The evacuation plans had been going pretty well until we got to the lower districts.

  We received a block with several businesses, and I was trying to talk to folks in line at a bakery.

  "The city is calling for an evacuation," I said the words, trying not to look the patrons in the face. Several of them had the plumes of folks infected with the zombie plague. "The Stone Wardens are going to be bringing a cart by in the morning to move you to temporary tents outside the city. There's a major earthquake even that's been predicted by the [Archmage] and the Stone Wardens are helping ensure that the populace is safe."

  It felt like I'd given the evacuation talking points a hundred times.

  "What about me?" A young mother held a squirming baby. I instantly focused on the baby, checking for any signs of infection. The kid was in a t-shirt that had a blue jay lovingly embroidered on it. The kid's eyes were clear. I raised my gaze to meet her delicately plumed gray eyes. "That's what I thought," she said quietly as my heart sank.

  The rest of the busy shop looked at the two of us.

  "It's going to be a major earthquake, but it's ultimately up to you if you want to risk death." Meredeath's words fell on unhearing ears. It was the one-liner we'd been using all day, but it just felt hollow down here. We were not accepting those infected into the evacuation camp. I couldn't blame anyone for not wanting to leave their family.

  The group in the bakery, whether or not plumed, was giving us hostile looks. I grabbed Meredeath's elbow and pulled her out of the joint. We were outsiders because we weren't Cisperellians, but also because we were [Adventurers]. We'd given up our believability as [Mundanes] months ago.

  "I think we need to head back to headquarters and check in, get updates before doing another block." We didn't need to, but my feet hurt and I just didn't have in me to face down an angry mob. That's what this was becoming, too. These folks would not evacuate, and the more we pushed, the angrier they got. I wasn't sure whether it was the mwormy influence, or if it was just another thing in a long list of shitty things that had happened to the lowest level of the city.

  "Yeah, alright. I'm not sure why I'm out here anyway, I'm not the most convincing person on our team." I had to stop myself from arguing with Meredeath. She was a pretty convincing person when she wanted to be. She was a worthy member of the team. But I knew she didn't want to hear any of that. She had been pretty lackluster in her sales pitch for the evacuation the last couple of blocks. I didn't know whether it was because she was tired or missing Briyain.

  "Why'd you leave Briyain with Ash?" I asked, figuring that might be the easier angle to tackle. Meredeath had always had her Tuli Monster sidekick with her since they’d bonded. I'd found it odd that she hadn’t chosen to carry him along, even if it would have been extremely awkward.

  She said nothing at first as we walked towards our block captain. The guard was helping with the evacuation, the city had just finished a census, so they had pretty good records on who lived where. The guy took our clipboard, frowning at its incomplete status.

  "Sorry, man, we need a break," I explained. He grunted, scribbling some notes on the clipboard, going back to ignoring our existence. The bureaucracy in the city was some of the most organized and efficient I'd seen, but they had zero customer service.

  Meredeath hadn't responded to my inquiry, so I dropped it. She was a little touchy about Briyain, and I would not push. She kicked a pebble down the sidewalk. The quickest way to get her to clam up was to force the interaction. She'd either tell me or she wouldn't, and the more I brought it up, the more likely she wouldn't.

  The more time I spent in the city, the more impressed I was with the architecture and less impressed with the government. It was becoming obvious that the government neglected the lower levels. The money that went into them was for superficial upkeep, really the "look" of the city when entering. The residents, however, suffered. There were fewer health clinics, the sewage overran, and the lowest wage earners lived at the bottom. If you could afford it, you paid to go into the middle of the city. I wondered if this was by design, or if the older Stone Wardens were just as disgusted as I was becoming.

  "I imagine for the same reason you left Richard with Tandy." Meredeath bent down and picked up the pebble she'd been kicking. I blinked, at first missing the context.

  Then it hit, this is why she'd left Briyain behind?

  Touche. Sometimes you just needed to be alone with your thoughts. I was tired of Ash, and Tandy was a lot lately. I missed Leo. We could hang out and not say a word to each other for hours and be fine.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "What do you think is going to happen to the folks who are refusing to evacuate?" They were going to die. I knew they were. I'm sure [Self Criticism] was running, it gave me a pretty cynical outlook on life.

