Chương 115: 111: Back-to-School Shopping

Missy said goodbye to the folks from Spruce Gap, who were all busy stuffing their faces with pizza. Before we could leave, though, Mr. Upright jumped to his feet, wiping his mouth with his palms and then his hands together, before holding them up in dismay.

"I would want to shake hands or maybe even hug you if I weren't covered in pizza grease. But thank you so, so much for your help. Your advice and your back-up and… I don't know what we would have done without you." The guy whose name I thought was Javi had his mouth full, but he was nodding fervently while he tried to finish his bite. After he finally swallowed, he pointed at Upright and said, "What he said." Missy laughed and said, "It was my pleasure."

Then she hesitated for a moment before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the key fob to the Highlander. She held it out to Upright.

"Here."

"Car keys?" he asked in surprise.

"The Highlander outside is mine. Still runs, or at least it did twenty minutes ago. I know you said the Sovereign Ridge drove you here in their pickups, so you need a getaway car." Glancing at me, she added, "And it might be really helpful if you could move it away from the rift entrance. Although, fair warning, the military might have put a tracker on it." Upright, aka Mike, blinked at her.

I could tell that he wanted to ask questions, probably a lot of them, but she shoved the fob in his direction and said, "Long story. Not important. If they show up, put 'em to work."

"Um, okay. Thank you?" He took the fob, looked at it, then stuck it into his pocket.

"How will I get it back to you?" She shook her head and said, voice dry, "I've been told gas vehicles are going the way of the dodo, so use it for as long as it lasts, then let it go." Then she pointed at me and said, "Make sure Olivia gives you some significant guidance. Ask her lots of questions. And when you find the offworld gate, step through it, even if it's just for a couple seconds."

"See, I could have told them that and it might have counted as guidance," I grumbled.

"Now I'm gonna have to come up with something else." The others mostly looked confused, but Missy gave them a little wave and started walking, so I said, "I'll be right back." Zelda wavered, not because Tessa was petting her, but because at least a couple of slices of pizza still held pepperoni and someone might fall for the pleading in her brown eyes, so I added, "You can stay here, too, Z, it'll be just a minute."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that we'd gone on a ten-minute errand which had already taken well over an hour, people were waiting at the enclave gate. David was pacing, Jack and Megan were clearly in the middle of an argument, and Pen was standing by quietly, looking worried, Gus in her arms, the dogs by her side. David's response to the sight of Missy was wordless relief; he crossed the distance to us in about two steps and wrapped his arms around her.

The only one who moved faster was Bear, who hurled herself at me like I was the proverbial soldier returning from a long deployment. I dropped to my knees before she could knock me over and put my arms around her. Her entire body was in motion, every bit of it saying the same thing: No leave, no leave, no leave! Riley didn't move quite as fast, but he loped over to join us, too.

"Sorry," I said to all of them, dogs and people combined.

"We ran into a little trouble. I'll let Missy tell you all about it, though. I've got to go back and help some people. It shouldn't take more than an hour or so." No leave! Bear's ears tipped toward me, and she tried to bury her head in my non-existent lap.

"You can come with me," I told her, resting a hand on both shoulders so that she could feel my commitment.

"You and Riley both. We'll explore a rift, help some people, kill some easy monsters. Sound good?" Riley was not nearly as anxious about my absence, but he had his nose in the air and was sniffing, little delicate whiffs. Then he dropped his head and looked me straight in the eyes, his gaze accusing. Pizza? Bear pulled back. Pizza? I dropped my eyes. Guilt-tripped by my dogs. But, you know, it was totally fair. I had, in fact, eaten pizza without saving either the crust or pieces of pepperoni for them.

What kind of dog owner was I? Answer: the evil kind, obviously.

"Yes, there's also pizza."

"Sounds great," Jack said.

"Let's go."

"Are they bugs?" Pen said.

"I'll kill bugs for pizza."

"I was sort of hoping you guys would plan the search for Jules while I was taking care of this," I said, looking up at them.

