System Escape (Natural Laws Apocalypse Book 4) Read online

  System Escape

  Natural Laws Apocalypse #4

  By: Tom Larcombe

  Text copyright © 2022, Thomas Larcombe

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, businesses, places, and events

  are the products of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,

  or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover by:

  SelfPubBookCovers.com/Viergacht

  Dedicated to my wife, Heather, who keeps me writing, one way or another.

  Table of Contents

  Recap

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  About the Author

  Bibliography

  Recap

  Marcus Aurelius Cavanaugh was home from college for the summer when the System arrived. When the first notification of it occurred, he wondered about his sanity, but decided that even if he was crazy the preparations he was going to make wouldn't hurt anything.

  As a result, when the System began converting the world, he and his friends: Rob, Felicia, and Jeff had been training for a bit and had a tiny edge going into things.

  Equipping themselves with his father's Roman armor and weapons, which had been display pieces, they took to the streets trying to find, or create, a safe place to stay for them and others.

  Converting the local high school into a Safe Zone provided the safe place they were looking for. Now they started stocking up and looking for other survivors to invite into the Safe Zone where they wouldn't be in danger from creatures spawning right atop them.

  Marc began expanding the Safe Zone as quickly as he could, both for the benefits that the buildings would provide and so there was more room for other survivors. Between scavenging and purchases from the System shop, they got themselves into a tenable position.

  - - -

  His parents had been away when all this happened, so when they returned, along with a scad of people who mostly had classes based on the old Roman legions, he was overjoyed. He was also very glad to turn over some of the responsibilities of the Safe Zone to them. His mother was a natural to administer the Safe Zone, her prior responsibilities making her a good fit for the position. His father, who'd received the class of Roman Centurion, was just as good a fit for leading the defenses of the Safe Zone.

  With the discovery that land could be Captured by surrounding it through Safe Zone expansion, or surrounding it with multiple Safe Zones, Marc began to claim as much as he could. He wanted to have enough area that he could provide a safer option for as many people as they could find.

  With more resources coming in, Marc then tried to open discourse with the intelligent, magic-using race they discovered to the south. They looked like a wilder version of elves, and their skills and spells seemed to suggest that as well. Once in contact with the race, he waited to meet one of that settlement's elders so they could discuss things and each discover the other's intentions.

  - - -

  Negotiations with the elves led to what Marc believes will be a split in the elves, and he's supporting those who want to leave by providing them a new area to live in.

  The System gave Marc a quest. One of the satellites that provides the System's nanites, the ones it uses for everything from creating spawns to giving classes and powers to people, was stolen from orbit and forced into a controlled crash. Marc and his group recovered the satellite, but when the System told him that the satellite could not be reintegrated into the System's network, they brought it back to their main Safe Zone, Any Port.

  Marc and his group focused their efforts on researching the new Industrial age technologies, primarily the railroad and lighter than air tech chains. Now he and his group are off to find more Safe Zones and survivors. Their first trip in a zeppelin brings them back to the city that his father had been trapped in when the System arrived and they've found one large, and several small, Safe Zones there, along with a pair of dungeons.

  * * *

  Chapter One

  As the zeppelin descended towards the large Safe Zone based around the university, Marc did a double take. There was a person on the firing step of the walls around the Safe Zone, one carrying a pair of torches and apparently trying to direct the zeppelin in its descent.

  “Jeff, do you see that?” Marc asked.

  Jeff nodded.

  “Yeah, but what the hell? It looks like he's trying to guide us over towards the side of the Safe Zone closest to the dungeons. It'd be a hell of a lot safer to put down on this side, I'd think. Well, safer for the zeppelin at least.”

  The man with the torches, apparently noticing that the zeppelin hadn't changed course yet, ran over to lever on the wall. He pulled it, and then Marc understood the guidance they were receiving. As the lever dropped, a pole rose. One with a steel cable attached to it. The other end of the cable led to one of the Safe Zones that was still occupied by people.

  “Shit,” Jeff said, turning the zeppelin. “I suppose we'd better listen, otherwise we'll get fouled in those cables.”

  “Even worse, Jeff,” Marc said. “I'm pretty sure they use those cables for communications or supplies for the outer Safe Zones. So not only would the zeppelin get fouled, but we might cut off those Safe Zones from their reinforcements.”

  Marc continued to watch, turning his head to keep an eye on the man with the torches as Jeff turned the zeppelin. The man pressed the lever down again and the cable sank back down out of sight. Once it had, the torch bearer sprinted along the firing step. He ended his sprint at a spot that wasn't quite on the wall facing the dungeons, but almost to that wall. Then he started motioning with both torches, raising them high, then bringing them straight down to the stone beneath his feet.

