Chapter 3
February ??, 0350 ATG (After The Gate)
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-It was never explained just how our advancements became so numerous, and in so little of time, but the ancient world still holds many untold secrets. Some say alien were involved with our civilization. But, what if that’s not entirely the case? What if these fringe crackpots are on to something by mistake? I think humanity, much like when atomic energy was discovered, discovered a fundamental truth of our reality.
– Anthropologist May Adams. “Civilization Magazine”
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Jonas double checked the pockets of the dead just in case he missed anything of use. It turned out to be a good idea, because they held several items of use. One such item was the leader’s revolver and ammunition. The other were their collective pouches of rations and about $300 in treasury notes. 300 dollars was a lot of money, but it made sense. Wheels need to be greased when your smuggling illicit goods. What better oil than money? The extra ammunition was definitely a welcome addition, considering they took his and did lord knows what with it. And last but not least were the rations. It wasn’t a lot for the group as a whole. The individual pouches Jonas collected would have lasted them a couple days at most, but for Jonas, the jerky would last 8 days if properly rationed.
Jonas secured everything into a leather backpack and headed off in the direction of the runaway wagon. Seeing as the tracks were still fresh, he had a starting point. Bent and flattened grass were good signs to start with. Trampled ground and hoofprints were others. So long as Jonas stayed on the trail, he wouldn’t lose track, and strictly speaking, the horses shouldn’t go too far. The problem with horses, is that a properly spooked animal of that caliber could travel an absurd distance in such a short amount of time. It was why it took the whole day before Jonas caught sight of the wagon, and it was then that Jonas was reminded of another problem. This one being geographical. Wolves!
As he got closer to the wagon, Jonas noticed very sparse amount of blood. The horses had been attacked. Jonas wasn’t ignorant of the area. He may not know where exactly he was, but Jonas knew his general location. Pulling out the two revolvers, he checked their cylinders and made his way towards the wagon once more. Jonas was careful to stay downwind of his target. If the wolves were still there, he didn’t want to be noticed. It would be better to observe the pack and wait for them to leave. Hell, he just might get lucky, and they might no longer be there.
Was it wishful thinking? Yes. Was it also possible, definitely, because if it came down to a fight, he would win, but Jonas wasn’t immune to getting severely wounded if he missed a single shot. Creeping up the hill from a distance, Jonas readied his weapons just in case he was instantly discovered, but he wasn’t. As a matter of fact, the horses had been largly picked clean with no wolf in sight. Jonas let a sigh of relief escape his lips. He wasn’t so na?ve as to think the pack would just forget about this meal. They would be back when they got hungry again. Needless to say, Jonas was sufficiently motivated to hurry this along.
He got to work digging through the crates. There was a small fortune of goods here. Things from drugs to various other things. It took hours to dig through it all. One crate did have something he was hoping for, and that was medical supplies. He quickly shoved the rubbing alcohol and the first aid kit into his leather bag. It wasn’t until he got to the middle of the wagon that he found the crate with the Nevada atlas. Jonas immediately took the crowbar to it, and the moment he pried the lid off, a mouse bounded out of it. Odly enough the mouse looked familiar, but it didn’t stick around. Jonas recognized it as the friendly mouse from Erick’s library. He had half expected it to jump into his pocket, but it hadn’t. Instead, it bounded into the sea of grass. The reason for the rodent’s flight plan became clear to Jonas, because no sooner had he collected a fancy pocket watch and a note from Erick addressed to him, Jonas heard a guttural growl.
Jonas whirled around to find a wolf leaping at him with gaping jaws ready to rip out his throat. Survival instinct was a powerful thing when the one being attacked was a mutant freak. Jonas held up his arm to protect himself. In that instant, he felt his body crawling with electricity. It wasn’t something that could be observed, and this wolf was about to find this out the hard way. Its jaws clamped around his for arm with crushing force. Or, that’s how it started. Jonas was bleeding pretty badly, but the wolf had seized up.
