Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Note: After fixing a stat point error you guys pointed out, I accidentally re-uploaded the wrong chapter to Patreon. That was chapter 15. I've fixed it and this is the proper chapter 11 with the stat error fixed.

Ben was important enough to park his car fairly close to  the office building. The thing we called a parking garage had been a  tiny underground affair and barely worth of the name before the  integration, but with the System pasting four more identical garages so  close to it that they blended into one another it was about the size of  what you might expect in a real city. Even the cars had been copied, but  there was something off about the replicas. The numbers on the license  plates were blurred nonsense, like they'd been replicated by someone who  didn't know how to read them.

The hood of one of them  was open, and a brief glimpse inside showed only a mess of wires and  tubes all connected to one another, as though their only purpose was to  replicate the appearance of complex mechanisms and not the inner  workings of a functional car. When I tried one of the locks, it was  frozen shut. And not frozen as in locked, it was frozen as though there  was no lock at all, just a groove in the shape of a latch carved out of  metal. The actual latch didn't work.

It was more  evidence pointing toward the idea that the integration hadn't been made  with advanced technology and machinery in mind. If this had been a vast  swath of farmland or wilderness the duplicate areas would have been  fine. Just not with automobiles and city blocks.

Once  we identified the real parking garage, I just needed to find the black  porche. I was never a big car buff, but I knew a luxury car when I was  staring at one.

"That one is probably it," I pointed at the most expensive car in sight.

"That's  my father's spare car. I was borrowing it. It's this one," Sakura led  me in the complete opposite direction. "I've run into Benjamin and  Margaret in the parking lot."

Once again, I was thankful that I brought Sakura along. Otherwise this would have taken a lot longer than it should have.

Bridget gave me a pat on the back. "That's a Cadillac."

"They all look the same to me..." I grumbled.

The  keys worked, battery powered remote and all. I clicked the button and  the lights flashed, confirming that this was indeed the car we were  looking for. There were no zombies, rats, or cockroaches in our way, and  for a while I debated driving the car back to the office and parking it  along the side of the road.

But a sports car was of limited  utility after the end of the world. If I was going to park something in  front of the office, I'd want a truck with four wheel drive. Perhaps I'd  ask around the office to get some keys. Or failing that, just check the  piles of clothes laying around the office from people who never came  back from the integration.

I retrieved the pair of rifles from the  trunk and was surprised at just how much ammunition Ben had back there.  Just how long did he plan on spending at the shooting range before the  Apocalypse began?

Feeling curious, I picked up one of the loaded  magazines and stuck it into the rifle. I was by no means a gun nut, but  having a good evidence that an apocalypse was on its way and not taking at least a few lessons on how to use a firearm would have been pure stupidity.

So  when I had it armed and pointed out the nearby window facing away from  the city and pulled the trigger and it didn't budge, I knew I hadn't  messed up loading and shooting the thing.

"Busted." I shook my head.

"You  check the safety?" Bridget asked. I tossed the gun to her so she could  try it for herself, and sure enough nothing happened. "Huh. Feels almost  like a jam."

"You want to try, Sakura?" I offered her the rifle, but Sakura clung to her bat.

"I don't really know how to use those things." Sakura shied away.

I chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll teach you later. Assuming we can even get them working, that is."

We  returned to the office a few minutes later. I spotted a single  cockroach scurrying out of the way, and I sent a Mana Bolt after it. But  that was it for our trip. I suspected the monsters around our level  were avoiding us at this point, and by now a walk down the street was  about as safe as it had been before the integration. Though those  grocery store shoppers we rescued would probably disagree.

When  Ben said he was spying on Craig, I had underestimated the degree to  which he was making that happen. I expected a few people with high  perception standing near the door and hoping to catch a word or two, or  someone standing by the stairwell peering into his old office. Not that  he was there often anymore now that he'd moved into Sakura's office.

No,  Ben had created something far more sophisticated. One of the offices  above us had been the headquarters of a construction company. Even  though they were doing office work, they weren't too far from their  roots and had plenty of hand tools. Someone even had a hand-cranked  drill, which had saved a lot of time reinforcing the walls with the  furniture.

When people finally started overcoming their fear to  wander the office freely, and some even started hunting cockroaches in  the basement for easy early levels, Ben had gotten it in his head to  build a device to keep an eye on Craig.

There were plenty of  mirrors in the bathroom to disassemble, and some of the old printers had  even spit out a couple of prisms after being killed. Humans could be  quite creative when making things out of scraps, especially when  procrastinating other tasks that they didn't want to do. Tasks like  fighting off the giant bugs in the basement.

