LOSS System: Last Store Standing

After the others returned to their shelters, the settlement gradually fell quiet. Only the occasional crackle of the fire broke the silence.

Marlin was about to close his eyes when someone pulled aside the old cloth covering the entrance.

Hal stood outside with his worn notebook in hand.

“Hal?” Marlin sat up. “What brings you here so late?”

Marlin didn’t know much about him. The old man usually kept to himself, sitting alone in a corner and occasionally writing or drawing in the notebook he always carried. Other than Henry, few people made any effort to speak with him.

Hal hesitated before asking, “That place you mentioned… would they take someone my age?”

The question caught Marlin by surprise.

“I don’t think age matters.” He gave Hal a quick look. “But what could you do once you got there?”

“Anything they need,” Hal said quickly. “I may be old, but I can still work.”

Hal knew most people in the settlement saw him as a burden. He could no longer do much, yet he still received a share of their limited supplies. Henry would never force him to leave, but others were not always so understanding.

Even so, Hal had nowhere else to go. Staying here meant he could survive. Leaving alone was almost certain death.

Until tonight, he had never had another option.

Marlin remained silent.

“I just want a chance to try,” Hal continued. “I learned a few things in the past. Maybe some of them could be useful.”

That caught Marlin’s attention. “Such as?”

Hal hesitated. “I used to be a chemistry teacher.”

“A chemistry teacher?” Marlin looked at him with surprise. “I couldn’t tell. So you used to be quite the scholar.”

“That was a long time ago,” Hal said, slightly uncomfortable. “Can I come with you?”

Marlin thought for a moment instead of answering.

“Do you know anything about brick firing?”

“I understand the basic firing process and how the clay should be mixed, but I’ve never actually fired bricks myself,” Hal said. “And right now, the biggest problem isn’t the process. It’s finding enough fuel.”

“What about building a brick kiln?”

“I know how to build a simple one. A proper kiln is beyond me, and even if it wasn’t, we couldn’t build one with what we have now.”

That was enough for Marlin. Hal might really be able to help.

Gordon and Harvey had heard the entire conversation.

“What kind of fuel does brick firing need?” Gordon asked.

“Anything that burns will work, but coal would be best,” Hal replied.

“What’s coal?”

“A black mineral that can burn. It looks like stone, with a rough, hard surface.”

“Black, and it looks like stone…”

Harvey suddenly sat up and looked at Gordon.

“Bro, why does that sound so familiar?”

Marlin turned to the brothers. “You’ve seen something like that?”

“We have,” Harvey said. “We were there a few days ago.”

“We don’t know if it was coal,” Gordon added, “but it sounds exactly like what Hal described.”

“Were the black rocks scattered on the ground, or were they buried in the soil?” Hal asked.

“Both,” Gordon said. “We couldn’t figure out why there were black rocks there.”

That was enough to get Marlin’s attention. Whether the rocks were coal or not, they could take Hal there the next day and find out.

“How far is it from here?”

Gordon thought about the route. “It’s near our settlement. About half a day from here.”

Marlin couldn’t hide his smile. He had come out to find workers, but now he might have found a source of fuel as well.

He turned to Hal. “Come with us tomorrow and tell us whether those rocks are coal. Any problem with that?”

“None,” Hal answered without hesitation.

“Good. Then it’s settled.”

At this point, Marlin knew that taking Hal back with them would be worthwhile even if the rocks turned out to be something else. The old man understood things none of them did.

Marlin lay back down.

“Get some sleep. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go take a look at those black rocks growing out of the ground.”

Hal carefully put away his notebook and left, his steps much lighter than when he had arrived.

Early the next morning, Hal packed his old notebook and a few belongings into a cloth bag. He also found a rusty shovel in the settlement and took it with him.

From the way he had prepared, he clearly had no intention of coming back.

On his way to meet Marlin, Hal ran into Henry.

Henry took one look at the bag on his back and the shovel in his hand.

“Where are you going, Hal?”

“I’ve decided to leave with Marlin,” Hal said, briefly explaining what they had discussed the night before.

Henry was silent for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh.

“You’ve made up your mind?”

“Yes.”

Henry understood Hal’s situation in the settlement and didn’t try to stop him.

“Then go.”

