I didn't make it out of the parking lot.

A felt the Probe on my left ram into me, knocking me flat. Then a realized I had heard a snap and a crackling noise.

I crawled over to one of the cars to put it between me and what I thought had been a shot. My heart started racing, and I could feel that burn of adrenaline dumping into my arteries.

All kinds of noises all round me. Snaps of gunfire, crackling of the Probes' zaps and the whoosh of the Wisps' Mana Bolts.

Once I had concealment I pulled the Omaha. I switched off the safety.

I tried to take a deep breath, let it out slowly.

I peeked out around the car low to the ground.

I couldn't see the Probes from this angle but one of the Elder Wisps was hovering over a smoking body.

I checked behind me to make sure no one was sneaking up on me. Okay, nothing there.

Slowly lifted myself up and peeked over the hood.

A pop right in front of my face forced me back down.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I whispered.

I tried to edge to the other end of the car, I did a quick peek over the truck. Nothing.

I took a longer second to look.

Two more bodies were down. The Elder Wisps were hovering about 20ft up, throwing Bolt after Bolt. A few gunshots rang out but didn't seem to be aimed at me.

One of the Probes was down sparking behind a truck, the other Probe was zapping it. Huh?

Oh, it was repairing it. I could see the damage coming undone. Nice.

Movement caught my eye, a man with a rifle of some kind, was shooting up in the air while shuffling back towards the Motel's main building.

He had no clue what the Wisps were, so he was just firing in the direct of the Mana Bolts.

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I didn't see anyone else, firing. A few people ducking out of the way.

The Omaha seemed to raise on its own. I let off a round.

My grip wasn't great and I wasn't prepared for the insane recoil on it.

I got barrel kissed. Right across the nose!

Fuck that smarted. I fell on my butt.

Three pops hit the trunk. Shit.

I wobbled a bit even sitting as I was.

I kept telling myself I could do this. I was practically yelling it into my own mind.

I leaned out from the end of the car and snapped a shot at where he had been.

I missed, but he flinched when it hit the wall beside him.

A Mana Bolt hit right the wall on the other side of that and he paused trying to figure out where to go.

I squeezed the trigger two more times. Down he went.

I scan around, no one else seemed to want to fight. I crouch ran over to the Probes and the Wisps came over to cover me.

Did I feel bad about shooting that guy? Well...yes and no. I had never done more then punch someone before, but this fucker would have killed me.

I was surprisingly okay with this.

My life mattered more to me than his did.

Maybe there was something wrong with me, but that was fine with me.

The damaged Probe looked almost whole again.

"Hey Ryan!"

I looked up toward the voice, it was Greg. He was grinning down at me from the second floor, like he'd won a bet. Probably had.

"Nobody'd care if you take their shit. Free advice. Oh and don't forget to check their ports." He nodded at me, while tapping the side and back of his head and went back in the Barroom.

Huh? I could just take their stuff? Well, I could use more options. Did one of them own a car? Is this a good idea?

Fuck it, when in Rome, stab some Romans, and take their loot!

I cast regrowth on myself to heal up my nose. Wiped the blood off on my robe sleeve.

I stripped them of their guns, and got two rifles and three pistols. I'd figure them out later.

I found these weird crooked chips in their head sockets. No clue if they were worth keeping. I threw those into the backpack. More puzzles to solve.

About $350 in bills, I left the change and their clothes which were singed to hell anyway. But I did find a thick credit card shaped thing on one of them. I heard a honk when I grabbed it.

Turned out one of them did own a car.

It kind of reminded me of my first restore job.

It was an 80's Civic hatchback, great fucking car. It would run forever with minimal maintenance, and was still fun to drive, especially with a few easy to do mods.

Sure this thing only had one headlight and four doors, and was beat to shit, but yeah it was pretty similar. The puke green would have to go though.

The BTC gave a shake,

[Adjusting...]

[ Thorton Galena G240

Model: Basic

Fuel Type: CHOOH2

Top speed: 120

Weight: 2,255

Horsepower: 86 ]

What was CHOOH2? Never heard of it.

Hmm, heavier than my Civic but had about twenty more horsepower. You'd think they could do a little better though, in a world with flying cars.

I was starting to suspect a huge economic gap in this society. I mean, duh, but even the poor have things I would have shanked someone for, back home.

What do the rich have?

I shrugged.

Could be a long time before I could find that out.

I had a big grin on my face though, as I patted my new baby. A frenzied light entering my eyes.

"I love this new world. Free cars."