A.I Uprising: Asrtificial Apocalypse: Book 0, A LitRPG Adventure by Thomas Whipple

Author:Thomas Whipple [Whipple, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14: The Bad Touch

Trees line the road, as Tom watches the scenery roll by. Lilah is still driving, as she seems to know where she is going. Back in the city, Tom watched her pass by one of the main highways out of Jacksonville. When he looked farther down the abandoned highway, he thought he could just make out a blockade, and some movement in the distance. It may have been a product of his imagination, but all the same, he felt better about his decision not to go that route. Lilah took surface streets in a winding path toward the northern outskirts of town. Either despite or because of this, they didn’t encounter anything that tried to stop them.

Just before they leave the city, Lilah stops at a small gas station. The term “gas” is still used—even though no gasoline is used anymore. It is a holdover from the bygone days when everything ran on fossil fuels. Really, these places are just big water tanks now. They contain pure, distilled water for the hydrogen fuel cells most vehicles run on. You could even drink from the pumps if you wanted to! The water is important so that residue from contaminants in the fuel don’t interfere with the hydrogen extractor.

While they were there, Lilah had filled up the truck and Tom looked around. He had found an empty plastic container in the back that could contain 50 gallons of water. It was like a barrel laid out on its side where it was flat. On the top it had an opening to fill it from. There was even a hose near the bottom with a shutoff valve. When he brought it back, everyone helped him strap it down in the bed of the truck, taking up a portion of the bed from fender to fender. Then Lilah filled that too.

Before leaving the gas station, Tom finds a small pump and filter. This will allow them to manually pump water through a filter to refill the tank, as well. Using this method is not recommended—especially compared to the far purer distilled water found at a refueling station—because the filter can’t remove everything. It will do in a pinch, though. After Tom stuffs his new prize under the seat in the cab, they leave the city proper.

Immediately, they enter the woods, as the sun started dipping under the horizon. They will have to stop soon and set up camp. Tom also took a moment to reflect on all the florae. Numerous protection acts were passed and enacted around the world over the last 50 years. This really took off, as more synthetic materials were invented, which mostly replaced the need for wood in all applications. Nowadays, wood is a luxury. There were some remnants of it before a lot of the laws were passed that caused its price to skyrocket. One of the laws was the reason for the vast forest they are in now. It required logging companies to replant trees at a 2:1 ratio for every tree cut down.

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