Chương 107: 3.31 The Last Man - Clint Mansell (6:09)

Okyea This story really needs a training arc. ClickWhirr Agree. We've hit the point where every new threat Zeke faces is something that he literally can't fight and I'm getting tired of it. He isn't winning anything. Every time he survives it's through ridiculous coincidences and desperate improvisation. That's going to catch up with him eventually. Lexi Zeke: The enemy of my enemy of my enemy is my distraction cue to get away! Gagaking When the only way to solve a problem that is an enemy… is to get another enemy.

StoryLeech ^Gagaking. Forget divide and conquer. Our boy is playing introduce and leave. Dood is throwing three factions into the same room and quietly slipping out the back door, whistling, while they murder each other. BrightSky18 Quickly! Is there any other enemies Zeke can make right now? He simply has too few eldritch horrors trying to kill him right now. Shukuen I did not expect the Shard Choir to be worshipping the Eaters. Now I'm wondering how they're related to the Janus Storm.

Are they possibly the aliens behind the terraforming? Or are they just pretending to be the SC's gods the same way they are being worshipped in the Glens? Murmur Zeke, dood, you gotta get back to revealing some more lore, and lore that doesn't involve modding the game to hell and back. Like, has anyone even been able to recreate Zeke shutting down the Storm yet? DataDatum I'm a little torn on the lore thing, honestly. I get the frustration. Zeke isn't giving us anything that we can verify ourselves in-game.

But he did give us the House of Seasons and Corva (and maybe a few others I can't think of off the top of my head) so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on "inventing" new lore. I will say though, that this update raises a ton of new questions. The Shard Choir were treating the Eaters like they were divine beings. Are they connected to the Rift Scar? That is traditionally what the Choir worships. Are they connected to the Janus Storm?

Plus, the only real evidence we got of the Eaters comes from Argo's walkthrough back in Syndicate's Wake, and that was more of a "this might be a thing." I doubt we're going to get any answers about them anytime soon. It's annoying, but what are you going to do? Also… where is Argo? Surely he's seen that article about the House of Seasons. You'd think he would have jumped back onto the forum pretty quick. SurgeonSgeneral | where is Argo? | We got Plethora back.

I'm sure it's only a manner of time before Argo comes in. BlackCircleManga matter* It's a matter of time. Shootingblnks | you gotta get back to revealing some more lore | I miss the days when everyone was losing their minds over hidden lore instead of watching Zeke accidentally back into another apocalypse. RedCarpetManiac Yo Castellan, you're the tactics guy. I know about double envelopment and… I think that's the only tactic I can actually name. What would you call what Zeke just did?

The Black Teeth rolled up expecting to wipe out a retreating convoy. Then a bunch of suicidal cultists show up begging to die. Then nightmare horrors show up to eat everyone. Zeke managed to create a situation that was so catastrophically tangled that nobody could afford to keep chasing him. Is there a name for that? Is there a name for the tactic that let Zeke win that fight? Castellan_Mike (Primary) … no. Luck? Arcturus_Black Man the Black Teeth got rocked.

Imagine spending days hunting your prey and the payoff is "congrats! You're being eaten by Lovecraftian horrors." Couldn't have happened to a nicer people. MushroomCleric I'm trying to imagine all this from the POV of the mercenaries who were hired by the Alderman. They were probably paid to head out into the Deadlands and told they were attacking a logistics base.

"Alright boys, we're ambushing some porcelain mask wearing weirdos." Five minutes later…

"So that's a convoy of Mad Max rejects… those people over there are worshipping a big hole in the middle of the Deadlands… those things are erasing people from existence… and now the guy who was paying us is dead. Cool. Cool. Cool cool cool." DeconstructedAntlers | Is there a name for the tactic that let Zeke win that fight? | Nobody won that fight. The Devro convoy (Pale Regiment) started with hundreds of people and then bled out along the way.

