34 – Natural Bulwark

Andy stood behind Lucy, listening as she answered Eduardo’s questions. He had a thick notebook open before him, and it was clear he’d already filled up quite a few pages. “What’s your class again, Lucy?”

“Hunter, and I’m level six.”

“Any special talents?”

“I have skills with the bow, but I already had some before the System came, so it gave me a couple of extra points.” She shrugged, then looked back at Andy a little nervously before adding. “I can sense creatures nearby when I’m out—away from all the people like this. Um, and I can track.”

“Anything else? What was your job before all this?”

“I was going to the university, but I hadn’t settled on a major. I mean, I kept changing it. I mostly went so I could be in the archery club. I worked as a waitress for a couple of years…” She trailed off, fidgeting nervously.

“Alright, that’s good stuff. Thanks, Lucy. Um, anything you particularly want to work on around the settlement?”

“I want to help Andy with quests. Or, I guess, like, I could try to help find food.”

“So you want to be in an expedition party?” He looked at Andy and added, “That name’s just temporary—I just didn’t want to use raiding party. You know what I mean?”

Andy nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, Lucy, finally, what’s your vote on the war?”

Lucy looked at Andy again; this time, her nervousness was evident, and he cleared his throat, stepping back. “Let me give you some privacy—”

“No! It’s okay.” She folded her arms, then looked back at Eduardo. “I think we need to take those guys out. I’m not saying we have to kill them, but if they want to hurt us, we need to fight. We need to get them away from our settlement.”

Eduardo nodded, marking a tally on another page of his notebook. “Okay, I got your info. You’re up, Andy.”

Andy stepped forward, his mind still a little distracted by Lucy’s quick, decisive answer about the war situation. He’d sort of had the impression that she was kind of sensitive about killing, especially after her attitude about the “Whistler.” The whole thing reminded him how little he really knew her or anyone else in the park. “I guess I’ll just start by saying I’m a level thirteen Warden”—why he left the “Umbral” part off, he didn’t know—“and I just got another class called Pyroglyph Invoker. I’m still level one.”

“Um”—Eduardo licked his lips and glanced from Andy to Lucy—“did you say your first class is level thirteen?”

Lucy nudged Andy’s shoulder playfully. “No wonder he wanted to go running around in the dark by himself, huh?”

“Yeah, well, I guess it all adds up.” Andy shrugged, for some reason feeling a little guilty—or, if not guilty, embarrassed—about his levels. “Anyway, Ed, you know what I’m good at. I don’t have any hidden talents. I mean, yet. I think this new class might have some cool abilities. Right now, all I can do is start a fire and maybe cause weapons to do a little extra fire damage for a while.”

“Well, that’s all good stuff. Bear with me while I write this down. God, I miss my computer.” He scribbled for a minute, asked Andy to spell his new class name, and then looked up. “And how do you feel about the war?”

Andy looked at Lucy, inhaling and scratching the side of his head behind his ear. “I…” He sighed and turned, looking over the crowd waiting for them to finish. His gaze drifted to the kids playing by the System node, thinking about how he’d felt when he’d seen all the carnage at the school—how he’d felt when he’d seen their shell-shocked faced after he and Lucy killed the goblins. “I don’t want to let anything bad happen here. There are some nasty people in that settlement, and if they find us, they’re not going to leave us alone. I don’t like the idea of killing people, but I don’t like the idea of letting people hurt these kids.” His gaze drifted back to Lucy. “Or our people.”

“Hey, you don’t have to justify your vote to me, Andy. Just to confirm, that’s a yes, right?”

Andy turned back to Eduardo and nodded. “That’s a yes.”

“Right, well, with your vote, that makes eighteen for and thirteen against. So, yeah, war wins with fifty-eight percent of the vote. Some people aren’t here, and the kids aren’t voting, but I don’t see that result changing.”

“Huh. I guess that’s that. I wish it were a little more one-sided. I hate to think that so many people are going to be against this effort—”

“Hang on, Andy,” Eduardo interrupted, waving a hand. “Violet voted against, but that’s just because she hates the idea of killing—like you. She doesn’t want anyone to die. She’s not going to cause trouble, though. People can be opposed to an idea but still contribute to the effort. We’re a community.”

“Alright, man. I appreciate that.” Andy took a deep breath, steadying himself, then stepped onto the bench beside Eduardo, then up onto the table, facing the crowd of waiting residents. He lifted his spear high, turning in a slow circle until everyone quieted.

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“What was the vote?” Tucker called.

“Of the people who voted,” Andy yelled, “fifty-eight percent voted for war!”

“Goddamn, yes!” Bella screamed. Andy found her enthusiasm to see them all go to war a little off-putting, considering how new she was to the community. Even so, he supposed that if he were in her shoes, he’d be eager to see some justice delivered to the crew who’d slaughtered her little community.

As more people started talking and shouting questions, Andy held his spear up again, and then, when people didn’t get quiet, he yelled, “Quiet, folks! I need a few more minutes of your time.” Silence descended, and Andy was once again surprised by the strange hold he seemed to have over these people. Who was he to demand respect from so many people with so much more life experience? He didn’t falter, though. He stood straight and projected his voice. “I’m going to declare war, which means they’re going to know we exist. We’re going to have to be ready to fight starting right now. I think that means I should spend our new boon on our defenses.”

