Shadow Sun Survival Page 4

  Level 3

  Health 500/850

  The nasty creature shrugged off the wound and lunged for him. Its jaws snapped shut just short of his shin as he dodged backward. As he tried to bring his weapon to bear to block it, the monster used its forward momentum to barrel into him.

  Knocked off balance, Allistor fell forward atop the wolvite’s back. It jerked around with shocking speed and clamped down on his left triceps. Shaking its head savagely, its teeth tore at his flesh even as he tried to roll away. Blood sprayed as it clamped down even harder, and Allistor’s health bar dropped to sixty percent.

  Nancy rushed to his aid, screaming as she plunged her kitchen knife into the wolvite’s exposed neck. Again and again, she slammed the knife in up to the hilt. Blood sprayed, coating both Allistor and Nancy. He felt the pressure lesson on his arm and tried to pull free. The pain nearly caused him to pass out.

  With some difficulty, he managed to use his free hand to jam the end of the spear between the creature’s jaws and lever them open. It growled and resisted, shaking its head again and breaking several of its teeth against the rebar. But the fight was quickly going out of the little beast as its lifeblood poured from the neck wounds.

  His arm free, Allistor managed to get to his feet. He swung the butt end of the spear down atop the creatures head, intending to crush its skull. The tough little bastard took the hit but didn’t die. Its thick skull protected it from the blow.

  Allistor reversed his weapon and thrust the spear point down into the wolvite’s neck. He pushed until the spear burst from its body somewhere underneath and scraped against the stone of the bridge. The monster struggled briefly, its tiny brain inside the thick skull refusing to acknowledge its death. When it went still, several alerts popped up on Allistor’s interface.

  The first was a green experience notification showing +1400

  The next two made him pause for a moment, still breathing hard from the exertion.

  You have learned the skill: Blunt Weapon.

  Using the butt end of your weapon to crush vermin and crack a wolvite skull has taught you the value of a heavy weapon with room to swing.

  Continue to use blunt weapons to increase your skill level.

  Level Up! You are now Level 4. You have earned two attribute points.

  Allistor felt lightheaded, his legs giving way beneath him. He sat on the ground, releasing the rebar spear to fall to the stone with a clang. He could feel the wet blood soaking his shirt along his left side.

  Nancy was there, her own hands covered in blood from the wounds she inflicted on the wolvite. She quickly wiped her hands on a relatively clean section of his shirt, then clamped them down around his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. A moment later, she looked at him, confused. She pulled her hands away and stared at his arm. Then she looked at his back.

  “Your… wounds have closed.” She eyed him with suspicion. “How?”

  He was barely conscious. Though the wounds had closed when he leveled up, and his health meter on his interface showed him at 100%, the healing did not instantly replace the blood that he’d lost over the last hour.

  He and his father had learned this lesson early, fighting the octopoid that had killed Leah. His father was badly injured, the thing having managed to wrap three tentacles around him in the tight confines of the basement. George had been nearly dead when Allistor finally took a hatchet to the thing’s face and killed it. They had both leveled up, and George’s ragged wounds had closed. But he hadn’t really recovered from the blood loss and Stamina drain until he ate and drank, and rested for about ten minutes.

  Allistor heard himself mumbling to Nancy, but he wasn’t sure if he was making any sense. A moment later, he felt cool water in his mouth and swallowed. This perked him up enough to open his eyes.

  He was on his back, looking up at the faces of Nancy and Chloe. The little girl was crying, her tears dripping onto his face. Nancy was trying to force-feed him something. Trusting the woman, he opened his mouth. Something soft and sugary touched his tongue, and he managed to chew and swallow. When he was able to focus more, he saw that she was holding a Ho-Ho package with one hand, pushing the second of the two treats into his mouth with the other. He tried to thank her, but his mouth was full.

  He lay there for several minutes, recovering his stamina, lost blood, and his senses. The sugary calories of the chocolate snack cakes processed quickly through his system. Nancy gave him several more swallows of water to help wash them down. Five minutes after the fight ended, he was sitting up and shaking his head.

