Seras little snippet thread

"What was that?"

"I don't know." I answered the question that eventually came long after the Knight disappeared.

"Seriously, is that thing going to come out?"

"I don't know."

"W-what do we do!?"

"I don't know!" I yelled finally getting through to all the questions. I was still huffing, my lungs burned and my legs ached. "I just know we aren't safe." I said. I looked at the man asking the questions. The same guy that had been nice to me earlier.

He nodded slowly, and the small group of people around him were once more looking like they were on the chopping block.

"I just know… That I'm not going to give up." I said to them, giving them what little assurance I could.

"Yeah."

"What's your name?" I asked, and he blinked before laughing.

"Ian."

"Vicky. Okay, listen. I don't know much yet, but the Skeleton monsters they drop the XP… Light. Stuff. It made me stronger, so I'm going to keep doing that."

"Right. Yeah. You… Can you even do that? Your Skeletons are gone."

"Fuck." I hissed and rose up walking a bit to loosen up. I had to do something. I walked over and pushed at the gate, once more accepting the offer to enter. "If you see the big door open again, scream." I told them and hurried back inside.

"What… What do we do?" Ian asked, and I stopped.

"I don't know. Find food? Try to contact someone? I just know that all my instincts are telling me that if I don't get strong enough before that timer ends it's gonna get bad."

He nodded slowly at my words. Not willing to take my instincts on faith, but probably feeling the same thing I was.

So I headed back inside. The graveyard was just as quiet and cold as before. But now any confidence I had in being safe with my Skeletons was gone.

There was no safety here. I had no idea if the Knight would come out to kill me. So I had to be careful, and never assume I was safe.

I hurried forward, following the same path that I vaguely remembered before until I found what I was looking for.

One of the Skeletons I had taken out while exploring.

"Rise!" I demanded and it did, making me relax a little, it even had one of the crappy rusty cleavers. I didn't have a weapon myself though. So I continued on.

So it didn't make everything disappear when I left. That was… Good? I continued searching and thankfully found another of the dead Skeletons and finally relaxed at least a little.

It rose up to join the other, and then I swallowed and headed towards the stupid Castle.

I wanted my sword too.

"I don't suppose either of you could tell me what the fuck is going on?" I asked the skeletons jokingly, but they didn't respond. They were just an extension of myself in a lot of ways. They had their own… Instincts? They moved without my needing to control them constantly, but I could also tell them what to do.

It was weird.

As I was searching I heard something that made me go still. The noise of dirt moving and for a second I thought it was the Knight, but as I looked towards the noise the fog cleared and I saw it. A skeleton pulling itself out of… Well a grave. I watched for a moment as it climbed out and noticed the dirt was barely disturbed. It either hadn't been dug very deep, or something weird was going on.

"Kill." I demanded. And my two Skeletons did so. Smashing into the recently risen and smashing it to pieces.

I grabbed the white light and then sighed and picked up the Cleaver it had pulled itself free with. At least I would have something.

Exploring for my sword took a while. More Skeletons appeared out of the fog and were smashed apart, and I grabbed their XP and moved on.

But I did learn some things.

One of my boys was badly broken in a fight. His leg smashed apart and while he could still crawl he was done.

So I took the Cleaver and smashed his skull.

It felt kinda dark, but there was no awareness in them like that. Then I tried to bring him back and to my surprise it worked.

I looked at the Skelton that stood up grabbing his Cleaver, and… Yeah. Fully repaired. That was incredibly useful. And gave me some ideas.

Finally though as I explored I found my sword. Definitely not by stumbling right over the damn thing, and nearly falling on my face.

Grabbing it up I dropped the cleaver and held my sword feeling the reassurance from how solid it was.

"Alright boys. Let's go." I whispered and headed as far from the center as I could.

—--

"Hey." I greeted Ian who was near the grill area when I got back.

"Yo, Vicky. Got your sword back."

"Yeah. I'm going to grab a bag and start collecting the Skeleton bodies. Just in case something like that happens again… I guess.. How's everyone doing?" I asked, looking around. Most people were still lethargic and looked horrible. But many of the apartments had lights on, and had people hiding inside.

