July 3, 2025; Clay pointed at the chipmunk-looking Beastmen and asked, "And you?"

  "I, I, I'm Olive." She stuttered. "M, M, Maximus h, healed me. A, A, As payment for saving my life, h, h, he wanted money so I w, w, willingly traded." She shrugged. "I, I, It was better than dying." She finished, and seeing her companion was done speaking the third woman spoke up.

  "Betty." She still shook but it wasn't nearly as bad as she had been before getting closer to the fire's warmth. She didn't seem as pale either. "I sssold myssself to him for sssaving the ressst of my family." She finished, drawing out the"s" sound. Clay realized she must have been bitten by a snake. That was a horrible thing to happen to someone right before the global temperature dropped.

  He looked at them and sighed. "What did you do before the Sky Rain?" He took a sip of his coffee. Rachel was a biochemist from Little Rock. Olive was a homebody whose fiancee had died overseas in an accident a couple of months before the disaster started. Betty though had been an Electrician and worked as a carpenter on the side. He patiently sipped his coffee as they spoke in turn.

  Betty's speech seemed to get much better as she grew warmer her "s" sounds weren't as drawn out and a coppery color seemed to start showing in the small scales he could make out around her eyes and the corner of her mouth.

  "Well, you're here now. There is no slavery here, so get that out of your heads. As long as you pull your weight like everyone else and don't cause problems you'll be welcome here." He looked at Tonya and Freya, "Tonya, Freya could you two see that they get something to eat, and find them some warm clothes?" They were all barely wearing anything under the small throw blankets they had wrapped around them. Probably so the slavers could show off their wares for sale.

  "Of course Uncle Clay. Come on follow me. Let's get you some warm food first." Freya said as she motioned them to follow her and Tonya over to grab plates as Samantha worked on breakfast. All three women seemed more than grateful to get closer to the warm flames. Luke had made it up to the fire himself by then and sat down on a chunk of wood, Joanna fussing over him and Amy now standing behind him, her hands glowing green as she did what she could to heal him. Clay let him be for the moment, drinking his coffee and looking at the tree line for Sigrid.

  "Maddy, Fran, go drag those two that ran to the pit, please. Make sure you search them." He pointed at the two women and hooked a thumb at the dead men they nodded and started to go do it.

  "Work together, and then come and get your breakfast when you finish," Freya called from the fireside where she was spooning something onto a plate.

  The two women nodded at her and said, "Yes ma'am!" Before heading to do what they were asked. Clay took another sip of his coffee and walked over to stand beside Luke.

  "Are you okay?" He asked.

  Luke looked up and gave him a grin before he grimaced as Joanna dabbed a bloody cloth to wipe more blood off his cheek. The cut was nearly closed, it had been pretty deep. Luke had been lucky he wasn't dead, his reflexes must have saved him Clay thought. "I'll be okay, Mr Clay." He shook his head. "I knew they were up to no good as soon as I saw those women." He pointed at the three women. "Then that Maximus fellow saw Erin and I heard him say 'We found her', that's when the other men tensed up and I knew they were going to do something." He shrugged. "The asshole didn't get anything vital with his knife." He looked down at his still wounded arm and his torn, bloodstained white shirt.

  "Good man." He looked over at Joanna and said, "Make sure you keep an eye on him." She just nodded and continued to wipe at the blood on Luke's cheek as it became less and less until Amy's skill had closed the wound finally and Luke's arm started to heal next. "Everything good, Amy?"

  "I can heal most of it. But he's going to have to be easy on that arm for a couple of days." Amy replied still healing Luke.

  "Thanks, Amy. Ahh, here comes your sister." Clay said as he saw Dawn come running out of the house with her medical bag. It looked like she had just woken up to find out Luke had been wounded. "Did you see anyone else?" Clay asked Luke.

  Luke shook his head. "I didn't. Sigrid took off to scout around the area though."

