Chương 7: To The Brink

Driving slowly, he tried feeling out what Resistance did now, and how it'd changed him. With it, he found that he could- very gradually- move to a certain part of him, and maybe numb it a bit. This wasn't particularly helpful in most situations, nor could he move it out of his skin- he'd tried several times, but he'd never succeeded. Before they'd even arrived at the crash site, the Nosferian squeaked loudly near him, and his head snapped to her, expecting some kind of warning.

Instead, he saw her flickering her ears at the same time, pointing at the steering wheel.

"You want to drive?" he asked, baffled. Another squeak and more ear flicking.

"I don't know what that means but I'll take it as a yes. Also, you squeak a lot, so I'm just going to call you Squeaky. Congratulations, Squeaky the Nosferian. Welcome aboard." Not a very person-like name, but according to Earth standards, would any Nosferian name be person-like? Squeaky did as squeaky was to do, and squeaked in response.

"Sure," he said, stepping away from the controls. It didn't hurt to teach her how- she might have to know when they reached the cannibals, as he wasn't so confident in her abilities to fight. He had a Primary to keep him alive, she probably didn't, as VoN said something about his group being the only one with Primaries, while the System tested a bunch of other things. She might've gotten something else though, and he was curious as to what, but they couldn't talk, so no real way to know.

He spent the next few minutes walking her through the accelerator, break, reverse, turn, and all that. It wasn't incredibly complicated, helped along by there only being two modes- forward and backward. Stopping meant it turned off for some reason, but you could press the breaks to slow down. Eventually, she got the hang of it- even if it was a bit wobbly and she struggled to keep it straight, she did it. When he stepped away and watched, he had to stop himself from laughing as she shook with joy, ears going crazy.

He could tell that for Nosferians, their ears were like their facial expressions, so it was safe to say she was happy. With some time to stretch his legs, he spent it studying his physical condition, as well as what the energy of his Primary looked like. While he couldn't actually see it inside him, he could maybe sort of sense it. He also knew it was green, based on the times he pushed it to the skin and saw it leak out, glowing.

He poked and prodded it in places, feeling his pain flare up at times, or losing control over certain muscles as he numbed them too much. He didn't make it far before he had to move back to the front of the truck, as they'd made it back to the crash site, and he supervised Squeaky as she slowly, carefully, navigated through the wreckage. He pointed her down the hallway that the band of cannibals had originally come from, the one with the floor scratched to hell and back.

Soon enough they were on their way, and he was allowed to lean back and focus on their surroundings, watching for any change. * He did everything he could, but taking his Resistance from one to two just wasn't happening. There was some kind of hard limit, and while he felt- at times- that his control pushed past its boundaries, it was oftentimes for barely a moment, and his grip turned sluggish once more in short order.

A strange phenomena he did discover, though, was that if he flared his Primary or extended it into more places, he would gain weight, but if he pulled it back, he'd lose weight. It seemed that Corruption and his Primary were antithetical. Just to see what would happen, he focused intensely, preparing his mind for half a minute as he thoroughly visualized what he wanted to do. Only when he felt he was ready, did he suddenly flare his Primary intensely, the energy washing over his entire body for a second.

The effects were immediate. First, he felt his entire body go numb, then, at the same time, he was subject to blinding agony, as well as an oppressive weight slamming down on his shoulders. {Corruption: 1 -> Corruption: 0} He grunted in pain, stumbling for a moment. Squeaky looked at him, but he waved her off, and she directed her to focus on driving.

'Well, that answers that.' He wasn't stuck being slightly attuned to Vineyard. His Primary returned in short order, allowing him to sigh in relief as the pain went away, and he noticed that it didn't take nearly as many tendrils of energy for it to numb him. Without Corruption, his Primary seemed to work twice as efficiently. That was very good to know, and might eventually save his life.

This also told him he could lose stats; Corruption, at least, but perhaps it was unique because it was distinctly foreign to his body? For now, he wasn't hurt enough to warrant maximum efficiency from his Primary.. He hadn't run into an upper limit for his Primary, so he could safely allow himself to sync up with the Nosferians- he liked how easy it made for him to move.

'Now,, how to do that…' The last time he'd synced with Squeaky, he was running from the Locapedes, and thinking of how strange it must've been for them. Was that the answer? Did he simply need to see it from another person's perspective?

'Worth a shot.

