricochet off them as Alvin floored the pedal, peeling off toward the four vehicles coming out of a parking lot a hundred yards away.

“Stupid zombies,” Gothy laughed as she watched two of them get cut down by the small squad of townsfolk. “We’ll have to go back and help them when we’re done. Still more than those four can handle.”

“Copy that,” Alvin said.

Desiree and Mousie were not letting the other vehicles get easy access to the road. Tires shredded, the cars went skidding as they lost the ability to hold the road. Gothy pointed her Thompson out the window behind them, trying to buy the four townsfolk a bit more time.

“Brace,” Alvin said as he came in hard on the lead vehicle.

The women braced, all of them getting jarred by the impact, but able to get back on target faster than most would. Desiree aimed at the furthest car while Mousie took shots through the open driver’s window of the car they had hit.

“Mousie, can you handle them on foot?” Alvin asked as he slammed his window open and held his UMP out of it, firing at a zombie that bailed from one of the vehicles.

“With the battle armor, certainly. They are not armored as they should be,” Mousie replied as she started to summon her battle armor.

“Gothy, go with her,” Alvin said. “Desiree and I will go back for the other set. Meet us there when you’re done.”

“Murder Hobos, unite!” Gothy laughed and summoned her own battle armor.

Both of them jumped out when their armor was halfway covering their bodies, Mousie with blades in hand and Gothy with her trusty shotgun. When they were clear of the Humvee, Alvin put it into reverse.

“Tell me when to stop,” he told Desiree as he went backward. “Once we get there, I’m getting out. You can keep the Ma Deuce company or come out, too.”

“Roger.”

They easily dispatched the flanking force with brutal efficiency. The four townsfolk who had come to help were hiding behind a building, two of them bandaging wounds.

“No medkits?” Alvin asked as he stepped around the corner to check on them.

“What the fuck are you?” one of the unwounded men asked, staring up at Alvin’s armor.

Alvin ignored the question and asked again, “Medkits?”

“Already used them in the other fight. Can you help them?”

Alvin looked to where the majority of the fight was taking place. “Easy XP, sure. Make sure to loot these here so I can focus on the fight.”

“Uh, yeah... sure,” the man said when Alvin walked back to the Humvee. “Who the fuck are those guys?”

“Ladies, let’s go clean up the rest of this mess. The XP is easy and the loot is free.”

“Humvee or armor?” Gothy asked after she and Mousie jogged over.

“How damaged is your armor?”

“Couple hundred only.”

“Your call. Desiree and I will take the Turtle over.”

“Come on, Mousie, let’s go slaughter some more.”

“I’m right behind you, Gothy,” Mousie said.

“Nut,” Alvin chuckled as he dismissed his battle armor. “Gun reloaded?”

“Should be in a second,” Desiree said. “When the gun goes dry, I’m going out the top.”

“Sure, just don’t get shot by the idiots.”

“Roger, Hero.”

The main fight became one sided once they joined in. The townsfolk just stared in awe and horror as Gothy and Mousie cut through the undead that were out of their cars. The shock grew when Alvin came around the outside, Desiree crippling the rear-most cars so the undead could not flee. As the four of them slaughtered the zombies, the townsfolk finally shook off their shock and came out to help.

Minutes later, the last zombie was dead and the looting began. A younger man in body armor was the one who approached Alvin. “We appreciate y’all helping us out of that jam. Things might have gone bad for us if you hadn’t come along.”

“I’d say so,” Alvin replied. “We saw some people fleeing and decided it had to be for a reason. I’d think you’re all that’s left of what this town used to be.”

“Yeah, we expected to be,” the man replied. “I’d offer to let you use the kiosk, but Commissioner Johnson should have removed it before he left.”

“Not a problem. Where are you all headed to?”

“Paris.”

“Long trip. Hope the boat is seaworthy,” Alvin said with a straight face.

“No. Paris, Tex… wait, you’re havin’ me on, ain’tcha?”

Alvin smiled slightly, “A bit.”

“Y’all are welcome to join us on the road.”

Alvin looked at the sky, “Might as well. It’s getting late.”

“Should only take an hour, maybe a bit more to get there.”

“We’ll follow you.”

“Just one thing,” the man asked in a low voice, looking back at Gothy and Mousie, who were back to their normal outfits. “The dark Elf... is she safe?”

“Entirely,” Alvin said, seeing Mousie’s head turn their way from a hundred feet away. “After all, she saved you and your friends, didn’t she?”

“Well, you have a point there. Okay, I’ll vouch for you when we get to Paris. It’ll take us a bit to get everyone ready to go.”

“Take your time,” Alvin said. “We’ll be ready when you are.”

Once all four of them were in the Humvee, Alvin explained what they were going to do.

“We’re not staying the night in Paris, right, Hero?”

“No, we’re going to explain things and then head back to the base for the night.”

“Good. I have plans, after all.”

“I’m fairly certain I know what those plans are, but it’ll have to wait until after the movie.”

“I’ll wait, but you better be ready when the movie ends,” Gothy husked at him.

“I’ll have at you a second time,” Alvin chuckled.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Alvin was glad that the road to Paris was quiet and empty. They were all surprised that Paris’ base of operations was what had been a Clanbell’s Soup factory. Alvin had not expected it to be near a high school and a wastewater treatment plant, either.

Parking behind the man who had talked with them in Bonham, Alvin and the women got out of the Humvee. “This the place?”

“They converted it into small apartments,” the man said. “It can hold five thousand, and they aren’t at capacity yet.”

“Deputy Schmidt,” a tall, slicked-haired man called out as he approached them, “you did exactly what we needed. The former residents of Bonham are in your debt.”

“Commissioner, we shouldn’t be here,” Schmidt said flatly. “We should have died to buy you time. We lost Javier, as it was. The rest of us would be zombies now too if not for these four.”

“Thank you,” the politician smiled the fake smile of a professional liar. “We’ll have to find some way to thank you for saving the men who made it. It might take us a few days, though, as we’ll be joining this settlement.”

“I’m sure,” Alvin said, not even bothering to act polite. “You have all the XP from the settlement kiosk, so I’m sure you could transfer some over to a card without too much trouble.”

The politician’s smile faded slightly, “Oh, yes, but that is everyone’s—”

“That you’ll keep for yourself,” Gothy cut him off.

Blinking at having been called out flatly, he dropped the smile, which the survivors noticed. “Look, little gir—”

Mousie’s blade touched the side of his neck, “Don’t you dare talk down to Gothy!”

The commissioner paled. “You’re not even Human!” He glanced nervously to the uneasy-looking survivors, “Are you going to stand there while this thing thr—”

Mousie’s sword cut swiftly across his neck. She snapped the blood from her sword before it vanished. The men all exchanged worried looks as she stared at them.

“Mousie, you weren’t wrong, but that might strain our relationship a bit,” Alvin said.

“He’s not dead,” Mousie shrugged. “He just wishes he were.”

Schmidt was kneeling next to the commissioner, putting a bandage around the man’s neck. “She’s right— he isn’t dead. That probably wasn’t the best thing to do. The majority of the town think he’s their savior.”

“Who was willing to throw you all away to save himself and them,” Gothy snorted.

“We volunteered,” one of the other men spoke up.

“To defend your loved ones is a sacred honor, but to keep one as flawed as him in charge is a dishonor to your entire clan,” Desiree said.

“What the hell is going on out here?” a group of people were clamoring as they made their way from the soup factory.

“A disagreement,” Alvin shrugged. “We helped these men kill the zombies that attacked Bonham. When we got here, this man insulted my wife,” Alvin nodded toward Mousie, “and she made sure he wouldn’t do that again. He’s alive, but he’ll need a day or two to heal.”

The speaker of the group was an old man in flannel and jeans with an old revolver strapped to his hip. “That’s Commissioner Johnson of Bonham; he was their leader. While he might be useless to most, he got them through their time of need before accepting our offer of taking them in. I don’t know what transpired, but I don’t think an insult rises to the level of… cutting a man’s throat?”

“Insulting two of my wives is. Besides, she knew she wouldn’t kill him with a single strike,” Alvin shrugged. “If someone called your wife a ‘creature’ and disparaged her, would you just stand there?”

The old man spit out a wad of tobacco as he thought about it. “I’d probably lay him out, but I wouldn’t carve on him.”

“Well, she’s more proactive than you are,” Gothy said.

“Be that as it may, your introduction hasn’t been the best and this is sure to cause friction with the newcomers. We’ll find a place for you to lay your heads for the night, but it might be best if you make amends or be on your way in the morning.”

“We weren’t planning on staying,” Alvin shrugged. “Figured we would warn you about Dallas and go on our way.”

“Warn us about Dallas?” the old man asked.

“It’s got a few million zombies in it and they’re starting to reach out. Bonham was the third town we found being attacked by them. Paris connects to it via a couple of highways, doesn’t it?”

The old man looked thoughtful, “Yeah. That might explain some of my people having seen more undead over the last few weeks.”

“Unless you got a large number of people, you might want to consider relocating. I know the Air Force is holding Wichita with at least ten thousand people. We’re going to be heading to Texarkana tomorrow— hoping to see if the Army depot is still there.”

“Hmm... could you send back a message if they are doing good?”

“I’d need to tag your kiosk,” Alvin said. “I don’t mind helping some, but I don’t deal with assholes and idiots well.” He finished his sentence by looking at Johnson, who was being led away by Schmidt.

“Understandable. Kiosk is this way. We’ll find you a room, too.”

“Don’t need one,” Alvin shrugged. “We’ll be fine in my base.”

“Base?” the old man asked as they started toward the converted factory.

“You’ve been decent. I’ll give you the quick version,” Alvin said.

~*~*~

The sun had completely set by the time the leader of Paris showed them back out to the Humvee. “I’ll be looking forward to the morning,” the old man said.

“Always a pleasure doing business,” Alvin chuckled. “Just have the XP card ready for us, Tom.”

“It’ll be ready,” Tom replied, shaking hands with Alvin.

Tom and his small contingent of sons and grandsons watched the group as they got in the Humvee, then pulled forward into thin air. “You really think we can trust them, Dad?” one son asked when the Humvee vanished.

“I’d rather trust them than that oily snake,” Tom replied. “Let’s go check on him. The people of Bonham still believe in him, and we need a united front for now. If the Army depot is half as strong as Wichita, we’ll be leaving.”

“We can run a scouting trip to Dallas,” one of his grandsons offered.

“Don’t need to be burying more family,” Tom said firmly. “They might be rough, crass, and on the edge of abrasive at times, but I trust them when they say the undead will come for us.”

~*~*~

Stretching when he got out of the Humvee, Alvin sighed, “Fuck, that was a long day.”

“It’s not over yet, either,” Gothy smiled at him. “Dinner, a movie, and some fun still to be had.”

“Let’s go get all this loot sorted first,” Alvin said.

It only took them about an hour to store the stuff to keep and sell off the things they did not want. Jarvis informed them it would be a half hour for dinner, so Desiree and Mousie went to get a shower while Alvin and Gothy finished up.

“Dammit, David,” Gothy sighed as she read a message.

“What is it?” Alvin asked.

“He isn’t an alchemist anymore. He switched over to working on battle armor.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he’s always been a power armor geek,” Gothy grumbled. “Matt Parrish from Salina and one of the teens took over for him. He says they can make the explosives he did.”

“Bet we won’t get the discount we used to,” Alvin said. “If he can make improvements to the battle armor, it’ll be worth it.”

“Maybe,” Gothy grumbled. “He sent along some explosives for us, too. His whole letter is an apology about switching, then him gushing about how excited he is.”

“Means he’ll be safer. No more blowing himself up,” Alvin said.

“I know. I’m glad he’s going to be safer and happier, but still, stupid idiot could have warned us ahead of time. We would have ordered a bunch from him.”

Chuckling, Alvin grabbed her around the waist, “Yeah, probably why he didn’t. Come on, Gothy, let’s go get you cleaned up. We have dinner, a movie, and fun still, don’t we?”

“Okay, Hero,” Gothy sighed as she leaned against him. “Think the other two are up to no good?”

“With you as their teacher, I’d be surprised if they weren’t.”

“You say the sweetest things,” Gothy purred, taking his hand to lead him into the bedroom.

~*~*~

“Glad you could all join me for dinner,” Jarvis said dryly.

“Sorry, buddy, things just seem to snowball,” Alvin chuckled.

“Says the man with the expression of the eminently satisfied,” Jarvis replied.

“It was our fault, Jarvis,” Mousie said. “We distracted him when he came to shower.”

“He had to be firm with us,” Desiree added.

“In the end, he prevailed,” Gothy snickered.

“Very droll,” Jarvis sighed. “Dinner is ready, though it might be a touch dry since I had to keep it warm.”

“Bet it still tastes amazing,” Alvin said. “We’re going to watch Holy Grail after dinner, Jarvis. Care to catch it with us?”

“I will join you after the dishes,” Jarvis replied, setting plates in front of them. “First, fried chicken and a salad.”

Alvin looked at the chicken with puzzlement. The breading looked different than any other fried chicken he had had before. The salad was also odd— the main ingredient was long strings of green cabbage, but it also had bits of thinly sliced carrot, green onions, and other vegetables that had been lightly sprinkled with crushed peanuts and had a lemon vinaigrette spritzed over it.

“You may have this orange tea or some of this rice wine,” Jarvis added as he set cups, a bottle, and a teapot on the table before taking his seat.

“Thank you, Jarvis,” Desiree smiled as she took the offered cup and bottle.

Alvin poured a cup of the tea, then picked up his knife and fork. Seeing Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree having sake, he chuckled. “Go easy on that. I’m sure it’s quality stuff.”

“It is indeed, sir.”

Trying the salad first, Alvin was reminded of a spring roll. The flavor lingered on the tongue, and a sip of the tea sweetened the overall taste. Cutting a piece of the chicken breast, he tried it alone. He was expecting the strong chicken taste, but the spicy pepper and ramen flavors came out of nowhere. Quickly taking a bite of the salad, the heat of the chicken faded and mingled with the salad perfectly, helping quench the heat and accenting the fresh flavors of the salad.

“Damn, Jarvis, now I’m sorry we weren’t here right when it was done. This is damned good, and you say it’s a lesser version of what it would have been?”

“Thank you, sir. I might have been mistaken about that; the flavors and crunch held up without becoming overly dry.”

The other three were quick to add in their praise.

Dinner ended with everyone happy. None of the women looked even remotely tipsy, making Alvin wonder if that had to do with their high Hardiness. Moving over to the sofa, they got settled and Alvin started the movie while Jarvis worked on the dishes.

Questions and laughter filled the room as the movie progressed. The intermission scene was baffling to Desiree and Mousie, making Alvin and Gothy laugh more. They tried, through giggles and laughter, to explain the unexplainable to them.

“A very good movie,” Jarvis said when it ended, “but I think I enjoy The Meaning of Life more.”

“Life of Brian is good, too,” Gothy added.

“Did the same people do both of those?” Mousie asked.

“Yeah. We’ll watch them later,” Alvin said as they unpiled from the sofa. “We need to turn in for the night. Tomorrow, we have to buy some stuff to hand off for XP and we’ll finally be ready to reach Texarkana.”

“He’s got a point. We do need to turn in,” Gothy smirked.

“I’ll plan on a late breakfast, shall I?” Jarvis asked as he got to his feet.

“Might be for the best,” Alvin chuckled as all three of them grabbed him and started to drag him toward the bedroom.

“Very well. May you all sleep well, when you get there,” Jarvis replied, stepping into the kitchen.

Chapter Forty

Alvin chuckled as Gothy shut the door firmly behind them. “Want something, do you?”

“I need to pay you back for being so thoughtful earlier,” Gothy said. Her clothing vanished and was replaced by a new set of lingerie. The black and gold set consisted of a bra that barely held her massive tits, a thong with ‘Eat Me’ on the front of it, and a set of black thigh-high stockings with gold decorations on them, depicting a variety of sexual positions.

“I like it. It’s over the top, much like you,” Alvin smirked.

“What of mine, Hero?” Mousie asked.

