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Apocalypse Now - Chapter 18

Published at 28th of December 2018 12:50:24 PM


Chapter 18

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David opened up his status screen.

Name: David Care Points: 610 Race: Human Lottery Slots: 5

Class: Life Orb Master (1/1) Energy Stored: 583.7 hours

Abilities: Life Orb Designate, Life Orb Create, Store/Expand Energy

Stored Inventory: Glock 17 Gen4 Handgun

Life Orbs: 237

He double-checked his abilities, making sure he had everything correctly. David had decided that he would stock pile his Life Orbs till he reached a thousand. Then, from there, he would start purchasing powers to increase his strength. However, for now, he wanted to focus on survivability and defense.

Over the past three weeks, David had been practicing using his Life Orbs as more then just a respawn tool. He used them for to defend and to attack. The Orbs were near indestructible, allowing him to block powerful attacks by forming a wall of Life Orbs to shield him.

However, David could only control around 50 Orbs. After that, there were just too many for his mind to process and the Orbs began to sink into each other and grow, forming several slightly larger Orbs.

However, even with only 50 Orbs at his disposal, David was able to create a meter by meter large square of Life Orbs in the air, acting like a foreboding wall. The Life Orb Wall could easily stop bullets and normal attacks, not reacting in the slightest. However, when he had been testing it with Stacy, he found that her strongest attacks could push his Orbs apart, fracturing his defense. He made a mental note to avoid close range attackers.

It must be said that David was not a callous person. He cared about others, he cared about his friends. But he was, at heart, someone who liked to dissect a situation and employ the most efficient method to resolve said situation. When he encountered a problem, he was realistic and considered all options. It didn't make him a cold person, he actually had a warm and friendly personality, easily making friends, but it meant that he liked to have time to consider his options.

Therefore, when he came up with future plans on how best to utilize his friends in battle, he planned for the maximum efficiency. Gender, race, political views, he ignored all of it and focused on what was pertinent.

David mentally withdrew his 50 Life Orbs from the fanny pack he wore on his waist, watching as the spare ones merged with the others. In his practice over the past several weeks, he had also figured out how to manipulate the Orbs to launch attacks. Unfortunately, he only had two options for attacking. His first option was to use the close range orbs like a bludgeon, attacking people nearby. His Life Orbs had a maximum range of 5 meters, meaning he wouldn't be able to retreat easily if he engaged someone. However, his Orbs were very strong and compact at close range. David had been able to obliterate trees and crack rocks using his Orbs. He felt confident that he would be able to handle most close range attackers, especially with the fact that defense just wasn't as important when he could simply respawn if he died.

When David combined ten or more orbs together, the Life Orb would grow larger, about to the size of his fist. David was most comfortable using his Orbs at around this size to attack. As of now, he could form about 23 Orbs of this size, and his practice had given him a deadly precision.

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His second option for attacking was to break an orb and launch the ball of energy he had created when he used his Store/Expand Energy ability. David was reluctant to use this attack unless he needed too. It was powerful, but very unpredictable. He felt lucky it had launched in the right direction the last time he used it. He decided that he would just use his Energy ability as was intended for the Level D transformation. He had tried testing if he could use a Level C transformation, assuming it existed somewhere, but had no luck.

David left his apartment and went downstairs. He and his family were currently living in a large-scale apartment building in Austin, Texas. The rest of the city had been cleared and life was slowly returning to normal. Schools were opening back up and business continued. His College classes, however, had been cancelled, citing needs to repair the campus and find surviving staff members. He was a bit annoyed at this, seeing as he had only a bit over a year till he would have gotten his degree.

In lieu of studying for school or helping his dad out, David had been exploring what he could do with his ability. He jogged over to one of the ruined skyscrapers just 10 minutes from where he lived. He also tapped slightly into his stored energy as he ran, making the jog much easier. He wasn't even breathing hard when he reached the site.

Several warning cones and tape were spread at the end of the street, indicating that the area beyond this was unstable. Construction workers could be seen repairing the street before the danger area, clearing rubble.

