Reincarnation Trials: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Systems of Salvation Book 1)

by Han Yang

  “I… I’ll be in the mine,” I said before raising my voice. “The narock swarm is approaching. Stop standing around and get everything moved to the mine. Leave a trail of oats to our new home.”

  Sally finished gulping down a bunch of water, her mouth dripping onto the shaded ground. I spun her and picked up a trot before the others could drag me into their drama.

  We left Lornsto and I never felt a greater need for a nap. I cracked my neck, double-checked my dragons, and readied for another gunfight against a clawed menace. This time there’d be baby narocks.

  The little ones could rip a man open just as easily as an adult. My plan wasn't to barrel into the mine and into the mouth of the narocks. I’d assess and then sling lead. At the same time, squabbling about a plan wouldn’t help.

  I needed a home, and so did the narocks. Giving up simply wasn’t an option.

  The ten-minute walk was only a few minutes of trotting at a decent pace. I found the mine easily enough because about four wagon loads of salvageable items were stacked high next to a descending ramp.

  A bowl had been carved out of the earth with a descending ramp leading to an opening that was only big enough for a hand cart. The mine itself rested against a short cliff face.

  “Atta team,” I said to myself in an encouraging manner.

  I drew a dragon, cocked the hammer back, and urged my skittish horse toward the entrance. A growling snarl echoed off the walls, and I kicked Sally into a sprint. She grew confused but descended the ramp.

  The plan was simple. Lure the beast into the opening, gun momma down, then blast her kids. The bait was Sally and I. Real basic thinking, and I probably should have sent an ox down instead of well… me.

  When we reached the bottom of the ramp, I yanked her in a hard turn. I wanted to be dashing up the ramp by the time the beast saw us.

  The webo’narock dashed out of the entrance. Instead of turning, Sally jolted as if stunned, locked up, and went rigid.

  “Oh shit,” I said.

  The webo’narock closed the gap in less than a second, lunging for Sally’s throat.

  I hopped off the horse before the impact, squeezing off a single shot. The round sliced through a shoulder, not fazing the beast.

  Sally… I’d like to say she died a quick death. That’d be a lie. The narock latched onto the frozen girl’s neck and those huge fangs sank deep.

  I tumbled on top of the down-sloping ramp. The moment I could, I raised my revolver, seeing the beast tearing at Sally’s throat while claws kicked her stomach. Guts spilled out while I aimed my .45.

  Crack! Crack! Crack!

  Three bullets zipped forward, crashing through the skull of the beast. Sally whined incessantly because the dead beast still latched to her neck.

  I saw her begging for mercy. I raised the pistol with a heavy heart and a solid hand.

  Crack!

  Sally joined the fallen.

  I speedily reloaded my pistol, watching the entangled bodies stop twitching.

  “Sorry, Sally, you were decent and didn’t deserve that,” I said, feeling bad. “You weren’t perfect, but no one is.”

  I spun the cylinder and slapped it home, hearing that wonderful click. A second later, another adult peered out from the cave. The whites of its eyes seemed large to me.

  “Come on out, it’s time we had a little dance,” I teased.

  Of course, an alpha stalked out. “That explains those big eyes of yours. Two of you in such close proximity. Maybe you’re Opo originals. I’ll give you an option. Climb that wall and get out of here, this is -”

  The alpha lunged from thirty feet away, soaring into the air. I whipped my pistol up, hastily unleashing a full cylinder while dashing forward.

  The last two rounds missed as I dove forward, but the first six busted scales, and drove deep into the alpha. I couldn’t celebrate as my flight for safety resulted in the ground racing up to greet me.

  The rocky terrain tore into my face, and I could feel the grit crawling under my skin along my side. My right shoulder and right thigh screamed in anger from the scraping.

  “Argggg!” I winced, grunting from the pain.

  I quickly spat out the blood that had filled my mouth from a bitten lip. I ended my face first slide by slamming a hand down hard while sweeping a foot to turn my body.

  I cast the expended dragon aside, and I went to pull my fully loaded revolver off my left hip.

