Chapter 21
I dashed into the cover of the forest, picking my way across the rocky terrain, trying my best not to trip and smash my face. It only took me a few minutes, but soon I saw what looked to be a cluster of twigs and branches arranged haphazardly underneath a cluster of trees. It was so obviously out of the ordinary how did the Recon patrol miss it?
I pushed the thought aside, calling out towards the cluster.
“He… hey, is anyone in there? Its James!”
No answer. Maybe I needed to speak up a little louder.
“Hey, its me James! Don’t shoot me, I’m coming towards you!”
I started creeping towards the obviously man-made barricade, looking around for any signs of life. Nothing. Even with my Reconnaissance skill, I couldn’t see anything that looked like a trap, enemy, or otherwise.
As I got within twenty feet of the wall, I got a sneaking suspicion that this had to be a trap. But why wouldn’t anyone call out when I yelled? It was then that I realized we didn’t really get told who was on our team, just that we were split into two halves. Depending who this was, they might not even recognize my voice if we didn’t interact much. I wasn’t the most well known person in the squad after all, not like Tom or Anna.
I stopped, not willing to come any closer. Last thing I needed was to step into some sort of trap, getting maimed and dying to team mates before making any sort of headway here.
“I’m unarmed and on the Red team,” I called out loudly, raising my hands. “That recon patrol has left the area, I watched them go about fifteen minutes ago. So its safe to come out.”
There was a russel and sound of branches snapping, suddenly two people stepped from behind the barricade in front of me. Behind me I heard the obvious ‘ka-chink’ of a gun being racked, and I dared not turn around.
The people in front of me were dressed in what looked like an assortment of scarfs, shawls, and a dress. They both wore military, close cropped hair, the one on the left was tall, I would guess 6 foot even, dark hair, and muscular, with the one on my right being a head shorter, with dark brown hair, hispanic, and a mustache. I recognized them immediately; the one on the right was Miguel Lozano and the left one was Zachary Slampa.
Lozano spit on the ground, looking me up and down. It was obvious he was inspecting my status, trying to spot any discrepancy there. Slampa stepped forward, talking in a soft, level tone.
“Well, it looks like you Wilson Watson, but how can we be sure?” The skepticism obvious in his tone.
I snorted, “All of us are new to this place… you think someone suddenly has a skill or ability to copy someone else? I don’t even know if that possible.”
Lozano shook his head, “In this place, it seems like anything is possible. But you are right, no we don’t think anyone has that ability yet, but we can’t take any chances. Hes clean from what I can tell; his Squad says RED TEAM.”
I blinked at that. I didn’t even realize my status had updated, so I quickly checked it, verifying what Lozano said;
NAME: JAMES WILSON WATSON III (NO ALIAS ASSIGNED)
CURRENT SQUAD: THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC (ISIS) - RED TEAM
TITLE: NONE ASSIGNED
STRENGTH: 5
CONSTITUTION: 7
DEXTERITY: 6
INTELLIGENCE: 10
WISDOM: 6
BRAVERY: 4
CURRENT SKILLS EQUIPPED:
PASSIVE - RECONNAISSANCE (LEVEL 1)
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
ACTIVE - NONE
I grunted. Well, it did update a bit. Now my primary status page displayed my skills and I guess when you are assigned to a team, your squad automatically updates as well. Thats interesting. It also opened up the question; could it be possible for folks to fake their team affiliations with certain skills, or make people see things they want them to see? That opened a lot of possibilities.
My attention returned back to the two in front of me, and Zachary raised his hand waving. “Hes good.”
I could hear a loud exhale behind me. I turned to see a girl, she couldn’t have been much taller than 5’ 4”, her blonde hair tied back into a pony tail of sorts. She was small, but fit, and wore the same outfit as the other two. She almost looked like a kid wearing layers of bed sheets.
She had lowered her weapon, an AK-47 like I had during the tutorial, and walked toward me. She stretched out a hand, talking in a self assured tone. She almost seemed like she may have been a cheer leader or something before joining.
“I know we are part of the same Squadron, but we never really met. My names Trainee Kimberly Miller.”
