Richard did his best to pay attention to Timick. It felt like things were happening in a blur. He strapped the standard scavenger’s dagger around his waist and pulled on the fingerless gloves. He wore a thin armor vest, strapped on the kneepads, then laced up the boots that didn’t leave any footprints behind. Marcus then lifted the long tan coat for Richard to put on. He was surprised at how well it fit.

  “Timick, did you take my measurements while I was sleeping?” Richard asked.

  Timick snorted. “No. But Order did.”

  Richard struggled to show no emotion on his face. “Huh?”

  “Once the class is given, the main uniform—in your case an overcoat—is draped across my desk the next morning. We call it the unofficial gift from Order. It’ll grant you a bit of protection, though nothing noticeable. For scavengers, your job is to stay quiet and get out of there,” Timick said.

  “Right.” Richard straightened the coat. It wasn’t Order that gave him this. Not after what he experienced last night. “Does this unofficial gift come with… anything else? Any other surprises?” He hesitated before sticking his hands in his pockets, afraid something might bite him.

  “Various helps like stealth and added armor, but no one else seems to see that but me.” Timick studied the coat. “What I wouldn’t give to take one of these apart and figure out how it works, but Order won’t let me.”

  “Why not?” Richard wasn’t sure whether he wanted to know the answer.

  “Because my tools can’t cut these apart.” Timick gave a sigh. “Oh well. We’re not really supposed to figure out why she does these things, only to be grateful for them.”

  Richard ran a hand down his coat to keep himself from reacting to Timick’s words. Was everyone here completely fine with Order and higher beings? From last night alone, he hated the idea of them giving him gifts. It made him feel like he was being the grateful servant when he was more annoyed at them than anything. He didn’t want to play soldier while the higher beings fought their own little war.

  Richard blinked to stop himself from going down that line of thinking. He clearly trusted no one in base two, since he kept what happened in the tent to himself, so he’d have to keep it a secret for now. Which meant he had to keep those thoughts out of his head, because he could feel his blood boiling whenever he thought about it.

  Marcus slapped Richard on the back. “I think you look like a scavenger. Ready for our first expedition?”

  He flexed his fingers. “Ready as I’ll ever be. I’ve chosen inventory and loot for my ability.”

  Marcus let out a whistle. “Wild that you could choose two.” He then pointed to Timick. “Bets on whether he levels up again?”

  Timick shrugged. “Don’t know. In a person’s third week they usually level up about three times, but Richard’s almost reached that already.”

  “Which means there are way more monsters in the forest now, and he’ll come back with another level.” Marcus was already heading out of the armory.

  They made it to the front gate, but they were the only ones there. Marcus frowned, then touched his temple. “Savannah? Elias? Izzy? Richard and I are ready to go.”

  When Marcus brought his hand down, Richard gestured toward it. “Is that an ability you have?”

  “Yeah. It’s one that all leaders have. They have a sort of communication ability among the people they’re over, as well as the other leaders. It only works both ways with leaders, since we all have it. Which—” Marcus trailed off as though listening to something. He then shrugged. “Izzy’s coming. She’s giving instructions to Evan to…” Marcus frowned, then touched a finger to his temple again. “Please make sure someone from Callro is watching that. She should not be on her feet so soon, let alone fighting.”

  Richard was now intruding on some sort of one-way conversation as Marcus’s brows furrowed with worry.

  “I understand that, but she can’t neglect rest and recovery.”

  Richard remained quiet, glancing at the healers’ building where Izzy most likely was. Marcus tried to get a few words in as Savannah walked toward the gate.

  “You can’t possibly—” Marcus started to say before Izzy must have cut him off.

  “I like your outfit,” Savannah said.

  “Oh, thanks.” Richard once again ran a hand down the front of the coat. “Uh… I like yours, too.”

  Savannah snorted as Elias came into view, leaning against the door of the gate and not looking at anyone.

  “You were done early,” Savannah said. “Usually, a recent class member takes longer.”

  Richard tried not to panic, mainly because there was nothing to panic about once he thought about it. He wasn’t sure why he took a short time until he realized it. “This isn’t exactly my first journey into the forest.”

  “Ah, that’s right. So where are you bunking?” Savannah asked.

  “Bunk?” Richard then glanced at Marcus, who was busy talking with Izzy over their communicator.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Guess you’re sleeping out under the stars,” Elias said.

  Richard knew by now to ignore Elias, and he wondered if he’d ever get that annoyed purse of the lips Savannah always had whenever Elias opened his mouth. Richard heard a noise not too distant, that sounded just as annoyed as Marcus was. It took Richard only another moment to realize Izzy was catching up to them. Once they were close enough to talk in person, they both dropped their fingers and carried on their conversation.

  “She chose a guard, and she chose to practice today. Who am I to stop her?” Izzy asked.

  “Have Brittany watch the fight. That’s all I’m asking,” Marcus said.

  The gates opened.

  “You know Elwyndor would never let me borrow a farmer simply to sit down and watch two people train.”

  Richard wasn’t sure what to do, though everyone else seemed to go along with it. As he listened to their conversation, he realized Leylah was feeling stronger and was eager to train, because of course she was. Marcus, someone from Callro, was concerned since Leylah had been bedridden for the past few days. Marcus tried to get Savannah to weigh in on the conversation, but Savannah simply held up her hands in defeat.

  “Don’t drag me into this.”

  Izzy shook her head. “I am going to respect Leylah’s wishes. This will also be good practice for her. To sense how her body is doing and when she needs to stop for her own good. It’s best if she does this while practicing with Evan and not with monsters.”

  Marcus clearly looked like he wanted to say a lot, but chewed on his words instead. He shot another glance at Savannah, who again raised her hands with a “don’t-look-at-me” expression on her face. Marcus opened his mouth to say something when both he and Izzy reacted to something in their minds.

