Candice felt her vision blur and before she knew it she fell asleep in the stall. Perhaps it the fatigue or maybe it was the sense of security that she got from this place but she fell asleep either way and she didn't even try to fight it.
…
Jace made his way back to the apartment complex. The pressure still rolling off him in waves. The anger in his one good eyes was smoldering to say the least. The apartment complex that he had taken control off and made his main base had about thirty survivors. The apartment complex was a ten floored building that was still standing tall. It was a brick building. Built to last no doubt but not too poorly designed. The front entrance was a large set of doors made of a metal alloy and had square meshed glass in their center. The immediate surroundings was a parking lot that was empty. The cars had been moved to stack on top of each other on the gates and wire fence that surrounded the building for extra protection. They also gave Jace free access to malleable metals. A sort of domain where he could easily use his skill. He walked by two men in a dark clothing. They held baseball bats with nails poking out the sides and had Glocks hidden within the tails of their shirts in the smalls of their backs. They didn't dare speak when they saw their leader.
When he was in a bad mood as he was now it was best to stay clear of him unless you wanted a broken arm or leg. This was especially true now since they knew that he was a level 10. He was currently the strongest in the settlement. Jace kicked the doors open roughly. In his current mood he didn't give a damn about the noise even though it would probably attract nearby beasts. In fact he even welcomed the chance. He really needed something to vent on.
"Oh my god what did that wench do to your handsome face" a high pitched voice echoed in the hallway as he made his way. A blonde with long hair and a voluptuous body that looked no different from an hour glass ran forward. Arms open as she rushed forward. Vicky was his favorite mistress. Attractive too. But right then she was being nothing but an annoyance that Jace wanted nothing more than to swat away like a fly.
Jace raised his free hand. The one that wasn't holding his injured right eye. However he paused. There were different ways he could vent weren't there? He wrapped his arm around her wide waist. Rough and hard. Vicky winced. She wanted to complain but Jace slammed his lips onto her mouth. Smashing into her teeth without holding back his strength.
Vicky felt three of her teeth bend and loosen. She pulled back. Her lower lip was torn and tears threatened to fall from the corner of her eyes.
"Jace you're hurting me" she said.
Jace swung his hand with force. Landing a hard slap on her face. Vicky's head made a rough motion. Swinging sideways. A tooth flew into the air in an arc of crimson before it fell on the floor a distance away. For a moment it looked as though her delicate neck might break at any moment. Jace held her lower jaw in his left hand holding her in place. Her once beautiful face was swollen, her lips split open and blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.
The pain was immediate. It was the worst pain she had ever experienced before and even after the apocalypse. Tears fell down her cheeks in torrents. She sobbed.
"Shut up and take it bitch" Jace growled when he didn't get a response he tightened his grip on her jaw slightly.
Vicky got the message. She nodded. Jace's eyes roamed over her face. He smiled clearly satisfied then he pulled her through the corridor and in through a door with the number 10 tagged. The door shut hard. And moans echoed throughout the hallway. They weren't the type of moans one would expect from a passionate love making session. No these moans were pained and broken. Whatever Jace was doing Vicky clearly wasn't enjoying it.
…
The cloth store that Candice had fallen asleep in was half a kilometer away from York Town High and it was also surrounded by other established buildings. Salons, arcades, restaurants, karaoke places and most importantly the supermarket and the naturally the police station.
Since we didn't really have anywhere to go we decided to head in the direction of the supermarket first. Figured if there was a chance that there would be survivors then the police station would be as good a place to start. I mean the police had guns so they would have had higher chances of survival right? The only question being whether they would stay put for a week though.
My right arm was still injured so Jordan took the lead. Rina and Lydia walked side by side in the middle and I took position at the back. I may have been the highest level here but that I wasn't at a hundred percent right now. I looked at my broken arm.
Two more days before it was fully healed, I guessed
From an aerial view we looked like a diamond formation of some kind. As we moved I kept an eye out on the road. If anything was going to sneak up on us it would probably come from there. The roads were packed with immobile vehicles. Family cars, 4x4 Rangers, public buses and panel trucks were standing in the road. Some had flat tyres, some had broken windows and others had all of the above. I tried to look for a vehicle in good condition but I found none at all. They were all busted one way or another.
We walked for thirty minutes and I saw nothing but ravids. No survivors. Not even one. It made me clench my teeth so hard that I almost shattered them. My grip on my Black Salamander sword was tight to the point of whitening my knuckles. Just how many people had perished for there to not be a single person out in the open? It made me think of Billy who had turned into a ravid. He was the very first 'person' that I had killed and it still tore at my heart. Then I thought of mom with the way things were looking right now would she even be alive?
I felt my heart tremble and my breath hitch at the thought. My lungs stopped drawing air and my mind spun and filled with these thoughts. I didn't even realize that I had stopped following behind the others.
