LOSS System: Last Store Standing

The moment Nolan said those words, everyone beneath the canopy fell silent.

Leonard stared at him in surprise.

“There was no one there when we went last night.”

“I don’t know when they arrived,” Nolan said as he removed the protective gear. “But there seemed to be quite a few of them. They probably heard the CUEV when I got close. People started coming out of the building, and a few even tried to chase me. I didn’t dare stop, so I came straight back.”

Henry gave a cold snort.

“They didn’t waste any time.”

The others grew more serious.

Jack waved a hand.

“We’ve done everything we can. We’ll deal with whatever comes.”

He turned to Nolan, who was taking off the cooling vest.

“Let’s put those people aside for now. How did the trip feel?”

Nolan shook his head.

“No. This gear isn’t enough for us to keep moving supplies from there. I don’t think nighttime will make much difference either.”

Warren looked surprised.

“Why?”

“I never left the CUEV, and the air conditioning was running the whole time.” Nolan pointed to the vest’s fluid pouch. “But before I was even halfway back, all the ice had melted. The water kept circulating, but by then, it barely cooled me at all.”

He removed the pouch from the vest. The ice was gone, leaving only warm water inside.

“It’ll be cooler at night, but not by much. If we actually had to get out and move supplies, the ice would melt even faster.”

Warren studied the water in silence.

“If we tried anyway,” Nolan continued, “the best-case scenario would be finishing the loading while the vest could still keep us cool through the return trip. In the worst case, it might stop working before we even finished.”

“Then we give up,” Jack said. “Those supplies aren’t worth risking anyone’s life.”

He looked at Henry.

“We still don’t know whether those people will come here. From now on, someone needs to stay on watch, day and night.”

Henry nodded.

Jack sent Nolan and Eli to the new trading post to bring Elias and Mort back. They soon returned in a CUEV, and after Jack explained what Nolan had seen, everyone gathered beneath the canopy to discuss the new watch arrangements.

Meanwhile, the agricultural supply center was growing increasingly noisy.

After Jack drove Derek and his three companions away, they had planned to find another settlement and start over. But the weather grew hotter with each passing day, and they failed to find anywhere suitable to stay.

Instead, they came across a group of twenty or thirty refugees searching for a new settlement.

Derek immediately saw an opportunity to get revenge on Jack.

He offered to guide them, claiming that he knew of a suitable place to settle. Along the way, Bryce, Curtis, and Wes repeatedly told the refugees about the water and supplies at Jack’s settlement, gradually stirring up their expectations.

That morning, Derek and the others finally led the group to the agricultural supply center. They planned to hide from the daytime heat there and continue traveling after dark.

They had barely settled down when Nolan appeared nearby in a CUEV.

Derek had already told the refugees that the settlement possessed vehicles from the old world. Now they had seen one with their own eyes, and it had driven away in the exact direction he had indicated.

Even those who had suspected Derek was lying began to believe him.

Bryce, Curtis, and Wes immediately seized the opportunity, moving through the crowd and adding fuel to the discussion. Before long, angry voices filled the agricultural supply center.

Derek stood to one side and watched.

Only when the noise had grown loud enough did he raise a hand, signaling for his three companions to stop.

The crowd gradually quieted.

Derek stepped forward and looked around at them.

“Now you know I wasn’t lying.”

He pointed in the direction Nolan had gone.

“That place exists. You all saw the CUEV. Are you still going to hesitate?”

No one answered immediately, but many looked toward the direction in which the vehicle had disappeared.

Derek saw their uncertainty and continued.

“If they have that many supplies, shouldn’t they use some of them to save lives? Don’t you agree?”

“Yes!”

Someone in the crowd immediately answered.

“They have so much. What’s wrong with giving us some?”

“Are they just going to watch us die?”

“We’re only trying to survive!”

More voices joined in. Those who had still been hesitant began to waver as the people around them grew louder.

Derek exchanged a glance with Bryce, Curtis, and Wes. The four were pleased with how easily the crowd was turning, but Derek hid it behind a troubled expression.

“There’s something I need to tell you first.”

The crowd gradually fell silent again.

Derek waited a moment before continuing.

“They have two guns. One of them is a submachine gun.”

The refugees who had been shouting only moments earlier quieted down. Some lowered their heads, while others exchanged uncertain looks.

Derek said nothing and let the silence linger.

Eventually, someone in the crowd spoke up.

“So what if they have guns? We’re only going there to ask for help. Would they really shoot us?”

“There are too many of us,” someone else added. “Can they kill us all?”

“They have plenty of supplies. They should help.”

“We’re not raiders. What right do they have to shoot us?”

The voices grew louder again.

Knowing the time was right, Derek raised both hands for silence.

“If that’s what everyone wants, we’ll leave tonight.”

He gestured toward the three men beside him.

“Bryce, Curtis, Wes, and I will lead the way. What do you say?”

“Yes!”

Twenty or thirty voices answered together, echoing through the empty agricultural supply center.

Derek exchanged a glance with his three companions and said nothing more.

Back beneath the canopy outside the shelter, Elias considered everyone’s suggestions before making a decision.

“Everyone should go back and rest for now. We’ll start rotating the watch after dark.”

“Why wait until then?” Jack asked.

“It’s over seventy degrees outside,” Henry explained. “Unless they want to die on the way here, they won’t travel in this heat.”

Elias began organizing the nighttime watch. People would remain on duty at both the shelter and the new trading post, rotating at regular intervals. Everyone else would rest until something happened.

Before Elias could name the first watch group, Mort raised another problem.

“We don’t have enough weapons.”

The conversation stopped.

“We don’t need that many,” Jack said. “Two guns are enough.”

