His sisters were already told to make the daily evening meeting known to all relevant personnel, and with all the mini tasks being tasked and conducted - only training was on Ethan's to-do list and so he does.

  Few minutes later, Ethan is on the third rep of his training exercise he improvised for himself.

  Deciding to go for a bit more systematic training method, he taps into his inner awareness, strolling and feeling his physical body, controlling his heart beat and pressing tight and releasing specific muscles, afterwards he taps the barrier to his mana layer and breaks his meditative state and repeats.

  First round takes him almost 50 minutes, the focus is poor due to multitasking, the movement around his inner plane is crude and heavy and the poke on the inner barrier does not move it by even an inch.

  Time goes by and soon a knock on the door pulls his attention, breaking his meditative state.

  Ethan sighed and walked through the door, losing count on how many times he did this exercise, ‘Assuming there is really a grace period I wonder how long it last or we are just lucky to have this time to prep’

  Behind the door Dana waited.

  “Hey, I am heading to the meeting. Thought you might have gotten swallowed in your training once more” she smiled warmly.

  “I was, Thank you. Let’s move” He returned a smile.

  As they head out another reminder of how much time passed as he was training, taking the form of a loud rumbling sound from Ethan’s belly.

  Dana grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him as she walked towards the door picking up an energy bar they kept in the communal area for emergencies.

  “Eat it as we walk, people are waiting for you…again. Haven’t you had enough of Zoe’s commentary?” Dana teases.

  Shaking his head. He let her pull him, a small smile tugs his lips upwards, ‘Thank you’ he spoke in his mind.

  Not surprisingly, Ethan is the last to make an appearance in the meeting room.

  Looking at Zoe straightforwardly, a serious gaze makes her retreat before she speaks her word loudly.

  Sitting at his seat he waits for the chatter to die down.

  “First subject, we shall all refer to one another by the role we hold in this room and in front of other people from now on. In private, do whatever you want with one another” Although this was a request he made before, growing in size and because of them still getting used to this new order, this was not often conducted properly.

  “I will be Head leader, Head of internal defense, Head of external assault” he points at himself, Dana and Rob.

  “Head of general resources and deputy general resources” he points at Leah and guy, “pick who takes what role”.

  “Populace tracker, professions tracker” He designates his sisters, “pick who do what”

  ‘Head architect’ for Kenny, ‘Manager of first floor’ for Jessica, ‘Manager of second floor’ for Jamey’.

  Pondering for a moment, “You four, are the food department, no formal name is required for now”, he points at Sarah, John, Rina and Rowen.

  “Are we clear?” Ethan asks.

  An uncomfortable silence feels in the room.

  “Yes, head leader!” Dana stood up, breaking the thick veil of ice present in the room, one by one they all said the same and repeated her words.

  Being still young in their mindset and less strict in social norms, Dana and his sisters spoke out first leaving the adults to process this situation.

  “I know, it feels weird but we need a new order around here, soon there shall be a lot more survivors and staying hooked on old world etiquettes will only cause chaos and mishaps” Ethan states bluntly.

  “This meeting will now take place every three days and on the weekend, this is when you could raise issues and problems we must attend to. The more serious stuff could be attended by a personal meet up if need be” Ethan informs the council.

  Starting the check ups, Robs talks first.

  “I wish to inform you that one rescue run went awful, a family of a survivor from the first floor didn’t make it, the second one was a half success. The longer it takes I believe we will have more and more of that unfortunate news” Rob states.

  “It is but the obvious, We can’t save everyone, and when chaos reign supreme outside that’s our time to make a sturdy and solid foundation, letting pressure and grievances that cannot be solved affect us shall be our downfall. It is easy to say coming from me, I have all my family members in this very room, but slow and steady makes the race, acting impulsively based on emotions won't lead us too far, am I mistaken?” Ethan lowers his head.

  “You are not…” Rob’s hands closed into a fist, coming late from his two missions.

  “Today was not easy, I assume. Thank you for your hard work, tomorrow I will join you, or replace you. You are at it for three or four days…Don’t take all the weight on your shoulders alone” Ethan nods at Rob with a warm smile.

