Amrynn nodded, then flicked her wrist. It only took Richard a moment to realize that this was the same action Lucy had done when Richard’s palm was fused to the doorknob. Dmitri opened the door of the little office, ushering Richard to follow.

  The space was covered in shelves, but most of them weren’t full. Dmitri reached into a drawer, then pulled out a map and spread it out over the desk. Richard leaned over, curious. Base two was at the center, drawn in clear, crisp black lines, with the buildings drawn in perfect detail. The stretch of dead earth surrounding the wall was also there, with some cracks drawn in as well. He would bet that those same cracks were on the ground right now. On the beach he noticed clear black lines, but the further it went, the more faded the lines became. It was the same in the forest, too. Places that were often explored were in dark gray or black lines. Richard stared, his brow furrowed. He expected more. With there being less on the map, it felt more unsettling.

  “Everyone who comes here has a desire to help stop the apocalypse.” Dmitri smoothed out the map, studying it with sad eyes. “Once, a scavenger’s job wasn’t just to scavenge, but to discover more about the world we’ve found ourselves in. Guards were protectors, out helping survivors of other base camps meet together in safety. It’s even rumored that each base camp had different classes. I vaguely remember one had a scholar class. There’s even talk of an underwater base camp that older members recall was the first to fall.” Dmitri sighed, running a hand over the blank parts of the map near the ocean. “This map was once filled to the brim with useful information. Every time a scavenger or guard who traveled the forest touched the orb, this map would be updated. It used to hang beside the gate, but we’ve had to bring it down because of how much it has faded over the years.” Dmitri glanced at Richard. “So how do you feel about becoming a scavenger?”

  Richard swallowed. He hated the idea. Absolutely hated it. He had to admit he had such strong feelings because of basic self-preservation. It didn’t help that Elias was a jackass whom Richard never wanted to meet face to face.

  “I think I’d rather be a potions maker,” Richard said.

  Dmitri chuckled, and it sounded sad. “Wherever you choose, we need you, Richard. We need everyone. And we need you to survive as long as possible.”

  Richard again looked at the map, and an ache appeared in his stomach as his eyes scanned the vast amount of empty space. They knew so little. He wanted to explore this crazy world. He craved information. But did he want it so badly that he was willing to die for it all?

  “Next week we’ll break the newbies up into classes that they think they’ll choose so they can start training with them. Is there a class you’d like me to put you down for?” Dmitri asked.

  Richard again stared at the map. He was nervous about entering that forest again. He didn’t have the best experience there. Then again, would anyone have a good experience there?

  “Could I try out both? Potion making and scavenging?” Richard asked.

  “I can set that up, yeah.” Dmitri brought out a paper and scribbled something down. “That’ll give you some experience with both classes so you can make a more informed decision.”

  Dmitri said something else, but Richard kept looking at the map. He was so curious to fill in the map. The scavenger class was so small, and they needed all the help they could get. But Elias…

  “Richard?”

  He glanced over at Dmitri, frowning. “Sorry?”

  Dmitri kept his smile on his face. “Are you sure you want to try both classes?”

  “Yes.” Richard forced himself to not look at the map. “I’m sure.”

  Dmitri nodded. “Perfect. I will talk with Amrynn and Marcus. Head back to the farmlands.”

  Richard headed toward the door when he stopped. Yes, he had some more questions, but he also wanted to delay returning to the farmlands.

  “What’s your class?” Richard asked.

  Dmitri placed the map back in the drawer. “Pardon?”

  “Your class. Did you arrive with the gift of… being a leader?”

  Dmitri laughed. “No. Absolutely not. I arrived as any other newbie. Terrified and systemless. No, my class is farmer. I got a fourth skill tree when I was voted as leader.”

  Richard raised an eyebrow. “Wait, really?”

  “Yes, really. It’s how it works. Every leader is gifted with a new tree with abilities for leadership in each class. I was never a farm leader. Everyone voted me in as overall leader, and I have that skill tree. I still farm in my spare time because, yes, I still have spare time. We need every single person we can get. Besides, farmers make the best leaders, because we… well, because we last longer.”

