[Player Log Start!]
[Log Holder: Jared Caliber]
[Level: 1 – Boss Stage]
Asadullah and Ben had already gone to enlist into the parties. Terry had to deal with his fancy doctor job. Michael was being given border control, the second-easiest duty to get assigned to, so that he could get chummier with the people here and understand what was going on. Tench needed to go work in the triage center for a while, so that the doctors there could get a sense of what he was capable of. Curiously, Terry wasn’t being made to go through similar testing.
That left Jared to be the one to hunt Verity down. Couldn’t be that hard, he’d done it before, hadn’t he?
“Keep this safe.” Michael instructed, handing him the laptop, which he instinctively clutched to his chest.
“If she’s as mad as she was before, it’s not walking away intact.” He warned.
“Well, it wasn’t walking before, so it’ll be fine. And we can’t exactly leave it behind, not after the last time.”
“That’s… really not how it works.” Jared told him, but grudgingly had to agree. They’d gotten lucky with Terry and it had turned out alright, but it was unlike to happen again. He put it in his backpack, stuffed with fluff and blankets to cushion any damage.
Michael looked at him, eyes wide and helpless, “Is she going to be okay?” He asked, helpless, “I’ve never seen her like this before. Does she… is this normal of her? Staying strong until she breaks?”
“What do mean, this happens-?” Jared stopped himself from revealing something that Verity wouldn’t want to know, “Yeah, this is… unnatural. Might be having trouble adjusting to the whole ‘Abilities’ thing.”
That was a blatant lie, but if Michael didn’t know about her flashes, then he shouldn’t do it for her. Sometimes, Jared forgot that Michael hadn’t been with them from even before the apocalypse. He didn’t know the history between them. The little details that came together to tell you more about a person than could be portrayed through words.
“But no need to worry.” Jared smiled at him, “She’s got a steady head on her shoulders, you know?” Michael didn’t look too sure, though, so he reached into his pocket, just to give him a little nudge towards calm waters.
[Activating Card of Compulsion!]
Just like that, all the thick worry clouding over his eyes vanished. Replaced maybe by the uncanny tinge of Compulsion, but it was better than grief. They would agree if they had been told. Not that he could tell them, otherwise it would make the whole thing null.
“Alright.” Michael agreed, “I trust you.”
“Me, too.” Jared added, “You know that, right?”
Michael laughed, “Of course, man. We’re a team. All of us.”
Jared bid him goodbye, fastening the straps of his bag onto his shoulders. Next, he turned around and headed into the more crowded parts of Hygeia.
For the fancy name, the Safe City was a very barebones. There were a lot of people here, way more than he had ever pass through Epicenter ever. But it was still fewer than the city he remembered visiting as a child. There could have been tens of thousands of people in that place. Compared to that, Hygeia’s sparse five hundred was barely a drop in the bucket.
It was cramped, though. Made it hard to breathe. Even he, who had spent his life dreaming of a society like this, was intimidated by all the people around him. Too much, too close, too overblown. He simply had to breathe through it and put on a brave face. They all had to put on faces around here.
He wanted to explore it, see what kind of civilization had been built into Hygeia. It was exciting to see the exact type of development he had dreamed of. But he didn’t have time to revel in it.
If it was bad enough to disturb him, he couldn’t imagine what Verity was going through. As much as she was committed to the mission he had set up, he could read between the lines. She didn’t really like people. Settlements and strongholds disturbed her. He didn’t know why, but it had been an itch that had followed her from childhood.
He hoped that wherever she was, Verity was safe and unharmed.
But he understood her reflexes to escape, whenever in a crowded area. Even with the walls keeping them inside, she would be seeking out the most isolated area. Preferably where she could work out some excess energy.
“Uhm, excuse me?” He muttered, turning to look at a bystander who was walking nearby, “Could you point out all the weapon ranges?”
The person blinked, looking around, “…Sure?” She replied, “Not really a shooter, but I think I can point it out. You got a map?”
