The engine of the pickup truck roared into life and the tyres spun, generating a thick cloud of smoke as we pulled out of the car park.
When the car burst into motion, so did the rest of the rats that had been hiding in the shadows. Perhaps they were aware that we could outrun them in the car.
In the front seat, Kashyap swore violently in a language I can't speak. Smashing his foot onto the accelerator so hard it looked like he wanted to bury it.
We burst out of the car park, tearing down the main road with at least 10 rats on our tail. To our dismay, the rats were quickly gaining on us.
"Can't you go any faster?" Kyle yelled nervously.
"Have you seen the state of these roads?!" Kashyap yelled back.
He was right. cracks spiderwebbed across the asphalt and, at random points, deep holes appeared in the ground, waiting to swallow a careless car. It was impossible to drive at the top speed of the truck when, at any point, you might hit a chunk of raised cement and flip the thing.
Thus, all we could do was watch nervously as the rats scampered through the ruined streets after us. With each second, they grew closer.
The reaction to the growing danger was varied in the back of the truck. On the one hand, Kyle and I were nervous.
I didn't know if I would be able to take on 10 rats at once while defending the rest of them. If it came to running away by myself... Well, hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.
Kyle was sweating profusely. He still hadn't gotten over his first time killing something. Even if it was a monstrous rat, it was a very intense thing to kill something for the first time. I should know.
On the other hand, August was smiling like a raving lunatic. Or maybe it wasn't 'Like' a raving lunatic. 'Maybe he just is a raving lunatic.' I thought.
The morning sun glowed a pinkish red, painting the streets a strange red colour with its light.
"Get ready!" Kashyap yelled from the driver's seat.
Turning my head, I could see what he was worried about. Up ahead, the street ended sharply at a junction.
At one side of the junction, a massive sinkhole gaped in the ground, like the mouth of a giant beast. I could even see the remnants of our apartment beside the chasm.
The junction zoomed up to meet us as the surroundings blurred due to the speed we were moving.
Right before we reached the junction, I only had one thought. 'We are going to have to slow down to turn,'
Kashyap slammed on the breaks and the tyres groaned under the strain. The back end of the pickup truck, which the three of us were currently in, swung out wildly as the car drifted into the corner. My stomach somersaulted as the back wheels swung out towards the chasm.
Two rats picked this exact moment to leap at the back of our truck which was currently swinging out towards the sinkhole. They flew through the air, fangs bared and claws outstretched.
In a flash, I wrenched the tyre iron from Kyle's shaking hands. Swinging it at the nearest rat and colliding with its ribcage producing the sickening crunch of breaking bones.
The rat squealed in pain as it flew off of the back of the truck and into the waiting sinkhole. For a long time after, I could hear its strangled squeals until eventually, they stopped with a dull thud. I tried not to think about how deep that pit was and concentrated on the game notification I got.
[LVL 5 Mad Rat killed - 500 Experience Gained]
[Level 5 >6 - (4 stats increased)]
The second the other rat landed in the back of the truck, it was set upon by August. His blade flashed in the morning sun like the scythe of the grim reaper. He made short work of the monster, with practised ease that scared me a little.
When we had made it out of the corner, I handed Kyle back the tyre iron that was now so badly bent it was nothing more than useless scrap metal.
"Thanks," I said with an awkward smile.
Kyle looked up at me, stunned, "Yeah?" He says although he sounds unsure of what is going on.
The car roared out of the corner, burning rubber as it belted down the next street, constantly picking up speed.
Behind us, the rats fell into the backdrop of the city as we pulled away. The city itself looked like it had seen better days. Almost every other skyscraper or building was missing, collapsed in piles of rubble.
The few that remained were smaller, stout buildings that had been built long ago. I am currently in the capital of England, London and historically, there has never been many earthquakes here. Thus they were not prepared for whatever had shaken the city to such a degree.
Occasionally, explosions shook the city and balls of fire flared up into the air like gruesome fireworks of blood and flame.
