Blackout: Book One (A Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller)

by Adam Drake

  Then I slammed into her side at a full charge.

  Amazingly, she recovered from this sudden assault and parried my sword swings. Her white horse kicked, and a worker pinwheeled away.

  With an effort, I placed myself between her and the banner, our swords clashing. She was highly skilled with melee weapons, I gave her that, but kept up my attack.

  The remaining troll grunts, three in all, joined the fray. Amara grinned, knowing I would be overwhelmed. Sweat dripped down my forehead as I now had to contend with four different attackers.

  With only four workers as my defense force, I commanded them to concentrate on a single troll who's health indicator showed to be the weakest of the three.

  But the two other trolls pressed their attack, spears thrusting at me. One pierced Smoke's side and my mount reared in pain, nearly throwing me off. But as the horse landed, he struck out with his forelegs and crushed a troll who stepped in for a killing blow.

  +1 Battle Points.

  As this was happening, Amara pushed in toward the altar, and this time grabbed onto the banner by its long wooden handle.

  A system message practically screamed across my screen.

  Your Banner Has Been Taken!

  Amara yanked upward, but, dodging a spear thrust, I swung my sword around in a wide arc and connected with her shoulder.

  She screamed in pain and let go of the banner.

  Your Banner Has Been Returned!

  The elven Shadow pulled her mount around to face off with me, sword in hand.

  +1 Battle Points.

  I didn't kill anyone at that moment, and a quick glance told me that one of the trolls had been slain. But at the cost of two workers. The worker leader stood over the corpse of the troll, looking triumphant.

  The last troll, taking advantage of my distraction, deeply speared my left side. My avatar gasped in pain, and blood flowed freely from the wound.

  Not good, I thought with alarm as my health bar dropped almost in half.

  In that instant Amara was one me. She swung her sword with an almost maniacal glee, sensing victory was at hand.

  It took every thing I had to parry her blows, but my avatar was weakening from the bleeding wound.

  Quickly, I opened my avatar's inventory and selected a stack of Health Boosts to apply to my wound. These would bring up my hit points to 100% in an instant.

  But when I tried to use the Health Boost, a red system message appeared.

  Not a Battle Field item. Cannot be used.

  What the heck? I thought while dodging a spear thrust.

  I tried to use the Health Boost, again, but the same message appeared.

  A cry of anguish pulled me back into the situation.

  Amara had switched to her bow and shot the worker leader through the head as he tried running at her.

  Rage overtook me. With a determined focus, I smacked away the last troll's spear thrust and jammed my sword through its throat. It collapsed to the ground.

  +1 Battle Points.

  Amara backed her mount away a few paces from me, a victorious grin plastered across her smug face. “Got any final words, FILTERED?” she said raising her bow to aim at me.

  I'd maneuvered myself between her and the banner's altar. With one hand covering the bleeding wound in my side, I knew the writing was on the wall.

  “Yeah,” I said with a smile. “Give up now and I will show you mercy.”

  Amara cackled. “You got quite the mouth on you. Had I known you were a Battle Field noob, I would have waited a while longer before crushing you. Built a full army and then marched over the ruins of your base.”

  As she spoke, I noticed a system message at the bottom of my screen. It was marked as a non-priority. When I brought it up, it caused me to catch my breath.

  Your only Worker Unit has been eliminated. Do you wish to purchase another – Cost 100 gold? Yes/No?

  “Oh, heck, yeah!” I blurted.

  Amara's triumphant expression flickered with confusion. “What are you talking about? You want me to crush you?”

  “Yes,” I said with a widening smile.

  Worker Unit purchased.

  Suddenly, the door to the Keep flew open and a dozen new workers spilled out in a rush.

  Amara shifted her focus from me to the new arrivals and fired her bow at them. One of the workers died from the shot.

  Immediately, I pointed at Amara and shouted, “Get her!”

  The eleven remaining workers turned their heads in unison to look at Amara. Axes appeared in their hands which they raised with a cheer, then charged.

  Amara barked a laugh as she shot and killed another worker. “This is pathetic,” she said. “You are just delaying the inevitable, you stupid FILTERED.”

  She was right, I thought. But only partially.

  I summoned a Magma arrow which appeared in my quiver. At close quarters, I hadn't bothered using my bow against Amara. She was too fast, and the game penalized range attacks within a short range. But now an opportunity presented itself.

  The worker unit massed around her, commanding her attention. For whatever reason, she did not run away, or try to get distance from them. Instead, she switched to her sword and hacked at her feeble attackers.

  Ignoring various 'You are bleeding out!' health warnings, I took aim and fired.