Jonas did not waste the reprieve. He grabbed the gun and pressed it to the wolf’s head and pulled the trigger in one fluid and unpracticed motion. There was a small part of Jonas that really hated what he had to do. Dog was man’s best friend. A loyal protector and companion, but this was a wild animal, not a pet, but like dogs, wolves were pack animals. Jonas quickly got to his feet, guns aimed and wildly swinging side to side, but there were no other wolves around. Well, that wasn’t true. There was one other, but it was just a puppy. Jonas got what he came for. He was not going to stick around for the rest of the pack, let alone, wase precious ammo on a puppy. Binding his wound, he tossed the pup a piece of jerky and escaped downwind.
Erick was on edge. His people lost track of Jonas. He knew it was a bad idea to hire her, but she was known for getting the job done no matter the risk and doing whatever it took to finish it. She also had a reputation that mirrored that one, but Erick thought it was just talk. If he’d known that, then he would have kept his ego in check instead of relying on status. If not for himself, but for his investment and his friend’s safety. Hell, Erick wasn’t even sure the man was even alive. “FUCK!” Erick screamed. “Do I still burn the mansion? SHIT!” He heard his door swing open. “Sir, is everything ok?” Erick stopped, frozen in place by the interruption. Erick felt Guilt at killing his friend flood his very being and mixed with his impotent rage. “I’m fine Ms. Walkins. Please leave.” Erick ground out. Erick heard her silence, and he felt guilty about his conduct towards her. Erick got up to apologies, but the door was closed. He sighed, completely deflated. “I’ll make it up to her.” He shifted his attention back to his desk, where he collected the report and sat back down and flipped to the last page of the report.
The last page read similar to the rest of the report. Erick was about to just toss it to the side when something at the end caught his eyes. Erick smiled. It wasn’t definitive, but it was hope. The people tailing the wagon had lost sight of it after the horses got spooked and ran off. There had also been gun shots. He had to trust in Jonas. After all, he’d been in far worse. Erick wasn’t sure burning the mansion was going to be viable anymore. But the next report was due soon, and if his network of informants spotted activity in any of three ruins, then burning the mansion was back on the table.
Erick held no illusions that if Jonas was alive, he’d go directly to the aforementioned ancient ruin. But what if he couldn’t? The answer was simple. He’d likely head to one of three others. Pulling out an illegal map, Erick triangulated the area where the wagon went missing, and plotted possible routs to three likely ruins Jonas would most likely be tempted to shack up at. Erick even went so far as to plot a rout to the original place he’d planned on Jonas staying at. “Dam Jonas, you got it rough.”
Jonas Skarts had been traveling for a couple of days, only stopping to make camp and rest. He had no Idea where he was going to sleep for those nights, or if he'd get any sleep at all. He was in wolf country, after all. When sleep had come to Jonas, it was only in hourly to 30-minute increments. The upside to any this unfortunate situation, was the fact that Jonas had a destination. There were three ruins he could bunker down at.
There was an ancient parking garage. The second was a basement of a structure called a supermarket, and a third, which he had discovered while exploring this area the last time. There was actually four if you counted the scavenged remains of a very old missile silo, but options 1, 2 and 4 would likely be the least safe with too many open spots that left Jonas vulnerable. There was always the original place, but going there would be risky without additional provisions. Jonas sighed in frustration. “I’m going to have to hunt.” That was going to be risky considering the wolves. Unless?
An idea struck. The bunker. Jonas could hunker down in the bunker while he bleeds and skins whatever he hunted. Jonas pulled his journal out, and looked at a hand drawn map of the area. If his estimations were correct, he wasn’t too far from it, and if Jonas really hoofed it, he could make it before sundown. “Well? That settles it. I’ll need to hunt if I want to make it back to civilization.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
In truth, Jonas had been debating on whether or not to go back, and just seek funding elsewhere, but he’d never make it without supplies, and something the smuggler said put some things back into focus. The main thing being, Erick had not betrayed Jonas. The root of Jonas’ issues was the fragile ego of another, not Erick specifically. That did bring Jonas some comfort and some motivation to see Erick lose his home and treasured library. Even if it was part of a plan, it would still bring Jonas some satisfaction.
