Chapter 27 – Progress

“This is Donut. How are you doing on your side Carol?” Duncan said.

He and the others returned to the compound just barely in time. Duncan did not like cutting it so close. He was the lifeline for these survivors and did not want to let them down. Duncan had already lost so many and had zero interest in losing more.

Carol’s voice came over the air waves. “Good to hear from you. I almost thought you might miss our call.” Carol said over the radio.

“I’d never do that Mrs. Burns.” Duncan replied.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Carol?”

“Sorry, old habits.” Duncan answered.

“It’s fine. So, what caused you to be almost late for our evening call?” Carol asked.

“I was out leveling with Shadowalker, Gr’ex, Jebediah, Suzie-cue, and Emily. I’m level 11 now! And Suzie-cue is level 12!” Duncan reported excitedly.

“Wow, that is impressive. I’m still only level 6. What were you guys doing that earned you so many levels?” Carol replied.

“Killing Bone Marrow goblins.” Duncan answered.

“Bone Marrow? Like are they made of bone?” Carol asked in confusion.

“Ha! No, no. That is just the name of their clan. They do wear a lot of bones on their person, but I think that is more decorative and I’m sure must have meaning to them, I just don’t care. We killed a bunch of them.” Duncan explained.

“Huh. Those are the ones occupying our town. Well at least you guys killed some of them. Wait, you mentioned Gr’ex. Isn’t he a goblin? Doesn’t he have a problem killing his own kind?” Carol said.

“Nah, He said, ‘if they aren’t part of his clan, why would he care.’ The goblin seems very pragmatic. Suzie-cue says he’s heartless and pompous, but I like em.” Duncan relayed.

Carol shared her thoughts. “You seem to like everyone dearie. I’m sure his mindset works well in the apocalypse, but it does come off a bit cold, so I can see Suzie-cue’s point. You mentioned Emily, so she survived too?”

“Yes ma’am. She and Suzie-cue both used their system perks to race change. Both are now Wood Elves. They have pointy ears and everything. I noticed how they seem more agile now. Both are wicked with a bow and a gun.” Duncan answered.

“Race change?! Interesting. I hadn’t realized that was an option. We will spread the word about that. Many of the people we have rescued so far have not selected their system perk. Me, I went with Soothing Voice. It adds appeal to my voice. Also helps give bonuses to people remembering what I said and helps in negotiations. But the coolest benefit was how overtime it can help heal people with wounded psyches.” Carol explained.

Duncan nodded along before speaking up. “That is useful. Maybe it can help the Lost.”

“The Lost?” Carol asked, having not heard that reference before.

“It is what we have started to call the people who seem to have mentally checked out. They sit there doing nothing. Our nurse Ann has been trying to help them, but Jebediah says we can only use so many of our resources on people who are lost and aren’t contributing. I think that’s harsh. I mean I understand, but it’s hard for me to not want to help these people, so maybe that is something you can do with your Soothing Voice.” Duncan explained.

Carol appreciated Duncan’s commitment to helping others. She knew some would consider him a bleeding heart, but she had known the boy since he was young. He was a big ole teddy bear who genuinely would protect those weaker than him. That was his nature, and it appeared the apocalypse wasn’t going to change that about him.

“It’s worth a try. I do have to agree with Jebediah though. It’s a harsh world out there. Far more brutal. Being blunt seems to be a saving grace, as harsh as that may sound. We cannot deny the truth, this world is not as it was, heck Mayberry never was like we thought it was. So much has already changed. Have you noticed how most cell phones aren’t working anymore. That was one of the first things to stop functioning.”

“Yea I asked Gr’ex about that.” Duncan chimed in.

“What did he tell you?” Carol asked.

Duncan relayed what Gr’ex told him. “He said that the more fragile technology would be the first to go. Something about the mana in the environment creates a natural interface. Depending on the type of mana it could be problematic. Gr’ex has seen how effective our guns are, but he is convinced that it is only a matter of time before they start blowing up in our faces. He also mentioned the risk of encountering monsters whose skin are so tough the bullets will just bounce off them.”

