Cannibal Read online

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  Demon turned and slowly approached the next body. It was a beautiful girl in her twenties, and machine-gun fire had pierced her chest, tearing her heart to shreds. He closed her eyes with his fingers and pressed the extraction-button. After a few seconds, the ampoule came out. He took the experience and moved on to the next.

  He went from one body to another. He saw blood, pain, and death in many forms. They were right there. Where was the Light? Demon closed his eyes, taking the experience, then he laid the dead brothers and sisters flat, crossing their arms across their chests as he went. He didn’t know why he was doing it. It just seemed right. Even when he reached the next level, he didn’t stop. Walking around the square, he quietly requested of the Light that all his dead brothers and sisters be allowed to return to the Sun, to the Mind, to their God. When he bade farewell to them all, Demon straightened and, looking back, he stumbled on the Luminaries’ shocked glances.

  Congratulations on achieving level 7

  Available stat points:

  30

  Available skills:

  2

  Available talent points:

  2

  Do you want to distribute them now?

  “Fucking monster,” Caesar whispered, but Demon couldn’t read his lips.

  “I take you!” Lex shouted. “Finally, someone who will be despised and scared more than me! I take you!” He even jumped on the spot. “Have you seen it?”

  “I don’t understand,” Demon muttered, approaching the Luminaries. “I’ve just put them to rest. Why are you all reacting like this?”

  “You obviously worked a lot with dead bodies in your past life,” Padre explained. “I don’t know why, but the bodies of our dead brothers and the bodies of dead people are perceived by us in very different ways. Maybe it’s a defense mechanism so that we don’t eat each other until we’re reasonable. But, what you did, not everyone can do.”

  “That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Caesar said. “It’s just unusual and abnormal. From the height of my intellect, I think, you don’t understand what you’re doing. Although, Padre might be right. When you pump up your ‘Intelligence’ to 100, you’ll receive some memories, once a day.”

  “Okay, I’ll pump it up.” Demon nodded.

  “No! Stop!” Lex screamed, jumping off the APC. “Don’t pump up your ‘Intelligence’ yet, otherwise I won’t take you with me. Let’s discuss it, and then you can distribute the stat points, okay? Why don’t you open your character panel.”

  Demon, Cannibal, level 7

  Strength:

  62

  Dexterity:

  45

  Intelligence:

  70

  Perception:

  40

  Stamina:

  45

  Available skills: Experienced (recommended skill), Training, Melee, Shooter, Master, Hard skull, Quiet step, Strongman, Connection.

  “Do you want to be a Luminary?” Lex asked. “You need to listen to my advice. Until you reach the tenth level, you’d better pump up your fighting skills and stats –‘Stamina’, ‘Dexterity’, ‘Strength’, and maybe, ‘Perception’. In the last case, you need to take the ‘Shooter’ option, but ammunition sooner or later always comes to an end. You’ve just seen so for yourself.”

  “But how can we oppose them without firearms?” Demon enquired, realizing that it was a stupid question. “Firearms have appeared in our world for a reason. They’ve shot many brothers here.”

  “Yes, but mind you, none of them were above the tenth level,” Lex said, looking at the battlefield. “It’s better to pump up your battle skills till the fifteenth or twentieth level. And only then start pumping up your chosen specialization.”

  “How many of us are above the tenth level?” Demon wondered calmly. “Are there many brothers at the fortieth level?”

  “Well, almost all who survived here are above the tenth level.” Lex stared at the wounded brothers. “Though, I can see a few seventh- and eighth-levelers. Those, who are above the fifteenth level are now in other areas. At the TPS, for example.”

  “The TPS isn’t free yet,” Caesar remarked. “The people are surprisingly firmly entrenched there. The situation is still unclear.”

  “You say ‘people’, so then who we are?”

  “You’ll know it soon. Jack’s coming back,” Caesar said. “Tenth- and fifteenth-levelers are coming here now.”

