A/N: Here's chapter ten, it's time to see how the colony deals with a big crisis!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rimworld

It was the thirteenth of Decembary, and it was still snowy as ever outside.

Luckily at the moment, it wasn't snowing, and occasionally the temperature would dip upward to the high forties, melting some of the present snow. But it was never warm long enough to completely eradicate it. Phoebe supposed she'd have to wait for spring for that to come. Still, being outside was her only escape from being cooped up in the kitchen all day.

During her walk, she ran into her husband, so she figured she may as well give him a piece of her mind.

She grabbed his shoulder, causing him to turn around, "Cadmus, is it true you're regulating the hunting to Jack?"

Cadmus nodded, "Yeah, that way you could spend more time cooking, while he can hunt and construct."

"But I hate cooking."

He looked taken aback. Her tone was still polite and professional, but this was the first time Phoebe seemed genuinely angry, "Sorry…jeez…I mean…if kinda has to be one of us…and…I have to build stuff at a moment's notice…so…"

"Then why don't you let Jack take care of the construction while you cook? Seeing as how you're perfectly fine with letting him do the hunting that I once did."

His eyes grew even wider, "Alright, alright, I haven't thought of it like that…guess we could switch jobs around or something…" He said, swallowing hard. The newlyweds took a walk together in silence after that.

They've only been married for six or seven days, and they were having fights like this? Honestly, Phoebe's mood was debatable ever since the fall started, and he had no idea what he could do to fix that.

He had spent most of free time mining, while Jack did the building. Meowski was also able to produce quite a bit of stone blocks, but the problem was that Jack was using them up just as quickly as Meowski was making them. So far, Jack had made outer walls for the rec room and a second freezer, which were roofed in as well. Maybe he'd help him. One builder alone building rooms that size could be a nightmare, he should know.

Toni was still regulated to the occasional snow patrol, along with cleaning and cutting down trees, at least by next year, the workshop should be up and operational, so then Toni could cut stone blocks just like Meowski could. And Lady was finished with all of her training, so the full results of that would most likely be seen soon.

The pair of them walked over to Genevieve, who was by the front of the base, "Don't really see you out here too often." Cadmus said.

Genevieve smiled at them, though it faded when she saw their downcast expressions, "I find that a breath or two of fresh air can is quite rejuvenating after several hours of studies, even if said air is frigid."

"I wanted to tell you something about what I've been mining."

She nodded, "Yes, go ahead."

"That blue stuff…" He said, "I can't believe it, but for some reason, it was actually in the mountain."

"What? Some type of steel?"

"Not steel. Plasteel." Cadmus said, "What would tech like that be down here?"

She shook her head, "It's…hard to be certain…" She said, "Though it may not bode well…between the steel…machinery…and now Plasteel, I don't even want to know what was here before us…"

"The Plasteel's all in the storeroom right now." He said, "I think I mined all of it. It could be useful in a pinch."

Phoebe looked ahead, "I believe traders are coming."

Cadmus and Genevieve followed her gaze, "You're right." Genevieve said.

The group looked just as big as the other traders that had arrived a season or two ago. Though their clothing and gear looked far more current. They had pack muffalos, just like the other group, but they also had an assortment of strange animals, most of which the trio had never seen before.

"Hello there, we bring you greetings from Shobum." The lead trader smiled.

Phoebe smiled and gave a little bow, of course, being flanked by Cadmus and Genevieve probably made her look a bit more impressive and threatening too, "The Elephant Kingdom grants you a hearty welcome."

"We were wondering if you wanted to purchase any of our…" The trader paused, gesturing to some of the travelers in handcuffs, "Manuel labor…we should say? Some of it is as cheap as a-thousand silver!"

"No way…" Cadmus muttered under his breath, "These guys have slaves too?"

"Unfortunately, we do not have that much currency." Phoebe said, "We only have eight-hundred silver coins…can you direct us to something cheaper?"

"Hmm…" The trader thought about it, then he smiled, "Well…we do have some smokeleaf…beer? Go-juice? Yayo? Flake? Wake-up? Psychite?" He leaned in closer, whispering the last name, "Luciferium."

The three of them all exchanged a glance, "Not interested." They all said in unison.

"Not interested in that either, hmm?" The trader asked, thinking again.

Cadmus heard a bit of growling, followed by a howling, but it didn't sound like it came from any ordinary dog. He saw the culprit, "Ew…" He made a face, "What the hell is that?" He pointed.

"Hmm? Ah, you mean our wargs…" The trader gave a greedy grin once more.

"Wargs?" Cadmus asked. The beast before him looked like some sort of wolf that was given a divine power-up by the devil himself. Its fur was brown, with a long, overarching black tuft that down its back, with a black tail as well. It was horrendously muscular, so much so that Cadmus could see each and every individual one, if he cared to. It's eyes also didn't look promising, small, beady, and vicious.

"Yes my boy, the warg is a genetically engineered specimen of beauty!" The trader said, as the warg let out another howl, "You get one of these, and I guarantee you that no sucker in his right mind will tussle with you! These things are smart, lethal, and…to the right master, loyal. It'll work hard, kill your enemies without you having to lift a finger, and scare off any future attacks. All for the low, modest price of eight-hundred silver."

The three of them exchanged a glance again, as if they were having a telekinetic meeting on the matter. No way they were spending all their money on some sort of demon wolf, or at least, that's what Cadmus hoped for. Sure, he wouldn't mind a normal wolf. But these things just looked plain evil. Although, they would keep raiders at bay. Still, for the most part it was really up in the air. They were going nowhere fast with this trading session.

"So…uh…wanna tell me what we actually did buy?" Cadmus asked several hours after the trade, in the evening hours.

Genevieve held up the half-dozen or so kits of medicine. Unlike the other kits they crash landed with, these cases had a pink tint within them. "Glitterworld Medicine." Genevieve said. "It's the most powerful medicine there is out there. Stronger than even our med kits." She said, "It'll be useful for emergencies."

"And how much did it cost?"

"Most of our money." Her shoulders sunk, "But…not all of it. There's still a bit left in case we need it."

He nodded. He hated to see their silver go, but Genevieve had a point. The only reliable source of medicine they could get was herbal, in the spring, summer, and fall. So for that reason Genevieve had been only using herbal medicine on them for the time being, unless an extreme emergency took place. Because with twenty-five medicine cases and five cases of Glitterworld Medicine, one could only hope that something disastrous wouldn't fall upon them.

"Those guys sell us the most useless stuff for the most part." Cadmus muttered, "We don't need drugs…"

Phoebe smiled, "We're not a drug pushing nation?"

"No." The other two said, "Drugs are just…bad news…" Cadmus said, "My psychite addicted sister is all the proof you'll ever need for that."

"Yes…I agree…it wouldn't be wise to expose us to those sorts of hard drugs…especially while we're focusing on escaping the planet."

Sometimes all the numbness of the cleaning got to her, but rarely did it actually bother her.

Because at least she had trees to cut down, or snow to clear. She hated the snow clearing job the most, due to the strain it put on her poor back. But Toni knew she had jobs to do, just like everyone else. Just because it wasn't the most 'important' job didn't mean that it didn't have to be done.

Part of her was almost glad that Cadmus was building a rec room with Jack. She hated horseshoes, and would never admit it to his face, but she was just as bad as Cadmus was at them.

She was getting used to the fact that there was an elephant not only in the colony, but the mascot of said colony too. Out of all the members, she was probably the worst with animals, but she could get used to them over time. Jack seemed pretty friendly too, once you got past that horrible sounding voice he had. Made Cadmus sound like a damn angel. Maybe things here were going to be alright.

Her calm walk through the light snow became anything but that when she heard the sound of ravenous crunching. She rounded the corner. Seeing their muffalo (there hadn't been any other herds of muffalo in a while, let along herds of animals, so she knew from the get-go that it was theirs). The muffalo was lying down in the snow, which, at first Toni dismissed because she thought it was probably sleeping. But then she thought, wouldn't it go inside to stay warm? It knew it could do that, even with all that wool, it was still allowed inside.

Then she noticed the blood all over it. There had been a fight alright, and its killer was about ready to eat it.

"Hey!" Toni shouted, but it didn't avert the bear's attention one bit. So she figured her club would do the trick instead.

She beat the bear in the back with her club, "Hey!" She yelled again.

The bear slowly turned around, not only was it unamused, but it didn't look like it even felt that. It gave a terrifying growl, swatting at Toni in the face with its razor-sharp claws.

Toni fell back, grunting as she hit the snow with such force, she was thankful nothing was broken. She clubbed the bear again. The bear swatted Toni again, flooring her a second time. At this point, it decided to switch meals. It bit into Toni ravenously.

Upon realizing that she was the dinner now, Toni let out a high-pitched scream, punching and clubbing the bear as the large behemoth began chewing on her. Toni growled, trying to crawl away, but her entire body burned with pain. There weren't many places where she wasn't bitten or swatted at, and the snow all around her was starting to get stained with blood.

The sound of a bolt-action rifle was heard, as it pelted the bear right in the midsection. Even so, the gun that felled so many enemies before didn't hurt the bear much either. The bear roared at its new opponents. Toni meanwhile lost consciousness. She was either saved or killed, it was all dependent on if the others could save her.

"Toni!" Cadmus screamed, running through the snow as quickly as he could without falling over or losing his footing. He slashed through the bear with his axe, making the bear lose a lot of blood as it was gashed. The bear growled and went to slash at Cadmus, but he jumped out of the way.

Cadmus drew the bear's fire, while Genevieve, Phoebe, and Jack shot at it from afar. After what felt like forever, the bear was felled, giving one last pitiful roar.

The five of them were in stunned silence for a few seconds. It hadn't hit them yet, the fact that three bleeding bodies were on the ground, "That damn bear killed our muffalo…" Cadmus said.

