Solomon's Crucible 79. The Community (3) (Patreon)

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Solomon had a few hours to kill before he'd be meeting with the others to clear out the first floor of the local dungeon. His last stop would be to swing by Hank's place and pick up his borrowed rifle together with the cartridges that would be Hank's morning project. Before that, though, he figured that he ought to follow up on his parent's efforts to convince the rest of the neighborhood to follow them out of town.

He started with the neighbors. He straightened out his clothes. It was hard to look sharp wearing a t-shirt and sweats, but he figured it was more likely to get a friendly response than showing up in blood-soaked armor. The hatchet attached to his belt put a dent in his efforts to be non-threatening. By now everybody in the area had been up close and personal with an angry raccoon or two, though, so carrying a weapon openly wasn't the red flag it might have been before the system arrived.

Once he was satisfied with his appearance, he knocked on the door. It was opened a moment later, although the chain was still latched in place. The door closed. Solomon was about to start feeling offended when he heard the scratching of the chain being removed and then the door opened wide to reveal Mrs. Johnson.

"Solomon!" she said. "Daniel told me you made it back, but it's good to see you with my own eyes."

"It's good to see you too, ma'am," Solomon replied. He felt a little awkward. Most of his interaction with Mrs. Johnson had come when he'd kicked a soccer ball over the fence between their yards. He'd moved out by the time he was old enough to be on a first name basis with her or her husband. Still, this was a matter of survival, so he pushed through it. "Do you have a minute to talk about the system?"

"You mean all this business with the blue boxes?" she asked. "Well, it's all been a big mess, hasn't it?"

"That's one way of putting it," Solomon said. "We're planning to get out of town before things get worse."

"Yes, Daniel said something about that," she said. "Moving out to the forest? It seems a little extreme, don't you think?"

"I want everybody to get somewhere safe," Solomon said.

"That's a lovely idea, dear," she said, "but I don't think we need to go anywhere. The raccoons were frightening at first, but we've got their measure now. Not to mention, my Harold just left with some friends to visit a funny little store one of them found that's still open and selling food and water."

Solomon kept smiling, though it felt hollow. In a way, he could admire Mrs. Johnson's optimism and can-do attitude. The timing was just unfortunate. He hadn't thought it would be so hard to talk anybody into getting out of the way of the coming disaster.

Part of it was his own fault. He'd been overconfident after his success rallying the heavy hitters in Glide. He should have realized that it was one thing to offer people the tools they needed to protect their homes, but quite another to talk them into pulling up stakes and following him to his brand new settlement. He needed to refine his sales pitch.

"I'm glad you're doing so well," he said, "but the system is just getting started. Raccoons are going to be the least of your problems."

"I suppose we'll have to adapt," Mrs. Johnson said. "But, honestly, it seems like it would be more dangerous out in the woods. The raccoons are bad enough. Just imagine what's happening with mountain lions."

Solomon had to resist the urge to glance down at his missing hand. One mountain lion had caused him plenty of trouble when it was spooked by the system. He didn't want to think about what they were like now. Well, maybe hunting them down would be cathartic.

"The animals will keep getting more dangerous," he admitted, "but the real problem is the invaders. Have you heard about what's happening on campus?"

"I heard nobody was going in or out," she replied.

"The system sets up a big challenge for ownership between invaders and the locals," Solomon said. "It fires on its own after a month, but the kids at the university set it off early. They lost. That's why the campus has been taken in."

She peered at him, skepticism obvious in her eyes. "Invaders, you say?"

"We're not alone out there," Solomon said. "We're not the first to be pulled into the system, either."

"Well," she said, "I'd have to talk to Harold before making any kind of decision."

"Of course," Solomon said. He knew a dismissal when he heard one. "Thanks for hearing me out."

He held his head up high as he exchanged goodbyes and turned to leave. He hadn't closed the deal with Mrs. Johnson, but at least she hadn't laughed him off of her property. She still might come around eventually. In the mean time, he might have better luck at the next house.

As it turned out, he did not. Nor did he have any better luck at the house after that. Or the house after that. Nobody was buying what he was selling. Not all of them were as polite as Mrs. Johnson when they turned him down, either.

It seemed that everybody was taking the wild rumors about violence on campus with a grain of salt. Other than that, Solomon didn't really have any evidence to back up his claims of alien invasion. His complete failure had him wondering if he would have been able to convince even his own parents if he hadn't had Kanmi tagging along to lend his story some credibility.

He was also fighting against years of disaster preparation that had all been premised on the existence of a functioning society. To the extent that the government had given any directions, it was for people to shelter in place. That also seemed like the obvious thing to do to most, so long as they were able to get hold of food and water.

More than a few people were even outright skeptical that the loss of modern technology was permanent. The idea that the whole structure of civilization was in the process of slowly falling apart was just too big and too shattering of an idea for anybody to accept.

They'd change their tune when the aliens came knocking on the door, but by then Solomon wouldn't be able to do anything to help them.

It was a grueling morning. By the time Solomon was due to head out for the dungeon meetup, he was more than ready to work out his frustration with some violence.

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