Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 4 (Patreon)

I opened my eyes, and it was like I’d never left Sakura’s office. I stood just where I had before, in the same position I’d been in. I saw Sakura nearby. She sat in her chair just as before. Only now, her eyes had a distant, vacant look to them. She looked like she had been somewhere far distant, and only now was consciousness returning to her body. I was pretty sure I wasn’t being figurative there. She had probably just finished her own conversation with the System.

She blinked, and I knew she was in there.

“Huh? What... I’m...” her voice trailed off, unsure what to say. If her experience was anything like mine, she’d just experienced an incredibly painful and confusing conversation with an all-powerful voice in an empty white space."

"It’s okay, Sakura. We’re back on Earth."

As she looked down at herself, Sakura yelped, and I immediately realized her concern. She was completely naked. Whatever the System had done to us had taken us right out of our clothes and into that special space. And it hadn’t been kind enough to put us back in our clothes afterward, meaning we were both naked."

Don’t look!" Sakura blushed as she covered her chest. Her eyes darted away from me in embarrassment, and I turned my head to look elsewhere.

She dressed as I did the same, both of us with our backs turned to one another. But as I did so, I noticed something moving in the corner of Sakura’s desk, and I got the distinct impression that we weren’t alone in her office.

My head whipped around to investigate, and Sakura yelped as she held her dress pants in her hands. “No peeking!”

I heard something whirring, like motors spinning. The sound was familiar enough for me to instantly realize it was her printer buzzing to life.

“Were you printing something?” I asked, regarding the device with suspicion. Printers were evil, uncooperative, and frustrating things to work with on ordinary days. But at the end of the world? What could it be--

The printer split in half, revealing a maw of teeth made of broken plastic shards, each dripping with ink instead of saliva. It launched itself at Sakura, and the only things she had in her hands to defend herself were her clothes, which she’d been in the middle of putting back on.

Sakura screamed, falling backward and barely pulling her hands away. The printer only got a mouthful of cloth for its surprise attack.

Naked and terrified, Sakura tripped over her own chair and fell to the ground, where the snarling printer spat ink that splattered across her skin. She held up her hands to shield herself, and I knew it would be on top of her in another moment.

“Carter!” Sakura shouted.

I flipped Sakura’s desk over, sending the printer tumbling away from her. It reared its monstrous head, but I grabbed the table by either leg and pushed. Then, throwing my full weight behind the table, I slammed it into the printer and drove it all the way into the far wall.

The printer spat and snarled but took heavy damage from the desk, slamming into it. I pulled the desk back and slammed it into the printer again and then again once more. Each hit sent sparks flying through the air, and when the whirring finally stopped, I felt confident I had finally killed the thing.

You have slain [Mimic - Level 3]

You have been awarded bonus experience for killing an enemy above your own level.

Congratulations! For slaying a monster in order to save a damsel in distress, you have been awarded the title Chivalrous Pervert! +1% combat stat effectiveness when defending beautiful women. Because you are the first of your integration to achieve this title, its effects are enhanced tenfold. They will be upgraded to First Chivalrous Pervert.

You have gained the proficiency: Improvised weapons!

“Pervert!” I huffed. I barely even looked!

Still, it sounded like a positive title, so I supposed I shouldn’t complain too much about getting it.

The annoying thing was having all these words floating in front of my face. That would have been distracting if it had happened a moment ago, when I was still fighting the printer. Just when I was thinking how annoying it was to have these messages block my vision, they shifted off to the bottom left corner.

“Sakura, are you okay?” I asked after I finished dismissing the message.

“I... I have a quest from the System,” Sakura said, eyes unfocused as she stared at a message just like the one I’d dismissed a moment ago. “It’s telling me to... I suppose it’s easier to just complete the quest.”

Sakura sprang to her feet and pressed her lips against my cheek. It was brief, but the moment she was done, I received another message.

You have successfully saved Sakura Miyamoto from danger! She has recognized your efforts, and you have earned bonus experience points and a temporary title.

