Van raced out of the construction site. His lungs burned and chest heaved.

The fight took everything he had to win. Every detail down to his weapon choice, skill usage, and SP was calculated in detail. He had not planned for a race back to his home.

Getting out of the maze-like construction site wasted a lot of precious time.

If only he had more EP he would have noticed someone escaping. But his scan ability deactivated shortly after the battle began. Even though EP was restored when he took damage he had neglected to reactivate Scan during the battle.

Luckily he had some SP left.

[SKILLS

Sprint (²/⁴) Adept- Move with a burst of speed. Toggle. Cost: 1 SP Per Second]

The treeline became a green blur as Van sped down the secret path. 

The 10 second mad dash covered a good distance. But after checking his map, he saw that even at his top speed it would still take 15 minutes to get home.

[Time to complete: 9 minutes.]

Van focused on his map to avoid panicking. If he cut through the trees and ran straight to his trailer he might reach it in time.

But the forest had its own dangers. Van recalled the words of a fellow Scav. "Shortcuts can cut your life short. There are infected animals hiding in the woods. They mostly come out at night but won't disturb the well lit settlement area."

Van had not seen so much as a squirrel since he got out of the pod. Sure, he heard birds chirp in the morning, and a few annoying bugs found their way inside his trailer when he didn't clean up. But, as for actually seeing the animals he was used to seeing living in a city, there were none. Still, he chose to heed the advice and stuck to the paths, even while zombie hunting at night.

Now was the time to take the chance.

Van dashed into the forest, whipping past branches and dodging trees. The path wasn't as clear but he could see himself gaining more ground on his map.

Just a few more miles.

Van felt a shiver run down his spine.

Instinctually he dove forward and rolled on the ground, placing his back against a tree.

A wild dog emerged from the shadows of the trees. As it circled to Van's right, 2 more dogs crawled out the bushes. In moments there were 5 wild dogs blocking any chance of escape.

The circle tightened like a noose as the infected mongrels approached in unison. Each one looked more rabid than the last. Bloodshot eyes, mangy fur with patches missing, and rotting cracked claws and fangs made them look more like monsters than man's best friend.

If he had any food left, now would be the time to eat it and restore some SP. But thanks to the combined use of Sprint and his new skill Sneak he was fresh out.

Van had no weapons, no stamina and no hope of reaching Violet on time, if at all at this point.

------

Back at the trailer, a familiar hand was picking the lock and sneaking inside.

The intruder shut the door behind him without making a sound and tiptoed towards the pod standing in the far corner.

He drew his knife from his back.

"Don't move"

Before the intruder could react there was an arm wrapped around his throat.

His feet slowly lifted off the ground. The air was pushed out of his lungs in an instant.

*Swip*

The knife cut deep into the arm, forcing it off his neck.

The intruder turned to face his attacker, and was shocked he nearly dropped his weapon.

Van smiled while nursing his wound. Torn cloth from his shredded shirt hung from the waist of his pants. He used a piece to wrap his arm.

The intruder couldn't make sense of the situation. He had escaped right when the battle began. Not only did Van survive, but he was able to reach the trailer first.

"Impossible, how the hell did you beat me here." The knife shook as he spoke.

Van took a step forward without a sound.

The intruder jumped back, and smiled after realizing his position. 

"If you won't tell me then why not tell your sister?" He jabbed the knife in the direction of the pod.

Van stood frozen.

"Huh?" He raised a hand to his ear. "Speak up".

Van knew he was stalling for time. Even with his current advantage, the intruder was trapped.

Van relaxed his stance and explained the events that had passed just moments before.

"I took a little shortcut through the woods"

The trees swayed from a strong gust of wind.

The last of the 5 dogs to appear stood in the middle directly in front of Van, and was the largest. This was the alpha of the pack.

Van readied himself to pounce. His SP was 0 but he knew he needed a specific skill if he was going to survive.

[SKILLS 

Focus (¾) Expert- Gain extreme perception and slow down time to 1/10 normal speed. Toggle. Cost: 60 SP per second.]

Van activated his skill.

[Warning! Insufficient SP, skill will not activate]

Van ignored the message.

