Novels2Search
Another End
Chapter 4 — The Final Stretch

Chapter 4 — The Final Stretch

I hooked the strap that was attached to legacy around my shoulder and proceeded to stealthily make my way in between houses aiming for the local dinner. ‘Why stealthily’ you might ask. Well I didn't know how many zombies were out there and I wasn't about to take any chances.

I was hoping to get into the Diner’s giant walk in freezer, as long as it had power then I had a good chance of finding some fresh food.

As the diner came into my view I noticed what I would currently consider a worst case scenario. There was a zombie wobbling back and forth in front of the diner’s counter, dripping blood and bodily juices all over the floor. After seeing the first zombie, it was a bit easier to look at the second one without vomiting. This one was missing its right arm and had large chunks of flesh burned off all over its body.

I calmed myself down as I looked at it I decided to attempted to use analyze on it. If it worked on Legacy, it would be sure to work on this zombie!

Name: Zombie Level: 6 An undead monster formed when a corpse is left in an area that has high concentrations of mana. Zombies seek out living beings to eat the mana in their flesh, if a being has absolutely no mana in it zombies will often ignore it. Zombies tend to never leave the area they were created in as the high density of mana is the only thing keeping them moving.

I considered pulling Legacy off of my back and taking a shot at the zombie, but I did not have much confidence in my aim and I had no way of knowing how loud the shot would be. Because I already had experience in it, I decided to do what I did to the last zombie, cut it’s head off with an ice blade.

This time it went much smoother than the first time I fought a zombie. I sneaked closer to the diner and focused on preventing the molecular movement of the air directly behind the zombie’s neck, creating a thick ice blade behind it. Before the zombie even had enough time to turn around, its head was falling to the ground.

I looked around one last time for good measure to make sure nothing was around be before I stood up and cautiously made my way into the diner.

There was still some cold food on some of the tables but for the most part the ground was covered in broken plates and food.

I went around the counter and went into the kitchen before looking around and finding the walk in freezer.

It was a big metal door that wouldn't look too out of place in a prison. There were several latches on the side of the door to keep it closed which I quickly removed.

As the door swung open I was hit by a wave of ice cold air and started shivering. Then I had an idea, I grabbed a couple of my tails and draped them around my body. Surprisingly they were really warm, and I couldn't even feel the cold with them around me.

With my new tail blanket, I walked in the freezer and looked around for easily carryable food.

There was a couple bags of frozen peas, some cabbages, 3 cartons of eggs, a tied bundle of pre-cooked lunch meat, a bag of apples, and a gallon of water.

The only things that I could eat right away was the lunch meat and the apples, I never liked cabbages, and it will most likely rot before I get a chance to eat it. I pushed the cabbages away from me and snickered when I thought ‘my cabbages!’

I piled up the food that I was going to take with me and attempted to lift them with telekinesis. They slowly began to rise into the air before I felt a massive pain in my head. I ignored the food and let it drop to the ground as the pounding in my head grew stronger and I collapsed to my knees.

‘Shit, what the hell is thi-....’

Were my last thoughts before I passed out from the pain.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I woke up I was covered in a thin layer of ice and frost and was freezing cold. The oversized t-shirt and pants I had on did nothing to protect me from the cold.

I still had the after effects of my migraine, but for the most part the pain was gone. In front of me was two system messages glowing brightly in dark freezer.

Telekinesis has increased to level 2 You can now move more objects for longer periods of time before succumbing to intense headaches

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Cryokinesis has increased to level 2 You can now create more ice blades and ice encasings before succumbing to intense headaches

I guess that explains the migraine I got before I pass out. That's also probably the drawback to the Psion class, it has strong abilities at level one, but it gives you migraines if you overuse them.

I decided I would try to use pyrokinesis to warm up my cold bones and get rid of the icy crust all over my body.

I pictured my little telekinetic sticky hands grabbing onto all of the molecules in the air in front of me and violently rubbing them together.

In front of me several sparks flew out of the air before a small fire illuminated my shivering face. I cupped my hands and put them next to the fire which quickly melted the ice off of me. After that I slowly moved the small fireball all over my body to melt the frost off and warm me up, taking extra care to not burn myself or my new tails with it.

