NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Dose of Reality.
Chapter 8: Dose of Reality.
“Okay Sully, calm down. Positive thoughts. Positive (Centipede)ing thoughts. That guy doesn’t count. Next guy I meet will be the one.”
Yes, indeed.
I couldn’t let myself dwell on past failures.
No sir.
Its good to learn from one’s mistakes but it won’t do to keep them festering. That’s how people get nervous breakdowns.
Naturally, there was still the very real possibility that Bunny Man could track me down using his Shifter powers depending on what their Type got on their screens, but I preferred to ignore that inconvenient truth.
Opening that can of worms would leave me paralyzed in some corner, unable to help anyone.
Besides, I had other issues to contend with at the moment.
Specifically, the issue of sustenance.
I’d gone through hard times before, when my family was displaced after a rift opened down the block, but never to the point where I missed more than one or two meals.
The new experience was, not pleasant.
My stomach kept grumbling in protest, adding itself to the list of body parts rebelling against me. The sounds it made were worrying, though not as much as the fatigue that accompanied them.
Old memories began to surface once more, of seminars warning my highschooler self about the dangers of eating disorders.
“Yeah. I remember now. It was tiredness, dizziness, and a slower natural healing rate.”
Another rumble echoed out and my eyes went to my wounded hand.
“Right. Have to make sure its clean. I’ll scrub it at the next watering hole.”
As I hunted, my pace became slower.
My two legs simply refused to move at the same rate as before.
Each corner and dead-end started to grow on me, presenting themselves as lovely little alcoves for me to sit in.
Maybe even rest my eyes for a bit.
The possibility of finding lethal traps every few steps certainly wasn’t helping.
Although, it must be said that I only triggered three of them so far and I managed to get out thanks to my nifty ninja trick, since all they did was call down a buttload of monsters.
The first time I gave in to temptation, I awoke just in time to find a rabbit-looking thing entering my illusions.
A well-timed bolt shattered its skull open mid-leap and two horns flew backwards as their previous lodging gave way.
As they struck the floor, sparks of electricity crackled and the smell of cooked flesh permeated in the air.
The rest of the carcass promptly went up in flames, filling the dreary stale atmosphere with smoke.
The second time, I had the good sense to at least lock myself behind a metal door.
Still, I was out for another hour and awoke to a digestive system in open revolt.
All the nerve endings in that area were screaming.
Threatening that I better put something in my mouth or else.
Curiously, I could also feel my power with more… clarity, I guess.
It was as if I’d been watching a low-resolution video this whole time, only to be exposed to the best monitor money could buy.
Moreover, all the motes of light were easier to control.
They bent and weaved themselves more sharply, reacting to my own wishes within nanoseconds of me deciding what to do.
I could tell where each strand began and where it ended, to the point where small damaged sections were noticeable for the first time.
The difference was as outstanding as it was worrying.
‘Am I really this good all of the sudden? Or is this all in my head? Is the hunger playing tricks on me? It’s only been most of a day. I read somewhere the human body can go a month without food. It’s been rough, but it hasn’t been that long.’
Over the following hours of rescuing people and practising with the wisps, that particular notion kept nagging at me.
That was, until I realized my mistake.
This whole time, I hadn’t been conserving energy like stranded people were supposed to do.
I’d been moving almost constantly and I’d been expending resources tweaking and tempering my Psy usage.
In other words, I was pushing my body way past its usual limits while providing nothing to fuel it.
As I dwelled on my own folly, my eyes wandered over to two different places.
One was right in front of me, on the floor.
There sat the remains of what might have been a giant monstrous gecko, armored in obsidian scales and sporting 10 legs instead of four.
The brain was no longer contained as I’d recently used it for target practice. Dark red juices coalesced on the floor in a sticky puddle.
“I mean. I can’t really skin it. Don’t got anything for fire either. I guess I could try a bit of raw…”
I stopped that train of thought before it got too far. Merely thinking about eating a monster had me on the verge of hurling.
The other choice presented to me was little more reasonable, though not my much.
The glowing mushrooms were all over the place, in almost every wall and ceiling. The light green kind were the most common, but others were purple with white spots, red with white spots, brown with tall stalks and blue with green and purple sections along the body. Any of these could be edible or poisonous.
“The question is, do I want to risk it yet?”
The answer, it turns out, was no.
Terrible as the hunger was, the prospect of a slow clumsy death from wild mutant fungi was worse.
