Mistrunner - Chapter 54 - The Journey Home (Patreon)

I have made so many mistakes over the course of my long life, but with Mirabelle, I feel like I’ve finally gotten something right. Only time will tell, though.

Jeremiah Braddock III

Eager to be on my way, I left that shack before dawn the next morning. Freddie hadn’t returned during the night, and I suspected that he wouldn’t be back anytime soon. As intrigued as I was, I found that I was okay with that. I wasn’t certain if he’d been telling me the truth or if he was crazy, but I found his presence unnerving enough that I was eager to leave before he came back. So, in the pre-dawn darkness, I left that shack behind.

As I traversed the forest, I kept all my senses trained on my surroundings. I had seen enough of the wilderness that the last thing I wanted was to stumble onto something truly dangerous. Fortunately, though, my trek was uneventful, and I soon reached the road I’d left behind the day before.

Looking around, I found plenty of evidence of the wildlings. A sharpened stick here. A pile of excrement there. A scrap of a blanket. I even found a crude doll made of twigs, reminding me that the wildling population wasn’t just confined to adults. There were children there as well. Thinking about those poor souls growing up as little more than animals broke my heart into a million pieces.

Shaking my head, I continued along the road at an easy jog. At one point, it would’ve been tiring, but with my constitution, I could keep it up all day and then some. In fact, I was fairly certain that, at that speed, so long as I ate and drank, I wouldn’t exhaust my reserves of energy for a long, long while. It served as a poignant reminder of just how much I’d changed over the previous couple of years.

After a few hours, when the sun had truly begun to rise, the road turned into a crumbling bridge meant to traverse a wide but shallow creek. One look at the murky water told me that it wasn’t safe to drink, so I eschewed refilling my water bottles in favor of crossing it as quickly as possible. Of course, just after I reached the midway point, I was attacked by a mud-covered giant frog whose tongue lashed out at me with barely fathomable speed.

Fortunately, I’d been well-trained, and I was experienced enough that I was on my guard. The moment I saw motion, I summoned my nano-bladed sword from my Arsenal Implant. The frog was enormous and probably weighed twice as much as I did, so its tongue was as big around as my arm. But with a quick swipe, my sword went through it just fine. The monstrous animal let out a screeching wail before dipping back into the water and swimming away. After that, it was easy to track by the blood staining the water.

Keeping my sword out, I waded through the creek and to the other side before crawling up the steep, muddy bank and back into the trees. A few minutes later, I found the road once again and continued on my way. Like that, I traveled for another week, passing the remnants of a long dead society along the way. I saw huge buildings reminiscent of the enormous market in which I’d briefly found shelter, rotted homes that must have once been quaint, and a host of rusted behemoths that had once been cars. I even found a knot of twisting and turning bridges at the intersection of two huge highways.

While I traveled, I wondered at the nature of the fallen civilization. Were their lives so much different than ours? Did they have to worry about overbearing threats like the aliens or even the Enforcers back in Nova City? Or had their lives been peaceful? Did they spend most of their lives toiling for someone else’s benefit? Or were they truly free? I had no idea, but wondering about it was an interesting way to pass the time.

Of course, I usually didn’t make it very far before having to evade some monster, which, as much as anything else, served to remind me why everything was abandoned. Most of them were variations on animals I’d already encountered, though usually with a twist. Some were just bigger. Others, like a six-legged coyote, had extra limbs. Still others were adorned with various metal fins, spikes, fangs, or claws. The one thing they all had in common was that they were incredibly dangerous, though.

My training served me well, and I was able to avoid most of them. However, even with my abilities – both trained and granted from my skills – I had to fight at least a few times each day. Invariably, I would always start with my sword, largely because I wanted to avoid drawing attention with the sound of my gunshots, but a couple of times, I was forced to go all out. One of those instances occurred when I was accosted by a giant snapping turtle that had planted itself across the half-flooded road where it was basking in the sun.

I tried to go around, but the moment the truck-sized creature caught my scent, it refused to let me pass. So, after narrowly avoiding its lightning quick snapping jaws, which splintered the trunk of an oak tree like it was nothing, I shifted my efforts from evasion to termination. I quickly learned, however, that the monstrous animal was probably the toughest creature I’d ever faced. Not only was its shell harder than concrete, but my sword skated off its pebbled skin without even leaving a mark.

Next, I tried Ferdinand II, who was loaded with armor piercing rounds. They penetrated into the thing’s skin, but the wounds they left behind were shallow and mostly cosmetic. They barely even bled. After that, I tried my sniper-configured Kicker, but it was similarly ineffective. The scattergun stunned the turtle for a brief second, but it quickly recovered. Finally, I decided to use the tetsubo I’d used to train my blunt weapons abilities, and with the use of Pummel, I finally made headway.

The ability had the distinctive characteristic of ignoring armor, so the monster’s shell and thick hide were little impediment to my attacks. However, just because I could finally damage the thing didn’t mean I was out of the woods, and I spent the next two hours sneaking in a hit every now and then as I avoided its snapping beak. Eventually, the wounds started to pile up, and, at last, I shattered its skull.

