Ch. 4 Into Town We Go
They were all sitting in old man Harry's front yard on stools, chairs and benches. The college kids were sitting on one side, the rest of them on the other with the kids playing in the yard. "So I want to clear out more of the area around our community, then head into town. I don't think the gas station will be a big deal, so Jeff you and Holly can handle that. Matthew and I will be heading out to see what else we can clear out. The rest of you I want to clear out all of the houses that don't have owners anymore. Bring everything you can back to our house, we have 2 generators thanks to pops and I've put enough essence into them to last at least a month. So bring refrigerators that are working as well as all the food you can." he said while looking over the college kids who all nodded their heads. He turned to Phyllis "You and the babies stay at home for now, pops and mom will be patrolling the area, taking care of any Zombies outside the safe zone. Harry, you're going to be doing some patrolling too. You can set up your chair by the entrance if you want, but I need you to keep an eye on the road, in case anything happens." Harry nodded and tapped his beer to his head like a salute. They all talked for a few more minutes before finally heading out. Richard drove the car with Matthew in the passenger seat, heading out the gate.
Once outside Richard surveyed the Gas Station, noting there were only about 10 Zombies all shambling about outside of it. They turned onto the main road and headed towards town, noting a few Zombies here and there shambling about. It wasn't long before they began to see cars on the side of the road, so they rolled down the windows to see if they could hear anything, but other than the tell tale moaning of Zombies, nothing else could be heard. It wasn't until they got close to the overpass 10 minutes later that they heard the sound of people shouting and gunfire.
Richard parked the vehicle and he and Matthew got out. He looked Matthew up and down and noticed he had a bit more muscle to him, as well as a grace to his movements he hadn't had before, making Richard chuckle. Then he was pulled back to reality by more shouting. They ran towards the shouting, then saw a man and 2 kids standing in the bed of a pickup truck, beating Zombies off with a tire iron. Richard ran up and began picking up rocks off the side of the road, launching them at the Zombies, snapping a few necks before Matthew got there and began decapitating them one at a time with the bat.
Richard got close enough to begin using his axe and took off 3 more heads before Matthew finished the rest off. Richard gained 8 Essence while Matthew gained 12. The man on top of the truck was panting and didn't look like he was from around here. Richard offered a hand and the man took it, climbing down while Matthew helped the kids down from the bed of the truck. "Thanks for saving us. Our truck died and I was barely able to pull off the freeway. We tried going for help, but then we got surrounded and I had to get the kids into the truck to try and hold these things off."
Richard nodded "Yeah, the world is turning to shit. Have you been integrated yet?" The man shook his head and Richard handed the man the axe "Get in the car with your kids, we'll help you out." The man nodded and handed Richard the tire iron, which Richard held onto as they got into the car. Matthew was in the front seat and the man was in the back with his kids, both of them boys who looked a lot like their father, just at the ages of about 10 or so. Richard explained what was going on to the man, whose name was Joseph, as they pulled up to the auto shop outside of town, seeing a few zombies shambling about.
"Your goal is to kill ten of them, once you do you'll be integrated into the system and then we'll slowly help you build up your power." Joseph nodded as they got out of the car, leaving the kids inside. Matthew stood near the car as Richard grabbed their attention by lobbing rocks at them using his Telekinesis. The zombies turned as one and Richard led them to a truck parked in the parking lot, climbing into the bed of this one with Joseph right behind him. Joseph swung the axe, with no form and just mainly smashing or cleaving heads as Richard watched, noting that there couldn't be more than 20 or so.
Once Joseph was done with the zombies a few minutes later, Richard walked him back to the car and sat him down so he could pass out. He had Matthew stay with the kids and explain why their dad looked like he was sleeping as he grabbed the fire axe and went into the auto shop on the retail side. There were two zombies in here that he dispatched with ease, both of them wearing the outfits of the employees.
He sighed heavily, then looked in their pockets for keys, finding both of them. He pocketed them and grabbed oil, radiator fluid and transmission fluid, bringing it outside the door and setting it down. He must have grabbed somewhere around 20 of each, then started looking for other essentials. His eyes fell on a rack full of Machetes, it looked like 4 were left, so he grinned and grabbed them all. He went outside and called Matthew over to help, then loaded all the bottles into his trunk. He handed 2 of the Machetes to Matthew, then gave him the axe to give Joseph when he woke up before heading to the vehicles and trying the keys on them.
One was for a car no bigger than his and the other was for an SUV that looked a little nicer and had a lot more room. It hadn't taken too long to do all this, so Richard figured Joseph still had about 20 minutes to go before he would wake up. He wanted Joseph to be awake when they headed into town, as the kids would probably attract zombies with their screaming. He left the keys for the car in the drivers seat, so when Joseph woke up he could drive it and headed into the garage.
There were a few cars in there with no more zombies, all of the cars in states of being repaired or taken apart and none were usable without being brought down off the lifts. Without power that would be impossible, so he checked to see if there was anything there they could use. There was a lot, but nothing at the moment so he filed this place away for further inspection later.
