《Manapocalypse》 Chapter 1 - We鈥檙e Late! * ¡°Hurry up Liz!¡± A breathless Mark cried, frantically pedaling down the street. The late spring morning was cool, but the fierce pace Mark was maintaining created a sheen of sweat on his body. He risked a quick reach over his shoulder to make sure his freshman project was still secured to his backpack. Today was the last day to work on it before turning it in and it wouldn¡¯t do to have it fall off and break. He had wanted all of first period to work on it and planned on getting to class early, but here he was, way late. There had been a major power outage, and all the alarms in the house failed to go off. This elevated their usual morning routine from their standard ¡°crazed rush¡± to ¡°total panic.¡± Their mom had just finished a night shift supervising the ER and was sleeping in, and they weren¡¯t quite sure the last time they saw their dad awake before eight AM, so they had no help from that quarter either. To make matters worse, the power must have knocked out the stop lights because nothing was even flashing at the first major intersection on their way to school. Fortunately, traffic was non-existent, and after a quick check Mark booked across the intersection. Normally, if they had a moment, they¡¯d grab a bite at Siren¡¯s Coffee on the way in, but that was not going to happen today. He had resist at first, saying it was a waste of time, but it turned out to be one of the few things he was glad Liz bullied him into doing. She seemed to think she knew everything about everything just because she was a Junior, but in this case she was right. Well, she was actually right a lot of the time, but she shouldn¡¯t let it get to her head. Mark looked over to the empty coffee shop lamenting his lack of caffeine while a growing sense of wrong started to flow through him. There usually was a line up the wazoo of people waiting to get their daily fix, even at 9:00 on a Thursday. The drive-in was also totally messed up. While there were cars lined up, none of them seemed to be running, and no drivers could be seen. Mark unconsciously slowed his breakneck pace and stopped on the corner to ponder the strange situation when his sister, having finally caught up, grabbed him by the shoulder in a painfully strong grip. ¡°Mark! What. Are. Those. Things!¡± Liz hissed in his ear. Looking forward Mark saw what were best described as giant furry caterpillars wandering around the street in front of them. They were the size of an ottoman, and had two antenna sticking up in front. Their tan fur looked really fuzzy, soft, and oddly pettable.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°I, uh, guess, giant furry caterpillars?¡± Mark¡¯s brain was in shock, and when you¡¯re in shock, it¡¯s generally good to stick to the basics. One of the creatures that had wandered in close reared up on four of its eight stubby legs to reveal a bloody tooth filled maw. Mark thought he saw part of a human arm poking out. ¡°Killer furry caterpillars?¡± Mark helpfully clarified. As they realized the seriousness of their situation the training their father insisted on kicked in. They both reached for their pepper spray and grabbed their batons out of the custom made kits on their bikes. The fortune their dad had made with his company selling zombie and other apocalypse Survival Kits allowed them such luxuries. Most of the time they were embarrassed to be riding around with the brightly colored zombie themed accessories, but today made up for all prior annoyances caused by their dad¡¯s paranoia. Two jets of chemical burning flew into the fuzzy thing causing it to flail wildly and stumble towards them. Without hesitating, Mark took a step forward and made a strong swipe with the baton, knocking the beast on its side. He stood over the thing, unsure of what to do next when Liz followed up with a blow to what he assumed was its head. Its twitching stopped and the only sound they could hear was the strange squishy footfalls of the rest of the things. The siblings turned to each other and the looks in their eyes effectively communicated their thoughts. Screw school, they were going back home. ¡°Wait, let me get a picture, not sure if anyone will believe us if we say giant furry caterpillars stopped us from going to school,¡± Mark said pulling out his cellphone. It seemed that the battery was dead, though. ¡°Huh, thought I charged it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure I did,¡± Liz grumbled as she pulled her own phone out, but found it equally dead. The general sense of wrong Mark was feeling expanded and was now a palpable cloud of unease. He finally realized what had him on edge. There wasn¡¯t a single sound of civilization around him. No electrical hums, no puttering cars, nothing. He saw Liz looking around as well. She apparently had also clued into this new and disturbing fact. Their heads turned to face each other again and they both said ¡°Home¡± as more of the caterpillar things started to wander dangerously close. Fueled by fear and adrenaline, they sped down the street they had just come up. ¡°Keep an eye out for more Fuuzers!¡± Liz cried as they made their way back. Mark nodded and scanned the right side of the road. While he didn¡¯t necessarily approve of his sister¡¯s naming skills, it was still a good idea to keep watch. His mind was numb from trying to process the crazy morning so far, and somewhere behind him his freshman project was strewn across the street. He didn¡¯t spare it a second thought though, as all mental processes were consumed by the latest fiasco that just roared into view. Chapter 2 - Monsters, Fuuzers, and Bears, oh my! * Mark was so startled by the appearance of what could be best described as a giant bear monster that he lost control of his bike and crashed into his sister. The collision tangled the bikes together and caused both of them to fall. To make matters worse, the crash attracted the attention of the six-legged bear-thing. It reared up and roared at the teenagers. Quickly untangling themselves, they ditched their rides and broke into a panicked sprint. They only had three more blocks to make it home. Liz risked a quick look back to see how they were doing and was dismayed. ¡°Keep running, Mark! The thing is gaining on us!¡± Mark couldn¡¯t stop himself from looking as well, and a feeling of dread formed in the pit of his stomach. He turned back to renew his sprint and was greeted with a welcome sight. ¡°DOWN KIDS!¡± the man running towards them shouted. Mark felt a wave a relief as their dad, fully kitted out in survival gear, pulled back a full draw on a compound bow. Jason Randall, the so-called King of Apocalypses, stood in all his glory. His military cropped hair and chiseled Sean Connery-esque features exuded calm in the face of disaster. If ever there was someone you¡¯d want around in a crisis, it was their dad. Mark ducked along with his sister to give a clear shot at the charging bear thing. ¡°Crap!¡± he heard their dad curse as his first arrow went wide of the target. Liz and Mark¡¯s recently found sense of relief was quickly replaced with their previous horror. Jason Randall, however, was not one to panic. He calmly took a deep breath, focused, and let fly another arrow. The bear-thing crashed to the ground as the length of steel lodged deeply into its eye socket. ¡°C¡¯mon kids, if you¡¯re okay to run, let¡¯s get back to the house, your Mom is holding the fort, but there are weird furry things around our pond,¡± their dad said, giving them a quick hug while surreptitiously checking them for any injuries. ¡°Fuuzers are at our house?¡± Liz inquired. ¡°Uh, I guess, if that¡¯s what we¡¯re calling bitey death caterpillars. They don¡¯t seem aggressive unless you get close, but they¡¯re still not something I want wandering around our yard,¡± Dad said as he scanned the side roads, leading Mark and his sister the rest of the way home. The remaining two blocks were blissfully uneventful. As they walked up the driveway they saw their mom wrangling a corpse of a Fuuzer. Raising his eyebrow in confusion, Jason commented on the scene. ¡°Mary, what are you doing?¡± Mary, their mom, was an ER doctor at a nearby Hospital. Her five foot tall frame radiated strength and determination, and both kids had learned early on that big things come in small packages. It was sometimes amusing to see her next to their dad, as he had a solid foot on their mom, but no one ever seemed to think laughing at the forceful Korean woman would be a good idea. Many people would be intimidated when they first encountered her sharp features and intense eyes, but to her kids it was always comforting to know she had their back. Right now she was dragging a giant fuzzy caterpillar across their yard. The land around their house comprised the entire block. It was the compromise their parents came to when Dad insisted on moving to a bunker in the mountains and Mom said she wasn¡¯t willing to work night shifts at the hospital and then have to drive two hours to a bed. It was probably one of the biggest lots in Mountain Lake, Colorado. The distance it spanned made the fact that their tiny mom had dragged the creature nearly her size from the pond to the house all the more impressive. ¡°These things, I have no idea what they are, so we¡¯re going to take a look inside and find out what we can,¡± Mary said, huffing as she dragged the strange creature towards the rear doors. Their house was custom built to their dad¡¯s paranoid survivalist specifications. It was roughly in the shape of an octagon, and the entire first level had reinforced concrete walls and practically no windows. The rear entrance where she was headed had a reinforced sliding steel door, and the kids knew from experience how heavy it was. Seeing her plight, Mark rushed over to the door and started pushing it open. Liz helped her drag the Fuuzer into the house. As they made it into the large splash room their dad looked around nervously. ¡°I¡¯ll do a quick circuit to make sure we¡¯re properly locked down, be right back.¡± Mom nodded at him and then turned to Mark and Liz. She grabbed both of them into a hug and whispered, ¡°Thank goodness you¡¯re alright. We were so worried when we noticed all hell broke loose. Are you ok? Any injuries?¡± as she poked and prodded him and his sister.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°We¡¯re fine, Mom, just a few scrapes from when Mark crashed into me and made us fall,¡± Liz said, giving Mark a quick glare. Mark shrugged. ¡°I actually am really sorry. I just wasn¡¯t expecting a bear-thing to jump out at us.¡± This prompted a slew of new questions from their mom. Liz and Mark took turns detailing their morning adventures. After a few gasps, and a couple more hugs later, they finished their tale. ¡°Thank you both for taking care of each other out there. I know it must have been terrifying, but you did good,¡± she said, patting their heads. Mark was just barely taller than her at this point, and Liz had a few more inches, but neither felt awkward at the action. Their mom had a manner that put them both at ease. Pausing for a moment, their mom then turned to the Fuuzer. ¡°Twelve years of med school and residencies have to be worth something. Grab some gloves if you¡¯re sticking around. We¡¯re going to figure out how these things tick. You¡¯re welcome to stay and learn, loves, but this may get messy.¡± She positioned the corpse of the thing into the shallow depression used for butchering meat. The splash room was designed to serve double duty and had a nice prep area for game. Although they never planned on dissecting strange new life forms in the area, it was well suited for it. Liz¡¯s eyes brightened at the thought of learning more about what was going on, but Mark felt a little queasy at the idea. He had butchered his share of things they had hunted over the years in this room, ¡°I¡¯ll see if Dad needs any help,¡± he said, and wandered off. ¡°Liz, hold this here.¡± Mark heard the first sounds of cutting as he moved away while his Mom began deconstructing the creature. Double checking his dad was probably pointless, but he figured the routine would do him some good, so he started a circuit of the first floor. Walking out of the splash room, he entered the enormous four car garage and workshop. Sun filtered in through narrow windows at the top of the walls providing just enough light to see. The backup generator obviously wasn¡¯t working, as no bulbs were on in the room. In the far left spot his dad¡¯s old army jeep was uncovered, which was odd. It didn¡¯t see much use since his dad got his military Humvee, which was parked right next to it. Going down the line he glanced at the minivan they used for trips when Mom insistent on travelling in something that was actually comfortable. He imagined that would get little use in the near future. He turned to examine the last car in the line, the hybrid that Mom used to commute. It smelled like melted plastic and ozone, and that probably wasn¡¯t a good sign. He¡¯d have to mention it to his dad later. Walking past the long workbench running along the wall to the right, he also did a check on the reinforced garage doors. They were secured and looked just as impenetrable as always. Heading back to the splash room, he poked his head into the next room over. The door leading to it was designed to withstand anything short of a pack of C4, and a quick glance confirmed that power wasn¡¯t on in this room either. It lead down to the bunker and he consider going down to check it for a moment. Eventually he decided not to, as crawling around a bunch of metal shelves and a few cots in the pitch black didn¡¯t seem like the best idea. He instead went back to check on his mom and sister. He suppressed a wave a nausea as he walked back into the splash room. All the bits and pieces of the Fuuzer were removed and his Mom had just taken her gloves off to jot down her thoughts in a notebook. ¡°See here, these are all standard organs you¡¯d find in a mammal, but this thing clearly has insect-like characteristics. Also, the mouth, clearly a carnivore here; those teeth are made for tearing meat and seem calcium based. But this thing, I have no idea what this thing is, but I¡¯m pretty sure it was part of the creature,¡± she noted, poking her pencil at a rock-like thing. ¡°Fuuzer, Mom¡± Liz corrected, ¡°And I think that thing is glowing. Are organs supposed to glow?¡± Avoiding looking directly at the hacked-up body, Mark gasped at the glowy thing. ¡°Mom, don¡¯t touch that! What if it¡¯s radioactive!¡± ¡°That¡¯s highly unlikely, son, it was embedded in a natural fashion and no irritation was around it. This thing seems like a normal animal aside from the fact that I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard of anything like it on the planet. But you¡¯re probably right, we should be careful about these things.¡± His mom grabbed some nearby forceps and carefully placed the rock thing onto the washing machine and started to clean up. Apparently, water was still running, as the sprayer turned on, washing the blood down the drain. As their mom continued to wash blood off the floor, the washing machine thumped on briefly. ¡°Well, that¡¯s weird, that¡¯s the first time power has come back on since we woke up,¡± she noted. ¡°Wait, I think I have an idea,¡± Mark said as he grabbed the rock. ¡°Hey, I thought you were all like ¡®That¡¯s radioactive¡¯ a second ago!¡± his sister teased him, but paying her no mind, he tried holding the rock against his cellphone. ¡°Maybe we can get our phones working so we can figure out what the heck is going on out there!¡± he said. A few seconds passed with no effect, and then, almost without warning, Mark noticed his phone started smoking. Freaked out and more than a little jumpy, he tossed both the rock and the cell into the far corner of the room, and shortly thereafter, it exploded into a tiny fireball. A few shouts later, Mark had grabbed the hose and a spray of water was pouring onto the burning mess. The stone was still glowing, albeit a bit less, and the phone was slagged. Their dad had returned as well to witness the aftermath. ¡°That didn¡¯t work out as well as I wanted,¡± Mark sighed. ¡°Ya think?¡± Liz¡¯s voice was dripping in sarcasm. Their mom interrupted the sniping by pulling them both into a tight hug. ¡°Kids, I love you both dearly, but we don¡¯t have time for this.¡± She placed a metal bucket over the smoldering mess. ¡°Leave the glowy rock alone for now. We need to have a family meeting. We¡¯re going to talk about what¡¯s going on and what we¡¯re going to do about it. And Jason,¡± she said, turning to her husband, ¡°I will say this once, and only once, and if you ever bring it up again you will be sleeping alone for the rest of your life.¡± She paused a moment and took a deep breath, preparing to say one of the hardest things she had ever said. ¡°But, you were absolutely right about preparing for the apocalypse,¡± she ended with defeat in her voice. Their dad looked like he was going to raise his hands in celebration for a moment, but he caught on to the look of death their mom was giving, and instead simply nodded and strutted towards the stairs up to the the living room. Mark, following closely behind, heard him mumble in a small whisper, just barely audible. ¡°Totally called it.¡± Chapter 3 - Taking Stock As they walked up the stairs, Barry, the family golden retriever, bounded across the living room and nuzzled up to Liz. The overgrown puppy was almost a year old and had formed an attachment to a particular member of the family who couldn¡¯t help but sneak him treats. ¡°Sorry buddy, got nothing right now, but maybe later¡± Liz said, enjoying the feeling of his fur. She made herself comfortable on the couch, plopped Barry onto her lap, and waited for the meeting to start. ¡°So what do we know?¡± Their dad stated as he began pacing back and forth, ¡°So far, we know that electricity is not working correctly, if at all. Batteries and anything that generates current is pretty much toast.¡± ¡°Oh yeah! The prius smelled like ozone! I forgot to mention that.¡± Mark chimed in, remembering his earlier patrol. ¡°Yes, good on you for noticing. It started this morning, but hasn¡¯t seemed to be getting any worse. We would have moved it outside but it seems to be holding steady now and it would have taken too long for us to manually open the garage doors and push the thing outside. We¡¯ll have to plan that for later if it continues to have issues.¡± dad concluded. ¡°Regardless, the only other response we¡¯ve gotten from anything electrical so far after that stone came into contact with things. Both the washing machine and cell phone responded, but not exactly in a manner that was helpful.¡± dad noted, pausing a moment to face Mark. ¡°Yeah, I know, fire bad, sorry, can we move on?¡± Mark squirmed under the gaze of his Dad. ¡°Sure, long story short, nothing electric seems to be working. Let¡¯s talk about chemical reactions.¡± ¡°Our pepper spray was doing fine¡± Liz interjected. ¡°That¡¯s good to know, I was worried it might be wonky too, because combustion is totally hosed right now. I tried startup up the Jeep, the old army diesel one, to chase after you kids, but the engine pretty much blew a cylinder after I got it started. The explosion the fuel generated was way out of whack. No cars for us for now it seems.¡± Liz frowned at this news, as bicycling around certainly hadn¡¯t felt safe and seemed to be the only mode of transport they had aside from walking. ¡°Also, when I tried using my guns, the shells exploded like they were over packed. Ruined my .22 and damn near took my hand off. Your mom has a theory on what¡¯s going on¡± he gestured to mom to continue. ¡°It seems that whatever is happening, it¡¯s generating a lot of fluctuations in power. Anything that requires a consistent and steady source is on the fritz. Also, the larger the energy burst, the more likely things are to get wonky. Candles and gas stoves seem to be more or less okay, there probably is some additional flickering there, but nothing compared to what we¡¯ve seen with bigger bursts of energy. It almost seems like the quicker energy is released, the more energy it draws from whatever is going on.¡± mom explained as their dad frowned at the explanation.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Liz nodded in understanding, both of the explanation and her dad¡¯s frown. Her dad not only amassed a giant collection of guns, but had trained relentlessly for years to perfect his ability to use them. Knowing that was all useless now had to hurt. ¡°On a lighter note, Gravity seems to be working fine!¡± her dad said, attempting to lighten the mood. Liz and Mark groaned synchronously. Even the apocalypse wasn¡¯t enough to stop their Dad from making bad puns. A quick hit from their mom got Dad back on track ¡°Ok, fine, be that way, but still, all electricity isn¡¯t gone.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, as we all know, the brain functions mostly on electrical impulses¡± their Mom continued ¡°And we all seem to be working fine, so that¡¯s good. Also, that energy rock inside the creature didn¡¯t seem to blow it up. I¡¯m guessing it probably means that for whatever reason, biological sources of energy don¡¯t seem to be going haywire.¡± ¡°Which brings up the next topic, monsters.¡± Their Mom nodded in the direction of the splash room that contained the bloody mess of the Fuuzer. ¡°We are clearly seeing things that have not existed before appearing seeming randomly, all over the place.¡± ¡°Yeah, that bear thing was terrifying.¡± Liz shivered at the memory. ¡°I¡¯m glad everyone is still safe, but we can assume our new monster neighbors come in more terrifying and violent flavors as well. Still no idea where they came from or how they got here, but they seemed to have spawned into existence as if from nothing.¡± A light went off in Mark¡¯s head at this, ¡°This is totally like a video game. Maybe we¡¯re living in a video game now!¡± ¡°Maybe YOU¡¯RE living in a video game, we¡¯re stuck here¡± Liz snarked back. ¡°Status! Inventory! Stats! Ability list! Set Class Ninja!¡± Mark started barking out various different menu names and commands while the family patiently waited for him. ¡°Uh, well, it was worth a shot. I mean, I have a couple of books where this sort of thing is totally expected.¡± Mark mumbled. ¡°It¡¯s actually not that crazy an idea considering where we are Mark, we¡¯ll have to keep an eye out for things like that just in case¡± their Dad said as he patted Mark on the back consolingly. ¡°But for now, we have to deal with what we know. I think we should do a circuit of the block and look for nearby survivors. We¡¯ll need someone to hold the fort while another group does the search. Any volunteers for either of those?¡± Mark looked at his sister, and then to his parents, ¡°I can¡¯t stand the idea of any of you getting hurt or worse out there, and I can¡¯t imagine letting someone stay by themselves. I think we should have backup regardless of what we¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°Solid thinking there Mark¡± their Dad said. ¡°We¡¯re better fortified here at home, and since I¡¯ve been training on weapons more than your mom, I was figuring I¡¯d take patrol duty.¡± Mary nodded in agreement at the suggestion. She didn¡¯t like the idea of her kids going out there, but she couldn¡¯t deny they were both trained for this. ¡°The question then remains, who¡¯s staying and who¡¯s going?¡± ¡°You decide Mark, I¡¯m okay with either¡± said Liz. ¡°Then I¡¯ll hold the fort with mom.¡± Mark affirmed. ¡°But if you¡¯re going out there, could you check in with George¡¯s mom? I know she¡¯s home Thursday mornings and she must be freaking out.¡± George was Mark¡¯s best friend, and lived just across the street. They had known each other since first grade and stayed close even into Freshman year. Haley, George¡¯s Mom, was pretty much family to him. ¡°Certainly son, we¡¯ll make sure she¡¯s on our circuit. Now, let¡¯s get ready to go out there. We¡¯ll hit the armory and do a quick check through the block. Liz, pick out what you want too, but be sure to get a ranged weapon, something with decent reach, and a knife.¡± Liz nodded and started towards the armory when the she noticed an odd light coming from the windows. She paused and everyone took a moment to focus on what was going on outside. Giant crystals were drifting downwards from the sky in a couple places, and they were glowing brilliantly, even though the sun was bright in the sky. The closest one seemed to be falling on the lake that was just a few blocks to the south of them. ¡°Better hurry up Liz, I have no idea what¡¯s going on now, but I¡¯m assuming it probably isn¡¯t good.¡± dad muttered grimly, looking out the window. Liz snapped out of her reverie and marched with new urgency into the family armory. Chapter 4 - A walk around the block Liz stepped into the family armory and grabbed her compound bow, a tactical machete, and her favorite foot long back serrated bowie knife she had affectionately named Mr. Fluffers. Looking around, she also decided that some of the sparring armor might not be a bad idea. It probably wouldn¡¯t stop teeth much, but it never hurt to protect joints and other squishy bits from something that could disable her. As she moved to exit the armory, she ran her hands along the racks of shotguns. It was really too bad that they didn¡¯t work, she trusted her ability to hit a target with a 12 gauge much more than her ability to hit something with a bow, even if she preferred the aesthetic of archery more. Before she left the room, she took a moment to look the the wall mirror and make sure her gear was secured. Looking back at her in the mirror was a person she had been trying to avoid become the past few years: a warrior. Her hair was long and dyed blue at the tips, but the tight pony tail spoke to utility rather than fashion. Her angular face showed some of her asian heritage, but just barely, enough to make it hard to say where she was from. The freckles across her nose confused her origins more, but a Scottish Dad and Korean Mom does that. She stood up tall. She was enjoying the time she was taller than her brother, but her brother was already close to her five foot three inches and she knew it was probably just a matter of time before he sprouted up past her. The armor also did nothing for her, and she frowned at the image. She had fought against the self defense lessons and random training for years, yet here she was. She sighed, no point in wishing for something different at this point, and anyways, it could be worse. She allowed herself a quick flex showing off well defined arm muscles when she was sure no one was looking. Dammit if she wasn¡¯t in good shape because of all of it. She composed herself and stepped out of the armory, shutting the door behind her. Her next step almost caused her to trip over Barry. Barry looked at her with worry in his puppy dog eyes. ¡°It¡¯s okay boy, you stay here, and keep Mommy and Mark safe, ok?¡± Barry barked affirmatively and proceeded to wander over to where Mary was setting up loaded crossbows. Barry¡¯s immediate and detailed response was atypical and caused Liz to cock her head to the side in confusion. She quickly pushed her concerns aside. Too much other stuff to worry about for now. Her dad had finished a quick check up on his own gear and was already standing at the front door. ¡°We ready to roll?¡± he called up from the bottom of the stairs. Liz looked down at him and nodded. They then headed out for a jaunt around the block. Her dad was in the lead with his long sword drawn while Liz checked their rear for threats. The plan this time around was to try and check for survivors in all the houses and see who they could rally to their house. They knew most of the families around the bend well enough, and they were hoping that some folks were still around. Their house was practically a fortress. Reinforced concrete walls, security doors, ballistic glass, and other artifacts of a paranoid millionaire insured they would have the most secure location in Lakewood, heck probably all of Denver. Her house was probably better suited for something like this than the local police or fire stations. It was a wonder that they even were able to get the permits to build half the stuff they did in a residential neighborhood, but she wasn¡¯t going to knock her family¡¯s luck now. As they arrived at the first house Liz¡¯s mind was quickly drawn back to the present. Her house was safe, but for now, she had to be aware of her surroundings and make sure nothing snuck up on them. She was always good at noticing things and she would make sure they made it back to the safety of her home. Her dad went to knock on the first door, and Liz gripped her machete with renewed force, preparing for the worst. With no response from the house, they backed away and moved on to the next house. This pattern repeated a few times until the fourth house, where the door was slightly ajar. Her dad signaled for her to get ready, lifting his longsword. Liz crouched into a defensive position with her machete. As her dad pushed the door open they both were surprised when a giant tribble like creature crashed into him. Momentarily stunned, Jason struggled to keep the thing¡¯s horns from impaling him, when Liz made a quick attack to its side. A squealing noise seemed to emanate all around fuzzball as it fell to the floor, and was quickly dispatched with another thrust from her dad¡¯s sword.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Carla, are you still okay in there?¡± her Dad shouting into the eerily quiet house. Liz knew the family in passing but her dad was better acquainted with the occupants. She thought she recalled him waving to an older couple on their runs around the neighborhood that matched her memory of the name. ¡°Liz, get your bow out and cover me, I¡¯m going in.¡± Pushing the door fully open and creeping towards the kitchen, he stopped as a hissing sound started from the top of the stairwell of the house. Another fuzzball was crouching at the top of the stairs, angling its two horns towards them. They could just make out a pair of prone human legs jutting out behind it as well, which didn¡¯t bode well for Carla and her husband. Without warning, the oversized tribble launched itself at her Dad, horns first, and in her haste Liz fired her arrow without thinking. A thunk and her dad swearing a fraction of a second later told her that she not only missed, but hit her dad! Without skipping a beat, Jason plunged his sword into the creature and then slumped against a wall. ¡°Oh my god Daddy! I¡¯m so sorry!¡± ¡°Okay, it¡¯s okay, just need to help me get this out of my shoulder. My armor took most of it, but I can¡¯t reach it.¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m on it. I¡¯m sorry!¡± Liz was almost in tears. She was kicking herself and knew that no matter how pissed her dad might be it was nothing compared to how annoyed at herself she was right now. That was a gimmie shot, and she blew it because she was scared. Objectively, she knew that it wasn¡¯t unreasonable to be freaked out by monsters leaping at her, but the stakes of screwing up were very real to her at the moment. A quick application of first aid later let them resume their house to house search. On the way to George¡¯s house they didn¡¯t find any survivors, but on the plus side they also didn¡¯t find any more bodies. They finally reached their target, and tentatively knocked on the door hoping that Haley would be ok. Liz had helped out Haley frequently over the years with everything from babysitting to house chores. Being a single mom who worked evenings had made her incredibly grateful to Liz, and helped develop their relationship into something more than just a babysitter and employer. While certainly not as close as Mark, Liz had known Haley and George most of her life. The thought of someone that close possibly being dead tied knots in her stomach and she made a silent prayer that Haley was all right. The sounds of locks being turned caused Jason to jump back. He was done being ambushed by Nerflings, another Liz naming special. Liz both and her dad exhaled the breath they were holding as Haley pulled the door open. ¡°Thank god! I was going to try to make it over to your place but the streets are crazy!¡± Haley said, barely containing her hysteria. ¡°Would it be ok if I came over? I know it¡¯s asking a lot but...¡± ¡°Haley, of course¡± Jason quickly cut her off ¡°Don¡¯t even worry about it. You and George are practically family. Grab anything you can and let¡¯s go, I don¡¯t like being out in the open here. We¡¯re checking houses but so far most people seemed to have been out and about when things shut down.¡± Haley had a bag ready and wasted no time pulled a few more things together. It seemed aside from clothing and other essentials, she had filled a small cooler with food. Without further ado, she stepped out of her house, locked it behind her, and stood behind Liz. ¡°I¡¯m ready¡± she declared, tightly gripping her luggage. The remaining circuit of the block passed quickly. Her dad no longer bothered to knock on every door, instead looking at driveways for cars or other signs of survivors. Their main priority had shifted and they were now focused on getting Haley to safety. Also, in an unspoken acknowledgement, Liz knew the arrow wound in her dad¡¯s shoulder would slow him down, and a fight was not something they were looking for when he was in that condition. Other than seeing a strange plant growing around a house, chucking a few stones at it, and discovering it was a toothly, agile, killer plant creature, they completed their circuit and made it back without much incident. Opening the door he found Mary and Mark leaning against each other for support, crossbows in hand. ¡°Everything OK?¡± he asked. ¡°Well, we haven¡¯t been eaten by a giant Giraffe hippo monster if that¡¯s what you''re asking¡± Mary replied with a barking laugh. ¡°Haley, so glad you are ok too.¡± she quickly shifted gears and walked over to hug her friend. ¡°I wasn¡¯t specifically asking about that, but, uh, good to know? I¡¯m guessing there¡¯s a story around this, so why don¡¯t you go first.¡± Jason suggested as he sat down and started to pull off his armor. Liz ran to his side to help remove it, feeling guilty again about the shoulder. ¡°And while you¡¯re doing it, you can help sticht up this arrow wound.¡± Mary nodded and went to get some supplies. ¡°This is a hell of a day...¡± she said to the exhausted people in the room. The unsaid second half of that statement gave them all pause, after all, it wasn¡¯t even noon yet, and none of them thought things would be getting better anytime soon. ¡°You guys have to hear about this¡± Mark said excitedly and began his story on what happened while the others were out picking up Haley. Chapter 5 - Holding the Fort As Liz and Dad headed out, Mark started to worry. Well, in all honesty, he had started to worry since he woke up and was late to school, but this worry was deeper. He loved his family, and had always figured they would be fine no matter what. After all, his Dad literally wrote the book on surviving five different types of apocalypses. When monsters started appearing though, the idea that something terrible could happen got stuck in his head, and he was having trouble getting it unstuck. Sighing in frustration, he proceeded to scan the perimeter. Nothing good would come from idle worrying, so he might as well do something productive. A few circuits of checking windows along the house later with nothing going on caused Mark¡¯s mind to wander. Generally, it didn¡¯t take much for that to happen, but practicing meditation techniques and martial arts seemed to help him manage. He could actually get through a day of school now while maintaining his focus. Well, maintaining it at least half of the day. A quick glance revealed nothing was out this window either, but it faced the woods behind his house. That was a nice view, one of his favorites. Mark noticed he could make out his reflection in the glass. His dirty blond hair was long, and getting into his eyes like usual. He sported the same indeterminate look his sister had, but lacked freckles. He poked his nose, that wasn¡¯t quite as angular as his sister, and looked over to his mom. Liz got gotten Dad¡¯s pointy nose and chiseled cheekbones. Everyone told him he looked more like his mom more than his dad, and he figured it was probably because of his nose. Even he could tell it was pretty much exactly like hers. All it in all, he though his face came together pretty nicely. It would be better if he were taller though. His sister was always just a couple inches up on him, but he was pretty sure he¡¯d catch up in a few more years and then he¡¯d laugh and laugh. Mark walked over to next window and his mind had jumped over to thinking about what he would eat for lunch when something moving in the pond across the street caught his eye. He pulled up his binoculars to get a better look. In magnified glory he saw a hippo giraffe monster crawl out from the pond there, sniff the air, and chomp down on a Fuuzer, crunching it up in a few bites. It then looked across the street to the bodies that had been left by his Mom earlier in the day and started to wander over. ¡°Mom! Giant Hippo Giraffe Monster on the way! What should we do!¡± He cried out louder than he meant. The volume startled his Mom as she rushed over to look. ¡°Ok, first off, looks like we can¡¯t leave corpses around. We¡¯ll have to make sure we¡¯re cleaning things up going forward. That thing looks like it could do some damage to the house if it wanted. If it starts getting close, I think we might be able to scare it off.¡± she handed Mark a loaded crossbow and went to collect the rest of them. ¡°You¡¯re a much better shot than me love, but will you be ok with this?¡± Mary said with a worried voice. Even though he was excited about learning self defense and martial arts, Mark had always been sensitive about hurting things. She treasured his empathy but worried it might make surviving in this new crazy world that much harder. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. A few seconds of contemplation later, Mark nodded and simply stated ¡°Yeah, I can do this.¡± They lined up next to the window with the best view of the pond where the Fuuzer corpses were. Mary silently thanked her husband¡¯s paranoia again. The windows were horrible for views, as they bent and distorted light a tad along the edges, but the things could shrug off a .45 at point blank range. The swivel mechanism on them allowed them to lift inwards and up as well as sliding to the sides, allowing for modular access to the window if you needed an escape hatch or a slot for sniping. The Hipporaffe chowed down on the three remaining corpses outside, and for a moment, it seemed like it was going to wander back across the street, but then it picked up the trail of the Fuuzer Mary had dragged back to the house. ¡°Mom! It¡¯s coming! I think it¡¯s following the blood of the Fuuzer downstairs!¡± Mark whispered in alarm. His mom nodded, and got ready to hand another loaded crossbow to Mark. Mark exhaled, releasing the tension in his shoulders and fired a shot at the head of the beast. Apparently, he hadn¡¯t done a very good job of releasing his tension, as the shot flew high, not even causing the thing to blink. ¡°It¡¯s okay Son, you got this¡± his mom encouraged. She passed him a loaded bow and proceeded to reload the spent one. The thing was now 40 feet out and getting closer. ¡°I can do this¡± Mark repeated to himself. The next shot he aimed at the body, hoping the pain would make the thing go away, and a thunk later showed it easier to hit a eight foot long body than a two foot long head. Rather than scaring it away, however, the thing seemed to just get pissed off, and started charging towards the house. Mark, in a panic, shot three more times quickly, but the thing shrugged off the hits and even sped up. His Mom was furiously reloading bolts, but Mark new he would only get a couple more shots before he¡¯d have to wait for reloads, so he needed to make the next shots count. He looked at the legs of the thing, and while they resembled a hippos, there were clearly bulging knee joints. He figured he¡¯d have one more shot before the thing crashed against the house. Taking an extra moment to still his mind, he took aim at the kneecap. The bolt flew true, and the thing staggered on it¡¯s next step and crashed to the ground. It¡¯s rage seemed forgotten as it got up, sniffing around it¡¯s knee. Now that the thing wasn¡¯t moving, Mark aimed for the head again, and this time struck it in it¡¯s cheek. The bolt didn¡¯t penetrate more than a few inches, but it obviously noticed that, as it threw its head back and bellowed in real pain for the first time. It turned it¡¯s head and seemed to notice Mark and his mom in the window for the first time. It didn¡¯t look happy. Mark had fired all the crossbows at this point, and rather than wait for his mom to finish reloading one, he opened the window, and grabbed the pepper spray can at his side. He pushed the glow stone they had found earlier against the can and tried to replicate the sensations he felt with the cell phone. ¡°Mark! When did you grab that! It could be dangerous!¡± his Mom said in an alarmed voice. At this point the Hipporaffe had gotten back up and seemed pissed. Mark simply concentrated, hoping his theory was correct. He imagined energy flowing from the stone to the can and suddenly he felt that vibration he noticed earlier in his phone. ¡°Fire in the hole!¡± He cried out, chucking the can towards the face of the monster. As the can finished it¡¯s arc it exploded right in the face of the thing. It¡¯s skin visibly reddened as the harsh chemicals went to work. At this point, the beast had enough. It turned and ran back across the street to it¡¯s starting pond, ducking its head underwater and disappeared from sight. Mark looked at his Mom who seemed to be in a bit of shock, but he had a grin plastered on his face. ¡°That. Was. AWESOME!¡± He whooped, giving his Mom a hug and taking a moment to enjoy the fact that they were both alive. His Mom sighed at his recklessness, but was glad that episode was over. A few seconds later Jason walked in and noticed the scene, ¡°Everything OK?¡± Chapter 6 - Everything New is Old again After telling his story, Mark put the stone on the coffee table in front of them. It was noticeably dimmer than before, the glow was now barely perceptible in the morning light. ¡°Clearly, those things are filled with some sort of energy, and also, it seems like Mark has some ability to move it around. I¡¯d want to experiment with it more before we do anything else though, so for now, let''s not touch the thing, and let''s not let it come into contact with anything that has electronic or chemical components.¡± Jason said in a voice that brooked no arguments. In the silence in the room after the statement, a loud snapping noise caused everyone to jump. Looking back, they saw one of the composite crossbows had broken in half. Wandering over, Jason picked up the device and frowned. ¡°What happened¡± Mary asked with concern in her voice. ¡°I just reloaded that a minute ago and it seemed fine.¡± Jason saw that that the bow had broken along a particular stress point. It¡¯s something that happened with this type of crossbow, since it was modified to give extra pull, but the composite materials used in its construction would more than easily accommodate the extra strain. Filled with a sudden sense of unease, he turned to the room. ¡°Ok, everyone, let¡¯s go to the armory and take a look at the condition of everything there. Pay close attention to anything made of composite materials.¡± The small group went to the room, carrying the remaining equipment with them. As people walked along the walls, pulling things they saw damage on, a clear pattern was emerging. Mary didn¡¯t take much time to draw a conclusion from the evidence and stood to address everyone. ¡°It seems like anything that has petroleum based plastics is deteriorating at an accelerated rate. Wood and steel seem fine, but you can see all sorts of issues with the plastic composites.¡± She held up a bow that had an extensive set of pulleys and was almost completely made of advanced materials. ¡°This thing looks like it¡¯s aged 10 years in the past few hours, and I don¡¯t know if we could even draw it anymore. But see this¡± she said as she held up a similar bow. ¡°This one is fine. It¡¯s the one Liz was carrying. Whatever effect is causing these things to break seems to be stopped or slowed by proximity to us.¡± The room took a few moments to digest this new information. It sounded crazy, but crazy was the word of the day. The evidence in front of their eyes was hard to dispute. Not one to take chances, Jason immediately started to pass out equipment to everyone and loaded himself down with as many items as possible. ¡°Quick! Everyone grab something!¡± ¡°Jason, this just isn¡¯t practical my love. We can only carry so much. We should focus on the best stuff and make sure we each have something¡± Mary went to calm her overly excited husband. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. A few minutes later everyone had a few items and had settled back in the living room. Jason had tried to load up more, but finally relented. His shoulder injury didn¡¯t make bows practical for him at the moment, and carrying a couple of them around as dead weight didn¡¯t seem very compatible with survival. ¡°Ok, its getting on noon, and anything we do I think we should do in daylight. Low vision and lack of decent light sources would make night exploration exploration extremely hazardous.¡± Jason said to the room. ¡°Haley, I know you want to get George, and while it¡¯s only a few miles away, that could be brutal under our current circumstances. If we had reliable transportation, it would be a different matter, but we have to take into account that some people might be injured and would be difficult to move.¡± ¡°What about the Carlson¡¯s carriage? They have a few horses, and a carriage would be a heck of a lot easier to move people around on than trying to carry them¡± Mark volunteered. He had taken to riding like a fish to water and the Carlson¡¯s let him exercise their horses in exchange for help around their stables. ¡°That¡¯s actually a great idea¡± Jason said, somewhat surprised at his Son¡¯s insight. ¡°So a trip to the Carlson¡¯s is in order, but we¡¯re still down on manpower. Liz, Elly is still homeschool, right?¡± Jason asked turning to his daughter. ¡°Yeah... Oh wait! Oh my god she¡¯s probably home right now we have to help her!¡± Liz blurted out, realizing where her Dad was going. ¡°It¡¯s okay sweetie, that¡¯s what I was suggesting we do. We¡¯ll do another quick circuit to round up the Johnsons. Hopefully they haven¡¯t left on that camping trip they were talking about yet. After that, we swing up to the Carlson¡¯s, pick them up if they are willing to come along, and see if we can use their horses and carriage.¡± Jason looked over the room and sighed, he knew what the safest course of action for them would be but was hesitant to suggest it. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, his kids were the most prepared to survive out there. The lessons, the survival trips, and the training he forced them into all prepared them for this moment. It had been fun and exciting when Jason imagined it was for some future fantasy, but now that an apocalypse actually happened, he discovered that the idea of his kids being in harm''s way terrified him. However, the dangers out in the world right now clearly demonstrated the need for someone to watch his back, and he knew who it should be. ¡°Kids, I hate to ask this, but you¡¯re the best equipped to deal with what¡¯s going on out there. The house is well fortified, and Haley and your Mom should be able to keep things safe. If we have a few more people we can make some changes, but will you go out and help me rescue the Johnson¡¯s? It¡¯s a lot to ask, I know, and I certainly won¡¯t force it on you, but you¡¯re the best bet we have of getting there and back safely.¡± Jason looked over to his wife, who nodded slowly. She knew he was right, and probably hated it just as much as he did. He waited for his kids to answer. Liz immediately spoke up ¡°We have to rescue Elly and her parents. They¡¯re practically family, so I¡¯m going.¡± she said with no uncertainty. Mark looked over at his Mom and Dad. He knew his Dad was right, and he wanted to make sure he was safe out there. Clearly, it would have been more dangerous to run into something like the Hipporaffe in the open than in the house. While he didn¡¯t want his Mom to get hurt, he knew the house would protect her better than he could, and with that in mind the choice was clear. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you too Dad, someone needs to watch your back, and not just shoot arrows in it.¡± he smiled over to his sister, getting a good dig in. She responded by blushing and hitting him in the arm. ¡°Ow!¡± he cried in legitimate pain. His sister was strong! ¡°Then it¡¯s decided. I¡¯ll provide cover and try to keep things at a distance with a spear. Kiddos, you¡¯re on bow duty and if any things out there get to close, switch to melee weapons. We¡¯ll go as fast as we can. If we see someone come out to us, we¡¯ll convoy with them, but otherwise we¡¯re going in for a targeted extraction. Sound good?¡± Jason stated, more than asked. ¡°Be safe my loves, come home to me¡± Mary said giving them a hug before letting them leave. ¡°We¡¯ll keep the house safe for you to come back to¡± Haley nervously added, picking up a crossbow and sounding more confident than she looked. Everyone congregated outside the front door, not really wanting to go out into the insanity again, but knowing they had too. A few deep breaths and one last group hug later and the trio set off to find the Johnson¡¯s. Chapter 7 - Ice Wolves Mark quickly exited behind his dad to the main street, careful to avoid the pond to the north that contained the Hipporaffe and checking the smaller one on their property for any more signs of Fuuzers. After a quick all clear hand signal, they rounded the corner and headed south. They had two short blocks along the main street the ran along the eastern side of their property before they reached the turn into the neighborhood area that the Johnson¡¯s were in. His face was grim as they made their way down the street, as the only movement they could see were monsters. Many houses along the road had broken windows with doors slightly ajar implying bad news for their occupants. It wasn¡¯t all hopeless, however, as a couple houses had boards in the windows and showed other signs of people fortifying themselves. Mark pointed out a few to his dad, but a sad headshake was the only response he got. ¡°Once we have a better handle on what was going on, we¡¯ll come back and help those survivors. For now, we have to focus.¡± he replied. Liz noticed an item of particular interest as they made the final turnoff down the street. While the Fuuzers and Nerflings seemed to get along fine, she noticed pockets of other monsters fighting amongst themselves. This gave Mark some hope that over time the eco system of monsters would stabilize and that these things wouldn¡¯t just overrun everything with their random spawns. As they turned down the side street towards the Johnson¡¯s house, Jason held his hand up to stop them. ¡°Kids, one of those sky crystals looked like it came down right around the lake here. Be extra careful, we have no idea what that could have done to the area.¡± Mark and Liz nodded, and lifted their weapons to a ready position. They had three blocks to go, and Mark kept particular watch on the streets that lead down towards the lake. As they approached the last turn to Elly¡¯s street, Liz made a quick grunt to get his attention. Her breathing increased as adrenaline started coursing through her system and Mark soon matched her state. That looked very much like a pack of wolves. Their dad, seeing the cause of his kids distress, immediately gestured over to a nearby tree. They had about 40 feet of distance between the three wolves who were busy exploring a the yard of a house across the street. Mark and his sister quietly moved up the branches of the tree as two wolves wandered out into the intersection and perked their ears up as the noticed the small group of humans. He heard a low growl and suddenly the other wolf that was further back in the yard turned its heads towards them as well. Mark secured as good a perch as he could while his dad positioned himself at the base of the tree, spear at the ready. ¡°I¡¯ll keep them off you kids, hopefully they can¡¯t climb trees. Take your shots carefully, and try to focus fire. Here they come.¡± Jason said in as calm as a voice he could manage. Mark heard the sounds of bow being pulled back and did his best to time his shot with his sister¡¯s. Two arrows sailed out and hit the two charging wolves closest to them. Mark cursed a bit as he reloaded. He should have been able to predict the target his sister was going for and they would have had a chance of knocking one out for the count. The wolves yelped in pain but quickly recovered and resumed bounding towards them. The bluish white tips on their fur gave them a spikey and intimidating look, and the fact that they were probably long as their dad was tall didn¡¯t make them any less scary. Mark was pretty sure that was bigger than normal wolves should be, but right now it only mean they were slightly easier to hit with an arrow. One of the lead wolves pulled ahead, less injured than it¡¯s counterpart, but that only made it so two more arrows found him as their target. The beast collapsed under the barrage, but two other wolves were starting to get close. Mark was really surprised at how well he was doing these shots. While he always worked hard and practiced with the crossbow, he never had much success with moving targets. Now he seemed to be picking off monsters in motion without that much effort. He couldn¡¯t spare extra thoughts on it now, however, and did his best to reload without falling out of the tree. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. To Mark¡¯s horror, two new wolves bounded of the house across the street and sprinted towards their pack mates. Getting a clear look at them, he noticed the wolves were running on appendages that resemble hands more than paws, and a sinking feeling told him those things would have no trouble climbing a tree. At the base of their perch, their dad made a quick swipe and knocked one of the closer wolves aside but the last one had a sudden burst of speed and caught Jason off guard. It was able to slip in close and land a bite to his thigh. The thick padding of the practice armor he was wearing prevented the worst of it, but Mark could see a dark bloody stain forming around the wolf¡¯s mouth. ¡°Dad!¡± Mark shouted in alarm as he finally finished reloading. Jason leaned back to give as clear a shot as possible as Mark launch a quick shot into the wolf. The bolt lodged itself in the skull of the beast leaving the remaining injured wolf and two sprinting packmates to deal with. Liz got a good shot on the injured one. While it wobbled on its feet, it was still moving, and therefore a threat. It¡¯s sprinting packmates had also arrived to the tree by now. Jason was able to get a solid attack on one, opening a gash on it side and preventing it from climbing up, but the other sprinted up the tree as naturally as it were a horizontal surface and quickly closed in to snap at Liz¡¯s face. Liz immediately dropped her bow and drew her knife, getting it between her and the maw of the angry wolf just in time, but the quick movement came at the sacrifice of her balance. She braced one arm against the throat of the wolf as she attempted to knock it away, but the motion caused her to fall from the tree, taking the wolf with her. She fell awkwardly onto her back, and was stunned as all the breath was knocked out of her. The wolf that came down with her fared much better, and quickly came it it¡¯s feet. Liz, tried to move, but she had no strength in her limbs. The three remaining wolves tensed to pounce but just then Jason jumped into the fray, swinging his spear in wide arcs and preventing them from finishing Liz off. The swinging kept the wolves at bay, but really only served as a distraction. The wolves quickly regrouped, and reacted to the new threat. The wounded one, with an arrow sticking out from it¡¯s back, fell unmoving as another bolt penetrated it. Mark had managed to recover from his surprise and finished the beast off. Meanwhile, the last two wolves coordinated an attack against his dad. His first swing caused one wolf to jump back, but it created an opening that the other quickly dived into. Jason couldn¡¯t help but scream as the wolf managed to get past his armor and tear into his calf, causing him to stumble to his knees and forcing him to use his spear to maintain balance. Almost as if it was waiting for the opening, the other wolf immediately jumped forward towards the exposed throat of Jason. Jason tensed grimly. He knew he didn¡¯t have enough time to react, but he would give his kids every advantage he could so they had a shot at winning the rest of the fight. In a last ditch effort, he grabbed the wolf on his calf, hoping that his body would tangle it up giving his kids some more time to deal with it. Bracing for the end, Jason gritted his teeth, but the final blow never came. Liz had recovered, and seeing her Dad about to get killed, had a burst of adrenaline. Wiping the last effects of her fall from her body and she lunged towards the attacking wolf. Mr. Fluffers, her custom bowie knife, did not let her down, and its long reach penetrated the hide of the wolf effortlessly, finding the heart of the beast and ending its life. At almost the same time, a dark shape fell from the tree. Mark was shouting, katana in hand, as he drove the full force he could deliver into the back of the wolf. The momentum plus the well time swing cleanly cut through the back of the wolf, severing its spine and nearly bisecting it. Mark fell to the side and rolled to his feet, breathing heavily as the last wolf crumpled to the side. The sound of breathing was the only thing that could be heard for the next few moments, as the group glanced around to see if anything else had been drawn to the conflict. Seeing nothing else coming for them, Mark glanced towards the dead wolves. He could now see that the ends of the fur of the creatures were melting in the warm late spring sun, and seemed to be made of ice. ¡°Ice Wolves?¡± Mark commented offhand, trying to get the thing named before his sister said anything. He had to get a few cooler sounding names in to make up for the ridiculous stuff she had already done. Liz and his dad shrugged in acceptance. That worked as well as anything else. Without another word, Liz helped patch her Dad up as best they could and hobbled over quickly to the Johnson¡¯s. The door had opened and Matt, Elly¡¯s dad, rushed out with a crowbar looking thing in hand and moved to help carry Jason inside. Mark was briefly annoyed that Matt hadn¡¯t come to help sooner, but then realized he probably came out as soon as he heard Mark scream. While it felt like forever, the entire fight probably took less than two minutes from start to finish. As they made their way back towards the house they saw two weird batlike creatures with duck bills in the front yard. They were clearly dead, and had numerous puncture wounds on them. ¡°I see the hooligan bars from the kits I gave you came in handy¡± Jason noted as he saw the bodies. ¡°You know Jason, I am sorry I ever gave you a hard time when you gave us those deluxe zombie survival kits for Christmas. Clearly, they were the best gift ever.¡± Matt said as they all collapsed inside the house. Chapter 8 - System Emergency Boot A quick round of hugs went around the room as the two families reunited. The Johnson¡¯s were actually planning on trying to make it to Jason¡¯s house when the giant crystal thing came down. ¡°After that, those wolves started wandering around and we weren¡¯t sure we could make it.¡± Matt finished. Jason nodded ¡°Yeah, if we didn¡¯t have the drop on them and the elevation from the tree, I don¡¯t think that would have ended well for us.¡± quickly moving on he continued, ¡°In anycase, we do need to make it back, and we probably have a window if that pack was the only one patrolling this area. If we go the way we came, it was pretty clear. Sam, are you ready to go?¡± Jason asked Elly¡¯s mom, who had been busy carrying bags to the foyer. ¡°Yes, we were already packed, in fact, all our camping gear was ready to go since we were about to head out. I just wanted to grab some sewing supplies in case we¡¯d need them.¡± Samantha noted. Jason tested his leg, and the patch job they managed to do after arriving seemed to hold up remarkably well. The last thing he wanted to do was leave a trail of blood back to his house for those things to follow. ¡°I think I¡¯m as good as I¡¯m going to get¡± he said putting a little more weight on his calf. Honestly, in total, he was in much better shape than he expected, and he had a sneaky suspicion that something else was going on related recent events. He¡¯d had far lighter injuries that had put him in much worse shape prior to today. He shrugged, nothing to do about it now, and he wasn¡¯t going to complain about being able to walk. Everyone grabbed as much as they could and made their way out the door. They moved quickly, with Jason explaining in bits and pieces everything they had learned to date. Samantha added that the monsters seemed to spawn randomly, even in some people¡¯s houses, until the Sky Crystals came. At that point, the random spawning stopped and everything seemed to be centered around the lake. Jason tucked that factoid away for later as he imagined it fit into the larger puzzle that was today. Elly and Liz were catching up themselves with Mark trying to butt in where he could. The Batwing Ducks, as Elly called them, had formed out of thin air in their living room. Fortunately for the the Johnson¡¯s, they were in the garage when it happened, and saw the monsters appear. Elly¡¯s dad grabbed the Zombie kit, conveniently designed to have easy access to weapons even in its stored state, and properly armed they were able to kill the things. Apparently they didn¡¯t move well on the ground, but she said the ones flying around outside were terrifyingly fast and agile. Liz grabbed Elly¡¯s hand comfortingly, ¡°It¡¯s okay, we got this, we¡¯ll be fine now. You know my house is a fortress, and Dad¡¯s been preparing for something like this forever. We¡¯re okay now¡± Elly smiled for the first time all day, tearing up and letting a bit of relief wash through her. ¡°Thanks Liz, I needed that. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re safe too, those wolves were terrifying.¡± Liz nodded in agreement. She had thought she was a goner for sure when she fell from the tree, and then when her dad jumped in to save her, she thought her dad was a goner. It was a lot of close calls for a day, and she really hoped nothing else jumped them on their way back. Liz kept scanning the street for threats but the trip back was thankfully without incident. Liz knocked on the heavy steel door, using a code their family agreed on ages ago, and heard a series of locks being undone. She stepped into the splash room and saw that her mom had moved in a bunch of equipment and set up a small lab. After everyone walked in, Mary stopped fiddling with her equipment and hugs were given all around. ¡°I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re all safe.¡± she said, and time seemed to pause as everyone just enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by friends and family. A crash from something outside interrupted the moment all too soon and everyone moved into the living room to catch up on the latest. Information was exchanged and everyone brought up to speed. Mary had new data to add to their knowledge base as well. While everyone was out, she had been experimenting with the meat of the Fuuzer, trying to determine its properties. ¡°As far as I can tell, it¡¯s pretty similar to your average cow, and should be edible. Good news if supplies run low, especially since the things seem to pop out of thin air periodically. If we could figure out how and when these things spawn in, and make sure the meat is 100% safe, this could effectively end world hunger!¡± she excitedly claimed trying in inject some optimism into the otherwise dire discussion. The room didn¡¯t seem as excited over this news as Mary was, as none of them really wanted to consider what a caterpillar tasted like. They knew Jason probably had a year¡¯s worth of food stockpiled so they¡¯d have time to sort it out. In the meantime, Haley handed out some sandwiches she made and a pile of extras was placed in the middle of the coffee table. A sundae bar was also setup on the kitchen island. Refrigeration was out, so they might as well enjoy things while they could.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Everyone knew they were on a tight schedule to setup the school rescue, so the meal was eaten quickly. Conversation flowed around mundane topics as Haley and the Johnson¡¯s caught up on the latest goings on in their lives prior to today, and care was taken to avoid the apocalyptic elephant in the room. Liz and Elly played with Barry, getting him to perform a series of ever increasingly complex tricks for bites of lunch meat. All too soon the meal was finished and everyone gathered round the coffee table in the living room again to plan out the school trip. ¡°So, as we discussed, we¡¯re going to do a school run to check for survivors. Mark made the great suggestion to swing by the Carlson¡¯s who have a few horses and a carriage that we could use in case there are some injured kids. Hopefully it will be a moot point and we won¡¯t need it, but in a worst case scenario, we can help some wounded to safety. With Mary set up here we can deal with more serious injuries than the school nurse could typically deal with. Also, we also have to consider the likely reality that this house may be the best fortified structure in the area, and people may want to shelter here. I didn¡¯t want to bring it up before because we had other things to worry about, but we¡¯ll have to decide on who to invite to stay with us and how many we¡¯ll try and support. We can sleep 8 families comfortably here, and could probably squeeze in 4 more if we get really friendly. That means if everyone out there who boarded up their house wants in, we¡¯ll have to turn people away. We need some criteria to decide on who stays and who goes, and that¡¯s going to ruffle some feathers. We may find that monsters are not half as bad as pissed off parents looking for a safe place for their kids.¡± Jason bluntly stated. Sam gave the room a stern look, ¡°I don¡¯t know about anyone else, but if we find someone who needs help, I¡¯m going to help them. Even if we can¡¯t fit people in here, we can work together and find other places. We can¡¯t forget how to be human and kind, even if things don¡¯t get back to normal. Especially if things don¡¯t get back to normal.¡± The room shuffled about uncomfortably under Sam¡¯s strong words. Not all of them felt they could be as generous, but they did understand that how they acted in the next few days would say a lot about how this new world would end up. ¡°Something to think about.¡± Jason nodded, accepting the statement for what it was. ¡°In anycase, we still have to make it school and back. Right now, it sounds like Matt, Mary, Elly, and Haley will hold the fort. That means Sam, the kids, and I will try to make it to the school and back. We know the Carlson¡¯s have three horses and a colt, plus the carriage which only needs a single horse. If the Carlson¡¯s are home and well, we¡¯ll escort them back here and then head to the school. Otherwise, assuming all the animals are sound, we¡¯ll stop by, drop off the foal, and head in. Anyone have anything else to add?¡± ¡°Jason, can you really go out there again? You look like you¡¯ve been through a blender.¡± Mary commented, bringing up an issue that no one else felt comfortable addressing. ¡°I know it looks bad, but honestly, everything seems to be working fine. I even got full range in my shoulder back¡± Jason plainly stated, rotating his arm around to demonstrate his point. ¡°I have no idea why I¡¯m still able to walk either, but even my leg isn¡¯t so bad considering I had two wolves gnawing on me. Plus, there is no way in hell our kids are going out there without me covering their backs, regardless of how much training they¡¯ve had.¡± Jason said with finality. The room was silent and no one had anything else to say. As the selected group prepared to leave tearful hugs were given between those who were staying and those heading out into the chaos. A round of final gear checks were made and everyone had moved down to the front door. It was only three miles to the school, but who knew what they¡¯d encounter on the way. The away team packed enough food and water to survive the night, just in case, and they stood, about to head out, when it happened. Top the top left of everyone¡¯s vision, a message was displayed.
System Emergency Boot Activated
Warning: System emergency startup enabled
Automated Administrator Message: All, if this message is being sent, the Mana Wave has impacted the Earth earlier than our predictions and before the full system could be implemented. We, the Administrators, are most likely struggling to try and get things in place to help improve humanity¡¯s odds for survival. If you have observed Crystals falling from the sky, the emergency measures we put in place have succeeded. System interactions are limited in emergency mode. Crystal Fall protocol is only possible after Ability, Skill, and Stat systems are online. The Warning System will be enabled next. Full details will be available as soon as the system has properly initialized. Good luck to all survivors.
The message faded as people finished reading all the text. It resembled the interface on a popular AR game that had come out earlier that year. ¡°This looks just like the interface to Alterworld Adventures¡± Mark said in awe and the other kids mumbled their agreements. For a moment, everyone just looked around at with confused looks on their faces, confirming that everyone had seen the same thing. As the next message appeared, the confused looks faded and were replaced by concern. The new message read:
System Warning Mana Storm Approaching
Suggested Actions Shelter in place
Estimated Arrival 00d:08h:53m:12s
Chapter 9 - New Realities ¡°Totally called that we¡¯re living in a game now!¡± Mark suddenly shouted. ¡°It¡¯s a just screen, we¡¯re still here, and dad getting bit by wolves was not a game, it was real Mark¡± Liz countered. In her heart of hearts she knew that Mark was probably right on some level, but admitting your younger brother was right about something didn¡¯t really fit well into Liz¡¯s world view. While the warning continued to count down in the top left corner, three items appeared on the right side of Mark¡¯s interface as well.
