Oath of the Survivor

The plumes of dust and ash had begun to really settle in the atmosphere, and the warmth the sun usually provided in the late fall was all but gone as Kyle and C.H.A.D.D. made their way through the remains of Corwyn. They had figured out a solid rhythm, and were making good time through the ruined city.  C.H.A.D.D. floated above, doing cursory sweeps of the area looking for signs of biological life.  For his part, Kyle kept an eye out for areas that wouldn’t be easily spotted from the airborne scan and would request additional scans as necessary.  They still hadn’t found any survivors, but Kyle was optimistic that they’d find somebody soon, with the scale of the destruction seeming to get lighter and lighter as they traveled. 

Coming up on a house with a collapsed roof, Kyle did a double take as he saw what looked like the entry to an underground pantry or storage of some sort.  Calling C.H.A.D.D. down, he waited while the drone completed its scan. 

[DR. MAYHEW, I DON’T DETECT ANY INDICATORS OF BIOLOGICAL LIFE WITHIN THE HOME.  THERE ARE SEVERAL AREAS MY SCANS DON’T REACH HOWEVER, BUT IT’S QUITE UNLIKELY THAT ANY SURVIVORS ARE WITHIN.] 

Frowning, Kyle turned to the drone.  “How can you be so certain?  Maybe they had time to get into a bunker of some sort before this happened, and just got pinned inside.”  He regretted the comment as soon as he made it, as C.H.A.D.D. began happily unpacking his case. 

[DR. MAYHEW, IF ANYBODY WAS TRAPPED IN AN EMERGENCY SHELTER FOR THE PAST TWENTY-SEVEN DAYS THEY WOULD LIKELY HAVE EITHER STARVED OR DIED FROM DEHYDRATION.  THIS LIKELIHOOD INCREASES DRAMATICALLY IF THEY SUSTAINED ANY INJURIES.  FURTHERMORE, THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SURVIVE ANY EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME INSIDE A CONTAINER OF THIS SIZE.] 

Kyle stopped then, shaking his head.  One of the problems with using C.H.A.D.D. in this capacity was that the drone lacked any real sociological context for how people lived and what people did.  He specialized in diagnostics and had the memory storage and scanning capabilities to find problems, not to proactively solve them.

Satisfied with the answer, Kyle made his way through the rubble, moving the largest pieces until he uncovered a cement staircase leading into a cellar. The home had clearly belonged to an avid outdoorsman, with fishing supplies, a tent, and a whole assortment of warmer clothes, basic medical supplies, and disinfectant.  While it wouldn’t likely be necessary for him, he couldn’t bring himself to walk away from goods that could still prove useful in saving somebody’s life, so he decided to take as much as he could carry.  He only wished that his new chimeric race came with a boost to strength so that he could do more. 

He’d found and filled a backpack with gear, keeping the meat in a cooler he’d also found tucked away in a corner.  The item C.H.A.D.D. was unable to scan through was a gun case, and Kyle was sorely tempted to try and unlock it. Unfortunately, Kyle had to acknowledge that with his approximately zero firearm experience he was more likely to hurt himself than anything else.  What’s more, he simply couldn’t justify spending more time and resources to try to break into the safe, when he had no idea if he even could.

He knew he might regret discarding the opportunity, but he walked on.  Overall, he was still more than pleased with his haul.  As he clambered out of the cellar with his new gear, C.H.A.D.D. floated uncomfortably close to his face. 

[DR. MAYHEW, SURVIVORS LOCATED.  TWENTY-SIX UNAWAKENED AND ONE E-GRADE WARRIOR, IN POSSESSION OF A CENTRAL DEFENSE GUARD ARRAY.  SIX LARGE BEETLES LIKELY TO INTERCEPT IN THE NEXT MINUTE OR TWO.]  Kyle paused as he worked his way out of the rubble, and turned to C.H.A.D.D. with fierce determination in his eyes. 

