Scion of Humanity

Almost two days passed before Peter found a rifle for his son. His online foray was a bust. Every listing in the local area pointed to a gun store, which required a background check and registration. After the failure, he enlisted Kuruk in the endeavor. The native had an uncle that was willing to part with his old hunting rifle.

For the right price.

That price was set at twice the value of a similar piece. The rifle shot .338 Lapua ammunition, and could hold five additional rounds in the magazine. It was semi-automatic and was mounted with a scope capable of eight times magnification.

Blake inspected the rifle closely in the back seat of Kuruk’s old sedan, careful to note where the safety was. They were almost to Payson, the halfway point between Blake’s home and Phoenix. The small town was another mountain getaway for those in the valley. The forested city was an escape from the dry, hot desert below. Even in late March, Phoenix would be well over eighty degrees at the high of the day. Blake was not looking forward to it, although Phoenix on a summer day was cooler than the Mander tunnels.

Owen sat restlessly beside him in the back seat. He glanced over, noticed Blake focused on his new rifle, and said, “I still say you should’ve gotten an AR-15.”

Blake sighed as they began a new argument.

Jason snorted from the front passenger seat. “That’s cause you don’t know anything about guns.”

“And you do?” Owen challenged.

“More than you,” Jason argued.

“Bullshit.”

“Oh yeah?” Jason grinned, a glint in his eye. “Then, what does AR stand for in AR-15?”

Owen scoffed. “Assault Rifle, obviously. Everyone knows that.”

“Nope.” Jason said smugly. “It stands for Armalite Rifle, the name of the manufacturer.”

“What? No way.”

“Look it up!” Jason urged.

“I can’t! We don’t have any internet,” Owen complained as he stared angrily at his phone.

They had just descended from the Mogollon Rim, the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, into an uninhabited forest. There were no cellular towers for miles.

“He’s right,” Kuruk spoke up from the driver’s seat.

Jason’s grin widened. “See. I told you I know more than you. My dad and I go hunting all the time.”

Blake rolled his eyes at their antics.

For friends, they sure argue a lot.

They had been at it for the last hour, non-stop. Their arguments only ended each time Kuruk finally spoke up and sided with one or the other. The quiet man seemed to act as the referee between the two. Which was probably the reason they hung out with him, despite the fact that he was mostly silent.

“Then why would you want a gun that can only hold five bullets?” Owen asked in exasperation. “The AR-15 can hold like thirty!”

“It holds six,” Jason corrected. “One in the chamber, and five in the magazine.”

Owen raised his hands. “Oh never mind, I didn’t realize it holds six. That’s way more than thirty. Right?” He added sarcastically.

“It’s not about how many rounds it can hold,” Jason explained and turned. “Blake, you have two extra magazines, right?”

Blake nodded in confirmation.

“See. All you have to do is swap the empty out, and you’re good to go.” Owen opened his mouth to argue further, but Jason raised his hand to forestall him. “BUT, that’s not what matters. AR-15 rounds are too small to kill anything big unless you pump a LOT of bullets into it.” He nodded toward Blake’s rifle. “That shoots bullets fifty percent bigger with waaay more stopping power.”

“If it’s so good, why doesn’t everyone use that,” he gestured toward the rifle in question. “Instead of an AR-15?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “They DO. A .223 bullet is only good for varmint and deer at close range. This thing will take out a bear or moose!”

Blake was comforted by the knowledge that Kuruk and his uncle did right by him, even if he had to learn it through the heated argument. Like Owen, he and his father knew little about firearms. In his past life, he had used them a few times, but they were mostly avoided. Those who became reliant upon them inevitably died when they could not keep up with the monsters.

“Hey Blake, we should’ve all gotten rifles,” Jason said, suddenly recognizing there were others in the car. “Then we could’ve gone with you.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s a terrible idea.” When he saw the hurt look on the young man’s face, he explained, “First of all, since I’d be in the group, they’ll be level one with spells. They can glide around through the air and shoot fireballs down at you. Then there’s the nano. Even if I don’t use the gun, just having it reduces the nano I get from kills. And finally, these aren’t some animal-like creatures. They’re intelligent and can talk. You really want to kill something that's begging you for its life?”

