My choices were pretty slim now that I knew the coastal city was far from abandoned as I initially expectd.
It boiled down to either going a more scenic route and potentially getting lost or eaten by the things that weren't afraid of the wilderness, or, sticking to the outskirts and hopefully avoiding whatever monstrosities the city had decided to let in.
I took a good, hard look at the scenic route; it would be a trip up a rocky slope and over the yellow grassy hills and then through some dense areas of distant woodland...
..Hmm.
Something didn’t feel quite right, like everything was out of place, and, as I contemplated my next move, movement caught my eye. The movement was subtle and camouflaged, so you would only notice it if you were focused, but it kind of looked like the trees were moving places every now and then..
Oh.
Silly me, that's not trees, it’s just more goddamned fucking giant pals!
There were many somethings periodically shifting locations, carefully treading through the hillside forest, with legs that were identical to tree trunks.
As I was straining to make out how many there were, one of the giant house sized cows crested over the hill and I watched it lazily stomp its way towards the trees. I watched wide eyed as it went to take a bite from a juicy looking branch of leaves, but instead of a delicious snack, it was attacked and in a flash, something violently yanked it up into the thick canopy; a waterfall of blood gushing down shortly after, not even giving it time to cry out.
Okay fuck that. I'll take my chances in the city.
..
.
I stealthily followed the road until I hit a straight that sloped down into the city.
The streets had tonnes of litter in it and the houses were in various states, just like i’d seen elsewhere, except here I felt that people had at least had the chance to try and take refuge and perhaps they even survived for a bit, a speculation based on the piles of trash left and how many homes had been reinforced with wood and metal.
Some even still had their front doors intact.
Alright for some eh..
Even though I was being extra careful, my luck shat out several times where I had to fight a few lone Skinraw and one instance where it was just the skinless, screaming torso dragging its screaming self on the floor but I didn't really count that as a fight.
The first was a bit of a surprise for both of us, but it ended in seconds via deploying my shields and firing a barrage of perfectly aimed projectiles into the screaming torsos face.
The second and third encounter was really my faul in that both times I'd accidentally kicked a can, twice..The sound obviously attracted them, with me standing there embarrassed, scared and pissed off, waiting for the thudding steps to reach me..But in the end, the fights had also been relatively quick, since I knew what to expect, and although I had taken some heavy damage in the final fight, it had healed up once I triggered the mass drain by severing the screaming torsos arms.
So many happy memories made.
The whole place must have looked really nice..before all the apocalypse. Buildings rendered in peaches, yellows, reds and clay colour palettes and it even still had a real holiday vibe if you could ignore the rubble, dried blood and gaping holes.
Lovely weather that's for sure!
Hopping into a porch for cover, I peered ahead as the noise levels had increased to a very concerning new high..I needed to know exactly what was roaming around to create such a commotion.
From here I waited, and observed down the street. A few lone monsters sprinting for their lives rushed past, shortly following by a few smaller groups of what appeared to be humans.
People..but they are behaving like-
Label: Corrupted
MAGN: ??
HP: ??
MP: ??
EP: ??
Notes: Anima spezzata. Even looking at them makes your skin crawl. The pitiful husks of the depraved and forsaken. Do not try to fight them, just run. Please run.
Oh. That’s pretty fucking ominous shit.
It was too far to make out much, but their clothes were in tatters and I could see that their flesh was either rotting, charred or heavily damaged, possibly with growths dotted about. The groups numbered maybe 6-12 and they had various sizes and ages. They would scramble recklessly around, trampling each other without a single second of hesitation, all in a madness filled desire to catch something to kill...
After around 30 minutes, I stared with horror as two groups came out from opposite alleyways and brutally clashed and quite literally teared each other apart limb from limb. The winners, or I should say, survivors, munched on the loser corpses as sickly looking EXP bled out in the streets and lazily slunk around until they noticed and proceeded to slurp up as much of the dirty pools as they could.
Oooookay-WOAH-
Label: Skinraw Lupo (Multiple)
MAGN: 30, 31, 30, 31, 20, 34
As they feasted, a pack of 6 Skinraw Lupo creatures leapt out from another alleyway and charged directly at the group of corrupted..only to be absolutely ripped to shreds in mere seconds. The corrupted fearlessly launched themselves at them, knocking them down and they pulled the screaming beast's limbs apart with little more than a few grunts, the streets became flooded in excessive amounts of slippery-slimey fluids and pools of sticky red blood
Oh shit! They are insanely strong!