'Okay… I can''t imagine how strange it must be to be pulled into a dark place, with no concept of an alien race, nor any concept of magic.' He felt something tapping at his mind, so he knew he was on the right track, and continued.

'It would be terrifying, surrounded by beings you'd never seen before and…' He lost the feeling, confusing him.

'Hmm… it would… not be scary at all? It would be easy?' It felt wrong, but he got the resonance again, so he guessed he was correct? He didn't have much else to work with, so he simply recited the entire statement, from the beginning, getting himself into the right mindset.

'I'm confused, in a dark place I cant understand, and not even remotely afraid.' Now that he knew what to look for, it was laughably easy, and in seconds, he found the gravity on his body changing. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. {Corruption: 0 -> Corruption: 1} Not up… but down.

Another weight slammed on his shoulders, and luckily, he wasn't able to feel the pain that surely rocked through his body, letting him remain silent and not bother Squeaky with his new problem.

'Down?! Why down? Why is the gravity stronger? Did I not attune myself to the Nosferians, but to…' Looking at the feather in his hands, the Mushki feather, he felt another piece click into place.

'Oh… I attuned myself to the Muski I saw before. No wonder a requirement was to not be afraid, there's no way that thing even knows what fear is.' He counted himself lucky that his Corruption didn't go up further; he felt like if he'd been subject to full Ishtar gravity, he'd have gone splat instantly. Flaring up his Primary, he returned his Corruption to zero. {Corruption: 1 -> Corruption: 0} He brainstormed on what else was different. Why couldn't he attune to Vinyard?

'I bet it's because I was holding Squeaky before. It's probably physical contact!' Walking up to her, he placed a hand on her bald head, and she seemed fine with it- happy even- when he pet her as she did him. His mind was elsewhere though, getting back into the same mindset he'd tried for originally- pretty much the same as before, but with fear added instead. {Corruption: 0 -> Corruption: 1} The weight was removed from his muscles, and he smiled.

Despite the study, he kept eyes on the path, and noted several times where a truck parted from the pack. At first, he was terrified as he'd seen eight or nine of them, and he thought this group was much larger than he'd first assumed, but noticed that they quickly rejoined the main lineup. They were breaking off to look at something, then returning.

It might be good to know what they were searching for, so he directed Squeaky down one of the paths- only for it to end just around the curve, where he saw the treads turn around and go back. There was nothing really of note around here, so he could only shake his head and go back. They repeated this four more times, Aaron growing more and more confused. Eventually, he could only shake his head and tell Squeaky to start ignoring them.

The more time he wasted, the less likely any victims had of survival, and he'd already been forced to take a nap. * It was thirty minutes later that something changed. Carved into the walls, a symbol of skull and crossbones- obviously, a threat, and next to it was some kind of insignia that he'd have to look closer to see. He directed Squeaky down a side passage that lacked treadmarks until it was hidden from the main pathway, then got down. Squeaky joined him, but he mimed for her to return to the car.

Her ears drooped, and he felt terrible, sighing, he showed her the skull and crossbones, Now that he was here, he could easily see that the other insignia was a top-down picture of a… salamander, with a… really fat belly? And a cloud behind it. While he didn't know the name of this group, it was obvious they were threatening others so, pointing at it, he made a "Slit throat" motion to Squeaky. Her ears made no motions, which he took as confusion. She still didn't get it.

He held up his Mushki feather, miming slicing and stabbing- essentially fighting off invisible attackers. Realization flickered in her eyes, and she shrunk back a moment. Grabbing him, she dragged him towards the truck, but he could only shake his head, gently pulling away. She seemed to think, considering her options, then deflated, jumping back up to the truck. He respected her decision. He wasn't going to force her to fight, and hadn't expected her to.

Turning around, he started walking away when he heard a flap, and watched Squeaky land beside him again- this time holding one of the kitchen knives they'd scavenged. She made a stabbing motion, and he took that as a declaration that she would join him. He wasn't sure he felt good about forcing her into a fight, but he wouldn't reject it either… and he'd have fought, if their situations were reversed. Who was he to deny her? He nodded, and together they snuck into cannibal territory.

* They moved side tunnel to side tunnel, keeping their ears open. Though he still didn't hear any footsteps, he hadn't forgotten how voices carried, and how the crashes of broken rock did, so he made sure to keep his feather from scraping the ground. It took maybe thirty minutes before he finally heard some muffled talking. Around this part of the cave, the floor was scratched to hell and back, showing just how much traffic this area enjoyed. They both lowered themselves further, inching closer. It was strange.

