Sponsored Apocalypse mini arc 3

With this, the book is finally done.  Yay!

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The Mill had two main entrances.  A pretty serious fence topped with razor wire surrounded the property.  Gray and his team were entering in the front.

Each glass double door had been smashed and the goblins had covered the opening with their own special brand of building.  One door had been destroyed.

The lobby was about what someone who’d seen a goblin base before might imagine.  There weren’t any bodies, but blood and drag marks covered the floor.  A couple goblin bodies were slumped to one side.  It looked like before they’d been chased off, this area had been a guard post of sorts.  The area behind the front counter had been built into a haphazard-looking fortified area with heads of animals and other monsters on stakes.  All the ceiling tiles overhead were charred black with soot from a fire.  One had even been burned through.

As bad as the area smelled, it probably would be even worse if there had been a fire sprinkler system in the lobby.  Then sludge would cover everything, adding to the overall filth.  There hadn’t been enough time for decay to set in with the scattered bits of flesh.  In a week this place would be much, much worse.

Booted human footprints were visible on the floor–traces of the reconnaissance team who’d alerted Base of this place being empty now.  Gray shook his head again, thinking about how brave and capable some of his town’s residents were.  They’d gone from regular folks to hardened apocalypse veterans in just a couple days.

Meanwhile, Gray was struggling to keep up The Act.  He felt like a failure.  Fake it till you make it, Gray, he reminded himself.  It’d been the best advice his wife had ever given him.

He held up a hand and his group stopped.  Bryanna was pressing a cloth over her mouth.  An upraised hand was conjuring a magic ball of light.  Gray was already used to magical light now.  He hadn’t even taken out his flashlight.

The three of them listened and watched for a few minutes but nothing moved and the silence rang.  It was eerily quiet.  A couple buzzing flies, disturbed by the light, were the only sounds Gray heard other than his own breathing.

He nodded and gestured for everyone to start moving again.  His plan was to check out the central yard where the survivors had been kept before, to see the aftermath with his own eyes. He’d already seen a bit, but if someone or something was going around destroying the goblins, he wanted more of…a feel for what was going on.

So far, goblins had probably been the most constant threat to the community.  The horrible things were everywhere.  They’d even contributed to an immediate shortage of supplies by breaking into and trashing every store they could find in a never ending quest for new weapons or junk to build with.

The mill’s central yard was at the end of a hallway off of the office portion of the business.  Conference or break rooms had doors thrown open or broken off the hinges.  Gray kept his eyes forward.  He’d already seen the report that the goblins had been using this area to butcher…things.  The report had indicated that the sink in the break room and the drains in the bathroom floors had been used by the goblins to help with their grisly work.  The smell in the hallway was proof this was all likely true, and Gray didn’t need to see it.  He’d already seen enough in his life to revisit in nightmares and didn’t need to unnecessarily add more.

As long as he survived, and especially as long as he remained a hands-on leader, continuing to add more would be inevitable.

Gray took in his surroundings and restrained himself from spitting.  The security gate he’d just been about to pass through was covered in blood.  Bryanna wordlessly removed a thick handkerchief from a pouch, went through the turnstile, and then helped everyone else get through so they wouldn’t get nastiness all over their hands and clothes.

The double doors beyond led to the yard.

Once he was outside, Gray swept the area with his eyes and gulped.  “That’s…a lot of dead goblins,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” said Charlie quietly.

Corpses of monsters were everywhere, absolutely everywhere.  The goblins hadn’t died easily, either.  Body parts of little green creatures littered the entire area.

The area where the captives had been kept was immediately obvious, basically just some makeshift cages.  “The prisoners really had a front seat view, didn’t they?” said Charlie.

“Yup.”  Gray swept the area with a light.  His revolver was still in hand but he didn’t think it was likely he was going to need it.  This area was just as still as the office had been.  There was evidence that some other monsters had been by to poke around–at least heat thought so–but he knew for a fact that none were still around.  His ability could be really helpful that way.

