Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 37 - Livestock (Patreon)

There’s so much we don’t know about the world. We have no idea what’s out there. Not really. And the rest of the universe is even more mysterious. Anyone who claims they know what’s coming is lying.

Patrick Ward

I approached the abandoned amusement park as quietly as I could manage. Usually, I could rely solely on Stealth and Camouflage to see me through, but the memory of how easily that clown wildling had taken apart the E’rok Tan patrol was the only motivator I needed to take extra care. I could only hope that it would be enough.

Over the past few hours, I’d made some plans in case my skills failed. However, if it ended up coming to that, my chances of survival would take a precipitous drop. Perhaps I would live through it, but it would likely take everything I had. On top of that, it would make accomplishing my mission that much more difficult, if not entirely impossible.

So, the stakes couldn’t have been higher as I crept across what I suspected had once been a parking lot. Weeds, trees, and other foliage had managed to break through the great slab of concrete, but the space was mostly open. Being so exposed, the temptation was to hurry, to push through as quickly as possible. But I knew how wrong that could go, so I kept my steps careful and my breathing under control.

It was a good thing, too, because about halfway through, I caught sight of one of the smaller wildling clowns hiding behind a rusted out hulk of a vehicle. It gave no indication that it knew I was there – my abilities had done their job, it seemed – but I was certain that it would quickly respond if it detected my presence.

As I continued to stalk across the disused parking lot, an echo of the panic I’d felt the night before lingered in my mind. It threatened to hasten my steps, which in turn, would cause a flicker in my abilities. If that happened, I knew I’d have to switch to my back-up plan, which would in turn create all sorts of problems for me.

Chief among those issues was the question of whether or not I could even survive an encounter with that wildling clown.

Maybe.

But even if managed to keep my wits – a big if, given its ability to terrorize anyone who heard its cackling laughter – I was experienced enough to recognize that it wasn’t just any wildling. In fact, it reminded me of one I’d encountered years before when I was on my way back to Nova City after visiting Biloxi. Back then, that creature had nearly killed me. It had taken every weapon in my arsenal to put it down, and even then, it had been a close thing.

And this clown, it was stronger. I’d felt it the night before.

But what really worried me was the fact that it displayed signs of intelligence. It had toyed with those E’rok Tan warriors, baiting them into a trap before killing them. Was it true intelligence? Or animal cunning? I wasn’t sure, and I really didn’t want to find out the hard way.

So, my trip across the crumbling parking lot took nearly half an hour. Without my inflated attributes, I never could have managed it.  I would have lost my balance. Or I would have become unfocused and made a mistake. Either would have cost me my life, as evidenced by the fact that I saw more than one small, misshapen wildling clown along the way.

But they didn’t see me, which I counted as a victory.

After completing my trek across the parking lot, I slipped beneath a turnstile and entered the park proper. Every subsequent step was an exercise in mental torture. The threat looming over me was unnatural. I knew myself well enough to recognize that, at least. Part of it came from my unsettling surroundings, but I’d traveled through plenty of ruins to know that the abandoned amusement park was only responsible for a small part of my anxiety. Instead, I focused on the subtle undercurrent of Mist hanging in the air.

The wildling clown had used an ability. Perhaps more than one.

Which shouldn’t have been possible without a Nexus Implant.

But then again, who was I to say what was and wasn’t possible? I had only seen a fraction of what my own world, much less what the rest of the universe had to offer. For all I knew, all wildlings would eventually learn to use abilities. Maybe they were like the Templars or other Mystics. Or perhaps some sick scientist like Edgar Russo had experimented on this particular batch of wildlings, giving them unnatural abilities.

I had no way of knowing.

And it didn’t really matter. Not to me, at least. And not at that moment.

In an effort to keep my mind from wandering, I refocused on the task at hand. I only moved a few inches at a time, so my pace was absolutely glacial. But I’d spent countless hours training my ability to maintain focus, so my mind never wavered as I slowly made my way through the abandoned amusement park.

I passed dozens of old booths. Their paint was chipped and much of the wood that had been used in their construction was rotten, giving me the impression that if I were to bump into one of the walls, they’d all come crumbling down. Inside were once-colorful stuffed animals, stained and decaying – but even so, it wasn’t difficult to imagine what the park once had been.

Hours passed as, inch by inch, I continued along. In addition to more of the small wildlings – most of which were asleep – I passed beneath the rusted bones of an old roller coaster. Once, it must have been an impressive feat of engineering. But now, it looked like it would fall before a strong gust of wind.

There were other rides. One that looked like an overturned top, with chains dangling from its underside, the carousel I’d seen from afar, and a few other, less identifiable structures surrounded me as I kept going.

Every now and then, I stopped and placed an explosive on the ground. Otherwise, though, I continued on without stopping to investigate my surroundings.

