Chapter 33

Preparation

Future Man 10/16: I'm going to send over my list, but first I got to ask: Mr. Osmond. Did you alter my school ID? I don't know what my school ID number was, but it was interesting how the agents noticed a 5191 in my ID because of that alien prophecy.

Teach: Did I alter your school ID?

Future Man 10/16: I remember you fiddling with my ID two Saturdays ago, and the agents commented on the number.

Teach: I would prefer not to answer that question. You will find your school ID number matches the number in our system. It occurred to me that if some Guardian is going to show up and save us. You are the obvious person for it to be, due to your unique qualifications.

Future Man 10/16: An interesting theory. But Guardian is not a character class I've been offered. I have been offered Paladin/Rare, however. Possibly better than Guardian.

“Leo. Leo. Are you awake?” Jason was looking at him, concerned. “The class bell rang and you're staring off into space.”

“Yeah. Just tired.” Leo stood up.

Teach: I see. It was just a thought. Paladin/Rare is impressive. Let me know if anything comes up.

Future Man 10/16: I'm sending you a list of supplies for us, and a list for me. Before you cry about my personal list, remember that I did get tortured for you.

Leo could swear he felt Mr. Osmond sigh over their connection.

Teach: Send me the lists and I'll see what I can do.

School passed quickly.

Future Man 10/16: Angie, want to train? I need to raise my stats.

Zrrkr #1: Not today, Leo. You know I want to get you back for the last time we fought, but things are insane right now.

Future Man 10/16: Wouldn't have anything to do with your sister and some counterfeit Bio-Blessed, would it?

Zrrkr #1: Do not get me started. I want to kill my sister, but someone else may beat me to it. And I'm so mad at that stupid alchemist guy!

Future Man 10/16: I guess it's me and my backyard tree again. I'd offer to help you, but I'm pretty sure I'm a liability. I'm counting five drones following me right now. Good luck.

Zrrkr #1: You too.

That afternoon saw Leo hitting and kicking the elm tree in his backyard, deep in thought.

How do you prepare for the end of the world?

He noticed he was getting better. Punch punch kick, block duck kick kick dodge, swing. His movements were faster and easier. He had a long way to go to reach where he'd been in his previous future, but he was sure any fight with Brick and his cronies would go differently this time.

“Imp. Do you know anything about the aliens and the end of the world? Did they cancel or change anything?”

I'm sorry, Leo. The aliens do not inform me of their plans. From my perspective, nothing has changed.

“I suspected as much.”

Not to be a nag, but claiming and leveling up Paladin/Rare will put you in a much better position should this end of the world happen. I would point out that your chances of gaining anything better than Paladin/Rare within the next ten days are vanishingly small.

“I know. But I don't want to choose a character class until I know what's going on. And at this point, I have no idea.”

Leo had given a lot of thought to what he could do differently this time around. Because of the changes he'd made. This apocalypse would be very different for him. Instead of being a shunned freak, one step from being Afflicted himself, he'd be a sought-after implant wearer. That didn't mean he wasn't stocking up on non-perishable foods and supplies, though.

Last time around, most of the surviving city residents had sheltered in the city stadium. A good, defensible location. He tried to think of everything the survivors could have used last time around. Food. Clean water. Sanitary supplies. Decent places to go to the bathroom.

Yeah. they needed to order a bunch of Porta Potties. And toilet paper.

He'd put everything he'd thought of on the list he'd sent to Mr. Osmond. And he'd already bought candy bars, protein bars, jars of peanut butter, and multivitamins. It's hard to keep a balanced diet during an apocalypse.

“Oh. Shit. Imp, is it possible to use Demon Tears to speed up your implant replication process? It would really help if I could make two implants by the end of next week.”

Leo couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before.

I'm sorry, Leo. Demon Tears are useful for many things. But implant replication is not one of them. I can replicate myself once every thirty days. I don't know of any way to speed up this process.

“Dammit.”

He continued to work out.

***

Wednesday, October 8th, 2059

7 days to the apocalypse

Leo lay in bed, exhausted. It was early Wednesday morning and Leo, as usual, had slept poorly. The Professor was sending everyone on his contact list page after page of end-of-the-world instructions.

The Professor: Let me first state that it's unlikely the aliens are being honest with us when they say they won't end the world. Even if the world does not end as predicted, the aliens may do something else and preparedness is essential.

