Sergei returned to his tent. A few gulps of spring water helped to remove some fatigue, but he still decided to have some sleep. Meanwhile, Alice boiled some potatoes and made a good coffee (instant coffee with some dry cream, but still…). It's been months since the brothers had so much food, let alone coffee. The Old Mark was fed as well, even though he was still unconscious.
Gautier had some experience in nursing people who fainted from hunger. He prepared some mashed puree soup and fed it to the old man in small portions. He didn't know if it was the right way, but he was taught so.
——————————————————
(fr) "Ouch!!! That hurt!"
(fr) "I'm sorry, brother! This thing is so heavy…"
There were shouts from the outside and the big Boss was forced to wake up, whether he liked it or not.
"Five in the evening… it seems like I overslept a little…" The sleepy man mumbled, throwing a glance at his expensive watch. He had a lot of plans, but now they all went down the drain.
"What's with all the noise?" The yawning man grumbled, upon exiting his tent.
"We carry things…" Answered the younger brother, Gautier sat on the ground beside him with one foot out of his shoe and a washing machine laying on the grass beside them.
"Okay." Sergei nodded. The pile did look a lot smaller.
"Boss, you're awake!" Said a pleasant female voice. He turned around and Alice stood there, smiling brightly at him. The girl dressed up - she was wearing some black jeans and a short sleeved blouse with a few unfastened buttons at the top, which put her lovely décolletage on full display.
"Boss… we have a small problem…" She hesitantly said and lowered her head.
"What is it?" Sergei asked, after a good yawn and a stretch.
"We only have one shovel. And we also need some weeding and watering tools…"
"Hm. Make a list, I'll try to find everything. For now, let's have some dinner, I've missed lunch so I'm really hungry." The man sighed giving his growling stomach a rub.
As it turned out, Alice was an excellent housewife: she could cook, she did the laundry and worked hard to keep their little camp clean. And it came quite in handy - Sergei wasn't the cleanest man, plus due to the trauma he had problems with his memory and sometimes behaved inadequately…
"By the way, Alice," the man spoke between bites of the stew made of potatoes and the canned meat.
"Yes, Boss?"
"Could you please teach the boys some English?"
"I've already thought about it…" the girl replied and they both turned to look at the boys, who were devouring food like it was their last meal on earth. They almost choked upon noticing such attention.
"I'll do my best," Alice finally said with a sad smile. She doubted her teaching skills and the brothers' ability to learn were any good…
"Great! In fact, make a list of everything we will need in our camp. I'm planning on visiting the Louvre tomorrow, maybe I can buy it all there for cheap."
"Yes, Boss!"
After dinner, Sergei did some exercises and a course of massage. He gave himself a healing massage everyday, helping his body to recover faster, that's why he was making such a good progress! After the massage session he bathed in the pond and returned to his tent.
Five different tents were scattered around their little camp: Alice's tent, the brothers' tents - each for one brother and The Old Mark's tent, who although still unconscious, was looking much better. And Sergei's own original tent, obviously.
———————————————————
"Mmm,mm-m,mmm…"
Sergei once again was woken up thanks to Alice's ministrations. He didn't say anything though, just enjoyed the process. After that came a hearty breakfast, along with a cup of coffee and some ancient Egyptian cookies - they were most probably used to build pyramids back in the day because they were solid as a rock…
"It's almost harvesting time. Dig those potatoes up and plant new ones. Leave potatoes on the grass, I'll move them when I'm back. Alice knows what to do, so just listen to her and do what she says," said the Boss, while taking a bite from his cookie. He dipped those in his coffee so they became soft and turned out to be quite good.
"Okay, Boss." Alice said with a happy smile on her face. Each new day felt like a fairytale to her. No hunger, no despair, no death… Fresh air, some delicious food and the absolute safety…
Sergei took the list and left the haven. He appeared in the ransacked apartment. The door was locked and there were no signs of forced entry, the camera also didn't see anything suspicious. Sergei left the apartment, locked it and headed to the Louvre.
