Saga of a New World - (Audiobook Available)

25. Preparations

The Sheriff stops mid-stride and snaps her head towards Tom. "Did you just say, wizard who can use his finger as a plasma torch?"

"Yeah. Didn't you know? That weird kobold that doesn't speak our language? Turns out he can make fire and melt steel with his bare hands. I have no idea how that English teacher talks to him, but she managed to get him to weld stuff for us."

The Sheriff sighs. "A wizard that can melt metal with his bare hands. Another thing to worry about. I can't believe I'm not even surprised."

Tom continues the conversation as though this revelation is the most normal thing in the world. "Anyway, as I was saying, wouldn't it be easier to just go get a normal semi-truck-trailer and modify that, than to build something on this thing?"

The Sheriff just shrugs, but Fynn says, "No. The roads are blocked and a normal semi-truck can't drive off-road. This thing can drive on a normal road, a dirt road and through a field if need be. There should be a few metal support thingies behind the trailer that go into those holes in the sides. Welding, or even gluing a few pieces of sheet metal onto those should be way easier than modifying a semi-truck. But I would like to add that a few steel panels probably won't stop a persistent monster – and definitely won't stop a bullet."

The Mayor raises an eyebrow. "Why would we need to stop bullets? Most people don't have guns and the whole point of this is to not fight the soldiers."

The Sheriff says, "The panels should be enough against the monsters, but the soldiers might try to stop us from leaving. We need to plan for that." The elf starts pacing around on top of the flatbed. "Fynn. Do you have any sandbags around here?"

"No... But we do have bags of grain to feed the animals. Why?"

"That should work too. We can use those things as cover. We need to take that stuff with us anyway and if we get into a firefight, it might save our lives."

The Mayor doesn't look like she agrees. "Bags of grain are gonna stop bullets?"

The Sheriff glares at her. "Back in the day, our Drill Sergeant told us that sand is really effective at stopping projectiles. I can't remember why, but anything similar should do the trick."

"Great," Fynn says. "So we put our grain and water barrels on the edges of the flatbed and add holes in the paneling to shoot out of. I mean, I hate wasting good grain, but it's better it gets shot than us. You think you can do that, Tom?"

"I can weld and cut whatever you want into that thing. Since we're going to burn this place down anyway, we can use the panels from the barn's roof for the walls. If we work through the night we should be able to get it done by tomorrow morning."

Astrid, who's wondering why she's even here, asks, "What about the tractor itself? Shouldn't that be protected too?"

The Sheriff glances at her and says, "Right. Tom, any idea how we could do that?"

The kobold scowls. "You're talking about turning that thing into a tank. We could add plating over the engine block and then put some bags on top of that, cos you said we need to transport that anyway. Of course, we also have to protect the driver's cabin. I don't know anything about bullets, but do you think three millimeters of sheet metal is enough?"

Fynn scoffs. "Maybe for a .22, but three millimeters wouldn't even stop a 9mm, much less the 5.56 full metal jacket rounds the soldiers are probably using."

The Sheriff adds, "I don't know the exact numbers, but we need at least ten millimeters if we want to stop anything serious."

Tom moves the fur around his mouth. "That's a lot of work and weight. Don't you guys think it might be smarter to just get out of here quickly, rather than turn this thing into something out of Mad Max?"