CHAPTER 4 - Learning the ropes III
A few hours before at an apartment near the fight
“All clear?”
“Yes, Tom made sure it was before calling us inside.”
“Nice, we got lucky there. If we hadn’t gotten help there from that stranger we would be dead by now.”
“Hey Jake, just forget about it, if we ever find him again we will surely repay him. Now we just need to rest, we already did our part and hid all the food. Do you think the other team will be able to get all we planned for without any problems?”
“That’s true, even if we wanted to repay him Tom is the only one who saw his face.Hmmm… Let’s hope the other team doesn't have any casualties and we are prepared to start.”
*Whistle*
“That’s our call Jake, they are there.”
“Yeah, let's see what they got.”
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Jake
“Finally! Jake, Josh, we were waiting for both of you to arrive and follow up our next step, you got something good?” Tom casually welcomes us, it doesn’t seem like he was scared of our well-being.
“What do you mean finally?!! We nearly died to get the food we needed, we got surrounded by hundreds or those abominations of rats and we only survived because we got lucky!” Josh is still on end because of the close call we had and he shouts at Tom. He and Tom argue for a while till Josh calms down a little bit.
“That’s enough guys, we need to talk about what are we gonna do.We managed to gather thirteen people so tell us how it went on your end.” I take the moment of respite between the insults to calm things down and get down to business, we have no time to spare.
“It was marvelous!” Cassandra, who stood on the other side of the room looking through the windows, joined our conversation. The four of us had been together when this happened and we split into two groups to gather as much supplies and people as we could before night came. We have been friends for a long time and decided we have strength in numbers so we chose to make our own survivor group after seeing the casualties that were increasing around us . They went to a hardware store that was close-by as Josh and I went to secure food to the nearest supermarket with high hopes. We were fool enough to go thinking that our quick reasoning would save us from any risky situations that could occur. Hoping that we could create a big enough group to survive on our own.
“We got super lucky and found no monsters in our way there, then we got even more lucky as we got our hands into two working trucks too! We convinced quite a number of people to join our little group and together we filled both trucks and came here running over any rat that stood in our way.”
“Even better! We secured a few important things like a brand new generator!”
Both Cassandra and Tom couldn't contain their excitement as they told us how easy it has been for them. Guess it didn't turn out that bad, when Tom told us to come fast even when he assured us there were no monsters here we thought that maybe they had gotten hurt, guess not.
“Nice to know, we should organize our now bigger group then and prepare to set off tomorrow morning.”
*GRRRRR!!!*
We were just about to leave when we heard the roars. It was so loud and imposing that we all stood still for a second finding understanding in each other's gaze. As if instinctive we all grouped in the windows trying to get a peek at what could possibly be making such a loud and scary sound.
We asked Cassandra where did the roars come from as she was the one looking there before but she hadn’t seen a thing so we waited. After not more than 5 minutes we got to see a group of bulky individuals, five of them exactly. They all were holding onto some type of weapon, each one more imposing than the other and for sure deadly. The monster that seemed to be the leader was riding a wolf the size of a bull and covered in tattoos of all kinds even though I couldn't see much from this distance. The leader said or growled something to the other guys before leaving on his own inside the city.
The 4 guys who stayed behind discussed something before deciding to guard the entrance to the city while hidden, probably wanting to ambush anyone leaving or entering from there. There were two other monsters following them, they seemed sleeker than them as they were thinner while the other four were nothing more than huge balls of muscles and flesh. However, those two seemed to be prisoners or slaves as they only moved when ordered by the bigger ones.
“Do you think they are strong?” Josh didn't seem capable of keeping up with the awkward silence anymore and asked his question, not even sure himself of why he was asking the obvious.
“The question we should be having is more like, how many there are and how much stronger than us they are.” I answer.
“Look! There are some monsters trying to go into the city.” Cassandra gets our attention and all of us watch to see how it all unfolds.
I manage to see eight monsters, they are a new type we haven’t seen. They have the appearance of a jaguar or panther, but all of them are covered in spikes all over their spines just as if they jumped out of someone's imagination. They had a bigger spike at the end of their tales that was flying elegantly through the air as it sliced it with ease, till it didn't…
*shishhh**shishhh*
The two thinner guys that were waiting on the bushes displayed amazing strength and aim as they threw two big rocks at the leading monster. The feline seemed surprised, managing only to doge the first one as the second hit it's head in full. Blood splattered as the rest of the pack took defensive positions at the unknown enemy. The four bulky guys that had been hiding till now jumped with amazing speed and strength at the felines nearest to them.
The monsters didn't have the time to dodge or run and all of them but one were crushed by the smaller group cutting their numbers to four. They four brutes slayed the remaining four prey as they toyed with them, not even telling the two slimmer snipers to help. It was a carnage. The efforts of the poor cats were for nothing as they all died while giving no resistance whatsoever. However, what really gave me the chills was that they took their time to clean the best to the best of their capabilities. They just moved a car on top of the pile of corpses, yeah, but the fact that they were trying to cover up the mess clearly indicated that they were going to wait for more prey. They were guarding the entrance and were intelligent enough to scare all of us to the bones.
