Calamity Read-Along Chapters 10-14

Another five chapters, another mess our heroes are in. Who's ready to see what the mythical, Epic-controlled city of Atlanta looks like?

CHAPTER 10

"Well, I spent some time drifting after killing Steelheart," I said. "I needed a new purpose in life. Figure I might as well aim high."

I... might actually be with Knighthawk on his one.

"Jonathon proved that Epics could used motivators, but occasionally we'd run into one that he couldn't operate. Same goes for two different motivators being used by the same person. Sometimes they interfere and one craps out."

So... genes that don't interact well together? I don't have a clue about any of this stuff. Way over my head. (Any science-minded folks in the audience? Help?)

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CHAPTER 11

Well, I wasn't an Epic. So it probably didn't matter.

Ermm... no, but you almost became one. I'd say that was fairly significant.

You know what galls me the most about all this? Megan sent. That my stupid father was right. All his crazy talk about an apocalypse, training his daughters to shoot, preparing for the worst... he was right.

Megan's dad was a prepper. Why am I not surprised?

CHAPTER 12

"Nah," I said. "It's hilarious. Makes people sound really stupid."

I would 100% use a filter on my phone just for this.

He sent another sequence that showed Obliteration in Kansas City, working on some kind of glowing object. It was bright, but you could still tell that it was doing the glowing, not Obliteration himself.

Wonderful. I wonder if that was Regalia's intention--send Obliteration out to destroy all the other Epic-controlled cities. I'm sure that kind of work is right up Obliteration's alley. So either he's continuing the path she set him on, or he's obeying Prof now. Either one... not good.

"It causes madness," Abraham said. Then, after a moment, "So no big changes for anyone in this particular car."

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They know about Prof, though they call him Limelight. He's been here for two or three weeks, and some of the other Epics are resisting him, the main one in charge--a guy named Larcener--included.

We really haven't seen many Epic-versus-Epic battles, so I kinda hope that we get to see Prof in action, as terrifying as that would be. (Also, I can't believe he's still using the name Limelight.)

CHAPTER 13

I'm not going to quote the paragraphs describing Ildithia, but I just have to comment on it. Because holy COW a city made of salt that regrows itself. How does this series make such goofy notions seem so COOL?

The place smelled strange. Salty, I guess. And dry.

Yeah, I can imagine. The idea makes my skin itch just thinking about it.

Green light. Of a shade I recognized.

Uh oh...

CHAPTER 14

It was filled with foodstuffs, the packaged kind you had to trade to get, that came from cities that still had factories: beans, canned chicken, soda.

Soda... wait! Tia was always drinking soda! Maybe that has something to do with Prof's fear? He didn't act freaked out or anything, but why would he have been interested in the box otherwise? Maybe it just reminded him of Tia.

So... we didn't get Epic-versus-Epic so much as Prof just being... well, Epic. Are you looking forward to seeing more of Prof as an Epic?