《Mutant Beast Hunter》
Chapter 1 Part 1
¡°After spending a career getting rid of beasts, it feels weird leading them towards the city.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t really give a damn how it feels, Pride. I just need to know that it¡¯s all ready.¡±
¡°Everything on my end is in position. Set and ready to go at precisely 2am tonight.¡±
¡°Precisely 2am?¡±
¡°Wrath¡¯s idea. It¡¯s right in the middle of shift change. The sluggishness of the change means the guards might take a bit longer to notice and when they do there will likely be twice as many available to respond.¡±
¡°Is it really any good then? I¡¯m taking on a lot of risk here. If there isn¡¯t enough damage, then how can I recoup enough return on my investment?¡±
¡°We are all taking risks, Gluttony, not just you. Besides, the extra guards are a good thing. We want limited damage and casualties. This provides the best chance of that.¡±
¡°Good morning,¡± said a suspiciously cheerful voice from 6 inches above Lucas¡¯ face.
Lucas woke immediately but kept his eyes shut in the hope he could return to the dream he¡¯d been having. It was one of Lucas¡¯ favorites, where he was standing atop a mountain on a clear sunny day with what seemed like half the world spread out before him.
That might seem like a lame dream, but Lucas had never summited a mountain before. He¡¯d never heard the faint rustle of the wind blowing through the forest or smelled the fresh salty air of the ocean. Lucas, like the vast majority of the residents of Manhattan, had never left the city in which he¡¯d grown up, had never seen anything of the outside world.
¡°COME ON. RISE AND SHINE,¡± said Lucas¡¯ little sister, Hayley, as she pulled back the curtain of the nearby window.
A cascade of light flooded the room rendering all further attempts at sleep pointless. Lucas¡¯ eyes snapped open and his back groaned as it lifted him upright.
¡°Now, why did you go and do that?¡± Lucas complained.
¡°I¡¯m waking you up. You need to get moving,¡± said Hayley matter-of-factly. ¡°I don¡¯t see why you¡¯re complaining. You do this to me all the time.¡±
¡°So, now we get to the real reason,¡± said Lucas, looking over to the digital clock on his nightstand to confirm his suspicions. ¡°Usually I have to wake you up because you slept through your alarm, but mine isn¡¯t set to go off for another five minutes.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t see how that matters,¡± said Hayley in a falsely sweet, high-pitched voice.
Lucas pulled himself out of bed and walked towards the door. Past it was a hallway and, more relevantly, a bathroom.
¡°Really, Hayley. When are you going to grow up and stop such childish antics? You¡¯re twelve,¡± said Lucas.
¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess you¡¯ll have to wait at least a little bit longer,¡± said Hayley. She pushed Lucas aside, slamming him against the hallway wall as she rushed past and into the bathroom. It was the only bathroom in their family¡¯s small apartment, so Lucas would have to wait.
¡°You know that if you continue behaving this childishly I might do the same,¡± Lucas threatened.
¡°Really, and what is that supposed to mean?¡± Hayley asked.
¡°It means¡ It means that I¡¯ll tattle on you to Mom,¡± said Lucas.
¡°Yeah right,¡± Hayley replied, getting in the final word before she slammed the bathroom door shut.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Lucas sighed and let things go at that. Hayley was right; it wasn¡¯t worth doing anything. Still, even with being up a bit earlier than he¡¯d intended, Lucas didn¡¯t waste any time. To Lucas, time was a most precious commodity. Rather than wait for the bathroom, Lucas proceeded to the kitchen where he microwaved some water and added it to a dried packet of Quaker Oats. He was almost finished with his breakfast when the front door to the apartment opened.
¡°Hi, Mom,¡± said Lucas. ¡°Long night?¡±
¡°No, tonight was surprisingly quiet even for a Wednesday. I think it might have to do with Fourth of July weekend. Everyone¡¯s saving their frivolity for then,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother, Leticia. ¡°I see that you got an even earlier start than normal.¡±
¡°Hayley¡¯s doing,¡± said Lucas.
¡°Do I need to have a word with her?¡± Leticia asked.
¡°No,¡± said Lucas, waving it off. ¡°I don¡¯t mind getting into work a bit early.¡±
This much was true, but even if this weren¡¯t the case, Lucas wouldn¡¯t bother his mother over it. She had enough burdens to get on with. She worked most nights, while Lucas spent his days working in the mines. Because of this, it was rare for both of them to be home and most of their meetings were like this one, brief moments where one was rushing to get out while the other was exhausted and just getting in after a long shift.
¡°You really shouldn¡¯t be working so hard. Don¡¯t think I haven¡¯t noticed that you set out a bit early every morning or that you return a bit late. Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t understand what that means,¡± said Leticia.
Many would think Lucas was using the time for other activities, but Lucas¡¯ mother knew the truth.
Harlem Mining Co. had two earning options for its workers. The first paid an hourly wage, where so long as they kept up a decent pace, workers could retain their employment. The second had workers earn based on the volume and quality of ore mined.
Most chose the first option. However, by selecting the second option, Lucas was able to earn ever so slightly more than he would have with an hourly wage at the cost of having to work twice as hard as most everyone else. This didn¡¯t bother Lucas so much. He was still young and strong, he still felt immortal.
¡°It¡¯s too late,¡± said Lucas. ¡°This is the way I¡¯m doing it and I¡¯ve been working hard at it, saving up for months. I¡¯m not turning back now.¡±
¡°So this is still about you wanting to be a hunter,¡± said Leticia. ¡°I told you sweetie. I know money is tight, but there are better ways. I¡¯m sure we could find some more places we could cut back or....¡±
¡°No Mom, this has nothing to do with money. You know that I¡¯ve wanted to be a hunter since before we lost Dad. I want to go out. I want to be able to see the world. The real world, just like our ancestors were able to,¡± said Lucas.
This was a lie, but the best sort of one, with enough truth that it even convinced the one telling it. Lucas truly wanted to see the outside world, it literally occupied all his dreams, but Lucas wasn¡¯t a fool. He knew hunters were paid exceptionally well. Well enough that he could move his mother and sister out of this dump, well enough that his mom could retire and enjoy whatever time she had left and enough that his sister could get a proper education. But to become a hunter, Lucas first needed to acquire all the equipment he¡¯d need, which would take no small sum.
