Pretty fucking hard, that’s what.
Turns out overconfidence had a very good shot at being the death of me, had I not spotted the pack of dogs in the distance, I would’ve walked right into them and get mauled to death like that poor loner back in the courtyard. Thankfully they hadn’t seen me yet, but I kept a close eye on that pack using (Sharp Eyes) as I moved.
The streets of the city surrounding the hospital had eroded away, making dirt and gravel the only secure footing aside from fallen steel beams that used to support the massive construction sites. Rubble spread as far as I could see, but as I kept moving I could notice the number of houses going down.
Slowly, steadily. Barely noticeable by the time I reached what looked like a train station of sorts.
A metro?
“....Let’s check just in case.” I reminded myself of another series of games that was fairly similar to STIGMA.
Maybe I would find something cool down there? Maybe a shortcut to the Loner base, if I was lucky.
Nope, all I found down there were the shrieking of mutants and the sounds of something tearing flesh from bone and snacking on what was left. With deep breaths, I slowly backed away to the entrance once again, but stepped on a broken ceramic tile and instantly I knew.
They spotted me.
I ran, as fast as I could, as fast as my legs could manage as I heard the faint rumbling of the earth with each of the mutant’s strides.
[ You have obtained (Sprint Lv. 1) ]
Suddenly my body started to adjust to the motion, my breaths became more even, and my footing was more solid than before. Instead of desperately trying to stumble away, I was keeping a steady pace as I managed to keep myself just far enough from the pair of mutants that they could not reach me with their elongated arms.
But still, I could feel my stamina draining. My lungs were struggling to keep up, and I would get tired before the mutants so I needed to find either a way to get rid of them or hide away from their line of sight long enough to escape.
I was still running across the train tracks, heading as directly as I possibly could towards the task location. Surely someone would be there to help right? No matter, there was still a kilometer and a half of distance left and I could not make it in time before I exhausted myself.
Still running, I focused on my eyes again and used (Sharp Eyes) to try and find a good hiding spot, and successfully found an abandoned train cart just ahead.
It was rusted, but the gates seemed to still be functional, judging by the faint marks on their hinges that indicated recent use. I would need to be quick, so I focused back on running and accelerated as much as I could.
Maybe the mutants thought I was on my last legs? Because they actually did slow down a little to save energy, thinking they would be eating my corpse soon enough.
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Unfortunately for them, I managed to reach the cart and jumped inside in a single bound, slamming my shoulder against the old steel and rushing to my feet, managing to close the side gate just in time as the mutant slammed its ugly face against it.
The impact sent me back for a moment, but I was safe. For now.
Taking a moment to breathe, I stood back up. My shoulder was hurting a little, but it didn’t seem to be broken or dislocated. Maybe the game didn’t use specific limb damage? That would be good to know, shame there was no way of knowing other than first hand experience though.
I took out the PAD and used the screen as a source of light to explore the inside of the cart. There, sitting on a corner of the cart, there was a man.
He was wearing a sports jersey, a leather jacket that looked just as I remembered and a balaclava. It took me a moment to react, as I noticed what was in his hands. A shotgun. Long. Must’ve been a TOZ-34 by the looks of it, and in his other hand was a pair of shotgun shells.
Before he could slam them into the shotgun to fire, I went for a quick-draw with my PM and landed two shots on him. One to the throat and the other slamming into his cheek. The bandit died a quick death, and I was two rounds lighter.
[You have obtained (Fast Draw Lv. 1) ]
“....Fuck, almost scared me to death…” I let out a sigh of relief as I calmly put the PM back on its holster.
Without hesitation, I went for the loot. First of all the shotgun, the bandit had managed to charge the shells but not fire, checking them out….Yup, buckshot. Would’ve demolished me with just one of them. I put the shotgun aside for now and went into his pockets. He wasn’t carrying any bags on him, but he did have four more shells on his jacket, one that looked a little better than my parka.
“Oh well, not like you’re gonna need it anyways.” I shrugged as I undressed the corpse of the man.
There was a small prompt about not being able to actually leave it nude, which made me reconsider my actions for a moment before I realized there truly were some weird people on the internet nowadays. I replaced the parka I was wearing for the leather jacket and threw the hood over my head. Sure, it wouldn’t protect me from bullets, but maybe some scratches would be less likely to tear my skull open.
“Okay. Six shotgun shells. Nine minus two…Seven left of the PM. I think I could take the mutants if I get a good headshot first. Shouldn’t be impossible with them staying right outside.”
While I thought about my strategy I loaded my last round of nine millimeter back into the magazine of the PM that had saved my life twice now and prepared myself for what was to come.
I also checked over the new skill I got, instead of fumbling around or missing the safety as I moved, using (Fast Draw) made the entire motion from taking the pistol from the holster way faster and more comfortable than before. Made me feel a little better, more like a cowboy too, so I decided to add a little flourish to the motion and chuckled at myself.
Yeah, I was going to die to a pair of mutants, but I was having fun!
Leaving the PM on the holster, I made sure to take off the safety from the shotgun and slid the gate open. Half a second later I was staring down the first charging mutant. With the shotgun already in place, all I did was pull the trigger and its entire head was blown off, leaving only a bloody stump and a broken lower jaw behind.
The corpse almost slammed on me, but I managed to side-step. Unfortunately, I did so right into the other mutant’s range of attack. I felt its claws dig into my left shoulder, yeah, now that felt like it had broken. I dropped the shotgun as I was slammed against the floor of the cart, about to get mauled to death, I used (Fast Draw) and slammed the barrel of the PM right into the mutant’s cut.
I unloaded all seven shots at point-blank until the gun clicked and I realized the thing on top of me was truly dead.
A sigh left my mouth before I noticed my vision going blurry. Oops, no good. I pushed the corpse off me and noticed there was visible blood on my shoulder. My blood. I wasn’t disturbed by the sight but maybe it would’ve been a good idea to check through the content warnings before? Yeah, I certainly should’ve.
Instead of worrying about the ethics of the game developers, I searched my bandoleer and took out the bandage. Focusing on it, my body moved on its own as it packed the punctures until the bleeding stopped, covering the wound with a tight bandage that went over the leather jacket.
Man I didn’t have that thing for even one hour and it was already torn.
But oh well, I needed to keep moving.
I checked the corpses but found nothing on them. At least nothing I could take with me. Though….Maybe those claws would be good….
I was no longer bleeding, and I had no hurry, so I just jumped down to the tracks to grab a good rock and hopped back inside to slam the rock against one of the mutant’s hands. Thankfully corpses didn’t just de-spawn so I had all the time in the world to break its bones and tear away two of its claws still in usable form.
Maybe they would fetch some money when sold, or I could just keep them as emergency shivs.
Nonetheless, I looked outside and realized I was actually in a hurry and I had wasted way more time than I wanted. The sun was going down, and night would come soon. I would need to run.
And there was no fighting the nocturnal mutants, so I got to it and continued my sprint down the train tracks. It felt like doing P.E. again, but way more fun when you knew mutants were waiting for a good chance to lounge at you when you least expect it.