A Reborn: Apocalypse fanfiction

14. That is Sensible

Two days later Kevin was standing at the perimeter of the Cluster, Cameron standing next to him yet again. He would have conducted the second half of the experiment the previous day but there had been a morankai attack at the trio. Four abnormal morankai had attacked. Eleven people had died, all of them second wave chosen.

Kevin, Cameron, Tammy and several other of the powerful combatants from the first wave had handled the abnormals - one of which was a powerful energy blasting type that took Kevin and Tammy working together to bring it down. After they abnormals were brought down, they had mopped up the rest of the normal type that had tagged along.

After that, Kevin hadn't wanted to do an attempt without being perfectly fresh, so he opted to farm the golden morankai for points with Lee, who Cameron had told. Lee, as it turned out, had a secret of his own, a powerful artifact. He had promised it to Cameron once he left the first layer - the condition for his learning the secret.

"How are things in the cluster Godfather?" Kevin said.

"About what you might assume." Cameron said. "That attack has the people scared. It made the first layer more real than the hunts, but us handling the abnormal morankai so efficiently was a beacon of light to some of those people. Lee and Tammy and some of the others went and talked to the second wave chosen, encouraging them to fight together, grow together." Cameron sighed. "Your nickname is starting to stick by the way. Godfather."

"Really? Nice." Kevin said with a grunt of amusement and a smirk.

"It makes me feel like a Don Corleone." Cameron said with a chuckle.

"That's funny because I always thought you looked like the guy who played Sunny. What was his name again?" Kevin said with a look of distant contemplation.

"James Caan," Cameron said. "What?" Cameron said responding to the look Kevin gave him, "I used to like movies. Anyway. I think we should increase the hunting parties. There are thousands of skyscrapers, and we can field hundreds of groups."

"That is sensible. If this doesn't work Cameron, I'm going to start my search along this southern edge. My mom is still east-ish from here. Katie south-ish. If there is something to find I'll find it here."

"Does that mean you won't take a hunting group with you?" Cameron asked.

"I will, but volunteers only, and only those willing to fight the hard fight, top to bottom all the way to the street. It will be dangerous for them, Cameron."

"OK Kevin. There are parent's in our cluster who are eager to find their children, or at least try to look. Many of them want to accumulate points as fast as possible for this Soul Tracker ability, or one of the others. I'm sure some of those people would want to look with you. Did you know we have a tracker in the second wave? "

"I hadn't heard. The same one as me?" Kevin asked.

"No. His ability evidently works more like a hound, only much much farther. One woman, who came to the first layer with her purse still in hand, was able to pass a scent off from her husband's wallet. That tracker can tell which direction he is in too, generally, and also that he is still alive."

"Damn, that one is handy too." Kevin commented.

"Yes. Evidently cheaper than your ability too. Less effective as most people do not have effects from loved ones they can use as markers, but all the same very handy." Cameron said.

The pair sat in silence for a while, looking out over the grasslands south of the cluster. Some time has passed.

"Alright, I'm ready." Said Kevin.