Quantum shift, p.9
Quantum Shift, page 9
part #1 of Phase Shift Series
Congratulations!
You have reached a new Level!
Current Level: 1
Current Experience: 101/400
When you gain a level as a Spirit
Warrior, you receive:
+5% to all unlocked Facets
+5% to all associated ability scores
You may also select one ability from the list below:
Weak Spirit of Death
Facet: Death
Ability Score: Aura
Cost: 0.3 Magnitude
Minorly increase the skill of an attack.
Weak Spirit of Earth
Facet: Earth
Ability Score: Endurance
Cost: 0.3 Magnitude
Minorly increase your defense against an attack.
Weak Spirit of Force
Facet: Force
Ability Score: Power
Cost: 0.3 Magnitude
Minorly increase the power of an attack.
Weak Spirit of Mind
Facet: Mind
Ability Score: Ego
Cost: 0.3 Magnitude
Minorly increase your defense against a mental attack.
Weak Spirit of Water
Facet: Water
Ability Score: Reflexes
Cost: 0.3 Magnitude
Minorly increase your ability to dodge an attack.
Weak Spiritual Resistance*
Facet: Spirit
Ability Score: Spirit
Cost: 0.4 Magnitude
Minorly increase your resistance to mental attacks.
Weak Spiritual Speed*
Facet: Spirit
Ability Score: Spirit
Cost: 0.4 Magnitude
Minorly increase your attack speed.
He thought about his new scores, and a list of them appeared in his vision. Nothing had changed much except his Mind magnitude; that had gone from 0.5 to 1.55, a full magnitude jump. Everything else was either unchanged or had only gone up by 0.1 or 0.2, so he wasn’t sure why Mind had skyrocketed.
He wasn’t sure what having a normal Ego meant – maybe he’d more self-centered and narcissistic, although he hoped not – but he guessed having more access to the Mind Facet was better than not. More importantly, he got to choose an ability; this time, he went ahead and took Speed, remembering his fight with Max. Had he been faster, he might have been able to hold the dog off without hurting it; although, he knew now that he could just use the threat aura trick Ren had taught him to frighten weaker animals without even needing to fight them.
Weak Spiritual Speed*
Facet: Spirit
Ability Score: Spirit
Cost: 0.4 Magnitude
By using this ability, you increase your attack rate by a multiple of 1 plus one-tenth of your Spirit ability modifier for 30 seconds (currently 1.39).
Using this ability lowers your Spirit magnitude by 0.4 for five minutes.
So, he’d basically be about 40% faster for 30 seconds, which was a long time in a fight. He guessed that would give him a free third attack after every two, which was impressive. It was another weapon in his arsenal, another thing to make him more effective in this new and dangerous world.
Although the days passed quietly enough, by the end of the week, he could tell that everyone was getting antsy. He’d started taking Max with him on his morning hunts; the dog was fast and strong, with a potent connection to the Force Facet, and as the number of creatures he’d encountered had grown, Troias had found having a companion useful. That left Annalise alone all morning, though, and he could tell she wasn’t happy about it.
“Why don’t I join you?” she asked him one morning. “I can use the gun; I’ve still got a case of cartridges, and there’s bound to be a hardware store or something where I can get more.”
Troias shook his head. “Take a look at the pistol,” he told her gently. She pulled it out and stared at the worn, slightly rusted weapon. “Pre-Shift stuff doesn’t last post-Shift. In a few more days, that thing might blow up in your hands. Same thing for any cartridges we might find, to be honest.”
She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. “So how come your stuff isn’t all rusted like that?” she asked accusingly. “It’s all pre-Shift.”
He sighed. “Same reason my truck works,” he told her. “I can update stuff to work post-Shift. That’s one reason I keep hunting each morning; it expands our safe zone, and that gives me more points to use for things like making your addition or improving my weapons.”
“Then, why haven’t you fixed my gun?” she asked suspiciously. “Is it because you think I can’t keep up with you?”
“Do you want the truth?” he asked her seriously. She hesitated, biting her lip, and then nodded. “It’s because I’m worried you might use it to hurt yourself, Annalise. Right now, I don’t think you could with that thing, but if I updated it, I know that you could. And don’t tell me you haven’t thought of it.”
She started at his words, then dropped her head, her hand touching her forehead. He saw her shake and knew she was crying, but he didn’t reach out to her. He gave her space to collect herself, and after a minute or so, she raised her tear-stained face to look at him.
“I tried it once,” she said softly. “That first morning, when I found Robert dead. When I found all the kids dead. It wasn’t fair; they died, and I lived. I didn’t know why I lived; I didn’t know what the point was.” She took a deep breath. “It didn’t work. It knocked me out for a bit, and I had a nasty bruise, but even that faded after a couple hours.”
