Kolya, a 15 year old boy who later became the strongest in the second trial. Of course, the second trial was almost 6 months later and he had changed drastically then, meaning they were practically different people. When I had seen him fight then, it was like watching a demon take form of a child. The image was very different than the one before me now.
He was shorter than me by a lot, a messy fringe covering his eyes. He had a dead look in his eyes, not tired, not energized. Just, not there. His voice was a lot more monotone than I thought as well. My paternal instinct nagged at me, brining back a memory and telling me to be gentle.
“We need a doctor.”
Kolya looked at me while repeating this. I realized I had zoned out too long, and was staring in a stupor. The woman pulled my attention, she seemed fine from afar but upon closer inspection she had a bite wound on her leg.
“Itll be hard to find any sort of medical assistance during a time like this.”
I walked over to the woman and looked closer at the bite wound, tinges of infection at the edge already threatening to make the situation worse. I could only curse the unnatural circumstances.
“We need to do something, she wont make it another day.”
Maya had torn a piece of her over jacket, lightly wrapping it around the wound so it wouldn’t bleed. We didn’t even have water to clean the cut out with.
‘Wait a minute.’
I slapped my forehead and sat up. Im so stupid for someone who’s been alive for two lives. We were in a god damned mini mall. If there weren’t resources in here then this would be a failure of a shopping district.
I got up and walked over to the map stand near the entrance, looking for any sort of pharmacy. Even if there wasn’t, there would be some sort of store with medical equipment either for sports or just over the counter. I felt someone walk beside me and point to a spot on the map, Kolya not even bothering to look at me.
“C 134.”
I followed his point and read the store name. An undisclosed medical store. It was on the other side of the mall though, and the woman was already getting a slight fever. Leaving her here would be a death sentence.
“Alright, before we make any move to do anything I think we should find a place to settle down first.”
I turned back to the group who were still catching their bearings.
“I saw a jewelry store a couple stores back.”
One of the men stepped forward and I nodded. A jewelry store had better security than most stores, with stronger locks and harder doors. They’d be able to use them as a shelter.
“Alright, then let’s get going.”
I walked over to the woman who still had the child; no more than 5 years of age, clinging to her in fright. The kid wasn’t crying, but they were frightened. I stooped down and began to pick up the woman. 10 strength did wonders and she felt as light as a cat. Maya picked up the child and stuck close to me, trying to keep the kid as calm as possible.
“I’m Markus by the way.”
The guy who gave me the pipe slowed his pace and matched me. He then pointed to Kolya and the other guy.
“That’s Anthony and Kolya. The woman your carrying is Amy and her kids name is Sam.” His introductions were short. “We don’t actually know each other; we were just in the same café when this happened.”
Markus gave a small laugh, his face in disbelief. I would be too if this were my first time. A situation like this is beyond the imagination, comprehending it would take a while.
“I’m Yusen, and this is my sister Maya. I’m glad we got to you guys in time.” I gave a light smile and nodded.
“Yeah, talk about it. We’re the ones who’re glad. I thought we were goners for sure.”
“Have you not used your attribute points?”
Markus looked at me questioningly before processing what id just said. His brows furrowed.
“Well we did, but I put most of mine into strength and then stamina. I thought it would do more than that, but turns out it wasn’t enough.”
I understood what he meant. The only reason I was able to beat them down so hard was because I had a cheat. People who had their normal 5 would have to rely mostly on their own wits and strengths. More than that, it would be harder when you had four other people who didn’t know what they were doing.
“It’s over here!”
We all quickly shushed Anthony who was waving us over, him cringing and covering his mouth. The jewelry store wasn’t the biggest, but it had a personnel only door which had a strong lock. It was unlocked, urgency to leave was evident and the inside was as small as an office. Another door led farther back but we didn’t waste any time fretting about trying to get in.
Maya spread out her torn over coat and I placed Amy down gently. The child went back to her side and this time I saw tears start to form. It’s been a while since interacting with a crying child and I wasn’t in the mindset to deal with it so I quickly ducked out of the room with an apologetic nod to Anthony who stood at the door way with a blank expression. Maya followed me along with Kolya.
“Alright, we’ll head over to the pharmacy and grab what we need. We should also grab food and water while we’re at it.”
Both Maya and Kolya nodded. I felt my stomach complain in hunger, my energy already being the lowest it could go. But I’ve felt hunger before. I’ve gone days without food and maybe even more, so I sucked it up and softly called over to Markus who was just now peaking out of the door way, sobs of a child being heard from inside.
“We’ll be back.”
I had been in their shoes once. Scared and confused. It was lucky that I was the one who got to them, the past me not getting nearly as much luck. I had gotten involved with the wrong group and suffered the entire time. I felt bitter spite fill my heart at the memories. The bastards face flashing at me in a mocking grin. I knew that this time around I would screw him over for sure.
