The courtyard, in the middle of which a shop stood, looked like an arena for a boss fight. On the one hand, completely covering the entire view of the roadway, there were two wide multi-storey buildings, connected by an arch, which made them even longer. The other part of the yard was fenced off by a high and steep earthen embankment overgrown with grass. From this, the yard looked gorge-like, fenced off from the bustling noisy city.
We walked down the stairs slowly, so as not to attract attention. Pakhom was right indeed - it would have been better to make a detour. But by this logic I had to ignore Katya first, and then send him to hell. Being a loner - most likely I would be level 4 or 5 by now. And even though the benefits were obvious, something inside did not allow me to do otherwise.
A group of survivors noticed us almost immediately. We sneaked, so that the monsters would not notice us ahead of time, and came closer. Pakhom silently raised his hands up and waved to the besieged people, showing them a grenade throw. I hope they can take cover at the right time.
«How wet my palms are... I hope this shit doesn't explode in my hands. »
“Ready?” Pakhom asked, unbending the antennae.
I nodded and almost synchronously repeated his actions: pulling out the pin I thrown the grenade with all my strength.
«Mum...»
My grenade flew a little farther than it should have, but it still caught a few of them. Pakhom did much better: he tossed it right into the center of the gang. With a difference of half a second, both explosions boomed. It seemed no louder than firecrackers on a New Year. Or maybe films exaggerate too much?
The creatures were scattered, and several notifications popped up.
You eliminated level 2 Altered using an off-system technological weapon, received 6 penalty experience.
You eliminated level 1 Altered using an off-system technological weapon, received 3 penalty experience.
You eliminated level 0 Altered using an off-system technological weapon, received 3 penalty experience.
…
What's that penalty exp I'll figure out later. The monsters that weren't killed by the shrapnel were clearly disoriented and stunned. They got up from the pavement, staggered, many bled. Raising my spear, I immediately rushed into battle. We had to finish them off before they recover. Pakhom, swearing and cursing everything in the world, followed me.
The first thing I did was piercing the heads of the sprawled creatures on the pavement. If we ever give these monsters a chance, they will bite our legs. As soon as I managed to finish off a couple, our fellows from the same faction, hurried to help. These creatures, dazed, after the explosions, looked more like punching bags. The system after almost every slash and thrust notified me about the newly-acquired exp. Yari seemed to be designed to pierce unprotected flesh.
There were more and more dead altered around me. I don’t know exactly how many I finished off, but my hands stiffened, and breath came out wheezing.
Only during this fight did I realize that these creatures are really not so dangerous - yes, they are fast, feel no pain and know no fear, but for the most part they are not much different from humans. A slash on the femoral or cervical artery, and half a minute later of their activities they lifelessly drop to the floor. There is something wrong with their organs though... As soon as I have some free time, I need to dissect a couple, or better, a dozen, from each faction.
“Argh,” blurted out Pakhom from somewhere behind, whom I completely forgot about. I immediately turned around and saw that the old man was crawling on the ground, and level 0 creature was dragging behind him.
I exhaled loudly, lunging and thrusting towards the monster, piercing its head. «Slicing still living tissue is an unforgettable experience - I'm afraid I will soon become addicted to it. »
People screamed from the rooftops.
«They haven't come down to help us yet? »
“Behind! turn around!”
I reacted late, and a specimen that crawled out from behind a pile of dead monsters bitten my right shoulder. I hardly felt any pain, but the spear still fell out of my weakened hand.
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“Bitch,” with both hands I grabbed the creature by the rags he was wearing and threw it over me onto the asphalt. Anger, that I got harmed anyway despite my prudence, flooded my consciousness. Again and again, I started kicking the bastard in the head. I stopped only when the toothy skull turned into almost homogeneous porridge.
“Huh,” I took a couple of steps back; my lungs burned like blazing coals had been stuffed into them.
Pakhom was lying on the pavement all this time, afraid to get up. He didn't take his eyes off me, as if he expected me to pounce on him right now. I sat down on the curb nearby, the old man even slightly pulling away.
“Katya, come here!” I shouted as hard as I could, calling the girl who was watching us from afar. “Pakhom, are you okay?”
He grunted and grimaced slightly moving his leg.
