Warbreaker's Risk: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure (The Connected System Book 2), page 58
The Wendigo, spurred on by the voice of The Hunger, took two long steps, standing over the cat as it struggled to get up. Long fingers came down, piercing through the cat’s thick hide. The cat roared in pain as the fingers pushed through its insides. Through muscle, bones, and organs.
Bending the fingers, the Wendigo lifted the cat up. The head leaned closer, bright red eyes staring at the dying creature. Its mouth opened wide, and the Wendigo took another bite.
The Hunger spoke to it, telling it to move. There were more cats around. It had to feed more before it could take on the whole pack.
Move north and then turn east.
There were humans in that direction. A lot of them.
So many to feed on.
Taking another bite out of the still-alive cat’s side, the Wendigo followed the command of The Hunger.
Drew crouched lower, fearing the bushes weren’t enough cover. He hated being there. Every cry and scream pulled at him. He wanted to break cover and run out into the camp. He wanted to help, fight, and save the people.
He knew he’d die.
Just like everyone else.
But he couldn’t.
He’d been told not to.
Someone had to get out, escape and survive. Someone had to warn any other people still alive out there.
That someone was him.
Andrew Meyers, one of only a handful in the camp of two hundred that had a Class. His just happened to be the highest at Level Eight. He had the best survivability of anyone.
Which is why Frank had ordered him to run.
His Class was Rare, nothing that special. It was a special kind of front-line fighter. He could deal a lot of damage but wasn’t meant to take hits, at least not that many, but it was still a tanking Class. Tank was a term he knew from the limited gaming he’d done.
Blitzguard.
He avoided attacks and somehow generated offensive power based on the aggression against him. The enemy had to want to attack him. Drew would keep avoiding and charging his power, making small attacks that would build up over time to become stronger.
It was an odd Class, but he’d made it work so far.
And it was another reason Frank had made him go.
It was a Class that wouldn’t have done well against what had attacked the camp. He couldn’t dodge a fist the size of a boulder.
Giants
Eight of them.
Easily twelve to fifteen feet tall. Human looking, just bigger. Much bigger. Wider, sturdier, and stronger. Monsters straight out of myths.
Even dressed the same. Leathers, hides, long and wild hair, and carrying tree trunk clubs.
His Evaluate said they were part of the Hillgrowl Clan.
He didn’t know what that meant.
The camp had been steadily growing since the Connection. Survivors had come in from not just Strafford but the other surrounding towns. They came with horror stories. Loved ones lost. Friends and neighbors gone or killed. Buildings disappeared, replaced by ponds or forests. Entire streets just gone as if they never existed. The same things Drew had lived through.
Horror stories of monsters straight out of myths. Mutated animals.
Drew had killed some of both.
He fought to survive, and once he’d made it to the camp, he’d fought to help others survive.
Things hadn’t been going great, or even good, but they were managing. Scavenging supplies and food from the nearby houses. Not that there were many close by.
Strafford had no town center. They’d all headed for the town hall, figuring that was a good place to gather. A central location in town everyone knew. The school wasn’t far. It wasn’t a large school, just K through eighth grade, but it could house a bunch of people. That had been the hope until they’d found it had disappeared. The houses in that area were spread out, making it difficult to raid.
And the nearest grocery store was miles away in Northwood.
It would have been twenty minutes by car, but now just seemed days away. A whole other country, not just the next town over.
Hungry, cold, and desperate.
But they were living.
Until only ten minutes ago.
Drew had been staying at his parents' place. Just graduated college, he’d come home to start the job search. The plan, hope, was to find something close enough to start where he could commute from his parents. Save up some money. Apartments were expensive. He was going to need to save up a lot of money.
His parents had gone away on vacation. They hadn’t really started their empty nest days, but with Drew’s college paid for, they had money left over to travel. So they did. He didn’t blame them for wanting to.
Now he just wished he could call them.
Were they even still alive?
The ground shook as a huge foot slammed down. Another kicked out, ripping through tents. The giant growled, shaking its massive foot. The canvas tent had gotten tangled, the lines with stakes waving in the air.
Drew had been sleeping when the attack came.
He’d pulled the night shift for guard duty. That wasn’t something he normally did. Frank typically had Drew running scavenging raids. Protecting the other people from monsters, really. He’d requested the night shift. One of his friends, Ricky, hadn’t been feeling good, so Drew took his place.
He’d gotten off duty and promptly fell asleep in his tent.
Until the ground started shaking.
People were running out of tents, the town hall, and the neighboring houses on either side. Everyone was confused, not panicking. Not yet. The last weeks had toughened everyone up. They had to in order to survive.
Drew held his sword in hand. He’d looted it from a monster called a hob only a couple of days after the Connection. It hadn’t been his first monster kill. The weapon wasn’t anything special. Just a steel sword. Its edge was sharp, which is all that mattered. He was better with his hands, a benefit of his Class, but just holding the sword made him feel better. And his life had been saved by the couple of feet that a sword blade gave him.
