"There are people who spend decades learning how to punch, kick, and use sharp shiny objects to use against enemies in close quarters combat. I wish I had."

-Bill Grazer

*************

As I slung my rifle over my shoulder and checked the cameras to see where in the building the remaining 3s and 4s were, I realized there was a very important question I should have asked earlier. So, I subvocalized:

"Is there a way to remove any footage of me fighting Antithesis and stop the footage from being made in the first place? If the corps get a hold of that things will get even more complicated with Jean's daughter. Also, is there a way to separate my government and corporate name from myself so governments and corporations don't try to get to me through my family and friends again?"

The program you activated on your glasses automatically removes you from footage as it is created. Your mother is quite a skilled programmer for a human. As for the footage created before you activated that program, you'll need to get a cyberwarfare suite to break into several servers and delete said footage. Once we delete the footage, we can move all your credits to another account and have you declared dead. That means of course that you shouldn't have any contact with them electronically or places where they can be observed after that is done and you would only be able to use your Vanguard name which you currently don't have. Just so you know I have looked into Luxury Fur Company. I have found two locations in the city that they may be using to hide her one of which is only several blocks away and will be at risk of being compromised by Antithesis in four to six hours depending on how quickly this incursion ramps up. all of that is of course a secondary concern you should be getting ready to fight the models in the building below us. As you only have your handgun and hunting knife for close quarter combat use may I recommend an upgrade? For 150 points you could get a machete type of item that can infuse energy into the sharp edge making it capable of cutting even 5s and 6s from the Sasquatch catalog. As it is part of the same catalog it will also be invisible when you have stealth activated for an additional 5 points, we can also upgrade your rifle to do the same.

While all that information is good to know Mara was right, but who in their god damn right mind would want to get close enough to hack at a 6 with a machete and

"What the fuck is a model 5 anyway? Do Sasquatches even use machetes or camouflaged suits like I'm wearing?"

Not that you need to know right now but it is heavily armored like a 6 however unlike the 6 it is more for defense and area denial instead of offense. It uses ranged and biological attacks. As for your second question don't confuse the mythological creature and its supposed habits you humans have dreamed up with the advanced spacefaring species. Now do you want the machete or not?

I think was starting to annoy my AI partner. Considering I was never much good at dealing with others I'm surprised it took this long.

"I'm not very good at melee combat as you know from my injuries when you showed up." I stated not liking the idea at all.

I understand however you now have the ability to disappear from the Antithesis's sight are wearing armor you did not have before and if you buy the machete, you will have a very sharp weapon with considerable reach instead of a blunt club and tiny knife meant for skinning animals. If you get a move on you can create some bottlenecks and control from which direction the models can use to confront you tarry much longer and you will no longer have that option as they are now on the second floor. At the speed at which they are currently moving you have 20 minutes before they reach the eighth floor, which still has seven people on it. A family of four: a man and woman who look to be in their mid-twenties and two children that look to be less than ten years old and three young ladies living together further down the hall closer to the stairwell.

"Fine I'll take the machete and the upgrade for the rifle. If we can do that for the rifle what about my handgun?" As a box with the now customary woodland camo pattern materialized, I looked at the cameras and decided I was going to throw whatever furniture I could on the seventh-floor landing to slow the 3s and 4s. I opened the box and found what looked like a normal machete it came with a sheath that I could attach to my belt, so I did. I headed for the stairs as Mara responded:

We could upgrade your rifle because it was protector grade, we don't have that option with your handgun yet. If you would like to spend fifty points to open a handgun catalog and we could get you a silent version that like your rifle can shoot more than just basic ammo. However, you are trying to make enough points to get augs are you not?

"My rifle can shoot more than just standard .45 ammo, and would the different ammo types have made it easier to kill that other 6 if I hadn't been able to shoot it in the eye? Why didn't you tell me about the different ammo types? The Sasquatch catalog doesn't have anything in it for a silent ranged weapon?"