¡°I just think you should ease back a bit on the work. You¡¯re messing up your sequencing scores,¡± said Leticia.
¡°It¡¯s not that big of a deal. I have plenty of time before that becomes a problem,¡± said Lucas.
¡°I know it seems like that, but trust me, when you get older you¡¯ll regret it,¡± said Leticia.
¡°I¡¯m done now,¡± Hayley yelled from down the hall.
¡°Go ahead. We can talk more about this another time,¡± said Leticia.
¡°Ok, later Mom,¡± Lucas agreed.
The tension in the air quickly eased. Despite the dispute, both Lucas and his mother knew each was only acting that way because they were worried for each other, because they cared for each other.
Lucas turned towards the hallway. ¡°About time, I was starting to think you fell in.¡±
¡°Hey.¡±
¡°What? It¡¯s not like it would have been the first time.¡±
Lucas¡¯ mother headed in towards her bedroom while Lucas quickly shoveled the last two bites of oatmeal into his mouth before depositing an empty bowl in the sink and heading for the bathroom.
Lucas washed up and was out of the apartment in less than ten minutes. His family was but one of several hundred that occupied the overcrowded building. In particular, they lived on the thirty-seventh floor, so after Lucas pressed the down button to summon the elevator, he had moment to gaze out a nearby window.
The city of Manhattan lay sprawled out before him in all of its glory. The lowest, nearest portion of his view was occupied by a thousand resolute grey skyscrapers, pointing up at the heavens as if defying the laws of gravity. Meanwhile, the top of his view was filled by an endless clear blue sky. In between the two, separating the city from everything beyond was an iridescent metal wall so reflective in the morning sun that Lucas had to squint to be able to see anything.
To most people, the wall and its siblings in other cities stood as silent, ever-present guardians protecting the last vestiges of humanity from the horrors of the outside world. But Lucas saw the wall for what it really was, a cage. Lucas longed for what was beyond the wall, the blue and white swirls of ocean waves crashing onto the shore, fields of green stretching as far as the eye could see, virtually all the sights Lucas had only ever seen in old holovids from before the wall was put up.
Lucas stared out at the scene for two minutes until the elevator came, letting the view harden his resolve as he did every morning. Lucas would get out of this cage. He would see what lied beyond the walls. He would become a hunter.
Chapter 1 Part 2
Once downstairs and out of the building, Lucas kept a brisk pace for two blocks to the nearest subway station and after a half dozen stops, found himself at Harlem Mining Co.
A hundred years ago, when the outside world was accessible, no one would have ever considered building a mine in the middle of the city. But as the need for resources became critical, that was precisely what happened. Now, there were hundreds of meandering tunnels going down thousands of feet under the city, making any cross-section of the Manhattan underground look like Swiss cheese.
Lucas entered the building and took the elevator down to its lowest level. Once there, he clocked himself in and made a pit stop by his locker to gear up. As much as Lucas would have liked to, he wasn¡¯t permitted to bring home the company issued mining laser, a gun connected by wires to a large battery that was worn like a backpack.
Once equipped, Lucas grabbed a mining cart and led it down one of the tunnels.
¡°Hey, Lucas Maxwell,¡± yelled the foreman from his station.
¡°Yeah,¡± Lucas innocently yelled back, even though he had a good idea what was going on.
¡°What the hell are you doing here?¡± said the foreman.
¡°Just spending another day delving through dark tunnels like a MTA mole-rat,¡± Lucas replied, waving his mining laser.
¡°It looks like you¡¯re asking to shoot yourself in the foot,¡± the foreman frowned. ¡°But more importantly, it looks like you forgot today¡¯s the day you need to be sequenced.¡±
¡°Ahh, come on. I¡¯m already geared up. I¡¯ll go another time. I¡¯m nineteen, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to fail,¡± Lucas tried.
¡°No can do. You know that the regulations are quite clear. Everyone has to do their annual sequencing. No delays for any reason. You don¡¯t want us to get in trouble with HOPE, do you?¡± said the foreman as he waved Lucas to hurry and leave. ¡°Just report upstairs to Health Services and get it over with.¡±
¡®There goes a good part of my day,¡¯ Lucas grimaced as he began to run the numbers on how much this would cost him. ¡®If I¡¯m lucky I¡¯ll only lose around two hours, but the real problem is that by the time I return all the other miners working this shift will have arrived. All the best tunnels will be occupied. Expect thirty percent less there. Plus the two hours. I think I will probably only earn half of normal today.¡¯
Losing half a day¡¯s wage may seem like a small sum, but Lucas had other obligations than saving for hunting gear, so he¡¯d really be losing a week or more in that regard.
Lucas returned the mining gear and spent the next few minutes riding the elevator back up to the surface. From there, he had to switch to a different lift before taking it to the fifth floor, where Harlem Mining Co. had its own health care facilities.
Like any doctor¡¯s visit, Lucas went through the standard procedure. He checked in with the receptionist, before having to wait fifteen minutes for a nurse to invite him back into a patient room. There, the nurse took a sample of his blood and said that the doctor would be back ¡®in a bit¡¯ with the results.
When she left, the nurse locked the door behind her. This too was standard procedure. Sometimes people who suspected they would fail freaked out as their results neared.
Lucas knew that with his nineteen years there was next to no chance he¡¯d fail, but as he sat in the small, completely silent room, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit anxious. He knew what happened to those who failed. He knew that if it happened to him, he wouldn¡¯t be going back home.
Lucas waited. Nothing happened but the atmosphere still grew tenser with each moment. By the time two hours passed, Lucas started to feel something was wrong, so he went to the door.
Lucas set his ear against it and heard a surprisingly large number of footsteps. The doctor¡¯s office had been nearly deserted when he¡¯d followed the nurse into the room. Now, it sounded like dozens of people were rushing down the hall past his door.
Lucas could also hear the faint chatter of people talking. It began too quiet for him to make out, but it wasn¡¯t long before the conversation suddenly grew a lot louder.