Tearing his gaze off Gothy, he found Mousie in a white silk-mesh baby doll. The barely there bra and thong under the outfit accented her smaller proportions extremely well, while the tight mesh covering gave him the perfect blend of hiding and showing off her dark skin.

“Damn, you make the white lingerie look amazing.”

“And me, Hero?” Desiree asked from his other side.

Thick black leather straps crisscrossed Desiree’s form, each strap accenting her body in different ways. Her chest had coverings that could be removed, and she wore a black thong with the words ‘Make Me’ written in gold.

“A strong, bold statement that begs to be put in her place,” Alvin grinned. “Honestly, each of you looks wonderful. All of you are different from each other, and that makes me happy.”

“Thank you, Hero,” the trio said in unison, grinning at him.

“And that’s just creepy,” Alvin laughed. “Okay, someone mentioned rewarding me, right?”

“Yes,” Gothy stretched, letting him get a better look at her. “What would you like me to do? Maybe kneel before you? Or perhaps you’d rather bend me over your knee?”

“I know exactly what I want from you... from all of you,” Alvin said, letting his clothing vanish and making them look away from his face briefly. “I’m going to put each of you onto a piece of equipment in the dungeon. There will be a torment and a pleasurable addition for each of you.” All of them looked back up at him with eager expressions, but they saw a devious smile on his face.

“What’s the catch?” Desiree asked.

“You’re each going to pick out two pieces of equipment to be used: two torments and two additions. Those will be placed into two separate hats to be chosen from, so what you put in might not be what you get.”

“What if Mousie’s torment is my pleasure?” Gothy asked.

“Lucky day for you, then,” Alvin smirked. “Now go pick your choices. I’ll have the hats and paper ready in a moment.”

“This is what you want, Hero?” Mousie asked. “This sounds more like what Gothy and I prefer.”

“He likes dominating us as much as we love him doing it,” Gothy smiled.

“She’s right,” Alvin nodded before turning to Desiree. “I’m still finding the middle ground for you, though.”

“You are my husband and my commander. Your orders and wishes are what make me happy. Besides, I got to torment Mousie earlier, which helped satisfy some of my other kinks.”

“Fair enough. Hop to it,” Alvin said.

Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree walked to the dungeon and Alvin watched three well-shaped posteriors with a smile. I wonder what each will pick and who will get what… hmm... Gothy will add the wooden horse since it’s her favorite. Mousie likes being tied down to one of the benches, but I don’t know enough about Desiree yet. Shaking his head, Alvin followed them.

Once everyone had placed their selections in the hats, Alvin pulled a slip for each of them. Desiree was to be tied face up on a bench with clover clamps on her nipples and the magic wand strapped to her thigh, the head resting against her sex. Gothy ended up on the horse with a vibrating anal probe and weighted clamps on her nipples. Mousie was to be bound by rope, immobilizing her arms and tied face down on a bench with the machine dildo working at a slow, steady pace in and out of her.

“Now that is a sight,” Alvin sighed happily. “Time for more fun: I’m taking away your sight and hearing. Once that’s done, I’ll be putting in my own additions.”

No one objected to his plan so Alvin did as he said, placing blindfolds and headphones on each of them. Once he had each of them isolated, he picked up a flogger and cane to start with and made his way over to Gothy. Working her over, he took the time to kiss the worst marks and nibble her nipples. After her second orgasm, he left her to the horse and went for Mousie. He set the cane and flogger aside, picking up one of her favorite paddles. It had a soft cushion on one side with hard wood on the other. Mousie’s ass was flushed a deep purple by the time he finished spanking her. A pool of her juices puddled under her during her multiple orgasms, the machine now making delightfully obscene sounds as it continued to fuck her. Alvin left her shaking and moaning, grinning. He turned to Desiree and took a moment to consider what he should do with her.

Picking up the lightest flogger, Alvin approached her. She gasped when the table lowered another couple of inches, and her body tensed. Holding her head with one hand, he removed the support so her head would dangle off the end.

“Hero? Wha—?” Desiree began to ask before his hard cock filled her mouth.

Alvin let out a moan as she quickly took as much of him as she could. With a sadistic smirk, he undid both clamps, making her exclaim around his cock. Taking her firm breasts in hand, he pinched, tugged, and played with her sensitive nipples as he slowly face fucked her. Each bit of pain made her gasp and moan around his shaft. Letting go of her breasts, he finally brought the light flogger into play as he kept the same slow pace going. Desiree let out a moan of approval when he flogged her chest. The flogging, vibrator, and him taking her was too much, and her lips clamped around his hard flesh as she came. Her deep moan made him gasp, the vibration almost tipping him over the edge. Pulling himself roughly from her mouth, her face was covered in saliva as she panted and he breathed deeply to regain control over himself.

He stepped back and leaned against another bench for a minute. “Goddamn, that was almost too much.” Taking another few breaths, he released the women one by one, starting with Gothy.

All three lay on the floor, gasping, covered in sweat, smiling, and eyeing his hard cock by the time he finished. He walked over and smiled down at them, “I’m going to bed, ladies. You can each get a single orgasm from me, but as many as you like from each other. Don’t keep me waiting too long.”

Desiree was the first to join him— she had not been worked over as hard. Climbing astride him, she grabbed his hands and leaned into him, “I’m going to finish what you started with my mouth. This time, I won’t let you get away.”

Alvin chuckled as he leaned his head up and kissed her softly, “Better hurry up before the others get here and try to dismount you.”

Shifting her hips, she sighed in pleasure as she sank onto him inch by inch. “Fucking gods, you’re so damned big.” When she finally had him fully inside her, she leaned back and pulled his hands to her breasts as she fucked him. “Play with them, but nicely. You’ve tormented them enough.”

Alvin did as she commanded; his hands and fingers lightly caressed and squeezed her breasts, being especially careful of her nipples. He did his best to let her take control, but as time went by, his hips rose to meet hers and the pace quickened. Closing her eyes and leaning her head back, Alvin felt her clamp around his cock as she came. Already on the edge, he let go of her breasts, grabbed her hips, and hammered her onto his shaft a few times before he burst inside of her. The hard coupling lasted a few more seconds before Alvin let go of her hips and Desiree collapsed on top of him.

“Hmm, that looked fun,” Gothy murmured. “Mousie, as soon as she slides clear, you’re up.”

“Gladly, Gothy. Thank you,” Mousie murmured as she leaned forward and lapped at where Desiree and Alvin were joined together.

“Mousie, no, I need to rest,” Desiree moaned, sliding to the side to get away from Mousie’s tongue.

With the way clear, Mousie engulfed Alvin’s semi-hard cock in her mouth, making sure she sucked every last drop of their orgasm up. Alvin moaned and reached down, trailing his fingers over her ears as she worked on bringing him back to life for the next round. Mousie’s moan of approval made Alvin smile. He did not take control, instead letting her set the pace. Looking to the side, he saw Gothy straddling Desiree’s face. The sounds of Desiree licking and pleasuring Gothy helped bring Alvin’s cock back to hardness quickly.

“Hero,” Mousie asked, “will you take me from behind and bury my face into one of them, please?”

“Me,” Gothy moaned as she shifted to be on her back.

Mousie quickly put her head between Gothy’s legs and Alvin lined himself up behind her. Grabbing her hair in one hand, he pushed Mousie’s face down to Gothy’s dripping slit as he pushed into her.

Desiree moved over to lie beside Gothy, kissing, licking, and caressing the giant soft tits that swayed in time to Alvin’s thrusts into Mousie. Reaching down, she took Mousie’s hair from Alvin and gave him a wink, “This way, you can truly give her what she needs.”

“Thank you,” Alvin smiled as he grabbed Mousie by the hips and gave her deep, hard, slow thrusts.

Alvin got Mousie to orgasm three times before pounding into her, seconds away from filling her with his cum. Gasping, he finally reached his next orgasm, his whole body shuddering as he finished. Pulling out of her, he collapsed on the bed.

“Fucking hell, I’m going to die,” Alvin panted.

“Not yet, Hero,” Gothy purred as she moved closer to him, “I haven’t had my turn. Though I could use some help making sure he’s ready for me.”

“Gladly,” Desiree said, joining Gothy, their mouths inches from his cock.

“I’ll help, too,” Mousie murmured as she crawled over to flank Gothy.

Three sets of tongues and lips worked to clean him and bring him around to give Gothy her turn. Watching as they worked on his slowly rising cock, he wondered how many of his fans hated him with a deep abiding passion because he was here and they were not.

Alvin enjoyed every moment of what they did, amazed that he had three beautiful women devoted to bringing him pleasure like this, but also able to stand beside him and kill shit when the chips were down.

When they brought his cock back to attention, Gothy shifted back and spread her legs wide, “Come here, Hero. I want you to take me, but I also want our wives to be able to enjoy us both.”

“Gladly,” Alvin said as he got between her legs, both Mousie and Desiree flanking them.

Pushing himself into her slowly, Alvin watched her eyelids flutter as she exhaled in pleasure. When he was fully inside her, he took the same slow pace to pull himself almost completely back out of her before repeating the process.

“Slow and steady,” Alvin chuckled.

Mousie kissed at Gothy’s neck and whispered to her while Desiree leaned in to suck gently on a hard nipple. Gothy moaned, her arms going around the two of them, welcoming them to continue their actions.

They took their time, and it lasted for nearly an hour. Alvin did his best to stay slow and steady while the other two kissed, licked, nibbled, and generally added all the pleasure they could. The end inevitably came with Mousie and Desiree each clamped onto a breast as Alvin hammered himself into Gothy. With a cry of pleasure, Alvin released his third orgasm into Gothy as her own orgasm washed over her.

Spent, exhausted, and sated, the three of them shifted minimally before they passed out. A smile was plastered on Alvin’s face as Gothy took his right with Mousie on her other side, and Desiree on his left.

Chapter Forty-one

Standing under the hot water, Alvin let the warmth soak into him. This leg of the trip is just about done… I’ll have to dicker with the guys at Red River to get what I want, but I should be able to swing it, since I can hook them up with battle armor. We’ll need to expand the garage to three spots… actually, might want to make it four, just in case. The XP from the zombies and trash loot has been something, at least... we should probably send Shawn a message. If the zombies in Dallas are moving outward, then Beatty might catch flak from Vegas.

“Hero?” a voice asked from behind him just before a soft hand touched his shoulder.

Glancing back, he saw Gothy looking at him with a questioning expression. “What’s up?”

“Jarvis said breakfast will be ready in a little under an hour. He woke us up and you weren’t there. Everything okay?”

Smiling, he turned, pulling her to him to kiss her softly. “Everything is fine. Did you enjoy last night?”

Leaning into his chest, a bright smile spread across her face. “It was fun. I enjoy it when you do that with me, us.”

“As do I,” Mousie said, stepping into the shower. “Thank you, Hero.”

“It was different and I enjoyed it. Thank you for letting me have control during my turn,” Desiree smiled.

“We all have our own wants and needs. If you need to be in control occasionally, that’s fine,” Alvin told her. “Now come over here; group hug time.”

Mousie and Desiree slipped to his sides, making him the middle of a triangle of love. Gothy snickered, “Meat in the middle is the phrase for this.”

Alvin chuckled, “Cleaning chain. Let’s not keep Jarvis waiting again.”

“I get Hero,” Gothy said first.

“Gothy for me,” Mousie said.

“I got—” Alvin tried to say but was cut off.

“Mousie,” Desiree interjected.

“Which leaves me with you,” Alvin snickered. “Okay, soap up and let’s get to it.”

~*~*~

Stepping into the living room, Alvin was glad Jarvis was still busy in the kitchen. They had not devolved into their more drawn out play, but they did tag team him before they finished, making him orgasm once. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree followed him out and went toward the kitchen table while Alvin went to the kiosk room.

Alvin mentally listed all the things he needed to do as he got the kiosk ready. First, grab the items for Paris, send a message to Shawn, then upgrade the garage. With all that lined out, he quickly and efficiently did what had to be done. Checking the garage, he grinned at the extra space and wondered what Gothy would say when she saw it.

“Hero, breakfast is almost ready,” Mousie said from the living room doorway.

“Coming,” Alvin said.

“Again?” Mousie winked.

“Gothy is corrupting you rapidly,” Alvin snickered, catching her around the waist as he left the room.

“Of course I am,” Gothy said and looked over to them. “Now what am I being given credit for?”

“Turning me into a toy for you both.”

“Yup. Damn proud of it, too,” Gothy laughed.

“Breakfast,” Jarvis said dryly. “Ah, someone already has my tea at the table. Very thoughtful.”

“You’re very welcome,” Desiree replied. “I figured it was the least I could do.”

“I’m grateful.”

“What did you make for us today?” Alvin asked as he took his seat.

“Since it was going to be a late start, I went with a big breakfast,” Jarvis replied, setting the first loaded plate before Alvin.

“A full English it is,” Alvin grinned, “and you left out the puddings. Thanks.”

“They aren’t well liked, but I did make some for Desiree to try,” Jarvis said, setting Desiree’s plate down on the table. “If you do not care for the pudding, you do not need to eat it for the buff for work and I can leave it off your plate next time.”

When Desiree saw that no one else besides Jarvis was having them, she looked a bit worried. “They are good, aren’t they?”

“They are an acquired taste,” Jarvis told her as he took his seat. “I find them delicious, myself.”

“Damned Brits,” Alvin snorted. “Well, it could be worse. If Jarvis had been Scottish, he’d have made haggis instead.”

“Haggis?” Desiree asked as she sampled the puddings.

“Sheep’s stomach stuffed with its own intestines and seasoning,” Alvin said.

“Incorrect, sir. It is the heart, liver, and lungs minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, and seasonings stuffed into the stomach, not the intestines,” Jarvis corrected him. “It can be boiled, baked, or deep-fried. As it is, most casings are a substitute instead of the stomach now.”

“I sit corrected,” Alvin shrugged.

Gothy snickered. “Accurate.”

“These are okay, but not something I would seek out,” Desiree said after finishing both puddings first.

“I will keep it in mind. Thank you for trying them.”

“I want to try as much as I can,” Desiree replied. “I tell my family about the meals you make so they can try to have one of the cooks recreate them.”

“Have they had success?” Jarvis asked between bites.

Nodding as she finished a bite, she waited to swallow before answering, “Some of the simpler recipes, like the burgers Alvin made. A portion of yours are too difficult for them, still, but they are working on increasing their craft.”

“I can make some recipe pages for you, if you’d like.”

“My mother would enjoy that. Thank you, Jarvis.”

“Of course, Desiree. I am a servant to this growing family, and making you all happy is my goal.”

“Servant, my ass,” Alvin laughed. “No need to baste it on so hard.”

Jarvis smiled lightly, “Very well, sir. I will gladly do so because you are one of the ones keeping him alive, which I’m grateful for.”

The women laughed and Alvin nodded, “Fair enough, Jarvis.”

~*~*~

Parking the Humvee, Alvin was not surprised that a number of disgruntled-looking people were waiting for him. He hopped out and gave Tom a smile, “I got your stuff.”

“We expected you a might sooner,” Tom replied neutrally. “Been a bit of a hornet’s nest after you left last night.”

“Did Commissioner Dipshit start trouble?”

“Him and a dozen others are gone now,” Tom replied. “Headed east.”

“Fun. Might see him again,” Alvin shrugged. “You got the XP?”

“If you have the items we agreed on.”

Alvin tossed a bag to Tom, “Everything you asked for.”

Tom checked the bag before nodding, a smile spreading across the old man’s face. “This is appreciated, even with the markup I’m sure you got.”

“I didn’t jab you too hard; you’ll see once you have a connection to the Dwarves. I expect the Army to get on that as quickly as they can.”

“I’m sure they will,” Tom said. “Here’s the XP.” Handing over a plastic card, Tom sighed, “Took a chunk of the reserve to buy all of this, but it’ll help us keep the family safe.”

“Going to stick it out here?”

“Naw.” Tom spat a wad of chewing tobacco out and pulled a tin from his back pocket. “We’re going to start the process of talking people into moving. I just need you to let me know if the Army is there or not. That’ll tell me which way we’re going.”

“I’ll drop a line,” Alvin said as the plastic card turned to dust in his hand. “I do love XP in the morning.”