David walked past them casually, keeping his head down. He waited a few minutes till none of them were looking in his direction and ducked under the tape, climbing into the damaged area.

In the blocked off zone, burnt cars and rubble was everywhere. Several of the nearby buildings were decimated, huge cracks forming all over them. It smelled like burnt metal and mildew at the base of the area.

David quickly got out of site of the construction line, moving deeper into the blocked off area. When he was sure no one was watching, he brought his Life Orbs out of the fanny pack he wore, combining them to make 23 fist sized Orbs. He concentrated and made 18 of the Orbs float into a square, forming a small platform. David hopped on to the platform, making the other 5 Orbs float around him and act as stabilizers.

David quickly rose into the air, keeping close to the side of the skyscraper as he flew up. The air flew past him in an exhilarating rush as he went higher and higher.

A huge grin broke out on David's face as he flew into the Sky, disregarding gravity and everything. He soared above the skyscraper, enjoying his freedom.

The world below him shrunk in size, slowly becoming tiny as David continued flying. While his small Life Orb platform continued rising, David decided to sit down, crossing his legs as he got comfortable. After reaching a height of nearly a thousand meters, David stopped rising, looking down at the world below him.

He could make out cars moving through various traffic lanes, people driving one way or another. The huge skyscrapers were still huge, massive behemoths jutting out of a strange new world. He saw an eagle fly past him out of the corner of his eye.

The city below David had changed an enormous amount over the past few days. The tallest of skyscrapers were now giant desolate buildings, huge tears and burns covering them. There was almost no glass present on any buildings due to the shockwaves of the fights that had broken out in the chaos of S-Day.

David floated around, practicing his control as he flew in the sky. Using his Life Orb ability to the maximum, David could fly at around 50 miles per hour, much faster than a regular human could move, but slower than a car or vehicle. He could instantly change direction, the force he moved at not mattering in the slightest, though inertia would still affect his body.

While he was floating, he could only control five or six Orbs independently. The rest he used to aid himself in flying and required his constant attention.

There was no real sense of danger to David while he flew. If he somehow fell off, his Orbs would easily catch up to him and be able to stabilize and catch him. And if, for some unknown reason, they couldn't, then he would crash to the ground, die, and respawn perfectly fine, albeit with some painful memories.

He was at his happiest when he was in the air. There was nothing like it, the reassuring feeling of freedom. Of escape. The police couldn't follow him up here, only other Supers could, and people with flying abilities were rare and far between He felt like all of his worries drifted away, lost among the slow moving clouds.

David floated for a few more minutes, just relaxing in the sky, before he pulled out his iPhone and started calling some of his friends. First, he called May, letting her know what his plans where and that he was going to check out what the Department of Supers was all about.

May was currently working as an assistant in an accounting firm that worked in the city. Despite the tough times and chaos, people still needed accountants and her work was in high demand. She had very little free time, and the time they were able to spend together was rushed.

The last time they had hung out, David had taken her into the sky with him, flying her around Austin at a height where they wouldn't be seen. May had laughed and giggled, clutching on to him as she looked at the great views around her. He had flown her into a cloud, completely soaking both of them, to her ire. He also gave her several Unbound Life Orbs, intent on keeping her safe in this new world.

May agree that he should check it out but asked him to remain safe and have Shin warp him out at the slightest sign of danger. David promised her everything would be fine and they talked for a few minutes, about her job, about his own work, about life in general. David told her a few bad puns, May groaned, it was a great time.

May had to leave, going back to work, and ended their conversation, agreeing to meet with him on Saturday, 2 days from now. David smiled as she hung up. May was a breath of fresh air in his life, a person he could talk to for hours and never grow tired of. Shin was like that too, he thought, but more… weird? Awesome? He couldn't figure out a word to describe him.

David also called Stacy and Leia, letting them know what had happened. Normally he would text people that he wasn't very close with, only calling people like Shin or May. However, over the past few weeks texting coverage had been very spotty, and sometimes messages just didn't go through. Phone calls, however, were a priority and almost always worked, letting him quickly convey information.

Stacy agreed to go with David to the testing site, forming a three-man team consisting of Shin, David, and Stacy. He thanked her, sending her the address of the location and telling her the time they would meet.

