Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Regina and I had to travel through the mountains for a while longer before I started seeing landmarks I remembered. There was a whole new patch of wilderness between where we were and where we wanted to go, just like the path to my bunker. The system had dramatically expanded this entire territory to make it wilder.

For what purpose? Merely to give places for monsters to take shelter and grow stronger away from human settlements? Or was there some more sinister purpose?

Along the way, we encountered a few more of those tiny snakes and a few giant squirrels. Regina took care of all of them with her baseball bat. I was happy to see she was growing more confident with her chosen weapon.

"He! Preemptive strike" Regina shouted as she smashed a snake's head in with a leaping jump.

She picked the butchered snake up off the ground, scooping it up in her arms. The squeamishness she'd shown just that morning was already gone. She held the dead monster up over her head with pride, like some wild barbarian woman.

"See this, Carter! These snakes can't get me if I get them first!" Regina grinned.

"Congratulations, you are now officially a higher predator than an overgrown garden snake." I chuckled.

Only a few minutes of walking later, I caught sight of metal glinting in the distance. Regina took longer to see it than I did, but she soon spotted it as well.

"Look there, Carter! Grab your binoculars! What is it?" Regina asked me excitedly.

I already had my binoculars pressed my face, so Regina's prompting was unnecessary. I waved her off as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pressed her cheek to mind, trying to peek into the binoculars from behind my head.

"That's the campgrounds I remember," I said as I passed the binoculars off to Regina. "Four campers and a couple of cars."

There wasn't nearly as much is excitement in my voice as there should have been. I'd only gotten a good look at one of the campers, but what I saw didn't make me happy.

It had looked like it was on the wrong end of a train crash, dented and torn down the center. Something and busted the wall open to get whatever was inside. Judging by the red stain still dripping out of the frame of the camper, I would've been willing to guess that whatever had broken in had killed the camper's previous occupants.

That wasn't a particularly encouraging site, but looking at all the other campers and cars, someone had taken the initiative to arrange them all in a circle. The vehicles stationed end to end and formed something of a giant ring, like an emergency wall. The gaps in the wallet been stuffed full of chunks of wood and furniture.

People didn't just go camping and arrange their things like that. Humans were down there, and they were doing their best to try and survive. It'd only been what, two days since the apocalypse began? The fact that groups like this were already forming lightened my heart a little. It meant that humanity was doing a better job at surviving in the Amazons had suggested.

"Hey!" Regina smiled. "There are people down there!"

"It looks like they're taking care of themselves well enough," I said. "Perhaps we should leave them be. This isn't the only campground to hit, though it is the largest."

My jaw clenched tighter as I stared at the camper dripping with blood. Regina must have spotted it too through the binoculars because she went quiet for a few moments.

"You killed that bear with your musket, right?" Regina asked quietly. "You... you could kill something bigger too?"

I shrugged. "It depends on how tough it is. I wish I could say a big enough lead ball to the face can stop anything, but after that run-in with the specter, we know that isn't true."

Regina gathered her courage before giving me a harumph. Then she lifted her bat and hefted it onto her shoulder. When she handed me my binoculars back, she had an expression of grim determination on her face. The draw of her brows told me she was ready for anything.

"Fine then. Just stay behind me, and I'll protect you."

We'd talked about this strategy while walking since that encounter with the bear. So long as Regina could buy me the time to get a few musket shots off, I was confident we could drop anything that could be stopped with physical force alone.

And so, at Regina's insistence, we approached the ring of campers. As we walked, I hefted my musket overhead, holding it in the middle and waving it about. It was a universal gesture of peace and to hold your fire.

I knew these people couldn't have guns. Odds were they didn't have anything primitive enough with them to survive the system integration. But they could still have a hunting bow or two that worked fine, and even with my brigandine armor, I had no intention of getting shot full of arrows.

"Hello, campers!" I shouted when I caught sight of a few flickering figures peering through tinted windows at me. "We mean you no harm!"

"Stay right where you are!" A male voice shouted down at us.

"Craig, they're humans! They're clearly not those little green things." A woman's voice chided from within the camp.

There was silence for a few moments. I didn't want to correct the voice and tell them that, while I was, in fact, a human, my companion was an oni.

Eventually, I heard the locks click on one of the trailers, and a door swung open, revealing a college-aged young man holding a makeshift spear. His clothes were a size too big for his physique, likely from a level up that lost him a lot of weight. From the look of him, he'd dumped most of his new points into charisma.

"How do we know you're humans?" Craig asked me.

I pulled my helmet off my head. "Satisfied?" I asked as I showed them my face.

Regina worked to pull her helmet-free as well, but I stopped her with a wave.

"How do we know you're not shapeshifters?" Craig demanded.

"Have you run into shapeshifters?" My eyebrows went up. If there really were shapeshifters about, that would bring a whole new level of difficulty into trying to survive.

"Well... no. But that' doesn't mean there couldn't be shapeshifters out here!" Craig insisted.

Ah, so he was just paranoid then.

"Since you haven't run into shapeshifters and have no proof that shapeshifters exist," I reasoned, "it stands to reason that I'm exactly what I appear to be. A fellow human."

Craig grumbled something under his breath. His female companion was friendlier when she greeted us.

"Oh my god, guys, it's so nice to see fellow people here! My name's Sarah, and this is my brother Craig. Don't mind him. He's just an asshole."

"Hey!" Craig protested.

"You want to come in?" Sarah offered. "We're about to have lunch."

"Resources are limited, Sarah!" Craig said. "We only salvaged so many supplies. You can't be offering food to strangers!"

