Part Seven – Evacuation Shelter

“What did you pull outta the gutter, Vincent.” Ugh, even this guy seems like a pain in the ass.

The guy the asshole called Boss was the rough redneck type. He had the whole ‘grizzled army Sergeant’ vibe going on. And from the moment he saw me, he started to sneer. I hate people like this.

This was probably Hansen, the local gun nut. Even I, as someone who lived in a neighboring town, knew about him. He was trouble, plain and simple. He and his pals were basically an anti-government militia in all but name. He touted every conspiracy theory to anyone he could talk to. He also had enough guns to fight a small army. Or arm one.

“Cameron, is that you? What are you doing with gutter trash?” Ugh, he clearly didn’t like me. But why does Cameron know him?

“The lad saved my life, Hansen. You shouldn’t disregard him.” Wait, that’s why he’s been sneering at me!?

“Pffff, hahahahahaha! You say the funniest things Cam. This little guttersnipe wouldn’t last two seconds against one of those beasts.” He, and his men, seemed to find this the pinnacle of humor. Okay. I’m pissed.

“Hansen, I’m not joking. He fought his way through a nest of goblins and rescued me and the lass.” At least Cameron was trying to be civil.

After Cameron kept insisting, he finally took us seriously. “Well fine then, if you want to play that way. So, what brings you by?” he still wasn’t believing us, and Alicia was starting to give him a perfect glare. Yes! Someone else gets a death glare!

“Well, we were hoping we might be able to stay in the shelter.” That had been our goal, but I was becoming increasingly .

“Hoh. Well if that’s all you want Cam, I’ll be happy to let you in.” Huh? This seems easier than I thought.

Hansen was smiling at Cameron and telling him about everything they were doing to keep people safe. That was when a familiar chill went down my spine. Somethings coming.

It came charging out of the shadows, and grabbed one of the nearby men with its jaws, then dragged him away. While everyone else was standing around or frozen in shock from the sudden attack, I chased after it. Shit! Its gotta be at least D-Rank.

The man was screaming while it dragged him, so following them wasn’t difficult. I quickly caught up to them. The beast had the guy on the ground as he was holding its jaws back with his gun.

Feral Wolf

Rank: D

Description: An enhanced Black Wolf. It no longer relies on pack tactics to hunt, instead preferring to hunt alone.

Phew, worst case scenario averted.

I wasn’t confident about killing it if it was C-Rank, but a D-Rank was much easier. The wolf was so preoccupied with its prey, that it never noticed me until I’d cut its head off. Yay for things being easy!

I threw its corpse aside, and took a look at the poor sap that nearly became its dinner. He was trembling head to toe, and it smelled like he’d pissed himself. Well, I don’t blame him for that. He probably thought he was as good as dead.

Since he was staring vacantly at me, I lightly smacked him across the face. Hey, it’s a perfectly good way to snap someone out of shock.

“You okay?”

“Uh, y-y-y-yes! Um, yes sir, I’m okay!” he jumped up after saying that, looking like he’d pass out any second. Wow. He’s so skittish.

“Calm down before you give yourself a heart attack.” He paled, but took a deep breath before responding to me.

“T-t-thank you for saving me! I thought that wolf would eat me for sure, and the others wouldn’t come save me, so I just assumed that I would die here in such a pitiful manner. I mean, I’m really glad I’m still alive, I don’t want to die just yet, and with everything that-"

I had to put my hand over his mouth to calm him down. That’s some impressive chatter you just spat out. Do you think you can teach Alicia to talk like that?

“Calm down already! Jeez, you’re more of a skitz than I can deal with right now.” He deflated at that, but perked up the next moment. “Let’s make our way back before we find more monsters.” *nod nod*

The walk back wasn’t so bad. He seemed to have calm down from his near-death experience. He told me his name was Eric, and he’d been a student back who’d come back home for for spring break when this had happened. What college student goes home during spring break?

Either way, we’d really hadn’t gone all that far. The wolf had seemingly prioritized eating, instead of gaining distance. I kept an eye out just in case there were more monsters, but it only took three minutes to walk back.

When we arrived, we found that the gate was open, and Hansen, Cameron, and Alicia were nowhere to be found. Mr. Asshole was waiting for us, smirking all the while.

“Hah, so the little shit isn’t dead. He’d be better off as monster chow, don’t you think dipshit?”

Eric visibly wilted when he started talking. I immediately realized that this guy was bigger scum than I thought. He was probably harassing Eric. Maybe more. Yep, I’m not dealing with him.

