Henderson waved off the group of refugees toward the base. Mathew was surprised at how large of a group they were. Easily over thirty. He was worried if the base would be able to even take more survivors at this rate.
Once Henderson was sure the group was going to be fine, they continued their walk. Chatter died down to the occasional question. Mathew learned that Steve-O had plans on becoming a samurai. He also kept that he had zero makings of one to himself.
Henderson had no plans to rely upon the system for anything other than information. It wasn’t that she doubted it could possibly make someone better, stronger, or faster at something. She just didn’t trust it. “If it could appear suddenly, then it can go away just as sudden.”
Brown had a similar mindset to Henderson, but also seemed intrigued by it. “I plan on continuing my efforts of being a medic. Either with healing magic, or skills. Might need to learn alchemy or chemistry. You think those would be skills, Mathew?”
“No idea, I say just as likely as other skills nobody has yet to acquire. Like for example magical ones.”
He nodded at that. Steve-O brought up a good point however, “The only skills floating around are either combative, medical, or support like Damien’s [Stealth] skill. So that begs the question, what if there aren't any skills outside those fields? I mean, why did this happen in the first place? Don’t get me wrong, I am loving it. Yet, why Earth? Why now?”
“Leave it to the nerds, Steve-O. If you were smart enough to join them, you would be there.”
“Hey, just because I put all my points into Strength doesn't mean I am not smart! I was testing to see if it worked like that. It was either me or a roommate, and I drew the short stick.”
Henderson shook her head. Brown looked over at Mathew. “Where did you put your points? I put mine evenly between Wisdom, Dexterity, and Vitality. More in Vitality and Wisdom at my first Level though.”
Mathew waved a hand. “I don’t plan on focusing on the stats too much like Henderson. I have yet to feel any difference between now and before The System showed up. I doubt it really works enough to matter at this point. I’m only Level 2. If I start seeing a difference, then I will focus more on it.” He said in a half truth.
Brown nodded. “There’s merit to that.”
Damien came running back to the group huffing. Henderson drew her rifle and started to look behind him. “What’s wrong?”
“Wolves. Saw one, it ran off, but sacred the shit out of me. Ran to you guys once I realized I too can run off.”
Henderson rolled her eyes, but didn’t put her gun away. “Really? You came back because of a single wolf?”
“Isn’t there a saying?” Brown asked. “If you see one wolf, there are ten more hiding.”
“Isn’t that for cockroaches?” Steve-O asked
“Enough.” Henderson said, shutting everyone up. She turned back to Damien. “Did the wolf look different? Shoot lightning out of its eyes? Maybe it talked?”
He shook his head. “Was a normal looking wolf, through and through. Just... I didn't want to get eaten.”
Hendrson rubbed her temples. “Listen Damien. I understand you are scared, but a wolf is not going to attack you. Trust me, I’ve come face to face with a pack. We are big scary humans. They don't want any of us. Firstly, you are too skin and bones, not enough meat. If anyone here, they would want to eat me or Mathew.”
“Hey, I heard that!”
Ignoring him, she continued. “Do you feel okay enough to continue scouting ahead of us?”
Damien hesitated, but nodded.
“Good, get back out there. Remember, you have your radio.”
It was hours later before they broke for lunch. Mathew guessed they were only a few miles away from the base, since they were going in a spiral away from it, yet he couldn’t be too sure.
“How much longer are we going for?” Damien asked.
“At least till before dinner. There are some mountains that have a city on the other side of. I want to be sure there isn’t anyone coming from that way. It has a few trails that people might be taking to hoof it here.”
Everyone nodded. Mathew was on one hand, hating the fact he was outside walking around. On the other, it beat doing manual labor like cleaning or sitting in a shitty tent. Everyone who volunteered for special duties were assigned a real room like himself and Leo.
He had a small worry for Madison, but assumed she was fine, or Leo was checking in on her. “That’s fine with me. It sets a sort of goal that once we arrive at, we are going back. How far away is the base at a straight shot?” Mathew asked.
“On foot? I guess no more than an hour or two. Depends on the terrain. If we cut it at an angle, we can hit the road and just follow that.” Henderson said.
----------------------------------------
Mathew started to see signs indicating where the trail started, or ended depending on which way you went. He really wished he put more points into Endurance or had worked out more like he always promised himself he would. He went to a nearby bench and sat down to rest. Steve-O was right next to him. Damien was already going down the trail a little ways to check for people before they all left.
Henderson leaned against a table, while Brown chose to sit down on a different bench.
“Looks like some people did come by recently.” Henderson commented.
“How can you tell?” Steve-O asked.
She pointed to the garbage can. “It was emptied the day before magic existed, or should have at least. There is enough trash for more hikers that come through in a week than the three days it’s been since. Also there are no flies, so it’s somewhat fresh. I don’t smell that scent of trash do you?”
He shook his head. “Shit, I wouldn't have thought to look at the garbage. Guess that’s why you get paid the big bucks huh?”
“Something like that.” She said, looking toward the trail where Damien went down.
Her radio came to life about ten minutes later. “Uhh, I don’t know how to phrase this, so can you come here and look at this to be sure I’m not crazy, Over.”
“What is it? Describe it best you can. Over.” Henderson said, as she motioned for everyone to get up and follow her.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“Have you ever seen a show about a drunk scientist and his grandson before?”
