When morning came, Lucky ached. His entire body felt like a bruise and he groaned when he tried to roll to his feet. Instead his head flopped back down on the bed and he cracked one eye open to glare at the sun streaming in the bedroom windows. His eye slipped closed only to crack back open when he felt little paws pressing against his cheek. He rolled one eye to look over at Quick. The squirrel’s delicate paws gently stroked Lucky’s cheek.

“You okay, Lucky?” He chittered. “I’ve been worried. You slept a long time.”

“I’m okay. Just sore. I think maybe I over did it during the fight.”

“You protected all of us. Girl and I watched from the front window. She was so scared, I could feel her trembling.”

“I’m sorry I scared you guys,” Lucky said, trying again to roll to his feet. This time, despite the protests of his body, he made it up onto his belly. “I think we need to figure out some defenses. Maybe walls or something.” He chuffed out a breath and dropped his frontlegs off the bed to stand on. His shoulder was stiff where it had been injured, but otherwise had fully healed. His hindlegs stretched out behind him as he slowly walked his way off the bed. He yawned hugely, tongue lolling. His teeth snapped together with a click a moment later and he shook his head followed by his entire body. “I’m starved.” He chittered, licking his lips. “Let’s go see what’s for breakfast.”

Quick lead the way, bounding out the door and climbing up to the railing with speed that went right along with his name. Lucky moved gingerly as he made his way down the stairs, taking them one stiff-legged step at a time. In the living room at the bottom of the stairs, dogs were sprawled everywhere. The room was filled with soft snores and restful breathing. Lucky moved through the room quietly, following the bounding squirrel into the kitchen at the back of the house. Gran, Man, and Girl were seated at the breakfast table nestled in the bay window.

“Mornin’, Lucky.” Girl said around a mouthful of fresh pancakes. “You hungry?”

“Yes. So’s Quick.”

“I’ll get your breakfast ready.”

“Thanks.”

He walked over to flop down in front of the back door. Sprawling on his side even though he knew it would be hell getting up again. He groaned and stretched his legs and his back.

“You okay?” Girl asked as she filled his bowl with kibble and added something to it. She made up a second, smaller, bowl for Quick filled with birdseed.

“Yeah. Just sore, a little tired. We need to get everyone together and talk about what we should do. I don’t think those are the last things we’re going to see and we need to figure out what to do about it. About a dozen dogs, nearly three dozen people, a handful of cats and a squirrel might not be enough to protect ourselves. That wasn’t an easy fight.”

“We’ll set something up for later in the morning. All the dogs are exhausted.” Girl said.

Lucky huffed out a breath as she set the foodbowl in front of him. “I understand they are tired, but we have a lot to do. The dogs need to learn how to read.” His muscles cried as he rolled to his stomach and took the first bite of his sausage sprinkled breakfast.

Girl almost laughed. “The dogs need to read?”

He swallowed. “Yes. They can’t read the screens, they can’t make choices. They don’t know what their abilities and skills are at. We can’t compare classes and help them make choices if they can’t tell us what the options are.”

“I can help them.” Gran said as Girl rejoined them at the table and went back to her pancakes. “I’m still not quite used to the idea of talking dogs, but we better get them reading sooner rather than later.”

“One of the biggest things we should probably do is get a list going of what everyone’s attributes and skills are.” Girl said. She put her fork down as she looked between Gran and Man. “When Lucky was offered classes, they seemed to fit his spirit. Who he is, you know? But they also built off the skills he worked on. At least, I think so.”

“That’s a good point.” Man said. “We should consider what roles need filling and see if we can guide people toward those roles.”

“But what are the roles? What’s important?” Gran asked. “The world has changed a lot in my lifetime, but in the last day…” She shook her head.

“We don’t really know what the future holds.” Man said. “How can we plan for an unknown?”

Lucky’s brows drew together as he looked up from his nearly empty bowl. “We plan for the worst. What is the worst that could happen? Our worst outcome?”

“The news is talking this morning about rioting and looting. Those things that attacked here last night appeared all over the world, sweeping through every nation.” Gran said.

“I read on reddit that some people are taking apart the remains of those things and trying to figure them out.” Girl said. “We should do that too.”

“Right, but that isn’t what I’m getting at.” Lucky turned away from his bowl and the kibble still lining the bottom and sat next to the table. “What is the absolute worst outcome that you could think of?”

“If the rest of the world was gone and all we had was ourselves.” Girl answered.