Meowski shook her head, "Mighty fine shame…" She said, "If we had 'em for a lil' longer, it's wool would grow out…but…now I guess it's good for meat…if nothin' else."

"Crap, Toni." Cadmus said, running to Toni's side, she was absolutely coated in blood, "Hey, hey, Toni! Wake up!" He shook her gently, "Come on, wake up!"

They heard stomping from behind them. At first, the grip on Cadmus's axe tightened, figuring it was another bear, ready for dinnertime.

But it was Lady. She hoisted Toni up with her trunk, running her inside the base.

The rest of the group was surprised. They all followed Lady inside the base. With the massive trail of blood, it wasn't that hard to. Lady gently placed Toni in one of the blue medical beds in the hospital, scooting towards the doorway.

Cadmus blinked in surprise. He vastly underestimated Lady's intelligence. She knew exactly what to do and where to put Toni, even with little to no context or explanation as to what happened.

"I…" Genevieve's voice was shaky, but direct, "I think it's best for all of you to leave the room, and let me take care of her."

Cadmus nodded, as the others slowly filed out, "You'd better use regular medicine…she looks like she doesn't have much time left…"

Genevieve nodded back, "I won't lose her. I haven't lost anyone once they were under my care, and I'm not going to break that tradition now."

The night crept onward slowly. Toni, still lying in the medical bed, was now wrapped up in tons of white bandages, while Genevieve was meanwhile cleaning off the blood everywhere.

She and Cadmus were the only two left awake, the latter was leaning against the doorframe, "So is she alright?"

Genevieve jumped, not knowing he was there. "I've finished the treatment…but…there's going to be some scarring leftover, I'm afraid."

"Oh yeah?" He walked over, "Where?"

She pointed at Toni's right eye, sure enough, there was four marks that went right over it. Scars from a bear claw, undoubtedly. "Everything else will close up on its own, luckily…so she'll make out just fine."

Cadmus sighed, crossing his arms, "That was a freaking close call…" He said, "We're lucky that muffalo was the only thing that died. If a couple other things were going differently, maybe a few others would have died too."

She nodded regretfully, "I should've known something like would've happened. Leaving our animals outside…in the dead of winter, it comes with its risks."

"Yeah, I just thought the damn bear went mad at first. But…it wasn't. It wasn't just looking for a fight, damn thing was hungry. It wanted a meal."

"It…makes sense. Even though animals largely avoid humans and their encampments, it's not exactly unheard of for them to grow desperate during the winter. They'll cast reason aside to get their meal…"

"Hey…at least we'll get bear meat now…"

"And muffalo meat…" Genevieve said sadly, "Phoebe already butchered them both before she went to bed…she didn't seem very happy to do it to the muffalo…but…"

"Yeah…I know. I…guess it's a good thing no one named the damn thing or formed a bond with it, or else we'd be that much worse off…"

She looked down, sniffling a little, "I'm just…I'm just worried now…none of us are…one-hundred percent safe…what if one day Lady—"

"Hey, hold on now." He grabbed her shoulder, causing her to look up as her teary-stricken face met his, "Lady's going to be just fine. No bear would be stupid enough to attack an elephant. She's too big, and she has killer tusks. Pretty sure that…that makes most predators think twice." He said, moving his hand away, "Even so. She's trained, she'll take care of herself. Nothing's going to happen to Lady."

She brushed her tears away, "You're right…"

He headed for the exit, "I guess we better get some shut-eye or else the sun will come up."

"Wait, Cadmus."

"Yeah?"

"I…throughout my research…there's something you should know…when you finish the workshop, I'll teach you how to make a smithy. With it, you'll be able to craft swords. I feel like a lot of this would have been avoided if Toni had a cutting weapon, one that could draw blood and sever parts. I'll walk you through building one, and then I think you should make Toni a nice sword. So she won't acquire a new scar when an animal attacks."

He nodded, "Good call." He said, "Maybe learn how to make guns while you're at it."

"Already on it."

"I mean, they'll be useless for me, and other people who can't hit crap…but…a revolver and a shotgun might not cut it when the Animal Moles get craftier. Right now, we're nobodies…but I think that bear taught us a lesson." He said, "We're not invincible. We never were. Things can be taken away like that, if we let it. We need to take a stand, defend ourselves. This is a team effort. It was when it was only three of us and it'll continue to be now."

She gave a weak smile, "Well put."

They both went their separate ways, off to bed, after that. Cadmus wasn't too thrilled about the recent circumstances. He didn't reveal it to anyone, but the death of their muffalo shook him, partially for what it could've been. A dark part of him considering himself lucky that it was just the muffalo. But still, they weren't living in paradise, far from it, and things could get worse just as easily as they've been getting better.

He was exhausted, it was probably at least one in the morning by now, if not later. He entered the room quietly, wondering if Phoebe was in the mood for anything. (Probably sad or angry sex, knowing how Phoebe's been acting recently). He took his clothes off and went to bed, hoping that everything that happened today was secretly a nightmare.

A/N: Dem predators tho. Probably the worst thing for beginning players.