Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 8 (Patreon)

I buckled the shelter up tight so nothing would break into it while we were away. Then I went and covered the shelter again with a pile of pine branches and leaves. It wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny but would prevent someone from spotting it from afar and stealing my stuff.

After sealing up the bunker, Regina and I headed out.

Navigating the new terrain was tougher than I had been planning. I had navigated most of this mountain range before while putting together this bunker, and it honestly hadn't been anything special. There were a few hiking trails, that were well beaten and even my concealed bunker was nothing more than half an hour's walk from my usual parking spot at a popular camping ground.

The mountain itself was shallow and safe enough that any Podunk out-of-shape office worker could make the hike in a couple of hours, take a few Instagram selfies from the peak, and then head back into town for ice cream and burritos.

But whatever had changed the world had turned this ordinary landscape into a treacherous maze of wilderness. Every mountain stood ten times as tall as it had before. Gently sloped peaks were jagged and imposing things. In the dark of the night the previous day I hadn't realized how far Regina and I had truly climbed to get to my mountaintop bunker.

It wasn't for the fact that both of us were now superhuman. I don't think we would've made the trip at all. There were portions of the mountain sloped at more than forty five degree angle. And in other places, anyone trying to approach the bunker would need mountain climbing gear.

"So, where is that campsite?" Regina asked as she ran ahead of me.

"Stick by my side!" I reminded her for the sixth time. I was walking slow and on high alert. I had already caught glimpses of a few monsters with my binoculars, and I'd steered us around them. If there was anything even close to as tough as that elemental, I didn't want to run into it.

"Oh please," Regina waved her back at me. "We haven't run into anything!"

Something shot out of the bushes as though the world wished to lend weight to my words.

Barb-Tooth Snake (level 2)

"Watch out!"

Regina yelped at the sight of the snake. She swung her baseball bat wildly and missed so badly she spun around with her back towards the snake.. The snake opened its jaws, revealing two large fangs with hooks on the end of them. Regina managed to right herself just enough to get her arm between her and the snake's outstretched jaws. The snake's barbed teeth latched into the plastic forearm guards she'd put on to protect herself.

"A snake! Get it off! Get it off!" Regina yelped.

I ran over to her and drew my tactical knife. With its head latched into Regina's armor, I could easily grab the rest of the body. It flailed around wildly, trying to smack me in the face with its tail. Luckily I was wearing my helmet and could just shrug off its futile slaps.

The thing was far stronger and larger than it ought to be. This thing should've been no thicker than a finger, but the system's arrival had enlarged it tenfold until the snake was as thick around as my biceps.

I took my knife and sawed at its neck. My blade went back and forth, cutting through skin, muscle, tendons, and eventually bone. The snake realized what I was doing but the barbs in its teeth were actually caught in Regina's armor, rendering it unable to pull itself free and flee or turn to bite me.

The snake was far tougher than I thought it should be, but I was both stronger and faster than I had been a few days ago. I cut its head off, and the body continued to wriggle and spasm in my hand. Seconds ticked by, and eventually, the head bled out. Before it stopped moving completely, Regina finally mustered her courage and grabbed the stump of a head.

"Eww! She yelled as she tore the snakehead off of her arm and tossed it to the ground, with her to make tremendous strength. She stomped on it three times until the snake's skull shattered and left nothing more than a puddle of blood and met.

"Why didn't you just do that immediately?" I asked her.

I couldn't see Regina's face through her visor, but I was certain she was blushing.

"I just wanted to… Make sure you were on your guard, too, is all. That's right. I was testing you." She gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Good job, by the way. You've passed your weekly performance review with flying colors. When we I start paying you again, I might just have to give you a raise! No guarantees though."

"Weekly performance reviews? Whatever happened to yearly?"

"These are trying times for the company." Regina huffed. "Everyone is going to have to work harder from here on out until we're back on our feet. And since the only employee I have left is you, I will just have to manage your workload that much more closely to maintain maximum efficiency."

I chuckled. "Yeah, while you're doing that, why don't you get more sticks? Then, we can roast up the snake for lunch to try and stretch out our rations a little further. I think the campsite is farther away than I remember."

***

Throughout our trip, Regina was getting much better at the survival skills I had been teaching her. She still required detailed instruction for me on most things, but I appreciated the gusto with which she saw through every task I gave her.

I didn't bring up the fact that despite her claims of being in charge, she was the one obediently following my orders. She seemed like the kind who wanted to at least have the illusion that everything she was doing was her idea.

"Like this?" Regina asked me as she put a fire together.

"Almost. Take your hands like this and strike steel to flint." I wrapped my hands around Regina's and helped her set the bit of the tinder she'd gathered alight. Regina seemed to benifit the most from hands-on instruction. She never seemed to get a simple demonstration. I had to actually put my hands around hers and show her fingers how it was done.

It took her several lessons, which I found odd because Regina had always been a quick study back in the office. But I could only shrug and assume she wasn't as good at things that didn't take place on top of a desk.

After that several more lessons, she managed to find and carve a good stick and get the snake cooking on her own. It had a very gamy flavor that I wasn't fond of, but Regina seemed to like it. We even saved the skin. After we killed and cooked the snake, it turned a bright red color and dried nicely. Regina used it as a ribbon to tie her long, colorful new hair and push it out of the way.