"It's a great morning!" The man exclaimed, walking through the streets of Paris. The air was fresh and clean, the sun shone gently upon the world and the pleasant breeze played across his face. The air on the planet became much cleaner after the apocalypse, smog dissolved and it seemed that even the ozone holes had completely healed…
The man walked down an empty street in a very good mood. Some people could be spotted in the windows of the nearby buildings, they stayed in their homes and now were surviving as best they could. And sometimes, instead of the living people, the zombies appeared in the windows, they were locked in their own houses and desperately longed to get free and sate their hunger for human flesh…
He earned only 3 XP on his way… He encountered less and less loners lately. Zombies would usually gather around their mutated friends and form a horde, upon spotting which, Sergei would immediately return to his haven or try to get around it, if he could.
Upon reaching the Louvre, Sergei witnessed a lot of scavengers leaving the safety of their camp in search of a loot to provide for themselves and their families. He also could see a small group of people who decided to find refuge in the Louvre. They looked desperate with all their belongings and crying children…
"Fools…" Sergei shook his head. Fate worse than slavery awaited them in that camp in his opinion. However he couldn't care less about their fate. After walking through the checkpoint and the tent encampment, Sergei headed to the market where he found the salesman he usually dealt with. The salesman was still bandaged up, but the bruise on his face was almost gone.
"You again? Got more food?" The beaten salesman asked, upon noticing the familiar looking weirdo.
"Maybe. You think you can get your hands on these things? The sooner the better."
"And why do you need all this stuff?" The salesman asked, after going through the list.
"I want to start a business."
"Business?" The salesman looked at him like he was crazy.
"Farming." He clarified.
"Are you crazy?" The salesman asked him with all seriousness, but upon seeing a sincere bewilderment on the weirdo's face, decided to clarify: "When this hell started, the soil became poisonous, only a smallest amount of crops survives and even then it's quality is questionable. A lot of people tried to make it work but none succeeded, you hear me? Even hydroponics doesn't work because the water is poisoned as well!"
"…Well, I'll try anyway. So, can you get me those things or not?"
"Were you even listening to me?! Okay, fuck it, I'll get everything. Come back in an hour." The salesman shook his head and went back to inventorying his goods.
"Deal." Sergei smiled and almost headed to the exit, then suddenly stopped.
"Do you know, what are these coins for?" The weirdo took out the survivor's coin and shoved it under salesman's nose.
"Have you been eating poisonous mushrooms or something? If you are lucky you can stumble upon a vending machine that sells some system items. Weapons, equipment, skills, you can even buy some food," the salesman looked at him like he was an idiot. "Anyone knows it…"
"Where can I find those?" Sergei's eyes lit up; he could sell his crops through the "Store" and buy weapons and skills for those coins!
"Ooh-la-la, how would I know? They appear randomly and disappear in a few days, sometimes even in a few hours!"
"Crap… Oh! How much the food costs there?"
"It changes every time. From five to twenty coins per kilo."
"Hm. Do you know if anyone would be willing to sell me their coins for food?"
"Hahaha! Are you really hoping to find the vending machine?!"
"Why not? I travel a lot so I think I have a good chance!" Sergei lied - he planned to use those coins to set up his haven. But he'd still be happy if he finds the vending machine…
"Okay okay, name your price." The salesman said, after wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.
"Five coins."
"Okay, I'll ask around - I think many people will agree. Do you even have enough food for this?"
"I can bring you forty kilos of potatoes - don't ask from where or how much I have left. And it will be totally unsafe to follow me." Sergei stated with an evil grin and pointedly showed him the sword hanging from his belt.
"Only a fool or another system user would mess with a system user." The salesman shrugged.
"Sounds like a warning." Sergei smirked.
"Ha, you could say so. There's always someone who wants to profit at someone else's expense. Especially if you have power… or lack a brain and self-preservation instinct…"
"That's true." Sergei could remember a lot of similar situations in his past. "But usually such people would end up right under my feet, begging me to spare their worthless lives." Sergei smiled evilly.
"I hear you… Bring me forty kilos tomorrow, I'll prepare 200 coins, but for now go take a walk for an hour or so until I find these items from your list."
