Shadow Sun Survival

by Dave Willmarth

  “But we can take the rope!” He stepped forward and examined the bench. It was basically just three two-by-six boards screwed to three slats underneath. The rope passed through two holes in each end and was knotted underneath. The knots were sealed with something transparent. There was no way to untie them.

  “No worries.” Allistor simply lifted the bench with the two hundred feet or so of rope coiled atop it and looked around. “Which side is the cafeteria?”

  Amanda pointed east, and he walked to the edge and dropped the bench off the side. A moment later there was a crash as the bench hit the ground. Dusting off his hands, he said, “That was easy!” She just gave him a half-smile and headed for the door.

  Back downstairs, they returned to the maintenance room. He reluctantly agreed to use one of the morgue carts to load up the bags they’d filled. Since they couldn’t push it up the stairs, she directed them toward the lower level loading dock. This was where funeral homes came to pick up the bodies and supplies were delivered.

  As soon as they walked out onto the dock, Allistor whooped for joy! Which caused Amanda to jump and nearly wet herself. When she turned on him, he was already gone. Headed to the far side of the dock where three large grey plastic bins with wheels sat. Each of them was about three feet wide and five feet long.

  “Ew! They use those to collect the trash!” she called out. “Do you know how nasty hospital trash can be?”

  He shrugged, peering down inside the nearest one and sniffing. “They’re not so bad. We can line them with plastic. I saw some tarps in there. And I’m putting tools in here, not food.”

  She made a disgusted face but went to help him. They pushed the three bins back to the maintenance room and filled them until they creaked under the weight. Then Allistor laid a ladder across the top of one, and a workbench atop each of the others. Once again, they made a train down to the loading dock. Leaving their loot there, they returned to the main floor.

  “Okay, show me these machines you want.”

  Amanda led him to the portable X-ray machine first. It was nothing fancy, and not particularly heavy. The equipment to print the X-rays was much heavier and less portable. Allistor was able to disconnect it all, as most of it was just ‘plug and play’, and load it onto a gurney, which he pushed outside along with the X-ray unit itself. They grabbed a portable defibrillator on the way out. Along with several networked pads that the staff used to pull records and such. “For when you run out of pencils and paper,” she poked at him.

  As Allistor ran back through the corridors to get the truck, Amanda added a few last-minute items to the pile outside. Six of the posts they used to hang plasma bags, boxes of tubing and needles, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, and other assorted supplies. Finally, she ran into a breakroom and emerged with a pillowcase filled with the trashy romance novels the nurses kept stashed in there. And a gallon-sized jar of lollypops for Chloe.

  Allistor retrieved the rope and used some of it to secure the refrigerator and other items already on the trailer. Then he slowly pulled around to the ER to load and secure those items. Amanda hopped into the truck and they pulled around to the loading dock for the bins of tools. When they were done, there wasn’t a square foot of free space on the back of the trailer, and the truck bed was piled high. Amanda volunteered to drive, and Allistor rode on the trailer, prepared to stabilize anything that shook loose.

  She started moving slowly, creeping along over the single speed bump between them and the road. When nothing fell off, she picked up some speed on the road. The first three and a half miles she cruised along at about 30mph. When they reached the outskirts of town she slowed way down and threaded her way through the debris. Reaching the stronghold gates, she honked the horn once, and Nancy let them in.

  As they passed, she told them that Sam and Meg had already returned twice with their truck filled with stuff. They were inside when Amanda parked in front of the kitchen. For the next half hour, the group unloaded and stowed all the loot amid surprised exclamations, laughter, and much congratulation.

  Sam was especially appreciative of the many and varied pies. When he saw them, a wide smile appeared on his face. Seeing that smile, a suspicious Meg walked over and looked into the bin. “Oh, no you don’t!” She got in front of him and physically pushed him away from the cart. “We’re going to need a lock for the refrigerator!”

  Allistor laughed and said, “Just leave some cheesecake out where I can get to it!” Still chuckling, he caught Sam’s attention. “This might make you happy.” He led the man up onto the trailer bed and unwrapped the rope around the refrigerator. When he opened it, he made an “Aaah, AHHH, aaah!” sound like angels crooning over a miracle. Sam’s eyes widened and his smile returned. “Beef!” he shouted!

  The two of them wheeled the massive fridge off the trailer and into the kitchen, where Meg promptly began transferring the treasure trove of meat into the cold storage. As they watched, Sam caught him up on their foraging trip.

  “We got four radios and the base station. Not great, but should be enough for now. Found two more deputy’s cars and got some more weapons and ammo. More vests, too. We hit the hardware store and loaded up all kinds of stuff. There’s still more there we can pick up later. With those bins you brought back, we can carry all kinds of stuff. And I don’t think it would be that hard to build rails for the trailer.”

  He looked out the window at the Mustang parked near the fountain. “Found lots of other vehicles that are still intact. But no keys. So either we need to spend more time searching out the keys, or learn how to hotwire them. If we can find the keys, there’s a very pretty 1969 Corvette at my buddy Frank’s house. He lives about a mile outside of town. He also has a tractor. I was thinking we might try to grow a crop outside at some point. And we could use it to clear the roads eventually.”