Ignoring the shit coming out of his mouth, I walked up to him and slugged him in the gut as hard as I could. He immediately doubled over, his body seizing as Paralytic Strike kicked in. He wouldn’t be able to move for at least an hour.

Several of the other guards reached for their guns, but I drew my swords before they could.

“Insult me one more time, and it’ll be your neck.” I glared at the others. “Understood!?” They all furiously nodded.

They were used to the old world, were those with bigger physiques could push others around. That wouldn’t help them against me. Even if I couldn’t dodge bullets, I was pretty sure I’d be able to avoid their line of sight. If they can’t track me, they can’t shoot me.

Having sated my rage for the time being, I proceeded through the gate. Now I just gotta find Clint and I can get the fuck outta here. I was never going to get along with these people, they were too asinine for me to tolerate them.

“Um, that was pretty amazing what you did. No one’s ever stood up to Vincent like that.” I hadn’t even noticed Eric follow after me.

“Who is that complete douchebag?”

“He… he’s Hansen’s son.” Oh, great. Yep, I just socked the leader’s son in the gut. Yep, I could see a long happy relationship with these people.

Wait, why does he call his dad Boss? I probably don’t want to know the answer to that.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know a guy named Clint, would you?” I wasn’t expecting much, but it never hurt to ask.

“You mean the guy that works at the library?” Wait, he knows!? *nod nod*

“I don’t know where he is, but he’s not in town. He was apparently going to something over in Ohio.”

WHAT! He never mentioned anything to me! Why would he just leave without telling me. I mean, it’s not like I’m his mother, but considering the circumstances he still should’ve said something! Still… that was one load off my back. It turned out Eric had originally gone to school with us, but transferred out before I met Clint.

We were idly talking while I looked for Alicia and Cameron. Past the gate the town looked completely different. The military had stripped any usable materials off the houses and taken out the furniture to build the barricades. They’d gotten a space of about two blocks around the shelter.

There were few people out and about. Most of those I saw were militia, but there were a few who were wearing regular clothing. They all had the same expression. They’re afraid. I’m not getting the best feeling about this.

Survival Instinct didn’t warn me about the bad intentions of humans. Meaning that the skill was less effective here.

“So aside from those who are scavenging or guarding the walls, most of us are just doing various chores inside.” Eric seemed more than happy to tell me about what they’d been doing in the last two weeks. Are they crazy? Do they have an escape plan, or are they planning to live here? There can’t be more than a few hundred here, but how are they going to sustain themselves?

Since the area wasn’t the biggest, we quickly found them. It looked like Hansen was giving a tour. I could hear his boasting from here.

“And in less than a week, we had walls to hold back those beasts. I suspect it’ll be a matter of days before the military gets here, unless they’re behind it, of course.” I could feel a headache coming. Yep, this guy’s an idiot.

“Oh lad, you’re back.” Cameron seemed relieved to see me. “When you just took off like that, me and the lass started to worry.”

“Hohoho, so the guttersnipe thinks he’s a hero, going and rescuing the poor guy who’d become monster chow.” This guy and his shithead son could go to hell.

I decided to just ignore him and addressed Cameron. “I found out what I was looking for, so I’ll be heading out.” I nervously cleared my throat. “Are you coming with me?” Shockingly, both their eyes widened, as if they couldn’t believe I was asking that. There was someone who found that hilarious.

“Ahahahahahaha! This is too funny. You actually think you can survive out there.” What the FUCK is this guy’s problem? Doesn’t he see the equipment I’m wearing? Or does he think Cameron gave it to me.

“Ohohoho, no no no. A little thing like you won’t survive without someone to help you. You’ll probably die when the monsters find you. But I’d be willing to accept you here, In exchange for your food and equipment.”

SO THAT’S HIS ANGLE!

He’s looking down on me! I don’t know what his superiority complex is about, but I’m not fucking taking this!

I’d reached my breaking point. I couldn’t deal with him any more. Just because he had a much larger physique than me, he was looking down on me. Later on, I would say that what happened next wasn’t my best moment.

I grabbed Hansen by his neck, and kneed him as hard as I could in the groin. Then I stepped back and smashed his face into the ground. Finally I stomped on the back of his head, and ground my boot into his neck. I’m pretty sure I heard his nose break.

He must’ve been knocked unconscious, because he didn’t make a sound. Everyone else just stared as I turned on my heel and marched out of the compound. As I passed by Vincent, I made sure to kick him one more time, for good measure