Still, I saw that  more were leveling down there than before. Even better, a few of Craig's  new lackeys had come crawling back when they realized we had real food  and they fought a bunch of giant rats over a few bags of potato chips,  protein powder, and energy drinks. I even noticed a few from my office  with Sakura.

I was tempted to turn them away after they turned  their backs on me and Sakura, but then I realized I didn't really want  to be the one managing the shelter, and making that declaration would  force me into a management position. I saw how busy Ben and Margaret  were. Keeping this many people in line was a full time job, and if I  committed to it I'd hardly have any freedom at all, let alone the time  to level. Ben really had picked the best role for me, as High Sword  didn't actually need to do anything unless there was a monster attack.

So  taking a page out of Sakura's book, I ignored the issue and let them  handle it. Instead, I met up with Bridget who was taking apart the two  rifles along with a pair of rough-looking older men who were peering  through the spyglass apparatus drilled through the wall to peer in on  Craig.

"Alright, so the first thing we noticed is that he takes  that gun of his apart pretty frequently," one of the men said. "You're  pretty good at taking those rifles apart, girly."

Bridget smiled.  "I used to help my pops take apart his guns when I was a little girl. He  was fond of target shooting, but ammo eventually got too expensive.  When his health problems hit, it was either give up hunting or give up  on his medical bills."

"Bummer. I know what you mean though. The  price of bullets has gone through the roof!" The man chuckled. "Well, I  guess there's nobody to charge for bullets these days." He turned to me.  "Maybe you and your friends can bust open the gunstore down the road.  There's bound to be some good pickings there."

I nodded. "If you can figure out Craig's trick to get these working, then that's just what we'll do."

Bridget  and the men fiddled with the rifles, disassembling them completely.  Sakura and I weren't going to stand around the whole time, so we went  out on another grocery run and killed a few more zombies. I didn't gain  any levels, but Sakura did. And even though I didn't gain any levels, I  still crossed over 20 Intelligence when the four hour mark ticked past  and added one to all my stats.

Choose an Intelligence Skill!

Fireball (Common)

• Generates a ball of fire containing fire mana which can be thrown at targets.

Barrier (Common)

• Generates  a flat circular energy barrier that  covers one square meter. It  deflects incoming attacks at the cost of  expending mana.

Deflect (Common)

• Redirects the next incoming projectile when cast. Usable once every ten seconds.

Mana Blast (Uncommon)

• This skill replaces Mana Bolt with a more powerful enhanced neutral mana attack.

I   looked through the list. Fireball was tempting, at least until I   remembered how easy the Fire Squirrel had been to defeat. Clearly,   Fireballs weren't all they were cracked up to be, especially against   targets with high vitality.

That left the choice between Deflect,   Barrier, and Mana Blast. Upgrading Mana Bolt would make the attack more   powerful in a way that leveling my Caster proficiency couldn't, but in   the end I decided to go with Deflect.

My reasoning was simple.   Craig had a gun, and I was pretty sure he'd been thinking about shooting   me in the back of the head the last time we'd met. Maybe next time  he'd  do just that. When he did, he'd probably expect to take me by  surprise.  Having this spell would prevent that.

Barrier sounded  like it  could do the same thing, but only if I knew when the attack was  coming.  Even though Barrier would be more versatile, the risk of dying  to a  surprise attack was just too high to take a shield over the power  to  completely mitigate the disadvantage of being caught off guard.  With my  life on the line, I had to go with the safest choice.

So I selected Deflect, and the menu closed a moment later.

I   thought about using the spell, and just like Mana Bolt it activated   with a thought. Having it active consumed a tiny amount of mana, but not   enough to keep me from regenerating to my maximum. I would probably   keep it active permanently unless I was regenerating mana as quickly as   possible.

"I just hit ten strength," Sakura said.

"You get skill choices?"

Sakura nodded. "Three of them. All common grade."

Sakura  read her skills aloud and I listened. One was a skill that let the user  jump higher. Another let them hit harder. The third reinforced the  wielders weapon every time it was used.

"Seems to me like you can  already jump pretty damn high," I said. When skipping, Sakura glided  through the air like a gazelle, propelling herself forward at speeds  worth a medal. Her physical stats were even higher than mine. "And I've  seen you with that bat. I've yet to see something you couldn't bash. And  if you found something that needed a harder bash than you can give it  already, your weapon would probably shatter in your hands."

"Third choice it is," Sakura said.

And  so it was settled. Sakura glanced at her bat and a dull crimson glow  ran along its length. The small cracks that had started forming down the  shaft vanished in an instant, and the wood grain shone with inner  light. It turned denser and tougher before the light within faded and  left the bat changed for the better. I wasn't sure how to describe it,  but the entire thing just looked a tiny bit more durable now.

"Neat trick."

