Chapter 19

  There was something strange in the ter of the lobby. Jake wasn’t even sure what he was seeing. There seemed to be some sort of distortion h in the air a few feet above the floor. The effect bore a resembo heat waves rising off the pavement of a sunbaked road. Those waves—or whatever the heck it was—materialized a few feet above the floor, rising a few more feet higher before dissipating. This whole phenomenon spanned a few meters across.

  Jake just stared at it for a few seds. This strahing remained suspended in the air. It didn’t go away, didn’t increase or decrease in size. It didn’t seem to affect its surroundings in any way either. Whatever it was, at first g seemed harmless. Sure enough, Jake wasn’t deceived by its seemingly i appearahis strahing wasn’t normal. He had never seen anything like that before, not in his former life or in this unfamiliar world he now found himself in. Taking care not to step too close to the phenomenon, he slowly walked around it, studying it from every ail he made a full circle auro his initial position. The thing seemed to be voluminous and looked the same from every dire.

  Jake took out his PDA and poihe camera at the phenomenon. When the lens focused on it, he pressed the S button. A piece of text immediately appeared on the s. MAGICAL ANOMALY. NAME: UNKNOWN. DESCRIPTION: UNKNOWN. DANGER LEVEL: UNKNOWN. TIP: UPGRADE YOUR PDA TO LEVEL 2 TO BE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY S LEVEL 11-20 MAGICAL ANOMALIES.

  Returning the PDA to his jacket pocket, he gazed at the phenomenon before him. So this thing was a magical anomaly of some kind. Sing this thing didn’t provide him with any useful information on it—how do I upgrade my PDA anyway?—but he still was able to learn a little bit about it. The magical anomaly had a Danger Level attribute, which meant that this thing was actually dangerous to a certain degree. Jake was gd he’d takeions not to get too close to it.

  He looked around the room and picked up a piece of crete about the size of his fist. Hefting the k in his hand, he took a step back from the anomaly. Then another ohe another. After giving the matter some thought, he decided to move all the way back to the entrao the building. He judged the distao the anomaly and cluded he should be able to throw the k of crete far enough for it to reach the magical anomaly. He didn’t know what would happehe piece of debris hit it. What if it would explode and the whole building would colpse in on itself? It seemed unlikely, but he was sure something would definitely happen, which was why he wao stay as far from the anomaly as possible.

  He cocked his arm and then powerfully hurled the piece of crete. It arched through the air toward the anomaly. Jake got ready to bolt out of the building at the first sign of dahe strange phenomenon gred briefly when the piece of crete hit it. The k ehe magical anomaly, and then its movement was suddenly arrested. It just hovered motionlessly in midair ihe anomaly as if some mysterious gravitational force was holding it there.

  What the heck?

  Then, a couple of seds ter, the piece of debris flew out of the anomaly with increased velocity. Startled, Jake instinctively crouched down, anticipating the projectile to zip back toward him. However, it didn’t fly exactly back at him but swerved to the side instead. The piece of crete crashed into the wall to his right with such force the k shattered into several smaller ones, scattering across the area.

  Okay, Jake thought. Gotta make sure not to fire my guns into that anomaly.

  If any objects entering the magical anomaly behaved the same way the piece of crete just had, shooting at the phenomenon would be a disaster because the anomaly would send bullets as buzzing every which way like angry hors. If he didn’t want to run the risk of getting hit by his own bullets, he had better not fire in the hall at all or at least, pce his shots carefully to make sure they didn’t get anywhere he anomaly.

  For the several minutes, he explored the first floor of the building. He discovered nothing of value and entered no mutants during his search. On his way out of the building, he g the magical anomaly o time. It was still suspended in the same spot a few feet above the floor, dist the air like heat waves rising off hot, sunbaked asphalt.

  Jake tio explore the devastated city, entering various buildings at random. At some point, he ced on a multi-story parking garage. The arm barrier was missing, and the guard station at the entrance had all its windows shattered, but the booth itself stood retively intact. Stepping into the first level of the dimly lit car park, Jake paused to let his eyes adjust to the subdued lighting. The submae gun was slung over his shoulder while he gripped the semiautomatic shotgun tightly in his hands. However, there were no mutants ao be seen, and no sound that might indicate their presen the car park could be heard.

  On the far side of the space, opposite the entrance, a solitary pickup truck sat in the empty parking garage, with no other vehicles in sight. Jake decided not to veo the upper levels, but he wao check out the pickup truck. The echoes of his footsteps reverberated through the silent expanse as he approached the vehicle. In trast to the rusted and abandoned cars he had entered so far, the pickup truck appeared to be in drivable dition, piquing Jake’s i and prompting him to iigate further.

  He tried the driver’s door and found it unlocked. Gng around to make sure he was still alone and wasn’t about to get himself into some kind of trap, he slid ihe cab. He checked the glove box and found the keys there. He stuck them into the ignition and turhe engine growled to life, and slight waves of vibrations coursed through the frame of the vehicle. A quice at the dashboard told him that the truck’s tank was full.

  Jake was taken aback to have found a funal vehicle in the midst of the devastation of this post-apocalyptic world. Oher hand, it was a game-like world, and lots of things here were governed by video game rules. The pickup truck had obviously been pced in the car park by the system for survivors to find.

  Jake wasn’t sure if the pickup truck would be of much use to him, though. After all, some ses of the ravaged city were literally impossible to cross on a car, like those streets that were split open by massive crevices. But he was going to use the car anyway. If he got stuewhere or ran out of gas, he would simply ditch the trud tio explore the city on foot.

  As he grabbed the shifter and pushed it intear, he pondered whether another vehicle would materialize in the very same spot within the car park at the beginning of the day, much like the reappearance of items in looted houses and the revival of killed mutants.

  When Jake hit the gas and the car began to roll forward, he seemed to hear some sounds over the growl of the engine. A sed ter, a horde of ex-human mutants desded the ramp from the upper level of the parking garage. His heart skipped a beat as he watched the mutants surge toward his pickup truck.

  Where the hell did they all e from? Were they simply hiding on the upper levels, making no sounds at all? Or had he triggered a game event when he began to drive the car, causing all those mutants to materialize out of thin air?

  Lots of questioed his mind, but he had no time to look for answers. The mutants swarmed into the first level of the car park and barreled toward the pickup truck, teeth bared, cws outstretched. He swiftly maneuvered the pickup truck to face the exit. However, he khat the mutants would reach him long before he could gain enough acceleration to give them the slip.

  There was nothing he could do except get prepared to be surrounded by the swarm of ex-human mutants. A surge of adrenaline coursed through him as he braced for the harrowing frontation.