Returning Home

It took Grant nearly the entire day to make his way through all of the debris before he finally reached the location where the gun store should have been.

It took even longer than he anticipated because monsters and zombies were constantly trying to attack Grant. None of them even got close to him but the sheer number of them managed to slow him down since he had to stop and kill them each and every time a group showed up.

Where the gun shop had been was now just a massive pile of rubble. He wasn't sure if the shop was still underneath it or not but he knew he had to clear away the debris and check regardless.

If Ally and the kids were trapped inside, maybe it was a good thing he had shown up when he did, since he could bust them out.

Grant really wanted to pull out his sword and just use brute strength to blow away all of the debris but he was afraid that he might blow away the shop underneath if he did that. So he had to "carefully" knock away large bundles of debris with his fists.

After a few hours, Grant managed to reach the front door of the gun shop.

At first he was elated that he found the door because it meant that he could make sure that his new surrogate family was safe and return to the dungeon quicker with them. However, his heart sank when he saw that the door was already opened slightly.

Without pause, Grant flung the door open wide and rushed inside. Once inside, he realized that all the power was out and he couldn't see any signs of people having been there recently. On the far corner of the building there was a massive gaping hole in the roof with debris hanging down through the hole and water slowly dripping onto the floor.

That's when he finally noticed that there was a thin layer of water covering the entire floor of the building.

Despite all the signs that Ally and the kids weren't there, he still went through the entire building just to double check and make sure.

As he was walking through the building, Grants heart began to sink further and further because he was getting more and more concerned.

After reluctantly giving up the search and walking towards the door to leave, Grant noticed some writing on the wall near the entrance. He hadn't noticed it when he first entered because he was too concerned with trying to find the three but now that he had calmed down and focused, he finally saw it. After walking closer to get a better look, he noticed that the note was written by Richard.

"If you are seeing this Grant, it means that we are no longer here. After the roof of the building was destroyed, we decided we had no choice but to move somewhere else. We have decided to go to the settlement at the University to see if it is safe there. -Richard"

Grant was surprised that they had decided to brave the storm and go to the settlement. He knew that they hadn't waited until the storm stopped because their wouldn't have been debris covering the door if that were the case.

He had no doubt that the kids could easily make it through the storm with their strength, but he was concerned for Ally. Knowing Richard and Robin though, he figured that they probably had a plan to keep their mother safe since they would never put her in danger needlessly.

Grant didn't immediately set off for the settlement because it was starting to get late and he didn't want to walk into an unknown area when it was dark. He wasn't afraid of the monsters or zombies attacking him at night, since he could basically fight with his eyes closed using only his Overclocked Concentration.

Also, after fighting Skit so many times over the past two weeks, he had strengthened his battle senses and ability to perceive slight fluctuations in the air and mana, which made it nearly impossible for things to sneak up on him.

No, what he was truly concerned with, were the other humans themselves. Since even he, who was stronger than anyone else would normally be before the Enlightened Tier, had avoid fighting at night during those days, he had no doubt that the survivors' sense of danger would be much greater at night and they may attack him without hesitation simply because he was out walking when it was dark.

So after pulling some food out of his pack and sitting down, Grant spent the rest of the night resting in the driest corner of the shop he could find.

When the sun started to rise, Grant finally stood up and prepared to leave. He didn't end up getting any rest because he was too anxious with what he was going to find.

If he had learned anything from the books he read before The Path's emergence, then it was highly likely that he would run into a few situations in the settlement that would turn his stomach.

Even though he spent the entire night trying to figure out what to do in those situations, he couldn't come to a conclusion on how to deal with those situations when he inevitably encountered them.

Should he play the hero and try to rescue everyone or should he accept that he couldn't save everyone and only help those he could? Or should he turn a blind eye to everything and not help anyone at all?

He ultimately decided that he would have to make the decision in the moment. It was a classic, "I would have done this instead of that if I was in that situation," argument that you would see in online comment sections. No matter what you think you would do in the situation, your actions almost never aligned with your plans when emotion or anger overtook logic and rational thinking.

With a few deep breathes to clear his mind, Grant started to head in the direction of the University. It was once again a constant struggle against debris and monsters alike. As soon as he started to make decent progress, a group of monster cats, or some oversized snake would come flying at him out of nowhere and delay his progress.

However, as he got closer to where the University was, he noticed that a lot of the debris had already been cleared away and he could see the makings of a path had already been started before he got there. He still had to fight monsters as he walked, because he was at least a couple of miles away from where they had said the settlement was, but he moved much quicker now that he didn't have to waste time clearing ruble.

It only took Grant around twenty minutes to cover the final distance between where he had been and where the radio message had said the settlement would be located.

Sure enough, when he rounded the final corner leading to the location where the settlement was supposed to be, he noticed that the entire street was clear of debris and there was a "wall" of sorts created from debris piled up and only a small opening was between the two sides of the wall to allow people to pass through.

Stationed atop the wall in short intervals were small platforms with a person standing atop each one. Grant noticed, even from a distance, that each person was holding a gun, which wasn't entirely surprising for people who hadn't leveled up and tried to grow through their Path.

Grant wasn't sure if guns even worked for gaining experience and absorbing stats since he had never actually tried to use one even when he was staying in the gun shop. He had always found guns to be inefficient because of the reliance on ammo.

No ammo, no boom, no way to damage monsters.

As Grant moved closer to the wall, he realized that the men had started to point there weapons at him, but thankfully no one fired. He didn't know if a gun would be capable of killing him at this point, but he didn't want to find out the hard way. As he was walking towards the wall, a group of people came out from behind the wall and stood in front of it, waiting for him to approach.

When Grant finally reached a relatively close distance, the person at the front of the group, who he assumed was the leader of this little defense squad, finally spoke up.

"Please stop where you are! For our safety and yours, can you please confirm who you are?"

"My name is Grant Holmes, I lived in the 9's back on Euclid Ave before The Path's emergence."

"Thank you. May I ask what it is you are looking to achieve here? It is uncommon for a single person to be travelling around in this apocalyptic world unless they are strong and can defend themselves. So it is unlikely that you are seeking shelter."

"I am here to pick up some friends who told me they would wait for me here."

"I see.

I apologize, but due to the fact that we do not know who you are, we will need to confiscate your weapon before you enter. The weapon will be returned to you upon your departure or when we know you can be trusted."

"And how will you know I can be trusted? If I give you 50 pounds of food, will that earn me enough "trust" to keep my weapon?"