CoJoGo

CH 34: Footprints

Reid's new pet healer walked in front of him, motivated on by the bone knife pressed against his back. Ahead, a group of men milled about in the dirt, chatting away with one another. A few held guns in their hands, but most had firearms slung over shoulders or on their backs. Unlike the group Reid encountered in the camp, almost everyone in this group seemed to be armed with some sort of gun. A larger man wearing a golf polo noticed the healer and waved. He held a shotgun by the barrel in his...

CH 33: On the Move

~ Marlene ~

(Ten Minutes After Reid's Breakout)

The pickup hit another rock with a loud clang, which sent the bed- and everyone in it - bouncing into the air. She winced when one young man nearly fell out the side. He held onto the bed rail - while the two closest to him grabbed at his clothes and pulled him the rest of the way back down.

Her pickup was overfull - five defenders sat crammed in the backseat, and another ten had stuffed themselves into the truckbed. S...

CH 32: Red Sunrise

Dawn cast a red-orange glow over the clouds in the sky - washing out the luminescence from the torches all around him. The grass and churned mud was cool on Reid's bare left foot.

Reid's face and body were dotted with red patches in early signs of bruising - but it was hard to see those under the layer of blood and gore that coated most of him. His messed up rib complained every time he twisted his upper body - and he'd gotten quite a bit of exercise so far. Five broken, barely recogniz...

CH 31: Fall

~= Louis =~

(Three Hours Before Reid Broke Out)

Louis couldn't scream, and he couldn't move. Bertrand had his nose pressed against Louis's own - and madness danced in the dark of his eyes.

Terror and helplessness held him just as tightly as Bertrand's skill, and he struggled to think clearly. Reid couldn't save him - he was still stuck in the cage.

Louis needed to think. Just to think.

His skill.

His skill had allowed him to shove his desp...

CH 30: Knife to a Gunfight

Reid reveled in the feeling of the cool air, and spoke the words aloud.

"I'm Free."

He swept his eyes over his surroundings. The tent was large, and boasted a sleeping area, some stands where clothing and a bent sword lay, odd supplies, and even a few boxes of firearms. Two chairs were set around a bloodstained table, and he pulled one out and sat down. The first thing he needed to do was take care of his leg.

Reid willed the bone to grow, shrink, and shift itself into the f...

CH 29: Comfort and Time

~; Lowell ;~

Lowell grimaced. He'd managed to stress his back earlier while he and Toby carried the dirtbike through the woods, and every heavy impact sent jolts of pain from his tailbone up to his neck. A part of him wished he'd let Toby take the ride instead of him - but this was Lowell's task. He would deliver the note and the information. The throttle was pinned wide open even as the suspension bottomed out against rocks and ridges of dirt.

The caravan's path was simple enough...

CH 28: Posturing

Reid looked out at the man, standing proudly victorious amongst the three dead salamanders. He smiled and walked forward towards the wall, not bothering to retrieve his grieves or his damaged sword. The familiar sign of glowing healing magic lit up from different parts of the group, and Reid saw the most grievously wounded individuals be slowly mended. The man didn't spare any of that so much as a glance. He simply walked forward with a smile.

Reid and James shared a look. The ...

Ch 27: Transformation

\.,., Bertrand ,.,./

It had been two days since the RV convoy had left through the wooden fortress's front gate.

Bertrand wanted to approach the fortress then, but instinct told him the timing wasn't right.

Bertrand was an accomplished man. He had escaped the mediocrity of his family, attended a mostly-prestigious university, and used his innate sense of timing to succeed in business, and in life. He had a knack for knowing exactly when to push to close a sale, or when to ad...

CH 26: Potential

+ Reid +

Reid spat out a mouthful of sand.

He snarled, and rose to his feet. His anger hadn't been an issue in recent battles - they were all too easy to draw his rage. But this training was making him simmer and tested the limits of his self-control.

"I can't believe you're still so bad at this." James shook his head, and shot a hand out to catch his aviators as they slipped off his face. He folded them and put them into his shirt's breast pocket. "Weeks, Reid...

CH 25: Three weeks

+ Reid +

It had been three weeks since Marlene made her promise. The private conversation between the two of them had been followed by a very public, very loud reunion with Sara. His daughter had, unsurprisingly, refused to leave his side for the next few days. He even missed participating in a wave because she was insistent that she would go wherever he went. When Sara finally relented and let Reid have some time to himself, Susan took over monopolizing him. They talked, the worried to...

