It was still night, and still dark, but fortunately his Night Vision skill was still active; he had several minutes left on it. He looked around.
There wasn't much to see to the north or east -- just a flat, empty expanse of desert. To the south he could just make out one of the buildings the Astrian military had built around the alien spaceship, and in which the Desert King had set up shop. It was some distance away; the ship was so huge that Stu guessed it would take at least an hour, maybe more, to walk all the way around its perimeter.
There were several things he needed to do -- find and rescue Lucky, find and rescue Eldon and Carmine, and find and rescue Luna and Berly and the rest of the Desert King's women. Then he needed to arrange some kind of transportation to take them out of the desert, and he needed to do all this without alerting Steckler's forces.
He let out a long breath. This wasn't going to be easy. Escaping with just one or two of his friends would have been difficult enough, but a whole crowd? How could they possibly get out of here without avoiding detection? There were guards all over.
He had no idea where to look for them, either. He could probably find his way back to the room where Eldon and Carmine were being held prisoner, but Lucky, Luna, and Berly were another story. Luna and Berly were probably being held somewhere in the Vroom, which he would have to infiltrate. If he encountered the Desert King again...
And it would be dawn soon; he didn't think he couldn't carry out this operation at all without the cover of darkness.
Despite having very little idea of how to proceed, he started making his way around the exterior of the ship, headed for the settlement. His Zombie Radar was still pestering him, but there were no zombies in sight; they were probably inside the ship, just within his range. It seemed strange to him that the ship should be full of zombies -- the Desert King obviously had the resources to clean them out -- but maybe he just didn't care; there must have been something, after all, that was preventing the zombies from making their way into the upper portions of the ship.
He slowed down as he drew closer to the populated area around the Vroom. Some of the buildings were lit -- they must have had dynamo engines here -- and he didn't want to risk being seen. He frowned, thinking.
And then he smelled something in the air -- a sort of faint, plasticky smell, which was oddly familiar. Using his Sniffer ability, he followed the scent, which led him back to the opening he had made in the ship. Looking around, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned to look at it, he suddenly found himself face to face with Millie.
She jumped up and clamped a hand around his mouth before he could blurt out her name. Her red eye, glowing out of the shadow of her face, fixed itself on him.
"Quiet," she whispered, slowing removing her hand.
"Millie," he whispered back. He was so surprised, and so happy to see her, that he might have hugged her, but he didn't think she would take that very well -- partly because that kind of affection seemed to make her uncomfortable, but mostly because he was still covered in dried blood and gore. "Where did you come from? How did you get here?"
"One of the guards followed me out of the camp. I think I lost him, but I'm not sure." She threw a glance over her shoulder. "We can't talk here."
So the two of them ran a few hundred yards out into the desert, finally taking cover behind a rocky hillock which Stu suspected was crawling with rattlesnakes. "It's good to see you," he told her.
She didn't reciprocate; she merely looked him up and down, her red eye seeming to scan him. "Looks like you've been having some fun."
"Yeah. Fun. What happened to you? I thought you might have been killed, back in Delta."
"Nah. I slipped away after I saw those women with the pink hair sneaking around behind us -- stealth mode, you know? I figured at least one us should try to avoid being captured. After they drove off with you, I fixed up one of the bikes they wrecked and followed your trail into the desert." She glanced up at the Vroom, which, even from this distance, dominated the landscape. "Hell of a thing, isn't it? The Researcher would've killed for a chance to study it."
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"She would've killed for a lot less than that. Then what?"
"I spent a few hours sneaking around the base, trying to find you. I overheard something about a work camp, so I went there. It took a while to slip past the guards, but I got in. I found Lucky."
"Is he all right?"
"He seemed to be. I was only able to talk to him for a few minutes. He said the Desert King's men had taken Luna somewhere else, but that he didn't know what had happened to you or that Rider. What was his name? Eldon?"
