Jake continued to travel through the devastated city, picking his way through the debris and overgrown vegetation. Every now and then, he was jumped by ex-human walkers. Fortunately, they only came in small groups of twos or threes, making it easy for him to deal with them. When he spotted larger groups consisting of more than three mutants, he made sure to steer clear of them. While he was becoming more skilled in fighting these creatures, he still wasn’t confident enough to take on larger groups of monsters. After each encounter, he meticulously used his PDA to search every fallen mutant for any valuable loot. Some of the dead mutants had pistol rounds and shotgun shells in the pockets of their ragged clothes. Jake collected all the ammo he could find for his weapons.
His combat skills, like Pistols and Shotguns, were gradually improving. He was receiving experience points for killing ex-human mutants, and he had even leveled up a couple of times already. When there were no enemies nearby, he hid in an alleyway and took his time to learn how the system worked. He examined all the information available to him on his PDA and learned that the system granted him one skill point for each level he gained, which he could allot to his attributes.
He also learned that skills were governed by attributes. An attribute put a cap on every skill that was dependent on it. For instance, Handguns and Shotguns—the two currently most valuable skills to him—were governed by Perception. Each point in the attribute let these two skills increase ten more times. His Perception was currently 12, and his Pistols and Shotguns skills had leveled up to 30 and 17 respectively by that point. Since they could currently increase up to 120, there was no immediate need to increase Perception. Still, he allocated one of his skill points to that attribute in order to enhance his ability to see and hear and therefore sense danger in time. He put the second skill point into Constitution to make his body more resistant and reduce the damage he received.
After that, he continued to make his way through the devastated city. The eerie silence enveloped the empty streets, punctuated only by the mournful wail of the wind and the echoes of his footsteps. At some point, he reached the point where a cross street seemed to be split open by a huge chasm spanning the entire street—and probably the whole city as well. Jake paused at the edge of the shattered asphalt to take in the tremendous sight. In the chasm flowed a river, surging relentlessly through the newly formed ravine. The water churned with ferocious energy, rushing through the chasm with great speed, reminding of the city’s tragic transformation.
Jake checked the map on his PDA to confirm that his mission’s location was somewhere on the other side of the river. He looked around, searching for a way to safely cross the river. There weren’t any, so he followed the river’s edge, scanning for a place where the water was shallow enough to cross it, but it yielded no easy passage. In the distance, the remnants of a collapsed building jutted out from the water, offering a precarious but possible route across.
Jake stepped closer to the river to take a better look at the remnants of the fallen building that spanned the river. The jagged debris of the shattered structure formed a makeshift bridge that seemed sturdy enough to let him get across the rushing water below. Still, traversing the fallen building wouldn’t be easy. The prospect of balancing along the structure made his heart race, but he didn’t seem to have another choice.
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Gritting his teeth, Jake slung the shotgun over his shoulder and cautiously stepped onto the first fragmented section of the fallen building. The shattered concrete and twisted rebar beneath his feet felt unsteady, causing him to pause for a moment. Still, the platform didn’t give under his weight, and he decided to continue on. He took one careful step after another, sending slight vibrations through the ruins. At some point, he even had to stop, questioning his decision to take this dangerous route across. He even thought to get back, but when he glanced over his shoulder, he realized that he’d already made half the way across, so there wasn’t really a point in returning.
The thundering rush of water below served as a reminder of the danger as he continued to walk forward, balancing on the uneven remnants. Navigating the maze of debris, Jake leaped from one fragment of concrete to the next, his heart pounding in his chest. The relentless rush of water cascading over the fallen building made the shattered pieces of concrete slippery, and one time, Jake’s foot slipped and he almost fell into the rushing water below. His heart jumped to his throat, and he had to pause for a moment to compose himself.
“Shit, it was close,” he muttered to himself.
The remnants of the fallen building creaked and groaned beneath his weight as he continued on. The relentless rush of water threatened to knock him over into the river below. With every step and jump he took, his pulse quickened and his adrenaline spiked.
Finally, he reached the opposite side of the collapsed building. Only between the edge of the platform he stood on and the pavement on the other side was a gap. It was too wide for him to simply step over, so he had to leap across. He took a second to prepare himself, then took a deep breath and, summoning all his strength, propelled himself forward. The wind whipped through his hair as he sailed through the air, the water rushing beneath him. A rush of adrenaline coursed through his veins, and as the ground approached with alarming speed, he braced for impact.
With a grunt, he landed on the other side of the gap, and a triumphant grin spread across his face. He did it! He glanced back to look at the treacherous makeshift bridge he’d just taken to cross the river. It was no small accomplishment, that was for sure. He then continued his journey, the rush of the river fading into the distance until it no longer could be heard or seen.
At some point, he paused and dug out his PDA. When he consulted the map, he realized he was just a stone’s throw away from his destination. Holding the device in one hand, he walked along the street until he reached the shattered entrance to a high-rise building. According to the map, it was the right place. He stowed away his PDA and unslung his shotgun.
He peered into the interior through the shattered entrance, but all he could see was more debris. Still, he knew that somewhere in the building lurked at least fifteen walkers and one shambler he had to kill to complete his mission. Would those mutants attack him all at once? He sure as hell hoped not. So far, he’d only dealt with groups of two or three mutants at a time. Dealing with a larger group would surely prove to be quite challenging. Also, he’d never encountered any shamblers yet, so he had no idea what to expect from this new type of mutant.
Shouldering his shotgun, he took a deep breath and stepped into the building.