Apocalypse online 2, p.2
APOCALYPSE ONLINE 2, page 2
Olivia took a moment to answer. They are advanced classes following the mage progression path. While other mages focus their intellect and magic on spells, these two variants focus it into gadgets and potions. Of course, they still learn spells to cast.
Sam tilted her head back in thought. Couldn’t anyone just learn to craft potions or magical gadgets?
Technically speaking anyone can learn the skills, dear, but those classes have bonuses to their progression, as it is their primary focus.
Sam smiled at Jo. “Looks like those are advanced classes. But if you want to be a cultivator and figure it out as you go, that path is available, too.”
Jo tapped her chin, then flung her arms up in the air. “I’ll figure it out later. This all sounds a lot more complicated than rigging up demolition charges.”
Sam blinked. She barely grasped the concept of making molotovs after they’d looted several from Colton’s people, the anti-pill crazies who’d nearly killed them all back in Salmon Arm. Yet here was this girl talking about rigging up complicated explosives like it was nothing.
“It’s a pretty big choice, so take all the time you need to pick a class. You won’t have to do it right away,” Brad assured her.
The rest of the drive was spent making small talk while Sam avoided the questions she wanted to ask. Mainly the “What’s wrong with you?” question, which kept jumping to the front every time Jo expressed her love for explosives in such a giddy matter. But she didn’t strike Sam as a bad person, just a little odd.
When they returned to the Gaming Center they had chosen as their home, they found Aron and the others had already secured the building. The structure was already being upgraded. Structural weaknesses like windows and doors had received the bulk of their materials and efforts. As Sam took in their surroundings, it didn’t look like any of the other buildings had gotten any such love.
“Welcome back, guys,” a muffled voice said from the rooftop. It was Aron in full armor, putting up the solar panels with Chet’s help.
The truck came to a stop, and Brad shot his arms out at Aron. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you putting up solar panels in full armor? Isn’t it too much bulk for you or the roof?” Brad asked.
Aron waved him off. “Roof’s fine, but uh, we could use Jake’s help setting all this up, if you don’t mind us stealing him.”
Jake stepped out of the car, his hands on his hips. “Come on guys, they came with instruction manuals.”
Chet gave a resigned nod. “Yeah, but we could still mess these puppies up. You know, like IKEA furniture.”
Jo leaned over to Sam. “Those two are a little weird, aren’t they?”
Sam didn’t think Jo had much room to speak on the subject of strange behaviors, but she had to agree. “They’re an odd bunch, but they’re good people.”
“I bet they are,” Jo said with that infectious smile of hers. “The odd ball in the gas mask, especially. But I get the feeling he needs a hug.”
Sam wasn’t sure where to go with that.
Brad hopped out of the back of the truck. He gave Jo a wry smile. “You have no idea how true that is.”
Sam cocked her head. There’s a story here I’m missing.
Sounds like a personal matter, dear. You shouldn’t pry, Olivia insisted.
Sam was about to pry when a squeaky little yawn pulled everyone’s attention to the pouch in her hoodie. Rocky was stretching out inside, blinking at the world around him. The flying squirrel saw Jo and gave her a little wave.
Jo’s hands shot up to her mouth with a delighted squeal. “You have a pet squirrel? That’s adorable! I’ve always wanted a cute, fuzzy little pet like that.” She swung her backpack to the front, showing the stuffed bunny hanging from it. “A bunny especially.”
“Well, he’s not really my pet as much as my companion. But he’s friendly,” Sam said.
Rocky didn’t waste any time crawling out of Sam’s pocket to curiously sniff at Jo. When she reached down to pet his head, Sam was worried Rocky might act with an overabundance of caution. Instead, the rather large flying squirrel pressed into her hand with a happy little chitter.
“Aww.” Jo practically melted as she scooped up Rocky and cuddled the adorable little furball.
“Just wait until you meet Sweetness. He’s even bigger, and loves the attention even more,” Brad said as he gestured for the others to follow him inside.
