35 – Fair Enough

Andy couldn’t see what was giving Tucker the perspective to prove that the trailer park, and the land around it, had risen to proper plateau heights, so he hurried past the other residents clustered around the gate, pushing through and jogging toward the rapidly fading dust cloud. He could hear people following him, and when he reached the edge—it was an edge—he slid to a stop, holding out his arms so others wouldn’t run past him.

Tucker was right; Andy could see the gravel road below, at least a hundred feet down, and, as he peered carefully over the edge, he saw a rough, stony trail zigzagging down the face of the cliff in uneven switchbacks.

Eduardo was the first to say something other than an exclamation. “How did—there wasn’t stone that close to the surface!”

Andy shook his head. “No. The System changed it. It lifted us up and somehow turned the dirt, rocks, and caliche into solid sandstone. I mean, I think it’s sandstone.” He knelt and knocked his knuckles against the hard, reddish-tan stone.

“Do you think that path is the only way up here?” Violet asked, and Andy knew what she was thinking: the plateau would be a lot more visible, but also a heck of a lot easier to defend than the old trailer park.

“I think so,” he said. A thought occurred to him, and he turned to look back toward the trailer park, eyeing the corner where he’d set up the spring. “I hope none of this messes with the spring.”

“Why would it?” someone asked. “The System gave us both.”

Andy nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Most of the residents were clustered close, and he could see the few who’d skipped the meeting were coming out of their trailers, wandering toward the gate. He decided he ought to get a little more business done.

He stood, cleared his throat, and hollered, “Listen!” When people quieted down and looked his way, he gestured out to the desert. “Those guys who tried to kill me, the ones I killed last night, weren’t too far from here. That means Construction City is sending squads out here to hunt monsters and look for people.

“This plateau or mesa—I don’t know the proper term—is going to be visible for miles, and anyone who’s familiar with this area is going to know something’s strange about it. That means it just got a lot more urgent that, if we’re sure we’re gonna do it, we declare war before Construction City does it first. We've already voted, so I’m doing it. That means we need to get serious about defense. Anyone volunteer to organize guards and lookouts?”

To his surprise, several people raised their hands, but it was Omar, the guy who’d been maintaining the bonfires when they’d burned the bodies, who stepped forward and spoke up. “I’ll do it, Andy. I was in the military, and I can get along pretty well with most people.”

Andy looked at him for a minute, but his gut didn’t warn him off. He liked the guy. He seemed steady, reliable. “Cool, do you need any help?”

“I’ll help him!” a woman called out, and when Andy looked, he saw it was Bella. He knew she was a hothead, but she was also enthusiastic and had a damn good reason to want to win the war.

He looked at Omar. “That good with you?”

“Yeah. No sweat.”

He raised his voice. “All right! Omar and Bella are going to organize guard duty. Everyone needs to participate until we increase our population.” He paused, looked around, and noticed some faces looked eager, but others were stressed. He could understand why, and he didn’t want to sugarcoat things. “People, I’m not lying to you—those are some bad folks over there. This is serious business. They’ll be out for our blood as soon as we do this.”

“Then why do it?” Monique cried. “We can just keep our heads down. They can’t attack easily up here!”

“Screw that!” Bella yelled, turning to glare at her.

Hector, the former trucker, took off his ball cap and shook his head. “It’s not right to just let them go around killing everyone, taking what they want.”

“Excuse me, but I don’t think you’ll need my input, and this little one shouldn’t be here.” Beatrice, probably the oldest woman in the park, took a little kid’s hand and led him away from the gate.

Brian, tall and angry looking, moved up beside Andy and shouted, “My wife’s still missing, and those assholes are taking women! You heard what Bella and the others said. We need to find out who they’ve already got!”

Andy had heard enough. He cleared his throat and shouted, “Enough! We have already voted, and we need to remember that we’re a team; there’s nobody—nobody!—

coming to help. We’re all we’ve got, and that means we need to respect each other’s views, but we also need to respect the vote. That’s it.”

As the yelling died down to grumbles, Andy opened the settlement menu and found the little blinking “diplomacy” tab. He didn’t think it had been there before, but he wasn’t certain. He selected it and saw a list of “known settlements” and only one entry: Hardhead Construction City – Hostile. He selected it, and a new System message appeared:

***Do you wish to declare war on the Hardhead Construction City settlement? Yes/No.***

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

With a sinking feeling in his guts, Andy said, “Yes.”

***System Notification: WAR DECLARED***

***Congratulations, Andy. You have formally declared war on the Hardhead Construction City settlement. The System recognizes this conflict as an officially sanctioned engagement between two active settlements. The following war effects have been activated:

1. Morale Surge

The Sleepy Saguaro Trailer Park settlement has entered a heightened state of readiness and unity. Combatants may exhibit improved focus and determination in the days ahead.

2. War Quests Unlocked

Special objectives related to the conflict with Hardhead Construction City are now available. Completing these quests will reward your settlement with unique prizes and benefits.

3. Warlord's Mandate Activated

Victory in this System-sanctioned war will grant you claim over the enemy’s territory, resources, and settlement infrastructure.

4. Experience and Improvement Point Bonus

All conflict-related actions now grant a twenty-five percent multiplier to earned experience and improvement points for the duration of the war.

5. Enemy Disruption Triggered

The opposing settlement’s cohesion has been disrupted. Expect disorganization and shaken morale among their ranks.

