Laura sighed as TJ finished explaining his plan. After knuckling at her brows for a second, she shrugged and looked up at TJ, who stood ready to be told he was right.
"You're right. Most people aren't going to be happy about it, but you're right. It'll be best to make the announcement to do that at breakfast, as you already said, and then get started on it immediately."
"I know people want to think that their homes are being respected wherever they are and I'll be pissed if someone destroys my home, but that's a petty concern and a problem to deal with when we're not in mortal danger. We need better defenses than the walls of a store and our bodies. The material's gotta come from somewhere, and the trees're probably our best option. Then, we need a clear sightline everywhere, or else they'll be able to sneak up on us."
"Yeah, I got it when you explained it before. People are going to revolt when they hear you want to destroy the firehouse. It's become a sort of a communal area."
TJ shrugged. "I'm fine being the villain for this, but we need to build the best walls we can manage as fast as possible. I'll be busy helping with this and exterminations all day."
"You'll help with this?" Laura cocked a brow at his statement. "I'd think you would spend all your time hunting and leave the construction to all the peons here."
"I have some new Skills that'll let me do some explosive damage and recover more quickly back here, so I'll cycle through like that. Frankly, the gloves are off, and I'm going to focus on killing as many monsters as fast as possible instead of working with a team. While I'm here and working, I'm going to try to teach people as many ways as I can to see if we can get people to the Copper tier. I've gotten a couple of leads on that and another Skill that people might be able to gain that'll help out a lot."
"That might help soften the blow." Laura sighed. "I guess I shouldn't complain, though, since this'll give me plenty of experience for my Bureaucrat Occupation."
"Looking on the bright side, good!" Tj managed a smile, but he found that, even after sleeping and trying to take his mind off it, he still bubbled with an impotent rage towards the monsters. The idea of being pulled from his family was intolerable, and he needed to work off some of that rage. "Do you want me here for the announcement, or do you want me to begin my hunt sooner rather than later?"
Laura looked down at her table, thinking for a moment. Then, she stood up and gestured for him to follow. "We'll do it in 20 minutes. I've kept some people back, so we'll wake everyone else up and make them come in to the firehouse now. That way, we can announce it and get people moving immediately."
The former mayor was nothing if not decisive, and she strode forward out of the store. There, Seth stood, his face mostly impassive, but Laura met his gaze.
"Did you hear what TJ told me?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Any questions?"
"Other than when I can get out there and kill some monsters? No, ma'am." Seth smiled a grim smile and TJ Appraised him.
Zealot, 14
It shouldn't have been a surprise, TJ supposed, given the man's dogged focus on eradicating monsters and his Avenger Occupation. There was no need for him to do anything except for hunt, and he was good at it.
Seth locked eyes with TJ as he Appraised him and nodded. "I'm right there for both of my level 15's. I'll be joining you today, though not on the hunt."
"Looking forward to it." TJ mirrored the grim smile. Seth was, perhaps, the person who'd most solidly thrown himself into the mentality that they weren't even in a war with the monsters, but a struggle for eradication. TJ felt some measure of competitive spirit at the thought, and he made the petty resolution to himself to keep Seth from catching up to him. "We'll have someone talk to you about the other things we say, but you're on the right path anyways. I wouldn't worry."
Seth nodded as TJ and Laura continued walking past. TJ was content to go in silence, but Laura spoke quietly once they'd taken a couple of steps.
"He's a good man. I might have called him a kid a week or two ago, but he's changed. His friend's death was really hard on him."
"I'm sure." TJ halfway agreed. "However, I think he's the one of us who's gotten best acclimated to this whole 'new world' thing. He's not going to be a liability in a couple days when this all shakes out." TJ looked at the countdown he kept in the corner of his eye as he spoke. Almost exactly 72 hours left. "It's going to be ugly, and we're not going to be able to take breaks, not really. People who've hardened themselves will be worth four who haven't yet."
"I guess." Laura responded. "I can't help but hope that you'll be totally wrong. Maybe we've killed most of the monsters and there'll just be a couple left to pick off."
"Nope. We have at least one each of Chindis, wendigos, and the weird raven thing that Jeff talked about. I'm worried about the rave, since we've never seen them or what they can do." TJ shook his head as he responded.
"You're right. Now get some breakfast, and as soon as everyone's there, I'll have you come up to explain the plan better for everyone, though I'll present it."