¡°What do you mean by the total permutations have exceeded the permitted value?¡± a man bellowed.
¡°Well, you see¡,¡± said a woman.
¡°And what are HOPE officers doing here?¡±
HOPE stood for Humanity¡¯s Office of Peculiarity Extermination. It was one of the city¡¯s law enforcement branches, and its primary function was to oversee the DNA sequencing of all Manhattanites and handle any related complications that cropped up.
¡°We had to call them under the circumstances,¡± the woman continued. ¡°As I have said, you have¡.¡±
¡°Have exceeded the permitted value. Don¡¯t give me that shit.¡±
Lucas heard a loud thud followed by a series of groans. He knew it was probably breaking some silly rule or law, but given the situation, he couldn¡¯t help himself. Lucas reached into his pocket for a pen and used a straightened spring to pick the lock. It didn¡¯t take Lucas long. This wouldn¡¯t be the first time he went somewhere he shouldn¡¯t.
Lucas opened the door. In the hall was a bizarre collection of people. A heavily muscled silver-haired man in his late fifties held a middle-aged woman in a plain white lab coat against a wall. Behind them was the nurse who¡¯d taken Lucas¡¯ blood. She was cowering in a corner, clutching her arm, which was bent at an unnatural angle. Finally, there was a pair of HOPE officers, clearly identifiable by their pitch-black uniforms and bright red badges emblazoned with a raised fist. The officers had drawn their Tasers but neither fired. They didn¡¯t want to risk what could happen if they zapped the silver-haired man while he had his hands around the doctor¡¯s throat.
While holding the doctor in one hand, the muscular silver-haired man swiped down with his other hand. Buttons popped and tumbled to the floor as the silver-haired man tore open his shirt, revealing an absurdly, almost bestial, hairy chest.
¡°See. See. I¡¯m normal. See, I¡¯m completely fine. I¡¯m not a goddamn spitter. I¡¯m normal,¡± the man repeated several times as he pounded on his chest. With each iteration, the man grew more frantic and consequently less normal. Sweat poured down the man¡¯s entire body, his skin turned bright red, and his muscles swelled to even more Herculean proportions.
The man¡¯s grip on the doctor tightened as he used the other hand to tilt her head and force the doctor¡¯s eyes to meet his.
¡°See, I¡¯m fine. Now tell HOPE they can go away,¡± said the man.
¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll tell them to go. Please. Just let me go. You¡¯re hurting me,¡± the doctor croaked, using up the last of the air in her lungs.
¡°No,¡± the silver-haired man refused, pulling the doctor towards him before thrusting her back out, pounding her halfway through the wall with his freakish strength. ¡°I won¡¯t be tricked. I¡¯m not some stupid animal.¡±
The doctor¡¯s eyes rolled back and a trickle of blood from the back of her head ran down the wall.
¡°Stop.¡±
¡°Let her go.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The officers could no longer hold back. Both fired their Tasers. Their aim was perfect and the prongs of the Tasers struck the silver-haired man dead center. An audible hum of electricity filled the air as tens of thousands of volts coursed through the man.
¡°Argh. What do you think you¡¯re doing? I told you that I¡¯m fine. That I¡¯m normal,¡± the silver-haired man grunted, remaining upright and in control even though any normal man would have been on the ground convulsing.
The silver-haired man started pulling out the Taser prongs while they were still pulsating with electricity.
¡°This is unit seven. We have a raging tough-type on the fifth floor of Harlem Mining. Requesting backup,¡± called one of the officers into a radio that was clipped to his chest.
The silver-haired man became incensed by this. He gave up on trying to reason with the HOPE officers and once he finished removing all the Taser prongs, casually chucked the doctor into them before running away.
By the time the officers untangled themselves, the silver-haired man was gone. He¡¯d run straight through several interior walls as if they were made of paper before bashing through a concrete exterior wall and leaving the building.
¡°This is unit seven. Subject has escaped. Last seen heading west from our position. Advise all responders to be on guard. Recommend setting up a perimeter three blocks around this position,¡± one of the HOPE officers reported into the radio while the other checked on the doctor.
¡°She¡¯s still breathing,¡± the officer reported to his partner before his eyes quickly switched back to scanning the area. The silver-haired man had gone, but there was nothing to stop him from coming back. It was then that one of the officers spotted Lucas poking his head out of his room.
¡°Hey, kid. What are you doing here?¡± the HOPE officer asked.
¡°I was waiting for my results when I heard the noise and decided to take a look,¡± Lucas said innocently.
¡°You shouldn¡¯t be watching this. Go back inside. We have everything handled here,¡± said the officer, even though the silver-haired man was still running wild. HOPE existed to maintain order and as vital as corralling those who failed the sequencing was, keeping incidents like the one that had just occurred from the public was equally important.
¡°I¡¯ll do just that,¡± a terrified Lucas replied before shutting himself back in his room.
Once there, Lucas moved to the center of the room. After seeing such a scene, Lucas didn¡¯t trust the walls around him. They could do nothing to protect him from the silver-haired man, the silver-haired SPTer.
It all started a hundred years ago. Systemic Pharmaceutical Technologies was a bioengineering firm working on the cutting edge of viral gene insertion. Their masterpiece was a virus called SPT-017, an unassuming name for what would bring about the end of human dominance. With this virus, Systematic Pharmaceutical could modify any living organism. SPT-017 would slither into any nucleus and insert a programmable line of code anywhere in the DNA, allowing genetic manipulation with a level of precision that would have seemed out of science fiction only a decade before.
The virus was first developed to treat all form of human genetic diseases, but it wasn¡¯t long before Systemic Pharmaceutical Technologies branched out into everything from engineering super crops that internally produced pesticides to trees that grew into the shape of a house. It was the beginning of a grand age where anything and everything was possible, or at least it was until everything went wrong.
March 25, 2077 was a typical day in Seattle, WA. Drab and overcast, but in a way that made it warmer than it would have been otherwise. Like any day, things wore out and broke down, accidents happened. This one though involved a gas leak at Systematic Pharmaceutical¡¯s central lab, where SPT-017 was supposed to be securely stored away from the world.
