Rapture (Apocalypse Gates Author's Cut Book 1)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Short version, as long as they do things the Settlement gets XP?”

  “Correct, sir,” Jarvis replied. “Did you look over any random item that you happened to find in the store, sir?”

  Jarvis was being deliberately evasive which made Alvin think maybe they were watched in his cell after all. Why would that matter, though, and why was Jarvis being super helpful now? Alvin chewed his lip for a second. It could be because Jarvis really wanted him to buy the Hologram AI Power. Shaking his head, Alvin looked at the Earbud again, “I did, but I’m not sold that I should pick it up right now.”

  “It is your choice, sir,” Jarvis replied. “Is there anything else I can do for you at this time?”

  “Can you recommend an upgrade for my gun?”

  “No sir, I am unable to recommend any one ability over another. Blessed weapons may or may not be more useful than silvered ones.”

  The zombies weren’t being called shamblers, or even walkers now, they had been called pre-possessed on the summary page. Jarvis’s vague hints toward the blessed upgrade for the gun made Alvin shiver. Possessed beings would make sense in that context, and maybe that was why the animals were mutating as well. He opened the upgrade tab and checked the cost for the Blessed ammunition upgrade.

  He set aside the idea of upgrading either of his guns. He didn’t have the upgrade slots available for either one to be able to get Blessed ammunition. He decided he should probably talk with Bill about available weapon upgrades, though.

  “What did you say about modifying vehicles?” Alvin asked Jarvis.

  “If you drive a vehicle that hasn’t been claimed by someone, you may purchase the rights to it in the store or in the Vehicle Bay. Once you have done so, it can be upgraded like any other piece of gear.”

  Alvin grinned as he opened the vehicle tab in the store and looked over all the vehicles he had driven of late. He found the Mustang and looked at the cost to buy it, 10,000 XP. He quickly bought it, then opened the upgrade tab for it.

  1969 Mustang Boss 429 (Rare)

  Armor: 3

  Durability: 169,253/250,000

  Upgradable: 0/9

  Fuel Economy (rank 1): Gives you twice the miles per gallon, (this ain’t no Hummer). Cost: 1,000 XP.

  Fuel Economy (rank 2): Requires rank 1. Anything burnable is now fuel. Mileage may vary (hello Doc Brown). Cost: 5,000 XP.

  Fuel Economy (rank 3): Requires rank 2. No longer needs fuel (oh come on, not even Doc Brown managed this). Cost: 15,000 XP.

  Tires (rank 1): All terrain tire. Tires are now all terrain tires, good for all conditions, (Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow…what, are you a postman now?). Cost 500 XP.

  Tires (rank 2): Requires rank 1. Indestructible tires. Vehicle can now off-road like a 4-wheel Jeep (glass, screws, old ladies- run over it all). Cost 2,500 XP.

  Armor (rank 1): Adds 3 Armor to the overall vehicle (afraid of bugs splashing your paint job?). Cost 2,000 XP.

  Armor (rank 2): Requires rank 1. Adds 6 Armor to the overall vehicle (now small children can’t damage your ride). Cost 5,000 XP.

  Armor (rank 3): Requires rank 2. Adds 9 Armor to the overall vehicle (in Soviet Russia, moose fears car). Cost 15,000 XP.

  Armor (rank 4): Requires rank 3. Adds 12 Armor to the overall vehicle (seriously? You really like this thing, don’t you?). Cost 30,000 XP.

  Armor (rank 5): Requires rank 4. Adds 15 Armor to the overall vehicle (the next best thing to a tank). Cost 50,000 XP.

  Durability (rank 1): Double the durability of the vehicle (want it to last do you?). Cost 2,000 XP.

  Durability (rank 2): Requires rank 1. Four times the initial durability (attached much?). Cost: 15,000 XP

  Glove Box: Creates two storage spots in the glove box. Storage spots function as bags (just like a woman’s purse, it can hold anything). Cost 1,000 XP.

