It took Jack nearly two weeks of walking in a straight line to reach the big city. It would have been less, but there was mutant deer, wolves, that one bus sized bat… thing, among other obstacles. There might have been a transformer at one point, but Jack was half asleep when he dealt with it, so it could have been a dream.
The only time he stopped was when he was walking into the city itself. Above the highway was a spray painted sign.
“Clearview”
Guess that meant survivors.
Jack whipped out a map. Time to go looking.
Jack found the settlement without problem. He debated just waltzing right up to the door, if he found one, but ultimately decided against it. The people manning the walls all seemed on edge for some reason.
The settlement in question was in the middle of a housing subdivision, surrounding a park. It was a fairly large settlement, encompassing the houses surrounding the park two or three deep. Every other house in the subdivision had been torn down for either materials or to build better sight lines in every direction. The walls seemed to be made of reclaimed materials from the houses, semi-trucks, cars, and whatever else these people could get their hands on. There were also a number of traps that Jack had to circumvent to be able to scout the entire perimeter.
Still, even for people who survived in the apocalypse, these guys were way too on edge. They weren’t being attacked, and from what Jack had scouted, they weren’t in any danger any time soon. So what gives?
“Found you!” A little girl’s voice called.
Jack started, finding a child just outside his hiding spot.
She wore ripped up jeans and a simple tank top. Not at all suitable for life as dangerous as this. Especially without a weapon. Was this a trick? Was she somehow a demon that had been terrorizing the settlement? Jack thought of all the ways he could kill her, right now. It wouldn’t be hard, and he’d be able to do it completely out of sight of the settlement.
And then he put two and two together.
Jack grinned. “You found me! Hi!”
“Hello! I don’t know you!”
Jack shifted, tucking his black mace into his belt. “I’m new here. Is there people in there? I’d really like to meet them!”
“Yeah! I’m supposed to take new people to meet Sensei! He told me! Come on!” The little girl fearlessly took hold of Jack’s hand and tugged, half running back in the direction of the settlement.
Well, that’s convenient.
----------------------------------------
Hiro
Hiro gnawed on his knuckle. There was no way Macey got out, right? Surely she was still inside the walls. Just in case though, he paced back and forth across the semi-truck, staring out at the rubble of the houses beyond.
Then, he saw her. Leading a stranger.
Hiro nearly collapsed with relief. He tossed his rebar spear off the edge and climbed down after it. After collecting his spear, he jogged over to the troublesome girl and the stranger.
The stranger waved his wooden shield. It looked like he had torn the thing right off a tree! And his armor… it was nothing like Hiro’s. Hiro wore baking sheets like a chestplate, and some leather knee guards he had looted off a monster. The stranger however, he wore a proper knights chestpiece under his torn up jean jacket, padded leather pants, and a roman battle skirt thing with metal studs in the leather. Besides that, he also had a heavy black mace tucked in his belt, and a backpack.
“This yours?” The stranger called, hoisting Macey up by the arm. Macey giggled, kicking her legs so she could swing.
Strong too. “Kinda!? Macey! What are you doing outside the wall!?”
“I found him!” Macey giggled. “He was hiding behind that house over there!”
“I was not!” The stranger feigned anger. “I was just resting my feet! I’ve been walking for a long time you know!”
Macey let go of the stranger and ran over to Hiro. Hiro embraced her, unconsciously using his skill on her to make sure she was alright.
A blue screen appeared in his vision only. It said Macey’s name, gender, her health, as well as the little girl’s singular achievement.
“Apocrypha Survivor: Hide and Seek Champ”
Hiro sighed, scooping the girl up. He smiled apologetically at the stranger. “I’m sorry. My name’s Hiro, and this is Macey.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Jack.” The stranger said. “Pleasure to meet you. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.”
Hiro nodded, waiting until the stranger got closer. When he was close enough, he used his skill on him too.
Now that he knew his name, that showed up on the blue screen. As well as his gender, male, health, healthy, and achievements.
“Executioner
Apocrypha Survivor: Predator
Slaughterer
+6 more”
Hiro swallowed.
NINE achievements!? Hiro could only see the first three, and his second one was his Apocrypha. Not to mention the nature of the first three.
This guy was dangerous.
“We need to take him to Sensei!” Macey said seriously. “Come on! Let’s go!” She wiggled in his grip, kicking his stomach to get him moving.
But Hiro just smiled and let her down. He took her hand and risked turning his back to Jack. “You’re right. Let’s go see Sensei.”
He led them to the closest gate, which was a series of doors between a jackknifed semi-truck and the concrete park building where the town meetings were held. Before they entered though, Hiro paused, looking pointedly at Macey. He then turned to Jack.