CH 24: Crazy

Reid held the adult diaper against the end of the catheter in a small, dark room. He wanted to scream. He wanted to kill something. He wanted to be rid of the menace in his mind. And the thing had only spoken three sentences to him. That quickly changed.

Reid, now that you are awake, we suggest you put on clothes. It would be embarrassing for you to walk to the beacon while naked.

Reid forced himself to sit down, instead of what he wanted to do - jump up ...

CH 23: The Beacon's Power

Reid stared at the beacon.

It was a large, yellow crystal that emitted a faint glow that was visible, even in the daylight. The crystal spun above a floating geodesic silver bowl, and pulsed a small shockwave every few seconds, like a heartbeat. No matter how he stared, though - he couldn't clearly see the crystal, or the bowl. His eyes slipped away and went out of focus whenever he felt like he was close to actually seeing them. He still tried to concentrate on them, until it started t...

CH 22: Rocks and Rats

+ Reid +

Sanctuary's wooden battlement was alive with shouts and violence. Three dozen defenders shot bows, threw spears, and fired magic projectiles out of their hands at the wave's salamanders. One was even using some sort of sonic skill by shouting down at the beasts. Their hail of attacks kept a handful of the salamanders at bay, and were distracting more from seriously damaging the walls.

But even with their numbers and the high ground, the defenders had only killed three of ...

CH 21: Reunion

Susan gave Reid a playful slap on the arm. "What's up, doc? Really? I don't see you for weeks, and that was what you decided to go with?"

Did she say weeks? Didn't she mean days? Eh, it didn't matter. Reid grabbed her and pulled her into his lap, squeezing her tight. "I'll have you know it was all your daughter's idea. Blame Sara, I'm innocent."

She laughed - a beautiful, bubbly tone that washed away everything else in the world. The laugh was also a bit raspy, the same w...

CH 20: What's up, Doc?

Reid did his best to keep his rapidly-growing anger in check.

He stood in front of the Rec Hall's double doors, staring down the pair of young men 'guarding' the entrance. They both wore homemade 'badges' that doubled as name tags. The badges and their outfits reminded him of Sara's attempts at cosplay. Toby stood to his left - he was a thick, muscular young man that reminded Reid of amateur wrestlers. Toby's eyes were fixed on the ground, and he shook slightly where he stood. For all h...

CH 19: Sanctuary

. James .

Wooden walls crackled and popped as screams and smoke filled the air. James lifted a wooden spear and hurled it forward at an approaching salamander. It sunk partway into the beast and dropped to the ground, wedging itself and keeping the beast from advancing further towards them. It only lasted a minute before the spear snapped and the salamander pressed forward. He bit his tongue trying to shout while running, swallowed blood and raised his voice again. “They’re only pas...

CH 18: Okay

Reid yawned and stretched, then winced. He'd collapsed from exhaustion without healing himself. His body and head ached, and all he had to show for it was three dead salamanders.

He stumbled to his feet, thankful for the clean bandages that had been wrapped around his wounds. Some stung - probably a lingering effect of an antibacterial cream - but it was manageable. He used his sword as a walking stick and made his way over to where Louis was sitting. The boy had his back to Reid, and t...

CH 17: Good Boots

~ Marlene ~

Marlene took a sip of water and gave Oscar an appraising look. She hadn't expected the man to give her so much grief about... well anything, really. Reid had been staring at the ground for 15 minutes now. She needed an answer, and needed it soon. Oscar had actually stopped her from walking over, and sent Louis over with a granola bar in her place. His standing up to her was so surprising that she actually stopped and listened to him. But she was getting over it.

"Marle...

CH 16: Information

Marlene slapped Reid across the face as hard as she could. When that didn't get a reaction, she poured half her canteen of water over his head. He sputtered a bit, then went back to snoring.

She looked at her watch. Reid had been asleep for almost 12 hours now, and the man simply wouldn't wake up. Even when she, Oscar, and Louis had dragged Reid out of the valley and up into a tree for safety, he just kept snoring. She'd used identify again on him a few times while he slumbered, and his...

CH 15: Boss Fight

Reid reached a hand to his back and pulled the salamander claws embedded there out with a series of grunts. Warm blood flowed slowly down his back and onto his pants from the now-open wounds. He was also still bleeding from his leg, shoulder, abdomen, and arm. The broken corpses of eleven small salamanders dotted the flat space around him, their leaking blood gave the brook downstream a distinct tinge of color.

