Survival Interval: 448

It did not take them long to find a manhole for which they could use to enter the sewer system. Removing the top, all they could see was a ladder that led a good 20 feet down to what looked like green water. They checked their tactical map and verified the fact that they got the red haze.

“Ladies first?” Michael suggested. She gave him a dirty look. “What I promise if some tentacle monster snatches you and drags you under, I will wait at least a few minutes to see if you come back up before placing the cover back on and going about my day.”

Kyrie looked at Michael disparagingly for a second, before starting down. Michael winced. He had only been joking, but now she probably thought he was an asshole. He started down the steps right after her. When Kyrie got to the bottom rung she leapt to the nearby dry ledge. The tunnel was 10 feet across, and was tall enough to allow Michael to be able to stand to his full height and still have a couple feet of clearance.

Red service lights that hung every hundred feet provided just enough light to hint at what it would be like once they left the area that was comparatively flooded with light from the above manhole. The lights led off in both directions. Only one side of the tunnel had a walkway. The other side of the tunnel just extended down into the murky water that lapped gently at the sides. It hinted there was some movement of the water, but it was moving at a snail’s pace. Other pipe tunnels led from both sides of the walls. Some small enough where Michael could block the opening with the palm of his hand, but just as often there were some that they might be able to crawl through.

“It’s bigger than I thought,” Michael said before leaping for the ledge himself.

“I’m just glad it doesn’t stink,” Kyrie said, kneeling. A golf club appeared in her hand. She dipped it down first. “I knew keeping one of these would come in handy for something.”

The golf club submerged all the way to where her hand gripped the wedge portion. She sighed before pushing in further. She got up to her elbow before she withdrew her arm and golf club. The golf club disappeared back into her inventory.

“Just deep enough for who knows what to be in there…” Kyrie remarked, wiping her arm with a separate cloth.

“Yeah, have I told you about my rule against bodies of water?” Michael asked wearily, keeping an eye on the water. He was also thankful that the water did not stink, but he was far from being at ease with the lighting and the water mere feet away. He could not help but picture a slimy tentacle sneaking out and pulling him in.

“Once or twice, the real question is which way we should head,” Kyrie remarked, making a show of looking both ways. She then moved to a nearby larger pipe and looked in. “Hold on a second,” she said, climbing in.

“Wait,” Michael called after her, but she was already several steps in the smaller cross tunnel. Michael could just make out a faint red light beyond her crouched figure. There was obviously another tunnel on the other side with the same service lights. Michael only watched her for a second before shrinking back against the wall to watch the water. Michael only had to wait a couple minutes before she hopped back down from the smaller opening. She panted from the exertion of walking hunched over for what must have been a hundred feet each way.

“It seems to just be another tunnel that runs parallel to this one. Only difference is that it looks to be a couple feet lower in elevation, and smells slightly worse. Perhaps that is the sewer side and this is the water side. Regardless, my vote is that we stick to this side for now.”

“Works for me,” Michael shrugged.

They started heading west, rationalizing that there would likely be more cross tunnels the further they got from the coast. They proceeded without their flashlights. Once they got away from the sunlight pouring in through the open manhole their eyes adjusted quite well. The service lights illuminated the space 20 feet to either side of them quite well, but that left half their travel in the darkness in between successive lights.

After five minutes, the tunnel led into the wall, however faint red glows to the left and right indicated that there was a ‘T’ intersection. They hit the intersection and looked down both ways. A ledge led along the near side, both ways, however they both silently elected to head left, since heading right would require them to jump a good ten feet over open water. Not something that would be overly difficult with their enhanced stats, but not something either of them wanted to attempt when they did not have to.

Another five minutes and they found another tunnel that led west. This time there was a dinky metal plank that led across to a ledge. It left them with a choice. Without the gangplank they would likely have to continue the way they had been heading since it would be difficult to stand and jump the distance. They could also just continue on the ledge they were currently on. They both hesitated.

“It's literally a mazework of tunnels down here. Kind of reminds me of the roadways above,” Michael remarked cautiously looking down the new tunnel. Just like the tunnel before the red lights hanging in the darkness seemed to stretch into the distance. However, the flow of the water coming from this tunnel was actually evident, where it had not been prior.