After  my initial push, levels had started coming slower. Maybe it was because  I was higher level than most of the things in the city, or maybe it was  because I wasn't being pushed as hard as I had been in those early  fights against the Rat Matriarch. I wasn't quite sure why, but something  inside of me itched. I jumped at the slightest noise and fired a Mana  Bolt at rustling leaves or wavering branches. It was like part of me was  just waiting for the next foe to rear its head. I suppose that was a  good attitude to survive a situation like this, though I worried that  prolonged exposure to this kind of environment was the sort of thing  that gave people PTSD. We were going to need a lot of psychiatrists once  the dust from the apocalypse finally settled.

Sakura spotted the  local clinic, which was far closer to us than it used to be. The place  was a mess. If the undead had been bad at the grocery store, here it was  a full-blown epidemic.

The clinic was a brick and mortar building  with a parking lot in both front and back. Like many things in  Crownhill, it was bigger than some tiny one room bloodwork testing  place, but not big enough to be considered a real hospital.

A pair  of ambulances were parked in back, neither of which were operable.  There were thick slashes through the tires, one had a smashed windshield  and another had burn marks along its entire length. One sagged at an  odd angle with the front left tier clearly out of action, and the other  was up on blocks with one of the good tiers halfway off.

Whoever  had been working here had worked hard through the apocalypse and braved  the streets to save people. Maybe they still were. I'd seen a few people  on the streets and invited them to join Ben and Margaret. There were  even a few people trying to flee by car, not that they were making much  progress. Lots of people had crashed their cars when the System plucked  them right out of the driver's seat for their integration. There were  enough wrecks on the street that the roads weren't all that usable,  which made the fact that someone was taking those ambulances around even  more remarkable.

Unfortunately, whoever had been doing that had  been interrupted in their good work by a few undead. I wasn't sure if  they were previous patients, nurses, or just people who didn't care for  being brought back to life after the sweet release of death. But there  they were, shambling in the parking lot as they plowed face-first into  windows and doors.

A few bore heavy wounds, which was a clear sign  that somebody had thought to fight back. A couple of the zombies lay  dead, but enough were up and walking that nobody was coming out of that  clinic without a rescue party.

"These ones can actually walk," Sakura noted as she pointed her bat toward the shambling undead.

"So it seems. I would guess they're a higher level."

"They're slow."

"Wanna take bets?" I asked. "I'm guessing they're level four."

"What's the winner get?" Sakura licked her lips.

I grinned. "If I win, I'm telling everyone we meet you're my sidekick. Not my boss."

"Hmm. Fine. And if I win, you have to give me a prize," Sakura said.

"Deal.  Anything I have to give is yours." I didn't have anything on me I  wasn't already willing to give to Sakura if she needed. My phone was  worthless, as was my wallet and the money in it. Even the clothes on my  back weren't worth all that much when there were piles of them lying  everywhere.

We snuck up on the zombies as they shambled  aimlessly. I was far lighter on my feet than should have been possible,  as was Sakura. I crept behind her and admired the graceful way she  glided across the pavement without a sound. Those extra stat points in  agility just from surviving this long were doing wonders.

My whole  body felt like it had undergone a transformation. It was like I'd spent  months doing nothing but eating right and working out, and now I was in  the best shape of my life. The two of us had practically run to the  clinic, and yet my heartbeat was as steady as ever in my chest. The jog  that would have winded me before barely got my blood pumping. I could  tell Sakura felt the same as I did. She wanted to push her new body to  the limits just like me. She could have stayed back at the office with  Bridget or the others as they gathered supplies and prepared to survive  the apocalypse. But instead she was here, hungry for more levels.

Having  the best ranged weapon of the two of us, I was the first to open fire.  My target was one of the more impressive zombies. In life, he'd been a  tall man in good shape with thick muscles that reminded me of Craig. The  jersey he wore belonged to a local college sports team, and I gave him  even odds of being a player instead of just a fan.

Someone had  tried to behead him already, and there was a deep gouge in his neck all  the way to the bone. All the blood and dangling flesh made it hard to  make out the weapon, but it seemed to be a kitchen knife. The kitchen  knife was still stuck in there pressed against the vertebrae, and dried  blood caked his entire side. I planned to finish the job with my attack,  and so with a steady hand I shot my Mana Bolt straight for the knife in  his neck.

My attack landed perfectly, and the sudden kinetic  attack drove the knife right through the undead's spinal chord. He  dropped to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut, and the head  rolled across the ground and twitched.

You have slain [Zombie - Level 4]!

"Beheading  works," I muttered. "Also, it looks like I win our bet." I would have  to double check on that head and see if it was still dangerous. A few  zombies turned at the sound. Their sight must not have been particularly  good, because Sakura and I were barely even taking cover. The two of us  crouched behind a car as we watched the small undead horde.

