The Connected System

Loch looked up at the stars through the gap in the trees. He thought he could recognize some constellations, but they were in different spots with the stars more spread out. An aspect of the world growing larger.

Even though it was nearing midnight, he didn’t feel the chill in the air or from the wind. The fire provided plenty of warmth, the flames crackling and flaring with the wind. Behind him the fabric of the tent snapped as the wind hit it. They’d set the tents up to minimize the wind’s impact, but it was still flowing pretty hard through the trees.

Stretching his legs out toward the fire, he shifted on the log he’d brought over to use as a seat. He stared at the flames, watching the bright orange and red colors as they shifted with the wind, the logs and sticks turning to black ash. In a couple minutes he’d have to move the burning logs and put a couple fresh ones on the blaze. They wanted it to go all night.

In that moment, under the stars with the fire, Loch felt normal.

This is what he, Kelly and the girls had been doing the weekend before the Connection. They’d been in the White Mountains camping. That Saturday had been spent just like he was now. The difference was the beer he’d been drinking. Now he just had some water.

He’d had a juice box with dinner earlier. It’d been warm, one they’d found in the house they’d raided the night before. It hadn’t even been a flavor he liked but he’d drank it without complaint. It was something different from water. Didn’t matter if it wasn’t the best tasting, it wasn’t water.

Staring into the flames, he could forget about the Connection and the apocalypse. That was until he saw a darker shadow moving through the trees, the flames of the fire reflecting off the metal of a sword. Jenny was doing a patrol around their camp.

It was her turn as Loch had done the last one. In another hour or so, it’d be their turn to sleep and Brian and Elora would have the next watch.

Loch had thought hard about having the fire. It would keep most predators away but it might also attract creatures like the Redcaps. They hadn’t had any ambushes for a couple hours before finding the clearing with the fast moving brook. It had been safe enough. They needed the fire as it got chilly at night as the season started turning to Fall. Their Adapted bodies might not get as cold, but they could still feel the chill.

Even during the height of summer when camping, it got chilly at night.

He looked over his shoulder at the tents. There were four of them. One shared by him and the girls, another by Elora, Jenny and Julia. A third was by Brian and the two male scavengers with the last being the female members of the scavenging team. They’d stored the tents in the spatial bag. It wasn’t something the scavenging teams normally brought with them. They spent their time raiding houses along the roads. There was no need to camp out as there was always a house to spend the night in. For Loch and the other adventurers, they spent some nights in the woods. Having the tents and other camping gear was a necessity. He was glad he’d thought ahead and put some extras in Piper’s bag.

Elora had complained about not having the same watch as Loch. As his Bannerman, she felt it her duty to assist and protect him and felt she could best do that by sharing his watch. Loch had argued that it would be better to have her on a separate watch and she could guard his sleep. She still hadn’t agreed but had done it.

Loch stood up as Jenny stepped out of the woods, coming closer to the fire. She nodded as he moved away from the log, letting her have it. She sat down, leaning forward, extending her hands to the flames. Palms up, she let the heat wash over her.

Moving into the woods, Loch stared into the dark forest, letting his eyes adjust now that they were away from the firelight. He started in a circle around the camp, not using his eyes as much as his ears. The flickering fire cast odd shadows, as did the moon and starlight leaking through the canopy.

It was hard to see anything in the dark. He could make out the roots that snaked across the ground, see the tree trunks and that was about it. Noises of nocturnal scavengers filled the night. They’d heard the howling of wolves, not sounding that close, and the yipping of coyotes, which sounded much closer. Loch had thought he’d heard a strange pounding, like a drum, but it had faded quickly.

He wondered if Little River Stone was out in the woods somewhere, watching and doing whatever it was the Sasquatch did. Loch didn’t know what to do about the Sasquatch. Little River Stone had saved him, his family and Clan a couple of times now. Loch didn’t want to rely on the Sasquatch, that would be dangerous. But it was nice to know Little River Stone was around. He was a formidable fighter.

His presence had been revealed after the gaunt fight. People had been scared. Not just because he was a Sasquatch but because, to them, he was a monster and had just been fighting on their side. Loch had managed to calm the people down, explaining who and what Little River Stone was. At least he thought he had calmed the people down.

Little River Stone didn’t think it was wise to stay at the Clanhold and hadn’t been seen or heard from since the fighting.

