《Run to Survive》 Prologue Ever since Humanity first crawled out of the mud, there were the Vermis. A humanoid, flesh-eating monster that mutated from the common earthworm. Since Humans learned to remember, they have feared the Vermis, kind of degrading, right? But there was a reason to fear them. The Vermis look exactly like humans, except that Vermis have white hair and have no gender. For humanity, the Vermis threat drastically slowed technological progress down for the past four thousand years, but then Humanity discovered Lifinium, a rare mineral that pushed against Earth¡¯s gravity, therefore causing whatever was on top of it to float. With this knowledge, Humanity became able to escape the Vermis while having a permanent home. They built gigantic Cities surrounding Lifinium. By doing so, Humanity was able to control where they traveled while in the comfort of their homes. As time progressed, Humanity was able to do other things besides just surviving the Vermis. They declared war on the other Cities, determined to steal resources. The Cities could only be so large, forcing them to manage their space effectively. So, if a city had too much firepower, they could attack more Cities, stealing their resources, but if they could not find another city they would starve. The Cities without much firepower quickly fell victim to the stronger Cities. Over the years the Cities were able to reach equilibrium, just enough firepower and just the right amount of agriculture.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The wars between the Cities are continuous, leaving hundreds of thousands either wounded or dead. Many of the citizens despised the wars, but knew that they couldn¡¯t do anything about it for fear of being banished and left for dead in the wilderness, with the Vermis and other horrific creatures. The Cities were very impressive, as the bottom and walls were made of steel, the Buildings were made of wood and stone. Because of all the dangerous creatures that roamed the land and sky, the Cities had a glass dome. Mutations had spread through the land before Humanity even existed. Most Animals grew to gargantuan proportions, while the rest changed in many other ways. Bears continued to live unchanged, except their backbones stuck out of their hindquarters. Panthers grew exponentially, eventually becoming capable of carrying people. Humans, without knowing, had also mutated, but much slower, and much more diverse. Chapter 1 Aaron, Sarah, George, Grace, Adam, and Evelyn were sneaking past the guards. Getting caught meant death. Life in Awbex was hard enough without the Nobles taking food from the common folk. They reached a corner and silently decided to leave George there. George was a good and trustworthy friend, but he was huge. His muscular frame would easily be spotted. They continued on. Evelyn dashed forward to scout the area ahead. Evelyn motioned for them to continue. As they traveled they snuck past four more patrols, each time stopping and waiting for them to pass their position. Traveling silently in one of the floating cities was difficult to say the least. The floor of the cities were always metal. If one of them took too heavy of a step, the sound would reverberate through the air, instantly alerting every guard within a hundred yards. They also had to keep away from the windows. Evelyn started to climb up a building. Luckily all buildings were made of wood, so she didn¡¯t make any noise. Adam got furious before realizing that it would be good to have a higher point of view. Adam was the complete opposite of George. He was small, skinny, and weak, but his intelligence made up for those factors. While George was not stupid, his Intelligence was nothing compared to Adam¡¯s. Finally, they got to their destination, the Food Vault. Grace turned away from the vault to keep an eye out for the guards. Evelyn climbed down from the rooftops, pulled out lockpicks out of her pocket and started to pick the lock. Adam started to count the amount of seconds they had left before the next guard patrol walked past. Aaron and Sarah got the bags from their belts and got ready to rush in. It took Evelyn only a couple of seconds to pick the lock. She took out the lock and opened the doors. Aaron and Sarah rushed in, filled the first pair of bags, threw them outside, and pulled out two more bags and started to fill them. They filled seven bags before they were done. They pushed the door shut and locked it again. Grace rushed forward grabbed one of the bags and shoved it towards Adam. She then started to distribute the bags. Two for Aaron, Two for Sarah, one for Evelyn, and one for Grace. They quickly returned to where they left George. He grabbed a bag from Sarah and a bag from Aaron. They rushed through the alleys until they got to their home, at least, the shack that they deemed as their home. They entered the building, closed and locked the door, and hid the food. The next morning they took out the food and checked out what they got. They had enough food to last them two weeks. ¡°It took only four minutes and seventeen seconds. New record!¡± exclaimed Adam. Aaron smiled, ¡°No offence Adam, but no one cares. We only care that we made it out with food and without being caught.¡± ¡°Don''t be so mean Aaron!¡± interjected Evelyn ¡°Be quiet Eve. They¡¯re just playing.¡± said Grace Aaron smiled even more, ¡°Not yet!¡± He then tackled Adam. They wrestled for a couple of minutes before George joined in. All the girls sighed. Sarah, Grace, and Evelyn decided to store the food and prepare a breakfast. Breakfast was almost done when they heard two grunts. They all looked over to see George sitting on top of Adam and Aaron. ¡°Get off them George, before you break their backs! Besides, breakfast is done.¡± Almost instantly George was up and at the stub they called a table. It took a little longer for Aaron and Adam, but they got there quickly. Breakfast consisted of bread and fruit. Aaron grabbed a slice of bread and placed it over the fire. He waited thirty seconds before turning it over and waiting for another thirty seconds. Aaron then walked over to everyone else and started to eat it. George widened his eyes and followed Aaron¡¯s example. They finished eating and started to clean up when there was a knock at the door. Everyone froze. They were completely silent, hoping that they would go away. They didn¡¯t. There was another knock at the door. Aaron grabbed one of the knives they used for breakfast and motioned Sarah to open the door. Aaron rushed over to the door, while Sarah just walked. When Sarah reached the door she looked over to Aaron, who nodded. She opened the door. Outside was one of the gang leaders. More specifically, the leader of the Souin, the strongest gang in Awbex. ¡°Hello, my name is Frederick. I¡¯m here to offer you a deal.¡± Aaron went in front of Sarah, who was in the doorway, and said, ¡°Not interested.¡± and shut the door. Frederick knocked again, but they just ignored it. ¡°Aaron, you do know what he can do to us, don''t you?¡± Asked Grace ¡°Yes I know, but I also know nothing he does is good for us. He may be able to do a lot of stuff to us, but what he can do to us we can do to him.¡± ¡°What can we do to him?¡± Asked Adam ¡°His gang doesn¡¯t like to have the attention of the Guards on them. If they do anything to us, we can do stuff to benefit us, but put the blame of them.¡± ¡°You do realize that if they decided to kill us that we could do nothing against them, right?¡± ¡°He asked us to do something for him. So, he won¡¯t kill us.¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re right.¡± Aaron and George spent the next two hours exercising, while Adam took inventory, and Sarah, Grace, and Evelyn worked on fixing their clothes. Aaron walked outside to get water from the depositary. He got a drink, dunked his head in the cool water, turned around, and nearly jumped. ¡°What are you still doing here?¡± Aaron asked Frederick. Frederick crossed his arms and said, ¡°What do you think?¡± Aaron rolled his eyes, ¡°Look we are not interested in anything to do with you. Just by talking to you I am endangering my family.¡± Frederick chuckled, ¡°I thought the Souin was your family.¡± ¡°That was before they decided to do anything more than required to do the job.¡± ¡°We did that for the plan.¡± ¡°Oh right, I forgot! The big plan to take over Awbex.¡± ¡°Shhhh! You know you shouldn¡¯t say that out loud!¡± ¡°And you know that the noise from the market keeps anything within a ten feet radius from being heard. Besides,¡± Aaron continued, ¡°It is a foolhardy plan. Even if you could do it, the other cities will know about the change in leadership, take it as a sign of weakness, and attack.¡± Frederick sighed and said, ¡°You''re probably right, but don¡¯t you want for things to change?¡± Aaron crossed his arms, ¡°Look Frederick, I do want things to change, but it would be so much safer for you, the Souin, and everyone else in Awbex if you just did things slower.¡± Frederick leaned against the water depository and asked, ¡°What do you mean by going slower?¡± ¡°You could pretend to be one of the nobility. It might take a couple of years, but with enough bribes, alleyway killings, and persuasion, you could rightfully become the ruler of Awbex.¡± Frederick smirked, ¡°Rightfully?¡± ¡°-Ish¡± Frederick stood, ¡°Maybe you''re right, but I can¡¯t stop thinking about all the lives that will be ruined if we stop doing what we¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t. Continue stealing food for the hungry. When you become a noble, and the other noblemen start to complain, you can come running in. Tell them that you will stop them. Bring your trusted guards, and make a flashy show of stopping a food raid in progress.¡± ¡°You know, I can¡¯t get over the fact that you are only thirteen.¡± ¡°A lot of people don¡¯t even know that I have pitch white hair.¡± ¡°oh, that¡¯s right! Don¡¯t you put mud in your hair?¡± ¡°Yea, that¡¯s why I never go outside when it is raining. When they decide to open the dome, that is.¡± Frederick walked up to Aaron laid his hand on his shoulder and said, ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll be leaving.¡± Aaron turned around just in time to see Frederick turning the corner, ¡°How does he do that?¡± whispered Aaron. He took another sip from the depository, before returning to everyone else. As he entered the building, he saw that Grace and Evelyn were checking on the food, while Adam and George were arguing, again. Aaron looked around even more and saw that Sarah was looking at him in the corner. Her look practically said, ¡°Get over here, now!¡± Aaron slowly made his way around the room. When he got there, Sarah didn¡¯t say anything. All she did was cross her arms. ¡°Yes?¡± Asked Aaron. Sarah rolled her eyes and whispered, ¡°What took you so long outside?¡± ¡°Frederick was waiting outside. Don¡¯t worry, I talked to him and he left.¡± ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t volunteer us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it would¡¯ve been voluntold, but either way I didn¡¯t.¡± Sarah uncrossed her arms and started to walk towards the door, ¡°Good, then we can go to the market.¡± Everyone stopped. They only ever went to the market if they had money, and they only got money when it was dropped and money was rarely dropped. They never stole from other commoners, never stole during the day, and never stole directly from a nobleman. Currently, they had no money. ¡°Why do you want to go to the market?¡± Asked George ¡°Because it might be fun!¡± Replied Sarah ¡°But it is loud.¡± Said Adam ¡°And there are a lot of guards there.¡± Said Grace ¡°Just think about what would happen if we get caught?¡± Said Aaron ¡°Well, what would they charge us with?¡± Said Sarah. ¡°Probably theft or something.¡± Said Aaron ¡°But we aren¡¯t going to steal!¡± ¡°Then why go?¡± Asked George, all Sarah did was shrug and say, ¡°I want to check on something.¡± Aaron was going to say he had stuff to do, but then he realized that he didn¡¯t, and so, they went. They only spent about half an hour there, but Aaron didn¡¯t like it. It was too loud. Everyone there was buying, selling, or stealing. There were stalls on either side of the road. As they were leaving, Aaron saw something that caught his eye. ¡°You guys head back, I¡¯ll meet you there.¡± They were hesitant, but left. Aaron went after what caught his eye. There was a Rifle leaning against a crate. The Soldier that the Rifle belonged to, was talking to a merchant, only four paces away. Aaron snuck up to the Rifle. He didn¡¯t want the Rifle, he wanted the Bayonet. Aaron lifted the Rifle off the crate and unhooked the Bayonet. After all the years of stealing Bayonets, it came easy to unhook them. Aaron quietly backed away, and turned around. There was a little child standing right there. The child was in ragged, dirty, and ripped clothes. He was completely dirty, and obviously orphaned. Aaron put his finger to his lips, motioning to be quiet. Aaron then motioned for the child to follow him. As he was leaving the market, he would occasionally look back. Every time he did, he saw the child following him, quietly. When Aaron had left the market, he turned around and kneeled down. The child rushed over to him. ¡°What is your name?¡± The child shrugged ¡°Do you know who your parents are?¡± The child shook his head ¡°Do you want to come with me?¡± The child vigorously nodded his head. Aaron and the child, went back home. When the opened the door, Aaron had to duck. ¡°Damn it, George! Don¡¯t go punching people!¡± ¡°Sorry, I thought you were an intruder.¡± Aaron closed the door, and immediately cringed. Evelyn squealed, and rushed over to him. ¡°Hello, what is your name?¡± It was then that everyone else noticed the child. Everyone rushed to the child, while Sarah pulled Aaron aside. ¡°Who is that?¡± whispered Sarah ¡°I don¡¯t know and neither does he. He was in the market.¡± ¡°How old is he?¡± ¡°When I asked, he just raised five fingers.¡± ¡°He is Five?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like he can speak, but he can definitely understand speech.¡± Sarah and Aaron joined the others. After a couple minutes of chatter, Grace asked, ¡°What should we call him?¡± Evelyn started to shoot out random names, ¡°Boo, Spot, Buddie.¡± ¡°Eve, please shut up. You¡¯re too loud, and he isn¡¯t a pet, he is a child.¡± said George ¡°Sorry.¡± Aaron chuckled ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± asked Grace ¡°I just thought of a name, but it¡¯s dumb.¡± ¡°Aaron, no one has come up with a good name.¡± said George ¡°True. What about Saber?¡± After a moment of thought, Sarah said, ¡°How did you think of the name?¡± Aaron showed them the Bayonet. ¡°Seriously,¡± said Adam ¡°Not very creative.¡± ¡°Shut up Adam.¡± said Evelyn ¡°Who agrees with Aaron¡¯s name?¡± George raised his hand, as did Evelyn. ¡°I like it as well!¡± Exclaimed Grace ¡°That makes three. His new name will be Saber!¡± Said Sarah. The boy looked at Aaron and smiled. ¡°I think he likes you.¡± said Sarah ¡°I think you''re reading too much into the situation.¡± ¡°Maybe, but how many times have I been wrong?¡± ¡°Touch¨¨.¡± ¡°Look at him.¡± Aaron looked at the child. He wasn¡¯t smiling, he wasn¡¯t touching anyone, he wasn¡¯t looking at anyone. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Asked Aaron ¡°He looked at you and smiled, but when you looked away he stopped. He doesn¡¯t trust anyone.¡± Replied Sarah ¡°Spend time with him. Teach him our language. Be his mentor. Saber is clearly a starving orphan. Feed him.¡± Sarah started to walk away, but Aaron said, ¡°Why did you want to go to the market?¡± ¡°Promise you won¡¯t laugh?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Sarah turned around, her face red with embarrassment, ¡°I wanted to look at the jewelry.¡± Aaron had to cover his mouth to stop from laughing. He made enough noise that everyone looked over. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t expect you of all people to look at pretty things. I¡¯m not judging, I liked looking at the firearms.¡± Sarah walked outside. George laid down and instantly fell asleep, Eve and Grace got into an argument, Adam pulled a book from under his shirt and start to read, and Saber walked up to Aaron. Aaron looked down at him and sighed. After a moment, Aaron walked over to the wall and motioned for Saber to come over. He rushed over and sat down. ¡°Nod if you understand.¡± Saber nodded Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Can you speak?¡± ¡°... Kind¡­ of.¡± ¡°Do you have a name?¡± he shook his head ¡°Weren¡¯t you listening?¡± ¡°No. I fell asleep.¡± ¡°But you were standing.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to teach you to read.¡± and so he did. Everyday, they would wake up, eat, exercise, which Saber did as well, George would fall asleep, Adam would read, Evelyn and Grace would argue, Sarah would help Aaron teach Saber. After a week, Saber could read fluently, speak easily, and knew everyone¡¯s names. ¡°Alright the boring part of your education is over!¡± announced Aaron ¡°What is the next part?¡± Asked Saber ¡°Physical!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I am going to teach you how to run quietly, fight, climb, and other stuff!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hurt him.¡± Said Sarah ¡°Stop worrying! I won¡¯t kill him!¡± Exclaimed Aaron ¡°What?¡± ¡°Shhh, don¡¯t worry Saber. Come on, we got stuff to do!¡± Said Aaron as he pushed Saber out of the shack. Saber and Aaron got a drink from the well before starting. ¡°Climb up that building.¡± Said Aaron. Saber looked to where Aaron was pointing and saw a three story building. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to teach me first?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°...Uhhhh.¡± ¡°Get going.¡± Saber walked up to the building and reached up as far as he could. Saber put his foot on a ledge and pushed himself up. It was very slow, but Saber was determined. After half an hour, Saber rolled onto the roof and just laid there, exhausted. ¡°What took you so long?¡± Asked Aaron. Saber sat straight up and looked around. Aaron was laying on the roof, with his eyes closed. ¡°Are you sleeping?¡± ¡°No, I was trying.¡± ¡°When did you get up?¡± ¡°When you were about ten feet up. Don¡¯t worry, I have been doing this for as long as I can remember. Tonight I will teach you how to move quietly, but right now just sleep.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have to tell me twice!