Tom stood on shaking legs, shards of glass crunching beneath his shoes as he walked up his blown out window and stared into the front yard. The only proof of the insane light show he had just witnessed was the broken window. Birds were chirping and flitting about and squirrels were moving down from their trees to scrounge once more, as if nothing had happened.
There were only three homes close his, all across the street, and all looked to have fared no better from what Tom could see, with broken windows and in one case, the front door had somehow bounced free of its hinges and was hanging at an awkward angle as a man tried to right it on the house at the far end of the road.
“At least I won't be the only one cleaning glass out of the carpet.” He eyed the various shards scattered across his floor and the broken remains of plates in his kitchen.
Sighing as he went, Tom leaned his rifle in the corner next to the kitchen and went to fish out a dustpan from the laundry room.
Beyond the wild light show and shaking, it didn't seem that anything else had changed. The last text box had stated something about restricting actions but who knew what that meant. He certainly didn't feel different.
With a shrug, he put it out of his mind for the moment and tidied up the kitchen. It only took a few moments to toss most of the debris into the garbage and he moved onto the living room.
Moving up to the window, he knelt down and began to pick the largest slivers of glass from the carpet, occasionally glancing out of the window as he did so.
Around the third dustpan full of glass, he gave the street a bored look and froze.
Down the road, coming from the direction of the home with the broken door was a pack of massive reptiles.
There were five of them, each running across the ground on four thick, squat legs ending in a pair of hooked black talons. With broad, flat heads they slightly resembled komodo dragons, though rather than leathery skin they had thick overlapping red scales more similar to something like an armadillo or pangolin. The largest of them had yellow streaks running from just beneath its almond shaped eyes and curving around the top of its head like painted on horns.
It was hard to estimate exactly how big they were from the distance they were at, but the smallest was easily as large as one of the bigger dog breeds and they only got bigger from there.
Tom dropped the dustpan instantly, scattering the shard of glass he had painstakingly collected, diving away from the window and scrambling to grab his gun from the corner. A .22 wasn't exactly a high powered weapon, but it was better than trying to punch one of the things. He loaded it and moved to the window with the gun and ammo to see what they were doing.
Kneeling on the floor and peeking around the edge of the sill, he watched as the reptiles raced down the road, their heads low to the ground and casting about as if smelling something. If they kept on going as they were, they would end up passing straight past the home with the ruined front door.
His grip tightened on the stock of the rifle. The person that had been trying to fix the door had either given up or was further back in the home doing something as no one was there. If it continued on like this, the lizards would go straight past without any trouble.
The pack neared the busted home, the largest of the pack barely sparing a glance at the building as it clawed across the pavement, its head jerking left and right as if searching for something. One of the stragglers came skidding to a stop and Tom sucked in his breath, knuckles white as the entire pack came a stop and began to hiss and bellow at one another.
It was a strange sound, almost like a stereotypical snake hiss that turned into a deep warble, the sides of the creature's necks ballooning outwards as they all lifted their heads up.
The sounds traveled up and down the street and the noise drew the man from inside his home. Tom could see him step up a window only to move back almost instantly, causing the curtains to shift as he did so.
Apparently that small movement was enough to earn the attention of the lizards outside as one of them let out a deep bellow and began to skitter towards the ruined front door, quickly followed by two more.
Tom didn't waste any time, though he was screaming on the inside at the stupidity of wandering up to your window to check a strange noise. The fact he was doing the same thing wasn't lost on him, but it made him feel better to yell at the guy in his head.
Raising the .22, he sighted through the scope at one of the lizards running towards the home. It was a rushed shot, one taken so fast his grandpa would have been ranting about properly aiming and breathing before firing.
With a crack, the bullet whizzed across the street. He didn't wait to see if the shot hit, already dipping the gun down and cycling the bolt to load another bullet. By the time he had loaded another round and braced himself against the window sill, all five of the lizards had turned towards his location.
The horn patterned alpha opened its mouth and exposed two rows of needle like teeth before letting out a horrifically loud roar as it and the rest of the pack began to race across the street towards Tom's home.
Time seemed to slow down, the extreme pace of the lizards coming to a crawl as another of the obnoxious blue boxes appeared to fill Tom's vision.
Engagement detected! Initiating Restricted Action System! Listing combatants.
Thomas Sallow – (Attacking)
Julkani Ferals – (defending)
RAS activated! May the truly powerful prevail.