“XP? Is that what you call it?” one of the younger men snickered, his eyes on Gothy in the gunner’s position on the Humvee.

“No, I call that my gothic succubus,” Alvin chuckled. “She’d kill you, junior. When your Hardiness gets over seven, you might not have a heart attack.”

“Seven?” one of the others asked in surprise. “Your stats are that high?”

“All of them,” Alvin said, turning back to the Humvee. “I sure as fuck wasn’t born with this body.”

Some of the young guys started to talk excitedly, and Tom shook his head, “Quiet. We’re seeing a guest off.”

Alvin paused with the Humvee door open, “Tom, since you’re not a dick; in all seriousness, take your family at the very least.”

“I intend to, but I’m going to try shifting my friends, too.”

“Your call,” Alvin said.

Dropping the parking brake, Alvin did not look back as he got them rolling away from the old soup factory. Everyone inside the Humvee kept their eyes moving, doing their best to stop any ambushes.

~*~*~

Approaching Clarksville, Alvin wondered if this town would have anyone in it. As they passed some outlying buildings, Gothy frowned when she thought she heard gunshots.

“Hero, there might be a fight up ahead,” Gothy radioed.

“Any idea on where?”

“Not yet.”

“Okay, we’ll— Fuck!” Alvin yanked the wheel hard, preventing the Humvee from going nose down into a hole where part of the road had been removed.

Everyone got bounced hard as Alvin took them off the road, through a ditch, and back up onto the road. “What the hell happened?” Gothy asked.

“The road passed over a wash, or did. Someone destroyed it,” Alvin replied as he slowed the Humvee.

“North,” Mousie said when the roar of the engine faded some. “The fight is to the north.”

“I can see a cluster of big buildings over there,” Gothy said.

“Zombies again, probably,” Alvin said as he turned left onto the road. The sign for Capt. Henry Stout Bypass had been shot a number of times.

“Going in to help them?”

“Should be another small group; kill them, loot them, and move on.”

“We’re ready, Hero,” Mousie said from the back.

“It feels like we’re fighting the slowest and stupidest of fungals, but easier since fire isn’t required,” Desiree added.

“Well, let’s go help the poor hicks,” Alvin said as they got closer and the sounds of gunfire could be heard more clearly.

“Take the right,” Gothy told him. “I saw movement past that first big building.”

“Copy.”

Turning onto Industrial Way, Alvin went off the road to avoid a crane truck flipped on its side. He went back to the road as soon as he could, taking the left between two of the buildings. The attacking horde of zombies came into view ahead of them, sieging a steel manufacturing building.

Gothy went to work with the M2 as soon as she had sight on the zombies, the sound of the large gun firing cutting over the other gunfire. The noise, coupled with the first couple of zombies being killed, got the attention of the horde as Alvin sped toward them.

“Turtle’s gonna take some damage. Sorry,” Alvin said, but since the zombies were in a line in front of him, he went for them. Gothy laughed at the undead flying like bowling pins when the Humvee hit them, making it hard for her to shoot them.

The moment he was past the zombies, Alvin turned the Humvee to bring them back toward the throng. Mousie and Desiree began to fire as he did, having a number of zombies to shoot at.

“People on the roof,” Gothy said as she spotted a handful of men with rifles watching them.

“As long as they play nice, it’s fine,” Alvin said.

The zombies were thrown into a panic, most of them scrambling for their vehicles, but some tried to run away on foot. The ones who ran were cut down by the men on the roof, and Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree focused on the vehicles, shredding tires as Alvin came back toward them.

“Gun on reload,” Gothy announced. “Hero, going out the top.”

Alvin decelerated at Gothy’s words, “Ladies, ground and pound.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“Damned right, Hero,” Gothy laughed, starting her battle armor transformation as the Humvee came to a dead stop.

Seeing the Humvee no longer firing at them, some of the zombies got brave and charged at them. Gothy jumped off the roof when her helmet closed around her face, her left arm pointing out. The zombies that tried charging them were suddenly bright points of flame that fell away from her.

Mousie, Desiree, and Alvin bailed out a couple seconds behind her. The quartet of battle armored killers scythed through the remnants of the zombie force while the people inside the building watched on in awe and fear.

When the carnage ended, the men on the roof called down to them, “Umm, thanks, but who the hell are you?”

Alvin let the battle armor fade and switched back to his normal gear. “Travelers. I don’t mean to stay, but I think I should talk with your leader.”

“Why?” another one snapped at him.

Alvin looked up at the rude one and shook his head, “Never mind, then. You deal with the shit rolling your way.”

“Wait, wait!” the first man called out. “We’ll listen.” Turning to the other man, he shouted at him, “Goddamn it, Dale, if he has news, we can use it.”

“No one just comes to save people,” Dale sneered. “He’s probably in league with them. Why can’t you see that, Bobby?”

“In league, which is why they’re all dead,” another man snickered. “You’re an idiot, Dale.”

“Shut up, Hank,” Dale snapped.

Alvin had stopped and shook his head as he listened to the men argue. “Look, it’s simple: that was a very small sliver of what lives in Dallas, and they’re getting hungry. You all might want to leave soon.”

“Wait,” Bobby called down. “I’m coming down.”

“Hero, is this worth our time?” Gothy asked softly.

“Still need to loot, and I might be able to take them for some XP,” Alvin replied.

“I’ll handle the looting,” Mousie said, still in her battle armor.

“I’ll help,” Desiree added, staying in hers.

Bobby was coming out the door two minutes later, breathing hard as he jogged up to them. “Sorry, Dale’s kind of an idiot. What was that you were saying about Dallas?”

Alvin spent a couple of minutes telling them what he thought was going to happen and his advice. “Now what you do from here is up to you.”

“We’d have a chance to hold out if we had some of the armor you have, wouldn’t we?” Bobby asked.

“No. It’s good armor and the fire is good, but you can still be pulled down and killed. It helps when fighting small groups like this, though.”

“Do you have another set?” Bobby asked hopefully.

“Do you have seventy-five thousand XP?” Alvin asked back.

Bobby went pale, “What? No, no one has that kind of XP. How did you even get them if they cost that much?”

“Saved a Dwarf,” Alvin smiled. “They make the armor.”

“Dwarf… like fantasy race Dw—?”

“Kind of,” Alvin said, cutting him off. “They even sell them, but you need a trader to get to them, and that’s not easy since the Gate to reach them is in Colorado.”

“Fuck,” Bobby sighed. “We don’t have even half of that XP.”

“Can’t help you, then,” Alvin shrugged. “But you might seriously consider moving soon.”

Bobby looked back at the building, “Yeah…”

“We need to get back on the road. Have to see if the Army depot in Texarkana is still there,” Alvin said as he headed for the Humvee.

Mousie turned on a dime, her handguns coming out as she began to fire in rapid succession. Dale cried out in pain and fell from the roof, dead before he hit the ground. Bobby backed away with his hands up, and the other men on the roof looked nervous. “He said he was going to kill you and take your stuff, Hero,” Mousie explained, knowing Alvin would want to know.

“That isn’t friendly,” Alvin said, staring at Bobby.

“Wait, I didn’t… I had no way of knowing…!”

“We’ll be leaving now,” Alvin said flatly. “Anyone else who tries to stop us... well, you give XP just as easily as the zombies.” Stepping forward, he touched Dale’s corpse, looting it.

Mousie’s battle armor faded from her just before she got in the Humvee, and an exclamation of her race was loud enough to be heard clearly. Alvin shook his head, put the Humvee into gear, and drove away from the men watching them.

“You did good,” Alvin told Mousie. “Idiot would have gotten killed eventually.”

“He deserved to die slower for thinking about hurting you, Hero.”

“Fast is fine,” Alvin told her. “I’d have done the same if I had heard him.”

“We all would have,” Gothy added.

“Damned right,” Desiree agreed.

Chapter Forty-two

Approaching the town of Avery, Alvin was glad the road had gone past the outskirts of Annona. The people who had been there should have gone to Clarksville, so he did not want to make the side trip. It was nearly an hour later when they rolled past the first few buildings of Avery.

“Hero, gunfire,” Gothy called.

Slowing the Humvee, Alvin waited for someone to get a direction. Mousie opened her window and closed her eyes. After a moment, she pointed toward a cluster of trees to the south.

“South it is,” Alvin said, wondering if he should go back to the side street he had just passed, but instead, decided to take the next one.

“That’s it,” Gothy said and pointed. There was a cluster of vehicles outside a large building just a few hundred feet from the main road. “It’s a high school.”

“Of course it is,” Alvin snorted. “Here we go. Everyone ready?”

“Roger.”

“Yes,” Mousie said.

“Of course, Hero.”

Turning onto San Antonio Drive, Alvin grinned as Gothy fired the M2. The hundred zombies using their vehicles as barriers from the school were hit hard, just like the last few groups had been. Unlike the other groups of undead, they had set up their cars in a crescent shape, arching in toward the school. Cutting over some blackened timbers and grass, Alvin headed for the edge of the line.

The mass of undead turned in good time and took the Humvee under fire. Gothy and Alvin did not flinch, trusting in the Humvee and their gear to absorb the damage. Desiree chucked grenades when they reached the end of the line and Alvin blew past them.

“Vehicles are not going anywhere,” Gothy said, having aimed at the zombies’ tires to start with.

Alvin was about to reply when he saw Molotovs go flying out from the school. Grinning, he got the Humvee turned back around to face the zombies. “Okay, looks like the people are still kicking; let’s get to it. Stay on the passenger side. I’m going to pull in line on their far end.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

The battle did not last long, and the townsfolk were quick to join in when the zombies started to run for it. With the threat gone, people began to loot, and an older man walked over to the Humvee.

“We’re grateful for your assistance, señor.”

“De nada,” Alvin told the Hispanic man. “You in charge?”

“Sí.”

Alvin explained what he had told the last few settlements. “We’re heading for the Army depot. They should be closer and safer... if they’ve survived, that is.”

“Gracias. We will discuss it and decide what to do.”

“Your call,” Alvin replied. “Any chance for a reward for helping out?”

The man laughed, “You already have this vehicle and the women manning the guns. Is that not enough?”

Alvin laughed, “Fair enough, old man. Good luck in the future.”

“We will need it if we stay,” the man replied before walking back toward the school. “Manuel, tell the council we need to speak,” he shouted at a teen in Spanish.

“We got XP and loot, at least,” Gothy said. “He was right that you already have the best loot to be had.”

“Damned right,” Alvin chuckled. “Let’s get going.”

~*~*~

A bit under half an hour later, they reached the outskirts of De Kalb.

“Odds that this place is under attack, too?” Gothy asked.

“No bet,” Alvin replied. “I’m going to say a certainty. We’ve encountered too many groups of undead. I’m starting to worry about the Army base.”

Gothy was quiet for a moment before she sighed, “Fuck.”

“Yeah... I think the undead from Dallas are already moving and going for a sweet target.”

“Motherfuckers want my toys,” Gothy growled.

“They can’t have me, Gothy,” Mousie said.

Laughter came from the well-timed quip. “Well played, Mousie,” Alvin told her.

“Hero, the overpass is rubble,” Gothy said, seeing where an overpass had been. “It’s all over the road.”

“I see it,” Alvin said and took them off the road. “We’ll just skirt around it. Wonder why they blew it up?”

“Couldn’t have been good, whatever the reason was,” Desiree said.

“Fair enough,” Alvin agreed.

“Middle school to the south... looks empty,” Gothy said. “I don’t hear any gunfire this time.”

“Maybe we were wrong,” Alvin said before he winced.

“Hero... why?” Gothy sighed. “I see the high school track, so that set of buildi… Hero?”

“What?”

“I’m seeing a lot of movement around the school. Too much movement for this town.”

“Did it fall?” Alvin asked.

“I think so.”

“Fuck,” Alvin said as he slowed the Humvee. “Do we go past and leave them behind us or take the time to kill them? That’ll eat at our armor and slow us getting to the base.”

“Kill them,” Desiree said firmly. “They will kill the last settlement if we leave them here, and the zombies we’ve encountered haven’t been hard to deal with for us.”

“I’m siding with her,” Gothy said. “Plus, more XP. We can just hurt them bad enough to make them run, too.”

“Agreed,” Mousie said.

“Okay, I’ll take us that way. Use the grenades, but save the big stuff. We might need it later,” Alvin told them as he looked for the best road to take them down. “Fuck it, going straight at them. Let’s do this.”

“Roger.”

“I’m ready, Hero.”

“Ma Deuce is loaded and ready,” Gothy added.

Alvin cut across a destroyed house’s lawn, a frontage road, and another lawn to get to the street he wanted. A hundred feet from the school, zombies turned to find out what the noise was. The moment heads turned toward them, Gothy, Desiree, and Mousie started firing.

Zombies went scattering, but a few fired back at them. Alvin hit the few that were too slow or determined to shoot at them, sending them flying. One was unlucky enough to hit the school at a bad angle— his head cracked open from the impact when he went partially through the wall.

“Grenades out,” Desiree said and lobbed one at a cluster of undead that had ducked around the corner of a building.

“Grenades out,” Mousie added from the back, hitting a cluster squeezed into a doorway.

“Unarmed idiots,” Gothy laughed as she mowed down zombie after zombie.

Undead started to flood out of the school behind the Humvee, hundreds of rounds ricocheting off the back of the vehicle. “Holy fuck, they don’t like us much,” Alvin laughed.

“They have a commander with them. Sorry, had,” Gothy laughed. “Grenades out.”

“Going around the front,” Alvin told them as the street curved away from the back of the school. “I’ll loop back around once we clear the corner.”

Turning the corner, Alvin had been surprised at how large the small town high school was until he saw the playground set behind the building he was circling. The small zombies milling in the fenced-in yard were surprising as well.

“Who said kids are a blessing?” Gothy said as she summoned her Tommy gun while the M2 reloaded. Her rapid fire put them down quickly.

“High school and grade school right next to each other,” Alvin said as he continued the long turn around the block of buildings. “I wonder if those kids have been zombies this entire time or if this set just made them.”

“Does it matter?” Desiree asked.

“No, it’s just idle curiosity,” Alvin said.

“Here we go,” Gothy smiled, putting the Thompson away and grabbing the M2.

A cluster of vehicles took up the parking area and street in front of the school, with zombies mixed in among them. Gothy and Mousie did not hesitate to shoot them. Desiree gripped her guns tightly, unable to join in with the undead on the driver’s side of the Humvee. The gunshots dimmed as Alvin cut between a couple of houses to get around the zombies’ vehicles. He had to do it twice more before he had an opening to get closer to the school again.

“How many damned zombies are there?” Alvin complained. There were now well over a hundred waiting for them once they cleared the vehicles.

“Grenades out,” Mousie and Gothy shouted before they went back to shooting.

The shielding for the gunner helped Gothy avoid a majority of the damage that was aimed at her, but a few rounds still hit her. Mousie caught a few through the window, but neither let the bullets affect them.

The unarmored zombies were being struck down hard between the grenades and the gun fire. Only a few dozen remained by the time they turned the corner to the back of the school, so they were surprised to find more zombies waiting for them.

Gothy switched back to the Thompson while Desiree used Alvin’s Type 56, and Mousie switched between her handguns and the shotgun. Alvin used the Humvee to send zombies flying again.

“Fucking hell, how many of them are there?” Alvin asked, shocked at how many zombies they had found.

“An oodleplex?” Gothy offered, grinning.

“I fucking hope not,” Alvin chuckled, suddenly thinking about one of his favorite authors.

They went around the school a couple of times, depleting the grenades they carried on them and running through thousands of rounds of ammunition before, finally, no more zombies came out.

Stopping the Humvee next to one of the back doors, Alvin set the brake. “There are likely some still inside. We’re going to clear, then loot. Don’t summon your battle armor; I think we’re going to need it later.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“I’m afraid you’re right, Hero.”

“Let’s do this,” Alvin said as he got out of the Humvee.

Going to the door with UMP in hand, Alvin looked over at the women lining up behind him. Mousie was directly behind him with Gothy’s MP5 in hand, Desiree behind her with Alvin’s Type 56, and Gothy was last in line, her Thompson out and ready. We haven’t trained much as a four man team for sweeping. Need to make sure we do in the future.

