Event Horizon 2: A LitRPG Apocalypse, page 14
He twisted, gritting his teeth when the spear still clipped his arm. Blood welled from the gash, but he forced himself to ignore it. It would hurt later on, he didn’t doubt, but Herman was so filled with rage and adrenaline that the pain barely registered as more than a scratch.
He drove his blades twice more into the hole he’d already carved out of the Phenomenon’s body. And then he struck a third time, grunting with effort as the blades slid through tarry flesh.
A chunk of the monster dropped to the ground with a squelch, like a big piece of black jelly that had been carved out. The beast teetered, stumbling, then crashed to the ground with it.
Congratulations! You have killed a Phenomenon Drone. You have earned 1 stat point.
Dodge +1
Herman nodded to himself. For Gerald, he thought. The grief and rage still burned inside him, but he felt some level of satisfaction with the result of the fight. Maybe, if he kept on fighting, kept killing Phenomenon monsters and making a difference in humanity’s fight against the invaders, then he wouldn’t feel like he’d completely failed Gerald.
Then he blinked in surprise. That fight… had been much easier than he’d expected it to be. Far easier than it had been yesterday, and even easier than it had been earlier in the day, that was for sure. He’d taken on a single Drone at the beginning of the Phenomenon’s invasion and literally died. And today he’d killed one without Ohsheit’s help and without any major injury—without breaking a sweat at all, in fact.
A quick check of his body confirmed that he’d only sustained one injury and it was barely more than a shallow cut. Not only had he survived, he’d crushed that Drone.
It seemed that all the points he poured into his Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution were making a difference. He wondered just how formidable he could become.
A memory of Ohsheit attacking the Amalgamation came back to him in a rush. Herman supposed that was where he was heading if he continued to develop his skills and abilities.
“Huh,” he said, turning to look at Ohsheit. “I guess you’re a decent teacher after all. And this whole leveling up stats and skills actually sort of works.”
Ohsheit scoffed. “Of course it works. And I am an exceptional teacher. Why would you think otherwise?”
Herman was going to point out that someone named Ohsheit wasn’t inspiring a lot of confidence in anyone from an English-speaking culture, but before he could, his uncle opened the door and stood, leaning on it and staring at him.
“That,” he said slowly, “was the singular most successful athletic thing I have ever seen you do, Herman.”
Herman smiled sheepishly at his uncle. He wasn’t wrong. Herman had never done so much as even run a 5k, and he’d always somehow ended up injured on a regular basis during aikido. And to have just eviscerated a genocidal alien in less than five moves? Well, that had to be the most athletic thing plenty of civilians had done in their lives.
Uncle Ray tapped his hand on the car. “If Ohsheit taught you all that, maybe I should give this cultivating thing another go.”
Herman grinned at him. “I think that would be good.”
“I ain’t swallowing one of those cores though. Just so we’re clear,” Uncle Ray said. He looked off into the distance and raised an eyebrow, pointing at something behind Herman. “Before you get back in the truck, you might want to take care of those two.”
Heart sinking, Herman whirled around, raising his tar-covered knives.
There, lumbering out of the trees, were two more Phenomenon Drones.
Herman flicked some of the tar from his knives, getting into a ready position again. He grinned, feeling more confident than he ever thought he would under circumstances like this. Facing two much larger enemies, an aliens at that, he felt utterly convinced that he would be victorious.
“No problem.”
With that, he charged.
CHAPTER 18
HERMAN
“Pull off on this road.”
Herman glanced at Uncle Ray, raising his eyebrows. They were only a few minutes from Glasset, and he wanted to be there as soon as possible.
“Why? This is a logging road that goes nowhere.”
“Eh, it goes somewhere.” Uncle Ray patted the giant grenade launcher that he’d wedged in next to him. “I need to get something a little more practical than this, and that’s down here.”
Herman turned down the road, immediately missing the relatively smooth ride they had enjoyed on the cracked pavement roads as the truck headed into a heavily wash-boarded dirt path. The Humvee shuddered and rattled as it endured the troublesome surface of the logging road.
