Despite running into the first warning signs of entering Scavenger territory, the graffiti markings in an alien language that Gali translated, we were still far away from that threat in reality. At least, that's what I figured based on how long we kept walking without seeing another human soul.
Jeff and I spent the next few hours exploring the underground maze of subway tunnels. No humans. No bandits or scavengers. Just more tunnels stretching into the dark like a post-apocalyptic labyrinth. Honestly, it was a bit of a letdown, as I was hoping to run into humans that actually communicate. Even if I would end up having to kill them.
Maybe we just took the wrong turns as this place was truly a maze with all the branching paths, but we ended up walking along the tracks, not finding anything of interest for a long time. Sure, there were quite a few abandoned subway trains that were off the rails, rusting and broken, infested with mutated rats, but very little else.
That is, until we came upon an 'occupied' station. We had happened upon half a dozen other train stations on our dungeon dive already, but they were all just like the one we had entered at. Abandoned and torn apart, reclaimed by nature as moss covered the walls and benches.
This one however was different, unlike the ones we had passed, this one had actual structure. Someone had clearly put work into reinforcing this place, or at least, they had tried.
Leading up to the station were layers of destroyed defenses. Barbed barricades, broken tripwires, burned out gun emplacements, even spike pits dug into the floor. Whatever group had claimed this place didn't mess around when it came to keeping things out. Unfortunately for them, it didn't amount to much.
There were scattered corpses all over the place, both human and rats. Way more rat than human ones, by the looks of things the defenders were outnumbered 10:1 at the very least. Blood stained the concrete, mixed with spent shell casings, snapped arrows, and torn rags. Several makeshift smaller watchtowers had collapsed, either from damage or after being overwhelmed.
Not counting the sound of Jeff's and my own footsteps echoing in the tunnels, it was eerily quiet, no sound from inside the stations. It was lifeless in there.
Stepping over the piles of torn apart bodies we made our way into the station and climbed in, the bodies continued here too, mangled and partially eaten. The blood hadn't even fully dried yet, showing the battle happened not too long ago. Ignoring all that, though, this place was a gold mine for loot.
I mean, forget the Amazon order list I was putting together in my head earlier. Flashlights, radios, portable batteries, barrels of fuel, fire starters, even a full generator set tucked into a corner under some blankets. Everything I could possibly want was just… sitting right there for me to take.
Without a second thought, I started throwing everything into my inventory one after another. The way I saw it, these people were either already dead or weren't going to be using any of this stuff much longer. And even if some had somehow survived, the system clearly intended for me to clear this place out. So, morally speaking? Finders keepers.
We raided the entire outer area like a pair of kids on a shopping spree with no adult supervision. I even discovered that if allowed, Jeff could access the inventory like me, so we looted at twice the speed.
After raiding everything on the outside of the station, we cautiously proceeded further into the base. Even though I couldn't hear any signs of life, it was better to be safe than sorry, so we advanced slowly and steadily.
As expected though, we did not come across any more people, not alive ones at least. The corpses continued. We crept through the station halls and abandoned bunks, watching for traps or anything else that might still be active, but there was nothing. No humans or rats left either, it was void of life.
The food storage was surprisingly intact, if you could call it food. Cans with labels I couldn't read as they had fully faded, sacks of something that might've been rice or ash, and stacks of meat that looked half rotten and I honestly wasn't sure was even from animals with the way it looked and smelled. I skipped all of it. Potentially radioactive mystery meat wasn't worth the risk when I could get grocery delivery on Earth with a few taps on my phone.
Same with the water tanks. They were full, but the fluid inside had a greenish tint that screamed 'will mutate your kidneys.' I'll just take some from the tap back at home and pass on this.
What I didn't pass up was the weapons storage. They had guns, but calling them functional would be generous. Most looked like they had been put together from parts of 10 separate guns with duct tape and would barely function. I picked up a rifle and gently tapped it against a metal shelf only to see it literally crumbled in my hands and decided not to bother testing the rest.
The real find was the more primitive weapons like bows and crossbows with bundles of handmade arrows that I threw straight in my inventory, just in case. And best of all, a small box of improvised explosives, molotovs and homemade frag grenades.
The grenades were risky. Just looking at them, I could tell the craftsmanship was questionable at best. The pins were crooked, the bodies dented. One of them had burn marks along the side like it had already gone off once and decided not to finish the job.
Still, I couldn't exactly buy grenades off Amazon, and these were the first I'd seen. Into the inventory they went. Just gotta be careful handling these, so I don't end up blowing my arm off.
Jeff was off sniffing the bunks while I finished the sweep. When he saw I was done, he padded over, blood dried on his snout like war paint, tongue wagging.
I gave him a pat. "Let's head out before we start smelling like this place."
We left the now raided and empty of valuables subway station without incident and without running into another living soul.
Jumping back down on the tracks, we continued on in the direction we were heading earlier and, interestingly enough, came across more corpses of both rats and a few humans. It looks like there were survivors who managed to get out of the station despite the onslaught and escaped while being chased down.
Unlike the defense of the main base itself, the tunnels leading out were littered with mostly rat corpses and empty bullet casings, human ones were much rarer to see meaning either not very many made it out in the first place or that the surviving members were able to successfully escape despite being chased down by a horde.
