“I’m putting all the rope and twine in this bag,” Akarai said, as Danielle went back to sorting out the other bags that had been dropped partly full. “This one is for anything like a tool – nail clippers, little scrubby brushes, gardening stuff, you get the idea. This one is for liquids that aren’t leaking – we got some shampoo, some bug spray, some sodas – “

  Sadie chuckled. “One of these things is not like the others,” she said.

  Akari laughed with her. “No kidding. Anyway, this bag is camp stoves and this one is extra tanks, and this one is candles.”

  “I’m starting to think whoever lost this bag deserved it,” Danielle said. “I just found three whole boxes of razor blades – and no razor to go with them. Who was this guy? I mean, it could even be a girl I guess, but whoever it was I don’t think he was very nice. He-or-she took a whole handful of these metal nail files, too, a bunch of nail clippers – what’s in here? Oh wow, lighters. That’s so useful – why didn’t I think of that??”

  “You did,” Heather reminded her, “But our store was out of the ones in the camping section.”

  “Oh, yeah. Those would’ve been the long kind for campfires, though. These are the tiny little ones people use for sedarettes – in three packs, and he still couldn’t stick to the one-per-person rule.” Danielle held them up.

  “Ooh, decorative cases, even. I almost hate to ask, but were there any sedarettes with them?” Heather asked.

  “Ew, I hope not. They stink, and anyway, don’t we have enough trouble without breathing in smoke on purpose?” Akari said.

  “Hey, they have medicinal value too. Not that practically any other way of delivering the medicinal part isn’t better, but you know.” Heather shrugged. “It’s not like they keep that stuff in the first aid section.”

  “Yeah, you need a prescription I think,” Akari said.

  “For better or worse, I don’t see any sedarettes, so we won’t have to have that debate,” Danielle said. “There are two more hammers and a wrench set, though. No wonder he dropped his bag in the end.”

  “Do you think we can get any use out of a wrench set?” Akari asked skeptically. “We should take the hammers, but I’m not sure about wrenches.”

  “Yeah, we can make pegs instead of nails, but I don’t know about nuts and bolts,” Heather said.

  “They’re still heavy pieces of metal, which doesn’t exactly grow on trees,” Danielle said. “Let’s put it on the maybe pile.”

  Another half hour sufficed to get everything sorted out between high priority, low priority, and no interest. The four agreed to do further sorting when they got back for the next load, as a break before loading up again. They each loaded up their own empty bags with loose items, then everyone but Heather took an extra leather bag with lamp oil and batteries added to whatever load the bag already had. The hike back to the Rooms was quiet except for their somewhat labored breathing. They took the road all the way back to the turnoff to the Rooms, then backtracked a block and paralleled the maintained road a block over on its rubble-and-weeds counterpart almost all the way to the rooms. They ducked further east into the woods to pass building two, even though it was empty, and dropped into the sunken walkway on the back side of building six as planned.

  They emptied their personal bags onto the kitchen counters and put them away, although Sadie pointed out afterward that they really didn’t have to worry about the leather bags, since they were new enough to really still all be the same, and they were about to have plenty of them. Then they took a fifteen-minute rest, and headed back out by the same route they had just used to return.

  Once they hit the road, Akari said, “OK, Heather, you have the lowest Body score, so you set the pace. Go as fast as you can go without having to slow down between here and the stuff, OK?”

  Heather nodded, and they set out at a brisk walk, not too different from the pace the guide had set yesterday – Danielle reminded herself that they had learned her name, Miriam. “You know, Ranger Miriam did us a real favor,” she said, just a bit out of breath. “Speaking up about us not dropping anything.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think that other Ranger would’ve cut us a deal like this if she hadn’t,” Akari said, sounding like she was just taking a casual stroll. Danielle had to suppress a spike of pure envy. Akari had, after all, earned that extra level of Body with lots of extra sword training.

  The other two just nodded, and kept on, past Akari’s bundle of firewood and up the hill. Just past the crest, they found the pile again, and Heather and Danielle sat down to rest while Akari and Sadie sorted a few more things into carry bags and fussed about balancing the loads.