When Mousie leaned into him, Alvin went through the ruined doorway, turning in to find a hallway. The others followed him, each taking a lane to fire as they moved in measured steps toward the first door.

~*~*~

Alvin wiped at his face, glad that the self-cleaning function on his clothing accounted for his entire body. He knew he would otherwise have brains on his face if not for his hat. “That should be it, but there might be a few stragglers who aren’t accounted for. Let’s go out and loot the dead we left, then we’ll step back into the base for a few minutes to sell off the junk.”

“Sounds like a plan, Hero,” Gothy said. “How much did you get for destroying the kiosk?”

“About fifty thousand XP. They upgraded this school pretty good, but in the end, it didn’t help them against the horde.”

“No defensive points. Nothing geared toward holding off enemies,” Desiree said. “It isn’t surprising they fell.”

“Even a wall might have given them some help to start with,” Mousie added.

“Green River and Beatty had the right idea,” Alvin agreed. “They made sure they had defenses in place before upgrading quality of life.”

Opening the doors to go out of the school, Alvin staggered back a step when a large caliber round caught him in the head. “Motherfucker!” Alvin grunted, dropping to one knee. The sharp staccato of guns firing over his head told him all he needed to know. When they stopped, he glanced back, “Safe?”

“Don’t see any other zombies,” Gothy said.

He stood back up and exited the building fully. The front yard of the school was a bloody mess, with most of the vehicles gone. Alvin shook his head, thinking of the two keys he had as loot. “Okay, let’s move as a group since there are definitely stragglers about.”

It took them over an hour to complete a circuit of the school’s exterior, looting as they went. The sun was high when they made it back to the Humvee. Alvin sighed as he got into the driver’s seat, waiting for the others to climb in before summoning the base portal.

Pulling into the base, the group piled out of the Turtle. They moved easily around each other as they separated out the loot to keep and sell. All the cars they picked up were examined, then sold along with the common loot.

“Sir, I can sort through the uncommon stuff, if you wish,” Jarvis said. “That’ll cut down on the time you would waste doing so. I’ll set aside the sellable things so the four of you can dispose of it later tonight.”

“Thanks, Jarvis.”

“I also have snacks and drinks on the coffee table, if you’d like to decompress before going back out.”

“A good idea,” Gothy said. “I think Hero is right, and the next group we encounter isn’t going to be as simple as what we just dealt with.”

“You think the zombies will be attacking the Army base?” Desiree asked.

“Considering what we just faced? Yes. They sent out smaller groups to cut off possible reinforcements from showing up. They didn’t account for us, though.” She paused for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Hero?”

“Yeah, Gothy?”

“I have an idea, but it’s a wild one. I can explain it better in the training room.”

Alvin met her eyes, “I’m not going to like it, am I?”

“Maybe not, but it’ll make for a good plan.”

“Let’s go see what you have in mind, and then we’ll take a break for a bit.”

Chapter Forty-three

As they left the base, Alvin looked at the empty seat beside him with a grim face. Why did I let you talk me into this, Gothy? Looking out the window, he saw the small single prop plane keeping pace as he drove down US 82.

“Looking good down there, Hero,” Gothy’s voice came over the radio.

“Don’t taunt him, Gothy. He agreed to this, after all,” Desiree said.

“Wasn’t taunting… much.”

“Gothy, you must be careful,” Mousie said, looking up at the plane from the gunner spot. “The plane isn’t that durable.”

“We’ll be as careful as we can,” Desiree said. “This plan has a lot of risk involved.”

“It does,” Alvin agreed. “You both have Extra Lives, and that is the only reason I even agreed to it.”

“There’s road work ahead of you,” Gothy said. “The paved side is littered with cars, so you’ll have to drive off the side of the road.”

“Copy.”

“It’s six miles from De Kalb to the post stamp of the next town, and it looks like road work most of the way.”

“You’ll have to circle some,” Alvin replied.

“I’m already doing so, Hero. I don’t see anything else in the air with me at the moment.”

“Thank goodness for that. The eagles might be territorial for all we know.”

“Desiree will help dissuade them if we need to.”

“I’ll do my best,” Desiree added.

“If you’re close enough, I’ll help as well,” Mousie added.

“Here’s the construction,” Alvin said as he took them off the road, driving parallel to it.

~*~*~

It took them twenty minutes to reach what the map called Malta. It was not a town so much as a handful of buildings, including a grade school. The best part was the road construction was finished here, so Alvin was able to get back onto US 82.

“Surprised there’s no zombies waiting in ambush,” Alvin muttered.

“That is unusual,” Gothy agreed. “I’m going to fly down the road a bit and see what lies ahead of you. I’ll circle back once I know.”

“Stay safe,” Alvin said as he watched the Cessna fly off.

Hands tight on the wheel, Alvin focused on the road. He was driving as fast as he safely could, dropping onto the shoulder to avoid cars at times. A couple of minutes ticked by with no sound besides the engine of the Humvee.

“Hero, this is worse than we antic— Fuck!” Gothy started, but cut off in favor of a curse word.

“I see them,” Desiree said.

“What is it?” Alvin barked over the radio.

“Other planes in the air, and the I-30 overpass is held by zombies,” Gothy replied. “I need to focus, Hero.”

“Copy. Mousie, hold on,” Alvin said. He floored the accelerator and left the road, preferring to avoid any entanglements.

“Understood, Hero.”

“Three of them behind us,” Desiree said.

“This is why we took the windows out,” Gothy told her. “You’re up.”

Teeth clenched, Alvin kept glancing to the sky as they sped toward New Boston. Come on, Turtle... faster, go faster! he chanted in his head, swerving them around a single car in their path.

Mousie saw the aerial battle first, and was glad they had the plane painted in black and red. Gothy was distinctly different from the other planes in the air. “Hero, ten planes in the sky. Two already on Gothy, five more coming in from the south, and the other two are coming in from the east.”

“Maybe from the base, hopefully,” Alvin said.

“Gods damn it, the zombies below us are getting in on the fight,” Gothy snapped. “That’s going to eat the durability.”

“We’re coming. You deal with the planes first and pull away from the ground units,” Alvin said. “If you lead them this way, we’ll post here and help.”

“Got it. Desiree, brace.”

“Roger, go.”

Mousie watched the Cessna bank toward them, “I’ll be ready, Gothy.”

“They don’t have windshields in,” Desiree said, “but trying to hit them is difficult. They are weaving back and forth behind us and returning fire.”

“Do what you can. We’ll be going over the Turtle in a minute and they’ll help.”

“Roger.”

Alvin stopped the Humvee and got out. “Mousie, trigger your cooldown just before you start. We need those planes off them.”

“Understood, Hero.”

Alvin pulled out the Barrett M82 and steadied it against the hood of the Humvee, taking aim at the planes approaching. “Gothy, pull up just a bit so I can fire under you.”

“Got it.”

The moment she pulled up a few feet, Alvin fired. Grimacing, he aimed before firing again. “Difficult is right,” Alvin muttered, trying again and again as the planes closed on them.

Mousie waited while the planes drew closer, and Alvin kept trying the long range shooting. “Gothy, when you get closer, bank to your right away from us. I want to make sure you are well clear of the incoming fire.”

“Got it.”

Mousie aimed and Alvin reloaded the big gun. The second magazine finally found his target, but when it ran dry, he swapped for his Type 56 since the planes were about to be really close.

“Now, Gothy!” Mousie shouted as she depressed the trigger on the M2.

Gothy banked away from them when Mousie spoke— the first few rounds from the M2 passed dangerously close, but missed the plane. The planes that were following behind her were not as lucky. The large caliber rounds tore into the closest two planes, and one round even went through one of the pilots.

Alvin started firing at the planes again, crouching when one of the planes nosedived into the ground a couple of dozen yards short of them. The impact sent wreckage flying before the fuel tank caught fire. “Damned good shooting, Mousie.”

Mousie did not reply, focused on getting the second plane. Alvin shook his head and took aim at the next five planes that were still closing, but now separating out to limit the chance they all got caught by the M2.

“We have breathing room,” Desiree said as she watched the one plane go down. “Circle around the Humvee.”

“Working on it,” Gothy growled, turning them back in a slow arc. “I’m just a beginner at this, even with the knowledge that I had shoved in my head.”

“It’s smoking,” Desiree said, shooting at the single plane directly on them while Mousie did the same from below. “Got him!” she shouted as she watched the pilot slump in his seat.

The second zombie in the plane made a frantic grab at the controls, but was not fast enough. The plane hit the ground hard, sending wreckage and zombie bits flying.

“Hero? How does it look?”

“Still got the remaining five coming, and then two trailing. At least two of those seem to be coming in low for us.”

“Reloading so I can be ready when they get here,” Mousie said.

“Keep it in an arc around us. Hopefully, the trailers are going to be on our side,” Alvin told Gothy. “We’ll do our best to kill the two on us, then we’ll be back to helping you.”

“Got it,” Gothy said.

Alvin and Mousie waited for the low flying planes to come closer. “Right one first. It’s slightly ahead,” Mousie said.

“Copy.”

“Gothy, we need to know about the trailers. Once the three coming for you get closer, angle around them and head for the other two. If friendly, it’ll be three on three. If not, do your best to get back here as quickly as you can.”

“Got it, Hero.”

“Going hot,” Mousie said a moment before firing the M2. “What?” The plane on the right suddenly shifted, looking like it had lost control, and crashed.

Alvin shook his head and switched his aim to the other plane. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll take it.”

“I don’t think I hit him,” Mousie said, turning toward the second plane, which had gained a bit more altitude when the other crashed.

“He’s determined to come in,” Alvin said as the second plane suddenly dove toward them. Firing in short controlled bursts, Alvin knew he was only chipping the durability of the plane, but hoped for a lucky shot.

As the plane passed over them, it suddenly banked away and climbed. Mousie cursed and grabbed at something, hanging on the gun before ducking into the Humvee. “Hero, down!”

Alvin reacted and hit the pavement. A second later, the Humvee rocked as a loud explosion went off. Pushing himself back to his feet, he looked up to see Mousie standing back up. “What happened?”

“They dropped a bomb on us.”

“That was our plan, you fuckers,” Alvin growled as he turned to find the plane.

“The gun took a lot of damage, but it’s still good,” Mousie said.

“Thank goodness for game mechanics,” Alvin said.

“Turning toward the trailers,” Gothy said.

“I’ve engaged the closest of the three,” Desiree added.

“We’ll be ready when you come back,” Alvin told them.

“Roger.”

“Got it.”

“They’re coming back for another pass, Hero,” Mousie said, setting the sights on the plane coming out of its turn.

“Let’s put them down.”

“Understood.”

As the bombing plane closed the distance, Alvin and Mousie opened fire. Holes riddled the airframe and the plane was trailing smoke when it passed overhead. Alvin cursed and threw himself around the side of the Humvee when the messenger bag landed near him. A second explosion rocked the Humvee and Alvin hissed, feeling the impact of shrapnel hitting him on the ground.

There was another explosion a moment later; the plane had crashed into the ground, unable to come out of its turn. “Got them. Are you okay, Hero?”

“Yes. My armor took a hit there, but I’m fine. Gothy, we’re ready.”

“The planes following us went by us and engaged the others. We’re on our way back with one on us.”

“Copy. I’ll get Turtle rolling. We can help the others after we clear you.”

“Got it.”

The resulting fight got Gothy clear, downing both enemy planes, but one of the two friendlies went down. Gothy frowned— the Cessna she was flying had its durability halved by the time they were done fighting.

“Sky should be clear now,” Gothy said. “Going for our bombing runs, then we’ll meet up.”

“Sounds good. We’re headed for the interchange.”

“That’s my first target,” Gothy said. “I noticed a large walled structure to the southwest of the city that looked like a rallying point for the zombies. That’ll be our second run.”

“Copy. Fly safe.”

“Of course, Hero.”

“The Ma Deuce is reloaded, Hero. We’re ready to go,” Mousie said. “The last plane flew back east. It had some smoke coming from it, so I think they’re out of the fight now.”

“I don’t blame them,” Alvin replied, his eyes going to the large cloud of smoke rising from what had been New Boston. “Let’s go get involved with the city.”

~*~*~

“Damn, these guys are pissed,” Gothy said as they flew over the I-30 overpass.

“Packages out,” Desiree said.

“Going south,” Gothy said, banking away from the horde under them.

The twin explosions that went off made Gothy fight to keep the plane up for a second. “Damn, that was better than I thought it was going to be.”

“We saw the dust and debris from a ways back,” Alvin said. “Not sure how many will be left for us.”

“Plenty— the fight in the city is bad. I caught sight of some Bradleys and Humvees, so the Army is fighting back, but there are hundreds of thousands of zombies down there.”

“Kind of what I was expecting. If they take the base, they will clear most of the state,” Alvin replied.

“The walled thing I saw is coming up for us. I think it was a prison,” Gothy said. “There are Bradleys on their way to it. The walls are swarming with zombies.”

“Once you drop the second set, come on back. We’ll meet up.”

“You got it, Hero.”

“Mousie, ready?”

“Ready, Hero.”

“Let’s clean up the leftovers.”

Coming toward the ruined overpass, Alvin silently whistled, impressed at the sheer destruction the bomb had caused. The vehicles and zombies that had been on the overpass now lay scattered around and under the rubble.

The M2 firing got Alvin’s attention. A small cluster of zombies were huddled near an armored car that was laying on its side. The first few rounds tore through one of them, forcing the rest into cover around the vehicle.

“There we go,” Alvin said, turning to take them closer to the zombies.

Approaching the downed vehicle, Alvin wondered why the zombies had not opened fire on them yet. Mousie was pointing the gun at the armored car, just waiting to start shooting again. Slowing the Humvee, Alvin frowned at the lack of movement.

A dozen canisters came flying over the vehicle, one of them striking Mousie in the chest before dropping into the Humvee. “Hero, bomb!” Mousie shouted.

Alvin looked back to see the canister smoking and felt an “oh shit” moment. Snapping his eyes closed, he bailed out of the Humvee, the brake not set. “Don’t breathe the smoke! Armor up and bail out the top,” he coughed, his eyes watering from the small breath of the gas he had taken. More smoke was billowing up around him as he summoned his battle armor.

Mousie did as commanded. She pulled herself out of the Humvee and called her battle armor, jumping clear of the slowly rolling vehicle.

The zombies took the initiative as the gas deployed, rushing out from around the armored car and firing. Alvin staggered when dozens of rounds slammed into his back and into the back of his head. Dropping to his knees, he groaned as he waited for the battle armor to fully cover him.

Not being alive, the zombies rushed forward into the gas, which had no effect on them. They were not expecting an armored suit with a warhammer rushing forward to meet them. The screams made those farther back hesitate and back up, firing into the smoke instead. The sound of ricochets preceded an armored figure with two swords coming out of the gas cloud, who then suddenly rushed at them.

The battle was short, bloody, and brutal; the only two left standing were Alvin and Mousie. They quickly looted the bodies next to them before Alvin went back to the Humvee, which had come to a stop against a large pickup. Opening the backseat, he threw the can out.

“What were those?” Mousie asked as she came up behind him.

“Tear gas,” Alvin replied. “It’ll make your mucus membranes go into overdrive. Eyes water hard, you gasp for breath, your nose runs like a river, and it makes you a bit useless in a fight. Fuckers are getting way too damn smart.”

“Hero? What happened?” Gothy asked over the radio.

“The ones who survived on the overpass had tear gas. Be careful up there... who knows what else they might have. We’re fine, but we’re going to sweep this real fast before we go toward the city.”

“Got it. We’re about to drop our load on the prison. We’ll be with you shortly.”

“Sounds good,” Alvin smiled.

As the two of them waited for the tear gas to dissipate, they looted the zombies they had killed, plus any killed by the bomb that were in close proximity.

“Ready, Desiree?” Gothy asked. The zombies in the prison had turned their guns on them already, bullets ricocheting off the sides.

“Roger.”

“Should be in three, two, one.”

“Package released,” Desiree said, tossing the bags out the window.

“Good, we’re turning— Fuck!”

An explosion crumpled the left wing of the plane, and Gothy’s face paled when she struggled to get the plane up. Desiree was thrown off her feet, sliding in the empty rear of the plane.

