V2Ch56-Lockdown

“Mina! Mina!”

She heard the voice as if from a great distance.

Not now, I have a headache, Mina thought. She wanted to say it out loud, but the words felt very far away from her lips, and her mouth seemed to be full of cotton or something.

Water splashed on her face, and a bright line shone in her eyes.

“Mina, are you with us? Are you alright?” It was Leo DaSilva’s voice, she realized. A female figure stood beside him.

Mina blinked unsteadily, and she realized that it was Alba next to Leo,  holding a dripping wet cloth.

I guess I have her to thank for the water in my face, she thought. Wait, why am I on the floor?

In an instant, everything came back to her. She jerked to an upright position, and a sharp pain surged through her head.

“Oh, ow,” she said quietly, putting a palm to her forehead.

“Are you alright?” Leo asked. “Where’s Yulia?”

“That’s what I was just wondering,” she replied. “I think she’s out there.” She pointed at the window, which someone had closed.

“That was open when I came in,” Leo said, his voice grave. “You think Cara or one of her creatures got her?”

“No, I don’t believe Cara would have gone after her, or let the other Wendigos target Yulia either. She spared me. Why go after someone important to me?”

“You think Yulia left on her own?” A pause. “To go and warn people?”

Mina nodded.

“Did you see this happen?” Leo asked.

“No, it’s just a theory,” Mina said. “I have to go get her now.”

She tried to push herself up, but Leo held her by the shoulder.

“Are you out of your mind?” he asked. “You’re not going anywhere. We’re on full lockdown here. Have you seen what it’s like outside?”

As if to punctuate his words, a huge chunk of hail struck Mina’s window and stuck there for a moment before it fell away. It stayed for long enough for her to see it was the size of a softball.

“I guess one of those hit me,” she said, remembering the sharp pain in the back of her head before she tumbled backward into the room.

“You’re lucky it didn’t kill you,” Leo said.

“Do you need a Healer?” Alba asked. “We have a few—”

“I’m fine,” Mina snapped. She activated Healing Aura, and the pain in her head immediately began to subside. There was an awkward silence for a few moments. “I’m sorry to be impatient,” she added, her voice full of sorrow. “I just don’t know if I could forgive myself if something happened to Yulia. She’s my responsibility. I promised my mother on her deathbed that I would protect her. And we’ve been through so much together now.”

“Still, you can’t go after her,” Leo said firmly. “You’d die. And you wouldn’t rescue anybody. One of the ladies down the hall is a meteorologist. She’s comparing the weather outside to that big winter storm back in 2037. You remember the one they called the Storm of the Century?”

Mina nodded vaguely, but her eyes were focused on the window.

Leo noticed and sighed. “Your sister probably left a while ago,” he said. “She probably made it to one of the other inns and had to hunker down there. Brave girl. Don’t you think? And you were downstairs for a while. I hate to say this, but if she left and didn’t make it to shelter, she’s dead already.”

Mina’s eyes darted to Leo’s, but the wrath that boiled in them cooled when she saw his expression. He looked worried.

“Alright,” she said slowly. Wearily. “I’ll come downstairs. You still have any of that hot chocolate?”

Alba nodded wordlessly.

The three of them returned downstairs.

The entire population of the inn had gathered in the common area. They seemed to be in high spirits when Mina saw them. She had forgotten this inn was mostly women. There were a few married women who’d brought their husbands, but other than them, it was only Leo.

Some people quietly offered greetings or words of thanks as Mina stepped into the room. Leo had made her the woman of the hour with his version of events: how she had outed the killers and more or less driven them off. She tried to nod politely, smile, and accept compliments gracefully, but her mind was in the storm.

Ugh, Yulia! I’m going to strangle you when I see you. What were you think—

That thought was interrupted by the sound of screaming. The group had quieted for a moment, when the wind carried it over.

Multiple people, Mina thought numbly. It couldn’t be that loud with just one person screaming. And it sounded like more than one voice. The Wendigos had begun their bloody work. But Cara had kept her word. Wherever they were feeding, the inn where Mina stayed seemed to be safe.

The group of grateful survivors seemed to gravitate to the area around where she rested, Mina couldn’t help but notice. She tried not to resent them. They were afraid for their safety, and Leo had given them the idea that the Wendigos would avoid her, which was actually true. They didn’t need to be so close, but she succeeded in mostly ignoring them.

The wind carried over the sound of more distant screams, but the flow of conversation around Mina picked back up and began to drown them out.

Human beings are remarkable, she thought. I don’t know how people can talk at a time like this. Does this make us the most foolish race, or the most resilient, or what?

For most of that long night, she sat in a self-imposed bubble of silence, and she worried, her hot chocolate growing colder beside her by the minute. She burrowed into herself and her memories. Remembered her mother’s quiet wisdom and her laughing sisters. Thought of her happy household with Yulia, James, and now the baby. Yulia! Why are you doing this to me? She wanted alternately to strangle her and just hold her close. I can’t let you out of my sight for the rest of—she suddenly remembered that it was actually open-ended. They might never be truly safe again. Orientation’s purpose, if she took the System at its word, had been simply to prepare them for the new world.

She went down a rabbit hole imagining what the new world might look like before she returned to worrying specifically about Yulia.

The hours passed with agonizing slowness.

As dawn broke, it became obvious the storm still wasn’t letting up. Mina began to visualize images of her sister’s dead body. Sometimes she saw Yulia mangled and partially eaten by monsters that Cara had failed to restrain. Sometimes she imagined her frozen to death, covered in ice and frostbitten all over.

That death would be better, she thought. People in Bulgaria used to say that when you die of cold, your body gets a sudden surge of warmth from within near the end. Sometimes people get so hot they start taking their clothes off in the freezing cold. If Yulia has to die, I would want her not to really understand what was going on at the end. Like slipping into a dream forever…

Mina slapped herself. Now was no time to entertain those thoughts. She got up and went to her room. The crowd in the common area had dwindled over the last few hours, so only a few women bid her a belated “Good night, er morning!”

Mina managed to force herself to acknowledge the words with grunted responses.

Then she went to be by herself. She withdrew into magic. This was all her fault, in a roundabout way, wasn’t it? Yulia left, because she was worried about what Cara and her Wendigos would do. Cara got away, because Mina was too weak to stop her. It was only through Cara’s twisted mercy that Mina remained alive at all.

Never again, she thought. I’m so weak. I have to become strong, so no one can threaten the people I love.

Tears welled up in her eyes before she banished them to focus on magic.

She tunneled into her elemental magic to a degree she had only matched a couple of times before. She spoke the chants, and she focused on the way that Mana felt moving through her body. When Cara had confronted her earlier, part of why Mina didn’t try to stop her from leaving was that her magic was too slow. How could she make it faster?

Zeroing in on how the energy felt moving around her body, she tried to rush it, to make the spell charge faster. Chanting faster didn’t help, but she could accelerate the flow of energy with her mind. It was like controlling how much force she exerted with a push. Push with the amount of strength she would use to open a door, and she wouldn’t knock anyone over. Use the level of force that she would use if she was trying to stop a cyclist from crashing into Yulia, though, and she could injure someone. It was hard to moderate this. The first several times she tried to control the movement of Mana within her body, she failed and lost control.

Fortunately, she was just using water Mana, which she had the most familiarity with. If someone entered the room, though, they would think she had gone swimming. She dowsed herself with water five times before she started to make some progress.

First, she figured out that the chant was completely unnecessary. Once she knew the feeling of casting a particular kind of magic well enough, she could do it without the chant.

[Required conditions met! Skill “Silent Spellcasting” unlocked!]

Yes, yes, I know I figured that out, she thought, waving the announcement away. I need faster spellcasting, not quieter spellcasting!

A few hours later, she made the desired breakthrough. It was purely a matter of regulating the speed of energy movement through her body. Probably through some organ she didn’t know she had, like arteries or veins. In any case, all it took was disciplined, conscious practice. The energy flowed smoothly, at a faster pace than it had before. Suddenly, she found that she could cast spells almost instantly. The only downside was that casting so much faster wasted substantially more Mana. But she could feel that she would be able to increase her efficiency with further practice.

[Required conditions met! Skill “Quickened Spellcasting” unlocked!]

Finally!

[Mage leveled up!]

[System-Boosted Human leveled up!]

[A Class Evolution is available. Review? Y/N]

That sounds like it would make me a lot more powerful, she thought. She was about to select ‘Y’ when she heard her stomach growl. As soon as she noticed that, she realized that she was famished.

Practicing magic had the dual effects of making her stronger and drawing her full focus, which was considerable. For hours, the problems of the world had fallen away. Even Yulia had shifted to the back of her mind; perhaps that was the main reason she did this. But apparently she had also forgotten to eat. It wouldn’t be the first time.

She rose unsteadily to her feet. She was genuinely quite weak, she realized.

When was the last time she had consumed something more substantial than hot chocolate? Yesterday morning? What time was it now?

She glanced out the window, but all it told her was that it was extremely bright outside. Definitely still the same day, then.

Whatever, the time doesn’t matter.

She went downstairs and walked over to the kitchen. Alba was there, turning System-issued rations into real food, and she took one look at Mina and demanded that she eat something. Mina refused until she had compensated Alba with a portion of her own rations big enough to justify the Cook’s hard work.

But it’s a little nice to have someone worrying over me, she thought as she sat and began to tuck into the food. She had wanted to get back to her normal activities as quickly as possible after having her baby, and physically, she was in perfect condition again. But she felt a tiredness in her bones, a fatigue that seemed to be catching up with her. Maybe that was from the absence of a break in the normal routine of life.

Or maybe I just didn’t sleep last night, she realized. I guess I’ll have to rest, if the storm continues as it has. I just really hoped that I would get to see Yulia again before I slept.

She no longer imagined Yulia dead. That had been her fear talking. No, she would find Yulia in a warm, secure state as soon as the storm ended. Maybe she would have found someone to make her hot chocolate and a meal too.

Must stay positive, she thought, forcing herself to suppress the spiraling thoughts of worst case scenarios.

She finished her meal, brought her plate back to the kitchen, and had a quiet conversation with Alba, who was a comfort.

In the middle of talking, though, Mina’s ears perked up. There was a strange sound in the background. She asked Alba as politely as she could to be quiet for a moment, and just listened. Mina heard almost nothing.

But after a few seconds, she realized that was odd in itself. All night, along with the chatter of the inn’s residents, she’d heard the sound of the storm. Wind buffeting the building. Hail striking hard surfaces.

“I think the storm might be over,” Mina said quietly.

She and Alba parted quickly after that. Alba wished her good luck with Yulia, and Mina thanked her.

Then she dashed upstairs and changed into warm clothes, before she rushed back downstairs.

As she stepped back into the common area, the System made another announcement.

[Attention all mortals! The worst of the snowstorm from yesterday appears to be over. We spent the last several minutes clearing the snow that landed in your walkways. We would still recommend exercising caution outdoors, as your fragile human bodies might still be endangered by the level of cold that remains present in some areas of the Orientation.]

Some areas, Mina thought. I wonder what that means. Did the Wendigos leave, and take their storm with them wherever they went?

But that didn’t matter for now. She had confirmation that it was safe to go outside.

She was about to walk out the front door, when she heard a set of footsteps she recognized coming toward her.

She turned around. Leo smiled at her.

“I hear we can go outside and see, ah, what happened,” he said. His smile faltered a little as he seemed to realize what that meant.

“Don’t worry,” Mina said. “Yulia’s going to be fine.” The words were a reassurance and almost a prayer.

As they stepped out into the world, there were a handful of others stepping out into the light of day alongside them. People looked relieved that the storm was over, but Mina barely noticed their expressions. Right now, she was only scanning their faces so she could find the one person she really cared about.

She had almost given up and decided to go and search for Yulia building by building, when she saw her. Yulia, Paulo, and Jose, stepping out of one of the other winners’ inns.

I should have known who Yulia would want to go warn first, Mina thought. Mostly, though she was just happy to see her sister alive and in one piece.

Yulia saw her at almost the same moment, and the sisters ran to each other and embraced.

“I’m sorry,” were the first words Yulia said once Mina finally released her from her death grip. “I know I must have made you worry.”

“You did, and I’m never letting you out of my sight again!” Mina said, barely keeping her voice below a yell. Tears ran down both sisters’ cheeks. “That was the worst night of my life!”

“Well, Jose and Paulo kept me safe,” Yulia said. “Otherwise I might have tried to go on to the next inn…”

Leo stood at a polite distance throughout the sisters’ exchanges. Near enough that Mina remembered he was there, but not close enough to disturb the sisters’ reunion.

After they’d held each other for a while longer, they walked back over to him. His expression was one of mingled joy and sorrow.

“So glad to see you’re okay, Yulia,” he said. “Of course, I told this one that you’d be fine—” he gestured to Mina—“you’d hole up somewhere in the storm and not freeze to death or get eaten. But we were still both pretty worried.”

“I’m so sorry about that,” Yulia said. She looked just as regretful as she had when she’d apologized to her sister. “I really wish I hadn’t been so impulsive. I didn’t even help anyone.” Her eyes seemed to narrow slightly, as if she was noticing something in Leo’s face. “Wait. Is there something still worrying you, Detective?”

“To be honest, there is,” he said. He gave Mina a meaningful look.

“I think the Detective wants to talk to me by myself, sweet,” Mina said softly. “I hate to leave you alone, but would you please go back to the inn? Not even back to the room, because I think Cara stole my key. Just back to the common area, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Yulia nodded. “Yeah, whatever you say, sis.” She looked guilty, and Mina was glad she hadn’t chastised her for running off. Her sister already had a strong sense of right and wrong, so she didn’t need much guidance. But sometimes she was so headstrong. They could both be stubborn, but Mina thought Yulia might give her premature gray hairs soon.

“What has you so worried, Leo?” Mina asked, watching her sister walk away.

“Did you notice anything peculiar when everyone was leaving their inns?”

I’m too tired for rhetorical questions right now, she wanted to say. But being tired was no excuse to be rude.

“I didn’t notice anything. What did you see?” She waited.

“People were only leaving the winners’ quarters,” he finally replied.

Her heart sank.

“Really?”

“As far as I could see,” he said.

“I’m glad you had me send Yulia back,” she said. “I’m guessing you want to check out the crime scenes? See what happened?”

He nodded. “You don’t have to come. I just wanted you to be aware.”

“No.” She swallowed, then gritted her teeth. “I’m going.” These deaths are partly on my head anyway. If only I could have stopped Cara… “Do you want to bring Adelaide too?”

He shook his head. “No point. We know who the killers are. This isn’t crime scene investigation anymore, though frankly that was pretty fruitless this whole time anyway. Not due to any defect in Adelaide’s efforts, but there was no forensic facility and barely any evidence left. I think law enforcement could end up being very different in this new world.” He looked profoundly worried about that.

“No point in worrying her, then,” Mina agreed.

“Yeah, I’ll check on her after we’re done here.”

They walked to the first of the original inns the System had provided. Before the challenges had produced the System’s version of class divisions.

Neither was prepared for the scene that greeted them. Somehow, Mina had optimistically imagined that the missing would just be gone. Vanished into thin air.

Or, more honestly, just swallowed whole by the Wendigos.

Instead, there was dried blood and bones and bits of bodies scattered through the common areas. The floor was so bloody that much of it had been dyed a crusty brown. It was only obvious at the edges that the flooring had been another color once. Mina covered her mouth with a handkerchief to provide some protection from the awful smell of organs and human remains. Despite the slight protection, she barely restrained herself from vomiting. Fortunately, with the cold and the recency of the deaths, rot hadn’t set in yet.

She and Leo ascended the stairs in silence, looking for any survivors. They found rooms and possessions, but no people. There was less gore than there had been downstairs, but some people had clearly been forcibly taken from their rooms. The doors had been ripped from their hinges in most rooms. In one room, there were human nail gouges dug out of the wall by the door, complete with a broken off piece of nail embedded in one of the grooves.

In one bedroom, Mina found a teenage girl’s diary embossed with an image of a purple unicorn and instinctively shuddered. There was a blood stain in the corner of the cover, and the images of Yulia, dead, returned to her mind, accompanied by the smell of carnage wafting from downstairs. She threw open the window and wretched.

She cleaned herself off in the adjoining bathroom before she rejoined Leo.

They entered the next inn.

It was a pointless search, but one they replicated over and over.

Every one of the starting inns was empty of living humans.

By day’s end, they took a full reckoning of how many people the Wendigos’ murder spree had cost them.

In order to do this, they got nearly every living human to line up outside and be counted. Leo used his saved up goodwill and political capital to secure universal compliance, along with the same story he’d fed the people from their inn about how Mina had saved everyone from the Wendigos.

Everyone but those poor souls still in the starting quarters, Mina thought, listening to him give his version of events yet another time.

The few people who couldn’t be summoned outside due to illness or infirmity, they visited in their rooms.

And Mina used Investigate on every living human. She made certain that no Wendigos remained in their ranks.

But Cara could hide her Status, Mina reminded herself. The only way to be truly secure against this threat was to be too strong to be considered prey.

All told, Leo and Mina estimated that roughly 250 people had vanished. They had to estimate. As they had realized early on, the population count clearly didn’t reflect the full losses, or anywhere close to them, which meant that most of the missing had been taken alive.

[2,576/3,397 Survivors]

Poor souls, Mina thought again.

“Maybe we’ll mount a rescue operation once we’ve developed our strength as a group a bit more,” Leo said as they stood outside their inn once again.

But his heart wasn’t in the words at all, and Mina just shook her head.

“We still outnumber them,” Leo insisted weakly.

“We need to drop it,” Mina replied, “or there’ll be far more dead the next time.”

She stared off into the distance and tried to harden her heart to the plight of those missing, those taken prisoner, surely, to be killed and eaten by the monsters in the future.

Hopefully, they took enough prisoners that they don’t come back here, she thought.

It was an ugly thing to think, but it had been an ugly day.