Avoiding the zombies was difficult -- they encountered several large hordes marching through the streets, and dozens of stragglers scattered here and there in the buildings and alleyways -- and very often they found themselves forced to backtrack, but they managed to make pretty good progress anyway, into the downtown area of Lon Halos. They were obliged to stand and fight on a couple of occasions, but Stu, using his strength, speed, and special skills, was able to quickly and quietly neutralize most of the zombies they met within a few seconds. His preferred weapon in these situations was the baseball bat; it was better, he felt, not to waste their limited ammunition, nor to alert other zombies to their presence by the sound of gunfire (or Stu's chainsaw).
They had to stop and consult Sundance's map once or twice. Stu was pretty sure they were headed in the right direction, but without the glider it was going to take at least twice as long to get to Georgetown, and in the meantime they were vulnerable, surrounded by zombies in an unfamiliar city.
Luna was feeling the loss of the glider very keenly. She had loved that vehicle like a child -- she worried about the slightest scratches and dings -- and to have to leave it behind, after crashing it into a building...well, she was upset, to say the least.
"I'm sorry," Stu told her.
"It's not your fault," she said curtly. "But no, actually, it is your fault, because if I had never met you, none of this would have even happened. I never would have left Meku City."
"I'm sorry," he said again, not knowing what to say.
She sighed. "I'm overreacting, I know. We're lucky it was just the glider that was smashed, and not us. But how are we going to get back to Meku City without it?"
"Maybe we can come back for it," he said doubtfully. "Or maybe you can find a new one." He paused. "Or maybe..."
"Yes?"
"I've been thinking about this for a while now. But if Dr. Snowe can open up another one of these portals, and return me to my own world...maybe I could take the three of you with me."
"You want to take us back to your world?"
"Well, yeah. What reason could you possibly have to stay in this world? There's nothing here but horror and death."
"There's no horror or death in your world?"
"Well, there is," he said, a little flustered, "but there's no zombies. You'd be safe there. And also..." He trailed off.
"Also what?"
"Well...I'd miss you."
"There's no gliders in your world, are there?"
"No."
"But no zombies, either." She shrugged, and gave him a little smile. "That might be a fair trade. I'll think about it." * * *
They stopped to rest in a dingy gas station. It was still fairly early, and they had had fairly good luck; Stu thought they stood a pretty good chance of making it to the Georgetown settlement before dark.
While Luna and Millie were exploring the gas station, looking for anything of value, Lucky took Stu aside. "What's going on between you and my sister?" he asked sternly.
The question caught him off guard. "W-What do you mean?"
"I feel like there's something going on. Millie mentioned something about it before, and after seeing the two of you talk just now...well, I didn't hear what you were talking about, but..." He made a face and started again. "Is there something going on?"
He studied the kid carefully, trying to suss out his feelings. What did he want to hear? "It's...possible," he admitted. "Is that a problem?"
"I don't know," he said, a little grumpily. "Maybe. It depends on you, I guess."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, are you going to marry her?"
"Marry her?" he blurted. He must have sounded just a little too surprised by the suggestion, because Lucky narrowed his eyes at him. He tried again: "I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead," he said awkwardly.
Lucky frowned. "I like you, Stu, but I like my sister more. If you hurt her, I'll kill you."
He was dead serious. "I think that's a little extreme," Stu said, in an attempt to laugh it off.
"She's the most important person in the world to me," he went on. "My only family. I think I'd die for her if I had to. I won't stand by and watch you...mess around with her."
"I would never do that. Ask her yourself, if you don't believe me."
His frown only deepened, however. "I don't know what to believe when it comes to you. I don't know if you're even human. You're stronger than a rager and almost as fast as a speedy, and you can survive being shot in the chest. Don't try to deny it; I saw it happen, back in Delta. You killed the Brute and the Living Hell and the Cannibal and every other mutate we've come across. You killed the Desert King."
"I've done a lot of killing, haven't I?" he said wearily. "Well, you're not wrong. I can do things that other people can't. I don't understand these powers myself, but I'm not a monster, and I certainly don't mean you or your sister any harm."
"There's different kinds of harm," he said cryptically.