They've been getting chewed up for the last couple updates Zeke has given us. The Black Teeth lost an entire raiding group. The Shard Choir willingly threw themselves into a meat-grinder. The Eaters got a face full of veylstone dust. Everybody lost. BaryByBax Man… Zeke is basically just a walking natural disaster. First the Reclaimer, then the Chapel Pit, then the Janus Storm, and now this whole mess. If I lived in the Deadlands and heard Zeke was coming to town, I'd immediately move elsewhere.

That's just basic survival instinct. Z3ke (Original Poster) Okay, I'm back. I know that my updates recently have been me giving you a bunch of stuff and then all of you complaining that I'm disappearing for a while. Let me just say that the next few updates will be a little shorter. I'm back and we're just driving along and I can afford to talk to you all without getting attacked by the Black Teeth. Z3ke (Original Poster) Everything is relatively quiet. We're just driving along and have been for a while now.

It's a weird kind of quiet too. Jackie and Elnor and I are the only ones in the jeep now. Our minder guy is in another one of the trucks in the convoy. I never bothered learning his name. All I know is that there are empty seats in nearly every vehicle so nobody had to reshuffle around because suddenly there was room for everyone. Our jeep is quiet because Jackie's got both hands on the wheel and she hasn't looked away from the road once since we started driving.

Elnor's in the passenger seat and he's just reloading magazines for a Pale Regiment rifle that he picked up. Obviously he grabbed it during the whole last stand thing we just went through. I've got no idea who it used to belong to, but we were packing up and he tossed it into the jeep after deciding that nobody would notice a missing gun after… everything. Neither of them is talking and I'm not really feeling all chatty either. Plethora | because suddenly there was room for everyone. | Oof.

The empty seat telling us how much the Pale Regiment lost in that battle without you needing to put a number to it. GG, Zeke. Sloth&Snail That reloading thing Elnor's doing is pretty realistic. After a firefight your hands want something to do. People get all fidgety and it's a way to keep you busy so your brain doesn't just sit with what happened. You should check in on him Zeke. Z3ke (Original Poster) Oh sure, I'll get right on that with my psychology degree and my couch he can stretch out on. WTF man?

What am I supposed to say to him? I'm not trained to deal with that. Hell, I'm barely holding it together myself over here. Z3ke (Original Poster) Whatever. My point is we're just driving and I've started to notice that everyone in this convoy is still kinda afraid. I can see the Pale Regiment soldiers in the trucks around us looking over their shoulders or craning their necks or staring into rearview mirrors, making sure that nothing is following us. That's normal.

What's not normal is, a couple minutes later, those same people do it all again. The whole thing reminds me of those Katrina dogs that were rescued but they've got tons of problems because they've all been hit with PTSD and can't make themselves understand that they're actually safe. Nothing is chasing after us.

The Dead Corridor is empty except for us, and I think we all understand that even if the Black Teeth and Eaters and Shard Choir all finished with their battle and there was someone who came out on top who decided to chase after us, we've got such a lead on them that it's doubtful we'll be seeing them anytime soon. Even so, none of the people in the convoy are able to stop themselves from looking backwards. I kinda get it. When the Black Teeth were chasing us we were all feeling the fear. It was an immediate thing.

You could hear the engines and the gunfire and the screaming and you knew something was trying to kill you and the rough direction of where they were. But this isn't anything like that. The fear is quieter now. And all we can do about it is to stare at the road behind us and ask ourselves "are we safe yet?" It's like, surviving the battle wasn't the end of the dangerous part, it was just the moment before whatever comes next. Does that make sense? StoryLeech That's just how trauma works.

You and the Pale Regiment have all just gone through something insane. Your brain was wired to expect danger and respond to it, so now that everything is quiet you are wondering what you're missing. Your brain is thinking about the quiet as dangerous and you're jumping at shadows. Staniel It's the horror movie moment right after the monster vanishes. Nobody is relaxing because everyone knows that it's going to come back through a different door.

Chivvighar In before Zeke says "this isn't a horror movie, it's my life." Z3ke (Original Poster) Well… shit. I kinda already guessed that was happening, but having Story spell it all out like that makes it a little bit more real. CovfefeBarrista Hey Zeke, the Dead Corridor sounds exactly like the kind of place where the game developers would hide something awful. You already figured out the House of Seasons and you gave us the whole Valley of Echoes thing.

