Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO ON KINDLE SEPT. 2)

“I think we have enough for a couple of weeks, so long as we ration,” said Alyssa, looking over the stacks of canned food on the table. There were other dry goods as well, but not nearly as many as she’d hoped. “Makes me wish I’d made a Costco run before, you know, the end of the world.”

Roman shook his head, saying, “I’m not that worried about food. We have the garden out back, too. What really concerns me is water.”

Alyssa looked away, then ran a hand through her hair. It was so difficult to wrap her head around the fact that the world had changed overnight. However, when the sun had risen, she’d gone outside to survey the damage, and she’d been shocked to discover that, instead of the familiar skyline of Seattle, all she saw on the horizon was mountainous wilderness. The rest of her neighborhood was still there, and though she saw hints that the nearby town of Easton had survived, she anticipated that she’d only seen the smallest fraction of the changes that had taken place.

Further supporting that assumption was the fact that utilities hadn’t been restored, meaning that in addition to the lack of power, cellular service had been suspended. Probably due to issues with the cell towers. But that wasn’t an immediate concern. The biggest issue was that, because of the transformation of the terrain, water service had been cut as well.

“Lake Eden is only a few miles away,” Alyssa suggested. “And we can set up some buckets for rain collection for the short term.”

“And if it doesn’t rain?” asked Roman. He glanced toward the basement’s ceiling, almost as if he could see the others in the house above. He took a deep breath, then said, “I think we need to go to the store.”

Alyssa leaned forward, hands on the table, and sighed. As a police officer, she’d often had to deal with shoplifters, and during some periods of civil unrest, she’d had to respond to looting as well. So, what Roman had suggested didn’t really sit well with her. However, it wasn’t as if she was contemplating stealing televisions and cell phones. This was a matter of survival.

Still. It just didn’t feel right.

But considering that the world as they knew it had just ended, her moral quandary felt more than a little silly.

“We only take what we need,” she said.

Roman shook his head, then put his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t like it, either,” he said. “It’s been less than a day, and already, we’re talking about breaking the law.”

“I’m aware.”

“But the thing is – this isn’t anything like what we’ve been trained for,” he said. “This is survival.”

“I just told myself the same thing,” she stated.

“And if we don’t do this now, there’s not going to be anything left,” Roman pointed out. “We need to take care of our immediate survival. You have Miggy. I have Trish. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure they get through this. Next to that, legality doesn’t matter. Hell, I’m not sure morals even come into it.”

Alyssa shook her head. One day. That was all it had taken. And if they were thinking that way, then everyone else was, too. The moment that thought crossed her mind, she knew that the situation was going to quickly deteriorate.

Easton had never had much of a criminal element. That was why she’d moved to the suburbs in the first place. But when people got desperate, social order had a way of being tossed by the wayside. Roman’s suggestion proved that.

The real problem was that Alyssa couldn’t really counter it. Food and water were going to be issues. That was a fact. And given the choice between watching her son die of dehydration or hunger and following the law of what may well have been a fallen civilization, she knew precisely which option she was going to choose. So, in that context, Alyssa said, “We need to get going soon. Manning’s isn’t huge, and if we take too long, it’ll be picked clean.”

With that decided, Alyssa and Roman went upstairs to inform the others of the plan. Everyone agreed that it was the right course of action, but predictably, conflict reared its ugly head when they realized that they were going to be left behind.

Trish said, “It’s just a mile or so. What could go wrong? I don’t want to be cooped up in this house, and I’m sure Carmen doesn’t either.”

“It might be dangerous,” Roman said. “Think about it. None of us have really tried out these abilities, but –”

“I tried mine out,” Carmen pointed out. “I mean, Bind isn’t meant for fighting or anything, but –”

“Nobody said anything about fighting,” Alyssa interrupted.

“That’s because you don’t want to admit the obvious,” Carmen countered. “But I think what Roman was going to say is that people are probably panicking right now. And they have magic abilities. More than that, some of them have definitely come to the same conclusion you two did. Given that, there’s a good chance that they’ll try to keep others from taking resources that might ensure their own survival.”

“It’s been less than a day!” Trish insisted. “You act like all of society is going to collapse just because the power is out.”

“Trish…”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“You haven’t been outside yet, have you?” said Carmen.

Alyssa added, “Trish, this is way more than just the utilities being cut. The whole world has changed. Did you even read the notifications?”

“I skimmed them,” she admitted. “Something about World Trees and whatnot. Seemed like nonsense.”

Alyssa massaged her forehead in frustration. “You did pick an archetype, though, right?”

“Yes. Roman made me choose Healer.”

Alyssa let out a sigh of relief. Then, she said, “Okay – I think it’s best if we figure out what everyone chose and test out our abilities before we start running around. Like Carmen said, it might get dangerous out there.” She looked around, then went on, “Guess I’ll go first. I picked Warrior. And the ability I got was Heavy Blows.”

She navigated to the ability’s description: