Once Kevin got on the bridge he felt a sense of safety he hadn’t felt since his encounter with the two odd morankai. The central cluster was so much more dangerous than he thought it would be, but also much more profitable. The wildly increased size made finding golden morankai a lot simpler. If he hadn’t felt hunted in the end there, he probably could have killed two more without really even going out of his way. He also felt another couple black orbs between the center of the city and the bridge. Even if Kevin hadn’t felt in danger, he had been unwilling to delay himself anymore, so he had elected to just keep moving.

The feeling of being hunted passed once he got to the ship bridge, but Kevin was well and truly spent. There was no way he didn’t have to sleep the sleep of the dead tonight, a nap wasn’t going to cut it. Kevin should have had several hours before it was time to sleep, but everything finally caught up with him. The injuries, the healing, the running, the soul deep exhaustion. Despite several hours until sun down, Kevin found a cabin, only a few ships deep onto the bridge and collapsed still practically in spitting distance of the city. He splurged from the shop to take a mid-tier recovery pill and a calming aura pill. He pulled another mid-tier healing pill.

Kevin woke up the next day feeling much better, his soul still felt strained, which wasn’t a good thing. He took yet another calming aura pill, not a great sign for an addition of his bridge expedition rations. Kevin was glad that he probably wouldn’t have to fight too hard today. He didn’t have a group of people behind him to clear the bridge for, he didn’t need to do anything at all except run. Despite his soul feeling strained, Kevin used his Cloud Step shoes, though sparingly, to avoid morankia or to make the transition between bridges easier.

He wondered how Kev was managing without the Cloud Step shoes. Hopefully he was doing just fine. They were really useful on transitioning between ships on the bridge, to say nothing of avoiding some of the morankai. Kevin had given Kev some good stuff, he was going to miss that Ice axe, it was so handy. The dane axe was a favorite too, but Kevin couldn’t give Kev crap and then send him on to their mother. Kevin did have to kill morankai, even some abnormals. Fortunately there were no packs and the abnormals were relatively easy to handle. All the same Kevin was feeling the repeated abuse of his soul.

Kevin had been up and running before the sun rose, by the time evening finally arrived, Kevin felt like he could collapse again. He cleared the ship he was on as the sun finished setting, found himself a room and laid down to rest, annoyed that a full nights rest was, yet again, unavoidable. Kevin sighed, he lamented his lost tower shield. Aside from the points lost - Kevin also lost the security of a giant shield he could literally sleep partially under, a literal security blanket. Kevin had a huge meal with lots of water, his second to last recovery potion and a low-tier healing pill and another cleansing aura pill. He settled down to meditate and fell asleep before he even had a chance to really center his breathing.

The next day, Kevin woke up with the sun. He ate a carb heavy breakfast, did a short stretch session and activated Soul Tracker to verify that no morankai had snuck up on him. He started running, his body feeling refreshed after the magic tonic that was the recovery potion/low-tier healing pill combo with the addition of the cleansing aura pill. His soul did feel refreshed by the long nights of sleep, but he could tell something was strained. He needed to stop abusing himself. Blessedly, the day was easy, despite the increase in the number of normal morankai. Hardly any abnormal mornakai at all, Kevin’s pace was acceptable.

He continued to ping Katie, probably more often than he needed to. It had been more than a month since she came to the first layer, he didn’t have any reason to think she wouldn’t make it a few more days. Kevin was anxious to find her but he felt like he was in the final stretch of this hell trip. He was hesitantly optimistic.

It was near the end of the day when Kevin saw something on the horizon. People. He was a little taken aback. Kevin hadn’t seen anyone since Cameron way back in his cluster.

On the one hand, Kevin was a little worried about new people. He’d spent most of the last 13 and change months with the same 73 people, on the other hand, it was likely that Kevin was well above average for strength on the layer.

As Kevin approached them he got a good estimate of the number of people. It looked like this bridge crossing party was about ten people strong. Kevin was really surprised, Cameron made it sound like he intended to bring practically the whole group, potentially hundreds of people. Why was this group so small? Did their cluster not have as many people? This small group could be a scouting party meant to clear the morankai before the back group came through, that was almost Kevin’s only guess.

As he drew nearer, they noticed him in return. They looked really hesitant, half raising weapons like they were prepared to fire, half looking really confused. Weapons already up, Kevin was not fucking about, Kevin wasn’t bullet proof. He tapped his armor ring and the black diamond armor slid into place around his body. Kevin did tap his storage ring to store his fire axe. Armored but unarmed.

