by Alan Bard
I kept whittling my rod and soon got my own tool—the system even recognized and classified my lance. Unsurprisingly, its status didn’t command respect at all.
Combat Characteristics: I would be ashamed of myself if I made this.
Conceal?
Yes/No?
I chose the first option and felt much better. If we ignored the sassy remark, I thought I did pretty good. The only thing that disappointed me was that I didn’t get any experience or increase in stats. I saw no notifications about it, at least. For some reason, I expected this to be like a computer game, and that there’d be some reward for developing my crafting skills.
Meanwhile, Joe was busy fishing. The current and the rocks didn’t seem to bother him; he kept jabbing the water with the lance, missing the fish that’d flee as soon as he raised his hand.
“Your moves are too abrupt,” I said. “Try to move slower.”
Joe gave me a bleak, angry look. It didn’t feel good to have someone trying to take over your role as the chief huntsman. I could understand him, so I decided to stay silent.
However, something was telling me that I knew the right way to hunt, so I went downstream. The river sometimes widened to the width of a small lake, then narrowed to a stream. There were carp in the wide parts. But they were too deep in the water to reach.
Hunting Mode activated.
It was the first time that this mode activated. I was wondered about its features. There were no hints or clues, however—everything seemed the same. It took me a second to realize what it was all about. I was starting to feel something...
The water was so cold that I felt like thousands of needles were stinging every part of my body. It was hard not to pay attention to it, but it was nothing that I couldn’t handle.
Silver scales glittered in the water. A moment later, the fish was still again. Slowly and cautiously, I raised the lance, froze, aimed...
Splash.
A small trout wriggled on the lance’s tip!
[River Trout]
Energy value: 2,537 kcal
You try all things, you achieve what you can.
I tossed it onto the bank and continued upstream. Not only did I see more fish—I felt where they were. A bigger prey was lurking behind a huge boulder.
If you want to catch a fish, you got to think like a fish, Alpha sneered.
Try to deceive your prey, Beta said.
Strange as it seemed, I felt that they were right. I sensed something deep inside me—some kind of a hunter’s instinct.
I struck from behind the boulder at random. My spidey sense didn’t fail me. The spear pierced its huge body. I wrestled with it to keep it from flopping out of my hands.
[Mature Arctic Grayling]
Energy Value: 6,856 kcal
There's always a bigger fish.
Transformation Progress: +0,15%
My hunting in the cold water had paid off. It wasn’t yet clear what this Transformation was all about, but it seemed to strengthen both the Core and Contour, two things strongly connected to my development and whatever was going on here.
A ball pulsed in the back of my head, sending waves of heat through my body. Excitement drove me into the water—I wanted another victim. I wanted to deceive it and catch it. But the water was cold and I was freezing.
On my way back, I saw Joe, who was still standing in the water—I had no clue how he managed to keep warm. Rio was whittling something. Eli was crouching next to Jelena. They were talking and gesticulating excitedly, looking like they were having some sort of a rap battle. Having seen me, the big guy jumped up and did a victory dance.
“Yep, I knew that you wouldn’t let us starve to death, Nicky,” he said, smiling as he saw my catch. “Hey, guys!”
Everyone turned to look at me. I wanted to see how Joe would react. I expected him to be angry, but mixed with his usual look of boredom and exhaustion was a hint of joy.
“Well done, geez. I was getting sick of freezing my balls. And I caught only one,” he said, and touched the bag on his belt.
They patted me on the back. After everyone had taken a look at the Grayling, we packed up and went back.
“Well, we won’t be returning empty-handed,” Joe said, walking ahead of us. “We’ll now check my boar traps, and then we’ll head back.”
“Are they far from here?” Rio asked.
“Ten minutes downstream, then about ten more through the woods.”
We moved quickly, and soon we were deep in the forest. But the farther we got from the river, the closer the drumming sounded, and the more uneasy I felt.
“Seems like they don’t get tired at all,” Eli whispered. “What’s the drumming about?”