“Yeah, just as silent and creepy as the city above,” Kyrie agreed. Then she just had to make the next remark. “We haven’t run into anything down here though. I can understand the old city district being fairly clear of zombies since there are apparently a lot of contenders hunting there regularly, but I did not think it would extend down here.”

Michael glanced at her incredulously for a moment before his eyes focused back on the water. He was not really a superstitious guy. If this was real life, he would not believe her words would have any effect, but they were not in the real world. They were in a simulated reality, where battle managers could potentially be watching their every move.

Theoretically there were stipulations and rules to prevent the battle managers from just doing whatever they wanted. Theoretically they could only minorly influence things, but Michael would be lying if he said that he could trust regulations to keep him safe from someone with complete power. Too often in his own life had he seen people in power skirt rules.

Seemingly in answer to his gaze the water along the ledge exploded. A skeletal figure had exploded out of the water immediately using its hands to push itself to get its feet under it. In less than a second the undead by him had a foot under itself, with its knee still by its chest. In another it might have shot to a standing position, but Michael kicked the bony figure right in the face sending it right back into the water with a large splash. Where his initial reaction had been to sink back against the tunnel wall, his conscious mind had quickly shifted into pushing the threat back into the water.

However the skeleton had not been alone. Dozens of others were climbing up onto the ledge on both sides of them. Without a need for discussion the two faced their respective sides. They would basically be fighting back to back. Michael instinctively analyzed the enemies.

[ Drowned one tier 1x 11 ]

The enemies before him looked to be like any of the other zombies they had seen on the surface, but that was just because of the lighting and the fact that each had barnacles and seaweed encrusted onto their bones making their skeletal frames appear to be more than what they were. Michael had decided to attack immediately. He had an easy shot at the nearest one's head as it worked to get to its feet. The skull shattered from the one strike, and three crowns streaked into his chest.

However, it would be the only easy kill. The others had made it to their feet, and most wielded a rusted cutlass. Michael had given himself some space advancing on the first but he quickly found himself being pushed back from the front skeletons sword strikes. The blade whipped back and forth. Michael blocked several and even delivered counter strikes to the skeleton’s chest, but without his full power behind a blow the machete failed to have much effect.

The skeleton did not bother to try and block Michael’s counters, it just prepared its next attack. Michael was the one in a precarious position. Any one of the undead’ s swipes could cause him serious damage, but he could not do the same in return. Nor could he get in a position where he could deliver a serious blow since his opponent was attacking without fear of reprisal.

If Michael’s stats were grossly better than his opponent he might manage, but it was clear this one at least had progressed well past a new tier 1. It was just a notch slower, giving Michael a slight advantage and that was after using health offering to boost his dexterity by 10%. He had enacted the skill as soon as he was sure there would be a battle, but the extra points only gave him a little more wiggle room when facing an armed opponent. His attempts to fight the sword wielding skeleton were most definitely clumsy. It was not as if he had ever expected that he would ever be caught in a swordfight after all.

Neither did the poor lighting help. They were basically right under one of the red service lights, but the low lighting made it more difficult to pick out visual cues. Michael felt like every action he had was just reactionary. Things were happening far too quickly for him to be able to attempt to form a pulse dart.

In the back of Michael’s mind, he wondered how Kyrie was managing. If she were to fall, he would quickly be hit from both sides and that would clearly mark the end. However, the ferocity of attacks prevented him from dwelling on it. The girl seemingly had some experience wielding a sword. On top of being able to use Ki and spirit energy, she was a little better off. He would just have to trust that she could manage.

A drowned one once again breached to his side. Michael swung hard, loping the unguarded head right off. A white drop appeared, but Michael barely registered it as his attention went right back to the cutlass welding skeleton in front of him. It was too late; the momentary lapse of attention allowed the drowned one to deliver a slash from his shoulder all the way down. Michael had stepped back, avoiding the worst of it, but the rusted cutlass had still bit into his chest.

The green vest he had been wearing since day 1 of the survival battle had been cut cleanly through. Both sides flapped about with Michael's movement. Michael angrily struck back at the skeleton sending several bolts from his bracer straight to its skull. The attack worked. The skeleton fell backwards into the others patiently awaiting their own turn.

Michael grimaced as he stepped forward to snag the white drop before the next drowned one engaged him. He blocked several swipes before once again using his bracer. It took four successive bolts to bring his new opponent down. Another crown appeared before streaking into his chest. Another took the fallen skeleton's place as soon as the way forward was clear.