  He took another sip of coffee and casually walked over to the shed where he could hear Anna and Martha having a heated discussion about something he didn't want to be brought into. So he walked past them to the makeshift pens where Erin and Dolly were checking on the animals. He watched for Sigrid and walked around checking on everything. If the slavers had anyone in the forest he had confidence she'd either find them or find evidence of their presence.

  He noticed that someone had moved the canoe which was now leaning up against the cabin with a pair of paddles someone had found. He would have to go take a look at his brother's shelter pretty soon. He'd need to know exactly what they had to plan for the future. Regardless, they were going to need more room, and soon. He turned, walking back to the front of the shed.

  "Double-check the side-by-side, and add an extra can of gas." He said to Anna and Martha as he rounded the corner of the shed, interrupting their heated argument. "Put a few more empty fuel cans and a hose in the back of the Gator too please, ladies." He nodded as they stopped their discussion and replied, "Yes, Sir!" and "On it Mr Clay!" respectively. He made sure he added a "Thank you, ladies." Then he went to get Jill, and talk to Erin and Dolly after they finished feeding, and then find Sigrid if she wasn't back yet.

  He found Jill walking back to the cookfire to get a refill on coffee. He didn't get a chance to say anything before she said in her usual perky tone, "Hey Hun, when are we heading out?" She flashed him a smile and hooked an arm in his as he continued walking towards the coffee.

  When they got to the cooking fire Samantha presented him with a plate of breakfast, Jill and she exchanged a look between them and then pretended neither was there. "Your breakfast, husband," Samantha said sweetly.

  "Thank you, Samantha." He said as he started eating the scrambled eggs and fried spam with two slices of buttered toast as Erin and Dolly walked over from feeding the animals. Seeing them approach he asked them, "There's a couple things I would like to start on today. Can you two manage the horse well enough to manage a couple of cows and get them back here?" He asked the two, and they nodded.

  "As long as we go slow, I think we can manage." Said Erin. "We can take Maddy and Fran and a couple of small buckets of feed and I'm sure we can." She sounded enthusiastic.

  "Okay, let's get what we need. While you all see what you can do we'll be heading a couple more miles down the road, back to the RV park and campgrounds." Clay said dismissing them all to prepare as he finished eating. Freya soon found him and went over a supply list briefly with Clay. She and Livia had already crunched the numbers, adding the three new mouths to feed into their figures. They were desperately going to need to establish several sustainable food sources for themselves before winter if they intended to survive as a community. Having heard the report he asked her to have everyone work on the animal pens. She nodded and headed back into the cabin. He finished his breakfast with Jill on one side of him, and Samantha on the other.

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  "Where are you going, husband?" Asked Samantha, as she took his now empty plate, genuine curiosity on her delicate features.

  "We'll be trying to bring back some cattle if Erin's group can manage it. And since we'll be going that away I'm going to see if we can get some fuel. And maybe some other things." He looked up to see Joanna herding the three newcomers towards the animal pens after Freya stopped and said a few words. "Help Freya today, would you? And I'd like to have a word with Jim and Tom and yourself when I get back." He flashed her a smile, dispelling her worried look by adding, "I have something I need to talk to them, and you about." He patted her shoulder.

  That's when he saw Sigrid come out of the tree line off to the East. And she wasn't alone. She held a spear on a large Beastmen that looked to be a fucking minotaur, and in fact, was as tall as Clay and had even more heavily defined muscles. He used his Greater Eyes of Insight as Sigrid prodded the wounded man forward.

  Davey Harmon, Beastmen Male, Age 20

  Level: 12

  Class: Warrior

  Health Points: 470

  Mystical Points: 74

  Strength: 28

  Dexterity: 22

  Intelligence: 16

  Wisdom: 14

  Passive Abilities - Enhanced Virility; Hunters Gaze

  Skills - Cleave; Frenzy; Rage; Rapid Strike; Vicious Strike

  The man had decent stats and abilities. Clay could see he had a long cut across his broad chest that caused the man's tattered shirt to flap in the light breeze.

