Wolfpack 2: A Post-Apocalyptic GameLIT/Cultivation Novel

  Contents

  Thank You!

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Four dot One

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Eleven dot One

  Eleven dot Two

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Seventeen dot One

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Five dot One

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-One dot One

  Thirty-Two

  Thirty-Three

  Thirty-Four

  Thirty-Five

  The LitRPG Community

  More Community

  Copyright © 2022 by Cassius Lange

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or literary publication.

  Publisher’s note:

  This is a work of fiction. All names, places, characters, and incidences are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, events or locations, is completely coincidental.

  Trade paperback

  Amazon KINDLE

  Audio Book (Podium Audio)

  1st Edition – 2022

  Thank You!

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  One

  The Forge

  Our wolfpack spent several days at the ruined manor in the woods, searching the bunker and crumbling structure above for more treasures. Unfortunately, beyond the food in the bunker and some old clothes, everything else was worthless.

  Hera and Prometheus left on the second day, after a lengthy conversation about how we should prepare for what lay ahead. In the end, it made more sense to separate, and approach our needs from two different angles. They would make the trek back to the cabin to collect the girls, while Ajax and I stayed behind. The big man had some exciting plans, involving the metallic remains of a dead alpha wolf, and a specially trained smith in Zurich.

  Although I was excited about seeing Layla again, it wasn’t optimal sending the two off into the wild by themselves. So, we did what any reasonably merc team with a relatively tame but savage wolf would do, we sent Omega with them.

  The time alone with Ajax helped me identify how much the big guy had changed. He was still an absolute beast of a man, strong and dependable, but something had shifted in him. His mood became darker, and I struggled to guess what was on his mind.

  Two theories emerged. One, that it started with the wolf pelt cloaks. It was possible that part of the wolf king’s personality remained and was...polluting him. And the second was considerably more complicated.

  Ajax admitted that he was from Glarus and knew some of the people and dealings in the area. With the atrocities that happened after the collapse, I had to conclude that he saw or experienced some truly horrible things.

  The big man spent the first night after Prometheus and Hera left wrapped in the cloak. He even had the wolf head perched on top of his own, complete with black face paint. I admired the commitment and how the whole look pulled together—his burly physique wrapped in the powerful wolf’s charcoal-and-black fur, with his face covered in alternating black and gray stripes.

  I didn’t see the need for face paint but did chuckle as he troubled himself with the application. Damn, he was a perfectionist.

  My own cloak was similar, but not quite as glorious. Then again, it could also have something to do with the man beneath it. I was darned near half the big man’s bulk and half a head shorter. Whatever the case, it kept the cold wind at bay, which was what truly mattered.

  “I wish we’d known about that house with the bunker!” I said, letting a bit of my irritation bleed forth.

  Ajax chuckled but continued to pick his way through the woods, bending over smaller trees as he went.

  “What is the old phrase?” the big man asked. “Hindsight is keener?”

  “Something like that,” I grunted as a bent sapling snapped up and almost hit me in the face.

  It wasn’t just that we’d had to bury and hide our loot in the woods to keep it safe, but since our meeting with Kruger, men had been following us at a distance. I was relatively sure they were there on Alfred’s orders, as they weren’t uniformed men of the Protectorate, but slippery rogues in black and gray clothes.

  We finally gave them the slip when we’d doubled back, climbed a bluff overlooking the city, and hid for several hours. I heard them pass below, whispering confusedly, then traipsed off in another direction. To be safe, Ajax and I stayed there until dusk, before moving again.

  “Patience is a virtue some men do not possess,” Ajax chuckled. Yes, he’d laughed about it, but I’d struggled to keep him still. Normally our peacemaker, he’d wanted to jump the men and hide their bodies.

  “Try explaining that to Alfred and Kruger,” I’d whispered, considering they were already investigating the death of their second missing noble. He’d harumphed and crossed his arms over his barrel chest.

  Moving through the night, I took Prom’s job of patrolling our perimeter, then set up at a safe distance and waited until dawn. We approached the burial site as the sun rose, the light quickly burning away the mist.

  “Still got your spade?” Ajax asked with a barely concealed smirk.

  I slipped off my backpack, let it hang on a nearby tree, then rummage through my stuff. I worked carefully in the early morning light, as to not cut or prick myself on all the sharp tools I had accumulated. Several moments later, I pulled the small folding shovel free and held it out toward Ajax. He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Oh, so you think I am going to dig?” I asked, squinting at my large counterpart. “Pull your weight, big guy. Besides, you’re bigger and stronger. It will take you half the time.”

