“And you.” Allistor smiled at her.  He instantly liked the pair.  “Your caveman is teaching me to cook snake.  Something I didn’t expect to ever learn.”

Sarah looked down, her face falling.  “We’ve all had to learn a lot of new things since the Apocalypse.”  She paused for a moment, lost in her own memories.  Then she raised her head and smiled.  “Annie tells me you’re going to teach all of us a few new things.”

Allistor nodded.  “Yeah, things have gotten rough.  But I’m hoping by working together and sharing information, we can not only survive this first year but thrive.”

“I hope you’re right!  I’ll leave you two man-children to play with the fire and burn our food.  See you both in a few.”

Dean grumbled under his breath. “Burn the food.  As if. I’m an artist!” He grumpily flipped a few of the snake steaks. Allistor grinned to himself and did the same.

When the food was prepared and the two men delivered it all to the tables, there was a quick round of introductions.  Helen had apparently already met everyone. Allistor was never good with names, and he promptly forgot them as each new person shook his hand. They shared a nice meal, folks enjoying the food and each other’s company.  Initially, Dean had posted a couple guards to watch for monsters, but Helen had assured him that Fuzzy’s nose was a better sentry than any human, so the two men took seats and ate with everyone else.  Still, everyone had a weapon handy, just in case.

When the meal was done, they rearranged the chairs in a circle, and Allistor spoke to them about the System and the game-like mechanics that ruled their world now.  He covered the attributes and the list of skills that they’d discovered over the past weeks.  A few of the new group chimed in with new skills that they’d learned.  One had learned Engineering, another got Carpentry, and two of them had earned Edged Weapons. All of them knew how to fire weapons, but apparently using Earth guns didn’t grant a skill within the System.

Then he switched to Strongholds and Outposts.  This was where he needed to ask the big question.  When he’d explained how territory was claimed and the resources needed for the different sized structures, he paused and took a deep breath.

“Which brings me to the reason I’m here talking to you.  I’ve managed, mostly by accident, to achieve a noble title.  I’m a Baron now, with ownership of nearly three million acres of land here in Wyoming and Colorado.  With that title comes the ability to establish multiple Outposts, Strongholds, and even Citadels.”  He got to his feet and began to pace as he collected his thoughts and let them absorb what he’d said.