A little while later, we have headed on our way again. I was fortunate I had brought my binoculars. Otherwise, we would've run headfirst into several tough fights. I didn't spot anything as deadly as that specter, but there were a couple of giant moss men I wanted to stay away from, since I wasn't sure how well my musket would do against them.

I was edging back and forth between trying to pick a fight to help me level up and test my equipment and trying to avoid a fight. I needed something that was decently strong. Stronger than that snake, certainly. But at the same time, I wasn't foolish enough to pick something too dangerous that was liable to get us killed.

The world ended up making my decision for me. Though I was paying careful attention to the surrounding area, something managed to sneak upon us.

Camouflage bear (level 6)

This massive bear is capable of changing the color of its further to conceal itself in forest environments.

"Look out, Regina!" I shouted at my companion as she was once again caught unawares by an incoming monster.

Regina screamed for a moment before bringing her baseball bat out in front. This time, she remembered the lesson the snake had taught her, and she was ready to fight this monster off.

Thwack!

Regina's bat slammed into the bear's side, and the creature yelped in pain.

I grimaced. With Regina's monstrous strength, I had half expected the bear to get cut in half. The fact that it was only squealing meant that its Constitution was probably even higher than Regina's level and strength.

"Regina! Get back!" I shouted as I dropped to one knee. I swung the musket over my shoulder in a fluid and well-practiced motion.

It was already loaded and ready. This thing wasn't very accurate but at such close range I didn't need the accuracy. Just the sheer stopping power of a leaden ball propelled by an explosion.

I lined up the sites and pulled the trigger. The musket rocked me back, but I'd fired this thing plenty of times before. A cloud of black smoke filled the air. I heard a scream and waved some of the smoke away and saw half of the camouflage bear's face had been blown to shreds by my musket ball.

What was left of the beasts glared at me for a moment, blood oozing out of in thick pools before it collapsed to the ground.

Camouflage bear slain! Level up!

You have reached level 4! One stat point randomly allocated to charisma. You have four allocated stat points.

"Yeah!" Regina whooped. "We killed it! Great plan, Carter. I did a good job, right?"

I gave Regina a pat on the head, rubbing her new horn a little like stroking a cat's head. The horn was hard, but it had a surprising warmness to it. I would have thought it'd be like a rhinocuros' horn, but instead it felt more like skin and had a little give to it. When I touched her there. Her eyes went distant and a flush came to her face. She leaned into me, and her tongue rolled out of her mouth as she drooled onto her cheek.

"Yes, Regina. You are a great sidekick." I told her.

I expected something snarky from her reply, maybe about how I was the sidekick and how she was just managing me.

Instead, Regina moaned and quivered head to toe.

"Regina?" I asked her as I pulled my hand away from her horn.

After a few seconds to regain her composure, Regina's face filled with horror. She pulled away from me for a moment, blushing furiously.

"Let's get back to work. I bet that bearskin will make a really cool blanket." She stuttered, refusing to meet my gaze.

I shrugged, making a bit of a note not to touch her there in the future if her horn was as sensitive as it seemed.

I spent the next few minutes allocating my new stat points, putting two into wisdom seemed smart, since it would boost my perception. I'd hate to get ambushed by another bear. I split the other two into dexterity and constitution, both of which seemed like good survival stats.

While I made my choices, Regina hacked at the bear corpse in silence. I had recently given her another lesson in how to skin an animal after killing that snake. A bear was a much tougher challenge, but with Regina's immense strength she was making short work of it and had even gathered quite a bit of bear meat.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to leave most of this behind." I shrugged. "I can't carry it."

"Fine then. I will carry it. But then it'll be my snack, and you'll have to ask me for permission if you want any." Regina stuck her tongue out at me, back to her old self.

Her long and colorful hair flashed in the breeze as she turned and smiled at me playfully. I was once again reminded just how damn beautiful she was. I would've thought her transformation into species other than a human would've marred any lust I had for her before. But instead, it turned out the opposite was true. I was more attracted to her than ever now.

Maybe it was just because we were out of the office. Maybe it was just because Regina wasn't my boss anymore. Maybe I just liked her better when I told her what to do instead of the other way around. But I had the distinct impression that becoming an oni had brought out some intense hidden core within Regina that made her seem livelier and more excitable. It was like there was more of her than ever, and that change was beautiful to behold.

Not that becoming an oni hadn't done her body favors as well. Her new stats had toned her muscles to perfection. She had the body of an Olympic swimmer now, tight and firm in all the right places. Yet, despite having all the fat cut away, she was plump and round right where it mattered.

Regina noticed me staring at her, and her smile turned into a blush once again. She averted her gaze and started organizing her new, much larger bag. The moment I averted her gaze I saw her turn to study me from behind long lashes.

"We should get going, I said, "We've got a lot further to walk."

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Note:

Carter's stats.

Carter Smith (Level 5)

Race: Human (Level cap: 25)

Class: None

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 8 (+1)

Constitution: 10 (+1)

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 8 (+2)

Charisma: 9 (+1)

Titles: First Adventurer: First to hunt and slay a monster in the new world. (+1 additional random stat point to allocate per level.)

First Defender: First to slay a monster in protection of another. (+2 for all stats.)

Natural Magus: First to slay a magical entity. Spells you cast will deal more damage to incorporeal entities.