Jake's Story (Apocalypse Cultivation), ch 31

This chapter took me a while.  At one point, I decided to change something minor about the ending of the first book, and something I'd written here would not have made sense, so I had to rewrite half of it.

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Okay, this is it, thought Jake.  He was standing on the roof of a pizza chain restaurant, watching the mall.  It was still dark, early in the morning, but the parking lots around the mall had a flurry of activity.

The Macon Protectors had taken over the Macon Mall for their base.

They’d pushed all the cars to the edge of the parking lot and across some of the access drives, making an impromptu fence.  Campfires and tents were scattered around the cleared asphalt, likely survivors that had been allowed to stay.  Jake carefully watched the activity of the Protectors and silently whistled.  There were hundreds of them.  Now he had confirmation that the Macon Protectors were by far the largest and best equipped group in the entire area.  None of the other armed groups had seen them as a threat, so they might not have even done a count.

And using his life-sensing ability, Jake was able to notice some other really strange things, too.

But first thing was first, he needed to check the inside of the mall.  This fact-finding mission was not just to prove to the groups he’d recruited that his theories were correct, it was also for his  own benefit.  He had a feeling that if he uncovered the truth, he might find the assholes who’d killed his family.

He was going to take them apart.

Jake hopped down to the parking lot and willing his Deep Heavens Solistic Midnight Cloak to transform back to a regular-looking cloak.  Then he bent his back as if he were exhausted and carried the prop he’d found earlier--a cloth bag filled with canned goods.

Now he looked like any other scavenger.  The Protectors might even assume he was from the tent city in the mall parking lot.

He spared a glance back where he’d come from, and listened for the music that that combined groups were still playing.  Nothing.  Good.  They’d turned it down for now, so even with Jake’s enhanced senses, he couldn’t hear anything.   He had a radio in one pocket to call them in when it was time to get the party started.

Night Rangers, Warhounds, and Post Apoc Kings--the groups had separated to wait, which was fine.  They were all about half a mile away.  Jake decided to think of them as the Liberators.  The Macon Liberators versus the Macon Protectors.  Too bad it was probably going to be a bloodbath.

There was a checkpoint to get into the actual parking lot of the mall.  It wasn’t an option for him to pass through that way--maybe if he were still human.  It looked like they were checking for weapons and looking at faces.

Jake wandered around until he was hidden from view and phased, then flash stepped behind a porta-pottie inside the tent city.

Once he was inside, he wandered around like he was on drugs, or maybe going through withdrawals.  The tent city didn’t have many junkies but it look like there might be a few.

The tent city looked sort of like homeless or refugee camps before Purple Rain.  There were burn barrels here and there where a few people were cooking things, but most of the people were in their tents, sleeping.  Jake could sense them.  How many of these people came here willingly, Jake thought.  Probably a lot.

An authority figure offering food and shelter likely wouldn’t get much pushback, especially from desperate people.

He kept a careful eye on all of the Protectors: noting their movements, the gear the guards were using, and any other information he could file away.  Of course, his eyes and ears weren’t the only senses he had now and a scan of the area now would be more useful now that he was closer.  Jake had been able to sense a large area in Swampland because of how simple that area was.  But in Macon, there was too much data.  Jake needed to get closer before really understanding what he was “seeing.”

The inside of the mall seemed to be split into sections.  Jake could sense an area full of strong life signs, maybe a barracks for the Protectors.  Other areas were more sparsely populated .  He couldn’t be sure what was going on without taking a look, so he made sure nobody was paying attention, moved behind a dumpster, then phased into the mall.

Jake returned to regular spacetime in a ladies clothing store, one of the chains that was in almost every mall in the pre-Purple Rain United States.  He stayed absolutely still for a moment, making sure he hadn’t tripped any magical alarms or been noticed in some other way.  After he waited long enough to tell the coast was clear, he began moving away from the barracks area towards other parts of the mall.

It took him a while to figure out the layout of the place since Protectors were wandering everywhere and had to be avoided, but Jake used the dim lighting to his advantage.  All the lanterns scattered around offered pools of light, but the mall was a large space, and human eyes didn’t work too well transitioning between light and dark.  It also helped that Jake could command his cloak to cover him from head to toe as he hid at times.

