They got a ride back to Serenitys apartnt from a grateful survivor who called their mom to co pick them up. Jas passed out in the back, leaving Serenity to fend off the excited questions from the teenaged girl in the passenger seat.
He awoke when they pulled up outside the laundromat.
The place was closed, the lights out, the blood sars on the sidewalk black in the street lights.
So amazing, said the young woman as Jas got out. Im going to get ready, accept the acknowledgnt thing, and then dump all my points into Arete like you said.
Constantina Juventud De Marias, you are going to do no such thing, snapped her mother from behind the wheel as she pulled away from the curb.
The sound of their arguing drifted off into the night.
Serenity hugged herself. Were back minus my phone and with no ammo.
You win so, you lose so. Shall we?
The street was dead. They wasted no ti unlocking the narrow front door and hurried up the cold stairwell into Serenitys apartnt, where Jas shucked the pimp coat, considered passing out on the couch, then reluctantly realized he had to wash out his wounds, even if they didnt hurt.
Showering was awkward. His bandages were filthy and covered in gremlin blood, as well as having being bitten and mangled. After a long period of hesitation, he peeled off the tape and unwound it. Round and round, till his forearm ca into view. The fresh puncture wounds were shocking, but the old bite was already mostly healed.
Jas studied the scabbed over puncture marks in the harsh bathroom light, dumbfounded. He kept expecting his body to behave the way it had all his life. Then, carefully, he removed the sodden and dirty bandages from around his neck, hissing as the adhesive tugged at his beard.
Just the sa.
Well Ill be.
He got into the shower and washed out the gashes and bite marks. His legs looked like sothing out of a horror movie, his forearms almost as bad, but the pain was negligible. The whole thing was surreal. Hed seen countless people screaming in agony and flopping about in their stretchers with less than this, and here he was casually washing it all out in a grimy shower.
Were infections part of his past?
He was too tired to care.
Eventually he erged, borrowed so more old clothing from Serenitys ex, and stepped back into the living room barefoot, toweling his hair.
Serenity sat before the TV, hand over her mouth, watching an anchorman trying to keep his shit together live.
Jas fetched up against the back of the couch, towel still pressed to the back of his head.
evidence now that everyone who followed guidance on not accepting the acknowledgnt request from the first and second global wave have died, attacked by sothing far more powerful that what the Nesis 1 has been capable of. This is being described as a punitive asure on the part of this enigmatic and malicious system that is controlling events, and even now reports are coming in of tens if not hundreds of thousands dying almost simultaneously.
The man paused and pinched the bridge of his nose. The silence was total. When he resud speaking, his voice was thick with emotion. On behalf of this station, I wish to offer the bereaved our sincerest condolences and apologies. The NSA, the CDC, and other governnt agencies that issued the safety guidelines did so with the information they had at hand, information that were now realizing is painfully inadequate. Thus the safety guidelines on all governnt websites is being anded: do not accept the acknowledgent request if you are unprepared. The National Guard is deploying to every major tropolitan area, and those mbers who have already killed their own Nesis 1s will be wearing blue arm bands. The new policy if you receive an acknowledgent request is to find the closest National Guard station, maps of which will be provided on your local governnt website, and there explain your situation.
The anchors voice gained in strength. The National Guard will then ensure that your Nesis 1 will be killed when it approaches you, ensuring your safety and wellbeing. This policy will go into effect at different tis across different cities, so again, check your local governnt websites for more accurate data.
Hundreds of thousands? whispered Serenity, turning to stare up at him.
Jas grimaced and draped the towel over his shoulder. Its probably higher. The first wave was small. The second wave felt much bigger. If most of them refused to acknowledge, we could be looking at millions dead.
Serenity just gaped at him.
Jas strode to the window to escape that haunted look in her eyes and stared down at the dark street. A little traffic had picked up, but here and there he saw a gremlin stalking through the night.
They were still leaving those whod not been ssaged alone.
How long till the third wave struck?
But we can fight them, said Serenity with brittle conviction. Raise our numbers. Develop auras like yours. All we need is - what - a thousand people like you in each city? And we can wipe the floor with them.
Yeah. His voice was soft. But thats assuming this Level 3 aura is as effective against Nesis 2.
Shit. Serenity stared out at nothing, and Jas did the sa thing. Summoned the count down.
71 Hours till Nesis 2 Released
This Nesis 2 count down is just for the first wave, right? Serenity blinked and looked over at him. The second wave will get theirs a day later?
I guess so.
For a while neither of them spoke, then Jas ca and sat next to her and they started surfing the news. Word was filtering in from around the world. The trend to refuse acknowledgents had gone briefly global, and now the tragedy was hitting everyone all at once. People were trying to calculate the sheer number of the dead, with speculation being caveated endlessly by experts who seed to spend more ti explaining how loose and unreliable their figures were over actually giving the numbers.
But the consensus ranged from fifty million to three hundred million dead worldwide.
Images were shown of the Ganges River in India mobbed by an endless crowd determined to burn their deceased upon its hallowed banks. Riots were breaking out in Quito, Pretoria, Lagos, Athens. The Pope was holding a twelve hour vigil for the dead, with Saint Peters Square overflowing with weeping devotees holding a sea of candles. Violence had broken out in Jerusalem, with Hamas having launched nurous unguided missile attacks, one of which had hit an important target and done terrible damage. This in turn had sparked a violent retaliation by the governnt, while a fringe extremist had arisen claiming to be a prophet and begun demanding the death of all heathens on holy soil in the na of God.
