The power went out.

It wasn’t just in The Evergreen Gun Range. The entire city of Liberapolis— no, the entire state must have lost its power. This wasn’t just an ordinary power outage: this happened during the apocalypse.

Trace Taylor stood out in the street, amongst a sea of other scared, confused individuals. A susurration washed over this crowd. They were deluged by fear, their sense of security in their homes evaporating from their loss of access to basic needs such as heat and electricity. It was like they had been thrown into deep waters, and the redhead was now standing at the seafloor, gripped with fear like she was pressed down by the pressure of the entire ocean against her back.

It was no surprise that someone snapped.

A man cried out and swung at the woman standing next to him. He was a Warrior, and his fist smashed open her skull. There was a bloodcurdling scream. Trace’s stomach lurched at the sight, even as someone moved to tackle the man. It would have been over there and then if another brawl didn’t break out on the other end of the street.

Fireballs were being indiscriminately hurled around as someone shouted. Things rapidly devolved into chaos, more and more fights starting with barely even a reason. If this kept up, half the people out here would kill each other. It needed to be stopped. Someone had to intervene.

Trace took in a deep breath— a lungful of air. And she sighed.

“Nope. Not going to be me.”

Spinning on her heels, she marched back to The Evergreen Gun Range and boarded up the front door. As she hammered away at the entrance, she ignored the sounds of fighting from beyond, before finally heading to sleep.

The redhead wanted no part in this. This was fucked.

[(G) Quick Hands has reached level 5!

(G) Quick Hands has reached level 6!

(F+) Rapid Repair has reached level 5!

Builder has reached level 5!]

* * *

When dawn came, and Trace got up, having only actually slept for three hours total, she peeked out her blinds to see the results of the previous night. Things had calmed significantly. There were hints of what transpired— the aftermath of deadly fights that broke out— but otherwise, the streets had mostly emptied out.

Still, the power outage sparked some life back into Liberapolis; the city was no longer barren of life as people were forced out of their homes. A handful men and women stalked the fringe pavements of the streets, mostly keeping to themselves, suspicious of anyone they passed. Trace took in this view for the next five minutes, watching the idle scene unfold tensely, until she spotted a father worriedly ferrying his kids further down an intersection.

She took a step back away from the window, massaging her temples. “Ugh, this is…”

[Fucked?] Ex helpfully added.

“Thanks. But no.” Trace turned back to her dark room before heading downstairs. “It’s terrible. People are killing each other out there— well, it’s the city, so that’s not exactly… yeah. It’s just a hundred times worse than before.”

The last she had checked, apparently over a million people were dying each day since Neo Genesis. Those were the lower estimates. Now, with families losing access to their homes, the number was only going to increase.

“I just hope Liz is safe.”

[What about your parents?] Ex asked, more curious than anything. [Are you not worried about them?]

Trace shifted with uncertainty as she took a seat, dried beef jerky in one hand. In the other was her loaded pistol, aimed at the doorway. “They’re… fine. I think. At least, if their last messages were anything to go by. And Dad’s also an outdoors kind of guy, so…” her words trailed.

There was a brief pause before Ex questioned her again. [Do you not plan on joining them? It appears it would be beneficial for you to link up with your family.]

“Hey, Ex.”

[Affirmative?]

“I know you’re new to being a person and all, but can you please learn about personal boundaries already?”

[Negative.]

“Oh, piss off.”

The redhead finished her beef jerky as she waited for Liz to return so they could plan what they’d do next. Especially considering that their already finite supply of food had now dwindled even more; there was much to discuss. But even as the sun crawled its way through the cloudy sky to the afternoon, Trace’s best friend didn’t show up.

She waited, sitting at the edge of her seat, shadowed in the corner of the room, an antsy feeling welling up within her. At more than one point, she heard the sounds of muffled brawls breaking in from the outside. It only tightened her grip around her pistol.

When it was an hour to sunset, Trace finally forced herself to her feet, trying not to let her worry for Liz consume her. She had to find something to do to keep her mind off it, and just as she decided on calming her mind with a book, the bloodcurdling screams came.

There were shouts. Gunshots. Small explosions, even. People cried for help as footsteps stampeded down the street. Trace gulped, raising her gun, and looked out through the boarded windows.

“What is… going on?” She shifted as she snuck a peek through the cracks. Her vision was partially obscured. All she saw was a panicked crowd rushed past The Evergreen Gun Range.

