“I have personally seen to it that everything is ready for tonight. The bomb is set and the hunter says that all the lures are in position.”
“Good.”
“So, how long do you think it will take for you to get me those contracts?”
“I don’t know precisely. It’s not as if I can go around asking about it ahead of time. But I’m sure it won’t be long. You know how the government is. Most of the time they move slower than a bunch of stone slugs, but in an emergency, things move so fast that no one, not even the politicians themselves, see it coming. Just make sure you’re ready to supply cost and time estimates as soon as the scale of the damage is realized.”
“Are you certain I’ll get the contracts?”
“The most lucrative of them. Naturally, there should be enough work for many.”
“I’ll trust you with that, Wrath.”
----------------------------------------
With the whole SPTer debacle, Lucas lost over six hours in Health Services. Shifts in the mine were eight hours long, so most of Lucas’ time was gone. Still, Lucas tried going down the mines to get a cartload or two of ore turned in, but the foreman wouldn’t allow it. He said Lucas going out would get in the way of the flood of mining carts coming back as the day shift neared its end. Lucas understood the reasoning but was still upset about it. The whole day was a bust that was only going to cost him.
Suddenly with a couple hours to kill, Lucas decided to walk back home. He began by going straight south from Harlem Mining. Technically, it was faster to head west until he hit the wall before following it south, but by going this way, Lucas got to walk along the western edge of Central Park.
Contrary to its name, Central Park was no longer a park. Not a scrap of Manhattan’s limited land area could be wasted, so Central Park was converted into a farm, which produced the vast majority of the city’s food.
In the old days, it would have been impossible for such a small plot of land to supply enough food to feed Manhattan’s population of 3 million, but the virus mutated the crops as well. Now, a field of wheat took only twelve days to grow to maturity and potatoes only took four days longer. Apple trees spent three seasons of the year rapidly growing, producing five full batches of fruit, before withering and dying come winter. And string beans were so large people could fit inside their pods.
Even though Lucas wasn’t allowed to pass through Central Park and even though all the plants were organized into neat rows, walking along the edge of the large farm was the closest he could get to seeing nature’s grandeur.
A part of Lucas wished he could spend the remainder of the day walking a complete loop around the park, but the rest of him knew he should be a bit more practical, so once Lucas reached the end of Central Park, he turned west towards Western Station. Even though he would only be window-shopping, a visit to Western Station would still help Lucas adjust his estimate for how much he needed to save before he could quit his job and begin a new career as a hunter.
Hunters were the brave men and women who protected Manhattan from the mutant beasts that occupied the rest of the world. They surveilled and guarded the city from the bulwark of the 100-foot wall that encircled Manhattan. Sometimes, they hunted down the rare beast within the city that somehow made it past, but more frequently they ventured out beyond the walls, heading off threats before they reached the city and bringing back much-needed resources. Only so much could be produced within the city through farming and mining. Hunters were relied on for everything else.
Every day a portion of the city’s hunters set out through one of the wall’s four gates on various collection missions. These four gates were distributed all around the city and were called the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Gates.
Naturally, the area around the gates saw many hunters passing through, so many businesses peddling associated wares opened up in the vicinity. These neighborhoods of hunter stores and facilities were called Stations.
At first glance, Western Station looked no different than any part of the city, tall buildings with storefronts at ground level and with homes and offices above, but Lucas could easily tell as soon as he arrived.
“Special one day sale on ultra-durable steel fiber gloves, perfect for the beginning hunter. Today, it’s buy one get one free.”
“Available for pre-order, SimTech’s model 780 VR helmet, equipped with the latest AI and Bestiary. Hone your skills to be ready for anything from the complete safety of home for only 10,000 credits. Note: due to limited supply, a hunter’s badge is required to purchase.”
