บท 8: Chapter 8 Frost

Waking up to the same white room as before, I realize I'm still on the couch that I layed down on last night. Looking around I spot the red headed Artemis in a dark blue sundress that gave off a warm glow against the light. Wait where's the light coming from? Sigh, that scene was probably scripted for me to see huh.

Shaking my head to clear any useless thoughts away I notice that beside Artemis was beside a little girl around five or six years old. She was dressed in a white kimono with a snowflake pattern that complemented her white hair and fair skin. She looks over at me and I become enchanted by her bright sapphire colored eyes. Seeing me she smiles and yells big brother, before I react she races toward me. I barely snap out of it in time to catch her as she jumps into my arms and climbs around until she is seated on my shoulders.

Puzzled I point at her and ask Artemis "Yours?"

The question seemed to have shocked and offended her as she gave me a I'm not old enough to be a mom look and proceeded to ask?

"You don't recognize your precious little Frost?

"Huh?"

I look up to see a adorable smiling face and realize the similarities between the two, the eyes and hair colour being the biggest cules.

"How?"

"You signed a contract with her remember, of course she could also enter this space it's just that she wasn't able to yesterday because I wanted some one on one time. Which you rudely ran away from."

She ended her explanation with her signature pout. I looked away to keep myself from being trapped by it. While Frost played with my hair I asked Artemis if this would be a regular thing. She laughed at me.

"As if this costs me points to do this you know, last night we laid down some future plans and tonight we have to discuss something else."

"What is it then?"

"The beasts obviously. You humans don't understand because your DNA was fairly stable so you are able to improve your selves slowly with time. Most animals on the other hand have never stopped evolving, especially against the constant threat of humans. That means they evolve faster, but in return there energy can't sustain it. This puts most animals in a starved state and soon it will cause them to go berserk and eat everything around them. The more they eat the stronger they will get and the most abundant food source around cities is?"

"I'm gonna guess humans?"

"Ding, ding, ding. We have a smarty pants. Yes especially for those smaller animals that are increasing in size, they will be among the hungriest."

"Which animals do we need to look out for the most?"

"Can't tell you that would impact my point gain from you but you could ask a certain adorable little snake."

Looking up I grab Frost and go over to the couch and put her on my knee.

"Frost do you know what big sister is talking about? Do you know anything about some hungry animals?"

She starts nodding her head and her face starts to squint together her brows with a face that screams I'm thinking hard. After a moment she looks up to me and says.

"My food has been yelling all day about hunger and I keep hearing other animals talking about the pests getting more aggressive and invading others land. Does that help big brother."

I pat her on the head and tell her she did a good job, which earned some giggles and smiles that could melt anyone's heart.

Thinking about what she just said I first focused on what she said about her food. She mainly eats frozen rats and snacks that consist of live mice and frogs that the others brought. The rats are probably what she is talking about and considering the population of rats downtown or even just in the alleys all over the city I shudder.

I look up at Artemis to see her nodding and I can tell I guessed it right. She walks other and sits beside me while I bounce Frost on my knee to keep her entertained. Artemis leans in and starts talking to me so close I could feel her sweet smelling breath.

"This will be our last chat for a while little brother. You have three things to do before the game really starts. One you and Frost need to become stronger. Two you and your brother's squad need to gather as much supplies as possible, and get your generator more fuel. Power will be in short supply and extremely valuable soon. Lastly you need to survive whatever comes your way, be animal or human. Also don't forget the plants are evolving as well."

With that she leans away and gives a breathtaking smile as she disappears. I look at Frost as she smiles at me and say.

"Let's get some sleep we have a busy day tomorrow, ok?"

Frost pouts but nods her head.

"Good girl, let's get some sleep."

Closing my eyes with Frost on top of my chest, which she claimed as her spot. I drift off to sleep again.

Waking up I open the systems window to check the time and as usual it's six in the morning. I open my character page to check my progress.

Name: Hunter Nespolon

Age: 17

Species: Human

Current nanobots:

Tier 0: 2500 (+900)

Tier 1: 100

Companion nanobots: 100

Current energy: 3380

Current energy absorption: 820/hour

Circulatory system: tier 0 25.03%

Digestive system: tier 0 30.21%

Endocrine system: tier 0 20.04%

Integumentary system: tier 0 82.00% (+18%)

Immune system: tier 0 27.35%

Muscular system: tier 0 33.33%

Nervous system: tier 0 21.08%

Renal system: tier 0 26.76%

Reproductive system: tier 0 25.03%

Respiratory system: tier 0 27.57%

Skeletal system: tier 0 29.64%

Note: average human is tier 0 15%

Current time 6:00 AM

Looking at my current stats im happy with what I see. My Integumentary system is almost tier 1, and im gaining a decent amount of new nanobots. I should start thinking about getting new tier 1 nanobots but for now I just don't have the needed energy supply, I'll look into it some more after my system upgrades to tier 1 and I have access to more energy. In the meantime I'll keep the 1500 producing new nanobots where they are and just have the leftovers patrol my body.

Seeing that I was starting to get up Frost moved from my chest to my shoulders and went back to sleep. I patted her head which she seemed to enjoy as I put some denim shorts on. Heading down stairs I see Erik and start talking about what I learned last night, as it turned out he had a similar conversation with his guide and Shadow. After telling me that he already had plans in motion, he told me to get some weapons from downstairs.

I quickly loaded up and put on a random skull shirt. I grabbed two melee weapons, a hunting knife that placed at my waist and a customized machete. The hunting knife was eighteen centimeters long, while the machete was about forty centimeters long and had about ten centimeters of serrated edge from the handle up. For guns I quickly grabbed a handgun with two clips. I put on a tactical vest from the wall so I had somewhere to put the gun and clips, I also used it to strap my machete to my back in a way that was easy to grab.

After getting ready I went upstairs and saw a few people by the door lightly equipped with gear. Seeing me come over Erik nodded and told me I was going with the twins and Derek to the garage to pick up the vehicles. The others where going out in pairs to scout out the situation in the city, leaving Brandon and Sandra at home to watch the place. As we were making final preparations Erik got everyone's attention.

"You all know the situation. Most likely people are either panicing or taking advantage of the situation. Either way it's bad new for us. Stay low profile, all were doing today is simple recon and recovery. The twin's group is gonna get our transport so we can get more supplies faster. In the meantime our groups are gonna spread out, be careful and watch out for the rats and insects. They are most likely mutating the fastest and can mean some serious trouble. Don't let your guard down and be safe. Derek you're babysitting so watch out for them."

"No problem boss."

"Hey, not cool cap."

"Me and Jess will probably need to save that olaf."

The twins disagreed with that last part while I let out a sigh while mentally preparing myself. The garage was downtown and even before all this it wasn't exactly a great place to be. I live in the city of Windsor, a border city that is separated by a river from the US. We connect right to Detroit by a bridge and a tunnel. Downtown is great in the casino area but after that there is a lot of lower class housing areas. Crime isn't a huge problem, but not uncommon either. Now that this is happening we aren't gonna have to just worry about crackheads, homeless, and wannabe gangstas. We also have to watch out for the rodent population and all the infestations that would have made my skin crawl before the different types of insects started to evolve.

With one last check over my equipment I let my group know I'm ready and they nod back. Stepping out the door it's sunny out and if the sky wasn't purple you almost wouldn't even think anything had changed. Of course as I was thinking this we could see smoke and hear gunshots in the distance.