Are you about to "stumble" across something new in the Dead Corridor? Z3ke (Original Poster) Uh… I hope not. It's dead. It's called the Dead Corridor for a reason, right? I'm guessing it's because there's nothing out here. We're just driving and the only reason we were attacked by people is because we brought them in with us.

Z3ke (Original Poster) Finally something worth updating you all with. We were driving for a few hours and I didn't want to just be like "still driving… still driving… still driving." A noise jogged me out of my thoughts and when I looked up I spotted an outpost in front of us. The other people in the convoy had seen it first and the noise they made about it was a mixture of relief and surprise.

Large watchtowers stretched up out of the surrounding industrial ruins, and I'm guessing that it is the Pale Regiment base that Haynes had tried to get in contact with for reinforcements, back before he decided to just hunker down and let the Black Teeth come at us. Obviously, we never got the reinforcements and, looking at the place I don't think they ever got the call because there's no sign of a convoy getting ready. The mood has changed here.

You can see the watchtowers from the road and there's a big old wall there and I can imagine everyone imagining the safety it represents. The place is normal and intact and welcoming and, for the first time since we ran into the Eaters, it's like everyone is finally able to take a breath. I'm looking at a bunch of the Pale Regiment pointing at the walls and talking to each other and they've all stopped looking behind us.

I think everyone is assuming that we made it somewhere safe and now we can all start to slowly un-tense a little bit. Arcturus_Black DAMMIT ZEKE! DO YOU HAVE NO SELF-PRESERVATION INSTINCTS?!? CrushDaddyXx This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. It's like the man hasn't seen a single movie. | now we can all start to slowly un-tense a little bit. | That's what the victims say before something jumpscares them and eats their face.

Z3ke (Original Poster) I don't want to hear it. JimothyTheBarber HAAAAAAAAAA. That's me laughing at the obvious misfortune you set yourself up for. Z3ke (Original Poster) We're parked outside the base and a stream of worry is making its way through everyone. The closer we drove to the base, the more Haynes was getting worried, and that worry filtered to everyone else. From a distance, everything seemed fine. The walls were standing and the towers were there and nothing was on fire.

But as we got closer, I started to understand what was making Haynes worried. Why had nobody come out to greet us? How come we hadn't seen anyone at the watchtowers? Did they not get our request for reinforcements? We drove up to the gates and… they were open. Not full on "come inside" open, but they weren't closed. We parked off to the side and now we're just idling here while Haynes and Vicks decide what to do. Z3ke (Original Poster) From my seat in the jeep I can't see any guards on the walls.

Nobody is walking the battlements and nobody is keeping an eye on the road. As far as I can tell, nobody is moving inside the compound. We've got the radio that Haynes passed out before we evacuated Devro. It's sitting up next to Jackie. She's got it turned on and I can hear Haynes calling out to the base and trying to figure out what's going on. His voice is coming across the radio and he's been trying to raise the commander of the base but he's getting nothing but static.

That excitement and relief that everyone was feeling when we saw the base has slowly been replaced by fear. Fear and worry and confusion and questions about what the hell we're doing just standing outside the base. Z3ke (Original Poster) Haynes had us all get out of the trucks. Jackie really wasn't happy when she saw him get out and call out on the radio that we're stopping here, but Elnor gave her the rifle he looted and he's got a shotgun and we've decided to stick in the middle of everyone else.

All the wounded are staying with the trucks and the few that are okay have been armed and their guns are pointed back the way we came. Haynes kept a runner with them and told them that, as soon as they see signs of Black Teeth or mercenary or Eater activity, they need to run and get him and we'd move the trucks inside the outpost. Right now though, he wants the soldiers he's got to check the place out. SignalLoss Hey Zeke, you said that everything is still functioning and nothing is on fire, right?

