Downtime and Death (Apocalypse Gates Author's Cut Book 5)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Aww, he’s so sweet,” Becky said, rolling her eyes. “Sorry, Hero, but if you were that useless, I’d slap you.”

  “I’d probably have slapped me, but hey, at least he’s not being a true idiot and trying to do things he can’t,” Alvin said, playing devil’s advocate.

  “He would find many women who would take him in on my world. He is not aggressive and knows when to let a female lead,” Kuro added. “If he can learn a craft, then he will find his worth is equal to hers.”

  “Fair enough, Mousie,” Becky said, hooking an arm around her waist. “Let’s watch the end of this.”

  Sophie got back to the queen’s room and looked around the corner where a dozen ants were wandering around. She pulled back and took a lighter from her pocket. Taking a deep breath, she got the fuse on the explosive lit, throwing it around the corner and taking off at a sprint for the exit. The sound of angry ants echoed behind her as they began to give chase.

  “One or two of them might catch her,” Kuro said.

  True to Kuro’s prediction, two of the ants were closing on her faster than the others. Sophie pulled the same stunt Alvin had when they had done this, going into a slide into the tunnel and rolling. Her shotgun fired in rapid succession as she came to a halt, spinning and scrambling back to her feet. The deep boom of the explosive almost knocked her down, but Sophie kept pushing forward as the tunnel shook and bits of it started to collapse. The few ants behind her came to a stop just before being buried in the collapse. When Sophie made it out of the tunnels, Nigel pulled her up and held her tightly. Their friends looked away awkwardly as the two of them kissed and whispered to each other.

  “That looks vaguely familiar,” Alvin chuckled.

  “Time for me to go prep them for the last one,” Becky said.

  The last scenario was an unmitigated disaster for the current group. One of the others was driving and failed to do anything to impede the undead bears charging toward the walls. When the gates broke, the room reverted to normal.

  “How is that even fair?” the driver asked, looking at Becky with an aggrieved expression.

  “I’d explain, but you didn’t even try to stop them,” Becky replied flatly. “You were the driver— you were the one with the best chance to sway the scenario.”

  “How did we do?” Nigel asked.

  “I’d suggest that most of you stay inside the walls for your own safety. Sophie can join a hunting team and have a big influence on them. We’re done and have guests coming for dinner soon, so go get some food at the inn.”

  “Thanks,” one of them said, heading off right away, followed by the other two.

  Nigel and Sophie hung back. “Do you think I should go out?” Sophie asked.

  “That’s your call,” Alvin said. “You can easily become a top hunter, but you risk death every time. You can also continue your crafting and be a great asset here if the settlement gets attacked.”

  “We’ll talk about it,” Nigel said softly, taking her hand. “Come on, Terry said she’d have food waiting for us. Thank you for giving us a chance to see what the world is like.”

  “Thank you. I’m going to have to make a big decision now,” Sophie said. “Have a good night.”

  The three of them watched Sophie and Nigel leave. “We have a little over an hour before dinner. Want to clean up before Susan shows up?” Alvin asked.

  “We’ll need more than an hour to do a thorough job of it, but a quick rinse sounds good,” Becky said, taking his hand. “Come on, lover, time to scrub you down.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Alvin left the bedroom right before Susan, James, Betty, and Bill walked through the portal. “Good timing,” Alvin said in greeting. “Jarvis, time?”

  “Fifteen minutes, sir,” Jarvis replied from the kitchen.

  “Have a seat. I’ll get some drinks, and then we can talk about the kids.”

  Alvin returned with a selection of drinks for the table before taking his seat. “Most of them need a lot of work if they’re ever going outside the walls.”

  “Damned right,” Becky agreed, coming out of the bedroom. “But there are a dozen or so that are good to go.”

  Kuro trailed after Becky, and Alvin was glad to see both of them dressed in skirts and blouses instead of some of their more provocative attire. “Ian is weak and should be talked to. He’ll end up being killed and maybe getting one or more of the others killed, as well,” Alvin said. “Sophie was the big surprise. She’s your best shooter and best decision maker.”

  “She is damned good,” Becky nodded, taking her seat. “Bill, you should take her under your wing. Get her used to a wider variety of guns and let her drill more at the range. The only thing that will hold her back is Nigel.”

  “She doesn’t seem the hunter type,” Betty commented.

  “That’s the big downside for her,” Kuro nodded. “She is not driven to kill.”

  “It’ll be their choices, but we’ll counsel against the kids who didn’t do well going out,” Susan said. “You think Ian will get the others killed?”

  “He’s unreliable and panics in some situations,” Becky shrugged. “He was the worst shot on his team, as well. If Sophie joined them in his place, they would easily be the best hunting team in this settlement.”

  Bill grunted, “I’ll pull Gee and the others aside.”

