The next day I spent the whole time in bed, thinking about how to progress my scouting skills, only getting up to thaw out and eat some of my frozen food stocks.
I can't take much of these with me and I have a lot of stock so there is no need for rationing.
It wasn't until the following morning that I got set to move to my next hunting spot.
It will take most of the day to get there, not because I'm slow but because I need to be careful heading into a new area, especially considering the possibility of a portal.
If I'm right, there should be lots more creatures for me to hunt before long.
Along the way I killed and ate a few straggling bomb chickens and filthy dogs to restock my stamina.
Given the amount of mana I have, and my physical level, my top speed is quite high but since I'm going into an unexplored area I am hardly jogging. Barely enough to warrant needing a meal but I will take anything that I can get.
By about mid afternoon I arrived at the edge of the town, and it didn't take long to realise this wasn't going to be a good hunting ground. There are no signs of life anywhere.
The town is completely barren and looks like it came straight out of an old wild west movie. The old tavern is even on the corner of the two main streets in the middle of town.
I go inside the tavern and take up at the closest table, setting my map across the rotting wood. This ghost town is pretty rural compared to the other places I've been to.
It's somewhat dry and further from the coast than the last city. And it barely could've had a population of 100 people back before the world ended.
Perhaps my theory about the portal spawns have a pattern was wrong?
The first portal was in the same city that I had died in. Some ways away from the stadium.
The other three portals were all in city / suburban areas but were effectively evenly spaced between each going north.
That is why I came here, but now I'm thinking I should have gone further east instead of west to Lucktuck. That city is on the water, but it had a much larger population than this town.
If the portal spawn location had to do with population density and not geographic symmetry than the portal could be over there.
Regardless now that I am here, I can't go anywhere until tomorrow but that begs the question, do I want to spend the time to go east just to confirm or deny my portal spawn theory or do I want to continue north to approach the archipelagos.
Deciding to think more on it later, I get up to peruse the taverns pantry. If I'm lucky there will be booze to keep me company for the night.
Casually probing through the old taverns cupboards and pushing empty bottles aside I notice how damn wet everything feels. The table was rotting but so is the counter. And the cupboards doors.
And the roof.
The floor too.
Everything feels wet.
But this is a dry country. It's not a desert or anything but rainfall here is definitely scarce and there are no water sources nearby that I know of. There definitely weren't any on my map but it could be outdated.
As I inspect the poor conditions of the building and my instincts start telling me that booze isn't important right now, I head out the building and towards one across the street.
This one is also really run down and frankly, there's no way it looked like this five years ago. I could picture it taking damage due to neglect or storms passing through but how can a stone foundation, wood walled building in the closest thing to a desert around here look like it had been dunked in the ocean too long.
I swear if I looked hard enough id find seaweed.
Shit's giving me the heebie-jeebies.
My instincts are definitely not liking this weird situation and I'm starting to wonder if I should set everything on fire.
There aren't any creatures around that I know of so the smoke shouldn't be much of a problem.
Deciding to hold off a little bit on the destruction I investigate each of the houses in town.
It didn't take long because there are only about thirty of them, but each of them as the same water damaged walls and furniture.
There is only about an hour of sunlight left and I'm starting to wonder if I've really fucked up.
How in the god's hell are these buildings so wet.
Frankly I'm not too keen on finding out and it'll be dark soon so it's time to fuck off.
Without a moment more wasted I hop, skip and jump the fuck outta that ghost town.
It didn't take long to find a more suitable and far less unusual place to sleep. I climbed a not too step hill to its apex and set myself up under a tree. It might be tough on the back but it's far enough away from that place to be satisfactory.
Given the lack of creatures around I should be able to rest my eyes just fine without worry.
*****
It was deep into the night when I was woken up by shouts and cheers that enchanted the night sky.
The loud cries of laughter and bantering shot my heart through my ribs as I recognised the enjoying night thrill of a night on the town.
