The guy with the iron pipe raised it in salute to me, and I answered by raising my shield. There were more dinosaur chitters coming from either end of the street, though, so neither of us stuck around to talk.
I'd seen enough disaster movies to know that grocery stores were probably going to be a bad idea, but... well... maybe enough people weren't home at this hour that I could get away with it? It was only a twenty-minute walk anyhow, so I set out, sticking to the shade and staying as close to houses as I could. I didn't want to risk heat stroke wearing full armor in the sun, and I was already starting to get paranoid about leaf-hounds leaping out at me from … anywhere.
Of course, they did. Some of them were dumb and jumped out from behind cars, which I wish I could say stopped being scary after a while but they still made me jump like a spooked cat about half the time. It's the ones that wanted to hide in trees along the sides of the road, or on top of the awnings over store windows, that got to me.
The first time one of them dropped on my shoulders like an angry sack of flour, I outright shrieked. It bowled me right off my feet, but I remembered to “fall safely,” and rolled into it so I landed on my shoulder instead of head-first into the ground. I managed to pin the leaf-hound under me, and it started scratching at my armor but couldn't scratch through. I'd spilled a bunch of my bolts taking that fall, but I still got my hand on one. Even if I did have to punch the leaf-hound with the edge of my shield a couple of times too. But I was already touching its head when I shot the bolt, so even though it made another gross squelching noise, all I got was more blue smoke and not leaf-hound brains.
I had to sit down for a while after that fight. I found a spot in the shade and hugged my knees and hid under my shield for a few minutes. That was scary and rough and even though I didn't actually get hurt, I realized how close I came. If that thing had managed to get a claw under my tassets or something, I would've been in real trouble.
I heard a bell clatter beside me, and looked up to see an older Indian guy beckoning me inside. What I'd thought was just another random storefront was actually a deli! I got up and followed, and he handed me a big plastic cup full of ice water. I stuck the straw under my helmet and sipped gratefully.
“Ice won't last forever. Might as well enjoy it, right? You were very brave, fighting that awful thing.”
“Thank you,” I said, “I mean, for the water, and for saying that. I never thought... I mean... this armor is supposed to be for playing in, not for... this.” I sipped some more, quiet and slow.
“Nobody should have to fight like that. But if you do keep fighting like that, maybe things will be safer for everybody. I am glad I could help.”
“Did you pick your ability yet?”
He nodded. “I took Freeze. My son said it would be the most valuable thing. I can keep food fresh for a while, and I can use it for fighting even if it is a little slow.”
“Slow is gonna be pretty bad with these things. Once they know you're there they get running, and they're quicker than they look.”
Since we were talking about it – and since I'd had to fight at least one leaf-hound every block so far – I pulled up my interface, and I saw something interesting.
Emma DeVries
Novelty: 10
Abilities:
Missile (100%)
Points: 144 (Threshold reached. Ability selection available.)
Money: 12
“Oh heck yeah,” I said.
“What?”
“144 points and you get to pick another ability.”
“So you do get rewards for fighting?”
“Looks like it.”
He sipped his own water, then reached out with a pitcher and refilled mine. While we sipped water, we looked outside. There were a lot of broken-down cars alongside the road, but no people in them anymore. It looked like everyone had run away as soon as things started getting weird.
“What are you going to pick?”
“I dunno. Force Shield? Then I'd have something to fight with and something to block with. But maybe Telekinesis for utility? Or... no, it still says I don't have enough “support” for Flight...”
While we were talking, another guy came out of the back of the store. He was younger than the man who'd brought me in, but the family resemblance was strong.
“Who is this, Dad?”
“I haven't asked her name, but she has been killing those awful monsters outside and I saw she needed a rest.”
“I'm Emma,” I offered, “And yeah, I've been fighting. I have this armor, and my starting ability is pretty strong, so... power and responsibility, y'know?”
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“I don't care,” the younger guy said, “Get out. We have no food for you.”
“You are being cruel, Neil,” the old man said, “This is not how I raised you to be.”
“The world you raised me to be in just ended. We have to feed ourselves first if we want to live.”
“And we must make sure the people who can protect us have the strength to do so, if we are going to live longer.”
The younger guy – Neil – threw his hands in the air and stalked back into the employees-only room.
“You must forgive my son. He was never like this before, but he has been taking this strangeness very hard. He is not a bad man, just... very afraid.”
“There's lots to be afraid of. How come you're not?”
“I am!” he laughed, shaking his head, “But I have seen fighting before. I had hoped never to see it again, but I will not let being afraid make me a worse person.”
“This is the way,” I said, grinning under my helmet.
“This is the way,” he answered, with a smile that was more genuine and less sad than his laughter had been.
I finished my water, but kept the disposable cup, figuring I could sip at the ice as it melted. “I should get going. I still have an ability to pick, and I want to check out PriceRite before everybody and his dog gets there first.”
“Good luck to you.”
“And to you.”