“Not really,” Jason admitted, then frowned. “Why are you doing it, then?”

Blake sighed. “Because I have to. It’s the only way to grow the faction. If I don’t, we can only invite up to five hundred people, and we won’t be able to have alchemists, portal rooms, shield walls, or any of the other stuff we need.”

“Do we really need all that stuff?” Jason complained.

“Yes. For one, my brother needs an alchemist to heal him.” Blake responded. “Then, if we don’t want to drown in monsters, we need the shield wall.”

“Oh,” Owen replied. Jason and Kuruk nodded their agreement.

Silence descended on the car as everyone contemplated the grisly task ahead of them. While they would not take part in the fight, they would be there afterward and would observe the dead bodies of the sapient beings.

A few minutes later, Jason could no longer stand the silence. He asked, “So, I know we’re going to Phoenix and all, but where’s the portal?”

“North-west of Scottsdale, somewhere near a golf course,” Blake replied.

“Wait,” Owen’s draw dropped in disbelief. “What do you mean, ‘somewhere near a golf course’? Don’t you know where it is? Phoenix has a lot of golf courses.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “That’s kinda important.”

“I only went there once,” Blake admitted. “And I’m sure it’ll look different with all the buildings still standing.”

Jason’s brows wrinkled. “What happens to the buildings?”

“The nanomachines happened. They’re everywhere, or at least they will be. After Invasion day, non-Collective based buildings start breaking down. It’s why we have to build our town with nano. If we don’t, in a year or two, it’ll all disappear.”

“What happens to the people still living in them?” Owen asked.

Blake shrugged. “It’s not really a problem. By then, anyone not in a faction town is dead.”

“Dark…” Jason trailed off.

Jason and Owen’s bickering continued for the next two hours as they descended through Payson, Rye, and into Phoenix proper. Once they reached the city, vehicles and people were everywhere.

So many of these people are going to die. I wish I could somehow save them.

Well over a million people resided within Phoenix. Blake knew it would be impossible to induct even a fraction of the population into the Collective before Invasion day. If he were to loudly proclaim the future to all, he would be seen as yet another crazy person.

Even if I show them proof, most people won’t believe it.

Blake once more considered going to a news station and summoning Metal before a large group of journalists. In person, he might convince them, but no one who saw an alien on their television or smartphone would believe it. It would be deemed fake and a hoax.

And that’s the best case scenario.

Blake was mostly concerned about the government. In his past life, there were numerous theories about the unlucky people who stumbled into a portal before Invasion day. Thousands of people survived and joined the Collective before the end of June. Yet, he had never met someone who had.

Montgomery, his old group mate, believed that the government quarantined anyone they found that was ‘infected’ with nanomachines. Most likely, they performed experiments and tried to extract the alien technology.

The theory bothered him. While Blake was strong enough now to resist small arms fire, he did not want to press his luck against rifles, explosives, or even tanks. If he were to be captured, millions more would die and humans would have a much lower chance of surviving what was to come.

Better to keep quiet and save who I can.

Kuruk interrupted his musing. “Blake, we’re in Scottsdale. Where to from here?”

Blake searched the horizon until he saw a familiar mountain in the distance. He pointed toward it and said, “Go that way. The portal is at whatever golf course is at the base of that mountain.”

Kuruk nodded and turned onto a new road.

“The Phoenician!” Owen blurted beside him. When Blake glanced over, he saw the man glued to his phone. Owen glanced at him and then leaned over to show him the screen. “Is this where it is?”

Blake inspected the digital map. After ten years of no smartphones, he was used to navigating by sight. It never occurred to him to look up his destination. “Yeah, probably so,” he agreed.

“Place looks pretty bougie, they gonna let us in?” Owen asked.

Blake shrugged.

