A lot of people look at the various swords and spears of the medieval and renaissance era and think that they are all the same. They don’t realize how much weapons evolved to serve specific purposes. Weapons constantly changed based on what was necessary at the time.

 

The creature in front of David looked like an armadillo that had gotten much too large. The creature was the size of a bear and covered in heavy armor plates that turned the various blades on his poleaxe. It had sharp talons and kept lunging forward to try to claw at him and bite him with its vicious teeth.

 

He used the point of the spear on the end to drive its face away by targeting its eyes, and he calmly dodged the claws that swung at him. The shaft was also reinforced, allowing him to block the claws with it when it got too close. He was watching its shoulders and its movements carefully so he could see where it was going to attack from.

 

“You need to keep your weapon between you and the monster at all times, in your case, this will be a reactive shield,” David said as he parried a claw attack away from him.

 

David could already imagine the weapon that he wanted to build, it would be a shield that was enchanted. A reactive shield worked by blasting force back to the attacker through the surface of the shield using an explosion enchantment. It didn’t do a lot of damage but it produced a lot of force, this reduced the damage that the shield-bearer took if he could withstand the pressure the shield created.

 

“I got it,” Harry said dispiritedly.

 

His magic stone was of low quality, his mana reserves were poor, so he could only become a Martial Force user. This was because abilities were much cheaper to use than projecting spells outside of the body was. Most people with low mana reserves were forced down this path, but that wasn’t to say they were weaker than people with more mana.

 

David swung the ax blade on his poleaxe using a wide swing, this after he dodged a blow from the armadillo that left it open. He aimed the blade at its less armored joint at its shoulder and got the blade to sink into its flesh. He smiled for a moment before he found that he could not free the ax blade.

 

“Bladed weapons will always have the issue of getting stuck, Thrusting weapons also run into this issue sometimes,” David said. “ If it happens don’t panic, if you have a long weapon like this, you can use it as a lever and free it.”

 

David said this as he used the weight of the monster to pull the blade out of its flesh and bone, causing gore to spill out of the wound onto the ground. David then immediately backed away as the armadillo angrily lunged at him, and went back to using the spear point to drive it away from him again.

 

“If you had a one-handed weapon you would use your shield to help you pry the weapon loose. A quick bash can work wonders.” David said.

 

The monster was now starting to limp before it could attack though it was nailed by a burst of electricity that hit it in the chest. This caused the creature to begin to yell out loudly as it jerked around in place. David used this chance to spin his poleaxe and take a large swing using the hammer side, driving it into the side of the armadillo’s skull.

 

Crunch!

 

David whistled as blood and brain matter exploded out the side of the monster's head and splattered on the pine needle-covered ground. The creature slumped as it died to the blow of the hammer, its armored hide unable to save it from the impact. He took a few deep breaths to calm his breathing before he called Harry over and had him start absorbing the mana that was leaking from the corpse.

 

“Sometimes having a versatile weapon can make all the difference in a fight.” He concluded.

 

“Can this stuff be eaten?” Harry said with a skittish expression. 

 

“Of course,” David told him. “Why else would I have you drag that large sled of meat while we are making our way to this cul de sac?” 

 

“I thought it was some kind of training,” Harry said.

 

“No touching the corpse-like this is training, do you feel that burning in your body? I need to help you increase your mana before you can start tempering your body.” David explained. “Most people in the first layer are all forced to fight the same way, it isn’t until you reach the second layer that we will be able to vary things up more.”

 

Lena came over and used her knife to help Harry start carving pieces of meat off of the armadillo monster. A large sled had been discovered and was being used to drag a large amount of meat and it was being stored individually inside trash bags to keep it all clean. It was blue and shaped like a rectangle with a rounded front.

 

“I used to walk by here when I was going to High School,” Harry said sadly. 

 

They had cut through the country and were at the edge of the city of Ward. It had been several miles northeast of David’s family, in front of them were several houses around a street that terminated suddenly in a large round landing. All of them were of a decent size, and in various colors with 14 of the houses standing in total.

 

“Didn’t the Claussen's live over here?” David asked.

 

“No, not anymore. Randy sold the house and should be in Kansas.” Harry said as they approached the back of a large two-story beige building. 

