Report on Global After Effects, Darold Tremes (B) PhD
-begin excerpt-
The aftermath of the Fall has affected the world in ways that may seem understandable but also have some unforeseen side effects.
Half a century of significantly reduced carbon emissions and other factors have reduced humankind's impact on the atmosphere. Global Warming trends were accurate models at the time of their publishing. These events include the use of over a thousand nuclear explosive devices, the ignition of the Texas and Saudi Arabian oil fields, and the drastic reduction in human populations.
As of this writing, the polar ice caps had receded to approximately ten percent of their previous mass. The environment has largely stabilized, but localized freak events continue to add chaos to the predictive models. A variant identified as Twala Hmbinu in what was sub-Saharan Africa is actively reclaiming the desert through the use of plant growth powers. She has reclaimed more than 10,000 square kilometers in less than a year of noticeable activity. She is an example of these localized events.
With the rise in water levels, the entire face of the world has been redrawn. In North America alone, most of the southeastern portion of the US has been drowned. The loss of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and much of southern California has been a hammer blow to the continent's land mass. The significantly reduced population mitigates the impact.
We still see overcrowding in the relative safety of many cities as the suburban and rural areas of the once first-world countries have become wild spaces reclaimed by powerful mutants.
Government is primarily done at the city-state level. Extreme factionalism based around species-based xenophobia is rampant.
-end excerpt-
I rolled out from under the car, away from the dead wolf. I hightailed it back into the building and up the roof access. I sure hope these things can’t climb a ladder. I hear the howling start a minute later. A pair of the Dire Wolves have found their dead watcher. The answering howls echo across the hills as more of the other Dire Wolves answer back.
They are barking mad now. There seems to be a struggle for dominance going on. Did I kill the leader? It is fast and savage, in any case. Three of them corral the youngsters, and the rest begin to search the area. I watch in consternation as they track my scent from the kill to the base of the ladder. They circle the base. I scan the rooftop and see a couple of other spots I might be able to get down.
The first drops of rain splatter against my face, and I groan silently. Those rain clouds I saw earlier have shifted this way, and I’m about to get soaked. Not two seconds later, the wall of rain thunders down. I am wet through before I can scramble into one of my ponchos. I wrap my backpack in one of them and tie it to the underside of the roof next to the ladder. I’ll want the food and clothes in there to keep dry. The wolves all retreat to the den space then. The rain pounds against the rooftop and cars in a dull roar. Lightning flashes, and I realize that I am very exposed. I slide part way down the ladder and consider my options.
Twelve dire wolves are holed up in the den, including the pups. Three more are circulating through the old factory. One is following my scent trail through there from my scavenging trip earlier. The other two are spread out, hunting through the fallen building.
I sit on a rung of the ladder and absorb information. The pounding rain and water are pouring into the space, causing a ton of vibrations. It is too much at first, but my map slowly expands as I sit and am calm. The warehouse the wolves are in was the tail end of three assembly lines. The bomb had torn a massive hole in the center of the building and blown out many of the walls. Extensive overhead mezzanines and structures had been twisted and thrown down.
Notably missing were the robotic systems that had once built the vehicles. Someone or something had cut a swath of destruction into the factory from the north and had collected all of those systems. I assumed it had been the Android Hivemind. That made the north side of the building even more structurally unsound.
I recheck the shotgun and reload it from the stash of shells in my pocket. I slide down the ladder and go hunting. I can sense each and every Dire Wolf now. The location of the furthest ones is hazy, but I can perceive them easily in all this noise. I sneak through the space wanting to work north to south. The one I track is twenty yards behind the others. It’s the one that’s sniffing along my previous path. I creep up behind it as it snuffles around in the racking where I found the wire.
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Using the rebar, I step around a corner behind it and swing with all my might. I catch it in the back right hip, and I feel things crunch. The legs go limp, and the Dire Wolf yelps in pain and turns. As its head comes around, I bring up the sawn-off and blow both barrels into its snapping teeth.
*ting*
[You have slain Mutant Wolf, Irradiated - Experience gained
Survivor Class bonus experience earned]
I climb up into the racking the wolf has been sniffing around. I had been here earlier, and the industrial racking was sized to store pallets six high. I quickly scramble up into one leaning set of shelves. They sway ominously but hold. Two of the uprights lean precariously together nearby. One of the ceiling joists had fallen into them long ago and torn them from their footings.