And THEN, as if reality was trying to say “Oh I’m not done yet!” a car sized, jet black, panther-like creature, blurred out of nowhere and weaved through the crowd, speeding off down another alleyway and attracting anything that could run to chase after it, with one corrupted not giving a shit and smashing through a house brick wall in pursuit.
Label: Padera
MAGN: 40.401
HP: 450/450
MP: 90/100
EP: 90%
Notes: A large jet black panther-like creature. High levels of sapience were detected.
Sounds of wood splintering and bricks crashing could be heard going off into the distance as it tunnelled through inner walls and obstacles.
Even the giant panther ain't fucking about!
My heart was thudding in my chest, I suddenly didn’t feel safe on the ground anymore...so I thought now would be a good time to get elevated and start thinking about aggresively using Slipfold from rooftop to rooftop...even if it came with the risk of sending me to another continent..
There was an apartment complex building opposite me, so before crossing the street, I checked both ways, like a responsible adult, and then practically dove through the doors. Inside was a mess, but I only focused on the spiral staircase and my urgent desire to get as high as possible and leave this not-safe-for-living area.
I was reminded of my current physical fitness as I hurtled up the twelve flights of stairs in seconds without even breaking a sweat or getting out of breath.
Speed and cardio has dramatically improved.
At the top I paused and listened if anything was tailing me or if I could hear anything ahead, but there was just the sound of a strong sea breeze finding its way through gaps and open windows, along with the distant riots and roars.
Nothing sounds close. Pretty sure it's clear up here..
Carefully, I tiptoed along the corridor, slowly checking the doors and finding that, surprisingly, most of them were locked..But when I got to the end, there was a maintenance exit to the roof and a large potted plant next to an apartment door opposite.
Something silver reflected the sunlight, catching my eye.
It's..a key. In the plant. Hm.
I tried the key in the apartment door and it unlocked, so I slowly opened the door and peeked inside-
Clunk.
The chain had been latched so I couldn't open it too far to look much, but there were no sounds that I could hear so it seemed safe to check out. I briefly thought about shouldering the door open but then had an idea that would probably be a lot quieter, and a good test of a certain skill.
Alright slipfold let's do this without warping me to Japan, okay?
Placing an anchor marker inside, I focused and virtually pulled on it, feeling surprised as it felt significantly easier and quicker to do from what I recalled, and, with a watery peel and rush of air, I slipfolded into the room.
The inside was gloomy and dusty, but in a somewhat relaxing and comfortable way. There were thick yellow curtains blocking the windows but he bright sun still managing to penetrate them. It was a typical living room getup with an open plan kitchen to the right, and on my left was a small corridor with some closed doors, so I closed and flicked the lock on the door behind me and immediately went to check the other rooms.
First rule of breaking in, check all the rooms.
I was hyper aware of my solitude as I crept towards the first door, a stark contrast to being so comfortable whilst exploring in pairs or groups when scavenging or running an errand..I really missed having someone watching my back.
So naturally my mind was racing through all the scenarios where something was hiding in the shadows just waiting to pounce-
Oh come on for Effs-sake. You've literally fought monsters and you're still scared?
I blamed the suspense.
The first door was a bathroom, nothing inside apart from signs of bandages being used, which didn't look great.
The door was locked after all.
The second door was once a kids room but also had signs of use, such as lots of empty bottles of water, food wrappers and a few medical bandages that had blood on them, and empty pill bottles.
Fuck...I don't like the look of this..
My stomach was twisting in knots at this point...Either there was another exit, or someone had left the chain on from the inside..and never made it out.
Please don't be in the third room, please don't be in the room-
As I opened the third room, my heart sank and my blood went cold.
On the bed were two corpses, a female adult, dressed, whose skin looked like it had turned to stone with a strange crystal nestled in a rocky growth above her head. She was resting against a stack of pillows...but....by her side, curled up, was a small frame that had decomposed.
The child.
The smell didn't shock me as much as it should have, this wasn't the worst I'd seen by a long shot. I simply stood there and stared.