His supernatural senses also helped.  There was practically no chance of anyone catching him off guard, not while he was actively using his sense like ths, wary.

Eventually, Jake verified that one department store was being used as a makeshift  barracks for the Protectors.  Another department store was full of cots and was functioning as a refugee rehabilitation center.  Some adjacent stores were being used as hospitals.

He’d overheard some of the refugees saying that there were other accommodations for people across the street to the North.  The Protectors were using a strip mall there as another camp.  He also learned that some of the people in the tent city outside had chosen to stay there instead of going to the strip mall because with no AC, staying indoors could get hot.

Maybe the Protectors taking over the area had been part of why his parents had moved.  Some of the people in the parking lot had been rounded up by the Protectors from their homes, apparently for “safety.”

While they were doing whatever they did, they could have easily switched uniforms, or said they were from any organization.  He remembered the “Warhounds” that had attacked the Andersons house.

But the way the Protectors had laid out the mall didn’t make a lot of sense.

From Jake’s perspective, the entire operation seemed extremely inefficient.  Of course, that was only if the end goal was to actually help people.  If the aim was to just create an excuse to concentrate people together, that was another matter.  He remembered when the Grasshopper Mice had died in his first life, when he’d been transported to Ahriman’s domain.  He shuddered.

Maybe the situation was similar here, except instead of laying bait, the forces of evil were...farming.

Jake moved to the other end of the mall where there were fewer life signs and some conflicting energy signals.  He noiselessly ghosted through the hallway, hugging one side, and darted into the empty stores to avoid patrols.  He noted the piles of plywood and other building materials that had been used to board up most of the entrances and reinforce windows.

It was a lot of building materials.  Some of it could be explained by the nearby building supply store, but not all of it.

How the hell did they do all of this so fast? Thought Jake.   What he was currently seeing seemed to validate his theory that the Protectors had somehow known that Purple Rain was going to happen.

In fact, maybe these same assholes had brought the vampires to Mexico in Jake’s first life.  Such a thing had always been denied by the government and the Company, but it just didn’t make sense for the forces of the dark to be so organized a week after Purple Rain if they hadn’t been waiting for it.

He could hear a generator outside somewhere.  It was faint, more of a faint buzz even to Jake’s enhanced hearing.

Eventually, Jake reached the end of the hallway.  What had been a department store looked like a fortress now.  The storefront facing the inside of the mall was just like the outside of the mall now--all boarded up and reinforced.

He heard distant voices.  The guards were usually silent as they walked around--this was new.  Jake jumped up to the second level of the mall with hardly a rustle and hunkered down to watch.

A group of three people, two buzz-cut men and a pinched-faced woman dressed in Protector uniforms approached with a gurney, wheeling an elderly woman down the hall.  She was muttering to herself, sweating, and in obvious pain.  One of the men, a big, hulking brute, looked around first before casually punching her in the face.  The old woman began to wheeze as she tried to cry out, but the blow had been sudden and savage.  None of the other people in the little group said anything about the abuse.

The three Protectors unlocked a door and disappeared into the area beyond the newly built barrier.

Jake watched where the group had gone for a moment and thought about using his radio for a moment, but dismissed the idea.  He still didn’t know anything for sure.  What he needed was proof.  There had to be some very serious evidence of something terrible happening before he could call in the cavalry.  That was the deal..

He phased and moved into the barricaded building beyond, finding a good hiding space to materialize in a closet.  Closets were apparently becoming his safe place of choice when he came out of a phase.

The building beyond had been converted to some sort of twisted medical, or maybe butchering facility.  Scents of blood and offal practically filled in the air.  Kiddie pools with dried blood on the bottom were scattered around.  One side of what used to be the department store had white plastic sheets hung from floor stands, making something like hanging walls.  If not for the grim debris on the floor, the filth, and casually discarded personal effects littering the floor, the makeshift plastic rooms might have looked like a field hospital.

Jake could smell fresh blood.

He did a quick scan of the area and frowned.  Evidence would suggest that this building normally had at least a dozen people working, doing whatever evil shit they did.  Based on prior experience, Jake was fairly certain the place was used to drain people of blood.  He reasoned it was probably easier to move around containers of blood than people.  But then he thought about how they’d have to move the bodies anyway.  That didn’t make sense.