  “That sucked,” he said, raising his arm to look at the spot where the wolvite had clamped down. There wasn’t even a scar. Just a faint itch. Looking up at Nancy, he said, “Thank you. I was pretty sure I was dead, there. You killed that thing before it could finish eating me, then saved with me Ho-Hos.”

  She laughed at the crooked grin he gave her, still not quite himself. “I didn’t kill it. I just distracted it so it would let go of you. You shish-kabob’d the thing.”

  He shook his head. “No, I just sped things up. It was dying. You should have gotten some experience…” his voice drifted off as she nodded.

  “Yup! I’m level two now.” She puffed out her chest with pride, and he couldn’t help but stare for a moment. She noticed and didn’t seem to mind.

  Blinking a few times, he said, “Congrats on the ding!” making her smile yet again.

  She helped him to his feet as resilient little Chloe, having calmed a good bit after eating ho-hos herself, looked him up and down. “You look like shit,” she observed matter-of-factly. He chuckled as her mother admonished her.

  “Chloe! Language! I’m sorry; her brother taught her some bad habits.”

  The girl shrugged, not the least bit repentant. “Well, he does. He’s not very good at fighting. He keeps letting things bite him.”

  Nancy couldn’t help but laugh at this, and a moment later Allistor joined her. “You know, you’re right, little lady. I should have thought of that myself. From now on I’ll do my best not to let things bite me.” He mussed her hair a bit, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

  He bent to loot the wolvite, receiving twenty klax, several wolvite teeth and claws, and two pieces of wolvite hide. He was surprised a moment later when Nancy also bent to loot the creature. “You can loot it too?”

  “Apparently so. I got twenty klax and some body parts. You?”

  “The same. That’s interesting. So we both damaged it, and we both got loot. Good to know.” He wondered for the hundredth time about the mechanics of this new world as they got themselves together and continued across the bridge.

  Following a walking trail through what had once been a state park, they remained vigilant. For the dozenth time in the last several hours, Allistor wished for the guns that had been inside the family home when it was crushed. Being near the outskirts of town and having almost no warning when the titan appeared, he and his parents hadn’t had time to retrieve their weapons. They’d barely gotten out of the house with the clothes on their backs when it stomped on their kitchen, then kicked the rest of the house into smithereens.

  Shaking off the grim memory, Allistor focused on the path ahead. They were still moving in the general direction of the titan. He could feel the slight trembles in the ground that accompanied its footsteps. They didn’t seem to be gaining on it, though. Which might be an indication that the survivors had managed to lead it away at a rapid pace. He hoped they figured out how to lose it and double back. Otherwise, the remaining townspeople might be scattered across a wide area, making it easier for the smaller and more numerous monsters to pick them off.

  “At least being in the trees, we don’t have to worry about the flying monsters,” Nancy ventured. Neither of them had spoken in several minutes. Allistor looked up at the canopy above, the sunlight breaking through in a thousand small gaps between branches and leaves. But none were large enough to admit the nasty flying lizard things that had plagued the tow
n on the first day.

  “Thank God for small favors,” he replied, returning his gaze to the surrounding terrain. There was no shortage of new dangers here on the ground. Though he’d not seen them himself, there were reports of mutant canine things with six legs. Vicious reptiles with two small forelegs and the bodies of snakes a dozen feet long and longer. Along with the octopoids, the vermin, the flying lizards, wolvites, the titan, and who knew what else the Collective was throwing at them, Earth had become a death trap.

  A rustle in the brush to their left caught his attention. They picked up their pace as he kept his focus locked on that location. A moment later, a small brown fuzzy bunny leapt from the brush onto the path.

  Chloe instantly stopped and reversed direction, making for the cute critter. “Squee! Mommy, can we keep the bunny? It’s soooo cute!” Suddenly full of energy, the child trotted toward the woodland creature.

  Nancy set off after her, hissing. “Chloe! Get back here! No!” The little girl was maybe ten feet from the bunny when it turned to retreat into the brush.

  It never got the chance.