Thankfully, I didn’t see any sign of the wildling alpha. If I had, I might have lost my nerve. Not because I feared what it would do, but rather, because of the effects of that cackling laughter. During previous night’s encounter, I’d been more frightened than I’d ever been before, and I wasn’t eager to revisit that terror.

Eventually, night turned to morning, and I finally reached my destination.

In the center of the amusement park, a huge, plasti-steel wall loomed over everything. It was at least fifty feet tall, and I could feel the surging Mist of a shield encompassing its entire length. Atop the wall were the auto-turrets and cameras that had been described in the file I’d been given.

Curiously, I didn’t see any of the E’rok Tan warriors I expected to see.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter, though. If my plan worked, I’d see plenty.

For the next couple of hours, I continued to creep around the amusement park, planting explosives and searching for the perfect place to hole up. I needed somewhere close to the E’rok Tan compound, but still concealed. I found what I was looking for in an overturned replica of a pirate ship that some sort of creature had burrowed into. Whatever it had been, it was long gone, so I quickly set up shop within. I took a few moments to deploy my holographic display, which would hopefully work with my abilities to keep me concealed.

Once that was done, I took out a detonator and pressed the button that would ignite the charges I’d left scattered throughout the amusement park.

The results were…well, explosive.

In the space of a second, two dozen charges went off, one after the other. Then, a minute or so later, I detonated the second set. Then, a minute or two after that, a third set. Finally, I settled down to wait.

The idea behind my plan was simple. The explosions were meant to draw the E’rok Tan out of their base. I knew they wouldn’t all go to check out what sounded like a battle on their doorstep, but I hoped that they would send enough that it would create gaps in their defenses. Because I could deal with Mist shields, drones, and auto-turrets without drawing attention, but people were much more difficult.

Even if my plan didn’t work out exactly as I wanted it to, I had no doubts that it would function as both a distraction as well as a means to thin the proverbial herd by means of creepy clown wildlings.

Still, as I waited, I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious.

Soon, though, I heard the sound I’d both been waiting on as well as dreading. The wildling’s cackle seemed to drift across the entire amusement park. And a few seconds later, the sound of gunfire joined in.

I couldn’t be certain, but it sounded like at least a dozen weapons. Maybe more.

I detonated the final set of bombs, adding the sound of explosions to the mix. Hopefully, that would result in additional confusion.

Finally, after a few more minutes – during which the E’rok Tan waged war against the wildlings – I crept out of my hiding place and approached the wall. The Mist shield and the other defenses remained in place, but it only took a quick use of Misthack to temporarily power them down. Once they went idle, I climbed the wall and slipped over to the other side. As I hit the ground, I rolled to absorb some of the impact before coming to my feet, my assault rifle in hand.

But there was no one to fight.

Instead, I was confronted with a series of prefabricated plasti-steel buildings of a sort I’d seen many times before. For all that they came from a wide variety of civilizations, the alien invaders seemed to use much of the same infrastructure to construct their various bases. Each of the settlements I’d encountered also seemed to follow similar layouts, so it didn’t take me long to get my bearings.

Now that I was inside, I had three goals. First was to find whatever passed for a storage area and steal everything that wasn’t nailed down. My arsenal implant wasn’t huge – not like Patrick’s – but it would still hold a sizable amount of loot. And I intended to fill it to the brim.

Second, I needed to do the job I’d come to do and kill the E’rok Tan. To do so, I intended to set a series of bombs throughout the facility. After I detonated them, I would clean things up with my various firearms.

Normally, I would have used something like Time Bomb, but I was afraid that it would chain to the people I hoped to save. Strangely enough, bombs were the far safer option in that respect.

Which led me to my final goal: saving the people who’d been kept as livestock. I had a vague idea of where they were kept, but I needed to lay eyes on them before I could finalize my plans.

So, with those objectives in mind, I stalked through the compound, steadily placing bombs throughout. They looked similar to the charges I’d left outside, but they packed quite a bit more punch. I knew from experience that just one could bring down a building.

And I used way more than that.

As I planted my charges, the battle outside the walls reached a crescendo. The wildling’s cackle hung over everything, drowning out even the sound of gunfire.

Ideally, the E’rok Tan would finish it off while taking a bunch of casualties along the way. But I wasn’t sure if that was feasible. The thing was obviously powerful, and I suspected that it wouldn’t go down easily.

As I set the charges, I saw more than a few of the tusked, four-armed aliens. Each one carried at least one weapon, and they looked like they knew how to use them, too. Luckily, they weren’t the most perceptive bunch, and I managed to remain undetected as I set about accomplishing my goals.

Eventually, I found the storage facility which was a small, single-story building that was piled high with crates of low-quality Rift Shards. I took as much as my arsenal implant could carry. They really weren’t that valuable, but they would suffice to run the Leviathan, at least for a while.

I was just finishing up when the door to the storage building slid open to reveal a couple of the four-armed E’rok Tan. Both were carrying large, metallic crates that contained Rift Shards.

