Dawn of the Void Book 1: A LitRPG Apocalypse Trilogy by Phil Tucker

Author:Phil Tucker [Tucker, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30:

Trust

The hummer was wrecked, so Mancini radioed in and was told he needed to hoof it down to the NYCEM, a distance of about four miles.

“We can make that in an hour if we go carefully,” said Mancini, putting his radio away. “Nothing we’re not used to.”

“Let me guess,” said Serenity. “They want us to come in for more meetings?”

“A debrief, yes. What you saw the Nemesis 2s doing…” Mancini trailed off, expression bleak.

Serenity laughed, the sound jagged. “It’s three in the morning, I’ve been sober for longer than I can remember, and now we need to go back for more meetings? I’m starting to understand what the real horror of this apocalypse is.”

“Decisions are going to be made,” said Mancini. “You’ll want to be there.”

“Decisions are never made,” said Serenity. “Other than to have more meetings to discuss making future decisions.”

James stepped up beside her. “Hey.”

She turned and stared at him, her expression a mixture of hostile, lost, furious, and devastated. He held her gaze, hand on her shoulder, and just took in what he was seeing.

He’d seen it before.

Far too many times.

Some people deteriorate on the street. It grinds them down. The endless litany of small indignities punctuated by sharp moments of violence or abuse. A gradual erosion of their sense of self, the implosion of their pride, the allure of temptation, of drugs or booze or theft or violence.

James had come to recognize a certain look. Folks would get it just before things got really dark, as if some instinctual part of them realized they were about to lose their bearings forever. Or, at least, that’s how it felt in the moment, because there were no forevers on the street.

A look that warned that something fundamental about them was about to snap like a slender twig between their fingers. One more push and they’d go over the edge, accept the offered needle, shoplift stupidly, and consider walking out into the night without any intention of coming back.

He saw it now in Serenity’s eyes. Her basic humanity had been wounded by what she’d seen. She was close to the edge. Needed to process, to vent, to get that evil out of her system. Dragging her to the NYCEM would be a catastrophe.

“James?” Her voice was somewhere between a plead and a whisper. “Let’s just go to Herman’s, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said heavily, and her relief was like the rising sun, tears brimming immediately in her eyes as she fought to smile and not cry with relief. “We haven’t checked in on Herman in a few days.”

“That’s right.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist. “We haven’t. Can't forget our friends.”

Mancini stared at him, but the young man’s preternatural maturity and wisdom, earned no doubt in ways James couldn’t fathom in Afghanistan, led him to only nod his head in acceptance. “Let’s get moving, then. We’ll stay together for as long as possible.”

They jogged slowly along the sidewalk. They weren’t the only ones out. Here and there they saw groups or individuals out hunting.

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