  "They're going to die," Meredeath voiced my inner thoughts. If she'd been Tandy, she would have said something positive like We'll figure something out. Or it's not our fault we can't save everyone, Cole. It was probably good that Meredeath and I would not date; we were too much alike. That spiral could easily turn into a sinkhole with no one able to pull us out of it.

  While we walked, some children were playing with a ball in the road. They were the same age as Hitch, my little brother. A little dark-haired girl was dribbling up the street, one defender away from the goalie-less old shoes sitting in the street that represented the goal posts. She juked right and as the defender opened up to block her, she kicked the ball between his legs and spun around him lightly tapping the ball into the goal.

  The onlookers erupted.

  It didn't matter that the 'goal' was two brown boots sitting in the middle of the street. The crowd acted as if this was an overtime goal for the city championship.

  The striker held both arms up in victory as her teammates chanted her name. She was a star, not some throwaway street rat.

  I unabashedly joined in the cheering. Her move had been as smooth as my best porridge. If I could move half as well, I'd be a [Warrior] instead of cheating death every day.

  She turned towards us, and I couldn't repress my gasp. Two long plumes accented her eyelashes.

  I audibly gasp.

  She was one of the poor souls who we were going to casually damn during the collapse of the city.

  "You see that?" I whispered to Meredeath, gesturing to the girl's eyes.

  Meredeath had been looking down at the rock in her hand. She didn't look up.

  "I'm trying not to look. It's only going to make what we have to do harder."

  She wasn't wrong, but it felt evil. Like this was worse than corruption. If we were going to leave all these people to die, it should hurt. It should hurt a lot.

  We wove around the kids, about half of them had plumes. I realized the group had actually split between the plumed and uninfected folks.

  "Who's winning?" I asked the crowd, curious if the girl's agility was an anomaly.

  "The bonded, but they're cheating." One of the normal kids answered unpleasantly.

  "We're not cheating, we're just quicker than you are!" A little boy in a little green shirt with the sleeves cut off insisted. He had small plumes that looked like they'd just sprouted.

  "You are not... the bugs make you that way." The little boy's face was beet red.

  "They could make you that way too."

  "My mom won't let me."

  The conversation moved on with both boys throwing raspberries at each other. Meredeath might be casual about the killing of these kids, but I wasn't.

  The dull thud of a Stone Warden could be heard. They'd been patrolling the city, trying to reacquaint themselves with their home since each had entered the sleep. For some the city hadn't changed, for others it was unimaginably different. Apparently the ossification process for the Wardens put them in a dream-like sleep that only made them superficially aware of the outside world. They weren't all-knowing guardians, but sleeping giants. I was a little sad to learn that the two colossal statues guarding Highgate were just that, statues, and not real stone relics of the first rulers of the city.

  The kids’ game hushed as they all turned to spot the city legend at the end of the block patrolling.

  A long beard with a warrior’s braid looked up at us. It was the Warden with the wolf companion that’d helped me rescue Richard. I almost smiled and waved. Almost. The Warden's footsteps were heavy, his cold eyes scanned side to side like he was on guard.

  Kids froze in their tracks, their ball bouncing uselessly into an ally. Everyone watched the Stone Warden in equal awe and fear.

  The man looked up at us, evaluating. Breath caught in the kids’ throats. Not just out of fear, but in being assessed by a legend. A trickle of terror entered my chest as his eyes swung to the kids, noting the plumes along many of their eyes.

  They'd talked about doing a purge, but I couldn't imagine in happening now. It wasn't time. We hadn't evaluated all the options. This couldn't be the moment. Not with Meredeath and me in the middle of it.

  Not while I was watching.

  A little hand slipped into mine. I squeezed it reassuringly, my free hand drifting to my hammer.

  The Stone Warden kept walking, his form disappearing towards the next block. I looked down at the little girl with long eye plumes holding my hand. Maybe it was an act playing on my heartstrings. The cold, logical [Adventurer] in me argued. This was part of their plan to survive. Too cute to kill.

  "Is it going to be okay?" she asked in a tiny voice, eyes wide as though I had the answer. As though I were the god that controlled her fate. A memory hit me of Saphira dancing around the table singing at me that I was going to get into trouble. Of Hitch asking Leo a hundred questions about what it was like being an [Adventurer].

  "It's going to be okay." Meredeath looked at me sharply, her face saying You can't promise him that. But for once, [Self Critic] was turned off.

  This was a promise I was going to keep.

  Stumbling Up will be stubbing book 1 the week of March 1st (Chapter 1-71)

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