  "I couldn't fucking get all of them!" Sigrid cursed as she poked Davey in the back eliciting a grunt of pain from the man.

  "I surrendered, Jesus Christ woman! I fucking surrendered! No need to keep poking me with that damn stick." Davey said as he turned and gave her a warning look, "I've been amenable so far but I'm reaching my limit. Now stop fucking poking me!" He still had his hands up in the air but looked like he might actually try to do something if she poked him again. Clay saw Sigrid's eyes narrow.

  Clay decided he'd better step in unless he didn't want to be able to ask the man anything. The look in Sigrid's eyes said she was going to accept the man's challenge with no qualms about stabbing him. Probably due to the company the man had been in.

  "Davey right? Davey Harmon?" Clay smiled at Davey as the man focused on him.

  He nodded as he spoke. "Yeah, I am. Who the fuck are you?" He asked, caught off guard by the look Clay got.

  "Clay Benton. You're on my land, you should know who you're speaking to at least." The man stopped five feet in front of Clay as he continued. "Who the hell do you work for? And why did you all attack us?" Clay summoned Ox from his spatial storage and the man's eyes widened in surprise as he let it rest on his shoulder.

  Davey looked around nervously before squaring his shoulders and speaking carefully. "We worked for Padro. He's the chieftain of the Bloody Saint tribe that controls the territory North of here. While moving to a new territory those women were...lost. Padro put a massive bounty on the fox-like Beastmen. If anyone can bring her in alive and unhurt he's willing to pay.. a lot."

  "Why does he want her?" Clay asked, curious if it was because of her class and skills.

  Davey just shrugged though. "No idea.. he's a fucking psychopath. I'm not even going to try to reason why he wants her so badly. Maybe he fancied her in the past before all this. Or maybe he just wants her for something in particular." He shrugged his broad shoulders, "I don't know." He looked at Clay and the others busy working then back to Sigrid. "Uh, mind if I ask a question?"

  Clay shrugged and said "Sure."

  "Is there something I need to do to.. uhh.. join your settlement, Clay?" He winced as Sigrid let out a dangerous-sounding feline growl from behind him that even caused the hair on the back of Clay's neck to stand on end. "Please! I'm not loyal to that psychopath or his tribe! I'll do whatever you need to prove myself. Please, I don't want to die, I'm not even a member of their sadistic fucking tribe! I just happened to be in the area they claimed so I was forced to work for them. Give me a chance.." Davey pleaded, actually hitting the ground in front of Clay. "I swear, if you'll give me a chance Clay, I'll do whatever you need me to do to prove myself. I just want a somewhat normal life man!" He shook his head.

  Clay hefted Ox and gripped its rough leather-wrapped handle until it creaked under the pressure as he squeezed and released thinking the man's words over. He looked at Jill and then at Samantha and both women kept their faces neutral. "Alright, you're going to be on probation. Get the fuck up, we don't kneel around here." He waited for the man to get up before he continued. "Follow me. Do you have any experience with farm work?"

  Davey chuckled as he responded, "Yes, Sir. As you can tell I was attacked by a fucking heifer while trying to separate the young bulls from the rest of the herd. Unfortunately, the whole herd mutated shortly after that and I nearly died in the stampede.." He trailed off as he rounded the corner of the house and he saw the makeshift animal pens. "Oh wow..." The hogs were rooting in a small temporary woven wire pen and the chickens scratched by milk crates full of hay or set on them, laying eggs.

  "Yeah, think you could help with this?" Clay asked as the man nodded slowly. "We have the wire and fence posts we just need to get it done. If everything goes well today we'll be adding a few cow's to our number of livestock. But we'll need a decent fence to keep them in. Help with that and we'll see what happens from there Davey. Sound good?" Clay turned towards him and held out his empty hand for a shake. His other hand gripped Ox, which still rested on his shoulder.

