Chapter Twelve - Combustion

Jaricko’s mother had been extensive when helping him pack his bags. She had put almost everything she thought he’d need, even if there was absolutely no basis for it. The teenager hadn’t used hair spray in years. The need for it had fallen to the wayside since he kept his hair shorter than in his past.

“You don’t want to look bad, Jaricko! What if you meet some girl and she doesn’t want to talk to you because you have bad hair?” His mother lectured him with a hypothetical that Jaricko wasn’t the least interested in. He was glad now that she had been so adamant about sticking it in his bags.

His gut clenched at the thought of how his parents were doing now. He let out a shuddering sigh and pocketed the hair spray. Worrying wouldn’t help him now, only action would.

Speaking of action, Jaricko wondered whether to dump his leftover experience into a rank one attribute and get an instant boost, or wait until he had enough to upgrade his Body or Capacity. He pondered over the question but ultimately decided to rank up his Fortitude.

The memory of his muscles being ripped out from his chest left him shivering. The moment he ranked up Fortitude, he instantly felt sturdier. He pulled out the small Swiss Army knife in his pocket and flicked out a blade. He pressed the tip into his arm, watching with wide eyes as his skin refused to yield. He pushed a bit harder and flinched backward when the iron drew blood.

Fortitude definitely improved his durability. There was no doubt about it. Whether or not it had other effects, Jaricko was unsure of. He felt like he could continue on with the day, the stress and fatigue gathered from the fighting not affecting him as much.

Satisfied with his increase in strength, Jaricko left the cabin and went to find Jack and Timothy. It didn’t take long to run into Timothy. The boy was talking with a girl next to the bus. The hood of the vehicle had been thrown up and the guts exposed to the elements.

Jaricko strode towards the duo, listening to their conversation.

“It’ll only be a little bit!” Timothy expressed with growing frustration. The girl he was conversing with waved him off, an equally annoyed frown on her features.

“And like I told you the four times before, talk to Clair! Just because I’m trying to fix the bus doesn’t make me the owner. It belongings to the University.” The student returned back to the engine, bits and pieces of it were laying around. A small blanket had been set on the grass where a variety of tools had been strewn about.

“Clair has locked herself in her cabin! How the hell am I supposed to get her approval if I can’t even talk to her?” Timothy cried out and threw his hands up in the air.

“Doesn’t sound like my problem now, does it?” The amateur mechanic replied while smirking. Timothy growled in response but then noticed Jaricko. The boy motioned for him to follow and the teenager stepped in close. The two retreated from the peeved woman and stepped towards one of the vacant firepits.

“Gas is a no-go. Jasmine is guarding everything on that bus like her life depends on it,” Timothy kicked a rock with the front of his shoe.

“It makes sense, they still believe they can get out of this with the bus. Taking the gas would kinda jeopardize that,” Jaricko chuckled and earned a scathing glare from Timothy. The boy was moody, the encounter with Jasmine must have riled him up.

“All the oil and gas are locked up in the storage shed, which only Clair and the counselors have keys to. Clair hasn’t left her room since this morning and the upperclassmen are too scared to act without her command. You’d think they’d have a bit of thought for themselves,” Timothy remarked with a frown.

“We can’t blame them too much,” Jaricko said. His inner thoughts were the complete opposite. He could and did blame the counselors for not taking charge. He doubly resented them for wielding the guns and not putting them to their proper use. Only Beck, the upperclassman who had dealt with two arachnids, seemed to realize the position she found herself in.

Beck had retired to her bed at some point. Exhaustion had likely crept in during the events of the day and taken its hold. Briar still remained in the center of the camp, along with two other counselors. The laid-back man was basically sleeping while standing up. His head drooped and his eyes were closed. His two companions didn’t seem to notice or care.

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“It’s barely even been more than half a day since the System appeared. I think it's more abnormal that we’ve thrown ourselves in so fast,” Jaricko admitted while tearing his eyes away from the barrel of the rifle.

Timothy paused for a moment to consider Jaricko’s words. The boy seemed to engage in an inner struggle before releasing a reluctant nod.

“Still means they should get their shit together though,” Timothy seethed and adjusted his glasses. Jaricko laughed at the act, the behavior was comic coming from the nerdy teenager.

“How about you let me try? Maybe go find Jack and I’ll see what I can do about Jasmine,” Jaricko offered. He suppressed a grimace that bubbled up. The woman didn’t seem to want to talk to anyone, but it was better than giving up.

In reality, Jaricko simply didn’t want to try to find Jack. The large man was undoubtedly trying to convince Blake and Tatum to join them on their extermination trips. The calculating teenager was loath to give up more essence, even if more people would bring greater safety.