Unfortunately, we didn't travel fast for long. The car screeched to a stop and Kashyap swore violently. This time, I could understand what he was saying... It wasn't for the faint of heart or those below the age of 18.
We had pulled up in front of another sinkhole. Edge to edge, it stretched across the street, completely blocking our passage.
Leaping out of the truck, I ran to the edge of the giant pit and craned my neck, gazing intently into the depths of the massive chasm.
All I could make out was a gloomy dark and the vague sound of water flowing in the depths of the pit. "The sinkhole must have collapsed into an underground river," I remark
Taking a step back, I turned around, checking that there weren't any massive rats about to run up and push me in. Thankfully, I couldn't see any.
"At least we lost them," I said, consoling Kyle. He looked very dreary, his shoulders were slouched over in exhaustion.
The rest of the group crawled out of the truck, groaning like zombies. We all shouldered our backpacks, excluding Kyle who had nothing with him. And then traversed the edge of the chasm, careful not to fall into its depths.
After making it to the other side of the sinkhole, a thought crossed my mind. "If the roads are this treacherous, it might be pointless to look for another car," I said.
Kashyap nodded begrudgingly, "You're probably right. It's almost impossible to drive on the road when there is this much debris," He said while gesturing towards a piece of concrete that had fallen from a nearby building onto the road.
"Now what?" Kyle grumbled.
"We could always go back and find those rats again," August said. He sounded scarily eager.
"Sick fuck!" Kyle shouted, almost spitting the words out.
"Hahaha, how are you any better? I saw how many times you hit that thing when you killed it." August said mockingly.
Kyle's face turned red and he grimaced. His knuckles that were wrapped tightly around the ruined tyre iron turned white. "Shut up you creepy bastard. At least I wasn't grinning like a psycho when I killed it."
August's expression turned solemn and he almost looked like he was about to raise his knife. So I grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes.
"Calm down and stop shouting. Just because you killed one of them, doesn't mean you can kill a hundred at once. So what do you think will happen if your shouting attracts that many." I said, my voice low and threatening.
Kyle looked stunned when he overheard this, "Do you really think there would be that many of those things here?"
"Better safe than sorry," I said with a helpless shrug, I didn't know any more than they did.
In the end, I had to walk in between the pair while they glared daggers at each other. Although, I actually wasn't that angry with August. By getting Kyle riled up like this, at least he had been drawn out of his earlier shock.
The winding streets seemed almost endless as we traversed the city's brand new terrain. It was almost like walking through a maze. Sometimes we would have to turn back on ourselves if a sinkhole had opened up in our path. Other times, we found shortcuts by climbing over the rubble of a fallen building.
By the time we reached the outskirts of the city, It was midday and the sun hung above us in the sky. Strangely, the reddish early morning glow remained, as the sun itself had turned almost blood red.
Thanks to our newly improved physical abilities, we didn't feel all that tired, even after the 5 hours we spent walking to the edge of the city. In fact, the only reason it took us that long to get to the edge of the city was the repeated encounters we had with rats along the way.
It was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it gave everyone the chance to kill one and level up at least a few times. By now, everyone was at least level 6 and August and I had stormed ahead, reaching levels 8 and 9 respectively.
On the other hand, Kashyap and Kyle nearly died a few times and August nearly died... A lot more than a few times.
It was at the edge of the city, that we had to make our first big choice. The roads here were better, there was less debris on them and far fewer sinkholes. So we had decided to search for another car.
And, after a few minutes of searching, I managed to find another pickup truck. It was perfect for our needs as it was suitable for both on and off-road. And we didn't know which we would need it for, if not both.
The problem was where I found the truck. Or, more precisely, not where we found it, but what we found it near.
Curled up in a ball of bristling fur, a tabby cat was sleeping quietly beside the truck. 'Perhaps it used to sleep under the truck,' I thought as I looked at it. The reason I say 'used to sleep under the truck' is because that was no longer possible.
Since the cat was the same size as the damn thing.