Murmurs broke out at his words. Most members of the squad were unwilling to stay back. It led to a fierce argument, a little bit of cursing—mostly by Pirlo. The rogue was one of the few who wasn't bothered whether he stayed or not; all the wiry teen wanted was some peace and quiet in the storm that Nathan had just stirred up.

"Ruben, if I hear one more word from you, I swear my fist is going to be permanently attached to the insides of your skull," Pirlo growled.

"But he... the chance for pizza!!!" Ruben begged.

No one bothered to answer the Berserker, each waiting for Pirlo's reaction to what Ruben had just said. But the wiry teen seemed to have given the Berserker the benefit of a doubt, choosing not to resort to violence unless the blabbermouth kept speaking—he didn't. Ruben huffed when nobody responded, but the Berserker ultimately shut up.

"Good, now everyone relax," Pirlo said. "I'm sure Nathan has a good reason why he said what he just said. Let's all hear him out like civilized people before jumping at his throat."

Nathan did his best to hold back a smile, especially since the current truce might be broken if they saw him smile. He stared at the rogue for a moment, the teen's words startling him a bit. He wondered when the wiry guy became so guided with his speech and actions—it seemed like just yesterday when Pirlo was stealing his kills, and now the rogue was visibly nodding for him to continue.

Shit.

"So, like I said a few moments ago, not everyone would be going on our little voyage," he said, raising a hand to hold back any interruption. "For one, we have to actually keep the mine under our thumb, same as the stronghold. To do that, we need people to stay back and keep watch of the place just in case some aliens decide to make Blood Rock their new home."

"Why does it matter? We could just... I don't know, leave the place. No offense, Nate, I'm not so sure any alien is going to want Blood Rock. I mean, look at it," Ruben argued.

Nathan wasn't sure if Ruben was actually that daft or if the Berserker just wished to avoid being left behind that he'd argue such a solid point. The worst part was that he could see a few nods agreeing with the Berserker's words. The action made him question the sanity of these people he'd rescued, but at the same time, he had a responsibility to them both as the strongest and as their leader.

If he was going to keep a few of them back and tell them to watch over HIS stronghold and what was technically HIS mine, he might as well just explain to them in detail—like they were toddlers—what exactly was the problem with leaving their structures and everyone hopping on the ship on a quest.

"Ruben, this cabin might not look like much, but it symbolizes a stronghold—my stronghold and yours by extension," Nathan said. "If an alien species decided to appear on the island and eventually capture Blood Rock and convert it into their own while we're not here, then imagine how hard it'd be to fight them off the stronghold?"

"Bu-t—"

"No buts, Ruben. Listen to me, and so should the rest of you guys," he started. "The only reason I'm going to allow anyone aboard the ship is if we have people willing to stay back and defend. We literally have a mine filled with gold—Tora ore—it's ours for the taking, and you all just want to jump aboard a ship and leave everything to fate? Fate which hasn't been kind to anyone of us since the start of this damned apocalypse. So I want you all to take a minute to think things through and tell me with a straight face that I'm wrong and we should all hop on the ship and sail away."

It was a whole lot more words than he'd initially planned to say, but at the moment it seemed like he was dealing with kids—and to be fair, they were kids. Teens on the verge of becoming young adults but still teens nonetheless. Nathan had an unfair advantage with how he'd been raised up, nothing but a street kid, but most of these guys were raised in good homes with parents that had their 401ks down. Heck, apart from Pirlo and Ciara, he couldn't tell if any of the rest had experienced a fraction of his suffering.

Steadying himself and cutting that train of thought short, he simply stared at their faces, content to just watch them actually think through his words. Even Ruben was actually thinking about what he'd just said, which was mostly something that he'd not have expected from the Berserker. The blabbermouth had a thoughtful expression on his face, and it was definitely a rare sight.

"I agree," Ruben murmured.

A couple more murmurs from the rest of the squad confirmed that they'd seen his way was the best, and they'd no longer be contesting who'd stay behind and who wouldn't. It was the best outcome he could have hoped for; all the unnecessary back and forth was killing him.

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"Great, so now we can begin the hard part of today," Nathan said. "I'll be asking you guys to choose a single category to decide which side of the fence you're on. The first category is for those who wish to leave the island—if you're part of that group, please stand at the door that leads outside the cabin. If you're interested in staying on the island, stand beside the extreme end of the room. If you don't care, remain sitting."

Nathan watched as the squad scrambled up, some moving towards the door and others moving towards the extreme end of the room. Only three remained on the floor—him, Pirlo, and Ciara. Of course, Nathan was going to be leaving the island, so it didn't matter where he stayed; his fate had already been decided.