Hal looked at him seriously.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me over the years, my friend.”

Henry waved a hand. “Just remember to come back and visit me if you get the chance.”

Marlin, Gordon, and Harvey came outside as they finished speaking. Marlin looked at Hal’s bag and shovel.

“You’re not planning to come back, are you?”

“If possible, I’d like to leave with you and keep going.”

Marlin hadn’t expected Hal to make such a firm decision overnight, but he didn’t question it.

“All right. Then let’s get moving.”

After saying goodbye to Henry, Marlin set off with the other three. They soon left the settlement and headed toward the place Gordon and Harvey had described.

It was almost noon when Gordon finally stopped and pointed ahead.

“That’s the place.”

A stretch of bare wasteland lay before them, covered in cracked soil and broken stones. Black rocks were scattered across the ground, with some lodged in the cracks. A few gave off a faint shine beneath the sunlight.

The four hurried over. Hal picked up the nearest black rock, examined it, then used the shovel to break off one corner.

A smile appeared on his face when he saw the inside.

“Well?” Marlin asked.

“I think it really is coal,” Hal said, unable to hide his excitement.

Marlin burst out laughing. “You two actually found it!”

Gordon and Harvey exchanged a look before Harvey broke into a grin.

“It really is coal? We got lucky!”

“Don’t celebrate yet,” Hal warned them. “We still need to find out how much of it is here.”

“How do we do that?”

“Follow the black rocks and see how far they spread,” Hal said, pointing toward the cracked ground around them. “If there’s only a small amount in this one spot, it won’t last long.”

Marlin agreed and had Gordon and Harvey search in different directions while he checked another area.

Hal stayed behind and cleared away the soil around the exposed coal. Following the layer downward, he soon found more beneath the surface. He tried several other spots and found the same thing. The coal lay close to the surface, and some of it was already exposed. With enough people and the right tools, it wouldn’t be difficult to mine.

Marlin and the brothers returned after searching the surrounding area.

“There’s more in that direction,” Harvey reported. “But once I went farther out, it disappeared.”

“Same on my side,” Gordon said. “It’s all concentrated around here. Farther out, there are only ordinary rocks.”

Marlin had found the same thing.

The deposit wasn’t especially large. Most of the coal appeared to be concentrated beneath the open ground in front of them and a few nearby patches of cracked soil.

Marlin turned to Hal. “What about here? Is the coal difficult to dig up?”

“Not really.” Hal pointed to one of the holes with his shovel. “The coal is close to the surface and not too hard. With enough people and tools, we could start mining it right away.”

Satisfied with the answer, Marlin returned to the handcart and handed out bread, canned beef, and drinking water.

“We’ve been walking all morning. Let’s eat first.”

The four found a place nearby and stopped for lunch.

By the time they finished, Marlin realized there wasn’t enough daylight left to return to the convenience store. They would only make it halfway before dark.

“We’ll stay here tonight,” he decided. “There’s still some time left, so let’s dig up a small amount of coal and take it with us. We can leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

No one objected. They packed away the food and got to work.

They only planned to bring back enough coal for a test firing. If it worked, they could return later with more people and proper tools.

Back at the convenience store, Jack woke up and carefully tried walking around.

The wounds across his chest still hurt, but they no longer stopped him from moving normally. He was about to head outside when Susan came in with medicine and clean gauze.

Seeing him on his feet, she looked a little surprised.

“You’re recovering quickly.”

“I think so too,” Jack said with a smile.

“Don’t celebrate yet. Sit down and let me check.”

Jack returned to the folding cot, and Susan removed the bandages from his chest. The wounds had already begun to close and were healing faster than she had expected.

She was about to wrap them in clean gauze when Jack stopped her.

“Um… could I clean myself up first? I haven’t washed in two days. I can barely stand my own smell.”

Susan looked at his wounds.

“No shower. You can wipe yourself down with a wet towel, but keep the wounds dry.”

“That works.”

Jack immediately grabbed some clean clothes and a towel before slowly heading upstairs.

Susan watched him leave and shook her head.

Jack had wanted to clean himself up for quite some time. Once inside his bedroom, he closed the door and got to work.

Afterward, he planned to find the Dustchucks and test Basic Animal Affinity for himself.