The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  Dudian saw them pick up phone, TV remote control, electric lights and other objects. He was wondering that scavengers who find things similar to the one Mason and the other two found should be a lot. He could not help but wonder, scavengers who have to find these things should be a lot. How do they evaluate the value of these things?

  However when he thought deeply about the issue he did understand that in these three hundred plus years the "normal" ecological environment has changed a lot. So in terms of radiation level, the standards which applied in those days aren't same as the ones in present era. Still, there was the question of the value and purpose of the objects which are acquired. Even there are parts that aren't harmed in one or another way and they are cumiliated in the hands of the consortia. How do they value things if they don't know the original use of the part?

  For an object to resist the nucler radiation it had to be made up of lead, gold or other high-density metal which was why the gold jewelry under the counter was kept as it.

  "Go to the next room." Dudian glanced around and saw that there was nothing of value. They were the first to come over the area so Dudian wanted for his group to pick the objects of high value. In the future when other raiders will come to scavenge, they would be able to pick clothing, beds, refrigerators or other large objects that would be left for metal to be removed.

  Mason and the other two didn't want to stay in the room for long so they immediately left out..

  There were corpses lying on the corridor. It was quiet.

  Dudian looked at few corpses, feeling that they will suddenly wake up. He suppressed the cranky feeling and opened the door of the second room. He was thinking about the nuclear disaster while he was searching the room. Apparently three hundred years ago when the global nuclear bombing broke out, it was not the only disaster. A terrible virus had began to infect the survivors.

  This unknown virus had turned people who were infected into undeads. So for people to survive in highly dangerous zones, it had to understood how terrible and tenacious the virus is.

  Dudian was mainly looking for computers, mobile phones and appliances similar to those. After all, in residential rooms those were the things of value.

  There was a desktop computer in the second room. Dudian wasn't planning to take the whole machine with himself. He opened it up and took the electric box that was inside. The wires were covered in dust. He touched the main board but it was like a thin layer of paper.

  After the long term radiation it had completely deteriorated.

  Dudian sighed. Resistors that were on the motherboard were either dried down or swollen into strange shapes.

  Dudian slightly shook his head and gave up on the machine. After all this was the first day and there were another nine days to go. He could pick lots of things in the next nine days but he couldn't carry them all as there were limits to much he could handle.

  "if there was a truck... I wonder how much I could carry out...". An idea emerged in his mind. But he soon was discouraged as the computer in front of him had turned into a useless garbage. How would he find proper parts to make a car as everything has deformed into unrepairable state? He would need the help of super-computer.

  The premise was ... to have electricity!

  Later on he found out a generator, to be precise a wind generator which needed an open field to work. Even if he went to slums to buy such a site, he still lacked the funds to do so.

  They went through third and fourth rooms.

  The building was completely plundered in less than half an hour. Everyone had stacked their goods on the first floor's hall. They registered their findings with Scott to prevent confusion and theft in the future.

  Clearly, in the long history of the scavengers, they had understood that in order to obtain the best interests for participants the civil strife had to be eliminated.

  "Now, everyone should go to search the nearby bar." Scott said to crowd as he finished registering the products.

  Twenty consortium scavengers who were eager for more didn't wait for long and formed groups of four or five and left the shop to nearby ruins in search of supplies.

  Scott looked at Dudian: "I and Mia will be searching for supplies together. Do you want to go with us? "

  Dudian shook his head: "No, I'll go with my friends."

  "Don't forget that in case of danger call for help. It's very quite in here so as long as the distance is not too far then we will hear." Scott didn't insist for Dudian to joim them but reminded him of dangerous situations.

  Dudian nodded and turned to call Mason, Zach and Sham. They went down the street towards a dilapidated building that was in the vicinity.

  Dudian didn't go into every building as he knew what he could find in those ruins. Soon he found ruin of a small supermarket.

  The supermarket was covered by vegetation, but because of its style it still could be identified as a supermarket. He didn't know what kind of disaster had it suffered as it had collapsed from middle down to ground. In front of it there were few corpses which seemed to be killed recently.

  "So many corpses ... " Mason spoke out. Their faces had turned ugly after they had come to area no 8. There were dead bodies everywhere. They couldn't imagine what kind of a picture those hunters faced when they had come here first.

  Dudian's mind was also timid, but still maintined his calm. He passed by the corpses and went towards to the entrance of the supermarket. He stepped inside but he saw a dead corpses in that instant. There were eight red spots which emitted low sounds.

  "Monsters!" Dudian's pupils shrank as hurried back.

  A gray shadow flashed by the entrance and jumped towards Dudian while he was retreating.

  Chapter 47: The first battle

  Dudian quickly fell sideways and rolled to escape the gray shadow's attack. He looked up to a dark haired rat. It was similar to 'bone rat' which he had seen previously but it was a little thinner and small. At the moment it's blood-red eyes were tightly staring at him while it exposed its hideous teeth.

  "Monster!" Mason, Zach and Sham cried out loud. Their face turned white while their legs become soft.

  Whoosh!

  The mutated rat jumped again towards the nearest Dudian as soon as it landed.