  Helping out a council member and solidify his stand as graceful and competence leader who can act as both in home enforcer of order and lead a vanguard team outside, this was a win-win situation for him. ‘I might also get some air while I'm at it’ Ethan hyped himself even more.

  “That aside, all the five advisors made acquaintances with you?”

  Rob, Dana, and Kenny nodded.

  “Your opinions of this?”

  “Mine got a bit overstepping, he threw a note about my way of management in front of a few people. With all respect to his good intentions, It was a poor public performance. I needed to be…less pleasant to regain some ire among the first floor people. We are good now, I think” Kenny says.

  “Sorry for not informing you of this decision. I took them for a chat being the…man of culture I am and I saw they are up to speed with their own knowledge. I was thinking you might want a knowledgeable man walking around you, feel free to let me know in private if any issue pops up with them” he decided to add.

  Quite painted the room for a moment, “can we call it a day? Everyone is doing fine?”

  “Few small groups approached the entrance, trying to join. Three people were recruited, the rest were declined, we must address this quickly” Dana stated seriously.

  “Sending the patrol 400 meters away across the parameter spreading flyers and signs about not coming closer unless they have special circumstances or trading offers will do?” Ethan asks optimistically.

  “Barely, most people coming are starving or in trouble, we try to recruit people who can help and return the coin. Most of the people's hearts turned dark. evil and selfish intentions are barely hidden” she lowered her head, clearly disheartened by having the role that has to select who goes back to the concrete jungle of survival and who gets to stay.

  “You handled it perfectly Dana.”, He stood up and turned to the room speaking out loudly in a sharp voice.

  ”If any of you ever need help, let me know. If you want advice , ask away. If you want me to help you carry the weight of the role and take the hard decision, I can do this too”

  The different people in the room looked at Ethan, their emotions and thoughts varied.

  Most of them are that of gratitude and admiration.

  ‘He just keeps on taking everyone's toll on himself with even flinching’ John looks at his son, his eyes brimming with confidence and pride.

  A worried voice cut the brave heart moment.

  “We don’t have long before fresh meat runs out, we managed to dry and salt many of them due to early preparations, same for some vegetables and fruit.” Sarah raises an important issue.

  “Elaborate on actions you took and future requirements, ask for people who come to trade for a whole monster's bodies, luckily enough, they will be clueless about the cores at the beginning” Ethan chuckled.

  “Few seeds of multiple vegetables and fruits were picked up and stored for further use by some green thumbs. Farming lands projects have been initiated by Kenny. beast meat hunts will be very helpful for a test run regarding new meat source”

  Rina and Rowan, the sister-brother duo, took a mental note of the short exchange.

  “Kenny, Current building projects, farming lands status?” Ethan moves on.

  “Dirt and earth is getting gathered and patched up close by the entrance. First trials of some root vegetables will start by tomorrow. Building is going fine, I am playing around with broken debris and dirt to create clay like material. Raiding ware stores before other groups will get innovative like us is a must. Also, Water will be needed, a lot of water.” Kenny lays out a more complicated request.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Cupping his fists, Ethan leans forward, ‘food, dirt, sand, earth, water, ware tools, meat..’, The amount of materials needed growing with each talking council member.

  Before Ethan speaks up, Guy seconds the last suggestion, “I think a raid on a wares store will be very much beneficial. It's a dark thought but we must use the fact that people are now trying to hide and run avoiding or ignoring building materials for the sake of survivability. Those materials and resources would become priceless as soon as more groups stabilize a base like us. meanwhile, being completely ignored in plain sight - concrete, wood, metal, working tools are waiting to be picked by us”

  “This is…Yes, you are correct” Hearing this though out loud Ethan couldn’t agree more.

  “Does anyone know of such a store around?” Ethan asks the room.

  “There was something like that, yes, do you need me to join you as a guide?” Guy offers, a bit of uncertainty his voice.

  The twitching eyes of Leah makes it Even harder to miss that she isn't a fan of his offer, making Ethan Let out a small chuckle.