Yes, it can and yes it would have been easier to take down the 6 with the other types of ammunition. You can buy special ammo types by the magazine like incendiary, explosive tipped, and chemical tipped as just a few examples. At the time you wanted ammo for both the rifle and handgun. I did not tell you because you did not have enough points to upgrade your handgun at that time, and it would not be able to handle the advanced ammo types. As for the Sasquatch catalog having silent guns it does, but they are not guns you would be able to use at this point. As they are designed to be used with power armor.

I didn't respond to this as I had already descended through the tenth floor and was moving to descend through the ninth, I paused to listen the stairwell and see if I could hear my prey as it headed up towards me. Not hearing them I continued on down the stairs. I reached the eighth floor and exited the stair well and entered the first apartment I saw the door was unlocked as the people left in a hurry. I dragged the sofa and recliner out and pushed them down the stairs, I repeated the process twice more. Then I crawled over the barricade and waited in the stairwell. The first thing to reach the makeshift barricade was not a 3, but one of the 4s and it crawled right over it as it was climbing the underside of the stairs. The 4 had slowed down as if it could sense something was wrong but didn't know what.

"God damn it." I had to pull my handgun out from under my ghillie coat as it was too close to be able to use the rifle and too far away to use the machete. I lined up my shot as quickly as I could, but it saw my non invisible gun floating in air and swung its tentacles at me. I fired off three rounds and realized that much like a shooting range I should have hearing protection especially with the echos coming off the all metal stairway and that it didn't hurt as much as it had before when the tentacles hit me. I holstered the handgun and unslung the rifle and aimed down the stairs to the sixth floor. Needless to say, it wasn't much longer till everything else showed up. I was able to take out two of the 3s before everything was too close to use the rifle any longer. I let the rifle go and as it fell until the sling still around my body stopped its fall, I pulled the machete out of its sheath and activated the blade. Then I started hacking away like a crazed trailblazer hacking at a particularly stubborn briar bush. The last two model 3s and the last model 4 charged me at the same time. the 3s up the stairs and the 4 from above. The machete cut like a heated knifed through butter, even so a couple of desperate minutes of hacking, dodging, and even a tumble down the stairs to the sixth floor with the last model 4(because even if you remove a limb or two, they'll keep trying to kill you). I was amazed that I was still alive. That was going to leave a bruise or two in the morning. I checked the cameras of the building once more not seeing anything. I sat down on a step.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"Mara why did the 4 seem cautious when it approached the barricade?"

Just because you aren't visible doesn't mean they don't have other ways to detect you. Point in case did you see any eyes on any of the 4s you have encountered so far?

"So, they smelt me like a dog would. Is there a way to stop that from happening?"

That is an oversimplification of what they do but yes and stopping that will require points you don't have.

"Hello, is someone there?" Came a somewhat frightened feminine voice from a couple floors above. Which is when I realized that while I had spoken out loud to Mara I was still in stealth.

"I think I'm going to have a little fun"

So, my Vanguard is an asshole. I swear I could almost hear an impish smile in that statement.

I started laughing. I heard a scream from above and laughed all the harder. Once I calmed down asked Mara to send an untraceable email to the two families that had remained in the building with a map to the nearest shelter that was safe or could be made safe easily. She agreed after I removed the makeshift barricade and put the route in the heads-up display in my glasses highlighting for me areas that needed attention. One of which was one of the remaining possible 9s and the street right outside the apartment complex. As I made my way down the stairs another model 6 with a pack of six model 3s entered the first floor. I waited on the second-floor landing for a moment.

"You said I can get special ammo types for the rifle, correct?"

Yes, and if you are wondering what would be best against the model 6. I would suggest a mix of the explosive and chemical tipped. The explosive to make large injuries that you then can shoot the chemical tipped ones into. The chemical that the tips would contain is an acid the is highly effective against Antithesis flesh.

"So, a mag filled with explosive and chemical rounds alternating? Sounds fun I'll take it. So, how much would power armor cost, and would I need a more powerful set of augs than what I'm planning on getting?"

The new mag appeared in my hand. I ejected the old mag and slotted the new one into place, then started down the stairs again.