¡± Saber rolled away from the edge of the building and bumped into Aaron ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Just sleep.¡± Saber laid his head on Aaron¡¯s leg, and closed his eyes. When Saber woke up it was still night. He just laid there until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. After he could see as well as he could, Saber sat up. ¡°Get up, Sabe. We got work to do.¡± Aaron was already up and stretching. Saber got up and started to stretching as well. When they were ready, they climbed down. Aaron spent an hour teaching Saber how to move quickly, but silently. After Aaron was satisfied, he had an idea. ¡°Sabe, I want you to try to find me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right there.¡± ¡°Oh shut up! I meant, you close your eyes, count to ten, then try to find me. There is a twist though.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°If I find you first, I win.¡± ¡°Game on!¡± Saber closed his eyes and counted to ten and opened his eyes. Aaron was nowhere to be found. Saber quickly hid behind a building, and listened. He could hear two sets of footsteps. One was higher up, while the other was on ground level, slow, and heavy. ¡°Probably a Caco.¡± thought Saber as he started to climb the building he was hiding behind. It took him only five minutes to climb this building. When he got up the building, he laid down and looked around. The moonlight gave him enough light to see clearly for about a quarter mile. He continued to search, and listen. ¡°Did you fall asleep?¡± Asked Aaron, ¡°No! I was listening!¡± Replied Saber as he stood up. ¡°I won the first round. Best two out of three. This time I¡¯ll count.¡± The instant Aaron closed his eyes, Saber bolted off. He jumped from building to building, making sure to stay near his new home. Saber laid behind a box and tried to slow his breathing. When his breathing had slowed down to regular speed, Saber looked around and after seeing nothing, started to climb down. Saber slowly made his way down the building. When his foot reached the ground, he felt something sharp touch his neck. Saber instinctively raised his hands and slowly lowered his other foot. ¡°Turn around!¡± Ordered a strange voice. Saber obeyed, when he turned around, he saw a Guard. The Guard was clad in their usual Deep Green and Red armor. Their armor was made of Leather and Steel. It covered them from head to toe, only leaving their eyes and neck exposed. The Guard was pointing his Rifle at Saber, the bayonet only inches from his face. While the Rifle was only good for one shot before having to reload, and was only good for around two hundred yards, there were no open spaces that large in the city, a bullet only inches away would still kill him. ¡°What are you doing out past curfew?¡± Asked the Guard ¡°Uh...I was trying to find food. I¡¯m really hungry.¡± ¡°Punishment for being out past curfew is death!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it won¡¯t happen again!¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, it won¡¯t.¡± The Guard cocked the gun and moved his finger to the trigger. Before he got the chance to fire, Aaron appeared behind him and slit his throat, which he had to jump to reach. Aaron caught the body while Saber caught the Rifle. ¡°What did you slit him with?¡± ¡°That¡¯s your first question?¡± ¡°He was about to shoot me... in the face!¡± ¡°Remember the Bayonet I took when I found you?¡± ¡°Yeah, but the thing has no handle!¡± ¡°Good observation skills. Now go get a bucket of water.¡± Saber did as he was told. He filled the bucket and carried it back, it was a slow process because the bucket was heavy for him. Aaron dragged the corpse out of the way and dumped water on the spilled blood. The water cleaned the spot and carried the blood into the gutters that led to cleaning factory. Saber helped Aaron drag the corpse back to their home, returning the bucket on the way. When they opened the door, Sarah instantly stood up and everything went quiet, except for George who continued to snore. Adam closed the door after them. Grace took Saber¡¯s spot. Sarah opened a hatch in the floor. Aaron dropped the body and started to take off the armor. Aaron passed the armor, weapons, and other equipment to Saber, while he and Sarah dropped the body through the hatch. Saber was able to see through the hatch and saw that it led to the outside of the city. The body fell down hundreds of feet before disappearing through the tree cover. Adam closed and locked the hatch and they all sat down at the table. ¡°What the hell happened?¡± Asked Sarah. Saber put down the stuff and joined them. ¡°I was teaching Saber. He was trying to find me, but a Guard saw him climb down from a building. He was about to pull the trigger so I killed him.¡± Answered Aaron Sarah held out her hand and said ¡°Hands.¡± Aaron put his hand in hers. His hand was cut and bleeding severely. ¡°You did it with the Bayonet.¡± ¡°No time to grasp it correctly.¡± ¡°Adam get the bandages.¡± Commanded Grace. Adam got the bandages and gave them to Evelyn, who waited until Grace got back with water to clean the cut. ¡°Wait.¡± Said Aaron. Grace stopped, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Saber, wake George. Adam, hold my mouth closed.¡± Saber ran over and shook George, who woke up instantly. George looked around and saw Aaron. He sighed and stood up. George walked over and grasped Aaron, using his limbs to hold his. When Aaron couldn¡¯t move, he nodded. Grace poured the water, and Aaron screamed and convulsed. The screams were muffled by Adam¡¯s hands, and George held Aaron down. George was twice the size of Aaron and twice as heavy and strong, but he still had problems holding him down. After the cut was clean, Evelyn quickly bandaged the hand. When Evelyn was done, she nodded to George who let Aaron go. Aaron motioned to Saber. Saber came over and leaned down. ¡°Get the armor.¡± Said Aaron. Saber ran over and brought it over. ¡°Not yet.¡± Said Sarah ¡°Oh, come on! I collect it for a reason.¡± ¡°Yes, but if you get your wound dirty, then we will have to clean it again.¡± Aaron thought for a moment then said to Saber, ¡°Nevermind, instead bring just the belt and that box in the corner.¡± Saber put the armor back and undid the belt. As he approached the box, Aaron said, ¡°It¡¯s heavier than it looks.¡± Saber placed the belt over his shoulder and gripped the box with both hands. It was much heavier than he thought. Saber struggled to get over to Aaron. Not knowing what was in it, Saber carefully placed the box right in front of Aaron. ¡°Open it.¡± Saber did as he was told and saw Bayonets. ¡°Saber, grab one of the Bayonets, a handle, and one of the metal sticks. Come to think of it, I still don¡¯t know what those sticks are called.¡± Saber did as he was told. ¡°Put the Bayonet on the handle and line up the holes.¡± Saber did ¡°Now put the stick in through both of the holes.¡± Commanded Aaron. ¡°Now what?¡± Asked Saber. ¡°Now slam it against something hard, we want to flatten the metal stick that didn''t fit through. It will then prevent the stick from coming loose, therefore keeping the Bayonet on.¡± After Saber had flattened it, Aaron said, ¡°Keep doing it with the rest of them.¡± Saber grabbed the next set and got to work. After a few minutes of silence, Aaron asked, ¡°How you holding up?¡± ¡°I think I¡¯m getting the hang of it!¡± ¡°I meant, how are you? How are you feeling after we killed that Guard?¡± ¡°Nothing. Why?¡± ¡°It is bad to keep your feelings in.¡± ¡°Really? Huh, learn something new everyday!¡± ¡°Saber?¡± ¡°Aaron, I don''t have any feelings about that Guard. Do you know why I was abandoned?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°It is because I don''t care about life.¡± Saber let that sink in, ¡°I don''t know why I think this, but for as long as I can remember, I haven¡¯t cared about whether anyone dies or not. If they threaten my friends, I won¡¯t hesitate to kill them. If the harm my friends, I will find a way to make them regret it, a thousand times over.¡± ¡°Life is empty. Life is weak. Life is worthless.¡± ¡°Life isn¡¯t like that!¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t let me finish. Life is empty, but it is full. Life is weak, but it¡¯s the strongest thing. Life is worthless, but has worth. I didn¡¯t know that life was full, until I met you guys. I didn¡¯t know that life was strong until I saw what you could do. I¡¯m still trying to find out how life has worth.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Life as a whole is worthless, but for everyone, there is one part that is worth living. Some people never find it, while others do. When you find it, you will risk everything to protect it.¡± ¡°I know you, where did you steal that from?¡± Aaron laughed, catching everyone¡¯s attention, ¡°A book.¡± ¡°You have a book?¡± Asked Saber. ¡°Not anymore, I sold it.¡± Everyone returned to what they were doing, except for George, who never woke up. ¡°Never knew you were a romantic.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not. I stole it, got bored, read it, then sold it. There is only one book I have that I didn¡¯t sell after reading it.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°My own.¡± ¡°You wrote your own book?¡± ¡°Kind of, I just wrote down thoughts.¡± ¡°So it is a diary?¡± Aaron lightly push Saber, ¡°No, stupid!¡± Aaron turned sober, ¡°I hate this life. I write what I want life to be like. I¡¯m a kid so I dream about fighting in a war, so I write down techniques, Strategies, and my dreams about fighting. After a while, I realized that I lived in a war zone. After that, I took some of my techniques, and put them to use. That is how I became Co Leader of the Souin.¡± ¡°The strongest Gang?¡± ¡°Yep!¡± ¡°What was it like?¡± Asked Saber ¡°Promise that if I tell you; you won''t ask about the Souin or my life with them again, agreed?¡± Saber nodded. ¡°Hell.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°My life was Hell.¡± The look on Aaron¡¯s face told Saber, that the conversation was over. Saber worked on making the daggers until there were only ten Bayonets left. ¡°Leave the rest. Go to sleep.¡± Said Aaron. Saber was too tired to say or do anything else. He crawled over to George and fell asleep on his arm. ¡°He reminds me a lot of you.¡± Said Sarah when everyone was sleeping. Aaron watched Saber sleep and said, ¡°Don''t insult him. He is so much better than me.¡± ¡°He is just a child, of course he will be more innocent!¡± ¡°You forget, we are all children. I am only seven years older than he is,¡± Aaron looked at Sarah, ¡°I was four when I killed my first! Don''t tell me he is more innocent than me because he is young. He has a better chance to survive, than me, and I will make sure he does.¡± Sarah walked up to Aaron, ¡°Aaron, always the mature one.¡± ¡°Sarah I had to grow up fast. If I didn¡¯t, I would be dead.¡± Sarah hugged him, ¡°Then is it good that you grew up, otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have met you.¡± ¡°Come on, we should sleep before the job.¡± Sarah went to sleep, but Aaron left with a package. Saber woke with George¡¯s large hand covering his mouth, but his hand was so big it covered his face. George put his finger over his mouth. Saber nodded. George removed his hand and Saber got up. Everyone was awake and getting ready. Saber walked up to Aaron and whispered, ¡°What is going on?¡± ¡°We are going on a food raid. Grab four of the daggers you made.¡± Saber did so and returned. Aaron lifted up a harness. ¡°Take off your shirt.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°This will hold the daggers while hiding them and keeping them silent.¡± Saber put the harness on and put the daggers in the slots that were there. Two of the daggers were upright, while the other two were upside down right beside them. It was meant to take up the least amount of space. The daggers were on Saber¡¯s sides and could be quickly released. Saber saw that Aaron put another harness on. His harness had an additional four daggers on his back. The daggers on his back were slanted down, but not completely. If they were released, they would quickly slide out. Aaron opened a box and pulled out a bag, with something in it. He pulled the item out. It was a sword. It was more of a long dagger, but it had an actual blade, instead of the Bayonet. He slid the sword into another sheath on his back. When he put on his shirt, you couldn¡¯t see the harness, daggers, or sword. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± It all went just like last time. Saber was just there to watch and learn. George come with them this time to carry more food. Evelyn picked the lock, and Grace, and Adam opened the door. Before Saber could see inside, Aaron dropped the bag he had, grabbed the dagger from george, and rushed in. Saber saw inside, just as two Guards fell to the floor, their throats cut. ¡°George, Adam, grab their Rifles! Everyone else, get in!¡± Everyone did as Aaron commanded. ¡°Saber, close that side that door!¡± Aaron ran to close the other. Just before the doors closed, Saber saw a large number of Guards run around the corner. ¡°What happened?¡± Asked Grace ¡°We were led into a trap!¡± Exclaimed Adam. ¡°Adam! Shut up and move some of these boxes!¡± Everyone started to move the boxes of food to create a wall in front of the door. Within ten minutes, the wall of boxes reached the ceiling, three boxes thick. ¡°Alright, take the boxes we used as stairs and form a hill in the back.¡± That took fifteen minutes. ¡°What is taking them so long?¡± Asked Evelyn ¡°They are getting the key. The person with it, would be asleep and in the wealthy section of the city. That part of the city is on the other side, but they should be here soon.¡± Said Adam. ¡°Found it!¡± Shouted Sarah. Everyone rushed over. ¡°What?¡± ¡°The exit!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°This latch leads outside. If we open this we can escape, it will have a rope ladder!¡± ¡°Going out there is suicide!¡± Exclaimed Adam ¡°Yeah, but if we are captured by the Guards, we will be tortured. Pick one. Possible death,¡± pointing to the latch, ¡°Or a painful death.¡± pointing to the door. ¡°Fine! Eve work on the lock! Everyone else get to the hill! We set the wall to fall when the door opens, but the survivors will come.¡± Sure enough, the door opened and the wall fell. Dozens were instantly crushed. Dozens more were injured, but more just rushed past. Grace shot, and one fell, a hole in between the eyes. Adam shot as well, but the shot hit the wrong target. They both started to reload. George lifted a box and tossed it. It crushed one, burst open, and injured or killed all those nearby. Within seconds, the fifty by twenty five meter room was covered with the dead, injured, and food. A group of Ten Guards lined up. Five kneeling, five standing right behind them. ¡°George get that group!¡± Shouted Aaron. George lifted another box had threw it. The box was large enough and they were close enough that it instantly crushed four and killed the rest. Soon, The Guards moved the boxes to form a line of defence. The battle soon reached a stalemate. If a Guard tried to rush or fire, they were taken out. Aaron and the rest of the children were in a bunker made of boxes. There were two slits, for the rifles. ¡°What do we do?¡± Asked George ¡°We wait until Eve is done. Then we leave the city, permanently. I plan to leave the city a gift.¡± Explained Aaron ¡°A gift?¡± Asked Saber ¡°Yeah, take as many of them with us as we can.¡± ¡°Why bother?¡± ¡°I may not care what happens, but it would be better if the city was under better management. If we weaken the Guard Force, the Gangs will notice, and take advantage. I personally know that the Souin will make a run at the King.¡± ¡°You want us to assist in a takeover?¡± ¡°No¡­ after this, we will be dead. Everyone that knows us here, will think we are dead. We won''t be here when the Takeover happens.¡± ¡°We are going to die?¡± Asked Sarah ¡°Only in name,¡± Aaron paused for Grace to shoot, ¡°When we leave the city we will be considered dead by everyone, but we will survive!¡± ¡°What is the hold up?¡± Shouted the Commander. ¡°Sir! The thieves have barricaded themselves in!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care! Anyone that defies the King will be punished! Everyone follow me!¡± He then charged, holding his Rifle in front of him. The Commander rushed into the room, jumped over the line of boxes and charged at the hill. Everyone, but the man who reported to the commander, and five others, stayed. The rest charged. The charging force was one hundred and twelve strong. Grace and Adam shot. Three went down, Grace¡¯s shot pierced through the neck and into another''s chest. George threw box after box. Aaron also threw boxes, but not even close to the speed of George. Saber rolled the boxes down, not killing, but certainly injuring a lot. Sarah grabbed a box and pulled it back to where Evelyn was. Only half of the charging Guards made it the hill. It was a small hill so they quickly made it to Aaron and the others. While they did make it to their goal, they lost so many of their original charging force doing so. Aaron pulled free his sword and a dagger. He instantly broke into a fury of blades. Anything that got close, was cut to shreds. George took two rifles, broke off the Bayonets, and used them as clubs. Saber used the fallen rifles and threw them like javelins, they didn''t go very far, or pierce their armor, but it threw them back down the hill. Adam used the rifle as a spear, killing with sharp, precise thrusts. Grace kept a distance, shooting any that tried to get past. ¡°It¡¯s open!¡± Came a shout. That one shout, among an army of shouts, stopped everyone in their tracks. Their enemy rushed to retreat. ¡°What is going on?¡± Thought the private that reported to the commander, while he lived. The remaining Guards, hesitated. One guard tried to chase, but was instantly shot before he finished the first step. The rest hesitated to even think about chasing until they saw the shooter, stand and retreat as well. They chased. ¡°Quickly! Drop the boxes down, and get down!¡± Ordered Sarah. She had dragged four boxes to the latch. George quickly dropped all of them in quick succession. Luckily, the drop was only a meter or two past the rope ladder¡¯s length. The city moved slow enough that they wouldn¡¯t have to find each other or the boxes. After the boxes, Eve was the first down, then Adam, Sarah, George, and Saber. Grace rushed down the hill and literally jumped down the latch. ¡°Moron! I hope George catches her.