The Mayor struck the cheap wooden table with the gavel, the too-dense sound carrying through the crowded room, cutting a silence through the sweaty mix of slowly rising voices.

After being silenced by her class ability, many of the owners of those voices stared at the Mayor with barely disguised contempt. She had been popular enough, before the Sorry System (as many of the more vocal locals had started calling it) kicked on, but now she was, at best, tolerated, and at worst, reviled. Having a class ability that magically forced everyone who considered themself a member of the community to stop talking had that effect.

Very few of them stopped to consider that she and her staff had been trying to call the room to order for several minutes.

They had not wanted to use the megaphones in the crowded auditorium. Belonging to the It was the only building in town big enough to hold everyone who wanted to attend, but it was a cheap, square building constructed from cinder blocks, and it was an understatement to say that it had an echo. The noise from the crowd had been rising slowly, which increased the echoing, and in turn, the crowd increased their volume to be heard…

No, megaphones would have been worse.

All the same, though, the crowd of angry citizens did not see it that way, and the Mayor could feel the heat of their glares cutting through the air. She could feel them pressing against her class ability, and she spoke quickly, hoping to curtail their rising restlessness.

“Everyone, now, please, remain calm. The Town Hall is now in session. The first order of business is the federal aid requests y’all been blowing my office door down with, and yes, they are coming.” She held up a hand, using another class ability. Her intent to continue speaking combined with her earnest intent to relay information to them and soaked into the air.

The crowd remained relatively quiet. The cry of a baby rang out, clearly a lone wolf who needed no pack, and the Mayor smiled at Lisa Rae, bounding her infant on her knee on the third pew. Lisa Rae did not smile back, bless her heart, and just continued chewing, the wad of tobacco clearly visible in her lip.

“Bad news is, they didn’t say when they’re coming, and from the looks of it, it’s more of a “they’ll get here when they get here” type situation, and until then, we’re on our own. You’ve all seen the way the country just outside of town stretched, and some of y’all who live out past city limits had to drive through it to get here at all.”

Her ability broke, and the crowd hooted and hollered, glad to be free of the restriction. One of the more boisterous men yelled, more to the crowd than to her. “Ain’t a problem fer those’ve us with real trucks! Might seen me a Ford or two on the way here”, he paused, letting his words sink in before continuing, putting extra emphasis on each word. “Found On Roadside Dead!”

The crowd laughed along with him, his lack of concern and levity infectious. Everyone in town knew him, or knew of him, at the very least. He was the only person in town with a truck that was taller than the yellow school bus, lifted on massive tires themselves taller than an average man. He was not one of those people that blasted smoke from their exhaust or used their truck as an excuse to exert some kind of power. He did not need to, his job gave him more than enough.

He was the County Sheriff, which effectively put the town and surrounding areas under his jurisdiction. He was sitting in the front row with his entire family, wife, children, and their tiny chihuahua. He was wearing one of the same range of long-sleeve button-up shirts that he always wore, the flat-brimmer sheriff’s hat sitting on his head, despite the heat of the room.

The Mayor smiled at him, politely waiting for the laughter to die down. Her smile looked fairly convincing to herself, as far as she could see in the reflection in the huge lenses of the Sheriff’s sunglasses.

“I’m glad you brought that up, Sheriff Crawford. We have a few citizens that we need to either rescue or send reinforcements, starting with the Bell family.”

A few people in the crowd muttered, but Sheriff Crawford partially twisted his head at the complaints and they ceased instantly. The Sheriff had not needed to look at either of them directly; just the partial motion had been enough.

“I don’t reckon he’s gonna be rearin’ to take my hand, if’n y’know what I mean.” The Sheriff slurred his words together when he was speaking to the mayor, defaulting to an almost monotone “cop speak.”

The Mayor nodded, looking at the Sheriff. He had taken his service revolver off of his hip, not as a show of force or threat, but because his stomach overlapped his belt when he sat down, engulfing everything to his side.

“All the same, Sheriff, this is the official order for you to round up a posse and go see about moving the Bell family into town. We need their medical expertise if we’re going to make it through this. They may be veterinarians, but they’re the closest thing we have to an actual doctor. No offense, Thessalie.”

The tall, thin woman responded in a reedy voice from her position in the back row. Despite her age and volume, her voice carried easily through the auditorium. “None taken, Mayor… My healing arts are only for those in tune with their own destinies.”

The Mayor continued addressing the Sheriff directly.

“Sheriff, we already have drivers for every cattle, horse, and livestock trailer in town, as well as trucks and even a few Jeeps to pull them. We need you to protect them, and help them reach the Bells.”

The Sheriff spat into the styrofoam cup he held in his shirt pocket, the brown drool lingering on the tips of his yellowed moustache, but he chose not to voice any comments.

The Mayor continued nodding, feeling like a bobble-head doll, and was pleased to note that the Sheriff was nodding, as well.

Then he took off his glasses. As soon as she could see the cunning glint in his bright blue eyes, she knew she had made a mistake. She had hoped that forcing the issue in public for all to see would help the Sheriff to do the right thing. She found herself holding her breath, and forced herself to breathe normally, her smile never breaking.

“I reckon us good citizens need to stand up for what’s right, like we always have. That’s more important now’n ever, and we can’t be lettin’ the current trials and tribulations placed in front of us by the Good Lord prevent us from seeing his way.”

The Sheriff pushed himself to his feet ponderously, slipping his service weapon back into the holster with the speed of a long-held habit, and turned to face the crowd.

“I need, oh… about ten, I reckon, ten volunteers for the posse to go up and show the c-”

The Sheriff suddenly coughed furiously, brown spittle flying from his mouth. He pulled a blue motorcycle-style handkerchief from his back pocket and dabbed at his mouth before returning it.

“Excuse me, y’all, the stuffiness, heat, and humidity is starting to do me in. I need ten volunteers to help me go out to Old Crow Creek Lane and help the Bells out.” The Sheriff hacked up another brown-green glob, spitting it directly into his cup. He didn’t bother with the handkerchief this time. “You know where to find me. I’m going now, before I have to make the little lady drive home.”

The crowd laughed good-naturedly, along with a few men who let out a peculiar “yoo-ah!” that carried and echoed through the room.

The Mayor tried to restore order to the meeting, but the damage had been done, and the crowd was already spilling out of the building behind the Sheriff.

The Mayor stared at the crowd as they left, her staff already working to gather their papers and electronics.

She had carefully controlled the drivers of the vehicles. She made sure they had means to defend themselves, and warned them to keep the weapons discrete, hinting of the possibility of their gear being stolen by a particular type of monster that had been spotted recently.

She hoped it would be enough.