“What the fuck, now is not the time!” He blinked to try and clear the large screen away from his vision
“And don't use my full name!” Added as an afterthought. He would question how it knew his name later, right now his focus was solely on the five lizards that were..sitting on the street doing nothing.
Nothing wasn't quite right. They were still very much active, their heads tilting to and fro as they stared at the window he was hiding in, and occasionally one would do a small circle but otherwise they weren't moving.
Not waiting to question what was happening, Tom raised his rifle once more and sighted in on the lead lizard. One of the smaller ones, its scales were lighter in tone than the rest, almost salmon pink to the others darker red.
Since they weren't moving, he took his time to line up the shot. Steadying his shaking hands and slowing his breathing like he had been taught his whole life. Slowly breathing in, his finger curled around the trigger.
The rifle stilled, the faint blur on the scope's crosshair vanishing as he exhaled and squeezed the trigger just as the lizard turned its head to stare directly at him. With a rush of gunpowder, the bullet struck home, impacting the lizard just beneath its left eye. The reptile's head snapped to the side and its body thrashed as a vibrantly flashing red 40! floated above it. After a few moments its twitching stopped and the creature went still.
Julkani Feral (Juvenile) slain!
+3 credits
+10 base experience
Thankfully this text box was much smaller, occupying the bottom corner of Tom's vision as he reloaded. As he raised the rifle once more, he realized that the remaining lizards had begun to move.
Pressing their bodies low to the ground, they half crawled, half slithered towards him. In the bottom left of his vision he noticed a small countdown in red, starting from five.
Sighting in on the lead feral once more, he attempted to squeeze the trigger only for another box to sling up and invade his view.
Restricted Action System is active! Please await your moment to strike and plan accordingly.
“You've got to be shitting me, what?!” Tom cursed as he fumbled with his gun and struggled to dismiss the warning so he could see what was happening.
As the timer in the corner of his vision reached zero, the ferals came skidding to a stop. Circling in place or otherwise watching Tom. In the five seconds they had been allowed to move, the group had covered nearly half the distance between themselves and Tom, though they would still need to get into the house somehow.
Now that he was aware of it, he could see the timer once again, this time with a green tint. As soon as he raised his rifle, it began to count down from five.
Putting his eye to the scope, he couldn't focus on the monsters in front of him, feeling rushed by the timer. His hand shook slightly as he took aim at the horn patterned feral. The timer had already dropped to one second remaining and he hadn't even taken a steadying breath. In a panic, he squeezed the trigger.
The bullet struck the lizard with a dull crack, causing it to jerk slightly before bellowing at him in challenge. A faint red 9 floated above its head as it screamed at him.
The turn flipped to the ferals and the group rushed towards the window. The closest was another juvenile, only a few yards away as their turn ended.
Seeing them up close, the Julkani were far more intimidating. Even though the smallest was 'only' at the size of a large dog, it was easy to the muscles rippling beneath its scales, and the way its hooked talons dug into the asphalt like butter had Tom swallowing hard.
Refusing to allow the timer to rush him, he slowly raised the gun and took aim at the juvenile. Breathing in slowly, he took centered the lizard's head in the scope and fired just as the timer switched to zero.
The juvenile whipped backwards, actually standing up on its two hind legs before toppling over with the bullet hole in its head leaking orange blood as yet another flashing red 40! rose over its corpse before vanishing.
Julkani Feral (Juvenile) slain!
+3 credits
+10 base experience
Letting out an enraged bellow as it leaped over the body of the dead juvenile, one of the larger lizards reached the edge of the house with a few seconds to spare. Its claws dug into the brickwork as it attempted to climb up and into the broken window that was only a few feet off the ground.
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As the top of its red scaled head came into view, Tom raised the rifle butt and bashed the ornery reptile in the jaw, a small part of him surprised that he was actually able to hit the thing when it wasn't his turn, especially considering he couldn't shoot at them previously.
If he tried to retreat from the window, they would be able to climb inside and he didn't fancy his odds trying to dodge three of the things in the confines of his living room. So he bashed it again, the impact jarring his arms as the lizard lost its grip, tearing bricks from the wall as it landed on its back with a thump.
As the timer ticked over to his turn, Tom had already started to reload. His shaking hands having trouble with the bolt as he jerked it back and ejected the spent round. Fumbling with the small ammo box, he scattered the small .22 rounds across the carpet, scrambling to snatch one up as his turn timer reached three seconds.