¡± Thought Aaron. Then he saw why she had jumped, the remaining Guards had rushed after her. A few stopped and shot, but the range, and their skill, was too great apart. ¡°Hey! Assholes! Remember my name! Aaron Silver! You can thank me for all of your comrade¡¯s deaths!¡± He then jumped down after his friends. ¡°Your telling me, the enemies that killed so many of us were children?¡± Shouted the Private. The man only nodded. The death count had easily surpassed one hundred, and there were still some that were critically injured. Seven children had single handedly destroyed over half of the Guard Force. Not one of the children had to have been a teenager. Everyone that wasn¡¯t injured was helping those that were. Those that were dead, would be left for later. Those that couldn¡¯t be moved, would die before help arrived. Just before the remaining Guards, limped out of the former food vault, now a Battlefield, a single man walked up to the closest Guard. ¡°What happened?¡± The man asked. ¡°A Rebellion, now move aside citizen.¡± The Guard grunted, then fell over, dead, with an arrow in his chest. ¡°Who was it?¡± He asked calmly. ¡°We don''t know!¡± Said another Guard, again, he fell over with an arrow in his chest. ¡°It was a group of children.¡± The Private said. ¡°Shut up, or I will have you court martialed!¡± Exclaimed his superior. This time, his head whipped back, an arrow in his head. He went limp in the man¡¯s arms, the one who was supporting him. ¡°Do you know a name?¡± Asked the man, who hadn¡¯t yet flinched as arrows, from supposedly nowhere, zipped past his head. ¡°Yes. One of them, a boy, called himself Aaron.¡± ¡°Is he dead?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. He and his comrades left the city using a secret latch inside.¡± ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°Daren.¡± ¡°Well Daren, why did you join the Guard Force?¡± ¡°Don''t know how this matters, but I joined to bring food for my little sister. I don''t have any loyalty towards them, if they can take care of me and my sister, I don''t care.¡± ¡°What if you believed in a man¡¯s cause?¡± ¡°I would fight for him, but my sister will always be first.¡± ¡°Good. I wouldn¡¯t have it any other way. How would you like to join me?¡± ¡°What is your goal?¡± ¡°To take over the city.¡± A couple Guards laughed, those that did, found arrows. ¡°Will you kill me if I refuse?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°For my sister, I must live, I will join you, but if my sister is in danger, I will protect her regardless of what you say.¡± ¡°If you didn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have the right to think about taking over the city. Those that wish to follow me, step forward! Those that don¡¯t, I won''t kill you, I will let you go.¡± Six of the remaining twenty nine, stepped forward. ¡°Follow me.¡± Said the man as he turned to walk away. The seven that agreed, followed, but not without hearing the cries of the remaining. ¡°I thought you said you wouldn¡¯t kill them.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t kill them, my friends did. I promise that if you follow me faithfully, you and your loved ones will be protected.¡± ¡°How can we trust you?¡± voiced one of the former Guards. ¡°I always keep my word.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Asked Daren ¡°My name is Frederick.¡± Chapter 2 The first night, no one slept, except Saber. None of the boxes of food broke, so they used them as a defence against anything that may have attacked. Nothing did. The next morning, Aaron and George went to the tree line and picked branches off the ground. When they got enough they came back and gave them to Adam and the girls to sharpen. They grabbed sharp rocks and started. ¡°Saber come with us.¡± Said Aaron. Aaron led George and Saber into the forest. Aaron would occasionally stop and look at the ground. Eventually they came upon a river, it was shallow, only reaching George¡¯s chest. Aaron grabbed a branch and used it to make a small hole. ¡°George, put enough water in this to fill it, please. Saber, come here.¡± George started to fill the hole with his hands. Aaron led Saber further down the river, until they reached a clay reserve. ¡°Saber, take a flat rock and scoop as much of this as you can carry.¡± Saber had absolutely no idea what this material was or why they wanted it, but he trusted Aaron. Five minutes later, Aaron came back with a large leaf. ¡°What is that for?¡± Asked Saber ¡°This is to carry the clay and mud.¡± Saber put his clay on the leaf. They both walked over to George, who was mixing the mud. George put his mud on the other half of the leaf, and went to grab the leaf. ¡°Let Saber do it. It¡¯ll be a good time to build more muscle.¡± Saber grabbed the leaf stem and started to drag it. The leaf was surprisingly strong, because the weight was at least as heavy as Saber. It took thirty minutes to get back, when it only took seven to get to the river. When they got back, Adam and the girls had finished, and done more. While Aaron, George, and Saber were gone, they finished sharpening the sticks and had started to collect rocks. ¡°Let¡¯s start a fire.¡± Said Adam ¡°Won¡¯t that attract Vermi?¡± Asked George ¡°No. They are attracted by light, sound, and movement. It is already light out, so a fire won¡¯t bring them.¡± ¡°Yes! I¡¯m getting cold.¡± Exclaimed Evelyn So within two minutes, they had a fire. Everyone huddled around it, but Aaron walked over to the pile of rocks and picked out a few. When he came back, everyone saw that he had selected a large, flat, stone, a thick rock, and a lot of small pebbles. Aaron took a handful of pebbles and placed them on the large flat stone. He then sat there, waiting. After a few minutes, the forest erupted in sound. In that exact moment, everyone jumped, while Aaron slammed down the thick rock on the pebbles. The forest¡¯s outburst only last a few minutes, and Aaron had pounded the pebbles into a fine dust. ¡°What was that?¡± Asked Sarah ¡°That was Noon.¡± Said Aaron ¡°What?¡± ¡°Everyday, at Noon all the animals go on the attack. Most only eat once a day, Noon.¡± ¡°How did you know?¡± Asked Adam ¡°I noticed in the city. When it rained and no one was in the market, everything was quiet, I always heard a sound coming from outside. It always happened at Noon, and only lasted a few minutes.¡± ¡°Why did you crush the pebbles?¡± Asked Saber ¡°To make sure the clay doesn¡¯t stick to the stone.¡± Said Aaron as he placed two handfuls of clay over the dust that was the pebbles. He slowly and carefully molded the clay into a bowl. When he was done, Aaron carefully placed the bowl next to the fire. ¡°Don¡¯t touch it.¡± The bowl had a six inch opening and was a foot tall. It was about half an inch thick. Aaron then motioned Saber over. He sat Saber down in front of the Stone and placed the mud on the Stone. ¡°Form it into four bricks of equal proportions.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Make four mud bricks of the same size.¡± By the time Saber had finished, the clay bowl was hard. Aaron replaced the bowl with the bricks. Aaron took the bowl and ran into the forest. When he came back, the bowl was full of water. He sat down at the Stone, and washed it off with a quarter of the water. When it was clean of the mud and clay, Aaron took one of the flatter rocks and started to grind it against the stone, occasionally wetting the Stone. ¡°Why are you putting water on it?¡± Asked Grace ¡°To make it quieter and to make it smoother. The rougher it is the more likely it is to chip and break.¡± Replied Adam ¡°Hand me a straight and thick branch.¡± Requested Aaron Saber grabbed it and passed it over. Aaron took his sharpened rock and placed it at the top and center of the stick. He then took another thick stick and motioned George over. ¡°Hit the rock into the stick, with that stick. Quietly!¡± Commanded Aaron George did so, it took multiple, but quiet hits. When it went into the stick, the stick broke in half. While George was hammering it in, Aaron had gotten Grace to sharpen another rock. This one was long, slender, and was flat. Aaron told Evelyn to go into the forest and bring back thin strips of cord. When Evelyn got back, Aaron took the cord, which were weeds, and started to make rope. Everyone was watching, wondering what was going on. Aaron took his new rope, sharpened rock, and two halves of branch, and put them on the Stone. Aaron placed the rock Grace sharpened and placed it at the top of one of the halves, leaving about three inches on the actual branch. He then took the other half and placed it on top. Aaron used the rope and tied it very tightly in three places. One at the top, where the rock was. One at the place for the hand to go, also being used for the handle. And one at the very bottom. ¡°You made a knife!¡± Exclaimed George. ¡°Be quiet!¡± Ordered Adam George apologized ¡°We need to make more of these.¡± Said Aaron ¡°But we have the Bayonet knives you made.¡± Said Grace ¡°Yeah, but those are meant for stabbing. They will break if we use it for slicing or cutting. These are much more durable.¡± Answered Adam And so, they made one for everyone. They then started to lay a foundation for a hut. By the time they were done, it was getting dark. ¡°Put out the fire!¡± Ordered Adam Aaron poured dirt on the fire. George used a stick to make sure the fire was out. They instantly started to feel the chill. To keep warm they huddled together. This time, they kept a guard while everyone else slept. When morning came, everyone had a turn at keeping guard. Aaron assigned George and Adam to divert the river, to come to where they were. The girls collected more rocks. Aaron and Saber worked to make more Stone weapons. By the end of the day, George and Adam had brought the riverbed to the tree line. The girls had collected a pile of rocks taller than Adam, the tallest, and twice as wide as George. Aaron and Saber had made dozens of spears, and planted them into the ground facing the tree line. Again, they kept a guard, and again they worked at what they were doing the day before. George and Adam brought the riverbed into the center of their home and had started to make a well. The girls had started to help Aaron and Saber to make weapons. The next morning, George and Adam opened up the dam they had made, and water flooded the riverbed and well they had made. After that, everyone worked to make mud and build their hut. They would cover the rocks with mud, making it square, let it dry, place another layer of rocks, cover with mud, and repeat. By the end of the day, They had made the walls of their hut. They went to sleep in their hut. When they woke, they started to make a roof and door. For the roof they made an A frame, slanting the roof, out of wood. They used rocks and mud to cement it to the rest of the building. They placed branches across the A frame and tying them to it. To make it waterproof, they placed tons of leaves, weeds, and grass on it, and placed more mud over that. For the door, they took thick branches, and tied them together. They placed thick leaves over that and made three layers of that. Instead of mud or clay, they used they sap they had collected from the trees. When they put in the door, they tested to see if it was see through or soundproof. George stood in the hut and slowly raised his voice. Aaron was outside with everyone else and told George when he could hear him. They found out that while inside the hut, they could talk with slightly raised voices. The door made for a good insulator. ¡°Problem, guys.¡± Said George as he stepped out ¡°What?¡± Asked Sarah ¡°There is no light inside.¡± ¡°That is a problem.¡± Stated Adam ¡°Adam, we know, so shut up and use that brain of yours to figure out a solution.¡± Ordered Grace After a few moments of silence, Adam perked up, ¡°We could use Dorom!¡± ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°It is a plant. It glows in the dark. It is a soft blue light, so the Vermi have to be closer to notice it. It doesn¡¯t scare animals, but most of the dangerous ones don¡¯t approach weird lights in the night.¡± ¡°Where is this?¡± Asked George ¡°It had many different shapes and colors. The only way to find it is to look at night.¡± And so they did. While fire would have worked for light, it would attract Vermi and would have to be constantly maintained. They found plenty around the original riverbank. When they got back they tied all of them together and hung it from the ceiling. The next morning, Adam worked to make a cover so at night they could ¡°turn on or off the light.¡± George to the thickest branch they found, and started to carve it. While they did that Aaron, Saber and Sarah worked on making shields. The Grace and Evelyn worked on getting more branches. When George was done, he had made a shovel. He had halved the branch, taken one of the flat rocks and made that into a point. He had made two notches into the rock and used that to attach it to the branch. When he was done showcasing his ¡°Masterpiece¡± he started to dig a trench. He started to make the trench in front of the spikes, but Sarah told him to dig it behind it. That way, after the Vermi get impaled, they fall in. If they had fallen in and climbed back out, they wouldn¡¯t have enough speed to get impaled. Adam came out of the hut with a proud look on his face. He had simply made a ¡°board¡± that would go below the Dorim lamp. With that, they would still be able to see in the hut, but it wouldn¡¯t be too bright to make it hard to sleep. Adam started to collect more clay. He then started to make a wall behind the trench that was being made. ¡°George don''t go past this line!¡± Said Adam as he drew a line across The line would allow the trench to be five meters wide. Adam started to build the wall two meters from the line. When George asked, ¡°Won¡¯t the wall give handholds?¡± ¡°Yeah, but I was going to use clay to hold the stones together, so why not put clay on the sides to smooth it.¡± ¡°Alright, but use mud, we need the clay and it would be bad if it ran out.¡± Adam started the wall by digging a meter down. After he had done that, Adam started to stack rocks in the trench. One layer, cover with mud, layer, mud, layer, mud, make more mud, repeat. For three days, Adam stacked. By the time he was done, he had made a wall that was over four meters high, and one meter thick. George had made a trench that was five meters deep, and needed help to get out. Aaron and Saber had made four layers of spikes. Sarah, Grace, and Evelyn had made a bow, a quiver of fifteen arrows, a ladder, and had make a cooking fire outside. ¡°Hey, Adam!¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Can you also make battlements at the top of the wall?¡± ¡°Yeah I was planning to.¡± ¡°Sweet!¡± After the girls had made the bow, Aaron started hunting, which was important because they were starving. They had been eating berries, but that wasn¡¯t filling and the boxes of food they had brought with them, was running low. Everyday, Aaron would bring home some kind of animal. One day, he brought back an animal with extremely hard scales, they carefully peeled off the scales, ate the meat, and made armor out of the scales. Adam and George worked on making a gate in the wall, and Saber helped the girls with whatever. One night, while Aaron was standing guard outside and everyone was inside, he saw something. He went inside to report it. ¡°Sarah, Saber, come with me.¡± Said Aaron, as he peeked a look inside Sarah and Saber looked at each other, then walked out. ¡°Yeah?¡± Whispered Sarah ¡°Look.¡± Replied Aaron pointing at the tree line. Saber looked. ¡°What?¡± Asked Sarah ¡°It¡¯s a Wolf!¡± Exclaimed Saber, while whispering ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s huge!¡± ¡°Yea, I¡¯m going to follow it!¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I want to see it¡¯s cave!¡± Then he ran off. ¡°We forgot something.¡± Said Saber, watching Aaron run. ¡°What?¡± Asked Sarah, also watching. ¡°When he will be back.¡± ¡°Shit!¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Same.¡± They walked back into the hut. ¡°Where is Aaron?¡± Asked Adam ¡°He is going to hunt a wolf.¡± Replied Sarah ¡°Why?¡± Asked George ¡°He wants a pet.¡± Sarah then fell asleep on the girls¡¯ mat, next to Grace and Evelyn. ¡°Why?¡± Asked Adam ¡°I have no idea.¡± Said Saber ¡°Well, he has always loved dogs.¡± Said George ¡°Yeah, when is he coming back?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°So for all we know, he is already dead.¡± Said Adam, who got a slap on the back of the head from George. ¡°Shut up. If anyone can survive out there while hunting, it is Aaron.¡± ¡°Oh well. Let¡¯s go to sleep as well. Saber can you help me tomorrow?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Said Saber as he collapsed on the boys¡¯ mat. Nights were cold. It was fall, and they couldn¡¯t make a fire. To keep themselves warm, they huddled together. Grace and Evelyn had wanted to sleep next to George, due to his size, but Sarah didn¡¯t let them, saying, ¡°Girls are not to sleep with Boys, until they were married to them.¡± Saber didn¡¯t understand, but it seemed like the others did. The next morning, the girls worked on making blankets, from the fur of the animals Aaron hunted. George took a thick branch, and sharpened it in a way that would make the end flat. George took his makeshift shovel and started to dig a trench. Saber and Adam were in the hut working on one of the rifles. ¡°What are we doing?¡± Asked Saber ¡°We are going to reverse engineer it.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We are going to take it apart to figure out how to make it ourselves.¡± ¡°What about the ammo? Aren¡¯t they made out of metal and chemicals?¡± ¡°Yeah, but I think I can make a substitute.¡± ¡°What is a Substitute?¡± ¡°Something to replace the original.¡± ¡°How do you place to replace it?¡± ¡°For the bullet, we can just use stone pellets. For the Blackpowder, there is a plant that I saw had leaves that is highly explosive when under pressure.¡± ¡°Where are we going to get the leaves? And won¡¯t stone hatter under that much pressure?¡± ¡°I told Aaron that if he found any during his hunting trips, to bring it. When he gets back he should have a lot. And not if we treat it correctly.¡± ¡°So how will use them?¡± ¡°We crush them.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t that cause them to explode?