Chapter 11: A New Home

Resting by a fire at night, we’d spent the day moving bodies.  Out of the town hall, out of the streets, out of the few houses that weren’t burning down.  A morbid task, mainly done without speaking.  Not in silence, for life was all around us.  Birds calling out their territories, yelling at rivals to get away, wind through the leaves, water rushing over rapids near the river, the crackle of wood piles burning.  Some of them used to be houses.  Others, destroyed barns, broken fence posts, gates.

Villagers returned to the town in small groups.  Mostly children, too many of whom were now orphans, watching from bushes and trees, making sure we weren’t the predators that earlier attacked this place.  Lane had gone with older children to locate adults scattered outside in the forest beyond.

We’d taken over, been given, a large, unmolested house.   In the sense that it wasn’t set on fire.  We’d moved the bodies out, which is how we knew it was vacant.  Only because I’d moved so many earlier that I didn’t dwell on their former presence in this place.  Or, I’d never be able to sleep here.

“I’d kill for a hot dog,” said Dylan, sitting on a stump, staring into the fire.

“That’d be great!” said Ave, smiling.

Fred looked up from his food, “I dunno, I’m liking this MRE.”

I couldn’t quite make it out in the dark, “What’s in it?”

“Curry.”

I asked, “The good one or the sugary one?”

“Good one.”

“Hey,” said Ave, “I like the sugary one.”

“You can have all mine, then.”  I held it up, “Honestly, I don’t think I can eat after today.”

Marci swallowed, setting her spoon into her MRE, said, “You have to eat.”

I looked at my unopened package.  “I don’t even know what this is supposed to be.”

“Check the label?”

Dylan said, “Don’t!  Better if you don’t’ know.”

I stared at it a bit longer.  Food, it was probably food.  “It says, ah, ‘basic sustenance.’”

Marci rolled her eyes.

I asked her, “What about yours?”

“Maybe a stew?  I don’t know.  It’s got potatoes and some kind of meat.  The label is ‘grolst.’  Is that a real cuisine?”

“Never heard of it.  Oh, here’s a name!  It’s in very small letters.  ‘Pimento chicken.’  Yeah,” I opened it up, “I’ll give it a go.”

For a bit, we ate in silence.  Fred and Ave were sitting together, Dylan and Bent.  He leaned over, whispered something to Dylan, they both smiled.

Marci said to me, “I guess we have a base of operations now.”

Some distance from the main road, the entrance was at our backs.  The fire we all sat around faced the main road.  The only road, really.  “Yeah.”

“It’s better than camping in the woods, though I don’t like how we got the house.”

“No, I don’t either,” I said.  “I wonder how we’re going to divide the rooms.”  It boasted a living area, three bedrooms, several spare rooms that were full of stuff like old furniture, bags of grain, farming equipment and other tools, but we hadn’t fully inspected them, and what passed for a kitchen area.  The main house was raised above the ground, wooden flooring, except for the kitchen, which was directly on bare earth.  Two stone firepits were built into the wooden floor, tables for food processing at the back, and a door for quick access.  Lane said the kitchen fires warmed the house.

We stuck to our MREs for now.

“Well,” she leaned in, spoke so softly the others couldn’t hear, “it’s clear those two,” pointing subtly at Ave and Fred, “will take a room.  Bent and Dylan will take another.  That, uh, leaves us.”

“Oh!”  I lowered my voice, “They’re couples?”

She smiled, “A bit slow for a leader.”  Marci paused, tilted her head, “No, wait.  Dylan and Bent were dating before but keeping it quiet.”

“They were dating?  Isn’t that against regulations?”  The fire crackled, sending bright red sparks into the sky.  As they rose higher, they slowed down, then fluttered a bit as if searching for a home, falling to one side or the other and blinking out.

“No, they’re the same rank.  Captain.”  She shrugged, “Pilots.”

“Ah.  I see.”

“And Fred and Ave were hanging out a lot, too, both being security.  Working out, playing games.”

“Oh, right, Ave said something about always being the healer in their games.”  I took a quick sip, “She’s quite the opposite of a healer now.”

“Yeah,” said Marci.  “I guess that makes us bunkmates.”

“I can, you know, sleep in the living room.”

“One of the rooms has two beds.  Let’s take that one.”  Marci was smiling.

I blinked at her, “But, ah . . .”

“Two by two is better than singles, especially if something breaks in.”  Her smile dropped.  “We need to be safe in this world.  I’m going to refill my drink.  Beer?  Is this beer?”

“Technically, it’s ale, because it’s thick.  I think that’s how it works.  Full of, uhm, vitamin b.”

“Definitely getting my vitamins then.”

As she got up and moved to the decanter, Bent leaned in and said, “She’s into you, River.”

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’ll put it another way.  You’re the only single guy around.”

Marci had just told me and still I did a double take.  “You and Dylan really are . . .?”

He nodded.  “Cluelessness is one of your finer qualities.”

On the other side of Bent, Dylan nodded, smiling.

***

“Uhm, so, ah, I’ll just take this bed.  It’s by the door.”

“I see that.”

“That’s ok?”

“Let’s just call it your bed now.”

“Great.”  I lifted the covers up.  Tried not to think about who died so I could have this bed.  Thick material, probably hemp, squishy inside.  I pulled the covers all the way off, running my hands along the bed until I found a seam at the head.  The mattress was stuffed with wool and a powder.  Touching it to my fingers, it was grey and fine.  “Is this ash?”

Marci walked over.  “Might be.”

“Why would they mix ash into wool?”

“Maybe to keep insects out?  I don’t know.  Let’s ask Lane tomorrow.”