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“No! nonononoNONONONO…”
“What is happening Tom? Is everything alright?” I asked Tom as he is the one taking care of keeping track of the monsters outside.
“There is someone trying to enter the city for the fourth time… and this time it is a lone man.”
We had already finished preparing everything for tomorrow and all of us were waiting for night to come to get some sleep, but we couldn't help but tense at the sentence. It’s not the same to see some monsters kill each other as seen them killing humans like us. The first time we all saw such a sight was this evening, and while we were shocked and scared, we were definitely more preoccupied about running for our dear lives before we planned everything or even considered moving again.
“Oh fuck! That guys doesn't even know what he is walking into…” Tom mentions that, but there is no way we will risk our current position shouting at him, we don’t even know if he could hear us, after all we are far away from him.
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“We can only pray that he gets killed fast so that he doesn't need to suffer more than needed by those bastards.” I remember the group just in case that trying to help him is indeed a lost cause. We all know that, yet I turn my head sideways and I see that even then they feel compelled to see it to the end too.’Well, it is the least we can do.’
The human man is nearing the place of the ambush and we can already see the monsters in charge of sniping start to move. We all expect them to one shot him with just stone to head or maybe miss it and land the next one, then we hear it, the first loud crash as the first stone misses the mark and hits the car behind with a bang. Then it all starts, this would be the first time we were going to see a tiny part of what this new world had in store for us humans.
…
“What have we just seen?”
“...” Everyone was just as astonished as I was. Obviously they would be, we have just seen a human, just like us stand up to fight against those huge killing machines on his own.
He was outnumbered.
He was nearly unarmed.
He was taken by surprise.
He was outmatched in every physical aspect.
Yet…he WON!. He may not have killed the monsters or even harmed them in any way, yet he had just fighted them all at the same time. He had slithered his way through all of them dodging,attacking, feinting and even parrying an attack I am pretty sure would have a shot at killing a grown up elephant. Somehow he managed to get away from all that and even had the energy to outclass them even once more and bait their long range attacks to miss him and take the chance to escape.
I have no idea what my companions saw, but what I do know is that I will remember this memory as clear as day with hopes that someday I will be able to do the same and do my part to help fight back against these wretched foes that came from nowhere.
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Leo
“Come at me you bastards!” I taunt the pack of rats that keep stumbling on the things I’d dropped in my way in. They keep chasing me as best as they can but to no avail. Their numbers must be around 20, but they are forced to come at me in pairs at most due to the little space left after my shenanigans.
I knock down the first one with a jab and steal his weapon to shorten the time I stay in here. I wouldn't want any monsters to come from my back and surround me from both sides. I use the little sword the thing was carrying and I kill the other ones as they come at me. I don’t deal with them as fast as I would like as I am still exhausted from the escape and I start to feel anxious again. ‘These guys won’t stop coming!’
After a few slashes and stabs I throw the weapon at my last target. I breathe in some air to recover some stamina and then continue fleeing from the orcs that may be chasing after me. I choose not to take any of the weapons of the guys I just killed and continue just with the knife I took out from my place. It should be enough to kill a few rats and if worst comes to worst I can always depend on my martial arts just as before, I just hope I don't run into any other of those orcs for now anyways.
I pick up the rhythm as I run again, however now I make sure to stay hidden from the sight of anything dangerous. Finally, after half an hour I calm myself as I am not followed nor do I see anything suspicious chasing me. Another half an hour later I find myself at the entrance of my home, coming back alive again, just a little bit more worn down and bruised, but nothing serious.
I make my way inside and I don’t see anything out of place or for that matter anyone. I get inside my apartment too without issues and only after blocking the door again and scout if it is really clear do I relax. I let myself drop onto the couch and reach for the phone in my pocket to see if someone contacted me yet.
“Nothing…” I wasn’t expecting much for now anyways, I will see it again tomorrow. It is already late and I need to eat and get some sleep to recover for tomorrow's outing. I do just that and hope that tomorrow there is nothing out of normal like new monsters spawning everywhere again. ‘Wait, did I just raise a red flag?’
‘Whatever, let's sleep.
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“New day, new life!” I wake up without the sound of any alarm for the first time in a while and go have breakfast after making sure that the blockage of the entrance is still alright.
As I have my fill I take a moment to see if there has been any attempts to contact me at night. Unfortunately there isn’t even one and I can’t help but wonder what happened to my parents and sister. ‘I should continue today by searching for some medicines at a nearby drugstore. There is a high chance that a lot of people will look for all kinds of medicines and similar things after they establish their bases and groups.’