Despite knowing someone was talking, he couldn't make out a single distinct word. It was only after he glanced around the last turn, catching sight of a camp, with tents, set up in an wide-open space, did he finally start hearing words.

"... Lucky! Lookin like Mr. Nothin's smilin' un'us 'gain! Murr sturf thurn pops in a corn field!"

"Aintcha knowit! Up to m'ass in alligators, but them thangs only got a little teeth!" They continued yammering on, and Aaron got the idea that the two he was hearing were talking about a new influx of things in The Nothing, but they weren't entirely sure as to why. At first, he thought that meant they hadn't caught any people yet- but was quickly disabused of that notion when he saw several large cages next to each other. Not only that, but there were aliens in these as well.

The camp itself was humans, but the cages had a mishmash of human, Nosferian, and… gray? Bobbleheaded four-foot-tall humanoids with big black eyes, he only spotted three- but they were distinct, and they had their own cage, separated from the others. They were pulled straight from the X-files, faces he'd recognize anywhere. It seemed that they'd caught more than a few people, they just hadn't asked if they knew anything about why so many were appearing in The Nothing.

The people themselves looked utterly miserable, some having already passed out, and many of who were crying. The Nosferians seemed to be taking it the worst, all of them clumping together in a ball, shielding each other with their wings, and collectively shaking. Outside of the cages, he spotted several fires, one of which had several… chunks skewered over it. It was too meaty to be a Nosferian, and too large to be a gray. It truly must've been a human.

Squeaky, lying flat against the black stone, took in the entire scene with wide eyes. He didn't know if she understood what she was looking at, but her eerie stillness made him think yes. She threw him a glance, but he had no intent to go anywhere yet. He needed to listen and understand as much as possible for his plan. * He listened, slowly building up an image of what life was like in The Nothing.

In order to survive, they'd discover and memorize "Drop spots," places in The Nothing that objects and resources were likely to fall through. Not everything arrived in equal measure though, as he'd heard some of them complaining about how "Picky" The Nothing was, and how they missed cigarettes. One of which was guns, implying The Nothing rarely brought guns or gunpowder down.

For some reason, Aaron doubted they'd struggle to make their own guns considering the ingenuity of their cars, so it has to be that they couldn't find an explosive material to actually fire the bullet. Another was that there were many "Clans," of cannibals, all of them with, what Aaron thought were, stupid names. The clan he was at now? Farting Dragon. He really, really wished he was making it up. That's what the insignia was depicting before, its sides were supposed to be wings, not a big gut or something.

He was happy to note, however, that the cannibals were not the only faction, just the largest. There was not enough food, in the nothing, never enough, so many turned to it in desperation. Not these ones though, they did it for the love of the game. He'd heard no mention of The System or any stats or abilities, so he was pretty sure they simply didn't have any, which was a relief to him.

He also had to find whoever the cannibals called the "Ass suckin' ticks," or "Ticks" for short, because they apparently only maintained a larger size from how frequently they raided cannibals, and that same size was exactly how they hadn't been wiped out. His most vital information, though, finally arrived after a bout of silence in the camp, when one person quietly said.

"We might have to move before Boss gets back." Another slammed something into the ground.

"Fuck no! He'll b'here soon, and we ain't moving no-one without the drill!"

"Been too long, and they ain't back. Means somethin got em, and it might be followin th'trail."

"Like what?!" the second person borderline shouted again.

"Think the ticks gottem? As if! Them suckers don't do no raid 'cept an ambush when wurr sleepin!" There was a beat of hesitant silence, and the same person quietly said "No…"

"Lotta things comin down from above… aint it likely there's a Mushki in here?" It seemed he wasn't the only one thinking that either, as nobody else responded.

"We gotsta move a'fore it findsus. Maybe go to anotha clan and lead it off t'them?" There was a collective sigh and muttering, but they seemed to come to a decision. They'd start packing up, slowly, and if the "Boss" wasn't back with the drill by the time they did, they were leaving. Aaron had no choice but to act before they did. Something told him they had no intention to abandon a lot of "Fresh meat," and he needed to save the people before they did. That was fine with him, though.

That last conversation gave him everything he needed. Pulling back with Squeaky, he went further down the tunnel, then started carving out pictures of what he intended to do.