....
Because corpses had always been a bit rarer to find, since most deaths happened outside and what with there being a plethora of monsters to scavenge what remains could be found 'waste not, want not' was practised religiously by our new wildlife.
This however just broke my heart, because it appeared as if the adult had been mortally wounded and passed away, leaving the child..alone.
And the thought of a child being left behind and choosing or being forced to wither away....rather than be alone..it was just..
It hurts to think about.
Solemnly, I cracked open all the windows to get fresh air in and searched until I found a bunch of sheets, carefully wrapping the little child up, trying not to imagine it being a situation where I'd find Marri and Lone.
It was incredibly hard. And it really tore at my heart.
After I finished, I carefully placed the child back next to the adult and looked to see if I could move her, but she was somehow glued to the bed and wall by the strange rocky growth stuff that was like volcanic rock.
Deciding it was best to leave her as is, I went to place a few sheets over them both instead but paused and stared at the crystal, something fluid swirling around inside.
A short piece of information flickered into my black thought space.
Label: EXP Calcification Crystal.
Notes: Occurs when an EXP rich entity is shutdown and no claimant is available for a certain length of time. Resources are slowly consolidated, condensed and then crystallized into a clean neutral state.
This… how have we not seen this before..Maybe it is due to how long it takes.
I assumed I could claim the exp and absorb it..but it took me several minutes of internal debate before I grimaced in shame and touched the crystal.
I'm sorry whoever you are, but I hope you understand that I need all the help I can get.
The crystal felt cool and as soon as I touched it, my fingertips were superglued to its surface.
Oh fuck, jeez-
Pulling my hand back in a panic, it took the crystal with it and the rocky growth crumbled, creating a chain reaction that turned the whole woman into a pile of dust.
FUCK! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-
The crystal swirled and spontaneously exploded into the familiar shimmer, quickly absorbing itself into my hand.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Nothing happened after a few moments so I placed the remaining sheets over the bed, closed the windows tight and shut the door..I felt pretty digusted with myself..as if I'd taken the mother away from her boy.
As I walked into the living room area, I slumped onto the couch, a grumbling exhaustion and hunger rising, so I took out a tin of tuna, but realisd I should grab a bowl and cultery from the kitchen to avoid making a mess.
Hmm, there also should be some tins of fruit and some fizzy drinks in the larder cupboard..
I got up and grabbed them, pulling out a draw to grab a spoon and the tin opener.
And I suppose I should see if Montti wants some-
…
Wait.
The spoon dropped out of my hand slowly, like it was sinking in oil and my mind sloshed through memories that were clearly not mine..It was from the woman, Maria, and she was the mother of the small child..Montti.
They had been in a small group of survivors that had scraped by until the corrupted had swept through their apartments and destroyed everything. She had then made an attempt to head towards the coast to find a boat to escape, but they were attacked. Maria had managed to fight off the monsters, a group of blood sack crawlers, but Montti had been hit, poisoned..so they took shelter here. Her rage and despair against the absent partner was overwhelming..she'd had to tough it out alone since he had been born, and she felt like she had failed her boy right when he needed her the most.
Not knowing what to do, she spent a few days desperately trying to nurse him back to health..until she came to the realisation that she needed rejuvenation help or healing supplies.
Maria heartachingly left Montti in the flat, on his own, and frantically went out in search, trying to find help or some kind of medicine..
She fiercely fought through scores of creatures, she was incredibly tough, but in her haste she was struck a devastating blow and forced to retreat back to the apartment...
She came back to a fading Montti, he was suffering as much as she was..so she put on a brave face as she overdosed them both on strong painkillers and held her boy, waiting for the inevitable to come..
Everything was hazy as they both lay in the dark. Chaos, death and nightmares raged outside the windows..yet she made sure to stroke his head and hold him close, even through her own agonising pain, she gently hummed, forcing herself to hold on with every waning ounce of strength, slipping in and out of consciousness as she held on..waiting for him to drift off peacefully first..
...
She noticed the very moment her little treasure stopped breathing.
She cried in grief and in sorrow, but there was an element of relief to her thoughts.
Sorrow that she couldn't see her boy grow up, that he wouldn't experience the many things that life had to offer.
