Plum Parrot
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AA 1.62 - No Slackers
🕑 Added 2025-08-04 17:12:08 +0000 UTCThe thing about a settlement and lots of side characters is that a chapter can disappear in the blink of an eye while I'm writing dialogue.
The thing about a settlement and lots of side characters is that a chapter can disappear in the blink of an eye while I'm writing dialogue. Anyway, I hope you find it interesting. See you Wednesday!
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for supporting the story! Aethon's gonna publish this one, starting with a trilogy. We'll see how it goes after that.
-Plum
62 – No Slackers
“…so, yeah, we’re pretty sure they’re going to attack the settlement tonight, which means we need to get ready.” This was the third time Andy had said something similar. He’d had to rehash the logic he and Shawna had used to determine that Brooks and his crew would attack the settlement several times. As more people started to blurt out questions and a dozen or so stuck their arms into the air, Andy turned in a slow circle atop the picnic table to get a good look at everyone in the crowd.
“Seriously, Andy! How are we gonna fight off a hundred armed, magic-using lunatics?” Andy turned to the strident voice, frowning. It was Tanya, the woman who’d been looking for her husband on the first night of the…apocalypse. Andy didn’t remember seeing much of her since then.
“I don’t know, Tanya. How will we? What have you done so far to prepare? Do you have a class? A weapon? Have you helped to put some armor together?” He felt a little bad for turning the attention back on her, especially when her mouth clicked shut and she looked left and right, folding her arms defensively. Even so, it had to be done. People had to realize that this was a group effort; it wasn’t feasible for half the people in the park to count on the other half to do all the heavy lifting.
“I, um, I have a spear that James gave me…”
“Andy, she probably weighs a hundred pounds,” Dwayne—another guy Andy hadn’t seen much of—said. He was Bea’s adult son, probably in his thirties, but he lived in her trailer, and, as far as Andy knew, he’d been unemployed for a while.
“Yeah? And how about your mom? How much does she weigh? Doesn’t matter, does it? Even as old as she is—”
“Hey, now, Andy!” Bea said, her white eyebrows narrowing. “I know you’re trying to say something nice about me, but be careful.”
“I’m just saying that you don’t have to be big and strong to help out around here. You’ve done more than most people!” Andy looked away from Dwayne, aiming his voice at the crowd in general. “Do any of you have ideas? How are we going to defend this place?”
Unsurprisingly, it was Omar who spoke up first. “The cars.”
Hector, the trucker, looked at him and spoke for most of the crowd when he asked, “The cars?”
Omar nodded. “They’re not doing us much good. We should push four or five to each edge of the mesa. If it looks like they’ve got some way to climb up—a big ladder or hell, some kind of magic, we push a car on top of whatever it is.”
Andy couldn’t help barking a short laugh, imagining a pickup truck falling on someone’s half-built siege tower. They wouldn’t have siege towers, would they? The mesa was a hundred feet high… He shook his head, pushing the thought aside. “I like it, Omar. Hell, we can find all kinds of things to throw down; I don’t think we want to try to drop cars on individual people.”
“What if we find a way to fix the cars?” someone called out.
Andy shrugged. “I dunno. We’ll push the most broken-down ones off first. Besides, if we find a way to get cars running, there are about a million abandoned in the city.”
“Andy, we need more bows!” Lucy yelled, rescuing him from the rabbit hole of people debating which cars should be thrown off the cliff first. Andy looked at her, and she smiled, holding up her bow.
“How about it?” he asked the crowd. “How many of you have a bow or, hell, a slingshot? We got any other ranged weapons out there?”
To his surprise, about ten people raised their hands. He’d checked the settlement status before the meeting, feeling like there were more people in the park than he’d thought there ought to be, but it only said sixty-one citizens. They’d somehow advanced the settlement to level one, though. He wasn’t sure if it was a population thing, a quest-being-fulfilled thing, or some combination of the two. Even so, the number of people claiming to have ranged weapons was surprising to him.
“Bows?” he asked.