The augs you are already planning on getting would be enough for the more basic sets of power armors you would be able to purchase in the foreseeable future. Once you get to the point that you would need to upgrade the armor you would also need to upgrade the augs but the upgrades will be cheaper compared to the purchase you are looking to get now. If you had augs installed now you would have been able to afford the upgrades I have spoken about already.

"So, trying to be a competent hunter and also stay off the corps radars really fucked up my ability to be a Samurai."

I find your obsession with fairness to the animals you hunt be at odds with your stated goal of surviving.

"It's less about fairness and more about challenging myself to be the best I can without the assistance of technology something I learned from granddad. Even my dad has augs now. I chalked that up to the scarcity of wildlife back home which is why I'm out here now." (His age had nothing to do with him needing augs I'm sure.) "Not enough wildlife to support my family with me there so I left."

It had been a whole argument between me and my parents which I won by pointing out my siblings Robert and Mary could split the portion of food that would have ended up on my plate between them. I physically shook myself to snap out of that line of thinking this was no time to be distracted by the past. I was now approaching the ground floor. The door to the stairwell was well and truly F.U.B.A.R. a term I had also learned from granddad. Mother was not happy when she had asked me if I knew what it meant the first time she heard me use it and I told her Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition (at 8yrs old). Smiling at the memory I checked the cameras before I walked out the hole in the wall where the door had been with confidence. The Demon Murphy had other plans.

Shoot the trash can forty feet down the hall.

From previous experiences I knew enough to not argue. I switched to my handgun not wanting to use the special ammo for the armored 6 when normal .45 would get the job done. Even before I fired, I saw the direction was warranted as the 9 started moving at the sight of a handgun floating in midair. I fired and was rewarded with my point counter reaching 203. I put my handgun away a stepped back through the hole in the wall and waited for the others to come investigate the sound hoping that the 6 would be the first thing to show up. My hopes were shattered as a pair of 3s showed up out of a hallway on the right. I fired a shot down the hall. Explosive rounds make a hell of a mess by the way. I lined up on the 2nd and fired. Chemical rounds make a hell of a different mess by the way. The hallway's wall and ceiling now coated with chunks of the first 3 and its floor coated in a greenish slime like fluid from the 2nd. Further down the hallway I saw the 6 start to enter from a hallway on the left that led to the lobby and because of its bulk it couldn't make the turn. I smiled at the perfect target silhouette that had just presented itself to me. I started firing into its broadside and as the explosive round was by far less effective, I realized just how fucking lucky I had been to be able to shoot the first 6 I had encountered in the eye. I put the chemical round in the dead center of the damage done by the explosive round and that's when the damage started to look impressive. Two shots later and the front half of the 6 was... Annihilated I guess would be a good word for it. The remaining 3s showed up over the next five minutes. Two came out of the same hallway the previous two 3s had come from. The last two climbed over the remains of the 6. All dealt with a single shot from the handgun. As I headed down the hall to get to the lobby, I had a thought or two.

"Was that 9 one of the possible ones we were already tracking or a new one and can I get empty clips for the handgun so I can transfer the rounds that were for the rifle now that I'm going to be buying special ammo for the rifle?"

It was a new one, while I been monitoring the cameras the other two are no longer possible 9s they are confirmed they have actually moved closer to your current position probably to try and get eyes on you the biggest threat to the hive in this area. I would recommend that you keep two or three of the clips of mundane rounds for the rifle as they are sufficient for most of the models you will meet and only use the special rounds for the 5s and 6s. Unless you're going to buy the handgun catalog and a silent one. There may not be many models in the area right now but firing your handgun will attract more and unless you get something that fires faster than anything you currently have you may find yourself overwhelmed quite quickly. On that note I would actually suggest that instead of a handgun you get a submachine gun also known as a smg to get used to firing one. As the weapons that are designed to work with the power armor you have stated you want to get are rifles and smgs there are no handguns. A model 4 and two 3s have just entered the lobby.

I didn't say anything as I turned left into a hallway closer to the stairwell than the one the 6 had come out of. There always seemed to be something to buy and prioritizing the importance of buying them was starting to become a problem. A problem for future me, presently I had Antithesis to hunt.