Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The bullet Jake had fired hit the mutant center mass, drilling into the creature and staggering it. The monster slowed down for a bit but didn’t fall. It quickly recovered and picked up its pace again, covering the distance between them with astonishing speed. Snarling like a feral animal, the monster outstretched its arms forward, the tips of its nasty claws pointed at Jake.

His pistol definitely lacked stopping power. Grinding his teeth in frustration, Jake readjusted his aim. Holding the handgun in both hands, he popped off a few more shots in quick succession. He was so nervous that a few bullets missed their target completely. But as the mutant got closer, it became harder to miss it, and all of the next several bullets hit home, tearing into the middle of the creature’s torso, causing it to jerk from the impacts. When Jake fired another shot, the mutant suddenly tumbled down to the cracked asphalt just a few yards from him. Its body jerked once and then went completely still.

He heard his PDA emit a notification sound, but he ignored it, keeping his pistol trained on the prostrate form of the creature, wondering if it was playing possum or was actually dead. A full minute passed before Jake was finally able to relax a little bit. The monster didn’t show any signs of life, so it should be dead. He lowered his weapon but still watched the dead mutant for a few more seconds before finally holstering his pistol.

He then looked around to make sure there were no more mutants nearby. He was pretty sure there weren’t any of them in the immediate vicinity, because otherwise they would most likely have already converged on the source of the gunfire. Still, just to be on the safe side, he carefully scanned the buildings and alleys on either side of the street. Seeing no bloodthirsty mutants anywhere, Jake breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing his Bernetti pistol wasn’t too loud to attract more mutants.

Come to think of it, his handgun fired much quieter than the firearms he had practiced with in his past life. The guns he’d fired at shooting ranges were so awfully loud he’d had to wear earmuffs to shield his ears from the thunderous gunshots. But the gunshots of the Bernetti pistol sounded more like those of a video-game weapon than a “real” gun. That was probably the reason no more mutants had shown up. Jake was sure the city harbored plenty of ex-humans who would have swarmed him from every direction had they heard the gunfire.

His PDA chimed with a reminder of unread messages. He took out the device and unlocked it with his thumbprint. Glancing at the screen, he saw two notifications awaiting his attention.

Enemy killed! +10 XP

The level of your Pistols skill has gone up from 15 to 16.

“So my skills level up when in use,” he said to himself. “Good to know.”

He then switched to the very first tab to check his general stats. He was interested only in one particular line of text.

XP: 10/100.

So he needed to kill nine more ex-human walkers to level up. He then noticed that another tab was now unlocked. It was called Battle Log. He tapped on it, and the screen displayed a piece of text describing how the recent battle had been unfolding. Since the mutant had died before it could have reached and attacked Jake, the battle log contained only one line.

You have dealt 10 points of regular damage to [Level 1 Ex-human Walker] (x5).

So he had to hit such a creature five times with his current weapon to kill it. If he had managed to pull off a headshot, he could have dealt much more damage to the ex-human mutant. However, as it turned out, hitting a fast-moving walker heading straight for him proved to be a challenging task.

Why are these creatures called Walkers anyway?

he thought.

They move so freaking fast. Runners would be a more fitting name for them.

It reminded Jake of something. Even though he’d been aiming for the creature’s torso, he’d missed a few times, which meant that he’d fired more than five shots. He pocketed his PDA and took the pistol from its holster. He slid the mag out of the grip and counted the remaining rounds. There were nine in the mag and one in the chamber, which meant he’d spent half the magazine to eliminate a single mutant.

“Dammit”, he muttered. “You gotta become a better shot, pal.”

At least he had a few more spare mags on him. Hopefully, his aim would improve and become steadier when he leveled up his Pistols skill a few more times. After holstering the pistol, Jake glanced at the body of the mutant he’d just killed. In video games he had played when he was younger, defeated enemies usually dropped various types of loot. It wasn’t the case with the ex-human mutant, though. Jake took a step closer to the dead body for a better look. It was dressed in ragged clothes and didn’t seem to have anything of use on it. It might have something in its pockets, but he wasn’t keen on touching it.

Jake then remembered something. He took out his PDA again and scanned the creature’s body. A line of text appeared on the screen—DEAD EX-HUMAN WALKER: EMPTY. So there was no need to search the dead mutant’s body to see if it had anything worth taking. His PDA’s scanning feature made checking bodies for loot so much easier and faster. He was glad that the device had such a useful feature, as he wasn’t willing to rifle through the pockets of the mutant he’d killed. The mere thought of touching a dead body made him sick.

Jake consulted the map to get his bearings and then stowed his PDA back into the inner pocket of his jacket. After turning around, he continued to head for the location of his mission.