Chapter 41

First High-Level Boss

“You knew a High-Level Boss was out there and you didn't say anything!” Leo shouted at Mr. Osmond.

“Yes. It's one of the many issues going on at the moment. From what you told me about the last time around, I believed this could wait until we resolved more urgent matters. You said you didn't see any High-Level Bosses during the first week of the Change, and that you believed it took them time to equilibrate and get used to their new forms.”

“Correct. All the more reason to kill it now before we're fucked!” Leo stood up. “Everyone with a decent gun or attack skill, I need you moving! I can't believe I had to hear about this from Liam.”

For a long moment, the group stared at each other.

“Come on people,” Gretchen said in a no-nonsense voice. “Let's get moving.”

***

“Come on, Jason,” Charlotte said, pulling him from the car. “As an Assassin, I can keep you concealed as long as I'm touching you. You're a Gunslinger?”

Jason nodded. In addition to Leo's gun, he'd gotten a decent sniping rifle. “I can hit anything, as long as it's in range and it's not moving too unpredictably.”

“Good,” Charlotte responded. “We're going to find you a sniping spot.”

After getting Jason to a nearby rooftop that was concealed and had a good view of the schoolhouse, Charlotte crept toward the school, acutely aware of what Leo had said about never assuming the monsters couldn't see you. She suspected they had a lot of different senses, so it was impossible to block all of them. But this High-Level Boss appeared to be disoriented, still equilibrating. Which was why Charlotte and the others needed to kill it now, as opposed to later.

The first team that encountered this thing had tried to take it out. But the only thing their attacks did was piss it off. After throwing a tree and several cars at them, killing two of their people, it seemed to forget about them.

Charlotte's first thought had been to inform their leaders of the situation, but apparently, their leaders were in some ultra-important meeting and couldn't be bothered. So Angie had drafted her, Jason, and Liam, and they took off with Mr. Al tagging along.

Charlotte's skills were mostly concealment. Leo had made her get Death-Strike, which worked against more ordinary Afflicted, but she was certain this skill was worthless against something as big and powerful as a High-Level Boss. Angie believed if she could get close enough, she could kill it with one of her Berserker skills. Charlotte really hoped Angie was right.

But for now, she had to figure out how to get the two test tubes full of God knew what inside this monster. She looked through the school playground for something she could use. A freshly killed animal for example. She could put the test tubes inside it, kind of like using hamburger to get a dog to take its medication.

No such luck. She found an old plastic doll, made to look like a baby. It would have to do. She created an opening in the mostly hollow doll's cracked plastic. Then, she pulled out Mr. Al's baggies and, careful not to touch the test tubes, opened them, dropping the test tubes into the doll. Next, with a grimace, she pricked her index finger with a knife and made sure to bleed on the doll so the doll would smell like blood.

Charlotte returned to the electric car. “I need Liam to fly me above the Boss so I can deliver the package.”

Liam looked nervous. “You'll keep me concealed, right?”

Charlotte nodded. “Don't worry, it'll be fine.” She hoped.

Liam got out of the car. Charlotte clung to him as the wind picked up around them and they shot into the air. She motioned for him to carry her over to the monster, then she dropped the doll baby and nudged Liam to get them out of there.

Once she released the doll and was no longer touching it, the doll became visible. A tentacle snagged the moving object, played with the doll like a cat with a new toy for a few seconds, then pulled the doll into one of its mouths. Success.

Liam took Charlotte back to the car and picked up Angie.

During the minute since they'd delivered the package, the monster had gone from camouflaged to alternating bright red and white, colors like a police siren or a giant glowing candy cane. Angie waited until Liam flew her over the center of the Boss and let go of him, dropping down on the monster like a thunderbolt.

As Angie fell through the air, she activated four skills at the same time: Berserk Fury, which would multiply her considerable strength by half, Raging Fury made her sword enlarge, catch fire, and do far more damage than it would otherwise, Thousand Strike Fury allowed her (for a short time) to swing her sword thirty times a second. And finally, Raging Shield, which created a burning, electrical force field around her so she'd damage the monster just by landing on it.

There was a ripple as she slammed down on top of the monster, bouncing on its boneless form like she'd jumped on a pool of gelatin.

She attacked, the world seeming to move very slowly as she hacked at the monster again and again with her flaming sword, cutting into its tentacles and body. The monster was largely unresponsive. For every tentacle she cut, two more seemed to take their place. The monster kept reaching for her, more curious than anything else.

After an eternity of hacking away at the thing, her skills began to wear off. This was bad. It occurred to her that a Berserker had no skills for running. She kept fighting.