Sadness that nobody would remember them, remember him. It had always been them two after all..no other family to speak of.
Grief that he was forever gone..that she would never hear his cheeky laugh or see his beaming smile...she could never take back all the times she shouted or snapped at him for silly unimportant things, nor make up for all the time wasted on pointless modern life things like watching stupid TV or binging social media on her phone, instead of exploring the wonderful wide world with her sweet boy..there was no making up for any of that..
No matter how much she prayed or wished for more time, they wouldn't get..because now their time together was truly up..
.
.
But at the very end as things began to fade, she had managed to hold on, the least she could do was not leave him behind, alone, and she took solace in achieving that.
The last thing she felt was relief..
Relief that she too could now let go, with no more pain or fear...and that they could both sleep peacefully.
Forever.
..
.
Staring at the ceiling..I..was at a loss for thoughts.
Part of me wished I'd never touched the crystal..yet some part of me felt like now I could do something for them, by remembering them both and promising that I would try my best to prevent others from suffering the same fate.
Curse whatever this is.. Curse it FUCKING all..
My mood was fragile as I finished my meal and quietly left the apartment, leaving the key back in the plant pot; I didn’t bother to look around or disturb anything further, I’d already soiled their resting place enough.
You won't be forgotten.
Opening the service door, it had a short stairway that I climbed and led out to the roof and, as soon as I was outside, I could already spot the heads of a dozen of the hulking skinny giants, lumbering around in the distance, bobbing down periodically as if they were simply picking fruit.
Chaos, monsters and death, it all marches on..
Whilst looking for a suitable place to try and slipfold to, I stayed low and tried to keep out of sight as much as possible, hiding behind the wall that surrounded the roof.
A few times I’d witnessed a flock of human sized shapes spill out into the sky from the shadowy streets, before diving back down to another dark alleyway, and I couldn’t tell if there was a pattern or not, but after maybe an hour as the sun started to set, they’d stopped appearing, and my thoughts had finally settled own after seeing all the heartbreaking memories of Maria..
Time to press on.
I’d made up my mind of where I was going to jump to next, and it was another apartment tower that looked to be 8 levels tall and a big smaller, but what I liked the most was that it had short walls and the roof had a little bulkhead box that protected the stairwell entrance, which gave me something easy to focus on for the anchor and it was easy to ascertain from a distance that there was access to the building itself.
Just in case something goes wrong or I need to duck away and hide.
It took me several attempts before I got the confirmation that the anchor was placed, with a small lag between choosing the location and the haptic sensation that told me it was successful; the analyse ability would also confirm a success in my thoughtspace log. But the first couple of times I tentatively tried, I felt the tug of activation and then..nothing.
Good thing I’m not relying on that to make quick long range jumps. I suspect it might be a distance problem, or maybe due to the skill being unstable… anyways. Let's try again.
It took quite a bit more effort until I finally managed to peel the watery folds and successfully slipfold over, dropping down onto the new rooftop whilst panting both with exertion and excitement.
A quick check of my resources indicated that it did not cost any more than expected, making me wonder in excitement just how far I could push the skill-
"Shhhit!-"
A flock of creatures zoomed up from the street; I reacted by diving for cover, but the flapping of wings was overwhelmingly loud, forcing me to cover my ears. I stayed very still and watched as the last of the creatures flapped off towards the setting sun, painting orange red shadows on the walls as they sailed away..
Man...I wish I could fly..
Finally, after several more minutes, I released the breath I was holding-
"AHHHHHH!"
-but then jumped out of my skin as a scream that sounded like it was right inside my head returned me straight back to defcon 1.
What the FUCK-somethings..below!?
The sounds of thudding footsteps and furniture breaking could be heard coming from below. I scrambled up, staying low, and scanned around the area, confused as I couldn't see anything in proximity, but the noise was clearly-
"HELP ### SCARED ### NEAR" an echoey female voice cried out; it sounded like she was shouting through a guttering pipe or vent shaft, suggesting that the voice must have travelled through air con perhaps.
"Argh for fucking hells sake, I only just bloody arrived!" I grumbled as I charged towards the door, but hearing another voice comforted my loneliness in a way that I couldn't ignore, and it was English! Okay! Best case, we grab the survivor, rush back up here and then try and Slipfold somewhere else..worst case, well, let's not think about that just yet.