No one was hurt and except for a few number-crunching executives and shareholders, no one was worried about the damage caused by the small explosion. No one realized that SPT-017 survived the fire and escaped.
In the next few months, the virus spread, infecting everything from giant pandas to the common cockroach, continually mutating everything it touched.
Historically, evolution was a slow process where a minor mutation or two between parent and child augments a species over hundreds of generations, but SPT-017 changed all that. No longer did mutation take generations. Now plants and animals evolved rapidly and continuously throughout their lives.
Over the previous 20,000 years, mankind relied on advancing technology to outpace nature¡¯s ability to adapt and reign supreme over the wild. With the release of SPT-017, that advantage vanished.
Within a month, people noticed a severe uptick in animal attacks. Within a year, millions were dead and many times more were displaced as people moved closer together to fall under the protection of the armies raised to face this unprecedented threat. Animals and plants continued to get stronger and smarter. The superiority of human technology and weaponry faded. Within a decade, the human population fell from 10 billion to a mere 100 million. Those few that remained were carefully tucked away behind fortified walls in a handful of large cities around the world.
Not much had changed since then. Humanity was still on the defensive. It still regularly clashed with a variety of beasts mutated by SPT-017 and remained cloistered behind high walls.
SPTers, or ¡®spitters¡¯ as they were more colloquially called, were humans heavily mutated by SPT-017. Yes, not only did the virus change plants and animals, but people changed as well. In fact, all humans were infected by SPT-017. It¡¯s just that it wasn¡¯t a problem so long as the virus didn¡¯t change them much.
SPTers could possess a wide variety of abilities from enhanced strength to more acute senses to more bizarre animal or plant characteristics. Unfortunately, having one¡¯s body change throughout their lifetime wreaked havoc on the human psyche. All SPTers descended into insanity and if left unchecked would bring devastation.
To prevent this, everyone underwent yearly screenings where their entire genome was sequenced and compared to a sample taken at birth. Once a certain number of mutations were detected, a person would be labeled a SPTer and HOPE would take them away.
So long as the mutants came quietly, HOPE would allow SPTers to say their final goodbyes to their loved ones before giving them a quick and painless death. If they didn¡¯t, HOPE would ruthlessly hunt them down and kill them. It may be cruel, but this was the way humanity survived.
There was no way around this fate. So long as you lived long enough, the mutations would pile up until there were enough to fail the test. Over the decades, mankind found certain drugs to slow down the process. However, such medicines were too rare and therefore expensive for the vast majority to use. Instead, ordinary folks only had less direct methods.
The virus worked to adapt people to be better suited for their environment. By regularly changing your environment, you could limit the damage. For that reason, many people didn¡¯t specialize in a single career. They spent a few years working in the mines. Then before mutations for night vision or echolocation developed, switched to working in the fields, harvesting crops. Then before mutations granting green skin and chloroplasts for photosynthesis appeared, changed careers again to a menial office job.
Another way to slow the process was to refrain from overexerting yourself. In scenarios where the body was pushed to its limits, the virus worked faster. It was for this reason that the plants and animals had mutated so quickly. In the wild, dangerous situations forced everything to the edge.
Still, even with these methods, the process could only be slowed so much. It was next to unheard of for someone to reach seventy before they failed their sequencing.
Lucas spent another four hours waiting in the patient room, his mind busily reviewing all that he had seen, his heart considering whether that was how his father was when he suddenly became a SPTer and wondering if that was to be how Lucas himself would meet his end, hopefully on a day far into the future.
Eventually, the scene was cleaned up and another doctor was brought in to provide Lucas with his results. Even though Lucas knew that at his age it was next to impossible for him to fail, he couldn¡¯t help but be nervous after what he¡¯d witnessed.
¡°Sorry you had to wait so long and sorry you had to see all that,¡± said the new doctor, a middle-aged man with thick glasses.
¡°Will the other doctor be okay?¡± Lucas asked.
¡°Of course. Katherine has been sent to intensive care, but they expect a full recovery. You should also know that HOPE apprehended the SPTer, so you don¡¯t have to worry about anything,¡± said the doctor.
Lucas wasn¡¯t sure he believed the doctor. Regardless of the real outcome, the doctor would have said the same thing. Covering such instances up was a regular thing in this society. Lucas would never see this sort of event reported in the newspaper or on television. The only place where it might show up was in forums on the net. Lucas had seen many such posts but had always chalked them up to trolls with too much time on their hands. Now, Lucas was reconsidering his stance towards them.
¡°Now we¡¯d better get back to the reason you came here,¡± the doctor continued. ¡°I have the results for your sequencing. Your mutations currently stand at 22 percent of the maximum allowance. So while you are nowhere near a problematic level, I should warn you that it¡¯s still somewhat high for someone your age. I also see from your results several mutations known to be precursors for the development of night vision and high CO2 tolerance.¡±
The mines were poorly ventilated so high CO2 tolerance was a common mutation for people who worked too long in the mines.
¡°Again, I¡¯d say these precursors are appearing surprisingly quickly, but I see from your records that you¡¯ve selected the pay by yield option...¡±
Like his own mother, the doctor proceeded to lecture Lucas on the effect overexertion was having on his sequencing results.
¡°I understand doctor,¡± Lucas reluctantly nodded once the doctor finished. ¡°But I don¡¯t plan on being a miner much longer anyway.¡±
If Lucas kept working the way he had been, he¡¯d have enough to buy a set of starter hunter gear in another 6 to 8 months. Lucas knew the risks, knew the toll when he started this path, but there was no other way for him to make his dreams of seeing, visiting the wider world come true. Lucas refused to let go of his dreams. Sometimes they felt like all he had.