Stats
Skills
*Abilities
¡°Hey, anyone else seeing part of the character menu from AA?¡± Mark asked the room. The adults looked confused, most of them hadn¡¯t played the new game and didn¡¯t know what Mark was talking about. Elly and Liz, however, nodded as they had played Augmented Alterworld Online, or AA as it was called by it¡¯s players. One of the first things you did in the AA tutorial was learn how to open menus with the EEG brain control interface. It wasn¡¯t hard once you figured it out, as the latest systems were miles ahead of the first brain wave readers, but no matter how hard they concentrated, none of the kids were able to open up menus. ¡°Huh, must be something that¡¯s not enabled yet¡± Mark growled in frustration. ¡°Anyone else have a star next to thier new things in the right?¡± Jason asked. He and the other adults were busy poking their fingers at the places in their vision to no avail. ¡°Yeah, I have one next to Skills¡± Liz commented. ¡°Stats here¡± said their Dad ¡°I have an ability!¡± Mark exclaimed, excited about new his potential power. However excited he was, there wasn¡¯t any way he could learn more about what was going on. He figured his ability probably had to do with his playing around with the stone from before though, maybe even the pepper spray bomb he made. ¡°Hey, we should call the glowy rocks Mana Cores now! It said Mana Wave! We have magic now!¡± Mark practically gushed. ¡°I know this may seem amazing, but we still have a group of kids to rescue, and there are still monsters out there hurting people. Lets not get too excited about something we know almost nothing about. We have work to do.¡± Jason said, pulling everyone back to the reality. Mark quickly quieted down and everyone doubled checked themselves and moved back towards the front door. ¡°Plan hasn¡¯t changed, just the time table. This time, if we¡¯re running close to this Mana Storm, we¡¯ll find shelter, but we¡¯ll do everything in our power to get back here in time.¡± Jason stated as he opened the front door.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Take care of everyone out there.¡± Mary said as folks trickled out the door. ¡°Come back to us safe¡± Mark gave her a hug on the way out and they moved out towards the Carlson¡¯s. The path they took hugged the south end of the property, coming up around the Fuuzer pond and back to the main street to the east. At some point, they¡¯d have to deal with the Hipporaffe, but for now they would just work to avoid it. Mark looked back at Sam who was keeping watch from the rear. Her eyes darted at every movement as she held a hooligan bar in a deathgrip. The three foot long bar of steel looked like what would happen if a crowbar had a baby with a pickaxe. It was part of all the deluxe survival kits her dad gifted the Johnson¡¯s and was an incredibly versatile tool. If they needed to pry anything open, from a door to a wall, it could get the job done. Also, the spike had already proven it¡¯s effectiveness in dispatching monsters. Sam was keeping up pace well for now, but as she was not in the greatest shape, Mark wondered again why she decided to come along. Homeschooling and making costumes for plays didn¡¯t exactly produce an amazing survival skill set. Mark knew just by looking that her husband, Matt, was in much better shape. Sam was a trooper. Even though her blonde hair was a tangled mess and her blue eyes looked tired, she had a fierce determination in them. In the end, Matt had insisted on staying to keep Elly safe while Sam insisted that they had to go out and help others. Mark was glad for the extra support regardless, and as long as she could keep up another set of hands would be welcome. Bringing his focus back to the present, Mark went back to scanning the side streets. A few blocks passed without incident, but as they crested a hill, he heard some shouts. Looking down the street to his left he saw a man running towards them, waving his hands in the air. ¡°HELP ME!¡± He shouted, and that¡¯s when Mark saw a giant beaked creature charging behind him. ¡°Beak Bear on our 9¡± Mark cried, alerting the rest of the crew to the income threat. Crossbow at the ready, he quickly drew a bead and fired, hitting a fleshy bit of the creature that wasn¡¯t just a beak. As the thing screeched in annoyance and he heard the twang of his sister¡¯s bow and another arrow sprouted from the thing¡¯s leg. Before the beast could even think about what to do next, a third arrow slammed into it¡¯s body, and having had enough, it abruptly turned and fled back the direction it came. The gasping man collapsed in front of Mark, ¡°Thank god. Thank you so much, that thing broke into our house, and, my parents. It, it was horrible.¡± he sobbed, telling his story between gasps of air. His dad walked over and put a hand on the young man¡¯s shoulder to steady him. Mark gave his dad a piercing glance. He knew they were on a mission, but he didn¡¯t think he could let this person just wander around without at least trying to help. His dad saw the look and simply nodded. ¡°You¡¯re going to be ok, son, but you need to make a choice here.¡± His dad said softly. ¡°We¡¯re on our way to pick up some horses and check on some friends. That means we¡¯ll be wandering out here for a bit longer. You know the big house, looks like a fortress down the street?¡± the young man nodded. Our house was a pretty decent landmark in the area. ¡°Well, we¡¯re dug in there solid, and there¡¯s food and shelter to be had there. You can come along with us, or you can head back to the house. Now, what¡¯s your name son?¡± ¡°My names Eddie, and I want to help, I really do, but I need to get off the streets. I just can¡¯t be out here right now.¡± the young man said quietly. Jason nodded to Sam, who put an arm around the 20 something man. ¡°We¡¯ll get you safe, just follow me. The way back is clear. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± she said in a soothing tone. Jason pulled long knife from his leg holster, one of several he had on his person, and placed it in Eddie¡¯s hand. ¡°Sam here will guide you back to the house and this knife here will keep you safe. If something charges you, stick the pointy end in it, and that will make it not want to hang around.¡± Eddie seemed to find some comfort in holding the weapon and managed to stand back up. Sam turned to face us, gripped our shoulders, and said ¡°I need to get this young man back to the house. You three are the most capable people I know. You¡¯ll be fine, but be careful out there.¡± she then headed off to lead Eddie back to the house. As his dad turned back towards the Carlson¡¯s, Mark finished reloading his crossbow and took a deep breath. Halfway there, he thought to himself. Glancing down the street where the beak bear came from, he just hoped the harder half was done with. Chapter 10 - Shortcuts The group stuck around long enough to watch Sam and Eddie crest the hill behind them, and with one last glance down the street where the beak bear came from to make sure it was clear, Mark resumed the trek with his dad and sister. He reloaded his crossbow and frowned at the inefficiency of it. He was having a tough time reloading during fights, but he simply didn¡¯t have the aim with any other ranged weapon. He shrugged and added it to the long list of things to worry about for later. They immediately settled into a pace that felt comfortable, and was markedly faster than what they were doing when Sam was still with them. Mark had to admit that travelling like this, the three of them, armed to the teeth and ready to kick butt had a certain appeal, but the periodic screams and screeches in the distance reduced the cool factor. This would be a lot more enjoyable if people weren¡¯t dying. With that sobering thought, Mark arrived to the street where the Carlson¡¯s lived. A large empty lot was on the near corner, and while there were a few trees along the inside edges, it was pretty much a barren meadow. Glancing around, Mark saw a few Fuuzers milling about the street and motioned to his dad. His dad, seeing the obstacle, guided the trio through to field to avoid drawing agro. Mark was somewhat distracted by keeping an eye on the Fuuzers across the way, and because of it he barely noticed the movement in the trees to their right. At first he thought he just imagined it, but as on edge as he was, he lifted his crossbow and was about to mention something when suddenly the trees erupted in a flurry of activity. Giant squirrels with eyes that looked like they belonged on a chameleon materialized almost as if from nothing. Mark too late realized the wavey motions must have been some sort of camo ability that the things had. His quick reactions allowed him to knock a bolt into one of the diving creatures. His dad and sister were caught completely off guard though, and five of the remaining things descended on top of them. His dad had three of the creatures on him, with one landing a solid bite on his arm and the other tangling up his bow. A quick kick knocked the third back but Mark could see his dad would be in trouble soon. The two that jumped down towards Liz had also gone for her arms. She tried to dislodge the one on her right arm while swinging wildly with her bow in her left to keep the other beast away. Making a split second decision, Mark dropped his crossbow and pulled his katana. ¡°Dad, arm!¡± he shouted to give his dad a heads up and where he was planning on attacking. Attempting to respond, Jason pulled his arm back trying to draw the creature attached there off balance. Unfortunately for him, the creature seemed to clue in to what Jason was doing and pulled back at the arm at the worst possible moment, fouling Mark¡¯s swing attempt and resulting in the katana hitting his dad. Mark quickly arrested the movement of the sharp blade but not before he felt it cut through some material. Mark¡¯s eyes widened in horror as his dad¡¯s arm was pulled off at the elbow where he had made his cut. He almost went into shock until he realized it was just the armored sleeve, and his dad¡¯s arm was relatively intact. With his arm now free of a beast, Jason grabbed the closest throwing weapon he could and tossed it at one of the creatures on Liz. ¡°Help your sister Mark! I got this¡± his dad said. The tomahawk flew true and slammed into a camo-squirrel that had managed to knock Liz to the ground. The weapon hit the creature solidly, pushing it off Liz, and Mark realized that his sister was in some pretty dire straights now. His dad winced as the one he kicked took advantage of him turning away to swipe at his side, and Mark saw blood fly from the attack. ¡°I¡¯m fine, get to Liz!¡± his dad said, ignoring the wound and drawing his sword. Mark didn¡¯t even have time to nod as he struck at the tomahawked beast. The slash hit the shoulder of the thing and it collapsed unmoving. Meanwhile, still on her back, Liz was trying to fight off the beast on her arm. It had clamped down at the reinforced elbow joint, and fortunately the armor was holding. Controlling her arm as best as she could, Liz leveraged the thing to the side and freed up her arm to grab Mr. Fluffers. A moment later the beast released her arm and roared in pain as Liz¡¯s knife slammed into its ribs. Mark, having dealt with the camo-squirrel in front of him and seeing his sister get some space moved to swipe at the other one. It quickly dodged back though, avoiding his slash completely. The distraction gave Liz enough time to pull out her machete, and with a quick hack against the neck of the creature she partially decapitated it. The thing fell to the ground and both kids turned to help their dad. Jason, in the meantime, had managed to get some space between himself and his attackers. Without the element of surprise, the creatures were clearly outclassed.Their dad slashed the last remaining creature up across the neck with a flourish and immediately scanned the area. ¡°That¡¯s seems like the last of these things.¡± he said as he paused to catch his breath. Quickly, before his sister could say anything, Mark piped up ¡°Sorry about not warning you about the camo-squirrels earlier! I barely noticed them before they jumped us and I wasn¡¯t even sure what I was seeing. It was like the monster from that Predator movie.¡± Mark finished, a small smile of triumph on his face for naming the creatures what he wanted.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll have to add that to the list of things to watch out for.¡± Jason replied. He scanned the area one last time trying to see if he could make out any of the telltale shimmers. ¡°For now, I think we¡¯re clear.¡± as Jason walked over to the mangled sleeve of this armor and picked it up. Mark could see a trail of blood running down his arm. ¡°Oh jeez! I almost forgot about that! I¡¯m so sorry I cut your arm dad!¡± Mark apologized. ¡°It¡¯s okay son, I¡¯m kinda getting used to you kids taking shots at me.¡± he laughed as he cocked his head over to the kids. ¡°I guess it¡¯s what I get for only bringing crickets to eat during that survival camp.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right, you probably deserved that.¡± Mark joked back. He still felt bad but the joke had managed to lift his spirits. It was a good thing too, because everyone was pretty worn down. Thinking about things rationally for a moment, Mark realized he probably had been closer to death more times today than every other day of his life combined. It was a sobering thought, and he was glad his dad could still get them to smile. Mark walked over and helped get some bandages on dad¡¯s latest collection of wounds. Liz, meanwhile, was doing her best to patch up the holes in her armor with a sewing kit she brought along. Her dad had looked over the arm piece that got ripped off his own suit and had decided it was a lost cause. The camo-squirrel had apparently shredded it pretty badly once it was ripped off. As Liz was putting the final touches on her patch job, Mark got a contemplative look. ¡°Should we grab the mana cores out of these things? I know you said we shouldn¡¯t mess with them, but they were really useful and they might be important, you know?¡± His dad stared at Mark for awhile, and then exchanged a surprised look with Liz. ¡°That¡¯s actually a good idea. Who knows when we¡¯ll get a chance to grab more of these before tonight, and for now the streets pretty clear. They could potentially make a big difference later on.¡± ¡°Why do you guys always act so surprised when I come up with good ideas! I come up with good ideas all the time!¡± Mark complained. ¡°Like that time you thought you could make skates out of banana peels?¡± Liz asked. ¡°Or when you jumped out of the window with umbrellas on that windy day to see if you could fly like a magical nanny?¡± added his dad. ¡°Ooo, ooo, or that time you thought you wouldn¡¯t have to bother with sleep if you drank enough Mountain Dew and ended up shaking violently and puking green goo for a couple hours straight?¡± his sister said with glee. ¡°Ok, fine, so maybe I had some bad ideas in the past, but I still have good ideas sometimes¡± Mark grumbled. ¡°I know son, I know. We just have known you for too long.¡± his dad said, ruffling his hair. Liz came over and punched him in the arm affectionately. It still hurt, but less than usual. For a moment, they just stood taking comfort in normal activity of teasing each other, but a shriek in the distance pushed them into action again. Walking over to a camo-squirrel, Jason pulled out his knife and started to dig around the corpse of the beast. While not as precise as the surgical slices of their mom, his experience with skinning and butchering game allowed him to quickly and efficiently cut to beast apart. He found the mana core next to the heart in relative short order and pointed out his findings to Mark and Liz. The kids, seeing their dad¡¯s progress, likewise started to butcher the things. Jason noted that everyone seemed stressed out and knew exactly what to do. The day was just about as large a fuster cluck as you could ever hope for and he knew that dwelling on the negative would continue to sap at their strength and spirit. He engaged in his tried and true tactic to add levity to any situation. ¡°You know, this meat totally looks edible. Not taking some for later could be a huge miss-steak!¡± ¡°Oh, I heart that pun!¡± Mark said, holding up a four chambered organ recently liberated from a beast. Liz tried really hard not to laugh, but as Mark and her dad broke into giggles, she couldn¡¯t help but join in. She realized how much stress she had been holding in, and the group took the moment to decompress a little bit. It may have seemed grisly to an outside observer, but the trio had done similar activities while hunting their entire lives. It was good to have some frame of reference to link their stable past to the chaotic present. They finished their collection soon afterwards, divided up the cores, and walked across the street to the Carlson¡¯s. It was good to relax for a bit, but there was still a school filled with kids they needed to get to and a timer that wouldn¡¯t let them forget about a new probable disaster. Seeing the cars in the driveway and the boarded up windows, Mark was feeling pretty optimistic about the Carlson¡¯s chances. As his dad knocked on the door he crossed his fingers and held his breath. A deep voice from inside called out ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± ¡°Bob? Is that you? It¡¯s me, Jason and the kids. Are you and Etta ok?¡± The door swung open and Bob stood in the doorway with a smile. ¡°I knew you¡¯d be out and about in this. Only person in town crazy enough to be wandering the streets. It¡¯s good to see you, and yes, Etta and I are fine. The monsters have been staying away, for the most part. They seem to be scared of the horses.¡± he gestured them inside. ¡°Huh, I¡¯d have thought the opposite, but that¡¯s good to hear.¡± Jason said as everyone walked into the room. ¡°I¡¯m glad you and and the horses are safe too!¡± Mark gave Bob a big grin as he stepped inside. ¡°Etta¡¯s out back, she went to check on the colt. She¡¯s been lugging that spikey bar thing you gave us for Christmas. I¡¯ll be damned if it didn¡¯t come in handy. The few things that did come by didn¡¯t stick around after getting poked by that thing.¡± Bob said, leading them to the back door. As the group walked outside they saw Etta, standing with bucket in hand, unmoving. She and Bob were in their sixties, but good living and keeping busy and fit. Their sun-kissed skin from riding and gardening had a healthy glow about it and they were pretty much the model for how to age gracefully. ¡°Etta, is everything ok?¡± Bob asked with some concern, seeing how still his wife was standing. She slowly lifted her arm to point at the colt in front of them, mouth agape. As Mark walked up to her side he couldn¡¯t figure out what had spooked Etta so much. He looked over to the colt. ¡°Hey Biscuit, how¡¯s it going, you doing ok?¡± Mark asked as he continued to puzzle out what had shocked Etta speechless. He had helped take care of the colt since the Carlson¡¯s had first bought him. They had paid a pretty penny for the amazing pedigree he came with and were planning on using him as a show horse. The colt looked to be in good shape and no monsters seemed to be around that would warrant Etta¡¯s reaction. ¡°I¡¯m Biscuit! I¡¯m good! Hi! ¡± the colt replied. Everyone adopted the same slack jawed look Etta had been making. As Mark¡¯s mind resumed limited function, he noted the a little nub of bone growing out from the forehead of the colt, ¡°Uh, I think your colt is a unicorn¡± he said to no one in particular as everyone¡¯s brain broke again. Chapter 11 - A horse is a horse ¡°You¡¯re funny! Funny people!¡± Biscuit laughed at the group in front of him as they all stared at him with confused looks on their faces. The young unicorn bumped his head against Mark. ¡°Apple? Goody? Biscuit likes goodies!¡± Mark absently reached into his pocket where he had snuck an apple from the fruit tray inside. He figured he should have something for the horses as he normally brought them treats. He normally would have asked to take the fruit but just figured it would be fine to snag it this once. Going on auto-pilot, he pulled the apple out and handed it over to Biscuit. ¡°Mark friend best person!¡± Biscuit whinnied happily, ate the apple in a few chomps, and went to folic around the fenced in pen. ¡°So¡± Jason attempted to start talking. ¡°Uh, talking horse.¡± ¡°UNICORN dad. He¡¯s growing a horn.¡± Mark corrected. ¡°Ok, that¡¯s new then. I take it the colt wasn¡¯t talking much before then Etta?¡± Jason continued. ¡°Nope, can¡¯t say that he did.¡± the silence after Etta spoke was only marginally uncomfortable. The thought train had derailed so hard that it was taking awhile before it could be set up on it¡¯s tracks again. ¡°People! Go to School! Rescue George! Be ready for whatever the heck a Mana Storm is!¡± Mark spurred everyone back to the topics at hand. ¡°You¡¯re right, we came here for a reason.¡± his dad said shaking his head clear as he turned to Bob and Etta and explained the situation. After a few minutes of updates, they nodded. ¡°Of course, you can borrow the horses and carriage, and we¡¯d be more than happy to come with you. As long as Biscuit¡¯s willing. I¡¯m betting he¡¯s at least part of the reason those monsters out here have been avoiding the place.¡± ¡°What do you say Biscuit, want to come over to our place?¡± Mark asked the prancing colt, holding out another apple. ¡°Yay! New place. Mark place fine!¡± Biscuit exclaimed happily. ¡°Well, I suppose that¡¯s that.¡± Bob noted. ¡°Biscuit make house open again. Closed house make Biscuit tired!¡± a shimmer flickered around the house and suddenly everyone felt exposed. ¡°I guess that explains the monster situation.¡± Jason said to no one in particular as he started walking over to the carriage house. Everyone moved into action to get things ready now that regular function had returned to their brains, particularly since whatever protections Biscuit had put up apparently were now gone and who knew what would be coming their way. Mark and Bob helped Jason get the carriage ready while Liz and Etta went back to the house to collect things. Very little conversation was going on, and the only talking was done by the overexcited unicorn. Mark was still trying to accept that. Even though they had a timer counting down in their vision with monsters appearing randomly, none of it hit as hard as a talking horse. Truly, reality as he knew it was done, and he straightened his back as he accepted that fact. As the final harnesses were put in place and the gelding hitched to the wagon, Mark glanced to the countdown.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
System Warning Mana Storm (Class X) Approaching
Suggested Actions Shelter in place.
Estimated Arrival 00d:08h:11m:14s
¡°About 40 minutes to get here Dad. Hopefully we can make it back sooner and stay ahead of whatever a Mana Storm is. Also, was there a thingy that said ¡®Class X¡¯ before? That doesn¡¯t sound good.¡± His dad looked up at his own display after securing the horse. ¡°No, no it didn¡¯t, and if we¡¯re going by space weather reports, that means it¡¯s the strongest classification of storm.¡± He pondered the new information a bit longer. ¡°I hope that means humans built this system, too. I¡¯d feel better knowing someone out there had our back and understood us, rather than some random things from god knows where. Regardless, we¡¯re not going to get answers sitting here. We¡¯re good to go, can you grab the gate with me Mark?¡± Jason asked, hopping down from the harness as Bob moved into the driver¡¯s seat to direct the gelding towards the gate. ¡°Go now! New place! Then sleep. Tired.¡± Biscuit supplied, finally having slowed down a bit. Mark hoped Biscuit would would be able to do whatever he did before to get some protection. He had been fond of the colt before, and a talking unicorn seemed like an awesome thing to have as an ally. He wasn¡¯t certain if he could convince his parents to let the unicorn inside the house, though. He was pretty sure that this unicorn didn¡¯t fart rainbows and poop sherbert, contrary to what popular culture had taught him. He figured it would just be one more thing he could worry about when he got back home. Just as the carriage started to move Liz and Etta emerged from the house loaded with bags and a cooler. Jason and Mark went over to help stow things up onto the carriage and got everything as secure as they could. The carriage itself was not great at hauling gear and was more for just riding around. A modern suspension and wheels allowed for a slightly smoother ride, but the driver¡¯s bench and passenger area didn¡¯t offer much in the way of amenities. All told, it could probably fit 8 people, but the poor horse would have a heck of a time getting things started with that much weight. Hopefully he wouldn¡¯t have to, and they would find everyone at the school healthy and not in need of emergency transport. After everything was stowed, Etta and Liz hopped up into the carriage. Etta took shotgun and Liz perched up on the seat and balanced in the back with her bow. The rear seat wasn¡¯t really meant to give a good platform and visibility, but Liz managed to get one leg propped up and it afforded her a pretty decent firing position. Jason and Mark mounted up on the other two horses while Biscuit seemed content to follow along. ¡°Stick close to us Biscuit, and if something comes after us and we split up, go with Bob and Etta, ok?¡± Mark said. He seemed to be the only person comfortable talking to Biscuit. ¡°Bob and Etta nice! Biscuit will go with them! Ok!¡± the unicorn replied happily. Jason just shook his head slowly as he struggled to deal with new realities and the group was on their way. They had to stick to the roads now, but fortunately everything seemed relatively clear. The few creatures on the streets were scared away by the horses and carriage careening towards them. Having a larger convoy had numerous benefits. They tried to pick up a little speed as they headed towards home. They were approaching the big hill before their house and getting a little momentum would help keep them moving at a clip. The roads relatively clear as they made their way back, and although they could see more and more signs of creature activity around houses, the monsters themselves were nowhere to be seen. In the eerie silence Mark noted other changes to the environment. Some trees along the street seemed to have grown a couple of feet in the past few hours, and the sidewalks were visibly bucking where new bulging roots were poking through. Pines and Cedars were particularly changed. The greens of the needles had taken on different hues and the Aspens were growing so fast Mark could almost see them get taller. It heightened the sense of surrealness that permeated the day. Making good time they started climbing the hill. A block into the climb they passed the place where the beak bear had charged them and suddenly Mark knew why there wasn¡¯t anything roaming around. A giant roar greeted them as the street came into view and shook them to their core. The beak bear was back, and it brought a friend. A friend that was more than twice its size and looked royally pissed off. Chapter 12 - Splitting up ¡°Mark, follow me, we¡¯re going to try and draw the big one away! Fire shots at its legs or exposed skin but keep your distance!¡± Jason called out to Mark, immediately responding to the new danger. Jason charged in, with Mark close behind, and they took shots at the giant monster. Jason¡¯s arrow clacked off the beak of the beast but Mark¡¯s bolt managed to hit flesh. A dull thunk spurred the giant beast into action. It leap towards the duo, outpacing it¡¯s smaller friend, and followed them as they peeled away back down the hill. Mark quickly glanced over his shoulder as they retreated to see if their plan had worked and was only minorly relieved to discover they had succeeded. He was glad the fast moving giant was no longer after his sister and the Carlson¡¯s, but on the flip side, he wasn¡¯t too keen on having a seven foot tall bear monster chasing him either. He put those thoughts aside as he didn¡¯t have time to think about it as they raced down the hill. The horses were at full gallop but the giant beak bear¡¯s large legs easily kept pace. Mark was pretty sure he couldn¡¯t reload a crossbow while galloping on his horse, so he instead grabbed a knife and prepared to throw it at the beast. He had to zig to the side quickly in order to get an angle to attack, but the slight turn let him line up a decent shot. His knife flew accurately, but to his dismay, the thing hardly noticed the foot long blade as it lodged into it¡¯s hide. As he zigged, his dad zagged, and managed to get another shot on the beast. However, the angle was poor and the arrow clattered off the massive beak of the creature. As they resumed their escape they turned down a street to further draw the creature away from the carriage. Mark hoped that Liz would use the time they bought effectively, because this sucked. As he pulled alongside his dad he had a sudden realization, ¡°Dad! The smaller one went after the carriage!¡± ¡°We just have to hope your sister can deal with it. She¡¯s a better shot with the bow than I am though, so I give her good odds. We have bigger problems to worry about.¡± Jason noted as the giant beak bear gained a little more ground on them. The horses couldn¡¯t run like this forever, and they needed a plan. ¡°If I only had my guns.¡± Jason growled in frustration. ¡°I could ride and fire all day, but it¡¯s damn hard to line up a decent shot on horseback.¡± Mark frowned with his dad. He knew they were in trouble at this point as his dad rarely, if ever, complained. The adrenaline of the chase was causing Mark¡¯s brain to race faster than his horse as he tried to reach for a solution. In a strange moment of clarity everything seemed to click together and he had a flash of insight. He couldn¡¯t tell if the idea was brilliant or insane, but it probably didn¡¯t matter since they didn¡¯t have any other options available to them. Keeping his horse going at a good clip, Mark drew another knife, but didn¡¯t move to turn and attack. Jason looked over at his son questioningly but Mark just shouted, ¡°I have an idea, I think I can give you an opening, but it will take a bit.¡± As they continued riding Mark poured his senses into the knife in his hand. He tried to feel for the sensation he had when he had exploded his phone and also when he made the pepper spray bomb. Relatively quickly, he felt the connection form and the strange energy start to move through his body. This time, rather than just trying to shove it into the knife, Mark attempted something new. In his mind¡¯s eye he pulled up an image from a show he had watched. He pictured a blue glow coating the blade and burning around it like a blue flame. As the image solidified in his mind he noticed a shift in his body. It felt like something was pouring out of him, and the shock was so severe he barely managed to keep balance. Glancing at the knife, it had a faint glow to it, but he needed more. Reaching out towards the mana cores he had harvested earlier, he tried to connect to those. More energy started pouring through him, but this time it didn¡¯t feel like he was dying. He kept on pulling at the core as hard as he could until it abruptly stopped.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Looking down at the knife again Mark smiled. The thing was positively pulsing with energy and his dad¡¯s eyes bulged out of their sockets when he saw it. The shimmering aura on the weapon felt sharp, and Mark knew he had at least partially succeeded in his idea. ¡°Dad! I¡¯m gonna hit it with this blade. I think it will get a good reaction!¡± he shouted and turned to line up a good angle to attack. The giant beak bear had been making steady progress towards them and Mark¡¯s sudden shift brought it within ten feet. In its excitement at finally catching its speedy prey it opened it¡¯s mouth to roar again. Mark, seeing the opportunity, didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°Eat this!¡± he shouted as he threw the knife into the open mouth of the creature. The blade sailed towards its target at a speed that amazed Mark. The knife shot out almost as quickly as a bolt from his crossbow, and Mark could oddly still feel a connection to it. Trusting his instincts, he attempted to push the blade in flight to a hole he spotted on the roof of the creature¡¯s mouth, assuming that such a spot would be more sensitive. The blade moved according to his will and diverted into the tiny opening. The beak bear roared again, but this time it was a scream of pain. The blade had sunk to the hilt into the roof of the creature¡¯s mouth and caused it to rear up on its hind legs. Mark imagined shoving a piece of metal up your nose from your mouth would probably suck, but couldn¡¯t find much sympathy for the thing that was trying to eat him. Noting the creature¡¯s halted charge and flailing limbs his dad turned and quickly pulled his horse to a stop. Hopping down to get the best shot he could, Jason pulled back his bow and released his arrow. The shot flew true and embedded itself into the right forepaw of the beast. The creature had now effectively stopped all forward movement and shook its limb around in pain. Off balance and injured, the giant beak bear crashed to the ground as Jason and Mark mounted up and resumed their gallop once more. Noticing it¡¯s quarry escaping, the beak bear tried to right itself, but as it attempted to get it up, it landed on the arrow in it¡¯s paw. This resulted in another roar of pain, and having had enough of this annoying prey, the giant beak bear turned into the yard to its left, giving up its chase of Mark and Jason. Mark slowed his gallop as his dad did the same. Looking back, they tentatively watched for any more signs of pursuit, but let out a collective sigh of relief as they saw trees in the distance shaking, revealing the path of the giant thing as it stumbled away. Satisfied that the chase was over, Jason looked around to get his bearings. ¡°Well, we¡¯re not too far afield, we can turn down the next street over and that will take us back home. Also, as long as we¡¯re here, I¡¯m pretty sure the elementary school is down that street. We should probably check to see how they are doing there as well.¡± Mark nodded. While he had attended the school years ago, he had completely forgotten about it in his desire to rush and help George. It wouldn¡¯t do to abandon a bunch of kids though, so he pulled up behind his dad as he started to follow behind. Jason set the pace to a slow walk and Mark followed his lead as they gave the horses a chance to recover. ¡°Good girl, way to outrun the giant monster beak bear thing,¡± Mark said appreciatively, patting the mare. The horse just snorted back, catching its breath from the hard ride. The chase wasn¡¯t very long, but the mare probably hadn¡¯t had that hard a ride in years. Taking advantage of the lull, Mark attempted to reload his crossbow while on horseback. An awkward minute later he succeeded and was very glad he didn¡¯t try to attempt that while he was galloping. Holding his now loaded weapon at the ready Mark scanned the street for signs of danger. A few blessedly uneventful blocks later, the school came into view. The parking lot and nearby streets were filled with abandoned cars and Mark figured the Mana Wave must have hit right around drop off time. The elementary school was made in the 50¡¯s and Mark could only imagine what the architect must have been thinking. He figured it was something along the lines of ¡°You know what would be really inspiring to children who want to learn? A giant concrete cinder block.¡± The squat structure resembled a bunker more than a school, but Mark thought that probably was for the best considering the current circumstances. Moving up towards the school Mark and Jason saw a flurry of activity near the doors. Unsure of what to expect, they both dismounted and readied their weapons. They continued their approach and hoped for the best as the doors to the school suddenly burst open. Chapter 13 - Punching through ¡°Mark, follow me, we¡¯re going to try and draw the big one away! Fire shots at its legs or exposed skin but keep your distance!¡± Liz watched as her dad fired a shot at the giant thing that was charging towards them. As Mark and her dad pulled away leading the giant creature off the carriage she was gripped by anxiety. It was the first time she was out in the crazy without her Dad and she now had the responsibility of getting Bob and Etta home safely. Her brother and dad kept the giant beak bear¡¯s attention with their covering fire and shouts. She wasn¡¯t surprised that Mark was able to distract the thing; she knew just how good he was at being annoying. She hoped the added mobility they had on the horses would keep them safe. The giant beak bear whipped around the corner and Liz allowed herself a brief flickering of relief. Alarm for her family¡¯s safety quickly replaced it and it was completely dashed when she noticed the smaller beak bear charging towards the carriage. Bob was whipping the reins in an attempt to pull as much speed as possible out of the gelding, but the angle of the hill prevented them from getting much acceleration. ¡°The thing is going to catch us!¡± Bob¡¯s nerves were clearly frayed as he focused on doing everything he could to get the carriage moving faster. ¡°I help push!¡± Biscuit chirped happily noticing their plight. A slight glow covered the wagon and it lurched forward. Biscuit whinnied again as the light quickly faded but the momentum they were able to gain allowed them maintain a bit of distance. The sudden lurching had unbalanced Liz though, and she had to reset to get her bow to ready. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she pulled back her bow and let fly. The arrow struck true and hit the beast in a fleshy part under its beak. While annoyed, it didn¡¯t seem inclined to let them go this time around and redoubled its efforts to catch up. ¡°It¡¯s gaining on us!¡± Etta cried in alarm as she looked back to check on the situation. Focus. She needed to focus. Liz took out the next three arrows in smooth practiced motions and three feathered shafts bloomed along the body of the beak bear. It still wasn¡¯t enough. The creature seemed hell bent on catching the thing that had annoyed it and nothing was going to stop it. Etta shrieked in horror as the thing finally caught up and swiped at the back of the carriage. The force of the impact threw Liz onto her back, landing awkwardly on the luggage in the footwell of the carriage. ¡°Bob do something!¡± an alarmed Etta shouted. Liz knew there wasn¡¯t much Bob could do and it was on her to come up with a solution. She quickly jumped back up and looked to see what she could be done. The impact had actually launched the carriage forward a bit, stalling the momentum of the big beast. Liz shuddered to think what a strike like that would do to her body, and figured it would be best if she never found out. Blood was running down the beak bear¡¯s legs and it was clearly injured by the numerous arrows, but it still persisted in its chase.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Fortunately for the group, they just crested the hill, and started to pull forward rapidly as gravity no longer was working against them. The sudden burst of speed caused Liz to wobble, fouling her shot. On the plus side, the carriage started to gain some distance as the injured beast loped onwards, but Liz knew she would probably have to put the thing down if they wanted a clean escape. She lifted her bow to make a shot but several unfortunate things happened at once. First, as Bob continued to push the gelding to it¡¯s limits, a huge roar sounded from nearby. The gelding spooked at the noise causing it to lurch the carriage forward and throwing Liz towards the back of the carriage. Secondly, immediately after the lurch, Bob swerved to avoid a corpse of something on the street, causing Liz to fall further off balance. Lastly, the rear wheel of the carriage didn¡¯t quite clear the carcass, and the bump was simply too much for Liz and caused her to tumble off the back of the carriage to the ground. She felt the fall coming and rolled to absorb the impact as much as she could. She recovered as quickly as possible and immediately set into a kneeling firing position. The beak bear roared in excitement as it saw its prey on the street. It began to pick up speed and Liz realized she would have just one chance to stop it. Bob at this point had noted with horror that Liz had fallen, and he tried to arrest the momentum of the cart. Liz appreciated the effort, but knew it would be too late to do anything other than pick up her corpse if she didn¡¯t do something right now. ¡°Focus. Focus. Focus.¡± She repeated the mantra in her mind as she attempted to stay calm as she prepared to take her final shot. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and she felt as if her heart was just moments from bursting free from the feeble confines of her chest, but she persisted. She focused. She put everything into this shot. As the world narrowed in on the point of her arrow, Liz pushed past her fear and anxiety and found a strange sort of calm. Time slowed. Her focus improved. She felt like her entire being was condensing into her arrowhead. Energy flowed through her and she felt an odd coldness that started to bite at her consciousness. Had she been paying closer attention, she would have noticed that the energy was coming from the pocket where she had placed the mana cores they harvested earlier, but such details were lost to her at the moment. Twenty feet, fifteen feet, ten feet, the beak bear seemed to be walking through water as it slowed to a crawl in it¡¯s approach. To the Carlson¡¯s, it didn¡¯t appear this way all. The only thing they saw was the daughter of their friend crouched with a bow standing against a monstrosity twice her size careening towards her at a breakneck pace. They could only shout in horror and despair knowing nothing they could do would make a difference for her now. Liz was beyond worry at this point. There was her arrow and the target. The rest of the world had faded away, grey and blacks replacing the vibrant colors that were previously there. Pushing the last bit of strength she had into the arrow, she lined up her shot and released it. She kept her eyes on the path of her arrow, watched it leave the bow, and followed it as it moved towards the center of the beak bear. She had seen arrows bounce off the hard beak, but she knew this time would be different, had to be different if she were to survive. Her lips pulled into a grim smile as the arrow sailed straight, punching through the beak, through the head, through the body, and out of the back of the beast. The creature¡¯s momentum carried it forward, but its legs had stopped working and the corpse of the thing slid to a stop just a few feet in front of her. For a moment, the only sound she could hear was her own ragged breathing. Slowly the world regained its color and returned to a normal speed. The Carlson¡¯s had managed to stop and jump down from the carriage and were rushing to her side. ¡°I freakin rule.¡± they heard Liz whisper as they just barely manage to catch her before she blacked out. Chapter 14 - Home Sweet Home Liz blinked awake and felt hands holding her as the pavement tried to punch her in the face. Pavement shouldn¡¯t do that. Bad pavement. The hands were much nicer than the pavement, she thought to herself. At least, she tried to think, but her smart bucket wasn¡¯t working so well right now. She was so exhausted her tired was tired. She tried to remember what she was doing a second ago as she attempted to focus on the blob in front of her. Bob and Etta were on either side of her, holding her steady, as Liz slowly regained control of her senses. Her eyes darted to the System Interface and she noted a few changes.
*Stats
*Skills
*Abilities
There were more stars. She liked stars. Stars were a good thing. ¡°Liz! Liz! Are you ok?¡± someone was yelling at her. Why were people yelling at her. She finished her chores, like, way long ago. They should be yelling at Mark. Mark was always getting into trouble. She looked around a bit aimlessly for awhile wondering why the nice people were holding her arms when her smart bucket finally restarted regular function. ¡°Holy crap nuts!¡± Liz exclaimed as the corpse of beak bear suddenly filled her vision. The thing looked even more horrific up close, like someone replaced the front of a bear with an eagle¡¯s beak and slapped some feathers haphazardly all over it. The only thing more impressive than the wrongness of the creature was the fact she could see a giant hole where her arrowed entered the beak. It had to be six inches in diameter, and she was pretty damn sure her arrows weren¡¯t that big. It had to be something with the system, and she probably had gained those new Abilities and Stats from whatever she did. Bob and Etta helped her to her feet and she staggered back to the carriage. ¡°I¡¯m okay, sorta, I hurt a lot, but I think I can stand.¡± she said, stumbling into the carriage and almost falling over. ¡°Ok, maybe I can sit.¡± she admitted to herself as she was helped up. She felt like someone had shoved her entire body through a meat grinder and then smashed a sledge hammer into her skull a few times to make everything squish through. She managed to sit upright, but only because the carriage had a reasonably good seat back she could lean into. Not wanting to stick around any longer, Bob flicked the reins again to get the carriage rolling. Etta sat in the back with Liz to make sure she didn''t accidentally fall out, and Liz appreciated the gesture. She was pretty sure she would be okay for the next two blocks, but she didn¡¯t fancy falling out of the carriage again. Thankfully, the Hipporaffe stayed away as they pulled up to the driveway of the house. She saw that the minivan and hybrid had been shoved out of the garage, and positioned to make a little barricade on either side of the driveway. Her mom and everyone else must have been busy while they were out. Almost as if she knew Liz was thinking about her, Mom ran out and waved the group towards the fenced-in area to the side of the house. ¡°Oh my love, are you ok, you look like you were hit by a truck!¡± she said, jumping up into the carriage next to Liz. ¡°And good to see you¡¯re safe Etta, you too Bob¡± she barely acknowledged the Carlson¡¯s, but they understood her attention was on her daughter. ¡°She sure was something. I thought we were goners there for a bit, but she shot an arrow all the way through the thing that was chasing us and saved our bacon.¡± an awed Bob replied. ¡°Where are Jason and Mark? I heard a roar and tried to see what was going on, but you were down the hill. Are they okay?¡± Mary barely registered what Bob has said and was completely focused on her daughter and the safety of her family. ¡°They pulled away the bigger thing that was chasing us. They were on horses and moving fast though. From the screams it was making earlier, it sounded like they managed to hurt it pretty bad. I think they must have went around a different route. Dad would probably be paranoid about heading straight home.¡± Liz looked back to see if she was wrong, hoping against all odds that they would just pop up over the hill and wave. ¡°If they aren¡¯t back in ten, we¡¯ll go looking for them.¡± Liz stated fiercely.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Before that, we¡¯ll get you inside and recovered some, you look a mess.¡± her mom helped her out of the carriage. ¡°Bob and Etta, can you deal with the horses? We¡¯ve not seen anything come into the pen but I imagine we¡¯ll want to keep the horses in the garage if possible.¡± ¡°House good! Biscuit sleep before closing house again.¡± Biscuit said tiredly. ¡°No problem Biscuit, that will be fine.¡± Liz said nonchalantly, as if a talking unicorn horse creature was the most normal thing in the world. She couldn¡¯t quite manage to keep from giggling after seeing her mom¡¯s face though. ¡°Ok, so I should probably let you know what¡¯s happened so far¡± she relented and started detailing what had happened on their trip. The gelding was unhitched and oats and water were set up in the garage. Mom had obviously been thinking longer term for the animals and Liz was glad to have a reliable person keeping things running at home. Elly raced down the stairs and enveloped Liz in a hug. They spent a few frenzied moments catching up until she noticed the unicorn. Liz swore she saw Elly¡¯s eye¡¯s double in size and started sparkling as she took in the sight of Biscuit. ¡°Can I. Can I pet it?¡± Elly asked with awe in her voice. ¡°Biscuit like pets and brushes. You give brushes now for Biscuit girl human!¡± Biscuit replied. Not batting an eyelash, Elly proceeded to grab a brush from the grooming kit Bob had just hauled in and got to work. Liz was a little taken aback at the abrupt shift, but was pretty sure Elly was actively living out one of her lifelong dreams at the moment and decided to let her do her thing. She decided to check out what her mom had cooking up in the splash room. She wasn¡¯t quite prepared to the sight that greeted her. Her mom had continued modifications and it looked like a mad scientist''s lab had been assembled. Glass beakers and clear cookware were bubbling and notes were taped over various things. Adjacent to the hodgepodge of science equipment were the butchered corpses of several creatures. She also saw a line of mana cores stored off to the side, away from electrical appliances but sorted by color and size. Her mom entered the room, first aid kit in hand, and proceeded to fix up Liz as best as she could. Mary poked and prodded her all over, and while generally sore, nothing hurt particularly more than anything else. Sighing at the damage, her mom pulled out some advil and applied some disinfectant to Liz''s scrapes. Mary did her best to hide her concern, but she was a bit shocked at the shape Liz was in. She sincerely hoped that Jason and Mark were okay. She had faith her husband would get them back safe somehow. At the moment her focus needed to be on Liz. As she administered to her daughter, she felt like she could almost see past her skin and sense the bruising along her body. She knew there was nothing to be done for muscle soreness, but she tried as best she could to massage the troubled areas. Liz winced as she was touched but felt a warmth move through her body afterwards. Liz was amazed at how much better she felt. ¡°Thanks mom, I feel a lot better.¡± ¡°No worries love. I wish I could just do more,¡± her mom replied. ¡°No. Seriously. I feel a lot better. I don¡¯t think it was just the ¡®its the thought that counts¡¯ type of thing. I think you might be doing something system related.¡± Her mom pondered that for a moment. Anything was possible at this point and Mary would set about figuring out what her skills were evolving into. She also was determined to get to the bottom of what that little star next to her Ability display could be. ¡°Oh wow, is that a wolf pelt?¡± Liz exclaimed taking her mom out of her reverie. ¡°Yes, but I don¡¯t know what to do with it next. I know your dad has chemicals around to treat leather, but I didn¡¯t know what the steps were off-hand and figured I¡¯d wait for you to come back.¡± Mark lifted the pelt to show its state. ¡°I got this¡± Liz said as she rushed up stairs, her remaining pain forgotten in her excitement. She waved ¡®hi¡¯ to Haley, Matt, and Eddie who were keeping watch on the second floor and rushed into the library. She quickly navigated to the crafts section, grabbed a book on tanning, and headed downstairs again. She dodged around her mom who was on her way up to store the Carlson¡¯s supplies and a few minutes later an Ice Wolf hide was tanning in the washing machine. It smelled awful, but Liz knew that a decent set of armor could be the difference between life and death out there. She wasn¡¯t going to pass up any chance at more protection for her or her family. Liz glanced over at the interface to see how much time had elapsed.
System Warning Mana Storm (Class X) Approaching
Suggested Actions Shelter in place.
Estimated Arrival 00d:07h:41m:54s
A little more than the 10 minutes she set for herself were up, and that meant it was time to go out and see if she could find her dad and Mark. A look of grim determination settled on her face and she moved to gather up her equipment. Before she got very far an excited cry erupted from upstairs. ¡°Mark and Jason are riding in! They look ok!¡± Haley exclaimed in relief. Everyone rushed out to greet the weary pair and the garage door was opened to let the horses in. Before anyone could say anything Mark rushed over to Liz and exclaimed, ¡°You won¡¯t believe what I pulled off with my knife!¡± ¡°Try me.¡± a happy and slightly smug Liz smiled back. Chapter 15 - Caravan There was a brief celebration when Jason and Mark got back with hugs and shouts of joy. Information was exchanged and a full report on the nearby school was given. Liz was relieved at their successful escape from the giant beak bear. ¡°They surprised the hell out of us when a few of the kids rushed out to meet us, but honestly it probably was for the best. If nothing else, they learned that they needed to have a better watch on the doors. We helped them get organized and make some plans for how to protect the entrances. End all be all, the kids were safe, and most of the parents were there. Some construction materials for the new building had been delivered too, so they had a ton of stuff to reinforce the place with. Everyone was busy getting whatever construction done that they could. We left them with Mark¡¯s crossbow, a few more knives, and my spear, just in case. They have enough food from the cafeteria to last them awhile, too, so they should be fine until we can go back and support them.¡± The mood lightened further with Jason¡¯s good news. It was encouraging to hear that pockets of people were managing to keep things together and it made everyone more hopeful that the High School was in similarly good shape. After the updates people started filtering back to the tasks they were doing before and getting ready to go out again. Liz and Mark stepped inside and started to compare notes on their new abilities. They tried to find common elements in their approaches, but they didn¡¯t seem to have anything in common. Liz activated hers through focus and intense concentration while Mark described an almost polar opposite process of opening his mind to a connection with everything. Mary had been listening in and asked some follow up questions and the group discussed it for a bit longer. At the end, they had to admit they just didn¡¯t have enough information to come to any meaningful conclusions. ¡°That¡¯s ok, it will give us something to research when you are all out checking on the High School.¡± Mary said. ¡°In the meantime, take these¡±, she passed two mana cores to each of the group that was heading out. Jason, Mark, Sam, Bob, and Liz took a moment away from prepping their gear in the foyer to pocket the colorful stones. ¡°If nothing else, they seem like they could be useful in a pinch.¡± Liz made a quick check on the time
System Warning Mana Storm (Class X) Approaching
Suggested Actions Shelter in place.
Estimated Arrival 00d:07h:30m:24s
¡°We better get going,¡± she noted, ¡°Time flies when you have an apocalypse.¡± Quick hugs were given and garage doors were opened. Sam and Bob walked the gelding to get re-hitched to the carriage. Biscuit had fallen asleep and Elly, who had been standing by to tend to his every need, stood to help the final preparations. The other horses were given some water and oats while Jason and Mark got ready to mount up once more. It was hard to say goodbye, and they milled about the driveway for a moment after the carriage pulled up. In the back of their minds, everyone knew this could be the last time they saw each other. Jason was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. ¡°Folks, I¡¯m not going to say everything will be fine, but we¡¯re going to continue to try and do what we can to help the survivors out there. We all know how dangerous it is, but if we abandon our friends and family we¡¯re not going to have anything left worth surviving for.¡± Solemn nods followed his brief speech and Haley stepped forward to give a last hug to Mark. ¡°Thank you so much for checking on George. I know I¡¯m asking a lot, but I am just so grateful that you¡¯re willing to do this.¡± On that positive note, the group headed out at a trot.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Jason had restocked his arsenal and had another spear at the ready. It wasn¡¯t quite a lance, but the extra reach combined with the horse¡¯s momentum make for a potent attack. Mark was kitted out with a double bandolier of throwing knives as well as his crossbow. Bob was driving and Sam was next to him in the driver¡¯s bench with a hooligan bar in hand. Liz had resumed her perch at the rear of the carriage and had an arrowed nocked at the ready. Mark trotted up behind her and pulled the carriages cover up a bit to provide some additional backing for Liz. ¡°You know, so you don¡¯t fall off again and get stepped on by some monster.¡± Mark helpfully provided with a wry grin, as he finished making his modifications. The sudden hit to his arm caused him to yelp in pain and surprise. Liz¡¯s grudgingly gave in that it was a good idea, but he didn¡¯t have to be so smug about it. That was her job. With everything set they made good time, quickly passing the point Mark and Liz had made it to on their earlier aborted trip to school. Few things challenged their path, but every now and then they would encounter a group of Fuuzers. Jason would motion for the group to slow down and just knock them aside in most cases. When there were more than could be safely shoved aside, Liz would take a few shots. She was able to dispatch them with almost comical ease and her dad mopped up anything that got close to the carriage. Aside from taking a few moments to move the bodies off the road and retrieve arrows, they didn¡¯t stop to harvest the corpses. Their time table was ticking down and they had no way of knowing how bad things would be as they got closer to the school. Nothing stood long against their caravan of death. Liz was particularly surprised at how easily they took a pair of six legged bear-things out. It seemed like forever ago now, but she remembered how much a single one of those had terrified her just this morning. One shot from her, a stab from her dad, and a well placed shot from Mark and they were down for the count. Continuing west towards the school they finally came to another major street. The scenery had been shifting pretty dramatically, and while the area they had just left was having an explosion of coniferous trees and aspen, this area was going in a different direction. As they crested a hill they saw Green Mountain off in the distance. Ironically, Green Mountain usually was a brown lump sticking up right before the foothills of the Rockies, but now, it was truly living up to it¡¯s name. The entire mountain was a solid wall of green with plants so large they could clearly see some of the massive leaves from miles away. At the peak, they saw what looked like a giant crystal atop an enormous plant. The colossal tangle of vines was on an entirely different level of huge even from the surround mega flora. ¡°That can¡¯t be good. Also, totally jungle biome¡± Mark commented while Liz narrowed her eyes at him. He really wasn¡¯t giving up on this game thing. Before she could reply, two people started waving and heading towards them. Her dad quickly dismounted and motioned for everyone to stop. ¡°Hello there!¡± Jason called out to the two people who were moving towards them at a brisk walk. ¡°Good to see some folks out and about! We¡¯re trying to get to the high school, but don¡¯t know much about what¡¯s been going on around here. Can you tell us how you¡¯re doing and anything you know about the area?¡± As the two men stopped to catch their breath they looked harried but unharmed. They both had a classic office worker builds. Their shirts were untucked and they were sweating profusely in the newly humid area. They were huffing for breath as the stopped pulling their wheeled luggage behind them and leaned on to their knees to recover. They introduced themselves after catching their breath. The shorter mousey looking one spoke first ¡°I¡¯m Frank.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m David, and you can¡¯t go that way,¡± the older and taller of the two said. ¡°A bunch of monkeys or something are in the park on the corner, we could hear them howling when we tried to get some supplies out of a nearby house. We decided to pack it in and head back. We¡¯re holed up in the church up the street, about twenty of us. We¡¯re doing runs along this block to check for people and supplies. It has been mostly quiet, but any further in and things get dicey.¡± ¡°Hmm, If we can¡¯t go south around the park, we can¡¯t get to Green Hill Drive, and that¡¯s the fastest way to the High School.¡± Jason pondered aloud. ¡°I guess we could cut through the side streets to get there.¡± Frank looked over at the carriage and shook his head. ¡°All the inner streets a clogged with those damned jungle vines. These plants have been growing by the minute since those crystals fell. I don¡¯t think anything wheeled would be able to get through those streets now. You¡¯d have to go all the way up north to Alameda. That should be wide enough to get your carriage through.¡± Jason paused to consider this new information. He started asking the men more questions and collected details on how they were preparing for the coming mana storm. He also pumped them for more information on monsters that were spawning in the area beyond the monkeys they claimed to have heard. During the course of the conversation Jason handed over a survival knife to the duo and dived into a few more question about road conditions to see what else he could glean. Liz knew the area fairly well, and figured that the detour the office guys suggested would cost them another hour at the least, possibly two depending on the road conditions. Their current route would put them there in half the time. As everyone contemplated their options Liz started to get an odd feeling. She slowly looked around and recognized the source of her discomfort. ¡°Uh. Dad? Where did Mark go?¡± Jason looked around, closed his eyes, and moved his hands up to massage his temples. The conversation suddenly stopped as everyone caught up with what was going on. Liz stood by nervously waiting for them to plan out their next steps as her dad proceeded to slowly and methodically go through every variation of the F-word she had ever heard plus a few ones that were new to her. Chapter 16 - Monkey See Mark was bored. This was lame. The office guys said they hadn¡¯t actually seen anything, just heard some monkeys. He was pretty sure they couldn¡¯t be as scary at the ice wolves, beak bears, and other things they already dealt with, and going around would take too much time. George could be bleeding out right now! Well, other people could be hurt too, and regardless, they needed to get to the high school as soon as possible. As his dad and the tired looking office guys continued to drone on, he decided it would be best to scout out the park. They had plenty of cover, and he bet he would be able to tell at a glance how tough these things would be. Quietly, not drawing any attention to himself, Mark proceeded to slip off to the side. He moved silently and made sure to keep out of the line of sight of everyone else. It was surprisingly easy, as everyone was focused on the boring things the office guys were saying. After he got enough distance from the group, he turned his attention to the park. There were large fences of a baseball diamond separating him from the open areas of the park and it provided the perfect cover for him to sneak close. He continued to creep quietly around the block and he saw a strange scene. One large monkey was making gestures to a bunch of smaller ones who were imitating the large one. Mark wasn¡¯t an expert, but he thought these were actually some type ape. They were four to five feet tall, around the same size as the camo-squirrels, and the larger one was around six feet. Their golden fur was way to shiny for a standard animal though, and the large horn on their head was definitely not normal. Taking care to not make any sudden movements, Mark backed away to update everyone else. As Mark sneaked back he saw his father rubbing his temples and muttering something to himself. Mark immediately recognized this behavior and knew he was in pretty deep trouble. The last time he saw his dad doing that he had borrowed (without asking) one of his dad¡¯s favorite guns and then accidentally (totally forgot about it) left it out in the rain. Trying to head off the issue before it exploded Mark spoke softly ¡°Uh, dad, I did a little scouting and, I, uh, have some updates and stuff and I¡¯m fine please don¡¯t kill me?¡± Jason¡¯s eyes snapped up and drilled into his son. ¡°That would be pointless as I¡¯m trying to keep you alive. I thought that you went off and died all on your own, so no need for me to help. So, go ahead and tell me what was so important that you would risk your life without backup to go and do.¡± he said through clenched teeth. Mark could see Liz with her half smile that she reserved for those circumstances where he was in deep trouble and she was not. Before Mark could say anything he was saved by the system.
System Core Notifications Enabled
You Have: 36 Core Notifications - Open now?
¡°Heck yes!¡± Mark shouted as the new notice appear in the HUD. If it followed the same patterns as AA Online The highlighted color meant it was selectable. This was the first time he had seen it since the system came into place. He quickly navigated to the notice and did the mental gymnastics needed to open the notifications. Seeing his dad scrunching up his face in frustration, he called out some instructions on how to use the interface. His dad seemed to get it because his frown vanished shortly thereafter. Mark breathed a sigh of relief as his dad quickly moved on from anger to analyst. They spent a good ten minutes reading the updates and scrolling down the list. Between everyone present, they were finally able to answer some questions about what was going on. First off, it seemed that Stats, Skills, and Abilities were the first thing to come online that day. They all compared notes, and even though Jason knew he certainly had a wide variety of skills available, none of them seemed to register until he used them post System start. Jason, Mark, and Liz had all unlocked Martial Arts pretty early on. Liz and Jason got Archery shortly after, while Mark got Crossbow and Improvised Weapons. Mark also noted he had unlocked a skill called Sneak at some point, but figured he would try to keep that to himself for a while long. It sounded like it could be fun. Stats were even less informative. When the system first initialized everyone had gotten four Main Stats: Physical, Mental, Influence, and Magic. Another notice came right after saying that Pools were unlocked for those Main Stats. While they had a pretty good idea what they could mean, the lack of detail was more than a little frustrating. The other Stat related item that popped up wasn¡¯t terribly informative either. Jason had gotten the first Sub-Stat, called Toughness, when Liz had shot him with the arrow. Around the same time, Liz got gotten something called Perception and Mark unlocked Agility. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Their abilities were equally opaque on details, but they at least had names for some of the things they had done. Mark had unlocked Mana Manipulation when he played with his phone, and his sister had done it during her ordeal with the beak bear. Mark and Liz took turns trying to talk people through how they managed to unlock that ability. No one else seemed to be able to replicate their methods with the mana cores they had on hand. Everyone stated they would keep trying but Mark imagined it might be something that was more difficult to unlock than they figured. Hopefully Mom would figure out the trick of it, it seemed like something she would do. Moving on, the group started to look for more clues in the data. After reviewing how things were unlocked for a while a pattern seemed to emerge. The order seemed to be:
  1. Unlock Skill
  2. Unlock Mana Manipulation
  3. Unlock passive Ability
  4. Unlock active Ability related to the passive
For Liz, there was a progression from the Skill Archery, to the passive Ability Archery Arts, and finally the active Ability Archery Arts: Power Shot. Mark went from the Skill Improvised Weapons, to the passive Ability Chi, and the active Ability Chi: Infused Strike. They weren¡¯t sure if it was the weapons or martial arts that unlocked Chi, since they were both were available around the same time. Also, even though Liz had Martial Arts, she didn¡¯t seem to develop Chi. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was a heck of alot more information than they had to go on prior. The other ability of note was something called Technomancy. Everyone had unlocked this right after the Ability system came online. Best as they could figure, it probably had to do with the fact that tech didn¡¯t deteriorate if it was near a person. Jason, on learning this, tried to contain his excitement, but ultimately failed and blurted out ¡°If we can improve that ability, maybe we can use pistols, or cars, or rifles, or shotguns, or...¡± ¡°Yeah Dad, that would be awesome, but we can¡¯t do anything but read notifications for now,¡± Liz said pulling him back to the present. She swore he was as bad as Mark sometimes. Jason took a deep breath and regained his serious demeanor. Mark knew he had a reputation to maintain, but past the harsh survivalist exterior his dad was an excitable goofball at heart, just like him. It was good to see some things hadn¡¯t changed. Everyone quietly returned to analyzing their logs. From the number of notifications, it seemed people who were actively out and fighting monsters were unlocking things a lot faster than those who were just scavenging like the office guys. They would have to check in with Mary to see if her efforts had yielded anything. The last item of note they were able to piece together was that Core Notifications seemed only to cover initial unlocks and major events. All the System components that came online gave a notification, and all the events that were system initiated seemed to appear: like the Sky Crystals and Mana Storm. Nothing around fighting monsters or gaining levels seemed to make it into the Notices. That of course assumed they were gaining levels, but Mark was pretty sure there was no way he had gotten that much better with his crossbow in a day without some sort of magical assistance. The only other notice type they found was on Liz¡¯s logs. She managed to get two warning notifications when she was fighting the beak bear. She had:
Core Notification Warning! Magic Pool Critical Levels!
Core Notification Warning! Mental Pool Critical Levels!
They figured she must have drained herself dry to accomplish her shot. On reflection, Liz recalled continuing to pull energy into the shot well past what was comfortable. Next time she¡¯d go lighter, and maybe she wouldn¡¯t get knocked quite so badly out of commission. With the data shared among the group, the office workers excused themselves. ¡°We really appreciate the info, but we need to get back. Everyone else is probably freaking out right now. If you¡¯re running close to storm time on your way back through you¡¯re welcome to crash with us.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll do that. Stay safe. We¡¯ll come by to check on you tomorrow when we can.¡± Jason said as they turned to leave. As Frank and David turned the corner Jason faced the group. ¡°So we have two choices here. We can try to take out the golden apes with an ambush of our own, or we can head around back up north to Alameda. Time is starting to get to be an issue though, so that¡¯s a pretty big consideration. We could shelter here, but I know I¡¯d feel a heck of a lot more comfortable making it all the way back. What are your thoughts?¡± Bob and Sam glanced at each other and she spoke first ¡°I don¡¯t think I could be part of an attack like that¡± Bob nodded in agreement, he was no fighter. ¡°So I think it¡¯s your call with the kids.¡± Mark looked over to his sister and gave a pleading look ¡°Those things weren¡¯t half as scary as the wolves, and who knows what¡¯s going on at the High School. I say we go.¡± Liz knew Mark was incredibly concerned about George, and quite frankly, she was worried about the people there too. ¡°I agree, let¡¯s keep moving. We have surprise as an advantage and we have some new tricks to use as well.¡± Mark grinned with his sister at the thought. This time, they were going to get the drop on some monsters and kick their butts. Bob and Sam stayed by the carriage and kept the horses still as the trio crept over to the park. They had good tree coverage and the dugouts next to the baseball diamond got them close and unseen. They peeked around the corner and saw the same scene of the lead ape miming things and the smaller apes following along. They were standing about where second base was, and were completely exposed in the open. Mark thought that it looked like they might be practicing martial arts. Well, it didn¡¯t matter now. Unless they were learning how to catch arrows this should be finished shortly. Mark nodded to Liz and his dad, and they prepared their attack. He focused on connecting to his throwing knife and felt the flow of mana almost immediately. I guess it was Chi, according to his abilities. This was much easier now that the System had registered his ability. He grinned as he saw a faint glow appear around his sister¡¯s arrow. His dad drew his compound bow back as well, and gave the signal to start the attack. This was going to be epic. Chapter 17 - Monkey Do As the first volley of fire landed, Mark couldn¡¯t help but grin. They had been beaten, chased, and knocked around all day, but now the tables were turned. The glowing knife flew true and sliced through the neck of one of the apes, and sensing an opportunity he maintained his connection with the knife. With a quick mental flick he was able to lodge it into the head of the monster standing next to his first target. He was starting to get the hang of this. His sister¡¯s shot was similarly impressive, and a three inch across hole appeared in another beast¡¯s chest. Liz quickled nocked another arrow and began charing it similarly. While her attacks took a bit longer than Mark¡¯s to setup, they were significantly deadlier. Liz also noted that she could control the amount of force she put into her shots. It was pretty comfortable at her current level, but Liz felt she would be lucky if she could pull of another four shots. The alpha strike was deadly and took the golden apes totally by surprise. The only issue was that the knife and arrowed moved noticeably faster than Jason¡¯s shot. The immediate reaction of the creatures caused the ape Jason had targeted to move, putting him out of the line of the attack. Jason saw his arrow fly off into the distance. Annoyed but determined, he quickly drew bead on another Ape and managed to down one with his next shot. While an impressive feat of archery, it paled in comparison to the effect Liz had on her next shot. Basically, one moment there was an ape, with a head, and the next, there was an ape without a head. Like Mark, she seemed to be getting a grip on her Ability pretty quickly. The last remaining ape was the larger one and Mark decided to try something new. He drew his katana and attempted to infuse it as he did his knives. This time he changed the feel of the energy so it wasn¡¯t as much a coating, as revolving around the blade. He was rewarded when a glow quickly formed around the sword and a notice popped up telling him he just unlocked a new Ability. He nodded to himself at his accomplishment, and rushed out to meet the alpha ape. His sword¡¯s aura had continued to expand as he pushed more Chi into the blade. This is so cool, Mark though, as his katana looked like it was on fire. He could hear his dad shouting behind him but he had already committed to the strike and slashed at the massive ape. The air vibrated around the glow of his blade, and Mark ducked inside the beasts swing and made a quick slash. His attack connected and the air that was once attempting to smash him instead went flying off in another direction. Mark staggered, suddenly tired from the expenditure, but feeling hyped about his ability to use his power in a variety of ways. A message flashed up.
Core Notification Warning! Magic Pool Critical Levels!
That would explain the dizziness, Mark thought. He probably should have been paying more attention to his surroundings than the notification though, because the alpha ape was not dead, just angry. Ignoring its missing limb, it roared and struck at Mark with its other arm. Mark felt a few things crack in his chest as he was catapulted into the air from the massive force of the blow. His armor helped distribute the impact a little, but he still felt like he was hit by a car. He traveled close to ten feet in the air, hitting the back fence of the baseball diamond and collapsed to the floor. Jason was right there behind Mark with his sword drawn when it had all happened. Mark¡¯s agility, augmented by whatever forces were at play, allowed him to reach the alpha just a moment before he did. Jason, however, hadn¡¯t let his guard down. With cold rage and precision he stabbed his longsword into the side of the injured ape, hitting it¡¯s heart, and stopping it dead. He took a moment to confirm the thing was down for good and then quickly rushed over to Mark¡¯s side. His haste was such that he didn¡¯t even bother to retrieve his sword or open the notification that had just popped up. As his dad arrived by his side, Mark coughed and groaned in pain. ¡°Are you okay? Look at me, focus. Can you hear me?¡± Jason was checking Mark over for injuries. ¡°Hey, maybe you can get the first aid skill now that someone else got hurt for a change?¡± Mark said helpfully between groans. His dad was not amused and his face darkened as he stopped his inspection. ¡°Marcus James Randall. You will get your head out of the clouds and resume thinking, or you will not leave the house again. You are better than this. If you stupidly sneak off again, or think you¡¯re invincible because of some random abilities the System gave you, you are clearly not fit to survive out here.¡±Stolen novel; please report. Mark couldn¡¯t look him in the eyes. He knew he was being reckless, but everything seemed so different now. In the back of his head, he knew he was thinking that this really was a game, that he would just respawn if he got killed, or his dad would cover him in a worst case scenario. He coughed again and pain spread throughout his body. He realized his dad wouldn¡¯t be able to save him every time. In fact, no one would be able to save him from himself if he kept doing these things. A giant golden horned ape almost killed him because he thought his new power could do anything. He took a deep breath and allowed himself to realize how stupid and dangerous it was, and how he had pulled everyone out of position. It wasn¡¯t just himself that could get killed. If he continued to screw around, everyone else would be put at risk too. He sniffed loudly, fighting back tears. He was in more than one type of pain as it all sank in. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Dad. I know. This has all been getting to my head. I¡¯ll cool off. I promise. I want to be here to help, not to screw things up.¡± He genuinely felt terrible about it, and knew he had to do better. Jason just nodded and continued to apply what little first aid he could as Liz started pulling cores from the creatures. Mark did what he always did when he noticed his brain was starting to lose it¡¯s ability to regulate his body. He started to meditate. Seeing him stable, Jason went over to help Liz who had already started harvesting cores from the apes. As he want over the alpha to retrieve his sword, he also harvested the horn and its fangs. The fact that the creature was able to toss Mark as far as it did meant it had to be denser than a normal earth creature. Mary would want samples of the things to help figure out what was going on, and Jason hoped she could come up with some counters to the things. As the grisly harvest continued, Mark focused on his center, and soon he felt much calmer and at peace. He had meditated more than his dad or sister, mostly because his dad made him do it whenever he started to act a bit crazy. That was another way of saying Mark had been forced to meditate a several times a day. Maybe that extra practice was why he got a notification right then.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Meditation
While he didn¡¯t know exactly what the Ability did, he had a pretty good idea. He felt the Chi inside him circulating better and realized how useful this would be. He¡¯d have to talk to everyone to see if anyone else could unlock it. After a quick collection, they returned to the carriage to find a nervous Bob and Sam. They sighed in relief when as they saw everyone make it back and Sam immediately rushed to Mark¡¯s side as she noticed he was injured. After explaining what happened she hopped back onto the carriage and extended her hand ¡°Mark, you should ride with us in the carriage. Its smoother than a horse and those broken ribs will do better without jarring around so much.¡± Mark nodded weakly and climbed into place. The meditation was helping him block out the pain but he wasn¡¯t sure if he could keep it up while riding. They tied the free horse the to carriage and everyone got ready to resume the trip. Within a few moments they were off. Mark focused on his meditation while Liz and Jason scanned the jungle for signs of danger.. It was only one more mile to the school, and knowing this they picked up the pace. The wide road was clear enough for now, but Jason had a nagging concern building in the back of his head. If things continued growing at this rate the road would be impassable in a few days. Green Mountain grew larger in their view as they got closer and every now and then the crystal would shine brightly. Deep in his meditative state, Mark¡¯s eyes were closed, but if they were open he would have been able to tell each pulse corresponded to a sudden burst of mana around him. Mark could swear he heard things start to grow with every pulse as well. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything to do about it for now, so Mark just concentrated on trying to find his inner peace and matching his breathing to the pulses as much as he could. The rest of the trip passed without event, and while they could see the occasional shadow of movement from the new jungle, nothing seemed inclined to attack them. A few minutes later they pulled out from the sub-division and the school suddenly came into view. Jason and Liz saw a few figures on the roof and waved to them. ¡°Hey there survivors! We¡¯ve closed off most entrances, if you want to get into the school, you have to go to the front!¡± they cried. ¡°Thanks! We¡¯ll head over there now!¡± Bob called back, steering the carriage towards the front. Mark, hearing the voices, snapped out of his meditation feeling much better. His chest still hurt, but he could breath now without too much pain. He wondered if meditation sped up his healing rate too. As the carriage came around front it was all Mark¡¯s mind began racing. Fortunately, his meditation session had helped give him a little bit more impulse control, which he was exercising heavily. It was all he could do to stop from jumping out of the carriage and rushing to the front. An amusing thought hit him as they rounded the corner. ¡°Wow, I just realized how late we are. Must be a new record.¡± Liz turned her head to face Mark. ¡°I think the teachers will cut us some slack today.¡± ¡°Oh crap! We totally could have picked up my Freshman project on the way in!¡± ¡°I really wish that still mattered, but we have other things to worry about now.¡± Jason¡¯s somber tone brought them all back to the present. They all were quiet as they hoped for a time when something like homework would actually be worth worrying about again. Chapter 18 - Back to School Mark barely recognized the courtyard leading up to the front doors of his high school. Desks, tables, and other random furniture had been positioned and piled strategically all around providing a basic barricade at the entrance. The only open path was too narrow for the carriage and after a brief discussion Sam and Bob decided to stay with the horses while the rest of them checked out the school. Dad was against it at first but lacking any other options he eventually relented and they all proceeded to the front door. Mark spared a moment to see how well they were doing for time.
System Warning Mana Storm (Class X) Approaching
Suggested Actions Shelter in place.