"…euy. Huey!"
My mind returned to normal and my lungs drew in the biggest breath I had ever taken. My heart calmed down slightly as I looked up and met emerald green eyes. They were beautiful and they drew me in and they calmed me. I stared at Lydia for a moment and didn't say anything. Lydia stared back. She also didn't say anything. I forgot about the world around us and it felt as if it was only me and her. Well that was until…
"You two want to get a room or something" Jordan said with a smile. And immediately the bubble of a world that had surrounded us popped. I sent Jordan a hard glance.
Rina laughed and Lydia's face turned red and she glared at him too and looked like she was about to explode. Just as she was about to nag at him I heard movement coming from an alley ahead. Someone was coming.
"Get ready" I said and kept my eyes ahead. Jordan turned serious too and Lydia and Rina looked ahead with hard gazes too. A minute passed and two people walked out of the alley. Both of them were men.
One man was thin and tall and pale skinned. He wore a jacket and jeans and he had a blade in his hand. It was shorter than by Black Salamander sword but it was longer than a dagger that was for sure. It was double edged so I figured it was a short sword. There was also a tattoo of a tiger head at the side of his neck.
The second man was shorter than the thin man and he was slightly bulkier and had fat too. He wore dark shorts and a white vest and he carried a gun in his hand. A Glock-17 I deduced thanks to the knowledge I got from my passive skill 'Super Soldier'. He too had a tiger head tattoo on his neck.
"Hey Blob the boss didn't say anything about these bitches did he?" the thin man said to the fat one-who I now know was called Blob.
Blob had a dirty grin on his face as his eyes moved from Lydia to Rina to Lydia again. He then looked at Jordan and me and he smiled.
"No he did not" Blob said. "Tell you what Shark. You can have the dark haired bitch and I'll take the blonde"
The thin tall man, Shark looked Lydia up and down for a moment before he nodded his head.
"Fine by me" Shark said then he looked at Jordan and me. "What about them?"
"What about them?" Blob sneered.
"They look like evolvers" Shark said.
"So what they're probably low level anyway and besides they're just two brats who happen to have some fancy treasures. We take them back with us to the boss together with two beautiful bitches and the boss will be giving us the biggest reward of our lives" Blob said.
"What?" I said. This time around I couldn't bear to listen to these pigs anymore. They were talking about Rina and Lydia like they were merchandise or something. Were they even human?
No they were human. Its how humans have always been. The strong prey on the weak. Those with power step over those without power. How could I have forgotten? I had been on the receiving end many times before. Recently being when Jerard Geon beat my ass but then again I broke his foot before I blacked out so that was totally worth it.
"Ladies your gonna have to stay back for this one" Jordan said. He cupped his right fist into his left palm and squeezed his knuckles. I heard his bones cracking. And I could see veins rising up his neck. I saw them pulse. Jordan was mad but then again so was I.
Lydia seemed like she wanted to protest but Rina grabbed hold of her shoulder and shook her head.
"Don't bother. They won't listen to you and besides they can more than handle these guys" Rina said as she pulled Lydia back.
I took a step forward until I was standing side by side with Jordan.
"The fat ass is mine" I said and flexed my left wrist and felt the weight of my black sword in my left hand. Black Salamander was the name of my sword. It was a heaven grade treasure that has a partial will of its own. It granted me with a unique stat called 'Shadow arts' and so far I had never tested them out.
"Shark" Blob said.
"Got it" Shark replied and he immediately charged forward. His agility was high. Just not as high Grem's (Mr. Ping). Shark had a wild grin on his face. I could see the smile of enjoyment on his face as he made his way towards me. He stabbed out at me with his short sword. He was aiming for my throat. He would have pierced right through me using the sharp tip of his sword and he would have ripped by trachea apart. I would have died without being able to react and without being able to even scream out. I would have drowned in my own blood and he would have received a message from the spirit record saying:
'You acquired the soul essence of First star realm Level 14 Huey Coleman'
It was a complete surprise attack that would have caught anybody off guard and it would have been their end. But I wasn't anybody.
My name was Huey Coleman and I had faced more terrifying and more powerful enemies than Shark and I was alive while they weren't. Plus I had 90+ agility points so I could see his movements quite clearly.
Clang!
The sound of metal hitting metal echoed and I saw Shark's eyes grow to the size of golf balls as I brought up my left arm. I flicked my wrist and swung my blade in a small arc. I felt the impact travel to my wrist as my heaven grade sword blocked and clashed against the tip of his short sword.
I locked eyes with him for a moment before Jordan shot a straight right hook. His gauntlet covered right fist smashed into the side of Shark's head. The force from the blow sent his body across the road and into the side of a wrecked car. The metal of the chassis bent and the remaining windows splintered into a rain of glass as he smashed into it with his back.