Timothy eventually relented and went off to find Jack with a promise to meet Jaricko back behind the cabin in half an hour. He claimed he’d have scavenged more lamp oil by then, or some equivalent. Jaricko agreed with him and they parted ways.

Jaricko strode across the flattened grass of the camp. He examined the bus with a keen eye. The red and gray coloring stood out against the green vegetation. It was the most modern thing in camp, not counting phones or other technology. The devices that stayed in Camp Grizzly looked like they were out of a farmstead magazine.

“Like I told your friend, talk to Clair if you want the gas,” Jasmine muttered to Jaricko when he got close. The woman barely looked away from unfastening a bolt in the engine. Too engrossed in her work to take notice of Jaricko.

“I understand. I’m not here to bug you about that anymore. I was only wondering if you’d found anything wrong with the engine,” Jaricko held out his hands in a pacifying gestured and asked. Jasmine grunted and gestured towards the bus.

“The hunk of metal won’t start. Circuits are fried and I can’t even get to the chambers to see if there’s anything inside!” She banged her wrench on the metal and it let out a resounding ring. She tossed the tool to the ground and collapsed on the blanket.

“You might as tell everyone that this is a bust. Whatever knocked out the electricity ruined our chances of getting using the bus,” Jasmine said with a sigh. She fingered her long black hair, running grease across her features.

“Giving up?” Jaricko asked. He had already come to terms with the fact that the bus wouldn’t be usable and thus didn’t have much of a reaction.

“There’s a difference between giving up and knowing when something is impossible. We’re just stuck here until rescue comes,” She replied. She had closed her eyes, revealing the darkened bags underneath. Jaricko idly wondered if she had even slept since the System had wiped out the electronics.

Jaricko walked closer to the engine, his gut instinct telling him to investigate the contraption.

What might hide in the bowels of a machine that can propel a ton of metal when a simple clock held the ability to manipulate time?

“Notice anything strange with it?” Jaricko prodded while examining the machine.

“Like what?” Jasmine asked with a yawn. She smacked her lips, seeming to enjoy the rays of sunlight that basked the clearing in warmth.

“Sparks, a strange glow, flashing lights?” The teenager broached with apprehension. In all likelihood, if Jasmine had found something she would have told Clair and this entire snooping idea would be fruitless.

“No? Nothing works so all the lights are off. I’ve been trying to even get to the main engine, haven’t had time to look at the blinkers,” Jasmine muttered to herself. Her eyes fluttered open and closed, and her breathing started to even out.

Jaricko noticed that Jasmine had been removing the pipes and canisters that covered the important heart of the machine. She hadn’t been able to even touch the engine yet. The teenager felt a flicker of hope.

He looked back at Jasmine to see that she had fallen asleep. He acted fast, peering deep into the darkness inside the bus. He looked for the telltale sign of fae, watching for any crackling sparks or strange lights. Nothing appeared in his vision after a few moments of looking, and Jaricko let out a grimace.

He had known it was a fool’s hope, but that didn’t stop him from trying. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something underneath the bus. It sounded like smash wooshes of air, and if one didn’t listen closely they would have mistaken it for the wind which seemed to constantly pass through the valley.

Jaricko got on his knees and peered into the shadows of the underside of the vehicle. Dirt and mud caked the metallic surface and a jumble of pipes and wires were exposed. He had no clue as to what he was looking at, but that didn’t stop him from trying to pinpoint the unfamiliar sound.

He got on his back and pushed himself further back until his entire chest was underneath the bus. He ran his hands across the parts, hoping for something to pop out. His heart suddenly lurched to his throat when he glimpsed a red sporadic flame jetting out of a small tube.

Jaricko saw his life flashing before his eyes. How long had this flame been going? What if it came in contact with some gas and blew up everything around! The teenager cursed himself for his curiosity and greed getting the better of him. He slowly started to push himself out but stopped himself when he noticed the flame let out a small crackling energy.

The young man let out a wild grin.

With careful fingers, Jaricko reached towards the open flame. He felt only a small amount of heat from the flickering energy, and when his skin came into contact with it, it started to shrink. Like all fae, it condensed itself into a small form of the original. In the case of this fae, it formed into what appeared to be a ball of gas that occasionally burst into an inferno.

A line of words appeared in his vision.

Flickering Fire Combustion Fae [Red - Tier 0]

Jaricko considered the magic that he held in his hand. The strange name made him wary of absorbing it, but the fact that it contained fire was a major point on its side. The arachnids were immensely weak to open flame, outright turning into a living bonfire at the slightest contact.

The young man realized that this would help him steamroll through the insectoids. He bared his teeth in an excited smile and pulled the fae into his being. Swirls of red lightning coursed in the shadows of the underside of the bus. Jaricko could feel the warmth of the magic fill his spirit.

Jaricko rubbed his hands together in glee.

The spiders wouldn’t know what hit them.