Chapter 50: Kitty
Tuesday, April 4th, 2:11 PM
Natural Bridges State Beach
The traitors seemed like they’d had enough of Joe’s sniping, since those who weren’t already dead or stuck to spider silk glue traps retreated along the tunnel toward UCSC. Grinning, I closed the exit behind them.
Since the last of the enemies inside my passage were far enough from the entrance at UCSC, I sealed that off as well, causing panic to spread among them. Some produced knives and tried to pry the lights, but their knives were quickly dulled after doing very little damage and they gave up.
From behind cover atop the cliff across Moore Creek, Joe methodically sniped at every remaining enemy combatant while my spiders skittered around to kill those he couldn’t see.
Gunfire slew two Canopy Crawlers and five Dire Widows. Matt Dunn crushed another Canopy Crawler as it delivered a lethal dose of venom into his nose. Along with all my Devilflies, I’d lost quite a few minions, but in the end, we’d won the battle. All the traitors were slain or trapped below ground, with no Emmanuel to dig them out.
Not willing to allow them time to manifest powers they could use to escape, I opened vents near the bottom of that tunnel, too small for any human to fit through, then channeled part of the flood that was Moore Creek into the passage.
Icy waters from the melting snow surged in, and I drank the tide of mana from the deaths that followed and used that to fast-track my third floor’s completion—including a core room featuring a harrowing bridge across a deep chasm.
The last two hundred traitors near the top of the flooded passage died more slowly from hypothermia, and I didn’t want to waste the mana that was on offer. So, I peppered the largely barren landscape outside the walls I’d set up with trees, grasses, and shrubs from all the varieties brought in by my mice. There wasn’t nearly as much outside the walls as in, but at least the area had more greenery.
I absorbed the dead bodies, clothing, and weapons of all the traitors, along with the minor essences dropped by my minions.
After my remaining spiders had checked the fallen enemies with their incredible sense of touch to make sure they were all dead, they ran around to consume the glue traps they’d laid down.
Joe descended from his perch, and I returned the park’s landscape to how it was before the battle, except that I left the second natural bridge intact, since that was iconic and I’d been sad about it crumbling years before. It wasn’t created with the original stone, because that had largely eroded due to wave action. But it made me smile to see it again.
While searching the beach, Joe furrowed his brow, seeming disappointed after he hustled to where my Devilflies had died, so I dropped the essences at his feet.
“Ah, you had them,” Joe smirked and rolled his eyes.
[Yep. I’ve got all their weapons as well. Some are unfamiliar to me, so it’ll be up to you and Mike to sort all of that out. I’ll deposit those and the rest of the weapons I’ve gathered into one of the other warehouse rooms for you.]
I did so as I spoke. As they were all mundane items, there was no mana cost for transporting them. It felt like cheating, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“You sure as hell make logistics easy.” Joe smiled as he took off running along West Cliff Drive.
Shortly after he’d started moving, Joe said, “Firearms need to be in the hands of those who are trained and responsible. Will you lock that room up, Ciara? It’s effectively a small arsenal.”
[Done.] I installed a security door I’d salvaged from the Boardwalk ruins, then dumped all the keys from that location near Mike.
“What’s all this crap?” Mike scowled at the mess beside his workstation.
[Keys. You’ll need to find the right one to access the weapons I just stored from all those One World Order folks.]
“It never ends.” Mike hammered away at another spring-steel recurve bow.
As I commanded my spiders and falcons to return home, voices at the entrance to my second floor alerted me to a group that had ignored Mike’s warnings.
Six slender UCSC students—three men and three women, marched boldly into my Redwood Forest wielding two spears, two hardened redwood staves, and a pair of short swords.
[Mike, there are six students that decided to brave my second floor.]
“Ah, the genius crew. They claimed they’re going to finish the Dungeon and take its core, whatever that means.” Mike rolled his eyes.
I’d like to see them try. The Dungeon in me sneered at their arrogance.
[I don’t have time to babysit them. If they come up against some of my stronger minions, they’re likely to die. Peanut is the only intruder down there that my second-floor minions have orders not to attack.]