There just wasn’t enough information.

The area beyond the hanging plastic walls was lit up, and Jake could hear a low moan that stopped after a striking sound rang out.  Most of the light was being cast by a lamp hung overhead, suspended by an ugly looking yellow cord.  Jake realized that most of the building was dark except for this light.  Since he could see so well in the dark now, sometimes he forgot that normal people couldn’t.  When he got closer, he could hear soft talking.

“--in the ass.  Have to wake up just becaus this old bat decided it was time to die at fucking 4am.”

“Well, let’s just get this over with so we can go back to bed.  We can start tomorrow later.  Gistino said so.”

“How is her heartbeat?”

“She’s still alive.  Keep draining.”  This was the woman’s voice.

“Tell me the second she dies or we’ll hear a fucking earfull.  I kinda wish she’d just hurry up and fucking croak.”

“No way.  We need to do a good job.

“I know, but it’s not our fault if she buys the farm and lets us get done with this faster.”

The woman spoke again, “The flow is starting to slow.  We might need the other arm, too.”

“This stupid bitch,” muttered on of the men.  There was a sound of a body being punched.  “Pain in the ass even now.”

Now that he was listening for it, Jake could hear the sound of dripping liquid.  The smell of blood was even thicker in the air.  He jumped to the department store wall, right over the makeshift plastic sheets, and was in the midst of the Protectors a heartbeat later.

There was some sort of slat system against the wall, maybe part of the store before Purple Rain.  The old woman Jake had seen earlier had been tied up against the wall upside down with zip ties.  She was gagged and barely conscious, her eyes rolling in her head.  One of her arms was tied to one side.  The other was lashed to the wall, fully stretched out, pointed at the ground.

Her hand had been cut off at the wrist.  The severed hand was about ten feet away in a plastic bucket.

Below the severed hand, a steady stream of blood was hitting a funnel that fed it into a large, empty, 5 gallon water container, the kind used in office water coolers.

The Protector woman had a stethoscope to the dying woman’s chest.  Like her male counterparts, she wore a white lab coat over dirty clothes.  Her expression was bored and disinterested as she intimately listened to her victim die.

The three torturers hadn’t even noticed Jake’s presence before he’d torn out the big man’s throat with his teeth.  Jake didn’t really have a plan yet, but maybe killing people in the building like a monster might cause more confusion or even panic later.  He had a half-formed idea of confusing the Protectors.  Maybe they’d freak out and lead him to whatever vampires they might have stashed away somewhere.  It was a little fuzzy, but he hadn’t had time to do much thinking before having a mouth full of blood.  There was no way he could have just sat around and did nothing, listening to some asshole punch a defenseless old lady.

The scene was bad.  Jake had seen some terrible things in his life.  The casual, clinical nature of what was being done here was definitely up there.

What he’d just found would definitely be enough to convince the three Liberator groups that he wasn’t lying.  Unfortunately, how to get them in here to see the grisly scene was another problem entirely.  If the internet and phone service still existed, maybe he could have done a two way video call.

That would have been convenient.

The Protector woman’s eyes widened in fear.  She cursed and began to draw a pistol.  But before she’d even cleared leather, Jake crushed her wrist with his full strength and slammed his other hand, palm first into her nose.  She would have reeled back, but Jake pulled her forward and tore out her throat with his teeth, too.

She fell to the ground, still trying to access her pistol with her good hand.  Her eyes were full of pain and spite.  Jake held her gaze as he used his full strength to crush her sternum.  Then he turned and punched the big man he’d already bitten in the head, knocking him unconscious so he’d bleed out more quietly.

Jake shook his head sadly as he regarded the victim on the wall.  She was close to death.  He drew a knife from his storage ring and stabbed her through the heart as a mercy.  Then he said a brief prayer for her in his mind, and felt a sense of relief that doing so didn’t burn him or make him catch on fire.

Sometimes the little things were the most precious.

He stood still and silently regarded the last Protector, a man he’d caught in the act of murdering and draining a helpless refugee.  The survivor was thin and lanky.  His goatee was wispy, more of a wannabe soul patch.  He reeked of cigarettes and marijuana.  His shoulder-length hair looked greasy, dirty.

Jake had encountered a few people like this in his first life--followers of the dark.  He knew what kinds of people they often were and what motivated them, what kinds of promises they might have gotten.  And now Jake was aware of the divine conflict--the great game.

Threatening this man for information would have unpredictable results, but maybe there was a better way.

"You. Human.  I have need of information.  Give me what I desire and I will spare your life and reward you with power. I have need of servants so I have spared your life for now.  You have potential, I can feel it."

The man's head came up slowly.  He was obviously terrified as he glanced furtively at Jake.  There was a moment of silence.

Jake thought he might have been laying it on a little thick with the evil monster act, or maybe the obvious and obviously bullshit flattery.  But luckily curiosity and geed replaced some of the fear in goatee-guys’ cowardly expression.

"May I humbly ask your identity, Lord?"

Interesting, thought Jake.  He was riding some righteous anger at seeing what had happened to the poor woman on the wall, but he had stumbled onto an opportunity.  This man was a piece of garbage, the type to want to become a fissure witch.  He obviously didn’t care about his dead, murderer associates, which wasn’t exactly a shock.  Jake could tell the man had already made the decision to spare his own life however he could, and was already trying to curry favor, ready to jump ship.

People like this made Jake sick.  At least real cultists had some sort of conviction.  But people like goatee-guy didn’t even actually stand for anything.  They were like leeches--selfish and empty.

“You may call me Darken,” said Jake.  He reflected that talking monsters didn’t actually grow on trees, so he could say whatever he wanted.  His very existence made whatever he said seem legit.  “I am the avatar of the god, Greedo.  The mighty power of the Dark Lord Greedo inhabits this body.  Bow low and show your respect or be destroyed!”

Internally, Jake winced.  He could run a bluff if he had to, but his little performance now wasn’t going to win any awards.  Luckily, his performance was working and the man immediately prostrated himself.

“Oh great Darken, host of the mighty Greedo, I greet you and I submit!”

This guy has obviously had some experience dealing with the megalomaniac evil-types, huh? Thought Jake.  Darken was a character from a novel he’d read once, and Greedo was a Star Wars character, most definitely not a god.  The x-Protector seemed to be buying it all hook, line and sinker, though, and seemed sincere.  Jake’s first impression must have been profound.  He almost asked for goatee-guy’s name, but realized at the last second that the evil god-types wouldn’t care.

Instead he growled, “Servant, I am at war with Tlaloc.  Do you understand that you have been serving my enemy?”

“Yes, oh great Darken!  I was promised many things by the priest of the dark rain god and his avatar.  But I have seen your greatness!  Please bless this lowly servant with knowledge of your power!”

Jake blinked.  Is this really how these people talk?  How weird.  He understood the hidden meaning in goatee-guy’s request.  This leech wanted to know what Jake was going to give him for betraying his first dark master.

Fair enough.  Time to build some bullshit.

“All of my servants will receive the eternal bite and will become like me.  Fast, strong, and one with the shadows!  Greedo’s magical power is shared with my servants!  Power to rule over all other humans in this changed world.  To prove your loyalty and earn this honor, you will tell me about your mission here for my enemy.  You will spare no detail!  Do you understand, servant?”

“Oh yes, Great Darken! I will serve and obey!”

For the next half hour, Jake listened while goatee-guy spilled his guts.  He asked a few questions, but it was mostly unnecessary.  Goatee-guy basically told his life story, and Jake learned that he’d been working for evil mostly for free.  His rewards had been protection from the Purple Rain world, being part of a winning team, and a hope of one day being selected to become a fissure witch or a vampire.  The guy was not very highly placed in the organization.

He volunteered his name--Alex--and even explained how he’d joined his organization.

Jake worked to keep his face still, his expression vaguely menacing, but his guts churned.  What he was hearing was unreal.

Alex had been approached to be a follower of evil on the internet, way before Purple Rain.  Someone or something had definitely known that it was going to happen, and even when.  Right down to the minute.

He’d been recruited, invited to a camp, paid, and slowly brought on board.

Jake would have been impressed by the process if he hadn’t been hearing about evangelical evil.  This information confirmed that people had known about Purple Rain before it happened, too.  In his first life, the official word around the world had been that the world ending had been a surprise for everyone.  But Jake wasn’t naive enough to think that the leaders of post-Purple Rain America hadn’t known the truth if he was finding out now.

So why had they lied?

Once Alex finally got done telling Jake everything he wanted to know, he said, “Well done, servant.  Are you prepared for your reward?”

“Yes!  Yes, great master Darken!”

“Close your eyes.”  After the man had closed his eyes, Jake drew his sword and cut the man’s head off.  He turned his back on the corpse and didn’t feel an ounce of pity.

The entire makeshift medical area was already drenched with blood from Alex’s two associates.  Now the bottoms of the makeshift plastic walls were stained red.  Jake was covered in blood, too.  He didn’t care.  Killing people with his teeth hadn’t bothered him, either.  Maybe his new form was changing his perception.  That was a disquieting thought.  But still, at least he hadn’t felt the need to bite Alex.

His half-assed plan from earlier was no longer an issue anymore.  What he’d just learned made speed more important than stealth now.

Jake turned on his radio.  He’d kept it off earlier so it wouldn’t make any noise and give away his position.  After thumbing it on, he hit the talk button and said, “Vincent, do you hear me?”

It didn’t take long to hear a response.  “Yes.  How’s it going at the mall, Mr. Grim?”

“Not good.  I interrupted a murder and blood draining, and found out most of what the Macon Protectors have been doing.  They are all cultists.  Some of the worst.  But most importantly, they’re keeping most of the vampires they’ve been sneaking through portals at the college across the street to the south.  If those things get out and start a rampage it will be bad.”

There was a pause.  “Oh.  That’s a little surprising...but only a little.”

Jake frowned.  “What?”

“Well, no offense Jake...Mr. Grim, Heavenly Grim...but I didn’t entirely trust you.  So while you were getting into the mall, the Warhounds did some poking around.”

“You didn’t stay where you said you were going to stay?”

“Nope!”  Vince’s tone was completely unapologetic.  “We borrowed some of the electric motorcycles from the Post Apoc Kings, too.  I don’t know why they had so many, but the damn things are amazing.  They’re almost silent.  Charging them back up might be an issue, but it’s not my problem.  So anyway, we already scouted around the mall.  Left the music-playing trucks back at the waiting spot.  And at the college and saw bodies being taken out the back.”

“You what!?”

“We actually caught them doing it in the residential neighborhood through the trees from the college.  Suspicious activity.  We caught some of them red handed while they were working to get rid of bodies.  They talked fast.  The bodies were taken through the trees, put in panel trucks, and driven off to be dumped, far enough not to attract more zombies to Macon.

“After that, we killed those guys.  Obviously.  Then we checked out the college and low and behold, we actually caught sight of the people the Post Apoc Kings had a shootout with before accusing us of it!  The fire mage and the strong man. We’re pretty sure they are part of the Screaming Demons, now.”

“Vince, don’t do anything.  You need to stay put until I can join up with you again.”

Vince didn’t seem to hear him.  His voice was haunted as he said, “The bodies were bad.”  He coughed.  “Really bad.  And my group’s mage can feel monsters in the college campus.  A lot of them.” His voice grew grim.  “These people are most definitely some evil fucks...so we are about to light them up.”

Most of Jake’s brain focused on the part about the two people Vincent said he’d ID’ed.  The people involved in Jake’s family being murdered.  His palms started to tingle in anticipation, but he also began getting a bad feeling.

Through the radio, Jake could hear the sound of engines.  Then a whispered, “Hey Vince, they’re here.  Music’s muted right now.”

Vince said, “The Post Apoc Kings are with us.  They owed us.  The Night Rangers are coming around the back way.   As soon as the rest of the convoy gets here, we’re gonna hit this place.  But don’t worry, you were obviously right about the Protectors, so we’re not ignoring what you said about the music.  We’re not doing anything until the rest of the convoy gets here first.  And then we’re gonna hit the entire place with everything we got.”

“Wait!” Hissed Jake.  “Wait for me to get there before you do anything!  You don’t know what you’re getting into!  They have some powerful help!”

“No.  I know you can destroy us all, but listen here, Jake.”  Vince’s voice was firm, resolute.  With dawning horror, Jake realized that the Warhounds leader had already decided to start a fight.  “The bodies...like I said, they were bad.  Some were kids.  One was my son’s age.  There are some things if you see, and walk away, you can’t call yourself a man again.  No, a human being.”  His voice choked up and in the background of the radio, Jake thought he could hear music.  “So you--”

The transmission was suddenly full of popping sounds that Jake recognized as gunfire.  He listened carefully, and thought he might have heard something outside of the building he was in, too.  Yes.  The tent city outside could probably hear the shots and were growing alarmed.  The radio cut off.

“Hello!  Hello!  What’s going on?” Jake snarled.  There was no reply.

“Dammit!” he cursed.  He paced for a moment, trying to decide what to do.  One of the pieces of information he’d gotten from goatee-guy Alex had been about their leader, Trosist.  The leader of this merry band of cultists was very, very dangerous.  Alex had only seen him once, and basically described him looking like a master vampire.  Jake had a feeling that this Trostist might be the mage that had been controlling the doll he’d met earlier.

For Jake, that meeting had taken place a year ago, but he could still vividly remember the creepy doll-thing, and the sense of power he’d gotten through it.  Of course, Earth time, it’d only been half a day ago.

Suddenly, the radio crackled to life again.  Vince’s voice was quiet, strained.  There were more gunshots and roars in the background.  “Grim, Jake, you still there!?”

“I’m here!”

“So...Jake...we fucked up.”

“What is happening!?”

“Some of the guys saw some Protectors come out with another body and opened up.  Everything was fine for about a minute, but then someone in the college let out the vampires.  It happened fast.  The damn things scattered.  We’re pulling back but they’re following.  The vampires are all over the damn place.

“And that was bad enough, but some guy appeared on the top of the college buildings right after we opened up, too.  He was laughing, and destroyed our cover with magic.  One of the trucks were destroyed.  I think he was aiming for the music car.

“This guy...he scary as hell.  He’s... when we shoot at him, nothing happens, just like what happened with you.”  There were sounds of screams and more gun shots through the radio.  Vince barked orders, directing the Warhounds to follow him.  The sound of a revving engine was loud through the radio.  “And another bulletproof thing tore through the Post Apoc Kings before we broke contact.  Uh, we need you Jake.  Grim.  We fucked up.  Get over here ASAP. Fuck.”  There was an explosion through the mic, and Jake actually hear this outside the mall, too.  “We’re going to regroup at the shopping center to the West from the mall, the one with the grocery store.  Meet us there!”

The radio cut off, and Jake heard engines revving up from outside.  There were shouts, and screams.

“Goddamit!” Jake passionately cursed again.  It sounded like the Protectors were waking up now.  The had to be gearing up to reinforce their vampire factory.  The gig was up now, they had no reason to pretend to be the good guys anymore.  “Why doesn’t anyone ever follow instructions!”

If he didn’t hurry to support Vince and his crew, they were likely all going to die.  But he couldn’t head straight there, either.  If he did, the entire area would just be swamped with bad guys.  They’d be surrounded.  Jake might escape, but he couldn’t save the state of Georgia by himself.

Jake phased and flash-stepped into the mall.

The best thing he could think to do right now was to sew as much chaos as possible.  He needed to give most of the Protectors a reason to stay at the mall.

“Fuck!” he cursed.

Jake ran through the hallway and grimaced as an alarm started blaring.  “Where the hell did that come from?” he wondered aloud.

A couple of Protectors came out of a dark storefront, putting clothes and gear back on.  It wasn’t hard to figure out what they’d been doing.  Jake barely slowed as he heel palmed them both in the chest with all his strength.  They flew backwards, breath knocked from their lungs.  While they were on the ground, Jake gave them both a savage choke slam.  One neck actually broke.  The two would-be reinforcements flopped on the ground like fish as Jake raced to the Protector barracks.

He had a fire to start.  Luckily, he’d had plenty of practice.