The gunshots echoed throughout the confines of the steel warehouse. Kate only fired three shots, only one hitting true. The creature—or man, Kate hadn’t decided which—was hit on its left shoulder blade. Its human appearance prevented Kate from aiming for a fatal shot.

  Adam coughed after being released from the creature’s grip. He held his pistol tighter and aimed it at his fallen oppressor.

  The creature sat groggily, clutching the wound on his shoulder.

  “You idiots,”

  he said while trying to catch his breath. Adam was still aiming his pistol high when he caught something in the corner of his eye.

  A movement.

  Someone—no, something—was watching them, he thought. There it was again. A shadow was being cast by the afternoon light coming through the warehouse’s high windows. Adam looked at Kate and realized she had noticed it as well, as she kept looking around, rotating her rifle with her, trying to find the owner of the shadow.

  “No one ever taught you not to make any noise?” The wounded man tried to stand, using some of the cartons to pull himself up.

  “You can speak?” Adam asked. Kate was still distracted by the shadow that had just passed them.

  “Yeah, I learned it when I was three.”

  The man now stood almost completely straight, towering over the two. Adam estimated him to be at least six feet tall, probably taller. He wore military camo pants and a white printed shirt stained with blood.

  Adam was about to reply when another shadow passed through his periphery. He quickly turned around to search for the source, but his efforts were in vain.

  The man then walked slowly toward one of the boxes, almost as if dragging his own shoulders.

  “Where are you going?” Kate asked without looking back.

  “To let you deal with your own problem,” the man said, also without looking back.

  Almost immediately after that, Adam heard growls—yes, growls, as in multiple of them. They had been surrounded.

  The two had already forgotten about the man as they focused on their current situation.

  There it was again—a shadow.

  However, this time it wasn’t circling them. It was heading straight toward them. A sharp figure resembling a combination of a human and a spider dashed straight at Adam.

  Anticipating it, Adam fired his pistol, the shots hitting the creature’s grey skull and bursting it open.

  The growls around them started to grow louder and louder.

  The greys then began showing themselves, some standing atop boxes and some beside them, surrounding the pair. Adam counted at least five, aside from the one he had shot. Each resembled the others in appearance, enveloped in grey, crusted skin with four spider-like legs for arms. Their faces resembled spiders, containing multiple green-colored eyes.

  “They look like your girl’s friends,” Kate joked despite the situation.

  “Funny. Why are they onto us and not the other guy?” Adam asked.

  “The gunshots are probably what taunted them,” Kate said, still eyeing the greys through her rifle, afraid that engaging first might cause them to attack all at once—in which case, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Suddenly, two of the greys on Kate’s side began approaching her quickly. Kate fired, not wanting the monsters to get any closer. The first fell quickly after being shot in the head. The other weaved as soon as it noticed Kate’s attention directed toward it. The creature managed to close the distance, almost hitting Kate with its sharp, spider-like arms.

  Kate stepped back and fell onto her back. Luckily, she managed to fire another round before the grey could reach her.

  Adam wasn’t as lucky. With three of the creatures focused on him, he had no choice but to run toward the entrance. However, it was blocked by one of the three creatures. He halted and fired his pistol, his aim true, hitting the creature right in the head. He immediately ran forward, leaping over the fresh corpse.

  The monsters tailed him, slowly catching up. He moved through the tall boxes and crates, but his assailants were quick to follow. Unable to find a way to escape, Adam confronted them. He sharply turned and aimed his pistol, firing another three shots. Two hit the first monster in the head. The third struck the other creature, but the injury to its hind proved non-fatal as it kept charging toward him.

  Adam pulled the trigger once more, but instead of a loud gunshot, he heard only a click. Not knowing what else to do, he pushed a stack of crates toward the monster to buy himself some time. However, the creature easily pierced through the crates and tossed them aside. Panting, Adam stepped back and pulled out his short military knife, stabbing the creature in the chest as it drew near. Unfortunately, the creature didn’t seem to notice the knife lodged in its chest as it continued moving closer.

  Adam’s eyes widened. He tried to pull the knife free with his shaking hand, but it appeared stuck in the creature’s body.

  It stared at Adam before attempting to strike with its sharp arms. However, before it could even touch him, the creature’s skull erupted as an iron spear pierced clean through its head. Blood gushed from the lifeless monster, covering Adam’s face and clothes in dark red liquid. The creature fell to the ground, still twitching, as if having its head blown open wasn’t fatal enough.

  Adam caught his breath as he wiped the blood from his face, still staring at the fallen creature.

  “No thank you?” a man’s voice said from behind the body—the same man who had left earlier.

  “You? I thought you left,” Adam said, still breathing heavily as he approached the corpse to retrieve his knife. As he did, he realized such damage would require immense strength; bursting open a grey’s skull wasn’t an easy task.

