Emily and Liana didn’t make it back until after eight that night, still covered in gri from the day’s haul. Thirteen modified buses, four full fuel tankers, six water-loaded fire trucks, and several more retrofitted vehicles - they’d really cleared house.
Emily hadn’t co back empty-handed, either. Thanks to a captive, she dug a safe out of the rubble and cracked it open: over 170 Crystals of various types and a load of other dangerous goodies, including mortars, shoulder-launched rockets, and even an infantry fighting vehicle.
After dinner, the group t. Liana brought up the idea of staying another day in Brightmoor Town to scavenge. No one objected.
Magnus barely said a word that evening. His face gave nothing away. Charlotte and Liana exchanged looks, thinking maybe his old illness was flaring up again. Liana nudged Charlotte with her chin toward the Doyle sisters. Charlotte gave a nearly invisible nod and glanced over at Abigail.
"We’ll stay one more day here..." Magnus lit a cigarette, talking half to himself. "The day after, we move nonstop. No more stops after that."
"Why?" Liana frowned.
"I don’t like dragging things out. We need to take Grainhold Town fast. Sothing’s off here." His words were vague. The others didn’t quite get it.
But Magnus was pulling the pieces together. First Fiona, then the early Crimson Rain. And just today, in a ruined mall, he’d seen a face he thought he’d never see again - Colton Virelli.
Colton, in the previous life, had joined the Ice Regint five months into the apocalypse, after coming up from Ironvale County to the north side of Springvale City. Later, he betrayed them, handing off female team mbers to Cliff in exchange for favors.
Magnus knew Colton well. But Colton showing up here in Brightmoor? That didn’t make sense. He should’ve been in Ironvale. And yet, he’d just been blown to pieces by one of Sophia’s missiles.
By Colton’s own account in the last life, they’d stayed put in Ironvale County for five months. So what was he doing here? Dead?
It was clear now - Magnus’s choices this ti around had twisted the tiline. Things weren’t playing out as they did before...
They’d stolen Crystals ant for Cliff, pre-emptively bombed his HQ and aircraft, rescued Fiona early, killed Colton before he turned traitor... Coldre Town, the Anomaly Zone - all of it changed, because he made different calls.
It was like a ripple turning into a tidal wave. Tiny changes rewriting everything.
But if that explained the rest, it didn’t explain the Crimson Rain. That wasn’t supposed to hit for a while. Unless... maybe those two black Crystals - each the size of a football - had done sothing. But if so, what was the connection?
*****
The next day, per Liana’s suggestion, the Ice Regint stayed put in Brightmoor to scavenge. At first light on the third day, the convoy rolled out again, headed for Grainhold Town. Over the next two days, the Ice Regint convoy passed through two more towns.
Just like Magnus ordered, they didn’t stop to camp - kept going until the third afternoon, when the scouts reported reaching the outskirts of Hanford City.
Hanford City lay east of Springvale, a county-level city under Ridgehaven City, with a population of 460,000. Not far from the city’s edge - in the sa direction the Ice Regint had co - were Ashbrook Town and Granary Town.
The convoy halted about five kiloters from Ashbrook. The scout vehicles had already picked up three sentries stationed outside town and brought them back.
Magnus frowned at the news. Sentries this far out ant one thing - trouble ahead.
Isabel escorted the three sentries into the RV’s lounge. As soon as they stepped inside, one of them shouted toward Magnus, "You’re the Ice Regint! We traded with you last ti!"
"We traded?" Liana stepped up, surprise in her eyes. "When would that have been? This is the first ti we’ve entered Ridgehaven’s region. Don’t try to pull a fast one."
"I’m telling the truth!" the sentry insisted, his voice rising. "Our captain is Evan Chandler! Last ti we sold you designer bags - he was the one who made the deal! Ask him! Ask - " He pointed at Magnus.
Evan Chandler... Magnus rembered now. The sa rogue group whom Emily had robbed once, and who later traded grain for water. Back then, they’d been migrating with over seventy vehicles. So now they’d ended up occupying Ashbrook.
Magnus stood and walked over. He looked straight at the three. "How many people are in your group now? Have you taken Ashbrook?"
"Yes, yes! We have! Please, tell them - tell them we traded fair before! You didn’t detain us that ti, so why now? What’re you trying to do?"
He was rambling. Magnus cut him off coldly. "Yeah, I rember you. But that doesn’t an anything. Understand? You answer when I ask. No nonsense. Got it?"
Flushed and silent for half a second, the sentry swallowed hard. "Got it."
Magnus nodded slightly, then continued, "Now, how many of you are there? Have you taken Ashbrook? What about the underground granary?"
"Yes! We’ve taken Ashbrook! We’ve got more than a thousand people now. Our leader - you know him - Evan. And yes, we’ve occupied the underground granary too!"
Over a thousand... Magnus wasn’t worried about Chandler’s gang. Last ti, they barely had any firearms - just a bunch of civilians. If it ca down to a fight, Ice Regint could tear through them. But there was a risk - what if Chandler rigged the place with explosives like that bastard Vulture did in the last life?
Magnus’s mind raced, weighing his options. Finally, he said, "You three - co with ."
He brought them outside, let them see the Ice Regint convoy stretching endlessly across the land. Then he showed them the weaponry - APCs, rocket launchers, mortars... enough firepower to flatten a town.
"One of you goes back," Magnus told them. "Tell Chandler exactly what you saw. He needs to be here before 7 p.m. tonight. If we don’t see him by then... tell him he’d better be ready for war."
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