"Not sure." He answered after a moment. "Some people are taking it rough. Not able to call for help, or for family."

I winced at that myself. I had sort of purposefully not thought about my friends or family. I was scared that the answer was either dead, or just too far away to ever hear from again.

"Has anyone gone down the road?"

"Not yet. People are too tired." He said honestly, and I nodded slowly if people were too tired to do anything…

"Hey, go around get a few people that are willing to do it. I'll help them get some of the White Light stuff. It'll stop them from getting so tired all the time. And then we can maybe figure out what's going on."

Ian blinked, and then rose up.

"Hell, I'll do that. This tired shit is getting old."

"Cool, I need to grab some things. Just… Find some people and meet me at the gate."

"Right."

I hurried off before we could talk more. I was sort of people'd out already for the day, and the stress of everything else was making me a bit more tacturn than I liked.

Entering my apartment I laughed as Luna didn't bother to greet me this time. She was napping on the couch and looked up at my entrance and then ignored me.

With a bit of searching I found it. An old backpack from college. It would fit the bones in it… Probably. It would be enough.

I stopped and hit the fridge. Grabbing a Coke and drinking it while I rested. I was still tired from my death run before, and all I wanted was to sleep…

But you can't sleep when the monsters are near. Video Games taught me that.

Finish the soda, toss it away, stretch out a bit, and then check my fridge for some snacks. That was my mission. One thing to another. No monsters. Easy peasy. Then I Noticed the fridge was still working.

Everything working or not was so weird. We weren't getting power, so why were the lights on? Why was the fridge working?

I shook it off. Hopefully someone somewhere could figure it out and tell me. I had more important things to worry about. Mostly surviving against undead.

I headed out, and noticed Ian had three others with him, including a woman I recognized. She was always riding around on her bike. Which I noticed was resting against the fence near her.

Suddenly hope surged.

"Hey! Does the bike work?"

"Yeah." She said, sounding weary. "But I can't really ride right now."

I nodded at that. Decision to help get some people power leveled to level one surging. If Bikes still worked, then that meant we could reach out to people nearby.

My sister didn't live far from me, although it was still miles… Before whatever happened. With a car it was nothing, but now?
I shook it off.
"Okay, follow me, stay behind my Boys and call out if you see any more." I demanded and they all nodded at that. The two men both nodded as well. Although both looked tired to even do that.

Huh. They really weren't looking good.

It made me really glad I had leveled and the exhaustion had passed.

We entered the Graveyard just behind my Boys. Quickly finding a wandering Skeleton and smashing it apart. The four behind me looked worried at first, but relaxed when my Boys took care of it.

"Alright. Ian, you first." I said and he looked surprised before nodding. Walking over he was about to reach for it when I remembered.

"Wait! Umm… It's going to hurt. Just uh… Don't worry. It fades away quickly." I offered and he went a bit pale but nodded.

Then he touched it, and screamed.

I winced and the volume made me worry so I started looking around. Not too long after he was on the ground moaning a bit but slowly he rose up and then when he stood he was breathing easier and he looked down at himself in surprise.

"Wow."

"Yeah, Level 1 is a big difference." I offered and he nodded at that. I looked at the other three that were looking a bit hesitant. "You three next. C'mon." I demanded not giving them a chance to stop.

Can't let them think about it. Otherwise people hesitate from pain.

The next Skeleton died and I looked at the Biker woman.

"You next… Uh?"

"Karen." She said and I flinched a bit at the name, and she gave me a smile that really had a lot of irritation attached. "Trust me. I'm not happy about the memes."

"Sorry." I whispered, because I did feel bad. That's not a great name for the modern age… Well I guess we aren't in the modern age anymore. I wonder what they'd call this time period. The monster age? The Great Change?

I shook it off and winced at her screams as she touched the light, but I remembered that I wasn't just here for them. "Keep an eye out." I told Ian as I bent down and gathered up the Skeleton's bones.

Each one went into my bag, and once I was done I nodded.

