The road to hell is paved with good intentions - was spinning on my mind, as we advanced up the street.
It was a quiet, warm morning, and usually I would be enjoying my morning jog around this time. But there was nothing enjoyable about our walk. We were on our way in search of a doctor.
All day yesterday, I spent in half sleep, half food binge, waking up every hour to use the healing skill on my wounds. The results were astonishing; all the wounds turned into light pink scabs, and the swelling was gone.
I was able to walk and even hold tightly my new weapon - an old broom handle with the kitchen knife duct-taped to the end. It was ugly and flimsy. But it was much better than fighting with my bare hands. Andy himself had a baseball bat.
To be honest, I didn't want to go. But the hospital was just four blocks away from my townhouse. And I did want to check if my place was still livable. I dreamed of reuniting with my toothbrush and fresh underwear. I was currently dressed in hand-me-downs from Andy and my windbreaker, which Maria had graciously cleaned for me.
We passed by a jeep embedded in the living room of a small house on the corner of Andy's street. The sight was disturbing, but the absence of movement around it was making it even more surreal.
Were people just sitting quietly in their houses? Or were they all dead? And if so, where were all the bodies? Did monsters just eat them? Together with bones, backpacks, and soiled clothes. Even that car looked empty, without a spec of blood on it…
Something rustled in the hedge bush to my right, and I lifted my spear, preparing to slay the monster, whatever it was.
A scared tuxedo cat ran out of the bush and down the street, disappearing behind an overturned trash can. I lowered my spear a little, taking a breath.
The bushes rustled again, and a sea of tiny wispy legs spilled onto the street. I might have screamed. I wasn't sure. All I remembered was a three-foot-long centipede, with legs moving so fast, they all blurred into one giant leg cloud, swallowing my feet.
I hit it at least ten times. Its outer layer was hard and crunchy, and I couldn't get to its twisting head. The knife on my spear fell off and was stuck, embedded in its body. I was constantly moving, trying to avoid its appendages. But it kept touching my shoes, fueling my panic.
Andy was somewhere near, swatting his bat at the creature, too.
Finally, with a wet crunch, Andy smashed its head beside my left foot. The creature fell to the ground. Its multiple legs were still twitching, and I rushed to step away from the disgusting sight.
A familiar screen popped up, and I closed it almost automatically.
The stick of the broom was sizzling with chunks of centipede goo, and I threw it away in disgust. I was fighting for air, so I clasped my hands behind my head, trying to keep my chest up to allow for better lung expansion.
"Hey, Chlo," Andy called me quietly. "I think your shoes are sizzling."
I looked down and frantically kicked off my hiking boots. The action made me stumble, and I plopped my ass on a sidewalk. I carefully looked over my feet to make sure no acid got on my socks or clothes. It looked clean.
"Oh, shit, shit, shit," Andy suddenly started jumping around, trying to peel off his hoodie.
There were growing holes on his right sleeve. I took off my backpack and pulled a bottle of water. His hand was peppered with pink burns up to his elbow, each the size of a quarter.
When he stopped jumping around, I poured the water over the burns, thinking what else could help. Andy continued swearing. Burns continued turning redder and redder, until each bubbled with blisters.
Finally, slowly, they stopped steaming. The entire 20-oz bottle was gone.
Andy sat on the sidewalk, caressing his arm. His eyes were red, cheeks wet. It must have been very painful.
I touched the skin near the spot with nearly blackened skin, careful not to touch the burn itself and activated my [Heal Wound]. Blackness turned red, then light pink, then faded. But it was only one spot. I counted at least seven more that I could see.
"You got the Deal, too, right?" Andy finally asked in a weak voice.
"Sure," I answered, looking around. The street was still empty. "We should move. We made lots of noise."
Andy got up and looked over his backpack, not trusting that it wouldn't have any splashes on it. I wouldn't either; there were a few smoking holes. He carefully opened it, and we transferred all the important stuff into mine.
"It must have been a higher rank or something. Previously, it took two creatures to get a deal if we shared a kill."
I nodded, still focusing on our environment. Andy was probably right about the rank. He usually was when it came to the mechanics of this card-granting system. The creature was dangerous and big, and even with my improved spear skill, dealing more damage, it took us a while to take it out.
If only it were that easy to predict monster attacks and prevent ambushes.
The backpack ended up too heavy for me, and Andy had to carry it. I'd always prided myself on my stamina and strength, but it was humbling how quickly my body had deteriorated from just a few injuries. The choice was simple, yet frustrating: either ask Andy to carry it or push through until my vision blackened and faintness took over.