  “Uh, yeah, we’re still here,” Izzy said.

  Richard waited as Marcus and Izzy both got the information before glancing at each other again.

  “Are you sure you need all that… today?”

  Savannah gave a soft groan.

  “What’s going on?” Richard asked.

  “We might go past the lake,” Savannah said.

  Richard glanced at her, then at Marcus, who was once again talking with someone only he could hear.

  “It’s Richard’s first official day as a scavenger. We can’t—” Marcus started to say. “I know, but… Elwyndor, we don’t…”

  Izzy rubbed her forehead, then Marcus gave a groan. “Fine. Bring the list and supplies, as it seems like we’ll be skipping out on lunch today.”

  Marcus ran a palm down the side of his face, looking like he’d already experienced three years in two hours.

  “Sucks, doesn’t it? Getting new people and knowing you have to put them through hell because it’s the only way we’ll survive?” Izzy said.

  “Shut up,” Marcus grumbled.

  “So you called us all here early for nothing?” Elias asked.

  Marcus glared at him. “Go help patrol the walls if you’re looking for something to do.”

  Elias muttered something under his breath before talking louder. “I’m going to do it, just to annoy you.”

  “Stay on this side of the wall, please,” Marcus said.

  Elias mumbled more things under his breath before walking to the ladder and climbing up it.

  “Marcus, you forgot to show Richard his bunk,” Savannah said.

  “Dammit! I completely forgot.” He let out a groan. Izzy waved him to go.

  “Elwyndor usually takes a while writing up a scroll. Take him; I’ll let you know when I have it.”

  Marcus nodded, gesturing toward Richard. “Dmitri will probably have me skewered for this, but there’s very little to do but show you where you’ll sleep tonight.”

  “Right, yeah.” Richard followed Marcus toward the barracks.

  “We probably would have had plenty of time to show you after, but now plans have changed.”

  “Is there anything I can do to…” somehow finishing that phrase with ‘stay alive’ felt like tempting higher beings.

  “You are not going past the lake. It’s as simple as that.”

  “The lake?”

  “It’s our marker for the most dangerous part of the forest. Anything past the lake gets us more advanced, sometimes master resources, but as you can guess, incredibly deadly. Stick close to Izzy. The lake should be fine.” Marcus opened the door of the barracks. Richard walked inside, and Marcus never shook the worried look from his face. “We shouldn’t bring you on a deep forest expedition. You’ve barely chosen your class. Every instinct is telling me to wait until your level eighteen or more. This apocalypse is not something to mess with.”

  Richard glanced around the room he assumed was his. It had a simple bed, much like in the newbie quarters, except there was only one. He had a small closet to hang up his overcoat and a bedside table.

  “The apocalypse is only going to get worse. It’s important for me to get stronger. To level up.”

  “It’s also important to keep you alive so you can keep getting stronger.” Marcus clapped his hands. “Alright. Here’s your bunk, your dresser, your closet. It’s all someone could need in an apocalypse, really. Sorry it’s not more song and dance, but as soon as Elwyndor brings us the supplies, we’ve got to go.”

  Richard felt bad for Marcus. The man was clearly flustered. Richard gave himself a moment of relief that he never received the therapist class.

  “It is an apocalypse, so… it’s good to be spontaneous.”

  “Spontaneous is one thing. Stupidity is quite another,” Marcus said as they walked out of the barracks.

  Richard didn’t know what else to say to that, so he stayed silent. They reached the others, with Elias still on the wall and Savannah and Izzy talking to each other. Marcus walked near the gates, hands on his hips as he simply dissociated. Richard knew he should be concerned about this, but there was no way on day one of being an official scavenger that he could help someone who’d experienced so much more of this hell.

  “Hey,” Elias said from above. Everyone turned to look at him. Elias frowned, cupping his hands to shield his eyes from the sun. “Hey that’s… open the gates! Izzy, open them! Two newbies are running straight at us.”

  Izzy did not hesitate. She grabbed the gate and forced it open. Richard, driven more by curiosity than anything, moved toward the opening to see a male and a female running toward the gates. He was surprised at how slowly they ran. Had he been that slow when he first came here?

  “There’s something in there!” the woman screamed as she got closer.

  “What? What did you see?” Izzy asked.

  “Something with burning flames for eyes!” the man said.

  Savannah glanced at the two of them. “That… does not narrow it down at all.”

  “It’s… it’s like a deer, but not one I’ve ever come across,” the man said. He then looked at Richard and the others. “Does… deer make sense to anyone? Not… not deer, because it has antlers. Buck?”

  “Yes, I remember a buck,” Richard said.

  “What color were the antlers?” Izzy asked, pulling out a spear from her back.

  “Uh… regular? Regular color?” the female said, distracted by the size of the spear in Izzy’s hands.

  “So, not black with constantly shifting antlers?” Izzy asked.

  The two people stared at her as if she were crazy. Izzy only nodded and spun her spear around so she could grip it better. “Great! Then it’s not a chaos buck. I can work with that.”

  She then slipped out of the gates and headed toward the forest where the two newbies had just come.

  “Sh-should she be going by herself?” the man asked, eyes wide.

  “Since it’s not a chaos buck, she can manage it on her own,” Marcus said.

  “Okay, but… this was massive! At least ten feet tall!”

  Marcus nodded again. “She’ll manage.”

  What the other two didn’t see was Izzy running at a system-boosted speed toward the forest. Marcus placed a finger on his temple. “Dmitri, two newbies have arrived at the front gate. There might be more. Be on alert.” Marcus then dropped his hand and smiled. “Welcome to base camp two.”