  Richard glanced at his feet. “Yeah. I can see that.”

  Dmitri didn’t let the silence last. “It takes a certain strength to choose a class where you know you won’t live long. It also takes a certain strength to choose a class where you will last much longer than everyone else.” Dmitri did not keep Richard’s gaze at that. “Both are hard. There is no coward’s choice in the apocalypse. The best thing you can do is choose what you feel is right, because Order sent you here not only because you chose to, but because you can do a lot of good. Trust that you’re here for a reason.”

  Richard paused, then gave a small nod. Then he prepared to do his work as a farmer, knowing it wouldn’t last much longer.

  ***

  Richard was certain he was fast asleep until he heard the loud bell ringing. His eyes shot open, and it took him a moment to reorient himself to his situation.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The guards needed more help, and Richard had practically come to peace with knowing he couldn’t help right now. He brought his blanket closer around him and tried to sleep through it. He almost did when he heard multiple screams of pain, then the bell ringing six times. Richard’s eyes snapped open, and he sat up. Six? When were there ever six bells?

  The screaming got worse until many got cut short. Richard stood up, backing away to be by Fang.

  “What is it? What’s going on?” Fang said it over and over, whimpering.

  “Newbies!”

  It probably wasn’t smart to throw open the door, but at the sound of Dmitri’s voice, Richard had no other option. Richard grabbed Fang’s wrist and pulled him along, afraid that Fang would remain in the corner.

  Richard opened the door to a frantically dressed but calm Dmitri. Amber and Leylah were already there.

  “Follow me. Now,” Dmitri said.

  If the screams and shouts didn’t already make Richard nervous, the urgency in Dmitri’s voice drove him to follow.

  Dmitri led them, rushing toward the farmlands. Dmitri pulled an axe from his inventory.

  “What’s happening?” Amber asked.

  “Too many monsters. That’s what’s happening. Jace has sounded the alarm to prepare everyone for—”

  A chittering sounded, and Dmitri cursed.

  “Wall breach!” came the magically enhanced voice of Jace, echoing through the camp.

  “Shit, shit, shit.” Dmitri pulled a bottle from his inventory and slammed it on the ground. Just like in farming, globs of light exploded into existence. These were huge and lifted into the air. The light was as bright as if the sun had risen, except it was just around the entire base camp.

  “To the silos! Everyone to the silos!” Dmitri said.

  Richard tried to be careful about where he stepped when they reached the farmlands, but he soon realized that no one else was careful. The food was the most precious commodity. Already there was a large group with weapons gathered around the two little silos, and the surrounding ground was already trampled. Richard understood the importance immediately. If those precious, compact storage units somehow got destroyed, they could kiss their lives here goodbye.

  “Newbies! To the center!” Elwyndor said.

  Richard almost ran into Shrub. The forest goliath pulled out swords from his inventory and gave one to each of them. “For protection. I pray to Order you won’t need them, but it’s better to have them.”

  “Thank you.” Leylah was the only one brave enough to talk.

  They were ushered like children toward the center of the group near the silos. Richard’s palm was sweaty on the handle. The air was full of chittering, and it made the small hairs on Richard’s neck stand on end. He was at first grateful for the bright globs of light bouncing around the base camp. It helped him to not jump at every shadow. Also, being in the center of a bunch of people who held a variety of weapons helped. He was happy that these people were so willing to protect him.

  The chittering got louder. Richard’s throat tightened, and he wanted to close his eyes, but he didn’t dare. The wooden gates flew open with a bang as multiple bodies were thrown at it. Amber screamed, and Richard felt his stomach drop. Those bodies were so mangled he couldn’t tell who they were, but he quickly found that wasn’t the most terrifying thing to look at.

  Coming toward the gate was a chunk of forest. Five tree-like beings were stuck together, moving swiftly on a hundred roots toward the gate. It had to be thirty feet high. The branches of the five trees became more twisted and forged together the higher up they went. Richard could have sworn it somehow created a demonic face, with glowing ember eyes. Richard saw it in way too much glory, and he immediately wanted to scrub it from his mind forever. And that wasn’t the creature that was chittering.

