Craig nodded. “Are you going?”
“Yeah, either way I plan to head back to my house, so might as well move toward that goal,” said Scott.
Frank spoke up. “I’d go with you, but the people near here will probably feel better if a cop shows up to get them.”
“True, that might make a few of them feel more at ease. People who know the ones nearby should stay here for that anyway,” said Scott.
As it turned out, all four of the people who knew of others in the area were with the police. The officers did not want to separate, and the level one guy refused to go with Scott. After a little deliberation, the people who had sided with him originally chose to stay as well. They were not confident in their ability to survive that trip as a fighting force instead of merely survivors. Scott did not blame any of them for that decision. If he were still level one or two he would not want to make that trip, either.
“Looks like you’re on your own, fella,” said Daniel with a smirk.
“I prefer it that way. I’ll secure that place in front of the bridge if possible, and try to get your family there instead of coming back here. It’s bigger than my place,” said Scott.
“You sure you want to go alone?” asked Frank. "We could always just fortify an area near the store and use it at night."
“Someone has to, there’s no way everyone can stay here, and this side of the river is a lot more dangerous than the suburbs at the moment. There’s a wreck on the bridge here that’s keeping most of the worst of it away,” said Scott. “The ghouls loiter there and their numbers keep a lot of things from crossing the river, I think.”
“Well, that’s something,” said Frank. Very little had happened that was helpful recently. "Staying near the store, though..."
“Can’t trust it for long, and then there's that big bastard. Even if we lead it off every night, he comes back in the morning. We're lucky he hasn't figured out that we're in here," said Scott.
"Anyone who wants to survive needs to get out of the city and find somewhere to fort up out in the countryside. It’ll probably get a lot worse soon,” he continued.
“Great, an optimist,” said Craig.
“Hell yeah,” said Scott flatly.
“How do you know?” asked a teenage girl who Scott wanted to call Cheryl, but he was uncertain about her name.
He looked over to her and asked her what she meant. She continued by saying, “Have you been out of the city? What if there are different kinds of monsters out there?”
“There probably are, but most of what we’re seeing here came from people changing. It’s possible that there will be fewer of them outside of the city,” he said.
Not long after that little exchange, Scott was out the door and on his way. The world had become a strange place in only two days. For all his bluster and talk about forging ahead to clear that house, he had to admit that he was frightened by his surroundings. Every noise, every movement out of the corner of his eye, captured his attention. He had been all bravado and, “Fuck you” earlier, but the truth was that he knew it was a solid possibility that he would not live to see the sun go down again.
Scott tried to keep his mind focused on the task at hand, but he had a long way to go in this brave new world. The south bridge was eight miles away. That was a fairly lengthy hike even during the best of times. More than that, it would take him another ten miles or so to get home.
He had been up all night. It was highly unlikely that he would make it home before dark. He could only hope that the people in his house were capable of sitting tight and not doing anything stupid.
Surprisingly, it took several minutes before he saw his first monster. A small pack of ghouls were sniffing around a dumpster. He took them out easily enough then checked inside to see if anyone was hiding there. The largest rat he had ever seen hissed at him from atop a pile of garbage. The thing had to be the size of a Rottweiler!
“Nope.” He quickly dropped the lid. He wanted nothing to do with any of that today.
Scott continued on and tried to forget the rodent of unusual size. Briefly he wondered if he should have killed it, the thing had to have been a monster. In the end, he decided to just let it go. He had somewhere to be.
He had traveled about a mile and defeated another two packs of roaming ghouls before something new and exciting occurred. An envelope appeared within a column of light. Scott leaned his kaiser blade against a nearby wall and read the message that he had received.
[Walking Man’s Blues]
Tired of puttering around on your own two legs? Does the idea of cross-country travel get you down? Wish you had a car? Well, come on down to Swanky Dan’s! We have the sweet rides that make you smile.
[--]
There was a map attached, as usual. Unlike the previous letter announcing the shopping arcade, this letter offered nothing but a new location to explore. Swanky Dan’s looked to be in a location that Scott recognized as a car lot a few miles up the road. Not for the first time did he wonder at how this sort of thing worked. Was someone watching him, or did he have to clear an event? Was it simply that he was in the area?
He pocketed the new letter and kept moving. It would not be good to loiter around for long. There was no telling what was out here.
A few minutes later he slid along the wall of a destroyed electronics store and peeked around the corner into an alleyway. He had hear moans and shuffling, the common cry of ghouls everywhere. His eyes widened in frustration. The alleyway he wanted to take was a short-cut that would knock a half-mile off his trip. He could double back and still save a little time, but it would not matter. The next street over was crawling with strange creatures that he had not seen before.
The ghouls were actively fighting them, and the new monsters fought them in kind. However, they did so with something resembling tactics and they even used weapons!
He watched as one of the creatures threw a spear toward one of the ghouls then used a rope that had been attached to it to haul the undead monster closer. That spear had been modified, designed to pierce a certain distance then stop due to a cross bar. The creature held the ghoul in place while two more of its kind attacked it with what looked like fire-axes that had their handles wrapped in duct tape.
