Chapter 28: Questing

Other than the potential quest reward to revive his lost teammate, Spencer also discovered why he was able to utilize Sarah’s lifesteal. A new section of his menus had unlocked relating to Spencer’s own skills. One of them allowed him to choose a passive from one of his team to use for himself. It turns out this skill had been active all along, but the tutorial restrictions hadn’t let Spencer interact with it before now.

Each engie had only one passive available to choose. Andrea’s option was her ‘enhanced health regeneration’, which tracked considering Spencer’s leg wound that had healed much faster than normal. That had been the default choice when she joined the team. That option was currently grayed out and unselectable to Spencer, so the system had defaulted to the next passive that entered the team. ‘Lifesteal’ from Sarah. 

There was also ‘immovable’ from Beatrice. A skill that prevents forced movements by hostile attacks or skills. ‘Growing accuracy’ from Naomi which would improve Spencer’s hit rate the more that he fired at a single target. The most recent skill, and potentially the most useful, was ‘one shot prevention’ from Anny. Essentially this skill would protect Spencer from being killed in one blow. According to the description, as long as Spencer was above a certain health threshold he could only be brought to one hit point rather than zero from any one attack with a cooldown of only fifteen minutes.

Of course, such an attack would probably leave Spencer immobile, paralyzed, bleeding out, or any number of other horrifying outcomes, but after some stern encouragement from every member of his team Spencer set ‘one shot prevention’ as his selected passive.

“Commander, I request you never adjust this without informing the team.” Sarah’s eyes had drilled holes into Spencer’s own as she had said it.

“With Anny’s help this skill should never have to be activated.” Beatrice had written out in determined script. “It’s a shame that I couldn’t give you a hover shield of your own. We could protect you from so many more angles that way.”

Naomi had scoffed and glared at Anny when she added her two cents worth. “Well, obviously my skill would be far more valuable if you were using a faster firing weapon. No matter. I’ll disintegrate anything that gets within range of you.” Naomi sniffed and had pressed herself against Spencer’s arm while pretending the contact was accidental. “... but you should leave Anny’s passive on, darling… Just in case…”

For her part, Anny had smiled like she had won something. Her expression smug especially after she caught one of Naomi’s many glares. 

“Of course my skill is the best. I will be your strongest engie. This is merely the first stepping stone to the obvious outcome.” Anny had crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her pink hair over her shoulder in an attempt to look casual. “Stay close to me and you’ll be fine.”

Spencer could only change passives once every six hours, so the current plan was to keep ‘one shot prevention’ on until he either triggered it, or got hurt enough where he needed urgent medical attention. At that point he’d probably switch to lifesteal.

“Or life regen.” Spencer muttered to himself as their target lumbered around the intersection.

Twelve feet of molded human flesh moaned loudly as it slowly stumbled down the street. Spencer’s team was only a few blocks away from the grocery store. They were still in a commercial area of the city which used to mean sprinting from business to business as they avoided as many monsters as they could. With five of them it was a lot harder to move unnoticed, but they were also far better equipped to deal with the monsters that prowled the wrecked cityscape. Most of the fires had burned out so there was less smoke in the air and a few days of monsters feasting on whatever bodies remained meant that the smell of death was lessened slightly.

Or maybe Spencer was just used to it. It was hard to tell.

The abomination’s right side tangle of arms gripped a delivery van that had flipped onto its side. The amalgamation of muscle tissue flexed and shoved the heavy vehicle several feet onto the sidewalk. The van groaned and rocked a few times before settling back down.

The plan was simple. Spencer, Naomi, and Anny would engage the abomination from the roof of a car dealership. It was one of those older dealerships that had probably belonged to a mom and pop couple thirty years ago before being bought out by a multimillion dollar brand. Rubble, dust, and soot caked top of the line SUVs lined the awkward half lot, but most of them were in one piece. It would be half tempting to take one of the cars if the roads weren’t such a mess. 

The rectangular dealership had a single story flat rooftop that was easy to access from the side of the building. When the creature turned to face the roof Sarah and Beatrice would attack from behind on the ground. The pair were situated in the shattered remains of a bookstore across the street. Spencer peered over the edge of the dealership roof and spotted Beatrice’s shield floating next to the broken outer window.

“We should have walkie talkies. Better yet, I should have been given like a chat feature for the team.” Spencer grumbled before a light force tugged him back down.

Naomi’s right hand tightened in his left just as the abomination swung its many eyes in their direction. Despite the fact that it had dozens of eyes all over its body each one would try to look in the same direction. It was like watching someone turn their entire body to look at something rather than just turning their head slightly. Its many feet also shuffle at an odd pace. Some moving twice before others shift once. Hands reached out at odd angles, grasping like a blind person fumbling for the wall. Whenever a hand made contact with a car, pole, or trashed bike it would bend the metal with ease and shove it out of the body’s way.

“It’s like it doesn’t fully understand how to move in its own skin.” Anny noted quietly, her own hand gripped tightly in Spencer’s right.

When the team had split up to execute Spencer’s plan, Anny had insisted that they hold hands.

“I need to catch up experience wise.” She had reasoned flatly. “Also, I’ll be able to react quickly should you be in any danger.”