Sam climbed out of the truck as she remembered they had left Sweetness behind, much to the honey badger’s protest. Brad said he didn’t want to scare off any local survivors with the enormous honey badger roaming around, plus he would keep the others safe while they worked.
The moment Brad stepped into the Gaming Center, Sweetness pounced on him. He managed to catch the badger in one arm.
“Holy crap,” Kurtis shouted as he and the other men scattered. They almost readied their rifles when they realized what was going on.
Brad grunted as he fought to maintain his balance against Sweetness’s bulk. The badger was now larger than a husky after all the fighting they had done against Colton’s people. Sweetness squirmed in Brad’s grasp like a dog that hadn’t seen its master in ages.
“I missed you too, buddy.” Brad laughed, giving Sweetness a hug before setting him down on the floor. “Guys, this is Sweetness. My honey badger.”
“Interesting pet you got there,” Kurtis commented.
Jo squealed once again, rushing for Sweetness. She managed to stop herself a few feet from the huge badger as she dropped to her knees, her hands stretched out to him.
Sweetness gave her a curious glance, then waddled over to her. He sniffed Jo’s face a few times before dragging his tongue across her cheek, then climbing into her lap.
Jo embraced the fuzzy creature. “He’s another cutie, too.”
“We bonded thanks to the nanotech,” Brad said. “Plus, I did heal him when he saved my life.”
Sam thought she should mention Sweetness eating several people’s faces. But after one look at Jo’s adorable face with the badger in her lap, Sam couldn’t bring herself to do so.
“So I can make friends with a cute, fuzzy animal if I get this nanotech, too?” Jo asked.
Brad nodded.
Jo clambered to her feet, managing to heft Sweetness in her arms even as she struggled to keep her balance. “Let’s go already!”
The group laughed as they headed deeper into the Gaming Center. It didn’t take long for Jo to set Sweetness down on the ground while they passed by the different survivors. They waved at the different people who had survived the ordeals the apocalypse had thrown at them. Heather the nurse, who’d survived Colton’s ambush and then decided to become a healer. Tim—some guy with a less-than-ideal attitude that Brad saved from a school—who’d also decided to take up the healer class. Then there was Christine and her son Danny, the youngest nano-pill user in the entire group. The kid was only ten, but he had yet to choose a class for himself.
Deep inside the Gaming Center’s arcade, they moved past all sorts of retro game cabinets. They came to a stop at a wall at the back of the arcade. Space Invaders, old Mortal Kombat, and Tekken were among the different cabinets. Then, without any warning, they pulled aside the Street Fighter cabinet, revealing a hidden door.
“This is some super-secret spy nonsense, isn’t it?” Jason asked. “I’ve been here a hundred times and never saw that door.”
Brad smiled as he opened the doors, leading underground to the upgrade station. “Sort of. Lucy, the big AI I told you about, had to hide these upgrade stations. Not just to keep them safe from the seeders, but any humans who decided to use them for less-than-noble reasons. Well, dismantling them for research rather than helping them to survive the invasion, I mean.”
“Fair enough. That fancy shotgun of yours looks a lot angrier than any other gun I’ve seen people carry around on Earth. Heavy as hell, too,” Jason said.
Brad nodded. “If you guys gather up enough aether, you can get your own fancy alien guns, too.”
“What about learning how to make bigger and boomier bombs?” Jo asked.
Sam gave a concerned laugh. “If your muse doesn’t help you with that, maybe the 3D printers can get you a guide or some skill books. Though you could just spend aether points on the related crafting skills. That might just magically let you know how to make things.” Sam had yet to touch any crafting skills herself. So far she had focused exclusively on stealth and combat, which helped increase her effectiveness, but she hadn’t noticed any new techniques revealing themselves to her out of the blue.
“There’s still a lot to learn with this system, huh?” Jo picked up on their own limited understanding without skipping a beat.
“That’s right,” Brad said.
