All was not well in the Republic of Dan. I got the picture. Message read, loud and clear. So maybe I could be doing more. I thought extremely briefly of all the work the Crusaders had been doing while I rested in my room.

  “That’s enough, just know this is what we’ve been trying to work out,” Edgar told me, and I felt something close to guilt. I do need to step up.

  We headed back outside. Napoleon looked disappointed that he didn’t get to kill the rest of the spiders, but I told him we’d come back for them later. He seemed fine with that plan, especially after I told him we were heading out into the wild. After all, who knew what he’d get to eat on our quest?

  “Don’t forget while you’re out there, we need wood, stone, and concrete to finish the work on the walls,” Edgar said, staring deep into my eyes. When did he get so serious? “Also, whatever you can find to hold things together— nails, screws, anything. As for the spiders, see if you can find a flamethrower.”

  “A flamethrower? Really?” I asked, it seemed a bit of overkill. Wasn’t the whole point to reclaim territory? Not burn them down.

  It was badass, but it seemed like that it ran the risk of burning the neighborhood down in addition to killing the spiders. Also, I didn’t think they sold flamethrowers at Live, Laugh, Love Home Goods.

  “Yeah,” Edgar said, clenching his jaw. It seemed he had more he wanted to say, but he schooled his face and continued. “It’s the most efficient option. If it destroys the house, it destroys the house. If you can’t find a flamethrower, a can full of gas and a handful of matches might do the trick.”

  “Hey,” I protested. “These houses all belonged to me. You can’t just burn them down.”

  But he wasn’t listening. “I’m not sure where you’re going, as you like to say, this is your neighborhood. This is where you're from, but see if you can make it back before dark. We have a lot of work to do before the next big attack. I can’t say exactly when it’ll come, but I think it’ll be soon.”

  “Thanks for the heads up,” I responded. “ ButI’m not exactly sure where I’m going either.”

  I had a vague notion of some of the stuff and quietly cursed myself for not paying more attention. I mean, I’d been to Live, Laugh, Love before on occasion. I’m not ashamed to admit it. They have nice throw pillows. I bought some for my brother once and a change of sheets when he was in college. But something told me it had probably changed a little bit since the last time I’d seen it.

  “Good luck out there,” Edgar said. “I think you’ll need it. Try not to die. Rumor is you’ve only 2 respawns left.”

  And with that, I set off beyond the wall with Napoleon on my shoulder. My trusty pet was the only companionship I needed. Whatever came our way, we were ready to face it. Apparently alone, as Eric and the others waved to me from the wall. No escort after all.

  Chapter Nine: Rowe's Building Supplies

  * * *

  “Alright, buddy,” I said, turning towards my mimic companion as we moved. “First stop, Rowe’s Building Supplies.”

  Napoleon growled next to my ear, and I shuddered. I half expected him to lurch out and attack. Thankfully, he didn’t. Although I had other complaints, he was surprisingly heavy for a teddy bear made of meat. Still, I was glad to have him along. It was good to have someone to talk to, even if he couldn’t talk back.

  I chose Rowe’s first because I figured it would have what we needed. One-stop shopping was the way to go. I still didn’t know why Lirai wanted me to go to the Hamburger King or Live, Laugh, Love, but I’d learned to stop questioning what the AI had to say. Still, it didn’t seem like I had all that much control over my life these days, and if there were stops I could avoid, I wanted to skip them.

  “Nice day,” I said absentmindedly, trying to make small conversation with the mimic.

  Napoleon didn’t respond, not that I thought he would, but if the mimic could magic itself into a bear's body, I figured it could magic itself up a mouth too. And honestly? It wasn’t that nice a day. I was just trying to make conversation… with a meat puppet. That said a lot about me and the boredom I faced already. But hey, I was trying.

  I’m just rehashing what’s already been established. Focusing on the outside world was a better use of time spent rather than idling away with random thought trains.

  The weather was weird. The sky was always a fiery, post-apocalyptic red, like there was a fire in the distance or something. It reminded me of that movie— you know the one, with the giant evil eye on the tower, and the little guys trying to save the world. Just like that, but real. Karon and the necklaces? That doesn’t seem right.

  “Napoleon,” I said, looking at the bear-terror. “Where do you even come from? Should I be worried about running into others of your kind? Or will you be watching out for me?”

  He turned and growled in my ear. Is he threatening me? I guess being bonded only goes so far. Must not be much of a conversationalist.

  I hadn’t really been outside of my neighborhood, except for my short attempts at wider exploration and whatever you’d call my time in the Decimation Series. I was surprised at how much the neighborhood had changed. The pavement was cracked and pitted, as if it had been years since the world had ended, rather than a couple of days. The houses all looked creepy and haunted, and I could see strange shapes moving inside them. Not like the zombies from before. These things, whatever they were, had too many limbs, and they scuttled around like insects. I wasn’t exactly eager to face them head on.

  Nothing attacked me, not yet, but I could feel that something was coming. I just knew it.

