Free Web NovelChapter 9: Gotta Get Used To This
The Ascender was in my inventory, and the Diavel was doing a 120 through a gap between a bus and a delivery van.
I wasn’t thinking about the gap; I was thinking about the two bodies I had already passed.
The first one had been on the pavement outside a convenience store four blocks from Black Ridge, a man face-down with people panicking around him.
The second had been slumped against a car door at a red light I had blown through.
Tikki had his face in the wind, and his eyes open the entire time, still having no idea the world as he knew it had just ended.
I pushed the bike harder, felt it roar, and alongside it felt something I never felt before underneath that, a low, ambient awareness of the space around me in every direction at once, a kind of pressure that told me where things were, the bus three meters to my left, the van dropping speed ahead of me, the divider to my right, all of it present in my mind like a separate set of senses running parallel to the normal ones.
I was processing it, still deciding whether to trust it, when it spiked hard.
Something large, moving fast, closing the distance at a speed even faster than my bike.
Through instinct alone, I threw my weight left, and the bike responded.
And the very next second, a red sports car blew through the space I had been occupying before weaving through three lanes without braking.
[System, What’s this... awareness?] I asked the only entity that might’ve had something to do with it while I took in deep breaths to calm the hammering heart.
-Ding!
{Passive spatial awareness extending to a ten-meter radius is your telekinesis range. You can instinctively detect all objects within that radius and manipulate them telekinetically.}
[Ten meters of completed spatial awareness...] I thought, weaving around a stalled car while a man screamed at another man on the pavement beside it. [That’s more than enough... ]
I checked Tikki. Hair flat against the wind, face scrunched, ears flat, eyes squinted but bright and more than just alive.
He was clearly having fun, so I focused ahead, toward the ten-story luxury residential building coming up fast
The plan was to secure a place to ride out for the first two weeks, someplace safe.
And that someplace safe was the only luxury penthouse in the building on the 10th floor.
The penthouse had always been available for rent. Its owner would rent it out for parties, social media photoshoots, etc.
I had once rented it to throw Bella a birthday party, which I spent the entirety of on the balcony, nursing a single beer.
So I knew its layout. It had only two entry points: one was via the elevator with a fingerprint scanner, and the other was a fire exit.
The fire exit had a thick metal door that opened only outwards, towards the exit stairs. The stairs themselves didn’t have enough space for enough infected to gather and push to buckle it inward.
It also had a separate water tank reserve, a perfect view of the city, solar panels with a large battery, and a lot of space.
Usually, a 10th-floor penthouse like this would be a death trap, so was this one. But not for me.
In the event we get trapped in there, I was certain I could sustain the group with a .338 Lapua Magnum rifle for a very long time, taking crack shots at the infected below, and using the credits to buy supplies from the system.
So before rescuing Kara, I was locking down the penthouse first, someplace to stash her before going after Leo and Nora.
Besides, given the plan I had in mind to secure it for myself, it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.
The residential tower was six blocks ahead when I spotted a truck parked two streets short of the forecourt.
It had the Alder & Ash Interiors logo on its side with the driver’s door closed, and no one was visible in the cab. It even had a trailer sitting behind it on the service-side kerb.
I pulled the bike up beside it, stopped, and put my hand flat against the trailer’s side panel.
And the very next second, the truck disappeared into my inventory.
A woman twenty meters back stopped walking and stared at the empty kerb where it had been before fixing her eyes on me.
I didn’t care or wait to see what she did with that and pulled back into traffic.
[System, I want to sell the truck.]
-Ding!
{Item Selected: Volvo VNL 860 + Utility 300R Trailer (Empty)
Valued at: 45,000 Credits.
Attention: The selected item exceeds the daily selling limit.
Your current maximum daily selling limit is 30,000 Credits.
Would you like to sell for 30,000 Credits?}
"Well, that’s a scam," I said to no one, breaking a red light and threading between two cars whose drivers both slammed their horns.
[Fine. Sold.]
-Ding!
{Item Sold. 30,000 Credits deposited.}
And I instantly felt the inventory slot holding the truck clear.
[Alright. System, make a list... I’m going to call out what I need.]
-Ding!
{Ready. Speak the items.}
I rapid-fired the stuff I wanted while I rode, running through the list I had been building in my head since the moment the quest notification appeared.
And by the time the building’s forecourt came up on my left, the bill looked like-
-Ding!
