Time until next Challenge: 10 days, 14 hours, 48 minutes

  We were on the road again, but things felt a little different this time.

  Our break had rejuvenated us all. Even better, it had given the country time to mobilize. I kept saying “the Arsenal,” but I knew that even if they were my point of contact, they were working with Washington D.C. and other military and civilian groups all over the world.

  Unlike last time we’d set off, we had a destination in mind from the start. That inherently gave the journey a different feel: we had a goal we were working toward, not just something we were trying to escape. Ultimately, we were headed toward a permanent location to hunker down, a fort undergoing accelerated construction in the wilds of southern West Virginia. It was being named “Fort Defiance.” The moniker was already in use by a handful of other locations in the United States, but I liked it anyway. It fit my mood. Fort Defiance would be manned exclusively by forces without Intensifiers and packed to the brim with the explosive material from every coal mine within 200 miles. I’d been surprised to learn explosives were used to mine coal, since coal burns, but it made more sense after Hugh - the local explosives expert I’d met the day before - gently reminded me that the resources people want are usually buried under a bunch of what he called “useless crap.”

  We wouldn’t head straight to Fort Defiance. We had one more planned rest stop along the way, near a limestone quarry about fifty miles south of Lexington. How long we got to rest there depended on how quickly we made it there and how far ahead we were of the main pack of Threats pursuing us from the south. At a minimum, we’d meet up with a big contingent from Fort Knox, who would accompany a fleet of armored cars and trucks that would hopefully prove more durable than the commercial vehicles we’d been traveling in. We hadn’t lost many people to yesterday’s Titanic onslaught, but we had lost some, and all the cars had taken damage. Many had been made undrivable, forcing their occupants to hitch rides in other vehicles until we came across an abandoned car they could commandeer. These replacement cars lacked the metal-shod wheels and reinforcements of our initial vehicles and rarely lasted long, leaving their passengers constantly on the lookout for replacements.

  The people of Gordonsville had come together while we’d slept to spruce up our fleet and add to it, and many had volunteered to accompany us. Despite the small size of the city, it had held plenty of vehicles capable of off-roading… but they were all still commercial passenger vehicles, designed to crumple and protect their passengers at any heavy impact. I looked forward to traveling in something more robust.

  We were hoping for easier travels today. People all along our planned route had been notified of our expected arrival time and asked to clear out monsters shortly before we arrived. I’d even heard that some people journeyed from their homes to clear out uninhabited stretches of road that had no locals to do the job. Others had been working to literally smooth our path, shoving wrecked cars off the road and repairing damaged pavement.

  Hamlet didn’t seem to have a limit on how far he could make Threats chase us, but Titans were a different story. He could still make them travel for a long way, as much as fifty miles, but not indefinitely. Everyone within that distance of our planned route had been notified as well, asked to keep an eye out for Titans and kill or cripple them to prevent them from reaching us. They wouldn’t be able to prevent Hamlet from occasionally popping out duos or trios of Titans right on top of us, but they would hopefully help reduce the number of additional Titans we’d have to face.

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  Before we hit the road, I also took the time to get the information we had available about my counterparts, the other Linked Users.

  Everyone was still alive, so far, but that accomplishment had come at a cost. I’d had a few people die in my defense, but the large number of coordinated and skilled defenders available had given me a big advantage. I’d had to deal with more Threats and Titans, but my allies had been equal to the task.

  Everyone else had paid higher prices for survival.

  The Canadian man’s situation was closest to my own. He’d been the second Linked User we’d found. He was alert, awake, aware, had regained a good portion of his memories, and had a mixed force of Americans and Canadians ready to defend him. Even so, they hadn’t had explosives on hand to counter the first legoliath he’d faced, and he’d gotten unlucky with the angles that the subsequent Threats had approached from. His defenders had to take down two legoliaths by hand to keep him safe, and that process had left over twenty dead.

  There was some talk about trying to bring him south to Fort Defiance, but he’d have a longer distance to travel. More likely, he and a large group would head north toward the Arctic Circle. Aside from his defenders, the area had less than one person per 40 square miles, so small monsters would reappear very slowly and Hamlet wouldn’t be able to manage more than a single Titan every few days. It would have been a perfect plan if not for the Threats, which Hamlet could produce elsewhere and send inexorably after them, but it still had potential. After all, while the new Threats were incredibly tough, they were also very slow.

  The other Linked Users were in worse situations.

  The Australian was being driven in a giant circle around the Australian outback. It was working fairly well, but his defenders hadn’t been quite as numerous as mine to begin with, and keeping him alive had pushed them beyond what they’d had to give. More people had joined his defenders, but not enough to replace those who’d died. As the size of the force accompanying him dwindled, the stress on each person increased, so we were all concerned for him. Our hopes were pinned on a city called Kalgoorlie. He’d be nearing it soon, and would hopefully pick up enough help to stop the steady losses.

  The Pakistani woman, Zahra Syed, was sheltering in place. Ariel had gotten better at integrating with human brains, but that mostly meant doing less damage and making better repairs. It didn’t make the torturous connection process any easier. I hoped Zahra wouldn’t remember the painful time when she woke, but for now, she was in a coma similar to the one I had been in, and wasn’t expected to wake for at least another day and a half. Since she couldn’t pass her defenders real-time warnings about the capabilities of upcoming Titans or the locations of Threats, the people guarding her had made the difficult decision to stay put and guard her. They were doing their best to incapacitate the things that came at them, rather than kill them, but… it was a difficult task. I didn’t know exact numbers, but apparently the American military was using what they’d done as a model of what to do - and not do - with Fort Defiance. From my discussions with Marie and Raul, I’d caught the implication that hundreds, if not thousands, had died to keep her safe.

  As soon as I picked up on it, I questioned the idea of stopping. Ever. They’d dutifully passed my objections along, but told me that U.S. leadership thought they would suffer fewer casualties than the Pakistanis, as they had a model to work from and time to prepare.

  “But they still expect to suffer casualties,” I’d argued. “If-”

  Raul raised a hand, cutting me off. “If it keeps you alive, if it keeps Ariel intact, it’s worth it. Staying on the road is less predictable. If we get unlucky…”

  I hated that, but it was hard to argue, especially after my eyes drifted to my kids.

  Hey, have you visited your local library lately? With their funding under threat (at least in the US), now's a great time to show your support. Plus, you might be surprised at all the cool programs your local library offers! Mine will let patrons do one free 3D print each month, which is pretty nuts.

  (Up to Bk. 5, Ch. 24) * * * * * * *