* * *
It was almost evening by the time they made it to Georgetown. The warmth of the afternoon gave way to a refreshing chilliness, and the bright blue of the sky receded into a deep purple. The city itself was an ugly mess, and infested with zombies, but at least the weather in Lon Halos was nice.
They approached the Georgetown settlement from the north, having spotted it from half a mile away. Like most of the small survivor-settlements they had seen, it was surrounded by makeshift walls, to keep the zombies out; the walls had been built around several bungalows and garden apartments. These apartments had been built along the crest of a high hill, offering a commanding view of the surrounding neighborhood, which was probably why the survivors had chosen to build the settlement here. A battered metal sign that read "Georgetown Apartments" was swinging from a rusted signpost.
When Stu and the others finally managed to make it to the top of the hill, however, they found that the gate, while closed, was unlocked, and that there was no one around to meet them. Stu couldn't tell if the inhabitants were hiding in their apartments or if the place had been abandoned.
"Hello?" Stu called out. But there was no answer.
"What should we do?" Millie asked.
"Lock the gate," Luna said. She glanced at Stu. "You picking up anything?"
He shook his head. "No zombies. At least, none within fifty feet."
"Let's have a look around."
They found evidence of recent human habitation -- people seemed to have been living in this settlement up until a few days ago, at least. But what had happened to them?
"They must have ran off," Lucky suggested, after they had spent about twenty minutes investigating the area. "They took their food and water with them, and whatever weapons they had, too."
"Sundance did say that the Dread's zombies were headed for Georgetown," Millie remembered. "They must have decided to flee."
"But where did they go?" Stu wondered. "What happened to them?"
"Maybe they decided to take shelter in the mall Sundance mentioned," Lucky said. "Behind Dr. Snowe's electro-barrier thing." He frowned. "Where is this mall, anyway?"
"Supposed to be somewhere south of here," Stu recalled. Together, they walked to the other side of the settlement and looked down into the mass of buildings below. Five or six blocks away, he saw a large complex that looked like it might have been a mall, but darkness was falling and he couldn't see it clearly enough to be sure. And he didn't want to waste his Night Vision.
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"Maybe we should head there," Stu said.
But the others were noncommittal. Looking at them, he realized that their trek through Hell's Hills had left them depleted -- they had spent the last several hours hiking through the city, evading zombies, while carrying all of their heavy supplies, and they hadn't eaten or had much to drink since early that morning. Stu was thirsty, too, and hungry, but he had more stamina than they did, and his desperate desire to meet Dr. Snowe, and finally get some answers, was propelling him forward.
But Luna nodded wearily. "Maybe we should." When Lucky started to complain, she added, "I know you're tired. I'd like to take a rest, too, and find something to eat, but as much as we might like to, we can't stay here tonight. The people who lived here left in a big hurry, and if they didn't think it was safe..."
"I know, I know," Lucky said. "Damn it. Why'd you have to go and crash the glider?"
"It wasn't my fault," she hissed. "Stu was the one who stood up in the cab and started fighting the zombie in the backseat."
"You're welcome," Stu said dryly.
And so they left Georgetown, exiting the apartment complex through the northern entrance and circling their way around to the south. Stu hoped that they could reach this mall within the hour; it would be fully dark soon, and he didn't want to get caught out in the open in Lon Halos at night.
Fortunately, as they were headed downhill, it was a pretty easy walk. Stu was growing more excited by the moment; he had spent the last two months, or more, trying to find Dr. Snowe, and his long journey finally seemed to be nearing its end. By this time tomorrow he might be back in his own world, reunited with his parents, and Zach, and Phil. A hot shower, a decent meal, a comfortable bed, familiar surroundings, and most importantly, no zombies, monsters, or mutates to worry about.
There were some things he wondered about, though. Why had he been brought to this world in the first place? What did Dr. Snowe want with him? Virge had told him that Dr. Snowe had the power to send him home, but was that really the truth?
There were some practical considerations as well. Was he stuck with the ICON system, and these powers, for the rest of his life? Could he pass them on to someone else, as Virge had? And if Luna, Lucky, and Millie were to accompany him back to his own world...where would they stay? His own apartment, over his parents' garage, was not really big enough to accommodate them all, and of course people would wonder who they were and where they had come from. Millie's cybernetic hand and eye were likely to attract unwanted attention as well.