  A silvery-green blur shot out from the brush in front of it, resolving into the head of a serpent as it clamped down on the squealing bunny. Almost as fast as it had come, the head withdrew and disappeared into the foliage.

  Chloe skidded to a halt, falling on her butt and crying as her mom scooped her up and retreated. “I hate this place, Momma!” she sobbed.

  “I know, baby. I know.” Nancy stroked her head and rocked her from side to side as she walked. Allistor, keeping one eye on the shrubbery, couldn’t agree more.

  The trio continued down the path, keeping as close to the center as possible. When Chloe had calmed a bit, Allistor hoisted her back onto his shoulders to give Nancy a break. With his strength, the child’s weight was nothing to him.

  Ten minutes later, Allistor began to salivate as he detected the scent of smoke and roasting meat. They picked up the pace a bit, hoping they’d found the group of survivors they sought. The flicker of flames could be seen through the trees just around a bend in the path. Allistor thought he saw a cabin of some kind. A vague childhood memory hinted at the possibility of a picnic area along the path here.

  As they rounded the bend, Allistor’s growling stomach heaved and his mouth went dry. The roasting smell that had seemed so attractive was, in fact, the odor from a funeral pyre. Half a dozen bodies burned atop a makeshift stack of lumber and firewood. Five people stood nearby, talking quietly. When they saw Allistor and company, they went silent.

  “Nancy? Is that you?” A woman stepped forward. Chloe began to wiggle atop Allistor’s shoulders, demanding to be let down. “Auntie Meg!” The moment she touched the ground she sprinted toward the woman, who took a knee and opened her arms for a hug as Chloe launched herself at her, squeezing tight.

  Now that he heard the name, Allistor recognized Meg – she ran a diner near the highway exit. The man behind her was her husband, Sam, an ex-Marine and line cook at the diner. He made the best chocolate chip pancakes, which were featured in some of Allistor’s favorite childhood memories.

  Allistor held up a hand in greeting. “Meg, Sam. Good to see you made it!” He slowed as the others gathered around. He recognized a kid he’d gone to high school with. Robert Edward Dudley. He mainly remembered the guy because he’d detested being called “Bob” and insisted people use his full name. The guy had been an athlete and one of the smarter kids in school. Allistor gave him a ‘bro nod’ and received one in return.

  The others were strangers to Allistor and didn’t introduce themselves.

  Meg stood, holding Chloe in her arms. “Nancy, I’m so glad to see you. We’ve… lost so many. And Chloe is the only little one I’ve seen since that thing hit town. How did you manage?”

  Nancy nodded toward Allistor. “He saved our bacon. More than once now.”

  Allistor shook his head. “She’s being modest. She went all stabby-stabby on a wolvite and saved me from having my arm chewed off.”

  Nancy changed the subject. “What happened here?” She indicated the funeral pyre.

  Sam’s voice was rough with grief. “My sister, her husband and kids. They were out here camping already, missed all the bad shit in town. We came out here to find them, get them to the rally point. When we got here, we found…” He didn’t say any more. The blood spatters on the nearby picnic table and restroom cubicle told the story.

  Robert Edward kicked the dirt and said, “Damned dog mutants. Six of them. We killed them when we got here, but it was too late.”

  Meg whispered to Nancy. “Sam’s niece was Robert Edward’s girlfriend.” The two men just stared at the ground, grieving.

  After a few moments, Sam added, “We burned the bodies so none of the monsters out here could eat them.” Allistor thought it was a good idea, less because he was worried about strangers’ bodies being desecrated, more because it would have made the monsters stronger. Looking at the sorrow on the faces around him, he kept that thought to himself.

  “You mentioned a rally point?” he asked Sam.

  The man shook himself and raised his head. “Yeah. The caves here in the park. Sandy over there,” he pointed to a woman Allistor didn’t know, “is one of the rangers here. She does… she did tours of the caves before the world went to shit. There’s solar power and a few natural springs for water. The entrance is wider than I’d like, but we can maybe build a wall or something to block it off.”