The bracer seemed to be the only way that Michael could bring down the drowned ones once they were on the ledge. He was soon becoming entirely reliant on it. He waited till the opponent closed in and exchanged a few strikes while he waited for a good opportunity. Another eight went down, and he collected quite a few more crowns and a second white drop. Despite having taken down a dozen drowned ones, their numbers did not seem to have diminished. Another analyze proved the futility of his efforts.

[ Drowned one tier 1x 6 ]

His analyze had only picked out six since it was based on his line of sight at the time of the analysis, but there were most definitely others behind the ones he could see. He had a running count of how many bolts he had left, leaving him with only four left, but despite with how deliberate he had been to keep track he knew he could be off either way by several bolts. They would not be able to eliminate all of the threats here. Seemingly at the same time, Kyrie came to the same conclusion.

“We need to cross over!” Kyrie shouted from behind him. A quick glance behind him showed that the two of them had been pushed back to the point where they were nearly back to back. Kyrie's body shifted towards the metal walkway to her right. Michael sent one last bolt into his nearest opponent. His weight shifted to follow the girl, before the green flashed in his peripheral vision… It was not as if he was going to leave a green drop behind.

Responding to his need a dark orange dart appeared and streaked into the skeletons before him. He raced a couple of steps forward to get the green drop as several gold crown formed from the fallen drowned ones beyond it. He had expended most of his pulse, but had gotten his prize. He turned to find skeletons closing on him from behind. He did not have time to think. He got one step forward before he lunged toward the center of the bridge. The zombies had already passed the point where it joined onto the ledge he was on.

Michael took it all in as he launched from the ledge into the air. None of the drowned ones had as of yet followed Kyrie since he had provided a better option for himself. However, one had just stepped on the walkway to follow after her, perhaps assuming it was too late to get at him. Kyrie was all the way across, she was looking back mouth agape. Michael did not make it very far.

The nearest drowned one swiped at him with its cutlass. Michael did not see the attack. He only felt the blade cut into his left side right under his outstretched left arm. The ribs kept the wound from being too severe, but he felt his body twist after the strike. It would only be later after reflecting on it, that he could guess what happened. The cutlass had cut his side but also had also caught his vest. The vest eventually gave, but it had been enough to pull him back, bleeding off his forward momentum. He would fall well short.

Next thing Michael knew his shoulder and forehead smashed into the side of the metal walkway. His head was wretched to the side and a bite of pain flashed through his consciousness. Then he was in the water. The water was actually fairly turbulent. The flow was fairly strong from the tunnel that Kyrie was now racing up. As close to the opening as he was, Michael was soon forced against the wall under the ledge he had just been fighting on. Then he scooted down the side pushed by the current. He was now headed in the same direction Kyrie and he had been traveling prior to the intersection.

The shock and pain from slamming into the walkway was quickly forgotten due to the seriousness of his situation. Only three or four seconds had passed, but Michael already knew it would be difficult to follow after Kyrie. Even worse, was his precarious position in the water with dozens of potential enemies on the ledge overhead, not to mention what could possibly still be in the water with him.

With the potential need to use both arms to swim or climb out of the water, he sent the machete into his inventory. A second later his head broke the surface. He had already been pushed 10 feet downstream from the walkway. Only ten seconds had passed since he had entered the water, indicating that the current was stronger than they had thought. Michael could hardly worry about it now. He would not be able to follow after her. Drowned ones were now streaking over the walkway after her. They would both have to go their own ways now to escape. Michael soon lost all thoughts of his companion, because only a couple seconds after breaking the surface one of the drowned ones launched itself off the ledge at him.

Michael only got a couple breaths of air before he was tackled beneath the surface of the water. The next thing he knew he felt two arms and legs struggling to wrap around him. Even as teeth bit into his right shoulder. Luckily, the remnant of his green vest still hung from that shoulder diminishing the actual damage, but a bite on the shoulder was the least of his worries. He was in an underwater wrestling match with an opponent that was trying to kill him, and it did not need to breathe. He had to prevent the creature from getting to a vital point like his neck, but he would also need to get back to the surface. Otherwise there would be one more drowned one in the Vargas city sewer system.