Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Machine Upgrades

Henry felt as though he would tip the forklift over with his weight. He wasn't made to stand on the edge of such things. It didn't help that Riley drove like a formula one driver.

They sped down the side of the store, nearing the place they'd fought the Faceless.

He sniffed. It smelled like burnt oil. Smoke seeped through the cracks of the hood. "Slow down," Henry said.

Riley slammed the break, nearly sending Henry flying. He glanced at her.

"You did say to slow down."

When they slowly neared the scene, a single mannequin was pulling away a set of legs. The legs assisted in the movement, walking without a body.

Henry held his breath. Riley and Julio had run out of ammo, and the forklift was on its last wheel. Fighting one of these things could draw others, and they wouldn't be prepared this time.

The Faceless continued pulling away the legs until it went out of sight. The three of them sighed collectively. Riley put the vehicle in park and shut it off.

Henry stepped off to assess the damage. The siding was cracked. The forks were chipped and bent. Worst of all was the smoke rising from the engine.

If this White Blood didn't work, they would be without a vehicle, and his build would be useless until he found another one.

Pools of white stuff dotted and smeared the floor. It looked like milk mixed with soap. It had that rainbow sheen when it caught the light.

"Pardon me," Henry said politely as reached over Riley to navigate the forklift's display.

"You're pardoned," Riley said with a faux British accent.

Henry glanced at her. Her blue eyes looked amused. Worse, her face was too close to his own. He looked away, embarrassed, fumbling to navigate the forklift's display.

He arrived at the diagram of the forklift, a list of four upgrades beside it. The hologram showed the percentage of damage to each section of the vehicle. The engine and wheels were in critical condition. He hadn't noticed the wheels during his earlier inspection.

"Amazing," Riley whispered. Her breath smelled of fresh mint. "Is the computer that operates the display in the forklift... Or inside or minds?"

"I have no idea."

Henry selected the White Blood upgrade. It gave no instructions on how to apply it, or how effective this self-repairing would even be.

"I need to add White Blood somehow," Henry said. "It will make the forklift self-repair."

"My cousin was a mechanic," Julio said. "I should know a thing or two."

"We'll need a method to collect the fluid first."

Riley slid out of her seat. "How about one of those dust sweeper things?"

"Dust sweeper things?"

"The flat thing that goes with a broom. Duh."

"Right," Henry said. "Those are on the far side of the store."

"You two can go on foot while I open this baby up!" Julio said.

"What is this, a horror movie? No, we're not splitting up," Riley said.

Julio shrugged. "My pistol is without ammo. I won't be of much use to you now, you know?"

She nodded. "I guess. Just don't go off alone to investigate any creepy noises."

He nodded with a big grin.

She rolled her eyes.

Henry and Riley walked away together. There were bodies everywhere. A feeling of nausea swelled in him. It wasn't just the blood or the crushed skulls. He had failed to protect these people.

He hadn't even tried to save that woman.

His father wouldn't have cared. Maybe that was why Henry cared so much. Because he wanted to be nothing like that man. And yet here he was, slowly succumbing to cowardice.

"Um. Where are we going?" Riley said.

Henry blinked. "It's a good ways down still."

She didn't respond.

He looked over at her, curious how she was handling things. She looked worn. Like someone that had gone a full night without sleep.

She looked over, furrowing her brows. "What?"

"I was just wondering if you're okay."

"I'm fine."

Henry nodded to himself. "I'm glad to hear it. I thought that with..." He bit his tongue, wishing he hadn't brought it up. It was too soon.

"What? That my boyfriend is dead?"

Henry might have challenged that earlier, but the grim reality of their situation made him realize that it was probably true.

"I'm sorry," he said. In truth, he didn't pity the loss of such a man.

"You don't sound like it."

Henry blinked. "I... I just don't like people that treat women that way. I'm sorry for you."

"Don't act like you knew him," she said defensively.

"I know that he hit you."

Riley paused in her tracks. She looked furious, eyes burning like blue stars. "You have no right to say such things." Slowly, she looked down, raising a trembling hand to her face. "Oh god," she said. "My mom. My brother. What if they're dead too?"

"They could have made it to a store in time."

"My mom lives just around the corner," she choked. "I guess it's possible."

"What about your brother?"

"He lives out of state."