"Megan can do that," Jack said.

"She'll be good at it. She loves to organize things. All the things." Megan opened her mouth to say something snappish, then took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes, and said, "In fact, I'd be delighted to make that plan for you, Olivia. It would be my pleasure to help you in a way that actually helps you, instead of expecting you to help me all the time. The way other people do." She said the last with a glare directed at Jack.

He opened his mouth, clearly ready to say something rude back to his sister, so I stood quickly.

"Wonderful, great, thank you. Jack, Pen, dogs, let's go. We'll bring back some pizza." Missy pulled a little away from David's still ongoing hug, patted his arm, and said, "Have fun. We'll see you soon." Pen looked wide-eyed, but she stepped forward, joining us willingly enough. Gus, still clutched in her arms, yawned, warning me that I'd better not be taking his person into danger. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

We popped out into the atrium of the shopping mall, first me, then everyone I'd brought with me.

"A mall?" Jack said.

"I thought we were going to a rift." Pen didn't say anything, but she was looking in every direction at once. Gus chirruped at her, too tight, and she relaxed her grip and let him leap to the ground. Riley sniffed the air, then headed down the concourse without waiting for us. I didn't know whether it was the pizza or Zelda's presence calling his name, but I waved toward him and said, "Riley knows where we're going, just follow him." As we all headed off, I said to Jack, "This is a rift. Just a weird one."

"A shopping mall rift?" Jack asked.

"That's what this place is? A shopping mall?" Pen said the last couple of words as if she were using a foreign language.

"I thought a mall was…" She let her words fade away.

"What did you think it was?" I asked. Gus was stalking in front of Pen, his tail held high, clearly doubtful about this whole business.

"A place with a pool?" she said, sounding apologetic.

"That turned green as a message from God about the corruption of the sinners? I know that was a long while ago, but my daddy preached about it for weeks." I didn't laugh, but it was a close call.

"You've never been in a shopping mall?" Jack said to her.

"I guess there aren't a lot of them around anymore, but we always went back-to-school shopping at the outlet mall." A tiny smile crossed her lips.

"I never been nowhere 'fore now." She glanced into one of the clothing stores as we walked by and added, "My mama made my clothes, mostly, and I didn't go to school, so no back-to-school for me." She shrugged.

"Can we take clothes out of here?" Jack asked me. I waggled my hand back and forth.

"Some of the stores are fake, but we can loot the real ones. As soon as you take something out of a store, though, the mannequins come to life and try to kill you."

"Excellent," Jack said.

"Hey, Pen, you want to pick up some more clothes while we're here?"

"We should grab some weapons, too," I replied before she could.

"But first," I nodded toward the people who were waiting for us up ahead, "we need to get a couple people into the System and help some others get a few more levels. Then we're going to claim the rift, make sure these folks can come and go as they please, but lock it down so that the assholes who tossed them in here can't ever get in again." And that was what we did. We started in the sporting goods store. It was trapped, but I walked through and let every trap fire.

The darts might have hurt someone not yet in the System, but to me they felt like Nerf weapons, while the tripwires were more like trip strings. Once it was de-trapped, everyone picked their weapon of choice. There weren't as many as I'd hoped, because many of the items in the store turned out to be insubstantial, just illusions. Our hands passed through objects when we tried to pick them up.

It made me wonder about the Dollar General: everything I'd touched in there seemed real, but I'd only touched a fraction of the stuff on the shelves. Maybe rifts solidified mana objects when people interacted with them? And maybe this rift couldn't do that because there were so many of us inside it? Or possibly this rift was putting more of its mana into its size, because it did feel bigger than my backyard rift. If I were a real Rift Keeper, I'm sure I would have known those answers.

I didn't want to get into a complicated conversation with Chelsea right now, since we were kind of busy, but I'd have to ask her later and see if she knew. At any rate, Bobby grabbed the last baseball bat. He taught eighth grade, but he was also the baseball coach, so it was already his tool of choice. He also found catcher's gear: shin guards, a chest protector, even a mask. Makeshift armor, but he swore it would be great for facing off against the evil dolls.

