Sponsored Apocalypse ch 17

Leaving the system of tunnels felt like it took much less time than coming in, but that was probably just because this time I knew what to expect.  We traveled fairly quietly since speaking was difficult in the tunnels themselves.  Once we were outside again, near the river under the bridge, I looked around.  No monsters in sight.

“Did you make the entrance here on purpose for some reason?” I asked.  “Like by the river?”

“Kinda, yeah.  The lower level monsters are sort of like animals, or…normal biological life.  They still need to eat and drink.  Well, most of the little fuckers do.  That means a lot of the weaker monsters will set up shop next to a water source given enough time.  Having the exit to my base right here can help make hunting more efficient for me.  That’s nice because it takes so fucking long to get in and out of the bunker this way.  But it’s also helpful in other ways.  Contingency plans.  The entrance here is under a bridge, so I can drive here and get in fast.  If I always hunt monsters up river, or in town, the river itself can be a good way to escape.  Not many monsters in fresh water, at least not in my experience.  I could probably just jump in and let the current take me here.”

She’s like a walking encyclopedia, I thought.  Out loud I said, “So where to first?”

“Nowhere for a little bit longer.  For now you should probably figure out your new abilities.  I can throw some ice at the concrete over there.  It’s like a warm-up before killing stuff.  After that, we’ll have to check out the lay of the land.”  She began to turn and paused.  “Oh yeah.  You saw some of it yesterday, but you need to remember that all of this shit, the end of the world…it brings out the best, but also the worst in people.  You can do whatever you want, but if I see people that need help, I’m gonna help them.  But if I see fuckers that need put down, I’m doing that, too.  No patience for that shit anymore.  Not after everything I’ve seen.”

“Alright.”  A day ago, that announcement would have chilled me.  But now that I knew Aldina was older than she looked and had been through a lot.  Her cold side didn’t phase me as much anymore.  I was essentially partnering with a hard-bitten veteran.  She might look like an Insta model in her 20’s, but now I could see the truth of who she really was in her eyes.

Part of me wanted to hear more of her backstory.  I definitely believed what she’d told me so far, and it was fascinating.  But another part of me wondered if I really wanted to know.  I was not always the most sensitive person in the world, but even I could tell that she had scars she was covering with brusqueness.

I mentally shrugged and got to work.  First I was going to test [Pulverizing Pebbles].  Instead of using one of my handful of precious, remaining bullets, I found a crushed soda can on the ground.  Metal, I thought.  Should work.

Luckily, it did in fact work.  Unfortunately, not well.  The power infusion worked alright, but they didn’t throw well and I discovered some other problems pretty quickly.

I was a little surprised by the strain of my practice, too.  Using the skill was straightforward enough, just took more effort than I thought.  Charging up the soda can with energy took me less than a minute, but more time than I thought it would.  Then when I threw it like a frisbee, it worked. I could feel the enchantment kicking in after it traveled a few feet, but after that, it didn’t fly straight and pretty much nose dived into the river.  The splash was huge, definitely larger than just a normal, crushed soda can would cause.

I found another soda can and repeated the experiment, but used [Angry Arrows] this time.  Charging up the can took about as much effort as [Pulverizing Pebbles] had.  I threw the can into the water of the river, and a few seconds later, there was an explosion that looked like someone had tossed in a big fire cracker.  The explosion was muted and hidden by the water, but it was still pretty impressive.

With a pensive look, I watched the water return to normal and then cast around for more metal litter I could lose or destroy.

For the next hour, I experimented with both new skills and learned several interesting things.  The absolute minimum time I could spend to charge either skill was around ten seconds.  I could charge them both for longer than that, and there was no real limit, except that the charge itself only lasted a couple minutes, and after that point it would start draining power faster than I could actually charge it anymore.  It also grew exponentially harder to charge them the longer I did it.

Charging both abilities definitely tired me out, but not too bad.  It was kind of like doing pushups.  One at a time was no big deal, but if I kept going, it got harder and harder.  My superhuman Endurance definitely helped with my recovery.

Unfortunately, charging an entire magazine of bullets was not nearly as fast, or as convenient as I’d been hoping.  It would definitely be easier to use both skills as an archer who only charged a single arrow before shooting.

Lastly, I discovered that the quality of metal affected each skill, as did the size, denseness, and maybe even quality of the material.  A crushed soda can blew up under water with much less energy than an old, rusted lock I found.  Unfortunately, throwing junk might work but just any junk would not work very well.

I had my “a ha,” moment after throwing the lock.  If steel works better… I looked at my hammer with glittering eyes.  The night before was a bit hazy now, but I was pretty sure the hammer had broken at one point, but returned whole.  Maybe I’d imagined it, though.

Either way, I wanted to test it out.  The hammer was not really all that useful as-is, but if I could use it in another way…

I channeled [Angry Arrows], imbuing the head of the hammer with explosive power.  After about ten seconds of channeling, at the lowest limit, I threw it into the middle of the river.  A few seconds later, it exploded.

The water fountained up like a full blown mine or grenade had gone off under the surface.  Spray and agitated foam reached the bridge above, geysering up and outward.  This time, the sound was loud enough that I was concerned about drawing attention to us.  There were plenty of distant noises, the occasional gun shot and such, but nothing close by.  My underwater explosion had probably just been the loudest thing in our area.