“They say it helps a shaman to go into a trance,” Joe said under his breath. “To me it’s bullshit, and they’re just trying to scare people. In Soviet Russia, there was a saying: Fight a friend to fright a foe. This drumming thing reminds me of that. The last time we just caught a hog and left. I dunno what the heck is happening now, so we have to be careful.”
He crept up first, observing the yellow soil for footprints, followed by Rio with a crossbow at the ready. Jelena was in the middle, and Eli and I at the back.
The sun was low, and the tall trees cast their shadows upon us. The shrubs gradually became taller and tinged with green. The earth was redder; patches of grass rippled in the breeze. Trees had thin, smooth trunks, and an odd pink hue.
I noticed some strange tracks that clearly didn’t belong to an animal or any of us.
“People have recently passed through here,” I said in a low voice, breaking the silence.
“It hasn’t rained for a long time. They’re mine.” Joe’s voice was confident.
Let’s hope he’s not mistaken, a voice said.
For some reason, Joe commanded respect. However, my spidey sense was telling me that we were wasting our time, and that there were no animals here. But I said nothing—there was no way I could explain what I was feeling. I also didn’t want to tell anyone about my sixth sense. It was my secret weapon, an ace up my sleeve.
I then heard a sob, or moan, coming from Joe. The path was too narrow to see what had scared him. I saw only four black birds, like crows, fly up with a squawk.
“Holy mother of God!” Rio whispered as he took two more steps forward.
“Shit!” Jelena covered her face with her hands and turned away.
I pushed her aside and saw a naked girl hanging from a tree in the middle of the clearing. Her hands were tied behind her back; there was blood on her cheeks... A lump rose in my throat, and I turned away, too. Scavengers had pecked out her eyes, torn her lips and cheeks.
Name: Anna
Rank: Corporal
Status: The player has been disconnected from [Project Lost].
Degree of decomposition: 36%
“An!” Joe whimpered. He reached out his hands and was about to run to the girl, but I grabbed his shoulder.
“It could be a trap.”
Joe froze, hands outstretched, lips trembling.
“Could you turn around, please? Don’t look at her... You shouldn’t see her like this.”
“Is this one of the kidnapped girls?” Rio was careful not to stare, but he couldn’t look away. Joe let out a heavy sigh and nodded. He was pale and grief-stricken.
“We won’t look at her. I’ll check for traps, and then we’ll get her down and bury her,” Rio continued.
I walked past Joe. Seeing her corpse seemed to be too much for him. Even my heart burned with hatred and loathing, though I had never met the girl.
A trap had been laid a couple of feet from the corpse—it was a deep ditch with stakes, covered with grass and dirt.
I thought that Joe would try to rush to her again, but he just dropped to the ground and whispered, “She was so kind. Why did they kill her?”
No one answered him.
I held Anna’s legs while Eli cut the ropes. Together with Rio, we put her down. Joe bent ov
er her, tears falling onto her mauled face. He put his jacket over her, picked up her torn body, and cradled her in his arms.
“We could’ve saved her, but we didn’t—we wanted to live... We didn’t even try!”
He hit a rock with all his might, breaking his knuckles—then he threw his head back and opened his mouth in a silent scream.
“This place is a shithole,” Eli growled, clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white. His nails dug deep into his palms, drawing blood.
We buried Anna in the ditch with stakes. Jelena was waiting on the side; she couldn’t bear the sight of it all. Eli tried to comfort her. He hugged her and stroked her hair with his broad, rough hand. She clung to him. Joe was grieving, heart torn asunder. Rio and I were just depressed with sight. But, despite all that, we checked the animal traps. It was a waste of time, just as I thought.
The drums, which had been silent for some time, began to sound again.
Is it just me, or are they getting closer?
