Rise Of Myth: Heir To Valor 22 The Most Valuable Resource

*Firsthand accounts aside, I guess I'll really need to go to Carson City if I want to know more. Whoever was in charge of sending the notices must have an explanation. Earthquake and a hurricane at the same time and you stick to standard procedure? The h.e.l.l's up with that?* Val frowned, he was not in the best of moods, it had been over two weeks and all he had were bits and pieces of the whole story.

The sound of footsteps approached, this particular pair was a familiar sound to Val's ears. He could tell who it was without even turning around by the way they walked. Orderly, disciplined, a steady pace neither sluggish nor rushed.

"Hey Jim, patrol again?" Val asked without turning around.

"Nah, just wanted some air. We've started punching holes in the walls, moving some of the fixtures so we can get a view from inside. New rifles we've got will come in handy now." Jim took a spot next to Val, gazing out across the neighborhood.

"Sounds good, take it Richard's pleased with the today's results?" Val took out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Jim, who accepted one this time.

"He is, you made a good call, he doesn't care about the lockup anymore either. We've got plenty of equipment now, more than we have officers to use, wouldn't have helped none if we got the lockup in exchange for one or two of our folks. You know, I'm going to develop a habit if you keep offering me these." Jim seemed to be complaining, but he had a grin nonetheless.

Val shrugged. "Don't have to take em. They're terrible for the body anyway."

"Then why do you still keep em?"

"Not sure to be honest, not too long ago I would feel irritable if I didn't smoke. I don't feel those cravings anymore, but now I feel a bit of peace when I smoke. It's a little thing that reminds me of how things were, taking smoke breaks at work, guess it lets me forget about all the s.h.i.t that happened and just think clearly for a minute, you know?"

"Yeah. I can get that."

"Richard say anything about the next mission?"

"Nah, nothing concrete, though speaking of, we're probably going for the hardware store next."

Val raised a questioning eyebrow to him. "Hardware store? Not the hospital?"

Jim scratched his head awkwardly. "Thing is, having you around is great, but none of us want to rely on you too much, don't really have anything to compensate you properly for all you've done. Aside from construction materials we could use to fix up places, some of the stuff we can get there can be repurposed as weapons against the ghouls. We've got limited ammo even with today's haul, gotta save that for something more dangerous."

Val narrowed his eyes. "What are you worried about that's more dangerous than ghouls?"

"People." Jim shrugged and replied frankly, but he had a concerned look in his eyes.

"People? Other survivor camps? Should be friendly enough right?"
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Jim explained in a serious tone. "We don't know. Thing is, once everything went to s.h.i.t, and comms went down, we were fortunate enough to be one close-knit community, banded together pretty quick. But there's a lot of different groups out there. Chief's worried about what happened to the military, all these bases across the country, no idea if the chain of command is still holding. If it is, great, maybe the roads can be cleared and patched up, country can start to rebuild. If it isn't, then all of a sudden we'll have a hundred or so potential private military groups with a lot of firepower, who knows what'll happen."

"You're worried about local warlords cropping up everywhere."

"That's just the worst case scenario. I don't know whether we could fight off such a group, and I don't want to. I signed up to keep my fellow countrymen safe, didn't sign up to gun them down."

"Doesn't your job entail keeping your countrymen safe from each other?" Val smirked.

"Ha, I suppose. But it rarely involves actually shooting someone."

"What could such a group even want from you guys? If they've got a whole military compound, should be plenty of rations, might even be self sufficient on power."

Jim's expression turned dark, though illuminated by the soft orange glow. "People." He answered flatly.

Realization struck Val as he considered the scenario. Far fewer people, an abundance of resources across the country, while they may not last indefinitely, there was enough for a few years if the population was reduced as much as he was led to believe. The most important resource now would indeed be human lives.

"The folk here don't want to leave, this is our home. Might not have been the best even before the disasters, but they ain't leaving."

"Do you think there's a real threat?" Val asked.

"About a week ago, before you showed up, a few men, National Guard, visited. They had a couple empty transport trucks with some supplies. Said they were here to take us to some bases over in Colorado. Apparently they've got a good thing going, some semblance of order and society. Rebuilding the towns there, told us most of the country has gone there. They were really persistent, but the Chief made it clear that we were here to stay, this was home, told them we'd rebuild it ourselves and they could count on us to let people know if we found any other survivors. After a day's discussion they left it alone, got in their trucks and left."

"You don't think they're gonna leave it at that, do you?"

"I don't know, just didn't seem right. I understand the benefit in rounding up survivors, but why not offer to work with us instead if were not leaving?"

"I see… In your time as a police officer, you ever kill anyone?"

Jim looked at Val with alarm in his eyes at the sudden question. "I… haven't, if the ghouls don't count, why?"

"Just asking, I don't really know what the world's come to but I've got a nagging feeling now that you guys are one of the better behaved groups." Val had a grim expression, a slight murderous intent in his demeanor made the night feel even colder.