“Yusen….”
I looked back over to Maya, who had a twisted expression while looking down. I understood, we hadn’t eaten in the last 18 hours. I would be fine seeing as a person can keep moving for days without eating. But Maya was different. She was tired.
“Alright… Kolya how about you?”
I looked at the kid walking next to Maya silently. Although he was younger he was the same height, maybe even a bit taller. He gave me an empty look and paused for a moment before nodding and looking over to a small kiosk coming up.
“We’ll need to eat while moving.” The products were a bit scattered, littering the ground.
“They have jerky.”
Maya stood behind the counter, kneeling down to whatever was behind. She placed a few packages of what looked like turkey jerky and a couple of bottled waters. Despite me acting all cool and confident, I took one of the bags and tore it open, scarfing down a couple sticks at once. Kolya simply took one and continued walking.
The walk was silent besides the sound of package crinkles and bottles opening. I kept my attention on every possible entrance and shadow. The last thing we needed was to get killed for enjoying a meal. The mall was almost completely empty of people, both dead and alive. There wasn’t even a drop of blood as a signal that there had been kills just not bodies. It made neck tingle. I remembered that there was a moment when the bodies would disappear. Organic material was now under the control of the Esther, meaning messes were cleaned and vegetation grew faster. I could already see cracks in the floor and in the corners, the wildlife threatening to take back its territory.
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“Why are you helping them.”
I was dragged out of my thoughts, Kolya finally breaking his silence. I couldn’t even hear his foot steps they were so light. He didn’t have an expression still, but I could tell there was a strain in his tone.
“Well why not.”
“You don’t know them.”
“Do I need to know someone to want to help?”
My reply seemed to confuse him, his eyebrows furrowing a bit. The past, or well future Kolya was a blood thirsty cold-hearted individual. He killed without hesitation and anyone who underestimated him as a kid found themselves either crippled or dead.
“But you don’t gain anything from them.”
All I really replied with was a sigh. At first I was angry at him, angry at who he was going to be. He killed countless of innocent people for little to no reason. But now that I looked at the kid, I felt a sense of guilt. It didn’t matter what the kid did or would do, because right now he was a 15-year-old teenager in the middle of an apocalypse.
“You know, I use to think the same thing.”
This time Maya looked over at me as well, keeping silent. Kolya’s expression went back to blank, but I could tell he was listening.
“I use to only help to get helped. I took and never gave. It was easier that way, to simply go through life by yourself. For yourself” My mind went back to Maya, dead in my arms and my death at the end of the corridor.
“But I learned that, living that way ended the same for everyone.” Looking over to Kolya I gave a smile.
“To just take without expecting to give is an imbalance and you’ll find yourself alone. I realized that being alone with nothing but my own survival in mind was scary.”
“I met people who used my ignorance in stride. I met people who I cared about, only to lose them from the lack of my own strength.”
I knew what I was saying was something I had no right to say, but the words spilled from my mouth easily and I found that speaking them made my chest feel lighter and lighter.
“I realized that other peoples actions define them, and my actions define my own. They don’t need to repay me because if they want to betray and stab me in the back that just says something about their character. What I do says something about mine.”
I saw Kolya’s mouth open a bit, closing with nothing to say. My hand went up to his head and ruffled his hair. I felt a fond smile form on my mouth. Hating this kid was childish of me.
“I’m helping them because, if I were in their shoes id want help as well. Wouldn’t I?”
I saw his eyes widen if only by a fraction, I had gotten through to him somehow. I didn’t for him to reply though. Forcing one out of him would be fruitless and we had to get to the pharmacy which was only a couple of stores down now, the lights in the sign having gone out a long time ago.
Something was wrong, I could tell. Out of the somewhat clean mall there were blood splatters next to the doorway. If it wasn’t gone it either meant two things. It was a fresh wound on someone, or it was a monster.
‘I don’t know which id prefer.’
I motioned Maya and Kolya and they seemed to have gotten the idea. We stuck to the wall and slowly crept to the entrance. Maya watched behind us while Kolya stood beside me. There were aisles of items and a single check out station.
‘I think id prefer and injured person.’
Even though injured people tend to lash out more, fighting a void noll pack or worse, inside a cramped store would be a death sentence. Aisles were packed small and getting surrounded was easy. I bit my lip and looked down the aisles that I could see.
There was a distinct lack of noise and movement, and I felt that we weren’t going to be lucky. I slowly stepped in, the doors having been broken off before our arrival. Glass was scattered on the floor and I was careful to not make my footsteps crunch.
I had recently added more points into dexterity and a couple into constitution, meaning my movements were a lot more graceful than before. I turned the corner to go deeper in and paused at each aisle. I had almost wished that there were some sort of monsters in here. The silence was eating at my nerves.