I took her small outstretched hand, giving her a firm handshake. “He… hey. Thanks for not shooting me. I’m Trainee James Wilson Watson the third.”
She grimaced, “Yeah, I know. Sergeant Mayberry really let you have it that one day. I’m… sorry about your name. Its quite unfortunate.”
I smiled, “Well… you get what you get, sometimes. Maybe I shouldn’t introduce myself with the third part.”
She nodded, “It would help. But being as your on our team, lets get you out of those fatigues. We figured that we shouldn’t look like the other guys - thats a good way to take some friendly fire. We found these clothes in this little cache, theres plenty more so go get changed and we will look out for anyone else.”
I realized I was mistaken. The head gear that Miller was wearing was called a turban, and it looks like my team mates were wearing a tunic over a shirt and pants. The extra wraps and shawls, as I saw them, were just a stylistic difference between the team. Honestly, these clothes were so breathable and airy, much better than those fatigues. I immediately felt a difference in comfort, tucking my fatigues under a rock behind the wooden barricade.
The ‘camp’, if you could call it, was just a few bedrolls, and what looked like a long expired camp fire. There were a few bags, but they had all been ransacked for anything of value from the looks of it. After a quick inspection, I realized there was nothing here, and decided to rejoin the others.
I came around the barricade, noting that Lozano and Slampa were now wearing turbans as well, with a part wrapped around their face obscuring their features. I nodded at them.
“Looking nice!” Lozano said, shooting finger guns my way.
“These are much more comfortable than I figured they would be. What gives with covering your faces, expecting company? Besides, you know that they can inspect us to figure out who’s who…”
Slampa raised his hand to interrupt me, “My assistant, Rex, explained that once we get closer to the base there could be things like dust or sand storms. The hanging parts of the turban are used to wrap around your face to block the sand and dirt, protecting you. We are just getting used to the feel of it is all.”
I had never put much thought into what I wore, I saw clothing as a necessary evil so I didn’t get arrested for indecent exposure. Some saw what they wore as a symbol of pride, or status in many cases. But I guess this was akin to the thick coats we wore in the north to protect against the hellacious lake effect cold fronts; functional style. Maybe I should put some more thought into the way I look every day.
Breaking me from my thoughts, Miller cleared her throat. “We have looted everything from this location we could; there was only this one fully loaded AK-47 and Slampa was able to find a an M9 Baretta stashed in a bag. But Lozano has a few knives, so at least you can have a bit of a weapon. We need to get moving though, its already hot, but we are approaching mid-day and we should try and rally with as many people as possible.”
Lozano nodded, walking over and holding out the largest knife I think i’ve ever seen. I took it from him, instantly equipping it;
BOWIE KNIFE
1 Handed Melee Basic Weapon
No enchantments or upgrades, one slot available
Damage per second: 5
This weapon can inflict CRITICAL HITS if it impacts a vital area. Each hit from this weapon causes 1 additional Bleed Damage for each subsequent hit.
As I read the descriptor I found myself speaking out loud, “What is bleed damage? How is that different from normal damage?”
Lozano spoke up at this, “There are different types of damage within Babylon, thats what Theobald told me. That my… uh… version of Theodore. I picked the male version; didn’t want to mess with none of those weird ass options. Anyway, there can be stuff like Fire, Ice, Poison, and so on. These bypass something called ‘Resistances’, but I didn’t really understand a lot of that, he started spouting out some equations and bullshit and I…. just sort of stopped listening. But stabby weapons make things bleed, so makes sense, you know?”
I hadn’t put much thought into damage types, but it made perfect sense. It got me thinking how many types of damage could there be, and how did resistances work? Also, how was it everyone was getting slightly different bits of information from their tutorials, and what do I know that others don’t?
Nodding, I gently slid the knife in the wrap that acted as a sort of ‘belt’ for my tunic. “Thanks for the weapon, and the information. So which direction?”
Almost as if on cue, we could hear gunfire in the distance, coming from the west. “I had to ask.” I grumbled, as I followed my team toward danger.