“Please, let us in!Please, let us in!” Shouting from several men repeated in the air. They even started to bang on the fortification, for what little good that would do. Their hammering barely made it shake.

  “Can you gather everyone quick?” I asked Jessica. She gave a nod and rushed off silently. I took the time to walk to the newly fortified wall and open a slit. Immediately, I realized the crowd was so close I couldn’t get a good look at everyone. “Move back a dozen feet so I can see all of you.” I said, loud enough that they could hear.

  “Please, let us in!” Many voices shouted without backing off. Thumps on the door near the peep hole triggered my Sixth Sense. At once I learned a valuable lesson despite nothing bad having happened. I had been so lax that any small-bladed weapon could have gouged out an eye or, worse, killed me outright.

  With that thought in mind, I grew pissed. I cast Shallow Grave and fully replenished my undead army before spreading them out behind me. I adorned my mask and then willed the fortified gate to open.

  The cries of excitement from outside grew erratic, “It’s opening!” But I was already ready and waiting for them to try and storm their way in. Not so much as a foot could walk past me.

  “Didn’t I say to move back so I could see all of you?” Faces showing eagerness slowly morphed into ones of terror. The silence was deafening, but no one moved. “MOVE BACK!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

  It wasn’t normal for me to be so aggressive, but a realization hit me like a ton of bricks: without the threat of force or overbearing dominance, I wouldn’t be able to take control of the situation easily.

  What surprised me was how effective my shout actually was. They scurried back twenty feet at least and then spread out in single file. I took off my mask and gave it a good look, reminding myself that the Fear status was definitely overpowered.

  “Can anyone speak for you all?” I walked out of the abode and stood a dozen feet from the mob. Now I could get a good look at them I could see how haggard they were. Behind them were as many bicycles as people. .

  A young man who couldn’t have been over 5’5 walked out. His curly hair was frayed and clung to his forehead. Both of his cheeks were deep red, as if sun-burnt. “I can speak for everyone here.”

  Immediately after that, Jessica moved through my undead soldiers to whisper in my ear. “Everyone’s standing by and ready.”

  I looked at the young man, “Who are you? Where did you come from?” It was clear they’d been together for some time; the question was why a group this big was banging on our abode’s fortifications like this.

  “We are friendly,” he replied calmly. “We are hungry and thirsty and just wish to join your Abode.” It took me a second to realize that he had said ‘Abode’. He knew what it was called… For a moment I didn’t know how to respond. “We are not playing any tricks.” He took my momentary brain freeze as discerning judgment.

  “You know of Abodes, how?”

  “We came from one.” He said quickly. “Please, some of us are under twenty-five percent HP.” His eyes glanced upwards at the invisible barrier above the abode. The red hue was beating down on all of us. I couldn’t find any deception in his words.

  I turned to Jessica and whispered, “What do you think?”

  “We can bring them in the barrier and figure it out after.”

  “So confident?” I asked. These people could whip out weapons the moment they enter inside and attack us.

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  “I can see their levels. It’s nothing we couldn’t handle,” she said.

  I looked back at the young man, “What’s your name?”

  “Luis,” he answered.

  “Okay Luis,” I said, “I will let you in, but you need to know something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “If you do anything you shouldn’t, something bad will happen.” And then I motioned to my neck. Pretending to be a super villain was kind of cool.

  Luis swallowed hard, “Understood! Lead the way please sir.”

  I turned around and willed my undead followers to spread, the mass forming a corridor for Jessica and I to walk through. Luis followed behind unsteadily, ushering his companions to join him despite the worry on their faces.

  The uneasy feeling created by the demonic eye in the sky vanished like smoke as my foot entered the territory of the abode. Once inside I turned around and welcomed our guests. “Thomas, can you heal them?” It would take up a good chunk of his MP to do so, but we had a few days until the next demon wave.

  The gate came to a close behind them, and the reality of the situation seemed to sink in. Their lives were fully in our hands now and they were subdued. “Luis, will you explain what happened now? I also ask you all to refrain from drawing your weapons for any reason. This one might get scared and attack.” I patted Spikey #2 on the shoulder. His butcher’s cleaver left more to the imagination than the Zweihander did. Still, having Thomas heal them showed our positive intent.

  “Right,” Luis said, “we came from an Abode more than two-hundred miles from here. We’ve been riding for the past three days straight without sleep.” Judging from the wear and tear I saw, I was inclined to believe it.

  “Say that’s true,” I said. “What happened to the Abode? Why did you flee?”

  “Demons,” he replied, “Demons over-ran the abode and we had to flee.”

  “Explain clearly,” Jessica chipped in.

  “The second demon wave came, and eventually the fortifications couldn’t hold any longer and we fled.”

  “How many demons was it?” I asked.

  “Twelve, I think?” Luis said. “We never found out for sure.”

  “How can that be? You didn’t go to fight them?” Lucas asked, clearly intrigued.

  “Fight them? Absolutely not,” Luis looked surprised at the idea. “We weren’t even the owners of the Abode.”

  I wondered aloud, “Then what happened to the others? There’s ten of you here, that’s enough to fight off twelve demons with the help of fortifications.”

  “I mean… it wasn’t up to us.” He sounded embarrassed. “We joined the Abode as a group of ten, and they had already claimed ownership as a group of three. We only learned about the Abode’s skills after the first demon wave, and there was no discussion to their allocation. The owner simply put all the points in fortification and said that we would not fight, instead we would wait them out. Long story short, the demons pounded on the wall for an entire night and by afternoon the next day we were over-run.”

  “Then what happened to the other three? Did you even try to resist?”

  “Honestly, we don’t know. We insisted to their group that we couldn’t wait it out, but their leader didn’t agree. Since it was like that, we fled at the first sign of danger, as it was a lost cause already. Staying to fight wasn’t in the equation. We were never equal partners and had absolutely no say in how that EXP would be spent even if we fought the demons and won.”

  He had actually said the quiet part out loud, and it didn’t sour my opinion of them. In fact, I trusted what he was saying even more—being blunt enough to say it how it was. Nothing came free, and ‘slaying the demons’ to save the Abode he was in when the owner himself couldn’t be saved was definitely a terrible choice. I’d not risk my companions in the same situation.

  I side-eyed Jessica and her slight nod let me know her intuition was telling her he was being at least eighty-percent truthful. As someone we had never met, eighty-percent was enough for a chance. “Alright, I think I understand. For now, you all are welcome to stay here and join us. We have some ground rules and we’ll like to get an idea of your class and skills at some point.

  “Since everyone is here I’ll lay the most basic rules out now. First off, absolutely no fighting between us at all. Keep your ego at the door; everyone here wants to survive so let’s work on that as a unit. Second, any shady activity is out of the question. For the first few nights I want you all to stay to the building we’ll allocate for you and not be out after dark.” I said that second rule because I noticed their group composition was heavily dominated by men. Of the ten only one was a woman, and a few of them were less than careful with their eyes, especially towards Anna and Jessica. “Third, everyone is expected to contribute in some way. This isn’t a free ride. You won’t be thrown to the wolves, but you will be fighting in some capacity.”

  Luis took a moment and looked at his teammates, then back to me. “I think that’s fair.”

  “Okay, good.” I turned back towards Marcus, “Marcus do you mind if Rebekah and Nicole move in with you?” There were only three buildings currently, and one of them was only Rebekah and Nicole’s living space. I didn’t want the new arrivals mingling with them.

  “That works,” he said.

  “Is that okay Rebekah, Nicole?” I asked.

  “That’s fine.” They readily agreed.

  I turned back to Luis, “That settles it then. Welcome to our humble Abode.”