  My hand clutched nothing but air, and I about shit myself. Between me and a wounded alpha lay the dragon that should be in its holster.

  “Easy darlin’,” I said with a perfect twang.

  The narock didn’t turn, lying face down. The chest inhaled deeply, and she tried to get up. With a labored breath, she collapsed.

  I watched for her chest to move, not seeing any signs she still breathed. I hurried to snatch my revolver off the ground. “Well, that is a relief. I worried -”

  Crack!

  A rifle shot from the ridge caused me to flinch. I spun to face the threat, seeing a friendly face holding a repeater that smoked from the barrel.

  “Behind you,” Yilissa said from the lip drop off.

  I spun, seeing a wounded baby hobbling toward me.

  With indifference, I blew its brains out.

  I had reached that point, the spot in a man’s soul where he spat out a mouthful of blood that may as well have been venom.

  I marched into the cave, killing five baby narocks with a smug grin etched on my face. These little bastards were in my home, and I fixed that with the explosive power of a .45.

  When I cleared the tunnel opening, I returned to reload and pick up my dropped dragon.

  I heard some talking, but I was mostly deaf from firing inside the confines of the mine.

  I unbound a scratched-up Henry, adjusted my bandolier so the easy to reload rounds were at the right height, and marched back into the mine.

  The walls greeted me with their darkness, welcoming me into the black. I strode forth with a single pistol at the ready. The tunnel slowly dipped down, and I stepped over the dead baby narocks without an ounce of remorse.

  Maybe I was jaded because my plan failed, maybe I just needed to go a few hours without shooting. Hell, my bandolier was running out of rounds, and I’d stained Snagglewood red with the blood of my enemies.

  The descending tunnel led to a landing, jarring me from my thoughts.

  I stopped, listening intently. At this point, I felt a bit reckless. Instead of dwelling on my possible mistake by diving into a dark mine without any light, I walked over to a candle on the wall.

  I pulled out the fire starter in my vest and cracked it a few times until the sparks caught the candle’s wick. My left hand grabbed the base, and my right hand held a .45.

  I walked into the first room, seeing a half dozen hand carts on the left. On the right, a pile of coal rested beside a desk.

  Scat from the narocks piled in between the carts and traces of human remains littered the middle of the floor.

  “Nothing we can’t sweep up,” I said in a snarky tone.

  “Who are you talking to?” Roma asked.

  I walked over to the desk, ignoring her for now.

  “Interesting,” I said, reading the top paper.

  “Are you okay?” Roma asked with concern.

  “I’m tired of the death. As much as I try to be an emotionless ‘surviving’ robot, I’m human,” I said, handing her the paper as she walked into the room.

  “A coal mine,” Roma said.

  “Explains why no one talked about riches. These are common mines and the coal almost worthless,” I said with a sigh. “We can use it though. It’ll help us survive. Maybe even try a trip upriver.”

  “Hey, you want to talk about it?”

  “Roma… Zachary’s mom can be saved. Mother Nature gave me a mission to rescue her. In forty-four hours, I can rush to Opo and save her. Except I can’t and not just because I have no idea where in Opo she is. All I know is that she's
alive. I know she needs help. I know she’s dead to me no matter what I do, and it burns my soul,” I said.

  “Is that why you suicided into the alpha. We fought over how to take it down. Of course, we never considered sacrificing an animal,” Roma said.

  “It needed to get done. Sally froze like an idiot, not running when she should have. Hold this candle above my left shoulder,” I ordered.

  “That’s it? Back to business with you? You open up for half a second and shut back down,” Roma said unhappily.

  “That’s it. Right over my shoulder. When I can get drunk, we’ll talk about my sorrows and woes, for now, I’m the hero, not the damsel,” I told her with a grunt and offered the candle gently to her.

  She nodded in understanding, grabbing the candle with a huff to move a strand of hair out of her face.

  “Are there more bodies to drag out?” Yilissa asked from above.

  “We’re about to find out,” I said.