That particular fantasy did help the archeologist past the time, and occupy his mind, and just as the sun was beginning to set Jonas arrived. A little rooting around in the tall grass revealed a hatch that led down into the ground, and boy was it a welcomed site, because the last couple of nights had been fucking cold. With some effort, Jonas lifted the hatch open with a loud screeching that caused him to let go and cringe. It was like listening to someone drag iron nails across a chalkboard. Gritting his teeth, Jonas doubled down on his efforts and powered through the screeching hinges, only to hear a sound that made him freeze right where he stood.
It was a howl. It was a wolf’s howl. Tossing his bag down the shaft, Jonas quickly hopped down the hatch and expeditiously made his way down the ladder. “Yeah. Fuck that. I’m not food.” Jonas pulled out his revolvers and waited. It wasn’t long before he heard the sniffing of one wolf. Minutes later, and it was followed by another and another. Had the pack tracked him down as prey, or was this a different pack? Well, either way, now wasn’t the time. He counted his ammunition, which came out to… not great. This was especially so if Jonas was going to have to kill an entire pack of wolves.
Jonas’ pity party soon came to an end when the smarter of the pack stuck its head over the open hatch. Jonas aimed and pulled the trigger and blasted the brains out of the top of the wolfs skull. It collapsed and slipped down the hole, landing with a sickening thud, but that wasn’t the end of it. As the game of hide and seek continued, with Jonas’s camping in the hole with guns drawn and the wolves continuing to find him. He kept Making good on the opportunities presented until no more oversized canine heads peaked down the hole.
Jonas re-counted his bullets and found the remaining count severely lacking. Why couldn’t he have just been dropped off as plan? But no. That would have been too easy. Jonas was becoming angrier with each rung climbed. His situation wasn’t looking good. He wasn’t going to be able to hunt with three bullets. That meant he was eating wolf, and wolf was disgusting. Yeah, the beasties tried to kill and eat him, but it was still like eating your pet dog, and then there was the taste. Jonas about threw up thinking about it.
Reaching the hatch, Jonas slowed down and cautiously took a peek. There was one wolf left, and by the looks of it, the pack was settling down here for the night, or it was like he originally thought, and this was the pack that killed the horse pulling the runaway wagon. It was at this moment Jonas wished he knew how to make his artifact fire lightning. If he could only figure that out, then bullets would no longer be an issue. “Well, I can always try again tonight.”
Jonas wasted no time in dispatching the last wolf. He pulled out his knife and began skinning the things and cleaning them. Once Jonas was done, he brought the cuts of meat to a started fire and began cooking them. The temperature began dropping and Jonas huddled closure to the fire. He looked up. The clouds were beginning to thicken. “It’s going to snow soon.” Jonas mumbled wistfully as he watched the Dark-eyed Juncos hopping about the ground and foraging for food.
Jonas pulled out the fancier of the two pocket watches and flipped it open. It had a calendar function. The blood drained from Jonas’ face. If the watch was accurate, and he had no doubt that it was, then he had been out for days. He gave the winder a few twists and paired his watch with the other. “Well, that’s no good.” If that’s the case than his timetable was shorter than expected. Then there was the coming snow. That was going to slow him down, but on the bright side, it would prolong his newly procured food stores.
Pulling the cooked wolf meat off the spit and replacing it, Jonas sat down and thought allowed, “This is going to be tight. If I can cook this meat in time, then I’ll definitely have the food for the trip, but will I make it to the rendezvous in time? That’s the real question.” Making it to the original drop-off point was definitely out of the question with his new timetable. That meant Jonas was going to have to skip it and go straight to town. But what if Jonas could shorten the cook time for the wolf meat.