Kevin continued to approach, his arms raised, the group just stood there on the next ship, still trying to figure out what to do by the looks of it. Some still had weapons up, some just waited. Kevin heard a crack of a firearm discharge. He felt a bullet ping off his armor. His heart started hammering in his ears.

Kevin turned sharply and raced behind the cabin of the ship he was on taking cover. He was SOO glad he had reinforced his armor with shield energy, "Huh, I guess I'm bulletproof?" Kevin whispered to himself with a very clear questioning undertone. A moment later he heard shouts as the men yelled to “cease fire.”

Then one person yelled, in a thick Irish accent, loudly enough for the whole bridge to hear; “Andrew you great twit what the fuck was that.”

“Sorry boss,” a squirrely voice responded.

“Trigger safety you fool.” Irish Boss said. “You there, you dead?”

Kevin poked his head out from around the corner. “No, but not super eager to try that again.”

“Andrew put your gun away, the rest of you, hands off triggers.” The boss said. “Come on out lad and let us apologize face to face.

“Yeah, maybe.” Kevin said. He tapped his shield ring and brought out his black diamond kite shield. He brought out his old desert eagle. It might not do much against morankai, but it would handle these men easily enough if he needed to return fire.

Kevin crept out from behind the cabin, shield up and weapon held in ready position but hidden behind the shield.

The group of people was lined up ahead of Kevin, some leaning on the handrail of the other ship ahead of him. Two were facing the rear as lookouts, while two more on the outside were looking at the ship Kevin was on checking for threats. They ignored Kevin except for a few sideways glances.

The group, one and all, were dressed like SWAT members. Conventional body armor, dark combat gear underneath, bulletproof helmets, assault rifles and sidearms, as well as a blade here or there.

“Do you shoot all the new people you meet?” Kevin said from behind cover.

“Aye, no. Only the people we meet going the wrong way on a bridge made of sea vessels, dressed like a lord of the ring’s villain.” Said the Irish man in the middle. He wasn’t the tallest or the broadest of the people with him but he had a commanding heir about him, like he knew what he was doing and everyone else was a trainee. He had a machete on his hip and the rifle he carried was a bit larger than the others.

“Huh. Funny, I must of left my sense of humor in my other armor, good thing too that one isn’t bulletproof.” Kevin responded.

“Uh. Yeah. Sorry man.” a young man next to the main speaker, said to Kevin.

Kevin took a close look at who was probably Andrew. He couldn’t have been even 17. He looked like he was an extra on the set of a bad movie that was struggling to find appropriately aged extra’s so they just grabbed the scrawny production assistant who was wildly under prepared for the role. Yeah, he had the gear at least but it looked more like a Halloween costume on him than a uniform. At least Andrew looked legitimately sorry.

“How old are you.” Kevin said to Andrew.

“16.” said Andrew, a little defiance in his voice.

“Well good shot then,” Kevin said. The shocked look on the bosses and Andrews face told them they weren’t expecting that response.

“Trigger safety kid, but that would have been a fair shot on a morankai, A little right of center so keep that trigger finger loose.”

Kevin lowered his shield a little. “I’m Kevin.”

“Hello Kevin, I’m Russell. What are you doing on this bridge?” Russell said.

“Same as you I expect. Trying to cross it. My daughter is on the other side of this bridge.” Kevin said.

“Your daughter?” Russell said. “How do you know that?” He immediately answered his own question. “Oh you have a tracking ability. Handy that. Can you find anyone or only some?” He asked.

“I can find some. She’s just over this bridge. Can you tell me how much farther?” Kevin said.

“Aye. You aren’t yet half way. But be careful around the halfway point, another day that way maybe” Russell said pointing a thumb over his shoulder. “There was a mess of abnormals on a huge old time steam boat. We managed to sneak past them in the dark, Klan there has a few sneaking abilities that helped us get by.” Russell said, pointing at a dark skinned man that nodded at the sound of his voice. “Can you tell us what is on the other end of this bridge?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Yeah. Just another fuckin city. A big one though. I don’t know how big your cluster was, but my cluster was maybe a few miles long and a few miles wide. That central city is … I don’t know how many miles. Dozens of miles wide perhaps?”

“Is it all skyscrapers?” one of the women asked, she was dressed like the rest. Military movie extra, except she had, of all things, an axe on her back.

“Yeah. All different sizes. Word to the wise. Avoid the very center. I got attacked crossing the central region by some morankai that were … way too powerful. They were totally different than any abnormal I’d ever seen. They were as strong compared to abnormals as abnormals are compared to normals.”

