World Filter

Though the bandits were no match for their team, that did not mean the encounter had been trivial. All of them had used up a fair amount of resources and they had already been recovering from rushing to this point. Not to mention the sour taste it had left in Mark's mouth. He was not some executioner, but they had left them no other choice. Leaving a chaotic variable like them out there was dangerous to innocent people.

After talking, they decided to make their way to the pick point without rushing. At this stage, their message would only get there tonight.

When they arrived at the spot Mark struggled to tell it apart from any other road and would be hard-pressed to say with certainty that this was where they were dropped off.

“Right since we’ll probably have to wait till evening to hear from Command, it's probably in our best interest to find a base nearby and use our time wisely,” Sam said.

Jonathan nodded and said.

“My vote is to clear the area”

Sam smiled and shot back.

“Your vote is always to clear the area”

Jonathan just shrugged happily.

After a quick survey of their surroundings, they found a good spot nearby. It was a pastry shop that opened out into a small cafe. Clearing it out proved to be a piece of cake as there was only a couple of Corrupted inside.

Sam and Mark took the time to use earth magic to reinforce the building and windows. A watch was still necessary even if they were in a clear zone. It cost them very little to take extra precautions. While they were setting up in the back, Mark's eye caught on what looked like a recipe file laying on the ground. Picking it up, he realized it must be the store's personal recipes—the kind that had been tested after years of trial and error—the ones you couldn't find on what was left of the internet.

Liking it Mark shoved it into his inventory, hoping to recreate some of the recipes or at least get Joslin to.

When everything was set up Jonathan led them back out into the road. They were stuck here for a while so they may as well clear the Corrupted from the area.

Moving into the nearby buildings they began systematically clearing out any dangers they came across. It wasn’t anything too intense, the worst they came across was a couple of Titans lumbering through the streets and with the three of them working together they took the things apart.

During the downtime, they simply chatted and soon enough Sam turned to Mark and asked.

“Okay, so I know Jon’s story but not much about you Mark, What was your life like before all this?”

Mark knew and trusted Sam enough by now to know she was just curious and to be honest, it was not like he was hiding anything in the first place.

“Well, not too much to tell. A simple childhood growing up, got a full scholarship to study medicine, eventually, I would have specialized in hereditary diseases. A couple of friends to relax in the down times. Hell I was on holiday when this shit happened anyway”

Ah, another only child?" Sam looked even more curious now

As the memories resurfaced Mark braced against the distant pain. Though not enough to deny her existence.

“Mmm, no. Half-sister, she passed of Tay-Sachs disease when I was a kid”

“Oh, sorry for-”

“Don’t be. It happened a very long time ago and I've grown from it. She’s one of the reasons I became who I am today” Mark gave her a reassuring smile.

Some might find the atmosphere a little awkward but Mark had long since accepted this kind of reaction. He normally just avoided the topic but he saw no reason to do so with these two. In a moment he was proved right when Jonathan continued the conversion naturally.

“Was Daphne one of the ones you were on vacation with?”

“Yeah, her and Donny… and Grace”

It was at that point he realized he’d never told them about Grace.

So off the back of that question, he explained what they went through getting to the safe zone and that he was still looking for both of them. Though for very different reasons. Donny was someone who had been with Mark since the beginning — through good and bad. He'd seen Mark at his worst and been there for him when his parents' accident happened. In turn, Mark had been there to pull Donny's ass out of trouble when his alcoholic father had pushed him too far. Grace on the other hand was dangerous but not in the same way those men earlier were. She was the type to always get what she wanted, regardless of who that hurt.

They had already promised to keep an eye out for them but Sam told him not to worry too much about Grace gaining a foothold in the Camp. Command was putting together a roaming unit that's sole focus was weeding out the Mana users that tried that. Currently, anyone with a position to direct military assets was monitored and had to have routine check-ups.

Mark was glad to see they were taking this seriously but then he remembered they had already been bitten by this type of snake so it was probably to be expected.

