New World Day 3

I ran down the blacktop road at an extreme speed despite the weight of the backpack and weapons. I heard a cacophony of howls and barks and a few low roars erupt behind me. Did the rest of the pack find their comrades bodies? My mind raced as I sought to come up with a plan for how to deal with the remainder of the pack. I didn’t know exactly how many there were, but I thought I counted six different howls from the uproar just moments ago. I had one round left in the rifle, five in the shotgun, and 12 left in the pistol. I would love to reload the rifle and pistol, but I couldn’t get to the ammo without stopping and taking off my backpack. I would have to remember to keep some spare ammo in my pockets in the future. I hoped that I had enough loaded to deal with at least six more of the beasts. If I could somehow get them to hold still like that first group then I would have a good chance, but I couldn’t count on that.

The clicking sound of claws on pavement echoed out from behind me. I was out of time! They were on their way and I didn’t have a good plan to deal with them. I did have a bad plan though. The numbness that had plagued me every since my grisly discoveries began to recede like an ocean tide, and a crazy grin spread across my face. It was time to do something insanely reckless. Up ahead of me, I could see the last house before mine, and sitting right beside it there was a sunken area containing a cow pond. I veered right for the cow pond and stopped at the edge of the decline. I dropped to one knee, shrugged off the shotgun and backpack, and raised the rifle. There were seven forest coyotes on the road just a few hundred yards back. Leading the pack was a forest coyote that matched the size of the very first one I had fought and killed. An alpha maybe? Best to deal with that one first. I aimed for center mass and pulled the trigger. With a crack the shot rang out, but as soon as I put the alpha in my sights it must have sensed something was wrong because it frantically jumped sideways dodging the bullet and bowling over two other forest coyotes in the process. The forest coyote running right behind the alpha wasn’t so lucky. That one knew something was wrong when its alpha dodged to the side, but it had no time to react before the bullet struck it in the head ending its life instantly. The dead forest coyote’s mad rush sent it rolling forward in twisted ball of flailing limbs. One of its back legs clipped another one causing it to yip in pain and sending it into a tumble of its own.

That good luck left just two forest coyotes in the initial rush. I dropped the empty rifle behind me and grabbed the shotgun while I drew myself up to my full height. The two forest coyotes were running side by side and closing in rapidly. The left one twisted its head and nipped at the other causing it to whine and charge straight at me while the other veered off to my left likely looking to circle around behind me. It wouldn't matter. Not this time at least. I held the shotgun steady against my shoulder, and in one smooth motion I fired once, pivoted to the side, and fired again. The two forest coyotes crumbled to the ground with massive oozing holes in their chests. I was ecstatic with success but I didn’t let it go to my head. Things were just getting started.

The other four were all back on their feet. The alpha barked at them and motioned with its head causing them all to cautiously spread out in a half circle before they resumed their charge. Now came the crazy part. I stayed right where I was and waited for them at the edge of the decline. They were rushing towards me at an incredible speed. They were so close I could see the wind rippling through their green fur and the steam from their foul breath surging out of their mouth with each pant. I let them close to just a few dozen yards before I turned and ran down the hill towards the pond. The decline was steep and dotted with rocks, but I ran down it at a breakneck speed spreading my elbows out wide to balance myself as best I could. The forest coyotes followed me over the edge without any hesitation. I could practically feel their breath on the back of my neck, but all I had eyes for was the pond. I could see ripples emerge all along the shore of the pond. The crazy grin on my face grew wider and wider. I really hoped this worked because otherwise I was sooooooo screwed. Every step I took closer to the lake caused the ripples to grow more and more intense. Once I was a half dozen yards away from the edge of the lake I saw the ripples reach a frenzied pace. I didn’t dare to wait any longer! I twisted parallel to the lake and slid along the ground feet first with my torso and head leaning backward as low to the ground as I could get them. Six brown blurs erupted from the lake accompanied by six great geysers of water that drenched everything and everyone along the shoreline. Three of the blurs passed right behind me, two in front of me, and the last went right over my chest. It was so close that part of the thing tore a long jagged cut in jacket. Loud crashes assaulted my ears from behind me and the entire hill reverberated from the impacts.

At the end of my slide, I extended my arms out above my head with the shotgun in hand and rolled onto my belly so I could look backwards and view my handiwork. Two of the forest coyotes were down for the count with their chests caved in by the brown blurs. The remaining forest coyotes, including the alpha, had all dodged the initial strike but the non-alpha wasn’t in good shape. I just barely glimpsed it slide down the hill in front of me into the lake before I flipped over. Its abrupt movements must have caused it to lose its balance and tumble down the hill. I had counted on these creatures that had attacked me along the dam of the Small Lake during that first desperate flight being here as well. They didn’t let me down, and I finally got to see their true forms. They were massive three foot long brown crayfish. Their shells were smooth along their backs, claws, and tail. However, their short underbelly legs ended in vicious spikes. One of those spikes must have been what caught my jacket. The crayfish’s trademark big thick tail was even more pronounced on this monstrous variation. It was longer, thicker and more muscular than any I had seen before. If they weren’t so insanely dangerous I would probably be drooling over the chance to eat the tail of one of these suckers. I loved Cajun crayfish tails. That tail must be the source of their incredible speed. Normal crayfish used it to move backwards in the water at great speed to avoid predators. These must have adapted it to erupt out of the water and attack anything that made the mistake of coming too close to the shoreline.

