Project Alpha

by R. A. Mejia

  While I stand there, holding a brown stained piece of paper, I briefly consider asking the group of pretty girls nearby for directions. Then in a head slapping moment of inspiration, it finally occurs to me to check the internet. I’m sure this college has some app or online map I can use to find this class. I put my hand into my jeans pocket and cringe when it touches something sticky.

  No. No. No. Please don’t let have happened what I think happened.

  My hopes are dashed as I pull my hand out of my pocket and see my phone covered in a layer of dried, sticky, brown film. I tap the screen and for a moment it boots up like normal. Then just as quickly, there’s a spark from the back of the phone case and a thin stream of smoke rises as the screen flickers and dies. Tapping the phone screen a few more times proves a futile effort.

  My pulse starts to race, and I have to take a few deep breaths to keep from flipping out. In high school, I’d started to work at a local convenience store to help with the family bills and get a little money for myself. It took me months just to scrape together the money to buy this stupid five-year-old smartphone. Sure, I had to prepay the phone time and internet on it, but with Wi-Fi everywhere now, it wasn’t that bad of an expense. Plus, I used it all the time to research stuff for my high school classes. Ok, so I also used it to download fan subbed anime and pirated movies. Ok, that and some other stuff for which the internet is known. But now, that’s all over. My phone has finally gone to the digital domain in the sky.

  I put the sticky phone back in my pocket and hope I can salvage some parts or fix it when I get home. I look up at the group of girls and take a single step towards them before turning right around. Yeah, I’m not approaching a group of seriously hot chicks, with clothing that

  smells like coffee and has brown stains to ask for directions. My college dating life would end before it even began. Instead, I spot an old beat up looking physical directory. Covered in dust and cobwebs, it still has a faded map and legend with building names. There are a lot of buildings that start with S. There’s the Socratic Gate, Silmarillion Rd., Sither Tower, Senior Hall, Sebley Auditorium, and so much more. However, there’s only one building that seems like it could be the one I’m looking for—Sanderson Matriculation Department. From the map, it appears as if it’s all the way across campus too. I sigh and try to memorize the location of the building from the map and start to jog towards where I think it is.

  Chapter 4

  It takes way too long to jog across campus. I notice the further I go the fewer students I see around. Before too long, it feels like I’ve left the big fancy buildings behind and am jogging among the college’s older ones. These are all one-story buildings made of red brick and surrounded by grassy fields and tall oak trees. Fewer students are walking around, and those that I do see are all old. They’re all at least in their thirties.

  Finally, after what seems like forever, I see the building labeled Sanderson Matriculation Department. The metal sign on the side of the building is covered in rust. The structure doesn’t seem to be in better shape. I try the glass doors at the front of the building, but they don’t open when I pull on the door handles. Peering inside, the building looks empty. No one is at the front desk, the floor looks dusty, and the lights on the inside are off.

  Thinking I must have the wrong building, I’m about to give up and walk back towards the library, when I see a movement to my left. Turning, I see a girl with long blonde hair run past. Thinking she might be a fellow student late for the same class, I run after her. Running past the glass doors, I’m just able to get a glimpse of the girl's blond hair as she runs behind the Sanderson Matriculation Department building. Man, she’s fast. I run after her, along the side of the brick building, my feet kicking up fallen leaves and grass. At the back of the building, I don’t see the girl anywhere. However, I do see a rusted blue door that’s likely a back exit from the SMD building. Testing the door handle, I find that it’s unlocked. I have to put a little muscle into pulling the door open, but it does so with hardly a sound.

  That’s weird; you’d think a rusted door like this would squeal.

  Looking through the now open doorway, I find that it does not lead to the main building like I thought it would. Instead, it leads down a set of stairs. If it weren’t for the lights in the stairwell, I would have turned away right then and there. I mean, how many stories that start with ‘I walked down a weird set of stairs’ ever end well? Still, my curiosity over where that blonde went gets the better of me and I make my way down the stairs. My hands hold the metal railing as I go down, chipping off some of the black paint as I go. After three flights of stairs, I find myself in some sub-basement. There are large leaky pipes along the ceiling, and the concrete floor has a spider web of cracks running through it. There’s a single hallway to my right, lit by a hanging light bulb that flickers off and on. At the end of the hall is a bright red door. It doesn’t look any different from any other door in this building except that I can see the light coming from under it.

  I breathe a sigh of relief. I was worried for a minute that I’d stumbled upon some murder basement or something. I guess this Anthropology class must be in some old lab or basement classroom. I’d heard times are tough for colleges, but things must be really bad if they’re using a place like this. Still, who am I to judge? I’m fine as long as I get the education I’m paying for.

  As I walk down the hallway towards the red door, the light above goes out, leaving the hallway in darkness. Slowly, the glow from under the red door intensifies, providing enough illumination for me to see the door handle. As I grasp and turn the handle, the light from the door gets even brighter. I want to yell for the teacher to dim the lights a little but figure that wouldn’t get me on her good side since I’m already pretty late. Instead, I open the door and step through a flood of intense white light.

