Chapter 22: Denial
Chapter 22
"Sarah, don’t encourage him," the middle-aged woman said.
<They’re in denial. Complete denial. How long have they been hiding in here?>
Reidar’s gaze swept the interior once more, lingering on the stacks of canned goods. His eyes went through the makeshift barrier at the entrance. Tables shoved against doors and shelves tipped on their sides, all forming a fragile perimeter against the world outside.
"How long have you been in here?" he asked. He already knew it was ten days, but he hoped they would at least tell him they tried to get out of there at some point, though he doubted it.
"Since the earthquakes," the older man said. "Ten days. We’ve been surviving on the inventory."
"And you never went outside? Not even once?"
"Why would we?" The college student’s voice rose. "There are monsters out there. Those things would kill us the moment we stepped outside."
"Some of us wanted to try," Sarah said quietly. "But Frank said it was too dangerous."
The businessman—Frank—gave her a warning look. "Because it is. We’re alive because we stayed inside. Safe."
"Safe," Reidar repeated the word. "Is that what you call this?"
"I’ll say it again. We’re alive," Frank said. "It’s probably more than we can say for most people."
Reidar noticed how they clustered together. How their eyes kept darting to the entrances. How they flinched at every small sound from outside.
<They’re terrified. Now, the question is, should I help them or not?>
Reidar didn’t actually know. On one hand, he was in a difficult situation himself. Fighting against monsters, even with a squad of monsters at his beck and call, was not easy. He also had to consider his food supplies, and lastly, he had to consider their personalities.
Reidar was sure these people would make a lot of trouble if they came with him. More often than not, people started demanding things from those in power, not understanding that it didn’t work like that, especially if the life of those in power was at stake.
But at the same time, doing nothing was detrimental, and even thinking about it gave Reidar a headache.
"Listen," he said, keeping his voice gentle. "I’m not here to hurt you or force you to do anything. I’m traveling to Creamont to find my parents. I stopped here because I thought this place might be empty. I wanted to rest for a few hours and restock my food supplies."
"Creamont?" The middle-aged woman stepped forward. "You’re trying to reach Creamont? The roads disappeared! How do you plan to find your way there with those creatures outside? It’s impossible!"
<These guys!> They were starting to get on Reidar’s nerves.
"The roads are different, but they are still there. Just... In a slightly different form. Travel is dangerous, but it’s possible if you know what you’re doing.>
Not that Reidar knew.
"Besides, the monsters are still weak enough to be manageable. But I can’t assure you they will stay this weak next week or in months."
Frank laughed again. "Know what you’re doing? You want us to really believe you’ve been out there and traveled for ten days? I ignored you the first time, but even assuming those things really follow your orders, it’s impossible you traveled for ten days with all those things outside."
"Believe it or not, that’s the truth. I’m going to find my parents first, then my wife and son. There is no way I will sit on my ass here waiting to be killed by monsters."
"Your family is dead," Frank said. "Everyone’s dead except the people lucky enough to find shelter. The sooner you accept that, the better."
"Frank!" The middle-aged woman looked horrified. "You can’t say that!"
"I’m being realistic, Linda. This man shows up with fairy tales about controlling monsters and traveling through a wasteland and about a magical system that is supposed to help us survive. Either he’s insane or he’s dangerous."
<What the fuck? Didn’t they see the fucking rift-sprite I sent inside to check the place?>
They did. It was just that they were in denial.
The older man with the pipe studied Reidar more. "You really killed those things outside?"
"Yes."
"Prove it."
"Well... that’s easy..."
Reidar gestured toward the entrance. "Look for yourself. Their bodies are still there."
"Bodies can be faked. Maybe you brought them with you."
"How the fuck am I supposed to fake bodies in all this shit?"
<Wait... maybe a skill might be able to do that... But they don’t know that...>
"I don’t know! But if you said you can control monsters, then it’s possible for you to do something like this!"
"Why would I do that?" Reidar asked. "What would I gain from lying to you? Can you even hear yourself?"
But Frank interrupted him again.
"Maybe you’re working with them," he said. "Maybe those creatures are smarter than they look. Maybe they sent you to trick us into coming outside."
The college student nodded. "That makes sense. You could be bait."
Reidar rubbed his forehead. The conversation was going in circles. These people had convinced themselves that hiding was the only option, and anything that contradicted that belief had to be false.
"I understand you’re scared," he said. "I was scared too, at first. But once you learn how the system works, once you start gaining levels and skills, fighting monsters becomes possible."
He paused.
"By the way, have any of you tried accessing the Guardian System’s help function?"
Blank stares answered him.
"The help function. The interface that appears when you focus on it. The one that explains how everything works."
But Reidar remembered these people said they thought the system was a hallucination. Their blank stares further confirmed this.
"You’ve never opened the system menu? Never looked at your status screen? Never read the notifications?"
The older man shifted uncomfortably. "Sometimes I think I see words floating in the air. But that’s just the stress. The isolation. It’s making us all a little crazy."
Reidar sighed. He was really getting nervous. "Just will the system to show you the menu, and you will see..."
The others didn’t actually believe his words, and none of them did. Aside from the college student.
"WHOA!"
"What?"
"He was telling the truth!"
"Wha—?"
At that point, even Frank wished for the system to show him the menu, and as he did, the rest followed.
"There really is a system..." The college student said.
"And you said they gave you those... skills?"
Reidar nodded. "It did, although I had to do a lot of things to get them... Well... I was actually forced since it was that or being devoured alive."
The others gulped.
These people had experienced the same transformation he had, but instead of accepting and adapting to it, they had rejected it entirely. They had classified everything supernatural as hallucination or delusion.
Which meant they had no skills. No levels. No understanding of how dangerous their situation actually was.