  “I have these for you,” Becky said, handing over a folder. “It’s a breakdown of their accuracy, reaction times, and other stats for each scenario. If you want, after dinner, we can run you four through the scenarios so you can understand what they faced.”

  “You ran them as teams of five. We only have four,” Bill chuckled, taking a quick look at the printouts.

  “Jarvis, you want a chance to train?” Alvin called to the butler.

  “That would be different, but I don’t think I would be much help,” Jarvis replied, still focused on cooking.

  “I’d rather not,” Betty added.

  “Maybe we should go get Megs and Justin,” Becky said. “That would let Betty sit out, and give them five team members.”

  “Justin would fill the weak spot that most teams had,” Alvin nodded.

  “Susan, you think that’s a good idea?” Bill asked, looking down at her stomach.

  “It’s a hologram,” Susan replied, “and I’m not very far along yet. It should be fine. This might be the last training I get in until the baby is born.”

  “I’ll go let Megs know,” Becky said, getting up. “Come on, Mousie.”

  “Hurry back,” Alvin said, giving her a quick kiss. “Dinner won’t be long.”

  “I’ll be quick,” Becky winked as she headed for the door, Kuro following after her.

  “When are you leaving, Al?” Susan asked, picking up her glass.

  “I have a few things to do tomorrow, but I’m thinking maybe the day after. We only planned to stay for a week, and this week has flown by.”

  “David has been after me to see if our training range can be upgraded to what your room has, but I haven’t seen anything like it available. Do you have any idea if it’s possible?”

  “I don’t,” Alvin replied. “Considering your current set up, it might be, but it’ll be expensive as hell.”

  “That won’t be a problem soon,” Susan replied. “David is churning out explosives for Queen Night, and he thinks he’ll have them done in another week. Once we turn them in, we’ll be getting a lot of XP along with some goods in return. How did the teens take to the training room?”

  “Frankly, it would help your entire settlement. It won’t degrade your gear to train and it can be set up for David and others to experiment in and not get themselves killed. The tradeoff is not upgrading other stuff.”

  “I’m for it,” James said. “I know you’ve been dealing with a lot of requests, but that’s my suggestion.”

  “I’d like to upgrade our defenses more, but a room like Al’s would help us get the crafters into a better defensive mindset when we get attacke
d again.” Bill took a long pull on his beer, “Though I know Bridget and Betty have been heavily lobbying for an upgrade to the medical facility.”

  “Our current one only lets us patch up three people at a time,” Betty stated. “When that wyvern attacked, we had dozens of casualties.”

  “We’ll talk about it,” Susan said.

  “Let me say again: better you than me,” Alvin laughed.

  “We all feel that way,” James said. “Al as dictator could only go badly.”

  “Sir, five minutes,” Jarvis said. “I’m just finishing up the last step now.”

  “I’ll step out and contact Gothy,” Alvin said. “Be right back.”

  Going out into the inn room, Alvin turned his radio on. “Gothy?”

  “Yes, Hero?”

  “Dinner in five. You tell Justin and Megumin?”

  “We’re on our way back now. Almost had an incident— some idiot started talking shit about you to us. Mousie almost went after him, but he ran when her swords appeared. Susan will likely be hearing about it. Oh, and Justin and Megumin will be over later.”

  “I’ll let her know,” Alvin chuckled. “Was it Joshua or Eric?”

  “No, but Justin said the guy is a friend of Joshua.”

  “Morons,” Alvin sighed. “See you soon.”

  Turning off the radio, he walked back into the base. “Susan, one of Joshua’s friends is probably going to complain about Mousie. Seems he started insulting me to her and Gothy, and then ran when weapons got pulled.”

  Susan sighed, “I’ll deal with it.”

  “Megumin and Justin will be over after dinner,” Alvin said. “Gothy is on her way back now.”

  ~*~*~

  Dinner was excellent, which was expected because Jarvis never cooked poorly. After they had eaten, Betty kissed Bill goodbye when she went to leave. Alvin tossed her a second key and asked her to hand them off to Megumin and Justin.

  It was only a couple of minutes after she left that Justin and Megumin entered the base. “Looks like we had good timing,” Justin said. “What did you need us both for?”

  Becky gave Alvin a sweet smile when he looked at her. “I told them that we needed them to stop by.”

  “But not why?”

  “Must have slipped my mind,” Becky managed to say with a straight face.

  “Bill, James, and Susan are going to run through the scenarios that the kids did earlier, but it’s best to do it with five people like they did. Hence you and Megumin,” Alvin explained.

  “Umm, not sure you want me for this,” Justin said. “I caught an idea of what it was like from Amie. I’m not going to be useful.”

  “Amie’s group tapped out on the second scenario,” Becky said. “You’ll be fine— you have these four with you.”

  “Do your best,” Bill said. “That’s all we’re asking.”

  “Besides, this is good for you, Justin. You can do better if you’d just apply yourself. Your daughter told Terry how you used to go out to the range every week.”