Chapter 2 Part 1 (also map)
¡°I have personally seen to it that everything is ready for tonight. The bomb is set and the hunter says that all the lures are in position.¡±
¡°Good.¡±
¡°So, how long do you think it will take for you to get me those contracts?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know precisely. It¡¯s not as if I can go around asking about it ahead of time. But I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be long. You know how the government is. Most of the time they move slower than a bunch of stone slugs, but in an emergency, things move so fast that no one, not even the politicians themselves, see it coming. Just make sure you¡¯re ready to supply cost and time estimates as soon as the scale of the damage is realized.¡±
¡°Are you certain I¡¯ll get the contracts?¡±
¡°The most lucrative of them. Naturally, there should be enough work for many.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll trust you with that, Wrath.¡±
With the whole SPTer debacle, Lucas lost over six hours in Health Services. Shifts in the mine were eight hours long, so most of Lucas¡¯ time was gone. Still, Lucas tried going down the mines to get a cartload or two of ore turned in, but the foreman wouldn¡¯t allow it. He said Lucas going out would get in the way of the flood of mining carts coming back as the day shift neared its end. Lucas understood the reasoning but was still upset about it. The whole day was a bust that was only going to cost him.
Suddenly with a couple hours to kill, Lucas decided to walk back home. He began by going straight south from Harlem Mining. Technically, it was faster to head west until he hit the wall before following it south, but by going this way, Lucas got to walk along the western edge of Central Park.
Contrary to its name, Central Park was no longer a park. Not a scrap of Manhattan¡¯s limited land area could be wasted, so Central Park was converted into a farm, which produced the vast majority of the city¡¯s food.
In the old days, it would have been impossible for such a small plot of land to supply enough food to feed Manhattan¡¯s population of 3 million, but the virus mutated the crops as well. Now, a field of wheat took only twelve days to grow to maturity and potatoes only took four days longer. Apple trees spent three seasons of the year rapidly growing, producing five full batches of fruit, before withering and dying come winter. And string beans were so large people could fit inside their pods.
Even though Lucas wasn¡¯t allowed to pass through Central Park and even though all the plants were organized into neat rows, walking along the edge of the large farm was the closest he could get to seeing nature¡¯s grandeur.
A part of Lucas wished he could spend the remainder of the day walking a complete loop around the park, but the rest of him knew he should be a bit more practical, so once Lucas reached the end of Central Park, he turned west towards Western Station. Even though he would only be window-shopping, a visit to Western Station would still help Lucas adjust his estimate for how much he needed to save before he could quit his job and begin a new career as a hunter.
Hunters were the brave men and women who protected Manhattan from the mutant beasts that occupied the rest of the world. They surveilled and guarded the city from the bulwark of the 100-foot wall that encircled Manhattan. Sometimes, they hunted down the rare beast within the city that somehow made it past, but more frequently they ventured out beyond the walls, heading off threats before they reached the city and bringing back much-needed resources. Only so much could be produced within the city through farming and mining. Hunters were relied on for everything else.
Every day a portion of the city¡¯s hunters set out through one of the wall¡¯s four gates on various collection missions. These four gates were distributed all around the city and were called the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Gates.
Naturally, the area around the gates saw many hunters passing through, so many businesses peddling associated wares opened up in the vicinity. These neighborhoods of hunter stores and facilities were called Stations.
At first glance, Western Station looked no different than any part of the city, tall buildings with storefronts at ground level and with homes and offices above, but Lucas could easily tell as soon as he arrived.
¡°Special one day sale on ultra-durable steel fiber gloves, perfect for the beginning hunter. Today, it¡¯s buy one get one free.¡±
¡°Available for pre-order, SimTech¡¯s model 780 VR helmet, equipped with the latest AI and Bestiary. Hone your skills to be ready for anything from the complete safety of home for only 10,000 credits. Note: due to limited supply, a hunter¡¯s badge is required to purchase.¡±
¡°Come on down to Barry¡¯s Ballistic Bonanza for all your artillery needs. We have every composite and caliber bullet imaginable, from incendiary to armor-piercing, from nano projectile to cannonball. We also have the most complete collection of guns found anywhere in Manhattan. Best of all, if there¡¯s anything you want not in stock, we¡¯ll order it for you for no additional cost.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got pharmaceuticals over here. Don¡¯t want to fall asleep on a long excursion beyond the wall, get yourself some premium stimulants. Guaranteed to work without significantly increasing your sequencing percentage.¡±
Lucas was like a kid in a candy shop. His eyes scurried across every window on the street, taking in all the latest hardware. He saw impressive Gatling guns so large he doubted he¡¯d be able to lift them, a gleaming armor vest so tough that advertisements claimed that not even a snaggletooth gator could bite through it, and a set of binoculars packed with night vision, thermal imaging, and several other forms of visual sensors. However, those things weren¡¯t what caught Lucas¡¯ eye.
¡°It¡¯s the latest model,¡± a salesman told Lucas. Lucas¡¯ adoring gaze as he read the detailed list of features on the box was obvious to anyone who looked. ¡°It¡¯s on sale now. Half off, since a new model comes out next month. It¡¯s just the thing for any aspiring hunter or even a casual who wants to see if they¡¯d have what it takes to survive the monstrous wilderness.¡±
¡°I have an old 540 right now,¡± said Lucas.
¡°Then you know how amazing SimTech¡¯s Virtual Hunter Training Simulators are,¡± said the salesman.
Lucas had received his model 540 on his tenth birthday and despite its age, it remained one of Lucas¡¯ prized possessions.
Lucas had spent over a year begging his parents for it. Eventually, they¡¯d given in and gotten it for him in the hopes that experiencing how difficult and dangerous being a hunter was would dissuade their young son from the profession. That was an utter failure.
The simulator had a wide selection of weapons you could use and a variety of mutant beasts you could battle. Everything in the simulator was meant to be as realistic as possible, from simulated kickback to beast behavior compiled from hundreds of recordings.
As a young boy, Lucas spent years struggling against even the easiest beasts on the lowest difficulty settings. But Lucas persevered, and while he still hadn¡¯t beaten the highest settings, which weren¡¯t really possible since everyone fell when enough beasts came at them, the simulator assured Lucas that he¡¯d more than met the skill level needed to pass the Hunter Certification Exam.
Lucas just needed to gather the money necessary to equip himself then pass the exam. Rookie hunters made bad investments so getting a loan to purchase equipment was impossible. Lucas had to do that himself.
¡°But the 770 has many features your 540 lacks. Other than the latest models of weapons and an updated bestiary, the 770 has an artificial environment setup so you get an understanding of what it¡¯s like fighting in the rain or at night and it has AI teammates so you can get a feel of what it¡¯s like working in a hunter squad,¡± said the salesman.