“Come on down to Barry’s Ballistic Bonanza for all your artillery needs. We have every composite and caliber bullet imaginable, from incendiary to armor-piercing, from nano projectile to cannonball. We also have the most complete collection of guns found anywhere in Manhattan. Best of all, if there’s anything you want not in stock, we’ll order it for you for no additional cost.”
“I’ve got pharmaceuticals over here. Don’t want to fall asleep on a long excursion beyond the wall, get yourself some premium stimulants. Guaranteed to work without significantly increasing your sequencing percentage.”
Lucas was like a kid in a candy shop. His eyes scurried across every window on the street, taking in all the latest hardware. He saw impressive Gatling guns so large he doubted he’d be able to lift them, a gleaming armor vest so tough that advertisements claimed that not even a snaggletooth gator could bite through it, and a set of binoculars packed with night vision, thermal imaging, and several other forms of visual sensors. However, those things weren’t what caught Lucas’ eye.
“It’s the latest model,” a salesman told Lucas. Lucas’ adoring gaze as he read the detailed list of features on the box was obvious to anyone who looked. “It’s on sale now. Half off, since a new model comes out next month. It’s just the thing for any aspiring hunter or even a casual who wants to see if they’d have what it takes to survive the monstrous wilderness.”
“I have an old 540 right now,” said Lucas.
“Then you know how amazing SimTech’s Virtual Hunter Training Simulators are,” said the salesman.
Lucas had received his model 540 on his tenth birthday and despite its age, it remained one of Lucas’ prized possessions.
Lucas had spent over a year begging his parents for it. Eventually, they’d given in and gotten it for him in the hopes that experiencing how difficult and dangerous being a hunter was would dissuade their young son from the profession. That was an utter failure.
The simulator had a wide selection of weapons you could use and a variety of mutant beasts you could battle. Everything in the simulator was meant to be as realistic as possible, from simulated kickback to beast behavior compiled from hundreds of recordings.
As a young boy, Lucas spent years struggling against even the easiest beasts on the lowest difficulty settings. But Lucas persevered, and while he still hadn’t beaten the highest settings, which weren’t really possible since everyone fell when enough beasts came at them, the simulator assured Lucas that he’d more than met the skill level needed to pass the Hunter Certification Exam.
Lucas just needed to gather the money necessary to equip himself then pass the exam. Rookie hunters made bad investments so getting a loan to purchase equipment was impossible. Lucas had to do that himself.
“But the 770 has many features your 540 lacks. Other than the latest models of weapons and an updated bestiary, the 770 has an artificial environment setup so you get an understanding of what it’s like fighting in the rain or at night and it has AI teammates so you can get a feel of what it’s like working in a hunter squad,” said the salesman.
“That sounds amazing,” said Lucas.
“It is. Would you like to test it out?” asked the salesman.
“Sure,” Lucas replied, his smile widening as the salesman led him to the display model ready and waiting.
Lucas spent the better part of an hour getting the feel of using the latest most powerful handgun, a .88 Magnum, and the latest laser sharpened, diamond-edged sword to blast and slash several types of mutant beasts. Lucas couldn’t help but marvel at how much larger and more aggressive the Sapphire Jumping Spiders were in the 770, but really, it wasn’t so surprising.
Mutant beasts changed rapidly in the current world. It was only for this reason that SimTech was able to get away releasing new models of the Hunter Training Simulators every six months, and it was only for this reason that some people regularly paid for the update. Being almost ten years old, Lucas’ 540 was extremely dated.
Still, at the end of the hour, Lucas returned the 770’s VR helmet to its shelf, and much to the salesman’s annoyance, told the salesman that he wasn’t interested. As much as Lucas would have liked to, he couldn’t waste his limited funds on training equipment.
After seeing everything he wanted to in Western Station, Lucas headed home. The apartment complex in which he, his mother, and his sister lived was another ten blocks almost directly south. Like Western Station, it too was close to the wall.