  Amara must have sensed the attack coming. As she cut the head off of a determined worker, she looked over at me.

  The magma arrow hit her right in the sternum, piercing her chest. Instantly, she dropped her sword and her avatar screamed in pain. Her screams turned into a hellish gurgling sound.

  I knew what was about to happen and commanded the workers to fall back, which they did.

  Amara fell from her horse and spasmed on the ground. From her mouth and ears gushed hot lava. It melted her face away in an instant and soon bubbled over her entire body.

  In seconds, Amara's avatar had been rendered down to a bubbling puddle of magma. Her horse turned and ran away in fright.

  A system message appeared.

  Vivian Valesh has killed Amara Frostwalker. +1,000 Battle Points.

  The workers let out a cheer, but I wasn't feeling particularly victorious. Yes, I had killed her, but she'd be back once she resurrected at a crypt.

  The only way to win this battle field was with her banner.

  Still, at least I prevented her from stealing an early victory with a grunt rush tactic.

  I pushed these thoughts from my mind. My avatar's health dropped further and the image on my view-screen wavered.

  Crap, I thought. I can't die now. Amara would get a thousand battle points! She didn't deserve that!

  I suddenly found myself on the ground, Smoke looking down on me with equine concern.

  If I can't use my Health Boosts in the battle field, how in the heck am I expected to survive very long?

  As my screen darkened I heard the Lookout shout from high above.

  “Get the Commander inside! Quickly!”

  Hands lifted me and I could make out motion on my screen. Was I being moved?

  As I prepared for a trip to the nearest crypt, a system message appeared.

  Amara Frostwalker has been reborn to the world. The battle continues!

  Figures, I thought.

  Then the world went dark.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  You Have Been Rendered Unconscious.

  Oh great, I thought as I glared at my black screen. It would be better if my avatar died now so that I could pop up at a crypt and get back to building my base. And this time I'd get my own grunts, and fast!

  I didn't think I'd survive another grunt rush. It was hard to tell if Amara would attempt one again. She needed to call up a new unit of grunts, but I didn't know if she had the resources to do it immediately.

  It would help if I knew more about this Battle Field game. I inwardly cursed myself for never learning this aspect of the gaming universe. I'd certainly explored the rest, but war games were never of interest
to me. Questing was.

  Now I had to learn, and quick. Amara could not be allowed to win and be awarded the Lost War Banner of Y'Godda. It would mess up my quest chain I'd struggled so hard through.

  And then there was the final reward for returning the banner to the quest giver.

  Frustrated waiting for my inevitable death, I pulled up my inventory again. I didn't have a proper chance to look at it more closely while fighting Amara.

  All the items my avatar carried were grayed out. I couldn't select any of them. Health Boosts. Maps. Potions. Nothing.

  The only things I could access were some skills, weapons and armor. The last was quite fortunate as it allowed me to continue to use my legendary Cloak of Shadows, but not all of its myriad of benefits. No phase, or invisibility, or teleportation. Sheesh. Why don't they just take away all the fun?

  Out of all my special gadgets and trick arrows, only the magma arrow was available.

  My view-screen began to brighten, and the darkness faded. The health indicate at the edge of my vision began to rise at a wonderfully quick rate. Was a healer attending to my wounds?

  When I could see fully again, I found myself face down on a cold stone floor. With a groan from my avatar I rolled over and sat up.

  I was in the Keep, its circular stone walls stretching above me. A narrow stone stairway spiraled up its length until it reached the wooden roof and ended at an open trap door. Through the door was a face peering down at me. The Lookout.

  There was nothing else here. No furnishings or other exits save the one wooden door.

  The worker leader knelt beside me. When I sat up his face changed from deep concern to elation.

  “Thank Y'Godda, you are okay!” he said and danced a happy jig.

  I laughed at the odd sight and got to my feet. Although my balance was a little off, it improved as my health bar increased.

  “How did you heal me?” I asked. “I was surely going to die.” I looked at my side where the spear at almost gutted me, but there was no wound. Even my light armor had mended itself.

  The leader said, “The Commander of the Red can find a second chance here in the Keep. Y'godda has blessed it. May he be praised!”

  I nodded. Being inside the Keep granted health regeneration. Interesting. “Yes, may he be praised,” I said. I expected Amara to already be aware of this fact, unfortunately. This just underscored my woeful lack of Battle Field knowledge.

  “Thank you, for bringing me inside,” I said.

  The leader shrugged. “Weren't nothing, boss. It was the Lookout's idea, after all.”

  I looked up again and waved at the Lookout who returned it. Then he vanished from view and back to his duties.