We swiftly turned the corner and were greeted with the open plains of the industrial zone. On the other side of the road, a five-garage auto-repair shop beckoned me with the potential for a new weapon. The area around it was empty, with just one car parked at the front. All the doors were shot.
"I will go knock," I said, pointing to the place.
"Why?"
"They might have something we can use as a weapon."
"I doubt anyone's working today."
"It was a euphemism, Andy."
Usually, I was against breaking and entering as much as the other law-obeying citizens. But we were only three blocks into our trip, and already lost both weapons, my shoes, Andy's hoodie and backpack. I learned my lesson from the very first fight on that mountain - bare-handed fighting was very traumatic.
Without waiting for Andy's response, I crouched and swiftly crossed the street, ignoring small pings of pain from all the rubble biting into my feet through my socks.
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All the metal roll-up doors were pulled shut. And when I tried the door handle, it was closed, too. I circled the bay to the back entrance. There was a chain-link fence, but the sections were large, top edge knuckled, and the poles sturdy.
I jumped and pulled myself up, trying to move my feet as slowly and carefully as possible, to lower the noise. The ungraceful jump on the opposite side was painful. I lost my grip and had to take a pause to catch my breath.
Finally, when there were no more spots in my vision, I looked around. Here, the building showed its age. The paint was peeling, moss was crawling up from the downspouts, and a row of grimy windows was set high in the plastic siding. A few of them were open for airing.
I searched around for something to use to climb up. The industrial-sized black dumpster looked promising, and I came up to check if it could be moved. There was only a minimal amount of garbage, and after a short burst of loud dragging, it was right where I needed it.
I climbed up the dumpster and pulled myself up to the window. The narrow gap was propped open with a wooden stick. And I was able to widen it, thanks to the old construction and rusted hinges that wouldn't lock.
My fingers stung from exhaustion and the rough material of the edge, but I pushed through. I also collected all the black dust built up on the window.
An office space was on the other side, and thankfully, there was a table under the window. I carefully lowered myself onto the scattered papers. The table wobbled under my weight, and I rushed to get to the floor before it would collapse.
Despite it being just an office, the smell of motor oil, metal and rubber permeated the place. I could see why they kept the windows open. The office was in the back corner, and glass windows provided a view of the entire place. I waited for my eyes to get used to the dim light, getting in through the small windows and cracks in the metal sliding doors.
Then I stepped out of the office and headed into the main bay to find a door. Andy should also look for a weapon for himself.
Every footstep echoed off the concrete floor in this large, cavernous space. I walked carefully, unsure if any critter was hiding in multiple nooks and crannies. There were three hydraulic lifts, a black sedan stood up on blocks with its hood gaping open, and tool chests lined the walls. A red Exit sign beckoned me towards the main entrance, and I debated whether I should try it. Opening it might trigger the alarm. The power was out for a while now, but I had no idea how long a battery on these systems lasts.
On my way to the door, I picked up a pry bar. It was only three feet long and didn't trigger my spear skill, but it was better than nothing if I needed to run from a wailing alarm.
My heart was beating like a scared canary as I cracked the door open. For three long breaths, nothing happened, and I opened the door wider.
Andy was in the same spot where I left him, eyes glued to the shop. I signalled to come over.
"Should I leave the door open?" He asked, a little breathless from a quick jog towards the building.
"Why?" I didn't particularly want to be ambushed from the back.
"So we can tell our hands from our asses," Andy mumbled.
I just shrugged. The open door would potentially provide the way in for the monsters. But there could already be some in here, and then it would become an easy escape. I shrugged my shoulders, letting Andy decide.
I shoved the pry bar into my belt. Having it along the thigh was limiting my motions, but having it on hand was bringing a sense of security. I went through the shelves and boxes by the wall, while Andy went to the employee break room.
Another pry bar I found by the wall was much longer, almost my height. The weight was close to my regular dumbbell, but the shape made it impossible to swing fast. My spear card intuition was telling me that this would be a very ineffective weapon. I just knew it wouldn't work. The knowledge was there, present in my brain as if it had always been with me, like how everyone knew the names of colours or the months. It was disturbing.
There was a lot of useful junk: pliers, bolt cutters, batteries, radio. But I had limited space in my backpack, and we didn't need all of this on our quest to find a doctor. I picked up two cans of starter fluid, duct tape and a flashlight with some extra batteries. The can of starter fluid wasn't an obvious choice. But the flammable sign on its side made me think of a badass flamethrower. I just needed to find a lighter.
