I started to walk along the Chicago region. But as best as I could, I tried to avoid the streets. From building to building I wandered tried to not make a sound. I made sure to mask my movements and make less of my footprints. The reason was simple and yet the example came sooner than I expected.
It started with me wandering into a building to stay hidden as much as I can. I had my bow at hand just in case. I soon hear a couple of footsteps at my path and there it was, that feeling again. A dreaded aura can be felt. My body went to a prone position. I then slowly crawled towards a small hole at the wall and it looked like a couple wailing on the sidewalk. I blandly stare as the I wait for them to pass. But they didn't pass the street at all and the bloodlust didn't come from them. Instead the man was shot at the head from far away. The woman then started to scream. She cries as she calls out her lover's name. But a man appears from behind and kicks her to the ground. Two more man come out and the woman runs for her life. They soon chase her down and pin her. The woman kept on calling his name. But it was too late. The man was long dead. One of them men call at the distance and tell someone to come down. It was a fourth man, the killer with his rifle. He comes out from one of the bushes and rushes in to join in the so-called 'fun'.
Alas this was the threat I was talking about. It was one thing that I remembered well when it came to history. A wise man once said that the most horrible monster that ever lived never slept under your bed but are walking in the light. These were human beings. Mr. Williams taught me this phrase when I wanted to know about his time at service. It may have been a war against two sides but in reality he saw the monsters that existed within the both of them. People were killing each other, they were torturing one another, and treating each other like animals or possessions. He told me that there would be times the enemy did types of crimes in order to keep the war at float such as, counterfeiting, kidnapping, theft, even human trafficking.
One time he and his squad had to raid a compound that was believed to house several goods and supplies that provided their enemy. They stormed the goods to find the usual stuff. There were guns, ammunition, rations, contraband to provide funds for the war and money. A lot of people were killed after they raided the upper floors. One of guys even found a safety deposit box full of real dollars. The odd thing about it was that it was just found at the floor. There turned out to be a hidden basement under a rug. As they went down it was dark and gloomy. Mr. Williams and his men can hear voices coming from down there. One of the troops accidentally flipped a switch at the room above and they were shocked to see what happened next. Women from all ages from as old to eight to forty chained to sleeping mats, barely wearing anything. This was actually a room where the enemy kept sex slaves for their men to enjoy as they please. But at the end of the room it was far much worse. It was a man keeping the whole room hostage by a bomb vest and woman being harbored by him. The bomber threatened to blow everybody up but Mr. Williams shot a bullet between the guy's eyes before the sentence could even be finished. They saw to the girl immediately. But it was already too late. Even before Mr. Williams and his group came the woman was much lifeless as a doll. Her lungs were breathing but her mind was dead. In my professional opinion, she would never recover as her psyche was nothing more than a mannequin with skin. He was half right. It was only a few months later the woman's mother smothered her in her sleep. In the end the doll-like woman would never recover because she was half dead. Her mother only finished the job, according to her mindset that is. Apparently Mr. Williams was fighting against the Taliban at the time. After that he shifted from the US Marines to the UN Peacekeepers at the end of his time. He didn't look back since.
It was only while watching the woman here getting raped behind that wall that made me feel the same way as what those troops saw that day. It was despair of not being able to do anything. However there was only one difference was that they took it only as a game, nothing more, nothing less. Much like GTA but more of a battle royale without norms. "Let me have her tits." One of them said.
"I want her pussy then." Another one said.
"Guess I'm taking that ass then." A third guy put out.
I couldn't get away neither hide through it. All I wanted is for it to stop. All I could hear them do was laugh. It brought to light an old memory of one of my past lives. It was during World War II in China. From what I can tell I was Japanese. During my stay there was a certain issue that was conflicting me. I operated as part of intel and this was a very disturbing memory. Japan wasn't polite as it was known to be. Before their military was messed up to the point war was given an excuse to do certain crimes. One of these issues was the Nanjing Massacre. It was when a whole city was slaughtered like game from a hunt. Local men were constantly slaughtered and women of all ages were raped tortured out in the opening. Now where I was I? I was taking notes and filming the whole atrocity. I couldn't react, nor can I speak. All I could do was do whatever the soldiers told me and stay quiet. Filming everything, frame by frame as my brain was screaming from the inside.
