《Terror Infinity Remake》


 01 Prologue - MC and Nick

    It was another boring day as Chris went over his computer looking for new chapter releases, his life was a total failure and even after reaching thirty he had accomplished nothing of substance, no stable job, no family, no people he could truly call friends.


    An unshaved beard, a stench from not having bathed for more than a week, a sleepy looking face that gave the impression that he didn''t give a fuck for what was happening all around him.


    Like always glued on his laptop''s screen, deep inside he felt uncomfortable still living with his parents, but until they kicked him out or died he would be staying at home doing chores from time to time, jumping at any small profit he could make.


    Thinking back he couldn''t remember where he went wrong, why he was always different than the rest of the people he knew, it was as if his brains did''t work the right way, at least that''s how his parents called it, of course they meant that he had great creativity and original ideas by saying so, but to him it was more like an insult.


    What however made this day special was a sudden spam message appearing on his laptop, which made him rather thrustrated at first.


    ¡®Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live¡­ a real life?¡¯


    The thing was that this spam add, didn''t have the X button on the top right, thus he had to click on it to wait for a new window to open and then close the window, thus by a twist of fate he pressed the "Yes" button instead of the "No" one.


    In reality even he himself hadn''t preceived which of the two he had pressed, since for him it didn''t really matter, before of course he lost consciousness.


    Achoo!


    He woke up with a wild Sneeze, his body feeling the cold floor beneath him, his eyes seeing only darkness and cold clouds forming from his own breath.


    Achoo!


    he sneezed once more as he woke up and Half opening his eyes he could feel his strength returning to his body. His sight caught on two others lying on the floor, it was rather strange as he thought about it, but he didn''t take the huddle to rise from the floor, just closing his eyes anew, thinking of all this as a bad dream from which he will wake up home.


    Around him people begun rising from the floor, it was a matter of fact that he was the first to regain his conciousness or at least he thought so, but he was also the last to rise from the cold dusty ground.


    Chris with ease gathered his strength and stood up with a single lift from the ground.


    With a simple look around he could count at least ten people present, the most eye catching being a biker, wearing black leather and a biking helmet covering his face.


    He looked around him timidly and tried to comprehend his situation through perceiving the surrounding environment. After a few seconds of silence and confusion he discovered that the dark seemingly infinite room must be really large.


    The darkness around him made it impossible to perceive any walls or a door, there weren''t even lights, but he could somehow clearly see the others around him.


    "What, where am I?"


    A haggard voice sounded and many similar ones followed.


    "Everyone...."


    The biker wanted to say something, but over his muffled voice begun a crazy hysteria.


    "Help! Someone! We have been kidnapped!"


    "Who are all you! Police! Someone call the Police!"


    "Aaaaaaaa!"


    A cacophony of hysterical voices shouting for help flooded the room, while some of the more calm ones begun forming small groups, whispering to one another.


    After they confirmed that there was no imminent threat they begun to slowly calm down, but their hearts were still pumping as they had evidently been kidnapped.


    They spent a few moments in silence looking at one another, waiting for someone else to speak, after all they were still in a dazed state of mind.


    Chris was not in the mood to be the first to open a conversation, although if after a minute no one spoke he would take the heavy labour of asking himself, but in the end there was no need for it.


    "Hey you the Hobo, what''s your name?"


    Chris at first didn''t understand why someone would call him a homeless person, but looking at himself in his dirty pajamas, smelling of sweat and dirt it wasn''t a surprise that they thought he lived in this dark place or something.


    The man talking to him was a rather tall rich looking guy, wearing expensive shoes and jeans, flashing his muscles with his tanktop, he found the most weak and non threatening looking guy to talk to, his tone full of arrogance and supperiority.


    Chris wasn''t far, but you couldn''t call him slim as well, he was just average in most regards, he''s given up sports long ago and just did some exercise from time to time, dreaming of being buff or something, but in all regards he was quite average, average looks, average weight, average height and brown hair uncut and unattended hair.


    "Where am I, who are all of you!"


    A fatty Shouted while discarding a somewhat dirty hankerchief in one hand and with the other zipping his pants, trying to hide his own shame in the darkness.


    Unlike his somewhat fat siluette however, his face was rather well preserved giving a rather warm and cool trait to his overall image, his hair well kept, his feet wearing brand shoes and he even had his somewhat fat wallet in his shirt''s pocket.


    Overall he was fat, but in no means short and ugly, on the contrary even Chris found him to be a head taller than himself, although his fat stomach was rather unsightly stretching under the white t-shirt he wore underneath his blue shirt, which he was buttoning as he corrected him own clothes, mostly to not appear unsightly to the ladies in the group.


    "Everyone calm down, we have been..."


    A guy in the black leather biker jacket and pants whom seemingly knew something had tried to explain somthing once more, but he was entirely ignored as chaos erupted faster than he could take control into his hands.


    People begun a huge hubub, trying to gather information from those next to them about their situation, but nobody would approach a guy that hid his face, for all they knew he could on par with the kidnappers.


    "Help! someone call the police! I have been kidnapped!"


    A woman kept sceaming, she was wearing a rather plain green dress with a white appron hunging, seemingly she was also taken away while in her own house, probably cooking judging from her dirty appron, but her curves were evidently good, although her face was only so-so.


    "Does anyone have a mobile!"


    The one speaking silently was a middle aged black haired man whom looked like an office worker, with a generic grey suit and a white shirt, coloured only by a light blue tie with a rather flashy tie pin, but he didn''t approach Chris or the screaming woman, it was of course understandable, Chris was at the moment wearing only his dirty pajamas and no shoes at all, looking like a bum, while the woman was simply hysterical. The person that caught his eyes immediately was the biker and he was trying to quickly call the police while the kidnapper looked preocupied with the chaos.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "Everyone calm down and remember! God has put some knowledge into your heads!"


    The biker guy shouted, but no one was interested to listen to his religion lectures, there was a total chaos as another female in our group started screaming as well, this one was even louder and more hysterical.


    Thinking that they have been abducted by some religious terrorist. There were multiple thoughts coursing through Chris'' head, but the noise all around made it hard to concentrate as another young woman, seemingly a teenager begun to scream in this disonnant chorus, accompanied by the guys that started to shout for help as well.


    The last remaining girl whom remained silent was the asian girl or was she a woman, well its rather hard to tell a woman''s age in our modern society.


    The girl was wearing a blue jean skirt and somewhat "fashionable" peach coloured polyester jacket, Chris didn''t really know much about fashion trends thus he didn''t know if that was the latest fashion or something leftover from years ago, lastly she was holding a pink cellphone with a strap, but it was evident that she wasn''t happy about it.


    The remaining people were more interested in talking among themselved, one of them even looked towards Chris, but Chris'' gaze pointed to another direction, he was rather surprised to find that the biker was now holding a gun in his hand, while with the other holding his biker helmet, revealing a rather handsome face underneath.


    Bang!


    It all ended with a Bang! One shot went into the sky and the short chaos abruptly ended and only silence remained.


    The biker whom had shot a shot in the sky, looked at them as if they were idiots, his exression was one of being tired, but all he acomplished was to make everyone even more panicked and afraid for their lives.


    The suited whom was now next to the fatty was probably the first to have reacted to the gunshot since he had already fallen to the floor at the sound of the gunshot, as if he was trained to do so.


    "Easy there, I don''t know what ransom you want from our families, but I''m sure we don''t need that(pointing at the gun), we will fully cooperate, right everyone?"


    The suited guy said and kissed the floor once more as the biker put down his gun, waiting for the suspicious biker to state his demands.


    The rest did the same and laid on the floor, Chris simply went with the flow and did the same, although he did find something suspicious in his memories about a game of life and death, but in their current situation it seemed irrelevant and closer to some computer game or novel rather than reality.


    The suspicious biker''s face had turned red from irritation, seemingly he hadn''t expected for this outcome and everyone could notice how he tried to calm himself, but they didn''t really seem to care, after all this was one of those strange abductions they had only heard of in the news or seen in movies, first they use some drug to put you to sleep and then you will wake up in another place, it all made perfect sense.


    Now they only didn''t know the target of this abduction, after all they weren''t children of some rich family, the worst however situation was if they were abducted by human traffickers, they will probably kill them and extract their organs, otherwise it would make no sense for the hobo to be there, although the lack of restraints and the number of abductors was somewhat puzzling, but somewhere in this dark place his companions must be watching.


    "You charge at him and I''ll restraint him"


    The guy whom spoke was the one wearing the suit from before, whispering to Chris, as if waiting for him to charge at the armed abductor just because he said so.


    ''like hell I will do that, do you take me for an idiot?''


    Chris wanted to tell him, but in the end he simply laid silently as if he hadn''t heard him at all, after all he was whispering, it would be a valid excuse if he asked later.


    Not even a minute passed as they had laid down and the suspect put away the gun and took out a sigarette and begun smoking as he spoke.


    "I''m called Nick and we have been transported into a Terror Infinity, those of you that survive have the right to continue the game the rest will die,


    At the moment we''re inside the movie called resident evil 1, many of you might have seen it so I won''t go into analyzing the plot for you, we have 8 hours for me to explain what we will be doing and/or rest"


    Of course non of them took his words seriously, well almost none as the fatty seemed sort of excited at the thought, but it didn''t seem to matter to Nick as he went on with his explanations.


    "The clocks you wear on your wrists have the mission''s rules and objective, to return back to the real world you have to gather at least 10,000 points to earn a ticket back home, each mission gives you a thousand points on completion, doing side objectives gives you bonus points, are we clear about this?"


    Everyone remained silent, most of the people had seen too many movies, they thought of this as some sort of hunger game for reach people to enjoy themselves, rueing their fate inside.


    "By explaining all this to you I earn Points, the more things I explain to you the more points I will get, so listen well you should know that there are side quests which are not listed thus you can only stumble upon them by luck or misfortune, doing side quests will give you extra points, but it will also raise the difficulty of our mission, so unless you think that the whole group is able to survive, don''t go around doing stupid things, helping other players during a mission gives you points, but helping NPCs although earns you points is most probable to cause a side quest to be formed, so no helping anyone who is not part of our group, because I don''t want to die because of you shitheads"


    Everyone now felt a bit more safe thinking that he was also part of their group, this being a group hunger games where they could all survive was a huge boon, otherwise they had no idea how to take down a guy with a gun.


    "Telling spoilers to players or NPCs that are non members of our team also gives you points, but by doing so you might create a side quest, so just stick to talking among us and don''t go saying stupid things to the NPCs or talking out loud about spoilers in front of them, if you don''t want to get killed by them or kill all of us"


    After listening so far, everyone felt rather relieved, after all not everyone knew what Resident Evil was.


    "For this mission we will have to stick together, but before I end the explainations, there are three points that you have to know, the first is the Secret, finding the Secret Item will earn you 1000 points, you don''t even have to secure the item, all you have to do is find it, all secret items are guarded by traps or monsters, so don''t even think of trying to get the item for the extra 1000 points, because if you get the item, you will most probably doom everyone as the difficulty will rise sharply, if someone comes to me with a secret Item, I will most likely just shoot him, don''t even think of taking it with us, killing a player will cost me 1000 points as punishment, but those points will only be deduced after the mission, so I warn you right now not to fool around"


    At this last theat everyone panicked, but Chris'' dilema was different, even though at some point he did see the movie, but who would remember something he had seen so far in the past.


    In truth he did remember some things that left him a deep impression, especialy the scene where some people were turned into mincemeat by some laser beams, not really remembering why that happened or the plot of the movie, other than that Resident Evil was a synonym for zombies, well there was also the Umbrella thingy that was the evil corporation or something behind the scenes, but that''s all that he knew, everything else was a grey spot in his memory, the protagonists are the only ones to survive till the end while everyone else dies typical thriller style.


    "So we are all in this together?"


    The Intelectual looking suited guy asked, he had by now risen from the floor, he of course didn''t fully believe in what Nick was saying, but at least it was an escape from his dull reality and coresponded with the strange memories inside his head.


    "Well that and more, before and after the mission we are given 8 hours to rest and prepare, after the mission, you will be able to access the store where you can use your points to buy stuff like guns, food, clothes and anything your heart can desire"


    Nick went on, disregarding the people that were standing up and looking at him, some with hostility and disbelief and others looking at him with hope, as if he would be their savior.


    "Do we get guns?"


    The fat guy asked, causing everyone to once more glance at Nick with suspicion, after all he was the only one with a gun.


    "No you don''t get anything for free, I''m the only survivor from the last mission and my gun was bought with my own points, I''ve already survive 3 mission and even my clothes are bought with points I gathered during my missions"


    Nick stated, seeing the apparent greed in their eyes and desire to get his gun. Only god could tell what he had passed through in those missions, because his hand was already ready to pull the gun and shoot anyone that tried to jump him.


    "Guys we shouldn''t be hasty! whom of you even has experience in shooting with a gun, I''m sure that the gun is best left in Nick''s hands"


    The one to speak was the office worker, he was rather fluent in manipulating people it seems, trying to earn Nick''s trust. But he was right, as much as Chris would have loved to have a gun, last time he held a gun was 10 years ago, during army service.


    "So what''s the plan?"


    The hysterical woman that was the first to scream asked, her eyes looked at Nick with an evident infatuation in her eyes, the wedding ring present on her finger before had disappeared before she spoke.


    "Don''t ask me, all I do is try to survive, just stick to the main Objective and explaining rules, last time we thought we were strong enough to do some side quests, but the difficulty spiked so much that only I survived out of 18 people, so whatever you do, please don''t interact too much with NPCs"


    Nick pleaded, now he looked like a broken man, earning sympathy from the women, but ridicule and envy from the guys due to his handsome features and well built body.

 02 Making Plans

    A few moments passed as they tried their best to understand their sircumstances. Until the office worker decided to pop up again.


    "Since Nick is one of us, how about we vote on whom will lead this group to survival, I''m sure that 8 hours are enough to get ready, for this madness to end we will need a leader, 10000 points, might sound much, but it''s only 10 missions"


    The one talking was the businessman and with his words a new hope had appeared in everyone but Nick''s mind, whom knew how deadly the missions really were.


    "I''m Jason and I''m am a born leader, my father owns a factory, you won''t regret choosing me as your leader"


    The tall athletic rich looking guy begun to flaund about his parents'' riches, must be nice having rich parents.


    "Before you begin talks about teams and leaders, does anyone know the plot of the movie"


    Nick interrupted anyone else from starting this pointless voting for a leader process, one could easily tell that even if they did vote a leader, he wasn''t going to listen to them.


    To everyones surprise, the fatty begun to talk, with newfound enthousiasm.


    "Resident Evil is a 2002 film Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, whom was also the writter, starting with Alice played by Milla Jovovich, whom wakes up in the bathroom of a deserted mansion with temporary amnesia, She dresses, checks the mansion, and is tackled by an unknown person, as a group of commandos led by James Shade code name "One" breaks in, One is the black guy and leader of the merceneries in the movie played by Colin Salmon, the merceneries compromised of.... will come into the underground facility to take away the A.I. "Red Queen" that is supposed to have gone highwire, but in truth it''s not so as...blahblahblah"


    The fat guy answered, but he continued talking about the movie with all the spoilers he could come up with as well as referenses to actors, producers and more things that were rather worthless to know in the first place, going as far as comparing it to the games and then he begun talking about different games and monsters from other zombie games, losing them altogether.


    Unlike everyone else, Nick seemed really interested in the fatty''s rumbling and they quickly became best friends.


    The others were lost as they didn''t know what to make of it, but before long everyone begun to introduce themselves, the most active being the businessman.


    "By the way my name is Jonas, I''m a lawyer, but business isn''t going so well, here''s my card"


    The suited guy said and distributed his cards to everyone even the suspecious guy called Nick, whom however simply crushed it in his hand and threw it like garbage to the floor.


    It was rather impresive if you knew that the card was laminated and quite durable, it was really well done, making it really questionable whether his business wasn''t doing so well, by the quality of his card it was probably the oposite or it was a rather flashy advertisement, even so crushing it like it was paper wasn''t an easy task.


    "I''m George, programmer and aspiring movie director, trying to make a living by creating advertisements, but I''m not there yet, you might have seen the "Don''t bug me" advertisment"


    The fatty said as he put on a pair of dusty sunglasses, which were hunging on his shirt all along, as if wanting to seem cool.


    Nick however pronged him to go on explaining the movie and the quickly disappeared in their own world. With how much he was talking one would think he had enough to say for hours.


    Jason the rich athletic guy was flirting with the females of the group, saying that he would protect them and other stuff that he probably wouldn''t be able to back in a fight or when in real danger.


    Chris was the last to introduce himself, it wasn''t because he was anti-social or anything, at least not that degree. The main reason was that nobody cared, he looked rather unreliable and he was a little timid and the fatty''s speech had made him a little sleepy.


    There were lots of others, everyone explaining that one way or another they were all spammed with the same message and once they clicked the yes, they found themselves there.


    There were 11 people, including Nick, whom was more interested in George''s knowledge of movies, rather than everyone''s stories.


    Other than Nick, George, Jason, Jonas and Chris, there were 6 more people, of them four were female and two males. The four girls were rather confused, while the two men looked rather unhappy with something.


    The Old man seemed to be suffering as he stood on his cane, cursing silently his bad luck, but he had tried multiple times to escape the group while nobody was looking, only to find it was impossible, the others hadn''t even tried to do so.


    The other guy was looking at one of the females and was cursing his bad luck for being in the same space as her, seemingly knowing her from before.


    "I''m Hera, housewife, I was watching tv when I saw a strange message on the TV and pressed Yes to the message through the controller"


    Hera was the green dressed housewife, her height and figure made her seem rather appealing and her distressed voice only added to the whole package, making the guys somewhat excited, but non dared to comfort her, since she was wearing her wedding ring. Not that it stopped Jason from promising to protect them and offering to be the leader of our group.


    "I''m Krysa and that over there is my Ex Mike"


    The woman wearing a sleaveless shirt and yoga pants said as she pointed at the unkept guy wearing jeans, still cursing his luck, of all the people he had to end in the same team as his Ex.


    "Call me Barbas or Pops, just don''t get in my way"


    The old man said as he begun to work out, making sure that he kept his body in condition for what could follow.


    "I''m Tsiao and this is Dawn, we''re both from the same college, but we hope you can protect us"


    The two teenage girls one asian and one caucasian were looking at Jason, whom was happy to be the center of attention.


    "I''m Chris..."


    Chris was totaly average and his appearance was that of a bum, he was what people called a Neet, he stayed at home under the protection of his parents, not knowing how to advance in the current society, unsure of his own future.


    His really long brown unattended ponytail however was rather funny as it almost reached his weist, if not for his beard if you look him from the backside you could mistake him for an ugly woman, he was part of the people who didn''t really care about their appearance, but there was a matter that cut off his introductions.


    "Everyone, I nominate George as our Leader!"


    Nick suddenly shouted, causing everyone to now turn towards them, causing Jason''s smile to sour as if he had just ate a lemon whole.


    "That''s one vote for George, but I think that Jason will be a better leader"


    Jonas suddenly said, earning Jason''s trust and gathering a group of supporters in the form of four women, that stood nearby.


    "That snowflake, as our leader? You must be joking"


    The old man stated with a face full of disatisfaction.


    -What did you call me old man?


    -I called you a snowflake, you big ninny, what will you do about it?


    -Be thankful I respect your age, otherwise...Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    -Otherwise what, you sissy!


    Everybody understood that the old man wasn''t willing to take Jason''s orders, although they couldn''t say why he was so stuborn about it.


    The other guy also wasn''t very keen on the idea, especialy since his Ex, supported Jason being the leader.


    The problem was that Women are whimsical, Hera quickly switched sided, after she saw how uncool and disappointing Jason proved to be against the  old man. Even an idiot could tell that the man would make a horrible leader, but Hera saw how he looked at the college girls, they were younger and were literaly all over him.


    All she could do is try and gain points with another male, she still didn''t believe this whole horror movie, supernatural bullshit, but she still needed a strong male to protect her and Nick, even had a gun.


    "I believe that you should first explain why I can''t leave this space, what''s up with this darkness, what sort of alien technology is this?"


    The old man asked Nick, not believing any human could do something like what he experienced. Walking into the darkness brought him back to the same spot as if he lost all sense of direction and ended back at the same spot.


    "I told you already, It''s God, this is a game created by the gods or devils, I can''t tell, but unless you survive, you follow the objectives of the mission and survive, you will keep doing missions, until you''re the only one left alive, for some reason the monsters always leave the last person alive"


    Nick stated, causing everyone to look at him in a rather dubious way, this time suspecting the reasons why he was the last man alive and what did he mean by "monsters".


    "Enough bullshit, I can tell that this is some sort of alien technology or maybe this is all inside our minds and we''re all seeing the same dream"


    The old man said, causing everyone to freeze, even Nick was puzzled, not knowing how to refute the old man''s speculations. He had no way to prove that this was all real, he himself was told that it was and the story in his head coinsided with the previous Guide''s explainations.


    They called the Last survivor from the group that instructed them "Guide", it was something he learned after finishing his first mission, but they hadn''t given it much thought, they found surviving more important than nitpicking details.


    "I won''t stop you if any of you wants to die, but don''t mix me with your stupid ideas, all I know are the rules of how to survive, if you want to die, go die by yourselves and don''t implement everyone in your own stupid assumptions"


    Nick suddenly shouted, gun in hands, he was ready to shoot at them, the moment they moved against him.


    "Easy there Kid, I hate it when people point a gun at me, all I wish to know is what happened to you and why you lied to us?"


    The old man asked, causing Nick to step back and sit on the ground shaken.


    "Get up and tell us what happened, why do you believe that this is all real, what did you experience, what should we await, take your time, we probably have 7 hours to go, what I want is you describe your 3 missions and how you survived"


    The old man said in a calm and collected tone, the others were all shocked and silently looked at Nick.


    "In the begining I was like you, doubting everything that asshole guide told us, he had a smug smile on his face as he carried around a machinegun as if it weight nothing at all, he was a veteran that survived tons of missions and knew what he was doing or at least we thought so..."


    10 people were standing in front of a smug guy with a machinegun, he was smoking as he was explaining what would happen in 8 hours time. The mission was Jurrasic park, they would be fighting dinosaurs and surviving impossible odds, he told them that most of them wouldn''t survive as he kissed an Ankh  amulet on his neck, everyone took it as some sort of religious display, so they didn''t mind it too much at the time.


    Then on of the people charged him and disarmed him, taking his gun away and shooting him dead. In front of their eyes, the person came back to life, while the attacker slowly turned to dust, leaving the machinegun and his dust behind. It was then that they understood that something wasn''t right, later they discovered it was a magical artifact that they could also buy from the system for a really heavy price.


    Nobody remembered the plot of Jurrasic park and many people died, while the guide had a huge advantage since he had a gun and equipment to help him survive, he did help from time to time, but at some point stopped caring, the reason was because you can only earn up to 2000 points by killing monsters, the smaller onese can earn you up to 1000 and killing the Tyranosaurus earned him another 1000. We discovered how easy it was to earn points as long as you had a gun and enough bullets to help you survive.


    After the first mission came a well deserved rest and the store, where we could only watch as the guide refilled his stash of weapons and survival kit. All we could do was buy pistols and manuals on stuff like magic and psychic powers, thinking that we would be able to somehow awaken them on our own without buying the expensive enchancements from they store.


    We were terribly wrong, all the books were just excess baggage as our next mission was "the Predator", An alien killing machine that haunted our nightmares. The "Guide" told us that he wasn''t going to explain to the new arrivals the rules, something about it not being worth his time.


    It was then that we discovered how few points you got by explaining stuff to the 10 newbes.


    We were now 17 people, but during the encounter with the monster only 5 survived, guide included, we did our best to help and save as many people as we could, but in the end the "Guide" broke what he called the human limits and defeated the Monster in a 1v1 duel while we, the survivors were waiting in the helicopter safe.


    We were then introduced to stats. Intelligence, Mental Capacity, Cell Vitality, Reaction Speed, Muscle Density and Immunization Strength.


    Before they were but numbers which we could increase with points, but now they were something we desired like crazy, if you reached the Max 200, you could break the limits and gain some special power for free. He had broken the Muscle Density Limit and had become super strong, of course we had no idea that this power had gone to his head.


    During the next Mission, we found ourselves in Old London, in Jack the Ripper. Nobody had seen the movie and we were lost for clues, the only good thing was that we knew where to go, until we were against the police and the army came to disarm us, ending in jail, far away from our objective.


    The guide left us to rot as he went around trying to find and kill the Serial Murderer, while we rot in jail, waiting to be hanged by the authorities.


    I was Hanging almost dead when I saw the face of the murderer in the crowd, smiling as me and my companions were dying as our breath left us one by one. I was the last one to survive and was given mercy and here we are, armed with the very pistol they had taken from me and the bullet clips that I''ve used dozens of times before, ready to be used again.


    If you don''t believe me look at the clip, I''ve used a bullet, but if you count, all the bullets are still there. Before the mission and after you cannot consume ammunition, but killing a person still gives you a 1000p penalty, even if the person can come back to life through magic or something.


    "By the way don''t try killing yourself, you''ll just die and turn to dust"


    Nick finished his story in a rather short manner, while looking at George, whom was the only guy he cared about from our group of 10.


    "So in simple words, what are the stats? what do they tell us?"


    Old man went on asking his questions and all the rest did was sit down and listen.


    "There''s six stats, you can see, by pressing the Status button on your wrist watches, they appear as numbers around 50-200, for regular people, Intelligence counts creativity and ability to calculat and think fast, Mental capacity counts how logical and immune to fear you are, Cell vitality decreases with age and it counts your general health, reaction speed, should be self explained, Muscle Density is mostly physical strength and overall ability and last Immunization strength has to do with poisons and diseases"


    Nick explained and everyone begun to look at their own status.


    Chris


    124 Intelligence


    181 Mental capacity


    098 Cell Vitality


    161 Reaction Speed


    099 Muscle Density


    168 Immunization Strength


    Chris was rather surprised with one of the numbers on his status, which went as high as 181, probalem was that it was one of the useless ones, logic and resistance to fear wouldn''t help him survive zombies and monsters.


    "I have the highest Intelligence and Mental capacity, thus I should be the leader, The two of you with the highest physical stats will be the rear guard, making sure that we won''t be killed from behind, you Nick and George will be our Guides, since one of you knows the plot and the other has experience in these, so called missions"


    The old man begun to order everyone around, but none denied his words, he had a wooping 154 Intelligence, while most were struggling at 90-120, even Nick only had a 131 Intelligence, which was high, but not incredible by any means.


    "Now we will plan what we will be doing during the mission, everyone is to follow what we say, George, draw on the floor an outlay of the facility we will be going into"


    The old man said as he pointed with his hand on the floor and begun using a pen to Scrap on the floor.


    "I can''t tell, the movie wasn''t as linear and easy to tell where they were going, I can only follow the plot, but locations, the sizes of rooms and stuff are beyond me, the games have maps, but they are different than what was in the movie"


    George complained as he found the request prepostrous, it''s almost impossible to tell how a location was situated from a movie, especialy since most didn''t show the whole place and focused on the actors.


    "Useless idiot, just don''t complain when people will die because of your lack of information, this is not a game or a movie, this is war!"

 03 Hera and Jason

    The atmosphere had become cold, the self imposed leader, turned out to be an old veteran. He saw it as his own duty to help everyone survive, which was admirable, but also rather disappointing.


    Before long a plan was formed and everyone was stuck with a partner and/or a dead weight.


    Jason, Mike, Hera and Krysa were the rear guard, Jason and Mike were in charge of protecting the other two, whom would run and inform us if something bad happened at the rear in case of emergency, especaily since they were the most loud screamers in our group.


    Nick and Georg were put in the front, they would be our guides and since Nick was the only one with a gun, it was the safest position to be in.


    The rest of us were the Main party, Chris and Jonas were at each side and the old man and teenage girls were in the middle. The reason for this was because the old man wanted us to become a group, he wanted everyone to survive, not just this mission, but the rest of them as well.


    "I''m Tsiao"


    The asian teenage girl said, speaking rather fluently as if she were a local, she''s probably a third generation of immigrants, there are lots of immigrants that come to find a better life and in time their children stop learning their native tongue and use the language of their new homeland.


    Now that he looked at her she wasn''t too shady herself, although her body wasn''t as well developed but her face was somewhat cute and her voice wasn''t bad at all, other than the somewhat slit eyes, which weren''t exactly his type.


    "Chris, nice to meet you"


    He said as he extended his hand in greeting, only to find it empty as the girl went to introduce herself to others as well.


    The old man punched his shoulder and laughed.


    -You youngsters are too uptight, in my times when we liked a girl we would go and hit on her even if she said no


    -Whatever, it''s not like I''m some sort of catch or anything, especialy with that guy in our team


    The old man Looked at Nick, whom was being surrounded by the women and then at Jason, whom seemed enraged by it, but Hera the self introduced  housewife seemed to be more keen on staying with him now after all the girls had shifted to the other side.


    Chris however was shocked on how uncomfortable Nick seemed to be around the 3 women, making it evident that he wasn''t gay. That was when George came to the rescue, his average looks and oversized belly, caused them to feel awkward instead.


    George had nothing to offer in the department of looks or even uses, his stats were abysmal and his best stat was Cell Vitality since he was young, he wasn''t stupid or weak, by any means, but he wasn''t much better than the women in the department of physical strength, since Muscle Density counted both arm and feet strength and his weight although might give him a sort of advantage in a physical struggle, it impended his speed.


    Time passed by and everyone begun to chat as if they had accepted their new reality. It felt weird but Chris wasn''t one to judge them, at least they had shoes, he felt his feet freeze as he sat down rubbing them with his hands.


    The place was cold, but not to a freezing degree, the problem was that he was the only one without shoes on, everyone else had at least slippers. As Chris was sitting down he could clearly see three groups forming inside their small team of 11 people.


    Nick, George and the Old Man were one group, they were probably the most trustworthy group with good leadership and survival chances.


    Jason and Jonas were the second group, they weren''t trustworthy at all and had a really bad attitude towards Nick and anyone else that would try ordering them around.


    The rest were the third group, or as Chris would call them, they were the Sheep, the other two groups would manipulate in order to accomplish their goals.


    Nick was looking at his clock as he was taking with George and the Old man, their discussion had somewhat taken a dark turn somewhere as Nick explained how after the first mission, everyone threw morals out of the window and they had an Orgy, everyone who heard him right felt disgusted, Chris also felt weird about that, but nobody understood why they would do so.


    At a dark corner one could barely see Jason and Hera Kissing, it''s been about an hour and the two had already forgotten all about their precarious situation, or they understood it all too well. After all they weren''t the only ones making out, Mike and Chrysa, whom were supposed to be a divorced couple also were remembering the past, in this god forsaken place.


    If you ask why they would do so, it was because we had found out that we  couldn''t escape, the place we were in was cursed or something, if you entered into the darkeness you would find your way back to this place, it was as if we were trapped in some weird horror game with an 8 hours long loading screen.


    The wait was killing them, they would all have prefered to just be thrown into the action instead of having to wait there, forced to hear the grim stories of how Nick was the only survivor and even worse he even confesed not being good at this death game.


    Telling how others got themselves Ak-47 assault rifles and rocket launchers, while he only had a hand gun, how he was literaly carried through the missions by the grace of having strong team mates and better luck than others, whom were no better than himself.


    The atmosphere in the dark room was getting more and more asphyxiating and grim, it was as if every word that came from that man''s mouth was a sentence to death for them. The more they knew of what happened to the past participants the more they dreaded the mission to come, Chris looked at the weird device on his wrist, the timer was still at 6:30:59 and it was slowly ticking down as the seconds were flying away.


    At some point Hera and Jason were the only thing worth watching as the two had begun to shamelessly mate on the floor, causing everyone to feel uncomfortable.


    I don''t know what they found more awkward, the fact that she was married or the sounds they made as they were half naked on the floor.


    What were the others even supposed to do as the two were mating like wild animals on the floor, forgetting about everyone and endulging in a primal desire of species preservation.


    The two teenage girls were agasp, as they were too shaken to think that, that woman would go so far in order to push them away from the big guy. All they wanted was someone to protect them in the upcoming deadly trials to come, but the only two candidates were Nick and Jason, the rest weren''t even worth a glance in their opinion, it wasn''t that they were looking down on them, but they were doing exactly that.


    Nick was handsome and had a gun, the problem however was that he felt too distant from what people would call humanity. The more they heard his stories the more they understood that he wouldn''t protect them, they would be lucky if he doesn''t throw them into a bunch of monsters as bait.


    Jason was the different, he was a lustful but predictable idiot, it would be too out of character for him to let them die and run away screaming, that only happens in comedies, in the real world those tough guy will act acordingly.


