《Desert Rpg》


 Level Up!

    With Ethan¡¯stall, fit and somewhat broad body, his naturally stern look, and his long black hair braided behind his head into a ponytail he gives off a viking warrior like appearance even as he sits at his desk and work on his class work. The only things that really take away from this appearance is the simple and modern clothing''s he is wearing. A plain black long sleeved shirt and black slacks.


    Despite what his fierce appearance may suggest Ethan really cares more about academics then martial arts. He used to fight all the time in middle school, but now that he is in high school he can¡¯t afford a fight getting onto his record if he is to get into a good college. So Martial Arts is just a hobby to him now, a fun activity to relieve the stress of studying and a good way to keep in shape and healthy. While fighting have just became an old joy of the past. What is important to him right now is his grades and academic record. Outstanding grades and a good looking record in high school are required to get into a good college, and a degree from a good college is required to get a good high paying job.


    Ethan looks around the class, and see only a few people focusing on their schoolwork while the rest socialize and generally make a ruckus of themselves. Considering the importance of good grades Ethan never understood why the people at this school seem to care more about socializing then their school performance. Do they not even think about their future? Or do they think things are just going to somehow magically workout for them? If so, they are fools. Nothing is ever that easy. Ethan shakes his thoughts away and focus back on his class work. It¡¯s a waste of time to focus on a stranger¡¯s life.


    He is just finishing up his class work when the lights go out. A few girls screech in mock fright to Ethan¡¯s annoyance. The lights going out isn¡¯t a rare thing at this school, probably something to do with the wiring, and the girls always scream when it happens. Maybe they think it is cute or funny to pretend to be afraid. Plenty of sunlight shine in through the windows to light the room so Ethan decides to just hurry and finish his class work.


    ¡°Calm down everyone! The power just went out!¡± Mr. Knots shouts over the crowd. Ethan glance up at him, a little surprised that the teacher got up. Usually Mr. Knots would even sit through the lights going out on his computer. Finding this strange Ethan looks over over at the teachers computer desk and notice something odd. Though he can¡¯t see the monitor screen he can tell that there is no shine coming from it.


    ¡°My phone lost it¡¯s single!¡± Someone suddenly yell out, and for some odd reason quite a few students burst out laughing.


    ¡°Good! You shouldn¡¯t be using a phone in my class anyways!¡± Mr. Knots says.


    Having a bad feeling Ethan take his own phone out of his pocket, and notice that his phone doesn¡¯t have a signal either.The first thing that cross his mind is that a blackout could of wiped out the nearby cell towers. Of course it could also just be a coincidence.He needs to find out. He stands up and glance out the window. His mind goes into a frenzy over what he sees. Outside the window,pass the front yard of the school and beyond thethe parking lot is a sea of sand and sparsely scattered shrubbery. Without thinking he race over to the window for a better look. This doesn¡¯t make any sense. He knows for a fact that this school was smack down in the middle of a neighborhood with lush green lawns everywhere and towering trees in almost every yard. However, now that is all gone and replaced by a desert.


    He notice something worse. In the distance is a group of orange lizard like creatures that resembles the old featherless portrayal of velociraptors chasing after what looks like a giant red salamander. Ethan hardly even hear the ruckus his classmates make as they become aware of the situation outside and join him by the window. The giant salamander suddenly look back and opens it mouth, a torrent of flame shoots out of its mouth like a flamethrower. The raptors easily dodge to the side, but it buy the salamander time to turn and race towards the school. The seriousness of the situation strikes Ethan at the sight of this. If them things get here the students will be massacred, and the salamander may even burn the entire school down.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Ethan takes a step back from the window,and one thought flash through his mind as he race out of the class. He need to find Emily, his sister. If he remembers her class list right she should currently be in her geometry class. That is on the first floor, near to where the raptors and salamander were heading.