You have been awarded the temporary title: Hero of Sakura Miyamoto (Common - Expires in 3 days)

Effects: Enhances combat stats when near Sakura Miyamoto. Effects stack with First Chivalrous Pervert. +1 Charisma.

Congratulations! You have reached level 2!

Stat points assigned. You have additional stat points to manually distribute. If you do not distribute stats within twenty-four hours, they will be randomly distributed.

“There. Apparently, I have a title now. I’m the Damsel of Carter Smith.” Sakura blushed as she held her hand up and fiddled with her menu.

“I’ll take this title over Chivalrous Pervert,” I chuckled. Sakura looked at me askance, and I explained the first title I’d gotten.

The two of us shared a laugh, which did a lot to break the tension of the life-and-death experience we’d had with a monstrous printer mere moments ago. Sakura tried picking up her discarded shirt, which was stained with printer ink and torn up. Her pants, unfortunately, were still in the maw of the printer, and even though it looked like it was dead, neither of us wanted to approach the thing quite yet.

While she fussed with the remains of her clothes, I finished dressing and looked at my status menu.

Besides the one additional point in charisma, I had four free points to add. Staring at the menu, I wasn’t really sure what to do.

If I had a class, the choice would have been obvious. I would have just thrown the points into whatever stat my class was based on. The problem was I didn’t have a class yet.

That meant I would have to choose how to allocate my stats. I wish I’d thought to ask the System which stat would yield the most results, at least at the early levels. All I could do was guess what the stats would improve.

Thinking about it, I realized the decision might be a bit easier if I had been a little smarter. Which meant the smart choice was probably to put a point into intelligence. Besides, I was a little miffed that my intelligence stat wasn’t higher. Sure, seven was probably decently high, but it wasn’t great. Thankfully, I could rectify that now.

So I dropped two points in intelligence and waited for a rush of knowledge to fill my head.

A few seconds later, I was still waiting. My thoughts didn’t come faster, nor did I miraculously change of personality into someone smart enough to survive this apocalypse. I did, however, come to the realization that I probably should have dropped those points into perception or vitality. Both of those were survival stats, and if I didn’t have a class, my objective would be to enhance my survivability long enough to get to the point where I knew enough to assign my stats properly.

So I put one point each into vitality and perception.

At last, I sensed something change. I’d started wearing my glasses more regularly recently thanks to having a desk job staring at a computer all day. I wasn’t wearing them now, but it felt like I was. My eyesight sharpened, and Sakura across the room came into perfect focus as she tried to poke the dead printer with a pen to extract the remains of her clothes.

“I fear those aren’t going to be in any shape to wear,” I cautioned. Sure enough, when Sakura extracted the ruined remains of her former garments, she had nothing more than bits of cloth stained a garish shade of purple.

Worry furrowed Sakura’s brow as she turned to me, hand across her chest, even though she had managed to rescue her bra. “I don’t have any other clothes in the office...”

I stripped my outer shirt off and tossed it to her. It was big enough that with my belt to fasten around my waist, it would cover her to her thighs. “That will have to do for now.”

She dressed, and I realized the noises from outside her office were getting louder. Perhaps Sakura’s printer wasn’t the only one that had turned evil. Well, more evil than printers usually were.

Looking at her, I realized there was something different about her. I'd never admit it out loud, but Sakura had always been a pretty average woman in my mind. She ate healthy but was too busy to do any real exercise. She could probably dress herself up if she wanted, but usually she was more intent on looking professional than looking beautiful.

That had changed a little over the past few months with her wearing a little more makeup to work, but this was something else. Her cheekbones were shaper than I remembered, and her muscle tone a little more vibrant than it should be. It was like she'd spent a month on a vigorous diet and exercise regimen over the course of the integration.

But more visible than anything else was a tiny bump in the center of her head. I reached out with a hand to brush against her forehead. There was definitely a bump there.

"Did you hit your head or something?" I asked as I gently stroked the little bump.

Sakura let out a sharp startled gasp as my hand brushed against her horn. A hot blush covered her cheeks as her legs gave out and she collapsed to her knees.

"I... yeah, I think I did hit my head. Or something..." Sakura said.

