Activating his heat sight, Jared looked around for any signs of life. Thankfully, he saw nothing to pose an immediate threat save for a couple normal sized rats.Ignoring them, Jared started a thorough exploration of the large room before heading to the doors in the back. Judging from their location and the nature of this building, they led into a small hill at the back of the building."Scarlet, I'm heading down. Stay here and let me know if you need me."Cracking the door, slowly this time, Jared made sure he didn't cause the door to scream like last time. He had no desire to awaken another horde of rats. The hinges resisted at first, but with a sharp tug and a whispered grinding, they gave way and the door swung open.Not seeing any heat signatures, Jared started down the stairs. They descended at least three or four stories into the hillside. The structural integrity of the building was solid, and he made his way down with little effort. He kept the heat sight on while exploring s
Jared looked at Scarlet and shook his head causing gobs of rabbit fur and guts to splatter on the ground. "Okay, you win! I won't tease you about the dang rabbits anymore." Jared stripped his nasty garments off and scrubbed them using the sand nearby. Water was a scarce commodity, so he often resorted to scrubbing his skin and clothes with sand. It sucked, and he always felt chaffing after, but it was better than walking around with blood and guts all over.When it rained, he tried to stay under cover and only expose himself for short periods of time. The rain was often acidic and caustic, which quickly degraded his clothes and gear and often left abrasions or rashes all over. He once got the rain in his eyes and it felt like exposing alcohol to an open wound. His eyes puckered and burned from the acid. It took almost an entire day before he opened his eyes without the stabbing pain.One of the great side-effects of nanites coursing through his body was they eventually consumed any re
. This boss fight would test him. Worse case, I can just use my pistol and reduce the thing to a charred mass of rabbit meat. That might even be tasty... It'd been a long time since he had any non-artificial food."All right, you long-haired, buck-toothed, floppy-eared hairball, let's go!" Almost like a taunt in an actual video game, the creature reacted by leaping into the air at him. Jared had a little fun and jumped in place, rotating his body parallel with the ground while he brought his leg back to deliver a side-kick. He connected with the rabbit and sent it sailing away from him.Surprising Jared, it contorted in mid-air and landed on its feet only to jump right back toward him.Hm... How am I supposed to hurt this thing with all that fur around it? The dense coat of fur acted as an impact barrier, softening his blows to the point the rabbit barely felt it. The only vulnerable parts on it were its face and feet, neither of which he wanted to get close to. He still felt the impa
Moving! Jared set out toward the other explorer's. Let me know when I get within two miles. I don't want to be any closer than that especially when we are walking across these wide open areas.It looks like you were right. They are by-passing the city and heading south.Jared kept a steady pace for hours, following the group. He heard Scarlet flapping as she came in for a landing next to him, raising another cloud of dust.I need to rest for a while. They are in a wide stretch of open ground. It will not be hard for me to pick up the trail."So, flying? Judging by the emotions I'm getting from you, it must be awesome."It... I... It is hard to put into words."How long do you think it will be before you can carry me? Or... can you even carry me? I guess I assumed you would be able to after you got stronger."I could likely carry you now, but I could not fly long or far with the added weight. Perhaps after we assign the nanites I have available."Oh right! Dang, I'm sorry Scarlet. I go
Jared walked back to the entrance and sat on the slab of concrete he used for a door. He waited for nearly an hour before he heard a slight rustle and looked up to see a figure crouched on the roof of the structure. Looking at the person he said, "Hello, my name is Jared." Dude, that's cheesy. Why couldn't you say something about explorers or something... Jared chided himself when the person refused to speak.Crouched as they were and wearing a balaclava he couldn't tell if it was a skinny man, woman, or child. "Do you speak English?" Still no reaction. "All right, suit yourself. I'm going inside before it gets dark." He rose and walked into the room while the strange person stared at him. The fact they hadn't drawn a weapon spoke to their intentions, but he didn't know why they wouldn't speak. Jared made his way to his makeshift bed and sat, facing the door. Another half an hour passed until he glanced up to see the person enter in a crouch.As soon as the person passed the threshold
the sun beat upon them. Her wingspan was twice that of her length. Scarlet spent several minutes flapping her wings and stretching them to their limits.Without warning, she bunched her legs and thrust into the air with a massive beat of her wings. The surrounding dust swirled and created small cyclones of dust. At first, she hovered in place bobbing up and down. Then, the speed of her wings picked up, and she steadily rose into the air.YES! Scarlet cried out in joy.Jared imagined the exhilaration and feeling of the wind whipping around her. He couldn't wait until she could bear the weight of them both. He wasn't afraid of heights, at least he didn't think so. There wasn't a lot of tall structures left standing, but when he found them he had no trouble scaling them to the top.Jared watched her rise higher into the sky before she tucked in her wings, straightened her tail and thrust forward. She shot through the air for hundreds of yards and then flared her wings to stop in midair w
JARED, NO!Jared recoiled, dropping the booster in his hand. He and Iliana both fumbled for the syringe, but it clattered to the floor and wedged itself into a crack on the floor. Jared whirled on Scarlet, what was that for?Jared, you may have felt some of her emotions, but you only experienced her reaction to some life events. She is deliberately trying to hide something from us. I don't know what it is, but I felt the emotions more strongly than the rest.Jared turned back around and watched Iliana try to extract the syringe from the crevice. Without her noticing, Jared withdrew his Colt and leveled the weapon at her."Iliana...," he deadpanned, all emotion drained from his demeanor and voice.She glanced up to see the muzzle of the gun pointed at her head and stumbled back on her rear."Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?""Scarlet says you are hiding something. While I believe your emotions are true from the things you saw in the vision, my companion pointed out she is much better at
"Scarlet move!" Jared screamed as he dove to the side, barely escaping the overgrown mountain of fur. Glancing behind him in mid-flight, he saw Scarlet narrowly avoided injury. He hit the ground with a crunch of bone. Not his bone, but a pile of bones and flesh in various stages of decomposition. The bones snapped under him and he felt a sharp jab into his shoulder as a shard of bone broke and embedded itself into his flesh.Jared rotated his arm, and the bone caught between his shoulder blade and rotator cuff. Rather than delay the inevitable, he reached behind him and ripped out the bone before he could second guess himself."AAAGGHHHH!" He felt blood trickle down his back, but he could move his arm and that was more important right now.SCARLET, WE NEED TO AVOID THIS THING WHILE I SHOOT FROM A DISTANCE. I DON'T THINK EITHER OF US WILL SURVIVE IN A PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION WITH THIS THING.Scarlet acknowledged his mental communications and darted around the room staying just ahead of
Jared ripped off his shirt, "Oh yea!" The nanites altered his body significantly. Where before he stood just over six feet tall, he now stood at six and a half feet. His arms and legs rippled with muscle and... I have a six-pack...Jared whipped his head around as he heard a huffing noise from Scarlet. She stared right at him as he admired his body. His face burned with embarrassment and he put his shirt back on.His body inspected, he quickly realized new clothes were in order. The current ones were much too small and tight now and he wouldn't get very far hiking in them. He had a couple extra shirts and a pair of light wind pants, but they didn't have much protection from the environment. The chances of finding new clothes were rare. After two years exploring, he'd only come across a few items that even resembled clothes. Time, environment, and other explorers stripped anything of value."Scarlet, we have got to do that again! It's amazing!" Jared continued to marvel at the physical