New World Day 3

  The very first thing I did before heading outside was to check for anything waiting to jump out and eat me alive. I had checked not too long ago but better safe than sorry. After I was certain that everything was clear, I opened the door, rushed out, and then closed it quickly behind me. I was a bit worried by all of the fighting sounds that I had heard over the night. Well, more than a bit if I was being honest with myself. I crept over to the edge of the hill to have a look at where I had dumped the bodies. What I saw was what I had hoped for, the bodies were all gone. There was evidence everywhere that there had been quite a brawl over the bodies last night. I couldn’t make out the exacts of what had happened, but even a blind man could see from the drag marks in the grass and mud that eventually something had dragged the bodies down the hill and into the lake.

  Now that that question was answered, I relieved myself in the same place as the day before alongside the back of the house and then made my way cautiously to the front of the house. I made sure that I had the shotgun in hand so that I was ready for anything that might be waiting for me. I didn’t encounter any beasts or monsters, but I was surprised to see that there were birds out and about again. The sky had a few clouds floating around aimlessly up there, but it was clear enough and sunny enough that I could see the small shapes of the robins and swallows darting through the air. There weren’t quite as many, but they were back. I suspected that it meant that the Old World animals were gradually adjusting to the New World. I wasn’t sure how many species would survive in the end, but it was an encouraging sign that they were out and about already. I found it comforting to have some familiar sights and sounds returning, and I quickened my pace towards the front door. A few moments later, I stopped myself midstep. This was exactly what kept getting me into so much trouble. I assume that everything is fine and normal and then BAM! Something big and nasty with all kinds of crazy fangs jumps out and tries to eat me. I was determined that I wouldn’t let that happen again. I turned my back to the door, and swept the yard in front of me with my gaze once more. Nothing but birds, squirrels, and insects. Satisfied that everything was safe for now, I headed inside.

  Once I got inside, I headed down the hallway to my left and made sure that nothing had taken up residence in the bathroom or bedroom. Then I cautiously made my way into the great room. The room naturally still had glass everywhere and there were blood stains around the kitchen table from the goblin. However, nothing else had changed since then. I carefully headed up the stairs to the top floor. There were pictures of my family hanging on the walls all along the open air hallway. A pang of longing shot through me, but it wasn’t time to dwell on that. I opened the door to the first bedroom just a crack and then lightly kicked it open the rest of the way with my foot. The room was clear, and I repeated the process twice more checking both the bathroom and second bedroom in the same way. Now that I was satisfied that I was safe for the moment, I got to work collecting everything that I could use. I yanked all of the clothes, pillows, covers, towels, and medical supplies from the various closets and cabinets on the floor. When I went back downstairs, I would need to loot the downstairs bathroom as well. That was one room I had missed on my first go around. I had a constant regeneration going now, but that didn’t mean the medicine couldn’t still be useful. After everything was gathered upstairs, I stopped for a moment to think about how I would get it down stairs. The quickest way would be to throw it over the railing into the great room, but I decided against that as I was worried about the noise it would make. Instead I wrapped everything up in the big quilts from the four beds into four big bundles and carried them down the stairs one by one like a certain grinch who stole Christmas. I stopped after each one to check the windows both upstairs and downstairs.

  It took about an hour to get everything moved out from upstairs and to loot the ground floor bathroom and bedroom in the same manner. Since I had the time, I even grabbed the pots and pans from the kitchen this time as well. I didn’t want to risk taking everything to the basement by going outside and around. Taking the other option, I moved the refrigerator away from the door and took everything down the stairs. I had a lot to take down, and not all of it would fit in the basement bedroom. Some of the new supplies, mainly the pots and pans, were stashed in the garage. Everything else was crammed into the bedroom for now. I would have to get everything organized at some point, but that could wait till night when I needed something to keep my mind from wandering.

  There was one thing I did do right away. I literally tore off my current clothes and changed into a new set of jeans, a gray T shirt, and a light blue jacket. It was pretty warm outside so I didn’t really need the jacket, but I thought that it would at least keep the straps from the rifle and shotgun from rubbing my shoulders raw. There was one final touch. I put on a backpack filled with a couple bottles of water and some peanut crackers. Satisfied with my work so far, I slung the guns back onto my shoulders and grabbed my axe before I headed back upstairs to twist the refrigerator back in front of the door to the basement. It only took me two days, but I had finally finished looting the house. Now I needed to check on my neighbors.

