They quickly and quietly returned to Rashons apartment to split up the weapons and supplies. Rashon got two handguns, Maya got a handgun and the shotgun, and Jose took the ninjato in addition to the baton from earlier. He also had his new skill to fall back on.
“Alright, I’m pretty sure it’s still mid-morning, so if we get to that pharmacy you mentioned, we should still have time to get a good distance from here by the time it starts getting dark,” said Jose.
“Yeah. It’s only the next building over, but I’m not sure we should go in that direction, considering the monster we saw headed that way,” answered Rashon.
“We really have no choice here. You said the entrance to the highway is in the same direction, and I, at least, have to go south to reach my family,” added Maya as Jose nodded.
“… No, you are right. My family is south of here as well, and venturing out without some type of medical supplies would just be stupid,” Rashon relented.
***
They had luckily reached the pharmacy without incident, and each carefully added a first-aid kit among other provisions to their bags. They had already distributed water with the weapons at Rashon’s apartment and grabbed foodstuff while at the pharmacy. Aside from the food, they also grabbed anything made of cloth to pad the bags, ensuring they would move silently.
Jose was the only one heading north, while the other two were heading south. Considering the entrances to the highway were in two completely different directions, they were forced to split up outside of the pharmacy.
“Be safe and protect each other for as long as you travel together,” said Jose, hugging them both. It was hard letting them go, considering what they had gone through together in the short time they’d known each other.
“Thanks for saving us when we first met,” said Rashon, acknowledging that had it not been for Jose’s quick thinking, the first group of Tainted might have killed them.
“And for being a decent person,” added Maya. “I know too many men that would devolve into beasts in such circumstances.”
***
At the entrance to the highway, Jose took a minute to evaluate the area, thinking of any other options for travel that might be safer. He was happy the others would be traveling together, at least for a time.
It looked as if the ‘blackout,’ as they had begun calling it, happened during rush hour as there were cars bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see.
The good thing about that was that the large, wide-open area made it easier to see in all directions. The bad thing was, who knew what might be hiding inside or between vehicles. No sooner did he have this thought that a situation happened to drive it home.
He had been inching closer to the vehicles at the entrance to the highway while assessing the situation, lost in thought. At the last second, he noticed movement from the vehicle on his left in the corner of his eye, but he was too close to react in time.
A Tainted in the passenger side of the car had noticed him and smashed through the window to grab at him. It caught his left bicep and dug in its strong, dead fingers. In a kneejerk reaction and desperate attempt, he punched out several times before realizing the futility of it. He quickly recovered by stabbing his ninjato into its head.
[You have leveled up.]
Its superhuman strength had allowed it to dig deep into his arm in a flash. He was bleeding from multiple wounds, and it felt like some of the bones might have been fractured or broken. “ Shit! Can’t believe I made such a stupid mistake already,” he admonished himself as he backed up away from the vehicles to clean and bandage his wounds.
He’d always been a vigilant person, but it was clear that another level of vigilance would be required in this apocalyptic world. In some ways, it was good that this had happened to drive that point home early.
This was no longer the safe utopia of the 21st century, it was now a do-or-die world with no mercy or remorse. Not that it had any of those things before, but now monsters walked the land, and there would be no police, first responders, or laws to keep people safe from one another.
After cleaning and bandaging the arm, he began the arduous trip up the highway. Sharp pain radiated from his bruised arm every step he took. But Jose had two left feet - metaphorically speaking - and had never had it easy, making him no stranger to pain or broken bones, so he endured.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
He stood in the breakdown lane as he made his way up the highway, as far from the vehicles as possible so he wouldn’t be caught by surprise again. Every couple hundred feet or so, he would find himself fighting another Tainted. He’d found that so long as he aimed for their heads, and only had to deal with one or two at a time, they were fairly easy to deal with.
About two miles in, he started seeing crushed and overturned vehicles as if a storm had swept them up or something else had caused a strong outward kinetic impact. After another half mile, he entered a crater and could see an impact site in the distance.
***
‘Whatever this is, it clearly fell from a great height,’ he thought, standing in a large crater at least a quarter-mile in diameter. In front of him hovered a crystal the size of his fist. Something about it had called to him, drawing him in the minute he was close enough.
Like a foolish child, he reached up and grabbed the crystal when he’d gotten to it, without regard to what might happen once he did.
[You have acquired an Echo Shard.]
Upon grabbing it, the crystal took on a blinding aura for a second. It quickly became a dull, pulsing blue light after. Every pulse sent plasma running up his arm and onto his chest, where it drilled into his body. Startled, he attempted to drop the crystal, but his hand wouldn’t listen and remained closed in a death grip.
The plasma moved faster and faster into his body as he attempted to let go. An intense jolt of pain and heat radiated from everywhere the plasma struck. He began feeling hotter and hotter as it continued till it felt like he was cooking in his own skin.
He was now stuck in place, unable to let the crystal go, unable to move, and unable to release the painful scream that died in his throat. As pain raked his body, he was frozen, as if under a spell, observing the plasma flow into him.
The moment the last of the plasma left the crystal it crumbled under his grip, turned to dust, and floated away on the wind. Finally able to move, he let out a horrifying scream as he fell to the floor. Darkness began creeping in on him as he lay there, crippled by the pain. Finally, the darkness took him.
***
He opened his eyes to find himself disoriented. He was a disembodied consciousness floating in space. In the distance, he could see a blue giant star, on his left, he saw a planet. It was similar to Earth, in that it was blue and had large land masses. It was also comparable to Jupiter, with many rings and several moons.
Between the planet and the sun stood, or floated, two people. They seemed no bigger than average height, although it was hard to get a proper measurement in the vastness of space. One was male and the other female. They seemed to be in a standoff of sorts as they stoically stared at one another.
They each began releasing massively dense auras, which grew rapidly until they crashed against each other and began vying for supremacy. The clash gave birth to powerful shockwaves that began spreading out at a rapid tempo, increasing in size, power, and speed every few seconds.
As if someone had suddenly turned off the lights, he was suddenly in darkness again. Slowly, feeling came back to his body and he felt the light of day shining behind his closed eyelids.
***
He woke up, who knew how much time later, in the middle of the crater. Confused and groggy, he found it hard to remember where he was and what had been happening. He stood up and stumbled in place for a few seconds while his memory slowly trickled back in.
Jose took a deep breath and noticed his mouth was caked with blood, and his clothes and the spot where he had been lying were drenched in sweat. His body felt stronger and lighter than it had for a long time, and his status screen floated in front of him.
[Health: 220/220 Ether: 24/24
Level: 3
Soul: Ancient
Race: Sapient
Genus: None
Species: None
Strength: 5
Constitution: 6
Endurance: 8
Agility: 8
Dexterity: 8
Awareness: 10
Wisdom: 7
Capacity: 12
Free Points: 12
Skills: Strike, Orb]
Looking down at himself, he noticed that not only had he lost some weight and gained some new muscle, but also his arm had been fully healed. If not for the urgent situation and dire circumstances he would have been excited about the new developments.
Also, what was with that strange dream? It was vivid in a way he hadn’t experienced before, and what was an Echo Shard, isn’t that what the system called the crystal? Did that shard show him some sort of memory, or vision of godly beings? Is that what happened here on Earth? Did some sort of catastrophe befall them due to godly beings fighting out in space?
He had way more questions now than before he’d embarked on this trip. Whatever was happening, whatever that dream or vision was, they had sparked too many questions and emotions within him.
It was clear to him that this was the end of the world as people knew it. But on some level, it was also a new beginning.
Some part of him was excited at the prospect of living a life where one was responsible for one's own day-to-day survival, where money and politics meant nothing, and where strength and power didn’t mean you had wealth but real power.
But the other part of him knew that power such as this was likely unbiased. That people who were unstable and malignant would also acquire power. Monsters already walked the land, and he knew that should some of the unhinged people of the world get this type of power, they would become monsters of another kind.
He hoped his family members were experiencing similar events: becoming galvanized, gaining power by defeating monsters, and collecting whatever treasures this new world held. He hoped that whatever delays he experienced in getting to them did not end in disaster. He hoped that they were not counted among the numbers that had turned to ash. Above all, he hoped he would soon find them safe and sound.
Putting away his questions and worries, he sinched up his belt and began jogging up the highway. He would put this newfound strength to the test and make haste to his destination.
