I got a round of incredulous looks.
“How can you eat at a time like this?” said Danielle. “I’m so scared I feel sick.”
I shrugged. “Won’t change anything if we eat, except we won’t be hungry. Besides, we mostly have cold cuts in the fridge and it’s out, so it’s eat or it goes to waste.” I walked over and took a paper plate off a stack on the counter. “I’m going to eat. If anybody wants anything, there’s plenty.”
I put actions to words and made myself a ham and cheese sandwich and got some chips on the side. Not the leisurely diner breakfast I’d hoped to share with everyone this morning, but it was what it was. The others muttered, but eventually Danielle, Joe, and Anthony joined me. Mandy and Susan sat and watched us shuffle around each other. Everybody except Joe had had a mug in front of them when we came downstairs: he had a glass of water. Not caring for coffee, I got myself a glass as well and sat down.
The act of making breakfast, even a weird one like this, seemed to calm people a little. We ate in silence for the most part, Mandy and Susan getting up to top off their coffee when the rest of us were seated. Mike and Samantha came down just as I was finishing my sandwich. I eat too fast, sue me.
“Morning,” I said with a rueful smile. “You guys read the messages?”
“Yes,” said Samantha, her eyes a little wild. “Did one of you…”
“No,” I said firmly. “I don’t trance with other people, period, and I see them too. I already picked a class and showed everybody that it really works.”
“He did, guys,” said Anthony. “See that?” He pointed at the scraps of the water bottle, which no one had bothered to clean up. Our deposit was probably toast anyway. “He blew it up. With magic. Real magic. Like, Harry Potter shit.”
Kids today, I thought. It’s all Harry Potter to them. Nobody’s called me Gandalf yet. I kept that to myself.
“We’re eating, if you’re hungry. Power’s out, food won’t keep. There’s coffee, though you might have to make some more.” I nodded at the counter, where there was barely an inch in the pot Anthony had made.
They looked at each other, faces falling.
“We have to get home,” said Mike. “Our kids are with my parents. We just took a weekend. Just a weekend…” He looked like he was about to cry.
That’s right, they’re married, I remembered.
“It’s not your fault, Mike. Nobody could have seen this coming. Just breathe.”
Mike gave me a disbelieving look, though he did take a deep breath more or less reflexively. I’ve said that a lot. His wife put her hands on his arm and squeezed. Before they could start to panic I spoke up again.
“Do your parents live in the country? Big city? Small town?”
“A small town,” said Mike. “About a thousand people. Why?”
“If this is everywhere, the cities are going to be nightmares. No power. No communications. No transportation - if Anthony didn’t tell you, his car won’t start and I bet the rest of them won’t either. People in the country are cut off and on their own. They might be in the best place they possibly could for right now. We have to keep each other safe so you can get back to them, okay?” I kept my voice as calm and reassuring as I could. Years of experience, hundreds of hours of training and study. My best was pretty good.
He took another deep breath, and Samantha joined him.
“You’re right. We have to be strong. For them. So what’s the plan?”
“We were just talking about that,” I said. “Let me be clear, I’m not in charge.” I looked at Mandy, whose face softened ever so slightly. “Nobody is. Once we figure this out, people can do what they want. If you’re hungry, grab some food, and then we’ll talk.”
I got up and walked into the living room, where I found the guidebook on the coffee table right where I remembered it. Walking back into the kitchen, I sat down next to Danielle and said, “Okay. Maps in this book. But first, let’s all get on the same page as to what we know…”
For ten minutes or so we went over what we’d discussed before, trying to even it out now that we were all awake. Neither Mike nor Samantha had picked a class or a perk, after Anthony had warned them to be careful and not let the messages pick anything for them by default. Also, we all got out our keys and, in pairs, slipped out to the big concrete apron where people could park next to the cabin. As I suspected, none of the cars would so much as turn over, nor would the radios work. Nobody heard anything from the nearby woods, either.
After that, we discussed what to do. Mandy was still iffy on walking. Susan, to the extent she spoke at all, indicated she wasn’t interested in going anywhere but wanted to sit tight and wait for help. I bit back the question of “From who?” that almost slipped out. Everybody else was at least slightly in favor of walking to the nearest town, the ridiculously-named ‘Pigeon Forge,’ about ten miles away.
“Okay,” I said after a while. “Susan and Mandy, if you want to stay here, we’ll either come back for you if we can’t find anything or get to town, or try to send help. Mandy, you’ve got your gun, so at least you’re not helpless. The rest of us, let’s coordinate our abilities if we can. Anybody else a gamer?”
Joe of course immediately piped up, and Anthony said he’d played some computer RPG as well.
“Okay. We’re… I can’t believe I’m saying this… we’re forming a party. We have to balance it. Joe’s a Defender, I’m thinking he’s a good tank candidate. I’m a Mage, I’m damage, but I can heal some too.” I paused and looked around. “If you’re not a gamer, let me explain a little bit. In fantasy games, people who play together form ‘parties’ of characters. Everybody in a party has one or more specialist roles, kind of like how in the Army some people are infantry and some people are medics and some people are pilots and so forth. That make sense?”
Everyone nodded, Joe and Anthony actually smiling just a bit.
“Good. There’s three basic roles in a party. Tank, damage, and healing is how we usually refer to them. Tanks are tough, their job is to keep attackers busy so they don’t attack weaker members of the party. They worry more about being able to take a hit than hitting hard themselves. Damagers are the opposite. They have physical or magical attacks that do a lot of damage. Sometimes they’re pretty weak so it’s really important not to let them get hit, that’s why the tank has to keep them safe. Healing has magic or spiritual energy that heals damage done by the attackers. Usually they keep the tank healed so they can keep fighting. If the tank goes down…” I frowned.
“What happens if the tank goes down,” said Joe, “Is that the attackers go after the less tough members of the party.” He also looked grim. “And, unless the attackers aren’t very powerful, what usually happens is what we call a wipe. As in, the party gets wiped out. Game over.”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “And so far as I know there’s no restarts in this game. We can’t let that happen. We don’t fight if we don’t have to. If we have to fight we fight to win.”
“I don’t know if I can fight,” said Samantha. “I don’t like violence.” She looked pale and was clinging to Mike's arm.