"Sorry. Did it hurt when I touched it?"

"Hurt? No, not really. I think I'm just sensitive there." Sakura stood back up, touching the bump in the center of her head just as I had. "I'll be alright."

"You sure?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."

I shrugged. I thought about prying more, but I heard a loud thump just outside the office door.

“Something’s happening outside. They might need our help,” I said.

“What if there are more monsters out there?” Sakura asked. “Like the printer thing.”

“Mimic,” I corrected. Then I reached for the legs of Sakura’s desk. They weren’t ideal weapons, but they were the best we could do for now. Heaving and pulling, I tore one free, then another. I handed one leg to Sakura, and I took the other myself. “Let’s go.”

Armed like a proper pair of apocalypse survivors, I tore the door open and regarded the rest of the office. With my first step, I found my boots soaked in blood.

One of the accountants lay sprawled out on his stomach, arms spread wide, as he dripped red onto the carpet below him. His head lolled to the side, eyes closed, and slack jaw hanging slightly agape as he twitched in time with every breath. A rat the size of a dog took fist-sized bites out of his stomach. When it saw me, it seemed to grin maliciously.

Its dark brown fur bristled and ruffled, and it growled low in its throat before leaping forward. Its claws extended, and it ran straight toward me, leaving bloody trails behind it as it charged.

In response, I readied my club. Turning my back on this thing would be the last thing I ever did.

“Sakura, back me up!” I yelled.

[Giant Rat - Level 3]

Like the mimic, this rat was at a higher level than I was. But I was armed, and hopefully, between the both of us, we could overcome the level of disadvantage.

“O-okay!” Sakura said, quickly stepping up to my side with her own desk leg in hand.

I charged forward to meet its attack, and with the pointed broken end of my desk leg held out, I intercepted its hungry maw with a face full of wood.

The rat’s jaws locked onto my weapon and tore it from my grasp. I was worried I was next, but Sakura darted forward and bashed the rat in the head with her own weapon. That dazed the creature long enough for me to tear my desk leg free from its jaws, snapping rat teeth as I pulled.

The rat righted itself in moments and turned its attention to Sakura. He hesitated when she locked eyes with the beast, and her entire body froze. She’d been about to hit it again, but staring at those monstrous eyes, she couldn’t move a muscle.

But the rat’s threatening posture toward her had the opposite effect on me. I felt Chivalrous Pervert take effect, and new strength flowed through my body. I swung the broken desk leg at the rat’s head and connected solidly.

My strike broke the skin and drew a line of bright red along the monstrous rodent’s temple. It roared in pain and backed away, shaking its head violently as it retreated. As soon as it cleared Sakura, it fled into the hallway beyond.

Your Improvised Weapons proficiency has increased to 2.

“You did it!” Sakura congratulated me.

I grimaced. I’d hoped to put the rat down. That would have granted us some experience points. And it didn’t look like we were in time to save the accountant. I think his name had been Tim. His eyes gazed out blankly into the distance as his heart beat out the last of his blood. His entire body lay still and unmoving.

Sakura followed my gaze, and her face paled. “I...I think I loaned the law office across the hall our first aid kit Let me get it!”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing we can do for him. Come on. And stick close. There might be others who need help.”

With a nod, Sakura picked up her pace to catch up to me. I saw several piles of clothes sitting beside desks as we passed. There was a chance people had simply abandoned their clothes when they arrived, but in my heart, I knew another explanation was more likely.

The System had mentioned some people were incompatible with integration. And those incompatible people would find their minds and bodies repurposed. Had that giant rat once been someone I knew?

A comical but welcome change to those grim thoughts came when I saw another of my coworkers, Caleb. He was a software engineer, and he always seemed exhausted. Still, once he got some coffee, he was good for about two hours of intense focus. And at the moment, his focus was so intent he hadn’t even realized his clothes were lying in a pile on the ground next to him. He stared at his computer screen with a frown on his face.

“Caleb!” I shouted at him.

“Carter, tell Sakura the internet is down again... how am I supposed to work without access to Stack Overflow?” Caleb grumbled.

