7. Zero 7 - In the Waiting Line
“Hey, can I have some of that?” Jake, the youngest of the small group I’d stumbled on, pointed inquisitively towards a Styrofoam cup in its holder on the truck’s center console. Thinking nothing of it, I popped off the lid and passed it back to him. He took a long draw before passing it back up with a small look of disgust. “Ugh, diet?”
You don’t have to force yourself… Not a Coke fan, eh? I soundlessly chuckled and put the cup back in place, returning my eyes to the road. Our pace was downright leisurely. After going through the death-sprint everyone seemed content just not having to walk, while I got to split my focus between the truck and investigating the small bundle of people I’d been unexpectedly saddled with. Their companionship in itself wouldn’t be a problem, but after what they’d experienced, I was starting to get a sneaking impression that neither Evergreen nor even Denver was going to be the end of the road. It wasn’t like I could just drop them off at their homes and say goodbye. I doubted most of their homes were still standing. At the very least, the neighborhoods around them could be infested with monsters.
The hope was that there was at least something left of civilization to return to. What was supposed to happen when we got there, or what we would do afterwards was anyone’s guess, but nobody was in any situation to make plans. It was time to just take things as they came.
Jake leaned back into the middle seat, being the smallest of the bunch meant he wouldn’t be squished between the two older teens. The younger boy was wide awake, though his older brother was taking the opportunity to sleep. Jake had bright eyes, seemingly unruffled from his earlier encounter even if he should’ve been. He was short set with a brown head of hair done up in a curlier style popular with kids older than him, but still a little too small and chubby to look the part. He hadn’t reached the growth spurt that was sure to be coming his way, if his brother was any indication. Stephen could never be mistaken for his younger brother, but his facial features were much the same, just sharper and well-toned. He was probably an athlete, but at the moment he was practically catatonic, sleeping off the gruesome run. He must have covered for his younger brother somehow, spending everything he had.
Sarah was staring out the window, looking at a destroyed peak with wonder in her eyes. To her credit, it was an impressively shaped hole, a pit forming a U in the peak as though it had been scooped out like playdough. but the sight of her being so casually oblivious made me sad for some reason. If I had lost myself in disbelief, to just take in the mystical sight locked in a rapture like that... I might have been crushed by a rock already, staring at the elemental as it passed.
Marie observed her daughter from the front seat with the same set expression I was wearing, eyes crinkled with concern, and with a good reason to be. Sarah wouldn’t make it through this without some presence of mind. Moore had taken up a spot in the cargo bed, with the truck not being able to comfortably seat everyone. He was scrolling through his phone for some reason, though I doubted it would have signal even without the situation being what it was. Moore was an interesting case. He wasn't connected to anyone here aside from circumstance, but unlike me, he didn't have a reason to be out here alone. His problems were his problems, but there was a question there I think nobody wanted to ask.
I was concerned for all of them, and the question of just what I should do when we reached Denver kept getting more difficult to answer. Their classes and levels told a story about how they arrived here that I wasn’t sure how to approach asking.
Marie Corinth – Human [Initiate Leader (G) Lv. 3]
Jake Salazar – Human [Initiate Mender (G) Lv. 1]
Stephen Salazar – Human [Quick Guardian (F) Lv. 1]
Sarah Corinth – Human [Initiate Tinker (G) Lv. 3]
Whatever happened to them, Stephen seemed to have experienced the worst of it. He’d definitely earned his rest. I didn’t know what someone had to do to earn a class that wasn’t labelled with ‘Initiate’, but I imagined it wasn’t something that was done on accident, like the Initiate classes had been. Taking a peek at his attributes showed that both his Vitality and Dexterity were in the 40’s, which seemed to directly point to what his class name represented.
I caught myself wondering what the attributes of an Olympian athlete would look like, and if there were people who had eclipsed those stats already. Any Olympian probably had to have a Willpower that was way higher than mine, I could never have brought myself to endure that much training to pursue the top of the world. Would those athletes stand a better chance at making it through an apocalypse like this than the rest of us, with a better starting position? If they were superhuman before, what would they be now, if they got some levels under their belts? And while we’re comparing the top of the top, how high would the Intelligence of a world leader be, compared to the people under them? I shook aside the negative thought, at the same time deciding that it was probably time for a break, if I was already getting this distracted.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
I pulled over the truck into one of the scenic overlooks that were so common on these roads, much to the confusion of everyone else on board.
“Why are we stopping?” Marie glanced at me, but it wasn’t like I could immediately answer the question. So I stopped and popped the hood, looking over as she curiously followed me out of the vehicle.
I popped off the connectors, and dropped my little barrier from the rest of the world. Marie frowned, looking at me like I was crazy for standing with two connectors in my hand and a proud expression.
