Fragged

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  He shook his head and smiled, “Cellies proved to be far more effective than previously anticipated, how’ve things been travelling for you guys?”

  “We broke a tank.” Paul piped up proudly.

  Chad wasn’t impressed though, “You do realise that’s bad, right? Now they know someone’s here.”

  “No,” I said before Paul could start making his half-arsed excuses, “all they know is something tried to burrow in, probably some cellies that didn’t make it to annoy the others. For all they know the tank crushed it.”

  Chad regarded me for a while, wanting to say something but not quite being able to form the words, “I hope you’re right. Let’s get a move on, regular guard duty’ll be back before we know it.”

  “Yep, and then we’ll be very, very dead.”

  “Optimistic as ever Paul.”

  Chapter

  Thirteen

  Breaking in turned out to be pretty easy, the security that surrounded the compound having apparently not quite made its way inward, and before long we were on the third storey where most of the mining and building equipment was laid out on shelves in alphabetical order.

  “How anal do you have to be to do this kinda crap?” I asked with a laugh as I passed a dozen different things that I desperately wanted.

  “I like it,” Chad replied, “shit’s too easy to lose, this way everything’s exactly where they need it.”

  “Not when we’re done.” I chuckled as I finally found the small cement mixer.

  +1 Cement Mixer:

  Durability: 2000/2000

  Description: I’m gonna go ahead and assume you stole this, one of the most useful items in Thren, on account of the fact that I know you certainly didn’t build it. If that is the case you should put it back, stealing is bad and no one will respect you… Well, they’ll respect you less, if that’s even possible. Used to make concrete blocks and cement for foundations and paths, nah-duh.

  I always did enjoy the lengthier descriptions, it was like the writers were told ‘Hey, barely anyone’s gonna find this thing, go nuts.’

  “You reckon we should grab anything else?” Paul asked as he eyed off a decent pickaxe and a pile of iron ingots.

  Chad shook his head, cutting off any chance of me ordering Paul to take it all, “I know how tempting it is dude, but we’ve gotta be careful. Too much goes missing and there’ll be Hell to pay.”

  “You don’t think we’ll already be in enough trouble after stealing the mixer?”

  “I get the feeling that they don’t tend to use half of this stuff, so I’d put it at maybe two or three days before they even notice it’s gone, and even then it’ll be a case of wondering if someone just misplaced it.”

  Paul went to justify his desire to take everything some more, which I was just about ready to join in on, when we heard heavy footsteps and voices coming up the stairs.

  Without a second’s hesitation we all scrambled, finding individual hiding places behind the shelves, giving the others a better chance of survival should one of us be caught.

  We were pretty damn cool.

  “What do you think brought them in?” one of the guards asked the other.

  “Dunno, probably just spawned near the gate and wanted to get at the food supply. That ain’t the weirdest thing though, you hear about what happened to the tank from delta?”

  “Yeah! Damn shame, Fitzy spent weeks getting that thing up and running. You think he’ll be able to pull it off again?”

  They were getting closer and my fighter instincts were starting to kick over, demanding that I leap out the second I could and stab one of the guards in the face over and over again until I got gunned down.

  “Maybe, they’re gonna need a whole lotta iron if they wanna try.”

  They were right outside the door, their breathing so loud I could practically feel it seeping throughout the room.

  “Code red, code red!” came a crackled cry through the guards’ walkie-talkies, “We got a code red! Someone’s about to breach the perimeter!”

  The guards didn’t bother responding, instead choosing to turn on their heels and thump back down the stairs like bats outta Hell.

  I wanted to be relieved, the sounds of the guards bounding away meaning we were free and clear, but then I heard something far worse than a few gunmen chatting away.

  “Is that..?” Chad asked practically silently as he inched his way over to me.

  I nodded and looked over toward the window in terror, “Los Dos Laredos...”