  He didn’t upgrade anything, but couldn’t help grinning at the car being rare and having so many upgrade slots. As he did, he felt something in his pocket and reached in to find a set of keys. “These are for the car?”

  “That is correct, sir,” Jarvis replied. “You can also summon it to your side if you are at a Settlement. I would like to point out an upgrade to the Hologram AI power, as well.”

  Alvin opened the store again to the page Jarvis directed him to. He started laughing as he read the description. “Really?”

  Hologram AI Smartcar: Requires Hologram AI. Cost 20,000 XP.

  Upgrade your Power to allow your helpful AI to be inside your vehicle as well as any Settlement. Allows access to the full range of services provided by the Hologram AI. (Kind of like Knight Rider, isn’t it?)

  “Well, I could also…” Jarvis cut off abruptly, his voice gone mechanical when he resumed, “That information is not authorized at this time.”

  “You’ve got to stop tripping yourself up, Jarvis.”

  “Quite,” Jarvis’s voice was tight, obviously upset that he had tripped his subroutine. “Needless to say, it doesn’t explain everything.”

  “I need to head back to the Settlement. Bill wants to have a pow-wow to decide what we should be aiming for. Now that I know about the cars, I’ll have to clue him in. It’ll make fuel much easier to cope with.”

  “Have a good night, sir. Perhaps I will see you tomorrow.”

  “Night, Jarvis.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Back at the compound, Alvin made his way out to the main room. Everyone else was gathered there already and it was standing room only at this point. Susan was going over what each of the buildings were and what she had learned they could do. Alvin leaned against a wall listening in, trying to work out how much time it would take to upgrade each of the processing buildings all 100 ranks, or the crafting buildings the 20 ranks they each had available. Improving the rank of a building also increased the chance of getting various bonuses, which would have to be taken into consideration.

  Susan wound down and looked across the room at Alvin, “Alvin, will you tell us what you found out?”

  Pushing off the wall, Alvin took Susan’s spot in the middle of the room. Susan settled herself onto James’s lap. Alvin’s eyes moved from that development to Becky, seated on the floor near Terry. He cleared his throat, looking around at everyone else in the room. “Jarvis wasn’t entirely forthright, but I did glean at least one bit of information. Guns can be upgraded to fire silver and/or blessed ammunition. Considering that the zombies we killed today were called pre-possessed, I think it means blessed ammo is probably going to be needed in the future.”

  There was a moment of muttering as people received the information. He gave them that moment, then went on, “More news. The Settlement gains XP several ways. People who are assigned jobs and shops, killing monsters, and looting items or scrap all contribute to Settlement XP. The Settlement also gets a chunk of bonus XP with each new member added. On the other hand, it’s a long, long road to upgrade everything we have access to here. The more people we have working on everything, the faster it’ll get done.”

  This sparked a round of questions about jobs. He cut them off, “Susan can tell you about jobs. Another thing I found out, is there’s an item in the store called an Earbud Translator. This points to other intelligent beings showing up at some point. We don’t know who or what those intelligences might be. At this point, I’ll be surprised if they’re human. I would be wary of any of them we meet.”

  “Also, it seems that animals are mutating. Keep your eyes sharp, even inside the walls. It would be bad to lose someone to a squirrel the size of a Saint Bernard. Or a mosquito the size of a Beagle, if insects mutate. Lastly, we can’t give up on looting and scrapping, we just need to shift how we’ve been handling it. Each project inside the walls can only have one person assigned to it. We’ve got multiple projects lined up to work on. Susan will be assigning people to jobs.”

  “It isn’t hard,” David chimed in. “I expanded all the walls before lunch today. All you do is follow the blue icons and do what the
y tell you to do, which for me was mostly hammer at a wall. Anyone can do it, so don’t worry that it will be too hard for you. Al, I’d like to be back on clean up duty tomorrow.”