Jordan and I locked gazes. He nodded and stalked towards Shark as he stepped across the road. I kept my attention on Blob who still hadn't gotten over the shock of the events. He probably never would have thought that the two teenagers he had taken lightly a few seconds ago would have devastated his comrade like that.
I took two steps towards him. His eyes regained their focus and I watched as he brought up his Glock 17.
I could guess what he was thinking. He may have been powerful but there was no way he can withstand a bullet from a gun right? He was probably thinking. And he was right I would probably die to a bullet in a head as I currently was.
[Shadow Arts: Shadow step 1st chapter. Shadow -10]
It was my first time using the Shadow art unique stat and I didn't really know what to expect. At that moment my shadow moved beneath my feet and formed dark circles under the balls of the feet. Before they solidified for a moment and then stretched. My feet felt light and when I took a step forward I could tell that my movement speed had increased drastically. The world seemed to move slowly in my eyes and I could see every minute detail of Blob's movement in my eyes. I saw his wrist tense and his trigger finger squeeze at the mechanism. The movement seemed slow in my eyes but it was no doubt fast in the eyes of a normal human. I slashed horizontally with my sword. I aimed precisely at the point where his hand joined his arm. The blade tore through his flesh. It shredded his ligaments and sliced through the cartilage that cushioned the ends of the bones that met at the wrist joint before following up with a forward slash that cut through the man's fat neck. Blob couldn't even utter a single word and even move before he saw the dark sky. He saw the world in wonder as it seemed to be spinning round and round. He saw his own body. He could see his hand flying in the air and he could see his headless body sprouting blood from the neck where his head was supposed to be.
"Huh?" was all he could say before his world darkened and he saw and felt nothing.
[You have acquired the soul essence of level 1 'Blob Snizzle'. You have acquired Health +2]
I clicked my tongue in annoyance. Even his soul essence was pitiful and useless. I didn't even think that I had just killed a human being. Not a ravid but an actual living human being.
Boom!
I heard a small explosion and turned and saw that Jordan was also finished with his opponent. He stood over Shark's corpse that sprawled on the road with his arms and legs stretched out as if he were trying to make snow angels except he was on the cracked hard road with his chest caved in so much that he looked like he had been run over by a truck.
It was at that point that I suddenly remembered something and rushed over to Jordan's side.
"Is he dead?" I asked and Jordan gave me look.
"What do you think?" he retorted. I sighed the kind of sigh that would usually come from an exhausted old man.
"Fine. Did you at least ask him any questions?" I said again and again Jordan gave me a look. "Bah! Forget it we'll deal with it when the time comes"
I waved it off and the girls came over.
"Satisfied?" Rina said with a slight smile. I looked over at Blob's headless corpse on the sidewalk and shook my head. Meanwhile Lydia was looking at me with strange glint in her green eyes.
"Come on let's move" I said and this time I took the lead. I stopped before Blob's corpse first. Looked at the ground and saw the Glock 17 lying on the ground still held by the hand I had decapitated. I reached down, separated the hand from the gun and wiped the gun clean with the tail of my shirt before I proceeded to place it in the waistband at the small of my back.
"So where are we going?" Lydia asked
"Nothing changes we still head to the police station" I said and looked at the corpse belonging to Blob. Blob had said something about a boss but I wasn't too worried. If the boss had the power to instill fear in these guys then I surmised that he wouldn't be that strong and I was fairly certain that he wasn't stronger than me. We kept to the same formation as we moved. We took turn after turn and road after road, we passed through an alley and had even encountered a pack of mutated dogs that were roughly level 5 to level 9.
There were seven of them and when they spotted us they immediately lounged at us. Of course I prepared to strike with my sword but Lydia beat me to it.
Using her Air Manipulation she summoned a large gust of wind that sent the pack flying like pieces of paper in a storm.
"You had your fun. Now its our turn" Lydia said and Rina giggled as she took out her dagger. She rushed forwards just as the dogs were landing on the ground. She caught the first dog off guard and cleanly slit its throat. The poor animal could only whimper before the life dimmed from its eyes and it fell to the ground limply.
Then she opened her mouth and immediately a sonic cry escaped her lips. Two of the dogs that had been too close had their heads directly blown apart while the other four were sent flying once again only this time they were bleeding from their ears. However Lydia stretched out her hand.
"Wind palm!" Lydia said and swung her arms down and as if the world resonated with her will. The winds blew and condensed directly above the flying dogs until a transparent looking palm was created that immediately smashed into the four dogs sending them into the ground.
With a loud explosion, a small dust cloud rose up. Lydia smiled and she and Rina high-fived each other like a pair of mischievous little girls.
Meanwhile the entire time Jordan and I merely stood with incredulous expressions. The girls were incredible from reaction time to action and teamwork. They were seamless. I looked at Jordan and he too had his mouth wide open. He was as surprised as I was. Jordan looked at me and we seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
Never mess with these girls