The screams and wails of helpless civilians rang in my head as I witness once more the inhumane acts in front of me. To prevent me from screaming I bit my tongue and tried to control myself. But it was hard, my memory started to synchronize. It made my blood boil and my extending horns turn black. Rage built up from a century built up and made me crave for blood. I took the rock next to me and threw it at a door at least a few feet away from me. The four of them wandered curiously as they wondered what it was. One of them stayed with the girl but the three of them decided to check it out. By that time I was outside the building and launched an arrow at the guy who stayed. He couldn't scream as the arrow was in his throat. It was then left with the other three men. I left my pack for bait and hid. By the time the three of them started to dig at my pack, I was hiding at building at the other side of the street, getting ready for my shot. I took three arrow and shot them at the same time. This was one of the skills that I learned, Arrow volley. It was a C-rank skill that was from a memory of Chiron. Funny what happens when you goof around. Two arrows managed to hit one of the guys while the third one hit another guy at the chest. The last one started to run as he screamed. He ran out the window in panic. I shot outside the window, only for the arrow to curve and hit him at the thigh once he appeared at the other side of the window. This skill was what I learned from Oliver, Curved shot. It allows the arrow to swerve at either direction to hit an opponent. Once I vaulted out of a window, I walked towards the man as he started crawling. I then took out my katana and kick the man to his back. "NO! PLEASE!" He pleaded for mercy. But as I hesitated, he took out a revolver. Before he can shoot me, I sliced off his hand and took the revolver up in the air. There I emptied the whole cartridge in rapid fire.
After the dust cleared, all of my opponents were down and my demonic form retracted. But soon after I started to hurl what was left of my breakfast. I then drank some water out of my canteen to get rid of the taste. There was nothing to loot to begin with. The only thing that I can find useful were a few knives and a revolver. They still had a few dollars on them that I can exchange later on and a bit of jewelry that I can cash in later. There were other things too but the rest looked useless.
The only thing left to do was to burn the bodies before they can even turn into ghouls. So I took some alcohol from on of the dead guys and poured it all over them. There I used the ignite spell to light them on fire. But it was there that I forgot about the girl. I walked up to her and I was greeted to a very disturbing site. She stood there paralyzed as just cuddled her lover's corpse. The man was beyond recovery as there was a giant hole coming from the back of his head. His brain was even destroyed to the point it looked like corned beef. I then tugged her at the shoulder. "He's dead. We have to cremate the body now." I told her. But just a second later she got the rifle from the ground and pointed it at me. I put my hands up and told her not to shoot. "Stay away from him!" The woman shouts at me, "He's just having his afternoon naps, I swear!" The contents of the brain start to leak out and crumble. The woman then starts scooping the brain matter back to the corpse's skull as it continues to fall out. "Don't worry honey, I'm a qualified nurse. I'll fix you in a sec." She mumbled to the dead corpse.
But how can the guy recover? His brain was already mush. The woman started to give a panicky laugh. She lost her mind and was soon unable to use speech. All I could hear now was the gibberish coming out of her mouth, much as it was close to baby speak. Not a single thing was actually understood from her. But there was something that came out from above building. A murky green blob appeared and jumped out from the roof and landed on the girl. This thing was a slime. Slimes are bodies of goop with their own consciousness. It was said that whatever the thing absorbs makes it become what they are. Unfortunately some of the goop splashed on my arm. It ate away some of my shirt and decolorized my gauntlet. This was apparently one of the rare variants, Acid Slime. According to the Ark index, the Acid Slime has an ability to secrete acid all over its body and anything around it dissolves. Soon the monster started to shoot acid out of its body. I barely managed to dodge over all the hits as I was close to an inch for it to hit me. It did hit me and skimmed my thigh, just enough for it give me slight burns. But even if I was sloppy I managed to shoot a few arrows. As it as focused on dissolving my arrows, I shot one at its core. The core acts as their central nervous system. Once it was damaged, the thing dies.
However once the Acid Slime died, all remained was the gummy-like core and its contents. The sludge and membrane just fell apart and went in the drain. The contents were full of bones, some of animals and even humans. However the woman didn't make it. Parts of her body had exposed muscle tissue and most of her skin was already dissolved. The gun started to oxidize as the rust proof coating was already dissolved as well. Unless I wanted to burn myself, none of it was actually salvageable. If I was able cast like baking soda or something out of thin air to calm the acid, then I would be able to get it. It was there I learned a crucial lesson. If you don't keep yourself under control, something will devour you in the end. It was best for me to get my stuff and move on.
