But for now Randidly wanted to do several things Meet more people and gather information on Franksburg And the easiest way to do that
Randidly stood and walked around heading for a Job Cryer to find a job for the night
Karen frowned down at her two children Nathan and Kiersty They stood guiltily in front of her their faces smudged with soot
Where have you two been And how did you get so dirty Did you wander over by the forge again
Both children shook their heads but kicked the ground remaining silent Karen upped the voltage on her glare
Eventually Kiersty mumbled something
What was that Karen said
We were taking care of a special tree for the Ghosthound
You were what Karen asked skeptically Then she snorted A special tree huh Where is it Let’s see how special it really is
Karen had been expecting her overly curious twins to take her to an old log from a long dead fire but to her surprise they led her behind the farms passed the area where the domesticated wolverines were raised into a small clearing hidden by low hill that should really just be called a mound
There standing in the middle of the clearing was sure enough a tree Its bark was black and seemed to be covered and soot and there were no leaves on it but it had a trunk and branches just like a normal tree
The thing was only about as tall as her chest and was swaying lightly in the breeze moving side to side Karen reached out and touched the bark and sure enough her fingers came away covered in soot The tree began to sway more rapidly buffeted by the wind
Karen let out a relieved smile At least it was just a tree even if it was a scrawny weird one But then Karen froze
There was no wind There hand been no wind this entire time Karen stumbled backwards afraid and almost tripped over her children who were standing behind her arms raised swaying side to side
Karen looked from the children to the tree The children moved left and the tree mirrored them They moved right and it followed
What what are you doing honey Karen gasped
Nathan turned and said matter of factly Dancing The Tree likes it when you dance with it
An hour later after taking Nathan and Kiersty home Karen returned to the clearing and the weird tree with Mrs Hamilton in tow To Karen’s surprise Mrs Hamilton insisted they wait and the portly boy who ran the Classer compound came down to meet them
The three of them proceeded to the clearing and stared at the tree a while
So Daniel coughed impatiently What is this about
Apparently the Ghosthound gave two children a seed And it grew into a dancing tree Mrs Hamilton remarked with a bemused expression Do you know how to make it
Karen just shrugged helplessly You just dance I guess
Daniel snorted and stepped forward up in front of the tree Then he began to perform the robot doing a surprisingly good job Mrs Hamilton chuckled amused
Oh shut up I just But then they both stopped shocked The tree jerky and slow at first but then with increasing proficiency imitated him doing the robot
Well fuck Mrs Hamilton said her eyes wide
Chapter 65
Alana glared up at the man in front of her her hands handcuffed behind her back Although she wasn’t quite sure whether she could break out on her own she was positive that Devan and the rest of the squad could
But they all just sat silently looking at her Sighing inwardly she kept a stern face to hide her indecision
Let me ask again The blonde man asked stepped back away from them Where did you come from How did you survive out there with the monsters
Like I said we came from a town to the North We’ve already established a Newbie Village and so we have classes
The man made a disgusted face Bah Don’t play dumb with me You sound like the Freedom Fighters Guns where are your guns The only way to beat back these monsters is with bullets If you survived it was due to guns Did you hide them before you came close looking to fool me As if ahhahahaha
Alana rolled her eyes and the man leapt forward and slapped her
It felt like a child’s slap to her enhanced body but still her eyes narrowed
The man stood straightening his jacket Then he said Fine keep lying We will let you starve a bit in your cells see if you change your tune If by the end of the week you still refuse
The man’s smile turned sinister Well then don’t blame me for being impolite Men take them away
Randidly to his own amusement was sewing Apparently there was a big event tomorrow night and they needed costumes Lots of costumes Sam had whined about Randidly learning more basic skills recently for PP but Randidly had been so frustrated these past few weeks with the tribulation and Lyra He just was disgusted by the thought
But strangely after leaving the village traveling around seeing so many people running into Tessa feeling close to finding clues about Sydney and Ace Randidly relaxed So Randidly sat hunched over in a dimly lit warehouse stitching clothing together
It was oddly soothing He also activated Root Manipulation making the small plants in the area dance It wasn’t quite as efficient as he normally would want to be but Randidly supposed that this was something of a break anyway
He had initially asked if anyone had known if anyone knew someone named Sydney or Ace from Rawlands University but he had just received blank stares Shrugging he focused on the knitting Randidly supposed it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t know anything There were a lot of people in the city and only a few dozen people here sewing This would take time
Mostly he listened to the people around him talked as they stood walked around and stretched their sore hands and then sat back down to continue to work
Randidly continued to stitch his moves becoming more natural his loops tighter
I heard they are leaving tomorrow morning One woman said but another sighed in response
They always say that The Senator can’t work up enough balls to actually do it and the fire department isn’t going to volunteer to do it on their own
Another woman chimed in The Freedom Fighters would do it if they got enough volunteers
The second woman fixed the first with a long stare And do you know what volunteering means Being a meat shield for the gunners The mortality rate for which is very very high No amount of food is going to make people leap to their deaths Not when easy work like this is available
The woman gestured to the piles of finished clothes next to them all Her own pile was rather large Every other nearby person had about 70% of her pile Except for one
Randidly’s was about double the size of the woman’s
They glanced at him but then ignored him He was just one of those weird shut in types who would come out at night to work and then return to their room to eat It was disgusting to the second woman People like that were exactly the reason why the city stayed bottled up while monsters ran rampant around them
Randidly ignored their stares and waited for the talk to continue intent on his stitching A notification popped up and he smiled His Sewing skill was already Lvl 5 It seemed his increased stats let him grind these finesse tasks relatively quickly
Time passed and Randidly stack of clothes continued to grow After a while a portly man and a taller woman walked around picking people About 1 out of every dozen were chosen The 2nd woman was chosen and also Randidly to his own surprise
Those that were picked The man announced Follow this woman The rest of you come collect your pay
The woman took them back and introduce herself as Cassie This needlework requires a bit more finesse but the pay is better If you are interested I want you to try learning this stitching method
Randidly mastered it the quickest within about 15 minutes and after an hour of impeccable work using that method Cassie was shocked that he had been an amateur The 2nd gossiping woman her competitive spirit rising sewed furiously attempting to keep up
After another hour they asked if anyone needed a break Randidly continued to stitch heedless working on an elaborate hoop skirt The gossipy woman her eyes bloodshot looked at him helpless Then she bit her tongue and shook her head returning to the sewing