¡± ¡°No. The leaves require extreme and sudden pressure.¡± Adam and Saber spent the entire day working on taking apart the Rifle. While Saber would take it apart, Adam would memorize where, what, and how each part worked. By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. The Girls had made blankets, so they used them that night. The next day, George continued to dig the trench, with the girls¡¯ help. Adam worked on making bows. Saber went looking for the leaves that Adam was talking about. Saber was looking for two hours before he found them, but that wasn¡¯t the only thing he found. Aaron followed the mother wolf for the entire day. It didn¡¯t stop, not once. Which Aaron found very concerning. If the Mother was apart from the pup, then it would be hunting, but it didn¡¯t hunt anything. ¡°It seems like it is avoiding all the other animals.¡± Thought Aaron The Mother wolf started to slow. The wolf slowly approached a cave. Before it entered, it turned and looked right at Aaron, who was in a bush. Aaron nearly ran away at that moment, but the wolf just looked. It didn¡¯t growl, it didn¡¯t take a fighting stance, instead it just looked at Aaron with calm eyes. It¡¯s eyes were white against it¡¯s pitch black fur. The only thing that was interfering with it¡¯s animalistic beauty was its injuries. The injuries were obviously caused by another animal. The Mother Wolf slowly entered the cave. Aaron followed, not bothering to not be seen. As he went further into the cave, the wider the cave became. Soon the tunnel instantly narrowed. It only allowed for one of the Wolves to go through at a time. When Aaron walked through, he saw the Mother Wolf in a corner of the cavern, it was huddled over something; something white. When Aaron approached, The Mother Wolf turned to face him, revealing the thing it was protecting. The pup was at most a week old. It already had its fur, which was white, but couldn¡¯t stand yet. Aaron slowly put down his bow and his quiver of five arrows. He slowly walked over. The Mother Wolf didn¡¯t growl, nor did she do anything to impede Aaron. When Aaron got close enough to touch the pup, the Mother Wolf slowly grabbed it with it¡¯s mouth and lowered it into Aaron¡¯s arms. ¡°What?¡± Aaron had thought that the Mother Wolf hadn¡¯t stopped him because it was too weak. The Mother Wolf obviously wanted Aaron to take the pup. ¡°Why?¡± Asked Aaron ¡°She trusts you.¡± Aaron whirled around to face the voice. In front of him was a Vermi. Aaron quickly, but gently put the pup down. When the pup was down, Aaron jumped to his bow, rolled and drew an arrow, all in one motion. ¡°How can you speak?¡± ¡°Because I''m old.¡± ¡°What does that have to do with anything?¡± ¡°The older we get, the smarter we become.¡± ¡°How old are you?¡± ¡°I stopped counting at five thousand. Could you put down the bow?¡± ¡°Will you attack?¡± ¡°Have I yet?¡± ¡°Me first.¡± ¡°No, I won''t attack.¡± Aaron had no idea why he trusted it, or him, or whatever, but Aaron put the bow down. ¡°Thank you. If I was hit by an arrow, they would never let it down.¡± ¡°There are others like you?¡± ¡°None as old as I, but yes.¡± ¡°Would they attack me, or my friends?¡± ¡°No, in the village I¡¯m talking about, the youngest is three thousand years.¡± ¡°At what age do they stop attacking?¡± ¡°Never, but around two thousand five hundred years, they realize that they have a high chance of dying if they attack.¡± ¡°Why should I trust you about any of this?¡± ¡°To tell the truth, I have no idea. I approached you because that Seon didn¡¯t tear you apart instantly.¡± ¡°Why does that matter, and what is a Seon?¡± Asked Aaron ¡°Seons are what you call Wolfs. Seons are incredibly intelligent creatures. Why do you think the Mother Seon would approach your encampment, let you follow it, and not attack you when you were trapped in the cave?¡± Aaron sat down. ¡°Seons are different from Wolfs, due to one difference. Seons are able to see the past events of a person, for one day.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Everything you see, for the past twenty four hours, is imprinted on your eyes. Even something with vision capable of seeing your molecules, wouldn¡¯t be able to see that.¡± ¡°What are molecules?¡± ¡°What everything is made of, but you have no use for that. Seons are special because, while they don¡¯t have the vision required to see molecules, they have a special affinity with eyes. Their eyes are able to see the past, tell whether something is friendly are harmful, and have one to ten vision.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that poor vision?¡± ¡°Oh, I mean they can see things at ten miles what most other living things see at one.¡± ¡°Why did you approach me?¡± Asked Aaron ¡°Because I am curious. I found your little settlement within a day of you falling from your city. I must say, I am impressed. You are but children, but you have already built a defence that would take dozens of Vermi to take down. I have seen other Humans, all adults, and they usually take a day or two to overcome the shock of being on the ground.¡± Aaron adjusted to be more comfortable. ¡°If fact, I remember that there was one group of Human adults, I think there were twenty of them, and it took a week for them to figure out how to build a grass hut. Meanwhile, you seven children have made a stone and mud hut, walls, spikes, trenches, and weapons. I am intrigued.¡± ¡°So why show yourself?¡± ¡°Because I have taken a liking to you younglings. I wish to give you help. Ideas, blueprints, locations, and I also wish to tell you that there is a Vermi group of twelve coming to your settlement. They will be there in two days time.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t there Vermi everywhere?¡± ¡°No, they follow the animals, and your cities scare away the vast majority of the animals, and the Vermi follow them.¡± ¡°So then why are there Vermi coming?¡± ¡°They are just wandering with no purpose, but the direction they are headed, they will come in contact with your friends in two days. I recommend you handle them quietly.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to protect your own kind?¡± ¡°Yes, of course. However, I don¡¯t count those mindless fools as my kind.¡± ¡°We can handle the small group, but how long until the large Vermi groups return?¡± ¡°After a city passes over, it generally takes two weeks for them to return. Listen well child, Vermi are mindless, but they work together. They hunt you Humans for food as well as for sport. They will work together and round up all the Humans they find in one area, then slowly hunt them down. They will start their hunting ground with your settlement in the middle of it. This means that while there will be an increase of Vermi, there will also be an increase of Humans. If you are able to find them and join together, I believe you can survive the Hunting Circle.¡± ¡°So with the added risk of death there is also a chance of gaining more allies?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Said the Vermi as he stood, ¡°Bring the pup and your gear, and follow me please.¡± ¡°But what about the mother?¡± ¡°She died a few seconds after you held her child.¡± Aaron placed the bow over his shoulders and held the baby in his arms. It was a large baby, filling up his arms completely. The Vermi lead Aaron to a grove of trees. Inside there was moss covering the ground. This moss was black. ¡°What is so special about this moss?¡± Aaron asked ¡°This moss is called Dark Moss. Obvious name, but also because it lets no light through it. You can stretch it over large distances and no light will pass through. Also, if you place it over your mouth, you would have to scream to be heard.¡± Aaron bent down and laid the sleeping pup on the moss and felt it. ¡°Wow, this feels like silk!¡± ¡°It is also very warm. Your friends already made blankets, but I suggest that you attach this to the inside.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Said Aaron as he wrapped the pup in moss and collected as much as he could. After a few minutes, Aaron had collected as much as he could carry, and there was still so much more. ¡°Hurry back, and prepare. Not only for the dozen Vermi coming, but also for the hundreds.¡± ¡°Thank you again. Will I ever see you again?¡± ¡°Yes, if significant danger is coming, or if I think you are advanced enough for something. Goodbye youngling.¡± The Vermi said as he turned and walked into the forest. Aaron picked up the pup and started the walk home. It was a little before noon when he returned. He noticed that George had finished the gate in the wall, and that there were many more spikes in front. George came out to help with the moss. Once Aaron was in, and the gate was closed again, everyone surrounded Aaron and questioned him. Aaron showed them the pup, to which Evelyn screeled. ¡°Why do you always bring back babies?¡± Asked Sarah ¡°Hey! I am not a baby!¡± Exclaimed Saber ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± She turned back to Aaron, ¡°Why do you always bring back toddlers.¡± Everyone laughed. After a few minutes of joking, Aaron told everyone all about his trip, including the Vermi and what he told him. ¡°So we have two days to prepare for our first Vermi Defencive?¡± Asked George. ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Good, I have been wanting to test our defences. Saber follow me.¡± George stood up and walked to the wall, Saber jogging to keep up. ¡°How do we know we can trust this Old Vermi.¡± Asked Adam. ¡°Well for one, he showed up this moss. With this, we can easily have a fire at night.¡± ¡°Fine, we have other things to worry about. Did he tell you how old these attacking Vermi are?¡± ¡°No, why?¡± ¡°Because according to him, the older they are, the smarter. Plus, we already have knowledge that there are some Vermi that had strong bones that acted kind of like an armor.¡± Explained Adam ¡°That¡¯s right! I remember this!¡± Exclaimed Grace. ¡°Back during the Land Wars, there were records of Vermi that had bone sticking out that was really strong. Those Vermi also clumped together and some carried crude weapons.¡± ¡°I just made a breakthrough.¡± Exclaimed Adam ¡°Of course you did.¡± Muttered Evelyn ¡°The older the Vermi are the smarter they get right? And the Ancient Vermi you met didn¡¯t have any armor? So my hypothesis is that the older they get, the smarter they get and they get bone armor, but over time, they lose the body armor. And the older they get, the smaller numbers they will have.¡± ¡°But, there are records of some Vermi with crude iron weapons with fifty Vermi, while there are records of spike Vermi with only ten.¡± Stated Sarah ¡°That¡¯s right. I just don''t have enough data!¡± Sighed Adam ¡°Hey, that information might be important later, but right now we need to focus on the immediate threat.¡± Aaron said, trying to cheer up Adam. ¡°You¡¯re right, but we need to know what type of Vermi we are facing. From the incomplete data I have, we could be facing Spear Vermi or Stone Vermi, both have bone armor.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s just focus on dealing with them. What level in intelligence do they have?¡± ¡°Based on data, still mindless. The spikes we have in front of the wall should take down two or three, but with their bone armor, we will have to kill the majority of them ourselves. With their armor, I suggest we use blunt weapons.¡± ¡°So then lets just throw rocks at them from the top of the wall.¡± Aaron suggested ¡°Yeah that should work, but we should still prepare further.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go!¡± Called George from the wall. ¡°How does he hear us from over there?¡± Asked Sarah. ¡°Now that I think about it, in the city, his ears must have hurt like hell.¡± Said Aaron. Sarah slapped him over the head, ¡°No swearing.¡± ¡°Ow. Still, he slept most of the time. He can probably sleep through anything.¡± Adam walked toward the wall, saying, ¡°Come on, we need to go. After all, we have this warm up round, before the real fight begins.¡± With that they continued to fortify the cliff. By the end of the day, they had put spikes in the trench, doubled the froward spikes, added a knee high wall, and placed the Dark Moss around the edges of the cliff. ¡°And with that, we should be able to have a fire during the night.¡± Announced Evelyn as she attached the last part. They all looked at their work. It was crude but it would work. They had made a fence out of branches and hammered stakes through the Dark Moss into the top and bottom of the fence. They discovered that the moss was strong enough and airy enough that during a mild storm, it should still hold. The base of the fence was imbedded nearly a foot into the solid rock, and had a base the extended five feet inward. They placed rocks at the end of the bases to help hold them down. That night, they had their first hot meal and warm night. The next day, George said that the dozen Vermi would be here today. ¡°Why do you think that?¡± Asked Adam ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just have a feeling.¡± Before Adam could say anything, Aaron intervened, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. George stay up on the wall and be ready for them. Everyone else, let''s get to making better weapons.¡± Aaron and Sarah worked on making bows for everyone. Grace and Evelyn made more arrows. Adam and Saber made stone head spears. Bows require strong, durable, and flexible wood for the body. For the string it requires it to be stronger than the bow. The wood for the body is plentiful in the forest, but without the proper tools it can be very hard to aquire string. To make string in the wilderness, one would require some sort of stringy plant. One would need to carefully rip apart the plant to get string, but this string is very weak and thin. To make this string suitable for use in a bow, one would have to strengthen it. A simple was to do this, is to twist and wet it. One takes three, preferably long, string, and fold it in the middle of all three. Take two of the three strings, starting at the fold, and twist it. Then taking the two twisted string, twist it together with the third. Then repeat, making sure to keep the loop that appears at the fold. Now the second part, throughout the twisting, make sure to keep the string wet, but not soaked. Once the twisting is done, tie the newly made rope tight, but too tight that it breaks, just tight enough to prevent the rope from undoing itself in the middle. Then soak the rope, keeping it tight, and let it dry, while tight. Soak it once more, then it is complete. Keep in mind that the rope should never be completely dry. Keep it lightly damp. Wetter, and it might mess with use. Dryer, and it will break easily. As Aaron would attach the string to the bow, Sarah would make the rope. Sometimes the rope would break, so Aaron had to be prepared to catch the wood, before it injured him. If the rope didn¡¯t break during the bow stringing, Aaron would examine the string. If it was fraying, it was bad, and couldn¡¯t be used in the bow. If it wasn¡¯t fraying, then Aaron would slowly draw the bow to full draw. If it didn¡¯t break during the draw, then Aaron examined it again. If it was fraying, bad rope. If it wasn¡¯t fraying after all of the tests, it was a good rope, therefore a good bow. It took them nearly seventy failed ropes to get one bow for everyone. By midday, Grace and Evelyn had made ten arrows for everyone. Adam and Saber had made two throwing spears and one combat spear for everyone. While everyone helped make lunch, which was some meat and berries, Aaron went up to check on George. Aaron climbed up the ladder to the top of the wall. George was standing there, vigilantly watching the tree line ten meters away. ¡°Hey, lunch is almost ready.¡± ¡°Thanks, could you just bring it up here?¡± Asked George, not taking his eyes off the trees. ¡°George, what weapon do you want to use?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Well, I doubt that you would like to use a bow, and you would shatter a spear. So what weapon?¡± ¡°...Hmmm¡­ probably an axe.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah, plus eventually, we will need to use entire logs, and for that we need to chop down trees.¡± Aaron sighed. ¡°Yeah, I guess we haven¡¯t thought that far ahead.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a bad thing. We should focus on what is in front of us. It is just that standing here, watching, has given me time to think.¡± ¡°Well, if you are going to have an axe by the time they attack, I need to get to work. I will have Grace bring over your lunch.¡± ¡°Ok, thanks.¡± Aaron climbed back down and asked Grace to take George his lunch. After Aaron had finished his lunch, he asked Saber and Adam to help him make George¡¯s axe. ¡°Alright then, while I make the axe head, I need you and Saber to make the handle.¡± Aaron said to Adam ¡°Ok, but how do you expect us to do that?¡± ¡°Go to the wood pile, get a stick you think is strong enough for George, then carve out a handle. Make the handle comfortable, but without harming the strength of the stick. After that, carve out a small indent at the near the top, and burn through the other end. We will shove the axe head through that hole and somehow secure it there.¡± Adam and Saber agreed and got to work. Aaron went to the rock pile and selected a flat, but large rock. Using the Grinding Rock, Aaron ground the future axe head into the desired shape, switching out with Saber every few minutes. It took two hours, but Aaron and Saber had made the sharpest and best fit axe they could. After hardening the wood over the fire, being careful not to burn it, placed the axe into place and hammered it into place with another stick, actually hacking the stick in half with the axe. Once they had it hammered in, they glue it in using some of the horn glue they had made previously. The girls couldn¡¯t stand the sight of it, and everyone couldn¡¯t stand the smell of the boiling horns. Once the glue had dried, they sharpened the axe again, and presented it to George. ¡°Sweet! I love it!¡± He exclaimed as he grabbed it. ¡°So you going to use it to hack apart the Vermi?¡± ¡°Well, if they have bone armor, then I think I will just use a large branch, but this axe will be my main weapon, and tool.¡± After that the Children worked on little things while Aaron, George, and Adam, regularly switched Guard duty. The day was coming to an end when Adam, who was on Guard duty at the time, spotted movement in the trees. As much as he wanted to write it off as a little critter, he knew how much was at risk. ¡°Guys, I see movement!