“You did that earlier too. Why? We sort of need the battery don’t we?” Her brows were a little furrowed, cluing me in that she really didn’t understand what I was doing.
I dejectedly sighed and pulled out my phone. The battery was going to die before the day was out, looked like. If I was lucky, [Universal Language] could pick up sign language too, and I could at the very least sign “please,” “thank you,” and “My name is Will,” but I hadn’t managed to pick up very much in the few months I’d tried to learn it. The bigger issue was, there was nobody that I could sign to, so I was always going to be out of practice with it. I flipped the notes app around to give her a look.
[Mana and electric current don’t mix. To drive, I need to remove all of the mana and keep it out. It’s tiring, so we have to take a break.]
She read the shortly snipped message, stared at me for a moment, then nodded her head.
“Right, you’re a Mage. That feels… strange to say. Is that saying you have magic powers? Is it really all that different from skills?”
I gave her the good old “kinda sorta” wobbly hand wave. Then I pointed upwards, focusing on forming mana into a ball on top of my finger. Once I got it to the point it was glowing slightly, I switched back to looking at her with a smile, only to be met with another slight frown.
“Am I… supposed to be seeing something?”
Oh you’re kidding. I passed it over to my left hand with a thought, rolling the glowing marble between my fingers while I typed out something else. It didn’t have a physical presence, so my fingers would pass straight through if I let them, but I could see the ball of light clear as day, and could control it to behave just like a real marble might have.
[You can’t see this at all? Small, bright blue ball?]
“Nope. Not at all. I guess that’s why you’re an Initiate Mage, and I’m not? You know, when I was a kid I used to love imagining I was a witch and could cast spells. I had a few people I’d want to turn into toads. And a few black cats I wanted to talk to. I’d be pretty jealous of you if you can use real magic.” I just rolled my eyes at her. If mana could be used to talk with cats, I wasn’t sure if that would be a good thing or a very bad thing. She gave my expression a small laugh while Moore jumped down from the back of the truck to join us.
“Hey all, what’s the hold up?” Moore peered inside the hood with some lingering curiosity.
“We’re taking a break. Turns out our ride here is... powered by magic?” I confirmed that with a nod, but she still seemed a bit skeptical.
“Oh? I figured the car was just old enough not to need a lot of electricity. Most things that were powered had a bad habit of exploding when all this started. Guessing it has something to do with your Initiate Mage class?” He looked closer at the truck’s internals, poking a bit at some melted cabling while I typed out a quick response.
[Yeah, something like that. Hey, can you see this?]
“See what? ...Well, uh, I guess not? Hey, if we’re taking a break anyway, mind if I take out some of that food from the back? It’s been two and a half days since I’ve gotten anything to eat.”
Marie’s stomach growled in sync with the thought of food. She flushed a bit but adopted an absolutely stoic expression, acting like it never happened. So I knew I couldn’t really refuse. The teens would probably eat me out of house and home anyway the first chance they got. I nodded and waved him away with a wry smile, giving him free reign of the place while I sat on the cobblestone railing and watched the teens start to file out, including a very sleepy-eyed Stephen. He hadn’t even gotten an hour of rest, but he perked up quickly enough when he realized what was going on.
Moore went after my sandwich materials, eagerly stacking them up into a hearty meal in its own right. My eyebrows twitched when the sandwich had been stacked to a certain height, and creased further when he kept going and grabbed a good batch of chips to go along with it, but I quickly softened when he then passed his creation straight to Stephen. I thought he might’ve used half of the available materials in that one sandwich, but didn’t question the decision at all. Like I thought, the kid must’ve earned it. Stephen gratefully took his paper plate and a plastic bottle of water, then found a spot to sit down before ravenously munching down. His brother joined him soon after with a smaller portion.
Eventually I got my own paltry donation of potato chips, a minimal sandwich, and some water, which I accepted gladly from Moore as he sat down next to me.
“Sorry. Not to show that I’m not grateful or anything, but this was all that was left over. I could crack open a can of spam for you, if you want?”
I shook my head quickly, fully disclosing that emergency food was to be kept for emergency food. I wouldn’t want to eat spam unless it was the last available option, which made it perfect to keep around. At a distance. Away from actual sandwich meat. Where it belongs. Etcetera.
Moore chuckled readily and patted my shoulder, startling me enough to look at him with some incredulity. “You’ve been a godsend so far. We’ll figure out how to make it up to you, don’t worry. It might take us some time though. Until then, lets try and take care of each other, yeah?”
My brows scrunched together, but before I could assure him that they didn’t owe me anything, he got up and left. For the first time in a long while, I missed not being able to talk to people when I actually wanted to.