Sarah gave her brother a roll of her eyes, but for the first time since he started talking, I actually agreed with Craig on this.

"You're brother's right. Resources will be limited from here on out. Regina and I will be fine sticking out here. How many do you have in your group? And are you all okay?"

"Well... no. No, we're not all okay. We keep getting attacked by these little green things, and Megan... well..."

"She transformed into a hideous monster," Craig answered.

"...What kind of hideous monster?" I asked curiously, shooting a nervous glance at Regina.

"Like something partway between a wolf and a woman," Craig shivered. "Terrifying. We think the little green men who've been attacking are after her, and I'm inclined to throw her out and let them take her."

"Craig!" Sarah protested.

"What? It's what everyone's thinking. I'm just the first to speak it." Craig shrugged.

At the mention of little green men, I was instantly curious. Aliens? A new type of monster to be on the look out for?

"You mentioned little green men?" I prodded. "If you know of any threats in the area, I'd appreciate you sharing. Regina and I killed this bear with a camoflaughe ability on the way here, and there were quite a few giant snakes."

"They're horrible little monsters!" Sarah began. "They're small, but they ride on the backs of these huge wolves! And what's worse, I think those wolves used to be people! It's--"

Craig held up his hand to stop his sister from answering.

"We've had to find every bit of information about our enemies in this new world the hard way. So do you." Craig said.

"Sounds like you have your hands full," I scowled at him, not trying to hide my distaste. I'd freely shared information about the camouflage bears. Fine then, if this Craig was going to be like this then clearly they didn't need our help. "We'll keep on our way then and stay out of your hair."

"Wait!" Sarah held up her hand. "Do you have any news? What's the military up to? Surely they're coming to clear out these monsters?"

I shook my head. "Maybe so, but it wouldn't be wise to depend on the military to take care of your problems. My advice is to fortify and prepare to live off the land!"

"Oh..." Sarah looked troubled at that thought. Craig actually looked a little excited when he heard there was no rescue coming.

I studied both their faces for a bit before speaking again, making one last attempt at finding common ground.

"My companion and I have some raw bear meat here we'd like to trade if you've got anything of value," I suggested as I pointed at Regina's bag of bear meat from the creature we'd killed earlier.

"Bear meat?" Sarah's lip curled.

"How much do you want for it?" Craig asked. "I've got a few hundred in the glovebox."

I shook my head. "No paper currency. I'm interested in trade goods. Preferably light trade goods. We've got a bit of a hike ahead of us to head home."

Craig scowled at my refusal but eventually nodded in understanding.

"I'm not giving you any of our tools. We only have a few hatchets and saws, and they've all been seeing heavy use," Craig warned me. "How about jewelry? A few of the girls came here with jewelry that isn't worth much anymore, including my sister here. Her earings have sapphires in them."

Craig leaned over and pulled at his sister's ear, plucking the earrings out. He managed to grab one before Sarah shoved him away.

I looked at the jewelry and was interested. Gold and gemstones should be valuable no matter what, and they were light enough to be taken on a trip. Still, I wasn't a fool, so I didn't let the interest show on my face.

"I don't know..." I shrugged. "Jewelry isn't exactly valuable out here in the wilderness."

"We can't give you food either," Craig said, as though sensing my next line of thought. "If we weren't short of that, I wouldn't be buying your bear meat."

"A handful of gold then," I said as I held up my cupped hand. "That'll be payment enough."

"I'll take a look around and ask some of the girls," Sarah signed as she undid her other earing and passed it off to Craig.

We waited around with him for a few minutes in awkward silence while we waited for his sister to return. Eventually, she did so and presented me with an assortment of jewelry. Most of it was probably fake, but I was certain there had to be at least a few valuable things in there.

Craig and I shook hands and called it a deal, and Regina handed off the bag of bear meat to Sarah.

"This is heavy!" Sarah grunted as she accepted the bag Regina had been recently holding up with one hand as though it was nothing more than a lunchbox. She looked at Regina with a curious expression, as though wondering how someone with a build so similar to her own could be so strong.

"Well then, it's been a pleasure doing business with you." I gave both Craig and Sarah a salute before backing away. "We're headed off to see some of the other popular campsites."

"Carter?" Regina asked curiously.

I shook my head at her, grabbed her by the forearm, and started walking away.

"I thought we were going to save these people?" Regina whispered once we were a few dozen paces away. "Or at least check out their camp."

"Hell no." I shook my head emphatically. "They didn't want our help, and I'm not going to stick our necks out to provide it. Besides, I was getting more than a little tension from those two. From what I picked up on, it seems like their little group has some internal strife. I'm not interested in recruiting people who come with their own drama. Not in a situation like this where that kind of thing can get you killed."

"It might get them killed," Regina muttered. Then, louder, "And also, you sold my bear meat on me."

I held out the handful of jewelry I'd gotten in exchange. "Take your pick."

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Note:

A bit later than I usually post on Wednesdays. I'm trying to vaguely stick to two per week but it's tough in a format with no backlog. I actually finished this chapter mere minutes before posting it.

We've got a few more chapters before the next poll. I'm waiting for Carter to have a tough decision to make, which should come up in the next 3 chapters or so. Stay tuned until then and try to keep up to date so you can vote!

In other news, last night I finished Paladin of the Sword's copyright registration stuff and I'm moving on to formatting for kindle and making the actual Amazon listing. I'll let you guys know when that book finally goes live.

It'll be exciting to see it out the door. Its been two years since I've started a new harem series and I think you guys will really like it.