    The natural light coming in through the windows in the classroom doors provides just enough light to see by as Ethan sprint through the school. As Ethan near a flight of stairs he hear the distant sound of people screaming and a person rush up from a flight of stairs farther down the hall. Fearing the worse Ethan race down the stairs, and like he thought pass the other flight of stairs is a crowd of people racing down the hall. They are screaming about some monsters attacking their class. Ethan scan the crowd as he race towards them, but there are too many people so he can¡¯t tell if his sister is among them.


    ¡°Emily!¡± Ethan yells as he scan the crowd for her, but she doesn¡¯t respond. He force his way into the crowd. ¡°Emily! It¡¯s Ethan! If you can hear me say something!¡± He keeps repeating this as he make his way through the crowd towards the classrooms.


    As he get out of the crowd and approach the open door he take out his pocket knife and flip it open. It¡¯s a good quality and durable knife. He peeks inside the classroom, and is greeted with a scene of blood and gore. A single raptor is inside and feasting off from a pile of gore. The raptor is easily taller then a man, and it¡¯s is big enough to bite a person in half. At the sight of the thing the knife in his hand start to feel like a joke. Ethan is just about to leave when he notice the two girls huddle in the shadow in a corner. Neither are making a sound or so much as moving an inch as they stare at the raptor. Among the two girls one of them bare a striking resemblance to Ethan with her long pitch black hair and sharp features that are now distorted into a fearful look as she stares at the raptor. She is Emily, his sister. Ethan grit his teeth, at the very least he can buy time for her to run.


    Ethan steps into the room, and the raptor snap it¡¯s head towards him. The raptor move it¡¯s legs and Ethan could tell that it is about to pounce at him. ¡°Run Emily!¡± Ethan yells and dodge behind the wall just as the raptor leaps at him. It lands in the hallway, leaving its side exposed. Ethan take the Chance to dive onto it and with the momentum of the dive he rolls off it just as it snaps at him. He lands in a crouch near it¡¯s back and stab¡¯s the back of its leg as he push off with his legs as he starts a roll. It tries to snap at him again, but his roll have already put him under it and out of the reach of it¡¯s mouth. He come out of the roll and stab the back of it¡¯s other leg.


    The raptor stumbles forward and fall into a roll. As it falls Ethan half leap to where it¡¯s head should land. Before it can react he stabs down into it¡¯s eye. He grabs it¡¯s head and knees it in the jaw just as it try to snap at him. It¡¯s mouth slams shut and Ethan use the palm of his hand to drive the knife deeper into it¡¯s eye socket.


    He leaps back from it and wait to see if it dies. He finds himself smiling as he watch it twitch. It¡¯s in it death throes, and about to die. He knows that it¡¯s about to die, but he doesn''t let his guard down as he stand ready to react. He wish he had another knife as without one he feels naked, but he knows trying to take it from the raptorseye would take too long and leave him exposed. As he watch its twitching come to an end a feeling of satisfaction and thrill starts boiling in his veins. It¡¯s been years since he been in a fight, and even longer since he been in a life or death fight. He missed it more then he realized.


    The raptor finally stop twitching and Ethan start towards it to get his knife back. With one hand on the handle a feminine voice suddenly ring in his head.


    ¡°Congratulations! You have killed a level five Desert Raptor!¡±


    ¡°You have gained enough experience to level up two times!¡±


    ¡°Sleep or meditate in order to level up!¡±

 Chapter 2: Feed Them

    Ethan yank his knife out the raptors eye and instinctively take a few steps from the raptors corpse as his mind try to make sense of the voice he just heard. He killed a level five Desert Raptor, and now he can level up. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. He doesn¡¯t have time to think of this. There are still more raptors out there.


    He rush back into the classroom and spots Emily still huddle up in the same place next to the other girl. Ethan race around the remains of students and towards the window to look outside. There is a large scorched area outside with several corpses of raptors and the splattered gory remains of the salamander.