Stu filled her in on what had happened after they had parted -- fighting zombies in front of a roaring crowd, meeting Steckler himself, and finally being dumped into the bowels of the ship, where he had been forced to battle even more zombies. "Is that where you found that?" she asked, pointing at the chainsaw, which he was still carrying around.
"Yeah. I think it must be some kind of alien artifact, but it seems to run on dynamo fluid."
"Really?" She took a moment to examine it. "Interesting." She looked up at him. "Now what?"
"I was hoping you might have some ideas."
She thought about it. "I can probably get Lucky out of the camp, by sneaking him through the gap in the fence I found. Just have to wait a little while for the Desert King's guys to let their guard down -- one of them followed me out of the camp, like I said. But what about Luna?"
"It's not just Luna," he said. "I have to get Eldon out of there, too, and Carmine, and Berly."
"Who the hell is Carmine? And Berly?"
"Carmine was a Pale Rider who was imprisoned with Eldon and me. And Berly...she's one of Steckler's women."
"His women?"
"He's holding them prisoner. I promised her I'd try to help her escape."
"You make a lot of promises, don't you?" she said dryly. "What, did you fall in love with this woman or something? What about Luna?"
He blinked. "What about Luna?"
"I've only got the one good eye," she said, pointing at it with her index finger. "But I'm not blind. She likes you, you idiot. I just figured you felt the same way."
"You're more perceptive than I thought," he muttered. "But it's not like that -- not with Berly, I mean."
"Whatever. Do you know where they're being held?"
"Eldon and Carmine, yes. I'm not sure about Luna and Berly, but I have a feeling I'll find them in the same place." He looked up at the ship. "Somewhere in there."
"What's it like in there?"
"I'll tell you later. I think we'd better get moving."
"Right. I'll find Lucky, and maybe arrange some kind of transportation, too, if I can. I know where they're keeping Luna's glider, but I don't think there'll be room for all of us in it. Anyway, I'll meet you at the eastern gate in thirty minutes. There seemed to be fewer guards over in that direction."
"Be careful."
"You, too," she said. "Don't get killed." She gave him a nod and scampered off, leaving him alone.
He watched her go, then opened up the ICON system. He hated to buy skills and make these kinds of decisions under duress, but if he wanted to successfully rescue Luna and the others he was going to need every possible advantage.
He had to decide, first, whether to choose the Indomitable class or the Paladin class. According to the descriptions, the Indomitable class would boost his defense stats even further, making him practically indestructible, while the Paladin class would boost his offense -- it would increase his strength and reduce the cost of offensive skills by one-third. If he chose the Indomitable class he would receive a bonus skill called "Titan," while if he chose the Paladin class he would receive the "Protector" skill. The system did not give him a description of either skill.
Nevertheless, the choice was easy. He already possessed a high defense stat, along with Regeneration and Brick Wall; what he needed now were some offensive skills to balance that out. He chose the Paladin class.
You have upgraded to the Paladin class!Bonus skill acquired: Protector!
He quickly checked the skills list to see what Protector did, and read this:
Extends the user's defense stat and associated skills to any individual of his choosing, with whom he is in direct physical contact.
Did this mean he could make Lucky or Luna or Millie or anyone else as durable as himself, and even endow them with the Regeneration skill, so long as he was touching them? That could definitely come in handy.
Now it was just a question of which offensive skill, or skills, he should purchase, to bolster his new class. The one that immediately caught his eye was Chainsaw Ballet -- which, although it cost twenty-six skill points, seemed especially apropos now that he had actually managed to get his hands on a working chainsaw. And this one had always intrigued him, besides.
Twenty-six points was a lot, however, and he held off on purchasing it for now. He started skimming through the other skills, but after a few minutes he realized this was taking too much time; he only had about thirty minutes of Night Vision remaining. He needed to hurry up and find his friends.
That just left the "Looking for Love: Berly" quest message, which was still sitting at the edge of his vision. It had been there since his conversation with her in the Vroom.
He left it alone for now. Dismissing the menus, he rose to his feet, clenched his fists, and prepared to set out. He had work to do.