“Gothy?!” Alvin called over the radio, his eyes focused on the smoke in the sky miles away.

“Going down!” Gothy shouted and triggered her battle armor. “Desiree, armor!”

“Roger,” Desiree said, still on the floor of the plane.

Alvin and Mousie were already sprinting for the Humvee, their eyes glued to the smoke trailing out of the sky. The package Gothy and Desiree had dropped went off in the prison and a section of wall disappeared in a fiery fury. Pieces of wall, ruin, and zombie parts went flying in every direction, stopping the others from continuing to fire at the plane.

“East, Hero! East of the—” Gothy cut off when the plane hit the ground.

As soon as his battle armor vanished and he could get into the Humvee, he floored the gas pedal. “Gothy?!”

“Alive,” Gothy replied as she pulled herself out of the wreckage. “Took a big hit to the armor, but alive.”

“Same,” Desiree added. “We’re between the incoming Bradleys and the prison.”

Feeling his heart unclench, Alvin exhaled hard, “Copy. Coming for you.”

“Hero, zombies are coming out of the prison for us,” Gothy said. “We’ll hold them until you get here.”

“We’re on our way.”

“Good,” Gothy said. Explosions started hitting the wall of the prison, taking out more chunks. They hunkered down, with Desiree in the wreckage, and watched as more of the wall crumbled. “Hero, I think the Army has missiles. I want some… really want some.”

A smile touched Alvin’s grim face— he knew she was okay if she was that excited. “We’ll see what they will do after this battle is over, you fucking nut.”

“The zombies that were coming for us are running,” Gothy said, summoning her Thompson, “and that’s my XP trying to get away.”

“I’ll do my best to keep the wall clear when we get close,” Mousie said from the gunner’s position.

“Don’t know if you’re going to have to,” Desiree said as she watched more of the wall cave in. “The missiles are doing what our bombs did, just not as fast. That mixture is devastating.”

“The weapons they are using are used to defeat tanks, not break walls,” Alvin said. “Our bomb is more multipurpose.”

“I see,” Desiree said.

The explosions stopped as Alvin got to within a mile of Gothy. “They stopped with the missiles, Hero. Come on in.”

Alvin glanced at the line of Bradleys advancing toward them. “I think clearing their area of operations is a good idea. We’ll head back toward the city.”

Coming to a stop next to them, the women jumped in while Mousie fired at some zombies peeking above the still standing sections of wall. When Alvin got the Humvee turned and moving, he spotted a Jeep with a man flagging them down behind the Bradleys.

“I think they want to talk. Mousie, trade with Gothy. We don’t need them panicking right now.”

“Understood,” Mousie said, dropping into the Humvee so Gothy could get into the gunner’s spot.

Chapter Forty-four

Driving toward the Jeep, Alvin asked, “Gothy, what took you out of the air?”

“An RPG from the prison,” Gothy grimaced. “Didn’t expect them to have one.”

“We didn’t expect the tear gas, either,” Alvin grunted. “Guess we’re going to have to be prepared for the undead to bring out different hardware now.”

“Yeah.”

“Surprised the Bradley’s haven’t reloaded the TOWs yet. They have to have applied runes to them,” Alvin said.

“We’ll find out when we get ours,” Gothy said.

Pulling alongside the Jeep, Alvin pushed his window open. “Afternoon.”

The man with sergeant’s insignia frowned at Alvin. “You’re not military.”

“Correct.”

“You’re the ones who helped clear the skies?”

“Gothy did,” Alvin said, hooking a thumb up at her.

“You’re welcome,” Gothy grinned. “Also for taking down a bigger section of wall than your missiles did.”

The sergeant looked like he had bitten a lemon. “Thank you. How did you survive the crash? We didn’t see you bail out.”

“We didn’t,” Gothy said. “We have armor that was able to absorb the damage.”

“I see. When this operation is done, I’m sure the colonel will wish to speak with you, both to thank you for your assistance and ask about that armor.”

“Good, because we have a letter for him from Colonel Whitman in Wichita,” Alvin said.

“Be that as it may, until that time, we need you to leave the AO.”

“Fine. We’ll head to the city and thin down the herd there.”

“That is another AO,” the sergeant said stiffly. “Civilians should head to the base to stay safe until this attack has been quelled.”

“We’ve done more than your big guns have so far,” Alvin said. “I’d think having extra help would be welcomed.”

“You’d break the training the men have. Report to the south gate and they will get you situated until this is over.”

“Sure, but we need to go back and retrieve some things from the overpass first.”

“Don’t take long. The fight in the city is not something you want to get caught in.”

“Yeah, we’ll do our best,” Alvin said. “Have fun with the prison.”

“Are we really going to just head to the base?” Desiree asked as they drove away.

“Not a chance. First, we’re going to finish looting what we can, then we’ll check on the city.”

“I was wondering why you agreed so easily. You just wanted to leave,” Gothy snickered.

“Yup. Not going to leave loot alone, and there’s no way in hell I’m just going to head away from getting more XP because the Army is here.”

“They’re the equivalent of the Queen’s Guard, aren’t they?” Mousie asked.

“Yes and no,” Alvin said. “They were this nation’s defensive and offensive forces. Well, one of the branches.”

“Hmm. I will adapt,” Mousie said.

“Because disobeying the Guard is a crime on your world?” Gothy asked.

“A high crime if the Guard is engaged with defending the Queendom.”

“Here they’re trying to hold onto that legitimacy. They have the best weapons, but they don’t carry that weight,” Alvin told her. “They’re just a powerful settlement as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to overly antagonize them, but I’m not going to leave all the XP out here without getting some.”

“I understand,” Mousie said. “We need to focus on us first; everything else is secondary.”

“That’s right,” Gothy smiled.

~*~*~

They were back to the ruined overpass in no time. Jumping out of the Humvee, the four of them suited up into battle armor, just in case more zombies were around with tear gas. They moved together— Desiree and Mousie looted, while Alvin and Gothy had guns in hand and kept watch.

They were almost finished looting when Mousie’s head jerked up. “Hero, cars coming this way.”

Alvin frowned. He did not see anything for a moment, but then a Humvee came racing into view around a bend in the road ahead of them. Three other vehicles were hot behind it, firing at it.

“Separate. We’ll ambush the pursuers,” Alvin said. “Turtle, on my order, accelerate straight for me and apply hard brakes to stop ten feet away from me.”

The women got behind rubble and waited for the vehicles. “You’re not going to have a big window, Hero,” Gothy said, gauging the distance between the Humvee and the others.

“I know. Get ready to move— we’ll only have seconds if this works.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“We’re ready, Hero.”

The Humvee sped closer to them, the driver taking the path through the wreckage. Just before reaching the ruined overpass, the Humvee wobbled briefly as if the driver was considering a different path, but they stayed on course.

“Now Turtle!” Alvin shouted. The armored Humvee lurched forward as fast as it could, complying with his command.

The soldier manning the gun in the Humvee looked shocked and fumbled the ammo can he was using to reload his gun when he caught sight of the group. The driver of the Humvee jerked to the side as he cleared the rubble, having caught sight of the Turtle coming at them.

“Now!” Alvin commanded as the lead truck slammed into the Turtle. That impact was followed by the other two vehicles crashing into the truck and each other.

The four of them rushed forward as the zombies tried to untangle their vehicles. Unfortunately for them, their windows were down because they had been shooting at the Army Humvee. Flaming death filled the cabs of the two trucks and small car.

The Army gunner held his shot once he had gotten his gun reloaded, realizing that they were helping them. He quickly explained the situation to the driver and waited for orders.

The zombies in the vehicles stood no chance against the flamers. Once the zombies stopped flailing like spasmodic Muppets, the group looted them and the vehicles vanished. Stepping away from the area, they found the Humvee heading back to them.

Alvin dropped his helmet and walked ahead of the others, his one hand held up. “You all okay?”

“Yes, thanks for the help,” the gunner said. “What are you doing out here?”

“Cleaning up our mess,” Alvin said, hooking a thumb at the ruined overpass. “Have to go loot some downed planes next.”

“You’re the guys who took down the planes?”

“That’s us.”

“Our sergeant was so glad those fuckers stopped bombing us.”

“You’re welcome,” Gothy laughed.

“Where did you get the armor?”

“Dwarves,” Alvin replied.

“What? Are you shitting me?”

“No, Desiree is a Dwarf,” Alvin shrugged with a nod to Desiree.

“Isn’t she too tall?”

“She’s a tall Dwarf, but her people make these armors.”

“The colonel will need to know about this. Will you come with us?”

Alvin considered it and sighed, “I was really hoping to kill more zombies. We could use the XP.”

The gunner’s head turned a little to the side, nodding. “We will accompany you to the planes and through the city. Other people will handle the looting of those bodies, though.”

“I guess that will have to do,” Alvin sighed again. “Was that the brass who told you?”

“Captain,” the gunner said. “The driver has been describing the armor.”

“Yeah, that would do it,” Gothy nodded. “Come on, Hero, let’s do what we can. I want to go see about getting me my new toy, since the plane is broken. That was an expensive plan.”

“We’ll get it repaired,” Alvin chuckled.

“No. It broke,” Gothy pouted. “If reduced to zero durability, the item breaks and is not repairable.”

“Wonder when they instituted that,” Alvin sighed again. “Fuck, we’ll have to be a bit more careful with our shit. We’re good for now with the armor and Humvee, so let’s get going.”

~*~*~

As they drove into New Boston, Gothy was in the gunner’s position, ready to trigger her cooldowns if needed. The sun was well toward the horizon when they rolled past the first few buildings of the town. A second Humvee fell into line behind them, clearly on protection duty.

“Hero, I’m seeing a number of Humvees and Bradleys down the side streets, and a few of them look like they’ve been the spear point.”

“Banged up to hell and back?”

“Yeah.”

“Might be why they’re here and not where the fighting is still going on. I think we were tricked… assholes are taking us through the part of the town they have on lockdown.”

“Well, fuck,” Gothy grumbled. “I can’t rightfully bitch because we do this kind of shit to people, but fuck them.”

Alvin chuckled, “Basically.”

“The gunner keeps glancing back. I’m assuming to make sure we’re following,” Gothy grumbled. “Like we have a choice with the Humvee trailing us now.”

“We did what we could... still got a bunch of XP and loot,” Alvin said. “Besides, we’d deplete our stockpile of explosives.”

A loud explosion got everyone’s attention. Dust was rising into the sky from a couple of blocks away. “Damn it, they’re having all the fun,” Gothy sighed.

“You had the fun earlier. Gave us a couple of heart attacks, too,” Alvin told her.

“It was a good plan, and it would have worked if not for that damned RPG.”

“I agreed to it, but we’re going to have to consider that our enemies might have similar firepower in the future. Zombies can’t be viewed as easy XP like they were before. They’ve used tear gas, planes, bombs, and an RPG on us today.”

“I know,” Gothy sighed. “We should still mow them over when we get in close, though.”

“For now, but they have access to a kiosk, too. That means they might start buying armor from people if they can’t manufacture their own.”

Gothy grimaced, “Fair points.”

The town came to an abrupt end, both sides of the road covered in trees. “Guess that’s the end of it. We’ll be at the base shortly,” Alvin said. “Okay, let’s play as nicely as we can. We want a Bradley, at the very least. Hopefully, the colonel is thankful for our help and wants to trade for some of the battle armor. We’ll use the letter from Whitman to help grease things further.”

“If they don’t want to play nice?” Gothy asked.

“Rolling firefight and maybe we can loot a Bradley key,” Alvin said. “I don’t like our chances if things go that way, even with the zombies distracting them right now.”

“We’ll be as nice as we can,” Desiree said.

“I will not kill anyone for comments,” Mousie said, “but if they pull a weapon, I will cut them down.”

“Fair enough,” Alvin said.

Chapter Forty-five

Alvin parked in a spot in front of the largest building on the base. They were escorted inside by the squad they had rescued. People were walking hurriedly down the halls, obviously on important tasks, but many of them did double takes at the group being led past them.

Stopping outside a room, the sergeant with them opened the door and stepped aside. “Thank you again,” he said, giving them a nod.

“De nada,” Alvin replied as he led Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree into the room.

The wide-shouldered man behind the desk stood up when they entered. Alvin took in the strength the man was radiating with a calm expression. “I’m Captain Smith. We don’t have a lot of time right now, but you have gear we could use.”

Alvin extended his hand, “Alvin.” The large black hand took his, and instead of the power grip he was expecting, he got a firm handshake. “Gothy, Desiree, and Mousie.”

“A Dwarf and dark Elf?” the Captain asked. “Interesting companions.”

“Queen’s Elf,” Alvin corrected. “They are interesting, though. You want the battle armor the Dwarves make.”

“The power armor suits,” Smith said, taking his seat.

“I can get you some, but they aren’t cheap,” Alvin said. “We’d be willing to make a trade— armor for a Bradley.”

Smith shook his head, “That’d have to come from the colonel.”

“We’ll talk to him. We have a letter for him from Colonel Whitman from the air base in Wichita, as it is.”

“He’s busy overseeing the battle currently. I’ve been designated your contact.”

“Fine,” Alvin sighed. “I have to give the letter to him to clear the quest, so I’ll have to talk to him later. As for the armor, sixty thousand XP per suit.”

Smith’s lips puckered, “What?”

“Look, I can get you a number of them, but I don’t have an infinite number of them. I need to cover costs of buying and transporting them, plus, I’d like to make a profit of some kind.”

“Too much. Even at forty, it’d be pushing it.”

“They cost more than that even if you could get them from the source,” Alvin shrugged. “Look Cap, I’m not trying to break your balls or anything. I could drop it to near cost if you put in a good word for me with the colonel. Gothy really wants a Bradley and you have those. Hell, you used to make and refurbish them here. I’ll buy the damned thing, but I need access. I’ll make the deal with him for it as well as other things, but you can make that easier, can’t you?”

Smith nodded slowly, “I can. What is the base cost?”

“Still steep,” Alvin said. “They’re still going for fifty thousand when I checked last.”

Smith grunted, “No way to confirm that, is there?”

“Not at this point,” Alvin said. “Look, we saved one of your pilots, helped wreck the prison wall, and rescued the guys who brought us here. I’d like to think that speaks for us as being trustworthy.”

Smith exhaled slowly, “We thank you for those actions. Can we get five sets of armor to start with? If they perform as we hope, then we’ll see about more.”

“I’ll just need two hundred and fifty thousand XP,” Alvin said. “A caveat, though: the base armor doesn’t come with some of the upgrades our suits have. The flamers and independent air supply, for instance.”

Smith grimaced, “The flamethrowers killed the zombies quickly. It was one of the reasons we’re interested in them.”

“Figured that might be a reason,” Alvin nodded. “The armor by itself still gives a lot of protection. With the right runes, you can push it over a few thousand.”

“Keeping our men alive is a key point.”

“The armor is also very resistant to heat,” Desiree added. “Over seventy-five percent resistant to it, in fact.”

“It saved Hero from a small nuke,” Gothy added.

“What?” Smith blinked at him. “Someone set off a nuke?”

“Not all the Greys are friendly,” Alvin said. “The more aggressive Greys have deadman switch nukes. It nearly killed me even inside the armor, but yeah, it did save me.”

“Greys?”

“Large headed, small bodied aliens,” Alvin said. “You know, Roswell and Area 51 shit.”

Smith shook his head, “Those are conspiracy theories.”

“I’ve met them in Roswell. They’re as real as Mousie there, or Desiree and the battle armor. Maybe they were an urban legend before, but they are very real now. Split into two factions— peaceful and aggressive— and you can’t tell them apart easily.”

Smith rubbed at his face for a moment. “This is taking us from the point. Can you get us five sets of armor?”

“Yes. In about five minutes, if you have the XP.”

“I’ll need a little time. Do you mind waiting here?”

“Not really.”

“Excuse me,” Smith said, getting up and heading for the door.

Alvin waited for the door to close before he stood up and summoned the base portal. “Bathroom break?”

“Sounds good to me, Hero,” Gothy said.

“I could use it, yes,” Mousie nodded.

“You’ll be getting the armor?” Desiree asked.