Well, they could cross those bridges when they came to them. The important thing right now was finding Dr. Snowe, and finding some safe place to spend the night.
They had been walking for perhaps ten minutes when Stu's Zombie Radar suddenly went off. It was the usual buzzing he heard whenever a zombie was in the area, but it only lasted for a split-second before fading away. Unsure what to make of it, he stopped walking and motioned for the others to stop. The buzzing did not return, which puzzled him -- had the zombie passed him by? And where the hell was it, anyway? They were walking down the middle of the street, and the street was clear.
"What's the matter?" Luna whispered.
"Funny feeling," he said.
He waited a moment...and his Radar went off again. This time, though, he heard something, coming from above -- a sudden gust of wind, and a beating of wings. He looked up just in time for the ICON system to attach a designation to a shadowy, fast-moving, bat-like creature, whipping through the air above them and, just as quickly, disappearing from view. According to the designation, it was a Level 22 Mutate.
"Shit," Stu muttered. "Get down!"
"What is it?" Lucky asked. The others had heard the creature, but hadn't seen it. "A bird?"
"Some kind of flying mutate. Look out! It's coming back--"
His Zombie Radar went off again, as the mutate flew over their heads. It seemed to be circling around them, looking for a good angle of attack.
Lucky had his revolver out, and Millie her rifle. Stu pulled out his Midnighter, but the mutate was moving so quickly, and was so difficult to see against the dark of the sky, that he doubted any of them would be able to hit it. Nevertheless, when the monster swooped down to their level again -- and Stu got a very good look at it this time; it was a kind of humanoid bat-monster, with short, stubby legs, leathery wings, and a bizarrely misshapen head -- all three of them opened fire. Millie might have hit it, because it swerved away from her, but it was not obviously injured -- it disappeared into the sky again, and then attacked again, the long claws on its stubby legs slashing wickedly. It was headed for Luna; Stu had to tackle her to the ground to prevent the mutate from ripping her to shreds.
"You all right?" he asked her, while still on top of her.
"It's coming back!" she shouted in his face.
He rolled off of her just as the mutate came rushing down again. It was close enough that he ought to have been able to grab it, but he still had the Midnighter in his hand, and anyway the thing was damn fast; it launched itself back into the air like a cyclone, in order to avoid Stu, then shot down like a missile, its claws tearing into his arm. Stu winced and stumbled back; those claws were as sharp as razor blades. Though his Regeneration skill began to knit his flesh back together almost immediately, the feel of the claws digging into him was still disturbing, and the pain was still intense.
The mutate went after Lucky next. He fired at it as it came flying towards him -- the sound of that Elephant revolver was explosive; it sounded like a bomb going off -- but he must have missed, because the mutate was undeterred. He scampered out of its way just in time, ducking behind a rusted-out car, while the monster rose into the air again and made another dive at Luna, who turned to run.
Stu was close enough to Luna to protect her; using his speed, he threw himself at her and caught her by the arm, just as the mutate slashed into her back. She yelped in pain, but because Stu was touching her at the time, his Protector skill was activated and the injury was not as severe as it could have been.
Shit. How were they supposed to fight this thing? They could barely see it, and it was so fast that it was unlikely that any of them would manage to hit it anywhere vital. A Level 22 Mutate was nothing to joke about; the Living Hell, after all, had been a Level 25.
They couldn't continue to let it swoop in and strike them with these hit-and-run attacks. They had to bring it down.
Stu activated his Night Vision, to get a better look at the thing. It was extraordinarily ugly -- its head was a gnarled mess, covered with warts and tufts of hair, and it had vampire-sharp teeth. Its eyes...
He frowned. He only saw the creature's eyes for a second, but unlike the other mutates he had fought, this one's eyes were almost entirely human, and there was an unmistakable intelligence behind them.
He forced himself to focus. How could he kill this thing? He had Excalibur, and his alien chainsaw, but these were only useful for melee combat, and he didn't think he could get close enough to the mutate to use them. He needed to bring it down to their level; he needed to knock it out of the sky.