To that effect, I strongly recommend that everyone reading this should know the location of, and the quickest route to, your nearest, monster-proof, emergency shelter and tell all your non-implant wearing friends.

To determine if your shelter is monster-proof...

With a groan, Leo slowly dragged himself out of bed. After working himself to the bone, he'd joined his sister for an unremarkable dinner, watched TV while listening to her complain about some idiot implant wearer, and fell asleep while reading the latest book Mr. Osmond had lent him, titled “Sun Tsu and the Art of War.”

It wasn't the worst book he'd ever read. It was full of phrases like “know the enemy and know yourself,” and “when on death ground, fight.” Unfortunately, the book's advice was either obvious or impossible to implement. He knew the enemy was stronger and faster than he was. Not helpful. And the problem with fighting on death ground was you tended to die. A lot. He knew this from experience. Hence the term ‘death ground.’

To add insult to injury, the Professor had sent him what was practically a book via implant messaging. He didn't disagree with him, but the man went on and on. Leo mentally scrolled down page after page of implant messaging.

The Professor: Most implant wearers will gravitate towards combatant character classes. But I want you to consider non-combatant classes, like, say, janitor. What does a janitor do? They clean chemical and biological waste products and create an environment hostile to organisms that might seek to harm us. Such a skill sounds very useful in the apocalypse. Not to discount combatant classes, but if you have the choice between, say, Swordsman/Common, Janitor/Epic, or Garbage Man/Legendary. Consider choosing one of the latter. Not to be immodest, but I chose a non-combatant character class to improve my memory and cognitive functions, and I have indirectly killed hundreds of imperialist police and soldiers around the globe by aiding freedom fighters.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Leo sighed. Unfortunately, he was still expected to go to school.

***

The weakest, most common of the Afflicted are fast, strong, and excellent climbers, the Professor continued. But they're as intelligent as a dog, with far less self-control. The easiest way to kill them is by setting traps. I have several diagrams for traps based on descriptions from Future Man 10/16 himself...

What traps? Leo wondered while walking to school. The ones he'd told Mr. Osmond about? Uh, oh. Those traps could be dangerous, and not necessarily to the Afflicted. He made a mental note to talk to Mr. Osmond, and message the Professor.

Shank 66: Bad enough you're a terrorist, but now you're trying to bore us all to death, too?

Leo laughed at Shank 66's response to the Professor, right before running into a lamppost. Ow.

***

Leo pretended to pay attention to his class while attending an implant meeting set up by Mr. Osmond. It would have been hard to say which of the two was more boring.

Zrrkr #1: The Cobras showed up at my place yesterday. They're the local street gang. These ten guys were huge, and they all had guns. The Cobras fence stolen goods in my part of the city and they do not like competition. Of course, they found out about my stupid sister selling so-called-stolen Bio-Blessed.

Air Mage 87: Did you call the police?

Zrrkr #1: Are you stupid, Liam? Some of the Cobras are police.

Teach: I've heard about that street gang. I'm glad you're still alive.

Zrrkr #1: You're telling me. I was trying to look calm, but inwardly I was terrified. The Cobras wanted to know how our friend could have robbed a dispensary, since they've tried to rob dispensaries many times, and didn't believe it was possible. Also, they have strict orders to kill anyone selling counterfeit Bio-Blessed.

Teach: Which your sister was doing.

Zrrkr #1: Well, I told these guys our friend was an implant wearer thief who brought us this stuff and told us to sell it and split the money with her. I acted stupid. Showed them the case of counterfeit Bio-Blessed. Worth ten thousand, if it was real. Told them we got it tested. Turns out The Cobras know about the trick where you add one real Bio-Blessed pill to the batch to get the batch to test positive. So they had one of their guys open the case and check. While his buddies pointed guns at me and my sister's heads, this guy tried five or six of the counterfeit pills from different bottles. I thought we were going to die. Then the guy says the pills are real, and The Cobras take them and leave. They even paid us a thousand dollars for the case and gave us a list of things they'd pay our friend to steal for them.

Teach: Sounds like you had an exciting day.

Zrrkr #1: You have no idea. Say what you like about Mr. Al. He makes a good product. Then my dumbass sister says, ‘selling counterfeit Bio-Blessed might be dangerous. Maybe I should stop.’ Man, I hit that girl so hard. Beat her ass into a new shape.