  “OK, you two, time to wake up!” Akari exclaimed cheerfully. “This load, we’re each going to take three leather bags. We’ve already arranged one for each of us using that ring that kind of makes it like a backpack, and we’ll wear one on each side like before. Then we’ll each take one of the reusable shopping bags in our hands. Heather, this set’s for you.”

  “It’s lightest,” Sadie said. “Be careful not to bang anything around too much, though, you’ve got most of the food, and some of it would go to crumbs.”

  “No pressure, huh?” Heather said, standing up and stretching. “Ugh. I better actually get a Body improvement out of this.”

  “Here’s yours, Danielle,” Sadie said. “Medium-heavy, naturally.”

  “Of course. Thanks for adjusting it all – oof. This is the medium load, huh?” Danielle asked.

  Sadie nodded. “Akari and I are taking an extra bag each, too. What time is it?”

  Danielle looked at her watch. “Two ten,” she said. “I see your point. Do we even know what time sunset is? I don’t think the skylights inside follow the sun exactly, but I don’t remember what’s supposed to be different.”

  “Talk about it while we hike,” Akari said, picking up her chosen bags. In addition to the extra shopping bag, she and Sadie had both slung an abandoned tent under each of their bags. Akari was the last to settle her third bag, so they got back up on the road and set off as soon as she was ready.

  “OK, so the sun rose about 5:30, and it’s summer, and we’re north of the equator far enough that it won’t be exactly a 12 and 12 split, right?” Danielle said.

  “Right, so we should have until at least, um, 7 o’clock, maybe?” Heather guessed.

  “We just go until the sun is low enough to make it start being dim in the trees,” Sadie said. “We’ve already got stuff in order of priority, just move as fast as you can, and we’ll see how far we get.”

  “OK, fair point,” Danielle said, and concentrated on moving. “I might need some more healing tonight, Heather.”

  “No problem,” Heather said, but added nothing. Her breathing was already starting to turn heavy.

  Once again, they hiked back in near silence, sneaking in along the edge of the woods for the last leg of the trip, and dropping into the walkway of the lower floor near their room without using the stairs or even the rest of the walkway. This time, they all just dumped the new bags under the counters. Akari paused to use the toilet, then slid the new gear further into the kitchen and stacked them neatly against the far end while the other three collapsed for a fifteen-minute break. She filled everyone’s canteens, then joined them on the beds for the rest of the break.

  “Fifteen minutes is up,” Danielle announced. “It’s about 3:40. Time for round three.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Heather groaned. “Someone tell me this will be worth it,” she said.

  “It will be worth it when it turns cold and miserable, and you have an extra blanket to hide under, and oatmeal packets to make a hot breakfast,” Danielle said.

  “Not to mention when your Body Trait goes up,” Akari added.

  “Right. Warm breakfasts and Body 2. Here I go,” Heather said, standing and moving out with the others.

  This time, Sadie and Akari got them to go with their arms around each other’s shoulders once they hit the road, and helped them keep a stiffer pace than Heather had been managing on her own. They made it back to the pile by 4:30, and took a ten minute break again, before Sadie and Akari started handing out individually selected loads. Once again, the two of them hung tents from all three of their leather bags, but only the one configured as a backpack in Danielle’s set, and none in Heather’s. Heather’s bags had some batteries, everyone else had batteries and lamp oil. Heather had one shopping bag full of mostly boxes of instant oatmeal packets, while Danielle had one half-full of loose gear like gardening gloves and empty canteens and one full of the oil lamps, and the other two took denser loads with some of the more tool-like items (but not the really heavy tools, like the hammers, which had each gone into the bottom of a different leather bag).

  With the four of them going arm-in-arm again, they managed to get back in only a little over an hour, but they had to wait a few minutes in the woods for the walkway to be empty before they could sneak in, and by the time they flopped down on their beds for their rest break, it was 5:59 pm.