Why monsters sometimes ate each other was still a mystery to everyone who’d been able to share information after the system invaded.  Many monsters didn’t actually seem to need to eat for sustenance, but some did, and some could eat even more than their body weight.  It was all still a mystery.

Near the cages where the prisoners had been held was a chopping block and other evidence of an area set aside for butchering.  There were still human body parts around the area, most of which Gray let his eyes slide over, not focusing on anything.  But now the entire yard was covered in blood and offal–the butchering area blenced in with the rest of its surroundings, except the corpses everywhere else belonged to goblins.

The smell was unlike anything Gray had ever experienced before.  It was like being surrounded by death.  Fresh violence.

Unlike back at the mobile home his team had investigated, it looked like the goblins here had put up a somewhat coordinated fight.  Or tried.  Hundreds of bodies littered the yards.  Gray shook his head.  Hundreds, he thought.  It only took a couple dozen to terrorize an entire neighborhood.  Even imagining this army of goblins descending on the surrounding area was horrible to think about.  This place had been a ticking time bomb.

And now it was a graveyard.

The yard had obviously been the center of the battlefield.  Goblins had been torn apart, eviscerated, but also thrown backwards into tractors and construction equipment.  Crude clubs, blades, and stolen tools-turned-weapons littered the area.  Gray holstered his revolver as he moved forward slowly, taking it all in.

He had to step around a pile of goblin bodies.  One had been decapitated.  Another had been almost torn in half.  Gray had to look for evidence that it’d been done by the dark, canine creature he’d been told of.  He was not an expert so it took a while for him to  find the teeth marks.  Once he did, he decided it sort of looked like the goblin had been literally shaken apart.

“Boy golly,” whispered Charlie.  Gray made a grunt of agreement and swallowed.  To one side, Bryanna gestured and conjured another ball of light that slowly drifted forward until it hovered in the middle of the yard.

Gray nodded his thanks to the mage and  they all moved forward.

His opinion of the scene changed.  This hadn’t been a battle, it’d been a meat grinder.  A massacre.  For whatever reason, the goblins hadn’t wanted to run away but they’d all hurried to certain death like moths to a flame.  Gray wasn’t an expert in reading tracks, but the more he saw, the more he was confident that everything he’d heard so far about this goblin-killing monster had been true.

And strangely, he was also feeling less worried about it now.  Maybe even developing a sense of awe.

The prisoners who’d been held in this place really had been able to see everything.  More importantly, the…creature that had done all this hadn’t been too far away from the remaining humans.  It had truly left them alone.

“Whatever this thing is,” he said out loud.  “I think I can figure now that it’s at least not an enemy.  It might not be a friend, but…I’ll take it.”

“Enemy of my enemy is my friend,” said Bryanna, her voice quiet.

“Hopefully,” said Gray.  “Let’s get back to the jeep.”

The three of them didn’t say anything else as they left the mill.  Back at the jeep, Ben must have read the atmosphere because he didn’t ask any questions.  Charlie wordlessly got into the driver’s side, started up the jeep, and began rolling out of the driveway.  He was the first to break the silence.  “Kind of feels like this area doesn’t have any other monsters because they know to stay away.  Maybe scared of whatever did this.”

Gray grunted his agreement.  He was thinking about the sheer number of monsters back in the mill.  The level he’d gotten earlier weighed heavy on his mind.

At what point was leveling up addictive?  Was it always addictive?  Should he just ignore the ways the changing world was changing people around him?  How was it changing him?

Charlie cleared his throat.  “So where to now?”

Gray shook his head. “You all might not like this.”

“What?”

“I think we should go see town, at least drive by.  In fact, I think we should try The Gauntlet.”

Charlie sighed.  “You’re right, I don’t like it, but I ain’t surprised.”

“Me neither,” said Ben.

Bryanna didn’t say anything for a second, then muttered, “It’s part of why I came along.  We all need XP.  Mister Gray’s ability should make it safer.”

