The New World

Chapter 10

Jim woke up feeling worse than he did before he went to bed. The sun had already risen and it was quite cold in the room, especially the floor. There was no use trying to sleep more, it was too bright and he was already wide awake. He got dressed again, grabbed the water bottle again and went back out to the table just to sit down again. Turg was nowhere to be seen but Jim assumed he was on the second floor. Eventually Turg came down from one of the ladders almost naked and didn't seem to mind the freezing floor while barefoot. Turg then stood there and stared at Jim, who took a drink from the water bottle and said "Good morning Turg."
"It is noon." Turg told Jim who then said "Oh shit, uh, I better get going."
Jim then stood up and grabbed the bag again, which was now empty, and put the water bottle in it before closing it. Turg then asked "Where Jim go?"
"Looting or killing, maybe both." Jim answered as he then went over to his coat to put it back on. As he put his shoes back on Turg asked again "You kill?"
Jim then put the bag over his shoulders and responded "It was a joke."
Before Jim headed out the door he turned to tell Turg "Alright, I should be back before tomorrow. Do. Not. Leave. This. Place. You understand?"
Turg nodded as Jim left while adding "Also, don't eat all the food."
He then was off on his own again, the weather was cloudy once again and the breeze made it feel a lot colder. Jim knew where he wanted to go, the old mall. It wasn't too far from the harbour and he remembered being there when he first moved to town. Once he arrived he noticed that the exterior was largely in tact still with only a few broken windows and graffiti, though once he was inside it smelled terrible and was in worse condition.
"Seems like people have already been here, but seeing as I am here already might as well look around." Jim said to himself in his thoughts as he continued inside. He was in an open area that used to have fountains and working escalators but was covered in broken glass from the broken skylights, water puddles, and other debris. Jim decided to cover the ground floor first before he went to the second floor. Using his flame magic as a light source, he quickly looked into each former store to see if there was anything worth taking but there was barely anything left. As he continued he started losing motivation to check the second floor up until he came across what used to be the food court, which seemed to be the source of the bad smell. It smelled like something had died. The tables and chairs were scattered everywhere and there were bullet holes in a lot of them with traces of old dried blood. Jim put his hand on one of his machete's handle in case someone was still there and hostile, then moved it to his handgun after realizing they would likely have a ranged weapon too. He made his way around it all to get to the other end to continue his search until something caught his attention. Something that didn't smell like death, rather it smelled like food that was still fresh. He looked around to see if he could find the source, which he did find. A table away from the rest with light conveniently shining down on it as if it was purposefully placed there for people to see. On the table was a plate of breadsticks, which Jim found even more odd. Jim figured it would be a trap so he tried to ignore it, but the smell was making his stomach rumble. Eventually he gave in and decided to check it out. As he approached the table he heard someone approaching him from behind. Jim then quickly turned around to see who it was and saw a woman in very revealing clothing despite it being quite cold inside with a big knife strapped to her thigh.
"Hey, I see you eyeing those." The woman said as she continued to get closer to Jim but slower and was giving him bedroom eyes. Jim responded "Uh yeah, they are kind of out of place here so of course it did."
"I know you want them, but I can give you something more." The woman said again as she leaned towards Jim very closely. Jim backed away from her and said "You are starting to creep me out."
Four more women wearing similar revealing outfits then emerged from the darkness behind Jim and surrounded him, all had knives on them. The main woman then crossed her arms and said "We know who you are, be lucky we didn't decide to immediately kill you and get the reward money and instead would rather have a bit of fun."
"Well I am not interested in whatever 'fun' you have planned, I would much rather just take these breadsticks and leave." Jim told the women as he placed one hand down on the table.
"That's disappointing, I was looking forward to finally doing it with you." The woman responded before adding "Guess we will turn you in instead."
Then everyone pointed their knives at Jim, who immediately took out his handgun and tried to fire it at them, but no bullets came out. Out of frustration, Jim threw it to the ground and grabbed both machetes instead.