Estimated Arrival 00d:05h:47m:22s
It took them a little over two hours to make the two and a half mile trip, but hopefully it would be even faster on the way back. In the meantime, he was encouraged to see that the glass walls had been reinforced and all the accessible windows had been boarded up. Someone had gotten them organized pretty well. The warm feeling quickly passed as the man who organized it all walked up to them. ¡°Sheriff Douglas, I¡¯m glad you were able to help get things organized here¡± his dad tried to sound upbeat, but Mark could see his fist was clenched. ¡°Well Jason, someone had to help bring the community together. We have everything under control here, but thanks for coming to check. The thought is appreciated even if it was reckless. I half expected you to just hunker down in that concrete monstrosity of yours.¡± Arthur Douglass continued with barely concealed hostility. Mark groaned internally at the exchange and wished they could just find George. His dad and the sheriff had been at each other¡¯s throats for years now. Every time the sheriff wanted to do anything it almost always required more tax dollars or giving up some freedoms. Mark didn¡¯t think most of the programs were even that bad an idea, but Dad couldn¡¯t stomach the idea of paying more taxes or, god forbid, lose some random freedom to government oversight. Between his vocal activism and funding of campaigns against every new initiative it was hardly surprising that the sheriff eventually came to view his dad as a menace to the community. The fact that he built a fortress in the middle of the county and stockpiled it with weapons probably didn¡¯t help mitigate that perception one bit. Fortunately his dad noticed Mark¡¯s pleading eyes and quickly got to the meat of why they were there. ¡°We have a trained doctor and a decent number of supplies back at our place. We came to see if anyone needed any medical help beyond what you could do here. We have a carriage and can transport a few people if needed.¡± The sheriff¡¯s harsh facade evaporated. ¡°Yeah. We did get one girl with a pretty bad bite injury. We patched it as well as we could but she lost a lot of blood and we¡¯re not sure if the bleeding¡¯s actually stopped.¡± The sheriff didn¡¯t want to admit that he needed Jason''s help but he clearly wasn¡¯t going to let a girl die because of it. ¡°Good thing we¡¯re here then.¡± his dad replied curtly. Mark didn¡¯t want to get in between the sparks flying between the two strong willed men, but he his worry for his friend overrode his desire to run back outside. ¡°Uh, Sheriff Douglas? Have you seen George around anywhere? We managed to get his mom to safety and I wanted to make sure he was ok.¡± The Sheriff point back towards the gym, ¡°He was working with folks in the gym, just finished a patrol collecting stuff around the neighborhood. He should be in there.¡± he said before turning back to Jason. Mark and Liz practically ran down the hall as their dad continued the most awkward small talk conversation known to mankind. They both headed for the gym before the scene had a chance to get ugly. The last town hall meeting they went to ended with their dad being escorted from the building, and they wanted to check in with friends before something similar happened again. As the siblings made it to the gym they saw that the doors were recently reinforced with additional boards. Random furniture and other debris was strewn about haphazardly, as if they just chucked it out of the gym to make more room. Navigating the mess, the pushed on the doors, but found them locked shut. ¡°Hey! Its Mark and Liz! We just got here, is someone in there?¡± Mark shouted. Right then the doors opened and George was standing there. ¡°Dude! You made it¡± a happy George shouted. ¡°Sorry about the doors, it took awhile to clear everything out, we¡¯re trying to keep the gym safe.¡± His broad six foot frame pushed debris out of the way with ease and he gave Mark a bro-hug. Although Mark was nearly a foot shorter, he had enough strength to slap his friend¡¯s back with the same amount of force he was getting. ¡°We got your mom out of your house and into ours. I wanted to make sure you knew.¡± Mark said.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. George let his head tilt back and let out a huge sigh. ¡°Man, I cannot tell you how awesome that is to hear. Knowing Mom¡¯s safe is huge. You f-ing rock dude. Oh, and, hi Liz, good to see you too¡± George said, suddenly shy. George never seemed to know how to act around Liz. It wasn¡¯t like he wasn¡¯t used to having a lot of female friends around. Being on the football team with rugged good looks and a rocking bod did that for you, but Liz never seemed to notice or care. She just nodded at him acknowledging the greeting. ¡°Glad you¡¯re safe too. Have you seen Casey and Ellen? I wanted to check in on them.¡± ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re towards the back there, helping catalog the stuff we just brought in.¡± George said waving to the back of the gym where a bunch of tables had been set up. Liz thanked him and started walking over to the indicated direction leaving Mark the chance to catch up with his friend. ¡°So what¡¯s been going on?¡± George asked innocently. This seemingly simple question lead to ten minutes of grand hand gestures and epic tales that were only minorly embellished. Quite frankly, the day had been so amazing and unreal that Mark didn¡¯t really have to exaggerate much to sound incredible. At the end of it George looked at Mark slack jawed. ¡°Are you serious?¡± Mark pulled out one of the fangs from the alpha golden ape they had just killed and handed it to George. ¡°We got this from the thing that broke my ribs. It was probably six feet tall, but must have been almost that wide too.¡± George studied the nearly foot long tooth for a moment and then gently handed it back. ¡°That¡¯s so insane dude. We¡¯ve seen a couple things around, but honestly, we¡¯ve just run away when we could. Even the stuff that spawned in school we just locked up and closed off access to.¡± ¡°WHAT¡± Mark exclaimed way too loudly for the gym. Students and teachers alike turned to see who had made the sudden outburst. George was somewhat used to his friend not having much of an internal filter, and was non-plussed by the noise and just continued. ¡°Yeah man, we got a bunch of things that look like lemurs from hell and some snake things with giant round heads in a few classrooms. Nobody''s been allowed near the rooms. The things haven¡¯t tried to break out but honestly some of us are worried what they¡¯ll do when they get hungry.¡± ¡°Well we need to take them out then!¡± George held a finger up to his lips and whispered ¡°Dude, totally get it, but you can¡¯t just blurt it out here. Sheriff¡¯s put a lockdown on acting out, it can get you kicked out of school if you don¡¯t follow the rules.¡± ¡°Wait, what? He¡¯s actually kicked people out of the school in the middle of this?¡± Mark gasped in horror. He had started whispering but was still managing to be loud. ¡°No man, he¡¯s just threatened. People get it though. If you put yourself at risk, you also put everyone else at risk too.¡± George nodded as if to assure himself that he was being reasonable. ¡°Well, fortunately, I¡¯m leaving anyway¡± Mark grinned. ¡°Just point me to where they are and I¡¯ll clear em out for you. Me and Liz should be able to take any of the random spawn stuff easy.¡± George thought about it for awhile and then nodded. He grabbed a pen and notepad from his back pocket and started jotting down some notes. ¡°I¡¯ll show you where they are, but I don¡¯t think I can come along. I¡¯ve been helping out around here, and honestly, I don¡¯t know what the students would do if I left. Me and a few other guys from the sports teams have been going around and collecting supplies. We haven¡¯t fought anything yet, but we¡¯re at least prepared to. Everyone else is just too scared to even leave the building. If I¡¯m not around, I¡¯m worried they¡¯d all just break down, you know?¡± Mark took a deep breath, he didn¡¯t like where this conversation was going. ¡°George, aren¡¯t you coming back with us? Your mom¡¯s worried sick about you, and quite frankly, so am I. The sheriff seems to be running things fine, and we can make it back if we¡¯re in a group piece of cake!¡± George finished scribbling out his note on the monster locations and looked at Mark. ¡°I know man. I know. I want to go with you, but Mom¡¯s probably safer at your place than anywhere else on the planet. And just between you and me, I¡¯m not really feeling very safe with the sheriff in charge. Right now, him and his deputies are the only people allowed to engage monsters.¡± George shook his head in frustration. ¡°From what you¡¯ve said, going out there and mixing it up with those things gave you some pretty rocking Abilities with the System. No one here has anything close to that. I got the Running and Tackle Skills, but nothing like what you described. Next supply run we make, I¡¯ll see if I can get a few of the guys to take out one of the smaller things with me, and see what we can unlock. I¡¯m betting any Abilities we can get will make a big difference when this Mana Storm thing hits. We¡¯ll need all hands on deck if things go south.¡± Mark knew his friend well, and he could tell George had made up his mind. With his mom safe, he probably felt even more obligated to help out everyone in the school. ¡°I get it, man. I get it. We¡¯ll keep your mom safe, but you make sure you make it back too. If you need to evac, grab everyone you can and head to our place and we¡¯ll take you in.¡± Mark handed him an emergency whistle. ¡°Three long, three short, three long blows and we¡¯ll come running if we can hear you. If you stick to the way we come home from school usually, that will let us find you pretty fast. We should be able to hear that thing a mile away at least.¡± George nodded and lifted his head up as a few guys were walking over to them. ¡°George, coach is plotting out another run. Wants to talk it over with the team before we head out. Hey Mark, haven¡¯t seen you around, where you been?¡± The student asking the question was Kyle. Blond hair, blue eyes, and just over six feet tall, he was the classic picture of an all american Quarterback. Kyle was genuinely curious about where Mark had been since he figured he would have been in the middle of things if he was around. Past experience had taught Kyle that Mark was pretty good to have in your corner for a fight. Mark earned his reputation at the start of the year. The upperclassmen had started welcoming freshmen in traditional fashion by placing their heads in the toilets and flushing. Mark indicated he didn¡¯t think the ritual was a good idea, while the upperclassmen had indicated they didn¡¯t give a crap what he thought. Mark, however, had been training in unarmed combat for years while they were used to dealing with freshmen too afraid to move. Everyone was quite impressed with how much damage one hyperactive freshman was able to do. Mark had been so upbeat and excited about the fight he had actually asked if they could do it again the next day. Somewhat horrified, the welcoming committee accepted Mark as an insane person who wasn¡¯t worth messing with and everyone went on their merry way. The jocks respected him, but didn¡¯t really want anything to do with him, while the freaks and geeks circles viewed him with suspicion since he never seemed to get the raw deal they were stuck with. This suited Mark fine though, he didn¡¯t have much time to hang out with lots of people between training and classes anyway. ¡°Just got in, been out in the thick of it. You know¡± Kyle just nodded, unsurprised to learn the scrappy freshman had been out in the middle of the crazy. ¡°Well, glad you¡¯re safe, comon George, let¡¯s go.¡± Kyle said dismissively and started walking back to a group of fit looking teenagers. George nodded to Mark as he turned to follow. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of the ¡®trash¡¯, and then catch up with you before I head out then.¡± Mark said. George gave a thumbs up. ¡°We¡¯ll be planning this for a bit, but don¡¯t take too long, we¡¯ll have to head out soon if we want to do one more run before the storm hits.¡± Mark looked down at the notes and smiled. As he turned he saw Liz walking over having finished catching up with her friends. ¡°Want to see if dad has managed to get thrown out of the school yet?¡± she asked. ¡°Sure, but first, I think I need to make it to homeroom. I was on trash duty and need to empty the bins.¡± Mark said with a sly grin handing Liz the note. ¡°Mark, you can¡¯t be serious. There is no way... Oh... I see...¡± Liz trailed off as she finished absorbing the contents of the note. ¡°Can¡¯t let little things like the end of civilization stop you from doing your chores!¡± Mark said, upbeat, as they walked out of the gym. Chapter 19 - Homeroom As Liz snuck out of the gym Mark asked, ¡°So how are Casey and Ellen doing?¡± Moving towards Mark¡¯s homeroom, which was coincidentally the first stop on their little monster extermination trip, Liz thought about it for a moment before answering. ¡°They¡¯re ok, but everyone seems really scared. When I think about what we¡¯ve been through in the past few hours it¡¯s hard to blame them. The only thing I¡¯m worried about is when I compared notes with them it seemed like they haven¡¯t really unlocked anything. Considering some of the things out there, I think getting an ability will be pretty key to surviving long term. I gave them a mana core each so they can try and practice mana manipulation and maybe gain an ability.¡± ¡°Oh crap! I should have given George one too! We have to hurry and finish up so I can do that before he goes out again!¡± Liz rolled her eyes at Mark¡¯s outburst. It amazed her that Mark was able to get anything done with as much as his mind jumped around, but she supposed she shouldn¡¯t be surprised anymore. As they turned down towards Mark¡¯s homeroom they saw a hastily erected barricade. It was just a few desks with two kids she didn¡¯t recognize sitting on them. The waves of boredom coming off of the duo were so strong that Liz wondered if they had somehow gotten an ability to project emotion. ¡°Hey, I know you. You¡¯re the Survival Kids right?¡± One of the kids turns to face them, brightening at the fact that he now had something to do. The happy smile was somewhat at odds with the emo look he was going for. He pushed his black dyed hair from his eyes as he stood. He glanced over at the weapons Liz and Mark were carrying and then looked down at the broom handle in his hands. ¡°Man, where did you get those weapons? I thought all the good stuff was given to the patrol groups. They just shoved us here with a stick and said to sound an alarm if the monsters in the classes broke out. Fat lot of good a stick will do against one of those snakes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Liz, by the way, and this is Mark. We generally prefer that to ¡®Survival Kids¡¯. We came from our place, and, you know, we have lots of weapons there. But now that you mention it, take this, we have some spares.¡± Liz handed emo kid a knife which he took and handled with exaggerated reverence. ¡°Thanks, I appreciate it, and I¡¯m Lance, and Quiet McPreppyFace over there is Mike.¡± Mike had a baseball bat leaning against his leg and lived up to Lance¡¯s impromptu nickname. He shrugged and lifted his hands indicating he wanted nothing to do with the conversation. Lance hefted the knife in his hands getting a feel for its weight. ¡°It¡¯s nice to have something sharp. Sheriff Jerkwad took all the real weapons and only doles them out to a select group of people. This area¡¯s considered ¡®low threat¡¯ but that¡¯s just because they aren¡¯t the ones sitting here waiting to get eaten.¡± he said, clearly angry at the situation. ¡°Sounds rough. What do you know about what¡¯s going on around here?¡± Liz and Lance compared notes for a bit Mark looked around impatiently. Lance¡¯s eyes bugged out as she described some of the monsters wandering around and how they managed to kill some of the larger ones. He seemed a little shaken up upon learning how bad things were. ¡°In anycase, we¡¯ve been having pretty good success out there clearing monsters, figured we could give you a hand here, unless of course you want to wait and see if you get eaten.¡± Lance considered his options for a moment and then overdramatically lifted his hand to his ear. ¡°Oh, wow, I heard something over there, I better make sure it¡¯s safe. Hey Preppy McNoSpeak, can you come cover me while I go check it out real quick?¡± Lance asked as he walked around the corner from the makeshift barricade. Mike rolled his eyes but got up and followed Lance. Apparently he didn¡¯t like the idea of being the first line of bait in the event of a monster breakout either. Not wasting any time, Liz passed the desks and Mark followed behind. She was glad they were able to share out more information as well as finish their chore without interference. She hoped the kids wouldn¡¯t get into too much trouble over their intrusion. As they approached the room where the monsters were trapped she thought a little bit about how much had happened today. She was amazed by how much she had changed in such a short amount of time. It felt like a lifetime ago, but just this morning she was freaking out over Fuuzers and a bear-thing almost killed her. Now the fuzzy little things posed zero threat to her and almost seemed cute. Shrugging off the errant thoughts she stopped in front of the first classroom on their list and drew her bow. ¡°Notes say two hell lemurs in here. I¡¯ll keep em off you while you shoot them down?¡± Mark asked as he stretched a little, wincing in pain. ¡°You sure you¡¯ll be okay with your ribs?¡± ¡°Yeah, good enough. That meditation I was doing on the way in did wonders. You should try it. I actually got an Ability from it. But hopefully these things will be easy and I won¡¯t have to move around much.¡± Liz nodded and nocked an arrow. Mark moved the chair that had propped the door shut and quickly pulled the door open. Two ugly things with huge ears and runny eyes turned their heads to face them. They were squat creatures, and did resemble lemurs to some extent, but were quite hideous to look at. Before the things could react, two feathered shafts blossomed from their chests like little flowers and they fell over dead.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Well, that was anti-climatic,¡± muttered Mark. ¡°You always had a thing for the bow sis, but that was ridiculous.¡± Liz could only shrug. The System obviously had been helping her along. Every time she made a shot it became just a little bit easier to draw the bow and find her target. The rate of improvement was tangible and it scared her a little. It also felt a little bit awesome. She kept that feeling in check though, as it wouldn¡¯t do to rush into things like Mark. Someone had to keep their head. ¡°You can get the next room if you want, you know, just for practice.¡± ¡°Sure, I got that notice for my new sword thingy and want to make sure I can use it again if I have to.¡± Liz did a quick pass on the bodies for mana cores, harvested the glowing green stones, and then they both moved on. The remaining rooms were all down the hall went equally as easy. They traded off turns with Mark getting in some sword work while Liz practiced some machete in addition to her bow. Neither of them said much, but it was clear that these random spawns were nowhere near as tough as some of the other things they fought. Even the snake, as terrifyingly large as it was, moved so slowly as to be laughably easy to defeat. It¡¯s hard scales resisted a few chops but as soon as Mark activated his it cut the thing like a plasma torch through a tub of cheap margarine. This was the last creature on the list and they took a little extra time to harvest its tough skin, thinking it would come in handy later. As they were finishing up they heard footsteps rushing towards them. Not knowing what to expect, Liz readied her bow and Mark crouched with his sword. Their wait ended with two kids bursting into the room with panicked looks on their faces and baseball bats in hand. ¡°Jesus! It¡¯s you two! I should have know! What the hell are you thinking?¡± shouted a red faced teen. ¡°Oh hey Henry, we¡¯re just finishing up here.¡± Mark calmly replied. Henry Douglass was the son of Arthur Douglass, the current sheriff of Mountain Lake. He was the spitting image of his father and ascribed to the many of the same philosophies. He was student council president and a stickler for following the rules. Between their parents¡¯ feuds and contradictory views on authority they had never gotten along very well. ¡°Yeah, someone had to clean up this mess since no one else seemed to be doing it.¡± Liz commented rudely. Mark and Henry didn¡¯t get along, but Henry and Liz were fire and gunpowder. Henry had strong ideas on how girls should behave and Liz didn¡¯t give two whits about any of them. She packed away the still bloody snake skin and walked right past the shocked boys. ¡°All done here.¡± Liz said as she motioned for Mark to follow her. ¡°Er, sure,¡± he said falling behind his sister. ¡°Sorry bout the mess Franklin,¡± he mumbled as he passed by the Vice-President. Franklin was almost always at Henry¡¯s side, and worked tirelessly to soothe the ruffled feathers the forceful class president always seemed to generate. Mark had gotten to know him pretty well since he often ended up on the wrong side of one of Henry¡¯s disciplinary rants. ¡°You¡¯re both coming with me to see my father. We have to decide what to do about you for breaking the rules and endangering everyone else.¡± Henry shouted at them as he rushed to catch up to the brisk pace that Liz had set. ¡°Fine, we¡¯re heading that way anyway.¡± Liz said through thin lips. As they approached the main entryway she saw Dad was ministering to an injured girl. She was on a stretcher and looked pale, but was responsive and chatting with her friends who were clustered around her. George was also there standing with a very fit looking group of boys and girls who were doing some last minute checks before heading out again. As Liz walked into the lobby Henry raised his voice behind her. ¡°Father! These two broke into the closed off areas and opened all the rooms with the monsters in them!¡± ¡°We opened them and KILLED THE MONSTERS!¡± Liz shouted back. ¡°You endangered everyone! What if they escaped into the school! That¡¯s how Jocelyn was injured!¡± Henry countered as he pointed to the girl on the stretcher. ¡°They were basic spawns! The frikin lemurs went down in one hit and a toddler could have outrun that snake!¡± Liz spat back. ¡°You could have gotten hurt!¡± Henry said with some actual concern in his voice. ¡°You need to stop doing all this stupid stuff or you¡¯re going to get killed! It¡¯s dangerous out there!¡± He reached out to grab Liz¡¯s arm and tried to get her to face him. The first lesson that every boy should learn is that you should never grab a girl without consent. When said girl has a paranoid survivalist for a father who provided his daughter years of intensive combat training, a good portion of which was to deal with pushy boys, there are some very specific consequences to not having learned that lesson. Henry experienced this very forcibly as his attempted grab turned into an armbar that sent him slamming head first into the lockers. ¡°I am out there saving people¡¯s lives AND I AM DANGEROUS.¡± Liz roared back at Henry. ¡°Woah, ok, I think we¡¯re done here.¡± Jason said hurriedly as he rushed to separate the teens. ¡°Control your insane daughter! You deranged lunatics need to get out of here right now. We¡¯re safer with the monsters than with you!¡± Sheriff Douglas shouted as he jumped to check on his son and Liz released her hold. Glancing over his shoulder but still making sure to stand between the kids Jason spoke with a dangerous tone in his voice. ¡°Let¡¯s just settle down here, Arthur. As I see it, your son made a grab for my daughter and she had every right to stop that. She¡¯s perfectly capable of controlling herself and doesn¡¯t need my help for that. It''s your boy who needs to learn some restraint.¡± Mark had stealthily snuck over to George and handed him some cores during the fracas and gave a quick explanation of their use. Seeing the situation had paused he attempted to defuse some of the tension. ¡°Ok then! Jocelyn let''s get you to the doctor shall we go Dad please?¡± Mark tumbled over his words in an effort to get them out before someone else added to the volatile situation. The panic in Mark¡¯s voice caused Jason to take a calming breath. He eased off his staring contest with the sheriff and redirected his attention to the girl on the stretcher. ¡°We¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re safe and get some treatment for that bite.¡± He said as he walked over to Jocelyn. ¡°Liz, give me a hand with this. Mark, get the door.¡± Liz had the good sense to look embarrassed as she went over to grab the stretcher. She realized how off the rails she had been and was peeved at herself for losing control. The stress of the day combined with her long standing issues with Henry had boiled up at a pretty inopportune moment. While she knew that was still no excuse something about Henry always creeped her out and kept her on edge. The patrol group followed them out the door as Liz exited the tense situation with as much dignity as she could manage. They navigated the debris field and loaded up Jocelyn into the carriage with only a few bumps along the way. After checking that everything was secure the patrol group turned to leave but Dad held up a hand to stop them. ¡°Here, you¡¯ll need these. The kids and I have enough to make it back home fine, but you¡¯re way under equipped for some of the things out here.¡± he said, handing over an arsenal of weapons. He passed up everything on his person except for his longsword and the useless handgun at his side. The team thanked him profusely and headed out decently armed for the first time. Liz looked over at her dad as he patted his holstered weapon. When they had started out she asked him why he had brought his Glock since he couldn¡¯t fire the thing, and he had given a surprisingly sentimental reason. It was a polymer frame and he just couldn¡¯t bear the thought of it rotting to pieces. It served him well through many a competition and deserved better. Their work at the school done, the group got the carriage moving. Liz glanced back at the school, and waved to the lookouts on the roof as they pulled out of sight. She then checked her interface to see how they were doing on time.
System Warning Mana Storm (Class X) Approaching
Suggested Actions Shelter in place.
Estimated Arrival 00d:05h:15m:42s
Even though she really didn¡¯t like Henry, she hoped the Sheriff could keep him and the rest of the students safe. Close to a thousand human lives depended on it. Pushing aside her dark thoughts she readied her bow and returned her focus to the lives in her own care. It was time to go home. Chapter 20 - Out with a Bang "So kiddos, care to say why you ran off to kill monsters, by yourselves, right after Mark managed to break a few ribs?" Jason already had a hand up to his temple in his classic ¡®We Are Not Amused¡¯ pose. Getting to this point wasn¡¯t taking very long anymore. Trying to play nice with Arthur had stressed him out and his nerves were pretty frayed. "Well, couple reasons" replied Liz going into her logic mode while Mark did his best to vanish from the world. "First, something needed to be done. They locked the things in classrooms which seemed like a horrible idea in general. It was just an accident waiting to happen. Second, anything that was a real threat would have easily broken out of there so I knew it would be relatively safe. Thirdly, Mark had my back so I wasn¡¯t going in blind and since we were expecting Fuuzer or Nerfling level threats I wasn¡¯t too concerned. Lastly, if the door stopped them in the first place it would stop them in the second place and we could just close the door if things got bad." "Well, you thought out some of the consequences at least. I have to admit I agree with your reasoning, especially on the point of not letting monsters randomly hang out in the school when nobody was properly armed.¡± Liz and Mark relaxed a bit, knowing they dodged a pretty large bullet. ¡°Next item then, did you get any information from your friends? Sheriff Douglass wasn''t overly forthcoming with me on what was going on.¡± They took the next few moments comparing notes while Sam and Bob kept watch and steered the carriage along. Jocelyn also was listening with interested and periodically interjected with more information. "We basically have been holed up the entire time and the Sheriff kept telling us horror stories about how bad it was out here." she looked around nervously "But it doesn''t seem half so bad as he was making it out to be. Just then a few lemur creatures hobbled into the street. They spooked a bit at the sight of the carriage but Liz didn''t give them a chance to retreat. Two arrows flew off and impaled the creatures and the last one ended up skewered by one of Mark¡¯s knives. Jason quickly hopped down to gather cores and retrieve ammo and he motioned Mark to sit down. "Just rest a bit Mark, you''re pretty beat up. Maybe focus on meditation and we''ll get the small fry around here.¡± Jocelyn had a look of wonder at how easily the trio dispatched creature after creature they encountered. Jason was also amazed, but he had a growing sense of frustration as well. His kids were stepping up admirably in these trying times, and doing everything he could have hoped for with their training. Those hard hours or work were paying off huge dividends. The problem was with his own skills. His bow work was good, sure, as was his longsword, but they didn''t hold a candle to his skill with guns. He put his hand on top of the glock at his hip, and took it out just to feel its weight. This weapon had won him last year''s international practical shooting competition. It was light, easy to handle, and incredibly deadly. Unfortunately, right now it was just a useless hunk of composite material that would dissolve into nothing if he didn¡¯t carry it around. His annoyance bubbled up into a dull rage. He stared intensely enough at the gun that he could practically feel the weapon with his eyes. He knew the exact weight, how to hold it steady, how much force to use on the trigger, and how much strength he needed to avoid the recoil. He stared at it more and thought about the specific load out for the ammo. He had packed the bullets himself, and knew the exact number of milligrams each casing held had and knew the precise explosive power they imparted to the slug. Except, in this world he didn''t. The careful precision pack of powder no longer had any meaning as it could explode the gun to smithereens just as easily as not go off at all. Guns were simply not usable. He had gone through several pieces in his arsenal before he had been able to admit that to himself. The trip was uneventful, but filled with little interruptions. Liz''s bow work was superb, and rarely did anyone have a chance to deal with any of the smaller spawns coming into view. The few times a larger creature did appear Liz let loose a Power Shot and only a large corpse with a hole in it''s body was left. Jason was relegated to material gatherer, but at least he unlocked a Harvester skill as a result. Jason also felt naked with the lack of additional armament. His sword was a perfectly fine weapon but he regretted being so hasty in giving up all the rest of of his weaponry. Sure, it was both helping out the group and snubbing the sheriff¡¯s stupid policy not to arm people in one action, which was nice, but without a ranged weapon he felt he was contributing very little to getting them home safely. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The trickle of rage he felt earlier continued to bubble up and he increasingly squeezed his fists frustration. His entire arsenal was built around gunpowder, and the fact it was now useless burned in the back of his mind. He had enough smokeless powder to fill another ten thousand bullets on top of the near ten thousand he had stockpiled right now. How the heck could he have known that the entire world would go haywire and the laws of physics would betray him? They were making good time and they were on track to make it back within a half hour. Even so, they increased their speed further by ignoring the harvesting of cores as Jocelyn had started making increasingly urgent sounds of pain. She was trying to hold it in and not be a bother, but something was obviously very wrong. Bob flicked the reigns to pick up some speed and the carriage bounded forward. Unfortunately, nothing ever goes smoothly, and as they got to the last few blocks a shriek sounded overhead. "Batwing Ducks at my one!" Shouted Liz in warning. Her shots were accurately aimed, but as Elly had warned them, the things were ridiculously agile in the air. Her arrows flew true and fast, but hitting a bird on the wing was hard enough. Jerky bat like motions and actively dodge incoming fire made the shots nearly impossible. Forward progress had stopped as the swooping things had spooked the horses and Bob and Sam fought to keep the carriage under control. Jason had jumped in front of the gelding with his sword drawn to protect it from any attacks, but his rage had bloomed into a pretty solid fire at this point. He swiped at the diving ducks but they seemed to mock him as they dodged out of his range. The things further annoyed them by timing their attacks between Liz''s shots. She was starting to run low on arrows and was trying to line up a perfect shot which just wasn¡¯t forthcoming. After one more swoop, Jason felt the floodgates open. He began actively shouting in rage at the ducks, cussing loudly and insulting their ancestry in oddly creative ways. Mark and Liz were unsettled by Jason¡¯s screams. Seeing their dad lose his temper in this way was pretty unusual. Sure, he may lose it when Mark did something particularly heinous or the sheriff pushed a bit much, but he almost never went into this sort of burning rage. Staring down adversity was Jason¡¯s element, and seeing him collapse into rage this way shocked them. It didn¡¯t matter because Jason was done. He let his rage flow out and directed his ire to his gun. If the god damn thing would just work he would be set. WHY DIDN''T HIS STRONGEST WEAPON DO WHAT HE WANTED. He willed it to just fire the way it was supposed to. He didn''t demand anything more, just perform like you need to. He lifted his head back and let out a yell, cursing both at the monsters flying overhead and expressing his rage at the situation. In the silence after, Mark and Liz were at a loss of what to do. After a few moments of incredibly uncomfortable waitingthe tension on Jason¡¯s face had vanished. They both shifted nervously as they noticed the smile on their dad''s face. It was the creepiest smile they had ever seen. Jason took a deep breath, letting the rage drain from him. "Sorry kiddos, I lost my cool there for a moment, and that was wrong in this situation. I know you expect more from me, so I''ll make sure I do better going forward." Jason didn''t like admitting his errors, but he rarely hesitated to own up to them. Without another word his hand flew to his side and he drew his glock. Fire percussive sounds later, five batwing ducks fell to the ground. Everyone looked at him amazed and in awe. The level of skill he had just shown was something out of a carnival event, but the kids knew he was capable of even more. The real shock was how he had managed to actually use the firearm without the ill effects that had been described to them before. Jason just smiled letting all the day¡¯s stress drain from his body as he looked over the last few notifications he got
Core Notification Ability Gained - Mana Manipulation
Core Notification Ability Gained - Gun Fu
Core Notification Ability Gained - Gun Fu : Magic Bullet
It seemed like things were going to be getting better for him. Chapter 21 - The Calm Liz¡¯s felt her entire body jolt with caffeine pangs as she watched Siren¡¯s Coffee passby on her left. She would kill for a good cup of coffee, literally. As in, she would happily have killed the monsters wandering around the store to get to a cup of coffee, but she knew they didn¡¯t have time to stop. Jocelyn had started to fade and getting her treatment was top priority. Still, a nice warm cup of coffee would be heavenly. She imagined it would help her relax some, which she could use right now. Dad, however, looked like he was having the time of his life. Liz couldn¡¯t remember the last time she saw him smile so much. He looked totally at ease, as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. She was almost worried that he was so relaxed he would get sloppy when out of the corner of her eye she saw some movement in the bushes. Before she could even blink, her dad pulled the gun from his holster, fired it into the head of the offending creature, and replaced the weapon. His smile didn¡¯t falter the entire time. If today hadn¡¯t already been insane beyond all belief it might have been a little creepy, but honestly, for her, it was a welcome relief. She closed her eyes and rubbed the fatigue away from them. For the first time all day she allowed herself to relax for a moment. When Mark had gotten injured and Dad was still Ability-less she shouldered the primary damage dealer role. That was a lot of responsibility, and she hadn¡¯t realized how much it had been wearing on her. Opening her eyes to see how everything was going it was pretty clear that Dad welcomed the stress. He never cared much for depending on others, and having to rely on his kids to keep him safe was probably driving him bonkers. Even though she complained about some of the training she took on she knew it didn¡¯t hold a candle to the schedule Dad had kept for the past five years. That, and he really liked guns, and took any excuse to play with them. This was probably better than Christmas for him. The next few blocks had no more surprises and she let out a high sigh of relief as the carriage pulled into the driveway. The garage doors opened and she saw a group had gathered to greet them. A very concerned Haley rushed out looking for George but her eyes widened in horror as she couldn¡¯t find him. Mark hopped down from the carriage quickly, wincing in pain as his ribs creaked, and intercepted her. He led her away to explain the situation and Liz was relieved that she didn¡¯t have to deliver the news. It was awesome that George was willing to stay and help people, but she couldn¡¯t imagine how that would make Haley feel. Jocelyn was next on the priority list and as Mom walked out Liz waved her over. ¡°Mom! Bite wound here! She needs some help and is losing consciousness.¡± With that statement Mom immediately went into triage mode. She began her inspection as the stretcher was lowered from the carriage and after checking a few things out she took out a vial. ¡°Here, drink this,¡± she helped Jocelyn sit up to drink the bright red liquid. Liz¡¯s eyes widened in amazement and she couldn¡¯t help but blurt out. ¡°Oh my god! Mom! Is that a healing potion?¡± Her mom just smiled. ¡°Well, it wouldn¡¯t do to just sit and wait for everyone to get back, so I started doing some experiments, and then the notices hit. Turns out, a good understanding of science can lead to Alchemy under the right circumstances. Combine that with the Healer and Observation and you get to figuring out healing potions pretty quick. You should stay and help me make some later, it¡¯s like baking, with monster parts!¡± ¡°Uh, thanks Mom, but I think I still have to help out more on the stabby side of the equation for now. Sounds like fun for later though!¡± Liz always enjoyed spending time with her Mom and being able to pick her brain for bit would be nice. That is, if the ever had that much free time again. Liz could only hope that things would eventually get less crazy. While Liz and her mom were catching up on the latest, the recent arrivals all sat around in awe as they watched Jocelyn heal before their eyes. Color returned to her face and she almost immediately began breathing easier. Her eyes cleared as she sat up with a start and gasped loudly. The potion had done its work well but she clearly had gone through some pain during the process. She looked around noticing everyone focused on her and immediately began to blush. ¡°Why is everyone staring at me?¡± Jocelyn had been pretty out of it and the sudden attention was somewhat unnerving. ¡°Just glad you¡¯re ok now.¡± Liz replied for everyone. She extended a hand to help her off the stretcher and after she was on her feet they made their way inside. Groups of people paired off and proceeded to get the carriage and horses stowed. Jocelyn continued to look around in a daze. She was limping but was clearly going to be fine. Following Mom through the garage Liz saw the splashroom had undergone yet another amazing transformation. New tables were set up with even more bubbling containers on them. They were made of concrete and tile. ¡°How?¡± Liz began but Mary had been waiting for her to notice. ¡°Oh, what do you mean? We just needed to do some remodelling in here to accommodate some of the experiments I was running.¡± The exaggerated look of innocence on Mom¡¯s face was almost comical. Liz knew exactly where this was coming from. She was her Mother¡¯s daughter after all. ¡°Ok, look, I¡¯m sorry I dropped the unicorn on you like that, but it was just too good an opportunity to pass up, but I really want to know how you did all this!¡± Relenting, Mom continued, ¡°Eddie apparently really wanted to help, and the only skills he had were around construction. After volunteering to try whatever, he started a couple projects, and we saw he picked up a construction skill when the notices popped up. After that, we did some experimentation with cores he was able to unlock a Construction Ability. It helps him build stuff really quickly if he has the raw materials and a blueprint of what he wants.¡± Dad had been hovering behind us for awhile now and was fidgeting madly. Mom turned to face him and smiled, ¡°I figured you¡¯d have some projects for him, especially since we seem to be picking up strays at a pretty good pace. And now you can tell me whatever it is you want to tell me before you explode.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Jason had looked like an overeager puppy by this point and exploded out his news. ¡°I can use guns now! I need to get my handguns, and a shotgun, and the rifles, and the other handguns, because I can use guns now!¡± Liz and her mom did their level best not to laugh out loud. Through herculean efforts they were able to keep themselves to smiling and nodding as Jason went on to explain in impressive detail how he would get his guns, and then have his guns, and then use his guns. Moments like these it made it incredibly clear where Mark got his penchant for overexcitement. Jason had a good thirty years to develop a better sense of control, but he still wasn¡¯t able to suppress his inner spaz completely. After noticing everyone on the first floor had turned their focus to him, Jason quickly locked down his emotions and returned to his regular stoic demeanor. ¡°Where¡¯s Eddie right now? I think I will talk to him about some fortifications.¡± Mary pointed out back, ¡°He¡¯s getting an inventory of what we had in the shed. We lost all our records that we had on the computer so he thought he could be useful by writing stuff down until we figured out what to build next.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really thoughtful of him. I¡¯m just going to grab some more weapons to have on hand and go chat with him then.¡± Jason attempted to play it cool but he couldn¡¯t quite keep his hands from twitching in excitement. Also, I totally knew he meant ¡®guns¡¯, not ¡®weapons. After studying Jason¡¯s face rather intently Mary handed him a few yellow and red mana cores. ¡°Here, take these. It looks like your Abilities are built around your physical Stats and the yellow ones should be useful if you try to develop some more skills. It tends to be hard to manipulate mana through the system directly, but if you pull from the cores it helps you when you try out new things. The red ones are for Eddie. I finished my experiments with these and he should be able to get some more use out of them. We need to catch up some more, so come grab me after you finish collecting your guns. I need to finish up a few more things here.¡± Mary turned to Liz and handed her three red vials. ¡°Go find your brother when he¡¯s done catching up with Haley and make sure he drinks one of these, please love? One should do it based on what I saw, so you should each keep an extra one just in case.¡± Liz took the potion but before she left she walked over to a table with numerous boxes on it. Poking around she saw mana cores of various sizes and colors. ¡°Can I grab some of these too?¡± Mary nodded, ¡°Those are the ones I¡¯m done with, so sure. Just try not to carry a lot of them in close together, they tend to start having strange interactions when you start mixing colors together.¡± ¡°What do the colors mean? And where do they come from? Are they different depending on the creature? How did you get all these?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot of information on them yet, but from what I can tell, the color inside creatures is somewhat random. Those small ones came out of Fuuzers and nerfligns, and we got almost every color. The ice wolves tended to have green cores, and the bear type creatures leaned towards yellow. There seems to be some relationship between the color and types of abilities they help you develop. Yellow for physical, red for influence, blue for mental, and green for magic. At least that¡¯s what my HUD display is telling me, and it seems to be accurate on other things. We¡¯ve been doing quick patrols to clean up corpses since they tend to attract larger monsters if left alone. ¡± ¡°Wait, you can see that? That¡¯s amazing! What ability gave you that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called Observe, and I¡¯m frankly surprised you didn¡¯t end up with it, too.¡± Liz thought about that for awhile. Normally she¡¯d be at home poking and prodding with Mom, but this time around she had been running around trying to get stuff done with Mark and Dad. She knew beyond any doubt that she had helped save lives out there, and didn¡¯t regret her decision to do the patrols one bit, but it would have been cool to learn how to make potions and get more information just by looking at things. Maybe she would be able to unlock those things later. For now, she¡¯d leverage Mom¡¯s awesomeness. She looked over the contents of the boxes and decided to grab some reds and blues. Gears were turning in her head as she contemplated the possibilities. She had a few ideas that she wanted to try out and those attributes seemed to work into what she wanted to do. ¡°Have a plan then do you?¡± Mary smiled knowing that look on Liz¡¯s face. ¡°You should probably swing by again with Mark if you¡¯re trying stuff out. He¡¯ll need yellows and greens.¡± Liz nodded, already deep in thought and planning out her next moves. She walked up the stairs and saw Mark giving a sobbing Haley a hug off to a corner. Not wanting to interrupt the moment, she quietly moved into the kitchen to scrounge up a snack. As she opened the door to the fridge Barry appeared so suddenly Liz wondered if he unlocked some magic of his own.Then again, Barry had always had the ability to instantly appear where food was available. He adopted a perfect sit and displayed a very impressive set of puppy dog eyes as she rummaged through the fridge. Liz quickly grabbed a bunch of lunch meats and shut the door. Glancing down at the eager puppy Liz enacted the first of her ideas. She pulled a red core from her pocket and studied it for a moment, pushing her focus towards it. Remembering the feeling she had when she used her power shot, she tried to pull from the core. ¡°Lay down. Sit. Paw up.¡± she called out softly as Barry performed the tricks flawlessly. She sensed the stone, but didn¡¯t feel any family flow come from it. She knew she had already acquired the training skill earlier, but she wanted to see how far she could push it. Taking a deep breath and putting her entire attention towards Barry she tried something new. WIthout saying a word, she mentally projected an order to Barry. She pictured her left sandal by the front door, pulling every detail she could from memory and imagined Barry bringing it back to her. She continued to focus on the picture until she felt the familiar pull and the red core started to dim. She felt a little dizzy as she continued to pull as much as she could from the stone and she didn¡¯t relent until it had stopped glowy completely. Stopping before she got weak again, she gasped at the mental strain that suddenly hit her. She didn¡¯t get any notifications but Barry did dash downstairs. She could feel a thread of connection to Barry, but it was really weak. Although her head was pounding, she felt she was really close to a breakthrough. She didn¡¯t want to let a chance at unlocking something new slip away. Gritting her teeth she focused on that weak connection. She reached deep and pushed more power into that link and smiled broadly when Barry came back, sandal in mouth. By this time Mark had finished his conversation with Haley and had wandered over. Liz had given Barry a huge wad of lunchmeat and was doting on him. ¡°Who¡¯s a good puppy! You are! Yes you are! And Mark, Mom said you should drink this.¡± ¡°Wow, you¡¯re in a good mood. Wait, what¡¯s that? Is that what I think it is!¡± ¡°Yeah, apparently Mom can make healing potions now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s awesome and wow that rules!¡± Mark tripped over his words as he attempted to describe how amazing potions were to him. He quickly down the drink and lifted his hands to his ribs. ¡°That¡¯s amazing! They don¡¯t hurt anymore. I mean, they really hurt for awhile, but now I¡¯m healed!¡± As he did a few stretches to confirm everything was working well, and as he stretched out and balanced on one leg Barry nudged him behind the knee. Mark, suddenly off balance fell forward and barely caught himself before face planting. ¡°Hah! Graceful!¡± ¡°Barry! What the heck was that for.¡± Liz had a smile plastered on her face ¡°I have more news. Mom figured out how to develop new abilities too. Right Barry?¡± Barry barked affirmatively. She began explaining as she basked in the latest notification in her display as Mark listened in rapt attention.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Animal Taming
Chapter 22 - The Final Countdown Mark listened attentively to Liz as she went over everything she learned from Mom. He tried to focus but he eventually got distracted and started poking his ribs a few times just to confirm that the potion actually worked. His mom was so cool. ¡°Mark! Are you even listening? This is important stuff. Like, literally, your life could depend on it.¡± ¡°Yeah, gotcha, stones draw mana and stuff and things. Mom rocks. I mean, it¡¯s cool Dad got gun abilities but Mom hasn¡¯t even been grinding XP with us and she already figured out all this cool stuff.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know that there is XP. That doesn¡¯t even make any sense.¡± ¡°Oh, like all the sense the rest of the day has been making?¡± Liz shrugged. Touche. Mark moved to try a bigger stretch but he looked over to Barry and a thought occurred to him. ¡°You figured out how to get Barry to do stuff, didn¡¯t you. You look way too happy to just have gotten info from mom.¡± Liz just had her ¡®I rock more than you¡¯ smile plastered on her face. He learned her large collection of smiles over the years and this was one of his least favorite ones. He totally needed to figure something cool out to get back at her. If there was one thing she couldn¡¯t stand, it was when he managed to pull off something that she couldn¡¯t. He actually had a way to do this now too. ¡°Lets go grab some more stones! I want to see what Mom thinks I should grab to help with abilities!¡± Mark rushed downstairs and after a quick conversation with his mom he had a new collection of glowing green mana cores. She took a little extra time to poke and prod him and was cleared as healthy too. ¡°Go out and figure stuff out then, and let me know what you manage to learn.¡± ¡°Thanks Mom! You rock!¡± He rushed outside and glanced over to the timer to see how much time he had left.
System Warning Mana Storm (Class X) Approaching
Suggested Actions Shelter in place.
Estimated Arrival 00d:02h:03m:11s
That seemed like enough time to at get the basics in at least one more cool thing. Periodic bangs could be heard as his dad was running around clearing the immediate area. He ran over to the sounds to check in. As they came into sight he waved to let them know he was in the fenced in yard and they waved back. His dad always wanted to know where people were if he was out shooting and Mark didn¡¯t feel troubled in the least to make sure he followed that particular rule. Glancing around, everyone else was making last minute preparations as well. Eddie was going around chopping down trees near the house to try and get more visibility. Sam was helping cure the leather and repairing the armor as best she could with her sewing skills, and Elly was sticking like glue to Biscuit who was prancing around and getting some exercise in the fenced in yard. Bob and Etta were storing the carriage sorting supplies in the barn where it was stored. He even saw that Haley had broken out of her depression and was busy inside clearing the areas near windows to give good firing lines and let people run around if needed. He didn¡¯t see Jocelyn though. She must have laid down to rest. Mark figured the potion may knit wounds but replacing lost blood sounded unlikely and she¡¯d probably need more time to recover.. Being surrounded by all the hard work helped motivate Mark as well. He couldn¡¯t just sit around and do nothing. He¡¯d take the remaining time and figure out something new with his abilities. Something that would help no matter what this mana storm threw at them. He wasn¡¯t sure what to go for though. ¡°I could try another attack thing, but I already have two methods, and it kinda seems like overkill,¡± he mused aloud. He looked over his options in his head. The things that would be most useful would be some sort of healing or protection thing, but that seemed like it would fit more into his meditation than his Chi. Sitting down and meditating during a fight didn¡¯t sound like a great idea. No, he needed something to help with the immediate future. Something that would help keep him alive. He reached for his Chi and let the sensation of it flowing through his body spread. He thought about what he had done so far with the ability and how it worked. He activated his Infused Strike Ability on a throwing knife and tried to figure out exactly what it was doing. He could feel all around the knife as he spread his power throughout it. He then tried to change the aura to the Severing Blade. The Chi started to spin around the blade, and it almost felt like it was operating like a chainsaw. He thought about everything he had done that day and realised he had done one more thing. He attempted to infuse his blade with the explosive energy that he used with the pepper spray and cell phone. This time, he focused his efforts to not just infuse, but have the energy to sit still and wait for his command to explode outward. A few moments of concentration were rewarded when he felt the blade start to vibrate. Grinning at his success, Mark threw the blade to the ground and backed off a bit. The blade vibrated and made a horrible bell like noise, and then stood still. Mark walked back over to check out what had happened and saw a slight crack on the solid metal blade. ¡°Bleh, that sucks. I wonder what went wrong,¡± picking up and examining the blade gave him a few clues. It seemed like the energy had tried to explode out, but the metal wasn¡¯t exactly a good material to explode. Mark thought about what might work better when he had a sudden insight. ¡°If it works for ninjas,¡± he mused. Running inside he grabbed a bunch of sheets of paper, cut them into strips, and went back outside. If the energy couldn¡¯t escape from metal, maybe it needed something that would be consumed in the reaction. He infused the paper with the same amount of mana, and pressed it firmly against the blade. He willed the paper to stay attached to the knife and slowly he could feel something trying to react. Realizing he might need some extra omph to pull this off, he grabbed a green mana core from his pocket and continued to focus. He soon felt a familiar pull and the stone grew dim as the paper stuck to the blade. Mark also attempted to maintain the connection with the paper, like he did with his Infused Strikes, and was rewarded when he felt a thread of Chi connect. Grinning like a madman, he toss the knife and it stuck to the ground. It felt like he had a tiny thread attached to the paper that was keeping it all wrapped up. He backed up a few more feet, and pulled thread, undoing the binding and was rewarded by a pretty impressive blast. ¡°Woo hoo!¡± His dad and Matt quickly rushed over to the crater site that Mark had just formed. His dad had a look of concern on his face and after verifying Mark was okay put on a stern face. ¡°What in blue blazes just happened?¡± ¡°I did the thing! With the paper, and I just made it explodey!¡± ¡°Mark. Words. Slow down and use them.¡± ¡°I made paper Explosive Charms! It¡¯s a new ability I have now. I just got a notice. They¡¯re magically delicious!¡± Mark used his best Irish brogue on his last sentence to help convey his excitement.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. His dad¡¯s stern face cracked a little bit and a smile started to seep through. ¡°Ok, that was pretty good. Now show me again how this works.¡±
Core Notification Ability Gained - Chi: Explosive Charm
Liz was going to be so jealous. *** Liz was annoyed. Mark was learning Abilities with his Chi incredibly fast, and it was just like him. He never worked hard for things and it drove her crazy when he succeeded. It happened with the crossbow as well. She worked crazy hard for three years to get her accuracy up with her bow then he just waltzed in with that stupid thing and was almost as good as her in no time. I mean, the damned thing was less accurate than her bow to begin with but he just kept on getting better and better. She harrumphed and took in a deep breath. She knew how to meditate too, and while it didn¡¯t unlock an Ability for her she knew she needed to relax. Mark had his way of doing things and she had hers. She took several deep breaths and focused. She never practiced meditation as much as Mark, mostly because she always viewed it as a punishment, but she needed a clear head and she knew it worked. She settled into a steady rhythm with her breath, centered herself, and opened her eyes.
Core Notification Skill Gained - Meditation
That was a good start. Mark may be able to improvise and luck his way to success, but she was always better at focusing on the task at hand, and that is just what she planned on doing. It was time to get down to business. In the past few battles she noticed how effective Mark¡¯s Infused Strikes were. Being able to change the direction of his knives in flight had given him a huge boost both in dealing with agile creatures as well as being able to hit multiple things in one shot. If the monsters all conveniently lined up for her, she might be able to hit multiple ones with her Power Shot, but she wanted some more flexibility. She was going to pull off the same thing with arrows. She focused her intent on her arrow, and pulled back her bow. Instead of pushing for the abilities of her Power Shot, she tried to picture directing the arrow. She loosed it and was incredibly disappointed at the result. The damn arrow was moving too fast and as soon as it left her bow her connection to it was lost. She tried a power shot at her lowest power and tried to tell the difference. The shot knocked a hole and stopped as it went halfway through the tree. It was an impressive amount of damage, but after charging it, she felt no connection whatsoever to it. Something different was going on here and she just didn¡¯t understand it. She kept at it though, experimenting with trying to gently shove it in different directions, but nothing resonated. She started growing in frustration again, particularly at the inability to do something that Mark had taken to so naturally. It was just like him! ¡°That is just like him, and he¡¯s Mark.¡± Clueing into the error of her attempts she contemplated her bow. She thought about her own methods and way of doing things. She didn¡¯t react on the fly to things. She didn¡¯t randomly try stuff and hope it worked. She focused, she practiced, and she got what she wanted. Right now she wanted her arrow to follow a path that no arrow should be able to travel. She didn¡¯t care if physics was against her, and she didn¡¯t care if Mark could do it on the fly. The arrow was going to do what she wanted it to and that was it. Aiming straight at the tree, but picturing a new path in her mind, she let fly the next arrow. It was almost imperceptible, but Liz had sharp eyes and knew exactly where the shot should have landed, and it was at least three inches off. She was onto something and she could feel it in her bones. She tried to focus on creating a path, but the energies she was directing were resisting her. Remembering what Mom had said about mana cores, she took one out and tried to pull from the stone. She felt a trickle starting which soon became a flood. Mana poured into her and she focused on bending it to her will. A path for the arrow flashed to life in her mind. She pictured an arcing path to a tree directly behind the tree she had previously shot. The stones dimmed as she drew her path and as she focused she could see a guide forming. Seeing the line connect to her intended target, she released the arrow. This time she hit the jackpot. The arrow flew from the bow and immediately started along the path she had drawn in her mind. Like a train on a track, it followed the silvery path in an impossible arc and flew gracefully around the tree to impact the previously hidden target. Liz allowed herself a brief fist pump. She had done it, and she had done it her way. She felt drained but elated and took a few moments to meditate again. After she felt replenished, she readied another path. This time it formed almost instantly, and the shot she fired zig zagged around several trees and landed with a thud into her intended target.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Archery Arts: Pathing Shot
An explosion sounded from where Mark was trying things and Liz knew in her bones he must have figured out a new Ability. Looking back at the arrow sticking out of the tree she thought about her own ability. She felt some elation at her success but she knew it still wasn¡¯t enough. One arrow, even following a path, just wasn¡¯t that deadly to the monsters she knew were out there. She decided to take it one step further. If her next idea worked she¡¯d definitely have a leg up. She took an arrow from her quiver, and pumped it almost to her maximum levels with Power Shot. Then she proceeded to lock in a path, taking it through three different trees. The draw on her mana was painful and she knew if she tried this again she¡¯d definitely get a low mana warning, but she smiled as the path she desired quickly formed in front of her. She released her breath along with her arrow and three saplings blew apart and collapsed from the force of her impact. It took a lot more mana than either ability alone but the results were worth it. ¡°Now we¡¯re talking.¡± Liz didn¡¯t need anything to line up for her anymore. She¡¯d line them up herself. *** Before Mark got very far into his explanation he heard the sound of something crashing across the yard. ¡°That¡¯s where Liz went to practice!¡± He quickly started to run towards the sounds and Jason and Matt followed behind him. He quickly found a smiling Liz sitting and meditating. Looking out over the field he stared slack jawed as he noticed the the shattered trunks of the saplings that had been destroy. ¡°Did you do that?¡± Liz opened her eyes, smiled, and nodded. ¡°Got a new Ability called Pathing Shot. Lets me trace a path on where I want the arrow to go. Like this!¡± Lightning quick she drew her bow and the arrow she shot twirled overhead and came back down right next to her feet. ¡°Awesome! But check this out!¡± he toss an Explosive Charm on his knife and threw it into a cluster of trees. Liz didn¡¯t seem impressed as it thunked into a trunk. ¡°And?¡± she question him with an eyebrow raised. Mark just smiled and lifted his hand with his fingers ready to snap. The tree he hit and another nearby were blasted down when he completed the motion. It was doubly rewarding, because not only did the effect leave an impressive crater in the ground - he may have overcharged it a bit and felt a tad woozy - but it was totally worth it from the look on Liz¡¯s face. ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s almost as effective as when I combine my Pathing with Power Shot,¡± she commented trying to back down from her previous look of amazement. Mark frowned. He had totally expected to win this round but he had to admit the combo power Liz had was really hard to top. Not one to be outdone, Mark did what he always did when presented with a situation he wanted to change. He proceeded to make stuff up. ¡°Well, check this out!¡± Mark grabbed another mana core from his pocket and focused on pulling the energy. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t really know where he was going with this, but as the energy flowed into his body he decided to try something new. Since he could move around his knife when it was infused with Chi, why not himself? He looked up to a larger tree and picked out a branch roughly twenty feet up. Completely winging it, he tried flinging his body onto the branch. He suddenly flew up to the branch and landed, barely keeping his balance and quickly grabbing onto the trunk to prevent from falling. ¡°Hah! See, I can like, jump step thing!¡± ¡°You totally just made that up right now. You don¡¯t even have a name from the System saying it¡¯s a real ability!¡± Mark scrunched his face in annoyance. She was right, the System did come up with better names. He was so close to having more cool powers than Liz though and a little thing like it not actually being true wasn¡¯t going to stop him. ¡°Mark! Get down from there! You¡¯re going to get hurt!¡± His dad cried out waving his arms. ¡°I got this! It¡¯s totally an ability, see!¡± Mark channeled his power in the same way and picked another branch across the way. It was a little over ten feet and he figured if he did it once it would be no problem to do it again. This time he focused even more energy and in an excited leap he flew towards the branch. Then he flew over the branch, and over the tree, and after going about forty feet into the air he realized he maybe had overdone it. He probably should have been more worried as he began descending back towards the earth, but he had an odd sense of peace. Even as he heard Liz and his dad shouting in the background, he was comforted by one fact.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Chi: Falling Step
¡°I totally have cooler Abilities now.¡± he muttered as the ground quickly approached. Chapter 23 - The Storm Mark concluded his jumping escapade unscathed, as his new ability apparently allowed him to absorb falling damage really easily. He even managed to pull of a hero landing and was feeling pretty smug about it until his dad dressed him down for being reckless. Still, it was pretty hard to feel too down about the entire thing. He had about as cool a method as he could imagine for moving around now. He figured it¡¯d help a ton moving forward. Or backwards. However, time also kept on moving forward and the time for the mana storm was fast approaching. Liz had been working on something new up to the last minute but Mark couldn¡¯t tell if she actually succeeded or not. ¡°Whatcha trying to do?¡± ¡°Secret.¡± She looked a little annoyed at him, and he figured it was probably because he had the last win. She really hated losing. Mark knew if she actually had something cool she wouldn¡¯t hesitate to share. That meant he had some time to figure out something else and try to stay ahead. That was a thought for another time as the current situation would require his full attention. Not much was said as the groups of people concluded their business outside and started gathering in the garage. Taking a few candles, Sam led a group downstairs into the bunker. Fortunately, it was designed to have reasonable airflow specifically for cases where all power as out. It would hold up against just about anything, but his dad wanted to keep the house as safe as he could. If they could keep monsters from trashing the house they would have better living spaces, more supplies, and just feel better about things. After all, if something broke into the house, Biscuit and the horses would be done for. Silent farewells were given as most of the group got ready to descend. Matt had decided help out with his recent addition of slingshot skills and gave Elly and Sam a big hug. ¡°Are you sure about this Elly.¡± Matt asked before he let her go. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll stay with the horses and Biscuit, and if something makes it in, I¡¯ll try to get them into the safe room.¡± Mark appreciated her concern. Horses tended to spook with loud noises and they had no idea what to expect here. Having the larger space of the garage meant they were more likely to get through the night uninjured. He waved at Elly and made his own way upstairs. At the top of the stairs he saw his mom as she set patrolled around the second floor scanning the windows for signs of danger. He knew she had been preparing a few surprises but wasn¡¯t sure exactly what she managed to set up. Whatever it was he was sure it would be epic. With the bunker folks secured Mark took another glance over to the timer. T-minus one minute and counting. He looked out at the quickly darkening sky wondering what might be coming their way. It was pretty amazing how many stars he could see. It never occurred to him but even out here in the suburbs the light pollution of a modern city was pretty intense. Lacking that, the sky opened up into a vast brilliant starscape that he had never really seen from home. Even up in the mountains the stars never seemed this bright. Mark wondered if it had something to do with the latest happenings. As the timer ticked off the final seconds something amazing started to happen. Every square inch of the sky filled with a dance of brilliant auroras and eerie slow creeping lightning in every shade of blue he could imagine. It was surreal and unlike anything he had ever seen in his life. Caught up in the amazing sight, the entire group was speechless. Only the sound of breathing could be heard as they waited for whatever was going to happen next. It turns out they didn''t have to wait long. A meteor shower suddenly light up the sky shortly after the timer ended. Meteor shower was probably not the right word. Was meteor torrential downpour a thing? Meteor deluge? He¡¯d have to ask about it later but everyone was caught up in the truly awesome display in the heavens. This is what the word awesome was meant for. There was a peaceful quiet for awhile as they just took in the sight. The peace lasted until he noticed that some of the shooting stars were actually fall towards them. ¡°Uh, guys? I think those are falling towards us now.¡± Everyone just nodded grimly and followed the downward trajectory of the glowing blobs. As the brilliant flashes got close he noticed that they hit the group and made strange metallic pinging noises. They didn¡¯t dent the ground at all, which seemed really weird to him, but they still acted like they had mass. After the glowing spheres hit the ground they bounced up and vibrated for a moment. Mark got to see, for the first time, what a monster spawning looked like. As the glowy sphere lost it¡¯s light he could make out a mana core. Mark could see the air vibrate around the shard and in a somewhat gross explosion of meat a monster formed into existence. "Uh, that''s kinda creep and new," a loud bang followed and the Fuuzer that just materialized in their yard was no more. "Pay attention Mark, try to knock em out before they get a chance to build up. Looks like there''s going to be a lot of them." Jason aimed his rifle at another recently spawned monster, this time a bear thing. A few shots and the disoriented creature fell. Mark looked over at his father with a bit of surprise. He needed to step up to keep in the running. As immeasurable stars cascaded from the heavens, Mark actually felt a huge weight descending on him. It felt like something was squishing his bones. It was incredibly uncomfortable and made him think he was going to be sick. Calming his breathing he entered a trance like state and got to work. As he charged his shots the nausea went away, but the pressure remained. On the plus side, it seemed like whatever force he was using to power his knives was getting replenished at a much faster rate now. Minutes turned to hours and the rate of the falling stars seemed to increase during the entire time. Soon Mark was sweating with the effort of constantly reloading his crossbow and aiming it was taking its toll. He had long ago given up on knives as he would have run out of them almost immediately. He alliviated the pressure by zipping around, shoring up the defenses whenever someone called for help. He didn¡¯t even crash into things that much. He looked around to check people¡¯s conditions. Everyone had weary looks on their faces, but all in all it didn''t seem so bad. "Okay. I think this is okay. we can handle this. I think we''re going to be fine." Just then, as if to mock him, the sky flashed. It was as if the trickle before was just the spillage over the rim of a great container and now a giant wave of flashing stars and light was pouring into the world as the thing emptied itself completely. "Dammit Mark! Why did you have to go and say that" an annoyed Liz chided him. As the wave collapsed into the world the nearby crystal flashed in a brilliant blue. The waves all consolidated on that singular point and a daylight brilliance erupted from the lake. After the last of the waves finished, all was silent for the briefest of moments. Before anyone could breath a sigh of relief there was a thunderous roar and a iceberg started to grow and they saw the crystal that had previously fallen from the sky get carried upwards on a mountain of ice. The crystal continued to pulse as the ice underneath it pushed it higher and higher. A high pitch whining noise started to emit from the structure and everyone held their breath. Something was obviously going to happen soon and it didn''t look like it would be a good thing. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. From the direction of the lake a sudden cold wind hit the group. The crystal continued to shine as it continued to pulse brightly. Everyone turned their heads away as the light was too bright to stare into. Abruptly, the light show stopped and Mark dared to peek at the crystal again. The lake was now frozen solid and a jagged terrain could be seen leading up to the crystal. A thunderous clap of sound erupted shaking the entire room and as people steadied themselves they were confronted with yet another unbelievable situation. A wave of wolves exploded from the crystal. Thousands upon thousands of Ice Wolves in every shape size and variation that could be imagined spawned from the crystal. Like a living wave of fur and teeth, they pushed out from the center of the gem and the entire icy surface around it was filled with wolves. After a brief moment of disorientation, they all let out a collective howl. "Well, ok, that can''t be good." Mark got his knives ready and also readied some explosive charms. He threw them out into the field in the direction of the lake in anticipation of what was to come. He could hear the sound of hundreds of paws hitting the ground as the monsters started to move out. Bracing for the worst, the group all turned towards the lake. No more light poured from the heavens and their entire focus was towards the wolves at their doorstep. The weight Mark had felt before nearly doubled in strength. Mark had to focus just not to throw up as the effect was incredibly disorienting. A quick glance around showed everyone else looking ill. ¡°Hey, I think this is Mana. This feeling, it must be supercharged from the storm. Maybe try using abilities? That might relieve some of this stress¡± He drew out some knives and charged them and instantly felt better. As people flexed their magical muscles looks of formed around the room. Sooner than he expected, however, the nauseating feeling returned. At least they would have plenty of mana to deal with whatever was coming next. He turned to look to the treeline that faced the lake. He wondered how long it would take the wolves to arrive. It turned out they didn''t have long to wait. Bounding in with a frenzied look in their eyes the first wave of wolves charged towards the house. Whatever protections Biscuit had put on the house were overwhelmed by the sheer number of wolves going out to range. There simply wasn¡¯t a square inch of space that they were not covering. As they entered the lot his house was on they instantly snapped to attention. Maybe they scented the humans inside, or just saw a new structure in their way, but they all started charging the house directly as it came into view. A loud twanging noise was all Mark heard before he saw six of the ten wolves charging them fall over dead. The arrow Liz had fired had weaved its way through the line and Mark was really impressed. He didn''t realize quite how strong an attack that was. Not wanting to be outdone, he readied the trigger on his explosive charms, but before the wolves got close a few rapid reports of a rifle from his dad sounded and the rest of the wolves went down. "Well, that wasn''t half as..." "No, just don''t. Just don''t say it!" "But it was pretty easy!" Another line of wolves emerged from the tree line, this time, it was over twenty of them. Liz hit her forehead with her hand. "You just had to, didn''t you?" Mark shrugged and got ready for round two. It was hard for him to admit, but the Powershot and Pathing Shot combined was totally awesome and devastating to the tightly packed wolves. If he placed a charm just right he could take out two or three of the creatures, but he couldn¡¯t help be horrified at how effective a fully charged pathing arrow was at mowing the monsters down. She probably had taken out fifty of the things in a few minutes as the wolves collapsed under her glowing arrows. Well, it¡¯s not like she could do that all the time. The pained look on Liz¡¯s face indicated she must be burning through her mana pretty quickly. Mark knew from experience how painful getting to the bottom of your mana well was, and Liz didn¡¯t seem to be holding back at all. Mark could feel the strain of constantly using his mana as well. It had been almost four hours, and they were all slowing down. Unfortunately for them, the waves of wolves continued to come and the bodies began to creep closer and closer to the house. Soon the wolves made it in close enough for him to explode his charms that he set up previously, and between the focused fire of the slingshot, rifle, and arrows, the latest line was mowed down. Exhaustion was setting in though and the rate of fire from everyone was noticeably decreased. Mark was starting to worry. Maybe this wouldn¡¯t be as easy as he hoped. Just before the latest wave was cleared, another suddenly appeared. They had been using the bodies of their fallen comrades to make an approach under cover. Mark used a crossbow bolt to get a near one and readied some explosive charms for the wave that was getting close. Now they had close to twenty wolves nearby and things were looking dicey as the waves behind them kept on coming. Before Mark could explode his nearby charms, his mom jumped up and tossed a burning bottle towards the wave. With a massive blast of heat that actually caused everyone to cover their faces from the sudden flash the line of wolves in front of them erupted into flames. "Sorry, should have given you some more warning on that one, but I rigged a burn line around the house. I thought it might be a good defense against anything that came our way." It certainly seemed that way, as the advancing waves had all stopped in front of the blaze. The wolves circled the flames, their eyes flashing as they reflected back the light of the fire, but it gave the defenders several moments of much needed respite. Everyone took a moment to take a drink and eat some of the energy bars that they had handy. The wall of fire had killed a large number of the nearby beasts but yet another wave creeped out of the woods to the south. As the massive wave of beasts approached they felt a sudden chill as the fur on their backs started to glow an eerie icy blue. The largest wolf howled as on cue an icy wind blew towards the flames and extinguished the formerly impressive blaze. The large pack of of wolves looked up at the defenders in the window and growled. "Ok, so not looking so good anymore," Mark got two charged Chi blades ready for the next wave. The next moments were pure chaos. Mark had lost count of how many wolves were now at the base of the house. Even though the windows were over twelve feet up a vicious maw breathing frosty air suddenly appeared in his window. He struck with a charged blade which pushed the large wolf away and he turned to see Liz clearing the window next to him with her machete. His dad shot a few more, leaning out dangerous exposed to get good angles before giving a signal. Mark pulled the window closed and heard snapping sounds of locks being thrown around him. ¡°Ok, we¡¯re to phase two then. Those things are way too agile,¡± Dad paced around the perimeter glancing down at the wolves. Periodically a toothy muzzle would appear and pound against the windows but the thick glass stood solid. ¡°On the plus side, I don¡¯t see any more waves of those things coming, but we got about thirty more out there.¡± His statement was accentuated by a sudden pounding noise and some hysterical horse whinnies from downstairs. ¡°The horses!¡± ¡°Elly!¡± Mark and Liz looked at each other after their outburst and rushed downstairs. Liz glared at Mark, probably because she disagreed with his priorities, but said nothing as they made their way towards the reinforced garage doors. Candlelight illuminated the makeshift garage barn and Elly was doing her best to keep the horses calm. The large animals¡¯ eyes were wide with fear but Elly seemed to have things under control. She had her hands up and they could see a faint glow coming from her. ¡°I think I got this, they¡¯re listening to me more now, and Biscuit is helping. I don¡¯t know about the garage doors though. I can see them buckling some, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll last all night.¡± Jason took a quick look around and jumped back as a loud crash sounded. ¡°I agree, we got a few hours at best, each of those hits is really heavy. The damned things must be running full bore at the doors. We¡¯re going to have to take em out. We have a fixed point of entry now though, so we can prepare an appropriate welcome for our furry friends. Mark, Liz, come help me set up the kill way.¡± The look on his dad¡¯s face didn¡¯t bode well for the wolves remaining outside. Not a Chapter Liz was getting in position on the stairs as the gross feel of mana surging through her body started to build up again. Their ambush was taking some time to prepare and without the constant use of her abilities the pressure was becoming unbearable. As she prepared a powershot just to dissipate the accumulating energy a sudden cool wave flowed through her. She glanced over to the new notifications that just appeared, but something odd happened as the last message was coming through. Almost as quickly as the letters appeared they began to fade and ended in a truly bizarre message.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Chapter 24 - Wolves at the door Liz was getting in position on the stairs as the gross feel of mana surging through her body started to build up again. Their ambush was taking some time to prepare and without the constant use of her abilities the pressure was becoming unbearable. As she prepared a powershot just to dissipate the accumulating energy a sudden cool wave flowed through her. She glanced over to the new notifications that just appeared, but something odd happened as the last message was coming through. Almost as quickly as the letters appeared they began to fade and ended in a truly bizarre message.
System Notification Mana Stabilization System online. Out of scope spawns curtailed. Excess mana bleed stabilized. Bleed-off routines started.
System Notification Automatic Upgrade Sequence initiated. Primary Stats enhanced. Secondary Stats Enhanced. Core Abilities enhanced. Core Skills enhanced.
