Chapter 77: Chapter 73

Tollya was watching Cube, and I needed to get back to her, but I stopped by the item storage building before heading home. I wanted to see if there was any kind of oven left over.

The barn itself was a very simple construction. Just a sloping dome of mud-crete, with two main cargo doors. One on the ground floor, and one in the loft, where a simple crane was attached to a short protuberance of mud-crete and metal.

I hauled open the wooden doors after lifting the latch. There was a hobb nearby, as part of the gate duty, and I noticed they were paying close attention to me. If I was anyone else, they would probably be asking questions before just letting me rummage around.

Inside the barn was a series of portioned out spaces on the single floor for general storage. The tents and air mattresses were neatly tucked in a corner of the high-ceilinged room, and the leftovers from our flea market were lined up against the far wall. There was a ladder and rudimentary cargo elevator at the back.

Everything was meant to be lit by naked light bulbs strung along the ceiling, but of course none of them worked yet. Thankfully, there was enough light for my helmet’s low light function to work perfectly, and I found what I was looking for quickly enough.

An oven was the goal, and I did end up finding one. It was an old style in-home unit that appeared to have been literally ripped out of the wall it had been attached to. The gas pipe had some colored wallpaper stuck on a raised lip of wood near the end, which appeared to have been sawed off with a power tool. That, and the mud-crete stains on it led me to suspect goblins.

I hefted the thing under one arm, letting the oven door hang open so I could grip it, and grabbed a bottle of propane that had been left beside it. With my treasures firmly gripped, I shoved open the barn door and made my way back outside.

As I walked past the parking lot, the girl with the sketchbook rapidly drew in it while glancing up and down at me. I stopped and sighed, before setting the oven down and approaching. Before I could get more than a few feet in her direction, she gathered up her things and fled.

I stared at her as she ran down the line of mud-crete huts into the darkness. Then I shrugged and grabbed my oven again, hauling it down the road to my place.

Tollya was glad to leave once I arrived, and I checked in on Cube. He appeared to be asleep. I dragged the oven and propane tank into the other room and got to work setting them up.

It took a purchase from BuyMort to get the propane hooked up to the oven, and I felt like a level 50 smart shopper just for finding it.

The connector. Its ad promised it would connect any water or gas piping system within a reasonable size range, without fail. The connector crimped down on two ends of pipe, drawing them together and creating a constriction weld that was guaranteed to survive any residential use. They were vague about the wording of what qualified, but propane bottle to oven was well within the range of this strange item’s ability.

When it arrived, I started my newest flesh-tape pile in the corner with a shudder. Maybe Cube would want to eat it. In the box was a scaled sea cucumber. The entire tube was covered in small silver metallic scales, which rippled with movement when I pressed one end of it to the propane tanks nozzle, and the other to the cut oven gas line.

Both ends of the connector crunched as the metal object squeezed and crushed the short lengths of pipes together. It changed color as the compression weld began, which was bizarrely described as a ‘heat-free’ process. The strange tube robot would simply harden its own internal structures once it had used its plating to create a perfect seal.

Next, I sneaked back into Cube’s room and took a long length of cabling from his roost. It featured a multi-plug option that worked with the oven, so I happily plugged it in and turned the handle to turn on the propane.

It hissed and I immediately smelled a whiff of rotten egg. Hesitantly, I reached out to turn on a burner, and the flame roared out three inches above the stove. After I turned off the propane and oven, I read a little plaque on the back of the oven that explained why it was for use with natural gas only.

The nozzles inside were too big for propane, which led to too much being released, even when the oven or stove top is turned off. The entire thing was a death-trap, and I scowled in frustration. Then I dragged it outside and left it in the dirt.

I just wanted to make suet cake for Darclau so it would be ready when he got back. Guess I would need the help of my Knowles to figure that out too.

My irritated stewing was interrupted by a light knock at my front door. I could see from the shadow cast beneath the door that it was Molls. I quickly cast about for a shirt but realized that I had nothing but empty mud-crete walls and a sensitive infant Cube that appeared to like meat.

So I answered the door in my helmet.

Molls was fully dressed. Her scales were a neutral white, and flushed pink immediately upon seeing herself reflected in my helmet’s mirrored surface. I winced and removed it, that had been a terrible idea.

The heating element in Moll’s hood hummed, and she smiled gently at me as I lowered the helmet to my side. I was suddenly conscious of the metal starfish embedded in my chest. Molls held steady eye-contact and dipped her head to me.

