Some of those who were retreating turned and fired as they moved, but the shots went wild and they continued to flee. The three dots that had remained in the rear moved fastest of all, abandoning their comrades. Though he was growling in frustration, Chris followed Allistor’s order not to fire on those who were retreating.
“Good shot, Chris. Let’s go down and loot, and pick up the one I wounded. He can answer some questions for us.”
As they descended the stairs, he took Amanda’s hand. “I’m sorry we had to do that. I tried to give them a chance.”
She nodded, tears in her eyes. “I know. You did the right thing. I just wish it didn’t have to be like this.”
“Me too.” He noticed the others coming down from the wall as well. They all exited the gate and split up, each going to loot their individual kills. Allistor walked up to the man he’d shot. He was lying on the ground, trying to apply pressure to his wound with his good hand. When he saw Allistor, he tried to reach for his weapon, but Allistor raised his own and said, “I’ll put the next round in your face if you try anything.”
“You shot me, you asshole!” the man shouted at him.
“I warned you, three times and gave you plenty of time to run. Maybe I should just shoot you in the face anyway. You might be too stupid to live.”
“Why’d you shoot me? I didn’t do anything to you!”
“You’re one of Paul’s people. How many humans have you ambushed and murdered while they were out searching for food?”
The man just glared at him, silently projecting pure hatred.
Amanda put a hand on Allistor’s shoulder. “Can I heal him?”
He turned to face her, shaking his head. “Not yet. I want some answers, and I don’t think this asshat is going to cooperate unless he’s bleeding to death.” Looking back at the man, he added, “And you are, by the way. Bleeding to death, I mean. Your people bailed on you, the ones that aren’t dead. The lady with the sniper rifle, was she a friend of yours? Because Chris splattered her brains like a Pollock painting.”
“Screw you!” the man’s venom hadn’t decreased, but his voice was getting weaker. The red stain on the ground underneath him was spreading.
“Answer my questions, and Amanda here will heal you. Good as new. I figure you’ve got maybe a minute before you bleed out, so I’ll talk fast. I suggest you do the same. First, was Paul here with you?”
The man just glared at him.
“Those were pretty small words. I’m sure you understood. Was. Paul. With. You?” He stepped forward and placed the barrel of his rifle six inches in front of the man’s face. “If you’re not going to be helpful, I have no reason to let you live. You’re no good for ransom, since Paul has nothing I need. Except that building you’ve been living in.” He paused and withdrew the barrel a bit so the man could see his face clearly.
“How much does Paul like you? Would he give up the mint to get you back?” He watched the man’s eyes. “Does Paul even know who you are?”
There it was. The look of hopelessness mixed in with the fear and anger.
“I’ll ask you one more time. You really are losing a lot of blood. Was Paul here with you?”
The man shook his head no.
“Is that a no, he wasn’t here? Or no, you’re not going to answer and want to bleed to death?”
“No, he wasn’t here. He sent us out to scout. He’d never risk his own ass approaching a Stronghold.” the man’s voice was bitter.
“Thank you.” Allistor smiled at the man. “Amanda, please heal him enough to stop the bleeding.”
As Amanda cast her heal, Chris came to stand next to him, having looted the sniper. He looked down and spat in the man’s face. “Murdering coward. Let him bleed out.”
“He has information we need. If he provides that information, I’ll let him go. If he doesn’t, he’s all yours.” Allistor looked Chris directly in the eye, making sure the man understood. Chris gave a brief nod, then glared at the man on the ground.
“Alright. So Paul wasn’t here. Who were the three that stayed back and watched you get your asses shot off?”
“Lieutenant. And two of his prisoners.”
“Prisoners?” Amanda asked.
“They take people, family or friends, from the ones we capture. Use them to make the others work. If they refuse to do what they’re told, Paul executes their loved one. Or gives them to us. The lieutenant always keeps a couple of them with him.”
Chris spat on the man again. “To use when he feels like it.”
A look of horror appeared on Amanda’s face. “You… You’ve used these prisoners yourself?”