“Brother, look.”
Maya kept her voice down, poking at my arm and bringing my attention over to the far end. There was a pool of blood by the last aisle, a lot more than outside and was continuing to grow. I looked over to Maya and then to Kolya, who was calmly looking at the same scene.
I crept back to the other side, carefully checking each aisle. Waving the kids back I leaned over the pool of blood and peered down. It was painted red, from the floor to the wall and dragging back to the far end of the store. There were chucks of who know what mingling in the red and drag marks leading into foot prints going behind the aisle. They were not human foot prints.
They weren’t Noll foot prints either and a chill went down my spine. There shouldn’t be any evolved yet, at least not over here. And I doubt that any of my actions so far would create one.
‘We need to get out of here.’
But we also needed medicine. There weren’t any noises besides our breathing which concerned me. Either the thing in here was a silent walker, or it had already sensed us.
I turned back to the kids and shook my head, it would be safer to just leave. We could get other medicines from other places, even if it was a bit harder to find. We’d be useless dead.
‘Move!’
My body moved on its own and I shoved the kids back, falling forward with a harsh thud. I heard Maya and Kolya gasp before a large splat! Clank! followed behind me. I didn’t bother to look and instead got up, pulling Maya up with me. Kolya rolled back onto his feet and all three of us took a couple of huge steps back, turning to face our assaulter.
“Clraaasscck!”
It could almost pass for a Noll, but the added limbs and fur made it much worse. It wasn’t an evolved yet, but it was getting there. The creature made disgusting sounds like rocks on bones, liquid tar dripping form its eyes and nose.
“Spread out!”
I felt my voice boom out. This was the worst situation. We needed room to fight but with three people and aisles cluttering the space, it would make it difficult to dodge.
At the sound of my voice the creature prepped for attacks, its head twisting to the side while it extra limbs tensed. It skittered on the floor like a spider, going for the main source of the noise, me. I saw out of the corner of my eye Maya and Kolya jump in different directions, giving me enough space to duck back and dodge a claw filled leg.
It landed unevenly, not use to its new appendages yet. It landed next to Kolya and I saw him lash out with something, one of its legs being broken in half with a crack. The creature screeched in pain and turned its attention.
‘Like hell you will!’
I pushed forward and swung with the pipe, metal hitting ribbed stomach. I clenched my teeth in frustration, it didn’t kill it like it would with regular Nolls. The monster staggard, looking back at me with void filled eyes and I knew I had my work cut out for me.
“Screeeeaaa!”
Its scream echoed out, charging at me with jittery movement but frightening speed. I felt its fangs hit the metal as I blocked, its jaw clamping down hard.
‘Is now the time?’
I still had around 85 points and I could handle as much of an increase in strength as 10. It would bring me 20 which would be enough to life a motorbike.
‘It would break my body….’
My teeth ground together and I frowned. As they say, too much of anything is bad. If I were to put say, 25 points into strength right at this moment, one punch would shatter my arm. I could even it out with 30 in constitution but having that much all at once would change the balance in my body, making me sick. Its true that I could win easily with a cheat like that, but the cost right now would be too great.
“Maya!”
She understood and grabbed something from the counter. It hit the freak of a creature, sending it off my pipe. It seemed to have been some sort of cup, because the ceramic broke on hit, leaving dust on the ground.
I watched as it staggered and I lifted my pipe again, only to get shocked from the sight before me. The tar on its back slowly crystalize, turning into a matte black shell of some sort. This fucker was evolving in the middle of a fight!
“Craaash!”
Kolya came in holding one of the metal shelves. It smashed down on the beast, spreading its legs out and breaking its balance. The triumph didn’t last long, the spider throwing it off easily and skittering backwards with its 5 good legs.
It seemed to get smarter, turning to Maya who it saw as the weakest link and bolted at her. She froze in place, eyes widening in fright. Kolya who was a few steps away jumped in front of her and braced for impact. Fury burned in me and I felt it boil over.
I was behind the spider at this angle, launching forward and looping my arm around in front of it. I felt fangs sink into my skin and possibly bone. I winced at the pain that shocked through my body. Blood splattered everywhere but I wasn’t done. My free hand grabbing its upper jaw and yanking upwards with all my strength. The sound of a crab shell snapping was heard and it struggled for a moment before falling limp.
“Yusen!”
“Brother!”
Both Kolya and Maya grabbed onto me as I staggard a bit. The lower jaw was still firmly stuck in my flesh and I yanked it out with a grunt. Not the most ideal way to kill it but with this, the other two were fine.
“I’ll go get bandages!”