  Chapter 5

  Blinded momentarily by the bright light, I stumble through the doorway. I expect to run into a desk or hear the annoyed voice of a professor any moment. Instead, I hear birds chirping and feel a cool breeze on my skin. My surprise at the unexpected stimuli is interrupted by a stabbing pain lancing through my head. The pain is so intense that I fall to the ground and clutch my head. Slowly, the pain lessens. By the time the pain recedes to a dull ache, my vision has cleared, and I find that I’m not in some moldy basement classroom with a room full of college freshmen staring at me. Instead, I’m surrounded by trees. I spin around, looking for the door I just walked through but only find more forest behind me. I reach for the place where I last recall the door being, just to make sure it’s not just invisible or something. Nope, it’s not there.

  Another stiff breeze sends chills up my spine and reminds me that this is not a dream, though I pinch myself just to make sure. Nope, that hurt. Only moments before, I was in the basement of the old college building, walking through the door to what I thought was a class. Now, I’m just somewhere else. Before me is a dirt trail that winds along the ground between purple bushes and tall, bizarre trees whose smooth trunks reach up fifty or sixty feet and end in oddly manicured spherical tops. Peering through the thick canopy of purple leaves, I can make out a green-blue sky.

  Ok, this is definitely not anywhere local. Is it possible that I was teleported to another planet? Or maybe I fell through some ‘Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe’ style portal? Unfortunately, a quick scan of the surrounding forest doesn’t reveal a mischievous Satyr guide.

  Instinctively, I grab the cell phone from my pants pocket to see if I can get a signal but the moment I touch the sticky object, I remember that the darn thing is broken. I groan in frustration. How am I supposed to find a way out of here if I can’t pull up a GPS based map of my location?

  Hoping someone is out there, I cup my hands to my mouth and call out, “Hello? Is anyone out there? I need help.”

  Not hearing anyone respond, I think about my options. One, I could stay right here and hope someone notices I’m gone and comes looking for me. I can pr
obably last a couple of days in the forest. I have the sandwich I packed for lunch and a little water left in my water bottle. But, who’s going to come looking for me? My sister might notice that I’m gone when she gets home from school and I’m not there to make her dinner. But what’s she going to do? She’s fourteen, and while smart for her age, she’s not likely to think to look for me in the basement of an old building or wherever I am.

  Two, I could follow this conveniently placed trail and see where it takes me. I only hope it doesn’t lead to an abandoned cabin in the woods with a mysterious looking book labeled Necronomicon. That would be the worst. Because I know despite having seen the movies and TV shows, I’d still open it up and read it. Only knowing my luck, Ash won’t appear to save my butt.

  Three, I could…uh, what else could I do? Are two things all I can come up with? Good job, college boy. Two choices. Well, if there’s one thing my good for nothing dad taught me when he abandoned us, it’s that I shouldn’t depend on other people. I’ll have to assume that no one is coming to save me. If I want something to happen, I’ll have to do it myself. So, option two it is.

  I set off down the dirt path at a brisk walk. However, as I travel I can’t help but feel like somebody's watching me. I call out a few more times, but no one answers. It’s not until I’ve been walking for a half hour that I hear something rustling along the forest floor. I stop walking and search for the source of the sound. The noise is coming from a patch of bushes nearby. I look intently at the bushes, ready to run if some kind of bear comes out. Only, the creature that comes out of the little bush isn’t a bear. It’s…well, to be honest, I’m not sure what the hell it is. It looks like a rolling blob of semi-transparent blue goop. It seems to be rolling around in random directions. Rolling along the forest floor in one direction for a few seconds, then another way a moment later. I’m not sure what it’s doing until a small rodent scurries out from a bushes about three feet from the blue goop. The movement appears to attract the blob’s attention, and it stops rolling. Instead, it gathers its blob body into a compact mass and then whips part of itself at the rodent. There’s a sharp cracking sound as the first strike knocks the rodent onto its back. It never gets a chance to recover. The blob attacks it with more of the goopy whip attacks, hitting it again and again until it stops moving.

  While the sight of a Blue Blob killing a rat is disturbing, what’s weirder were the series of red numbers that floated above the rat every time it got hit. Having spent way too many hours at home playing old free RPGs on the internet while my mom was at work, I recognize damage notifications when I see them. The sight of something so familiar, yet so foreign to my real life startles me enough that I mutter, “Holy crap.”

  The sound of my voice, though not loud to my ears, is sufficient to catch the attention of the Blue Blob. Its body rotates 180 degrees, and for the first time, I see that it’s not just a blob. It has two white eyes with black pupils and a creepy as hell smile on its face. I recognize the creature as a slime—one of the weakest creatures in many RPGs. As it starts to roll towards me, I start to back away but trip over a fallen tree branch I hadn’t noticed before. I land on my back and feel my backpack beneath me. I begin to scramble backwards but the slime has already gotten too close. I see it condense its form, the precursor to its slime whip attack. I cover my face with my arms just in time to hear the crack of a whip, feel a sharp sting across my forearms, and see a red number 5 float away from me.

