“Okay. Nobody’s in the house. We have both the truck and the RV. There’s one thing, though.” Kendall said.
”Like what?”
”I’m a terrible driver.” Kendall said. Amy shrugged.
“Not that big of a deal. I can drive. Got my license last month.” She said. Kendall nodded. He had the option to get his, but never ended up taking it. He kinda wished he had practiced now, but even if he had tried, it would’ve taken tons of begging of his caretakers. He wasn’t about to do that.
“Alright, then. It was already hooked up when we got here, so we’re good there. What about the interstate? All those cars got destroyed.”
”Well, yeah, but they didn’t have a turret.” Kendall said. Amy shrugged and walked around to the driver side door, getting in. Kendall got in the back and placed his turret on top of two planks, giving it enough clearance to fire in front of the truck. Now that it was level two, the range and rate of fire had increased, and it now had four barrels. The damage seemed to be the same, but now it shot four rounds per second. Not only that, but the barrels now spun. Kendall tested the bed of the truck, bouncing on it a second. It was sturdy enough to hold the already relatively light turret, so Kendall went ahead and got into the passenger seat. He went ahead and fortified the turret, and unintentionally also fortified the truck.
Metal plates emerged from the door, covering the majority of each and making enough space between them for the doors to open. A bumper grew out of the front, alongside more plating across the rear of the truck. It was smooth, hard plating. Kendall could also feel that the glass was denser than before. He wondered if Repair would refill the gas tank or not. He doubted it
”Huh. I thought it only worked on your creations.” Amy said. Kendall shrugged.
”I guess not. But, anyways. Since I told you about how crafting would help, right now, we should find somewhere secure and park it there for now. Any ideas?” Kendall asked. Amy considered it.
”A scrapyard would work, and give you a lot to work with. Right?” Amy asked. Kendall nodded, thinking about the missing signs and such.
“You remember, on the way to town, when we saw all those signs missing and no metal? Like, no metal at all?” Kendall asked. Amy nodded.
”I wonder if something took it all.” Kendall thought aloud. A grin spread across his face.
”Yeah, a scrapyard sounds great. Let’s go there.” He said.
”Oooh. You think we’re going to fight another boss or something.” Amy remarked. Kendall nodded.
“If we kill it, we can stop risking our lives. For a little bit, anyways. Not to mention the fact I’ll get a bunch of materials if we go, and then we both get stronger.” Kendall said. Amy sighed and leaned back in her seat.
”I trust you way too much.” She grumbled under her breath. “Alright. Where’s this scrapyard at?”
…
”Turn right here.” Kendall said, watching as the entrance entered their vision. He watched as they pulled off to the side of the road. The truck got shut off and they both got out. Amy’s staff hummed as she got out, with Kendall aiming the shotgun in the scrapyard. They could hear steps, but couldn’t see what made them. Kendall moved in and behind a car, with Amy swiftly behind him while they both continued down the line of crushed, amalgamated cars whilst using them as cover. Nothing in sight, but some metal tearing was heard in the background.
As they moved forward, they ran past two cars and behind a small shack. Kendall saw a wing folded up on the side of something get shaken out to the side then retract. Was it a bird?
He raised his hand to Amy and they both stopped. He told her to wait in their made-up sign language, then sprinted out into the middle of the yard and placed his turret. Something screeched, like an eagle, before a gigantic hawk soared into the sky. Bullets loaded into its body, but seemingly did nothing as it swooped down and attempted to grab the turret. Kendall grabbed his shotgun and fired a shell into its leg, which surprisingly bounced off of it. It did prevent it from grabbing the turret, but instead of the turret, it swooped down and went straight for Kendall.
He dove in between two cars, from which the bird ripped the roofs off of. After avoiding a good bit of swooping, he looked up and fired as many shells as he could, watching as lightning from the sky crackled in a black cloud before striking the bird. It cawed and spread its wings, seemingly conducting it and shooting it towards the turret. Pieces flew left and right, leaving Kendall with no other choice but to stay in between these two cars and try not to die. After looking up, he saw that the gigantic bird circled him. A more intense hum came from Amy’s area, from which a beam of fire shot out at lightning speed and set the bird aflame. It exploded on the bird, sending out a shockwave that knocked Kendall down.
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It dove and used the wind to put the fire out, rendering it unharmed. Kendall spawned another turret and fortified it, then waiting for the bird to start the swooped before waving Amy out of the scrapyard and leaving his turret to die. It would be forever remembered.
“What happened to ‘Oh, we can beat it’?” Amy asked. Kendall grumbled and got into the passenger side, leaving his turret to distract the bird while they sped off. It failed to notice at all, and returned to messing about with different metals. Kendall saw it eat a chunk of a car and spit the inside out, only eating the frame.