Henry nodded. "So does mine. I'm not a math wiz, but if you combined every store on the planet, and stacked them several times, I'm pretty sure it would still fit in the state of Texas."

Riley relaxed.

"Come on, then," he extended a hand to her.

She looked down at it. "What am I, your girlfriend now?"

Henry turned red. "I didn't mean that."

She brushed past him.

As they neared the junction, there was the sound of something falling over. They froze. A deep groan sounded from beyond the corner.

Heavy footsteps sounded, paired with the crunching of flesh. Another Hungered One? Slowly Henry backed up. He bumped a stack of boxes. One of them tipped forward precariously.

Riley lifted a hand to stop it. Her blue eyes said, 'seriously?'.

Henry didn't have a good defense. Being big and clumsy was his greatest physical weakness. Slowly they tiptoed away.

"We'll need another method to collect the fluid," Henry said once they were far enough away.

"Or we can just get out of here? We can't stay in this store with that thing!" Riley whispered.

She was walking awfully close to him. Cinnamon and spice found his nose.

"We can check the other store," Henry said.

Halfway down the stretch, he peered through the wide-open entrance.

He froze, blood-curdling. He saw the profile of a Hungered One. It looked like a morbidly obese woman, but 12 feet tall and two and a half tons, blood dripping from her mouth over too-grey skin, her eyes sickly yellow.

"Yeah, forget it," Riley said. "Let's go back."

"Why are there so many of those things around? You think they'd ease up after the purge."

"I don't know," Riley whispered. "Maybe it's due to all the bodies. They're here for clean-up. Or they were just drawn by the available meat. Hungered Ones," she emphasized the name.

They arrived at the scene, Julio inspecting the now-open hood. Henry walked up to him.

Julio pointed. "There's the cap to the oil tank. You think this stuff is like oil?"

Henry rubbed his bearded chin. It sounded reasonable-

"It would in the real world," Riley said. "But in this system, it could go anywhere."

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Henry froze. Now he was doubtful. "What exactly does oil do in an engine, besides lubrication?"

"You said it, gancho. It lubricates the engine and transmission."

"So if this stuff can self-repair, wouldn't it only self-repair those specific parts?"

Julio stood as high as Henry's shoulder. "I think so, gancho."

Riley groaned. "It could be way more simple than that." Her boots met the floor as she stalked around the vehicle to kneel before a puddle. She dipped her finger in it then walked over to the forklift.

She rubbed a little bit of it on the paint.

Self-Repairing Surface 2% complete!

"Well I guess that solves it," Henry said.

The three of them went about, dipping their hands into the fluids to then rub it against the forklift, all the while keeping their ears open for the Hungered Ones.

When he brushed his hand over a crack in the paint, the marring slowly faded away. After ten minutes a notification appeared.

Surface Repair complete! 4/5 sections remaining.

"Hurrrghhh!" the deep guttural sound echoed toward them.

The three of them ran for cover as a Hungered One lumbered nearby.

It was about forty paces away. Had it eaten all of the bodies between them in this time? Henry spotted a body in the Item Return Center. Just great. That would lead it right over to them.

"We have to move that body," Henry said.

Riley looked at the Hungered One's hairy back and greasy head with wide eyes. "What? No..."

"The bodies make me sick, gancho. I think I'm with her."

Henry pointed, tracing the path the monster would take if it went for the body. "The forklift is directly in its path. What if it destroys it?"

Riley cursed softly. "I hate this place."

Henry had argued enough. He left his place of hiding, placing his steps softly as he made his way to the body. Funny how brave he could be when it was his own life on the line.

He stepped around the glossy white pools, crossing the remaining distance to the corpse.

The body looked battered. Likely from the Faceless. He grabbed them beneath the shoulder and legs too and carried them. He followed the wall, heading away from his group.

Henry watched the Hungered One swallow the end of man's leg, boot and all. Its neck bulged from the body sliding down its esophagus. More chewing sounds and a terrible belch. It stood there for a moment, swaying under its weight.

Henry hurried his step. Any second and it would turn around and spot him. That feeling of anticipation rose. Like a sneeze ready to burst.

He walked out of view, heading down the aisle they'd fought the dark monster.

The ground quaked as the monster took a few uncertain steps. It sniffed. Henry went faster. He needed to reach the end of the aisle before it reached either end, or it would see him.

