Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

opening it, he could see the remaining items in his Foundry queue. The naginata was finished! Excited to try it out, he was going to head to the Foundry when Nick alerted him of another proximity alert trigger. At least they were far into the jungle path. Those sensors were doing their job!

Gus cracked his knuckles, wishing that the zombies would’ve had the courtesy to wait until his armor was finished. Rude! Nothing to do about it though. Gus hurried to the Foundry to see his new weapon.

When he arrived at the Foundry, lights on the catwalk directed him from the control room to a closed metal dispenser on one of the lower levels. It was darker here, some of the overhead lighting blocked by the metal walkways that crisscrossed amongst the machinery. Pushing a green button, the metal lid lifted with a dramatic hiss, and released a dense white foggy mist.

Lying there on egg-crate foam was a long black naginata. It was exotic-looking and impressive, emanating danger. The blade glinted somehow in the dark, steamy room. The shaft was fashioned of polished ebony-colored material, with a filigreed silver band midway down the shaft.

Gus reverently lifted the weapon from the conveyer; he could feel the tooled grips that compressed slightly, reminding him of the foam putty. The weight was surprisingly similar to the practice spears. Gus could not tell if this was made of lightweight metal or some kind of advanced polycarbonate, but the surface did feel cool to the touch. Three empty sockets were visible above the upper grip and the guard next to the blade. Gus ran his finger around one of the sockets, wondering what would fit in the shallow depression. He then examined the weapon to see its properties:

Unnamed Glaive: Naginata (36-48)

+20% slashing damage

EverSharp (Blade does not dull)

Do you wish to name this weapon now? (Y/N)

Gus almost hit yes, then thought better of it. For some odd reason, the name Razorback just didn’t seem an appropriate fit. What if the weapon evolved like Nick, and no longer was ‘Razorback?’ He could always name the weapon later.

Gus wanted to practice some swings and attacks, but the walkway and handrails would get in the way, so he made his way out of the Foundry. The cramped nature of the walkway made him realize that he would need an alternative secondary weapon for close quarter fighting. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need it for this upcoming fight with the zombies, but nothing ever tended to go the way he had planned.

Gus thought he must have been imagining it, but it felt like the weapon ‘clicked’ into place when he picked it up by both grips. That feeling of excess energy welled up again, similar to when he woke in the morning. “Let’s see how this bad boy performs,” Gus said, heading out of the manor for the jungle.

Activating Dash, he sped along the path and in no time was by the scene of his last battle with the Mantids. The remains were even more decayed than the Shamblers’, despite being killed more recently. Perhaps the Shamblers’ constitution boost extended to their entire body make-up.

Gus tried to familiarize himself with the new weapon. It had a longer reach than other spears he had used, as well as having a long cutting edge instead of just a sharp pointed tip. The feel of the naginata was different enough that Gus began to doubt his choice of running out with a new weapon. Even though he had trained with a naginata, it hadn’t been this one. Think and stop being so impulsive for once!

He almost turned back but decided that he would proceed cautiously and retreat if needed, fleeing to safety. He proceeded forward in small spurts, then stopped and listened for the telltale forest silence that warned of Dark Nth nearby. After traveling another mile, he finally noticed the change he was expecting. All went quiet, and Gus stopped dashing altogether and crept warily, listening for movement in the foliage. Finally relaxing to breathe, Gus tentatively cut a large frond away from the path then listened to see if the noise would trigger a zombie attack. Nothing happened. He tried again, then paused. Again nothing. He was ready to retreat, but straining all his perception filters and listening, he noticed nothing besides the preternatural silence.

Gus, you’re being stupid, head back.

But he continued on, for some reason. He felt compelled to explore just a bit farther.

Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.

After thirty minutes of this, he became bolder in his movements and cleared the path more regularly, taking long pauses between hacking plants to listen for enemies.

When the attack finally happened, Gus was totally caught off guard. A Shambler trudged forward, carrying something that resembled a bluish mass covered in tiny eyes surrounding a bowling-ball-sized eye in the center. The blob looked totally boneless and the eyes, facing in a multitude of directions, abruptly twitched, rotated, and all began looking at Gus.

“Dag yo! That’s flipping gross!” Gus said, staring in equal parts disgust and morbid curiosity. Wreck-ognize activated just as Mantids began to drop from the canopy. *Thwok!* Two landed on either side of the Shambler. *Thwok!* Gus heard one dropping behind him. Gus dismissed the message without reading to face the threat.

Damn, damn, damn! Gus’ eyes flitted everywhere as red dots began appearing all around him. Off to the sides of the path, similar noises betrayed that there were Mantids all around him. Gus felt a jolt of adrenaline and he started to panic. He had obviously underestimated these zombies! Gus activated Dash, moving away from the eyeball and retreating along the path. As he pulled away, he swore he could feel the impulse to come back to stare at the creature just a little bit more.

His TimeSight let him see the Mantid blocking the path was preparing to leap and attack. Mid-dash, Gus jumped and met the attack with a Parry and Counter-attack to the Mantid’s gut. Putting his weight into the attack