Thatch stares up at her. His mom is a tall woman, almost as tall as Inu, and built. He’d said she was a fitness trainer. Right now, I’m rather sure she could fold me in half. Unless I suppress her.
I blink. Right, I shouldn’t be thinking of how to deal with her that way. This was a problem to solve with words.
Reaffirming myself, I give her a short nod. “Okay. Why?”
“Have you looked outside?” she asks, a small sneer on her face. “That’s not safe. We’ll die.”
She has the same kinda blonde hair as Thatch, all brushed to one side and the other one shaved short. Her eyes are focussed on me, and I almost wanna shrink back. But I don’t.
“We won’t,” I tell her. “Staying is more deadly. Stronger monsters will appear.”
“How do you know?” she asks.
“We saw one. Living thing made of shadow. Do you want to be strong enough to defeat them, or do you want to die?” I ask.
At that, I see her eyebrows furrow. “Tough words.”
“You need to hear them,” I tell her. “Right now? We can go outside. It’s risky, sure. But I don’t plan to spend the rest of my life at the mercy of what may come.”
She bites her lips. I can see her defenses crumbling. Then, Thatch helps. He lightly taps her shoulder with a fist. “That’s what I’ve been saying mom! We need levels!”
Her head falls slightly. “Fine,” she says. I don’t know if she’s ready for the horror… but I think she has a better chance than Inu’s parents. “But we head for supplies-”
“We head for Opal. They live nearby,” I say.
Again, her eyes focus on me. She doesn’t even seem angry, and she doesn’t dismiss me, either. I’m not young enough for her to do that.
“Fine then,” she lets up. “You’re Snow, right? Name’s Bay. If you’re gonna boss us around, you better keep my son alive.”
I nod. “I will die before him, if that’s what it takes.”
Bay looks at me, and she sees that I mean every word. At that, surprise and a small smile play on her lips. “Alright, Snow. Lead the way.”
- - -
Opal lived alone, having moved out. They had begun working on coding during their college times and gotten a full-time job instantly once they were out of it. Their flat wasn’t too far away, but the streets were slowly turning more chaotic again.
Turns out that when goblins were throwing rocks through windows, people weren’t exactly prone to staying calm. When we left Thatch’s house, police were gathering outside. It had only been a matter of time, really.
By now, we were a few hours into the apocalypse. The eyes in the sky made phone reception spotty at best, though emergency alerts still worked, luckily. But people were starting to worry.
The news had no explanation for the sudden phenomenon, and the blood splatters left on the road. There were corpses in the streets - humans and goblins, slowly disintegrating - and people saw. From their windows.
It was that time when preppers headed to their bunkers with their guns, to ride it all out. It was that time when kids who played games and read stories experimented with the status. It was when people first figured out that they had power, and others don’t.
In short, when we left the house, there was a gunshot.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
A deafening noise in the quiet streets. Norman and Jess flinched. I saw a man drop to the floor. The police officer stared in disbelief in the air. I tried to imagine what she must be reading. Something like…
[You have killed a lv. 0 Human]
Maybe level one, though I doubt much higher. The man laid on the floor, bleeding. I imagine the way the box must be disintegrating in front of her eyes. Bay is the first to act, striding towards the policewoman.
More strangers do, too. People from the group the man was a part of were split between pushing forward and drawing back. Another police officer is on the floor, unconscious. I think he’s not dead because he isn’t bleeding.
“Excuse me,” Bay announces her presence. The police officer turns, reflexively pointing the gun at her. At that, Bay’s eyes widen and things dawn on her. I watch. Bay stops, slowly raising her hands. “I mean you no harm, ma’am,” she says.
“Stand back,” the policewoman replies, whisper-quiet.
“Please, I-”
“Stand Back!!!” she screams. Her voice pierces right into my head, making it hurt. The dark thing under my skin writhes, moving to acquiesce her command. I grit my teeth, remaining standing, pitting my will and the dregs of mana I’d recovered against the little creature underneath my skin.
The woman pants, falling to a knee, her hand holding the gun shaking. Everything’s quiet, moments passing. The group the dead man had originally been part of slowly retreats. Bay stands there, frozen, her hands still in the air.
Dropping the gun, the policewoman brings both hands to her face and sobbed. “Fuck,” she mutters. “Fuck. What did I just… shit. Holy shit.”
Bay slowly approaches. “Ma’am, I’m coming closer,” she warns.
I eye Inu. “Use your skill,” I say.
She looks at me for a long second, then nods quietly. I see the policewoman tense slightly, but her breathing becomes a little more even. She gets to share some of my calm. I hope Inu doesn’t get to feel my pain through the skill.
Given the look she was currently boring into me, she does. I focus more on [Suppression].
Bay reaches the officer, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Ma’am, can you tell me your name?”
She shakes again. “It’s… Alea. Alea Wilson.”
Thatch’s mother nods. “Alright, Alea. I’m Bay. This is my son, Thatch, his friends, and another set of parents. Could you… explain what happened to us?”
“I killed him,” she says. “I shot him at point blank and… it said I levelled up.” She breaks into a small chuckle, defeated. “What the hell does that even mean.”
It wasn’t a question, not really, but Bay still answers. She takes a moment. “This is… like a video game, in the real world. Things get powers through levels. Can you say the word ‘status’ for me?” she asks.
The policewoman shakes, still on the floor. Obediently, she opens her mouth. “Status.”
From there, her eyes move left to right, reading. She saw her name, the floor, her level, her skills… And then something in her eyes lights up. I know that. Dangerous.
I turn to Thatch. “Tell her to come back.”
Just like Inu before, he knows me. He recognizes my tone of voice. “Mom? Come back to us, please.”
She turns, confused, and hesitates. The policewoman grabs her leg. “Stay,” Alea [Commands].
Bay freezes. “Yes, Ma’am,” she says, voice obedient and empty.
Thatch’s face falls. He seems so disappointed, so sad, and I feel my blood boil. “Thatch?” I ask. “Are you angry right now?”
He nods. “Yeah.”
“Kill that pig,” I tell him.
I [Select] the woman. It’s hard maintaining two targets at the same time, abhorrently hard, but it’s fine. I can do it. But [Suppression]? I forget about the thing underneath my skin, about the pain it will cause me. I target the woman, I target her insidious, horrible command.
Pain burns through my side as the inky infection moves again, but I don’t care. I see Thatch take a step, then two, then three. The policewoman freezes. She got hit by my [Suppression], and I imagine Thatch’s [Piercing Gaze] at the same time. She barely even responds when he slams his fist into her face with the crunch of breaking bones.
The officer’s head crashes into the pavement, brutally. Her skull breaks, blood pooling underneath her head. Thatch instantly stops, takes a breath, then stretches out a hand to his mother. “Hey, mom? Can we move on?” The street is quiet.
Bay turns to him, her eyes glassy with the faint sheen of tears. “Yeah,” she says. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to just… leave you. I’ll listen next time.”
Thatch smiles. “All okay,” he says, lightly tapping her shoulder. “Don’t even worry about it.”
Norman’s face twists in disgust. Jess seems both horrified and unsurprised. Inu simply stares at the corpses. We approach.
The other officer is also dead. The man probably had a skill to hurt people without outward injuries. We move on from the three corpses, before they can attract scavengers.