¡± He called down to everyone. They all instantly rushed to get to the wall. They had previously placed their weapons on top of the wall, as well as a pile of large rocks to throw at their enemy. Once everyone was in place, they stood there, waiting. They waited for what felt like an eternity, before they saw movement in the trees, but the undergrowth had prevented them from seeing the cause. Everything had quieted down, before a dozen Vermi came sprinting out. The Vermi were naked, genderless, and ripped. No bulky muscles, strong, ripcord like muscle covered their bodies from head to toe. Their faces, while human looking, were howling, screaming, and snarling like dogs. With their male bodies, you could easily mistake them for human, except for their white hair, nakedness, and genderlessness. Protruding out of their chests were bones that protected from their chests. ¡°Hold your fire!¡± Aaron called ¡°Why?¡± Shouted Adam, ¡°We can hit them!¡± ¡°Yeah, but we are terrible shots. Save your ammo.¡± Everyone drew their bows, except for George who held up a small boulder. Once the Vermi had reached the spikes, Aaron shouted, ¡°Arrows!¡± Everyone released their arrows. Out of six arrows, only two hit, each in the chest of two Vermi, who continued running. Three Vermi impaled themselves with the spikes, while the rest continued on. Everyone managed one more volley of arrows before they reached the trench. Howling and screaming, they all fell in. Howling and screaming, seven climbed out. Howling and screaming, two were crushed by a boulder. Howling and screaming, two more were shot with arrows. Adam and Evelyn stabbed down at them with longer spears. Due to the height advantage, it was much easier to take them out, and they each killed one. The last Vermi, did something no one expected, attempted to run. ¡°Take it out!¡± Shouted Sarah Everyone shot at it, but they all missed. Saber walked forward and took aim. He took a deep breath and released. The arrow sailed straight towards its target. Just two feet from the tree line, the arrow pierced right through its neck. ¡°That severed its Brain Stem!¡± Exclaimed Adam The Vermi fell forward and slid forward into the tree line. Chapter 3 Everyone dropped their weapons and sagged to the ground. Everyone was breathing hard and trying to stop the trembling of their hands. ¡°Ha¡­ Haha¡­ Hahaha!¡± Laughed Aaron Soon everyone was laughing. After a few minutes of continuous laughter Sarah stood up and said, ¡°Well then, let''s all go to bed.¡± Everyone stood except for Aaron, ¡°Hold up guys. We need to keep watch. I suggest that we have two of us at a time, so Saber and I will have first watch.¡± Sarah agreed and Saber groaned, which caused everyone to laugh. Once everyone had gone into the hut Aaron turned to Saber. ¡°How did you make that shot?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been practising.¡± ¡°Saber, no one can make that great of a shot with only a few days of practise.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just feel like something is natural, so I do it. That usually leads to me doing it correctly.¡± ¡°So you are saying you are a natural?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! Remember when you had me climb the building and it took half an hour?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°The next time I climbed a building, it took only five minutes. I think I just learn quickly.¡± ¡°That would explain a lot.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Because, you learned the alphabet and how to talk in a week. It generally takes few years for newborns, but you weren¡¯t a newborn, so I thought it would take you a month to learn. However, you learned in a quarter of the time.¡± ¡°Cool, that just means I should soon be better than you!¡± Saber said with a smile Aaron chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s good. I can¡¯t protect everyone by myself, so I need you to help me.¡± After two hours, they switched with George and Adam. By the time the sun came up, everyone had a turn at keeping watch. Once it was bright enough to see, everyone was up and on the wall. ¡°We need to get rid of the corpses.¡± Said Adam ¡°Yeah.¡± Everyone mumbled ¡°Actually, Evelyn make a fire. The smokest you can make.¡± Said Sarah ¡°Why?¡± Evelyn asked. ¡°If the Vermi are going to surround us and force other Humans in their hunting circle, then it would be best if we can all get together.¡± Sarah explained ¡°What¡¯s up with Aaron?¡± Asked George. Everyone looked over at him. He looked like he was sleep walking. ¡°That idiot. He is dreaming about leading an army against the Vermi.¡± Sighed Adam ¡°That sounds like him.¡± Laughed Sarah Saber nudged Aaron. ¡°Huh?¡± Everyone laughed. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work.¡± They pulled the Vermi off the spikes. After Adam examined the corpses, which included cutting open their chests, they threw them over the side of the cliff. When they went to retrieve the corpse that slid into the trees, it wasn¡¯t there. They decided that it wasn¡¯t worth looking for. Once they had thoroughly washed and scrubbed their hands, they worked to cut down as many trees as they could before the Hunting circle arrived. After Evelyn had made the smoke fire, instead of helping, she played with the Wolf pup, or at least tried to. The pup refused to leave Saber¡¯s side. While the pup was but a baby, it was still strong enough to carry small branches. George was assigned to cutting down the trees. For the thinner trees, about six inches in diameter, it took three for four strikes. For the thicker tree, about a foot in diameter, it took seven to eight. Adam and Evelyn were assigned to making more axes, while everyone else was supposed to drag the trees through the wall to be taken care of at a later date. Once Adam and Evelyn had finished another axe, Aaron helped George cut down trees. By the end of the day, Aaron and George had pushed the forest back by eight feet. George and Aaron then started to chop off the limbs of the trees, using torches for light. They stacked the trees and threw the branches in a pile, in between the pile of rocks and the rack of weapons and tools. The next morning, after the usual complaining, they got up and thought of ways to use the lumber they had while George continued to chop down trees. ¡°How many Vermi did the nice one say there was going to be in the Hunting Circle?¡± Asked Adam ¡°He hinted that there would be anywhere from two hundred to one thousand, but those are only those actively hunting. The ones in the Circle could very well number thousands.¡± ¡°So we have to survive an initial attack of a thousand, then thousands more once the circle breaks apart. Meanwhile we only number seven and our full attention was taken by twelve.¡± Sighed Grace ¡°I actually have a plan to thin them out before they reach us.¡± Said Aaron ¡°What?¡± Asked Sarah ¡°I have a pretty good understanding of the surrounding forest. I think I could ¡®convince¡¯ the animals to attack the Vermi.¡± ¡°How?¡± Asked Adam ¡°There is a plant that I have noticed annoy the animals. So to see what it was, I crushed it to examine it. When I had crushed it, the animals around me started to rush to that location. I had to quickly climb up a tree and throw the powder away.¡± ¡°The powder,¡± Aaron continued, ¡°landed on a boulder and regardless of the strength or size of the animal, they all threw themselves at it to destroy it.¡± ¡°How do you plan to weaponize it?¡± ¡°I think that if I crush it with another plant I found, it should prevent the animals from attacking for a short period of time. During the time, I wish to place it in a container that will break if I throw it.¡± ¡°So you want to make a grenade?¡± Asked Grace ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I like it. Can I help you?¡± ¡°I have a better idea,¡± Said Sarah, ¡°These Vermi number in the thousands. So according to our logic, they will be the weakest version, therefore easy to kill. Grace you will help Adam make traps and defences capable of killing mass numbers. Evelyn will help me make more ammo and bows, and make sure the smoke signal stays alive. Saber will help Aaron with his grenade. Meanwhile George will continue to chop down trees. The sooner we can see them, the better. Agreed?¡± Everyone did. Everyone went to where they were assigned. Aaron and Saber went into the forest, Aaron teaching Saber about the forest. Adam and Grace worked on attaching Log Rollers across the wall. Sarah and Evelyn worked on making more arrows, bows, spears, and axes. Meanwhile, George just slammed away at trees. The further they went the less Aaron talked and the quieter his steps were, so Saber followed his lead. Multiple times Aaron stopped and pointed at a plant or a tree or an animal to explain it. Soon Saber knew about as much about the forest as Aaron, which wasn''t a lot compared to what there was to learn. Once they reached their destination, Aaron opened the fur bag he brought and started to fill it with pink flowers. ¡°Only grab the ones that are pink and have thorns.¡± Soon the bag was full. Saber moved to return, but was stopped. ¡°Where do you think you are going? We have another bag to fill.¡± Saber moaned and complained, but obeyed. After that bag was full, they moved further in. ¡°What now?¡± Saber asked, but was silenced by Aaron. Aaron led them to a field of White flowers. Saber inwardly beamed. He had to move around from one patch to another to get the pink flowers, but he should be able to fill an entire bag within a few seconds. Aaron pulled out two more bags, tossed one to Saber, and started to fill his. Once they had filled those, he pulled out two more. The bags weren¡¯t heavy, but they were large, making it hard to carry them. Once they filled the last two, they shouldered all six and returned. Adam and Grace chopped the trees to the needed size and slowly brought them to the top of the wall. Once they had the needed materials on the wall, they started to build. They first made a simple square, tying ends of trees to one another. Then they made a box, except the top was slanted. Grace worked on making another further down the wall, while Adam worked on a release mechanism. Slowly, but surely, they made the Log Rollers all across the wall. Each Roller was six feet wide by four feet long, and the wall was nearly one hundred fifty feet long. They placed fourteen Rollers. After they had finished the building they had to load the rollers. It took them hours of back pain and arm aching to fill every single Roller, but Adam liked the result. According to Adam, each log could take out a one to eight Vermi, and each Roller had five logs. Once they had finished, they collapsed against each other and fell asleep. Evelyn worked to made rope while Sarah made everything else. At the beginning, Sarah could make five spears to Evelyn¡¯s one rope, but Evelyn quickly sped up to only one and a half spear to one rope, and each rope was good enough for a bow. After Evelyn had made a dozen bows, she worked on making arrows. Once Sarah had made twenty spears, five combat, fifteen throwing, she worked on making axes. It was tiring and made their fingers cramp, but they ended the day by tripling their weapon stash. George, who had the simplest job, also was the happiest about his job. He loved physical work. He liked to think that his mind had two modes, active, and trance. He chopped and chopped, while thinking about ways he could help increase the defences. ¡°Maybe,¡± He thought, ¡°we could light them on fire! No, that would just alert more and light up the forest. Wait, with all their screaming the nearby Vermi would still come. So we could do it! No, there is still the issue with the forest fire. Maybe we could dig a trench and place dead leaves and stuff. Then light that up, but if we did that we would need to have some way to keep them in. Could we build a simple wall in front of the fire pit, then they would have to climb over it, meanwhile they are burning. If only they wore some kind of clothing, then it would be much more effective. Still, the fire pit could kill a pretty good amount, and wound a vast amount. From the last attack, we saw that they still have self preservation instincts and that they do feel pain. With just the pain aspect, if we burn them, they will at least be slower, or even disabled. I need to tell everyone!¡± George stopped chopping and turned to see that the wall was much farther than it was before. He had chopped the forest line back nearly three dozen feet. Everyone returned exhausted and they all fell asleep before setting up a watch. When they woke up the next morning, they promised themselves to never let that happen again. Aaron worked carefully to mix the plants, while Saber made mud half balls. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Once Aaron had finished mixing and crushing, they would pour in as much as they could in one half ball, then place a layer of clay on top and place the other mud half ball on top. Soon they had used up all the flowers and made nearly two dozen grenades. George continued to chop, while everyone else worked to make the fire pit George suggested. Taking the undergrowth and ripping it apart they placed it all in the four foot deep trench they made. The ripped up undergrowth had filled up an entire foot of the trench, and that was when it was packed down. They then made a five foot wall out of logs, placing two logs upright in holes, then tying the rest of the logs to the vertical ones. To get out of the firepit, the Vermi would have to scale a nine foot wall, while burning up. To get over the wall, they built a simple ramp. After the ramp, wall, and fire pit was all done, they worked on making spikes all the way to the tree line and in between the stumps. On the stumps they would place vertical spike and placed spikes in front of the stump so the Vermi would step on it, trip, and be impaled on the spike in front. With all that done, Adam hypothesized that they would take out nearly a thousand, without their interaction. Adam also had some new ideas. They went to bed with a watch in place. The next morning, Adam told everyone to dig a large hole. It took awhile, but once the hole was to Adam¡¯s demands, he and George pushed a tree log into it then filled it in. ¡°Ok, now we all need to carve it down from this two foot thick log, to only three quarters feet thick.¡± Ordered Adam ¡°Why?¡± Asked Evelyn ¡°I want to hollow out another log, except this one will have spikes sticking out of it. Then we place it on top of this one, and it spins. It will kill a few before filling up, but I want a wall on the other side that will scrape them off as it spins.¡± ¡°What will keep it spinning?¡± Asked George ¡°The Vermi. As they run into it, they will get impaled, but the ones on the sides will push it.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t work.¡± Said Aaron ¡°Why?¡± Asked Grace ¡°Because if they come at it as one huge wave, it will brake, only taking the first few, but I think we can do something else with this.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They are attracted to meat and blood right?¡± ¡°From the data, yes.¡± ¡°Then we put a fresh, bloody, slab of meat at the top. They will charge at the closest source of food, the meat, so we dig around it, placing spikes in the trench with more undergrowth. They get stuck in the trench and get burned and impaled.¡± George continued where Aaron left off, ¡°We can even put spikes around it and in the walls, pointing upward.¡± ¡°Man, why can¡¯t I come up with a good and complete idea?¡± Complained Adam Aaron placed his arm around Adam¡¯s shoulder and leaned on him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you are the smartest of us, but George and I are more militarily minded. We are good at killing people. You are good at basically everything other types of intelligence.¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess you are right, but I wish I could be better at killing.¡± Aaron stood back up and shoved Adam, causing him to fall. ¡°Ow!¡± ¡°Never! Never wish to be better at killing!¡± Aaron yelled at Adam before walking into the forest Everyone was quiet for awhile, before Saber couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. ¡°What was that about?¡± Sarah looked at him for a second before replying. ¡°Aaron¡­ he loves people. He loves talking and playing with anyone. He is a very loving person, and hates death. But as fate would have it, he was blessed with skill for death. He killed his first person when he was only four, since then he has killed over eighty people, and he is only twelve, not counting the ones from our escape. I didn''t count, but I know for a fact that he knows the exact number, each of their faces, and their names if he knew them.¡± ¡°Why is death such a bad thing? I think it is beautiful. It is always so peaceful. I have yet to see someone die without a look of peace. Death releases us from this cruel world. Why would it be a bad thing?¡± ¡°You don''t fear death?¡± Asked Grace ¡°No, I don''t wish to die, I love to eat too much, but I don''t fear it.¡± ¡°Then you are the opposite of Aaron. He fears death, but believes that he deserves it, and welcomes it.¡± Said George Saber looked after Aaron, ¡°Do you know when he will be back?¡± ¡°Don''t worry. He will be back before nightfall. Come on, we got to get to work, we still have to kill thousands of monsters.¡± They continued to make the bait traps until it was nearing dark. Aaron came back at that time. Saber went to greet him, but was held back by George. ¡°Let him talk first. He¡¯ll be brooding for a while.¡± ¡°Hey George?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Aaron said that both of you were geniuses at warfare. Do you hate death like him?¡± ¡°Not as much as Aaron. I think of War as a game. If war didn¡¯t require death, then I would be perfectly fine. But Aaron¡­ He thinks only about the death.¡± Everyone went to bed quietly that night, with Evelyn watching. The next morning, they set up the smoke fire, and went to work on their own defence. No one wanted to talk. Adam and George worked together to build a watch tower. Crisscrossing logs, they managed to build a sturdy ten foot tower. That was where Adam was when he saw it. He called down to the others, who immediately responded. Everyone got to the wall, equipped in their weapons, while Aaron walked out to meet them. ¡°Hello there.