After a minute, Tori pulled away, and I got a good look at Jessica. Right away, I could see a glaring problem.
Jessica Silvers: Level 8
Class: Healer
On some level, I understood why so many people from the Casual Tutorials were underleveled. Other than the guards and a few clusters of people in the Level 17 to 19 range, almost nobody with the common and uncommon classes was over Level 15. Conversely, most of the folks with weird-sounding classes were in the low to mid-20s, and there were a couple over 30 who must’ve been dungeon-clearing since they got out of the tutorials.
Jessica’s Level 8 was well below the curve, though.
“Ma’am,” I said, leaning on the Midwest accent again, “I’m glad to see you’re okay. We could use your help. Do you have a place nearby where we can talk?”
Tori’s stepmom took one look at me, and she nodded, face serious. “Yes. I’ve got a shack on the other side of the Field Museum. We can go there. Thank you.”
“Lead the way,” Calvin said.
Jessica’s place turned out to be a semi-truck trailer that they’d lifted up onto a wooden two-by-four frame. She climbed up the ladder, followed by Tori and me.
I motioned for Calvin to follow, but he shook his head. “I’ll hole up somewhere and keep an eye out. No one gave me a second look before. I’m the perfect lookout.”
“If you say so,” I said. “If there’s any trouble, let me know.”
“You got it, Hal. Reinforcements are just a few seconds away.”
I turned and got my first real look at Jessica.
Just like Tori had said, she was wearing a red cardigan, though she’d traded the promised slacks for a wool skirt. She also had a single magical item: a ring. Something Calvin said hit me, and I looked at her eyes. They were gray-blue, with huge bags under them, and they darted from Tori to me like a trapped mouse looking at a hawk and a snake. I had no idea why, but she looked incredibly uncomfortable. Lost.
The trailer’s interior wasn’t much at all. Someone had installed a crude-looking wooden wall to cut the space in half, and a single sleeping bag sat in the back—with no pad between it and the steel box. I winced looking at it, then thought about the tents sprawled out below. That’d be more comfortable, but this was definitely the safest structure outside of the fort. Other than that, a small fire burning in the corner was the only sign someone actually lived here.
“Thank you,” Jessica said again. She fidgeted again. “I thought…I mean, I didn’t know, but I thought she was…”
“Dead?” Tori asked. Her facade had cracked, and she was falling back on the defiant emo girl routine. “Not quite. Hal saved my ass.”
Jessica flinched, then stared down her nose at Tori. “There’s no need for that, Tori. Mr. Riley, I don’t know why you went after her, but thank you. If there’s anything I can do to help you…”
“How about you give me the lay of the land?”
----------------------------------------
Jessica had a bag of peanuts—the shelled kind. She passed them around. I took enough to be polite, then passed it to Tori, who piled half the bag in front of her.
“Right now, most folks are in the ‘shock’ part of a disaster,” Jessica said. She hadn’t taken a single peanut. “Normally, the Red Cross would have swooped in, thrown up shelters, or taken over Soldier Field to use as a refugee camp, and we’d be through this and on to the clean-up phase. Some people might be starting to rebuild. But there’s no functional government and nowhere to volunteer even if there was one.”
I nodded. “People are coming together here, though.”
“Yes, they are,” Jessica agreed, “but we’re not looking at a disaster relief effort. This is more akin to what happened to Haiti after that earthquake, or any number of so-called failed states where the government isn’t able to meet people’s basic needs. It’s pretty common, really. Tori, have you kept up with your studying?”
“Jessica-Mom, I’ve been fighting for my life since we got separated. That textbook’s somewhere in the Redline Tunnels dungeon, and I’m not going back for it,” Tori said. She rolled her eyes. “Why aren’t you leveling?”
“A shame. You could tell us about strongman theory and why it does and doesn’t work.” Jessica re-centered on me, piercing me with her gaze. I could see why Tori thought she was intense; even in the apocalypse, she was still on her step-daughter about learning. “You want to know the lay of the land here in…Museumtown? Listen carefully.
“Most everyone’s confused, cut off from their homes and families, and they don’t know what’s going on. There are a few others like you two who think they’re tough, but they’re keeping out of here except to trade and sleep. They’re working through all the nearby dungeons. Then there’s The Captain and his thugs.”
“Biker gangs?” I asked. “We ran into some of them outside of Union Pier.” I told her what had happened.
“You got lucky,” she said, “but you should keep your heads down for a couple of days until that blows over. Yeah, they’re former biker gangs, small-time gangsters, and some others. Right now, they’re keeping to themselves—for the most part. The Captain’s running the show, though, and he’s got plans.”
“Do you know what his plans are?”
“No, but I’ve got a guess. Historically, a strongman comes into power by looking like the best option, consolidating and securing power as people give him more and more, and removing any possible resistance. Right now, Museumtown looks like the best bet for people. While people keep coming here, he’s got most of his people clearing dungeons to get more powerful. Then, when it’s time, he’ll clamp down on anyone he thinks is powerful enough to oppose him.”
“Is that what the walls around the Field Museum are about?” Tori asked. “He’s experience-hogging? What a jackass.”
“Tori! Yes. Whoever The Captain is, he’s recognized that the—
Someone slammed their hand against the bottom of the trailer, and Jessica’s voice cut off.
“Silvers, get your ass down here! Another patrol’s in, and they got the shit beat out of them,” someone said.
Jessica’s face paled. She held up a hand, lowering it and putting a finger to her lips. “I’ll be back in half an hour.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The door creaked, and I heard her climb down the ladder. Then, suddenly, it was quiet.
A moment later, Calvin poked his head in. “Sorry. They got between me and the trailer. Figured it’d be better to play it cool than start something.”
“What the fuck?” Tori said. She looked at the door, fists balled. “She just goes whenever they call for her? And they’re not leveling her up in the easy dungeons, either? That’s BS.”
I nodded as Calvin closed the door. “I don’t think there’s much we can do right now, though.”
Calvin looked around and stole a peanut from Tori’s pile. It was about half-gone already. He winked at her. “On short acquaintance, your stepmom sounds like a pretty competent person. She’s playing her cards close to her chest, but she’s also gotten a bad draw, and she knows it. If you want to help her, the best thing to do is play her game for now—at least until you know more.”
She gave him the look, and he shot it right back. “Or you could go out there, rush off to ‘save’ her from whatever she’s doing, and find yourself in over your head. That’d be bad for her, for us, and for everyone.”
“She’s Level 8. That’s so low!”
“Yep. She’s not a fighter. I’m surprised she got that high, frankly,” Calvin said.
I stepped in. “Tori, she’s almost certainly with Eddie’s group. If you run out there and try to step in, the whole town will be looking for us. If we keep calm and quiet, we’ll be invisible. Right, Calvin?”
“Should be. Folks like Eddie never look in their own backyards. I’m more worried about whoever’s running this place, though. It takes brains to get this organized, this quickly.
“I’m going to take advantage of the last half-hour where we’re not wanted to go for a walk. I’ll be back soon.” I stood up and slipped out of the door.
----------------------------------------
I had a few goals in mind as I worked my way around the Field Museum’s back, where the truck bays were.
First, I needed more information. Jessica was focused on people—that made sense since she was an anthropologist, but people were only half of the machine here. I had the beginnings of a plan, but I needed to know everything I could about the dungeons.
Specifically, I wanted to get eyes on either Soldier Field or the Adler Planetarium.
Both were ideal for what I was thinking: relatively close to Museumtown, without the same fortification the Field Museum had. But the planetarium was more likely to have what I needed inside. I had a ‘shopping list’ of magical items, but based on what I’d seen so far, I could only find some of the components in rare equipment.
I’d also noticed that the Twilight Menagerie had given a lot of themed items, and a space theme seemed like it’d fit my class better than fish or Egyptians or whatever.
Second, I wanted to scout the town’s guards. I’d only actually seen a couple—both near the front entrance through the crude fence surrounding the tent city. There was no way The Captain had more than a few dozen people, and if he had three or four teams like Eddie’s, that meant a skeleton crew here.
I’d need to take advantage of that if I could.
Third, I needed time to think and clear my head.
Jessica reminded me more and more of my mom. She didn’t understand Tori at all, and without that understanding, they weren’t ever going to settle their differences. But Tori was completely backward about something, too. She didn’t particularly like Jessica, but she did love her. She just couldn’t admit it.
I took a deep breath as the image of my sister shouting at Mom and Dad filled my head. It was one of the last times I’d seen her—just before she’d vanished into thin air. I hadn’t been involved in that one, thank God, but the fight after it was worse, and I’d been part of that. Whether that was how Tori and Jessica ended up or not, it wasn’t my problem. I’d rather it not happen to them, but I had bigger problems.
I pushed the thought away.