  “Your friend asked—actually, no. He threatened me to help,” the man said, clutching and rotating his shoulders.

  He? Adam thought.

  The man was about to leave when Kate arrived, aiming her rifle at him.

  “Stop!” Kate said.

  “Now what?” the man replied with a sneer, clearly annoyed.

  “Drop your weapon, now,” she said, gripping her rifle tightly.

  “Wait.”

  It was Kiel’s voice. The boy ran toward Kate, breathing heavily.

  “I asked him to help,” he said.

  “Yes, with a bow in my face,” the man said sarcastically.

  Adam then realized what the man meant when he said he was threatened, not asked.

  “It’s true. He saved me,” Adam said while wiping blood from his shirt.

  Kate slowly lowered her rifle, still staring at the man, amazed by his appearance.

  “Just what are you?” she asked.

  “Someone like you,” the man said, studying his own arm.

  “Or like them,” he added, pointing his spear at the headless grey.

  “I don’t know, honestly. Maybe something in between.”

  He turned his back on the three.

  “Wait,” Adam called.

  “What are you doing here?”

  The man halted.

  “Too many questions.”

  “Can’t you just answer them?” Kate followed.

  “I needed parts,” the man said without turning back.

  “Parts of what?”

  “A car.”

  The answer made Adam’s eyes widen. He stared at Kate to confirm what he had heard.

  “Like an actual car?”

  “None of your business,” the man replied as he began walking away.

  “Wait—I can help,” Adam said.

  This time, when the man paused, he slightly looked back, revealing a patch of grey, crusted skin.

  …

  The man was named Nolan and was looking for LPG fuel lines for the car he mentioned. He was trying to fully convert it for LPG usage, but despite his efforts, the car wouldn’t start. Nolan assumed the fuel lines were the issue. That was roughly everything Nolan told them. Adam, who already knew how to convert a car for LPG, believed the issue wasn’t the fuel lines. However, noticing Nolan’s eagerness for conversation, he kept that thought to himself.

  Adam, Kate, and Kiel proceeded to search for solar panels while Nolan searched for fuel lines.

  The warehouse appeared to have been used for deliveries, filled with various packaged items, most of them damaged over time.

  Despite their rigorous search, they couldn’t find any usable panels. Adam noticed Kate clicking her tongue, her eyes blankly staring at crates that didn’t contain what they needed.

  “Is there a problem?” Adam asked.

  The first call wasn’t heard.

  “Kate?” he repeated.

  “Hmm? Oh—yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking,” she replied, putting down a small crate.

  “What happened to the quick retrieval mission?” she added.

  “Well, he technically saved me, so I owed him that,” Adam said, pausing as he looked at a ten-inch box.

  “Also, he might lend it to us,” he added with a smile before heading outside to wait for Nolan.

  Nolan arrived a few minutes later carrying a small box and was greeted by the group.

  “What was that?” Nolan asked, gesturing to the box beside Adam.

  Adam simply shrugged.

  Nolan didn’t question it and got into the sidecar. Kiel sat on the bike behind Kate.

  After settling in, Kate began pedaling in the direction Nolan indicated. Both Kate and the bike struggled at first, but once momentum was gained, the ride smoothed out.

  Sitting beside Nolan, Adam pulled out his bag and retrieved a magazine. He ejected the empty mag, caught it, and inserted a fresh one with a click.

  “Don’t use that there,” Nolan warned, eyeing Adam as he reloaded.

  “Sure,” Adam replied, slipping the pistol into his jacket’s inner pocket.

  The place was far from local housing, which was why it took nearly an hour to reach their destination. By then, the sun had already set. They faced a tall, rusted steel gate as Kate slowly halted the bike. Nolan dismounted and pushed the gate open, producing a scraping sound.

  Once it was fully open, Nolan nodded for them to enter. Adam stepped out of the sidecar and followed him inside.

  The area was massive, filled with junk and metal scraps. Stacks of rusted, broken cars formed walls like a maze.

  A clear path paved into the soil stretched forward, lit by wooden torches planted into the ground, providing just enough light to see the way. As they went deeper, the torches became more frequent.

  Eventually, they arrived at a large clearing with a blue modular container house.

  Beside it stood a car.

  It sat low, with a long hood and sharp headlights, painted blue with two white vertical stripes running along the hood. Despite the distance and dim light, Adam recognized it immediately.

  A Ford Mustang

  As surprising as seeing the car in such condition was, something else surprised him even more.

  Sitting on the hood was a young girl—around Kiel’s age.

  THE FIRST CRADLE – A LITRPG ADVENTURE

  The Sun is dying, and there's no saving this world.

  THE FIRST CRADLE – A LITRPG ADVENTURE

  NEW CHAPTERS EVERY FRIDAY!