CHAPTER 36_HEX - A Zombie Survival LITRPG

Ray

They recovered quickly, pulling out the survivors from the dust and debris. They talked about it but ended up sending a couple of Goblins swimming across the water to ensure the tower was fully collapsed. That would take some time, so while they waited the key members of the group approached the arachnoid woman and her sole remaining spider bodyguard.

“So … hi there?” Ray started out, a tad nervous. The spider woman just stared at him, clutching the egg to her chest a bit more tightly. “I’m not going to hurt you. I think we are past that at this point. Sorry about the … misunderstanding with the little spiders. You were running apparently? We didn’t know.”

The woman eyed him with a critical eye, her very human brown irises analyzing him to a standard he could only guess at. The big creature next to her shifted as if implying he should get to the point before they started fighting again. Maybe the big thing was inherently aware of the danger that surrounded it. Or maybe it was smarter than anyone gave it credit for and was just bored out of its mind.

Either way, Ray wasn’t going to simply wait for a misunderstanding to come out of the situation.

“Right … can you talk? I know you, mimed? Gestured?” he said, trying out a couple of different words. “Yeah, gestured … earlier that is. When we were discussing about the tower exploding.”

She shrugged, “Yes,” she said simply, her voice so quiet Ray had to strain to hear it. “Not speak. Rare.”

“I can understand that, it's not like you have had a ton of people to chat with in those tunnels,” Ray agreed. The look she was giving him at that statement caught him off guard. “Were there?”

“Yes. No. Were. Gone now. Escaped. Died. Living gone, above ground,” she explained, struggling to find words.

Ray stared at her slack-jawed until Josephine elbowed him. “There are survivors then? They fought, died, then abandoned the tunnels to survive?” she asked as the arachnoid nodded. “Where did they go?”

The spider woman pointed across the river to the gleaming towers of Manhattan. “Go towers. Survive.”

Shaking off his stupor, Ray became determined. There were human survivors here. They weren’t even that far away. They would have to get over there and figure out what their status was if they could help, and get them back to the island if possible. All before the Integration. Doing that on foot was going to be a nightmare … but he set aside planning that particular adventure for another time.

“Where art thou from?” Gale asked, jolting him back into the here and now.

The spider woman shrugged again. “Know not. Woke up. Broke egg. Others listen. Never find others,” she said, words coming more easily to her now. Even her voice was a bit louder.

Gale nodded and turned to Ray, “This rings true. Many arachnoid races are born from the eggs of their progenitors. Often times they are born alone, or with a small grouping of siblings. This one may be truly alone, although I know not what species she is of.”

“Parasteatoda Tepidariorum,” she muttered, catching everyone off guard with the complexity of the statement.

“Para what now?” asked Remus as he crossed his arms. “That seems … too long to really be a name you know.”

Ray shook his head, “That’s a Latin name. I think … it may be a species of terrestrial spider?” he asked hesitantly, looking at the spider woman. She nodded in affirmation. “So that answers one question. She definitely isn’t another alien. Good to know we aren’t being invaded by everyone and their brood mothers.”

“Interesting,” said Jalla in his smooth musical voice. “I believe you are correct about her being from this world. However, I have seen races like hers before. This may be another case of mutation through the extreme energy saturation due to the Integration.”

Gale breathed out, “Another new species. Ray, thy world is a conundrum wrapped within an enigma. How the race of Humanity has been the single most evolved species of this world remains a question when there is so much potential for evolution among even the most basic of creatures.”

“We digress,” said Verrick, somewhat harshly as he eyeballed the arachnoid woman, causing her to recoil. “Master, you have yet to determine if this … woman is friend or foe. We also have many things to achieve, and even fewer slaves to achieve them with than before. Not excluding the construction of the fortress. I suggest we expedite this conversation and move forward with the tasks at hand.”

Everyone stared at the Aelvin Ranger in shock. Even Jalla seemed impressed with how much he had spoken. Verrick was normally stoic, quiet, and observant. He never had much to say. The fact that he had said this much was a shock.

“Right. Ok. Point well made then,” Ray said, taking a small step back from their rabbit hole discussion. Turning back to the arachnoid woman he asked, “Do you have a name? A designation? Does your … bodyguard?”