“So what about you guys? What were your lives like before the fall?” Mark asked.

“Ah, finally curious? Well, single father, no mother. I was working on my Masters in Physics with the goal to get into a Doctoral Program. When the system kicked in I knew I wanted to be instrumental in figuring it out, that's why I’m working so closely with Dr. Haley & Dr. Johnson. What else… oh Childhood friends with this lug since I can remember, our dads were old war buddies”

Sam freely shared her life and seemed happy to answer any questions Mark had. As far as Mark was concerned she was a rare prodigy but didn't seem to get caught up on failure, in fact, she seemed driven by it. When she finished she nudged Jonathan who Mark was pretty sure probably would rather be fighting the guardian again than chat about this.

Jonathan paused and Mark thought he would deflect the question but instead said.

“My family's a shit show, so I’ll say this. Distant parents and manipulative siblings, the only relative I treasure is back at base. Because I wanted nothing to do with the family business. I left and was studying a bunch of different things but when the world became like this I was enjoying most of my time on a couple of side hustles,”

Sam snorted.

“Side hustles? Try full-scale businesses, this guy already had several articles in the Forbes 30 Under 30, not to mention he was instrumental to setting up the economy we have going back at base.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes and cut a charging Corrupted apart in three places.

“And all that shit is useless now, in this environment, it’s adapt or die,” Jonathan said.

The sentiment was barbarically practical but fit him well. Jonathan was the opposite of Sam, he shared what was absolutely necessary of his history and discarded anything that didn't serve him in his current way of life.

They continued to chat and clear out the area around them. It was decent exp and it might help someone in the future. Finally, they began to head back to the pastry shop, Mark wanted to use the time to make a meal and maybe burn off some of his Cv. The staff seemed to stop the side effects of Corruption but if it wasn’t on his person at all times then it returned with vengeance. As they got back to their temporary base, Jonathan suddenly made a ‘freeze’ gesture. Mark and Sam looked around trying to spot what made him stop.

Quietly Jonathan pulled ahead. Moving at an incredible speed without making a sound, he entered the shop. Mark sent out a construct to cover both of them as they remained put.

The was a crash from inside and the sound of a shotgun going off. Mark and Sam looked at one another and rush inside.

What they found was Jonathan holding a teenage girl by the collar of her hoodie. Shards of rock salt had ripped his shirt to pieces revealing his armor beneath it. The young girl was thrashing about in panic. She looked hungry and scared.

Sam took a step towards them with her hands raised in a non-threatening manner. Trying to calm her down, when all at once Mark felt a large amount of Mana coming off the girl. He shouted a warning and reinforced the construct, just as the girl vanished from sight.

None of them knew what to do for a second then Mark, who was closest to the door heard a noise behind him.

The very same girl was running away at full speed. She’d teleported away.

“Outside! She running” he said.

All three of them gave chase.

None of their speed was slow but as they neared the girl, she would teleport ahead of them once more. Mark noticed that it was always a very small distance like she was limited in range. The problem she had was their speed, though she could blink away it was never out of sight, and in seconds they caught up again. Mark noticed she was slowing between each successive jump.

Sam shouted out.

“Just hang on for a second we aren’t going to hurt you, we just want to know if you are okay!”

The girl looked back for a second but then shook her head and kept running.

The three of them exchanged looks and stop chasing.

The girl saw this but still kept fleeing.

“Okay you win, stay safe out there. If you want we have food we are willing to share and I promise you no harm will come to you, we work for the army”

The girl teleported up to one of the roofs and looked back down at them, now that there was some distance between them she seemed to hesitate.

“Come on lets go,” Sam said softly.

Mark worried for the girl, but honestly, even if they caught her what would be the point? She could defend herself against Corrupted, or escape at the very least. If she didn’t want to talk that was her choice. There was nothing of value in their little base as everything was in their inventories and while she looked like she was alone, if anything came up they’d deal with it like they had earlier this afternoon.