  And speaking of which, I had duties, too. Build a base, and an army and then smash Amara's face in. I liked that plan.

  The leader asked, “What is your command, boss? Me and the lads are waiting.” He motioned toward the door where a cluster of workers stared at me in anticipation.

  “Right,” I said, and headed to the door. The workers scattered.

  Outside, they assembled themselves into two neat rows.

  As soon as I crossed the Keep's threshold my hit point regeneration stopped. I stepped back inside the doorway and surveyed my meager base. All the dead bodies had vanished.

  Smoke grazed next to the banner's altar, and I was relieved to see he had recovered from his wounds.

  The woodyard stood abandoned with only a tiny bit of wood piled inside it. I'd need them to start cutting wood, again. Then find a gold mine and begin to dig.

  It was going to be a lot of work. I eyed the worker unit who were missing a few men. I'd need more workers than this lot. A lot more.

  “Where can I get more of you?” I asked the leader.

  He waved at the Keep. “Why, from there, boss. You can have thirty six stalwart workers at this level. More when you upgrade it.”

  Thirty six workers meant three units. On a hunch I pulled up my command menu again and highlighted the Keep.

  Keep:

  Hire Worker Unit – 100 gold (1/3 units active)

  Feeling pressed for time, I selected to hire another worker unit. The upgrade option would have to wait.

  Instantly, the round room of the Keep was filled with twelve burly workers in overalls and red shirts. This unit's leader stepped forward.

  “What would you like us to do, boss?” he said. He looked and sounded identical to the one outside.

  I shrugged inwardly. Well, they're only workers. Don't need to tell them apart.

  “Outside, please,” I said.

  The streamed past me through the door and assembled next to the other unit.

  My health bar was now full, all hit points restored. I marveled at how close I'd come to giving that elven idiot a thousand battle points with my death and laughed. She must be steaming right now.

  No, I corrected myself. Not steaming. Building. And fast.

  I stepped through the door and pointed at the first worker unit. Each one stood at attention like soldiers on parade.

  “Resume cutting wood over there, please,” I said indicating the tree line by the woodyard.

  “Yes, boss!” the leader screamed, and they all turned in unison and ran off. In seconds they were chopping away as if possessed.

  “And us, boss?” the leader of the new unit asked.

  I liked their eagerness but interacting with them could eventually get on my nerves. Instead of answering, I pulled up the command menu and selected the Build Barracks option.

  Barracks:

  Needed to muster and train various battle units.

  Cost: 350 gold, 200 wood

  Do you wish to build this? Yes/No?

  Selecting yes produced a large rectangular outline on the ground. I pointed it toward a spot right beside the banner's altar.

  “Build me a barracks there, please,” I said.

  The worker unit sprang into action, surrounding the outline and hammering away. A long narrow building with many windows slowly emerged from the ground. Next to it looked to be a small parade ground for marching and wooden dummies for fighting practice.

  Completed, the workers stopped and wiped their sweaty brows, but they still glanced at me with expectation.

  My gold was seriously depleted so I wouldn't be able to build anything for a while.

  I pointed to the woodyard. “Go help them out.”

  With the leader shouting at them, they took off to attack the trees.

  Two system messages appeared.

  Archery Range unlocked.

  Cavalry Grounds unlocked.

  Cool, I thought, but blanched when I saw their prices.

  Archery Range: 700 gold, 200 wood

  Cavalry Grounds: 1,000 gold, 200 wood

  Won't be getting those for a while.

  Instead, I brought up the command screen and selected the new Barracks submenu.

  Barracks:

  Units available:

  Footmen – 200 gold.

  Scout – 50 gold.

  Looking at my resources I had enough for one of each. I selected the footmen first.

  Race: Human

  Unit: Footmen

  Hit Points: 100

  Speed: 20

  Weapon: Sword

  Although slow, Footmen are the most common type of combat unit for both attacking and defending.

  In terms of statistics, they looked identical to the troll grunts. I assumed all soldier units across the races were more or less even.

  Train this unit? Cost 200 gold. Yes/No?

  I selected yes, and a dozen men appeared in the training yard. Each wore basic cloth armor with a red jerkin. Armed with swords, some stabbed at the training dummies while others sparred on the parade grounds. A unit leader screamed a stream of filtered profanities at them.

  Time to train unit: 5 minutes.

  Oh, yeah. This stuff takes time, I thought with mild disappointment.

  While I waited for my first combat unit to fin
ish training, I called up the Scout's info.

  Race: Human

  Unit: Scout

  Hit Points: 85

  Speed: 30

  Weapon: Bow & dagger