Quarantine

My jump was a misfire.

Instead of the foggy environs of Silent Hill, I was on a deserted street in an unfamiliar city.

Hearing a groan beside me, I looked down and saw two figures. The first I recognized as the Ward, Vista. The other was Shadow Stalker.

CONDITION: POISONED.

Reaching up to my neck, I pulled off a patch. I stared at it.

"You tried to poison me?" I asked.

"It's a tranquilizer," Vista said. She looked like she wanted to throw up.

How had they followed me here?

Vista had been in the process of putting the patch on me; she must have been touching me when I'd jumped. Shadow Stalker must have been touching her when I'd pulled her in.

"I know you want to be a hero," Vista continued, "But you can't keep going around killing people. We had to stop you so that we could talk some sense into you."

"They killed my Dad," I said. "And Lung killed Kurt and Lacey. They've killed a lot of people's dads, and moms and sisters and brothers, and nobody is doing anything."

Vista rose to her feet.

"We're trying!" she said. "It's just that we're outnumbered."

"Not so much anymore," I said.

"Where are we?" Shadow Stalker asked. She looked around and her voice sounded uneasy. She was talking in an odd, low pitched tone, as though she was trying to sound like a man.

Vista glanced at her oddly.

"I don't know," I said. "My planeswalking sometimes takes me someplace new."

"Where is everyone?" Vista asked. "It's not all that late. There ought to be people somewhere."

Screams echoed in the distance, followed by the sounds of multiple gunshots.

"I'll go check that out," I said.

"You aren't leaving us behind," Vista said.

My poisoned condition was gone. It had only lasted a minute.

"Try to keep up," I said. I blinked to the top of a building, and a moment later, the other two were with me.

Two more jumps, and we were looking down on a group of people huddled behind a makeshift barricade. They were being assaulted by inhuman looking things.

"Zombies?" Shadow Stalker asked.

I blinked behind the group on the ground.

"Do you guys need help?" I asked. I casually dodged the four bullets sent in my direction, and ignored the screams of startled people.

They'd used three cars to block themselves in. They'd augmented this with what looked to be shopping carts, and trash cans. It was stopping most of the zombies, but it looked like some of them were crawling underneath.

"Where the hell did you come from?" one of the survivors, a burly looking man demanded.

Their attention was on me, and so they were distracted. I saw a zombie grabbing for one man's ankle. I gestured, and its head exploded.

I blinked up into the air, and using Wind riding, I floated there. I squatted down and I blasted fire at the zombies. Over and over again I blasted, until the last of the zombies died.

Returning to the survivors, I grabbed the zombie I'd killed. There was no blood, but there was a bit of brain leaking out.

"Don't touch that!" a survivor shouted. "It's contagious."

"I'm immune to disease," I said.

+4 TO CONSTITUTION

That was useful-the additional 14 hit points might be enough to keep me alive.

SPECIAL AFFINITY: +10% TO PLANEWALKING ATTEMPTS TO RETURN TO RACOON CITY. THE MORE OF THIS PLACE YOU ASSIMILATE, THE EASIER IT IS TO RETURN. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A MINIMUM 1% CHANCE OF A MISFIRE. LEVEL 1 (+10%)

FIRE BREATH HAS LEVELED UP!

60 HP.

+10 FOOT RANGE PER TWO LEVELS.

20 FOOT CONE.

LEVEL 3

I heard screams from the survivors. One survivor was being dragged up a wall monsters with long tongues and no eyes.

I was surprised to see a crossbow bolt imbed itself in the head of one of the monsters, followed by a second to the heart. The thing fell to the ground.

I ran up the wall in pursuit of the things that were dragging the screaming man away. It took a couple of Far Strikes to drop one of them. By the time I dropped the third, the man had already been bitten.

I lowered him with mage hand to the ground, and I grabbed one of the creatures as it fell to the ground. They were eyeless, so…

NEW POWER CREATED!

ENHANCED HEARING!

PERFECT FOR EAVESDROPPING ON FRIENDS AND ENEMIES ALIKE! OF COURSE, YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR.

X2 BASE HEARING DISTANCE PER LEVEL

LEVEL ONE.

Finally! SPECIAL AFFINITY: +10% TO PLANEWALKING ATTEMPTS TO RETURN TO RACOON CITY. THE MORE OF THIS PLACE YOU ASSIMILATE, THE EASIER IT IS TO RETURN. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A MINIMUM 1% CHANCE OF A MISFIRE. LEVEL 2 (+20%)

I'd been looking for enhanced senses for a while. Along with master abilities, and enhanced strength and durability, these were some abilities I wanted.

I heard a gunshot from below. One of the survivors had shot the man I'd lowered down. With my new hearing, it sounded impossibly loud.

Vista was already down among the survivors, and she's increased the distance between all of them.

"Why?" she asked. "He was with you!"

"He's been bitten," The man who had shot him said. "Once you are bitten, it's only a matter of time until you turn."

"How long?" she demanded.

"Up to two hours," he said. "Maybe less. If you aren't paying attention, they'll turn while you aren't looking, and then several other people will die."