When Mark looked back to the rooftop the girl was gone.

They made their way back to the pastry shop and looked it over, the girl had forgotten her shotgun so Jonathan unloaded it and left it standing against the wall.

While they were busy Mark took a minute to check out his new recipe file and decided to try one of them right here. Steal moments when you could right? Plus it was not every day that one had the perfect baking conditions right in front of them. Half the ingredients were here and flour didn’t go off, right?

The ovens didn’t work sadly, or maybe there was a trick Mark didn’t understand, they were these big industrial ovens, so who knows?

The stove top was working so he decided on a simple pot bread recipe and while the dough was rising he used [Meditation].

Alternating between baking and working at his Cv. When the bread was baked and ready Mark cut it into neat slices. The smell of fresh bread filled the little shop as steam rose up from the small loaf.

Whistling to the other two he took topping requests as he spent 20 Sp on an array of fillings. It was a simple sandwich, however, one would be hard-pressed to find fresh bread at this stage. It had been one of the first things to disappear from the shelves, right after the tinned food, and seeing as the system only offered the ingredients most people didn’t have the time or resources.

Throwing a blob of butter into a pan Mark began to grill their sandwiches.

Suddenly there was a sound in the front. Sam and Jonathan went to check it out and were gone longer than he expected, he was just about to go and check on them when they came through the doors with the girl that had run from them less than a couple of hours ago.

“Mark you got enough for one more?” Sam called.

Mark simply nodded.

“No tomatoes they suck,” the girl said.

“Mark this is Cara”

Mark greeted her.

“That an incredible magic you got there Cara”

She seemed to blush slightly, somehow the weariness she’d had earlier was gone. Sam must have said something to her or perhaps it was the food. Mark had always found the way to his heart was through his stomach. Now that he was closer Mark could see she was probably in her mid-teens.

“So Cara where are you headed?” Jonathan asked before taking a bite from his Chicken sandwich.

Cara was already halfway through hers when she had to clear her throat to speak.

“Um, my mom said to find the ‘Prophet of the apocalypse’ so that's who I’m searching for right now”

Mark didn’t need to ask where her mom was right now to know she was on her own. The kid had probably been running for a while now and if their encounter with those men earlier today were the norm then he could understand why she ran from them.

“Oh? who's this Prophet, haven’t heard of them before, and trust me I’d know. I keep an eye on all the rumors around” Sam said with a thoughtful expression.

“You haven’t heard of the Prophet? They're a big deal. People say they can predict the future, so they're never surprised. That's where I’m headed. I haven’t found them yet but I will” She looked determined as she said this.

Sam and Jonathan shared a look.

Mark imagined having the ability to see the future would be a great tactile advantage to a camp, being able to see where danger was coming from would be invaluable

“Fair enough, well we are here till tomorrow morning so you are welcome to stay the night if you want,” Sam said.

Cara seemed to think this over while she continued to munch on her food.

They continued chatting and they found out that Cara had indeed lost her parents. The last thing they had said was that they’d meet her at the Prophet's settlement before they had her escape. She was hyper-focused on accomplishing this quest, though they only had a vague idea where the base was so now she was wandering around looking for it. She steered clear of the Corrupted so she never had much Sp for food and the places that would have it, were infested.

After they were finished they divided up the watch shifts, Mark took the middle one. None of them were really going to sleep until they got the message from Command. So while Sam waited for the check-in, Mark began [Meditation] in earnest. He saw Jonathan sitting down to do the same thing.

Cara hadn’t said anything about staying but she had picked a spot a little ways away from them and was sitting with her back to the wall watching them.

Just before he slipped into oblivion, Mark heard a conversation between her and Sam.

“What are they doing, they look like statues”

“Oh they are using a skill called [Meditation], it helps them recover and build their strength. Do you want me to show you how…”

Mark lost track of their voices as he got swept up in the flow of Prana.