The noise has attracted the attention of the two closer ones and the rest of the pack. I lay flat on a shelf twenty-five feet in the air and reload. I watch as the first comes trotting over, growling and sniffing—the second hot on its tail. I watch them mill and shove to investigate.
Time for some derring-do. I get to my feet, kneeling, and lean out over the edge. I wait for the right moment and jump down on one. I land feet first on its back and feel it start to buckle under my weight. But only for a moment. I stab down with the rebar and activate Vibrating Strike.
The Dire Wolf’s spine and back explode in a shower of blood, fur, and bone. I ride it to the floor as it dies.
*ting*
[You have slain Mutant Wolf, Irradiated - Experience gained
Survivor Class bonus experience earned]
I spin to face the other, and all I see are teeth. I throw up my left arm, and pain shoots through it and into my shoulder as the Dire Wolf latches on with those horrible yellow teeth. FUUCCK! That hurts. Acting on pure fight instinct, I slam the rebar into the side of its head with a Vibrating Strike with all my strength. One explosive skull disruption, and I’m prying teeth out of my arm as I run away from the area.
*ting*
[You have slain Mutant Wolf, Irradiated - Experience gained
Survivor Class bonus experience earned]
Fuck, fuck, fuck. That was not as smooth as I had hoped. I scramble away and drop the five-inch remainder of the rebar I have left in my hand. I run to the eastern side of the building and out into the rain. I feel the gore start to slide off of me in the downpour. I hope the rain will wash away my scent too. I sprint across the parking lot. My arm is starting to heal, and the bleeding has stopped.
*ting*
[Toxic Bite Secondary Damage] - [Resisted]
Oh, shit. These things have some toxic bite skill. That’s bull shit. I run toward a building that was once a “Wellness Center” by the remains of the signs. The glass walls and doors are all blown out, and I splash across the mud and detritus to get inside. I glance around and see fitness stuff scattered and strewn everywhere. Stairs to the left, I run up them and onto a second floor.
The building is remarkably intact; old reinforced cinder block construction has held up over the years. I scramble through the rooms and find a ruined bathroom with a functional door. I dash inside, panting, and lock the door. It might not stop a Dire Wolf, but it will slow them down, at least. I put my back on the door and sit on the floor.
*ting*
[Toxic Bite Secondary Damage] - [Resisted]
Fuck! Still? I look at my arm and see black and yellow streaks of infection trying to spread from where the thing bit me. The wound is closed, and the bleeding has stopped. Hopefully, I won’t need to amputate the arm to prevent infection. It will grow back, eventually. I glance at my pinky at the thought. I accidentally cut it off at the second knuckle with a saw in Tukey’s lab a few years back. Now it was whole and unblemished.
I look around the bathroom and see it’s more of a locker room. I sit there panting for a while, just letting my adrenaline run its course. Two was more than I wanted to handle in the future. I had gotten the drop on one, and the other had nearly removed my arm.
As my breathing slowed, I checked my gains. Wow, I was over 15k experience. Explorer to 6 and then 7, yes, please. I felt the attributes slide into place and then allocated five into presence and the remaining four into perception.
As I sat there, I checked the other notifications. My Heightened Resistance was working overtime today. The line of Radiation Exposure pings was long.
I checked the area with my vibration sense. I didn’t feel any of the Dire Wolves following me. I decided to get cleaned up. There was no running water, but a trickle coming through the roof over the showers from the rain was enough for me to at least rinse off. I prodded a couple of rat-chewed bones in the corner: little teeth marks, rats.
I poke through the lockers for anything valuable. No scavenger had been through here. I find a set of clean, dry clothes and some towels that didn’t fall apart. Some junk plastics and a very nice shiny watch. That was a good prize. I wondered how much a Rolex was worth. I wound it experimentally and watched as the mechanism came to life. The tick, tick, tick of the watch pinged my vibrations sense. My eyes widened.
I had just found a solution to one of my problems. I needed vibrations to sense for my ability to activate. My heartbeat was one thing, but I’d need to tap on something or talk to get a good picture. The quiet little tick, tick, tick of the watch was perfect. Now I wouldn’t need to do that. It wasn’t much, but the little bits of vibration allowed me to sense everything inside the room I was in. It would be useless in the open, but inside a building, the quiet tick, tick, tick would be perfect.
After an hour, I left my refuge. I was whole again, recharged, and ready to kill some more. I scooped a long bar and a couple of rusty weight plates from the gym before heading back into the factory. I peeked out the broken windows and kept very still. There were a pair of Dire Wolves out in the light rain. They were circling the area, nose down, and hadn’t seen me yet.