I slowly come awake, my brain trying to parse together fragmented memories that suddenly come rushing back.  My fight with the dingo comes to the forefront of my mind, I sit up with adrenalin suddenly rushing through my veins.  My head impacts the tray of my Ute with enough force to knock me back down fighting to stay conscious.  As the threat of unconsciousness recedes, I finally remember where I am.  As I once again become more fully aware, I feel a slight pressure at the edges of my consciousness, as I focus upon it a blue box appears in my vision.

***Changes complete***

***New stats finalized***

***RMR has been activated***

After the blue box disappears I gingerly make my way out of the Ute, still feeling a bit sore from hitting my head.  I look around, feeling the new heat of the day.

Feeling thirsty I make my way over to the tree where I left my water bottle last night. As I bend over to pick it up, my brain suddenly recognizes something is missing, the dingo.  As I finish picking up the bottle I glance around warily.  I walk over to where I believe I killed the dingo last night.  On the ground I see a darker patch of dirt, where blood must have soaked in and dried last night.  And a couple of faint drag marks leading off into the surrounding brush.

My bottle of water is about half full, so I have about half a litre left.  I take a couple of sips, unwilling to deplete my only supply of water too quickly.

I look around and try to decide on the best course of action.  If I remember correctly I had just passed a town 20 or so kilometers back.  I'm not sure how close the next small town is and I also don't particularly want to backtrack 20kms.  I don't think the next town would be too far.  Well, I suppose I will push on then.

As I am about to start walking, I go back to my Ute and grab the heaviest thing I can find.  A four way tyre iron.  I shouldn't need it, but then again a dingo should not have attacked me last night either.  Not only are dingos extremely rare in this part of Australia, they are also not known for attacking things bigger than themselves, at least as far as I am aware.

So I set off, water bottle in one hand and a slightly ungainly tyre iron in the other.  Keeping an eye on my surroundings I steadily make my way forward.  After several minutes, I realise I have not had a look at my new stats, or what RMR does.  I open up my stats and notice once again several things have changed.

Rank 1: Recruit

200/100,000exp

Experience used: 0

General Statistics

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 11

Agility: 9

Intelligence: 10

RMR (remote manipulation reserve): 100/100

Next, I focus on Rank 1: Recruit.

After proving yourself worthy, you have been promoted to the rank of recruit.

As a recruit, you have access to the RMR.

To advance to the next rank you need:

Basic control while using the RMR

Earn 100,000 experience

And survive the first three months

Well, this is more information than I got for the first rank-up. The requirements are a lot steeper though. And the whole surviving three months thing, that doesn't sound ominous at all. Next, I focus on RMR.

RMR is a system that allows you to control nano-bots and certain lifeforms, through the access of their nano-bots.

 Use of the RMR System can take time to master, however, use of the system is as easy as reaching out with your senses and willing a certain action or behaviour to take place.

As understanding of the RMR System increases, the less reserves your actions will use.

Okay, interesting, definitely creates more questions than it answers though. I continue walking and try pushing my senses out. Trying to feel any type of difference, in how I perceive or feel the world around me. After 10 or so minutes of trying to sense the world, I definitely feel some difference, however, I can't be sure if it's not some type of placebo reaction. As I am walking past an oddly shaped rock, I bend down and pick it up. Then I do something that I have in the past tried to do many times before, cut or make something exploded with the power of my mind.

With some trepidation and nervous excitement, I concentrate on the feeling of the rock. I try to connect with the rock, something else I have also tried to do before, not necessarily with a rock, but all the same with something.  Then, focusing on my image of the rock being cut into two pieces. I push that image onto the rock. For a split second everything goes black, as my consciousness reasserts itself I realise that half way through a step I had staggered, as my body lost control of itself, and ended up on one knee. My mind feels thick, as if every thought needs to push itself through molasses. My eyes slowly move towards the rock that I still miraculously hold in my right hand. It takes me a couple of seconds to see and understand that the top of the previously bulbous rock is now perfectly flat.

I feel the top of the rock, it feels so smooth, as if it's been polished. Numbly, but with a growing excitement bubbling underneath, I search the ground for the top piece. After several seconds of looking, I find it and pick up the top piece with a similarly eerily smooth cut. I quickly check my RMR and find that I am down to 5 out of a 100.

I slowly stand up, letting the larger piece of rock fall to the ground and put the smaller piece of rock, as a memento, into my jeans. I take a sip of water and ready myself to begin walking once again. About half an hour later, my mind still exuberant over its triumph, I come across my first car. Like mine its run off the road, unfortunately, however, this one has ploughed headfirst into a tree. I check the driver's side, half fearing I'd find a body. However, what I did find could be considered worse. A trail of blood led from the door, around the tree embedded in the front of the car. The trail of blood ended there, pooling at the base of the trunk of the tree. Where the marks of dragging began.

