Chapter 58: Rosy Language

I started my walk back to Jasper, going through my notifications as I did so.

Excellent work Marshall! You’ve successfully performed a secondary goal of your job ‘Combat’! You’ve earned 60 Patriot Points!

Congratulations Citizen! You have earned ranks in Long guns! Good job exercising your 2nd amendment rights!

Congratulations Citizen! You have earned a rank in tracking! Like the brave Indian on the fertile grasses of the west following herds of buffalo, you carry on a proud tradition!

I laughed to myself. I hadn’t been tracking that bus so much as trailing behind it as it dragged me, but hell, I’d take the point.

Congratulations Citizen! You’ve earned a level in Marshall, Justice is an American tradition. You have received +1 Strength, +1 Intelligence, and +1 Perception.

I frowned and pulled up my Citizen Sheet.

Citizen: Donovan

5th Level Postman/ 6th Level Marshall

Patriotism Points: 35

SPINES: Be the backbone of America!

Strength- 25

Perception- 20

Intelligence- 15

Nationalism- 4

Endurance- 23

Speed- 17

Job Abilities:

Neither Rain, Sleet, or Snow: You are unhampered by adverse weather.

Express: You gain a 5% bonus to movement speed.

Special Delivery: You can mark a delivery ‘special’ which will allow you to track it.

Under Cover: You may retain your previous class and those with the ability to read previous classes will see whichever class you choose to show.

You're Under Arrest: You may temporarily remove all job based bonuses from a target to ease apprehending them. This person also becomes highlighted within your vision and more easily trackable.

Freeze: Incapacitate a single target for one minute

The Eyes of the Law- Detect another citizen’s job

Federal Authority: You cannot be affected by the abilities of others unless you choose to be

Skills:

Walking- 35

Pistol- 11

Loading/unloading- 22

Customer Service- 14

Driving- 6

Melee Weapons- 7

Long Guns- 10

Investigation- 11

Tracking- 6

Virus:

Deadman- Bonus to all physical stats +5, negative to social based skills

Natural weapon- Teeth

Night Vision

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Accelerated Healing

Enhanced Stamina

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I grimaced. While leveling was always good, the fact that the auto-leveling had cost me almost all of the Patriot Points I’d recently earned wasn’t. I wouldn’t have much aside from credit with which to bargain with Bill, though hopefully, he was in a more generous mood after I helped him. I looked at my sheet again. The system still seemed to be having trouble recognizing whatever ability I’d gained through the virus. The distortion had shown up shortly after my conflict with Pete, but I still had no indication of what I’d gained. I supposed it was also possible that the change was ongoing.

I reached the edge of town, and saw a number of destroyed buildings, spent shell casings, and a group of wounded being dug out of rubble or treated. All the people of Jasper had their firearms at their sides, and were looking around nervously. I saw three men trying to lift a roof off of a man who was groaning in pain. I stuck a hand underneath one end of it and lifted it off of him, allowing one of the men to drag him out. I then began to do the same for a few more people caught underneath rubble, or who simply needed help being moved after being wounded. There was a local medic working in the center of where things had been cleared who stopped me before I could walk off to Bills.

He eyed the bullet holes and marks on my clothing. “Do you need some help?”

I shook my head. “No. These holes have been there a while. Took the clothes off a dead man.”

The man made a face at me, but moved to help a different person before he said anything. I turned the corner to Bill’s when I heard a voice.

“Donovan?”

I turned around to see a middle aged woman, wearing overalls, with a gun strapped across her shoulder. Her hair was dark with gray streaks and her skin had the kind of texture that only comes from long hard days of working in the sun. If you're human that is.

“Who's asking?”

“I’m Rose. Mayor of this freshly fucked town.” She looked me up and down. “You’re Donovan, right? The Marshall? Mr. Big Brass Balls that’s been shaking things up round here?”

I coughed, a little surprised by the rapid fire cursing. I was used to hearing a curse here and there, but never before had I heard them so expertly slung. “Yeah. That’s me.”

“Few of my boys in the tower said that you were dangling from the back of the bus when you lost sight of it. You take care of that fuckbus or what?”

I shook my head. “Fraid not. Got shot out the back of it as soon as I got inside. Only managed to take a single one out.”

The woman spat. “Well shit.”

“I would consider building a wall if I were you. I know you’re not used to raiders hitting you here between much easier settlement targets, but this new group is crafty. They managed to sneak a bus into horde territory, and targeted your settlement because they knew you wouldn’t expect it. They probably won’t try the same thing again. At least not here. You should probably send a runner to contact the Horde too. The Khan’ll want to know about this.”

“Already done, soon as the shooting started.” The woman sighed and looked out across the destruction of her settlement. “Shit, I always hated walls.” She pulled a cigarette from behind her ear and lit it, inhaling deeply. “Suppose I could do a moat instead. Fill it with stakes.”

I shrugged. “It’s your town.”

“Damn right it is. You gonna be around a while? People might be able to take it a little easier knowing you’re around.”

I let out a barking laugh. “I doubt that.”

The woman raised an eyebrow at me. “Maybe you should think about that.”

I looked around and noticed a few glances in my direction. People nodded when I made eye contact, and a few even attempted smiles. It made me feel queasy, and considering what I regularly chose to eat, that was a difficult thing to accomplish. “I'll be around for another day or two I think, but I never know when I might get called away.”

Rose nodded. “Alright. Well, thanks for your help. I’m gonna fuck off and try to get a few of these lazy bastards to get off their asses and start digging me a trench.”

With that she was off, yelling at a few people still in shock on the sidelines, throwing shovels, and generally bullying the town into getting back to work.

I walked the rest of the way to Bill's, and found that a half dozen raider corpses were laid out in front of his shop; their weapons and ammo and anything else of value were stripped off of them. The sign out front had been partially fixed and was now reading ‘Murp ‘s’ I stepped over two of the dead raiders to go inside and found Bill collecting spent shell casings and bullets and putting them into a bucket.

“Hey, Murp.”

He nodded at me. “Donovan.”

“You alright?”

He nodded. “Same as always.”

“Got anything for me?”

“Just a moment.” Bill bent and picked up a few more things, plopping them into his bucket before he started rifling through counters and under piles of gear. He pulled out a few cases of ammo, a small stack of books, and a pile of old highway maps. This was done one item at a time, and none of the items had been located in the same pile. When he was done he gestured to it. “Nothing major this time. Just the basic stuff you usually ask me to keep an eye out for.”

I nodded and started rifling through all of it. The ammo I immediately put to the side. I always needed more of that. I looked through the books, removing ‘The Secret to being a great Housewife’, and ‘Komrad: A Story of Eastern Seduction’ from the stack immediately. He’d tried to sell those both to me twice already. The rest were fantasy and science fiction novels of varying quality. Luckily for him, I tended to enjoy them whether they were good or bad. I slid those all onto my pile. From there I looked through the maps, removing several I already had, and a few I didn’t need, but keeping several that detailed the West Coast that I’d never seen before. I had a few maps of that area, in spite of the fact that it was inaccessible, but you never knew what could happen. I’d seen things I’d have never believed were possible within just the last year.

I finished making my pile, and brought my attention back to Bill. “So, what do I owe you?”

“With the credit from the corpses of the raiders you killed, this should all be covered.”

I blinked, took a step out of the shop, and realized that all the raiders he’d looted had been those I’d killed or the ones that were already dead when I’d reached the shop. I stepped back in. “Sounds like a good deal to me.”

I noticed Bill shift his attention to my right, and I turned to see what he was looking at. A woman had entered the room without me noticing and had ‘Komrade: A Story of Eastern Seduction’ in her hands.

“How much for this one?” asked Leah.

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