I had a similarly difficult time when I was forced to fight a giant, man-sized hawk that kept trying to swoop in and snatch me up in its talons. It almost caught me the first time, but Observation proved its worth, and I narrowly avoided its attack. With its efforts thwarted, the huge bird banked and flew away to the west.

Or that’s what I thought. I realized the error of my ways when, an hour later, it returned the moment I started to relax. Like that, the thing stalked me well into the night until, at last, I managed to slice a piece of its wing off and send it plummeting to the ground. I was on it in a heartbeat, and I quickly hacked it apart.

It was not an elegant kill, but then again, it rarely was. If there was one lesson I’d learned since that first time I’d killed another living creature, it was that forcibly taking something’s life was almost never clean. It was tragic, messy, and undignified. But in a lot of cases, especially for me, it was also very necessary. So it was with the hawk, which was an unquestionably beautiful creature. Less so when its feathers were marred by its own blood. I was saddened to have had to kill it.

Slowly, I continued south, drawing ever closer to Mobile. At the same time, I was approaching the rest of my life. With my test finished, my formal training was over. I would finally be integrated into Jeremiah’s plans. And while I wasn’t sure what that entailed, I found myself eager to prove that I could hold my own. My training had awakened a competitive streak within me, and I wanted to show my uncle that I could pull my own weight.

Finally, after a week’s worth of travel, I started seeing familiar landmarks. I even passed the town of Wilmer, which had been ravaged by wolves. Nothing of the small town was left, save for the abandoned remnants of a couple of huts and a single old building that might have once been the settlement’s central structure. There were no people left, though, and anything of value had been stripped from the area by bandits and scavengers.

Or maybe wildlings. I had no real way of knowing.  Nor did I care. Not when I was so close to home. So, I only gave the place a cursory search before moving on. It was another day before I saw the old skyline of Mobile, with its abandoned and crumbling buildings, including the squat, winged structure that had once been the seat of the government. Curiously, I hadn’t come across any patrols.

That should have been my first hint that something was wrong. The Amigos were almost always out and about, and I should have long since run into them. But there was nothing.

As I drew closer, I saw snaking tendrils of smoke twisting through the air over where I knew the town to be. Suddenly, I remembered my uncle’s lack of responses to my many attempts to contact him. At the time, I’d thought he was still testing me, but now? With the absence of the Amigos and the smoke on the horizon, I couldn’t help but think that something had gone horribly wrong.

I picked up the pace, transforming my easy jog into something that covered far more ground. It still wasn’t terribly taxing, but it was more dangerous in that I couldn’t really examine my surroundings. Ultimately, that almost got me killed.

A glint in the distance was all the warning I got before a bullet tore through the air, aimed straight at my chest. As I dove to the side, the gunshot echoed across the landscape. The ground erupted into a cloud of dust and old concrete as I took cover.

The other sniper was about a quarter mile away and nestled on the top floor of a four-story, red brick building, and I had taken refuge behind a pile of rubble to the side of the road. Looking around, I summoned my Kicker from my Arsenal Implant, then shifted it into its sniper configuration. I didn’t take aim, though. The other sniper knew where I was, and at that distance, the only way they wouldn’t kill me the moment I stuck my head out was if they were incredibly bad at their job.

“Staying alive means assuming that your opponent is competent,” my uncle had once taught me. And I’d taken those words to heart. So, I scanned my surroundings, marking potential cover as I plotted my route. I had the advantage of knowing precisely where the sniper was, so my strategy wasn’t so different than what I’d used during my training with Jeremiah. Only this time, instead of a simple scrape, I’d get a bullet through my chest if I failed.

That made all the difference.

My heart started beating faster, and for once, my Combat Focus didn’t kick in. It actually took me a moment to realize that it hadn’t because I didn’t need it. I was used to life-and-death struggle. I had prepared for it. I’d spent hundreds of hours training for just such a situation, and I no longer needed to lean on my ability as a crutch.

I took a deep breath, then, keeping low, sprinted from my position. I knew precisely which path to take to avoid giving the other sniper a proper shot, and I slid into cover a few seconds later. I only stayed there for a few seconds before relocating to the next obstruction. Then the next. Over and over until I felt confident that I’d evaded the sniper’s view.

But it wasn’t enough just to escape. I needed answers.

So, I started to circle around their position. I flitted from one position to the other, always staying out of sight as I flanked the red brick building until, at last, I could approach from behind. As quietly as I could, I leapt to a second story window, where I grabbed the ledge and pulled myself through. I silently rolled to my feet, scanning the area for any threats. There were none, so I quickly found my way to the stairwell.

Taking it one step at a time, I mounted the stairs. A few steps up, my caution bore fruit in the form of my discovery of a mine. It was a thin, metal disc, out of which was thrown a barely perceptible beam of red-hued light. A tripwire, I recognized, and at ankle height. I stepped over it.