  “Steady! Stay among the silos! Protect the silos!” Elwyndor shouted.

  Fang was curling in on himself. Leylah and Amber were staring, slack-jawed. The wall itself looked so flimsy next to the tree creature. Richard’s sword felt about as useful as a toothpick.

  The creature roared, sounding like a thousand trees breaking and crumbling to the forest ground. The sound echoed throughout the forest, and it took everything in Richard’s power not to sink to his knees.

  “Stay among the silos! Do not let this thing destroy them!” Despite Elwyndor screaming this, Richard could barely hear her. The forest creature lifted its multiple hands, then brought them down hard on the gate. The wood splintered and shattered. Despite the opening being far from the farmlands, Richard still instinctively curled in on himself, waiting for fragments of wood to hit him.

  “Fire!”

  Someone shot an arrow that burst into flames the moment it impacted the demon tree. It bellowed with pain, and a dozen other fire arrows shot through the air.

  “We have incoming!”

  Richard spun around. He had been so focused on the forest creature that he didn’t even register what was happening at the wall. It was like a river of flesh spilling over the stone and crawling into the base camp. Fang and Amber screamed. Richard’s own scream was caught in his throat. Those… flesh creations were so much closer than the demonic tree. As they spread out, he saw they looked like some sort of stitched-together monster. Some mad scientist took the corpses of animals, cut their limbs, and stitched them back together on different animals.

  “We have splicers!” someone near Richard shouted.

  A dozen of those creatures stood on… limbs. Not just legs, but arms or decomposing heads placed in the lower bodies. They were complete abominations, and Richard could only stare. One had a deer’s body, with enlarged legs of a raccoon, coyote, and bobcat. It had moose antlers with an enlarged rabbit’s face. When it cracked open its mouth, the fangs were those of a rattlesnake. Richard found absolutely no desire to get close to any of the other splicer to see the result of a sick, sadistic mind. These splicers were far closer to the silos and made quick work of destroying every plant they touched.

  Elwyndor growled. “Not on my farm!” She bounded forward, pulling out two hammer-like weapons in her fists. Richard didn’t get a good look at them before she threw them. The jagged hammers spun toward the monsters, slitting two of their throats before returning to Elwyndor’s palms.

  “Ten more to go, my friends! Protect the silos!”

  Farmers gave a battle cry before part of the group broke off. Leylah moved forward, and Richard instinctively grabbed her arm. “Leylah, wait.”

  “Don’t make me stay, Richard. I was born to fight.”

  Richard released her arm, wondering if he would regret it. Leylah moved forward with the rest of them. They were only at level four. What was Leylah thinking?

  Richard turned to Amber. “Stay with Fang.” He raced after Leylah before Amber could object.

  What was he thinking?

  “Don’t protect me just because I’m a girl,” Leylah said.

  Richard held his sword with sweaty palms. “Believe me, I know you can hold your own. I figured you’re level four, I’m level four, together we’re level eight, and maybe that’s better.”

  Leylah pursed her lips. “I doubt that’s how that works.”

  Richard wanted to think he had a clever comeback to that, but he didn’t. Instead, the two of them charged after a splicer. Richard specifically chose this one because the other one had a bear’s face. The one he and Leylah chose had a frog’s face, talons for two legs, a broken torso and a snake’s tail for the other legs. Richard pretended that the enlarged squirrel’s tail somehow made this creature not as terrifying. A squelching sound filled the air, and beetle wings erupted out of its partially decomposed salamander body.

  Richard and Leylah both lifted their swords. The splicer flew right toward them at an inhuman pace. Richard still tracked it with his eyes, and swung with his sword, aiming for the throat like Elwyndor had. Both of them missed, and Leylah growled, seeing the splicer heading for the silos. She grabbed her sword and threw it. With an accuracy Richard believed, Leylah’s sword dug into the body. The creature shrieked, and Richard ran ahead, taking advantage of the creature’s distraction to hack its frog face off. Leylah retrieved her sword, then the two of them barely had time to nod at each other before racing off to the next splicer.