Several of the hands went down, and one of the men called out, “Nah, I’ve been carving javelins. I’ve got like twenty.” The speaker was an older man named Greg Sumner, whom Andy didn’t know much about.
James looked at the guy, “Greg, you've been making weapons? Why didn’t you say something to me? We could exchange tips.”
Greg shrugged, scratching his mostly gray stubble. “You know me, James. I keep to myself. Anyway, I threw some stuff at a pack of mutated dogs on that first night, and the System gave me a goofy-sounding class: Hurler. Then, when I got a level, it gave me a skill that lets me tell if a throwing weapon is properly weighted. Been playing around with it since then.” He shrugged. “Got a few more skills to make it easier as I went. I mean, I can do clubs and chisel stones, and…” He trailed off. “I mean, I want to help out. I just keep to myself.
Andy stared at the guy while he spoke, wondering who else might be hiding talents like that. Hadn’t that been the point of signing up in Eduardo’s notebook? Were people holding back? He looked at Eduardo, sitting on the bench near his feet. “Did you have that on your list?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but only a brief mention. I didn’t realize he could make weapons.”
Andy sighed, shoving his fingers through his hair as he looked around at all the faces. “We really need to know if you’ve got something to offer the defense that we might have missed.” As several people started to speak, Andy raised his voice, speaking over them. “If you do, please stick around the park for a few minutes when we’re done. Talk to Ed and Omar. There’s something else I want to talk to you all about, though.”
Andy suddenly felt self-conscious. He felt like he was outside himself for a minute, like he was watching his awkward movements and seeing the less-than-confident thoughts racing through his mind. With an effort of will, he pushed the weird sensation out, focusing on the friendly faces he saw in the crowd: Lucy, Tucker, Omar, Bea, Bernice, Isaiah—there were plenty to choose from. Steadied by that, he reminded himself that he was the one who’d earned control of the park. He was the one who’d gained the most levels and done the most against the settlement’s current enemies. He deserved to be standing there.
“Here’s the deal,” he said, noting that the crowd had grown quieter. “I’ve been given control of this settlement, but I don’t think of myself as some kind of king. I try to listen to advice and make decisions that most of you agree with. Look around, though.” Andy paused, giving people a chance to do as he’d asked. “We’re growing, and if things go right, we’ll keep growing. I can’t listen to a hundred people effectively, let alone a thousand or ten thousand.”
“What are you saying, Andy?” James asked, his face betraying his concern.
Andy smiled, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, I’m not saying I’m gonna quit or stop listening. I’m just saying I think we need something like an advising council. I think we should consider having elections for council members, but not yet. We’ll do that after things have calmed down a little. For now, I'd like to pick a few of you. I figure we can have meetings, and then the council members can relay the information to the rest of the community.”
“I like these meetings, though!” Monique called out. “We’re a part of things. I don’t want to go back to the old way with politicians handling everything, and we don’t even get—” Her voice was drowned out by people agreeing and cheering. Andy frowned, folding his arms as he considered her words. He could see her point.
Lucy stood up on the bench beside him, and, over the noise of the crowd, said, “Do you think I could say something, Andy?”
He stepped to the side, nodding. “Sure. Be my guest.”
Lucy raised her fingers to her lips and whistled shrilly. When the crowd got quiet, she started talking. Her voice still had a little rasp to it, and Andy wondered if that was just the way it was, not some effect of her not talking for years. Regardless, her voice didn’t carry particularly well, and people had to quiet down to hear her. That didn’t seem to be a problem, though; there was something about the intensity of her diction and the sharp angle of her bright blue eyes that made people want to listen.
“You guys need to understand that Andy’s going to burn out if he doesn’t get some help! He’s not sleeping. He’s fighting for his own life and ours every day. Sure, these meetings are great, but Andy could talk to a smaller group much faster and more easily, and then they can pass information to the rest of us. It doesn’t mean that everyone won’t still be included. There’s no rule about who can be on the council. We can have elections frequently, too. Besides, it doesn’t mean we won’t have community meetings regularly. We could still do a weekly one or something.” She looked at Andy. “Right?”
Andy nodded as her eyes searched his. “Yeah, of course. I like having everyone involved.”
