by Dawn Chapman
I didn’t hesitate to aim and fire as the forest dwellers burst through the treeline with a terrifying roar.
GREATER FOREST DWELLER PARENTS
MOTHER HEALTH = 84%
FATHER HEALTH = 98%
Several rapid pops filled the air, and I watched as they hit the front dweller in the chest.
CRITICAL HIT
BATTLE MAGE RANK 2 ACHIEVED!
YOU THOUGHT YOU’D NAILED IT. HOW WRONG WERE YOU? THIS FUCKER ISN’T GOING DOWN.
INSTEAD, NOW THEY’VE TARGETED YOUR POSITION.
As it lurched forwards, I pulled the trigger again, seeing its health bar drop more. I would get it with another shot. I was sure. But there was no way that the second one was going to be killed before it was on me. I shot again and watched as the first went down.
YOU HAVE KILLED GREATER FOREST DWELLER. LEVEL TWO ACHIEVED!
Damned I was levelling hella fast with the extra help. But it was far from over. I had no chance. I turned the scope to the other and let loose several volleys. It took the brunt of the ammo in the chest and arms, but it roared out louder than anything I had ever heard, almost splitting my eardrums.
SONIC EXPOSURE = MINUS HEALTH 20%
What? Crap, I’d be dead before the frigging thing got anywhere near me at this rate. I moved out from the tree and slung the gun up into the branches. No reason to take that out with me. I drew my dagger as the forest dweller rushed right at me.
Still, as my health plummeted from the leg wound and the sonic attack, I took a stance, focussing on breathing much like I had behind the tree. I would not take death lying down.
As it went for a killing hit, I dropped to my excruciating sore leg and plunged the dagger deep into its chest.
I saw its health drop as I felt its teeth grab hold of my shoulder and fling. I was tossed up like a rag doll. As I hit the ground, face eating dirt, I knew death was coming hard.
I coughed, a liquid filling my mouth, the taste weird, not quite like blood, but also not like anything I’d tasted before.
The dweller jumped at me, my dagger still protruding from its chest, blood pouring out of the wound. I waited. I had nothing left to give for it. It then stomped on me, claws ripping at flesh. I felt the bandage that Nehi had placed so tight on me rip away. I screamed out, feeling like flesh was tearing from my whole body. Teeth bit down into my shoulder once more, and flesh was pulled, sinew and all, from my arm.
This time when it threw me it wasn’t as high, and when my head hit the dirt and I felt my skin being ripped off, I screamed, but there was no sound. The pain as the dweller hit bone and crunched its way through was like nothing I had ever been through. All I could think of was when will it end? Why couldn’t there be a self-terminate button or something? It was beyond excruciating.
As my body realised it was done for, I felt my bladder lose its contents along with my bowls. Yeah. Very nice. I don’t think I expected that at all, but as I lay gasping for air and thrashing for my life, I saw something in my arm. Metallic pieces, like my veins and body were flesh, but then they weren’t either.
Then there was nothing. It all stopped.
I think I passed out for a while. When I woke, it was agony.
I lay still, not wanting to hope for a minute that it was over or that it had died from shock or something only for the dweller to sink its teeth into me again. Was it eating me? I shivered, and vomit rose up the back of my throat. I choked it down, not wanting my death to be that kind of self-inflicted.
Pain erupted once more as it dug in again, but I don’t know.
Something felt off, like it was weaker. It then defied that thought as it chomped down tight, and with a heave, I was back flying in the air, landing face up, staring at the orange and pink skies of the planet. It was beautiful, and I thought a fitting end to my first trip out.
I could hear other sounds. Birds, maybe? Music? No, surely not.
The dweller was preoccupied, and I could see the glint of metal not far from me. A dagger. No, my dagger. It had come loose.
I reached for it. Couldn’t grasp it. My arm was too weak from muscle and blood loss, I was sure. In the split second of clarity as the dweller’s eyes locked on me again, I managed to grasp the hilt and bring it in close to me. The dweller jumped for me, landing square on my chest, and with the last of my strength, I sunk the knife into its side, moments before it latched onto my neck.