I had just unlocked the door and I was about to leave when I spotted a cloud of blue smoke out in the middle of the road. Not dispersing – nobody was out there killing hounds – but gathering. As I watched, the usual death-smoke seemed like it ran in reverse, and in a moment there was a brand new leaf-hound looking around and chittering.
“Oh hell no,” I said, stepping outside and letting the old guy lock the door behind me. I pulled a couple of bolts out of my can and gunned the thing down before it could get anywhere to cause trouble. It took three shots to kill this one, since my first one didn't land the perfect headshot I was trying for.
As the leaf-hound dissolved back into smoke, I found myself yawning. I know it's hot as heck out here but still, I wasn't that sleepy a minute ago... Does using abilities make you tired? I'll... I interrupted my own train of thought by yawning again, then clanked a fist against my helmet to clear my head. Get moving, stay moving, and stay awake.
I went and picked up my bolts, both the ones from this leaf-hound and the ones I'd spilled falling over earlier. Good thing, too, because the ones I spilled included my keys. Oops. I put those back in the can first and then piled some bolts on top.
Two blocks and three leaf-hounds later, I spotted the parking lot of PriceRite just as I was finishing off my melted ice. Engaging with those leaf-hounds from far away, I hadn't had to spam shots like the one I spawn-camped, and I didn't find myself yawning. I was beginning to revise my hypothesis: using abilities didn't make you sleepy; spamming abilities made you sleepy.
I couldn't afford to fall asleep out here, or get too sleep-stupid to fight, so I'd have to make sure to pace myself, even if it did mean that I'd have to punch a leaf-hound with my shield sometimes. At least until I could actually prove my idea one way or the other. If I was wrong and it was just overall use, I was kinda boned, but I'd been plinking away at leaf-hounds for an hour and only just started yawning, so I was pretty sure it wasn't that. If I was wrong the other way and spamming made no difference, I'd be happy, but I didn't want to test that outdoors.
Entering the parking lot of the grocery store, I knew it was going to be bad, but nothing could ever have prepared me for what I saw. Maybe a lifetime sheltered from actual violence had made me extra unprepared...
There were people – dead people – lying in the parking lot. Some of them were already being savaged by leaf-hounds and others were just lying there, left wherever they fell. Their insides were outside, there were bones showing, and some of them had been burned, which I was pretty sure the leaf-hounds couldn't do...
I looked away, focusing on the building itself. It wasn't in any better shape, though.
The windows had all been smashed out, and inside... I couldn't see inside too well – I didn't get very close – but it looked like people were already having fist-fights and even powers fights in the aisles. I think the produce department might have been on fire. There was black smoke pouring out of one broken window, so something was definitely on fire at that end of the store.
I wasn't willing to get close enough to risk grabbing the attention of anything in that mess. Or anybody, I thought, shivering despite the heat. I turned around and left, heading right back the way I'd come, trying – and failing, if I'm being honest – not to think about what I saw. I took a pot-shot or two at some leaf-hounds along the way, enough to convince them to pick a different fight, but my heart wasn't in it and I didn't bother chasing any of them down.
Part of me kept expecting to see more bodies behind every parked car. It never happened, but that didn't make me feel any better.
I made it back to the deli and the older guy let me in. The door closed behind me and I collapsed onto a chair as soon as I heard the lock click.
“It was bad?”
“It was worse.”
He put another big cup of ice water in front of me, and half a turkey sandwich, too. I sipped water but my stomach was too upset to think about eating.
I told him what I saw. The dead people. The fighting. I caught myself sniffling and tried to stop, but there was no hiding it, really.
“It's not...” I squeaked, “It's not fun anymore. I know that's dumb, but... when I came out here... it was like a game, y'know? Shoot the monsters, get some loot, level up. Sure I thought about how people could get hurt, but...”
“But seeing it happen in front of you is not the same as imagining when it is still far away,” he finished the thought, and I nodded along. A heavy hand patted my shoulder, and I felt his Freeze wash over me, draining the heat out of my armor. It wasn't enough to make me feel better about what I'd seen, but it took the edge off how hot I already was.
“I should go home. I'll have to find another food stockpile.” I didn't want to say 'I need to find my mom.' He already pitied me; somehow the idea of him realizing I was a young person and then feeling even worse for me because of that bothered me even more.
“I would offer to share, but without my Freeze nothing here would be any good even by tomorrow.”
“I appreciate it... um... I never got your name.”
“I am pleased to be Rakesh.”
“Rakesh. Thank you. If you're holing up here, maybe I'll come by again and check on you?”
“I would appreciate that. I am going to try to Freeze one of those monsters myself soon, but you are an expert already! I would be a fool to say no.”
I sat for a while longer and finished my water. I had to pick my second ability before I left, and after what I saw at the grocery store I was willing to commit to Force Shield.
Emma DeVries
Novelty: 10
Abilities:
Missile (200%)
Force Shield (200%)
Points: 144
Money: 12
This whole situation was still awful, but as I set out again I felt a little bit better, knowing somebody understood what I had been through.