Gray grunted and said, “If we do The Gauntlet, you can all get more experience to level up, and I’ll be able to see the state of the town.  It’s also on the way back anyway.  And we don’t know if anything has been following us.  Probably better to keep moving than go back the way we came.”

“There are other ways we can go, too,” pointed out Charlie.

“Yeah, but if I don’t get more points for more Endurance, I’m gonna need to sleep soon.  And if I sleep, I can’t keep up with everything.”

Charlie frowned.  “You’re gonna have to sleep eventually, Gray, er Mister Gray.  You can’t stay awake forever.”  But despite his words, the man turned right at an intersection, starting to head toward The Gauntlet.

The Gauntlet was what the town’s active defenders had been calling a straight stretch of road right outside, and visible from town–Vine Street.  It was far enough away from downtown to see monsters coming over a set of railroad tracks.  The other side of the road was the river, so it was protected from attack by that side.  There was nowhere for monsters to hide too close to the road.  It was a great place to drive through to get some shots off or stop for a second to kill a few monsters before escaping.  But it was also risky as hell.  If a group’s vehicle got blocked or was run off the road…

Several ruined trucks belonging to dead defenders were obstacles now on The Gauntlet, making it even more dangerous.  The need to slow down to avoid them made navigating the road slower and more difficult.

Gray had been one of the first defenders to discover The Gauntlet, during the first day after the System Invasion.  They’d been trying to evacuate people in pickup trucks to Base.  That had been when his team had wiped out most of the flying monsters.  Luckily, monster corpses seemed to decay really fast or get eaten by other monsters.  Otherwise, the road would be impassable by now.

“So we are really doing the Gauntlet, huh?” asked Ben.  He sounded scared, but also excited.

“Guess we are,” said Charlie.  “I guess we are.”

The winding back roads that looped back towards town were empty.  No people or monsters seemed to be around for the moment.

From the rear of the jeep, Ben said, “Mister Gray, not that I’m complaining, but why did you come out here yourself?  Couldn’t someone have taken a picture on their cell phone to show you what happened at the mill?  Like, service is not really working, but our phones still work as cameras.”

Gray nodded and said, “A few reasons.  But first off, the scouts already do that–take pictures.  That’s partly why they get first priority with recharging their phones at base.  As for why, mainly sometimes you just need to see something for yourself.  We are basically living in a warzone now.  The biggest monster threats have all been central–in town the last few days.  I needed to make sure that hadn’t changed.”

Suddenly, Gray’s skill tickled the back of his mind.  He didn’t actually get a system message about any enemies being detected, but he could clearly sense two…somethings out in the forest.  “Slow down,” he ordered.  Then he activated his ability, illuminating a spot in the distance just in time to see something actually run away.  His ability refused to lock onto either figure.

Ben was standing, rifle to his shoulder, and he lowered it with a curse.  “I couldn’t get a shot, but I’m sure it wasn’t human.  There was a tail.”

“I saw it too,” said Bryanna.

“Whatever they were, they ran away.  They’re outside my skill’s range now.  Let’s keep going, Deputy Perry.”

“Roger that.”

But privately, Gray was a little freaked out.  Since he’d known where to look, it was possible he’d seen the figures the most clearly as they’d ran away.  He thought he’d seen proper clothing and armor, almost modern sophistication.  The creatures had been unlike anything he’d heard of before, too.  All that by itself still wouldn’t be cause for alarm if not for how strangely his skill had acted.

He shelved the matter for now and vowed to pay even closer attention to his skill.  The paranoia he’d already started to develop about his skill not working one day when he needed it the most grew a little bit stronger.

The jeep rumbled along in the predawn dark, traveling the twisting southern road for a few minutes in silence.  Charlie put a finger to his ear, listening to the bluetooth device he had connected with a radio back to base.  Then the deputy said, “Gray,  there have been some admin things that have popped up back at base that you've been too busy to deal with. Do you mind if we knock out some of it right now? Is it too much of a distraction?  We have a few more minutes as long as nothing jumps out at us.”