  Chapter

  Fourteen

  We’d barely gotten out of the building before the song reached church bell levels of volume, and when we got outside we got front row seats as the eighteen-wheeler came smashing through the compound’s main gate, narrowly missing a dozen guards as it thundered toward a watchtower.

  “How the Hell did this happen!?” Chad growled quietly as we took cover behind our building.

  “They must’ve heard the tank was out of commission.”

  The truck hit its mark, smashing through the weakest point of the tower’s base and effectively becoming part of its structure before throwing the truck into reverse, dragging broken concrete and glass back with it as the tower collapsed in on itself and keeled over.

  Robert the Bold has been slain (World).

  Mr_StealYo_Gurl has been slain (World).

  TheOneNOnlyFonz has been slain (World).

  Y_SO_SERIOUS has been slain (World).

  FUNKY_BUNCH has been slain (World).

  We took the collapse of the tower to our advantage, but as the dust cloud grew it became clear that we weren’t the only ones to have that idea as the inhabitants of the truck climbed up onto the guns and started firing blindly, lighting up the cloud with thunderbolts of fire.

  I was convinced we were gonna die, something I reckon is completely understandable, however Chad was a tad more optimistic.

  “The bodies!” he hissed as we darted through the dust, “Get a gun and keep running!”

  “Meet you back home!” Paul replied with a bit more volume than I’d have preferred.

  We split up after that with no further discussion on the matter, leaving me to panic as a hail of bullets barely missed my head.

  I hit the deck, it seemed the thing to do, and started crawling toward the mostly destroyed main gate, the destroyed watchtower working brilliantly as a big ol’ piece of cover.

  I’d gotten a good twenty feet, even with my rifle in my hands, when I suddenly got sprayed with blood and someone collapsed in front of me, his legs barely stumps of what they used to be as he tried to use his final few seconds of life to get a few shots off on the truck’s gunners.

  Then he saw me.

  It was a split second decision, I swear, normally I wouldn’t have put down a wounded guy who’d done nothing to me, but as he stared at me I knew that he would’ve called out.

  RedBeard has been slain (World).

  The notification hung over me judgingly, my barrel smoking as the guy Red Beard laid there with a bullet clean through his head.

  “Sorry dude,” I whispered as I started searching his body, “but I need this way more than you do.”

  +1 M4 Assault Rifle:

  Durability: 98/150

  Damage: 25

  Ammo Type: 5.56

  Description: German engineering never felt so good. This gal can be equipped with different sights, a grenade launcher, and a dozen other things to make it an even more effective device of making a mess of your ex’s wedding. You’re gonna put a bloody bayonet on it, aren’t you? Wanker…

  +2 5.56 Magazines:

  Description: Loaded into most assault rifles available in Thren, but I bet you’re gonna put crayons in there accidentally.

  +1 Player Scalp

  I took another scan through the belongings of the very dead Red Beard in the hopes that by looking at his bulletproof vest I’d repair it.

  Eventually I surrendered though, finding solace in the fact that I’d
gotten a decent weapon, suppressor and all, and restarted my crawl for freedom.

  The gunfire was showing no sign of letting up, which was bad, but the guards for the compound had taken to popping smoke grenades around the truck, which was good, and before long I’d gone through the main gate and gotten well and truly into the forest.

  Still, I wasn’t an idiot, and I managed a good thirty seconds of crawling at a snail’s pace which feels a Helluva lot longer when death is being spewed out by an accordion blaring rolling nightmare.

  Speaking of, the truck had started reversing, apparently deciding that they’d kicked the hornet’s nest enough for one day, and made an obvious effort to smash up the main gate as much as they possibly could before screaming away.

  “Welp,” I said with a relieved sigh as I started back toward Home Base, “that was fun.”

  Chapter

  Fifteen

  “See? What did I tell you? Easy as dancing.” I heard Chad saying as I arrived back home.

  “What the Hell do you mean ‘Easy as dancing’!?” Paul shrieked, “You almost got us killed!”

