Three little words. I couldn’t remember a time when so few had hit me so hard.
Sally was safe.
The only thing that Bernie had considered telling me, after all this time. Still, it was enough. I sunk against the cold metal of the dryer behind me and sighed deeply. Could still really use that nap.
After wriggling away from my heavy hand, the dog stood on my leg and ruffed at me.
I turned my lagging head toward him. “Yeah, you’re right. No rest for the wicked.”
With an extended grunt, I pushed myself up and to my feet. Still light-headed, but okay. My left forearm had a bright pink patch where it was healing up, but that was a lot better than it being open to the elements. I put my bracers into my Inventory and had the System fix them up. Then I looked down at the man I’d murdered.
I wondered what level he could have been. Probably not as high up the curve as me, but whatever skills and weapon he had clearly removed whatever advantage me having my Class was. I couldn’t wait to get back and have Richard lecture me about how my Shroud of Fear Vitality bonus kept me alive. And what did I get for surviving on a razor’s edge once more?
The System had not rewarded me with any skills or milestones for killing him. It was not something that was meant to happen, even if it was the nature of humankind. We certainly weren’t to be encouraged to murder each other. I hesitated to loot him, at first not wanting to grave rob… but I wasn’t exactly in a place of high moral standing. If he had something I could use to keep myself or the others safe, then it was rightfully mine.
I still pulled a face as the System interface popped up.
[682 Gold]
[Green Sword]
[Doomchain]
[Haste Wristguards]
[Softstep Boots]
[Motel Master Key]
There were also a handful of bandages and potions, as well as some random magical clothing with only one stat on them. Nothing with Morale, but I took them just in case - the others could surely use them. The sword was Uncommon with some Vitality, and the wrist and feet equipment had Agility and movement speed.
[Doomchain]
[Deals additional damage based on targets Morale]
“Motherfucker,” I said, raising an eyebrow at the dog. “Here I thought I was just having a well-earned and perfectly valid mental breakdown all of my own accord.”
He just tilted his head in response.
Well, it didn’t say it affected Morale or gave me the Fear status… but I wasn’t sure us ‘players’ could even get that like monsters could. Sounded likely that it was just my mind breaking from the built up trauma.
I gave one last sneer at the corpse before pushing out of the door. “Maybe wanton murder isn’t the best therapy.” My arm ached as I held the door open for the dog to follow me through. “Talking to you seems to help. I think people call that ‘rubber ducking’. I’ll gradually tell you all my issues, and you will never judge me. Deal?”
He looked at me blankly.
"Perfect." It might be a mistake to take him along for my very perilous journey, but I owed it to him now. I rescued him from dehydration, and he saved me from being strangled to death. I respected the bond, and how much bravery and loyalty he had for me and my safety. That was… a rarity in my life.
So he needed a new name. There was no chance I was sticking with Fartbag, even if it was his given name. ‘Ducky’ wasn’t quite befitting a dog of his competence either, but… maybe something close.
Back out to the row of rooms from where this started, I stopped to pick up Threadcutter, putting it back into my Inventory. Ignored my drying blood all over the place. Since that asshole had a master key, I was perhaps lucky that we had crossed paths after I was done showering. I opened room number two again, since I knew it was clear and safe.
The sun was getting lower now, and the light levels were dimming. We needed to get going, but I wanted to wash my arm off first. While the dog stood by eagerly waiting for me, I went into the bathroom and turned the sink on. The repaired bracers would cover the healed wound once they were done, but from wrist to elbow, I was caked with dried crimson. I washed it off as quick as could and turned my head to my new companion.
“How about… Bucky?”
He tilted his head and wagged his tail.
“Bucky, here.”
The dog gave a brief sneeze and then galloped with feigned resignation over to me, stopping at the edge of the carpet before the tiled bathroom floor began. It looked like he might have some basic training. I’d have to go through some commands and see for sure once we got to the bunker. He responded to the new name well, so I'd stick with that.
Water off, and I dried up on the towel hanging by the door.
“We’re going to come back here tomorrow and I’ll give you a bath. I promise. Maybe bring the others to get washed up as well. Also to look around for loot.” I adjusted my tie, seeing that getting roughed up had damped the sharp image I had only just felt comfortable with. “I have a feeling that the bad man might have killed others.”
Based solely on the fact that he wasn’t too shy about trying to murder me, as well as the number of items he had on him. I could be wrong, but my gut told me I’d find some uncomfortable scenes in the other rooms.
Bucky stood and put his forepaws on the end of the bed, panting at my spare shirt he had been sleeping on.
“I shouldn't leave behind evidence, huh? Oh, or did you like sleeping on that old thing?” I raised an eyebrow and looked around the room. Perhaps this whole afternoon wouldn’t be a wash after all.
Before leaving the motel, I went back to the storage room. They weren’t in amazing condition, but I grabbed almost a dozen pillows, as well as two stacks of bedsheets. If we had to sleep in the bunker, then we could at least make it slightly more comfortable.
I turned my head back to see the dog sniffing around the corpse.
“Don’t you dare do anything nasty, Bucky.”