Jared patted his pockets down, severely tempted to curse up a storm, but he didn’t want to offend this person who had agreed to help him.
He lost ten minutes trying to find a map from someone willing to give it. From there, the helpful woman he had gotten to agree to circled out some of the buildings that were set a bit aside from all the domestic areas, so that the sound of gunshots wouldn’t bother anyone. His eyes roved over each one, calculating the different factors that would draw Verity to it.
Given her distraught frenzy, she wouldn’t have waited long enough to make the overwhelming journey to the other side of Hygeia to get into the gun range that got the least use and was next to the river rapids to drown out any noise of civilization, and theoretically fit every criterion she would prefer. Instead, she would go for the second closest, which would be more bearable than the actual closest, which had been noted by the helpful woman as the most popular one.
He skidded into that gun range; breath fuzzy as he tried to stand straight. He was short a meal or two, he was only just now realizing.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Verity was more important than any meal. Also, he should get her to eat after this. Food made people happy.
Exactly as he had calculated, Vera was inside, working out her frustrations on a giant wooden target with an axe. Okay, he hadn’t expected that particular choice in weaponry. She preferred cleaner forms of attack, even if she wasn’t above getting elbows deep into guts.
“Hey.” He waved, though she couldn’t see the motion. The target was hit by the thick, sharp blade so hard that it rocked back and forth.
“Here to gloat?” She grunted, twisting her wrists.
“No! Why would you think that?”
Verity sighed, turning around to face him properly, “You’re right.” She apologized, “That isn’t fair on you. You’ve always been on my side.”
“Because that is what we do.” Jared reminded her, “Us against the world. There’s more of ‘us’ now, and more worlds, but the idea is pretty much the same.”
“Not really what I was upset about.” Verity muttered, “It’s just this… whole situation. My head is just killing me. And everything just feels so wrong.”
“Try to explain it.” He coaxed. Verity walked over to the target, snatching up the axe again, and tossing it to another target ten feet away.
“You think if I had the words, this would be happening?” She asked.
“Well, it hasn’t been worse than your fits back in Wayside.” Jared suggested, “You’re getting better. Just try to talk it over with us. Tell us what you need before it gets bad enough for something like this to happen. We’re going to help you.”
Verity looked at him, confusion and shock that made it clear she was not listening anymore. Jared wondered for a moment if he had misstepped somewhere in that speech.
“How did you know about my fits?” She asked, “I’ve- I’ve been working through them. On my own. Like I do with all the hard things. What? Why’re you looking at me like that?”
She… didn’t remember. How couldn’t she remember? Oh, why was he surprised she didn’t remember, that was a nightmare and a half. Sometimes he thought that he had dreamed it up, and he wasn’t the one who had alligator clips onto their head.
That was a story… from nearly six years ago. How the time had passed.
[Log Paused]
[Replaying Archived Log: 103-230309-NPC]
Jared was ten years old, and new to the countryside.
His Papa had gotten into some trouble with the funny people in blue uniforms who had come to talk with him just a few weeks before they moved. Mama had been ever so upset at him for that, but he couldn’t understand why.
He had three siblings. All older than him because he was the baby and they never let him forget. But Micah and Bradley had begun hanging out with Papa’s old friends and stinking of sharp green smoke that Jared hated, so he didn’t hang out with them anymore.
All that was left was Sammy, but they were working on their painting masterpiece and hated making conversation with anyone, let alone the little kid brother. Not even Mama had time to talk anymore, worrying about little pieces of yellowed paper.
But that was alright, because even in the boring countryside, he’d found a friend!
Her name was Vera because he couldn’t pronounce the full version with his embarrassing lisp. And she lived with Eleanor Monroe, who was a very smart teacher his mother had told him, and she had whispered conspiratorially to Jared that even though she called her ‘mom’, Ms. Eleanor wasn’t really her mother.