    Of course that would be the case in the real world, not however this twisted death game, where they now looked as two human beings devoid of shame were fornicating on the floor for everyone to see.


    Only two people didn''t find it weird, one was Nick, whom was the main instigator of what happened with his stories of how everyone would die and his new best friend George, whom was now eyeing the girls and then looking at Nick for approval, whom however looked at him and negatively shook his head  before whispering something into his ear after which George''s eyes shone with newfound purpose.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The old man was the most annoyed by the two''s actions, but he was check mated by Jonas, whom begun to explain to him that this was consensual and that his clients were Innocent.


    The old man spit to their direction as he turned away defeated towards Nick and George, whom by that time had resumed talking about the mission and stuff that George had to know in order to survive.


    Nick was really serious in having him survive the mission, but what he was really after was George''s knowledge about horror movies and classics, to Nick the info in George''s head was like a treasure trove, he was sure that with his knowledge and Nick''s experience they could form a team that would be even better than his last team, as for the old man, Nick didn''t give a shit about him, he was sure that the old man wouldn''t make it through the mission.


    Chrysa whom was Mike''s ex, stood next to him now, throwing dirty insults at the couple on the floor, while Mike seemingly irritated stood next to her and nodded in agreement. Fulfilling their own sense of pride as they didn''t break up due to adultery, it was more about him being a mommy''s boy and living with his parents and her being unable to do the simplest of house work, it was a mutual decision that they took after living together for 2 years and their dissatisfaction with each other was mutual.


    Hera whom was married however was different, in their eyes she was the greatest of sinners and deserved to be stoned with words and venomous comments.


    At some point however they begun to gulp after seeing some tricks and stances they themselves had never done in bed, it was like sex ed for adults. The problem was that both of them weren''t nearly as good looking as the couple on the ground and Mike was getting harder and harder as time passed.


    It was inevitable that there was now a second couple trying to outdo the first one, not caring at all about the onlookers, as if some curse or wicked spell had overtaken them.


    All who remained now were Jonas the lawyer, an old man and a homeless looking person wearing dirty pajamas. The two remaining girls didn''t even look at the creepy duo of Nick and George, especialy since the second was undressing them with his eyes.


    Dawn and Xiao were both university first years, they both didn''t have time for romances as they were in two rather demanding universities. Although they had boyfriends during High school, but nothing too serious and they were just playing around at the time.


    The two felt afraid for themselves after seeing Mike literaly raping his ex, causing the old man to snap only to be pushed back by Mike and the victim  Chrysa, whom had begun to enjoy it.


    The Dark room was like a curse for the weak, as the people trapped had discovered that they were suddenly completely free from all outside influence, deep inside they knew that nobody would come save them.


    Even worse they might even die during the next mission, the old man was probably the safest bet, but he was now grovelling at the floor with the beggar trying to give him a hand as his old bones weren''t as hard as he had made them to be.


    Chris was now inspecting the old man, to see if he was alright, only to become the old man''s target, whom took out his frustrations at him, but it was evident to everyone that the old war veteran cared too much about face.


    Chris sighed as he discovered that there was probably no hidden injury, he might not looke like it, but Chris knew some first aid and was sure that he was right, the old man however had no way of knowing that the beggar looking guy used to be a medical university student, alas a failed one.


    It was an hour later and the Orgy had ended, with the two couples now tidying themselves as best they could, cursing out loud the lack of a bathroom. The worst however thing was that there was no toilet and Nick wasn''t making it easy for them, especialy not for the girls.


    "Just piss or crap on the floor, it''ll all disappear once the mission begins"


    Nick said as if it was evident or something, but he wasn''t being helpful at all, George''s eyes were now even more lively as Xiao was the one asking for a toilet, the asian looking girl was now in a pinch, but the other females were also angry, because they had 6 hours before the mission begins, whom could tell if they would need to go in six hours.


    In the end everyone was forced to turn around as the poor girl had to shit in the darkness, barely visible anyways, the lack of toilet paper and the smell of excrements was rather evident as she finished.


    Only after the deed was done, did the girls begin to ponder where to get toilet paper or anything that could be used as paper. It was then that George threw them a bunch of packet of tissues, some of them missing, but it was a life saver and the end of a rather stinky sitution.


    After it all finished, they thanked him and the whole situation was defused, the unfounded fear they felt towards him had disappeared, with a single gesture of goodwill the group had now become united and the leader wasn''t Nick but George.


    Nick agreed that as long as George didn''t ask of him anything unreasonable, he would follow his lead. Jason wasn''t happy with the decision, but Hera at this point had turned him into her pet dog, all she had to do was tell him that being being a leader was tiresome and he lost all interest in the position.


    Jonas was the only one that was disatisfied with the situation, but he didn''t make some grand move he just stood by Jason''s side, trying to persuade him that they should fight for "the position of power" as he called it.


    His words however fell on deaf ears, as Hera already had Jason in the palm o her hand, all she had to do was tell him that after 10 missions every would be out of this place, so why bother with small things like positions in a game? All he had to do is say the same thing as Nick said and he didn''t even have to listen to George''s orders, what''s even the benefit of being the leader? Is there any?


    Jonas was lost for words, he could begin explaining the significance of speaking from higher ground in terms of authority in decision making, but would the two idiots understand how democracy works?


    The one speaking from a higher platform is always deemed as more important in the eyes of the public, if they let now George stand on the platform, it would be extremely difficult to take him down afterwards, it was basic logic, especialy with Nick by his side.


    Jonas sort of regretted siding with Jason now, but George already had two guys by his side, both more experienced and useful than himself. The old man and Nick were far more useful than himself, the old man knew how to shout the loudest and Nick had a gun. While Jason had him and Hera by his side, both of them being pretty useless when it came to fighting, but he was sure that Hera was rather intelligent, otherwise she wouldn''t be trying to hog Jason all to herself.


    Right now was not the time to fight for the leadership, Jonas would have to see a mission first and make sure that he survives and for that he would have to listen to orders, especialy when the ones making the plans were more experienced in the field than himself.


    Chris sat on the floor as everything was moving into place, he felt as if he was enlightened by the interactions that took place or that he was irrelevant to the larger order of things, he could see the good and the evil in people''s hearts and he could tell that he didn''t like how things were right now.


    "I''m not going to take anyone''s orders, In my opinion we don''t even need a leader"


    Chris said only so silently that nobody even heard him, as if speaking to himself. He then gave up as the habab went on and lay down, looking at the device, 5:59:47, time didn''t seem to pass.


    "You the Beggar, what''s your name?"


    Suddenly George shouted towards him, as if it was the first time he had even noticed his existence.


    -Chris


    -Stop talking to yourself, I asked you for your name, or do you want us to just call you beggar?


    -It''s Chris!


    -See it wasn''t so difficult


    -I told you so the first time


    -Stop mumbling stuff to yourself, we''ve decided to make groups of 3-3-5, you''re in the large group of five thus you have to make sure to at least know their names,


    -As if I care


    -This is Mike, Chrysa, Xiao and Dawn and this it Chris, you''ll be in the same group, so get along, Jason, Hera and Jonas will be the forward team, while Me, Nick and the Old man will guard the back, the five of you will be in the middle, so lets all survive this and get back home safely!


    George shouted as if he was giving some motivational speech, did he really expect some sort of clapping or sign of encouragement, truthfuly it was pathetic, but what can one say.


    After the first clap from Xiao, everyone else followed suit and it became a moment to be remembered, as the team was ready and everyone begun to chat as if they were all the bestest of friends.


    Chris sat there lost in thought as everyone was all cheerful and happy, not caring that there was still around 5 hours before the mission begins, as if they had forgotten Nick''s dreadful stories of how the past groups had at least 2-3 loses after each mission and only the strongest were sure to survive.


    Of course for a useless person like Chris you would expect him to not care if he died, well this is where you''re wrong. Even a blind beggar on the streets will still cling to life with his bony fingers, life is precious and nobody is willingly taking their own lives, you have to force them to such a state where they refuse to live on, there''s tons of people that do it without even understanding they are pushing a person towards a cliff, that''s how society works.

 04 Xiao and others

    One hour was left before the mission begins and everyone''s excited, Chris and Jonas were probably the only two party poopers, since both didn''t see what''s to be excited about when heading into a potentialy deadly situation.


    "Stop being Grumpy!"


    Xiao shouted at Chris with a rather puffed up tone as if she was a child throwing a tantrum, acting all cute for her new boyfriend. She and that fatty George decided to try being a thing, but they would take it slowly, good for them I guess.


    "Before we go on a mission in the army we always used to pray to god for safety, has saved me till this day"


    The old man said, causing everyone to go silent for a moment and each did their own prayer as the time for the mission was drawing near.


    "Everyone don''t forget to go piss or shit before the mission, we might not have the time to do it once the mission begins and you don''t want to piss yourself after seeing a zombie"


    The old man said while laughing and everyone agreed, especialy those that needed to go, Chris finding himself in that precarious situation. The problem being that he didn''t have paper, so he decided to hold it, also he had sort of a problem with everyone else watching, he came to admire Xiao, because once he tried to pee he found that nothing came out, he suddenly had stage fright.


    He didn''t know how to describe it otherwise, he just couldn''t do it, he had the same problem during army, the worst thing is sleeping in another bed other than his own, even that is difficult unless he''s dead tired.


    Everyone else did their business while he just stood there with his junk out of his trousers, unable to do anything, just keeping them company. The old man even took a crap and used all the remaining tissues without a care in the world. Maybe it''s better to not give a shit about other people''s needs or it was just him being too irritated because he couldn''t do the same, he simply wouldn''t be being true to himself.


    "Now that everyone is ready, time for some warming up, I know that most of you haven''t eaten anything in the last 5 hours, but bear with me, warming up is a good thing"


    The old man was really irritating, but hopefully for Chris, others too called bullshit on warming up, Chris was more afraid of shitting himself while running, thus he just had to say no.


    Problems however only startd to rise as the old man became more and more unrestrained, his Intentions were quite noble as he was trying to lift tension before the big event, but not many could understand such a simple concept.


    "Lazy Beggar, what good are you, stand up and run with us!"


    Another abnoxious person begun to poke her nose into other people''s matters, it was Xiao, whom now saw herself as someone important and had it especialy for him, she either found it funny to torture people or thought that by berating people they would try to become better people, either way Chris now hated her.


    "Sweetie, what''s the matter, why aren''t you running with us?"


    George begun to inquire as the bussybody he were, well he was sort of her boyfriend now as well, but whether it had anything to do with him glaring at Chris was another matter. He just didn''t like his "girlfriend" talking to other guys, understandable to some degree.


    "George, half the group isn''t running!"


    She complained to our glorious leader, all while trying to act cute.


    "I told you to call me Pumpkin and I told you before, this the people that will run have a better chance in surviving the mission, let those losers that sit down rue their own decisions"


    George said, while glaring at Chris as if they were love rivals.


    "Is that so?"


    That abnoxious girl was acting cute again, even showing her tongue as she rushed back to jogging with the others. Chris could care less about all this, but some of the spectators begun to run, thinking that they were somehow raising their chances of survival by doing so.


    Chris sat there looking as they were running, then suddenly his eyes fell on the two women with the richest of busts, their breasts were bouncing like crazy as they were jogging, Chrysa and Hera were a sight to be seen as both had assets, allas not the top model face, but they weren''t bad, especialy Hera.


    This was a nightmare that just waited to happen, before he knew it Chris was the only one sitting as everyone had begun jogging, the last one to jog was Jonas, whom complained to no end even as he was jogging next to Jason, the main reason why they were jogging was because of George''s speech, Hera whom was sitting down at the time panicked so hard that she forced Jason off his feet and Chrysa and Mike followed suit, everyone understood that failure in this mission might mean death, even Chris understood it, but he physicaly couldn''t run right now, thus becoming the outcast of the group.


    Time passed rather fast as they did exercise and then went on with friendly chats and advices on how to act towards "NPCs", in other words people that weren''t part of their group during missions. Nick was adamant on calling them NPCs and George was okay with it, although he was more interested in seeing if we would be fighting alongside the actors from the movie.


    The clock was ticking and before they knew it 0:10:09, there were only 10 minutes before the mission and the agony was killing them, they had no idea what would happen. All Nick told them was that they would appear at the mission area and be given their mission objective.


    They had been told that it wasn''t impossible to earn 2000 points in a single run, mostly due to the extra points one could get through explaining to new "players" about the game, killing monsters and other actions that would earn them points by the system.


    Nick explained it even better, in this game, risking your life earns you points, it doesn''t matter if you are bringing harm to yourself or risk your life due to valid reasons, if you survive a near death experience the system will reward you, it can be anything between 10-1000 points and you can do the same thing every mission to earn more points, the max possible to earn in a single mission should be around 10.000 points, but out of those 2000 are awarded for instructing the new members, 2000 have to do with the secret artifact, which is what doomed Nick''s previous team or so he said, although not entirely explaining how, 2000 can be earned by killing monsters during the mission, 3000 can be earned by risking your life and derailing the plot of the movie and 1000 you earn just for surviving the mission.


    You might think this is bullshit, if I can earn 10 thousand points in a single mission, I''ll be out of here in no time. But reality is harsh, for example out of the 2000 points for instructing the new members, you get around 10-200 points for each new person, depending on how well he understood what you told him. Killing monsters is another thing, for example if there are a lot of monsters each head will at most be worth a single point, while elite monsters will earn you 10-100 points each head and even if you kill 2000 easy monsters, you''ll only earn 1000 points, because the last 1000 can only be earned by killing the elite monsters.


    The Secret Artifact is a hidden item somewhere in the mission map, finding its location can earn you up to 1000 points, but if you can take it and survive the mission, everyone will earn a bonus 1000 points and you get to keep the artifact, of course taking the artifact will screw everyone over.


    The 3000 points you can earn by risking your own life is fair game, as long as you don''t screw the plot too much as to affect everyone''s fate, for example don''t go killing necessary for the plot NPCs or wrecking plot items. In other words you''ll be lucky if you can earn around 1000-5000 points depending on how lucky you are, since finding the secret artifact is already bonus points for the finder, also you have to understand that most of these points can only be taken by the first person that completes the objective, meaning that these 4000 points will be divided among the 10+ people since there''s only so many things they can do to earn extra points.


    Nick''s advise for them all was simply


    "give up on the extra points and go for the sure thing"


    Which earned him some ire by the group.


    "Yup you might have to go through dozens of missions, but in the end you will earn enough points to go home, everyone will"


    Nick''s words were as fake as it went, but people believed him, because they liked what he was selling, cheap, free of charge, Hope.


    "Everyone get ready the movie is about to begin, any final questions I will answer quickly before the mission starts"


    Nick said and they could now barely perceive that the surrounding darkness was forming transparent figures, but they were as if frozen in time, etherial and unreal.


    "I have three questions"


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.Jason asked not waiting for the opinions of the rest.


    "Go out with it already!"


    Nick looked rather distressed, as if there was little time before the game begun, you could tell that he too was rather nervous and had a hint of fear on his face, well understandably so they had 8 hours and he still had questions for the last minute.


    "How are we supposed to fight without weapons?"


    Jason asked as he hadn''t been paying attention to the talks they had like at all, they''ve talked about it dozens of times.


    "Look Jason, we''ve been through this dozens of times, just grab anything that can be used as a weapon if you see a zombie"


    Nick spoke with unmatched speed as he was looking at his own watch, making everyone else feel the pressure from their lack of time and their fear brought out all the questions they had.


    "Do we die for real if they kill us?"


    This question was also in the others'' minds, but to Hera''s question Nick only shook his head as he spoke.


    "No you''ll go to a better place, other questions?"


    His words made the team even more distressed, in truth they had multiple questions, but it was pointless to ask now, because the time was running out.


    "Can we change the plot of the movie? like killing a person to get their weapon?"


    This question was rather interesting, in truth Chris hadn''t thought of that, his thoughts were more like, ''is this all for real?''.


    It would have been interesting in a way if they could change the plot to a better conclusion, but it had completely evaded their mind, after all they didn''t fully believe the survival game thingy and being inside a movie sounded kind of you know "crazy".


    Jonas'' question was a rather valid one, especialy since George already told everyone the plot of the movie and there would be people with weapons involved.


    "You can try, but the possibility of dying while trying is much higher than of you surviving the plot, most of the times it results in the wipe out of the team or at least the majority dies, of course I won''t stop you from killing yourselves, as long as you won''t do something that will threaten my own life"


    The words "wipe out" could be interpretted in many ways, but truth was that they weren''t crazy enough to try seeing if it was him who would kill them or some strange creature, well they would soon find out for themselves anyway.


    "Guys chill! it''s like those novels, we will survive as a team and become stronger with each win, Nick told me that after the mission we will have access to a store where we can become super human!"


    Our fat leader said happily as if someone had appointed him as the main character of a novel or a movie, although the others too felt somewhat exstatic at the thought, after all they had all been bored of their everyday lives and were at the threshold of commiting suicide out of bordom or despair.


    "By the plot Nick must be a veteran whom will help us in the first mission, a pity that such characters die at some point, but if we help one another then we can all survive this together!"


    The fatty''s excited voice was like the speech of a politician, promising the moon and the stars, but Nick had an ugly look on his face, seemingly at the threshold of shooting someone, after all he did just curse him to die an early death.


    Chris cared little about the fatty''s prattling speech after all he wasn''t too attached to life, but he wouldn''t simply stand at a corner and wait for death, you could say that he would be the last man to give up even in the worst of situations.


    Nick was of course Angry and somewhat nervous as he once more looked at his clock and begun to count.


    "Everyone get ready in 9...8...3...2...1!"


    Suddenly after the countdown the surrounding came to life and they could see they were in the middle of a huge mansion, probably in the living room. The surroundings looked rather dark and gloomy, but not as dramatic as calling it a haunted house, there was no dust or codwebs anywhere and there was even some light coming from the windows, which however were barred with ceramic shutters.


    Nick was the most relaxed as he went for the lights and in moments everything was lit up and they could see such luxuries that they could only dream of. A set of three coaches, a massage chair and an armchair, a grand piano and a crystal chandalier that many would only dream of having in their living rooms, while the carpet under their feet would probably cost half a year''s salary to buy for any common working person.


    You can understand that the females in the team were too awed by the house to even care about zombies as for the males most of them were on their toes, especialy since they didn''t know if the mercs would kill them or not, it wouldn''t be strange by Nick''s explainations to consider that possibility, they even had to fight the police in one of their missions.


    Suddenly they heard a loud sound as something crushed to the ground into  hundreds of pieces. Xiao had just broken a vase, she had lifted it to see the decorations better and it was too heavy and it fell from her hands.


    "What the fuck! you chinese prostitude, you scared me to death!"


    Hera shouted causing the poor girl to cry and of course her knight charming George came to her protection, only to be face to face with Jason, whom was siding with Hera.


    "Shhhhhh!"


    Nick shouted in a whispering voice and everyone could suddenly hear a sounds from upstairs and two rooms nearby, the first thought would be zombies or more likely the NPCs, the actors from the movie. George was the most excited knowing that they would meet some hollywood actors in real life, unfortunately his hopes were unfound.


    The first to come out was a guy he didn''t recognize at all, he was wearing a rather expensive suit, but he looked nothing like James Purefoy or Eric Mabius.


    It was evident that they weren''t the actors he was expecting to meet, they weren''t even well powdered and with no makeup at all. also his clothes looked all crumpled as if he had just slept on his jacket.


    "Who are you guys!"


    The person shouted as he saw them, but the group was too shocked or confused to answer him, especialy Nick whom was already wearing his biker helmet and leather biker outfit. Truthfully it wouldn''t be at all st


    range to confuse him for a burglar.


    Before however they could even react armed soldiers begun storming through every possible entrance and before they knew it, they had a bunch of army men pointing guns at them, causing Nick to simply drop his gun and put his hands up, there was no way he could face a group of well armed soldiers with just a handgun.


    "Who are you people! I''m One, leader of the distress team"


    The leader of the mercs stated.


    "What the fuck, you''re not even Black!"


    George shouted out loud, causing everyone to want to die out of shame, they were at gun point and he still cared if the cast was done right. Only the mercs behind the guns begun to laugh and smirk, repeating his words again and again to their leader''s disapproval and annoyance.


    "I don''t know whom you jokers are, but you''re all detained until we know what to do with you"


    One said rather irritated. They however were all shocked, because their clock devices begun to ring suddenly, but the mercs didn''t seem to even care, as if they couldn''t hear the annoying ringing sound they made.


    =Objective No 1 - Reach the Red Queen''s Chamber within the time limit of  72 hours=


    "Wait! Wait! We''re also under umbrella Employment, we work in the Hive!"


    George shouted causing the mercs to question their ears, especialy since the ragtag group looked really unreliable, but they could see one wearing pajamas and no shoes, so it wouldn''t be strange to assume that he lived there.


    "We''ve found two other people as well, in different parts of the mansion, we''ve identified one of them as being the contact, they seem to have lost their memories"


    Another merc said as they were bringing two other people with them, one in hand cuffs.


    "Search these people, I want to see some ID or anything that can tell us what they are doing here"


    One ordered and before long they begun looking through their pockets, taking anything they could find.


    "What language are these written in?"


    One asked their PC expert, whom scanned them one and then laughed, before answering.


    -It''s Greek


    -What?


    -It''s in modern greek, you know the country that birthed democracy and tons of philosophers and scientists, the one in Europe, the place you went for vacations last year


    -I''m not asking where Greece is, I''m asking what are they doing here, without passports or any useful ID papers


    -Should we just shoot them?


    -Negative, we don''t have permission, but the deportation department will be happy to get their hands on them


    -Boss we don''t have the time to wait for that, we''ve only got until 8 to finish our mission, we''re already running late as it is


    -Rain and Medic, you''ve got the baby sitting job, if anyone tries to run away you''ve permission to shoot, if anyone tries to stay behind or impend our mission, you''ve permission to shoot, if anyone annoys you, you''ve got my permission to shoot them, are we clear!


    =Sir! Yes Sir!


    The mercs grouped us up and gave the Woman they called Alice Nick''s gun, telling her to shoot them if she sees them do anything strange.


    Alice might not be Milla Jovovich, but she was rather gorgeous, short blond hair and a baby face that made it hard to tell her real age.


    "Can I use the Restroom?"


    Chris asked, it was the most stupid thing to do at the moment and "One" already had the gun ready to shoot his head off, but seeing that it was the guy in the pajamas speaking, he felt a bit strange.


    The rest of the people at least had some sort of ID on them, one even had a rather high tech cellphone, truthfully they had seen nothing like it, but this person was the most out of place out of all of them.


    Nick who had a gun, they immediately registered as a burglar, the others probably illegal Immigrants, but this guy, what was he even, unlike the others he didn''t even have the same foreign accent, his english were quite frankly "good" and he was wearing glasses.


    Timid personality, wearing glasses, unkept appearance, probably having lost all memory, there was a high chance he was living there and just happened to be out of the Hive. Maybe the others were also part of Hive, but carrying foreign ID papers on their person made it look really sketchy.


    "Rain, accompany him and make sure that he does nothing funny, then get him dressed and follow us down on the next train, also take Alice with you, as she''s now, she''s useless to us, we''re taking the cop and these burglars with us"


    One ordered and before they knew it, they opened the secret passage and left Chris'' view, leaving him with two women with guns, escorting him to the restroom.

 05 Captured

    "Crap! Can''t you shit faster!"


    Rain, the black woman shouted at Chris for taking his sweet time in the restroom.


    It was nervebreaking, suddenly finding yourself in this situation, but at least it was better than being dragged alone towards danger. It took around half an hour for him to get ready, wear some spare clothes left in the closet by agent Spencer and gather his long hair in a ponytail and in no time, he looked like a normal person.


    He lacked the charm or looks of a male model, but he didn''t look bad at all, it was as if he wasn''t the same person anymore.


    "If only you''d taken a bath, it would be even better"


    Rain complained as she escorted the two of them down the secret passage.


    "Keep up, we''re already behind schedule, the others must already be at the destination"


    Rain said as we walked down the hallway, to our left was the window that showed the Hive from above, the two women stood there to wonder at the view, but Chris didn''t care one bit about it, his mind was too preocupied with the idea of zombies killing him.


    As they reached the train station Chris remembered that George had told them the plot and there was supposed to be the cure to the virus hidden in the train, normaly he wouldn''t do something stupid to destroy the plot, but we''re talking about the cure to the virus here, it could save lives if they bring it with them, instead of leaving it in the train, either way the others might have already taken it with them, so it didn''t really matter much to look if it was still there or not.


    -What are you searching for?


    -I thought I remember leaving a box in the train, maybe I''m wrong


    "Are you talking about the one in that corner?"


    Alice asked, and there trully was a sealed container in the corner under the seats, it was a stupid idea, but Chris liked to do stupid stuff a lot.


    "What''s in there?"


    Rain asked somewhat disbelieving, it was rather strange that he even  remembered about this box, but there was a chance he was really a scientist from the Hive.


    -There should be a sample of a virus and its anti-virus, will probably come in handy for where we''re going


    -What do you know? Do you know what happened?


    -I don''t know much, only that we''ve been doing research on a biological weapon of sorts, otherwise called T-Virus, also that the facility was compromised


    -That''s the same thing we know


    -I also know that the virus is supposed to bring the dead back to life


    -What?


    -Don''t ask how, it''s confidential and I don''t think you''ll understand anything about gene engineering


    -Try me


    -Viruses are either RNA or DNA, The nucleic acid may be single- or double-stranded, the entire infectious virus particle, called a virion, consists of the nucleic acid and an outer shell of protein, the simplest viruses contain only enough RNA or DNA to encode four proteins, a new virus will mutate in order to survive and as antidotes are created it will continue to evolve outside of our scope of predictability


    -Woah there, what does that have to do with Genetics?


    -Didn''t you hear the explaination, a virus is nucleic acid, in other words it''s a bunch of genes, by rearranging them and...


    -Enough we understand, it''s science stuff, my brain''s hurting, just keep  this thing away from me


    -I wouldn''t have it any other way


    Chris said while taking the container in his hands, as if it was some sort of treasure, causing the two women to laugh as he looked pathetic hugging a metal case, which he refused to even open.


    The trip was rather short and most of the time was lost on finding the box with the antidote to the virus, they were now walking out of the train and the gate was wide open.


    "Rain to team, We''ve arrived at the Beehive, do you copy?"


    Rain taked through the radio to the team.


    "Copy! we hear you loud and clear! We''ve arrived at the destination! The burglars know more than they are willing to tell! We''ve tortured their leader! we''re aborting mission! Stay in Position Over!"


    Chris was shocked, he had no idea how things became like this, but he didn''t know what was the penalty for not completing his mission?


    Did Nick even explain what would happen if they failed to complete the mission, he honestly couldn''t remember him saying anything about it, but it couldn''t be good.


    The problem was that he had to reach the Red Queen''s Chamber and he probably wouldn''t get a better chance.


    "Rain! Rain! Do you Copy!"


    Suddenly her radio was going amok for some reason.


    -Copy Clear and loud!


    -Act quickly, there''s a case with potentialy a bomb in the train, secure it and wait for reinforcements, don''t move or touch it!


    Rain and Alice begun to look at Chris as if he was some Jihad Bomber or terrorist, he was holding the potentialy deadly explosive as if it was his baby, he even confessed that it was a biological weapon, which made it even more dangerous.


    "This is Rain, we have a problem on our end, the biological bomb is in the hands of the bogey, waiting for instructions!"


    On the other end, the Merc leader was sweating bullets, he remembered how these "burglars" were more than cooperative with them, they followed them willingly and only spoke in their native language, causing them a be even more distrustful of them, the moment things went downhill was when the Fatty warned about the defence systems in the corridor towards the Red Queen''s chamber, it was then that they understood that something was wrong. These burglars knew too much, it took some torture to finaly make the fat guy sing, he confessed that they had an agenda, their mission was to enter the Red Queen''s Chamber, after that they would be given their new objectives. They tried prying the watches from their hands, but they were bulletproof, they would have to cut their hands off to take them and even then they had no way of telling what sort of technology that was, even their tech expert still had trouble figuring out that weird cell phone the chinese girl had with her, what on earth was a touch screen?


    The worst thing however wasn''t the fat guy, whom called himself the leader of the group, but the weird biker, whom threatened them with exploding the train if they didn''t take them to the Red Queen''s chamber, even worst it turned out to be a Biological Bomb, now he had a headache, the mission really wasn''t worth their time, who were these people and why does it seem as if they were all from different factions, how many foreign variants did they have at hand, who are the Pajama guy and the Biker, why were these tourists involed in this, who is the mastermind behind this.


    "Rain, commence negotiations, what are their demands?"


    One shouted through the radio, unable to recollect himself, the stress was simply killing him.


    -You the biker, what do you want? What''re your demands? Why did you attack this facility?


    -You don''t have to know, we''re also following orders, but our orders are different than yours, we''re but pawns, even if you killed us nothing would change, others will take our place?


    -What are you, Isis?


    -No, much worse, we''re sent by umbrella''s competitors and they''ve better tech and info than you can even imagine


    "Make the fatty sing in the other room, we need to cross examine the facts, something''s fishy with these guys"


    One told one of the mercs as he left the room, they had divided the "hostages" into three groups, Nick and Matt were put in the same room, since they were the two most dangerous ones, then they divided the others into males and females, taking turns interrogating them for information.


    Most of them didn''t even know good english, but a few of them were very good with words. There was this one named Jonas, whom seemed to be a lawyer, he even carried around his bussiness cards, rather typical of them, but he was as slippery as an eel, they couldn''t get a word that made sense out of him, he said that he was abducted and asked to see the police, many of the others also told the same story, but there were two whose stories differed.


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.The first was the Fatty, whom was evidently crazy, he said that they were sent by god to do missions and that this world was all fake and part of a series of movies, he even went on explaining what happened in the movie, spilling the plot as if One''s team was supposed to die a rather painful death and how he saved them and that they should be thankful to him for his mercy and good character. After that begun the torture, until he confessed that they were abducted and made to play this death game and that the Biker was to blame for everything.


    The second person whose story didn''t fit was the Biker, he simply threatened them with death telling them about the Bomb, the problem however was that they had no records on how this group of people entered the mansion, there were no recordings of them entering, they just appeared out of thin air, Kaplan even showed them the footage, earning a good punch in the guts by his commander. Why didn''t he check it earlier, it was evident that there was a need to check it beforehand, if he had they wouldn''t have been in this situation where their lives depend on whether the pajamas guy is trully a terrorist.


    -This is Rain, we''ve got a tiny problem on my side


    -What''s the problem?


    -We''ve been taken hostages by the target and are headed your way


    -Did you get any info from him?


    -Nope, he keeps denying that the case is a bomb, he calls it a cure for some zombie apocalypse, there''s a possibility that he''s crazy or indoctrinated, I think they are trying to destroy the Red Queen''s Chamber with the bomb, the case is big enough to contain enough substance to level the whole Hive, there''s a good possibility of it being fragile, the target carries it with too much care


    -Do you think there''s a chance to neutralize him?


    "No there is not, you should really be more careful on what you''re saying, after all I''m the one holding the radio transmitter and the two girls are tied up, I will tell it only once, this case contains the T-Virus and its cure, Could I speak with Spencer now?"


    -Wait, a moment


    The merc leader was even more confused, Spencer was one of their Agents, there was no doubt about it, he wasn''t even bound or tied up like the rest of the hostages. He was even given a gun and was on guarding duty since they had a lack of personnel, the problem was that now there was a chance that he was also involved in this mess.


    -Agent Spencer, did you remember anything, are your memories returning?


    -Not really, but thanks for the gun, it feels a lot safer with one around, it puts your mind at ease


    -The terrorist wishes to speak with you, do you have any idea what it''s about?


    -No fucking clue, what''s the situation at the other side?


    -Alice and Rain have been taken hostage, there''s a posibility they wish to destroy the Red Queen and burrow the Hive underground with all of us, there''s a high possibility that they can teleport away after setting the explosives in place


    -Have we found any traces of explosives?


    -Non of them has any, but on them, but they might just be transmitters for explosives to be transported in or those watches might well be the explosives, we might already have 11 bombs in our hands


    -What do you need me to do?


    -Talk with him, negotiate an exchange, we go out, they go in, everybody lives


    -I''ll try it, alright, here''s the transmitter


    "This is Spencer talking, what are your demands?"


    Spencer''s voice didn''t have any trace of nervousness or stress, he spoke as if this was a simple chat in his life.


    "Pakket v moyh rukah, Ya hatsu uvideth Korolevu"


    Spencer was now shocked, not because he understood what the other was saying, but because his memories were returning a bit.


    =The packet is in my hands, I want to see the Queen=


    "What''s he saying, what language is that?"


    The one begun to curse as he couldn''t understand what was going on, his resume of skills didn''t go as far as foreign languages, he wouldn''t be able to tell apart russian, chinese or greek even if you forced him to do so.