Gray said, "Go ahead."

"Okay, good. I don't know what all you've heard and what you haven't. But, have you heard about Finn Hageland Marty Smith?"

Gray nodded. "I’ve heard the names.  They're the two strongest defenders, right?"

"Yes, that we know of. One usually stays at Base for that reason.  They rotate back and forth.  But, there have also been reports of somebody using magic in town. Somebody strong. One reason I’m bringing it up is because we're about to do the gauntlet. We've gotten reports of strange activity with the survivors in town."

"What do you mean?" asked Gray.

"Well, the rumors and sightings I've heard of this mage say that he or she basically lives in town." That got Gray's attention.

"What? How is that possible?"

Charlie shook his head. "I don't think it is. That's just what I've heard. But I guess you haven't heard of this yet, huh?"

"Nope. Can't say that I have."

"Alright. Well," said Charlie, "there's also one more thing you might not know about."

"What?"

"A while ago, not very long actually, another survivor approached a group that we had patrolling one of the main roads. At first, they were skeptical.  But I talked to the group that met him and radioed it in.  According to them, it seems that this man is hunting by himself and has been for a while."

Gray nodded slowly. "I've heard a little bit about that. I guess I shouldn't be too skeptical because of the mage sightings, but if true, that means he has basically four powerhouses in town."

"Uh-huh," said Charlie. "That seems a like too many, doesn't it? I mean, we're only a few days into this thing."

Gray said, "It may be sort of a lot, but I'm not complaining. Any edge we can get is great. I don't want to think about how many people we've lost already.  Heck, we already have a few other young people who are powerful in their own right.  Glad to have them."  He gestured back at Ben and Bryanna, who were talking softly.

He heard Ben say, "It's trippy that we can be thriving on these roads like this and just be chatting away."

Brianna, just as quietly, responded, "It wouldn't be possible without Mr. Gray's ability. All the other patrols are super quiet and disciplined."

"I know," said Ben. "I don't know which I like more, to be honest. The normal ones are super tense. It just almost feels too weird to believe."

Brianna just grunted in agreement.

Gray ignored them and resumed his conversation with Charlie.  “Anyway, you were talking about the man who approached one of our groups.  The survivor. I haven’t really heard much more about it.  Wanna fill me in?”

Charlie said, "I guess he wants information about the giant."

"Okay," said Gray. "Is that it?"

"I think so.  And, well, I don't see any reason not to work with him. Especially if he's a local. So maybe we should just give him what he wants. Not only that, if he's actually able to bring down some big monster, much less the giant…if he's actually that powerful, let's try to bring him in."

“The group that met him seemed to think he would think you might say that. But they said that this young man doesn't want to work with us like that."

Gray shrugged. "To be honest, buddy, he doesn’t need to be on our imaginary payroll.  I don't really care that much. Well, as long as he'll work with us when we need him. Titles don’t matter.  I don't care what he wants to call himself. Shoot, we could make him an honorary deputy."

Charlie gave a short laugh. "Alright, we can work with that.”  He paused.  “Uh, that was it.  I don’t really have anything more to tell you that we can’t knock out back at Base."

Gray was quiet for a few minutes and then said, "Actually, I have something, Charlie."

"What is it?"

"Where we were just a few minutes ago, when I used my ability–it’s bothering me. That spot where I felt something and we saw whatever it was running away. I want you to send a group out every so often to check that area and make sure that nothing nasty pops up. If it's too dangerous, don't engage.  Obviously."

Charlie gave him a look for a second before watching the road again. "You got a bad feeling about it?"

"Yeah," said Gray. "I got a bad feeling about it."

“Damn.  I hate your bad feelings.”

Gray remembered a lifetime of friendship and smiled ruefully.  “Now that you say so, I can’t say I blame you.  But I’m calling BS on not having anything more to talk about.  Until a monster jumps out at us or we get to town, you should use this time to talk to me about whatever else you need to talk to me about so you can leave me alone once we get back.”

“Fair enough,” Charlie chuckled.

