“What the–” TJ shouted, still looking for whatever the immi danger was. There was nothing so terrifying as to render him unscious anywhere nearby, but still his eyes darted in every dire, prepared to defend himself as necessary. When the guards from the dged up to Laura without seeming to be particurly worried, TJ figured that he had missed something.
A mere moment ter, Laura stirred and rubbed her eyes. She kept each eye firmly closed as she muttered to herself. With a hand from the guards, she stood, eyes still closed without any indication of a willio open them.
“I apologize. I was surprised to see you, TJ. When covered by so much blood, I mistook you for something threatening and unfortunately lost my posure. Again, I apologize for my unbeing dispy.”
TJ nodded for a sed, then the reality of what she’d said settled over him and he ected the dots. With a disbelieving tone, he asked, “Are you a hemophiliac?”
“No,” the woman, with eyes still closed, replied. “I am hemophobic. Hemophilia is a disease of the blood, while hemophobic is the irrational fear of blood.”
“Pretty shitty fear to have in times like these.” TJ mused aloud. “That sucks.”
“Indeed. Now, is there anything I do for you?”
“Nht now.”
“Very well. If you have anything else to tell me, please do so after you have ed yourself.”
“Yeah, sure.” TJ nodded before waving goodbye. Laura’s eyes remained closed, so he added, “I’ll see you ter.”
“Goodbye TJ.” Laura turned, and with the blood out of sight, she shrugged off the assisting hands of her guards and strode into the store. She pointedly did not look back as the door closed behind her. As TJ sidered where to dry his hides, he fully looked down at himself to sider what he looked like. Dried blood coated his hands and arms up to the elbow, while errant sptters covered his shoulders and chest. His blue jeans sported dark stains all over them, and he was sure that there was no she of coaguted blood decorating his face. He’d removed his mocs, saving them from being covered by the dripping evidence of his butchery, so his bare toes too were mostly red from the scabbing scarlet.
Perhaps w to make his appearance ever more bestial and off-putting, he had pelts draped over his shoulders, skin side up. Though he’d scraped the majority of it off, the veins and flesh that remaiuck to the pelts made frisly sight. Most off-putting, though, were the yards of iines he’d roped around his neck like a macabre scarf. Though each item he carried was bloody and generally unpleasant, TJ carried them exclusively for their utility, and he didn’t regret having them. Even so, he reized the unpleasant sight he made and, instead of thinking about it any further, he carried the pelts to the house he’d spent the night before in.
As he walked down the highway, the partially setting sun colored the town gold. The trees and forest that were only slightly pushed back by this little pocket of civilization grew all around, their green needles tinted yellow in the light. Some few people moved around in these houses further away from the “ter” indicated by the store and the firehouse, but not many. The bulk of the popution preferred the safety offered by numbers, and TJ supposed he couldn’t fault them. Though he felt a burnio tinue growing and leveling to keep himself and his son safe, TJ uood the terror of leaving the bounds of this apparent ring of safety. After just a night spent here, he’d worried about what he’d find, about what would threaten him. If he’d never been forced to fight for his life, been pushed to that edge of desperation, ging would be nearly impossible.
And he would ruin that for every single inhabitant of the town. He would feel slightly badly about it, but TJ khat he wouldn’t regret ripping the slight peace they’d found away from these people to ehat they could survive. So that he could succeed. Maybe his heart would falter after he saw another die, but the reality was that they would die if none of them forced themselves to level up anyways.
Regardless, that was a for tomorrow. For now, TJ merely wao find where he could y his pelts to dry. He settled on the small fehat bordered the house’s pord id out the half dozes to dry. Wheuro walk into the house and decide what to do , he was startled out of his choice of what to do.
“No.” Stanton said, standing in front of the door.
“What?”
“Get , then you e in.”
TJ opened his mouth to pin or disagree, looked down at himself, and sighed. “Would you guide me to the creek? That’ll be my best bet.”
Stanton grunted, pulled the door closed, and hiked his jacket’s colr up to better cover his neck. The old man walked onward and TJ Appraised him.
Acolyte, 5
“No levels today?”
“One in Druid.”
“Oh, that means a new Skill!” TJ replied, excitement tinging his voice. “What Skill did you choose?”
Stanto the younger man for a sed before sighing and seeming to give up on his closed-lipped act. “Nature’s Advocate.”
TJ cocked his head, waiting for Stanton to provide some expnation. They walked in silence for nearly a minute before TJ gave in. “What does it do?”
“I make pnts grow faster, ence growth, and help food bearing pnts to sprout and bear fruit more quickly.”
“A loerm Skill choice.”
Stanton merely grunted in response and TJ left the topic behind. “How are the hunters? You get them all home safe?”
“Yeah. Couple of them are shaken, and I don’t know if they’ll go out again. They’re all home, though.” Stanton didn’t offer any more details as they walked, and TJ couldn’t bring himself to ask any more. They walked in silence, eventually leaving the road and following a small game trail for a quarter mile through the woods. Before long, the burbling of a creek cut through the quiet sounds of their steps and TJ could see the water. Though he could hear it flowiively quickly, there wasn’t mu the creek. What little ran down the hill was, at most, a foot deep with the occasional pool just a couple feet wide.
