Chapter 3

Iskander watched as the gash in his leg visibly healed. It wasn’t as fast as he’d have liked, but it wasn’t slow. Opening his status sheet he saw his health poll ticking up slowly about 1 hp every minute. The wolf had dealt 25 damage total when the fight had ended, by the time they’d gotten Iskander back onto the porch and gotten the medical supplies from his backpack he’d been down to 40 hp. It seemed that while his body was certainly sturdy he wasn’t all that resistant to bleed damage, well that or that beast was particularly effective at dealing bleed damage.

“How's it looking?” asked Yuki from beside him.

“I’m healing pretty fast physically, but the status screen is saying that my rate of healing is at about 1 hp per minute. Thankfully the bleed damage stopped almost as soon as we put on the bandages though,” he said turning to her.

Yuki let out a sigh of relief. She took a few seconds to collect herself and practice her breathing technique. Once she had collected herself she became all business.

“You said we have to go find the other right? Are you sure that the others are coming? If there are really more wolves out there we have to be sure it’s worth the danger,” she said her tone chilling, the small ticks that she’d used as an influencer to appear cute disappearing.

“If there’s a chance they’re out there then we need to be sure that they’re not out there. We were… still are like family always have been. We got to at least try and make sure they’re safe,” Iskander said flexing his calf to see if the muscles were healed in the now healed limb.

Satisfied with the result Iskander tried to stand up. At first, his leg wobbled under his weight, however as he walked back and forth in front of the porch his leg started to strengthen and his gait returned to close to normal.

“You’re the only one who still thinks that,” said Yuki crossing her arms her tone colder than the snow all around.

“You were the glue holding us all together. When you left it all fell apart pretty quick. Some fucking family,” she said.

Iskander took off his jacket as she spoke and tossed it to her. The heavy hoody he wore underneath the jacket would be enough to keep him warm while they moved actively… while they fought. He needed to be realistic about this expect the worse and be thankful when it wasn’t. If he didn’t then he and Yuki would most likely end up dead and unable to help anyone.

“We were kids and all our parents decided to move. I’ll admit I’ve been shit at keeping in touch, but it happens. That doesn’t mean people don’t care about each other,” he said reaching for the Garand that he’d placed down on the porch. As he grabbed it Yuki put her hand on it holding it down.

“I’m serious. You’re injured, and they wouldn’t do the same. I say we hunker down and here and if they come they come. If they don’t, well… we didn’t waste the effort then,” she said.

Iskander smiled.

“I ever tell you that you were way more attractive when you were being cold and logical,” he said as he picked up the rifle.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I’m being serious,” she said as she put on his jacket.

His jacket made her look even smaller than her 5’4 frame. Glaring up at him as she stood up and picked up the M4 next to her.

“You know how to handle this?” he asked as he slung the Garand over his shoulder.

“I’m American,” she said as she inspected the gun.

“So either you know what you’re doing or want to pretend you know what you’re doing when it comes to guns,” stepping over to her he turned the gun over to the side to show her the selector.

“The safe is to the front with the top being the single-fire mode, and facing to the rear is the rear. Never use full auto, 5.56 might not have much kick, but the muzzle rise is real you won’t be accurate past the first 3 shots at any sort of range,” he said.

“Any sort of range?” she asked.

“Like not even if they’re right in front of me?”

“Single-shot just offers more control period. Full auto is definitely cooler, but just not practical for carbines or rifles,” he said.

“I suppose there are situations where there is an advantage. In the end, you got to trust your gut.”

“Is there a bullet in the camber?”

“You can check by pulling the charging handle back halfway, if you see a round in there then you have one in the chamber. If it jams you’ll want to do that again and get rid of anything blocking the barrel or any cartridge that failed to clear the gun. ”

As he spoke he pointed to the parts of the gun he was talking about to make sure she knew what he was saying.

“Make sure the gun never points at a person or thing you don’t want to destroy,” he said.

Gun safety was tragically ignored far too often in his opinion, if they had wanted fewer instances of poor use of guns then they should have made gun licenses require as much work as a driver's license.

“Got it,” she started to turn the gun toward Iskander then stopped when he glared at her.

“I was only going to point at that belly of yours. I want it gone,” she said smiling weakly.

He rolled his eyes not wanting to have this conversation again. Turning toward the forest he began to walk away.

“Let's go find them.”

Yuki groaned loudly and followed. Iskander couldn’t make out what she was saying, but he caught the occasion insult clearly directed at him. As he walked into the woods beyond the property words popped into the center of his vision.

NOW ENTERING USSB108 FOREST OF THE GENE WITCH

“Well this isn’t good,” he said.

“What why?

“Typically new zones are filled with monsters, since that wolf came into the other zone this one must be jam packed,” he said.

“What makes you say that?”

“Monsters in games and animals, in general, like to say in their own zones and territories. To be pushed out like that or roam so far typically the food in the area is scarce or they’ve been pushed out,” as he spoke he unslung the rifle from his shoulder and held it at low ready. Walking forward cautiously he made his way into the forest unsure of what he was getting into anymore.

Every tree in the forest towered over them. The beautiful lush nature of Vermont now clearly mutated. Tree branches that looked more like claws than branches past them by. Brushing them aside he made sure Yuki behind him would catch the branch as it snapped back into place. Looking around the once familiar environment he saw as everything visible changed. The snow which covered the forest floor like a blanket now was perforated with small green, purple, and even red plants grew up from under the snow. The plants seemed to not care about the weather or the snow. As he grabbed a branch he recoiled in pain and looked at his hand blood leaked from a small gash on his hand. Inspecting the branch he grabbed he watched as small thorn-like objects wiggled out from the branch. The strange thorn-like objects actively moved to suck down his blood.

“Careful this thing sucks blood,” he said as he moved the branch with his Garand and held it for Yuki.

“Seems that either the world or this area is undergoing some serious changes,” he said as they continued.

“Even the trees are turning into predators. We need to watch out for everything,” he said as they continued forward slowly.

“Oh great,” said Yuki sarcastically.