“Yeah, got it,” Alvin sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if anyone puts up anything like it. I noticed that the blood herb is gone. Someone bought it last night.”
“Yes. It doesn’t do anything good,” Jarvis said as he packaged up the first completed meal. “I hope that not many of those show up.”
“Can’t say much about them?”
“If you were to buy one I could tell you more, but I would caution against doing that, sir. The herb is potent; just being near one can cause reactions.”
“Good to know. You’ve never steered me wrong.”
“I did steer you to my own ends back in the beginning, sir.” Jarvis paused as he was packaging the second meal. “I still feel some guilt over that, even if it did all work out.”
“You’re making up for it every day,” Alvin shrugged. “Besides, this wouldn’t have been as easy or as fun without you here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Think I’ll go see what’s going on outside. Have a good day, Jarvis.”
“You, too, sir.”
Alvin made his way down to the inn’s common room. He came to a stop in the doorway. The room had several teens and young children in it. The flute player jumped to her feet when he appeared. “Al, we were hoping you could speak to the other kids.”
“I doubt my stories would be good for them,” Alvin replied.
“But you’ve been to Nevada and California,” she said. “We all want to know what it’s like outside of town.”
“You want me to fill their heads with stories? That will only make them want to go out there, and if that happens, they’d die,” Alvin said flatly. “In the month I’ve been gone, I’ve killed hundreds of people, zombies, and beasts. I’ve been almost killed a half dozen times, and wouldn’t even be here without Gothy to back me up.” Breaking eye contact with her, he looked at the children in the room. “You all need to focus on learning what you’re being taught, how to defend yourselves, and if you’re smart, you’ll learn a craft and specialize in it. Have any of you seen what a well-crafted blade can go for? Or an uncommon glyph?”
“I have,” one of the older kids spoke up. “Can we learn how to make glyphs?”
“I don’t know, but you should be looking into it. Whoever your guardian is should be looking into it. Justin was working on a car when I went past the auto shop yesterday. Why aren’t one of you apprenticing to him?”
“Can we do that? Apprentice?” the flute player asked.
“No idea. It’s not anything I’ve cared to look into before. I’m not a crafter— I’m a killer.”
“He only kills the things and people that need it,” Terry said, coming out of the kitchen. “Al, if you’ll stop scaring the kids, it’s time for them to eat.”
“Wasn’t trying to scare them. Was just trying to get across how dangerous it is outside this place, Gran.”
“I think you’ve managed,” Terry sighed, going over to comfort a sniffling six-year-old girl.
“I’ll just be going, then,” Alvin shrugged as he left the inn.
“Al, you got a minute?” Justin hailed him from the auto shop.
“What’s up, Justin?”
“I heard from James that your… base…” he paused, saying the word slowly as if checking on it. When Alvin nodded, Justin continued, “I heard it has an automated auto shop. I was wondering if I could get a look at it.”
“Maybe tomorrow. My base is a bit busy right now,” Alvin said. “Let me ask, who else works here with you?”
“No one. Most of our extras opted to become hunters,” Justin replied. “It’s good and bad; I have a list of things to fix for people. The second bay is empty most of the time because I can only work on one thing at a time.”
“Hmm. I’ll see you in a bit. I want to find Susan and ask her a few questions.”
“I’m good with checking out the auto shop tomorrow, right?” Justin called after him.
“Sure,” Alvin said, walking toward the bunker.
He had to stop and ask a couple of people for directions before he found Susan. “Susan, I want to talk,” Alvin said, taking a seat in her office.
Susan sighed and stopped fiddling with the monitor in front of her. “Al, most people knock. Or do you not remember what not knocking did last time for you?”
A memory of Susan dressing in a bathroom came up, and he chuckled. “Oh yeah. It’s a good idea normally, not that I regret that time. That isn’t what I’m here to talk about, though. Have you looked into things that the kids can learn?”
Brow furrowing, Susan shook her head, “What are you talking about? The high schoolers are teaching them.”
“Have you checked to see if they can learn crafts or having them apprentice to a crafter? Anything like that?”
Susan looked at him blankly, then looked down at the screen and tapped at it. “How did I not think of this?”
“What did you find?”
“There is an apprentice job,” Susan said as she scrolled. “The crafter needs to be a journeyman at least, but they can take an apprentice and teach them. The apprentice learns at a slower pace, but they gain bonuses when they advance in rank, and the teacher gains bonuses and XP for teaching. The better they teach, the more they gain.”
“The flutist wanted me to tell the kids stories,” Alvin said. “It’s a bad idea. None of those kids, not even the teens, are equipped to survive outside the town.”