  Allistor had been in the caves once as a kid. But he’d been bored and anxious to get back to his games, and he hadn’t really paid attention. “Is there enough room for the whole town in there?” He immediately regretted the question when he saw the looks everyone gave him. “Right. Sorry. About how many do you think are left?”

  Meg said, “If we’re lucky, about twenty of us. That we know of, anyway. Might be a few others that got out. Or found a place to hide.”

  Nancy spoke up. “Just FYI… don’t hide in the storm sewer tunnels. Nasty vermin colony down there.” The others all nodded, accepting the information as just one more way their new world was screwed up.

  Sam looked around. The fire was burning low and would be out soon enough. “Let’s head for the caves. The others will join us there. Sheriff Chatfield and a few others were leading the titan away. The rest are supposed to be securing the caves. They’ve all got guns, but so far I haven’t heard any shots since we took out these canids.”

  The group gathered together and followed Sam and Sandy. Rather than continue down the meandering hiking path, they cut through the dense forest in a more or less straight line toward the caves. Nancy and Chloe were herded to the middle of the group with Meg, while Allistor and Robert Edward took up the rear. They went without speaking, trying not to draw the attention of more predators.

  It was less than twenty minutes before they reached the cave entrance. Sandy, intimately familiar with the area since she was the park ranger, had led them down into a gully where a quiet stream burbled its way down toward the river. They walked in the stream about a hundred yards uphill before exiting onto some flat boulders. Allistor assumed it was an attempt to disguise their scent from any monsters that might track them. Somehow he doubted it would work.

  The inside of the cave was well lit. Wires ran down out of the ceiling from somewhere above ground where the solar array was located, into a junction box, then out again in several directions, lighting the various branches of the cave system.

  They found Sean, the sheriff’s deputy, crouched behind a boulder maybe twenty feet back from the entry. When he saw them step inside, he stood up and lowered his shotgun, looking relieved. He still wore his uniform, though it was stained with blood in several places. “Good to see you, Sam. The others are working their way through checking for monsters.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Have a seat. If you go back there now, you might get shot by mistake.”

  Allistor gladly obliged, fatigued from the day’s stresses. He’d nearl
y been killed several times, lost more blood than was healthy, lost both parents, and he didn’t even know yet how many friends and neighbors. Physically and mentally worn down, he sat on the floor of the cave, leaned his back against the wall, and closed his eyes.

  Chapter Three

  Newbtastic

  The sound of a shotgun blast echoing off the cave walls woke Allistor. He came to his senses in time to hear Chloe scream and several others begin to shout. He turned toward the cave entrance but saw nothing. It was dark outside. And the shouting was coming from behind him.

  Looking toward the back of the cave, he saw a disaster. Dozens of vermin were swarming around the human survivors. Biting and clawing at legs and feet. A man Allistor didn’t know was on his back, thrashing about as three of the rat things chewed on his face and arms.

  Allistor ran toward the downed man, stabbing one of the vermin as soon as he got within reach. His spear passed through its body and into another, killing both. A swift kick knocked the third vermin off the man and sent it careening off a cave wall. He stuck out a hand to help the man up, but he didn’t accept it. A closer look showed the man was blinded, both eyes having been chewed by the vermin. Allistor grabbed the man and dragged him toward the front of the cave with one hand, keeping the other on his weapon.

  When he’d cleared the melee, he dropped the man and turned back to the battle. He saw Nancy slashing at a nimbly dodging oversized rat with her knife, scoring a hit here and there as Chloe huddled behind her. Sam was taking careful aim with his pistol, then blew one of the nasty things out of existence. Sean’s shotgun sounded again, and a swath of the vermin dissolved into pink mist and chunks of flesh. Allistor picked one and Examined it.

  Vermin Gatherer

  Level 3

  Health 220/400

  Meg, oddly enough, seemed to be the most effective of the melee fighters in the group. She swung a long-handled frying pan like a home run hitter, smashing in the faces of vermin after vermin. Cursing them with each stroke. “Take that, you ratty-assed little shit!”