“Thank you for seeing me, Tyson. I wanted to apologize. You were correct about Garthrust and his intentions, and I was foolish to ignore you. Thank you for protecting me, in spite of myself.” Her scales deepened in color steadily as she spoke.

“That’s my job,” I answered. My voice was low, and I didn’t know what to say to comfort her. “That was, uh. . . “ I trailed off, but Molls leaned in.

“What?” She smiled sadly. “Please, speak your mind.”

I shrugged. “That was awful. What he did to you.”

She looked down, and her scales deepened in color. “Yes. Yes it was.” Then the giant snake woman smiled. “I would argue what you did to him was equivalent.”

“Well.” I shrugged again. “I did go easy on him.”

She laughed. Just once, a sharp, harsh laugh. Her hand raised to cover her lips, as if in shock the sound had come from her. Then she dropped her hand and hung her head. “You did, didn’t you? Was that for me?”

I nodded. “And the camp. But yeah, mostly you.” I gestured to the helmet. “I have a recording of his admission here, if that means anything.”

“Thank you Tyson. If he lives, I can counter his claim. Which I have already done, by the way. I filed an emergency notification with the church, accusing him of drugging me. Your recording will be valuable indeed, I am relieved to hear there is evidence of some kind. I recorded my own bio-stats immediately after taking a sedative to counteract the control. The geo-positioning and timestamps of both recordings together will be compelling evidence.”

She sighed and waved her phone against my helmet as I manipulated the screen to transfer the video file to her. “I will keep you informed of your church protective status.”

“Thank you, Molls.” I hesitated. “Is there anything I can do? I don’t know how to help, maybe just be a friend?”

She sighed quickly, but then smiled. “I am going, now, actually, to spend some time with Phyllis on her marvelous porch. That place has healing properties. I just came by to apologize.”

I nodded, eagerly. “Of course, I understand. And no worries. At all. I’ll uh, see you around.”

Molls lowered her head and nodded. “Good night, Tyson.”

Standing in the doorway with no shirt, I watched her slither away down the road. Her posture was huddled, and she moved slowly.

I became restless. So much for being tired. I needed to make a phone call, anyway. Lee and his people needed warning, and I had put it off out of doubt for far too long already.

The psychic phone connected me to Lee, of Sundew Valley Foods. The older man answered after a single ring. “Tyson, good to hear from you.”

“Hey, Lee. I need to warn you, I think Dearth might be planning to hit your place. Is everything okay with your priest? They just made a move on mine.” I walked back inside as I spoke, heading upstairs to my gear.

You are reading story BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit at novel35.com

Lee was on the wall, I could see the night sky in his background. He nodded, his lips a grim line beneath his mustache. “Nah, our priest has up and left. The hobbs been muttering all day, after the priest had a visitor from the church this morning. Been calling her a bad priest. Now they’re wanting to renegotiate their contract to reflect the lack of church protection.”

I ran a hand over my face. “Ah hell, Lee. Better get the idea of movin’ over here in your people’s heads.”

He scowled. “You think so?”

“They made a serious move on our priest tonight, drugged her and sent the recording to get her disrobed. We countered, but I don’t think it’ll turn our way either.” I clipped my swords back in place as I spoke. “That’s not how companies like this work.”

“I’ll consider it as a backup plan, if’n we need to. And I appreciate your hospitality.” He nodded at me. “We ain’t likely to give up our home though.”

“Understand completely. Hey, before you go. I think my place is pretty well secured against ‘em for the night, but I need to make another food run before the damn yarsps come out in force.” I shrugged at him on the phone. “I’m handy in a fight. Would you mind if I swung by?”

He scowled but nodded along as I spoke. “Aye, aye we could do that easy enough, I’ll get some baskets and bushels rounded up for you. Morties?”

I nodded. “Plenty of em. Enough for that pickup truck again, but all fruit and veg. We got cold food storage now.”

He nodded back, bobbing his mustache. “See you soon.”

We hung up and I froze. Someone was in the room with me, and she smelled like red wine and baby oil.

“Lady Shireen,” I said. I closed my eyes and turned in place before opening them.

She was in the room behind me, having just climbed the stairs. A loose kimono of red and black silk covered her nudity, and she waved a bottle of wine at me with a lusty smile.

“I hear you beat an orc to death in the dirt near here tonight,” she drolled. “I saw the blood-stains on my way in.” She puffed her breath at my neck with the end of the sentence, standing far too close. 

I blinked. “Yeah, that was a thing that happened, alright.” I swallowed my fear and tried to face her with confidence.

She stepped over to my balcony and swung the doors open, her kimono fluttering to expose sculpted thighs. “Quadrum wishes to meet with you, Tyson. Then, when he's done, you and I can have some fun.” Taytrinn smiled and leaned against the doorframe, so her kimono stretched out over the right areas.

I ignored her, staring at the floating beholder on my porch. It was exposed, anyone in the camp who wanted to see it could. Quadrum suddenly surged forward and grappled Taytrinn with two of his tentacles. The eyes on the end latched to her temples, and the beholder dangled the dark elf from her skull, swinging her to look at me.

“RELEASE ME, TYSON DAWES OF SILKEN SANDS!” Taytrinn shouted the words, but they were in a much deeper, masculine voice, and sounded as though her vocal chords were under duress.

“How?” I replied. This was unexpected, but I was glad to not be fending off Taytrinn’s advances.

“FREE ME FROM MY DELVES! THEY INTERFERE! I MUST STUDY THE SLEEM! RELEASE ME FROM MY DELVES!” Quadrum slipped his tentacles away from Lady Shireen’s temples and she dropped to the floor, gasping and clutching at her throat. The beholder floated away, drifting quickly out of sight.

Her voice was nearly a croak. “What happened? Quadrum spoke to you directly?” She was clearly scared, but anger started to replace it quickly. “What did you discuss?!”

“Does Quadrum do that often?” I asked gently, peering at her throat. Her fingers were still rubbing the area, but when she saw my attention she turned away in a huff.

“As a beholder, Quadrum is perfectly welcome to use my house, my noble line as he sees fit. That does include using my voice box as desired,” she gasped and choked. “But he has not for many years. Most often, the beholder merely skims my mind, and I translate.” Her eyes widened and she whipped her head back to face me. “What did you discuss?!”

I raised my hands to reassure her. “Quadrum doesn’t want any of us coming down there, or interacting with his area. He said he’s doing an important experiment and our proximity would disturb its results.”

Lady Shireen blinked rapidly, still rubbing at her throat. But she visibly calmed. “Thank you, Tyson.” The dark elf said suddenly. She wrapped her kimono around herself tighter and turned to leave.

“Another time then,” I said after her. Lady Shireen turned and shined her glowing red eyes at me, before she whipped down the stairs without a response.

The highwater blaster was right where I had left it, propped against the wall, and I grabbed it up to sling across my bare chest, thinking about my close call with the dark elf.

Something just told me that the relationship between her crowd of elves and the rest of my affiliate would be significantly different once she tried, and failed, to kill me post coitus. Now that Quadrum seemed to want them gone, I couldn’t imagine a peaceful outcome between us.

Anytime Taytrinn came onto me, all I could think about was Molls. Especially now that I knew how she felt about me. I shook my head clear of it and went back downstairs to find a babysitter for Cube.

I was about to call Rayna to send a hobb, when a thought struck me, and I called Axle instead.

When he answered, I smiled briefly and turned the camera to show Cube. “I was hoping you had some insight on how to take care of this thing. Right now, I need to leave, and the little guy seems to freak out when I do.”

Jada’s face pushed into the camera on the other side, and Axle shifted the camera to make room. She exited the camera, trailing a bra with six cups behind her. I heard her in the background say, “I’ll be there in a few minutes, I want to meet it.”

Axle nodded and shrugged. He moved and I saw that they had both been in bed. Of course. This place was turning into a home, people were going to have sex at home. Again, a thought of Molls crossed my mind, but then he was speaking, and I refocused.

“She was mad about the beholder, but almost as excited about meeting a Cube.” I heard the door of his hut slam, and he chuckled. “Very excited. She should be there soon. I’ll be working on getting the electricity up and running soon, so I’ll be there shortly as well.”

“You guys had a break, but do feel free to actually rest as well, at some point,” I said.

He blinked at me and nodded. “Jada will be getting some sleep soon, she plans to join you on your raid tomorrow. There was some bad blood between her and the militia when we worked for Dearth.”

I nodded. “Okay, sounds good to me. You don’t mind me taking her into a possible battle?”

Axle laughed, deep in his chest. “She thinks it will be a battle. That is why she is going with.” There he shrugged and sighed. “I fell in love with a warrior. I could never try to take that from her just because I fear losing her in battle. She is not mine to lose, but her own. I take great pleasure in every moment of her unique life that she chooses to spend at my side.”

My eyes widened and I shook my head, blinking in surprise. “Damn. That was wise.”

Axle shrugged and smiled at me in the camera. “That’s my job.”

You can find story with these keywords: BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit, Read BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit, BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit novel, BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit book, BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit story, BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit full, BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit Latest Chapter