Chapter 7: Allies and Action

27.4.19

11 days into the game.

Thomas Alinac~

"Wakey wakey!"

Thomas heard the noise, and ignored it.

"Umm..is he dead.", the voice came back, not speaking to Thomas this time.

"No, you idiot. He's sleeping", replied the voice of a girl.

Thomas forced his eyes open. He half expected to be in his bed, but the reality of the situation hit him soon enough. He had no home anymore. No family. And nowhere to go.

He shook his head, as if the action would help him shake off his thoughts, and focused his attention on the strangers in front of him. The boy standing in front of him looked Thomas' age. He had black hair, and donned a blue jacket, black pants and blue-ish sneakers.

" Do I know you?", asked Thomas.

"Only you can answer that, buddy." The boy replied.

Thomas raised his eyebrows. Homeless or not, it's always irritating to be woken up by strangers giving weird answers to your questions.

" So..do you know us?", the boy continued, trying to continue the conversation.

The girl sighed at the attempt. Thomas looked at her properly this time. She was brown haired, with blue pearly eyes, wearing cargo pants and the same jacket and shoes as the boy standing beside her.

"The weather's pretty fine today, ain't it?", the boy tried again.

"Just stop it Jake." She said with disappointment at Jake's inability to have a conversation. "So, what's your name?", she asked Thomas.

Thomas didn't reply, his eyes fixated on her.

"Hellooo?", she tried again.

Thomas snapped out of his trance. He realized he had held his breath. "Oh sorry, I didn't.....". He stopped to breathe. "I'm Thomas."

"That's better. I'm Jess, and this is Jake", she said, gesturing to her partner.

Thomas wasn't interested. At least he thought he wasn't. "And what do you want, exactly?"

Jess threw him a puzzled look.

"I mean, there must be a reason you guys just decided to approach a random stranger at like..", he looked at the sky, as if he could tell the time just by looking at the sun. "..seven in the morning."

"It's actually 11 o'clock."

"Damn."

Jess smirked.

" We were looking for teammates.", Jake cleared.

"Teammates?"

" We figured it isn't possible to survive this worldwide free-for-all without allies." Jess offered.

"And I was the only one you considered suitable to be an ally?"

" You found an isolated place to sleep. If you hadn't you'd probably be dead."

"What?"

"A fight broke out in the cafeteria earlier. Some powers were used, the military had to step in and well, eight people wound up dead."

" Damn."

"Yeah. Damn"

"If you're done chatting," Jake interrupted," we've got allies to find. Are you joining us or not."

Thomas looked at Jake, wanting to shout 'Are you serious?' at him. They just met, and now he was asking to be allies. He knew he couldn't trust these strangers. He knew he shouldn't. He was about to shake his head, when a thought crossed his mind. Even when everything else in his mind was saying no, the thought persisted.

What did he have to lose? His life? He couldn't care less about his life. Loved ones? He had none.

"You know what?" He said standing up, inspired by something new inside him. "I think I am."

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"Where the heck are we going anyway?" Jess complained.

They had been walking around for a few hours now, talking to people, trying to get allies. Still no luck.

" When we're out of this Relief Center? I think we should start a guild." Jake declared.

Jess and Thomas looked at him with a confused expression.

"What? Why else do you think I wanted allies?"

" To survive, maybe?", offered Thomas. Jess just kept looking at Jake with a expression that said 'I can't believe this guy.'

"Jake, you aren't seriously planning what I'm thinking, are you?", said Jess expectantly, a hint of a smile on her face.

"So you lot are just excluding me from conversations after "recruiting" me?", said Thomas, making the air-quote gesture.

"I think Jake is planning to pick a fight with the Anarchists."

"Bingo!" , said Jake.

Thomas rolled his eyes. Talk about wishful thinking! " The Anarchists have a million members and we are three people. You reckon that could pose some issues? Also I'm literally a stranger to you right now and you two are well acquainted, so...teamwork issues maybe?"

"We...uh...we could work around that.", said Jess with a nervous chuckle.

"Say, how do you know each other anyway."

"We were at the same orphanage. You can think of us as siblings."

"You're orphans?"

"Aren't you too? We assumed you were, since most other teens here are with a guardian."

"I mean technically, as of yesterday, I am." , said Thomas, with a futile attempt at humour; which worsened the mood. Suddenly he was back between the bushes, his house burning down in front of him, his mother's lifeless body trapped between the rubble, and his heart full of anguish. Anguish at his own helplessness and patheticness . In the middle of it a thought crossed his mind.

Someone had to pay.

"Actually, that's not such a bad idea Jake.", Thomas said. "It wouldn't hurt to save Brighton from our Irish friend."

"From Walsh?"

"Yeah."

"Actually" said Jess. "Most of the Anarchists are actually Giftless. If we actually establish a guild we may be able to do some damage."

"Giftless? I thought everybody had Powers."

"They do. But not everyone managed to activate them.", explained Jake.

'So that's what it was.' , thought Thomas, suddenly remembering how the terminal showed his Power as "???". "Damn. Anyway, what's your Po-"

A piercing sound cut through the air, cutting Thomas off. And voice spoke out, a voice familiar to Thomas. It resonated throughout the air, as if coming from the clouds themselves.

