Spatial Manipulation System

Chapter 5 -Nowhere is safe

Dave opened his lips to refuse but the boy Jason with the gold chain interrupted.

“We'll pay you okay? However much you want, we'll pay”

His condescending tone and expression almost made Dave roll his eyes. If money could solve everything, would their chauffeur drive off and leave them here?

The airstrip was on the way anyway so he simply shrugged.

“Sure, but first, I need you all to do something for me,” he replied.

“Anything, name it. In this country, there's not much we can't get done.” Heather smiled brightly, but Celine wore an apprehensive expression.

Unlike her friends, she actually knew about the Awakened. They were not to be trifled with, especially in a lawless world like this.

“Help me find some barrels and take them to the pump,” he requested and turned around to look.

Noticing none of the teenagers moving, he turned back to them and tilted his head sideways with his eyes half squinted.

“Are you asking us to carry things for you? Do you even know who we are?” Adam, the large boy, took a menacing step forward.

“Fine, anyone who takes a barrel out can get into the car. If you go out without a barrel, my colleague in the car will shoot you if you try to get in. Sounds good?” Dave smiled sarcastically and turned away, starting his search.

“This guy is bluffing right?” Jason scoffed behind him, looking incredulously at Celine, who wore a somber expression.

“Do as he says” she ordered and walked away from the group. Heather hesitated before following her while the three boys stared at each other feeling lost and confused by Celine's reaction.

Dave could not be bothered with them. Working in a thankless office, he had seen his fair share of entitled people and he was not about to let them bother him or ruin his mood. Not when he was already troubled by the sudden events of the day.

Besides, night was quickly approaching and he had no intention of staying outdoors to find out what surprises night would give them.

He quickly found and grabbed two twenty-five litter barrels before heading out. This time, he crossed over to the pump without getting attacked, but he had an ominous feeling that someone was watching him.

Hei Yu got out of the car to stand beside him as he started to fill the first barrel.

“I awakened!” She announced excitedly.

“What?” Dave turned around to her dumbfounded.

“This blue screen appeared in front of me and I awakened a precision system”

Seeing her twinkling eyes, Dave smiled and pumped up his fist to share her excitement.

“Congrats,” he said.

“I don't know exactly what I'm capable of yet, but surely this will help us survive better.” She grinned, and Dave nodded in agreement.

Just then a figure reached them with two barrels in hand. Dave turned around sharply to see Celine standing with a smile.

“Am I green?” She asked pouting playfully.

“Get in the truck,” Dave shook his head and pointed with a chuckle.

“Go to the back, don't disturb my husband in the middle row,” Hei Yu reminded.

The first barrel filled up and Dave switched to the next while Hei Yu carried the full one into the truck bed.

With so many eyes, Dave had no intention of displaying his storage capabilities.

Soon, they filled up four barrels, and all the teenagers gathered by the pump, each with a barrel.

“Give me two of them, I'll go fill it up with water.” Dave waved and took two barrels before heading off.

“Keep an eye on the Hei Yu; if they try anything, just kill all of them. No witness, no crime” he warned loudly, allowing the teenagers to hear him.

They all turned to Hei Yu and Adam grinned dismissively at her until his eyes trailed down to the pistol in her hand. His grin slowly faded, replaced with fear.

Somehow the pistol was more scary than the awakened Dave.

Dave walked cautiously around the convenience store towards the car wash area. His eyes scanned around vigilantly as he went.

Suddenly he paused. Ahead of him stood a bulky figure holding a club in hand. The bulky figure wore a bloodied apron and had a stab wound in his neck. His face was pale but not rotting like the zombies Dave had seen this far.

Despite how normal he looked, the stab wound was fatal, and even from a distance, Dave could see that. Yet somehow this figure was still standing. There was only one possibility.

“Status”

[Name: David Sawyer]

[Species: Hybrid]

[Status: Awakened]

[Level: 2 (Exp: 80/200 ]

[Rank: - ]

[Health: 100/100]

[Stamina: 100/100(evolving. . .)]

[Strength: 22 ]

[Endurance: 14 ]

[Dexterity: 19 ]

[Speed: 11 ]

[Available Stat Points: 36]

[Abilities: Spatial Manipulation]

[Skills: Spatial Blades(Lvl 1), Storage space(13 cubic meters)]

“Add twenty points to dexterity and ten to endurance, put the rest in strength”

He quickly distributed his remaining points.

[Dexterity: 19 + 20]

[Endurance 14 +10]

[Strength 22 +6]

[Available Stat Points: 0]

As he felt the changes in his body, he let go of the two barrels in his hand and readied himself for battle, producing two spatial blades in each hand, but he didn't send them flying.

He had to conserve his stamina.

Thankfully, with his endurance upgraded and skill leveled up, summoning a blade only took 4 stamina points now.

Just as he was thinking about stamina, the figure of the shopkeeper dashed forward towards him, and Dave's pupils shrank.

“He's fast” he exclaimed inwardly and stepped back to avoid a swipe towards his torso.

Swinging his blade immediately, he struck hard at the zombie's shoulder, wounding it deeply.

“High defense” he observed and sidestepped to avoid a swatting claw.

He dashed around the zombie and sent a kick at its leg only to find himself stumbling backwards. He stabilized himself with one of the blades by extending it toward the ground and sent the other swimming at the zombie with all the force he could muster.

The blade cut right through the zombie's hand, sending blood shooting toward Dave. As he ducked to avoid it, he saw the second hand of the zombie reaching for him and he willed the blade in his hand to fly, instantly stabbing it right through the zombie's ear.

The blade unfortunately didn't get to the brain but it was enough to push the zombie sideways and allow him some breathing space. Distancing himself from it, he took in deep breaths and watched it closely.

Unfazed, the zombie rushed toward him,, and Dave dashed at i,t, too. He noticed that while his body was more nimble, he was still too slow to make rapid attacks. Fortunately, the zombie wasn't particularly fast either.

They reached each other and Dave took a sudden step to the right. As the zombie turned to face him, his second spatial blade, which he left hanging in the air, instantly pierced right through its ear and put the other side.

The zombie instantly crumbled to the ground like a puppet that lost its string.

Immediately following that was a loud shriek from the distance followed by many other shrieks of zombies.

“There's still time” Dave muttered to himself and rushed forward. He quickly filled both barrels with water and kept them in his storage space before running back towards the station. He found Hei Yu anxiously standing beside the pump waiting for him.

Her face brightened when he appeared.

“I couldn't carry the barrels; there's a horde of them incoming; we have to go,” Dave urged and ran around the car into the driver's seat.

Hei Yu got into the backseat where Peter was still sleeping. Behind her were Celine, Heather, and Jason.

“There's no place for us; throw the dead man out,” the remaining two teenagers urged.

“Get on the truck bed, or I'm driving out of here right now without you.” Dave finally lost his cool and screamed at them.

The two froze for a moment, but the sound of Dave starting the engine woke them, and they quickly rushed around the truck and clumsily climbed into the truck bed where they'd placed the fuel barrels.

Without allowing them time to find their balance, Dave sped off from the gas station. Behind them, hordes of zombies appeared, chasing after the car.

They chased a short distance before eventually giving up and turning around.

“Why did they stop?” Hei Yu asked, baffled as she glanced around them and back, trying to catch a glimpse of the zombies through the glass.

“They are attracted to life, and right now, there's too much of it in the city,” Celine in the backseat replied, earning herself a glance from Dave through the rear mirror.

“You seem to know a lot about them,” Dave asked.

“I actually do,” Celine replied with a smile, and Dave felt his bad feeling return.

“Has anyone in your group awakened?” Hei Yu suddenly asked.

Celine's face fell and she shrugged.

“Not yet,” she replied.

“Awakening is completely random. It's easier to mutate than to awaken” she added, successfully attracting Hei Yu and Dave's attention.

“Mutate?” Hei Yu asked, falling for the

“I'll share everything I know as soon as we get somewhere safe” Celine feigned a scared expression and glanced around dramatically.

“How many can your jet fit?” Heather, who was beside Celine, asked in a low voice.

“All of us,” Celine replied smugly.

Her father had prepared everything to keep them alive during this apocalypse. She was the only one ready among all her friends even though she was not the wealthiest.

This was to her, the difference between power and wealth.

“Could you perhaps drop me off somewhere with your jet?” Dave asked suddenly.

If he took the Jet to his parents, he figured it would be way faster than driving there.

“What are we, Uber?” Jason quickly replied. He was starting to feel irrelevant with Hei Yu, Dave, and Celine talking.

“I can pull over and throw you out so you can solve your identity crisis by the corner of the road” Dave was not in the mood to play around.

Jason swallowed nervously as Celine and Heather snickered.

“I can drop you wherever you need to go as long as there's an airstrip for the jet to land,” Celine replied pleasantly.

Finding two awakened was a stroke of luck she was not about to miss out on. As much as she trusted her father's preparations, she was well aware that a single simple threat could take her life and prevent her from enjoying it.