6. Prestige System Engaged

All participants in the conflict are now eligible for war-related prestige titles, System accolades, and unique generated rewards.

Note: The war may only end under the following conditions:

* Total surrender by one side

* System-recognized victory via destruction or occupation

* Mutual treaty (must be proposed and accepted through the System)

May the strongest settlement win!***

“What the heck is Hardhead?” Eduardo asked.

“I don’t know.” Andy shrugged. “Maybe they renamed the settlement.”

“All right!” Omar shouted, striding back toward the park. “I need everyone to see me about guard station assignments.”

“I gotta get to work on some weapons,” James announced. “Hey, Andy, you gonna head out?”

Andy looked at the eastern horizon and saw that the dark clouds seemed to have lightened. Was the storm blowing past them? He turned to Lucy, and she nodded. He’d wanted to spend a little time around the settlement, but he supposed it was more important to see if they could recruit more people from those ranch homes. There was still the Whistler to deal with, too…

“Andy?”

“Oh, um, yeah, I can head out. What’s up?”

“We need more equipment. More things I can make into weapons—axes, hammers, garden tools. You know what I mean?”

Andy nodded. “I hear you. I wish we could take a damn truck.”

James nodded. “Look for wagons! Wheelbarrows. Anything like that.”

“I’ll get my bow,” Lucy said, jogging back toward the park.

“Hey, man,” Brian said, walking a little closer. “I’ll go with you guys. I can help carry—”

“I don’t think that’s wise,” Violet interjected.

Andy looked at her, arching an eyebrow, surprised that she’d speak up that way. Before he could say anything, Brian folded his arms over his chest and turned to face her. “Why’s that?”

“Because if Andy and Lucy are going to be gone, we’ll need people who can fight here at the park. What if we get attacked?”

That seemed to mollify Brian a little. His frown faded, and he slowly began to nod. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. We’ve got little kids to look after.”

Andy clapped Brian on the shoulder and gestured toward the picnic table where he’d left his spear. “I’ll be right back.” He jogged over to get it, and that’s when he noticed a little red-headed boy—the one who’d been with the kids he and Lucy rescued from the goblins—sitting by himself on the grass under the table. He leaned over and made eye contact. “Hey, bud. What ya doing down there?”

“Ms. Tanner said we were supposed to get under our desks or a table during an earthquake.”

“Oh yeah? That’s pretty smart. I think the quake’s over, though. Hey, what was your name again? Was it Liam?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You can call me Andy. Why don’t you come out here?” Andy leaned on his spear and watched Liam crawl out from under the table. “Who are you staying with, buddy?”

“Miss Mari. She’s watching me… and Jada and Malik.”

“Oh, okay. I think I’ve met Miss Mari before. She’s that lady about my age, maybe a little older. Doesn’t she have curly black hair?” Liam nodded, looking almost like he was in trouble. Andy chuckled and reached out to tousle his hair. “You’re all good. Don’t stress. Why don’t you find some of your friends? I promise, the quake’s over.”

“Okay.” He hurried off, running down the lane into the park. Andy watched him go for a minute, but then he saw Lucy approaching and waved her over.

She smiled as she got close, and he saw she was wearing an empty-looking backpack and carrying her bow and quiver. “Ready?”

“Just about. Let’s try out my spell, first. Do you have any arrows you don’t particularly care about? I mean, in case the magic damages them?”

“Oh, um, sure. I’ve got lots of arrows back at the trailer. Here”—she set her bow down and began selecting arrows from her quiver—“these are older ones.” She handed five arrows to him, and he nodded, noting their simple triangular tips. They looked razor sharp, but the arrow shafts were scuffed, and he could see the paint was worn off near the arrowheads. He sat down at the table, set the arrows beside him, and held one up before him.

“Let’s see here…” He held the tip of his finger to the arrow shaft and concentrated, thinking about his new knowledge of the spell, Kindlebrand. He felt the mana inside him trigger, rushing from somewhere at the center of his being, tingling like warm, gentle sparks through his arm and into his finger, and then, as he wove his finger in gentle looping swirls, smoke and sparks erupted from the arrow shaft as a glowing orange rune appeared on it.

Lucy leaned close, watching. “Woah! Pretty!”

Andy smiled, pleased with the result as he held the arrow up. The rune continued to glow, though the brightness faded considerably after a few seconds. “I think it’ll last until you shoot something.”

“And then what?”

“And then it’ll burst into flames or something.” He laughed, shrugging.

“Cool! Do the other ones!”

Andy nodded and repeated the process for each of the other arrows. When he was finished, he looked at his status sheet, checking his mana levels:

Mana: 24/75

Supposedly, the spell took twelve mana per cast, so he should have only had fifteen left, but he guessed his passive regeneration was at work. For good measure, before they left, he cast the spell on his spear. He knew it was supposed to degrade weapons with each use, but his spear was made of good stuff, and he figured casting it once wouldn’t hurt. How else was he going to see what it did?

As he hefted the weapon, admiring the faintly glowing rune on the metal spear tip, Lucy nudged him. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Andy shouldered the spear and started walking toward the gate. “Let’s go see how Sandy’s doing.”

“And the Whistler,” Lucy added. He arched an eyebrow at her, surprised she’d brought him up. When she saw him looking sideways at her, she shrugged. “We can’t have people like that out there. Not with kids here depending on us to keep them safe.”

Andy nodded, shifting his grip on his spear. “Fair enough, Lucy. Fair enough.”