I began slowly following the trail of blood around the back of the apartment building and paused to survey the I-40. I couldn’t see much with the shitty community college building sitting in the way but I could tell that a lot of cars were burning and smashed, thrown from the highway. I saw a lot of unmoving bodies, the blood covering the asphalt was so thick it was draining into the field, visible from nearly a half mile away. Black smoke was beginning to blanket the sky, the giant lizard that caused this disaster was nowhere to be seen, though I thought I could hear it’s ministrations continuing further east.

Good, not my problem to deal with right now.

As I approached the back corner of the apartment building I quickly reviewed my notifications.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’VE DEFEATED A LVL 12 MUTATED MOUNTAIN LION! YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED 1200 EXP AND 12 0 UMC!

CONGRATULATIONS PISTOL MARKSMANSHIP (EXPERT) IS NOW LVL 2

CONGRATULATIONS RIFLE MARKSMANSHIP (ADVANCED) IS NOW LVL 2

CONGRATULATIONS KEEN OBSERVATION (BASIC) IS NOW LVL 3

CONGRATULATIONS COLD BLOODED INTELLECT (BASIC) IS NOW LVL 4

I took a quick peak around the corner and didn’t see the mutated mountain lion that crashed through the EMT’s apartment and supposedly snatched him, his wife, and kids. The trail of blood dragged across the tips of brown weeds and occasionally glistened across the privacy wall for the patio area of the first floor apartments. Moving as quickly and quietly as I found myself at the other end of the apartment where the two trucks had been pushed out of their normal parking spots.

As I rounded the corner I paused to find half a woman’s hand, only the thumb and forefinger still intact laying under the front tire of a recent model Dodge Ram 1500. I looked around crouched by the bumper and let the trail of fresh blood lead my eyes to the dumpster that sat at the end of the other building.

There I found my next target with its ass and tail high in the air, occasionally shifting. The front half of the mountain lion was hidden behind the dumpster and back corner of the building, though it was clear it was enjoying it’s brunch of EMT Daniel and his hot hispanic wife. This fucker was at least the same size as the truck I was crouched in front of. Maybe a little bigger.

A thought occurred to me and I looked across the road at the Ambulance company garage where Daniel worked and saw the garage door was completely open and no one appeared to be there. I looked down another block and saw the Winslow Fire Station looked exactly the same.

Maybe shit hit the fan sooner than I thought in Winslow.

While kitty was feasting I turned back around the front bumper of the and found Dave and Glasses a few cars down. Rather than get everyone killed by attacking without a plan I decided to slowly and quietly move to the other two and see if we had any other fighters present themselves.

I moved past the doors of the first apartments in the row and noticed Old Johnny, the apartment manager, watching me as I passed.

“It took the other woman too. All of them while you were fighting the other two.” If my perception weren’t so high I would have never heard him he spoke so quietly. I nodded at him and continued my egress to my other two waiting neighbors.

I held a finger to my mouth to indicate we should be as quiet as possible.

“Did you guys get a level out of that?”

They both nodded. I looked at Dave, his arm seemed completely healed, I didn’t really know how he would fare against this bigger one though. “How’s the arm?”

“Good as new, HP is back to full. This shit is weird.”

“That it is, think you can draw it out while me and Glasses here hit it from the roof?”

His eyes widened a bit then he strengthened his grip on my hatchet and responded shakily, “don’t look like we really got a choice, do we?”

I smiled sourly, “Well, we could always just dip, you two hop on your motorcycles and tear ass outta here, and I can follow in my car. Maybe we find somewhere safe. Probably not. I mean, you guys were watching the news I assume?”

Glasses spoke up “Yeah, looks like it’s fucked everywhere. Don’t know riding off into the sunset would do much good. Name’s Dick by the way.”

I nodded and took his offered hand, it was rather warm, but not sweaty. Interesting, it seems his class is having a physical effect on his body temp.

“Alright then, lets spank us a kitty, don’t move til me and Dick are in position.”

“Ok, when I see you in position I’ll start with a CHARGE. That should certainly get its attention.”

Dick and I headed back up through my apartment and out onto my balcony, careful to step around the giant cat I killed previously, then scampered onto the railing and finally pulled ourselves onto the roof. Dick needed a bit of a hand to get on the roof. We crouch walked to the other end of the roof where we could just see the dumpster and the cat's tail sticking out. I flicked the safety off my AK, brought it up to my shoulder then gave a quick signal to Dave who was shifting to give himself a clear path to the mountain lion.

He looked up at us then yelled “CHARGE!” His body gave off a slight glow as he suddenly streaked forward and shoulder slammed the feasting mountain lion. The lion flipped ass over head and flung some of it’s meal into the air. The faint shape of an arm tumbled over the truck we had been using to sneak up on the big bastard. Dave stumbled off the ground having clearly over estimated how the skill would work, then conversely, underestimating where to place his feet.