I'd drop it off at the entrance, or maybe near the Apartment for extra summons in case of emergency.

Once Karen was up. The other two men both had their turn, and then I dragged them all back to the entrance.

Dropping off the Skeleton and it's cleaver at the entrance through the expedient of just dumping the backpack out. I looked over at Karen who was already settling onto her bike with determination.

"Goodluck!" I called out and she nodded, throwing me a thumbs up before heading out. Going… North? It would have been north before, but who knows what direction it was now.

I looked at the others. Ian was the only one still standing around.

"You know. The others, at least some of them are going to want to do this. It's… Amazing."

I nodded, already sliding it into my to do list. "Try to get a few willing when I get back I guess… Wait. Tell them to bring backpacks! If they want the power, they can help me haul out bones after."

"Um… They won't get back up.. Right?" He asked, and I was about to confidently say no, when I stopped.

"I don't know. But I need the bodies to raise them, and if something happens again where both of my boys are smashed I'll need something. I don't think so though. I saw one climb out of a grave inside. So… I don't know." I said and he just nodded at my familiar response.

Lack of knowledge about the world… Man this shit sucked. No wonder everyone used to just blame the gods for shit.

Lightning? Fucking Gods pissed.

Earthquake? Gods super pissed.

Someone gets sick? Fucking cursed by the Gods.

Yeah. I get it.

I shook it off and nodded, and then turned around.

I needed to get more levels, since that seemed to make me able to raise more Skeletons. More Skeletons meant more chances at not dying.

Not dying was cool.

Awesome. Plan solved.

I turned around and headed inside.

—--

Skeleton after skeleton was smashed, and I grabbed the light they dropped each time..

I did get Level 3 at some point which was good. And I did a bit of counting.

First level was one light.

Second was two more.

Third was like… Ten probably? I think that was about right. I don't remember exact numbers though.

So there was some exponential bullshit going on. But I grimaced and hesitantly tried to raise a third Skeleton when I realized I leveled and it worked. Giving me that same breathless feeling of being on the edge of too much.

It kinda sucked, but three against one meant my Skeletons stopped taking damage.

Disabling new enemy Skeletons was laughably easy. My Boys ran up and just grabbed them by the arms and held them as the third smashed their skull.

It was awesome.

Getting more XP lights, picked up because of it. Slowly as I went deeper into the Graveyard I noticed the density of Skeletons pick up.

It wasn't just one, but packs of two that I was seeing.

I actually turned around when I saw that. It just wasn't worth the risk. Instead I ended up doing sort of a big circle, that led me back to the Fence when I followed it, and a bit too close to the Castle steps for my comfort, but the Knight didn't come out. So I was okay.

So the entrance area was the weakest, and it had a semi circle of lone Skeletons.

Then further out it became two.

I resolved myself to be very careful if I ever went farther. The Graveyard was huge after all. The Fence went farther than I could see down the road.

It was during this when I first noticed it. I was heading back after hitting the fence in the Semi-circle when I looked out and saw two Skeletons, but one of them…

One of them had a rusted Mace instead of a Cleaver.

I shifted instantly. They could have different weapons? The thought went through and then I rolled my eyes at myself. Of course they could! They could even have books, that's how I got the book in the first place after all!

"Kill!" I demanded and followed slowly behind. This time I was the third for one of them. Smashing my Sword into a Skeleton that was held by two others, as the third fended off the Mace Skeleton. And started losing badly.

I winced as he was knocked around, the Mace demolishing the poor guy.

My other two boys, now clear from their first target, jumped it. Pinned it down, giving me all the time I needed to walk over and finish it off.

A quick "Rise!" And my beaten to death Skeleton was back up. Along with two lights, and a Mace. I picked it up and looked it over. It was a Flanged Mace, I'm pretty sure. If my amateur love of medieval weapons was correct.

I held it out to the Skeleton that just died and he grabbed it, dropping his Cleaver.

Yeah. That was going to be nice.

I moved on, going slow and just touching the area where multiple Skeletons showed up keeping an eye out for any others that might have something 'special.'

