Chapter 99
First Casualties
“Those things are loud!” Paul shouted as they waited outside the garage for the poison gas to take effect.
Leo watched through the drones as the remaining kill team members converged on the final Boss, killing it. Then he activated his group heal, healing at least some of the damage the kill team members had taken.
They waited as the screams and pounding from the garage became quieter and finally stopped.
“Alright! 1080 Demon Tears!” Paul raised his hand and gave Leo a high five.
Leo checked his implant. He'd gained 560 Demon Tears. Not bad for a morning's work.
“Could you celebrate more quietly,” Mr. Osmond hissed. “It's unlikely we killed all of them.”
There were Afflicted screams in the distance.
“Sorry,” Paul said.
The kill teams joined them behind the garage. There were three wounded, but no fatalities. And thanks to Leo's group heal, the wounded were able to walk under their own power. One of the wounded was Charlotte. “I was going to try out my death touch skill on the fourth Boss,” she said. “Never got a chance.”
“That went better than I thought it would,” Leo said.
“Indeed,” Mr. Osmond said. He hit the red buttoned remote and opened the garage door. After letting the gas dissipate, the group walked around and inspected the hundreds of dead Afflicted lying piled against each other.
“If we can set up three of these a day, we should be able to clear out the city in maybe a month. And you were right, Leo, this is a great way to get more Demon Tears.”
“You say that now, but we haven't had any fatalities,” Leo responded.
“I'm not seeing any better options. Are you?” Mr. Osmond asked.
Leo shook his head.
“That's what I thought. Right now those dead Afflicted are a health hazard. Someone get some gasoline and light them up.”
***
Over the next several days, Leo and Mr. Osmond, along with numerous volunteers, set up thirty more traps, killing thousands of Afflicted and gaining a lot of Demon Tears. There were two fatalities. The first, a friend of Electric Guy, Leo didn't even try to heal, because a Boss had bitten the man's head off. The second casualty, Leo did try to heal, but after being crushed by a Boss-thrown car, the damage to the man's body had been too great. Leo barely knew either person, but their deaths hit him hard.
Both men were cremated with the rest of the dead at a group funeral. Leo felt old and tired, and the war was just beginning.
Tuesday
October 21
6 days post Armageddon
The Professor: Future Man. Everyone. Some allies and I tried to ambush a High-Level Boss, and things do not look good for us. Of the twenty of us, I'm the only survivor.
Leo could feel the man's fear over the implant. Leo choked on his coffee, coughing and spraying the small table in the cafeteria kitchen he was sharing with Lydia and Jason. He tuned out Lydia's complaints.
Future Man 10/16: Shit! Is there anything we can do?
The Professor: I don't think so. It flew away and is now returning carrying... Are those septic tanks? I've passed on as much information as I can to everyone in my network. You will have to go on without me. Godspeed to you all. It's directly above me now. It has just released the septic tanks. I must say this was not how I wanted to-
Future Man 10/16: Professor! Professor! Are you there?
There was no response. Leo frantically checked his list of contacts. In his list of contacts, The Professor was now listed as The Professor.
“Imp?” Leo asked.
I'm sorry, Leo. When a contact is crossed out, it means that contact is no longer active. That contact has either been forcibly canceled by the user... or the user has died. I'm very sorry.
Future Man 10/16: Mr. Osmond?
Teach: I received the message too. I never liked the bastard, but he was a good man. He'd want us to forge on without him.
Future Man 10/16: Will his death affect our plans?
Teach: No, Leo. His death won't affect our plans. We are still a go.
Leo got up, his food forgotten. Ignoring Jason and Lydia, he walked aimlessly until he found a forgotten corner of the stadium where he could be alone. He sat on the floor and cried.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Wednesday
October 23
7 days post Armageddon
Biker Boy was next.
Biker Boy 860: Got some tentacled Boss creature flying overhead. We're going to take it out.
Future Man 10/16: Good luck. You want me to juice you up? I'm the Guardian after all, it's what I do.
Biker Boy 860: No thanks. We have our own system here. You'd mess things up. In case I don't make it, I wish you the best in the future.
Future Man 10/16: You'll be fine. Just hang in there.
That was the last thing Biker Boy messaged. An hour later, Biker Boy 860 became Biker Boy 860
Fuck.
He wondered what happened to the others in Biker Boy's group. He supposed he could ask Gretchen, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Thursday
October 24
8 days post Armageddon
He was a happy, happy panda, and he wanted to make friends and meet people. He liked people.
The noon sun glared down on defenders, making it unseasonably warm for this time of year. The defenders gathered on the top of the stadium, looking down on the thing approaching the stadium entrance.
