Chapter 2
"I think that that one might be friendly! After all the media would have you belive that these creatures are here to eat us all" – Last words of a livestreamer before getting maulled by a Model 3 -2027
Evan PoV
I took a deep breath as the call ended taking a look out over the city from the artifical hill that I stand upon the hover car traffic think and slow at this time in the morning as most people are heading to work. With a deep sigh I start to walk towards the main landing calling an auto cab service as I walk. Not much later a self driving car that looks like it can barely fly lands in front of me. With one last look around at the well kept streets and high walls of the surrounding two or three estate 'neighborhood's' that surround the area. Trees and greenery along the roads and water bubbling away in a fountain at the entrance to one of them. I sigh as I get in to the car only to get greeted by an ad for a pair of shoes. "Great the paid ad block was turned off." I muttered as I waved the hand to the side to clear the ad hoping against hope that I wouldn't get any virus from it or at least that it wouldn't be that bad. Then I leaned forwards to the screen of the hover cab and put in the destination. And so I was off only to get stuck in that very traffic that I had been watching earlier. "Well hopefully I won't be to late to the meeting point.
Jack's PoV
"Get your group ready you have more work" I heard the rasping voice of the young blonde man that just walked in to the main room of the living quarters. "Oh whats going on King?" I asked as I watched the second in command Louis King wearing his usual surplus cargo pants and flack jacket holding a simple belt and what looked like an old pistol in a holster at his hip. "Boss just got off a call with an.. Old friend and you are going to the east ground cargo gate to pick him up." King said. Raising an eyebrow I looked at him "And a friend friend or a 'Friend'?" I asked causing Louis to sigh. "A friend. The very same person that gave us those fabricators we use" This caused me to stand up and blink. "Why would that rich kid come down here? Don't get me wrong here I don't care one way about it. But hardly a good idea to pull the eyes of a large corp?" This caused him to shake his head. "It would cause that if He was still with them. But apparently not. And we do owe him so make sure he gets here. As he is now a new recruit." He said before turning around to leave stopping in the door. "Oh and Jack. Be careful up there." He said before heading out. I sighed and went to collect my group and some gear.
Heading towards the great broken gate to the outside world the road seemingly forgotten as ground traffic wasn't all that common I grunted as the temperature did rise with every step "I keep forgetting how hot it is up here. Isn't it suppose to be winter?" I grumbled and Bill a skinny man in a gray coat laughed his old helmet an M2 or something really damned old slid back revealing his short black hair as he looked towards me humor in his blue eyes. "Oh didn't you know Jackie.. Its the middle of summer." He'd say resting his not to badly rusted double barrel shotgun on his shoulder. We arrived at the gate and I stopped and looked around. "Damn we're early.. Anyone bring cards?" I asked the others as we set in to wait.
Evan PoV
Watching out the window as the car went down the side of the city plate was something new the buildings disappearing behind a wall that goes from sleek steal to a mix of materials I couldn't even begin to name only for the ground actual sand and some shrubs meets me as I step out of the hover cab as soon as my feet leave the thing it shoots up and away leaving me beside the old highway that's leading in to Old Tucson or the undercity as those kinds of places have become known as in some places.
At the edge of the gate I spot a group of four people a large guy with a what could only be called a five'o clock shadow for a beard a straight nose busy eyebrows and cunning brown eyes that are currently squinted at the cards he's holding his dark arms that look like he could crush a full water drum without any trouble wearing a tatterd baseball cap long armed shirt under a vest that seems to hold peices of scrap metal at his side hangs a well used rifle that seems to have had the front handguard repalaced with the remains of a wooden table leg held in place with cable ties and the stock looks like it might be covered by an old boot. The curved magazine had a few dents in it. The second guy short a bit on the skinny side with blue eyes that seem quite gentle and a big nose an old army helmet on his head wearing grey overcoat with fans built in to the sides and an old rusty double barrel hunting shotgun laying on the ground beside him. The thrid guy would could have been descriped as your average joe if it wasn't for the tattoo of a rose covering a scar on his right chee and sharp black eyes that was going between the two playing their cardgame. The guy was wearing simple if worn jeans with a knee pad on the right knee and old plate carrier that from the rips and tears was stuffed with some kind to cloth over what looked like metal band t-shirt. An old soviet era marksman rifle leaning against the wall beside him. The last guy was leaning against a sledgehammer wearing simple torn blue pants and a leather jacket over a green stab proof vest. On top of his head an old cowboy hat covering red messy hair strong jawline a simple nose arms not as bit as the first guys but still respecatable. His green eyes spot Evan and he says something to the others and they get up and start moving towards Evan. The big guy smiled and spoke. "You must be Evan. Name's Jack." He said before stopping and motioning to the group behind him "The shorty's name is Bill" Said motioning towards the shorter man. Then over to tattoo guy "David" Then motions over to the last one "And the read head is Martin." He said before looking over at me. "It is nice to meet you all" I said and Jack snorted. "Well that is a first." Said before turning starting to walk towards the gates. "Lets get you down there and out of this damned heat" He said.