  I left the house from the broken window instead of the front door. There simply was no good way to make sure that nothing was waiting to eat me when exiting the front door. I probably should have entered the house the same way actually, but it had slipped my mind. That was another thing that I would have to keep in mind for the future. It was a small mistake, but I felt that if you make enough small mistakes then a giant shit storm will inevitably descend on you in due time. I resolved to identify and limit them as much as possible. Taking things slowly, I headed back to the front of the house. Facing directly away from the house there was a nice wide grassy lawn dotted with a few small circles of flowers and bird feeders. Right past the lawn, the forest began to emerge and the ground dipped down into a small but surprising steep valley with a creek running through the very bottom of it. To the right of the house, there was a gravel path that went past a large metal barn and led down a hill to what my family had called the Big Lake. The hill used to be an orchard and a few fruit trees still used to live on it, but when the Big Lake was built it had been converted into a mini meadow of sorts with flowers and large swaths of warm season grasses. I didn’t know how much of the terrain remained the same, but it would hopefully give me at least a bit of an idea about what to expect if I wanted to explore that area.

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  I wasn’t heading in that direction though. I was heading to the left of the house. There was a gravel driveway right next to the house that led to the road through a small hole in the surrounding forest. The driveway split in two right before a thin tree line that extended out from the nearby forest like the jaws of a great beast that had swallowed the house and its surroundings whole. One path went to the garage while the other went to the front porch with a triangular patch of trees laying in between them. The tree line to the left of the house had been left in place on purpose by my parents to keep people from being able to see the house from the road. Some of the trees, specifically the white and scotch pine trees, had actually been planted by them personally. They really valued their privacy. Beyond that line of trees there should be a large field with a fenced in orchard, a fence around the property, and a gate to the road.

  I wasn’t holding my breath about everything being the same though. I could still see the road and my car in the front field from the hole in the tree line, but I could tell at a glance that there were already some changes. The driveway still went through the tree line, but the tree line was much thicker than it used to be and there were types of trees mixed in that I knew didn’t exist in the Old World. From the deck of the house, I could make out three new species just from the bark and leaves. Two of the three types were pretty tame. The bark on one was thicker and more craggy while the second had leaves that twisted and folded like ivy. Otherwise though they just looked like any old tree. The third tree though was incredibly different. I found that just staring at the third type for too long caused my eyes to begin to itch and burn. It had pitch black bark that circled and swirled in odd patterns that seemed to shift and change every time a beam of light struck it almost like the bark itself was made of shadows and feared the light. I was never ever going near those trees if I could help it, and there was something else about these shadow trees that bothered me. They stuck out like a sore thumb. I know I was preoccupied the last couple of days, but they weren’t the type of thing that was easily missed. Just where had they come from. Was I really just that inattentive or was there some other reason I hadn’t seen them? There were only three of that type that I saw and they were thankfully a good distance away from the driveway. I had to spend five minutes rubbing my eyes before I was able to relieve some of the irritation and open them again. There was no way those trees were normal, but they were still just trees. It wasn’t like they could get up and chase me down. I just needed to keep them in mind and give them a wide berth.

  With that happy thought in mind, it was time to stop procrastinating. I put my axe in my backpack, unslung the rifle this time, and walked up the driveway towards the gate and the road as quietly as I could. Despite my best efforts, the gravel crunched loudly under my shoes with each step. The sound made me cringe every time it rang out, but I didn’t want to take the chance of getting near those shadow trees by going through the grass and forest. I got to the tree line without incident and began to make my way through the gap when a lone cloud floated across the sky and blocked out the bright sun. Whoosh! Black shapes shot out of the forest from either side of me encircling me before I had nary a moment to react. I had just enough time to think about how screwed I was before they began to silently and unnervingly advance upon me in unison.

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 1 55%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 1 25%

Fool (B) LVL 1 10%

Pack Killer (B) LVL 1 0%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 1 0%

Title Points:

*

*

*

*

0

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Bonus Points:

105/105

10/10

2 per min (-1)

7

6

7

3

Status Effects:

Regen

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 4 17%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 3 45%

Basic Regen (Passive) (B) 4 LVL 91%

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