System Message We have enabled some systems to help deal with the mana wave. Upgrades will be a one time event and not impact Advancement Systems when they become available. Hopefully this will help. Administrators still working to get all the system functional, plea fe we fkof ij¡­$RequestError(43) failed to execute;
She looked around to see if it was just her but Dad was likewise wearing a look of confusion. ¡°Okay then. Well, not much to do about that now. On the plus side I don¡¯t feel like puking anymore. Let¡¯s finish setting up here and we¡¯ll figure it out later.¡± Dad went back to loading up a line of shotguns. Liz did a few quick checks and decided she would check on Elly in the garage. On the way down she nodded grimly at the trap they were preparing. Most of the time you wouldn¡¯t want to invite a horde of magical wolves into your house but Liz was all too aware about how the Randalls were different. The main entry hall was designed as a kill zone, complete with murder holes and a trapped staircase. It was always incredibly awkward when friends first came over and she had to explain the strange construction, but as the wolves continued to try and ram their way into the house she appreciated the architectural touches. Sometimes it wasn¡¯t a bad thing to have a paranoid survivalist Dad. She opened the heavy metal door leading to the garage. ¡°Everyone holding up okay in here? We¡¯re going to spring the trap soon!¡± The crashes against the garage were gaining in frequency and the doors had started to visibly deform under the constant assault. Sam and Bob had come upstairs to help Elly keep the horses calm and also provide cover in a worst case scenario so they would have time to escape downstairs into the bunker. ¡°We¡¯re good! As long as the doors hold, at least. We¡¯ll be fine in here. Be careful Liz, you have the harder job.¡± Elly shouted back as she continued to hold her glowing hands in the air. ¡°K, we¡¯re going to get started here in a few minutes then! Remember, if they somehow break through sooner head to the bunker.¡± ¡°Not a problem. I even worked out how to get Biscuit down there too.¡± ¡°How are you going to get him down the ladder?¡± ¡°Biscuit follow Liz by hop! Biscuit loves to hop¡± whinnied the colt. ¡°Uh, well, that¡¯s cool we¡¯ll give the signal when we¡¯re about to start then.¡± Liz wasn¡¯t sure how the excitable unicorn was going to use a ladder, but she had faith in her friend. She¡¯d have to pump her for more details later. Unicorn antics aside, the glowing around her hands had gotten brighter as the night continued and she wondered what abilities she had managed to unlock. That was something for a time when there were less wolves trying to kill them though. She walked back into the hallway and secured the heavy steel door behind her. Two quick knocks indicated they had bolted it behind her and were ready for the plan to start. She looked straight up and waved to Matt and Mom. ¡°Garage is locked down, they¡¯re ready to go in there.¡± From the trapdoor above she saw them put a large bucket into position. It was filled with oil and was the first line of the many nasty surprises they were getting ready for their guests. ¡°We¡¯re ready here.¡± Mom gave her a thumbs up and Liz nodded. ¡°Dad! We¡¯re clear on garage and the drop! How are you and Mark doing?¡± ¡°I got all my Charms set! They¡¯re ready to blow whenever! Oh yeah, and since that weird message I can prime a few more to explode! Totally have more mana to blow stuff up now! I¡¯ll be right down.¡± Mark did his stupid jump thing and popped right next to Liz before she could even react. The look on his face clearly revealed the fact he was just doing it to show off. She knew that stupid grin anywhere. ¡°Yes Mark, we know, you can jump around now. Don¡¯t waste mana though, it¡¯s not regenerating as fast anymore.¡± ¡°Ugh, I guess I can move really slow like you, but then the wolves might get me.¡± Liz took a calming breath and pictured the ways she would totally one up him after this. Movement powers didn¡¯t seem likely with her current skillset, but she had an eye on her Animal Taming ability and figured she¡¯d come up with something impressive soon enough. She was patient though, and when she came up with something it would be totally awesome. Walking up to the top of the stairs Liz setup next to Dad. He had a series of rifles and shotguns lined up next to him and pair of .45s at his hips in addition to the glock that was now in a shoulder holster. He posed a rather intimidating figure except the goofy looking shooting glasses he was wearing. She raised an eyebrow questioningly as he pointed to her own eyes and held up another pair of the things. ¡°There¡¯s never a bad time for eye protection sweetie. With the powder and explosions, why risk something screwing up your vision?¡± Liz just shook her head and took the glasses. It wasn¡¯t that he was wrong, but seriously, who worries about eye safety when giant ice wolves are trying to tear down your house? Jason Randall, King of Apocalypses, that¡¯s who. She closed her eyes and refocused on the task at hand. She pictured a zig-zag path through the door and started powering up one of her arrows. She was as ready as she was going to be.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Mark, we¡¯re set up here. Signal and open in ten!¡± ¡°Operation Big Bad Wolf starting in 10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!¡± On concluding his countdown Mark opened the front door to reveal a surprised looking ice wolf. Before the beast could react Mark had Falling Stepped back to the top of the stairs. The creature and the humans above him locked eyes for a moment before it processed the situation. The wolf let out a quick howl and the rest of the pack headed towards him. With errie patience, the scout wolf waited as packmates rallied to the opened door. Not until they were all together did the first wolf cross the threshold. It creeps slowly in as another ten wolves and they lined behind it ready to rush up the stairs to the waiting humans. Before it could take another step, five gallons of oil collapsed down onto it. The thing looked pretty funny as it struggled to find purchase on the slippery tiles while covered in oil, but Liz¡¯s mirth quickly evaporated as it let out an evil sounding growl and was pushed forward by its packmates. It apparently didn¡¯t think it was that funny. Liz waited for a few more wolves to come into the jam at the front door before releasing her arrow. The fully empowered shot tore through the six wolves that had made their way in, but the bodies now blocked the front door. They were now committed. The wolves would need to all be eliminated or they wouldn¡¯t be able to close their front door. Liz started another draw for her shot but she was staggering under the loss of mana. She felt like she tore through almost half of her mana and the press of mana into her body wasn¡¯t restoring her. She hadn¡¯t realized she could draw that much power and she was now paying the price. The general fatigue of the day on top of the drop made her realize she didn¡¯t have many shots left. ¡°I can store up one more shot just in case, but you¡¯re up next Mark!¡± Mark grinned at the news and held his hand on the lever at the top of the stairs. Dad had spared no expense in configuring an entryway that would be absolutely disastrous if anyone wanted to assault the house. Mark waited for more of the wolves outside to enter the house before he started his next plan. Growling as they observed the bodies of their comrades, the recently arrived wolves gathered right outside the front door. Liz wasn¡¯t sure how smart normal wolves were, but these things had a lot more going on than what she would of expected. Most of the wolves that had previously been around the house were now clustered around the front door. At least the part of the plan where they rounded up all the remaining monsters seemed to be working. She saw the muzzles of the closest wolves dodge back and she wondered what they were planning. Only one wolf could fit through the doorway at a time, so she just carefully nocked an arrow and waited in case the next part of the defense failed. Almost without warning a line of wolves dashed inside. Apparently the wolves had decided that rushing the steps was a good plan and had gotten a running start into the house. Liz had to hand it to them, it wasn¡¯t a half bad idea, and in a flash six more wolves entered the house. While there was still a decent amount of oil on the ground the wolves were able to use the bodies of their fallen packmates to get good footing and before she had a chance to breath the wolves were halfway up the stairs. Another couple had just entered when Mark pulled the lever as Dad poured another bucket of oil down. The look on the wolves faces would have been comical if they didn¡¯t have quite so many teeth, but the surprise was apparent. The stairs had gone flat, creating a slippery ramp where a staircase used to be. Liz remembered Mom complaining to Dad for months while the builders carefully constructed the expensive and overly complicated staircase, but in the end it was totally worth it. As the wolves slid to the bottom of the ramp Mark raised his hand to his face with two fingers extended in a gesture that she recognized from animes they had watched. ¡°Boop!¡± What followed was a series of explosions that tore into the tightly packed group of wolves and set their oily corpses on fire. The hallway was designed to handle such abuse but Liz couldn¡¯t help but be impressed on how effective this was all going. Only one thing troubled her. ¡°Boop. Really. You¡¯re going to do something like that and the sound effect you go for is ¡®Boop¡¯?¡± ¡°Gimmie a break! I hadn¡¯t planned on anything and I just couldn¡¯t think of anything better right then. I¡¯ll work on something for next time.¡± ¡°Kids, please. Focus on the killer magic wolves for now and we can worry about what sound effects to apply to our new found abilities later, okay?¡± Liz turned back to the wolves and did a quick body count to try and figure out how many remained. She pegged it at no more than a dozen as long as no more had come in to reinforce the remaining ones. The few left at the front of the house were very leery of entering the room that was now piled high with assorted wolf parts. Clearly they were smart wolves. The few that poked their noses in were quickly met with an arrow or bullet and soon they stopped trying completely. Abandoning the room of death, the wolves resumed their assault on the garage door. ¡°Mary, how many left out there?¡± ¡°I see six, two are right outside the front door keeping watch and the other four are taking turns charging the garage.¡± ¡°Ok then. Plan C. Liz, you¡¯re up top. Mark, you¡¯re with me. We¡¯ll take out the two near the door and get it shut. Liz, take care of the rest.¡± ¡°Sure, make me take care of twice as many by myself.¡± ¡°But you can do it, can¡¯t you?¡± Liz looked down at her bow and took a deep breath. Sarcasm aside, she probably had the highest kill count for the night by far. There was no doubt that she was the best chance at eliminating the remaining wolves with minimal before they had a chance to react. ¡°Yeah. I got this.¡± Liz went to hit the lever but Mark quickly moved over and returned the stairs to a usable state. Liz grinned at his antics and got into position. After an incident involving Dad and a bag full of eggs Mark had been forbidden from touching the lever ever again. Apparently apocalypses allowed for a reset and he was now making up for lost time. Steeling herself at the window she nodded Matt and Mom aside. She took a position that lined up well with the wolves and a quick whistle later informed Mark and Dad that she was ready. She heard them head downstairs and waited for the two gunshots she knew were coming. She started calculating a path that would intersect all four wolves below and started charging up an arrow. The silvery path formed as her focused mind predicted the likely paths. A wolf was just getting ready to charge, and she knew the best moment would arrive soon and was relieved when she heard the two shots and the sound of the front door slamming. That was her cue. The wolves turned to the sound and all stopped to look in the direction for a second, and that was all the delay Liz needed. She pushed the window open and released her shot in a smooth and practiced motion. It slammed through the four monsters in a heartbeat with an unstoppable force. The creatures had confused looks on their faces as they collapsed, not knowing what had even killed them. Liz exhaled and fell flat on her butt. She was physically exhausted and a helpful notification informed her she was also critically low on mana. She was thankful the waves had stopped because she had no idea what they would have done without that mana boost if more wolves were out there. Dad and Mark came upstairs after retrieving the group that had gone to the shelter. Mark walked over and helped Liz up who took gladly took the offered hand. ¡°Damn fine shooting sis.¡± Liz didn¡¯t even have the energy to speak and just nodded. Dad had just finished a walk around and called an all clear. She glanced outside and saw the auroras beginning to fade.
System Notification Mana Storm (Class X) Completed. Be wary of extra spawns for the next few hours. Stay sheltered if possible.
Liz sighed in relief with everyone else in the room. She didn¡¯t know what time it was, but it had to be close to 2:00 AM. She was so very done. Her hands and fingers were raw from the constant working of her bow and her shoulders ached from the strain. She didn¡¯t know how Mark had any energy left, but somehow he managed an excited jump to his feet, fist pumping in the air. ¡°Victory, Randalls!¡± ¡°And now naptime¡± Liz concluded, as she promptly collapsed onto the couch and fell asleep. Chapter 25 - The Very Next Day Liz crawled her way back to consciousness under extreme duress. She hadn¡¯t put much thought into how hard she had been pushing herself but her body was certainly doing a great job in reminding her. She must have pulled her bow back a hundred times and god only knew what that constant draw of mana did to her. She held her hand up and struggled for a solid ten seconds in an effort to make a tight fist and eventually gave up. Rolling out of bed she looked around her room. She vaguely remembered falling asleep on a couch, but someone must have carried her upstairs. Shaking her head to wake up a little she tried to plan out her next steps. Normally, she¡¯d be figuring out her outfit for school. Today was gym, that would normally mean preparing her workout pack. Liz pondered what would need to be swapped out for her ¡°kill monsters pack¡±. She let herself giggle for a moment at the absurdity of the situation. Just another post-apocalypse day. That stopped her brain process for a moment. One day. A single day to go from concern over being late to school to worrying if everyone in school is still alive. Twenty four hours to go from shooting a bow in competitions to shooting a bow in life and death situations. It wasn¡¯t enough time. She closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. Breathing in deeply, she began a basic meditation exercise and felt for the new power in her body. Almost instantly she felt the places that were now familiar to her. The structures in her mind that let her draw on the mana that now seemed to permeate everything. The mana that changed everything. A minute of rummaging through her clothing yielded an outfit she¡¯d normally use for running. She took extra care to pick out muted colors. Highly visible and reflective clothing was great for modern society but definitely wouldn¡¯t be part of post apoc-chic. After suiting up she ran her hand through her tangled hair. She frowned as it snagged on innumerable knots. Going on auto-pilot she took her brush and started her regular morning routine. The rituals helped her wake up and it was nice to do something familiar. She enjoyed the relative peace until it was shattered by a loud knocking at her door. ¡°Liz! Liz! Are you up! You should wake up! We¡¯re figuring out what we¡¯re doing today. We need you since you¡¯re all like pew pew with the bow and stuff. We¡¯re all doing stuff to clean up the giant mess we made last night. Hurry, there are are pancakes. I¡¯m going to eat yours if you¡¯re late. I¡¯m really hungry. We still have tons of maple syrup though. We¡¯re set there.¡± The veins in Liz¡¯s temple throbbed with each of her brother¡¯s outbursts. ¡°Mark, I¡¯ll be down in a bit, but, just, you. Nevermind. Just nevermind. I¡¯ll be right down.¡± She would need a minute to find her calm again. No one needed to deal with her strangling Mark right now. ¡°Oh and Mom made coffee.¡± ¡°Well why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± Liz¡¯s door swung open with purpose as she finished slinging her bow and quiver over her shoulder. Doing one last check to make sure everything was in place properly she quickly moved downstairs. Screw meditation. She wanted caffeine. Walking down to the second floor she saw people were already busy with the day. Jocelyn was standing lookout at the window while people outside were scurrying around under Mom¡¯s direction. She was directing people to move around the wolf corpses and had all remaining hands on deck skinning and harvesting parts. Apparently everyone had gotten a crash course because they seemed to be making pretty good time. ¡°Here, they left food for us. They figured that we probably would need more rest since we were pretty busy last night making the mess that they¡¯re cleaning up now. Think fast!¡± Mark threw a pancake at her with terrifying precision. She snapped her hand up to catch it, causing it to squish in her hand. ¡°Give me coffee or I will cut you.¡± The death glare she was giving Mark was somewhat ruined by the folded pancake she was using to threaten Mark with but all was good as a coffee mug appear before her. ¡°Yeah, so, apparently I¡¯m better at throwing just about anything. But anyway, after you finish coffee you should come out and help folks clear things out. Don¡¯t want random creeps wandering in our yard and causing trouble. And by creeps I mean random monsters, not like strange icky men.¡± ¡°Yeah Mark, I figured that¡¯s what you meant. Just let me drink coffee and go away for awhile.¡± Liz closed her eyes and let the warmth of the cup flow through her hands. A few sips sent a welcome rush of caffeine to her deprived brain and she barely noticed as Mark headed out. ¡°Thank god caffeine still works.¡± Liz thought to herself. Her moment of zen ended as she finished the cup in a few gulps. Savoring a nice cup of coffee was great and all but the monsters outside wouldn¡¯t skin themselves. She felt a little guilty about leaving a mess and expecting other people to clean up after her. Well, maybe not that guilty, but still, it would be good to help out. She went down the stairs and grabbed a handful of mana cores before walking out the front door. She saw that most of the wolves had been cleaned up here, and that most people had already moved to the back of the house to work. The tree line to the south still was clogged with bodies. That made sense as the majority of wolves had come from that direction. Elly and few other people were just starting to move into the area and Liz jogged alongside them to help. ¡°Hey Elly! How¡¯s everything with the horses? Biscuit ok?¡± ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s fine, and he¡¯s been teaching me a couple things.¡± ¡°Oh really? I was wondering what was up with that whole glowy hand thing last night.¡± ¡°I know, right! It¡¯s so amazing, I totally have this Ability called Unicorn Friend now! It lets me do the things that Biscuit can as long as he¡¯s around and willing to help out. He can talk to horses, make things lighter, and a couple other things that I haven¡¯t quite figured out yet.¡± ¡°That¡¯s so cool! I¡¯m so glad you figured that out. Abilities are super useful.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Yeah, check this out!¡± Elly touched a wolf corpse and a familiar glow enveloped her. Liz¡¯s mind instantly returned to the time when Biscuit had helped the carriage along and finally understood what gave them the burst of speed. Elly proceeded to heft the corpse of the five foot long wolf over her shoulder and grinned madly. The thing was at least probably twice her weight but she had no problem handling it. ¡°That is kinda creepy, but also very impressive.¡± ¡°I know! Well, I¡¯m going to haul this back to your mom. Let me know if you need me to make things lighter for you too. I have to rest a bit after doing this a few times, but it¡¯s been really helpful for everyone since the things are so heavy otherwise.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll do a quick check around just in case. After that I¡¯ll pick something out for you to help me with.¡± ¡°K, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Elly walked by a group of four who were using a makeshift stretcher to lift another corpse and applied her ability again. The group stumbled as their load suddenly lightened but they all smiled and thanked Elly. Liz was glad her friend was doing ok. After watching in amazement at the sight of a small teenage girl with giant wolf wolf slung over her shoulder she turned her attention back to the task at hand. Liz started navigating around the corpses to check for any monsters that may have wandered over. The crack of gunfire to the north told her that Dad was most likely doing the same thing. As she scanned the trees she heard a low growl from a pile to her left. She turned her head to see a large green tinted wolf giving her the stink eye and baring its fangs. It was trapped under a pile of its dead packmates and didn¡¯t seem like it was able to move. Liz¡¯s eyes widened in surprise and she smiled to herself. She had an idea. She focused on the wolf and concentrated on her abilities. She pushed all the mana in her body towards that feeling that she found when she had linked with Barry. Trying to replicate the effect was much easier and she felt a tendril of power reach out towards the wolf. In her excitement, she lost focus for a moment and the thread suddenly vanished. The wolf, sensing something was amiss, increased it¡¯s growls and made a pained yip as it struggled to free itself. ¡°Not so fast, I¡¯m not done with you yet.¡± Liz took a breath and focused again. This time, she kept her breathing steady and didn¡¯t let stray thoughts intrude. Within seconds the tendril formed again and she directed it towards the wolf. It stabbed the creature and suddenly Liz was flooded with a set of alien emotions. Liz was somewhat startled by the influx and her focused wavered for a moment as she attempted to parse the strange new data entering her mind. The wolf started to yip louder as it felt Liz¡¯s mind push down on it. Liz redoubled her focus on the thread and started feeding it more power. She reached into her pocket to grab a mana core to see if that would help, but for whaever reasons she couldn¡¯t feed the energy into the connection she was forming. Ignoring that, Liz redoubled her efforts with the strength she had inside and felt the connection solidify. In an instant Liz started to make sense of the jumble of emotions coming towards her. Pack destroyer! Flee! Must Flee! Help Alpha! No! Alpha gone! Must Flee! Liz had a moment of inspiration and suddenly knew how to proceed. She sent her own thoughts through the connection. ¡°I¡¯m Alpha, you are now part of my pack.¡± She projected in images and feelings more than words. For a moment she could feel the wolf pushing back, but it was injured and scared and Liz was intimidating as hell to it. Liz may look like a five foot tall teenage girl, but the wolf saw a bringer of death that had killed the great pack. A pack that was larger than any the wolf could ever conceive. A pack that nothing could stop, or so it had once thought. Apparently, the pack had never encountered a Liz. ¡°Stop. Submit. I¡¯m Alpha.¡± Liz reiterated and simplified her message. She pushed more mana into the connection and after a brief struggled she felt something give. The wolf stopped it¡¯s struggling and patiently waited for Liz to direct it. Liz smiled. She had a new puppy. A nice seven foot long one ton puppy with six inch fangs and magical ice powers. She thought it was adorable and through the connection she could tell it was female. She decided to call her Moonlight. The notification popup made her smile.
Core Notification Animal Taming Successful Animal Companion Added [Moonlight] linked
The yips and yowls Moonlight had made were loud enough that Mark had come over weapons drawn. He encountered an odd scene where Liz was digging through corpses and a wolf was trying to escape from the mess. ¡°Liz! Heads! I got this!¡± ¡°Wait, no Mark, she¡¯s friendly!¡± ¡°Liz, it¡¯s a giant monster wolf thing. I¡¯m pretty sure it tried to eat us last night.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok. It¡¯s mine now.¡± Liz grinned. Mark looked skeptical but his eyes widened in surprise as the beast to slithered out and politely lay down next to her. Moonlight then proceeded to make a few whimpering noises. Weak. Fading. Alpha has strength rocks? ¡°Mark, you have any cores on you?¡± Mark reached into his pockets and produced a set of green colored cores. He had a confused look on his face but Liz paid him no mind as she snatched them and held them up. ¡°These are strength rocks?¡± Yes! Alpha strong, doesn¡¯t need. Can has rocks? Liz hesitantly held out the mana cores and Moonlight greedily crunched them down. Her breathing stabilized and while not as dramatic as a healing potion, she seemed to be much healthier than before. She stood up and limped over to follow Liz. ¡°Ok, this is totally not fair. You have to teach me how to tame giant wolf monster things. You already have Barry! I want a pet!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try, but I dunno. It seems that abilities tend to roll along the lines of what your skills are and you never wanted to do all the walking, cleanup, and training with Barry.¡± ¡°Fine then, but you¡¯re picking up after your new pet.¡± Liz winced. She did not want to think about what a seven foot long wolf would produce after eating a bunch of meat. ¡°Thanks Mark, really appreciate that.¡± ¡°With great power comes great big buckets of poop.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how that goes.¡± ¡°Does now.¡± Liz almost got angry for a moment, but then she realized she had freaking magical wolf pet, and that made everything ok. ¡°Fine, but when she gets better, you don¡¯t get to ride her.¡± Mark was speechless and his eyes widened in wonder as he imagined how awesome it would be to ride a wolf. His mouth opened then closed like a fish as he struggled for a comeback. Liz couldn''t help but wear a smug grin. Totally winning now. Chapter 26 - Blowing in the wind Mark wanted a wolf. Or maybe an eagle. Really, any pet would do, but he knew it was unlikely. He had a ton of other abilities anyway. Also, no matter how much he tried to follow Liz¡¯s instructions he wasn¡¯t able to unlock Animal Taming. Heck, he didn¡¯t even feel like he was close to Animal Taming. Plus, trying make new abilities after that whole stabilization thing was really hard. Sucking energy from mana stones didn¡¯t have the kick it used to. On the plus side, pushing around his mana internally seemed to be a lot easier, and that meant he could probably figure more cool stuff with Chi or his existing ability set. With that in mind he started porting around everywhere and trying out all his abilities as he helped people out that morning. He also snuck around a lot to try and get a better feel for Stealth. It was kinda fun since whenever he popped beside someone they would jump up and make a funny yelping sound but eventually his dad sent him to scout out a corner away from people. Mark figured everyone was probably not thrilled as he was with the whole Stealth thing because that was literally what his dad asked him to do. Whatever, he could still work on stuff alone. A couple minutes passed and things were going pretty well when his dad gave a sharp whistle. Everyone started to round up around the front door where he was waving them in. His mom, Haley, and Jocelyn came out the front door and the workers who were in the yard all circled round to see what was up. His dad stood in the semi-circle and nodded to everyone as they quieted down around him. "Ok folks. We survived a day, and that''s great, but I think we all realize we¡¯re just getting started here. At least, I certainly plan on being here many more days and I hope you do too. Also, we also are not alone and I for one am not going to abandon folks who might need our help. Bob and Etta mentioned their ferrier is a couple miles up north. Apparently she¡¯s also a blacksmith. I can''t tell you how nice having someone who can work metal would be to have in an environment like this. On top of that we met pockets of folks who banded together, and I want to do what we can to help. I¡¯m willing to protect me and mine, but that doesn¡¯t mean leaving everyone else to fend for themselves. We were always focused on building a strong community, and that hasn¡¯t changed even with this apocalypse. I''d like for you to stick around and help me grow it, and I understand if you don¡¯t want to stay, or have other ideas, but if you want to stick with us you¡¯re welcome to it.¡± His dad looked around. Everyone in the group stood and nodded. It hadn¡¯t been long, but we¡¯d been through a lot together, and most people were perfectly willing to stick it out with the Apocalypse King. Seeing no dissenters, his Mom actually stepped forward. "I¡¯m glad. I think we¡¯ll be much safer together, and also we¡¯ll be better off the more we know about what is going on. You all know I¡¯ve been doing everything I can to make sense of this and we got some pretty big notices yesterday about what was happening. If you haven¡¯t already developed an ability, the good news is that the stabilization effect seems to make that a lot easier. We¡¯ve worked out a few methods to help you find something you can do. If you have an ability, it¡¯s a lot less stressful to activate it, so you should try to get a feel for what you can do. The only real disadvantage is that if you have an existing ability, it¡¯s really difficult to create the pathways to develop additional ones. You should probably focus on what you¡¯ve already managed to unlock. I can help you figure some of this stuff out, just come chat with me later." Mark congratulated himself on his awesome observation skills. "I knew it." Mark realized that maybe he said that last bit a little too loud as everyone took a moment to stare at him. "Uh, well, it''s just I wasn''t able to figure out totally new stuff and it was way easy before." "That''s actually really observant of you Mark," his mom continued. "Regardless, there''s still a lot to do. I have a decent supply of healing potions and the materials I need to make them are pretty plentiful. For reference, it''s a mixture of modern pharmaceuticals with mana drawn in from yellow cores and a little extra magic to put it all together. Just so no one gets any ideas, limited experiments I''ve done with cores contacting human cells have been pretty scary. Do not eat those things. They have highly mutagenic properties." She gestured over to Liz and everyone made way as she and her giant wolf friend stepped forward. She started talking about some of the stuff she figured out and also about the tamed wolf so no one would freak out about it. As everyone came up to speed and asked questions around the new information Mark started to grow bored again. Given, it didn''t take much, but there were so many things to do. He was worried all over again about George. Between the craziness of last night and the sheriff being somewhat on edge he wanted to go and check on the high school as soon as possible. He glanced over to Haley and saw a similar look of concern. Not able to contain himself he raised his hand in the hopes of attracting some attention. The jumping up and down probably drew some to him too. His dad motioned to him. "Yes Mark? What''s up?" "Dad, can we just split up and go? I want to make sure people are safe. We can talk about stuff later, right?" His dad gave a deep sigh. "This is important info kiddo, but yeah. On a certain level you''re right. Mary, you keep figuring out what you can while we run do a check on folks? Also, Bob and Etta, you still wanted to check on your blacksmith friend right? We''ll probably be best off splitting up again. It''s been really quiet lately and I think this is our best bet to find things before the monsters get out and about. I think that wave of wolves did a pretty good job of clearing everything out, but who knows what new madness is out there." "I want to check the school. I can go really fast, even without a horse. My Falling Step thing is pretty awesome." "That may be true, but I think we''ll be better off taking the spare horses. After all, it wouldn''t do for you to spend all your mana on moving around and then have nothing else in case of an emergency, right?" Mark glanced down at his feet. He hadn''t really thought that through, but knew his dad had a point. "With that being said, our other heavy hitter is Liz. Are you up for going with Bob to pick up their blacksmith friend? Matt and Etta will be your backup." Etta stepped up to continue. "Her name is Margaret, and she''s about five miles north of us. It will be the longest trip we''ve done so far, but it''s right along Garrison. No side streets and a straight shot the entire way. We''ll need the carriage in case Margaret wants to come back with us. Not for her, for her anvil. I can''t imagine her willing to give it up.¡± Bob stood next to Etta and added, ¡°She''s a tough gal, and if anyone was going to be ready for something like this it would be her. Well, other than Jason" Bob smiled at his dad. Liz thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, I got this. I''m pretty comfortable with what I can do with the bow now. Let''s make sure everything is set on the carriage." She walked off with Bob to get the carriage ready while his dad stepped forward again. "We''ll wrap up here in a bit Mark, go ahead and get the horses ready and I''ll join you in a sec. I want to go over some last things here on what we should be doing to shore up our defenses." Mark gave a thumbs up and headed over the the garage. The doors were open and Biscuit was chilling with the other horses. "Oh, hey Biscuit, how is everyone after last night?" "Biscuit good now! Last night was scary. Scary doggies! Scary doggies can''t catch Biscuit though! Probably could catch and eat horsies. That would be sad for horsies." "Uh, yeah. So, good thing everyone is fine right?" Mark stood there in awkward silence for a bit. He wasn''t great at small talk to begin with and he really didn''t have any ideas on what you should talk about with a unicorn. Shaking his head, he just proceeded to get the horses ready. "Time for another trips guys." Patting the horses to calm them he proceeded to get them saddled up. The smell of blood was thick in the air causing them to be a bit skittish. Hopefully there wouldn¡¯t be many more mornings like this. Saddled up and ready to go he led the horses out to the yard. His dad was conversing with Bob. As Mark approached Bob grabbed the gelding¡¯s reins and went to hitch up the carriage. His Dad mounted up and motioned for Mark to do the same. Liz was standing next to them waiting for the carriage to pull around and had her arm in a half hug. She looked nervous. His Dad trotted over to Liz and leaned down to pat her shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine sweetie. You¡¯re are so strong, and you¡¯ll be fine against anything we¡¯ve seen out there. In the off chance you do find something new and terrifying, don¡¯t be afraid to hole up somewhere and we¡¯ll come for you. This is a targeted mission and you¡¯re in charge of safety. I¡¯ve told everyone it¡¯s your call to tough it out or abandon the mission. I trust you.¡± ¡°Okay. This is straight up and down Garrison and we cut and run if we see anything that spooks us. I can do this. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°We can hold off on this trip and wait to all go together if you need, but you know how important time is. That being said, we can do this with everyone along if you want.¡± ¡°No, Jocelyn barely made it to Mom in time. If we had taken an hour or two detour I¡¯m not sure she would have survived. We need to be able to send out more than one group at a time, and I have to admit, I¡¯m pretty badass.¡± Liz smirked. Mark couldn¡¯t tell how much of the bravado Liz was exuding was a bluff and how much was honesty, but he had to grudgingly admit she had a point. Other than their Dad, she was probably the best suited to protect a group from incoming monsters. Mark liked to think he could do it, but he understood that sometimes his ¡®jump first ask why later¡¯ approach might not be suited to an rescue mission. "Be safe out there Sis. Don''t fall off the carriage.¡± "Yeah yeah. You be safe out there too. Try not fall out of any trees.¡± Mark and Liz both smiled at the jokes and enjoyed the light teasing. Sometimes reverting to old behaviors was just comforting. His dad tapped his horse on the sides to get moving and Mark followed behind at a trot. They were going to check on folks and drop of some potions his mom had made for everyone. Soon the house was behind them and Mark guided his horse side by side to his dad. ¡°Dad do you think everyone¡¯s ok? What if they¡¯re injured? Do you think they¡¯ll want to come back to our place for the long term? Is Liz going to be alright?¡± ¡°Mark, my dear child. We have gone less than a hundred feet from our house and you are already freaking out. If you do this the entire trip, well, no. You won¡¯t do this the entire trip. Relax. People will be fine. We have potions if they¡¯re not. We can fit a lot of people in our yard and with Eddie we can build shelters quick. And Liz is one of the most capable people I know, plus she can shoot magical guided arrows that can punch through multiple giant mutant wolves in a single shot, so yes, she will be fine.¡± ¡°Ok, you¡¯re right. I¡¯m just getting a little jittery.¡± ¡°Try to focus on something else. There has to be something of interest that can help you calm down.¡±
System Notification User Information Enabled
System Notification User Interaction Enabled
Distraction found! The startled look on his dad¡¯s face indicated he also had seen the message. ¡°Dad! I can open up all the menus! This is awesome!¡± Without hesitation Mark navigated the menus to look at his Stats.
Stats Level
Physical 3 Pool 38
Mental 4 Pool 40
Influence 3 Pool 36
Magic 5 Pool 58
Sub Stats Level
Agility 5
Sensitivity 5
Wits 5
He tried using the interface to get more details on what the stats and sub-stats meant, but he kept on getting strange messages about help files not found. Still, this was amazing. After he looked at his different stat pools little bars persisted and he had readings on how much of each he had left. He wasn¡¯t sure how it interacted with skills and abilities but he was looking forward playing around with it. His mom must be having a field day. He could finally figure out how much mana or whatever it took to use his abilities. He got a knife out and was about to infuse it when his dad interrupted him. ¡°Mark, I know you¡¯re excited about this, but let¡¯s at least get to the school first before you go blowing anything up. We¡¯ll have time to figure this stuff out later, and plus, I can¡¯t seem to get any details on anything.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a bummer, but it¡¯s still awesome to know my Stats and Sub-Stats, and abilities levels, and Skill levels, and level levels!¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool son, and we¡¯ll compare notes in a bit, but lets just get to the elementary school first. Keep a lookout for things that might try to jump us.¡± Fortunately for Mark, that would only be a few minutes. He did a quick scan of the area. Nothing seemed to be moving around and it was oddly quiet. Mark wondered if the wolf wave had taken out the local fauna, but on the same token, he wondered where the wolves had ended up. I guess he¡¯d probably better keep his eyes open just in case. His eyes, and User Sheet open. That should probably be fine.
Age 13
Level 6
Advancement Points 386
Class Undefined
Not being able to click on Advancement Points or Class was probably the most frustrating thing Mark had experienced in his thirteen years of life. He started trying a bunch of different things to activate either area but he didn¡¯t even get an error message. ¡°Mark, I can see you looking at your sheet. You¡¯re focusing right in front of your face.¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry,¡± Mark sighed as he closed the window and returned to scanning the area for threats. They made it to the elementary school without incident and his dad did a whistle thing. After some shifting at the front door, a haggard but smiling principal came out to greet them. A quick conversation revealed that they had largely been untouched by the events of the night. They could, however benefit from some food, if it was available, as they were burning through their supplies quickly. While his dad caught the principal up on everything that was going on, Mark took some time to try and show the kids some tricks. Really he was using it as an excuse to play around with his character sheet. One really helpful part was learning about what abilities and skills did to his pools. Turns out that the only thing that seemed to impact his magic pool were Abilities. He played a quick game of tag with the kids in the gym to show off a little as well as test things out. His Falling Step served both purposes admirably. He also noticed that it drained stamina and a little of his mental pool in addition to his mana. He wondered if he should start calling it his magic pool instead, but that sounded lame. Moving on with his tests, a quick game of hide and seek showed his Sneak skill was almost all physical based with some influence. The last thing he tested out was hit points. He started a game of dodgeball and goaded the kicks to throw as hard as they could at him. Mark stood solid and as a colorful assortment of balls collided with his face and other bits. He kept a close look on all his pools, but apparently they were unrelated to physical damage, as they all were steady. A few minutes of playing around made Mark realize a few things. He didn¡¯t really want to admit it, because everything was easier if it was true, but overall this didn¡¯t feel like a game. The screens were mostly just reporting things he already knew, rather than providing a new set of mechanics that he could exploit. As his physical pool depleted, he felt tired. His influence pool went down as he tried to get the kids to listen to him and also when they started to annoy him. His mental pool went down as he tried to focus his thoughts on multiple things at a time. These were all things he knew about himself from before, and quite frankly he was pretty good at figuring out when he was at the end of his rope for any of those things. Heck, he even figured out how to tell how low his mana was by feel before the bars. Excusing himself from the kids he went outside to wait for his dad to finish. He contemplated everything for a moment and appreciated the quiet around him. ¡®User¡¯, his interface said. Not Character Sheet like in AAO. User was a pretty specific word. User implied that he was using the system, and not the other way around. He wondered if that was really true. Regardless, there was still the Magic stat, and he was pretty durn sure nothing like it was around before. As his dad walked out and mounted up Mark mounted up. ¡°Everything good?¡± ¡°Yeah, a few minor injuries but nothing requiring a healing potion. I think most of the wolves around here got drawn to our house so things were pretty quite aside from the rain of random spawns. When we get some of the meat processed from today we¡¯ll drag it over. I¡¯m worried about the other places though so let¡¯s pick up the pace.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan. Also, what level are you?¡± His dad did the nodding head thing he always did when accessing the menus. Mark thought it was funny but he knew his dad didn¡¯t play AAO very much and it wouldn¡¯t be very nice to point that out. ¡°Level 8 right now, whatever that means.¡± ¡°Well, normally you¡¯d get points or stuff to distribute as you level up. I couldn¡¯t select anything with my points, but the thing before mentioned an Advancement System. That would be cool.¡± ¡°It would be nice, but in the meantime, let¡¯s not get lazy. If you want to raise your ability in things there¡¯s always good old fashioned working your butt off.¡± ¡°Yeah, in our copious free time.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get there son. We¡¯ll get there. In the meantime, lets see how the church folks fared. You ready?¡± Mark wasn¡¯t, but if he kept moving, maybe that fact wouldn¡¯t catch up to him. ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s ride!¡± Chapter 27 - Shambling Forward Liz waited until her Dad and Mark rounded the order on the way to the elementary school. She really wasn¡¯t sure about this splitting up stuff but her head knew that it made sense, even if her heart was trying to escape her chest. She took a breath to steel herself and waved over to Bob who was pulling around with the carriage. ¡°Here we go again.¡± She patted the gelding on the neck before hopping into the back. ¡°Who¡¯s coming with?¡± Bob and Etta stepped into the driver¡¯s bench while Matt, Elly¡¯s dad, climbed into the carriage with her. ¡°I¡¯m not letting Bob go by himself, he¡¯s liable to get distracted and eaten by something.¡± Etta patted Bob affectionately on the arm. ¡°I¡¯ll give you some close cover in case you need time to take shots. Sam will stay and watch out for the house and Elly.¡± Matt said as he hopped into the carriage next to her. A small whimper sounded from below. Alpha leave why? ¡°Oh sorry girl, I don¡¯t think you can come with us this time. You stay here and rest up. Once you¡¯re all healed we¡¯ll have lots of fun.¡± Liz looked down gave Moonlight some scritches across her ears. The giant wolf¡¯s head was almost level with her even though she was up on the carriage. Yeah, she totally was big enough to ride once she was healed up. Liz gave a thumbs up to Bob and with a quick flick of the reigns they were on their way. Bob was driving and Etta and Matt were brandishing hooligan bars, ready to bash the brains out of anything that got close. Liz, for her part, had an arrow knocked and was ready to go. It could have been the smell of blood, or just bad timing, but within moments of setting out a giant creature emerged from the lagoon across the street. This must be the hipporaffe that she had heard so much about. The tall beast saw the carriage and let loose a cry. It clambered out of the lagoon and began a charge towards them. Bob was trying, with limited success to keep the carriage from rocking, but he could barely keep the horse from panicking. Its struggles caused the carriage to bounce back and forth. ¡°I got this, everyone stay in the carriage and try to get the horse calm.¡± Taking a deep breath, and having learned her lesson on trying to shoot from an unstable platform, Liz quickly hopped down. She had already mostly charged a shot, and without much ado, she loosed an arrow before the Hipporaffe had much of a chance to build up any speed. The Power Shot was perfectly placed, and with a sharp twang was followed by a small cloud of blood behind the head of the Hipporaffe. The large creature didn¡¯t have time to look surprised as it was dead before it knew what was going on. ¡°That was rather anti-climactic.¡± She turned her head and shouted. ¡°Mom! New thing to harvest here!¡± Mary was leading a small group and they had run out the driveway anticipating battle at the first roar. They seemed a bit surprised at what they actually found. They all paused and looked in awe at the massive monster that was dead in the middle of the road. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad we don¡¯t have to worry about that thing any more. It was way too close for comfort. Thanks sweetie.¡± ¡°No problem Mom. You know, I think we¡¯ll be okay.¡± Liz hopped back on the carriage feeling more confident than ever. She waved to the group who was now pulling the giant carcass back to the house and they waved back. Nothing like killing a twenty foot tall monster in a single headshot to give you confidence you could protect a group of people effectively. As the carriage rounded the corner they paused for a brief moment at the top of the hill. A bloody stain on the road was all that was left of the beak bear that chased them earlier. Bob, Etta, and Liz all glanced in the direction of where they knew the larger beak bear had run. Even with her new abilities, Liz didn¡¯t really want to encounter that thing again. One twenty foot tall monster a day was plenty. ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s go. If the giant beak bear comes out, we keep moving and I take out it¡¯s legs.¡± Comforted with a plan, they picked up speed down hill and went on their way. Only the sound of branches waving in the wind and the occasional bird call disturbed their passage as they went past the dreaded side street. Letting out a collective sigh of relief when nothing charged out, they continued onwards. The streets themselves were relatively clear of debris along Garrison. The trees were sprouting up something fierce and the mana storm seemed to have accelerated their development in a major way. She could see the bulges along the sidewalk where roots had outgrown the modern enclosures, pushing against the limits that were previously on them. Liz imagined that after a few more weeks this entire area would be unrecognizable. She was lost in thought at they made their way northward. A brief stop off at Bob and Etta¡¯s to pick up some stuff was uneventful. Bob and Etta seemed elated at the chance to recover treasured personal items and entered the house with renewed vigor. Liz kept a constant eye on the surroundings but everything was quiet. Whatever happened last night seemed to end with the wolves returning to that giant iceberg or vanishing into thin air. Liz questioned the latter possibility for a bit but she wouldn''t be surprised at anything anymore. As Bob and Etta came back outside and hopped onto the carriage Liz contemplated the next phase of their journey. This was as far north as she had been in this new world, and she wondered what changes she would encounter in the environment. She was interrupted mid thought as her window suddenly popped open with a new notification.
System Notification User Information Enabled
System Notification User Interaction Enabled
Liz was starved for more information about what was really going on, and while she didn¡¯t want to admit it, part of her really believed the same as Mark. Maybe she was in some sort of weird video game. Liz blazed through her User Information to see what else she could learn. Every time she tried to open up more info she got annoying error messages, but she did note that she had a level and it was convenient to see all her skills and abilities listed out. Ultimately she was disappointed with the update. Sure, she had a level, some meaningless points, and random numbers behind her abilities, but she knew they would just become another competition point between her and Mark. Also, she totally should be higher level than Mark. She would have to ask him next time she saw him. Even the notification on pools was somewhat pointless to her. In her long runs she had grown accustomed to her own body enough to know when she was getting tired and how much gas she had left in the tank. Even with mana, it was pretty obvious on how much of it she had remaining just by comparing the feeling between shots. A little experimentation did yield at least one new data point. Abilities all seemed to use the magic pool as well as something from one of the other pools. Skills, however, never seemed to touch mana. She¡¯d compare notes with Mom when she got home but there was probably something useful to be gleaned there. Conversation was sparse as people poked around their User Information. It turned out that Liz was really high level compared to everyone else. At level six, she was by far the highest level in the group, with Matt being the next highest at level two. She figured some combination of her abilities and the fact she had been running around killing things constantly for a day probably made the difference. She didn¡¯t think much of it though, as it didn¡¯t seem to impact her stats in any way. She had high Stats, but really, she had had high stats before. She just didn¡¯t have a character sheet. Most people in the group had a stat around 4. Liz also stood out here with a whopping big 6 in her mental category. Still, it didn¡¯t feel like anything to get excited about, at least not until she figured out what the number even represented. She refused to believe that some magical system could make her smarter, so she figured it was more just a reflection of who she already was. As the group continued to poke around the new interface and chat about what it could mean the terrain had taken on a darker and more sinister look. The temperate forest feel had been slowly shifting to deeper shadows and more gnarled trees. At this border zone there seemed to be much more activity. Signs of wolves were everywhere and a nervous Liz scanned the hunched over trees for signs of danger. Her alertness paid off as she picked up some scrabbling sounds and she immediately motioned for the group to halt. She quickly dismounted and quietly made her way towards the sounds. The trees here were not as tall as they were near her house, but their squat forms had grown broader and were casting eerie shadows. Poking her head from around a trunk she was greeted by a gruesome sight. A murder of crows was busy pecking the corpse of an ice wolf clean. Looking closely, Liz could see a slash vicious gash along the throat of the wolf, implying that something had killed the beast before the crows had gotten there. Liz blinked in realization as the scale of the scene suddenly popped into focus. At first she thought the six crows were just largish specimens of their species, but she then realized that the ice wolf on the ground was an alpha. The relatively small crows were just that, relatively small. Each one was still about three feet tall, and that was really damn big for a bird. Flying creatures meant only one thing to Liz at this point. Time to see if she could get a nice new bird friend. Pulling her power towards he, she knocked an arrow and focused on a bird that was over to the side waiting for it¡¯s turn to try and get a morsel off of the large corpse. Soon she felt a thread of power form and she extended it to the bird. As it connected, it squawked in alarm, and its compatriots took to wing. Liz wasn¡¯t going to let it go though, and forced her will onto the beast.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°You¡¯re staying here with me,¡± she projected at full force and the large bird floundered as Liz¡¯s will grounded it. Liz stepped towards it, bow drawn, and charged up a Power Shot for good measure. The creature stooped down in alarm as it perceived the waves of mana now radiating from the arrow Liz had knocked, and began quaking in fear. ¡°So birdie, how we doing this. You want to be a friend mine, or not?¡± Liz voiced her thoughts aloud, all the while projecting them to the bird. The bird glanced at Liz, looked at the arrow, and made the smart choice. As it lowered its head in submission Liz felt her thread of connection lock onto the animal and fill a spot in her mind that she didn¡¯t realize existed. A quick examination of that area revealed to her the connections she had to Barry and Moonlight. She felt like this spot was filled though, and unless she figured something else out she knew instinctively that this would be her last animal friend for awhile. ¡°I have a lot of ideas on stuff we can try.¡± Liz felt for the connection and strengthened it with her mana. She projected a sense of peace and she saw the raven relax as it lifted its head in a curious manner. The animal looked at her expectantly, wondering what would be happening next. Liz felt a vaguely female mind project curiosity at her. Ideas are good. The raven thought at her, wondering what would be next. Liz was somewhat surprised at the clarity of the thoughts. Most of the time she just got feelings and pictures but this bird was practically speaking in full sentences. ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ll call you, hmm, Alana for now then. Follow me.¡± Alana hopped over to Liz and as she exited the copse of trees she gave an all clear to the carriage. The rest of her party had hunkered down, expecting the worst, but all seemed relieved to see Liz emerge unharmed. That quickly changed when Alana suddenly hopped out of the woods. ¡°Uh, Liz, there¡¯s a giant raven thing behind you, but knowing you, that¡¯s expected, right?¡± ¡°Yeah Matt, this is Alana, and she¡¯s my new friend!¡± ¡°You seem really good at making friends Liz, but do try and give us more warning. We don¡¯t need heart attacks on top of everything else to make the day exciting you know.¡± A visibly shaken Bob stated. ¡°Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about something I wanted to try with Alana. It should be able to help us out a lot. Can you give me a sec to see if I can figure this out?¡± The group nodded, not knowing exactly what Liz was going to do, but trusting her that it would be useful. Liz picked a nice spot of grass that was still green and not turning brown like so much of the other vegetation in this area, and entered a state of meditation. She pulled a red mana stone out and tried to pull from it. It was much more difficult to get a flow going, and she wasn¡¯t sure if she didn¡¯t already have a connection to her ability that she would have been able to pull anything at all from it. Regardless, she got a trickle, and that¡¯s all she needed. She sent a command to Alana to come over and the raven obediently hopped over to Liz. Liz placed her hand on Alana¡¯s head and attempted to strengthen her link. Unlike with commands, Liz was trying something different here. She pictured the curious inquisitive eyes of the raven, and sent the threads of mana she pulled from the core to where she knew those eyes were. She shaped her intent and focused her mind further. It was hard, but her taming ability had already created most of the connection she was trying to leverage. This time, instead of just a flow of information and feeling, Liz focused on something more. She felt the connection snap into place and she grinned from ear to ear. ¡°Fly Alana!¡± Alana lept into the air, and Liz gasped in amazement. As the raven soared into the air Liz was able to look through it¡¯s eyes and take in the scenery in all it¡¯s glory. Maybe flying herself would be cooler, but this was pretty damn neat. ¡°Liz? Did you figure it out?¡± ¡°Yeah Matt, I¡¯m looking through Alana¡¯s eyes now. This is awesome, it feels like I¡¯m flying.¡± ¡°Ok, good, because your eyes went all white and it¡¯s kinda freaking us out here.¡± ¡°Oh my god, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to worry you, but yeah, I guess I only can process vision from one source at a time. That almost makes sense, you know, in a magically using an animal¡¯s vision to see type of sense.¡± Liz couldn¡¯t see Matt¡¯s amused smile, but she could imagine it. ¡°Anything interesting out there?¡± ¡°Yeah, actually, there¡¯s a couple people holed up in a house close by. We should see if they need help. This is going to make scouting and stuff so much easier.¡± With that done, Liz pulled her consciousness back into her own body and called Alana back. The giant raven perched awkwardly on the carriage, giving the horse a bit of a scare. Liz pulled out a piece of meat she had been carry around for just this type of occasion and Alana gobbled it down in one go. Good meats. Thank to Head. If find soaring stones, can have? At some point Liz would have to chat with all her beasties and see why they all referred to mana cores differently, but for now she was just curious. Why do you need it? What do soaring stones do? Soaring stones help Alana grow. Alana grow with Head too. Is the way. Liz shrugged and held out some of the smaller mana stones she had. Alana pecked at a few and eventually decided to glom one down. The connection strengthened and solidified and Liz knew Alana had grown, she just wasn¡¯t a hundred percent sure how. She added it to her growing list of things to figure out. ¡°Ok, so I think we need to reach out to folks and let them know about our settlement. We¡¯ll let them pack up for a bit and after we get to Margaret¡¯s we¡¯ll escort them back to our place. Hopefully Mom can figure out more of a housing situation for them. That is, if they want to come.¡± ¡°You sure about this Liz? We don¡¯t know these people at all.¡± A concerned Bob stated. Etta slapped him on his shoulder as he finished. ¡°Robert, we will not abandon people to this disaster without extending a helping hand. You should be ashamed.¡± Bob winced more at the words than the hit, but consented to the plan shortly thereafter. Liz had to admit she had her own worries, but she also realized that when giant roaming packs of monsters was a normal thing, it would be better to band together than try to rough it out alone. The next portion of the trip ended up taking significantly longer as they ran out to inform the groups of their passing. A weight settled into Liz¡¯s chest as she realized what the survivor rate was really looking like. She had only managed to find another six people. Looking at the rows and rows of empty houses drove home a point she had trying been trying to avoid. If this was representative of the rest of the world, they were looking at a 10% survival rate at best. She knew that the schools and other key locations likely had more people holed up, but it was a faint hope that many more had survived. Nothing to do for it now, just save who she could. A few of the groups they found were already packed up and readily joined up with the caravan. Liz surrendered her seat on the carriage to some kids who had walked out with their parents and they all looked tired and afraid. The father told a harrowing tale of hiding in the basement while he heard horrible inhuman moaning noises outside and endless howls of wolves. Liz didn¡¯t like what that could imply but before she could dig into it much they had arrived at Margaret¡¯s. An ornate iron fence surrounded the charming cottage. Scrap metal and lumber were stacked neatly all along the sides of the fence and a teepee housed a blacksmith shop. Liz could see an anvil and other implements of blacksmithing through the fence. ¡°Marge! Are you in there! Are you okay? It¡¯s Etta! Etta and Bob!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be damned. Look who showed up. That last job I did already wear out and you need some more shoes then?¡± A broad shouldered purple haired woman walked out the front door and smiled broadly at the rag tag band that showed up on her doorstep. ¡°Come in y¡¯all, you look tired, and I just put some tea on. You look like you¡¯ve been dealing with the end of the world! Hah!¡± Nobody laughed along with Marge¡¯s joke, but her enthusiasm lifted their spirits. The weary band of refugees shuffled into the house and Liz followed in from behind. Etta was bringing Marge up to speed and the powerful looking woman crashed around her living room getting everyone situated with what provisions she had. Liz had to admit she was pretty impressed. Jessie was obviously ready for off the grid living and her wood burning stove was heating up water and finishing up what looked like a loaf of bread. It smelled heavenly, and the group gratefully accepted the hospitality. Along the walls were all manner of ornamental iron work with random swords and weapons sprinkled in. The only consistent theme that Liz could pick out was ¡®Metal¡¯, but it worked for the eccentric looking woman. ¡°Hi, Liz Randall, nice to meet you.¡± Liz extended her hand. Marge returned an incredibly firm grip and Liz marveled at the array of tattoos on the woman¡¯s body. She had full sleeves up both arms and they were filled with color and variety. It was somewhat mesmerizing and she tried not to stare. ¡°Well, Miss Liz, Etta¡¯s been telling me about your digs and it sounds nice, but why should I abandon my home and setup shop with you lot?¡± Liz was somewhat taken aback at the blunt question. There wasn¡¯t any hostility in her voice, and Marge¡¯s smile was warm as she asked. She seemed to genuinely want to know what Liz had in mind. Liz took a moment to think about it, but it didn¡¯t take her long to single out the main reason in her mind. ¡°I can see that you¡¯ve got a lot going for you in terms of being able to live off grid, so I won¡¯t say that you¡¯d be better off with us for that reason. I think you should come down because we¡¯re not just trying to survive. We¡¯re going to find a way to live through this and build back up. Not sure where that will end up, but I do know it will be better than where things are right now.¡± Marge¡¯s smile widened as Liz finished. ¡°That sounds like a bang up reason. Let¡¯s get some stuff packed, I¡¯ll take my travel kit, and maybe when we have more time and less tired folks we¡¯ll come back and grab the rest. Looking forward to living with y¡¯all then.¡± Liz was amazed at how quickly Marge accepted her answer, but wasn¡¯t going to complain. ¡°Let me do one quick check in the area to make sure nothing is around and I¡¯ll come help pack up.¡± A happy grin was on her face as she went out to scout. A blacksmith would be a ton of help. A quick scan cleared the immediate area of threats and with that done, Liz had Matt watch over her as she did a broad areal sweep with Alana. She noticed that she could still access the menus with the ability up and she took the time to look over the information. Her new ability was called Eyes of the Beast, and Mark was going to be super jealous. Alana soared up and Liz directed her towards a strange structure in the distance. She couldn¡¯t get too far away and maintain the connection, just a couple hundred feet, but Alana¡¯s eyes were sharp and that generally let her get a good idea on what was going on in the area. The strange building had an eerie glow to it and Liz figured it might be another crystal site. As Alana cleared the trees and the structure came into view Liz¡¯s heart sank. Her joy on learning a cool Ability vanished, and the satisfaction of convincing Marge to come along dissipated. ¡°Everyone! Hurry up! We¡¯re clearing out now!¡± Liz ran into the house and got everyone up and moving. She rushed out back and helped carry Marge¡¯s travel anvil out and almost wretched her back as they shoved it onto the carriage. ¡°We have to get moving now, we can come back later if we need, but with more firepower.¡± ¡°Liz, I don¡¯t understand, what did you see? Do we have time?¡± Etta was shaking as she hopped up to the driver¡¯s seat with Bob. ¡°We have time, they¡¯re moving slowly, but we don¡¯t want to be here.¡± ¡°What is moving slowly? Liz? Tell me, please.¡± Liz was silent as they got underway. She sent Alana out one more time to confirm what her eyes didn¡¯t want to believe, and then took a deep breath. The strange building that had caught a crystal was in the middle of the largest cemetery in Lakewood. It was constructed primarily from the mausoleum but hundreds of tombstones had been added to its structure. Alana¡¯s keen eyes picked out the things that were grabbing those tombstones and adding them to the growing structure. ¡°Damn zombies.¡± Chapter 28 - Fighting words Mark was barely holding back tears. This sucked. Everything sucked. He closed his eyes and tried to find his center but the horrific images of the church came to front and his eyes flashed open. He didn''t want to experience that scene again. No one should have to do that. Mark and his dad made good time to the church on the border between the apes and the wolves. They were even in high mood from the positive scene at the elementary school when they arrived, but that quickly changed when they saw what shape the church was in. They had rushed inside with healing potions but for the majority of the people there it was too late. Mark understood now better than ever that this was not a game. Of the twenty souls who took refuge in the church yesterday, only six were left. The two office guys they had met yesterday were alive, but clearly something had died inside them. Everyone in the church was just barely moving. His dad had quickly gotten them organized, starting the process of packing up the meager supplies that weren¡¯t raided by wolves or apes. He rallied them with stories about the Randall stronghold. It provided a ray of hope to the destitute group and spurred them into action. No one wanted to stay at the place where so much was lost. Mark volunteered to stay and guard them but everything was quiet and his dad had pulled him aside. ¡°They need to do some mourning and say goodbye to folks. Best we not intrude for a while.¡± Mark didn¡¯t know what to say about that. He didn¡¯t know how to process that much loss in one day. He understood that he probably wouldn¡¯t be much help in that circumstance though, so he relented and followed behind his dad. ¡°We¡¯ll be back in an hour or less. I¡¯m just dropping these potions off to the high school and checking in with them. After that, we¡¯ll escort you to safety.¡± The ragtag bunch nodded and started to make their preparations. The only reason there were six left was the fact that one of them happened to be a decent martial artist and had managed to hold off the monsters from entering a single room. The tall african american held a bloodied metal pipe and nodded to my dad. He had assumed leadership of the group and was thankful for his dad¡¯s support. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine for the next bit. We¡¯ll be ready when you come back around.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll hurry. You and yours have my condolences Carl.¡± Mark followed in silence behind his dad, deep in his thoughts. The church was awful, and he didn''t even want to think about how the high school would be. He didn''t really want to admit it, but something about seeing people who you went to school with for months versus seeing random strangers get decimated impacted you differently. He didn''t want to know if his friends were dead. The idea of this being a game was truly dashed. There may be mechanics, and there might be an interface, but the score keeping was out of whack. There was no way he could look at the bodies and not feel awful for even thinking about this as a game. He needed to do better. He''d help somehow, he just didn''t know how yet. Maybe the high school would be his chance to start making a difference. The trip was quick as nothing much seemed to be moving around. Of particular note to Mark was the very large mass of vines that jutted up from green mountain. The place had grown since last night in a terrifying way, and the jungle resembled something out of the deepest depths of the amazon. The street had a few places not covered by vines but for the most part they were travelling on a carpet of green. He could just barely make out the shapes of houses under the dense vines. Mark was glad his home biome was not this voracious in its growth. As the approached the school they saw the scouts up on the roof. This time, however, they were armed with the bow that they had left last trip. This got Mark wondering what happened to the original owners. George was in that group, and he didn''t imagine he''d give up his weapons that easily. "Ho the school! We''re bringing in some supplies! Mary figured out how to make healing potions, in case you have seriously injured folks, this stuff will patch them up pretty good." His dad held two vials of the ruby red liquid high to both show them off and indicate his non-hostile intent. This didn''t seem to matter as the next voice he heard was one of anger. "You just stay right there! We don''t need you spreading sedition in our ranks. I can not believe you gave weapons to kids Jason. You need to learn that this isn''t a free for all. We need to have rules if we''re going to survive!" "Douglass, I know we don''t see eye to eye on everything, but people need to learn how to survive out here if they want a chance at living. I''d think that the recent events would have proven that to you beyond all doubt." "All I see if a man bent on trying to tear down the last bits of civilization we have for his own profit. We''ll be fine here. We''re organized and getting the right people the right tools so we can be safe. You and your damned anarchist ideals. You know those weapons you handed out were used inside the school? Against other kids! How dare you! When the government shows up I hope you have all your ducks in a row because you''ll be going to jail for reckless endangerment." His dad was trying to listen to the sheriff''s tirade but some way through it he snapped. There was only so much verbal abuse he was willing to take and that was further reduced when the other party was the sheriff. "What the hell are you talking about Arthur? Are you blind? People are dying out here, and there''s no one coming to save us. We need to work together you moron! We have tons of meat from last night, literally tons. I know you have close to a thousand people in there, and they''ll need to eat something. Why you are fighting me on this? We''re just trying to help. Don''t be an idiot!" Mark, as an outside observer knew, that calling someone a moron and an idiot was probably not the best way to get them to agree with you, but he didn''t really think now was a great time to get between the arguing men. He looked around the windows and roofs to see if he could spot any signs of people he knew. On the plus side, the school was mostly intact. Squinting to block out some sun he saw there a grouping of broken windows that gave him pause. It clearly was a case of something from the outside breaking in, but without actually running into the school to check things out he had no idea what sort of damage happened inside. "You leave those bottles there, and come back with your meat. We''ll make good use of it." "Dammit Arthur, just let us in. We want to make sure everyone is ok." "No, leave now. Put down the bottles. You don''t need to check in on everyone." Mark was just about to scout out the window to see if anyone needed help, but after hearing the sheriff''s words, he decided that leaving was actually for the best. He would check up on Geroge another time. He didn''t need to check in on everyone. He should probably leave now. Also, if he had some bottles, he should definitely put them down. He turned to leave he saw his dad was standing still and shaking in rage. "Dad, what are you doing, we should leave now. We don''t need to check in on everyone." His dad turned to face him calmly and deliberately. He looked him in the eyes and without warning, slapped him across the face. Mark had never been hit like that before in his life, and it deeply shocked him. Sure, a stray elbow or arm may have got him during training, but that was always in a situation where things like that are possibilities, and he never saw his dad angry during any of those incidents. Mark blinked his eyes in surprise, and then noticed something that terrified him. "Thanks dad, I don''t... I''m not sure what I was doing there. Sorry." His dad gave him a hug. "I''m so sorry Mark. I just needed to make sure you were able to break out of it. That scared the living piss out of me. Let''s get out of here before he tries it again. After placing the bottles on the ground, Mark and his dad quickly left the area. Mark knew that it might be tempting to try and get some more information on what was going on, but that would require some more planning. He looked over at the notification that had popped up awhile ago and shuddered again.