{
Beretta 1301 Tactical Mod 2 (12 Gauge Semi-Automatic Shotgun) ×1: 3,000 Credits
Hornady BLACK 00 Buckshot (12 Gauge, 2¾", 8 Pellet, Full-Power Load) ×400: 600 Credits
Federal TruBall Rifled Slugs (12 Gauge, 1 oz Slug, 438 Grain) ×100: 300 Credits ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Daniel Defense DDM4 V7P (10.3" AR-15) ×1: 3,150 Credits
SureFire SOCOM556 RC2 Mini (Compact 5.56 Rifle Suppressor) ×1: 1,800 Credits
EOTECH EXPS3 Holographic Sight (Holographic Red Dot Optic, Night-Vision Compatible) ×1: 1,125 Credits
Magpul PMAG Gen M3 (30-Round 5.56 NATO Polymer Magazines) ×5: 115 Credits
M855 Green Tip 5.56 NATO (62 Grain FMJ Steel-Core Penetrator) ×500: 450 Credits
Crye Precision JPC 2.0 + Level IV Ceramic Plates (Lightweight Plate Carrier Setup) ×1: 3,000 Credits
Ops-Core FAST Ballistic Helmet (Level IIIA Ballistic Protection Helmet) ×1: 1,200 Credits
Walker’s Razor Electronic Ear Protection (Active Noise Compression Headset) ×1: 450 Credits
Custom Active Ear Protection [Feline-Compatible] (Custom Tactical Hearing Protection for Tikki) ×1: 750 Credits
Mechanix M-Pact Tactical Gloves ×1: 150 Credits
Arc’teryx LEAF Combat Knee Pads ×1: 115 Credits
Arc’teryx LEAF Combat Elbow Pads ×1: 110 Credits
Diamond MMA Athletic Groin Protector ×1: 120 Credits
IFAK Trauma Kit (Tourniquets, Chest Seals, Clotting Gauze, Compression Bandages) ×1: 600 Credits
M84 Flashbang Grenades ×6: 675 Credits
M67 Fragmentation Grenades (4 Second Delay Anti-Personnel Explosives) ×8: 4,800 Credits
M112 C-4 Demolition Charges (Plastic Explosives with Detonators) ×4: 3,000 Credits
SureFire Scout Turbo Weapon Light (High Candela Rifle / Shotgun Mounted Flashlight) ×2: 525 Credits
Winkler Combat Axe (Full-Sized Tactical Hatchet) ×1: 1,650 Credits
Angel Fire Hellian Karambit (Full-Length Fixed Blade Karambit) ×1: 950 Credits
Milwaukee Heavy-Duty Bolt Cutters ×1: 375 Credits
--------
Items stored in Inventory in a Storage Chest ×1: 100 Credits
Total: 26,785 Credits
Remaining Balance: 3,215 Credits }
[Perfect...]
I parked the Diavel at the kerb and looked at the total for exactly two seconds.
My chest went tight, warm, and very focused all at once, like a kid given a 2-minute all-you-can-grab offer at a toy store.
The lobby of the building was marble, with ambient lighting and a reception desk with a woman behind it whose eyes went immediately to Tikki on my shoulder and stayed there.
"Good afternoon." She kept staring at Tikki, smiling. "How can I help you?"
"I’m looking to rent the penthouse up top for my birthday party..." I said. "Hear a lot of good things about it... So, I figured I’d go take a look and see if it fits what I have in mind."
She nodded and picked up her desk phone.
And a minute later, a man about my age came from the back corridor in a white shirt and red tie, and looked me over once in the way people do when they have already formed an opinion.
"The penthouse is quite expensive, sir..." he said, in the tone people use when they mean I don’t think you can afford it. "Perhaps I could suggest-"
"Look..." I cut him off with my phone already on his face with my bank balance open.
"O-of course, sir." The strained smile arrived. "Please, this way."
He led me to the far side of the lobby, which only had two lifts, one for the general floors and with a security panel that went only to the penthouse, lobby, and basement.
He pressed his right thumb to the pad, and the elevator doors opened while I noted which hand’s which finger unlocked it.
The ride up was silent.
He stood slightly ahead of me with his hands folded, not knowing what to say after the little incident, while I kept my face neutral and watched the floor numbers despite the storm raging inside.
After all, every minute was precious now.
The doors opened to a long hallway with dark wood panelling and warm lighting, ending with two large mahogany doors at the far end.
He pushed them open and walked in ahead of me.
The main hall was wide and high-ceilinged, a full bar built into the left wall with shelving lit from behind, a door to the right leading to the bedroom wing.
The terrace beyond the glass walls on the far end had an open balcony looking out over the entire city, with the pool catching the grey afternoon light.
"The bar is fully stocked for events," he said, moving toward it, one hand gesturing along the shelving. "We have an in-house catering service available for larger bookings, and the terrace can accommodate up to forty guests for -Ack-!"
My arms went around his neck from behind in a choke.
He got just one sharp inhale out before my forearm closed his airway completely, my other hand locking behind his head.
He grabbed at my sleeve with both hands, flailing and kicking his hands and legs hard at first, and then less hard, until his hands slid down, his legs went still, and his weight shifted from tense to slack.
Ten seconds. Twelve at most.
I held the position for another five seconds, making sure, and then I adjusted my grip before-
-Katik-!
I snapped his neck.
-Ding!
{Human Killed.
200 Credits Deposited.}
Letting my grip loosen, I let his body fall limply to the ground before noticing Tikki’s weight was no longer on my shoulder.
My heart instantly leapt at my throat, snapping my head left and right, only to find him sitting on the bar with his eyes wide and on me, completely still, tail unmoving.
"Holy shit, dude, you scared the hell out of me..." I finally breathed in, "You gotta get used to this, man... the sooner the better."
Turning back to the man lying on the floor with his neck tilted weirdly, I pulled out the black chest that had all my newly bought gear and set it beside him before pulling out the axe.
"Now let’s cut off the finger and go rescue Kara."
