The sun was just starting to touch the horizon when the group came into view of the other town Terry had pointed out on the map. Having the group slow down, he started looking for a decent place to camp for the night as he didn’t want to be wandering in the unknown in the dark.

“Hold up everyone, let’s pull off here for the night.” Terry said and indicated a small clearing surrounded by a copse of trees.

“Why are we stopping here, we’re so close to the town.” Izzy said and waved her hand at the town that was only a mile or so away.

He gave her a look that she should know why by now, “come on Izzy, it’s getting dark, we have no idea what will be in there and besides even if we did get there it would be so dark, we couldn’t explore until the morning anyways. Plus, we’d still have to find a safe spot to sleep. So, we’ll stop here for the night and get a fresh start tomorrow.”

“Oh... yeah, I suppose.” She at least had the curtesy to look embarrassed.

“No worries, Izzy. I know it’s been a long...” Terry paused as he had to think of how long they had actually been in this new world, “...few weeks,” he slowly said.

The whole group nodded at his words, all of them feeling like it had already been a lifetime in this new world. They went about clearing the ground and getting what little food and drink they had remaining as the sun slipped below the horizon.

Terry took a bit of time to go around to the non-combatants and talk with them as he hadn’t spent much time with them. Going over to Richard, he sat down, “how have you been holding up?”

Richard was taken back a bit as the leader of the group sat down and ask how he was. “Umm... doing okay, I guess. I don’t think I’ve walked this much since I was a kid and playing outside.” He got a little smirk but it was gone soon after, his happy thoughts being washed away by this new, dangerous world.

“I hear that man, but you know, I don’t even notice the walking anymore. I know it’s only been a few weeks but I actually feel healthier than I ever did before.”

Richard chuckled at that, “well considering all the fighting you’ve been doing, I’m not surprised. When I was in the Marines, I was in the best shape of my life,” rubbing his gut he continued, “as you can see I’m no longer in the Marines, so not the best shape.”

“You were in the Marines?”

“Yeah, way back when. Fought in the first Desert Storm in the early 90s. It was a total shit show, but damn, if it wasn’t some of the best years of my life.”

“So then, how did you get Blacksmith as your class?”

“Oh, that... Well after I got out, I drifted along for a while until I came to a small town. There was a guy there that made some of the best damned blades you had ever seen. So, just being out, I was kind of a weapon nut and asked him to teach me a thing or two. Next thing I know, it’s been twenty years and a divorce or two and I’m back in my home town, but damn am I a good forger.”

“Hmm, well if that’s true hopefully then that experience will help you level your class pretty fast.”

Richard looked at Terry, “you think so? You think this stuff matters?”

Shrugging his shoulders, “I don’t know, but a lot of things like this experience matters.”

“Well if it’s anything like yours, I’ll take it. I’m sick of being useless.”

“Trust me, once you level up, and even before then, you’ll be invaluable to a community. Have you tried working with simple stuff, rings, bracelets, jewelry of any type?”

Rubbing his chin Richard spoke, “now that you mention it, I remember my first few years with my old master having to do jewelry and smaller stuff, he said it was to learn patience and presicion.”

“Well there ya go, maybe see if anyone has anything you can tinker with while we walk.” Terry moved to get up but then stopped, “by the way, what are your plans for the future?”

“Hmm, I guess I haven’t really though about that, why?”

“Well, I don’t think everyone is going to be accompanying me all the way to my destination, so just kind of wondering what everyone’s plans are.”

“Where are you heading again?”

“To my home town, Grand Village, it’s kind of in Northern Minnesota.”

“Does it snow there?”

Terry chuckeled at that, “it sure does.”

“You know, I’ve never seen snow. So, I think I might join you, plus having a badass leader doesn’t hurt either,” Richard grinned at him and elbowed his ribs, well tried to but Terry’s armor stopped him.

“Well we’d be glad to have you accompany us for as long as you’d like.” Terry stood and stuck out his hand

“Thanks man,” Richard clasped the outstretched hand and shook it once.

Terry moved off to find Penelope, so he didn’t see Richard massage his hand from the shake.

Penelope was sitting off by herself holding a stick of jerky and staring at it when Terry took a seat next to her. “Are you going to eat that or just stare at it til you absorb it?”

She snapped out of her daze and looked around before finding Terry next her. She rocked back slightly at the sight of him. “Oh, um, no, it’s just, I’m not really hungry.” She mumbled as she put the jerky back in her inventory.

Terry looked at her, she seemed thinner than he remembered but he hadn’t been very close to her to know for sure. Taking a guess, he opened his special inventory and looked to see what he had in there. Scrolling through for a bit he gave up and went to the search box and mentally typed in “granola” and found a box of the nature wise crumbly granola bars. He figured it was better than nothing.

Holding it out to her he said, “here, I don’t know if you’d like these but I have a few extra.”

She looked at the outstretched box and slowly reached up and took it. Opening the box was a bit difficult but once she got it open she tore into the bars. She opened the first bar, devoured it and the crumbs, then moved onto the next. Before she knew it she had finished the whole box.

“Sorry about that, I'm not usually that inconsiderate.”

Chuckling, Terry took the empty package and wrappers and said, “don’t be sorry, I just wish I would have seen you weren’t eating enough to begin with.”

She stared at him for a moment before saying, “I’m...i’m sorry, I just didn’t want to bother anyone while you guys were out fighting and protecting us. Sam even said I shouldn’t say anything because that would make you guys hate me for slowing the group down.”

Scoffing, “well you don’t have to worry about her getting you down anymore. And here,” Terry quickly did another search in his special inventory and pulled out half a dozen boxes of granola bars, “take these and make sure to keep your strength up.”

