CHAPTER 99: Getting to Safety

The smell of blood woke Lamar. Before he even opened his eyes, he checked his body mentally to make sure it wasn’t his own blood. He was quite chilled from the wet clothes mixed with the cold air. Pre-[System] he would have died from hypothermia. Now, his 71 points of Vitality kept his body to a slight shivering.

It was still dark out. He could feel that the sun would be rising soon. There was also a nearby presence where the smell of blood came from.

Lamar slid his right hand to the hilt of his knife before opening his eyes. A person was sitting against another tree, dressed in black leather armor. Around him were the corpses of six Pellicians.

“Boy was it tough finding you,” Nick said, allowing Lamar to relax his grip on the knife. “These guys were following along the river, trying to catch your scent. I took them out quickly so you could get your sleep.”

“What even happened? Did Adam send you to find me?”

“He had me trail you guys before we even knew it was all an illusion. Frankly I had a hard time not bursting out laughing watching you guys waddle through that parking lot. Then the illusion dropped and my respect for you sure increased. You didn’t even see things and you were avoiding them,” Nick chuckled.

“It was more difficult than it looked. I had to trust my instincts more than ever before,” admitted Lamar. “Anyway, was Adam able to take the base? That many of those furry bastards shouldn’t have been enough to drive him off.”

“They probably wouldn’t have been without the five Tier 3s that jumped him.”

“Five?!” Lamar exclaimed. “They didn’t hurt him, did they?”

“I don’t think so. Last I saw, Adam pulled himself away from the fight and went back to the main forces. I think he left us on our own.”

“I can see why if there were five. They could have torn through our army if even one got away from Adam.” Lamar sighed. “Then this was another planned trap by the enemy?”

“Looks that way,” replied Nick.

“Any chance of us getting back to our group?” questioned Lamar.

“Doubtful. You had too many pursuers, and I saw hundreds going after the army. It should be safer to try and sneak back to Jackson, though it might take some time.”

“Damn. I’ve got a twisted knee and broken arm. I won’t be moving quickly. Did any of the soldiers with me make it?”

“No idea. It was chaos and there was a lot of screaming. I was trying to find you,” admitted Nick.

“Should have gone hunter, then you could have tracked me.”

“If I didn’t have stealth I’d be dead, and so would you,” Nick pointed to the corpses.

“Then what now?” asked Lamar.

“First, I need to sleep. I’ve been keeping guard since I found you and I’m tired too. You watch for a few hours so I can nap. Then, I think we need to find a better place to hole up until your knee feels better.”

“Alright. Take a rest next to me against this tree. I won’t be able to move much if enemies show up.”

While Nick got as comfortable as he could, Lamar explored his forearm. One of the bones in it was broken, and the muscle was swollen. His hand didn’t open and close quite right or allow him to get a good grip. He took out a stiff archery brace meant for protecting the inside of his forearm and used that to bind everything tight, trying to give it some stability. Then he put his armored glove overtop.

When he tried pulling back his bow, he found that he only had about 25% of his strength in his stabilizing arm. As long as his shots were quick, he should be able to do decent damage, just not as far as normal. His Strength was at 91 and Agility was at 143. Even with his broken arm and twisted knee, he could probably move faster than pre-[System] Olympic athletes.

Of course, that didn’t bode well against multiple invaders. Fortunately, his combat skills [Steady Shot] and [Quick Release] both worked when using melee weapons, and [Deep Blade] was knife or sword specific.

His bow was about the length of his knees to his neck. It was a very simple design but had been made from an alloy using Testudinate metal. It had a powerful spring back when pulled on it, not requiring all the complex mechanisms of Earth bows.

There were two nice gimmicks to it too. The tips were sharp, allowing it to be used for close combat. A release was also included that would take the tension off the string, practically turning the bow into a short staff. Lamar had even thought of ways to use the tensionless wire as a garrote, since it was tough enough not to break against most material they had encountered so far.

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Lamar checked through his pockets and the light pack he always carried. Taking inventory of what was available he found that with rationing he could make the food and snacks he carried last about three days. Of course, he was sure he’d find animals to hunt as well, but that wouldn’t be reliable if they were fleeing or hiding from invaders.

Water would be a problem, but he had several packs of hydration drinks, essentially sugar and salt water. They didn’t taste as good as a sports drink, but he could last for a few days with them. There was also a water filter, since they wouldn’t have time to boil water, and some sealable plastic bags he could use as waterskins.

With the class of “Hunter” he had spent time to figure out how to set and hide traps, figuring it fit into the class motif. He had taken to carrying a lot of small pieces that could be combined with things found in nature to set up those traps quicker.

Once he finished going through his things and repacking them, he ate another dry ration pack. The shivering from the cold was using up more of his energy than he was comfortable with, but there wasn’t much to do about it. Instead, he focused on the noise around him, trying to sense anything approaching them.