Franticly Maya shot up and went down one of the aisles. I wanted to yell at her for being reckless but Koyla firmly grasped my arm with an incredibly concerned look on his face. He peeled back my sleeve that was sticking to the wound and grimaced. It was a good thing that we fought it when it wasn’t venomous.
“I could’ve blocked it.” Koyla’s face grew dark as he looked at the fang puncture holes in my arm.
“Yeah, but then you would’ve gotten hurt. It’s the adult’s job to make sure kids like you stay out of trouble.”
I laughed in an attempt to lighten his mood but it seemed to just make it worse, my laugh trailing off awkwardly. Maya came running over, various ointments and bandages in her arms. She had tears running down her face and was desperately trying to keep it together.
“H-here let me *hic*”
She touched my arm with feather light touches, bringing a moist piece of cloth to the wound with shaky hands. I almost wanted to tell her that it was fine and just a flesh wound, but the atmosphere warned me to keep my mouth shut.
I sat there in silence, listening to the quiet sobs from my sister. She was carefully cleaning and wrapping my arm, and if it stung then I was already use to it. Kolya stood up from where he knelt and went down one of the aisles. I really need to teach them to be more careful.
“Im sorry….”
Her voice was soft and sad, I didn’t know what to say.
“Im weak, and I froze. If I hadn’t froze you….”
I scratched my ear with my free hand, feeling a bit of frustration. Its not as if she could somehow know how to fight against things like these. If she did then id be more concerned about what she was doing in her free time. But being weak at the beginning was normal, and that’s just what she was a mere 19 hours ago.
“Then, let’s get stronger?”
She looked up to me with teary eyes and then back at my arm, nodding her head. Kolya came back with some more supplies along with a sling.
“Oh uh I don’t think-“
“Use it.”
His face was still gloomy and I found myself taking the sling anyways. I would be fine without it but I already had one crying child. The rest of the items Kolya packed away, and I remembered why we were here in the first place.
“Wait a moment.”
I stopped Maya and Kolya from walking away and went over to the carcass of the dead spider creature. It wasn’t fully evolved but it had started, meaning…..
“Brother, let me do it.”
I had knelt down next to the corpse with my good hand reaching towards the goop pile. Maya stopped me and gave me a look of concern and determination. I considered declining her but instead sat back on my heels and started instructing her on what to do.
Lowest level monsters had cores like any other monster, but most of the time they had barely any Esther to really be of any use. Evolved ones were still pretty useless, but still had benefits that would assist low levels like Kolya and Maya.
A small tangerine sized orb sat in Maya’s hand, black residue lingering on her skin. It was gross but she kept her expression solid and offered the core to me. Id need to take some precautions before doing anything with it yet, but the fact we got one at level 5 was impressive.
“Alright. Let’s get back. I don’t want to leave Amy in any discomfort.”
I helped Maya wipe off her hands quickly and peeked back into the mall complex. Our fight hadn’t invited any unwanted foes it would seem, letting me breath a sigh of relief. Our luck so far hadn’t been the best, from one fight to the next without rest.
All three of us seemed to have lost the tension, letting go of the sharp focus that we had when we first made our way over here. The shops were empty, and I was sure that we could handle any Nolls at this point.
“Should we grab more resources?”
Maya looked at the empty shops that sat in disarray around us. We were in a resource haven currently, which in theory was the best place to be. But I knew that things would change very quickly, leaving me to shake my head in regret.
“We can worry about that later.”
The jewelry shop that we had chosen as our safe zone came into view and I felt myself get all the more exhausted. I hadn’t realized how tired I really was until just then, my joints aching and complaining about my reckless choices. I had gotten so use to being able to walk miles without rest before, but my body wasn’t use to it yet and was hitting me hard.
“You’re back!”
Anthony was standing by the backdoor, rolling something on the ground with his foot in nerves until he saw us. It seems they thought we had run into trouble, which we had, and were frantic. Maya took the medical equipment and quickly went inside, glancing at me once more. I couldn’t hear the kid crying anymore and judging by Anthony’s face no one had died.
“We were just starting to get worried about you. Me and Markus were debating on if we should go get you but then we thought that we’d just be in the way and-“
I put my hand in front of him and sighed. I was too tired to think about things and I gave him a grateful smile.
“I really need to rest.”
I didn’t want to be rude, and judging by his understanding smile he didn’t take offense. The inside was the same, Amy asleep at the far wall while Maya was busy tending to the wound on her leg as carefully as possible. The kid was asleep too, resting his little head on her shoulder with puffy eyes. Markus gave a nod and went back to helping with whatever he could and I plopped down against the wall on the other side, looking at the group before me.
‘Too many things to do.’
I felt Kolya sit next to me and relax as well. I should really be preparing for our next step, but I felt myself adjust more comfortably naturally and my eyes close. If I had any more complaints, they could wait until I woke up.