Henry frowned.

“How can two guns be enough? We don’t even know how many people are over there. What if they decide they have the numbers and rush us together?”

“We’re not trying to kill all of them,” Jack said. “The guns are there to scare them off. Even if they think their numbers give them an advantage, we still have nothing to fear.”

Everyone looked at him.

“I have more than a thousand rounds of ammunition. What are they going to do, bring a thousand people?”

For a moment, no one said anything.

“How do you have that much ammunition?” Warren asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Jack said. “You only need to know that we’re not going to run out.”

No one had expected him to have such a large supply. The concern among the group eased considerably.

“If we have enough ammunition, then we don’t need to fear them,” Elias said. “All we have to do now is wait and see whether they actually come.”

“That’s not the part I’m worried about,” Jack said. “The real problem is what we do if they arrive. We can’t take all of them in, but leaving them outside with nothing...”

Henry was quiet for a moment before speaking.

“Jack, saving others can only come after we’ve secured our own safety. And not everyone deserves to be saved.”

“I know.” Jack gave a bitter smile. “But I can’t just stand there and watch them die outside.”

Megan remained silent for a moment.

“Jack, I’m a doctor. I know what it feels like to watch someone die in front of you.”

Jack looked at her.

“But even doctors can’t save everyone. When there are too many patients, choices have to be made. Otherwise, you may end up saving no one.”

She glanced around at the others.

“The same applies here. Even if you take in everyone who arrives tonight, what happens when the next group comes? What if more people keep coming after that?”

Jack said nothing.

“Every person you accept becomes someone whose safety you’re responsible for,” Megan continued. “But there’s a limit to how many people this place can support. Once we exceed that limit, it won’t only affect the newcomers. It will also put everyone already here at risk, including the people who trusted you and chose to stay.”

She paused before adding, “Being unable to save someone doesn’t mean you caused their death. You can’t carry everyone’s life on your shoulders.”

Jack looked around at the people gathered beneath the canopy. After a long silence, he nodded.

“I understand. Let’s wait and see what they actually intend to do.”

Henry said nothing more, and his expression eased slightly.

Elias continued assigning the nighttime watch. The others gradually returned to the shelter and the new trading post to rest and prepare for whatever might happen.

By nightfall, the temperature had dropped slightly, but the air remained scorching. Sixteen PCCUs and two PATCs continued running beneath the canopy in front of the shelter as everyone gathered there and waited for signs of movement.

Cass launched the drone and sent it toward the agricultural supply center.

Following Elias’s arrangements, people were stationed near both the shelter entrance and the new trading post.

Jack handed the revolver to Henry and kept the submachine gun for himself.

Mort, Elias, and Henry remained outside with Jack and the younger men, while the other older people and all the women stayed inside the shelter or the new trading post. Megan stayed inside as well.

Time passed slowly.

The drone’s night feed showed nothing but the dark wasteland. Cass gradually expanded the search area, but there was still no sign of anyone.

Jack spent some time standing at the edge of the canopy before returning to his seat. As the night wore on, he began to wonder whether the group would come at all.

Then Cass suddenly sat up straight, his eyes fixed on the controller screen.

“They’re here.”

Everyone resting nearby immediately got to their feet and gathered around him.

A large group was moving toward them through the darkness. The line stretched a considerable distance across the wasteland, and those at the front had already noticed the drone hovering overhead.

“We’re going to the fence entrance,” Elias said.

Everyone beneath the canopy headed toward the only passage through the SEFP perimeter, with Jack and Henry in front and the others following behind.

Derek had also spotted the drone.

After looking up several times, he turned and shouted to the refugees behind him.

“They’ve found us! Don’t stop! Keep moving!”

Those who had begun to slow down quickened their pace again. The entire group continued forward without showing any intention of stopping.

Jack watched them through the drone feed.

“They’re really this brazen?”

Elias didn’t answer. He told Cass to activate the drone’s loudspeaker.

“We know you’re heading this way,” Elias said into the controller. “Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate a group this large. Do not come any closer. Find somewhere else to stay.”

His voice rang out from the drone above the crowd.

The people below immediately grew restless.

“Why can’t you let us in?”

“We came all this way, and now you want us to leave?”

“Are you telling us to die out here?”

Derek raised his voice toward the drone.

“We’re only looking for somewhere to survive the heat wave! You clearly have the means to take us in, but you won’t even let us approach. How is sending us away any different from forcing us to die?”

The refugees around him quickly joined in.

“That’s right! You can’t leave us to die!”

“We only want to survive!”

“Let us in!”

Their accusations poured through the drone’s speaker.

Elias was about to respond when Nolan’s expression suddenly hardened.

“That’s Derek.”

Henry turned to him.

“You know him?”

“He used to be our leader,” Nolan said, staring at the screen. “I’d recognize that voice anywhere.”

Jack’s expression darkened. He told Henry how Derek had once led a group into the trading post, been kept there to work, and was eventually driven out after causing trouble again.

Henry looked at the crowd still advancing across the screen.

“Then these refugees didn’t end up here by accident.”

“Derek brought them,” Nolan said through clenched teeth. “He didn’t dare come back on his own, so he stirred them up and brought them here to confront us.”

Mort gave a cold snort.

“Coward. All he knows how to do is hide in a crowd and shout.”

The refugees’ voices continued coming through the drone while Derek remained near the front, urging them onward.

Elias watched the feed for a moment, then handed the controller back to Cass.

“If Derek brought them here, there’s nothing more to discuss. We’ll deal with them when they arrive.”

He turned to Jack.

“We gave Derek a chance when we drove him away last time. We can’t let him go again.”

Jack was silent for a moment before nodding.