  “What are you planning?” Dana asked, looking at Ethan's wandering eyes.

  “Two days scavenging hunt. 20 warriors with backpacks. Wood, metal, tools, batteries, wolves meat, Water, cement, books about crafting. We will come back with enough for at least two weeks of resources” Ethan lays out a plan slowly brewing in his head.

  “This is…doable..” Dana nods with worry.

  Everyone looked confused, torn between excitement and worry, Succeeding in this will give them some very much needed time and materials to survive in The new world, but being so public and noticeable will put an even bigger mark on their backs.

  “Also the location is close to five rescue requests we Have been asked for” Rob adds after understanding the location John spoke of, still showing A great amount of care to the rescue efforts.

  “Everyone leaves beside Leah, Guy, Dana and Rob” Ethan dismissed the others.

  “Oh! Before you leave, this scouting mission is not to be spoken of” Ethan tell the leaving group of people

  The room empties, one by one, each giving Ethan a nod of acknowledgement reassuring him that future tasks are clear.

  “Good luck, Ethan” Sarah gives him a hug And takes Leave.

  “Let us know before you head out!” Zoe tell him lowering her head, “I will try to act more appropriately in settings like this next time”

  Ruffling Her hair, he presses her down annoyingly, “you should”, he jests with his annoying sister, “we shall do a family dinner before I head out”.

  “take care”, Lily, departs giving her brother a tight smile.

  “Make sure Zoe doesn’t cause problems” Ethan returned a hug.

  Breaking contact she replies, “ I will, someone needs to keep Zoe in check”.

  Pouting, Zoe returns to the room and pulls Lily away, “get away from him! He is a bad influence! Since when are you on his side?”

  Laughing at his sister's antiques he turned to the four, now sitting closer amused by what they witnessed.

  Now with five people in the room, his accountancy turns serious once more.

  “In two days we will leave. Dana, the warrior's categorization?”

  “42 in total, 38 physical affinity, 4 mind affinity, no one showed hybrid affinity” Dana recounts today's workout.

  “Weapons picked?” he inquired further.

  “Mostly yes, with the advisor you asked to accompany me, mind affinity warriors were advised to pick one handed weapon, for the possibly future option of wielding magic with the other, being generally more versatile later on. The rest went for swords or spears, some picked the sword and shield classic combo. Some heard the archer's proposition and were intrigued. We needed to raid a sports store as well or something to get some bows. Possible long rangers picked daggers for now, for close range emergency” Dana reported it all out perfectly.

  Leah and Guy looked baffled by all the information. They could only use logic and imagination to understand what was going on.

  “Guy, will you Show us around the area?” Ethan suddenly addresses the confused John.

  “Yes, I would like to see the outside world as well” he nods seriously.

  “You will join the warriors training in the next two days then” Ethan said in a Tone that left not room for objection.

  “It is but a reasonable necessity” Guy nods.

  “Dana could you put Guy up to speed tomorrow morning with his affinity classification and I will train all the off duty warriors. Rob, take a day off” Ethan summed things up.

  They both nodded sternly, “let's get going, thank you, everyone, really” he says as he leads the four people out.

  Making their way to their rooms, they looked down to the lower floors, “things are looking better here by the hour” Leah smiled calmly.

  “Ethan, by the way, the training using goblins coming from the portal works great, everyone is at least level 2 by now, some key members hitting level 3 or 4. The goblins' corpses are being searched for cores. We have amassed so far that about 20 first cores, few items, and 3 common skills were dropped. morale is high, the meat hunt and the planting area will solidify everything even more” Dana smiled proudly, leaving the tense meeting visibly refreshed her.

  “Don't let your guard down, the real test begins when we will be tight on resources, that's when the real loyalist stays and the rest will try to burn the house down looking for better options” Ethan looked at the crowd suspiciously, “What skills were found?”

  “Quick hands - improve dexterity when using your arms. Foul Stench – Releases a weak, unpleasant odor that might repel weak creatures. Or just annoy people. Tiny Bite – Enables a small but painful bite attack. Not lethal, but very annoying” she reads from a paper that was in her pocket.