“Okay. So what do we need to survive that?” Lucky asked.

Girl opened her mouth to answer, but Gran spoke first. “Let’s get a couple of notebooks and some pens before we really start hashing this out. We’ve got a lot of planning to do.”

“We need to get the others in on this.” Man said. “This isn’t some sort of dictatorship.”

“Let’s get that meeting set up.” Gran suggested. “I’ll get started on a nice chicken stew for dinner. Issa, why don’t you help me get some bread going for dinner. We should be able to feed everyone in the dooryard at lunchtime. I have some lunch meats and we’d better eat them before they go bad. We’ve got an awful lot of perishables to get through.”

“Sure.” Girl said. “Dad, will you let everyone else know to meet us at lunchtime?”

“Absolutely.” He cleared his place, dropping a kiss on Girl’s head as he passed. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Lucky crunched the last few kibbles and stretched his aching body one more time. “I’m going to walk the rest of the border really quick before everyone else wakes up.”

“Shouldn’t we wake up all the dogs for the meeting?” Girl asked.

“They’ll be up by then. They can eat while we meet. Last night was very hard. I’m sure they’re all sore in more ways than they can count. Let them sleep.” Lucky said.

“What about you?” Girl asked. “Are you sure you want to go running the borders?”

“I need to. The voice told me to finish marking the border.” Lucky stretched. “When everyone’s awake I’ll try to heal them some more. I think we could all use it.”

“Be careful out there.”

“You just think of what we’d need in the worst case. We’ll plan for the worst and pray for the best.” Lucky said as he pawed open the back door. He creaked his way down the three back stairs and walked a few steps across the lawn. He took care of his business before carefully and slowly falling into a jog and then an easy lope.

They set up a large square of buffet tables, scrubbing them clean after pulling them from the depths of the machine shed. The dogs and people were milling about the dooryard together, waiting for the meal to start. Lucky trotted out of the woods just as Girl and Gran brought the first load of sandwiches out of the house. As soon as he walked into the dooryard the voice spoke to him.

**DA-DING!! You have fully claimed Granny Lachlan’s Farm!!

**DA-DING!! Congratulations! You have founded the first settlement! You have gained 1000 experience and the trait Founder.**

**DA-DING!! You have advanced to level 2 in your primary class [Howling Shepherd of the Flock]. You have gained +4 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +4 Charisma, and +4 Willpower!!**

Founder

You were the first to found a settlement since the emergence of the system.

Allied skills and abilities are especially effective while within claimed territory.

Lucky’s tail wagged as the voice spoke and he was quite pleased with the new trait. It would definitely help them defend their territory. He joined the dogs laying in the sunny dirt and watched the people prepare for lunch. The dogs had already eaten their lunches, if Lucky could judge by the empty bowls that littered the dooryard. Allegro was passed out on her back with her belly up and her paws splayed in every direction. Calypso snored like a lawnmower. Lucky was bemused as he flopped down among them.

The people ate their lunches, chatting amicably. As they finished, Lucky stood and unleashed a [Healing Howl]. He could feel the warm glow of healing energy flowing through him and he savored the sensation as he walked under the table and into the middle of the empty square of tables. All the dogs followed him into the central area. “Good afternoon, everyone.” His tail wagged as he sat down. “I’m going to act as a translator for the dogs. I think it’s important that we all know what’s going on.”

“Before we really begin,” He continued. “Last night after we defended our home, I was offered the option of claiming the farm. We are now considered a settlement. I’m not quite sure what that means, but I gained a trait. Founder allows all allies’ skills and abilities to be more effective while in our claimed territory.”

“That sounds great.” Girl said.

Some of the people looked a little… unsettled. Lucky wondered what could be bothering them as he repeated his words and Girl’s response for the dogs. When Man began speaking, he continued translating. Luckily, a lot of canine communications aren’t exactly verbal.

“Thanks for coming to the meeting. My family and I were discussing this morning what we needed to do, what we were expecting. We have an opportunity, right now, to plan for the future. Most of us don’t have classes yet and we can perhaps guide ourselves into classes we want. Isobel thinks that Lucky’s classes he was offered fit his personality and the kinds of skills he had gained. Each class also mentioned certain things he had done that qualified him for the class. I think we should get a written record of what everyone’s skills, attributes, and traits are and see where we might be able to use them. Where we might guide the growth toward the roles we need filled.”

“What roles?” One of the women asked.

