The Connected System

Kelly stood up from the table, glaring at Senora. The elf priestess stared calmly back, hands clasped and resting on the table, back straight, looking every bit the serene but stern leader. It made Kelly angrier. And she wasn’t sure why she was even angry to begin with.

It just seemed her natural state lately.

She was on edge, never able to relax.

The attacks against the refugees had increased as they’d gotten out of the more congested areas of Massachusetts and into what had counted as rural areas. Still urban compared to Northwood, New Hampshire, which she longed for more and more each day. The attacks didn’t let her or the other Classed rest, they had to be on guard constantly. There wasn’t enough of them to have more than two shifts, so it was long days and sometimes short nights off.

Not that it was just day and night shifts. Kelly’s sleep routine was ruined. Sometimes she was on patrol during the day, sometimes at night and sometimes part of both.

And even when not on patrol, as one of the leaders of the groups, she had other duties she had to deal with.

It was too much.

Missing Loch and the girls was a constant thing, but the closer they got to what had been the New Hampshire border it seemed the slower the large group went. They kept collecting refugees, and some fighters, making an already slow walk even worse. And with more people, that meant having to stop for longer to rest and hunt for food.

She could see the end in sight, even though realistically she knew it would be months before they’d get anywhere near Concord, but each day that distance just seemed to grow.

The Ranking Board allowed her to check that her family was still alive but that’s all it did. She could see that Clan Brady, of which she was somehow a part of, kept growing. It still wasn’t outpacing the growth of some of the others, especially Clan Yoshi. Seeing Loch’s name in the top spot with Harper and Piper in the top hundred, it was a relief and it hurt. Her name was in the top fifty now, at Level Twenty.

The only thing she wanted to do was see her family. She did everything else because it had to be done. The people in the caravan had to be protected. She had the power to protect them and so she would. They had pushed her into a position of leadership, so she would act the part of leader.

Even if it meant dealing with Senora Barkfall on a daily basis.

“We need to wait at least another day,” Kelly said, leaning down with her hands resting on the table.

They were in an old office building, most of the furniture gone but a couple of conference tables had remained. She was getting tired of staying in office buildings, but they made the most sense. Somewhat defensible, even with all the windows, and had enough space for the two hundred or so refugees to spread out and have space to sleep and rest. When they were stopped, all the refugees could do was sleep and rest. None had the time or ability to start working on picking up gathering Classes. There was nothing for them to do but lay around all day.

Most were constantly fighting depression.

Moving, walking, at least gave them something to do and Kelly would have pushed for that but they needed at least an extra day. Food had been scarce for the last week and the refugees were running out of stamina. They needed rest and the hunters needed another day or two to find more food and water.

The people couldn’t keep walking like they had been.

Even the fighters could use the extra time. They still had their guard rotations, but at least in the building they didn’t need to keep walking up and down the long and spread out caravan of people all the time. There was no need to run three hundred feet down a cracked, pitted and ruined road to catch a charging Mutated Wolf in time before it ate a civilian.

Senora didn’t care.

She wasn’t tired. Why should anyone else be?

Humans were weak, she said. The trek was nothing her elven kin couldn’t handle, even the elven children. She was capped at Level Twenty-Five but thought even non-Classed and those below Level Five should be able to walk without complaint.

Kelly was sure that Senora just hated humans and loved to see them miserable.

Which was an odd thing for a Priestess of Freyja to be. The Divine Being, who Senora knew as the Dawnmother, wasn’t a God but might as well have been. Her Concept was Love and her Priestess showed everything but.

Kelly took a deep breath, getting her anger under control. It wouldn’t help.

“We need food,” she said, much calmer. “Everyone needs to eat.”

Senora rolled her eyes as she stood up. It was all Kelly could do to not punch the elf.

“Fine,” Senora said, walking away. “One more day.”