[It appears there is a commotion going on outside,] her AI said.

“Ex, I can see that just fine.”

[Apologies. I assumed you weren’t capable of basic observational skills based on your previous question.]

“Not the time, Ex.” Scowling, Trace lifted one of the wooden boards to get a better look.

[Affirmative.]

“Also, it wasn’t a very good joke. Your punchline took too long to hit. You can’t just say the first quippy thing that comes to your mind. I expected more from a highly intelligent AI.”

[It was not intended to be a joke.]

She rolled her eyes before an ear-piercing screech snapped her into focus. It sounded like a train speed through its tracks, ready to burst off the metal rails. A man ran past The Evergreen Gun Range, fixed with a look of terror, before something slithered up from beneath him. Trace recoiled as a segmented, undulating body whipped up from the tarmac.

The monster was a mix between a snake and a millipede, about two metres in length. It had no eyes on its face, with its mouth hiding rows and rows of jagged teeth. It made a shrill sound right before it bit the man’s head off.

“The fuck is that?!” Trace paled as she stumbled back.

[Lesser Serpentfiend – Lvl 11.]

The creature continued on, swiftly crawling over the lifeless man’s corpse to find its next target. It wasn’t alone. A dozen other of these monsters poured down the street, letting out their high-pitched sounds, chasing after a fleeing crowd of people.

“Why the fuck are there monsters here? Why the fuck—” She was interrupted as a loud thump could be heard from the door.

A lesser serpentfiend threw itself against the boarded-up doorway, trying to break in. She aimed her weapon at the door, her breath caught by the bands of fear constricting around her neck. There was another bump. She steeled herself.

“Come and try it, cocksucker!” Trace waited for a moment. And the monster gave up.

The redhead caught a glimpse of a lesser serpentfiend slithering away from The Evergreen Gun Range, relief filled her briefly. She was about to fly up the stairs and barricade herself in her room when she heard the shriek.

A man’s desperate shouts accompanied it. “Get off my daughter!”

It was the father Trace saw earlier, the one heading down the street corner with his three children. His daughter, a girl no more than ten years old, was coiled up by a lesser serpentfiend. He grabbed the monster, and through a feat of inhuman strength, ripped it off her. Not before a second lesser serpentfiend caught him by his legs.

He fell to the ground, struggling, writhing around as his daughter screamed. His other kid, a fourteen year old boy, threw a pitiful ball of fire at the monster. It did nothing to free the man.

Trace stared on. “You’ve gotta be—” Her eyes flickered between the children and the father. She hesitated. Then she burst out of the door. “Oi!” Her words obviously didn’t attract the lesser serpentfiend’s attention. But the children turned slightly, moving out of the way just enough for Trace to pull the trigger. “Eyes here, you damn serpentfuck!”

[You have defeated a Lesser Serpentfiend – Lvl 12!]

The gunshot punched a gaping hole through the side of the monster’s head. It was like its flesh was struck by a small blast, its brain exploding out and smearing across the street. It was a level 12 monster— the same level as her. Yet, it only took a single bullet to kill the lesser serpentfiend. Of course, it was partly due to Trace’s ability to discern its weak spots. But there was an even more important, newer factor: Mystic Bullets.

It was her highest ranked skill at D-. And it added quite an extra oomph to each shot she fired. It even surprised Trace, who blinked as the lesser serpentfiend fell over. A screech dragged her back to reality as another monster raced for the man and his children. She fired three more shots, missing it with the first, grazing it with the second, before finishing it off with the third.

They were fast. And the father was too taken with shock to immediately react. Trace turned to him and his kids.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Get out of here!” She stepped back as a lesser serpentfiend leapt up at her. It barely missed her, and she shot it out of the air. It only took two bullets this time to hit her mark.

The man grabbed his kids, scrambling down the street, following the crowd as they abandoned Trace to face these monsters all on her own.

She didn’t blame them, even if she wanted to. Most of the lesser serpentfiends were level 10, while the average level of a person was probably around 4 or 5. If everyone who was fleeing worked together, they could’ve overwhelmed the dozen or so monsters through numbers alone. But who wanted to be the unlucky sod who was killed in the ensuing battle?

Apparently, that idiot was Trace. She emptied the rest of her chamber at the encroaching lesser serpentfiends, taking out another two, before swiftly reloading a fresh magazine into her weapon. She got a single shot out, and one of the monsters nipped at her leg.

