Shadow Sun Expansion

by Dave Willmarth

  Allistor returned, fully clothed but still damp. They walked back out to the Juggernaut and made the quick trip over to the Lakota Stronghold.

  Redfeather was waiting for them at the front gate, which stood slightly open. “Leave your fancy minivan there and come inside.” she called out.

  “Minivan? Minivan! This is a state of the art…” Allistor paused, trying to think of a good descriptor.

  “Minivan is good.” Amanda grinned at him, closing her door and walking toward the gate with Fuzzy in tow. Allistor shut his mouth and followed, giving Redfeather a dirty look for insulting his baby. She just snorted at him and closed the gate behind them before leading them into a building off to the left.

  She led them to a room with a long table and had them take a seat. She waited with them for a minute or two before the two men from the day before entered, followed by her father, the chief. He was a tall man with wide shoulders and a trim waistline. His frame showed the kind of muscle earned from hard work on a ranch or farm. Bright green eyes were framed by long white hair pulled back into a single braid that reached nearly to his waist.

  “Welcome, Earl Allistor.” he said as he entered. “Helen, long time. You look well.” He nodded at the ranger. Then looked to Amanda. “And this pretty lady must be Amanda. And… Fuzzy? I am Standing Bear.” He held out a hand to each of them as he greeted them, then let Fuzzy sniff him before he took a seat at the head of the table.

  “I understand you’ve claimed the high school. Was all the land for thirty miles in any direction not enough for you?” his words were hostile, but his tone was neutral. Allistor looked at Helen, who nodded slightly.

  “Though the grasslands are mine, that doesn’t make them a safe place to sleep. We needed a safe place last night, as your daughter was understandably reluctant to invite us in here. And we’ll need a place for our cowboys to sleep when they’re here.”

  “Ah, yes. The alleged buffalo. Redfeather says you plan to bring a herd here.”

  “Well, not here specifically. Into the grasslands. Helen was thinking they might winter in the abandoned coal mine.”

  “Where do you think you’re going to find a herd of buffalo?” Standing Bear asked.

  “Oh, that.” Allistor smiled. “They found us. Wandered into one of our cities over the winter and plopped down against the buildings to take shelter from the snow. Spent the whole winter mowing lawns and the grass in the parks.”

  Standing Bear nodded slowly as he thought over Allistor’s words. “And this message I received about having permission to hunt the elk on your lands?”

  Allistor was trying to be patient, to remain friendly. But Standing Bear had clearly heard all of this from his people, and there was no need for him to hear it again. Still, he started at the beginning.

  “Look. I never asked the system to post any ‘trespassing’ or ‘no hunting’ warnings. I didn’t even know about them. I never intended to keep you from hunting my lands. In fact, I had no idea you were here until yesterday. When I found out about this issue, I corrected it right away. But I’m sure your daughter already told you that. At least, I hope she did.” He looked at Redfeather, who nodded once in affirmation.

  “I came here in hopes of making friends and allies. We don’t have a lot of time left before the aliens arrive, and we potentially have to fight for the survival of the human race. I have established several safeholds now, and have thousands of people who’ve sworn loyalty to me, to help protect each other and the human race. Together we are thriving. We have fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables enough to feed everyone. Our crafters are making great strides, producing items like this armor I’m wearing. We have enough resources to purchase alien tech like these plasma weapons, and the vehicle outside. And when the year is over, I will be taking delivery of an actual spaceship.”

  He stopped talking to take a breath and assess whether his words were having any impact. He decided to finish with one more point. “We’re not here to steal from you. We don’t need what you have. In fact, we can probably help you with some supplies if you need them. I’m here for your friendship, plain and simple. When the time comes, you’re welcome to take a few buffalo, per Helen’s guidelines.” He looked up at Helen.

  “Standing Bear knows them already. He actually knows quite a bit about maintaining the wildlife around here. His Animal Husbandry skill is probably higher than mine. Been hunting here for… what? Fifty years?” Helen looked at the old man.