  Dudian's hairs were erect. The rat was too fast and he was too late to dodge it. His reaction was slow and instinctively he raised his arm to resist.

  Bang~ He felt a heavy impact that hit his upper body. Because of imbalance he fall backwards. He was scared so he had closed his eyes when he had raised his arm. The rat's small teeth tightly bite his arm. His palm loosened and the dagger fell onto ground.

  Because of fear and adrenaline, blood rushed into his mind instantly!

  help me~ help me~

  Many ideas flooded his mind which confused him. His instincts had taken over the reason when he had faced an encounter which impacted his life. The rat wasn't able to bite through the uniform so it began to chew his arm non-stop. A sharp pain came from his arm. Dudian quickly calmed his mind and put to panicky senses at the back of his mind. Everything happened in a time of few breaths.

  "Uh, ah ah ... " Dudian roared, lifted up his arm and severely hit the ground. He grabbed the leg of the rat using his other arm. He kept hitting the ground using his right arm, so that rat's head would be hurt while violently colliding with the ground.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Because of continuous violent crashes and pulling of its leg, the rat didn't stick up till the end but loosened its mouth. Dudian roared and hit it's body to the ground while keeping a firm hang on rat's leg.

  "Die!"

  He crazily hit the rat again and again while whirling it around. Dudian roared as he smashed the rat's body. The rat's headbone cracked because of hard collision and blood spilled out. The vicinity was filled with blood.

  He didn't know how many times he had hit the rat as Dudian's anger gradually faded away. Weakness spread all over his arm. He picked up the dagger from the ground and mer
cilessly stabbed in to rat's stomach.

  Dagger was exremely sharp and it continously pierced through rats skin. The dagger was stained in blood. Dudian stopped his attack as he saw rat stop movement. His heart was still fastly thumping. There was fear still lingering in his heart as he recalled the previous scene. This was his first time facing a life-death situation. Although he had outlived the nuclear disaster but that was like watching a disaster movie through a TV. Experiencing first hand a threat like this was totally different.

  Even without a mirror, he could feel that his face at the moment would look extremely ugly. He looked at his right arm. Above the uniform there were few deep dent marks. Fortunately this black, soft material was made of extremely hard substances and had a layer of lead. Otherwise as Scott had mentioned before because of the rate of the infection he would have turned into an undead like Mia's late husband.

  "Dean!" Mason cried out in vain.

  Dudian looked up at him.

  Suddenly Mason rushed out and raised his dagger and cut above his head.

  Dudian suddenly woke up from euphoria and thought of the previous eight red spots that he saw in the supermarket.

  Kacha~ Mason's dagger had stabbed a rat and blood was sputtering out.

  Dudian quickly looked back and saw that in addition to the rat that was stabbed by Mason another three rats had rushed out from the broken glasses of supermarket. They stared at Dudian and Mason with blood red eyes for a moment. They rapidly jumped towards Mason and Dudian as if they were agile cheetah's.

  Dudian's face turned ugly as he waved the dagger again and again to intimidate these rats. However, simple indimidation did not scare them. One of them suddenly jumped to Dudian's front.

  Dudian quickly stabbed his dagger but the blade cut rat's greasy hair. It's outer body was so hard that it wasn't affect by dagger instead it fell down, jumped again and grabbed onto Dudian's chest. Two of it's front claws tried to grasp Dudian's face.

  As a beast it instinctively knew the vital parts of its prey.

  Dudian quickly grabbed its hair. Because of the armored gloves he wasn't worried about the infection that could contaminate him. However, the rat's hair was extremely waxy. As hard as Dudian tried he could still feel the hair in his hands to rapidly slide away.

  Once again he was facing a desperate situation.

  Suddenly, Dudian roared. His feet straddled and body turned in a very soft posture. He had stood up without using his hands. At the same time his arm clutched at the last trace of the rat's hair and pushed it aside. Rat flied out.

  The rat fell down to ground, made few circles and stopped on to attack once more.

  Dudian's heart contracted, muscles tensed and his mental force was at it's highest degree of concentration at the moment. He suddenly kicked.

  Bang! Dudian's feet had kicked the rat as if he has expected the attack route of the rat and actually kicked it in the exact position of its flutter. His kick containted the power of his anger and despair. It was a heavy blow which made the rat to fly out, then hit and roll on the ground. The rat was screaming in sharp tone.

  Dudian did not stop, instead took the initiative and rushed out!

  He went ahead and used the dagger to stab it while the rat has not climbed up.

  The dagger tore its abdomen, penetrating it deeply.

  The rat fiercly struggled, uttering pierce sharp cries. Dudian's body strength was exhausted but he firmly nailed the rat onto ground. He was not releasing it despite its struggles and screams.

  His heart was full of hostility!

  Chapter 48: Death

  "Ah !" screams echoed out.

  Dudian looked back to see that Mason was outflanked by two rats and threw himself onto ground. Zach and Sham approached in haste to kick the rats. They didn't attack with daggers, worried that they would injure Mason.

  Dudian's face changed. He quickly pulled out the dagger and reflexively rushed past.