She wrung her hands and refused to look at him. “I’ve thought about it since,” she admitted. “But now…not so much. I’m not alone, and I’ve got Max. I just…I feel useless, Troias. I think – I think I need to do something. I don’t feel like part of this world right now. I don’t feel like part of anything…”
Troias looked at her, his face somber. He hadn’t really thought about it, but he understood feeling useless. He’d felt that way after the incident, and what she’d been through was way worse than that. “Yeah, okay,” he nodded. “Hand me the gun.” He took it and thought about updating it, and a list of options appeared in his vision.
Your SIG P320 is a complex, mechanical
weapon and will cost 3 points to update.
In addition, the following upgrades
are available:
Expanded Magazine: 1 Point
The pistol will hold 34 rounds instead of 17
Enhanced Sighting: 2 Points
Holographic sighting displays target range
and current wind speed and direction
Recoilless Grip: 1 Point
Firing the weapon will produce negligible recoil
Fastloader: 2 Points
So long as the holder carries sufficient cartridges,
the weapon can be reloaded by removing and
instantly replacing the magazine.
High Velocity Chamber: 1 Point
The chamber and barrel are modified to increase
muzzle velocity by 25%, improving penetration
and damage
Troias read through the upgrades with a frown; he had never been into guns, and he had no clue which were good or bad add-ons. He quickly read them aloud to Annalise, who immediately selected Recoilless Grip, Fastloader, and High Velocity Chamber. Wincing internally, he spent the seven points to upgrade the weapon, handing it back to the woman gently. She took the weapon almost reverently and quickly went outside. He heard a single shot fire off, she rushed back inside, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered to him. “This is perfect. You didn’t have to…thank you.”
Troias nodded. “I think it’s time we moved on, then,” he said decisively, patting her on the shoulder. “I think we’re ready to take on the nearest city.”
Chapter 7
Return to Civilization
The Expedition rolled silently north on Road 13, past the empty lodge. They stopped whenever they saw signs of civilization, cautiously seeking signs of life, but to no avail. The tiny airfield was deserted except for the bodies of a pair of mechanics and one tower operator. The campgrounds were all charnel houses, and the car in the ditch beside the road held only a shattered corpse.
They drove in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. At the last campsite, they’d found the bodies of a family of six and their dog, all of which showed signs of being partially eaten. Troias had expected to feel a surge of nausea, but to his surprise, he simply felt tired. He was tired of the death, the bodies; seeing them had lost its impact on him, and he felt that somehow, that meant he’d lost something important.
“Are we heading to Munising?” Annalise spoke quietly, her face turned toward the window.
“Yeah,” Troias nodded. “I want to get some gas, maybe establish some fortifications, and see if more people are around. It was a big enough town that at least some people should have survived.”
“Munising had about 2,300 people, according to its guidebook,” she answered softly. Troias glanced at her, and she shrugged. “I always read the local guidebooks when we got to a new town. Made me feel like a I was a part of it, for some reason. In any case, two percent of that is only 46. Who knows how many people died in the aftermath? After all, my totem tells me that towns are more dangerous.”
“Mine says the same thing,” he agreed. He glanced at her curiously. “You never talk about your totem. What did you choose?”
“You have to promise not to laugh,” she said seriously, gazing at him.
“You know that if you have to ask that, I’m probably going to laugh,” he countered. “Or at least be tempted.”
“Resist the urge,” she insisted. “I chose…a pig.”
Mirth rose up in him, but he suppressed it brutally. “That’s…an interesting choice,” he said diplomatically. “Can I ask why you chose that?”
“I was hurting,” she said softly. “It said it represented healing and giving. I hoped…I hoped it would make me feel better. It didn’t.”
He nodded and cleared his throat. “Did you name it?” he asked, trying to move the conversation forward.
“Waddles,” she said with a smile. When she saw the puzzled look on his face, she shook her head. “It’s from a cartoon. The kids at my school used to watch it and told me about it. There was this creepy town where weird things always happened. Lots of magic and monsters and world ending stuff. It…seemed appropriate.”
“I actually can’t think of anything more appropriate,” he laughed. “I haven’t seen that show; I wonder if there’s a way to update a TV and DVD player so we can watch it together. Too bad there’s no more microwave popcorn.”
“I guess that means no post-Shift Netflix and Chill for you,” she grinned. “Without popcorn, it just wouldn’t work. Too bad.”
“Yep, damn shame,” he chuckled back.
Her smile faded as she looked back out the window. “So, what are you thinking?” she asked softly. “Just drive around and look?”
He shook his head. “I was thinking we’d need to be sure we had a safe place, first,” he told her. “Once we did, if we found any survivors, we could have them join us.” He glanced at her. “You know the town?”
She shook her head. “Only what was in the book I mentioned, which wasn’t much. We stopped there for a couple hours at most. Robert didn’t like bringing lots of stuff on trips. He preferred to buy stuff close by and just bring things like clothes. Said it made the car feel less cramped.”
“That’s one way to do it,” Troias agreed. “What do you remember about the town? Any place that strikes you as defensible?”
