Kevin woke up with a sense of foreboding that he felt was likely totally imaginary. Yes, it had been a year since they came here, but there wasn’t a huge reason to believe that mattered for anything.
All the same, Kevin decided to take it easy. It wasn’t his usual rest day, but he decided to make it a meditation day anyway. He sat ‘criss-cross-apple-sauce’ on the bed and started going through his breathing. He felt the Ki move through his body and focused on expanding the meridians, making his energy denser. He zenned out for a while, which he always thought meant he was on to something, it also made the time go by faster, which was nice because meditation wasn’t exactly exciting.
He went to the shop and selected a nice breakfast burrito and a coffee with some milk and also a donut - what, meditation day was also breakfast day. Kevin went to the roof, and did the rounds. Nothing climbing up the sides today. Kevin looked around, nothing anywhere today.
That was a little uncommon but not unheard of. The sense of unease grew in Kevin. The group was slow to get to the roof today, which also wasn’t uncommon. Kevin figured everyone else was sitting with the same knowledge that it had been a whole year since they got there. A whole fucking year. Kevin was glad someone had kept track, because he wasn’t sure he would have.
The central skyscraper his group called home would have been the tallest skyscraper in the city cluster if it weren’t for the two other skyscrapers of a similar height that bordered on what would have been the north and west sides. That meant that, while doing the perimeter rounds on the south side of the building, Kevin had an almost totally uninterrupted view from the center of the city cluster to the perimeter of the city cluster miles away.
Kevin had very recently reached the threshold of Earth Tier Ki Cultivation, Kevin’s eyes were excellent, further enhanced by the processing improvements of Ceaseless Mind. That meant that, when a person blinked into existence on a skyscraper a full mile away, Kevin saw it.
Kevin stopped. He just sat there looking for a long time. After a moment he blinked, took his pack off and pulled out the binoculars. His hands shaking, he put them to his eyes and looked again.
Unmistakably, a person was on a skyscraper. A person that Kevin didn’t immediately recognize. It was a far distance, it was possible Kevin wouldn't recognize someone at that distance. But after a year of living, training, hunting, fighting and being with the same 74 people … Kevin was sure. He didn’t recognize that person.
Kevin used his binoculars again, he checked the streets. The morankai were almost totally absent. There were none on the roof between him and the new person, hardly any on the wide boulevards. Kevin felt his heart stop. He ran to the nearest stairwell and let out an ear shattering yell. “Get up here. Get up here, new people are coming!”
Almost as soon as he finished the sentence, he heard feet thundering down halls and up stairs. He ran back to the south edge of the building and put the binoculars to his eyes. His voice boomed out again. “Hello! You are not alone!” He waved his arms as to the new person until they seemed to maybe pick out his movement. He yelled again. “Hello, we are here!”
Suddenly Cameron was next to him. “Kevin, what do you see?”
Kevin handed him the binoculars. “A man, I watched him appear Cameron, He isn’t one of ours.”
“Kevin, another.” Cameron said, pointing with his fingers as he scanned other buildings. “And another!” We need to organize and get people out immediately.” Cameron started barking orders.
“Nessar? Nessar!” Cameron yelled and his lieutenant was there. “Organize the people, groups of two. There are already three people out there. Get pillow cases and put them on flags and round up as many as you can. The morankai will only be docile for so long. Teams of two Nessar. Go!” Nessar bounded away and started sending people out two at a time instructing them to make white flags.
“Someone go wake up Jerod!” Cameron cried.
“Lee!” Cameron bellowed and Lee was there. “Lee, you and Tammy are the fastest, grab her and get to the far west side of the city, it's the farthest and has the trickiest bridges.”
“Kevin, you still have the stock of low tier healing pills, will you give me some?” Kevin pulled a small pouch out of his storage ring and handed it over. “Thanks. I’m going to stay here and organize as much as I can, that leaves you to pick a team and go with them or to go out on your own.
“I’ll go with Lee and Tammy, But Cameron … “ Kevin said with a hiccup in his voice.
“I know Kevin, I don’t know whether to hope or to hope not.”
Kevin decided to save his energy and run without activating Light Heavy or using the Cloud Step Shoes. The only tax on his soul was a ping from Soul Tracker. Every few seconds a ping would go out.
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
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Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia
William
Gwen
Jayce
What felt like hours went by, though Kevin knew it wasn’t even one.
Samantha, Katelyn, Delilah, Alicia *PING*
Kevin got a hit. He stopped running.
Alicia *PING*
Kevin started turning.
Alicia *PING*
He slowly turned until the pings came back. His mother, Alicia. She was here. She was somewhere to the East-ish of him. Far. He couldn’t tell how far but he could tell it wasn’t close. She wasn’t in his city cluster.
That meant that a theory Cameron had was true. There were other city clusters out there, how many, they couldn’t guess. Hundreds at least? More maybe. Kevin could tell his mom was far away, hopefully someone in that cluster of skyscrapers would help keep her safe until he figured out a way to get over there.
“Lee, my mom is here.” Kevin said out loud.