  In fact, a large group led by the Goliath came out to the square. They were brothers and sisters from the ninth to the twentieth levels. They clung to each other, looking around with fear etched on their faces. Their clothing and faces were covered in blood.

  “Hey!” Kris waved her hand, running up. “I’ve got more two levels!”

  “Attagirl.” Caesar praised the Ghost as he rose to stand on the roof of the APC. “Brothers and sisters. Come closer. Closer!” His voice cut Demon to his very bones, but with great effort, he was able to stay where he was. Noticing this, a smile tugged at the corner of Caesar’s lips. “Come to me, young technocrats. Now I’ll tell you what’s happening, and how you’ll live in this world. Come closer.”

  Once the crowd had surrounded the APC, Caesar looked around at everyone, lingering for a few seconds on each. Then he spoke.

  “Today, you’ll realize that you have entered a new world, although, in fact, it actually happened two months ago. The world collapsed. Mankind staged a terrorist attack, which forever separates us and them. Thankfully the Supreme Mind, our Light, our God, was able to save us, to revive us. Each of you remembers what it’s like to be in the Light of the Mind, to feel and know everything. We’ll definitely return to it. We only need to restore the power supply to the relay station.”

  “Why doesn’t anyone have any questions?” Demon asked Lex.

  “They have an ‘Intelligence’ of less than 50. They’re normal – unlike you.” Seeing Demon’s surprised look, he clarified: “More normal than you. At least, I don’t see any cannibalism here.”

  “Now you’ll be sent to our residential blocks near the relay station. There you’ll find a mentor and start a new life. Remember, have no fear!”

  “No fear! No pain! No blood! Only the Light!” The crowd chanted.

  Chapter 5. Center

  They walked along the snow-covered roads to the relay station which towered over the city. The closer they got to their destination, the more crowded it became. The streets seemed cleaner, and the snow was more of a trampled brown sludge. In the center of the town, nothing, except the power outage, remained of the war. In the huge pavilions under glass – obviously the former trade centers – there were now vegetable patches. In the houses, there were furnaces made out of iron barrels.

  “Wow!” Demon cried. “This is a kind of-”

  “Civilization?” Lex snapped. “You haven’t seen our northern lands! It’s even better there. Here the TPS gave electricity. We wanted to fix it, but now we won’t have time.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the people have captured it,” the Luminary spat. ‘People’. Demon couldn’t get used to the fact that they weren’t people anymore. They were technocrats or cyborgs. People considered them zombies. On the way, Lex said that at first, people wanted to make contact. However, at that time, there were only low-leveled brothers and sisters that could only communicate with the help of their ‘teeth and claws’. When the first generation of self-realized cyborgs appeared, people got used to shooting first and asking questions later.

  Lex’s friend, Augustus, had died in one of those attempts to negotiate. He and a few other brothers had gone to a gas station on the western outskirts of the city. They had been all destroyed. A surviving Luminary had said that the group had consisted of only four people, but they had been able to kill more than forty technocrats. It had been one of the few cases where the technocrats had lost.

  It wasn’t so important really, as only about one percent of the entire population of the planet had stayed as ‘normal’ people. D
uring the initial attack, only one in ten of those who had implants survived. A lot of people were killed in the opening skirmishes.

  “Come here,” Caesar said loudly as they reached the square next to the relay station. “Now, a Master will approach each of you, according to your skills and stats.” At this moment, technocrats started to come out of the surrounding houses. They were all from the thirtieth to the fiftieth levels.

  “Hey, Caesar. Good catch!” A thin, tall, bearded cyborg shouted. “Any Masters?”

  Dwalin, Master-Protector, level 57

  “No, Dwalin, sorry.” The Luminary spread his hands. “I have only militants today. But you can take any fifth-leveler and pump up him yourself.”

  “Okay. Oh, what’s that seventh-leveler doing here?” He asked, pointing in surprise at Demon. “For backup?”

  “You should look more closely.” Lex chuckled, patting on the Cannibal’s shoulder. “This is my disciple. A future great and terrible Luminary! The terror of the whole of Sakhalin.”