  “How are you feeling, buddy?” I asked, eyeing the strange things cautiously. “Are you ready to take something on? You know… just in case?”

  The mimic turned to me with a satisfied and eager growl. Good boy. “I’m lucky to have you, I really am. You’re a good dog.”

  With all the changes to the neighborhood, it was difficult to tell where I was going, and I might have gotten lost on my way to Rowe’s if not for the glowing green arrow overlaid on my vision. Lirai’s doing, I’m sure. At least that’s what I guessed, it kept adjusting itself as I moved.

  I followed the arrow. It took us to the right, down another weird suburban street, and onto the big road that led toward the center of town. I always hated those kinds of roads. You can probably picture it. Gas stations, strip malls, six different iterations of the China Express, and a sketchy place promising massages and happy endings.

  It was ugly.

  A blight.

  Every time I drove down it, I wished they’d tear the whole thing up and start over.

  Only this time, the area was actually blighted. Thick spiderwebs covered many of the buildings, and those that were clear were covered in a layer of gray ash. It felt like a fallout zone, or rather if I had to guess, it felt like how I’d always imagined traveling to Chernobyl would be like. I knew, just by looking at the place, that something was about to go down. A mental image of a two flashed before my eyes, reminding me I was running out of respawns before getting kicked from the Crusaders.

  I was halfway sure I could hear the sound of music on the air, and then that vague music sound abruptly changed to something more hardened, faster, almost metallic.

  “Get ready, buddy,” I said. “I bet we’re going to have to fight soon.”

  Right on cue, something howled, something big from behind the Kiku Sushi building. I got my trusty bat ready, and was ready to pull out the Katana too if needed. I’d been putting it off on account of not having a lot of work with the blade. Napoleon jumped off my shoulder to stand at my side. He left a little bit of meat slime on my shirt, and I tried to wipe it off discreetly. After all, I didn’t want to offend him. That mimic is the only friend I had in this place.

  Whatever manner of monster it was howled again, closer this time, and another howl answered it. More? At least two. I raised my bat high as three hideous creatures came bounding around the corner of the strip mall building. My only saving grace was knowing my strength stat was through the roof, and I had a few abilities I could count on.

  Chapter Ten: What’s Out There

  * * *

  I was pretty positive I was in for a world of hurt as soon as they moved around the corner. They were kind of like werewolves, but not quite. Like, if werewolves walked on two legs and had way, way too many teeth. Like, six rows deep.

  Their claws were about six inches long, and their proportions were all off in a way that was really unsettling. Their arms were too big, and their legs were too small, and it didn’t make sense that they could move as fast as they were, but somehow, they were doing it. The largest one seemed to be the leader, and he turned his pig-like face back and forth, sniffing the air.

  Looking for prey. Looking for me... What are they?

  Notification – Enemy – Balverines

  Details: Balverines are wolf-like, aggressive creatures that possess exceptional strength and viciousness. They are highly dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. Once on the hunt, they attack relentlessly until they either kill their enemy or are destroyed. They can infect others with their bite, turning their prey into Balverines as well, if the target survives their attack.

  Suggestion: Players are advised to carry silver if they are going into an area frequented by these creatures.

  “Thanks, Lirai,” I whispered, afraid they might hear me but still wanting to show my appreciation. “Balverines, like in that one game.”

  I turned and looked over at Napoleon. “Hey, buddy, you think you can help me out and take one on?”

  Napoleon made a gurgling noise low in his throat that I hoped was a yes. At least I thought it was a yes since it sounded kind of happy.

  “Good,” I muttered, eyeing him. “Because we sure don’t have any silver bullets.”

  I was pretty sure Napoleon nodded his head to let me know he was ready. As soon as the Balverines turned the corner, the leader hopped up on a car and started sniffing the air, as if it couldn’t see we were basically right in front of it.

  The head Balverine howled, and the whole group split in two. One group started racing toward us, while the other passed us in a lumbering sprint.

  I wished I’d taken the time to learn some useful magic. Maeybe archer archery too or some kind of ability... really, any ranged attack would have been good so I wouldn’t be stuck beating these things with a baseball bat at close range. But in life, you have to work with what you’ve got.

  And this was all I had.

  Like the skeletons I’d fought back in the Republic of Dan, the Balverines had green bars floating above their heads, just instead of one bar, it was two. Alright, so maybe I’ll have to swing twice. Not an issue.

  One of the smaller, quicker Balverines got to me first, and it swung a burly arm at me, trying to completely rip me open with its sharp claws. I jumped out of the way as fast as I could, and those claws slashed through empty air.

  Somehow, I lost Napoleon.

  The Balverine looked at me in shock, and I have to admit, I was a little shocked too. I’d gone from dying during calisthenics to dodging death blows. I was in way better shape than I’d been when this whole thing started. The difference between living and dying was a few power ups and stat allocation.

  The Balverine roared in my face, spittle flying from its mouth. It was furious that it had missed me. I got the sense that it wasn’t used to its prey surviving the first attack. Well, that was its problem, not mine. It roared as it came toward me, and its breath was hot and foul, like an egg sandwich you forgot in the car. It was pretty gross. I tried my best to breathe through my mouth as the creature advanced on me while keeping my eyes on the others as they moved around me.

  Once it got within range, I swung out with my bat, expecting the frost attack to kick in like it usually did. And while my bat definitely had a certain iciness to it, it wasn’t really performing at the level I needed it to. My trusty weapon thudded against the Balverines muscular chest. It grunted in pain and a third of its health bar disappeared, but otherwise, the attack hadn’t done quite what I needed it to do.

  The Balverine looked down at the bat, then up at me, snarling. Red foam dripped from its mouth and onto the asphalt. It might have been blood, I wasn’t sure, but I was a little hopeful I’d done some internal damage.

  “My bad,” I said, backing away as the monster lunged forward to try and bite me “Didn’t mean to do that!”

  It came toward me, looking furious, and I kept moving away from it. Does it have some kind of cold resistance?

  The Balverine came within range again, and I lashed out at its face. The same thing happened as before. Frost, but no fireworks. It lost some of its health but remained at around half.

  That’s unfortunate. I was in deep trouble. This thing was going to eat me alive, and I did not look forward to having to start this journey all over again. I also didn’t want to have to explain to Edgar why I was back so soon. I was already the worst recruit in everyone’s mind. I didn’t need to prove it.

  “Napoleon?” I shouted, only throwing a cursory glance around for the mimic. “A little help? Buddy?”

  My guy came toddling over to the rescue on his little meat legs. The Balverine was so fixated on me that it didn’t even see the mimic coming. Though I did, and I still shudder about it.

  Napoleon opened his mouth wider than I've ever seen before; his maw stretched several feet, revealing thousands of jagged, shark-like teeth. With the Balverine unaware, he clamped his jaws shut around the creature's midsection, rows upon rows of miniature daggers slicing into its flesh.

  The Balverine screamed, and its health bar dipped into the red as it tried to shake Napoleon off. It was frantic, but the mimic held on tight and swallowed hard. The Balverine’s entire midsection vanished down the mimic’s throat. The process must have hurt a lot, because the Balverine started howling and tried to call for aid. It did its best to escape, shrieking all the while.

  I’ll admit it, I felt a little bad. I remembered my first experience with the mimic when I’d tried to pick him up in his package form and ended up having to kill myself. Just a little bit of sympathy, but not a lot.

  “Alright!” I said, watching the Balverine scream as the Mimic started to digest the monster before my eyes. “Great job, Napoleon!”

  The thing had just tried to bite my head off, and now my pet mimic was taking care of it. I was proud. In the apocalypse, it’s kill or be killed. And my goal was to be killed as few times as possible.

  Notification: Experience Gained - +9 experience, next level in 48 experience. +12 Sol.

  Current experience: 42/100.

  Sol: 9014.

  No items have been dropped.

  But the battle wasn’t over yet. There were still two more of the creatures trying to eat us, or rather me, and after feasting, Napoleon was out of commission. The mimic was leaning up against a wall in his teddy bear form with a grossly distended stomach. Alright then, guess the rest of the fight is on me.

  Chapter Eleven: This One’s on Me

  * * *

  I went for the other small one first, thinking it was better to save the leader for last. Maybe by then I’d have Napoleon back, and we could take it on together.

  The Balverine and I circled each other, each trying to find an opening to attack. I watched its movements closely. It was strong and more agile than I was. I wasn’t the most graceful guy either, so I had to be careful of my steps. It didn’t help that the Balverine was a lot faster than me.

  Actually, this is pretty bad for me. I couldn’t keep up with the monster, so I did the next best thing. I took it head on. I darted toward it and struck out with my bat. This time, I felt the weapon’s frost power finally, finally start to work. The Balverine’s right arm froze solid, and the monster roared at me, opening its mouth wide to reveal a double-row of sharp yellow fangs. This creature’s breath was even worse than the first one, and I flinched back from the smell.

  What have these things been eating? I shuddered. Well, it didn’t matter. I was just glad my bat was working again. My blow had taken the Balverine’s health from green to yellow. I glanced over at Napoleon to see how he was doing. His belly was still distended, but it wasn’t quite as noticeable as it had been before. He raised a weak hand in acknowledgement and went back to what he was doing. It wouldn’t be long before the mimic was back in the fight.

  Good work, buddy, just keep that up.

  I shrugged. I knew he’d be done soon, and we could take on the leader together.

  I turned all my attention back to my Balverine. The monster was wounded but not destroyed, and sensing my momentary distraction, it leaped toward me, snapping its powerful jaws. I swung my bat around and hit the creature full on the left collarbone. The enchantment of the steel core bat activated in a frosty haze, and the Balverine’s arm froze solid. It stumbled, knocked off balance, before crashing to the ground.

 

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