Richard had no appetite. Fang tried to get him to eat, but Fang didn’t seem to have much of one, either. Richard had reached level nine, so he went farming as Marcus took Amber and Fang out with him to scavenge. It meant Richard had plenty of time to be alone with his thoughts.

  He understood why Dmitri had to do what he did, but seeing it happen left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. Dmitri’s powers had scared Richard. They should scare anyone. Their leader could strip him of his choices and force him to do what he wanted. Richard could still remember how his body could not move after Dmitri ordered it to freeze.

  Damn it all, he hated being alone with his thoughts. He understood why Dmitri did what he did, but it didn’t mean he had to agree with it. Did he agree with it? This entire thing seemed like a lose-lose situation. They were down two people; a choice Dmitri willingly made to keep Richard safe. Richard didn’t dare entertain the thought that it might be better if he left so that two people could stay. Looking purely at numbers, it made sense to sacrifice the one to keep two. But they had tried to murder him.

  Richard rubbed his forehead before he returned to spreading the manure. He could now name every person in base two. In fact, he had plenty of time alone with his thoughts; he could even do it now. He glanced at the fields, naming all the farmers in his mind. Elwyndor, Rochel, Britanny, Walter, Kendra. He thought of those with a special gift, quickly running through their names. Timick, Lucy, and Kali. He then thought of the small group of scavengers. Marcus, Elias, and Savannah. The three guards were Izzy, Shrub, and Evan. Finally, the newbies. Him, Fang, Amber, and Leylah.

  Richard did the math in his head. Five farmers, three scavengers, three guards, three special gifts, and four newbies. Eighteen. There were eighteen people here at base camp two. Eighteen people against an entire ecosystem trying to kill them. If they were going to get more people, Richard and his group of newbies needed to level up fast so they could get their class, then they’d get more newbies. Then most of base two would be inhabited by newbies.

  He blinked, trying not to process that thought too deeply. If another attack happened like with that demon tree when half the camp would be below level fifteen…

  He squeezed his eyes shut, telling himself to stop thinking about this. They could rebuild. What Dennison said wasn’t true. There was no way base two got worse because Richard was blessed by Chaos. What did that even look like? This entire apocalypse was because of Chaos. It wasn’t like he had a Chaos beacon on him that alerted all the other creatures to him.

  Right?

  He rubbed his forehead again, letting out a breath.

  “Hey, Richard.”

  He spun around, surprised. Because there were only six people farming, they were pretty spread out, and therefore there was even less of an opportunity to talk to anyone. Dmitri had walked up the rows silently. That, or Richard was so completely lost in his thoughts that he didn’t see the leader until he spoke.

  “Hey,” Richard said.

  Dmitri. He forgot to add Dmitri to the list of survivors. So… nineteen. Nineteen total survivors in base two. It still didn’t feel like enough, especially with the thoughts warring inside Richard’s head about just how much power Dmitri had.

  Dmitri pulled out another ladle, scooping up the manure out of Richard’s bucket to help spread it.

  “Why do we have to do this so much?” Richard poured the manure onto the ground. “I remember little of my past life, but this feels excessive. I doubt we poured fertilizer on the plants every other day.”

  Dmitri kept pouring. “Do you remember the dead ground outside the walls? Right before the forest?”

  “Yeah.”

  Dmitri nodded. “That’s why. Even the dirt around all the buildings. Absolutely nothing can grow in dead earth. Fertilizer is an almost daily requirement here because whenever we drop the fertilizer, every nutrient immediately gets sucked up by the dead earth.” Dmitri sighed as he spread more around the plants. “The plants actually give us a better understanding of the state of the apocalypse than the attacks. When I first got here, it was bad. We were spreading manure every few days, but then it got better. To the point we only needed to spread it once a week. Then it got bad again. We are to every other day, which is something I’ve never experienced before. I doubt we’ll survive long if we need to spread manure every day. We simply don’t have the manpower to do it.”

  Manpower. Like extra people. Yet Dmitri seemed so ready to toss two farmers into the apocalypse. Richard frowned, concentrating on his plot of farm as he kept spreading.