"I'll give you one last chance, let me go right now and all five of you will live to see tomorrow." Jim told them in attempt to intimidate them, but it didn't seem to work. Instead they all charged him, but Jim was able to quickly push them off before they could slice him with their knives. He targeted the woman closest to him and slashed her exposed stomach with one blade and did the same with her face with the other blade. Blood sprayed everywhere as she collapsed to the ground. They all screamed at him and one started running away but was stopped by another calling her a coward. One of them then tried to stab him from behind but Jim twirled around and blocked it with his machete. He was beginning to realize he might not be able to defend himself from four of them with knives as one managed to slice his other arm and another on his thigh. His coat and bag provided some protection but only on his back, sides and arms a bit. Jim then stomped on one of their feet to get them to break their shield and turned to get back at the one who had did some damage to him. He slit her throat using both blades while another tried to do the same to him from behind, but the knife was facing the wrong way. They then let go and were surprised to see Jim still alive it seemed. Jim turned to face them again and stabbed one of his machetes straight through her skull. Before he was about to pull it back out he felt an incredible amount of pain coming from his left shoulder. One of them had stabbed him there, possibly aiming for his neck but were too short. Jim let go of the machete that was stuck in one of their skulls and cried out in pain as they quickly removed the knife.
"YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE YOU MONSTER!" The woman shouted at him as he glared at them. The two remaining ones were also covered in blood, one wasn't showing much fear but the other was literally crying. Jim couldn't come up with a response, instead with his other arm he put the machete up against her neck and told her "I am giving you another chance to live to see tomorrow."
The woman glared at him and used her knife to slice open Jim's wrist, which was a bad idea as Jim then slit her throat too while trying to recoil. She was still standing, but had dropped her knife and had both hands pressed against her neck. The last remaining one stood from a distance and was having a breakdown, she didn't seem like much more of a threat so Jim decided to spare her. Jim then finished off the woman by stabbing her through her chest. She then collapsed to the ground and Jim then pointed the machete at the last remaining one and told her "Now get out of here, try not to freeze to death though."
She then stopped crying and charged at Jim with her knife, catching Jim off guard while shouting "I'LL DIE FOR MY SISTERS!"
She then managed to slice Jim across his chest and then ran off, it was not a deep cut as his clothing shielded some of it. Jim then ran after her and caught up to her when she cornered herself in a random shop. Jim tried to slice at her too but she kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach. Jim put his still good arm around it and stepped back a few paces, it hurt a lot. She then got closer to him and tried to use her knife on him again, but using his other hand Jim grabbed her by the wrist and burned it, but he didn't let go. He continued until she became consumed by flames and turned into nothing but ash. After she was dead, Jim stood up straight again and took a minute to breathe. He put the machete back in his coat and just remembered where he left the other one, embedded in someone's skull. Jim then looked at his hands, which were both covered in blood and his right wrist had an open wound that was bleeding quite a bit. He then decided to go back out to where the fountains were to wash them off and try to do whatever he could to stop his bleeding. Once he was there he sat by one that was still full of water that was still enough for him to see his reflection. He was completely covered in blood, whether it be his own or the women's blood. Jim washed his hands off in the water and opened the bag's other pockets to see if he had anything he could use to stop the bleeding on his shoulder and wrist. He couldn't find any bandages or cloth but he did find some thread and a needle and he then knew what to do. Using the needle and thread, he stitched up the open wound on his wrist, it hurt but it slowed down the bleeding and he figured he could just use the bag's straps to apply pressure on his shoulder. Jim put it back in the bag pocket, put the bag back on, washed his hands off one more time and stood back up. He knew he had to go back for his machete and handgun but he couldn't remember what the last thing was. Once he arrived back at the food court he remembered why he even started the fight in the first place, the breadsticks. The bodies were gone already and replaced with urns, though the blood still remained. None got on the breadsticks somehow, which was a good thing. Jim took the plate and sat down against a wall and started eating them. They were stale and dry, which made the whole fight not worth it in the end, but Jim continued to eat them anyways. Jim knew he was gonna have a hard time explaining to Turg what happened when he eventually returned.