I will take as much as I can in a singular trip and see if the nearby ones aren’t already ransacked. After securing the medicines I should start looking for a lead on my family anyways, I need to make my move if I want to find them. I can’t let them down when they need me the most.
I get myself ready after deciding on what direction to go and start my trip to the nearest drugstore I can remember. It is one that is less than 5 min walking so it should be easy. I get outside carefully looking for any dangerous monsters, but the only thing I can find is silence. It is still early and the sun doesn’t give that much light for now so I tread carefully on the still dark corners of the streets.
As I advance more and more I arrive at my destination without needing to change directions, any kind of fight or even a sighting of a monster, not even a rat!
‘Hmmm. This is too suspicious, yesterday it was all full of chaos and monsters and today there is not even any proof that they have been here other than the blood stains and the ruins or wrecks.’ I can’t help but feel played with as there are really no monsters, however I don’t see any humans either, that could be because they are either scared, careful or sleeping, maybe a little bit of everything. ‘No point in overthinking about it, but I do need to keep an eye out just in case, you never know.’
I enter the shop and make my way silently to the warehouse. The actual shop with things on display and all is all destroyed and I mean destroyed not stolen. It seems as though there has been a lot of chaos and fights here just as in any other place and the people present at the time didn’t have the time or the wits to take anything from here. I open the warehouse and surprisingly it is quite well organized, apart from a few things here and there on the floor there doesn’t seem like any person came here before me. Lucky me!
I know that maybe the me from before this whole doomsday thing I didn’t strike as someone who really paid any attention to anything else other than keeping fit and messing around. However, that would be underestimating my genius. I am not ashamed to say that while I may be no doctor I am totally capable of knowing the basics of treating the more common diseases and what type of medicines or treatments you need for each one.
I may not know a lot of things that will come in handy in the future as technology falls back, but I have something planned regarding that, is just that… Why is not even one person outside! They can’t expect to survive indefinitely just like shut-ins.Anyways, I don’t dare daydream about the ifs and start packing everything I find useful in a few backpacks I came prepared with. I pack everything I can into them and start making my way back with them filled to the brim, yes all four. Can’t help but be a little greedy when there is no danger in sight. Even then, I still keep watch of every single one of the possible directions any orc could come. I am not messing with those guys without a reason anytime soon.
As I am being unbothered in the trips to and from the store I force it and make three! I end up having a fruitful reward stored now separated and hidden in both my flat and the storage room in the underground parking. There they should be safe for a while, at least I won't lose everything if they break into the flat while I am outside. Anyways, I don’t give it too much though for now as I am already planning on how to go about my search for my family.
I have launch and get myself ready to go outside again. I finish getting my equipment ready just as the last time, only missing the metal bar that broke while fighting the orcs. I take one last look to see it someone contacted me while I was busy and find that my father actually sent me a message!
“Glad that you are fine Leo, I am okay too. I am currently with your mom too. We are both fine but we have no idea where your sister is, if you find Leyla let us know please. We are fine but in a bit of a situation and we can’t really do much on our own for now. We are trapped at your mother's office in the middle of the town and we have no way out. However, we are together with a few of her colleagues waiting for our chance, don't worry for us. We have everything we need here but outside is plagued with monsters so we can’t scape.” I feel reassured knowing that much, but I don’t like the fact that Leyla is still missing. However, I continue reading.
“We don't know how you are doing but as we cant leave we want you to prioritize looking for your sister. She is smart but that doesn’t change the fact that she is still not that mature, you already know where she had classes at the moment of this whole disaster. We will try to get to you when we are free to leave our current location.”
“One final thing Leo, we know that you are the best at a lot of things and probably think this is still as easy as any other thing, but please, don’t do anything reckless. Take care and keep in touch with us please.” I finish reading all the texts they sent me and ponder for a bit.
‘I am not happy at all knowing that both of my parents are trapped nearly in the center of the town with monsters everywhere, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are right. I don't have a way to help them as of now and I am not planning on jumping into my death head first without a proper plan. Maybe I wasn’t that fond of my life before, but I have my family at least and now that this starts getting interesting I am not gonna throw it all for nothing, not now nor ever.
What they told me seems to be the reason for the lack of monsters here, it seems they all went deeper into the city looking for more prey for now. However, I am sure they will come back after they get rid of most of the population on that side. I don’t see the humans ending up victorious when going against the monsters, especially the orcs, but I don't think the humans will be eradicated that fast either. They will probably need one or two more days to cull the population to that level. I still have no motivation to go take a peek at any entrance of the city, the orcs I saw before are probably still guarding every escape route. The more I know the more it seems there are more to this ‘apocalypse’ that meets the eye.
I find it interesting but I deem it a topic for another day as I finally leave to look for my little sister. ‘Let’s hope she was lucky and didn’t encounter anything too dangerous.’ I think so as I start roaming the streets in the direction that my sister probably is.