  Ajax cleared his throat bu
t didn’t uncross his arms.

  “I’m your elder, and your better. Of course, you’ll do it.”

  I quietly crossed my own arms over my chest, replicating his stance.

  “You? Better? Why don’t we fight to settle it?”

  He snorted and shook his head. “I’d beat you bloody, welp. Then I would have to carry the bones and your broken body back to the city.”

  “Then it is settled,” I said and tossed the shovel at him. “I will not dig without a fight, and you don’t want to carry us both back to the city.”

  “Ugh...what?” he stammered but lashed out with cat-like reflexes and caught the shovel. I smiled, took two steps back, and looked around.

  “Are you sure this is the spot? None of the ground is disturbed.”

  “See those trees over there?” he asked, pointing at a pair of matching aspens. “Not only is the one on the left marked, but in a few minutes, when the sun fully rises, their shadows will overlap and show us where to dig.”

  “So, that is cool,” I admitted. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  Ajax unfolded the spade and locked it open.

  “For starters, your memory. But we’ve been using this kind of trick for years now. It just makes sense, especially in a world where everyone else wants to take what we’ve got.”

  Following Ajax, I stepped off to the side and watched as the sun crested the horizon. Bright, golden light spilled over the hills and trees, bathing everything around us.

  Two long shadows formed as the light hit the trees, but as the sun rose, they slowly moved, until finally forming an “X” on the ground. Ajax pointed, grinning, and then tossed me the spade.

  I caught the shovel, and realizing the folly of arguing further, dropped to my knees and started digging. He joined me a few moments later, after letting me believe that he was only going to supervise. Ajax laughed, unfolded his own spade, and pitched in.

  We started to work, but the humor of our initial exchange melted away. Ajax’s awkwardness returned, but he refused talk about it. It bothered me that he didn’t feel comfortable confiding in me but didn’t want to anger him by pushing the issue.

  It just compounded my own issues, as after the dream in the bunker, I seemed to have hit a new plateau in my own memory recollection. I knew my name, felt confident in who I was, and even revisited the memories of the convergence, but that was it. Nothing new had surfaced.

  “Absorbed anything yet?” Ajax said, a short while later.

  “Meaning?”

  “Some things came back to you in your dream, right? Has it made the politics, the secrets, the fighting to stay alive, hell, even the freaking wolf make any more sense? Everything happened so quickly, and we never even had a chance to sit down and process what happened.”

  I tried to hide my surprise, as Ajax finally seemed to be bringing it up. Perhaps this meant he was finally able to unload what had been troubling him.

  “Yes and no,” I said, studying his face. The wrinkles had deepened around his eyes, making him look a bit older, but I couldn’t tell if that was age or stress. “It was like I dislodged a bunch of stuff and it broke free. Now it just tumbles nonstop in my mind. I’m left to worry about a woman, a home, and world that isn’t part of my life anymore.”

  “That sounds maddening,” he grunted, and pulled a large scoop free from the hole.

  I worked, waiting to see if he would continue, but the silence took over. It took us a short while, some grunting, cursing, and a chipped spade, but we finally managed to dig our stuff up. I stored the two fangs and the needle in my pack while Ajax pulled out a pair of thick bags and started piling Ivory’s bones inside.

  Even when caked in dirt, the silvery bones had a proud shine and gleamed in the sunlight. A barely perceptible angry muttering tickled the back of my mind, but I pushed it away. Ivory was stirring, his perpetually foul mood only deepened by our excavation of his remains.

  “You…monsters,” he hissed, a moment later. “We would only have eaten you, but…you insist on parading around with my remains even after my death!”

  “I will craft the most beautiful hammer with these!” Ajax said, as if privy to Ivory’s lamentations.

  He stuffed the rest into a duffel but held a smaller bone out to me. Ajax swung the black duffel bag over his shoulder with ease, as I cursed and struggled to lift mine aloft.

  “You are a burden, even in death,” I muttered, and Ivory sniggered. He may have been offended by how we handled his remains, but he loved the fact that I had trouble carrying him around.

  “It was more spread out on our way here,” Ajax whispered, adjusting the straps on his shoulder. “Four of us shared the weight, but now? Man up and bear the weight.”

  There it was again. He was grumbling, but definitely not speaking to me. Was he just speaking to himself? My mind spun as I silently wondered if his cloak hadn’t somehow given Ivory the power to slip into his thoughts.

  “And they aren’t that heavy! Tell him to stop making such a big deal about it. I will...I will rip his throat out! Let me at him!” Ivory snarled a moment later, seemingly answering my question. If the alpha really could inject himself into Ajax’s thoughts, he likely would have gone straight to the source.

  “Can you imagine having metal bones!” Ajax said, finally turning to me. “I would kill for a set, you know? Yes, I would be heavy, but nothing would be able to break my limbs.”

  “Don’t tempt me, or I might try to stick one of these bones inside you while you are sleeping,” I said, throwing him a wry grin.

  “That, my boy, would definitely start a fight!” he laughed, and together we started walking.

  We took our time on the hike back, stopping regularly to set down the bones and rest. It was our second break when I felt a strange sense of dread wash over me. Alfred’s men were about, that much was clear, although we couldn’t see or hear them. With silent hand signals, Ajax and I formulated a plan, backtracked, and took a detour south.

  It took us a good hour longer than it had to, but we managed to avoid Alfred’s spies. The guards watched us when we finally approached, grunting and straining under the weight. Ajax’s face was red, and he was sweaty, so I knew I had to look just as bad. Luckily, and likely due to Gruber’s assistance, we were allowed into Zurich unmolested.

  Once inside the city, we moved silently through the alleyways and darkest corners, only traveling on the busy streets when we had no other options. We played the part of disinterested mercenaries, and for all the pedestrians knew, that’s what we were. They didn’t need to know that we caried a treasure of unimaginable wealth in our bags.

  It was an exhausting walk to our destination, the better part of an hour avoiding traffic and moving through crowds, while fighting to avoid attention. Ajax pointed to a building on the east side of the city, easily half a mile beyond the Limmat river. It appeared to be a workshop of some kind, perhaps a smithy.

  The first thing I noticed was the smell of smoke and blue-gray haze hanging over the building. We finally approached, finding a cozy, two-story stone building. A large chimney sat on the right side, belching a healthy stream of smoke into the air. A rusted iron fence surrounded the yard, and the windows were barred, making it one of the most heavily fortified buildings I’d seen.

  “That was...hell!” I cursed, dropping the heavy bag next to me as we finally came to a stop.

  The bones landed with a loud thud and rattled, kicking up a small cloud of dust. I stretched my arms and back, then rubbed my aching shoulders. It felt like it would take me hours to unwind the knots that had formed in my muscles, but if Ajax could work his magic on the bones, then all the pain would be worth it.

  “Stop grumbling, you big girl,” Ajax said and slapped my aching shoulder.

  I pushed him away and glared, but he just laughed even harder.

  “Fine. I’ll tell you what. Later, I’ll take you to the riverside. They are famous for their message parlors,” he offered, throwing me a sideways wink. “If y
ou’re lucky and pick the right girl, she might give you a happy ending!”

  My growing smile faltered. He didn’t just say that, did he?

  “Ajax! Shit, man, I thought I was the pervert here, but no. It sounds like you the one who needs to pick ‘the right girl’.”

  “Oh, I usually pick well,” he said with a shrug, then hefted his bag off the ground.

  I laughed as we moved together through the gate, closing it behind us. The smell of smoke and metal hung heavy in the air as we entered the shop. The ring of metal against metal echoed from deeper inside the building, which served like a beacon, pulling Ajax in.

  “Mike?” Ajax yelled as he walked through a doorway and into a brightly lit room.

  The clanging stopped and I heard a dull thump before someone responded, their voice hoarse and ragged. I formed a mental picture of someone who had worked too long in a hot, dry space.

  “You know better. If you’re stupid enough to interrupt my work, then you best have brought me something to drink.”

  “Would a swift kick in the shorts suffice?” Ajax asked.

  The other man said something I couldn’t quite understand. They both laughed.

  “I Just wanted to drop some stuff off for tomorrow, old friend. But I know your rule. I will bring the good stuff with me when I visit again.”

  Ajax moved aside, finally giving me a glimpse of a stout, broad-shouldered man standing over an old, battered worktable. He wasn’t overly tall, but like Ajax, he was powerfully built. His face was artificially aged as well, as long burn scars interrupted his beard, and one particularly spectacular scar transected his right cheek.

  He pulled off a heavy leather glove and held a hand out to Ajax, who clasped his wrist and shook it happily. Before I saw them shake hands, I could have sworn they were going to start fighting. Was that what old friendships meant?

  “You haven’t been by in ages. Last time you brought the kid with you,” Mike said.

  His voice sounded even drier to me now, until he slid a hand into his apron and produced a small canteen. He unscrewed the lid, put it to his lips, and took a long pull.