It took more than a few uses of to get Jacob to the point where he wasn’t going to try to kill me as soon as my back was turned. Subsequently, he was amenable enough. Even helpful.

One of the big problems with this entire set-up was the utter lack of communication. On some level, I suspected that was the point. Cutting off our phones, enabling voice chat at the last minute, it all felt like an intentional move to cut down the likelihood of coordination between regions.

I voiced this thought to Jacob, and he nodded along thoughtfully. He made something of a strange image, now that he wasn’t trying to shoot me. His ratty button-down shirt was complimented by denim shorts that were soaked red with blood. Despite the rather terrifying aftermath still visible, his injuries seemed all but healed.

“Skinny alien man is trying to get us to go all Lord of the Flies,” Jacob said. “Scare the hell out of people, limit access to food, then put weapons in their hands.”

For a person who was trying to curb stomp me less than fifteen minutes ago, that was surprisingly astute. “Well, it’s clearly working.”

“People up top are always trying to get the less-complicated folk to scrabble at the bottom. It’s nothing new.” Jacob winced, shifting from side to side. He gave me a worried look. “My group project might have turned into a solo-venture.”

I blinked. “You mean—“

“Yeh. Other one’s all numb. Can’t find it.” Jacob reached down, and I made a pointed effort to not watch what he was doing as he adjusted himself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him jump up and down, then give a little hip shake. “It’s probably just rescinded or something.”

“Oh yeah, of course. Probably fine.”

There was an awkward pause.

“There’s been plenty of people who did okay with only one, right?” Jacob asked.

“Uh. Sure. Napoleon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lance Armstrong—“ I winced. “Maybe not Lance Armstrong.”

“Or the other guy.”

“Or him, yeah.”

I really needed to get moving, but I was trying to give Jacob room to breathe. He cocked his head.

“Would you consider Tom Green successful?” Jacob thought out loud.

“We should really get back to the matter at hand,” I finally interjected.

“You got it, boss.”

That was the second time since I’d healed his injury and revealed ways for us to coordinate that Jacob had called me boss. It wasn’t a thought I’d put in his head. I’d initially assumed it was a colloquial fluke, yet he seemed to be rolling with it. All around us, the civilians were slowly coming back. The threatening, dangerous vibe had diminished somewhat, but was still there. They seemed to look at the others I’d left on the ground, now sitting uncomfortably on the curb, and realize they’d dodged a bullet. Still, I kept one hand on my satchel.

Jacob turned to address them. “I think, after what just happened, it's time to change things up. A lone User almost wiped us out. The only way we keep that from happening again is by shifting strategies. Our first big problem: these.” He cued me, and I held up the bag of lux. “There isn’t a way to hide them. Even at an off angle, you can probably make a ballpark guess of how many are inside this bag.”

“Why is he still here?” Someone asked. It was the woman I’d fired through. She was still sitting on the curb, recovering, but had leaned forward, a mean look in her eye.

I cleared my throat and stepped forward. Even through the mask, I felt the jittery nerves from public speaking. “People are dying. We need to end this as soon as possible. Right now, everyone’s acting independently. There’s no way of monitoring which regions have lux, and which regions are tapped out. That’s where all of you come in.”

Jacob, sensing I was struggling, stepped up. “Same setup. Scouts, communications, people posted everywhere. The difference is, we track any Users passing through our regions and let them through.”

There was a clambering of anger that went through the crowd. Jacob held up his hands. “I know, we’re all angry and scared. It’s not fair that most of our people took off, but we have alternatives. Once the User heavy areas are fortified, our friend here expects them to fan out, help fortify the rest of the regions.”

If there’s actually enough for all of them.

It didn’t feel good leaving that out. I started to speak, fighting through an errant stutter. “I-if any of you have friends or family in other regions, contact them through voice chat. We need people at the receptacles counting, and other people watching for the flow of lux.”

A woman raised her hand. “I know someone in region fifteen.”

“My ex-wife’s in twelve.”

I stepped away and pulled up the interface to send a message.

Jacob and Sara did most of the organization, although the former didn’t seem to like the latter very much. I grew more confident in my selection of Jacob as a representative by the minute. He had a real understanding of his community, and was able to silence any dissenting voices, either logically or by rampant use of profanity.

Before I left, we had initial cooperation from region 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 17, and 19. Even in regions that were User heavy, the civilians were itching for something to do. Surprisingly, none of the regions had declined. We just didn’t have a way to get in touch with the missing ones.

I’d toggled the mental switch, ensuring that they didn’t all forget me the moment I walked away. Jacob was juggling voice chat and his radio when I began to make my exit. A few eyes followed me, but it wasn’t with the same hungriness as before.

I pulled my motorcycle off the ground for the second time, wincing at the damage my two untimely dismounts had done to the paint. I really had to stop dropping it like that, or there was a good chance of more than just cosmetic damage.

A man in khakis and balding brown hair ran up to me. I nearly drew my crossbow, but stopped at the last second, hand tense at my side.

“Problem?”

“Which direction are you heading?” He asked.

“… South.” I’m not certain why I answered. Something about his panic felt authentic, like there wasn’t an agenda behind him asking.

“Going through region six by chance?”

Region six was slightly out of my way, but only slightly. “Could be. Why?”

“My kid, his wife, and a few friends I have there went quiet. And it’s not just me. A few of us have family there and no one's saying shit.”

I tapped my fingers on the grips of my bike, voicing a “hm.” From a cautious perspective, that sounded bad. The sort of thing I should stay away from. Still, I didn’t like how close it was to my home and if there was something either disrupting communications or wiping out entire regions, I needed to know about it.

“Can’t promise anything other than sticking my head-in, won’t have time to find anyone in particular.” I said to the balding man.

He nodded, face still tinged with worry.

With that, I started my bike and took off in the direction of my apartment complex.

/////

I was worried I’d wasted too much time with Jacob and the rest of region fourteen on a hypothetical that wouldn’t work in practice. In reality, it started paying dividends almost immediately. It helped that region 15—being centrally located—had finished with their receptacle and immediately went to assist the neighboring regions, including Jacob’s. There was no visible change when the region was fortified. I hoped that fortification meant monsters would at the very least stop spawning or be banished altogether.

I glanced over my map. There were a few marked areas around region six, but it was one of the lux-poor regions overall. I wondered if—

A feeling of danger brought my focus up front. It wasn’t It was something more primal, more visceral. At first, I couldn’t find it. There was a small cluster of demons shredding what looked like the remains of a person on a sidewalk corner on my left, but they were preoccupied. The feeling wasn’t coming from them. I was almost at a loss before I looked upward.

Ahead was a simple office building I’d passed by a hundred times before. Only there was something wrong with it.

No windows.

Keeping to my early commitment to stop throwing the bike around like it owed me money, I came to a slow, uneasy stop a few yards away on the map from the beginning of region six.

When I moved one foot to the ground, there was a resounding squelch. I looked down. A wave of nausea and revulsion went through me, stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.

I called Sara.

“Hello?” Sara said.

“Keep…” I trailed off, swallowing bile. “Keep your people the hell away from region six.”