“Yeah. I’m even going to add radios to them, because I’m a nice guy.”

Gothy snickered as they entered the base, “You want to drive the price up for the next sets.”

“Get out of my head, devil woman,” Alvin chuckled.

“I like it in there. It’s so dark and empty.”

Alvin’s eyelid twitched, “You’ll pay for that one, Gothy.”

“I hope so,” Gothy laughed, leading the other two toward the bedroom.

“Should I wait on dinner, sir?”

“Yeah, no idea how long this might take, Jarvis. Plan for simple and quick, please.”

“Very well, sir.”

~*~*~

The four of them were relaxing in the office when Captain Smith returned. Following him was an older man, who looked grim. “Thank you for waiting. This is Major Johnson.”

Gothy mostly stifled her snort, “Nice to meetcha.”

Johnson replied with no trace of humor, “I’ve heard them all, miss.”

“Do you have the XP?” Alvin asked.

“I fail to see armor to be delivered,” Johnson replied stiffly.

Alvin pulled out a single set of the jewelry, “One set of armor. I even made sure this set came with radios equipped in them that can be patched into your existing system. I did it this time for no extra cost, because I’m such a nice guy.”

Johnson stared at him with a blank expression. “Of course. The fact you want military equipment has nothing to do with it, either, right?”

“A little grease never hurts,” Alvin shrugged. “I preferred you, Captain. The major lives up to his name.”

Smith kept his face impassive, though his eyes twinkled slightly. Johnson scowled, dropping his neutral expression to glare at Alvin. “Look, if not for us, you damned civilians would have—”

“Not your civilians,” Alvin cut him off. “We came from Utah to start with. We’ve faced down things that make that army of zombies look like a kindergarten play. We’ve saved an Elven Queen, made deals with the Dwarven King, and have helped over a dozen settlements. We’ve killed dragons, terror worms, necromancers, and more. Don’t talk down to us, Major, or you’ll lose every chance you have to take this base and elevate it into the bright point it could be.”

Johnson’s nostrils flared, “Look, you arrogant little shit bird—”

Desiree, Gothy, and Mousie stood abruptly, their clothing switching to their battle armor after a couple of seconds. None of them drew weapons, but the point was made: they were damned near done with the bullshit.

“Ladies,” Alvin said as he stood up, “calm yourselves.” Turning back to Smith, Alvin put the armor pieces into his bag. “Captain, I won’t deal with this man. Much as I’d like a Bradley, I don’t need one. You could all use the armor, though, and the connections to the Dwarves and Elves for the items they have.

Smith grimaced as Johnson’s face grew red. Before either of them could speak, Smith’s radio crackled to life. “Enemies in the compound! Repeat, ene—!” The sound of gunfire cut the person on the other end off.

The major went from red to white in an instant, and the captain grabbed his radio, trying to find out what and where. Alvin summoned his armor, then dug out the armor he had brought with him.

“They’re heading for the housing block,” Smith said as he turned to leave.

“Captain, take these. I expect to be paid afterward,” Alvin said, holding out the pieces of the armor. “We’ll follow you to assist and so you can get a firsthand look at what they can do.”

Smith paused briefly before taking the jewelry from Alvin and striding from the room. “Follow me.”

The major stayed put, seemingly petrified in place.

Leaving the room behind, Alvin snorted, “Major seems like a dick, and a weak one, at that.”

“His wife tried to kill him on the first day. He hasn’t been the same since,” Smith said. He equipped a set of the armor, but did not summon it. “Rodriguez, equip these and give the rest to the others in your squad. You’re driving us to housing.”

The sergeant took the armor pieces and handed them out to the Humvee guys after equipping his. “Yes, sir.”

“Don’t summon the armor until we get there. It’s too bulky to wear inside the Humvee,” Alvin told them. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree dismissed their battle armor while they walked. “Your suits have radios, but that’s it. There’s no extra runes or frills, so don’t think it’s going to be a personal tank.”

“You heard him,” Smith said as they left the building at a jog. “Let’s go.”

Gothy piled into the back with Mousie, and Desiree hopped into the front seat. Alvin got the Humvee started and pulled out behind the other one. Gothy checked the M2 while they sped down the base roads.

“Other vehicles coming in behind us,” Gothy said. “Reinforcements, from the looks of it.”

“Copy. If it comes under fire from our allies, go hot, too.”

“You got it, Hero.”

“Handguns, subguns, and battle rifles— no long guns,” Alvin said. “Desiree, take the Type 56.” He summoned it and dropped it into her hand.

“Mousie, take this,” Gothy said, reaching down to hand off her MP5.

“Why did they put the housing so far away from the rest of the base?” Alvin grumbled as he sped down the road.

The sun sank below the horizon as they rushed toward the housing area. The lights of the vehicles were the only lights on the road, so when a burst of light came from ahead of them, Gothy shook her head. “I don’t think that was the Army.”

“Battle armor if we bail out,” Alvin said. “Mousie, if we do have to bail, go with your swords. Desiree, you just need to reload that magazine, not wait for it.”

“Understood.”

“Roger.”

The captain led them to a cluster of buildings that had a large grouping of undead attacking them. The gunner ahead of them fired, so Gothy did the same. The difference in rounds was obvious; the undead staggered when the smaller caliber hit them, but did not go down. When the M2 hit them, they dropped to the ground, unmoving.

Pulling onto the first side street, Alvin wondered if the people behind were going to do the same or continue on to help cut the undead off.

The next two Humvees sped past the road. The gunner stayed in the Humvee, taking the first grouping of undead under fire, while the captain and others bailed out. Alvin went on when he saw a larger group of zombies near the big building.

“I’ll stay here, Hero. I’ll pop my cooldowns as soon as we stop.”

“Thank you, Gothy.”

Desiree and Mousie were firing out the windows at the horde ahead of them, joining Gothy to help thin the mass.

“Brace,” Alvin told them and hit the brakes hard. The Turtle slammed into a couple of zombies, who had turned to face them. Alvin smiled and was already out as he summoned the battle armor.

Mousie and Desiree were right beside him, battle armor covering them while they continued to fire at the zombies. Alvin summoned his UMP to hand, joining the fight, surprised that the zombies did not go down as easily as the previous ones had.

The zombies, seeing three people bail out, rushed them, intending to use their numbers to overwhelm the group. Alvin shook his head and the UMP vanished, his warhammer appearing in his hand.

“Desiree, catch,” Gothy said as she tossed her warhammer to the Dwarf.

Desiree looked back in time to catch the hammer, the rifle vanishing right before she did. “Thank you, dear.”

Mousie stepped past Alvin seconds before the horde reached them. Twin blades flared green as she met the zombies, limbs and heads spinning through the air as she danced. Alvin stepped back, a smile on his lips while he watched her.

“I think the flanks would be the better bet,” Desiree said, already moving to the left to push the zombies toward Mousie.

“Good idea,” Alvin said, stepping toward the building and doing the same.

Gothy laughed as she watched her three lovers kill the zombies, all while she continued to mow down those farther away from them. Her laughter cut off when she saw a group of zombies force the door to the building. “Hero, they breached.”

“Damn it,” Alvin cursed. Looking at the boarded up window next to him, he said, “Mousie, do what you can.” Not waiting for her reply, he threw his armored body at the window. Wood cracked and gave way as he pushed into the building.

A single gunshot ricocheted off him when he stopped to gain his bearings. Looking over at a terrified middle-aged woman, he sighed. “Not me, lady. Shoot the zombies,” he told her, then ran for the door to the room.

Leaving the room put him in a hallway with a pack of zombies rushing his way. He smiled and rushed them in return, the hammer pulverizing the first skull with ease. When he drew the hammer back for another swing, it hit the wall.

“Well fine,” Alvin sighed as he switched the warhammer for his K-bar. “Stabby McStabberson it is.”

“Hero, we’re making for the front door,” Desiree said.

“Good, they’re pouring in. It’s going to take a bit to clear them all out. I’ve only seen handguns and the occasional knife,” Alvin replied.

“More Humvees incoming,” Gothy advised them as she kept firing, cutting down rows of undead. “Hero, it’s taking more than a single shot.”

“Yeah, they’re armored,” Alvin replied, dropping another zombie and pushing forward. “The battle armor in here makes it so they can’t slip past you easily. Makes clearing the hall easy. Mousie, come in and go straight. Desiree, go right.”

“Roger.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll be able to handle this. The question is how many rooms they break into before we get them all.”

“Hopefully, not too many,” Gothy said. There was a loud, echoing explosion that went off behind her. “Fuck! Hero, the building the captain went into just lost a wall.”

“Shit. Okay, no more mister nice guy,” Alvin said as he put the knife away and started grabbing zombies. “Desiree, put the hammer away. Just grab and crack the skulls.”

“Roger.”

Chapter Forty-six

Alvin sighed as he walked to the front door of the housing building. He knew he should be exhausted— he had just spent nearly an hour killing zombies. They had been too late to save five people, but with Mousie and Desiree, the rest of the building was saved and cleared.

“Hero, you okay?” Gothy asked.

“Tired and didn’t even save them all. Lost five of I don’t know how many.”

“They lost five and saved the rest of the place,” Gothy said, clearly talking to someone else. “It’s clear out here, Hero,” she added.

Stepping out the front door, he had not expected to find a couple dozen Humvees, two Bradleys, and nearly a hundred armed soldiers staring at him. Alvin let his helmet slide off him and stared back at them.

Captain Smith came striding forward, the men making way for the large armored man. “Only five?”

“Yes. We couldn’t use the flamers since we didn’t want to catch the building on fire. Three old folks and a couple hiding in another room. You guys did right by reinforcing the doors; it gave us the time to deal with the zombies. I’d suggest getting rid of the first floor windows and reinforcing the structure next.”

“I’ll pass it along,” Smith said as the armor melted off him. “Williams, call in the all clear for this area.”

“Yes, sir,” someone replied.

“If you’re ready to go back to the command center, we can finish our discussion about purchasing things.”

“Sir, Colonel Ruiz is asking to speak with them,” someone called out.

“Seems like you get your meeting,” Smith said. “Men, double check the area, and half of you stay here until we have the all clear from the battle.”

“Yes, sir,” the men replied in unison, breaking off to do as assigned.

“We’ll follow you back,” Alvin said as he let the rest of the battle armor fade and switched back to his normal clothes. “Ladies, let’s go. It’s late, and it’s going to be even later by the time we get home.” They all got into the Turtle, and Alvin leaned back into the seat, sighing as he got it started. “How was it outside?”

“Busy. The cooldown let me keep the front clear when more zombies tried to show up. The reinforcements started to show up and got deployed around the area to make sure the buildings didn’t get mobbed again. They were called to the building a few minutes before you came out. I think the captain was making a point that three of you in armor could hold a building alone.”

“That probably cost them the couple,” Alvin said. “How did they do in the other buildings?”

“The one Smith was in lost a wall because of explosives. Twenty dead, over half because of the bomb. The other buildings lost more than ten each before anyone could get there to help.”

“Damn,” Alvin said softly. “That’ll strengthen our position.”

“More so because two of Smith’s men were caught in the explosion and are fine,” Gothy added. “They were talking to the others before you came out.”

“Surprised that they didn’t come in to help.”

“The building you went into houses the civilians that aren’t helping make the base better.”

“Cold. I like him,” Alvin chuckled darkly.

Gothy dropped into the Humvee and buttoned up the hatch. “Almost there.”

“Thanks for keeping them off us,” Alvin said.

“It would have been bad if they had come in after us,” Mousie nodded. “It was difficult enough to dance in the halls.”

“Might have been able to pull us down if they had,” Desiree nodded.

“It wasn’t hard to keep them out of the building,” Gothy said. “The Ma Deuce put them down in short order. Once the bulk of them cleared out, it was just keeping out the smaller groups that came rushing in.”

“Well, let’s go see if the colonel is going to be more like the captain or Major Dickhead,” Alvin said, parking the Humvee beside the captain’s.

Smith was waiting for them when they got out. “A word of advice: don’t draw a weapon in the colonel’s presence unless asked to. The men near him are a bit protective, and for good reason.”

“I’m fine with that as long as people stay civil, unlike the major.”

Smith grimaced, “He’ll be there, too. Give him a chance, please.”

“He gets a single chance,” Alvin said.

“Follow me,” Smith said, leading them into the building.

They walked down several hallways and a few flights of stairs to reach the colonel’s room. The inside looked like a miniature Norad. One wall was all screens with live feed from some Bradleys, and a few maps of the areas with red and blue dots denoting forces. Two dozen people were manning computers, radios, and other equipment. At the center of the maelstrom, a grim-faced man with a shining bald head stood. Around the room, a half dozen men with rifles stood at ease, watching everyone else in the room.

“Colonel, you asked to see them,” Smith said, bringing them to the man and saluting.

“Very good. Thank you, Captain. Take them to the briefing room. I’ll be there shortly.”

“Yes, sir.”

One side of the room led to a glass-walled room with a conference table and three other men in uniform, one of which was Major Johnson. The other two looked at the group with interest, but Johnson did not meet their eyes.

“That side of the table is good,” Smith said and motioned them to the near side, which would put their backs to the glass.

“I’m sure it is,” Alvin said, walking around the table. “Gentlemen, I’m Alvin. My wives; Gothy, Desiree, and Mousie.”

“Major Schrimpf,” one of them replied, exchanging handshakes. “Thank you for your help. Never thought a civilian could do good work like that.”

“Captain Carlson,” the other replied, nodding to the group. “Wives? All of them?”

“Well, it was Gothy, then we picked up Mousie, and that expanded. Desiree joined us not that long ago,” Alvin smiled. “Never thought the apocalypse would lead to a harem, but hey, I’m not going to complain.”

“What man would?” Carlson barked in laughter. “You certainly ended up with a collection of deadly and beautiful women.”

All three women smiled at the compliment. “Thank you, Captain,” Gothy grinned. “We’re the lucky ones, though. Hero saved each of us at least once each.”

“Hero?” Schrimpf asked.

“Our name for him,” Gothy replied. “Like I said, he saved each of us repeatedly.”

“I stopped trying to fight it,” Alvin chuckled.

“We might as well get situated,” Johnson said. “The colonel is coming.”

Everyone was moving to a chair when the colonel entered the room. “The battle is all but over. We’re on mop-up duty now,” Ruiz said bluntly. “It should have been worse, much worse.” He looked right at Alvin, “You have my thanks. Please, be seated.”

Everyone sat, and the colonel looked to Smith. “Captain, explain what you know.”

Smith took a few minutes to relay what he had been told and seen firsthand, then stood up to briefly deploy the battle armor. When he dismissed it and sat back down, he handed the armor from his men to the others. Each of them equipped the pieces and summoned the armor briefly before dismissing the suits.

“This is something the government had been working on for years,” Ruiz said with an intrigued look. “Desiree, this is from your people?”

“Yes. They run off batteries powered by lumios. It is a mineral from my world. Keeping them supplied with power can be a problem unless you can get a crafter who can work with them. My King would be interested in some of your vehicles, so a mutually beneficial relationship can be made.”

Ruiz nodded, “Yes. We owe you some XP for these, I’m told.”

“Yeah,” Alvin said, “Two hundred and fifty thousand, though we’re willing to put that cost toward a Bradley.”

Ruiz frowned, “Not in the habit of giving military equipment to civilians. However, with armor like this and our vehicles, we’d be able to handle another invasion with less death. I can get you a Bradley, but it won’t be our best.”

“Give me one with all the right pieces, and even if it’s pretty thoroughly fucked up, I’ll be fine. I’m curious about the TOW missiles— why didn’t they reload when we were attacking the prison?”

“They don’t accept the Reload runes,” Schrimpf said. “We can’t modify them at all. The Bushmaster can be, but not the missiles.”

Both Alvin and Gothy frowned, exchanging a knowing glance. “Devs must have known it’d be OP as fuck,” Gothy said.

“Devs?” Smith asked.

“Okay, our turn,” Alvin sighed. “This is going to take a bit, and I’d like this to be counted toward our vehicle.”

An hour went by as Alvin explained the world, what they had encountered, and what it all likely meant for the base. When he finished, he dug out the letter and skimmed it down the table to the colonel, who picked it up.