  “Good thinking all around!” Allistor patted the man on the back. “This has been a very productive day. I know it’s still early, but I’m beat. I say we close up for the day, finish sorting through everything, and then celebrate!”

  Chapter Seven

  Zombiecue

  The celebration went well into the night. Steaks were grilled, pies were consumed, and bottles of spirits opened. Ramon and Michael woke in time to join the celebration, looking refreshed and healthy. Allistor’s wounds from the lanx had fully healed as well. The group ate, drank, laughed, and told stories.

  Meg had found a radio, and to their surprise, a few stations were still transmitting! Though there were no live voices. It seemed as if they were running pre-programmed tracks. But that didn’t matter. Several of the group got up and danced. Ramon, who’d hit a bottle of rum pretty hard, didn’t have the balance to get up and dance, so he showed off his chair-dancing moves, over which Chloe giggled and clapped, trying to imitate him.

  Amanda hauled Allistor onto his feet and dragged him over to dance with the others. Then she mocked his dance moves with a sparkle in her eye. “You should maybe stick to lifting heavy things and killing stuff.” Her smile was wide and warm. When a slow song came on, she latched onto him and put her head on his shoulder.

  With quite a bit of rum in him as well, Allistor was doing his best not to cross a line he wasn’t sure he’d been invited to cross. So he whispered at the top of her head. “Thank you for saving my cute butt today. I’d have you as my wingman anytime.”

  Her only response was to lower her hand from his shoulder to give his butt a squeeze.

  *****

  The next morning he woke up with a pounding headache. When he blinked his eyes open, he found Amanda’s face inches from his own, drooling on his chest. Grinning to himself, he closed his eyes again. He had no urgent need to be up and about. Though he would need to find the bathroom soon.

  He pushed a strand of hair from her face as he watched her sleep. He guessed she was about thirty years old, with long, ebony hair that glistened in the light. He didn’t remember much about the events of the previous night, but he didn’t
regret finding himself where he was this morning.

  Eventually, she rolled onto her back and began to snore. He took the opportunity to get up and use the bathroom. He was just finishing a shower when she joined him. It was a good hour before they emerged to seek breakfast and start the day. And Allistor found he was quite hungry.

  Meg was in the kitchen with Sam. The smells of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sautéed onions drifted out to the dining area. Allistor tried to volunteer to help, but he was chased from the kitchen by Meg and her spatula.

  Nancy and Chloe were already sitting at one of the foraged cafeteria tables with Ramon and Lilly occupying the other two seats. Amanda took a chair at an empty table and Allistor joined her. A moment later, Michael entered and sat with them. Allistor scooched his seat close to Amanda’s and pulled over two more chairs so Meg and Sam could join them. Everybody but Chloe seemed to have a hangover.

  Breakfast was delicious and served in large helpings. Allistor devoured a stack of four pancakes, several strips of bacon, three sausages smothered in onions, and a couple rolls. There was water, sweet tea, and orange juice to wash it all down.

  With their hugely successful salvage operation the day before, they had plenty of food to last them several weeks. When folks were done eating, Allistor suggested a plan for the day.

  “Hey, everybody. I was thinking this would be a good day to stay inside. Amanda has a whole infirmary to organize. We have a crafting hall just begging to be used and a ton of materials. I was hoping everyone would want to focus a bit on their skills, and maybe find out what we can make, or build, to improve our circumstances here.”

  This was met with general approval. He looked at Ramon and Michael. “You guys weren’t here for the quick and dirty tutorial the other day. I imagine you’ve been pretty occupied by that titan since it arrived. If you’d like, we can spend some time this morning catching you up?”

  Both men agreed, and after helping Meg clean up the breakfast dishes, they went outside to sit at the big wooden table that still occupied a space near the fountain.

  Allistor spent about an hour going through everything they had learned, pausing for questions or to hear input from the men. Ramon popped up with a skill he’d learned. “I keep a journal. I’ve written in it every day since I was a kid. The other day when we thought we’d lost the titan and stopped for a while, I was recording the day’s events. A message popped up that I’d earned the Scribe skill. That made me curious, so I tried something else. Took out my knife and started whittling at a piece of firewood. After about twenty minutes I earned Woodworking.”

  Michael added. “I’ve only gotten one so far. Marksman. I shot so many damned rounds at that monster. On the second day, the notification came up when a shot went right into its mouth.”

  “Good! All useful skills that I don’t think any of the rest of us have. My hope is that we’ll all develop skills that complement each other and benefit the community. For example, do either of you know anything about engines or machines? Sean had earned the Engineering skill, and obviously, now we’ve lost that again.”

  Ramon clapped his hands together. “I studied engineering in school. Give me something to work on, and I’ll level up that bad boy like crazy.”

  Allistor told him about the hospital, the generator, the crane on the roof. “I’m not sure what else is there that would be worth checking out. But for today, Amanda might need help setting up her medical machines.”

  Ramon hopped up and headed for the infirmary. Michael looked at Allistor. “What’ve you got for me?”

  “Dunno. What are you good at? Or more importantly, what do you like to do?”