The eight-legged humanoid shook her head. “Does not,” she said in that broken manner of hers.

“Well, we can't just keep calling you spider girl. Someone could sue us,” he said jokingly. “Hmm … Paras? No. That’s a creature from a card game. How about Tepi? Does that sound agreeable to you?”

She cocked her head to one side, “Tepi. Agreed. Yes.”

“Well perfect Tepi. Let's get back to the base. Can you answer some of my questions?” Ray continued, moving back in the direction of home.

Ray had many, many questions for Tepi. Including what she ate, how she ate, what her bodyguard would require if they could expect more of the spiders to be born, and just what the heck that egg was. Turns out that the arachnoid woman ate just like anyone else. So did the giant tarantula. She could lay eggs, although that would rapidly reduce her life span. Her spider friend however was more pet and less sentient. Laying eggs for them were no problem. A possible workforce could be born sometime soon.

Fish, meat, and grains were equally nutritious and acceptable to both her and her spider brethren. However, some fruits were poisonous. There were some spiders that could, in turn, produce poison and were uniquely created in order to process the deadly fruits into just such a substance. Turned out there were nearly a dozen variants that a queen could choose from.

This led them to the egg.

Tepi spun a poorly worded tale of their nest, that once stretched the entirety of the tunnels and a bit beyond, being invaded by the undead. Swarms of specialized and advanced monsters stormed the tunnels night after night, reducing their numbers to all that had made it to the surface. One Solider Spider, one Infiltrator Spider, and one Queen Egg.

“So that’s a queen? No wonder you are so protective. What … uh, what does that mean exactly?” Ray wondered aloud.

“It means, Master, that the being inside of that egg will represent either a grave threat or an unmatched opportunity for an alliance,” quipped Verrick.

Remus was quick to intercede, “Spider silk is some of the strongest materials known. I’ve seen some armors made from the stuff that are lighter than leather and stronger than steel. It conducts Mana excellently as well,” he said, defending the trio.

Tepi nodded, “Silk is strong. Workers make. Also build. Quickly,” she explained haltingly. The arachnoid was getting better at speaking, both in tone, volume, and amount. As usual, however, her stalwart companion was silent. Ray wasn’t sure the large spider could speak at all.

“Right. Well, I am leaning towards alliance. No sense in fighting or kicking them out, particularly if they evolved here on Earth. That, technically, makes them Earthlings. Even if they aren’t exactly humans,” Ray said, working out the concept in his mind. “Regardless, there were at least a couple hundred spiders down there. If that many of those things couldn’t stop the undead, I doubt we could. There’s no reason why we can't work together. At least until the Integration.”

“Intro … intern … ment?” tried Tepi, struggling to say the word.

“Integration?” Ray guessed as she nodded, a quizzical look on her face. “It's something that’s supposed to happen in a few weeks. The energy causing mutations all over the planet, and apparently powering the undead or something, is set to absorb our world fully into the System. It's what governs those boxes you see, if you have seen any that is.”

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Tepi nodded so he continued, “We have no idea what is going to happen. Even the so-called Gods I spoke to don’t have any idea. They are as clueless as the rest of us. I mean, it sounds like they have some kind of plan. But it sounds a lot like a used car salesman pitch to me. Invest now, buy our newest used model, hope you don’t get fucked,” he said snidely. “Right, as if I am just going to stand around and trust them with no hesitation. Not happening. If you stay here with us you are one of us. That comes with all the rights and protections that I can provide.”

The arachnoid nodded her head. “Safe here. Queen? Hatches safe?” she asked.

Josephine set a hand on her carapace-covered thigh, causing Tepi to start. “If Ray says that something will happen, it will happen. He resurrects the dead. He takes in the sick and poor, the refugees of worlds we can only imagine. He helps those in need, often risking his life to do so. He is not the brightest, but you are as safe here as anywhere if he says so.”

“Thanks for that … ringing endorsement. I think,” Ray said, narrowing his eyes as Josephine whistled and walked away to case the perimeter. “Now that the peanut gallery has said what it has to, there are a few things we need to plan out.”