On the ridge, the leader kept its eyes trained on Reid. It hadn't moved when...

CH 14: Clip Point Radius

Bone weapons.

When Reid thought about what a bone weapon should be, his mind ran away with ideas of barbarians holding bone clubs. But Reid was no barbarian, and while he had been using stones as projectiles to kill his foes, and he looked like a strongman - he wasn't some meathead. Or maybe he could be, Reid thought. He could definitely see himself fitting the 'bone club barbarian' mold. But a part of him had always imagined fanciful settings like the one he found himself in w...

CH 13: Progress

~ Marlene ~

Marlene realized Sara was waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, what?"

The girl gave her a questioning look. "What happened? You just kinda zoned out. I've been waving at you for like, a loooong time."

Marlene set her face into a warm smile. "Nothing to worry about. Just thinking we should change things up a bit, maybe get ourselves stocked with some new supplies from camp." She turned to her husband. "James, could you take Toby and Lowell back to get...

CH 12: Round 2

Reid awoke, coughing and sputtering as an unchewed piece of jerky slipped partway down his throat. Thankfully, it dislodged itself when he rolled over. He panted, looking at the small bit of meat on the ground.

He spent a long minute considering how awful it would be to survive the absolutely unimaginable pain he'd put himself through just to choke to death on half-chewed snacks.

Reid finally shook away the thought and sat back, cross-legged. He looked at himself. Reid was swole. ...

CH 11: Dead(ly)

-{#-} Loz'ar {-#}-

Beams of red light danced along the white marble walls from a crimson chandelier. An arched ceiling twenty feet above was painted with angelic figures. The room offered no windows, and only a single door. An imposing grey oval table took up the middle of the room, surrounded by low-backed chairs occupied by humanoids of all different species. They peered at info screens, data shifting quickly as dozens of eyes scanned through.

At the head of the table, furthest ...

CH 10: Salamander

+ Reid +

A roar shook the trees as the black bear batted away the smaller beast. It tumbled a few feet, righted itself, and came back screeching.

Reid watched from a distance, knife already in his hand. His journey had continued through the forest, still silent in the continued absence of shackle's chipper, traitorous banter. His pocket jerky was running low, and this was the first beast he'd heard in quite a while, so he had done his best to sneak his way into a spot where he cou...

CH 9: New Perspectives

~- Mark -~

Mark wiped the sweat off his brow and looked down to his side. Twenty thick wooden stakes down, another thirty to go before he'd stop for the day. He looked out from his camping chair and let a proud smile grow. A palisade surrounded the bulk of the campground, each wooden stake was almost eight feet high, even sunk into the ground. And each was one that Mark had made himself. A few locations had been turned into true ramparts, and some young archers lazily manned those posit...

CH 8: Meat

Reid groaned, fatigued and bleeding on his cushy bed of moss. Part of him - a large part - just wanted to sleep, and worry about all his problems later. He felt like his entire existence was fighting and traveling. He had no idea where the next threat would come from, and the enemies he was facing were getting more difficult to take down.

He looked again at the notification.

Coyote lvl 5 defeated. Bonus exp awarded.

Almost every coyote he'd fought so far wer...

CH 7: Rage

Reid's face was frozen in a look of terror. His points - HIS POINTS, that he'd earned through literal blood and sweat, were sitting in Control. All of his short-lived plans of an easy, Intelligence and Constitution supported journey slipped away from him and faded. His anger grew as he re-read the status screen.

His free points for skills and stats weren't just gone. They didn't read zero. Each one just said 'error'. Reid fumed.

"Shackle! SHACKLE...

CH 6: Numbers Go Up

+ Reid +

Reid felt his way through the status screen, focusing in on the statistics portion. Each item felt like it had its own path, or branch, formed off of a stable center. He could feel the skills waiting just above, their own paths foggy just outside the stable center his consciousness was exploring.

Reid spread his awareness out to one branch's connection to the center, then another, until he was holding all of them in his thoughts. With a mental motion nearly t...

CH 5: Status Screen

Reid sat on a dry patch of dirt with elbows on his knees. Broken bodies lay all around him, blood soaking into the soil.

He could clearly remember the first few kills, right up until he ripped one's jaw off. Everything after that felt like a blur of impressions, just a sense of rage, the feeling of bones snapping under his blows, and... so much blood. He wiped another bead of sweat off his forehead and let out a sigh.

He should be finding a water source to wash off in. Or trying t...