Chapter 18
While expl the unfamiliar se of the city, Jake entered massive crevices that crisscrossed the streets, signifitly impeding his progress. While some of them were narrow enough for him to step over, others required him to leap to clear them. He had to be real careful not to fall into them. And some crevices were so massive he didn’t leap over them for fear that he might not be able to make it to the other side. Finding a crack too wide to jump over, he cautiously followed it until he discovered a narrower point where he could cross safely.
At some moment, he approached the edge of one of the exceptionally wide crevices to peer down into it. The deep crevice revealed the dark, byrinthiwork of the sewers below. While peering into another deep crevice, Jake spotted a strange creature lurking below. Before he could get a better look, the creature vanished into the depths of the sewers. Later, as he leaned over another crack, Jake spotted a simir creature in a sewer tunnel below. The creature had its long snout buried in a pile of repulsive waste, likely sging for food.
He wao take a moment to study the creature, but something suddenly spooked it—or maybe it had sensed him somehow—and the creature ran away. Or more accurately, bounded away because the creature kind of moved like a kangaroo, hopping on its powerful hind legs and using its long tail for bahe creature leaned forward and swung its front limbs, helping itself maintain band dire. The movement was jumpy and bouncy, allowing the creature to cover long distances with each hop. It moved really fast, vanishing from view before Jake could dis any additional details about it.
He tio traverse the streets crisscrossed by massive crevices. While walking along the edge of one crevice, he noticed a group of creatures in the sewer tunnel below. They looked like the one he’d spotted earlier. The creatures were pletely focused on dev something. The ck of sunlight filtering in through the narrow crack left the sewer tunnel cloaked in semi-darkness. It took Jake a moment to dis what they were feasting on—the dead body of another creature that looked exactly like them. They tore huge ks of flesh from the corpse with their sharp teeth and swallowed them whole. The repulsive creatures were so absorbed in their meal that they remained oblivious to Jake, who was leaning over the crevice a few meters above them.
As he studied them, he realized each of those creatures was a strange mix of a rat and a kangaroo, simir in size to the tter. It meant that not only human beings had been turned into mutants after the Colpse, but animals had also undergohe same fate. Jake was about to take out his PDA and s the rat-like creatures to learn more about them when a roar echoed through the tunnel down below. The rat-like creatures immediately lifted their heads to look in the dire the sound had e from. Jake rompted to follow their gaze, but he didn’t see anything at first. A moment ter, another creature emerged from the darker parts of the tunnel.
This newer differed very much from the rat-like creatures. It resembled an alligator with the torso of a bear, matg the size of the tter. Without a doubt, this creature redator, emanating a menag aura. The rat-like creatures scurried away, bounding on their hind legs aing terrified shrill cries, while the bear-alligator relentlessly pursued its prey. They all vanished from Jake’s sight into one of the other tunnels.
The sewers were a terrifying pce, that was for damn sure. Jake had no desire to desd into them for any reason. He wondered what level the bear-alligator was. That creature had appeared strong enough to withstand a bst from his shotgun at point-bnk range. He wished he could have sed the creature with his PDA to assess its strength.
He tinued his trek through the crevice-ridden streets. When he jumped over ane crack, he was barely able to make it to the other side. He nded just on the edge of the crevid for a moment, bahere, the soles of his boots extending an inch over the chasm. He swung his arms violently, trying not to fall into the abyss behind him. Luckily, he was able to maintain his bance. After regaining trol of his body, he took a wide step forward, his heart pounding and his breath ing in heavy gasps.
“Shit,” he panted. “Fuck. That was close.”
After calming down a bit, he gnced over his shoulder to look into the crevice he’d almost fallen into. In the dark sewer tunnel down below stood several mutated rat-like creatures, looking up, their evil red eyes bearing into him. Jake couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of fallih the fractured surface where those scary creatures resided. The very thought of being surrounded by those huge mutated rat-like creatures sent a shiver down his spine.
After the i, Jake decided not to take any more unnecessary ces and from then on, started navigating around wider cracks instead of leaping over them as he previously had. After some time, he finally left the streets marred by deep crevices behind him. With the o stantly watch his steps lifted, Jake felt a sense of relief and was able to rex, even if just a little.
He pressed on with his jourhrough the ravaged post-apocalyptic city. Occasionally, he would explore deserted buildings in search of loot. Some buildings tained ed food and ammunition, vely pced there by the system for survivors like him to find.
Upoering the lobby of another skyscraper, Jake surveyed the se of devastation. Debris littered the area, making it impossible to access the upper levels—the elevators were out of order, and the staircases y in ruins. The wide expanse of the first floor justified taking a few mio search for valuable items, though.
Jake sidestepped a mound of rubble and was about to tinue walking across the room when something caught his attention, causing him to pause. Out of the er of his eye, he spotted something in the middle of the lobby, aurned his head that way to see what it was.
His brow furrowed as he muttered to himself, “What the hell is that?”
His mind struggled to make sense of the mysterious sight before him.