Shadow Stalker was staring at the dead man, as though she was fascinated.

"Why are you out in the open?" I asked.

"Supply run," he said. "We've got people back home who have run through all the supplies over the past few weeks. If our families don't get food, we're going to die."

"Why not leave town?"

"We're under quarantine," he said. "The government won't let anybody out for fear the virus will spread."

"It's a virus?" I asked.

"The T-Virus," he said. "Crazy bastards in a lab cooked it up under the city, and now we've all been left to die."

I glanced at Vista and Shadow Stalker.

"It's a tinker virus," I said. I glanced at the others. "We'll just have to protect these people until we can get them some food."

"Where are your people?" Vista asked.

The man looked suspiciously at us, but finally pointed south. "We barely got two blocks before the things were on us."

"You had time to make a barricade," Shadow Stalker pointed out. "Why didn't you drive off?"

"This was already here," the man said. "We just climbed over."

"Let's get you back," I said, "And then we'll see about getting you some food."

Vista created a bridge between the ground and an adjoining rooftop. The survivors looked reluctant, but finally one woman stepped forward.

She appeared on the adjoining rooftop, and the others quickly followed.

I stood and listened for a moment. I could hear the heavy sound of footsteps in the distance, coming closer.

"Stalker," I said. "We're about to have company."

A huge monster stepped around the corner. It was carrying what looked like a full machine gun on one arm, and its face was a twisted mockery of a human beings.

"Get to the others," I said as bullets began to fly toward us.

Vista waited for Shadow Stalker to go through, and I could see the bullets flying toward her. I moved, interposing myself between her and the bullets.

-16 HP

-16 HP

-16 HP

-16 HP

-16 HP

+5 % PHYSICAL DAMAGE RESISTANCE!

I shoved Vista through her portal and it collapsed.

Dodging the bullets was hard because there were so many of them, but I managed to slide to the ground and then blink behind him.

He was incredibly slow, and so I blinked to the rooftop where the others were.

Vista had already created a bridge to the next building as the stonework behind me began to disintegrate from the bullets.

I gobbled an entire pizza while I watched them jump all the way to another building two blocks away. I had my ears tuned to the monster below, and I sent my eye looking for it.

Bullets flew through my arcane eye; the monster had noticed it. Fortunately, all that happened was that it was wasting ammunition.

When my health was restored, I threw the box to the ground. In the apocalypse, littering was fine. Every apocalyptic movie I'd ever seen had paper all over the ground, as apparently the street sweepers were always the first to die.

I then blinked in front of the monster. It pointed its weapon at me, and I blinked behind it.

"Far Strike! Far strike, Far Strike, Far Strike!"

40 HP! 40HP! 40 HP! 40 HP!

The thing must have damage reduction around 66%. It swung around to hit me, but ducking under its arm was easy. I blasted fire in its face, and it only took 13 HP.

I blinked above it and I used Wind riding to hover in place. I began to blast it with as many Far Strikes as I could.

The thing swung its weapon at me, but I was out of its reach. Its eyes narrowed at me, and then it leapt-not for me, but for the fire escape on the wall nearby. It used an abandoned car as a place to leap from.

It grabbed the fire escape, and it tore it from the wall, falling backward onto its back.

Rising, it swung the whole fire escape at me, trying to knock me from the sky. It was smarter than it seemed.

-40 HIT POINTS

I fell, hit by a grenade from above.

There were mercenaries on the rooftop, and they were firing at me.

Even in midair I was able to twist out of the way of the bullets, but I was surprised when a massive arm hit me from the side, dropping me to the ground.

-60 HIT POINTS!

I blinked immediately to the area to the side of the mercenaries. I blew fire on them, and they screamed and began running around, trying to put themselves out. A few far strikes and they were dead.

The monster was staring up at me, and now that I was looking, it appeared to have mechanical parts grafted onto it. Was someone controlling it. The other zombies had seemed pretty stupid.

If it wasn't for my boost in constitution earlier, I'd be dead. I should have put my eye up, although I'd have likely pointed it downwards to make sure no one attacked me from behind.

I kept my arcane eye on the monster. It didn't seem to be regenerating, and I was.

It didn't seem to be in any hurry, and neither was I simply waited less than seven minutes as I regenerated.

In the meantime, I blasted away at the thing with my Arcane Eye and Far Strike, using the eye to keep its attention.

REGENERATION HAS LEVELED UP!

2 HP PER 4 SECONDS.

LEVEL 2

That was actually useful! The same damage now would take a little more than three minutes to heal.

It was staggering now, and I blinked down next to it. I dodged its clumsy swing, and I grinned at it.

A couple more blasts of fire, and the thing finally collapsed to the ground.

A touch on a cut in its body, and a message popped up.

+10 STRENGTH!

STRENGTH IS NOW 22.

SPECIAL AFFINITY: +10% TO PLANEWALKING ATTEMPTS TO RETURN TO RACOON CITY. THE MORE OF THIS PLACE YOU ASSIMILATE, THE EASIER IT IS TO RETURN. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A MINIMUM 1% CHANCE OF A MISFIRE. LEVEL 3 (+30%)

I actually felt stronger.