Notice Influence override broken. New influence attacks reduced in effectiveness until event period is over.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Mark didn''t realize how scary a system message could be until he read those lines. He now was worried about everyone in the school more than ever, but he didn''t have the foggiest idea on what to do about it. ********* Liz got back to the house relatively unscathed. It took a lot longer as they had to collect up all the refugees they had encountered, but everyone seemed to be in relatively high spirits as they trudged along. The fact that they were moving further away from a zombie horde also helped. Most had camping gear, and almost all of them were loaded down with as much food as they could carry. Liz wondered how everyone would be doing without clothes and other essentials, but that would have to wait. For now, it was her responsibility to get these people to their new home. A few monsters appeared near the group but between Liz''s aerial view, and her crack shooting, nothing made it close enough to threaten them. Even the giant beak bear went unseen during their passing. This suited Liz fine as she was positive the rag-tag group behind her was not ready to deal with another calamity so soon. All in all, they had picked up eight more people. This was going to start to become problematic, as she knew there wasn''t enough space to sleep everyone in the house comfortably, and the yard was really exposed. She''d have to talk things over with Mom when she got home. They needed to plan out a city, and Liz wasn''t exactly sure how she was going to do that. Sooner than she expected the house came into view. Liz had an odd sense of misplacement when she saw it. The place barely looked like it did yesterday. Between clearing out trees around the house and setting up facilities to process monster bodies, the idyllic feel of her home was gone. That was ok though, she knew it would be changing even more soon. She pulled up with folks behind her and Mom came out to greet everyone. She was all smiles as she scanned the crowd for injuries or other issues. The group was trying to be upbeat, but stopping made them ponder the future, and that left them with more questions than answers. "Welcome to Camp Randall! We have a few people who can help get you settled, but let¡¯s go through introductions. We''re going to be spending a lot of time together, and knowing how we can all contribute is going to be key to helping us survive long term.¡± Liz breathed a sigh of relief. Mom had obviously been thinking about what would be happening next and getting everything ready for these sorts of eventualities. She saw that the fenced in yard was already divided up into plots for campsites and she could see the beginnings of a new foundation next to the barn. She was curious about what it would be but she''d ask about it later. For now she quietly slipped away as Mom started getting everyone organized. Looking over the yard she saw that the home crew had been busy while they were away. Most of the monsters had been butchered and hung up. A few of the carcasses were cooking slowly over newly dug bbq pits. Liz wondered how much of their wood they''d be going through and for a moment actually afforded some time to think about the future. For now, they were holding out fine, and camping out in the yard would be acceptable till late spring and summer. Come fall and winter that would quickly change. She also couldn''t discount the effect of the giant iceberg that formed a few blocks away. Who knew if the weather would remain the same or change completely in the next few months. Lost in thought as she was she almost didn''t notice the shouts coming from the west. That was where Dad and Mark had gone to check on things and she sprinted over. Liz''s heart fell as she saw the group trudging into the yard. She had thought that her group had been crestfallen, but the survivors that Mark was leading into the processing area Mom had set up were clearly in much worse shape. Blood was still splashed across a lot of their clothing and she could tell that this group had not had an easy time of things. She saw Mark rush over to Mom and burry his head in her chest, trying to hide his sobs. A few quick orders and she stepped aside with Mark. Liz would have gone over as well, but Mom was a much better choice to comfort Mark. She would try and cheer him up later, for now she would try and figure out how she could help. Rolling up her sleeves she stepped into the mix of refugees and immediately picked up what was going on. Mom had set up a little mini census and was trying to get everyone''s skills and abilities recorded, no doubt to help figure out who could help around where. The system she had laid out was really straight forward. Liz had no trouble whatsoever picking it up. Not knowing how long Mom would be out, Liz resumed the process with everyone there. Dad glanced over to her with a grateful look on his face. He was pretty good at public speaking, but this sort of thing tended to make him nervous. He was an advocate of ''do unto others how you would have them do unto you'' which generally meant ''Leave me alone and go away''. That wasn''t really an option here. Liz easily slid into the organizer role. She was good at it, and every committee in school would fight to get her involved. It was a well known fact that any time Liz was part of your planning, it would go much more smoothly. Liz chuckled a little to herself. Who knew that organizing prom decorations would be a skill that transferred so well into setting up post-apocalyptic communities. A few minutes later Mom came back out and between the two of them they made short work of the remaining tasks. Camping sites were assigned, work crews organized, and skills cataloged. Taking a moment, Liz looked to see what they had ended up with. Their yard now hosted two more families and another nine individuals. Between those groups they had a good variety of skills, but sadly most were just office workers. She knew that wasn''t very nice of her, but really, paperwork was not their most pressing need at the moment. On the plus side, they had a construction foreman who would be incredibly useful, and someone who was a furniture builder by trade. He had a few useful skills and Liz hoped that they would both be able to get some abilities that would help build out their little settlement soon. A few hunters, a nurse, Jessie the blacksmith, and the martial artist from the church group rounded out the specialized skill group. On top of that, a cook and some gardeners were in the group. Almost all of them had developed basic mana manipulation, but few had a specific ability. To remedy this everyone was given mana cores of the appropriate type and a practice schedule developed by Mom. Even if the system was not quite as generous with delivering abilities, she thought everyone had a good shot at unlock something. After the User Data system had come online Mom had been able to closely validate a lot of her theories, and was confident in how to move forward. It was clear that people with high skills were able to develop abilities off of those skills with much more ease than trying to do something random. Also, they had learned a lot from how people developed their mana manipulation, and that seemed to be a key towards future growth. After people got settled, little time was wasted in exploring their potential abilities. Everyone had a sense of urgency that was completely understandable given the circumstances. People broke off into groups with similar skillsets to try and unlock something together. As their experimentation went forward Liz could hear the occasional cry of joy. They were welcome and raised the spririts of the camp in general. These small victories meant a lot to people who had lost everything. For the first time since the system came online, many finally felt they were grasping back a bit of control. Not seeing Mark around Liz turned to Mom. ¡°Is Mark okay?¡± ¡°He¡¯s going to be ok, but there¡¯s just a lot going on right now. You know how sensitive he is, and the reality of the situation is catching up to him.¡± Liz had the briefest of moments where she thought, ¡°I told him so.¡± but quashed it almost instantly. The fact Mark was realizing people were dying wasn¡¯t something to hold over his head. She wondered how she might be able to help and if reading her thoughts Mom chimed in. ¡°You should just treat him the same. He needs some anchors to help him ground himself. If you go an change a lot on top of everything else it will just throw him for a loop. I know you two snipe a lot at each other, but I think you both realize there¡¯s a lot of support there. Just know that I believe in both of you. We¡¯ll get through this.¡± After the speech Mom gave me a huge hug and went over to the groups of survivors to get lunch organized. It was coming up on noon, and she set a few groups of people to the task of preparing meat for smoking and drying. Fortunately, we had tons of salt, literally mountains of the stuff, so we¡¯d be able to preserve a lot of this. Unfortunately, we also had tons of meat we had to deal with before it went bad so that was a lot of work. As she stood up she saw Mark going back over to a group from the church. His eyes were red but no one commented and he dug right into helping people out. Liz was about to approach when she heard a shrill whistle blow. It followed the pattern that they had given to George, and with a quick glance over to Mark she knew he realized that as well. Without pause or hesitation, Mark flashed down the street using his Falling Step and soon disappeared from sight. Liz almost raced after him but decided to get the horses instead. As she hopped onto a horse bareback Dad had come up beside her. ¡°What¡¯s the situation? I saw Mark bolt but he didn¡¯t say anything.¡± ¡°That was the signal we gave George to let us know if he was close but needed help. We have to get there quick.¡± Liz kicked her horse to a gallop. She didn¡¯t have a ton of experience riding bareback, but she felt time was of the essence. Dad soon came up beside her, also riding bareback, and looked down the street trying to catch sight of Mark. ¡°I hope whatever it is, Mark can handle it by himself for a bit.¡± Liz nodded and returned her focus on to staying on the horse. She hoped so too. Chapter 29 - Whistle while we work Mark was feeling miserable. His mom managed to calm him down some but there was just too much to process right now. Worse, he knew that the situation wouldn¡¯t magically fix itself. Unless it did. Actually that would be kinda cool, but not something he should count on. The one lesson his dad pushed more than anything else was that when push came to shove, the only person you could rely on was yourself. Mark steadied himself and thought about the people back outside. Mark had to deal with seeing the aftermath of a tragedy, but they were there as it unfolded. It didn¡¯t seem right that he would hole up and abandon them when they needed his help the most. New determination found, Mark pushed up his sleeves and decided to get to work. A he walked towards the puffs of smoke and meaty scents that indicated someone was preparing a huge amount of meat. As he rounded the edges of the fenced in yard he saw people working a bunch of carcasses. The scene brought Mark back to the summers he had spent preparing meat in the field with his dad and he easily stepped into flow of the work. Not trusting himself to talk much, he simply started helping where he could to help move things along. He was quickly rewarded with a notification saying he got some skill levels in cooking, but really, seeing the church group smile as they worked was the best. He had just started to open up a bit more and playfully banter with the group when he heard the whistle. The sharp percussive sounds of the survival whistle were unmistakable, and the pattern was the one he gave George. Geroge must be in trouble, and Mark was filled with horrible premonitions. After all the nastiness he had seen today he promised himself he would make sure his friends were ok. Without thinking, he immediately started to Falling Step towards the sound and pushed himself harder than he ever had before. Mark was a blur as he raced down the street. He gained a feeling of control as he pushed himself to the limit. It was also really nice to see the counters for mana. That helped him understand some of the nuances to his movements and drove him to make continuous improvements to his ability. After a few small corrections to his distance and speed, his efficiency with his mana skyrocketed. The savings seemed doubly important to him because he had no idea what he would find when he got to George. Wait a second. Maybe he shouldn''t be rushing towards potential danger at a breakneck pace without letting other people know first. It was a little late for the realization but the fact that he actually considered it was pretty good progress for him. He slowed his pace drastically and refocused on saving mana for whatever was coming up. He figured his dad and Liz would be following behind. Liz had to have heard the whistle too and she knew what it meant. Plus, who knew if the couple of seconds Mark might be saving would be the difference between life and death. With renewed focus Mark made his way up into the trees. He covered more ground in the past minute than he could have mounted on horseback, and his mana was more than halfway depleted. He probably only had a few Chi Infusions or an Explosive Charm or two left to toss out. If he didn¡¯t get to the sound quick his mana would be in a pretty critical state. Fortunately, his next leap took him to the source of the whistles. Unfortunately, that source was surrounded by four Ice Wolves and a group of Golden Apes. There was a weird sort of standoff going on. A window to a house on the corner of the block was open, and seemed to be where the sound was coming from. The house was situated at border of the forest and jungle biomes. The scene was pretty surreal. Vines and Aspen trees collided into a tangled heap, seeming to fight for the boundary of their territory. He should come up with a better name for those biomes. Maybe Ice Forest, but that was still kinda lame though. A throaty growl reminded Mark that maybe naming things wasn''t the best use of his focus for now and he should probably pay more attention to the killer monster things instead. Mark crouched down and was glad to see that he wasn¡¯t the target of the wolves ire. They were pacing around a tree that some golden apes had climbed up into. He knew from experience the wolves could climb frighteningly well, but he imagined they were reluctant to engage the apes in their natural habitat. Mark made use of the standoff to start sneaking towards the wolves. He tried not to use any abilities for this because he was worried he wouldn''t have enough mana for a prolonged fight. Instead, he was just careful in his approach, using the clusters of vines and low shrubs to cover his lines of sight. Luck was on his side because the wolves were up-wind from him. That allowed him the opportunity to get pretty close just with his sneak skill. Excited about the chance, he charged up an Explosive Charm and readied his attack. He popped out of his cover and threw a well placed charm, but not before the stupid apes up the tree shouted in alarm. The wolves, noting this, had turned right as Mark jumped out and scattered away from his toss. Mark hoped he''d catch at least one but the dangerously fast wolves had already spread out too far to take any real damage. "Uh, nice doggies?" The Ice Wolves growled and turned towards Mark. The two that were nearest to the apes in the tree kept their positions but other other two stepped forward to eliminate the new threat. Mark hated it when wolves tried to eat him. He glanced quickly up to the window on the second floor wondering if he could make the jump. It was still open, but just a bit too far away to leap to. There were no weapons poking out either so Mark didn''t see any help coming from that quarter for now. He was on his own. Mark quickly scanned the area for some better cover and saw a pretty tall tree behind him. Using more of his precious mana, he jumped back and popped up into its branches. He knew the stupid wolves were really good at climbing, but it should at least get him some time to regroup. Mark¡¯s movement surprised the approaching wolves but they quickly recovered and charged towards his new location. Mark prepared his next action carefully. He slowed his breathing and was pretty impressed at how calm he was. Sure, this wasn''t a game, but he was still pretty good at it. I mean, level six was really high. He didn''t get Liz''s level and wondered if she was higher or lower than his own. "Oh crap," the wolves were almost there as Mark let himself get distracted by his idle musings. Mark used the last of his mana to Falling Step away, but had left a gift for the wolves that had rushed up to his position. As he landed, he raised his hand and released the hold on the Explosive Charm he had placed on the branch he was just on. A satisfying explosion erupted and the wolves lifeless forms fell from the tree. Mark felt dizzy as he noticed the warning on mana being low pop up. It would have been really bad for him if he had to continue to fight in those conditions, but he didn¡¯t have to. His dad and Liz rode up and pull up in front of Mark. Hopping off his horse his dad took a defensive position in front of him while Liz dismounted a little further ahead and readied her bow. "Hey Dad, couple people seem to be holed up in the house. Got two of the wolves, but dunno how many apes are in the tree over there." "I see them, you ok?" "Just a little winded, and low on mana. I''m going to rest for a bit." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Find some cover, I got your back.¡± His dad nodded as he drew his gun. His eyes scanned the branches of the trees where the apes were screaming, trying to pick out their forms. The explosions had set them off and they looked pissed for some reason. Although chaos was everywhere, Mark tried to keep his head in the moment. He knew there were people in the house and didn¡¯t want to be out of the fight. He decided that he could just move behind his dad, do some meditation, and be back up in no time. In hindsight, closing your eyes in the middle of a fight is never a good idea, but Mark wasn''t really thinking great at the moment. The apes, seeing a stationary target, decided to enter the fray. For them, that meant using the rocks they had been carrying and trying to hit the scary things on the ground. With remarkable accuracy, a rock flew towards Mark and with a dull thwacking sound it connected solidly with his forehead. Mark''s head snapped and he collapsed backwards hitting his head on the asphalt for double the fun. He was dazed, but alive, and had the worst instant headache he could imagine. His groan let his dad know he was conscious, but having seen the source of the projectile, his dad had already moved into action. A few bangs later and three dead apes fell from the tree. Liz, in the meantime, had taken the remaining two wolves out with power shots. Mark lifted a hand to his head as he stood up. "Maybe, just as a suggestion, don''t sit down in the middle of an exposed section of street when you are trying to recover." "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Probably shouldn¡¯t close my eyes either." Mark weakly smiled His dad grimaced and took a deep breath to make sure his next words came out calm. "That is correct. You need a potion?" Mark reached out and took the offered vial. The pain in his head receded, but he still wasn''t feeling great. He looked at the rock that had hit him and was amazed that he was able to stay conscious. ¡°Good thing I have a thick head, huh?¡± His dad did not seem amused, but did put on his pensive face. ¡°Son, you don¡¯t get to walk away from these all the time. You need to start thinking and stop just acting. Closing your eyes in the middle of a fight is a good way to get killed. You have these amazing abilities now, but the thing in your head is still by far your best method of staying alive.¡± ¡°Wait, we have mana cores in our heads?¡± ¡°Your brain you doof!¡± Liz smacked him in the back of the head as she walked over to check on him. ¡°Ow! That really hurts!¡± ¡°Well, suck it up, that was stupid and you¡¯re not allowed to die.¡± She reached out to help him steady himself as he stood. He was a little dizzy from the blow and low mana level, but after a few moments he recovered enough to stand on his own. ¡°Ok, lets see who¡¯s in the house then.¡± Mark said, stepping forward. Liz and his dad flanked him as he walked up to the door and knocked. ¡°Anyone in there? It¡¯s clear now!¡± He shouted. The door cracked open and a very relieved looking Lance peeked out. At least Mark thought it was Lance. Their meeting in the high school was pretty brief. ¡°Oh thank god. I thought those things were going to kill us. Come in, Casey was bit, but otherwise we¡¯re all okay.¡± ¡°How¡¯s George? Is he here with you too? That whistle was him right? That¡¯s the code I gave him.¡± ¡°Uh. Dude, that¡¯s a rough one. Let¡¯s get to Casey and I¡¯ll fill you in. Do you have any of those healing potions? Sheriff had a few, said it came from you all, but he kept it to himself, like all the good stuff.¡± Mark was confused. George should be here. That call was specifically so he could help him out. He was having trouble processing what was going on and followed his dad upstairs in a daze. Liz ran over to where Casey was laying down with a small pool of blood forming under her leg. She had a nasty bite on her calf and Liz went over to help her drink a potion. Mark looked around the room, hoping that for whatever reason people just hadn¡¯t seen George, or something, but he definitely wasn¡¯t there. Liz was next to Casey and Ellen, her friends from school, and Lance was standing next to the preppy guy. Mark knew his name wasn¡¯t really Preppy McPrepface, but that¡¯s all he was remembering at the moment. His dad saved him the embarrassment of asking what his real name was by introducing himself. ¡°So you all probably know me, and I recognize a few faces here,¡± his dad nodded to Casey and Ellen, ¡°But I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve met you gentlemen yet.¡± ¡°Hi! You¡¯re the survival dude. Totally know you. Yeah, Jason Randall. You are totally internet famous. I¡¯m Lance, and this here is Mike. We got drafted for guard duty inside the school for a bit since we weren¡¯t tough enough to go out on our own, at least according to sheriff dumbass. Liz totally hooked me up with a knife though, and quite frankly, I think it saved my life. Jesus. It was a madhouse in the school.¡± ¡°But what happened? Where¡¯s George? Is everyone ok? Is the sheriff like crazy mind controlling everyone?¡± Lance glanced over to Mark and seemed to have trouble figuring out where to start. ¡°Sorry, go ahead, maybe start with how you got here?¡± Mark ammended. Lance nodded and started into his tale. ¡°Short story is we escaped. Sheriff was pissed at us for running around and killing things without orders, and after the mana storm, he chucked us into a classroom on the third floor and locked it. Most of the away team was locked up too, but they were split up and George was with us. He¡¯s like, a total badass now. Not sure what abilities he got but they were solid. He climbed out the window like it was nothing and found some rope in the neighborhood. He helped us get down and told us about the whistle thing, and then went back to help the other guys. Sucks that Henry caught wind of what was going on and got all freaked out and called his dad over. That¡¯s when we bolted. The sheriff is totally creepy now, so we tried to get out of the range of his voice as soon as possible. I feel bad about it, but there was nothing we could do. That damn voice gets in your head and you get stupid about following orders, you know?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get you back to the house and figure out what to do from there, but it¡¯s good to have more info. Did the sheriff seem dangerous?¡± Lance looked like he was about to start a tirade when Ellen chimed in. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s dangerous, he¡¯s just totally freaking out. Like, he saved a lot of lives and was right in the middle of things when those apes broke into the school, but he is super paranoid about the ¡®right¡¯ people being in charge. It¡¯s like he thinks we¡¯re all going to lord of the flies or something if he doesn¡¯t make sure we behave.¡± ¡°That sounds like Arthur, he never dealt well with chaos. We¡¯ll talk about it when we get to safety again. Can you walk now Casey?¡± His dad inquired. Casey stood up but leaned heavily against Ellen for support. ¡°I can make it. It hurts, but I can put weight on it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll put you on a horse. We don¡¯t have them saddled, but we¡¯ll be walking back and I promise you nothing dangerous will get close.¡± For the first time since they arrived, Mark saw the teenagers smile. He knew that being escorted back to a place of safety was a good thing for them, but he wasn¡¯t quite able to join in with their relief. He was still thinking about everyone else at school, and wondered what else was going on. Chapter 30 - One for the road Liz had her entire focus on the surrounding area as they made their way back to the house. Her hands blurred as she instantly reacted to approaching monsters. Her Dad and Mark were also keeping close watch on things but didn¡¯t have much opportunity to contribute. The teens looked on with amazement as the street became littered with macabre pincushions as Liz strove to keep her promise to the group. ¡°Christ on a cracker girl, what the hell are you doing with those arrows. I swear to god that the thing curved around a tree to hit that bear looking thing.¡± Casey stated in awe. Liz smiled, ¡°We¡¯ve been busy. Apparently, yesterday was a good time to be working things out. It gave us a bit of a head start on abilities. More ambient mana in the air or something. You¡¯ll need to play some catchup, but I think you¡¯ll be able to do figure out some of this stuff too.¡± ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll really be able to do things like that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. Mom¡¯s been working with everyone back at the house to figure out what they can do. As long as you have some skills to build on, you should be able to develop an ability or two pretty quickly.¡± Casey processed this new information in silence. It was a lot to take in. Being able to develop super powers was kind of a big deal. They made it back to the house in short order and they were greeted by cheers and applause from the camp. They new arrivals were stared at the sight of camp Randall slack jawed as they looked over the small city popping into existence. Liz couldn¡¯t help but feel the same. Between the skills and abilities everyone had unlocked, their yard was pretty much unrecognizable from what it had been this morning. The makeshift camp ground now sported the wooden skeleton of new houses and concrete barriers lined the perimeter. Topping off the amazing transformation was the new fortress they had. The foundation next to the barn that was just a pit this morning was now looked like a military installation. Mom interrupted their gawking and led the kids away to give them a full check up. Liz promised Casey and Ellen she¡¯d catch up with them later, but that they should definitely check in with Elly and her new friend first. ¡°Did she get a boyfriend?¡± Casey asked with curious eyes. ¡°Sorta, but better. I don¡¯t want to ruin the surprise.¡± She smiled as they walked away. She contemplated following them around just to see the expression on their faces on meeting Biscuit but other things were attracting her attention. Like that awesome barbeque smell. Following her nose she soon found her answer. A pit had been dug, coals had been set, and one of the refugees from the church was walking up and down tending to innumerable skewers holding giant portions of meat. As the woman walked up and down the rows Liz could see a faint glow surround the meat. She seemed to be doing something ability related to it, and whatever it was, it was doing wonders for the smell. Over next to the meat line Liz spotted Mark. He had a smile plastered on, but Liz could tell that he was still pretty stressed out. His jerky motions were out of place on a kid who normally glided as he moved around. Liz went to help him with whatever he was doing and maybe see if she could help lighten the mood. "Hey Mark, watcha doing?" "This is like, the biggest pile of meat ever. This is crazy. There are literally tons of meat here. We could bury someone in meat. We could make meat hats and then make meat people to wear the meat hats and still have more meat. Would a person made of meat be like a meataquin? Like, a mannequin of meat?" Mark seemed really excited about this new idea and his jaw twisted in contemplation on how one properly referred to a human construct of meat. He seemed to relax a bit as he continued. "Also, this will totally feed tons of people so that''s awesome too. Tons of meat for tons of people sounds weird, but it''s true. I bet the elementary school folks will be totally relieved, they were running low. We can make a difference with this stuff." Mark turned back to help the chef lady move around more skewers. Liz was glad to see that Mark was putting on a brave face. She knew finding something to keep focused on was key. She just hoped they didn''t have too many more curveballs to deal with for the next bit. She could use a little break as well. Taking in more of the scenery she noticed her pets were watching the cooking meat, drool openly running down their faces, and decided to intervene. She was pretty sure the cook might feel a little uncomfortable with a giant wolf and crow drooling at her. Even Barry could be annoying too, if smaller and cuter. Liz poked and prodded Moonlight for a bit and determined she was still pretty badly injured. She made sure her bandages were clean any nothing new was damaged and scooted her back to the house. Barry obediently followed behind Moonlight. Her puppy had more than willingly submitted to the new pack structure and was comfortable being the omega beast of the pack. She didn''t blame him. After all, when confronted with a wolf who¡¯s mouth you could fit in and a crow that could pick you up and fly away, sometimes it''s best not to make an issue of it. Somewhere in her head Liz was a little worried about what would happen if she suddenly lost control of her new pets, but that worry was drowned out by the voice going "I AM FRICKIN AWESOME." She was about to send Alana off to follow the rest of her pets when Mark suddenly popped into existence behind her. "Liz! I hear something!" He shouted causing her nearly jump out of her skin."Dammit Mark! Don''t just pop into thin air like that, you totally freaked me out!" "But Liz, you have to send up Bird dude guy! I hear something strange." "Mark, first off, it''s Alana and she¡¯s a she. Secondly, what are you hearing that is so damn important that you have to freak me out?" Liz was getting pretty annoyed, not the least bit because she had totally been scared out of her wits when Mark magicked himself behind her. "I think I heard a school bus." Mark said in a dead serious tone. Liz''s annoyance instantly evaporated and she sent Alana up. "You know, your eyes are totally creepy when you do that." Liz ignored Mark, both because it was distracting to try and have your attention in two places at once, and also because she knew he was totally jealous. Alana shot up into the air effortlessly and Liz directed her to scout around. Sometimes it was hard to get her pets to do exactly what she wanted. It just took so much more effort, and mana, to direct them along a specific path. Alana and Moonlight were both smart enough to get a good idea of what she wanted with just a little gentle nudging though. Not quite the case with Barry. She loved her golden retriever, but he wasn''t exactly the brightest tool in the shed. As she was contemplating these differences Alana cawed to get Liz''s attention. There was indeed a yellow school bus across the street. It had stopped in one of the side streets across the main north-south road and looked like it would be turning away from the house soon. The bus hesitated as if the driver wasn''t sure what to do next. "Mark! You were totally right. There¡¯s a bus across Garrison, a little to the south! Go wave them down before they leave! They have a working bus!" Mark excitedly dashed away using his Falling Step to great effect. He was getting really good that. Liz ran over to her parents to clue them in as to why Mark was dashing away yet again. "Dad! Mom! Mark heard a bus and I was able to scout it out! Mark went to go wave them down." Liz waved her arms in the direction she had seen the bus. Dad immediately ran in the direction she indicated. Liz wondered for a moment why he had a look of concern on his face, and then it hit her. Just because it was a bus, and probably being driven by people, it by no means meant that those people would be friendly. Liz cursed at herself for overlooking this. It was apocalypse survival 101. The scariest things out there were, more often than not, people. Realizing her mistake, she also dashed over to where she had spotted the bus. Within moments she was beside Dad while Mark jumping up and down to get the driver¡¯s attention. Mark was had such a big smile that Liz didn''t have the heart to tell him about her latest concern. She glanced over to Dad and noticed he adopted a smile as well. Whatever was going to happen next was going to happen, so she might as well hope for the best. "Ho the bus! It''s good to see a car actually running on the road for a change!" Dad shouted to the stopped vehicle. Shortly after a small african american man peeked his head out of the driver side window. "Hey there! It''s good to see some people out and about too! Do you have a place where I could park this thing?" "You bet! We''re right around the corner! I''m Jason Randall, by the by, nice to meet you!" "Reggie! Reggie Nelson, and thank god. We were looking for you and I heard you lived around here. Me and my family are in the bus, and my wife, she read an article about your place that you built here in the paper. She said ''We need to find those Randall''s they''ll be setup fine''." "Well, I hope you¡¯re okay with what we have. It may not be much but we''ve tried to do what we can. Come on over and I¡¯ll introduce you to the group." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Jason walked over and Liz and Mark followed behind. After parking in the driveway Reggie stepped out of the bus and his family followed behind. Reggie nervously introduced his wife and his two kids. The kids looked terrified and lost. They were both younger than Mark, but not by much. Thinking about it, it was really it was easy to forget that Mark was just thirteen sometimes. The last two days felt like they aged everyone by years. The newest arrivals were soon greeted with cheers from the group. Reggie slowly started to warm up and everyone gathered close as he told his story. Reggie¡¯s tale wasn¡¯t all that interesting but he had everyone''s complete attention as he spoke. ¡°I had an afternoon shift yesterday, so I was home with the kids when it all happened. Those strange caterpillar things started popping up and I knew things were sideways. I only knew how to drive a bus, but if I know anything, it¡¯s that in the battle between bus and random thing on the road, my money¡¯s on the bus any day. It made me desperate to get the thing running. I must have spent hours working on the engine, checking all the components, and trying everything I knew until suddenly it all just clicked. I got this thing called Driver as an ability, and that let me fire up the yellow beast. By then it was getting pretty late and I noticed the sound of the engine attracted some unwanted attention, so we decided to lay low for the night. My wife, Shanice, had read about you, like I said, and we decided we¡¯d try and find you at first light. We didn¡¯t know the exact address but we had a decent idea. Thank god we found you so soon too. I was running out of gas and I have a feeling most of the gas stations round here ain¡¯t open.¡± Reggie finished his tale with a big smile. ¡°Well, glad to have you, and I think we can help you with that gas situation as well. With Reggie¡¯s story told, the mood was positively festive. Last night was a disaster, but today was bringing hope that things could get better. It was important for the new community and Liz was grateful to have some things to celebrate. Focus immediately shifted from setting up camp to tricking out the bus. One group planned out modifications to let it carry cargo better, and also just be a bit more defensible. Dad and a few others went to figure out how to get the diesel out of the storage tanks without a pump. Liz and Mark join in the mod crew as it looked a lot more fun. They had a blast tearing out half the seats and coming up with plans to make the thing into a moving weapons platform. This was aided greatly by Paul. He was a furniture maker who managed to pull of one of the most useful and impressive abilities in the camp. He had only figured it out recently, but it had already had a huge impact. Wood Manipulation was not only useful, it was really awesome to watch. It let him modify wood like clay, except better, because he could make it move on it¡¯s own too. After consulting with the martial minded kids, the group rigged together a solid structure on the roof of the bus that would allow for a stable firing platform. Most importantly, it would let up to two people clip in if they had some harnesses and not fall off if the bus was swerving around. After the work was close to complete Liz ran inside to grab some climbing harnesses. She was not going to fall off of another vehicle if she had any say in it. As Liz came back outside she saw everyone hard at work. It was amazing how well they coordinated and there was a general picnic feel to the whole thing. Only, at most picnics we would be playing lawn games instead of retrofitting a bus for the apocalypse. It didn¡¯t seem to matter much to the kids though. They had found each other the way kids do when in a sea of adults and were running around playing some variant of tag with some hide and seek thrown in. Liz¡¯s heart melted a bit as she saw them race off. It was nice to see them having some fun, they definitely could use the respite. Unable to help herself, Liz started to wonder if they could develop any abilities by playing games. Had any of the kids already gotten an ability? Hiding seemed like a great thing for them to be able to develop if they could. Curiosity drove her to wander over to where Mom had taken the census. It didn¡¯t take her long to find the book in the lab that had information on people¡¯s abilities and skills. Liz was impressed at what she read. Thirty four people, not counting their newest arrivals, now called the block their home. Aside from the tall martial artist, Lyon was his name, the church group had a nurse, a construction foreman, a high school senior, and some office workers. Just a few abilities with that group, but a decent set of skills. Hopefully the nurse could develop Healer, like Mom. Diane also came from that group. She was the cook who was working the meat, and had Magical Chef listed as an ability. Margaret, the blacksmith, had already unlocked Metal Manipulation. Liz figured it would probably be pretty similar to Paul¡¯s Wood Manipulation, except with metal. Looking further at the group she escorted back, Liz saw two people with gardening related skills and two who had Hunter. They would no doubt be incredibly useful in the coming months and weeks. Two younger kids were in that group as well, along with three office workers. Lastly they just got the four kids from school and the four people in the bus. Adding those up with the Carlson¡¯s, Elly¡¯s family, Jocelyn, and Eddie gave the community a wide range of skills. This could really work. Curiosity satisfied, Liz went back to helping people with the camp and the next few hours were a refreshing change from the insanity of the past day. Even the church group, whom had arrived almost devoid of any joy, seemed to be caught up in the atmosphere of hope that had formed around the encampment. There was still the lingering sense of loss, but for the first time since the monsters appeared, there was also a sense that things could get better and they''d make it through this mess. The break neck pace of the day started to give way to a more relaxed flow. The camp was setup with a reasonable defensive line and the bunker exterior was finished. The formidable structure could easily hold all the new arrivals and provided a strong sense of security for those outside. As things were winding down, Dad walked out into the middle of the field and called out to everyone. "Hey Folks! Please gather round. A few things I think we need to go over.¡± He waited a moment as everyone stopped their chores and wandered over. ¡°First of all, thank you all for helping contribute what you could to this effort. I know this has been a hellish couple of days, but I truly believe that we''ll be able to get through this for the better if we can work together. To that end, we have mostly finished a bunker that can easily house everyone in the camping grounds, and with a bit of warning it shouldn''t be hard to get everyone in there and to safety. We have plans, big plans, for later on, but we want to make sure everyone had a safe place as a priority.¡± There was a murmur of agreement. Getting a major protective structure up in the current environment wasn¡¯t a hard sell. ¡°Now, you all know that we''re not the only people out here. To be frank, sometimes people are the biggest problems of all in situations like this. To prevent that from happening here we''re laying down some ground rules. It¡¯s pretty basic stuff. Don''t steal, don''t abuse people, respect your neighbors, and for the love of god don¡¯t kill anyone. On sharing, I want to be clear. Everyone is entitled to what they have brought with them, and if you want to share that, good on you. For the things we do together here, like the Meat Festival we just had, I expect all able bodied folks to help out. I also want to be clear that this is my land, and as such, I¡¯m in charge of what happens on it. Consider me the mayor. If that doesn¡¯t suit you, you can always find a different house and hole up by yourself." Dad looked around at the crowd to see if there were any complaints. The dead silence that followed was not uncomfortable, but an acknowledgement of the community that this was all fine so far. "We also are not going to abandon folks who need help. I know we can''t save everyone, but where we can, we''re going to do our best to make sure as many people make it through this as possible. We have two more communities we know of, one in the nearby elementary, and one in Mountain Lake high school. We''re going to try and help get them food so that those kids don''t starve to death. With Reggie and his generous offer to help with deliveries, we should be able to do this quickly and a hell of lot safer than just hauling things in the carriage. Eventually, I want to check the other schools in the area to see what shape they''re in, and after we drop off this meat that''s exactly what we''ll do. We all still on the same page here?" Looking around Liz saw faces that were determined and aligned. Nobody here seemed the least bit inclined to leave a bunch of kids to die, and heads were bobbing in agreement. Liz was proud of their little community. She could only hope that as they continued to encounter more people that the spirit of cooperation would persist. "Alright then, anyone want to come along for this run? I''ll be going, and Reggie of course, but we could use some more firepower." Dad looked meaningfully at Liz and Mark. "Sure, I can cover us from the crow''s nest that we built." "I can ride inside, I''m better at closed spaces anyway." Mark chimed in. "I really want to check on everyone at the high school, can I come too?" Liz glanced over at Lance. She was a bit surprised at his statement. She wasn''t expecting him to step up after having just had such a harrowing experience, but she obviously had underestimated him. "But maybe, you can ask for me how people are when you get there? If you don¡¯t mind recent escapee and all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s reasonable.¡± Liz agreed with his assessment. ¡°You want to come along too Mike?" The quiet teenager shook his head and pointed over to the barriers that were being constructed around the fence. It seemed Mike had already committed to helping out elsewhere. "I''d come, but there''s just so much going on here. I want to make sure we get everyone settled as much as possible." Sam said. She had volunteered for many of the previous away missions, but she seemed to have her hands full at the moment. The people milled about for a moment but no one else stepped forward. Liz was annoyed at the lack of support for a moment but realized that people were simply busy. They had found a new home, and they all seemed determined to make it as safe as possible and had they had all taken on a bunch of jobs. "It''s okay Sam, we have a ton of firepower for this trip and I''m sure we''ll be fine. Let¡¯s load up and hopefully make this a quick." With that, everyone resumed their work. A small crew stuck around to help load of up back of the bus. They were able to a good portion of the recently dried meat into the back, certainly more than would have fit in the carriage, and the bus seemed to hold up fine. Looking over at the remaining carcasess Liz was pretty overwhelmed. They had to have shoved a couple hundred pounds of meat into the bus and the supply in the yard didn¡¯t look depleted at all. It made sense though. After all, the Ice Wolves weighed close to a ton each and god only knew how many of the things they had killed last night. Add that on top of all the Fuuzers and Nerflings that appeared and they would be set for a long time as far as protein was concerned. The crew slapped the back of the bus to let Reggie know they were done. Reggie fired up the bus and the throaty purr of the large diesel engine roared to life. ¡°We¡¯re good to go!¡± Liz grabbed onto the newly constructed ladder and climbed to the top of the bus. Safety first, she clicked herself in with her harness. She was joined shortly thereafter by Dad who also clipped in. Liz stomped on the roof to let everyone know they were ready to head out. Mark and Lance, were already inside the bus, and with an excited shout from Mark they were on their way. Chapter 31 - A Misty Wind Normally Mark was against riding the bus. Between biking the couple miles to school and hopping into a cramped and noisy vehicle filled he chose the first options almost every time. It was pretty amazing how much this view changed in the last 48 hours. Now, being able to ride in something that was powered by gas suddenly became awesome. The fact that the bus was modified for apocalypse conditions also helped add to the cool factor. Mark kept eyes on the passing scenery in case he needed to defend the bus, but it wasn¡¯t really needed. That crow¡¯s nest on top really helped with getting lines of sights on things and Liz and his dad didn¡¯t let anything get close. Getting to the elementary school was super boring. Mark was getting antsy and thought they were just wasting time until he saw the smiles of all the people as they drove in. This was important too. As his dad and Reggie exited the bus they were peppered with questions. His dad raised his hands in submission and started into the tale of the bus with Reggie. Having already heard this story, Mark wandered off to play with some of the younger kids. Tag and other games were a lot cooler when you basically had super powers, Mark thought as he hung upside down from a basketball hoop. Sure, Liz had a small and growing army of creatures at her beck and call, but he could do fun stuff with his movement abilities. A bunch of people came out to help unload the bus and they soon finished unloading the meat. Saying some goodbyes and promising to return with more supplies they headed to the high school. Mark started to get nervous. Memories of the last time echoed in his head and he racked his brain trying to figure out how to deal with the situation. He didn''t understand why his dad was seemingly cool with everything. I mean, Mark knew it was bad to kill other people, but wasn''t what the sheriff was doing worse? Mind control seemed like a really bad thing and the sheriff needed to be stopped. Mark¡¯s contemplations were interrupted before he had time to really think anything through. His dad called out from the crow''s nest and Reggie slowed the bus down a few blocks out from the school. Traveling by horse for a day really put into perspective how fast a motorized vehicle actually moved. "Ok all, this is how this is going to work. I apparently have some resistances to this mind control stuff, and we just don''t know enough about it to risk anyone else getting close. I''m going to go up and figure out how to get them this meat, and then we''ll be on our way to check other potential locations for survivors. We will not be trying to sneak in or anything such thing. Right?" His dad was looking directly at him when he said this and Mark forced out a nod. Without another word his dad hopped down from the bus and walked towards the school. The simple act was made badass by the fact that he pretty much jumped down from the roof of the bus without a care in the world. Whatever bonuses his dad got to his physical attributes made him crazy tough. Liz had climbed down and took a seat next to Mark. He and Lance had exited the bus to stretch their legs a bit while they waited. They all searched the nearby jungle for signs of life but everything seemed pretty quiet. "So, what happened in there?" a curious Liz prodded. They had gotten some of the story but there were a lot of blanks and Mark admitted he was pretty interested himself. Lance turned to them both and started talking. ¡°Well, it was totally cool that you got me a weapon, and when you told us about all the abilities and things you had we decided that we needed to go see what we could do. After we were relieved of guard duty we chatted with Casey and Ellen some, getting the skinny on all the stuff you told them, and also the mana core thing. So after we chat for a bit about it we make a plan to go out and see what we can do. We teamed up and took out a few of those lemur things. It was a little dicey at first, but with four of us to cover each other we managed to get some decent strategies going. I unlocked a skill with the knife, and Mike was a champ with the bat. Casey and Ellen turned out to be really good with running distraction on the things too. Like, crazy gymnastic stuff. So we were totally getting good with stuff and then we met up with George¡¯s group. Seemed liked they had the same idea and they had been collecting extra mana cores and stuff. It was really awesome there for awhile. We went around the block and totally cleaned up before the mana storm hit. Only problem was when we headed back into the school. Sheriff apparently didn¡¯t appreciate all of us going out, having weapons, and now with new all these badass skills. He kinda lost it for a moment. Then he went all creepy, ordered us to surrender our weapons, and told us to go into one of the classrooms.¡± Lance paused for a moment here, lost in thought. "You know, at the time it seemed like the most natural thing ever, and there''s still a part of me that''s wanting to agree with the sheriff, which is totally creepy, because there wasn''t really anything he said that I''d ever think was a good idea under normal conditions. But the way he said it man. It was like, totally sensical. Like nothing else other than that mattered. It was creeptastic. You know?" Mark nodded in definitive agreement. Creeptastic barely covered the feeling. "Yeah, I know, right? So there we were, giving up our weapons and agreeing to lock ourselves up in a classroom when the mana storm hit. I swear, if the sheriff didn''t immediately order us to go to the gym and help defend it we would have just wanted around until we found a room to hole up in. That would have sucked. So, in anycase, there was like this crazy shower of stars and stuff but that wasn''t the scary part. The school was pretty well protected and the deputies and sheriff took care of all the incoming crap. The scary part was after, when the monkeys came." "Weren''t they apes? I mean, I think monkeys have prehensile tails." "Dude, seriously, just go with it. Monkeys sounds way better than apes. So like I was saying, all the monkeys start climbing into window and stuff and then things get really crazy. We''re holed up in the gym, and keeping the doors shut while sheriff creepo and his gang try to keep the building secure, but they''re eventually flanked and the things just start pouring in. Some dropped into the gym." "Did anyone get hurt? Did anyone die?" "Dude, like, right in the middle of the story. And yes, people got hurt, but thankfully no one died. Those potions you guys dropped off were amazing. Also, we had the away team led by George and me and Mike kicking ass in there. We knocked out all the monkeys that got in in no time flat. It was totally insane." Mark''s interest in the story faded at this point. Liz still seemed interested, and asked questions about how the monkeys - apes really - fought, but after learning everyone had made it out ok Mark had lost interest. What he really wanted to do was figure out what was going on now, and if George was still okay. "What happened after? I get it, you kicked ape butt for awhile, but how did you end up trapped in that house?" Liz asked curiously. Lance looked a little uncomfortable as he continued. "Well, as I said before, it was really crazy and everything¡¯s kinda a haze. There were apes, and sheriff jerkface was still like ¡®Go to your room¡¯ and some of us did, but George was like ¡®that¡¯s stupid¡¯ and I kinda bolted cause screw mind control. But, before that..." Mark had been losing focus and had completely tuned Lance out at this point. He decided his time was better spent doing something more productive. What he really needed was a way to get into the school without being seen. Maybe if he could do that his dad would relent some and let him check things out. With that in mind, Mark began experimenting.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. His first idea was to use his sneakiness to try and disappear. He tried to get the feeling he had when he snuck away before, but something felt off. He realized that it was really hard to just disappear pretty quick. Thinking it over that made sense. He was accepting of the fact that regardless of how game-like things were feeling, most of the stuff he learned about physics were still relevant. He imagined bending light all around you was a pretty difficult thing and he couldn¡¯t quite imagine being able to do that. If that were the case, he¡¯d need another method of sneaking around. Thinking back to various shows he had watched in the past it didn¡¯t take long for Mark to hone in on a method that made sense. He knew there was a lot of water vapor in the air, and fog was pretty hard to see through. He palmed a mana core and started to pull some energy from it and tried to focus on the water in the air. "Right Mark?" Lance asked and turned to face him. Mark nodded. "Uh, sure!" "You''re not listening to anything he''s saying, are you?" Liz rolled her eyes at Mark''s obliviousness. "But to answer for him, yes, abilities seem to be easier to develop when you''re in pretty high stress situations. At least that''s been my observation so far." "Cool! I was wondering, but practicing solo seemed to be really hard. I finally made some progress when I was totally pumped up with adrenaline when I was fighting those things. Like, things just clicked, you know?" Mark nodded. He had pretty much heard "Blah blah blah, clicked, blah blah" but Lance seemed really excited about it so he probably could use the encouragement. In the meantime Mark had extended his senses into the air around him and he felt like he was getting somewhere. "Yeah. Clicked." "Dude, are you smoking something?" "Uh, no?" "I thought I just saw some smoke come out of your mouth..." Liz and Lance started at Mark, who was not really paying attention to them. Mark clearly was not smoking something though and Lance continued but kept an eye on him as he continued his tale. "Yeah, so, I got Knife Skills ability, and it''s been helping me aim and stuff. Like, you know the heads up stuff from AA online? When I focus enough I can totally see critical spots on things and that makes it so much easier to take things out." "That''s really cool. Also, yeah, AA online seems to be a pretty common theme. Did you notice that the notices are all similar to that too?" Liz turned to Mark excitedly. "Mark, what about your abilities, you have a ton. Are you using images or are you... Wait. Is there smoke coming out of your ears? What are you doing?" "Uh, no? What''s up?" Mark said, blinking a bit and feeling like he was really close to figuring something out with this stealth thing. The only problem was that it felt like something was pushing him away from a solution. He couldn''t quite figure it out but the last piece of the puzzle to what he was trying to accomplish was so close he could taste it. There was just one thing missing. The door to the bus swung open and the sudden motion caused the kids to glance over. Reggie stepped out and was about to say something when he looked with a curious face towards the kids. "Wasn''t Mark out here with you guys? Where did the fog come from?" "Mark! Oh my god you better be here because I will beat you bloody if you ran off again!" Liz was not amused. Mark was though.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Stealth : Misty Retreat
Rock on! Eat that Liz! Mark had flexed a bunch of his new magic muscles to pull this one off. It had taken a lot but once the mist had gotten going he suddenly was able to use it to launch himself to a new place. It wasn''t really disappearing, but it was pretty damn close. It was like falling step, but a little different. "It''s okay! I''m right here!" Mark stood up from behind the bus. The little bit of mist that was around Liz and Lance had already dissipated and everyone was still looking for him around the area. "That''s so cool! I can disappear now! Isn''t that awesome!" "If only you could have figured that out years ago." Liz muttered under her breath. "Wait, what?" "Nothing Mark. Cool deal. So what''s this one called?" "Misty Retreat! It''s part of my Stealth ability, not my Chi." "I didn''t know you had a stealth ability. How did you get a stealth ability?" Liz looked accusingly at Mark. "Uh, wait, let me show you!" Quick! Distraction needed! Mark really didn''t want to try and explain that he picked up Stealth by more or less sneaking away and maybe stealing some stuff. He pulled his mana around and felt the mist start to form. He then felt the resistance that he had before and for whatever reason, he couldn''t get the step away thing to work. "Dude, you look constipated. Are you ok?" Lance asked in a concerned voice. "No. Yes. I mean. I had this. It worked just a second ago. I even got a real Ability thingy from it too. Dunno what''s wrong." "What''s wrong with what?" His dad asked as he rounded the corner. "Dad! Dad! I figured out a new thing so I can totally go into the school and check on people now. Check this out! I can disappear!" Mark redoubled his effort on trying to active his ability, but other than a really awkward grunting noise followed by a little bit of mist poofing out from his body nothing much happened. "Did you just mist fart?" Liz asked, eyebrow raised. Mark ignored the jibe because he finally figured it out. "Wait! I got it. I can disappear, I know I can, but you all need to not look at me! I can vanish as long as no one is looking at me! So, just... Look! A distraction!" Mark pointed away from himself to a nearby tree. Slowly, looking very confused, everyone turned their eyes to where he was pointing. "Okay Mark, we did the thing, but. Oh jesus, he actually did disappear." His dad looked around alarmed at the sudden development. Mark, for his part, felt like a giant weight was released when everyone''s eyes had turned away, and he instantly was able to blink away to a nearby spot. It was a set of trees about ten feet away and it felt like he just flowed to the place. The really cool bit was that the mist that had formed didn''t get disturbed by his passing at all, adding to the confusing effect of the ability. He stepped out of his hiding place and everyone jumped in alarm. "See! I told you! It felt really weird when people were looking at me but as soon as I was all clear it was easy! I mean, it still takes up a ton of mana and stuff, but it''s totally the best awesome skill for sneaking into the place! I should check it out now." "Look Mark, that is really cool and all, but I just got done talking with the sheriff. He didn''t try anything untoward, just asked us to leave the meat here and he¡¯d send folks to get it. He was really worried about us trying something, and I don¡¯t want to push him into doing something stupid, so we¡¯re going to play nice for now.¡± ¡°Did you ask about George? About the other people he was locking up?¡± ¡°I did mention that we had a few folks who left. He seemed upset at that but said we could keep the troublemakers. He said George had apologized and was back helping out, so I¡¯m assuming they worked through their issues.¡± ¡°Dad! You can¡¯t believe that! He¡¯s obviously mind controlling everyone there! He¡¯s evil!¡± ¡°Marcus Randall, what I believe is not for you to tell me. Quite frankly, I have spent many years working with Arthur and am more than capable of judging whether or not he¡¯s lying. We may have different ideas on what people should do, but he is not evil man. We¡¯re going to give him space, and let things calm down. I¡¯m not going to jeopardize our relationship at this point because you¡¯re feeling uncomfortable. George said himself he wanted to stay before the sheriff was showing any abilities. Trust your friend if nothing else. Mark cast his eyes down and sighed. George probably would have agreed to help, it was like him, but he really wanted to make sure everyone was ok. He knew better than to push for it now, though, so he went to help unload the meat. He stayed silent as the last bundles were placed in the heap. Mark looked back towards the school as they drove away. He knew something was off. He just had to figure out a way to get his dad to listen. Chapter 32 - It makes a village Liz took deep breaths and tried to get her bearings. The trip back from the high school had been a mixed bag. Most of the schools had at least a few survivors holed up. Some were well organized, some were not, and some, well, some were painfully empty. Dad hadn''t let them in those buildings and he had a dark look when he exited the silent structures. When the buildings had people in them they exchanged information and promised to help relocate or re-supply them. Liz kept busy marking the locations on their map while Dad and Reggie did most of the talking. Mark seemed largely content to just hang out in the bus and practice his mist stuff while Lance just sat silently looking out the window. Liz wondered if he was thinking about the empty buildings. She did her best not to dwell and the survivors they met helped her with that. Their hope and optimism was a beacon that shined through the dark thoughts of her mind. The contrast all that light and hope had with the darkness troubled Liz. She read enough post-apocalyptic fiction, a guilty pleasure she would never admit to Dad, to know that this was strange. People don''t just lose everything and then magically group hug. However, there was no denying that the people she met were all much more supportive than she would have expected. This made her heart warm, but itched at her brain. Something was going on here, she just didn''t know what. Now wasn''t the time to solve that particular mystery, though. Rather than have her thoughts racing around Liz decided she needed to focus and that meant creating a to-do list. First up were short term goals. That done, she allowed herself the luxury of thinking about some long term goals She added a last bullet to her ¡®Make sure I can do cooler stuff than Mark¡¯ list just for good measure. The first item on the list seemed out of place but it actually filled a gap she currently had. She loved her pets, but sneaky they were not. Alana was a great scout, but a raven the size of a dog was pretty hard to miss. Likewise, Moonlight was as subtle as a ton of bricks: harry wolf shaped bricks. Barry had some potential, but his bright golden coat and need to be pet by every everyone he met might attract some attention to him. He was a good boy though. Liz grinned imagining his antics. Seriously, not a very good spy dog. As they got close to home Liz was rearing to get her list done. She wasted no time unlatching from her harness as the bus pulled into the driveway. She spared the time to wave to the rest of the bus crew but barely paused as she called Barry over to her. Liz knew exactly what she wanted for a spy and knew where to look. She walked into the house with Barry behind her and grabbed a medium sized plastic bin. She grabbed Mr. Fluffers and used it to make a few air holes. Nodding at her handiwork, she exited the house and set Barry to tracking, filling his tiny and excitable mind with a particular image. Liz positioned herself in a good ambush spot and got ready to act. It didn''t take long, and within moments, a small blackish creature scurried out from a bush that Barry had dashed into. Moving to intercept, Liz plopped the box on the creature and smiled. "Phase one complete!" She peeked into the box and saw a scared looking mouse gazing up at her. "Sorry little guy, but I think we¡¯ll be able to work this out." After carefully sneaking the lid on top of the container Liz walked over to the barn to look for something a little more durable. She knew that the little mouse would break out in no time if left to its own devices. The things had been hounding Dad forever, and no matter how many measures they took to keep them out of the barn supplies, they had always managed to find a way in. The tough little mouse would make the ideal spy. Heading into the barn she started rummaging around the assorted junk. It took a little bit, but eventually Liz found a strong wire cage that should keep the mouse in. Liz wasn''t exactly sure where it came from, but the barn was a wellspring of random things. Years of hoarding made it an exciting and terrifying place to explore. She carefully transferred the mouse into its temporary home, did a few checks to make sure it was secure, and nodded in satisfaction. Next step, Liz thought. She felt through her connections and tried to get a handle on how her Animal Taming ability worked. She reached out to Alana and Moonlight and tried to closely observe the connection. The emotions of the beasts swirled around her, and were distinctly different than what she got from Barry. She felt along the connection to her little puppy, and thought she got some understanding of what was the difference. Barry had very basic emotions, but no real thoughts. Liz could impose an image into his little brain but he could reply with vague feelings at best. Moonlight and Alana were different. They had a resistance around them that made it hard for her to dive as deeply into their minds. That was fine though because they could also understand Liz''s intent much better with just thoughts and suggestions. Not knowing what direction to take, Liz focused on trying to get a connection first. She pushed her will into the little mouse, but she was having a really hard time forming a thread. With Alana, the power seemed to manifest immediately, but for whatever reason, she couldn''t form that tendril at all. Heck with that, she needed a spy mouse. Liz focused more and poured every thought into creating that first contact. She could feel her mana leaking away as she concentrated but she was determined to get this to work. She kept pushing and pushing until she blinked in surprise as the mana warning popped up. Liz forced herself to stop. She thought she had made some progress, but she wasn''t going to knock herself unconscious in order to do this. "Ok mousey. We''ll chat again in the morning." Liz grabbed a handful of wheat from a bag in the barn and placed it in the cage along with a bowl of water. Too much to do and too little time. Liz waved bye to the mouse who just stood there looking at her curiously. Liz walked out and stretched. A crick in her neck made her realize that she had spent way more time trying to tame the mouse than she realized. Looking around to see what other people were doing confirmed this. The sun was low and dinner was being prepared. The last of the meat from the area was being cooked and a table had been hastily constructed for the entire village. Liz chewed on that word for awhile. Yeah, it pretty much was a village now, and really not that bad a start. She quickly reviewed her priority list and decided that infinite arrows could wait. Liz walked over to the table and sat down next to Elly who was at the end so Biscuit could stay nearby. Casey and Ellen were also around her. Their fascination with Biscuit was less than Elly¡¯s, but still, chatting with a unicorn was a pretty amazing thing to be able to do. ¡°What¡¯s up girls?¡± ¡°Liz! People were asking about you!¡± Elly exclaimed as she noticed Liz. ¡°Uh, I was just in the barn.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s okay anyways, Biscuit and I figured that out pretty quick. You should probably let people know if you want to go and vanish for a few hours next time. You¡¯re a pretty big deal around here you know. Your dad about freaked when nobody had seen you.¡± ¡°Biscuit saw you! Biscuit is good at seeing!¡± ¡°That¡¯s great Biscuit.¡± It was hard not to smile at the excitable unicorn. ¡°Hey, would you be okay if Moonlight came by to sit with us too? I wanted to check on her bandages. Oh, also Alana and Barry.¡± ¡°It fine! Biscuit like Liz new friends! They smarter about smells than humans. Humans just smell! Haha! Biscuit make smelly human joke!¡± Biscuit proceeded to prance around a bit in celebration of his own brilliance. Liz snorted out poorly contained laugh. She didn¡¯t want to encourage Biscuit, but he was a welcome relief. ¡°Yeah, he can be a handful, but his heart is in the right place.¡± Elly said in way of apology. Looking over to Ellen and Casey, Liz noticed they were looking pretty shell shocked. Casey was twiddling the tail end of her braid and Liz knew that meant she was nervous. Ellen¡¯s tell was also showing. She was pushing imaginary wisps of hair behind her ear non-stop. They had smiles on their faces, but it was apparent to Liz that they were faked. Liz was about to call Alana and Moonlight over, but she decided to hold off. For now she tried to figure out if she could help her friends a bit. ¡°Hey, you okay?¡± Casey turned to Liz with a tremble in her lips. ¡°I¡¯m glad we made it out of the school Liz, it was pretty unbearable. But I¡¯m really worried about everyone. We were doing so well, you know? I managed to unlock the gymnastic skill, and so did Ellen, and it¡¯s been helping a ton, but almost no one else has developed an ability. Maybe we should go back. They might need our help.¡± Liz was touched with how much her friends wanted to do the right thing, but there was no way should would be encouraging anyone to go back into the high school until they knew more about what was really going on there. ¡°We¡¯re going to drop off more supplies tomorrow. I¡¯m working on a plan with Mark and my dad, and when we figure out more about what¡¯s going on maybe we can help out more, ok?¡± Casey and Ellen nodded taking some relief in having a plan. ¡°So that¡¯s for tomorrow. Let¡¯s eat, I¡¯m starting!¡± The hours flew by as people took comfort in food and good company. Liz found some time to sneak away and get some tidbits to her pets and check on Moonlight¡¯s injuries. She was healing well, but still was sensitive in a bunch of places. Details that came through her link let her know that it would be a few more days before Moonlight would be up for running around with them. She really wished the healing potions worked on animals, but apparently, they didn¡¯t seem to affect things with mana cores. She thought about the mana cores that Moonlight ate earlier and had an idea.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Want strength rock? No. Full. No more. Wait for alpha. Liz didn¡¯t follow along completely, but she sensed that Moonlight and Alana wouldn¡¯t eat any more mana cores until Liz managed to do unlock something or get stronger. Maybe that was for the best. She felt totally in control for now, but her instincts told her that if her pets got stronger before she did it wouldn¡¯t be a good thing. Best not to rush this. She would figure it out eventually. It just meant she needed to get stronger faster. Dinner wound down and everyone helped clean up. The efficiency of the operation amazed her. It felt more like the village had been together for years instead of barely a day. The skills and abilities people were displaying were likewise amazing to her. Having wandered around, she saw that buildings, barricades, and bunkers were completed. Wooden frames for new housing had also been set up. At this rate they would have little houses instead of a tent city tomorrow, and things would really start to feel like a village. The garden that was planted earlier was also a thing of wonder. Liz learned that a few people had developed gardening abilities and things they planted this afternoon were already beginning to sprout. Event the existing vegetables that were coming in from the Randal family garden were turning out larger and more delicious than she remembered. Then again, that could also be due to the fact that she was starving, but Liz thought it was probably more than that. As night fell, another little aurora formed, this time above the giant crystal towards the lake. The mood shifted immediately. Everyone went quiet as they waited, and those that had weapons got ready for the worst. Liz already had an arrow knocked and waited with everyone else and wondered what would happen next. Waiting wasn¡¯t her dad¡¯s style though, and he started shouting out some proactive measures for people to take. ¡°All non-combatants into the bunker. We don¡¯t have visuals on enemies yet, but we¡¯re not going to take chances. Liz, Mark, take east and west points. I¡¯ll keep watch on the southern front.¡± They didn¡¯t have long to wait, and what happened was actually a relief. The mini-aurora spit out a bunch of shooting stars, but it was almost cute compared to the endless waves of the previous night. Even better, all the stars flew to places away from both the house and the elementary school. It was like they were actively avoiding populated areas. To top off the good feels, the system itself provided some positive news.
System Notification Bleed-off successful. Stabilization Crystal at power density level 1 Capacity reduced to 7% (80% current)
"All clear to the south! Nothing moving." Liz called an all clear as well as the people sounded off. It seemed like tonight wouldn''t be as crazed as yesterday. After a few more minutes with nothing much happening Dad called everyone back. "We''re setting a watch, but honestly, it doesn''t seem like we need to really beef it up over the norm. It''s pretty quiet out there. Mary, you have any ideas on this?" Mom looked up pensively for a moment before replying. "It seems clear that spawns are directly related to this mana that seems to be bombarding the planet now. Those sky crystals, or stabilization crystals I guess, seem to be some sort of regulation system. Considering the information we have, I''d say it''s very likely that they are acting as a method of gathering mana and distributing it away from population centers. If we assume that the system we''re all seeing was created by a group that wants to help us in some way, it makes a sense." "Yeah, but what happens if it just builds up and there''s no place for the spawns to go?" Mark asked with concern in his voice. "Lets not wait around to see if that happens. Tomorrow morning we''ll clear out those spawns so there''s plenty of room for the things. The wolves must have cleared everything out before, but I don''t really want to encourage them to run around the neighborhood." Liz nodded to Dad as he finished. She would have some hunting to do in the morning. "For now, first watch is up. Use your whistles in case you see anything concerning, but for now, lets try to get some sleep." Propane lanterns and candles twinkled into existence as twilight faded to night. A deep dark settled in and Liz took a moment to marvel at the sky. The moon was brilliant and the entire sky carpeted in stars. It reminded her of multi-day hikes that were far from civilization. She went over to grab a few candles. She was going to check on her little friend before calling it a night. Not wanting to repeat the panic from before she called out to Dad. "Dad, I''m going to the barn again. I found one of those mice that always gets in and I''m trying to tame it." "If you don''t manage to do that, kill it. Those damn things eat more of our grain than we do." "Dad! No, it''s just a mouse!" Dad sighed deeply. This was an old argument and it seemed like he didn''t really feel like rehashing it in front of everyone. "Lets not get into this now. Just be careful with it, and be careful in the barn. There''s a ton of stuff in there and you could get hurt." "Dad, I one shotted a giant hippo giraffe monster. I can handle a building full of junk." He waved her off and went to help organize the first patrol group. As she made it into the barn she saw that the mouse had somehow managed to bend a few of the wires to the cage. This caused Liz a bit of concern. There should be no way for the mouse to generate that sort of leverage. She looked more closely at the creature and started to form a theory. The little beastie looked up at Liz and blinked as the light came close down to him. It didn''t seem to have much fear of Liz, which seemed odd for a mouse. "You''re an odd one little mousey. Maybe you''re more than you seem, too. Also, we''re going to need a better cage unless I can figure out this taming thing." Liz did a quick check on her mana and it was back to full. It didn''t really take too long for it to charge, but Liz didn''t have a good clock to measure it by. In her general observations It felt close to a quarter of an hour, and maybe a third again of that if she was meditating. That meant she could get a few more attempts to form a link before her candle burned out. She carefully placed the candle down in a vase she used as a makeshift candle holder. Knowing the candle would only burn for about half an hour Liz got to work. "Ok Mr. Mousey, let¡¯s do this." The mouse just looked at Liz with a strange look. "Or maybe Miss Mousey. Honestly, I can''t tell. Sorry about that. But here we go." Liz shook her head and focused on the mouse once more. This time, rather than just trying to create the tendril, she took a different tactic. She pushed mana into the area of her mind that made the tendrils. Maybe she just needed more space in this place before she could form another connection. As Liz emptied her mana stores it took all her concentration and focus to squeeze the last bit in, but she felt a slight pulse in the space. She had no notifications to guide her, but it felt like she was on the right track. Liz breathed deeply and focused on her meditation. She went through a few more cycles of this as her first candle burned down and she lit the next one before the last of the light faded. She should have grabbed more candles, but maybe she should just sleep. The mouse, for its part, had grown bored of the sitting girl and had resumed it''s activities of trying to destroy it''s cage. Liz was amazed to see that the mouse had found a rock and a stray metal bolt. It had formed a lever with the crude tools and was effectively deforming the cage. It wasn''t making much progress, but that was way more complicated a device than what she was expecting a mouse to make. "Yeah little guy, we''re finding a way to work this out tonight because I don''t think you''ll be around come morning otherwise." She thought she saw the mouse shrug, but was pretty sure she imagined it. Regardless, it was time to get back to work. After two more cycles of pushing and regenerating her mana, Liz felt like her progress was slowing. This wouldn''t do. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she was going to attempt next. She could feel the walls of her Animal Taming space expand with each push, but she just needed more juice. Mana cores didn''t seem to do anything for existing powers, so that left one more option. Liz was going to pull on her mental reserves into this too. This was probably going to suck. Making sure the candle was nowhere near her in case she fell over, Liz began a new attempt to expand her mind. Literally. She even tried to push the mana into formations against the space, leveraging every bit to push against the spots she had felt shift earlier. As her warnings came, she felt the small progress she noticed before, but instead of stopping, she dug deeper. She ignored the warning and focused her entire being on the space. Liz''s mental pool was significantly higher than her magic pool. This became apparent as the extra force and focus she applied began to rapidly transform the space. It was working incredibly well, and Liz was pretty happy with her experiment. She would be a lot happier if it didn''t feel like her brain was trying to crawl out of her skull through her eyeballs, but you can''t have everything. She felt the space shifting under the pressure until she felt like cracks were forming inside her brain. She grasped that a pattern was somehow emerging and redoubled her focus on that. With her mental energy, Liz traced along these patterns and reinforced them. She was excited at her progress but now it now felt like her eyeballs were clawing back at her brain. She persisted since she could feel the mental space expanding and when sudden cracking feeling in her skull exploded her head in pain. "I think I did it." Liz stood in triumph, then turned to the side and proceeded to puke her guts out. Curling up into a ball, she was pretty happy that she managed to not get any vomit on herself or her candle. As soon as her head didn''t feel like wasps were crawling around in her brain and stinging it, she would clean up. She really hoped that would be soon. A painful set of minutes passed as Liz focused on the flickering light of the candle. As her mental and magic pools got a sliver of energy back the worst of the pain subsided and she was able to sit up. She cleaned up things around her as best she could and sat for a moment to recover some more. That really sucked. Liz knew other tasks depleted the mental pool, but apparently when you try to shove that power into whatever the heck pathways existed for mana, the body didn''t seem to like it. Liz wasn''t sure if she could bring herself to do that very often. Still, it was good to know it was an option. "Let''s see how we did." Liz pulled up her User Information and saw, to her delight, that her Animal Taming ability had increased by one point. "Alright! Okay mouse, you and me are going to have a talk." Liz''s head was still throbbing but her excitement overcame her pain. She went to form a Animal Taming tendril and was immediately rewarded as her mana formed the familiar shape. Without hesitation she speared it towards the mouse who stiffened and stopped its escape attempts as it felt the considerable pressure of Liz''s intent. Okay! Sorry! What want? Will stop grain steal! Liz pondered for a moment. The mind she felt was very different from Barry, and more like Alana or Moonlight. She knew it! There was something else going on with this mouse. You help me now. We work together. Will get foods? I likes foods. All the foods. Foods and funs. And just like that the little mouse joined Liz''s menagerie of creatures. Liz immediately realized that this little mouse was also a girl, and decided to name her appropriately. "Ready to spy on some school kids, Natasha?" ¡°Squeek!¡± Liz thought it sounded like fun too. Chapter 33 - Double trouble Mark watched Liz and Barry catch one of the crazy mice that terrorized the barn. This troubled him. He tried to justify using his stealth abilities to try and make sure that he figured out what she was doing. After all, practicing abilities was important, and dammit she was training another pet. She already had like three awesome pets, why did she need another one? Mark was totally rocking the stealth and Liz had no idea she was being followed. The triumph was somewhat diminished as Mark observed what happened next. Watching someone meditate wasn''t that interesting in any way fashion or form. Liz''s focus and dedication was really scary sometimes, and Mark wondered what he should do next. Certainly he shouldn''t just sit around and wait for Liz to tame every creature in the neighborhood and create some crazy monster army to do her bidding. Well, that would be cool, and then they could like have an army and do cool things too. But that wasn''t the point! Mark needed some new abilities stat. The only problem was that it was pretty clear the easy mode of drawing energy from mana cores wasn''t working anymore. He chatted with a few other people and it seemed to be working for people who had no abilities, but those with existing avenues were having a hard time finding new paths to abilities. Mark had confirmed this first hand. Shoving mana around was way harder now even with cores. Mark sat and thought. It would be turning dark soon, and he didn''t have any ideas yet on what to do. He had cool stuff with chi, but really, the stealth thing seemed like it would be a lot more useful for the school. He wanted to scout the area, but he knew his dad would never let him go. Mark thought about this problem, and about giant birds. He also thought it would be cool if he had a spaceship, because then he could just fly around and zap monsters. That would be really useful. Mark shook his head. That wouldn''t solve his problem currently though, since he had no way of magically making a spaceship. Unless... A few minutes later, Mark admitted that he could not magically summon a spaceship, and returned to thinking about more practical ideas. He sat and started meditating. He could probably use some extra focus power now and the ability really helped clear his head. Entering a state of awareness, he felt around his body and the strange tingly parts where he pictured his mana to be. He pushed out his mana and felt it run through all the areas that he had formed in the past day. He had already memorized his ability list. It was hard not to when you looked at it constantly. He pulled up his abilities for the umpthteenth time.