The two crayfish that had successfully killed their targets latched onto the dead beasts’ legs and began dragging them to the water, and I could hear cries of pain coming from the one behind me that had slid into the lake. I didn’t know exactly what was happening to it, but judging by the sounds it wasn’t anything pleasant. My attention was all on the three creatures battling it out in front of me. The one crayfish that had aimed at me and the one that had aimed at the alpha were closing in on the alpha from both sides. They kept jabbing at the alpha with their open claws hoping to latch onto one of its legs, but the alpha was too agile for them to catch. The crayfish seemed to have an extremely deadly first attack, but their danger level after that appeared to be lower than that of the forest coyotes. Still, their combined attacks caused the alpha to forgot all about me until it was too late. After hopping backwards to avoid one claw swipe, the alpha darted forward to take a bite out of the arm of the crayfish that had attacked it. Its teeth tore furrows into the shell but were unable to penetrate all of the way before it had to jump to the side to avoid another claw strike. In the process, it turned its body parallel to me and gave me the perfect shot.

Bang!

The shotgun slug blasted a hole right through the alpha’s flank and into the side of the hill. The two crayfish immediately closed in and grabbed the dead beast’s legs so that they could drag it into the pond. Their path would take them dangerously close to me, and I didn’t want to take the chance that they would try and grab me along the way. I squeezed the trigger twice more in quick succession. The slow moving crayfish were easy targets, and their shell wasn’t strong enough to take a shotgun shell at this close of a range. Elated over my victory, I started to get up to head home when a tremendous pressure closed around my right ankle and a ferocious jolt of pain shot up my right leg. I had forgotten to keep track of the two crayfish that were behind me! One of them now had my right ankle in its claw and was dragging me down to the lake! The shotgun was out of ammo, but I still had the pistol. Pushing through the pain, I dropped the shotgun and kicked at the creature’s head both to distract it and to keep its other claw from latching onto my left leg while I tried to grab the pistol with my right hand. The creatures beady black eyes and long twitching antenna tracked my leg as I jabbed it at its face. Twice its claw just barely missed grabbing my left leg as I fumbled to get the pistol out of its holster. Drag! Drag! Drag! The crayfish kept pulling me closer and closer to the shoreline. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally got the pistol out of its holster, pointed it wildly behind me, and let loose. The first two shots missed high and went harmlessly into the lake. The next three bounced off of the curves of its tough shell with a clang. On the sixth shot the bullet struck the crayfish head on and pierced the shell. The creature instinctively tightened its grip on my ankle for a moment causing a loud crack to echo off the walls of the lake valley before it let go of my ankle, and we both roared in pain! The crayfish twisted and spasmed all over the shoreline before curling up into a ball like a pill bug and laying perfectly still.

I continued screaming my head off in pain as I desperately dragged my crippled ass up the incline towards the top of the hill. I could hear the rustling of multiple legs behind me. There was still one more crayfish not accounted for and that sound told me it was heading for me to finish the job its brethren had started. I pointed the pistol back behind me again and squeezed off the rest of the clip randomly as I dragged myself higher up on the hill with my other arm. The rustling legs stopped for just a few seconds before they continued in my direction, but that bit of extra time gave me a chance to reach the shotgun. It was out of slugs, but that didn’t matter. I had another use for it. I grabbed the shotgun with my left hand, put its butt into the ground, and used it as a lever to force myself to my feet. Once on my feet, I shifted the pistol to my left hand, grabbed the shotgun with my right like a crutch, and hobbled my way the rest of the way up the hill. The rustling legs behind me stopped coming my way once I got to the top of the hill. Thank the gods those crayfish were slow as molasses on land. If they were even just a little bit quicker I wouldn’t have survived that encounter. I paused at the top just long enough to sling the backpack and rifle onto my left shoulder before continuing across the road towards my house. I didn’t even bother to look back and see what the last crayfish was doing. I only stopped when I reached the part of the gravel driveway that passed through the trees. I needed to make sure that there weren’t any clouds getting ready to block the sun. I didn’t have the strength left in me to fight anything else, especially weird shadow vermin spawned by some shadowy demon tree. Thankfully, my luck was good. There was no longer a cloud in the sky, and I was able to pass through and limp to the garage without a hitch. After I made my way into the garage and locked the garage door, I dropped everything on the ground in front of the ATV barricade and slumped to the ground exhausted. I just laid there trembling in an odd mixture of pain and euphoria. Pain from my wounds and euphoria that I had survived yet again.

You have reached level 3!

3 bonus stat points have been awarded!

Survivor (B) * has leveled up!

Survivor (B) * has leveled up!

Fool (B) * has leveled up!

Fool (B) * has leveled up!

Fool (B) * has leveled up!

Pack Killer (B) * has leveled up!

Pack Killer (B) * has leveled up!

Beast Killer (B) * has leveled up!

Beast Killer (B) * has leveled up!

Risk Taker (B) * has leveled up!

Repeated Risk Taker © * has leveled up!

Basic Regen (Passive) (B) * has leveled up!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 3 2%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 3 66%

Fool (B) LVL 4 20%

Pack Killer (B) LVL 3 50%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 3 50%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 2 99%

Repeated Risk Taker ( C ) LVL 2 37%

Compassionate Fool ( C ) LVL 1 78%

Title Points:

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5

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Bonus Points:

59/105

10/10

2 per min (-1)

7

6

7

9

Status Effects:

Regen

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 4 17%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 4 51%

Basic Regen (Passive) (B) LVL 5 12%

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