The Adler Planetarium loomed as I crossed the causeway to Northerly Island. It looked nothing like the Greek pillars and white marble facades behind me. Instead, its copper dome shone in the setting sun, and the half-circle of blacked-out windows facing Lake Michigan looked suspiciously solar panel-like. The central building looked like it couldn’t be much bigger than the planetarium itself, while the black windows that angled out from it could maybe hold a semi-circular lobby with exhibits.
Based on what I’d seen in the Twilight Menagerie, though, the inside could be wildly different than what I expected. I shivered, thinking about Sue, the complete T-Rex skeleton in the Field Museum’s lobby. I didn’t envy the gangers and The Captain when they tried to clear that dungeon.
As I walked up to the front door, a message appeared.
Tier Two Dungeon: The Void
This Dungeon will unlock in Twenty-One Hours
Objective: Locked
I nodded and turned around. All I’d wanted to do was confirm it, but now that I knew, I could gather Tori and Calvin, find a nearby Tier One dungeon to push through, and be ready to enter The Void when it opened tomorrow.
----------------------------------------
I slipped back into Museumtown and pulled myself up the ladder into Jessica’s trailer. She wasn’t around, but Tori was—and she looked pissed. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“Jessica’s being…Jessica,” Tori said. “God dammit!”
“She doesn’t want you getting hurt, so she told you no more fighting, right?”
“That’s right. She doesn’t get it!”
I sighed and sat down on a piece of rubble as Tori complained.
The damaged Trip-Hammer came out of my inventory, followed by all my remaining parts and the Tuning Rod.
Luckily, the Trip-Hammer still had Charge; I’d been worried that it’d lose it all. The handle was a loss, though—I could tell that right away. I didn’t have any pipes like that, either, so simply replacing it wouldn’t be an option.
On the other hand, I knew where the Voltsmith’s Grasp was heading. I didn’t have the parts for it yet, but soon, I’d be ready to upgrade it. And when I did, I had some ideas. I could start setting up for success, and the Trip-Hammer could be the beginning of that process.
I grabbed the bottom of the handle, stripped it of all the wires and parts, and pulled the warm bronze battery orb free. It pulsed orange light as I held it in my gauntlet. The principle was pretty simple; the Trip-Hammer had been useful because of its length and the impact those two motor-powered hammers had. I could still use the hammer, but right now, it was short and the motor was broken.
The length issue wasn’t fixable. The motor, though…
I’d need to take a look at it and see.
So, project number one was the hammer. It’d take a while, and I didn’t know for sure that it’d work. Even if it did, the short hammer wouldn’t pack the same punch as the long one. I set it aside for now
Project number two was a ranged weapon. The Voltsmith class had as much flexibility as I could imagine—as long as I had the parts. That was a real limitation, but it wasn’t hopeless. If there was one thing I had a lot of, it was wire.
Wire and nuts. And a power source.
I pulled the Tuning Rod apart. It didn’t have a battery, but that was okay. I needed the cylinder it came in—along with the spent Imbuing Rod’s tube. Once I had both, I pulled the Voltsmith’s Grasp off and started tinkering, lining up the tubes, cutting them into pieces, and filling in the gaps with rubber-coated wiring. I needed three flexible tubes, one on the back of my middle, pointer, and ring fingers.
The idea had been in my head since my fight with Eddie. The Charge burst I’d nailed him with had turned the fight in my favor, but I’d needed to take some serious risks to make it happen. I needed that power, and I needed it on demand.
My original concept was to use the taser launcher I was building to disable monsters—or someone like Eddie—from far away, then close with the hammer to finish the fight. With the hammer possibly out of commission, I’d need a different closer, but the Taser launchers were still worth building.
Once the tubes were built, I jammed them full of stripped copper wires, then built a pair of magical circuits into them. The taser cannons glowed yellow-orange as I fiddled with the triggers, but when I’d finished, I had what I hoped were spring-loaded, Charge-delivering wire launchers, weighted with a half-dozen nuts and washers each. I put the gauntlet on and flexed my hand; the Voltsmith’s Grasp was definitely more bulky, and I had no idea the Charge cost of a taser like this; the melee version had cost five, but this was significantly more complicated.
I needed to upgrade the Voltsmith’s Grasp sooner rather than later.
With the taser launchers readied, I turned my attention to the Trip-Hammer’s motor. It was beat up from the fight with Eddie; the ratchet wheels were bent, and the bolts connecting it to the pipe twisted, but as I stripped the aluminum casing off and got a good look inside, the motor itself was fine. I needed to take my time, and it wouldn’t have the same power as before, but with some work, it could still fill the heavy hitter role.
Hopefully, it’d take less Charge to run, too. I needed some extra for another idea—if I could get them done in time.