Trace stumbled back, barely saving her kneecaps from being chomped off in time. She pistol-whipped the serpentfiend, knocking it away, and unloaded a few more rounds at the oncoming monsters. They were fast, but so was she. Her dexterity was D ranked, after all.

She backed up and circled her way towards The Evergreen Gun Range, hoping to funnel them through the door. Her magazine was halfway to emptying once more, so she readied another—

And she twisted her ankle.

It wasn’t a bad twist— she made a simple misstep while dancing around the lesser serpentfiends and fell to the ground. The problem was, she was being approached by terrible monsters that would tear her head off with one bite.

“F—”

She squeezed her eyes shut as three lashed out, all at once. Trace aimed her weapon between them as they descended on her, pulling the trigger. Quick Fire. It was her second new skill, alongside Mystic Bullets, which allowed her to, well, quickly fire. In an instant, she shot all four remaining bullets up, just as she intended. She pulled the trigger again.

Last in the Chamber.

A blue beam of light exploded from her pistol, striking all three of the lesser serpentfiends at once. It blasted them back, shredding apart their bodies, ripping their innards out and spraying across the pavement. Trace exhaled in relief, glad that it worked, and that she wasn’t the one turned into a meat paste.

But she wasn’t safe. Not just yet. Another lesser serpentfiend scuttled up to the vulnerable redhead as she desperately reloaded her weapon. She had just barely gotten back up when it leapt up, revealing its hundreds of teeth to her.

Before it was shot out of the air.

Trace paused, lowering her weapon. That hadn’t been her. A second, ringing gunshot came from down the street. It had knocked the lesser serpentfiend out of the way, but it didn’t splatter it across the road with a single bullet. In fact, the bullet had hardly pierced the monster’s underbelly.

However, that didn’t stop the shooter from firing another six bullets into the wriggling serpentfiend, finishing it off with the final shot. Trace glanced over at her saviour, trying to work her jaw. A police officer stood there, gun in hand, quickly switching the magazine.

“Veronica?” Trace recognised the woman. She was the one to arrive at The Evergreen Gun Range just under a week ago, when Trace phoned the police because of an intruder. “What are you?...”

Veronica narrowed her eyes. “Watch out!” She fired past Trace, knocking another lesser serpentfiend out of the air.

The redhead clicked her tongue. Trace Taylor spun around, finishing off the fallen monster with a bullet to the head as footfalls approached her from behind.

A man ran past her— Veronica’s partner— wielding a riot shield and a machete in his hands. He charged straight at the last few lesser serpentfiends, keeping them back as both Trace and Veronica supported him from the back.

[(F+) Magically Enhanced Accuracy has reached level 2!

(F+) Magically Enhanced Accuracy has reached level 3!

(F+) Magically Enhanced Accuracy has reached level 4!

(E-) Quick Fire has reached level 2!

(E-) Quick Fire has reached level 3!

(E+) Vulnerability Vision has reached level 2!

(E+) Vulnerability Vision has reached level 3!

(E+) Vulnerability Vision has reached level 4!

(E+) Last in the Chamber has reached level 5!

(D-) Mystic Bullets has reached level 2!

(D-) Mystic Bullets has reached level 3!

Adept Spellshot has reached level 13!

Adept Spellshot has reached level 14!]

Name: Trace Taylor

Race: Human (Earth A314)

Class: Adept Spellshot – Lvl 14

Vocation: Builder – Lvl 5

Craft: Locked

Traits:

Strength: E+

Magic: E+

Endurance: E

Vitality: E-

Dexterity: D

Skills:

Class Skills:

(F+) Magically Enhanced Accuracy – Lvl 4

(E-) Quick Fire – Lvl 3

(E) Recall Weapon – Lvl 5

(E+) Vulnerability Vision – Lvl 4

(E+) Last in the Chamber – Lvl 5

(D-) Mystic Bullets – Lvl 3

Vocation Skills:

(G) Quick Hands – Lvl 6

(F) Makeshift Materials – Lvl 3

(F+) Rapid Repair – Lvl 5

Trace lowered her pistol, looking over the dead lesser serpentfiends. “Alright,” she said, “who’s next?”

[…there is no monster left to fight, Trace. Did you not tell me just earlier that you could see just fine? Perhaps you should get your optics checked for any possible deficiencies.]

“Ex.” She inhaled deeply. Then she chuckled. “That’s actually pretty funny. Good on you.”

[Thank you.]

“But please, piss off.”