Quest completed: Deliver Colonel Whitman’s Dispatch

Reward: 1,000 XP and increased reputation with Sheppard Air Force Base settlement.

“From Colonel Whitman,” Alvin said. “Look, it’s late and you all need to think about things. Can we pick this up tomorrow?”

Ruiz nodded, “Yes. I was just going to suggest stopping for the night. Noon tomorrow. Agreed?”

“Sounds fine,” Alvin said, standing up. “We meeting here?”

“Yes. I’ll have Smith—” Ruiz began.

“No need,” Alvin cut him off and summoned a portal behind him. “We’ll be back here at noon. Night.” Standing up, he stepped through the portal, making the others exclaim in surprise.

“He loves showing off,” Gothy said before stepping through with the other two. “See you tomorrow.”

“Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes, sir,” Jarvis said.

“Cool. Going to drop the loot off first,” Alvin muttered as he headed for the kiosk room.

“Loot, food, shower, bed?” Gothy asked, following him.

“Yeah,” Alvin nodded. “Tomorrow, we’ll see what they want to do, but I firmly believe we have a Bradley in the bag.”

“I’ll have to reward you, then, Hero.”

Alvin smiled, “I won’t say no.”

Chapter Forty-seven

Leaving the base for the meeting room, Alvin nodded to Captain Smith, “Morning.”

“Your little disappearing act gave them all a fright. They’ve had men watching the room all night,” Smith said bluntly. “I’ve been tasked to make sure you are safe.”

“As safe as I normally am,” Alvin shrugged.

“Nothing different from yesterday,” Gothy added.

“Take a seat. I’ll let them know,” Smith sighed. “Can you come back through that space at any time?”

“No. When I leave, it goes with me,” Alvin said, “though I do want to tap the kiosk here before we go.”

“I’m sure something can be arranged,” Smith said, heading for the door.

It took about five minutes before the colonel and others walked into the room. “First off,” Ruiz said bluntly, “you’re not allowed to use the damned command center as your point of entry.”

“Let me use your kiosk and that’ll be fine. Normally I would have asked, but I was tired last night. Saving people really takes it out of me,” Alvin said. “Did you put together an idea about trade?”

“We’d like another hundred sets of armor,” Ruiz said, “with the radios included.”

“Great. Do you have five million XP?”

“We’d be willing to trade you three Bradleys. They’re not in the best condition, but they will have full armament, minus the TOWs,” Ruiz said.

“You think each Bradley without the missiles is worth over five million?” Alvin chuckled. “No discount for all our good deeds?”

Ruiz stared at Alvin, “Do you think they are worth less?”

“Yeah, maybe a million each. With all the help we gave you, I’d figure even more would be coming off that tag.”

“Don’t you want to help us stave off the zombie threat?” Major Johnson growled.

Alvin sighed, “Help you? No. Help the others in this room? A little. Besides, I couldn’t get you a hundred sets if I wanted to. I could get you ten more sets, but that’s it. I would, however, be willing to give you the exact locations of both the Dwarven and Elven Gates. For all that, I’d take a Bradley, fully equipped.”

“Fifteen,” Ruiz said.

“Ten. It’s all I can do. I don’t have an infinite supply myself. I can write you a letter for your envoys that will help smooth the road at both Gates.”

“You won’t turn the vehicle on the people of the United States, will you?” Schrimpf asked.

“The United States died when the Rapture happened. The Lone Star might rise again, but I don’t think the country will,” Alvin replied.

“We’d still need twelve,” Ruiz said.

“Ten,” Alvin said bluntly. “You aren’t understanding the simple idea. With envoys, you can get as many as you want, plus access to even more things. You’ve seen the glyphs show up on the auction house, right? Those are Elven. The Queen is a friend of ours. She’ll give you a deal, I’m sure of it. Plus, you’ll need the Dwarves to get you access to a workroom to keep the armor functional. I could just offload all the extra battle armor I have to you, but in the long run, it’d be scrap inside of a few months.”

Ruiz stared at Alvin with hard eyes. “That’s your final word?”

“Pretty much. Otherwise, I’ll take my armors back or you can pay me for them,” Alvin said. “Colonel, I’m not trying to extort you. The location of the Gates and the letters of introduction are worth more than a Bradley by itself. You know that as well as I do.”

Ruiz sighed, “You three did more than any of my other men. Those suits will turn the tide against the zombies in Dallas and beyond. Get me ten more suits and I’ll deliver a Bradley.”

“My King will gladly trade with you for a couple of those vehicles,” Desiree said. “Though it might take them a bit to produce the number of armors that you want. I will send him a message letting him know.”

“You have a direct line to the King?” Johnson scoffed.

“She should— she’s his daughter,” Gothy smirked.

The table went quiet for a moment. “You’re the daughter of your race’s leader?” Ruiz asked slowly, making sure he understood right.

“Yes. My father is the current King,” Desiree replied. “Hero isn’t wrong in his assessment. A letter from us will be of more help than you had considered.”

“So it seems,” Ruiz said tightly. “Fine, I’ll have a Bradley brought around to the front of the building. When can we get the armors?”

“Be right back,” Alvin smiled as he stood up.

“That space you vanish into, it does leave when—” Ruiz was asking Gothy as Alvin left the room.

~*~*~

He came back as soon as he had the armor sets. “Here you go: ten sets of battle armor with radios,” Alvin said, dropping the pieces, letters, and maps on the table. “Who has my keys?”

“It’s being pulled around front,” Smith said.

“Everyone left?” Alvin said surprised.

“We’re busy with cleanup from yesterday,” Smith said, picking everything up. “Let me walk you out.”

“Sounds good. Did Ruiz contact Whitman?”

“I can’t say,” Smith said.

“In other words, yes,” Alvin chuckled. “Did Ruiz check the kiosk afterward?”

“Why would he?” Smith asked.

“This place has thousands, Wichita has thousands. I would be surprised if two large settlements agreeing on a form of mutual protection didn’t open up some new options.”

“It would?”

“I can’t say for certain,” Alvin shrugged. “Thinking about how things have been set up, I’d suspect that at a certain threshold, a settlement could become something more. What that might be or what it would take, I don’t have a clue in the world. I just suspect it’s possible.”

“I’ll pass that along,” Smith said. He opened a door to a room near the front of the building, showing the group inside. “One of our kiosks is in here.”

Alvin quickly interfaced with it, followed by the women. “Thank you. Now, if you need help and you have the XP to spare, we can be the mercs we are,” Alvin told Smith.

“Not sure that Colonel will pay, but options are good,” Smith said once they left the room.

Stepping out of the command structure, Alvin smiled at the Bradley that sat outside with a soldier climbing out of the driver’s position. Gothy let out a happy squeal and ran over to it, hugging it.

“It’s so big and hard,” Gothy said.

The soldiers nearby stopped moving, staring at the busty woman making sexual puns about the Bradley. Alvin snickered and shook his head, “I give you the best things.” Turning to face the soldier with the key, he coughed, “Keys?”

“Oh, er... right,” the soldier said, fishing a key out of thin air and tossing it to Alvin.

Alvin caught it and smiled as he attached it to his keyring. “Nice. Never driven a tracked vehicle before, so this should be interesting.”

“I can have him walk you throu—” Smith began.

“Nope. I can figure it out,” Alvin said, cutting him off. “Thanks for the help, Captain. I hope you guys can annihilate the zombies from Dallas.”

“Where are you off to?”

“East. I take it you guys cleared Texarkana already?”

“It’s how we were able to get this place functioning again,” Smith said. “Should be clear for a bit across the border, too.”

“Good. Will make for a nice easy drive to start with.”

“The Bradley already has a fuel rune attached to it. It was easier to at least do that for all our operational vehicles,” Smith said. “Do you want a quick walk around?”

“Please,” Desiree said.

“Let’s start with the driver compartment,” Smith said, climbing up onto the vehicle.

~*~*~

Alvin laughed as he drove the Bradley down the road after the Humvee. “Gothy?”

“Yes, Hero?”

“Summon the base once we’re clear of the depot. We’re going to spend the rest of the day at home.”

“Oh? Did you have something planned?” Gothy asked in a sultry tone.

“Training,” Alvin said, “though I’m sure we’ll have ample breaks from it, too. I want to make sure we’re all good enough to drive and gun this beast. That, and we can use a bit more training on the four of us clearing buildings.”

“We all get to drive and gun it?” Desiree asked excitedly.

“Yes. There might come a time when we have both vehicles out and running. I want to be ready for that moment.”

“Heading home, Hero.”

“Right behind you,” Alvin replied as he saw the portal form and swallow the Humvee.

Parking the Bradley in the garage, Alvin chuckled at how much larger the place had to be to fit the new addition. “Ladies, we need to rune this beast up first. This way, we’re training on something comparable to what this will be.”

“Good point,” Gothy said, going over to touch the Bradley to get a good look at its statistics. “Holy fuck.”

M2A1 Bradley (Uncommon)

Armor: 124,781/500,000

Modifications: Radio

Runes: 1/4

Fuel

Armament: M242 Bushmaster (Uncommon)

Damage: 50

Durability: 16,492/30,000

Ammo type: 25mm Tungsten APDS with tracers (300 round belt feed)

APDS: Armor piercing round adds 100% Armor Buster

APDS Tracer: High visibility rounds loaded as every 20th shot

Runes: 0/4

Armament: M240C (Uncommon)

Damage: 8

Durability: 12,497/20,000

Ammo type: 7.62x51mm Nato (100 round belt feed)

Runes: 0/4

“Yup,” Alvin agreed. “Going to be a beast.”

“Are you going to modify the seats like you did in the Turtle?” Mousie asked.

“It needs it,” Alvin said. “We need to get our best runes for this. Poor thing needs to stay in the base for a while, anyway.”

“Let’s go,” Gothy said, hurrying toward the kiosk room, eager to get their new ride upgraded.

“Let’s go see what she’s doing,” Alvin laughed as he trailed Gothy. “After we get it runed, we’ll each be learning to drive it under combat conditions and work the gun.”

“I look forward to it,” Desiree said and took his hand. “Father will be excited to have access to vehicles like this. Thank you.”

“The Queen will be interested, as well. The war has just barely started.”

Smiling, he went with Mousie and Desiree into the kiosk room to find out what runes Gothy was pulling out. I wonder what we should nickname it? Alvin wondered as he watched Gothy going through their collection.

Character Info

Alvin Leon Lambert

Human (430,749 experience)

Brawn 8

Nimbleness 8

Aptitude 8

Personability 8

Hardiness 8

Spells:

Powers:

Kiosk Discount (33% discount for anything you buy from the kiosks)

Leader

Home Base

AI Butler

Linguist

Extra Life x2

Gate Sense- 10 mile range

Wardrobe- Extra slots 1

Map- Waypoint guide, Minimap, Enemies on minimap

Fast Travel

M1114 UAH (Uncommon)

Armor: 838,369/875,000

Modifications: Luxury seats, Gunner plating, Battle bumper, Radio

Runes: 4/4

Fuel, Tires, Durability: 25%, Durability: 50%

Armament: M2 (Rare)

Damage: 16

Durability: 27,492/40,000

Ammo type: .50 BMG SLAP/SLAP-T (20-1) (500 round belt feed)

SLAP: Armor piercing round adds 100% Armor Buster

SLAP Tracer: High visibility rounds loaded as every 20th shot

Runes: 6/6

Reload: 5 seconds, Armor Buster: 100%, Durability: 50% x2, Recoil: 40% x2

M2A1 Bradley (Uncommon)

Armor: 124,781/500,000

Modifications: Radio

Runes: 1/4

Fuel

Armament: M242 Bushmaster (Uncommon)

Damage: 50

Durability: 16,492/30,000

Ammo type: 25mm Tungsten APDS with tracers (300 round belt feed)

APDS: Armor piercing round adds 100% Armor Buster

APDS Tracer: High visibility rounds loaded as every 20th shot

Runes: 0/4

Armament: M240C (Uncommon)

Damage: 8

Durability: 12,497/20,000

Ammo type: 7.62x51mm Nato (100 round belt feed)

Runes: 0/4

Zombie Cap (Rare)- Head slot

Armor: 442/500

Runes: 0/0

Weather, Ten times initial durability, Six more armor

Zombie Shirt (Rare)- Torso slot

Armor: 500/500

Runes: 0/0

Weather, Ten times initial durability, Four more armor, One spot of storage space

Leather Patched Denim Pants (Rare)- Leg slot

Armor: 526/550

Runes: 0/0

Weather, Ten times initial durability, Six more armor

Combat Boots (Rare)- Feet Slot

Armor: 562/600

Runes: 0/0

Weather, Ten times initial durability, Six more armor

Fingerless Kevlar Gloves (Rare)- Hands slot

Armor: 235/250

Runes: 0/0

Two spots of storage space, Ten times initial durability, Four more armor

Leather Duster (Rare)- Accessory 1

Armor: 750/750 (added to chest armor)

Runes: 0/0

Weather, Ten times initial durability, Four more armor, One spot of storage space

Interceptor Body Armor (Uncommon)- Accessory 2

Armor: 736/1000 (added to chest armor)

Runes: 0/0

Ten times initial durability, Four more armor

Radio (common)- Accessory 3

Connected to vehicles for broader range

Ring of Power (Legendary)- Accessory 4

Ring of Fire Immunity

Type 56 (Rare)

Damage: 7

Durability: 4,502/5,000

Ammo type: 7.62x39 mm (30-round magazine)

Runes: 0/0

Unlimited ammo on reload-reload magazine, Five times initial durability, Jacketed- double damage to armor, Steel jacketed

H&K Ump (Uncommon)

Damage: 3

Durability: 3,268/3,750

Ammo type: .40 S&W (30-round magazine)

Modifications: Suppressor, Vertical foregrip, High intensity flashlight, Reflex sight

Runes: 4/4

Reload: 7 seconds, Durability: 25%, Silence: 40%, Armor Buster: 33%

Barrett M82 (Rare)

Damage: 16

Durability: 2,480/2,500

Ammo type: .50 BMG (10-round magazine)

Modifications: Bipod, Sling, 10-round magazine, 14x50 scope

Runes: 0/0

Unlimited ammo on reload, Ten times initial durability, Jacketed- doubles damage to armor, Steel jacketed, Holy ammo

K-bar (Rare)

Increased base damage (craftsmanship).

Damage: 2+Brawn

Durability: 14,198/15,000

Metal: Nirium

Runes: 6/6

Bloody: 33% x3, Armor Buster: 33% x2, Poisoned Blade

Warhammer (Rare)

Increased base damage and durability (craftsmanship).