The dumpster rat had been bad, but this was a whole new world of horrible. He had to double back. The people he left behind needed to know what to expect if they came in this direction. There was a creature that lived in groups that was much worse than any ghoul.
He tried to see what level the green-skinned creatures were, but he could not. Either they were too strong or too far away, he could not be certain.
Quietly he turned around and started to head back. The moment that he did so, a red light flared brightly indicating the start of a battle. Unable to move, Scott could only stare forward in wide-eyed horror as he saw the shadow of something descending from above.
Scott cried out in shock as a tentacle wrapped around his neck. Instinctively, he attempted to counter the attack by launching his kaiser blade upward. It slammed into the open maw of a flying eye ball, but showed little sign of causing injury.
The creature bit down on the offered treat, an action that negated his attempt at a counter attack, and tightened its grip on Scott’s neck. He could feel himself starting to weaken. It was going to choke him to death if he did not do something soon. Unfortunately, it had the advantage and would receive three full turns to do as it pleased while Scott could do nothing but attempt to counter.
"Mr. Badass VS. Flying Eyeball! Fight-O!" exclaimed the cheerful announcer voice. A whimsical soundtrack filled with perky upbeat music one might hear in an elevator began to play in the background while Scott made gurgling noises.
[Status Affliction]
Asphyxiation
Your air supply has been cut off. You will lose health each turn while you endure this state. You will fall unconscious in three turns if this status affliction is not removed.
[--]
Following the dire affliction, and death prediction, Scott lost eighteen hit points due to strangulation. His vision began to blur almost immediately, but he struggled on.
He tried using his Flame Strike ability, but he could not concentrate enough to activate it as part of a counter, not that he could do that normally.
Scott dropped to his knees and gasped for air while futilely trying to jostle the blade inside the beast’s mouth. As he did so, several more tentacles shot out and entangled his limbs. He earned a new status affliction, entangled that prevented him from moving or attacking. All he could do was struggle to break free. However, his strength and dexterity were not nearly high enough on their own to allow for such a feat.
Scott was done. There was literally nothing that he could do. If not for what happened next, this would have been his final battle and the end of his tale.
The eyeball gurgled a sound that sounded like half surprise and half shriek of agony. Four great gouge marks appeared across the surface of its eye and green ichor spurted out in a sickening display.
The tentacle lost its grip around Scott’s neck and he fell to the sidewalk. He panted heavily while remaining on his hands and knees. He was barely coherent at this point, but he still knew that he was not safe. Something worse than a flying eyeball had come calling.
He looked up as a shadow loomed over him and he could not look away. He was greeted to the sight of baleful yellow eyes, and a wolfish smile, that would stop any man's heart cold. However, what was attacked to that smile and those eyes would have put most men's hearts into overdrive. The beast who came calling was a naked woman whose only clothing was a necklace of pointy green ears.
“Who?” croaked Scott.
The woman sniffed the air like an animal. Her tongue, a bit longer than it should be, slipped out of her mouth. She tilted her head to the side then panted like a dog for a moment. “Pretty meat.”
Scott’s eyes widened when he finally realized that there was more to her than her exquisitely barbaric feminine architecture and her overly sharp canine teeth. She also had wolf-like triangular ears and what seemed to be a fluffy tail.
The flying eyeball began to stir weakly and the wolf-girl growled at it in a threatening manner. “Looking Meat, not have! Pretty Meat, belong Sheena.” She kicked it in its ruined eyeball a few times and it stopped moving. In fact, it made a strange sound reminiscent of a child whimpering in the dark.
Several twisted green creatures came rushing around the corner, obviously drawn by the activity there. Sheena roared at them then stood in front of her Pretty Meat in an aggressive, yet defensive, manner. “Sheena’s pretty meat! Long Nose, no take!”
Suddenly, several howls split the air. Shadows appeared nearby followed by feet hitting the ground.
“Why Sheena play with Long Nose?” asked a gruff masculine voice.
“Ercke need mind Ercke business. This Sheena fight,” said the wolf girl.
“Ercke strong. Ercke be chief soon. Make Sheena business, Ercke business,” said the massive wolf man. Unlike Sheena he was almost hideously over-muscled, though his face was quite boyish.
Scott was taken aback. These monsters knew each other? The world only went to hell the other day and they were already making some sort of social structure? Thoughts of the green goblin-like creatures using weapons and tactics came to mind.
The three new arrivals were all obviously male members of whatever monster race Sheena was. Their dangling genitalia did not leave any doubt of that.
“No! Sheena be chief. Ercke be bitch,” snapped Sheena.
Scott checked the status of the closest of the wolf-men as he finally had enough composure to do so. It was the one who called himself Ercke.
[Demon]
Kobold (Male)
Level: 5
Species: Beast
Profession: Hunter
[--]
The other two males were only level three. The way they flanked Ercke, they made it seem like he was their leader. Scott looked to Sheena while she continued to hold the ones she called long nose at bay and argued with Ercke.