Kelly clenched her hands into fists, still pushing them against the table. She waited until Senora had disappeared before stepping away and leaving the room. The office had been an open plan, the space filled with cubicles. Conference rooms and executive offices had lined the walls. The building had been three floors, all basically the same. The people were spread out across all the floors and in all the office suites.

Even if they had planned to leave, it would take hours to mobilize everyone. When it would be time to leave, they’d start when it was still dark so they could be on the road when dawn broke and get as many miles as they could before they would need to stop again. The scouts would go out before them, finding the best route and the next place to spend the night.

Kelly quickly moved through the office, weaving around the people spread haphazardly out. There was no pattern. People just dropped where they found a spot. Looking through the windows she could see trees and other buildings, a couple of houses, and miles of empty road heading north. Each step up that road would take her closer to her family.

She had doubts that was what Senora wanted. Freyja had promised that she would get Kelly to her family, that was part of the deal Kelly had accepted in making Freyja her Patron. But there had never been anything said about time. Kelly had been desperate when she’d made the deal, she knew it had been bad.

There was a goal, Kelly knew. A reason why Freyja wanted these refugees. Kelly didn’t think it was completely altruistic. There was some of that, but Freyja had plans for all of them. Senora knew, and knew where they were going, but didn’t share those plans with Kelly.

Or anyone.

They were all just humans after all.

She reached the office suites entrance, stepping out into the main lobby of the building. Useless elevator doors were closed across from her, the door to the stairs up propped open. Fighters lounged about in the lobby, resting. Swords and spears lay next to them, pieces of armor and other protective padding. They ate and drank. A couple sleeping.

Lisa, one of the other Valkyries, leaned against the glass door vestibule, watching the parking lot outside. Kelly could see a guard patrol walking past, two men with sword and spear. Lisa looked at her as Kelly leaned against the wall.

“We staying?”

“Another day, no more,” Kelly said with a weary sigh.

Lisa groaned.

“Not long enough.”

“Nope, but it’s what we get.”

Lisa grunted, leaning back against the vestibule.

Kelly let herself slide down the wall, sitting on the ground. She pulled her knees up, resting her head against them. She wanted to sleep but couldn’t. Her turn on patrol was coming up.

Not for the first time, probably wouldn’t be the last, but Kelly wondered why they didn’t just turn on Senora. The elf was strong but there was no way she was strong enough to defend against all of the fighters. There were eight Classed Valkyries, which was a Rare Class. They would probably be enough to kill Senora, but with casualties. There were twenty people with Combat Classes. Some Archers, Strikers, Warriors and even an Uncommon Shieldbearer. More than enough to kill Senora.

Part of the reason was that they needed the elf. She was the only Healer Class among the two hundred. Her Abilities were needed daily and that was one thing that Senora was more than willing to do. Kelly wasn’t naive, she knew Senora was only helpful in that regard because it made her needed and it made the civilians partial toward her.

Even with her cold and racist attitude, the people were thankful for Senora’s presence. And Kelly had to admit, without the elf they would have lost dozens to disease and other wounds. They needed Senora.

And there were the Valkyrie oaths. All of them had taken Freyja as a Patron. Kelly didn’t think the Divine Being would just let them kill one of her High Priestesses without punishment. She’d probably kill all the Valkyries. And without them? Kelly doubted the others would be able to keep the refugees alive.

Freyja would raise more Valkyries, Kelly had no doubt, and those would be more loyal because they would have seen what happened to those that disobeyed the Divine Being. Freyja would get the refugees for whatever purpose she planned.

Kelly feared what that could be.

If she and the others killed Senora, she would never find out. She would never get to the end of the journey and see what that plan was. She wouldn’t be there to protect the people she had promised to protect.

That was why they didn’t get Senora. They needed to be there for the people laying in the office suites, hoping to survive and counting on Kelly and the others to help them survive.

Kelly hated herself for how easily she contemplated killing another sentient being. An elf, not human, but was there really any different? Senora wasn’t a monster whose only goal was to kill and eat. Senora was a thinking being. It was like thinking of killing another human.

