CHAPTER 39_HEX - A Zombie Survival LITRPG

Ray

The next morning Ray, Josephine, Verrick and his Rangers, and a group of Goblins led by an Orkin departed the makeshift base. Gale and a small detachment stayed behind to continue gathering food, fortifying the small building, and ensuring that if anyone sought to contact them then there would be someone home.

Ray took a look back as the last of their group stepped off the wrecked bridge and into the middle of a three lane street. The sun shown bright in the early morning air as the Orkin inside labored to haul the planks of the bridge back manually, pointing them in the air to ensure that nothing could jump over them. Securing access to their forward base was important, as without it they would be in a world of hurt.

“Well, that’s that,” he said off-hand. Turning down the street, he took stock of where they were. Massive hundred plus story buildings rose around them, with the occasional smaller building mixed in. Manhattan had always had a flair for the tallest, the biggest, and the best. While at the same time, they sought to ensure their heritage was preserved, most often in building form. This resulted in an eclectic mix of architecture ranging from the late twentieth century up to the modern day.

Ray motioned the Rangers forward, and they fanned out as the group slowly started heading down the street. Every so often they would pause, and inspect a shadowed doorway, parking garage entrance, or peek into the occasional dust-covered vehicle. Only rarely did they find an undead to put out of their misery.

The going may have been slow, but Ray would rather they take their time than be surprised by anything overly unpleasant.

A Ranger shot straight up, lancing a pale bone demon five stories above the street. It fell, screeching, to the pavement below, landing with a sickening crunch of flesh and bone meeting pavement. Ray couldn’t help but wince. That had to hurt.

But that just proved his own point to himself. Daylight or not, there were dangers here in spades. More so due to the massive towers, their contents, and the shadows they cast.

It didn’t take them more than an hour to make their way to the office building that he had seen the light in. They had made both better time than he had expected, arriving at the front doors that were covered in grime and half-dissolved newspaper. Looking closely, Ray realized the newspaper was on the inside, denoting that someone or something was inside.

As he studied the entrance the clicking of a lock caused him to jump backward. The Aelvin moved forward, positioning themselves in between him and whoever was doing the unlocking. Ray marveled, not for the first time, at how the Aelvin concept of honor and service worked. They didn’t like him, but they would be damned if he died on their watch.

The door opened and a small, dirt-covered head poked out. Ray thought it may have been another Goblin at first … up until he realized he was looking at a child. A dirt and grime-covered child. Wearing rags.

They looked around briefly before making eye contact with Ray behind his wall of Rangers. Slowly, the kid stepped out into the light, squinting in the sun. Ray looked at the skinny, malnourished body. He was so fascinated by the fact that he was looking at a human, a child nonetheless, that had survived the apocalypse, or been born into it shortly after, that he failed to notice what was behind them.

“Move girl,” growled a voice. Pushing the apparent, girl to the side a large man stepped out. He had a club hefted in one hand and a handgun in a holster on his hip. More like a hand cannon, Ray thought to himself, eyeing the massive forty-five.

“We saw your light, now what do you want? We don’t have much to trade. Maybe some of our weaker people, that’s about it,” he said. Then he saw the Goblins and Aelvin. Squinting he said, “You isn’t human. What are you?”

Ray immediately hated this man. Keeping his expression neutral Ray stepped forward. “We can trade. You want food? We need labor. Can give you some weapons as well,” he said as the man’s gaze swiveled from the Aelvin to his own. “Live bodies though, you give us anything on its way out and we burn this little place to the ground.”

Josephine looked at him in surprise, as did several of the Aelvin. The Goblins and Jalla seemed non-plussed, however, and simply readied themselves to rush the doors if needed.

“Whoa, whoa, I think we got off on the wrong foot here mate,” the big man whined, taking a step backward. “Isn’t many of us in this outpost? I got a few lads and some labor that’s nearly spent is all. You want more you need to head to the Suttons Place near the Square. That’s dangerous land there though,” he said.

Ray looked at the girl. “How bad?” he asked her.

Those two words had an immediate effect. The girl looked at the ground with tears in her eyes, and the man cocked back to swing the club. Josephine took his head off faster than he could think, eliminating the immediate threat.

“Clear the building. Rescue the people. Kill anything that looks like this fuck,” Ray said softly. “And do it quietly.”