Mike waved a hand. “They’ve all been warned of the danger, so if any push too far and get killed, that’s on them. I don’t have time to babysit idiots, and Joe can’t heal stupid.”
[Agreed.]
I let them continue, since I had bigger fish to fry regarding the biome for my third floor and setting up housing for all the new arrivals from the ships, not to mention the hundreds of additional students flooding through the harbor gate.
Those six will either turn back before it’s too late, or end up as food.
My Dungeon instinct told me this was correct, and so I listened to it. Besides, their words annoyed me. If anyone got beyond the climbing wall and tried to approach my core, they’d fall prey to a host of lethal creatures converging to end their lives.
For all the new arrivals, I created twelve additional housing areas like the first two—enough for eight hundred more people. Each had minion access for every room, in case I identified any more traitors.
North of Schwan Lagoon, I added an outdoor grove of fruit trees like those in my orchard, but ten times as large.
It took three hours to complete all of that, and when I finished, I looked around to see how things were progressing.
Joe had healed all the survivors in dire straits on board the vessels, as each ship pulled in to dock at the wharf in succession. Afterward, he healed the sight of crew members who’d witnessed the bombs and lost their vision.
Hearing people refer to Joe as Jesus the Hulk was pretty amusing, especially since the title made him facepalm and correct them every time.
Except for one large fishing trawler and two container vessels that remained docked, the rest of the larger ships anchored offshore with a minimal crew to tend to them. They purportedly carried plenty of diesel fuel and food in their freezers, so they’d be fine for weeks.
I opened the harbor by deepening and widening the channel to the open ocean. I moved the breakwater and lighthouse away to allow fishing boats up to seventy meters long to pull in and dock near the Dungeon. Of course, I also fashioned hardened stone docks of an appropriate size and height for them, with cleats like those I found on the wharf.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The harbor bridge was a problem, since it wasn’t tall enough to allow the larger boats through, so I raised that by eight meters and shaped gradual ramps from either side, connecting them to the existing roads.
There were many gaping mouths and expletives carrying on the light breeze as new arrivals watched the bridge ascend. Thankfully, none were foolish enough to approach, so I wasn’t blocked from completing it.
Since the harbor was going to be in actual use, I added another wall heading north along Seventh Avenue beyond what had been my northern border, to 300 meters north of the harbor’s end.
The wall stretched northwest from there, enclosing the Arana Gulch Trail to Broadway Street, and then down Seabright Drive to Murray Street, west of the harbor bridge. Turning west again, I headed to the San Lorenzo River and created two more gates blocking Seabright Drive and the railroad trestle that crossed to where the Boardwalk once stood.
Michael assisted Rihelah with caring for the others who were sick but not in danger of death, and those had all recovered. I was shocked by how many had lost body hair because of radiation exposure, while those around Santa Cruz since after the bomb were quite healthy by comparison.
Rihelah took Michael aside and said, “I think the Professor’s the reason we all got away without radiation sickness. Remember those blue light pulses?”
Michael nodded, but I didn’t know what she was talking about regarding pulses of blue light.
Still, her idea sounded plausible.
There must be some reason for that, since the detrimental effects of radiation are known to science and I can scarcely believe people in this area weren’t exposed. Too bad I wasn’t a physicist, or I might know more.
With all that done, four hours had passed since I checked on the six who’d entered my second floor. They were still alive when I found them, but things weren’t looking good.
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“Stand still, Kelly. Don’t turn your back on it and whatever you do, don’t run,” Rodney cautioned as he stood behind her with his spear on the large, flat granite outcropping at the edge of a dense redwood grove.
At five feet even and less than a hundred pounds, Kelly was by far the smallest of their group, and she was who the mountain lion focused on.
Despite the spear in his hands and the desire to protect his girlfriend, Kelly, Paul couldn’t summon the courage to make his legs take a single step toward the big cat.
We should have listened.
Christina backed away slightly. Susanna moved with her, and the cat stepped closer. It growled at the other five, but the mountain lion went deathly silent every time its unblinking eyes landed on Kelly, who’d already wet herself as she pointed her short sword at the cat with both hands.
