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AA 1.49 - Raiding Party
🕑 Added 2025-07-02 19:14:04 +0000 UTCHere's your chapter! Enjoy :)
-Plum
49 – Raiding Party
It turned out that Lucy agreed with Andy almost immediately when he suggested a different successor. He was anticipating having to explain himself a lot more, but even as he said, “It’s not that I don’t think you’re great—it’s just that if we’re both—” she cut him off, waving a hand.
“No, I was having the same thought. If we’re both out there risking our lives, it doesn’t make sense for me to be your successor. That should be someone who’ll be here.”
Andy smiled, leaning on his spear. He was standing outside her trailer, trying to avoid going in, because he wanted to go and try to sleep as soon as possible. “I was thinking Violet.”
“Not Eduardo, or maybe Bernice?”
Andy shook his head. “Eduardo doesn’t handle stress so great. Violet told me he was really struggling after the first couple of days. The experiments and record keeping are helping him to stay grounded, but…” Andy shook his head, shrugging. “As for Bernice, she’s cool with me, but she rubs a lot of people the wrong way.”
“And Violet seems to have a level head. She gets along with everyone.” Lucy nodded. “Seems cool to me.”
“I mean, there are other options. Omar seems really solid, too, but he’s not as social, and he wants to fight…”
Lucy leaned against her trailer door, looking thoughtfully into the sunset. “I think you should go with your first impulse. You think Violet’s the right choice, so go for it.”
Andy held out his palm and Lucy slapped it gently. “Thanks for the help, Luce. I guess I’ll go give Violet the news, then I need to sleep.”
“Same. See you around midnight.”
As she closed her door, Andy turned to walk toward Eduardo and Violet’s trailer. Quite a few people called out greetings along the way, and he was just about to his destination when a little red-headed boy ran up to the fence outside a modern-looking single-wide trailer. Andy recognized him right away. “Liam! How’s it going, buddy?”
He nodded, waving a bright orange squirt gun. “Good, Mr. Andy.”
Andy laughed. “Been squirting your friends?”
He nodded again. “But I had to come home to eat. Dark will be here soon, and that’s when the monsters come out.”
Andy wanted to tell him not to worry about monsters, but he had to think twice about that; things weren’t the same as when he was growing up. He looked at the trailer again and asked, “Who’s looking after you?”
“Mrs. Patel.”
Andy nodded. “Ah, that’s good. She used to be a teacher, right?”
Liam shrugged. “Where you going?”
“Just to take care of some business. Then I’m going to bed early. You should, too. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?” Andy tousled his hair, then continued on his way.
Violet was sitting outside in a lawn chair, scribbling in a thick spiral notebook. She was squinting, clearly struggling to see what she was writing, and when Andy approached, she looked almost relieved to close the notebook. “Andy.” She smiled, gesturing to another lawn chair. “Eddie’s still running tests. Sit with me a while?”
“Well,” Andy said, sighing as he sat down. “I did need to speak with you.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, shifting so he could look at her a little more easily. “I’m sure you know that the System let me kind of ‘claim’ this settlement, right?”
“Sure. We all saw the messages.”
“Well, on my version of the Settlement Menu, I can also designate a successor. I guess the System wants to make it easy for the community to move on if I die.”
“Heh. Pragmatic.”
Andy nodded. “Well, anyway, I designated Lucy, you know, ’cause she was the next in line as far as the contest went.”
“Right…” Violet nodded, but it was clear she was wondering what Andy’s eventual point was going to be.
“Well, we’re heading out tonight, for like the third time, and I got to thinking maybe it wasn’t smart for the successor to be out doing dangerous missions. It ought to be someone here in the settlement—someone with a good head on her shoulders.”
“Oh—oh! You don’t mean—”
“I’d like to name you as the successor. That cool?”
“I’m sure there’s someone better. Have you thought about—”
“No, Violet. I feel pretty confident that you’re the right person. You’ve got a kid here, you’ve got Eduardo. You’re invested in this place. More importantly, people respect you and from what I can tell, you get along with pretty much everyone.”
“Still, Andy…” She trailed off, her objections running thin.
“I’m gonna go ahead and designate you successor. As it is, right now, it doesn’t mean you have to do anything extra. If I get killed, that might change.” Andy chuckled. “Anyway, you can figure out from there what you wanna do. Okay?”
“Well… Okay, Andy. I can do that.”
Andy smiled. “I knew you could. Hey, we’ve got a boon point to spend, and I think we should go ahead. If things go well tonight, we might earn one or two more anyway.”
“Which one?” She leaned forward, suddenly very interested.
“Well, Lucy and I were thinking the ‘forager’s bounty’ would be smart.”
“Yes!” She nodded emphatically. “We have enough food to see us through a week or so, but something sustainable—a source of food we can count on—would put a lot of minds at ease. You should do it as soon as possible, too.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “Well, if it makes fruit-bearing plants or other things grow, it might take time before the first harvest is ready.”
“Another good point.” Andy nodded, calling up the Settlement Menu. “I’ll do it now. One thing, first…” He navigated to the successor line and focused on it.
**Would you like the change your successor designation?**
“Yes.”
Violet tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him.
**Please focus on the person or the name of the person you wish to designate as your successor.**
Andy smiled, staring at Violet.
“You’re weirding me out…”
**Do you wish to designate Violet Ruiz as your successor?**
“Yes.”
Suddenly, Violet’s eyes widened, and she smiled. “Oh! I see!”
