Colleen walked the streets of Indian Heights with her 30-06’ hunting rifle in hand. It was early and the sun was peeking across the desert from the east so the air was still a bit cool. Two weeks ago she would have needed a jacket for this, now, according to her little AI, her System enhanced Endurance made it barely noticeable. She was more surprised when she realized she could easily lift the back of a bus off the ground and run faster than she did when she was a child. Her mind was clearer now too, and, again, according to her AI, her enhanced Perception allowed her to see farther, with greater clarity, and was able to pick up on little details that she normally would have missed.

Which is why she was now clucking her tongue in irritation as she approached the nighttime south perimeter guard who was clearly passed out on his post. I oughta put a round right in his ass. He’d probably survive it. Colleen sighed and decided to climb the blind and cuff his ears instead.

She reached the top silently thanks to her class, Huntress, then leaned forward to hiss in his ear, “WAKE THE HELL UP!”, before bringing the palms of both hands down on the startled man's ears.

“OW! FUCK! Ahhhh…” He screamed as he jumped out of his seat on the narrow blind and tumbled ten feet to the cement below with a groan.

Colleen couldn’t help smirk as the man rolled to his back and stared up at her in anger. “DAMN IT COLLEEN!”

“No, Daryl, Damn you. You’re supposed to be watching the overpass. How you gonna do that while sleeping?” She chastised the much younger man.

“I wasn’t sleepin’, I was restin’ me eyes.” The man protested as he pushed himself into a seated position, then put a foot underneath him to stand.

“My ass! Stay awake, who knows what’s coming for us next. I’m gonna go check the rest of the posts.”

Colleen hopped to the ground continuing her rounds. She did this every morning as her husband and son had done less than a week ago. A tear formed in her eye and she wiped it away. Her husband, James, and her son Cliff, had both died fending off an attack from them damned scorpion things several days ago. A lot of people died that day. Before that attack there were around 700 people sheltering in Indian Heights. They had quickly set up makeshift barricades and formed groups of fighters with guns to fend off the roaming monsters.

That seemed to be sufficient until the scorpions came. Sure, people would die here and there, but the fighters with guns seemed to stem the tide of monster incursions. The scorpions were something else altogether. Organized and vicious, they used weapons that seemed to slice through aluminum and steel like a hot knife through butter To make matters worse, they carried off anyone they didn't kill outright. She was certain those people met a grizzly fate as their screams could be heard after each raid, echoing through the desert. Colleen shivered at the thought and greeted the next guard, asked her how things were and continued on.

She was certain the Scorpions were going to eventually bleed them dry. They were already low on food and bullets. They sent a group out to try and kill them, though they never came back, just more screams that night. Then three days ago, a day after her husband and son had died, a large battle to the southeast could be heard. Notifications appeared to everyone here that they had no context for. From the sound of it though, the settlement that had been established over there was getting pounded hard. She doubted at the time that they would survive. Then the notification they had succeeded came in.

Some of the people gathered wanted to head over. Though a smaller group, one that included her, had no intention of abandoning her home. She had lived here for fifty years, grew up and married, and had children here. Ed, one of her neighbors, a big black man who’d only gotten bigger since the System changed everyone, agreed. He said this is the only place where he and his family ever felt completely accepted, he had no intention of abandoning it. Many others felt the same way.

The other side of the debate was led by a woman and her husband, Anna and Mike. They had been passing through when that giant lizard thing strolled up the highway and wrecked everything it could. They had been shacked up at the elementary school and argued that if there was a safer place to be they should go there. It didn’t help that the food was about to run out and the Walmart had been picked clean by the people that had holed up there. There were a lot of people that had stumbled in from the highway. Honestly, it would probably be better on the rest of us if they did leave.

Of course all of that talk ended when the pair of small mushroom clouds appeared in the direction of the aforementioned settlement. Everyone stopped complaining, preferring to shift into a state of apathy. The fortunate side effect of miniature nukes going off within a couple miles seemed to cause the scorpions to halt their daily raids. Though she expected that to not last for much longer. She was walking the posts across the North side of the housing development when she received a message request from Daryl.

“Yeah, what’s up, Daryl?” She asked as his panicked face appeared in her vision.

“Uh, Colleen? Uh… someone’s here to speak with you. He has monsters with him!”

“WHAT!?” Colleen blurted as she turned to run for the post she had previously caught the man sleeping.

“And he’s riding a coyote, a really big un’” He added.

“Daryl, I’m cutting the call.” She said as she ran and sent a mental alert out to her best fighters.

It had only taken a minute for her to sprint from one side of the neighborhood to the other and it seemed it took everyone else less time as they gathered behind the wall of cars to catch a peek at the visitors. This is just fucking great. She came up short of the crowd to catch her breath and Ed walked up to guide her through the gathered people.