“Caleb, you have more important things to worry about!”

Caleb groaned. “I told you, I’m working on it. We don’t need another meeting.”

Sakura spoke up. “Caleb, you’re naked. Get dressed.”

Sakura’s voice finally broke Caleb’s concentration, especially when he looked down and realized she was right.

“Crap! I swear I don’t know how that happened!” Caleb jumped to his feet, then promptly covered himself. “Just don’t call the cops. You know how hard it is to find work if you get put on one of those sex offender registers...”

“Caleb, it’s the apocalypse. The cops are the least of your worries,” I said. “Put your pants on and grab a weapon.”

“Wait... you mean all that crap about the apocalypse was real?” Caleb asked in surprise as he put his pants on. “I thought I fell asleep at my desk and had another one of those weird dreams again...”

“You didn’t feel that excruciating pain?” I asked.

“You’ve been sleeping on the job?” Sakura asked.

Caleb shrugged at both our questions. “I just figured I needed to finish my coffee faster.”

I shook my head as I helped Caleb arm himself. The guy needed to learn the value of keeping a proper sleep schedule. I handed my club off to him as we reached my own desk. Tearing through the drawers, I found my pocket knife. It was a handy little thing, and unlike most pocket knives, the blade on this one was about as long as my hand. I claimed it was for opening boxes, but really it was for if the apocalypse Myrina had warned me of ever came while I was in the office.

Now that it had, I found myself wishing I’d prepared more toys like this. As it was, most of my supplies were either at home or in my little emergency shelter.

I opened the janitor’s closet nearby, found a mop, tore the head off, and then split the shaft with my blade before fixing the pocket knife to the mop head to create a makeshift spear. Thanks to practice, the process only took a minute.

“You seem like you’ve done that before, Carter,” Caleb said with an eyebrow raised.

I shrugged. “I’ve watched a few YouTube videos here and there.”

We spent the next few minutes scouting for more survivors and stabbing printers. None of the others moved like the first, but I argued that you could never be certain, and it would be best to finish them off before they turned on us.

Sakura’s company owned the entire building, but we only used this one floor. I was sad to see that out of more than thirty coworkers, less than half remained. The rest had never returned after their encounter with the System.

We found most of the survivors huddled in the break room. The moment that giant rat had appeared, they’d scattered like mice.

The first to greet me was the intern I’d saved from Craig’s clutches. A smile spread across her face the moment she saw me, and on such a pretty girl, it was quite a sight to see.

“Carter, sir! You’re alright. I’m glad,” Bridget said.

“He’s fine. And so am I, by the way,” Sakura said as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Did I sense a hint of possessiveness in her?

But Bridget replied with a pleasant smile. “And I’m glad to see you’re alright as well, Miss Miaymoto.”

“So, did everyone in the office take cover in here?” I asked. There were nods all around.

“Everyone who reappeared. We were just talking about this System thing and what it means,” Bridget said. “It almost feels like we’re in a video game.”

“Is... is the monster gone?” One man asked. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a fine suit. He was probably from the law office next door. I was pretty sure I’d seen him hitting on our receptionist a few times, and that was probably what he was doing when this whole thing started.

“For now,” I replied. “It’s probably still in the building.”

“Oh god...” a woman gasped. I recognized her as Stacy from accounting. “Did you see what it did to Tim? Is he still alive?”

I shook my head. “I saw, and no. He’s not.”

“When are the police going to get here?” The lawyer asked. “Was anyone able to get through to them? I can’t get a cell phone connection in here.”

Strangely enough, I hadn’t even thought to call the police during an apocalypse. The idea that I could call for help hadn’t even crossed my mind.

Sakura must have thought of it, though, because she shook her head. “I can’t get a signal anywhere in the building. The internet is down as well. We might be able to try a landline if we can find one. I know where the plug is, but the actual phones were ripped out years ago.”

“I know where one is!” the lawyer said. “Our law office still has one for when people call the desk. But to use it, we have to get there...”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” I asked.

