The community center was seven minutes away. The soldier offered assistance to Macon twice, but Macon refused both times. It was not a matter of pride; Macon felt that he would rather have made an effort to walk with one good arm rather than be physically supported by someone else while walking past destroyed houses.
Even though the streets were not completely destroyed and there were many things like cars that were not parked as they should have been; and there were broken windows at pharmacies with the glass spread ten meters in every direction from the actual pharmacy; and a house with a front door that was wide open, and no sign of life inside; he had no trouble recalling memories of things that he recognized as what remained of monsters that were left behind after the military dealt with them before he woke up; however, he avoided spending any real amount of time on those.
He noticed the number above the soldier's head, and it was a very low number, as the three numbers were: 8%, 11% and 14%. That indicated that the men had already been in similar situations before, or they had been trained for something that was similar to what they were actually doing; therefore their bodies had developed a level of comfort with what they were doing.
His focus remained on the ground beneath his feet as he walked down the road.
The community center was an old converted gymnasium. The main area was filled with folding tables and cots set up along the far wall Fluorescent lights buzzing . There were maybe sixty people in the room, some were seated and others were lying down. The soldiers and medical staff were moving around and checking on the patients. The smell of antiseptic was in the air and many of the patients had also had a rough night.
When Macon reached the entrance, one of the medical staff met him and took over from the soldiers. She was quick and efficient in her actions and had little to say other than necessary.
For the first step, she washed his hand carefully (although it caused him significantly more pain than washing with the average antiseptic that he had previously used), and after washing it she performed an excellent job of bandaging it. He received six stitches for the deepest cut.
Next, she asked him to sit on a cot, remove his shirt and then she looked at his back at the three deep scratches for a brief period of time without saying anything to him. She then washed his back and Macon made another sound, relieved that nobody specifically heard it above the general noise from the other patients within the room.
"You must keep these covered and dry for at least a week. These are deep, especially the one on the upper shoulder." She then left him with the directive.
"Okay."
"A monster," said Macon.
She looked at him.
"Five legs," he added. "Gray fur."
She scribbled something else on her clipboard and proceeded to the next person. He was not the only one to suggest something outlandish today, before moving on to another.
He found himself alone on a cot against the wall, while still being able to access his cellphone as it still had enough power left for him to check on the latest news updates. In regard to the current status of France, they referred to the situation as a national emergency. The the dungeons were being contained and tutorials were still operational; the military had secured perimeters around almost all active sites within approximately twelve hours after the first tutorials began. This timeframe is better than Japan and not as speedy as Russia .
His next step was to read about the additional worldwide crises. There was a substantial number of civilian casualties in the early hours of the incident involving the German tower; however, the military response from Germany was more favorable than he had anticipated. He also noted that there were numerous powerful awakened individuals that have re-entered the population fKorea's situation was notable. The number of powerful awakened individuals who had emerged from the first tutorials there had made a real difference.
In the article, it was stated that a group of civilians had formed a spontaneous civilian defense force to the emergence of this new combat capability by utilising their developed combat skills.
He thought of the being on his porch, and how the Death Sight could now be used as an actual, live navigation tool. Moving forward made the number increase, while moving backward made the number decrease.
In this instance, the being was already half dead from being in contact with the military prior to the confrontation, he had won that fight because the monster was already half dead from military contact and because he had a power that let him read the situation in real time to assess the situation on the fly.
How would he fare against the being had it not already presented as half dead?
How would he fare against the being if there were two of them?
He glanced down at his hand, which had been wrapped in bandages.
The system notification was still in view. COMPENSATION DELIVERY: PENDING. ESTIMATED DELAY: VARIABLE.
He did not know what that actually stood for, but he had a feeling that he was going to discover the answer to that question prior to being able to determine if he even wanted to.
About an hour after Macon entered the center, a soldier came to create a folder for each person present in the center at the time.
The soldier asked the same predetermined questions to each person he visited:
Name
Address
Occupation
Last-known location before the tutorial activated
Injuries sustained
Contact with any monsters
As Macon answered the questionnaire for the soldier when it was time for his turn, he had no difficulty providing truthful answers to every single question except when he answered the question regarding the nature of how he described the monster fighter. Instead of explaining that it was a defensive action, he did not mention the percentage of death sight, nor any of the other descriptions used in the tutorial.
The soldier, after writing Macon's answers down without looking up from his clipboard, continued to inquiry.
Did you receive your injuries as a result of your contact with a hostile entity?
Macon answered "Yes".
Were you able to incapacitate/destroy that entity?
Macon thought about the stone from his mother's garden and then of the 100 percent down time on the top eye from the monster fight.
Again, he answered "Yes".
It was the first time the soldier made eye contact with Macon since he began asking questions.
What weapon(s) were used to accomplish the previous two questions?
Kitchen Knife = Yes
Rock = Yes
The soldier was silent for a moment longer before continuing. He recorded what he had just written on his clipboard, looked down at it to confirm that his answers matched their prompts and finally, returned his attention back to Macon.
"We will need additional details about these encounters at a later date for the record."
"Rest for now. Tomorrow we are setting up transportation to Paris for civilians who need it. You will be on the list."
The soldier walked to another cot.
Macon reclined carefully, avoiding his shoulder and stared at the flickering fluorescent light above him.
He recalled the promised compensation from the system.
He recalled the 101% above his own head .
He recalled the girl with the hollow purple eyes and how she put both her fingers on his forehead and had not explained anything about it to him.
He closed his eyes.
While he didn't go to sleep immediately, he eventually fell asleep, and this time, no dreams were present.