¡°That sounds amazing,¡± said Lucas.
¡°It is. Would you like to test it out?¡± asked the salesman.
¡°Sure,¡± Lucas replied, his smile widening as the salesman led him to the display model ready and waiting.
Lucas spent the better part of an hour getting the feel of using the latest most powerful handgun, a .88 Magnum, and the latest laser sharpened, diamond-edged sword to blast and slash several types of mutant beasts. Lucas couldn¡¯t help but marvel at how much larger and more aggressive the Sapphire Jumping Spiders were in the 770, but really, it wasn¡¯t so surprising.
Mutant beasts changed rapidly in the current world. It was only for this reason that SimTech was able to get away releasing new models of the Hunter Training Simulators every six months, and it was only for this reason that some people regularly paid for the update. Being almost ten years old, Lucas¡¯ 540 was extremely dated.
Still, at the end of the hour, Lucas returned the 770¡¯s VR helmet to its shelf, and much to the salesman¡¯s annoyance, told the salesman that he wasn¡¯t interested. As much as Lucas would have liked to, he couldn¡¯t waste his limited funds on training equipment.
After seeing everything he wanted to in Western Station, Lucas headed home. The apartment complex in which he, his mother, and his sister lived was another ten blocks almost directly south. Like Western Station, it too was close to the wall.
The apartment itself was a dilapidated old building. That in and of itself didn¡¯t mean much, most of Manhattan was that way, a great deal of it having been constructed over a century ago, but this one was in particularly poor condition. The building¡¯s mottled grey exterior was a result of decades of air pollution, not paint, the stucco was cracked in dozens of places, and the exterior and hallway lights had been in a state of disrepair since before Lucas¡¯ family had moved in.
The building¡¯s biggest flaw was its location adjacent to the wall. There hadn¡¯t been a significant breach for over a decade, but that didn¡¯t stop people from worrying about it. Furthermore, the occasional monster did make it over or under, and statistics clearly indicated that the closer you lived to the wall, the more likely you were to have an unfortunate incident. Lucas wanted to live further from the wall, but his family couldn¡¯t afford it. Once he became a hunter, that would change and Lucas could move his family where it was safer.
Lucas entered the building then endured the long, slow elevator ride to one of the uppermost floors. From there, he didn¡¯t even need to think as his muscles took over, delivering him to and through the door to his family¡¯s apartment.
¡°Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.¡±
Lucas was met by a trio of voices: his mother, his sister, and his best friend, Rachel.
¡°What? Why do you have that look on your face,¡± asked Hayley.
¡°I was just surprised,¡± said Lucas, shutting his mouth, which had been agape for several seconds. Unlike the last time this occurred, Lucas was genuinely surprised.
¡°Did you forget it was your birthday?¡± Rachel teased.
¡°Of course not, it¡¯s just that it isn¡¯t until tomorrow,¡± said Lucas.
¡°Well, we had to do it today,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother. ¡°You know I have the night shift tomorrow.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
¡°I thought you had the night shift tonight as well,¡± said Lucas.
¡°I did, but I wasn¡¯t able to take tomorrow off. Denise is currently on maternity leave and Rob has a doctor¡¯s appointment tomorrow, so I made do,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother.
¡°Damn, so the whole day is a bust,¡± said Lucas.
¡°What do you mean the day is a bust? Don¡¯t tell me you suddenly don¡¯t like my cooking,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother as she retrieved a bright yellow cake from the kitchen.
¡°I was sequenced today. It took so long that I wasn¡¯t able to get any work done,¡± Lucas explained.
¡°Really, how did it go? Did you have any problems?¡± his mother asked.
¡°Are you okay?¡± Hayley asked.
Lucas¡¯ mother and sister were both suddenly extremely interested in this news. It caught Rachel by surprise at first since it should have been considered mundane. Everyone had a sequencing on a yearly basis if not more. Then Rachel realized the reason.
¡°Everything¡¯s fine. Completely normal,¡± Lucas lied. His mother would only worry if he admitted his mutations were on the high side. ¡°Would I be here if everything wasn¡¯t?¡±
Lucas¡¯ mother flinched, and Hayley burst into tears before rushing up and wrapping her arms around him. Lucas said the last statement without even thinking about it. Once he had a chance to reflect on it, the words brought up a number of painful memories for him as well.
Two years ago, Lucas¡¯ father failed a sequencing. One day everything had been normal, Lucas went to school while his father went to work. When Lucas got back, he found his mother curled up on the floor, crying.
She had been told his father had a mental breakdown at work. His genes were sequenced on the spot and he was labeled a SPTer. Since he refused to come quietly, Lucas¡¯ father wasn¡¯t given a final visit with his loved ones before he was executed. Lucas, his mother, and his sister never got a chance to say goodbye.
In a single day, Lucas¡¯ young life was turned upside down. It wasn¡¯t much longer before their family was forced to move from their comfortable townhouse to their current apartment, which despite its squalor and location in a bad neighborhood still required Lucas to drop out of school and get a job to help support them.
¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Lucas apologized for his careless comment. ¡°It¡¯s just that it¡¯s frustrating.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother.
¡°If you really think today was a bust, I think I have just what you need to turn it around,¡± said Rachel as she lifted a box wrapped in brightly colored paper, Lucas¡¯ birthday present.
Before his family moved, Rachel had been the girl next door. Lucas didn¡¯t know exactly how they¡¯d become friends; it was before he could remember. To Lucas, Rachel had simply always been there.
Lucas had other friends growing up. He kept up with some of them for a little while after the move, but Lucas had slowly lost contact with them all. It wasn¡¯t anything they did. Even after relocating to this wretched place, they didn¡¯t treat him any differently, but when Lucas was with them, he was always reminded of how much he¡¯d lost.
Gradually, he pushed them all away, but Rachel refused to go. She kept calling and popping up. Lucas hadn¡¯t told her how much that meant to him.
¡°What is it this time?¡± Lucas asked as he accepted the box. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s heavy. Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s another rock.¡±
¡°Hmmph. How long are you going to tease me about that? I was six, and I was assured it was a high-tech pet,¡± Rachel huffed.