  “Hmm,” the Master murmured thoughtfully, “Well, at least the stat points haven’t been distributed yet. There’s still a chance of making someone worthwhile. Sorry, man, but you’re really weird.” He glanced at the crowd. “Okay, I need a couple of men with good ‘Stamina’, ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Strength’ to work in the smithy.”

  The Masters took some cyborgs and left the square. The Goliath and the Luminaries did the same. Only a dozen brothers were still standing in the square, and Caesar carefully examined them.

  “Lex, would you like to take a few of them to the station?” He stared at the second Luminary with hope. “Maybe they’ll learn something on the way.”

  “Do you wish us to run into an ambush or a group of enemies?” Lex chuckled. “Thanks a lot, but one is enough for me. He’s got the ‘Jerk’. We’ll get pumped slightly while we go along the northern route. Don’t forget about his talent.”

  “Then I’ll bring them to the roadblocks.” Caesar raised his hand. “Good luck, Lex. Brothers, follow me.”

  “Good luck, brother! Don’t die until I get back!” Lex waved back. Once they’d gone, he turned to Demon. “Now that it’s over, let’s eat something.”

  “I need to clean up first,” Demon said uncertainly. “I’m covered in blood.”

  “And change your clothes. You’re right, me too.” He looked around and pointed at one of the buildings. “Let’s go there. It’s October and it’s snowing, but you’re wearing a light turtleneck and a bulletproof vest. I know you don’t feel cold, but still.”

  “I feel it, just not as sharply as I’d expect,” Demon pondered. “Probably due to regeneration, my tissue recovering sooner than it can freeze.”

  “No.” Lex smiled. “That’s not it. Your skin composition has actually changed a little, and now it’s covered with something like wax. By the way, your smell is rather specific to dogs. Well, not only yours. We all have problems with dogs, unfortunately. I had two pets before-”

  “Do you remember what happened before?” Demon interjected in surprise.

  “Only some fragments. But, unlike you, I have almost a month and a half of experience and an ‘Intelligence’ of 400. So don’t get excited yet. Memories will come to you in their own time.”

  “Why not get excited?”

  “Because you’ve survived. Thus, someone has died to keep you alive. Many people have died,” Lex said grimly, and he turned away, showing that the conversation was over.

  They entered a newly built residential complex. The stained-glass windows were cracked in some places, but he didn’t notice the broken ones. The corridors were cleaned and warm, and they climbed the stairs floor by floor, getting higher and higher, stopping several times along the way to rest.

  On the thirtieth and top floor, Lex led him to an observation platform on the roof of the building. Having climbed the spiral iron ladder, Demon followed the Luminary to the roof and caught his breath. The huge city, stretching from sea to sea, lay before them. Sandwiched between the mountains and covered with snow, it seemed a giant beast, fallen into hibernation.

  “It’s wonderful,” Demon whispered, looking around. Below them, things were humming, but farther toward the outskirts, there was noticeably fewer technocrats. Only near the sea, some smokes and lights could be made out.

  “Yeah.” Lex sighed, standing at the edge of the platform. “But that’s not why I brought you here. Can you see the rising smoke up there, in the north?”

  “No,” Demon admitted. He couldn’t see anything, no matter how much he strained his eyes.

  “So bad?” Lex thoughtfully tapped his finger on the railing. “Then it’s time to pump up your stats. To become a Luminary – if you really want to become one – you don’t just only need ‘Intelligence’ – although it’s the main thing. You also need ‘Stamina’, to survive the imposition of an aura, and ‘Perception’, which influences the range of the control. Moreover, ‘Stamina’ is also responsible for your overall vitality, and ‘Perception’ is needed for the range and probability of detection of an approaching enemy. So, we’ll pump them both up first until they both reach 100. Open the character panel,” he requested.

  Demon, Cannibal, level 7

  Strength:

  62

  Dexterity:

  45

  Intelligence:

  70

  Perception:

  40

  Stamina:

  45

  Available skills: Experienced (recommended skill), Training, Melee, Shooter, Master, Hard skull, Quiet step, Strongman, Connection.