The apartment itself was a dilapidated old building. That in and of itself didn’t mean much, most of Manhattan was that way, a great deal of it having been constructed over a century ago, but this one was in particularly poor condition. The building’s mottled grey exterior was a result of decades of air pollution, not paint, the stucco was cracked in dozens of places, and the exterior and hallway lights had been in a state of disrepair since before Lucas’ family had moved in.
The building’s biggest flaw was its location adjacent to the wall. There hadn’t been a significant breach for over a decade, but that didn’t stop people from worrying about it. Furthermore, the occasional monster did make it over or under, and statistics clearly indicated that the closer you lived to the wall, the more likely you were to have an unfortunate incident. Lucas wanted to live further from the wall, but his family couldn’t afford it. Once he became a hunter, that would change and Lucas could move his family where it was safer.
Lucas entered the building then endured the long, slow elevator ride to one of the uppermost floors. From there, he didn’t even need to think as his muscles took over, delivering him to and through the door to his family’s apartment.
“Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.”
Lucas was met by a trio of voices: his mother, his sister, and his best friend, Rachel.
“What? Why do you have that look on your face,” asked Hayley.
“I was just surprised,” said Lucas, shutting his mouth, which had been agape for several seconds. Unlike the last time this occurred, Lucas was genuinely surprised.
“Did you forget it was your birthday?” Rachel teased.
“Of course not, it’s just that it isn’t until tomorrow,” said Lucas.
“Well, we had to do it today,” said Lucas’ mother. “You know I have the night shift tomorrow.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I thought you had the night shift tonight as well,” said Lucas.
“I did, but I wasn’t able to take tomorrow off. Denise is currently on maternity leave and Rob has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, so I made do,” said Lucas’ mother.
“Damn, so the whole day is a bust,” said Lucas.
“What do you mean the day is a bust? Don’t tell me you suddenly don’t like my cooking,” said Lucas’ mother as she retrieved a bright yellow cake from the kitchen.
“I was sequenced today. It took so long that I wasn’t able to get any work done,” Lucas explained.
“Really, how did it go? Did you have any problems?” his mother asked.
“Are you okay?” Hayley asked.
Lucas’ mother and sister were both suddenly extremely interested in this news. It caught Rachel by surprise at first since it should have been considered mundane. Everyone had a sequencing on a yearly basis if not more. Then Rachel realized the reason.
“Everything’s fine. Completely normal,” Lucas lied. His mother would only worry if he admitted his mutations were on the high side. “Would I be here if everything wasn’t?”
Lucas’ mother flinched, and Hayley burst into tears before rushing up and wrapping her arms around him. Lucas said the last statement without even thinking about it. Once he had a chance to reflect on it, the words brought up a number of painful memories for him as well.
Two years ago, Lucas’ father failed a sequencing. One day everything had been normal, Lucas went to school while his father went to work. When Lucas got back, he found his mother curled up on the floor, crying.
She had been told his father had a mental breakdown at work. His genes were sequenced on the spot and he was labeled a SPTer. Since he refused to come quietly, Lucas’ father wasn’t given a final visit with his loved ones before he was executed. Lucas, his mother, and his sister never got a chance to say goodbye.
In a single day, Lucas’ young life was turned upside down. It wasn’t much longer before their family was forced to move from their comfortable townhouse to their current apartment, which despite its squalor and location in a bad neighborhood still required Lucas to drop out of school and get a job to help support them.
“I’m sorry,” Lucas apologized for his careless comment. “It’s just that it’s frustrating.”
“It’s alright,” said Lucas’ mother.
“If you really think today was a bust, I think I have just what you need to turn it around,” said Rachel as she lifted a box wrapped in brightly colored paper, Lucas’ birthday present.
Before his family moved, Rachel had been the girl next door. Lucas didn’t know exactly how they’d become friends; it was before he could remember. To Lucas, Rachel had simply always been there.
Lucas had other friends growing up. He kept up with some of them for a little while after the move, but Lucas had slowly lost contact with them all. It wasn’t anything they did. Even after relocating to this wretched place, they didn’t treat him any differently, but when Lucas was with them, he was always reminded of how much he’d lost.