  “Susan will arrange it,” Alvin told David before turning back to the rest of the room. “One of the buildings we should prioritize is the Vehicle Bay. Vehicles can be upgraded to no longer need conventional fuel. The other thing we should build soon are the automated turrets. Susan, have you looked at those?”

  She nodded, “It will take some time without resources, but I’ll assign a person to each corner tower. The Inn still needs to be done, and we can build the Vehicle Bay along with another building.”

  “Medical Unit,” Alvin replied without thought. “That will let us heal people and buy medkits. Those will help keep you alive longer.”

  “I’ll assign people to those jobs when we’re done here, then. That will require seven people,” Susan replied as she shifted on James’s lap, a small smile curling her lips.

  James seemed torn between wanting to hold her and embarrassed by all the eyes on him. “What about the rest of today?” James asked as he shifted in his own seat just slightly, as if trying to get comfortable.

  “Here’s my plan for how we need to go forward with the looting. We have a heavily armed looting squad. All the looters will be armed with pistols. Four guards with them at all times, all armed with rifles or shotguns. The secondary team will be Bill, Becky, James and me. We will be taking one tow truck down and clearing the road. We should be the more likely target for monsters since we’ll be further away. One person will stay in the truck at all times, one person will be hooking, the other two will be ready to shoot anything that moves. Any questions?”

  “What makes you so damned special?” the jock from earlier asked.

  Alvin locked eyes with him, “This Settlement only exists because of me. If not for me, you would not even exist.”

  “This is all your fault, then,” the guy hissed with narrowed eyes. “They said that this is all a game, because of a single guy. You’re him, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” Alvin said, his hands tingling as he waited to grab his pistol.

  “Motherfucker,” the jock snapped as he lunged at Alvin.

  Becky tackled the guy at the knees from where she sat next to Terry. The jock went down hard with Becky holding on. “No you don’t,” Becky snarled.

  People were climbing to their feet and yelling as the jock reached for Becky. He stopped dead when Alvin kicked him hard in the head. Jock’s head rebounded off the ground, and he went completely limp. Alvin reached down, pulling Becky to her feet, “That was my fight.”

  She met his eyes, “No. He attacked you. That made it my fight, too. I told you, Hero, I will always be there.”

  “Is it true, is this all because of you?” one of the other newcomers asked.

  “If I wasn’t here, either your world would never have existed or it would vanish as if it never was. Think of me as the main character in a role-playing game, the story stops if I die. The world could well go on for all of you if I die, just keep getting worse and worse without me here to help. Or it could suddenly cease to exist. This wasn’t my idea any more than it was any of yours, but this is the only game in town. A word of warning. I don’t react well when attacked. Too many things want to be entirely unreasonable. Next time I won’t kick, it will be much more painful and possibly deadly.”

  “There wasn’t any need to hurt Edwin,” another man said, kneeling next to the unconscious jock. “He gets a little excitable sometimes, but he never hurt anyone before.”

  Alvin looked at the idiot claiming the muscle man hadn’t been about to hurt him. Shaking his head, he looked at Susan, “One hour and we head out. Give Edwin a building job inside the walls. I don’t think he’d survive outside.”

  “Okay,” Susan said as she got to her feet. “Who else wants to stay inside the walls?”

  Several people approached Susan, most of them trying to talk all at once. Alvin headed down the hall towards a bedroom. He shoved the door open angrily, only to be shoved from behind which sent him stumbling forward, to end up sprawled on the room’s bed. Rolling over quickly his hand reached for his gun, but slowed when he saw Becky smirking at him as she locked the door. “An hour isn’t what I’d hoped for, but I’ll take it.”

  “Really, Gothy? Now?” Alvin asked incredulously.

  She pulled her shirt off, revealing creamy skin as well as her huge tits, barely held in place by her bra. “Yes, now.” She bent at her waist to untie her shoes, giving him a really good view of her mammoth breasts. Alvin felt himself respond to her deliberate provocation. Giving in to what they both wanted, he sat up and took his own boots off. As he removed his boots she pushed him onto his back, following him to the bed.