Sergei wandered around the market, but didn't find any useful weapons, however he acquired a few vaccine bracelets. One of them had only one dose left, the other - two, and both of them costed one kilo of potatoes each… A walk around the first floor gave him nothing as well, except for a red-haired beauty… But he didn't have much time left, so he came shrugged off his dirty thoughts and returned to the salesman.
"Here's everything from your list. Take a look." The salesman gave Sergei a large traveling bag. Inside it were three folding shovels, watering cans, plastic buckets, mattocks and other goods useful for farming. And it weighed a lot! But his strength was at sixteen so he easily slung the bag over his shoulder.
"How much?" The client asked. The salesman showed him two fingers. Sergei took out a bag of potatoes, the salesman weighed it and after getting his change in ten 9mm bullets, the client headed to the exit.
"Give me some food, please!"
"I will sell you my body for food, please!"
The crowd of hungry people surrounded him, begging him for food, but Sergei wasn't a merciful man. When he was starving and on the brink of death, no one helped him, they would just stare at him and sometimes beat him… But he didn't want to help them because it was pointless. As the saying goes: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". These people didn't even try to get out of this hell of a life that they were barely surviving instead of living. There were scavengers, marauders and system users but instead of becoming one of those, these people chose to starve and beg for food…
After pushing his way through starving people, the man quickly left the Louvre, returned to his honestly conquered apartment and teleported back to the haven.
"Boss, you're back!" Alice said happily upon seeing Sergei appear on the meadow with a huge bag.
"Here's everything you asked for. How's the harvest going?" Sergei asked, while taking off the bag and massaging his sore shoulders. The bag ended up being heavier that he thought…
"It's done. The boys did a great job."
"Good." The man nodded.
"Boss…" The girl said shyly and lowered her head.
"What?"
"Can I make the curtains or something like that? I don't want to be stared at while washing in the pond…" She threw a look towards the brothers who were going through the pile of loot.
"Do it, tell the brothers to make it their first priority." He nodded understanding the problem - he remembered them starting at her breasts in the morning.
"Thank you, Boss! And another thing - the old Mark has woken up, and he feels much better."
"Yeah? Let's take a look at him then! I hope he ends up being useful. He hasn't signed the contract yet so I hope he won't die or turn into a zombie…"
Alice led her Boss to the wooden table located under a big tree, with a lot of books and documents scattered all over it. At the table sat a really skinny old man who resembled a skeleton.
"Are you the one who saved my worthless life?" Upon seeing that he was being approached, the old man came out of his thoughts and observed them. By the behavior of beaming Alice he figured out who the man was.
"I will decide if it's worthless or not. I'm a king and god here after all. This place is my special skill."
"Is that so?…" The old man raised his eyebrows from being surprised but composed himself rather quickly and spoke again: "I see. Then, what can I help you with, if I may ask?"
"This." The "king and god" waved his hand and the documents appeared on the table. Those were his patient's case and treatment recommendations he got from his pod.
"Project "Revival"! So you are one of the five lucky ones! The old man exclaimed and picked up the papers with his hands shaking from excitement. As a biologist he was interested in project "Revival" and these documents could reveal many secrets!
"Yes and I don't understand French."
"But your people do." The old man stated with confusion.
"They have no medical knowledge."
"That is true too." Old Mark said with a nod.
"I have memory problems, headaches and attacks of sharp pain in my head. I was also given thirty vials of the medicine called "Apulin Z-10"." He finished listing his problems, took out a vial of said medicine and continued: "I want you to cure me."
"I see. "Apulin" is needed to repair damaged brain fragments. This is a very rare and expensive drug - the amount you have won't be enough so you need to acquire more." The old man stated after observing the vial. "There are six tablets in each vial, you need to take them twice a day in the morning and in the evening before your meals."
"That means that the medicine will last me for three months…"
"I will study your medical history and see what I can do. But as an alternative to that, you can use a system skill - I heard of skills that could cure any disease."
"Interesting… But I still hope that you'll be the one to cure me - I don't want to rely on rumors. After all, if I understand correctly, you never saw or know anyone with such a skill?"
"You are right… But you can trust me, I'll do my best."