 

The wooden fence was broken in several areas, and the backdoor was smashed down. A lot of the windows were also shattered, and the backyard was heavily overgrown. It was clear from a glance that the place had been abandoned since the apocalypse began.

 

“What are we looking for?” Harry asked.

 

“I want to find a vehicle, preferably a small van without windows anywhere but the front and sides,” David said.

 

“A cargo van? There were a few of them here but there weren't many of them.” Harry said.

 

David took point as they entered the house, he used his poleaxe as a spear and began leading the way through the back door. The house smelled moldy, and as they entered the kitchen, he could see that it had already been looted. He started looking for signs of how long ago the entry had been performed.

 

“At least two or three months ago, it was a group,” David muttered.

 

“How can you tell that?” They asked.

”There is oil inside of this lock, it would only dry out like this if it sat exposed for several months.” David said as he held up a piece of the lock. “That isn’t all though, they spilled something, it looks like canned beans.”

 

David pointed to an old and dried stain on the ground of the house, the cupboards and drawers had already been picked clean of anything useful. They couldn’t find anything of use in the kitchen except for old pots and pans. They soon moved on and started going into the bedrooms, but it was the same thing they had seen in the kitchen, the entire house had been cleaned out.

 

“This was quite an operation, this was done by a team. Harry, how far did you guys leave my parents' property to search for things?” David asked.

 

“This wasn’t us, we never made it into the city proper,” Harry said, some worry in his voice.

 

“The other houses are probably also going to be looted,” Lena said.

 

“That is what I am thinking, I bet they brought trucks and parked them right in the middle of the city,” David said.

 

The group had made it to the second floor, and they were looking at the other houses in the cul de sac through the window. The front doors were all smashed in, and they could see several cars had been moved to allow better access into the cul de sac. This also led David to make another speculation, that was because he noticed the gas flaps on the cars were all open.

 

“I bet they took the gas out of all of the vehicles they came across, this had to have been a large group,” David said as he looked around.

 

“There are also fewer monsters than I expected,” Lena said.

 

“We only ran into 3 including that armadillo,” David said. “It is much less than I expected.” 

 

The meat was a decent amount, enough to feed everyone for a day or two, but this wasn’t enough to send the message that he wanted to send to the survivors. He wanted the people to see hope when they saw what he was able to bring back. With food and ammo being in short supply, he was trying to take an active role in presenting a solution to the survivors.

 

“Do you think there is another group of survivors here?” Harry asked.

 

“The tanks pushed monsters here until four months ago, and this was done two or three months later. Now we are here and trying to pick up signs from a trail that is probably cold.” David said as he started leading the group outside. “Other survivor groups were going to happen, the question we should be asking is if they are local, or if they have left the area.”

 

The last thing David wanted to deal with was a well-armed enemy force that was in his backyard. 

 

“You’re agitated,” Lena told David as she reached forward and began massaging his shoulders. 

 

The group had just gotten outside, and Harry went to get the sled and was dragging it around the house. This gave the two a rare moment alone to talk.

 

“That’s right, Sarah is still out there and now we have found signs of a large group of scavengers,” David said. “The area is also much less populated with monsters than I expected, this whole situation is strange.”

 

“What are you thinking?” She asked.

 

“For the monsters to be this scarce in the area, it could be a stronghold that is blocking them off. If they built a large facility, it is possible to reduce the monsters in one area by giving them something to focus on in another.” David explained. “This doesn’t add up though.”

 

“I don’t know the area.” She said.

 

“Ward was originally built as a mining town, aside from the highway it doesn’t have any tactical value. We mine gold and silver, all worthless in a world like this. Outside of that, we have some farms.” David was running the map of the area in his head. “I have yet to see a mid-tier monster since we left the area near Colorado Springs, isn’t that weird?”

 

“Wouldn’t that be bad if we did?” She asked.

 

“No, it would probably ignore us. We are in the first layer, would you eat a mosquito if you were only a little hungry?” he asked.

 

She didn’t respond so he assumed he made his point, next he began to explain why this was strange.