  He smiled at her. “It’s not polite to remind an old man of his age, ranger. But yes, I know what you mean. Take only a few males, the oldest or the youngest, leaving the alphas and the females to mate and increase the herd.”

  Helen added, “And of course, please kill any of the canids or other monsters that might unnaturally thin the herds.”

  Allistor added, “In fact, if it will help you, I’ll put a bounty on the canids and lanx, and other creatures that reduce our food supply. I’ll pay you and your people one gold coin for each hide. Two if the hides are in usable condition for our crafters. Each coin is currently worth about twelve hundred klax.” He did a little quick math in his head. “That would mean if you brought me usable hides for about 45 monsters that might have killed elk or buffalo, you’d earn enough to purchase one of these plasma rifles.”

  Amanda spoke up for the first time. “You know that we claimed the high school. We’ll be needing beds and chairs and such for the cowboys when they arrive. We can send some up from our nearest Stronghold, but that’s a bit of a pain. If you’ll allow us to forage for enough furniture for say, twenty room’s worth of beds, dressers, tables, et cetera, here in town, Allistor will give you the rifle he’s carrying.”

  Standing Bear shook his head. “I don’t want any favors. You could loot the town, and there’s little we could do to stop you. I won’t risk my people over furniture we don’t need.”

  Allistor thought about it for a moment. “I really don’t want to fight you. The park may be mine, but I consider the town yours, except for the high school. If you don’t want us to get the furniture here, we’ll bring some up ourselves. But how about this. You and your people help us to round up furniture, and move it to the high school. In exchange you get this rifle. Or if you don’t want it, we can arrange some other trade. For instance, if you prefer conventional weapons, we can provide you with those, and piles of ammo. Either way, we’ll leave you with some fresh vegetables and fruit. And I’ve already given you my blessing to hunt in the park. In addition, we’ll share with you all that we’ve learned about this new world and the system that governs it. I’m really trying to be your friend here, Standing Bear. I invite you to join me as my citizens. If you don’t like the sound of that, then we can be allies, trade partners, or we can leave you alone and let you fend for yourselves.”

  Standing Bear looked at his daughter, and the other two. All three nodded their heads. “We have fifteen people here. Ten of us can help you move furniture. We have some pickups and a flatbed to move it with. We help you fill your rooms, you give me that rifle.”

  Allistor held out a hand, and Standing Bear shook it. “That’s a start. We have a deal.” Allistor looked at Amanda. “You want to take charge of that? Pick out the furniture to be loaded, and direct the unloading?” Amanda simply looked at him as if he were stating the obvious.

  Helen looked to Standing Bear. “We could use a steady supply of feed for the herd through the winter, in case things go badly. I’m sure if you’d be willing to supply that, Allistor would compensate you for it. Likewise, if you were to claim Remy’s Diner as an Outpost, get it up and running, I’m guessing the cowboys would pay for decent food and drinks while they’re here. It’s not like anyone’s going to require liquor licenses anymore. And it’s only a couple blocks from the high school, so they can stumble home if they overdo it.”

  The younger of the men behind Redfeather began to turn red. “So, you think we’re just peasants to do your manual labor? Your cooking and field work? Pay the �
��injuns’ with beads and whiskey?”

  Allistor bristled, getting to his feet. “No. Helen was trying to be helpful, to give you guys a way to gain extra resources. But since you put it that way, I reject Helen’s idea. We are certainly capable of doing the work ourselves. I’m tired of whatever chip you have on your shoulder being vented at me. I’ve done nothing to deserve it. I’ve been nothing but friendly toward you up till this moment. We’ll be leaving now.” He opened his inventory and pulled out all the fruits and vegetables he had stored there, which created a decent little pile on the table. Amanda added to it, Helen didn’t. She stood there giving dirty looks to the young man and Standing Bear.

  When they were done, Allistor said, “A parting gift, to show our good faith. We’ll instruct our people to stay out of town. They’ll run the herds through the park, and stay at the high school when they’re close by. You can, of course, still hunt in the park, and we’ll still pay the bounty and purchase the hides from you. When you have some to turn in, just leave a sign in the window at Remy’s, and one of our people will bring you the gold. Other than that, I suggest you, in particular, stay away from the high school.” He stared at the loud-mouth. “I think its best if we just stay out of each other’s way.”

