“What the–” TJ shouted, still looking for whatever the imminent danger was. There was nothing so terrifying as to render him unconscious anywhere nearby, but still his eyes darted in every direction, prepared to defend himself as necessary. When the guards from the door jogged up to Laura without seeming to be particularly worried, TJ figured that he had missed something.
A mere moment later, Laura stirred and rubbed her eyes. She kept each eye firmly closed as she muttered to herself. With a hand from the guards, she stood, eyes still closed without any indication of a willingness to open them.
“I apologize. I was surprised to see you, TJ. When covered by so much blood, I mistook you for something threatening and unfortunately lost my composure. Again, I apologize for my unbecoming display.”
TJ nodded for a second, then the reality of what she’d said settled over him and he connected the dots. With a disbelieving tone, he asked, “Are you a hemophiliac?”
“No,” the woman, with eyes still closed, replied. “I am hemophobic. Hemophilia is a disease of the blood, while hemophobic is the irrational fear of blood.”
“Pretty shitty fear to have in times like these.” TJ mused aloud. “That sucks.”
“Indeed. Now, is there anything I can do for you?”
“Not right now.”
“Very well. If you have anything else to tell me, please do so after you have cleaned yourself.”
“Yeah, sure.” TJ nodded before waving goodbye. Laura’s eyes remained closed, so he added, “I’ll see you later.”
“Goodbye TJ.” Laura turned, and with the blood out of sight, she shrugged off the assisting hands of her guards and strode into the store. She pointedly did not look back as the door closed behind her. As TJ considered where to dry his hides, he fully looked down at himself to consider what he looked like. Dried blood coated his hands and arms up to the elbow, while errant splatters covered his shoulders and chest. His blue jeans sported dark stains all over them, and he was sure that there was no shortage of coagulated blood decorating his face. He’d removed his moccasins, saving them from being covered by the dripping evidence of his butchery, so his bare toes too were mostly red from the scabbing scarlet.
Perhaps working to make his appearance ever more bestial and off-putting, he had pelts draped over his shoulders, skin side up. Though he’d scraped the majority of it off, the veins and flesh that remained stuck to the pelts made for a grisly sight. Most off-putting, though, were the yards of intestines he’d roped around his neck like a macabre scarf. Though each item he carried was bloody and generally unpleasant, TJ carried them exclusively for their utility, and he didn’t regret having them. Even so, he recognized the unpleasant sight he made and, instead of thinking about it any further, he carried the pelts to the house he’d spent the night before in.
As he walked down the highway, the partially setting sun colored the town gold. The trees and forest that were only slightly pushed back by this little pocket of civilization grew all around, their green needles tinted yellow in the light. Some few people moved around in these houses further away from the “center” indicated by the store and the firehouse, but not many. The bulk of the population preferred the safety offered by numbers, and TJ supposed he couldn’t fault them. Though he felt a burning need to continue growing and leveling to keep himself and his son safe, TJ understood the terror of leaving the bounds of this apparent ring of safety. After just a night spent here, he’d worried about what he’d find, about what would threaten him. If he’d never been forced to fight for his life, been pushed to that edge of desperation, changing would be nearly impossible.
And he would ruin that for every single inhabitant of the town. He would feel slightly badly about it, but TJ knew that he wouldn’t regret ripping the slight peace they’d found away from these people to ensure that they could survive. So that he could succeed. Maybe his heart would falter after he saw another die, but the reality was that they would die if none of them forced themselves to level up anyways.
Regardless, that was a concern for tomorrow. For now, TJ merely wanted to find where he could lay his pelts to dry. He settled on the small fence that bordered the house’s porch and laid out the half dozen pelts to dry. When he turned to walk into the house and decide what to do next, he was startled out of his next choice of what to do.
“No.” Stanton said, standing in front of the door.
“What?”
“Get clean, then you can come in.”
TJ opened his mouth to complain or disagree, looked down at himself, and sighed. “Would you guide me to the creek? That’ll be my best bet.”
Stanton grunted, pulled the door closed, and hiked his jacket’s collar up to better cover his neck. The old man walked onward and TJ Appraised him.
Acolyte, 5
“No levels today?”
“One in Druid.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Oh, that means a new Skill!” TJ replied, excitement tinging his voice. “What Skill did you choose?”
Stanton glared at the younger man for a second before sighing and seeming to give up on his closed-lipped act. “Nature’s Advocate.”
TJ cocked his head, waiting for Stanton to provide some explanation. They walked in silence for nearly a minute before TJ gave in. “What does it do?”
“I can make plants grow faster, encourage growth, and help food bearing plants to sprout and bear fruit more quickly.”
“A longer term Skill choice.”
Stanton merely grunted in response and TJ left the topic behind. “How are the hunters? You get them all home safe?”
“Yeah. Couple of them are shaken, and I don’t know if they’ll go out again. They’re all home, though.” Stanton didn’t offer any more details as they walked, and TJ couldn’t bring himself to ask any more. They walked in silence, eventually leaving the road and following a small game trail for a quarter mile through the woods. Before long, the burbling of a creek cut through the quiet sounds of their steps and TJ could see the water. Though he could hear it flowing relatively quickly, there wasn’t much in the creek. What little ran down the hill was, at most, a foot deep with the occasional pool just a couple feet wide.
