A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 2: The Day the Earth changed (Part-2)

Ryan felt a small headache as he tried to sit up suddenly a mechanical voice came to his ears, [Binding with host complete.]

[HOST: RYAN O'CAHILL

LIFE-FORM TIER: 0 (0/50)

VITALITY TIER: 0 (30/50)

STRENGTH TIER: 0 (38/50)

AGILITY TIER: 0 (42/50)

INTELLIGENCE TIER: 0 (48/50)]

Ryan: "Ha what happened what is happening I am hearing voices in my head, don't tell me I am getting crazy after all hearing voice is the first step to madness then I will end up in some mental facility."

Only for his attention to be drawn by a screech as he looked up he was stunned to silence as he mumbled out, "What is this? Why is the sky is violet instead of blue and ", he winced hard as he felt the rays of the sun hit him, he looked up as he gawked, "Since when is the Sun bluish and why is it so much hotter."

His attention was drawn by another screech as he ducked while a bird passed by emanating a rotten smell, he turned towards the bird as his heart almost leaped out of his throat 'what kind of bird is that', he watched a bird with its red eyes with one of them dangling out of the socket not to mention as its bones were visible and as rotten smell emanated from it, Ryan cursed at that as he ducked once again.

He tried to run as his eyes widen as he looked the scene in front of him, it looked like a scene from some post apocalyptic movie, the building have all toppled over as smokes could be seen at the distant indicating raging fire, even the ground looked broken a reminiscent of a very strong earthquake, what kind of earth quake would cause this thing? Where is the rescue corps? Is the rescue of people even possible and what of his 'mom' is she alright?

But he would have to worry later on as he saw something that caused him to pale, the place where he was laying unconscious was raised up to at least a good few meters above the ground as the bird came again to attack him, he ducked he had no weapon and he cannot get away from it, as he gritted his teeth before he quickly took off his jacket getting ready for the next course of action as soon as the bird came into view he quickly threw his jacked over the strange but nightmarish bird's head, as it squeaked and screeched trying to get out of it Ryan rained blows after blow on it before long the bird's head was a paste along with his perfectly nice jacket getting ruined making him grumbled at that.

Suddenly a mechanical voice came to his ears, [Host killed a Tier 0 Life-form, gained absorbed 10 blood points and gained 1 soul]

[Do you wish spend your blood points to upgrade your attributes or spend it further your organism tier from 0 to tier 1?]

Ryan shrugged as he spoke, "10 points on agility."

[Error: Host is Tier 0 as such attributes cannot be upgraded any further than threshold, please redistribute it again.]

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "Well than 2 to Intelligence and 8 to Agility."

[Intelligence can be upgraded to Tier 1]

[Agility can be upgraded to Tier 1]

Ryan: "Well then the voice in my head, what exactly are your?"

He asked the question and waited and waited but he did not receive any reply as such he sighed before he started climbing down to reach what he assumed to be a ground level, as he reached the ground Ryan glanced at his hands as he thought, 'Cool it was much more easier to climb down than I had thought it to be, but if this means then soon I will be grow insanely stronger then I will defeat those 'big sisters' from the barracks they always manage to defeat me on the obstacle course but now with my secret weapon I will definitely defeat them and avenge all those ice creams they unjustly took as their spoils of war after my defeat.'

He still remembers the day when he first met his 'mom',

9 years ago Ryan was sitting alone under a tree, with his downcast eyes his sisters had said any kid that anyone who dares to talk with him they well become an outcast all the kids in the park listened to them, it has been a few days since they went on a vacation leaving him alone again as a punishment for leaving scratching marks on his dad's car no matter how he protested no one listened to him as usual, and as for the servants in their house they already knew he was not important because at the end of the day Ryan might not even receive an iota of money as an inheritance unlike his sisters as such they do not even bother to feed him, why waste time on someone unimportant well except one but unfortunately she was not here as such Ryan's stomach grumbled with hunger he had not eaten since yesterday, as he tried to stand up suddenly his head spun as he was about to fall only to be grabbed by a woman who spoke, "Hey kid are you alright?"

He still remembered the day how he met his mother Major Ciara O'Doherty previously known as Ciara O'Cahill, yes the same surname as that of his ex-family, but here was the real kicker she turned out to be his blood related aunt, well like him, she had left the family because of Ryan's Grandmother, well a real piece of work a not only a total control freak but believes she is always right, and someone Ryan hated the most in the world.

But now the current priority for him to find out what has happened and make his way to his mother's house at least that place is the safest one in the entire world at least for him.

He picked a broken rebar from the pile of broken buildings he swung it as he practiced with it and found it useful and easy to use, 'Well better than nothing at least I will have a weapon at the very least if some creep pops out all of a sudden I can smash them to pulp with it, but I need some real weapon very quickly or else I will be in trouble if something dangerous pops up, when I killed it the mechanical voice said it was a tier 0 being so what if a higher tiered one appears and I fail to kill it, but first.'

He made a bee line towards a store which he just spotted, it was easy to enter as it was broken because of the rubble falling on it, 'hmm why is there still so many stuff here after such tragedy I expected at least a few scoundrels looting the place, but it was left untouched', suddenly a smell of blood entered his nose he gripped his weapon as he cautiously made his way to the stench as he neared it he found a bit of rotten smell but a small groan as well, as he neared he saw a person sitting behind a rubble as he readied the rebar in his hand he had played enough games and movies to see what would come up next an incredibly powerful enemy the situation stunk of such but still he had to make sure if it was some poor injured human well he will try his best to help him.