“This dude’s huge, Colleen. I mean, he makes me look short.” He spoke as they pushed through the crowd.

“Oh c’mon, Ed, you’re six foot six. How much taller can he b- shit.” Colleen stopped her thoughts unspoken as she stared up at the massive bearded man who sat patiently upon a coyote that was probably a bit larger than a F-250. It was wearing some kind of dark metal barding across its face which made it seem menacing even though it wasn’t doing anything more than standing there with its tongue lolling out of its mouth in bored indifference.

Even though the man was currently mounted she could tell he was at least a foot taller than Ed. He had piercing grey eyes set amongst a deep brooding brow. His head was bald except for the aforementioned massive beard that would make a lumberjack jealous. Broad and thick shoulders extended into evenly proportioned arms and hands. He radiated power and violence. Yet he sat there as if he had stumbled amongst something curious on his morning walk.

What was even stranger was his riding companion, which had most of the men, to include Daryl, entranced. The woman was absolutely beautiful. She was also green. And naked. What the literal fuck is she!? Colleen thought as she admired the woman’s hair that seemed to grow in pretty flowers. Though she was clearly human-ish. And despite the too black eyes, Colleen could tell the woman knew the effect she was having on the assembled people.

Gordo, what am I looking at here? Colleen asked her VPA.

Which one?

Both!?

One moment.

And then the names levels and titles appeared for both the man and his… plant woman?

Karl Brunett, Merciless Reaper of the Foolish, Level 3 (Advanced), First Reaper, Commander of the SooHoo Military Settlement, Merciful, Dungeon Master x2, Negotiator x2, Race Traitor x47, First Evolution, Settlement Owner, Lover of Plant and Song.

Junipher, Soul Singer, Level 20(Advanced), Princess of the Wild Bark Treants, Lover of Humanity, Mixed Race, Refugee, Survivor, etc.

Karl looked at her as if he knew she had just queried his info, and the look sent shivers down her spine. She wasn’t sure what his class meant or why it was only level 3, she was just shy of level 21 but that tiny lizard brain was screaming that this man was the most dangerous thing she had ever been confronted with. Even though the strange plant lady was higher level, all she felt from her was a sense of calm, and may have been the only reason no one had fired on the pair or ran for the hills screaming.

She caught herself startled when he finally spoke to her directly and immediately wondered just how much resolve she had.

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I had considered bringing Choox’il and Hilga with me when I attempted to convince these people to officially join the settlement. In the end I decided to just bring Junipher. Though she was slightly different, her talents for keeping people calm, including myself, I felt would be critical in winning over people who had been living independently before the System and largely on edge since Initialization.

Strolling through what remained of the town on Kaia’s back had been rather enlightening. We cut straight down Third St and ran into a couple of survivors who poked their heads out their doors when they saw us riding by. I directed them back down the road to where safety was and indicated they should expect to see more of my people running around clearing monster gatherings. Alyssa’s team completed the investigation quest of the rail yard and found a pack of large fire lizard elementals had taken up residence and another dungeon under the spot where the last train to come through had exploded when it hit another one that was parked on the same line.

As we spoke a total of about 300 people were coming from LCMC, the Indian Health Center, and Walmart. Once they arrived we would far exceed the number we needed to advance the settlement into a village. I had already purchased everything about 5 kilometers in each direction. 100 sq kilometers? Sounds like a lot. Not really. If I manage to fill every square inch with something it’d look positively massive. Plans were made to build the NorthWest fortification first, then the South West. As the two Eastern fortifications would sit rather close to each other and the Valkyr were on that flank I wasn’t in a big rush to build those ones.

Eli had already sent a team each out to find the Dwarven refugees and this other mystery race of refugees that was stuck somewhere out on the rez. According to the Freya, the Dwarves should have been close behind them. I wanted to know what I was up against, but, another part of me felt it didn’t much matter. Either way I was planning to head over to Flagstaff by midday tomorrow. Michelle had already taken the other half of my team to link up with what remained of Nandi’s. It seemed her team was caught out in the night and set upon by some of these Red Bands. They managed to kill two of her team before they could even fight back. Seeing as we were pretty much found out, I planned to hit them within the next forty eight hours.

“We’re here.” Junipher said as a hand reached up over her head to run her fingers through my beard and get my attention. She knew I was locked in deep thought and had taken to guiding Kaia while I sorted my mind out.

A pair of overturned tractor trailers formed a barricade on Hipkoe Drive at the North edge of the overpass, and a deer blind was positioned behind the trailers with a man sitting atop it. We walked all the way up to the man who stirred only with the snort of someone who was in deep sleep. What is with all these perimeter guards sleeping in the middle of a monster apocalypse!?

I waited a moment and stared hard at the man to see if his instinct would wake him up. It did not. “You think he’ll wake up on his own anytime soon?”

