Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

“How you gonna do that?”

“I’ll figure something out. Probably bribe the right people.”

“Alright, let’s do this,” Colt said, smacking his fist into his palm. “I can’t wait to fuck this asshole up.”

“You’re mistaken. Your job is to bring in kids, and only bring in kids. I’m not interested in having a teen be involved with the murdering part.”

“Screw that!” Colt said, beating his chest. “I’m a level twenty-four Slinger!” To demonstrate, he picked up a tiny metal rod off Eddie’s desk and whipped it around, burying it several inches deep in the stone walls of the basement. “I survived the Hard Tutorial. I can handle it.”

And to prove you can handle it, you damaged my property. You little shit.

“Whoop-dee-doo,” Jeb said, wiggling his finger. “My orphanage, my plan, my rules.” Jeb raised an eyebrow. “Unless you were planning on starting your own orphanage with your own mansion, money and servants?”

Colt glared at him for a good fifteen seconds, and Jeb was wondering what teen angst would spill out of his mouth...when the boy finally agreed to do what was asked of him.

“I’ll go get the others,” Colt said, standing and moving to brush by Jeb.

“Remember,” Jeb said, catching Colt as he walked past. “It’s absolutely critical you don’t tell the other children that they’re bait. Word gets around fast, and one slip will spook the man we’re hunting. If he spooks, we get nothing.”

“Just a mansion to live in, plenty of food and servants?” Colt asked.

“You never see Nancy again.”

Colt glared at him a moment. “I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

“Thank you, Colt.”

Colt peeled Jeb’s hand off his arm. “I’m gonna be keeping a list, pops.”

“Oh?”

“I’m gonna keep track of everyone I send here, and if one kid from my list goes missing in your ‘orphanage’, it’s your ass.”

“Fair enough.”

Colt left the cellar, the sun flooding the basement as he left the large doors open.

“I think that went about as well as can be expected,” Jeb said. “…And he’s totally gonna ignore my instructions and try to kill the kidnapper himself, isn’t he?” Teens were predictably unpredictable.

“I hate you.” Smartass sobbed as she scrubbed the filth off the floor in tight brushstrokes.

“You hate me right now. Once you’re done with your punishment, we’ll talk about resetting the sabotage truce.”

***Er-Nok the Rabzi***

Er-Nok the rabzi was sleeping peacefully when an odd sound woke him up.

R-R-R-R.

Er-Nok’s ears perked up, swiveling independently to orient on the sound—a quiet rumbling, something like a soft earthquake or distant thunder, only it was constant, unchanging. Unnatural.

Er-Nok leapt to his feet, snatching up his club with sharp rocks embedded in it. He let out a full-throated howl, his lips peeling back from his teeth to show off his natural weapons.

Unnatural sounds meant something was causing it. Something made of meat and fear. Both tasted wonderful to a rabzi.

The other rabzi in the den started awake, grabbing their precious pointy weapons and cocking their heads, ears swiveling to catch the same sound Er-Nok had.

A moment of silence allowed Er-Nok’s howl to echo. Then, in an unspoken agreement, the swarm of rabzi leapt into action, pouring out of the cave entrance like a howling tide of lean rage. Er-Nok would have been swept away by the tide if he wasn’t part of it, throwing every strand of muscle into being the first. So many benefits aligned with being first.

First to eat, first to breed, first to fight.

Er-Nok’s mouth hung open, his tongue lolling out in the wind, slobber dripping along behind him as he imagined the tangy taste of meat.

There, down the side of the barren mountain, was the cause of the noise. It was a strange, black bug thing that crawled close to the ground, ungainly and slow. It seemed to have a single arm that grew off of its back. A pathetic amount of defense.

Er-Nok was disappointed there wasn’t more food. The strange bug would barely feed ten of them.

That arm swung around and pointed at them, something spinning on the front of it.

Er-Nok the rabzi ceased to exist before he even knew what hit him.

***Jeb***

A flash of light preceded the rolling thunder of the explosion coming down from the rabzi-infested mountain.

BOOM! The sound washed over Jeb and Eddie, diluted by distance.

“Beer?” Jeb asked, reaching into the cooler and retrieving an ice-cold bottle before throwing up his feet and reclining in the lawn chair, watching the side of the mountain with the peeping tom wand and scouting potential monster nests.

“Almost level twenty,” Eddie said, waving off the drink and shaking his head. The old man had hacked the bomb disposal robot’s controller to support VR, then installed it in a portable antennae that could beam the robot instructions from about a mile away. It even had its own generator that could keep the thing running a good eight hours on a single tank.

Plenty of time to hunt monsters.

The old man himself was glancing around, the VR helmet stuck to his face, plastic controller held out like a pistol.

“Take that, you son of a bitch,” Eddie muttered, pointing with the controller and clicking.

BOOM! The fireball wand triggered in the distance, claiming more lives.

About four hours of industrial-strength monster slaughter later, the boney old man leapt to his feet, arms raised.

“Whoo! Level twenty! This whole leveling thing isn’t so bad. I could see how you kids could get into it.

“It’s showing me a bunch of Class options….” Eddie said, taking off the helmet and blinking, trying to make them go away.

“Ooh, Sleepless Sentinel. I no longer need to sleep.” The old man’s eyes went watery as he seemed to picture a life without mandatory rest.

“Don’t pick that one,” Jeb interrupted. “You’ll