  The man licked his lips, thinking about Clay's words before he said, "I can work with that, at least you won't kill me. I'll be honest, when Miss meanness over there snuck up on me I thought I was a dead man!" He took Clay's hand and shook it with a firm grip. He didn't let go.

  Instead, he looked Clay right in the eyes and said, "Clay, they won't leave you alone as long as they think you have her. Padro won't stop sending people. I just want you to know I'll do my best when the time comes and fight beside you all because I really, really didn't like anything about them. I just want you to know, I'm being upfront with you, Sir. When they show back up, which will probably be a little while, I don't want you thinking I was hiding anything." Davey said finally letting Clay's hand go.

  "I appreciate that. How long do you think it'll take for them to return with more people, and how many should we expect?" Clay asked.

  Davey shrugged, "Maybe three or four days. It's almost a two-day trip to the current stronghold near Rolla." He had a thoughtful expression on his face as he continued, "It'll be groups of ten to twenty hunting the bounty I would think. But there could be several of them. The tribe has a couple hundred people roughly so I honestly don't know Sir." Clay got the feeling that he was telling the truth and found himself somewhat liking Davey's straight forwardness

  "Well, at least we know what to expect. It could be worse." Clay said as he motioned for Davey to follow him as he turned and walked towards where Luke was. "Hey Luke," he called as he got near him and Joanna. "I need you to keep an eye on Davey here. If he does something to harm any of us in any way or tries to run away. Fucking kill him." He flashed Davey a reassuring smile as the man tensed. "But as long as he is a benefit to have around, treat him like everyone else. He's going to help you get the pens up for the animals. Amy said you needed to take it easy for a few days so Davey here is going to be assisting you for a while." He patted Davey on the back.

  "You got it, Mr Clay. Come on, Davey was it? Let's get something to eat first..." Luke said as he led the man away. Joanna gave Clay, Jill and Samantha a long look before she turned and rushed to catch up with Luke to loop her arm through his as they went towards the campfire. He summoned the loaded .38 from his storage space and handed it to Samantha.

  "Do you know how to use that?" He asked as she nodded, checked the safety and slid it into her pocket. "Good, if you need to then don't hesitate." He kissed her, feeling a little guilty as Jill looked to be pouting as they turned to head to the side-by-side, as Samantha went towards the cookfire.

  "Sigrid, if you need anything before we head out, grab it. I want you to come with us now that I know there are potentially more people wandering around. I'll feel better having a capable warrior watching Erin's group." He asked her.

  "Give me two minutes, I'll be ready!" Sigrid said as she rushed off towards the cabin.

  "Let's go, Dear." He said to Jill as he saw Erin and Dolly now beside the Gator with the horse saddled and ready. Fran and Maddy were both carrying small sacks tied over one shoulder and a bucket. They sat on the trailer as everyone talked. He could see the extra fuel cans and a cut-off piece of siphoning hose and a small toolbox. He also noticed Anna and Martha were working on the Jeep and he even heard them turn it over. It popped and sputtered like it wanted to but then they stopped and both women went back to work on it. His brother hadn't gotten that thing running since they were teenagers.

  "Are we ready? Everyone got everything they need?" He asked the group of women. He got a small chorus of"yes sir's" and he went on. "Okay, we're going to see how this works today, load up." He nodded at the trailer and Dolly mounted the horse. Sigrid joined Jill and Clay in the front and for the next hour, Jill squeezed his inner thigh and pretty much formed to his side on the bench seat. Sigrid gave the other women several long looks as they made their way up the hill.

  An hour later he'd dropped Sigrid off with Erin, Dolly, Fran and Maddy near a field with Dolly already working on herding the cattle in the back of the field towards them. They weren't far from the cabin. And he fully expected to see a few calves at least when he returned home. He took Jill and made their way East at a fairly quick pace along the highway. Within ten minutes they were pulling into the RV park.

  ~Thank you all for reading! I hope to continue producing content you can enjoy.~

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