  “I know you have an issue with how I handled Ike and Dennison. Understand pent-up feelings could get you dead in a place like this, so let me hear it.”

  Richard studied Dmitri. The leader of base two knew this situation bothered him. He didn’t know why it didn’t seem to bother anyone else, but he was at least glad his feelings were acknowledged.

  “That power you have to freeze people and make them tell the truth…” Richard trailed off, spreading more manure onto the ground. He shook his head, not entirely sure how to say this.

  “It’s overpowered and could corrupt me,” Dmitri finished.

  Richard said nothing, though he met Dmitri’s gaze. Somehow, hearing Dmitri admit this eased the tension out of Richard’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

  Dmitri nodded, the concern never leaving his face. “I know. It’s why I never use it. Those abilities are still in their basic forms.” He sighed as they walked forward a bit to spread more manure. “It is one of my abilities given to me as leader of base two. I understand their need, but I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t understand their need. It’s way too powerful for someone to have. No one should have something like that.” Even as those words spilled out of Richard’s mouth, he thought of the time anomaly. A part of him wondered if it was a precursor to what his gift might be. If that were the case, he needed to refuse. To control time was way too powerful.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “It’s why I have my four leaders. It’s why I have someone like you.”

  “Just get rid of it. You shouldn’t have this power,” Richard said.

  “I can’t. Despite all the good Order gives us, she gives us the occasional power that is too strong for one person to have. There is a natural cycle to these things. As long as I remain within my bounds, base two won’t mutiny and force me out of camp.”

  “The thing that scares me is that I can’t keep any secrets. With one word, you could force me to spill everything, and no one should have that ability. You could abuse it.”

  Dmitri straightened, glancing at Richard. “It has been my experience that people who react that way are usually hiding a pretty big secret. Do you have something you’d like to tell me?”

  Words clogged his throat, and his eyes widened just a little. It was like Dmitri went ahead and used his power against Richard. He cleared his throat.

  “No, no.” Richard tried to save it, despite Dmitri cocking an eyebrow. “I’m just deeply concerned. What you did was a huge violation of rights, and you can’t just go around doing that to people.”

  “Do I? Just go around and do that to people?” Dmitri asked.

  Richard sighed. No, Dmitri didn’t. In fact, he had a strong feeling that if Dennison and Ike hadn’t tried to kill him last night, Richard might have gone the rest of his life here not knowing Dmitri possessed such an ability.

  “Believe me. I only use it in life-or-death situations. I know what abilities I have, and I know the best thing I can do is use them to serve base two.”

  Richard ground his teeth as he focused on his farming chores. Unfortunately, it wasn’t interesting to him.

  “Chaos thrives in secrecy,” Dmitri said. “I won’t force you to reveal your secrets, but it would be wise to come to me when you’re comfortable telling me everything. Chaos has too much control over our lives right now.”

  Richard moved his head from side to side, feeling something pop. White-hot anger flooded his veins, and he was surprised at how strong it was. He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm himself down a little before he dared open his mouth.

  “Then why don’t you stand on the rooftops and let everyone know I remember my last name?” Richard asked. Dmitri’s eyes twitched. Richard flung a ladleful of manure a bit too hard, as it splattered on the ground. Richard pursed his lips, then tried to relax. “Everyone has secrets they don’t want to share. You didn’t want to share my secret because you were afraid I’d be targeted. Well, it already happened. And now we’re down to less than twenty people in base two, spreading manure practically every day.” Richard flung another collection of manure onto the ground. This time it splattered and hit his pant leg. Dmitri glanced at it, then at Richard. He seemed to wait for Richard to acknowledge it, or at least the anger that he felt. Instead, Richard scooped up some more and moved to the next plant.

  “You remember what I said when you first got here?” Dmitri asked.

  He didn’t respond. To be honest, Dmitri had said a lot of things when Richard first got here, because he was in a completely different world in a place that wanted to kill him. Dmitri seemed to have already picked up on his train of thought, because he kept talking. “I told you that you shouldn’t trust us. Because as soon as you realize that nobody trusts anyone, we can all agree to put that aside and work together.”