[Demon]
Kobold (Female)
Level: 8
Race: Beast
Profession: Hunter
[--]
Scott felt despair well up inside for a moment. She was only level eight, but who knew what that really meant? She had easily been able to dispatch the flying eyeball that he could not break free from. He managed to get control of himself. They were a hell of a lot stronger than a ghoul, he was sure of it. But he had a higher level than any one of them, Sheena included.
“Maybe Ercke take Sheena new meat,” said Ercke before he pointed down at Scott.
“No! Pretty Meat belong to Sheena,” snapped the wolf-girl.
“This meat? Pretty? Sheena like weak meat?” asked Ercke, a smirk on his lips.
“Don’t I get a say?” asked Scott, his hand gripped his kaiser blade tight.
Ercke snarled at him and whipped a hand down to strike Scott across the face. The result was a solid fourteen points of damage.
Scott’s head rocked to the side then he looked up at the wolf man and grinned while a trickle of blood poured down the side of his face. “That all you got, Fido?”
The wolf man blinked then unleashed a low growl. He attacked Scott with another clawing strike, but missed him entirely. Scott had ducked down under the attack. He immediately lunged upward with a rising strike of his own. Ercke was fast and agile, but less so than Scott and he was off-balance from his attack. The blade of Scott’s weapon tore a large gash across his chest and abdomen that sent bright red blood spurting out into the air. In a flash Ercke lost thirty-one of his hit points.
Ercke fell back in shock and placed a hand to his wounded chest. “Ercke bleeds?”
“Ercke should go the fuck away, before Scott tears Ercke’s head off and shoves it up Ercke’s ass,” said Scott in an overly cheerful tone of voice.
“Meat make Ercke bleed.” The kobold stared at his blood covered hand for a moment then looked up at Scott. “Ercke Bleeds.”
The overly muscular bastard acted like he had never seen his own blood before. “If meat make Ercke bleed, then must be strong meat.” His eyes narrowed. “Sheena want strong meat, so Sheena get stronger than Ercke.”
“Sheena already stronger than Ercke,” she tossed her head lightly at the kobold then glanced over to Scott. “Sheena wants pretty meat for other thing.”
Ercke made a face. “Sheena want this meat for that?”
“Sheena like experimentation,” replied the beautiful kobold girl before cocking her hips to the side.
Scott blinked. That had been a pretty big word, six syllables at least. Her intellect score was not too bad, did that mean that these monster people were smarter than they sounded?
Ercke’s face turned slightly green. “Sheena into bestiality. That just sick.”
Scott was a little confused by that. Was he supposed to be the animal here?
The Long Nose monsters chose that moment to make a run for it. They were fine with attacking a lone human or even a lone kobold, but four kobolds and a human strong enough to make one of the wolf people bleed were not something they wanted to deal with at the moment.
“No! Come back Long Nose! Sheena need meat for dinner,” cried Sheena. She forgot Scott for the moment and chased after her fleeing meal.
Ercke saw her leave and chased after her. He stopped at the corner and glanced back at Scott briefly. “Ercke remember Scott Meat. Ercke eat Scott Meat one day.”
“Good luck with that,” said Scott, trying to sound cool. It was a more difficult task than it sounded. He had to fight the spasm in his legs that wanted to force him to sit down, not to mention the spasm in his bladder that wanted to unleash the contents of his bowels upon the world. The situation brought him far closer to death than anything he'd faced so far. Even the times when his hit points were nearly exhausted were nothing compared to simply being strangled to death by a f
lying eyeball.
Surprisingly, Ercke’s mouth quirked into a feral grin. He touched the wound on his chest then said. “Good hunting to Scott Meat.” He then turned and ran off after their fleeing long nosed dinner.
Scott stood there staring stupidly for a moment before he realized an important fact. “Fuck, gotta go!”
He ran off as fast as his spasm prone legs could carry him. The area was somewhat clear of monsters, probably due to the arrival of the kobolds and whatever the long nose were. If he had to guess at the way things were going, they were probably goblins or something similar.
It was not until he had run a mile as fast as his stats would allow, that he remembered that he originally planned to go back toward the others who were left behind. He mentally cursed, but kept going. There was no way that he was heading back toward the kobolds and the other things right now. They were stronger than ghouls and even the low-level ones were not far from his current ability. A hideous realization occurred to Scott as he reached up and touched the side of his face. "Even with my defense... he still did that much damage to my hit points with a casual strike." It was obvious that kobolds were a race that specialized in damage dealing over defense. In order to do that much damage Ercke's attack would have needed to be more than twice the amount that Scott could dish out.
Chapter 9
The downtown area of the city gave way to a tumbling ruin of burnt out buildings and shattered concrete. The asphalt of the streets was cracked in several places, and strange plant life had begun to grow in various places.
Scott looked at the ruination of the eastern side of town and could not help but wonder at the possibilities for the future. He had seen no other people, human at least, since he escaped from Sheena and her kobold crew. A few of the long nose and the occasional flying eyeball had come into view. However, outside of a scant few fights with ghouls he managed to make progress with little distraction.
Earth Tactics Advance: Volume 1 Page 18