Damage: 3+Brawn

Durability: 15,000/15,000

Metal: Nirium

Runes: 6/6

Armor Buster: 33% x3, Stunning, Phantom, Elemental-Acid

Gothy

Human - (Bound to Alvin Leon Lambert) (152,526 experience)

Brawn 8

Nimbleness 8

Aptitude 8

Personability 8

Hardiness 8

Spells:

Powers:

Contracted

Linguist

Extra Life x2

Gate Sense- 10 mile range

Map- Waypoint guide, Minimap, Enemies on minimap

Fast Travel

Wardrobe- Extra slots 1

Critical Strikes- Doubles damage for 5 minutes 1 /day

Auto Reload- Automatically reloads ranged weapon for 5 minutes 1 /day

1969 Mustang Boss 429 (Rare)

Armor: 1,000,000/1,000,000

Modifications: Luxury seats, radio

Runes: 0/0

No longer needs fuel to run, Indestructible tires good for all terrain and conditions even off-road, Four times initial durability, Six more armor

Succubus Hat (Uncommon)- Head slot

Armor: 49/49

Runes: 4/4

Impervious, Durability: 25% x3

Leather Corset (Rare)- Torso slot

Armor: 250/250

Runes: 0/0

Five times initial durability, Six more armor, One spot of storage space, Weather

Leather Pants (Rare)- Leg slot

Armor: 243/250

Runes: 0/0

Five times initial durability, Eight more armor, Weather

Combat Boots (Rare)- Feet slot

Armor: 293/300

Runes: 0/0

Five times initial durability, Eight more armor, Weather

Black Lace Gloves (Rare)- Hands slot

Armor: 100/100

Runes: 0/0

Ten times initial durability, Six more armor, Two spots of storage space

Long Leather Jacket (Rare)- Accessory 1

Armor: 250/250 (added to chest armor)

Runes: 0/0

Five times initial durability, Six more armor, One spot of storage space, Weather

Interceptor Body Armor (Uncommon)- Accessory 2

Armor: 893/1,000 (added to chest armor)

Runes: 0/0

Ten times initial durability, Two more armor

Horned Band (Rare)- Accessory 3

Armor: 125/125 (added to head armor)

Runes: 0/0

Five times initial durability, Ten more armor

Radio (common)- Accessory 4

Connected to vehicles for broader range

Ring of Power (Legendary)- Accessory 5

Ring of Mental Immunity

Remington 870 Police (Uncommon)

Damage: 10 (Depends on range)

Durability: 1,836/2,000

Ammo type: Slug (5-round internal tube magazine)

Runes: 0/0

Unlimited ammo on reload-switch safety on 3 seconds, Five times initial durability, Armor Buster- doubles damage to armor, Steel jacketed

MP5-N (Rare)

Damage: 2

Durability: 3,169/3,750

Ammo type: 9x19mm Parabellum (30-round magazine)

Modifications: Suppressor, Vertical foregrip, High intensity flashlight, Reflex sight

Runes: 6/6

Reload: 7 seconds, Durability: 25%, Silence: 40%, Wounding: 10% Bloody: 33% Armor Buster: 33%

Thompson Submachine Gun (Uncommon)

Damage: 3

Durability: 4,298/4,500

Ammo type: .45 ACP (100-round drum)

Modifications: 100-round drum

Runes: 4/4

Reload: 5 seconds, Durability: 50%, Recoil: 40%, Armor Buster: 33%

Remington 700 (Rare)

Damage: 8

Durability: 3,000/3,000

Ammo type: .308 Winchester (10-round magazine)

Modifications: Suppressor, 10x40 scope, Sling, 10-round removable magazine

Runes: 6/6

Reload: 5 seconds, Durability: 25% x2, Silence: 20% x2, Armor Buster: 66%

K-bar (Rare)

Increased base damage (craftsmanship).

Damage: 2+Brawn

Durability: 15,000/15,000

Metal type: Nirium

Runes: 6/6

Bloody: 33% x3, Armor Buster: 33% x2, Poisoned Blade

Warhammer (Rare)

Increased base damage and durability (craftsmanship).

Damage: 3+Brawn

Durability: 14,269/15,000

Metal: Nirium

Runes: 6/6

Armor Buster: 33%x3, Stunning, Phantom, Elemental-Ice

Mousie

Queen’s Elf - (Bound to Alvin & Gothy) (135,615 experience)

Brawn 7

Nimbleness 9

Aptitude 6

Personability 7

Hardiness 8

Spells:

Powers:

Contracted

Blade Dancer

Extra Life x2

Human Knowledge

Wardrobe- extra slots 1

Linguist

Critical Strikes- Doubles damage for 5 minutes 1 /day

Auto Reload- Automatically reloads ranged weapon for 5 minutes 1 /day

Armor repair- Replace half the durability of a worn armor piece 1/day

Mind blank- Automatically cancels any mind influencing effect 1/day

Map- Waypoint guide, Minimap, Enemies on minimap

Fast Travel

Mouse Hat (Uncommon)- Head slot

Armor: 91/97

Runes: 4/4

Impervious, Durability: 25% x3

Leather Chestguard (Rare)- Torso slot

Armor: 304/304

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x5

Leather Pants (Rare)- Leg slot

Armor: 296/304

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x5

Nryad Boots (Rare)- Feet Slot

Increased traction on any surface

Armor: 206/226

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x5

Blade Dancer’s Gloves (Rare)- Hands slot

Armor: 132/145

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Holding, Holding, Durability: 25% x3

Leather Belt (Uncommon)- Accessory 1

Armor: 93/93 (added to leg armor total)

Runes: 4/4

Impervious, Durability: 25%, Holding, Holding

Radio (common)- Accessory 2

Connected to vehicles for broader range

Interceptor Body Armor (Uncommon)- Accessory 3

Armor: 1,542/1,750 (added to chest armor)

Runes: 4/4

Impervious, Durability: 25% x3

S&W 1911 (Rare)

Damage: 3

Durability: 692/750

Ammo type: .45 ACP (14-round magazine)

Double stack magazine

Runes: 6/6

Reload: 10 seconds, Durability: 25% x2, Wounding: 10% Bloody: 33%, Armor Buster: 33%

Glock 21 (Rare)

Damage: 3

Durability: 701/750

Ammo type: .45 ACP (13-round magazine)

Extended magazine, laser dot

Runes: 6/6

Reload: 10 seconds, Durability: 25% x2, Wounding: 10% Bloody: 33% Armor Buster: 33%

Remington 700 (Uncommon)

Damage: 8

Durability: 2,189/2,500

Ammo type: .308 Winchester (10-round magazine)

Modifications: Suppressor, 10x40 scope, Bipod, Sling, 10-round removable magazine

Runes: 4/4

Reload: 10 seconds, Durability: 25%, Silence: 20%, Armor Buster: 33%

Night (Legendary Dancer’s Soul)

Limitation: Must be wielded by Blade Dancer of equal blood from both lineages.

When used in conjunction with Day (Legendary Dancer’s Soul), damage is doubled.

Has two extra rune slots.

Damage: 4+Brawn

Durability: -/-

Metal type: Nirium

Runes: 12/12

Phantom, Armor Buster: 33% x3, Bloody: 66%, Elemental-Fire, Elemental-Ice, Elemental-Electric, Elemental-Acid, Poisoned Blade, Wounding: 20% x2

Day (Legendary Dancer’s Soul)

Limitation: Must be wielded by Blade Dancer of equal blood from both lineages.

When used in conjunction with Night (Legendary Dancer’s Soul), damage is doubled.

Has two extra runes slots.

Damage: 4+Brawn

Durability: -/-

Metal type: Lirium

Runes: 12/12

Silver, Holy, Armor Buster: 33% x2, Armor Buster 100%, Elemental-Fire, Elemental-Ice, Elemental-Electric, Elemental-Acid, Poisoned Blade, Wounding: 20% x2

Nirium Dagger (Rare)

Increased base damage (craftsmanship).

Damage: 2+Brawn

Durability: 14,638/15,000

Metal: Nirium

Runes: 6/6

Bloody: 33% x3, Armor Buster: 33% x2, Poisoned Blade

Desiree Brightblood

Dwarf (Twurgh) - (Married to Alvin, Gothy, & Mousie) (129,339 experience)

Brawn 8

Nimbleness 7

Aptitude 5

Personability 4

Hardiness 11

Spells:

Powers:

Extra Life x2

Linguist

Human Knowledge

Wardrobe- Extra slots 1

Map- Waypoint guide, Minimap, Enemies on minimap

Terror Scaled Helm (Rare)- Head slot

Increased armor (craftsmanship)

Armor: 442/450

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x5

Terror Scales: Gives the wearer a 5% cumulative chance to resist mental influence.

Terror Scaled Chestguard (Rare)- Torso slot

Increased armor (craftsmanship)

Armor: 638/787

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x5

Terror Scales: Gives the wearer a 5% cumulative chance to resist mental influence.

Terror Scaled Leggings (Rare)- Leg slot

Increased armor (craftsmanship)

Armor: 642/675

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x5

Terror Scales: Gives the wearer a 5% cumulative chance to resist mental influence.

Terror Scaled Nryad Boots (Rare)- Feet Slot

Increased traction on any surface

Increased armor (craftsmanship)

Armor: 611/618

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x5

Terror Scales: Gives the wearer a 5% cumulative chance to resist mental influence.

Terror Scaled Gloves (Rare)- Hand slot

Increased armor (craftsmanship)

Armor: 342/350

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Durability: 25% x3, Holding x2

Terror Scales: Gives the wearer a 5% cumulative chance to resist mental influence.

Dwarven Battle Armor (Rare)- Accessory 1-5

Immune to environmental effects

Reduces fire damage by 90%

Increase Durability (craftsmanship)

Armor: 2,987/4,000 (added to entire body)

Runes: 6/6

Impervious, Resistance (fire): 10%, Durability: 25% x4

Upgrades: Radio, independent air supply, battery backup

Armament: Flamer x2

Damage: 5/per second

Duration: 300 seconds

S&W 1911 (Uncommon)

Damage: 3

Durability: 1,068/1,250

Ammo type: .45 ACP (7-round magazine)

Runes: 0/0

Unlimited ammo on reload-reload magazine, Five times initial durability, Armor Buster- doubles damage to armor, Steel jacketed

IMI Desert Eagle .357 Magnum (Rare)

Damage: 4

Durability: 869/1,000

Ammo type: .357 Magnum (9-round magazine)

Runes: 0/0

Unlimited ammo on reload-reload magazine, Five times initial durability, Jacketed- doubles damage to armor, Steel jacketed

Home Base:

Automated Garage: 1% repair per hour including armament

Garage slots: 3 land vehicles, 1 air

Training room: Real 3D Simulations

Upgraded pantry

Gunnery: Repairs 0.5% per hour/10 items

Smithy: Repairs 0.5% per hour/10 items

Composite armory: Repairs 0.5% per hour/10 items

Dwarven Armory Upgraded: Resupplies armor with lumios and repairs 0.5% durability per hour/10 items, battery suit recharge, and limited upgrades

Kiosk: Dual stations, Goods transport

Medical Bay: Expanded, Contains DNA Modifications Vat (DMV)

Author’s Note

Please consider leaving a review for the book, feedback is imperative for an indie author. If you don’t want to review it then think about leaving a comment or even just a quick message. Remember, positive feedback is always welcome.

If you want to keep up on the latest updates, or the one stop shop for all the links, my website is the best place for that. Remember to subscribe to the mailing list to know when I publish a new book, and you get an exclusive short when you sign up.

http://schinhofenbooks.com/

Other places you can keep up to date on me and my works:

https://www.patreon.com/DJSchinhofen
https://twitter.com/DJSchinhofen

Fan group on Facebook for Daniel Schinhofen
https://schinhofenbooks.blogspot.com/

If you LOVE LitRPG, then check out these pages full of awesome LITRPG goodness. You can interact with authors like me and many more. Find banter, good times and a lot of likeminded people.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGsociety/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/haremlit/

A big thank you to my editors, Jennifer York and Samantha Bishop. Also props to Geno Ferrarini, and Sean Hickinbotham for being my Alpha Readers. I’d be remiss if I didn’t include my beta readers, in no particular order: Zee ~*~ Ian McAdams ~*~ Arthur Cuelho ~*~ Scott Brown ~*~ Dame ~*~ A.J. Bishop ~*~ Kevin Kollman ~*~ Jay Taylor ~*~ Justin Johanson ~*~ Kenneth Darlin ~*~ Christina Norton ~*~ Sawyer Aubrey ~*~ Aoife Grimm ~*~ Peter La Femina ~*~ Shane Bird ~*~ Steve Robles ~*~ Tanner Lovelace ~*~ Tim? ~*~ Carl Gherardi ~*~ Brian O ~*~ Version93 ~*~ Sarinia Phelps.

The cover for Can of Worms is brought to you by Anthony Bishop, a very talented artist. You can find him at https://grimmhelm.artstation.com/

A big thanks to my Patreon supporters who have gone above and beyond in their support:

Dragonkain ~*~ Joshua Graybill ~*~ Tristitan ~*~ Nathan Goforth ~*~ Kenneth Darlin ~*~ pheonixblue ~*~ Robert Shofner ~*~ J. Patrick Walker ~*~ Sonicblackfox ~*~ Brett Hudson ~*~ Xiao ~*~ Kevin McKinney ~*~ ryan Luttinger ~*~ Spencer Jefferson ~*~ John Curtis ~*~ Roman Smith ~*~ Kyle Gravelle ~*~ Jack Ling ~*~ Matthew ~*~ Dedalus Inventor ~*~ Michael Erwin ~*~ travis btmb ~*~ Timithy klesick ~*~ chanh pham ~*~ Winston Smith ~*~ Dwayne Bullock ~*~ Susanne Lofböm ~*~ Christopher B. ~*~ Eli Page ~*~ Chioke Nelson ~*~ Paul Mallon ~*~ Alexander Rodriguez ~*~ IntheRaccon ~*~ Michael Jackson ~*~ Chace Corso ~*~ Jason Broderick ~*~ Stephan Juba ~*~ Tara C Mulkey ~*~ James Domec ~*~ Kori Prins ~*~ Mike Durie ~*~ T3lain ~*~ Arthur Cuelho ~*~ Charles Demarest ~*~ Eric Hontz ~*~ Ronald C Arbitz ~*~ Otis Coley ~*~ Jacob Tackett ~*~ Caleb Bear ~*~ Michael Moneymaker ~*~ Masta Matna ~*~ Jeffrey Buchanan ~*~ David Florish ~*~ Tanner Lovelace ~*~ Jeff Ford ~*~ Brian O. ~*~ Korbin Wilson ~*~ Kevin Harris ~*~ SpartanGER ~*~ William Merrick ~*~ Logan Cochrane ~*~ Cody Carter ~*~ Adam Billingham ~*~ Azrael11197 ~*~ MrNyxt ~*~ Kevin kollman ~*~ Travis Hilliard ~*~ subVersion ~*~ Joshua Morris ~*~ Jack McCoy ~*~ Damien Osborne ~*~ Brandon Haag ~*~ J.G. Patton ~*~ terry wood-davies ~*~ Daniel Block ~*~ Dwinald Lint III ~*~ Patrick Glass ~*~ Matthias Mellahn ~*~ Derek Morgan ~*~ Matthew Parrika ~*~ Kenneth Steinagel ~*~ Jose Caudillo ~*~ Dameon Cornish ~*~ Karl poff ~*~ Allen burger ~*~ Angelina Ward ~*~ Theodore Ursa ~*~ thebadtank ~*~ No0neSpecial ~*~ George Ueland Jr. ~*~ Michael Browningkoelper ~*~ tristan ~*~ Top Cat 269 ~*~ Magnus Gammal ~*~ Ronald C Abitz ~*~ Brian Biggers ~*~ Jacob Lawlor ~*~ Abraham Madsen ~*~ Brad Schultz ~*~ Samantha Kelling ~*~ Blake Cawthon.

Other Books written by Daniel Schinhofen:

Last Horizon: (Completed.)

Last Horizon Omnibus

Binding Words:

Morrigan's Bidding

Life Bonds

Hearthglen

Forged Bonds

Alpha World: (Completed.)

Gamer for Life

Forming the Company

Alpha Company

Playing for Keeps

Fractured Spirit

The Path to Peace

Darkhand

Gamer For Love

Apocalypse Gates Author’s Cut:

Rapture

Valley of Death

Gearing Up

Elven Accord

Downtime and Death

Aether’s Revival:

Aether's Blessing

NPC’s Lives:

Tales from the Dead Man Inn

Resurrection Quest:

Greenways Goblins

I would like to point you all toward some fellow authors whose works I enjoy:

William Arand: Author of the complex interconnected series in the genre which all starts with Otherlife Dreams.

https://www.amazon.com/William-D.-Arand/e/B01AY7PSG4

Blaise Corvin: Author of Delvers LLC, which is an amazing GameLit series.

https://www.amazon.com/Blaise-Corvin/e/B01LYK8VG5

Scottie Futch: Is a prolific author who can be found on Royal Road and Amazon. Scottie combines parody with zany humor that keeps me laughing.

https://www.amazon.com/Scottie-Futch/e/B00NCSEN28

Michael Scott-Earle: He’s back, but not on Amazon. You can find all of his books through his own website, and through his Kickstarters and Indiegogos.

https://www.michaelscottearle.com/

Eden Redd: She might be mentioned last but she is definitely not least, and she is very worth the read, more so if you like some adult content. Her Lewd Saga series combines erotica and LITRPG.

https://www.amazon.com/Eden-Redd/e/B00I8X8BCK

You can also find out more about LITRPG stories at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGGroup/