Sponsored Apocalypse 2, ch 7

When I ambled back to the Larsons' junkyard, the man in overalls hurriedly opened the gate for me. Then, all the adults moved back respectfully. At least, I liked to think it was respect and not just fear. None of the children were anywhere to be seen. I figured that they either had uncommon common sense or the adults had told them to make themselves scarce if anything violent ever happened.

Nobody spoke for a moment before the blonde woman hesitantly asked, "I wanted to say more, before.  That was all just a misunderstanding, you know?  Everything is good now, right?  We’re friends?”

Randy dully stared out at the wreckage in the street.  A rifle dangled from his hand, the end almost in the dirt.  He muttered, “They’re all dead.”

Part of me wanted–illogically– to apologize for the mess and the death, but the reality is I just saved all these people's lives. Not for the first time, I felt like the person I was changing into and the reality of the world around me were directly at odds with the life I lived before the world had ended. With that in mind, I said, "Since all of this…just happened…just happened, and I wasn't able to find that much that I wanted, I think the terms of our trade should change."

As I spoke, I was aware that I was being framed in a background of destroyed vehicles and bloody bodies on the road outside.

Jim nodded vigorously. All of the adults looked scared spitless. The old man said, "Just bring what you found, and we'll talk about it then. Andrew, go with him."

My new guide didn't say anything out loud, just nodded and gave me a wary look. Like the other adults, he still had a weapon in his hands, and like the others, he was not making any threatening moves at all. Apparently, what they had just watched me do had left an impression.

In reality, I was tired and I really didn't want any more violence. Surprisingly, I was more okay with killing people than I’d imagined.  It probably helped that the people I’d just killed would have happily killed me, and had probably solidly categorized as murderers or raiders.

I left the standing group of shell shocked adults, and the awkward social situation, behind, moving to the pile of old items I'd found.

When we reached the area that I'd been stashing all my finds in, Andrew wordlessly handed me a burlap sack. It had the logo of a bookstore on it. I nodded my thanks and put everything inside that I wanted to keep.  Not everything was worth taking.  I was leaving behind the pogo stick and the other item from the house that I found before. I didn't think either one was worth bonding with, regardless of their abilities. I did not want to be lugging around a rusted pogo stick everywhere I went.

I took the four items that I’d found with me back to Jim, who took a look inside and sat in surprise. The old man said, "This is it?"

"That's right," I said. I hooked my thumb at the bodies on the pavement in the road. "I don't want anything they had either, so you can take it all if you want."

"Not even the guns and stuff?" asked the woman, Sandy. “Or the bullets?” She eyed the HK pistol that I still had on my hip. 

I shook my head. "No. And with what I was actually able to find and everything that happened since, I figure I probably don't owe you anything. However, I'm still going to give you some knowledge as per our original agreement, but if we ever meet up again, you will owe me a favor."

Some of the junkyard clan eyed each other before Jim slowly nodded. "I think that we would like to hear what you would like to say now." 

Inwardly, I remembered what Aldina had said and how she'd acted before, how she hadn't wanted to owe anybody favors. And like several instances in the past, the moment where the old man agreed to owe me a favor felt like it had more weight than it would have befor the world ended.

It was almost a tangible feeling.  I felt like something was right there at the tip of my mind, but I was either too weak or not sensitive enough to really perceive it yet.

Weird, I thought.

Then I basically told the Larsons what Aldina had told me what felt like a lifetime ago in Tom's gun shop. I said, "Some of my knowledge here is second hand, but this is what I currently understand.

“Our world is one of many.  Worlds being destroyed like this is a common thing.  Doesn’t make it less terrible, but it’s not unique.  But things are going to get worse.

“Eventually, people or creatures are going to arrive here–I was told a few months from now–who are much more dangerous than the monsters.  Monsters are scary but dumb.  We are going to be basically invaded by aliens.

“None of this is going away.  It’s just going to get worse.  So strength is everything, not just for you, or for us, but for everyone.  This means leveling up and using your points in a smart way.  The advice I heard before, and what makes sense, is to focus on one style of ‘build,’ and keep that in mind with the choices you make.  Specialize.

“You all might know some of this now from the people who have been experimenting with this stuff and communicating about it out of town, but you need to stop using guns to kill monsters unless you have a skill for it.  Crap XP.  You also need to stop being so passive about getting XP and getting stronger.  This chainlink fence already isn’t enough protection.  Against some zombies, sure, but against what’s coming, or even other people?  It’s already not enough.”

“We just saw that, I think,” said Jim, his face grim.

I gave the mad a half smile with no humor.  “Exactly.  So anyway, that's basically it, but if I hadn't been here, you all would have been screwed. Then again, I don't know all of your free skills that you got.  But the people who just attacked were serious, and they had some pretty good abilities among them.  Of course, they also had guns.  Guns might suck for leveling, but they still work for people to kill people.”

Suddenly, one of the children that I'd seen before, the teen boy who’d  been the very first person from this group to even talk to me, popped his head out from behind a building. He said, "Someone shooting you didn't stop you."

I smiled at him tiredly. "That's kind of something special I have. Maybe your parents will be like that one day too, but right now, I don't think they are." I moved my eyes around the guns in the hands of most of the group and said, "Based on what I've seen, you all have been hunkering down here and haven't actually killed that many monsters. I doubt any of you is very high level. And guns are already becoming more and more obsolete every day. There will probably be a time in the near future when a firearm won't be all that useful unless you have an appropriate skill to use it with.  Not only that, people with gun-related skills might be able to level faster right now, but I figure they’ll probably run out of ammo eventually.  Maybe.”

After a few seconds of silence, Jim said, "I don't know if I can take everything you said at face value, but I also have no reason to doubt it that much. Either way, thank you. I hope the junk you found helps you" 

I wasn't feeling really great about all the killing I'd just done, and I had a lot to think about, especially with some of the other system notices I'd seen and the weird goblin summon I’d stolen. I also needed to bond with all of the items I just traded for. I turned to leave, and after I'd begun walking away, the blonde-haired woman called out, "What are you going to do now?"

I didn't even look back as I replied, "I'm going to kill some more monsters."

When I was far enough away to almost be out of earshot, I heard one of the new adults quietly say, "Who the hell was that guy?"

Andrew responded, "I don't know, but I'm glad none of us tried to shoot him."