Leon had taken a rogue class as soon as he got his first level, mostly because he was trying to escape from the horde of mannequins chasing him. It had come with a [Backstab] ability, though, so he picked up a hunting knife. Tracy, a seventh-grade teacher, was middle-aged, maybe in her mid-forties. She clearly hated the entire idea of weapons. She eyed the bows, then admitted she couldn't hit a trash can with a tissue. She picked up a camp hatchet, swung it once with a sigh, then set it back down again.

I finally suggested a spear, like I'd suggested to Cody. A stick to maintain distance, with slashing and stabbing power on the end: what's not to love, right? Finding the right stick was a pain, though. Trekking poles were crap because the telescoping joints were weak points, and ski poles were too short. We finally decided on a kayak paddle handle, minus the blades. Some Gorilla tape to hold a knife in place, and she was all set. Jeff found the most interesting weapon of the lot: a fishing gaff.

It was basically a big, scary metal hook on a pole. I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but he seemed comfortable with it. Tessa had her fire abilities, but took some bear spray for backup. I put two camp hatchets, a hunting knife, an extra can of bear spray, a crossbow and a regular bow, plus all the bolts and arrows, into my companion pouch, basically clearing out the store's supply of potential weapons. The next time I ran into someone who needed a weapon, I'd have options for them.

While the Spruce Gap folks armed (and armored) up, Pen, Jack, and Gus went clothes shopping. Pen came back, cheeks flushed pink with pleasure, wearing a sage-green fleece jacket and carrying a full shopping bag, with Gus draped over her shoulder.

"I took three pairs of blue jeans," she told me.

"Do you think that was greedy of me? Jack said it was okay, but I think he thinks everything is okay. He wanted me to take all the jewelry from the jewelry store, too, but that felt too much like stealing." I did not laugh. I just said, "Yep, I think that's fine. This rift instance will stop existing once we finish with it, so we might as well take anything we can use with us. But maybe you should go see if any of the backpacks are real, because it's gonna be tough to fight monsters while carrying a shopping bag."

Gus meowed loudly and with conviction. That boy has terrible taste. He told her to take the green jacket instead of the blue. Green! Does he not know what color her eyes are? Is he colorblind? Pen's eyes met mine, and I could see she'd understood every word, her expression a mix of delight and amusement. She turned her face into the shoulder Gus rested on and dropped a kiss on his head.

"Next time," she promised him.

"The blue jacket was too small." With everyone ready, including Jack wearing a backpack filled with Pen's new clothes, we headed into the mall. Missy, Mike, and Javi had already cleared out all the anti-shoplifting mannequins, so we walked down the concourse toward Lacy's. Obviously, none of us had ever harvested a shopping mall rift before, but the anchor stores seemed like the likeliest locations for monster zones. I was out in front with the dogs, walking briskly.

I was paying attention, keeping my eyes open for monsters or more trips, but I wasn't actually afraid of either, so it didn't slow me down. Leon walked with me, Zelda between us. He wanted to know about the dogs and how I'd trained them to help me fight. More than anyone else, he knew that Zelda's rapid-fire destruction of the mannequins was kind of amazing. Mike and Javi hadn't seen her in action, and the others hadn't fought them yet. But Leon had had to run from them.

His injuries were healed, but while he walked, he rubbed his hand along his leg as if he could still feel the pain. Of course, Zelda's fighting skills had exactly zip to do with me. But I tried to answer his questions and give him suggestions. His mom's dog was a Maltese, the classic cuddle buddy, and I wasn't sure anything he or the System could do would turn a Maltese into a fighter, but it might be worth a try.

Certainly it was worth trying to get the dog into the System, at least so the poor thing would be safe from mana poisoning. We were nearing the open doors to Lacy's when he stopped walking. He blinked, staring into space, eyes with that typical HUD focus.

"Oh," he said. And then, "Oh, wow."