Normally, his fire and electrical abilities were extremely limited. At most he could coat his hands in fire, and at minimum, ignite a flame above his figure. His electrical abilities were different. He could charge his body to mimic the natural defenses of an electric eel, and in some circumstances, a boost in his athletic performance.
The smell of cooked meat filled the air, taking Jonas’ mind off his schemes to save time. Removing the cooked wolf meat and replacing it with more raw cuts, he got back to his machinations. Jonas pulled out his heirloom and began rotating it within his hands. The lightning bolt was more than his current abilities could ever allow. So, it had to store the energy somehow. Honestly the whole notion seemed preposterous, but he did fire a literal lightning bolt from it, and that in itself was preposterous with little chance of success of ever replicating it. Hell, Jonas wasn’t even sure he could trigger a firing solution again. Looking over at the wolf corpses and then at the fire, Jonas just shrugged in defeat and sighed. “It's not like I have anything better to do.”
As the meat contused to cook on the warm open flame, Jonas experimented with the artifact by using his abilities. Jonas alternated between his fire and electricity. A discovery of note was made. Jonas discovered that the artifact would greedily feed off whichever ability he had active at the time. It would also store that energy. However, If Jonas was using the electricity portion for an amount of time, and then switched to fire, the electric charge within would be depleted in lue of the fire being consumed and contained.
These were indeed good things to know. Switching the wolf meet out again, Jonas added some wood to the fire and sat back down. With his artifact back in hand, he moved on to the charging part of the test. There was nothing discovered on this front that he didn’t already know from his time inside the crate. The longer it was held in hand, and feeding off his ability, the brighter the mysterious symbols grew. But that didn’t mean it was a waste of time, because it led to an interesting but novel discovery. As he just kept feeding it more and more of his fire, because why not, he found a second set of symbols begging to light up on the other side.
They didn’t just light up all at once, either. As a matter of fact, they lit up one at a time, starting from the handle and moving out to towards the tip of the barrel looking part. A closer inspection into these symbols were baffling. They… looked like numbers? More importantly the glow was muffled. Jonas flipped the thing around and was met with an orange glow so bright, he dropped it on instinct to cover his eyes.
Jonas’ vision swam with colors, but that was partially forgotten when a sudden cracking sound made its way to Jonas’ ears. “No, no, no, no, no, no.” the Archeologist blurted out, as he blindly felt on the ground for his family heirloom. “Please don’t be broken.” This was turning out to bed a shit day for the man, but it was what it was. He’d just have to make do. After nearly falling into the fire a couple times, Jonas experienced a modicum of success in his search. By this point his vision was starting to return to normal. So, he couldn’t exactly verify this success by sight. That didn’t mean he couldn’t feel, and what he felt wasn’t off. Not at first.
At first, he felt shards of stones. That meant the object of his search had to be close by, and sure enough, it was. But, when Jonas grabbed the heirloom, he got the shock of his life. Initially, the artifact looked to be stone with a gem core in the gun-like grip of the thing. Now he felt something different. There was still that stone feel in the handle, but Jonas could feel where the stone chunks had broken away, and in those places, he felt metal. Additionally, there was a smooth gem like nub in the center front of the grip structure.
Now, Jonas held no expectation that the artifact would spit out another lightning bolt, but it was charged, and blindingly so. Just because Jonas failed to replicate its devastation didn’t mean it couldn’t happen by accident. And boy, was he glad that he was pointing the thing away from camp, because no sooner had he done so, Jonas began gently feeling out the nub’s structure for any potentially sharp edges that could scratch or cut him. He’d already taken a bullet to the arm. He didn’t need any more wounds, but that wasn’t why Jonas was glad. No, Jonas was happy, because when he made full contact in earnest with the nub, The artifact fired for the second time.
Jonas’s vision was recovered enough by now, that his sight wasn’t overly obstructed by his recovering blindness. He saw a flash. Felt a quick flash of heat and heard an explosion off in the distance, along with a yelp, which was then followed by silence. “Well, shit.” Jonas happily exclaimed.