Kelly would do it if she had to, in self-defense or to protect an innocent. But to just casually think about murder?

When had Kelly started to think of that as normal?

She just wanted to see Loch and her girls again. To hold them and never let them go.

“Kelly,” a voice said.

Kelly looked up, seeing Lisa standing over her. She looked around. There were less people in the vestibule than a minute ago. When had they all left?

“You fell asleep,” Lisa said, holding a hand out.

Kelly took it, letting Lisa help her up.

“How long?,” she asked, trying to fully wake up.

“An hour maybe.”

“Crap, I need to be on patrol.”

“It’s covered.”

“But…”

“Nope,” Lisa said with a smile. “I only woke you up so you could go and lay down in your sleeping bag. Curled up like that, you’ll be stiff as a board.”

Kelly nodded. She could feel the strain in her back. It had been uncomfortable. She had to be more tired than she had thought.

“We sent out a couple more hunters,” Lisa continued. “Hopefully they’ll come back with plenty of food.”

“Yeah, hopefully,” Kelly said, walking back toward the office suite.

She had to be tired, she wasn’t even complaining or trying to go on patrol. She knew it would be dangerous. She wouldn’t be as sharp.

Sleep, that was what she needed. Lots of sleep.

She knew she’d be lucky if she got two or three hours of it.

***

Kristin sighed, leaning back in her chair. The office area was quiet. Darren was outside doing something important. She flipped open one of her notebooks, looking for Darren’s schedule. He was outside training with the guards at that time. Ed was somewhere, he didn’t bother letting her know what he was up to. Probably, hopefully, working out some of the latest issues the clan members had brought.

Lately it had been about overcrowding and how hard it was to sleep in a room with a dozen or more other people. Privacy curtains didn’t help block sounds.

She closed the notebook. It was just a list of Darren’s daily routine and how long he thought he took at each task. There were no hours, no one could tell the exact time anymore, at least until they got a sundial and could work out a clock based on those. But for being mid-twenties, Darren was very organized. He had a good judge of time.

The idea of the list was to give Kristin, or anyone really, an idea of where he’d be if needed. Might not be there, but it would give them a place to start and a way to track him. Of course there would be times he’d have to deviate from the list, they all understood. But until there was some kind of direct communication system, the list was the best they had.

Ed couldn’t be nailed down to a routine. Even if he could, he’d probably refuse to write it out.

The man could be stubborn. He was good at what he did, a pure politician, but could be prickly sometimes. Kristin knew he was jealous of Lochlan. Who wouldn’t be? She hadn’t been in Ed’s original survivor group, but could still understand the dynamic. She’d worked for bosses that had the same dynamic.

There would be one in charge for a while, then someone else with more power or in the old business world, more clout, would come along and take over. Like Lochlan, they might not forcibly do it, but it would happen. And the old boss would be shuffled off to a lesser role. One where they thought they still had power but really didn’t.

Ed did have power, just not full power in the Clan. He ran the day to day, as much as he could, but people still saw Loch as the boss. Loch wanted to be a figurehead, but try as hard as he could, he couldn’t fully let go. It was making things difficult. People came to her with issues but they wanted it taken directly to Lochlan, instead of going to Ed like it should.

It was worse when Ed was right there and the people came seeking Lord Lochlan.

Ed would be the one to solve the issues, but there was always the risk that the people would ignore his directives and go to Loch when he was around. Ed had power, but not the necessary authority in the eyes of the people.

There had to be a way to solve it.

Kristin rubbed at her eyes, glancing out the window. The sun was setting. She could just see it through the trees, the red sky reflected in the still waters of Harvey Lake. Watching the sun set had always been one of her favorite things. Feet up on the railing of her deck, glass of wine in hand, the sun ending another day.

She missed that the most out of everything the Connected System had taken.

It had taken a lot but given nothing in return.

