The only experience I had defending bases was digital. I’d played tons of turn-based strategy games, and a smaller selection of real-time strategy titles.

This was very different from both of those.

I’m not referring to the difference in stakes. Yeah, there was an obvious divide between fun entertainment and a life-and-death struggle, but that was... trite? The stakes of the conflict didn't necessarily mean the conflict itself wasn't similar.

The difference that immediately struck me wasn't what was at risk, but the difference in clarity.

In any sort of video game, there might be confusion about what was coming, but there was rarely any sort of confusion about what resources you had. Your soldiers were neatly sorted into groups, and each group had a distinct title that succinctly summed up what they could offer to the battle: Archers, Pikemen, Warriors, Priests, Mages. You knew what capabilities your units had. You knew where they were at all times. You could send instantaneous and precise orders, which would always reach their intended targets and never be misconstrued.

Here, every person who arrived was different. There were Combat Groups, yes, but they were intentionally mixed. There was nothing tidy like Combat Group A being all healers, or Group B being all Archers, or Group C being a focused group of stealthy scouts. No, each group had some close-up fighters, some ranged damage dealers, and some healers… and very few people with anything in the way of scouting capabilities.

Many of the Combat Groups had taken up residence in the empty houses of my street, and a few were already outside when I emerged. There were at least a hundred people waiting, and the crowd was swiftly growing as more people ducked out of doors and hurried Shopward from nearby streets.

The size of the gathering crowd sent a wave of uncertainty through me. What right did I have to make life-and-death decisions for so many? Even as I thought that, though, I could see a few people pointing me out to each other. Others were watching me carefully. I was already seen as an authority; I could choose not to take up that authority, to hope someone else did and to hope that person was confident… but that would also be a choice, and I’d be just as culpable for whatever resulted. I’d just be less capable of influencing the result.

No point in wasting time. Nothing about this situation would be made better by waiting. At least an attack by other people was something I’d thought about, one of the numerous horrible scenarios that kept me from falling asleep at night. How good my plans were, I didn’t know, but at least I had some.

I walked over to my garage and jumped to catch the sloped lip of the roof, a jump that went farther than it would have before I’d gotten my fifth ability. I kicked my feet against the garage door and struggled my way up, a feat of athletic prowess that would have been utterly impossible a few weeks before. I did knock the gutter loose with my right foot as I climbed over the edge, casual vandalism of my home I couldn’t bring myself to care about. If that gutter damage was in my top hundred problems when dawn came, it would be a shining victory.

I took a few steps, wedging one foot in the crevasse where the roof of my garage met the slope over my front door and planting the other foot higher up. I took a deep breath, not tired from the exertion, but trying to master the exhilarating trickle of stage fright. I put my hands on my hips, trying for an aura of confidence, and pulsed Draw Attention. It was the first time I’d truly used my new upgrade, the one that let me target everyone I saw.

Rather than the several seconds a single-target use granted, using the ability this way caused more of a stutter. Everyone whirled to look at me, but I could see several people look away immediately, surprised that the people next to them had turned, too. My actions did cause a lull in the conversation, as people cut off their speech in surprise.

I jumped into that lull, projecting my voice as far as I could.

“Alright, people! You heard the Announcement; a hostile group is coming for the Shop. We don’t know what their intentions are, but we know they’ve killed before. We can’t let our primary source of food and water fall into their hands. First things first: let’s get all the kids out of here! Each Combat Group should choose one adult to take the kids east, away from the battle.”

I didn’t try to define what a child was; that was for each kid and each parent to determine themselves. It was obvious in some cases, but I wasn’t going to try to tell Alexandra whether Sofia should stay or go.

“Next order of business: healers!” I shouted. “Everyone with Healing Touch and fewer than three abilities, I want you right next to the Shop. You’ll be our last line of defense, but also our hospital. Healers on the frontlines will stabilize any critical injuries, but we’ll try to leave the bulk of the healing to you. All healers: feel free to use water to clean wounds if you have time, but don’t waste energy on Cleanse. We have plenty of people with Cure Disease if people get infected. Your job is to keep them alive today so that infections are possible tomorrow.”

“Along the same lines: Force Shield! You guys are critical. Don’t waste your energy throwing Fire Bolts and not have enough to protect your friends. Feel free to throw Force Shields out to trip enemies, however.”

A faint susurration passed through the crowd at my words. I assumed that many hadn’t considered using the ability that way, but it seemed obvious to me; if a Force Shield could stop a leaping leafenrat, it could trip a human being.

“Attackers of all sorts! We have reason to believe that if we take the Dragons down - the people with the scales - that the people with them without scales may back off. While I’m not going to tell anyone to pull punches, I am going to ask people to focus on taking down the Dragons themselves if possible. I want ranged damage-dealers from groups A through G to the barricades on Russet, and H through O to the barricades on Azure. We can’t be sure where the enemy is going to approach just yet, so you’ll almost certainly be redeployed later. Be ready for orders to move. When you fire at the enemy, aim for the eyes. They’ll likely be able to heal the damage, but it will give them time where they can’t fight back. Close combat specialists from A through C will go to Russet, D through F will go to Azure. All other close combat specialists will stay near the Shop for defense and to get ready to help boost ranged specialists onto roofs if it turns out our enemies aren’t taking either approach.”

“One last thing before we move out: I want everyone with certain abilities to meet me in my driveway for further discussion. I need to talk to Telekinesis users, anyone with an debilitating ability like Blind or Paralyze, and anyone with any form of distant surveillance or communication. Everyone else, move out!”

An inspiring speech, it wasn’t. But I didn’t think I’d crushed anyone’s morale, and I’d at least given clear and actionable orders. When I told them to move out, the stilled crowd swarmed into motion like a kicked anthill.

I lowered myself off the roof, dropping the last few feet to the ground. Tamara was nearby, gray curls fluffing out under the edge of a military-style helmet.

“Can you grab a few helpers and start sorting new people? Not everyone will have heard me.”

She nodded. “No problem.

“Good.” I sagged a little. “When will your husband be back here? Do we know where the Dragons are headed?”

“I just heard from him. The Dragons’ group is almost to County Line, and they seem lined up to head for the neighborhood entrance. There’s a good chance they’ll come down Russet. The house Dane is camped in is closer to Viridian, so he might just stay put. If he can contact the rescue group, they can probably split up - keep some guarding the former hostages, but send the rest up to us as reinforcements.”

“That makes sense,” I said.

It did. The colonel’s personal combat ability wasn’t high, and he’d be better able to spy on the enemy if he wasn’t being swamped with the duties of command. Aside from his Clairvoyance, our best scouting abilities belonged to teens and preteens, and I wasn’t in a rush to send them ahead alone.

If only it didn’t leave me in charge of hundreds of people.

"Let me know if he has any suggestions or advice. I couldn’t keep the strain out of my voice.

“Will do,” she said. “He thinks you’ve got a sensible approach so far, for whatever it’s worth. He’s keeping an eye on you. I’m sure you’ll hear from him if he sees anything he has questions about.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly. It helped, a little, knowing that I wasn’t totally unsupervised.

He had lots of things to watch though. I couldn’t afford to be careless, assuming he’d catch my mistakes.

I shook myself, walking past Tamara. A group of people were gathering on my driveway, watching us with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety.

Waiting for… me.