¡± Said Aaron to the newcomers ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. There are actually other survivors. We saw the smoke. We thought it was just some idiot wanting to die, but day after day it showed up.¡± ¡°What is your name.¡± ¡°Soaen Mex.¡± ¡°Is it just you or are there others?¡± Aaron asked ¡°There are four others. May we talk with the adults of your group?¡± ¡°Have the other four come out. Please don''t try to do anything, or we will place an arrow in your skull.¡± ¡°...Come out guys!¡± He shouted behind him Three men and a woman slowly walked out of the forest ¡°May we talk with your adults?¡± Asked Soaen. ¡°What adults?¡± ¡°You managed to build all this without any adults?¡± ¡°Yes. We have also survived Vermi attacks. We know our weapons and how to use them. Please don''t make us, because we will not hesitate.¡± Aaron said with a disinterested voice as he crossed his arms. The four adults hesitated, before Soaen said, ¡°How did you survive? You should be constantly moving around, running from the Vermi.¡± ¡°That is stupid. You can face thousands at a time, how do you expect to survive that if you don''t have devices that will take them out.¡± ¡°How many do you think you can kill at one time?¡± ¡°Nearly one thousand. As you should know, the Vermi just blindly charge. Using that against them, we have spikes placed, trenches with spikes, fire pits, Log Rollers, and other weapons. Now then, please follow me, and remember that we have ranged and melee weapons.¡± Aaron turned around and walked back, saying, ¡°Please be careful around the spikes. We spent a long time making them as sharp as we could.¡± They slowly followed Aaron. Adam, Grace, and Saber had arrows trained on them. Sarah and Evelyn had spears ready to stab down at them at anytime. George had two stone axes ready to chop them into pieces. Two of the grown adults nearly messed their pants. ¡°Seven,¡± Thought Soaen, ¡°Seven young children. That large one looks to be sixteen, but all the others look to be anywhere from nine to twelve, except for that small boy, he looks to be about seven.¡± The four adults were led into the base. ¡°What is that black stuff?¡± Asked the Woman ¡°It is called Dark Moss. It blocks out all light and most sound.¡± ¡°So you are able to have fire at night?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Explained Adam ¡°Alright listen up, currently there are thousands of Vermi coming to surround us. They, while dumb, are making a hunting circle to hunt us for sport. They will also corral other survivors here, which is probably how you got here. With these defences, it will be hard, but we believe that we can survive without casualties. And with more survivors coming, we expect it to be easier.¡± Aaron explained ¡°You have two choices. First, you can stay and obey us. Or, you can take your chances out there with the hordes of Vermi.¡± Said Sarah The four adults looked at each other and silently conversed ¡°We will obey you.¡± ¡°Sweet!¡± Exclaimed George ¡°Hey, my name is George. I am eleven, and I love building traps.¡± Aaron facepalmed himself. ¡°I¡¯m Grace. I am ten, and I like sewing.¡± ¡°I am Evelyn, most just call me Eve. I am nine and I love small animals!¡± ¡°I am Adam. I am eleven, and I love puzzles.¡± ¡°I am Sarah. I am twelve and I like reading.¡± ¡°I am Saber. I am six, and I like making stuff. Oh, and this is Silver!¡± Exclaimed Saber as he lifted up the pup. The pup just looked at them with its tongue sticking out. Everyone looked at Aaron next, but he was already running into the forest with his bow. ¡°Where is he going?¡± Asked one of the men ¡°Hunting. Don''t worry, he will introduce himself eventually. Just give him time.¡± ¡°Why is he so broody?¡± ¡°He has had a hard life.¡± Said Sarah ¡°How? You know, before he came to the surface.¡± ¡°Well, he loves people, but every adult he has met has either tried to kill him, or trick him.¡± ¡°How did he survive?¡± ¡°By killing them first. Take this advice to heart. Until he opens up to you, do as he orders without question. He will not hesitate to kill you if you endanger the rest of us. He won''t order you around unless it is for a good reason.¡± Said Sarah Soaen walked away from the group and motioned for Sarah to come over. ¡°Are you saying that that kid is blood thirsty? Is he dangerous to all of us?¡± ¡°Aaron is not bloodthirsty. Trust me, he would never harm someone. Unless they attempted to harm him or someone he loves.¡± ¡°Point taken. Don''t harm him or any of you. So what do we do to prepare for the Vermi Hordes?¡± ¡°Simple. First we try to attract more humans. While we do that, we build more traps.¡± ¡°What kind?¡± ¡°The kind that will kill a lot of those monsters.¡± ¡°Is there any other kind?¡± Sarah smiled, and called to everyone, ¡°Let¡¯s get to work!¡± George and the two other men, whose names were Hujin and Entin, worked to push the forest line back further. Adam, Grace, and the woman, whose name was Mabel, worked on preventing any possible Vermi climbing up the cliff face. Sarah, Evelyn, and Soaen, kept the smoke fire alive, and build better weapons. Aaron returned an hour before nightfall with a deer. He didn¡¯t say anything as they cooked it, or as they ate it. He only spoke when they were deciding you would have first watch. Even then he only said, ¡°I will take it.¡± Everyone went into the hut and shared the blankets with the Dark Moss on the inside. Once they had all laid down and quieted down, Soaen asked, ¡°He is thinking about all the people he has killed, isn¡¯t he?¡± No one replied for a minute before Sarah said, ¡°He sees the faces of each and every person. Most deserved it, not all. For the most part, he is able to forget them.¡± ¡°Does this mood affect his ability to fight?¡± Asked Entin ¡°Yes. He becomes more violent. George and I have seen it before. The people that attack him during one of these episodes. I despised those people and wanted to kill them myself, but no one deserves what happened to them.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Asked Hujin ¡°In the City we came from, the Guards were equipped with bayonets. Aaron was fascinated with them, so he would steal them. After a while he starting adding handles to them, making knives meant for stabbing. When George and I finally caught up with Aaron, he had cut his victims to ribbons. The remaining parts of the bodies had the bayonet knives sticking out of them. Snapped in half. I have said this before, but for your sake and ours, don''t make him mad.¡± ¡°Does he get mad easily?¡± ¡°No. I have known him since we were toddlers. He has only been truly mad twice. The first was when someone had raped and murdered his mother. He was six, and he had ripped the man¡¯s throat out with his own two hands.¡± ¡°When he is angry, he is much stronger than I am.¡± Said George ¡°The second time,¡± Sarah continued, ¡°was when he was betrayed by some of his gang¡¯s members.¡± ¡°He was the leader of a gang?¡± ¡°No, number two. He forbade any innocent harm, but the squad he worked with broke it. When he called them out, they attacked him. He beheaded one of them simply by twisting until it popped up. Eight full grown, muscular, men, and only one survived. Even then he survived only when Aaron had stabbed him in both legs and hands.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go to bed. We should only have two days until the Hunting Horde comes. Plus we should be getting a lot more Survivors tomorrow.¡± Said Adam as he yawned Everyone agreed and went to sleep. All four adults had the best sleep they had since they were forced out of their cities. The next morning, Adam was right. Two groups, one of two, and one single survivor, found them, before noon. Aaron had yet to talk. He spent the morning making arrows, which gradually became straighter, stronger, and sharper. At lunch, there was laughter and joy. ¡°I forgot to ask, what did you guys do before you came to the surface?¡± Asked Grace Everyone told each other what they did. Soaen was a Guard that got caught smuggling weapons to the rebels in his city. Entin and Hujin were the two rebels Soaen was supplying. Mabel was a member of a gang that got caught. In the three others, two were recycle factory workers, and one was a farmer. After lunch, they continued to build defences. During the remainder of the day, twelve more survivors managed to find their way to them. They now numbered twenty six, twenty male, six female. While everyone was a criminal, they were all polite, and agreed to let the women have the hut while the men made do outside. They increased the watch to three people. Aaron was on first watch and stayed up in the watchtower with his personal bow, and a quiver of his own arrows. The other two on watch was on the wall with bows and spears. Given the free time to think, Aaron recalled the moment he saw mother, dead at his feet. He remembered the feel of the man¡¯s blood as he avenged her. The faces of every person he has killed since. He felt rage build up in him, waiting to release, when one of the men on watch shouted. Aaron looked up and saw about a dozen Vermi standing just in front of the tree line. He smiled and dropped his bow and quiver. He quickly climbed down the tower and up the wall, as everyone woke up and rushed to the wall. Aaron took off his shirt and draped it over the battlements. Underneath, was his Bayonet vest, which he took off as well. He drew three of the bayonet knives, put on in his mouth, and one in each of his hands. ¡°Aaron, don''t do anything stupid.¡± Cautioned George. Aaron responded by jumped onto the battlements and turning to face everyone. He smiled through the knife and leaned backward, falling off the wall. Multiple of the newcomers shouted for him to get back, but he ignored them and charged at the Vermi, weaving through the obstacles. ¡°Everyone shut up and watch why we have survived this long!¡± Shouted Sarah, siencing everyone. Aaron was more than halfway through before the Vermi charged. They clashed only a few feet away from the beginning of the spikes. The first Vermi Aaron confronted, swung at him, but Aaron ducked, twisted, stabbed, and withdrew it. All in one motion. He kicked another Vermi¡¯s knees, causing it to buckle and fall to the ground. A Vermi charged at Aaron, but he sidestepped and stabbed through its back, piercing its heart. He saw another charging at him, so Aaron threw one of his knives. It pierced its neck. Aaron plucked the knife from his mouth just in time to jam it into the chest of one, while he used his other knife to stab up through another¡¯s chin. The one he kicked down stood back up, but Aaron charged at it and jump kicked it into a spike. Aaron flipped midair, and landed on another Vermi, which he stabbed through the top of its head. As the Vermi fell, Aaron jumped off and landed behind another. He sliced the hamstrings, causing it to fall to the ground. Two Vermi charged at Aaron from different sides, but Aaron just charged at one of them and stabbed it in its heart. He sidestepped just in time for the second Vermi to slam into the first. Aaron stabbed it as it fell. The last two held back, and slowly advanced together. The one, whose hamstrings were severed was attempting to crawl at Aaron, but he easily just walked away. When the last two Vermi got within ten feet, they charged. Aaron charged as well, but dropped to the ground and slid the rest of the way. As they sprinted past, Aaron sliced at them. They dropped to the ground, and Aaron stood. He saw that the crawling Vermi was trying to crawl away. Aaron casually walked towards it and grabbed its neck. He dragged it towards one of the spikes and shoved its skull through. Aaron walked back towards the wall, which was open by the time he reached it. They let him in, and closed the gate, locking it. Everyone surrounded him, but Sarah shoved them away. ¡°Let him calm down. He might attack you otherwise. Wait until morning.¡± Everyone backed off and let Aaron lay down and fall asleep. Slowly everyone returned to their beds, leaving another three for the Watch. Chapter 4 The next morning, everyone woke up and cleaned up the corpses. Only eight of the twelve remained, the other four missing. They guessed that animals had taken them. After the corpses had been thrown off the sides of the cliff, everyone went to the pond, which they had deepened, to wash off the blood. Aaron, who had the most blood on him, was there first. After he scrubbed off the dried blood, he worked on his hair. Everyone, except for the children, starred as Aaron cleaned his head, revealing the whiteness of his hair. To them, the only ones with white hair was the Elderly and the Vermi. A few were scared, but all starred. Aaron didn¡¯t need to look to know they were staring at him, ¡°If you had life as stressful as mine, then you would have this white hair too.¡± Sarah walked over to him and helped with his hair, while Aaron helped Saber with his. Soaen couldn¡¯t help, but smile at the scene. He knew that if they all survived long enough, Aaron and Sarah would get married. It was in that moment that he and multiple other adults swore to make sure that day happened. The shock of Aaron¡¯s hair quickly wore off and everyone got to work. The fire was rekindled with live plants to make it smoke. George and some of the stronger adults grabbed axes and worked to cut down trees. Adam and Grace worked with some of the factory workers to enhance their home. Evelyn worked with some of the weaker adults to build more huts. Sarah worked with some of the more nimble adults to build more defences. Aaron, Saber, Soaen, and two other adults worked to make weapons and armor. The armor was crude, but against blunt attacks, would work well enough. They took multiple of the denser sticks and tied them together to form a mat like bundle. They made two of those, then made two smaller ones. They shoved the smaller ones through the larger ones and tied each stick to each other. Once they had a box of sticks, they made square mat bundles and tied them on top, leaving room for the head. Soaen put it on. One of the other adults bundled his hand up with cloth and punched Soaen¡¯s armored chest. They both grunted, but it held out well. Soaen took it off and said, ¡°Little loose and uncomfortable, but if we put Dark Moss inside, it will solve both.¡± They called over some of the women for tips about how to sew the moss to the armor. However, it was Adam that solved the problem. By noon, they had twelve chest plates and four helmets. They all ate, during which five more survivors found their way to them. By the end of the day, two more came. Before they all went to bed, they all held a meeting. They now numbered thirty three. They gave the strongest, the armor, axes, and shields, the weakest the bows, and the average the spears. Adam and Aaron were assigned spears. George the armor and axes. Sarah and the rest of the children were given the bows. The plan was for the armored men to be the vanguard and be at the forefront, they numbered ten. The spearmen would be right behind the vanguard and hold off the Vermi while the vanguard took them apart, they numbered fourteen. The archers would be in the tower and behind the wall. The ones in the tower would keep a lookout for weak points while firing. The Archers behind the wall would fire blindly over the wall, they had the most arrows, and were assigned the fastest archers. Sarah stood on top of the wall while Aaron sat beside her, legs dangling over the edge. Everyone looked up at her from on the ground. She took a moment to collect her thoughts, ¡°My entire life, I have been scared of being banished from the city, of dying, of being cold and hungry. Most of that fear vanished the moment Aaron and I join with George, Adam, Grace, and Evelyn. Then we met Saber, he was a bright spot in my life. Then we were forced to escape the city. I thought that it was over, that we were going to die. But then I saw how hard we all worked to survive, and I thought we could survive. Surviving not only one, but two Vermi attacks only reinforced that idea. Now we face a Vermi attack that numbers in the thousands. We have prepared the most we could, and I know that we can survive. Help me prove to those assholes in the cities that we can survive, that we are stronger than they are!¡± Everyone raised up their weapons and roared. Aaron stood up and gave Sarah a friendly punch on the arm, whispering, ¡°No swearing.¡± He then turned to everyone else and shouted, ¡°We will survive this! We will prove to those monsters that we are stronger! We will prove to those morons in the cities that we are stronger! We will prove to ourselves that we are stronger than we ever thought possible!¡± Another wave of roaring. ¡°We will double the Watch tonight! Everyone else get some rest. We will survive this, but don''t you want to be awake for the feast afterwards!¡± From personal experience, Aaron knew that food always motivated boys. Morale always transferred. If Adam, George, and Saber were excited for the food afterwards, then the Men would expect to survive to see the party, and if the women saw that the men were excited, then they would be too. Everyone kept their weapons close that night. Six guards, at all times, were watching the forest. Everyone woke up early. They had a quick and bland breakfast of berries and meat. Aaron helped the wall archers set up their quivers. They all had two quivers and they set them up vertically and stuck them in the ground. It was near noon when the Archers in the tower sounded the alarm. Everyone rushed into place. As a rousing speech Aaron climbed up onto the battlements and faced everyone. ¡°They chose the worst time! As you all know, the animals feast at noon! We have weapons that will attract them! I can''t wait to see them get ripped apart! And as an added bonus, the Vermi will kill the animals, meaning free meat!¡± All the men roared which cause the women to roar as well. ¡°As a child I would always dream about being part of a heroic army defending the ones I love. Wait a minute, I still am a child and I still dream about it. I am now living my dream, but I have more dreams, so I must live! And you must Live! I will not forgive a single one of you if you die!¡± This time everyone roared. The Vermi, which were holding at the tree line, roared their challenge. ¡°Ha! They call that a battle cry! Let¡¯s show them a true battle cry!