Abilities Level
Technomancy 1
Mana Manipulation 4
Chi 6
- Infused Strike 5
- Falling Step 3
- Explosive Charm 3
- Severing Blade 3
Meditation 1
Stealth 2
- Mist Escape 1
He ran down the inventory of passive and active abilities he had unlocked. Chi was his most versatile skill by far. It let him do all sorts of crazy things but he couldn''t really think of a way to use it that would help him with breaking into the school. He already had a good movement ability there but what he really needed was a better way not to be seen or some anti-mind control magic.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Meditation was just sitting there, doing nothing as far as he could tell. He did notice that when he meditated it filled up mana faster and his body felt invigorated. He even had taken some time to compare using the ability versus the skill and he definitely felt like the ability was pulling power from somewhere. The ability helped heal wounds as well as regenerate mana and his body felt stronger afterwards. Cool, but not worth spending time on right now. Stealth was the obvious choice to try and find a new ability. The mist escape ability he had formed was already pretty awesome, but clearly that alone wasn''t enough to convince his dad that he would be fine breaking in. Also, the obvious problem he had was the whole thing with no one being able to see him in order to escape. He figured creative use of an explosive charm would help with some of that but maybe he should make some smoke bombs or something. That would be pretty cool, but it just didn''t seem like the solution he needed. Honestly, it would be cool if he could make shadow clones or something. That would let him sneak in then he could make a clone they would chase and then he could escape. Mark froze for a moment. Why couldn''t he make a clone? It seemed crazy, but so did creating magic exploding paper and running mystical energy along the blades of swords. He was pretty sure there were like a hundred different types of clones too. At least, anime told him so. Thinking about the current set of skills he had put together, Mark decided on a path. He felt around the place that let him generate mist and focused on that area. Rather than slide through the mist as it formed around him, he tried to control the shape and density of the vapor. He pushed more and more mana into it, willing it to take on his shape, and the lump of mist slowly condensed into a Mark shaped outline. Mark raised his fists in celebration and his mist double raised it''s fists as well. "Ok, we''re getting there." Mark felt the shape fall away as his concentration wandered. This didn''t deter him at all as he quickly started meditating to get his mana back. He flexed the boundaries that contained his magic pool and smiled smugly. His pool was twice the size of Liz''s. Not that he would rub it in that much; just a little. After topping off again, Mark flexed his Stealth power again to create the mist and this time it quickly formed into a human shaped lump. Mark sat there a moment pondering what to do next. Running through a few possibilities he decided to borrow a page from Liz''s book. He couldn''t tame monsters, but maybe he could tame this mist thing. Mark imagined a tendril like Liz had described, filled with his will. Relatively quickly he felt a spike emerge from his body. Acting on instinct, he filled the spike with his intent, and shoved it into the mass of mist next to him. Go. Run. Escape. He felt the spike dissipate as it entered the mist and everything seemed to click together. The mist suddenly sported his face, except it was more a mirror reflection. Hopefully no one would notice the difference on where his hair fell over his eyes. His mist double, now looking fully like Mark, ran away in a somewhat convincing manner, and even dodged over some obstacles before running straight into a tree and disappearing in a puff of mist. Okay. So it wasn''t very smart, but this fricking rocked! Mark was dizzy from the loss of mana but elated at his success. A few rounds of meditation and clone forming later he was rewarded with a popup.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Stealth : Mist Clone
"I am going to be able to mess with Liz so much with this." He smiled. ********* As night fell he still saw a candle burning in the barn. No doubt Liz was doing something new, but he figured it would be a fun morning regardless. He grabbed some candles, waved good night to the camp, headed to his bedroom, and dreamed of a fun tomorrow. The next morning, Mark woke at dawn excited to test out his new ability. Unfortunately, it was a huge mana draw, and he only could create a single clone, but he figured it would improve over time. For now, it was plenty for his plans. He sent focused and set a clone in front of Liz¡¯s door and knock. ¡°Liz! It¡¯s wakeup time!¡± Grumbling could be heard from the door as a tired and annoyed Liz poked her head out. ¡°Mark. It. Is. Barely. Light. Why.¡± The clone opened and closed it¡¯s mouth pretending to talk as Mark spoke from around the corner. ¡°Hi Liz! You¡¯re a dumb head! I¡¯m going to go walk around your room now,¡± and with a shove of intent he pushed for the clone to go into the room. Liz, startled and not really awake, didn¡¯t step aside in time and the clone disappeared into a cloud of mist. ¡°Oh my god Mark. If you use a damn clone to annoy me again I swear I will duct tape you to tree in the yard and use you as an archery target.¡± Mark walked over to the door wondering where he went wrong. ¡°How did you know! I just figured out clones last night.¡± Liz massaged her temples and barely managed to keep a calm voice. ¡°First, that was the worst ventriloquism act every. Seriously, did you think I wouldn¡¯t notice that? Also, your hair was grown out on the opposite side. Lastly, the mist is exactly like what your stupid vanishing power is like and it totally fits with that show.¡± ¡°How did you know about that show! I thought you didn¡¯t like anime!¡± ¡°Mark, I was literally sitting right next to you when you watched it. Half of your stupid abilities come from the things the ninjas did. I actually pay attention to things.¡± Oh yeah, Liz did watch that series with him. Huh. ¡°Well it¡¯s still pretty freaking cool!¡± The door slammed in Mark¡¯s face. ¡°I guess you¡¯re not going to tell me what you figured out yesterday in the Barn? Liz? Liz?¡± Mark heard a growl come from behind the door, and since he knew Moonlight was sleeping outside, he figured maybe it was time to give Liz some space. He¡¯d learn what she figured out later. For now, there was work to do. ¡°I wonder if mom and dad are up yet.¡± Mark mused. ¡°Only one way to find out!¡± Mark summoned another clone and continued his path of starting the day right. Chapter 34 - Best part of waking up Mark felt like he wasn¡¯t being properly appreciated. He thought the Mist Clone plus Sneak and Falling Step was the best, but no one else seemed that excited about it. Okay, sure, it was kinda annoying when he did the ¡®poof¡¯ thing and then a flying Mark suddenly slams into your head only to turn into a puff of mist, but really, isn¡¯t that cool also cool? On reflection, maybe he had been going a little overboard. He continued contemplating this as he walked around the house, having been told to get out after the third flying Mark ran into someone¡¯s head. He probably should not antagonize everyone else in Camp Randall either. Mark was also going to have to talk to his dad about naming the place because Camp Randall was an awful name. It sounded like a post-apocalyptic summer getaway. They should call the place ¡®The Citadel¡¯ or ¡®Sanctuary¡¯ or something cool like that. He knew that if he didn¡¯t act soon someone would come up with an uncool name and then BAM! Stuck with it forever. Mark took a deep cleansing breath and the cool Colorado air helped clear his brain. There was just too much stuff to do and not enough time to do it in. Sure, he said that before when he had a bunch of school projects but it was different now. Time had never been this much of an enemy before. It annoyed him so much that Mark wanted to punch time in the face. Naming, training, developing abilities, learning about the system. Everything was just getting to be a bit overwhelming and Mark wasn¡¯t sure what to do next. ¡°George. We¡¯ll see if George is ok. That a good next step.¡± Mark was happy with his to do list as he spoke it out loud. It would keep him busy and focused. Liz wasn¡¯t the only one who could make lists, darn it. Mark thought about it for a bit and wasn¡¯t able to a way to complete the first item on his list. He shrugged it off and would tackle it again soon. In the meantime he looked around the tents and waved at the new martial art dude who was patrolling. The dude had replaced his pipe with a legit looking Bo staff with steel tips and looked much less haunted than he did yesterday. Mark went over to say hi. ¡°Heya. Uh, you know, I don¡¯t think I ever got your name.¡± ¡°S¡¯okay kid, a few things were going on. Its Lyon.¡± ¡°Oh cool like giant cat thing?¡± Lyon laughed. ¡°No, not so much. It¡¯s with a ¡®Y¡¯ and more about a city where my parents had a good time.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t get. Oh. OH. Ok, uh well¡­¡± Mark was suddenly embarrassed by his outburst. ¡°Don¡¯t worry bout it. I seen you dashing round the past few days. How you been doing that?¡± ¡°The Falling Step? I got this ability called Chi and it lets me do all sorts of cool stuff.¡± ¡°That is hella useful. Maybe you could try and show me what¡¯s it about. I¡¯ve been told I should be able to do some super power stuff, but so far it¡¯s a bust.¡± ¡°Sure, you know martial arts or something, right?¡± Lyon nodded. ¡°Ok, so you start there, and for me, it¡¯s about spreading out your senses and feeling the mana around you, and then have it flow it into what you want it to do. Then again, Liz kinda does this thing where she gets super focused on one thing and it works for her. Oh yeah, and I think my dad just gets really angry and uses frustration to explode out or something. Wait, is that helpful at all?¡± Lyon smiled as he laughed and shook his head. ¡°I think what I¡¯m hearing here is that I need to find my own way into this. I gotcha. I think maybe I¡¯ve been too worried about how to do it instead of just doing it, you know?¡± Mark didn¡¯t, but when did that ever stop him? ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s right!¡± Lyon thanked Mark and wandered over to the camp to help people get ready for the day. His dad had already went out to scout the area while the rest of the house crew got breakfast ready. Looking around at all the new faces Mark realized that was a pretty big job now, especially since the house had the only working stove on site. Mark knew that it would eventually run out of fuel but hopefully they¡¯d have a solution to the problem by then. In the meantime he should go in and help. Mark had an epiphany as he reached for the handle to the front door. ¡°Oh! I get it!¡± They kicked him out because he had been driving everyone crazy. That meant he¡¯d need to kill an hour or two until breakfast was finished. Finding himself with much needed free time he went through a bunch of different options on what would be cool to do next. Mark was overall happy with his kit of abilities, but he realized that he was lacking one thing in particular. Actually two things. Maybe three. Nope, there was a fourth thing now that he thought of it. Regardless, the first thing he needed to do was figure out a way to get more knives. He started this apocalypse with ten really nice throwing knives, and now he was down to four. He had been able to recover a lot of them, but sometimes he just couldn¡¯t figure out where they had flown to. It would be really great if they would come back. That seemed pretty straight forward. Mark focused on his Infused Strike as a starting place and instantly felt the connection form. He was getting good at this one, even his skill level said so. It was the only active ability he had at level five. Mark pondered the five for awhile. If this was like AAO that meant he was really good, since he knew the scale didn¡¯t really go above a seven in the game, and seven was just ridiculous to have a skill at. What was he doing again? ¡°Knife retrieval¡± Mark repeated to himself. He stopped infusing his knife and shifted around his flow a bit. Instead of a string that controlled the direction, he pictured an elastic thread that would pull back. The image was powerful in his mind, and he could almost see the item he was trying to emulate as he threw out the knife.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Chi : Yo-Yo
¡°Well that was easy.¡± Mark pouted his lips a bit in slight frustration. Well, it wasn¡¯t really frustration. Mark was having a hard time putting into words what he felt. It just felt like he was cheating or something with this one because it had been so easy. He glanced over to where Lyon was struggling to find a way to activate whatever it was he was trying to activate. Mark sheepishly walked away. He had enough abilities for now, maybe he¡¯d find someone else to help. He hoped it would get that annoying taste of guilt in his mouth that he had right now.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ********* Liz finished mixing up the last batch of pancake batter and looked over to Mom and Jocelyn. ¡°Ok, this is ready to go, enough mix for a about a hundred pancakes. You got it from here?¡± ¡°Thank you love. You go do what you need to go do. I can tell you¡¯re antsy. We don¡¯t have room for more people cooking in here anyway.¡± ¡°Thanks Mom, I really want to check a few things out.¡± ¡°Be careful and tell your brother he can come back inside if you see him. We¡¯ll start making these.¡± Liz waved at the brave duo who was about to battle with several gallons of pancake batter and walked over to the living room. Sam was there sitting with the other house guests. First thing first then. ¡°Hey Sam! I have a favor to ask.¡± ¡°Sure sweetie. What do you need?¡± ¡°Can you make a little harness for me?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have much material here with me, but I can probably pull together something.¡± ¡°Wait, that came out wrong. I mean, it¡¯s for me, but not FOR me. You know what, let me just show you.¡± Liz held out her hand and Natasha, her new mouse friend, hopped off of her shoulder onto the outstretched hand. ¡°This little gal here needs an outfit.¡± Liz grinned. ¡°Oh, well then, I guess I definitely have that much material around. Dare I ask if you have a design in mind?¡± ¡°I want her to be able to carry messages and things, so something that could accommodate that.¡± ¡°That should be easy enough. Can I, uh, get her measurements?¡± Liz mentally prodded Natasha and she complied, standing up with her arms stretched out. Liz had to forcibly stop herself from cuddling her new friend. It was the most ridiculously adorable thing she had ever seen. Sam took on the practiced air of a professional and whipped out some measure tape seemingly from nowhere. With fierce concentration she measured the little mouse all over and nodded to herself, satisfied. ¡°I think I can whip something up pretty quick. I can make it adjustable too, as I¡¯m not exactly sure what makes for a comfortable outfit for a mouse. You¡¯ll have to ask her how it fits when it¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Thanks Sam! You¡¯re the best!¡± Playing off the pleasure Natasha felt from Liz, the little mouse gave two thumbs up to Sam. ¡°Uh, I didn¡¯t know mice had thumbs.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t.¡± Liz replied helpfully, not having looked at Natasha¡¯s response. ¡°You know what hon, I¡¯m just going to make this harness. I¡¯ll let you know when I¡¯m done.¡± Liz just smiled happily and went on to the next item on her list. She left the house and started looking for Paul, the furniture maker turned wood mage. He wasn¡¯t hard to find. He was in the middle of the camp preparing lumber that was being used to frame out little houses that would soon replace the tent city that had been sprung up. Eddie, the construction worker they had rescued on the first day, was there with him. As soon as the lumber was ready to go, Eddie and a small crew would take the supplies to a newly laid foundation, he¡¯d apply a few zaps of whatever ability he had, and voila! A roughed out little house would appear. Liz was glad to see the skeleton of a small town popping up. She had been feeling guilty about having a room in the house knowing there were kids outside. Liz wouldn¡¯t have to worry so much about room sharing if this was the pace they were working at. ¡°Hey Paul! Nice progress. This is amazing!¡± Paul smiled at Liz as he ran his hand along another misshapen trunk, instantly transforming it into a perfectly plumb plank. They had bonded while creating the platform on the bus and developed a respect for each other''s work ethics. ¡°What can I do you for Liz?¡± ¡°I was wondering if you could make me some dowels about the length of an arrow.¡± She handed him one of the numerous carbon fiber arrows she had on her person. She was loaded up with as many of the modern composite arrows as possible to preserve them. Paul looked over the shaft, grunted, and grabbed a small log. Running his fingers through the wood, it parted and turned into spaghetti like strips under his direction. A few more shakes and liz had a pile of perfectly straight wood rods that would be perfect for her experiments. ¡°Thanks Paul! This is perfect!¡± ¡°Care to tell an old man what you¡¯re planning on doing with those?¡± ¡°Maybe after I see if I can actually pull this off.¡± ¡°Be sure you do it soon then, I¡¯m curious to see what our resident magic archer manages next.¡± The furniture makers face crinkled into a smile as he turned back to his work. Liz hoped she would be able to show Paul something cool soon. Liz setup in a quiet corner of the property away from the construction of the camp. Her experiments had revealed some interesting aspects to the system. First and foremost among these was that it was much easier to modify something slightly than to create something new from scratch. At least, that seemed to be the case now. If she had only know more on the first day she totally would have more abilities than Mark. Focus. That wasn¡¯t important right now. Getting some security in her ammo supply is what mattered. Focusing on one of the wooden rods, she felt around her Power Shot ability. She knew it coated her other arrows in a shell that launched it faster and stronger than a regular shot, but she was counting on another property for her experiment. The rod accepted the Power Shot infusion readily, but Liz could tell that the thing was just stick shaped. There was no way the thing could be shot out of a bow. Tossing it aside she was pretty impressed with the force it hit the floor with. It wasn¡¯t what she needed but it was good to know. She fired up her ability again, except this time, before the Power Shot got to the critical point in encompassing the wooden shaft in it¡¯s shell, she pushed at it. She focused on an image of an arrow, complete with fletchings, an arrowhead, and a notch for her bow. She pushed this image onto the rod and slowly but surely she felt the power taking shape. Feeling a familiar click she held up her piece of wood and smiled. The wooden shaft had an eerie blue glow around it now. She placed the ghostly arrow into her bow and fired. The rigidity of the makeshift arrow was consistent with her best carbon fiber equipment. It flew straight and true, embedding deeply into the trunk of a tree. She let loose a small yelp of celebration before she quickly clamped it down looking around just in case someone saw her. Yeah, she was a badass, but it wasn¡¯t good form to let everyone else know that. Going to examine the target she saw that the dowel had fallen out of the tree. Apparently, it was about as effective as a regular arrow, but after hitting something the thing sorta disintegrated. The rod was still usable though so she placed it back in her quiver. Still, there was no notification yet, and Liz felt like something was still missing. This definitely solved a big part of her concern with ammo, but she felt like it could go further. This time, Liz didn¡¯t even use the wooden shaft as a guide, and just poured her mana into the image of an arrow. Within moments a glowing ethereal arrow formed in her hand. She definitely felt more of a strain this time, and using her newly available displays saw that this took pretty much the same amount of mana as her base level powershot. It was easily twice as much strain as what it took to form something around the rod, which made sense to Liz. After all, this was just as rigid as her other arrows and she literally made it out of thin air. Pulling it back for a shot she felt that the arrow was way off. It just didn¡¯t weigh enough. Adjusting her aim, she fired, her keen mind easily accounting for the lack of mass. The arrow flew really damn straight, like gravity didn¡¯t touch it at all, and embedded itself much higher than she expected on the tree. After impact, it faded from sight, but Liz was pretty pleased with herself.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Archery Arts: Mana Arrow
Her next bullet on her list accomplished, Liz started walking back towards the house. She could smell pancakes and she was very much looking forward to taking out a stack or two. Mouse gear, pancakes, and magical arrows: a pretty good way to start the day. Chapter 35 - Old acquaintances Mark wolfed down another stack of pancakes and pushed the limits of his cheek¡¯s capacity. The variety of their breakfast spread wasn¡¯t huge, but what was there was delicious. The chef lady, Diane, had somehow pulled together some type of breakfast sausage from the meat harvests and was sizzling them up along with the pancakes. Her cooking arts were highly entertaining and Mark was amazed by the amazing speed that Diane flipped sausage patties and pancakes. The cooking device itself was pretty awesome too. It was like a short order cook surface except made to work well with a wood based fire. Mark got to watch Margaret piece it together using Metal Manipulation just moments before. It was pretty similar to Paul¡¯s Wood Manipulation, but required the metal to be heated up. Seeing a tattooed lady smash a glowing rod of metal into shapes with her bare hands was really freaking cool to watch. As he began the process of moving his food from his cheek stores to his stomach, Mark turned away from the breakfast spectacle to the camp. A few trips to the local hardware stores, combined with the camp occupants newfound abilities, resulted in the beginnings of a small town overnight. He saw his dad and sister sit down across the way and quickly swallowed the rest of his food as he ran over. He had things to say that were about ready to burst if he didn¡¯t get them out. ¡°Dad! We have to come up with a name for our town and stuff otherwise someone will name it Camp Randall or something.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a fine name Mark, I¡¯ll talk it over with folks and we¡¯ll see if we can make it official.¡± ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We have to have a cool name! Camp Randall is lame!¡± Seeing the determination in his dad¡¯s eyes, Mark new he had already lost. He put his head in hands in defeat. Recovering quickly, Mark looked over to Liz. At least he still had his cool ammo conservation ability. ¡°Liz, you know how it¡¯s easy to run out of knives? Well check this out!¡± Activating his Yo-Yo ability, Mark launched a knife into a tree, made a quick motion, and the weapon sailed gracefully back into his hand. ¡°Pretty cool, huh?¡± Liz gave him one of her smug smiles. That didn¡¯t bode well. She unslung her bow, held up two fingers, and a magical glowing arrow appear in her hand. Almost faster than he could follow, she shot the thing into the same spot where his dagger had hit and it disappeared into a pile of glowy sparks. ¡°That¡¯s totally unfair! You¡¯re cheating. Bows are OP!¡± Mark complained. Liz just laughed at his overstated annoyance. ¡°Well, I have to admit that great minds think alike. I was worried about running out of ammo too.¡± Mark wasn¡¯t really mad, especially after Liz¡¯s piece offering of acknowledging the greatness of his idea. Still, it would have been cool to beat her to the punch on this. ¡°That¡¯s great kids, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re working your abilities. I have a feeling they¡¯ll be the difference in a lot of things going forward. You¡¯ve seen that power density warning stuff, right?¡± Mark and Liz nodded. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been thinking, and your mom agrees, we should work to take out creatures around us since they seem to only spawn in open areas. We don¡¯t know what happens when density increases, but it probably isn¡¯t good.¡± ¡°I bet its something like the wolf explosion. Maybe that¡¯s what actually happened.¡± Liz suggested ¡°Probably not wrong, there. If that¡¯s the worst of it, we could probably weather it out, but if a crystal explodes on us, those things might randomly spawn in our house. What we have right now isn¡¯t a perfect system, but I¡¯d rather keep it going if we can. So, we¡¯re going to organize into hunting groups. I want you kids to be group one, and I¡¯ll take everyone else along in group two. We¡¯re just going to go across the street and I want to keep in visual contact as we do it. You think you two can handle that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a piece of cake! We¡¯re totally gonna bag more monsters than you too!¡± Mark grinned. ¡°Well, it would be a little hard for you to keep up, but aren¡¯t you worried about ammo?¡± Liz asked. His dad smiled back knowingly. ¡°You kids weren¡¯t the only ones figuring out how to keep up ammo stores. I¡¯m proud of you, by the way. Great minds truly do think alike.¡± ¡°Dammit! Everyone has magic ammo. This is so not cool. No one is allowed to copy my next ability.¡± His dad patted him on the back. ¡°We¡¯re going to head out in ten. I¡¯m going to try and let to greenhorns do most of the work this time out, so we¡¯ll be going slow. Stay close, we still don¡¯t know everything that¡¯s out here, and we may need backup, okay?¡± Mark agreed and began a check of his equipment. Liz called over her animal army and checked them out as well. ¡°You still aren¡¯t looking too hot there Moonlight. You stay here and guard the house, k?¡± Mark was annoyed all over again. Not only did his magic ammo ability get copied, he still couldn¡¯t top the army of magic creatures thing Liz had going. Well, he was at least going to get the most kills on this hunting trip. He took some breaths to pump himself up and walked with purpose towards the other hunters. ************ Liz knew that look. That was the look Mark had when he was about to try something she would generally classify as stupid. The worst part about it was that if she pointed it out, it probably would guarantee that he¡¯d do it. She thought through the options. He probably was feeling diminished by the fact that everyone had focused on developing some sort of ammo thing, so his next course would be to prove himself in some other way. Maybe it would be best to let him get it out of his system with this hunt. A part of Liz¡¯s brain twitched at the thought of letting Mark get a higher kill count, but sometimes she had to be the level headed one. Well, almost all the time. Even so, Mark would need to be careful out there. Liz decided to risk trying to talk him down a bit. ¡°Mark, when we¡¯re out there, we need to stick close to Dad¡¯s group. I¡¯ll cover you, so just take it nice and slow, ok?¡± Mark snapped around and she could see how tense he was. As the words sank in, though, his face softened. ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re right. That¡¯s a good plan. Yeah.¡± Liz did everything in her power to not make a snide comment or other facial gesture that could ruin the moment, and simply walked over to where Dad was. A small voice was screaming at her. It took all of her considerable willpower not to blurt out what it was saying. ¡°OH MY GOD! HE CAN LEARN! THIS IS AMAZING PEOPLE!¡± She was pretty sure that would ruin whatever forward progress she had just made. She barely paid attention to Dad¡¯s speech as he laid out the patrol pattern. Basically, we were just going to walk the trails in the two parks north of us. The bigger group would take the Hippograffe park, and Mark and I would take the longer windy road around the park across Garrison. We¡¯d have more area to cover, but it was almost all wide open space so we should be able to see anything coming. Liz was pretty confident in her ability to take out anything that she could easy see at a distance so the plan made sense to her. A couple of the guys in the other group seemed to be worried at the split, but Dad laughed at their concerns. ¡°Liz, could you please take out that tree over there? We haven¡¯t been able to get to it and it restricts our view to the street a bit too much.¡± Liz launched a Power Shot and the tree promptly fell over. Liz went to retrieve her arrow and when she got back no one seemed inclined to question her capabilities. ¡°Just so you know, the kiddos are probably packing the most firepower we have in all the camp, and I¡¯m counting myself in that mix. This is part of why we¡¯re going out to hunt. I want you all to focus on the abilities you¡¯re developing and see what you can pull out. We saw a lot of horror that first day, and I don¡¯t think anyone here wants to repeat that ever again. You¡¯ll need to find your own strength to keep moving forward.¡± Liz didn¡¯t appreciate being used as a motivational goal, but she knew it was for a good cause. The attention from the assembled group was a little uncomfortable, but she met their eyes and tried to instill whatever motivation she could. She hoped she managed to pull it off, because she felt like everyone would need as much help as possible these next few days. Without further ado, Dad¡¯s group headed off to work on their hunting while Liz and Mark moved to their own area and started a very nice stroll around the park. A few minutes in and Mark had already started to complain. ¡°This is boring. I almost feel bad about killing these things.¡± Liz had to admit that it was akin to shooting fish in a barrel. The Fuuzers and Nerflings were not challenging at all, and quickly fell to their unpowered attacks. Every now and then, new and strange creatures could be spotted, but those mostly jumped away before we could make them out. They seemed to have much more awareness than the spawned monsters and it made Liz wonder if they were existing creatures that had mutated somehow. It made her wonder what other things were brewing the the parks and wooded areas of Mountain Lake. Meanwhile, Mark had decided to increase the difficulty level of things by trying to do Falling Steps and then take things out while still in the air. It looked really cool, but Liz was a little concerned by his antics. ¡°Mark, save up your mana. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s out here.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine sis. I have like 2/3rd left. I have tons of mana, you know.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Liz did know. She had discovered that unfortunate fact when they compared stats earlier. Her mental abilities displayed at 6 and were higher than any single stat of Mark¡¯s, but he made up for it with his stupidly high Mana Manipulation levels and Magic stats. It also explained how he was able to develop a constant stream of insane abilities. Having reviewed the census, Liz knew he was actually the best at mana manipulation out of anyone in the camp. He probably didn¡¯t know that, and certainly didn¡¯t need to know, especially if the result was him showing off even more. Still, Mark slowed his pace a bit and Liz knew he was really making an effort to be conscientious. She tried to enjoy the walk as they continued their circuit. This park had a playground that Liz and Mark had run rampant in many an afternoon. It was one of the first places they were allowed to go by themselves and was filled with good memories. Good memories, and now corpses of random monsters. An arrow sprouted from the head of a Nerfling as they made their way northwards towards the edge of the park. Liz walked over to retrieve it and checked the surroundings for signs of anything more dangerous. A small ditch ran along fence line separating the park from a set of houses and Mark was leaping across it, Yo-Yo knifing the hapless spawns as he went. Liz looked back over her shoulder and could just make out Dad and his crew. They were slowly but surely cutting their way through the other park, which had a lot more brush, which made finding the creatures a little more difficult. She bet Dad was doing his survival talk thing and training them on how to track stuff as they were going. She thought back to the hours of lectures she had endured and didn¡¯t envy them that. Turning back she saw Mark had started to pull a ahead and Liz decided to do a quick scout. She reached out to Alana who was hovering overhead and had her do a wider circuit. She started Eyes of the Beast and this time she tried to also keep some awareness of her own surroundings. She met with marginal success, and was able to at least keep walking on the path as her eyes transfered over to Alana. The path in front of her was barely visible and she quickly started getting a headache. Still, it better than nothing. Alana soared over the houses to the north and Liz could see how ridiculous Mark looked from a bird¡¯s eye view. His hopping around was particularly strange looking from above. Alana sent her thoughts through the connection which caused Liz to giggle. What is giant hoppy rabbit thing doing? No, not giant rabbit thing, just Mark. He¡¯s friendly, and hunting monsters. Glancing around a bit more using Alana¡¯s eyes her humor instantly faded and Liz stopped in her tracks. ¡°MARK! Get back now! Now!¡± ¡°Jeez Liz, don¡¯t freak, I got these things.¡± He called back as a pair of Nerflings dodged away towards the houses. These were giving him some trouble as he was just using his Yo-Yo and they were dodging about. If he used his Infused Weapon he could take them out quickly, but he actually was trying to conserve energy as well as improve his regular aim. ¡°Mark! Dammit! No! Don¡¯t go down there.¡± Liz drew her bow and started charging a full power shot. ¡°What¡¯s the big. Oh.¡± Mark had stopped dead in his tracks as he rounded a corner and the thing Liz had seen reared it¡¯s head. ¡°That¡¯s where the Giant Beak Bear ended up then.¡± Mark whispered to himself. The Beak Bear, noticing Mark with whatever senses it had, lifted it¡¯s head a roared. Apparently it recognized him. Liz could relate to the response to Mark, but she felt she handled her frustrations much better. Liz immediately started to try and think of a way to slow the thing down. ************ Mark, for his part, didn¡¯t waste any time in retreating. Kill counts and winning evaporated in the wake of the giant rampaging beast behind him. The thing looked decidedly unhappy and Mark wondered if it remembered that whole shoving a knife up it¡¯s nose thing. Risking a quick look over his shoulder its beady eye bulged in rage and the thing roar again. That would be a ¡®probably¡¯ then. The siding of the houses to either side of the beast was ripped to shreds at it raced towards Mark. An arrow flew in from above and hit it¡¯s leg but it really just didn¡¯t seem to care. ¡°Thanks Liz! But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s working! Just run!¡± Mark shouted hoping his sister could hear him. He heard the piercing shrill of her whistle blowing out an SOS in response. That was a good call, this was definitely an SOS moment. Mark wondered if his dad could get there quick enough to make a difference. The giant monster was moving really fast. He knew he could probably out distance the thing, but he was worried about what would happen to Liz. He quickly came out from between the houses and saw Liz booking it. She raised he bow and fired again. Mark was impressed at how the arrow flew from the front of her bow only to arc around and hit the Beak Bear. That looked so weird. How was she even doing that? Mark didn¡¯t have time to contemplate it further it as he Falling Stepped away. The thing was starting to get a decent head of steam going and each footfall shook the earth. It was gaining too fast. Mark eyeballed it and Liz would be toast if that thing kept up the pace. After all, he knew from personal experience that the thing could actually go much faster. Making a snap decision Mark ported and threw an Explosive Charm into the eye of the creature. The thing turned it¡¯s head to avoid the knife but winced at the explosion. Ultimately it was an ineffective strike as it barely slowed its pace. It turned to snap at Mark but he managed to activate his Falling Step again getting out of it¡¯s way and landing near Liz. ¡°It¡¯s gaining! I can¡¯t injure it.¡± ¡°Try to hit it¡¯s leg, I¡¯m going to try and take it out with a fully charged power show. I think I can maybe do one more after that. Those looping arrows took more than I expected.¡± Mark had a sinking feeling in his chest. Looking across the street he could see his dad in the distance, but he was really far away. He knew that his dad was an amazing shot, but that would be asking for a lot, especially since he was armed with his handguns, and not a sniper rifle. There had to be a way to buy some more time. Liz did a really cool tumble thing to try and eek out as much forward distance as possible while still giving her a line for a shot. Her arrow was visible glowing as she released it. It¡¯s path was heading directly to the Beak Bear¡¯s eye. Her aim was true but the thing whipped it¡¯s head at the arrow at the last moment, fouling it¡¯s path. It still scored alone it¡¯s face, ripping off a chunk of it¡¯s beak and exposing some fleshy bits behind it. Mark noted the chink in it¡¯s armor and moved to capitalize on the opening. Liz had resumed running and Mark could hear cursing coming from her. That was also a bad sign. Liz usually didn¡¯t get to cursing unless she was at the end of her rope herself. Mark knew he only had one more chance before the Beak Bear caught up with them and he didn¡¯t even want to imagine what that thing would do once it did. Pulling his mana reserves low he charged up another Explosive Charm. Attempting to get a good angle again, he tried the Falling Step trick and popped over to the injured side of the thing. With a smooth motion he released the explosive dagger towards the injured spot. The shot looked impressive, and Mark was getting really good at throwing, but the combination of fear, adrenaline, flying through the air, and having a several ton house size creature charging at him was just too much. The shot hit it¡¯s body well below the opening Liz had made. It roared in annoyance but didn¡¯t slow down all that much. Maybe he should have gone for the legs instead because now It was going to catch up with Liz. Mark knew Liz was tough, but that thing¡¯s beak would snap her in half. He couldn¡¯t stop it, so he tried the only other thing he could think of. Not even having time to explain his plan, Mark flashed over to Liz and hoped it would be enough. ************ Liz was hosed. She knew it. She had enough juice for one, maybe two, more shots, but there was no way she would have time to charge up. Looking over her shoulder she could see Mark make a last ditch effort to kill the thing, but it looked like he just pissed it off more. In the distance she saw her dad sprinting all out. She smiled sadly. He would be annoyed at himself for not getting here sooner, even though it wasn¡¯t really anyone¡¯s fault. Barely a minute had passed. In that time Liz went from a leisurely stroll to about to be mauled by a giant Beak Bear. What a crazy world. Liz braced herself, she¡¯d try and dodge at the last minute, but she didn¡¯t give herself very good odds of success. She imagined it would be like trying to dodge a wave in ocean, the damn thing was so big she didn¡¯t think anything she did would matter. She turned to face her end and drew Mr. Fluffers. Maybe she could do a bit more damage before she went down. As she steeled herself she felt Mark grab her around her chest and she barely had time for a tiny yelp before she was suddenly airborne. ¡®Nice one Mark!¡¯ She thought. She could see the Beak Bear below her howl in rage at their escape. Liz was amazed at the speed Mark moved with the falling step. It looked impressive from a distance but being caught up in the momentum she could feel just how fast she was moving. He thoughts were interrupted as she felt Mark¡¯s hands suddenly lose their grip and he accelerated towards the ground at the ridiculous speed his ability granted. ¡®Dammit Mark!¡¯ She revised her thought, as she glided through the air in a high arc. Head can fly now? Alana inquired pulled up next to her as she hit the top of her parabolic arc. Alana! Grab me and help me down! And no! Head cannot fly!¡± Alana seemed a little spooked at the ferocity of the command but complied. She gently grabbed Liz around her outstretched arms and attempted to keep her aloft. Head should learn. Flying is much better. I¡¯ll think about it, but for now just help me down. Liz added a quick Please at the end of her last command. Pissing off Alana while 60 feet in the air might not be the best plan. Alana took it all in stride though, and while she couldn¡¯t keep Liz airborne for long, the assisted glide was much preferred to falling sixty feet down to the ground, to be followed by a trip down the throat of a giant monster. Fortunately for her, the momentum of the glide carried her a good distance away and she finally had some more breathing room. She had one shot left, and she needed to make it count. She wasn¡¯t confident on taking the thing out, so this time she¡¯d make sure it wouldn¡¯t be able to move so damn fast. She began charging and shouted out. ¡°Mark! I¡¯m taking my last shot, then I¡¯m empty. How are you holding up?¡± ¡°A few more Falling Steps, that¡¯s it! But Dad¡¯s almost here!¡± Liz let the energy flow through her and took aim. The thing, annoyed at having lost its snack, had turned to the closest target, Mark. As it began it¡¯s charge Liz hoped he was up for dodging the thing. She pulled back but before she could fire Mark blinked behind the creature and threw a knife to get it¡¯s attention. The thing paused as it tried to orient itself to the new attack. Liz made the most of the opportunity Mark had created and launched her arrow into one of the kneecaps of the beast, causing it to collapse to the floor. Before it could get up again, six percussive blasts signaled that Dad was finally in range. The hole that Liz had created in the beak exploded into gore as each of the bullets expertly found it¡¯s mark. The ground shook as the Beak Bear collapsed to the ground unmoving. For a few moments everything was quiet. The only thing Liz could hear was the adreneline fueled pounding of her own heart. ¡°Is it dead?¡± she asked to no one in particular. Mark threw a knife into the creature¡¯s butt to no reaction. ¡°Yup, seems dead.¡± ¡°Did you just poke it in the butt to check to see if it was alive.¡± ¡°Ya. Why not?¡± Liz didn¡¯t really have any comeback to that. It wasn¡¯t really that bad an idea, and it certainly confirmed that the thing was beyond all mortal cares. She sighed as she let some of the tension drain from her body. ¡°Just wondering. Good job. On everything. Even the throwing me into the air and then dropping me.¡± Mark looked a little embarrassed. ¡°Yeah, the going down bit was a really weird with someone else. The direction changes really fast and you apparently didn¡¯t the thing that my ability does to change direction.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s cool, really, that was good thinking, and probably saved my life. Even if Alana hadn¡¯t caught me I¡¯d rather have a broken leg than be eaten by a giant Beak Bear thing¡± Mark just wandered over and gave her a hug. Dad soon piled in as well and the family took a moment to just appreciate being alive for a bit. The hug helped Liz recover a bit emotionally and when she felt well enough to speak again Dad looked her in the eyes. ¡°You going to be ok kiddo?¡± ¡°Yeah. I think I¡¯m fine now. But next time you guys piss off a house sized monster, please don¡¯t leave it wandering around the neighborhood.¡± Yeah, she was going to be fine. Chapter 36 - Obstacles The morning had been way too exciting for Mark. Sure, in a previous world, mornings were hectic and crazed, but Mark like to think they had moved beyond that and this new world would have boring affairs of clearing mana spawned horrors bent on killing him and his family. Which was what actually happened, but the horrors were much tougher than he was expecting, and that wasn¡¯t cool. Liz was taking a break from hunting and chilling with his mom while he finished up the patrol with the newbs. Mark was really quite impressed at how bad they all were at this. He didn¡¯t like to brag, much, but he could totally kick all their butts without much effort. In fairness, most of the crew had been office workers, but it was painful to watch them try and hit things. Whether it was a bow, slingshot, spear, or swords, they seemed to be hopeless. ¡°Good job! You almost had it that time.¡± His dad encouraged bow office guy. Mark was really trying to remember their names, but aside from the first two he met they all sorta looked alike to him. Frank and David he could remember because one was tall and one was short. Unless one of these guys was Frank, and the other two just happened to be tall. Mark squinted at them. It was hard to tell. ¡°Mark, you okay? You look confused.¡± Slingshot office guy asked him. ¡°I¡¯m fine, mhmrnmnmrmm.¡± Mark mumbled under his breath, not wanting to admit he had no idea what slingshot office guy¡¯s was. ¡°In anycase, I think we¡¯re close to done here and I wanted to talk to my dad about a few things. We good to call in the harvesting crew Dad?¡± ¡°Sure, I think that¡¯s a good morning¡¯s hunt. Good work everyone. Check in with Mary to see how you¡¯re progressing and if you had some skill development. You can work on trying to gain an ability if you got something registered.¡± His dad stated in a loud voice so the group could hear him. The crew dispersed leaving Mark alone with his dad. ¡°So Mark, I can probably guess what this is about, but go ahead anyway and ask.¡± The stern look his dad gave him wasn¡¯t very encouraging, but Mark plowed forward. ¡°Well, I was just thinking, since I can totally like, go all stealth like and have clones now, we should do a rescue mission and get George out of the high school.¡± His dad just stared at him. ¡°I even know how to pick locks and stuff, so if he¡¯s locked up, I¡¯m totally going to be able to break him out.¡± More staring. ¡°If the sheriff runs in on us I can. Uh. Well. You always complain that I don¡¯t listen, so I just develop an ability around that and he can¡¯t tell me what to do!¡± Mark smiled with his best goofy grin. ¡°The problem, Mark, is that this isn¡¯t a joke. It¡¯s not a game, and the stakes are high. If Douglass catches you, you know very well I wouldn¡¯t just sit idly by, and that could potentially put our groups at odds with each other. And trust me when I say that if Sheriff Douglass caught you breaking into the school to aid the escape of people he has designated as prisoners there is no doubt in my mind that he would consider you a criminal and arrest you.¡± ¡°But we¡¯re in the middle of an apocalypse! There¡¯s not even any courts or things to try me!¡± ¡°Mark, you know that, and I know that, but Sheriff Douglass decidedly doesn¡¯t want to admit that. You don¡¯t get to hear the entirety of our arguments, but the man is insisting that he¡¯s going to wait for the National Guard to arrive and that he¡¯s going to have me arrested for reckless endangerment by giving weapons to kids in a school zone.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s so stupid! How will the Guard get here! There¡¯s no working vehicles except for our bus!¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the point Mark. The point is the Sheriff is scared and liable to do something he will regret, and I will not let you risk yourself on abilities that you¡¯ve had for all of a single day.¡± ¡°But dad! Haley is going crazy! We can¡¯t just abandon everyone in that school. Can we at least just get some messages in or out?¡± ¡°The Sheriff has denied me the privilege of talking with anyone else, see afore mentioned ¡®reckless endangerment¡¯ statement. And as much as I hate to say it, I¡¯m not willing to put anyone into his range of influence again, even Haley. That voice thing he has going on is a doozy, and if not for the resistances I have I wouldn¡¯t risk talking to him myself. We have to hope that he comes to his senses and realizes that we are the only help he¡¯s going to get.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°That¡¯s a stupid plan! He¡¯s stupid! He¡¯s never going to realize that!¡± ¡°Mark, look, I know this means a lot to you, but you¡¯ve never really done any spying before.¡± Mark was about to argue another point when his dad held up his hand to stop him. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what.¡± His dad took a pencil out and jotted down a note that he folded over. ¡°I¡¯ll give you fifteen minutes a day. During those fifteen minutes, I¡¯ll put this someplace nearby me, but if you can figure out what is on this note without me noticing, I¡¯ll consider your plan to go in and get a message to people. That fair?¡± Mark thought about it for awhile. It didn¡¯t seem fair, but he didn¡¯t really see any alternative. ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°K, after we do our food run, I¡¯ll give you your shot.¡± Mark immediately started planning. He was so going to show his dad that he could do this. The rest of the day went through in a blur for Mark. Every now and then some refugees would wander in and the construction continued unabated. Between helping people out Mark worked on polishing his skills and abilities. He had brought Liz up to speed on his plan to get a message in and she actually agreed with him, which was weird, but cool. She still had friends in school and thought the sheriff was a stupid head, so she was going to figure out a way to communicate with them. Of course, she had her own ideas on how to do it, and even though they weren¡¯t as good as Mark¡¯s, she kept on insisting on doing it her way. ¡°But that¡¯s stupid! Natasha is a mouse and everyone would totally freak out if they saw her. You can¡¯t send her in.¡± ¡°It¡¯s BECAUSE she¡¯s a mouse. She¡¯s tiny! She can totally sneak around better than you!¡± ¡°I can like, turn into mist and poof into places! It would take her hours just to run around to a place I can get to instantly.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll show you. I¡¯ll get the note, and then you¡¯ll be all ¡®I wish I listened to my super smart sister who is totally smarter than me, instead of trying to do my dumb plan¡¯. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure I find out what George is up to anyway.¡± ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll get the note before you and then let your friends know that your plan was stupid and I had to bail you out!¡± ¡°FINE!¡± The conversation ended with both siblings shouting at each other and getting ready to try for the note. His dad had set up in the living room and was reading a reference on leatherworking while giving Mark and Liz their shot. The note was on an end table next to him, but his eyes were firmly on his book. It was pretty quiet in the house, so Mark slowly creeped up the stairs pushing his ability into overdrive. Since he knew no one was looking, he used his Mist Escape to move silently to the kitchen and hid behind the island. ¡°Mark, you do realize that inside the house a giant wave of mist is pretty damn obvious, right? Especially when a ball of it rolls behind the kitchen island?¡± Mark cursed under his breath and stood up. ¡°Well, yeah, now that you put it that way.¡± ¡°And Liz, I appreciate that your new little friend is smarter and faster than other mice, but I swear to god that thing is louder than Barry thumping around. How much does she weight?¡± Liz poked her head down from upstairs frowning. ¡°She¡¯s not fat. She¡¯s just really solid, and probably weighs a couple pounds or something.¡± ¡°Are you kidding me? She¡¯s like the size of my palm. What the heck is she made out of.¡± ¡°Magical muscle. She can like, lift up more than her body weight too.¡± His dad just stood there for awhile dumbfounded. ¡°Well, explains why the damn things were able to get into the barn no matter what we put up in their way, but seriously, she¡¯s really loud. Also what¡¯s up with it¡¯s coat?¡± ¡°Oh that! It¡¯s what Sam made for me. I can like, put notes and stuff into the pockets and she can carry around a little pencil that I found. I figured that way I can get someone to message me with her. I¡¯m going to call it squeemail.¡± His dad closed his eyes and Mark could tell he was torn between laughing and crying. ¡°Kids, I love you both, and you both are very capable, but seriously, this was bad. You aren¡¯t coordinating, you barely have a base understanding of your skills and how they impact the environment, and you¡¯ve never really done anything this covert. Hunting is a completely different skillset, one that involves patience and being able to execute a skill at the drop of a hat. Infiltration requires you to actively exploit distractions. If this is all you have, you¡¯re not going to get close to this note.¡± His dad grabbed their prize and put it back into his pocket. ¡°We can try again tomorrow, but think about this more, because there¡¯s no way I¡¯m risking either of you getting close the to school for now. As his dad went downstairs Mark looked over at Liz. ¡°I guess we have some practicing to do. But I¡¯m still getting that note before you.¡± ¡°Yeah, maybe, but if we¡¯re going to practice maybe we should at least talk about different strategies.¡± Mark hesitated, but only for a moment. He knew Liz was smart and would probably come up with some good ideas on how to practice. In the end, his desire to win was overriden by his desire to actually succeed in this test. ¡°Sure, I was thinking about making an obstacle course, you know, like ninja warrior.¡± ¡°Not a bad idea, but if we make it have things like we might encounter in the school, that will ultimately make it more useful.¡± Mark nodded and they both went outside and got to work. Chapter 37 - Inability Liz was pretty impressed with the the evolution of the obstacle course they had managed to throw together. The platforms were built to scale and were spaced similar to the school¡¯s exterior. It gave a great platform for Mark to perform his abilities. It had been a bit of a chore to get the measurements during their last drop-off, but Dad had been a little more lax on exploring the outside of the building rather than the inside. On the plus side, Liz had the school layout in her head pretty accurately and Eddie had told them the standard sizes they should expect for building code stuff. The first day it was just a bunch of platforms and ladders but just one day and an eager Camp Randall had really helped it all come together. Liz could tell they were getting better with their skills when training on it. The only thing not coming together was actually getting the note. Yesterday when they tried a second attempt it had been almost as bad as the first. Liz was forced to admit they would need to work together to pull this off. Liz and Mark had formulated a pretty solid plan together and Liz clenched her teeth in frustration as she thought back to the attempt they had just failed at. Their combined efforts had gotten them really close, but they had actually run out of time before they had gotten to the note. Dad applauded their efforts, but didn¡¯t budge an inch on his requirements for letting them go into the school. Liz sighed and let some of the stress drain away. No sense worrying about it now. She was actually enjoying the freedom of being able to work on her skills in relative peace. The morning hunting sessions were easier and easier as people developed the skills and abilities they needed to survive in the new world. Also, they stopped doing multiple groups. Even though it took longer no one complained. Nothing even closely resembling the giant beak bear had appeared and the hunts had been relatively boring but the memory of the beast was enough to keep them from taking risks. There were still a few spots of concern in the back of Liz¡¯s mind. She pulled up her log to review the main culprit.
System Notification Zone CO80232 Bleed-off successful. Stabilization Crystal at power density level 1 Capacity reduced by 5% (54% current)
Their own zone was doing fine and their continued hunting efforts were yielding great results in terms of capacity. It was whenever they entered the area around the high school that she got nervous.
System Notification Zone CO80228 Bleed-off failed. Stabilization Crystal at power density level 1 Capacity increased by 3% (94% current)
The fact that the system was now displaying the zip codes to their respective areas lent further credence to the idea that this was somehow a group of humans helping them along. She couldn¡¯t imagine a group of aliens researching zip codes to define geographic areas. The only problem with this factoid was that if humans were building the system, then it would mean getting to 100% would probably be a really bad thing. At least, Liz would only design a display going up to 100% unless something major happened at that number. You also wouldn¡¯t put the word ¡®fail¡¯ in front of a notice unless it was a problem. Shaking her head in anger at the sheriff¡¯s refusal to see logic she turned her attention back to the obstacle course. While today¡¯s attempt failed they knew their plan was solid so the only thing to do was practice. Mark had gotten Natasha into place using his abilities, and now it was her turn. Liz had been practicing her Eyes of the Beast and it was now much improved. She could get much more information from her pets and her range had increased dramatically. With her new enhancements she could give better advice to her pet and use the feedback from the ability to help her get around the building much easier. Once she was dropped off, Natasha and Liz had no troubles successfully navigating the rest of the obstacles. She hi-fived Mark and petted Natasha in celebration. That was the first time they had run the course flawlessly in it¡¯s new iteration. They were as ready as they could get for their attempt tomorrow. Honestly, Liz worried that this was going to be the final attempt regardless, whether they succeeded or not. If that counter crossed 100% she didn¡¯t know if the new situation wouldn¡¯t require them to openly walk into a burning building instead of sneaking in under cover. Natasha created a little platform out of shadow and used it to leap up to Liz¡¯s shoulder. She smiled seeing the manifestation of her pet¡¯s ability. All her pets had started to gain increasingly impressive abilities. Liz wasn¡¯t sure if it was the mana cores they ate or her own growing ability levels causing the change. She wasn¡¯t going too worried about it though. The shadow manipulation was really cool. ¡°Who¡¯s the best spy mouse!¡± Natasha is best spy! Natasha projected lifting her arms up to indicate that yes, she was indeed the best spy mouse. ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Mark probably would have grumbled about her pets getting cool powers, but she could tell how eager he was to try and get the note. Whatever slight he felt at not developing a cool new ability during the past few days was outweighed by his need to succeed. She hoped the fact that his control on his current set of abilities had skyrocketed would help keep him focused too. ¡°We¡¯re going to rock this Mark. We¡¯ll get a message to George, and if things are bad we¡¯ll get him and everyone else out.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know, it¡¯s just no one knows what¡¯s going on there. Haley is a mess. I feel real bad for her, you know?¡± Liz did, and she knew Haley wasn¡¯t the only one worried about what was going on in the high school. Quite frankly, most of Camp Randall had expressed concern. All the other pockets of people they had found were more than willing to share information and resources, keeping the dire warnings from the system at bay by helping with hunting and organizing clearing parties. The fact that the high school was the only human stronghold near Green Mountain complicated things even further, since they were particularly close to the crystal. Tomorrow. Tomorrow they would find out what was going on inside those walls. As Liz started clearing up some of the obstacles Alana gave a caw of warning. Mark immediately turned at the sound and Moonlight dashed over to Liz. Liz put her hand on Moonlight getting ready to run if needed. Her wolf had mostly healed, and while she couldn¡¯t ride her that well, she could still hang on to her for a bit and get some distance from any immediate dangers. Looking through Alana¡¯s eyes she saw a small group of people coming up. She relaxed her grip and returned to her own senses. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Four peeps incoming!¡± She shouted, and Mom walked over to process the newcomers. It was starting to become a somewhat normal circumstance. Over the past few days another six people had filtered in from various places. She sent Moonlight back as a giant wolf was not the best welcoming committee for people looking for refuge and shelter. She wondered if she had made the right call as the group got closer. She felt that this group was off somehow. ¡°Well, lookey here Foss! We got ourselves some beauties! Armed too! So scary!¡± They said with a mocking tone as they looked over the assortment of weapons the Randall¡¯s carried. ¡°Yeah Bobby, I see. Ladies, kid, looks like you¡¯re expecting trouble. What do you say you give us those weapons so as we can help deal with that trouble for you.¡± The man, presumably named Foss, made an exaggerated motion with his wooden bat as he slung it over his shoulder. There were some nails at the end as well as some dried blood. ¡°Mom, are they trying to intimidate us?¡± Liz asked confused. The guys were all overweight and out of shape, but she knew that wouldn¡¯t necessarily mean anything these days. ¡°Can you see their levels?¡± ¡°All level one, no abilities.¡± Mom quietly replied. Her observation skills had grown over the past few days as well and the information she could get at a glance was pretty impressive. What wasn¡¯t impressive was a bunch of people with no abilities trying to threaten the most powerful individuals in Camp Randall. In fact, Liz couldn¡¯t suppress a giggle after hearing Mom¡¯s statement. ¡°You think this is funny girl?¡± Bobby said taking a short step forward and slamming his foot in an overly dramatic fashion. ¡°We need those weapons, and if you know what¡¯s good for you, you¡¯ll be nice a quick about it, or else.¡± ¡°Mom, Eddie can repair asphalt now, right?¡± ¡°Yes dear, but don¡¯t make too big a hole.¡± Mom had a pretty good idea about what was going to happen and she put a hand on Mark¡¯s shoulder to prevent him from jumping into the fray. In a smooth motion Liz pulled an arrow, fully charged it, and pathed it towards the thugs. In less than a second her arrow sped out, chopped the baseball bats being bandied about in half, flew up with a flourish, and then raced downwards into the pavement causing an impressive explosion with its remaining energy. She drew another arrow, non-charged this time. She had never shot at another person before, but she had known this situation was a possibility since day one, and she was sure as hell not going to be cowed by these thugs. She didn¡¯t know if she was prepared to kill someone, but an arrow to the knee seemed like a good way to stop someone. They certainly wouldn¡¯t be adventuring much afterwards. ¡°Heh, arrow to the knee.¡± Liz laughed at her own joke while Mark gave her a confused look. ¡°You know, they used to be bandits until they took an arrow to the knee?¡± She tried to clarify for Mark. ¡°Oh! Yeah! I remember that, good one!¡± He laughed as well remembering the meme. The would be bandits were decidedly not as amused, and in fact, a growing damp trickle down the leg of the previously blustering Bobby was a good indicator of exactly what they were feeling right now. Their eyes were darting between the large hole in the ground, their shattered weapons, and the arrow now trained on them. A few people had come over to observe the disturbance, including Dad. The thugs managed to look even more uncomfortable as they realized they were also outnumbered as well as outgunned. ¡°Uh, we didn¡¯t mean anything by that. We just thought you might have some spare weapons.¡± a now terrified Foss stuttered out. ¡°We do not. Not for your type. You will leave now, and if you try this again, or if we ever hear of you threatening others, we will find you and make sure you never have the opportunity to threaten someone again.¡± Mom said in no uncertain terms. Dad, seeing an opportunity to drive the point home further, drew a sidearm and four quick shots later all the thugs had their stump of a baseball bat shot out of their hands. Liz didn¡¯t think their eyes could pop out anymore than they had already, but they somehow managed it. ¡°I trust that my wife doesn¡¯t need to repeat herself.¡± He concluded. ¡°But, you just destroyed our weapons, and there¡¯s crazy stuff everywhere!¡± one of the nameless thugs in the back cried. ¡°You literally just threatened to beat up and steal the weapons of two teenagers and a five foot tall woman a second ago, and you have the gall to complain now?¡± A pissed off Liz spat back. Looking over the ever growing crowd, the thugs finally understood the hornet¡¯s nest they stirred up. Magic arrows, working firearms, and an armed community was way more than they had expected. They turned and ran, not even attempting a parting taunt. ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± Mom commented. ¡°What, I wouldn¡¯t expect them to actually try and fight us Mary. I mean, that would be crazy after our little demonstrations.¡± Dad plainly said. ¡°No, not that. They obviously have been wandering around for the past four days, and clearly have had some success killing creatures in the area. The longest it took anyone in our community to develop an ability, even post stabilization, was a few hours with guidance and a core. But even people who wandered in the past couple of days all had mana manipulation.¡± ¡°Yeah, but everyone has that.¡± ¡°No. They didn¡¯t have anything, including Technomancy, which we all assumed was a freebie.¡± ¡°Huh, that is interesting.¡± ¡°I know, right?¡± Mom lost herself in thought as she pondered the implications. Liz¡¯s curiosity was also piqued, but she had way too much on her plate already. When Mom figured it out she¡¯d let everyone else know, she was sure, and Liz was happy to leave that particular puzzle to someone else. Without asking, Eddie walked over to the pothole Liz had created and started applying his power. Soon the rubble reformed and the street was whole. That would have been super useful an ability to have pre-apocalypse. Potholes were so annoying. ¡°Liz, could you watch where you¡¯re aiming a bit better? Roads are getting to be bad enough without you contributing.¡± Eddie joked. ¡°Yeah, sorry, you know me. I tried to hit the broad side of the barn but the street got in the way.¡± Liz smiled back. With the interlopers chased off the mood had lightened and everyone wandered back to their tasks. She was glad they didn¡¯t have to kill the thugs. As much loss as everyone was carrying, putting murder on their backs didn¡¯t seem like a fun addition. Liz appreciated again how lucky they had been to find such a large group of people willing to come together in a peaceful way. If they had encountered more people like those thugs she wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d be willing to trust any newcomers. That thought stopped her in her tracks. ¡°Mom, what if-¡± ¡°Yes love, I think there is more than luck letting us find helpful people. Every community we¡¯ve encountered so far has been far more altruistic than the average group. Even the high school is a highly organized and supportive, if authoritarian, community. I think someone, or something, is rewarding good behavior in a much more meaningful way than we had pre-apocalypse.¡± The thought was comforting on one level, but on another, it pointed to a much scarier reality. If the system was created by people, and those people felt that you should behave a certain way, and could enforce it by changing the actual laws of the world, what would happen if they changed their mind about what was good and bad? ¡°Let''s keep this between us for now, until we have more evidence. I don¡¯t want anyone jumping to odd conclusions.¡± Liz nodded at her mom. She didn¡¯t know how to feel about this, and it would take her a bit to process it. Who created the system? Why did it reward some people and not others? What was the system supposed to do? She pondered these as she walked back towards the house in the fading twilight. She had so many questions, and the list kept on getting bigger and bigger. 100k Views Bonus Chapter coming up! Side Story 1 - Building yourself up(Eddie) Eddie started the day getting yelled at for not applying himself more, and ended it shocked in horror at the loss of everything he knew. Waking up from his stupor, he was faced with two options: wallow in his own self-loathing, or do something amazing to honor the life he was gifted.It wasn''t really an option, but what could a construction worker do in this new world filled with monsters and magic? A story about crafting and the building of the community. Side Story 2 - The Doctor is in (Mary) Mary knew how to roll with the punches, and also how to properly treat and care for people who were involved in such altrications. However, her abilities have now morphed and the science that she lived by seems to be following a new set of rules. Mary is not prone to trust anything outside her own abilities, butthe system is too useful to abandon. What balance must she strike to continue helping her family surive, but without giving too much control to a thing she doesn''t trust? A story about how people interact with the systemYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Side Story 3 - A mighty roar (Lyon) Lyon lived through a lot of crap, but this was a new world of the stuff. He was used to being the strongest person in the room in just about any circumstance, but now finds himself at the mercy of teenage girls and unicorns. He desprately seeks strength to prevent future tragedies, but power seems to elude him. Why can''t he figure this out? A story about abilities and ability development Side Story 4 - Hacked together (Jocelyn) Jocelyn was almost killed, and now is so afraid that she can barely walk outside. The world went from making sense to being completely insane in a moment, and everything she ever strived for was made moot by the loss of the computers she invested her life into understanding. Rage and fear fuel her isolation, but maybe there''s a way to get some of her own power back. Maybe there''s a way her skills can work in this new world A story about the guts of the system Side Story 5 - Friendship is Unicorn! (Elly and Biscuit) When Elly saw Biscuit, so many of her dreams came true. Little did she know that friendship with a unicorn was more than she ever could have imagined. Also, way more annoying than she figured. A story about magical creatures and how to befriend them Chapter 38 - Logging Data Mark was super pumped. They kicked those thugs butts¡¯. Well, Liz and his dad did, but Mark totally would have done something cool if they tried anything else. Mark thought about what he would have done and looked over his ever growing list of abilities.
Abilities Level
Technomancy 1
Mana Manipulation 5
Chi 6
- Infused Strike 5
- Falling Step 3
- Explosive Charm 3
- Severing Blade 3
- Yo Yo 2
Meditation 2
Stealth 3
- Mist escape 2
- Mist Clone 3
There were a lot of options and he was certain one of those things definitely would have been cool. Probably the Mist Clone. That would have freaked them out and then he would have Falling Step thrown them somewhere. Maybe he should work on trying to get that made into an actual ability. He sighed in frustration. So much to do and not enough time. Mark hadn¡¯t really focused on trying to get lots of new abilities in the past few days. He¡¯d probably could have gotten something if not for the fact that he was trying to get his throwing accuracy up. That missed shot on the giant Beak Bear was haunting him, and he never wanted to be in a position where his lack of aim caused someone to get hurt or killed. A few days and the system really helped improve his skill and after he gained a point he decided it was time to move on. Dodging around and throwing things was cool and all, but sometimes a man needed to take a stand. And Mark was a man. I mean, really, legally, in the middle ages he¡¯d be an adult, and the apocalypse was basically the middle ages, so it probably counted. Regardless, his strongest attack was his Severing Blade but he never got a chance to use it because all the stupid monsters were filled with teeth and claws. If he had a way to protect himself up close he could do a ton more damage to things, and then Liz wouldn¡¯t have to be the one solely responsible for knocking holes in all the giant monsters they faced. Mark sat and in his meditation he felt for the aura he had noticed. Since so many of his abilities seemed to depend on him shoving his awareness into different things he figured he could do the same for the space around himself. He noticed this seemed thicker when he was meditating so he might as well go for it. Mark felt like it was a lot harder to get new abilities now, and it seemed consistent with other people in camp who had multiple abilities. The more you had, the harder it was to get new ones. Mark wondered if the mysterious advancement points would eventually help with that. He was still annoyed he couldn¡¯t click those. Meditation, right. Mark took several cleansing breaths and focused on the space just beyond his skin. He was sucking everything he could from magic based mana cores and pumping it directly into the air around him. He swore that the air kept on feeling denser and denser but something just wasn¡¯t clicking. Every day it felt stronger, but it still wasn¡¯t working the way he wanted it to. He thought back to where he was first struck with the idea, literally. When the golden apes had thrown that stone, Mark felt it¡¯s presence a fraction of a second before it hit him and he knew that somehow he had slowed down the rock. He was pretty sure that was the only reason he was still alive. Mark tried to grasp that feeling again. ¡°Arrggghhh! I just can¡¯t get it!¡± Mark looked around and saw Mike walking towards the newly formed bunker with some logs. Mark didn¡¯t know Mike very well, and actually didn¡¯t think he¡¯d heard him say anything yet now that he thought about it, but he had an idea. ¡°Mike! Please, can you help me a sec?¡± Mike glanced down to the bundle of wood he was carrying in a meaningful way. ¡°Yeah, I know you¡¯re helping stock the bunker with firewood, but I need some help.¡± A curious look came across Mike¡¯s face. ¡°I need you to throw things at me. Preferably my head.¡± An eyebrow was raised. ¡°Yeah, I know, but seriously, maybe even hit me in the head a few times with your baseball bat.¡± Mark nodded to himself. That should do it. Although Mike wasn¡¯t saying anything, it was clear he was saying that Mark was crazy. ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure something out, just please help?¡± Mike stopped and put down most of the logs in the bundle he was carrying. He picked one up and gave Mark the ¡®are you sure about this¡¯ look. ¡°Yeah. Ok, give me a sec to try and solidify this aura then go to town.¡± Mark focused on the already thick layer of energy around him and closed his eyes. ¡°Ready when you are! OW! That hurt!¡± The log that smacked him in the forehead bounced off with a decent amount of force. Mike raised his hands and shook them. What the heck did Mark expect? ¡°Ok, wait, try again, this time I¡¯ll be more ready. Probably. Go for it.¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Mark heard the sound of someone slapping their palm into their forehead. ¡°Hey, no need to be rude about it. I¡¯m ready by the by. Logs away!¡± This time Mark formed an image in his head. He pictured the still thickening aura as a wall that nothing could penetrate. ¡°Ow! Blarg! Dammit that stings!¡± Mark rubbed his nose. The image clearly didn¡¯t work. Mark could not figure out why this wasn¡¯t working. What the heck was so different about the rock. Mike held up one finger indicating that this was Mark¡¯s last chance. While somewhat amusing, he really didn¡¯t have time to stand around and throw logs at someone¡¯s head. ¡°Ok. For reals. I need to you chuck the log faster. I think it needs to be more dangerous for this to work. And don¡¯t look at me like that of course I¡¯m sure.¡± Mike just rubbed his temples. ¡°Let me prep one last time, and then go to town. Remember, whale that thing at me.¡± Mark pushed his awareness out as much as he could as he entered the powerful meditative state his ability allowed. This time, he pictured his aura was a living thing that would react to danger. And logs. He pictured his aura would definitely stop those. For a split second he sensed something incoming. It was moving fast and before his mind could process his aura condensed around the point of impact and the log bounced off of his new shield.
Core Notification Ability Gained - Meditation : Shielding Aura
¡°Wohoo! It works! It works! Thanks Mike! You¡¯re the best! You chuck logs better than anyone else!¡± Mark hi-fived the less than enthusiastic Mike who went to gather up with logs and continued on with his chores. The successful obstacle course run combined with his new protective abilities gave Mark confidence that he would be ready for the infiltration. He would also totally be able to stand up to bigger monsters and use his other cool abilities. Maybe he should test it out on something other than logs first though, because if he developed an aura that only provided protection from logs he was going to be pissed. A solution to the problem presented itself almost as soon as he had the thought. ¡°Oh! Hey Liz! I need you to shoot me with arrows for a sec! Please?¡± ¡°Sure! This day rocks!¡± ********* As fun as it may have sounded, Liz wasn¡¯t going to shoot Mark unless there were some precautions taken. This included informing her parents before shooting Mark. She did not want to be part of of the conversation that started with ¡°Why does your brother have an arrow sticking through his hand.¡± After a bit of wrangling and tracking people down, Mom was present with healing potions ready and Mark had his hand extended. The experiment was to have increasing levels of force applied on the pull until they found the point where Mark¡¯s shield would fail. Liz had to admit she was pretty interested to see what her crazy brother had pulled off this time. As she prepared her shot she thought about her own progress over the past few days.
Abilities Level
Technomancy 1
Mana Manipulation 2
Archery Arts 5
- Power Shot 4
- Pathing Shot 5
- Mana Arrow 3
- Elemental Arrow 2
Animal Taming 5
- Eyes of the beast 4
She grinned at her list as Mark got ready. Her leveled up Magic Arrow cost a fraction compared to when she first started and it combined beautifully with her newly discovered elemental arrows. Fed up with things being able to outrun her, she spent the past two days fixated finding a way to slow things down. Animal taming provided the answer, and by studying the effects of her pets natural abilities she had figured out how to apply those powers to her arrows. It all came together recently and she could now shoot arrows infused with ice that would stop most things in their tracks. It didn¡¯t appear to use moisture from the air either, which was convenient considering how dry Colorado was. The only downside was that after a few seconds the ice would just vanish. Still, that was more than enough time to get some distance or a Power Shot off. If only she had been able to get animal riding figured out. A few attempts on Moonlight without the aid of an Ability let her know magical wolf riding was not something normal people could do. The speed and power that a magical creature had was way more than she could handle. A saddle might make it possible, but the lack of anyone with saddlery skills made that a moot point. ¡°Ready when you are sis!¡± Mark interrupted her reverie holding his hand out. ¡°First test, one pound draw.¡± Mom stated calmly as Liz held her bow pretty much right up to Mark¡¯s hand. One pound probably wouldn¡¯t pierce someone wearing a pair of gloves but Mom had insisted at starting at the very beginning. A soft thud later and Mark frowned. ¡°That was boring. Let¡¯s go to ten!¡± ¡°Second test, five pound draw.¡± Mom droned. ¡°Comon Mom! Just let Liz shoot me with an arrow already!¡± Mom¡¯s reply was a withering glare. ¡°Or we can test a little bit at a time, but hurry up Liz. This is boring and I can totally take more.¡± He grinned maniacally. ¡°Here we go, five pound draw.¡± Liz took a few steps back since her arrow would actually travel some distance this time. With a soft clink it bounced off Mark¡¯s hand. ¡°Not a scratch! See!¡± ¡°Third test, ten pound draw.¡± Mom continued to ignore Mark as she jotted down her observations. Liz was using purely wooden arrows at the moment. They had points but mom insisted on using the basics before branching out into anything with more penetration power. Even so, a ten pound draw generated some decent speed. That would absolutely go through someone¡¯s hand if it was unprotected. Liz involuntarily winced as the arrow thunked into Mark¡¯s hand. ¡°Hah! Nada! Totally fine! Bring it on!¡± ¡°Fourth test, fifteen pound draw.¡± Mom¡¯s monotone was a stark contrast to Mark¡¯s exclamations of joy. Liz was torn between trying to be calm and giggling at the absurdity of shooting arrows at Mark. Sure, she dreamed of doing this from time to time, but she never really planned on shooting him full of arrows. Regardless, in for a penny, in for pound, or fifteen pounds as the case may be. The arrow actually shattered as it hit Mark¡¯s hand. ¡°Hmm, I actually felt that one. Also, I think that actually did some damage to my armor.¡± He held his hand up to his face. ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s totally a scratch on the aura. That¡¯s so weird. Let me reset it. Okay, good to go again. Let¡¯s do this!¡± The next fifteen minutes were oddly cathartic for Liz. The tried shooting him in various different body parts and at varying strengths. They even tested out Mana Arrows and her new elemental shots. It was pretty funny seeing him encased in Ice. It dissipated before it was able to do give him frostbite but apparently he felt the cold. The end results showed that Mark basically had a protective shell that could block anything short of a full strength draw from Liz, and even then it would barely scratch him. Mark had wanted to try out the Power Shots but Mom put a stop to that pretty quickly. We had already measured the damage those things could do, and regardless of Mark¡¯s wishful thinking, it was way more than his shield could handle. ¡°But still, this is so cool, I totally have magic armor!¡± ¡°Mark, I love you, but this is not an excuse to try and get in front of things that may harm you. I¡¯m relieved you have some more protection but you still need to be careful out there.¡± Mom tried to rein him in. Mark was about to say something but then stopped. He looked oddly pensive. At least, it that pensive look seemed odd to Liz. He really didn¡¯t look that way very often so it was a strange face to see on him. ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re right. But we don¡¯t really have any tanks yet. I¡¯m totally more melee and mid range DPS now. Some util and support thrown in too. At most I¡¯d be an off-tank. I¡¯ll be careful.¡± ¡°I have no idea what you just said, but I think we¡¯re on the same page.¡± Mom smiled. ¡°Now, both of you get some food and get to bed. Tomorrow should be a big day. I know how hard you¡¯ve been working on your obstacle course. I¡¯m looking forward to seeing if you can get that damned paper from your dad tomorrow.¡± ¡°Mom? Really? I¡¯d think you wouldn¡¯t be that into this.¡± ¡°Normally, probably not. I don¡¯t like the thought of you putting yourself at risk but observing you both these past few days has been nothing short of amazing. Haley is at the end of her rope and I think hearing news about how George is doing would do a world of good for her. I can¡¯t believe your dad isn¡¯t getting more updates from the sheriff, especially since he still insists on being the only one who can talk to him. It will be good to get more information for everyone¡¯s sake. Also, if it means he stops being so damn smug about how super perceptive he is, you both have my blessing. I swear, if he brags about that one more night...¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Mom, I think we¡¯ll be able to help you out there then.¡± Liz smiled. Tomorrow they would get the paper, infiltrate the school, and figure out what was going on. Chapter 39 - Updates Upgrades and Uploads Mark woke up the next morning in a great mood. He had cool new abilities, was doing awesome with his stealth stuff, and was totally going to get the paper that dad had. As he started going through his morning routine he got another piece of awesomeness delivered to him via the system.
System Notification Ability System updated. >>
Mark¡¯s eyes widened as he saw the little brackets. That meant selectable text! He quickly tried to expand the window.
