The large man shook his head. “I admire you, kid; you got balls. Tell you what, why don't we work together? You obviously figured out how to level. That’s what makes you so strong and nimble, right? Believe me, I know. With the two of us working together, we can clear the Warped and bring some order to the survivors.”
“Yeah, right,” Nori said mockingly, still on the floor. “You’re such a humanitarian guy, all you want to do is help people, don’t you?”
Bulco’s face clouded. “You think you know about me? About who I am?”
Nori’s eyes hardened. “I know you dragged men from the shelters and threw them to the Warped. I know you fought other gangs and killed their members. You’re a monster, even more than those Warped. At least they don’t harm their own kind.
Bulco’s eyes flashed with anger. “You think you know everything, do you, kid? Wake up! This is the end of the world; we have to toughen up if we want to survive.”
“And that means killing other survivors, right?” Nori’s voice was mocking.
Bulco’s jaw clenched. “Sometimes.”
“I’ll never be a part of that.”
“Suit yourself, kid. New plan. We go into the Hummer, we’re driving straight to the spaceship, and you’re going to show me how to open the front door. Now throw me your gun, or I’ll order my men to open fire.”
Nori looked at him with impotent rage, then threw the gun at him. “Drop dead.”
He caught the Disruptor easily. “Not likely.”
He looked down at the weapon in his hand and frowned. “Level five required? How the hell did you use it?”
Nori crossed her arms. “You figure it out.”
The large man nodded slowly and put the gun in his belt. “You took that level suppression trait. Smart.”
Nori's eyes widened with surprise. The large brute was sharper than he looked.
“Get into the car,” he waved his huge pistol, “we’re heading back there.”
Two men holding automatic rifles came behind her, pointing their guns at her head. Nori clenched her teeth but moved obediently to the passenger side and got inside. She looked with surprise at the glowing dashboard. When she got inside the first time, the projectors blinded her too quickly. Now, she could see the entire front was replaced with a sort of LED screen with many colorful indicators. And right in the center, hovered a light console.
The two men got into the back seat while Bulco entered the driver seat. He followed her eyes and grinned. “Like my upgrades?”
“You did this?” Nori's mouth dropped open. “How?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
The man grabbed the wheel confidently and drove. A couple of the gang members held the main doors open, and the powerful vehicle easily went down the stairs.
Nori glanced toward her two friends’ hideout, trying not to give them away. Her face paled as she saw a snake-like Warped sneaking toward the upturned truck and the unsuspecting students.
Warped, level 5
“Stop!” Nori yelled and yanked up the handbrake.
The hummer screeched to a halt. Bulco turned to her, enraged. “You’re about to--”
“My friends are over there!” Nori cut him off. “They’re about to get killed; let me go!”
“As if I’m gonna believe--”
Before he could finish the sentence, Nori yanked the side door open and jumped outside. She could hear Bulco yelling at the other two not to shoot. Nori didn’t care. The snake Warped was huge, easily four meters long and it had nearly reached her friends. It was as wide as a person and metallic scales covered its body, making a rustling sound as it slithered on the ground.
“Run!” Nori yelled as she ran. She grabbed a broken signpost and lifted the twenty-kilo pole as if it were a cue stick. Lana and Nathan crawled out of the truck and started running toward Nori with the Warped close on their heels. Nori reached it an instant before it caught up to her friends. Using all the strength the exoskeleton gave her, she smashed the metal pole down on the monster’s head, sending it crashing to the pavement. Her flesh crawled as she realized the creature had a grotesquely misshapen human face. The monster hissed in annoyance and coiled its body. It lifted its head off the pavement, revealing cracks made by the impact and continued to rise up, taller than the woman.
Nori lifted the pole defiantly, knowing she was overmatched.
The snake’s head snapped forward.
Using every last bit of her agility, Nori tumbled to the side, dodging the strike and coming back to her feet behind the monster.