From the moment she saw what Dave could do through the glass of the convenience store, she was determined to get him.

If it meant taking a random stop somewhere, she didn't mind. She was confident that by now, only her bunker and others were safe. Wherever Dave was going, he would not be able to stay.

The rest of the drive was quiet with only Celine and Heather chatting in whispers and giggling occasionally. Jason wore an ugly frown all throughout. Whether it was because of Dave's earlier retort or because of Heather ignoring him, was unknown.

Occasionally, some fast-moving zombies would try to follow them, and Hei Yu used this opportunity to utilize her awakened skills. Her proficiency grew as she took out one zombie after another.

When she ranked up, Dave instantly felt the energy behind him and he glanced back at her through the mirror to see her gaping mouth. A smile formed on his lips and he shook his head.

Soon the car reached the airstrip. It was a private airstrip, so there was not any activity there. Before the chaos, hardly anyone came here so there were currently no zombies around.

“We still need to move quickly, where's your jet? Some zombies could have followed us all the way,” Dave reminded, and Celine nodded. She took out her phone and clicked a few buttons before heading it over to Hei Yu who passed it to Dave.

Following the directions on screen, Dave drove towards the jet which soon appeared in their field of vision.

“What kind of jet is that?” Heather asked in amazement she laid her eyes on it.

“The kind that's made in preparation for the apocalypse” Celine grinned.

It was hard to get one over her wealthier friends but this was certainly a win in her favor.

Dave moved to open the door and get out but Celine stopped him.

“Just drive in, we'll take the car into the cargo bay.”

As she spoke, she pressed a few buttons on the phone just returned to her and the cargo area of the jet started to open.

Suppressing his amazement, Dave slowly drove in and they all sat still as the cargo area gently closed up.

The group got out of the car and faced a man in a blue pilot uniform standing in front of three flight attendants.

“Miss Celine, please come with me while your friends get settled in,” the man asked.

“This is Mr Celeste, my manager. He cares for the jet” Celine introduced.

“I'm coming with you” Dave instantly spoke up just as Celine approached the man.

Dave did not feel safe in the jet because as far as he was concerned. Humans are just as dangerous as zombies, if not more, in a lawless world.

“Sure” Celine replied without hesitation.

There was a clever way to pull people towards one's self and being the daughter of the Defense Minister, she was quite skilled at it.

Dave followed the Manager and Celine through the lobby and into a small control room which he felt should be the center of the plane.

“What's going on?” Celine asked when he noticed the somber expressions of the operators in the room.

“We have lost communications with some of the bunkers. The last transmission we received was this:” Mr Celeste clicked on a small remote, and a large screen started playing a recording.

In the recording, a woman wearing a military uniform sat with bloodstains on her face.

“The situation is worse than we thought. The catastrophic event included only zombies, but there are more things out there. Monsters are the only way to classify them. Some of them are breaching into the bunker as we speak. We have attempted engaging them but these things are. ..oh my God, no… nooo…please….argh”

The recording cut off as blood splashed on the screen.

“What was that?” Celine asked in shock.

“We don't know, all this transmission shows us is a blurry shadow. Whatever attacked them never appeared in the video” Mr Celeste replied.

“So what now? Where do we land? Where are we going?” Celine asked rapidly as her breathing quickened.

“We don't know Miss. As of now, nowhere is safe,” Mr Celeste replied, lowering his head.

Dave stood dumbfounded behind Celine. He was not as shocked about the contents of the video as he was at the realization that the elites had expected the threat and made preparations to save themselves.

That these preparations were insufficient felt like retribution but, at the same time, also revealed the severity of the situation.

“We can make a stand in the city” Dave spoke up as he thought about Greyson.

“It's only a matter of time before the city is overrun. Zombies are attracted to life, and right now, every zombie on the planet is heading toward every place concentrated with it. For now, there might not be much going on in cities, but that will end very quickly. Even if we do clean the city, we become the new focus of those around it” Mr Celeste instantly debunked the idea.

“We can go anywhere aside from where these bunkers are and the cities,” Dave replied in a low tone, mostly talking to himself.

He suddenly looked up and said, “For now, let's get out of here. We may have pulled some zombies with us and if they damage this plane we'll be in some real trouble”

Mr Celeste turned to Celine who nodded hurriedly.

“Get us in the air” he spoke into a mic on his collar as soon as he got her permission.

“We have another problem” Mr Celeste started.

Dave and Celine turned to him with skeptical gazes as his first announcement was a horror show.

“There's too many people on the plane,” he announced, and they both glanced at each other.

“So?” Dave asked knowing there was more to come from the man.