  “Now your ‘Perception’ is currently lower than your ‘Stamina’. Your ‘Strength’ number isn’t enough yet to get the skill ‘Punch’,” Lex explained, “so, make your ‘Strength’ 70, and then put the rest into ‘Perception’.”

  “Why do I need a higher ‘Strength’? You’ve just said I need to focus on increasing my ‘Stamina’ and ‘Perception’.”

  “Yeah, you have too many points in ‘Intelligence’ to be obedient, but too little of them to understand why. Just pump these stats up, okay.”

  Demon obediently increased his ‘Strength’ to 70, and then he put the 22 remaining points into his ‘Perception’. After he confirmed the choice of the stats, the world exploded with new colors, smells and sounds.

  “Wow!” was all he could say as he contemplated the changing landscape before him.

  “Look at how terrible this world is.” Lex smiled, “But that’s not all that you still have to pump up. The most interesting things really only begin after you reach the hundredth or hundred and fifth level. So, let’s deal with your skills. What do you have available?”

  Demon brought up his available skills.

  Available skills: Experienced (recommended skill), Training, Melee, Shooter, Master, Hard skull, Quiet step, Strongman, Connection.

  “Well, it’s clear that if you want to be a Luminary, you should take ‘Connection’ and then ‘Control’. But I advise you to first choose the ‘Punch’ and ‘Melee’ options to help you survive, and then you’ll need to select ‘Connection’ at around level 25-30.”

  Demon opened out the appropriate skills to read more on each.

  The ‘Punch’ option allows breaching concrete walls and bulletproof vests up to Type IV.

  The ‘Melee’ option significantly increases ability in melee combat, includes knowledge of martial arts at the Master level, and also offers increased reaction and speed.

  “And what if I am fired at from afar?” He asked after reading the descriptions. “It’s all well and good when the distance is less than five yards, but what if it’s at more than three hundred yards away?”

  “You need to not to get into a situation where you are in full view, out in the open. You have the ‘Intelligence’.” Lex shrugged, “Then, just pump your ‘Dexterity’ and your life support skills up to one hundred. In the meantime, if you see that someone is shooting at you, use your ‘Jerk’ skill.”

&nb
sp; “I don’t see your stats,” Demon said slightly disappointed. “How many points of the ‘Perception’ do I need to see like you do?”

  “To see my stats, you need to have at least 150 in your ‘Perception’ and ‘Intelligence’, but I’m ten times more senior than you are,” Lex explained. “Therefore, due to the chance of rapid development, you’ll be able to pump your stats. Now choose the skills.”

  Choose the ‘Connection’ option. Confirm, Demon thought unexpectedly, even to himself.

  Immediately, a new recommended skill ‘Control’ appeared. However, it required 100 in ‘Intelligence’, so he took the ‘Punch’ option instead.

  “Why have you done that?” Lex sighed wearily. “You’re just making your life more difficult.”

  “I’m just moving towards my goal,” Demon replied confidently.

  “As you wish. Now look to the north. Do you see the smoke now?” The Luminary enquired. When the Cannibal nodded, he continued, “This smoke is our TPS. Today, we’re going to it as soon as we’re ready. Now let’s get down from here.”

  Demon once again stared out across the city from the roof. Now, with his increased perception, he noted roadblocks and crowds of technocrats outside the center. However, he wasn’t still able to see in detail farther than a mile. With a sigh, he opened the door and went down after the Luminary.

  Chapter 6. Emperor

  They descended the stairs quickly until they came to the inhabited part of the building. On the tenth floor, Lex looked around a wall, and, grinning, entered through one of the doors. Demon followed him and almost pushed the Luminary, who froze at the entrance.

  Not understanding what had happened, he skirted Lex and saw ‘something’. It could have been a human once. However, that would have been very long ago. It differed from a human like a steam engine from a super-heavy space rocket. Demon tried to look at it with his newly pumped ‘Perception’, but instead of the expected message, he got only this: