Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

System: Mission Complete! Accept Rewards Y/N  

 

“Yes!” I yelled in my head.

 

System: Command Accepted. Transferring General Knowledge Of The World.

 

After the system said something about transferring knowledge my head began to ache horribly. Many pictures and texts flashed by my eyes. Videos of horrible happenings, the many atrocities that’ve breached this world since it went dark. Also the concept of going dark, some freak natural accident that set the world back to the stone age? What loss of all technology and electricity. 

 

The world I’ve come to is extremely complicated and after a few generations of people living in this post-apocalyptic world, new powers, customs and languages have appeared. Nature has retaken most of the land humanity has conquered, the animals from zoos and private sanctuaries have bred without hindrance. Tigers, lions, cheetahs, monkeys, and wolves as well as a multitude of other wild animals have spread across this post-apocalyptic America. Mankind is no longer the apex of this planet, and danger is a constant, even within the few major powers and strongholds spread across “Anricha” which is what North America now goes by. 

 

The system doesn’t seem to be one of those broken systems that can bring you to the top effortlessly, rather it’s an aide. It allows you to improve your strength faster than others, but in no way can it be considered a cheat. The only other perks that I’ve seen so far is the knowledge that it gives, such as the general knowledge, as well as the increased healing rate. Overall it appears that for the most part anything I do will rely purely on my own hard work, and determination.

 

…

 

“Toska, have a heart damn you! That’s all I have for the entire journey, who knows if they’ll feed us.” said Sebas

 

His curses brought me back to the reality of the situation. As it was explained by the system, I’ve been captured by some raiders, and since in this world slavery is a booming industry, my fate won’t be good if I remain here. However the chances of me surviving out in the wild, rife with dangerous wildlife and people is much lower. At least in this raider convoy there’s some safety, for now I’ll just wait for an opportunity and see.

 

“I’m sorry,” I said “I was so famished that I couldn’t help myself. Anyway grandpa, how’d you get captured? I don’t see anyone else here.” Sebas sighed as he said with a heavy heart, “Of course I sacrificed myself for our little group. What else should I do, I’ve watched every last one of you all grow up. It’d be too sad if I had to watch you die as well. My only regret is that you were captured with me. We’re in the hands of one of the cannibal cult tribes that worship the Lord of Misery.” 

 

“Cults? Cannibals? Lord of Misery?” I asked confusedly. Grandpa Sebas looked at me as if I were some strange abomination, before shaking his head and thinking, “poor lad, his injuries must’ve caused him to go foolish and lose all his memories. I’ve heard about this, in the Light Days it was called amensia… or something like that.” After thinking it all through grandpa Sebas decided to fill in Toska on the in’s and out’s of the cannibal tribes, or as much as he knew anyway.

 

…

Toska

…

 

“So what you're saying is that some old guy was high on some type of drug in the middle of the nevada desert-”

 

“Nevada?” Sebas asked

 

“-My bad the Wildlands, had some type of epiphany and decided to worship some god who believes life is suffering and struggle, and started eating people?!?!” I asked.

 

“Well, not exactly but yes, and we are headed back to their raid camp, and from there their tribal village or whatnot. Also keep your voice down, if they feel we are disrespecting their god, it won’t be as simple as us just dying. The Cult of Misery is known for its cruelty.”

 

After that there was a bit of silence between us as I digested the information I was just given. Just as I was about to ask another question to Sebas I heard a sharp cry from the left. “TREE LEAPERS 9 O’CLOCK!!” (monkeys) “TREE LEAPERS 3 O’CLOCK AS WELL!!” The convoy was now surrounded on both the left and right sides by tree leapers.

 

Tree Leapers were at first the “domesticated” monkeys that rich people kept as pets as well as the zoo animals. However once the world went dark and people no longer had time to worry about protecting the animals, the monkeys reverted to their more natural instincts and created large communities. Communities that preyed upon large and small animals and groups for food.