Loch stopped, feeling something at the edge of his awareness. It wasn’t a small creature but it wasn’t overly large. It stood about fifteen feet or so away, watching and waiting. Loch looked that way, trying to make out details. He tried to use Evaluate, not getting anything since he couldn’t see the creature. He didn’t get a feeling of hostility but curiosity.

Carefully, not wanting to disturb those sleeping, Loch sent out his Presence. He hadn’t really gotten a chance to experiment with what he could do. Others could feel his Presence, an overwhelming sense of power. Before it had just been like his Aura Ability, spread out in all directions around him.

Could he direct it?

Not sure what he was doing, Loch took a couple steps toward the creature. He tried pushing his Presence that direction and not behind him. He heard a low growl and then the feeling of being watched was gone.

He waited, listening, looking in all directions, waiting for the creature to return. A couple of circuits around the camp and he felt nothing. The creature, whatever it had been, was gone.

Loch didn’t have a restful night, thoughts of what could be out there haunting his sleep.

***

The view was incredible. He could see a long way. Further than he should have been able to.

Loch had been to the top of Saddleback Mountain many times. It had a view but nothing like what he was experiencing now. He’d thought the mountain had gotten taller, he was right.

They’d found the old road that cut east/west through the forest, aptly named Old Mountain Road. It had taken longer to walk through the forest behind the old recycling plant and Loch had thought they’d never find the old dirt road. He was surprised when they did find it, the road being in better shape than the paved roads.

It had been closed to vehicle traffic for decades, open to mountain bikers, hikers, snowmobilers during the winter and horses. It had never been repaired after any of the storms, most of the sides washed out with deep cuts through the sloped parts from water flowing down. It ran between Route 43 to Harmony Lane, a couple miles of old road that now Loch had no idea how long it was. Once they’d found it, they’d headed west, finding the trailhead to go up Saddleback easy enough. It hadn’t changed but the mileage up had. The whole trail, a loop up and down, had only been about two miles before. Loch didn’t know the exact mileage now but it had to have doubled if not tripled.

And it had gotten steeper. It had been a casual hike, a gradual slope, but now there were gradual parts mixed with steeper. There were even stretches of bald faced rock, something that had never been there before. Nothing that high, it was easy enough to climb, but not something Loch had expected to encounter.

They’d found some herbs and other Resources as they had walked. Deeper in the forest where the recycling plant had been were mounds of metal. Those had gone into Piper’s Spatial Bag. The scavenger team had grabbed the herbs and other Resources they’d found, their packs quickly filling up. One of the team members, Stuart Williams, had the Uncommon Forager Class and his Ability allowed him to see natural Resources as they grew. Herbs, plants and even roots stood out to his senses. Cerie had ideas about what the various herbs and plants could do, but the naming was different from what she had known. She was making guesses based on the shape and location of where they were found.

Loch had been worried about what the scavenging teams would do once all the houses had been raided. There would always be some further out but over time anything of value would either already be looted, decayed or worthless. It seemed there would always be something for them to scavenge as the land itself was providing Resources.

The top of Saddleback was tree covered. It had never been a bare peak and still wasn’t. The overlook that had served as its view was still there, the single rock shelf a little larger. It had always had a decent view but now Loch could see so much further.

He could see Bow Lake and beyond. Parker Mountain to the northeast of the lake had also increased in size and what had once been tree covered was now bald faced rock. Loch thought he could see something moving on top of the mountain. Which made no sense as the distances were too great. Could it be a giant? Parker Mountain wasn’t that far from where Drew had said the Strafford camp had been.

Loch had known the world had increased. He’d walked the increased distances, but by walking it was hard to tell where the increases had happened or even really notice unless he concentrated. It was just bigger.

But from this elevation, Loch could really see just how much the world had gotten bigger. Bow Lake was easily three times larger. He could understand how Elora’s old Silver Bark Clan could be on the southern shores of the lake and be so far from the Clanhold.

Loch scanned the shore, the water shining in the light of the sun. Even the lake’s islands were bigger and there had never been many. Were there more? Smaller land masses dotted the lake, ones Loch was positive had never existed before.

He thought he could see curls of smoke rising into the air. Dozens of them near the northwest part of the lake, still along the southern shore. Was that the Silver Bark camp?

“Elora,” he called, the elf walking to stand next to him. He pointed toward the smoke. “Is that…”

“Yes,” she replied. “I believe that is the Silver Bark.”

There was no emotion in her voice over the mention of her old Clan. No resentment or longing. She just stared at the curls of smoke, watching them.

