“Looks like everyone’s here at this point so I’ll begin. Welcome to the new world, everybody.” As she spoke, Jamie circled the confused form of Huckle. Jamie hadn’t chosen this target, it had come to her, but there was no better punching bag for this lesson to land on. “Huckle here has graciously volunteered to be a part of my demonstration.”

  “You’re crazy, I didn’t do anything to you!” The spittle on his flimsy moustache was a nice touch, but Jamie didn’t care about his opinion on the matter.

  “You see,” she projected her voice, “Huckle is one of the lucky few who started with high attributes. When the System came, his large build meant he had a point or two more strength than other people and with a level or two under his belt, he was like a superhero.

  “Except, you aren’t heroic. Are you Huck?” It seemed that was the final button to push for the man to start swinging his fists seriously. The large man roared and started trying to charge through Jamie. She hesitated to call the strikes he threw ‘punches’ as they were more flailing than anything else. Under her breath, Jamie wondered how he had survived against monsters even if he did have a high Strength attribute.

  Jamie saw the fear in his eyes. He clearly had some idea what she was about to do, and he was desperate to get away. Deftly slipping under his punches and replying with blows of her own, Jamie forced Huckle to stay right where she wanted him. There was a catharsis tickling her back which felt a little dirty even as Jamie drove a knee into Huckle’s torso and buckled him over. “Seriously?” She couldn’t help herself from asking. “Did you not put a single point into Resilience?”

  The crowd shuffled slightly, both to keep a good view and because they were starting to get uncomfortable. Even those who had been bullied by Huckle in the past week were beginning to look awkward. Cooked to perfection. Jamie’s eyes finally landed on Kylie, who had a wry smile on her face and nodded to Jamie to continue. “Huckle, and I’m sure a few others here, seem to think that the end of the world means the end of rules. A part of the blame lies with me and Kylie, for trusting you all to act right while we tried to survive the apocalypse.”

  Jamie glared at the crowd, sparing no one. She hadn’t had the time to police the growing groups, but if this wasn’t dealt with firmly now then a culture would begin to set in. “I’m not a dictator, I’m just the strongest person here. One day, Kylie will be able to beat me in a fight… probably. Then she’ll be the strongest. If she wanted to, she could start taxing every looted monster. How would you stop her? By getting stronger and forcing your own rules?

  “Where does that end? Those of you who don’t like fighting would always be under the boot of someone with a higher level. Those with high levels would always be scared of being stabbed in the back for power.” Jamie looked out over the scared faces of her people. She carved the memory into the ice of her heart despite its protestations. This was important, and worth doing even if it hurt. “We need to be better than that.”

  She offered a hand to the still downed Huckle, pulling him to his feet. He looked at her warily, glancing at the crowd for their reaction. Everyone was just waiting for Jamie to explain what was next. She bore the mantle of leader, having seen its approach coming. She could have dodged this, allowed the situation to worsen until someone else stepped in, but it wasn’t her way.

  Even if the System tore everything it could from her, Jamie would always try to control her own destiny. “We need to be survivors, but not at the cost of what made us humans in the first place. Taking advantage of the other members in this camp is now a crime, just as surely as seriously hurting someone would be. I’ll be drafting up some actual ‘laws’ and sharing them later. As there are no other punishments decided, I heavily suggest no one volunteers to become the guinea pig for that. It will be worse than this, though. Anyone who’s got experience with administration, meet me at my tent at eleven o’ clock because I could use the help.”

  Jamie pulled the large man into a hug, surprising him with the gesture and the Strength at her disposal as she squeezed. “We’re all going to get along from now on, right?” Jamie asked, to Huckle’s panicky nodding. She shoved him away lightly and he shuffled out of the crowd as quickly as possible. With the show over, people began to disperse, but the quiet energy of the morning had been shattered. It was possible she hadn’t noticed a loosening tension in everyone, but people seemed to be talking to each other more freely than before.

  She decided to believe it was her influence as she started to stroll away. Her mind was on what certain laws a community like theirs would need as Kylie sidled up beside her. “You’re the strongest?” Kylie asked, not caring about the rest of the speech. “One day, I’ll beat you?” The affront was clear in her voice, and Jamie had to laugh. She was glad for Kylie’s aggressive attitude, as it made her own outlook seem downright temperate.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Well, you haven’t yet,” Jamie said cheekily. The pair of them hadn’t had a serious fight, and there was a real bloodlust forming between the two smiling women. Sparks would have flown in the air between them if Val hadn’t come over and changed the energy.