To which Naomi had wasted no time snagging his other hand claiming, “You’ll need proper balance, darling. It’s not because I’m jealous, so don’t even think it.”

The pink dusting her cheeks and system notification suggested otherwise.

‘Bonding Event successfully passed, Hand Holding: 

• Five store credits awarded.

• Team member, Naomi, stats improved.’

Spencer suppressed a smile and waited for a notification to appear for Anny. His smile faded when the expected event never appeared.

Odd. Spencer had to push the event from his mind as the abomination entered their designated kill zone.

“All right.” Spencer took a deep breath.

Naomi’s shoulder blasters hummed to life and Anny’s wrist device glowed faintly with power. Spencer tried to reach back for his rifle, but his hands remained firmly gripped on either side.

“Uh, ladies? I need my hands.” Spencer whispered urgently.

The pair didn’t budge.

“Yes, Anny. The commander needs to access his weapon. You’re hindering him.” Naomi tightened her grip. “You need to let go first.”

Anny glowered at the taller woman. “His rifle is over the shoulder next to you. You’re the one who needs to let go first.”

A loud screech of metal being torn echoed down the street.

“For the love of-” Spencer ripped his hands free and stood with his swinging up to engage.

He was expecting to find Sarah and Beatrice already fighting, but the pair hadn’t moved from their concealed position. The abomination continued to shamble slowly down the street, unphased by the loud noise.

“What?” Spencer scanned the broken cityscape to try and spot the disturbance.

“Commander.” Anny pointed to their right, away from the abomination.

A trio of those reddish imp creatures that had followed the ghost pirate ship from the night before stood on top of a boarded up Chili’s. A square hatch had been peeled back by force and the imps crowded each other to see inside. Even as Spencer watched two of the devils lifted their hands and fired green bolts of energy through the opening. Something flashed inside of the restaurant’s windows and Spencer felt a quiet thump of an explosion.

Screams followed and then a series of pops. A green fountain of blood erupted from one of the imp’s chest and it dropped back with a scream. The other two pressed forward and fired their bolts down the hatch a second time.

Gunshots. Someone's in there!

A part of him hesitated. The abomination was in the perfect spot. The images of Andrea’s blood on the sidewalk burned brightly in his mind. He wanted her back. She deserved so much better than what she received. Spencer remembered burying Steven with her. The stop sign marking his grave and the mumbled promise to be strong enough to protect others.

Just wait a little longer. Spencer pleaded with Andrea.

“Change of plans.” Spencer made a show of standing and pointing at the Chili’s before racing back to the ladder they climbed up originally.

He didn’t know if Sarah of Beatrice saw him, but he had faith that they would figure things out one way or another.

“Commander, please stay behind me.” Anny flashed by him and grabbed the metal ladder with one hand.

The pink haired engie swung her body over the side in a controlled acrobatic maneuver before she slid down the entire thing in one smooth motion.

“For once I agree with her, darling, let little miss money bags take a few hits for you.” Naomi’s arms wrapped around Spencer’s torso from behind.

Spencer felt the pressure of the taller girl’s chest push into his head from behind. Before he could react, Naomi adjusted Spencer’s position, gave him a light kiss on the cheek, and dropped him down on top of Anny.

“Wha-oof!” Anny had just enough time to catch Spencer with her body before he hit the ground.

Spencer barely untangled himself from the shorter girl as Naomi landed next to them. Her hand snaked out to catch him. Naomi pulled Spencer forward towards the Chili’s.

“You can’t just drop people on my head!” Anny snapped at Naomi.

“It’s called a trust fall, dear, I did it for your benefit and to help the commander get to his destination as fast as possible.” Naomi shot back smugly over her shoulder.

The pair bickered from the parking lot all the way across the street. Movement to Spencer’s left caused a momentary spike in panic that quickly eased to relief as Sarah and Beatrice raced to meet them.

‘Abomination might have seen us as we left. We should hurry.’ Beatrice’s sign flashed up just long enough for Spencer to read it before everyone paused in front of the restaurant’s main entrance.

Sounds of a kitchen being overturned, human screams, and monstrous shrieks vibrated behind the plywood sheets lining every window. Four pairs of eyes flashed to Spencer for guidance.

“Naomi and Beatrice up top. Kill anything left up there and secure the exit.” Spencer pointed up and nodded to the pair. “The rest of us are going through the ground floor. Sarah, cut our way in.”

The team leapt into action. Spencer knew that Anny would be better suited on the roof. Her wrist device summoned protective shields around allies and herself, but it also had a ranged energy attack. It clearly lacked the destructive capabilities that Naomi’s twin blasters boasted, but it did about as well as Spencer’s rifle.

That said, Anny and Naomi couldn’t be trusted not to get in each other’s way without Spencer there to intervene. He could have gone to the roof too, but Spencer knew it would have taken far longer for him to climb up and his team would have insisted on waiting for him.

The people inside didn’t have that kind of time.

Beatrice and Naomi vanished around the back of the Chili’s just as Sarah’s Shadowthorn cleaved the doorway apart.

“Shield her.” Spencer instructed Anny as Sarah lowered her shoulder and charged through the collapsing metal, plywood, and glass.

The bubble appeared around the sword user and deflected most of the falling debris. Spencer and Anny were quick to follow.

The inside of the restaurant was a mess. It was clear that the location had been in the middle of a renovation when the apocalypse kicked off. The flooring was partially torn up and most of the decorations sat in boxes along the wall near the bathrooms. Only a few tables and chairs were in their proper spots. Most of the furniture was either propped up against entryways or stacked in a corner. The window to the kitchen flashed green and a fresh scream pulled Sarah forward towards the swinging set of double doors.

She didn’t make it there before a body smashed through the doors and slid across the floor. One of the doors swung back closed, but the other remained crushed against the back wall. The body belonged to an off duty police officer in his late forties. He had a sweat stained gray shirt, a badge hanging from his neck, and an empty holster at his waist.

The man coughed weakly and blood spurted from his lips. His glazed brown eyes slid right over Spencer and his team, too dazed to even acknowledge their presence.

“Refresh Sarah’s shield and stabilize him!” Spencer ordered Anny, rifle shouldered and aimed at the now open kitchen doorway.

Anny’s shield had a thirty second cooldown and lasted roughly a minute. She could shield a second person before the first ran out, or if she applied the shield to the same target it would refresh the transparent bubble’s durability.

The shimmer around Sarah flickered and Anny dropped down to the floor next to the officer. Spencer thanked their foresight to give the engie most of their medical supplies. Anny wasn’t a healer, but even some medical knowledge was better than nothing.

Sarah shifted forward. The sword user didn’t have to look back to confirm Spencer was there. Spencer could tell from the way she always positioned herself just out of his line of fire that the S ranked engie was well aware of where he was. They swept through the door together and entered the kitchen.

Inside was chaos.

Two imps flew around the room knocking over pots, glasses, and anything not bolted down in their attempt to avoid the makeshift weaponry being swung up at them. A handgun lay on the floor, empty and hot from the rapid gunshots Spencer had heard a minute ago.

A pair of teenagers, one guy and one girl, were dead in the far corner right next to what remained of a small natural gas tank. A woman around the same age as the cop in the main room, a younger boy no older than ten, and a young woman in her early twenties remained standing. The three had long metal mops in their hands and were using them to frantically beat back the imps anytime they stopped to take aim with extended hands.

One of the imps flew near Sarah, its attention locked onto the scared boy, and was promptly cut in half by Sarah’s dark blade. A shriek from the roof was quickly silenced by the zap of Naomi’s blasters tearing the injured imp up top to pieces. A loose leg fell through the open hatch and clattered loudly against a pot on the floor.

Spencer paused in the doorway to aim at the last imp. The creature turned to look at him and Spencer got a nice up close view of the creature’s black eyes, snarling bloodsoaked lips, and line of razor sharp teeth through the rifle’s magnification. All of that faded into a dark mist when the rifle bucked in Spencer’s grip and the imp’s head exploded.

All three of the survivors slumped forward.

“Oh thank god.” The young woman took a deep breath and tossed her mop down to the side. She had on a Chili’s crew t-shirt and looked to be the only employee out of everyone here. “Are you with a rescue team?”

The older woman’s focus was on the ten year old. She turned him away from the gruesome scene in the corner. Spencer’s heart twisted awfully at the tears flooding the overwhelmed boy’s eyes.

“Commander!”

Naomi’s head swung down from the open hatch and caught Spencer’s attention.

“The meatball is coming back!” She nodded in the general direction the abomination had been earlier.

Spencer cursed under his breath.

“Anny!”

He turned and shouted through the door.

“How is he looking?”

Anny had the man’s shirt rolled up to his chest and was gingerly pressing down on a rapidly growing bruise.

“He has a cracked rib. Maybe light internal bleeding. I don’t know for sure.” The pink haired engie glanced up at Spencer.

“Can he move?” He asked urgently.

Anny winced. “It’s not going to be fun for him, but yeah. Why-”

The answer to Anny’s question made itself know outside. 

Laughter.

Hundreds of human voices all stitched together laughing as the abomination found something to hunt.

One particular voice rose above the others. Like Spencer’s ears had been tuned to a certain frequency for years. A laugh that was all too familiar.

All the color drained from Spencer’s face and his rifle clattered dangerously to the floor.

“You have to do something!” The older woman pleaded, grabbing Sarah’s dress with a shaky hand while her other hand clutched onto her son. “Please! Get us to safety!”

“Commander?” Sarah’s eyes were locked onto Spencer. “What’s wrong?”

Spencer stepped to the front door and looked out at the hulking mass of flesh rumbling down the street.

He wasn’t in a half renovated Chili’s anymore.

He was on a bus.

Steven prattled on next to him about marching band while Spencer nodded along without paying any attention to his younger friend.

It was a sound he’d always longed to hear, even if his nerves only let him do so from a distance.

“Commander!” Anny stood up, her wrist device activating.

The abomination spotted him as Spencer stepped into the doorway.

It laughed again.

Her laugh.

His crush who died on the bus the first day. Her body had been added to the mass that had become the monster in front of him.

“Mary.”