My heart was pounding in my chest as I rushed down the flight of stairs and stopped dead in the corridor. In the dimming light, I could see that the place had been absolutely trashed, but I could hear something growling and smashing furniture up, two doors away from me.
Deploying my shields in config:Exo, I skidded to a stop just outside the door and leaned against the wall, peeking around the frame.
Label: Corrupted
MAGN: ??
Notes: Anima spezzata. It is wearing a shredded white shirt and black trousers with only one shoe.
This one appears to be hunting someone. What will you do..
Shhhhhhhhhhit! Shitshitshitshit!
This was an even worse case scenario.
The very fucking worst! I'd even prefer a pissing T-Rex smashing through the window instead of that.
Even though the corrupted human was frantically tearing the place apart, its wheezy breathing was eerily slow and steady, taking loud full breaths in and out like it was meditating.
I peeked again.
The room had been ransacked and there was a large hole in the floor and in one of the drywalls. The corrupted individual was a mess itself; flesh, stone grey with a black and red spotty rash. Its clothes were in absolute tatters, backing up the notes description.
..Maybe the notes do come from my subconscious-gah! No time to shitting ponder on such things!
It was circling the room like a dog trying to find a comfy spot, pushing over the same items repeatedly, seeming to forget it had checked under the ripped sofa cushion at least a dozen times already.
Nobody can fucking hide under ther-what? What the heck is it doing?!
It seems like brains were not a strong point for this one.
Okay..maybe the lady is hiding in a place that it won’t find. I should probably g-
“TRRRRRLLNEEE-HEEEEELLLLK!-” A female strangled squawking cry sounded out, which was overwritten by the sound of metal squealing and then a booming crash.
The sobbing, choking-whimper turned into silence. My heart sank.
All that could be heard was the sound of bones crunching, chomping and slurping.
..I’m so sorry-
“AAAAAAAAAAAH!” A blood curdling wail pierced the air.
“hELP ### scARED ### WANT ### TO ### LIVE #### PLEASE!” I was aware that the voice had turned echoey again, but I didn't have time to spare to figure out why.
She was still alive, and I couldn’t take any more of this.
Leaping round the corner and charging at the corrupted, several things happened at once as I became aware of several unique things at once, including my first close up look at the nightmare.
Firstly, the corrupted spun around, blood and tissue plastered on its blank face; its eyes were just balls of dark reflective red, like a cat's eye, with a cloudy white glowing centre, and its nose was gone, replaced with a flat, slightly glowing red bone structure above a lipless mouth that housed long razor teeth.
Secondly, it wasn't an actual woman being attacked, but a young girl that had a singular bat wing, scaled bark like skin on her forearms and feet, with full on dragon claws for fingers and toes. She had a golden shiny scale under each slightly non-human looking eye, and she also had either moth horns or long curved ears protruding from the top of her skull, but other than that, she looked like a normal albeit prettier than average human. Just perhaps a tad bit moth-y?
And finally, the corrupted had a severed wing in its hands, half eaten and the..Moth, girl..well, she was beaten up pretty badly; her leg had been snapped and bent the wrong way up and she was bleeding heavily, trying to drag herself away on the floor.
"plEaSE##h-hELP###-"
I shoulder charged and slammed into the corrupted's skull, but it barely budged. Instead it tilted its head in confusion, still breathing deeply and slowly, its eyes darting all over me-
Well, shi-UGHH-
Without warning it backhanded me with such force that a flash of hot plasma sparked into life and scorched my clothes as I was launched backwards. Fortunately for my ribcage, config:exo had absorbed a huge portion of the impact and I managed to trigger a phase dash midair that dispersed my momentum that allowed me reverse my direction in a blur and fly back towards the rude bastard, but this time I unleashed a flurry of melee attacks.
A heavy side kick, a sharp elbow, a jumping knee, an overhead hammer strike and then finally a shoulder charge and a shield change to config:Prime.
What the fuCKK-
Each hit felt like I was hitting a sack of concrete, and the pissing thing just gormlessly stood there and took each hit. But as soon as my shields changed and flickered up over my shoulders, it reacted instantly. It moved in a blur, faster than anything I'd ever seen move, it got behind me and grabbed onto the left shields connection to my back, and the fucker clamped its jaws down and startd to chew it off.
