Energy Eater - Chapter 24 - The road to Madison (Patreon)

#### Author's Note ####
A small trigger warning everyone. This chapter approaches an unplesant topic. If you feel unconfortable, you can skip until after the line break
I mean this:
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The sun was getting close to the horizon, but that didn’t matter much. I was finally by the river. According to Pops, it was called Madison river because of… someone from the old world? And I don’t mean just the time before the Eaters, I mean the old, old world.

History was never my best subject. I remembered some things, there were two world wars. Lincoln was a president once, and so was Roosevelt, but that was about it. Learning history never sounded all that important when we had to worry about how to not make food spoil, or how to identify poisonous berries. Besides, history brought very little to the table. At least when talking about survival. What was the point of learning from the mistakes of the past if we had no future?

But now, maybe that would have to change. I should look at some history books or something. My outlook in life changed once I got the System, and after killing an Eater, any doubts I had that we could survive this had turned into a certainty. Sure, it will take a lot of time for enough people to have the System to consider wiping the Eaters out, but it is a start.

 The rain had stopped a couple of hours ago, but my clothes were still soaking wet, not to mentioned ripped to shreds. The fact that they still covered part of my torso was a miracle. My pants were mostly fine, but still full of holes. Reaching the river, I started going upstream. I was in an area that was too wide, too deep, and with a current way too strong to let me just swim through. At least there was a bridge north, even if that would force me to make a detour. Then again, it did give time to think about something.

I was going off on the assumption that I could share the System with others in some way. Considering some of the things Sys talked with me about, that seemed to be the case, but I never actually confirmed it.

“Hey Sys. Can I share you with others?”

[User can share System with other humans. If user wishes to share System with a member of a different species, a skill is required.]

“And can I just share it with whomever?”

[User must spend a total of 10% of progression to the next level in order to share System with another person. The 10% mentioned is not 10% of the current progression. As an example, if user is at 50% progression to the next level and pass System to another person, user’s progression would be reduced to 40%. In addition, user cannot share the System with another person for 20 hours. That is the time required to repair and replenish the System infrastructure given to the person in question.]

“Would I be any weaker during that time?”

[User SP generation will be cut in half during that period.]

“So it makes harder for me to level up after I share the System? Does the fact I’m tier 1 makes any difference on that?”

[It does. Being Tier 1 allows user to require only 10% of progression to next level. If user was tier 0, giving System to someone else would require 100% of progression to the next level and 200 hours before user is able to share it again. Being at Tier 2 would require only 1% of progression and 2 hours before user is able to share it again.]

“Ok, got it. Like most things, it gets easier the higher tier I am,” I finally got closer to the bridge, and on the other side there was a wagon being pulled by a horse. The driver noticed me and stopped the vehicle. He made some gestures as if asking where I was going. Once I pointed back towards Madison village, he waved his hand, asking me to come along. The cart was pointing in the same direction, so they would likely at least pass by that settlement.

Part of me felt suspicious. In the old world, people were taught not to follow strangers. But that wasn’t really an issue for me. After all, if an Eater couldn’t stop me, what could humans do?

Someone else poked their head out of the wagon and started talking with the driver, but they just pointed at me again, which made them stop the argument. I hurried along the bridge, not wanting to leave them waiting. As soon as I arrived, they helped me up to the cart and quickly started moving. They hurry wasn’t all that strange since we should only have a couple more hours of sunlight.

“Thanks for the help. Are you all going to Madison?” I asked once inside the wagon. There were three men there, one muscular one with short hair, one more lean, but still with some muscle, and the last one smaller and thin with greasy hair. While getting here, I really tried not to think badly of them, after all, they were helping and being paranoid wasn’t going to bring any benefits. But it was hard, especially when I could feel their eyes all over my body. Then again, I did look like a crazed mountain lady, hopefully that was all their reaction was.

“Yes, we are. Where are you coming from?” the burly man asked.

“I’m from the Hidden Horn Village. We got attacked a while ago.”

“It’s been more than a week since that attack, doesn’t it? A few of your people came to Madison,” the lean man frowned.

A wide smile covered my face, “Really? Are some of my people there? Do you know how many?”

“There are five, maybe six. One old guy and a fat chick. Some kids, can’t remember about the rest,” the greasy man replied.

“But that doesn’t explain why it took you so long to get here,” the burly man pressed.

“I got hurt during the attack, sprained my ankle. I couldn’t run all that well, so I hid in a cave up the mountain. But an Eater kept stalking the area. Every time I thought I had a chance to get out, it would show up again. Only when I stopped seeing it for two days that I felt safe enough to run.”

