CWD: GA ~ Thirty-Two

At first, it was strange having so many people around Nacho and his friends. Of course, Reuben loved it—he genuinely enjoyed people. Brie was friendly, if a little cold, while Nacho worked on keeping everyone fed.

Reuben invited Mayor Dan and his extended party to camp out at Rocky Top, the halfway point between Armor Mountain and the MurderSong Dungeon. Nacho and his friends would get the prime spot under the overhang, and the others would find other places. As long as it didn’t rain, no one would need tents. Lightning flashed above, and at times, the wind swept through at a gale force before subsiding, but as Reuben had optimistically continued to point out: there had been no rain so far.

There were a few concerns that the breeze would take the scent of their fire and cooking east, and might draw monsters. But between the humans, things seemed to be fine. Once it was clear that there wasn’t going to be any kind of fight, epic betrayal, or even an argument, Nacho felt himself relaxing. After all, if he was getting into the restaurant game, he was going to have to learn to be polite.

Reuben must’ve been using his Marketing Skill near-constantly; even at level zero, something was clearly going on to smooth tensions. People came back for more of Nacho’s cooking, even when they didn’t need to eat. He rapidly sold out of deer meat, but he could make as many pancakes as they wanted. In less than an hour, The Dinner Party had eighteen more credits to add to their forty-two. Nacho marveled at how well the whole system could work once he got better at cooking, expanded his recipe library, and added more cooking Magic to his dishes.

However, Taye’s question about guilds still hung in the air. Seeing as it was going to be a major topic of conversation, the cook convinced everyone to have that talk in the morning so that he could explain things as clearly as possible. With full stomachs and sleepy eyes, most everyone was happy to acquiesce to that decision.

As it grew later, different people from Mayor Dan’s party offered to take watches, which meant that Nacho, Reuben, and Brie could all sleep through the night… though Nacho wasn’t sure he trusted these folks that much yet. How could he? He knew how people could be. He’d been one of those untrustworthy people.

Nacho finally found himself sitting around his cook fire with Reuben, the mayor, and Taye, who were an odd pair. Some gamer kid and a middle-aged mayor, at least fifty, with a paunch and a battle axe, would never have made sense as a team prior to the Juxtaposition. Brie and Kristie were talking at a nearby fire of their own, along with some other of the ladies from the larger party.

“Tell us more of your story, Mayor.” Reuben had splurged and bought a root beer from the Store in celebration. The tepid beverage was flat, watered-down, and not very good. It definitely wasn’t worth the single credit he had paid for it.

Nacho stuck with water, though he did wonder if he could play around with drink recipes. He didn’t think that would be the case. There was a whole separate Satiation class, known as the Brewer, that cornered the market on drinks, though finding one would be a real trick.

Mayor Dan had bought a beer from the Store, and it came in a yellow plastic can with the word ‘beer’ printed on the front in red. Every sip made him grimace. “Well, I got lucky, I have to say. My wife and I came down from Bonner Springs to have lunch with my daughter. She’s a sophomore at UMKC. We were in a restaurant at noon when the trouble happened… this Juxtaposition business.”

The Mayor’s eyes got misty. “The Evaluation was difficult, to say the least. I wanted to protect my wife and daughter, but I couldn’t—the rules of the game weren’t as clear as they could’ve been. I didn’t last long. Actually, my wife did the best. Her momma bear came out in a big way. She chose to be a Mind Player, as did my daughter. The kid’s an Illusionist, while my wife is an Elementalist. I only had enough Evaluation Points to buy the Warrior class.”

The fire popped and cracked sparks up into the darkness. The mayor shook his head wistfully. “I didn’t know what to expect. I was just glad to see my wife and daughter again. It was Taye that actually saved our bacon, though.”

“Well…” Taye looked sheepish. “I’ve been kinda waiting for this my whole life—to live in a video game? The System is exactly what I expected, and I did okay in the Evaluation. Archer. What class are you, Nacho?”

“Common cook.” He had to grin. “I’m a Satiation Player, which is… rare. In the end, I think we’re yet to find out how powerful meal prep can be.”

“Already you’re earning credits by just cooking,” Taye pointed out, making Nacho grimace at the use of the word ‘just’ in reference to his efforts. “With your party, you can dump those credits into leveling your friends. What level are Reuben and Brie by now? Three? Four?”