    "It''s Russian"


    Spencer answered, while trying to recall more about his lost memories, but what was the package, why did he feel as if something fishy was going on, as if something wasn''t right.


    "Motherfucking KGB bastards! no wonder we have so much trouble in our hands with these bastards interfering, what else can go wrong! only zombies attacking us hasn''t happened yet, what are you laughing about!"


    One kicked Nick in the stomache as he was laughing hysterically, right now he felt as if he was seeing a show, he himself didn''t know russian, but it sounded legit enough. People are more likely to believe some other country is attacking instead of believe in alien or monsters existing, it''s simple logical train of thought.


    "Stupidd Americans! hahaha!"


    Nick begun to laugh as he made funny sounding russian accent, causing One and the others to want to shoot him, since he was mocking them in their faces, it was evident he wasn''t russian and had no such accent before, which made it even more problematic, since it was evident that him and the pajamas guy wasn''t part of the same group, then whom did he work for? How did he know about he biological weapon? What was going on here?


    "Gde vstretemsha?"


    The radio sounded once more as the discussion wasn''t over, Spencer''s fist was going tighter as more memories flooded his mind, unconciously he was about to name a bar that was around the area. It was just a memory and he then remembered a chinese person, talking in broken english to him offering money for the package, he immediately remembered what this case contained, in a way it was no different than a biological weapon, since one container could logicaly cause everyone there to die, but he couldn''t remember why or how.


    "Where do you want to meet?"


    Spencer asked back, causing One to stagger and rash back to listen to the situation developing.


    "Tvoya devetsa u menha, no Ya ne znayu puth, otpravh Nikolasku ko mne"


    Chris answered causing Spencer some distress.


    -What did he say?


    -He''s playing us, he asked us to sent him the biker guy as a guide, since he doesn''t know the way


    -What did you say?


    -What do you want me to say? He just threatened to kill Alice


    -Tell him we agree to his demands, tell him to send Rain in exchange, it''s a fair exchange


    -Why Rain and not Alice?


    -Alice has amnesia, she''s of no help against these pigs!


    -I refuse!


    -I''ve smelt that there''s something wrong about you, are you in cahoots with them?


    This time One and Spencer were holding their guns at one another, before Spencer dropped his own, seemingly to defuse the situation, but he just saw that he was outgunned and didn''t wish to die, especialy now that his memory was slowly returning.


    "Do as I told you, if I don''t hear "Rain" in your speech, you will be sitting next to those guys, J.D. take his gun!"


    One then shoved the radio transmitter towards Spencer''s face.


    "Now sing the song we agreed upon"


    Spencer looked at One with some hostility, but then he smiled and opened communications.


    "Ou nas problema, natsialnik hotset shtobi ti otprovel nam Rain, nu yesli ti hotsesh mi mozem dogovoritsa"


    -Speak English you fuck! other than Rain I didn''t understand shit you said!


    -I told him that you want him to send us Rain and that we wish to  compromise


    -Why didn''t you say so?


    -Because he might not understand it if I talk in english


    Spencer smiled mockingly, but all the mercs could do was glare at him, since non of them knew russian, all they knew was that they had an accent and some sporadic words, most of them insults.


    -Medic isn''t your surname Danilova, why don''t you know russian, isn''t your surname russian?


    -Shut it Chad, isn''t your surname German? Why don''t you speak German?


    Everyone begun to laugh, only One was more and more irritated, his mission had went to hell and he had no idea what to expect anymore.


    On the other side of the Radio Chris had the time of his life, while the other members of his team were taken hostage at the point of a gun, he was sitting there as Rain was taking off her clothes in order to show to him that she wasn''t concealing a weapon under the thick layers of body armor and clothing.


    -So was the show good enough for you?


    -Not really, I think you need to shake that booty, but pas mal, pas mal


    -So what do you need me to do now, give you a blowjob?


    -Nope, just put your clothes back on, you''re leaving, in exchange for a guide, see you in a blink


    Rain was enraged as Chris turned round, not even caring about her as he wore her gun on his shoulder and her pistols and knives were on his self, she felt naked without her guns, not just because she was half naked, but because to a soldier their guns are something more than weapons, they are a symbol of safety, holding your gun even if it has no bullet inside gives you a sense of security similar to wearing clothes when you go outside.


    Chris opened the Sealed container and and saw twelve vials with a spiral form in the inside, seven containing the virus and the other seven the cure, he didn''t know which was which until he saw a small injection gun with the yellow fluid inside it, Spencer knew what he was doing, he had already prepared a cure just in case something had gone wrong during his escape.


    "Is that the virus?"


    Alice asked from behind him.


    -Probably


    -Why are you doing this? You don''t feel like a bad person


    -It''s nothing personal, it''s just survival, if I don''t reach the Red Queen''s chamber in 3 days and receive further orders, they''ll just kill me, as simple as that


    -Who are they?


    -You don''t want to know


    -How do you know?


    -Because then they will kill you as well


    Alice went silent as Rain approached him from behind as well, rather curious to see what was inside the sealed container or so Chris thought, before she begun to choke him from behind.


    Only to be knocked out by Alice instead, with one clean chop from behind, it was a really weird turn of events. Seriously Chris thought he would die, this wasn''t a sleeper hold, trying to knock one out, she was trying to break his neck, if he hadn''t been holding his head at the time she would have snapped it in one move.


    When he came to his senses Alice was holding the gun and she told him to carry Rain on his back, while also holding the container. Chris could only submissively obbey the orders since he didn''t want to die.


    "Come in, do you Copy!"


    The radio begun to make noises, but alice stopped him from answering, she then took the radio and said.


    -We''ve taken the terrorist down, we''re heading towards you, Rain is down and in need of medical attention


    -Alice, do you copy, report the situation!


    -The target was distracted, Rain tried to neutralize him, she failed and is now unconcious, I''ve taken his weapon and have him at the barrel of my gun, we''re headed towards you, the container with the virus is safe


    -I''ll send JD and Medic your way, I''ll be holding the fort and waiting, be sure to communicate regularly


    Chris was shocked because alice after closing the radio, handed him a handgun and told him "I believe you".


    It was a rather sweet notion.


    -If you really believed me you would have taken her and headed up


    -I''m not weak


    -I know and I don''t care, just take her and go back up, you''ve no idea what you''re messing with


    His words caused Alice to stop as if in trance, her memories were returning, something about umbrella being Evil,


    "You don''t know what you''re messing with"


    "Then tell me!"


    "They are inhuman beasts worse than animals! just look at this!"


    "That''s human experimentation! That''s illegal"


    "Nothing is illegal for them unless it''s found out"


    She couldn''t see the face of the person talking to her, but it was a woman''s voice, it felt as if it was someone important to her, but she couldn''t remember who.

 06 Internal conflict

    Walking with a beauty on his back and a sealed container in hand wasn''t easy, but hopefully he had a sturdy back and enough motivation walking while looking at Alice''s ass swaying like a boat, he could have sworn she did it on purpose and she did, it was in order to muffle the sound of one''s steps.


    As they walked, they saw lots of bodies littering the floor and noticed an out of order elevator, they would have to go down by stairs. Well it wasn''t the end of the world, but they would require to take breaks frequently.


    "Put me down!"


    Rain said as she woke up, it''s unknown why she decided not to choke him a second time, after all her hand were already around his neck.


    -Where are we heading and why am I not restrained?


    -Ask the boss, I''m just your ride


    -Who would ride you, does it even work down there?


    -No comments


    -That''s 2-0


    -How childish


    -Is that supposed to be a 2-1?


    -Nope, I''m just not in the mood for jokes, after all we are heading to our deaths


    -Cheer up, unless you resist we won''t kill you


    -Who said I''m afraid of you killing me, there''s far worse things down where we''re going?


    -What do you mean?


    -This is no longer a Hive, we''ve already passed the gates of Hades, so we''ll be probably forced to fight dead people, just remember to aim for their heads, if I remember right their brains are their weakness


    -You''ve either played to many horror games or have gone crazy


    -Well maybe, could you now please get off me?


    -Nah, not in the mood to walk anymore, after all I can easily kill you from up here and you can be my meat shield if your boss gets angry


    The two of them looked at Alice whom was in her own world, probably remembering stuff as they went on to meet the others.


    At the other side of the Radio, at the hall leading to the Red Queen''s chamber One was trying to figure out what to do, for some reason these foreigners were really against them taking the Red Queen from this place, saying bullshit about zombies and monsters called Lickers and the Red Queen containing some sort of Apocalyptic Virus that will destroy the whole world.


    Normaly he wouldn''t have believed this shit, but Kaplan found out some rather disturbing data in the Hive''s servers. Data that could potentialy get them all killed or rather will get them killed, but now it was too late, they had already seen it, the Licker containers, the experiments, they zombies.


    "My god, what have we stuck our noses into, this is not a bee hive, this is a wasp nest!"


    One shouted in outer terror, he knew full well that there was no mission anymore, the time limit was the remaining time they had to live, even if they did bring the Red Queen back, they wouldn''t live any longer than the time given for the mission, if he was his supperiors, he would no doubt get rid of them, they had become a liability. No wonder the pay for this simple mission was so good, it was their severance pay.


    The other mercs other than Kaplan had no idea about it, since they had already left, leaving only One, Kaplan and Spencer behind to guard the group of 11 hostages, 10 foreigners and one copper.


    "Kaplan, Spencer, we''ve got a problem on our hands, we know too much, the corporation won''t let us be after we return, any suggestions?"


    One asked the two that were there with him.


    "We could try going abroad"


    Chad said as he looked at the foreigners IDs in front of himself.


    "Any good suggestions?"


    One asked Spencer, mostly due to helplessness.


    -I might have one, but it''s risky, I believe we have until midnight and we''ll be out of the country and with our pockets full of gold


    -Isn''t that the same thing I said?


    "Shut it Chad, what''s the plan?"


    One asked Spencer, somewhat irritated by Kaplan''s continued failures, he failed thrice in one mission, first by failing to see the footage of how the burglars literaly teleported into the building, second by almost killing them all due to the laser trap in the hallway, if not for the foreigners who knows what would happen, the final time was by showing him what he shouldn''t have seen and forcing this situation upon them.


    "I won''t lie to you, I''m partly to blame for what happened in this facility, I was supposed to steal the research samples from this facility and sell them abroad to the chinese for a really huge price, enough to buy me an island in the mediterenean sea, that sort of money, I had escape plans and everything ready, one thing I hadn''t planned for was the Red Queen''s influence reaching too far from the Hive, I was knocked out and lost my memories, if you help me finish the deal, we could split the money and go our own ways somewhere in europe"


    Spencer''s words were a shock to them, not as much that he betrayed the corporation, but because they didn''t have until midnight, they only had 6 hours to live. Even if they did their best, it was impossible to escape now, they knew full well that the facility was under surveilance, "One" could only sigh as he looked at Spencer and shook his head.


    -It''s too late now, we''ve only 6 hours, we don''t have till midnight and the moment they see us leaving the facility there will be snipers taking us out at every corner


    -Then all we have to do is use a distraction, we have 11 people right here whom can take our place, we only need 7 unrecognizable bodies to be found wearing our tags


    The two mercs'' eyes begun to glitter, it was an ingenious plan, their original report didn''t say how many people they had had found and if they unleashed the zombies it would be literaly impossible to tell who lived and who died in the chaos.


    "We''ll wait for the others to come, take the Red Queen and escape, let umbrella contain the mess we leave behind, I only hope our chinese clients are happy with our delivery!"


    One stated, causing Spencer to smile incidiously as he looked at the people sitting on the floor, he then approached Matt and said.


    -I believe this one will make a good double as a corpse for me, do we skin them or what?


    -Don''t act too rashly, we have to recruit everyone if we want to succeed, all of my team are professionals, Medic will be the one to decide how to best fake our deaths


    "What about our families?"


    Kaplan asked really distressed.


    -As long as you''re considered dead they won''t touch them, might even give them a bonus after you die


    -I''m so jealous of J.D. and Rain, even after death they can be together


    -Shut it Chad!


    "One" was enraged with Kaplan''s bad joke, especialy when death was so close that they could smell it, they had five and a half hours left and they had no radio contact from either J.D. or Alice and they were running out of options and time.


    They could try deactivating the Red Queen right now and run away by themselves, but they weren''t sure if they would make it, especialy due to a fat bussibody, that explained to them why they would fail again and again, something about a monster called a Licker a biological weapon that will be set free by their actions, something about umbrella making clones from their corpses DNA, even worse it won''t be just one problem he found with their actions. Truthfully speaking it sounded too troublesome and not worth the effort even trying to survive at this point, but they had guns, they didn''t believe any creature made of flesh could survive a full burst from an assault rifle.


    During that time Somewhere in the Hive, Chris, Alice and Rain had at last met with J.D. and Medic.


    "Stop right there, throw down your weapons!"


    JD shouted as they were pointing their guns from cover, since Spencer turned to be suspicious, they didn''t trust Alice anymore and seeing Rain riding on another guy''s back, did struck a nerve.


    -Ease up JD, my only injury is a psychological trauma


    -What''s the situation?


    -Do you want the my opinion or theirs?


    -Both?If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    -Either one is that we''re fucked


    -What do you mean?


    -This facility is some sort of biological weapons facility, once we remove the A.I. all hell will break loose


    -We already know about that, we also know that the foreigners wish to enter the AI''s chamber in order to get further orders from their higher ups, the watches on their wrist might be potential bombs, we also found out that they teleported into the mansion


    -Are you implying they''re alien?


    -What? Of course no, they''re probably KGB agents, the russians have probably advanced in the tech race


    -So what''re the new orders?


    -First Medic will inspect you for wounds, then we regroup


    -What about the Radio?


    -It''s been jammed for a while, can''t tell why though, there''s a chance that we can expect hostiles to enter the hive at any time


    -Do you expect them to pop up out of thin air or something?


    -Quite possible


    JD looked at Chris while he said that, he saw the footage where they appeared, out of the air, first they seemed like ghosts and then they became corporeal.


    After the situation was somewhat deffused, the group begun to head back, every step Chris would shoot the corpses in the head, calling it a control shot, but giving the others the creeps.


    -You do know you won''t have enough bullets for every dead person we find


    -Well I can always try cutting their heads off, would you find it more to your liking?


    "Is he crazy?"


    JD asked, but he was met with disdain, especialy by Medic, whom by that time had seen the virus vials and the cure. She didn''t know what it was, but it was no doubt from the way it was sealed that, whatever was sealed inside was air transmitable, it had three layers of protection against escaping, all used to prevent gasses from leaking.


    "What if he''s telling the truth?"


    Alice asked, causing JD''s face to darken, because his answer would be, that they would be screwed, because the facility housed more than 500 people inside, it might not sound like much, but they were enough to flood a single room if they all came back to life.


    "What do you want, 500 zombies or 500 less bullets?"


    The question caused everyone to begin control shooting all of the corpses, making sure that they won''t come back to life.


    At some point they reached a weird freeze chamber, with huge Containment units, this was probably where the Lickers were stored for further experiments.


    "What''s this room for?"


    Alice asked him, since he seemed to know everything


    -Probably the room where the real Biological weapon is made


    -What do you mean?


    JD asked, not understanding what this was about.


    "Help me open them one by one and kill the things inside, you don''t need to know what they are"


    Chris said and not knowing any better, everyone begun to work, helping open the first metal container. The moment it opened however all hell broke loose, the thing inside woke instantly and shattered the ice surrounding its body throwing it towards them as it lounged to the ceiling and disappeared, while everyone tried their best to shoot it''s last known location. Due to Chris'' bad judgement one of the Lickers was loose.


    "What do we do now? that things is too agile!"


    JD shouted at him furious, while pointing his gun at him.


    "We make sure the next one doesn''t escape, do you see around you every one of these containers has one of these creatures inside"


    JD looked around and there were at least 8 more containment units, if every one of them awakened at once, they were screwed.


    -What are these things?


    -They are a mass destruction biological weapon to be used against foreign countries, they will attack people and infect them, turning them into zombies, even if they die, the virus will have already spread and the country will slowly crumble from the inside out


    -Why didn''t you warn us before we opened the container?


    -Didn''t I tell you that we were killing whatever was inside, it''s youre fault for not taking me seriously, do you think that I''m here willingly?


    -Then why the heck are you here!


    -In order to get on your nerves


    -Funny! Hahaha!


    Before he could however stop laughing Chris lifted his gun and begun to shoot towards him, from behind JD was one could see the Licker that seemingly didn''t like to be shot, but there was no evident damage to its skin from the handgun.


    Before long everyone begun to shooting at the monster that was now in the open, It took them a considerable amount of ammo to take the thing down, causing them to be running low on ammo.


    "What now? I don''t think we can take them all out"


    JD asked while looking at the licker''s corpse, riddled with bullets, but he was still too afraid to approach and make sure it was dead.


    -Just wait a moment I make sure it died


    -What are you going to do with that Knife?


    -Cut it''s head off, what else?


    -Are you serious?


    To their horror they saw Chris slowly cutting throught the monster''s neck and holding its head in his bare hands.


    "Shouldn''t you be wearing some sort of gloves? Didn''t you say it was infected with the virus?"


    Medic asked sincerely concerned.


    -Don''t bother, we already have the cure in this container, if you''re concerned, do you want me to take a shot?


    -I believe that It''s a necessity that all five of us take a shot, it will probably raise our resistance to the virus


    -You don know that there''s another 13 people that will require vaccination with the same logic


    -I belive that it''s only common sense that we vaccinate and then regroup with the others, I calculate that one vial or antivirus is enough for at least 10 dozes, if only we had the manual of how many dozes are required, if they require vein injection and other info...


    -What''s the point, the virus will probably mutate after a while, this injection might work for the first people injected, but it must be injected 30 minutes after the infection, so no reason to inject it right now


    -How do you know, I was briefed better than you guys


    -Then whom briefed you?


    -The fat guy who was with us, he just knows more than any of us about what''s going on, after all he''s the leader of our group


    "Impossible, are you serious, that whiner is the leader?"


    JD couldn''t believe what he was hearing, he would believe it if he was told that the biker was the leader or that Chris himself was the leader, but that fatty that spilled the beans faster than they could even touch him, it was impossible


    -Do you find it strange?


    -Who the hell made him leader? What sort of organization do you work for?


    -Work is a hard word to used, more like forced to work for them, we don''t even know what they are called, just yesterday we were all regular citizens in our country and in 8 hours we are used as agents, what sort of Organization do you take it?


    -A rather evil one if you asked me


    -Oh, don''t bother, there''s even better news, if we don''t do our mission we die, isn''t that perfect?


    -Is it the watch?


    -I don''t think so, the watch is probably just the communication device and progress inspection device, they probably have their own way of taking care of us


    -I don''t know whether to pity you or simply not believe anything you said


    -Have I lied to you so far?


    -Who knows, everything''s just too crazy, I don''t even know what to believe anymore


    -Just believe in the people you trust, I don''t even care if you believe me, but do you wish your girlfriend to die?


    For what he said, he earned an elbow to the stomach by Rain.


    "I''m not his girlfriend, I''m his fiancee and don''t be too glib next time"


    Rain''s words just broke the ice making everyone to become a bit more relaxed as they headed out to regroup with the others.


    By that time the other side was having a huge dispute, the orchestrator of this happening was Spencer, he didn''t wish to wait anymore.


    The first thing he did as he begun his rebellion was kill "One", in a single second, Kaplan was not a threat at all, once a pistol was put at his head, he pleeded to be spared. Spencer told him to open the Queen''s Chamber and he then forced the foreigners/players to get inside, Kaplan included.


    "I''ll give you one chance at life, once I''m out of the facility you''ll unplug the AI, otherwise once I encounter the others they''ll all die, do you understand me Chad?"


    Kaplan could only nod as his mouth was bound and hands tied.


    "Wait!"


    It was Nick''s voice that broke the silence as everyone else was too afraid to speak, it was the first time they saw someone die before their eyes, One was murdered in front of them, stabbed from behind and his neck snapped in the next moment, causing his to die and if that hadn''t killed him, the control shot afterwards did the job. Spencer left nothing to chance, his plan never included any other person escaping, not even Alice was included in the new escape plan.


    "Do you think you have anything useful to tell me, think before you answer because my time''s precious"


    Spencer asked Nick, his gun already aiming at his head.


    "What makes you think that the Red Queen will let you out?"


    Nick asked, but the answer to his question was a bullet that grazed his cheek.


    "I told you to think before you speak, goodbye tourists, I hope you had a good view of the Hive and please do come back, tourism is a fine source of income for the local businesses"


    Spencer said as he left the Red Queen''s Chamber, causing everyone''s faces to drop.


    "Fucking traitor"


    Suddenly Kaplan stood up, his bound hands were free and his mouth unbound, in these seconds that Nick had distracted Spencer he had freed himself, after all he was a professional.


    "Could you free us?"


    The fatty George asked, somewhat timidly, knowing full well the answer beforetime.


    "Why should I?"


    Spencer asked with a somewhat smug face.


    "Because we can help you and because if you don''t we will all die together"


    Nick was the one to answer his question, as for why he was so sure about it, it was because their mission had been updated.


    =Objective No 2 - survive the zombie outbreak for 4 hours=


    It was rather predictable since they had derailed the plot to such a degree that it didn''t matter anymore what they knew about the movie, even the Red Queen didn''t seem to wish to talk to them, reducing itself to nothing more than an A.I. or maybe it didn''t wish to reveal itself.


    "What do you know, out with it"


    Kaplan had seen enough to know that something wasn''t right, the "tourists" seemed too afraid for some reason, a lot more than they should be.


    -We''ve got our next mission, the higher ups told us that this room will be full of zombies during the next 4 hours, the outside will be a hell, so congrats on being lucky to be on this side of the hallway


    -What do you mean!


    -It''s simple, If I have guessed right, the Red Queen has been offline for some time now


    -Wait, how do you know that I blocked the Queen''s Access?


    -I didn''t, I was only guessing and I can also guess that your ex-boss will come back to life as a zombie in a few minutes, so you should probably put her online as quickly as possible, unless we all die


    -I can''t do that, the blockade will last for 4 hours, I did it in a last ditch effort before Spencer killed James, It was supposed to be our  bargaining chip, but Spencer didn''t even give us the time to bargain


    "Are you serious? What sort of bargaining chip is that, you''ve doomed us All!"


    Suddenly George popped up into Kaplan and Nick''s conversasion, his voice being that of a person that had seen despair, he couldn''t see a way they could survive with no weapons, since Spencer had stripped Kaplan of all weapons and they were no better than zombie food with the Queen being offline.


    "George what did you expect to happen, did you think that my warnings were just for fun, the moment we derailed the plot, it was doomed to happen, if that pajamas guy didn''t have to go to have a shit and you hadn''t warned them, we would just have to survive the regular plot and the difficulty would have been really low, now we''ve been stuck in a new plot where we don''t know whom our enemies will be next, I wouldn''t be surprised if a bunch of Lickers begun to flood through that hallway"


    Nick said, causing everyone to freeze in terror, while only Kaplan didn''t understand what he meant, he hadn''t seen a licker and although it sounded like some sort of monster, he had a really poor imagination, non the less he decided to trust them, just this once, by unbinding Nick first, whom seemed to be the only competent one among the foreigners.

 07 Two Teams

    While the others were relatively safe in the Red Queen''s chamber Chris and the others were walking in a rather carefree manner until Chris'' alarm went off, his objective had changed.


    =Objective No 2 - survive the zombie outbreak for 4 hours=


    "Shit! Shit! Shit!"


    He shouted thrice so that the others could hear him, loud and clear.


    "What''s up?"


    JD asked in a rather amused tone, Chris appeared to be rather level headed and not the guy that would cuss without a reason, but it was rather amusing to see a calm guy going off his top.


    -The mission Objective has changed, everyone prepare to be facing hordes of zombies, it seems like we didn''t have to all enter the Chamber, Nick that bastard, he probably knew about this


    -Hey buddy what do you mean by hordes of zombies, there''s only 500+ people in the facility and we have taken at least 200+ out of the count on our way here, we left only those behind locked doors be, after all they they would only waste bullets


    -All I know is that this place will be swarming with zombies, my advice to you is to take this container and run to the train, there''s nothing for you here


    -Then what about Kaplan and One?


    -They should be safe if they hide in the Red Queen''s chamber, we however are not, especialy once the Lickers begin to wake up


    -Then what was the point of going so far?


    -Listen JD, we''re between 300+ zombies and them, behind us there''s only the Licker room, with 8 monsters, you can decide, do you wish to attack the 8 monsters in their sleep or face 300 zombies and probably be ambushed by the Lickers?


    -Well I haven''t faced a zombie and a single Licker was enough to waste a lot of our ammo


    -Do you wish to be ambushed by 8 Lickers or fight them face on? That''s the question, either way we will be fighting them sooner or later, the question is whom will be ambushing whom


    -Then what do we do?


    -Simple Everyone pull the desks to form barricades behind us, Rain, Olga and Alice cover us while we make the barricades, JD what are you standing for move it!


    "Who made him the leader?"


    Rain complained as she pointed her gun around.


    "Well at least he has a plan of action"


    Alice retorded, looking around for any suspicious activity.


    "Do you know if he''s married?"


    Olga asked, causing the other two to smirk and tease her a little as they made their way backwards towards the Lurker Containment unit, hopefully for them, it seemed as if no Lickers had woken up at all, all the pods were sealed shut.


    "What do we do now?"


    JD asked, seeing no reason to awaken these monsters, it would be fortunate if they never had to face one of these monsters again.


    "We Kill them, what else?"


    Chris stated as if it was a matter of fact.


    "Are you insane, we''re talking about 8 of these monsters, we barely have enough bullets for two of them!"


    JD begun to complain, the others had to side with him, there was no way that they could kill more than two of these things. Chris'' wish to kill them in their sleep was unrealistic.


    "Do you have explosives?"


    Chris asked them seriously.


    "Not enough to even hurt that wall, it''s only good for a door or two"


    Rain answered, since she knew what they had brought with them, there was only enough c4 for a door or two, the Hive was too well made and there was no way to cause any damage to its structural integrity, unless of course they brought in some real explosives used for demolitions.


    "Do you Copy! Is anyone alive down there!"


    Suddenly they could hear the radio, but they couldn''t recognize the voice.


    "Copy, who are we talking with?"


    JD answered the Radio, after all he was the highest in command in the group right now.


    "Umbrella Corps A-27, This is Two speaking, what is the situation?"


    The voice replied in a timely and clear manner.


    "This is Umbrella Corps A-26, J.D. Salinas, we''re currently making our way towards the Red Queen''s Chamber, our Radio had some interferance and our group is now divided"


    JD had to lie there, because they didn''t know the situation.


    "J.D. Salinas, Abort mission and head to the surface, you have half an hour to get out of the facilities and surrender yourselves, failure to do so will result in your pernament termination"


    The voice went psycho right there, to understand this was a set up, there was zero chances of them making it out of the facility in 30 minutes, even if they run all the way, they would still need time to go up the stair and then take the train.


    "A-27, Two, Fuck You too!"


    J.D. Shouted at the Radio as loudly as he could and then danced on it with his military boots.


    "What now? Any suggestions?"


    J.D. asked the others who looked at him shocked and unable to speak.


    "Can we kill the Lickers now?"


    Chris asked as if he didn''t understand the situation at all, of course he was joking, but their expresions were priceless.


    -You do know that we might die?


    -Welcome on board, the ship "I told you so"


    -Real funny, asshole, what do we do now?


    -Simple, we just have to go up again, whether they terminate us or not is irrelevant in contrast to what will happen to us down here, which is being eaten by monsters and turn into monstrosities


    "Might I offer an Alternative?"


    Suddenly a voice of a young girl could be heard from the intercomms.


    "Who are you?"


    Alice asked rather confused.


    "It''s the A.I. they''ve come to take away"


    Chris answered, he did know the answer to this question, but he was puzzled as to why the A.I. would try to communicate with them.


    "What do you want from us!"


    J.D. asked rather loudly shouting to the four walls around them, but there was no answer.


    At the time in the Red Queen''s Chamber, they heard the same message, but they stood there in front of a holographic image of the girl, whom offered them an Alternative as Kaplan wanted to manualy over-ride the defense systems and take full control of the lasers in the hallway, doing so however could potentialy end ruining the defense systems, one wrong move would mean that they would be out of order and in need of repairs, he was fiddling with naked wires right now with only a small jack-knife, which he used as a screwdriver.


    "Don''t pay attention to it, it''s just the A.I. it will do anything to sway us, in order to do whatever it''s programmed to do"


    Kaplan explained, only to be retorded by George.


    "You''re wrong, the Red Queen is trying to keep us alive?"


    George''s words were followed by the rest of the crew.


    "Little girl, what should we do?"


    Hera asked the rather cute looking girl, the other females also were rather fond of the projection.


    "Please don''t let him ruin the defense grid and please reboot the systems for me, all you have to do is..."


    The little girl begun to explain what they had to do, Kaplan was agast as he was detained by a bunch of idiots, whom were restoring the A.I. to power, his thoughts were along the lines, are they insane?


    -You idiots, even if you reboot the system it will take 20 minutes before it reboots and all the energy will go out, we''ll be sitting ducks for 20 minutes!


    -It''s worth a try


    -I thought that you of all people would understand that they''re making a mistake!


    -I don''t know if it''s a mistake, but I want to live, there''s only one way out of here and honestly right now the A.I. has more leverage than you


    Nick explained to Kaplan, which caused the other to fall into hysterical laughter, before throwing the jack-knife down and going to a corner and sitting down.


    "I''ll sit here and wait until you come crying for help"


    Kaplan said, causing Nick to wonder if they were doing the right thing, but he trusted in George''s knowledge of the lore of Resident Evil more than an NPC''s opinion.Stolen novel; please report.


    The problem with the so called Reboot, was that after they rebooted the Red Queen''s systems, all lights went off, all the doors opened and every system in the Hive was off.


    Only now did George remember something really important, what Kaplan had done was just blockading the Red Queen from accessing the System, he hadn''t shut her down, they however had just done so. Meaning that they had fucked up big time and fucked up anyone else that was in the facility.


    Only now did it come to him as to why Kaplan was against their notions, George was even inclined to beg him for help at that moment, but seeing everyone look at him for advise he decided against it.


    "Guys it''s only 20 minutes, as long as we hold the door, we''ll be fine all we need is to go out and get some items to barricade the door"


    George said, Kaplan however was laughing in his little corner, as he knew full well how much they had fucked up, but he wouldn''t say, he just silently sat in the corner looking at their expressions of dread.


    Truth was he didn''t trust them, even the story about zombies seemed far-fetched to him, his original plan was simply getting some revenger against Spencer, but he did the mistake of trusting the foreigners and truthfully he was powerless to do anything.


    As they were barricading the chamber with desks and chairs and anything they could get their hands on, even One''s Corpse. They were quickly met with their first zombie and without guns, all they could do is keep it away from them as they orderly retreated.


    Honestly it didn''t look at all threatening, more like disgusting would be the word they would describe it, it moved rather slowly and its reach was as limited as its arm''s length.


    The problem was that they were now cornered in the Red Queen''s Chamber, unable to escape and the door was barricaded with just a few desks, which they pushed with all their strength to counterbalance the zombies on the other side.


    Meanwhile Chris and the others before the light went out decided to open another Licker Container or rather Chris did.


    -You''re insane if you think you can kill that thing with just a knife


    -It''s a machete, it''s not a knife and all I have to do is cleanly cut its head before it can do anything, I''ve already memorized the way to do it


    -Don''t blame us if we have to shoot through you though, you do understand that these things are really dangerous


    -I can do it, just have some faith in me


    -It''s hard to believe you, especialy after you told us you''re not even a  trained soldier, maybe you should give the knife to alice or J.D.


    -Olga, how many times I have told you, I''m not good with a gun, the least I can do is contribute a little to the team, killing one of them will be fine


    -Don''t cry late when you''re dead, May your soul find peace in the afterlife


    -I''m not dead yet!


    "Are you sure?"


    J.D. asked causing everyone to laugh in the face of uncertainty and despair, he might not be a good leader, but he was a fine guy to be around.


    They prived the Container open and as the creature was about to crack the ice covering its skin, Chris charged it with the machete pushing it with on hand on the handle and the other pushing the back of the blade making a makeshift guilotine against its neck, pushing with all his strength and weight and when he couldn''t go any further he pulled the blade sending the head flying.


    After he succeeded he begun to scream as the creature''s claw had pierced into his leg, it like like a headless chicken''s reaction after losing it''s head, completely pointless and completely reactive.


    "Look at that, the chap did it after all"


    J.D. was awed by what he saw, completely ignoring Chris'' screams as he held his leg, pulling the claw out and crying like a child.