I slowly walk away, feeling heavily subdued, my excitement over my achievement forgotten. I keep walking, with a bit more urgency in my stride. With my mind repeating the licence plate of the car over and over again like a mantra. About an hour later I come across my second car. This one on the side of the road, undamaged, empty. Seeing no one around I keep walking.

Nearly 2 hours later I made my way into the small town of Tintinara. Walking through the town I see a big building on my right. Hoping to find some answers and hopefully some normalcy, I enter what turns out to be the Tintinara hotel. Several people turn and look at me as I come in. Mostly older men and women. The elderly gentleman behind the bar speaks up as I walk in.

"Howdy, haven't seen you around here before."

"Yeah, crashed my car about 20km's outside of town."

"Driving when The Blackout occurred, I'd say you're lucky to be alive."

"I take it the same thing happened here too?" I asked concern tinting my voice.

"Yep."

Wanting to play my cards close to my chest, for now, I change topics.

"Is the kitchen open?"

He nods and hands me a menu. I spend several minutes immersing myself in the familiar and normal act of browsing the menu. Trying to forget about the last day and behave as if nothing has changed. Most likely the same thing as the other patrons. I look up and catch the bar man's eye. I ask for the chicken parmigiana. After ordering and paying, I ask.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Is electricity working here?"

"Nope, anything fancy just plain doesn't work."

Pondering that, I think of everything that I have learnt so far. One, it appears anything sufficiently technological, no longer functions. Two, the writing that has appeared, has several times mentioned nano-bots. The only conclusion I can draw from that, as strange as it seems, is that some type of advanced technology is actively stopping other types of technology from functioning, as crazy as that sounds. I mean there could be another explanation. But right now without any other type of information that's the most logical conclusion I can come to. Another factor supporting this is the fact that I have somehow recovered from a car crash in hours. Not to mention my new rock slicing abilities. But more thinking about this is pointless. For now I have to decide what my immediate goals are. One, supplies. Two, reach Adelaide and find my sister. Three, survive three months. Simple, well at least in theory. 

First things first, it should be roughly 200 kilometres to Adelaide. I'll need water, food, camping supplies and some way to defend myself. Right now, unfortunately, I only have about 100 or so my wallet. Probably not enough to buy everything I need.

On my way into the hotel I remember I passed a general store next door. Hopefully they will have what I need. I sit in silence for 10 or so minutes and look up as the barman places my parmigiana on the table.

"Thanks," I say. The barman nods and walks back to the bar. 20 minutes later, I finish the slow savouring of my parmigiana. I get up and nod my thanks, then walk outside in the direction of the general store.

As I enter a bell chimes. Good afternoon, a voice calls out, as I make my way inside the store. I respond in kind, and make my way through the store looking for what I need. 15 minutes later I make my way to the front of the store, holding an old school canvas rucksack like bag. Inside of which, I have 10 of the cheapest food tins, a five-litre bottle of water and a couple of cheap protein bars. I unload the bag in front of the tough middle-aged looking lady behind the counter. Under and on the glass counter, there is an assortment of items. I ask for a cheap lighter and a decent but cheap pocketknife. The lady pulls them out and gives me a total of $88.50. Paying and thanking her, I put my purchases, along with my four-way tyre-iron and original bottle of water, into the bag. Putting the bag on my shoulders and holding the larger bottle of water, I make my way out of the store.

I make my way back past the hotel and continue through the town. As I reach the outskirts of the town, I feel a strange sensation as if I'm being watched. I look around and on my right, I see a large tree, on and around which are about five cats. As I walk past, their eyes continue to track me. The largest one, sitting on a branch about a metre off the ground, jumps down and slowly starts walking towards me. The others seeing this stand up and spread out and come towards me at different angles. The hair stands up on the back of my neck, I slowly take my backpack off while continuing to walk. I unfasten the flap of my backpack and pull out my tyre-iron and re-fasten the flap. I put the backpack and bottle of water on the road, then stop and turn around holding the tyre-iron. As I turn and face them, the cats seem to take that as a signal and run towards me.

The largest cat reaches me first, as it jumped up, I take a swing and hit it in the side missing its head. It flies off to the side, but I have no time to pay any attention to it as another cat makes a jump for my side. I catch it on my backswing and it hits the ground at my feet. Without a second thought, I stomp down on its head. I feel a weight and then a sudden pain, on my upper right arm. Reaching over with my left hand I pull off the cat and throw it at my feet, then repeat my previous move. A sudden weight and pain on my back, leaves me panicking, I reach up past my lower back with my left hand and pull the hissing and spitting cat off of my back, swinging it around and throwing it on the ground. Before I can stomp on its head, the leader comes back into the fight. It jumps and runs up my leg, still eerily silent, before I can react. Scaling its way up my body leaving scratches. I manage to catch it as it reaches my face, pulling it off, one claw leaves a bloody trail along my right cheek. I throw it on the ground and stomp on it several times in anger and fear. The fourth cat having recovered from where I threw it, starts to attack my leg. I kick at it and as it gets pushed back I swing at it with my tyre iron connecting with its head. I wildly swing around looking for more cats and collapse panting when I see no more. After several minutes my heart rate slows and I acknowledge the pressure at the corner of my mind.