    Ethan sighs, it looks like the salamander exploded or something and took out the rest of the raptors. He doesn¡¯t bother questioning the logic of it. It happened, and that is all that matters. He looks back over at his sister. She is staring at him wide eyed and slack jawed. Ethan cleans the blood off his knife with his shirt and fold it back up then put it into his front right pocket.


    He goes over to Emily and bend down in front of her. ¡°Are you alright?¡± He asks as he hold his hand out for her to take.


    She take his hand and suddenly launch to her feet and tackle into him with a hug. ¡°I thought I was going to die!¡± She cries, her head buried into his shirt.


    Ethan pats her back gently, ¡°I am here okay. You¡¯re safe.¡±


    Despite his words Ethan still doesn¡¯t feel like he said enough. He wish there was something he could say to erase the things she must have just seen, but there isn¡¯t. He looks around the room, at the gore and tattered bodies of students. Ethan try not to let the sight affect him. He hunted and butchered his fair share of animals and even found well decayed animal corpses in the woods so the sight of gore doesn¡¯t bother him, but seeing the torn apart corpses of humans is a whole different horrible feeling. Emily doesn¡¯t hunt, and she even feel bad about killing some insects. They need to get out of here.


    ¡°Hey Emily, let¡¯s go into the hall.¡± Ethan says.


    Emily nods after a moment and cling onto his arm as he lead her to the exit of the classroom. As he approach the door he peeks over his shoulder at the girl who is still sitting down. She is petite girl with short blonde hair and a freckle covered but still somewhat cute face. Tears slide down her cheeks as she stares at them as they leave, she looks like she is losing her last ray of hope. Ethan stops and look at his sister who is still clinging to his arm and sobbing.


    ¡°Emily, wait in the hall for me okay.¡± Ethan says. Emily looks up at him looking hesitant. ¡°Please.¡± Ethan says.


    Emily nods her head with a soft, ¡°Okay.¡± Then lets go of Ethan and head into the hall.


    Ethan walk over to the freckle faced blonde. ¡°Need help?¡± Ethan asks as he offer his hand.


    She nods and take his hand, and he help her to her feet. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Ethan says as he glance at the gore around him.


    Ethan take the petite blonde out into the hall by the hand and find his sister down the hall sitting next to the wall hugging her knees and sobbing. Ethan let¡¯s go of the petite blonde¡¯s hand as he race over to Emily. He bends down next to Emily and set his hand on her back.


    ¡°Emily. I am here, Emily¡± Ethan says.


    Emily looks up at him, her face wretched. ¡°Please don¡¯t leave me again.¡± Emily says, in almost a plead.


    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Ethan says and sit down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. ¡°See, I am not going anywhere.¡± She leans against him, sobbing.


    He only saw her like this once before. Back when they were children they were attacked by a Rottweiler. Ethan got torn up pretty bad, his right arm that got the worse of it still have scars, but he somehow managed to strangle the Rottweiler to death. That was the first time he killed something larger then a fish. Soaked in blood he consoled Emily, who was frighten into tears like she is now until she was ready to head home. Once they got home his mom immediately called an ambulance. As to be expected since his condition was horrible, but Emily was uninjured and that was what mattered to him.


    It seems he need to be strong for her again, not only for now but also for however long they are here. Things are going to get bad in the days to come. The first night he expects there to be suicides among the students, and he doesn¡¯t want his sister to be one of those that feels pushed to such an extent. Worse is those that are going to become desperate and resort to doing vile things. Ethan looks up at Clare, who is just standing nearby staring down at them. Leaving Emily to get Clare was the wrong choice. Emily needed him and he left her, however momentarily, to help a stranger. In the days to come he is going to need to harden his heart and focus on protecting Emily.


    Ethan looks back over to Emily. Emily have her eyes closed, and her sobbing have stopped. She looks asleep, but he doubt that she is. Ethan swipe some strands of hair off her face. ¡°How are you feeling Emily?¡±


    She open her eyes, but doesn¡¯t move. ¡°Better.¡± she says softly, but her voice doesn¡¯t crack and shows no sign of her sobs from before.