“Practical?” Herman asked. “There’s something more practical than that grenade launcher?”
“Hell yeah. I saved your ass with this little beauty the other night,” Uncle Ray said. “So, imagine what I could do with something more powerful.” He pointed off to the side of the road. “There it is, pull over.”
Herman glanced to the side of the abandoned road to a dilapidated shack. It looked like a stiff breeze would blow it over, and it wasn’t any larger than an outhouse. In fact, if he had to guess, he’d say that’s exactly what it had originally been.
“Why are we stopping here?” Ohsheit asked. “It looks like a rather unsavory spot.”
“That’s the point,” Uncle Ray said, hopping out of the Hummer, leaving his grenade launcher inside. “Makes everyone think there’s nothin’ valuable when in fact there’s a whole load of armament stashed in there.”
“This is a stash?” Herman asked, getting out of the Humvee.
He looked around, the quiet area void of Phenomenon for the moment. He didn’t think that would remain the case for long.
“Course it is,” Uncle Ray said. “You didn’t think everything I owned was at the house, did you?”
“But… why?” Herman asked.
Uncle Ray stepped toward the questionable structure.
“It’s like my go bag. I had thought I was preparin’ for when the government would go off the rails and that it would only be a matter of time before I’d have to leave the house behind and go on the run. And what good is having all kinds of supplies if they’re all stuck in a spot that the government’s watching and I couldn’t get to?”
He gestured at the little shack. “This was hidden, something I could access and use to restock. But now that we’re sticking to the house and making it into some kind of fortress, there’s no reason to have all my stashes out here where the Phenomenon are sneaking around, is there?”
“I guess that makes sense,” Herman said.
Uncle Ray reached for the door, only for Ohsheit to clear his throat.
“If I may make a suggestion,” Ohsheit said.
Uncle Ray stopped with his hand on the rickety door. “I’m guessing you’re gonna regardless of what I say, so why not just go ahead.”
“A fair point,” Ohsheit said. “In either case, I suggest that you open the door as if expecting something to come out of there and attack you. The Phenomenon do not always stalk out in the open as with those Drones. Many will lay in wait, pouncing on unsuspecting victims. That is particularly the case for Phenomenon who have infected creatures with stealth-based predatory instincts.”
He looked over at Herman.
“Herman, be ready to engage if something does come out.”
“You really think there’s a Phenomenon in there?” Herman asked, drawing his knives. His skin prickled, and he looked warily at the shed. “Why wouldn’t it have come out yet?”
“If the Phenomenon infected a night-dwelling creature, or a predator that surprises its prey from cover, it will stay hidden until the most opportune time to strike. If we disturb its hiding place, the Phenomenon will likely pounce.”
“In that case,” Uncle Ray said, shifting so he stood more to the side of the door. “Ready, kid?”
Herman took a couple steps back, giving himself space to react. Then he nodded.
Uncle Ray was still for half a second. Herman’s heart beat quickly in his ears. There was no telling what kind of monster might be in there. There were plenty of wild creatures that came out during the night that might make a shack their home. Foxes, coyotes, bats, raccoons.
He really didn’t want to think about fighting a Phenomenon-infected raccoon. Raccoons were a nightmare anyway, and enhanced by the Phenomenon? No thanks.
His uncle yanked the rickety door open, cutting off his contemplation on the raccoons.
Herman tensed, ready to react—
Nothing came out.
He let himself relax a little. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
Uncle Ray tipped his head to the side. Then he leaned away from the door and kicked the bottom of the shed.
“Don’t kick it too hard or it’s gonna come down.”
A hissing snarl was all the warning Herman got before a little black streak shot out of the door and dove right for his face.
Yelping, Herman raised his knives, twisting instinctively to get out of the path of the flying monster. As he did, he stabbed at the tarbag’s center of mass.