The man smirked at her. “There ain’t no law against it anymore. Paul says the weak serve the strong. That’s how it was in the beginning, and that’s how it is again now.”
Amanda’s fists clenched, and her eyes bored into the man. “You filthy piece of shit. You sit here proud of yourself, bragging about raping women?”
“You asked, I answered. That’s the deal here, right sweetness? And thanks for the healing. It felt real nice.” He licked his lips slightly as he winked at her.
Amanda turned to Allistor. “I was wrong. This one dies.”
When Allistor nodded, the man’s eyes widened. “You promised if I talked, you’d let me go!”
“No, I didn’t. I promised if you talked, we wouldn’t let you bleed out. And we kept that promise. And I told Chris here I’d let you go if you talked… but that was not a promise to you in any way. Unfortunately for you, when you opened your moronic yap, you sentenced yourself to death.” Allistor looked at Fuzzy, who was nearby sniffing at a tree.
“Now you have a different choice. You tell me what I want to know, and Chris here will happily put a bullet through your brain. Quick and painless. You don’t talk, and I’ll let Fuzzy eat you, face first.”
Hearing his name, Fuzzy ambled over with the ever-present Fibble doll flapping in his jaws. He set the doll down at Allistor’s feet, then leaned forward to sniff at the man on the ground.
“Y-you can’t do this! I have rights!”
Amanda turned and bent down, screaming at the man with her face inches from his. “YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS! You said it yourself, didn’t you? The strong versus the weak, right? You’re the weak one here. The stupid, raping, murdering, cowardly weakling on the ground begging for his worthless life! But you gave up any right to live the first time you killed an innocent forager and abused a helpless prisoner. You’re a waste of oxygen, and I hope you don’t talk so Fuzzy can kill you slowly!”
The man tried to scramble backward in the face of her wrath, and Allistor and Chris both took a surprised step back. When the man looked to him for help, Allistor shrugged. “Personally, I vote for Fuzzy too.” Chris raised a hand to silently add his vote. Fuzzy took another step toward the man.
“Wait! Wait, I’ll tell you. What do you want to know?” the men held both hands up between him and the bear cub. Fuzzy licked one of them, causing the man to wet himself.
“How many people does Paul have living there at the mint?”
“‘Bout a hundred and fifty. The number changes, people die, more people come.”
“Tell me about the lower levels. How many times has he sent people down, how many did he send, and what did they run into?”
“He sent three groups down. I was in the last one. First group was five, second was ten, mine was twenty. There’s those creeper things down there, the little pasty ones with the claws that move real fast. Those octopus monsters too. We managed to kill those, but next there was these spiders that spit acid. Melted the skin right off some of our guys. Barely got past them, then ran into a real monster. Only four of us came back out of twenty.”
Amanda asked the next question. “The prisoners. How many are there, and where are they kept?”
“Second floor, most of them. There’s close to a hundred. They outnumber us, but we got the guns, so they stay quiet, mostly. The ones that act up don’t last long.”
He looked at Allistor. “I’m sorry, okay? You can’t kill me. That’d be murder. I’m sorry for all I did wrong. I can change!”
Allistor looked at the man for a long time, saying nothing. His comment about murder had struck a chord. But this man had come to kill him, and had admitted to abusing prisoners at the very least, if not outright murder. As a head of state, of sorts, it was Allistor’s job to enforce the rules, and to deal with those who violated them.
“No… I don’t think you can change. Further, I don’t think you’d want to, if there wasn’t a hungry grizzly in your face.”
He nodded to Chris, who instantly stepped past Fuzzy and fired a round directly into the man’s forehead. The kill earned Chris a level, but he had the good taste not to celebrate. He simply bent down and looted the corpse, then nodded at Allistor and walked away.
When he turned to face Amanda, she grabbed hold of him and hugged him tightly, her face pressed into his chest as she sobbed. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly, whispering, “I’m sorry.” as he held her.