"Just tell me when." TJ agreed as he went to a corner table where, for a little while, he could step out of the spotlight. He'd willingly opened the doors to spend the rest of the Tutorial in the middle of everything, and he didn't regret that, but he'd welcome whatever short time to himself he could steal until he was stuck in the forefront of everyone's attention. Of course, as soon as he settled into his seat, Granny Penny walked up, no longer needing a cane, much less her walker. There weren't any options for him to select from, so she just placed a bowl of instant oatmeal with javelina bacon on top in front of him.
"We're working on getting some more fresh vegetables and fruit, but we're basically out at this point." She shrugged in apology. "Stanton wonders if we'll have something by tomorrow morning. Anything else I can get for you, honey?"
TJ shook his head and Penny smiled at him before she turned and walked away. She walked with a jaunt in her step, and TJ found himself smiling, finding a small positive in the horror that was the apocalypse. Stanton was already mobile when the Integration occurred, though he had struggled running or anything like that. Now that they'd all gained so many levels, even the most geriatric of the people in the Tutorial had overcome whatever lasting ailments they'd brought into the Integration. Sure, they weren't spry, but every person in Pine was able to go on long hikes for hunts and were more than capable of doing a full day's labor. Before she got too far away, TJ Appraised Penny and was pleasantly surprised.
Disciple, 11
She wasn't one of the powerhouses in the town, but she could hold her own, even without any combat-oriented Skills. Every additional level she gained from here on out would better serve to ensure she survived the Tutorial itself and whatever followed.
Tearing his attention away from his surroundings and keeping himself from Appraising every person he saw, TJ instead set to eating his food, and nearly as soon as he finished, Laura stood up in front of everyone. Looking around, TJ saw frightened, angry, excited, tired, and more in the faces around him, but even with so many negative emotions, he also saw the steel forged in the past eleven days of the Tutorial. As the days passed, even the most hesitant of the people in town had cast aside the worst of their weaknesses and fears, and TJ wondered if they could actually make it through this upcoming siege. The vision of their twisted, desecrated bodies remained tormenting him, but he focused on Laura, whose eyes met his own.
"Thank you for gathering." Laura said simply. TJ felt her aura wash over him, and he noted a new affliction, "Inspired", giving a greater susceptibility to bravery and strength. "There are three days until the siege begins. TJ has some information about that for us, as well as some instructions we should follow."
TJ didn't give himself an opportunity to step away and walked up to the front of the space. Everyone's eyes were on him, and TJ noticed the dozens of faces he'd come to know much better for the past week waiting for the news he had to give.
"Here's the big thing. We need to build a barricade. Walls or something around the general store. We know that the monsters' goal is to destroy it and ours is to protect it. I don't know why we haven't already, but it's time. To do this, we're going to use every material we have on hand and prepare more. In line with that, we need to have a good view of everything around us to know how to react to the monsters' attack, so we're going to level everything around the general store, as far back as we can manage."
"We can't destroy people's houses!" a voice TJ didn't recognize shouted out. "Who knows how long they've had it, and if they come back to a wrecked home, well, it's just not right!"
"Better a broken house than a broken body." TJ replied simply. Laura had been preparing herself to respond somehow, but she was so surprised by his response that she said nothing while he continued. The rest of the people present also went silent at TJ's flatly practical words. "Look. People have already lost a lot of 'things'. Beds, windows, linens, and so on. The more sentimental stuff, we tried to leave alone. But if I have to choose between things and people, I'm choosing people. Now stop being so naive and understand what we're saying.
"We need a clear line of sight on whatever's approaching. Stanton, how far off would you say you can shoot accurately?" TJ asked, and the cowboy responded without much thought.
"With all the levels and Skills I've got? Well over 100 feet, with one inch of variability. At 500 feet, I'm within a foot."
"Zig?"
"About the same, but more accurate at 500."
"Seth?"
"About half as accurate as them."
"There's three of our best Acolytes at range. If they can't see anything that's coming until it's 20 feet away, we're throwing away an advantage. I wish we could move this to be on top of a hill, but that's not a choice. So, we're going to clear out everything so we can see the monsters coming, make a barricade, and build on every advantage we can get. I don't like the idea of destroying people's stuff, but we'll gather what we think to be most valuable in the grocery store, and hope that people can find it there when they come back, if they're still alive."
"Of course, we'll work to be as respectful and understanding as possible as we do this." Laura jumped in. "We just want to make sure that we make it through this fight."
"Yes." TJ agreed. "Laura has a lot of specifics about that for you, but I do have one other thing that will be of interest to all of you. Let me tell you about a couple of Skills I gained without using a Skill selection."