Z3ke (Original Poster) Yea. Z3ke (Original Poster) Oh what the hell?!? How am I getting a warning for answering Signal's question? Vantavoid Jeezus Zeke can't catch a break. It's because you answered it with a one-word answer. The mods set it up a long time ago that a single word post automatically gets a warning. GravemindLegacy (MOD) This isn't a reaction forum. Posts have to be more than just gifs or single word answers. It's a way to push conversations and debate on the forum.

ClickWhirr If the base isn't on fire then I doubt it was a Black Teeth attack. They would have looted the place and then burned it to the ground. You'd have scorch marks and bodies visible. Even still, be careful with just wandering around. Z3ke (Original Poster) We're moving in. I'm in the back with Elnor and Jackie because we're not stupid enough to volunteer to be first through the breach. We're letting the Pale Regiment have that honor.

Haynes and Vicks are around and I saw them talking and gesturing at the base. They seemed to be arguing about something before Haynes waved his hand and sent a team inside. Like I said before, the door was just open. A squad went and did the whole checking firing angles as they advanced into the base. I don't know if they're actually trained for this or if they just saw a bunch of movies and thought that was what trained soldiers are supposed to do.

Castellan did say that the Devro base was filled more with logistics people than soldiers. Do they have movies in The MIZ? What is the entertainment thing like in a post-apocalyptic hell hole? Hambones | Do they have movies in The MIZ? |?? First, shouldn't we be asking you that? You're the one who has been saying you've been isekai'd into the games. Entertainment in The MIZ would be something that you should talk about in your story. It would be some good worldbuilding that fleshes out the place.

You could give us an understanding of the average every-day life of The MIZ. It's not something the games touch on a whole lot. Second, why are you babbling about movies and entertainment? You're with a bunch of soldiers about to explore an abandoned military base. Get your head in the game man. Z3ke (Original Poster) Oh I'm sorry Ham. What else do you want me to do? I'm not heading into that place without a shit ton of backup or knowing that it's safe.

We're all just waiting here for the all clear from the squad that did go inside. We're standing around and Jackie is freaked and the soldiers are all wondering if we left a battle filled with literal monsters to end up at a base that is somehow even worse. I'm trying to keep my mind off shit, okay? Throw me a freaking bone over here. Castellan_Mike (Primary) Zeke, I understand that you're stressed. Take a deep breath. You still have Jackie and the jeep. You can get out of there whenever you want.

Just give us more information about what is happening and we can walk you through it. Z3ke (Original Poster) We're being waved in. Haynes wants the bulk of his soldiers to stick close together so we're heading inside now. The entrance (does foyer fit the entrance to a base?) has been cleared and there's no sign of danger. Yet. Z3ke (Original Poster) Everyone is looking at me funny because Jackie and Elnor both have their guns out and pointed at things and all I've got in my hands is my Tech Slate. But whatever.

There's… we got to the courtyard of the base and Haynes split everyone off to go and check the rest of the palace and I'm just standing here looking around. There are rifles on the ground, having been dropped there. The whole place reminds me of two things. The first was what Devro looked like when we were packing everything up and evacuating. Everyone was running around like crazy, tossing shit in jeeps and trucks and packing everything up. That's what the courtyard looks like right now.

It's like the whole base had been evacuated, and we're looking at the remnants of it. A bunch of equipment and guns and ammo and boxes are just laying there, and it all looks like people booked it as fast as they could and just left shit behind. But at the same time… why would you leave rifles behind? How difficult is it to bend down and pick them up? The second thing it reminds me of… have you all seen Starship Troopers?

I know this is a forum devoted to an old game that you're all obsessed with, which means that you're all probably a bunch of people who have seen a 30 year old movie but I don't want to assume. You remember that scene where the Roughnecks reach the base and everyone is just gone? Nobody knows what happened until much later when they find the general hiding in the locker, and he was panicking and told them that the bugs got in the soldier's brain and made him call for reinforcements. That.

That's what this place feels like. It's an apt comparison because this whole outpost feels like a trap. JimothyTheBarber https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=xqwW8TCMJjc Oh God! We're all going to die! Don't you understand?! UnhelpfullyHelpful HAA. Probably not the best thing to send to Zeke while he's strolling through an abandoned military base. Z3ke (Original Poster) Oh son of a bitch. I think I just figured out where all the bodies went.