Once he left the garage he saw Joseph standing outside the car, axe in hand so he walked up to him. "Axe or Machete?" he asked as he held out one of the Machete's that he had. Joseph shook his head, tightening his grip on the axe "There's a lumberjack skill that makes a blade of energy shoot out from an axe that I like. If it works with this thing, I'll get it at 300 essence." Richard nodded and slid his two Machetes onto his belt, then pointed to the car "Keys are in the driver's side, want to stick with us or go home?"
The man shook his head "I live in Prescott, home was destroyed by a mass of these things. It's just me and my kids." Richard nodded, then grinned "Down that road is a housing community across from the Gas Station, it's a safe zone with a lot of room. If you take the kids there and tell the old man at the gates I sent you, he'll let you in." Joseph nodded and shook Richard's hand "Thank you for this. If you need any help with anything, let me know. It's not a useful skill now probably, but I was an accountant before this happened."
Richard chuckled and gave him directions to his house "Pops would probably love your help, I set him as the leader before I left, so he has all the numbers you'll need." Joseph nodded and ushered his kids into the new car, driving off with a couple of each of the bottles Richard had grabbed. Richard tossed the car keys to Matthew and hopped into the SUV, starting it up and heading into town slowly. Matthew had driven a few times before with Richard telling him what to do, but he was still accelerating a little fast, then stomping too hard on the brakes.
Richard chuckled, then steeled himself for what was about to be seen. They drove up to town and had to stop and park the vehicles, with Matthew almost going off road before he parked. The way into town was blocked by 7 vehicles all smashed into each other. There were very few dead bodies, and then there were some in the vehicles themselves that had turned. Richard groaned as he and Matthew made their way through the blockade, killing all the turned in the cars.
The smell was harsher here, because the bodies had been there for a while and Matthew felt himself gagging a few times while Richard suppressed the urge. They began walking into town and heard the sound of gunshots, which was music to his ears. He grabbed up as many loose rocks as he could, then grabbed a few tires off the cars that were off to the side of the road. He had found he could loosen the lug nuts with his power as he did, grinning from the usefulness of his ability.
The tires were slowly rolling in front of him as the rocks spun around his head. Matthew was dual wielding the Machetes, his face determined. As they continued walking a few zombies could be seen here and there and were smashed into the ground by tires that bounced off of them, or their heads just taken clean off by a Machete. They began to run across buildings that had once been stores, but were now barricaded off with people behind the barricades watching the surroundings with wary and tired eyes.
A few of the people had guns, but most of them had makeshift weapons. When they saw Richard and Matthew with rocks swirling around Richards head and tires rolling in front of him, their eyes grew hopeful, but only slightly. Richard walked up to the first group, which had 3 men and 2 women in front of it, with about 10 kids inside. "How are you guys holding up?" Richard asked and they all shook their heads, with the man in front speaking up.
He was about as tall as Richard, with brown hair and green eyes that looked like they wouldn't ever shine with happiness. His face held a tired expression, even without the wrinkles, marking him in his 50's. He was holding a hand axe, like you would find in a survival kit they sold at Walmart.
"Not good, supplies of food are running low and we can't go anywhere without risking the kids." Richard nodded and handed one of the women a Machete, letting her drop the wooden novelty staff she was holding. "I have a safe zone back where I live, do you guys have any good off road vehicles?" the man shook his head and so did the women. "Have you been integrated yet?" the man nodded and the 2 women along with another man all nodded, the last one shaking his head. Richard thought for a moment, then realized he recognized one of the men who had nodded.
He was a man in his early 30's, with a full head of black hair that looked completely disheveled, which normally was in a pony tail. He didn't have a beard, but did have a scar over his right eye in the shape of a small thumbnail moon. He wasn't ripped, but definitely looked stronger than most people, mostly because he worked out a lot. He was also a couple inches taller than Richard.
"Wait, Albert?" he said and the man's eyes lit up in recognition "Richard, of course you'd be the one coming into town you crazy son of a bitch." Richard chuckled as they grasped hands, then he nodded "You know the housing community I live at?" Albert nodded "Well it's a safe zone. I've got two cars parked outside of the wreck on the road leading to 64. If you can load everyone into them and bring back the SUV, then take the cars." Albert grinned as both Matthew and Richard handed over the keys.
They all began to hurry the kids out of the building towards the road, with Richard and Matthew providing support. It wasn't long before they were gone, only taking a few minutes to get loaded into the cars, having to pile in very uncomfortably. Once they were gone Richard decided they needed to level up a bit more and maybe get a few more abilities. Richard climbed into one of the cars that wasn't occupied and Matthew provided overwatch.
He went into his IPS and bought 5 more levels, spending another 320 Essence and saw the timer was only at 15 minutes after he put 2 stat points into Strength and 3 into Agility. He was going to use Telekinesis a lot, but he needed to be able to fight in melee as well. Then he looked through the ability store and grabbed 1 more ability. Summon Dire Companion cost him a whopping 50 essence, with the next level costing 100. He had 10 Essence after he was done and when he woke up he'd be able to summon 2 Dire Animals.
Summon Dire Companion
Allows the summoning of a Dire Animal of the 'user's choice. Each new level allows the summon of 1 more Dire Animal. Dire Companion will be summoned based on 'user's stats.
The next level would cost him 150 Essence, but he wasn't going to be buying that just yet. He had a little more survivability now, but he knew he needed to get more Essence for the abilities he was wanting and the items.