“Zero,” Nacho replied curtly. “Leveling your Skills is far more important than leveling your class. Yes, you get more Mana and Health at higher levels, but I read that hitting Tier one, also known as level ten, comes with a whole world of sugar honey iced tea.”

“I like these fine young people!” The mayor spouted happily. “They’ve already learned a workaround for cursing!”

Nacho had been observing how open Mayor Dan was, how friendly the rest of the people were. He shouldn’t be so suspicious, and yet…! Reuben caught the cook’s conflicted expression, taking the chance to quickly jump in at that moment. “Actually, Mayor, we’re graduates of UMKC. Well, Brie and I are. Nacho left his senior year. He was already preparing for… for life. *Ahem.* What about you, Taye?”

The young guy shrugged. “I’m in high school, you know, just a gamer. I liked math and science, and the chess club, which probably doesn’t mean much. I don’t know. My parents… my sister… they didn’t make it. We were across town when the Juxtaposition hit. They were killed by this cow thing, or at least I think it might’ve been a cow. It was the size of a semi?”

At that moment, Taye had Nacho’s full attention.

“I was able to buy a bow from the Evaluation Mall, and I had arrows, but nothing I did could hurt it. It mowed through a whole crowd of us. It was almost funny, we’d been sitting in traffic at noon. We all appeared where we’d been in the car on the Starter World, and the c-cow blew through us like we were nothing.” A tear dribbled down Taye’s cheek. “We were close. The irony is stupid. Here I am, living a video game, but I have to do it after my family died for the second time. I mean, we all died the first time in the Evaluation, right?”

“That’s right,” Nacho gently agreed, getting a strange look from Reuben.

Taye scrubbed the tears off his face with balled fists. “After losing my family, I ran for a long time, and I guess I should feel bad about that. I found the Mayor and his group after a couple of days. Mayor Dan organized a bunch of people into a party; all the people from the restaurant and everyone else he could find. There’s a couple hundred of us on Armor Mountain. The mayor saved a lot of people.”

“After you saved us.” Mayor Dan tipped his plastic can at Taye. “Then we found a little dungeon, started finding gear and getting credits. I’m a level one Warrior. I put my two stat points into my Fitness, though you wouldn’t know it with my gut.”

Taye exhaled heavily and itched the side of his head with his bow. “We all lost people. I just worry about my grandpa. He’s in a nursing home across town, and I’m wondering what happened to him. Or to all the little kids. Babies, or whatever. I haven’t seen a single one since we were brought here.”

“I… found an info pack on this. They age up or down into the game.” Nacho suddenly found himself talking, spilling a bunch of information he hadn’t meant to share. “Fifteen to fifty-five all are brought in. But if you’re older, you age down. If you’re younger, you age up. A year from now, someone who’s fifty-six will age down to fifty-five, get thrown into the Evaluation, and then they’ll appear here. I guess they’re held in a buffer of some kind. The Juxtaposition is pretty messed up, but the sick or disabled, they’re given new bodies after they die in the Evaluation. I guess that’s something, right?”

“You guys must have gotten really lucky to figure this all out.” Taye shook his head in wonder. “I don’t know. My grandpa is like… seventy or whatever. Are we really going to survive another fifteen years? If that cow thing finds our group on Armor Mountain, we won’t last five seconds against it.”

“That would be the… the Bove.” Nacho flipped a log in the fire as he tried to contain the roiling emotions in his gut. “At this point, it’s a high Tier one monster, almost Tier two, and it’ll only keep getting stronger. It’s some kind of mutant herbivore-turned-carnivore. It doesn’t ever seem to sleep, and its hunger is endless. Right now, it’s gaining Putrid Mana by the metric ton and increasing in power from every person it kills. The vast majority of people in the area won’t survive the year if we don’t take care of it, which brings me to a very important question. Do you know where it is?”

“I don’t.” Taye gave Nacho a long look. “It took off east, but I imagine something like that is hunting for large groups of people. There would be more ways to get… what did you call it? Putrid Mana? How do you know so much, anyway, Nacho? I can see the Store now, too. Those information packs are way too expensive to just have them all.”

Nacho glanced at Reuben, and his friend nodded in encouragement. “Just tell them. We’re trying to build something here, and we’re going to be stronger together than we will be alone. We still haven’t talked about this guild thing.”

The cook shook his head at his too-trusting friend and decided to go with an amended version. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and released it slowly. “I was given a boon by a Patron. I’m assuming you know about the Patrons. If you have gathered a couple hundred people together, you’re bound to have at least one Warlock.”

“Kristie is a warlock,” Taye announced that secret as though it didn’t matter. “She says her Patron is ‘Caelius Apicius’, but he’s been pretty quiet so far. Kristie can throw magic grenade things.”

Nacho perked up. He’d heard of Caelius before—it was the Patron who had inspired the name for his cookbook grimoire. It was in that moment that he realized that Reuben was right: they needed to work together. Forming a guild would be the best way forward, though he would have to be careful how he organized things.

He felt strange telling even this much about his boon, but he brought the mayor and Taye up to speed on some general information. He still didn’t mention the CrossHumans, deciding to keep that information in reserve. He also didn’t bring up the whole cannibalism thing. As quick as Taye was, he would probably put it all together before long. Taye had already learned that killing humans gave them credits—the people on top of Armor Mountain had already needed to repulse raiders. Nacho wondered which group or guild had attacked them. Had it been Crave? Or was it Kala and Myron?

The mayor had trouble grasping the fact that the nature of food would change once they hit level ten, which the cook had to explain was better known as Tier one, level zero. Nacho couldn’t blame him. It had all taken them by surprise.

Taye’s Skills were the next topic of interest, which turned out to be superior hand-eye coordination, from his many years of being obsessed with his PlayStation, and Eagle Aim; basically a sniper ability. He also had bought Fast Quiver, which allowed him extra shots when using his bow. The kid had obviously done well in the Evaluation.

As for the mayor, he had a definite oratory Skill, but that was it. He hadn’t had enough money to spend on any sort of class Skill. Mayor Dan had totally biffed the Evaluation. Once he had earned some credits, they planned to evaluate the best way for him to move forward.

His wife, Becky Chronour, had a counseling Skill since she’d worked as a counselor at a middle school before the Juxtaposition, along with being a teacher. She also had a special affinity for ice magic with her defensive spell Skills, Ice Shield and Ice Wall. The group talked late into the night, until even Nacho was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

Reuben settled into his sleeping bag, which was quite the luxury item compared to the others’ makeshift bedding. The mayor’s people had all bought cheap Store blankets and used their new Store backpacks as pillows. For Nacho, the sight brought up a million memories of his first time in the game. The blankets were scratchy, the backpacks were lumpy. Part of him was afraid the people would get jealous and come after them. But… Taye had looked hopeful when Nacho had told him about his ‘information pack’ and what it could do for his allies.

Taye was smart enough to want to be one of Nacho’s allies.

The cook could help these people. But would they agree to join a guild? It was a big commitment, and he knew some would walk away. Abyss, it had taken a lot for Nacho to join the Final Victory. It was only because he’d come to know Crave as a guy he could trust… right until the end. Pensive, he drifted over to Brie and sat down next to her little fire.

Brie pointed at the two people who had taken watch, identifying them under her breath. “That’s Jimmy. She’s Abby. They seem okay. But are we really going to trust these people?”

“How was your conversation with Kristie?” Nacho quizzed instead of answering her directly. “Did she seem all right?”

Brie winced and growled. “She did. She just seemed normal. I mean, she didn’t do very well in the Evaluation, and she gets her powers from a Patron, but yeah. She seemed okay.”

“Maybe we’re being paranoid.” Nacho sighed deeply and gazed around at the quiet campground. “Perhaps people haven't gone rotten in the single week that they’ve been here. Perhaps they’re still hoping to go back.”

Brie stared into the fire. “Just because we’re paranoid doesn’t mean there aren’t people around us who would cut our throats to take what we have.”

“Don’t I know it,” Nacho agreed with a groan. “You go to sleep. I’ll stay up.”

Brie crossed her arms, frowning. “You cooked for all those people. You must be exhausted.”

Nacho shook his head and somehow managed to suppress a jaw-cracking yawn. “I’m good for a while. I’ll wake up Reuben for the next shift. He just went to bed as though we’ve been with these people since the beginning… which started a week ago. Hard to believe.”

“Hard to believe,” Brie agreed, drifting into silence. In the end, Nacho got her to go curl up in her sleeping bag next to Reuben in the overhang. Nacho kept the fire burning for a while, but there were other people keeping watch, and he ultimately felt like he was being silly. After a while, he let himself drift off next to his little fire.

He fell into a dream, or he thought it was a dream, until he stretched out his hand to feel the fire. No, he was awake.

Standing before him was a tall man with unruly sideburns and a wide smile. He wore a white toga and golden sandals. On his frizzy hair sat a New York Yankees baseball cap. The strange man tipped his hat, which didn’t match the outfit in the slightest, and it was that gesture that fully solidified for Nacho that he wasn’t dreaming. The man in front of him wasn’t exactly there. It was more like he was appearing through the gaming system, glowing a soft blue.

Mr. Toga’s grin widened. “Sorry, buddy, about what’s going to happen. But remember, you got a vision of what could be, not what must be—it was called Probability Vision; not Time Travel.”

He was about to add another thought when the roar shattered the early morning air. It was a mixture of a cow’s moo, a demonic scream, and an angry Tyrannosaurus Rex off its meds. Mr. Toga immediately vanished from the cook’s gaming sight.

Hooves the size of doors clattered on the stones, and along with the noise came the smell—as though someone had dropped a septic tank into a factory farm.

Nacho blinked and stood subconsciously. The Bove could move impossibly fast, strike from the darkness, and be on them in seconds. Yes, they’d taken watches, but the Bove was already too wily to be seen until the very last minute.

The gargantuan Bove loomed above the encampment like a house of awful—the huge bovine body, filth-encrusted hooves, massive horns, and the black and white Holstein markings. It was a cow, all right, but instead of flat herbivore teeth, fangs gleamed cruelly from a bizarrely offset mouth, as if a lizard’s maw had been crammed into that of a cow. The thing had a serpentine tail which also ended in a mouth, this one more snake than lizard. Throw on some leathery wings, and that was the Bove. It couldn’t fly, but it could leap and glide… because the Calamity-class monster didn’t care about physics or aerodynamics.

It only liked killing and eating people. The more people, the better.

Those oversized wings had allowed it to come swooping in from the darkness and approach without anyone spotting it. Nacho thought he was dead for a moment, but at the last second, the Bove lurched to the side and grabbed one of the Armor Mountain people, someone Nacho didn’t recognize.

He was glad for that small mercy.

That guy was dead in an instant, half of him already in the Bove’s gut. Other half-awake people launched themselves to their feet, including Reuben and Brie, who had both streaked past Nacho. If anyone were able to take out that monster, it would be the two of them. The Bove threw a horn that should’ve skewered Reuben, but instead, the big guy was smacked back, surrounded by the rank smell of parmesan cheese.

Brie attacked the Bove with her hammer, but Nacho couldn’t be sure she’d done enough damage to hurt it. The fact that the Bove ignored the blow was indication enough that the attack was ineffectual.

Chaos had come to Rocky Top.

The entire hillside was rapidly illuminated by fire—both fireballs and flaming arrows. Jimmy, one of the Armor Mountain people, took an arrow in the chest. The cook watched it happen, and there was only one thought on his mind.

Nacho didn’t think that was accidental friendly fire.

Another person on watch, Abby, dove for cover from both the blazing arrows and the Bove. “It’s not just the cow monster that’s attacking us! There are others! They killed Jimmy!”

Figures in black swept up the stone, engaging people in combat as the Bove tore through their ranks. It wasn’t until the shadowy figures realized that the cow monster didn’t care who it ate—nice, peaceful people or black-clad bandits—that they paused their assault.

Nacho stood frozen for an instant, but then he thought he might as well do some backstabbing to even the odds. He couldn’t kill the Bove, but he could take care of a few of the raiders that had taken advantage of that unfortunate moment to attack.

Out of nowhere, a familiar face appeared in the darkness—he’d been using the Midnight Blend ability, an elite Assassin if there ever was one. This particular Assassin, Nacho knew, would later start the Final Victory.

Crave brushed a feather across Nacho’s face.

Nacho knew that feather. He also knew he had about three seconds before falling asleep. In that time, he performed one very important task while everything else went up in flames.

He dropped the HungerCry blades into his Storage Slots.