On and on it went. A global catastrophe. Looting in lbourne. A massive turn out of tens of thousands of New Age spiritualists in the Mojave Desert who prayed for salvation.
Jas stared, horrified, and in his minds eye he saw the globe slowly spinning, one continent following another, each with its cities, its borders, its nations and cultures, their histories and tragedies, their religions and people. All of them bloodied, shocked, devastated. Hundreds of millions were dead. All in a little over twenty-four hours. All those bodies, mutilated and hacked apart. Endless images of weeping, screaming relatives. Governnt officials giving commands, national leaders trying to comfort and reassure their constituents, militaries mobilizing, people locking their doors, people wandering the streets numb and heartsick and indifferent to their fate.
Serenity eventually turned off the TV. I need a drink.
God yeah.
They grabbed their coats. Jas picked up his skillet again. They descended, crossed the street, then climbed down the short flight of stairs to Hermans bar.
The place was packed. Herman and two rough looking guys were pouring them as fast as they could, but when Herman saw Jas looming over the back of the crowd he shouted his greetings and waved him over.
The crowd parted reluctantly at first, and then a woman pointed at him like he was an animal at the zoo and said over the news playing loudly over the TV, Holy shit, its the sexy lumberjack guy.
Most of the crowd clearly didnt know what she was talking about, but enough did that people turned to stare, and Jas found himself freezing in place, wishing hed ditched the coat to cross the street, had shaved off his beard, anything.
Life as a holess man had ant this kind of attention was never good. Old instincts kicked in and he began to back away, anticipating the shouts, the demands he get out.
But Serenity grabbed him by the arm and said loudly, Thats sexy lumberholessjack to you, lady.
Was that real? shouted a guy from down the bar, his accent thick Bostonian. Or was that special effects shit?
It was real all right, Serenity answered, dragging Jas up to the bar. I swear it on my mothers grave. And what kind of fucked up asshole would upload fake shit at a ti like this?
Another guy with a bright red baseball cap glowered at Jas. So you claiming to have the powers of the Lord or sothing?
No, said Jas quietly, but nobody heard him.
What, you stupid? Serenity glared at the man, unabashed. Aint you got your personal statistics sheet yet?
No, groused the big dude. Not been invited to join. But Ill tell you this. When I am? Im going to welco it. I got more guns than an entire brigade. Satan wont find sleeping.
Cheers from down the bar.
So how does it work? demanded the woman. I put my a single point into every stat, but I didnt get an aura.
Everybody stared at Jas again. Herman poured him three fingers of good whiskey and slid the glass over.
Silence as Jas took a steadying sip, and then he set the glass down so he wouldnt chug it all. Look. His voice was a rasp. I dont know why or how this works. All I know is that once my Arete hit thirteen I got a level 1 Lead aura. And no, I dont know why its lead. But the aura hurts the gremlins -
Demons, Serenity interjected helpfully.
- and thats all that matters. By the ti I hit twenty-three points of Arete, my aura was ashing them before they could touch .
Ive killed three of the little shits, said the Bostonian guy. But I aint leveled. How many you gotta kill?
Jas and Serenity shared a look.
Maybe twenty for level 2? We werent really keeping track, said Jas.
More than that, said Serenity firmly. I shot at least thirty of them before I leveled.
The Bostonian guys went wide. You what now?
Honey, I emptied a hundred and seventeen rounds at demons this afternoon. You gotta work if you wanna keep up.
Jesus Christ, said the guy, and sat down.
Everyone was staring.
Jas raised the whiskey, took a gulp.
You know what? Maybe well get a bottle to go, said Serenity. Herman, you hook us up?
You got it, Serenity, said the old man. I saw the video of Jas here doing his thing. Praise be. You got an open tab till the world drowns in fire. And he pushed a bottle of whiskey over.
Serenity winked at him. Youre the best, Herm. All right everybody, show's over. Were leaving. You see a demon, aim for center mass, yeah?
Jas finished his whiskey and followed Serenity back outside and up the steps. Closed his fur coat tightly about himself and took the bottle when she passed it to him and drank.
What a shit show. Serenity led the way back. Now we cant even get drinks no more.
Well, at least word got out.
You better credit as your PR agent. You wouldnt have ever made it big on TikTok without my know-how.
Ill give you a cut of the profits.
Hey. She rounded on him. Whats the matter?
Nothing.
No, for real. You look spooked.
Just I dont like crowds.
Ah, I get it. Yeah. But you were like a hero to them.
I dont want to be no hero. Just I guess I have to help, but it dont an I want everybody staring at .
Fair enough. She took a swig of the whiskey. Look, the world has always been a shit place, but now? Its just getting a whole lot shittier. But we did so good work today, and we got a bottle of Jack, and tomorrows another day. Lets go drink this, maybe screw, and see what the morning brings.
Jas tensed.
Jeez, Im just ssing with you! I know you dont want to bang. You like guys?
No, I dont like guys.
You got a wife, then?
His expression settled like concrete, and Serenitys eyes widened. Wow. Never mind. We can kill demons together, save each others lives, but I guess we dont have to get personal. Fine. Will you at least help with this bottle?
Ill help you with that bottle.
They reached the front door, but then paused as tan army trucks started to roll through the closest intersection. One after another, their backs covered with tarp, each identical, their headlights cutting through the night, ignoring the traffic lights overhead as they rolled on.
Damn, whispered Serenity when the last truck had disappeared. I counted seventeen of them.
There better be a lot more coming. Jas took the bottle so as to wash down the words he almost said: and well need infinitely more if theyre to make a god damned difference.
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