Loch looked over the expanse of green that was between the Silver Bark and his Clanhold, which was visible along the shores of the larger Harvey Lake. It was a sea of green. No clearing was large enough to be visible from where he was but he thought he could see the new Crone Dungeon and even the mine they had claimed. The power line corridor was visible, a rough line through the forest heading west to east.

He could see the 202/43 intersection and the library, along with the cemetery that was the Challenge Dungeon. The hob mound was barely visible, not looking as big from this elevation as it did from the ground. He could trace Route 202 as it snaked northeast toward Barrington and eventually would go into Rochester. He couldn’t see that far as the elevation rose, putting the tall trees in his way.

Trees were everywhere. The land covered in green.

There were spots where houses broke up the canopy, Route 4 barely visible from this angle. He could see Johnson’s Field where the gaunts had been, thankfully looking empty. He could barely make out the wall that his people now patrolled. It was hard to tell but it looked like there was a large group of people on the west side. It didn’t look violent, just people stopped at the wall. He was curious but too far away to deal with it and that was the kind of thing that Ed Turner needed to take care of. If it was violent or led to anything, then Loch could deal with it. He couldn’t see much of Northwood Lake because of the angle and the trees blocking the view of the overlook.

They had to build a watchtower on the peak. From here watchers could look over what would be his entire territory. Put some smaller towers at places like the mine and those could send out signals that a tower on Saddleback could see. That tower could then send a signal that a watcher at the school would see.

Messages could pass from one place to another quickly. Not that anyone could get anywhere quickly, but at least they’d know if something like the mine was attacked.

And with a tower, they could see further to the west and south into Deerfield, maybe even more to the east into Nottingham. If they ventured out into those areas, they could find high points and build more relay towers and outposts. Build those close enough and they could transmit messages to the Saddleback Tower with its good line of sight to the school.

Loch could see it. A series of towers at every strategic location and high point to relay messages by flag system, or maybe even something better. There had to be Abilities that could send messages. And they’d act as early warning systems as well.

It was ambitious. There was so many other things that probably were higher priority, but Loch just couldn’t shake the idea. He’d written it on one of his many mental lists and moved it up to near the top. At least building a tower on Saddleback. The rest would come when they claimed those areas.

He stopped the train of thought. When they claimed those areas. He’d known they would eventually expand beyond the territory around the school, maybe even growing into the surrounding communities if there were no Clans already formed, giving any survivors there more organization and structure. And he knew that claimed was how the Connection referred to it. But when had he started thinking that way?

Claimed. That word had a quality to it that he didn’t like. Claimed was possessive. It meant taking something away from someone else, or calling it his over others. Loch didn’t like the way it sounded and wasn’t how he saw any potential growth. It was how the Connection defined it, but Loch didn’t agree.

Or at least thought he hadn’t.

But in his mind he had just used the term.

And didn’t like it.

He didn’t want to claim anything. The world wasn’t his. He’d be the Clanchief because one was required and he was the strongest around. If someone better came along, Loch felt like he’d step aside. At least he hoped he would.

If there were other people out there, deeper into Deerfield and Nottingham, they had as much right to their areas as he had to Northwood. He didn’t want to take that away from them. He didn’t want to force anyone to fall under the rule of his Clan.

But to provide them with the Resources and benefits, he’d have to Claim the territory. That was just how the Connected System worked. It had rules that they had to follow. To give the people in those other areas quests, they had to be part of the Clan. He had to Claim their territory.

He had to be a conqueror.

“Loch,” Jenny said, drawing his attention.

He shook his head, putting those thoughts away. He’d have to work through it at some point, but now wasn’t the time.

“Sorry,” he said. “Lost in thought.”

“What’s that?”

She was pointing slightly to the northeast, to the right of the clearing that was the small lake in the Meadows State Park. It was a smaller clearing that Loch recognized as the former town transfer station. He remembered the first walk up Route 4 with Peter and Davis Millman. Right before they’d fought the Sunrise Phoenix in the Meadow’s parking lot, he had felt something coming from the dump. Cerie had even thought she’d detected a natural Resource or something.

He didn’t see anything at first but then saw a quick flash of light. It was a muted color, almost blending in with the trees surrounding the clearing. It was below the level of the trees, which is why it hadn’t been noticed by anyone passing on Route 4. Only now visible because of their elevation.

The plan had been to explore the Meadows and the Transfer Station. He’d been curious about what he had felt. Even if he hadn’t felt anything, it was still an area that needed to be explored.

Now he had even more reason to check it out.

There was something there.