I would say I've gotten pretty good at this whole, predicting attacks thing.
Doesn't stop me from dying horribly if I even hit one damned thing at the wrong time…
Stuff has been the same as it has been since this whole thing started, run to the bodega, try to find any kind of advantage in the rubble, or way into that locked door.
Something's I've learned include, some of the snack in there survived the destruction.
Bad news, I don't thing I have a sense of taste anymore? Or at least this future is bleak enough that even the processed junk food is as bland as cardboard, because it felt like chewing on nothing, not even a lick of sensation on my tongue.
I think it might have more to do with my tongue being weird then these snacks not having taste, if anything.
Another thing: on another run to find litterally any way into that closed off area, I was killed by having something pierce my back, lift me up, and split me in half.
But before I died, it gave me a pretty good view of the area above the door, which is how I came to understand just how much of an idiot I am.
I didn't bother looking up, but there was a pretty big vent like, right above the door.
Let's be clear, big by regular vent standards, not like, Metal Gear Solid's vents…
Not big enough that someone my size could get through normally I mean. small enough that you'd have to dislocate your shoulders to fit.
But aren't I exactly the kind of thing that can do that with little to no repercussions?
So, on my next life, I ran to that vent, only to find I couldn't rip it off it's mounted position, put together too well, I guess.
But this is a bodega, so for the next few deaths, I searched the ruins for something at least kind of like a screwdriver.
Behind the employee counter, to the right of the door, in a little nook was a bunch of stuff, some trash bags a mini sweeper and dustpan, what might be a measuring tape, for some reason? And a very odd looking thing? That looked enough like a screwdriver for the odd bolts keeping that vent stuck in the wall, that I just went with it and took them.
But that also raises the question, will the vent on the other side also be so firmly attached to the wall? Hmm.
Rushing to the vent, it took me a moment to figure out how to actually do this, but it seemed like the thing was automatic, since when I pressed it onto the bolt it just began spinning, and the bolt eventually fell out!
I was using the rolling chair in the employee work station to get enough height to actually reach the bolts, but after a minute of letting the thing do it's work, I pulled the vent off, and looked inside.
Inside, it looked like a vent shaft alright, didn't seem that there was a vent on the other side, which was odd, what was even more so was the shadowy figure in the vent!
Why hadn't I gotten attacked by this point? Oh, because I had used some lime juice from the bodega to blind the bastard temporarily, and killed all the little minions it had summoned before I got to that point, I have maybe, two more minutes? Or so.
Dislodging my shoulders was, I guess easy enough, not like they were really 'lodged' in the first place to be honest, this body is still a total mess.
It did feel very odd, to sort of, slither through a vent, it kind of felt like that one time when I went cave diving, but well, that time was way less deadly…
By the way what exactly was that thing I was concerned about before? Oh yeah the shadowy figure in the vent I just crawled into.
Wait S-shadowy figure?
Looking forward- yep, yeah there's definitely still something small staring directly at me in the darkness.
But as I began to worry about that, I heard the infuriated screaming of a monster that just got the lime juice out of it's eyes…
Welp, no stopping it now, might as well see what's this way, if I'm gonna die either way.
Getting closer and closer to the thing, revealed more and more that, it wasn't moving?
Hearing the noises from behind me getting closer, I ignored the thing ahead of me completely, and just barreled full on.
Moments later I found myself as a heap on the floor, a cold, clean floor, free of debris.
Inside, was a room very similar in size to the bathroom next door, but this one was a lot more packed.
A desk with five small monitors, I think they were for something like security? All but one were showing static, with the final one showing the room I was currently in.
There was another rolling chair, and within it, a skeleton.
This one was in a huddled up position with… a box with a face drawn on? in it's fully bone hands.
Dead.
Maybe starvation?
There was clawing at the walls, old blood where someone didn't bother to clean up. And at the bottom of a trash bin with no bag, was a broken mechanical looking thingy.
The light was still on, fluorescent light still humming dully.
There was also, around that same bin, but never actually within it, was a bunch of brown wrappers, for something called 'STRIFE' with a picture of a person falling down, I think- a burning pit of some kind??
Ohh, it seems these were gimmicky protein bars that were also made to be spicy.
Damn, what a way to go, dying of starvation with a burning mouth…
Rest in peace, whoever you were.
Oh wait there's an ID neckband thingy hanging around the skeleton's neck
'Simon Fischbach, Manager' huh, I think I've heard that last name somewhere before, rest in peace, at least you didn't get turned into something like me, pal.
Turning my attention to the thing that had fallen to the floor just before my head peaked into the room, the shadowy figure from the vent had fallen, only to be revealed as, a chunky headed action figure?
Like- oh what are they called… fun-funky? Like a Funko? is that what their called?
Well, I think those things were more like bobble heads or something this one was more like an actual action toy.
It was a toy of a soldier? I think?
All grey armor with a yellow futuristic visor, and a gun that looked all too similar to the ones that had been shooting at me since day one, it was full plastic, and had a button on the side of the blaster than made a light in the barrel turn on.
Neat!
Exept, as soon as I looked away, I felt my hand had gotten oddly lighter, and when I looked back, it was gone.!
Not only that, I felt what, can only be described as something occurring inside my mind.
The closest thing I can describe to the feeling is, like a muscle not relaxing or tensing, just, moving.
And within that fractaling space where my system information lay….
my [Mind] had turned from 13.4% to 63.4%!