It started walking over. Henry ran-walked. The end of the aisle felt miles away. He would never cross the forty paces in time, he...

Henry looked back. The monster had chosen the adjacent aisle. It was taking the shortest path to retrieve the corpse. It must have had a really strong sense of smell. Henry reached the end and rested the body behind the pallet racks. He didn't miss the pool of blood that marked one of his failures.

As Henry made his way back, he felt more and more hopeless. How could he ever live with himself if he became like his father? His father would have mastered this environment in an instant. He had been a cunning and resourceful man.

The man had risen from being a general contractor to owning an entire construction business. Henry had worked there at one point. Henry bit back the painful memories.

As he neared, he looked up from the floor at Riley.

She looked beautiful and hopeful. "Is it gone?"

"Yes. It should stay over there until it finishes the body. We should push the forklift out of view so that it won't spot us if it decides to come the same way I did."

"You did good, gancho. Why so serious?"

Henry didn't respond. He got behind the forklift to push it. They didn't seem to realize how quickly the Hungered One could devour bodies.

Riley cleared her throat.

Julio came beside Henry to help push the forklift. "You probably saved us, gancho. You should feel good."

"I saved myself," Henry said.

The forklift rolled to a stop.

Henry felt his flask against his leg, calling him. Would they blame him for a single swish? He tried to resist the urge. It wasn't the time to be impaired. But his hand pulled it out anyway, unscrewing the flask to raise it to his mouth. He cherished the burn. The muting of senses that followed.

He exhaled, a descending feeling. It didn't take away his pain. Why didn't it take away his pain?

"So, what parts remain do you think?" Riley asked.

"Probably the oil."

She was looking at his flask.

Henry extended it. "Want some?"

"No thanks... I'd rather be fully aware at a time like this."

Her words felt like a stab. Like she was accusing him of putting their lives in jeopardy. She wasn't wrong though. Henry twisted the oil cap and pulled, a long strip of metal pulled out of the oil tank.

What was the point of this? He was going to get them killed. "I don't know what's wrong with me," he whispered.

He furrowed his brow. Why had he said that aloud? Was he so desperate for someone to step in and comfort him?

"Don't crack on us, dude," Riley said. She walked up to him, looking up with bright blue eyes. "Do you want to get us killed?" Her defiant look spurred something in him.

"No, I don't," he said.

"It has to get easier than this, gancho. How could they expect us to survive sixty days with those things walking around everywhere?"

He was right. This was more or less an extension of the purge, designed to lower the survivors even more while cleaning up the massacre.

"The Hungered Ones will go away soon I imagine," Henry said.

"That's the attitude, gancho."

"We still need something to collect the White Blood."

Riley looked in the direction of the Hungered One. "I'll get it."

She started off at a jog. Henry raised his hand, a gesture of 'wait.' But she was already gone. What if something happened to her? No. She's fast. Smart too. Nothing will happen to her.

Self Repairing Wheels 2%!

Julio was rubbing that stuff into the wheels. Henry kneeled on his big knees and joined him.

"What did you do before this?" Henry asked.

"I was a rancher! I had one hundred goats, twenty horses, and fifty cattle. I will miss the goats, you know."

Henry nodded. "I know."

Riley came back after a moment. She had three dustpans. Her thighs glistened with sweat. Not that he was looking. I don't look at women like that, he told himself.

"I got rags too," Riley said. She frustratingly tried to open the plastic with her bare hands.

"Let me see," Julio said. She handed him one of the packages.

He withdrew a small pocket knife, using that to open the package. He did so with the rest as well. Soon they were sopping up the White Blood with the rags to quickly wipe down the forks, the seats, everything.

Henry watched the metal forks straighten into sharp flat tips. Then he twisted the soaked rag over the oil hole. It turned out to be more efficient than using the dustpan.

Soon the engine and wheels both hit 100%, as well as the interior, the forks, and the engine.

Self-repairing upgrade complete!

Your forklift will now use nanite oil to self-repair all surfaces and parts. You will need to replace the oil as often as you would with regular oil, but you won't need to coat the surfaces.

"I'm hungry as hell," Riley said, slumping down into the driver's seat.

"See anything you wanted when you ran through the store?"

"No," she said. "The fridges by the registers were empty. So were the shelves."

Henry looked up. "What?"

"I didn't see any food anywhere inside this store," she said.

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