“Sorry, but we can’t let anyone in without the password. You know, just in case.”
Jack blinked, confused for a second, but then he looked at the semi-truck. On it was ‘password;’ spray painted just above the company name.
“Migration Transport?” He guessed.
Hiro sighed again. Jack could read English. Good. “Alright. Come on in.”
“That’s a stupid password.” Macey pouted. “Everyone can read it for themselves.”
“That’s the point.” Jack said. “Monsters aren’t supposed to know English.”
Hiro froze halfway through the second door. Aren’t supposed to?
Jack clarified without prompting. “I encountered a monster once who mimicked human speech. They were… dealt with.”
“Right, well… can’t be too careful.” Hiro said.
They walked through the last gate. On the other side, they were greeted with the sight of the park. A baseball diamond and a soccer pitch both turned into farmland, a playground, and the faces of nearly a hundred worried human beings.
“MACEY!” Shouted the town mom. Their chef-gardener-boo boo caretaker basically charged towards the little girl, attracting the attention of everyone else.
Macey squealed, running away like it was a game of chase. Smartly, she found cover behind Jack, which gave the town mom pause.
“Oh no you don’t.” Jack chided. He quickly scooped her up under her arms. He handed her off to the awaiting caretaker. “You were outside the wall! Don’t you see you had everyone worried?”
Macey stuck her tongue out at him. “Traitor!”
Jack responded in kind, which cheered Macey up just a little bit before she was harshly scolded.
Soon, others were gathering around the new stranger. Jack smiled, calmly greeting every face that came by. Hiro listened with half an ear, but looked very pointedly at his fellow guards. With very subtle expressions and movement, he indicated that he didn’t trust Jack. His achievements were just too suspicious.
Well, all would be revealed once they brought him to Sensei.
Or if Sensei came to them.
“Ah, I see you…” A fedora wandered at the back of the crowd. Hiro only spotted him because he was looking. His voice was drowned out by the crowd.
The fat, smelly man wearing the fedora shoved his way through the crowd completely without grace. When he stumbled to the front, everyone else quieted. Sensei coughed into his fist, lifting his sheathed katana back onto his shoulder.
“Ah, I see you have found our little home in hell. Pleased to meet you stranger, you may call me Sensei. What name do you go by?” Sensei tipped his fedora in greetings.
Jack curiously eyed the people around him. Hiro had no doubt he noticed how people quieted down when Sensei came to the front. Despite being the fattest, smelliest, and cringiest person in their settlement, it was blatantly obvious everyone respected the otaku. And for good reason.
“Jack. Nice to meet you.”
Sensei nodded. Good. Hiro walked over to him. “You as well!”
Hiro whispered as quietly as possible. “He has nine achievements. The first three are Executioner, Apocrypha Survivor: Predator, and Slaughterer.”
Jack grinned, displaying pointed teeth like a shark. “Predator kinda changed my teeth, hope you don’t mind!”
Hiro and Sensei’s eyes both widened. Apparently, he had good hearing too. When Hiro wanted to be quiet, he was quiet.
Hiro backed away from the smelly neckbeard as he spoke again.
“I see. That’s… For what reason have you come here?”
“I’m… sorry?” Jack quirked his head. “What do you mean?”
“Why are you here?” Sensei asked a little more directly.
“Because there’s people here?” Jack answered, unsure of himself.
Sensei didn’t nod. The action didn’t go unnoticed.
People began shuffling, subtly moving away from Jack. The guards, sensing the unease, lowered their stances a bit. They didn’t quite ready their weapons. Yet.
Sensei sighed. “Then let me ask you this. Do you mean us harm?”
“No? Why would I want to do that?”
Sensei nodded.
Immediately, everyone eased up. An action that Jack obviously caught on. “Is something up?”
Hiro sighed with relief. Sensei’s skill was so useful in so many ways. “Maurice has a skill that lets him know when someone’s telling the truth.”
“It’s Sensei!” The neckbeard shouted, punching Hiro weakly in the arm. “And you’re not supposed to blab about people’s skills!”
Hiro punched Sensei in his gut. “You’re making everyone worried by being cryptic all the time! Ask that question first, dumbass!”
The semi-truck thunked as a body landed on top of it. Everyone’s attention raised up to the Tamer. She stood there with her hands on her hips, smirking confidently. Her black egyptian greyhound stood proudly next to her. The tall, muscular woman was about to speak when suddenly, her dog ran for the truck part of the semi, running down it to nearly tackle Jack.
“Anubis?” Jack asked, the dog’s tail wagged so hard Hiro thought it was going to hurt itself.
“Jack?” The Tamer asked.
Jack looked back up. “Alice?”