“What did you do?”
“Told them no, made a little girl cry, and left. It got me thinking about why they aren’t being taught a craft. Hell, we both know college was damn near useless, but trade schools worked.”
“How did you know that?” Susan asked.
“Your certificate of welding from Davis Tech was on the wall before I left with Gothy.”
Shaking her head, Susan looked back at the monitor. “I doubt this is the same, but we can ask the teens and get them apprenticed first. If it works, then the younger kids can start watching the different crafters and see what interests them the most.”
“Sounds good,” Alvin said, getting to his feet. “I’ll go send messages to the other settlements and let them know to look into it, as well.”
“A good idea,” Susan said as she began to type on the monitor.
“What is that, by the way?” Alvin asked.
“This monitor is the Overseer’s control panel, a holdover from the old system. It used to be the draftsman table, but I had it switched to this before they took that functionality away. They left it, and now, it lets me monitor and look up information regarding the settlement.”
“Huh, interesting. I wonder if the other places could still get one? I’ll mention it to them. Thanks, Susan. Oh, don’t let him know I told you, but James is in my training room.”
Susan frowned, looking at him with a questioning gaze.
“He’s learning how to hold, change, and care for a baby.”
Susan’s face went from questioning to shock, then melted into a silly smile. “That man is such a sweetheart. I knew he was a good man, but to make sure he can help with the baby…” Susan dabbed at her glistening eyes, “I’ll keep the secret, Al. Thank you for telling me. I’ll make it up to him later.”
“I’ll be going,” Alvin chuckled.
Entering the room at the inn, Alvin smiled. “Gothy, what’s up?”
“There you are. I was about to radio you,” Becky smiled. “Mousie and I were going to take Megumin into the training room. She was asking if we could help her improve her combat skills.”
“David and James are already in there,” Alvin said.
“Why?”
“David is using it to test out some explosives in a place that won’t hurt him. James is…” Alvin chuckled. “He’s inside the bunker. Go find him and see if he’s okay.”
Becky’s eyes narrowed as she stared at him. “What is he doing?”
Alvin smirked, “He made me promise not to tell anyone.”
�
��How many have you told?” Becky snickered.
“Susan. She asked me the same question, but she also promised not to spill the beans. He’s learning how to take care of a child.”
“Hopefully she keeps her promise better,” Becky laughed. “Can the training room do three things at once?”
“No idea,” Alvin shrugged, “let’s go find out. I’ll run one with you before I come back here to kill my eight hours.”
“Umm…” Becky said, looking away. “Megumin asked for it to just be the three of us.”
“A girl’s session?”
“I think she’s a little intimidated by you, Hero.”
“Odd, but okay. If she changes her mind, let me know. I’ll be in here or walking around. I have my radio on.”
“You got it, Hero,” Becky purred, grabbing him for a passionate kiss. Breaking it, she smiled at him, “See you later, lover.”
“Of course,” Alvin said, watching her ass as she went through the portal.
Chapter Six
Heading downstairs after a bit, Alvin joined Terry while she was taking a break. “How have you been, Gran?”
“I’ve been well, Al. You and Becky seem to have had a lot of excitement. Have you considered going to find your foster parent?”
“No,” Alvin said. “Basha would have been raptured. I don’t want to see her body animated.”
“She was devout enough?” Terry asked.
“She said her prayers twice every day, breakfast and dinner,” Alvin said. “She would have been praying when the Pope gave his speech.”
“There are times I wish I had been as devout as I should have been,” Terry sighed, “but then I think of how much that would have hurt James. I don’t know how he would have reacted if I had been a zombie when he came to rescue me.”
“He’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Alvin replied. “He would have put you down, probably cried a lot, and then left. If that had happened, he would have headed for Beatty instead. Why didn’t you two head that way?”
“We were going to originally. We were trying to avoid the big cities, so that brought us this way first. God might have abandoned this world, but maybe he was kind enough to help guide a few of us the right way before that. James found Susan and is going to have a child, and we’re helping this settlement thrive, much like Placido is helping Beatty.”
“You remind me of Basha,” Alvin admitted. “She was a great believer that while we had free will, God helped nudge us gently in the right direction. Maybe she had a point... after all, she did get a resentful, angry, bitter me to listen to her.”
“You had to want to listen, or she would never have been able to reach you. I’ve seen you smiling a lot since you came back— real smiles this time. Is that Becky’s doing?”
Lips turning up at the corners at the reminder of his broken lover, Alvin shrugged. “Probably. Honestly, Gran, she’s just so perfect. We fit each other.”