¡± They all roared. Somehow, the thirty six human voices outmatched one thousand voices that feel no pain. Their cry forced fear into the hearts of the monsters. ¡°Spearmen! Grab the grenades!¡± All the spearmen prepared to throw the mud balls. It became eerily quiet for a precious few moments, before all one thousand Vermi howled and charged. ¡°Prepare yourselves!¡± Shouted Aaron over the howling ¡°Watch as they are impaled by defences we made!¡± Each spike was able to impale two or three before falling apart. Hundreds were dead before they reached the firepit. ¡°Now Saber!¡± Exclaimed Aaron At his words, Saber drew back his bow from the tower and fired his flaming arrow. It sailed over the wall, over the spikes, and right into the pit. The entire trench burst into flames just as the first hundred fell in. The howling intensified and the smell of burning flesh permeated the air. The flames quickly consumed the leaves, but transferred to the Vermi. The first few Vermi halted once they saw the flames, but were then trampled into the ground by those behind. They charged into the trench, which had already filled completely with Vermi corpses. Those that ran over the trench, had their feet burned, causing many to fall and be engulfed. They climbed over each other to get over the wall, but were stopped by the spikes angled at them. Many more were impaled. Before another wave could attempt to overcome the wall, the fire grew to many feet. They howled in frustration at their halt in progress. Their dinner would have to wait until the fire died down, which it did quickly. Adam watched from the wall with interest. ¡°Apparently Vermi burn easily, but quickly.¡± Adam said to George in front of him George turned around and said, ¡°Seriously? There are hundreds of interesting things to see, and you choose to examine how quickly they burn? They die, so who cares?¡± ¡°Well, if they swarm to one point we could light the middle. The fire would quickly spread to the others and they would all be ash before any of the trees burn. That is very important info while we are in a forest.¡± ¡°Fine, keep watching and gathering info. Just make sure the info helps us kill them faster.¡± Said George as he turned back to watch. Adam smiled and muttered, ¡°Of course.¡± Within a few minutes the fire was down to a foot height. The Vermi surged forward once more. They quickly scaled the wall, but lost many more to the small flames and spikes. Those that made it over couldn¡¯t land on their feet, due to them being burned beyond repair, and fell onto the spikes below. This continued until the spikes were completely covered, then those that could use their feet were crushed by those that could. They charged forward again, right into the spikes again. ¡°Throw them now!¡± Aaron shouted. All the spearmen threw the mud grenades. Not a single one reached the Vermi, but Aaron knew that would happen. Just before the grenades burst on the ground, it turned noon. All the animals went on a frenzy and due to the grenades, were drawn to that location. Everyone noticed that some of the Vermi closest to the tree line turned around. ¡°Those Grenades make them run!¡± Shouted an adult ¡°Nope! They draw the animals here. They are turning around to deal with them, but trust me when I say that they won''t be able to stop them before they reach the tree line.¡± Shouted Aaron. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to see why the animals on the surface aren¡¯t extinct!¡± Laughed one, causing the others near him to laugh as well. The Vermi front line quickly got into reach of their bows. The ones in the tower started to shoot. Due to their numbers, they had no bone armor. One arrow was all it took to take one down to be trampled by those behind it. ¡°Now!¡± Shouted Sarah to the Archers behind the wall. They all released their arrows, and fire again. Volley after volley of arrows rained down on the Vermi. From the tower, it was amazing to watch wave after wave of Vermi go down. All the archers had a combined total of two hundred forty eight arrows, and they fired until they ran out. Not a single arrow missed, but it would be impossible to miss the large swarm of bodies. The moment the people had been waiting for and dreading, had come. ¡°Spears forward!¡± Shouted Aaron. All the Spearmen rushed to the front and stabbed down at the Vermi at the base of the wall. More slammed into those already there. Clawing their way to the top. Slowly the Spearmen retreated, stabbing at any Vermi they could. Once they got back into their positions, they stabbed at any Vermi that started to climb over the Battlements. The spears were able to keep them at bay, but only for a few seconds. The Vanguard advanced with their shields raised and axes ready to slice apart. Once they reached the front, limbs started to fly. Aaron rushed to the back of the wall and shouted, ¡°Archers, grab spears and get up here! If there aren¡¯t enough, quickly make one!¡± Everyone rushed to grab or make a spear. Everyone, but Sarah, Evelyn, and Saber, climbed down from the tower. Sarah kept a lookout for any weak points. Evelyn made arrows, and Saber shot them at any Vermi that got too close for comfort. They managed to hold out until the Archers got there. The Archers used their spears to give the original spearmen a brief breather. Unfortunately for the Vanguard, there was no breather. However, they didn¡¯t need it. Like George, they each got into a trance, and just hacked away what whatever was in front of them. George was the first to go into his trance, and was the most efficient when in it. Whenever someone got the time to look at him, he was constantly swinging, never stopping. They kept coming, and they kept dying. Soon the bodies were piled so high, that they could just run up the wall. The animals decided at that time, to charge through the tree line, sending Vermi flying. From books, Adam learned all about animals. He knew that the forefront animals were Rhinos, but in his book, it said that they were human height, but these were easily twice that. The largest Rhino was painted red in Vermi Blood. The animals that followed were very large lions, tigers, panthers, and other carnivorous cats. They simply followed the Rhinos and killed those that got in their way, which was few. After the Cats, came Wolves. Each charged at the closest Vermi and ripped it apart. After the wolves came a swarm of miscellaneous animals. Most of all the animals were large enough to ride. Within a few moments, they had slammed through the Fire Pit wall. ¡°These monsters aren¡¯t natural! Nature fights with us!¡± Shouted Aaron. Everyone roared and pushed forward. Saber dropped his bow and picked up Silver and placed him on his head. ¡°See that boy? Those are your cousins!¡± Silver barked and Sarah smiled. Evelyn made three arrows before Saber picked up his bow. He took the arrows and fired them all at once. ¡°Slow retreat! Shields out spears in between!¡± Shouted Aaron. The Vanguard quickly put their shields in front and the spear men stabbed out over and in between them. Step by step, they retreated to the ladder. The last row of spearmen dropped down the ladder. They held up their spears as the next row came down, then the next. As the Vanguard was coming down, some of the Vermi started to jump off the wall. The first few broke limbs, but the next few landed softly on their comrades. ¡°Ten on me!¡± Aaron shouted. Ten men charged at the Vermi with Aaron. They stopped halfway, ¡°Plant your spears in the ground!¡± Everyone shoved their spears in the ground and held them out to face the incoming Vermi. ¡°The spears aren¡¯t meant for this!¡± Shouted one ¡°I know, we just need to hold them off!¡± Within seconds of saying that, the Vermi slammed into the wall of spears. Each was impaled. Every single spearman in the wall was covered in the Vermi¡¯s blood. The entire wall was pushed back nearly a foot. Some of the spears started to splinter. Aaron was about to order a retreat, but then the Vanguard arrived. Aaron saw them and ordered for the middle of the wall was open, at the last second. The Vermi charged into the opening, but only managed to take a step before they were cut into many pieces. The Vanguard opened ripped open a path in the middle of the Vermi. Sarah saw that the remaining Vermi outside the wall, were busy fighting the animals, so she ordered for the remaining spearmen on the wall to help eliminate the Vermi in the wall. She counted only about fifty left standing. The remaining spearmen numbered roughly eight, but they could help end this. Even from her distance, she could easily see where George and Aaron were. George was in the middle of all the Vermi, but any that got close was chopped to pieces. Aaron was on the side, with all the spearmen working together to slowly, but carefully kill all Vermi. Meanwhile the Vanguard was shoving their way into Vermi, attempting to get to George.Stolen story; please report. Saber stopped shooting and helped Evelyn quickly make more arrows. They were really just sharp sticks, with no fletching or arrowhead. Once they had made ten, Saber grabbed his bow again and shot again and again. Saber used all ten before Evelyn made another one, not a single one hit a Human. ¡°Eve finish making that one then stop.¡± Said Sarah ¡°Ok.¡± She made it, Saber shot it, and they all climbed down the tower, Silver on Saber¡¯s head. By the time they had descended the tower, there was only a few Vermi left, which were quickly taken care of. ¡°To the wall!¡± Shouted Aaron They all rushed to the wall. Slowly climbing the ladder, and stepping over every Vermi corpse, they looked over the wall to see that all the Vermi were taken out. Most of the animals had left, the grenades wearing off, but the Wolves had stayed to eat the Vermi. One of the Wolves looked up them. Everyone tensed, ready to fight again, but the wolf simply looked at them and slowly bowed its head. As if it was planned, all the wolves grabbed one Vermi and ran into the forest. It was silent for several minutes, before Aaron shouted, ¡°We are stronger!¡± Everyone cheered, some cried, some fell to their knees. ¡°Vanguard, take a break, same with some of the more tired Spearmen. If you have energy left, then let''s get these corpses off the cliff.¡± Some of the spearmen, and all of the Vanguard headed for the two huts. One was without a roof, but it they headed for it regardless. Everyone else stepped over the battlements and onto the Vermi hill. ¡°Start here! We will leave the farthest for the animals, they earned their food. Sarah can you and the other women grab the animals bodies?¡± Asked Aaron Sarah turned to face him and put her hands on her hips, ¡°What, do you expect us to cook them too?¡± ¡°Well, that would be nice, but I was going to suggest putting them in the fort, then leave them for later.¡± Some of the adults laughed as they worked. There were many animal bodies, but the women quickly got them behind the wall and came out to help. It took until dark to clear out the Vermi hill around the wall. Some of the more talented cooks stopped working to cook, by dark the feast was ready. Everyone went back behind the wall and cleaned off in the pond. Everyone was soaked in blood, so the all the men went back out and continued to clear the bodies, as the women cleaned themselves. It took a good hour before they called in the men. The pond was light red, but the men bathed regardless, meanwhile the women was in the hut with the door closed. By the time the men were done, the pond was deep red, nearly black, but by morning it would be lighter, because they added a stream that would clear it out. They feasted on a pair of bears. They had many more animals, but both of the bears had been very fat. They went to bed early that night, only leaving two guards. They woke up two hours later than usual, but had to get up, because the smell of the Vermi was horrible. Before they all went to bed, they hung the animals upside down, to drain the blood. After a quick breakfast, they all went out to continue to clean up. It took that day and the next to clear it all out. They set up the traps again, which most required just a few adjustments. They finished up by noon. Most of the arrows they shot, broke, so mostly everyone worked on making more. A few worked on making more armor. Aaron, George, and two others worked on the pond. First they drained it, while they collected clay from the river. Once it was drained, they dug out the drainage stream until it reached the bottom of the pond then kept digging for two feet. They dug out the pond until it reached the drainage stream. They build a bonfire in the middle to speed up the drying. Once the fire died, they took out all the ash and remains of the fire. Using the clay, they covered the sides and bottom of the pond, essentially making a large pot. They left space the intake two feet down and for the drainage at the bottom. They held torches over it using rope and slowly dried it. By the time it was done drying, it was nearing dark, so they set up torches around the well pond. They made a clay square plate, with a hole at the top. While that dried, made a small clay box, with top open and bottom having holes. Once the plate was dry, they tied a rope through the hole and placed it a few inches into the drainage stream. Making sure it could move easily, they placed hollow bamboo at the bottom of the drainage stream. Packing dirt on top, while making the clay plate still move easily up and down, they made it a pipe. The drainage pipe let all the water off the side of the cliff. By the time the pipe was done, the clay box was completely dried. They shoved about a foot of coal at the bottom of the one feet by three feet by four feet box. After the charcoal, they packed gravel for six inches. They then shoved in sand for a foot then live leaves for another six inches. For the remaining six inches they placed rocks. After they had finished, they carefully placed the box in the input stream and placed eight by two hollow bamboo inside the open side and clayed it together and connected it to the box. Sarah walked over and looked at the box, ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°A primitive water filter.¡± Said one of the adults that worked at the recycling center in his city. ¡°This should prevent the majority of sicknesses we might get. We will need to replace it every week, but other then that, we should just be able to run water through it.¡± He continued ¡°How are you going to connect it to the water?¡± ¡°We will take these bamboo shoots and connect them directly to the river. Once we know that the well is getting water, we will bury the shoots. This will give us water and protect it at the same time.¡± ¡°Sweet. Let¡¯s finish this tomorrow.¡± Said Sarah ¡°The day after tomorrow, another attack will most likely come. Tomorrow, I want Saber and four adults to go collect the flowers required to make more grenades. We need more arrows and armor. For this last attack, we only received bloody scratches, but the next one some of the Vermi might have weapons.¡± Sarah agreed and everyone went to sleep. The next morning, everyone woke up. Sarah ordered Saber and four of the Vanguard to take as many bags as possible and fill them with the flowers. They put on their armor and grabbed their weapons, and headed out. Everyone was split in half and given the job of either making arrows or armor, except for the people working on the well. They were assigned two Vanguard to protect them as they worked the shoots to the river. They had to dig into the ground, so it wasn¡¯t until after noon when they reached the river. As they were working on it, one of the Vanguard spotted a wolf. One of the Vanguard raised his axe. Aaron put his hand on it and forced it down, ¡°Don¡¯t. They know that we have marked this territory.¡± ¡°Then shouldn¡¯t they keep off it?¡± ¡°No. We don¡¯t patrol this area, this is the perfect feeding ground. As long as we don''t attack, they won''t either. At most we will just spot a few wolves hunting.¡± They finished up the well and Aaron ran back to make sure water was running through correctly. He made sure, then ran back. As they returned to their home, they buried the pipes. They had placed the pipes collecting the water vertically in the bed of the river, getting soaked, but required for the river to dry up before they stopped getting water. They were proud of their handiwork, but immediately got to work on the wall. Aaron noticed that if they had to get off the wall, they would have to slowly climb down, but the Vermi could just jump off. Aaron halted all other work to get as many workers on this project as possible. They first built a back wall that reached higher than the tallest of the humans. Using wooden supports, they built a roof and had it connect to the battlements. They built up the gaps, which Aaron and George learned were called Crenels. By the time they were done, it was getting dark, but they had made it so Vermi couldn¡¯t scale the wall, unless they climbed on top of the entire wall. To get on top, they would have to get past the constant spears stabbing out and climb up. They quickly built three ladders leading up to the new top of the wall. They built new battlements on top of the wall. By the time they were done, they were all covered in mud and exhausted. They had made a place large enough for all the archers to shoot from. Made nearly three hundred arrows and enough armor to equip all, but ten survivors. The spearmen had a safe place to see and stab from. They all went to bed tired, but proud of themselves. The next morning, they all put on the armor and carried all the arrows to the top of the wall. Each archer wore a full quiver that they wouldn¡¯t touch unless needed too. The Spearmen got their spears and sharpened them. Aaron was assigned, by Sarah, to the archers with Saber and Grace. Adam was assigned to the spearmen with George. Meanwhile Sarah was in the tower with Evelyn. The tower still had a better view point then the wall, but wasn¡¯t stable enough to hold all the archers. From the tower Sarah would see all weak points and would make sure no Vermi broke through. While they waited for the Vermi to appear, they talked amongst themselves. It was close to noon again when two teens came sprinting out of the forest. Sarah immediately ordered for the gate to be opened. Multiple spearmen rushed down the wall and started to pull out the boulders placed behind the gate to prevent it from breaking open. The two teens made it to the wall, weaving in between spikes and jumping over the trenches, just as the last boulder was being removed. The gate was opened, they ran in and nearly all the spearmen shoved the boulders back into place. Aaron and George walked up to the teens. ¡°I have three questions.