The Rangers were inside of the building in a heartbeat. There were several muffled screams, the clash of weapons, several cries of alarm, and then silence. Verrick exited the building, cleaning blood off of his short blade with what looked to be the remains of someone’s shirt.

“My men are clearing the upper floors now. It seems they used the base as a staging point Master,” he explained. “We found two slaves on this floor. There are probably more above us. Maybe as many as two dozen. The food stores here are of … poor quality. I recommend burning them.”

Ray nodded as the girl cried out, “No please! We need that food! Please! My mom and brother need it!” she cried, bursting out into tears.

The outburst caught everyone off guard, but what surprised everyone more was when Verrick whirled and knelt before the girl. “Fear not little one. This food is garbage, not fit for beasts. We plan on taking you back to our home. The food there is plentiful if bland. Your rescue is at hand, even if our leader is somewhat of a dunce.”

Ray wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or irritated, but the girl stopped crying and stared at the Aelvin with large tear-stained eyes. “Really? Really Really?” she asked, snorting snot. “Are you a knight? Like in the fairy tale?”

Verrick blinked at that, turning to Ray with a question on his lips. Ray nodded, so the Ranger turned back to the little girl, “Yes little one. I am a grand knight of the … Order of Rangers. Yes. Like the fairy tale.”

The group was shocked, even the Goblins, in their usual unintelligible manner, had recognized this was very much out of character for the Aelvin. He was about to respond further to the girl when gunshots rang out from inside the building.

“Fucking fucker,” Ray spat, “They let them have guns but I can't? What the hell?” He drew his blade as Josephine slapped him on the back of the head and pointed to the girl. “Right, sorry. Kids. Let's go kill these fu … bad guys and see what we can do to help.”

He ran inside of the building with his bodyguard sticking close to him. He trusted Verrick to keep the girl safe and secure the entrance. Inside was a small shopping center, with multiple stores split off from the main hallway. It definitely wasn’t the office building he had first imagined.

At the end of the hallway, there were stairs leading up. Lying on those stairs were two bodies in what looked to be scrap like armor and clubs.

“That way! Let's get upstairs as quickly as possible!” ordered Ray as more many more muffled gunshots sounded out from above them. “Son of a bitch! How much ammo do they have?”

The group charged up the stairs, and into a war zone.

The Aelvin Rangers were pinned down in a hallway that was similar to the first floors. They would occasionally charge a green arrow and releasing it over the top of their cover at the men at the far end, who were in turn taking cover between several large metal boxes. Ray could see that two of the Rangers were down with wounds, but thankfully none of them had died.

A gunshot could be immediately fatal or cause death long after the wound had been received. It was hard to tell, hard to treat, and difficult to know the ramifications of such a wound early on. And he was no doctor.

Josephine pulled him back violently as two rounds impacted off the wall where his neck and chest had been. The shots from the gun echoed on the floor, making it nearly impossible for him to hear without shouting.

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“We need to get around somehow!” he yelled, searching for another way down the hall. On the left side of the hallway was a large gym that seemed to stretch the length of the building. Leaning forward, Ray was about to describe his plan to Josephine when the Goblins came flooding up the stairs. This made anything he had in mind completely moot.

The little green guys ran around the corner and stopped for a moment. The hallway was silent as the green men stared at the other end, that was, right up until someone panicked and shot one. The Goblin went down in a spray of green blood, signs of a lucky shot. The silence stretched on for about half a second. Then the Goblins went batshit crazy.

Much as with the Smog Snail, the crazy things rushed to the far end of the hallway. Unlike the Smog Snail, they bounced off the floors, walls, and ceilings, in startling displays of acrobatic talent. Well, talent was perhaps the wrong word as they constantly tripped, rolled, and stumbled. But the effect was the same as the men with the guns unloaded down the hallway … and didn’t hit a single one. Hitting a moving object is difficult at best. Hitting a moving object two and a half feet tall with the empowered jittery movements of a five-year-old on crack is damn near impossible.

The Goblins flowed over the barricade and tore the men to pieces using their spears, randomly sized kitchen knives they had gotten from somewhere, and their teeth. Honestly, Ray would have felt a bit bad for those guys. Meeting your end at the hands of the monster equivalent of a chihuahua with a pointy stick was embarrassing.

Needless to say, the end result was achieved and the hallway was secured. The Rangers looked annoyed that the annoying green creatures could accomplish quickly what they could not. However, Ray was quick to placate them with thanks for holding the front line.

