“Good job, soldiers!” I said appreciatively. “Now that’s what I call teamwork! Everyone helps out and together we reach our common goal. Now, the most important question of the evening: how do you guys feel? Before you answer, let me explain. The system wants us to patrol main hallway 29 for two hours. Just boring old walking back and forth. Are we up to the task? We’ll get fifteen sol apiece.”
“That’s a hefty sum!” Yorka sighed, flexing her left hand and touching the head of her club. “A hefty sum...”
“I’m in.” Bask said.
His reply was too quick. I knew he was feeling like a dead weight to the party, blind and wounded, and he was willing to do anything to prove his usefulness.
“Bask.” I leaned towards him. “I need you to tell me the truth, and only the truth. How do you feel?”
“The pain is gone. I can get my shots on the way to main 29. You can visit the medblock, too. We can grab dinner nearby so we don’t have to work hungry. I know a long story — two, even! One is about zombies and the apocalypse, and the other is about zombies and a hot princess. You won’t be bored, that’s for sure!”
“That’s great! Yorka?” I looked at her. “What about you?”
“I feel fantastic!”
“Good,” I nodded. “I’m gonna accept the job.”
My interface flashed, the green description got brighter, and the timer started blinking.
“Let’s move out, fighters.” I stood up first. “We have a shitload of marching ahead of us. How far is it, by the way?”
“The Cursed Bridge isn’t too far from here,” said Bask. “Less than half an hour of easy walking. Five minutes in the medblock and another five to get our food cubes. When do we have to be at the job site?”
“At eight.”
“We’ll make it in time.”
“Of course we will,” I said.
The system knew our location. It wouldn’t have offered us this job if we didn’t have enough time to get to the destination.
“Hold on a second… Why did you mention the Cursed Bridge?”
“Main 29 leads into Main 30, and two hundred yards later it hits the Cursed Bridge.”
“I see… Let’s hurry then, goblins and zombies. I want to take a peek at that bridge if we get there early.”
“Why?”
“We’ll have to cross that bridge sooner or later on our way to Drainagetown,” I replied. “I’ve heard so many wild stories about it, and I want to see it with my own eyes before setting foot on it.”
“They say you can see Drainagetown from the bridge,” Yorka added as she filed out of the Jolly Plux behind us. “And other beautiful sights.”
“Beautiful sights?”
“Yep!”
“Let’s go sightseeing, then.” I nodded. “Now tell me, goblins, did you enjoy smelling that meat?”
“We sure got a noseful, blow up and die!” Yorka sighed.
Bask just nodded sadly.
“Watching all those rich fuckers chow down just made me mad with envy!” Yorka pouted angrily.
Bask let out another sorrowful sigh, and gently patted his wounded, rumbling stomach under the black t-shirt.
I laughed and tried to cheer them up:
“That’ll just make the food cubes taste even better! Don’t you worry, we’ll get us some meat! Lots of fatty, delicious meat. Now let’s move out. We’re headed for the Cursed Bridge, goblins and zombies. To the Bridge!”
My team cheered, and we set off, following Bask’s lead. I hadn’t asked him how he lost his eyes — I hadn’t had a good opportunity. But we were going to have a plenty of time during our long, boring patrol. We could pass the time with a decent story. Maybe Yorka would tell us how she lost her arm, too.
I made a mental note to arrange a nice meat dinner for my team as soon as I could.
After all, I had promised them we’d be eating a lot of fatty, delicious meat. But definitely not pork…
Chapter 10
“THAT’S UNSETTLING,” I admitted, standing at the end of main hallway 30 and looking dumbfoundedly out at the... landscape that opened up in front of me. That’s right, a real industrial landscape. After all the narrow hallways and closed-in rooms, even though they were big, standing and looking out at this vast expanse made me feel a little dizzy.
The familiar cramped hallways were behind us.
In front of us stretched a practically endless space.
There wasn’t much light, but I could still make out some details.