Its health was almost at zero, but so was mine.
HEALTH = 4% INJURIES = SEVERE!
The dweller toppled, and as it went, I went with it, seemingly to roll down some small embankment.
I was barely awake, but the skies were still so inviting. I wanted to reach out and touch them.
I thought about the Minor Healing spell now I had the Battle Mage rank and some Mana to try casting it. It only worked once, with my Mana. It gave little relief to my severe injuries though. But it had to have done something, right?
HEALTH = 8%
INJURIES = SEVERE!
There didn’t seem to be as much pain anymore, and I expected the end to be soon. But as my eyes closed and I saw the flashing notifications from the kills, I grinned.
TWO CONSECUTIVE KILLS!
WITHOUT SHADOW OF A DOUBT, YOU’RE A BADASS WITH A GUN AND A DAGGER. I WOULDN’T WANT TO MESS WITH YOU IN AN ALLEY.
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE REACHED BEYOND YOUR SKILL SET. LEVEL THREE ALREADY!
YOU HAVE STAT POINTS TO USE BUT DON’T BE TOO HASTY!! WRONG CHOICES NOW MEAN YOUR DOOM!
DUE TO YOUR INJURIES, YOU SUFFERED NANITE LOSSES x 67
REMAIN
I felt like my head was going to pop with all the red scrolling across my screen. So much new information. What would happen if I lost all my nanites? I shivered. Would I die? No, I shivered again.
I thought fast and assigned my stat points quickly despite the warning. Strength and Constitution, I increased by three each. Dexterity and Intelligence by one each and Luck by two. I had no choice. I needed the boosts.
I looked to my spells again, hoping my mana reserves had re-cooped, so I tried and cast Minor Healing a few more times.
ERROR! YOU HAVE NO MANA LEFT!
ERROR! YOU HAVE NO MANA LEFT!
I stopped casting and sank back, almost defeated. I didn’t know what to do. Delirium and death seemed to be my only options.
INTERNAL AI - BODY SCANNING.
YOU HAVE BEEN CRITICALLY INJURED. YOU NEED REPAIR. REQUESTING. IRON, COPPER, SILVER.
NANITE BOOST AVAILABLE. QUADRUPLE YOUR NANITES SPEED!
COST X 2000 GOLD. YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT FUNDS.
SURRENDER ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING TO COVER THE FUNDS OR DIE AND LOSE THIS LEVEL.
MEMORIES NEEDED TO COVER FUNDS 2%
YOU MAY ALSO SURRENDER 1% OF YOUR MEMORIES TO STOP THE PAIN
What the fuck? The system wanted more of my memories?
I mean what was the cost of a level? Another trip out, another learning session with the others? I could do that right, easy?
But there wasn’t much time. One percent. That was all. What would that be, like memories from my childhood? Things I wasn’t so sure of?
I struggled to breathe, no doubt due to broken ribs and bones galore. I knew I was also on borrowed time. My health dipped into red.
MAKE YOUR DECISION KYLE!
SURRENDER 2% OF YOUR MEMORIES AND SURVIVE?
Y/N
This was beyond fucked up.
I hit the yes and waited for it to take my memories from 97% to 95%. I expected the pain to go away right away, like a magic button. I was badly mistaken. I saw my nanite numbers double. But the pain didn’t go away.
My eyes closed, ignoring the notifications now. I didn’t have the strength to do anything. I wanted death to come quickly, and it wasn’t.
I heard more rustling. When I looked up, I saw other dwellers, lots of them. They nosed around their dead family members. I panicked as one came in closer; it stood so close that a few feet more and it would ha
ve been on my chest.
Its snout nosed over both the dweller trapping me and my torso. It had been the right call. If the others had still been here, we may have lost the whole team, not just me. I wasn’t a threat anymore, and within a few more minutes the rest of the herd had moved on. I breathed out, the pain so intense I felt bitter tears running down my cheeks.
I prayed more for death to be swift.
Chapter Seven
I felt something across my skin, and there was light.