TJ nearly ehe water right there but thought better of it, instead walking a hundred feet or so further downstream. He stripped down to his boxers, the cool of the end of the day chilling him without making him shiver. His Vitality of 48 was so impactful to such mundane parts of his life that TJ wondered how much his body and mind would ge as he tiress and evolve. As the frigid water spshed over him and prickled his whole body with gooseflesh, he thought about his mind, the way he’d been as steadfast as he’d been these days. Though he’d gotten through Mari’s death as well as he could, TJ was well aware he was far from unbreakable. Now, though, he was shrugging off mortal wounds and deferring treatment while he bled out.
The increases to his attributes in Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Endurance, as well as even Toughness, were easy enough to his mind around. Sure, eventually he might be able to lift an airpne or outrun a car, but that just felt as if he were Superman or something. But the ges to his mind frightened him. He shrugged off wounds that would have easily sent him into shock five days ago, could that have been a result of his Willpower? If so, what would happen o got to triple digits? Would he simply buck up and deal with it if someone he loved died? Would he still be sidered human after all that? And if these attributes tio climb, would TJ be swallowed up in the Partit?
For not the first time that day, TJ forced the thought out of his mind. There wasn’t a valley he wouldn’t tread through to get to Junior, and though it terrified him, that included hardening his heart and mind to this terrible world he now lived in. He scrubbed his body all over, fkes of blood falling free as he did so. Disgustingly, his hair was matted with sweat, dirt, and blood, and the water flowed a rusty reddish down his torso as he dunked his whole head again and again.
Eventually, TJ finally felt that he was ready to move along. The sun overhead had fallen enough to nearly be sidered setting, and he made a decision as he duhe iines he’d brought along again and again ier.
“Stanton!”
A grunt answered him.
“Do we have water for me to boil these, or could you get me a pot to gather the water myself?”
Instead of answering, the old man shrugged off his jacket for a moment, his mouth w at his upper lip and chewing on a particurly long moustache hair. Ohe jacket was fully off, TJ saw the small pack Stanto under his jacket, and Stanton tossed it over. TJ caught it with a sloshing sound and saw it was one of those backpacks with a water bdder inside.
“Is this safe to drink?”
Stanton nodded a his eyes on the surrounding trees. TJ only then realized he could see Suzie set carefully in a makeshift shoulder holster uanton’s left arm. Uned, though curious why the man would have it maed when he could summon it with a thought, he nodded his thanks. Only now that he had so much drinkable water in front of himself, TJ felt how parched his mouth and dry his throat were. Si was about to be inated with unboiled water, TJ indulged in probably too much water. His stomach sloshed with eaent as he bent over to refill the bdder, though from several feet upstream of where he’d just been ing himself. Fag the mouth of the bdder downstream, he filled it and screwed the top on. Wheood up, Stanton wasn’t looking at their surroundings any longer, but staring at TJ.
“What?”
“You’ve made a decision.” It wasn’t a question, just strangely astute, as the man usually was.
“Yeah. I’ve got something I o do tonight. Probably by myself.”
Stanton nodded, merely accepting the statement for what it was. “Don’t do anything stupid, you hear?”
“Yes sir.”
A grunt. “You need me to take your things back to the house for now?”
“No, I’ll walk with you. Probably better for me to talk with Laura before I go anyways.”
Stanton he Stetson hat c his eyes as he did so. Then, without another word, he stepped up and out of the path, giving TJ enough space to dress himself as much as he wanted. All his clothes were drippi, and TJ sidered leaving them off and walking in his skivvies all through the town to let his clothes dry, but modesty and a general sense of shame kept him from doing so. Instead, he shook the jeans hard a couple times, droplets of water flying everywhere before he gave up and put the dripping pants on, though he didn’t put the mocs on. The wet denim chilled his legs and ainfully unfortable, but he had a goal in mind.
Fortunately, TJ’d had the presenind not to wear his shirt and jacket while butchering, so they were dry as he pulled them on. Again, he debated wandering around in just his patterned boxers, but the ridiculousness of him wandering around in bare feet, no pants, and a jacket was just too much. Instead, he sloshed unfortably up the path until he stood on the highway once again. Stanton followed him as he walked towards the general store, where he was quickly turned away to the firehouse, where he’d find Laura. Before he got there, though, she walked around the er, her chocote skin glowing an almost golden color in the light of the setting sun while her hair seemed to fsh in the light as well. A gentle smile crossed her fad her eyes were heavy-lidded.
As soon as they met eyes, though, the light drained from Laura and she put on a more severe look.
“How are you, TJ? How I help you?”
“I just wao tell you that I’m going on a hunt tonight, before the sus all the way. I don’t need any support, it’ll just be me this time.”
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