“Those are both scary thoughts.” Carol commented.

Duncan continued. “Big time. Most of our initial successes have come from the fact that most people in our town were proud members of the NRA and always had a rifle or gun on hand.”

“Yes, that proved true with Carl’s group too. Their guns truly were the great equalizers.” Carol chimed in.

Duncan nodded along to Carol’s words even if she couldn’t see him. “Gr’ex did mention that it’s possible to start combining magic and tech to create items that can function in a mana rich environment.”

“Oh yes. We have a couple of inventors that created a power suit, they said that combined both magic and technology. It’s quite an impressive piece of hardware.” Carol shared.

“Wow! That sounds super cool. I can’t wait to see it! Gr’ex made mention of a goblin clan that specializes in such tech. He did caution us that some of the radio towers would be next depending on the type of technology used.” Duncan replied.

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“Does he have any idea how long we might have? By our estimate we are still about a day and a half from reaching you guys. It would be bad to lose our best mode of communication.” Carol asked.

“He figures after the first initialization phase is complete. According to Gr’ex, something happened during the first part of initialization that delayed the mana saturation. If that hadn’t occurred, we would already have lost our radio and weapons advantages.” Duncan explained.

“Really? Does he know more about what happened that gave us all that much needed advantage?” Carol inquired.

“No. He just said that somehow the initial release of mana was absorbed somehow causing the reintegration process to take longer. That’s all I could get out of him before he had to go organize some of the goblins.” Duncan shared.

“Huh. Well, whatever it was, it has made all the difference in the world for us. Most of the survivors we have found survived because of the guns they had or found. Plus, we wouldn’t even know they were there if we hadn’t been able to communicate.” Carol said before taking a moment to say a silent prayer before changing subjects. “Anything we should know before signing off for the evening?”

“Yes. Jek’jon told us this morning that other goblin clans want to join Shadowalker’s banner. He should be meeting with them as we speak. If all goes well, we will have more allies for the upcoming battle.” Duncan replied.

“Oh, that is good news. Though I still am uncertain about these goblins. But we will take all the help we can get. This will be our last communication before we head out. As I mentioned, give us about a day and a half. We will use the two-way radios on the frequency we discussed when we get within range.” Carol replied.

“Roger that! Travel safe and good journey!” Duncan replied as he signed off.

Carol made her notes and waited for her son and Laraaq to return. They were due any minute. This was their last communication for the next day and a half, and wanted to make sure she didn’t miss anything to report.

It took Carl about half an hour before he walked through the door. “Hey mom. No Laraaq?”

“What? No how are you doing? Just where is the boss.” Carol teased her son. She knew he worked hard and seemed to put the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Mom. You know I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just exhausted.” Carl complained.

“I know, but if I don’t tease you, who will. How did it go today? How was it without Laraaq there with you?” Carol asked.

“All in all, it went well. Mario and Jerome are professionals. We rescued 53 people. Most of them were in their mid to late twenties. Only a handful of those are combat ready. The rest really struggled but they managed to hold on until we got there. Very few with stockpiles of food and supplies so that will put further strain on our supplies. Most important thing, no one seemed to be a Sharon, so that was a positive.” Carl reported.

“Well at least that is good. Still, you should be proud son, to have saved so many today. Our supplies are still in good order. Several of the supply teams brought back some decent hauls today.” Carol encouraged.

“That’s good. The last thing we want right now is people rioting out of hunger or toilet paper.” Carl commented.

Carol nodded. “Most definitely. Any of them have any skills that stand out?”

Carl smiled. “I’m going to leave that in your very capable hands. Laraaq and I rescue them, you and Jacob sort em out.”

“You know you maybe taller than me, but I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.” Carol stated.

Carl raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. If you need me to help you and Jacob sort people let me know.”

Carol smiled. “That’s better. I think we are fine; I just have to keep you on your toes, so you don’t take your mom for granted.”

Carl chuckled. “Ha! Fair enough mom, fair enough. Any word from Laraaq’s team?”

“No, nothing. Last Jennifer radioed in; they rescued some older teenagers from a high school a few hours from here.” Carol explained.