“No, my dear, impatient man, he’s in a good dream.” She smiled at me with her head upturned.

I drew my 9mm, ejected the magazine, then loudly ejected the round onto the ground. It bounced across the cement with a series of sharp ‘tink’ noises until it came to rest between us. The man flinched at that then slowly cracked his eyes. When he saw us through his narrow slit vision his eyes shot open in surprise and he fumbled for his rifle that was resting against the back of the chair he sat in. He began to sputter and mumble and I cut him off before he could form the sentence on his tongue.

“Get whoever’s in charge over here. We have business to discuss.” I said flatly while Junipher absentmindedly tangled her fingers through my beard. He looked at me warily before deciding to do as I directed. Soon a gathering of hundreds of people formed behind the car and truck barricade trying to get a good look at us. No one spoke to us, but I could hear the low buzz of excitement across the large gathering.

Most of the people gathered were dirty and malnourished. And it was clear that there were two groups. I looked over the overpass we stood on and down into the highway that was strewn with wrecked and abandoned cars and figured that a lot of these people had taken refuge up here. A large black man and a diminutive looking older woman finally approached through the gathered crowd. The woman was engaged in a conversation with the larger black man, though when she finally saw me she froze.

I watched as her eyes glazed over briefly and assumed she had scanned my info sheet. She knew who I was, and I thought to scan her back and decided I didn’t really care. It was clear she was in charge of this group and I’d let her introduce herself properly. Junipher explained that it was considered rude to most beings to be scanned. Though it wasn’t uncommon to gather information about people in other ways. It seemed anyone deemed a high profile individual would have their information posted on the Universal Network. She was certain that info about Alyssa and myself was available for all to see already.

I chuckled inwardly as the woman consumed the information about me and Junipher. The realization that she was horribly outclassed spread across her face then faded as she steeled herself. When I felt she had gathered her emotions I finally addressed her directly.

“I’m assuming you're the leader of this group, it also seems you already know who I am, might I get your name?”

“Oh, ah, of course. I’m Colleen, and this is my right hand man, Ed.” She introduced herself and the tall black man next to her. “What is it we can do for you?”

“That’s easy, join my settlement.”

Colleen looked at the man confused, everyone had seen the mushroom clouds and assumed the settlement had been vaporized. Now this man was here asking everyone to join. It didn’t make sense. And she had no intention of leaving her home. “I’m sorry, we all saw the small mushroom clouds, is anything actually standing?”

I grimaced when she brought up the incident with the mis-labeled pistol then let out a quiet laugh. “Yeah, it’s still standing, my enemies are not.” I decided to be intentionally vague and foreboding with that.

“Well, what’s the catch? What if we don’t want to come to your little settlement?” Colleen asked, not bothering to hide her suspicious tone.

Another woman pushed forward from the other larger group with a man in tow, “Is it safe? Is there food?” The woman had a tinge of despair mixed with hope in her voice.

“Anna, Mike, let us talk to this man, please.” The big man stepped towards the two new speakers trying to regain control of the discussion for Colleen. Colleen just looked at the woman and man with an expression I couldn’t quite read. There’s some animosity there. Good for me, or bad?

“We’re barely holding on here, Ed. Colleen, you know it’s true. We can’t all hold up in the Church and School forever either. You people have been kind and considerate but you know we can’t stay here.” I was glad I decided to take a step back from the conversation as the man, who I assumed to be Mike, piped in beside his woman and gave me a larger piece of the picture.

“Damn it, Anna, Mike, we don’t know who this guy is and what strings are attached to his offer.” Colleen sighed in frustration at the two. I noticed the groups had segregated further and figured I had enough information to put it all together.

“Lemme guess, you, Colleen, represent the people that actually live here. I’m assuming you have no intention of leaving your houses, seeing as you turtled up quite well. And you, Anna and Mike, I assume are speaking for everyone who fled the highway when that six legged giant ass lizard went to smashing and eating its way up the highway?”

The gathered representatives looked at each other then me and nodded their heads. Colleen looked around and realized the human refugees that were packed into the school and church far outnumbered her people, she hung her head in pseudo-defeat and patted Ed on his shoulder.

"I can’t make people’s decisions for them, I won’t leave my home, where I lived with my husband, and raised my children. I lost James and Cliff a few days ago. I can’t leave.” Her sigh was incredibly sad and she lacked the fire she presented before her recent admission.

“How’d they die?” I asked, but the woman had already turned into Ed’s big shoulders to cry. A keen strangled wail broke from her throat as the woman who had clearly been holding the group together, emotionally crumbled in an instant. The facade of strength dissolving in front of her people.

Anna stepped towards me and began to speak quietly, “About every other day we are attacked by these…” Her explanation was cut shore by a cry of alarm from deeper within the housing development.

“SCORPIONS!”