¡°Probably forever. I mean the look on your face when you couldn¡¯t find the ¡®hidden¡¯ button that you thought would turn it on, has to be the funniest thing I¡¯ve ever seen,¡± said Lucas.
Living pets were illegal in Manhattan. There was simply too great a chance one of them might mutate and cause a disaster. Instead, people had robotic pets. Some years ago, a despicable twelve-year-old con artist had convinced the six-year-old Rachel that a rock was a robot turtle.
Lucas removed the wrapping paper to find a plain, unmarked cardboard box. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we¡¯ve got-.¡±
Lucas skipped a breath. He¡¯d opened the box and found a left full armguard. As the name would suggest, a full armguard was a piece of armor that protected an entire arm, beginning at the wrist and extending all the way to the shoulder.
A full armguard was perfect for the fighting style in which Lucas practiced on his simulator. Lucas preferred wielding a sword in one hand and a light gun in the other. Hunters frequently trained in using melee weapons in addition to firearms. While the media portrayed hunters as mighty warriors who risked their lives continuously taking out the fiercest of beasts, most of the time hunters were exterminators clearing out countless weak pests and hacking their way through dense foliage. Simple melee weapons like swords were perfect for those tasks. Especially since, if you fired your guns at every pest, all you¡¯d end up doing is attracting more predatory beasts.
The full armguard was worn on the arm carrying the melee weapon since it was the one that would be getting close to the beasts and needed the extra protection.
This particular armguard had an extra thick and wide plate on the outside of the forearm that could be used as a small shield. Behind which, Lucas also noticed a small hydraulic winch and a grappling hook. On the other side of the wall, hunters frequently had to travel over rough terrain where such a tool could come in handy.
¡°This metal¡ Is it tungsten?¡± Lucas asked. He was still staring down at the arm, not sure if he was in a dream.
¡°The plates are tungsten carbide. The mesh underneath that holds it all together is graphene,¡± Rachel explained. ¡°The tungsten is a bit brittle but with the graphene underneath it should absorb impacts okay¡.¡±
Rachel droned on for a couple minutes, detailing the various features and why certain design choices were made. Despite an abundance of interest, Lucas had a hard time following. Rachel knew a lot more about hunter equipment since she was training to be an equipment engineer, a creator of the special weapons needed to hunt mutant beasts. Soon, she would be licensed and free to sell her creations.
¡°But something like this has to be tier 2 hunting gear,¡± Lucas cut in. Roughly speaking, hunter gear was split into several levels by their power and quality.
Tier 0 goods were the sort of things normal civilians who were worried about a breach bought for defense. They were cheap enough for ordinary people to afford but would be next to worthless in a real fight.
Tier 1 goods were mass produced things made from ordinary materials but were good enough for a beginner hunter. These were the sorts of things Lucas was working hard to save enough to buy.
Tier 2 goods were made of the best ordinary synthetic materials and were favored by veteran hunters whereas tier 3 gear incorporated components from the mutated beasts from beyond the wall. The hides of the mutated beasts were often more robust than anything human technology could currently produce. Tier 3 gear was only used by the elite and was usually custom forged by the best equipment engineers.
¡°Tier 2 is a bit generous,¡± said Rachel. ¡°Maybe tier 1.5 gear. Technically, the components qualify as tier 2, but I had to use parts that were going to be discarded because of some minor imperfections.¡±
¡°This¡. It¡¯s still too much,¡± said Lucas. He¡¯d been struggling to save for things not nearly as good as this. It was a bit embarrassing to accept something from Rachel, even though she was his oldest friend. ¡®How much did she spend on me?¡¯
¡°I go through all the trouble of making this, and now you reject it. Pssht. Ohh, I get it.¡± Rachel walked over and punched Lucas in the shoulder. Lucas was briefly stunned by the strength of the blow. Rachel worked with metal all day, so she was ridiculously strong for her size and build. ¡°Let me guess, this is about money. Well you¡¯re damn right it¡¯s about money, it¡¯s about all the money you¡¯ll be making me when you become a bigshot hunter and buy all your equipment from me.¡±
¡°Wha-?¡±
¡°Then you¡¯ll tell all your hunter friends and comrades, and they¡¯ll get all their stuff from me as well. So you see, really this ¡®gift¡¯ is an investment. Besides this didn¡¯t really cost me anything. I used slightly flawed components because my teacher gave me them to use as practice. This ¡®masterpiece¡¯ of mine was going to be taken as scrap and melted down. So take it and use it well, it¡¯s the best I can do to help protect you,¡± said Rachel.
¡°Okay, it¡¯s a deal. When I¡¯m a bigshot hunter, and you¡¯re a bigshot equipment engineer, I¡¯ll be sure to send plenty of business your way,¡± said Lucas. He was still a bit embarrassed, but it also felt good to be talking as if both of their dreams were already a done deal.
¡°Come by the workshop sometime next week so I can adjust the fit,¡± said Rachel.
¡°Sure thing,¡± Lucas agreed. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking forward to finally seeing the place.¡±
Rachel had been apprenticing there for a while, but Lucas had been preoccupied by work.
¡°That¡¯s awfully nice, Rachel,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother, which surprised Lucas. As demonstrated just that morning, his mother had always discouraged his desire to be a hunter.
¡°Can I give him my gift now,¡± Hayley asked her mother, tugging on her mother¡¯s arm with her characteristic exuberance.
¡°We usually wait for presents until after dinner and cake. But given that it¡¯s already started, I guess we can change things up a bit this year. Go ahead.¡± Lucas¡¯ mother waved Hayley on.
¡°This is from me,¡± said Hayley, depositing a small brown box in the palm of Lucas¡¯ hand. Lucas opened the box. Inside was a small, golden locket in the shape of a heart.
Lucas was repulsed slightly by the girly nature of the locket, but considering his sister was only twelve, and it was a gift. Lucas did his best to hide this.
¡°Wow, it¡¯s so¡ shiny. Thank you,¡± said Lucas.
