Chapter 23
The Promise
Trent left Leo in front of the boy's house and drove aimlessly until he found a small, peaceful park with an empty playground. He pulled to the side of the road, turned off the engine, and put his head in his hands. He tried to convince himself that the strange boy was hoaxing him, or just plain crazy. But he couldn't. There were three people in the world who knew he had an implant and he couldn't believe the boy had found out from any of them.
It figured. He'd finally gotten his life together. He'd found God. Joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Quit drinking. Eighteen months sober now, and since he only got into fights when he was drunk, this meant he'd also quit getting into trouble. He'd found a semi-stable job, met Isabelle, and fell in love with her and her three daughters. Bio-Blessed had driven her ex-husband crazy, so she was thrilled he didn't touch the stuff.
Trent had proposed to her the week before, and she'd accepted. They were getting married that spring and he'd never been happier in his life.
So it just figured Bio-Blessed zombies were going to show up next month and kill and eat everybody. Great.
He pulled up his implant.
Subject: Trent
Sex: Male
Age: 34
Strength: 7.5
Vitality: 7.2
Agility: 6.2
Intelligence: 7.2
Charisma: 6.9
Common Sense: 7.8
Class: Pyromage/Uncommon. (Level 9)
“When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2.
Energy Well: Basic/Small. Charge 100%.
The Energy Well had shown up as a small yellow bar when he'd chosen his character class.
Special skills:
Fireball. Level 6. Summon a fireball and burn enemies where they stand.
Electric Attack. Level 2. Use electrical energy to shock and immobilize your opponent. At higher levels, you may even power electric appliances.
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Demon Tears 256
Corruption 6 (He'd taken a few Bio-B Shots at the local bar. Never doing that again.)
He reached into his pocket, pulled out an old Zippo cigarette lighter, and flicked it open. Then he grabbed a cigarette from his glove compartment and lit it. He'd been trying to quit, but he needed something to calm himself down... To stop his hands from shaking.
Trent inhaled the smoke while staring into the flame from his cigarette lighter. Truth was, the old lighter hadn't worked in years. The flame appearing to come from his lighter came from him. A bit of subterfuge that allowed him to practice his skill without arousing suspicion.
As long as he kept the small flame within three feet of him, he could keep it lit for fifteen minutes. He'd hoped the electric offensive skill would combine with Fireball to create a larger, stronger flame, but it didn't work that way. So far all he'd been able to do with Electric Attack was short out a cellphone.
His implant, Brain Augmentation Device, or BAD had been a lot of fun. Whoever came up with the idea to give implant wearers Demon Tears for doing good deeds was a genius, and allowing Trent to use his welding job to level up as a pyromage made it even better.
What his implant wasn't was something he could use against a horde of ravenous zombies. If he could make hundreds of tiny flames, maybe, but so far, all he could manage was the one.
He took another drag of his cigarette and checked his Energy Well. Five minutes of employing his Fireball skill had lowered his Energy Well, by a whole percentage point. It was now at 99%.
He laughed. He'd been a level 9 Pyromage for months and had been saving his Demon Tears in the hopes that when he made it to level 10, he could use them to combine his fireball skill with a second skill like Dragon's Wrath. He wanted to make his tiny fireball burn hotter. If he could make the flame hot enough, he could use it as a blowtorch and do more than light cigarettes.
But he'd given the boy his word, and he liked to think that counted for something. He sighed. “Imp, show me the best ways to change those character features you keep bugging me about.”
“Well, it's about time you quit ignoring me,” Imp said in a sulky voice.
“Imp, you told me I'd be able to summon fireballs to burn my enemies to a crisp. But since my enemies are not mosquitoes, I remain unimpressed. I need to make my energy well ten times its current size and increase energy recovery rates... or something like that.” Gaming had never been his strong suit.
“Well, Trent, there are two ways you can go about doing this,” Imp said. “There is a special meditation technique that will...”
“Do I look like a monk to you?” Trent said. “Tell you what. Do what you keep bugging me to do. Take my Demon Tears and fix up my Energy Well. Then do what you want with the rest. Like you and that weird kid keep saying, a good character build is a matter of life and death. Right? So I'm putting my life in your hands, Imp. Take my Demon Tears and turn me into a well-rounded zombie killing machine.”
“And that would be the second option. I'm honored by your trust in me.” Imp sounded so happy it wanted to cry. “I won't let you down, Trent.”
“I'm counting on you, Imp.” It was all Trent could do to not burst out laughing. The idea that his implant could become a weapon, turning him into a fireball throwing wizard, was much harder to believe than any impending zombie apocalypse.
Trent's 256 Demon Tears vanished. His Energy Well: Basic/Small, became Energy Well Advanced/Large/Rapid Recovery. The yellow power bar next to it became ten times larger. He felt no different.
There. Promise kept.
He stuck the end of his cigarette into the truck's ashtray.
Now to keep him and his family alive.
A biblical passage came to mind. “If you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Luke 22:36.
The meaning was obvious. In troubled times, it was better to be naked and armed than clothed, but defenseless.
His fiancee was afraid of guns. But if the world was going to end, she was going to have to deal.
He pulled up Implant Special Features and went to the most useful part of his implant. Personal Communication. He pulled up his short list of contacts.
“Isabelle, Gretchen. We need to talk.”