“So? Who’s on the council for now, then, Andy?” Andy recognized Frank Dunlap’s voice. The War Medic was leaning on another guy’s shoulder—Rigo, Andy thought—and both men looked at him expectantly.
Andy cleared his throat. “Yeah, good question. I’ve got a few names in mind: Ed, Violet, James, Omar, Bernice, Bea”—he looked over to the side where Paul Howell stood with his rather large family—“Paul Howell, Shawna, and Lucy.”
“What?” Tasha, one of the women he’d rescued from Construction City, cried, her voice incredulous. “Why Shawna? She’s from Construction City! You’re going to give her authority over us?”
As grumbling spread through the crowd, Andy held up his hands, palms out. “Woah! The council is here to advise me. They don’t have authority over anyone. I’m including Shawna, because she knows what’s going on at Construction City! She knows more about our enemy than anyone here, other than the guys we’ve got locked up in the shed, maybe.” He scanned the crowd, looking for the subject of his words, and he found her near the back, standing close to Silas. She looked uncomfortable and wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“It’s only temporary, anyway!” Violet yelled, standing beside the table. “We’ll have elections soon.”
Andy nodded. “That’s right. Let’s get through tonight, yeah? For now, if you have a desire to serve on the council or know someone who should, please make sure to speak up when we get around to it.”
“Right!” Omar yelled, turning to face the people behind him. “For now, our priority is defending this trailer park and putting the hurt on anyone who wants to mess with us. If you have ideas for defense, come and talk to me.”
“We need to make some armor!” Tucker yelled.
Andy chuckled. He appreciated Omar trying to take some of the load off his hands, but it was going to be a hectic day. Still, the man had the right idea. He raised his voice, shouting over the clamor, “Yo, let me say a couple more things before we end the meeting!” Omar turned toward him, nodding, and Andy continued, “We’ve got about eight hours before dark. That means it’s all hands on deck as we get ready—no slackers. If you have ideas for defense, stand in that corner of the park.” Andy pointed.
“If you don’t know what you’re doing tonight, or where you should be, then stand in that corner.” Andy pointed. “Once you know that, and you’ve given your ideas to Omar, then stand in that corner.” He pointed. “That’s where you’re going to get instructions about what to do today to help prepare the settlement.”
When Andy fell silent, Omar pointed to the first corner that Andy had indicated. “I’ll be over there.”
Eduardo started toward the second corner, hollering, “I have assignments, and I’m sure I’ll get more as the day progresses, so please check back frequently.”
Andy watched as the people dispersed, then he looked at Lucy. “Thanks for speaking up.” He was still feeling a little awkward after she had opened up to him earlier. He wondered if that was the correct term. She hadn’t really opened up other than to tell him she was glad to be with him. It had been the earnestness and the way she’d looked at him that made him feel awkward, not because he didn’t like her, too; it was more that he didn’t know how to act. They were in the middle of an apocalypse, and she’d just suffered a major loss. It wasn’t like he could ask her to go out for coffee—
“Someone had to,” Lucy replied, interrupting his thoughts. “People need to realize you’re still human.” She nudged him. “Speaking of which, eat that protein bar and let’s go fill up your waterskin.”
Andy slapped his back pocket, feeling the hard lump of the bar. He pulled it out and started to unwrap it. “Yeah, let’s walk over to the spring.”
They climbed off the table, and he grabbed his spear. Lucy gathered up her bow and quiver, and then they walked through the crowd. There was still a lot to be done, and Andy wasn’t sure of anything, but he had a good feeling that, even if they ended up losing, the Hardheads from Construction City would be sorry they’d messed with the Sleepy Saguaro Trailer Park.
Comments
Plum Parrot
He mentioned to Lucy in the previous chapter that he was going to leave it up to her and Bella and the others to spread the word on that.
Omar Jimenez
I feel for Monique, but yeah, meetings like that wouldn’t really be feasible in an emergency or as the community grows. But it will be interesting to see how the growing community tackles the politics of it all.
Ricky Kukowski
Did he skip talking about intent?