He shied away from my scolding, his face the perfect picture of guilt. It took a lot more than that to melt my heart, and I pointed out to the rec room. He slunk away, avoiding any more of my ire. I exhaled and watched him leave. His placement in the desert was still a mystery, but maybe the future was more important than the past.
I almost rolled my eyes straight out of my skull, being the one to think that.
It was a shame there was no electricity here. Being able to use the washers or drying machines would be very nice. Creature comforts would be hard to come by. Assuming the area was safe enough, the motel was a decent place to set up as a base of operations. The bunker just had those reinforced doors and my ever-helpful Guide, which... seemed better than musty mattresses and stained wallpaper at present.
The sun was setting, and it was too late to look for anything else. I was running on fumes and didn’t have the mental capacity for any further near-death experiences.
It might be time to revisit my recklessness. A hard-learned lesson that I couldn’t repeat. Not only because of my own survival, but for the dog and the waitress. I wasn’t going soft, but… if they were competent enough, then I could stay alive longer. Yeah, I’d go with that explanation.
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“C’mon, Buck. We’ve got some walking to do.” I stepped out of the storeroom and he trotted over to me.
We left the motel, and I used Lightbulb. I was a little wary about it due to it basically being a beacon showing where I was standing, but potentially falling and breaking my ankle would be worse. I’d turn it off when skirting past the orcs, just in case.
There was a brief moment where I considered ambushing the group while they settled down for the night, but a better plan had hatched, overriding my bloodlust.
I’d take Sally out in the morning to get her a couple of levels a little safer than I had. It wasn’t like I considered myself an expert in all this bullshit, and I was apprehensive about giving the twig of positivity a melee weapon, expecting her to murder monsters efficiently. Since she got her STAR tonight, the Soft Landing buff would wear out before getting any use out of it.
Not that she seemed to have a problem with accepting the apocalypse.
The gradual darkness just made my eyes lag. I had earned a decent rest - that couldn’t be denied. Bucky did a good job of nudging against my legs and almost tripping me so that I wouldn't fall asleep while trudging along. Despite his goofy appearance, he was able to intuit my mood more than most dogs I’d known - like he had been a service dog or something.
I cautiously eyed the orc camp as we passed. They had actually managed to erect a decent portion of the walls, and torch lights illuminated the four corners. Some of them were sitting around the campfire eating, while the rest were out of the sight. Hopefully sleeping and not prowling around the area.
My eyes went up to the STAR as a message came through.
//Sally: Hey! Bernie invited me to the party.
//Sally: Sorry we’ve been so quiet…
//Sally: Got my hubris checked.
//Scarlet: Everyone okay?
//Sally: Yeah. I got a little ‘system sickness’ and poor Bern needed a nap.
//Sally: It’s been a lot for him.
//Scarlet: I’m on my way back now.
//Sally: Great! Let me know when you’re close.
I felt a heavy weight in my heart. It wasn’t exactly my fault… but I felt for them.
Psh. The apocalypse was making me soft.
Thankfully, the System allowed me some space to get back to the bunker with no further threats to my existence. When I looked close enough on the Map, I sent the waitress a message. Her reasoning was clear once I arrived, as she was outside the front of the bunker waiting for me.
Before she could greet me, her eyes switched to Bucky, and she gasped.
“You found a dog!” Sally dropped to her knees and held her arms out to invite him in for a hug.
Bucky remained in place by my side, but did wag his tail.
The waitress deflated and pouted up at me. “You just got him and he’s that loyal? Is he like a System skill or something?”
I shook my head. “You get a chair in your welcome chest? I could do with a sit down.”
“Sure.” She stood up, her eyes reading my face. “You want to talk shop, or…?”
“Nope.”
In silence, we both removed our chairs and placed them in the loose sand a couple of feet away from each other. I sat and looked up at the sky. The actual stars were visible and bright. No odd alien spaceships or anything untoward. It was beautiful, even as the last colors of the sun sunk away on the horizon.
“I killed a man today.”
Sally wrinkled up her nose and tilted her head toward me. “Not a monster, you mean? Was it Mr Norris? Wish I could have gotten a hit in.”
I chose to ignore how easily she accepted my confession. “What’s your history with him?”
“He used to come in every so often and complain that the diner stole his clientele, as he offers breakfast food as well.” Sally sighed and returned to stargazing. “Doris takes no shit, though, and they’d get into heated arguments. He had a foul mouth on him and would call us all sorts. One day, he made the mistake of calling me names while Theo was there.”
“Oh? He lost his bottle after that?”
“Yeah. Most of the diner customers are old folks, so wouldn’t get involved. Theo isn’t exactly an imposing figure, but that was enough resistance to scare the asshole off.” Sally sighed deeply.
“Well, he won’t be bothering anyone else ever again.” I worked my jaw, trying to get that fight out of my mind. “Your boy, Theo, he good to you?”
“Sure is. He can get lost in his own world a lot of the time… but he treats me like a queen, really. I have a good feeling he is surviving. The dork is smarter than I am.”
I closed my eyes as Bucky laid down beside my feet. I let my hand hang down to gently run across his back. “What about your family? You don’t seem worried about them either.”