¡°I put a picture of me and mom inside, and I want you to carry it with you always. Even when you get to go out as a hunter,¡± said Hayley in a way that made the request sound more like a demand. Lucas didn¡¯t realize it, but Hayley made the demand because she thought it¡¯d be funny if one of the courageous, battle-hardened hunters carried such an item. Lucas was too distracted by the sentiment that Hayley was okay with him becoming a hunter.
¡°So, will you keep it with you?¡± Hayley pressed.
¡°Of course I will,¡± Lucas smiled.
¡°This one is from me. Originally, I was going to give you something else, but after this morning¡. Well, there was a change in plans.¡± Lucas¡¯ mom retrieved another box. It wasn¡¯t as big or heavy as Rachel¡¯s gift and it wasn¡¯t even wrapped. Instead, it was a simple wooden box with a few geometric patterns carved into it.
¡°This was your grandfather¡¯s. I know you never knew much about him, but your father named you after him,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother. ¡°Go ahead open it.¡±
Lucas did so. Inside was a knife, but it had to be the strangest one he¡¯d ever seen. The entire thing, from the handle to the sheath, was pitch black and had a rough texture akin to wood. Lucas drew the knife. The blade was equally strange, it wasn¡¯t made of metal, but instead out of a milky white substance that seemed to be semi-translucent, it was like you could see a quarter of an inch or so into it, only near the edge of the blade was it possible to see all the way through.
¡°Your grandfather was an equipment engineer. The hunter who commissioned the knife died before he could pick it up. Your father kept it as a memento,¡± Lucas¡¯ mother explained before taking in a deep breath in preparation for what she was to do next. ¡°If being a hunter is what you really want, then of course, I¡¯ll support you. I just hope that you¡¯ll be careful and always remember that we will always be here for you.¡±
Ever since he¡¯d switched to being paid by yield, Lucas couldn¡¯t help but feel a mixture of guilt and uncertainty. Guilt over the apparently added stress he was putting on his loved ones and uncertainty over whether he was really doing the right thing. Is it more important to be true to yourself or true to the ideal your loved ones have of you? Is it okay to relieve the pain within yourself if it simply transferred to your loved ones?
If his mother and sister truly accepted what he was doing, then all that internal conflict was resolved. It was as if a great weight was lifted from Lucas¡¯ shoulders and he was filled with warmth.
¡°I... I don¡¯t quite know what to say.... I don¡¯t...,¡± Lucas quietly muttered. He was never the best at voicing his feelings. He was almost as bad at it as he was at expressing a simple thank you. Fortunately, he was spared the trouble of having to do any of that.
¡°Wow, is that a crocospite tooth blade?¡± Rachel asked, snatching the knife out of Lucas¡¯ hand. Lucas thought Rachel was interrupting intentionally to spare him, but really, she did it because equipment engineer enthusiasm overwhelmed her ability to read a room.
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Lucas¡¯ mother answered. ¡°You know everything I know about it.¡±
¡°Hmmm¡ It¡¯s not a crocospite tooth,¡± said Rachel. She¡¯d already pulled out a material analyzer from her pocket, which in addition to an x-ray and a hardness tester, included a DNA sequencer. The sequencer took a microscopic sample of the mutant beast material and compared it to items in an extensive database. ¡°It¡¯s an incisor from something called a chromodo dragon¡. I¡¯ve never heard of that before.¡±
Rachel scanned through the bestiary entry on her wristcomp. ¡°Oh¡ that¡¯s why. It¡¯s an old beast.¡± The SPT virus continuously mutated things. If the knife had belonged to Lucas¡¯ grandfather, it had to be at least 30 to 40 years old, old enough that the creatures had changed enough to require a different name if they hadn¡¯t gone outright extinct.
¡°Not bad, considering its age¡,¡± Rachel commented, turning away from the entry and back to the knife. ¡°The handle, guard, and sheath are clearly made of ironwood. I¡¯d recognize that blindfolded. It¡¯s durable, so it¡¯ll last a long time, and its springiness will help absorb the impact of blows from affecting the user¡¯s hand.¡±
¡°Wait¡ chromodo dragon, ironwood¡ you mean that this knife is made out of materials harvested from mutated organisms¡. But that¡¯s tier 3 gear.¡± Lucas¡¯ jaw dropped. He wasn¡¯t sure if he should be happy or scared. Even though it was only a knife, a tier 3 knife had to be worth more than an entire set of tier 1 gear, possibly more than a complete set of tier 2 gear. If anyone saw him with such a thing, he¡¯d become an immediate target. He wasn¡¯t strong enough to defend himself from someone who¡¯d be interested in tier 3 gear.
¡°It¡¯s more like tier 2 gear. Yes, it¡¯s made out of mutated organism materials, but its old and decades ago the beasts weren¡¯t as potent as now,¡± Rachel explained, bringing Lucas a lot of relief. ¡°Still, people wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that from just a look, so¡ perhaps it¡¯s best if you cover it up. When you come by the workshop to fit the armguard, bring the knife. I¡¯ll coat it in metallic paint.¡±
¡°I can do that,¡± Lucas agreed.
¡°Okay, now that we¡¯re done with that, it¡¯s time we eat,¡± said Lucas¡¯ mother.
¡°Cake,¡± Hayley cheered.
¡°Not yet, I have some proper food before we get to that,¡± Lucas¡¯ mother sighed.
They sat down and all enjoyed vegetarian lasagna, meat was a delicacy in this world since it could only be obtained by hunters in the wild. Afterward, they had cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday. Lucas also joined in, proclaiming ¡®Happy Birthday to me!¡¯ Since he never knew whether to join in when they were all singing for him, he decided if he were to join in, he might as well go all out.
After they were finished stuffing themselves, they spent a few hours playing cards. With how often Hayley won, Lucas would have sworn his sister was cheating, but he didn¡¯t see how that was possible when she always skipped her turn at dealing.
Finally, well past her bedtime, after Hayley had collapsed at the table, cards in hand, they called it a night. Lucas walked Rachel to the subway station. On his way back, it started to rain, forcing Lucas to run the rest of the way. When he hit the sheets, it felt like he could sleep the whole next day. He didn¡¯t come anywhere close to that.