  Turning to address Standing Bear, he said, “I’m sorry we couldn’t work things out. I still hope we can someday be friends. But you need to know this:” He pointed at the young man. “If he or anyone else tries to enter my Outpost without my permission, their life is forfeit. I will come for them, and anyone who stands between us. I have already killed close to a hundred humans who have attacked me, my people, or others. Murderers, kidnappers, rapists. I value every single human life, but I will not tolerate those who do harm to, or steal from, others. I am the absolute authority in my lands, and I have no interest in establishing a jail system and feeding prisoners, so crossing the line means banishment or death.”

  Standing Bear stood, his face grim. “I apologize for my nephew. He’s a moron who spends half his time drunk or high, and doesn’t have enough brain cells left to realize when he should shut the hell up, or just say thank you.” He shot the young man a look that promised a reckoning. Turning his gaze to Helen, he said, “Thank you. I know that you were trying to help us. And I apologize to you, as well.”

  Sitting back down, he looked at Amanda as he lifted a plump green pepper from the table. “And thank you, ma’am, for your generosity. I and my tribe are a proud people, and we sometimes have difficulty accepting help. We would be honored to help you furnish your Outpost, assuming Allistor will allow us to help you move the items inside.” As he finished speaking, he put his hands in his lap and stared down at them.

  “You are most welcome, Standing Bear.” Amanda spoke softly.

  Helen was a little louder. “We were all young and stupid, once. I have always considered you a friend, Standing Bear. From the first day we met, and you invited me to participate in a naked sweat with you.” Her words struck home, and the old man’s mouth twitched, threatening to smile. “Today changes nothing, you old rascal.” she rounded the table, stood next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder as she spoke.

  “Allistor, I get why you’re angry. But I would ask, as a favor to me, that you reconsider. If Standing Bear and his people are interested in working with us as discussed, or in other ways that might benefit us all, I ask that you consent.”

  Allistor was surprised by Helen’s request, but also wasn’t. He took a seat, and a couple deep breaths to calm himself, before he answered.

  “Standing Bear, I apologize as well. I am still young myself, and my temper got the better of me. I should not have let the ignorant words of a fool goad me into losing a chance at friendship with your people.”

  This time Standing Bear did smile, at the same time that his nephew huffed and stomped out of the room. “Well said, young man. I accept your offer of friendship. If you’ll give me half an hour, I’ll round up my people and the vehicles we’ll need to get your furniture.” He stood and offered a hand, which Allistor shook. Then he shook with Amanda and Helen a well. Fuzzy got a head-rub too. “And if you’d like, we’ll be roasting one of your delicious elk tonight, and you’re welcome to join us.” This time he grinned at Allistor.

  “Ha! That sounds good. Maybe I can even help? I’m always trying to level my Cooking skill, and I don’t currently know any elk recipes.”

  Redfeather took over as her father left the room. “Oh, that’s easy. We use some herbs that you can find anywhere around here…”

  *****

  The furniture gathering took most of the day. A small convoy of trucks followed Amanda around as they went house to house picking furniture. She tried to choose items that were sturdy rather than decorative, either solid wood or metal bed frames. Which also meant that they were heavy. Allistor helped to carry the heaviest of the items, his increased strength surprising some of the Lakota. When the trucks were full, they made the short trip to the high school, and Amanda stood just inside the door directing traffic as items were brought in.

  They didn’t worry about arranging the furniture inside the rooms, other than to set up the beds. Amanda decided to leave that to the cowboys. So the unloading went much more quickly than the loading. When they were done, Allistor invited everyone to take a cooling dip in the pool. Only a few took him up on it, stripping to their boxers and jumping in. That is until Fuzzy did a huge belly-flop in the center of the pool. Standing Bear roared with laughter, then leapt in after the bear cub, fully clothed. After that nearly everyone joined in.