  “You should just go back without me this time,” Heather said, after a few minutes of rest. “I don’t think I can manage another one. If you go without me, maybe you can even get in two more, but if I’m slowing you down it’ll for sure only be one. I’ll stay here and organize what we’ve already got, or something.”

  “You don’t know that,” Sadie said. “It’s like we said before, we don’t really know when sunset is. It doesn’t look like it’s soon, but this could be the last one either way. Even if you only take one or two bags instead of three, it’ll be that many more than we would get without you.”

  “I don’t think my legs can handle another, Sadie. I’m serious,” Heather said, a bit desperately. “I’m exhausted, and starving, and I was already sore this morning. What if I overdo it so bad I can’t even move tomorrow?”

  “What if you didn’t have to move tomorrow?” Danielle asked.

  “Oh come on,” Heather exclaimed, “How would I not need to move tomorrow?”

  “Look, tomorrow is Sunday. For Akari and me at least, it’s supposed to be a day of rest – no work except cooking or other stuff we strictly need to live,” Danielle explained. “We’ve got jerky, and oatmeal, and the camp stoves and canned heat, and water from the tap. There’s nothing requiring us to go outside tomorrow if we don’t want to. The scavenging deal is only good for today, anyway. So what if we promise that no matter what, we won’t make you go anywhere tomorrow?”

  “Danielle, are you sure you want to make a thing out of that, out here?” Akari said. “I mean, I know what you’re talking about, but wasn’t that one of those things that, you know, had exceptions, and got changed and stuff? Plus, I mean, look around you. I don’t think getting food is going to mesh well with not working.”

  “It can if we plan ahead,” Danielle said. “And besides, even if you don’t think of it as a religious thing, we’re going to be working ourselves to the bone for six days every week for sure. If we don’t make a commitment to rest at least one day per weekend, we might never rest, and anyone will tell you that’s a bad idea. Just ask any of the weapons skills trainers, or most teachers even.”

  “She’s got a point there,” Sadie said tiredly. “I never really did the religion thing, but if we can manage to get ahead on food enough that we’re not just eating our emergency rations once a week, I can get behind one rest day per week, for health and sanity.”

  “What do you say, Akari? We pray to God to give us enough food each week to not hunt on Sundays, and as long as he provides the food, we take Sunday off. Deal?” Danielle asked.

  “OK.” Akari said. She went silent for a minute, and folded her hands, so she might have been praying right away. Then she spoke up again, and asked “What about you, Heather? Are you up for one more run, if we’re definitely taking off tomorrow?”

  “All right, but if I collapse halfway back and you have to carry me, just remember you insisted,” Heather said. She sounded like she was trying to make it a joke, but there was a serious undertone of unease she couldn’t quite cover up.

  “Heh, agreed,” Akari said. “How’s our time, Danielle?”

  “We have one more minute,” Danielle said.

  “OK, close enough,” Akari said. “Last minute is for stretching. Come on, get up, stretch.”

  Everyone else got up with various groans, but they let Akari lead them in some quick leg stretches and a long drink of water, and then they climbed the retaining wall yet again.

  Once again, they hurried as best they could to the road, then joined arms. Heather was obviously working hard just to keep up the pace, and Danielle was trying not to let on that she was limping again, ever so slightly, but the other two still managed to drag them back to the pile by 7:20.

  “I’m having a thought,” Sadie said, looking over the bags still on the ground. “There are only three extra leather bags after this load. What if we attach those three to the backpack-bags for you, me, and Danielle?”

  “We’d have to leave behind a couple tents, wouldn’t we?” Akari replied. “I know you wanted those for the System-silk they’re made of, if nothing else.”

  “Yeah, but we’ve gotten a bunch of them, and I think three more bags might be a better value than three more tents,” Sadie said. “I know it’s going to make for a heavy load, but I think this is probably our last one. I could feel Danielle limping, you know? And we haven’t eaten since those tomatoes right after breakfast. We’re all running on fumes.”

  “We can eat when it’s dark,” Danielle said, hating how pathetic her voice came out sounding, even though her words were strong.

  “Jerky and oatmeal, right?” Heather said, also sounding thoroughly exhausted.

