Chapter 98
Setting Traps
By the time Leo and the others finished dealing with the mob of implant-wearing newcomers, it was late in the afternoon. Leo stood in front of Mr. Osmond, Gretchen, and a small audience.
“Uh... Setting up a trap is easy,” Leo said, looking nervously at the group in front of him. Public speaking wasn't his strong suit. “And it's a great way to get a lot of Demon Tears quickly. You need some kind of room or small building Afflicted can't easily escape from. You use loud noises and human bait to lure them inside. Then, once the Afflicted are inside, you gas them, or burn down the building.”
“Is my arm really going to grow back?” asked an implant wearer Leo hadn't met yet.
“Yes,” Leo responded. “Depending on your Vitality, it should be growing back already.”
“Cool.”
“The danger with these traps,” Leo continued, “and this is very important, is the longer you have one of these traps in use, the more likely stronger, smarter Bosses will show up, tear your trap apart, and kill and eat any humans they find. Because of this, you should always bring twice the people you think you might need to set up your trap, and be very careful.”
“Excellent,” Mr. Osmond stood up and joined Leo in front. “I propose we locate our trap up on the west side of the city, where Afflicted overwhelmed two of our buses yesterday. We'll set up the trap in an old garage over here.” Mr. Osmond motioned to a large map of the city he'd tacked to a corkboard earlier. “Leo and I will take charge of this trap and hopefully gain levels and Demon Tears. We're looking for volunteers.”
“Hell yeah. Let's do this,” someone said. A small crowd soon surrounded Leo and Mr. Osmond.
***
By the time they'd finished working out the details of tomorrow’s expedition, it was late at night. Leo joined his sister for a quick meal. Lydia seemed to be adapting to their new circumstances far better than Leo had expected, grumbling about the work and the makeshift school they were going to force her to attend.
“We were listening to the radio earlier,” Lydia said, drinking her hot chocolate. “Implant wearers in Free Detroit cleared their entire city of monsters yesterday. And this Paladin guy in Kansas cleared his entire town of monsters in an hour. And he killed them with his bare hands because he's super strong. Too bad he's not here. We could use someone who's not a total loser.”
Leo felt like crying. “Yeah. We could use someone like that. Some of us are doing the best we can.”
Leo finished his hamburger and turned in. Funny how much better he slept now that the world had ended. He didn't have to worry anymore because it had happened and they were all pretty much fucked.
***
Biker Boy: Hey, Leo. How are things?
Future Man 10/16: Fucking insane. Sorry I didn't try to contact you, but things have been crazy around here, setting up a shelter in the stadium.
Biker Boy: If anyone asks, it wasn't easy, but me and some friends busted our people out of the federal penitentiary, and we're sheltering in a nearby city. It's been insane for us too, that's why I didn't contact you earlier.
Future Man 10/16: I haven't seen anyone from your group. Is everyone okay?
Biker Boy: We left the city soon after our meeting. The other implant wearers in the group don't trust you, so I can't say anything more. Don't take it personally. My people are rather paranoid.
Future Man 10/16: Good luck with whatever you're up to. We're working on setting up traps for the Afflicted right now. I'll let you know how it goes.
Biker Boy: Keep in touch.
***
“I'm feeling pretty worthless here,” Leo grumbled. He was standing around in the large garage they were converting into an Afflicted trap.
“You're not worthless, Leo. Could you hold this?” Somebody handed him a bolt.
“Hey, Leo. Do Afflicted taste like chicken?” It was Paul, an implant wearer and friend of Angie's.
“No, Paul. They do not taste like chicken. In fact, their meat is poisonous. Buzzards and rats can eat dead Afflicted, but most animals and humans get sick.”
“Told you, Angie.”
“No, you said they tasted like chicken and I told you they didn't. My arm itches!” Angie kept scratching at the stub of her left arm.
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“Your arm's growing back,” Leo said. “Thanks to your high Vitality, it's growing back quickly. You should have a new arm and hand in a couple of weeks.”
“Cool!”
Someone Leo didn't know took the bolt from him and slammed it into place. The large cage they were putting together for protection in front of the garage's rear exit felt reasonably sturdy. It should hold off Afflicted for a short time which, hopefully, would be all the time they needed.
The large auto repair shop garage looked dark, empty, and abandoned. Implant wearers with strength skills had pushed any vehicles they'd found outside. Cars and trucks lined both sides of the driveway leading to the garage, in order to (hopefully) funnel Afflicted where they were supposed to go. Because the garage door was only partially open, there was barely enough light to see.
The idea was to create a large enough opening for the Afflicted to get in, but small enough so the garage door could be closed quickly.
“Our plan is simple,” Mr. Osmond said, studying the drone feed. “Step one. Set up our trap. That would be this garage and several large tanks of carbon monoxide gas. Step two. Set out the bait. Are you ready, Mr. Bait?”