Better to keep pushing myself forward and get as strong as possible. The system mentioned a store, so there was still that avenue to pursue.
“But first I need a team. Someone to watch my back. Anyone will do.”
As it happened, there was someone else nearby and they didn’t give me the impression of a deranged maniac. Grunting with effort, I made my way to them, making sure to ask some pertinent questions before coming to view.
‘Hello there. Are you or are you not a serial-killer?’
Okay, maybe head trauma and a potentially-infected hand had blunted my social skills somewhat.
It sounded better in my head.
‘Who is this!? Show yourself!’
‘Gladly! I just want to make sure you aren’t in a serial-killery sort of mood. Just a precaution to avoid embarrassing mishaps.’
The presence vanished from my map and fog for the briefest of instants. Then they reappeared behind me. At the same time, I felt a small nudge by a hollow pair of metallic cylinders touching my back.
“Try anything and your insides will become your outsides faster than you can blink.”
‘Right. She managed to find me immediately. All without me realizing what she meant to do. Freaking teleporters. Freaking Projectors in general.’
I made a mental note to explore other ways of using [Message] and [Sense Thoughts] alongside the other abilities. Get caught once, shame on me, get caught twice and it might prove fatal.
“No need for that ma’am. I was trying to help.” I answered, trying very hard not to whimper.
“Good, then you won’t mind turning around and explaining what’s going on here.”
“I’ll be more than happy to turn around. As for the whole explanation bit, well, my money’s on perverted Projector with a penchant for teleportation right now. Probably has access to augmented reality contact lenses or cranial implants as well as copious amounts of money and secret Type-granting technology. We could also be trapped in the clutches of some interdimensional being, but that’s a bit more unlikely.”
“Speak like a regular person.” Came the order. “Slowly and carefully. Tell me who’s behind this and don’t try anything funny. The gnomes already stabbed me once and they already paid the price. Don’t think for a moment that I’ll hesitate.”
“Gnomes?”
“Shut it. Tell. Me. What. You. Know.”
Each word was accompanied by an annoying jabbing of the shotgun. A small gesture to illustrate how messy things will be if I declined her request.
“Lady, if I knew that I wouldn’t be so stressed about everything. I don’t know. Besides, I’m unarmed and while I haven’t seen any gnomes, I can tell you right now there’s worse out there. If you happen to run across a man in a bunny costume, make sure you…”
“Shut up. Stop stalling.” The order was accompanied by the barrel pressing harder against me. “Tell me where we are.”
“Also don’t know.” The barrel dug deeper into my pajamas. “But I do know some things. You can ask the system for more information and it’ll show you more data on the screen.”
She then proceeded to follow my instructions and to ask the same questions I had.
The system answered her as it did me, and her fury grew with each query. Towards the end, the shotgun was back at her side and her curses made it clear that her mood had not improved.
“Who would do this? Why go to all this trouble with the apocalypse going on outside?”
“Wow, I know the rifts are really bad in some countries, but apocalypse is a bit of an overstatement. Everything is fine and I’m sure some government agency has caught on to all the missing people. We just need to get stronger and save as many as we can while we wait for rescue.”
“Rifts? What are rifts? The zombies man! I’m talking about the undead freaking apocalypse! If whoever did this can give out superpowers then they need to start doing it at an industrial freaking scale.”
My eyes scanned the woman up and down, taking in her aged ebony skin and her frizzy hair. Then they went to her clothing, well-worn and tattered in places. Then they went to the shotgun and the stained bandages on her hands.
At the same time, my fog searched her mind.
‘I need to get back to Kenny. Back to my family. I can’t stay here. I can’t die here. My babies need me. I need to leave. I need to get out. I need to get out. I need to get out. They’re probably scared and crying and Kenny doesn’t know where I am. I need to get out.’
Jeez. That’s heavy.
There was no trace of deception within her as far as I could tell. Gulping, I prepared for the last test.
“On the Instance screen, what does it say after the time?” I asked as causally as I dared.
“Earth – TLTL 2012.” She said disinterestedly. Her eyebrows rose then and she stared in my direction.
“There’s something different on yours. What is it?”
“TRKG-2004”
“Its not my world.”
“Ah no. At least, I don’t think so right now. I’m holding on to a ‘trust but verify’ strategy at the moment. But I see an easy way to tell if we’re really in as much trouble as I think we might be in.”