“That’s one of the things we want to talk about today.” Man responded. “Lucky has suggested that we plan and prepare for the worst possible future. That way we’re prepared to survive the worst this End will throw at us and we will thrive in anything less.”

“So what’s the worst outcome?” Lady asked. Vinny sat next to her with his head on her lap and she gently stroked his ears.

“In my opinion,” Man said. “The worst would be if everything beyond this farm were wiped out and we could only rely on what we could produce for ourselves. We’re going to need to become self-sufficient if we want to survive in a world like that.”

“What about nuclear war?” One of the men asked. Lucky was horrible at identifying humans outside of his closest circle.

Man nodded his head. “I think we should consider outcomes like that, but I’m not certain that sort of event is survivable.”

The man who had asked the question nodded his head. “I think you’re probably right. There’s not really anything we could build here that would be good enough to keep us safe long enough to survive nuclear fallout.”

“So, what else should we consider as the worst case?” Man asked.

“Well,” Said a different man thoughtfully. “I think that the loss of all humanity outside this farm is one of the worst things that could happen, certainly, but what if everything outside this farm was hostile and void of humanity?”

“We have to protect our home.” Vinny said. “Protect our people.”

Lucky stopped translating from human to dog and started going the opposite way. All of the people around the hollow square of tables looked toward the dogs.

“Can we talk about that?” One of the women asked.

“About what?” Man’s brow was slightly furrowed.

“There is a talking dog at this strategy meeting. A talking dog. Is no one else bothered by this?” The woman continued, “I mean we’re listening to dogs. Can dogs really reason?”

Lucky tilted his head and looked up at the woman’s eyes. He drew in a deep breath, testing her scent so he would remember her. “I can reason. We can all reason. Just because until recently, we couldn’t talk to you with words, doesn’t mean we couldn’t communicate.”

“But you’re still dogs.” She protested.

Lucky’s brow furrowed even deeper. “I don’t understand.” He admitted.

“Of course you don’t.” She said. “It doesn’t matter. Moving on.” She gave a flippant gesture toward Man.

“Right.” Man said. He too wore a frown. “Vinny isn’t wrong, though. We do need to make it so that we can protect our people from whatever is out there.”

“I suggest we build a wall.” Another man spoke up.

“Okay, where can we get materials?” Lobo’s Man asked.

“Stores are still open and I suggest we try to take advantage of that for as long as we can.” One of the women said. Lucky vowed to find out everyone’s names and associations as soon as possible.

“Great idea.” Man said. “Shall we pool our resources and send people into the city to gather up everything they can? Materials, tools, non-perishables, toilet paper. You know, things like that.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Lobo’s Man said.

“Everyone?” Man said, lifting his hand. Other hands around the table went up and he counted them. “Ayes have it, nearly unanimous. Okay, that’s one order of business. Let’s make the rest of this quick so we can send a team to town.”

“I think we should write down everything we know about the system and about each of our sheets.” Girl said.

Surprisingly, it was Lobo’s Man that protested. “I don’t know that we should tell each other everything about our screens. That’s a lot of information to be just giving away. It’s possible it could be used against us some way, especially if it is written down.”

“That’s a good point.” Man conceded. “How about we write down all the skills, traits, and classes names and descriptions, but not who has them? We should all come up with roles that will need filling if we don’t have anyone outside of this farm we can count on.”

Lady cleared her throat and everyone looked toward her. There was a certain force in being the eldest person in the room. “I say we all go our own way and make a list of all the roles we think will need filled. Tomorrow noon, we’ll get together again and compare our lists. That’ll give us a good start for the discussion.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Man said. “Everyone?” He raised his hand and glanced around, counting. “Ayes again, unanimous.”

“Alright.” Lobo’s man said, “Who’s coming with me into the city.” A surprising number of hands shot up. Lobo nodded. “Let’s get moving then. Anyone not going that wants to put money into the pot, give it to someone who’s going. We’ll be leaving in thirty minutes.”

Lobo’s Man seemed to easily slip into a leadership role. Perhaps he would make a good person for a leadership role. Lobo started to trot away from the gathering of dogs to follow his master. “Wait.” Lucky called to him. “We’re going to work on speaking and reading English. This will help you understand the system.”

Lobo turned back to rejoin the crowd of dogs. “Gran, Lady, and Girl have agreed to help us. I’ll be working on the language with you all since I can translate between the people and the dogs.” His tail started wagging. “Ooh! Maybe I can convince Gran to give us treats if we do well. I’d do anything for Gran’s treats!”