The snake didn't turn to face her. Instead, it leaned forward and slithered away, leaving the woman behind. Nori’s eyes opened in horror as she realized the Warped was targeting her friends again, and there was nothing she could do to save them in time.
Lana and Nathan continued to run, crying in fear as the monster closed in on them. Just as it was about to reach them again, the roar of an engine filled the air. The Hummer, driven by Bulco, rammed into the monster, throwing it away from its prey. The gang leader reached out the window with his huge revolver and sent bullet after bullet into the entangled Warped. The heavy bullets tore large chunks off the creature, spraying the ground with gore. But they might as well have been shot from an air gun for all the good they did. The monster hissed in anger and pulled its crushed parts away from the vehicle, the bullet wounds already closing up.
Bulco got out of the car, his eyes glowing red. He was wearing a thick metal gauntlet over one arm. The two other gang members were nowhere in sight. The snake’s front half rose again, spitting in anger, and snapped forward to strike. Bulco drew his arm back and punched the monster’s head as it came at him. The device he wore sprung forward, adding force to the punch, and the snake’s head snapped up, then down into the pavement again. The man hit the downed monster again and again, but it recovered quickly and started rising again. The wounds and broken scales were mending faster than the large man could inflict them.
“Kid, head’s up!” Bulco yelled and threw the Disruptor to Nori. The move cost him. The Warped snake used the break of the assault and sprang forward. The large man was hurled on his back and his hands caught the snapping maw just before it bit his face off. “Kid! Hurry up!” he shouted, his bulging muscles straining against the pressure of the stronger monster.
Nori, Lana, and Nathan stared, mesmerized at the titanic clash. A man was actually holding off the snapping jaws of a monster at least five times his weight.
“Kid!” he yelled, a tone of desperation in his voice, and the red in his eyes dimmed.
Nori came to her senses. She pointed the Disruptor at the snake and fired. The beam blew a small crater in its plated body. The snake wriggled forward, pressing the pinned man harder against the ground.
Nori walked toward the monster, pressing the trigger again and again. The shots blew more holes in the creature's body, but even though the wounds didn’t heal, they were too small to be fatal. Just as Bulco’s arms were about to give in, Nori reached him. She pressed the end of the disruptor to the Warped’s head and fired.
A beam of blue light instantly appeared out of the other side of the Warped’s skull, and the giant beast dropped, further pinning down the struggling man.
Bulco sighed in relief. “Nice shot, kid. Mind giving me a hand now?”
Nori narrowed her eyes and moved her weapon slowly, pointing it at the man’s face.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Nori?” Lana came to stand next to her. “What are you doing?”
“We can’t let him live,” Nori said hoarsely. “I had to kill the Warped or it would have turned on us next, but if I’ll let Bulco go, he’ll never stop chasing us to get into that ship.”
“But he saved us!” the younger woman protested.
“Yes, I did,” Bulco said. “I didn’t have to.”
Nori shook her head. “He needs us to open the ship for him. We can’t trust him. He’s killed people
.”
Bulco’s face darkened, and he stopped struggling against the monster’s weight. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, kid. Some people deserve to die.”
Nori pointed the gun at his face again. “We actually agree on something for a change.”
“Nori, don’t!” Lana cried desperately. “You’re not a murderer.”
“But he is!” she snapped back at her. “And in a time where humans struggle to survive, there’s no greater crime. People like him are a danger to our entire species. We can’t let him live.”
“Oh, I’m a danger to our species?” Bulco growled. “Why, because I killed a few people who deserved to die? I guess in your book, rapists and those who steal from children and the elderly should just get a slap on the wrist?”
Nori stared at him, flabbergasted.