<< Ability System Updated Abilities that leverage multiple pools have been optimized to fit user preferences in pool utilization. Non-Magic pool primaries should benefit heavily from these c $str(¡®trying to get everything up can¡¯t fit lrg msg in mem if Admin & alive come to loc4¡¯)
Well, that was a little bit messed up. Mark didn¡¯t quite know what to make of that message. Someone really needs to fix the text stuff because that was just sloppy. The second half was just confusing. He wasn¡¯t sure if the system was asking for help or what, but he guessed it was probably worth noting down for the future. Looking at the first part again Mark figured Liz would be happy. She was complaining constantly about how much it sucked that her mental pool was useless compared to her magic. Wait, that meant his pools were no longer as awesome. This was totally a nerf! He rushed outside to check out how everything was working. A morning of testing revealed that the updates were not actually a nerf. Mark¡¯s abilities were all more efficient, and drew from his other pools in a much more balanced way. Overall, it was the same number of points, but because it was spread out a bit more, he was able to sustain things for longer. The morning hunt and general chores went much more smoothly because of this. Liz in particular was ecstatic. She was finally able to keep her abilities activated a heck of lot better than before. ¡°Eh, magic pools, who needs em?¡± Mark just grumbled. He didn¡¯t mind that she was able to dish out a ton more shots, but it was still kinda annoying. He had been totally ok with having the most mana. He guessed it was good overall. At the end of the day, more efficiency across the board meant better survivability, and Mark was appreciating that a lot more. Plus, he still could use more abilities in a row compared to Liz, even if her mental pool was huge, because mana was just more important in general. Eat that Liz. The morning crawled along and Mark was starting to get anxious as the time for the note grab was coming up. He knew they were really well prepared, but he was worried that they might be too late to do anything helpful. When they went for their dropoff the crystal capacity was at 95%, and if they didn¡¯t get the people in the school to start doing some more clearing it was a given that they would hit that 100% mark. They needed to be warned if they hadn¡¯t figured it out yet themselves. It was possible that they were still clueless about it too. The message didn¡¯t pop up unless you actually entered a zone, and as stationary as the high school crew was, they may not have done that for days. Guess there was nothing to do but keep moving forward. The designated time for the note grab came up and Mark suddenly wished there was more time. He was suddenly hit with a case of butterflies in his stomach and started to doubt everything they had practiced. Maybe they should try a new strategy. Maybe they could just convince his dad. He nervously started to clench and unclench his hands as he imagined how everything could suddenly go wrong. ¡°Comon Mark, just like we practiced. This will be a piece of cake.¡± Liz was obviously trying to calm him down but it wasn¡¯t working. ¡°Seriously, how can you be so optimistic about things that you¡¯ve never tried before and for the thing that we¡¯ve actually practiced tons for you flip out?¡± Mark mumbled in vague agreement not really paying attention to Liz and went over the rules in his head one more time. He couldn¡¯t be seen, even in clone form. That came up on the second day when his dad pointed out even shadow versions of Mark being seen would tip off the sheriff and potentially cause issues between the communities. Mark suggested wearing a mask but his dad insisted that not being seen, period, was the only way to go. He couldn¡¯t blow anything up either, and that was a bummer. It was so much easier than sneaking into a place and was a great distraction. Still, no explosions. Lastly, no hurting people, that was just a given. Reviewing their strategy one more time they went into action. The entire camp had taken to watching the antics of Mark and Liz during these past few days. After the construction of the obstacle course, his dad had taken to setting up a lawn chair in one of the random ¡®hallways¡¯ we had set up. When everyone asked what was going on, the story of the note was told. People were more than happy to help built out more of the obstacle course at that point and a few even took to participating by walking around the course to provide additional challenge. For most people it was a welcome distraction and, without TV, was the best show in town. Mark glanced over at George¡¯s mom before starting the run. Haley stood at the sidelines biting a finger in anxiety. For her it wasn¡¯t entertainment. For her it was peace of mind in knowing her only child was ok. Several other members of the camp who also had ties to people in the school adopted similar stances. Mark wasn¡¯t just doing this for himself, he had a lot of people counting on him. He wasn¡¯t going to let them down. Liz looked over to their mom and gave a thumbs up. Mark gave his affirmative to the mix and their mom turned over a recently constructed hourglass. It was go time. Liz kicked things off by sending Alana up to scout. Her abilities with Eyes of the Beast had evolved a lot over the past few days and she could now jump between pets incredibly fast. This was key to the next part of their plan. Spotting an opening, Liz whispered to Mark. ¡°West side, entrance fourteen, clear for a bit.¡± Mark literally leaped into action. A puff of mist was all that revealed he had moved to the selected entrance. Without making a single sound, he placed Natasha onto the wooden ramp that replicated the air conditioning ducts inside the school. Liz swapped her vision between both Alana and Natasha as she guided Mark back out. His job wasn¡¯t quite over, but it was Natasha¡¯s turn now. Mark crossed his fingers and hoped that Natasha wouldn¡¯t make too much noise. Their first few attempts were disastrous as they learned how much noise a small creature that weighed disproportionate amounts could make. With Liz¡¯s help Natasha had learned to walk quietly. After constant practicing, Liz had learned that Natasha could actually manipulate shadow like a physical substance. She couldn¡¯t do much more than coat her paws in the stuff, but that still made a world of difference. Natasha could now walk on little shadow pads that helped keep the noise level down, and in a pinch, could use it to extend her little claws. Considering how strong the mouse was, that meant she could literally tear her way into all sorts of places now. That would come in handy for the last part of this test. Minutes crept by as Natasha slowly made her way to the target area. At this point, Liz was doing most of the work, as she guided Natasha through the predicted movements of the people walking around their course. The replica school was not as enclosed, but still provided a wealth of passageways and cover that Natasha was able to leverage effectively with Liz¡¯s guidance. Without that help, Natasha was usually discovered almost immediately. Mark thought the course also made a really cool playground, and when not doing this test the other kids would play around it. They had some epic games of hide and seek there. It helped the kids develop skills too. His mind snapped back to the present as he saw a land on a nearby tree. That was his signal! It was Mark¡¯s turn again. Looking to where Alana was, he stealthily appeared in the tree beside her. He patted Alana on the side, and started his count. This was the trick they had figured out to try and get that last bit that eluded them on their previous attempt. Mark rocked the branches back and forth while Alana made loud squawking noises. This caused pretty much everyone in their fake school to take notice. Dad decided to play along and got up to check out the commotion. That''s when Natasha, who was waiting nearby, pulled apart the hollowed log she was hiding behind to snatch the note. Liz made sure to read it and place it back with no one the wiser. A few harrowing seconds later, Natasha was ready for extraction and Mark bounced around to the opposite side of the course. He held a hand out for the successful spy mouse and delivered her back to Liz. "So what did it say?" Liz smiled. "No. You do not get to keep it a secret. You have to tell me." His dad had wandered over at this point and looked over at them. "That was really well done kids. I honestly did not see anything happen with the note. You got in and got out without a hitch, which is a heck of a lot better than anything you''ve done prior. So my only question is did you see what was in the note?" Liz rolled her eyes. "Yes, and that was the lamest thing Dad. Seriously." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "What! What did it say?" Mark was starting to get a little frantic as his curiosity tried to excavate itself from his skull and throttle Liz until she told him the answer. His dad saved him the trouble by handing him the nondescript piece of paper. After Mark read it he understood Liz''s eye roll. Looking over to his dad he said in a pained voice. "Really dad? That was the note." "It seemed appropriate." Mark sighed. It was appropriate, but still. He guessed he shouldn''t have figured anything else. Reading over the note one more time to make sure that he had it right he spoke the words aloud in the most obnoxious voice he could. "Fine. You can go try and contact George." Still, he was totally going to do that now. ********* Liz was a bit peeved at the message but excited at the prospect of finally getting more information about what was going on in the school. Four days wasn''t that long in the greater scheme of things but for time post-apocalypse it felt like an eternity. In four days she had gone from barely being able to see through the eyes of her pets to being able to feel everything and bounce around almost instantly. She went from hardly being able to hit a moving target to creating mystical arrows from thin air and hitting moving targets the size of a thimble. She shuddered to think what could have happened over four days inside a school where a man who could control people''s actions with his voice was in control. At least now she would know. She went to her room and started preparing her things. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. Liz went over her list a few more times just to make sure she had it down pat when a knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. Most people didn''t spent much time in the house, especially since they got the outdoor kitchen setup, so it was strange to hear the knock. Not knowing what to expect Liz hesitantly walked over to her door. "Who is it?" "It''s me. Jocelyn. Uh, I really needed to ask for some advice, and I knew you were here, so sorry to bug you, but do you have a minute?" a very hesitant voice replied through the door. "Sure..." Liz opened the door and let Jocelyn in. Her eyes were darting back and forth in a manner that scream ''I shouldn''t be doing this'' make Liz a little nervous about her decision. Her curiosity always got the better of her though, and this was certainly an interesting development. Jocelyn had not been participating much in the community to date. After her dramatic arrival, she spent most of her time holed up in the house and was very hesitant to go out for any reason. Liz knew she was a computer nerd in school, so this was somewhat expected, but everyone in the camp also knew that they needed to be pulling their weight. The kids were mostly an exception but there were still a lot of non-combat related things that needed to be done and everyone was pitching in. Everyone except Jocelyn. Since she was legitimately traumatized everyone had been giving her some space, so this proactive step was unexpected. "What''s up?" Liz ventured, trying to sound casual as she took a seat on her bed. "Look, I know you''ve been working on doing stuff to get more info on what''s going on with the school, and that everyone is doing tons of work to help make things work out, but this has all been really weird for me." Liz didn''t know what to say about that, so she just stood silent waiting for Jocelyn to continue. "And I know I haven''t really been pulling my weight recently. There''s so much going on and it''s all kinda overwhelming, and I was never really into physical activity stuff and that''s like everything that needs to get done." Jocelyn was pacing back and forth at this point, working herself up to do something. It didn''t seem like she was going to be violent so Liz stuck to her plan of just listening for now. Jocelyn raised her hands up and ran them through her short cropped hair. "It''s just, I only really worked with computers. You know? That''s like, everything I did. I thought..." Jocelyn looked like she was about to cry but pushed forward. ¡°I thought it was all over. That I would just die and get eaten by one of those things that was spawning. I was just waiting to die when you got me back here. Then I was alive, and I didn¡¯t know what to do. I couldn¡¯t go back out there, not with those things everywhere. I¡¯m not like you. I can¡¯t shoot a bow or throw a knife or anything really. I just know how to code, and stuff.¡± Jocelyn¡¯s frantic pacing had stopped at this point and she walked over to Liz¡¯s desk. On it stood her defunct computer and a makeup mirror. Neither had gotten much use over the past few days. Jocelyn grabbed the laptop, and then plugged it into the mirror. Liz opened her mouth to say something but her brain refused to move past the part where someone just plugged her non-functional laptop into a mirror. ¡°What. How. Mirror.¡± was all she managed. Jocelyn just continued along and waited until a set of messages started to appear in the mirror. ¡°So, I thought, everyone was doing stuff they were good at, but I only was good at computers. After your Dad got his gun working and that bus driver came around, it got me thinking. Maybe I could get something working too. I started sneaking into your room to test things out, and I did it. I got it working. But it¡¯s all weird.¡± Jocelyn¡¯s fingers flew across the keyboard and Liz struggled to keep up. She accepted that in light of the context just given, using a computer program was possible, but she was still a little hung up on the whole plugging the computer into the mirror thing. ¡°Here. Here¡¯s where I got. I can¡¯t change anything. Not for real. I can just mess around with the text in the basic interface. All the data is stored remotely and I write to it through the available API¡¯s. That or I don¡¯t have the right cert. Still, I got here.¡± She pointed to the mirror which showed a bunch of text. ¡°There¡¯s this one place where I can upload stuff that doesn¡¯t really do anything, but I think¡­ I think that if I can write a file to that location, maybe I can talk to the people who made this system.¡± Liz¡¯s eyes tried to escape from their sockets as she processed the information Jocelyn had just dumped on her. She didn¡¯t get the acronyms or the storage stuff, but she did understand the gravity of being able to leave a message to the people who made the system. That was a pretty major game changer. ¡°I got the idea with the last message. It was so human, you know? It was like someone was hijacking a system to do something else, but they didn¡¯t have enough access or something? Not sure, but I figured if someone else was hacking it, so could I, and that¡¯s when I got the Hacking ability. Is that okay? I mean, I¡¯m sorry for using your computer and stuff but I didn¡¯t know what else I should be doing and it was a safe place, you know?¡± Liz could only nod. Her mind was racing. There were so many things she wanted to know about what was going on. So many questions she had. ¡°Have you seen anything or contacted them in any way yet?¡± Jocelyn shook her head. ¡°I was afraid. I¡¯m not sure if I wanted to draw their attention to the fact that I can sorta kinda hack their system.¡± Liz stood up and started some pacing of her own. She ran probabilities and risks around her head. She shuffled through scenarios. Her mind went into overdrive thinking about possible outcomes but in the end one overriding fact conquered all her doubts. ¡°You should send a message. We have to know what¡¯s going on. If someone know¡¯s what¡¯s coming next, or can help us in any way, that could literally mean the difference between life and death for everyone here. You could be the only one on the planet who can help us figure out what¡¯s going on right now.¡± She stopped her pacing and put her hands on Jocelyn¡¯s shoulders to drive home the point. ¡°But what should I say?¡± Jocelyn was obviously torn. She didn¡¯t want to be thrust into the limelight and she seemed really worried about the potential consequences to her actions. ¡°Ask them what¡¯s going on, and what we can do to help other people. Just that. We¡¯ll see if it works.¡± Liz wanted to ask a million more questions. She wanted to know who the people who made the system were. She wanted to know how long they knew the world was going to end. She wanted to know if they ended the world themselves, but each of those questions was secondary to basic survival. If it turned out that the Admin¡¯s were friendly, those other questions would get answered. For now, the path of least risk seemed to be the best course of action to take. ¡°Are you willing to do that? For all of us?¡± Liz asked intensely. The doubt faded from Jocelyn¡¯s eyes. ¡°Yeah. If it means saving more people, I can do it.¡± ¡°How on earth did you manage to hide all this from my Mom, if you don¡¯t mind me asking? Something like Hacking would pop up on her radar like nobody¡¯s business.¡± ¡°Well, that was the first thing I played around with. There¡¯s a setting you can toggle to set data to public or private. I think your mom is reading what people are setting to public on their user interfaces, and I decided to set all my Ability related stuff to private. I tried asking other people about it, but I don¡¯t think the interface for that is enabled for everyone else yet. I could just do it by sending an updated UI config to the main system. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was ready to do anything with it and didn¡¯t really want your mom knowing about it.¡± Jocelyn looked down at her feet in trying to avoid eye contact. ¡°Huh, I have no idea what you just said, other than the fact that people may be able to hide stuff is really useful. Do you mind if I tell my mom about this now? She will totally want to ask you more questions, but I think that it can help everyone.¡± ¡°Ok, I think I¡¯m ready. Maybe. Maybe can you come with me when I talk to her? She¡¯s really scary.¡± ¡°I get that, I really do, but she¡¯s really caring, and crazy smart, and she will know what to do with your ability better than anyone else I could think of.¡± ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll be mad at me?¡± ¡°Sweetie, she will love you to pieces. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Liz was burning up with intensity right now thinking about what things they could learn, but Mom would probably be twice as stoked. Liz was honestly concerned that her mom would keep Jocelyn working until they both collapsed, but she would head that off before it became a problem. Not everyone could work ER Doctor hours. Liz was looking forward to tomorrow even more. So many answers were so close, it would be amazing if she managed to sleep at all. Chapter 40 - Weight of the world Mark wasn¡¯t very well rested. His sleep was disturbed constantly as he ran through practice runs in his head. Everything would seem like it was going well and then something awful would happen. His mind took him on fanciful journey to the implausible and ridiculous but he couldn¡¯t stop. In one scenario he walked in on a surprise party where everyone mistook him for the birthday boy. In other versions he forgot to bring clothing and was doing the mission naked. Every now and then a particularly vivid flash of the zombies Liz had spotted to the north came in and invaded right in the middle of their attempt. Those sucked the most, but all of them kept him from a good night¡¯s sleep.
System Warning Mana Storm (Class B) Approaching
Suggested Actions Clear till 10% capacity availability. If unavailable, please update stabilization crystals for additional levels of capacity.
Estimated Arrival 00d:14h:02m:41s
¡°Oh you just got to be kidding me!¡± Mark complained. Like he needed something else to worry about today. At least class B probably wasn¡¯t that bad, but the capacity thing worried him. He knew that the Green Mountain Jungle Zone didn¡¯t have that much room. GMJZ was a horrible acronym though. Maybe he should call it the Golden Jungle since the golden apes seemed to be the main creature there, also Golden Colorado was like, right there. Possibly the Golden Biome. Nah, it had to have jungle in there somewhere. Now wasn¡¯t the time to worry about that though, since it was all probably going to blow up unless they did something. If nothing else, they could warn the school. Mark rushed out to see if anyone else was awake. Hopefully someone would have some insight into what was going on. It turned out that most people were already out and about. Whether it was the latest system warning or the fact that today was the day they would attempt to contact people inside the school, everyone was already on edge. Mark asked if anyone had seen Liz, feeling guilty that he probably only knew half the people¡¯s names, but needing to talk to someone about what was going on. It didn¡¯t take too long for Mark to realize that it was actually stupidly early, and Liz was probably still in bed. He sat down for a second to calm himself down. He had wasted a half hour rushing around pointlessly and he was pretty angry at himself for that. He plopped down on one of the new picnic tables that the camp had constructed and tried to order his thoughts. With so many things going on it was easy for him to forget about the bigger picture, and just focus on what was next, but he knew he had to be better. He had to try to get focused more. He had to be improve. His thoughts were interrupted with a large slap to his back. ¡°Hey son, you look down. What¡¯s up?¡± His dad said as he sat down next to him. ¡°Was that a pun?¡± ¡°Only if you want it to be. But seriously, you look troubled. What¡¯s on your mind?¡± Mark laid out his recent thoughts and they came tumbling out of his mouth in one vomitous streak. He barely paused for breath as he laid out all his concerns and worries. At the end of it he took a deep shuddering breath and looked to his dad for some guidance. Honestly, he was feeling a little lost right now. His dad didn¡¯t seem to be expecting quite the level of emotion that Mark just displayed and had a complicated expression on his face. Mark didn¡¯t quite know what to expect, but it certainly wasn¡¯t what happened next. ¡°Hahaha! Oh my god Mark. You¡¯re a treat!¡± Mark was utterly confused. He didn¡¯t think that anything he said was funny. To him it was the opposite. His dad¡¯s treatment of his concern with laughter started to annoy him quite a bit. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re laughing at me. I¡¯m serious! I should be doing a lot more and you¡¯re laughing at me because I¡¯m not? What¡¯s the matter with you!¡± His dad sobered up at that statement and looked Mark in the eyes. ¡°Mark, I have no doubt that you are serious about what you said, but trust me. Seriously, trust me. You do not have to worry about everything. I¡¯m sorry for laughing at you just then, you just took me by surprise. I thought you were worried about your plan, or the warning, or maybe just a strange thought you had, because that¡¯s what usually gets you. I laughed because there¡¯s a really simple solution for you in the near term, and I didn¡¯t expect to actually have an answer that could help you.¡± ¡°But what? There¡¯s like a million things I need to do and I can barely keep track of one.¡± Mark said in a pained voice. His dad put an arm around him and pulled im into a hug. ¡°Mark. That¡¯s just it. You keep track of the next thing. The most important thing. The thing in front of you. That¡¯s what you do. That¡¯s what you¡¯re awesome at. I¡¯ve never seen someone focus on something with such single minded intensity as you chasing a goal. That¡¯s what we need from you now. You realize you went from knowing nothing about your powers to basically becoming a ninja in a week? Sure, Liz has been doing amazing stuff with her archery, but that was building off her experiences. Hell, even with me and guns it¡¯s just doing what I¡¯ve always been doing. You have literally created and mastered a set of magical abilities to a level where you can infiltrate a location unseen and magically float away in a cloud of mist. That is amazing. You realize that, right?¡± ¡°But, I can¡¯t keep track of all the other stuff. I can¡¯t even remember the names of the people in the camp! They probably all think I¡¯m a jerk!¡± ¡°They do not. I can promise you that. They know we¡¯re all in this together. You, me, your sister, your mom, and everyone in camp. You know that, right?¡± Mark nodded. ¡°And all the stuff you just said. All that worry, it¡¯s just. How do I say this. Mark, we got your back. Mom is a brilliant organizer, as is your sister. I¡¯ve literally been planning for this for years. We have people doing everything they can to support us, and you¡¯re doing your best to support them. You¡¯ve probably cleared out ten times as many monsters as anyone else here, and you¡¯ve worked your butt of so Haley can get word on George. Everyone sees your efforts son. Everyone knows what you contribute. But maybe it¡¯s time you take a look at what everyone else is doing.¡± His dad paused and lifted his chin pensively. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a plan. You do not have to do this all by yourself Mark. You need to know that, because I can see the stress is killing you.¡± ¡°I guess?¡± Mark was still unsure. ¡°I know. Let¡¯s go see how everyone is doing.¡± Mark passed the rest of the morning greeting everyone, and even remembering a few names here and there. The camp had settled into a routine, and he started to notice things he hadn¡¯t seen before. The laundry groups, the people getting furniture from nearby houses, the groups who processed the meat and tagged the cores. There was even a place that was processing a ton of leather. Mark had wondered what was happening with those experiments. Apparently one of the stay-at-home mom¡¯s had gotten an anti-smell ability, and that why Mark hadn¡¯t noticed any tanning going on. It was a strange ability, but walking into the area not protected by it he was suddenly very glad that she had managed to find a way to prevent the smell from spreading. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Seeing how everyone was pitching in, Mark¡¯s mind settled into a much more peaceful state. Sure, he was only focused on the thing in front of him, but as his dad said, he was really good at that. He couldn¡¯t make things not stink. He couldn¡¯t sew at all. Well, maybe a button, but that was only one time and it fell out the next day, but technically that meant he actually did know how to sew, but that wasn¡¯t the point. The point was that Mark had been so caught up in trying to be better, he didn¡¯t stop to notice how everyone else was contributing to share the load. He knew what he needed to do. He still needed to be better, but he just needed to be the best Mark he could be, and the community would shore up his weak points. Also, Liz would probably point out his weak points, because she was annoying like that. It wouldn¡¯t get him down though, because he knew the rest of the camp had his back. By mid-morning Mark¡¯s mental state had turned around completely. ¡°Thanks Dad. I needed that.¡± ¡°No problem son, it¡¯s pretty much what I do. Remember, you are a huge part of all of this. Without you we wouldn¡¯t have gotten this far this fast. You just worry about being the best Mark you can be.¡± His dad chuckled to himself. ¡°Because, honestly son, I love you a ton, but my god, if we were depending on you for long term planning we¡¯d all be living in trees because you randomly thought it would be fun to make tree houses.¡± ¡°You are so right! We should totally start making tree houses. That would be awesome!¡± ¡°Mark, that wasn¡¯t what I... You know what, you do you, but leave the urban planning to me and your mother. Now go get some food. We¡¯re heading out to the school in a bit and it wouldn¡¯t do to reveal your position with a growling stomach.¡± Mark nodded and wandered off to find food in a much better mood and visions of a tree house city dancing through his head. ********* ¡°Liz!¡± *knock knock knock* ¡°Liz! Are you awake? I need to talk to you. Please?¡± Liz¡¯s eyes attempted to fight the enormous pressure keeping them closed and slowly but surely she won. An eye half cracked open looked towards the offensive door. She called out asking who was knocking. ¡°Mphmbrrmblnmm¡± ¡°Liz, I know it¡¯s early, but I did the thing you told me, and I got a response, and I don¡¯t know what to do next.¡± The thought of finally getting answers sent enough of a jolt to Liz¡¯s brain that both eyes were able to temporarily overcome the terrible downward force keeping them closed. ¡°Mhmmmm. Sec.¡± Liz oozed out of bed and lay on the floor for a moment. She would need to stand up, she supposed. She would just close her eyes for a moment to steel herself and then figure out whatever else she needed to. ¡°Liz? Are you awake? It¡¯s been like five minutes. Is everything ok?¡± Jocelyn¡¯s voice whispered fiercely again as she rapped her knuckles on the door. Realization finally hit Liz. The message Jocelyn had sent was most likely from the system creators and that spurred Liz to bolt upright. ¡°I¡¯m awake! For reals! Awake now!¡± She stumbled over herself in a rush to get the door trying to shake the last tendrils of sleep from her mind. As she opened it Jocelyn was standing there looking nervous, cradling her arm and casting furtive glances down the hall. She seemed incredibly uncomfortable. ¡°Come in.¡± Liz stepped aside letting her enter. Jocelyn glanced nervously around the room. Dark bags were clear on her face and red veins stood out angrily in the whites of her eyes. Liz was about to ask if she was ok, but it was pretty obvious she was not. Rather than make small talk she decided to just get right to the point. ¡°What did they say?¡± Jocelyn didn¡¯t speak, and instead walked over to Liz¡¯s laptop. She plugged it into her makeup mirror and started to boot-up the laptop. Seriously though, what the heck was she plugging in and where did that cable come from. It was driving Liz crazy, but she stood silent as she waiting for whatever was going to happen next. Fortunately, whatever Jocelyn¡¯s was doing took very little time and after a few keystrokes she stood up. ¡°Read it. Just read it. I don¡¯t know what to do.¡± Liz could barely breathe as she sat down to read the message.
[OMG i am so glad someone is out there, although I can;t tell you how many security protocols this is probably breaking. The boss would freak if he knew people could do this. Ok,mq typing quick cause so much to do not much time. We can trade text files back and forth, should be fine. I jr admin on the System protocol call me Eversor its my handle i found a lot of bugs and it stuck. dont ask, boss has thing for latin/ god so much crap going on. System not booted fully stuoud mana wave way early. missing ha;f the main systems but we have a patch to at least get messaging up. no other admins in house to do PR request so need someone to approve god i hope they are still alive out there. I can¡¯t change your security level, but I think I can piggyback on a stabilization crystal mod. If you can gfet asccess to crystal admin, I can get you to approve my checkin since it¡¯s only for messaging doesn¡¯t require top level admin and crystqal mod high enveough to do that. jesus just read message so many errors sorry tired not slept for like 4 days and no spel checkler on flat text interface for system. I¡¯d kill to get vim on this thing. ok fer serious here. Get to a crystal, access admin, closest one to admin unlock is CO80228. Looks like its gonna bloow tonight. Get there before it blows, i¡¯ll add in apporval to msg system update, if you approve checkin, i get that running and we can let people know what the f is going on. will sleep for a few now, can¡¯t stay awake, ill get it added, plese please let me jknow that you can do this or we¡¯re further screwrd. people need to know how to dael with the system and i have barely enough juice to hihjack system notifications.]
Liz read and re-read the message, trying to understand exactly what it was saying.It didn¡¯t make a who lot of sense to her though. ¡°Jocelyn, please tell me you understand what this means? It sounds like whoever is typing needs someone to get to a crystal to help fix something though?¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean, assuming it¡¯s talking code and stuff, I think he¡¯s asking me to approve a PR so he can patch some systems on prod.¡± ¡°Again, one more time, but in English please?¡± ¡°Ok, sorry, just gimmie a sec.¡± Jocelyn sat down on Liz¡¯s bed and pulled her thoughts together. ¡°The system is probably some massive code thing, but it¡¯s not on a computer. At least, not like a computer we know. I mean, I¡¯m accessing it by shoving mana into a makeup mirror so yeah, this is not a standard development environment. And a PR is a pull request, which is something that you do if you¡¯re working on a big project and you want to put code you wrote into the main system. Basically it¡¯s a way to prevent people shoving bad code into the system until someone else looks it over to make sure it¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°So this person wants to fix some of the systems and needs your help to do it?¡± ¡°Yeah, apparently there is some sort of access panel or something at the crystal and if I get there, he said he can send the request to that place and then he can fix the system, or at least part of the system.¡± Liz thought about it for a while. ¡°I guess the question is can we trust this person, or I guess it could be anything, at the other side of this message? What if he¡¯s trying to get control of it and is really just an evil jerkface?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know Liz. But if what he¡¯s saying is true, how many people will die because they don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on. If there¡¯s information that can save lives sitting around in a magical box somewhere, and it just needs for me to click a button to fix it, if they die it will be all my fault. What should I do?¡± Tears started to flow down Jocelyn¡¯s face. Liz didn¡¯t have an answer for now, so she just sat down next to Jocelyn to give her a hug. ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out. We still have some time and the evenings have been relatively quiet. Even if we decide to trust this message and have to make it out to Green Mountain it should be pretty clear.¡± Just then, a warning about a Manastorm popped into her view. ¡°Oh my god system, you are such a jerk!¡± Dammit, she knew better than to jinx herself, but she was just trying to make Jocelyn feel better. ¡°Ok, new plan. Let¡¯s talk to my mom. She¡¯s crazy smart and this is just too much for us to decide on our own. I know you wanted to keep quiet about this, but I think it¡¯s bigger than what we can handle by ourselves, okay?¡± Jocelyn nodded. ¡°Great. Let¡¯s go.¡± Liz found herself relieved. As strong as she considered herself, she wasn¡¯t quite ready to make decisions that could impact the entire human race yet. That¡¯s what moms were for. Chapter 41 - Leap before you look ¡°How long did it take him to reply back?¡± Mary asked. ¡°Uh, a couple hours. It definitely wasn¡¯t immediate¡± a timid Jocelyn replied. Liz had forced her mom away from her experiments to come up and read the garbled message from the system admin. As Mom took control of the situation Liz immediately felt some of the burden drift away. This was heavy stuff, and as much as Liz wanted to think she could handle anything, this troubled her more than she cared to admit. ¡°How can you be so sure it¡¯s a guy?¡± Liz questioned, noting Mom¡¯s use of the pronoun. ¡°Looking at the tone, style, and experience I¡¯ve had working with developers. Also, the person is referencing a ton of specifically human procedures and actions. While it¡¯s possible that a female, or something else entirely, is trying to communicate with us, it makes a lot more sense if it¡¯s from a human male. I assume you¡¯ve considered the worst case?¡± ¡°That he¡¯s actually an insane person trying to use us to take control of the system and rule the earth as his plaything?¡± ¡°Yes, that would be about the worst. I don¡¯t think this is the case though. It¡¯s possible that this person is exceptionally clever and is trying to catch us off guard, but there would be many better ways to gain our trust if that was the case. The immediate call to action, the desperation plain in the typing, and the overall sense of urgency speaks towards someone who is trying their best to fix something beyond their abilities. It feels genuine. I¡¯d trust this person to try and do the right thing. The next question, if this person actually going to help as tired as they are or are they more likely to damage the system? Any insights you can provide there Jocelyn?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. A PR theoretically would come with some code to review, but I have no idea how this system works. I also have no idea what the code would look like and if I¡¯d be able to make head or tails of it.¡± ¡°It seems clear that you have some directed access to the core of what is now in place. I believe your ability is actually acting as a translation layer to some extent. After all, when you looked at your log messages, you clearly had different information than what we¡¯re seeing. Something in your head is taking the data from the system and doing something more to it. If you can actually see the things this person is trying to do, I think you can make the judgement call at that point to act on it. Which brings us to the final issue.¡± ¡°How the hell are we going to get you into the Green Mountain jungle of doom?¡± Liz scrunched her face in contemplation. ¡°Can we not call it the ¡®jungle of doom¡¯ please? Maybe? It¡¯s bad enough just going outside the house. I don¡¯t know if I can go out there in the middle of it all. Not when there¡¯s a storm coming. I just don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Jocelyn, my dear.¡± Jocelyn had started to cradle her arm again and was clearly freaking out. Mom went over to put a comforting hand on Jocelyn¡¯s arm. ¡°We cannot force you to do this, but I would be remiss to not point out that this is could be one of the most important things you could do for the people of Earth. I know this is incredibly unfair, and that you would give this task to someone else if you could, but you are quite possibly the only person who can do it. Unless this person can find another Admin, you could be the only hope we have of getting more information or even fixing the things that seem to be broken. Don¡¯t decide yet. Think about it. Have Liz come up with a plan with you. Look at all the options. When you make your decision, let me know, and I¡¯ll see what I can do to help.¡± Mom left us to ponder her words and formulate a plan. We had a ton of time before we were going to do our school run. In the meantime, I was going to make sure Jocelyn had as much support as she needed. I knew exactly where to start. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s make a list.¡± ********* Mark looked up at the school. Four days or training. Four days of support from the camp. Four days of uncertainty. It would all get resolved here one way or the other. He did a tenth and hopefully final check on his equipment just to be sure. His knives were secured and the first prototype of leather armor the camp had made fit him snugly. The dark material was tough and provided pretty good camouflage in addition to some extra protection from teeth. Not that he was worried about that with his armor and all. The armor was super cool. ¡°Focus!¡± Mark told himself. He checked his paper charms and made sure they were ready to go and fingered the strange engraved seashells that Mike had handed him. When Mark asked what they were, Mike had just given him a thumbs up and walked away. Fortunately, the note on top of them indicated what it would do, but still, dude could at least say one word. He¡¯d have to ask his mom about Mike¡¯s power when they got back. Regardless, the item was awesome. ¡®Break to create field of silence around you for a few minutes¡¯, the note had read. ¡°No mind control for you sheriff jerk voice!¡± Mark mumbled. Meanwhile, Liz was making her own final preparations. ¡°You ready to go Natasha?¡± Liz asked. Natasha lifted her arms in the air and squeaked affirmative. Liz took the opportunity to slide the custom made harness Sam had made over her head. The harness had a few notes and a small pencil tucked into its pockets. Natasha pulled some straps tight and with a few adjustments she squeaked that she was ready. ¡°You are just so cute! Now go be a superspy and be safe. I¡¯ll be with you the entire time.¡± Liz gave her a quick pat on the head and handed her over to Mark. ¡°You be careful with her.¡± ¡°I will be. Ready for a ride Natasha?¡± The little mouse nodded and hopped onto his shoulder. With an unspoken signal from Liz, Alana took off to scout. A few circles later and Liz turned to face Mark. ¡°West side, clear in one minute, patrol pattern is the same as yesterday.¡± ¡°Ok creepy eye girl, I¡¯m on it.¡± Mark thought Liz might have rolled her eyes at him, but since they were already completely white they just sorta vibrated a little bit. Mark shuddered in horror. Seriously creepy. He was inclined to say something else but he knew how important timing was. He instead took off through the trees.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Having scouted all sorts of paths over the past few days Mark picked his way through the thick jungle with confidence. He used his Mist Escape on sections that didn¡¯t have much cover but otherwise the rapid growth of the biome provided excellent cover. Natasha tapped him on the shoulder twice. He had twenty seconds until the lookout would be out of range. Mark meditated for a bit, both to recover some mana as well as calm his nerves. The next part was one of the harder bits. As the countdown in his head reached zero he sprang into action. First, he crushed a seashell and felt an odd bubble form around him. He snapped his fingers quick and smiled as it didn¡¯t make any noise at all. Looking up, he hopped to the second floor windows and poked a small hole through a window with his knife. The breaking glass made no noise as Mark carefully pulled his knife back and held out his hand. ¡°All you mousey¡± he said to Natasha, who just looked back at him confused. ¡°Oh yeah, right, no sound.¡± Mark simply her a thumbs up which she returned before hopping through the space. Mark quickly headed back to cover and waited for the signal to retrieve Natasha. It was all in her hands now. Or paws. Wait, the mouse had thumbs, so that probably made them hands. Maybe. Regardless, Mark was ready and only slightly nervous. He hoped everyone would be okay. ********* Liz felt a nudge in her mind as Natasha pushed some thoughts her way. She was thankful of the extra range she now had, and switched her focus away from Alana back to her mouse. The fruits of her training were totally coming in handy. Liz¡¯s adjusted her mind quickly and the dark corridors of the school came into focus. Natasha was pretty good at avoiding people, but without Liz¡¯s help the little mouse had a lot of trouble figuring out how to navigate through the uniquely human space. Fortunately, Liz had a lot of practice with that. Go up box thing, and cut into the silver thing, and then head along it. Natasha go! The little mouse used her shadow coated claws to tear a small hole in the duct work and soon was making good time along the air conditioning system. Noise was kept to a minimum as the shadow pads they had developed over the past few days prevented her heavy paws from thudding on the flimsy material. Liz kept Natasha running along until she was getting close to the gym and heard some human voices. She sent Natasha to the openings so she could listen in on conversations. This was the hardest part since they had no idea where George would be inside the school. It didn¡¯t take too long for Natasha to hit paydirt though. ¡°Yeah, the away team is patrolling down the east wing again, we still haven¡¯t gotten all the barricades repaired there and they¡¯re¡­¡± the sounds faded as whoever was speaking headed away from the vent. ¡°Bingo¡± thought Liz, and pushed Natasha to head along a new set of corridors. She knew George had been with the away team previously and hopefully he still was. With any luck, she would find him alone and they would be able to get a message to him with a lot fewer prying eyes. Several minutes and a harrowing near discovery later, Liz located George. He was hammering away at a makeshift barricade and Liz looked for an opportunity to catch his attention. She didn¡¯t have to wait long. ¡°Guys, we need some more filler, I¡¯ll grab a desk or two and bring em out.¡± Seeing her chance she sent Natasha ahead into the room George was moving towards. As he was rummaging around the mouse sliced open the duct work and hopped down. She nimbly made her way over to a desk near George as he mumbled to himself about something. He looked tired, but otherwise ok. ¡°Where did OH MY GOD what?¡± Natasha was holding a note in one paw and holding the other up to her mouth in the universal sign for ¡°Shush up¡±. ¡°You ok George?¡± A voice asked from outside the room. ¡°Yeah, just slipped and almost fell. Sorry about that.¡± George tilted his head in confusion as the small mouse waved around the note indicating he should grab it. A very confused looking George took the small piece of paper and soon his eyes widened in alarm after reading it¡¯s contents. It had information about the growing capacity issue of the stabilization crystal and the dangers of not clearing out the area. George muttered a stream of swear words as he finished reading the note. ¡°You ok man?¡± The same voice from outside called. ¡°Yeah! Sorry, stubbed my toe.¡± ¡°Jeez dude, next time I¡¯ll grab stuff, you¡¯ll lose an arm or something soon.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. Just. Fine. I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll be right out.¡± George turned back to the mouse who was now holding a pencil and a blank sheet of paper. ¡°Liz does the weirdest things.¡± He said as he grabbed the writing implements. A few seconds later he returned the note to the mouse who bundled it up and tucked it away into her harness. She pointed up towards the hole in the duct work she had made. George thought he understood the intention held his palm up towards to her. She hopped on and George lifted her towards the tear and with a quick jump the small creature vanished into the shadows. ********* Mark saw the signal and used his considerable momentum to shake the tree he was sitting in violently. A few random birds in the area all flapped upwards at the disturbance and drew away the attention of the guards as he stealthily made his way to the extraction point. Natasha was waiting for him on a ledge as the school investigated the loud noise and with a poof of mist he was gone. It took all of Mark¡¯s limited willpower not to grab the note from Natasha as he made his way back to Liz, but somehow he managed. Natasha jumped into the waiting hands of Liz who petted her on her little head. ¡°Who¡¯s the best superspy mouse ever?¡± Natasha spread her little paws out and squeaked to indicate that yes, she was indeed the best superspy mouse ever. Mark was about to explode though. ¡°Ok, cool. She¡¯s the best. What does the note say?¡± Liz took out the note and with deliberate gavitas started to read through it. Nodding to herself as she read it. ¡°Liz, I will be forced to stab you if you don¡¯t read that aloud.¡± ¡°Ok, sorry, but seriously, this is bad.¡± Liz looked at Mark for a moment before continuing. ¡°Promise me you¡¯ll talk with Mom and Dad before you do anything.¡± ¡°OH MY GOD LIZ. Just read it! I¡¯ll figure out what¡¯s next after that.¡± Liz looked at Mark with concern but got to reading the note. ¡°Yo. Dude, thanks for the heads up on the splody crystal thing. Every night those apes crawl back into the mountain vine thing. I¡¯ll just grab some folks and head up there after sunset and totally clear it out and we¡¯ll be set. Thanks for having our backs man. After that, maybe I¡¯ll swing by and say hi to my Mom.¡± Liz concluded in her best high school dudebro voice. ¡°I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s that stupid. Is he really that stupid?¡± Mark at this point wasn¡¯t listening to Liz at all. If George was going to try and get to the mountain he¡¯d probably have to fight off, like, hundreds of golden apes. Mark didn¡¯t know how many things exactly they cleared a night around their own place, but he knew the count was up there. ¡°We have to help him. He¡¯s gonna get himself killed. Jesus. This sucks.¡± Liz put a hand on Mark¡¯s shoulder to stop his pacing and calm him down. All signs of frustration and amusement were gone. ¡°Mark, we¡¯re not going to let him kill himself. Relax. We¡¯ll talk to Mom and Dad about this and come up with a plan. We know when he¡¯s planning on heading out so we¡¯re already ahead of the game for a change. We can do this. Ok?¡± Mark looked over at his sister seeing the concern there. As much as she tried to play it calm and aloof he could tell she was really worried. He knew she was right though, and he would take all the help he could get to make sure his friend stayed safe. ¡°Ok.¡± Mark hoped someone came up a better plan than he could, because otherwise he¡¯d be burying his best friend tonight. Chapter 42 - Hit the fan Mark stuck his head out a window as the sped back to Camp Randall and shouted up towards Liz. "What if we?" "MARK! Let me think! Just for like 5 minutes, just shut up. Please. Really please." Mark frowned at Liz''s outburst but thankfully pulled his head back into the bus. She didn¡¯t know how to fix this and Mark constantly nagging her put her at the end of her rope. She focused on the wind rushing around her and enjoyed a brief moment of peace until the reality of the situation settled in again. "Don''t force it love, We''ll chat with you mom when we get back. We still have time. We¡¯ll figure something out." Dad said comfortingly even as he continued to scan for threats. "Yeah, I guess, but the mana storm is coming and we have the whole situation with Jocelyn that we have to deal with too." Dad just nodded. "It''s complicated, truly, but we have a capable bunch. You¡¯ll see. We¡¯ll be able to come up with something." "Dad, you of all people should appreciate that sometimes things are just crap. I think this is one of those things." Liz voice was cracking under the stress and her concern. "We have a resilient crew, and we''re building a relationship based on trust. I trust the people back at camp. Sure, it''s been less than a week, but quite frankly I''d trust those people with my life at this point. We''ve all seen some really horrible things and gotten past them. Lends even more credence to the fact that this system thing may be pushing us towards helping each other, right?" Liz didn''t have a counter argument for that, but she wasn''t ready to process it. The idea that some amorphous code thing was influencing how people got along was a little too much for her to deal with. Right now she had other things to worry about. Liz reviewed her list internally, wondering how much more it would keep growing and if she''d ever get to the end of it. Liz pondered the order for a bit. Maybe she should change the priority of some options. She''d have to do it soon because they were close to home and ideas would need to start turning into actions soon enough. She contemplated how to approach the various parties to involve them when she caught sight of someone running towards them. He was vaguely familiar looking and she thought she had seen him at the elementary school helping out. As she was trying to figure out his name her train of thought was thoroughly derailed when he uttered a single terrifying word. "Zombies!" That would be another thing to add to the list then. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, the messenger started into his story. "Thank god I ran into you Jason. I didn''t know if I could run much more and it''s looking bad." "What''s going on." "We were running patrols, like you suggested, especially after Liz saw that horde up north. We even had a few lookout posts set up to give us a good view. So I was just doing my standard check on things when I saw it. Thousands of those zombies are just wandering down. They''re everywhere. I ran back to the school to let people know and the principal sent me to get backup. We don''t really have many good fighters in the school, and we thought you might be able to spare some folks. They were going pretty slow when I saw them but they should be at the school within the hour." Dad grimaced. "We can''t fit everyone in camp yet, just don''t have the space or fortifications. In anycase, trying to evac people when we don''t know how fast the things can move is a recipe for disaster. Liz, come with me. We''ll scope out what''s going on and see how much time we have before things really will hit the fan. Mark, head back with the people in the bus and let the camp know what''s going on. We''ll need to prepare ourselves as well." Standing orders delivered, everyone quickly mobilized out. The messenger, Liz thought his name might be Jim, tried to direct them to where he saw the zombies coming from but he looked like he was about to pass out. Jason and Liz stopped to give him a moment. "I¡¯m just slowing you down. Just go. The tower on the corner of garrison and Mississippi will tell you more than I can. I''ll head back to the school and help them get ready." ¡°Be careful, we¡¯ll be right back.¡± Jason gave Jim a pat on the shoulder before turning and nodding to Liz. She took off at a brisk place to the indicated tower. Liz thought about the fact that they were running full speed towards a horde of zombies. That wasn''t usual behavior, but the new normal was pretty ridiculous. After they started to get close Dad raised a hand calling for silence. His eyes darted around trying to find something but nothing seemed that out of place. There was an eerie quiet to the streets though, and Liz thought she could hear shuffling and other odd sounds in the distance. "Liz, take a look around with Alana. Try and see if you can see anything." Alana had been hovering overhead and with a mental command she scouted further out. It took almost no time to identify the source of the strange noises. A thousand shambling forms coming down the main roads were pretty hard to miss. The scene was surreal. It looked like a wave of bodies was just oozing through the surrounding neighborhoods. Periodically she could see a rustle of some animal and the zombies would all close in. She said a small prayer of thanks for the fact that they seemed to be slow moving zombies, and not rushers, but it was a very small feeling of thankfulness. The horde didn''t have to move fast when they could surround you with thousands of bodies. "Dad, they''re coming slowly, and seem to have some sort of hunting instinct. They''re surrounding and capturing prey." "How long?" Liz did some quick math in her head. "We''re right on the path with the school, we''ll probably get hit at around the same time. With how quickly they are moving through the roads, we got half an hour, hour tops." Dad shook his head, "We''ll head back to the school and let them know. I''m going to take a stand there. We''ll probably need one or two more of the hunters to keep those things from overwhelming the defenses, especially if they can detect scents. Let¡¯s head back." Liz had a million thoughts running through her head as they made their way towards the elementary school. This sucked. Dad was super awesome to want to save all the kids but Liz was really hoping he would be around to help save George. His firepower and ability to clear waves would be amazingly helpful if they got caught out during the coming manastorm. That was not a call she was willing to make though. As much as she was worried about George, she didn''t think that his life outweighed the lives of all the kids in the school. Tears of rage and frustration started to sting at Liz¡¯s eyes. Who the hell had to make these sorts of decisions at fifteen? She was supposed to be planning the stupid prom, not figuring out how to repel a zombie horde. Her dark musings were interrupted as they got to the elementary school. The regurgitation of information didn¡¯t require a lot of thought, just accuracy. As she finished her mind started to race again. It was a distinctly unwelcome distraction when a zombie in advance of the horde started wandering down the street and let loose a disturbing moan. The sound was nothing like a human would make, and the answering trills she heard coming from further out it probably wasn''t a very good sign. "Screw you!" Liz scream finding an outlet for her rage and frustration. It was well outside of the normal range for an arrow, but Liz didn''t care. A Power Shot flew towards the zombie, and the right half of it''s head disintegrated into a bloody mist. It didn''t seem to mind much though, and continued shambling forward. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. That was cheating. It was a cheating zombie. Everyone knew that you hit zombies in the head and they died. Taking a deep breath Liz refocused. "Uh, Dad? That could be a problem. How do you think we kill those things." "Love, I can barely see it, it¡¯s over a hundred feet away. We''ll have a better idea when we can make out some details. Nice shot, by the way." Liz harrumphed. Her frustration was growing instead of retreating now that her shot failed to stop the thing. Stupid zombie with stupid half a head should have died. A few tense second later it was actually close enough where people could start to make out some details. It''s clothing was rotted away, as was most of it''s skin. Through the patches into it''s body there were disturbing pulsing red veins and to top off the monstrosity there was a slime looking blob attached to what remained of it''s head. A small glowing mana core could be seen through the squishy extrusion. Dad took careful aim at the blobby bid and it burst into a disgusting mess after being hit. The zombie fell to the ground like a puppet with it''s strings cut. "Looks like the blob things are what''s controlling it then. Some sort of corpse puppet." Liz commented. Everyone behind them nodded. It was good to know that the things could be stopped, but looking around they were sorely lacking in firepower. "Liz, go back to camp and see if there are any volunteers ready to head out. If you hurry they should have time to make it before the horde closes in. Have them bring as many spare arrows as they can carry too. I''ll get everyone organized here, you do what you need to do." Dad started making his way to the school''s entrance, leaving Liz''s fate back in her own hands. She appreciated the trust, but dammit, it wouldn''t be horrible if someone else solved this mess. She pushed those thoughts down and took off at the fastest pace she could manage. The school was barely a mile away from the house but she knew time was of the essence. She was not expecting the sight that greeted her when she got back to Camp Randall though. A chill ran down her spine as she trying to process yet another factor in this ever more chaotic day. An advance zombie scout had apparently made it''s way here already, and on the ground one of the office workers was holding his arm screaming in pain as Mom tried to stabilize him. "It burns! Dammit it burns so much!" the bite victim shouted. Mom looked up as Liz approached and there was concern in her eyes. Her next statement turned Liz¡¯s previous chill into ice. "He''s infected." Liz took the opportunity to explore language she normally wouldn¡¯t use around Mom. Recovering quickly she reprioritized her list once again, putting ¡®prevent camp from turning into zombies¡¯ at the top. ¡°Can you stop it?¡± Liz saw Mom¡¯s eyes scanning the sweating man on the floor in front of her. She pulled out a potion Liz didn¡¯t recognize and applied it to the bite. The swelling went down visibly around the bite mark but he then started to scream. ¡°Liz help hold him down, particularly his head. We need to make sure he doesn¡¯t bite anyone. And yes, I think we can cure this, I¡¯ll need to do some more tests, but we¡¯re going to button up the camp. Everyone! Inside the house!¡± People shuffled around nervously as they stole glances at the now unconscious office worker. They didn¡¯t seem to be in rush to be crammed together. Liz looked down to see if she could tell anything else about the victim¡¯s condition. Fred, Liz remembered. His name was Fred. She hoped that she didn¡¯t just remember his name to wish him a good afterlife. ¡°People, I know this is scary, but I know I can cure him. I just need a little time to make more of this potion, which we should have. If anyone else gets infected I¡¯ll need to be close to prevent it from spreading. Lastly, it might be airborne, so I want to be sure we can all get access to an antidote in a worse case scenario. Trust me. We¡¯re better off together.¡± Mom had built up a solid reputation in camp, but even so, it was difficult for people to accept her reasoning. ¡°I trust you with my life Mary. You¡¯ve done so much for all of us, and I believe in you. Please help Fred and we¡¯ll make sure you don¡¯t have to worry about us.¡± Sam said, causing people who were torn with doubt to lower their heads in embarrassment. ¡°Thanks Sam, I appreciate the confidence. We don¡¯t want to fight those things out here people, let¡¯s move inside. Someone help me drag Fred into the lab.¡± Slowly people started filtering in towards the house while a makeshift stretcher was brought out for Fred. Mom brought him directly to the lab and Liz¡¯s mind was in a flurry. The horde was less than fifteen minutes out and she still had so much to do. ¡°Everyone! The elementary school is also in danger, they were asking for volunteers, but you have to go like, now if you¡¯re going to make it there before the horde. Mom, is there anything you can tell us about the infection to try and stop it before it spreads there too?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fungal in nature, those blobs are what¡¯s really controlling the corpse. The spores seem to be focused around calcium deposits in the bodies, so avoid teeth and exposed bones to minimize chances at infection.¡± One of the hunters had walked over to us. ¡°Ma¡¯am, and my nephew¡¯s over at the school. If you don¡¯t mind I¡¯ll be heading out.¡± ¡°Of course David, go, and warn them about the infection. If someone is bit, they should have a few hours before it becomes problematic, but here, take this.¡± She handed him a bottle from their cupboard. ¡°It¡¯s an anti-fungal spray, should slow it down and give us time to find a real antidote, which I need to start on now.¡± Mom turned back to her patient and David booked it out of the house. Score one for super scientist mom. That was one item off the list, but many more to go. Liz didn¡¯t know what to do though. There were so many things to sort through that her brain was starting to jam up trying to calculate all the possibilities. She concentrated on her list and focused away all other distractions. As the possibilities boiled down to the most important things she made up her mind. Steeling herself she turned to Mom. ¡°I have to go. We have to try and get Jocelyn to the crystal and George is also out there and needs our help.¡± Mom crushed me in a hug. ¡°Be careful, I love you.¡± So much wasn¡¯t said but there simply wasn¡¯t any time. Liz raced upstairs and found Mark filling a bandolier with throwing knives. Elly, Mike, and Lance were also there grabbing a few things from the armory. ¡°I told everyone about George and what he¡¯s trying to do. Mike and Lance said they¡¯d come along to help. Well, Mike didn¡¯t actually say anything, but he like totally implied he was coming.¡± ¡°Yeah, I need to talk to George. I owe him. I need to make things right.¡± Lance seemed oddly tense, but she wasn¡¯t going to turn down any help at this point. Mike just shrugged. Mark placed the last knife in a newly made bandolier and nodded, pleased with the fit. ¡°In anycase, I¡¯m good to go, where¡¯s Jocelyn?¡± ¡°She must be upstairs, I¡¯ll check on her.¡± Racing upstairs Liz barged into her room to find a teary eyed Jocelyn hugging a pillow on her bed. ¡°Liz. I know I said I¡¯d go. But I don¡¯t know. I just don¡¯t know. It¡¯s crazy out there. I¡¯m not sure if I can do this.¡± Liz took a sharp inhale of breath. She didn¡¯t have time for this. Why couldn¡¯t people just help her out sometimes. She struggled to process the latest crisis when a few voices broke in behind her. ¡°You totally can do this Jocelyn. We wouldn¡¯t even know it needed to be done without you, and your superpower will probably save millions of people. We got you back.¡± Mark chimed in. His optimism was contagious as he spoke. ¡°You have the toughest people in Colorado guarding your back. And front. And sides. We got this.¡± Jocelyn¡¯s shoulders relaxed a fraction after Mark¡¯s words sank in. ¡°You¡¯re right. I know you are. It¡¯s just hard.¡± Liz moved in and gave Jocelyn a hug of support. Over her shoulder she turned to Mark and gave him a very quiet thank you. Mark was pretty useful when you needed to inject some pure optimism in a situation. She hoped she could live up to his promises. ¡°We know, but we¡¯re going to make things right. For everyone.¡± Lance. Mike gave a solid thumbs up. ¡°Totally have unicorn powers. Like, really awesome ones.¡± Elly contributed. ¡°Ok, entire gang¡¯s here then. We need to move out though. We¡¯re all good?¡± Liz said trying not to sound too out of sorts as she tried to hurry people along. A few nods around the hall indicated such. Jocelyn grabbed a laptop she had salvaged from a house a few days back and a small mirror she had it plugged into and took a deep breath. ¡°Let¡¯s go then. We got this.¡± Liz said with a level of confidence she hoped she could live up to. Chapter 43 - Hurry and wait Mark''s mind was jumping around a hundred different places. That was working out okay, because he was also doing the same thing in the real world. He wanted to be sure they had everything they needed and there wasn¡¯t a lot of time to get things together. Like, no time. It was crazy that the other kids in their group had gotten the adults to agree to let them go too. Especially Elly. He figured she got away with it because she had really been practicing hard the past couple days with Biscuit and was totally unicorning it up. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was really a verb. Probably was now. She even was starting to get a little nub of a horn. How crazy was that. Mark wasn''t terribly surprised he hadn''t noticed though because he was working on the obstacle course the past few days. Leaving was weird. Everyone wished them luck and stuff even though Jocelyn''s power was supposed to be a secret. Apparently she had told a few people, who had told a few more people, and eventually everyone seemed to know what was going on. On the way out the they were followed by shouts of encouragement and well wishes. That was cool. Everyone had run to do a quick grab and were now forming up in front of the house, trying to stay ahead of the zombie horde. Mike was the only one currently standing there and Mark walked over to him. Mike still hadn''t said anything that Mark had ever heard. Seeing as they were going to be here for at least another few minutes, Mark decided to try again. ¡°Comon, just tell me a little bit about your magic system thingy. You totally stole my idea for paper charms anyway, so you should let me know at least something, right?¡± After seeing Mark¡¯s explosive charms Mike had started writing things on paper and infusing it with mana. Apparently it worked well enough and was a heck of a lot more convenient than trying to find specific materials. Mike could do all sorts of weird stuff with sound as long as he had enough time to prepare something. However, Mike just shrugged. He didn¡¯t really know how to explain things to Mark and while he had a lot of stuff prepared, he was pretty sure he was the only one who could use his new spells because the medium of paper was unable to be easily activated unlike some of the other objects he had managed to empower with mana. Mark shook his head in a bit of confusion as the information from Mike¡¯s shrug translated into his head but he figured it must be some other aspect of his ability. Hopefully they¡¯d have time to really dig into things, because having flexible magic systems for the camp would be really awesome. No time to think about it now though because everyone else in the away team had come out and they were ready to head out. Liz had Moonlight in tow, but after a quick pause she turned around and patted her wolf on the head. ¡°Moonlight, you stay here, guard Mom and the house. Make sure nothing gets inside, ok? Alana, you too. Run messages between the house and the elementary school if they need it.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to need them too Liz?¡± Mark said with some hesitation. He didn¡¯t want the house overrun either but Moonlight was fully healed now and Alana was like the best wide area scout ever. ¡°You get me and my bow. That¡¯s enough for anything we¡¯ve seen plus more. If we can¡¯t take stuff out with that, Moonlight and Alana aren¡¯t going to make a difference, but it could be really important for back here.¡± Mark nodded. With that taken care of, it seemed like there was nothing else to do but head out. ¡°We all good?¡± Mark asked as everyone did one last check. He saw a chorus of nodding heads. Elly, Liz, Mike, Lance, and Jocelyn had looks of determination on their face. Also, some random guy was also there. ¡°I¡¯m heading over to the school too, but figured I¡¯d run with you for part of the way.¡± Random guy with bow said. Mark didn¡¯t mind it much as eager as he was to take off. ¡°Ok then, let¡¯s go!¡± Elly stepped up and whispered something and a glow settled on everyone. Suddenly Mark felt like he was light as air. ¡°This is part of the Unicorn Friend package. Got a lot of travel helping powers. We¡¯ll be, like, totally lighter as long as I maintain this, so we can run faster with less effort. Also if we need to port out of danger or something I think I can blink us away from most stuff.¡± ¡°That is awesome! This is so good! Thanks Elly!¡± Mark was grateful that everyone would be able to move faster. He probably would have gone crazy waiting for everyone to catch up with him otherwise. Without another word Mark fired up a mana shield and took point and everyone fell in line behind him. You never really appreciate how much weight impacts the speed at which you can run until you suddenly don¡¯t have to deal with it anymore. It took awhile for the group to hit their stride, literally, but when they did it was a pretty dramatic thing. A few faceplants accompanied their learning curve but it was totally worth it as they started gliding down the street. Not only was it easier to move, but it was a heck of a lot less fatiguing. They were moving close to the speed the bus usually took and making good time until a roar interrupted their trip. A bear-thing, like the one Mark and Liz had encountered on their first day, jumped out from the side of the street and dashed towards the group. Lance tripped up in surprise but quickly rolled to his feet as the monster approached. Mark jumped over to help Lance deal with a bear thing but by the time he got there it wasn''t needed. Lance had been working on his Knife Arts after a bit of practice he could extend his blades with a shadow sword type thing. Mark thought he totally stole that from Natasha, but apparently people had a much easier time learning new abilities when they had a model to base it on. At least, that''s what his Mom said, and she was generally right about those sorts of things. Lance quickly turned back and returned to formation, barely missing a beat. ¡°Sorry about that, I tripped. Lets keep going.¡± He must really be worried about George. They resumed their trip and Mark again got caught up on how fast they were going. Between Elly''s power to help make people lighter and the overwhelming firepower of the group, nothing in the area really stood a chance. Which was good because they would say ahead of the horde of zombies, but bad because they wouldn¡¯t be able to point that awesome firepower towards the zombies. Mark hoped everyone would be okay, but Mom and Dad were totally kickass and he couldn''t imagine them losing to dumb zombies. Wait, weren''t they supposed to be escorting someone? "Where did the hunter guy go?" Mark asked nervously finally realizing that the random party member was missing. "Seriously Mark? He left like three minutes ago to head to the elementary school. You even waved to him." Liz replied with a little frustration in her voice. "Oh, yeah, that. Duck!" ¡°What?¡± ¡°Duck! A duck!¡± Mark repeated in alarm pointing. Liz, finally figuring out what he was trying to say, dived down and rolled with an arrow knocked as a mallard duck flew distantly overhead. It turned out she didn¡¯t need the evasive maneuver, as the duck was not attacking them. ¡°Cool roll sis, but it¡¯s just a duck. Oh, I see how that could have been confusing.¡± "Mark. If you do that again I may have to shoot you." Stolen story; please report. "But my magic armor thingy would totally block it now!" "Not my point, but seriously, you need to calm down." "But that''s like the first actual duck and not crazy mutated bat duck I''ve seen in like forever!" "You know, you''re right. Still, please don''t shout ''duck'' if you see another one. There''s enough to worry about without adding that to the list." Liz sighed and motioned for everyone to circle around her. "Ok. Everyone, let''s circle around south of the high school, I don''t want to risk running into the sherrif and crew while we''re out and about. Mike, do you have any of those silence spells that we can use in case we run into him?" Mike handed out a few slips of paper. "And we just slap them against our skin and they active, right?" Clarified Mark. Mike nodded, but also handed them a piece of seashell. They would need to consume the bit to activate the spell because the medium of paper was only activatable if they had his power. The seashell was able to be a medium for other people to use his power but it turned out it was pretty hard to get seashells in landlocked Colorado so this seemed like a more efficient way of utilizing their resources. Everyone looked at Mike oddly as they accepted the seashell bits, but let the moment pass since they really didn¡¯t have any time to explore Mike¡¯s odd abilities. Mark broke up the awkward silence as they got ready to resume their trip. "You holding up okay at this pace Jocelyn?" "Yeah. I''m okay. Elly''s been helping a lot, and so has Biscuit." "Biscuit is the best! He''s the best Unicorn! No unicorn is as good as Biscuit at Housey House!" "That''s right! You''re the best!" Elly encouraged him. "Just what we need, Mark in magical horse form." Liz said under her breath. "What was that?" Mark asked. "Mark, keep up the close range scouting as we go out. I''ll try to keep eyes out for more distant stuff. I wish we had Moonlight to sniff things out but I still think they house will need her more." Liz paused to take a deep breath. "Okay, let''s keep moving people. Also, Natasha, you hang out with Jocelyn for now. Keep her safe, ok?" Natasha squeaked affirmatively and bounded over to Jocelyn''s shoulder. Jocelyn staggered a bit under the mouse''s weight until she balanced out. It was easy to forget exactly how heavy the little mouse was compared to her size, but that also made he deceptively deadly. The magical mouse could pack quite a punch. The rest of the trip passed in the same haze that it started in. So much was going on and Mark wasn''t great at keeping track of all of it. There was some chatter, but it was all tense and people were not making a very good attempt to keep the conversations going. Thankfully Mark was all over the place and wasn''t dragged into any particular topic and everyone was grateful when they finally arrived at the base of Green Mountain. Nothing that appeared lived much more than a few seconds but a lot of the time it would be blasted by a couple people. There was no coordination in what they were doing. They had never really worked together as a team and it showed. "Ok, this isn''t working people." Liz noted as everyone shuffled around uncomfortably. "Let''s get organized. Jocelyn and Elly, you''re at the rear. If things get too dicey you need to find some distance. Neither of you really has a good attack ability so just stay safe and keep behind me if possible." The two girls nodded and moved to the back of the formation. "Mark, you''re the tank. Your armor is stupidly tough and you can soak up the most damage, so you get to lead. Lance, you back him up since you need to be in close with your ability. Mike, focus on protective and support spells, and I''ll keep things off people in general. Let''s keep the chatter to a minimum until we get a feel for this. Ready?" The group nodded and they started their way up the mountain. The hike was strangely familiar, as most of the kids had done the trail multiple times. Those times were very different however. Mark distinctly remembered there was less rainforest jungle on the trail last time. He had to get his katana out just to clear some of the worse parts of the trail as they made their up. Fortunately, it was mostly vines at the bottom of the trail but as they got closer to the top where the crystal had fallen it was a different story. Mark craned his neck upwards as they rounded a bend, slack jawed in wonder at the massive trees that had sprung into existence the past few days. ¡°These were not here before.¡± He noted. ¡°Ya think?¡± The transformation was so dramatic that Liz¡¯s powers of sarcasm were taking a hit and the scorn was decided lacking from her response. As they got close to the summit the pattern of trees suddenly shifted. The spacing became so tightly packed that there wasn¡¯t even space for them to squeeze through. The was a solitary path leading into an opening and Mark rushed forward to try and see inside. The canopy formed a solid roof as the path continued and Mark saw branching paths away from the main road leading in. The way it was configured suddenly gave him a thought. ¡°It¡¯s a dungeon. It¡¯s totally a dungeon.¡± He concluded returning to the group. ¡°Technically, it¡¯s a construct to contain the stabilization crystal designed to bleed off excessive energy and provide minimal interface into updating zone settings.¡± Jocelyn supplied. ¡°Yeah, dungeon. Just like I said.¡± Liz opened her mouth to disagree on principle, but found herself speechless. Mark nodded smugly. It was totally a dungeon. ¡°Ok, so I¡¯m really hoping George isn¡¯t in there by himself because this is just crazy.¡± Mark walked back up to the entrance and started scouting around. The trees parted to give a reasonably large entrance into the structure and it had to be about twenty feet high. Everyone else walked up behind him to take a look as well. ¡°Looks confusing. Jocelyn, you have any idea where we¡¯re supposed to go in here?¡± Liz inquired after looking around. Mark really hoped the answer was yes because the thing looked like it was specifically designed to be a maze. ¡°Hold on, let me check to see if I have anything from Junior.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Junior?¡± Mark asked, confused. ¡°He¡¯s the Junior Admin I¡¯ve been communicating with. He¡¯s been really bad at telling me details, and he never offered his real name and calling him by his handle felt really weird. So I just call him Junior. In anycase, yeah, here, there¡¯s a really bad map drawn in ASCII art and some instructions. He also put a note at the end saying sorry about Pete.¡± ¡°Okay, who¡¯s Pete then?¡± Mark asked a little bit exasperated. ¡°Junior said he¡¯s the admin who was responsible for designing this support structure, and our region in general. Said he was obsessed with Pirates or something, and that when we got to the admin room we¡¯d understand and that he was sorry. I really don¡¯t know anything else other than that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see any signs of anyone entering, but I do see a ton of ape tracks. I¡¯m guessing George hasn¡¯t gotten here yet.¡± Liz noted as she finished her own scan of the area. ¡°I guess we just hold here until he shows? And if it¡¯s getting close to storm time we head in and hope for the best?¡± Mark suggested. Just then a largish golden ape popped it¡¯s head out of one of the side hallways and cocked its head as it studied the group at the entrance. Mark lifted a knife to take the creature out but its eyes widened and it bolted back down the hallway before he could act. ¡°Maybe we scared it away?¡± The sounds of pounding feet and screaming apes started coming from the hallway. ¡°Or maybe not.¡± Liz deadpanned. Chapter 44 - Plant of the apes Liz started shouting out commands as the sounds of the apes grew louder and louder. ¡°Mark, you¡¯re in front! Lance cover his back! Elly you get Jocelyn safe and bolt if you need, I¡¯m mid range. Mike, you do you!¡± Everyone jumped to their assigned positions in front of the entrance and prepared for the worst. The sounds of the apes kept on growing like a like a horrible howling train in a tunnel. The building pressure was released as multiple apes dashed out of the hallway and charged directly at Mark. ¡°We got incoming!¡± Mark readied his katana, blue energy dancing along it¡¯s blade and stared down the darkened entrance. Everyone was so focused on the opening that they completely missed the four apes that jumped from hidden openings above it. ¡°Mark!¡± Liz cried in alarm as the large creatures descended on him. The sudden attack left him unbalanced but he managed to stay upright. Liz was horrified as the creatures started taking large bites out of Mark¡¯s arms until she realized that the apes were coming up empty. Mark¡¯s shield flashed violet as their maws came down and they seemed utterly confused as their jaws bounced against the barrier. Score one for having a tank. There was no time for relief as five more apes rushed past Mark towards the main group. Lance¡¯s eyes widened in terror as he realized he was the next line of defense but Mike sprang into action before they got close. He silently tossed a folded sheet of paper that he had been scribbling on for the past few minutes and all five apes were caught in a strange distorted space that formed around the note. A loud bell-like gong sounded, and while it was loud enough to make Liz wince, the apes were devastated. The beasts fell to the floor clutching their ears buying the party some time to react. Everything happened at once. Lance took advantage of the opening and a precise strike tore open the throat of one of the distracted beasts. Elly and Biscuit flanked Jocelyn and with a strange popping noise they appeared twenty feet away. Their job was to keep Jocelyn safe and they were taking no chances. Liz took the opportunity to headshot two apes that were busy trying to eat Mark. Mark took advantage of his sudden lack of apes by executing a trick he picked up during the giant beak bear incident. He grabbed onto an ape who was chomping down on him, Falling Stepped straight up, and the confused ape could be heard flying away into the air. When his power pulled him down Mark bisected the last Ape that had been attacking him and was now completely free of apes. Liz couldn¡¯t help but be impressed at the quick thinking her brother just displayed, and also somewhat annoyed. Liz knew that she should just be glad he learned a good way of dealing with a grappling enemy, but she didn¡¯t appreciate being the test case for his new vicious attack skill. The stunned apes were starting to recover but Liz didn¡¯t feel like giving them the chance. Two more of her arrows penetrated the heads of the stumbling apes and they fell dead. Mike continued his impressive showing as he slapped piece of paper onto another ape. A low thrumming could be heard and Liz almost lost her lunch when she saw gooey grey matter leaking out of the unfortunate ape¡¯s ears. She definitely need to get more information on what Mike could do after this. She knew he had been working on some stuff but he was officially crossing into ridiculously powerful territory, and that would have been good to know earlier. With only one ape remaining, Lance tried to finish it off but the beast had recovered sufficiently to avoid his slash. Lance panicked after his missed attacked and stumbled backwards. He barely avoided the claws of the thing, but the momentum of his dodge caused him to fall over. The ape, sensing weakness in it¡¯s prey, leap onto Lance who screamed as he saw a toothy maw head towards him. He continued screaming as that maw continued past him. The entire head of the creature maintained a pretty good forward velocity even though it was no longer attached to a body. Mark had cleanly decapitated the creature and ended the fight. Mike walked over to Lance to help him up. It was oddly clear to everyone Mike was saying with his raised eyebrow, ¡°You ok man? You can stop screaming. We totally won.¡± Lance finally managed to get himself back under control and took the offered hand and dusted himself off. It was a little late to try and play it cool but Lance was trying his best. ********* ¡°Did you see that? We totally kicked their butts!¡± Mark raised a fist in victory. ¡°And my armor was totally the best ARRGGGHHHHHHHHH¡± Mark screamed as the ape he previously had tossed upwards suddenly and violent crashed into the ground right next to him turning into a bloody twitching pile. ¡°Oh. Forgot about that one.¡± He said weakly, fist still in the air. The events took less than a minute but the rush of adrenaline persisted with the group. Most of the teenagers hadn¡¯t seen anything remotely this intense in their patrols. The response of the apes was way more than they had seen from general mobs. ¡°Good news is that my armor is pretty awesome though, right?¡± Mark said as he dispelled his shell and summoned a new one. A few trace cracks had appeared where the apes had gnawed on him and he figured getting everything as strong as possible would be a good plan.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. After reforming his armor Mark was a little at a loss. The group clearly looked troubled but he wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Heck, he didn¡¯t even know what to do next. Liz had moved over to Jocelyn and Elly to help them gather their courage leaving Lance and Mike milling about. Rather than over think it, he turned to Lance who looked like he was about to faint and probably could use a pep talk. ¡°So that was intense, a bit more than I expected. You going to make it?¡± ¡°Yeah, I have to chat with George, I. Well, it¡¯s complicated.¡± Lance opened his mouth as if to continue but ended up just closing it instead. He turned to look down the hill and started mumbling to himself. Mark was more than a little curious about what was eating at Lance. The troubled teen had started to scratch nervously at his arm in addition to his mumbling and it was starting to freak Mark out a bit. Those weren¡¯t the signs you wanted from a teammate about to dive into a potentially dangerous situation. He turned to Mike and while he wasn¡¯t expecting much figured it could hurt to ask. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s up with Lance? He¡¯s pretty freaked. He doesn¡¯t really seem like he wants to be out here. You know why he wanted to come out with us so badly? And do you know what¡¯s up with him and the George thing? Did something happen?¡± Mike lifted up four fingers. He shook his head no two times, each time putting down a finger. For the last two items he just shrugged, indicating that there was no doubt something that happened but he wasn¡¯t really sure about the details, just that there was something troubling to Lance and seemed to be causing a lot of stress with him over the past few days. It probably had something to do with the circumstances of them having to leave the school, as Mike was pretty sure there was more to the story there that Lance wasn¡¯t really saying. ¡°How the heck did you just do that? Like, you shrugged. How. You know, I don¡¯t even care. Thanks for clueing me in. I guess we¡¯ll just have to find out when George gets here.¡± The next few minutes were tense and Liz organized them into a new formation. With the help of a few powershots and a couple explosive charms, they created a much better fighting area for themselves with some cover for their ranged fighters and some better funneling for towards the entrance. Being able to pick up and move giant plants using Elly¡¯s anti-gravity powers was really helpful in this and Mark was pretty impressed with what they were able to pull off in a short amount of time. Lance had been pretty unresponsive during their set up, only speaking in one word sentences and then immediately resuming his vigil towards the trailhead unless someone was actively directing him. Whatever was eating at him was pretty severe. ¡°He¡¯s coming! He¡¯s on the way! I see him at the trailhead!¡± Lance shouted, alerting everyone to the development. Liz frowned as he shouted, immediately turning to the entrance to the crystal watching for another rush of apes. Thankfully the structure was quiet but things were still not calm. Mark could see that George and his crew of jocks were running at a fairly breakneck pace. Faster than any normal people should be running just to catch up. As he noticed their frantic glances backwards he pieced together what was going on. ¡°Liz! I think they¡¯re being chased. I¡¯m going to go help them!¡± he shouted as he starting hopping down the mountain. Before he could hear his sister tell him to stop he was already most of the way down. It was really a lot easier to jump down a mountain than up it, Mark thought to himself as he careened down the slope at a breakneck pace. ¡°George!¡± He shouted, as he slowly stood coming out of a pretty decent three point hero landing. The rest of the jock crew stood mouths gaping at the feat. George was the first to recover. ¡°Dude! Nice moves, but we still gotta book it, Sheriff and crew weren¡¯t happy about my plan but I figured we could sort it out at the top and stuff. Thanks for the note!¡± George started his jog again and the rest of the crew recovered behind him. Six familiar faces from the football team waved to Mark. They were armed with clubs and kitted up various pieces of football armor. Mark happily waved back. More front line tanks were much appreciated. ¡°No problem man! You¡¯re mom is totally freaking out by the way, you should come visit her.¡± Mark replied, easily keeping pace with the crew. ¡°Yeah, we had a convoy planned for a bunch of folks to head out tomorrow, but it was complicated getting all the schedules set.¡± Mark was instantly confused. This didn¡¯t fit at all with the picture that Lance was painting. ¡°Huh, that¡¯s strange. From what Lance was saying I wouldn¡¯t think he¡¯d let you out. Also, the meetings with my dad were always pretty rough.¡± ¡°Oh jeez, yeah. We always lined up and watched those two go at it during the drops. It was pretty funny. The sheriff really doesn¡¯t seem to like your dad much.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Mark¡¯s brain was going a million miles a minute. This didn¡¯t fit his picture of what was going on at all, but he¡¯d take George¡¯s word on the topic any day. Unless he was being mind controlled. But that didn¡¯t make sense either, because he probably wouldn¡¯t have escaped to help if that were the case. Not knowing how to go about it subtly, Mark decided to go with his tried and true strategy of blurting out everything in his head. ¡°Lance painted a pretty bad picture of what was going on. I¡¯d been thinking you were all mind controlled zombies all doing the sheriff¡¯s bidding from what he said.¡± ¡°Wait, that jerk ended up at your place and said that? Man, I¡¯m going to so punch that dude in the face.¡± Mark was having difficulty processing everything as they approached the entrance to the crystal. ¡°George! The sheriff is almost here! We have to get into the dungeon now!¡± A frantic Lance called out. ¡°What are you talking about dude? And what¡¯s this about mind control stuff? You¡¯re the only jerkface he ever really used that crap on.¡± ¡°Look, I¡¯ll explain later, I just didn¡¯t think the sheriff would be here. Can we talk after we deal with this first?¡± ¡°I think we should talk about this now. Also, sheriff¡¯s pretty much here.¡± Huffing in great breaths, the sheriff, a few of his deputies, and his son, Henry, walked up to the entrance. Henry sported a sling and a dot of red had started to appear around his shoulder. ¡°You!¡± Henry said as he looked at Lance. ¡°I should have known you¡¯d be sheltering a criminal.¡± Looking over at Liz with scorn in his voice. ¡®Why can¡¯t anything ever be easy?¡¯ Mark thought to himself as he sighed. Chapter 45 - Secrets and whys ¡°What the hell is your problem? Lance has been helping us, which seems a lot more useful than being locked up by you!¡± Liz shouted back at Henry. Some part of her brain realized there was probably more going on but it was quickly overwhelmed by her strong dislike Henry. ¡°Typical Randall response! Can¡¯t think past yourselves at all! We¡¯ve been busy helping keep a school full of people alive while you¡¯ve been cultivating criminals!¡± Henry snapped back. Voices continued to rise and Liz continued escalating with Henry as the deputies and sheriff readied their weapons. As things were coming to a head a sole voice of reason rang clear. ¡°OH MY GOD YOU ARE ALL ACTING LIKE KIDS.¡± Everyone stared at Mark as if he had grown a second head. Liz in particular checked herself. She couldn¡¯t remember the last time Mark had admonished her for being immature about something and actually had a point. The realization that he was actually right shocked her silent. ¡°We have a manastorm coming, and things trying to kill us, and all you can do is yell at each other? We haven¡¯t seen any of you for a week and the first thing you do is accuse us? After we¡¯ve been bringing you supplies and food and healing potions and trying everything to keep as many people safe as possible? What¡¯s the matter with you!¡± Mark continued to dig into everyone. ¡°I¡¯ve been worried sick about everyone in the school. My friends are there. My best friend is there! George¡¯s mom is with us and thought you were holding him hostage because you wouldn¡¯t let anyone talk to him!¡± ¡°Well, your father was the one who didn¡¯t want me talking to people, he had¡­¡± the sheriff started. ¡°I DON¡¯T CARE! You two are the worst! You just yell at each other every time we visit! I just want to make sure my friends are ok and you can¡¯t get over yourselves enough to act like normal people in the middle of a world ending apocalypse! And I¡¯m going to yell at my dad when I get back too because he was a stupid head about this as well. He made us run a stupid obstacle course just because he couldn¡¯t ask you a normal question like a normal person. I am so sick of both of you right now I can¡¯t even.¡± In the stunned silence that followed a lot of barely perceptible nods were given. Everyone around the situation had known that the animosity between the two community leaders was ridiculous, but few had been willing to call the forceful men on it. ¡°So here we are now, trying to prevent some catastrophe that we don¡¯t really understand, and all you can do is yell at each other. I haven¡¯t even gotten to catch up with George. Why didn¡¯t you tell us you were going to organize a visit?¡± ¡°Your dad never gave me a chance. In fairness, I never gave him a chance either. There¡¯s a lot of baggage between us, you realize.¡± The sheriff said more timidly than expected. Mark¡¯s fierce stare shamed the entire group. They had been rearing for conflict, but Mark¡¯s outburst had thrown ice water on their desire to continue. The only person who was moving was Lance, who had been slinking around the group and was now behind Mark. The sheriff continued, ¡°You have a lot of good points there Mark. I admit, your father and I shouldn¡¯t be the main communication channel going forward, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that the boy behind you stabbed my son, and is a danger to the community. He tricked George into helping him and then must have conned the other students into escaping, and he needs to be tried for those crimes. He¡¯ll get a fair trial as soon as we get all this sorted out.¡± Liz had recovered from her shock by this point and had managed to calm herself. Looking at Henry she noticed that there was blood oozing out of his shoulder. Considering the fact that they had been sending over healing potions, that meant he had refused taking one. ¡°Why are you even still bleeding? We¡¯ve sent over a ton of healing potions.¡± She noted aloud. ¡°It wasn¡¯t needed. It''s mostly superficial, and only gives me an issue if I do something strenuous with it. I¡¯m not on regular patrol. The healing potions should be saved for people who are on the front lines. I can help people organize with one arm fine.¡± Henry said puffing up his chest. He wore his wound like a badge. Liz reluctantly gave him a few props for saving the healing potions for people who were in more dire need. He lost them all by puffing himself up like a hamster though. ¡°You are all crazy, and I¡¯m not going to sit in a cell again. I¡¯m not. I can¡¯t. I wanted to apologize to George, but I did that, so I¡¯m out of here.¡± Lance said in a panicked voice. Liz looked over to where Lance was and her eyes widened as she saw the knife in his hand. ¡°Lance, don¡¯t do anything stupid. We can work this out, just put down the knife.¡± She said as calmly as she could. ¡°Sorry, I wanted to help, but I can¡¯t go back to the school. Sheriff mindscrew is not getting back in my head.¡± Before anyone could react, Lance slapped one of the silencing charms Mike had made onto his head and got ready to run. Mark stood in front of him trying to get the situation back under control. ¡°Lance, chill, what the heck. We were about to get everything sorted.¡± He tried to calm him down as he moved to cut off Lance¡¯s escape route. Mike held his ear, noting that the charm would prevent any sound from reaching Lance and that things were probably going to go south in a moment unless someone intervened. Also, there was a good chance that the mana storm hitting would leave them all in an exposed situation unless they made adequate plans to fortify the area. Maybe everyone should be focusing on those things as soon as Lance was dealt with. Also, they really should all deal with Lance soon because he clearly was freaking out and was literally no longer capable of listening to reason. Liz was a bit confused at the rush of information and wondered again at what abilities Mike actually had. He listed Sound Arts on his census, but she was pretty sure he had something else going on. Her thoughts were interrupted when Lance made a lunge at Mark. Lance was panicked, scared, and thrust into a world way outside his understanding. Liz could give him some slack for that. She absolutely had zero slack to give to someone who tried to stab someone in her family though. Even so, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to shoot Lance. It was one thing to fire at nameless thugs who were threatening you, but was completely different when the person who you needed to shut down had been working with you for a week and was turning into a friend. Liz gritted her teeth trying to force her body to react but Mark moved before she could do anything.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ********* Lance was totally freaking out, but Mark knew there just wasn¡¯t any time for it. Trying to keep things chill, he went over to try and talk some sense to Lance. In response, Lance jerked his hand up in a clumsy attack. Somewhere in Mark¡¯s mind registered the fact that he had a knife, and years of drilling burst out into action. From an outside perspective, it looked like Mark was lazily moving towards Lance and touched his arm lightly. In reality, it was an incredibly efficient movement that Mark had an uncanny talent for. The reason no one messed with Mark was forcefully demonstrated as the seemingly innocuous grab turned into a brutal throw in the blink of an eye. Lance was upside down so quickly he didn¡¯t have time time to consider his poor life choices and blast of dust that wafted up from his impact zone spoke to the strength of the perfectly executed throw. Everyone was stunned at the sudden actions, and also the bizarre effects of the silence charm on the impact. A quick twist on Lance¡¯s immobilized arm caused him to open his mouth in a silent scream and drop the knife he was holding. Everyone was trying to mentally catch up, but the surrealness of the situation was locking most people in place. Mike was the first to recover and he walked over to Lance. After slapping another note onto his forehead Lance¡¯s grunts of pain were audible again. ¡°That wasn¡¯t cool dude. Totally not cool. Like ¡®everything you did that was cool before now sucks¡¯ levels of uncool.¡± Mark said coldly. Mark actually didn¡¯t mind that much about the attempted stabbing. He was more pissed off at the whole lying and framing the sheriff thing. The animosity he built up between the different groups was really annoying and could have cost lives. Lance had tears leaking from his eyes but Mark couldn¡¯t tell if there were from rage, frustration, or remorse. Maybe a combo of all three. ¡°I wanted to help. I can help. The sheriff wouldn¡¯t let me. He wanted me to be weak and I knew that would just mean I would get killed eventually by god knows what. I¡¯m not going to live like that. I¡¯m not going to be weak anymore. Never again.¡± Obviously there was more going on here than Mark knew about, but aside from keeping him in an arm lock on the floor he wasn¡¯t really sure about what to do next. Everyone looked around to see who would take the lead. Even the sheriff seemed a bit cowed by the whole situation and wasn¡¯t speaking up. Mark decided he didn¡¯t have anything to lose, so he went ahead with the plan that popped into his head. ¡°Ok. So Lance, you¡¯re a jerk, and you aren¡¯t welcome at our place anymore. I think I can say that pretty safely. We do have a rule about not stabbing other people. Sheriff, you¡¯re also kinda being a jerk, but I guess less of one than I thought. You said you were going to make a jail or something?¡± ¡°Yes, until we can get the courts up and running or the National Guard comes in.¡± ¡°You know the Guard isn¡¯t coming, right? You can¡¯t be serious about that.¡± Mark countered. The sheriff looked Mark in the eyes and slowly lifted a hand to his temple. He looked more tired in that moment than Mark had ever seen him before the the bags under his eyes seemed to darkened a few more shades as he continued. ¡°Yes. I know Mark. I think it¡¯s important to remind the folks at the school that there might be help on the way though. Although, I think it¡¯s becoming less and less important as time goes on. You kids,¡± he said turning to George¡¯s group. ¡°I know you wanted to help, and I appreciate that, but this isn¡¯t the way. Mark was right, we need to be working together now. If you can keep the ¡®no National Guard¡¯ thing under wraps for now I promise you we¡¯ll figure out a better way to break to the news to folks. Probably alongside getting the trips to Camp Randall regular. Sad when I need a teenager to point that out to me. I swear your father drives me crazy.¡± he mumbled towards the end. Mark saw a lot of nodding heads. It was just more evidence that the sheriff was trusted by the people at school and Mark was pretty sure it didn¡¯t have anything to do with his creeper voice.