Leia was busy at that time, helping her family move and wouldn't be free, but said she'd go for the test on another day if they all joined.

After talking with everyone and consolidating their plan, all David had to do now was wait. He looked around the sky, wondering what he should do. He opened up the System Forum, deciding to see what people were posting about at the moment.

General Discussion Threads – United States

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Looking for other Psychic Supers, Supers only respond please –2Pls1Gamble – 2 comments

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4CHANNERS WILL RULE THE WORLD MEGATHREAD POST YOUR BEST MEMES HERE –Anynnynynmous– 37 comments

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Reliable construction workers needed in the Atlanta area. Post info here –HopeForYou2 – 3 comments

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Buying all points here for actual money! Online references, this is 100% legit. Information inside – TraderJackM – 270 comments

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David did a double take, looking back at the last thread he saw. He tapped on it, curious.

General Discussion Threads – United States

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Buying all points here for actual money! Online references, this is 100% legit. Information inside – TraderJackM – 271 comments

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Howdy! My name is Jack and I work for the newly incorporated Supers – Aid, Administration, and Trade©. We are an involved company that buy all points in order to buy large amounts of supplies and help our nation become the best in this new world.

If you are interested in selling your points for actual money, please comment on this thread with your email and we will contact you. I assure you that all of this is very real.

For more information, please go to the website:

SupersAAT.Org

For people interested in purchases of anything under the Supplies/Weapons/Armor category, more information can be found on our stock at our listed website as well.

Current rates per points: $10.50 per point, $12 per batches with 10+ points.

Supers – Aid, Administration, and Trade© is a subsidiary of Walmart and a daughter corporation. Please direct customer service queries to the appropriate website, thank you.

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Hey, I have 23 points, nothing I can afford is worth buying. How do I contact you to trade my points? Here's my email: [email protected]

User – JackDan4

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Hi Jack! My name is Jack too! We have emailed you with instructions. Thank you for your business!

User – TraderJackM

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Woah, buying points? I can get behind that! Here's my email!

[email protected]

User – SkeletalDoot2

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I would like to trade for actual money thank you, my email is [email protected]

User – JacketTank2

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The rest of the comments were in a similar vein, with many people offering to sell their points for money. David shook his head. The value of points couldn't be easily quantified in his opinion, for people to sell them for so little money…

He left the thread and looked through some of the other threads. However, as he continued scrolling, he started to notice a common theme.

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BUYING POINTS - $13 PER – INFO INSIDE – MeganKud2 – 21 comments

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POINT TRADERS – $12.50 PER POINT GUARANTEED! – WeBuy88 – 436 comments

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Interested in making some cash? Sell us your points! – VikingTyler2 – 59 comments

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People were selling their points for actual money. The exchange rate seemed to be around $11-$13 as well. It made sense to David, after some thinking. Many people gained little no points, and had no reason to keep them when they wouldn't be able to buy anything useful. Money, on the other hand, could be used to buy food or gas or many of the things people COULD use.

Over the past week in particular, the stock market and money in general had stabilized. When S-Day struck, the stock market was frozen and shut down for several days, preventing a massive depression. Afterwards, the government restored Wall Street and trading resumed. Prices and stocks crashed nearly across the board as people sold off their shares to withdraw money and use it for things they might need in the days to come. However, the market didn't completely flop, and was slowly recovering along with the rest of the world as the chaos subsided. The exchange rate for the dollar remained relatively stable, and even began increasing, as America became one of the first nations to release an official statement on what had happened.

In his short speech, the president had summarized the events and stated that all "Supers" were welcome in America with complete freedom as an ordinary citizen. There would be no discrimination and that everyone should feel free to display their power as long as they did not endanger others. He took a very gung ho opinion, stating that, and many people around the world supported what he said.

David tapped off the screen, deciding to practice floating his Orbs and jumping off them in mid air for fun. He practiced for several more hours, concentrating on refining his precision of movement.

The rest of the week quickly followed suit, with David practicing and preparing for whatever test the government had prepared for new recruits. Soon a week had passed.




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