Bulco clenched his teeth and with a powerful push, heaved the dead monster off of him and sat up. “That’s right. I used to live in the Grand Mall shelter. We were lucky—me, my wife and my daughter made it to safety there when so many others were caught by those monsters. Little did we know that there was no shortage of monsters inside. The gangs ruled there by force, taking whatever they wanted. Whoever they wanted. Some people thought that meant there were no more rules and they could do as they pleased. A couple of them snuck into our shack while I was away.” His voice cracked. “My wife and daughter were defenseless, but that didn’t matter to those bastards. When I got back I found their corpses. Bloody. Naked.”
Lana clutched Nathan’s hand, her eyes wide in horror. The large man continued, his eyes lost in the past. “I asked around and tracked the two who did it. It took me a while, but I beat them both to death with my bare fists. It’s funny when you think of it. It’s nearly impossible to beat someone to death with a bat, but fists can do the job just fine. So, yeah, I killed them. Do you want to call me a murderer for that? Fine, I’m a murderer. I’ve murdered dozens of scum. You want to shoot me for that? Go ahead. I got nothing to lose anyway.”
He laid his head back against the ground and closed his eyes.
Nori’s eyes widened at his words, and her arm holding the weapon shook.
“Nori, come on,” Lana whispered insistently. “We got the Hummer right here, let’s just take it and leave him be.”
Nori’s gaze steeled and her arm steadied. She pointed the gun at the prone man again. “And how do you justify running a brutal gang? I’ve heard stories about you. Anyone who crosses you ends up dead.”
Bulco chuckled mirthlessly. “When I started out, there were dozens of gangs. People who thought they could take whatever they wanted. They banded together and tried to rule over the other survivors. So I gathered some men, who, like me, had nothing to lose, and we fought back. I learned to be ruthless. Reputation matters, you see. Fear is the only thing that keeps the real monsters in check.”
Nori frowned. “How did you level up?”
He chuckled again. “I got the level up message after killing a bunch of assholes. It seems that even level zero carry a small amount of Tec, it’s just a matter of harvesting enough to gain the first level. Once I leveled, dealing with others became much easier. So I started hunting Warped instead. It took a little doing, but with the strength I’d gained, I managed to kill a level one. Those things give way more Tec than zero level humans, I’ll tell you that, but taking them down permanently ain’t easy. Me and the boys started developing tactics to subdue and kill more Warped, and I used the Tec I gained to become even stronger. Even some of my men leveled, though we lost most after we encountered a group of Warped a few days ago.”
“You can believe him, Miss.” One of the gang members got out of the hummer, rubbing a bruised temple. He was still holding his rifle, but it was pointed at the ground. “He’s telling the truth. We’ve all been fighting, trying to force the world to make sense again, but it’s hard. That spaceship just might be the thing we need to finally turn things around.”
“Nori, I believe them,” Lana said.
Nathan nodded empathically.
The tall woman sighed and holstered her weapon. “Yeah, I believe them too.” She leaned forward, offering the heavy man her hand. He looked up at her with surprise but reached up and allowed her to hoist him to his feet.
“Thanks,” he said. “You’re strong.”
Nori shrugged. “You’re stronger.”
“Well, I do have eight points in strength.” He grinned at her.
Lana’s jaw dropped. “How? You’re only level four.”
“Easy, I took the attribute boost trait and put the extra points from the first three levels into strength.”
“How did you manage to get that Hummer working again? And what is that thing on your arm?” Nori pointed at the thick gauntlet he wore.
“I was a mechanic before the Calamity. When I leveled up, I selected the Engineer Path. After that, I suddenly knew what to do to make cars run again—only getting the right components was a real bitch. This thing I wear is what I like to call The Puncher. It gives my punches additional strength, really handy in taking down Warped, let me tell you that.” He looked down at the huge snake. “Though this is the first time I’ve tried taking on a level five. It’s so much stronger than level four. Which reminds me …” Bulco closed his eyes and concentrated.
A line of text appeared in front of Nori’s eyes.
Party Tec Extracted: 0.4
She couldn’t believe her eyes. “You shared the Tec with us?”