They had a farmhouse, and fields that they let out to whoever was willing to work, and it was the most charming thing he’d ever seen after the loud, smelly city. Why didn’t everyone live in a farmhouse?
One day, she came over to visit him at school. Or, he assumed that that was why she was in the schoolyard. Why she was clawing sharp lines down the face of a thirteen-year-old was… undecided. There were people screaming. Kids crying. Her eyes were wild and hazy. Filled with blood.
Until someone managed to drag her off, and lucidity carefully dripped back into her face. Then she turned around and ran. Jared didn’t get to say anything to her.
“I’m calling an ambulance.” Someone whispered, blood dripping from their ruined right eye and onto the phone they had held to their ear, “And the police.”
“Did anyone know her?” A startled parent asked, “We need to find her.”
No one else seemed to recognize her, so Jared remained silent.
He’d given her some space after that, but he couldn’t just leave it be. He needed answers for whatever that was.
No police came by, no investigations started. Not even a report on the newspapers. It was like it never happened. So, he didn’t tell anyone, afraid that he had dreamt the whole thing up.
She’d invited him to come over whenever. Especially after what just happened. So, one day after he was done with school – Vera didn’t ever go, so no one noticed her absence – and all his siblings had retired to their various pursuits, he put on his people-visiting clothes and made the hour-long walk to her house.
“Hello, Vera!” He announced, shoving open the cute door that led into the farmhouse’s kitchen through the backyard, “Are you doing better now-?” The box containing the drone slipped through slackened fingers, landing onto the ground with a crunch.
Vera Monroe sat on the kitchen table, stock still in a way that she never was. Giant alligator clips were sticking out of her head, with wires leading away to plug into a laptop. Eleanor Monroe was standing over her, typing away on the laptop. She looked up when the box crunched on the floor, though his friend didn’t even react.
“You’re… the boy she’s befriended, hasn’t she?” Eleanor asked, not the least bit sorry, “Must be quite a shock for you to be seeing this.”
He took a step back from where he’d come, but she noticed, “Sit down, shut up, and if you attempt to tell anyone, I will make sure you get sent to a world much worse than this.”
A lump was in his throat. He edged past his stony friend and sat down, shakily looking at the laptop over his shoulder. Green text was scrolling past it. He couldn’t read the whole thing, but he did manage to catch some key details.
[Manual Reprogramming]
[Start New Save File?]
[Class Reassignment Failed]
[Trackers Disabled]
[Memory Wipe]
Just words upon words stacked upon each other that he couldn’t make sense of.
“Verity has… fits.” Eleanor explained, “This should help her a little bit, I think.”
“Is she going to be okay?” He asked.
“After this, maybe.” Eleanor agreed, “But you need to keep an eye on her when I’m not there. Just in case this happens again. Which it shouldn’t.”
“Uh… okay?” He wasn’t entirely sure what she was talking about, but he agreed anyway, because he was ten, and alone in the world.
“Good lad.”
At some point, his child brain had just accepted that his friend was an android. Until he found out they were all made of the same code.
He didn’t know what was happening. He wouldn’t until a year later, as blood stained across the sky.
[Archived Log Stop]
[Log Resuming…]
Verity was still looking at him. Still not understanding. Not remembering.
“I was there when you had one of them pre-pocalypse.” He reminded her, skipping over the exact details, “Maybe you didn’t see me.”
“…I don’t remember any of them from before that.” Verity considered with a frown, “The trouble only started after.”
“Hey.” He rested his hand on her arm, “We’ll figure it out, okay? Just, take deep breaths, and we can work it out later. Once the zombie crisis is over.”
[Activating Card of Compulsion]
She smiled at him, all worries and anxieties and bone deep anger washed away in favor of that thin film of calm, vacant blue.
That was okay. Better than the alternative.
He was sure she wouldn’t mind. If she knew.
Because how did you stop keeping a secret, that you had been unintentionally keeping for more than half a decade?
[Player Log End!]