The burly man nodded, “That was a good call. You’ve been through a lot.”

Ok, maybe they were good people.

“And so did we. I mean, having more mouths to feed is not easy. It feels like we should be getting repaid for our kindness,” the greasy man said while not looking at my face.

Maybe not.

“I don’t have anything of value to trade on me, but I’m a good hunter. I’ll take care of my people when we get to the village,” I replied.

“That’s a nice sentiment, but it doesn’t do much for everything we’ve already done for them, and for the ride we are giving you,” the lean man added.

“There are a few ways you could pay us back,” the burly man smiled and placed his hand on my tight.

“And if I say no?”

“Then I’m going to have to ask you to step off the wagon, miss,” the driver spoke up, “You are free to head to the city, and with luck they will let you in. It’s not like you are a dangerous individual that should be kept away. And no one would say otherwise.”

And there was the threat. I let them do what they want with me or they stop me from getting to Madison. That really sucked, why couldn’t people just help each other. It’s not like I’m eating their food or making them late. All they had to do was wait for a few minutes.

“C’mon. That fat chick refused to help us. The least you can do is pick up the slack,” the greasy man approached, putting his hand on my knees.

“You asked Cindy to do this?”

“We did, she ran away from us when we talked with her. That really hurt my feelings,” the greasy man got even closer, his hands unsuccessfully putting some pressure to open my legs.

I gave him a smile, “You know what. I think I’m going to enjoy this.”

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Marco was having a great day. The people from the Hidden Horn Village were settling in nicely, and thanks to his help on the matter, the mayor finally gave him a promotion. He was now a mounted guard, having his own horse and the job of patrolling the surrounding area of the village. That was a dangerous job, but one he did with pride. If anything were to happen outside, he had the authority to deal with it.

Today was the day Derrick and the transport crew would come back, too. They were an annoying bunch, always teasing him about not being brave enough to stay outside the walls. Who wasn’t brave now? His position was even higher than those guys.

Distracted by those thoughts, he almost didn’t notice a horse coming running towards him. Luckily, Chip, his horse, noticed the animal and moved away from its path. Once he realized what was going on, Marco also noticed that the horse had long reins and a saddle. The transport crew used to keep their horse like that. In case they had to run leaving the supplied behind.

Worried, he turned Chip in the direction the horse came from and told him to run. Marco had a crossbow on his back, a relic of the old world that was not only accurate but powerful. If the transport crew was in trouble, maybe he could do something to help.

20 minutes later, Chip had yet to lose steam, but Marco pulled him back. There was someone walking down the road. It looked like a woman, black skin, wild untamed hair wearing what could only be described as rags with a cloak over it. She was eating an apple and there was a large bag over her shoulder. A bag with an embroidery Marco recognized. Beth would make that when she crafted something she was particularly proud of.

Quickly pulling his crossbow, he pointed at the woman, “Halt! Who are you!”

The woman raised both hands, and started chewing faster, pointing at herself and asking Marco to wait. One hand holding the bag and the other the half eaten apple.

Eventually, she spoke up, “Sorry. I’m Cassandra. I’m from the Hidden Horn Village. We got attacked a week, 10 days ago. I’m not sure. It’s all a blur. There was an Eater around and once it was gone, I came here.”

“And how do you have that bag?”

“This?” she waved the hand with the bag, “I found a wagon back there. It was broken, people were dead and some of the boxes were all over the place. I was hungry, so I scavenged a little. I didn’t take any of the fabric or other materials, but I figured that if I didn’t take the food, some animal would. Oh, but I did take this cloak. My clothes are wet and I’m cold.”

Marco frowned, “Show me.”

“Really? You are going to make me walk all the way back there? The sun is setting! I just want to get to Madison and see if anyone heard about my family.”

“If what you’re saying is true, I’ll give you a ride myself. Now move. Until proven otherwise, I’m going to consider that you are the one responsible for what happened with the transport crew!” Marco continued with his crossbow trailed on Cassandra.

“Fine, are you going to complain if I keep eating this apple? I’m hungry.”

“You can eat that one, but don’t take another. That’s property of the Madison Village.”

“Fine, fine,” Cassandra huffed and started walking back towards the wagon. She wasn’t worried. Those people deserved what she had done to them, and this guard that was accusing her? Well, once he saw the state of the bodies, how they were broken, shattered and how the blood sprayed for several meters [feet] it would be very hard to believe a person was responsible for that. Unless they knew about the System.