Every five minutes he would use the skills [Notice Sign] and [Evidence]. Those skills weren’t especially helpful here since they were for looking for clues to something on physical objects, not in using your sensing on the unknown. [Notice Sign] allowed him to track people or animals, and find traces caused by creatures. [Evidence] allowed him to see if things had been intentionally tampered with, such as when hiding traps. Both fit his kit nicely, even if they seemed like common skills, but he would still like to get something to enhance his senses.

“Hear that, [System]? I’d like a skill to help me notice creatures approaching.”

After a minute with no response, he grunted.

“I bet it’d have let Adam know,” he complained, knowing how ridiculous it was. Especially considering Adam couldn’t even get skills or a class.

***

Nick and Lamar traveled through the trees following the river south. The plan for now was to try and find a town. They were far enough away from Nashville that people could still be living there undisturbed by the invaders. At the very least finding a travel map would be helpful. Plus, a town meant main roads that they could use to figure out where they were and possibly to get back to Jackson.

At first Nick tried to support Lamar to help with his knee. It wasn’t a problem with his 117 in Strength, but moving was very awkward. They settled on cutting a large branch from a tree for Lamar to use as a walking stick. He hobbled along slowly.

Nick attempted not to let his annoyance at the slow speed show, they both knew it wasn’t Lamars fault, but every hour saw him getting twitchier. Lamar suggested Nick patrol around him in circles in stealth. It made Lamar feel alone, but it was better than a jumpy and irritated travel companion. Besides, moving this slowly, Lamar practiced hiding signs of his passing while also using [Notice Signs] to practice his hunting skills.

After about two hours of moving through the woods, with the water always in sight, Nick popped up.

“I found a maintenance trail. It leads out and to a road. We can stay in the woods and head south with the road in view.”

Lamar nodded at that. He had become accustomed to moving like this, and his speed was a little better. Fortunately, his stamina was high enough from a combination of stats and the challenges of the last few months that he could probably keep going without aggravating his knee for a few more hours.

They followed the maintenance trail to a country road. That led them to a better maintained road until they could see the outskirts of a town. They felt relief when they came to a gas station. Nick chuckled at the state of the small building.

“It feels like a horror movie. No people, a few rusting cars in the back, shelves still stocked but covered in dust.”

“Do you think there are any people around here? Are we sure there isn’t an invader base here?” asked Lamar.

“According to the maps, we’re on the outside of Thompson’s Station. If we go straight west, we can hit route 40 and follow it to Jackson. It’s probably too small for the invaders to set a base. Franklin, a bit North would make more sense. Maybe we can head into the town to check for people.”

Then Nick blew on the dust while picking out the snack bars and drinks that should still be good after two months.

“I’d like to hit up a medical store or pharmacy. Get a brace for my knee. It feels like the swelling is already reducing, even with the use. Making sure it doesn’t get worse would be good. Also, one of those soft casts for my forearm. I wouldn’t say no to some painkillers. Do you think the [System] has healing potions? I’d sure like to get one right about now.”

“I’ve wondered that too. We have healing magic, which is rather convenient. It sure would be nice to have alchemy potions, magic scrolls, runes to enhance stuff, and some spatial storage,” Nick added as he pulled out some plastic shopping bags from behind the counter to start stuffing food into.

“Spatial storage sure would be nice. Maybe buy an inventory skill through the menu. You have those, [System]?” Lamar asked, looking to the sky and waiting. Again, there was no response. “Oh well. Even if they exist, we have no way of learning or getting them yet. We’ll just need to be thorough in looting the invaders until we find some.”

“As long as they are better geared than goblins,” Nick said, causing them both to laugh.

***

The two headed into the town. Nick spent most of the time stealthed, but stuck closer to Lamar, who didn’t have as much cover as he walked along the roads. He would pop out of stealth every now and then to chat and keep Lamar from feeling too isolated.

As they expected, the town was deserted of people. Lamar didn’t have the energy to do much exploring, and Nick was just as tired. They spent time in a pharmacy, looting drugs that seemed useful, and trying to treat Lamar’s injuries.

Once they were done there, they headed to a sports shop to grab some warm clothes. Lamar’s never really dried out, so a change of clothes was welcome. He needed Nick’s help to get out of his armor and hang it up. Then they found an isolated room that didn’t let any cold in to use for sleep.

“Think we need to stand guard,” Nick asked.

“I don’t have it in me. Looking at the dirt on the roads and dust everywhere, this place hasn’t been visited in a while. If they show, then they’re specifically following us. I’ll set up some alarm traps on the doors to give us warning if anything comes after us,” Lamar said.

They both put on warm fresh clothes, wrapped themselves up in some camping blankets, then went to sleep.