There was something strange in the center of the lobby. Jake wasn’t even sure what he was seeing. There seemed to be some sort of distortion hovering in the air a few feet above the floor. The effect bore a resemblance to heat waves rising off the pavement of a sunbaked road. Those waves—or whatever the heck it was—materialized a few feet above the floor, rising a few more feet higher before dissipating. This whole phenomenon spanned a few meters across.
Jake just stared at it for a few seconds. This strange thing remained suspended in the air. It didn’t go away, didn’t increase or decrease in size. It didn’t seem to affect its surroundings in any way either. Whatever it was, at first glance, it seemed harmless. Sure enough, Jake wasn’t deceived by its seemingly innocent appearance. This strange thing wasn’t normal. He had never seen anything like that before, not in his former life or in this unfamiliar world he now found himself in. Taking care not to step too close to the phenomenon, he slowly walked around it, studying it from every angle until he made a full circle and returned to his initial position. The thing seemed to be voluminous and looked the same from every direction.
Jake took out his PDA and pointed the camera at the phenomenon. When the lens focused on it, he pressed the SCAN button. A piece of text immediately appeared on the screen. MAGICAL ANOMALY. NAME: UNKNOWN. DESCRIPTION: UNKNOWN. DANGER LEVEL: UNKNOWN. TIP: UPGRADE YOUR PDA TO LEVEL 2 TO BE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY SCAN LEVEL 11-20 MAGICAL ANOMALIES.
Returning the PDA to his jacket pocket, he gazed at the phenomenon before him. So this thing was a magical anomaly of some kind. Scanning this thing didn’t provide him with any useful information on it—how do I upgrade my PDA anyway?—but he still was able to learn a little bit about it. The magical anomaly had a Danger Level attribute, which meant that this thing was actually dangerous to a certain degree. Jake was glad he’d taken precautions not to get too close to it.
He looked around the room and picked up a piece of concrete about the size of his fist. Hefting the chunk in his hand, he took a step back from the anomaly. Then another one. Then yet another. After giving the matter some thought, he decided to move all the way back to the entrance to the building. He judged the distance to the anomaly and concluded he should be able to throw the chunk of concrete far enough for it to reach the magical anomaly. He didn’t know what would happen when the piece of debris hit it. What if it would explode and the whole building would collapse in on itself? It seemed unlikely, but he was sure something would definitely happen, which was why he wanted to stay as far from the anomaly as possible.
He cocked his arm and then powerfully hurled the piece of concrete. It arched through the air toward the anomaly. Jake got ready to bolt out of the building at the first sign of danger. The strange phenomenon glared briefly when the piece of concrete hit it. The chunk entered the magical anomaly, and then its movement was suddenly arrested. It just hovered motionlessly in midair inside the anomaly as if some mysterious gravitational force was holding it there.
What the heck?
Then, a couple of seconds later, the piece of debris flew out of the anomaly with increased velocity. Startled, Jake instinctively crouched down, anticipating the projectile to zip back toward him. However, it didn’t fly exactly back at him but swerved to the side instead. The piece of concrete crashed into the wall to his right with such force the chunk shattered into several smaller ones, scattering across the area.
Okay, Jake thought. Gotta make sure not to fire my guns into that anomaly.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
If any objects entering the magical anomaly behaved the same way the piece of concrete just had, shooting at the phenomenon would be a disaster because the anomaly would send bullets and pellets buzzing every which way like angry hornets. If he didn’t want to run the risk of getting hit by his own bullets, he had better not fire in the hall at all or at least, place his shots carefully to make sure they didn’t get anywhere near the anomaly.
For the next several minutes, he explored the first floor of the building. He discovered nothing of value and encountered no mutants during his search. On his way out of the building, he glanced at the magical anomaly one last time. It was still suspended in the same spot a few feet above the floor, distorting the air like heat waves rising off hot, sunbaked asphalt.
Jake continued to explore the devastated city, entering various buildings at random. At some point, he chanced on a multi-story parking garage. The arm barrier was missing, and the guard station at the entrance had all its windows shattered, but the booth itself stood relatively intact. Stepping into the first level of the dimly lit car park, Jake paused to let his eyes adjust to the subdued lighting. The submachine gun was slung over his shoulder while he gripped the semiautomatic shotgun tightly in his hands. However, there were no mutants anywhere to be seen, and no sound that might indicate their presence in the car park could be heard.
On the far side of the space, opposite the entrance, a solitary pickup truck sat in the empty parking garage, with no other vehicles in sight. Jake decided not to venture into the upper levels, but he wanted to check out the pickup truck. The echoes of his footsteps reverberated through the silent expanse as he approached the vehicle. In contrast to the rusted and abandoned cars he had encountered so far, the pickup truck appeared to be in drivable condition, piquing Jake’s interest and prompting him to investigate further.
He tried the driver’s door and found it unlocked. Glancing around to make sure he was still alone and wasn’t about to get himself into some kind of trap, he slid inside the cab. He checked the glove box and found the keys there. He stuck them into the ignition and turned. The engine growled to life, and slight waves of vibrations coursed through the frame of the vehicle. A quick glance at the dashboard told him that the truck’s tank was full.
Jake was taken aback to have found a functional vehicle in the midst of the devastation of this post-apocalyptic world. On the other hand, it was a game-like world, and lots of things here were governed by video game rules. The pickup truck had obviously been placed in the car park by the system for survivors to find.
Jake wasn’t sure if the pickup truck would be of much use to him, though. After all, some sections of the ravaged city were literally impossible to cross on a car, like those streets that were split open by massive crevices. But he was going to use the car anyway. If he got stuck somewhere or ran out of gas, he would simply ditch the truck and continue to explore the city on foot.
As he grabbed the shifter and pushed it into first gear, he pondered whether another vehicle would materialize in the very same spot within the car park at the beginning of the next day, much like the reappearance of items in looted houses and the revival of killed mutants.
When Jake hit the gas and the car began to roll forward, he seemed to hear some sounds over the growl of the engine. A second later, a horde of ex-human mutants descended the ramp from the upper level of the parking garage. His heart skipped a beat as he watched the mutants surge toward his pickup truck.
Where the hell did they all come from? Were they simply hiding on the upper levels, making no sounds at all? Or had he triggered a game event when he began to drive the car, causing all those mutants to materialize out of thin air?
Lots of questions pelted his mind, but he had no time to look for answers. The mutants swarmed into the first level of the car park and barreled toward the pickup truck, teeth bared, claws outstretched. He swiftly maneuvered the pickup truck to face the exit. However, he knew that the mutants would reach him long before he could gain enough acceleration to give them the slip.
There was nothing he could do except get prepared to be surrounded by the swarm of ex-human mutants. A surge of adrenaline coursed through him as he braced for the harrowing confrontation.