“I’d suggest a police station or school,” she said easily. “Both are used as tornado shelters and are meant to take a lot of damage. The station would be smaller, but easier to defend, and there might be more weapons there. The school will hold more people, if you’re worried about survivors, but it’ll be harder to defend all the entrances.”
“Let’s do the police station, first,” he decided. “You’re right about weapons; I’m not much of a shot, but you can teach me. All I’ve got to hit a target at range is my bow right now.”
That’s reassuring, Troias thought gratefully. Still, wouldn’t an updated rifle be better?
Troias glanced at the woman. “Can you shoot a rifle, too?” he asked her curiously. “Or just a handgun?”
She looked at him steadily. “I’ve got my Distinguished Expert qualification in high-powered rifles with the NRA,” she said coolly. “Will that do?”
“I have no idea,” he laughed. “Is that good? It sounds good.”
She chuckled. “It means I’ve done well in a bunch of sanctioned competitions, basically,” she told him. “I’ve been shooting and hunting since I was big enough to handle the recoil. So, yeah, I can use a rifle.”
“Then we’ve got to get you a rifle and update it,” he laughed. “I imagine you could do a lot of damage from a rooftop somewhere.”
She grinned. “I actually like the sound of that,” she agreed.
They turned from Road 13 onto highway 28, heading west toward Munising. They stopped at a gas station, but Troias realized that without power, the pumps weren’t working, and the gas sitting in the tanks below was basically unreachable. He swore, but after a moment he ran into the station and found a gas siphon hose. If he couldn’t get gas from the stations, he could still get it from abandoned cars, after all. He grabbed four 5-gallon gas containers and put them in the back, let Max run for a bit to stretch his legs and do his business, and they were back on the road.
They followed his GPS, which led them not to the police station but to the county sheriff’s department. The low, brick building was exactly what Troias had been looking for; it didn’t have many windows, the interior was heavily reinforced, and there was a weapons locker. The building was empty except for the twisted bodies of fallen officers, at least on the top floor. The door to the lower floor was sealed with an electronic lock, but after a minute or so of Force-empowered kicks from Troias, it gave way with a deafening clang.
“So much for the element of surprise,” he muttered, calling Max to his side. He glanced back at Annalise, who was holding her pistol low and ready. “Stay behind me and give me covering fire as I need it,” he told her, hefting the glaive. “I didn’t get the option to make this place a fortification, so I’m guessing something or someone is down there.” She nodded, swallowing heavily, and followed him quietly down the stairs.
The lights were out, of course, and once they turned the corner around a landing, the space below was utterly dark, without even a hint of light. Troias froze, thinking furiously; he wasn’t about to go down there without any light. That was suicidal. To his surprise, Annalise whispered, “Be right back,” and vanished up the stairs. She was gone for several long minutes, but when she returned, a brilliant, red light burst behind him, and he watched as a sparkling road flare sailed over his shoulder, bouncing on the floor below, followed by another. “Figured they’d keep spares of those around,” she whispered, but Troias silenced her with a quick gesture.
As the flares had struck the floor, he’d heard a sharp hiss, as if someone had quickly sucked in a pained breath. He stepped cautiously forward, leading with the glaive; in the confined space of the stairwell, it would do a good job of keeping an enemy at distance, allowing Annalise to shoot at it freely.
He turned the corner and found himself staring down the hall of a cellblock. The large holding cell to his left was filled with corpses, while the desk to his right sat empty. He grabbed one of the flares and tossed it down the hallway, lighting the rest of the space and illuminating a tall figure hunched at the far end, shielding its eyes from the brightly flickering red light.
“That kind of hurts, man,” the figure spoke, his obviously masculine voice harsh and gravelly. “Been in the dark for a while; that light stings a bit.”
“Sorry about that,” Troias said neutrally, his weapon still held at the ready. Something about the man felt off, but he wasn’t sure what. The figure straightened, his hand still held before his eyes. He stood an inch or so shorter than Troias and was much less muscled, his pale skin crimson in the light of the flare and his hair color impossible to determine. He wore an unbuttoned police officer’s shirt that was obviously too small for him, and to Troias’ surprise, he had nothing on below the waist; no pants, no underwear, nothing.
“Doesn’t matter, I’m just glad you got that door open,” he said, lowering his hand and blinking furiously, the smile plastered to his lips looking somehow demonic in the red light. “When that voice started talking about a shift, I thought I’d gone crazy. I passed out, and when I woke up, all the prisoners were dead, and I was locked down here.”
“You seriously expect me to believe that?” Troias said flatly. “That’s not your shirt; it’s not even close to the right size. You want to try for the truth?”
The man chuckled, quickly shucking off the shirt and standing naked in the crimson light. “The truth, huh?” he asked. “Yeah, that’s fine. Truth is, I was locked in these cells, too. Then, when everything went sideways and the lights went out, I got hold of the keys and let myself out. Been stuck down here for God knows how long. How long’s it been, anyway?”