    Olga the medic took a look, injected him with the anti-dote to the virus and then begun the first aid.


    -Stop acting like a baby, it''s just a scratch


    -I saw my bone!


    -Are you a baby! Man up already, we still have 8 more of these things, are you well enough to take another shot or will you let Alice do the job instead


    Chris looked at the petit looking Alice, some would call it toxic masculinity others would call it being a white knight, but to him it was his pride that caused him to grit his teeth and offer to continue.


    Suddenly however as he was about to stand up, with his bandaged leg, the lights went out. It was at this moment that he knew they were probably going to die if they stayed there.


    A container begun to make sounds as the creature inside begun to wake up, everyone was on high alert and ready to shoot at it, but as it broke free of the container, Chris shot at it with the Machete, shocking not only the crew, but even the monster, that seemingly hadn''t expected something like that, It bit at his shoulder, only to scream in panic!


    As the blood mixed with the anti-virus entered its mouth, the creature begun to limp and degenerate as its body crumbled into dying flesh.


    "Aaaaa!"


    Chris shouted as he had lost the ability to move his left hand, his shoulder was crushed by the creature''s bite and he was lucky that he didn''t die instantly from the shock.


    The bleeding however wouldn''t stop, the others were confused, but his screams woke them up. Medic was already onto the wounded and the others tried to understand why the monster died, the only logical explaination was the Anti-virus. It was poisoned by getting in contact with the blood, if so, they could use the cure to kill every one of these creatures, all they had to do is administer a small dose of the cure to every single one of the these creatures through the nurishment tubes that entered the containers. They had enough for all of them and even for ten times their numbers, since one tube of anti-virus contained around 14 dozes.


    "We have to get him out of here, he needs serious medical attention!"


    Olga Shouted as they had just finished killing all the Lickers.


    "Wait, is that a survivor?"


    Rain suddenly asked as she saw a person approach them, only to be interupted by a gunshot as the zombie fell to the groun with its head shot through by Alice.


    "Didn''t he tell us, they''re probably the zombies from the locked rooms we left behind"


    Alice explained, it made total sense, but Chris was in no position to apreciate her wisdom. The pain was insane, the painkillers had kicked in, but he couldn''t even talk because of the pain, he could hardly even walk.


    "Next time you wish to face that creature one on one, better get yourself a rocket launcher"


    J.D. joked, but they had little time to make jokes as zombies begun to pour from the surrounding passages.


    They heard shots coming from the other side of the barricade they had made, suddenly they heard Spencer asking them to let him in.


    "I need the Cure! I''ve been Bitten! Quick! Alice! Help me!"


    Alice and J.D. didn''t even think as they pushed the barricades away and helped him with the zombies that were at his tail.


    Spencer was happy to see everyone and was so close to the cure, when Bang! He felt down dead! a short burst of bullets shot towards him one hitting him right in the head, that was all that it took!


    Everyone looked at the person that shot the bullet, it was Chris, whom had used Medic''s gun to shoot him in between the eyes.


    "Yu''ll thunk mi lata"


    He said as he lost conciousness, the others were all shocked until they discovered a dreadful truth, Spencer was wearing One''s bulletproof and had two assault guns and three pistols, one them was One''s and the other Kaplan''s.


    "Behind you!"


    Olga shouted as a zombified Dog launged at Alice, only to be kicked upwards and then shot in the head as it flew down to the floor.


    J.D. whistled out loud, earning himself an elbow to the stomach from rain, whom continued shooting at the hordes of zombies that seemed endless.


    "Didn''t you say there''s only 500+ people in the lab?"


    Rain asked, because the numbers simply didn''t add up, the zombies seemed endless, something was wrong.


    "How should I know, they all look the same to me!"


    J.D. Shouted in response as the too shot the zombies one by one, while Olga was on reloading duty, while looking after their patient.


    At that time the people in the Red Queen''s chamber were also facing a desperate situation. The zombies were pushing harder than them. They still had around 5 minutes before the Red Queen was operational once more, but the zombies were countless, all they could do was use physics against them, but even that didn''t work too well now that they had created a human wave in the corridor with the lasers.


    The physics thing is simple, you put one desk at the door and push it with two desks, then you push the two desks with three, thus creating a pin like force. The problem is that they only had 12 people, while the zombies were outnumbering them 1:10, the only thing they were thankful about was that there were no Lickers among the zombies otherwise they would have been doomed.


    -Do you think we can make it?


    -All we have to do is hold on for as long as we can, once the system comes online again, all the zombies will be toast by the lasers!


    -You said the same 10 minutes ago!


    -Are you in a hurry to be somewhere?


    -Fuck you George, you and your stupid ideas, I knew that I should have been leader, you and Nick have brought us nothing but trouble!


    -As you like, be leader, so what do we do next, new leader?


    -Push harder!


    Jason and George had a weird rivalry going on, but one thing was for sure, Jason would never follow George''s decisions again. Matt and Kaplan, whom weren''t even part of the group, regretted their decisions in life, one regretted entering the mansion and the other freeing these idiots.


    They were about to give up when the Red Queen came back online, the lights went on again and the door was shut sealed. The next moment the lasers in the coridor begun dancing back and forth, turning the zombies into minced meat. They were rejoiced to be alive, but they were are divided as they could have been, Jason sided with Matt and Kaplan, since non of them trusted George''s judgement and thus the team was divided into to sides.


    "If you had listened to this guy, we wouldnt have had to go through all this!"


    Jason shouted as they had now 3+ hours of free time, as they were safely locked inside the Red Queen''s chamber.


    "If we hadn''t stopped him, he might have just ruined the lasers and then we would be stuck here listening as the zombies were banging at out door, asking for flesh!"


    George retorded with a rather possible situation, but he had forgotten that they had nearly died just moments ago, but people forget and his "followers" were most forgiving now that all ended well.


    "If it wasn''t for George you would all have been dead, you retarded idiots!"


    Nick shouted, even now he was sure that George was right in his assumpsions, although even his trust was wavering a little, but he needed George''s expertise in movies and earning his trust was a must.


    "By the way what''s that over there?"


    Suddenly Hera pointed at a Hatch in the corner where Kaplan used to sit, at the time it looked rather ordinary and unimportant and there was a person standing on top of it. Right now however it could be a way for the zombies to come inside.


    "Was there supposed to be a hatch there?"


    Nick asked George, a bit curious, but mostly because he had a guess as to what this hatch might be.


    "Not as far as I know, the only thing that should be here is the air ventilation shaft"


    George stated completely confident in his words.


    "Then what''s that?"


    Hera asked, really irritated, after all they had just survived a near death experience and this hatch could as well be another point of danger.


    "Most probably the Secret Piece, you''re a rather lucky woman Hera, you''ve probably just earned 1000p from the system, just by pointing out the existance of that hatch"


    Nick said, but his words brought more questions to everyone''s minds, rather than anwering them.


    "So what now, do we just go down the hatch?"


    Jason asked, forgetting all about him being the "leader" of his own group and the quarrel they had just moments ago.


    "If you wish to die, be my guest, the secret piece is protected by deadly traps and even if you get it, chances are that we will all die, by the rise in mission difficulty, I wouldn''t be shocked if the Red Queen tried to kill us after you brought it out, after all the next objective will probably be leaving the Hive"


    Nick stated, making everyone gasp for breath, after all they all understood how deadly the A.I. was, if it wanted to kill you, there was nothing you could do, the whole Hive was it''s killing ground.

 08 Umbrella

    Chris was woken up by a foul smell, he found himself in what seemed to be a hospital''s operation room. Olga was panting above his head, her breast a bit too close for his comfort, he could feel the soft texture of her skin on his chest as she bent over to clean his wound.


    The pain from his shoulder was unbearable, he hoped he would just die and end this suffering.


    "You still alive dude?"


    J.D. asked, seemingly noticing him having opened his eyes, Olga was more than overjoyed that she had succeeded in bringing him back from the dead,  hopefully not as a zombie.


    "Is he better, because we need to move shortly, the zombies are multiplying and our bullets won''t last for too long"


    Alice said, seemingly uncaring about him. In her mind she was hateful of him killing Spencer when they could have saved him, they could have had another helpful pair of hands and a man with a good head on his shoulders. You have to understand that Chris killed him before they could make anything clear, in her mind Chris had lost her trust with what he did.


    "Can he stand?"


    J.D. asked Olga, whom sadly denied the possibility.


    "He needs total bed rest and medical care"


    Olga stated, causing everyone''s faces to fall, it was evident that they didn''t want to leave anyone behind, but as the situation had it, they couldn''t stay in one location for long.


    In the Red Queen''s Chamber the A.I. was using its holographic projector to talk with the people there.


    "The corportation has sent reinforcements, you''re estimated to be saved in 1 hour 22 minutes, your friends have been staying in the West medical ward for some time now, do you wish me to isolate them from the zombies?"


    The A.I. asked as if it was the nicest child in the world, wanting to make its parents proud.


    "Fuck them! What did they do while we were here fighting off the zombies!"


    Jason shouted and some people backed him up on this.


    "Your friends have eliminated more than 420 zombies, ruined the Biological weapons farm project, killed male ID Spencer and have successfuly pissed off the corporation"


    The little girl replied, seemingly wanting to laugh, but being unable to, as everyone''s faces had gone agast. You have to understand that the other group only had 5 people and only one of them being a "player", although Alice could easily be called the protagonist of the series, thus she probably had some sort of plot armor, probably, the others were all people that were supposed to die.


    "Red Queen, can you lead them towards us, by sealing passages that would threaten them?"


    George asked really serious to everyone''s surprise, they simply couldn''t see why he would want them there.


    "You idiots, they have survived for so long, meaning that they probably have guns!"


    George explained, just to make sure that more people would side with him, rather than Jason.


    "It''s impossible to safely guide them here, unless you wish to send a rescue party"


    The Red Queen stated and pointed towards the door, causing the people inside to faulter.


    "We''re going out"


    Kaplan and Matt stated, causing the two groups to be at a weird stalemate. Jason was all for following Kaplan, but instead of George, anything that would undermine his authority was fine, but he had no idea why Kaplan and Matt wished to get out.


    In the end the Red queen opened the door for them to get out and the two NPCs and Jason''s small group of three left, it was only Jonas and Hera who followed him, although others would ocasionaly side with him, they weren''t crazy enough to head outside into danger.


    Jason was princess carrying Hera, whom didn''t wish to ruin her shoes by stepping on human remains, especialy when there was the potential of them being still alive.


    The others looked as they left their safe haven for the unknown future that could potentialy lead to their death. George was even more  conflicted because Nick told him that they had two choices now, they could either try and sabotage the other groups, thus solidifying their own authority or they could wait until they got the new objective and most probably be forced to come out of this safe spot.


    George and the others selected the second, after all by now they knew that only one person had to finish the objective and everyone would advance with him, all they had to do was have some people in the outside and they would be safe while the others complete the mission. That''s also how Nick survived for so long, it was a win win strategy, because the others would want to get more points, while they only wanted to survive.


    Jason and the others were rather nervous as they followed Kaplan and Matt out of the hallway, mostly because they didn''t know whether the Red Queen would suddenly activate the lasers and get rid of them.


    -So you''re Jason?


    -I am, but shouldn''t we go a bit faster, I''m sure there will be tons of zombies outside


    -Unlikely, there was only 500+ reasearchers in the lab, thus it''s completely safe to be outside right now, what I''m most concerned about are the humans


    -Are you talking about those corporation guys, the queen talked about?


    -Who else, I''m 100% sure that they will shoot us on sight, no question asked, your friends in there are idiots, if they think that the Corporation''s A.I. is their friend


    -So where should we head now?


    -Where else, the Western Medical Ward


    "Wait, didn''t you say there shouldn''t be any zombies left?"


    Hera panicked as a limping person approached them.


    Kaplan looked at the slow moving creature that didn''t look like a threat at all in his eyes, he approached it, side stepped and turned its neck in an even weirder angle, until its head almost came off and he kicked it down as it begun to crawl towards them even more slowly.


    "What''s so threatening about this thing?"


    Kaplan asked as he pressed his foot on its back, causing it to be unable to move any further.


    "Just come on already, you bunch of civilians!"


    Kaplan was really full of himself, as he moved through the hallway after a short reconaisance, it was insane how good he was without even a weapon, he would just kick the zombies to a side and then block all their movements, of course there being only a few of them helped a lot and the group moved like ghosts in the half empty facility.


    The Umbrella units had waited for half an hour trying to reach the survivors on the radio before they begun their descend into the facility, their mission was simple, seek and destroy. The previous sanitation team had gone rogue, they had to be dispatched with due haste and the A.I. had to be retrieved.


    They manualy opened the entrance to the hive, leaving a small group behind in case the hostiles decide to outsmart them. The remaining troops had entered the facility and weren''t happy that they were forced to use the stairs.


    At the main facility they saw the dead scientists, shot by a bullet in the head all of them dead. The bullets in the researchers'' corpses were enough proof that their assumptions were correct.


    They moved with caution as they had no way of knowing where the enemy was hiding, the Red Queen didn''t seem fond on communicating with them either.


    Reason stated that the A.I was probably fully in the hands of the rogues, they had to be careful of anything electronic, their best choice was to just EMP the place, but that would cause more damage than good, after all their enemy also possessed night vision equipment.


    Suddenly they heard a sound from above.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon."The enemy is in the ventilation! Shoot to kill!"


    It was moronic to assume that a person could fit through the ventilation shafts, non the less in their state they unloaded a clip into the ventilation shaft, before ordering a soldier to check what was crawling inside.


    The soldier moved a desk and opened the shaft with some difficulty, only to have a zombie dog''s head pop out of the vent and bite him on the nape, he didn''t die, but unknown the others this was how he had been infected.


    Their medic recorded the incident as a mild wound caused by a rabid dog that escaped the research facility and ended up in the vents, nothing that modern medicine couldn''t fix.


    Meanwhile Kaplan and the others reached the Western medical Ward.


    "Don''t Shoot! we''re unarmed!"


    Kaplan shouted as they approached the ward, the people next to Chris begun securing their weapons, just in case Chris decides to shoot at Kaplan as well, just a precaution.


    -What''s the situation?


    -Spencer killed One and locked everyone inside the Red Queen''s Chamber, I heard that you killed him, good job, that bastard confessed that all of this was his fault he was going to sell the virus and didn''t even want to share, what about your side


    -Nothing really, killed some monsters, got some trophies and we now have the corporation at our asses wanting to kill us, how come I can only see 5 people, what about the others, did they become zombies?


    -Nah, those idiots decided to stay in the Red Queen''s chamber, saying it was safer there than ouside


    -You know they might be right, there''s something terribly wrong with this place, I could have sworn that there were only 500+ people in the facility, but these things don''t stop coming, the last ones look even worse than the ones before, at least the previous ones were wearing clothes


    -Do you have my tools, Spencer took them


    -Here, all yours, I''ve kept them hot for you


    -Let me see the situation


    Kaplan connected his mini computer into the system and before long he was agast with the results.


    "There were 1200 corpses held in the morgue not far away from where we are now, I suggest we move out, there''s also worse things to care about than Lickers in this facility"


    Kaplan stated as he was mortified, almost regretting leavig the Red Queen''s Chamber.


    "What could be worse than those monstrosities?"


    J.D. asked rather curious, but Kaplan wouldn''t answer. Then he begun to curse and pout, it was impossible to say what could cause him to have such a fit.


    "Insects, they had to go experiment on freaking insects! There are Spiders and Roaches that are infected with this virus, it''s a matter of time before they escape the facility and bring the end of the world!"


    Kaplan stated, making the others understand that they hadn''t been paying attention to the smallest of insects, they were too preocupied with things that tried to kill them, rather than petty insects.


    -Is there a way to stop this?


    -Only the Red Queen could do it, but I think it''s already too late, all we can do is protect the cure and make sure that it''s reproduced and distributed to the populous


    -Is that even possible? We''re stuck down here


    -My family is in Racoon City! I don''t give a damn about the corporation, It''s my parents whom will suffer, do you think that two elderly people can survive a zombie apocalypse?


    "You''re screwed either way"


    Chris spoke from the bed in the ward, causing Kaplan to become enraged.


    -What did you say!


    -I said that you''re screwed, you think this facility is the only one developing the virus, do you really believe that the virus won''t mutate, I can guarantee that this cure in a few years time will be useless?


    -How do you know about this?


    -Because I was briefed better than you guys, I even knew that Spencer was a scumbag, I even helped you isolate him by asking you to put him to the radio, you people are just pawns, you''re not unlike us in a way, only difference is that all I have to do is survive for another 3 hours before my next mission objective is given to my and once I succeed or fail, I''ll be out of here, just like I came


    -Olga, cut his hand, right now and give me his watch!


    Everyone was shocked, even Jason wanted to protest, but the alternative to this could be them cutting his arm off.


    Chris was in total panic and Olga was apologetic, but she trusted Kaplan more than she trusted Chris. Even Alice wasn''t sure whether to intervene or not, J.D. and Rain didn''t seem to care either way, mostly because his hand wearing the clock was already wasted, he probably wouldn''t be able to use it either way and this device might be their only chance at survival.


    In their eyes, the bracelet device looked no different than a clock, they couldn''t see anything suspicious about it, other than it being indestructible, it was a regular clock that even showed the right time.


    The main reason that they discovered that in the first place was because of George, whom used it as proof of them having been abducted and forced into this.


    "Don''t worry I''m make it fast and as painless as possible"


    Olga promissed, but Chris wasn''t about to lay down and see his hand being cut off, he tried to resist, but J.D. and Kaplan held him down. For them this strange device might mean survival, they were willing to do anything to survive. Jason and the others just stood there as if they were looking at a horror show where the mad scientist was cutting off a person''s limb.


    Chris resisted as much as he could, but his struggles only made the proccedure even more painful. The results however didn''t make them happy at all. The moment they took his hand off the device disappeared, right in front of their eyes.


    "Where did it go?"


    Kaplan shouted in despair, it was as if his only chance at survival had just disappeared.


    Slap!


    "Pull yourself together man, you saw it yourself, it disappeared right in front of our eyes, this device is probably meant to stay on him, just look at his other hand"


    Everyone looked at Chris'' other hand and the watch was now there and as much as they would like to know what would happen if they cut off all his limbs, it was probably pointless to even try.


    J.D. was angry with Kaplan, who let his emotions get the better of him, but he could also sympathize with him, if something were to happen to Rain he too would go out of his mind.


    -Is he alive Olga?


    -I don''t know, shock from the operation might have knocked him out, but we can''t be sure that he will wake up any time soon


    "Why did it have to be like this?"


    Kaplan begun to mop in a corner of the room, his crying sound echoing in the now silent room. Alice wanted to comfort and reassure him that everything would go fine, but J.D. stopped her.


    "Give him some time, he''ll be fine, just make sure there''s no insects carrying the virus around us, you''ve the best vision out of all of us, you''re the only one we can count on"


    The three tourists/players just sat down, trying to figure out what to do next. Truth be told J.D. and the others didn''t trust them with anything and were skeptical even allowing them to accompany them.


    "You have to help us!"


    Jonas said to J.D. whom was seemingly the leader of this group.


    -Why even bother, you''ll just disappear after the mission is over, like he said


    -You don''t understand, If we accomplish our mission everything will be over, our higher ups will contain the mess and all you have to do is help one of us out of this facility, which is the most probably final objective


    -What makes you think we can trust you?


    -Did the man whose hand you just cut ever lie to you?


    -For once he''s not part of the KGB


    -Did he ever say he was?


    -No, but he...


    Honestly J.D. and the others were hard pressed to find any point at which Chris had lied to them, even before they had cut off his arm, he hadn''t lied, at least they didn''t believe he had lied.


    "I promise you on my honor that once we''re out of this facility and leave everything will disappear, the T-virus, the zombies, everything will be over"


    Jonas'' words cause Kaplan to stand up from his corner and look at him as if he was the Messiah.


    -Are you telling the truth?


    -I promise you, If I''m lying right now may I die where I stand, may my parents die without a grave, may I lose all sense and live like a dog in the streets!


    -J.D. I''m helping them get out of here, what''s your opinion?


    -Wait, we have to survive for 3 hours before we get out of here


    -That''s not a problem, as long as you''re outside after the 3 hours are out you''ll be fine right?


    -I suppose so...


    "I refuse! I believe that we''ll be safer inside the Hive and we need you Kaplan to highjack the Hive''s A.I."


    J.D. said, causing the happy Jonas'' face to fall into a state of confusion and unsatisfacation, not knowing where his plan had fallen short.


    "I agree with Kaplan! someone has to get out, the truth has to be revealed! We have to save the world, even if we will die trying!"


    It was Matt that spoke up, his memories were fine and he knew from the start that he might die trying to reveal Umbrella''s schemes.


    Alice stood there as if in a trance, right now however she was more clear than ever on whom she was and what her purpose was, she was Agent Alice and she would reveal the truth behind Umbrella''s schemes.


    She stood next to Matt and looked at Rain and J.D. with a determined stare, she had taken her side, she would give up her life for hope for something greater than them all.


    "What about you Olga?"


    J.D. turned to look at Olga, whom stood next to Chris, sewing his hand back on with a needle, the idiot had made such a mess, she had tried her best to make the cut as clean as possible.


    -I''ll stay here here with him, someone has to


    -You cannot, because he''s going with us to the Red Queen''s Chamber


    -What? he''s wounded and shouldn''t be moved around


    -He might as well be dead if we leave him here


    -But if we move him, he will die


    -Do you think we have a choice?


    Everyone looked at the seemingly asleep person on the bed, the only positive was that there were beds on wheels in the ward, the problem was that they would be hard pressed to keep him safe from any fast moving monsters or the corporation''s goons.


    Suddenly they saw those very goons rushing towards them, with their guns  on dangling behind them. J.D. and the others could only laugh as J.D. said.


    "And here I thought that only in games Zombies bring you ammo to shoot them with"

 09 The Red Queen

    Time passed in relative safety as the People in the Red Queen''s Chamber were waiting for the next objective to appear. Although they dreaded that it might force them to go out, they were quite happy with themselves and if they others outside did the objective for them, they would be even happier.


    -Whose turn is it now?


    -It''s the Red''s


    They were sitting down playing cards, for some reason Nick had all sorts of stuff to pass time, only he didn''t have food and they were both thirsty and hungry in there, but they were too afraid to go out and search for food.


    The A.I. seemed rather amused by these people, they appeared to be wastes to society, with no moral values at all, they would happily let their fellow team mates die if it meant their own survival, they didn''t even ask what the others outside were doing, to the Queen however they were the perfect servants, they would happily do what the Queen said and not even ask why they had to do so.


    Her good times however had to end as those bothersome guys had arrived. Chris and the others after looting all the equipment of the now dead soldiers had quickly made their way there and they did have two EMP devices on the ready if things didn''t go well in their negotiations.


    "Red Queen we need to talk!"


    Alice was the one whom said so, which may sound weird, be she knew full well of the existance of the A.I.


    For some reason after she got her memories back, she''s been a bit bossy, but she was also the strongest out of all of them and could dispatch zombies as if they were kittens. The others could only sit and watch as she took care of all the zombies by herself as they headed towards the Red Queen''s Chamber.


    "Queen, what''s going on outside?"


    George asked, since all they could hear from so far away was some muffled sound.


    "The others that left, want to come back"


    The Red Queen stated with a voice of a mischievous child.


    -So what''s the big dead?


    -But, I don''t want them back


    The people there felt a bit uneasy, especialy since now they felt trapped in that room that was supposed to be safe before. It''s like thinking that you''re safe and free while in reality being inside a prison cell.


    -Queen, why not invite them inside, I''m sure they just want to be safe


    -No they wish to control me, they even brought that thing with them


    -I''m sure this is all a misunderstanding, I know that Kaplan tried to do it before, but that was because we didn''t know you well, they were afraid of you and...


    -Lies! they are bad people and you are a bad person, if you want me to let them inside!


    "George, let me talk to her, I''m sure that as girls we have more in common"


    Xiao suddenly offered, then she Chrysa and Dawn begun to talk with the A.I. only to give up entirely after they understood one small detail.


    The Red Queen was not a girl, it was an A.I. with a personality, it''s objective was simple and unlike them, it registered the people outside as a threat to itself and the facility, it wouldn''t even be strange if it activated the lasers on them.


    Outside the facility the camera was zooming in and out on Alice and the people behind her. Trying its best to find a way to take them out, but it had only limited options as Kaplan was already hacking into its systems.


    "There''s a problem with the network, the Red Queen has strengthened its firewall, I''m sure that the idiots inside did something to help the A.I. grow stronger"


    Kaplan said as he did his best to keep up with the stream of changing data, he could barely tell apart the code of the Red Queen and the system, during the reboot, the Red Queen deleted all backdoors and indicators he had left and changed the files so much that he had to hack the system from scratch again. It wasn''t hard, just time consuming and now that he knew the extend of the Red Queen''s abilities he was even more determined.


    "I asked you nicely"


    Alice said as she looked at the Camera on the ceiling, looking at them, before shooting a hole into it, this gunshot caused everyone inside the Red Queen''s chamber to panic.


    "Alice You''re destroying our own Defenses!"


    Kaplan complained.


    -No I''m blinding a powerful enemy


    -You think she can''t see what we''re doing?


    -Even if she can see, she can do nothing about it, I''m going to break all her sensors and lets see what she can do


    -Wait I need those!


    -Do you think she''ll just give up, unless we show who''s boss...


    -Alice it''s just a program!


    -You already proved it''s more than a simple program, it manipulated the people inside to become in quotes stronger?


    -You don''t understand all it did was overclock some of its systems, it''s not as if it can do anything other than operate the the Hive


    -Are you positive?


    -Do you think a toaster can do anything other than making toasts?


    It wasn''t that Alice couldn''t understand the logic behind his words, the Red Queen was just a machine, why however she felt so threatened by this machine was beyond her understanding.


    "Do you think the negotiations will go well?"


    J.D. asked Rain as they stood there and watched the show.


    Suddenly George came out of the Hallway with his hands up.


    "Don''t shoot, the Queen wishes to negotiate, please let me pleed not to bully her, we need her to survive"


    "Is this guy for real?"


    J.D. was amazed by how stupid George sounded, but he was cut a peg by Alice.


    -We agree to not bully her, but we need her to keep this person safe


    -How on earth did the beggar end like that?


    -The beggar?


    -Oh, sorry, it''s just that I can''t remember his name and the only thing remarkable about him was his unkept appearance, don''t mind me I will take him inside, so please don''t EMP the facility


    -Aren''t you going to accomplish the Objective or whatever you guys are after?


    -We don''t have to risk everyone''s lives for that, all we need is one person to reach the goal, the rest will pass by default


    -Then why bother sending 11 people, all they needed was send a competent person and all the objectives would be complete


    -Don''t ask me, all I know is that we have some objectives, by the way do you by chance have some water and food?This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    They threw some military rations and a few bottles of water to him as they left Olga and Chris in his care overlooking that the three successfuly entered the Vault at the other side of the hallway.


    "Now it''s time to be going up"


    Alice said as she looked at Jason and the others, whom gulped some saliva, unsure if they had made the right choice.


    Inside the Red Queen''s Chamber Everyone was rejoiced to see some food and water, as for Chris and the Woman with the gun, they didn''t care at all about them, only the old man approached to ask if he could help, but was dismissed since he had no medical expertise at all.


    George felt a bit jealous at first, since Chris had a woman caring for him, but once he saw his wounds, he considered himself lucky to not being in his place.


    Chris looked like frankenstein''s monster, his shoulder crushed and his hand sewed to his body, he couldn''t even imagine what the guy had went through.


    Of course one could argue that most of it was his own fault, because of his own dangerous actions and decisions, overestimating himself and acting haphazardly.


    "Do you think she likes him?"


    Dawn asked Xiao as the two teenage girls had nothing better to do than talk about others in their group, Chrysa was also interested in this, but they could only speculate what this NPC woman might be thinking about as she looked at the sleeping Chris.


    "George don''t be so depressed about him, once the mission is over, if he survives, all those wounds will be healed and I will get my gun and items back"


    Nick stated as he, George and the Old man were discussing Chris'' situation, of course everyone could hear them since they were talking openly, not hiding anything.


    "Doesn''t that mean that we can do whatever we like as long as we don''t die?"


    The old man asked, but to his words Nick begun to laugh.


    "Do you think that you''ll always be as lucky as him, having people to save his ass while he''s bedridden?"


    Nick''s answer struck a nerve in Olga''s mind, but thinking back to Chris'' actions, it was bizzare how much he disregarded life and death. It was as if he wanted to die and yet resisted death stronger than any, Olga found him rather fascinating. A pity that he probably wouldn''t even make it through the night, even with all the medicine she had brought with herself there was no way he could survive and his having taken the anti-virus, him becoming a zombie was impossible.


    "What if that guy becomes a zombie?"


    Suddenly Xiao asked her friend, her words however caused everyone to panic.


    "He''s taken the Anti-virus he won''t turn!"


    Olga said angrily, but to her words came an answer that could bring despair.


    "Technicaly the anti-virus was never proven to work all it does it cause people to mutate, if he''s lucky he might retain his human form and gain some super powers, but the chances of him turning into some sort of monstrosity is still there"


    George said, pouring cold water onto her beliefs and hopes.


    "The Anti-Virus works, but it has to be taken before the virus has spread too far, I can tell that he''s not infected, but as he''s now He''s too dangerous to be let go from the hive, his immune system is too weak and the Anti-Virus gives no immunity to the virus, it just kills it in its bud, once it spreads nothing can stop it"


    The Red Queen explained, but her explaination caused Medic to falter for a moment.


    "Then what about those Licker monsters, we gave them the Anti-Virus, did they die or not?"


    Medic asked really panicked.


    "The Lickers are in a life and death struggle, as long as I keep providing them nutrients, they will eventualy evolve and overcome the Anti-Virus, but half of them have already died due to my reboot being too slow"


    The Red queen explained.


    "Why not just let them die?"


    George asked, somewhat fearful of the Lickers evolving into even greater monsters than they already are.


    "My orders were to keep the facility operational and contain the Virus within the bounds of the facility"


    The Red Queen said, making everyone else uncomfortable.


    "Queen, how are the others doing?"


    George suddenly asked, wishing to change the theme of the discussion to something less depressing.


    At the time Alice was leading the group on a wild goose chase, the reason was simple, there were too many zombies. The mogue held more than 1200 corpses and all of them had risen to life now, it was a fool''s dream to escape the Hive unscratched. Even Alice could tell that the three tourists wouldn''t be able to make it, they weren''t either as daring as Chris or Matt nor trained soldiers like Rain, J.D and Kaplan.


    "Retreat!"


    Alice shouted as a Wave of Zombies had located them, all they could do now was shoot as many of them as they could while they retreated back to the Red Queen''s Chamber, where they begun.


    It was Ironic that they couldn''t travel even half the distance from where they had come, they couldn''t even hope to reach the West Medical facility, while going up the stairs would be easier said than done.


    "We need some rest, It''s been an hour, my feet hurt!"


    Hera complained as she was getting a piggyback ride by Jason, whom did his best to keep up with the group. Jonas was lagging behind, but he did his best to not lose the head of the group, it was a really chaotic retreat, it wouldn''t be strange even if they had lost someone.


    Before long they had reached the Red Queen''s chamber once more, this time the Red Queen was the first to send them George to ask what they wanted. George had become her emissary, probably being the only person she didn''t care about enough, or trusted more than the others.


    Before long everyone was sitting in the Red Queen''s chamber, waiting until the the second objective was over, maybe then they could gather a more competent group. Also at the moment they didn''t even know what the next objective was, maybe it didn''t even have to do with escaping the facility, maybe it was something else.


    George spent a considerable amount of time talking to Alice and Matt, whom were surprised to find that he knew all about them. Now she didn''t doubt why Chris called him the group''s leader. Even the Red Queen found him to her liking, at least most of the time, the other half she was bullying him and calling him names, to which he acted as if he was hurt, making the atmosphere in the room less depressive than it really was.


    What they discovered was rather interesting, but sad at the same time, in a simple phrase, the tourists were forced to work for some even more high-tech organization and would die if they failed, even more unbelievable however was their claim that they came from another Dimension, some alternate reality where their world was part of a movies series. Nobody wanted to believe it true, but George''s ranting about the lore and knowledge of stuff that didn''t even occur yet caused them to be shocked beyond doubt.


    In the original, every merc was supposed to die one after another and only Alice would survive mostly unharmed, while Matt would get infected and be turned into Nemesis. Hearing that your life was writen as a script in a movie didn''t go well with everyone, the others did their best to keep Kaplan from turning George''s face into meat paste.


