Richard, that's the name of the boy. Juliana, his mother said that it was his father that named him. More like cursed him by giving an old man name to a kid, then again every old man was once a kid.
Juliana, the one with the cancer that was not capable of moving was much better now though she still had periods of weakness. Apparently Endurance increased the body's defenses against illnesses, or rather defenses of living cells since ‘cancer’ is still considered part of the body and isn’t really an illness. It was interesting to know and well worth the odd twenty something small cores that I gave them. For sure scientists around the world were already testing it and coming to more conclusions than I could… Still, I felt good about helping someone in need.
We moved out soon enough, trucks and more, around fifty people all together. Nine people were part of the guild while the rest were just friends or family, most not prepared to face off the wilderness.
My role was to scout, as expected. No killing by myself, it would only slow me down and make it harder to keep the perimeter around the trucks under control. Alex and few others were designated to take care of the dangers while me and Jonah just ran around the convoy.
It was slow. Despite our best hopes the roads were in bad condition, what took years to build was easily ruined in a month or two. Explosions, fallen trees and other things left their mark on the asphalt making the trucks go at most forty kilometers per hour, very slow. Then came the fact that every few kilometers we had to stop and clear the trees…
[Advanced Running] is now level 26. You have gained 1 Path point. Passively Increases running speed by 52% and decreases stamina used while running by 20%.
A smile appeared on my face as notification appeared in the form of a blue rectangle once again. Step by step I was becoming faster, much harder to kill. It was hard to follow after all the calculations, but when running at twenty kilometers per hour I could do so without resting for however long I wanted then the faster I went the faster my Stamina dropped. When running between cities I would have few dogs follow me decreasing the stamina cost even further.
‘Taken care of.’ A message from Micah, one of those in charge of dealing with spotted dogs, wasn't sent to me but on the group chat. Once the guild was reorganized a new set of phones were given out while the rest was to be thrown away, even the one that was just to contact Alex.
Soon enough, after two days of travel though desolate roads, abandoned villages and smaller ghost towns we made it to Gavensburg, the city that I was in when the Apocalypse started and the one that I was running from and to as a runner all this time. Trucks weren’t much of help in the end, though we did transport quite a big treasury of cores with us as well.
“Yo.” I said as I got close to the gate guard. There were few soldiers at this one with more seen further into the camp, all armed with assault rifles, a staple really. It was the same camp that I was in during the first month in the Association, scouting and hunting dogs in the forest. It felt like years ago and yet it was two months ago at most. “Here are the papers, few trucks will come soon.” The man looked at the papers and nodded, he told something to the few people around him but nothing directed at me.
-
“William.” Alex came closer as I waited for people to unpack the trucks, the group was to wait for a couple of days before joining the military convoy to the capital. “Since we are to travel with the army you are not needed to scout, the local commander asked for your help instead.” My eyebrows rose. ‘Local commander’? My help specifically? Alex smiled and gave me a paper with an address on it and some sort of stamp.
Soon enough I was in front of the building, or rather a military camp in what used to be a park in the middle of the city, not far from my old apartment.
“ID.” A man at the gate stopped me, I showed him the paper that Alex gave me, the man nodded and let me in. Here I was, back in the Association-like work. Working for the Army but not in their structures directly. Sigh escaped my mouth.
After showing the paper a few more times and being directed here and there, get checked over for guns and so on… It took me a whole hour just to get to the commander, and the commander… “Jake.” The man in question smiled at me, the very same person that I used to go to the bar with, now a commander of the whole Gavensburg. That made me somewhat surprised.
“William.” Jake pointed at the chair in front of his desk. “While I would like to catch up with you, my job comes first.” He got up and started looking through the scrolls of some sort. Maps, I noticed a map like drawings inside them. “You remember the attack at the city two months ago? The one that gunship took care of?” He asked, not looking back as he continued searching the shelves.
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“Yeah.” It was the only time that I held an assault rifle, though didn’t even have to use it in the end.
“It increased in intensity, we get one once every week now though not many know it. We are dealing with it kilometers from the city to make sure not to scare the public.” He sighed, resting his arm and head on the shelf. “I’m not gonna lie to you.” He looked at me straight in the eyes after turning to me. “We are running out of ammunition, explosives, guns even…. Don’t get me started on food.” Jake sighed, grabbed a map and sat back down. “The higher ups were testing if the monster meat is safe to eat but… it just disappears, even inside the human body.” And if food runs out… “If attacks continue we won't be able to hold, a wave of a few thousand monster dogs and hundreds of monster bears each week is just too much."