“Yes, she’s smiling, too,” Terry smiled. “Both of you have been more open with us since you came back. How does your new addition fit into your lives?”
Alvin chuckled, “You don’t want to know that answer.”
“You’re probably right,” Terry laughed. “The three of you are happy together; that’s all that matters.”
“True enough, Gran.”
“Al, thanks for letting me use the training room,” James said, coming down the stairs.
“Did it work out like you hoped?”
“I think I’ll be okay now,” James said. “Will you three come to the cafeteria tonight?”
“Depends. What’s up?” Alvin asked.
“When I left your base, Susan called me on the radio and asked me invite you guys. That’s all I know.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Alvin said.
“I’ll see—” James began to say.
“Al, it’s amazing!” David shouted as he came down the stairs, almost falling in his excitement. “I need to talk to Susan. I’m hoping we can get something like that here in the base. I know how to make a better gel-state explosive now.”
“How many times did you blow yourself up?” Alvin asked.
David looked away, “Only a few.”
“Just remember not to be that wild here. Gothy would be upset if you died,” Alvin said.
“I know better,” David frowned. “I repeated the process ten times once I got it right, and there were no more failures after that. I need to go, but thank you. Tell sis thanks for me, too. She stopped in before doing whatever she’s up to.”
“Sure, have fun,” Alvin laughed because David was already running for the door.
“Haven’t seen him that excited since Bridget said yes,” James laughed.
“Explosives are similar to women,” Alvin added. “The wrong thing at the wrong time, and boom.”
“Which just means you need to keep your hands steady and know what you should be doing,” Terry replied dryly.
“Hard to do when there’s no instruction manual,” Alvin snorted. “I’m heading back to my base. Want to make sure Gothy and Mousie know about dinner.”
“See you later,” James replied.
“Al,” Terry said as she got up, “thank you again for finding my family, and saving the kids from the Fey. It means the world to me to know my Plachie is safe.
“I did it for me, Gran,” Alvin replied simply. “Glad it worked out, but I did it for my own reasons.”
“Of course,” Terry replied. “That doesn’t mean those you helped shouldn’t thank you.”
“See you later,” Alvin said, walking away.
Alvin slowed, surprised when he caught Jarvis sweeping the floor as he entered his base. “I wasn’t sure you actually cleaned before now.”
“Very droll,” Jarvis replied. “Normally you’re engaged for hours and I don’t have people coming and going.”
“Fair,” Alvin laughed. “Did you hear about dinner?”
Jarvis looked at the TV, which showed the two of them in the base. “I did.”
“I’m going to stop in and let the ladies know,” Alvin chuckled.
“Of course, sir. I’ll just go back to cleaning.”
Rolling his eyes, Alvin headed for the training room. He stepped inside and was suddenly on a street in Green River. The sound of gunfire echoed from a block away. “Gothy, you busy?” Alvin asked over the radio.
“Not really,” Becky replied as more gunfire came from nearby. “I thought you were going to let us have a girl’s session.”
“We’ve been asked to join the settlement for dinner in the cafeteria.”
“Oh. Why?”
“Susan asked. No idea what she wants to spring yet.”
“How long to dinner?”
“Maybe an hour.”
“Okay,” Becky replied.
A moment later, the street vanished and was replaced by a plain white room. The three women were covered in sweat, but smiling. Alvin let his eyes linger on his two lovers.
“I see you got your workout in,” Alvin chuckled.
“Of course,” Becky grinned. “The three of us are going to clean up. Do you want to join us?”
Megumin turned bright red and started stammering an objection. Alvin suppressed a grin at her reaction and told Becky, “Pass. Stop teasing your friend. Megumin, just ignore her when she does that kind of thing. She just wants a reaction.”
Exhaling deeply, Megumin gave him a thankful smile, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Boo. Both of you, spoiling my fun,” Becky said as she headed for the door. “Come on, Mousie. We can have fun, at least.”
Alvin snagged her as she went to pass him. Spinning her into his arms, he dipped her and kissed her hard. When he stood her back up, he smirked, “Behave, and I’ll give you a double ride tonight.”
Becky’s smile grew wide, “That is proper incentive.”
“Mousie, you’re in charge of telling me if she behaves. If you tell me the truth, you’ll get a similar reward.”
“Yes, Hero.”
Becky stuck her tongue out at Alvin, “As if I wouldn’t tell you the truth.”
“What you think is behaving doesn’t always match my definition,” Alvin chuckled.
“I’ll just head back—” Megumin began.
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