"Good. And another thing." Sergei waved his hand and the contract appeared in front of old man's face.
"Mmm-mm, a highly unusual skill! Of course I agree, you saved my life and gave me a job."
"Just don't die from overworking and do not turn into a zombie while I'm gone. And if you do become one, you can eat those dunderheads, but don't touch Alice."
"…Okay…" The old man said hesitantly. Sergei nodded and left.
"What a weird guy… But interesting." Old Mark murmured, looking at the leaving figure and started going through the documents that his new boss gave him with great interest.
Meanwhile, Sergei took a quick bite and headed out to rob zombies and kill buildings… or vice versa… He wasn't strong enough yet so he would most probably die if he encounters a strong mutant-zombie or a high-level system user. But of course he wouldn't risk it and would immediately return to his haven.
"I wish a had a city map… on the second thought, I don't really need one. All good places are looted anyway and if they are not, for some reason, the "reason" they are not, would probably kick my ass. You are not that greedy, Sergei… No, you are greedy, you are greedy as hell! But you are not stupid, right? Well you are sometimes, but not all the time, right…? If anyone sees me right now they would think I'm a psycho… But maybe I am a psycho? Since when do I care about what others may think? Even if I am crazy it's not my problem, it's others' problem. Because I'm a psycho with a gun, ha-ha-ha…" The psycho said and let out a loud laugh.
As a matter of fact, he was being watched and obviously whoever that was saw everything. However Sergei was speaking in Russian, that's why the one that was following him thought that he was talking to someone through some kind of a device, so they became more vigilant.
——————————————————
"A supermarket "Fu… Fe…" fuck, fucking French. If you write "supermarket" in English, why don't you write its name in English as well!? Why this perversion? One word in English, the other in French." The man cursed quietly (loudly would've been dangerous to his health) standing in front of a supermarket. The building was huge! However, surprisingly there were no zombies in sight.
"I bet it's already ransacked, but - shopping carts! I think they will be useful to my "slaves", a stock of bags wouldn't hurt either and the shelves would also come in handy! I could also take the cash register…" Almost salivating at the thoughts of a good catch, Sergei walked into a half-destroyed supermarket.
"Sixth to base. The target entered the "Monoprix" supermarket, awaiting further instructions, over." The man who'd been following Sergei turned on his radio and reported the situation.
"Roger that. Did he make contact with the Blue-Headed Gang? Is he in league with them? Over."
"Cannot tell, but it seems highly unlikely - they hate gay people. Over." Because of his weird appearance, everyone thought that Sergei was gay…
"Keep watching."
"Roger." The man turned off his radio and sighed. "It will be a long day…"
Meanwhile Sergei entered the grocery supermarket. It looked much worse on the inside… Mountains of trash, the cleaned out shelves, a lot of destruction and the filthy stench! But no zombies or humans in sight.
"It's completely ransacked, but I'm here for a different kind of prey! Here are the shopping carts… that's what they are called, right? Hm, that's not much!" The man thought out loud quietly and teleported twenty shopping carts to his haven, he didn't forget the cash registers as well and some of them even had some money in them!
Then there were racks, fridges, ice machines and anything that wasn't pinned. Of course he didn't take everything, just a few numbers of each item, otherwise, where he would keep all this? Plus the XP were given only for the first sample. …Well aside from carts and racks - those would be always useful. And the freezers… They'd be useful as well… And…
——————————————————
As it was expected, no food was found in the supermarket, as well as any other useful items. However he haven't checked internal spaces yet! But as he was approaching the door it suddenly flung open. Just then, Sergei appeared in his haven, ran to his laptop and turned on the camera.
Four young punks came out of the door, their hair was dyed blue and they looked like classic punks/bikers/bandits, like in those old American movies.
"Hey, kid! Come here!" He called the younger brother, who was sorting through the loot nearby.
"Yes, Boss?"
"Who are those fuckers?" Boss asked and pointed his finger at the screen.
"Blue-Headed Gang! You on they territory?" The boy paled from terror.
"Are they the good guys or the bad guys? On the second thought, if it's a "gang" - it means they are bad guys, right?"