The monster hissed again, shrieking as the blades struck true. It flailed and clawed at Herman, heedless of the knives cutting into its flesh. Before it could wriggle itself free though, Herman leaned over and slammed it into the ground. He kept one knife pinned in place as he pulled the other one out and slashed gracelessly through the little monster.
It jerked and twitched before finally falling still.
Congratulations! You have killed one Phenomenon-infected skunk.
“Ugh, glad that thing didn’t spray me,” Herman said, standing up and looking around for any other monsters. When he didn’t see any, he started cleaning his knives off. “Can you imagine what skunk spray enhanced by the Phenomenon would smell like? Or what’d it’d do?” He shuddered.
“That sounds like it’d be a lethal combination—”
Before Uncle Ray finished talking, he coughed, putting a hand over his mouth and nose. Herman smelled it at nearly the same moment, something acrid and cloying that wormed its way down his throat.
Warning: the byproducts of the immediate stages of decay of this creature are toxic. Extended exposure will result in irreversible damage.
“Shit, get your stuff and let’s go!” Herman said.
Poison Tolerance +1
Herman backed away from the decaying skunk, eyes watering and mouth clamped shut so as to block out as much of the acrid stench as possible. As soon as he saw Uncle Ray coming back out of the shed, loaded down with bags and a small grenade launcher in his hand, he dove back into the Hummer. He threw it into reverse the moment Uncle Ray had gotten in, careening away from the toxic fumes as fast as he could.
“Vile, foul smell,” Uncle Ray growled, coughing and spluttering. He rolled down the windows. “That stench better not linger in here. I’ll be damned if I let some monster skunk ruin my truck.”
“Whatever you grabbed had better have been worth it,” Herman said, trying not to gag.
He could still smell it on himself even though he hadn’t been sprayed at all. “I don’t think this stuff is going to wash out of our clothes or air out of the Hummer any time soon.”
Uncle Ray muttered something foul under his breath about invading aliens and biohazardous material before lifting the smaller grenade launcher off his lap.
“This baby will be worth it. A Hawk MM1. Best option for people on the road.”
Herman glanced at it, then perked up. “That’s the grenade launcher Arnie used in the Terminator movies, isn’t it? Terminator Two I think. Awesome! I didn’t know you had one of those.”
“Terminator?” Uncle Ray said. He lifted the weapon and considered it. “I suppose it could be considered a terminator. I think the big one would be more deserving of that name though.”
“No, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger, ‘I’ll be back,’” Herman said, trying for his best Arnie accent. “It’s from the Terminator movies.”
Giving him a side eye, Uncle Ray said, “What are you goin’ on about? Now what in the hell is a terminator movie?”
Shaking his head sadly Herman said, “It’s a classic! They all are, except for the most recent ones, I guess. But definitely one and two.”
“Classics? Pah. Now this beauty here, it’s a true classic,” Uncle Ray said, lifting the launcher again. “Not too heavy, easy to move around, and it packs a real punch.”
“More weaponry,” Ohsheit said. “A wise precaution. Particularly as there may be others among those we recruit to fight the Phenomenon who are unable or unwilling to cultivate. This will give them a means of fighting the enemy.”
“Damn straight,” Ray said, grinning as he stroked the barrel of the grenade launcher.
“Now that we have picked up additional weapons,” Ohsheit continued, “are we headed to the town?”
Herman shook his head. “Just going to pick up Dad first.”
“Excellent,” the iguana replied. “Hopefully, he will be the first in a good number of new recruits. The more allies we can acquire, the better!”
“Allies,” Herman mused, a sour expression crossing his face as he considered where they were heading.
Uncle Ray sniffed the air in the cabin, frowning heavily. “Ohsheit, you better have some idea of how to get this stench out of my car. I can feel my lungs shriveling up already. Don’t you have some kind of alien cleaning spray or somethin’ I can use to clear it out?”
