Chương 49: Chapter 46: Dust to Dust

Jace and I stepped into the dark, cold interior of the metal shop inside the Agricultural Sciences building. Navigating past the silent weld stations, Jace went straight for the instructor's desk in the back corner and pulled a heavy ring of master equipment keys from the top drawer. We walked back out to the gravel lot where the old Caterpillar backhoe loader sat idle. I climbed into the cab and turned the ignition. The engine turned over with a dry, hollow whine but refused to catch.

I tried it a second time, then a third, the starter straining against the cold block. On the fourth desperate crank, the old diesel engine finally coughed, sputtered, and roared to life, sending a thick plume of black exhaust into the night air. Jace hopped up onto the side step to ride along as I navigated the heavy machine out toward the edge of the campus, clearing the concrete walkways until we reached the border of the adjacent almond orchard.

Using the rear controls, I sank the backhoe's bucket into the dirt, digging a wide, deep trench as far down as the hydraulic arms would physically allow. Once the pit was dug, I swung the seat back around and drove the loader across the main campus to the front administrative loop. Joe, Pete, and Alex were already waiting by the curb, having finished sweeping the courtyard.

They had collected whatever gear the fallen guards had on them, though it wasn't much to speak of—just a handful of hunting daggers, a couple of cheap recurve bows likely looted from the Big 5 sporting goods store down the street, and a miscellaneous assortment of small-caliber handguns. The most notable haul came from the two Level 8 Rogues. Each had been wearing a leather shoulder bandolier fitted with a half-dozen well-balanced throwing knives.

Tucked into the loops of those same straps were a pair of small glass vials filled with a thick, dark liquid that gave off a sharp, acidic scent. I figured it had to be the same poison the first rogue had coated his blade with before stabbing me. Alex carefully took the vials, wanting to see if he could use his own interface or a workshop later on to analyze the substance. We began the grim task of clearing the pavement.

The bodies of the ground combatants were lifted into the front loader bucket and carted out to the orchard pit. In total, there were seventeen casualties from the outer perimeter alone, requiring three separate trips back and forth through the shadows to clear the field. Retrieving the archers from the rooftops proved a bit more difficult. For the large gymnasium, Joe and Pete climbed the exterior fire escape ladder up to the roofline while I raised the front loader bucket as high as the hydraulics would stretch.

Working together, they rolled the body over the edge, dropping it cleanly into the metal bucket below. We repeated the process for the other two classroom wings, lifting Pete high enough to reach the eaves so he could pull the remaining scouts down. Within an hour, all the enemy dead had been deposited into the deep trench in the orchard and covered with a thick layer of soil. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The only thing left to do was attend to Johnny.

I didn't want to bury a member of our team in the orchard alongside the bandits, nor did I want his final resting place to be out in the open agricultural plots we would eventually till and plant for food. After a quiet discussion, we decided to dig a standard-sized grave in one of the landscaped grassy common areas bordering the front parking lot. We carefully lowered Johnny's wrapped body into the ground, stood together in the dark to say our goodbyes, and I used a shovel to fill the earth back in.

We would carve a proper headstone for him once the settlement was functional.

"Did he have any family left in the area?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my forehead as I leaned on the shovel.

"No, not around here," Joe replied quietly, looking down at the fresh mound of earth.

"His folks moved out of state sometime last year. To be honest, before the grid went dark, Johnny was talking about following them out there if his slot at the police academy didn't open up soon."

"Alright," I said, putting a hand on Joe's shoulder.

"Let's set a rotating watch and try to get a few hours of rest. We'll keep one drone in the air to monitor the outer perimeter fence, and we'll keep one guard inside the main building to guard the operator." I looked over at Pete, trying to inject a small bit of normalcy back into the night.

"Tomorrow morning, as soon as the sun hits those roof panels and the solar arrays power up the buildings, I'm going to run a full check on the facilities to see what's operational. Even with the main grid dead, the pressure tanks for the school's water well should still have a little life left in them. Pete, that means your toilets should still flush. They're down the hall in the staff lounge. On your way back, see if you can pry the front panel off the vending machines, too." Pete offered a faint smile and nodded.

Before settling into a decent reclining chair in one of the inner administrative offices, I pulled my radio mic and hit the button for an update. I made sure we had a live link with someone at both Chad's place and my mother's house. I kept the transmission brief, letting them know the school was secure and the mission was technically complete, but that we had lost Johnny during the final breach.

I didn't bother mentioning the new system quest for the crystal core just yet; that conversation could wait until the families were safely moved in and the foundations of the community were actually established. I informed them that the team would remain on-site through the night to hold the perimeter, and that the main convoy should begin packing vehicles to start the relocation at first light.

With no other pressing tasks left to manage, I put my boots up on the corner of the principal's desk, leaned back into the worn leather chair, and closed my eyes for a short, uneasy nap.