Activate Resolve

[SKILLS 

Resolve (¼)Novice- Allows conversion of HP to be used in place of SP when insufficient. Toggle. Cost: 1 to 1.

Next he continued to activate Focus. When he looked up, the two dogs at his side were suspended in the air. One second later and they would have been at his neck.

By the next second, Van had leapt in the air, head on towards the Alpha.

A second later, he had his hands in the mouth of the beast.

By the end of the next second he was shoulder deep down the wild dog's throat. 

[Warning! Unable to use skill without sufficient HP]

Perception of time returned to normal. 

[HP 47/505]

*snarl*

*snap*

*crunch*

*gnaw*

The rest of the pack sunk their fangs into Van's arms, legs and torso. With the slightest pressure the alpha could remove his other arm and claim Van as it's prey.

[HP 7/505]

But the bite never came.

The alpha fell slowly to the ground, its eyes rolling back into its skull. Van's arm remained steady. In his firm grip was the bloody bone stump.

He managed to snap the neck of the beast from within.

[Level Up]

Next followed a flurry of attacks then a burst of speed towards the trailer. Thanks to the use of sprint he arrived a few minutes ahead of the intruder and hid. But the skill left his SP nearly drained.

" You know the rest." Van finished.

"What the hell is a level up?" The intruder was more stunned by the story than the surprise attack. 

Suddenly a man and woman barged into the unlocked trailer door.

"Freeze!"

They yelled in unison. Their armor was a combination of football, lacrosse and soccer padding. Everything was either spray painted or dyed to match their bluish gray uniforms, including their helmets.

Van had noticed them walking around the settlement,or patrolling the outer wall. Always walking in pairs or posted behind the gate of the stadium. They were usually armed with a hatchet or dagger, paired with a collapsible crossbow holstered at their hip. 

The last survivor of the skull crew backed himself into a corner, knife pointed towards anyone who dared approach.

In desperation he lunged at the pod standing in the corner opposite to him.

"This is what you get for defying us!"

His words drowned out the warnings and threats being screamed from across the room.

The point of the blade was aimed directly at the viewing window in front of Violet's face. The blade slid ever so slightly down, scratching the glass. 

The moment the blade touched the metallic frame of the pod sparks danced up the handle of the blade.

To Van, it was all happening in slow motion.

Electricity traveled from the knife into the intruder. His body convulsed as he burned. The smell reminded Van of the nomads.

With a heavy thud, the body hit the ground, rocking the small trailer on impact.

[Emergency Quest Complete!

Defeat the Bandits

Recon

Locate the Bandit Camp. (Complete)

Identify all Bandits 53/53 (Complete)

Combat

Defeat the Bandit Leader 1/1 (Complete)

Defeat all Bandits 53/53 (Complete) ]

[NOTICE]

[You have overcome a trial: Lux [x1] Rewarded. ]

The armored pair closed in on the body but Van stood in front of them. For now he had to ignore the messages in front of him. It was too dangerous for the guards to proceed.

"Please wait, until I disconnect the power." Van stepped over the body and lifted his bed on it's side. A series of interconnected car batteries was neatly placed in a 3 by 3 grid, with one long cable connecting to the pod.

This failsafe was a happy accident in the end. 

Van recalled the night he almost died. He got the idea to extend the timer on the pod by connecting more than one battery at a time. So he had 3 lined up. There was no change in the timer so he tapped the pod and received the shock of a lifetime.

Just 3 batteries took away 400 HP.

"All done."

In moments, the charred remains were removed and Van followed the guards outside.

To greet him was Bella and a small crowd of settlers who must have overheard the commotion.

Bella rushed to Van. "Oh thank the lord! I knew you were in trouble when I got your messages!" Crumpled job posts flew out of her hands.

Short hand written notes could be found on some of the pages.

Bella took a hold of Van's arm with both of hers. "So I kept an eye on you and your home. Then I saw some guy fiddling with your door. So I went and found these guards."

Bella sucked in a gulp of air. 

"Then I heard screaming!"

Van placed his free hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. It's OK now. I'm not in any more trouble."

"Well that remains to be seen."

A tall man wearing a guards uniform stepped through the crowd. The word chief was printed on a star shaped badge pinned to his chest.