"Hey are you alright?", Ryan asked the man but he did not move, 'yup a trap', so he turned towards the nearest rack where he found a box full of item as he threw it hard towards the person with loud snarl a person with grey pupil stood up as his intestine dangling out of his body, as the person lunged towards him Ryan simply side stepped as the rod in his hand pierced through the skull of what looked like a zombie to him.

[Host killed a Tier 0 Life-form, gained absorbed 10 blood points and gained 1 soul]

[Do you wish spend your blood points to upgrade your attributes or spend it further your organism tier from 0 to tier 1?]

Ryan: "Add 10 blood points to strength.", he felt the rod held in his hands much lighter than before.

'What is happening to me? Why am I so calm, I should be freaked out currently yet why I am so calm?'

He huffed there was no need to cry over spilt milk, he searched through the rubble of the store as he gathered a bottle of water and a few packets of food, putting them inside a bag which he graciously borrowed before he went towards the hardware section as well as the sports section of the store.

'tch, what a waste the entire section is under tons of rubble, well I managed to get a hammer at least, let me scour around maybe I will get something from digging near the outskirts of the rubble.'

A few minutes later,' Jackpot! A nail gun.' he was in cloud nine as he tore the packaging before putting the battery that came along with it, reloading a nail he pulled the trigger but it did not work, 'What is going on? tch, those manufactures really put worthless batteries, hmm I will have to remember the name because sure as hell I am not going to buy it ever again.'

He grumbled as he went on a battery hunt, and half an hour later he stood with a pile of batteries in front of him as he spoke in disbelief, "What is going on why is none of the batteries working as if they all are dead, damn I wanted a flashlight too for when it would be dark. But come to think about it, I also did not see any form of electricity, might have been the earthquake had knocked it off but there is a possibility that such devastating earthquake might have. Oh no do not tell me some form of nuclear disaster created this situation."

As he stepped out he saw a badly injured woman staring at him while blood and saliva dripped from her mouth.

Meanwhile a woman dressed in a military garb stood tall with a cigar in her mouth, her eyes were a little unfocused as her mind was busy with various things, she watched as her soldiers burned the bodies of their recently deceased comrades, it was painful to watch the death of her comrades, her fellow sisters in arms, her families tragic death but it could not be helped after the recent apocalyptic natural disaster caused by the meteorite that had appeared out of nowhere and it detonated then everything went to hell, the atmosphere changed, the earth shook like it had been put in a washer. The place where her unit resides is named Fort Rose, although she would like to think about it as secret base even if it was not for her unit of 500 strong woman from soldiers to technicians to cooks and others, it was the home of a special unit comprised of female only, every woman in this place were battle hardened soldiers belonging to special commando taskforce 'The Black Wolves'.

Ciara sighed as she exhaled smoke, the apocalypse tore down the entire communication system not only that anything related to electrical or electronics had stopped working. They somehow managed to clear the debris as they rescued those trapped by the earthquake which was at least a level 10 in Richter scale as well as the bodies of the dead who were trapped under the debris, then the unthinkable happened the dead suddenly woke up and then all went to hell, they fought back and won yet it was not meant everyone who were bitten turned as such she was having the bodies being cremated for good measure, her proud unit of 500 is now only less than a 150 strong.

"Major that was the last of the bodies.", a red skinned woman with horn on her head gave her report to her.

Ciara winced inwardly at that as the incident seems to have mutated some of her sisters, even if they acted tough she new inwardly they were not doing well after all who would if you get changed from human to something else entirely because of things out of your control.

Ciara: "Good work, what is the scout report?"

The red skin woman spoke in a monotone, "Well scout team one came back, and according to them 'we should throw our maps and compass away.'

Ciara frowned at that as she spoke, "What do they mean by that, Captain Zhan?"

Zhan grimaced as she spoke, "Major, the entire topography had changed, the Macway city situated 15 Km at the west of the Fort Rose has shifted as such it is currently about over 50Km away from here, not only that but the magnetic south and north have interchanged.

Ciara grimaced at that as she spoke, "What of scout 2 and 3?"

Zhan: "They are continuing with their mission."

Ciara: "But"

Zhan stopped her commanding officer as she spoke, "Major, please this disaster I think might even be global, and who knows what horrors is occurring out there and with communication down we are all alone, Ryan is not only your 'son' but he is like our little brother to some of us, or nephew to others and he is like a family to all of us, as such we only wish to rescue what little of our family is left."

Ciara nodded at that when her soldiers had heard about her adopting him they were very happy, they had even arranged a welcoming party for him but now everything was completely ruined, most of the women that made up her unit had tragic pasts with little to no family left even if someone still has any relatives alive they are all estranged from each other, to them their unit was their home and family and the Government picked them as such purposefully called it a way to give meaning to life for some people but to Ciara it was all propaganda putting people whom are ostracized and undesired and using them for the so called glory of their country, the girls here could not be thrown to prison but this unit was an alternative means to work and die for the country so that others might get praised for it.

Ciara looked towards the violet sky as her face scrunched up into a frown, 'What the hell was that object in the sky, it screeched so hard that I thought I would go deaf not to mention since when does an exploding object screech, it should have made a loud 'boom', not screech like some banshee. I do not think it was created by some rival nation, but then again those super powers create fascinating weapons from time to time even then I doubt it.', she let out a sigh as she rubbed her forehead in exasperation as her shoulder sagged tiredly, 'I just hope my baby boy is safe.'