  “Hey,” Chad replied with a little laugh, “maybe we should just calm do-

  “If you tell me to calm down I swear on sweet Jerusalem I will end you.”

  “Howdy fellas!” I shouted happily as I walked over to the unhappy couple toting my brand new shiny toy, “Look what I got…”

  “Yeah…” Chad trailed off with what sounded dangerously close to pity as both he and Paul nervously hid their M4s.

  I was bummed out that I hadn’t been the only one to get a gun after silently hoping that the guys bailed before they got a chance, but I got over it pretty quickly.

  “So, that went well. I’m guessing the Metois think it was all the Dirty Blues?”

  Chad nodded happily, “Mmhm, it’s all over the forums that they wanna hunt them down and make an example.”

  Paul sighed, any sign of anger he’d had slipping away as a new thought popped into his head, “I guess this means we won’t get any of the credit then?”

  “Nah,” I replied, feeling his pain, “but hey, we still got the mixer. Besides, I doubt we could take ‘em on if they knew we’d had anything to do with what went down today.”

  That’s when the Js finally decided to make an appearance, the realisation that Supreme Leader me had returned clearly kicking up some of a fuss amongst the less intelligent in our community.

  “Hey guys,” I said with a little smile, “how can I-whoa…” I trailed off as they dropped bags filled with thousands of rocks and sand, hundreds of iron ore and coal, and dozens of raw meat and eggs.

  “I um…” Chad uttered before clearing his throat, “I think that we should get started on building the bunker.”

  “Yeah,” Paul said with a chuckle, “and I reckon I know who these guns should go to.”

  “Heh, yeah,” I laughed as I got ready to gift my gun to Jarry, “that sounds like it’s gonna end really well.”

  FRAGGED 3

  Chapter One

  Midnight, the big quadruple zero, it has a habit of sneaking up on you, doesn’t it? One minute it’s barely quarter past nine, and then, without even the slightest amount of warning, it’s ten minutes to midnight.

  But that’s when it slows down, you know? Those last ten minutes of staring down the clock stretch to eon-length proportions as every passing second turns into an everlasting hour.

  What? I can be poetic… kinda.

  Consumed: Cooked Venison

  You are no longer hungry.

  +10% Boost applied to skill acquisition.

  Someone’s been eating their cooked red meat, haven’t they? You’ll now be able to learn new skills faster for a limited amount of time-based on the quality of the animal that you senselessly murdered and the way you cooked its meat. Guessing you didn’t think about the fact that that poor thing probably had a family, did you?

  “How’s the guard line holding?” I asked as I finished devouring some freshly cooked venison, ignoring the fact that the animation screwed up part way through and switched to the drinking one.

  Chad shrugged, “I guess they’re doing pretty well. They keep getting stuck on trees though.”

  “Eh, what do you expect?” I replied with a little smile before stomping out the campfire I’d placed by the cabin’s door.

  You destroyed your small campfire safely.

  Great job, you managed to stomp on a couple of sticks without killing yourself. Bravo.

  “Have you ever unsafely destroyed a campfire?” I asked curiously as I scraped some black debris off my feet onto the dead leaves.

  “Once,” Chad replied with a chuckle, “my entire leg went up, it was pretty funny.”

  “You do know you could’ve just eaten that inside, right?” Paul declared self-righteously as he came out of the dark tree line, placing his bow over his shoulder next to his backpack.

  “Yeah, of course,” I lied, “just figured I’d keep an eye on the Js with Chad while you went off and did your thing for the past hour.”

  I was trying my best to sound spiteful and grumpy, but I’d been the one to send him out on the hunting trip. Though, to be fair on myself, it was only because I knew he’d bitch and moan if he’d been left to keep an eye on the girls, who were growing like weeds on steroids cut with cocaine.