"There'll be an investigation for this incident. After all, someone died in the settlement."

The crowd gasped at the announcement as if they didn't already see the crispy corpse get carried away.

"Alright everyone, clear out. Nothing to see." The guard shooed the crowd away.

"As for you, we won't be taking you in. Yet. But your not allowed to leave the settlement until this investigation is over. Got it?"

Van nodded at the big finger in his face. He was too tired to argue, or do anything but sleep at this point.

After a long shower he set out his old medical facility uniform to wear in the morning. The originally sanitized uniform fit more loosely than before. Van figured he lost some weight due to limiting his meals to only 3 cans a day. The slippers would complete the outfit but Van didn't go anywhere without his new favorite construction boots.

By the next morning Van went to the job board before remembering he was allowed to leave. He felt the eyes of the once unnoticed guards on him intently. 

So he returned home to check his stats and spend his new points.

[STATUS

HP 520/520

SP 10/610

EP 10/10

Level 29--[1,004/6,000]--Level 30

(STR)ength: 81

(END)urance: 51

(DEX)terity: 42

(PER)ception: 101

(INT)elligence: 42

(CHA)risma: 29

Points: 5]

It was then that he remembered that he still had 1 subquest left undone.

[ QUESTS

Main Quest:

Wake up Sleeping Beauty:[87H33M09S]

•Get a power source for Violet.

•Find a cure for Violet.

•Wake up Violet

Subquests:

•Visit the Archiver ]

With all the jobs he took, his very first subquest got buried at the bottom of the list and forgotten. Van was notorious for doing that in open world RPGs. For him, grinding levels was the fun part, questing always came last.

Unable to decide how to spend his points, Van found himself standing at the door of the Archiver with a little direction from Bella.

Apparently he had passed by this place several times during his routine exercise around the settlement. Van quickly confirmed on his map before entering.

He had nearly uncovered the entire settlement. There was no doubt the settlement was a well planned out community. Two residential zones were positioned near the north and south entrances of the stadium. To the east was the shopping district. And to the west were the ruins of downtown. The massive wall encircled the entire area which included a guarded water source, farms, and storage area. 

A forest covered most of the territory outside the wall. 

The area where Van was now was filled with refurbished buildings for mixed purposes, and he currently stood on the steps of the former downtown library.

The doorway opened to another set of doors that were already propped open. The interior was a library of lost and found knowledge. Bookshelves were stacked with old video games, movies, paintings and of course, books.

"Hello?" Van walked down rows and rows of the dusty collection.

"Anybody here?" Van's question was answered by its own echo.

He continued down the rows to another door. As he raised his hand to knock the door flew open.

"Sup"

An old man, easily in his 70's shuffled to the edge of the door. He had long white locs that swept the floor as he turned his head.

"Come on in, sit and have a drink with me"

Van followed the man to a small table with 4 chairs. On either end was a single brown glass bottle who's label was lost in time.

When the old man took a seat, his loose purple t-shirt puffed up with air. His dark gray sweatpants drooped over his feet, even though they were rolled up on the ends.

Van watched the man settle into his seat.

"Are you the Archiver?"

The old man popped off the bottle cap and took a swig. He drank in silence until it was empty.

Van didn't want to be rude so he did the same. But as soon as the liquid touched his tongue he emptied the contents of his mouth onto the floor.

"Root beer." The old man belched. "Or sarsaparilla as it was called in the times before your time."

Van almost asked how the old man knew he wasn't from this time before remembering the uniform he wore.

He had gotten used to blending in with the locals. He almost forgot how awkward it was walking around in his old clothes. 

Sometimes people would walk up to him and ask questions like, "Did people really fly in the sky?" or " Is there a man watching us from the moon?".

The old man stood up and walked past a curtain leading to another room. 

The floors creaked with every step, so Van knew exactly how far he had walked and when he would return.

The old man plopped back his chair with a heavy sigh. He placed a hand palm up on the table. As his fingers unfurled a small light gray piece of cloth rolled out. 

"#22116" Van read aloud. There was no mistaking it. This cloth came from the uniforms worn by pod sleepers.

"To answer your earlier question, yes, I am the Archiver."