The upgrade station here wasn’t any different from the one back at the mall. From the long hall with 3D printers and couches lining the walls, to the large chamber at the back for gene therapy, the upgrade station was a carbon copy of the last one. It must have been far easier to mass-produce the stations around the world using an identical design, but Sam wondered if there were bigger facilities.
There are, Olivia informed her. But they require far more aether to operate and they’re in the major cities, so there isn’t much reason to go find them yet. I’m not sure anyone here is strong enough for a trip like that.
Securing valuable resources never hurt anybody, Sam countered.
No, but activating them would draw attention from very powerful seeders and aliens you aren’t prepared to deal with, not like these tiny stations.
Sam hadn’t realized the upgrade stations attracted aliens. The ruined one they found back in Salmon Creek was full of dead bodies, so she assumed they had gotten unlucky and grabbed the seeder horde’s attention. Alphas were smarter creatures than the smaller seeders, however. Maybe they could spot active upgrade stations if they were close enough.
“So we just stick our hands in here and let it inject us?” Cory asked, rolling up his camo sleeve.
“That’s right,” Brad said. “Just get the shot and stand under the blue lights. The nanotech will be activated. Won’t take long at all before you have your muse.”
While Jo and Jake’s friends each went to a station to have the nanotech injected into them, Jake came down the stairs.
“Hey, Brad. I hope you don’t mind taking care of my friends here for a bit. Me and the guys are heading out for a supply run,” Jake said.
Brad raised a brow. “Are we short on food?”
Jake shook his head. “Nah. We just got the solar panels up and running, the batteries are charging now, but this is the only secured building in the area. Aron used everything to turn this place into a little bunker.”
“It’s not a bunker,” Aron shouted down from the top of the stairs. It seemed he took offense to the comment for some reason.
Jake laughed. “Anyway, we need to secure other buildings to give our people more space. And we need to secure the perimeter before Aron decides we need to start digging trenches.”
“You can never have too many trenches,” Aron shouted down.
“Where are you thinking for another building?” Brad asked. There was an RV resort across the road that had hundreds of RVs, but they weren’t what Brad would call secure buildings. “There’s a large building down the street.”
“That’s the Hub,” Cory said. “Angie and her crew will probably be securing that building. We’ll have to get them to come and get the nano-pill, though.”
As Cory and Jake debated with Brad about secondary locations, Sam found a corner to sit down and visit with Rocky.
2
Jake
“So where exactly are we going?” Chet asked as they stepped out of the Gaming Center and headed for the trucks. “I can’t imagine a small town like this has more than one or two hardware stores.”
Jake pulled a map from his pocket and pressed it to the side of his Tesla. He circled an area on the east side of town.
Jake, you do know you have a map built into your head, right? Hazel, his muse, informed him in her British accent. One you can share with everyone in your party.
It was a point Chet drove home. “Woah. That’s pretty analog, man.”
Sorry, I’m still getting used to it. Jake laughed. “So I’m a little old school. Bite me.” He stabbed his pen at the center of the circle. “Anyway, I used to work construction back in the day in these parts, before my family moved us over to Kelowna. Before the world ended, I checked in with my old boss to see how business was doing, and he told me they had a big construction project out there. So if the seeders haven’t flattened the construction yard just yet, there should be plenty of materials for us there, and power tools, too.”
Aron chucked his shield in the back of his blue F-150. “You had me at power tools,” he said before climbing in.
“I better go back him up. Are you going to be alright driving alone?” Chet asked.
Jake pulled his pistol out of the holster, giving it a spin like a cowboy. “The seeders won’t know what hit them if they try to cross us.” He tried to spin the pistol back into its holster, but missed.
Chet grinned, holding in a laugh.
Jake pointed at Chet. “Ah-uh. Don’t say a damn thing. I’m still working on that trick.”
“Sure.” Chet had just taken a step toward Aron’s truck when the Gaming Center’s door flung open.
Tim ran toward them, waving his arms. “Wait for me,” he called out, stopping in front of Jake to catch his breath.
“Everything alright, Tim?” Jake asked.