Enemies defeated

3 x cat

1200 exp, based on difficulty

1 x size mutated cat

500 exp based on difficulty

I shakily stand up and look around at the fallen cats seeing the aftermath in a way that was impossible, with the dingo I killed in the middle of the night. I feel glad to be alive and sad that it came to this. I spend several more minutes catching my breath and then take stock of myself. I have several long scratches on my right arm, a fairly nasty one on my left, that I don't even remember getting. Lifting up my shirt I have dozens of small scratches over my torso and the feeling of several more across my back. Examining my legs I have half a dozen small punctures and finally a decent bite near my wrist. Actually, I'm fairly surprised, that I wasn't bitten more.

After finishing my wound assessment, I take the smaller bottle out of my backpack and have a drink. I put my water away and hoist the backpack up and wince as I place it against my sore back. I sure hope these wounds don't become infected. I pick up the larger bottle and start walking along the road again. What is making these animals so aggressive? Is it in regards to the first message I recieved, something about a war program? And what about that size mutated cat notification. I mean, it was nearly double the size of the other cats. How did it happen? If anything, it's probably similar to how I got my first rank-up.

The more concerning thing is it has only been a day since The Blackout. If an animal has already been mutated, what will it be like in a week, or a month? Pessimistically, if there hasn't been a lot of deaths already, there will be. And what would it be like in big cities, with the massively increased number of pets and pests, on the loose with no compunctions about attacking humans.

Trying to shake the morbid thoughts from my mind, I continue walking and trying to cast my senses out from my body. Endeavouring to connect with the nano-bots. After an hour or so I start recognising some differences in the amount of presence I feel in an object. With objects like trees and rabbits, that I see off in the distance (God, I hope they don't grow horns), the presence is thicker than in things like stone and metal. Where the presence feels more diffuse. I quickly glance at my RMR and notice that it's gone up to 25. It's been about 5 hours and it's only gone up 20. At this rate, it would take a whole day to completely refill.

After this discovery, I try to distract myself by peering at my wounds, that had by now stopped hurting. To only quickly become shocked at the fact that, apart from the blood and the dirt, I was completely healed. But my shock, quickly lead to surprise that I was even shocked in the first place. I mean, just yesterday I was healed from broken bones, after all what are a couple of scratches compared to that.

Roughly 5 hours later, after passing another three cars, one that had crashed into a tree, with the other two being luckier, only having rolled to a stop while still on the road, with the sun starting to disappear behind the horizon, I make my way into the next town. I find myself walking into a small motel, I walk towards an aluminium style building with a plastic sign saying office on the door. I try to open the door, but it's locked. I walk around stretching out my senses trying to detect a certain nano-bot presence that might indicate life. After determining, to the best of my ability that no one is here. I decide to try the windows around the office building. Walking back to the office, I pull on the windows and get lucky on a window around the back that seems to lead into an actual office. After climbing through I close the window and start searching for the keys to the cabins. I find the key to cabin one, walk to the front of the building, unlocking and closing the door behind me.

I make my way to cabin one opening and closing the door behind me. Looking around the nearly completely dark room, I see a pretty standard motel setup, containing a relatively old TV, a double bed and a bathroom. I walk over to the bed and take off my backpack and put down my roughly half-full bottle of water. While a trickle of light is still coming in through the windows, I make my way to the bathroom and pick up the towel that I find there. Returning to the bedroom, where the light is a little better, I thoroughly wet the towel, using up nearly a third of my remaining water. I take off my clothes and wash myself to the best of my ability. Quickly staining the towel red and brown, with blood and dirt.

After I finished washing myself to the best of my ability and feeling slightly refreshed, I realise for the first time, that I have nothing else to change into. Walking into the bathroom, I fumble around in the dark, searching to find the bathrobe that I remember seeing in there. I put on the bathrobe, then walk to my backpack and take out a tin of food. I open up the tin and eat the contents, filling up the hole my hunger seems to make of my middle. I make my way around the room making sure all the windows and doors are closed and locked. I stretch out my new sense and try to get a feel of the environment, nothing seems to pop out at me. Satisfied with myself and feeling slightly safer than before, I lay down and go to sleep.