  A short time later the damp humans were loading themselves back into the trucks to return to the Lakota Stronghold. Allistor was about to get into the Juggernaut when Nigel called out. “Lord Allistor, I have an urgent request to speak to you from Airman Redd at the Silo.”

  The locals all started in surprise at the voice from nowhere. Allistor explained, “Sorry guys, that’s Nigel. He’s the AI that runs all my facilities. He came with the Citadel. Nigel, please put them through.”

  “Allistor, you there? Over.” Redd’s voice echoed around the parking area.

  “Hiya Redd. I’m here. Uh, over? Can we dispense with that stuff, please?”

  “Oh! Sure. Sorry about that. I’ve been on the radio nonstop and sort of got back into the… well, never mind. We found other people!”

  Allistor smiled at nobody in particular in response to her excitement. “One of the foraging parties brought some people back?”

  “What? No. I mean, we found a lot of people. With the radio. Thousands. Tens of thousands. There’s a whole network of folks in different places who’ve been talking via short wave. And we found them! There’s a guy in Detroit that says there are like fifty thousand people still alive there.”

  “That’s great, Redd! Congratulations! Remind me to buy you a whole bunch of drinks when I see you!” He saw curious looks from all the faces around him. “Uh, you’re on speaker here, sort of, and some new friends are listening in. What can you tell us about the folks you’ve found?”

  “Hello, new friends!” Allistor could hear the smile in her voice as she acknowledged his hint to keep state secrets to herself. “It started with some guys on an Air Force base in Texas. I found them this morning, and they’d been talking to another group on an Army post in Kansas. A prison, actually. We got a three-way call going, and that started this whole sort of avalanche of people who were listening to us talk, then joined in. I’ve got two others in here with me, we’re all on different radios getting locations, populations, monster stories, all kinds of info. But I thought I should take a minute and let you know. Cuz you’re the boss ‘n’ such. I mean… sorry, sir!” Allistor could almost hear her sitting up straight and saluting the radio.

  Helen and several of the Lakota laughed at that last part.

  “You did great, Redd. Please continue as you were. Is there anyone that needs to speak to me urgently?”

  “Uhhh… no, sir? Not really? Right now, there’s
no real formal conversations going on. We’re just all sort of getting to know each other, and putting out calls for more people on as many channels as possible.”

  “Great. Because I’m about to learn how to roast an elk. Might take most of the evening. But if you need me for something urgent, don’t hesitate to alert Nigel, and he’ll get me.”

  “You got it boss. Have fun!” Redd signed off.

  “Well, that was very cool!” Amanda hugged him. “I’m glad there’s so many more people out there. That gives me a little more hope for our future.”

  “Sounds like military installations and big cities are doing better than our little towns out here.” Helen observed.

  “Makes sense.” Allistor replied. “Half the airmen at the Silo were gamers, and I’m guessing it’s the same with soldiers and sailors. And big cities would have a lot of gamers, too. Kids who weren’t working farms or ranches in their spare time, with rich parents and high-speed web access.”

  “Not to mention that military bases are filled with trained fighters and weapons, and the bigger cities have thousands of cops, gangsters, and organized firefighters, et cetera. If they prepared quickly enough, they could have held out against the spawns.”

  Amanda spoke quietly. “We probably have more guns per person out here, but most of us were alone or in small groups. And there was only one sheriff’s deputy for every few thousand people. Except like in Denver. We’ve found, what? Five thousand or more people there?”

  Allistor shook his head. “Not quite that many. But you’re all forgetting something. That monster that stomped our town, it was already at level ten on day three when it attacked. It either spawned at a high level, or it had already killed a bunch of things before it reached us. Out here in the country, it could have slaughtered and eaten whole herds of cattle or sheep or whatever. And most of us humans were level one or two at the time. We didn’t stand a chance. In the big cities and army posts, those folks probably put up more of a fight as soon as the creatures spawned. Killing them before they got too big. Or killing each other, and getting experience that way.” He grimaced at the thought.