Andy showed up from the break room with a handful of stuff that he piled up on the floor. He was wearing safety goggles on his forehead and a large grey jumpsuit that covered his mangled hand. He also had a new backpack, and he left mine on the floor by the pile. Well, technically, that backpack was also his, since he gave it to me only this morning. But I wasn't against some hand-me-downs in a dire situation. I wanted to praise his quick thinking and good finds, but the man had already disappeared back into the office.
In the pile, I found a pair of working gloves and safety goggles for myself. There was also a bottle of water, Mountain Dew and a first aid kit, which I immediately stashed into my backpack.
I've put Andy's portion of useful stuff from my find, like a can of flammable spray and a second short version of a pry bar, onto the pile and went to search for a janitor's closet. Unfortunately, there were only utility knives in the store, but a sharp edge was a sharp edge, and a longer weapon had already proven its worth by keeping my arms away from harm's way.
When I finished taping the knife onto the plastic broomstick, Andy was still in the office. Curious to see what he was doing in there for so long, I went in. The man was sitting at the table, chewing on a granola bar and carefully studying the map.
"Whatcha doing?" I asked, grabbing another bar from the table beside him.
I was ravenously hungry from my forced two-day bed rest.
"What do you think about this area?" He pointed towards the spot of lighter coloured terrain among the forest to the east of our town. There were only small mountain roads leading there, and to me, it looked like the regular middle of nowhere. I wasn't even sure if there was a town there.
"What about it?"
"My grandpa used to have a farm there. It's far from other towns, but close enough to hike in one day. It's on the bare hill, so there is good visibility of the surrounding area."
"So you want to get out of town."
"Monsters appear where there are a lot of humans…."
I chewed on my bar in contemplation.
"You can't say that for sure. We had a lot of reports from cities, because there were a lot of people with cameras. What if the cuts are just as bad?" I thought out loud. Then added, so he wouldn't think I was going to leave the city with him. "And you won't have anyone to help you there. You'll be on your own with no Internet and no survival skills."
"I've downloaded and printed a whole bunch of things while you and Mom were out of it. And I will get more useful cards to help me survive and protect Mom."
"You only have ten slots. You can't possibly cover all your human needs in ten slots."
I finished with my bar and started going through the drawers in search of a lighter.
"We can gather a group and head out that way," Andy finally said.
"Let's take it one task at a time," I said, not liking the "we" in his plan. I finally found a cheap plastic lighter and stuffed it into my pocket. "What cards did you get?"
"[Corrosion resistance]. I got offered a skill for the bat, but I don't have one anymore, so… The third one was the one I already have."
"Yeah, what's up with that? Are we supposed to have multiples of the same cards?"
"I think they should combine, like grow and get stronger. But right now I don't want to waste a whole slot, just in case my idea is wrong. I was experimenting with the cards in my deck earlier, and didn't notice any discard options, so I don't want to mess it up."
"Cool, cool."
"What did you get?"
"Haven't checked yet."
"You should, before it times out."
I nodded, finished my bar and sat on an old, musty couch to go through my selection, while Andy went back out to the pile in the bay area.
Two of the cards were familiar: [Heal Wound] and [Spear]. The new one was a card named [Strike]. It had a stick in the motion picture on it. And it was Blue, so it wasn't a permanent improvement. I really didn't see a point in this card, considering that I already had [Spear]. Unfortunately, I didn't get corrosion resistance like Andy, but you probably had to experience corrosion for that to show up as a choice. So I decided to check Andy's theory and selected [Heal Wound].
The new screen popped up after I chose to draw it. "Do you wish to stack [Heal Wound] cards? Yes/No". I chose "yes" and went to see how it looked in my deck.
The name of the card was now [Heal Wound II], and the description on the back of the card had changed. Now it said:
A medium burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.
So now it was a medium burst. But the cooldown was still one hour. And I still would have to wait another half an hour from the last use to test it.
Andy walked into the room, pockets stuffed with necessities, a pry bar on his shoulder.
"Did you find any more…"
A wailing siren swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Chloe's Deck (4/10):
-
Blue Card: springing spiral with [Leap]
Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.
-
Blue Card: hands with a pack of bandages [Heal Wound II]
A medium burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.
-
Green Card: Pointed stick [Spear]
Basic proficiency with spear weapons. Grants +5% damage and improved accuracy when wielding spears.
-
Green Card: vial [Poison Tolerance]
Dulls the worst poison effects, giving your body time and chance to fight it. Does not work on lethal poison dosages.