"Hello my dear humans", 'God's' voice boomed through what felt like the entire world. "It seems you lot did your fair share of killing in these eleven days. Wanna know how I know?" His voice was as cheerful as that of a child on his birthday. "I'll tell you. The World Exp. has crossed 50,000 ! Do you know what that means?". He waited, as if expecting a response. "It's Monster time! And the first monster will spawn in..". Then there was the sound of a roulette spinning. And Thomas caught himself wishing it wasn't close to him.

"Brighton, in the Isle of Great Britain", 'God' declared. "The price on this one's head will be 1,000 points. See you later!". And with that the voice faded into nothing.

Thomas' heart was racing.

It was here.

A Monster had spawned in his goddamn town.

He looked around him. Jess and Jake stood still, The crowd had erupted into chaos. People were arguing with the Military officials, trying to get out. Somewhere behind him, he heard wailing; the kind of wailing that berates death in one breadth and accepts death in another.

And then, he heard it before he saw it, a gigantic serpent, with a mouth so big it could swallow a car whole, venom dripping off its fangs, shining yellow eyes and a body as black as the night.

In a few moments everyone must have seen it, because the commotion stilled. The Monster hadn't noticed them; it was busy tearing down some building about two hundred meters away from the Relief Center.

The atmosphere felt stagnant, rotten. A corpse waiting for scavengers to eat their fill. The next moment, everybody watched with breathless horror, as the snake turned its head towards them.

The crowd erupted into motion again, this time louder, and unfortunately gaining the undivided eruption of their assailant. Jake was the first to move. He grabbed Jess' hand with his right hand, and Thomas' sleeve with his left, and bolted straight towards the other side of the Relief Center, towards the football field.

Jess started running with him for a bit, and then stopped abruptly. "You guys hold on to me instead."

"Yeah that's probably a better idea.", said Jake.

Jess grabbed Jake's hand tighter, but when she turned towards Thomas, he wasn't there.

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Jake~

'This guy!' Jake thought to himself. They were trying to save their life for god's sake. And here he was, walking towards the threat instead of running away.

"Hey!", he shouted running up to him, Jess following behind him. "C'mon Thomas, Jess' Power allows her to move at superhuman speeds. That thing won't be able to catch us."

"No."

"What do yo-".'What do you mean "No" ', Jake was about to say, but didn't. The look on Thomas' face wasn't that of a man who would run. His expression had completely changed. Earlier it was hopelessness, which had been hidden away under a mask of stubborn and futile resolve. Now, it was pure and unaltered determination. He looked filled with something new, something which had been missing earlier. Jack suddenly had a notion that this was an ally he wouldn't want to lose.

Jess apparently hadn't noticed that newfound purpose in his eyes.

" What do you mean "No"? Do you have a death wish!?"

"Not necessarily," said Thomas. "But I wanna fight. "

"Fight?! Have you gone crazy? Killing that...thing would require guns and RPGs, and if you haven't noticed, we don't have them. "

"Whatever I do, I won't run away", Thomas said, remembering the vow he made to himself. "As for how we'll manage defeating this thing, what about your Powers?"

"Huh? Well...I have Superhuman speed, and Jake can create electricity."

"And manipulate it." Jake added.

"Yeah, but that's not enough to take this beast down!", protested Jess.

"Then you guys can leave. We've known each other for barely five hours anyway. Don't risk your life for me."

Jess drew an exasperated breadth. " We are not leaving anyone."

"Then decide quickly. Are you with me or not?"

"Guys", said Jake, pointing to the Monster, slithering amongst the buildings of Brighton, moving as if coming straight for them. "I don't think we have a choice anymore."

"Okay, here's the plan. Thomas, you do whatever the heck you have in mind, since we don't know your power, and Jess you provide support. If either of us fall, you can rescue us with your speed. "

"Alright", the two of them said together.

Without missing a breath, Jess activated her power and a second later Jake watched her afterimage head into the trees surrounding the Relief Center, probably finding a safe place from where she could easily support the duo.

The snake was on them now. It pulled its head back ready to strike. Jake activated his power, felt the energy rush through his body. Electricity surrounded his body. His Power wasn't just creating and manipulating electricity. Unbeknownst to even Jess, he could use his electricity to strengthen and reinforce his body.

The electricity rushed to his legs. Stray sparks shot out of the air around him, even more at his legs. To his left, he saw a weird black substance cover Thomas' legs. Thomas flexed his legs, ready to jump.

'What IS that anyway?', he wanted to ask, but before he could the Monster pounced on them, ready to claim its price. He jumped to the right, barely dodging the attack.

The snake's teeth embedded themselves in the concrete floor, its lower jaw bending at an unnatural angle. Its bulging eyes searched for its prey, and they quickly settled on Jake.

"I hope you realize how dead we are Thomas!" he shouted. But he couldn't see him. His eyes searched for the briefest moment, and they soon found Thomas, suspended in the air, so high that he rivalled the height of a triple-storey house.

He suddenly got a feeling that they just might pull this off.