The group walked into the cafeteria and took a seat. The Goblins and Orkin outside went back to their assigned shifts while Gale wandered off to speak with the rest of the human engineers and let them know what happened to Derrick.

“I heard that there were human survivors over in the city from our new arachnoid friends. I want to send a scouting mission over to get into contact with them. I don’t think that they will survive the integration. Hell, I’m not a hundred percent certain we will either, but better to be with us than in a place that isn’t claimed under the System,” Ray said as everyone nodded.

He pointed to Remus, “You me, and Gale will take the Orkin and half the Goblins. She won't like the fact that I am leading this, but I don’t know for sure that anyone who is surviving over there won't attack you on sight. If I'm with you there's an even chance we can get them to talk first.”

Remus nodded at that. “Aye ok. Fair. Although the big green lugs won't like being that far away from home for an extended period of time. There are, to the best of our abilities, few to any undead on the isle. It's somewhat peaceful here, and with the land bridge gone we may be stirring up trouble we don’t need.”

“Agreed, but we need more people, more labor, more fighters, and just more help in general. Since we can't get them from the System Shop right now, we need to source them from wherever we can,” he gestured at Tepi, “And in whatever form we can. Being picky right now is only going to get people killed.”

Remus nodded at that and headed off to find Gale. The two were probably going to hash out a plan of some kind prior to Ray leaving to explore the great unknown. He turned to Jalla, who had been unhelpful during the fight for the tower. He had also been, more or less, silent for the last while. Both annoyed Ray to no end.

“So, I noticed you didn’t fling any spells around to help us during that last scrum,” he said pointedly. “Are you coming with me on this exploratory run? Or are you going to stay here?”

Jalla shrugged, “Our magic comes with a great cost. If we used it now and needed it tomorrow, you would be dead. Because we would have nothing left to offer. I will not be going with you to the mainland this time, however, I will be sending two of my people to watch you. If you die my fun comes to an end after all,” he explained with a shrug.

“Grand. Well rest up, because when we get back nothing short of the apocalypse is going to get me off this island again before the Integration,” said Ray vehemently. “Way too much going on. While we are gone, I need you and the remainder of your people, along with half of Verrick and half his people, to scavenge what you can from any dock you can access along the river. Be very aware of the time and be back on the island, in the base, at least a few hours prior to the Integration.”

Jalla nodded and signaled Verrick to join him. They had a big task and a lot to discuss, particularly if they wanted to finish the curtain wall around the base. Derrick may not have been with them any longer, at least for now, but the design was already laid out. They would be able to finish the first layer of defense without any additional input, they just couldn’t design the others without the input of a master builder. This made Derrick's loss that much more difficult to absorb. The other engineers were helpful and knowledgeable, but he had been the only one with an advanced knowledge of structural engineering.

Ray asked Josephine to take Temi and find a place for her and her pet spider. As the two walked away he examined the map of the island. There were some drawings of what had been completed so far, but currently, they needed more resources, more people, and more everything to really have a good chance at coming out on top during the Integration.

He wasn’t convinced that they would all just die anyways. But he had to make the effort to ensure that if, by chance, they did survive this apparently world-ending event they had the foundation to move into the future and not be immediately wiped out. This meant he had to get as many people as possible on board. As many humans on board.

Unless that is, they ran into other groups of new and mutated people and beings that were amicable to partnering up. Who knew what was out there.

Ray thought he did, then they ran into Tepi. Who would have thought that a giant arachnoid woman and her pet spider would become allies? Much less move-in. He had a funny feeling they would become a lynchpin in their future operations for sure. So the closer he became with them, the better the chances they would integrate seamlessly.

Right now, they needed all the help they could get. And he wouldn’t be picky about anyone offering more.

***

RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN

RACE

HUMAN

CLASS

NONE

NEX

CALCULATING

LEVEL

PHYSICAL STATE

FATIGUED

MENTAL STATE

PONDERING

ATTRIBUTE

BASE

CURRENT

NEX TO INCREASE

STRENGTH

AGILITY

POWER

100

WISDOM

LUCK

400

JOSEPHINE SANCHEZ