There are uniforms and armor and rifles lying all over the courtyard, but the uniforms aren't empty. They've collapsed into something that is vaguely human-shaped, except that whatever used to be inside them doesn't look like a person anymore. There aren't any gunshots or bloodstains or signs of explosions or anything else that you'd expect to find when you see a corpse. It's like the people inside the uniforms just came apart while all the clothes stayed behind. Jackie recognized what it was the same time I did.

I got close to her because I didn't want to say anything too loud and be overheard by the others. When I got close she already knew what I was going to say and whispered "Eaters" to me and all I could do was nod. After she whispered that I could see her hands white-knuckle the rifle and… what the fuck man? Teabaggins420 Hmmm. Do you think the Eaters took out this base and then moved on your people? That would fit.

Haynes couldn't get reinforcements because they were already eaten, and then the Eaters would have just moved down the Dead Corridor until they came across an all-you-can-eat-buffet out in an abandoned warehouse. Z3ke (Original Poster) I don't know. Haynes must be thinking the same thing as you… teabaggins. God I really don't want to type that name again. But he must be thinking the same thing - that the Eaters were here and then left and it's the same group we ran into.

He changed the plan so that instead of searching for whoever attacked the outpost, he ordered we clear everything building by building. I think he's hoping to find survivors but not hedging any bets on it. Everyone spread out and they were all assigned different sections. They had their guns up and I watched them disappear into storage rooms and barracks and offices. They're all using the radios that were handed out and everything I'm hearing from them is pretty repetitive.

"Building clear."

"Building clear."

"No contacts." Then another building and another and another. Z3ke (Original Poster) Jackie and I stuck with another group that headed into this decently sized building. We chose the largest group of Pale Regiment soldiers in the belief that, if we get attacked, we can get out while the Eaters are feasting on them. The building we entered is something of a barracks. There are bunks along the walls and the middle of the room is taken up by these long tables all lined up together with some seats around them.

Most of the tables have food on them with chairs pushed back like whoever had been sitting down for dinner expected to come back after finishing whatever pulled them away. It had to have been a few days ago though, judging by how old and moldy the food is. It's all covered in flies and dirt and I doubt that any of it is still edible. One of the tables has a deck of cards splayed out where people were playing. There's some personal belongings seated beside the bunks and on top of them.

None of it was packed or cleaned up, which is something you'd expect to see from an evacuation. ArtooDeetoa Ooo. Zeke. Have you found the word Croatan scribbled anywhere? ShivSays Anyone remember the movie Phantoms? Dayum that movie freaked me out as a kid. It was about the town that got disappeared by the same creature that killed the Roanoke colony. It had Liev Schriber in it and the worst part about the whole movie was when he found the hand holding the lipstick and was laughing at it.

Byte-Sized Ben Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms yo. Z3ke (Original Poster) There's a series of offices next to the barracks and I'm guessing it's where the officers were all stationed. Reports are still sitting on desks half-written with pens left where someone dropped them. Maps are pinned to the walls showing active patrol routes. Or at least, active as a few days ago. We got to where the comms equipment is and we found out why Haynes wasn't getting any response for reinforcements.

The comms equipment battery is dead because it was left on and hasn't been recharged. I'm pretty sure everyone realizes that this wasn't an evacuation. But it also doesn't look like the aftermath of a battle. I'm not seeing any spent brass or bullet holes or blood or anything else that would tell us that someone died here. There isn't anything that explains what happened here, and I can tell that's bothering the Pale Regiment soldiers almost as much as it's bothering me. Z3ke (Original Poster) God.

I already know what you're all gonna say so just… don't say it. We found some footprints here. That in and of itself is interesting because… how do you just find footprints in the middle of a base that has concrete flooring? The footsteps lead away from the center of the compound and deeper into the base. I don't know exactly what made the footprints but… we're following them.

