Chapter 120: Again
Just as Jack was about to return to the convenience store, the system’s voice interrupted him.
“Human, a primate mammal is approaching. Number of targets: one.”
Jack headed toward the entrance. The people on night watch remained at their posts, and nothing nearby seemed out of place.
Beyond the lights, the wasteland lay empty. Night wind swept dust across the ground, but no one appeared no matter how long he waited.
Noah noticed him searching the darkness. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing. Have you noticed anything unusual?”
“No. Everything seems normal.” Noah sounded puzzled. “Are you worried those refugees might come back?”
“Yeah,” Jack said, accepting the explanation Noah had offered. “Stay alert. I’m heading back to rest. Thanks for handling the watch.”
He left the entrance still wondering who would approach the settlement alone at such a late hour. Before he could make sense of it, Megan called for him to come back and rest, and he quickly caught up with her.
Far beyond the reach of the lights, a figure remained hidden behind a low mound with a clear view of the entrance, the fence, and the brightly lit construction site.
Only after Jack entered the convenience store did the figure retreat into the darkness.
It was the Poison King.
He had been observing the settlement for some time, and getting past the fence without alerting anyone was proving more difficult than expected. With no reason to remain any longer, he slipped away along the route he had taken there.
The next morning, everyone prepared the materials needed for that night’s construction. Thomas built the doors and windows according to the measurements on the plans, while Dale led a group in moving the remaining bricks closer to the site. Warren also sorted through the valves and pipe connectors recovered from the agricultural supply center, setting aside the pieces suitable for the clinic’s water lines.
Megan spent the day at the convenience store organizing medicine and instruments. Disinfectants, painkillers, antibiotics, gauze, and suturing tools went into separate boxes, ready to be moved once the clinic was complete.
Inside the shelter, the wounded refugee watched the preparations from where he sat. He tried to get up several times, but the pain forced him back down whenever he put weight on his injured leg.
Nolan had recovered enough to leave his bed, though he still couldn’t do any heavy work. Unwilling to remain idle, he stayed beneath the canopy and helped count the bricks and tools.
As evening approached, several CUEVs collected the remaining bricks from the kiln and delivered them to the construction site. Once the sun had dropped low enough, everyone put on their EAPG and resumed work.
The walls rose steadily along the original outline, and the spaces for the doors and windows began to take shape. Thomas installed the doorframe while Warren led the bricklaying. Walter and Colt worked on the water pipes and electrical wiring at the reserved connection points.
They rotated whenever someone needed a break, keeping the work moving throughout the night. By the time darkness fully covered the wasteland, several walls had reached almost chest height.
Construction continued until late at night, when Warren finally called an end to the work.
The others returned to the shelter, leaving Jack near the construction site. The clinic still had no roof, and the doors and windows were little more than empty frames, but it was beginning to resemble a real building.
Warren gathered the tools. “We’ll continue tomorrow night. Once the rest of the walls are finished, we can start on the roof.”
Jack remained until Warren had left, then prepared to return to the convenience store.
The system’s voice sounded again.
“Human, a primate mammal is approaching. Number of targets: one.”
Jack faced the darkness beyond the entrance.
Again.
The same warning had appeared two nights in a row, yet neither time had anyone shown themselves. The more he thought about it, the less it felt like a coincidence.
He quickly caught up with Megan before she returned to the convenience store.
“Meg, wait.”
“What is it?”
Jack told her about both warnings.
“We should tell Elias,” Megan said.
They found him inside the trading post. After hearing the full story, Elias said, “I didn’t sense anyone approaching on either night.”
“It’s the Poison King,” Mort said from nearby.
Jack immediately saw the connection. “Probably. He’s supposed to be an expert at disguise, and he can hide the smell of blood on himself. It makes sense that none of you noticed him.”
“Vane, bring Henry over,” Elias said.
Henry arrived soon afterward and listened as Elias explained the two warnings.
“If he stays hidden, there’s nothing we can do about him,” Henry said with a smile. “But if he keeps coming to us, dealing with him becomes much easier.”
“Then we set a trap,” Elias said. “Tomorrow night, the guards at the entrance remain exactly where they are. Henry and Mort will each take several people and hide nearby. The moment he enters the ambush area, everyone moves at once. We can’t let him escape.”
“That won’t work,” Mort said. “We can’t sense him, but he’ll sense us. He’ll know people are waiting long before he enters the trap.”
None of them could hide their scent the way the Poison King could. An ambush would only warn him away.
“Then we search for him now,” Elias decided. “He may not have gone far.”
“Good,” Henry said.
Before they could start gathering people, Jack spoke.
“I don’t think we need to mobilize everyone over one Poison King.”
The others waited for him to explain.