The tremors were strange. Not an earthquake. There was more than one, and they weren’t in sync. It made walking hard.
He didn’t know who the first to spot the monsters was.
Someone screamed, and others started pointing.
Drew could see them walking across the grass field that had been the school. They tore up tents and grabbed people. Drew couldn’t see what they did to the ones they grabbed. He was grateful for that.
The giants spread out, destroying the tent camp.
Drew’s tent was further up the hill, closer to the town hall.
Some people tried to fight the giants.
Tried being the right word.
The giants were just too strong, and the human survivors too weak.
Frank had recognized that immediately.
He’d spotted Drew and gave the order that would haunt Drew’s dreams forever.
“Drew, get out of here. Grab as many as you can. Get to Northwood or Barrington. Warn them.”
He’d wanted to protest, but one look at Frank told him not to bother.
He ducked into his tent and grabbed his few belongings. A backpack, some more clothes, some food, and other camping supplies. No time to take the tent or sleeping bag.
The first problem he’d encountered was cutting through the panic to get people’s attention. It was hard to get them to pay attention enough to start grabbing supplies. The giants were coming in from the sides, Drew was almost in the middle to the north, the one side the giants weren’t coming from. That gave them some time.
People were running and screaming. A couple of the Classers were trying to get some organized defense going.
And some ineffective offense.
“Hey,” Graham had yelled, his voice naturally loud. It was the type of voice people automatically listened to.
It caught the attention of a couple of dozen around. Drew started issuing orders. Everyone in camp knew him, they knew his strength. They knew he was trusted by Frank.
They listened.
It took way too long in Drew’s opinion, but it couldn’t be helped.
Once they were mobilized, it was time to get out of the camp. They could collect more as they went. No doubt others had the same idea.
The second problem he’d encountered was getting away from the camp.
Giants were on all sides except north, and that wasn’t the direction they wanted to do. There were a lot of woods between their current location and anywhere more people would be. Miles and miles. They could head for Blue Job, stay at the mountain that was more like a large hill, and regroup. But that wouldn’t get them any closer to any kind of civilization.
Northwood and Barrington were good choices. From where they were in Strafford, Northwood would be closer, but Barrington was bigger and had more stores to raid. There would probably be more survivors.
Closer or more people?
He chose closer.
Drew pushed the people east. They grabbed others as they ran. Along with Graham, a few other Classers joined them. Gary, Diana, Steve, and maybe more. Drew lost count, not paying attention, just focusing on getting out of the chaotic camp.
Most of the run was a blur. He kept the people moving. Rushing with the others holding the line. Smoke, fires, and screams. It all drowned out. The roaring of the giants. None of it mattered. Drew saw the woods. The thick trees represented safety.
A place the giants couldn’t follow.
They made it.
Three dozen people. Men, women, children. And eight Classers.
They would gather in a clearing only a quarter mile from the camp—a place the hunting parties had found.
Drew had lingered behind, watching the giants destroy the camp, killing anyone they found. The supplies were stomped or crushed. The food was destroyed. Nothing was taken.
And there was the strange person wandering the wreckage. He seemed to be with the giants but wasn’t one. Only eight feet tall, very skinny. White-skinned with long hair. Bright red eyes.
Eyes that turned to look in Drew’s direction.
He backed up, away from the tree line. Drew would have sworn that the person had been staring directly at him. He retreated to the clearing, joining the others.
“Not that many,” Diana said, holding back the tears.
Most weren’t.
But at least they were being quiet.
“Hopefully, more made it into the woods. They’ll start to make their way south. Maybe we’ll pick them up as we go,” he said, knowing it wasn’t likely.
He looked the group over. They barely had any supplies. Most had just run, not grabbing anything. He adjusted the straps on his back, glad he’d managed to get something. There were a couple of kids huddled with their parents, no pack or bag visible. He knew he’d be sleeping without a blanket.
“I know they’re tired and in shock, but we need to get moving,” he told Diana.
She nodded, moving off, talking to people, trying to get them going.
“Graham,” he called out. “Take point. Due south into Northwood.”
The other man waved in acknowledgment.
“We need to keep everyone together,” he said, to whoever was listening, surprised they were listening to him.
He was only twenty-four. There were people here a lot older. The only thing he had going for him was his high Level. It made him strong, but it didn’t make him a leader.
These people were looking at him like he was a leader.
Drew didn’t want the responsibility, but he had no choice.
“Let’s move,” he said.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
“How’s it going?” Loch asked Kristin.
She sat at a small desk to the side of the main doors into the school, at the base of the steps leading to the office. They’d taken it from one of the upstairs classrooms. All the furniture was being stacked outside to form makeshift walls, but they’d kept a couple of the desks, which were now scattered around the large entrance lobby. Workstations. Only Kristin’s was full.
A short woman, mid-thirties, with long blonde hair. She’d been an Administrative Assistant before the Connection. Once Julia’s census had found her, she’d been recruited to help complete it and then promoted to her new position.