It was time to head up to the third, and top, floor of the building.

On his way by the dead men, he stopped to pick up a gun … only to have it dissolve in his hands. “Fucking Kevin, make this as hard as you fucking can for me. Fucking bastard,” he muttered under his breath, along with a few select curses for whatever lineage that prick came from.

Cautiously advancing up the stairs, Ray was flanked by Rangers. As they topped the stair he saw a lone man with a knife holding a woman hostage. To his sides were several dozen more survivors, demonstrating that there were probably a lot more people alive in the city than he initially thought.

Ray sighed deeply and stepped forward.

“S-stop right there! I will gut her! You won't get what you came for!” he snarled stutteringly.

Ray stopped and stared at him. The man twitched nervously as he said, “What? Do you think this is some drama? Some story? At what point did you think you were getting out of this alive, killing the woman or not?” he said calmly as the man began to fidget. “Seriously, you are a moron. You hurt her, and you die. You let her go, and you probably have a chance at escaping but let's be honest … you’re still probably going to die. You surrender, throw yourself at our mercy and tell me everything I want to know? You will probably get out of this alive.”

“Promise you won't kill me!” the man said, now shaking violently.

Ray raised his hand, “On whatever System enforced action there may be, I swear I won't harm a hair on your head,” he said.

SYSTEM OATH

YOU HAVE SWORN AN OATH. VIOLATE IT IF YOU DARE

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah I figured that was going to happen. It's pretty par for the course. Now drop the knife,” he demanded. The man dropped the knife, the weapon clattering to the floor as he released the woman at the same time.

“Now, I have-“ Ray began, but the woman stooped, snatching up the knife, and drove it upward into the man's chest. Directly into where his heart would be. He dropped to the floor like a puppet with his strings cut.

THE TARGET OF THE OATH HAS PERISHED. OATH INVALIDATED

“Well shit, I’m glad you didn’t stab him in the head,” he muttered. “Right then. Hey lady, mind if I ask you some questions?”

The woman in question stood up tall and spat to the side, “Fuck you. I aint trading one monster for another. You have questions you come down here and ask them to me yourself. I aint getting near you,” she spat.

The Rangers stepped forward, but Ray waved them down. “Josephine with me,” he said as he walked forward. As he moved towards her, the other survivors watched him intently. He hadn’t made it more than halfway when a scream came from behind him, causing him to spin, blade in hand.

The little girl from the first floor sped past him in a blur, slamming into her mother with enough force to nearly knock her over. The woman both looked startled, and relieved. She made eye contact with Ray briefly, who nodded in return before she turned her attention to soothing the crying girl.

Ray didn’t have kids, but it was things like this that he had always lived for. Even his time during his criminal career, he made it a point never to harm children. Whether directly or indirectly. Even when he had to disobey orders. It made him a horrible hitman, but a reliable ‘uncle’ to many of his organizations' kids. It was one of the reasons why he had been able to rise to a prominent role so quickly.

He continued forward and knelt next to the woman. “My name is Raymond, but please call me Ray. I am not a good man, but I am fair. And this whole scene disgusts me. We are here to find survivors and bring them back to our base. There is a … storm of sorts coming, and this city will, very likely, be wiped off the map. We want to save as many people as we can. Are you willing to come back with us?”

She studied him intently for several minutes before saying, “If you can save my son and feed us, we will go back with you.”

Ray gave a curt nod. “Verrick, check the kid and see if we can do anything for him. Heal him if you can,” he ordered as the Ranger moved to the store where the woman pointed. Standing up he said to the others loudly, “We have a temporary base here up the street at the ferry terminal. We have food, water, and supplies for those coming with us. We aren’t staying for more than a week, so make your choice quickly,” he explained.

He turned away and began walking towards the stairs, Rangers, and Goblins in tow. They had work to do. People to find and rescue. Undead and bandits to kill.

And not a lot of time to do it.

***

RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN

RACE

HUMAN

CLASS

NONE

NEX

CALCULATING

LEVEL

PHYSICAL STATE

FATIGUED

MENTAL STATE

FURIOUS

ATTRIBUTE

BASE

CURRENT

NEX TO INCREASE

STRENGTH

AGILITY

POWER

100

WISDOM

LUCK

400

JOSEPHINE SANCHEZ