“It’s…” She paused for a moment. “It feels like we are just camping. You ever feel that, when you’d go to camp or out hiking? The rest of the world might not exist - you’d never know. It's like nothing else matters in the moment. Maybe it will hit me further down the road. What about you? A badass like you doesn’t have anyone?”
Perhaps it was because of how exhausted I was, but I deflated and continued a conversation I would normally avoid. “I’ll tell you my greatest weakness, Sally. I often conflate confidence with competence.”
“Ah!” The sound of her turning her chair on the ground made me wince. “You always fall for the asshole guys and never learn to read red flags.”
I opened my eyes so I could glare at her. “Do you have to be so blunt all the time?”
“Doris says that if I were any sharper, I’d be a perfect sphere. At least you’re self aware, though. Is that why you’re so paranoid? Trouble with the last in the line of your series of mistakes?”
“You’re lucky I have no energy, hun.” I returned to facing the sky with my eyes closed. “Yeah, the last one was… a bit of a fuckup. Underground casino. Was fun for a while, and I got to be a table dealer, which was a lot less grief than my previous gig. Owner was named Rico, and he had that diamond-in-the-rough charm to him. Honeymoon phase was great for a while... until it wasn't.”
“That's how they get ya.”
I grunted. “The red flags were there. I’m just doomed to make the same mistakes. Too dense. At one point, it stopped being about the casino, and the group got into trouble with another gang. So, I did what any normal person would.”
Sally didn’t respond, probably letting the fact that working in an illegal gang casino was pretty far from being a normal person already. I continued, the story leaking out of my sustained wounds.
“Rico lost any illusion of charm pretty quick when I said I was leaving him and the casino. That I didn't want to get dragged down into whatever they were headed toward. He threatened me, said there was no leaving. Trapped. So I broke into the safe and stole all the money, ratted them out to the cops and fled.”
“Oooh, a snitch.” The waitress drummed her fingers on her leg. “So you’ve been worried about the inevitable stitches you’re owed.”
I opened up my eyes and lifted my hand up. The money hadn't even lasted that long. I should have let it be and just split. “Rico got taken in, but some of the gang members got away. They clearly have contact with him, however, and something of a grudge. I have at least two private eyes tracking me, as well as the remnants of his posse.” The scar across my palm was almost gone now. “One of them almost got me before I came out this way.”
“Geez. Well, for what it’s worth… I’ve got your back if any of those assholes show up.”
They were all most likely dead, if I was lucky. The System didn’t discriminate, so they were either mulched by monsters or… they had gotten other powers. Maybe they’d give up trying to find me if that was the case. Surely the apocalypse was more important than the contract to their also likely dead boss. Surely.
“Thanks, hun. We’ll see how you fare in a fight first.” I looked back over at her. “What weapon and skill did the System give you?”
“A knife.” She pulled a face. “Since I killed a zombie before we hid away, my skill upgraded to rare, and it’s a riposte and counter based on Guile and attack speed.”
Not a terrible pick, depending on the exact details. I didn’t have the attention span to look into her things right now, so wouldn’t ask until the morning.
“You ever fight before?”
“Theo and I used to perform wrestling moves on each other. At least… until the incident.” Sally wrinkled up her face and looked out at the darkening wasteland. “So no actual clue about real fighting, really. What’s your experience? You seem to take to this like a duck to water.”
“Bouncer.” I rolled my tongue around in my mouth. “I’ve already given up enough of my secrets for one evening, though. You’re lucky you got that other shit out of me.”
“Oh?” She grinned. “That means there’s more to mine for, huh?”
My muscles tensed up. It was enough to admit I had a shady past still nipping at my heels. I didn’t need a full-on therapy session. While the waitress appeared good-humored and scatterbrained, she had surgical precision for reading people. Or at least me, specifically. It was unnerving, even if she was trying to be friendly.
I worked my jaw and reeled my tongue back in after letting it wander idly for too long. There was a reason I kept to myself.
With a sigh, I leaned forward and pushed up to my feet. Every muscle involved in the process resented me for it, hoping that I'd stay seated so they could get some rest. I wanted to tick one last box before getting some sleep, and if I didn’t move now, I’d either pass out on the chair again, or end up blurting my whole life story out to Sally.
“I need a few words with Richard.” I gestured to the bunker. “Let me send up the others to get some fresh air. Bucky, stay here.”
He tilted his head and then moved to lie down by Sally’s chair, giving me a brief whine before the waitress started petting him.
I paused at the metal door. “Oh, now that you can see Richard, what do you think of him?”
“Ah, not what I was expecting. He’s so awkward and flustered. Reminds me of someone, but can’t place who. I thought he would be someone more alien or even like a cool robot.”
“Do you trust him?”
Sally wrinkled up her nose, looking away from the dog to answer me. “I think he is pretty genuine in his efforts to keep us safe. He also said I was a natural with all of this, so maybe I’m biased.”
I nodded and gave her a brief smile as I pulled the door open.
Something wasn’t quite right.
With a salvo of questions ready, I stepped down into the bunker to confront our 'Guide'.