    ¡°Do you think you are ready to get up?¡± Ethan asks.


    She sits up off of him and looks to the ground, away from him. ¡°Sorry, it must have been awkward.¡±


    It take a second for him to realize what she means, then he chuckles when he does realize it. ¡°No, it isn¡¯t that. If you need a shoulder to lean on I am here for you.¡± Ethan says. ¡°It¡¯s just that we need to get some things done.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± She says then after a moment look up at him. ¡°What things?¡±


    Emily nods her head with a soft, ¡°Okay.¡± Then lets go of Ethan and head into the hall.


    Ethan walk over to the freckle faced blonde. ¡°Need help?¡± Ethan asks as he offer his hand.


    She nods and take his hand, and he help her to her feet. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Ethan says as he glance at the gore around him.


    Ethan take the petite blonde out into the hall by the hand and find his sister down the hall sitting next to the wall hugging her knees and sobbing. Ethan let¡¯s go of the petite blonde¡¯s hand as he race over to Emily. He bends down next to Emily and set his hand on her back.


    ¡°Emily. I am here, Emily¡± Ethan says.


    Emily looks up at him, her face wretched. ¡°Please don¡¯t leave me again.¡± Emily says, in almost a plead.


    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Ethan says and sit down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. ¡°See, I am not going anywhere.¡± She leans against him, sobbing.


    He only saw her like this once before. Back when they were children they were attacked by a Rottweiler. Ethan got torn up pretty bad, his right arm that got the worse of it still have scars, but he somehow managed to strangle the Rottweiler to death. That was the first time he killed something larger then a fish. Soaked in blood he consoled Emily, who was frighten into tears like she is now until she was ready to head home. Once they got home his mom immediately called an ambulance. As to be expected since his condition was horrible, but Emily was uninjured and that was what mattered to him.


    It seems he need to be strong for her again, not only for now but also for however long they are here. Things are going to get bad in the days to come. The first night he expects there to be suicides among the students, and he doesn¡¯t want his sister to be one of those that feels pushed to such an extent. Worse is those that are going to become desperate and resort to doing vile things. Ethan looks up at Clare, who is just standing nearby staring down at them. Leaving Emily to get Clare was the wrong choice. Emily needed him and he left her, however momentarily, to help a stranger. In the days to come he is going to need to harden his heart if he is to protect her.


    Ethan looks back over to Emily. Emily have her eyes closed, and her sobbing have stopped. She looks asleep, but he doubt that she is. Ethan swipe some strands of hair off her face. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±


    She open her eyes, but doesn¡¯t move. ¡°Better.¡± she says softly, but her voice doesn¡¯t crack and it shows no sign of her sobs from before.


    ¡°Do you think you are ready to get up?¡± Ethan asks.


    She sits up off of him and looks to the ground, away from him. ¡°Sorry, it must have been awkward.¡±


    It take a second for him to realize what she means, then he chuckles when he does realize it. ¡°No, it isn¡¯t that. If you need a shoulder to lean on I am here for you.¡± Ethan says as he squeeze her lightly closer to him. ¡°It¡¯s just that we need to get some things done.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± She says then after a moment look up at him. ¡°What things?¡±


    Ethan rubs his chin with his free hand as he think of what they should do first. He was thinking about gathering food and finding a place to lay low at first, but then he remembers the voice. ¡°This may sound odd but I heard a voice in my head after I killed the raptor that said I can level up.¡±


    Emily lean back and give him a weird look. ¡°A voice. Are you going schizo?¡± She then look over at the petite blonde. ¡°And you! How long are you just going to stand there and watch us?¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°Ah! The petite blonde jumps. ¡°Sorry, I just didn¡¯t want to intrude.¡±


    ¡°Whatever it¡¯s not a big deal ¡± Emily mumbles then look over at Ethan, and says. ¡°I am going to go and say hi.¡± Ethan remove his hand from her shoulder and she stands up. As Emily walks over to the petite blonde Ethan stands up. Emily stops in front of the petite blonde. ¡°So what is your name?¡± Emily asks.