 

“Monsters are more likely to be territorial, wandering monsters are strange, they almost always have a den somewhere. One monster every mile is sparse, we also didn’t see any groups of them.” David said.

 

“What do you think is causing it?” She asked.

 

“I don’t know, but it feels like they are being culled, we need to find the cause.” He said.

 

“Cause of what?” Harry said as he dragged the heavy sled filled with meat.

 

“There are fewer monsters than I was expecting here,” David said as he began to lead the group down the side of the road using the sidewalk.

 

His eyes were peeled for any monsters but he wasn’t able to see anything among the sparse houses. Now they were moving towards the main town, it only had a population of 100 people. These were the ones living in the town, more people lived outside of it.

 

“They got the local store too, I think they looted all the buildings in the town,” Harry said.

 

They could see the small town on a hill, they were also able to see all of the damage done to the city. Windows were broken and the doors were knocked off their hinges, the entire town was in bad shape. The thing that surprised David was the severe lack of monsters.

 

“Hey isn’t that the kind of Van that you wanted?” He was suddenly asked.

 

David looked over and saw an Ice delivery truck that had a picture of a polar bear on the side of it. It was owned by a local business and the mascot on the side of it looked ridiculous painted on the white side of the cargo van(AN:1). 

 

“You are right, it looked so ridiculous that I overlooked it, but I am sure that it will need gas.” He said.

 

“The gas station is just down the road,” Harry said.

 

“I am sure that it was already hit, this almost looks like a convoy, I wonder if this was done by Denver?” David muttered.

 

“Tank tracks,” Lena said.

 

“You are right,” David said as he kneeled next to the grooves in the ground. “So first they pushed a bunch of monsters on us, then they took everything we have?” 

 

“That is what it looks like,” Harry said.

 

“Something isn’t adding up here,” David said. “Look at the direction that they went.”

 

“Isn’t Duck Lake that direction?” He asked.

 

“It is, they also didn’t come from that way,” David said.

 

“Did they loop around and go to Denver from there?” Harry asked.

 

“I don’t know, but something isn’t adding up,” David said as they got to the gas station. 

 

The glass door was shattered, which he expected, and he started walking towards a manhole that led to the gas storage underground. What surprised him was that when he opened it, he could smell gas under the heavy metal lid. This surprised him, and he thought that it was probably fumes.

 

Reaching down with the tip of his spear, he lifted it and was able to see some liquid at the end of it. They had not completely drained the tank, but they had gotten pretty close to it. At least he would be able to get his new vehicle home, provided that it was able to run.

 

“I found some gas cans,” Lena said as she walked out of the empty gas station. “All of the food and drinks were looted.”

 

“They didn’t have a long enough hose, they were lazy which is why there is still gas left,” David said. 

 

 David began to blow into a garden hose before sucking through it to try to create a vacuum so that he could siphon the gas from the bottom of the storage. The hose was one that they had taken from one of the houses they looted, David had the same idea of trying to get gas from broken down vehicles, but the other group had already beaten them to it. After a few moments of fiddling with it, he finally got gasoline to start flowing into the gas cans.

 

“Do you think they left this out of laziness, there is quite a bit there?” Harry said.

 

“35-40 gallons, it isn’t that much. I only plan to use enough fuel to get home, and enough fuel to make some changes to the generators.” David said. “What this will allow me to do is convert it to using magic stones as the power source, this will allow us to get a lot more mileage.” 

 

“You can use magic stones to drive a car?” Harry asked.

 

“Of course, I plan to convert the engine in that van to use magic stones. It will no longer use gas to create an explosion but will instead do it directly using magic and enchanting.” David replied as he finished filling up the red gas cans.

 

He stood up from the asphalt, and dusted off his denim pants, they were underneath a large metal overhang that provided shelter to people who were pumping gas. All around them the town was silent, then from behind them they heard a call coming from the top of the local church.

 

“Hey! Over here! Please help me!” The voice cried out, trying desperately to get their attention.

 

David turned over towards the large white building, from upstairs, he could see an arm-waving what looked like a bedsheet. David tried to see the occupant, but he couldn’t under dark red hair that was blowing in the wind. Seeing this though didn’t make David feel any better.

 

“Something is wrong with this picture.” He muttered.