Chapter 35: That Concludes This Grizzly Affair

Applebaum went on to explain to the cops, “This is Thomas Coldstrike. He’s the owner of the blue sedan.” He looked at Jo. “You must be the missing guard, Joanne Fitzsimmons?”

“I am,” she agreed, slumping in relief.

Applebaum looked at the third member of their group. “And this is…?”

Twitch looked at Thomas, and there was a little hope in his gaze, but no real expectation.

Thomas felt mixed emotions. The man had helped out in the dungeon in his own self-serving way, but he’d also been involved in an armed robbery. Thomas was too exhausted to muddle out his emotions. He decided he wasn’t going to speak up for or against him. He was just going to stick to the facts of what happened and let the rest play out.

Thomas swallowed and made his decision. “He goes by Twitch. He was involved in the initial robbery, but he helped Jo and me out when we took shelter in the dungeon. I don’t think we would have gotten out if he hadn’t warned us about… about one of the other robbers.”

“I see,” Applebaum said heavily. “I would like to hear that story. Let’s get you situated.” He gestured sharply to the two cops, and Thomas’s hands were released, as were Jo’s.

Unfortunately, Twitch was not so lucky. Several other policemen surrounded him, and one began to pat him down. Thomas’s gaze met Twitch’s one more time before Twitch shrugged and looked away.

“Do either of you need medical attention?” Applebaum asked, drawing Thomas’s focus back.

After determining that they didn’t, Thomas and Jo were led to a hastily set up canvas tent. Though it was dark, the meadow looked so much like the Bear dungeon that for a moment Thomas couldn’t help but activate his health sight. But he saw only people, both down here and up the road.

He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that Twitch was being led to a marked sheriff’s car.

He and Jo were directed to sit down on some hastily arranged folding chairs, offered coffee, and asked again if they needed medical assistance.

“No, but I will take the coffee,” Thomas said. “What time is it?”

“Just after two in the morning,” Applebaum answered gravely, motioning for a National Guardsman to go fetch the drinks. He sat across from them. “I admit, when I saw the condition of your registered car and the blood in it, I didn’t expect to see you alive or in such good shape.”

Thomas winced, wondering how he was going to clean blood out of his seat.

“Yeah, that’s me all over. Luckily, I had a Healing crystal within reach.” He patted his backpack. “Or I wouldn’t have made it so far.”

“Taking shelter in the dungeon was a smart move.” Applebaum looked over at Jo. “Ms. Fitzsimmons, I understand you are not really signed up with the guard. You should have never been asked to guard a dungeon entrance alone. And for that, you have my apologies. We will be reviewing our procedures with our temporary workers.”

Jo nodded, swallowed, and looked down, her hands clasped in front of her.

“I take it the actual National Guard was helping out in Sacramento?” Thomas asked.

“Yes, it was an all-hands-on-deck situation.” Applebaum sighed and leaned back. He looked every bit as tired as Thomas. “It would have been the same, if not worse, had that situation in Carson City gone south. I’m grateful for you, Thomas, for heading that off. So are my superiors. I believe they’ll finally get off my and Martinez’s backs about the cost.”

He nodded. “What happened in Sacramento?”

“An unregistered dungeon overflowed. It was a level one, but the creatures were exotic. Electric-based, which I’m told meant people with earth mana skills and type were the most needed.” Applebaum’s nose twitched as he muttered, “It feels like I’ve been thrown into a goddamn Pokémon game.”

Thomas dredged up a smile from somewhere. “And here I am without my Blissey.”

The coffee arrived, and Applebaum gave them a few moments to sip. Just the act of drinking helped make Thomas more alert, even before the caffeine hit his bloodstream.

“I know this may be difficult,” Applebaum said, “but I would like to know what exactly happened in there. This gang identified in the armed robbery is known to the local Stockton PD, and it seems we have several suspects still unaccounted for.”

“Four of them chased us in,” Thomas said. “But it’s a level two dungeon, and…” He paused to exchange a glance with Jo. “The monsters killed them. It was crazy in there, and they were only level ones. Twitch teamed up with us and helped us against the boss and one of the other gang members.”

“His street name was Grimm,” Jo added, speaking up.

“His legal name is Milton, so I don’t blame him for changing it,” Applebaum said. “I caught a glimpse of his criminal record. No one will miss him.” But he watched Thomas carefully, probably knowing that there was a lot left out of the story.