It didn't take long before Damien ran into the group. He motioned for everyone to follow him a little off the trail.
“I saw a weird light this way, and decided to check it out. It’s the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Trust me.”
Soon Mathew saw what he was talking about. It was a weirdly familiar portal that he saw at the apartment complex just two days ago. “Fucking hell, it’s another one!”
This one was red instead of the green he saw in the city. Everyone looked at Mathew. “What do you mean, another one?” Henderson hissed at him. “Where did you see this before?”
Mathew explained what he saw and the undead minions he encountered with Leo. Leaving out one of them was his sister. “We didn’t go into the portal, but someone’s mother did. She never came out as far as we are aware.
Henderson started to walk up to it. “You all stay here. I’m going to check it out.”
They watched her slowly approach the glowing portal. Soon she was within a few meters of it and stared at it. She then motioned for everyone to come to her.
“Get about right where I am and look at it. A blue box should appear. Let me know what it says for you all.”
Mathew did as instructed and a blue box did indeed pop up.
Infernal Dungeon: [Beginner]
-Locked-
Time Till Open: 42 Days, 17 Hours, 22 Minutes
Brown whistled. “The Geek Squad is going to have a field day when we tell them about this.”
Henderson nodded. “Let’s go back right now. Something about the word ‘Infernal’ gives me bad vibes.” She pulled out a camera and started to take a few pictures.
Everyone quickly agreed and soon they were heading back to the Air Base. Henderson was talking into her radio to someone back on base. Already informing them of what she saw. Damien was with them as well, since they no longer needed him to scout ahead.
Only ten minutes passed before they all heard howling ahead of them.
“Uhh, someone please lie to me and say they didn’t hear howling.” Damien pleaded.
“I am lying, and saying I didn’t hear howling.” Steve-O said.
Henderson cursed. “Just keep moving, they shouldn’t bother us.”
“Shouldn’t?” Mathew questioned. “We better not get in a fight, you said we wouldn’t be in a fight!”
Captain Henderson glared at Mathew. “Not now. Just have your guns ready, and other weapons unclasped. Safety stays on till we see them, understood? If they attack, I’ll shoot at them to scare them off. If they choose to attack, aim for the center of mass, understand?”
Steve-O gulped, but nodded and did as everyone else was doing.
A few minutes later a pack of five wolves appeared in front of the small group. About half a football field away. One was clearly larger than the other two, almost unnaturally so.
Henderson walked forward and made a few yells. The wolves didn’t even flinch. She then racked her gun and shot over them. One of the wolves almost darted away, but the bigger one barked at it and then turned back to Henderson.
“This is not how normal wolves act.” Brown commented.
Mathew didn’t wait any longer, and aimed at the big one. “I have sights on the big one, just say the word Captain.”
She too adjusted her gun to aim properly. “Everyone ready to fire on my mark!”
Everyone pulled their guns to aim, Brown the only one with a handgun. “Ready?”
The sound of a gun fire and bullets hit the right ones body. Everyone looked back to see Steve-O wincing.
“Damn it Steve!” Henderson said but realized the wolves were now charging them. “Fucking light them up!”
All four of them fired into the wolves. It was only seconds before each wolf attacked a person, the largest going for Captain Henderson.
Mathew was lucky enough to dodge before the wolf impacted his body. He turned and emptied the entire magazine clip into the wolf. “Fuck you Balto!”
He looked away to exchange clips to help the others, when the wolf leapt at him and chomped down on his leg. “Fucker didn’t die!” Mathew shouted in surprise.
He started to kick the wolf while pulling out his handgun. He shot into its head point blank. All the while screaming in pain. Once that too was empty of bullets, he was in shock. The wolf only had a few spots on its face from where the bullets hit it, but was still continuing to eat his leg.
Mathew pulled out the combat knife he was given and started to stab the wolf. That caused it to let him go and get out of his reach. Mathew didn’t dare look down at his leg, afraid of how it looked. He swept the blade side to side. “Come and get me bitch.”
He had his eyes locked with the wolf, and pulled out his other knife. “I am going to turn you into a nice fur coat, then shit on it. Then burn it!”
It wasn’t his best idea of a taunt, but somehow that worked to get the wolf to move to him to continue to eat him.
When in reach, Mathew stabbed both knives at its head. Missing with one, but landing the other in it’s neck firmly. The wolf tried to scramble away from Mat, in doing so causing the knife to further cut it up. It only moved a few steps away before collapsing to the ground.
Mathew turned to the others and blanched. Steve-O’s face was being eaten by his wolf. Brown was holding his wolf back from eating his head by a few inches. Henderson seemed to be doing a decent job, holding her sword out and jumping to the side before slicing at the wolf.
He risked looking at his leg and saw it was a bloody mess. “Please don’t be broken.” Mathew pleaded as he attempted to stand up. He found it hurt like a bitch, but worked. Mathew started to hobble away from the group to save his own life when he heard Henderson shout at him.
“Mathew, if you run away from us, you better pray I die! Even if I do, I will HAUNT YOUR ASS!”
Mathew took a breath. He winced as he heard the yelp from Airman Brown as a wolf sliced him with it's sharp claws. "I better not regret this." Mathew thought to himself, as he turned around making the probable third worst mistake of his life.