TJ nearly entered the water right there but thought better of it, instead walking a hundred feet or so further downstream. He stripped down to his boxers, the cool of the end of the day chilling him without making him shiver. His Vitality of 48 was so impactful to such mundane parts of his life that TJ wondered how much his body and mind would change as he continued to progress and evolve. As the frigid water splashed over him and prickled his whole body with gooseflesh, he thought about his mind, the way he’d been as steadfast as he’d been these days. Though he’d gotten through Mari’s death as well as he could, TJ was well aware he was far from unbreakable. Now, though, he was shrugging off mortal wounds and deferring treatment while he bled out.
The increases to his attributes in Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Endurance, as well as even Toughness, were easy enough to wrap his mind around. Sure, eventually he might be able to lift an airplane or outrun a car, but that just felt as if he were Superman or something. But the changes to his mind frightened him. He shrugged off wounds that would have easily sent him into shock five days ago, could that have been a result of his Willpower? If so, what would happen once it got to triple digits? Would he simply buck up and deal with it if someone he loved died? Would he still be considered human after all that? And if these attributes continued to climb, would TJ be swallowed up in the Participant?
For not the first time that day, TJ forced the thought out of his mind. There wasn’t a valley he wouldn’t tread through to get to Junior, and though it terrified him, that included hardening his heart and mind to this terrible world he now lived in. He scrubbed his body all over, flakes of blood falling free as he did so. Disgustingly, his hair was matted with sweat, dirt, and blood, and the water flowed a rusty reddish down his torso as he dunked his whole head again and again.
Eventually, TJ finally felt that he was ready to move along. The sun overhead had fallen enough to nearly be considered setting, and he made a decision as he dunked the intestines he’d brought along again and again in the water.
“Stanton!”
A grunt answered him.
“Do we have water for me to boil these, or could you get me a pot to gather the water myself?”
Instead of answering, the old man shrugged off his jacket for a moment, his mouth worrying at his upper lip and chewing on a particularly long moustache hair. Once the jacket was fully off, TJ saw the small pack Stanton kept under his jacket, and Stanton tossed it over. TJ caught it with a sloshing sound and saw it was one of those backpacks with a water bladder inside.
“Is this safe to drink?”
Stanton nodded and kept his eyes on the surrounding trees. TJ only then realized he could see Suzie set carefully in a makeshift shoulder holster under Stanton’s left arm. Unconcerned, though curious why the man would have it manifested when he could summon it with a thought, he nodded his thanks. Only now that he had so much drinkable water in front of himself, TJ felt how parched his mouth and dry his throat were. Since it was about to be contaminated with unboiled water, TJ indulged in probably too much water. His stomach sloshed with each movement as he bent over to refill the bladder, though from several feet upstream of where he’d just been cleaning himself. Facing the mouth of the bladder downstream, he filled it and screwed the top on. When he stood up, Stanton wasn’t looking at their surroundings any longer, but staring at TJ.
“What?”
“You’ve made a decision.” It wasn’t a question, just strangely astute, as the man usually was.
“Yeah. I’ve got something I need to do tonight. Probably by myself.”
Stanton nodded, merely accepting the statement for what it was. “Don’t do anything stupid, you hear?”
“Yes sir.”
A grunt. “You need me to take your things back to the house for now?”
“No, I’ll walk with you. Probably better for me to talk with Laura before I go anyways.”
Stanton nodded, the Stetson hat covering his eyes as he did so. Then, without another word, he stepped up and out of the path, giving TJ enough space to dress himself as much as he wanted. All his clothes were dripping wet, and TJ considered leaving them off and walking in his skivvies all through the town to let his clothes dry, but modesty and a general sense of shame kept him from doing so. Instead, he shook the jeans hard a couple times, droplets of water flying everywhere before he gave up and put the dripping pants on, though he didn’t put the moccasins on. The wet denim chilled his legs and was painfully uncomfortable, but he had a goal in mind.
Fortunately, TJ’d had the presence of mind not to wear his shirt and jacket while butchering, so they were dry as he pulled them on. Again, he debated wandering around in just his patterned boxers, but the ridiculousness of him wandering around in bare feet, no pants, and a jacket was just too much. Instead, he sloshed uncomfortably up the path until he stood on the highway once again. Stanton followed him as he walked towards the general store, where he was quickly turned away to the firehouse, where he’d find Laura. Before he got there, though, she walked around the corner, her chocolate skin glowing an almost golden color in the light of the setting sun while her hair seemed to flash in the light as well. A gentle smile crossed her face and her eyes were heavy-lidded.
As soon as they met eyes, though, the light drained from Laura and she put on a more severe look.
“How are you, TJ? How can I help you?”
“I just wanted to tell you that I’m going on a hunt tonight, before the sun sets all the way. I don’t need any support, it’ll just be me this time.”