“Take me there.”

~~~

Not for the first time in the last several months, Garth regretted not going out to lunch with his squad the day the world ended.  He grunted as he hefted his two-handed broadsword, removing it from the body of one beetle only to barely intercept a second as it charged towards him.  The screaming behind him told him that the people in his care were in danger, but with enemies of his own to deal with he knew he couldn’t turn his back.  That’s how Dylan and Crystal had died – they got distracted and they got killed. 

A part of him was screaming, telling him to go and protect them, no matter the cost.  But no matter how he sliced it, he wasn’t a hero.  That’s why he was the last one left of all the Central Defense reserves, and that’s why he should have been somewhere miles away, where he could have died with a full belly and no regrets.  Anything was better than watching the people who counted on him die.  They were weak enough as it was, simply being unawakened, and with the Guard Array on its last legs they’d all been worn down by the presence of this strange mana in the air.  He had hoped beyond hope that with a beacon up from Central Authority they would be able to make it to safety, but this was looking like the end of the road.  At least he could go down fighting. 

The screaming of his group hit a crescendo, and Garth jumped as he saw a beetle come flying out from behind him like it had been shot from a rocket. 

“Don’t panic, I’m here to help!” a strange voice shouted, and Garth turned, dumbfounded, as he saw the strangest looking man he’d seen in his life.  The man was wearing a bright green marshmallow parka covering what looked to be gleaming bug shells underneath.  He held a piece of rebar like a baseball bat, letting go with one hand to grab… was that a fishing tackle box?  As he ran towards them he kept screaming not to worry, which to be honest was pretty worrying on its own.  Garth called out a warning as a beetle approached him, with the stranger stopping completely and dropping his tackle box. 

Of course, the first person we run into is an absolute freak.  Garth’s distraction cost him, however, when he felt the impact of a beetle on his back.  Swearing, Garth activated his boosting skill UNSHAKEN RESOLVE, feeling the mana course through his skin and muscles.  This prevented the beetle’s claws from getting much purchase in his skin, and he stabilized his balance from the impact.  Dropping his sword, he reached up over his head, grabbing the beetle by the jaws and slamming it into the ground with a vicious overhead throw.  The insect was stunned, and Garth scrambled to grab his broadsword to deliver a final blow. 

He was distracted once again, however, by the sight of a beetle flying by at high speed past his location.  Following the arc of its trajectory, he saw the strange man lowering the rebar he now held in two hands, letting go with his left to grab the tackle box.  Cursing again at his own distractedness, Garth managed to stab the beetle as it started scuttling towards him, pinning it to the ground as it died.   By this point the unawakened people he was escorting were in a full panic.  One of the beetles made its way in through the flank and was aggressively tearing at one of the young men who was desperately trying to keep his friends safe. 

Even one of these things would lead to casualties, without a healer even deep cuts were likely as not to get infected.  Garth ran towards his group to find the strange man a few steps ahead, jumping in the path of the beetle to give Dalen a chance to fall back to the others, blood covering the front of his body.  The man’s motions were awkward and jerky as he tried to get in position for a swing of what Garth now realized was some sort of metal rod, but he couldn’t seem to find footing where civilians wouldn’t get in the way. 

This cost him as he slipped momentarily, giving the beetle an opportunity to get inside his range and jump onto his chest.  Garth watched the claws dig in, finding gaps in the weird shell armor… and somehow not finding purchase?  Maybe the armor covered more than he thought it did…  In the moment of confusion the stranger was able to grab the beetle and smash it into the ground with surprising force, finishing it with a vicious downward stroke of his staff. 

“Behind you!”  The strange man shouted, and Garth turned to see the two beetles that had been knocked away making their way back towards the group – clearly damaged but still moving.  Garth felt a growl begin to rise in his chest.  These things had taken friends from him, had hurt people he cared about.  They had hurt people he was responsible for.  Feeling the mana build up in his body, he infused it into his battered sword as he activated his other skill, AIR BLADE. 

He felt the mana enter the blade, making it feel like an extension of his arms, the air around it thrumming to life as his skill coated the edge.  He held the sword overhead in a two-handed grip, exhaled slowly, then exploded into motion.  His hips rotated sharply as he brought the blade down in a diagonal arc, a thin wave of razor-sharp air tracing the edge and shooting forward through the beetles.  A large wave of dust was kicked up as the strike cut deeply into the remains of the paved street, and Garth let out a breath as the expected wave of weakness came over him.  The beetles were sliced neatly into pieces by the technique, but while AIR BLADE was an incredibly powerful martial skill, it was also incredibly draining to use.

Garth turned to go tend to his people, and confront the proverbial elephant in the room.  The urgency rose as he saw the stranger crouched over Dalen’s still form, and he once again took a stance.  Even exhausted, he felt confident in being able to outduel a crazy homeless person with a metal rod. 

“Get your hands off him and back away slowly.” He said as he advanced, blade ready to lash out at a moment’s notice.

 “Hey man, I’m not here to cause trouble.  I’m a doctor and you have wounded.  You can supervise if you want, but please don’t make me watch them suffer.” 

Garth frowned, but as he looked down at the stranger, he saw that the tackle box was actually an outdoorsman’s first aid kit.  A first aid kit’s all well and good, but that’s hardly evidence that somebody’s a bona fide doctor.  As if on cue, a small drone floated over, its formerly alabaster casing now dingy and covered in dust and ash.  Still, the letters on the side in blue were clear to make out, C.H.A.D.D. 

[DR. MAYHEW, AM I TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE A NEW RESIDENT JOINING IN TREATMENT?  DOCUMENTATION FOR A RESIDENT HAS YET TO BE RECEIVED, CENTRAL HEALTH REGULATION PREVENTS YOU FROM PARTICIPATING IN ANY DIAGNOSTIC OR TREATMENT WITHOUT THE APPROPRIATE FORMS.]

C.H.A.D.D. turned to Garth before continuing; [DR. MAYHEW MAY ALLOW YOU TO OBSERVE, BUT ACKNOWLEDGE THAT AT THIS TIME ANYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO WATCH WILL NOT BE DOCUMENTED AND COUNT TOWARDS YOUR HOURS WITHOUT YOUR ONBOARDING PAPERWORK.  PLEASE DIRECT ANY QUESTIONS TO HUMAN RESOURCES, ALTHOUGH BE WARNED WAIT TIMES ARE CURRENTLY MEASURED IN MONTHS.  WELCOME TO CENTRAL HEALTH!]

~~~

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