When she’d let it all out, she gave him a final squeeze and stepped back. “I hate this world.” Not waiting for a response, she turned and walked back toward the gate. Fuzzy, who had been gnawing on the corpse, abandoned his snack and scooped up his Fibble before trotting after Amanda. When he caught up to her, he butted his head against her hand. She absently began scratching his ears as they walked.
Allistor waited a while, smiling at his cub and mumbling, “Good job, buddy.” He took a look at the man and noticed the ‘lootable’ glow around the corpse. He’d forgotten that he fired the initial shot that took the man down. That meant he got partial credit for the kill. Bending down, he touched the partially chewed corpse. He received five hundred klax, a set of keys, a box of rifle ammo, and a pack of cigarettes. The keys interested him. If they could get him access to the mint…
Lars called his name, holding up a hand as he approached across the park. “What do you want to do with the bodies?”
“Leave them where they are. If something comes to feed on them, a few of our low level people can pick them off, gain some experience points.”
An hour later the teleport pad began to light up. Sam came through first, standing in one of the Humvees with his torso sticking out the top, the BFG mounted to the roof. He waved and struck a heroic pose like he was a homecoming king in a parade as the vehicle rolled off the pad, and Allistor couldn’t help but laugh. He laughed even harder when Meg, who was in the driver’s seat, slammed on the brakes and nearly made Sam bonk his head on the weapon, ruining his hero pose.
The pad lit up again and again, and in short order Allistor had nearly two hundred of his people at the Capitol, which was the natural name for the new Stronghold. There were the hundred fighters, plus a bunch of support people, and some who were just curious to see the new place. The folks from Laramie had made the drive to Cheyenne in record time to join the fight. Allistor greeted Richard, Bob, Virginia, Austin, and a few of the other leaders along with his core group. Austin had brought a couple teenage friends along, and all three were looking to fight.
“We’re ready, Lord Allistor! Just point us at the bad guys.” Austin hefted a rifle, an eager look on his face. Allistor caught a slight shake of the head from Virginia, who was giving him a look.
“I’m sorry Austin, but not this time. I do have a job for you though. You and your friends. I need you up on the wall. We left some corpses out there, and I expect predators and scavengers will be sniffing around. Need you guys to kill them for me.”
Disappointed but mollified, the three young men dashed off toward the wall. Allistor asked Chris to show them where to post in order to cover all three kill sites.
Meg got out of the truck and walked over with Sam. She whistled, looking up at the building with its golden dome. “You’re getting all fancy on us, Lord Allistor.” She poked him in the gut as she teased him. “This place is real purty.”
Allistor hugged the woman and shook Sam’s hand. “I haven’t touched the inside yet. You wanna design the kitchen and dining? I can give you access…”
“Oh hell yes! Do it. How long do we have before it’s fightin’ time?” Meg rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
“No rush. We had a little encounter just now with Paul’s people. Killed… six of them?” Anyway, I don’t think he’ll be in a rush to attack again. So we can take our time and prepare before we take the fight to him. How ‘bout we attack early in the morning? Let his fighters worry about us all night.”
Sam put his arm over Meg’s shoulder and started to steer her toward the building. “Sounds good to me. And don’t let anybody touch my baby girl.” He motioned toward the belt-fed .50 caliber atop the Humvee. “She’s sensitive.”
Logan cleared his throat. “Um, about that…” He stuck out a hand. “I’m Logan.” Sam looked the giant man up and down, then shook his hand.
“Sam. Please tell me you were a marine.” Logan walked with Sam as they headed for the building and began what Allistor was sure would be one hell of a sales pitch. He was sure Sam would let the man play with the gun, at least a little bit.
Chapter 10
I’ll Feed Fuzzy Your Face
The survivors spent the evening exploring the new Stronghold, setting up the various internal amenities like housing units, crafting stations, and the all-important kitchen-slash-dining area. Amanda insisted on creating a big luxurious residence for Allistor on the top floor, facing north toward the Citadel. He didn’t argue, figuring she was dealing with her earlier outrage in her own way, and it was best to leave her to it. Meg muttered something about ‘nesting’ and cackled at him.