Haynes put together a team and the rest of the Pale Regiment was ordered to keep securing the compound while he personally led the smaller group towards the footprints. He gave me a look that very clearly said that I was not invited to come along… and again, I know what you're all gonna say. I decided that I was gonna find out where the footsteps led. Jackie was giving me a look that said are you completely stupid? But I need to know. I'm pretty sure I know who they belong to and… I just need to know. Alright?

Z3ke (Original Poster) Jackie stayed behind with everyone else but Elnor is following me with his shotgun out. I think he knows who the footsteps belong too as well, and he wants to close out this thread. Haynes saw that I was ignoring him and he kinda just shrugged his shoulders and let us follow along instead of arguing with me about it. Z3ke (Original Poster) The trail has led us into what looks like family housing. But that's weird, right? This is an outpost.

I know in most bases you would get some housing for soldiers who were married and had kids. But this is a post-apocalyptic hell hole and not standard US Military bases. The apartments are filled with stuff and I think that this was where the officers were stationed. But what creeped me out was a room at the far end of the hall. Let me set the scene. The footsteps led down this hallway and on the right and left were rooms that were exactly like the barracks and offices that we'd already cleared.

There wasn't any sign of attack but there was a bunch of stuff just left behind. The footsteps skipped past all those rooms and we got to the end and the room we stepped into was something like a nursery. Children's drawings covered the walls, carefully pinned up on them. There were these tiny dresses that had been washed and folded and stacked with obvious care. Toys had been arranged neatly across shelves instead of simply lying where children might have left them.

Family photographs covered almost every available surface and I can tell that they've been picked up countless times because the corners have become smooth from years of handling. The photos all show the same thing: a blond woman and two children, all smiling at the camera. Sometimes the photos are just of the woman and sometimes she is in frame with the children and sometimes it's just one or two of the kids. There are keepsakes everywhere.

Letters and books and blankets and little things that wouldn't mean anything to anyone else, but that someone clearly decided were too precious to ever throw away. All told, this room actually feels lived in. Z3ke (Original Poster) The footsteps lead past the nursery and towards a room in the back. Z3ke (Original Poster) Yea. Corva is here. He's sitting in an old wooden chair with a photograph resting in both hands, staring down at it so completely that he doesn't really care that we're here.

Z3ke (Original Poster) Um. He's not hiding or preparing to attack us and I can't find a weapon anywhere near him. It's like he's forgotten the rest of the world exists. Z3ke (Original Poster) Oh what the fuck man?!!? Okay. I'm gonna try to explain but… I can't explain. I traveled with Corva across the Deadlands all those months(?) ago and I can remember what he looks like and he looks different now. It's like his body is… full. Not fatter and not swollen.

It's more that his clothes don't fit him the way they used to. They're bulging in strange places. And his skin has changed too. Even from across the room it looks different. Almost rubbery, like his flesh is… like he is an Eater. He's got the same skin. Kinda. Z3ke (Original Poster) His skin is moving. There's a tiny hand that is pressing outward beneath the skin on his arm. It's not trying to break through and it's not clawing at the inside of him but…

have you guys ever seen a pregnant woman when the baby is kicking? That's what it looks like. I can make out the shape of a small hand just pressing against his skin until every tiny finger becomes visible beneath the surface before gently sinking back into him. Z3ke (Original Poster) Now it's a woman's face. Just the outline of one that came up from beneath the flesh covering his shoulder. I was able to make out a nose and eyes and part of a mouth before the features softened and dissolved.

What the hell is happening man? The things beneath his skin aren't trying to escape. They're not struggling or screaming and I don't even think they know that they're pressing out of him. It's like they just appear for a few seconds before melting back into his body and Corva isn't even reacting to any of it. He's just looking at the photo in his hands and it's like he's not even noticing what is happening to his own body. Z3ke (Original Poster) Neither Haynes nor any of the Pale Regiment soldiers know what to do.

I think they recognize the rubbery skin the same way I do and they're not sure if they should fight him or not. Z3ke (Original Poster) I'm gonna try to talk with him.