The mountain lion fell outside of my line of fire and Dick was starting to sweat profusely as he channeled more mana into a pair of firebolts he held in his hands waiting for a clear shot. I looked back to see how Dave was doing and saw him bring the hatchet down in an overhead chopping motion. I still didn’t have an angle on the monster and was considering whether or not with my system enhanced strength and agility I could clear a 5 meter gap to the rooftop to my left when Dave was set upon by a blurring tangle of claws and teeth. He hopped back and the monster gave chase.

Dick chose that moment to unleash the firebolts he had been channelling one after the other. The orange bolts streaked straight at the mountain lion and connected on it’s rear hip gouging a large chunk of fur and muscle from the impact site and causing its rear end to now spin around so it was facing us rather than Dave. It roared in pain and anger and Dave managed to create enough distance to duck behind the Dodge.

I sighted in the giant cat and its eyes locked on me and actually glowed yellow for a brief second before I pulled the trigger. My shot struck it in the shoulder and it flinched as blood blossomed in its fur. It made to move and I shot again, striking it in the ribs. Another weaker firebolt struck it in the face and singed the fur under its eye. It howled in rage again. I fired a couple more shots into its ribs and legs as it began to start hopping side to side in an attempt to dodge the combination of bullets and firebolts that were now pelting it.

I took a brief moment to put eyes on Dave. He wasn’t doing so well but it looked like he wasn’t tapping out either. I saw him adjust his grip on my hatchet and step out to re engage the raging mountain lion as another of Dick’s firebolts smashed into the monster's nose.

“CLEAVE!” He bellowed and landed a vicious swinging blow across it’s already burning and blistered nose. Blood spewed from it’s mouth and splattered the truck with its life blood. The animal looked stunned, and Dave decided to swing the hatchet one more time into its face. Unfortunately for Dave the monster shook off the stun effect quicker than expected and took a massive swipe at his midsection. Dave stopped mid swing and dropped the hatchet and grabbed his stomach. Massive gouts of blood began spilling from between his fingers.

“FALL BACK! FUCK!” I roared as the man stared numbly at the amount of blood pouring from his guts.

“CONTROLLED BURSTS” I began firing off bullets as fast as I could. The rounds struck all across the animals face and back. It suddenly glowed red with power, snarled at me, and took another enraged swipe at Dave. He was bisected across the previous wound and his upper half was tossed soundlessly against the wall of the opposite building. Blood and intestines plastered the wall for several feet. His body slumped face first to the sidewalk, dead before it hit the ground.

“MOTHER FUCKER!” I snarled.

Dave’s lower half remained standing as another firebolt from Dick struck the lion in the face. It snarled back at us then promptly chomped down on Dave’s lower extremities, shook its head and flung Dave’s feet at us. The fucker actually looked at us and swallowed what remained.

“I’M DONE WITH THIS FUCKING SHIT!”

I activated CONTROLLED BURSTS and emptied the remainder of my magazine into it’s burnt and bloody face. The mountain lion stumbled backward then attempted to leap onto the roof at us. It’s paws latched onto the edge of the roof as I replaced the magazine. Dick hit it with another firebolt but it ignored the attack that caused more burning and blistering. A portion of the skull around its mouth was exposed creating a permanent grim sneer. Its hind legs began clawing at the wall digging long furrows and rents across the wood paneling.

I stepped up and raised my rifle and activated a skill I hadn’t had the chance to use yet.

“BRUTAL STRIKE!”

I felt the skill empower my attack as the butt of my rifle connected with the mountain lion’s nose. It promptly tumbled onto it’s back, stunned, with its feet pawing numbly at the air and soft stomach exposed.

“Let’s finish this fucking bastard off.” I looked at Dick, he was already charging up the largest firebolt I had yet seen him conjure.

I walked to the edge of the roof, drew my pistol.

“VITAL STRIKE”

I pulled the trigger and watched as a bowling ball sized hole opened up in its stomach and some of its guts splattered the cars and wall of the building. Then the massive firebolt that Dick had conjured entered into the hole and burned its vital organs to ashes.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE DEFEATED A LVL 16 ENRAGED MOUNTAIN LION! YOU HAVE EARNED 1600 EXPERIENCE POINTS!

CONGRATULATIONS! You have advanced to [Outlaw] Level 3! YOU HAVE EARNED +2 PER, +1 AGI, AND +2 FREE ATTRIBUTE POINTS.

Veep, toss ‘em into Agility.

“Seen enough?” I looked at the man who stared down at the burning corpse of the mutated lion that had just killed his roommate.

“Yeah… I’m going to stay up here for a bit.” A tear rolled down his cheek and he stared off into the distance.

I dropped down to the ground as Old Johnny stepped out of his apartment and looked around. “Hmph. I guess I got work to do.”

“Uh… sure.” I wasn’t sure what he meant by that and at the moment I didn’t rightly care.

I looked around and decided to make another loop of the apartment area and check again on the highway. I stepped into the alleyway and checked that my remaining magazines were full and looked out into the field between the highway and college and only saw the same chaotic mess I saw before. Nothing stirred in the field so I turned to survey the road that led in and out of town.

Nothing of note caught my attention and I decided it might be good to closer inspect the pile of body parts the last cat left behind the dumpster and headed that way.