Gradually, he pushed them all away, but Rachel refused to go. She kept calling and popping up. Lucas hadn’t told her how much that meant to him.
“What is it this time?” Lucas asked as he accepted the box. “Hey, it’s heavy. Don’t tell me it’s another rock.”
“Hmmph. How long are you going to tease me about that? I was six, and I was assured it was a high-tech pet,” Rachel huffed.
“Probably forever. I mean the look on your face when you couldn’t find the ‘hidden’ button that you thought would turn it on, has to be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Lucas.
Living pets were illegal in Manhattan. There was simply too great a chance one of them might mutate and cause a disaster. Instead, people had robotic pets. Some years ago, a despicable twelve-year-old con artist had convinced the six-year-old Rachel that a rock was a robot turtle.
Lucas removed the wrapping paper to find a plain, unmarked cardboard box. “Let’s see what we’ve got-.”
Lucas skipped a breath. He’d opened the box and found a left full armguard. As the name would suggest, a full armguard was a piece of armor that protected an entire arm, beginning at the wrist and extending all the way to the shoulder.
A full armguard was perfect for the fighting style in which Lucas practiced on his simulator. Lucas preferred wielding a sword in one hand and a light gun in the other. Hunters frequently trained in using melee weapons in addition to firearms. While the media portrayed hunters as mighty warriors who risked their lives continuously taking out the fiercest of beasts, most of the time hunters were exterminators clearing out countless weak pests and hacking their way through dense foliage. Simple melee weapons like swords were perfect for those tasks. Especially since, if you fired your guns at every pest, all you’d end up doing is attracting more predatory beasts.
The full armguard was worn on the arm carrying the melee weapon since it was the one that would be getting close to the beasts and needed the extra protection.
This particular armguard had an extra thick and wide plate on the outside of the forearm that could be used as a small shield. Behind which, Lucas also noticed a small hydraulic winch and a grappling hook. On the other side of the wall, hunters frequently had to travel over rough terrain where such a tool could come in handy.
“This metal… Is it tungsten?” Lucas asked. He was still staring down at the arm, not sure if he was in a dream.
“The plates are tungsten carbide. The mesh underneath that holds it all together is graphene,” Rachel explained. “The tungsten is a bit brittle but with the graphene underneath it should absorb impacts okay….”
Rachel droned on for a couple minutes, detailing the various features and why certain design choices were made. Despite an abundance of interest, Lucas had a hard time following. Rachel knew a lot more about hunter equipment since she was training to be an equipment engineer, a creator of the special weapons needed to hunt mutant beasts. Soon, she would be licensed and free to sell her creations.
“But something like this has to be tier 2 hunting gear,” Lucas cut in. Roughly speaking, hunter gear was split into several levels by their power and quality.
Tier 0 goods were the sort of things normal civilians who were worried about a breach bought for defense. They were cheap enough for ordinary people to afford but would be next to worthless in a real fight.
Tier 1 goods were mass produced things made from ordinary materials but were good enough for a beginner hunter. These were the sorts of things Lucas was working hard to save enough to buy.
Tier 2 goods were made of the best ordinary synthetic materials and were favored by veteran hunters whereas tier 3 gear incorporated components from the mutated beasts from beyond the wall. The hides of the mutated beasts were often more robust than anything human technology could currently produce. Tier 3 gear was only used by the elite and was usually custom forged by the best equipment engineers.
“Tier 2 is a bit generous,” said Rachel. “Maybe tier 1.5 gear. Technically, the components qualify as tier 2, but I had to use parts that were going to be discarded because of some minor imperfections.”
“This…. It’s still too much,” said Lucas. He’d been struggling to save for things not nearly as good as this. It was a bit embarrassing to accept something from Rachel, even though she was his oldest friend. ‘How much did she spend on me?’