 

“SLAVES AND SUPPLIES, TIGHT AND TO THE CENTER! MY RAIDERS, FORMATION BRAVO. DEFEND AND REPEL!!” Yelled the Chief at the top of his lungs. The whole convoy moved smoothly as if they’d gone through trials like this multiple times. The slaves moved the supplies into two box formations, one inner and one outer. The slaves ran into the innermost box, while the raiders took up defensive positions in the outer box and readied themselves for the coming battle. 

 

The only two people who seemed like that had no idea what was going on was Toska, and Seba. They stood there dazedly watching the proceedings, until the Chief slapped Toska hard upside his head, and thrust him forcefully towards the center box yelling, “NO TIME TO FREEZE UP, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!” 

 

…

Toska

…

 

I was a bit shocked, I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect to run into such a dangerous situation so soon after landing in this world. There was a reverberating and constant shrill scream of the tree leapers that rebounded off the trees, making their numbers seem all but endless. They hung on tree branches and climbed up and down the tall and arching trees, looking down at all of us viciously. It seemed that we were at an impasse, neither side making a move. Staring pensively at each other, the air had the faint smell of gunpowder, just waiting for a spark to set the situation alight. 

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Suddenly the loudest shriek yet came from someplace deeper in the forest, causing the leapers to go seemingly insane. They hopped down, or skirted amongst the trees, charging towards our formation. As if used to attacking humans that zig-zagged left and right in anticipation of enemy fire. 

 

The Raid Chief, seeing this said, “Wait until they’re close enough to see the whites in their eyes, then fire.” 

 

The formation held, the raiders' hearts beat rapidly. The palms of their hands sweated profusely, as they tried to calm the churning and bubbling in their stomachs. They tightly gripped the assortment of rifles and pistols in their sweaty palms as they waited for the opportune moment to strike. Fights with other species never had a chance for mercy, either you died or they died, simple as that. That's the vicious world they were born into. 

 

The Chief looked on with a serious and calm face, a demeanour only possible due to his experience of surviving many such events. “50 METERS, 30 METERS, 10 METERS,” Chief yelled. When the leapers got within five meters he screamed fire. His voice was soon drowned out by the incessant sound of bangs as the triggers were pulled, and the world turned into a land of smoke and fire. No longer thinking of ammo conservation the raiders shot with all they had, with as much accuracy as they could. The first wave of leapers was mowed down, and the raiders let out their own war cry, in order to raise their spirits as well as hopefully to scare off the leapers. The leapers that remained proweld restlessly around the encampment, staring viciously and occasionally growling. 

 

Suddenly, once more there was a shrill shriek from deeper in the forest followed by a series of grunts and other shrieks. After the command was given the leapers beat the ground and hammered their chests, before once again charging. However this time some of the leapers swiftly climbed the trees and made their way over, agilely swinging from branch to branch towards the raiders. 

 

Once again the raiders fired when the leapers were close enough, however this time things were a bit different. Although many leapers were felled, there were also some human casualties, due to the leapers dropping down on the raiders from above and ripping them to shreds with their sharp teeth, claws, and strong bodies. The miserable cries of the raiders as they were torn limb from limb was enough to make one's blood run cold. One of the raiders stumbled towards the inner square, looking blankly towards the distance, mumbling, “...oh lord of anguish please save me.” As he fell to the ground all the slaves and raiders saw his half eaten face, many of his teeth missing, likely from the beating, and his eyeball that’d just rolled from his head due to him hitting the ground. 

 

The world was silent, before a deep roar came from the throats of a few of the raiders that were close to him. They screamed their grievances at the heavens as they pointed the rifles and pistols at the air and their surroundings, releasing Hell’s fury on the mortal plane. 

