Earth Dies

As the trio approached the town, Bridgette could make out a few people running around. As they got close enough to make out details, Bridgette's eyes narrowed in a frown as she recognized one person in particular.

"Guys, I don't think this is going to go well. Let me do the talking, okay?"

"What do you mean?" Colin inquired.

"I recognize Daniel Smith, Kyle Robins and a few of their buddies. I think we can forget about goodwill and just focus on saying hi, getting information, and getting the hell out of here."

Alice gulped. "Isn't Daniel the one that ..." Alice trailed off, unsure of how to phrase things.

"Yep."

Colin glanced between the two girls, certain he was missing something but not sure what.

"I'll tell you later. For now, put your war face on and look mean. We can't show them any weakness. And I'm really glad you fixed my dress, thank you."

A few minutes later, the three friends approached a crowd of teenagers. At their lead was Daniel. A year older than most of his classmates, he had been held back for academic reasons his freshman year, although some suspected he just wanted to spend another year enjoying the fruits of high school varsity sports. He was tall, handsome, and knew he looked good, with surfer blond hair and a rugged physique built from years of carrying hay bales and lifting weights. Daniel's nose did look like it had been broken in the past, but as with any active boy, those were the risks of contact sports. He was also, unfortunately, a giant asshole - and Alice was not looking forward to this.

"Hello ladies, Colin," Daniel began. "Nice of you to make the trip down to visit us. Colin, I was a little disappointed when I went to check on your house and saw it vacant. It hurt my feelings to see you leave us."

"Hey Daniel. Everyone. Fine weather today, eh?" Bridgette countered. "You didn't all have to show up to welcome us to town, although we appreciate the gesture."

"Well, normally we wouldn't go in for grand gestures - but the world is a strange place these days, huh?" Daniel nodded towards Bridgette's greataxe, slung over her shoulder. "It never hurts to be aware of just who is wandering around, in case anyone has nefarious intentions."

Bridgette eyed the crowd. There were eight of them in total, three girls standing towards the back and five boys, led by Daniel. Daniel appeared to have a large bastard sword slung over his shoulder, while most of the others appeared to have a mix of smaller swords and knives. One of the girls was holding a small wand.

"Yea, it sure is weird. Swords and other crazy shit, huh? Have you guys seen anyone else from outside our town?"

"Ah, ah, information like that is precious." Daniel countered. "You want to know things, you have to give things. Or else come on in to our little group and join up."

"Thanks, but no thank you, Daniel. I think the three of us are fine as-is. I will share that we haven't seen much else north of us, no travelers."

"Well, in that case, I'd be willing to share that we sent a runner down to Harlan - but he didn't have anything interesting to report." One of the boys behind Daniel started to comment, a questioning look on his face as he stepped forward. Daniel, however, smoothly stepped in front of him and kept talking. "Three of you isn't a lot though. It can be ... quite dangerous out here in this new world, especially for smaller groups. Are you sure you wouldn't rather have someone else carry the weight and keep you safe?"

"We're good. Everything is just fine and dandy. I wouldn't want to trouble you with our problems by adding more mouths to feed. After all, it looks like you've got quite the group of friends here as it is."

"Oh it's no trouble at all, Bridgette. For you, I'd be happy to make room."

"Not interested, Daniel. Wasn't before, nothing's changed."

Daniel's face twisted in anger, before he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

"If you're going to walk around dressed like that, people are going to get the wrong idea." Daniel turned to look at Colin. "How about it, Colin? You interested in coming and hanging out with us, or did you somehow convince the ice queen to spread her legs for you?"

Colin glanced away, refusing to make eye contact. "Daniel, I'm not interested in hanging out. You were never kind in school and I don't believe you've changed now."

Daniel glanced instead at Alice, letting his eyes run lecherously up her body, admiring the almost sheer white sundress that she wore. He let out a low whistle at the sight of her much larger chest. "Alice ... I must say, I always overlooked you in school because you could be mistaken for a rake in the dark. You get a boob job and some slutty tattoos as a graduation present to yourself? I'm always happy to change my mind on someone and make new friends. Interested in a little more protection and comfort than the science nerd can provide?"

"Grow up, Daniel. We're not interested," Alice shot back.

"Ladies, ladies. So hostile." Daniel took a few steps closer to the girls. "You're misunderstanding what I have to offer. Have you seen any of the monsters around yet? The world is a dangerous place. Wouldn't it be better to let a big strong man protect you, letting you have a life of luxury? There's no need to trouble yourselves with fighting. I'll have you know that in this new world, I was strong enough to unlock my class and am a Warrior. Not everyone can make those same claims."

"We can protect ourselves," Bridgette countered, tapping her greataxe.

Daniel scoffed, looking at the axe. "I'm surprised you can even pick that thing up, but you've always had rather manly shoulders."

One of the women behind Daniel stepped forward, draping her harm possessively around him. "Daniel, just let them go. We don't need her or her stupid axe, and the nerd and the twig are as useless as they've always been."

Daniel looked thoughtful for a second, then seemed to come to a decision and nodded. "Okay, here's the deal. I know the midwest, you guys have a ton more food supplies than you need because everyone with a farm stores tons of food. Why don't you run some of them down to us, because we have more mouths to feed, and you're being good neighbors? Then you can fuck off and do whatever you want if you're not going to be part of our defense team."

"So you want us to give you some of our food in return for nothing, because we're good neighbors?" Bridgette just stared at Daniel with an eyebrow raised, curious how he could be so blunt.

"That's about the size of it, yep. You're also welcome to stay here under our protection, but you seem to not want that, so the least you can do is chip in for the common good before leaving."

"Counteroffer for you," Bridgette interjected. "We're walking out of here with whatever supplies we might have, and you leave us the fuck alone while you play mayor over what's left of this sad little town."

Daniel grinned maliciously. "I thought it might go down like that. I think it's time we take the ice queen down a peg or two and teach her who really runs this place." He raised his arm back, placing it on the hilt of his bastard sword and took another step forward. At the same time, his friends behind him all started to spread out across the road and started to draw weapons.

Suddenly, a giant roar ripped across the sky, so loud that everyone dropped to the ground and grabbed their ears. As the sound grew closer, they could hear a flapping of loud wing beats as well.

"What the fuck is that?" Daniel yelled, in a panic, still covering his ears and looking around wildly.

"Oh shit, that sounds like a dragon!" Colin screamed out. "Run!"

Colin grabbed Bridgette and Alice by the arms, as they were looking around in terror. He hauled them to their feet and started away from the town. "Come on! Run!"

Daniel and his friends started running back towards town, though he looked over his shoulder once as the trio fled down the road as fast as they could. He winced and ducked again as the dragon gave another mighty roar, then kept running toward safety.