"ARGH!"
I screamed. My resources plummeted and I felt a violent tug on my insides as my energy and Majik flooded to repair and reinforce my shields. The shields themselves also reacted, releasing a high pitched synth sound I'd never heard before with the right one snapping back and started to ram itself into its teeth, its temple, its eyes, anything it could hit in order for the nightmare to release me..
But it simply ignored all the attacks, they barely made a scratch against this completely inhuman thing, whilst it casually yanked me around and up, trying to get a better position to bite down on, frowning in braindead confusion as to why it couldn't eat this particular thing.
Desperate, I reconfigured the shields to config:mirror and the process managed to allow me to slip free. I dropped to the floor howling in pain and scrambled up, phase dashing towards the moth girl, not bothering to look back at my impending death.
Oh man this is it. This is how I fucking die!
Even though she was barely conscious, as soon as I got close she started to fucking hiss and EVEN tried to bite me!
"ARGH! STOP! I'M TRYING TO FUCKING HELP YOU!" I roared at her. She barely had the energy to open her mouth so all she managed to do was pierce my skin..but still, it bloody hurt; although I felt that if she was at full strength she probably could have done a lot worse./
I virtually reached out to get an ethereal grip on the last anchor I placed, whilst physically flap-fighting her wing, trying to wrap my arms around her to minimise how spread out she was..
Argh this stupid bitch! If this doesn't work, then we are absolutely dead-fucked anyways. It's your limbs miss!
The corrupted seemed to take offence at my actions because it howled and stormed towards me with a single leap which had it plough through the ceiling like a train driving through paper. It landed, obliterating the floor right near me in a shower of splinters and masonry, but the stupid twat was slowing itself down as it sunk inbetween the floor joists.
"OH JUST FUCK OFF WILL YOU!" I yelled defiantly as it snarled at me and threw its hand forward to try and grab at my face, and, purely by Majik, my shields intercepted the attack, only barely redirecting the force away.
And holy shit the force of that simple action felt like deflecting a steel beam!
I'd sunk into the flooring, creating a mini crater just from that action alone.
The corrupted creature raged at that, and started to ramp up the attacks. I managed to push her wing back into a folded position and just about wrapped my arm around her shoulders and back.
As I solidified my grip, hugging the whimpering girl close, a destructive kick crashed into my shields, which themselves had overlapped over each other to absorb the impact..yet still it sent us flying and we smashed through a kitchen island and cratered into a fridge.
I was at 10% HP, MP, EP, DS - 1000% BS though.
Having taken the brunt of the impact, I had managed to keep a hold of the girl during our short flight, of whom was now completely unconscious. Slumping down on the ground still cradling her small form, I looked at her still face and wondered if she was a monster, maybe one of the flying ones, or if she was once human, or if she was now dead.
Heh, wonder if it even matters right? From an outsider's view, the corrupted are by far the biggest monsters… well, I mean apart from the bigg- ah fuck it all! I'm not cut out for these stupid pre death philosophical revelations!
Coughing up some blood, I spat at the corrupted's stalking approach and sighed.
"Haven't showered in a few days, so enjoy the taste, you noseless cunt-" As soon as the words left my bloody grinning mouth, I finally felt it.
My virtual tether.
My eyes widened as I pulled, and it was significantly easier than I remembered. So much so in fact, that I was already peeling the water folds away in the split second it took for the corrupted to blink forward and grip onto my throat.
Shi-"URK!"
But it was too late.
Crrrrrunch. Rrrrrrip. Splat.
"Ack. Uuuk. Grrrrk."
I couldn't breathe.
My throat had been crushed and ripped out..my mind went cold and I could feel a fucking breeze on my spinal column.
My shields juddered and darted forward and pincered its neck, trying to push it back to protect me, but failing against the things preternatural strength.
They synth-growled loudly, shards and fragments crumbling off as they squeezed together in a last ditch attempt to sever its head.
But it was impossible, the thing was immortal.
There was nothing I could do…nothing except for one last thing.
You’ll..not get…an easy….meal….out of……us…..prick..
So I decided to finish what I started, and slipfolded...
…
...into nothingness.
…
..
.