“Well, holy shit,” Leo said, looking over the edge of the stadium. “That's Evil Panda. I'd forgotten about that.”
“You lived through this before, Leo. How could you forget that?” Mr. Osmond stared disbelievingly at what could only be a High-Level Boss, one that had somehow squeezed itself inside of a twenty-foot-tall panda costume, and was awkwardly walking around. Even more disturbing than the costume were the twenty children with it, ages four to six. From a distance, it looked like the children were being pulled or carried with ropes, but on closer inspection, it was clear each child was being held by a tentacle coming out of the monster and wrapping around the children's necks or bodies. “And where did it get a panda suit that big?”
“I didn't actually see it last time around,” Leo said defensive. “I remember people talking about it. They drove Evil Panda away, but they took serious losses. That was the strongest Boss this city had encountered and people became very discouraged.”
“What does it want?” someone asked. Evil Panda wandered around kicking a car out of the way, like Leo might kick a pebble. “Does it want to come in?”
“We need to rescue those poor children.” Gretchen and at least half the stadium implant wearers had joined them at the top of the stadium, staring down at the evil panda monster.
“Didn't there used to be twenty children?” Mr. Osmond asked. “I'm counting nineteen.”
“It just ate one,” Leo said. “We need to do something and we need to do it now.”
“Agreed,” Trent responded. “We're stronger than we were when we fought the last one, but that thing is huge, and I'm guessing it will not sit still and let us kill it.”
Mr. Osmond clapped his hands. “I propose we handle it like the one we fought a week ago, only without the incompetent bungling.”
Gretchen said. “Team one, our heavy hitters, you know who you are. You will engage the monster while trying to avoid hurting the children. Team two, our sneakier, speedier members, will rescue the children when our heavy hitters attack. Team three will be our snipers. They will get some of Mr. Al's medication into Evil Panda to slow it down, and use bullets to try to cut off the tentacles holding the children, though that last might be an unreasonable request.”
They nodded.
“I will go see what it wants, Gretchen continued. “I'll talk to it, do my best to distract it and get it to release the children while the rest of you prepare for battle. Leo will juice us all up and hang back with the snipers. Teams one and two, wait for my signal to attack. Sound good? Any questions?”
“I really think I should be the one to go out and distract it,” Leo responded.
“We've talked about this, Leo,” Gretchen responded. “You are not allowed to go off and kill yourself, and I'm the one with the voice of influence skill. Don't worry, I'll be fine.”
Leo stared at Gretchen and the others. They stared back. Leo sighed. “Okay, okay. Try not to get killed.” He left to join Jason and the other snipers.
***
“Can you believe Howie ran out of fresh milk?” Jason said, looking gloomy as he stared at the scene below him. Gretchen looked tiny as she went out to confront the monster. “Condensed milk does not taste the same, and powdered milk is inedible.”
“I'm amazed Howie had fresh milk to begin with,” Leo responded. “If you spot any milk cows, let us know and we'll see what we can do.”
Evil Panda stopped wandering aimlessly and turned to face Gretchen, bending over slightly as if looking down on her.
“Jason, how well can you shoot at this distance?” Leo asked. Evil Panda stood some 200 yards away.
“With my skills, I could hit a fly from here,” Jason said. “Provided that fly is stationary or has a predictable flight path.”
“I see.” Leo watched through binoculars as Gretchen spoke.
“Hello,” Gretchen said. “I'm Gretchen, and your name is?”
Evil Panda looked down on Gretchen, who looked tiny by comparison. “Francis Cockron,” it said in a muffled voice.
“I've heard of him,” Jason said. “He owns a bunch of costume companies. There was a scandal involving him following some kids while wearing a teddy bear costume, but I don't know if anything came of that. I didn't know he was in our city.”
“Great.” Leo used Augment to juice everyone up, not waiting for Gretchen's signal. Shit was about to get real.
“Well, Mr. Cockren, that is an amazing costume. Those children look like they could use some food and water. Why don't you let us take care of them while we continue our talk?”
There was a long pause as Evil Panda thought it over. “No.”
Even from this distance, Leo could see Gretchen looked alarmed. A quick kid count revealed there were only eighteen left.
“Mr. Cockren. I really think you should relax and let us take care of those children you rescued.” Gretchen raised her right arm with an extended index finger. Their signal.
From the top of the stadium wall, Leo could feel Gretchen's voice of influence. It wasn't enough to influence a High-Level Boss, though. Not even close.
“No,” was Evil Panda's muffled response. “Let me in. I just want to be friends.”
“Jason. Activate your time dilation skill now!” Leo said while doing so himself.
Gretchen dropped her hand.
A lot of things happened very quickly.