We don’t get very far, even with all three of us having a high enough Constitution that we’re moving at a brisk walk the whole time. We still have to fight and kill the monsters and we stop every single time to firstly loot and then butcher the monsters to let a Husky bring the butchered carcass back. It’s an efficient method of transportation, though it does mean that we run out of puppies after a while. Ali takes over guiding us to the prey that Orel spots from above and he even drags us off to deal with some monsters that the eagle misses. Without his pets in play, Richard isn’t as useful so both Mikito and I get a chance to shine, fighting the monsters in close combat. Sad to say, it is quite obvious quite quickly who is better at that - and it’s not me. Unfortunately, once we kill a few of the monsters, we realise we still have to wait for a puppy to get back which means we still have to wait anyway. As frustrating as it is, we’re all conscious enough of the food situation back in Whitehorse that no one even voices the option of leaving the carcasses behind.
The fights themselves are interesting as it’s clear that Mikito and Richard have worked out a system to deal with monsters. Richard stays back, opening fire immediately with his shotgun-ish weapon in battle, using a somewhat more traditional shell and ball bearing load out. According to him, other than nets, he’s also got shells for instaset glue, explosives, electricity and even a grappling hook. Seems like if you could think about it, you could buy a shell for his weapon in the Shop.
Mikito on the other hand still uses her naginata, wielding it in close combat and taking on the monsters directly. Since we last fought together, she has gained a new Skill that causes the head of her weapon to glow red hot with each strike, sizzling through flesh and bone. I wonder if we could use the blade as a hot plate for cooking but I’m too scared and too smart to ask. In battle, the quiet Japanese woman becomes a focused whirlwind-of-death, sliding past attacks with ease and crippling creatures with swift, accurate strikes before moving to the next monster while Richard finishes off the cripple.
For the first few battles, I watch them fight without taking part. I watch how Richard focuses on commanding the dogs when they are around and how the dogs work with Mikito to take down the monsters they face. Once I get the gist of the idea, I step in and try to help and let’s just say I’m more of a hindrance than help. I’m in the wrong place for Mikito’s strikes, I pre-empt the attacks by the dogs forcing the monsters to move in the wrong direction, I even dodged straight into one of the animals in an attempt to get away from an attack. I’m all wrong for a party fight like this.
Who’d have thought that the fact that you could hurt your friends would make such a difference in combat? Mixing up melee and ranged fighters in a swirling arena of blades and teeth seems to require a lot more co-ordination than I’d have expected. Damn movies, making it seem so easy.
When we get back to my house, we agree to postpone dealing with the spiders for at least a day. Better to stay close to town and work on our teamwork. It would be tragic to be shot in the back by a friend in the middle of combat against the spiders. Or elbow a party member in the face. Or cut one of the puppies. Purely as an example.
In the evening, when the others have broken off to do their own thing, I join Lana in washing the dishes. She has her hair in a bun, in a tight blouse and jeans, bright evening sunlight highlighting her hair and cute button nose. For a moment, I just admire her from the side before I forcefully remind myself of an earlier promise.
“Lana, can you tell me about the town?” I begin.
“Huh?” Lana turns to me, puzzled by the generic question. I quickly clarify, “How are the people? The microloan programs? What’s the City Council managing to do and what are they failing at?”
“Oh… not asking for much are you,” she smiles at me before handing me another plate to dry. “I really miss dishwashers you know. Where do we start? Things are getting… better. People are moving around more, focusing on what they can do. Even if it’s nothing more than taking apart a door and putting up again, now that they know they can level and do something to improve themselves, it’s helping. We’ve got a few people working as lumberjacks, fishers, carpenters. All of that. We still don’t have enough guards and things are still dangerous, but people are I guess, getting used to the world.
“The loans are working well, we’re getting more and more of the hunters to sell the materials to us. Profits are abysmal, but the training is more important. Once they level their Skills up and produce better quality items, the amount we’ll make will improve. A few of the workers have even reported getting specific quests, pieces that they need to make.
“The Council… well, they’re organising the guards and the food. Until your announcement, they were really focused on the food situation so they had the farmers organised at the parks and the garden. Now, I think they’re looking at the housing situation more closely and are trying to work out who is still alive and what buildings to buy next.
“The problem at the end of the day is money, John. Credits. No one has enough and as much as people want to help, there’s only so much they are willing to give.”
She falls silent, the spiel coming to an end. The bright, bubbly personality is gone, the worried sister and citizen making a showing. “We just don’t have enough, not for everyone. Those that don’t hunt are rationed, those that do get double portions and often supplement with the Credits they earn from looting. That makes everyone else angry, especially the Citizens who don’t have a class that automatically gives them a way to earn Credits. Teachers, doctors, scholars - those classes can level their skills but they are dependent on an economy that we just don’t have. Worst, we’ve got people who are still in shock and people are still disappearing. The hunters report a few bodies every day in the river…”
Lana has stopped washing, her hands clutched around a plate. I hesitate before closing a hand around hers, squeezing it and she looks up at me, unshed tears in her eyes, “I don’t know how you do it. The hunters, even Mikito and Richard aren’t willing to go as far out as you did. You just drove all the way to Carcross as if the monsters didn’t matter, that it was just another day before this shit happened. And the rest of us, we’re just trying to get through another day.”
I blink for a moment, staring out the window at the lounging puppies and fox as I attempt to answer her, “I… I guess I’m just too stupid to know better.”
“Don’t you feel anything? Didn’t you lose anyone?” she pulls her hand away from me to stare at my face, searching it.
“I…,” I struggle for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain my own complicated life. “I did. I think. But…” how to explain my relationship with them, the dearth of love and the parade of nannies and then later, boarding school. How I barely saw my father through my youth, and even less as an adult while my mother had left when I was born. I’ve never even met her. Of all of them, only my sister had ever been close to me and even we had drifted apart as she grew older. How to explain the irrational grief for something that I never really had, the way I learnt to tune it all out just to get through another day. Better not to. “It’s over. I can’t do anything for them even if they were alive, not from here.”
She shakes her head, sitting back down at the dining room table. I watch her for a moment as she collects herself, uncomfortable in the silence so I get back to washing the dishes. I’m nearly done when she speaks again, her voice soft. “We have thousands of people, and nearly half of them are combat classes but so few dare to go out. It’s too much, too dangerous and we keep losing people, here and there. The hunting groups get smaller, the food gets less and people get more and more scared.”