Unfortunately I didn't find any other maces. Especially since my Mace Skeleton was now a monster absolutely demolishing the enemy Skeletons in just a few blows. When I hit the fence again I decided to take a break. I was tired from walking, and I wanted to drop off the pile of bones.

The entrance was just how I left it, and I nodded that the pile of bones was still there. I dumped my pack adding more to the pile and looked up.

A few people approached, all of them looking tired. Ian leading them, the man was walking faster than everyone behind him I noticed.

"I found more people that would like to get a light." He said and I snorted as it sounded like people asking for a light of a cigarette.

But I nodded, my own tiredness pushed back.

They really looked like shit.

I led them back inside, and after a short time they all got a Light and started looking much better. More confident and happy as well.

When I dropped them off, all four of them dropped a bag carrying a Skeleton even if they all looked creeped out by it.

At least I would have more minions to summon without having to go outside.

I looked up at the moon and realized it was late.

Like really late.

Would the sun come out at the normal time? Would the sun rise at all?

I shook off the clenching feeling of discomfort at just not knowing and turned towards my apartment.

I wanted to sleep.

—--

I was woken up by some knocking on my door. I jerked up rubbing my eyes and ignoring how Luna was acting pissed at being disturbed. I answered the door and blinked at Karen standing at the door.

"Good you're up!"

"I am now." I mumbled, and looked around. A few more people were gathered at the Grill. "What's up?"

"Well I went down the road, and it's about the same no matter how far I went. About a mile between structures. Sometimes homes, sometimes complexes. But I saw a weird little forest too."

She pulled out a little fanny pack and opened it and inside was…

"Berries?"

"And rabbits, and birds." She said and I blinked before suddenly jerking upright.

I hadn't seen a bird since everything happened. Not one, and it just struck me.

The only animal I had seen was pets. A dog or a cat…

Not even the stray cats that hung around outside the apartments were here… Oh.

I shook it off and rubbed my face. I was still half asleep and not prepared to be talked to.

"Okay?"

She looked at me like I was a bit stupid, which was fair, but also mean. "It means we have a source of food. Remember how you mentioned you saw a Skeleton just climb out of the ground? Well I saw a hole in a tree with nothing in it, and suddenly a bird climbed out. It like just appeared. But it means we have a food source."

I nodded at that. Food was… Important.

"Anyone know how to hunt? Or shoot I guess?" I asked with a yawn.

"Guns don't work." Ian said suddenly there looking tired too, I suddenly realized it really was fucking late.

How many hours of sleep had I even gotten?

Not enough… Well I guess I could check the Graveyard for the countdown if I wanted the time.

"Really?"

"Yeah, the gunpowder just… Sort of puffs. One of the guys had a handgun and tried it."

"Fuck."

"Yeah, Fuck." He agreed.

"I guess that means the army isn't going to be of much use." I mumbled, and got another round of looks that told me I should have just shut up. Not everyone wants to hear the bad news Vicky.

"Okay, good. Food. We need that."

"Yep. One of the other guys has a bike with a cart on it. I figure we can go and gather all sorts and bring it back. Grill it here." She offered, and I blinked.

"Do we have charcoal?"

"Yes, but… We don't need it. The grills… Well they aren't normal now either." She said and I nodded.

Yeah that fucking tracked. Of course we'd have infinite grill power.

"So the places had people?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah. I talked to the old guy that owns the house just up the road. He was tired too, and had no idea what was going on. I told him what I knew, but… Everyone was like that."

"Yeah… Maybe we need to make a fucking report about everything we know and don't know." I grumbled, and Karen snorted at that.

"Not a terrible idea. Anyways. I'm going to bed."

"Yeah…" I said with a little glare, because I had been doing that!

But I turned towards the Graveyard.

I was actually feeling surprisingly awake after that conversation. Which was super odd. It usually took an hour for me to wake up.

"I'm going back in. Anyone who wants a level should get ready." I called out and turned back inside.

More to do… I just had to hope it was enough before whatever happens when that timer hits zero.