“Whoa! Did it hit you?” She asked. Kendall looked down, confused until he felt blood dribbling from his mouth. He did hit the ground pretty hard earlier. He didn’t know exactly how it got in his mouth, though. Unless it punctured his lungs, or throat. That would be a problem. He felt fine, so he felt around in his mouth. It stung when he went across his cheek, and he felt the blood flowing. He’d bitten his cheek so hard it ripped some of it off.
”It’s fine. I just bit my cheek a little hard.” Kendall searched for the missing skin in his mouth and then spat it out of the window. It would stop bleeding soon enough, so all he really had to do was keep his tongue over it for the time being. It stung a lot, though.
“Well. Lesson learned, I guess.” Amy said. Kendall nodded. He couldn’t speak at the moment, due to his tongue over his cheek.
”We need to stop for gas. We’ll look at some stuff there for you.” Amy said. Kendall nodded. He should’ve considered his rank and how powerful boss monsters could get. He began wondering if, as he went on and got stronger, if the monsters would also grow stronger. All the bosses he’s yet to kill and are still alive, they’d grow by killing humans. That’s how that bird got so strong, probably. It preyed on cars and accidentally killed people inside of them without realizing it. Then again, it probably didn’t care about humans. Only metal.
That giant goblin was just a stronger goblin. One could only wonder what a boss level one could do.
Kendall looked ahead, at the horizon. It looked nice. The colors blended well. It reminded him of autumn, the yellow and orange colors plus a tad bit of red.
“You think we’ll survive?” Amy suddenly asked. Kendall waited a second, then shrugged.
”I don’t know if we will. It just seems so unlikely that me and you will win against these things. Look at them. It redirected lightning. We can’t burn them. We can’t freeze them yet. God knows what else it can do, aside from what it showed us. I mean… what can you do?” She said. Kendall shook his head. For a brief moment, he removed his tongue from his cheek.
“That’s why we have to get better.” He said. Amy shrugged.
”Getting more and more powerful only leads to corruption. That’s why I’d rather hide instead of becoming all-powerful, like what you want to do.”
He removed his tongue again. “I want to defend my world. Lust for power is caused by corruption and a wish to be able to do anything. Need for power is caused when you may die if you don’t have it.” Amy just looked forward. He didn’t know if she didn't want to say more or if she was just mad he had a point, but either way, she stopped talking. Kendall knew that the System was here for a reason. He also knew it would be beyond him to try and gain power to what it allows. He didn’t know if he could break it. If need be, he would try to.
They pulled into the gas station sliding next to a pump. Luckily, it still somehow worked, and they used the cash in the register to get it to work. As it pumped, a car drove past the gas station. It looked to be going 90 miles per hour, flying down the interstate. Kendall heard an explosion not too long after. The bird screeched, announcing its victory over the car. Kendall sighed as the ice he had applied to his mouth rested on his cheek. It hurt.
“We have a lot left over from the first gas station, but I feel like taking more would be a better thing to do.” Amy said. Kendall nodded and began taking a bunch of different food items and placing them in bags, alongside drinks inside of a cooler. He’d probably just throw them in the backseat.
As he carried them out, he considered how everything was going so far. Rank 3. Most of his skills were undeveloped, but it was to be expected. He’s only rank three, after all. He wishes to progress faster, but knew it would inevitable take a while to get the power he expected to need to fight some of the things he’d need to.
He turned back and grabbed the cooler from Amy, placing it in the truck’s backseat. They both went back inside and collected a bit more, then placed it in the backseat and waiting in the truck for the gas to finish pumping.
”Kendall, why didn’t you talk to people?”
”I’m not really interested in what they’re interested in.” He said.
“Just books? Really?” She asked, genuinely surprised. Kendall didn’t understand people.
”Yes, just books. Is it really all that surprising?” Kendall asked. She shook her head.
”Yeah, it is. No social media. No games. Just… reading. I wouldn’t be able to do it.” She said.
”It’s easier than you think.”
“I doubt it. Just looking at words doesn’t sound like entertainment to me.” She remarked.
”It’s a bit more than that, but I guess it entertains me.” He remarked back.
”What makes it so weird is that you’re personable. People can talk to you and understand what you’re saying and talk back. Most of the smart kids are into weird stuff.”
”I know.” Kendall sighed.
”You know a lot.”
”I pay attention a lot. It’s not that difficult.”
”You sound like a snob.” She said sharply.
”I’m surprised you know what that word means.” Kendall said back. They exchanged glares for a second before Kendall receded to look at the gas gauge.
“It’s full. We can go now.” He said. Amy disconnected it and got in, heading onto the interstate again. The sun slowly began setting, leaving them only with the rumbling of the engine and darkness ahead.