“First, we only know he came near the settlement. We have no idea where he is now. Even if everyone runs out there immediately, can any of you guarantee you’ll find him?”
No one could.
They would most likely spend the night searching the wasteland with no direction, while the Poison King remained hidden somewhere beyond their reach.
“Second, he came here to scout us two nights in a row. That means he still has something planned. Otherwise, why would he travel all this way in this weather just to watch us sleep?”
Henry and Mort let him continue.
“Third, he doesn’t know he’s been exposed. If he has another move to make, we can simply wait for him to make it. As long as he doesn’t get close, he can’t do much to us.”
Jack’s voice grew more serious.
“But if we rush into the wasteland after him, someone could get poisoned before we even find him. We might suffer casualties and still come back empty-handed. No matter how you calculate it, that’s a bad trade.”
“Instead of playing hide-and-seek with him out there, we keep everything where we can see it. Sooner or later, he’ll make his move.”
“Besides, we can’t let someone like him live,” Jack continued. “If he gets away this time, who knows what face he’ll come back with? We can’t spend every day wondering whether he’s standing right beside us. We’d never get anything done.”
His voice hardened.
“If he likes this place so much, then he can stay here forever.”
Only the low hum of the two CAWRUs disturbed the silence inside the trading post.
“You’re right,” Elias said. “We were too focused on catching him before he got away.”
“So what do we do?”
Jack spread his hands. “I don’t know.”
For a moment, no one knew how to respond. After everything Jack had just said, they had all assumed he already had the rest of the plan worked out.
Henry glared at him. “You sounded so confident that I thought you’d already figured everything out.”
“I never said I had. You’re the professionals, not me.”
Henry was left speechless.
“We don’t need a complete plan yet,” Megan said. “Let’s put ourselves in his position. If we were exposed, what would we do? Once we know the likely possibilities, we can prepare for them.”
“That works,” Jack said. “There are enough of us to close off every escape route. I refuse to believe he can still get away.”
“I’d run the moment I was exposed,” Henry said.
“I might do the opposite,” Mort replied. “If escape became impossible, I’d try to take a few people down with me.”
Elias offered another possibility. “Someone willing to scout this place alone has probably already considered the risk of exposure. He may be confident that we can’t stop him even if we discover who he is.”
Other possibilities quickly followed. The Poison King might deny everything and shift suspicion onto someone else. He might create a disturbance and escape during the confusion. If refugees were present, controlling the situation would become even harder.
Jack listened until everyone had finished.
“We know he’s planning something. The question is, what is he most likely to do after scouting us?”
“If he really is hiding among the refugees, he didn’t come here two nights in a row just to observe,” Elias said. “He may be looking for a way inside, waiting for the guards to relax so he can poison something we regularly touch.”
He directed the final words at Jack.
“Especially something you use.”
“That seems unlikely,” Henry said. “Even if he gets inside, where could he hide? Outsiders only have one entrance. No guard is careless enough to miss someone walking straight past.”
“Unless...” Mort began.
“Unless he can swim,” Megan said.
The answer hit everyone at once.
“Fuck,” Elias muttered. “We forgot about the moat.”
“There’s no need to panic,” Jack said. “The moat is two meters wide and three meters deep, but it hasn’t been filled to the top. The water only comes up to about waist height. He might be able to get down there, but climbing back out would be another matter.”
He turned to Cass. “Keep a closer eye on the moat during drone patrols.”
Cass didn’t answer immediately.
“What is it?” Elias asked. “You have another idea?”
“If the Poison King really is hiding among the refugees, I think he’ll try to stir them up and send them against us again.”
“That’s impossible,” Henry said. “Wasn’t the last incident enough to teach them a lesson?”
The others shared his doubts. One refugee had been shot only a few days earlier, and Derek had died at the entrance. No reasonable person would come back so soon and risk the same thing happening again.
Jack, however, gave the idea more thought.
“I think Cass may be right.”
“Why?” Megan asked.
“Don’t forget, I tricked them too,” Jack said. “They already resent me. The Poison King wouldn’t have much trouble stirring them up again.”
He continued, “The other possibilities all require him to get through the fence alone. The refugees give him numbers, confusion, and a reason for us to open the entrance. They’re still the easiest weapon he has.”
Jack faced the others.
“Unless he plans to give up. Does anyone here believe that?”
No one did.
“Then that’s what we prepare for,” Jack said. “Starting tomorrow night, construction on the clinic stops. We deal with the Poison King first. Everything else can wait.”
No one objected. The meeting ended, and everyone returned to rest.
Beyond the fence, the Poison King had also finished observing the settlement for the night. Unaware that his presence had already been exposed, he slipped silently back into the darkness.