  Lips meeting in feverish need, they rolled on the bed as their tongues mingled, each one seeking supremacy. Alvin got Becky onto her back, reaching up to pin her arms to the bed. Breaking the kiss, he gazed down at her panting, “Fuck, you needy little slut, you’re going to drive me insane.”

  Becky moaned as he spoke, “Promises, promises, Hero. Now are you going to take me, or talk to me?” She wrapped her legs around him and lifted her hips to meet his. “I might be a little bigger than other girls, but I will rock your world like no other.”

  Leaning down, he twisted to the side and nipped her ear, firmly but not hard enough to draw blood. She whimpered as her hips rocked against his, “Going to mark me as yours? Or are you too scared to try?” Her breath was husky as she panted the words, obviously aroused as she continued to dry fuck him through their jeans.

  Growling, Alvin pulled her hands together, using one hand to pin both of hers in place as he reached down between them to undo their jeans. He was almost as frantic as she was as he got his jeans undone, then hers. As soon as he took his hand away she unwrapped her legs and whimpered as he continued to nibble at her neck and ear. “Hero, I need you.”

  Alvin pulled back from her, standing up to shuck off his own jeans while Becky did the same thing from on the bed. She shoved her jeans off the bed, and writhed as she reached behind herself to unfasten the bra. Her tits spilled out, and she opened her legs, reaching for him. “You are fucking gorgeous,” Alvin growled, his anatomy indicating how much he really meant the compliment. “I’m going to devour you, until you beg for more.”

  “Promises, promises, Hero,” she husked at him. “Are you going to keep talking or put that tongue to better use?” She tapped her sex with one hand as her other pinched at a nipple. “Come devour me whole.”

  Alvin dropped to his knees, pulling her to the edge of the bed. He wasted no time allowing his tongue to trace her wanton sex. He found her juices already leaking out of her, he let out a moan of his own. She was a touch musky from all the work they’d done today, but it had been so long for him that it was like ambrosia. He eagerly lapped at her, making sure to cover her entire mound before he started to focus on her slowly engorging clit.

  Becky let out a deep moan as his lips found her love button. “Oh, god. Yes, Hero, that’s it.” She hooked her legs around his shoulders, drawing him closer to her sex. “Right there, just a little faster. Nibble me, taste me, devour me, Hero.” Her words grew more frantic as she spoke, her heels driving into his shoulder.

  Alvin followed her instructions and Becky went rigid, as he began to nibble her. A muffled scream came from her as he continued to nibble at her, using his teeth as she continued to buck against his mouth. She bucked harder, her pelvis slamming into his teeth. Alvin jerked his head back at that point as Becky rode her orgasm down. He climbed up onto the bed, looking at her as she pulled the hand away from her mouth as her body continued to shake.

  He was past waiting as he pushed her up the bed, far enough for him to end up between her legs. He met her eyes as she came down a little from her orgasm, “My turn.” He pushed his hips forward, having already lined up. His shaft sank into her a few inches, his eyes twitching as he felt her
smooth, hot passage accept him. She moaned, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth again. He pulled almost all the way back out before he rocked his hips forward again, this time sinking in just a touch further.

  Letting out a ragged breath he kept his eyes locked on hers as he repeated the motion. Both of them muffling their moans of pleasure as he continued to slowly sink into her until he buried himself fully into her. He paused, leaning down supported by one arm, as he moved her hand away from her mouth. He kissed her hungrily, getting the same passion in return even as he rocked his hips out a few inched then back in hard. The kiss muffled their gasps of pleasure, even as it continued. After a few minutes he broke the kiss, leaning back and positioning her legs over his shoulders as he sat back on his haunches.

  “Ready, Gothy?” he asked his manhood twitching inside of her as he was already close to the edge.