I should have realized there was something up as soon as we walked into camp. In hindsight it was obvious. The first day most folks had been half naked, or the full monte as likely as not. As the day wore on and folks got XP points, more and more bought whatever struck their fancy. Shorts and a shirt were pretty popular for guys, a dress, being one piece as opposed to two, seemed to be the bargain for women folks and as the day wore on you saw more guys going to overalls or just a pair of jeans. Everything was pretty unique to the individual like Hunter’s get up or my homespun shirt. This morning when we got back to camp I noticed at least half the folks were wearing blue denim coveralls and leather slippers that looked like a cross between sandals and crocs.

We got a couple of stares as we carried the wolf into camp, but nobody said anything till we got back to our rustic tenament and I dropped the wolf corpse down next to the fire. It was kind of weird we had the only indoor fireplace and still did our cooking out in front of our place like everyone else. As I settled in I saw Debbie nudge Tim with an elbow.

“How much you wanna bet that Jack loses his shit?”

“Jack keeps his shit tied down with dummy cord, so you can make that bet Tim. Ya’ll like Korean food, cause I’m about to cook this bitch.”

I slapped the canine corpse and got a couple of groans from the rest of the group. I shrugged and pulled out my metal bucket and started skinning the kill and dropping meat into the pail. It was a hell of a lot cheaper than a stew pot, and a lot more useful besides. Tim kind of cleared his throat, and when Hunter and I looked over at him he started.

“So there was a meeting this morning. It’s not super popular but there was already a vote of basically the whole camp. You two were out, and so were a couple other people but it was definitely enough to be a quorum, so it’s already been decided.”

That kind of pissed me off, but I kept working and just nodded my head to show I was listening.

“We’ve only got thirty days, well 29 now, to make this a functioning village. Everybody is going to have a job, farming, or crafting, or hunting or something. Whatever they can find in the new village economy. You can pick your job, the free market will sort that out, at least I got that much in there.”

“Uh-huh.” I agreed but tried to stay non-committal even though it was just common sense so far. Hunter looked bored with the conversation but I was getting nervous.

“The thing is with a group this small, we really need communal effort to accomplish some infrastructure type things, and there just isn’t an economic base to hire people to work full time for the village yet.”

“Makes sense.” I said and Tim looked kind of relieved while I’m pretty sure Debbie was disappointed. I made a get on with it gesture with my hand, and only after I’d done it realized it was the hand holding the knife. I grimaced and Tim looked less composed as he continued.

“Well, instead we decided we have to tax XP. Whenever you spend XP, half your points have to go to the good of the village. Either you can give XP tokens to Li, and she makes group purchases like the coveralls and the slippers, or you can buy stuff off the list.”

“And how the hell does anybody think they’re going to enforce that?”

Tim looked even more uncomfortable and Angie stepped in and saved him.

“To be clear Tim argued against this part. The mechanics of it is kind of awkward but to make sure everybody is playing fair because of bags of holding and whatnot, you strip down and enter the XP store naked. Whatever you get, you show the person at the door when you come out, and the town assesses half the value. You aren’t technically taxed on XP you earn, just on XP you spend.”

I added water and set my meat stew at the edge of the fire, then cleaned my knife before sliding it into the sheath hanging upside down on the strap of my messenger bag. I was counting to ten and mentally martialing my arguments instead of just yelling bullshit and throwing a fit.

“Couple of points. Point A, does anybody else think a 50 percent tax rate is just a wee bit steep?”

Tim shook his head.

“That point was raised in the meeting. We don’t really know what a realistic budget for the village is. If 50 percent is too much we can always back it off in the future.”

“Oh hell yeah. Government always love to back off on a tax the sheeple were stupid enough to pass in the first place. That’ll work out. Point the second, you familiar with no taxation without representation argument? I wasn’t here for this meeting, and ya’ll can suck a bag of dicks if you think I’m giving up half of everything I earn out of some sense of community spirit.”

Angie cut in, stopping whatever counter argument Tim was about to make.

“You need to look at it this way, Jack. You’re good at this outdoor survival stuff but a lot of us are out of our element. We need the people who can earn big XP to step up and make sure everyone survives. Eventually as the village progresses, we’ll all be able to contribute more and the burden will even out.”

“I know you didn’t just paraphrase from each according to his means to each according to his needs. Are you telling me the camp went commie while I was gone for like a fucking hour?”

Debbie and Jeri both laughed at that comment, but Angie got pissed.

“I think you’re just being selfish, Jack.”

“I think you’re being a fucking idiot, so I guess it evens out.”

“Jack, c’mon. That was uncalled for.”