  "Go away!" Dudian roared loudly. His metal boots kicked one of the rat's head. With a bang sound the rat fall back. Zach used the opportunity to rush up and to kick its head severly.

  Sham grabbed the tail of the other mouse so that it didn't climb onto Mason's face.

  Dudian's body had adapted to fighting against the rats because of the experience. He pulled from rat's hind leg and fiercely hit it on the ground. After a few violent hits, its sharp little head was knocked on ground and it's struggle became weak.

  Dudian continously whirlwindingly hit the rat onto ground. The rat couldn't find a leverage to break out of his hand.

  After ten consecutive times of hit, the rat gradually stopped moving. Its body twitched a few times as blood penetrated out from its hair coloring the ground red.

  Mason and Zach had killed the other rat.

  Dudian looked at the rat. He used the dagger to stab it few more times. He was relieved and sat on the ground. His whole body was exhausted. He felt like his arm was nonexistent because of the pain. He was taking big breathes using his mouth. However the mask's air filter was very slow so felt dizzy and hypoxic.

  Mason also sat next to him, his back against Dudian's.

  Zach and Sham's state were much better, as they still retained a lot of physical power and stamina. They looked at the ground. The dead bodies of rats were still laying on the ground. They were frightened by the sight.

  After a while of rest, Mason threw his hair backwards. He was panting as he talked: "Damn. It almost got my throat. These damn things!"

  Dudian 's breathing gradually got smoother. He looked back at Mason: "Thanks to you, I'm.."

  Mason snapped: "What the heck man!"

  Dudian smiled and no longer said anything.

  Zach had a lingering fear: "There are so many damned rats around that hunters haven't even touched. How the heck do they call this place 'clean'?"

  Sham added: "Fortunately, the uniform's are tough enough to bites of these rats. If they were torn, the consequences would be unthinkable."

  Dudian looked at the corpses of rats that were in front of him and thought back to their previous battle. His fingers clenched into a fist. Too bad. His performance was too bad. If not because of Mason's timely intervention, he would have been bitten by the rat that attacked in from rear.

  "You have done very well. After all it was the first time you encountered such a fight. Even adults will be scared and panicked if a dog attacked them out of nowhere." A voice inside of him relieved himself while he was self-blaming himself. Dudian's strangled the voice withim him, biting his lips and making the pain hit his mind. He let his weakness remember - you live only once!

  In the face of death almost everything is meaningless. To save yourself you gotta have the power. Only by being powerful he could survive!

  He suddenly understood why the scavengers are selected only from the residential areas and slums rather than the people who attend the college selection from the commercial district. Because the mortality rate of the job is too high. Although they encountered danger, it was 'trivial' because area no 8 has been 'cleaned' by the hunters in advance. If the scavengers would be collecting in areas no 9 or no 10, the probability of encountering these monsters will be very low.

  However, low risk also meant that there will be low harvest!

  This is a dangerous job. But it was worth in terms of returns.

  It was fair.

  Because of the previous combat experience, there was fear of death in Dudian's mind. This time they encountered mutated rats. Would they encounter more terrible monsters the next time? Should they join into a larger force so that their chances to survive increases?

  He looked at the broken glass door of the supermarket. There was a feeling subconsciously forcing him to retreat. Soon, he thought of his right arm. He thought of the marks engraved on it. A sudden firmness was reflected on his eyes. Propping the ground he said to the three "Let's go in! Most of them are dead now so there should be a few inside. Perhaps hiding in the dark. We should be careful of them.
"

  Mason, Zach and Sham were surprised as they did not expect Dudian to dare to enter the ruins of this building. They saw the determination in his eyes. They slightly hesitated, then stood up, clenched their dagger and were ready to enter.

  At the same time~~

  "Ah ah!" Scream echoed out from the nearby street. It was quiet in the these rotten ruins so the sound was especially loud for the environment.

  Dudian and the other three were surprised for a moment. He thought of the battle that they had just experienced with the rat monsters. As he heard the shrill cry, he thought that the others also encountered something for the first time. He hesitated as he did not know if he should go for help.

  Dudian hesitated for awhile as few ideas popped up in his mind. He said in a cold tone: "Let's check it out. If the odds are against us we should withdraw!"

  Mason and the other two were hesitant as they heard him talk. They nodded.

  They ran along the direction of scream. There were scavengers who came out from other buildings who had ran to the place where screams were echoing out.

  Soon, the screams got more noisy and intense as they came up the street corner. Dudian immediately slowed down and made a slight hand gesture. Mason, Sham and Zach understood and slowed down their pace. They walked slowly behind Dudian.

  Around the corner, Dudian moved his head out to probe out the situation, suddenly his pupils shrank and face turned ugly in horror.

  The center of the street was full of green vegetation. In front of a broken shop two people were twisting on the ground. A man and a woman. However, the figure on top had torn coat, revealing white skin. Instead of fingers there were sharp claws. It was an undead!

  A live, undead! . .

  This woman undead was on top of the struggling youth. Dudian could clearly see the woman biting and tearing the flesh out of youth's chest. Blood vessels and tissues were hanging like the wires from woman's mouth. Blood was constantly spewing out of the youth's chest.