"Y-yeah… Let's hope not, have you killed someone?"

Val drew the last of his cigarette, flicking it into a tin Dana had put out after chastising him for littering the b.u.t.ts in the parking lot.

"Not yet."

Val returned to the warehouse, grim thoughts and new suspicions plaguing his mind.

Huginn had returned earlier, just before sunset, he and Muninn seemed to still be discussing something. The only thing different is Val noticed Huginn watching him more carefully, but for what reason he was not sure. They stopped their discussion upon seeing Val approach, Huginn eying him warily.

"Hey, Huginn, I've got a favor to ask."

"Hmm?"

"The roads going to the East, you mind including them in your patrols?"

The raven's eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you looking for?"

"Jim just mentioned that there have been people from a possible military group who have visited before, looking to gather survivors. Apparently they were not nearly as friendly when they were turned down." Val explained what he had heard moments before.

"That makes sense." Huginn seemed to be thinking of something.

"You knew about it? How come you didn't mention it?" Val's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I did not know about it. But it fits within our expectations. This part of human behavior has not changed, your people's strength is derived from their numbers. Those who control the most lives tend to be the victors in the end. I imagine there are dozens of groups vying to gather as many people as they can get, through whatever means they need to use. Whether their intentions are ultimately kind or not is beside the point. The Ancient Empire did this too, as did the humans of your world, subordinating or enslaving other groups if they had to." Huginn reminded with an indifferent tone.

Muninn however seemed concerned. "What do you intend to do?" She asked Val.

"I don't know to be honest. It's not really my problem, if it turns out for the worst, I can always leave, I don't intend to stay here anyway. But the idea doesn't sit right with me, can't see any justice in forcing people from their home even in a situation like this."

"Hmph. Justice is dispensed by the strong, to the weak, true justice is a gilded dream." Huginn callously remarked.

"Awful big talk for a bird." Val smirked, though Huginn simply ignored him.

Val left the two to resume their previous discussion, heading over to Richard's office, once again he was busy at his desk drafting new plans, referencing maps of the area.

"Hey, you busy?"

"Not too busy, please, take a seat." Richard offered the chair in front of the desk.

"You got time to explain your experience of the disasters?" Val asked, taking a seat in the chair.

"Hmm, I do, anything you want to know specifically?"

"What happened first? I know there were multiple earthquakes, I even felt one the third day I woke up. I know the hurricanes struck at the same time, and I also know the world suffered terrible geomagnetic storms, knocking out the vast majority of electronics."

Richard sighed, removing his gla.s.ses and rubbing his eyes, beginning to explain.

"Yes, I suppose the earthquakes were first. NOAA reported on one nearby, then immediately there were more all over the news. Over a dozen hurricanes all over, every country was experiencing them, it was absolute madness across the Internet. The hurricanes came and went, flooding and destroying most of what was in their path, then more earthquakes followed, they continued over the first few days, not at regular intervals. A state of emergency was declared in almost every state, even martial law was put in place, but that didn't matter much soon after… Near the end of the first day was when the EMPs. .h.i.t, but power had already gone out in most places, things completely shut down then. Our phones just died almost immediately, shorted out or something. We weren't sure what information we had was still relevant, a lot of people evacuated to the East, some to the North, almost no one went south because the bridges in the bay collapsed and the roads around were jammed."

"Why didn't everyone take this more seriously? Preparations seemed, well, insufficient." Val remarked with confusion.

"We did take it seriously, or we tried anyway, but this was all unprecedented. Disasters of this scale should have been impossible, h.e.l.l the time between NOAA reporting the hurricane and its arrival was only six hours. By the time people got their heads on right and believed the reports, the death count was already climbing. Anyone living on the coast was all but wiped out, whether the survivors even made it out of the cities is anyone's guess. At the very least we haven't seen anyone come through from the West except for you. If anything I'm more curious, how did you survive? You said you woke up pretty close to the coastline." Richard seemed to have some suspicion in his eyes.

"Dumb luck I guess, I was in the woods, pa.s.sed out in my car. Guess the thick redwoods helped shield me from some of the worst of it." Val shrugged.

"Apologies, however you survived, it's good you did. Anyway, I don't know that there was anything we could really have done to brace ourselves for this. Those winds were nothing like we've ever seen. The heaviest of trucks slid along the ground like pucks on ice, cranes toppled over, roofs were stripped bare in seconds. The flooding was the worst of it, you could swim through the streets. If that wasn't bad enough, tsunamis struck all along the coast, I suspect were it not for the protection of Mt. Tam and the surrounding hills, we would have experienced it all the way over here." Richard sighed, reclining back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

"I see, that more or less clarifies what I gathered had happened." Val looked to be in thought, though about another topic.

Looking down from the ceiling, Richard had a curious look. "Something else you wanted to know?"

"Yeah… Tell me about the people from the National Guard."

Richard's expression turned grave.