  “Guess that's our parking spot,” Jeff said.

  Marc was busy watching the small group of people that had assembled at the base of the steps near their parking spot. Several of them looked much older, middle-aged, but the majority were younger.

  Around the age I'd expect other college students to be, he thought. Were they in session here when the System arrived? Or maybe there were just students who didn't go home for break or something.

  Jeff brought the zeppelin down towards the torch bearer, hitting the button that would deploy the mooring ropes. He reversed propulsion so they were motionless, hanging about ten feet over the firing step, then turned to Marc.

  “Keep track of the steering again?” he asked. “I'll go moor us.”

  “No need,” Marc replied, pointing.

  Several of the studen
t aged people had raced up the steps and the torch bearer had extinguished his torches. All of them were grabbing mooring ropes and guiding them towards places they could be tied off.

  “I'm not sure I like this,” Jeff said. “It'd be kind of hard to leave if they've got us tied off and we want out of here in a hurry.”

  “I thought you said we could jettison the mooring ropes at need,” Felicia replied.

  “Yeah, but those ropes are made out of the spider silk. Do you know how hard it was to make them? I beat the crap out of my hands doing it, so did Ella.”

  “It wasn't that bad, Jeff,” Ella replied. “If it's a choice of jettisoning the ropes or getting trapped where we don't want to be, then the loss of the ropes is nothing major.”

  Marc could hear the two Legionaries in the back speaking also. Apparently one of them recognized the two men in Legionary armor down in the Safe Zone. From what he could hear, it sounded like these were the two men Sean had agonized over leaving behind, thinking they died when they went to defend a group of children.

  That'll be a load off of dad's mind, he thought, and I saw them with a group of children before, so maybe they were a lot more successful than dad guessed.

  Rob was back with the Legionaries and the scout they'd brought along, peering out through the windows near the door.

  “I think they want us to lose height,” Rob called.

  Marc maneuvered so he could get a different angle out of the front window and saw that the former torch bearer was indeed gesturing. Hands outstretched above his head, then lowering, over and over.

  “He's right. Let's go with it,” Marc said. “We wanted to come see how things were out here and this appears to be the most successful Safe Zone we've seen other than Any Port, so...”

  “Alright, but it's not my fault if they try to trap us here,” Jeff said. “I just know they're going to try to steal the zeppelin.”

  “So, make sure the gondola comes down on the firing step. We'll hang off it a little, but most of it will be on the stone. Then we remove the gaseous generator and propulsion unit. We take it with us and they can't steal the zeppelin then unless they've got one also,” Marc said.

  Jeff nodded then focused on lowering the zeppelin. Marc went back to the door, opened it a crack, and hollered.

  “Clear out, we're going to touch down. You don't want to be under us then. We can tighten the mooring ropes from inside after we're down.”

  * * *

  Jeff brought them in within inches of where he was aiming. They took in the slack from the mooring ropes until they were taut, then Marc realized the problem. The gondola was down, and the majority of it was sitting on the firing step, but the door was on the portion that was hanging three feet over the edge of the firing step.

  Fortunately, the zeppelin, much like the hot air balloon, had a rope ladder as part of the standard load out.

  “Okay, I want you guys to stay on board and guard the zeppelin, alright?” Marc said to the Legionaries and the scout. “I don't think anyone is going to mess with it, but they definitely won't if there are guards waiting at the top of the rope ladder that's the only way in without breaking something.”

  “The Centurion wanted us to guard you,” one Legionary replied.

  “Well, as soon as we make sure of their intent regarding the zeppelin, maybe that'll be possible,” Marc said. “At that point you can also go talk to those other Legionaries I heard you mention. I know my dad will be rather happy that they're still alive. He was all eaten up about sending men to their deaths to try to rescue others.”

  “He asked for volunteers at the time, and most of us did. He just chose which two. It's not like he ordered them,” the Legionary replied.

  “That's not how he sees it. Anyhow, he'll be happy to know they survived and for the moment the best way you can guard me is to make sure we have a zeppelin to get back to if we have to flee this place,” Marc said.

  The Legionaries gave him a reluctant nod and Marc opened the door then dropped the rope ladder after securing it. There was about a two foot gap between the bottom of the ladder and the ground, an easily navigable drop for any of them, so he was prepared to go first when Jeff shouldered past him.

  “You know I can do this with more style than the rest of you. Then I'll hold it so you guys can come down more gracefully,” Jeff said, dropping out of the door and pretty much just sliding down the ladder.

  When he reached the bottom, the group Marc had noticed started towards him, but Jeff just held up a single finger for them to wait and grabbed the ladder. Marc went down next, followed by Rob. Felicia followed the tank with Ella coming down last. Once they were all down and Jeff released the ladder, the group started approaching again.

