When the time came, the aides dropped some screens on each side of the room and one on the back wall between the seals. Someone projected the president’s speech on them so we could all watch and listen.

  It was about what we expected. She told us what we already knew, that it was global. She gave a brief description of the death and destruction the sudden change had caused worldwide. It was bad, but not global-catastrophe bad.

  The cutoff for becoming a Player seemed to be some point after puberty. In the U.S., it was approximately 14 to 18 depending on the person, and so far, they didn’t know why the age range varied.

  She joked that her Player Class was a state secret. That earned the few groans it deserved. She ended by saying this was something that had to be dealt with locally at first. Local officials had to work with people who knew how games like this worked.

  It wasn’t the same as any one game, she assured us, but people who played them would understand. Then she added that her advisers told her their reading of the “Rules of the Game” indicated creatures or monsters would start appearing. Most thought soon. Too soon.

  Finishing up, she asked all U.S. citizens to work together, form groups to prepare for what was to come, and make sure every group had someone who understood how these games worked. That way everyone would have a better chance of surviving. Also, anyone who attacked another citizen using game powers, would still be subject to existing laws and law enforcement was to enforce them.

  It was helpful, but not much. More of a pep talk…a we’ll get through this if we work together kind of speech. The messages that came through from FEMA were more detailed in terms of information and suggestions. They matched some of my ideas and gave us many more to work with.

  A little under an hour later, we had a starting framework in place to protect the city. There would be at least one police radio and/or officer with each party. They worked out a few radio codes for what we might face later. The police, sheriff, and fire units would form their own groups as best they could at first. We’d work with their parties to train them as fast as possible.

  Fortunately, we found enough people who had played similar games, both inside and outside the building. They willingly formed a second party and part of a third. The mayor had his aide post messages to local media and social platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, and reddit, asking for help. People wanting to assist trickled in over the next few hours.

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  The city and county councils set up a joint working group to figure out what people knew, what they could do, and what they should do for the city and county. I didn’t expect great things from them, but something was better than nothing…and it kept them out of our way.

  We searched the Game Rules for Guild Rules and what they could do, I found some useful information. There was a Guild Chat, in addition to Party Chat and direct Chat between people.

  It took ten people agreeing to form a Guild, and it could have up to 25 members at first level. Guilds leveled up as members did things. Guilds could split or merge, if, when combined, they had enough open spaces to include everyone.

  As I expected, you could only be in one Guild at a time. I hoped we could get five parties of five Players each before the end of the day.

  The city could use several max-sized guilds to start, and the university was big enough to field a more than few of its own, with some students still around for the summer. I hoped everyone could find enough experienced players to lead parties without getting people killed.

  No one found anything in the Rules about respawning. That meant dead was dead. Resurrecting the dead was a Level 5 Holy Spell…Level 10 for all other Healers. Ingrid was a Holy Priest of Odin. Good thing Norse Pagan counts as a religion, I thought.

  All ten of us talked for a while about what we wanted our Guild to be. First, we had to concentrate on leveling up and protecting the city. One guild wouldn’t be enough.

  If we could level up enough members to carry less experienced people, we’d help them…and more experienced Players could help us. Later, some could split off and form allied guilds. Our plan was to see what happened over the next week and decide where to go from there.

  Blaze came up with a name we could all accept: The Irregulars…or just Irregulars. She was a big Sherlock Holmes fan.

  We pulled in another five people to create the Guild. We started with the city police chief and the county sheriff. Sergeant Torres joined us too. At the mayor’s insistence, we added a mayoral assistant whose game name was Sam Something. His class was Archer. He said he’d go home for lunch and grab his bow and arrows.

  A city detective, Pamala Tiergoff, made the tenth. She was a Rogue. Rogues are a combat thief subclass. She called herself Blackheart. I thought that was an interesting choice for a police detective, but people play what they want.

  People constantly interrupted us asking for help. Ingrid’s boss called. She was desperate to get her back in an ambulance. They needed everyone. Ingrid told her she was too busy saving the city and didn’t know when she’d be back.

  She also told her every crew needed to carry the drugs needed to sedate people and keep them unconscious until they reached the hospital. Otherwise, the mortality rate for first responders would skyrocket. She handed her phone to the sheriff to explain and deal with her.

  Blaze called her superior at the state capital office and told him what had happened, including her part in the Madame Boudoir fight. She made it clear she wanted to stay on as the FBI contact for Eddington and remain here to help. Apparently, her boss was easy to convince and approved it, as long as she submitted daily reports.

  My reply was, “Bureaucrats.”

  We both laughed at that…then got back to work.

  It wasn’t long before things changed again.