A night on the town…
In the middle of nowhere…
After the apocalypse has happened…
Leaping from my not so comfortable tree root mattress I start searching for the origin of the noise. That woke me up quick smart.
It sounds like people but there couldn't possibly be people here.
Is it an illusion? Am I being attacked mentally?
Taking out my flaming sword I search the area around me. The noise couldn't possibly be normal.
I listen closely as I try to identify the origin of the noise only to realise that it's gone. As quickly as I noticed it, it was gone again.
I know for certain that I heard it. I'm not going to second guess myself on that. I've come across a few illusion using creatures before and learnt that lesson the hard way.
Making slow 360 degree turns I survey the area as I creep to the edges of the hill.
There was a spot that had half a view of the town beneath. If this isn't an illusion, then the sound would be coming from there. Even though there were no people there.
Reaching the edge of the hilltop I peer down towards the town but, there was nothing.
I couldn't see it even though there is plenty of moonlight. It just looks black down there though. Like darkness has swallowed the world around me.
Staring out further I realise that it is the same all around me.
The world beneath me is gone.
Unsure as to what the heck is going on or what I am supposed to do I circle the edges of the hill whilst staring down at the expanse of pure darkness.
I make a full loop around the hilltop and even climb further down to get a closer look before I stop, completely stumped.
It was then that I heard a clear, cowboy accent voice behind me, "Are ya good their mate?"
I flip the fuck out as a spin to face the voice's origin just to find a standing fucking skeleton looking at me as though I'm some kind of lost puppy.
Without a split second to spare I blast the heat up on my sword and cook the hilltop, the skeleton included, with heat so vicious that the hilltop melts around me.
Standing in the flames like some kind of God of destruction, I wait for the incandescent glow to fade enough that I can see where the skeleton was standing.
"Easy their mate. I don't want any trouble".
Despite the heat, the skeleton was still standing there, now with its arms raised in a show of surrender.
Unsure of what to do I waited for it to continue and sure enough it did, "we're chill mate. Just want to talk". It's tone genuinely suggested its desire to talk with me but I was more concerned with something else it said.
"We?"
That was a mistake. Hands and skulls started to appear from the darkness below which was now visible on all sides after I melted the hilltop.
Skeletons started climbing the hillside to join the first one.
I spun on the spot with my sword outstretched.
You could say that I was starting to panic a little bit, but that is surely a fair response to the situation.
My fire did nothing to these things.
It's not the be all end all but I've hardly come across something that took no damage whatsoever. I'll just have to resort to good old-fashioned violence instead but, there really are a lot of them.
"Please. We mean no harm."
I swivelled to the skeleton the feminine voice came from. Her arms were raised in surrender like the other one.
"We didn't all come out at once because we didn't want to alarm you. But… it seems you were already on edge."
As she spoke the other skeletons rose their arms to show they weren't a threat as well. And they kept enough distance from me to make me feel more comfortable.
"Who are you?" I asked, although I was starting to get an idea of that already.
The seemingly female skeleton hesitated before the original skeleton spoke up. His voice and subtle confidence gave me the impression that he's the leader here.
"We are the townsfolk… from that place down there." He pointed towards the darkness before realising that he couldn't see through the darkness. "Ah. That's right. Forgot about that. There is a town under that dark water. You may have seen it during the day?"
I nodded slowly, implying that he goes on.
"We are the residents of that town. You see, we are actually humans, but a strange magic resides of this land now that made us into… this." He gestured to his bony body as he spoke.
"What strange magic? How did it make you a skeleton?"
Why should I believe you I wanted to ask but I'm still heavily out numbered so best not be rude… yet.
"Honestly I don't know."
"What?
"Exactly that. I said we are humans, didn't I? If we did know then wouldn't that be strange?" he asked in a subtly mocking tone.
THIS SARCASTIC BITCH BEAT ME TO IT!
A moment of silence filled the air as my mind reeled at the realisation I'd been mocked by a talking bag of bones.