  Richard scooped up another ladle, this time doing his best to sprinkle it on the ground. He still had no desire to talk, though Dmitri’s words sparked that memory.

  “It’s fine you don’t trust me. Whatever world you used to live in that ingrained in your mind that criminals deserve rights and perhaps a chance to try again, it is very noble. But it’s for a different world not hit with an apocalypse.”

  Richard was afraid he’d grind his teeth down to nubs the longer Dmitri talked. He hated how much this warred within him.

  “What I saw was Dennison trying to murder you, and I heard from his own mouth that he would try again. That is the only justice system we have time for.”

  “And if I don’t like it?” Richard asked.

  “You can leave.”

  Richard narrowed his eyes, and Dmitri raised his gaze to meet his. Despite being a lot shorter, Dmitri could certainly command. Dmitri had, of course, used that phrase a lot when Richard first came here.

  “What if I just challenge you for your position?” Richard asked.

  Dmitri’s face broke into a smile, like Richard had said something funny. He then reached up and touched his own throat, and said, “Truth.” The word sounded deeply in Richard’s own soul, but he was more confused about why Dmitri did it to himself.

  Dmitri stared right at Richard. “You could try. You wouldn’t be the first. Try telling other people that you’d like to lead by giving criminals a chance to explain themselves. To take time out of your incredibly busy day to do detective work and figure out why they did what they did. Try convincing Elwyndor that you need her help and pull her away from her farming that now takes up most of her day and well into the night. I hate the power I have to force people to tell the truth, but I use it because we don’t have time to have a proper justice system. Everyone who is part of base two knows this, except for the newbies. This is your taste of it now. The survival of base two and its members depends on swift justice. I don’t expect you to like it. No one does when a crime happens within our walls. It’s why we have these laws so people stop trying to kill each other.” Dmitri slowed down, almost like he was finished talking, but something was bubbling up inside him, demanding to be told. It was this that Richard slowed, almost bracing himself for this piece of knowledge Dmitri struggled to admit. “Also, this ability needs to be used three times before the cooldown can start ticking down, so I used this as an opportunity to use up the last one.”

  Richard couldn’t help himself and chuckled as he moved on to the next plant. Dmitri grabbed more manure and spread it. Richard sighed. “I don’t like it. I don’t think I ever will, but… thank you for telling me all this. It gives me something to think about.”

  Dmitri nodded, then kept working with Richard. The truth was, it had helped. Dmitri had acknowledged Richard’s feelings. He understood an apocalypse was difficult for a lengthy justice system. If anything, this conversation helped Richard not to be so afraid of Dmitri.

  It was a long day. So much that Richard shot a jealous look toward Amber and Fang when they came limping back to base two. He was happy to see they weren’t covered in blood and watched as they walked out of the healers’ building and helped farm.

  On his way to dinner, Elias fell in step with him. Richard felt his stomach churn.

  “It’s insane the power Dmitri has, isn’t it?” Elias asked.

  Richard had to acknowledge that white-hot anger did not flood his veins, but there was a deep desire to shut down anything Elias might suggest.

  “I’m not interested. Despite how much I don’t like that power, it’s not enough that I’d ever team up with the likes of you,” Richard said.

  Elias shot him an annoyed look. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Does that phrase not resonate with your Earth soul?”

  Richard’s brows furrowed. “Yeah. It does. It sounds stupid, though. Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it. I will never be so desperate as to join sides with you on anything.”

  “Sounds like you’ve been hearing rumors about me,” Elias said.

  Yes, he had. But he had to admit to himself that the main reason Richard didn’t want to be around him was because of the leopard incident that Elias no longer remembered. That man freely fed him to a leopard so he could run away to safety.

  “Let’s just say I never want to be with you when your true colors might show. I don’t know what I’d see, but I already know I won’t like the options.”

  He picked up his pace toward the mess hall, glad that Elias didn’t bother following him.