Loch wasn’t sure it was a promotion.
She was still an Admin Assistant but was now one to Ed Turner and himself.
There were notebooks and random papers covering her desk, along with a couple of pencils. A binder sat at the edge, the thickest they could find, filled with lined paper that had been three-hole punched. That was the census, a listing of every person currently staying at the school, along with their relevant skills and lots of other information.
Having her was an idea of Ed’s, recognizing the need for someone to organize everything having to do with their growing community. She had a record of the food and how it was to be distributed. Kristin also knew who was staying in which of the many classrooms. They had tried to keep it so a family got a classroom to themselves, but there were too many people.
Among the many projects that had been started, a team of workers were installing partitions to make the large classrooms into smaller rooms to give people more privacy.
Another of Kristin’s roles was to keep track of all those projects. Luckily, she had people helping her. They were who the other desks were for.
Loch didn’t know where they were and didn’t care, assuming they were doing their jobs. All of them had pledged themselves to Clan Brady.
“Good, Lord Lochlan,” Kristin said.
Loch grimaced. He’d tried to get her, and others, to stop with the Lord, but it was hopeless. Cerie called him that, and they had started to adopt it. Especially once they’d joined the Clan. He was the leader of the Clan, and until he gave himself an official title, they would use Lord.
He hated it.
“Jeff and a group of hunters left this morning. Heading to the woods to the north to look for game. Thomas and a couple others with gardening and farming backgrounds are checking the soil conditions of the ball fields across the street.”
Loch knew they wouldn’t be able to grow crops before winter. The food situation wasn’t dire yet, but it would be soon, and that was before they started stocking for the winter. An unforeseen benefit, although it should have been thought of, about moving to the schools as finding its supply of food.
He knew the high school, along with the now disappeared middle school, had been part of a program that brought fresh food to the schools almost daily. There hadn’t been a large stock of that, and what they found had already turned bad. As had the frozen food, dairy, and other things kept in the refrigerator. That had been a disappointment, but finding a lot of canned food and dry goods had not been a disappointment.
Ed quickly had some of Darren’s guards confiscate it all. Some of the people had been eyeing it hungrily. Loch assumed a small amount had already been pilfered. A granola bar or two, nothing that would be noticeable. He knew he should probably have someone search the survivors to find the food, but he just couldn’t.
They were all hungry and would get hungrier still.
One of Kristin’s team was cataloging the food they’d found.
More people had been sent out to scavenge the nearby houses and buildings. They were to get all the canned and dried goods, camping supplies, non-power tools, clothes, blankets, and anything else that would be useful.
Or could be turned into weapons.
Outside there was a steady stream of wagons and wheelbarrows back and forth from the school to the closest houses. With the now permanent move to the school, the scavengers could make multiple trips.
An emphasis had been put on winter gear too. Jackets, hats, gloves, snowshoes, or cross-country skis. Winter was coming, and they had to be prepared.
Darren’s guards, the few there were, kept a watchful eye over all of it, except the hunters in the woods. The scavenging was kept to the nearby houses for now. Further out would need to be cleared of monsters or guards accompanying the scavengers. There just weren’t enough people that seemed to have the relevant skills or ability to Advance along that path. They needed more guards.
The test Loch had done with the swords was repeated. Anyone that seemed to have an aptitude or feeling that they could, with a weapon, was added to the guard roster. Darren had spent most of the last days in his new office, going over the list of guards, which ones had Levels, working out the watch rotation, and figuring out how to start a training program.
He sat up ranks, asking Loch’s input, which Loch had refused to give. Darren knew the people he’d worked with better than Loch. He could assign the ranks as he saw fit. If he needed Loch to give some authority, he would, but that was it.
It was that way with everyone. Loch didn’t want to micromanage, didn’t want to manage at all. He had no problem being the high-Level Clanlord that was the muscle when needed. He’d leave the day-to-day stuff to everyone else.
“Okay,” Loch said, figuring he’d done enough leading for the day, and it was just mid-morning. “Sounds good.”
He walked out the doors, stopping at the top of the stairs. Two guards, with swords in makeshift scabbards, stood on either side. They gave a couple of rough salutes. Loch returned it, wondering if they should come up with something of their own. It just felt odd using the American salute and not being in the service.
Was there even a military anymore? Had the government in Washington survived? There were no phones or internet, if someone had managed to keep the government intact, it would be a very long time before any news reached New Hampshire.
Loch walked down the steps, heading down the ruined asphalt drive. Some people had already started clearing it up, removing the largest chunks to add to the makeshift wall along the roads. It probably wasn’t necessary at this stage of the Clan’s growth, but it gave people something to do.
And right now, that was important.
Kristin, Thomas, and Jeff were going through the census, finding people that could be potential Crafters, Farmers, and Laborers. The one thing Loch had pushed on was making sure everyone in the growing Clan was kept busy.