    ¡°Oh, I am Clare Ross.¡± The petite blonde answers. Ethan check down the hall and not seeing anyone or any creature leans against the wall with one hand as he watch their exchange.


    Emily offer Clare her hand. ¡°I am Emily Steel, nice to meet you.¡± They shake hands. Emily glance over at Ethan. ¡°That¡¯s my brother, Ethan.¡±


    Clare looks over at Ethan and raise her hand. ¡°Hi.¡± Ethan just nod his head in reply.


    ¡°Now that we all got acquainted.¡± Emily turns to face Ethan. ¡°What is this about leveling up?¡±


    Ethan shrugs. ¡°After I killed the raptor the voice just said I needed to sleep or meditate in order to level up.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s really something. Are you sure you didn¡¯t just hear things?¡± Emily asks while Clare just looks confused.


    Ethan shrugs again. ¡°There is one way to find out. Well, two actually.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead and see then.¡± Emily says.


    Ethan shakes his head. ¡°Not here. I would prefer we go someplace private in case something happens.¡±


    ¡°Like where?¡± Clare finally chips in. Ethan get¡¯s the feeling she doesn¡¯t speak much.


    ¡°How about the nurse office?¡± Emily suggests.


    ¡°That would work.¡± Ethan replies.


    ¡°Perfect, then we can stop by my locker along the way. Let¡¯s get going¡± Emily says then start down the hall.


    Ethan trail after her, and Clare join up with them. Along the way somehow Ethan and Emily switch positions, with Ethan taking the lead and Emily hanging back as she chats with Clare. It surprises Ethan have much she have reverted back to her usual behavior now that she calmed down.


    They are approaching the main hall when Emily have them stop by her locker. Ethan was planning on having them get their backpacks eventually, they need something to carry stuff in after all, but he still wonders what she wants to grab. Perhaps she has the same idea as him.As Emily unlocks her locker Ethan and Clare wait nearby.


    Emily opens her locker. ¡°What are you getting?¡± Clare asks as she peeks over Emily shoulder.


    ¡°Just my backpack.¡± Emily says as she take her backpack out of her locker. She looks over at them and says, ¡°Give me a moment to take my textbooks out.¡± She crouch down with her backpack in hand.


    With Emily crouched down Ethan can clearly see inside her locker. The inside of her locker is surprisingly decorated. A black and white flower pattern wallpaper covers the every interior walls. On the interior side of the door there is a small round mirror surrounded by a variety of pictures of their family and of her friends. There is large poster under the mirror of an anime styled red haired samurai right in the midst of unsheathing his sword in a strike.


    After a while Emily stands up, sling her rather empty backpack on over her shoulder and shut and lock her locker. She turn towards Ethan. ¡°I got what I came for.¡±


    ¡°In that case lets go.¡± Ethan says.


    They head to the nurse office without any stops this time. The inside of the nurse office is more well lit due to the small window high on the far wall. The nurse office is rather small with only two beds that are more like recliners.


    Ethan looks over at Emily. ¡°Alright, I am going to try meditating.¡± Ethan walks over to the closest recliner and lay down on it. He close his eyes.


    Ethan have meditated plenty of times, it kind of comes with martial art training, so he knows what to do. Inhaling and exhaling steadily Ethan ignores the feeling of being stared at then let it slide away. He does the same with any memories or parts of his imagination that want to act up. Eventually he is left with complete darkness, and something unusual happens. Even the physical sensations he feels slip from his mind. He enters a void, a completely empty dark void.


    The feminine voice from earlier rings in his ears. ¡°Congratulations on reaching level three.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to improve your body?¡± The voice asks, and he sees himself standing still as the world around him constantly grows and die as he stay exactly the same. The scene change and sees himself racing through the forest at incredible speeds, knocking over tree with a single swing of his arms, and even overtaking other animals. The scene change and he sees himself withstanding great blows from giants, and even the few wounds he does get are instantly healed.