“Yes, sir, let's do this.” Paul jumped to his feet.
“Are you sure?” Mr. Osmond asked. “Because you'll be out there on your own. If you get overwhelmed by Afflicted, we may not be able to help you.”
“You do your job, I'll do mine. I was born to ride!” The young man, whose name was Paul Sanchez, pumped his fist in the air and left the garage by the rear exit.
Leo watched through the drones as the young man got on his electric motorcycle and took off.
The teenage boy was a friend of Angie and supposedly a skilled biker who'd chosen a biker-related character class Leo had never heard of. Which was why they were sending him out. Whoever they sent out needed to be fast. Also, Afflicted were more attracted to younger humans.
As Paul headed out, a couple Afflicted spotted him and sounded the alarm. Per the plan, Paul let them chase him into a distant intersection. Then he stopped, turned around, pulled out some firecrackers, lit a fuse and threw them. From the garage, they could barely hear a distant pow pow pow pow. “Come and get me monsters, I taste yummy!” Paul shouted and fired his pistol in the air. Afflicted came out of nowhere, converging on the young biker.
Paul tossed out some cans he'd tied to the back of his motorcycle newlywed style to make as much noise as possible and headed back to the garage, smoothly avoiding the Afflicted trying to cut him off. He was doing an excellent job of biking, slow enough for Afflicted to follow him, but too fast to be caught.
“Shit!” Leo said, studying the drone feed. “There and there,” he pointed at two larger Afflicted gaining on the biker. “Bosses.”
Mr. Osmond turned to the other volunteers. “Kill teams one and two, you know the drill. Take out those Bosses, and get back here. Leave the rest of the Afflicted alone.”
“Are you sure I can't help?” Leo asked, reaching for his kukri short sword.
“Of course you can,” Mr. Osmond said. “Use your skills to juice us up and keep an eye out for more Bosses.”
Disappointed, Leo put away his kukri and activated his Augment skill, enjoying the burst of energy augmenting his stats gave him.
The two kill teams left the garage and activated their speed boosts, each group going after their respective Boss.
“Two more,” Leo hissed. Shit. These were bigger than the first two and looked scary. “And another two over there,” he pointed. “This is why traps are a pain in the ass. If we don't stop them, the Bosses will destroy our trap and do their best to kill us.”
“They can use firearms?” Mr. Osmond asked. “That one's got military weapons. I think that's a bazooka. Kill team three, that is Charlotte and Angie, take out the one with the firearms first, and be careful. Charlotte, sneak Angie over there so she can take that thing out.”
Charlotte and Angie nodded.
“Are you sure I can't help?” Leo asked, reaching again for his kukri short sword.
“Stay where you are, Leo,” Charlotte said. “We may need a group heal before this is over.”
Leo could only watch as kill team three left the garage and vanished from drone view. It turned out Assassins could bend and alter light to make themselves and those nearby invisible, something he'd previously wondered about.
“Kill team four,” Mr. Osmond said. “See what you can do to help the others.”
“Will do.” Team four left, leaving Leo alone with Mr. Osmond.
The electric guy from yesterday, part of kill team one, threw out a lightning bolt to immobilize their Boss while the other two team members shot it in the head. This seemed to annoy the Boss. As soon as the lightning bolt wore off, it roared and threw a boulder, narrowly missing Electric Guy who jumped back in time to avoid getting crushed.
Electric Guy threw another bolt of lightning while his two teammates unleashed kinetic weapons. One smashed the Boss to its knees while the other cut at its head. The Boss went down.
With a screech of tires, Paul slid himself and his bike underneath the garage door. Afflicted came in after him by the hundreds as he abandoned his bike and rushed for the door into the iron cage. He made it inside, joining Leo and Mr. Osmond, before slamming the cage door behind him and bolting it shut. The cage shook as the nearest Afflicted smashed into it, trying to get through, hands pushing through gaps in the bars.
More and more Afflicted entered the garage. Leo plugged his ears to the screaming of Afflicted and the shaking of the iron cage that suddenly didn't seem anywhere near as strong as it had earlier.
Kill team two took out their Boss, as Boss three, the one with military weapons, grabbed its bazooka, aimed it at them, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. With a roar, the Boss threw the bazooka. The bazooka slammed into kill team two, knocking them to the ground.
Kill team three (Charlotte and Angie) took advantage of the Boss's distraction to creep up behind it. As it pulled out a machine gun and opened fire, Angie attacked from behind. In a blur of motion, she hamstrung the Boss with a flaming broadsword and chopped off its arms and head in less than a second.
“It looks like all the Afflicted we're likely to get in here!” Mr. Osmond shouted over the Afflicteds' deafening screams. He hit a red button on a remote, lowering the garage door while twisting knobs to open the tanks of carbon monoxide gas brought for this purpose. Then Mr. Osmond, Leo, and Paul left the cage through the rear exit of the garage, into light and fresh air.