This was pretty much how it was during my whole stay here. It was kinda depressing to say the least. In Cletus you would have the closest thing to civilization other than the constant kinks such as shortages of power and food from time to time. Outside the bounds of the capital would be what the rest of Laputa would be, No Man's Land. Minutes much felt like hours as the constant as quietly crossing through terrain. It was full of tall grass, oak, and pine. It was hard to even imagine this plot of land grew so much after so many years. It must have taken even decades just for it to grow. There were many monsters and animals around the area. There was the variety of the classic animals that you may find the northern part of the United States. These can be herbivores such as deer and rabbits… then there are the carnivores. One of these would be Wolves. Surprisingly while I was walking around a neighborhood full of trees. I didn't actually expect for a pack of wolves inside a house eating a fresh kill. But to my horror their prey happened to be a couple of survivors. It was a good thing a memory wasn't triggered, otherwise I would have been dessert.
But with all the wildlife there was no sign of a bear anywhere, I kept on searching around but there wasn't any sign of one at all. But I was more surprised on the size of how much of Detroit was part of the HAP. It was according to the Ark Index however is that Detroit was one of the largest HAP to occur. It was so big that almost took a whole city. It even took some of the underdeveloped areas where I stood now. But after sneaking around a little I was already losing sunlight as the day was about to end.
It was there that I stumbled upon an old middle school. It looked as post apocalyptic as it should. There were broken windows everywhere, trees growing into the buildings, dried and leaves and no life in sight. But let's not forget the graffiti everywhere and desecrated landmarks. The grass at the playground even grown so much that it was even sticking out of the asphalt. But the as soon as I saw the fresh feces, there was a bit of game there. Judging that it was in pellet form, I'd say that it was rabbit poop. I readied my bow and started to look around. Going through the corridors I managed to find it in the middle of the hallway eating grass growing out of the concrete. But as I got my bow ready, something popped out of the bushes and killed the rabbit out of its fangs. It was a stray dog, biting down hard to end the rabbit's life.
It kind of reminded me about a discussion me and Rebecca had when she was prepping. I was getting worried about her being alone half of the times so I suggested her to get a dog from the shelter. She decided to pass because my friend was most of the time at work and prefers video games over that kind of responsibility. But eventually we went off topic and talked about animals. It was about animals during the apocalypse. Rebecca told me once humans are out to of the picture, most domestic animals will become feral and return back to their basic instincts. This was where I was now. I was staring at a feral stray dog, the one thing I should be avoiding. Since dogs originated from wolves, it would be common sense that dogs would return back to hunting for meat.
However I have to remember that I was as much as a meal as that rabbit to the dog. He noticed me and started to growl. Instead of just fighting however, I decided to back away and pretend I didn't see anything. Rebecca also said that there was also a possibility that some of these dogs would eventually form packs. I just figured roast rabbit would have made a good meal but being the next meal of an entire pack was another story. But as I backed away, the dog didn't pay that much attention to me and let me pass.
I thought I was safe. However that wasn't the case. Behind me I can hear the sound of growling. The smell if blood was around the air and bloodlust can be felt behind me. At the first moment I got I sprinted away as I was being chased by a group of feral dogs. My pace turned into strides as the dogs were chasing me in increasing speeds. Even if I shifted into my demon form they were just a feet away from getting me. But before I can take my next step, something emerged from the floor. It was a giant trapdoor spider as it emerged in front of me from a door from the right side.
Barely I slid on the floor to avoid the grasp of the spider. Only by a single hair I managed to avoid the trap. The dogs on the other hand were caught by the giant spider's fangs and we're reeled into the room. All I could do was hear the squeals of the hounds as I crawled back away. I thought I can relax but there I felt something grasp my arm. It pulled me away, only for me to see a giant python. The python was as long as fifty feet and was thick as sixty centimeters by diameter. Before it can get its fangs at me, I took out my gun and shot until the clip was empty.
A shot hit the snake's head and it died in an instant. There was no strength left but the python had a good grip at me still. I took out a knife and cut away the python's tail on my arm. There was no threats. All I could hear was the crying of the hounds. I got out of there as I didn't wanna be a next meal. It was a tough first day; yet it was my trial by fire.