Apocalypse: Generic System Macronomicon (miss read books TXT) 📖

tight knot of survivors to fend off both the undead and the tortoise’s guardians.

If Ron was still alive, he was probably being flung by Jeb’s Ejector Seat back towards the Safe Zone.

Do they attack when he’s out of range of them? Or is it because he’s dead? Or something else?

He didn’t have much more time to think about it, as a flicker of motion to his left caught his attention.

He turned to see one of Eddie’s archers stumbling backwards, an arrow embedded in his shoulder. He’d tried to shoot Jeb, and Jeb’s projectile traps had caught the arrow and sent it back.

In a fraction of a second, it became clear what had happened.

Eddie’s crew had attacked Ron when Jeb was no longer close enough to protect him. They’d either knocked the ginger kid out or wounded him grievously, triggering Jeb’s Ejector Seat. That was why Ron was nowhere to be seen, and it was why his zombies were acting up.

“Son of a bitch,” Jeb muttered glancing at the knot of men breaking away from the back of the group, fighting their way toward the Safe Zone and abandoning the rest of them in the process. They had obviously preemptively killed the undead around them, and were making steady progress away from the main force.

I gotta get Freeman to sound a retreat, this is going tits-up faster than a coked up squirrel!

Jeb turned to get the old man’s attention, but was brought to a halt when he felt white hot pain sear through his chest, paralyzing his back and lungs, allowing him nothing more than a soft gasp of pain as his assailant savagely twisted the blade through his liver before yanking it out.

Jeb staggered forward, but he couldn’t keep his balance with one foot, and he toppled to the ground, his blood mixing into the mud underneath him.

Jeb heard someone spit, and felt a little wet hit the back of his skull before Eddie stepped over him.

You son of a bitch, Jeb thought, trying and failing to get his noodly arms under him, trying to stop the bleeding.

Jeb blacked out.

Chapter 12: Indestructible*

***12 minutes, 47 seconds remaining until Safe Zone expires.***

***Jessica Stile***

Jessica woke up with a start and winced in pain. Her left eye was swollen shut, and her entire body ached to hell. Fresh gashes covered every inch of her body where razor sharp claws had shredded her fancy armor, treating it more like a gentle suggestion than enchanted steel.

To say nothing about the bruising from all the wounds the chainmail did stop.

The last thing she remembered…she and the remaining people had formed into a tight knot, gradually retreating from the World Tortoise while under constant assault.

People were dropping like flies, and she had a better view of it than others, fighting in the sky. She didn’t see where Jeb had gone though, the telekinetic Myst user had disappeared somewhere in the middle of the fight, just after everything went to hell.

I’ll kill Ron myself If I see him again.

Despite having a Body above thirty, gradually fatigue had set in, and she’d gotten winged by an attack.

That slowed her down, allowing another attack to hit, and another, and another, sending her into a death spiral there was no recovering from.

The very last thing she recalled, she was being tossed around like a hacky-sack between the monsters, her vision shrinking into a narrow tunnel as she lost consciousness. Then…a sudden jerking sensation in her stomach, like she was on a roller-coaster going up and then sideways at terrific speeds.

Which brought her here.

Jessica scanned the environment with her good eye.

Even without the people, she recognized it easily: This was the Safe Zone, where they’d started the ill-fated attempt on the World Tortoise.

There was a fire going, and sitting around it were Eddie and his seven bootlicks. None of them seemed particularly wounded.

Jesssica scanned the Safe Zone, but she didn’t see anyone else.

The pregnant girl should be here, shouldn’t she? Jess thought, frowning. The ready-to-pop teenager was nowhere to be seen. Jess tried to lean forward, when pressure on her wrists and neck brought her up short.

What the?

Jessica glanced up at her wrists, which were bound with thick rope to the large tree at the center of the clearing.

Around her neck, she could feel the chill of steel.

Her good eye narrowed.

Someone’s about to die.

“Oh, you’re up?” Called a voice from the fire, and all conversation stopped. The eight men stood up and sauntered over to her, not even bothering to hide their leering.

“Good morning princess,” Eddie said, bowing to her with a flourish. “You seemed like you were in a bad spot there when we arrived, so we did you a favor and patched you up.”

Jessica didn’t say anything.

“I saved you, but I couldn’t help but notice you spent a lot of time hanging around that cripple, so we put the slave collar Ryan found on you, just so you didn’t cause a ruckus.”

Eddie chuckled, putting his thumbs in his belt loops.

“Don’t try anything, That fashion accessory there makes it impossible to use any abilities whatsoever, unless your owner says otherwise, and whoever supplies it Myst is your owner. Kinda makes me wish I’d put a few points into it myself. I’ll have to put that on my to-do list. It’s irritating letting Ryan hold your leash.”

Jessica didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, just cuz you’re pretty doesn’t mean we’re gonna take it easy on you.” Eddie said, squatting down in front of her.

“You’ve got the Body for some real wet work, if you get my drift,” he said, setting a hand on her leg, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up.

Jessica didn’t say anything.

Like a petulant bully who wasn’t getting the reaction he