The Lost Chronicles Of Pangea: Apocalypse

Supplies

David moved his head to the left as his gaze fell on a display case. His reflection was staring right back at him. David looked the same on both worlds, the bushy eyebrows, the slightly bulging eyes and the thick lips. The tribal marks on his face were still there, leaving a constant scar. Two one and the half centimeter scars on each side of his face. The tribal marks remained, but their story changed. On earth it was giving to him by his grandfather, something about tradition and some other bullshit. The basic gist was that his dad had allowed an old man to scar the face of a six month old child with a red hot knife because it was tradition. Sometimes tradition sucked.

But on Pangea the story about his marks were completely different; here he had an accident when he was about one or two. It was the story he was told and for the life of him, no one ever told him the details about behind it. The only thing peculiar about it was that this mark was somehow caused by Ionite, so no amount of healing would have fixed back his face to perfection so he was left with those scars which had been an endless source of embarrassment for him as a kid, he was teased a lot about it.

David could not be considered handsome, but with his dark skin, tall frame and broad shoulders he would not be considered ugly either. David was skinny, but he had the makings of someone who would have a great body if he just paid a little more attention to himself. He filled out a bit after the last energy surge the regulator had to take care of.

Some would rate his looks at average or cute, his looks was something David of Pangea never really gave a s**t about even when he was made fun of for it. David of earth however loved to look good right from the moment he was born. He never liked crowds, but he always wanted to have every eye in the room on him whenever he appears. It was always empowering and it gave him enough leeway to manipulate people any way he wanted. Humans like shiny things, and whether they hated you for it, or admired you. As long as you can get their attention then you have a thirty percent chance of gaining their soul.

David shook his head in confusion as he felt both his memories trying to fight for dominance over the other. It was disorienting at first, before everything calmed down. Who am I, was a question David needed to answer fast, but where would he be getting that answer from.

David rested a bit in the auto store before he left with a shopping cart attached to his bicycle. He had four different power cells in the cart as he made his way towards the mall. Even though each of those power cells had enough power to turn the entire auto store into a hole In the ground, it was not that much heavier than a fifteen inch long loaf of bread.

When he got to the mall everyone in it seemed to be in a hurry. But the mall had somehow become more than just a spot to get materials. What that customer care guard neglected to say when he gave directions to David was that one half of the mall had been turned into a sick bay of sorts. The other half could be compared to open air markets that the David from earth was quite used to in his country. David was doubtful that having sick and injured people close to where food was being sold was hygienic, but no one else seemed to care.

The people injured or sick had really bad luck. Some of them were grotesquely swollen, others were missing limbs, while some of them were growing extra appendages from their bodies. There was even someone who had tentacles coming out of his eye sockets. David had to fight the urge to vomit or run screaming like a little girl. He shuddered and then made his way to the biggest stall that was selling food. Behind the stall was a rather obese pale skinned man. He was so pale David wondered if he was an albino, if he was not then it was quite obvious this man’s skin has never seen the sun In quite a number of years, if not ever.

“Good day and what can I do for you.” He asked with a rather high pitched voice. The guy sounded like a seven year old girl, and when he spoke, the fat in his body jiggled as if they were disturbed by the sound waves from his speaking.

David did not recognize this guy, but that was to be expected, Victoria island was large enough to have thousands of people living on it with space to spare. It was highly improbable that he knew everyone.

“I need food and other supplies for a long trip.” David replied.

“You’re preparing to leave with the rest of the people right?” he asked.

David raised his eyebrow in amusement and answered with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

“Well duh, if I don’t leave with the rest what would I be doing. Starting a swim school for monsters?”

“I don’t think that would be wise young man.”

David was so shocked that his jaw was hanging open. What was wrong with everyone today. It was almost as if the only three people he has had a conversation with today were abnormal in some way. One was a dead man with his brain taken over by a lizard with mind control powers, the other was a guard whose mouth had no filter and behaved like a customer care representative, this guy here was just dumb, though it seemed too early to say. David shook his head as if doing so would bring him back to reality.

“Just show me what you have. Also any camping gears you have will be appreciated.”

“You have to have something of equal value to exchange with the food and gear.” The fat man replied.

David nodded his head and removed the assault rifle from his back. Every gun in his arsenal except for the sky wolf sniper rifle was a pair. He could afford to loose the assault rifle, and with the way this fat man was eyeing the gun, it would probably fetch a lot. David placed the gun on his counter and asked.

“How much can this get me?”