The two old friends quietly talked about a few other admin matters, basically just trying to use the next fifteen minutes efficiently. Ben and Brianna stayed alert behind them.

For what felt like the fifth time that night, Gray was quietly proud of the surviving young people from his town who had shown such amazing tenacity and fidelity protecting their fellow humans. Most of the people fighting monsters in the area had never served in the military, and yet they were acting like some of the finest soldiers the country had ever produced.  He was half a mind to deputize every active monster hunter in the area.

"We're gonna be hitting the gauntlet soon," said Charlie.  The mood in the jeep became more tense.

Gray nodded gravely.  “Let’s get our game faces on..”  Nobody responded out loud.  The sound of Ben nervously tapping on one of his guns was barely audible over the jeep’s engine

The outskirts of town came into view. It was weird how so few lights were on, but he knew why. Some monsters hated the light and actively searched out working light bulbs to destroy them. For the time being, power was still running intermittently. Gray figured it was only a matter of time, probably not much longer, that the grid would go down entirely. He wondered what the hell would happen to all the nuclear power plants when that happened. Would they melt down? Would somebody make sure they didn't? Were there fail-safes in place? He wasn't sure. That was above his pay grade, and the ability to just search for information on the internet on his cell phone, something he quickly learned to take for granted despite growing up with the Dewey Decimal System in the library, filled him with a sense of irony every time he thought of it.

The entire Jeep was tense now. Everybody focused on doing their job. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything Gray could do to really sharpen his ability, [Conjured Spotlight], it just worked when it worked. But he was definitely keyed up, ready to exert some effort and stamina to shine a light on any monsters to make them easier for the damage dealers to kill.

"Okay, folks," he said, "look lively. This is a free-for-all now.  If you see a shot, take it. If there are too many monsters, both of you back there, cover your own side. Actually, they’ll be mostly one side so Ben, you’re forward, Bryanna, you’re rear.  Actually, you know the drill.  I’ll leave you to it."

Charlie suddenly laughed. "If we had only taken one guard instead of two, would you have still wanted to do the Gauntlet?"

"Hell no," said Gray. "I'm willing to take a risk, but I'm not suicidal."

"Well, good to hear that at least," Charlie muttered.  “Actually, look to the right.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Gray.  “It’s just zombies, though.  Not gonna use the skill light just yet.”  Zombies were still dangerous, but shufflers like these were probably the least dangerous monster in the entire area.

"I got this," Ben said. He raised a fairly large, silenced pistol. Gray knew what it was. A .22 pistol or rifle was the favorite firearm of the town's defenders for dealing with zombies. The three zombies that Ben targeted went down quickly, like puppets with their strings cut.  Once they were down, Ben muttered, “Sweet, sweet XP."  He stowed the pistol to one side and readied his main weapon again, the rifle.

Bryanna snorted, started to say something, but shut her mouth and shook her head.

"Okay, let's go," said Charlie.  “The Gauntlet is ahead.  From now on, let’s go full power weapons.”

The Jeep slowly sped up. Ahead of them on the road, he could see rotting monster corpses and the hulks of destroyed vehicles. Charlie had cut all but the jeep's fog lights about a half mile before hitting this stretch of road in order to keep a lower profile. But as soon as they started down the gauntlet, he hit the high beams.

All their other lights came on, too.

Gray had his revolver in hand. He was not sure how much help he'd actually be with it, but his ability, [Conjured Spotlight] was different.  It could save everyone's lives. The moment the tires of the jeep hit The Gauntlet, he began second-guessing himself, wondering if this was the right call. After all, he hadn't only put his own life in danger wanting to do the gauntlet; he'd endangered everyone in the jeep. But he squashed that train of thought.

If everybody, all of humanity didn't get stronger, they were gonna die. And he was too seasoned to be second-guessing his ability to lead for long anymore. People needed him. He wasn't gonna let them down. And unfortunately, the fact was he was an old man who was only still awake because of some BS system-given statistics. And he needed to raise those statistics. So he was gonna roll the dice.