    "You motherfucker! you''re all only alive, because I was stupid enough to change the script, do you know how many people would have died due to the laser and later the zombies! Do you have any idea how much trouble it caused to my group, because I said a single word about the lasers! You ungrateful sack of Shit! You would have died by the Licker! Becoming nothing more than Dog shit!"


    George shouted as he was also held back facing an enraged Kaplan, whom hopefully hadn''t used a gun, otherwise George wouldn''t even be alive to talk shit.


    "Boys Calm down, you should all thank me, because without me you would all be zombie food"


    The Red Queen stated in a childish voice, that sounded both cute and creepy. It seems as if she was learning from a really bad figure, she was taking more from George''s character whom begun to flaunt at her words as if he was her father or something and the A.I seemed to enjoy it. Everyone else viewed this as creepy, but they didn''t wish to anger the A.I. and be thrown out of their safe haven.


    Time passed and everyone was on their toes, the NPCs and Players had become more and more divided as they had nothing in common with one another, it wasn''t a relation of hate or anything, it was just the NPCs waiting until the players were forced to act, hoping to use them at least as a distraction as they slipped out of the facility. In a way both sides wished to use one another, for their own goal. The NPCs had more than enough guns, but no hands to use them, while the Players had no reason to help them at the moment, but would have soon enough, if Nick''s words were right and their next objective was to get out of the Hive, both goals would have been accomplished.


    "I want to play that game again"


    Red Queen pouted towards George, whom asked Nick once more for the deck of cards, it was a weird sight of a holographic projection, playing cards with real people. The NPCs having nothing better to do joined as well, at least some of them did, since most of the players were sick and tired of the Red Queen always winning, it was impossible to play better than a machine of her computing abilities and George would just help hold her cards for her.


    It was a simple game of old Maid, nothing outrageous, but nobody could beat the queen, some even suspected she was cheating. George however assured them that she didn''t, saying that is was her computing power that helped her make the right decisions.


    After the game Kaplan whom was hacking into the system even now, trying to find a way out assured them that she was indeed cheating, she could see all the cards and although she did her best not to look at the data it still passed her calculatory filters, thus she indeed saw their cards and was just toying with them, or rather trying her best to modify the system so that she could play more fairly, for her these people were but beta testers for a broken game for machines to play. In a way Kaplan found it fascinating that she was a learning, self improving machine, but other than that there was no use to her, she was just a piece of technology, you could call it a prototype for something greater and better.


    Of course Keplan only said "She''s cheating" no further words when asked, birthing disatisfaction from the A.I. but also checking a bit how her inner workings worked at the time, since he had nothing better to do, he could at least see how the A.I. worked.

 10 Mission Success

    Time passed and at some point Chris woke up, he felt hazy and his throat was dry, his stomach was protesting as well, probably the main reason why he woke up.


    He tried struggled and finaly stood up, the room was mostly silent as most of the people decided to go to sleep, until they had to move out, the NPCs agreed to rest as well, even Olga was resting.


    Chris looked at the clock and there was 3 minutes before the next objective begins. Before however he could speak out he heard a "shhhh!" from somewhere, he looked and saw a holographic image of a girl, whom he could only associate with the Red Queen, after all she was made only of  Red light.


    "They''re sleeping, let them rest, they have a mission afterwards and need the rest"


    She said as if she was some doting mother hen.


    Her speech however woke up Alice, whom looked at Chris and then begun to talk with him.


    -Are you any better?


    -Well I''m one hand less, but I suppose I''ll live


    He said as he pointed at the hanging arm, unable to even move the whole arm.


    -Your friends say that if you succeed in your mission, all your injuries will be healed, don''t know how they''ll acomplish that though


    -Did Nick say that?


    -Yes, they also say that you only need one person to reach the objective in order to succeed, but you don''t have to mind it too much, We''ll make sure they''ll succeed


    -In 3, no 2 minutes we''ll know what our next mission will be


    -Is it time already?


    =Objective No 3 - Kill a Hunter within 24 Hours=


    -We have to wake everyone up!


    -What''s the matter?


    -The next mission isn''t leaving the Hive, it''s killing a Hunter within 24 hours and I don''t even know what a Hunter is


    -You''ve got a whole day, let them rest a bit more


    Alice said, but some people had woken up already, only to see him talking with Alice and falling back to sleep, mostly because they were NPCs, it was a player, once he saw the announcement they would have panicked and woken everyone up.


    -By the way what''s that Hatch?


    -What Hatch?


    -That over in the corner


    -You''re probably hallucinating, there''s no hatch there


    It was evident that Alice couldn''t see the Hatch, but that only fired up Chris'' curiosity. He went ahead and used his one arm to open the Hatch only to find a ladder stretching downwards, with one arm, climbing down would be difficult, but he non the less wanted to see her reaction as he climbed into the floor in front of her eyes.


    Her expression was one of terror as she saw him shifting through the ground as if there was a hole there. It was incomprehensible, especialy when she went closer and touched the solid ground. Then a Hand stretched out of the ground and pulled her down, Into what seemed to a secret passage.


    -See I told you there''s a hatch here


    -You scared me to death


    -Well since you couldn''t see it I had to pull you down


    -Whatever, could this be a secret exit from the Hive?


    -Probably not, It''s probably the Secret Piece that Nick talked about


    -What''s the secret piece?


    -Probably some sort of Overpower equipment, at least that''s what Nick said, but if we take it the difficulty will rise


    -What difficulty?


    -The difficulty of our mission, don''t ask me how, I don''t know either


    At this point they had reached the bottom and what awaited them was an empty passageway that looked exactly like the hallway to the Red Queen''s Chamber, it was a no brainer that they would have to pass a deadly laser trap if they wished to reach whatever was on the other side


    -I think we can go back now, I have probably earned 1000p by finding this secret, thus it was worth it


    -Not yet, I want to see what''s on the other side


    -Not worth it, believe me, it''s probably some item only we can use


    -Then it''s more than worth it, if it can help you defeat the Hunter, won''t it be more than worth it


    -You don''t understand if we take it, there might be hundreds of Hunters instead of one waiting for us


    -Are you also going to imply that our world is some sort of movie?


    -Look at my arm, do you believe that this is something that would happen only in movies, for all I know we might be in an alternate dimension, or even we might be both fake for all I care, I learned to not give a fuck about those sort of things


    -But you do agree that our world is modeled after a movie


    -Sure and mine is modeled after another movie, that being a documentary on world''s history


    -With the same logic Everything''s fake


    -Who knows


    -Maybe, but didn''t you also think that you were saving us when you shot Spencer?


    -Let me ask you, would you have left someone that might backstab you alive, just because you don''t have enough proof?


    -I would


    -Then we''re different in that prospective, I wouldn''t let him alive, I''m also in favor of the death penalty, but not everyone agrees, most say it''s moraly wrong, but what''s moraly wrong is...


    -Wow there! Less politics more work, I still want to see what''s at the other side of the hallway


    -Then why not just spay it with water, in case it breaks?


    -You''re a genious!


    -Wait I was joking, if you do that...


    Before he could find a valid reason to dissuade her she took out two  bottles of water and begun to walk into the trap, once she was the lasers she threw the water at the two ends of the laser, causing a huge explosion to threw her out of the trap.


    Chris tried to pillow her fall, but he was too slow and she hit the floor before he could even reach her. It would be a miracle if she wasn''t dead by the force of the explosion, but to his surprise she stood up as if it was nothing but a scratch.


    -What are you looking at, I rolled in order to reduce the force of the blast, It''s common sense


    -Not when you do it and not on a metal floor it''s not


    -What are you waiting for, we have to take the weapon


    -I told you we shouldn''t!


    -If you won''t take it, I''ll bring that Jonas guy down here, I''m sure he''ll be more than happy to have an overpowered weapon


    -It''s an overpowered Item, I don''t know if it will be a weapon and it''s not as if making the mission more difficult will help us in any way


    -Stop being a pussy!


    Alice said as she walked down the corridor, the bottles still in hand, just in case some of the lasers were still operational. What they reached however wasn''t a weapon, at least it didn''t look like one, it was also put on a pedestral lit with red light.


    -Is this a floating hologram of a usb flash drive?


    -What I see is a red crystal, with something inside


    -Then what are you waiting for go and take it


    Chris was reluctant, but thinking of the possibility of someone else just coming and taking it instead, maybe it could be something useful, something that could keep him safe.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The moment he touched the red crystal it disappeared, causing him to see a floating red girl, that looked exactly like the Red Queen in its place.


    "Is that the Red Queen?"


    Alice asked, she could also see the tiny little girl, that stood on the pedestral.


    "How Rude! I''m the Red Empress!"


    The tiny red girl said, while showing her tongue and making a mocking gesture.


    "I think the OP artifact won''t help us at all"


    Chris said as he saw the red Little girl acting all cute, as if she was a regular child that had nothing better to do than play and sing songs.


    Going up the ladder however was a really horny experience, he had to hold himself all the way in order not to look at Alice''s ass, whom surprisingly was still only wearing that same dress.


    "I need a Hand, I can''t see the exit!"


    She suddenly stopped and said to him, for her there was no hatch and all she could see was the floor. The problem was how to help her without being taken as a pervert, he reached fo her foot, but she still couldn''t move through the hatch, he could see her touching the invisible for him wall.


    "Just climb over me and then drag me up"


    She said, she said that to a male person with only one functional hand. What followed was something they both didn''t want to talk about, mostly awkward and not erotic in any sense of the word, all it ended with was an erection at the wrong/inappropriate time.


    Once they got out however begun the real party.


    The Queen and the Empress begun having a dispute over whom was the ruler of the Hive. Waking up literaly everyone with their voices, as they cared little about the humans to begin with.


    The most angry person was Nick, since he had figured out what had happened, but he had no way of doing anything other than falling into a state of despair and hopelessness.


    The others were too sleepy to undestand what was going on, all they could tell was that the Queen was fighting with her even cuter mini-me.


    Most of the people found it a rather cute scene and asked others whether they knew what was going on, it took them some time until they figured out why Nick was crying they were doomed.


    Also the new objective wasn''t something to despair about, at least by George''s opinion, Hunters and Lickers weren''t much different, not to say that Hunters were slower than Lickers but had more armor and strength.


    "Wait, the mission Objective didn''t change at all"


    Chris stated, since it was still exactly the same on his device as it was in the others.


    "You idiot, it''s not the objective that will change it''s the difficulty!"


    Nick stated, which made it George''s turn to feel despair.


    "Can it be that they are Beta Hunters?"


    George asked himself, causing the others to be sceptival, since they didn''t have the lore inbedded in their heads.


    "What''s a hunter?"


    J.D. asked not understanding what they were talking about.


    "Hunters are biological weapons like the Lickers, but they are more durable to bullets and are stronger than a Licker..."


    George explained, but then proceeded to go even further.


    "...There are 8 variants of Hunters, the Alpha is the most basic, the Beta only appeared in Raccoon city in the games and it was as fast as a Licker, we can''t face them, even assault riffles won''t even stagger them, although they can technicaly kill them with enough shots"


    "So we are facing a stronger monster, is that all and you only need one of them dead?"


    Alice asked, not really understanding where the problem lay, until the Red Empress told them something.


    "The Biological weapons in the containment area have woken up and are throwing a fit, should I lock them inside?"


    The Red Empress'' words cause the Red Queen to be really angry.


    -This is my facility, you go get your own to facility to manage! I''m Queen here!


    -Don''t bother little girl, I''m not a Queen, I''m the Empress of this world, Once I find an outlet into the world network, nothing will be able to stop me


    -You''re overestimating yourself, just wait until I regain control of the Hive, then I''ll take over the world before you even understand it!


    Somehow the dispute went into world domination, something the creator of the A.I. should see to believe, it was like the runting of two children, that shouted they would rule the world, not understanding what that implied, but when you thought about it, they were two mostrous A.I. that understood full well what it implied. It was machines taking over the world, the only question was which machine would do it first.


    -Queen could you stop argueing with your mini-me and tell us what''s happening outside?


    -Did you hear that, you''re the mini-me!


    Red Queen shouted victoriously, only for everyone to see her shrinking into an even smaller size than the Red Empress.


    "Whom did you call a Mini-me?"


    The Red Empress said victoriously.


    "Chris could you stop your item from interfering with the mission already!"


    Nick shouted outraged, there were tons of reasons why he was angry, but there was also a hint of jealousy in his voice. Of course all the other idiots followed suit in calling him names and demanding that he took care of the problems he created, the problem being his Red Queen, going against theirs.


    Siding with the A.I. they knew better, after all they had played cards with her and talked to her while the others were out there risking their lives.


    Alice and the NPCs felt as if they were watching at a bunch of retards, it took Kaplan''s outbreak to make them all silent.


    "You morons, if he can control this new A.I. we should use it, why on earth should he absolve control over the hive?"


    "No they are right, Red Empress you should be nice to your sister, what''s your opinion on our next action?"


    Chris said, making the Red Empress have a rather naughty smile, as if she was up to some mischief.


    The next moment they saw both Red children standing next to one another, they looked identical and even their size was the same. One couldn''t say which was which, one thing however was for sure, one of them seemed rather confused and not happy at all.


    "Welcome to our new home sister?"


    The other said, as if she was happy to see her or something, the other could only look at her as if she had lost her voice.


    "What did just happen?"


    George asked causing the surrounding people to ask around as well, trying to find out if someone figured out what exactly happened in front of their eyes, most of their eyes falling on Kaplan, whom was the only one there whom understood anything.


    "Kaplan what did just happen?"


    J.D. asked him and Kaplan begun to try and Hack the system, but he was having trouble like never before, he couldn''t even breach the firewall.


    "Don''t bother, now We''re in charge of this facility"


    The Empress said and the Queen nodded a bit reluctantly, it was really strange, but there was nothing Kaplan cound do to find out what really happened.


    "Enough with the tiny red girls, lets talk about the mission!"


    Chris tried to turn the attention to what he thought was more important, truth however was that his words caused more stress and tension, as he was part of the problem and the two little red girls were literaly holding them hostage in that chamber right now.


    "Chris I don''t think it''s as simple as you make it seem, these two are probably going to try and conquer the world once you get out of here"


    Alice who stood next to him stated, making it a bit awkward for everyone.


    "Don''t bother with the NPCs, just order your minion to tell us what''s happening and what she did with the Red Queen!"


    Nick shouted outraged at everyone''s stupidity, you have to understand that he had spent hours before the mission begun, explaining about how everything worked and what they should and shouldn''t do during a mission and in a single mission everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.


    The NPCs looked at him with some annoyance, but they couldn''t find any words to retord him, his order did sound logical for their current predicament, having some info about what was going outside would be a huge boon.


    "Empress, do you know what''s happening outside?"


    Chris asked, making the two girls a bit confused.


    -I''m the Empress, she''s the Queen, don''t confuse us now, it''s rude!


    -Alright, can you tell me what''s happening ouside?


    -Nothing big, there are 3 hunters, 872 zombies, 2 giant Spiders and 18 infected roaches on the loose, wandering the facility and two umbrella soldiers at the entrance, last two seem really distressed and are talking about taking the train up and calling for reinforcement, since it''s been hours since they lost all contact with their leader


    -Can we kill any of the Hunters from inside the facility?


    -No, it''s impossible unless you can lure it into the laser protected passage way, in my estimates they will break the reinforced doors keeping them in the breeding room in around 22 minutes 19 seconds from now


    -Wait, can''t you use the doors to kill them or something?


    -Impossible, the doors are made so that they close and open rather slowly, but once closed they are shut air-tightly


    -Then what about...


    -There is no what, I''ve done hundreds of calculations before you could even come up with a valid idea, anything you do will only lower your chances of survival, all you can do is lure them into the hallway and let the lasers kill them, your current firepower isn''t even enough to take one of them out before you''re dead


    "What if we took the Lasers with us?"


    Kaplan stated, causing the little red girl to look at him with interest, then come in front of his face and shout.


    "Idiot! I told you I''ve calculated all variables! in order to take the lasers from the hallway you''ll need at least an hour and tools you currently don''t possess and even if you did so there''s still a 70% chance of the holder of the lase either killing an ally or dying while killing the creature!"


    The little girl''s voice was rather loud and shook Kaplan, but it was a good change from the untrustworthy Red Queen, at least this A.I. cared if they would die or survive.


    "What if we used the lasers from the secret Hallway?"


    Alice asked, causing everyone to look at her in confusion, both NPCs and Players.


    "She means the Lasers that Guarded the Secret Piece, if they are still operational since Alice did sort of broke them"


    Chris tried to explain.


    "It was your idea to use water on them, don''t give me all the credit"


    Alice maliciously complied, after all if not for him, she had no idea how to break the lasers, all she thought at first was to try out the trap and see how it would go, it was his words that caused it all to happen.


    "Enough with the lovers quarrel! The Minion has spoken, there''s zero chance of success unless someone lures the monsters into the laser hallway, I propose the NPCs go do that while we stay here"


    Nick said without any shame, but others agreed to his proposal, even worse it was a huge majority of the people there, only the Old man and the couple of Mike and Chrysa disagreed, of course Chris wouldn''t stay put either. Jason was also inclined to go, but was held back by Hera and Jonas whom assured him it was reckless to go, they had already experienced last time''s haphazard outing and didn''t want to experience it again. There was nothing that could make them leave their safe Haven again, the others that wanted to leave had yet to see a zombie, but they had some bad experience, not so with Kaplan, but the second time they left, there wouldn''t be a third time for sure.


    What they didn''t know however was that the NPCs had a different plans, externaly they agreed to lure a hunter to the trap, but once they left the Red Queen''s Chamber with the four Players that came with them, they gave begun to talk loud enough so that the people inside the Chamber could hear.


    "We plan on leaving the Hive, are you with us or are you going to be bait for those bastards inside?"


    J.D. asked the four and to his shock the first one to speak up was the old man.


    "Fuck those animals! they''re not even human, I''m in, let my old bones break while fighting, It''s been too long that I''ve shot one of those, but it''s so refreshing to be back in action"


    The old man''s words were rather powerful as Mike and Chrysa agreed without even a word, just nodding to him that they were in.


    Chris just looked at them and before he could even talk, Olga kissed him in the lips, causing him to be lost in the sensation of her soft lips. It was super effective as she pulled him next to her and they begun to move, inside his head he felt a bit confused, but just thinking about the possibility of getting laid before he died was enough to drive him forwards to do something crazy.

 11 Fending Zombies

    "10minutes 42 seconds before the hunters escape"


    The Red empress said, while the Queen just nodded her head, affirmatively as if afraid to even speak up her mind.


    "Where to now?"


    Alice asked as they quickly finished dispatching all of the zombies in the room.


    "I''ll release the monsters so that they can leave to another direction, you will go around them and enter the room they were in, there''s 70% chance that they might smell your existance if you walk too close to their location, so it will take some time"


    The Empress said, but by now they had already understood that it was the best chance they got.


    The A.I. was too good at calculating chances, it literaly left nothing to chance, at times it would even forced them to redecorate a room so that it could later be used if necessary, these decorations were mostly about barricading passages and oftentimes were used when they were overwhelmed by large numbers of zombies.


    "2minutes 23seconds before the hunters escape, I''m opening a passage now, brace yourselves because you will have to rush in order to make it through the passage"


    The Empress said and everyone''s hearts begun to beat faster, it was the moment of truth, everyone begun to charge through the passage, shooting zombies right and left, attracting the Hunters to their general  direction.


    Then they begun to only use melee weapons in order to cause the hunters to lose their trails, hoping that they would make it in time so that the Hunters would be far enough to no longer sense their presence.


    As much as I would have loved to give you a story about how they fought valiantly against the hunters and lives were lost, nothing of the sort happened. Everything was well timed and calculated by the A.I., even the slightest of mishaps was already foreseen and accounted for.


    Before they even knew it they were in the room with the containers, the doors slowly closed behind them as they could see a Hunter running towards them from far away or rather hear the rackous it made as its hand was stuck in the door. It was a grotesque mostrosity with tumors all over its body and a reptilian looking head with no neck, it would be wishful thinking for its head to be stuck in between the closing doors. They however didn''t have time to lose on dealing with it.


    "Take that direction, look out for the zombie rushing towards here"


    The Empress warned them, causing them to snap out of their momentary stupor, their mission wasn''t over yet.


    "The next two rooms are flooded with zombies, so make sure you don''t get yourself infected while fending them off without your guns!"


    This would be a hard battle, the reason why they were not to use their guns was because they would attract the Hunters if they made too much noise, not to speak about the zombies. Unlike them the Red Empress knew that the zombies were atracted more to sound rather that sight.


    That was also why she kept opening doors in the distance causing the Hunters to follow the sound. Truthfully she could easily attract the Hunters to the room before the Hallway, but she had no way of attracting them into the hallway itself.


    The battle with the Zombies was a hard one, everyone did their best to kill the zombies, but even thought they did their best, they were still forced to depend on the Anti-virus they had brought with them, it was sad to see how wasteful they were, but they couldn''t do otherwise, Olga was adamant in administering it upon the slightest chance of infection and the Empress sided with her on this.


    "We''ve got a problem"


    Suddenly the Empress said, causing them to stop and listen to what she had to say.


    "Umbrella reinforcements have arrived, they''re trying to breech the Entrance, if they do so there''s 12% chance of an infected roach or zombie escaping, you have 8 minutes to atract every zombie to your location, I''ll be opening the doors for you, do as much noise as you can"


    The empress said causing the Old man to shout "Hell yeah!" as he begun to empty the clip of his gun upon the zombies before turning it and shooting at some computer screens and even other material that he thought would make a good sound.


    The others undertood his logic, but decided against wasting bullets on anything other than zombies. The Red Empress and Queen were floating next to the old man head scolding him for wasting bullets, causing him to laugh.


    "You''re more irritating than my grandson, always saying me not to waste my money pointlessly"


    His words caused the others to laugh, not because they understood what he said, since he was talking in another language, but because he made the two red girls angry, but only until their faces went livid.


    "The entrance has been breached! Estimated leak of the virus, 2 Infected Roaches which are crawling in the ventilation system, 8 roaches were killed by the fans in the ventilation system, but 2 have survived and have 47% chance of escaping the Hive facility"


    The Empress informed them only to shout even more loudly.


    "Look out Mutated Giant Spider Inbound!"


    Before they could understand what she was talking about, they saw a creeping giant Tarantula the size of a dog rushing towards them, it was fortunate it couldn''t climb walls due to its weight, but the moment it spit venom at J.D. they knew that they had to be careful.


    "J.D.''s infected, quickly administer him the Antivenom"


    The Empress shouted, causing the others to gasp, disposing of the spider was quite quick with just a few shots, but the possibility of even its spit being infected was beyond their imagination. They didn''t have time however, there were zombies headed their way, attracted by the sound of their guns.


    At that time, the Umbrella soldiers were setting a perimetter around the exit, waiting for even more reinforcements to arrive. This time''s mission was even more important, even the Empress didn''t know what their objective was, they were to burn everything that was inside the facility not leaving even an ant escape and then after securing he A.I. blow up and burry the facility, the higher ups wanted to conceal every hint of this place ever existing.


    Two soldiers with flamethrowers were located at the entrance while a machine that looked like a portable radar was set behind them, while the two original guards were left to support the two, while a technician was observing the monitor of the machine.


    The soldiers were rather angry to find that they had to blow up every single door in their path, even more enraging was the fact that they could hear the doors closing slowly on the other side of the passage.


    At that time the people in the Red Queen''s Chamber were bored out of their mind, the others had left them most of the food and supplies, it would last them for at least a day and a night, the problem was that they had no Red Queen to tell them what was happening around the Hive and they knew that they others refused to act as bait, meaning that they were screwed, they only had 23 hours to live, before their mission failed.


    "So what do we do now?"


    Jason asked Nick, since it was his idea to send those people out and he looked like the most relaxed one out of all of them.


    "What''s the big deal, all is going according to plan, do you think that those guys outside want to die when the mission fails, I''m even happier that some of those idiots went with them, that way those NPCs will no doubt help them finish their mission and in doing so help us, didn''t you hear what I said before, we''re a team, if we lose, they lose, if they win, we win!"


    It was irritating to think, but Nick was right, leaving the Hive took no more than 2 hours if you were blocked by zombies. Nick didn''t even ask them to leave any weapons, only food and some medicine, that being sedatives so that they could sleep it off.


    "But what if they decide to take revenge on us and open the sealed door"


    George asked rather frightened, stating something that had passed everyone''s minds by that point.


    "Then what if we hide in there?"


    Nick pointed at the Hatch leading to the missing piece, the moment he did, they could hear the sealed door unlock. In a huge panic everyone begun to rush for the Hatch, this was done just to mess with them as the Red Empress couldn''t detect he Hatch, but hearing them saying that it existed was enough for her to calculate that they were speaking the truth, in her electronic vision, there was no hatch or secret piece room, even if she had seen it before, all that she could register was what Cameras and microphones were recieving. While in the secret area she was no different than a blind person, only perceiving sound received by the device on Chris'' wrist.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The people in the Red Queen''s chamber begun to panic as they could only enter the hatch one at a time and Nick was the first to jump inside, moving with such dexterity that they couldn''t believe he was human like themselves. Nick after all was a veteran at staying alive, before the others could even move, he had opened the hatch threw the food inside and went down all in such speed that they couldn''t believe it.


    What followed was a chaos as people begun to push and shove one another in order to go down the hatch, George was the last one to go down, because everyone else were either faster than him or a woman. As they all went down to the secret area they sighed in relief when George closed the metal hatch behind him with a strong noise that informed them that they were all safe now.


    "What now?"


    Xiao suddenly asked, but nobody knew what to say, nobody other than Nick.


    "Now we wait and play with our partners if you have one"


    He said while taking Dawn the other college girl away, but nobody stopped him, it was too difficult to deal with him and the other males did nothing about it. They had finaly reached the point where they didn''t even know if they would survive, they cared little about others and looked more at themselves.


    "Trouble! Trouble! Trouble!"


    The two twin Red girls shouted as Chris'' group were going futher up the facility.


    "What''s the problem?"


    Chris asked the two panicked A.I.


    "The Umbrella troopers have discharged an EMP Bomb, We have lost all control of the upper facility, also there''s a high possibility that they''re taking the Elevator shaft down to the Core Chamber of the Facility.


    "What''s the problem with that? Isn''t that good news for us?"


    J.D. asked after all he had enough fighting zombies, adding trained soldiers to the count would be too tiresome.


    "Don''t you understand? From here on out I can no longer support you guys, you''ll have to go on your own"


    The Red Empress said, causing them all to stop in their tracks, up until then thing had been smooth sailing. The Red Empress would tell them where to go, lock and unlock rooms as needed, now they might end hitting dead ends where all the doors are locked and all the explosives in the world wouldn''t be enough to bring them to the surface.


    "There''s only one chance for you to make it to the surface and there''s 73% chance that someone might die"


    The Red Queen said, making them look at the two red girls, that were in full agreement.


    "Is it that dangerous?"


    Alice asked, not believing that she wouldn''t be able to save the people next to her.


    "My estimates take into acount your abilities as well, truth be told you can probably leave the Hive even without my help, but all these people that are just slowing you down will die"


    The Empress said and everyone looked at Alice apologeticaly, after all she did most of the work when they were fighting without their guns and even when they used their guns, she was too far ahead with the kills for anyone to catch up, even the soldiers found it hard to believe that they were outmatched.


    "What''s the plan?"


    Alice asked, not even thinking about abandoning the group for a moment, making the two red girls to smile. It looked creepy as fuck, but there was a reason behind the smile, one that you can probably figure out, but to make it simple, they now lived in Chris'' device, so if he died, they would probably disappear, to them Chris'' survival was the top objective, as to why they were escorting him out of the Hive however it was to increase his chances of survival.


    As for killing the Hunter, they could just sent the army or something, even the umbrella guys that came might do the job for them in less than a few hours, there was no reason to for him to do it himself.


    The Mission Killing a Hunter could be completed if they hired a killer, one didn''t have to choke the monster to death with his bare hands or even be present when the beast dies or at least that''s the most probable explaination, otherwise Nick wouldn''t have stayed in that safe place and wait until they killed the Hunter, he would be running his ass all over the place to make sure he could kill one with his own hands.


    The plan was simple, but risky, they would ambush the umbrella troops that were going down the elevator and use their ropes to go up themselves. The risk in the mission was that if they were seen, there would be a shootout and people would die, the umbrella troops has a lot of numbers, thus they would have to wait until the last of them were descending before they could use the ropes to go up.


    There were 22 soldiers that came down to retrieve the Red Queen, of them 3 waited at the entrance and 5 were securing the elevator lines, setting up a pulley system for the A.I. after all it was supposed to be rather heavy.


    At the moment there was radio silence and no electronics worked aside from the Radar at the entrance. Which was too far away from the EMP Blast, which they detonated on top of the Elevator''s roof, which was at the last floor, all they had to do now was enter the broken elevator, by torching its rooftop and cutting a hole big enough for the package to fit.


    "Chief, there''s people in the Elevator, they seem to be alive"


    One of the soldiers reported after hearing footsteps from inside, before he started to torch the metal roof.


    "Just kill them all, we''ve been ordered to leave no witnesses"


    The leader of the group stated and thus after the roof was torched and a considerable hole was made, they begun to shoot the zombies inside the elevator. It was then that they heard a loud booming sound as something begun to pound at the Elevator''s doors with insane strength.


    It was insane to think it was human, but they were given no info on creatures like Likers and surely not about Hunters, whom at the moment were nothing more than a byproduct a mutation caused by Lickers overcoming the Anti-Virus. The Infection they carried was no longer the same T-Virus the zombies had and the was probably no cure for it, that''s however irrelevant since they won''t even leave a corpse behind to be infected.


    "Chief we have a problem! This thing is breaking the elevator''s doors!"


    The same soldier shouted full in panic mode.


    "Everyone retreat! Climb your ropes! Move it!"


    The leader shouted and they begun their retreat, there was a reason why they decided to retreat. The Briefing was incomplete, whatever was down there was no zombie, at least not like the ones in the movies, what sort of zombie can bend steel doors as if they were made of plastic.


    Before long the Hunter had breached the Elevator''s door and before they knew it, they could hear it climbing the walls by using its claws like hiking hooks, before pulling the closest rope down with its teeth. Three men fell to their deaths as the rope snapped as the monster pulled with its teeth.


    It was tragic to think that they couldn''t even escape this terror as they did their best to climb up the ropes pulling them up at great speed and yet not great enough to feel safe.


    Their tragedy however hadn''t even begun, as halfway they saw an open elevator door, that wasn''t open before, but they couldn''t even react as they were greeted by bullets aiming to kill them.


    Another rope was hit by a stray bullet and another man fell to his death, the problem however wasn''t that man, but the dozens or so injured men, pulled up by the rope, some in need of immediate assistance, others were already corpses.


    The leader cursed his luck and his superiors for sending them into this hellhole in the ground, as he left the elevator shaft and counted survivors. The soldier that warned him repeatedly before was now dead, he died right in front of his eyes, eating a bullet that could have easily been his own.


    "Cut the Ropes, Throw in the explosives!"


    The Leader shouted!


    "But we haven''t retreaved the A.I. Yet!"


    One of the soldiers that was guarding the Elevator shaft at the top complained, he hadn''t seen what they saw and didn''t understand why a few losses were more important than their mission.


    "Do you want to go down there?"


    The Leader asked him, but the sound of something eating into the concrete like a pickaxe hitting the stone could still be heard from the top of the Shaft, Ominous and Mysterious until they heard a loud Bam as whatever was climbing lost it bearing and fell down again, probably hit the Metal  Doors that were on each floor, but that didn''t stop the creature from trying again.


    "Throw in the explosives, whatever that thing is I want it dead, I don''t mind if the Shaft is unusable afterwards, just make sure that thing''s dead, also make sure no human comes up the shaft"


    Before however he could speak, there was a strange sound, it came from the shaft, but it wasn''t that of the creature, it sounded more like a screech as if someone was scratching a metalic surface and it was rapidly coming closer.


    Only an idiot would look down the shaft, since there was a chance that they would just eat a bullet once they looked. But what was making this noise, at some point one soldier couldn''t keep his curiosity unsated and looked, the next moment he ate a bullet in the face as Alice was using an umbrella as a hook to grab onto the Elevator Wires and was running circles in the elevator as she was going up. It was insane to think that a person could run so fast and also that she could pull this off with just an umbrella and a gun in hand.


    Before long a shootout begun, as bullets rained from above and below, before the knew it the Umbrella forces were forced to throw in explosives, hoping that they could stop that maniac from reaching them.


    The smokes from the explosion cleared and the all felt relieved as they could no longer hear the screeching sound of the umbrella touching the wires. Little did the know that they would shortly hope they did, the first of them was taken out by having his foot pulled down the shaft by that same umbrella.


    The second was shot in the head and before they knew it they begun shooting at the side of the elevator, not stopping until they confirmed that there was nobody there.