I expected to wake up in the pod like I had before. But this didn’t feel like it. I heard rustles, like the wind in the trees.
I opened my eyes, blinking in the dim light that was around me. Stars now twinkled up above me. I wasn’t dead?
I struggled to move my hand, my arm. It was stuck under something. My neck cracked as I moved to try and see what it was. The dweller was dead, half on me, half off. I wasn’t going to get my hand out so easy. I brought up an image of my body. So many injuries. Broken hand, arm, shoulder, ribs, and then there were the bites, cuts, bruises.
There was a small icon next to my hand. Loot? I swiped at it, my internal systems taking it in without much more than a thought.
I didn’t have time to look at it. There were other noises around me, and as I looked I could see movement, things around me.
x 3 FOREST CRAWLER = LEVEL 1
x 8 FOREST GNATS = LEVEL 1
x 4 FOREST MILLIX = LEVEL 5
Their names all came up for me now, and from their stats, they were basic creatures. Probably nothing more than just animals that cleaned up after the whole death cycle. When I moved, they squeaked, squawked, and scurried away.
I tried to move again, realising there was nothing for me to do, but try and get some strength back.
HEALTH = 8%
INJURIES = SEVERE!
Instead, I focussed inside and looked to my stats, hoping that maybe something in here would help get me out of this, or I would have an even slower death while waiting for the dehydration—or, of course, to be eaten by something else out there.
I shivered. It was getting cold.
I looked to my map. I could see more details now.
CURRENT TEMPERATURE 10C
It was falling below comfortable.
I didn’t know how I could increase it or how I could get better without any nutrients at all. Around me there was nothing but dirt and greenery. I mean, yeah, there was that, a few shoots of something in the ground.
Really? Was I actually thinking of eating dirt? The nanites. One sec—they were asking for stuff? Dirt had trace minerals and other bits, right?
Dirt it was, then. Turning my head on its side hurt and stretched sore wounds that weren’t healing right. But with my face amongst the grasses and dirt, I started to chomp on it, pulling leaves and anything else I could up towards me. It sucked. The taste of dirt was in keeping with earthen stuff, dank, tasteless, and crunchy.
TRACE ELEMENTS OF = COPPER, IRON, SILVER FOUND. CLEVER CLOGS YOU, AREN’T YOU? WELL, THAT JUST ABOUT MIGHT GET YOU BACK ON THE MEND IN LIKE A MILLION YEARS. YOU DO REALISE HOW MUCH DAMAGE YOU TOOK, RIGHT? GONNA TAKE A LOT MORE THAN THAT TO GET YOU BACK ON YOUR FEET.
KEEP EATING! YOU ARE DOING IT!
The greenery at least had moisture in it.
FLUID INTAKE = 1%
NANITE ORDER = 10% FILLED
I really did have a lot to eat, but that wasn’t ever going to be enough. Ten percent was good enough for something to happen, though. Closing my eyes, I tried not to think of how long. I wondered if the others might actually come back for me, or was I a lost cause totally?
It only crossed my mind when I woke the second time that my next meal was actually right next to me. I could have cooked it. I needed the dagger. Looking around in the dark, I couldn’t see or find it, though.
Loot! I quickly pulled up the loot box I’d nabbed from the kill.
Fuck.
GOLD x 271
SILVER x 1928
Nothing to help cut, and I needed a meal. The forest dweller was ideal.
It was also probably full of fat and protein that I knew I really needed.
With my good hand, I rummaged around as much as I could, trying not to get the attention of anything around me. It worked. I found a rock, and it wasn’t a bad sized one, so I felt all the sides till I found something I thought would work. Struggling to level myself and my very broken body, I started to hack at the flesh of the dead creature. My next meal.
It took forever to get through the thick skin and into something that I thought I could sink my teeth into. It was still warm, and in the cooling night, it was something that I relished floating towards me.
The smell of blood was really strong. This was a creature that was totally made of flesh and blood, so I did what I needed to and I stuck my face inside the hole and I bit down. Blood flowed into my mouth, and I gagged at first. It was still sticky, and the taste was rich. But as much as I was about to gag and vomit it back up, I breathed in. I steadied my racing heart and forced myself to eat something solid. The flesh stuck in my teeth, but I chewed down on it, forcing myself to swallow.