Sakura's tactic was far more direct.

"Hyaaaaa!"  She screamed, catching the attention of all the zombies in the parking  lot. She swung her baseball bat with reckless abandon, shattering skulls  left and right with every swing. Then she used a new ability of her  own.

A brilliant red glow flowed down the length of her bat. While  her new skill could strengthen her weapons out of battle, it could also  be used during battle to give the weapon an extra durability boost for a  heavy handed blow. And heavy handed it was. Sakura was truly throwing  all of her strength points into her attack. If she hadn't picked up her  new skill, she would have shattered her bat against the first zombie  skull she swung at.

Her bat struck one undead, and it exploded in a  fountain of gore. Its head was simply gone, turned into chips of skull  and a fine bloody mist. Another came for her with snarling jaws, but  she'd put points into agility as well. Its teeth found nothing but empty  air, and a second later her baseball bat struck the undead on the head  crushing it just like the first. By now, every zombie in the parking lot  knew where she was and was shambling toward her. But that was just what  Sakura wanted. It meant she wouldn't have to bother chasing them down.

There  was no more point in trying to be subtle with Sakura drawing all the  zombies toward her, so I leaped from hiding and started firing Mana  Bolts left and right.

You have slain [Zombie - Level 3] x 3!

Congratulations, you have advanced to level 8!

The  fight was over as quickly as it started, and our grinding from earlier  paid off as we finally got those levels we'd been waiting for. At level  7, Sakura was quickly catching up to me and would probably be the  highest level of everyone back at the office shelter.

I put three  stat points into Intelligence, bringing the total up to twenty three.  But the last point I saved for Perception, since it was so close to ten.

Choose a Perception skill!

Analyze (Common)

• Allows  the user to identify items and objects. This provides information about  their quality, value, and uses in crafting. This is an ideal skill for  scavengers, gatherers, and job-focused individuals.

Examine (Common)

• Allows  the user to identify people and enemies. This provides information  about the target's currently equipped class title and their combat  level. This is an ideal skill for hunters and warriors.

There  were only two options available for Perception, one clearly geared for  fighters, and the other intended for workers. I was certainly doing a  lot more fighting than I was gathering, and I didn't expect it that to  change. Still, it would be smart for people with lower combat abilities  to pick up the Analyze skill. I could see myself bringing along a weaker  person just for that ability.

"So, quite a few of those zombies I  killed were level 3, just like I guessed," Sakura said smugly. "I know  the one you killed was level 4, but we never specified which zombie we  were betting on."

"Let me guess, you're arguing that you won?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I guess we both won, in a sense," Sakura said. "So we both should get our prizes."

"You  really want to be my sidekick that bad, huh?" I chuckled and received a  playful punch in the arm. I had to hide my wince. Sakura had a lot of  points in strength and hadn't quite adjusted yet. Some of those points  she'd just received must have gone into strength as well. I'd have to  put some points into vitality just to keep up with her.

"No," Sakura pouted. "I just want my prize."

I  didn't have much of value on me, and my office clothes were little more  than rags. I was wondering what exactly Sakura thought I had to--

She  wrapped her arms around my back and pulled me close. Then she reached  up her other hand around the back of my head and pulled me in until my  lips met hers.

Her skin was soft and warm, and her eyes twinkled  with a light and a love of life I'd only caught glimpses of over all the  time I'd spent working for her. Her tongue brushed against mine and I  felt a tingle run down my spine.

She broke off the kiss as quickly as she'd started, eyes darting to the ground as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"S-sorry,  Carter. W-was that too much? I don't want to make things awkward. If it  was too much we can just pretend it--" Sakura began, but I cut her off  by pulling her back into her kiss.

Our lips locked again, and I breathed in her scent. Despite the carnage around us, she still smelled lovely.

I  wasn't sure how long that moment lasted, but the two of us were  startled out of our shared moment by a rapping on the clinic door. It  was followed by a man's voice.

"Hey! Hey lovebirds! Are you zombies? No? Then get in here!"

We  glanced over to the clinic and the glass windows nearby, where more  than a dozen faces were staring at the two of us. They must have heard  us fighting and decided to watch. And then kept watching when we started  kissing.

Sakura's blush once again returned to her cheeks.

<Note>

Carter Smith (Human, Level 8. Rank F)

Strength: 8

Agility: 6

Perception: 10

Vitality: 13

Intelligence: 23

Willpower: 8

Charisma: 8 (+4)

Luck: 0

Proficiency:

Caster: 5

Neutral Mana: 2

Improvised Weapons: 2

Titles:

Forerunner of Earth, Integration Survivor,  Chivalrous Pervert

Temporary Titles:

Blessed of the System, Hero of Sakura Miyamoto,