Almost as soon as the sun set, Nigel alerted Allistor that non-humanoid intruders had entered the grounds. He tracked a dozen of them for about half a minute, then gunshots rang out from atop the wall. Austin and his friends fired several times, and eventually the red dots all went grey. He heard some muffled cheering, and hoped the kids had leveled up.
“Nigel, would you ask Bjurstrom and his crew to escort the kids outside to loot the dead monsters?”
“Of course, Lord Allistor.”
Allistor sought out Ramon, who was already organizing a workshop for himself and his scribes. It was in one of the ground floor offices, one with its own full bathroom. He’d set up several long tables with comfortable chairs, and there was a whole wall of built-in shelves.
He sat down in front of his friend, saying nothing, with a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. He watched the man work for a while, until finally Ramon looked up. “What?”
“Good to see ya, buddy!” Allistor didn’t stop grinning.
“Yeahhhh… okay. Good to see you too.”
Allistor was practically bouncing in his seat, and Ramon was getting more suspicious by the second. “What is it, Allistor? You want me to help you do something stupid and dangerous, don’t you?”
“Stupid, maybe. But not dangerous, I don’t think. Okay maybe dangerous, in that it might waste a very valuable resource.”
“What valuable resource?”
Allistor whipped out the purple Dimensional Step scroll and set it on the table between them. “TA-DAAAAA!” He gave a little game show hostess flourish with his hands.
Ramon looked at the scroll sitting there with its purple glow. He reached out a slightly shaky hand and touched it, his gaze unfocused as he read the description. “Holy shitballs!” He looked at Allistor. “Where did you get this?”
“Dropped off a really big nasty octopoid in the basement of this building. I was hoping…”
Ramon shook his head. “I know what you’re hoping. But no. This is beyond my skill. This is beyond the skill of anyone on this planet for the foreseeable future. This is a Master level scroll.” He paused, pulling something up on interface. “According to the info my Scribe interface gives me, the average time it takes to reach Master level inscription is about ten years.”
Ramon stared at the
scroll for a bit longer, shaking his head. “Damn. That’s one killer spell.” A mischievous look appeared on his face. “I’d be happy to go ahead and learn it now, then make copies for you in about ten years.”
“Ha!” Allistor snatched the scroll off the table and hugged it to his chest like it was a teddy bear. In his best supervillain voice, he cried, “It’s mine! All mine! Muahahaha!”
He went to open the scroll, and Ramon shouted, “No!” holding out both hands in a stop gesture.
“What?” Allistor looked confused.
“Before you open that, I need to say two things. First, you could sell that on the market for about a billion klax.”
Allistor shook his head. “If things go well tomorrow, we’ll have about fifty billion klax. Literally. That’s what the gold down there is worth.”
“Okay, so you don’t need the money. But if you’re going to use the scroll, don’t do it here and now. Using that thing is like… a historic event. Purple scrolls like that come along once or twice in a lifetime. If you’re going to open it, do it in front of everyone. Make a show out of it. It’ll be good for morale, and an excuse to get drunk.”
“Ha! Okay, good point. I’ll do it over dinner tonight. Which should be pretty soon, I think. Want to walk with me and help me find something wrong with Meg’s new kitchen?”
Ramon got up and joined Allistor, but said, “I wouldn’t say anything other than ‘nice kitchen’ to Meg. She takes that shit seriously. Teasing her about it is like poking Fuzzy while he sleeps.
“Speaking of which, have you seen my bear? I’ve sort of gotten used to him just being around, and I’m not sure when he left me.”
“Nope. Been in that room almost since I got here. I don’t get out much anymore. So many things to read and write.”
It didn’t take long to solve the mystery of Fuzzy’s disappearance. They found him in the kitchen doing his best to mooch scraps from Meg and Sam. Allistor wasn’t even all the way through the door when Meg scolded. “Curb your damn flea-bitten, overgrown teddy bear!”
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