“I go through all the trouble of making this, and now you reject it. Pssht. Ohh, I get it.” Rachel walked over and punched Lucas in the shoulder. Lucas was briefly stunned by the strength of the blow. Rachel worked with metal all day, so she was ridiculously strong for her size and build. “Let me guess, this is about money. Well you’re damn right it’s about money, it’s about all the money you’ll be making me when you become a bigshot hunter and buy all your equipment from me.”
“Wha-?”
“Then you’ll tell all your hunter friends and comrades, and they’ll get all their stuff from me as well. So you see, really this ‘gift’ is an investment. Besides this didn’t really cost me anything. I used slightly flawed components because my teacher gave me them to use as practice. This ‘masterpiece’ of mine was going to be taken as scrap and melted down. So take it and use it well, it’s the best I can do to help protect you,” said Rachel.
“Okay, it’s a deal. When I’m a bigshot hunter, and you’re a bigshot equipment engineer, I’ll be sure to send plenty of business your way,” said Lucas. He was still a bit embarrassed, but it also felt good to be talking as if both of their dreams were already a done deal.
“Come by the workshop sometime next week so I can adjust the fit,” said Rachel.
“Sure thing,” Lucas agreed. “I’ve been looking forward to finally seeing the place.”
Rachel had been apprenticing there for a while, but Lucas had been preoccupied by work.
“That’s awfully nice, Rachel,” said Lucas’ mother, which surprised Lucas. As demonstrated just that morning, his mother had always discouraged his desire to be a hunter.
“Can I give him my gift now,” Hayley asked her mother, tugging on her mother’s arm with her characteristic exuberance.
“We usually wait for presents until after dinner and cake. But given that it’s already started, I guess we can change things up a bit this year. Go ahead.” Lucas’ mother waved Hayley on.
“This is from me,” said Hayley, depositing a small brown box in the palm of Lucas’ hand. Lucas opened the box. Inside was a small, golden locket in the shape of a heart.
Lucas was repulsed slightly by the girly nature of the locket, but considering his sister was only twelve, and it was a gift. Lucas did his best to hide this.
“Wow, it’s so… shiny. Thank you,” said Lucas.
“I put a picture of me and mom inside, and I want you to carry it with you always. Even when you get to go out as a hunter,” said Hayley in a way that made the request sound more like a demand. Lucas didn’t realize it, but Hayley made the demand because she thought it’d be funny if one of the courageous, battle-hardened hunters carried such an item. Lucas was too distracted by the sentiment that Hayley was okay with him becoming a hunter.
“So, will you keep it with you?” Hayley pressed.
“Of course I will,” Lucas smiled.
“This one is from me. Originally, I was going to give you something else, but after this morning…. Well, there was a change in plans.” Lucas’ mom retrieved another box. It wasn’t as big or heavy as Rachel’s gift and it wasn’t even wrapped. Instead, it was a simple wooden box with a few geometric patterns carved into it.
“This was your grandfather’s. I know you never knew much about him, but your father named you after him,” said Lucas’ mother. “Go ahead open it.”
Lucas did so. Inside was a knife, but it had to be the strangest one he’d ever seen. The entire thing, from the handle to the sheath, was pitch black and had a rough texture akin to wood. Lucas drew the knife. The blade was equally strange, it wasn’t made of metal, but instead out of a milky white substance that seemed to be semi-translucent, it was like you could see a quarter of an inch or so into it, only near the edge of the blade was it possible to see all the way through.
“Your grandfather was an equipment engineer. The hunter who commissioned the knife died before he could pick it up. Your father kept it as a memento,” Lucas’ mother explained before taking in a deep breath in preparation for what she was to do next. “If being a hunter is what you really want, then of course, I’ll support you. I just hope that you’ll be careful and always remember that we will always be here for you.”