  “Well I did do my thing,” Paul said proudly, “I found some idiot farmer about twenty minutes west on the other side of the road, didn’t even notice me breaking his sheep loose, let alone butchering them in the clearing right outside his house.”

  “So it’s mutton for dinner then?” Chad asked.

  “Mmhm, and breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea. Even got a bunch of wool for beds and stuff, and a couple of skins from a herd of deer I ran into on the way back.”

  Paul had done well, really well, but in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly the best at acknowledging other people’s successes.

  That’s what Chad was for, who I’d made second in command in the long period of Paul’s absence.

  “Great job dude, you wanna go chuck it in the fridge so we can start getting ready to batten down the hatches? Looks like midnight’s about to set in.”

  Paul, unsurprisingly was not happy with the new leadership arrangement, but he was smart enough to not get all snarky about it, not directly anyway.

  “Not a problem.” he finally said after a few seconds of trying to think of something witty to say, “Meet you in there.”

  “Cool.”

  Chad and I stood outside a while longer in silence, watching the Js getting confused by just about everything.

  “You think tomorrow’ll go well?” Chad asked, “Like, you reckon we’ll get hit by the Metois?”

  I shook my head, “Nah, if they were gonna come for us they would’ve done it by now. Leaving it too long would make it seem like they were concerned about destroying us, like we could defend against them or somethin’, which is a sign of weakness.”

  “Yeah I guess…” Chad replied, not entirely convinced, “You reckon the Js will be alright out here for the night?”

  “Set them up in the nursery,” I said without missing a beat, “the last thing we need is the babies’ crying bringing in the Muties.”

  “You really think that the Js will make for adequate caregivers?” Chad laughed.

  I let an amused breath escaped me then shrugged, “Push comes to shove they fail to calm the bubbas and just shoot anything that goes through the doors. Either way the girls are making it through the night which, in my books counts as a win.”

  “Alright, hey, Js!” my second in command called out into the forest, “Go in there!”

  There wasn’t any movement for a few seconds behind the gentle sway of the trees’ lower branches, but eventually the boys came marching out of the woods, all gunned up and ready to do some damage.

  After the Js had gone ahead and locked themselves up good and tight in the nursery Chad and I fell silent again and w
atched as the moon started to rise higher into the sky.

  A few more seconds went by and the siren finally came, its blaring sound acting less like a spirit shaking horror screech and more like a school bell at the end of lunch, that is to say equal parts annoying and tiring.

  Come to think of it the Muties did a fairly good job of reminding me of the people I went to school with, what with the running, the screaming, and the being screwed over by their superiors, and, just like the Muties, they were barely half the problem.

  Chapter Two

  “Ta-da!” Paul shouted at a level that I would classify as aggressively loud as Chad and I walked into the cabin, “What do you think?”

  I spent probably what was longer than necessary looking around the relatively small space for what he was talking about before asking the obvious, “Of what?”

  Clearly not the answer Paul was looking for.

  “Oh!” Chad exclaimed, pointing to the new thing that Melinda was working on next to the dresser, “The tanning rack, cool.”

  “Cool? Cool? This creates one of the most important materials in the entire bloody game and all you can say is ‘cool’?”

  “Well…” I trailed off, “it is just a couple of sticks, isn’t it?”

  Yet another wrong answer. I think I’d started regressing to an earlier developmental build, you know, socially retarded Cro-Magnon build 0.001.

  “Ugh, whatever, I’ve got Melinda working on turning all the hide into leather and putting it in the dresser. She should be done by morni-”

  “Wait,” Chad interjected, “Melinda? She’s the medic? Shouldn’t we be getting… whatsit… Felisha? Felicity! The hunter, shouldn’t she be doing this stuff so she can get her skill up?”

  Paul made a show of laughing mockingly before getting to his point, “Oh yeah, sure, let the baby go to work on tanning leather, that’ll work out perfectly.”

  “Oh good.” I said, getting a stream in on the pissing contest that was fast filling my cabin.