 

System: New Mission! Acquire A Firearm, Reward Storage Space. Accept Mission? Y/N

 

“A new mission? At a time like this?” After thinking for a while though I realized that there’s likely not a better chance than right now to grab a gun for my safety. Also with my knowledge from the Old World, a storage space should be a vacuum that I can place and remove things from, and that only I have access to. “Yes, accept the mission,” I said in my head.

 

System: Mission Accepted, Time Limit: 10 Minutes

 

“A FU**ING TIME LIMIT!! System you never mentioned this before.”

 

System: …

 

“F*CK! F*CK! Fine, I'll figure it out now.” I thought exasperatedly. I looked around and my eyes honed in on the man who’d died so gruesomely in front of me. After seeing the gory scene I was surprised I didn’t unearth the bread I’d eaten earlier, but whether because I was desensitised due to my time on Earth, or maybe the system was helping me, but I didn’t feel much when I saw the state he was in. The most important thing is that he had a P220 in his hand when he fell. It was a semi-auto handgun with an 8-round mag, that had manageable recoil, and did decent damage.

 

Now it was just a matter of getting the gun, however with my Grade-A Acting Skills, it shouldn’t be a problem. My current role was, main-character in a bad situation. 

“GUYS WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING AROUND! THIS IS A BAD SITUATION BUT IF THEY DIE WE ALL DIE TO!” I said as I pointed at the tall guy who’d kicked me earlier. “YOU, GRAB ANY SPARE AMMO YOU CAN FIND AND START BRINGING IT TO THE DEFENDERS.” “YOU!” I said as I pointed at Laura, “HAND OUT ANY OBJECTS THAT CAN BE USED AS WEAPONS AND HAND THEM TO THE REST OF THE CAPTIVES TO DEFEND AGAINST THE LEAPERS IN THE TREES! GRANDPA SEBAS AND I WILL GO OUT TO BRING THE DEAD AND INJURED INTO THE INNER SQUARE!!” Everyone stared at me for a moment, then the tall guy gritted his teeth and yelled, “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, YOU HEARD HIM!” Then he grabbed a box of ammo and ran towards the outer square. 

 

His actions created a tide, Laura began handing out any object that could poke or slash and armed the captives, and the captives ran out of the inner circle to slay and leapers that dared to jump down. The Chief saw all this, but in a matter of Human versus Animal all they could do is set aside their differences and trust each other. However he did now take note of that young boy, what was his name again?

 

“Grandpa Sebas, you take the right side, and I the left, if you see anyone lightly injured do some basic aid to get them back in the fight. If the injury is heavy, drag them to the inner circle, and if they’re dead, make sure they don’t get in the way.”

 

Sebas looked at Toska strangely, “Is this the same Toska I know? What happened to him after his injury?” the old man didn’t have much time to think though as he now had a job to do. He simply nodded his head and rushed towards the right, looking for anyone that was in need of assistance. 

 

…

Toska

…

 

“Finally I can get this mission going!” I thought as I ran towards the dead raider. There were only 3 minutes left on the mission after I’d finished giving my speech and dividing the work amongst everyone. I kneeled beside the raider, listening to his heart, which had long stopped beating, and after a little deliberation sighed and grabbed him under the arms. However in that motion I also slipped his P220 into the loose pants that I was wearing. As I dragged the body towards the inner square I also rifled through his pockets, finding 5 silver coins with the letter A in the middle and what seems to be a mushroom cloud in the background. I swiftly pocketed those, then after a bit more searching found an additional two magazines of ammo for the P220. “SCORE!!” I thought. There wasn’t much else on his body, so I laid it to the side, just as I received a notification from the system

 

System: Mission Complete! Accept Rewards? Y/N

Message To Readers:

 

So sorry for the lack of updates, I've been reading other novels, watching movies, and talking to others to try to make my novel better. This chapter is a bit longer than what I usually put out and 'll try to upload two more chapters today to make up for my previous folly. Sincerely sorry and hope you enjoyed the chapter. Also please, PLEASE, PLEASE leave a review, it really helps with exposure.

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