Jake opened the map and pointed at a piece of it. "It's somewhere here, spot a monster that is controlling other monsters in the vicinity and we will blast it to pieces." The area marked was quite big, it would take days if not weeks to comb it through, if it doesn’t move at least.
"And the others? Surely you have scouts." Jake sighed and looked resigned.
He looked at the window, after following his gaze I noticed a group of people on the shooting range, all with bows. "Staple army conscript is to complete Path of Endurance, Path of Strength and focus entirely on Bow Mastery and all its associated Paths. They can pack a punch, but they are slow due to low dexterity and no leveled running skills." His gaze stayed on the group for a few seconds more. "There are some specialized unit's, but firepower is what we will lack the most. Skills or not, a person with an assault rifle is worth ten bowmen, but an assault rifle is worth nothing without bullets."
The pay would be in small cores, two hundred for each week. They have an abundance of it in Gavensburg with medium cores always in short supply.
-
I didn't march out immediately into the forests and plains, instead I walked around the city taking in the sight of what used to be my home city for a few years. It was overpacked, where used to be cars at parkings or streets was now a sea of tents in all colors and sizes. Shops were closed, or rather taken over by the army, becoming ration stations or just rooms with rows and rows of beds.
People looked miserable, unshaven, unwashed. Or perhaps it was just people outside, with those in better shape hiding in the apartments and fearful of increased crime rate. One eighth of the nation was in this city, allegedly one million people in a place that was built to house one third of that…
Electricity was mostly out and with it running water. The Army kept a few power generators running and one of the nuclear power plants operational and most importantly protected from monsters but those were used only for certain things and not operational at all times. Cell Phones still worked and there were some places where one could charge their electronic devices, mostly made by the people with few solar panels and few batteries.
Deep inside I knew it would not last, everything was finite now in a way, globalization of trade ended and nations were running on stockpiles, which would soon end as well. A leaf fell to the ground right in front of me, its color symbolizing the fall, and after that, winter. I walked for hours as the sun set, there was not one street free of tents, tents that won't help much when winter comes.
-
[Advanced Running] is now level 28. You have gained 1 Path point. Passively Increases running speed by 56% and decreases stamina used while running by 20%.
[Detect Presence] is now level 44. You have gained 1 Path point. Actively sends a pulse of mana to check the user’s surroundings for living beings. Range 132 meters. Uses 6 mana per minute.
It wasn’t a dog, more like a giant cat, standing atop one of the branches, looking straight at me. Whatever it was, it could climb or jump really far. The wind blew making leaves fall from the trees, yet the monster just kept staring.
I knew what it was, the very thing I was looking for, the thing that was controlling monsters in the area. Standing not even a hundred meters away from me. Yet we weren’t alone. Below us on the forest floor, below the trees where we were, hundreds or thousands of dog and bear-like monsters all looked up at me, all around me. Gods only know how many were further into the forests.
I stood there, waiting and watching. Afraid like never before. Death wasn’t a possibility, it was something certain.
They weren’t here before, the monster was alone when I met it. Yet fear dictated that I do nothing, just watch. Minutes passed as monsters started showing up, perhaps an hour later there was a sea of them beneath me. Yet they didn’t move, they were just standing there, watching.
The cat-like monster moved, slowly but surely it jumped from one branch to another and soon I could see into its eyes with it being only twenty meters away from me. It didn’t come closer.
All of sudden my head started hurting, very slightly though. Visions, images appeared inside my mind of a girl I think I have seen before. She had a younger brother, loving father and equally loving mother. The memories that assaulted my mind were happy, showing plays and school, the school ball itself and a dance.
Then System came, her parents died in a burglary leaving her alone to fend for her younger brother. She joined the Association since they took anyone, yet on the first outing…
Pain. Her clothes ripped and her body… She tried to struggle, the images showing a will to fight yet those two faces, full of malice and lust couldn’t be overcome. It felt wrong, as if it was me who was the victim.
The memories intensified and showed the last brutal scenes over and over and over and then…
I opened my eyes and was alone. The cat, the sea of monsters were all gone. Only me and the forest were left.