This theory was supported by evidence as we kept going on we came across smaller groups of rats, many already injured. Taking them on, we pressed onward. As we kept fighting throughout the day, my and Jeff's teamwork had improved… marginally. But still, we got more efficient at fighting, and I didn't constantly almost skewer the little shark.
Eventually, we started hearing sounds again. Echoes. Not the skittering of rats this time, these were louder. Screaming, gunfire, crashing metal.
Gali spoke up from my shoulder.
[We're here. Looks like the survivors regrouped there after the last base fell.]
"And the rats chased them here," I muttered. "Nice of them to do all the cleanup for me."
We slowed our approach and stuck to the shadows near the wall as the path opened up. The last bend in the tunnel gave way to a junction, a wide space where multiple lines intersected. And in the middle of it, half-fortified with whatever the scavengers had managed to drag in, was a small station turned makeshift fortress.
They were under siege. No other word for it. The scene was very much like what I imagined the defense of the previous base looked like. There were two dozen or even more people lined up behind the defenses. Most of them looked rough, bloodied, and wounded. They were firing down the tunnel wildly, those who had guns unloaded rounds into a seemingly endless tide of rats pouring from the darkness. Most however were just shooting with bows.
But these rats weren't acting like a disorganized horde anymore. They were moving in a more organized manner. Flanking, moving in smaller groups, spreading out when grenades were thrown. They were being tactical… somehow.
Since both the rats and the humans would be my enemies, I did not rush forwards to help relieve the siege. That would be stupid. Instead, I quietly climbed on top of a run-down subway train in the shadows to get a better view of the battle. The more casualties they inflicted on each other, the better. I'd be losing out on experience to increase my stats, but it's not like I could take on both groups if I ran in right now, I would only die.
The first thing I noticed upon getting on the high ground was a figure standing in the middle of the rat horde.
He was tall. Taller than any human had the right to be. Skin pale and stretched tight across his bones, cracked in places like dry clay. His limbs were long and deformed, his jaw unhinged slightly with every time he gave a command. He was somehow able to command and guide the rats to his will.
"Is that the boss?" I whisper, looking on as the rats continued getting slaughtered by the defenders.
[That's not the floor boss. But it's definitely a miniboss. Some sort of ghoul, or more likely just a human that has been mutated.] Gali answered in a whisper [He's the reason the rats are organized… and he might drop good stuff if killed.]
"Makes sense," I said, eyes narrowing. "Take him out, and this whole pack loses coordination."
[Exactly.]
But that didn't mean charging in was a good idea. The defenders were shooting, yes, but they were also dying. I could see two bodies already slumped over their barricades. A third collapsed as a rat swarmed over and a bit into their neck. If the rats scattered and ran away right now it would be very difficult for me to get in there, might as well let the rats do the majority of the work in ripping the base apart.
Most importantly, though, the rats were setting off any traps that had been set up. I definitely didn't want to fall into any of those.
Explosives were triggered in the rat swarm. A group fell down onto spikes in a pit covered up by wooden boards. Some sort of spinning blade contraption even fired off for a second before jamming. I watched all of it from the shadows with Gali and Jeff, not moving.
Let them burn themselves out. That was the plan.
"Wait until they bleed each other dry," I muttered. "Then we clean up."
Jeff gave a quiet "mrrr" of approval, crouched beside me, surprisingly still for once.
We waited maybe ten more minutes. The sound of battle got quieter. The gunfire slowed. The rats were dying by the dozens, burned, shot, impaled. And while the defenders had survived the initial wave, they were down to maybe half strength now.
The ghoul was still standing at the edge of the bloodied battlefield, observing. His minions had been wiped out or scattered in fear as they broke from his control, but he hadn't moved yet. Too cautious, maybe. Or maybe just waiting for his moment to retreat.
Too bad for him. I climbed down the roof of the subway train and pull out two molotov cocktails we snagged earlier along with a lighter.
"Alright, Jeff. We're thinning the herd. Get ready to move in."
I lit both rags with my lighter. One in each hand. I lobbed both bottles in a high arc over the battlefield, aimed for the densest clusters of rats near the left flank, near the mini boss that was my target.
A second later, fire exploded across the tunnel. One bottle shattered directly on top of a small nest of rats, setting them ablaze in an instant. The other landed beside the wall, where some of the pack had been trying to regroup.
The rats began to scatter, squealing in agony. Many bolted downside tunnels or just ran into the darkness. Those left alive began turning on each other, Some of them chewed at burning fur and skin, others trying to retreat.
The remaining few scavengers shouted in confusion. Some raised their guns, others ducked. They would be busy taking care of the flaming rats, which would threaten to set their whole base on fire if they managed to reach it in their frantic charge. Perfect for me.
I stepped out of the shadows and walked calmly toward the edge of the engagement zone, twin-blade in hand, and locked eyes with the ghoul.
He saw me. For a second he didn't move, equally confused about what was transpiring, until finally deciding I was an enemy. He snarled with a long, hissing, half-choked sound before charging at me. He didn't even realize he didn't have his rats as his bodyguards anymore and was alone as the ones next to him were running around in panic.
"Let's go, Jeff," I said, pointing my weapon forward.
Jeff didn't need to be told twice. He bolted ahead like a bullet, charging straight at the last cluster of surviving rats that still surrounded the ghoul.
***
Author note: This is embarrassing… I wrote the chapter and forgot to schedule it for upload. I just woke up from my nap and found that it wasn't uploaded. Oops.