Solomon's Crucible 72. Extracurricular Activities (2) (Patreon)

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The football stadium was located across the river from the main campus. Solomon had worried that he was going to have to fight his way through a couple of checkpoints, but he found that he had underestimated the aliens' holdings. It seemed that the zone encompassing the campus stretched across the river or the aliens had already gobbled up their neighbors. Either way, Solomon was able to make his way off campus, through the university shopping area, and across the pedestrian bridge without a hitch.

He wasn't the only one. It wasn't the kind of crowd that he'd seen on game day, but there were more people making the trek out to the stadium than he had expected.

Once the stadium came into view, Solomon started to tense up. He wanted to get a look at how the aliens had arranged their prison camp. He was hoping there was a way to sneak inside, and that he could find it without catching anybody's eye and starting a fight. He liked his chances of success a lot better if he could find his sister before things got violent.

None of his plans turned out to be necessary. That steady trickle of students that Solomon was a part of continued right on up to the stadium and inside. He followed along, confused but not wanting to stick out. He did notice as he walked in that several signs had been put up declaring that they could not exit the way they came in. A quartet of red armband wearing guards stood ready to enforce the edict. They were relaxed, though, clearly not expecting any kind of fight.

The inside of the stadium didn't feel like a prison camp. People were wandering around the main concourse, apparently left to their own devices. The concession stands had been repurposed to hand out rations and water. One of the souvenir stands had been decorated with a sign requesting passers-by to "Ask Me About Sword Skills."

Solomon wandered out into the stands to find more people milling around. The largest mass of people was down on the field. One group was playing ultimate frisbee up and down the width of the end zone. He headed in that direction.

It was strange, taking the stairs down to the field. Ordinarily it would have been blocked off, and there was a small part of Solomon that was excited to play the tourist. Mostly, though, he was worried about his sister. He walked around the edge of the field with his head on a swivel, trying to spot her.

Despite his best efforts, she found him first.

"Solomon! Is that you?"

He turned at the sound of her voice. "Tiff-"

He was cut off when she crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him in a desperate hug. He spun around, bleeding off her momentum, then gave her a comforting pat on the back. Tiffany was always pretty demonstrative, but he could feel the extra tension in the set of her shoulders.

"I'm all right."

"Of course you are," she said, letting go and taking a step back. There may have been a tear or two forming in her eye, but Solomon wasn't going to say anything about it. "Where did you get that outfit? And that?"

Her voice turned ugly when she pointed out the white band wrapped around Solomon's arm. He felt a swell of pride at the fact that she hadn't been swayed by the aliens' promises.

He grinned and leaned in close, lowering his voice. "Stole 'em both."

She smiled in relief, then punched him on the shoulder. "You jerk. I thought you'd signed up with them."

"You know me. Not much of a joiner," Solomon said. "Tiff- what happened here?"

She frowned, crossing her arms. "It's a long story."

Solomon shrugged. "My schedule's clear."

She turned and started to walk. Solomon fell in beside her. Once they were out of easy earshot of the other students, she started to talk.

The starter zone had included the college and the stadium. And, most importantly, the athletic dorms. While the rest of the students were still organizing into groups for basic self defense and trying to secure food and water, the school's football team had dived right into the dungeon.

There they'd put Solomon's achievements to shame, at least at first. They'd been facing a hundred man dungeon, but they'd been tackling it with a collection of highly trained athletes who had a nigh-professional level of commitment to a very violent game. With the system ready to heal knee injuries and broken bones that usually would have been season-ending, they had hit the dungeon like a force of nature.

They had cleared both the dungeon and the outpost in a matter of hours. Solomon had thought that his own efforts would be tops on at least a local if not national leaderboard of timed accomplishments, but he felt less confident about that as Tiffany told her story. He wondered what had happened in zones that were centered on military bases or professional sports team facilities.

Confidence had been riding high as the team lined up to enter the arena. Solomon could just imagine the sort of juggernaut that would result if you pumped up an offensive or defensive line with the abilities on offer from the system.

Despite that, they'd run into a buzzsaw in the alien squad. Less than a score of the hundred men who had gone into the arena survived to walk out, and they'd only done so by managing to surrender before they were killed.

The aliens, having demonstrated their ability to use overwhelming force, had taken a relatively conciliatory approach to the zone that they had conquered. Everything had been couched in terms of the students' safety. Students who wanted to take up arms and fight had to sign an agreement to abide by the invaders' rules. Those who refused were herded into the football stadium for their own safety, as it was supposedly impractical to keep the whole campus completely free of monsters.

The fact that the location also served as a reminder that even the fastest and strongest of the locals, having honed themselves in life or death battle, had been summarily defeated by the aliens... probably wasn't a coincidence.

The students kept in the stadium lived in relative comfort. The food was bland, but filling. They had access to water and restrooms. They also received a steady soft sell from their peers who had already signed on with the aliens. Tiffany's matter-of-fact recounting of events was tinged with disgust as she described how many of her peers had decided to take the invaders' deal after a day or two to think it over.

"I think it's about time you got out of here," Solomon said, once she finished. "Don't you?"

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