Almost immediately, they saw a monster that had seen them.  The creature bellowed and rushed at them across the railroad tracks.  It was a smaller-sized troll.

Near where the small troll was coming from, Gray saw something much bigger.  It was well into rotting, but the monster still had some sort of sword…spear-thing sticking out of its back.  The big monster might have been killed by other monsters, though.  Gray thought it was likely.  Wounded monsters could be prey for the others, even apparently big ones likes this.

The smaller troll got a little closer but Ben took the shots, pouring fire into it.  He was helped by Charlie slowing the Jeep just enough so that Ben wouldn't have to lead his fire too much. The moment the troll-thing was down from, the Jeep sped up again.

Like a switch had been turned, monsters boiled out of buildings and on top of rooftops all of them screaming bloody murder or roaring or hissing.  Most of them didn't attack yet, though. Apparently, the gauntlet had been running enough times that the monsters had been getting cautious. Not only that, nobody still knew what exactly the monsters were congregating in town for in the first place.

Maybe they had some sort of agenda.  They all watched with hungry and hate-filled eyes.

Suddenly, a handful of canine monsters ran from out of the shattered windows of a department store, heading  directly for the Jeep. Gray didn't think it was necessary, but he lit them up with his ability anyway.

"Got some live ones,” said Ben.

His rifle hiss-popped, loud despite the suppressor. At the same time, Brianna cast magic. A flurry of fire sparks burst from her palm. Looping towards the monsters like sparks from a fireworks display, the brilliant spheres that hit the beasts sizzled and popped, melting fur and flesh. Meanwhile, Ben's bullets hit with sounds like a hammer hitting a grass lawn.  One monster, two monster, three monster, all five monsters went down in five seconds. Gray was quietly impressed, but the lull didn't last long.

A moment later, he felt another monster get close with his ability.

[Known Enemy Detected]

"Up above!” he shouted.

He willed the light from his skill to flash into existence and was astonished to see at least one more flying monster. The flying creatures, like a cross between a bat, a monkey, and a scorpion, were honestly most terrifying because most people right after the System Invasion hadn’t had any idea they were even near until it was too late. The one saving grace was how quickly they went down, and this one was no different. Brianna shot it out of the air with a single burning ember. The beast crashed behind them, thrashing around, wings on fire.

Now even more monsters in town were aware there was an intruder. Charlie had to slow down to get around a ruined truck, actually needing to scrape the jeep past after moving to the shoulder of the road. The jeep ran over a body, and Gray hoped it was a monster's. The reality was that anyone who died on this stretch of road was probably going to be food for something. It would be great if the survivors could give everyone a proper burial, but that was going to have to wait until the town was liberated…if it was ever liberated.

Like a signal had been given, most of the watching monsters ran towards them. But at the forefront, crossing the railroad tracks was a dozen of the canine creatures.

"Charlie, pedal to the metal!" said Gray.

"Don't have to tell me."

The deputy sped up the jeep, all while Ben rained bullets on the creatures, and Brianna's magic lit up the night with deadly red glows. With a sinking feeling, Gray wondered if he'd made the wrong call. If the jeep slowed at this point, even for a moment, they were going to get mobbed. There were at least a hundred monsters all racing towards them, trying to reach them.  Theri hunger and desperation were practically an unclean aura.

Ben and Brianna's firepower made quick work of most of the attackers, and Gray's ability provided easy targeting for the damage dealers. Charlie's expert driving kept the team moving, even as he pumped the brakes and the gas, getting around hazards in the road. But all their efforts combined could end up coming short.

Gray pointed his revolver at the general mass of monsters and yelled as he unloaded every cylinder. Suddenly a shadow loomed behind a strip mall, a shadow that caused Gray's heart to seize in dread. A moment later, what was left of a VW bug crashed across the road directly behind them, missing the back of the jeep by two feet.

"Speed up, speed up," Gray shouted.

"I'm working on it," yelled Charlie. “I promise!”