The reek of skunk spray still hung over their group from Susanna’s presence following the previous battle.
Paul managed a single step forward and the cat hissed at him, backing away.
I can do this.
He took another step, but the puma’s ears laid back and it stood its ground, glaring at Paul. He froze.
From somewhere toward the floor’s entrance, a girl’s voice rang out, “Peanut!”
The cat turned its attention away and its ears perked up.
At that moment, Rodney took a chance and hurled his spear past Kelly. The mountain lion turned back in time to see Rodney finishing his throw. The spear made a shallow wound below the cat’s neck, then clattered to the granite outcropping.
The cat screamed and rushed past Kelly to reach Rodney.
Rodney uttered a yell of terror as the mountain lion knocked him back, biting and scratching savagely as the others aside from Susanna and Paul shrank away from the horror of what was happening.
Paul edged close enough to stab the cat, but he was afraid of hitting his friend, so he rested the point against the cat’s chest and heaved forward, driving it in. He didn’t cause as much damage as he’d hoped before the cat backed away, then screamed at him and leaped over his spear.
Sharp, raking claws and crushing teeth assailed Paul as he wailed in agony and tried in vain to shield himself from the animal that tore at his face, arms, throat and chest. Then it locked onto Paul, biting down on his face and piercing his right eye as something struck hard against his abdomen. A warm, rubbery thing spilled against his arm.
The cat let go of Paul, screaming and dashing away after Garrett yelled and drove a spear fully into its side.
He looked down with his one eye that still worked and found intestines spilling from his torn, ruined abdomen. Paul felt cold.
Paul tried to speak, but his voice wouldn’t work. Kelly appeared over him, horror in her eyes as she covered her face with her hands and cried warm tears that rained onto Paul. He reached for her with his wounded right hand, but she recoiled, turning away from him.
No… come back. Kelly, I need you.
Paul strained toward her, but his strength failed. Everything got colder.
I don’t want to die.
“What are you all doing? Help them! Tear your clothing for bandages!”
A woman’s voice neared, and an angel appeared over Paul. The most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, with green in her eyes and hair that shone red in the waning false sunlight. She looked upset as she pushed his intestines back in and continued yelling at the others. She tore her white blouse to pieces and tied one strip around his neck.
So lovely.
She pressed a large piece of her shirt over the tear in Paul’s abdomen.
So, this is what it’s like to die. Paul felt a wave of calm.
“Do whatever it takes to keep them alive! Someone who can heal is on the way!” she yelled.
Paul shut his eyes but a hand slapped his face. “No! Keep your eyes on me! What’s his name?” the angel asked.
Garrett said, “Paul.”
“Paul, hey—keep your eyes on me! You’re not going to die!”
The angel was in tears.
She muttered, “Please hurry, Joe.”
The angel’s mouth tightened and she seemed to force a smile.
An enormous man appeared as Paul shut his eyes for the last time, and he felt a warmth in his body. The pain returned and he screamed.
My voice works, but everything hurts! Wait… the pain is easing. How?
Paul opened his eyes and beheld his body glowing with golden light. The wounds on his arms and abdomen closed before his eyes.
A deep voice spoke, “You damned fools. Mike warned you not to come down here. You’re not ready for this floor, and you’ve killed Peanut. He wasn’t fully tamed, and nobody was supposed to meet him.”
“That fucking cat tried to kill my boyfriend!” Kelly screamed.
“You’re idiots,” the angel’s voice said through a sob. She staggered toward the dead cat, but its body disappeared into the rock before she could reach it.
The angel fell to her knees and sobbed. She picked up the bloodied spear, her small hands snapped it in half, then she cast the pieces aside.
The huge man Paul saw before picked the angel up into a princess carry, then turned to them. “Get off your dumb asses and follow me if you want to live. This place isn’t safe.”
Terrified of being mauled again, Paul collected the broken halves of his spear, and the six of them hurried after the big man.
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Floors: 2
Minions: 240/240
Residents: 12/12
Denizens: 87991
Traps: 6/10