  “Which makes us all wonder, what happened?” Susan said.

  Justin looked at Megumin, then away, “I’ve had trouble since my wife…”

  “That’s rough,” James grimaced. “Every time you shoot, you see that?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That is bad,” Bill nodded. “You know Frank had to do the same, don’t you?”

  “I’ve talked with him,” Justin sighed. “Look, I’m trying, but I keep seeing her face…” Trailing off again, Justin shook his head. “Some man to love, huh?” he whispered.

  Megumin touched his shoulder, “Yes. You love your daughter and still mourn what you had to do. There is nothing wrong with that. There is only a problem if you don’t try to move past it.”

  Justin took a shuddering breath. “Okay, I’ll do my best.”

  “Sounds like you have a solid five, then,” Alvin said. “Let’s go turn you loose.”

  Becky made a few adjustments to the scenarios, just in case they had talked to the teens more than she thought before they started. “Okay, they’re roughly the same scenarios. Good luck.”

  They blew through the first scenario, which did not surprise Alvin, Becky, or Kuro at all. Justin did better than he had at the other range, but he still hesitated when he was faced with a female zombie.

  The second scenario, Justin was the driver when they went up against the skinheads. Susan was sitting beside him inside the truck and spotted the trap. Justin got them out of it, and ended up putting them in a running gun battle before they returned to kill off the rest of the gang.

  “I should have changed that trap up more,” Becky sighed.

  “Let’s see how they do with the ants,” Alvin chuckled.

  Bill led them during the tunnel dive, and Alvin whistled in appreciation at how deadly the veteran was. When they got to the queen, instead of retreating, Bill pulled a package from one of his bags.

  “Ha, he’s got some of David’s new explosive with him,” Alvin laughed. “Guess they won’t have to retreat.”

  “Dammit... that’s the biggest difference between them and the teens— they’re prepared,” Becky nodded. “But will they be able to deal with the last one?”

  It took only a few minutes before the ants were dead. Bill was buried in the tunnel collapse, since the explosive he used was much larger than the one that they would have been given by the simulation.

  “I should have figured that would have happened,” Bill said, standing up when the scenario ended. “I didn’t think about how weak the walls were until we were fleeing.”

  “Thankfully, this is just training,” Susan said, hugging her father. “I would have been upset otherwise.”

  “We have to stop the town from falling?” Justin asked when the final scenario started and they learned the goal. “Who’s driving?”

  “You,” Bill said. “You’re the worst shot out of all of us. I’ll take the M240B. Susan, you’re our commander, so you give the orders.”

  “Okay,” Susan said, looking at the forest and walls of the town. “This looks a lot like what Alvin told us about... I’m curious what twist they’ve added.”

  Becky chuckled, “Quick on the uptake, Susan.”

  The moment the group was settled into the Humvee, beasts began to pour out of the forest. This time, it included giant eagles along with the wolves and panthers. Bill and the others did their best to thin the ranks. The first group of bears died to another explosive from Bill’s bag. The second set of bears had a convoy of wolves and panthers that attacked the Humvee instead of the walls.

  Justin did as Susan directed and drove straight at the bears, not stopping when they became enraged and doubled in size. Bill’s second explosive killed quite a few creatures, but not enough to stop the charge. Chaos engulfed the Humvee and Bill ended up using a barrier glyph to buy time, but it fell and he was brought down by the wolves and panthers. The Humvee was being pushed along by the bears as they kept moving toward the walls. Justin was just able to keep the Humvee oriented so it hit the wall broadside, which was enough to blunt the force of the bears’ charge. When the dust settled, the gates still stood, Bill was dead, and the Humvee was trashed, but the other four had survived.

  The scenario vanished, leaving everyone in the blank room. “Damn, that was rough,” Bill said as checked himself for wounds.

  “You’re the only group to survive this scenario,” Becky said. “The casualties inside the walls were high because of the animals you didn’t stop, but the gates stayed up and the people inside were able to kill off the invaders.”

  “We had an edge there,” Susan said, “since we knew what you had done. If we’d gone in cold, it might have been very different.”

  “Maybe,” Alvin said. “Maybe not. You all kept it together through the whole thing. Good job, Justin. Your maneuvering was what let you hit the walls first.”

  “I’d like to never do that again,” Justin said, his face still pale.

  “Here are the
printouts,” Kuro said, bringing over some papers.

  “Thank you again for doing this, Al,” Susan said.

  “No problem,” Alvin shrugged.

  “Wouldn’t have thought you’d have offered or consented,” Bill said. “Before you left us last time, you were a damn sight pricklier.”

  “We’ve been helping each other,” Becky said, her arm sliding around Alvin’s waist. “We’d still just as soon shoot people in the face, but David’s here and you’re here, and we find we’re okay with helping some people.”