“What? Where, go get her, we can do this Kevin.” Lee responded.
“No Lee. Out there, she’s far. Cameron’s multi-cluster hypothesis was right. She’s not in our city.” Kevin said.
Tammy walked closer. “What's going on?” She said.
“Kevin’s mom is on the first layer, but she isn’t here, she's in a different cluster.” Lee said, catching Tammy up.
“Oh fuck.” Tammy said. “That’s not good. Do you know how far she is?”
“No.” Kevin said. “Just that she’s farther away than the edge of the city, could be a few miles, could be a thousand. No idea.”
“Shit.” Lee said.
“Shit.” Tammy echoed.
“Yeah.” Kevin said. “Doesn’t really matter if it is only a few miles, I don’t think I could make it even if it was a mile way let alone more.” Kevin shrugged. “We have people to find, Let’s keep moving.”
He walked in a daze, struggling with indecision; what should he do? Should he try to reach her? Was that even possible? Lee couldn’t do it, and he was definitely stronger than Kevin.
Lee and Tammy were talking to a new person and collecting them. They had already found three, now four, new people and they could tell there were more. Collecting the people before the morankai became active was going to be paramount if they wanted to limit the number of casualties. New people were far more likely to die alone than if they went with the group.
Kevin was worried about his mother. She was retired now, but she had been a nurse. She was a pretty good nurse and really smart, he imagined she would choose one of the many healing abilities in the shop, if she had enough points anyway. He was worried about her heart, which had been weak in recent years. All this excitement would not help there. Maybe she picked up Ki Cultivator? Kevin knew from talking to people in his group that some chronic health issues were wiped away by even Mortal Tier. Something to hope for anyway.
Kevin saw a person on a skyscraper next to them. The person was approaching them and Kevin decided to go and escort them, hurrying the process along. Kevin could already tell, way more people were coming to this cluster of skyscrapers than the first wave of people. How many more, he could tell yet, the hour wasn’t up.
As the hour progressed and as luck would have it, it seemed that people weren’t spawning out of the shop on every single skyscraper but in groups of skyscrapers near each other. There were still way more groups of spawning people than there were first wave veterans, but it was making it easier to collect the new recruits.
After a short time, they had collected dozens of people, the hour was almost up. Kevin continued sending out the pings.
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia *PING*
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia *PING*
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia *PING*
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn
Delilah
Alicia *PING*
William
Gwen
Jayce
Samantha
Katelyn *PING*
Kevin literally tripped on nothing. A look of utter horror fell on his face. Tammy noticed first and turned. “Kevin what is it?”
Kevin looked at her, her face fell. She knew immediately that a ping had come back. Tammy was sharp, she knew that face meant that whoever it was, Kevin was more worried about that person than his own mother. She knew. “Which one.”
“My 12, well 13 year old now. Katie.” Kevin said. His voice cracked. Kevin stood stock still for only a moment before he looked Tammy in the eyes. “Tell Cameron.”
“Wait!” Tammy called.
It was too late, Kevin was an arrow flying over the bridges directly south from where he was. Katie was far. So far. Kevin didn’t care. He was not leaving his daughter in this world alone.
*Ping* Katie *Ping*
He had trained for a year for this exact situation.
*Ping* Katie *Ping*
He was the shield for his family. He would be her shield.
*Ping* Katie *Ping*
Kevin ran over bridge after bridge. He would detour a little to save his strength to find a bridge to cross, but if it was too far he made his own with Light Heavy and the Cloud Step Shoes.
*Ping* Katie *Ping*
Kevin had never felt more frantic in his life. She couldn’t handle this world. Not alone.
*Ping* Katie *Ping*
Kevin reached the edge of the city. There were no more skyscrapers, no more bridges. Just endless grassland as far as the eye could see.
*Ping* Katie *Ping*
Kevin jumped from the last skyscraper, using Light Heavy to make himself weigh as near to nothing as he could. He took steps like a triple jump athlete, huge strides carrying him several meters between each step. He used the Cloud Step Shoes to take another step in the air. In only one second he was out over the grass. He didn’t hear if the morankai were chasing him, he wouldn’t have noticed even if they were. Kevin was focused.
*Ping* Katie *Ping*
Kevin ran this way far farther than the Cloud Step shoes were meant. His control over the shoes allowed him to modify the way the shoes created the platform but it still stressed his soul. He took a Calming Aura Pill to sooth his soul but he did not stop.
He constantly assessed his soul for strength, knowing he needed to be careful. If he looked back over his shoulder he could see that he hadn’t made it THAT far, the skyline of the cluster behind him. But as far as he could see in front, there were no other clusters of skyscrapers. The wind buffeted him, making his balance questionable but the Cloud Step shoes always gave him a firm surface. The grass below him moved like ocean waves in heavy winds.
Kevin saw his reserves depleting. There was nothing out here. There was nowhere to go. Kevin started to tear up. Katie hadn’t gotten any closer. Tears started to stream down his face. He wasn’t going to make it. With a shout of frustration that nearly tore his throat, Kevin looped around and headed back to his cluster.