“Maybe one of us could go out and make the phone call? And then the rest of us can stay here...” the lawyer suggested. “For backup, I mean. If you get attacked, you’ll want someone still alive the recover your body.”

There were a bunch of nods of agreement all around. But I put my foot down.

“Now listen here!” I jammed the butt of my spear into the ground for emphasis. “We are going out there and fighting our way to the telephone, one way or another! You all went through the same thing I did. You all met the System, didn’t you? Did any of you get the impression that this was an isolated event that would happen only to our office? No. It mentioned to me that this was a planet-wide initiation, meaning those monsters are everywhere worldwide. If the cops are even still around, they’ve got their own problems to deal with. Odds are we’re going to be on our own even if we manage to get in contact with anybody. And that’s a big if.”

Silence all around. Nobody wanted to be the first to speak after my little rank.

“Okay, okay. I get it. We’ll follow you out,” the lawyer said.

“Yeah. I trust Carter to lead us to safety,” Bridget stared at me with adoring eyes. To my side, I saw Sakura cross her arms and take a step a bit closer to me.

Congratulations! You have been appointed party leader!

• For leading a party of eighteen fellow humans, you have been awarded the leadership title: Lieutenant (Common)
• Effects: +4 charisma when leading a party.

She pressed up close against me with a smile on her face. “Lead away, Carter. As branch manager, I now delegate all the office’s military matters to you.”

I felt the weight of responsibility settle on my shoulders at the same time, a new menu appeared before me. Apparently, becoming a leader was more than just a social role when living within the Multiverse. A few new tabs had become available to me.

In the corner of my vision, I could see a little symbol representing each of the office workers. Beneath their portraits and names were little bars which I could only guess represented their health.

“Sakura, can you see everyone’s portraits on the left-hand side of your vision?” I asked.

Sakura shook her head. “I don’t think so. Maybe I’m not seeing it...”

I shook my head. “Just confirming something.” If the menu had appeared for her the same way it had appeared for me, there was no way she could have missed it.

Bridget came up on my other side. While Sakura stuck to my right side, she claimed my left. “I don’t see it either, Carter.”

Sakura glared at her, but Bridget stared at me with a bright smile on her face.

Warning! Party Cohesion has dropped by 10%! Your Party Cohesion is now only 20%. The further this metric falls, the more likely your group is to disband.

That message sounded bad, and I was worried that I’d need to talk to the two of them and give everyone another motivational speech. The trouble was, I didn’t think I had one in me. But just when I was starting to worry, someone at the party let out a terrified scream. Checking the portraits on the left side of my vision, I saw the lawyer had lost a bit of health. I turned to him behind me and saw him hopping on one leg while a cockroach the size of a dinner plate nibbled on his shoe.

I turned in one swift motion, stabbing down with my spear and skewering the cockroach.

You have slain [Cockroach - Level 1]!

“There, it’s dead.” I tried to calm the lawyer down, but he ducked behind me and pointed to the far corner with a trembling finger. There, an entire hoard of things was coming out of the walls.

“Oh god, we’re all going to be eaten by giant bugs!”

<Note>

My PC keeps trying to change Miamoto to Miyamoto. I don't know anything about Japanese last names. Is Miyamoto an actual name or something?

I guess I will go with Miyamoto just to keep our robot overlords from harassing me, because if my grammar checking programs are harassing me, Amazon's automated system probably will too.

This is how the robot takeover begins!

On another note, whoever goes by Keanu Weebs on Discord, we're pretty sure your account got hacked. You were pinging @everyone in a few channels and sharing some weird stuff. Anyway, I banned you to save you from future embarrassment. Message me on Patreon when you have changed your password. I'm leaving this up here because I'm not sure which of you uses that Discord name, but know it was one of the $10 a month patrons here. I will unban you once you secure your account or fix whatever that was.

Note: Carter's stats at the end of the chapter.

Carter Smith (Human, Level 2. Rank F)

Strength: 5

Agility: 3

Perception: 5

Vitality: 4

Intelligence: 9

Willpower: 6

Charisma: 6 (+4)

Luck: 0