“Glad I wasn’t on duty,” remarked one. “That thing out there…”

“It doesn’t scare me,” said the other in a remarkably feminine voice. There were no physiological differences between the two – aside from minor features like tusk length or eye shape – but I got the impression she was female.

“Then you’re stupid,” said the first as he set the crate down. “That thing…wait, does this place look a little empty to you?”

The female shrugged. “Probably had a pickup,” she said. “I don’t –”

That’s when I struck, slicing through her neck with my nano-blade sword. She never even had an opportunity to react before her head tumbled to the ground. Without letting my momentum dissipate, I wheeled on the other tusked warrior and shoved my sword through his chin.

He was dead before I retracted my blade.

“Shit,” I muttered to myself.

I hadn’t intended to kill anyone before I set off the bombs, but I also wasn’t going to take any chances. The moment the male had started asking questions, their fate had been sealed. Perhaps they would never have known I was there, but I wasn’t willing to gamble on their lack of attentiveness.

After dismissing my blade, I dragged the pair of bodies into the corner and piled a few half-empty crates in front of them before throwing my holographic display down. It wasn’t ideal – after all, I didn’t want to leave my equipment behind – but I also had no interest in letting someone stumble across the bodies and raising the alarm.

Finally, I did what I could with the blood staining the floor.

None of it was perfect, but I could only hope that my subterfuge would last long enough for me to finish my mission.

By the time I left the storage area behind, the sounds of battle had died down.

Which meant the clock was ticking before I was discovered.

So, without any further hesitation, I continued on with what could arguably be considered my most important task.

When I extended my search below ground, I found the pens where the human livestock were confined. And even to this day, I wish I’d never bothered to look. Sure, I would have felt guilty, but at least I wouldn’t have nightmares.

For a long few moments, I just stared at them, unsure of what I was looking at. The figures were naked and so pale that I knew none of them had ever even seen the light of day. More, each one was so bulky and misshapen that they almost didn’t even look human. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognized what was going on. The aliens had used genetic modification, hormones, and a very particular diet to ensure that each human had grown to outsize proportions.

But there were side effects, chiefly that they were almost entirely sedentary – probably due to the fact that their joints couldn’t support their massive weight.

None of them wore clothes, and judging by their blank stares, they didn’t seem to care. Perhaps they didn’t even realize the value of modesty. Or maybe they couldn’t comprehend it. In that moment, I understood why they’d been categorized as cattle. There wasn’t even a trace of humanity or intelligence in their eyes.

The scene made me want to vomit.

But it also highlighted a problem. Even if I were to free these people, what was I going to do with them? I didn’t even think they could make it up the stairs to the surface, much less know what to do once they got there.

No – for now, I had to simply leave them where they were while I dealt with everything else. And if they didn’t make it long enough for me to call in Alistaris, perhaps it would be a mercy.

I left the cages behind, fully intending to come back. But in the back of my mind, I think I knew I would never lay eyes on them again. I didn’t want them dead, but I also didn’t want to be reminded of the horrors that threatened humanity.

But for a twist of fate, I could have been one of them. Just sitting in a cage, staring ahead with dead, lifeless eyes as I waited to be slaughtered and eaten by aliens.

I had always known that the universe was a cruel place, but the fact that such cruelty was allowed only served to cement that knowledge in place. And as I climbed the stairs back to the surface, I was beset by familiar anger, frustration, and, most of all, cynicism.

I pushed it all down.

Suddenly, I wasn’t so horrified by what the clown wildling had done to the E’rok Tan. In fact, it almost felt like justice.

Whatever the case, I pushed those feelings down as I set my mind to finishing my mission. To that end, the moment I found my way to a secluded corner of the compound, I settled in to wait. And once I was certain that any survivors of the battle with the wildling clown had returned, I retrieved my detonator from my arsenal implant and pressed the button.

As each explosion went off, filling the air with plasti-steel debris, E’rok Tan body parts, and clouds of dust, I tried to feel satisfied. But it was just too impersonal. If I’d had my way, I would have cut each and every one of them to pieces.

But that just wasn’t possible.

In the end, I destroyed the whole compound without ever firing a shot. There were survivors, but they were so injured that, when I finally lopped their heads off, it could have almost been seen as mercy.

Finally, I opened a line of communication with Alistaris and said, “It’s done. Come pick up the surviving…humans.”

“Affirmative,” was his only answer.

“And Alistaris – I don’t want to know what you do with them,” I said. “Just…just do whatever you think is most humane.”

With a sigh, I turned and trekked across the rubble-strewn compound, intent on finishing things off.

The wildling clown might have been fighting a fight I could get behind, but it was still a dangerous monster I couldn’t let live. If something like that made it into a populated area, the results would be disastrous.

So, I once again embraced my various concealment abilities and set about hunting it down.