Solomon and Kanmi worked together to move the motel room's dresser in front of the door. It wasn't bolted in place, but moving it was awkward with only three hands between the two of them. They kept at it, though, and soon enough their makeshift barricade was in place.

It probably violated some local ordinance or another, but under the circumstances Solomon thought the fire marshal would understand.

The motel room was sparsely furnished. There were the two twin beds, a non-functional television on the wall, and now a line of scratches leading from where the dresser had been to the door. They moved the borrowed cot to the foot of the bed and flipped it open. Monty had grabbed some bedding, and Solomon figured he should be the one to make the bed. He had the proper training, after all.

They had just sat back down on their respective beds to rest when the sound of running water coming from the bathroom stopped. A moment later, Monty stepped back into the room. Freshly scrubbed and wearing clean clothes, he looked younger than Solomon had expected.

The system healing did good work. The only sign that Monty had suffered any injury at all was the haunted look in his eyes.

"Feeling better?" Solomon asked.

Monty sighed and sat down on the cot. "I knew that cat,"

"The System doesn't usually mess with pets," Kanmi said. He started working at the latches of his armor, apparently trusting in the dresser to keep them safe. A t-shirt and sweat pants slowly came to view as he took off the armor plates one by one.

"It was a stray," Monty said. "I'd give it milk sometimes."

He stared off into space for a moment. Then he shook himself, and looked around the room.

"What's going on? Who are you guys?" Monty asked, then gestured at the light Kanmi had left on the bedside table. "What are these lights? Just, just, I don't understand."

Solomon scratched his chin while he thought. Those were some big questions. With a shrug, he decided to begin at the beginning.

"You get the system message?" Solomon asked.

"That blue box?" Monty asked, then nodded. "Yeah."

"You run into anything?" Solomon asked. "Before the cat, I mean."

He didn't hold out high hopes for Monty having completed the tutorial grid yet. If he'd at least explored the system a little bit on his own, though, it would be a lot easier to explain.

"I went outside after the internet and tv died. Some crazy little thing came at me. I kicked it away and went back into the office," Monty said. "Thought I'd just wait it out until things went back to normal."

Solomon sighed. It was an understandable reaction, but the system almost seemed like it was designed to punish inaction. Sitting around and waiting for somebody else to fix things was a good way to get eaten by some monster or other.

"This is normal," Kanmi said. "The System isn't going anywhere."

Monty just stared at them. He looked like he wanted to argue, but he couldn't come up with anything to say.

Solomon leaned forward. "Look, you know anybody here in walking distance?"

"Yeah," Monty said, "a few people."

"We'll help you get to them tomorrow," Solomon said. "Then you guys have to get yourselves down to Glide."

There was no way he'd be able to take Monty under his wing for any length of time. He and Kanmi were already going to have a hell of a time getting his family transported safely from Eugene back to Solomon's territory.

Still, he could offer a bit of help to get Monty on his feet without going too far out of his way. Every person who managed to get to Glide was a person who would be working towards building up a free human community instead of being coopted by alien colonists.

"Glide?" Monty asked, confused.

"They've got their act together," Solomon said. "You need to get somewhere safe before things get dangerous."

Monty just stared at him for a moment, then glanced to the side. Solomon followed the line of his vision and saw the bloody rags sitting in a pile on the floor.

Solomon clicked his tongue and amended the statement. "More dangerous."

He reached forward and patted Monty on the shoulder, then stood and made his way to the shower. He hoped he wasn't just selling Monty a bill of goods. There was certainly a real possibility that Glide would fall to the alien invaders in the end. At least they had a chance, though. There was no way that he and Kanmi would be able to coach Monty up into tackling a dungeon, not if they had a week to do it.

Solomon braced himself, but the shock of the cold water still made him jump. He gritted his teeth and bore with it, doing his best to get himself clean with one hand as quickly as he could.

If Monty was any indication, Solomon was pretty far ahead of the curve. Even the guys down in Glide who seemed to have their act together hadn't gotten much farther than finishing the tutorial grid.

The thought that he was one of the strongest people in the world didn't bring Solomon much comfort. Earth was no longer a world where humans only had to compete with each other to succeed. Instead, humans would have to rely on each other to fight off aliens who were coming into the situation with every advantage. If nobody else out there was way out in front of Solomon's mastery of the system, that meant nobody else was going to shoulder the load. It was up to him to do as much as he could.

Solomon finished rinsing the shampoo from his hair and turned off the water. He reached for the towel, then paused and checked his status sheet.

Name: Solomon Gragg

Skills: Pain Tolerance (MAX), Improvised Weapons Mastery (MAX), Bladed Weapons Mastery (5), Explosives (3), Marksmanship (1)

Grids: Tutorial (6/6)

Field Engineering (7/7), Personal Equipment (9/9), Weapons (11/11), Projectile Weapons (13/13), Firearms (15/15)

Bladed Weapons (7/7), Duelist (9/9), One-handed Weapons (11/11)

Marksmanship (7/7), Sharpshooter (9/9), Sniper (11/11), One Shot (13/13)

Explosives (7/7)

Free grid points: 3

Strength: 19

Constitution: 20

Dexterity: 35

M. Capacity: 10

M. Intensity: 15

Free attribute points: 0

HP: 200/200

MP: 100/100

He'd gotten a lot out of the system already. His physical stats were all way higher than they had been the moment the system activated. It wasn't just numbers on a sheet, either. Solomon was noticeably stronger, faster, and had more endurance than he had before. And that wasn't even mentioning the abilities the system had granted him: he could spend MP to reshape system materials, to move quicker, and to enhance the damage and accuracy of gunfire.

He'd gained a lot. But it wasn't going to be enough for what was coming. He'd been flying by the seat of his pants so far. It was about time he came up with a plan. He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to get there, but he knew that his next goal would be to finish out the top level Marksmanship grid.