  Arriving at their room, Leah and Guy entered, getting ready for what is to come.

  Max and Anna jumped out from the family living compartment, “Ethan! Do we need to live like this forever now?” Anna asks childishly when she notices him walking with his parents.

  “Hopefully not, but for now yes” He shakes his head to the uncalled for remark, had she known what is happening outside right now as they speak.

  Ethan and Leah looked at each other uncomfortably, entering their own living quarters they realized that the conversation about the bees and birds is not the only one Max and Anna would have to go through.

  Walking back to their rooms, there was an awkward silence, Ethan looked quite unfocused and uncomfortable.

  As the two entered their communal space, Dana spoke up, clearly waiting for a moment of privacy.

  Staying quiet Ethan makes his way to the table, sitting and gesturing Dana to join, pondering over his words.

  “Spill it out, why do you look like your parents wrote you to the wrong summer camp?” Dana tried to break the ice as she sat in front of him in the pillowed chair.

  “Do you think I am the most powerful one around?” Ethan riddled an easy one out of nowhere, his hands held in a praying like pose as he pushed his weight on them.

  “Very much so” The replay came out almost instantaneously.

  “So, if someone comes here, either it be a monster or a man with ill intentions, and all of you can’t beat it, It would be up to me?” He added.

  “If you want to…I guess?” a much slower answer was given to him.

  “And do you think I am the only one in the whole city who knows his way around this knowledge? Had those hobbies? Have the understanding of things as I do?” he builds up his momentum to what bothers him.

  “That would be unlikely” The realization of the punchline Ethan tries to build starts to become clearer, but she lets him continue just to make sure.

  “And what are the chances of others to spend time and resources with 100 other people? Doing meetings and missions that have none to little effect in helping them get stronger?” He asks, still torn between the will to help others and the need to get stronger, hoping Dana could shed some light on this.

  “It has been bothering me for a few days now, Staying out of shape like this, without a proper guardian in this world it is but a matter of time before we fall” he concludes.

  “I disagree” the words come from her immediately, “I also thought of that, first, I and many others see you as the guardian. secondly, growing secondary force like you are doing is a benefit a lone survivor won’t achieve by locking himself in a safe basement and train”

  “Although there are some perks in leading factions or…whatever we are going to grow to be, My power, individually, shall be delayed in growth” he stated, his hands falling to the side of his body limply, his look of defiant an oxymoron to the defeated attitude he is putting on.

  “I still disagree, you are not holding back from knowledge, ability or resources, growing a force of currently well armed and trained 50 people. Maybe being less socially active will prove beneficial. It might even add a bit of mystery to your character as a shadow leader…You know, come for a final battle, make a lesson from you a prize for contributing warriors, how is that?” Dana raises a compromise.

  “And what of people that would die because I took a step back? Rescue missions that will fail? Outcomes my intervention could turn more…successful, I guess?” Ethan said his voice emits uncertainty, somewhat allured by what just offered to him.

  Dana took a long pause, on her face for the first time, she is showing a hint of anger towards Ethan, “Get inside your room and decide what the hell is it that you want, you are not our great guardian, nor our family member, our life and death are not your burden. You are our benefactor and if we can’t help you to have 2 days of training without falling apart we are not worthy of that, get your priority straight and we can keep on going with this talk. Stop eating yourself over every person's failure. You are acting greedily and childishly, that’s really unlike yourself” She stood up angrily, the chair squeaking by being dragged on the ceramic floor.

  Before entering her room she says with no leeway for his words in the conversation, “You are all trying to get us on a ‘right path’ when you yourself are still lost, Do not look at us like breakable dolls throwing ourselves for your sake time and time again against monsters and enemies above your level! You almost died last time when you had a team of 7 people accompanying you!”

  The sound of her door slamming echoed not only in their communal area, but in his mind.

  Dejected, he leaves to his room as he is about to sit, the big slick chair Dana arranged for him staring daggers at him, a decision must be made.