Slamming the bullet into the chamber, and dashing the bolt home, he raised the gun to the window and aimed straight down at the lizard he had bashed a moment ago. The thing had managed to right itself and was staring up at him with baleful red eyes as Tom sighted in on its face.
The scope was more of a hindrance at this range, the sight filled with the blurry red scales of the feral's face, but even as frayed as his nerves were, Tom wasn't bad enough to miss a shot at this range.
His rifle cracked once again, striking the center of the feral's head and causing the creature to hiss and rapidly blink. Expecting it to drop as the juveniles had, Tom was mortified when it simply shook off the shot, its scales cracked where the bullet had hit. A faint 4 gently floated over the lizard before vanishing.
The timer swapped over and all hell broke loose as the three enraged reptiles jumped for the window. Tom stumbled backwards as the one he had just shot clawed its way up to the sill, the curved talons on the ends of its feet dug into the plaster as it tried to haul its squat body over the ledge.
Tom tried to repeat his performance from before, raising the butt of the rifle to bash at the things face only to narrowly avoid a second lizard's razor sharp teeth as it climbed up the side of the home next to its pack mate.
The two overeager lizards managed to wedge their wide bodies in the narrow window, stuck together as the timer hit zero and swapped back to Tom, who now had a new issue.
His bullets were scattered across the carpet, next to the sharp teeth of two very irate and very large lizards. If he was able to hit them as they got close to him during their turn, it stood to reason that the same applied to them during his turn and if one of those things got a hold on his arm or hand it was going to be a bad time.
But he didn't have the time to slowly pick at the bullets, the timer was pressuring him to move fast or die. As the counter reached three seconds, he dove forward and grabbed a handful of the scattered rounds, wincing in pain as he felt some of the broken glass from the window dig into his palm and fingers, a small trickle of blood beginning to run down his hand.
At the smell of blood, the feral reptiles began to thrash wildly, long purple tongues flicking out of their mouths as they hissed and bellowed. Revealing the teal colored insides of their mouths as they stared at Tom.
With one second left, he had reloaded, smearing blood across the bolt as he raised the gun at point blank range. As the timer ticked to zero, he fired, the sound of gunfire immediately overshadowed by the screech of pain from the right most lizard as the bullet hit it in the open mouth. It scrabbled backwards at the window before falling free in a shower of plaster and mortar dust.
A pulsing red 25! flew through the air, as if to affirm to Tom that his shot had hit something vital.
The remaining Julkani was the one he had shot in the forehead earlier and it didn't seem to care that its companion had abandoned it. The incensed lizard hefting itself through the window and sliding to the floor before lunging at Tom's leg with a roar, needle teeth on full display as it opened its mouth wide.
Screaming in surprise as the lizard dashed at him mid reload, Tom dove to the side, losing his grip on the rifle and sending it clattering to the ground as the adjusted and came at him again. Unable to focus on the timer, Tom crawled backwards, kicking at the feral as its head jerked, jaw snapping closed like a vice in an attempt to catch him by the foot.
Leaving bloody hand prints on the carpet as he struggled to avoid the waiting maw of the Julkani. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of barely avoiding the things attempts to catch his leg, the lizard came to a stop just a scant few feet away from Tom's prone body, leaving the man struggling to breath as his heart hammered away in his chest.
Spotting his rifle laying on the ground behind the lizard, the things tail actually covering part of the weapon. Tom began to think of a plan to deal with it. He hoped that the system controlling the fight worked like he thought it did, because if it didn't he was probably going to die.
Leaping to his feet, he bolted for the kitchen and grabbed the duffel bag off the counter before dashing back into the living room. His return was greeted by a roar from the feral, the thing opening its mouth to hiss only for Tom to throw the large bag in his arms straight at the things face and dive over it.
Reacting on instinct, the lizard's jaws clamped down on the bag, tearing into it as it savaged the container back and forth, scattering clothing and canned goods across the living room.
Tom grabbed the rifle and reloaded with it with one of the rounds on the ground just as the timer flipped over to the lizard.
Instantly, the feral whipped around and lunged for him, coming straight at his knees with an open mouthed bellow.
“Relax. Control your breathing.” He raised the rifle and took a breath. Time slowed down as the lizard propelled itself off the ground in a diving lunge straight for his chest.