Only one person wanted to stay back on the island: the ranger, Tasha. The others wanted to leave the island, and Nathan couldn't blame them. Still, he was the leader of the group, and he had to do what was best for everyone. The third category consisted of Ruben, Daniel, and Diane.

Daniel and Diane were pretty much sealed for him, and as much as he'd have preferred to override them, they weren't a part of his faction. He'd promised them that they could leave whenever they wanted, and although he hadn't promised them a ship ride when they decided to leave, it would be cruel of him to deny them that option.

I'd be a tyrant, taking advantage of their situation.

That was nothing but facts. They were, for all intents and purposes, the most helpless of the group—Diane worse off than Daniel, who was of a similar level to Tasha. All the same, the trio were the bottom of the barrel when it came to individual quality, so him denying Daniel and Diane access to his ship would probably leave the pair with two options: stay back and defend the mine against their will, or strike out on their own and try to take on the island without the rest of them.

Well, it should be safer now that we've taken care of all the big threats.

Nathan exhaled, letting the thoughts leave with the expelled air. He couldn't begin to think like that; it was a sure way to lose one's moral ground, and he'd rather not lose the only thing that differentiated him from literal monsters.

"Okay, you can all come back and have your seats," Nathan called out from where he sat.

No grumbles, no curses, no interjection—just the quiet shuffling of people back to their spots on the floor, their eyes nervously glancing around and then at him as they tried to figure out what exactly was going on in his mind. But they couldn't, and they wouldn't except if he told them, and luckily for them, he planned on doing that.

"Okay, we might have an imbalance," Nathan started. "Three to one on the stay-to-leave scale."

"I'll stay," Ciara said.

"So, two to three," Nathan corrected. "Pirlo?"

He got a front-row seat to watching the gears in the Rogue's head rotate, the teen probably going through the possibilities that could be, mentally weighing the two options. It kind of surprised Nathan since the wiry teen had sat down when the category thing had been going on, meaning that he was open to both options. Something must've obviously changed in the Rogue's mind for him to be reconsidering.

"I'm leaving," Pirlo said.

"Great, two to four," Nathan sighed.

He was really hoping that it wouldn't come to him having to become the deciding factor and showcase his authority over them, but it seemed like the fates seemed to deny him his very wish, thrusting him in the very situation he was loath to be in. He tapped on his leg with his fingers as he tried to figure out the words to kickstart the entire thing back in the right direction. Turned out he didn't even have to do anything—Ruben did it for him.

"Two to four is not the best, but it's workable," Ruben said.

"It's actually two to five if you include me, so no, Ruben, it isn't workable," Nathan replied. "I need one person to volunteer to stay back."

His eyes found the only person he hoped would be reasonable enough to volunteer to stay back: Pirlo. The Rogue's eyes were cold and dead as he looked into them, no doubt the edgelord was now deadset on going on their little excursion.

The others weren't much better. Ruben refused to meet his eyes, which was kind of a first. Diane and Daniel were off-limits, which meant he was going to have to make an executive decision, and he was going to have to make it fast before the concrete that was their choice solidified.

"Ruben, you'll stay back," Nathan said in a stern voice.

"No fair!" Ruben whined. "If it's because of how much I talk, I promise not to speak unless I'm spoken to for the whole trip."

Tempting. The offer from the Berserker was one that he'd have loved to cash in on, alas their current circumstances meant that he couldn't—well, wouldn't take the teen up on the offer. Besides, the talkative nature of the teen wasn't the only reason. Another was that Nathan was already a Berserker; no point having two people with roughly the same skill set. Plus, Pirlo was more bloodthirsty and ruthless—it'd do him good to have someone like that by his side for what was basically a journey into the unknown.

"They—I need you to stay back, Ruben," Nathan started. "How are they going to survive without a Berserker to lead the charge? They need you."

"Is that true?" Ruben asked, wide-eyed.

Nathan winked at the pair of Ciara and Tasha, both ladies looking like they wanted to contest his words, but at the end of the day, they simply agreed with him.

"Yes, Ruben," they both said in unison.

"Oh, okay," Ruben said. "But only because Nathan said I'm going to be the leader."

"Sureee," Ciara said.

Nathan nodded subtly towards the mage, acknowledging her tact in helping to resolve the situation, and now it was down to him to wrap things up.

"Okay, that's selection done," Nathan said. "You guys can spend the next few days getting ready. To the others, visit the mine."

"What about you? What are you going to be doing?" Diane asked.

"Evolve. I'm going to be evolving."

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