Ever since he’d switched to being paid by yield, Lucas couldn’t help but feel a mixture of guilt and uncertainty. Guilt over the apparently added stress he was putting on his loved ones and uncertainty over whether he was really doing the right thing. Is it more important to be true to yourself or true to the ideal your loved ones have of you? Is it okay to relieve the pain within yourself if it simply transferred to your loved ones?
If his mother and sister truly accepted what he was doing, then all that internal conflict was resolved. It was as if a great weight was lifted from Lucas’ shoulders and he was filled with warmth.
“I... I don’t quite know what to say.... I don’t...,” Lucas quietly muttered. He was never the best at voicing his feelings. He was almost as bad at it as he was at expressing a simple thank you. Fortunately, he was spared the trouble of having to do any of that.
“Wow, is that a crocospite tooth blade?” Rachel asked, snatching the knife out of Lucas’ hand. Lucas thought Rachel was interrupting intentionally to spare him, but really, she did it because equipment engineer enthusiasm overwhelmed her ability to read a room.
“I don’t know,” Lucas’ mother answered. “You know everything I know about it.”
“Hmmm… It’s not a crocospite tooth,” said Rachel. She’d already pulled out a material analyzer from her pocket, which in addition to an x-ray and a hardness tester, included a DNA sequencer. The sequencer took a microscopic sample of the mutant beast material and compared it to items in an extensive database. “It’s an incisor from something called a chromodo dragon…. I’ve never heard of that before.”
Rachel scanned through the bestiary entry on her wristcomp. “Oh… that’s why. It’s an old beast.” The SPT virus continuously mutated things. If the knife had belonged to Lucas’ grandfather, it had to be at least 30 to 40 years old, old enough that the creatures had changed enough to require a different name if they hadn’t gone outright extinct.
“Not bad, considering its age…,” Rachel commented, turning away from the entry and back to the knife. “The handle, guard, and sheath are clearly made of ironwood. I’d recognize that blindfolded. It’s durable, so it’ll last a long time, and its springiness will help absorb the impact of blows from affecting the user’s hand.”
“Wait… chromodo dragon, ironwood… you mean that this knife is made out of materials harvested from mutated organisms…. But that’s tier 3 gear.” Lucas’ jaw dropped. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy or scared. Even though it was only a knife, a tier 3 knife had to be worth more than an entire set of tier 1 gear, possibly more than a complete set of tier 2 gear. If anyone saw him with such a thing, he’d become an immediate target. He wasn’t strong enough to defend himself from someone who’d be interested in tier 3 gear.
“It’s more like tier 2 gear. Yes, it’s made out of mutated organism materials, but its old and decades ago the beasts weren’t as potent as now,” Rachel explained, bringing Lucas a lot of relief. “Still, people wouldn’t be able to tell that from just a look, so… perhaps it’s best if you cover it up. When you come by the workshop to fit the armguard, bring the knife. I’ll coat it in metallic paint.”
“I can do that,” Lucas agreed.
“Okay, now that we’re done with that, it’s time we eat,” said Lucas’ mother.
“Cake,” Hayley cheered.
“Not yet, I have some proper food before we get to that,” Lucas’ mother sighed.
They sat down and all enjoyed vegetarian lasagna, meat was a delicacy in this world since it could only be obtained by hunters in the wild. Afterward, they had cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday. Lucas also joined in, proclaiming ‘Happy Birthday to me!’ Since he never knew whether to join in when they were all singing for him, he decided if he were to join in, he might as well go all out.
After they were finished stuffing themselves, they spent a few hours playing cards. With how often Hayley won, Lucas would have sworn his sister was cheating, but he didn’t see how that was possible when she always skipped her turn at dealing.
Finally, well past her bedtime, after Hayley had collapsed at the table, cards in hand, they called it a night. Lucas walked Rachel to the subway station. On his way back, it started to rain, forcing Lucas to run the rest of the way. When he hit the sheets, it felt like he could sleep the whole next day. He didn’t come anywhere close to that.