She took them gracefully and stored all but one box in her inventory, “thank you, I will.”

“By the way, what are your plans for the future?”

She stopped with a bar halfway to her mouth, “umm, I guess I hadn’t thought about it much, why?”

“Well, I’m guessing some people might want to find their own loved ones and do their own thing instead of following me. So, I’m just trying to see how I’d be able to best help anyone that would want to split off from the group.”

Looking off in the distance, for a moment she blinked, “Well I really don’t have anyone around, and I just lost my lease to my apartment before this all went down, so any place is as good as another. I mean if you’d have me.”

“Of course, you’re welome to keep being a part of this group as long as you’d like. Just promise me you’ll let someone know if you run out of food or need something, okay? We’re really not that bad.”

“I know, it’s just new people scare me a bit, and you with your armor, can be a bit intimidating. Though I also didn’t want people to think I was as bad as Sam, with asking for food and such.”

“Oh, trust me, you’d never be as bad as Sam.” Terry got up to go find the others he hadn’t had a chance to talk to yet. “By the way, have you been able to use your class at all?”

She looked up at him, “no, I tried a few times, but it was when I wasn’t eating so I didn’t have much for energy, and then my mana stopped regenerating. Though now that I have some food in me, it’s slowly starting to go back up, so I think I’ll be able to start looking into my class more as well.”

“That’s good, I would suggest to try and use it as much as you can while we walk and get it leveled. It’ll help keep you alive and I want to see what you’ll be able to do with it.” Turning to walk away, he stopped and opened his inventory and wondered about transferring some of his credits to her. A message box popped up asking how much he would like to transfer to Penelope Juliet Harrison, so that’s her full name, he transferred 200 credits to her and said, “use those credits to buy supplies for your class or a spell or whatever you need.”

She was surprised by the credits but nodded her head and thanked him before he walked away. “So I guess that means I'm more a part of the group now?” she mumbled to herself and opened the store.

As Terry walked away, he remembered he totally forgot to ask her about herself. He shrugged his shoulders and thought he at least interacted with her and did get to know her a bit by getting her food but he still felt bad for not learning more about her as a person. He mentally made a note to try and do this more with everyone that was going to stay with him to his destination.

He made his way around to the others of the group and learned that they all had family in North Dakota they were going to try and get to. He was sad to learn they wouldn’t be coming with him all the way, as he was sure they could use their skills when he got to his parents place, but he couldn’t blame them for wanting to find their loved ones, that’s what he was doing.

By the time he finished with the rest of the group he made his way towards the entrance of the copse and positioned his skeletons around inside it, in case something came through the thick brush. Spike troted up to his side, followed by Izzy.

“So how did your conversations go?”

“Well enough. Robert, Jeremy and Dean are going to split off once we get past Minneapolis. They have family out in North Dakota they want to try and get to. Richard and Penelope sound like they’re going to stay with us till we get to Grand Village.” Turning to Izzy, “which reminds me, I really haven’t talked to you about your plans either.”

“Oh, well I guess I've kind of grown fond of this little group, so I think I'll be sticking with you... for a while at least.” She ribbed him and chuckled. “But seriously, I don’t have anywhere I need to be or want to go. I just got out of a bad relationship when the world went to shit, and I don’t know if I was running from that or the apocalypse.” She sighed and continued, “plus, sitting around a struggling community isn’t my cup of tea. I want to be out there,” she pointed into the wild, “I want to see what all this new world has to offer and see how badass I can become.”

“You do know, it’s probably only going to get worse, right?”

She let her arm drop to her side, “yeah, I can only imagine how bad it’ll be, but with people like you, me and the others, we might be able to make a difference, right?”

Terry didn’t say anything for a moment, how did I get myself into this? I didn’t want to be a leader of some rag tag group, I just wanted to to get home and check on my parents and my dog. *sigh* I definitely don’t want t get caught up in some town building shit, though I will agree with Izzy that I want to see this new world. “You’re right, we might be able to make a difference, but we just can’t be too hard on ourselves when we fail, and we will eventually.”

“Ha! That's our fearless leader, always one for speeches, now just save that for when the rest of the group is awake.” She turned to leave but stopped, “by the way, what level are you now?”

“I’m 27, how about you?”

“Got to level 16 yesterday after the last group of monsters. It seems to be coming along fairly well. I was able to level up my abilities so they’re a bit better but I’m definitely becoming more of a... what was it you called me? A shield?”

“A tank, you’re going to be the one standing between the enemy and your group and you’re going to get hit, a lot.”

She laughed, “well if it means you and Tamara get to put the hurt on those bastards, I’ll gladly take the beating. Just promise me if I die, you’ll kill the bastard that ran me through, okay.”

That stopped Terry from chuckling, but he knew that might become all to common going forward. They’d been pretty lucky so far, not running into super strong monsters, or people, and hadn’t lost anyone to monsters, at least the group hadn’t since they met him. “You know I'd do that for you,” he put his hand on her shoulder, “of course, that’s only if Tamara and Jean didn’t get them first.” This time he chuckled as he saw her face get darker.

“Shut up,” she mumbled and turned away but stopped a few feet away from him. “I’d do the same for you, you know,” she quietly said before continuing off to join Tamara and Jean.

I know you would, but you won’t have to. He thought as he reached down and pet Spike, whose head was now above his waist. Looking down at Spike, he said “we’ll be damned if we let anything happen to any of them, right Spike?” Spike looked up at him and for a moment Terry caught a glimpse of something in his eyes, but it was gone the next second, but Spike nodded before looking back out into the darkness. Terry just stared at Spike for a moment longer wondering what kind of beast Spike really was.