Just as she finished Laraaq and Jennifer walked through the door.

“Speak of the devil.” Carol commented.

“So not a fan of that saying after the day we had.” Laraaq said as he plopped down into a chair.

“That bad?” Carl asked.

“Yes and No. we had to kill some kids.” Jennifer answered.

Carol’s face took on a look of horror. “What do you mean you had to kill some kids?!”

“It was right after Jennifer radioed in about the high school. For the most part, they are a great bunch of people for teenagers. Their fencing team paired up with their football team to create an effective defense against the zombies. They even had a few teachers, parents, and locals who made it to the high school. The building was made of solid brick, great place to defend from.” Laraaq started to explain.

“Some of the people had minor wounds, nothing too bad, that was until we came upon one of the locals. He was sick. At first, I thought he might be infected and turning into a zombie, but the truth was worse.” Jennifer stated.

“Worse? How was it worse?” Carl asked.

“There were three kids about 10 years old. Two boys and one girl. They were all level 14 and had a class called Dark Cannibal. My system informed me that in order to get that class you have to have killed and eaten at least 20 of your own race!” Laraaq continued to explain.

Carol brought her hand to her mouth in shock. “They were so young to do such horrible things!”

“The girl had an ability called Life Leech. She used it to slowly weaken people, most would just think they were tired or didn’t sleep well, but it progressively got worse. They would get people to isolate them out of fear of the person being infected, and then one or more would kill and eat them.” Jennifer gritted her teeth as she said the last part.

“Monsters!” Carl commented.

“Exactly! So, we executed them. Sad thing is if people had just bothered to interact with their system and ask the right questions they would know to be on guard when it comes to anyone under the age of 15. Jennifer and I both went off on the adults who should’ve never let it get that far. We need to institute some kind of instruction for things people should be doing with their system.” Laraaq sighed, letting out his frustration.

“I’ll talk to Jacob about putting something together.” Carol replied.

Jennifer spoke up after a moment. “Other than that, the only other issue was Mack.”

Carl perked up at the mention of the man’s name. He did not care for the surly trucker. “What did Mack do?”

Laraaq started to explain. “Nothing specific, other than just be obstinate and hog the kills. It was hard to reprimand him for killing monsters with his makeshift club, but he just was completely overbearing. He never dared to cross the line with me...”

Jennifer cut him off. “He crossed the line with me. He flatly ignored any orders I gave to protect people or fall back. And when I confronted him, he claimed ignorance or that he didn’t hear me, ‘too focused on the battle’ he said. Total crap!”

“We will need to keep an eye on him. I don’t trust him to watch our backs, but we need every able fighter in the upcoming battle.” Laraaq chimed in.

“I’ll keep his youngest with me during the battle. That way he will be less likely to do something stupid during the fight.” Carol suggested.

“Not a bad idea. Family seems to be the only thing the man cares about.” Carl commented.

“Now enough of that sad business. How many were you able to rescue?” Carol asked.

Laraaq smiled. “We saved 78 people and recovered several stashes of food and supplies. The high school alone had a fully stocked emergency rations kit for all their students. The fencers and football kids already wanted to join the ranks of our fighters. We dropped them off with Jacob.”

Jennifer chimed in. “And we leveled. Laraaq and I are now level 12. Colin and Christy are level 11. And Mack is level 14, he gained a class called Bruiser.” Jennifer said the last part with an annoyed look on her face.

“Well yea, easy to level when you’re stealing all the kills. Jerk!” Laraaq said in frustration.

“Well, us having someone in the group with a class can only help us in the upcoming conflict.” Carol said in the hopes of encouraging everyone.

Laraaq nodded. “I know you’re right Carol, it just annoys me.”

Carol nodded. “That is understandable. I do have some good news from Duncan. Your friend was on his way to recruit some of the goblin clans to our side. Duncan seemed excited about it.”

“That is good news. If anyone can convince a group to join our cause it’s Shadowalker.” Laraaq stated.

Carol smiled. “Good to hear as we will need a leader who can rally people behind a common cause. Now let me tell you everything else I found out.”