He let that sink in as he dug into his pocket and pulled out the large, glowing crystal he’d received for saving the prisoners. “I also have this!” He held it up, and the park grew very still as even the kids stared at it in wonder. In a world devoid of electricity, a brightly glowing crystal really stood out. It was evidence of magic—something they all knew was a thing now, but something that was easy to forget in the face of the rather bleak nature of recent days.

“What is it?” Eduardo asked, voicing the question for everyone else.

“It’s called a Settlement Boon Enhancement Crystal. I’m not sure what it does, but I figure it’ll make one of our boons better. I’m thinking, if I get the natural bulwark and then use this on it, we might get off to a good start as far as a war is concerned.”

“More defense is definitely welcome,” Violet said from near the front of the crowd. “Are we sure the bulwark is the way to go? Isn’t there a boon that makes us harder to find?”

Andy nodded. “Veil of stillness. It only masks sounds and smells, though. It’s not like it’s hard to see us here, so I don’t think that’s the way to go.” Violet frowned, folding her arms, but she didn’t argue. Andy raised his voice and called out, “Anyone else have any feedback? Does anyone see a problem with the idea of boosting our defenses before I declare war?”

Some people muttered, but no one spoke, so Andy called up the Settlement Menu and focused on the “Natural Bulwark” boon. A moment later, a System message appeared:

***Would you like to purchase the Natural Bulwark boon for your settlement? This will help to make the perimeter of your lands more difficult to approach, encouraging invaders to attempt an assault on your main entrance. Yes/No.***

“Um, here goes nothing.” Andy cleared his throat and said, “Yes.”

The ground began to rumble and shift, and Andy nearly fell off the tabletop. He jumped down, and as everyone else scrambled for balance or fell onto the dry, mostly yellow grass, he leaned on the table for support. The ground continued to rumble and shake, but as Andy looked around, he didn’t see any magical walls growing out of the earth. He had a hard time seeing anything

changing.

He turned his gaze toward the front gate, and that’s when he realized something much bigger than he’d expected was occurring: the trailer park was rising up, along with a good deal of land beyond the fence. It was like it was becoming a mesa or miniature plateau. As soon as he realized it and spun around, wide-eyed, watching as some distant palo verde tree tops shrank, it stopped.

“What the heck happened?” Tucker asked, clambering to his feet.

“I think we gained some elevation!” Violet said with an incredulous laugh, jogging toward the gate. Andy and most everyone else followed her, and when they went outside, it was plain to see what had changed. The entire park, and at least a hundred yards beyond the fence on every side, had lifted about eight feet above the surrounding terrain. Outside the gate, things were different; the ground sloped gradually down to the gravel road, providing an easy approach to the settlement.

“I mean, that’s neat, young feller. It’ll probably stop some animals from getting up here, but I don’t think it’ll stop an invading army,” James said, clapping one of his big hands on Andy’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” Andy held up the crystal. “Should we see if this makes it better?”

“Yeah, I think so, but”—James raised his voice, turning to shout—“everyone ought to sit down inside the gate. Andy’s gonna use that crystal thingy.”

Andy pointed to the power lines. There was just a single set of lines coming into the park, and the pole inside where the line went down into the ground was bent at a crazy angle, thanks to the new elevation. “Don’t sit near that pole! If something like this happens again, it’ll probably fall.” He frowned, looking around. “What about water lines or sewer?”

Bernice laughed. “Good one, kid. No sewer out here—septic, and it looks like the leech field and tanks came up with us—they’re on the far side of the fence there.” She pointed toward the northern edge of the park. “Same story with the water; we have a well. Not like we need it anymore, thanks to that spring, but the water lines won’t be messed up cause it’s inside the fence over in the northwest corner. See the white tank?”

Andy felt stupid; he could have figured that out if he’d thought about it. There was no way the city would have sewer lines all the way out there, and he’d seen that water tank every time he drove into the park. He cleared his throat and held up the crystal. “Anyway, James is right. Brace yourselves!”

He wasn’t sure how to activate the magical device—the first time he’d gotten the option was when he’d first picked it up. Standing there, holding it, and wondering how to activate it, seemed to do the trick, though:

***Would you like to apply this enhancement crystal to a boon now? You currently have two boons that are eligible for an enhancement: Freshwater Spring or Natural Bulwark. Yes/No?***

“Yes,” Andy said.

***Which boon shall this crystal be applied to?***

“Natural Bulwark.”

The crystal fell apart in his hand, dissolving into thousands of grains of faintly yellow sand. As he watched the grains drift through his fingers, the ground began to rumble and shiver again. This time, great dust clouds began to form around the perimeter of the park’s new, elevated grounds. The process continued much longer than when he’d first selected the boon, but the enormous dust clouds made it impossible to gauge exactly what was happening.

The electrical pole holding up the power line cracked and fell to the ground, dragging toward the edge of the elevated ground. After several minutes, a little girl started to cry, and Violet crawled over to her, grabbing her into her arms. “Hush, sweetie, we’re alright.”

“What’s happening, young blood?” James asked, his eyes wide with concern.

“I think…” Andy trailed off, not sure what to say. He looked at Lucy, sitting on the gravel before him, and she shrugged. Before he could speculate further, it became a moot point—the ground stopped shifting, the rumbling faded, and the almost perpetual breeze that had been blowing from the east began to clear the dust away.

“Holy shit!” Tucker yelled, and Andy whirled to see him standing atop Bernice’s trailer. He was pointing to the west, toward Tucson. “Dude! We’re on an actual frickin’ plateau, now!”