My strength and constitution were both now 22, which was the maximum for an unenhanced human. I felt like a could lift a car; I couldn't, of course, but I might be able to push one over onto its side.

I didn't hear anyone else around, and so I took off after the others. I blinked to the top of the apartment building I'd seen them, and I saw Shadow Stalker waiting by the trap door leading down.

"Everybody is waiting for us," she said gruffly.

I stopped.

"Sophia?" I asked.

She froze, then pulled off her mask. She grimaced.

It explained why the Trio had gotten away with what they had. It was another reason not to trust the Protectorate if they were complicit in things like that.

"You're a bitch," I said.

I then walked past her, moving down the stairs.

"You aren't going to…. Do something?" she asked.

"Like what, kill you?" I said. "I'd like your power, but I don't kill heroes… even pissant heroes who aren't worth bothering to kill."

She scowled.

"You can't talk to me like that!"

"I've killed more than three hundred people," I said. "I can pretty much do whatever the hell I want. If you don't like it, you can stab me in the back with one of those crossbow bolts, and I'd be happy to make an exception to my rule."

She stepped back, and I grinned at her. It didn't reach my eyes.

"I'm sure its unpleasant being on the other end, but what did you expect? You bully enough people, and eventually somebody's going to trigger. It's a wonder than schools aren't paranoid about it."

I paused.

"Maybe I should blow up the rig. The Protectorate gave you cart blanc to do whatever you wanted to me, so maybe they aren't heroes at all. There's a lot of useful powers among them, powers that might help me kill Lung and Hookwolf."

A look of panic appeared on her face.

"Just think," I said "It'll be the first city with no parahumans at all, well, except for me, and it'll be all thanks to you."

"I didn't make you trigger!" she said.

"Do you know that? Maybe losing Mom's flute and having it buried in shit and piss was enough to do it," I said. "Or maybe it was the culmination of a year and a half of bullying."

She shook her head, and then she heard a noise from behind her.

I'd heard it before she had, of course.

Vista was staring up at us, with a look of shock.

"But I'm better than that," I said. "Ultimately, I've got bigger fish to fry than your petty bullshit, or even the Protectorate's bullshit. I've got gang leaders to kill and gangs to mop up. Hopefully by the end of the week, the Merchants will be the only gang left."

"And then you'll go after them?" Vista asked.

"They haven't done anything to me or anyone I care about," I said. "I'm not a monster."

Neither of the girls seemed convinced.

"Now let's see about getting these people some food," I said, pushing past Vista.

There were thirty of them, and the first thing I did was distribute hot pizzas to all of them. This immediately made me much more popular. They stared at the Pizzas as though they were the holy grail.

They still had electricity; this building had solar cells that they'd rigged up, and the local water tower had been rigged up with solar cells by the Umbrella Corporation, the people who were responsible for the virus.

However, they were careful not to be seen, both because of the wall crawling lickers, and because there were squads of men who were killing survivors.

One man thought the Umbrella Corporation was preparing to write the city off, and he thought they were trying to get rid of any survivors.

After they ate, I had them point out places they thought might have food. I used my eye and my hearing in each place, and I looted a grocery store.

The whole place was filled with roaches and rancid produce; apparently the zombie apocalypse had happened quickly enough that the place hadn't been looted.

The meat section stunk to high heaven.

There was a lot of canned food though, and the weather hadn't been hot enough to cause the food to spoil.

I levitated through the place using Wind riding.

I placed an empty car in the only place open enough for it, and then I began to inventory cans only to immediately drop them in the car. The doors were locked, but it didn't matter. I couldn't inventory living matter unless I used a special slot for it, and I only had two of those.

When I'd filled the car, I inventoried it, and I saw roaches drop from where it had been. I then released a second car, and did the same.

In the end, I filled four carloads of food and toilet paper and other essentials, and then I inventoried all of it.

I then blinked back outside, dropping roaches that had fallen off onto me from the ceiling. I normally would have shuddered, but I was strangely calm.

I dropped all four cars onto the street in front of the building; I would have put them on the roof, but the last thing we needed was a roof collapse.

All thirty of them helped bring the supplies in. The tears in people's eyes made me feel good.

Maybe once I was done murdering people, I could actually start helping to rebuild.

"It's time to go," I said to the other two.

"I wish there was something we could do," Vista said. "More than this."

"You don't break quarantine," I said. "If we put them outside, maybe one of them is infected, and then we've killed an entire world. We can't bring them home for the same reason."

"You don't have somewhere else to put them?" Sophia muttered. She'd been strangely quiet since earlier.

"One place is so radioactive that you'd die in a couple of minutes… and Echidna is there. The other place is hell on earth, and I think they're safer here."

"Let's get out of here," Vista said. She looked up at me. "Are you sure I can't convince you to stop murdering people?"

"If they leave the gang, I won't kill them," I said. "Except for Hookwolf and Lung. I'm killing them no matter what. Once that's done…we'll see."

Before she could say anything else, we were gone