The monster seemed to speed up, but Angie knew it was herself slowing down. It wrapped its tentacles around her and raised her in the air.

There were shots, and she dropped over twenty feet to the ground as the tentacles holding her up were severed by Jason's bullets. She felt her powers being augmented. Not much use since she was in cooldown

Charlotte grabbed Angie and dragged her away.

Someone, (Leo?) shouted. “NOW! KILL IT NOW!”

***

There was the thunderous sound of many people shooting at the same time, waves of heat from flame attacks, crackling electricity from electrical attacks, and the deafening scream from the candy-cane-colored, High-Level Boss monster as it was hit with guns and a bunch of special skill attacks.

Angie, completely exhausted, groaned from behind one of the trucks.

The Boss stood up, now resembling a strangely shaped burning candy cane.

“Air mages! Focus on keeping it grounded! We'll never kill it if it flies away!” Leo shouted.

“How am I supposed to do that?” Liam shouted back from behind a wrecked truck, trying to avoid flying tentacles.

“Pull the air out from under it!”

“How?”

Leo threw himself to the side as a chunk of brick wall flew by his head. He heard screams from the wounded.

Leo's implant was filled with distress messages and implant wearers in cooldown.

“Everyone not in cooldown! Hit it again!” he shouted.

More shooting. More lightning bolts and fireballs. The giant burning candy-cane-shaped Boss seemed to settle into itself until there was nothing left but a pile of red and white goo five feet tall and ten feet wide.

Then there was a moment of calm. The shooting had stopped. The Boss was a burning pile of goo next to the ruins of a school. Odd that the burning candy cane Boss smelled more like burnt squid than sugar candy.

Leo stormed over to where Angie was standing, staring at the Boss's corpse in shock. “What the fuck did you think you were doing!” he shouted, throwing a punch at Angie.

Angie sidestepped the punch. “Screw you, Leo. You were at your stupid meeting. I was trying to help.”

Leo looked over at the small group in front of him. “Just the five of you? Were you trying to commit suicide?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“That's ironic, coming from him,” someone behind him, (Frank?) said quietly with a chuckle.

“After everything I told you, I can't believe you'd do something this stupid.”

“Yeah. Me either.” Liam pointed at Angie. “It's her fault.”

“Shut up,” Angie responded.

After a brief staring contest, Leo turned away. They were all tired and angry. Leo was wrong to take out his frustrations on them. They were just teenagers acting like teenagers. Even Mr. Al (somehow okay, despite not moving from the back seat of the car), was kind of a child at heart, and a druggie one at that.

Leo activated his Group Heal, and then walked over to the pile of goo and climbed it, like walking onto a pile of gelatinous wet squid. He stomped over to the highest part of the pile. “High-Level Bosses can be defeated!” Leo shouted. “And this is proof!”

Instead of the hoped-for cheer, someone shouted. “Are you sure it's dead? That eye's blinking.”

Leo looked down at the red eyeball next to his foot staring up at him. Was it blinking? He stomped on the eyeball, causing it to burst. “Just a reflex action.” He hoped.

Yes, the High-Level Boss is dead. Good work, Leo. Imp told him

Thank God. He'd gained 1200 Demon Tears.

"I got over 3000 Demon Tears," Angie called out. "Sweet!"

“Could someone take a picture?" Leo asked. "Then throw another fireball at it and let's get the fuck out of here.”

“First, we have something to discuss,” Frank said. “Who's in charge of this nuthouse? because Leo here has the leadership skills of a moldy cabbage.”

“Hey, that's not fair,” Angie said. “A non-moldy cabbage, at least.”

“So, are you volunteering?” Leo asked, looking down on Frank, and the crowd of some fifty people surrounding Frank, from his vantage point on the late Boss's body.

“Not necessarily,” Frank said. “But we need to get this sorted out. You may be future boy and all, but you can't lead shit.”

Gretchen stepped forward and stared up at Leo. “What I think Frank is trying to say is we greatly appreciate the effort and risk you have gone through to warn and prepare us for this apocalyptic event. But you've been charging off when you should have been delegating, and aside from yelling at us to come out here and kill that thing, you did nothing to organize or coordinate the attacks. How many forces have you led, Leo?”

Leo sighed and looked away. “You're right, Gretchen, Frank. I've never led anything in my life. I was always the one who got ordered around, and I spent most of my time on my own. I hope all of you will continue to listen to my advice, but others are better qualified than I am to lead.”

“I nominate Gretchen,” Mr. Osmond said from the back of the crowd. “I believe she is the best suited for the job.”