¡± Said Aaron ¡°One, who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Xyleo and this is Yeth.¡± Said the taller of the two ¡°Two, what did you do before you were thrown out?¡± ¡°We were both Gunsmiths.¡± Said Yeth, panting. George raised an eyebrow. ¡°How did you get thrown out?¡± ¡°We were caught sneaking guns to the rebels.¡± ¡°Do you know how to make the Guns from scratch?¡± Asked George ¡°kind of. I know how to make it, Yeth knows what is needed and how to make the parts.¡± Yeth nodded. Sarah walked over, ¡°Who cares? We can worry about that later! Both of you, grab a spear and get inside the wall. They have been spotted.¡± One of the adults tossed two spears from the rack of spears at the newcomers. They caught them. ¡°Follow George.¡± Ordered Sarah ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± George ran back and climbed the ladder into the wall, both newcomers following him. All the Spearmen quickly got back into the wall as Sarah ran back to the tower. Aaron grabbed a spear and ran to the ladder leading to the top of the wall. He grabbed the spear with his teeth and quickly climbed the ladder. Once he got on top, he looked out into the forest. Hordes of Vermi were just inside the tree cover, just waiting, silently. Aaron placed his spear beside him and grabbed his bow. Inside the wall, George stood there with a spear, looking out of his Murder Hole, waiting for the battle to begin. It was already stifling hot inside causing everyone to sweat, and that didn¡¯t help with the smell. ¡°Spears!¡± He yelled, making sure to keep his voice low enough in the room. Everyone placed their spears inside their holes. The Murder Holes were large enough to still allow for vision and stabbing room, but small enough to prevent any body part to reach through. ¡°Make sure to let go if they start to pull. Don''t want to have your head pulled into the wall.¡± Yelled a man. ¡°We have proved that we are stronger and yet they still want to fight! Shall we give them a fight?¡± Exclaimed George. Everyone roared their response. On top of the wall Aaron stood there, ready to release a volley of arrows at the hordes. Wind blew from behind the Archers. ¡°Just like last time, Nature assists us! With this wind we will be able to shoot from farther away!¡± The Archers roared, but the Vermi still kept silent. Aaron frowned and called over an archer that had proven he was the fastest of everyone else. ¡°Go tell Sarah that we are facing a Vermi that is at least three hundred years old.¡± He raised an eyebrow, but nodded and ran off. Evelyn saw a man running from the wall to the tower and called over Sarah. The man reached the foot of the tower and shouted up, ¡°Aaron says that we are facing a Vermi that is at least three hundred years.¡± After he had delivered his message, he ran back to the wall. Evelyn looked at Sarah and asked, ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°It means that some of the Vermi will have weapons and armor. It also means that they won''t just charge at us, like last time. The Vermi that is leading this group will be smart enough to have some kind of strategy.¡± ¡°Enough to be worried?¡± ¡°You should always be worried when facing Vermi, but no. The strategies that it comes up with will be around the level of a two year old. Waves, and flanks.¡± ¡°What should we do?¡± ¡°Have some of the spearmen start to make more arrows.¡± Evelyn mock saluted and climbed down the tower. The Vermi leading all the others stood in the middle of the horde, on a hill, watching the Wall. It was smart enough to know that it would lose a lot of comrades trying to break through. It was scared, but whenever a surge of fear hit it, it just imagined the juicy meat that was waiting if it could break through. Besides, it feared the one that ordered it to attack this group of Humans, more than it feared the Humans. It quickly checked its stone and copper chestplate and helmet. Looking at its brothers that had been with it for hundreds of years, it saw that they were all looking at itself, having already checked their own armor and weapons. Preparing itself, it raised its stone axe and roared. All the other Vermi roared, and the first wave charged. Inside the wall, George only saw a lot of Vermi charge out of the trees and impale themselves on the spikes. When he looked closer he saw that they all had small angled shields. For every three that got impaled, one spike got knocked down. Last time, it was nearly seven for one spike, even though only three could fit on one spike. Even though they were knocking them down, they still quickly died. Behind the shields were plain Vermi just charging. The Shield Vermi were only able to knock down about an eighth of the total spikes, then they had to deal with the trenches. Aaron¡¯s perspective atop the wall, was vastly different than George¡¯s. He saw that the plain Vermi were sent separately from the Shield Vermi. ¡°Smart. If it had sent the second wave with the first as one large wave, the second¡¯s momentum would be slowed by the Shield Vermi.¡± Aaron muttered ¡°What?¡± Asked Saber. ¡°Nothing, but pay attention. The Vermi leading this horde is smarter than last time.¡± Saber nodded and turned his attention to the charging Vermi. The Vermi had been completely silent, except for when they were being impale, but all as one, they all started to howl. A massive wave charged out of the trees. ¡°Get ready!¡± Shouted Grace ¡°Wait.¡± Said Aaron ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because they are going to send another force on the left. Send half of the archers to the left.¡± Grace knew better than to question. ¡°Half to the left!¡± They all got into position just in time for the expected force to break from tree cover. ¡°Draw!¡± Shouted Aaron Two dozen bows were drawn back. ¡°Fire!¡± Two Dozen arrows flew from the bows. Two dozen Vermi fell. ¡°Fire at will!¡± Ordered Aaron as he drew his own bow. George saw that the Vermi were past the halfway mark and quickly coming in. ¡°Get ready!¡± Within a minute, they were within a few yards. ¡°Stab!¡± Everyone thrust forward. With the spear¡¯s momentum and the Vermi¡¯s opposing momentum, three rows of the Vermi were impaled with the spears. All the Survivors withdrew their spears and thrust again. Row after row of Vermi were impaled. The living Vermi forced their way to the front, dragging the dead to the Vermi behind them, who did the same. Because of this, the dead didn¡¯t pile up. Saber watched the rest of the battle as he shot his arrows. He saw that a small group of Vermi in wooden armor was slowly making their way to the right. Saber pointed it out to Aaron, who dispatched Saber and four of the better archers. Saber and the other four, made quick work of the armored Vermi, with one arrow to each head. They returned and continued to focus on the middle and left. The right was completely unsupported by arrows, but that side had barely any Vermi. The commanding Vermi watched as its armored unit was annihilated. It looked at its brothers and decided that the best course of action was to charge at them with full force. It howled and every Vermi on standby charged. The copper armored Vermi stayed in the middle as they charged. Before it knew it, they were only a few Vermi between them and the wall. Everyone noticed the copper armored Vermi. ¡°Target their heads.¡± Aaron and George ordered their respective Survivors Just as quickly as they got to the wall, they died. The Vermi commander watched as his brothers¡¯ skulls were punched through so easily. One by one, all twenty of them died. It gripped its axe harder and charged, in a rage. George saw as the Vermi commander charged, he simply thrust his spear into its throat. Even though it knew it was dying, and quickly, it forced itself to keep going. George watched as it forced its own throat to travel further down the spear, its face contorted in rage and pain. George withdrew his spear and simply thrust his spear into its skull. It didn¡¯t matter if it had a conscious, it was trying to kill him and his friends, that was a ¡®go ahead¡¯ to die. After the copper armored Vermi died, it didn¡¯t take long for the rest to be slaughtered. The battle only lasted an hour. Everyone opened up the gate and went out to clear away the corpses. Most was shoved to the edges during the battle, so it only took close to three hours to clear away all the Vermi. Afterward, everyone went back inside and prepared for the feast. The seven children grouped together. ¡°This seems too easy.¡± Said Adam ¡°Of course it was. This commander had a good head on his shoulders, but it only thought as far as the shields.¡± Said George ¡°What do we do with the copper armor? The wooden one, if made well, is stronger, and less noticeable.¡± Said Evelyn ¡°We could use it as a mirror. At least until we find other uses for it.¡± Suggested Adam ¡°Might as well.¡± So they cut the armor in half, front from back, and pressed it into place. They punchered two holes at the top and tied rope through it. They hung it beside the hut. Everyone celebrated. Laughing and cheering filled the fort. Some of the men were grumpy that there was no alcohol, but they knew it would be foolish to drink when at any moment they could be under attack. So while they complained, they did so good naturedly. George stood up and bellowed, ¡°What shall we call this wonderous village of ours?¡± Everyone quieted down as they thought. ¡°Good thinking George! I was getting tired of calling this place a fort, or the wall.¡± One man, who rivaled George in volume, stood up and shouted, ¡°Arecune!¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Asked a woman. ¡°It means many things. Strength, Freedom, Wisdom, and Safety.¡± He answered. Everyone liked the name, and so, a village that would be known throughout history, was named Arecune. Everyone feasted and partied without reservations. The next morning, everyone got to work after a short breakfast. After a few hours of work Aaron and George looked at each other and silently agreed. They both pulled Sarah away from everyone else. ¡°What is it?¡± She asked ¡°Last battle would have been much harder if it wasn''t for the taller wall. The Vermi leading all the others was smarter. It equipped its soldiers with shields and tried to flank us. We believe that this next attack will be lead by a four hundred year Vermi.¡± Explained George ¡°What do you think that means?¡± Asked Sarah ¡°We don''t know, and that is what concerns us. For all we know they will have a catapult or guns. We have no idea.¡± Said Aaron ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± ¡°With only an hour left, we don''t know if anything we do with change anything.¡± Said George ¡°We can only do what we have been doing. Fight our hardest. We should prepare to have casualties.¡± ¡°Could we drop fire unto them?¡± ¡°That might take one or two, but with hundreds, and without something to make the fire catch, it will be pointless.¡± ¡°Could we drop logs on them?¡± ¡°Sure, but we used all the logs to support the second floor of the wall. We would need to go chop down more trees and we don''t have time. We barely have time to sharpen the axes and spears.¡± ¡°I don''t want to lose anyone. I just learned everyone¡¯s names!¡± ¡°We can all survive this, but we need to get ready. When we all survive this, we can find chickens. Saber and I saw some while we got the dyes. We can use them for fletching on our arrows, eggs for food, and even an alarm system!¡± Over the centuries, the chicken evolved along with the other animals. They grew to mid thigh height, had small teeth, razor sharp claws, and they were very territorial. The roosters grew to hip height, and would gladly kill anything that looked at it funny. They were dangerous, but not to an armed and prepared human. As everyone was sharpening their weapons or making more arrows, Saber climbed to the top of the wall and looked out into the forest. He studied the now bloody red mud that was the battlefield. He watched the trees sway in the wind. He felt the sun on his face. Wait a minute, what wind? Saber rushed to the edge of the wall and shouted down, ¡°Enemy archers! Take cover.¡± Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran for either the wall or the roofed hut. The Vermi decided that exact moment to release their volley. George ran over to the wall, ¡°Saber jump!¡± He didn''t hesitate before doing so. George caught him, and rolled forward to avoid injury to either of them. He rolled into the wall and covered Saber with his body. Dozens of arrows slammed into the ground where he was standing just a moment ago. In the wall, they didn''t have to worry about anything. The Vermi archers had aimed over the wall not at it. However, it was a different story in the hut. Only four people had taken cover there, but only three punched through the roof, though dozens stick in the roof. Only two people were injured and both with leg wounds. When the rain of arrows stopped, the ground was littered with them. The people in the hut quickly ran out carrying those that were injured. The put the wounded next to George and Saber against the wall, and ran to get their spears and into the wall. ¡°You two, you all right?¡± Asked George ¡°Just a flesh wound, could you bring us the stuff to make armor or weapons? We can''t fight like this, but we can certainly sit here and make something.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± And Saber was off. He collected all the ingredients and tools needed. He dropped the stuff off and joined everyone else in the wall, with George close behind. ¡°Arrows? This is new. Considering they attacked before noon and attacked quietly and with arrows, this will be our toughest fight so far.¡± ¡°No duh, every battle has been our toughest so far.¡± Everyone Was murmuring, when Aaron walked over. ¡°Quiet down.¡± He ordered, ¡°We just have to fight smarter than them.¡± ¡°What about those archers? How are we going to use our own?¡± ¡°We''ll put them in the wall.¡± ¡°But then what about the spearmen?¡± ¡°Well have the archers shoot through the Murder Holes and when the Vermi get close enough, the spearman will replace them. If they have archers, the commander might be smart enough to have them stop shooting to prevent friendly fire. If it is smart enough, then we¡¯ll have the archers outside shooting, with cover nearby. With the arrows they shot at us, they should have enough to shoot throughout the whole battle.¡± Aaron explained No one had anything to argue about. ¡°Archers! To your positions. Don''t fire until ordered to! Spearman, get ready to replace them. Archers without a hole, go setup some cover in the yard for when you go out there.¡± Everyone rushed to their positions and Saber watched as not a single person argued or hesitated to obey him. George took a spear and readied himself in the middle of the wall. Grace and Evelyn went to help set up cover. Saber took a shield and climbed to the top of the wall again. Sarah walked up to Aaron and offered her quiet support. Saber saw a second volley fly from the trees again. ¡°Take cover!¡± Luckily, everyone in the yard had built a single small crude log wall, and all of them got behind it in time. The problem was that one of the last arrows hit a key rope, and the whole wall collapsed. Once the rain of arrows halted, they rushed to rebuild the wall and to build more. This happened four more times. They had set up five small log walls, that could easily cover four archers each. The ground was littered with arrows, both sticking out of the ground and laying there. ¡°How many bloody arrows do they have!¡± Shouted one of the archers. This caused a few nervous chuckles, though Aaron didn''t even smirk. He turned to one of the nearby spearmen. ¡°Go get Saber.¡± He saluted by placing a fist over his heart and ran out of the wall. It was cramped, stuffy, and stifling hot, and the spearman was glad to be able to get out. Aaron continued to observe the still quiet forest as he waited. When Saber did finally walk up to him, Aaron didn''t even look at him. ¡°Why do you think they aren''t charging yet?¡± ¡°Who knows? I think it might because they aren''t ready for melee combat. So they sent their archers to keep up pent up so we can''t continue to build more?¡± Replied Saber ¡°Possible, but if that is the case, we have serious problems.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Have you seen the arrows they are shooting?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°They are better than ours, but not by much. They are straighter, sharper, and the fletching is properly placed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good for us. Our archers can shoot them back. Right?¡± ¡°Yeah, we can shoot them back, but if they are using tactics and weapons this advanced, then what about their armor and melee weapons? Will we see iron being used? Will we see a large number of Boned Vermi?¡± ¡°Than we just have to out think them.¡± ¡°How? What do we have that we can use against them? The commander of the Vermi is smart, and if we hadn''t buried our water transport, I¡¯m sure it would have tried to poison it.¡± Saber thought for a moment. ¡°What if we cook them alive?¡± Aaron turned to face him, ¡°We don''t have the wood.¡± ¡°Yeah, but like you said, we have the water. We can use the copper armor and bend it into pots, then we boil water in them and when they are at the wall we pour it on them. We know that they feel pain. Let''s use that against them. Their advantage is in numbers and swarming us with them. If we can split them up, it will give us a few moments where we can cause major damage. As an added bonus, the boiling water might just kill a few of them. Because they are clumped up so tightly, the water should soak dozens.¡± Aaron, Sarah, and a few of the closer Survivors just stared at him in shock. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m so glad you are on our side.¡± Sarah sighed ¡°You heard him! Go tell the yard archers. Get the copper plates and bend them into pots small enough to carry water in!¡± Shouted Aaron Two different spearmen ran out. Another rain of arrows came before the pots were done. The yard archers quickly built up multiple fires and placed the filled pots on top. By the time they were boiling, the Vermi warriors were finally spotted.