"They be scumbags, they rob survivors, steal woman and kill people for funny."
"I see. And what about this group? Where are they going?"
"Probably rob survivor or find valuable thingies…"
"So that means that they are the gang's main force… It looks like all of them are the system users." The man mumbled upon seeing that they carried two bats and two swords and one of them had a gun in a holster. After some thinking, Sergei smiled evilly.
"You want to rob them?" The boy noticed the terrifying smile on his Boss' face, so he took a few steps back and still asked the question the answer to which he already knew…
"Why not? If push comes to shove I can always get away, ha." The man said and thought for a moment. "System, can I allow another person to control the camera?"
UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES - YES.
"Which circumstances?"
CERTAIN! THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANS.
"I hate you… Hey kid, get behind the computer," Sergei ordered.
"Huh? Yes, Boss!"
"Try to move the mouse."
"I can't…"
"Damn it… What if…" Sergei got behind the computer and started rapidly typing something down, then sent the document to FavoriteSystem@systemMail.sys. Then he waved his hand and in front the boy's eyes appeared a message.
YOU WERE ASSIGNED TO A NEW POSITION "THE SLAVE BEHIND THE CAMERA".
AS A "SLAVE BEHIND THE CAMERA", YOU ARE BEING GRANTED THE RIGHT TO USE THE "CAMERA" APP, BUT YOU CAN USE IT ONLY WITH YOUR BOSS' PERMISSION.
"The slave behind the camera?" The boy gasped.
"Accept and get behind the laptop!"
"Yes, Boss! The mouse move!" The boy quickly sat down and started moving the mouse around.
"Good! Now try to move the camera, it can move from the entry point up to three meters in every way even through walls."
"It be fantastic!" The boy uttered in shock and after a few seconds of playing with the camera said: "If we have radio it be good, I be spy!"
"Radio… get off the chair!" After kicking the boy out of his chair, Sergei got behind the computer once again and opened the "Store" app.
"Radio, radio… yes, here it is!"
THE HAVEN'S RADIO.
ALLOWS YOU TO CONTACT A PERSON INSIDE THE HAVEN. CONTAINS A WIRELESS HEADSET.
PRICE 20 COINS.
"We need two of them, but I only have twenty nine coins… Damn it, I'll have to sell potatoes…" With a heavy heart, Sergei sold eleven kilos of potatoes at, as it turned out, an unfavorable rate (one coin a kilo) and bought two radios.
"Here, take the radio. When I appear in the real world, the camera will follow my location. That's why you should use the camera to scout the area and report back to me, understood? If someone sneaks up on me from behind, I swear to god I will switch places with you!"
"Y-yes, Boss!" Answered the pale boy. Meanwhile, the Boss returned to the real world and quickly went into hiding.
"Do you copy?" Sergei whispered into his radio and took out the gun.
"I hear you good, Boss. Everything be clear."
"Roger that." Sergei opened the door leading to the internal spaces and sneaked further inside, trying to make as little sound as possible. The hallway was barely lit by candles and battery operated lamps.
"Boss, in room on your right be two man. It seem they be high, they not dangerous."
Having misunderstood the boy's words, Sergei took out his sword and carefully entered the room. It used to be the security office. A lot of monitors were hanging on the wall, but now they were all destroyed, some of them were even pierced with darts.
Two punks lay unconscious in the office chairs, like two overgrown jellyfish. Their pupils were staring blankly into space, saliva flowed from their mouths and foolish smiles took place on their faces.
"How do I kill you so you wouldn't notice?" Sergei thought out loud as usual, which made one of the druggies stir.
He panicked and pierced the punk's neck with his sword. The punk opened his eyes and tried to say something but instead of words, only gurgling sounds and blood came out…
His neighbor suddenly moved and snored… Sergei swiftly pulled his sword out of the first druggie's neck and plunged it into second druggie's heart with all his might.
The first one suffered for some time while choking on his blood, but the second one died instantly. The younger brother who was sitting behind the camera was so impressed by what he saw that he threw up; luckily for him, he managed to run away before doing that, otherwise the laptop would've been destroyed…