Russell whistled. “Good looking out friend. Did you make this trek by yourself?” He asked.

“Yes. I needed to hurry so I left my group behind. Cameron, a strong leader from my cluster, and his Organization are also headed to the central city through. You could try and find them, if you were motivated enough. But you’d have to cross all the way to the north side of the city. You’ll come out a little west of South I think.”

“An organization?” Russell asked.

“Yeah. Cameron is making it his mission to protect the children of the First Layer. The Godfather Organization will be Godfather to all who need it.” Kevin looked at Andrew as he spoke.

Russell nodded with approval. “An honorable goal. If the city is as large as you say, that doesn’t sound like an easy trip, but perhaps we’ll move up that way, or perhaps we’ll only see if they need help on the south side of the city.”

“That sounds like a good plan. If you talk to Cameron, let him know you spoke to me. He’ll be glad to know I made it this far.” Kevin said, getting ready to leave.

“Aye will do.” Russell responded.

“Any advice about your cluster before you head out?” Kevin said.

“It is shaped funny, like a star. The bridge will come out on the tip of the north point. That area is guarded by a man who is fair but also kind of an arse. I don’t know how he’ll respond to a stranger coming down the bridge. If you can avoid his men, do so. Each of the other points are controlled by a different gang. Of the four only one is what I would call “bad.” Most of the kids aren’t there though.” Russell said. ”There used to be two gangs but when the second wave showed up they split up more. The south east point is full of second wave only people who didn’t want to get involved in the politics of the first wave. Best you take that advice too. I would take your daughter and go to that point.” Russel finished.

“Thanks.” Kevin said, holding out his hand to shake. “Good luck on the rest of the bridge, I cleared out some of the zombies, but I’m sure there are plenty more so be careful.

Russell shook “And you too.”

TIMELINE

The group continued down the bridge and Kevin continued up it. He decided not to push too hard, he wanted a nap before he fought the abnormal horde. He activated Soul Tracker every once in a while looking for the black orbs. Finally, he got a ping back for one of the black orbs. Kevin’s best guess was that the black orbs were related to the abnormal morankai hordes. Maybe every horde wouldn’t have a black orb, but he guessed, at least on the bridges, every black orb was going to have a horde. He had a few hours until sun up and this was as good a time as any to take a nap. He went back a few ships to a good sized ferry that had a very open communal area with a bunch of small cabins renascent of train cabins that Kevin thought would be easy to barricade.

He cleared the ferry and picked a cabin and hunkered down for his nap. A few hours later he was ready to go. He got up, ate a light breakfast and walked out the door.

He geared up in armor, his kite shield in the ring but a bow in hand, ready to go. The ship before the steam boat was also an old boat, an old time passenger liner that reminded Kevin of the boat from The Triangle. Kevin used his Light Heavy ability to get himself to the top most roof deck. He approached the edge of the deck and looked down on the steam boat. He could see several abnormals milling about on the roof. They clearly didn’t know he was there yet, which gave him an opportunity.

He put an arrow on his bow and concentrated on the tip, pouring intermediate axe energy into the tip, concentrating it as tight as he could to not only pierce but punch through his target. He pulled the bow back, the first abnormal mornakai was perhaps 60 yards from him. It was a smaller variety than the normal morankai, a light gray in color rather than the almost black of most morankai. The arrow left the bow like a bullet, hitting the morankia at a fairly steep angle hitting top of the chest cavity, and due to the angle potentially piercing the heart. The morankai dropped immediately.

— Points Obtained: Points 78 —

Kevin paused at the low value for an abnormal morankai but not for too long. Kevin got another arrow ready, that morankia hadn’t made a sound as it died and luckily the rest still didn’t seem to know he was there. He loosed another arrow at a target perhaps 65 yards.

— Points Obtained: Points 62 —

That arrow had gone center mass. Kevin saw it as the arrow ripped a much wider hold in the chest than the arrow tip. The next two arrows Kevin launched were at normal morankai.

— Points Obtained: Points 13 —

— Points Obtained: Points 12 —

Kevin took aim at another abnormal. It was probably 80 yards away. He launched the arrow and it flew true. The arrow plunged into the abnormals chest, but low. It didn’t die right away. It made a sound Kevin couldn’t quite hear. The abnormal morankai Kevin could see looked directly at him like they knew exactly where he was. They let out a shriek and started running towards Kevin.

Kevin took a moment to fire two more arrows as light gray morankai came pouring out of the steam boat, way, way more than 10.