The man raised the gun as he inspected it, he hummed and grunted I’m a really disturbing fashion, but David thought he was a fake, until these words that came out of his mouth next.

“This is an antique Yizart 66 elephant series assault rifle, honestly this belongs in a museum or in an auction house where it would most definitely fetch a hefty sum. But in a fight it’s not that useful. Though this one seems to be in good condition. I will give half a box of canned food, half a box of water, and some rusty old tent to seal the deal. So what do you say.”

If David had not just used the gun to kill a monster almost two hours ago, he would have thought he was selling a defective gun. But David more than anyone else knew the value of the gun he was selling. Pangea had strict laws governing the use of weapons, so it was hard for any ordinary person not in the military, a mercenary, or in organizations to get their hands on guns. This fatty had sorely underlined the value of this gun, did this guy think that David was just a child who had no idea what he had just brought in. Granted David was actually quite impressed that this man could identify the 66 elephant. But not so impressed that he would let the guy cheat him.

“It seems you are not ready to do business sir, forgive me for wasting your time. I will take my gun somewhere else where they won’t try to cheat me of a gun worth two hundred thousand credits.”

The fat Man’s eyes widened a bit before an extremely crooked smile appeared on his face. He looked incredibly shrewd at that moment which made David want nothing more than to get the hell away from him. Unfortunately this guy seemed to have the best wares out of everybody here.

“Ahh young man, no need to get angry. You know how the market works, that was just me putting your knowledge to the test. I can get you a better offer. How about two boxes of food, with one holding prime canned and properly preserved foods, while the other holds preserved meat of the best quality. All the animals might have grown to become more dangerous, but they also got more tasty. Also I have a standard camping gear, its not the best, in fact it’s a little old, but it should serve your purposes. Water is included too.” He finished making his offer with a wide smile on his face. David looked at him in silence for a few more moments before he nodded his head and said.

“I’ll take it.”

The fat man gave a sigh of relief as an even wider smile broke out on his face, David wondered how that was physically possible. Then the fat man went about gathering the stuff David asked for. While he was doing that, David was attracted by the sound of chittering below the counter. He leaned back and saw a cage with three tortoises chewing a hole through the metal grate that kept them contained.

David let an amused smile cross his face as he remembered a story from earth. In Nigeria his home country, the tortoise was actually thought to be the wisest creature there was. He was always depicted as cunning, smart, innovative, and had really strange magical powers, also he was a famed enthusiast of any good food. The three however looked a little different. The legs were narrower and the fingers and claws extended a bit from their body like lizards. Their shells were still the same round shape, but their color was complete different. It was blue with veins of red running in between the cracks.

Their head had traces of horns growing out of the ridge of their eyebrows, their mouth actually had really sharp teeth and quite strong too considering they were currently eating metal. Their eyes however were pitch black with a very tiny silver dot as a pupil. You would have to look closer if you wanted to notice it.

The fact that they were here and in a cage meant that they were mostly not that dangerous, even though he has had quite a terrible experience with cute animals already, an idea crossed his mind. And no matter how much he tried to talk himself out of it David could not resist.

There was bang as the fat man returned with his supplies, but before David handed the gun over to complete the transaction he asked.

“These tortoises, were did you get them from, and can you include them among the things you sold to me.”

The fat man looked under the table for a second then looked back at David with a suspicious look, then look back at the tortoises again. This back and forth looking happened for another five seconds before he gave David an answer.

“All three were found close to the sea, at first we thought they were turtles since they were brought to me as eggs. You know we have ways of knowing this thing, but imagine the surprise we got when they hatched and turned out to be tortoises. They are actually evolved but they seem relatively harmless. But if you want them then please take them away, they keep eating through every cage I put them in. An with every metal they eat, they actually grow larger. This three things that look the size of a cereal bowl are actually just a week old. They also eat normal food, but keep them away from anything metallic for as long as you can.”

David was actually surprised by the story behind the three tortoises, but he didn’t say anything else. He pulled the almost destroyed cage and placed it in a cardboard box. Then he placed it, along with the other supplies into the cart attached behind his bicycle. He gave the gun to the fat man, who just couldn’t wait to get his hands on it. It was extremely unsettling watching him caress the gun like it was some sort of treasure, which it was, but not enough to warrant such devotion. David pushed the sight to the back of his mind and rode his bicycle back to his house. He left in a hurry as he had something that he desperately needed to try out. But either way, even with all the close shaves he had with death. His mission today was accomplished.