Well, he had Dead Aim. But what did he have to throw?
He looked around. There were a few abandoned cars in the street, and a fire hydrant on the corner, and some traffic signs...
Traffic signs. There was a metal stop sign only a few feet away, hanging off a rusted pole. Quickly, he used his strength to bend the pole down, so that he could reach the sign; then, digging into it with his fingers, he snapped the sign free of its rusted bolts. When the mutate came swooping down again, he activated his Dead Aim skill and, holding the stop sign like a discus, he flung it at the monster.
He had been aiming for the head, but at the last second the mutate veered off to one side, and the sign struck one of its leathery wings instead, edge-first, cutting into it. The creature squealed and fell to the ground, unable to keep itself aloft with a ruined wing.
As soon as it was stationary, Millie and Lucky opened fire on it; Lucky hit it twice, and Millie hit it once, but both shots missed its head, the bullets slamming into its torso instead. Recovering from the bullet wounds, as zombies were wont to do, it started to climb to its stubby feet. Even without its wings, the mutate was formidable; it was a big, monstrous, pterodactyl-like thing, and it could easily overpower them with its sheer size and animal ferocity.
Stu wasn't about to let that happen, however. He reached for his chainsaw, which he had slung over his back, and pressed the trigger-button to activate it. Rushing forward, he drove the blade into the monster's midsection, then moved it upward, slicing through its shoulder and cutting off a wing. The mutate tried to spit something at him, but he avoided it, ducking beneath the spray, and came up with the chainsaw again, cutting off its gross, mutated head. The head, with its oddly human eyes, fell to the ground and made a loud crack when it hit the asphalt.
Level 22 Mutate defeated!Critical Bonus! Gained 1 SP!Level Up! 39-41Gained 4 SP!Access Menu?
Stu stepped away from the mutate's body and sucked in a deep breath. How many decapitations was that now? He had lost count. It seemed incredible that he could actually forget how many times he had chopped a zombie's head off, but there it was.
Luna and the others jogged up to him. "We have to get out of here."
He turned around, and saw that she was right -- the commotion, and particularly the gunfire, had attracted the attention of other zombies. There were seven of them, shambling up the street, and several more were emerging from the bombed-out buildings. One of them was a Level 3 Rager.
"Fuckin' hell," he muttered. This was a bad situation; there were zombies everywhere, and there was no obvious escape route. They could continue down the street, of course, but with more zombies appearing all around them, and with a rager to contend with...
"You go on ahead," he said to the others. "I'll try to hold them off."
"There's too many," Lucky said, eyeing the zombies. "Even for you."
"I'll be fine."
"No," Luna said firmly. "We'll stay with you. If we go down, we go down together."
"Luna--"
"Hold on," Millie broke in. "What's that?"
They all stopped to listen. Above the sounds of the snarling, snapping zombies, Stu heard an approaching vehicle. A second later, a pair of headlights appeared, blazing out of the intersection just ahead. It was a van, and it was headed in their direction.
The rager was closer, however, and it reached them first. Stu attacked it with his chainsaw, but it juked and feinted like a boxer and his first couple of swings missed. His third swing, however, bit deep into the rager's shoulder, showering the scene with silver-tinted blood. The zombie yelled at him, opening its mouth wide; Stu responded by thrusting the chainsaw blade point-first into that mouth, silencing it; the blade ripped its face to bloody ribbons.
But there were more of them coming. A dozen, two dozen, stumbling towards them, growling and hissing and making those horrific guttural sounds.
By now the van had reached them, tires screeching to a stop in the middle of the street. A dark-skinned man with an impressive beard and mustache poked his head out the window and shouted at them: "Get in!"
Stu had no idea whether they could trust the man, but their options were limited here, and anything was better than contending with these zombies. He threw open the back of the van and directed Luna, Lucky, and Millie inside, and when all of them were safely settled, he jumped in as well, closing the doors behind him -- just ahead of the grasping hands of the zombies. "Go!" he shouted.
The mysterious driver floored it, and once again, the tires squealed as he spun the van around (knocking over several zombies in the process) and took off down the street.