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to the fancy country club entrance. Green grass, a rare sight in the desert, blanketed the ground beneath palm trees. Fountains were everywhere, and sprayed water into the air like it was plentiful, despite Phoenix’s water crisis.

“This seems wasteful,” Kuruk noted as he observed the opulence.

Jason sneered. “Rich people.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and they’ll all get taken out in a few months,” Owen said.

Blake frowned. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”

Owen looked back in disbelief. “Why? They’re all evil. They’re the real monsters.”

“For real,” Jason agreed.

He shook his head. “Maybe some of them, but I knew three wonderful people who were rich before Invasion day. Their generosity and kindness saved a lot of lives.”

Owen snorted. “What, did they donate point one percent of their income to the poor or something?”

“No. One of them ran into a collapsing building to save two kids. They ended up breaking multiple bones and lost two fingers in the process. Another ‘rich person’ went door to door through an entire neighborhood, to save people. He shared his food, water, and guns with people he just met and escorted them to the safety of a nearby faction town. His own family was already safe. He had no reason to go back out and risk his life for others. I judge people by their actions, not their possessions.”

After Blake finished his diatribe, Jason and Owen remained silent. Whether they changed their mind, or just kept their thoughts to themselves, he did not know. He hated to come off as preachy, but it bothered him when an entire group of people was judged by the actions of a few.

He had met a few rich people who were pure evil as well. However, he was not going to mention that and destroy his own argument. Blake also met poor individuals on both ends of the spectrum.

After all, money did not matter past Invasion day.

“Which way?” Kuruk asked, breaking him out of his reverie. They were stopped at an intersection, just a few hundred feet into the resort property.

“Uh…” Blake leaned forward and searched both directions. “Right, I think.”

Kuruk nodded and turned.

After another few hundred feet, Blake recognized the familiar shape of the large pond used as a water hazard on the course. “There!” he pointed, confident he could now locate the portal.

Blake was pushed forward into the seatbelt as Kuruk braked and then reversed. He continued backward until he reached the parking garage on their left. The car stopped once more and then pulled into the self-parking area.

“So, are you just gonna walk across the street and through the golf course with a big ass gun in your hands and a sword hanging from your belt?” Owen asked after the car was parked.

“You might look a bit sus,” Jason noted. “What if we distract everyone?”

“How?” Owen asked. “You gonna streak?”

Blake snorted and then glanced at the open road. He watched as a security vehicle passed. In the distance, he saw two carts drive down the wide paved sidewalk to search for their balls.

“Actually, the portal’s at the end of the lake. It might be better if you drop me off closer to it. With any luck, I can rush out of the car and jump in before anyone sees me. Then, you guys can bail and go have lunch or something.”

“Wait,” Owen’s brows rose. “The portal’s in the water?”

He shook his head. “No, above it. You need to get a running start and then jump.”

“What happens when you leave the portal?” Jason asked.

“Right now, I guess you get wet and have to swim out,” he admitted. “But, in the future, people dump dirt in it so you can just walk there. And, it’s not like this little lake lasts long in the desert.”

“Lucky us,” Owen sardonically replied.

Kuruk pulled out of the small parking garage and back onto the side road. When he reached the end, Blake said, “That’s good enough,” and invited everyone to his party. Once the three joined, he reminded them, “When I finish the scenario, and it’s safe, I’ll message you. Then you can come back with the picks and axes.”

As he opened the door, he glanced over his shoulder. “Don’t forget to watch where I jump.” When he finished his instructions, he exited the vehicle, grabbed the duffel bag with food, water, and spare magazines, and sprinted toward the lake.

With his high Physical Power, he ran at the speed of a vehicle cruising down the interstate. He hoped he would look like a blur to the people that saw him. By the time he reached the lake, he noticed four golfers on the course yell and point at him.

It did not matter. They would soon come up with an excuse as to why what they witnessed was impossible, and then keep it to themselves. Blake leapt off the shore and soared above the lake for five feet before the world went dark around him.

He entered the portal.