NANITES ORDER x 30% FILLED
Watching my health bar increase, I smiled.
HEALTH = 38%
INJURIES = MODERATE = YOUR NANITES ARE ON THE JOB! BUT THEY CAN’T DIG YOU OUT OF HERE!
I had done it. I would get them what they needed, and I would survive this.
I ate more and more, until the nanites order read one hundred percent full, and my stomach was bursting with the meat of the dweller. I sank back, feeling the lull of sleep tugging at my mind. I needed it to heal; I didn’t need it to be the death of me.
I needed a way to get this critter the fuck off me! But it was also still warm; its hide nice to curl close to.
Picking up the rock once more, I started to dig around my arm, hoping I could dig it out. After a few seconds, I realised it was futile.
The creature weighed too much, and my strength was too low to shift it. The arm, injured as it was anyway, had to go.
I swallowed. I needed to digest some more of this, get better before I tried that. I mean hack my own arm off with a rock, yeah. I knew it was badly damaged, but I kind of still had bone in there.
No, it was broken bone already. I’d seen it on the internal scan.
I thought for a moment, brought up my body scan again. It was indeed more than broken but underneath the dweller. Hacking off the skin, muscle and then with sheer might, I could possibly pull it out, right? I could see rivers of green flowing through my 3D image. I understood this as my nanites were fixing what they could. There were tons in my arm section.
Stop repair on my arm, I thought.
Of course, I heard a soft female voice reply. The voice didn’t register much. But I was surprised to see that the nanites moved away, coming back up to my shoulder, and flowing into other organs.
I let the darkness take me, not wanting to even think about it anymore. If I didn’t have the strength to get out the next time I woke, I would do it.
I would cut that dead piece of me right off. It was the sun that brought me around.
My health bar was just over half, it was more than enough that I didn’t feel like I was on death’s door anymore.
I wanted to look deeper into how I was doing, the structure of my broken body, what the nanites had actually managed to do, what else I had to do to live. Thinking about it and a 3D visual of my body popped up, red and orange highlighting my injuries.
Shattered bones, broken ribs, torn muscles, cuts, bruises. So much damage.
HEALTH = 58%
INJURIES = MODERATE = YOUR NANITES ARE WINNING!
MISSION LOG = ESCAPE = CUT OFF YOUR ARM
Y/N
I needed to get out of this mess, I clicked the Y. The dweller pinned me, and something had to give. I forced my legs to slide on closer to it, feeling its massive weight and flesh to push on. Now finally with some strength, I pulled out with my hand a
nd shoved with my legs. The agony of broken bones screamed from inside my lungs, and I coughed out more of what I could only assume was blood. I wasn’t going to do this without the dirty deed. The sun glinted off silver, and I let out a sigh of relief. At least I could forget the rock. I scrabbled to reach it with my boot and couldn’t. I needed just that little bit more reach. I cried out with the frustration of everything being against me. I hurt more than I ever had. This was evil; this game was never going to be fun. I remembered all the fun things Arndale had said over the years, things like:-
Be the best you can!
Gain skills you can only dream of! Protect all you love, fight for Earth!
But they’d kept the truth from us. This was brutal. This was real war.
With a breath, I made one last ditch effort for the dagger and caught it barely by the tip of my boot. Sliding it upwards, I managed to get it up higher just in arm’s reach. I clasped onto it, and hope flooded through me.
Taking a little time to get used to the feel and what I was going to do, I breathed in and out. Then turned to look at the dead arm.
I was just about to raise the dagger into the air when I saw a red flag across my screen.
INTERNAL REQUESTING CONVERSATION
Y/N
I ignored it.
But the internal spoke up anyway. Cutting off your own arm is a bit dire, Kyle?
What the fuck would you know? I shouted to the world.
Damn. No need to be cranky, I can hear you.
I’m about to cut my arm off. I don’t need sarcasm from some gaming AI.