Herman sighed as his uncle and Ohsheit devolved into a bickering conversation about the best way to get the toxic smell out of the vehicle. He wasn’t sure the stop at the shack would prove worth suffering through the smell, but he supposed it was a good thing to know that he needed to worry about more than a Phenomenon’s physical attacks.
“Pull over again,” Uncle Ray said a little while later. “I wanna make sure these field glasses haven’t been ruined sitting in there.”
Herman sighed but pulled over again. Uncle Ray had been pulling out all the equipment from the two large duffel bags he’d pulled out of the shed. They contained mostly ammunition and food along with a couple other weapons beyond the small grenade launcher.
Herman couldn’t deny that he was glad to have a few more supplies. Not that Uncle Ray’s house was lacking at all, but considering they’d brought four extra people and were planning on bringing as many more as they could reasonably fit on the property, they’d need everything they could get.
“Really?” Herman said. “I thought you were the one who didn’t want to let the Phenomenon get any advantage on us by waiting to get to Glasset? And can’t you do that while we’re driving?”
Uncle Ray waved a hand at him. “Quit complaining. This should give you a chance to get more of those state points things Ohsheit keeps telling you to collect.”
“Stat points,” Herman said. He pulled the keys from the ignition and stepped out of the Humvee, walking over to his uncle.
Ohsheit clambered out after them. Herman had pulled off at the base of a hill, and they were surrounded by mountains on all sides. There wasn’t a great sightline anywhere.
“Gonna hike up some to get a view,” Uncle Ray said. “Give us a chance to stretch our legs a bit too.”
Sighing, Herman didn’t bother arguing with Uncle Ray. When the man decided something, there was very little likelihood of changing his mind. Since this wasn’t a particularly important thing to argue about, Herman decided to save himself the trouble.
Besides, Ray was right about one thing. If they ran into any Phenomenon, Herman would at least get the opportunity to gather more stat points.
“And as for doin’ this while we’re driving,” Uncle Ray said, “we don’t need to be adding any more foul smells to the vehicle.”
It took Herman a moment to figure out what that was supposed to mean. “You mean you’d get motion sick and vomit?”
“Isn’t that what I said?”
Herman sighed again. “No, not in so many words.”
Uncle Ray just grunted and started up the hill.
Ohsheit looked up from where he stood near Herman’s feet. “Your uncle has a very specific way he uses his words,” he said in Herman’s mind.
“That he does. Always been that way for as long as I can remember. Everyone said it was living alone prepping and barely coming into town that made him that way. I think he’s just quirky.”
“Well, he is a formidable warrior either way,” Ohsheit said. “I suppose we can forgive him some of those quirks.”
Herman just huffed in amusement. Hiking after his uncle and touching his sheathed knives as a form of reassurance, Herman breathed in the mountain air. He wished he’d come up here more often before the invasion. It was beautiful and soothing.
“Your world has many curious things,” Ohsheit said. “And many aspects that are similar to mine. The mountains are like ones in the northern part of the largest continent on my planet. Though the smell is entirely different.”
Herman smiled at Ohsheit. “I wish I could visit another planet. That’d be amazing.”
“Perhaps if you survive this you will,” Ohsheit said.
Herman laughed. “I doubt humanity would send someone like me to space. Not only that, but I’d say it will be a long time before we’re able to think about going somewhere else. We’ll have to rebuild and take care of what we have here.” He went silent for a moment. “If we survive.”
He had realized already that not surviving was a strong possibility when he’d been thrown into the alien invasion just a short while ago. The sight of that first Phenomenon and the subsequent encounters with other monsters had only bolstered his fear that humanity might be facing more than it could handle. Not to mention Ohsheit’s warning about the other planets that had fallen to the Phenomenon.
But saying it out loud, actually voicing the fear he’d been harboring, made it feel so much more real.
“I think your kind has a good chance of surviving,” Ohsheit said. “If for no other reason than I have seen unlikely people step up and meet this challenge head on. After all, you would not expect someone like Ryan to fight monsters, and yet, to hear Lara tell it, he and Jack performed valiantly in their quest to secure a router.”