“Zombies. My state is full of slobbering zombies. They all followed the refugees from the east coast and flooded Denver. Everyone’s either dead or up in the mountain towns. We haven’t heard from the government in months. Do you know anything about that?”
“Eh no. I’m afraid I don’t. What did your world’s superheroes do?”
“There’s no such thing as superheroes.” The woman said. “Until today, I guess.”
“Right. So, interdimensional kidnapper it is. No problem. I’m sure whatever is in store for us, we can tackle it together.”
The shotgun came back up.
“Hand over all your food and water.”
‘Oh, you have got be kidding me.’
Now, I could have opened fire. [Mental Bolt] was definitely faster than a bullet and it was undetectable to boot. Painting the nearby walls with the squishy parts of her cranium would have been easy. Very easy.
But Steve had thought using [Fever] on me would have been easy too.
Even if I ignored that, diplomacy wasn’t completely out of the question yet.
“Lady, look at me. Where would I be hiding any…”
The punch knocked me off my feet.
My head swam and my weakened frame couldn’t move fast enough to break my fall. I got a few new bruises and felt on of my ankles twisting.
I screamed in surprise as well as agony. My new acquaintance was not bothered in the least.
Her hand searched the pockets of my pajamas and more curses came forth.
“Do not follow me. I can’t afford to take care of burdens.”
“Whatever you say lady.” I wheezed out through the pain.
I could have summoned a bolt then. I could have sniped her head clean open. I could have made her brain splatter all around the tunnel like an overripe melon cracking open on the floor.
I wanted to do it too. At that moment, the mixture of terror and indignation brought forward by the mugging was stronger than I could bear.
How dare she. How dare someone be this (Centipede)ing stupid. To attack other people when there were literal waking nightmares running amok.
That wouldn’t have helped though.
I would have ended up dead. Like Steve.
Even is that wasn’t the case, one more person hunting the monsters meant less monsters to harass the entire group. Besides, the idea of taking a life….
The bolt had come together easily enough. The will behind it saw a human being. My conscience wouldn’t allow it. That would make me no better than the Tall Man. I was willing to do a lot of things to survive, but not that.
Never that.
So, I swallowed my hurt and moved on to new pastures.
Getting up was hard. Staying upright was harder.
My ankle throbbed with every hobbled step now, flaring in protest and demanding rest.
“I can’t. I don’t have food. I’m thirsty again. I can’t slow down. I have to keep moving. Remember the mantra. Happy thoughts. Positive thoughts. I’ll make it through this. I always do.”
Feeling the words leaving without my full consent was new. Part of me wasn’t even aware of what they would be before they manifested.
I was oddly, lucid. In the sense that I expected more confusion than this. I’d expected malnutrition to take more of a toll. I’d expected the punch to leave me, more hurt. Incapable of acting.
That did not happen. I felt, extra aware of what had happened. More in control.
My fog billowed outwards, the tendrils of ethereal smoke dancing away from the lighthouse at the epicenter. Away from me.
“I have to keep saving people. That’s what Thunder Fist would have done. That’s what heroes do. What I should do. I’m still me. Even after becoming a Telepath. I’m still me. I can’t fail. Not here. I can’t. I can’t…”
The words were meaningless now. A mantra serving to keep me in line, even as time slipped through my fingers. I can’t recall how I got back to the sealed room. I can’t recall closing the door behind me.
Shadows seemed to leer at me every time I turned a corner. There were faces in the nooks and crannies. They belonged to everyone and no one. Perfect strangers, side by side with my room mates. Henry was there, as were Vince and Luigi. We were all stupid drunk, stumbling through the town because Lu, being the empty-headed lad that he was, had overshot the expected pre-drinking requirement. Hard to sympathise with bouncers, but puke-stained jeans proved that they were very much in the right.
I smiled like a moron, thinking of the good times. I imagined what they’d say if they were here with me. No doubt Vince would be quipping awful one-liners at the expense of all our detractors while Luigi huffed and puffed himself into a rant. Henry would smile and laugh and then we’d all be smiling and laughing.
‘Yeah. That’s what a hero should be like.’
My body slumped down against my will, leaning on the nearest smooth wall.
‘Why can’t I be like that? What am I doing wrong? I’m trying so hard. I’ve been trying so hard this whole time. Why won’t anyone listen?’
My eyes closed and relief flooded in.