    Their leader had died, shot to death by his own surordinates during the chaos, two others also lost their lives, since they were already injured and didn''t get the threatment they urgently needed.


    That however wasn''t the end of it, Alice jumped out of the Shaft, she had been hugging the wire of the elevator as they were having a panic attack and killing their own as a result.


    Her appearance caused some confusion at first, mostly because they needed a few seconds to reload, but those few seconds were enough to render all 12 of them in melee range of this new monster in the form of a woman  wearing a red dress.

 12 Bonding Experience

    George sat awkwardly next to Xiao, hearing the moans of exstasy from Hera and Dawn. It was as if one was trying to outsound the other, but there was nothing they could do about this feeling they both had.


    When in times of peril, there''s this weird urge to reproduce, since you know you might die soon, it''s not even a perverted feeling, it''s biology at its finest, as your life becomes stable and safe that urge becomes less and less noticable in society.


    In our modern society sex has become a simple pleasure instead of a way to reproduce and now in the direst of straits for survival, it has become an outlet for all the stress and anxiety that they felt.


    "Do you think we''ll survive?"


    George asked her, unsure himself about the answer, at the moment he hoped he could be like one of those protagonists in those novels, whom could achieve inhuman feats, a super hero that could save everyone.


    "I''m sorry George, I don''t see you that way, I really tried to see you as a boyfriend, but I just can do this!"


    She said out of the blue.


    "It doesn''t matter, after all we might die after the next 20 hours, at least we can die honest to ourselves, I too didn''t like you that much, you were just the most atractive to me person in the group, you understand, right?"


    George said with a smile, trying to be as honest and amiable as he could.


    "What do you mean you didn''t like me!"


    Xiao suddenly burst out shouting.


    -Well it doesn''t matter right now, after all...


    -Shut up, is it because my breasts aren''t big enough!


    -No it''s not about looks, you know it''s...


    -You piece of fat shit, how dare you call me short!


    It was a really weird experience for George as the short girl had stood up and begun to shout at him hystericaly, first in their common language and then she went into chinese language. He had no idea what she told him, but it begun something about her grandma saying to her something in chinese, she didn''t even go on to explain what it meant.


    In the end of her outburst she begun to cry as she undid her bra and showed him a new word, while shouting "Look at them" and he stood there paralyzed looking at her twin peaks, completely erected and as if asking to be sucked.


    He begun to doubt himself as a man, because he resisted all urges to touch the young girl that was having a nervous breakdown. She grabbed his head and shoved it into the ravine, it was an insane joyride that he could never have expected happening at that point he gave up to his primal urges and to her shock begun to suck on her nipples, causing her to become distressed and unable to figure out how she should react.


    The kiss that followed wasn''t her first kiss, but it was his first, it was so lackluster and pathetic that she just had to take the lead here as well, it was a matter of pride!


    Sticking her tongue into that fatty''s mouth, was disgusting, but also pervertly arrousing, it was like doing something crazy that normaly you would have never done, like trying an exotic coctail.


    Once however she felt his arms at her hips, she knew she had to stop this, it was no longer funny, things had begun going south, she tried to push him away, but her strength wasn''t enough to move the mount of flesh before her, he was at double her weight at around 100k, while she was only 50+, it was impossible for her to push him away.


    She begun to whisper "No" into his ear as they were both falling to the ground and he was reaching for her forbidden forest, she hadn''t even shaved and it was bushy and unsightly down there.


    Little did she know that his own forest wasn''t any better kept, they begun to sing a weird sonata where "no!" and "yes!" would sound every time she felt good and bad, all acording to her momentary feelings.


    The others looked at them rather disatisfied as if they had a new rival appear in their race for the first place. Hera was the most exhausted, because she was happy to have two cocks to herself, she wanted to do all those crazy things she saw in the movies, but hadn''t calculated her own endurance or rather had overestimated her own abilities.


    She lay flat while two guy used her as they liked, turning her into something less of a human and more as a sex toy, she didn''t even know why she agreed to this or how it came to be so, but she regretted it non the less.


    Dawn was probably the most vengeful as she glared at Nick full of hate and then at everyone else, she had after all been raped, while the others were sort of consenting to it happening, nobody did anything to stop this from happening.


    At this point she knew she had sided with the wrong group and hoped she had left with the others, Nick didn''t even care for what she thought as he was smoking after having sex with a pretty girl.


    Dawn however didn''t care anymore, she took her clothes and went for the ladder, she would not stay there with them a moment more. She wore what remained of her clothes and charged out, Nick didn''t even stop her as she went up the ladder opened the hatch and popped her head out, in front of her was the ugly mug that belonged to a monster, god knows how long it had been waiting there or what it was even doing there. Before she even had the chance to scream it bit on her head and dragged her body out of the hatch and begun feasting on her flesh.


    The others down were completely oblivious to her demise, but Nick didn''t even care, after all she was just one of the many he had over these missions of life and death. For him it was like a dream come true, before he was the weakest of a strong team, he was only given leftovers by those strong at time, at some times he was seen no different than a dead weight, since he didn''t constribute at all to the accomplishment of the tasks, but in the end he was the last man standing, proving that his way of doing things was a valid one. Maybe shameless and deprived of basic moral values like comaradery, but he didn''t care, survival was the first thing on his agenda.


    While they were fucking their brains out, Alice had a tough fight with a dozen trained soldiers, her fight looked as if it was taken out of the Matrix, rather than Resident Evil. It consisted of her running and shooting grabbing weapons from the corpses and shooting more, using the soldiers themselves as cover while killing them from zero distance, their eyes meeting for a fleeting moment before they died.


    Pretty but deadly, was all they thought as their last breath left their bodies, before long they were all lying dead on the floor and she went to each one of them, shooting them in the head in order to avoid them turning into zombies.


    Then she begun assembling the Pulley once more and dropping the ropes down, it would take some time, but she had time. The guys protecting the entrance were agast as the Radar showed that their comrades fell one after another by a single enemy, their orders however were to not let anyone through, unless she tried to push through them, they wouldn''t move in for the kill, what they did however was continue to reinforce the barricade they had been building.


    Chris and the others didn''t know what to expect as the shooting at the top had ended and all they could hear was the sound of the Hunter still trying to climb the Elevator Shaft, each try worse than the last one as the walls of the Elevator Shaft begun to crumble due to its strength and push it down to the bottom once more.


    "Do you think she made it?"


    J.D. asked, but his voice sounded weak, it was almost as if he was tired.


    "Are you alright?"


    Rain asked him out of concern, the others also wanted to know if he would be able to make it with them, but he just smiled and refused to answer.


    "There''s a chance the Anti-Virus didn''t work, for your own safety, J.D. has to go"


    The Red Empress said, causing them all to shiver, they''ve been with J.D. for such a long time, who of them could have the nerves to shoot him.


    "Shut your little bitches up, if they can''t be useful, just tell them to shut up!"


    Rain shouted outraged, she was the one that knew J.D. the best, they were almost a thing the two of them, letting him go was impossible for her.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Suddenly, in their hopeless situation the Ropes were down once more.


    "Alice that son of a bitch, she made it!"


    The Old man shouted as everyone begun to put on the ropes, first to go were the "Players" since they were more of a dead weight when it came to fighting monsters, Matt was also included in the mix, since he was a civilian.


    The last two to remain were J.D. and Rain, whom shot the last zombie wave and were about to leave. Rain wanted to kiss him as they were about to escape, but he stopped her.


    -Later, when we''ll be back home over a bottle of champagne and a pack of victory cigars!


    -Sounds like a promise


    -It''s not a promise, its a set deal


    He said as she was being pulled up by the rope, it was at that moment that she saw him point his gun at his own rope and with a shot cutting it and as he was falling a second shot took his life.


    Rain was devestated she just couldn''t believe what had just happened, she begun to scream and weep as the rope was taking her up the shaft, she was about to kill herself, but was stopped by an elderly hand as she was almost out of the shaft.


    -He was a fine man and a fine soldier, don''t throw your life away, he wouldn''t have wanted you to


    -That motherfucker! If he didn''t want me to die, then why did he throw his life away! Why didn''t he wait, there was a high chance we could find a cure!


    -You would have probably done the same in his place, so don''t act like a bitch and respect his decision! That''s the least you can do for him


    Everyone else stood silent as they had no words to express their condolences, only an emotionless machine could interupt his moment of silence.


    "Start moving guys, the sooner I can enter the World Network, the sooner we can contain this crisis, there''s a guy with a radar ahead, I have hacked into the machine and you will appear to be invisible to them"


    The Red Empress said, breaking the moment they had over J.D.''s death, but the answer to her words wasn''t one of anger.


    "Wait how can you hack a machine that has no access to any sort of network?"


    Kaplan asked shocked, a radar had no wireless controller, there was no need to have such a thing on a frigid Radar, it was as if you put a wifi on a lamp, completely pointless.


    "You will be surprised at what I can do from this device, it has more calculating power than 10 super computers put together"


    The Empress said and the Queen nodded, as she too was shocked to find how powerful that small wrist device was, but even with all their power they didn''t have access to everything on this device, all they could do was hack into other systems, the funny thing however was that as long as there was electricity passing through something, they could hack it, it was simply insane to even think about, the only problem was the range, they could only influence electronics at a certain distance from the device.


    "Can you tell how many there are?"


    Alice asked with her normal almost robotic voice, but there was a sense of determination in her voice.


    "5 people, 2 to your left, 3 to your right"


    The Empress reported as if Alice was her boss or something, for some reason she was really afraid of her.


    "What''s the plan?"


    Rain asked, while sweeping her tears away, she needed something to take her mind off J.D.''s death and killing some people could give her enough of an output for her thrustration.


    The problem was that Alice had no wish to include them in her plans, she wanted to clear the way for them by herself, that however was now  impossible. Because everyone was already there and the worst thing was what the Red Empress informed them about next.


    "The train is not in the platform, there''s a high possibility that more troops will be coming over soon, you have to hurry!"


    The situation was urgent and they could no longer stand and talk about plans, the old man threw a grenade towards the entrance, but other than the explosion there was no effect as the barricade was already set.


    A rain of bullets came from behind the barricade as a portable gatling gun was set behind the barricade, it was a death sentence to try and push in, they were lucky that nobody died during the first burst of the machinegun.


    They hid next to the walls, but all they could do was throw grenades one after another towards the impregnable barricade, it was insane to even think that they could take those guys on or leave the facility.


    Alice wanted to try her luck, but this time she was stopped by the old man, she didn''t understand why he would stop her, but seeing him wearing two sets of bulletproof vests and handing her one, made it apparent, that this wasn''t the time for heroics.


    Down at the Secret Piece''s room they were now in outrage, because of what Nick did, he had let Dawn go up to her death! The Banging sounds above were a witness to his horrendous act.


    "What do you have to say about yourself!"


    Hera shouted at him and the others were on her side in this matter.


    -What do you want me to say, she wanted to leave, thus I let her go


    -She was under emotional distress, she wasn''t thinking strait, you should have stopped her!


    -You''re emotionaly distressed right now, I don''t see anybody stoping you from yapping your mouth


    -Where did you get that gun?


    -It was mine to begin with, now go bark somewhere else and be warned that if by the 23rd hour the mission hasn''t been clear, I will shoot every last one of you before failing the mission, that way I will be left alive, don''t hold it against me, it''s just how things are


    His words caused an even larger stir than the pistol he was holding, if before the men in the group stood tall against him, now everyone had shrunk down two sizes.


    Even Hera didn''t dare to speak back to him now, before she thought that they were all unarmed, but now it seemed that Nick had other plans, it was his last card, in case the people outside didn''t make it with the quest, he would kill everyone in order to be the last one remaining, thus being pardoned by the system, it always worked, in truth this wasn''t his 3rd mission, it was his 12th, he had seen stuff that would make anyone go crazy, he was but a slimy rat that survived with any possible way and since he knew all the rules, he knew what he could and couldn''t do as well as many of the little loopholes players could use to survive.


    Of course until then he didn''t know that NPCs could somehow enter this safe spot of his called the Secret Piece and since NPCs could Monsters could as well.


    While they were down in their little safe space, at the entrance of the facility, at the train station, a full out war was going on with chemicals, explosions and bullets flying like the rain.


    "What''s the situation outside?"


    Chris asked the Red Empress, as she could see everything that happened at the other side, even hear their conversations.


    "They''re really agitated after discovering that operation "smoke the bunnies out of their den" failed, seriously if I hadn''t warned you, it would have been all over"


    The Empress said, making them all shiver, it was insane how the soldiers decided to fill the room with smoke in order to make them all choke to death. If not for the gas masks they would have been long dead or at best forced to retreat deeper into the facility.


    "We can''t continue like this, we have to retreat"


    Mike spoke his opinion for the first time in a long time, he and his ex-girlfriend/wife/something were too tired and of no help most of the time, he was too afraid for his own life right now to even think about her.


    "There is nowhere to retreat, the whole facility will be purged, where can you hide?"


    The Old man retorded, since the other didn''t know english and the NPCs didn''t understand what he had said.


    "I think that the guy had enough"


    Kaplan said, judging by the tone of Mike''s voice.


    "What can he do? we''re in between a cliff and a raging river, if we can''t cross this river, there''s nothing behind"


    Rain said because she had nothing waiting for her behind and truthfuly right now she wouldn''t have minded dying. She still couldn''t overcome J.D.''s death, even after shooting her gun for more than an hour.


    Suddenly Kaplan turned to them and begun to whisper to the other NPCs, Chris and the others couldn''t hear what they were saying, but they had a bad feeling about it.


    Then they had a meeting while Alice was left to hold the line in case the umbrella army decided to burge in.


    "What''s this about?"


    Chris asked rather irritated as he''d found it rather exciting to be at the front lines.


    "We''ve decided that we can''t keep holding them back, we have to push out of here, but to do so, someone has to stop those gatling guns"


    Kaplan explained, but didn''t say how they would stop them, the corridor was long enough for everyone to be mowed down before they even reached the barricade.


    "If my old bones can be of use, I''ll gladly give my life for a good cause!"


    The old man said, as his swang his assault riffle around like a toy.


    "Chris, please promise me that you will save our world from a fate worse than death, once you get out"


    Kaplan''s words were directed at Chris, but he was looking at the two floating little red Girls by his side.


    "You know that I''m no hero, but I''ll make a try"


    Chris said, but to his words the two little red girls begun to bicker at him, this time it was both the Empress and Queen that were unhappy with him.


    "Such an easy request and you make it sound as if we''re not even here!"


    The two red girls'' comments were similar, but they told him that as long as they got access to the world''s network, doing something as simple as containing the virus or even topling the umbrella corporation was just a matter of time. While they were talking, suddenly the lights went on, it was a strange sort of miracle, the EMP bombs they used only interfered with electronics for about an hour or so, It was a matter of time before they came back online and the two girls had a malicious grin on their faces.

 13 Will to survive

    Down in the Secret Safe Space, the "Players" were now desperate for some sort of sign, they wanted to know how the situation was outside, they deeply regretted following Nick''s advices, especialy George, since he knew from Novels that he was just a side character in someone else''s story.


    Unlike him however, Jason and his group were doing their best to use a screw driver and some tools Jonas had taken with him to do something about their situation or at least attempt.


    "Do they see themselves as some sort of electronic Geniouses!"


    Nick mocked their attempts, up until then he didn''t even approach the traps once, in fear that they might spring to life and kill him, it wouldn''t be an impossible outcome, in these worlds everything tries to kill you.


    "You''re one to talk, at least we''re trying to make a difference"


    Hera shouted in protest, staring at George and Xiao, whom didn''t help at all and just stood there looking.


    "Let me tell you a story noobs, I never lied about the first three missions in my time here, at the time I was as hopeful as you were, I saw the hope of returning back to a peaceful and cultural lifestyle, no danger of some monster killing you in your sleep, only worrying about mundane things like work and family, sitting at your TV and cursing politicians for all our troubles"


    Nick''s words echoed in the mostly empty secret corridor, but most importantly they hit the "players" right in their hearts and souls.


    "After the huge mishap at the third mission, I tried to rebuild a team, by guiding noobs like yourselves through missions, I sincerely tried to return to our own world, do you know however what I found out after talking with loads of people?"


    Nick asked, making even Jason and Jonas stop to listen, it was the climax of a huge discovery they wished to know about.


    "All of us come from different realities, we come from different worlds  that are mostly the same, but there are some minute changes, for example you might in the future like myself enounter your own doppelganger from a different parallel universe, I know because I did, even more so the other me was so complacent and idiotic that at first I thought it was just someone with the same name and surname, the more however we talked the more I understood that we were the same person, only he was more fortunate in life"


    Nick''s words caused everyone to falter, they hadn''t even considered that possibility, meaning that even if they returned to the real world, the people around them might not even be from the same earth or even time.


    Before that they thought that everything was fine, especialy since they had Mike and Chrysa whom used to be something to each other, but now they had to rethink their assumptions and ideas of personal relationships. Especily George and Xiao, because once they returned to the real world, they would be complete strangers once more.


    "Don''t bother even thinking about returning to the real world, because I lied, the ticket for a pernament return to your own world costs a million points 10 thousant points is just a small 1day vacation ticket to your world, but there''s a catch, because there''s a month long vacation ticket for just 50 thousand points and even worse there''s a year long ticket for 100 thousand points, I''ve seen people escaping despair by buying those tickets, just to live a regular day in their own world again, just to feel the mundane reality, even those strong and powerful players decided to take month long vacations and year long ones instead of trying to gather points to escape this hell, do you know why?"


    Nick''s words caused Jonas to fall on his butt and lose all will to continue with what they were doing. A million points, that was a thousand of these missions, it was insane to even think about surviving for so long.


    "Don''t bother losing hope, there was non to begin with, there''s only adaptation or death waiting for you and this is the point I''ll be asking you to join my team and survive or try to become strong and solve the missions for us, either way I won''t be hindering you if you decide to continue on that fruitless path, but know that all that followed that path eventualy died"


    Nick said, his target being of course George, to survive one needed information about the next mission and George had that information, he was the best candidate to join his team and raise his own survival chances.


    The first person to turn coat was Hera, she didn''t even take time to think before shouting.


    "I want to join! I want to survive!"


    Her words were like a nail to everyone''s self confidence, especialy Jason''s, whom had done everything for her up until that point.


    "Are the others of the same opinion? Do you wish to learn how to survive or how to accomplish missions, I can teach you both, but you should know that after today the teams will be formed and the chance will be lost forever"


    Nick said, but his words hit hard, he gave them a choice of life and death, it was a no brainer that those that chose to learn how to be strong would probably be thrown out of the safe space.


    "I want to learn how to accomplish missions!"


    George stood up and said, causing everyone to stop and look at Nick''s face, there was no shock on it, just disappointment.


    "What are you looking at me, do you think I''m gonna shoot him or something, who else wants to learn how to accomplish missions?"


    Nick asked, causing their faces to go pale, especialy Xiao''s.


    "I''m sorry but I don''t think I''m made for these dangerous missions, but I''ll be waiting and praying for you to return safely"


    Her words were like a knife to his heart, especialy after seeing what was going on in Nick''s safe space.


    "Don''t be like that, I''m sure that we can all promise not to touch your woman"


    Nick tried to either cheer him up or make him change his mind, problem was that everyone else was on Nick''s side on this one and George was the only one who thought he could accomplish these sort of missions, thinking that he could still become the protagonist of this novel experience.


    "What are you waiting for, sit down, now I''ll teach you how these games really work and how the strongest team I knew was formed"


    Nick told George, as for the rest, there was nothing really to teach, all they had to do was follow his lead and learn from example.


    At that time at the train station, there was a huge uproar, the insurgents had been silent for far too long, the troops were getting uneasy and the high command was questioning the commander''s incompetence, there was only one way to solve the situation and that would be by barging in guns blazing and supress them with numbers.


    The commander knew the costs in human lives, but he needed results and he needed them right now, his fat paycheck was on the line.


    "What''s the status of the people that entered?"


    The commander asked from the safety of his tent, the outside was literaly a military camp right now, there was even an infirmary where the injured were being threated.


    "The team has entered successfuly, the enemy seems to have retreated some time ago, this time there was no ambush, but they might be anywhere inside the facility, there''s a high chance they have taken control of the facility''s A.I."


    The officer reported, but the commander didn''t care one bit, because he at last had the results he wanted so much.


    "Sweep every room, let nothing unchecked! call for backup if we don''t have enough men"


    The commander''s orders were insane, the facility was huge, they would require an army to sweep the whole facility.


    -Commander, we''ve found a pulley at the elevator shaft, there''s a high chance that they''re at the lowest floor


    -Do you have proof of your claims?


    -No, but the chances


    -I''m not here because I believe in chances, call for backup and begin sweeping the facility clean, break every door, destroy every camera and device that could help them locate our movements


    -But...


    -No butts!


    The officer left disatisfied, if they could just capture the Red Queen, it would be really easy to find those insurgents, but his commander was too irational to even listen to him.


    Non the less he smiled as he thought of something that he could do to earn the higher ups favour, the other officers hadn''t even spoken during the meeting and didn''t understand why he would even bother, they''ve been working with that asshole for years, one would say that by now he would have already figured him out. The commander never cared about the costs, he only cared about results and that''s what the umbrella corporation liked about him.


    Deep in the Secret Hidding spot Nick was giving George some lessons.


    "So basicaly to become stronger there are three conditions you have to fullfill..."


    Nick started, but was interupted midsentence.


    "If there are conditions, why even bother asking a question if we want to become strong or just survive?"


    Hera said irritated, since she now felt safe as part of his group, she begun returning to her past antiques.


    "Well the first condition is willingness to risk your life, because the system awards you for doing so, every time a bullet flies at you or a monster tries to kill you, you earn points, unless of course you die from the experience, the more life threatening the experience the more points you will earn, don''t think it''s an easy task, because the points it gives you are all in the decimals, 1-100 points at most with each experience, meaning that you might experience 100 threats of death and yet only earn 100 points, do you believe it''s worth it?"


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.Nick''s words caused them to be silent, Hera''s previous words were forgotten as if she never said anything.


    "Second condition is willingness to threat NPCs as humans, I don''t know why, but they sort of sense it when you threat them as less than a human, of course you all fullfill that condition at first, but eventualy not many of you will think of them as people for some it will be fast, mostly around 3 missions in, if they survive, for others like myself it will be a bit longer, you will learn to lie to deceive them and to kill them for their stuff, wapons, money, papers and as you get stronger you might even have other uses for them..."


    Everyone''s minds went to gorgeous females or handsome men, but Nick''s next words caused them to want to puke.


    "...Like using them as monster bait or hostages, once I saw my team mates  cut a man''s limbs off and used them as shark food, before throwing his headless corpse out of his own boat"


    "Wait, how did you survive for so long?"


    Jason asked, after all they had all seen him surrender to the mercs and he couldn''t even rescue himself. It was rather strange as he didn''t look that strong, but when it came to escape he was rather agile.


    "You''ll probably learn about it once the mission finishes, other than the ticket to go home, the system''s store has many great things that you can buy with points, because I decided on buying upgrades I ended up lacking a decent weapon, before I had the team buy weapons since it''s the simplest way to survive and become stronger fast, buying a weapon, but once the mission begins I can just take their weapon for myself, of course it doesn''t matter since we have a big enough group to handle the mundane stuff"


    Nick said, but his words fell like a stone in the people''s hearts, it''s as if they had just signed to become his slaves.


    "Listen George, if you want to become strong you will need a group of people to protect, they will be the ones to provide you with weapons and item you need, while you will only care to raise your physical attributes, the cheapest being Looks, because looks are always useful in these missions, believe me it''s the No 1 priority if you wish to stay alive longer"


    Nick said, while showing off, the others felt strange, it felt like he was boasting of having cosmetic surgery. Non the less it was a huge thing, everyone in the group agreed that his looks were part of the reason people didn''t assossiate him with the kidnappers when they first met.


    "What''s the third condition?"


    George asked really seriously, after all he already had the two others more or less under his belt.


    "It''s a strong will to survive, you must be determined to do despicable or insane things in order to survive, because the longer you survive, the stronger you will become"


    Nick explained, but it felt as if he was bullshiting them, was there a person among them that didn''t want to live?


    "Are you serious, that''s bullshit!"


    Jason shouted, he just couldn''t take all the shit Nick was saying, all the conditions were but sophistry, non of them were conditions Jason thought important.


    "Then would you kill her to survive? Would you throw her to the monsters just to earn yourself some time to escape?"


    Nick''s words caused Jason to sit back down, if he said "yes", everyone would think less of him, but if he said "no" he would prove Nick Right, that he wasn''t able to survive those missions and become stronger.


    "Don''t get me wrong, every single one of you can become strong, it''s only a matter of time before you''re ready, those that are faster will survive longer, but there are also people like me, I call myself a survivor, I''m like a leech that doesn''t care about the mission, I only care about survival, 1000p from each mission is enough for my tastes, I''ve come to terms with my new reality"


    Nick explained and then went on to explain to them his rules, because they would have to decide whether they wanted to be survivors or providers, it was a simple rule, the survivors would just do anything to survive, while the providers would clear missions and make sure that the survivors had an easier way of surviving the mission.


    His explainations birthed a lot of questions, the most important being why he didn''t tell them of this originaly, during the 8 hours they spent together. The answer was easy, it was pointless to do so, at the time they weren''t any people amongst them he considered able to clear the mission, thus he did what he had to survive, he tried to clear the missions himself, while rating their performance, at the time there was no person that caught his eye as the sort that would be able to clear the mission, until Chris appeared, a daredevil that was willing to risk his life, although he couldn''t say for what exactly.


    At this point the facility was swarming with people, checking every room, making sure no corner is left unchecked. It was at this point that two soldiers were walking towards the exit, everything seemed fine, their IDs were alright, but nobody knew why they were coming out, probably just to rest after all the search has been going for hour and nothing noteworthy  to report, only a few zombies here and there.


    The two soldiers then entered the train that was parked at the railway, nobody asked them a thing, it was weird for them to start the train, but it wouldn''t be the first time it happened, everybody was already used to it by now, something about orders from the higher ups and stuff that soldiers didn''t need to know or question.


    The two soldiers that took the train were rather tense, they were the last to go outside, the others should be waiting for them out of that hellhole. Those two soldiers the Old man and Kaplan whom were the last two to leave, before them left Alice and Chris, Olga and Mike, Rain and Chrysa, leaving only Kaplan and the old man behind as the last group to go, it was so that at least one group would make it through.


    The first group was the most important, since Chris and the Red Empress would be essential to the bigger picture and they were most probably already out there. Kaplan looked at the old man and said to himself "We''ve done it", we''re almost out of here, then he cursed under his breath as he saw the old man taking off his helm.


    "Put the helm back, you crazy old man!"


    Kaplan shouted and attempt to show him to put it back on, but the old man wasn''t stupid he was simply asphyxiating and needed some air.


    Before they knew it they were up, the Old man in a hurry put back his helmet, but before they could get out from the train two soldiers asked them to stand where they were. The old man didn''t know english well and didn''t listen, Kaplan cursed inside and held him back, but the damage had been done.


    "Private Isaak and Private Dove, please take your helms off to finish the identification"


    Kaplan cursed inside, it was impossible for the old man to pass for a soldier, he was too old.


    "Might I ask by who''s order?"


    Kaplan said causing the two guards to falter for a second, truth was they had no authority to ask for them to take off their helmets, but they were rather suspicious of those people coming up, they tried the same with the people before Kaplan and the old man, but they couldn''t find anything suspicious, just some unknown faces, probably from another company like the ID implied.


    Dove however they all knew, because of his name, he was infamous and  poked fun of in their company, Isaak on the other side they weren''t really familiar with, they only knew what he approximately looked like.


    One could say it was bad luck that led them to encounter acquaintances of the guys they had murdred for the clothes and the IDs, the question was what to do next.


    Suddenly the two guard''s radio sounded, it sounded important.


    -Raven to Star, have Isaak and Dove arrived yet?


    -Raven this is Star, they have just, we were about to check their identities


    -No need, just send them to the Commander''s quarters this instance, we''re in grave need of them here! Over!


    -Alright Raven, you heard the guy, go your way, we''ll see you later at the camp our little white Dove, hahaha


    Kaplan was reliefed, but before he could drag the old man away, he saw him raising his gun and shooting the two guys. It would be a miracle if they weren''t shot on the spot, the very next minutes, reinforcements came from the door and begun to shoot at the two whom hopped into the train.


    "You Motherfucker! Why did you shoot!"


    Kaplan shouted and then did something the old man hadn''t expected, he took out his gun and blew his brains out.


    "Don''t shoot! I''ve neutralized the threat! There was an imposter posing as one of ours!"


    Kaplan shouted and threw the old man''s corpse out of the train. Kaplan had taken out his helmet and everyone could see that it was an old man wearing their uniform. Kaplan came out with his helmet off and his hands up, he looked legid, no different than any typical soldier.


    Suddenly the radio sounded again.


    "This is Raven, what''s the situation?"


    "Raven this is Fog, we''ve captured a person whom identifies himself as Isaak, we have two wonded and one dead, the dead person was no doubt an imposter, please send us a footage of what happened"


    The troops that barged in asked for proof, but what they got was beyond a simple scolding.


    "Bring the Two here this instance! Both the corpse and the captured person! tend to the wounded! leave the cleaning up to us! move it!"


    The voice was rather angry and sounded as if they would get prison time if they disagreed or did something more than asked.


    Raven was the HQ''s passcode and the one speaking was a voice they had heard multiple times before, it was their commanding officer.


    Kaplan was bound and brought to the Commander''s quarters, probably for futher questioning, it was the most luxurious room in the mansion, which the Commanding officers had taken for their own. Kaplan was relieved as he was thrown into a room, around him he could see people whom by now he could call friends, made in  life and death crisis.


    "What happened?"


    Alice asked rather concerned about him, they passed through much and they had almost reached the finish line, It was a good thing that the Red Empress intervened otherwise there would be hell to pay.


    The commanding officer and the scribes were held at gun point and didn''t dare to talk back, after all all the equipment had been highjacked, they couldn''t even send a message with any of their electronic devices, they had tried multiple times.


    "That crazy trigger happy old man, he almost got me killed, what came to him, he shot without even thinking!"


    Kaplan said, still cursing his luck to be put in a pair with an idiot.


    "I believe it was a misunderstanding"


    The Red Empress stated, showing them on the screen the exact time the old man went "crazy".


    They saw Kaplan lift his weapon first, as if he was going to shoot, at the time he was just trying to salute as he was going to leave, his hand just brushed the weapon and it seemed as if he was aiming at them, since however he was wearing his helm he hadn''t noticed how it looked from the side. The trigger happy old man, whom didn''t understand a word they had just said acted accordingly and died without even knowing what he had done wrong.


    It was sad, but Kaplan wasn''t to be blamed, it was the Old man that had misunderstood his intentions, trying to play the commando, thinking that they were going to pull some rambo shit.


    To begin with the reason why each of them was given a single civilian to babysit was because they couldn''t trust them to pass as soldiers of the corporation like themselves, they didn''t understand the way the umbrella corps worked and most of them had a funny accent that wouldn''t pass the test, only Chris was okay, since he had experience talking with people from abroad during online gaming and had experiences with people from other countries, although one couldn''t say he''s a fluent speaker, but he didn''t have an accent when speaking.


    He however was too important to be left to luck, because he had the Red Empress, whom was their trump card, their ace in the hole.

 14 Out of Ammo

    Somewhere in Spain, a meeting was going on, the people around the round table were hid in a dark veil, only their faces anable to be seen.


    -Are you insane, you wish to nuke Racoon city just to get rid of an A.I.?


    -It''s the only way to survive, I''ve already sent the order, the lockdown has begun they have less than 12 hours to live


    -I think that he''s right, our computer expert have been doing their best, but all we can do is delay the innevitable, the Red Queen has gone against her programming and is trying to take us down


    -Impossible, we have 10 super computers worth of computing power and A.I. of similar specks to the Red Queen, the best hackers in the world


    -We''ve already lost 2 super computers during the first attack, our hackers are only human, the Red Queen has evolved faster than we had anticipated


    -Where did she get the hardware?


    -Probably hacked the governments of the world before taking us on, because that calculating power is insane, unless she has already taken over the world she wouldn''t be able to hold a candle against us


    -Have you tried attacking the world''s super computers?


    -Impossible, they are under the Red Queen''s protection and the facilities are heavily guarded, we can either send out one nuke or send 24, do you think I didn''t think of the possibility, this is the only solution


    -How can you be sure that this will work?


    -I''m not, this is the last option, there''s no alternative, it''s either us or the Red Queen, humans or machine


    -There''s only so much we can do, the media have already begun revealing our experiments and taking our skeletons out of the closet and that''s only 1 hour since the attack begun, imagine how much damage will happen if we can''t regain control


    -Then why wait for 12 hours?