Chapter 17
THE DUNGEON
Joe said it was better to hide and wait out the Alliance purge, or whatever it was. He also told us about the Hunting Mode that helped detect living beings, especially if they were moving. According to him, sitting still or hiding would keep us hidden from almost anyone... Unless we stumbled upon someone really powerful. But something like that was unlikely to happen here, on the outskirts.
My suggestion to smear our faces with mud, improvising war paint, was accepted. We thought that the system would appreciate our effort, but no message came. Not that I cared, as I felt like motherfucking Rambo.
Lost in thought about poor Anna, Victoria, and other people on this island, I kept walking. Our manipulative bitch didn’t seem as bad anymore. I wasn’t sure if she had what it took to torture someone and leave their mauled remains for the local predators to feed on. I wondered how anyone could do something like that to another person.
We were walking slowly through the woods, toward the mountain, when Joe suddenly stopped and looked around.
“Shit, we have a guest coming,” he whispered.
Just as he said that, I sensed someone’s presence. It was a very strange feeling—like I could see someone’s outlines in a fog. They were very indistinct and blurry, but still visible.
Joe pointed to a place heavily overgrown with bushes and very close to a rock.
“Stay there, and don’t do anything stupid,” he said, and moved quietly toward the fog. “I’ll be back soon.”
We did as told, aware how stupid it was to try to hide. I found a small hole in the rock, and we decided to try to get inside and make sure that we were out of sight. Jelena and Rio managed to squeeze in without difficulty. Eli tried and failed—he was too huge, so he lay down and waved that I follow the other two. As I was getting inside, I saw blurred silhouettes behind the trees, in the clearing where we all were just a few minutes ago. It wasn’t clear whether the fog was the effect of one of my Modes, or some feature of theirs, like semi-invisibility. I was willing to bet that it was somehow connected to what Joe planned to do to get their attention away from us.
There were four or five of them—it was hard to say for sure. Time seemed to slow down, and I saw a tall figure turn around and look in my direction... Straight hair was covering a motionless half of its face.
Archie?
I froze for a second, and only then realized that it wasn’t him. The guy turned away, and I saw his shaven head and broad shoulders. Having finally slipped through the crevice, I sighed heavily—it was just my imagination, adrenaline, nerves, and stress. I had been thinking about Archie too much, and he wasn’t someone I needed to be worrying about right now. I had to stay in the present, not the past, to get out of here and get my revenge on him.
I didn’t like the fact that I had to leave Eli alone even though that decision made sense—it would be stupid if both of us stayed outside. I found myself in a narrow cave—Rio was barely visible and I couldn’t see Jelena at all.
We were silent; it was quiet around. We probably spent a few minutes like this, a few times looking out and checking on Eli.
A few more minutes passed. It seemed the danger was over, but I was skeptical that everything had gone without a hitch. I was almost certain that something had gone wrong or that there would be some sort of a catch.
As if summoned by my negative thoughts, a terrified scream filled the cave, chilling us to the bone and forcing us to look back—Jelena was no longer there. Her scream was fading away, and it dawned on me that she had been dragged into a hole that we hadn’t noticed in the darkness.
“Oh, shit!” I whispered and started crawling to her rescue.
“Wait, it’s dark as hell out there!” Rio shouted. “You’ll die!”
“What’s going on there?” Eli’s voice came from outside.
At this point, I didn’t give a shit about anything; I just knew that if I stepped aside now, it’d haunt me for the rest of my life. This made me push on, giving me courage in the dark. Jelena’s voice guided me to her but it didn’t help me see in the pitch dark—I fell down, but was up at the same moment, as if the earth had ejected me.
After a little while, I was surprised to see a light ahead—it wasn’t something you expected to encounter in a damn dungeon.
Jelena’s cries faded to pleas, and then to croaks. I turned around, completely lost in this maze, and shot out into a spacious cave. A cracked Totem was glowing with a pale brown light. A message flashed before my eyes.
You have entered the zone of—?&&&..!?? sh?&??&?
It's one of the places you probably want to try and avoid, really.