Her Class and Abilities? They’d serve her well in this new world but she could have lived her life fully in bliss without ever having the Connection happen. Everything about the new world was awful. Monsters? Having to fight to survive? Magic?

Magic wasn’t as cool as she thought it could be.

She’d rather have the no-magic world back.

Leaning forward, Kristin pulled one of her Class given notebooks from the pile. The cover was marked Census. She flipped it open to the last page.

The notebooks were good. She would have liked to have had that Ability in her old life. So there was one thing the Connection had given that was good.

As an organized person, Kristin loved the notebooks. They were linked to her mind, making it easy to reference something she had written in them. And being able to create copies that others could write in, that would then appear in her master notebook made things so much easier. Especially since she could open one and instantly know what had been added, as well as having complete editing ability over the entries.

She felt bad sometimes knowing that her Class and Abilities would keep her off the frontlines. So many people were risking their lives and she wouldn’t have to. She was important to the Clan and her Class made her more so, but because of that Class she was too valuable to risk fighting. She would never need to risk a Dungeon. She’d Level slower, but that was okay. She felt bad because others would be forced to risk their lives, well she stayed relatively safe in the Clanhold. Kristin wasn’t naive, she knew she’d fight at some point and had been taking lessons from Darren when they both had time. But to not have to go into a Dungeon? That was a huge benefit.

She felt bad but only for a short time, looking at all the notebooks and paperwork on her desk. Her job was vital to the Clan and it involved a lot of tedious paperwork, made easier by her Class but still tedious. Maybe fighting wouldn’t be that bad?

Three people had come to the Clan that morning, with the same story as everyone else. Something had driven them to come to Northwood instead of going to another town. It wasn’t that they knew Clan Brady was there and was establishing a community, they just felt that heading to Northwood was the right choice.

Loch, Ed and herself had talked about it with the fairy, Cerie. It was thought that because the Holdstone had been activated, it sent out a signal calling to all unaligned Adapted, telling them to come to the Clan. Kristin liked that system, it made recruiting easier and allowed them to grow the Clan quicker. She wondered, but hadn’t asked Cerie as she still felt weird talking to what was basically a magical hologram, if the Holdstone was somehow directing the right people to the Clan because the three that had just arrived were all going to be very useful. One more than the others, but all three would quickly find roles.

Amelia Elmore

Age: 27

From: Epping, New Hampshire

Occupation: Gardener

Relevant Skills: Singing

Zachary Cross

Age: 33

From: Deerfield, New Hampshire

Occupation: Warehouse Manager

Relevant Skills: Hunting

Steve Haley

Age: 28

From: Epping, New Hampshire

Occupation: Construction

Relevant Skills: Former Army

Apparently Amelia and Steve were a couple. They’d been driving through Deerfield when the Connection hit. They’d sheltered in Zachary’s house and the three had stayed there until they’d run out of food a week or so ago. They’d made their way up Route 107 from Deerfield and then turned east down Route 4. Kristin wasn’t really interested in that aspect, but in what they all brought for jobs and pre-Connection skills.

Amelia had been a Gardener, plants mostly, but that would probably translate to herbs and other things. In the morning, after they’d had a chance to settle in, Kristin would introduce her to Thomas and the farmers. Steve had construction and Army experience. He’d be good with the building teams and as a guard. Kristin would have to talk with Darren and Tim DeWolfe, the construction foreman, to see where Steve was most needed but his versatility would be useful.

Kristin wondered how that would translate into a Class. Probably be at least Uncommon, maybe even Rare. They’d have to work him in both functions to get the most out of his skills and see if they could generate an Uncommon Class.

But it was Zachary that she was really happy to have join the Clan. A warehouse manager. That was perfect. They had all these random supplies and gear. It was currently all stacked up in the school’s former gym. There was some organization to it, the best that Kristin could manage, but to have someone whose job had been to organize a warehouse? Perfect.

She’d get him started first thing in the morning.

Kristin smiled.

The three were going to be very busy.