— Points Obtained: 74 —

— Points Obtained: 79 —

Kevin got a few more arrows off but didn’t see the notifications as he started to back away from the edge of the roof deck. The abnormals were scaling the side of the passenger liner towards him.

The first abnormal popped over the top and Kevin met it with an arrow immediately, it went shrieking off the the roof. Kevin saw another lower point value.

The next one that came up looked a little larger than the others he had killed. He pulled an arrow and put it into the creatures eye.

— Points Obtained: 156 —

That’s better but also weird. Kevin said. Then five came up all at the same time and Kevin didn’t have time to think anymore. As he loosed one last arrow he watched as two of the five touched. There was a disorienting moment as the two became one. The one was larger than the two. Kevin’s arrow struck one of the base abnormals and he got a reduced point value.

While he stood there dumb at the first pair becoming one, the other pair touched and became one. Now there were two larger variants coming at Kevin. He didn’t have time for arrows and he drew his halberd.

The first dropped quickly but already more were coming over the top of the roof and combining. By the time Kevin killed both of the second stage abnormals, he was looking at three more of them, and even as he watched he saw two of the second stage touch and get even larger. Kevin swore.

He jumped at the second stage and nearly cut it fully in half before it had time for anything. He brought his halberd up and blocked a strike from the third stage. They kept climbing and combining. Kevin managed to take the leg and then head of the third stage only to find himself on the roof with two more. They went to combine into a fourth stage and he stopped them by taking one of their hands off. He was amongst the two, fighting desperately to keep them apart even as more gray morankai got to the roof and combined.

They were strong, definitely at least as strong as Kevin, probably stronger. He was still faster but only because of Light Heavy. He blocked an attack that rocked him back, but kept his feet and slipped the next strike. He took the arm and then leg off one, went to the other and put his axe through its chest before removing the other third stage head.

— Points Obtained: Points 350 —

— Points Obtained: Points 368 —

It was too late though. While Kevin had been distracted with the two, the rest of the gray abnormals had climbed the roof and combined. Kevin was looking at a fourth stage abnormal gray morankai. It looked viscous even compared with the size and power of the third stage. Kevin could feel the barest hint of the energy that came off the Red and White abnormals he fought at the central cluster.

Kevin took a breath and walked into the fight. The creature leapt at him like a tiger at its prey. Kevin jumped and cleared the creature before slashing its back with his halberd. It flinched at the hit but turned immediately and swung at him. He perried the strike knowing he probably couldn’t block full. He retaliated but his weapon was struck from his hands. The frighteningly large creature struck him in the chest, Kevin barely getting the chest piece reinforced enough before the strike. He flew back, using the Cloud Step shoes to gain his footing in the air and land feet down. He tapped his shield ring and pulled out his kite. He tapped his ring and brought out the flame axe. He poured his axe energy into it.

Kevin perried the hit with his shield and brought his axe down on the ankle of the large creature. He didn’t cut the limb off surprisingly but it was definitely off balance. It tried to take a step with its ruined ankle and the heavy weight of the creature broke the ankle the rest of the way off. The creature bellowed and went to a knee. It swiped at Kevin and he took the blow, deflecting it, and the one that followed that. It swung a third time and Kevin buried his fire axe in its bicep.

Kevin followed up by bashing its face with his kite and then putting the axe in the the top of the head. He didn’t pierce it all the way but the creature was stunned. Kevin hammered his axe down with his shield three times, driving the axe deeper and deeper with each hit until finally he saw the point notification.

— Points Obtained: Points 834 —

Kevin pulled his axe out and panted as he caught his breath. He looked around for enemies but didn’t see any. He went and collected his arrows and approached the roofs edge again. There were still several normal morankai trying to scale the side. Kevin let them come to him and killed them one at a time.

Soon after, Kevin was in the belly of the steam boat looking at the black orb. Moments after that he was looking at his status.

Status: Name Kevin Moses

Points: 68,894

Race: Human

Soul Quality: ✪

Age: 35

Stats: Strength: 150-151

Endurance: 129-130

Recovery: 88-89

Soul: 34-36

Abilities: 7/8

Soul Tracker

Ki Cultivator Earth Tier (Middle)

Basic Shield Mastery (5/5)

Intermediate Axe Mastery (1/5)

Ceaseless Mind

Conqueror's Spoils (Uses Remaining: 1)

Divine Doppelgãnger (1/1)

“Not as big of an increase as the first one but I’ll take it.” Kevin said, allowing himself a moment to recover.

Kevin got back to running. If he was about halfway, then he could be in the cluster tomorrow, at most the day after, depending on how hard he pushed and how hard he had to fight.