“Yes, this abomination jumped out, I stumbled over some remains and sprained my leg. Thank you for saving the old man! How are you yourself?”
I waved it off and shook my head.
“Everything is fine, I'll take a breather for a couple of minutes, and then we need to get out of here. Soon, those wretched things from other factions should gather for a buffet.”
“Well, you, of course, are a liar, Sasha! The old man laughed lightly. “Well, I really believed you that you can become the same just from a bite.”
“Actually, about this...”
“Kill him quickly before he turns!” A nasty voice was heard nearby.
The four had already jumped off the roof of a shop. The same girl who recently asked for help was screaming.
Human
Level 0
Survivors faction
She was pretty-looking, of medium height, although not my type. Her physique looked ill-thin. In her hands she clutched a wide kitchen knife. There wasn't a single speck on the girl’s clothes and her weapon was also clean.
A little ahead of her stood a man in tracksuit with a club in his hands, he looked to be about forty years old - bulky, shaven-headed, his nose had clearly been broken a couple of times, dark eyes, tattoos were on his arms and around his neck. These people could often be seen in our area in the evenings. According to the meager data of the system, he had level 1.
Two other, unremarkable guys, 16 or 20 years old, I can’t say for sure, looked at me timidly and didn't raise their weapons. And just like that girl they both had level zero.
I shifted my gaze from the group of survivors to a spear I dropped nearby. Our eyes met with the skinhead and he grinned slightly.
“Vitya,” the girl gently put her hand on the man's shoulder and whispered something in his ear.
Pakhom, having immediately assessed the situation, decided to speak out:
“What are you doing, you fool? Is that how you thank people for saving you?!”
“Uncle, you should just lie there, don't you blather!” The man's voice was calm and unhurried. “Now he is a human, but a couple of minutes later he will transform!”
“Listen,” I raised my hands conciliatorily, not daring to get up from the ground, and grimaced slightly from the pain that assaulted my shoulder.
“Their bite doesn’t work on me. So, you don't have to worry it.”
“Brother! You shouldn’t lie to me so blatantly, now you would have to narrate your tales in the afterworld.”
“Vitya, what are you doing over there! You're a man! Why didn’t you deal with them already? We need to get out of here before more of these zombies come running!”
“Olya, shut your mush already.” The man squinted at her in displeasure and turned back to us. “Let’s do this: throw all your belongings here and, so be it, you can stay here as long as you want.”
Pakhom could only laugh in this situation:
“Yes, Sasha! I told you, let's go around! No, no, we need to save these people! Urgh,” the old man spat blood on the ground. “And I'm not even talking about how you threw a fucking grenade!”
The four stared at the crazy old man in confusion, and I looked away in embarrassment. Meanwhile, Pakhom continued to get angrier:
“I kept them for so many years! I guarded and cleaned them! I was able to steal only three of them! And here, by the way,” the old man carefully took his hand out of his pocket, “is the third one.”
Victor and Olga turned slightly pale, but the boys behind jumped back with lightning speed and hid behind a bunch of dead monsters.
“Get the hell out of here!” the old man gritted, making a crazed face.
The man quickly came to his senses:
“You're bluffing.”
“Well, you can check it yourself! Or you can stand here and stare at me until their friends come to these stinking corpses.” The old man really enjoyed the talks. “We have nothing to lose, you know! I broke my leg, Sasha was bitten.”
At that moment, quite inopportunely, Katya approached us, in her hands I noticed a gleaming small knife. The man immediately found something to say:
“What about the girl? Give us everything you have and we'll take care of her!”
Pakhom looked at me questioningly, and I shook my head.
“That's our answer. Now, go to hell!” He added a couple more unpleasant curses addressed at the sweet couple, something about their mothers and copulation with wild animals. Olya had to forcefully pull Vitya away; leaving, he burned through the old man with his eyes.
As soon as I thought that my acquaintance with another group of survivors was finally over, a kid with glasses screamed and pulled out a book surrounded by purple light from a pile of corpses. Immediately getting whacked on his head, and the book passed into the hands of the skinhead. I didn’t even have time to say anything as she disappeared into thin air.
«Bitch! This was my first loot today. »
Victor waved with his hand, now grinning from ear to ear:
“Thanks for the gift!”