***

“I second the nomination,” Trent called out near the front of the crowd. He looked exhausted.

“What is your implant character?” The elderly ex-security guard, Frank, asked.

Gretchen held up her arm and made her wrist glow violet. “Crusader/Rare. It's like Knight, but comes with enhanced verbal persuasion skills. I'd hoped to use it to improve church attendance, but now the skills work. It's a little scary.”

“I third the nomination,” someone else said.

“It figures her church is going to vote for her,” Frank grumbled. “Does she have combat experience?”

“I suppose your managing a group of minimum-wage security guards might constitute combat experience,” Mr. Osmond said. “If you want to run against her, Frank, step on up.”

People laughed.

“I've seen more action on my job than you might think,” Frank said, face getting red. “I also saw plenty of action getting to the stadium.”

Leo spotted several of the Afflicted heading their way. Shank's whirling blades swooped down and took off their heads. Shank stood at the periphery of the crowd, keeping watch.

Leo got down from his perch on the dead Boss, his gunk-covered shoes making sucking noises. “Guys. We're attracting the Afflicted, and it's getting dark. This might not be the best time to hold an election.”

“I propose we agree on Gretchen as a temporary leader,” Mr. Osmond said, “since she's been doing that anyway, and we can discuss alternatives and a possible election in the future.”

“Fine, whatever,” Frank said. “Let's get out of here.”

***

Five minutes later, Leo was sitting next to Mr. Osmond in the back of one of the pickups returning to the stadium. It was oddly peaceful watching the road go by in the ruins of what had once been a city.

“So, Mr. Osmond, I didn't know you and Gretchen were friends,” Leo said.

“You smell like squid,” Mr. Osmond responded, referring to the stuff Leo had been standing in.

“Sorry.”

Teach: Leo. What were you talking about earlier? You said you know how the School's Out creators intended for us to win the game?

Future Man 10/16: I do. And I know how to save the human race. It won't be easy. Fucking aliens made sure there were no easy answers. But it's possible. Before I tell you more, I need to know if I can trust you.

Teach: Trust is a strong word. Trust me with your wallet? Probably not.

Future Man 10/16: Trust you with the fate of the fucking world!

Teach: I don't know.

Leo sighed and put his head in his hands, feeling tired and frightened.

Future Man 10/16: That sounded honest, at least. It'll have to do. You see, what the School's Out programmers planned, and I'd bet my life on this, is...

***

Back in the stadium, Leo realized he was so exhausted he could barely stand. The previous nights, with little to no sleep, were catching up with him. After his intense discussion with Mr. Osmond, he'd learned from Howie, Angie's friend and cook, that Lydia was fine and helping out the kitchen staff. Leo decided to lie down and rest his eyes for a while, before helping out the clinic with his Group Heal skill.

He found an unused corner in one of the offices and lay down. That was the last he knew for quite some time.

***

Pastor 11:6: I neither needed nor wanted your support earlier, yet you gave it. I'm guessing you want something from me, Mr. Osmond? or should I call you “The Professor”?

Mr. Osmond choked on his coffee and broke into a coughing fit. It was a long time before he recovered.

Teach: Gretchen! Please! Don't ever suggest to anyone that I'm the Professor! Far too many people want to kill him.

Pastor 11:6: So you're not the Professor?

Teach: Though the two of us are similar, I like to think the Professor lives an average, unremarkable life. He's a man who could use his knowledge and contacts to make himself rich but doesn't, in part because if he does, it's only a matter of time until he's found out and killed.

Pastor 11:6: Like short selling a bunch of stock?

Teach: It was a necessary risk, what with the world ending in less than a month.

Pastor 11:6: Indeed. I didn't want to take charge, but I haven't met anyone better suited for the job, so it seems I have little choice.

Teach: I nominated you because I believe our skill sets complement each other. I want to be your behind-the-scenes man. The one who provides useful intel and suggestions to help you run this place in a smooth, orderly manner. I believe we should form an alliance.

Pastor 11:6: I'll take your offer under consideration.

Teach: I'd been hoping Leo was exaggerating the danger of these High-Level Bosses. If anything, he was understating things. If that being we just fought had been aware of its surroundings or done anything to fight back, it would have killed us all. We need to be better prepared for next time.

Pastor 11:6: Did you tell Leo that by mobilizing our strongest fighters to take out that thing, we sacrificed two busloads of refugees we were unable to defend?

Teach: No. And I don't intend to. Leo is far too emotionally invested in things and it would only upset him. Also, it was the right call. If that thing had come after us, a lot more people would have died. It's up to a leader to make the hard choices.

Pastor 11:6: God help us all.