I wanted to get out of town as soon as possible. I wasn't very tired after my headache induced nap, I could see fine in the dark with my new night vision so traveling at night wouldn't be a problem, and I would prefer to get out of Coniston before I became a zombie’s snack. I would sleep in a tree when I get tired.

When I was done warming myself up, I picked up the lunch meat by the string it was bound with then picked up the gallon of water and the bag of apples with telekinesis. My head gave a dull throb of pain when I did, but I ignored it.

I peaked out of the freezer and realized that it was night, although now that I had great nightvision, that didn't mean much to me. I looked around and didn't see any shambling zombies on the street so I quickly exited the diner and made my way through the streets toward the outskirts of town.

If anyone saw me it would look quite strange, a teenage bo-fuck … girl sneaking through a destroyed city with a rifle on her back holding onto a slab of tied lunch meat with a glowing bag of apples and jug of water floating behind her as she walks.

As soon as I get out of this ruined city, I'm going to have to find a mirror to see what I look like now.

As I reached the highway that was the only entrance/exit to Coniston I looked around to make sure nothing was around. I had only been a 15 minute jog from the diner to the highway, and surprisingly I didn't get tired despite jogging the whole way. Maybe this body was better than I expected.

At the entrance to the highway there was no one except some cars and trucks with slight moss on them.

I turned around and gave one last look at my home town.

“I'm off to see the world now, bye” I muttered under my breath as I turned around and began to walk down the ruined highway to see what had happened to the rest of the world.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first few hours of walking were filled with nothing but empty road, a scant number of cars and lingering headaches. A few of the cars still had their passengers locked inside, glassy and lifeless eyes staring out at the world they no longer inhabited while most were deserted.

I tried not to look at the corpses and continue walking, I would never find out if the rest of the world was like this if I stopped to give each and every last one of them a proper burial.

As the sun became visible on the horizon, I decided to stop for the night and realized one fatal flaw in my plan. As far as the eye could see I was surrounded by pine trees. I was most likely going to have to stay inside of the pine needle coverage if I wanted to have any safe rest. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to it.

I decided to stay in one of the trees closest to the road that looked the sturdiest of all the trees around. My fingernails are sharper than before, but I don't think I could use them to climb up.

So how the hell am I gonna get up this tree?

What do I have on me that I could use?

Meat, nope. String tied around said meat, nope to short. Water, nope. Large rifle strapped to my back, nop… I'm such an idiot.

I slung Legacy off of my back and put it down on the ground on it’s side. Very carefully I stood on top of it then used telekinesis to slowly lifted Legacy with me balancing on it up into the tree.

At first the pine needles almost made me fall off, but I regained my balance and managed to find a sizeable branch that I could sit down on about 11 ft off of the ground where the branches started.

The pine needles blocked my vision of everything except what was below me, so I had a nice dark spot to sleep through the day in. Once I had gotten comfortable, I Set my food down and began to eat a few bites of my lunch meat, a couple sips of my water, and an apple as desert. Not exactly high class, but after everything that had happened to me it felt like heaven.

I put all of my food down on the branch, except for the meat which I kept on my lap to keep it from getting dirty and I slowly fell asleep to the sound of the swaying trees.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BARK! BARK!

“...mu~uu…..5 more minutes..”

BARK BARK! GGGRRRRRR

“i'M UP!”

BARK BARK BARK BARK!!!

I wearily opened my eyes and looked around. This wasn't my house…..

...oh right.

I remembered everything that had happened to me and I wondered what had woken me up from my well earned rest.

I looked down and below me in the evening sun was a pack of wolves with a sickly bone-tan fur that was partially covered in blood on both their maws and their claws. They had bright red eyes that seemed to almosts glow with a deadly light to them.

“...gulp…”

The wolves were all licking their lips hungrily and looking up the tree at me. I could feel their stares boring into me, just waiting for one of us to make the first move.

Then the biggest wolf leaped onto the tree and attempted to slowly climb up it with his claws.

I quickly used analyze on it.

Name: Dire Wolf Alpha Level: 23 A type of devil monster. Dire Wolves are wolves that have absorbed too much sinister mana, mutating them into creatures who hunt for pleasure instead of food. Dire wolves are known to be incredibly sadistic, often playing with their prey before killing them. Dire Wolf Alphas are leaders of Dire Wolf packs and are substantially stronger than the average Dire Wolf.

…...that doesn't look good….