"The fucking giant just threw a car at us," said Ben.  He sounded shocked.

"I'm aware," said Gray tersely.  “Don’t stop shooting!”

Gray reloaded the cylinder of his revolver as quickly as he could, put his arm out the passenger side window and unloaded again. The last stretch of road felt like a million miles, and a single canine creature almost reached the Jeep. Charlie sped off into the night, away from town, as monsters bayed, howled, and screamed behind them. Behind them he could hear Ben and Brianna panting. Brianna in particular looked exhausted.  Another thrown vehicle hit the roadway behind them again, maybe out of frustration. Gray hoped the giant wasn't smart enough to block the road entirely or the next group to try the Gauntlet was doomed.

Actually, screw this, he thought.  Running the Gauntlet was dangerous, but this had been nuts.  The team had done everything right and it still almost came short.  There was an easy way to make sure another team wouldn’t come and end up senselessly dying.

Gray said, “Charlie, I want everybody at Base to know nobody is allowed to do the gauntlet again. I think this was the last run.”

Charlie nodded in agreement. "I completely agree.  This ain’t just dangerous anymore, it’s suicide.  There's not supposed to be that many monsters there. They're learning."

"That's right, and I don't think there might even be a passable section anymore after that stinkin’ giant threw cars onto the road behind us."

"It was trying to hit us," said Ben.

"No shit," said Brianna. “Thanks Captain Obvious.”

Ben grunted like he'd been hit. "Don't have to be so mean," he said.

“Yeah, sorry.”  She giggled to herself for a second before coughing and going silent.  Gray knew how she felt.  That had been the most terrifying experience of his life.  Cars actually flying through the air was much different than the movies.

Gray let his head roll back onto his seat and said, "Hey Cha–Deputy Perry.  Know what?  After this, we know where the giant is, or was. If that one guy that you were talking about earlier wants to know where it is, go ahead and let him know what's in town. See what happens."

"You sure?” asked Charlie.  "He’s strong but what if he dies?"

"What if we'd just died?" said Gray.  He rubbed his hand across his forehead, once again conflicted with the choice he'd made. It’d worked out, but he'd just stared Death in the face again and he wondered if all of this was really worth it just to raise his endurance enough to go a few days without sleep.  He thought again of the people who risked their lives day in and day out.

Yeah, it’s worth it.

And with that thought he got himself under better control again, remembered The Act that he had to maintain. His hand lowered and he steeled his spine.  He said, “This is a hard world, and it’s gotten harder.  If the stranger dies, well, there's plenty of that to go around. But he was the one asking, and if he succeeds, not only will he be a huge help for us and join the ranks of the other strongest—that would make four of them for sure–he'll also be taking a massive step towards reclaiming our town so pregnant ladies at Base don't have to live in tents and RVs anymore.”

"The four most powerful people," Ben said behind them. "That’s kinda cool.  What should we call them?  The four heavens? The four supremes? People are already calling the creature that killed all the goblins, ‘Four Leg Death.’  If we have the four strongest hunters, they need a name, too."

"The Magnificent Four," said Brianna, her voice sarcastic.

"Oh!  The Magnificent Four," said Ben. "I kind of like that."

What is this conversation now? thought Gray. This is not a game.  We're fighting a war with children. But outwardly, he maintained The Act and said, "Good job, everybody. Let's get back to base.  Ben, Bryanna, maybe stow the Magnificent Four talk for the time being until we even know who is one whose side."

“Got it, Mister Gray.”

Gray settled back, still watching around him but content for the moment to lean on his skill.  He was an old man, high Endurance stat or not.  And he was frazzled.

Everyone in the jeep had just almost died.  But as he watched Charlie turn off the jeep’s main headlights again and drive, he reflected on what was one.

He saw windows from the System—a couple of new level-up notifications. Gray’s inner struggle ended as he quietly decided the risk they’d taken had been worth it.  But he just as strongly decided to never tell his wife just how dangerous the last run through the Gauntlet had just been.