Saliva dripped from its teeth, and its front claws flexed upwards, ready to tear into his flesh.
The black barrel of the .22 leveled with the beast's open mouth. His finger curled around the trigger and he exhaled, squeezing softly.
Firing pin struck primer, and a burst of light and sound filled the air. The small metal bullet ripped through the small space between the lizard and Tom in an instant.
The spinning bit of metal punched through the soft insides of the feral's mouth and kept going through the back of its throat and right into the spine, shattering it at the base of the neck.
Going limp mid leap, it collided with Tom, sending both of them crashing to the carpet as he struggled to push the thing off him. His earlier instinct was correct. Despite its squat appearance and short stature, the thing was sturdy and he had to heave it up and over, watching in satisfaction as its limp body rolled to a stop, leaking orange blood from its open mouth, slit red pupils open in surprise.
Standing quickly, he ejected the spent round and loaded another before moving back to the window. He was greeted by the sight of the alpha lizard tearing into the one that had fallen from the window after being shot earlier. Gore dripped to the pavement as it ripped open the dead lizard's stomach and feasted.
As Tom raised his gun, the massive reptile turned towards the window before letting out a low bellow and retreating further down the road. Leaving the gutted remains of its pack mate in the road to rot.
Encounter ended! Restricted Action System disabled. Victory to the worthy!
Julkani Feral (Juvenile)
+3 Credits, +10 Base experience
Julkani Feral (Juvenile)
+3 Credits, +10 Base experience
Julkani Feral (Adolescent)
+8 Credits, +40 Base experience
Julkani Feral (Adolescent)
+8 Credits, +40 Base experience
Before he had time to begin to process everything that had just happened, Tom was assaulted by a set of windows.
Experience earned allows for additional system capabilities. Upgrade unlocked.
Enhanced Target Information
Provided additional information about selected targets, such as name, species, and current health. Can be further upgraded.
Experience gained allows for system assisted enhancement. Please confirm enhancement.
2 enhancement tokens available.
Strength – 5
Primarily a measure of physical ability, with a secondary affect on overall health.
Dexterity – 6
Boosts bodily control and fine motor skills. Secondary affect on reaction time and overall speed.
Intelligence - 4
Memory retention and recall
Willpower - 5
Resistance to psychological effects and trauma
Tom blinked at the deluge of information being offered. The boxes actually compressing and stacking next to each other so that he could read everything at once. Waving his bloodied and cut hand, he dismissed them all and walked over his couch, dropping down onto it with the gun laid over his lap.
His hand ached from the small cuts all over his palm and fingers, small slivers of glass embedded in the cuts and keeping it bleeding as he began to shake. The adrenaline wearing off revealed all the small cuts and bruises he had received while trying to keep himself alive.
Looking at the size of the dead lizard, he was amazed that he was alive at all. At any point he should have been caught and ripped apart. Any number of small things going differently could have resulted in him dying horribly in the jaws of some alien reptile. Would Mary have even found his body? Would anything have been left of him after they were done? His hands refused to settle, his body felt cold.
Gently picking glass out of his palm, Tom forced himself to take a deep breath. Then another. Holding it in his lungs before slowly exhaling. The shaking in his hands slowed down and the pain helped to ground him, keeping his mind from spiraling out into all the horrible ways he almost got mangled.
Three things were abundantly clear to him as he stared at the corpse in his living room. He needed to be stronger. If things like this were going to be the new normal, then he couldn't get by being his usual self.
Two, he needed a better weapon. The .22 had managed to kill four of the things but it had mostly been luck and the fact that the younger ones didn't have thick enough scales to stop the bullets. If the largest one had come after him, the gun most likely wouldn't have been able to put a scratch on it.
And finally, he needed to get to Mary. She was with her parents, and if anyone was equipped to handle the current bullshit going on it would be T.J, but they would need help and he refused to hide in his home while his girlfriend and her family were stuck in the city to fend for themselves against all this insanity.
Most of those beams from before had come down around, or in, the city. If those were the Gates that the notifications were talking about, then that meant the city could basically be a war zone by now. Assuming that each different colored light was a different species or monster, or whatever then that meant the city would be crawling in craziness by now.
But before he did anything else, Tom went back to the bathroom to pick the glass out of his hand and take a look at those notifications he received a moment ago.