AW? Chapter 08 (Patreon)

She came onto the stage and began speaking. I kept close by just in case we had another person hiding a gun and thought they’d be cute by shooting her for no reason. She spoke loudly quieting the murmuring of the crowd. “Hello everyone. My name is Charlotte. I’d just like to discuss the plans we have so far. We’re going to set up bases at all the discussed areas and anyone who doesn’t want to go to any of the three can separate from the three groups.”

Fuck I didn’t even realize I didn’t know her name. She looked around and pointed out people. “The old man over there is going to be leading the group to Texas. It will be slightly harder living but there are more Walmarts but food shouldn’t be a problem for the first few years and we’re speculating that there will be a food-growing power.” The old man in our group waved his hand before she pointed to someone I didn’t know.

“The man over there will be leading the Hoover Dam group. It’s a bit risky as someone will need to figure out how to route power around the area but it had the best chance of building a massive city around itself. This is the most likely to have the easiest time with power but if enough people move there you might have water problems in the future.”

Charlotte was doing a great job making the places sound appealing but also telling them about each of their weaknesses. Texas had the most guns so it was probably safer against zombies, but less safe to people. She didn’t mention that though, some might not be thinking of how evil people were. “The final group will be heading to build around the Great Lakes. This has the biggest area to build around and can hold a bigger population but any city will need to be built from scratch.”

Out of all the choices I think that is the best for building the biggest population around. It’s best to have some semblance of the past. Water and electricity were going to be the two most important resources going forward and this handled one completely. I did think I could handle the electricity problem as well, but it would be for a smaller group. The electricity I could bring could only support about three hundred people if it was stretched to the maximum.

Most of the group began to disperse toward their collective leaders as we began to make our way toward the Great Lakes. We had only made it out of the city and a few miles passed all the traffic before Charlotte called for us to bunker down for the night. It was at another hotel with a gas station across the street. We grabbed handfuls of food as I loaded up all the perishable stuff I could as I started to prepare a big meal for everyone in the hotel kitchen.

The power was still on thankfully. Who knew how long it would last but it wouldn’t last forever. I learned how to make food for a lot of people at once from one of my jobs. I had some people bussing out the prepared meals for people while I prepped the ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast. Cooking was important to me so I was glad I learned enough to make delicious food so I didn’t have to rely on anyone else. There was another chef who did his own thing so there was a choice on what people could eat and my meal won out over his, which felt nice.

As I sat down to eat, Charlotte and the teen girl came over to sit down. She already looked exhausted from delegating tasks and I knew I made the right decision not to become the leader. Sure I could in the future if things got worse but until we were settled down she would spend every waking moment spinning plates while I could get stronger. Speaking of which. I slapped forty sources down for each of them before pulling out a power source and hiding it in Charlotte's pile.

It sucked they’d need four hundred sources to reach the cap but it wasn’t really a problem. In just a few days we’d hit that limit and I could probably add one or two more people without slowing down the speed of their growth by too much. As the leader, she needed to be strong enough to defend herself. She kept eating her curry(the other chef made) and some of the sources alternating between the two. I was a tiny bit upset she picked the other chef's meal but it wasn’t that big of a deal. More people ate my stew than his curry.

I could tell he was a better chef though, it was his job for longer than it was mine. He was just missing the ingredients to make a better meal. I was just happy to be skilled enough to compete with him on some meals but I would become his helper in the kitchen as time passed. I couldn’t focus on getting better at things like that as I had to make my group stronger… Was it worth bringing the chef into our group?

Charlotte whispered. “I… Can’t eat this source. I have one already.” She pushed the power source towards the emo girl whose name I still didn’t hear. I asked. “What’s your name?” She put the power source in her mouth even though it was still covered in Charlotte’s saliva before she looked up. “Oh, me? It’s Beatrice but you should have heard it when we first grouped up?”

I scratched the back of my head. “I… Kind of get lost in my own thoughts often. If you guys said your names I wasn’t paying attention, probably too busy trying to think of ways to survive or give the system ideas to increase my helper title.” Both looked at me again in surprise as they asked. “Helper title?” Once again scratching my chin as I hadn’t gotten the chance to shave so the stubble was itchy. “Yeah, you can get titles that provide buffs. I got helper for giving the system an idea and overachiever for reaching 5 in all my stats.”

We spent the rest of the day talking before everyone bunkered down in the cleared bottom floor of the hotel. I was tired almost unbelievably so I got a quick shower and tossed away my ruined clothes. I was about to fall into bed and pass out before I heard a knock on my door. As I opened it my heart skipped a beat. It was Charlotte dressed in a frilly pink pair of pajamas. She walked in and I looked at her stunned before she asked.

“Can I… Sleep with you tonight? I… Don’t feel safe sleeping by myself.” My brain went into full-on panic mode at her appearance as it tried to think of something to say. Say something brain! “Uhh… Sure.”... What the fuck brain! Think of something better next time. I got into bed first which was thankfully a king so we could both fit without touching too much.

My heart almost beat out of my chest as I tried to think of other things besides the beautiful woman sleeping next to me without getting a boner. After an entire hour of her lying next to me, I calmed down enough to look at her… She was beautiful to an absurd degree. The system must have given her all five points of charisma because she was unreal.

Even just looking at her face got me hard and it was hard not to just keep staring. I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep that night but I knew I’d need my energy in the morning. I was going to have a small group break off with me for my plan but I needed the energy to be able to lead the group in the opposite direction of where we were heading. It was a good idea but any extra effort could result in the deaths of people I was growing to like.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The system looked at the two as she watched the woman walk into the man's room. She was excited to see them have sex but… The man missed every single signal the woman gave him before she laid down in his bed and went to sleep. She was feeling upset for some reason she didn’t know. She loved watching people have sex. 

The woman was clearly into the man, the man was clearly into the woman… So why weren’t they having sex!? Did she have to give the man some advice?... Would that defeat the purpose of making humanity stronger?... No, the system thought pushing others together shouldn’t go against making humanity stronger… It was actually the opposite. They would produce powerful babies if they did get together, and the man had proven himself as a valuable assistant… She made up her mind and after they woke up, if the man missed Charlotte’s signals again, she would step in.