Thomas didn’t elaborate. He knew that if this was a proper interrogation, he and Jo would be separated to tell their stories, and then their words would be compared against one another. But Applebaum seemed to be in charge of this by virtue of Jo being hired temporarily under the National Guard and Thomas’s association with him. He was content to ask them a few more questions, mostly about the descriptions of the robbers that had followed them into the dungeon. It seemed he was mostly interested in doing a headcount more than anything else.

“That’s all of them, then,” Applebaum said. “We have a dash cam from the other car that proved illuminating. I think you’re telling the truth that this Twitch fellow didn’t do the actual shooting.”

“The people in the other car… are they dead?” Thomas asked.

“Yes. One fatality. I’m sorry, were you driving up together?”

“No, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He scrubbed his face. “It’s been a hell of a day.” He thought, briefly, about bringing up his concerns about the guard at the Vegetable Greenhouse dungeon letting in a group in his instance, but that… that was something he’d have to bring to Zach. He didn’t want the National Guard involved in his life if he could help it.

Jo broke in. “Can I ask, sir, what’s gonna happen to Twitch? He’s not a friend,” she looked over at Thomas. “But he did help in the end.”

Applebaum shrugged a shoulder. “If the District Attorney presses charges, they will contact you for statements. There may be mitigating details, but he was still involved in highway robbery that resulted in murder.”

Pretty much what Thomas had figured, then. But he’d caught a tone in Applebaum’s voice. “If there are charges?”

The man hesitated for a long moment as he tapped the tip of his finger against the table. He seemed to be in thought. “This is not official, but as you can imagine, the courts have been thrown into some chaos. I wouldn’t be surprised if the President started ordering military tribunals for capital crimes under martial law, just to keep order.”

That’s not legal, Thomas wanted to say. Then, a foggy piece of constitutional trivia rose up in his mind. It was legal, but only under the declaration of martial law. It’s been less than a month since the System Announcement.

Things were already falling apart. He shook his head. This was too much, too late at night, after too bad of a day. “Look, are we free to go?”

“You’re victims, not suspects,” Applebaum said. He glanced over to where a soldier stood waiting just outside the tent door, obviously looking to speak to him. “Though the sheriff’s office may have some additional questions for you both. If you can give me your phone numbers.”

Thomas snorted. Nice of the guy to pretend he didn’t already have a way to contact Thomas if he absolutely needed to.

Jo gave hers willingly, and with half-drunk cups of coffee in hand, they were allowed out. The moment they cleared the chairs, the waiting soldier pushed in with a short stack of papers in hand for Applebaum’s attention. Thomas didn’t envy the man.

It was still busy outside, as the meadow had become the staging point for a major crime scene investigation. There were people in uniform everywhere, and now that they had been let go, they more or less blended into the crowd. Jo’s fatigues helped a great deal.

“I can give you a ride if you need it,” Thomas said. “Where do you live?”

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She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I parked my truck on a forest service access road. It’s the only way down to this meadow.”

Jo suddenly looked around, then grabbed Thomas’s arm and started pulling him to the side. Curious, Thomas went along with her and was surprised when she dipped into another tent.

This seemed to be a storage space with an air of more permanence to it. A single rechargeable lamp was lit to low, but after a few seconds, his eyes adjusted, and he saw that there were boxes everywhere and standalone wire shelving on three sides, loaded with heavy-duty first-aid kits, crates of bottled water, basic hygiene supplies, and a few MREs. All things that someone would need while guarding a dungeon out in the middle of nowhere.

One of the shelving units seemed to be full of devices powered by charging lithium batteries. Jo grabbed one off the rack.

“Good, it’s got some charge in it,” she said in satisfaction. “The batteries on these things suck.”

Thomas’s eyes widened, and he grinned as he recognized it. It was a scanning device the National Guard used for loot people wanted to check on after leaving the dungeons.

He could really come to like Jo.

Still, he had to make sure. “Can this be traced back to us?”

She checked something on the touchscreen, then smiled and shook her head. “Nope. It’s still logged into whoever registered it last. It won’t give a full description, but it will assign a value and official government price point.”

Thomas didn’t need the scanner to tell him about The Eye That Sees Riches skill shard. He knew what it was and didn’t want even the remotest chance that anybody would guess that he had it. So instead, he grabbed the little bear totem he’d gotten from the boss.