  “I was figuring those brown-bag trail dinners we didn’t need last night because we got to the Room in time to enjoy the boxed dinners in the cooler,” Danielle reminded her. “Summer sausage and cheese and apple. Juice box. Those.”

  “Oh, the ‘hiking snacks.’ I forgot she gave us those,” Akari said. “Where did we even leave them?”

  “I put them in the fridge while you were showering,” Heather said.

  “You’re awesome, Heather,” Sadie said. “I completely forgot about them. I am so glad to realize we have that waiting for us when we get home. Seriously. I think all this extra food and tools and even the junk food will be worth it, but I’m tired too, and knowing we have something ready and waiting is,” she trailed off with a suspicious sniff. “A relief,” she finally finished after a moment.

  “All right,” Akari said. “So let’s get those bags attached and get going. I want to take our break back by that pile of firewood I left along the road, instead of here.”

  “But that’s halfway back to town,” Heather complained.

  “Oh – you want to check the snares?” Danielle guessed.

  “Yeah, and see if God provided anything,” Akari confirmed. “I mean, it wouldn’t be surprising if we didn’t get anything on our first try, and God already provided us whole shopping bags full of jerky and oatmeal, but still. We should at least check, right?”

  “We should at least check,” Sadie agreed. “There – see Akari? They have attachment points right where we need them anyway.”

  Akari looked over the pair of leather satchels Sadie had connected together. “Oh, I see what you mean. OK, you do Danielle’s and I’ll do mine, then. And Danielle, these bags here are the ones we’re planning to take this time; why don’t you dump out the other ones and collect up the bags themselves to take?”

  “Yeah, good idea,” Danielle said. “You rest while we get the load rearranged, Heather, and you can rest again while we check our traps.”

  “Thank you,” Heather said. “Heh, I hate being the weak one, but I’m in no position to argue right now!”

  “You’re the one who remembered to get our cheese in the cold box,” Akari said. “And the one who came back out for one more load when you weren’t sure you could make it. You may not be the strongest one, but you’re helpful and you have courage. Don’t get down on yourself.”

  The hollow was quiet except for the rustling of bags and the clink of metal rings and clips. Then Heather piped up, “You know what? We haven’t used any Skills all day. At least, I haven’t. I’m about to max my mana pool.”

  Danielle checked her own status. “You probably have a few hours before it hits, if my own regen is anything to go by. It still wouldn’t hurt to bank a couple points while you’re thinking about it, though.”

  Heather nodded. “We should probably make a point of checking at set times, so we don’t max out by accident,” she said.

  “We’ll get used to it,” Danielle assured her. “We never really had to manage our mana pools before. Give it a few days, though, and I’m sure it’ll start to feel like second nature. Wash your face, brush your teeth, toss a few points of mana in Payment Plan – all part of standard self-care for Firmitatem Exiles!”

  The group shared a weary chuckle, then Sadie stood up with a pair of bags. “All right, we’re set,” she said. “Let me help you get this on, Danielle.”

  She helped Danielle get the usual two crossed shoulder satchels settled, and then helped her into a double-satchel ‘backpack,’ making sure the thin straps weren’t twisted. They cut into Danielle’s shoulders uncomfortably. Last load of the day, she reminded herself. Akari and Sadie helped each other get their own doubled loads settled on their backs. Everyone but Heather had two of the reusable shopping bags to carry, too; Heather was only given the bag with the other reusable bags wadded into it. Danielle’s two bags both had hollow items, keeping the density down. Even Sadie and Akari seemed to have gone for lighter weight items in their shopping bags this trip, but from the way they hung, Danielle could tell they were still heavier than her own.

  The four of them got back up on the road one last time. The downhill part wasn’t too hard, but the uncomfortable shoulder straps and her blistered heels were really making Danielle wish they were already home. The ground leveled out, and they kept going. About 15 minutes later, they got to Akari’s firewood.

  “OK, you two just sit down,” Akari said, “And Sadie and I can check the snares.”

  four times the next day. There might be a reason they're the main characters!

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