  Thanks, red number, I’m well aware that I’m being beat up by a slime. There’s another sharp sting across my forearms as the slime attacks me again and I realize that if I don’t do something quick, I’ll end up just like that rat—dead. Rolling to my right, I hear the sound of another slime whip attack but don’t feel any pain. I lower my arms and see the slime turning to face me, its unblinking eyes creepily looking at me. I get to my feet in time to see the slime condense its form for its attack and dive to my left. The attack misses. As I get to my feet, I see the branch that I tripped over and scoop it up. Finally having a weapon in my hands gives me a feeling of power. But that sensation is quickly replaced by pain as a stinging whip attack hits my butt and another red 5 floats away from me.

  Well, that’s the last one of those I’ll take. I raise the tree branch above my head and bring it crashing down on the slimes head with as much force as I can muster. The branch doesn’t destroy the blue squishy monster. Instead, it bounces off it. A red number 1 floats from the slime as it jiggles and shakes like a gelatin dessert.

  Wait! This guy hits me for 5 damage, and I can only do 1 point of damage? The stats on this branch must be terrible.

  I don’t have time for more speculation as I see the slime ready its whip attack. I hop to the right, narrowly avoiding the attack, then retaliate with another blow from the branch in my hands. As another red number 1 floats away from the blue slime, I realize that I can defeat this guy as long as I keep avoiding its attacks.

  I repeat the strategy I’ve accidentally discovered: wait for the creature to start its attack, dodge, then counter-attack. I’m not sure how long it takes to defeat the creepy slime creature, but when I do, it’s body sort of melts away like Jello left out in the sun. All that’s left is a blue puddle of liquid on the ground. Then even that disappears in a flash of light, with a small neatly tied bag left in its place.

  Before I can reach out to touch the bag, a bright flash of light explodes from my body and another stab of agonizing pain lances through my head. This time, however, it does not abate. Instead, it intensifies. I stumble as the world begins to spin around me and I feel my head hit the soft grass. As the world starts to fade away, a blue box appears.

  Congratulations. You’ve reached level 1.

  Then everything goes black.

  Chapter 6

  When I open my eyes again, I’m looking up at some ceiling panels and florescent lights. There’s something cold and wet on my forehead and I’m unsure where I am. Then memories of the slime come back to me. I sit up, dropping the wet cloth onto my lap, and frantically search around for the monster.

  A soft feminine voice speaks somewhere off to my right, “Woah, there. Calm down.”

  When my tired eyes finally focus on the source of the sound, I see a woman with shoulder-length blond hair whose ends are dyed pink. She’s wearing a nurse's uniform patterned with colorful Disney characters and white sneakers. There’s a pen in her right hand and she looks like she was just filling out some forms when I woke up.

  Looking around, I recognize that I’m in some kind of hospital room and that I’m sitting on one of those beds with a disposable paper sheets. The smell of disinfectant reaches my nose, and I’m sure that I must be in a medical facility. I worry for a moment that my battle with the slime was just some psychotic delusion and that I’ve been institutionalized. My private fears are blotted out as a sharp pain courses through my head. The pain in my head spreads radiates throughout my body.

  The nurse must see me wince because I feel her touch my bed as she comes closer and asks with concern in her voice, “How are you feeling? You came in unconscious and mumbled about slime or something.”

  After a minute, the sharp pain in my skull dulls to a throbbing headache, and I answer, “Yeah, I think I’m ok. My head hurts a little, and I ache all over.” I looked at the blond nurse and grin sheepishly, “Uh, this may sound like a stupid question, but, where am I?”

  The nurse smiles patiently. “You’re at the college hospital. A young woman brought you in saying she found you unconscious from heat stroke near one of the unused buildings on campus.”

  I don’t remember anything like that. Is that what happened? Did I pass out from heat stroke? Does that mean that the entire fight with the slime was a dream then?

  My head throbs again, reminding me that I have more pressing concerns to deal with than a possible weird dream. I ask the nurse, “So, am I ok then?”

  She nods and consults the chart on the counter, “We examined you and ran
some tests. However, we couldn’t find anything wrong with you. So, we put you in here to rest. You really should drink more water. We’re sending you home to rest now that you’re awake.”

  Remembering my afternoon Math class, I look at the clock on the wall and see that it’s already 12 pm. My shoulders sag as I realize how long I must have been here. I’ve missed not only the Anthro class but also my Math class. I’m going to get kicked out of college on my first day.

  The nurse leans forward conspiratorially, places one hand gently on my shoulder and whispers, “I already looked up your records and notified your instructors that you had an emergency. That should at least stop them from dropping you from your classes today. Though you may have some apologizing to do.”

  I can’t help but smile at the news and hug the nurse. When I release her, I see a bright smile on her face and a little pink in her cheeks. “Thank you for helping me so much, uh…nurse…?”

  “Oh, I’m Nurse Joyce.”

  “Thank you, Nurse Joyce. You’re a lifesaver.”