  “What do you want done with the horse?” Mark said. I didn’t answer right away. I hoped he’d conclude the only logical answer there was.

  “We eat her, she’ll help keep us alive,” Yilissa said to him.

  The grumpy man grumbled, “I guess. Can I get the kids down there first?”

  “You’ll need a broom and dustpan first,” I said, walking down the only path deeper into the mine.

  I probably should have studied mining at some point. I figured there had to be a way to keep retention water out of the tunnels but didn’t have a clue as to how it was done.

  I did notice my hearing returned to a crisp attentiveness, with the fading ringing. Tinnitus, it wasn’t just in the shows and movies, and I welcome the reprieve when it died down.

  The tips of my fingers traced the marked walls as each echoing step led us deeper into the mine.

  The others had arrived, dragging the dead baby narocks out.

  I was tempted to tell them to stop so I could hear better. Instead, the deeper I dove into the planet, the quieter they became.

  Roma held the candle exactly where I asked her to, keeping a steady hand during my time of need. We reached a landing that fanned out. Wooden beams supported the roof and the large size of the space added longer echoes to our steps.

  “What is this?” Roma asked, taking in the sight that went for a few hundred feet in every direction.

  “Pay dirt if I had to guess. No reason to go up or down. They hit a coal node and expanded. Every,” I stepped from one beam to the next, “ten feet or so they added a support. Seems like overkill, but I know diddly about mining.”

  “Diddly?”

  I shrugged. “An old saying that stuck with my mom for whatever reason. Means you know nothing and is a way to emphatically get that point across.”

  I crouched down, inspecting the dirty floor. Our footprints created a nice trail. Absently missing were paw prints from a narock.

  “They never went further than the first landing and if I had to guess, someone was last here a few weeks ago. The beasts probably ate a few bodies from Lornsto, laid down in a coma after a quick bang, and then presto, out pops some little babies for me to kill,” I said, scooping up a bit of dirt. When I rose, I groaned. “I’m getting old.”

  “You’re covered in blood, sunburned, have scrapes everywhere, and you're walking like you either got a stick up your butt, or you got blisters,” Roma said with a snicker.

  “Both,” I replied, and her echoing laughter brought me joy. Even though I wanted to take a nap, I pushed on.

  Roma caught up and came to my side to walk confidently. I waved her back, and she frowned.

  “What?”

  “There’s probably other ways into here. Just because this way was clear, doesn’t mean we should drop our guard. Let’s be thorough and certain. I’m following the most recent set of footsteps. Two people. Likely the last workers.”

  We explored the vast digging range. At some points, the miners hit formidable rock, choosing to dig around instead of blasting apart the stone. In other parts, dynamite had clearly been used because the ceiling went higher than average.

  I had a feeling the foreman was big on safety but played it loose at other times. The vast digging floor extended in an expansive semicircle. After we checked the left half, we wound around a series of boulders, over two plank bridges, and came upon a descending tunnel.

  We spiraled deeper and deeper into the pits until the sound of a crying baby caught my attention.

  “Silence her Kayla, I heard somethin’,” a deep male voice said.

  “Easy. Easy. We’re friendly,” I said in a pleasant and warm tone.

  “I don’t recognize ya from Lornsto.”

  “I knew Norma before the monsters got her,” I said.

  “We ain’t got nothin’,” the man said.

  Kayla said, “Maybe they have food.”

  “We do. Did you know there was a family of monsters living above you?” I asked.

  “Ain’t buying what yer sellin’,” the man said with a scoff.

  “We’re cooking horse meat, and it's free. Is that running water I hear?” I asked.

  “None for you,” he said, his heavy twang finally correcting.

  “We have children, food, families, and supplies. We will be on the main mining floor if you need us. And mister, I’m going to need water once the rains stop and the blistering sun returns. We’d be happy to trade some food, for some water. Not like I’d let you starve anyway,” I said.

  “Whose horse?” he asked.

  “A stray from Opo. Carried out an infant who I rescued. Why? Are you looking for a specific horse that loves to escape, hates to be ridden, and is a dick?” I guessed.