  “We’re getting back to this later. I’ll wait for you at level twenty,” Kylie promised before stomping off straight into the forest. “Good job,” she shouted over her shoulder before disappearing behind a tree. Jamie just laughed again, feeling levity for the first time since all of this began. Giving the younger woman her full attention, Jamie swore she saw a glint of that same bloodlust in Val’s eyes. Seeing it elsewhere made Jamie give it another name.

  Competitive ambition.

  It would be that feeling which kept them alive and pushing for new heights. This world was not going to get less dangerous. Jamie believed that from the bottom of her heart. Though she couldn’t place the suspicion’s source, Jamie simply knew that whatever the System had done so far was just the start up processing. “Thank you,” Val whispered, bringing her out of her thoughts.

  Jamie’s just faltering smile returned. “It wasn’t just for you, but I hope it felt good to see him eat a bit of dirt for being a dick.”

  Val giggled. “It did,” she admitted. “I’d like to volunteer for any of the admin stuff you were talking about, by the way. What, uh… what would that be, exactly though?”

  For someone applying for a job, Val wasn’t exactly selling herself, but no one else had taken the initiative to come over to Jamie yet. Jamie trusted that Val could become an integral part of this community, though, so giving her responsibility now was a sensible choice. “Telling people the rules when they changes, giving people tasks when we can think of them… that kind of thing, for now.”

  “I could do that,” Val said with confidence renewed. “What should I do first?” Unfortunately for Jamie, she hadn’t thought any further than asking other people for ideas, so she fumbled around for an answer. Jamie took the easy way out.

  “Want to go hunting for an hour until I have to meet the other hopeful admins?”

  —————————————————————

  Within two fights, Jamie had claimed the level which she had been on the cusp of. Val handled most of the combat, though that was really just in terms of fight length. Jamie dealt with any truly dangerous enemies quickly, and left the rest to Val. While the looting system still had a lot of experimentation, the levelling one was more understood. If someone actively helped you fight a monster, they would receive a relative amount of the experience for their assistance. Jamie did her best to leave Val’s enemies untouched so she could absorb more of the levelling energy from her kills, while also attempting to give Val a hit or two on the higher level enemies.

  The issue was Val’s unchanging capabilities. She was getting smarter about how she fought, but her attributes were those of a level three or four fighter. Jamie had stood firm to her beliefs, not questioning the placement of Val’s free points. However, she hadn’t allowed the girl to keep fighting easy enemies for it. She was level seven now, having grown a step herself over the hour they were looking for trouble. That meant she fought level seven or above creatures.

  It was basically worthless to go after monsters lower level than yourself, so Jamie expected Val to run into a wall eventually. To the girl’s credit, she didn’t back down, even as Jamie left her alone to a pack of wolves. It had only been a day since the last, with the System spitting monsters out at all times, but somehow it felt nostalgic. Watching Val take care of five on her own was almost startling.

  Jamie would have to try hard to stay on top.

  Down to three of the canines, Jamie was about to get involved and finish the job so they could leave when Val gasped. Jamie worried, jumping from the tree above and drawing her weapon. Val’s upheld hand halted Jamie’s assistance.From her vantage point above, Jamie hadn’t been able to see the wild smile which spread across Val’s face. “No,” she said with force, “I got this.”

  Then something happened. Val raised her hand, and energy filled the air. Jamie couldn’t quite tell what was happening, but the world around them seemed to gasp, too. The trees around them shuddered. The wolves whined. Val laughed, bringing her hand down like a slap.

  Crack.

  Like a puppet with its strings snapped, one of the wolves fell to the ground with a yelp. The others jumped in fright, retreating with their attention locked on Jamie and Val. They probably had no idea what happened, like Jamie. Yet as Val lifted her hand once more, both wolves seemed to get the message. It didn’t save them, but they fled all the same. With two more swipes in the air, both wolves stumbled to a stop.

  Although the effort was invisible, it was tangible in the panting and stumbling Val, leaning against the nearest tree for support. “I put a little too much into that,” she admitted, falling to the ground while laughing. Jamie couldn’t stop herself from wincing. The sight of the young girl, covered in the gore of her enemies and giggling at their demise was a little hard to stomach. She saw a grim reflection of herself in the giddy woman.

  This is what it takes to survive, Jamie reminded herself. Trying to focus on something else, Jamie pulled Val to her feet. “So?” She asked gently, “you figured out how to use mana, then.” Jamie was clued in enough to know this was probably the result of the mana attributes she had so quickly written off. Looking at the fallen wolves, it was hard to even see the damage. A small spot of blood where an invisible bullet had shot into their skulls was all, and even that took Val pointing it out.

  “Jamie,” Val said, still out of breath, “you have to see what this feels like.”