I received a horrible mental image of Jelena being impaled on the Totem pole. Strangely enough, the disgusting sight helped me get my shit together. My instincts were telling me that she was alive and somewhere around here.
“Rio, it’s bright as day here! Hurry up!” I yelled, lying. Something was telling me that I’d need help.
Suddenly, I noticed that something was crunching under my feet—the floor was covered with bones, both human and animal. It was then that I realized that I was in serious trouble. Whatever the thing that had dragged Jelena away was, it was observing me from the dark—I could feel its heavy gaze. It sent shivers down my spine.
“Jelena?” I croaked, overcoming the primal fear of the unknown and taking a step into the middle of the cave, closer to the strange Totem.
Jelena lay with her head turned toward me and mouth open. Apathy sparked in her eyes before she closed them.
Above her—or rather behind her—was an almost naked old man with tangled, long white hair, protruding eyes, and blue veins visible under his pale skin. He was drinking, smacking his lips, holding a rough stone bowl in one hand and a strange knife with a short, pale blade in the other. Either it was my imagination, or there were suckers on his impossibly thin fingers. The knife in his hand was covered with a brown glow... It wasn’t even a glow, but a brown-red mist swirling around the blade, like that of the Totem.
[Reborn Mutant]
A defective ex-unit.
I had already seen Mutants, but this one was different. He was frightening and very strange.
He’s so old, well over fifty, Alpha commented curiously. I wonder... Has he matured here? Or is that the effect of the rift Joe mentioned? I bet that in the very beginning they tried to conduct their experiments on adults.
I’m more interested in where Joe is, Beta remarked. What are we going to do with this weird old man?
The answer seemed obvious to me—kick his ass.
The old man threw the bowl aside and froze. He then snarled, revealing impossibly sharp teeth. Blood trickled down his cracked lips, dirty chin, and sunken chest.
A fucking vampire, I thought to myself. In some way, these creatures were even worse than the damn mages.
We stared at each other for a long moment, the old man’s silhouette obscured by the crimson haze that swirled around the Totem.
I tried to activate the force that had helped me during the fight with Rio. But before I could do so, the old man lunged at me. I just barely dodged his attack.
He waved his bony hand, and I felt a slight burning sensation in my hip. There was a long, shallow cut from the knee up. Blood soaked the fabric of my pants. Something dark and cold detached itself from the blade and sank into my flesh.
The sight of blood triggered a force that I couldn’t reach mentally, and the world changed colors. The old man’s knife and nails were highlighted red, and the broken Totem’s glow was slightly fainter. A second heart began to pulse in the back of my head, pushing waves of golden energy along the Contour.
Before I could breathe in, the old man was already charging at me, swinging his knife. I feinted to the side, lunged to the left, leaned over, and hit back. The blade missed my face by an inch. The old man seemed to disappear and reappear behind me.
Am I really powerless against this thing? How come he’s faster than me?! I’m screwed. Where the fuck is Joe?
I felt a surge of panic, but something deep inside helped me get my shit together.
Fuck you, you blood-sucker, I thought, getting my strength back. I wasn’t going to lose here, not now.
The old man’s attacks were incredibly fast. I couldn’t track his movements at all. I barely dodged another attack—the fucking system and its hints didn’t work. I had no clue why it had left me when I really needed it.
At this point, Rio ran into the cave and was stabbed in the stomach. His jaw dropped and he fell to one side. The next moment, it was like my whole body exploded. The Core was filled with rage. Red-hot energy flowed through my body, bursting out in a scream.
“Rio! Fuck!”
I rushed at the geezer, who ran toward me from behind the Totem. He was going to perform a feint, but it was a predictable one. The Cultivator drew out a trajectory of his movements—a zigzag.
I didn’t run in a straight line either: a step, a turn, a swing—my left uppercut hit nothing but air—a step, a dodge, a right kick—I forced him backward, following up with alternating left and right punches. Everything was happening so fast that I could barely see the old man. I seemed to be acting on instinct alone.
