Chapitre 12: Ner, Ort And Hin(1)

"I guess both of us already know which route we are going to pick."

Once we finished eating, Vin and I stepped out of the Ballmart.

"Yeah, we have to avoid anyone who means harm." Vin replied with a dark look.

Moving out of the parking lot reminded me that an apocalypse was going on. The condition of the streets in front of me was pretty bad.

I saw numerous people moving on the streets. Some were crying for help while some assessed the damage caused in the previous days. Mostly, everyone feared the development that happened in the past day.

"Please remain calm! The government will help everyone in need!"

A policeman with a loudspeaker continued to shout this message after few intervals. Small crowd had gathered near the policeman, asking for help.

Such policemen were stationed all over the city and helped the affected people. Other than that, ambulances and fire fighters tried to save as many people as possible.

This was a good initiative taken by the people during times of crises. Unfortunately, you couldn't save everyone.

"Michael…"

Vin's gaze was fixated towards a dark alley where two mutilated were visible in plain sight. One corpse clearly belonged to a middle aged woman whereas the other one was of a boy, probably her son.

Charred bodies and the blood surrounding the bodies clearly indicated that humans were responsible for this.

I felt angry for a few seconds but it soon vanished. I was not some kind of hero and neither was I an evil person.

I held some morals but didn't really pick either of those sides.

"Vin, we cannot do anything about it, especially without our powers." I gently reminded Vin who clenched her fist tightly.

"I know. I am not trying to be a hero or something but if something like this happened in front of my eyes, I would have stopped it." Vin sighed.

"A thought is enough. You can do that in the future."

"Maybe…"

***

Hours passed like this.

It was quite a boring and anti-climatic journey. We already knew the route with the least amount of people on it and faced no problems while traveling.

You might be wondering, why was it taking so long to get to the city center?

For starters, me and Vin lived at the outskirts of the town which required us to travel a huge distance on foot to reach the city center.

On the other hand, the earthquakes had destroyed a lot of the land. Navigating through the rubble and destruction was not an easy task.

Not to mention that we avoided humans to prevent ourselves from facing unnecessary trouble.

"Night is approaching." I said while glancing towards the sky.

The sun was slowly setting and night was approaching. Currently, Vin and I were resting in a playground.

"Yeah, things are about to get serious. The free days are about to end in a few hours."

Vin removed the air gun around her waist and held it tightly. I took out one of two knives as well and tightly gripped them.

Words from the novel flowed inside my mind.

|| Numerous criminals and gangsters decided to camp up around the safe zones in order to capture weak unsuspecting humans.

Their goal was to have fun with them and kill them soon after midnight.

The guide to survive the apocalypse stated that killing any being would drop glens and in some cases, the person's skills and magical items. The guide never specified that you couldn't kill a person. ||

I only described the hiding locations around XYZ university since Ray was going to be there during the early portions of the novel.

But when it to the city center, I only wrote brief descriptions. I never mentioned any particular hiding spot or anything like that.

"Let's be careful."

"I agree."

Together, we proceeded ahead. Both of us were high on alert and looked around for potential danger.

The crowds we saw earlier disappeared long ago. With night time approaching, the chances of encountering someone in the open were less.

Street lights were not available either, hindering our visions. Traveling at such a time was dangerous to say the least.

To be fair, it was better than waiting for the monsters to appear. Though I was capable of defeating the low level monsters, their sheer number was enough to overwhelm me and Vin combined.

Turning on the flashlights I picked for such a situation, I kept my eyes on the surroundings.

"Vin, do you think—

"Stop right there. I have a feeling you are about to raise a flag." Vin cut me off.

Come on! I couldn't even ask a question without feeling like I was about to raise a flag. This was kind of stupid.

"Whatever." I murmured.

Another two hours passed by in this manner as we managed to cover approximately 75% of the distance. The real problems would emerge now.

|| The areas near the safe zones received the main impact of the earthquakes. This was done deliberately to destroy the nearby areas in order to create challenges for the people trying to approach the safe zones. ||

I cursed at myself for thinking of such an idea. Maybe I shouldn't have written all that.

Maybe I should…

*SWOOSH!*

Something flew past my ears with deadly accuracy. I turned my head just in time to see a dart bury itself in Vin's neck.

She opened her mouth to speak something yet her eyes rolled back in her head. I cursed immediately and tried to find the source where the arrow had come.

My flashlight only revealed the ruins of destroyed houses, shops and cracked roads. My eyes suddenly caught movement on the rooftop of one such house.

*SWOOSH!*

But before I could say or do anything, another dart came flying and hit my neck. I couldn't even curse as I felt my consciousness slowly slipping away.

I landed on my back somehow and heard a thumping sound. The laptop had hit the road and probably got some minor dents.

Sigh, my luck is trash.

That was the last thought inside my mind before I blanked out.

***

Chocolate ice cream. A dessert I loved with my entire being.

And Wacdonalds fries. Those crunchy fries sometimes with the perfect amount of salt one could ask for.

Wait, why was I thinking about food? Didn't I get ambushed by some dart throwing idiot?

My eyes opened slightly to reveal the ruins of a house. What might have been a luxurious living room once had been reduced to the ruins of decade old houses.

Crumbled walls, large holes in the ceiling, destruction of half the supporting pillars of the house and furniture buried under concrete depicted the condition of the house.

My body was currently tied to a half destroyed pillar with ropes. Slightly turning my head, I saw Vin and at least six other people tied beside me with the pillars.

"Do you think these many are enough? What if one of them has a powerful skill that could kill us after midnight?" a nervous voice questioned.

In the dim moonlight, I saw three males standing close to each other. They were standing a couple of meters away from where I was.

All three of them looked quite scrawny and had scars over their arms and faces. I didn't need to be detective to figure out that they were either criminals who worked independently or that they belonged to a gang.

"We could kill them immediately after midnight and get rewarded like the guide explained." One of them grinned.

"Yes, once we kill them, the resources should be enough to power us up. The guide did say that killing others dropped their skills. We just need their skills."

"I am not sure. The guide said that killing them might drop the skills…" The first nervous one muttered.

The trio was looking forward to killing everyone and getting rewarded for their kills.

I kept my expressions neutral while trying to assess the situation.

'How did they manage to knocked all of us out so easily?'

I was pretty sure sleeping darts were not that common or easy to obtain, even for criminals.

I needed some knowledge on the criminals. Though I didn't remember writing about them, the novel might be able to help me.

Immediately, a blue screen appeared in front of me.

===

Author's Skill is active

===

Huh?

Wasn't this skill a passive ability that helped me recall things written in the novel. Why did it get activated?

All of a sudden, a mechanical voice echoed inside my mind.

< Author's Skill wishes you to be quiet and listen to it. >

Great, a skill is talking to me. Maybe I am hallucinating.

There is no way a skill managed to say something to me. Skills were not alive, they weren't even objects to be fair.

< Author's Skill is offended >

The skill spoke again, in a slightly mechanical way similar to that of an AI. It was definitely a male AI.

< Author's skill confirm that it is a male. >

…

'I will listen to you…'

I don't know what I was expecting but much to my surprise, words started echoing inside my mind.

|| The nervous one of the trio called 'Ner', who was the youngest brother, had gained the ability to create sleeping darts.

The short guy called 'Ort', who was the middle brother, had obtained the ability to craft a dart shooter. The eldest of the trio, the thin guy named 'Hin' had the ability to create an aimbot in weapons.

Individually, their abilities weren't that useful but together they created a killer trio.||

< Author's Skill asks if you want to view the status of the trio brothers? >