[The Primeval Apocalypse] - Chapter Fourteen (collaboration with u/hydrael)

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The Primeval Apocalypse by Robert Keene and Alex Raizman

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It was a mild challenge to get some rest out in the woods. Obviously, the first few weeks after the apocalypse caused by the system, everyone had been sleeping on the cold hard ground. But after the last few months of an upgrade to primitive living conditions, going backwards was a challenge.

In the early days, I’d only slept when fatigue literally overwhelmed me. The terror of constant near-death brushes with Mandrills, giant scaled beasts, and other humans had eventually been overwhelmed with straight-up exhaustion. Now, though, there was no way I was going to get any proper sleep. My full belly and the tingle of anxious excitement meant that sleeping on rock-hard tree roots cushioned only by a thin layer of dried pine needles was out of the question.

I was still able to rest a little. Simply sitting down in the dark with my back to a massive tree trunk and forcing slow and even breaths eventually made my body relax. It wasn’t proper sleep, but it would have to be enough to keep me going. And the light rest meant that I would be aware enough of my surroundings to avoid being caught off-guard.

In contrast, Noaich didn’t have a care in the world out here. My reptilian companion stretched out on the ground and went right to sleep just fine. Apparently it was comfortable enough for him that he was no longer bound and gagged in a shed, and even so soon after meeting, he trusted me to look out for him. Though it was notable to me that he naturally slept with one eye open, even though my Beastmaster senses were absolutely positive that he was fully unconscious.

After about thirty minutes he switched eyes.

I couldn’t help but linger on what Jenna had said about Richard. Perhaps that was why she’d been avoiding me. As the closest thing James had to a second in command, Richard had some clout, so it was possible that Jenna’s connection to me might make her guard duties all the more unpleasant if he really hated me that bad. But the new information did a lot to explain how he’d been behaving around me for the last few raids. He hadn’t just been eager to get the raids done; he’d been eager to have me eventually fail and die.

I tried not to think about how she’d called him “Rick” and whether that might be meaningful.

Perhaps this was a subject to bring up to James as well. Though if that was the case, I would have needed a bit more to go on than a little bit of he-said-she-said bullshit. Perhaps before talking to James, it would be beneficial to try and ask around to get some hard evidence about Richard’s attitude.

Although, how was I going to accomplish that and keep Noaich safe from trigger-happy guards in the meantime? In the absence of some magical method of storing him, squaring things with James had to come first.

I found that I was mumbling to myself as I mulled over the problem. I hoped that no one else had such a stupidly large detection radius and was listening to me. Though that seemed unlikely. Even half-dozing, I could tell that nearly the entire hamlet of Jamestown was asleep. I could sense the guards patrolling, but everyone else was asleep. I could even tell when another guard arrived to relieve Jenna of her post, firmly locking me out of re-entering the town, unless I wanted another confrontation.

There had been a hope that she would come out here to spend the night with me, but she went back to her own tent instead. She probably had a reason for that. Obviously, she was more likely to get a good night’s rest inside, and perhaps she planned on talking to James on my behalf in the morning to get him to come to me?

Just as I’d asked her to trust me, I just had to trust her in return.

I couldn’t doze deeply enough to dream. My expanded senses were still too fresh, and I figured that even in my bed, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. My awareness was just keeping track of things around me too tightly for me to actually get to sleep.

I found myself watching bugs and other small and harmless creatures crawling around the forest floor as I rested.

After a while, I started watching the small mammals that scuttled about the forest canopy as well, and found that right above me was a nest of fist-sized mouse-like creatures engaged in a bitter battle against a two-yard long snake lined with horns, working together with pack tactics to try and scare the creature away from their young within the nest.

It was fascinating to watch. The forest was completely quiet and calm, and here there was a ridiculously tense life-and-death struggle going on right over my head. As the little creatures fought and died to protect their home, their struggle wasn’t large enough to shatter the peaceful night for anyone else. Their survival—or failure to survive—was simply another part of the natural order. No amount of drama could make nature itself care for them.

Despite the observation, I found that I cared. The largest mouse was badly gored by one of the thrashing snake’s horns, and tried to flee through the treetops, half-disemboweled and trailing blood. As much as the snake wanted the tender young within the mouse nest, it couldn’t resist the tempting treat, giving chase. It was a noble sacrifice. The injured mouse was luring the snake away, where the horned creature would fill its belly and then leave the nest alone.

And it was working. The other mice worked rapidly to repair the damaged nest and reinforce it further, hiding their other wounded within.

The bloodied mouse led the snake past the edge of my detection radius. I didn’t want to see it die, but my curiosity was winning out. What if there was something to be learned? What if the mouse had some system-granted ability that would let it win in a fight? What if I could learn something about the snake that would be useful? Perhaps some quality of it might make a venture to the treetops a worthwhile endeavor for some alchemy experiments?

In the end, curiosity won. I activated Beast Hunter, expanding my detection radius to follow the unfolding drama.

But as soon as my detection radius expanded, I saw something that stole my attention entirely.

An enormous creature was up in the forest canopy. Its six legs were churning the tree branches furiously as it charged directly towards Jamestown from the northeast. It was the size of two city buses, and descended through the treetops right on course to descend to the forest floor on top of the town.

I immediately started cursing.

Leaping to my feet interrupted the expanded detection radius, cutting off my ability to observe it directly, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t make an estimate of how long I had before disaster struck. Noaich woke up at my sudden jump, but I didn’t have time to explain.

“Stay here,” I said quickly, breaking into a sprint towards town. “There’s danger coming.”

I went into a face-first slide halfway through the tunnel, and scrambled the rest of the way. I almost ran face-first into the tip of a trident on my way out, but the guard recognized me before they struck.

“What the fuck?” he cursed. I recognized his face, but couldn’t put a name to it. Kevin? Carlton? Creature? That last one sounded the most right but was not actually a name. “What were you doing out there? Scared me half to death—”

“Everyone’s in danger,” I snapped. I pointed vaguely northeast and up at the forest canopy. “Big monster. We only have a few seconds.”

It turned out we had less than that.

The beast emerged from the treetops like a meteor. As soon as it broke through the branches above the camp, it used some ability to wreath itself in conjured flames as it let loose a fearsome roar that shook the whole camp. My Detection skill lit up as I sensed everyone was waking up. About half the town vanished off of my detection radius as they activated their Stealth skill in instinctive response to the bestial threat.

I heard the screams as the creature hit the ground, no doubt dealing massive damage to the people on that end of the camp.

There wasn’t time to wait around for Creature to make some smartass remark about the timing of my warning. I broke into a dead sprint heading for the site of the upcoming battle.