“We killed that thing together, didn’t we?” He grunted. “We’re all in the same boat here.”
“What did you plan to do with the spaceship?”
He shrugged. “‘I’m not sure, actually. I figured that getting it flying again might be a tall order, so I hoped to find more components to fix a few more vehicles. Maybe get my hands on some alien tech that would make our lives easier. My brain is filled with knowledge since I became an Engineer. I thought maybe I could use it to our advantage.”
“Alright,” Nori said. “We’ll go back to the ship together. Tell your men to return to your base, my friends are taking their place.”
“You’re the one with the gun,” Bulco grunted, nodding to his followers as he walked toward the Hummer.
“What are you doing?” Nori asked.
“You wanted to drive back there, no? I’m the only one who can make this thing move—special engineer’s prerogative for testing their product. So, unless you’re level ten or higher, move your ass over to the passenger seat.”
Nori brushed past him and sat in the driver’s seat. She put her hand on the light console and the engine’s gentle humming changed to an angry roar.
“How the hell did you do that?” Bulco looked at her in astonishment.
Nori’s lips curved. Not taking her eyes off the dashboard she answered. “Navigator’s prerogative. You coming? The passenger seat awaits you.”
***
They made it back to the spaceship in under five minutes.
“Holy hell,” Bulco said. “I never managed to get it to run faster than thirty. I thought maybe I hadn’t installed the new tech right. You sure can drive, girl.”
Nori chuckled. “I’m a Navigator. My Path allows me to drive every sort of vehicle.”
“Not bad,” the large man admitted begrudgingly. “As an Engineer, I can build all sorts of technical components, and the Path allows me to activate the finished product for testing, but nothing close to the level you’re showing right now.”
“Hmm, Navigator also allows me some limited control over connected subsystems, like the ship’s logs, although Lana’s much better at getting the information out of it.”
“I’m the Expert!” Lana declared from the back seat.
“Yes, you are,” Nori said distractedly as she opened the door and took a moment to scan her surroundings.
“Is it safe to go out?” Lana asked.
“All clear,” the tall woman confirmed.
They got out of the Hummer
and walked toward the ship’s entrance. This time, Nori was able to open the door with a single touch. They walked straight in, heading toward the bridge.
Bulco looked around him, trying to take everything in at once. “This thing is incredible. Look at those power couplings, they’re way more advanced than the stuff I came up with.”
“If you like those, I think you’ll love what we’re about to show you next.” Lana grinned.
They took the right door from the bridge, toward the storage room and the large pile of components they had collected from the lockers.
“This ....” The large man was rendered speechless. “Asymmetric power converters, tri-phasic sensor arrays, and … Wow! A portable precursor regulator!”
“Wait, you’re telling me you know what all of this is?” Nori gestured at the pile.
“Well, yeah, sort of. No idea how, but when I look at it, I just know what it is and how to use it, you know? The interface helps, of course. I can see the components’ condition, their model version, etc.”
Lana frowned. “None of us saw anything like that when we took them out. The interface only showed us the details of two items, a spacesuit, and the exoskeleton that Nori wears.”
Bulco shrugged. “Guess you need to be an Engineer or something similar to see this kind of data.”
“We could all also see the data of the Disruptor,” Nori said. “I’m guessing that everyone can see information on complete items, but components and ingredients probably only show their information to people with the relevant Paths.”
“Alright, you convinced me,” Bulco crossed his arms. “You kids are smart and resourceful. You have potential. Like, serious, save-the-world kind of potential. I’m down with that. So let’s talk about our objectives.”
“Wait.” Lana frowned. “Are you saying you like … want to join our, err … gang?”
The man chuckled. “Let’s give the G word a rest for now. You three have accomplished more than anyone else I’ve met. With your abilities and my skill, we can do a lot of good, so I’m thinking we should discuss how exactly we’re going to accomplish that.”
Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1) Page 6