The new life

It has been 1 week since we came to the sanctuary and life has been pretty normal or at least as normal as it could be.

The only thing that was strange was the feeling of being watched for the first 5 days but after that, it disappeared, we were probably being watched to ensure our allegiance and loyalty.

I, Jack, and Dave have all been recruiting, gathering new survivors, and killing monsters to rise through the ranks.

Because yes, the sanctuary isn't just civilians and guards.

The ranks are actually pretty simple and self-explanatory it goes like this:

The civilians are at the bottom since they don't contribute anything except moral support, and the broken ones don't even do that.

Next are the businessmen the shopkeepers and such, the help keep society running and give a sense of order. The illusion of civilized business makes everything feel slightly more normal.

Above them are the guards, they have their own ranking.

the regular guards enjoy some privileges such as better rooms, access to more resources, and keeping their weapons on them at all times.

The step above that is the perimeter guard and scout team, this is our current rank.

They can leave the Sanctuary on missions and if they find something good they will be rewarded appropriately, these people are more trusted than the regular guards and are sometimes given discounts at the various shops.

Then the last one is the elite team, of which there are only 7 members.

These people are ex-military and very well-trained people, they have the ability to call a meeting of the council whenever they deem necessary, and If the Marshal (The leader of the guards) dies or is deemed incapable, they can at any point choose a new one.

And at the very tippy top of the power hierarchy are the Marshal and the council.

The marshal is responsible for managing all of the guards and military operations, while the council manages the rest, such as resource allocation.

Now the obvious thing with this system is it strongly encourages hard work and competition between individuals but it also has several places for corruption to thrive.

For example, the seven people of the elite team could just assassinate the marshal and put their own puppet in charge no? And there is obviously going to be a power struggle between the council and the marshal if there isn't one already.

The only reason this place hasn't collapsed is that if they did struggle for power and fight against each other, they would all be doomed.

As Sam said, this place was formed out of necessity.

'This system is obviously flawed but I can take advantage of that.'

'After all, I have to gain more power and influence in order to protect what I care about and get what I want in the future.'

'The current plan is simply to gain power and influence within the sanctuary and eventually take over completely hopefully through peaceful means but if necessary I will do what I must.'

The past month of Adams's life has changed him deeply, from a decent guy to someone with superpowers to the current apocalypse around him.

He still has morals that can't be crossed, but his willingness to do what is necessary for his survival and the survival of the people around him has never been higher.

'Let's check my stats...'

RIFT RESISTANCE (LVL UP) ((PASSIVE)) (9) DREAMER (5) ((PASSIVE)) REALITY BENDER (LVL UP) (26) THE SANE LVL UP (LVL9) CLOAK (PASSIVE) INTIMIDATION (PASSIVE) ((CONNECTED TO CHARM)) CHARM (PASSIVE) ((CONNECTED DO INTIMIDATION)) MONSTER SLAYER (LVL UP) ((PASSIVE)) (7) KNIFE/DAGGER EXPERT ((PASSIVE)) VETERAN ((PASSIVE)) WILL OF STEEL ((PASSIVE)) UNBREAKABLE BODY ((PASSIVE))

HOST'S STATS:

STRENGTH: 7. (INCREASE!)

AGILITY: 6.8 (INCREASE!)

ENDURANCE: 8.9 (INCREASE!)

WILLPOWER: 10.2 (INCREASE!)

'Willpowers has only grown slower since crossing the 10-point mark...'

'Well, it makes sense... I suppose I will have to deal with it either way.'

Adam wouldn't whine just because something is inconvenient, the past two weeks of being constantly under pressure and the hard work he has been forced to endure have made him significantly more disciplined than normal people.

And to top it off...

"Hey Adam!" ...He had a beautiful girl to take care of.

'Let's make up strategies later.'

Jack and Dave were both informed of Adam's plan but the girls were kept in the dark for their own safety.

And they both agreed with Adam's evaluation of the Sanctuary.

The current system just won't do, and the people in power usually don't like changing the balance of power against themselves.

Although the Marshal seemed like a pretty cool guy, they couldn't risk anything, not to mention they don't even know the people of the council or the marshal that well.

At that moment Amanda put down a plate of toast's in front of him.

"Thank you!" He said and kissed her cheek

After having fun with her and eating the toast he left for his guarding duties. (Fun as in innocent if it was lewd it would be 'Fun' or "Fun")

He met up with Dave and Jack who were his squad mates, and they left for their mission.

Today they should completely scavenge a local neighborhood and take all of the resources back to base.

"Should we split up?" Dave suggested. "hell NO." Adam resolutely said, "Have you seen a single horror movie??" Jack joined in.

"Ok! ok! I get it jeez it was only an idea..."

They had this conversation hushed and obviously, they weren't stupid enough to make loud noises when the city around them was dead silent. Too silent actually...

The others seemed to pitch this up as well and we immediately pushed our backs against each other and surveyed our surroundings.

I noticed that we were surrounded from all sides by monsters that were hiding in the alleys and behind buildings, I motioned to them and the others quickly understood.

As if they realized they were busted 10 melting slime-like dog and cat corpses charged with surprising speed at us.

I rolled out of the way of the first few that came at him and stabbed one with a dagger while it was dizzy and threw two more at the other two killing 3 in a few seconds.

during this, my allies didn't stand still.

Jack rushed at the ones that encircled them and slaughtered 2 with his machete while Dave killed 3 with his self-made highly resistant gloves with steel spikes melted to them.

We made those from materials that we scavenged.

The remaining ones freaked out when they saw 8 of their kind be killed in a few seconds and tried to retreat, but all of their struggles were in vain.

I threw my daggers with enough strength to surpass their speed and killed them both.

Silence returned to the road, the of us were covered in the silvery red blood of our enemies, and we stood vigilant against more ambushes.

After a while, we decided to move into the houses and take the valuable stuff there.

Unfortunately, cars are pretty much useless due to the crashed cars on the road leaving them no choice but to take bikes, which they left at the beginning of the street.

These bikes however were not that much faster than them anymore although they were still a bit faster and allowed them to move loot more efficiently and easily, Adam suspects that after long enough he might even outrun Usain Bolt.

That will take a long time though and it assumes he won't get any faster and stronger which is more than unlikely.

Anyways Adam and the gang looted the houses and found some canned food and bottles of water but nothing of interest.

They went back home and reported their findings to the Marshal, they also informed him of the monsters there.

"That's concerning... there shouldn't be monsters that close..." After mumbling that he smiled "Thank you for reporting, you can go rest you earned it."

So we obediently left and returned to our quarters.

And just like that we survived our first 2 weeks of the apocalypse and everything was fine...

Until, at the end of the month, it wasn't.