The bike was faster. It was hard to put a finger on how exactly it was faster, but it just was. Certainly, it wasn’t as fast as a car or a motorcycle would be. It felt like he had somehow, perhaps magically, been replaced by a professional biker as he glided down the freeway.
At least, as much as he could with the frequent freeway-wide blockades of wrecked cars. Luckily, the median was generally clear, and he had no trouble getting past the empty cars.
He didn’t stick around long enough to figure out how many of them actually were empty.
The occasional screech of newly twisted wildlife out for his blood did wonders to keep him pedalling as well.
He glanced at his GPS, sweat dripping onto his phone as he coasted to a short stop on the median. Just about halfway. He looked further down the road. And there’s the first exit for the suburbs. With a swipe, he pulled up his stats, and grimaced.
Stamina [10%]
*Warning!* Low Stamina can cause [Exhaustion]!
“10% left in the tank?” he panted. “...Sounds right. But why do they have brackets on exhaustion?”
He poked at the word on the screen in front of him, and his finger went through. Nothing happened. “Well that’s not helpful. System, tell me about ‘[Exhaustion]’.”
He received no response.
“I mean, there’s gotta be some way to get information out of this thing, right? I know what I think exhaustion is, but what do you think it is?” He dismounted from the bike, figuring now was as good a time as any to take a break. He needed one, there hadn’t been any hostile animals in a bit, and he had something in the System to poke at as a distraction.
Setting his bag and the antlers down beside the bike, he eased himself to the ground, taking a moment to appreciate the weather. It was a nice late-summer day, with occasional cloud cover and a cool breeze. He closed his eyes as the wind caressed his sweat-soaked face. How long has it been since I’ve been outside on a day like this, just moving? It must have been… back in highschool, when I was on the tennis team. He shook his head, grinning. Simpler times.
He grabbed out a half-eaten bag of jerky and some water, and gestured at the screen in front of him. “Okay, System. Let’s do this. When I’m done with you, all your secrets will be revealed to me!”
He tore a bite off some jerky. “You, System, are a system. It’s in the name. I worked technical support for years, so I know my way around a system or two. The first step when looking for information is simple.” He gestured grandly with his arms. “System, help.”
A screen appeared in his vision. He nodded sagely. “Gets ‘em every time.”
Error! [Native] attempting to engage [Help] process.
[Native] does not have required permissions to engage [Help] process.
Request denied.
“Almost every time…” He leaned back, swigging his water as he looked at the screen.
“Okay, try this one: System, inspect [Exhaustion]”
Error! [Native] attempting to engage [Inspect] process.
[Native] does not have required permissions to engage [Inspect] process.
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Request denied.
He tossed his hands in the air. “I give up! Keep your secrets. I know what exhaustion is anyway.”
He glanced at his stamina. It was steadily climbing back up. His health, on the other hand, was still hovering around 20%. It had recovered a bit since he’d managed to patch up his shoulder, but health, unsurprisingly, was a slow-to-recover resource.
Hmm… I wonder what the low health condition is? I probably got pretty close to it. I wonder if anyone online has been unlucky enough to find out.
He shook his head. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone right now. Far too risky a position to be in.
His thoughts were interrupted by a somewhat distant sound of metal screeching.
Clambering to his feet, adrenaline pumping, he started loading back up with his bag and antlers, ready to cut his break short and ride away. However, as he stood he spotted the source of the noise, further down the freeway. From the direction he was headed, a car was slowly making its way through the mess on the road, pushing through other cars when necessary.
Frank stood in momentary shock. It hadn’t been that long since he’d been with his coworkers, but it already felt like a lifetime had gone by since he’d seen anyone.
He let his bike drop back to the ground and started waving at the car as it got closer. He saw people in the car waving back at him as they carefully made their way through cars to get to the median.
When they got close, the driver rolled down his window. “Hey! Are you okay? Do you need a lift?”
Frank glanced in the car, noting the passengers, a man and a woman. “Depends on where you’re going. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you’re probably not headed into Vandenilis.”
The man driving barked out a laugh, and the woman beside him looked momentarily panicked. “Hah! No, we just came from there. We were all in the city when… Everything happened,” he said, gesturing broadly. “We all met on the way out. Gonna check on our families. If I were you,” he pointed at Frank, “I wouldn’t go into the city.”
“Why not? Did something happen? …Beyond the usual.”
“Roads are completely blocked. Completely. Now,” he pointed at Frank’s bike, “you might be able to get around on a bike better right now, but there’s still the monsters.”
“Monsters? You mean the altered wildlife?” Frank asked. He jostled the antlers on his back. “I’ve fought a few of those already.”
The man pointed at him. He liked using his hands while he talked. “Some of them, too, but they’re not the worst of it, not at all. It’s those blue bastards you gotta worry about.”
Frank perked up in recognition. The woman in the passenger seat leaned over to the window. “One of those big blue rocks showed up on the west side of the city. The animals that get too close to it go crazy and turn into monsters. There are some really dangerous things on that side of town now.”
“Wait, blue rock? I’ve seen a blue squirrel, but no blue rock and definitely nothing I would call a monster.”
The rear window on his side rolled down, and the last member of the small group leaned out. He was younger than the others, likely a teen. He had a camera in his hand, and angled the screen toward Frank. “We think it’s part of the ‘terraforming’ the notices mentioned. Anything that gets too close gets twisted, and they give off a blue light. If they get away quick enough, it looks like they can avoid a full transformation, but it’s also starting to change the plants and everything near it. Whatever it is, it works fast.”
The teen showed him several pictures of a large glowing blue stone, larger than the cars near it and looking for all the world as if it had always been there, sat in the middle of the street. He scanned through a few blurry photos of beasts, things Frank would call monsters, odd proportions, too many teeth, and dangerous looking appendages. Frank looked through the photos with interest and a distant, dull sense of shock. He realized he was seeing evidence that the world he knew had drawn its last breath, but he also knew it was something he was going to have to process later.
“Huh. Well, I guess my apartment is off my list, but I still have somewhere to go on the eastern edge of the city. That should be safe, right?”
“Well, when we got out of there there were still people fighting against the monsters, so maybe? But also, that’s where the people are, and in an emergency like this? I wouldn’t trust people too far.”
Frank saw as the passengers’ body language tightened up at that. They were trusting each other, but cautiously. I wouldn’t want to be in that car after this.
He just nodded to the man. “Right. I appreciate the warning.”
They didn’t hang around much longer. Frank told them what he’d learned so far about the System, and about Skill books, but there still wasn’t much information to share.
Exchange done, the driver gave him a nod, thunked his car door twice, and pulled off. Frank nodded to the others, who each gave tight nods back.
Finally, stamina recovered, his break was over. He mounted up on the bike and got pedalling with a sigh. “Monster city, here we come.”