    ¡°Your mind?.¡± The voice echoes in his mind. He sees himself speed reading through a book and he just knows that he is memorizing everything. The scene change and he sees himself reacting instantly to attacks that he can barely even make out as a blur. The scene change and he sees himself planning a great battle, and devastating a rival army that outnumbers his own by dozen of times with his tactics and planning.


    ¡°Or your soul?¡± He sees himself meditating in a bitch black void, then opening his eyes and immensely fierce and brilliant violet light shine out and a cosmos start forming before him. The scene change and he sees himself flying high above a medieval army and shooting down huge bolts of lighting that devastate the army below. The scene change and he he sees himself on a plains. He raise his hand, that is glowing with a weird but exotic blue light, and a tree far out of his reach uproot then he fling his hand to the side and the tree goes sailing in the direction.


    ¡°You have two upgrade points. Spend them wisely.¡± The voice says.


    All three seems mind boggling amazing, but the best is clearly the soul. Who wouldn¡¯t want to use magic? However, he have to think carefully about this. He have a feeling that he won¡¯t be able to do everything he just saw with just a single upgrade, or even two upgrades. Plus the soul upgrade may not come with the powers. He may have to learn to do them himself, and that could take forever. He have two points. He can put them both in one upgrade, or split them. After thinking for a moment he decides to split them between soul and body. He knows his body well, so if he upgrades it he can gauge how much the upgrades improves. As for picking soul, well he does want to try it out after all.


    Ethan makes his choice and as his consciousness returns to him the voice comes once more. ¡°Upgrades improve your potential, but training is still required.¡±


    Ethan leave his meditative trance and slowly open his eyes. He is laying on his back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. He overhears Emily and Clare talking, but his mind is more occupied on the strange energy flowing through his body. He raise his right hand and with the same ease of moving a limb he gather the energy into his hand. His hand glows with a faint light that probably wouldn¡¯t be visible in a more well lit room, but seeing it is enough to confirm that the upgrade actually worked.


    ¡°You¡¯re up!¡± Emily says and rush over to him. She stops and grab his hand as she look down at it. ¡°Is your hand glowing?¡± She asks as she looks at his hand in confusion.


    ¡°The level up worked.¡± Ethan says.


    Her eyes widen. ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    Ethan sits up and look at his hand. ¡°Completely.¡± Ethan pour more energy into his hand and the glow surrounding his hand brighten.


    Emily stares at him in amazement.¡±What happened?¡±


    Ethan gesture to the bed Clare is still sitting on. ¡°Take a seat, and let me explain.¡± Emily goes and sit next to Clare and they both silently stare at him as they wait for him to begin.


    ¡°After I entered my meditation trance the voice I told you of earlier gave me a choice between which portions of myself I want to upgrade. It gave me a choice between upgrading, my mind, body or soul.¡± Ethan goes on to tell them about what each upgrade entails and the scenes he saw.


    The excited looks on their faces continue to grow greater as Ethan explains, and as Ethan describes the soul upgrade Clare can¡¯t seem to keep quiet and asks, ¡°So the soul upgrade give you powers?¡±


    Ethan rubs his chin as he thinks of a good way to explain his understanding of it. ¡°No, the upgrades don¡¯t seem to improve you really, but rather increase your potential so you can improve yourself to a greater degree. ¡± Ethan takes a breath. ¡°I am guessing my soul didn¡¯t have any potential and that is why there was such a drastic change¡±


    ¡°So you chose to upgrade your soul?¡± Emily asks.


    ¡°Actually I leveled up two times from killing that raptor so I got two upgrade points.. I chose to upgrade my body and soul.¡±


    ¡°Do you feel any different?¡± Emily asks.


    Ethan nods. ¡°I do actually. I can feel a soft and tingling, but comfortable energy constantly vibrating all throughout my body.¡±


    ¡°That sounds distracting.¡± Emily says.