System Warning Mana Storm (Class B) Approaching
Suggested Actions Clear till 10% capacity availability. If unavailable, please update stabilization crystals for additional levels of capacity.
Estimated Arrival 00d:1h:00m:00s
The warning flashed into Mark¡¯s view and served as a not so gentle reminder that stabbity teenage jerks were actually the least of their problems. ¡°We have to go in, Jocelyn needs to be at the admin panel before storm time because there¡¯s no way we¡¯re going to be able to clear stuff fast enough. I don¡¯t think you should be running around either. An hour would be cutting it real close to get back to school.¡± Mark looked around trying to think of what to do next when George put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°We came here to help. We¡¯ll do that. Lance, I don¡¯t trust you as far as I can throw you,¡± George paused for a second in sudden thought. ¡°Scratch that, I could probably throw you really far at this point. Still, there¡¯s no way in hell you¡¯re getting a knife around me, but I think we can at least untie you and you can chill while we wait for Mark and his crew to do what they need. We¡¯ll figure out more later. Sound good sheriff?¡± Sheriff Douglass paused to think for a moment. ¡°We¡¯ll stay here, fortify the position, and be ready to escort you back when you finish what you need. I¡¯m not going to just let a bunch of those apes cluster around front here for when you come out. John, set up a fort, we¡¯re going to defend this position. Also a stockade would be nice.¡± The deputy the sheriff directed moved his hands around and the surrounding dirt rose up to from into rough walls enhancing the makeshift barricade the group has set up earlier. Apparently he had some sort of earth manipulation thing going on. Soon enough a small fort now stood outside the dungeon. ¡°We¡¯ll wait for you here Mark, be careful in there.¡± The sheiff nodded to Mark and glanced meaningfully over at George. ¡°What¡¯s your plan son? Seems you went to a lot of effort to be here with your friend.¡± ¡°Totally going in with Mark, been awhile since we had a chance to hang out and they¡¯re down a man now.¡± George said. ¡°Awesome! Good to have you along! Ok then, time to see what¡¯s inside here, and maybe save the world.¡± Mark was oozing ethusiasm now that the current set of crisis had been dealt with. He was a little bummed about the whole Lance thing, but George being along went a long way towards making things better in his mind. ¡°Don¡¯t be so dramatic, we¡¯re just trying to fix some stuff and prevent things from getting worse around here.¡± Liz countered. ¡°Why you always gotta rag on Mark Liz? Lets save the world!¡± George hi-fived Mark and Liz rolled her eyes. Mark appreciated having some backup as well. Nothing left to say, Mike gestured over to the entrance to the dungeon suggesting that it was time to go in. He also raised his eyebrows to indicate that while saving the world was indeed over dramatic, the supposed effect of their actions would have widespread impacts and could dramatically improve the lives of many people across the globe. So, while not saving the world, it was certainly a big step forward in the development of humanities involvement with the system. ¡°How are you even doing that?¡± Mark was flabbergasted again by Mike¡¯s strange communication style. Mike just shrugged as they walked inside. Chapter 46 - Dungeon Climb Liz took the rear position near Jocelyn and Elly as they entered the imposing fortress of plants. Mark headed things up with George and was followed by Mike. She was glad George had decided to come in with them, as the lack of melee attackers had her worried about the party. She knew she could support incredibly well with her bow but Mr. Fluffers hadn''t really been getting a workout lately and she was content to keep it that way. "What do you got for us Jocelyn, and I hope it''s a decent map, because this place is a maze. Literally, like, this makes no sense as a natural formation. Someone made this confusing on purpose." Liz''s eyes moved around in wonder at the impossibility of the structure they had just entered. Hallways seemed to loop around themselves and strange glowing lights were seen all through the plants. A combination of weirdly luminescent bulbs and randomly placed skylights made strange contrasts as hard and soft shadows intersected. Leaves and vines formed crude doors over openings and the hallways had hundreds of offshoots. There was no way they would be able to find their way through this in an hour unless they had a map. "I have it, let me pull it up. Okay, got it. Sixteenth door on the right is our first turn, and I''ll keep calling things out. This is so cool, the code I update on my HUD actually is giving me a minimap, and I was able to load in Junior¡¯s data on the area for this." "It would be even better if you could share it with us, but I guess it¡¯s better than nothing." Liz complained. Jocelyn looked apologetic for a moment but it quickly turned into a look of contemplation. "Why not? This should work. I think. Maybe. Uh, I guess, pull up your HUD for something." Liz complied and pulled up her ability list. She had stopped bothering to check it as not much had been changing. It was apparently almost impossible to increase a stat. Maybe her stats and skills were just too high. The only time she rememberd it happening was during the mana storm and she was pretty sure that it was some sort of admin cheat. Her thoughts were interrupted by a new item suddenly flashing in the corner of her vision.
[User Jocelyn wishes to share a module with you. Install UI MAP HACK module? Warning, this is not a system approved module and may be overwritten during next update]
Liz clicked on ¡®Yes¡¯ and after a few seconds a little line of text appeared in her vision. She selected the new "MAP" option and smiled. "You are amazing Jocelyn. This is so cool, let''s share it out. Can you add waypoints to it or anything?" Jocelyn thought for a moment again. "No, not yet. It''s really just a basic map, nothing special other than the things it''s already doing. I could add it later I guess, but I have a pretty big backlog of things that I wanted to do. I''ll add it to the list though." She walked along the line, touching people''s heads, and Liz saw a lot of smiles. Mazes were a lot less intimidating when you had a magical map to guide you. Everything went smoothly as people pulled up the map except for a brief outburst when she went to add the map to Elly. "Biscuit likes maps too! Biscuit wants Jocy to head pet and make maps!" "Uh, sure Biscuit, but not sure if this will work." Jocelyn walked over to the friskey unicorn and touched its head. Biscuit frowned. "Biscuit just hear screaming noises and sounds like rocks trying to eat howling wolves in explosions. Biscuit is very not happy at sounds. Jocy should stop." Biscuit stamped his foot in annoyance. "Well, I guess that won''t work then." Liz stated. Apparently the system was only for humans, but something about the system was certainly noticeable to magical creatures. Or something. More questions that needed answers. Armed with maps, the group continued along following Jocelyn''s instructions. Periodically a few golden apes would appear, but the stragglers and small packs were no match for the collective firepower of the group. Mark would open the volley with throwing knives and George would be right there with what looked like empowered baseballs. Liz would then path through any remaining stragglers and the things didn''t even have time to be surprised before they would be wiped. In the few instances where the opposing group surived their alpha strike Mark¡¯s glowing katana would slice them in half or George would smash one with his baseball bat. Curiosity got the better of her when George demonstrated a dive tackle that had him flying over 10 feet to intercept an ape. ¡°George. Does your ability happen to be sports related?¡± ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s awesome. I got Sportsball as a skill, and now I have Sportsball Arts as an ability. It totally rocks. I can like, do all my regular sports things and it totally has super powers and stuff.¡± Jocelyn snorted at the ability¡¯s name, but to Liz it was no joke. Obviously, someone on the design team was a little snarky but realized sports skills was probably one of the few things people would have developed in modern society and turned it into a weapon. Chalk one up in favor of a benevolent development team. "This is going awesome. I''m just glad there aren''t any traps along this path. That would be horrible." Mark stated happily. Liz just stared at Mark with a look of death. Why did he always have to jinx them? At least he wasn''t being as rash with combat now, so she should probably count her blessings. Regardless her eyes immediately darted around waiting for the ceiling to sprout spikes and collapse on them or the walls to start moving in to crush them. "Liz, seriously, I just said I was glad there weren''t any traps. Why do you always do that." Mark''s speech was interrupted by a loud click as he stepped onto the verdant path in front of him. "MARK" Liz screamed, but there nothing she could do. "Oh my God! Chill! I stepped on a stick." He held up a broken twig that had fallen on the path in front of him. "It''s like you expect the sky to fall every time I say anything remotely positive!" Liz immediately looked up to see if the sky was falling, but mostly for the comedic relief. Everyone had a quick chuckle and it helped dispel some of the tension that was building. "Sorry, just a little on edge, but you bring up a good point. I''m a little surprised that nothing has been trapped. It seems like the sort of this that this Pete guy would be into."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "I have an answer for that. The last dump of info I got from Junior said the paths to the consoles were actually filled with traps, but the route he gave me was supposed to avoid all that sort of thing.¡± Jocelyn filled the rest of the group in. ¡°Jocelyn, please let us know these things in advance. It¡¯s really important information. Is there anything else we need to know?¡± Liz prodded. ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t sure about the other part of the message. It was a little garbled, Junior just sort of vomits words out.¡± ¡°Just let us have it. We can try to sort it out together.¡± Liz paused the group and made sure things were clear. ¡°Well, let me hook things up, I dunno about how much time we have but if you think it¡¯s important.¡± Liz thought through the options. If there was useful information there, taking a quick break would be worth it, but it seemed like they were making good time. A choice had to be made though. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it is, but better safe than sorry. Let¡¯s all have a look.¡± Jocelyn pulled out the mirror and laptop and booted up her display. A few commands later and everyone gather around to read the message.
Hey got this thing working, and managed to pipe content from VIM over. Pretty cool, right? I totally am getting fired though if they see all this, but end of world, so whatever. So there¡¯s another file here, data dump of the jungle biome admin dungeon. Sorry about your weird monsters and stuff. We were supposed to design out folklore related spawns but you ended up with Pete in charge of your area. Pete is totally obsessed with Pirates, so sorry about that too. You¡¯ll know what I mean when you get to admin area. I can¡¯t actually send info on the specific admin section, you have to get through that yourself. Mostly because Pete encrypted all his access codes and no one has his keys. But yeah, totally obsessed with Pirates, and he was totally like complaining all the time about how everyone was so unoriginal and made things that were sensical and felt like it was a personal challenge to make an area that didn¡¯t conform to standards. He is totally a genius designer and made sure to follow all the rules but he was like no way going standard monsters and made up all this crazy stuff and now you have to deal with it so sorry about that. Check the path I sent, also separate file, couldn¡¯t bundle in flat text, but should be clear of traps. Again, Pete, trap obsessed. Not mean though, just totally out of his mind with it. Okay this is it, I have to get the PR ready, please try to make it to console before surge storm, but as long as you¡¯re there within an hour it should be fine. If you make it during overload though it makes everything easier to access since emergency protocols get enacted. Oh, last file, special cert that should let you into admin area, only good for today. You¡¯ll need a way to interface the cert to the admin panel but should be similar to POST call on the config updates. Good luck.
Everyone stood around processing the information for a moment. Mark was the first to speak up. ¡°Uh, pirates?¡± Everyone looked around unsure of what that even would mean for them. Liz shook her head clearing it of the useless thoughts that were now circulating it. ¡°You know what Jocelyn, you were right, there¡¯s not a whole lot here. I mean, maybe later we can go over it with a fine tooth comb to get more information about what¡¯s going on in general, but the path you¡¯re following should be good. We¡¯ll keep on trucking and I guess when we get to the admin section we¡¯ll figure out what he was talking about.¡± The group resumed their trek and continued to make good time. A few scratches on Mark¡¯s new armor were all the damage they took as they made their way through the winding corridors of the jungle dungeon. At this point people were pretty comfortable calling it what it was. There was no mistaking how the place was laid out, and it clearly was a set of mazes meant to discourage people from plumbing its depths. With the map, they would have been horribly lost. Even with it, knowing that corridors should be places, it was hard for them to find the right path. More than once they were forced to search along walls holding their hands against it only to discover a clever trick of perspective was used to make a branching passage resemble a solid wall. If they had to worry about traps on top of all this they would have made zero forward progress. In the downtimes Liz marveled at the abundance of life inside the dungeon. Plant-wise the place was amazing. She knew they would have to come back to try and harvest seeds for some of this stuff because glowing organic magic lights alone would be worth the trip. Rope-like vines, rubbery plants, and cotton looking fibers were all on display. All of these could really make a big impact for the camp. The monsters were a lot more boring. At least, as boring as giant apes that shouted and tried to kill you could be. They mostly just varied on size. She figured it must be like the wolves around the iceberg in their little lake, the dominant species for the area seemed to be pretty standard. As they got deeper and deeper into the labyrinth the strength and size of the creatures increased. She wondered what it must be like inside the other places. The sent her mind to the zombie invasion they had escaped ahead of that she had managed to compartmentalize until this moment. The worry hit her like a physical blow and caused her to stagger. It was hard for her to sort through the sudden emotions. Mark noticed and walked over and held a hand out to steady her. ¡°You okay? What just happened.¡± ¡°Nothing, just a little dizzy.¡± ¡°You¡¯re really not as good at lying as you think you are.¡± Liz looked at Mark. She really didn¡¯t want to derail him but she admitted she needed to talk this one out. ¡°Fine. Zombies. I was worried about zombies, and suddenly it hit me that everyone could be dead.¡± ¡°See, this is why you need to talk to me. You don¡¯t have to worry about it. Mom and Dad are there, and so are Lyon, and Margaret, and Eddie, and everyone else. They got it. They¡¯ll be fine. In fact, they¡¯ll be even better when we finish up whatever we¡¯re doing here because Mom will be totally flipping out happy and we¡¯ll have more info and stuffs.¡± Liz looked sideways at Mark, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re Mark, and not some doppleganger type creature?¡± Mark hit her arm. ¡°Ok, ok, fine, but thanks, I guess I just needed to be reminded about that.¡± ¡°I get it. Right now, we just need to our part.¡± Liz shook her head as Mark went back to take the lead. A moment later a large alpha ape charged them and he calmly rallied everyone. A few quick slashes later the ape was downed. Even though the monsters had been getting steadily stronger as they made their way into the interior, nothing had been able to stand against the group for long. The threat level of their group was somewhat off the charts and Liz found she barely needed to use her abilities as George and Mark made mincemeat of pretty much anything that got close. ¡°We¡¯re almost there guys! Just around the corner! This is it. We made it!¡± an excited Jocelyn called out. The entire group picked up their pace, just shy of running, as the excitement built. A half hour of navigating strange tunnels with apes jumping out at them had put them on edge and the idea of reaching their end destination was tantalizing. None of them could have expected what really awaited them when they finally made it to the admin section though. ¡°You have got to be kidding me.¡± Liz said, slack-jawed at the sight. ¡°He did apologize about Pete and the pirate thing.¡± Jocelyn noted in a confused voice. In front of them, in gaudy themepark lettering, was a sign that read ¡®Pirate Pete¡¯s Admin Section¡¯. An animatronic cartoon pirate, peg leg and all, stood at the entrance. Before anyone else could say anything a sea chanty started blaring through some speakers and the animatronic pirates mouth began to move. ¡°Ya¡¯har me matey¡¯s! Welcome to Pirate Pete¡¯s Admin Adventure! I be seeing this is your first time here. Please present yer key and we¡¯ll be lettin ye in. Otherwise, you scallywags be out o¡¯ luck!¡± ¡°Out o¡¯ luck! Out o¡¯ luck! Tweet tweet!¡± confirmed the parrot on the pirate¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Haha! Biscuit think this fun! Fun with Pete and Pirate adventures. Tweet Tweet!¡± Everyone took a moment to collect themselves as Biscuit continued to tweet at the parrot, who then tweeted at Biscuit, who tweeted back at the parrot. They didn¡¯t know what was coming next, but it was probably not going to help any of their sanity levels. She could feel herself losing brain cells just imagine what lay ahead. The world was ending and some dude somewhere used his near limitless powers to build a pirate theme park. Chapter 47 - Yar kidding me ¡°I can¡¯t believe this!¡± Exclaimed Mark happily. This was awesome. ¡°I can¡¯t believe this either.¡± Liz stated in stark contrast to her brother. There was significantly less enthusiasm in her voice. ¡°I think I got this, one sec.¡± Jocelyn was trying to plug her laptop into the pirate, parrot, or anything else that looked like an interface in her attempt to make it into the admin area. ¡°Ya¡¯har missy, don¡¯t be sticking that there!¡± the animatronic Pirate would periodically spout. ¡°Not there! Not there!¡± the parrot unhelpfully added. Each time the gaudy pirate and his friend squawked at her, Jocelyn seemed to stress out more and more. ¡°It has to be somewhere.¡± She muttered under her breath. ¡°Can you ask the admin guy, Eversor or whatever, anything? Like maybe where to look?¡± Mark said as he absently poked around things hoping to find a clue. ¡°No. Right now I can¡¯t get new data at all, the Manastorm might be messing with the uplink, or maybe it¡¯s because we¡¯re so deep into this dungeon. I just don¡¯t know, but we¡¯re running out of time!¡± ¡°Jocelyn, it¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t panic. He said we¡¯d be fine even if we didn¡¯t get there during the storm hitting. We just need to think this through. What¡¯s the next logical step.¡± Liz was interrupted as everyone took a moment to stare at an animatronic crab holding a piece of cheese in its claws made it¡¯s way across the large cartoon tree behind the pirate. It was being chased by a shark with cat ears. ¡°Uh, Liz, I totally believe in you and stuff, but I don¡¯t think logic is going to help much.¡± George hadn¡¯t moved for awhile. His brain was still working it¡¯s way through the current scenery. ¡°Hey! I found an X! Try plugging it in here!¡± Mark exclaimed. Liz began, ¡°Mark, this is an interface for a complex magical system, not a random¡­¡± ¡°It worked! I¡¯m connecting!¡± Jocelyn exclaimed after trying Mark¡¯s suggestion. ¡°Told ya! ¡®X¡¯ marks the spot!¡± Mark hi-fived Jocelyn. Liz looked like she was about to explode. ¡°Yar Matey, right you be!¡± the animatronic pirate helpfully added. ¡°And now ye be able to enter Pirate Pete¡¯s Admin Adventure! Glory be waitin fer ya, but beware the traps! But if ye solve me puzzles three, ye be provin that yer no mangy beasts! Good fortune to ye buccaneers!¡± The tree opened to reveal a passage deeper into the theme park. ¡°I guess we keep going and find out what¡¯s down there.¡± Mark strode forward leading the way. As the continued onward Mark heard Liz mutter ¡°I really hate pirates.¡± Liz¡¯s statement was followed by a large creaking noise, which caused the entire group to stop. Mark fearfully looked over his shoulder and saw Liz¡¯s eyes widen in terror. The animatronic pirate had turned it¡¯s head round 180 degrees in full exorcist mode and its eyes were now glowing red. ¡°What ye be saying lass?¡± ¡°Ixnay on the anti-piratesay.¡± Mark growled to Liz. ¡°I love pirates. This is so much fun! We¡¯re having fun right guys! I love pirates!¡± Liz quickly amended her prior statements. The pirate¡¯s eyes returned to their regular blue color and the head returned to its frontward facing position. ¡°Well, now that we¡¯ve established we all LOVE PIRATES¡± Mark poked Liz, ¡°We¡¯ll be on our way!¡± Mark motioned for the group to continue down the gently sloping path. It was just broad enough for everyone to fit, including Biscuit. Which was good because Mark had no idea if they would need to get out of there in a hurry. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t hurt to confirm that though. ¡°Biscuit, you can teleport out of here if we need, right?¡± ¡°Elly can help Biscuit leave no problem!¡± ¡°Oh good.¡± Mark thought about it a bit more and found an issue. ¡°Wait, does that mean only you and Elly can leave with a port?¡± ¡°Ports are where pirate ships are! We can take a ship! Biscuit wants to ride a pirate ship!¡± Biscuit swayed his back and forth imagining the fun ride. ¡°Let me.¡± Elly looked Biscuit in the eye with a look of fierce concentration. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s not so great. So, I think some barrier is around us. Maybe Biscuit and I can probably punch through, but I don¡¯t think anyone else could. I think it¡¯s only been recently though, so maybe, we could probably go back up to the pirate guy and port from there.¡± Jocelyn tensed up on hearing their escape plan was blocked. Mark turned forward and saw lights ahead. ¡°If things get out of control, try to head with Jocelyn. It¡¯s okay, there¡¯s still a way out that is easy to access.¡± The sound of apes howling could be heard from the entrance they just came through followed by a hard slam. ¡°Ya¡¯har Mateys, seems like them scurvy monkies be trying to take me treasure! I be shuttin the door for ye so worry not! Even if those yellow bellied bilge swillers make it past the door they won¡¯t be makin it past the puzzles!¡± Pirate¡¯s pete voice echoed through the tunnel seemingly from everywhere at once.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Okay then. I guess on to puzzles!¡± Mark strode forward towards the light and gawked when he entered the room. The well lit clearing was set up like a port town. Ramshackle buildings were leaning against each other and vegetation crawled along the walls of all the buildings. The central building was giant, with stone accents. It really stood out in the otherwise wooden village. They could see a blue sky overhead and smell the ocean on the breeze coming through. The group looked around confused at the sudden shift in scenery. The large building had a single wooden sign over the entrance indicating the type of place it was. The lettering was in a piratey font and was the only building in the area with a sign. The front also had less wear and tear compared to the other buildings making it stand out further in terms of it¡¯s condition. ¡°Well, I guess we go to the bank?¡± Mark prodded. Walking through the town was eerily quiet. Whatever grandiose plans this place may have once had, it clearly was a half finished propositions. Empty stalls lined the streets, giving the impression of an abandoned town, perfectly preserved, as the villagers vanished. Through the silence the distant howls and banging of the apes could be heard, causing people to pick up the pace as they ran into the building. Entering the structure, the bank lobby opened up to a giant scale. Another animatronic pirate stood in the center of the room. ¡°I be need me pirate gold, but some scurvey dogs be trying to counterfeit thar deposits. Me scales will let ye measure but twice. Find the real coin, tis heavier than the rest, and deposit it to continue on yer adventures!¡± Mark turned to Liz. ¡°Ok, this is you. Logic puzzle thing. What you got? Liz went over to the pile of coins and counted out nine of them. ¡°This is easy, I think. We get two attemps. Then the scale breaks. Nine coins...¡± Liz continued to mumble for a bit as she shifted around coins. ¡°Uh, Liz, I hate to push you, but I think the apes just broke through.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Liz picked up six coins and put three on each side of the scale. Neither side moved. ¡°Is that good? Did we win? Are we there yet?¡± Mark asked as he glanced out the doorway. ¡°And I think we¡¯ll have company here in a minute.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. That just means none of these are the real coin.¡± Liz took two of the remaining coins and put one on each side. The scale stayed still, not budging, and then suddenly collapsed into a neat heap on the floor. ¡°Liz! The scale broke! What did you do?¡± Mark cried out. ¡°Mark, seriously, did you listen to any of the instructions? We¡¯re fine, and here¡¯s the real coin.¡± Liz held up the last coin that hadn¡¯t been measured at all. ¡°Really? But you didn¡¯t weigh that.¡± George looked as confused as Mark as he asked. Explaining as she approached the teller Liz quickly rattled off the solution. ¡°Three and three were balanced, no real coin. One of the remaining three had to be heavier. Last two were balanced, ergo last coin must be real.¡± George and Mark nodded their heads. Mark wasn¡¯t sure if George actually got that solution, but he wasn¡¯t going to give his friend grief for it. For his part, once Liz gave her explanations, he was pretty sure that he got it. Regardless, it seemed to be the right answer because as she handed the animatronic teller the coin the vault opened and Pete¡¯s voice rang out from speakers around the bank. ¡°Right ye are missy! Continue forward as fortune awaits!¡± The vault door opened as Mark slammed the front entrance closed. ¡°Go go go! Nothing to brace this thing¡± Mark hollered as he held the door to the bank shut. Everyone else rushed through the newly opened vault and when Liz waved him over he quickly Falling Stepped next to her. As his foot crossed the threshold the doors to the bank burst open and dozens of apes entered the lobby. Mark¡¯s eyes widened in horror as he saw what he mentally dubbed Ape Kong give a mighty roar just as the vault slammed shut. He really hoped that there was another way out of this place because he did not want to see how his shield fared against that thing. Twenty foot tall magical gorillas were not on his list of things he wanted to deal with today. The vault was creepily silent as the group stood around catching up with the latest events. As their eyes adjusted to the dark room Mark noticed little lights on the floor. ¡°Hey, see the little lights? It¡¯s like the things on airplanes. Should we follow them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see any other alternatives, and the map of the park seemed to indicate that there¡¯s really only one way to go.¡± Liz replied. ¡°Wait, there¡¯s a map?¡± Mark was confused. ¡°Mark, Pirate Pete had a stack of them at the start. Did you not. You know. Never mind. It¡¯s fine. I have a map, and so does everyone else. You can take a look at them if you need but let¡¯s just follow the lights.¡± ¡°Dude, totally has the lit path thing on the map here. Check it out.¡± George held out his map for Mark to see. Mark felt a little bad that George had noticed something that he didn¡¯t even see, but it quickly passed. The next puzzle was after a cartoony looking path of stars seeming to lead into the sea. As they continued deeper he could hear a deep and repetitive thrum. Mark tried to figure out where the noise was coming from and took a moment to look up. Everyone else was so focused on following the dim lights on the path that they had failed to note their surroundings. ¡°Uh, guys.¡± Mark said with awe in his voice. He was staring up in awe. ¡°What Mark? We¡¯re trying to follow. Oh. Wow.¡± Liz stared up and was as enraptured as Mark. The sight that had captivated Mark was also the source of the thrumming sound. Overhead, they could see what looked like a galaxy of bioluminescent jellyfish and other sea creatures. The scene would look more at home in a hollywood blockbuster than a strange pirate theme park. The swirling eddies of light flitted about in a strong current that was continuously washing against the tunnel that the team was in. They all took a moment to marvel at the sight. ¡°This is epic.¡± Mark said to no one in particular. ¡°Dude.¡± George agreed completely. ¡°Ok, this is awesome and all, but I guess we should keep moving. I think I can make out something ahead. I¡¯ll go check quick.¡± Mark popped over to a pedestal in the distance and proceeded to check the area for traps. Liz was the next to wander over. ¡°Mark. What are you doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m checking for traps.¡± ¡°Do you even know what those would look like?¡± Liz questioned. Mark thought about it for a bit. ¡°You know, probably not. I mean, I could tell traps from stuff that we would make, but not sure if I could pick up on an insane god-like powered pirate would do. Except don¡¯t take the gold. That¡¯s always a pirate trap.¡± Liz looked like she was about to disagree but ended up contorting her mouth to acceptance. ¡°You know, you¡¯re probably right. Whatever. What¡¯s on the pedestal?¡± Mark cleared his throat and readied his best pirate voice. He had practiced the last ¡®Talk Like a Pirate Day¡¯ and was pretty confident in his piratese. ¡°Ya Har Mateys! You¡¯ve passed the first challenge, but deep within these waters lies the next test o¡¯ yer wits. You be needin to solve me riddle to pass to the next. I be in pots, but not stew Though many would bite me None would eat me I be¡­¡± ¡°Gold. We¡¯re looking for gold something.¡± Jocelyn chimed in. ¡°There are like ten more lines!¡± He had just been getting into the groove with the pirate speak and thought he was doing a really good job with it. ¡°Next time dude. But baller reading.¡± Mark grumpily hi-fived George and then returned to looking at the pedestal. ¡°But where are we going to get the gold stuff from?¡± Mark looked around and suddenly realized the real challenge. Scuba equipment lined the walls in alcoves. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re going fishing!¡± He exclaimed as he rushed over to the gear. Chapter 48 - X Marks the Spot Liz looked at the scuba equipment skeptically. She had her diving cert, as did Mark, and she felt like she knew her stuff pretty well. She knew how to calculate how long she could dive and at what depths before she would get nitrogen poisoning. Even more than that, she knew the cardinal rule of diving. ¡°Guys, I don¡¯t know about this. There aren¡¯t any air tanks.¡± She noted. The cardinal rule was ¡®don¡¯t dive underwater without air tanks¡¯. Maybe she made that up, but she was pretty sure it should be the first rule. ¡°But there are totally these things that go over your mouth with some tubes. I¡¯m sure it will be fine!¡± Mark countered. ¡°We don¡¯t know what depth we¡¯re at! Those jellyfish are all deep sea type things! What if we¡¯re like a couple hundred feet down? We¡¯ll get the bends like instantly!¡± ¡°Eh, Pete wouldn¡¯t do that.¡± Mark noted sagely. ¡°How can you know that?¡± Liz said in an exasperated voice. Mark shrugged as he suited up. Mike also shrugged, but indicated that someone who went through this much trouble to create puzzles probably wouldn¡¯t automatically kill people who were trying to get solve them. They both hopped into a pool that seemed to lead to the watery area. Refusing to give in quite yet, she walked over one more time to the locked door that was clearly marked with a glowing golden EXIT sign and growled when it still refused to open. Liz shook her fists in a bit of a rage. None of this made sense. Why did Pete even put puzzles here? If they needed to do maintenance on something, setting up a series of complicated pirate themed challenges was just stupid! It was stupid and illogical! Elly put a hand on Liz¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Liz, I know this is probably driving you crazy, but sometimes you just have to roll with it. I mean, I know this is really important stuff we¡¯re doing, but I think whoever this Pete guy was he probably wanted people to have fun. Or at least be silly for a bit. I think it¡¯s cute!¡± ¡°Elly, this stuff will possibly impact everyone on the planet!¡± ¡°Yup. So might as well enjoy doing it. Beats fighting monsters that are trying to kill us.¡± Elly smiled and Liz took a deep breath. She looked at her brother who was eager suiting up and then outside at the magical glowing undersea wonderland that Pete had created. The gently swaying sea creatures were beautiful and the bioluminescence was captivating. Seeing no alternatives, she steadied herself and started suiting up. Maybe this wouldn¡¯t be so bad. It turned out it was so much worse. ¡°I found it again!¡± Liz reached out to grab the glowing golden squid just as it squirted ink and dashed away for the hundredth time. She lifted a hand to wipe away the goopy substance that managed to shoot through the water into her face every time. It had gummed up her hair something fierce and it took every ounce of control she had not to scream into the mouthpiece of her scuba unit. It turned out that the water was perfectly breathable through the mouth unit, and the scuba masks actually had communication devices. Screaming into one would go to everyone¡¯s helmet, and after the first few times she did it the rest of the group started giving her dirty looks. She gave dirty looks right back. Her dirty look was accentuated with squid ink, even. It hadn¡¯t taken long for the group to realize that the golden squid was likely the requirement to pass this test. It was the only animal that happened to be that color, and a few almost captures revealed that one of its tentacles ended in a key. They had been chasing the thing non-stop since they realized this, but it was incredibly difficult to catch. Liz¡¯s keen eyes had little trouble finding the golden squid amongst the glowing fauna of the aquatic biome, but the darned thing had managed to escape her every time she tried to nab it. Every escape was accompanied by another squirt of ink. Liz had tried to shoot the thing a few times but somehow all the projectiles they tried would get slowed by disproportionate amounts in the water. It seemed that Pete didn¡¯t want people to be able to simply shoot down the squid. ¡°That was so close Liz, next time you¡¯ll get it for sure! Oh here it is!¡± Mark made a grab for the squid and got his own face full of ink. Rather than wipe it off, though, Mark simply let his armor fade and put up a new layer that was sparkling clean. Liz¡¯s rage reach a new level as his inkless face smiled at her. She knew he wasn¡¯t doing it on purpose, but it didn¡¯t stop it from being any less frustrating. They had been at it for close to half an hour. The mana storm had to be imminent. Knowing that there were people out there waiting for them spurred her next action. ¡°Guys, we have to do something else. This isn¡¯t working. We need a plan.¡± She called out to the team. ¡°Yeah! Biscuit is bored! You should all find squid guy and come back so I can play too!¡± Biscuit looked comical with the helmet balanced precariously on his head. You always try to grab squiddy face but he always just displaces to left and then goes away and is silly.¡± The unicorn added. ¡°Wait, Biscuit, are you serious, it dodges away the same direction each time?¡± Elly asked, confused. Liz understood the confusion, it was really hard to tell which direction was up much less left in the gravityless environment of the tank. ¡°Of course Biscuit see! Silly human not detecting teleporty shift blot is silly! Biscuit would shift to left and bite squiddy if Biscuit could be there! Then we could play in more fun places!¡± Liz was at a loss for a moment, but didn¡¯t think the unicorn had the capacity to lie. With that in mind a simple plan was formed. As the squid was located one more time, everyone moved to the space that would equate to left if they were standing in the central room. With everyone in position, Liz called everyone to action. ¡°Ok Mark, you¡¯re up. Make that thing pay.¡± Liz growed. ¡°Uh, Liz, we¡¯re just catching it, I don¡¯t think we need to...¡± ¡°GET IT NOW!¡± Mark knew that further conversation wouldn¡¯t be terribly productive at this point swam towards the squid. Like always, it darted away at the last minute and sped away. Right into the waiting arms of the group. ¡°I got it!¡± Elly cried holding a length of tentacle. After she touched it¡¯s keylike appendage it ceased all struggles and converted to a large golden key. ¡°Thank god. You¡¯re the best Elly, let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Liz said in clear relief. The group swam up towards the airlock pool and without hesitating they moved towards the ornate door towards the back of the room. ¡°Here¡¯s hoping it works!¡± Elly said with trepidation. She inserted the key into the door and with a quick twist the door started to glow. The seaweed reliefs that decorated it started to sway and a faint glow appeared around it. The door then proceeded to open by itself. It revealed a long tunnel gently sloping upwards. The group looked around to see if anyone had anything to say, and with no further comments Mark stepped into the lead and they were on their way again. *********Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Mark was pretty stoked for the next puzzle. It was his totally biased opinion that this was the best admin area ever. Even in his excitement he didn¡¯t forget to keep his eyes open for traps. Just because things were awesome didn¡¯t mean that Pirate Pete wouldn¡¯t turn on them in an instant. Mark liked to think that Pete wouldn¡¯t, though. He wanted to believe that the person who went through this much trouble to entertain people wouldn¡¯t suddenly try to kill them off. Mark hoped that wherever Pete was he was doing well, because this was the best vacation from the apocalypse ever. That thought brought Mark back to the sobering reality of the present. Mark shed his happy thoughts around Pete. They were making good time, but who knew what was going on out on the surface as they pranced around the magical pirate world of Pete. Fortunately the tunnel leading out of the undersea aquarium wasn¡¯t too long and before he knew it they exited to a relatively small desert island. They had ¡®sky¡¯ above them again, although Mark was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t a real sky, it did give them a sense that it was a nice wide open space. It was very much like those comics of people being stranded on an island. A single lonely palm tree was off to the left, and Mark could see the ocean on either side of the tiny island. He imagined that if he climbed to the top of the gently sloping hill infant of him he¡¯d see a nearly perfect circular island. As everyone else exited the tunnel behind him they paused to take in the sight. Knowing time was tight Mark volunteered the next action. ¡°Ok folks, one more crazy pirate puzzle and we should be at the terminal. I think we should head to the top of the island we¡¯re on and see what¡¯s up.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± Liz said in agreement. As the troupe trudged up the hill Mark¡¯s suspicions were confirmed. The island truly was one little circle of land. The entire thing probably didn¡¯t have a diameter of much more than a hundred feet. Maybe half a football field. That¡¯ be something like 150 feet. He thought. A yard was three feet as far as he could recall, or was that a meter? His thoughts were interrupted as Liz approached the lone item at the topmost point of the island, another animatronic Pirate. ¡°Yahar Matey¡¯s! Ye been doing well to get this far, but me final treasure be the most important to get to the capn¡¯s chair. I also be noting that the beasties be actin up, so I be enabling the beastie blow-uppin button on thar capn¡¯ chair for ye. But if ye not be proven yerselves to be the best pirates that be sailin these seas, I¡¯ll let them feast on yer bones!¡± ¡°What do we have to do then? There¡¯s nothing here!¡± Liz complained. She seemed to be about done with Pete¡¯s puzzles and most of the rest of the party seemed to share the sentiment. ¡°Don¡¯t ye be worryin lass, just poke ol¡¯ Buttercup¡¯s Nose and he be starting the puzzle for ye!¡± ¡°Poke my nose! Poke my nose!¡± Mark suddenly had an idea. If Pete was answering questions for Liz, maybe he¡¯d answer more questions. ¡°Pete, what¡¯s going on? Why are there monsters and stuff outside?¡± ¡°Ah, ye be a clever lad for askin, but I only will speak to tha cap¡¯n about such things. Good luck lad!¡± ¡°Poke my nose! Poke my nose!¡± the parrot on Pete¡¯s shoulder squawked again. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a bad idea Mark, but I guess we¡¯ll only get answers when we finish this thing.¡± Liz said consolingly. ¡°Ok, well, at least we can pump him for info after then. Lets get started I guess, we need to get out there and help everyone soon.¡± Mark quickly looked around and saw nods of agreement on everyone¡¯s face. Everyone was ready to be done with this. Mark poked Buttercup on the nose, at least he assumed that was the parrot''s name, and hoped for the best. The ground behind Pete opened up and a large timer came out. It had three minutes and was already counting down. Across the entire islands, small ¡®X¡¯s started appearing and a surreal pattern around Pete. Less than ten seconds had counted down, and the entire island was now covered in ¡®X¡¯s. ¡°Find the Spot! Find the Spot! Squak!¡± said Buttercup. ¡°This is easy! I see the X already! X is spot!¡± replied Biscuit. ¡°Easy! Easy! Squak!¡± said Buttercup. Mark groaned. The island seemed small at first, but when every square foot of it was covered in X¡¯s it suddenly felt a lot bigger. ¡°Mark. All in, burn whatever mana you have and start digging these X¡¯s up.¡± Liz shouted, panic clear in her voice. She moved to start on an X but as she touched it an explosion of confetti erupted into her face. ¡°Thar¡¯s not the right spot lass, ye need be tryin again!¡± Pete added helpfully. ¡°Dude, whack-a-mole time.¡± George replied sagely. Mark nodded. It seemed like the only strategy possible in the time they had. ¡°Elly, Biscuit, you¡¯re going to be main line for this one. Start stomping on X¡¯s!¡± Mark shouted as he stepped away onto an X. This one exploded in a goopy slime. Since he was planning on using all his mana for Falling Steps, he had shut down his Chi armor and was now fully covered in gunk. Liz turned and Mark could see the effort it took for her to refrain from making a comment. She simply pulled her ink laden hair back into a tighter pony tail in an attempt to get some of the conffetti out of it and got back to work. Mark appreciated the effort on her part, as he could see her eye twitching with the need to say something, but he had bigger problems. The countdown continued and there were X¡¯s that needed stomping. Elly and Biscuit were making the most progress, but everyone was contributing. George and Liz had taken to throwing or shooting arrows at X¡¯s and generating puffs and explosions everywhere. Even Jocelyn was getting in on the action stomping any X she could find. Mike was furiously scribbling on pieces of paper, but every time he finished whatever he was doing, he would toss the sheet and all the X¡¯s in a wide area would detonate. They were about half way through the island when Mark glanced back at the clock. His eyes bulged in horror when he saw the time left. ¡°Thirty seconds left me hearties! Best be gettin to work!¡± Pete informed the group before Mark could say anything. ¡°That¡¯s so unfair! We need more time!¡± Mark complained to the animatronic pirate. ¡°Ye shouda thought o¡¯ that before ye brought all ye friends! Thar aint no easy mode for a full party lad. Anywho, if ye used yer noggins instead of yer feet, you¡¯d be done already.¡± ¡°Liz, we need you to use your noggin! We¡¯ll never make it in time like this!¡± Liz looked around wild eyed trying to find a clue. She had made it out to one of the edges of the island during her popping spree and immediately ran into the water. ¡°Liz! Bath later! Help now!¡± Mark cried in a panic. ¡°Mark, get high, this thing is a square, the exposed part is round, but find the center of the square. That is the X. That point is where we need to go! FAST!¡± Ten seconds were left on the clock. No wasting a single moment, Mark leapt as high as he could into the air. He willed his ability to keep him there, and not pull him down, and for a moment it seemed to work. He hovered above the Island and saw what Liz was talking about. The hump extended from a rectangular piece of land that was clearly visible from the air. The crystal blue waters made finding the edges easy and as gravity resumed it¡¯s hold on him, he directed himself to the place where the X would form if you drew lines from edge to edge. 5 He stomped to his left and was covered in red paint. 4 He stomped to his right and string spray burst out from the ground. 3 Directly in front of him the X simply exploded shoving sand into his eyes and mouth. 2 Mark knew there was one more X behind him, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. He crawled along smacking his hands against the sand in haphazard fashion hoping that he would luck into it. 1 He felt a click where his hand had slapped into the sand, and a bell chimed. ¡°Yahar Matey! That be a close one, but you finished me puzzles three! To the captain¡¯s cabin with ye! Twas a pleasure, and we hope to be seein ye again soon!¡± Mark just lay there in the sand for a moment. He slowly got his breathing back under control and wiped the sand out of his eyes. The team slowly gathered around him looking exhausted. Everyone was covered head to two in all sorts of strange substances but no one felt like joking about it. Liz extended a hand to Mark who gladly took it. ¡°Good work bro. That was close.¡± ¡°Thanks sis. It was. What did we win?¡± They glanced over to where the final X was hit and saw a small vine like plant had budded. A few seconds later, it started growing like something out of Jack and the Beanstalk and soon slammed into the sky. The spot that it hit opened up to reveal a hole to an unknown area. Mark looked over to Liz, too mentally exhausted to figure out what to do next. ¡°After you!¡± She graciously held a hand out, allowing Mark to go first. Mark nodded and started up the plant. It had formed into a spiral staircase, complete with railing, and the team lined up behind him. Each step felt labored, and his mind started wandering. All his focused was used up during that last few minutes and he couldn¡¯t stop himself. What if zombies ate his dad and mom? What if the school was destroyed? What if the team outside was killed? What if this was all a waste of time? His pace picked up with each stray thought and soon they were all jogging up the stairs. While he may have started out thinking this was a fun vacation, he was officially over it. He hoped would all be worth it. Chapter 49 - Done Liz sighed in relief as she confirmed nothing was following them up the beanstalk. Turning forward she joined the rest of the party in the room at the top. Contrary to the rest of this piratical nightmare, the room was disturbingly boring. Liz nervously glanced around to see if there was some catch. The room resembled a typical pre-apocalypse office space and there was a single terminal sitting on a desk in the middle. Jocelyn wasted no time and rushed over to plug in her laptop into the lonely terminal. A few seconds later and a hi-pitched "WoHoo!" indicated she had some success with the process. The clicking of keys was the only thing anyone could hear as Jocelyn''s entire focus directed itself towards the screen. Liz started milling about nervously. "Is everything ok? Did we get here in time? Were you able to get in?" Liz questioned. "Mph." Jocelyn replied unhelpfully. "Is that ''Mph'' we''re good, or ''Mph'' the world is going to end, again?" Mark tried to get some clarification. "Mpmeh! GRrrrr!" Jocelyn was obviously in the zone and Liz gently put a hand on Mark''s shoulder. "Let''s just give her some space for now. I think there would be more swearing if things were really bad. Is everyone else ok?" Liz looked around to the tired faces of their group. Now that the adrenaline rush from the events had passed, everyone seemed to be crashing. "Just exhausted. I''ve never hopped around that much with Biscuit before. It was crazy." Elly said as she slumped against Biscuit. "Biscuit tired now. Take nap. Wake when finish save world." Biscuit agreed as he closed his eyes. Apparently unicorns sleep standing up. "Good idea, poke me when we''re done here." Elly, still leaning against him, did the same. Liz just nodded. There didn''t seemed to be much else to do as they waited for Jocelyn to do whatever it was she needed to do. Mark and George were off in a corner laughing and gesturing wildly. Apparently swapping tales of what had been going on the past week. She smiled softly. Mark hadn''t been his usual goofy self the past few days and it was good to see him unload a bit. She knew she wasn''t very good at making things easy for him, and having Geroge around would help keep things balanced. Thinking about it, she took a few deep breaths trying to find some balance as well. She knew there was a world of crazy out there waiting for them, but there was only so much she could do. She worried about her parents and the zombie attack. She worried about the group outside during the manastorm. She worried about humanity''s chances during this entire thing. She could only tackle what was in front of her though, and try to do the best with what was available to her. If she tried to do more, she''d just drive herself crazy. One thing at a time. Speaking of which, she looked over to Jocelyn to see if there was anything else she could figure out about what was going on. There was nothing to do about it for now though, so Liz sat down and simply allowed herself to relax. This is where she needed to be, and everything else had to wait. A few minutes passed like this with the only sound in the room being the hitting of keys and occasional grunt by Jocelyn and the babbling of George and Mark. Mike simply sat quietly with Liz. Jocelyn the happiest grunt Liz had heard so far and viciously pressed the enter key with dramatic flair. "Got it. Got it you jerkfaced Pirate jerk. We''re in. Pull request approved. Update started" Liz felt a shudder and everyone looked around nervously. Everyone milled about nervously as the structure shook and warning screens in red popped up in front of them. That never had happened before. Before panic set in, words started flashing across the screen. The room immediately focused on the scroll text and a pin could have been heard in the ensuing silence. Line by line, they finally were starting to understand what was going on with the world. ********* The silence in the room was palpable as everyone absorbed the message that appeared in front of them. It provided many answers, but also gave life to many more questions. Jocelyn looked even more drained than before. Liz figured she must have been abusing her power something fierce to do whatever it was she just did. Regardless, it looked like they had succeeded. Liz hoped beyond all hope that the mysterious admins of the system were truly looking to do good, and they hadn''t just empowered a bunch of tyrants, but only time would tell. "Well, I think that''s that. I think,¡± she took another breath, letting the message and current events sweep by her, ¡°I think we¡¯re done.¡± She started towards the clearly marked exit in the office she was in and the group turned in behind her. The way out was much more convenient that the way in, and while it put them somewhat off the beaten path from the main entrance, a small opening let them all exit the dungeon without having to retrace their steps. Following the outer wall of the construct lead them to the entrance where they found the sheriff¡¯s crew waiting. The looked somewhat worse for wear, and their small fort was largely demolished. George rushed over to check on everyone.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°You all ok?¡± He asked with concern. No one had any major injuries, but apparently the King Kong ape had come up. The football team described an epic battle they they thought they would lose until suddenly, a little before the red message appeared, the beast retreated back into the dungeon. The small attacks after that from random beasts in the area weren¡¯t much concern, but everyone was eager to get going. Liz frowned as they completed their tale and let her know a last bit of info. During the chaos, Lance had managed to slip away. No one knew what direction he fled, but at the moment no one had the energy to try and find him. All they could do was hope he was ok and would somehow find his way back. They agreed that if he turned up anywhere, he¡¯d be turned over to the Mountain Lake Highschool group. ¡°You¡¯ll need to come up with a better name too, it¡¯s not really a high school anymore you know.¡± Mark noted. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re thinking Mountain Lake Point, just haven¡¯t gotten around to making it official yet.¡± The sheriff replied, in good spirits despite having lost his prisoner. The message had brought a sense of direction that was missing before. The effects were apparent on the face of everyone in the group. ¡°Maybe we can do this. Maybe we can fix this. Things will get better.¡± The sheriff said with genuine hope in his voice. It was easy to forget that the adults around them had been shouldering the burden of keeping everyone moving when they had no idea if survival was even going to be an option. It was amazing how much a little information could change things. ¡°Well, maybe things will get better in the near future, but there was a mass of zombies trying to eat our parents before, so I think we¡¯re going to jet and see if we can do something about that.¡± Liz said as she secured her bow. ¡°I¡¯m coming with. It¡¯s been too long since I¡¯ve seen Mom and everything should be cool at school now.¡± George was emphatic with his statement and the sheriff nodded in agreement. It was time to get things cleared up. ********* Liz shouldn¡¯t have been surprised. Sometimes it was easy to forget that your dad was actually a killing machine of terrifying proportions. Still, it was hard to keep from being overawed at the scene that greeted them at home. Thousands of corpses had been stacked along the road around the house, each one with a single bullet wound visible. The bitterness Liz had felt about the times Dad had missed recitals, or sports games, or anything else Liz was doing fadded away. She had always wondered why he focused so much on shooting when it seems so impractical. Looking at the piles of corpses she knew. This was why. Because somehow, beyond all expectation and reason, he was getting ready for this. ¡°Liz! Mark! You¡¯re back! How did it go?¡± Dad was waving as he spritzed something on a mouldering body. ¡°Uh, good, George is here too.¡± Liz indicated the tall youth behind her. ¡°Yo Mr. R! Heard that you might need some help, but it all seems ok now.¡± ¡°George! You managed to escape then? Where¡¯s Lance?¡± Dad asked curiously. ¡°Yeah, about that, let¡¯s talk.¡± Mark stepped forward and started to lead their dad away. That was probably going to be an uncomfortable conversation, and Liz was impressed that Mark had taken the initiative. ¡®Better him than me¡¯, she thought. ¡°George, I¡¯m betting your mom will be in the house somewhere, you should go catch up too.¡± ¡°I need to check in on a few things. With all the updates, and the new permissions I have, I think I¡¯ll see if I can clean up some stuff for people¡¯s UI. Thanks for helping me there Liz. I absolutely couldn¡¯t have done this without you. Thanks.¡± Jocelyn gave Liz a hug. Elly came over and joined in. Mike shrugged and piled in as well. Group hug then. The awkwardness became a bit too strong for the teens to all bear, and with a quick laugh they broke the hug and went to catch up on what was going on. Liz took a deep breath and headed into the lab. She was relatively certain she could find her mom there doing whatever it was that needed doing. Sure enough, Mom looking tired but smiling as she mixed up a giant vat of something. ¡°That the fungicide stuff Dad was spraying on everything?¡± Liz asked. ¡°Liz! You made it! Yes, It is. Thank you for getting that update in. The message was critical.¡± Mom rushed over and gave Liz a crushing hug. Her small frame applied a disproportionate amount of force in it and Liz grunted at the pressure. ¡°We¡¯re finally going to be able to start untangling this mess.¡± For the first time in a week, Liz felt herself truly unwind. It had been a few weeks, but it had been the longest most brutal gauntlet she had ever weathered. As her mind and body finally relaxed she was surprised to notice her eyes were blurry with tears. ¡°It¡¯s okay love. Things will be better now. We can do this. It¡¯s thanks to you and your work too. You did great.¡± It had been brutal, and Liz had done her best to be the warrior she didn¡¯t want to be. She had fought off monsters of human and fantastical variety. She had pushed and honed her skills beyond anything she had ever thought possible. She had driven and supported those around her to try and help them survive, and she was utterly exhausted. Mom mumbled some comforting words but they were lost in the sobs that finally had found their way out. She had done it though. Her family was alive, her friends were still with her, and things were now turned around for the better. She had done it, with help from every angle, but she had done her part. And she was ready to be done. So she stood there hugging her mom and sobbing. She was done. At least for a bit. Chapter 50 - Epilog Six Months Later Mark jumped to the top of a watch tower and looked to the north. The bulwark they had established to deal with the periodic zombie incursions was holding fine and he jotted down his findings on a note that he handed to a nearby owl. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe they actually set up an owl post. Crazy Potter nerds.¡± Mark mumbled to himself as the bird took off with it¡¯s precious cargo. Mark took a moment to enjoy the view. Winter was pretty much here, at least for the Forest. All the various biomes had been named, and while nothing was particularly cool about being the ¡®Forest¡¯ it at least made it easier to talk about what was going on. Mark sighed. He really thought the ¡®Great Ice Wolf Beast Woods¡¯ was a much cooler name, but everyone else had been such a killjoy. Still, they had come a long way. Houses had been reclaimed, and fences built. Looking at the perimeter of Camp Randall he marveled at the changes. The school and church, plus all the houses inbetween, had been assimilated into a giant walled community. Mark remembered hearing that their population just crested eight thousand last meetup. Between Mountain Lake Point, and Southwatch, that brought their numbers up to around sixteen thousand for the area. Mark looked to the north again to confirm things were quite and then glaced over to the mighty Rocky Mountains to the west. They hadn¡¯t been able to push into the mountains at all, nor get past undead horde dealt with, or even make it into the city yet. Who knew what was going on beyond their little microcosm. Well, Jocelyn probably knew, but she apparently had to take some oath of silence about some stuff in order to get more access to the system. It was worth it though. With the better control, higher levels of Technomancy, and actually being able to get regular messages from the admins, it had been a world of change. They were working on getting another major update out, and once that hit, they would totally be able to spend their advancement points. Mark could hardly wait. Those zombie parasite things were going to be toast when he powered up. Mark thought back to Update Day. It seemed strange to him that people had declared a holiday around something he did, but it was kinda cool too. The crew that dove into Pirate Pete¡¯s lair had gained more than a little infamy, but after a few days of celebrity, things had more or less went back to normal. Normal, except now people had hope. Mark pulled up the note that had started it all off and took a deep breath as he re-read the message. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! [To the people of Earth. We are so very sorry. We tried our best to prepare, but the best laid plans are nothing in the face of the cosmic level changes that swept over us. We are the Admins, and we tried to prepare the world to navigate this disaster. Many of you know that magic and monsters are now part of our world, but few of you know that it was this way in aeons past. We, through happy accident, learned of the history of the world. We discovered that there was a cycle. Every thirty thousand years we enter the influence of Mana, only to be cut off thirty thousand years later. We do not know the source of this energy, but we do know that as we move in our spaceship, Earth, we regularly and predictably come into contact with it. Magical civilizations rise and technological ones fall as we shift paradigms and the laws we thought we understood shift underneath us. We learned the end of the era of technology was coming, we thought we could somehow bridge it. The System, this thing you are reading, is the culmination of decades of efforts. It allows our technology that we''ve developed to function in a world that emotions and feelings govern. Without the stability of physics, there can be no advancement of technology. We hoped that our digital computational abilities, something we believe had never been developed by human civilizations prior, would allow us to bridge this gap. We didn''t make it in time though, and we failed to anticipate how quickly the Mana Wave would come. Thanks to the heroic effort of many, we have stabilized the system, and will continue to work towards the betterment of mankind. We can now communicate more freely with everyone, but there is a limit to what information we can push out. Our focus will be on helping humans adapt to mana, and providing avenues for you to utilize mana efficiently. Over time, we hope to provide access to more scientific based technology. So far, we have configured Ability sets that optimize human access to mana, and we will continue to expand their scope and capability. We hope that our efforts will help keep humanity thriving these next thirty millennia. We will post monthly updates on our progress and soon our Help system will be online. We are crushed by the loss of so much life, but are hopeful that those who remain will persevere. Good luck.] Yup. Still tons of work to do, but Mark knew they were up for it. Book 2 Status and Book 1 Updates Well, January happened, and then February, and looky here, March is chomping at the bit to get away from me. Apologies to all the readers who enjoyed this and were hoping to see more on the adventures of Mark and Liz. For now, most of Book 1 has gone through a major re-edit, and I will likely take down the old version and put out the new chapters inside this current story. This will make things easier to find. I plan on doing this starting April 2nd. The major rework areas are around how crafting works in the world (A lot more involved) how the powers ramp up (A bit slower) and also sprinkling in some hints at what will be going on with book 2.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Here''s the thing. I''m writing this with my kids playing the main characters in an RPG table top campaign, and I''m having a bit of a hard time getting them back into the story. If you, wonderful readers, would like to see more, please drop an age appropriate comment that I can show them to try and get their motivation back. I would love to finish things up, have the entire 3 book arc planned out, but as this is a family project, cannot continue until I get my kids back on board. So I hope that we''ll have lots of new things coming soon, thanks for reading, and hope that we can get this show going again soon!