He shook his head. “No. That Jo girl scares the hell out of me. She’s way too happy for someone lugging around that many explosives, and I don’t want to be anywhere near her if one of her bombs goes off.”
Chet burst out laughing. “That cute girl? You’re scared of her?”
Jake scratched at his stubble. “My friends did say she was a bit of a mad bomber, and she was loaded up with explosives.” He shrugged and threw Tim a party invite. “Eh, what the hell. Another set of hands will come in handy. Hopefully we won’t need you to use your healing magic while we’re out.” Jake fixed his attention on Tim. “You can fight, right?”
Tim lifted up the sledgehammer he’d been hauling around. “Obviously. I’d be pretty dead already if I couldn’t.”
“Hop on in, then.”
They loaded into the trucks and set off across town. Along the way they spotted all sorts of useful little businesses which might make for good salvage later on: a drugstore, a small grocery store, and a few others. Jake was proud of his hometown. They weren’t fancy, but most of the people were hard workers. People out here were far more self-reliant than city folks. It was a damned shame so many had died during the invasion. Jake didn’t like to think of all the friends and acquaintances he’d never see again.
The way his friends told it, only about a dozen or so people survived. Alan and Nora—Jake’s old neighbors—were among them. Another of the survivors was Cynthia Bentley. She was the matriarch of the Bentley clan.
Apparently she’d forced Jo to move in with Jason before the apocalypse. The excuse they gave him was that his sister missed him dearly, and he lived closer to her old job. The reality was she’d wanted to avoid having a third house fire thanks to Jo’s experiments.
Now that I think about it, it was probably a terrible idea to bring that kid along, Jake thought.
Don’t be like that, Jake. She’s a sweetheart, and from what I hear, a bit of a genius, Hazel said. She might be able to make all sorts of handy gadgets for you and the rest of your little tribe. Sort of like Q, only with an extreme focus on explosives.
That would be pretty fantastic. I just hope she doesn’t burn down our new home before the seeders do.
As they drove through the city, Jake noticed a beautiful—if odd—sight as they passed through one of the larger intersections. There was a large herd of deer roaming toward them from a street to their side. Most surviving animals had grown considerably larger after the seeders began their invasion—it was part of whatever terraforming the aliens had done—but these were far larger. The deer were nearly bigger than their trucks with a violet glow to their eyes. Pale grey fur with patches of purple and spidering violet veins peeked through. Then there were the horns. Jake wasn’t confident either car could handle those spikes puncturing through them.
“Uhm, deer don’t just attack people at random, right?” Tim asked as the herd fixed their gaze on their trucks.
“Usually,” Jake said as they cleared the intersection.
The angry, warped call of a deer echoed through the city streets, and the gallop of their hooves filled the air. In the rearview mirror, he saw the herd round the corner behind Aron’s truck and charge right at them.
Jake’s eyes widened. “Aron, step on it,” he shouted through party comms as he floored it.
“Way ahead of you,” Aron said.
The truck’s electric engine hummed louder as they gained speed. One of the advantages of electric cars over gas-powered vehicles was their acceleration. Though he would be lying if he didn’t miss the roaring engines of gas or diesel-powered vehicles. It was a small price to pay for the perks of instant power.
“Please tell me you have a gun, Tim,” Jake said as he watched the rushing herd gain on them while they sped through the small streets and around abandoned cars.
The herd plowed into an old, abandoned husk of a vehicle. The lead buck rammed its horns into the burned-out wreck and flung it aside like it was little more than an inconvenience. Jake did not want either of their trucks tangling with those things.
Tim fished out a short submachine gun. It looked like an AK-74-U. “I got one right here.”
“Where did you find that?” Jake asked as he swerved to the left, the tires squealing as Aron followed his lead. The herd of deer crashed through the cars behind them before veering toward them.
Tim chambered a round before answering, “3D printers.”
Jake wanted to question the wisdom of choosing an Earth weapon over an alien weapon, but he didn’t have room to talk with his own pistol choice. Nor did he have time with the deer after them.