“Hey,” I faced her, “speaking of mysteries.  I want you to run the scans, see if the nanotech are independent or require a mainframe to run.  Where their programming comes from.  We need to start gathering evidence here.”

“Certainly.  I’ll set that up tomorrow.”  She squeezed my arm, smiled up at me, “Good night.”

After getting into bed, I fell asleep instantly, so long the day had been.

***

Morning came all too early and I found myself still in an old bed.  I could just make out Marci’s outline, rising up and down with her breathing, back to me.  I snuck out, closing the door as quietly as possible.

No one was up.  The house was quiet, but the flooring creaked a bit as I headed to the outhouse, wondering what to do for breakfast.  Porridge without sugar?  We obviously didn’t have a fridge.  More MREs maybe – but that merely pushed the question off for another day.

What were we going to do here?  Raise chickens, start a farm?  What a messed-up situation to find oneself in!

Thinking these thoughts, I almost tripped over the basket on the steps by the door.  “What the . . .?”  Under a cloth was a loaf of bread, twelve eggs, a lump of what appeared to be cured meat, about as large as the bread.

I took it inside after a trip to the rather disgusting outhouse.

***

“Thank you for the breakfast, Lane.  I’m assuming you arranged it.”

Looking every bit the farmer this morning, Lane sported a straw hat and overalls.  He nodded.  “You’ll need to repair the chicken coup behind the house.  Maybe pay one of the boys to look after it while you’re gone.”

“Ah, good idea.”

“Might be wise to buy a few cows from one of those who keep ‘em.”

“Where would we put a cow?”

He laughed, “They keep the cow for you.  Until you’re ready, that is.”

“Ready?  I’m not sure we’ll ever be ready, but we’d need a fence in that case.”

He laughed some more.  “To butcher it.  Or you can just buy meat from the butcher, but it’s more expensive that way.”

“Ah, we’ll do that.”

“Yeah,” he spit, “being adventurers and all, you earn good coin.”

“Right.  Adventuring.”  I looked him dead in the eye, put my hand on his shoulder, “I’m sorry about your village, Lane.  I’m glad we could help free it from those things, but now we have to get back on our mission.”

“Mission?”

“Like a quest.  We need you to take us to the computers you saw.”

“I see.  There’s a lot to be done around here, still.  Have to clean out the remaining houses, get everyone’s home back up and running, then . . . and then, the funerals.”

Dropping my hand down, I closed my eyes.  “Right, right.”  I nodded, “We’ll help you with that.  Then, will you take us to the cave?”

“It’s a deal.”

***

Sunny day, dusty on the road back to the house, people were out and about, moving broken wood, clearing the streets of debris and discarded weapons.  Kids of all ages helping, with the youngest under supervision.  Some stared at me.

Just as our new place came into view, a familiar bell went off.

RESCUE THE VILLAGE: QUEST COMPLETE.  200 EXPERIENCE POINTS!  NEW QUEST GRANTED: VILLAGE CLEAN UP.  YOU HAVE 2 FREE POINTS REMAINING UNSPENT.

Right, right, I never figured out how to do that.

***

I found Marci outside, sitting down, staring at a small screen.  She looked up as I approached, happiness written on her face, “We finally caught a break.  These – the nanotech – are controlled by a central computer somewhere.  That probably explains the lag we sometimes get.”

“Lag?”

“Yeah.  We rescued the village yesterday.  Got the . . . reward I guess, today.”

“Hey, on that note, how do you spend points?”

“Just call up your character sheet.”

“And how do I do that?”

“I just ask ‘character sheet.’”

“Let me try.  Character sheet.”

Nothing happened.

“Nope.  I’ve got nothing.”

“That’s really strange.  Uh, do you know what your main stats are?”

“I don’t even know what the stats are.”

“Huh.”  She patted the ground beside her.

I sat down.

“Ok.”  She closed her eyes.  “There are three groups of stats.  Body is the first one, comprised of strength, stamina, agility.  Mind is the second with intellect, willpower, charisma.  The third group of stats is a bit strange.  From what I can tell, they’re derived from the first two.  They are called bodily health and mental health.  You can raise these directly, but raising your other stats also raises them.”

“Wow, alright.  What did you put your points into?”

“I’m a sorcerer, so my main stat is apparently charisma.  I tossed both into there.  Min/max, I guess.  No idea if that’s a good thing or not.”

“I wonder what my main stat is.”

She held her hands up, “Try asking the machine.”

I’m sure I looked defeated when I said, “Voice, what’s my main stat?”

INTELLECT.

“Hey!  Why won’t you show me my character sheet?”

No answer.

“Uh, put both points on intellect.”

YOUR INTELLECT IS NOW FOURTEEN.  MENTAL HEALTH RAISED BY ONE POINT.

“What’s the maximum?”

No answer.

“What do you think the maximum is, Marci?”  A cloud passed overhead, its shadow rushing by, and gone, the world bright again.  I blinked, and it was like looking at her anew.  In the sunlight her lips glistened and under her almond-shaped, wide eyes, little diamond sparkles glittered.  Her hair was bright gold, whiter at the tips, and her eyes, the richest, bluest sky.

“-ended.  So, I’m not sure there is one.”

“I’m sorry, what, what did you say?”

“The game, I kinda think it’s open ended.  But,” she patted my knee, “at least you raised your stats!  That should help.”

Looking away, I said, “Ah, I don’t feel any different.  Not really.”

“Me either.  Who knows how this works?  Maybe those exist only for the game to calculate outcomes.”

“Uh, anyway, Lane said he’d bring us to the cave after getting the village back in order.  I told him we’d help out.”

Marci brushed her hair back, her eyes darkening, “Since they’re bringing us food, it’s the least we can do.”