“Hey, watch it!” hissed Aldina.  I nodded and grimaced.

Now the moment of truth, I thought.  I activated [Lindstrom Family Hammer].  When the ratty old tool appeared back in my hand, completely whole and not even wet, I grinned.  Now this, this is something.

I ambled over towards Aldina to tell her I was ready to move out whenever she was.

***

We started following the river towards town.  Instead of taking the roads, we just followed the river.  On the way, we actually crossed through some obviously privately owned property and yards.  Other than the occasional sounds of violence in the distance, the walk was eerily quiet.  Even the normal noises of the world, like birds chirping, were hushed.

The silence was broken when we left the woodline into a large, well-kept lawn.  In the middle of the open area was a single story house about seventy yards away.  An elderly dog on the porch started completely freaking out as soon as it saw us, straining at its chain.

A minute later, an older, bearded man with a scoped AR-15 came out and glared at us.  He didn’t actually point his rifle at us, but he was obviously ready to in a flash.  About this time, I noticed the small pile of monster bodies at the edge of the lawn on the other side of the house.

Now more than every before in history, people probably had a reason to be jumpy.

Aldina and I both put our hands up and came to a halt.  “Just play this by ear,” she muttered while barely moving her lips.

“I got this,” I said.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

The man shouted, “This is private property!  You are trespassing!”

I shouted back, “We’re just passing through! Gonna kill some monsters.”

“Oh really!?  Walking through the woods.  No rifles?  I think it’s a lot more likely you’re looters!”

“Sir, it’s only been a day.”  I tried to put as much sincerity into my voice as I could.  “And we are not thieves!”  I deliberately chose to not remember raiding the pharmacy and antique shop.  “We’re just…going to war.  Avenging the fallen and taking back some lost ground.  Town is a shit show.  I was there last night, I saw.  And now a lot of people can’t or won’t fight.  A lot of people are dead.  But we’re not gonna wait around.  We’re taking the fight to them!”

It could have been my imagination, but the man’s voice seemed less sharp when he yelled, “Then why are you going over my land!?  Take a car!”

“Can’t fight from a car, sir.  And some of them fly.  Also, they have to drink water so we’re hoping to catch some of the weaker ones to kill on the way.”

“With what!?  That one pistol on your belt there?”

“Sir, watch.”  With slow, exaggerated motions, I pulled my antique hammer from my belt.  I held it up for him to see, charging the steel with [Angry Arrows].  Then I threw it as hard as I could into the woods back the way we’d just come.  The throw had been aimed to miss any trees so my hammer wouldn’t hit anything hard enough to set off the enchantment early.  I crouched down with my hands over my head and motioned Aldina to do the same.  A few seconds later, an explosion rocked the forest and pieces of shrapnel whizzed through the air.

The dog on the porch  immediately quieted down, still barking but not with as much energy as before.  The man stood very still, watching where I’d just thrown the hammer.  Then his eyes turned back to me as I raised one of my hands and triggered [Lindstrom Family Hammer].  Even from a distance, I could see the stranger’s eyes widen when the hammer appeared.

Aldina and I stood back up.  I called out,  “We’re using the system.  Killing the monsters makes us stronger.  I’m not waiting around to become some giant’s snack.”

The man considered us a moment.  “They’re aliens.”

“What?”

“The monsters.  I think they’re aliens.  This is an invasion.  I’m hoping they all go away, but you’re right, maybe they won’t.  Fine.  Get going.  But if I ever see you two closer to my house than you are right now, I’m shooting.”

I didn’t even respond out loud, just nodded and motioned Aldina to start walking again with my eyes.  But before we made it out of the man’s yard, he shouted, “Hey, if you’re serious about killing these things, I think there are a few of them at the little store about a half mile up the road.  Near the river.”

“‘Little store?’”

“The Little Store.  Uh…a convenience store.  We just call it Little Store in the neighborhood.  It’s the Basin General Store.  Try that.”

“Will do.  Thank you.”

A few minutes later, we were back in the relative protection of the forest and Aldina was frowning so deeply her mouth was almost in an upside down “U.”  She grumbled, “If he pointed the gun at us, I was going to ice spike him.”

“Glad you didn’t,” I said.  “He might have had friends.”

“I thought about that.  He might also have family inside who need his protection.”

That was not what I meant, but I kept my mouth shut.  Aldina said, “At least we basically have permission to cut across his yard now.  Probably better to make nice with the neighbors than be at war with them.  But why didn’t you tell him that he’ll get more XP if he doesn’t use guns?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“You were handling it,” she said.  “Remember?  Besides, I don’t feel really fucking charitable to people who threaten  me.  Although him telling us to keep our distance made sense after you basically demonstrated you could destroy his entire house in a few seconds if you’re within throwing range.”

I had not thought of it like that.  “Oh.”

Then without either of us needing to discuss it, the circle for Aldina’s stealth field popped up.  Before this point, she hadn’t bothered to waste the energy. “Ready to check out that store?” she asked.

I nodded and made sure I was inside of the mystic circle as we continued forward slowly.