Chương 10: No Mission, No Reward

The honey badger lunged straight for the smaller Dustchuck, and Jack's finger tightened on the trigger. For one second, he still tried to tell himself to stay out of it. Then he cursed under his breath.

"Damn it." He yanked open the glass door, powered through the wave of heat that rushed in, lifted the gun, and fired into the air. Bang! The gunshot cracked across the empty sand. The two honey badgers chasing the smaller Dustchuck jerked sideways as if the sound had hit them. One slipped and rolled across the sand, while the other braked too hard, stumbled over its own front claws, and nearly crashed into it. By the time they scrambled back up, the smaller Dustchuck had already bolted into the middle of the group.

Jack fired again. Bang! The second shot shattered the honey badgers' rhythm completely. The ones circling the Dustchucks stopped one after another, lowering their bodies as their ears twitched and their eyes swept the sand. Jack stood in the doorway, heat tightening the skin on his face, but he didn't step back. The gunshots worked. For now. His finger started to tighten for a third shot, then stopped. Gunshots could scare them once or twice.

But if they got used to the sound, he would be wasting bullets for nothing. A half-remembered documentary surfaced in Jack's mind. Badgers had good noses. Desert animals relied on scent, sound, and vibrations more than anything. If gunshots could break their rhythm, maybe smell could do worse. Jack backed away from the door and hurried toward the shelves.

"Strong smell," he muttered.

"Something nasty." He found it in the cleaning supplies. Bleach.

"Perfect." Jack grabbed two bottles, snatched up a plastic basin on the way, and rushed back to the door. Outside, the honey badgers were moving again, slower than before but already circling for another opening. The Dustchucks had used the brief pause to tighten their formation, with the scratched Dustchuck standing on the outer ring, claws dug deep into the sand. Jack set the basin down, twisted open both bottles, and poured the bleach in. The sharp chemical smell hit him at once.

"Ugh. Yeah, that should do it." He lifted the basin, pulled the door open, and stepped just far enough outside to throw the bleach forward. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Splash! The liquid splattered across the reddish-brown sand in a wide, stinging arc. Jack ducked back into the store and slammed the door shut behind him, then leaned against it for a second to catch his breath. Outside, the bleach worked better than he had expected.

The first honey badger to reach the soaked patch recoiled at once. Another jerked its head back, pawed hard at its nose, and stumbled away from the smell. Within seconds, the neat circle they had been keeping around the Dustchucks broke apart. A grin tugged at Jack's mouth.

"It works!" Jack was about to grab more bleach when the Dustchucks moved. The scratched Dustchuck cried out, and several larger Dustchucks surged forward. They kept low, claws scraping hard against the sand, and rammed into the honey badgers while the smell still had them off balance. One honey badger stumbled back. Another tried to swing around from the side, only to be shoved away by two Dustchucks at once. The encirclement broke.

The honey badgers, which had been pressing the Dustchucks moments ago, were suddenly the ones being driven back. One of them retreated too fast, its back paw finding nothing but air. A second later, the whole thing dropped straight into the big hole from earlier.

"Nice!" The honey badger thrashed inside the pit, clawing desperately at the loose sand. It managed to drag half its body over the rim before a Dustchuck slammed into it and sent it tumbling back down. Jack didn't hesitate. Gun still in hand, he shoved the door open and rushed toward the edge of the pit. He didn't stop to aim carefully. He just pointed into the hole and fired. Bang! As soon as he fired, Jack ran. The heat hit him like a wall. If he stayed outside any longer, he was going to end up roasted alive.

He made it back into the store, slammed the door shut, and leaned against it, panting. Outside, the honey badger in the pit thrashed wildly. One of its hind legs dragged uselessly beneath it, and every time it clawed its way near the edge, the Dustchucks shoved it back down. The others were losing their nerve. Between the gunshots, the reek of bleach, and their trapped companion's cries, the honey badgers' coordination finally broke. One backed away. Another followed.

Soon, the rest stopped pressing the Dustchuck formation and began retreating toward the open sand. The scratched Dustchuck cried out again, and the group tightened instead of giving chase, folding back around the smaller Dustchucks in the center. That gave the honey badger in the pit its chance. Dragging one hind leg, it clawed its way over the rim and stumbled out. It did not look back. The other honey badgers withdrew with it, and before long, they vanished beyond the edge of the reddish-brown sand.

Jack finally let out the breath he had been holding and grabbed a bottle of water, chugging several mouthfuls until the cold water made him feel human again. Outside, the Dustchucks did not give chase. They held their formation, the smaller ones still tucked safely in the middle. The scratched Dustchuck stood at the front for a while, watching the direction where the honey badgers had disappeared. Then it turned back toward the convenience store. Jack met its gaze through the glass and lifted his water bottle.

"Don't thank me. I'm still not sure if I helped or just made your business my problem." Then Jack remembered the important part.

"LOSS, mission complete, right? Where's my reward?" The system was quiet for a moment.

"What reward?" Jack stopped.

"What do you mean, what reward?"

"Did I ever say this was a mission?" Jack opened his mouth, then closed it again. The system had only warned him that mutated carnivorous mammals were approaching. It had never issued a mission. Jack wasn't buying it.

"Hold on. When three Dustchucks showed up at my door, you gave me an emergency mission. Now eight honey badgers are fighting right outside my store, and somehow that doesn't count?"

"The targets did not directly attack the convenience store."

"Seriously? One of them rushed right up to the window. That doesn't count as an attack?"

"The target was hunting, not attacking the glass." Jack had to take a second.

"Almost smashing into the window doesn't count?"

"Almost does not mean already. Even if it had hit the window, its objective was still hunting, not glass-breaking." Jack: "…" He dragged in a slow breath.

"So I fired shots, threw bleach, and ran outside in that hellish heat for nothing?"

"Human initiative does not automatically constitute a system mission." Jack raised one finger, ready to argue again. Before Jack could get another word out, the system spoke again.

"Human, primate mammals detected approaching. Number of targets: three." Jack stopped with one finger still raised. Beyond the glass, past the sand and dust that had only just settled, three faint figures were walking toward the convenience store. For the first time since arriving in this wasteland, Jack saw people.