  Michael looked over his shoulder to make sure Ramon was gone. “I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want to make Ramon feel bad. But I was a huge gamer as a kid. I recognized what this was almost on the first day. So I’ve been ‘playing’ it like a game. As for skills – I was thinking I could try something cool. Like enchanting. Maybe combine it with blacksmithing to make badass armor.” He grinned at the look on Allistor’s face.

  “Right on, man!” Allistor gave him a fist-bump. “I’m glad to have another gamer in the group! You can help me push everyone else in the right directions. Not with their choices, that’s totally up to them. But motivate them to get better at whatever path they choose.”

  “I can dig that, my friend.” Michael leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “So what’s your build? What are you thinking?”

  The two of them chatted for another half hour, sharing their stats and talking about possible skill trees. Neither of them had the first clue how to trigger a skill like Enchanting, though.

  Finally, Michael just said, “Maybe I can find a scroll on the market or something.”

  The two of them both moved over to the open market trade building and approached the window. When they did, the windows turned out to be holo-screens with prompts that allowed you to search for items. There was a setup required with both biometric and retinal scans to confirm identity.

  It seemed one could list items on the market and browse using just their interface. But to purchase something, one had to physically contact the kiosk. Once a purchase was made, the item would either appear on a shelf behind the display, or a larger door would open and allow the buyer to remove the item (like a car, for instance).

  Both men scanned for scrolls. Allistor took a more general approach, searching for skill training scrolls to get a general idea of availability and cost. He had a few hundred klax from his various kills, and he was ready to spend them on scrolls.

  Michael went with a much narrower search. He started with beginner enchanting scrolls. When that turned up nothing, he tried a few other keyword combinations.

  Both men were discouraged by the results. Michael finally found a scroll that would teach him a skill called “Power Infusion” which, best he could tell, was the System’s version of Enchanting. But the scroll was expensive. Six hundred klax. And every gamer knew that Enchanting was one of the most expensive skills to level. The material costs were generally prohibitive. If it cost six hundred klax just to learn…

  Meanwhile, Allistor was discovering a similar issue. All the scrolls he looked at were expensive. On a whim, he did a search of a Levitate scroll and found it was worth two thousand klax. That was big money, but not big enough to make him sell it. He’d try to improve his Weaponsmithing the old-fashioned way first. Plain old hard work and experimentation.

  While he was at the screen, he checked his account. The display told him he had three hundred and ten personal klax, and two thousand five hundred klax in the Stronghold account, over which he was the sole authorized individual.

  That reminded him. He added Michael and Ramon to the Review and Recommend list, so that they could review what had been done and make recommendations in the next upgrade discussion.

  Authorizing individuals put him in mind of his old guilds. He asked Michael, who was still perusing the market, whether he’d spent much time in a guild.

  “Yup. Ran one for a few years. Wasn’t a big deal. Mostly a social guild. We did some raiding, but it was hard to get everyone’s schedules sync’d when they’re not hardcore. We were lucky to do one a month.”

  Allistor felt his pain. “You think we could form one here? Now? I mean like, officially. Through the system.”

  “Maybe? But why would you want to?” Michael stepped away from the market window and looked at him. “Why sign yourself up for all that hassle?”

  Allistor grinned. “Actually, I was thinking of signing YOU up for all that hassle. I’m already somehow in charge of the Stronghold. But I was thinking if we expanded… Like if we also made the hospital a Stronghold, with one of you as its boss. And a few others around town in strategic spots. We could fold them all into one guild.”

  He could see Michael wasn’t convinced. So he added. “I mean, maybe it comes with perks like guild chat. We could talk to each other at a distance anytime. No need for radios.”r />
  Michael looked less skeptical, but he wasn’t biting yet. Allistor left him to think about it. There wasn’t an urgent need for a guild yet.

  They were just taking seats again when the proximity alert went off. Allistor pulled up his interface and the map that went with the alarms. The radar-like screen showed multiple red dots moving from the forest almost directly toward their front gates. He tried to count the dots, but they kept merging and crossing over each other. His best guess was a dozen of them.

  As he turned off the audible alert, the others began to emerge from the various buildings, weapons in hand. As one they moved toward the gates. There were few words. Meg said, “I can’t tell how many.”

  Ramon responded, “Lots. It’s either a pack of canids or vermin, or a group of human survivors.”

  When the dots paused and began to mill about at the spot where the titan had died, Allistor said, “It looks like a pack. Sniffing around where we killed the titan. Probably followed its scent.”

  As they reached the gate, Michael shook his head. He spoke quietly. “Nope. We came from the other direction with the titan. But they might be following our scents from when we went out to the creek to wash off. Though how they could pick us up over the stench of that thing, I don’t know.” Allistor grimaced at the memory of the combined armpit and blood stench.

  Meg whispered, “Maybe the smell of the titan will scare them off? You know, like small predators fear big predators?”

  They all waited impatiently, standing at the gates with weapons ready while staring at their interface maps. The dots all meandered around in roughly the same area for a while. Then one dot ranged toward them. It moved maybe twenty yards, then paused. A moment later, the other dots all moved in unison, following the first. Which moved right up to their gates.