Calling it a gate was a bit wrong as the actual gate was long gone and no one had cared enough to replace it. Now it was just a dark void to my eyes as we walked in towards it. Once inside it took sometime for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. The scene in front of me was both familiar and not. Buildings raising up not as high as those above most of them made of cheap plasteel or being old workers barracks mixed in with the original buildings from old Tuscon all lit by neon signs and a few working streetlights. Massive pillars could be seen dotting the landscape between the dividing wall large actual gates standing upen in two corners leading to other sectors.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
After walking for some time we started to enter the undercity, proper buildings that looked lived in, although quite a bit rundown lining the side walks following the old city streets and alley ways that looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in years could be seen in between buildings. And the people there were people moving on the street heading to different places. They gave our group a bit of space but seemed to eye us for something. Once we got further in the looks became less common until we came to what looked like a market square with a mix of actual indoor stores some guarded by people wearing bandanas with a snake tied around their arm but most people did seem to be walking between wooden stalls set up for trade. This part of the area did seem to be a bit cleaner then the streets they had passed on the way down. Less trash lining the walls and most of the windows seeming to actually be intact. The square lit by the steady glow of neon signs most of them old but a few newer ones. How could one forget the holographic pop up ads that flashed out of nowhere when one looked at the wrong sign 'Buy Borts beer today! And leave all your worries at the door!' Was one of the less annoying examples just having the text flashing and a spinning beer bottle that would appear in ones field of view.
We turned down an different street that leads up to a wall made out of scrap metal and people walking ontop of what must be walkways behind the wall armed and scanning the area. Jack spoke up once we got close. "And there is the snakepit." He motioned to some open gates guarded by two men armed with old service rifles wearing what looks like more proper armor a rattlesnake sprayed on to them. They noded to Jack as they entered.
Once inside they were met by a smiling Hal "I see that you managed to get him here." Said looking to Jack and his group before turning his green eyes towards me "And welcome to the Snakepit now I would stay and talk more but I do have things to take care of." He said before turning and stopping. "But before I go Jack. Evans here is in your care teach him what he needs to know." Said before he walked away leaving me wondering what just happened. "That.. was fast." Jack just laughed. "Don't worry about that. Its just that time of day for him. Now lets get you settled."
Two weeks have passed waking up in a room shared with Jack and his group talking to the others and learning that David got the tattoo as a lost bet in their casino before he joined. That Martin is Hal's half brother. And that Bill cheats in cards. Sitting at the table doing my best to eat the food. Food that I can hardly call food as they are just flavorless cubes. "Right listen up" I looked up to see Jack standing at the doorway. "We have to go out on partrol today along the wall to the outside. To make sure noone is smuggling something to avoid paying our cut. Bill take Evans to get some gear and meet us at the gate." He said before leaving the room and Bill looked over to me with a wide grin. "So lets get you some armor and a gun." Leaving the dining hall common room mix of a room and heading out to cross the courtyard towards the only one story building within the walls of this makeshirt fortress the rattlesnakes had put up. There were two people outside this brick building standing to the right of the metal door talking looking relaxed wearing their old cargo pants well maintained one of them wearing a long armed shirt with a sneake coiling a round it under a simple stabproof vest all in neon green and black as well as an old helmet on his head and a pistol at his hip. The second one wearing a t-shirt over what I swear on my life was homemade chainmail with a shotgun resting on the wall beside him and a simple mohawk for a hairstyle. They looked over to me as I walked towards the door. "Oh Evan Jack and David going to torment you with more shotgun drills?" The mohawk guy asked. Shaking my head before responding. "No actually heading out to cheek the edge of the terretory towards the outer walls." Helmet guy grinned. "Oh! That area you will need to be careful there some of the buildings out there are unstable." He said before motioning me to enter the armory.
Hours later we were walking along the wall to the outside wastes and even a few of the last remaining suburbs of the area. The alley way we where walking down looked to have been mostly abandoned by humans. There was trashed pilled up against the outer wall and old discarded materials to broken down to actually use along the building walls. Some of the houses looked like they were barely standing. I was now wearing a vest that had some heavy metal pieces shoved in to it and carring a cut down double barreled shotgun. Bill and David talking behind me as they had me in the lead "I say it again. We really need to head over to the casino and watch people play and bet on whom gets tossed out first." Bill said. "That again last time we had to give all the winnings to the Boss remember I don't think it is a good ide-.." He cut his sentence short as the sound of crashing metal could be heard just a head. We stopped and prepared to run in to an other group. Only for my eyes to widen as around the corner came four scaly dog creatures scaly plates over green skin with their three-hinged jaws open. The only sound they made where the clicking of their claws "FUCK! Antith's quick fall back!" Yelled Jack from beside be as he fired his gun taking down one of them wounding the other. I fired one barrel and managed to take down the next one only for two more to round the corner and come at us. Then I got the notification
Warning:
Incursion detected.
Remain calm and proceed to the closest shelter.
Jack kept his rifle up as he moved, the rest of the group is quickly falling back behind the two of us "Evans move I'll cover you" He shouted as I turned around to run only to trip on what looked a lot like an old propane tank. At the same time Jack had also moved looking up I could see him look back raise his rifle only to stop the motion and yell "Get up and move your ass for FUCK sake!" As I pressed myself up and away from the tank having untangled myself a bit only to see one of the plant monsters jumping at the big guy. And without thinking I threw myself in to the beast causing it to slam in to an old dumpster its head getting pierced by an a shard of broken metal sticking out of it as I tripped again only to see the rest of the plants closing in I raised my shotgun and fired. Next thing I saw was a bright flash of flame and a boom as something in the alley way exploded causing the building to collapse side ways crushing the remaining dog creatures but also blocking my path back to the other.
Looking down I notice the claw marks along my arm and a piece or rebar sticking out of my right thigh. "That's-.. Agghh.." I flinch as sharp stinging pain shoots through my skull.
System Initialized!
Congratulations. Through your actions you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of the Vanguard, a defender of humanity. I am Fenris . I will assist you to uplift humanity so that you may defend your homeworld from the Antithesis threat!
Rise, Evan Price, and become a protector of the weak!
But you might want to wait with the actual standing until we can fix that leg. Don't touch that as that thing is the only thing currently keeping you from bleeding out. Luckily we can fix that right quick!