“No offense, Tim, I thought she might not realize.” I stood up and swung my messenger bag around to the small of my back so it was out of the way and kind of rolled my shoulders to relieve the stress that had been building. “I’m gonna run make a purchase at the XP store. Ya’ll keep an eye on my stew.”

I started casually towards the door, and Debbie and Hunter kind of fell in behind me. It felt like they had my back, but nobody really said anything so I wasn’t a hundred percent. When I got close to the door, the big guy Eric from the other day was standing in front of it with his arms crossed like some kind of half assed bouncer, and Ken and Li were sitting on a log somebody had dragged up nearby. Eric mean mugged me while Ken got to his feet and moved to intercept me.

“Hey there, neighbor. We have some new rules about the XP store.”

“Well hi diddly ho right back, neighbor. Who’s we?”

“Well, the village as a group. I was elected leader yesterday if you recall. We had an additional meeting and we decided if it was in everyone’s best interest to put an XP tax into place. I’m here to help explain it to people until we get used to it.”

“Oh, so everybody voted for the tax. This is a social contract type thing. I get it. In that case I’m opting out. You’re their leader, not mine. I’m a sovereign citizen of Don’tgiveafuckistan, it’s a little village just across the border from yours.”

“Don’t be like that. We all need to work together to make this a success.”

“And sitting by this door shaking down folks who’ve gone hunting sounds like work to you? I’m serious, Ken. Vote me off the island, excommunicate me, whatever. I’ll be a village of one if I have to, but I’m not paying a 50 percent tax for some unspecified betterment of the village socialist hope and change bullshit five year plan.”

“What are you going to do? Camp out in the woods and live off crabadillos? We are a civil society and we all need to get along and that includes the XP tax. It’s not optional. You have to contribute”

“Wait, are you saying you’re not letting anybody use the XP store unless they’re part of your group? You sure your whole group is willing to die over that? Cause I’m willing to kill over it.”

“Whoah, whoah, whoah. Just settle down, man. Tim! Hey, Tim, you know this guy right? Explain that we’re not the bad guys here.”

I looked around trying to gauge who was going to jump and which way if this went sideways. I didn’t have any illusions I could win a fight against these numbers. We were at the respawn point now, and if worse came to worse we could just kill each other back and forth forever, with nothing to lose but pain and time until one side or another gave up. I was betting I would be willing to hold out longer than any other takers for those stakes. I think this was the first time our leaders realized the problem of policing our own in a world of immortals and I could see the wheels spinning in Ken’s head as he considered it. Tim broke things up before anything could go any further.

“Guys I think there’s been a miscommunication here. Ken, this is Jack. Jack, this is Ken.”

We didn’t shake hands like I could tell Tim had been hoping, but he plowed on as if he’d never even considered it.

“Jack here doesn’t want to be in the group. It’s not ideal but it is his choice. It’s not like we’d ever consider slavery or anything right Ken?”

Phrased that way in front of the entire camp he basically forced Ken to acknowledge people were free to leave the village. It didn’t all go my way though.

“Ken is justifiably worried about the problem of someone freeloading. If you’re not a contributing part of the village, it wouldn’t be fair to ask them to spend tax XP on you, right Jack?”

I nodded because I didn’t want handouts anyway, and I could already tell where this was going. Tim just smiled like we were all friends now and made an expansive gesture with his hands.

“I don’t know how big this world is, but surely its enough for more than one village. If someone wants to leave the village and come back and trade, we won’t prohibit their visiting the XP store.”

Ken held up a hand like he could physically stop Tim’s voice from reaching the crowd that had gathered around.

“What if he wants back in later?”

I muttered, “Fat chance” but Tim who’d somehow become the unofficial spokesman of my rebellion answered for me.

“If someone leaves the village and wants back in, the village votes to set a price for them. Let ‘em buy back in based on how much XP everyone else has already kicked in. That sounds fair right? Jack, you good with this?”

“What about the work I already put in on our shelter?”

“Can’t take it with you, suck it up and take the loss or pay taxes. Your choice.”

“Shit, Yeah, that’ll work.”

“Ken, the council okay with this?”

He didn’t even pretend to check with Li or anyone else before he agreed that the council okayed it. Tim turned and addressed the crowd at large.

“Anybody object?” He paused for a couple of seconds and when nobody said anything he called out again. “Anybody else wanting to leave the village should decide soon. We need to know who’s in this with us so we can make plans.”

Everyone sort of scattered after that, focused in on their own lives instead of rubber-necking at mine. I’d painted myself into a corner here. I didn’t really know what I wanted at the store, but I’d look like a dozen kinds of asshole if I turned around now. I didn’t hesitate, but strode forward and gave a yeah that’s right head nod at Eric when he had to get out of my way. I opened the door and walked into the loading screen.