“All right, while you’re looking at that menu, let me go ahead and buy this boon.” Andy looked at the available boons and focused his gaze on Forager’s Bounty.
**Do you wish to purchase Forager’s Bounty at this time? You have 1 available boon point.**
“Yes,” Andy said for the third or fourth time in a row.
**Congratulations! Your settlement’s soil resonates with subtle mana, fostering the growth of edible plants. At first, sprouts will be few and scattered, but over time, the land will respond more fully. Growth rates and plant diversity will steadily increase, rewarding patience and stewardship. Let the harvest begin.**
Grinning, Andy read the message to Violet. “You see? You were totally right! It’s a good thing we didn’t sit on that one!”
“That’s so great! Mana is going to be helping them grow? What if they’re exotic plants, Andy? What if they’re from other worlds?”
“Huh. I hadn’t thought about that. I mean, there are edible plants native to the desert here, but it’s not exactly a tropical paradise, is it? I wonder if some weird trees and stuff might start growing up here on our plateau.” As Violet considered his words, he stood up, yawning. “I gotta get some sleep. It’s going to be a busy night.”
“Okay.” She watched him start to leave, then added, “Hey, Andy?”
“Yeah?”
“I just want you to know that I really appreciate you trusting me as your successor. I’ll do my best if it ever comes down to that.”
“I know you will.” Andy waved, and then he hustled back to his trailer before he got waylaid by someone else. He was dog tired and had a good feeling that his earlier worries about not being able to sleep would prove unfounded. He made sure the windows in his trailer were open, then he stripped down to his underwear and collapsed on top of his bed. The temperature wasn’t exactly cool, but with no blankets on and a slight breeze coming through the windows, it was pretty damn comfortable—enough so that he felt the dark abyss of sleep pulling him down almost immediately.
###
“Andy!” Rapid knocks on his window accompanied the whispering voice. “You up? Andy!”
Andy’s sleep-blurred mind was able to put two and two together, and he realized Bella was there to wake him. He grunted, rolling to the side of his bed and sitting up. He faced the window from which the voice had come and said, “Yeah.”
“Okay! Going to wake some more people.” He heard her retreating footsteps crunching on gravel and then slapping on the pavement as she jogged off.
“So,” Andy said with a yawn, “I guess we’re really doing this.” It seemed a little crazy, but what hadn’t been crazy over the last few days? He wanted to easily blend into the shadows, so he pulled on some jeans, a black T-shirt, and a dark blue hoodie. On the way through the kitchen, he picked up his gloves and waterskin, and then he grabbed his spear.
He cast Shadow Lance, and as the shadows appeared, coalescing and solidifying over the blade, Andy opened the door and hopped down to the pavement. The night was dark and quiet, but he could hear all sorts of distant sounds with his Reaper’s Senses. He knew that, if he focused on any of them, he could discern much greater detail, but he didn’t want to get tied up in the fascination of his unnatural hearing. He was already feeling a little stupefied by his vision.
While it was dark, things had a surreal, otherworldly clarity in his eyes. Areas that should have been pitch black—under trailer eaves, beneath parked vehicles—were clear as day, if tinted a strange blue-gray. Objects under the light of the moon and stars were positively bright, but it was a different kind of brightness than what you’d see during the day. Everything was cast in shades of blue and violet, but living things stood out, as if they glowed from within. He could see people through trailer windows. He could see cats prowling, and even spied an old hound-dog that he’d had no idea was living in the park.
“Okay, cool…” Andy whispered as he clutched his spear and started toward the front gate. On the way, he saw Bella running from one trailer to another, still working on waking all the members of their little raiding party. He would have helped, but he had no idea who she’d already spoken to. On the central lane, he saw Lucy ahead, bow held in one hand, hood pulled up. He jogged to catch up to her.
“Hey,” he said, and she whirled, eyes wide.
“You scared me!” Before he could respond, she said, “Your eyes!”
“My eyes?”
“They’re like cats’ eyes!”
“Huh?”
“Like, they’re shining in the dark.”
“Oh! It’s a skill from my class. I can pretty much see in the dark now.”
“You were quiet when you came up behind me, too…”
“I wasn’t trying to be. Sorry about that.”
She smiled, shaking her head. “Should come in handy tonight, huh?”
“Yep. There’s Omar.” Andy nodded to the man standing by the gate. He carried a spear a lot like Bella’s.
Lucy nodded. “You, me, Omar, Bella—I wonder who else will come.”
Andy cocked his head to the side, contemplating. “Yeah, me too.” At their little meeting, there had been nearly a dozen people, but he had a feeling that when Bella came knocking, a lot of them would back out.
“Hey guys,” Omar said, shifting from one foot to the other as he leaned on his spear. He was wearing a dark denim jacket, jeans, and cowboy boots.
Andy bumped his knuckles as the other man held out his fist. “Hey, man.”
After a few minutes, Bella arrived with Brian. She had her spear on her shoulder, and Brian was nervously switching his axe from one hand to another. Bella scowled into the darkness. “Nobody else?”
Andy nodded down the central lane. “Tucker’s coming.”
“Six,” Bella scoffed, shaking her head. “What a bunch of chicken shits.”
“Hey”—Omar shook his head—“some of these people haven’t found their reason to fight yet.”
Andy jostled Bella’s shoulder. “We’re good. Six is a good number. Some of those people weren’t ready for this.”
As he spoke, Tucker approached. He looked like he always did—hemp, poncho-style pullover, well-worn khakis, and an aluminum baseball bat on his shoulder. “Hey gang! We ready to knock some heads?”