A second later, I realized my mistake, so I went back, and using my Basic Explosives Handling ability, which enhanced my training to such an extent that I could disarm it with relative ease, I deactivated the mine and tucked it away in my Arsenal Implant. Then, I moved on to the third floor, which I spent a few minutes clearing. It could have been quicker, given that most of the inner walls had crumbled or rotted away, but I was being thorough. This time, my caution proved unnecessary, and I soon found myself back in the stairwell, where I found another mine, which I disarmed and pocketed like I had the first.

Before long, I was standing before the door leading to the fourth floor, which was where I had seen the sniper. I knelt there for a few moments, just letting my senses take everything in. Observationgave me some ideas about what lay on the other side of the door, but it was, at best, an incomplete picture. Nothing short of going in there was going to give me anything more.

I bit my lip, then took a long, deep breath, before twisting the knob and pushing the door open. Thankfully, it did so without a sound, which allowed me to perform a cursory scan of the floor. What I saw was more than a little disconcerting.

Six figures milled around near the window where I had seen the sniper, who was still aiming in the direction they’d last seen me. So, seven enemies in total, which wasn’t terribly intimidating. Or it wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t recognized their black-and-white uniforms, which marked them as Nova City Enforcers.

I stared at them, my mouth dropping open. It didn’t make sense. Nova City was more than a day’s worth of travel from Mobile. There was no reason for them to be here. But they were. Nothing could change that.

So, with no ability to change what I couldn’t change, I summoned my scattergun from my Arsenal Implant, took aim, and pulled the trigger. Lightning arced from the barrel, enveloping the entire group and sending them into seizures. I used Double-Shot when I fired again, giving them a second and third dose of electricity. The weapon had been designed specifically for crowd suppression, and unlike had so often been the case, these Enforcers had the constitutions to let it properly do its job. They dropped to the ground, still alive but unable to move.

So, in the space of a few scant milliseconds, I stowed my scattergun and summoned my Kicker. Taking aim at the prone forms, I opened fire. Six bursts, six corpses. Given that they were busy watching a seldom-used road leading to a relatively small town, I suspected that they weren’t exactly the best the Enforcers had to offer. In any case, they couldn’t pose a threat if they were dead.

Finally, I focused on the sniper, who was still twitching as she stared at me with undisguised malice. Blood-flecked drool coated her chin from where, presumably, she’d bitten her tongue. I noticed everything, cataloguing it even as I activated my Misthackability.

Initiate Misthack (trivial defenses detected)? [Yes] or [No]

I selected the affirmative option, which prompted another notification.

Misthack Initiated. D-Grade Defenses Overriden.

Instantly, I bypassed her defenses, which opened up a new menu:

Misthack Successful. Options:

· Reboot System

· Overload System

· Breach

I chose the first option, which briefly deactivated her implants, including her interface. She went slack as her various cybernetics lost power. For most people, it wouldn’t be that huge of a loss. But for an Enforcer? She likely had a half-dozen high-grade cybernetics throughout her body, and with them deactivated, she could scarcely move.

But it was only temporary, so I moved quickly, rushing to her side where I initiated a Mistwalk and infiltrated her system via a hard connection. Within a few seconds, I’d overridden any inherent defenses and exposed every weakness in her system. Then, I started turning things off permanently. By the time the reboot cycled, I had bricked her whole system.

And there was a lot there. Subdermal armor. Top-of-the-line optics that were almost as good as my KIOI. An Arsenal Implant with weapon slots. A military-grade cybernetic leg. The list went on and on.  The woman was almost a full android, which made my efforts all the more effective. To a normal person without any cybernetics? I would have been severely limited. But with her? I could disable her almost completely.

“W-what did you do?” she stammered, her words slurred and her eyes wide and unseeing. They were implants as well, so when I’d deactivated them, it had rendered her blind.

“I’m going to ask you some questions,” I said. “You’re going to answer them. If you don’t, I’m going to make whatever time you have left extremely unpleasant. And don’t bother lying. When I’m connected to you like this, I can tell if you’re being dishonest.”

Of course, that was, itself, a lie. But she didn’t need to know that. Mistrunners were uncommon enough that most people would believe basically anything we claimed. Besides, if I really wanted to, I could delve into her memory and figure things out for myself. Interrogation was more of a timesaver than an absolute necessity.

“I…I won’t…”

I put my finger on her quivering lips, saying, “Shhh. Don’t talk until I ask you the questions, okay? What’s going on? Why is there smoke coming from Mobile?”

Her wide eyes darted around as panic gripped her. She couldn’t see, but that didn’t seem to matter. I asked her again, accentuating the question by reactivating her optics. As my uncle often said, you could sometimes catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

“Who are you?” she asked, focusing on me.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Now, talk. Or I’ll blind you again.”

“We…w-we came for him.”

“Who?” I asked.

“The Wraith,” she said. “We…we had an informant. Someone who told us his schedule. Where he’d be. We bombarded the city. And…and we…we finally got him. He killed almost a hundred of us…some of the best we had, but…but he’s gone, now. The Wraith is dead.”