One of the fighters kicked back their opponent with inhuman force and slashed with their swords with inconceivable speeds. Such speed wouldn’t have been a surprise in the previous world David had been to but here in a world with apparently no magic it was a unique sight.
It wasn’t hard to connect the dots, with zombies rampant and mutated monsters on the loose it was only normal that ordinary humans also have some superhuman abilities. Whether they obtained these abilities through the virus that created the zombies or some other means was unknown but David was set to find out.
If he played his cards right, David could gain an easy power-up. David chose not to interfere with the fight and instead sat back and watched the results. From the looks of it, the ‘good’ guys were fighting against bandits.
‘Post-apocalyptic barbarian costume equals bandit obviously…’
The fight was going well until one of the bandits pulled out a gun and shot the arm of the sword wielding man. The man didn’t go down and held his ground but David could tell that the fight was tipping in favour of the bandits.
Coarse moans came from other streets as the straggler zombies here and there slowly but steadily made their way to the fight. In a chain reaction the some other fighters also pulled guns out and tried to finish the fight quickly,
‘Maybe I should make an entrance now.’
It was risky but David slowly crept behind the bandits and decimated them from the back with open use of the [Eldritch arm] in the possessed state. The arm was transfigured in the form of a rough leather gauntlet to prevent suspicion.
The [Eldritch arm]’s minor shapeshifting abilities had improved enough to pull this image off and David could use its strength without others being wary of its monstrous appearance.
The bandits quickly fell with David and the ‘good’ guy’s pincer-attacks. When the last of the bandits fell, the remaining group was still battle-ready being weary of the newcomer. David put up his arms in a friendly manner and smiled,
“Don’t shoot friends, I thought you could use some help that’s all. I’m a survivor from the city and was escaping when I saw you guys fighting.”
It was the sword-wielder who responded,
“A survivor from the city? You must be one lucky fellow if you managed to make it this far…”
The rest of group dropped their weapons on the man’s command. The man whose name was Arron was an ex-military commander and he and bunch of other soldiers took refuge in a bunker away from the city.
David explained that he was a survivor who managed to bunker down in the basement of his house till he eventually ran out of food and had to venture out. The people were quite surprisingly friendly to him and when he asked if he could join them they took some to discuss among themselves and agreed.
With his enhanced senses David through [Spirit Channelling] David managed to hear tidbits of their conversation,
“…Definitely an enhanced…could use…we need…”
After a while they agreed to take David back to their base. The men called themselves the Rockeagle legion after their previous military battalion’s name. The Rockeagle’s base was a huge bunker built to the west of the city Z. They made their way the base using military grade trucks.
David learned that it had been a two months since the apocalypse though the threat of the apocalypse itself had been known to mankind for over two years. The [L-strain] was originally a virus that was viewed as a revolutionary product.
The [L-strain] granted ordinary humans extraordinary powers from enhanced strength to even telepathic abilities. Unfortunately somewhere down the line the virus had mutated resulting in the creation of the zombies. The mutated [L1-strain] created zombies and other monstrosities.
Humans immune to the [L1-strain] developed powers whereas the others transformed into zombies. It was then discovered that even the original [L-strain] users were not immune to the [L1-strain].
The combination of the [L-strain] enhanced with the mutated [L1-strain] resulted in horrifying monsters similar to the monsters that chased David when he first entered the mission world.
There was more to it than the simple explanation of ‘mutation’ but the soldiers didn’t explain and David didn’t bother asking, he was only here for three months. Hopefully he could bunker down at their base and spend the three months in peace,
‘It can’t be that easy.’
The Rockeagle’s base was a heavily fortified mobile base. This world’s technology was quite advanced it seemed as the entire base could move using a combination of wheels, giant robotic limbs and jets. It made one wonder how the entire base was powered.
Arron’s team was a scout party and they were scavenging loot and gathering data from the city when they were ambushed by the bandits. As an enhanced individual Arron was more than capable of handling them but the firearms were a surprise.
Guns were typically an emergency measure since a single gunshot could attract hordes of zombies or worse mutant beasts. Cold weapons such as blades and maces were preferred, enhanced like Arron could deal lethal damage with cold weapons.
The group was still wary of David and were alert, something to do with their assumption that he too was one of the ‘enhanced’.
They made their way to a command room to meet with the boss of the base. The boss would decide if David would become a part of their retinue or not, and David hoped they would accept. It would be much tougher otherwise.
A tall woman with a stern face came in to view. The boss of the base was a black haired woman with a scar running over her eyes. She was dressed in military camo and combat boots and resting by her side was a rather sizeable hammer.
“This is the man Arron? Doesn’t look like much.”
The woman eyed him up and down,
“There can never be too many enhanced but if you do anything out line I will cut you down myself.”
Commander Larson then proceeded to explain the workings of the base. David for now would be a part of Arron’s team and will scout with them for the foreseeable future. No doubt Arron would monitor him and take action against David if necessary.
The base was in dire need of resources, and the only way to acquire those resources was by scavenging Z city. David would be addressed later on the specifics of his missions. Larson was quick to dismiss him, but judging by the way he was treated by the others David no doubt realized the value of being one of the ‘enhanced’.
She instructed him to report to her next morning and commanded one of the men nearby to take David to his new room.
Everyone in the base seemed to already know who he was, David could hear their whispers as he passed by them, ignoring their words David focussed on the slim man in front of him who explained the various locations as they passed by them on their way to David’s new living quarters.
His name was Robert and he was the tech guy and as well as an assistant of sorts to Larson.
“That there is the R&D Lab. The head scientist is an enhanced like yourself. She experiments everyday with mutated [L1-strain] in hopes of finding a vaccine.”
Doctor E, was an enhanced with unknown abilities who was in charge of the R&D department. Her enhanced status made her immune to the virus so she could come in contact with virus and experiment with no risks.
There were five enhanced in total including David in the Rockeagles. Larson was the leader and Arron and Doctor E reported to her whereas the fourth Enhanced was James, a former businessman with political connections. His allegiance was to the remnants of the government.
Robert was trying his best to paint James in a bad light but David couldn’t be bothered with factions and politics. As far as he was concerned he would stay neutral as possible and dip out after three months.
His room was small but it had its own bathroom which was a ‘luxury’ judging by Robert’s enthusiasm. Robert showed him how everything worked and explained meal times before leaving David to his own devices.
‘I wonder if I could get my hands on the [L-strain].’
The original virus the [L-strain] was said to give people abilities. The mutated [L1-strain] on the other hand would only give those immune to it abilities and make the rest zombies.
It was too risky in the end as David was unsure if even the original [L-strain] would be effective, for all he knew maybe it could also turn people into zombies. The [L1-strain] also required luck so for now he decided to not make contact with both strains, until he had all the facts.
David made his [Spirit Animal] keep watch while he took a nap. The others couldn’t see the little monkey so he was the perfect guard to watch his back. David closed his eyes as he thought of how the mission would play out.
Thanks for the chapter ?, not to big of a info dump
Thank you boss
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the chappy
TFTC!
Gotta have a zombie world. It's only tradition. You could have a little more interaction between all the characters though. Some descriptions and first impressions would help fill out the chapter