Teach: Well. I'm glad you didn't get killed by gangsters, Angie. But I called this meeting to discuss the end of the world next week. It is possible the end of the world has been averted, but we should prepare in case it has not.

Both the teacher and Mr. Osmond droned on. Leo's focus moved back and forth between the boring class and the implant meeting. He wished they didn't have to do it this way, but understood that the less attention they brought to themselves, the better.

Air Mage 87: Thanks to different time zones, October 16th, billboard midnight should arrive at different times around the world. If the world does end, we should get plenty of warning.

Teach: Unfortunately, Liam, the billboard watches in each time zone are synchronized to ensure they all hit billboard midnight at the exact same second. So no. No warning.

Future Man 10/16: I could have told you that. About there not being any warning, not the billboard watches.

Teach: In Leo's previous timeline, our city's stadium sheltered the survivors. I think that's our best option this time around, too. We'll spread the word that's where to go if the world ends, work out evacuation routes, and gain access to armored rescue vehicles to ensure a higher civilian survival rate this time around.

Zrrkr #1: Maybe we could throw a giant end of the world party at the stadium. That way, if the world ends, we're already there.

Leo shuddered.

Future Man 10/16: Bad idea, Angie. End of the world party means a bunch of the Afflicted surrounded by alcohol-impaired people. It will be a lot easier to keep the Afflicted out if we wait for them to change first, so we can tell the difference.

Teach: Agreed. I have another concern I wanted to bring up with the group. Last time around, Leo was persona non grata. Just another nobody. This time around, he's the boy who predicts the end of the world. If the world does end, some terrifying monsters are going to want to speak to Leo, and his presence may put the entire city at risk.

Leo felt sick. This was something he'd been trying not to think about.

Future Man 10/16: The city will be at risk, regardless, but if I have to run, I run. I spent my last life running and I don't want to do that again, but I may not have a choice. If I do run, then the less you guys know of my plans, the better.

Teach: I suppose you'll want us to look out for your sister?

Future Man 10/16: Lydia stays with me!

“Leo. Leo? Are you okay?” It was Mrs. Brown.

Leo was shaking. His grip on his pen was so tight he'd snapped it in half. The entire class was staring at him. “I'm fine, I'm fine,” Leo said, forcing himself to relax, smile, and put down the broken pen. “Muscle spasm.”

“Maybe you need a drink of water,” Mrs. Brown said.

Leo nodded and quickly left the classroom, ignoring the other kids' laughter. He headed for the nearest bathroom, collapsed in one of the stalls, and put his head in his hands.

Spider-007: We get that you're scared Leo, but calm down. Lydia will be fine. Even Angie likes your sister, and Angie's a bitch who doesn't like anyone. We'll look after her. I promise.

Zrrkr #1: Charlotte's right. About both things. We'll look after your sister.

Thinking objectively, Leo knew Mr. Osmond and the others were right. Lydia was a ten-year-old girl. Dragging her around with him would put her in far more danger than she'd be in if he left her behind with decent people who'd take care of her.

Future Man 10/16: You're right, Charlotte. I'm scared. I've seen too many people die. If the Change happens, nothing I do will guarantee her, or anyone else's, safety. That terrifies me.

Spider-007: If this Change happens, my entire family, my parents and two brothers, will become Afflicted. I don't like my family most of the time, but they're my family and I don't know what I'll do if they're gone. I'm really hoping this Change doesn't happen. But if it does, I promise I'll make sure your sister is looked after.

Future Man 10/16: Thanks. Charlotte. Make sure you get some kind of offensive skill leveled up before October 16th like back stab or death strike. Concealment is good, but it will only take your Assassin character so far. Angie, make sure you have some kind of defensive ability. Same deal, in reverse.

Zrrkr #1: Noted.

Spider-007: I'll keep that in mind.

Leo returned to class, largely ignoring both his class and the implant meeting. Mr. Osmond continued messaging them about all the things they needed to do to prepare—everything from what stores and warehouses to raid for supplies (post-Change), to the use of odor-concealing chemicals to avoid detection.

By the time lunch came around, Leo felt drained, physically and mentally. In the cafeteria, a bunch of kids, including Brick and his cronies, clustered around one of the tables and appeared to be arm wrestling. They looked up as he entered the cafeteria.