    Ethan shakes his head. ¡°It¡¯s actually quite the pleasant and natural feeling. Once you level up you¡¯ll know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°I am going to level up too!?¡± Emily asks.


    ¡°Well once we get you something to kill. Don¡¯t worry I will weaken whatever it is for you. You¡¯ll just need to do the killing blow.¡± Ethan promises.


    ¡°Killing blow? I- I don¡¯t know if I can kill an animal.¡± Emily mumbles.


    ¡°You eat meat Emily. You have been contributing to the wide scale slaughter of animals and their imprisonment your entire life." Ethan takes a breath. "After all of that are you really saying that you can¡¯t kill an animal?¡± Ethan asks seriously.


    ¡°You eat meat too!¡± Emily says defensively.


    Ethan bares his teeth as he smiles. ¡°Yes I do, and I will continue to eat meat. I am just going to have to catch it myself now.¡± Ethan thinks of the raptor he killed. ¡°Speaking of which, I wonder how dinosaur taste.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t eat meat.¡± Clare says.


    Ethan gives Clare a weird look. He never understood vegetarians. Humans are omnivores, and they need meat in their diet. No wonder why she is so petite. ¡°You are going to have to eventually. I doubt you will find much edible vegetation in the desert.¡±


    ¡°You can eat some cacti.¡± Clare points out.


    ¡°Good to know.¡± Ethan replies. ¡°Hmm, all of this talk of food got me hungry.¡± Ethan stands up. ¡°Let¡¯s head to the kitchen.¡±


    ¡°I doubt that they will be serving lunch,¡± Emily says as she stands up, Clare stands up right after her.


    ¡°Then I guess we will have to grab something from there ourselves.¡± Ethan replies. It¡¯s not like they would have to resort to eating dinosaurs and cacti right away. The school have some food stocked up.


    As they make their through the school they pass by quite a few people in the hall, but they are loitering around. Many are just sitting next to walls quietly, some are sobbing. It¡¯s a rather pathetic scene, but somehow Ethan can¡¯t muster up any sympathy for them. They aren¡¯t even making an attempt to improve their situation.


    ¡°Why is he like that?¡± Emily asks as they pass by a guy sitting next to the wall with his head down.


    Ethan glance back at Emily. ¡°Probably lost of hope and lack of guidance. He is one of them that need a leader but doesn¡¯t have one.¡± Ethan says offhandedly. They have already left the guy behind.


    ¡°How do you know?¡± Clare asks.


    Ethan looks over at Clare. ¡°Well he isn¡¯t doing anything, now is he?¡±


    Clare nods then look around as if she just realized something. ¡°This isn¡¯t the way to the cafeteria.¡± Clare says.


    ¡°I know, we are stopping by my locker to grab my backpack. We need something to hold the food in. Besides Emily''s backpack.¡± Ethan says.


    Unlike what his behavior may suggest he is really a bit worried. By night there will be those that give up completely and commit suicide, but the ones that Ethan is worried about is those that are going to grow desperate and lose their sense of morals. He needs to find a secure shelter by nightfall, but going wandering the desert at night is a bad idea. He have a feeling the truly dangerous creatures are going to come out during the night.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there something we can do to help?¡± Emily asks.


    Ethan stay silent as he weigh his options. What these people need is a leader, but a leader need resources to keep a group of strangers loyal. If things doesn¡¯t go well the blame will fall on the leader. Mob mentality could easily take over from there, and those that defend the leader will be attacked along with the leader.However, if no one comes to lead then people will turn desperate and do vile things as they lose their sense of morality. Plus the ones without anything are bound to go after those that have took the time to prepare. The latter seems more dangerous to Ethan while the former have some added benefits to go with the risk, such as having a group of followers.


    Ethan slows to a stop and face towards Emily. ¡°Actually there is something that we can do.¡± Ethan says.


    ¡°Like what?¡± Emily asks.


    Ethan smiles. ¡°Make them a meal.¡±