  “Uh, how’d you know?”

  “Binky, we called him Binky. Because he has that way of leaving an impression. I’d never shoot him. He escaped, making his way to Bisben now if I had to guess. I have bad news. Opo fell. Lornsto fell, was there for that. Laro is due to fall. A flood of growing monsters is coming, and the tide is so vast, I want to seal the mine until they pass,” I told him.

  He sighed. “I know about Opo and Lornsto. I was hoping to flee to Laro. I drove coal to Opo in the steamboat. Kayla and I just got back, and no one met us at the docks to wheel on more coal. So, I went to town, figured a drink would be nice.

  “A dozen beasts with manes of a lion and bear bodies were gnawing on dead bodies. We skirted the town, trying to see if we could help. One of the bigger ones noticed us and we ran straight into the mine.

  “Been down here for a month, starving on nothing but jerky, and that ran out a week ago. I went up to see about raiding the town, but the most awful noises came from above. They were so diabolical that I hid back in our spot. So, you might understand why we’re hungry.”

  I cringed at his words. “I have bad news partner. It has only been a little over two weeks since Lornsto fell, not a month,” I said.

  I could hear it in his tone. The deflated defeat. “How many of you are there?” he asked.

  “Enough. I have kids I have to protect and no offense, I don’t know you. Someone needs to enter the other person’s den first. If you come up, we have food, families, and guns. A whole lot of guns. I’m glad you survived. We’re going to move into the mining floor and set up beds and -”

  “Beds! Out of my way, Craig. My back is killing me, my milk is drying up, and do you hear that?” Kayla asked.

  The soft echoes of children playing bounced across the walls.

  “Aye, kids. Our last candle blew out a… a while ago. Hard to tell time down here. Excited to get out of here,” Craig said.

  “About that. We’re going to be trapped in here for quite some time. But I promise, the first chance I get, we’ll be doing expeditions to scavenge and secure more food,” I said. “Maybe. Maybe even venture toward the interior with that steamboat.”

  “My boat? Apple’s still at the docks?”

  Roma said, “Indeed. Looked like a beast may have turned it into a nest, but we ha
ven’t inspected it yet.”

  Craig sighed, “There’s enough coal to take us about halfway to Bisben. We can dig some more coal in here and risk a collapse or steal some from Laro or Opo, assuming the interior is the end goal.”

  “I’m going to be honest with you. My only goal so far has been to establish a safe space. I worried I’d get on the… Apple and she’d never start, or I’d be out of coal,” I said.

  “She is. We can mine and use the piles above, sure beats rotting in here,” Craig said.

  “Makes sense. One day at a time and we need to make sure nothing was damaged beyond repair, but I’m very open to fighting the current upriver and returning to civilization. A nice bath, a shave, a foot massage…” I let the sentence dangle, and I could hear the ladies snickering as I daydreamed.

  Craig asked, “Alright, what’s your name, partner?”

  “Theo Karo, and I’m here to save as many people as possible for Mother Nature. Every human life matters. I may not be able to save them all, but I found some worth protecting. We sure could use a hand setting up a base,” I said.

  Roma added, “He’s been beating himself up and doing everything he can to protect us.”

  “I can respect that. I can respect that for certain,” Craig said, stepping into the light with his hands up.

  I holstered my dragon and extended my hand.

  Craig was, without a doubt, another rough and gruff survivor. We shook hands and for the first time in days I felt like I could finally relax.

  Intermission 1

  Starship Tranquility

  11 Days inside Earth’s Atmosphere

  “Are we secure?” Marius asked Olivia.

  Laura watched Olivia mess with a set of wires in the ceiling of the mining ship. The hatch dangled and she yanked down colorful wires. Laura tapped her fingers impatiently, wishing they could just activate a jammer or something.

  “Darcy doesn’t care. She probably turned off the recorders in here after the first time you did this,” Teresa said, sitting across from her. “A giant does not fear five ants. Even two hundred thousand ants.”