  The first three people were the older ones that Marc had seen. The two in front were of average height and slightly overweight. One was balding with gray hair along the bald patch while the other had gray hair shot through with strands of brown, as though he were on the verge of all his hair going gray.

  “Welcome, welcome to our university,” the balding man said.

  Marc just stared, shaking his head mentally.

  The second man spoke up then.

  “We hope you've come to participate in our programs. We've learned quite a bit of how to survive in the world nowadays and are more than happy to share our knowledge.”

  Marc was sure his jaw was starting to drop and made a mental effort to stop it. Then he noticed the third of the older men. This one looked like he was former military. He probably wasn't quite as old as the other two, he only had threads of gray in his high and tight, dirty blonde hair.

  What had caught Marc's attention was that the man was rolling his eyes, apparently at the statements from the other two older men. The third man was in much better shape than either of the first two, looking to be about the same level of fitness that Rob had been at a few levels prior.

  The first two men kept talking, saying essentially nothing in a pleasant manner and Marc tuned them out, watching the third man. The third man was mouthing along with the platitudes of the first, his eyes rolling so much that Marc was sure the man was going to give himself a headache from it. As the first two went on, and on, the third man started bouncing his head from side to side, then caught Marc's eye and mouthed 'Later'.

  Marc tuned back in to the other two men just in time to hear them invite his group to dinner at the cafeteria.

  “We've had a fine run of our own produce here, plus our taxes pay for purchases from the System shop that enhance our food selections. So long as everyone contributes, we all eat pretty well here.”

  That, Marc had an answer for. His intent had been to help and they still had plenty of food supplies in the cargo area. He'd dimly registered the two men saying that the main Safe Zone also supplied food to the satellite Safe Zones that surrounded this one, so he thought that this would be the place to deliver it.

  “If you've got a ladder we can use, we can add a fair amount to your food stocks,” Marc said.

  He got a beaming smile from the two older men in front while the third of the older men just sighed.

  “The Triad thanks you for your donation then, we'll get someone here with a ladder in no time at all,” the balding one said.

  Marc couldn't help himself. He was starting to think of the three men, who'd never given him their names, as Baldy, Stripes, and Jock.

  I wonder what this Triad thing is though, is that something they mentioned when I was tuned out and watching Jock? Marc thought.

  Whatever the Triad was, Baldy directed one of the younger people behind the three in front who darted off and returned with a ladder several minutes later. Marc set it up and Rob started unloading foodstuffs, handing them to Marc, who was standing in the middle of the ladder, then down to Felicia, who was on the ground.

  As the pile grew, Baldy got more excited and called for someone to go get crates and a hand truck.

  * * *

  After they'd finished unloading
the food they were donating to the Safe Zone, the two older men from in front, Baldy and Stripes, wandered off after promising to speak with them more after dinner. Then, and only then, Jock approached.

  “Good job not nodding off from those doddering old fools' speeches,” he said. “I'm Nick, I noticed you didn't introduce yourself?”

  “They didn't either, so I didn't think they'd be interested. I'm Marc.”

  “Good to meet you. It's nice to see someone else who actually figured something out about this System. I'm assuming that's the case since I haven't seen anyone else flying around in a zeppelin yet.”

  Marc grinned.

  Okay, so maybe Nick's got a clue, even if the other two didn't seem to have one, or even be able to find one with a flashlight and GPS.

  “Yes, yes we have. We're happy enough to share what we've learned also and if you've discovered something we haven't? Then we'd love to learn that as well.”

  Nick stuck out his hand and Marc took it.

  “Good, I think we'll get along just fine, as long as you don't fall under the sway of the other professors. They'd have you think that they know everything about the System and can teach it all, but they won't even acknowledge the fact that the physical regimen I'm teaching can affect your stats. Probably because they refuse to do enough of it themselves to see the benefits.”

  “Oh yeah, we were training some stats up even before the System arrived. The warning message was enough for us to try, once we decided we weren't going nuts, but you can do mental exercises to increase mental stats as well. Puzzles and math work well for that.”

  Nick shrugged.

  “Not really my cup of tea,” he said, “but I'm willing to admit that. I do know of a few folks who'd like to hear about it though.”

  “So, what's going on here? It looks like you had a bunch more Safe Zones, but lost a few?” Marc asked.

  Nick nodded.

  “Yeah, professors D and B wanted us to build a ring wall defense out of smaller Safe Zones to protect the primary one. We tried to do that, but lost one to the monsters, then, before we could get it back, more monsters started flooding out of the one they'd taken. They took a couple more. The monsters fight among themselves though and those tentacle things took one over from the little goblin types.”