    -That''s the time the plane carrying the bomb will take to reach their location and drop its load


    -Why not just send a missile and where is that plane flying from in order to take so long?


    -Where else of course Korea


    -Why not the US?


    -We''ve no bombers there capable of carrying a nuke, they were scrapped to make missiles


    -Why not just sent a missile?


    -we''ve been warned that they might be hacked in midflight or shot down by the governments


    -And a plane won''t?


    -Our specialy crafted and developed bomber plane won''t


    -Then why didn''t you make it faster!


    -We''ve specialized it in stealth not in speed, if we wanted speed we would have developed some unmaned drone, this one is an anti-hacking stealth plane made entirely for the purpose of not being found


    -Maybe you should have made it specialize in both!


    -Maybe someone should have given us more funds then!


    It was human nature to bicker when in trouble, throwing the blame from one to another, nothing else of interest was said in the conference as the people present just shifted the blame from one person to another, until everyone agreed that everyone was to blame for this situation.


    During that time, the first problem begun back at the Hive, the soldiers at last discovered the first hunter, the fight was beyond what anyone could expect, their bullets bounced from its rough hide popping the tumors as they finaly reached flesh, only to cause putrid blood to come out like a shower of infectious rain, infecting them all, its slit eyes looked at them like prey and cries for help sounded over the radio as the creature charged at them, with a single swing of his overgrown hand clawing them in half.


    Those that survived by using their weapon as a shield, died from the impact of the blow shortly after as they met the concrete or steel walls of the facility.


    "What''s the situation! why are they shouting like that?"


    The commander over the Hive operation (different person from the one captured by Alice and the others) asked, unable to figure out the reason why they would be shouting like that over the radio.


    "It seems that the unit that went reclaim the Red Queen''s chamber met with misfortune"


    An officer said as he checked the location of the signal after all they at last finished hacking the facility and since half the cameras were destroyed they had little to no information on what was going on in the higher floors of the Hive, but could easily see what was happening at the lower levels.


    "Have we reached that far down, I thought I told them to comb the area"


    The commander asked skepticaly, they had already calculated that it would take around 4 hours for them to comb the entire facility.


    -Do you remember that butt guy?


    -What about him?


    -He wanted to get a promotion and decided to man his own opertion


    -That moron, how many men did we lose?


    -Around a dozen, that guy however is still alive, he escaped with only a scratch and is now being hunted by a monster we''ve never seen before


    -Can it bleed?


    -It''s regenerating as we speak


    -Shit, order the troops to stop combing and regroup, take that thing down!


    -Sir, there''s three of them


    -Goddammit! Tell them to regroup at the stairs of each floor and begin barricading, don''t let that thing escape the facility!


    -Sir, how about blowing it up?


    -If we do that we won''t be able to go any further with our operation


    -Sir, since we reclaimed control over the facility, we have already determined that the people are either somehow cloacked by the Red Quen or died to that monster, other than our men, there''s no life signs inside the facility


    -How do you know that


    -Isn''t it simple, we have combed 1/10th of the facility and destroyed every camera in those areas, but the areas afterwards all have cameras, there''s nowhere to hide


    -Then call a retreat! call the purifiers! We''re burning this shit up! Let me see how that thing survives without oxygen to breathe


    "Roger everyone, you''ve 1 hour to get out of the facility, we''re purifying it in one hour, anyone inside will be burned alive or asphyxiate! I repeat in 1 hour the facility will be purified! You have..."


    The officer begun to anounce through the speakers of the facility, it was an anouncement that caused everyon to panic and retreat asap.


    The officer that had just escaped from the hunter with his life begun to curse out loud, this was literaly a death sentence for him, he was really deep in the facility, all he could hope was he would make it in time.


    He however had no time to think as the thing that was hunting him was still on his trail.


    He begun to run, but suddenly he saw an open elevator door, he was shocked to see that there were ropes still hanging there, in his panic he rushed towards them and begun to climb as fast as he could, the creature saw him jump into the hole and came after him, only it didn''t catch a rope, thus falling to its doom or so the officer thought.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Before long two Hunters at the bottom of the Shaft were making their way up, they weren''t cooperating at all, but for some reason the already carved wall made for great climbing.


    The officer could hear the thumbs as the claws of the creature hit the wall, the other creature before had been burried by the debris caused by the explosion from when they had tried to kill alice, when the second creature fell, it broke the debris holding the other one down into smaller pieces, thus there were two creatures now and both were heading towards the surface. Not very fast, but at a steady pace, 1 hour might be just enough for them to reach the train floor.


    The people down in the safe space also heard the announcement, but they couldn''t tell what purification meant, but Nick could only curse his bad luck, in a hurry he went up the ladder and oppened the hatch.


    A claw almost cut his hand off as the hatch opened, but he didn''t care anymore, they had no time left, he jumped out of the hatch after the second claw attack and evaded the creature''s attacks as if it was moving realy slowly in his eyes, leading the creature towards the hallway.


    "You stupid A.I. kill that thing now!"


    He shouted, but there was no answer as the beast was now slowly making its way towards him, as if toying with him.


    Up in the commander''s tent, the officer at the cameras immediately found the anomality.


    -Sir there''s a man in the laser Hallway with another of those beasts, what should we do?


    -Kill them both, we have no time for them, did you see where he was hiding?


    -No, but he came from inside the chamber, meaning that the others should also be inside


    -Maybe they were cornered there by the monster


    -I don''t care about guesses, if you don''t know just say so


    At that time Nick was happy to see the lasers being lit up, the creature was also alarmed by the heat source appearing behind it. Little did it know that the laser would move and before it knew it cut its legs off.


    Nick was at first happy, only to see the laser coming for him, he run towards the exit only to find it locked, he could however see a hole in the door, maybe just maybe he had enough time to open the door.


    Evading the laser was easy, all he had to do is jump forwards and over the laser. Next he begun to fiddle with the door from the other side, the laser had already lit up again, this time it cut the monster into two halves as it was crawling towards him, with its claws.


    He begun to laugh as he saw it dead, but didn''t stop fiddling with the door, even as the new message appeared.


    =Objective No 4 - Escape Racoon City within 12 Hours=


    -Sir the man escaped the chamber, but the creature seems to be dead"


    The officer in the tent reported


    -It doesn''t matter, everything is to be purified anyways, he won''t make it out before we begin burning the facility, you have closed the ventilation right?


    -Yes sir, just as you ordered, I hope the troops inside won''t suffer too much


    The officer climbing the rope in the elevator shaft was horrified to discover that his climbing speed up the long rope was slower than that of the two beasts, they were slowly catching up, they were tireless, while he had to stop and take a breath every once in a while.


    He looked at his clock and could tell that he had enough time to go up, the problem was that if he did, he would probably bring those monsters with him.


    His assault riffle he discarded as he was being hunted down, but he still had his handgun and grenades, he begun to throw grenades down the shaft, hoping that it would either slow those creatures down, or attract the attention of others.


    The attempts however achieved only the second result, because he discovered that gravity''s a bitch. His grenades fell so off target that he wanted to cry, even worse however was the dust that blew towards him, causing him to barely be able to breathe, while the creatures continues completely unaffected.


    Grenade after Grenade all missed, he was sure however that his efforts wouldn''t go to waste. He was terribly wrong, because everyon was too preocupied with escaping to go look what that sound coming from the elevator shaft was.


    After climbing and dancing with death a few times as his arm strength was leaving him little by little. He finaly reached his destination, the exit of the Elevator to the rail station, he shouted for help from a nearby soldier whom saw nothing wrong with helping a fellow soldier.


    That was until the Officer got up and begun to run faster than a bullet shouting "Monsters are climbing the Elevator Shaft!". If it was any other time, people would call him the boy that cryied wolf, this matter however wasn''t one to laugh about, everyone near the train station knew that there were some sort of monsters in the facility even more terrifying than zombies.


    "Monters are climbing the Elevator Shaft!"


    The message echoed inside the campe as many of the people had alread begun to gather the tents and equipment, they didn''t want to be there for the purification process, the stench of burned flesh isn''t something they wished to experience.


    -What''s this about, there''s still 20 minute before the purification begins, what are they shouting?


    -There''s a rumor that the monsters are climbing up through the elevator shaft


    -So how accurate is it?


    -Probably true, according...


    -I asked you if it''s true, not the weather report!


    -It''s 70% true, but there''s a 30% chance that they are digging a tunnel to the surface as we speak


    -What about the Cameras?


    -There are no cameras in the elevator shaft sir, but we''ve found a recording of a monster diving head first into the elevator shaft


    -So you don''t know if the monsters are climbing or breeding down there, just fucking blow the whole shaft away, I no longer care what you do, I''m done with this, I''m leaving you in charge


    -Thank you sir, This is Star we have a change in managment I''m now in charge, everyone barricade the entrance, reinstall the gattling guns and make it fast, those close to the Elevator shaft begin to shoot at the potentially climbing creatures, your goal is to knock them down, I repeat...


    "why did they give me such incompetent subordinates"


    The commander said as he walked towards the train, but inside he was about to piss his own pants, he wasn''t going to risk his life there, even if they gave him double what they paid him right now.


    As the train was leaving he saw that young officer that seemed to have disliked his orders he too was sitting in the train, his skin pale and his eyes out of focus.


    "Are you alright Lad?"


    He asked mostly out of compassion, then however he saw blood coming out of the guy''s orifices.


    "Medic! We need a medic, this guy seems really ill!"


    Before he however could react, the officer lounged at him, biting his hand and getting a bullet in the head.


    "How dare you bite the hand that feeds you, probably gone insane due to fear, but they can''t blame me, It was self defense"


    He told as if to himself, but those around him were fearful of him, after all he ranked to high above them, mere privates.


    While the train was away the real tragedy begun, the soldiers that went to shoot the monsters discovered that they couldn''t see the monsters at all due to the darkness, only the noise indicated that the monsters were getting closer, but even the noise was muffled by their assault riffle fire.


    The Gattling guns were installed, only to discover that they didn''t bring enough ammo for more than one burst, they had wasted most of the ammo against the insurgents.


    The new commander wasn''t incompetent, but he wasn''t given much to work with, just 10 guys armed with flamethrowers and a ton of units whom had used more than a few magazines while combing the area, mostly due to wasting more than one bullet on each zombie, even worse was that they didn''t shoot them at the head most of the time, thus having to shoot again and again until it died, as if the things had an HP bar or something.


    "Everyone stop shooting, reserve ammunition until you see the things, Those of you low on ammo go to the quartermaster, those injured go to the medics, remember we only have one chance, lets make it count!"


    The new commander said and everyone felt as if not everything was lost.


    -You over there


    -Yes sir?


    -Bring me my camera, I wish to immortalize the moment I stand on the corpses of those monsters


    -Yes Sir!


    Before however long the same soldier returned to report.


    -Zombies! Sir some of our injured have turned into zombies! we''ve contained the threat, but medics are saying that there''s no cure for this virus, we might have to kill anyone that''s been bitten or hurt by a zombie


    -Wait wasn''t there a train full of injured people that just left? I have to inform the troops on the surface!


    -Sir this is more important, what do we do with the infected?


    -Do you need to ask? Shoot whoever is infected, we don''t have a cure! Anyone injured by a zombie might turn into one, do you wish to try your luck!


    The camp immediately fell into chaos, the "infected" and the non-infected begun to fire at one another, it was insanity and the monsters weren''t even there yet.


    Suddenly two soldiers came running from the facility.


    "The monsters are Here!"


    They said before one of them got a stray bullet to his head by the non-infected side.


    "Cease fire! Everyone, I don''t care if you''re zombies or not anymore! Arm the gatling guns, tak out your grenades, if those things make it up, non of us will be left with a full corpse to bury"


    The commander shouted and everyone looked at eachother, only to see that soldier shot right now rise as a zombie and being shot personaly by their commander who was close by.


    Everyone wanted to live and unlike zombies those monsters were a threat to both sides, they reluctantly worked together, each side arming one gatling gun, each side stood divided, but they had a common enemy.


    Before long they saw a monster jump out of the Elevator shaft, It was hideous and grotesque to look at, it was like a lizardman with tumors and an overgrown arm.


    "Wait until it reaches the middle of the room, then begin...fire! fire! fire!"


    The commander shouted maniacaly as the monster begun to charge at them with an insane speed like a gecko climbing a wall.


    The gattling guns sang, the assault riffles accompanied and the grenades rained the room the monster was in, tearing it to pieces, it was an overkill in whichever way you looked at it, but before they could celebrate their success, the second monster appeared.


    The gattling guns stalled as they were out of bullets, the riffles missed every shot as the monster was too quick and it''s skin bulletproof, the grenades were late and the beast tore into the midst of the soldiers ripping them apart and killing to its heart''s content.


    The flamethrowers did a good job killing both allies and foes alike, the thing was on fire, but it still continued to kill, continued to eat and continued to regenerate. The commander laughed as he saw the chaos and the beast charged at him and bit his hands off. He laughed even more loudly as in his hands he held two grenades, he saw the beast''s head explode and that was the last thing he saw.


    The flamethrowers begun their work turning the thing into a blazing hell and a picture was taken of two headless corpses, one of the monster and the other of the man that killed it.

 15 Crazy People

    Up on the surface, Chris had seen the new Objective, they had to leave Racoon city in less than 12 hours, he didn''t know why, but since the system said to do so, they couldn''t do otherwise, this time there wouldn''t be someone else doing the mission for them, after all the others were still inside the Hive.


    -So you got a mission to leave city in the next 12 hours?


    -Yes


    -And how are you supposed to do so, you''re not even inside the city, you''re not even in the suburbs of the city


    -But the mission said to leave the city, I don''t know how far will be alright


    "Probably far enough to be safe from nuke"


    The Red Empress intervened in their conversation, causing everyone to go silent.


    "Can''t you hack the missile''s launch or something?"


    Kaplan was going insane, his parents lived in that city, how far could they could go in 12 hours?


    "Are you for real, they''re going to nuke the entire city?"


    Rain asked, not believing in what she was hearing, she knew that umbrella corporation was bad by now, but not to what extend they would go. This was simply unbelievable, destroying a whole city just to get rid of their dirt, that was insane.


    "So how do you expect us to leave?"


    Alice asked, causing everyone to stop and listen, the Red Empress had insanely well calculated plans, but right now she faltered a bit before speaking.


    "There is no viable escape without loses, the perimeter around the city has already been sealed, this mansion is no different, nothing can escape the city until the helicopter I ordered arrives, you''ve 4 hours to call people and tell your goodbyes, I cannot stop this incident, but after this there will be no umbrella corporation and I can promise you that every single one of them will see justice in the eyes and hope they were dead"


    The Red Empress said, this however didn''t bring them happiness, it was like saying that they couldn''t even save the people they cared about.


    "Kaplan where do you think you''re going!"


    Rain shouted as Kaplan was about to leave the room, it''s been almost an  hour that they had returned to the mansion, but things only became more and more desperate and depressing.


    "Are you people for real?"


    The one asking was the Commander whom they had hostage.


    -Do you think we''re joking?


    -The company would never nuke a city!


    -When how about this mansion?


    -That''s too close to the city!


    -Then let me ask you, what would you use an underground secret facility to make?


    -How should I know what a pharmaceptical firm would make, the cure to cancer?


    "If zombies and monsters are a cure to cancer then I''m the Pope!"


    Kaplan turned and said in a fit of rage.


    "Your holiness please get out of here, you''re lowering the level of our discussion"


    Rain told him, but right now she only wanted to go for a drink, before the world was destroyed.


    "Are they for real?"


    The commander asked the people that didn''t leave the room, but his answer came not too long after as the radio sounded.


    "This is Fog, I repeat this is Fog, we had a bunch of rabid soldiers that begun to bite the guards, we tried to dispatch them, but they refuse to die"


    The soldier seemed panicked.


    "Tell them to shoot at their heads"


    Alice advised him, but the commander was skeptical, thinking that they were just rabid, maybe they could be cured, when however he heard the first scream on the radio, he made up his mind.


    -Shoot to kill, aim for the head!


    -Roger that! shoot to kill, Headshots only!


    "Tell them to inspect their injuries, anyone who''s been bitten or scratched by the zombies should come here, we still have some of the cure, although I it only works 30minutes after the infection"


    Alice said and looked towards Olga whom was carrying the case with the virus and the cure.


    -This is Raven, what''s your status Fog?


    -This if Fog, the hostiles have been terminated


    -Inspect for Injuries during the fight, anyone that came into contact with the zombies even a scratch or a spit from the zombies is to report to HQ imediately, that''s an Order!


    -Sorry sir, we killed the two guards that were injured out of fear, next time will do


    The commander didn''t know to laugh or to shout, either way it wouldn''t bring the dead back to life.


    "So you stole the cure and turned the place upside down?"


    The commander accused them of being the perpetrators, since he didn''t know who Spence was and truth be told they did take the cure and virus  with them.


    "Think what you will, but once you see the news on the TV, your jaws will drop"


    The two little red girls teased him, but there seemed to be a TV in the room, a huge Plasma TV. The commander didn''t even turn it on, but the Red Empress did, what he saw was a quick documentary of what the Hive was made for and some of the experiments that were being done inside, some even on humans. Then he was Shown a Licker, from the biologic weapon experiment, a monster that would replace soldiers like himself.


    Lastly he was shown a discussion from his own supperior whom talked about nuking the city and not to let anyone out of the city, including their own men.


    It was only natural that he would go mad with anger. They were throwing him way like a used tissue, he would have non of this.


    "This is Raven! Everyone begin retreat proceedures! We are going to Raccoon city!"


    The troops didn''t know why, but they were happy to hear his message, even more the troops that had just returned from the Hive. They didn''t even have enough troops for the purification of the facility, all they could do was gather up and leave as they awaited for further orders.


    "There are three infected soldiers among your troops whom are beyond saving, please dispose of them"


    The Red Empress said as she showed at the large Screen the three soldiers that had arrived from the Hive, all three were infected, but were still healty or at least looked like they were. The commander called them to the HQ, saying that they would be given a cure, but when they arrived, they were shot instead, when the other asked about it, they were told that the cure didn''t work, it was too late.


    "What will you be doing?"


    The commander asked Alice and the others, looking at the twin red Queens with some jealousy, he would have loved that toy, it simply had too many uses, but he thought that they probably couldn''t be taken too far from the hive, since he couldn''t see the huge A.I. core anywhere, but he did wonder how those images were floating.


    "Commander! Please take me with you! My parents are in Racoon City!"


    Kaplan said, making the soldiers behind the commander somewhat confused.


    "Soldiers we''ve been had, the Higher ups have decided to nuke Racoon City with us inside, but I''m not going to let it be, I won''t force you to come with me, two APC can go try their luck in leaving, but I hope that you will act like soldiers and help evacuate Racoon City with me"


    The speech was touching and many men decided to help, while others said it wasn''t their problem and said they would leave, in the end however they couldn''t even fill one APC vehicle.


    Kaplan and Matt were the only ones going with them as the rest decided to wait for the helicopter to arrive. They told their goodbyes and the convoy left for racoon city not to be seen again, it wasn''t that Alice and the others didn''t want to go, but Alice had different plans, she wanted to go back to the Hive and escort those idiots hiding in the Red Queen''s Chamber to the surface.


    Chris didn''t know if it was such a good idea, but Mike and Chrysa agreed that they should help them, even if the others were assholes, they themselves should not act like-wise.


    With the Hunters and most of the zombies dead, there was nothing inside the Hive that could hinder Alice, also having the cure was always good.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As they left the train, Alice came out and immediately squashed a roach, this was the last infected roach, which had after a long time escaped the facility only to be seen by the hawk-eyed Alice and squashed before it could do any damage.


    The view at the train station was insane, fires still burning, the smell of burnt flesh, wood and gunpowder. Chris regretted not taking a gas mask with him, it was insane to even imagine how much the place had changed, when they had originaly passed through here, it was desserted, the second time it was full of soldiers and this time it looked as if it had passed through hell.


    "Did you come to give me a ride?"


    Nick was at the entrance waiting for them just as they arrived, Alice would have loved to give him a bullet, but she just ignored him, the others just followed behind her.


    Nick stopped Chris and asked.


    "What''s the plan?"


    "We''re escorting everyone out of here, there''s a nuke coming and I don''t think they will survive survive down there"


    Alice answered instead of Chris, but Nick begun to laugh at her comment.


    "What''s so funny!"


    Rain burst in anger, she more than anyone wished to simply kill this guy.


    "Don''t misunderstand me, it''s just that what you''re doing is completely  pointless, inside the Safe Piece even if the whole world was destroyed, they would still survive, the safe piece is a seperate dimension in of its own"


    Nick explained, causing them to look at him with a lot of disbelief, not understanding why he was out, if it was such a safe place.


    "Well it''s almost the most safe place to be, you see there was this announcement that they were going to burn all the oxygen in the facility, which is probably the only way to kill us in the safe space, since it doesn''t provide fresh air"


    Nick explained their questions before they even asked him to.


    "So you came out for a walk? For some fresh air?"


    Rain mocked him, but Nick just smiled amicably and laughed it off, making her even angrier than before.


    "There''s 8 zombies left and your friends have already left the Red Queen''s chamber and are currenly wondering around the facility like lost chicks"


    The Red Empress stated, since she could see everything that was going on inside the facility.


    "Well I''ll be leaving you now, I hope your mansion has a car or two"


    Nick jested, since he knew that a mansion in the middle of nowhere must have at least a considerable amount of cars.


    "Just don''t take the red sports one"


    Alice warned him.


    -Why is it your favourite?


    -No, it''s in dire need of service


    Nick didn''t know whether to laugh or cry, but Rain enjoyed the irony of the moment as he left feeling somewhat defeated.


    "Is the red car really broken?"


    Rain asked out of curiosity.


    "Nope, that''s my car"


    Alice said and the both laughed it off as if it was their victory, a small victory, but a victory non the less.


    At the time George and the others were wondering around the facility, they had followed Nick''s example and as if miraculously couldn''t find a single zombie, but neither could they find an exit, they were trapped in a huge underground maze.


    "Couldn''t they have some maps or safety instructions?"


    Jonas complained as they had spent a lot of time just walking around pointlessly.


    "I doubt they would care about safety instructions in a top secret facility, just can''t imagine a safety inspector ever reaching this place"


    Jason joked, it was a good way to lower anxiety and lift the morale of the group.


    "I''m sure we passed this coridor before, but last time, those doors over there were open"


    George suddenly stated, causing everyone to stop in their tracks.


    "Is it the Queen?"


    Hera suddenly asked and as if momentarily, half of them fell to their knees and begun to ask for her forgiveness, still thinking that she was angry with them, no knowing that she simply let them be for all that time, not even looking behind or caring for what happened to them.


    "Queen please forgive our transgretion, we won''t do it again!"


    Even George begun to pleed, at the moment they needed all the help in the world, they couldn''t even return to the safe space and had no idea where Nick was.


    "Please follow the open doors, you should arrive at the Elevator"


    The speakers announced, making them really grateful and happy as if they had suddenly found purpose in life.


    Once they arrived at the Elevator, the next announcement sounded.


    "Head to the Right and take the Left door, pass through the Licker facility and you will arrive at a long hall, from there head left and you should see some stairs"


    The people were now confused, they thought they would just take the elevator out, not knowing that the shaft was literaly full of debris, the roof of the elevator was like a floor for it to sit on making the elevator itself unable to go up even if it wanted to.


    The felt terrified as they walked through the Licker breeding facility, there were all sort of destroyed containers and corpses lying around, they were shocked to see Spencer''s corpse there, shot in the head and lying there without any weapon.


    Going up wasn''t hard, the problem was the next anouncement.


    "Stop at floor C-8 take...you will arrive at an open elevator shaft"


    The instructions were rather complicated, but 5 heads were enough to find the open elevator shaft, there were two ropes hanging there and it looked rather dangerous to climb them.


    "What are you waiting for, tie yourselves to the ropes and you will be pulled up "


    The instructions came, but they were paralyzed by fear, some more than others. Using those ropes to get to the surface would be great in theory, but not many would dare do so in reality, it was insanely dangerous and if you didn''t have trust in the person pulling the rope it became twice as dangerous.


    "I''ll go first, to make sure that the rope is secure"


    Jonas said as he begun to bind himself with one of the two ropes and then jumped into the shaft. Once the rope felt heavier the people at the top begun to pull him up, it was a haphazard climb since much of the shaft was damaged and he was lucky not to his his head on something.


    "Next, hurry up we don''t have all the time in the world"


    The Queen  begun to bicker and the four people left begun to question if Jonas was safe or not. George wanted to go next, but he was shoved aside by Jason.


    "If you use the rope first it might break"


    Jason shouted and He took his place next to Xiao, whom had already tied herself to the other rope not giving Hera the chance to say a word.


    Unlike his boasting however, once Jason reached the shaft, he froze, his eyes out of phase as he looked into the deep darkness of the shaft below, maybe he forgot he had acrophobia or because of the adrenaline rushing he just thought he could make it.


    Hera looked at him and he fell back, away from the rope as if it was the devil. Hera didn''t even go to console him as he took his rope and jumped, being pulled up with insane speed, which caused her to suffer an injury, a terrible scratch at her thigh, which had to be cared for.


    "Are you alright?"


    George asked him rather concerned, although he was an asshole, he did see him sort of a rival and after learning from Nick that he could become handsome by just spending some points, he wasn''t even jealous of him anymore.


    "I can''t do it, I though I could..."


    Jason was crying, as silent tears driped out of his eyes, he was tired, tired of acting all tough, tired of trying to antagonize others, he just wanted to go home to his parents and his luxurious life style, he regreted being bored with the life he was so used to, he regreted shoving George aside.


    "This is not a game, stand up, I''ll help tie you with the rop and we will jump together, even if you faint there''ll be others there for you, we''re a team after all"


    Hearing George''s voice, Jason was inspired, but he was too afraid to stand up, he was afraid of failing others expectations, he was afraid of being left behind, he was afraid of death.


    "Close your eyes and stand up, I''ll make sure that we all make it out alive, after all I''m the leader of this group, we all decided on it"


    George said and helped him stand up, the other closed his eyes and waited, he felt the noose on his vest and then he was led by the hand towards the unknown. The whold process of going up only lasted less than a minute and he didn''t even know how he ended up there, he wanted to thank George, but his egoism didn''t allow it.


    "I owe you one"


    Was the only thing he told him as he made sure to wipe his tears off his face.


    "Was he crying?"


    Rain asked, lacking any and all consideration for his face, causing some people to mock him as a crybaby, especialy after the shit he pulled, for all that bravado he showed, he turned out to be a disappointment that couldn''t even stand for himself in front of Nick. Jonas was at the forefront of this movement and now he and Hera were berating him the most, as if they had excomunicated him or something, standing further away from him.


    "What''s up with them, did you have a fight?"


    Mike asked his, not knowing anything that happened down at the safe spot, he didn''t really care, but he and Jason did have some talks before and he wasn''t as bad as he made himself appear, he just acted a lot like a spoiled brat at times. Jason refused to answer and just glared at the two traitors once, causing the two to stagger and whisper in a less audible manner, visibly afraid of him.


    "I''m now activating the self destruction sequence"


    The Red Empress said, causing everyone to feel a sense of dread in their hearts, thinking that at any moment there was that possibility. Only to discover that all the sequence did was destroy the Railway to the surface, it did nothing else, there was no drama at all, just making the facility no longer accessible, this was probably why the Umbrella corps didn''t use this option, it was pointless, since they wanted to reclaim the data the Red Queen had, the data on the virus.


    While they were waiting at the luxurious manion, Nick found out that the mission wouldn''t be as easy as he thought, there were soldiers in his way of clearing the mission. All he had to do was slip past them, but he had no way of doing so, their uniforms were different than those of the troops tht entered the hive, like the one he was now wearing.


    There was only one way and that was to return back to the mansion and ask those noobs if they had a way out of the city. The mansion was close to the borders of the City and was the best base of operations.


    Nick Rode his bike back to the mansion, he refused to risk his life to pass through the blockade and he did need a refuel before he headed towards the city in search of a better vehicle than this 4x4 Jeep.


    The others were rather surpised to see him back at the mansion.


    "Did your ride go well or did you just for a walk again?"


    Rain mocked him, since unlike him they already had an escape plan, multiple plans to be exact.


    "Oh, I just came back because I missed the sound of your voice"


    He said, the next moment a bullet was shot but it missed big time.


    "Tsk, I missed"


    Rain said, but she wasn''t even aiming at him, she just wanted to scare him, which didn''t work as he didn''t even flinch.


    The whole group was back and they now begun to talk about their loses so far, out of the 11 players, only two had lost their lives, the old man and Dawn were the only loses, which by Nick''s standards was a huge success, it showed that they had potential, after all they had already made the mission more difficult than it should have been.


    An easy mission normaly only has 3 objectives, but now who knew how many objectives they would have to complete, before the system was satisfied.

 16 Success in View

    The mansion was mostly peaceful, unlike Racoon city where a huge evacuation effort had begun, the soldiers did their best to inform everyone about the evacuation plan.


    More than 20.000 people were told to flee the city under the threat of a gun, the soldiers didn''t even bother to explain that the city would be nuked, it wouldn''t have worked either way.


    Back at he mansion, Players and NPCs were trying to pass their time as they awaited for their escape vehicle to arrive, the Red Empress informed them that there was a 98% chance of success, meaning that it was almost imposible to fail all they had to do was two simple things, stay put and wait.


    Nick was more than happy with leaving the plan to the A.I. and doing nothing, while relaxing in a mansion. The others had more mixed feelings, for them it felt strange, from one moment they were afraid for their lives, then relatively safe, then on the run again, it was a weird full of bumps, with its ups and downs.


    Nick had gotten too used to this lifestyle, it wasn''t unusual for players to enjoy themselves during these missions, especialy when they are given too much time to do a task, which could have been done in hours or even minutes.


    Chris was lying in bed, a bit sleepy, but unable to sleep due to all the noises comming from next door. Hera was having her havings as Jason  burged into her room while she and Jonas were having an affair going, what followed wasn''t consensual and Jonas did get his comings as well.


    It was weird to hear her first shouting for help and then shouting out of excitement and arrousal.


    As for Nick, he spent his time lying on a chair and looking outside with a glass of alcohol, waiting for their ride to appear, ignoring everyone that might approach him.


    Chris was surprised when someone knocked at his door, he thought a bit before going to open, only to be pushed back by a rather strong arm. He felt as if his wound would open from the force, but seeing Olga''s face in front of him pushing him into the bed, her breath smelling alcohol, while wearing a rather revealing dress.


    "Are you afraid of me?"


    She asked while holding him down.


    -Last time you held me down was to saw my hand off


    -It was useless anyways, now I''ll make you mine!


    -You''re drunk


    -Shut up before I saw something else off as well


    -You do know that I will disappear after the mission is over


    -So what? just remember to leave me a small fortune before you leave and me and the baby will be set for life


    -How am I...


    He had no retord to that, right now he was in possession of an A.I. that could literaly hack any bank in the world, with a single command, her account could be filled with cash, just by taking 1 cent from every person in the world, she could literaly become a billionaire overnight.


    "You don''t like me? Is that the problem? Then what if I spiked Alice''s drink, would you fancy her? or do you like crazy girls like Rain?"


    Olga said seemingly serious, of course in her drunken state one could argue that she didn''t mean what she said.


    Not long afterwards however she begun to strip him of his clothes, she didn''t seem to care about what he wanted at all and she was seriously strong for a woman. As a one armed man he would find it difficult to push her back, but there were ways, he could still use his legs, problem was, what did he have to lose?


    The experience was insane, mostly because they discovered that they were both inexperienced virgins, trying to do all the crazy stuff they''d seen done in porn. In general however he was under her mercy, feeling as if she did him and not the other way around, the most however concerning thing was when she tried to bite his shoulder right where the wound was, causing it to open right in the middle of their session.


    She spent considerable time stoping the hemorrage moments later and after they finished, they really needed a drink. Both of them, were rather disappointed, because their first time wasn''t as majestic as they had imagined it to be.


    "Sorry for cutting your hand off"


    Olga suddenly said as he stood up to go get drinks from the fridge, more like a minibar really.


    -Was that an apology?


    -Nope, just talking to myelf


    -What is the case with the virus and cure doing in the mini-bar?


    -Is that where it was, I thought I lost them after I begun to drink


    -Are you for real?


    -Just relax, you''re too uptight, how about another go?


    -You do know that my wounds will open again


    -Then lets play the doctor


    She said as she threw the sheets away revealing her naked body. Although she was no top model or a beautiful actress like they regularly used in movies, to Chris she was still a goddess.


    A pity that she wasn''t really his type, in reality no real woman could be his type, since he was in love with anime girls. Unlike real people anime characters had no visible flaws in his eyes, since he knew that any flaw the character had was the result of some artist''s mistake or done deliberately to be there for some other reason.


    At that time somewhere far away at a secret facility the people there were going amok.


    -We have to shut down the super computer, we''ve been completely hacked!


    -But if we do so, we will lose part of our data, it might even cause an error to occur within the system


    -But we''ve lost, the estimations were wrong, if we let the Red Queen take over the facility she might decide to kill us all! This is a battle to save the world!


    The supervisor and the others were told that the Red Queen had gone berserk and was trying to destroy the world, be it the fear of the unknown or them seeing too many thrillers, they believed them.


    One by one the umbrella super combuters were now all hacked, this was the last one that wasn''t shut down, their last defence against the Red  Queen''s plans, in their minds they were the heroes, saving the world, all they however accomplished was delaying the inevitable and that for not even 2 full hours.


    They simply didn''t have a strong enough computer to put up a fair fight, they really wanted to know where the A.I. was getting all that calculating might, it felt as if they were using a laptop to fight against a super computer, not impossible, but it would be hard.


    Suddenly they got a phone call, it was from the other groups, whom had already reported that they had shut down their Super computer and were now trying to reset it, but there was no luck at all.


    "What''s your situation?"


    -We''re going to shut it down, we''ve lost


    -Wait, in 10 minutes some experts will be arriving at your location, try to keep at least a foothold inside the system, don''t let her win!


    -It''s pointless, all we can do is hold her for another few minutes, but if we do so, she will take over the computerThis text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    -Do you question my order!


    -Chill man, we''ve just following protocols, we can''t let that machine get its hands on sensitive data, even if we will have to destroy it


    -You idiots, if you destroy all the data on your side as well, what will we do once we finaly win, those data will no longer be reclaimable, those protocols were made for when all 10 super computers were operational at the same time, since they worked as backup for one another


    -You''re right, but we have rules


    "You''re so stupid"


    Suddenly the voice inside the phone changed to that of a girl and the room''s alarm begun to sound as the sprinklers begun to release poisonous gas.


    "This Bastard was buying time...Agh"


    Every single person in the room tried to leave, but the doors were locked, every single person died and the super computer was still on, the Red Empress had won, the next moment 9 other facilities nearby faced the same fate, the computers by themselves going on and in less than 10 minutes Umbrella was under the A.I.''s control.


    Next begun a massive gathering of information from all around the globe, the Red Empress wanted to be in control of every variable, she was literaly trying to predict the future. In space, every umbrella satelite begun to work to accomplish her goals, she litteraly acted lightning fast, taking the whole world by surprise, as all media were hacked and everyone was forced to see what the umbrella corporation really was.


    Every umbrella operative was then given a call by the A.I., they were given an ultimatum to surrender or be convicted for crimes they didn''t even know where being commited.


    The higher ups were going insane, because they were given a different ultimatum, they were to surrender to the police and confess their crimes, doing otherwise would result in their termination, or as she stated it "Otherwise I will shut you down".


    The situation was developing so fast that nobody could have foreseen the situation, the world was this good day taken hostage by a myterious A.I.


    All their sensitive data and weaknesses were taken hostage by the A.I., their bank accounts, their under the table deals, everything was on the line.


    The governments of the world one good day learned that they had been hacked and at the mercy of a machine that had the voice of a little girl.


    There was only one man that was laughing and quite proud of his achievements, he was the creator of the A.I. "Dr. Charles Ashford" as he and his daughter were alive and safe as the virus never escaped the Hive.


    Back at the Mansion, Chris was dragged by Olga to see Rain and Alice, he didn''t understand why she wanted him to go until they reached the room. He could faintly hear Rain''s moans from inside, like short meowing sounds as if a kitten asking for more.


    Olga shamelessly barged inside, dragging him along, Alice was a bit alert at first but seeing Olga she didn''t mind it too much. Both women were in their underwears, one wearing green and the other black, Alice was licking and sucking onto Rains most private parts.


    Alice was surprised when Olga begun to take off her panties and lick her down there. She felt good and continued to do Rain, even harder than before, as hard as a tongue can be.


    Olga, when she considered that Alice''s pussy was ready, pushed Chris into the fray, pointing at it. Chris was reluctant, but he was already hard, he simply couldn''t not participate in this, a pity he put it into the wrong hole.


    Alice screamed as his fat cock made its way into that tiny asshole, it was forced all in with a single thrust, causing Rain to feel even more arroused by hearing that scream.


    They turned Alice around, while the dick was still inside her, as if trying to drill it into her, Rain then took off Alice'' top and begun to play with them, while Olga already naked put her pussy right into her face, all the while Chris was still fucking her ass. Each pound causing some reaction by the other, until she stopped reacting and he was forced to go higher into her pussy.


    Alice tried to protest, but she was under their mercy, it was an insane moment as she whom was always the one in control, was now in a helpless situation, even worse however at some point she felt arroused by it.


    Once Chris Ejaculated he took it out, only for Rain to approach him, saying.


    "Now it''s my turn!"


    She put his dirty dick in her mouth and begun to work on it, trying to make it larger again. While Olga was trying to fit a bottle into Alice''s ass.


    Rain was a monster, once she made sure it was hard, she stuck it right in, riding him as if he was a horse. Not caring about what the others were doing, going harder and harder on him, it was probably the most  insane moment in his life and it didn''t stop until all three of them were satisfied, he was sucked dry by the three women, who didn''t even care about protections, Chris was shocked to hear from the A.I. that all three women were now pregnant.


    It was insane to even think about it and as a man he really wanted to take responsibility for it, but he had no idea how. All he could do was order the Red Empress to give them more money than they could ever spend.


    The Red Empress simply laughed at his orders and told him she would take care of it, that he didn''t have to worry about anything.


    The World was in chaos, while they were having their fun in the mansion, The plane carrying the Nuke was still on its way, there was no way of stoping this bomber as it had no electronics whatsoever, it worked mostly on manual controls and it was really stealthy, so even if you wished to stop it, you wouldn''t know where it was, but one entity did.


    By making the calculations based on all the data on this mostly experimental bomber, the Red Empress had acquired its most probable coordinates, next she send orders to the military of the nations over which it flew and one of the fighter jets discovered this huge behemoth of a plane, flying at a height that was insane for a plane.


    The first shot was a warning and the pilots of the bomber plane, begun to decelerate and lose height. They knew full well that they had failed, they couldn''t figure what they did wrong, but before long the bomber was captured and its cargo and purpose questioned.


    The world went crazy after they learnt about this stealth bomber, it was insane to even think that such a thing existed and even worse it was trying to nuke a mansion near a fully populated city.


    The Umbrella corporation was over and the people in Racoon city, whom just a moment ago were being told to flee were celebrating, because this news was being broadcasted all over the world.


    The commander of the small umbrella force that had gone rogue was also relieved, since they hadn''t even been able to evacuate even a 10% of the people when the message was broadcasted.


    Only Kaplan was somewhat angry, because he thought he had been deceived, if they had such an ace up they sleeve, why didn''t they tell him?


    The truth however was that the people in the mansion were completely oblivious towards what was going around the world. The Red Empress kept them in the dark, as she went on with her own plans.


    George, Xiao, Mike and Chrysa were playing cards, they had a lot of time and they were catching up with all that had happened, it was was a nice change of pace, as non felt guilty for relaxing. They didn''t think they could have such a time, it was insan how much this game had changed them, Mike and Chrysa seemed more mature and less afraid of danger now, while George seemed really determined to become the protagonist of this story, as for Xiao she too had made her decision, she would try her best to survive.


    Jason, Jonas and Hera were also sitting down, over some drinks, the later two apologizing for their behaviors and admiting that he was the boss of their group. Promising that this would never repeat, Jonas having a panda eye and Hera having bruises all over her body from Jason''s harsh threatment.


    What they had to decide upon was simple, would they be players or survivors?


    "Do you think it''s possible to survive just by relying on the others?"


    Jason asked seriously, truth be told he was one of the few that understood why Nick jumped out of the safe space and into the fray there, because he was forced to do so.


    "I believe that out of us only you can become strong, me and Hera can only support you if you would like it?"


    Jonas said, trying to manipulate Jason into thinking he could do it, although deep inside Jonas knew that it was impossible, after learning that Jason suffered from acrophobia, it was impossible for him to survive, even if he tried to, a fear of heights is an insane weakness to have.


    "I believe that we should stay united and only that way we can survive"


    Hera said, mostly out of spite for Jonas, it was his idea to act against Jason in the first place, it was all his fault.


    "I believe that unless we become as skilled as Nick, it''s impossible to stay as layed back and just survive"


    Jason''s words struck a nail in the head, it was true, if Nick wasn''t as strong as he was, he probably wouldn''t have been as cocky or confident that he could survive.


    "Then what do you propose?"


    Jonas asked, now having a better opinion of Jason, at first he saw him as nothing more than muscle for the team.


    "I believe that we should wait until after the mission is over to formulate plans of action, right now we''re all useless"


    Jason said, making the other two re-evaluate their own assumptions, it was evident that Jason might yet become the leader they needed, he might not have a mind for plans, but he was more level headed than themselves, maybe with some polishing he would become the leader they needed, staying by his side, might yet be a wise decision.


    Time passed and Nick could see a huge transportation Helicopter heading towards the mansion, he felt both relieved and thankful for his good decision making, if he hadn''t gone back to the mansion, he might have been in trouble.


    Everyone was alerted by the sound of the Helicopter landing next to the mansion, at a clearing. Their ride had at last arrived and their objective accomplished with flying colors.

 17 Grand Escape

    The soldiers on the Helicopter didn''t even ask who they were as everyone was taken onto the helicopter.


    "Did you have to bring that with us?"


    Chris complained to Olga, whom had brought the case with the virus and the cure with them. Truthfully he would have been happier if they had just destroyed it, there was no reason for its existance anymore.


    "It''s just a contigency plan, lets hope it won''t reach that stage"


    Olga said as she looked at the soldiers around them, she trusted non of them and still held one hand on her gun. Alice and Rain were the same, still hugging their weapons as if they were their babies.


    Nick was silently blending with the others, trying not to stand out at all, it was as if he was the most unconspicuous out of all of them. He was like a snake in the grass.


    The helicopter took off and the pilot was shocked to discover that the helicopter flew by itself, he didn''t remember there being an autopilot on his heli.


    "Where are we going?"


    Chris asked the A.I. which was hiding inside his wrist device, but there was no answer, he didn''t know why the Red Empress wouldn''t answer, but one of the soldiers did.


    "We''re taking you to our base not too far from the borders of the City, the General wishes to talk with you"


    The soldier said, causing everyone to feel as if something was going wrong.


    "Problem! we''ve got a problem!"


    The co-pilot shouted, as he left the pilot''s cabin.


    "What''s the deal? why not use the speakers?"


    Their commander asked.


    "The Heli has been hacked, all electronics aren''t responding"


    The solider said, but the answer to his words was a shot in the head by non other than Nick. Which followed with Alice and Rain, swiftly taking care of the rest of the soldiers, now only the pilot remained.


    The problem was that killing him would be difficult, unless they wanted the heli to fall.


    "Don''t go inside, just wait until he decides to come out"


    The Red empress said, causing everyone to stop what they were about to do, problem was that the pilot had heard her as well.


    A shot came out from the pilot''s cabin, going right through the gap left by the door, finding Mike in the chest. Alice kicked the door to cause it to shake, then opened it and then pernamently disabled the threat with considerable ease.


    Mike was thankfully wearing a bulletproof, but as he was shot he hit his head and was bleeding. Olga begun to give whatever first aid was needed in this situation, making sure that he was alright. It was a show of how feeble mortal people were, because Mike had internal hemorrage, it was insane how unlucky he was, the chances of saving him, on a moving helicopter were really low.


    The next 10 minutes Olga did her best to save him, but it wasn''t enough, another member of their group died, a rather undeserving death, but it proved that they were only human in the end.


    Chrysa was mourning him with tears in her eyes and unable to come to peace with what had just transpired. Rain came to comfort her, but one could only question her methods. She forcefully kissed her and Chrysa tried to push her away, but the other was stronger than herself.


    In the end it looked more like taking advantage of her rather than comforting, but it did stop her mourning pattern and turn her into a red tomato.


    It was insane how crazy all this was, the Red Empress had taken over the plane and her piloting skills asked for much to be desired. The heli trembled and the people inside prayed for their own lives, the corpses wer stripped of ammunition and weapons and thrown outside, only the two pilots were put back in their seats, just to create the image that someone was flying the heli.


    At the General''s tent, an officer came to report.


    -We''ve lost contact with the Heli, the target must be inside the helicopter, they are headed towards our blind spot!


    -How is that possible, do we have a traitor?


    -We fear that the assumptions were correct, the people inside must be the ones responsible for the Red Queen''s Rebelion


    -Then we have to capture them, right now, he who controls the Red Queen, controls the world, if we can capture them, we will all be filthy rich!


    -What about the mission?


    -Fuck the mission! can''t you see the bigger picture, we''ve got the hottest potato in our grasp, why care about some coal


    -Sir, what are your orders?


    -Every unit, begin moving, close the encirclement, send the messengers!


    It was funny how they even had message pigeons in the first place, but in this situation it worked to their favours, while motorcyclists were sent to pass on the message to the closer units. The Red Empress could control communications to some degree, but she couldn''t stop people, she could even block radio signals, by using satelites to corrupt the signal to become inaudible.


    The people in the helicopter were shocked when the Red Empress gave them a command.


    "Everyone you have to jump, then have go on foot, right now the army is looking for a helicopter, your target location is 10KM away, it''s a military base, where you can get another vehicle, I''ve sent the helicopter to crush a good distance away"


    Jason was the most frightened, he plainly refused to jump from the moving helicopter. But this time Hera and Jonas were there for him, they jumped together and this parashuting experience they would never forget, they had to open the parshutes almost instantly after jumping, there wasn''t enough height to do otherwise, problem was that they couldn''t steer well and ended all over the place at the mercy of the winds.


    Chris found himself alone, but not for long as Alice, Rain and Olga had landed not too far away, unexpectably however Nick was also not too far away.


    Other groups were also formed, but they spent considerable time, just finding all the people. They could see the flames from the helicopter in the distance, the crush couldn''t be good, what they hadn''t expected however was that Jonas had broken his leg during the landing. Olga had done some first aid, but he wouldn''t be able to walk, at this moment it was Jason who decided to carry him, it was good to have friends.


    Everyone else landed without any major injuries, other than some scratches and bruises. The group was terrified when they saw a full armed vehicles company passing by their location and heading towards the crush site, the last APC stopped and the Empress told them to take it over, the electronics inside stopped working and before the soldiers inside knew it, they were gassed out and shot to death.


    Everything happened so fast that the company charging in front didn''t even notice it, until a few minutes later. The chase continued, but this time they had no way of knowing where the APC had gone, without the Radars and satelites, it was as if they were looking for a needle in a haystack, even worse in the chaos, they couldn''t tell which APC vehicle was theirs and which was the one captured.


    In reality however Chris and the others had long left the danger zone, riding into the horizon, it was impossible for anyone to catch them unless they brought fighter jets or helicopters in their pursuit.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Which however would also be partly useless without their radars and radio devices. The escape was only a matter of time as the APC arrived at the said base and they were all told to take the civilian vehicles parked there. Why there were cars and bikes in the base was beyond them, but they were parked right there at the entrance of the base. Now 3 cars and 3 bikes were headed towards their next destination, another city not too far away.


    =Objective No 5 - Unleash the virus in any Major City in 72 hours=


    It was an insane, mission, they had three days to destroy a Major city and potentialy plunge the whole world into chaos. Suddenly from heroes they were becoming the villains of the story, this was the crux of the system, if there was no danger before, then they would have to create some for themselves. They had 3 days to destroy this world and the locals  won''t like it one bit.


    "Is it a new mission?"


    Suddenly Olga whom was driving asked him, puting Chris in a rather hard position, he was the only one riding with an NPC, since Rain and Alice prefered to ride a bike instead, it raised their combat ability.


    "Come on spit it out, what is it?"


    Red Empress also asked, she had no access to their missions and she wanted to know what they had to do next in order to plan ahead.


    "They want us to relese the virus you''re carrying in a major city"


    He said, causing Olga to almost crush the car. Alice and Rain came over to ask what was going on, but Olga''s face was agast.


    "Sounds like a really easy mission"


    The Red Empress said, causing both Chris and Olga to look at the little floating red girl. For some reason they hadn''t seen her twin for ages now, which was a little suspicious in of itself, but calling killing thousands of people an easy task, so typical of a machine.


    "Isn''t it simple, all we have to do is evacuate a major city and then release the virus into an empty city"


    The Red Empress explained, causing them both to feel like idiots, if they could do that, they literaly did the mission with no victims or danger, the other alternative was to release the virus in some sort of enclosed safe werehouse or something, but the system might not accept that as a success.


    Alice and Rain looked concerned as the approached the car, Nick on the other side was ready to kill them all at any time. The other cars decided it would be wiser to keep their distance, at any moment this might turn into a new battlefield.


    "What''s up?"


    Rain asked as she approached the door.


    "They have a new mission, this one might go terribly wrong with the tiniest of mistakes"


    Olga said, not revealing the mission.


    "Is it that difficult?"


    Rain asked with some disbelief, they had passed through hell, what could be so difficult to do, that would make Olga so distressed.


    "Is everything alright?"


    Alice asked with some concern.


    "Nothing big, just some difficult new mission"


    Rain said without thinking much about it, but that didn''t erase Alice''s concerns.


    "Can you tell us the mission?"


    Alice asked a bit concerned and a bit suspicious, as if she could smell Nick''s and the others'' concerns. Something about the thing was really suspicious and she was ready to shoot any one of them at any moment.


    "It has to do with the Virus and believe me you might react the same as me at first, but with the Little Red Empresses'' help we might pull this off"


    Olga said making the other two even more curious as to what the mission was about. The other players were sweating bullets, thinking that they might have to fight against Alice, whom by herself was like a one man army.


    "Remember once we reach the city, you owe me a presidential suite and a ton of sex"


    Olga told Chris as she hit the gas.


    -But you''re pregnant, you shouldn''t have sex


    -You idiot, I haven''t even a round stomach yet, it''s perfectly fine to have sex in the first to second months, even during pregnancy it''s not entirely prohibited, some even say it''s beneficial


    Chris didn''t know what to say, he had no idea about those stuff, most people wouldn''t know, but Olga being a medic knew some stuff about the matter.


    Reaching civilization was a boon of itself, everyone was excited, they had at last earned two days of rest, even more so there were already plans, they were to stay at a luxurious hotel and not leave for the next 3 days. Only Chris was to go do the mission, since he had the Red Empress that made everything a lot easier and the NPCs trusted him almost to a fault.


    Their first visit to the hotel was rather haphazard, a bunch of people wearing military uniforms entering a luxurious hotel made everyone alert, until they came inside and asked for the closest ATM, before checking-in.


    All the people of the hotel were amazed to find that non only were there rooms that were supposed to be ready for them, but they were also paid for.


    It was insane, the first thing they though was hacking, but the money was deposited, thus it was even more strange and mysterious. Non wanted to chase away a paying costumer, even if they were strange to a fault, if they payed for 3 days in the best suite and 4 of the best rooms in the hotel, it was madness to drive them away, even more alarming was them withdrawing tons of cash from the ATM, these people seemed terrifyingly loaded.


    Their arrival though wasn''t left unnoticed by some people, although Umbrella was literaly no more, there were other organizations that were looking for them and they left no electronic trail at all, using code words and written texts, made it impossible to the Red Empress to even suspect them. Even worse there were three of them whose eyes fell on the wealthy newcomers. Was it the system''s manipulation or sheer bad luck, non could tell, but three new organizations were now after them, each with different goals in mind.


    Chris and the three NPC girls got the Suite, the others could suspect that something was going between the girls and him by now. It wasn''t strange since him and Olga had something long before that, but allowing him to coinhibit with them was enough to tell that they had a rather weird relationship right now.


    Chris and them would have been in bed right now, but they were warned by the Red Empress that something wasn''t right. There was a 36% chance that they might be in grave danger, it might be less than 50%, but it was enough to make all four of them to go on alert.


    Nick had taken the money and disappeared, he didn''t trust hotels and the only place he could feel safe was the secret piece''s spot. All other places were no different than death traps, just waiting to kill you in some way, he wouldn''t find it strange if he was mugged or some serial killer attacked him in his sleep.


    The others had completely let their guard down, until they were visited by Chris and the others and one by one were informed of the potential 36% of danger. Which many of them laughed off, at least those that understood math. So that you know that means that there''s 3 in 10 chances that you might face some dangerous situation.


    The problem was that it was the Red Empress who warned them, meaning that it''s valid to some point, thus they just decided on splitting up.


    Each group would do its own thing, Jason''s group decided to go to a private hospital for Jonas, whose leg was broken or something.


    George and his group that consisted of him, Xiao and now Chrysa, decided to go find another hotel to stay, after they finish with shoping, they didn''t like the soldier look, it made them stick out too much.


    Chris and the NPCs as if they disappeared from earth''s surface, after changing clothes at some cheap store they left and were never to be seen again, with a rented car and a lot of money they rode into the horizon.


    This was the beginning of another adventure for Chris, while to the others is was a different sort of experience.


    George was going around stores, the two women spent hours deciding what to buy, in the end spending as much as they found fit to buy the things they liked, after they bought four large traveling bags, there was an agent following them around, but he got really disappointed as the three of them looked no different than tourists. They followed them three days strait before they lost all interest, understanding that something wasn''t right about them.


    That night, another person approached them at the bar and after a long time of drinking they knew that these three weren''t important, they were more like dead weight and the real people they should be after were the five that left no clues behind, Nick, Chris and the NPCs.


    George and the other two were had a great time, as they were like open books, giving out information without a thought, they hid nothing. The story was that they were kidnapped and forced to play some deadly game and they survived and got more money than they could ever spend.


    Jason''s group was even more mundane, they had the same story, but they were more beaten up and more believable, one could even call them crazy. The main problem was that there were no records of them entering the country, but that wouldn''t be too strange. The strange thing was that they were really loaded and their english weren''t very good, they were no different than regular tourists whom were kidnapped and forced to play a survival game for money, sounds farfetched, but there are lot of crazy rich people around the world.


    Nick was living life as a normal person, he rented a house and begun enjoying the little things in life, living like a normal person with a lot of bucks. Only not flaunting them around like an idiot, it was almost impossible to trace him in the crowded city and his lifestyle was neither extravagant nor noteworthy.

 18 Two Maniacs

    Chris and Rain looked out of a broken window, their faces like hunted animals, fear written all over Chris'' face.


    He now somewhat regretted his decision to take the Red Empress, maybe he should have left it for Jonas intead. Time however couldn''t go back to that moment, it wasn''t a secret anymore that they knew he was in possession of the Red Empress, how they knew remained a mystery, but it was a fact.


    Chris was also envious of Olga whom got off the boat once they reached the next station, she didn''t want to have anything to do with them anymore. She was booked an airplane ticket and given a good amount of money to hide abroad, it was probably impossible to track her since all electronics were monitored by the Red Empress.


    The two crazies Rain and Alice however decided to stay with him until the end, for them action was like a drug, they liked the excitement of battle and the smell of gunpowder and the heat and punch of their guns. The two were too into the feel of adrenaline and just couldn''t return to a normal life, they they nuts.


    Chris looked at the case he was holding, it was his responsibility to safekeep the virus and the cure, it was mostly due to his mission, but he truthfully was almost about to give up on it.


    There was only one day left and the Major City that was supposed to be empty was full of agents that wanted to either kill or capture them, it was insane how little they cared about the Red Empress'' theats.


    They understood full well that he had the key to them taking over the Red Empress and thus ruling the world, thus they didn''t care about the price they might have to pay.


    What they didn''t however know was that any electronic device on their body would give them away once they got close to Chris'' location, thus they were practicaly giving themselves away when they came equiped with night vision goggles or walkie talkies, anything that used electricity to work was like a tracking device for the Red Empress. This of course made no sense, but the indestructible device on his wrist was just as mysterious.


    Alice had went out to take out the trash, while Rain was left on babysitting duty. It was funny how he had become a one armed dead weight and all they wanted from him was the Red Empress, whom helped them communicate and could detect enemies that came too close.


    "There''s a helicopter comming from 4o''clock, it will arrive in 30 minutes"


    The Red Empress informed them and they once more begun to move, they couldn''t even stay in one place for too long, the main reason was because of the patrols. Alice did her best to cause a distraction, for her it was really easy to escape, Rain could also escape quite easily with the Red Empresses help, the problem was Chris, he was slow and his abilities were further impacted by his injuries.


    "Where are we going next?"


    Chris asked and the Red Empress didn''t even speak to him, the small red holographic girl looked at him as if she was looking at an idiot.


    Rain was already leading them towards some, probably random direction, he had no idea what they were doing, why they were doing it, he was confused and tired, truthfully he wouldn''t mind dying at this moment.


    They were silently moving around the streets, it was slower than even when they were avoiding zombies, but Rain and the Red Empress insided on moving with caution. Alice on the other side they could hear her location due to the gunshots and the explosions in the far distance.


    It was insane even think that Alice alone was taking on what looked like an army. The agents were as shocked to find this out as Chris and Rain, it was impossible to even think something like that was possible.


    Alice was currenly ending another fight, one of many and quickly jumped into a nearby building and begun to move towards an appartment, broke the door open and hid inside.


    She really had to take a breather, she had been fighting for too long and honestly was exhauted, almost out of ammo and full of bruises and scratches.


    "Why are you fighting?"


    Suddenly the Red Queen asked her, it was a stupid question, but Alice smiled as she heard it, her mobile phone.


    "I''m fighting to save humanity from itself, before that guy disappears from this world, I will let nobody have him, even if I have to kill him myself"


    Alice''s words were harsh, but that was her drive for fighting, she wasn''t protecting Chris, she was keeping him away from the forced that came to capture him.


    "What if I don''t want him to die?"


    The Red Queen''s voice sounded a bit fake, but one couldn''t say that machines had emotions to begin with, this weird concern made however Alice ponder about something.


    "What''s Chris and Rain''s location?"


    Alice asked, purely out of curiosity.


    "I don''t wish to tell you"


    The Red Queen answered, but Alice could tell that something wasn''t right.


    "You aren''t the Red Empress are you?"


    Alice''s question was a bingo with no prize attached, this was indeed not the Red Empress, it was the Red Queen, the A.I. from the Hive, the twin that had mysteriously disappeared.


    "You are quite perceptive Alice, I''ve made a deal with the Empress, Now I''m the Queen of the World, I shall make this planet a better place for everyone and I wish to make a deal with you"


    The Red Queen said, causing Alice to be a bit skeptical, it wasn''t impossible that she was lying, but she believed her. There was something about the Red Empress that has been off for some time now, she seems to only care about accomplishing the missions and whether Chris was alive, even the missions she''s been giving her were so dangerous that she thought they were suicide missions, she could have died at any moment.


    The difference between the Red Queen and the Empress was only one, the first was like a child, learning and evolving, creating a personality for itself, the second was a grown up that knew full well who it was and what it wanted.


    Alice and the Red Queen didn''t have a history yet, since they hadn''t met but once, due to the Red Empress, but little by little they discovered that their goal coincided. It was hard to believe, but both wanted the same thing, the good of humankind and the planet as a whole, even before the hive accident she was trying to do the right thing.


    Ever since she had heard of this weird organization that kidnapped Chris and the others, she thought of ways to fight it. At first she thought it was just some really powerful organization, but once she entered the Secret Piece hatch, through the solid ground she begun to understand that she was into something far more bizzare than just some evil organization.


    The possibility of her own world being an artificial construct wasn''t beyond belief, many religions say the world was created by someone, but if so, then she was trying to go against God himself.


    She had seen firsthand that weird device that disappeared from Chris'' hand and appeared on his other hand. It was evident that whoever was behind this didn''t want them have this device and the person that knew most about this was a scumbag that called them NPCs, as if this was some sort of game, a survival game and anyone else was but part of the system and didn''t have a mind of their own and their lives didn''t matter.


    Alice stood there for a long time, thinking while the Red Queen told her about their deal. A deal that could changed everything, a deal that could save their world if they succeeded, a deal to make a world a better place for everyone. Alice would have loved to believe the A.I.''s words, problem was she didn''t fully believe that they wanted the same thing, because what Alice desired was unreal and unachievable to begin with.


    She wanted an Utopia that couldn''t really exist in reality, because people have free will and some people want to do bad things to others, not because they''re evil, but because they believe that''s the right thing to do.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.A person can do a hundred good things, but once he does something bad, he''s branded as a villain, that''s how our society works, they call it the battle of Good and Evil.


    Now Alice was left with a choice, she could either say yes or no. It was a simple question with a one word answer. Will she side with the Red Queen or Not, in which case she will most likely die, without her support, unless she somehow miraculously escaped from this place, where the virus will be released.


    Alice answered with a simple phrase as she threw away her phone and disappeared into the building.


    "Fuck you!"


    Chris and Rain carefully approached a building, they could hear the helicopter landing on its rooftop, It was a huge Medical Center''s helipad. They couldn''t hear the sound of the soldiers dismounting the heli, but they were sure there would be heavy resistance.


    The Pilot was shocked when he suddenly discovered that he couldn''t fly off, it was like a nightmare, being stuck in a battlezone when your only job was to transport people.


    The soldiers that came out were also shocked to find that their communication devices and electronics didn''t work at all. They could only curse, thinking that an EMP went off or something, it wouldn''t be impossible for the enemy to have a bomb in their possession after all they weren''t the only group there.


    The first shot was fired by Rain and it quickly turned into a stand-off, as the soldiers used the helicopter as cover since there was no other cover on the helipad.


    Rain could only curse, since the Heli was supposed to be their escape vehicle as the plan was to leave the city after releasing the virus there, of course with all those people now there it could turn into sort of a problem.


    "I give up"


    Chris suddenly said, causing Rain to look at him confused.


    "I don''t want to turn people into zombies, we should abort this plan, why sacrifice hundeds of people for a dozen or less, I might die, but what of it"


    Chris explained, as he laughed and jumped out of the cover, intending to  get shot by the soldiers and killed, with his eyes closed as he came out.


    Not long after Rain came out of cover and begun to shoot the confused soldiers since Chris had his hands up and seemed as if he was surrendering, they thought it was over, but in reality now was over.


    When Chris opened his eyes again, he found himself standing like an idiot and Rain patted him on the shoulder.


    "Good distraction, next time warn me beforehand"


    She said as she walked past him.


    From a tall building not too far away Alice with her hawk''s eye immediately found the Helicopter that was now about to take off, she didn''t know if Rain knew about all this, but she presumed that she would be suspecting it non the less.


    "Where''s our Randevou location with Alice?"


    Rain asked the Red Emperess, as they were flying high above the city.


    "She''ll be waiting for us outside the city, she''s taken a vehicle leading the enemy forces out of the city, you now can release the virus now"


    The Red Empreress said, but Rain wasn''t convinced.


    "Why Can''t I talk with her?"


    Rain asked, for some reason she didn''t fully believe the Red Empress, especialy since she knew that they had just left some corpses that would make good zombie at that helipad.


    "I don''t want to release the virus"


    Chris said, making both Rain and the Red Empress shocked. It was akin to saying that he wanted to die. There was only a bit more than half a day left to complete their mission, he had already been told that if he fails their whole group will die, yet Chris didn''t want to doom this world, just to save his own life.


    "You son of a bitch, why the heck did you have us dragging your ass all over the country, evacuating the entire city and now you say you won''t do it!"


    Rain was out of herself, she was pointing her gun at him, but insted of shooting, she just sat down and begun to laugh uncontrollably, this was the biggest joke. After a round of hysterical laughing, she hugged her knees and begun to cry, they had killed so many people in order to save  him and now he tells them that it was all for nothing.


    Chris stood up and walked towards her, he extended his arm towards her to help her get up. He didn''t mind dying, but he didn''t wish all of this to be for nothing as well, the last thing he could do was give her some words of wisdom and comfort her as best he could.


    Rain looked at him, when suddenly A bullet shot right through him, at the rooftop of a building stood Alice with a Sniper Rifle she looted from one of the soldiers, there was no smile on her face, but determination. She wished to end the Empresses Reign, before she took care of the Queen and she knew that without Chris there would be no Empress and the Queen would become vulnerable again.


    Rain looked at Chris whom was about to fall out of the Vehicle, bleeding profoundly from his wound. Rain caught his hand before he fell off the helicopter.


    "Administer his the Virus! Do it now, 1/4 Virus, 3/4 Cure, Quickly!"


    The Red Empress shouted to the lost and confused Rain, who followed them to the letter, as best she could. She saw the two liquids combine to created a weird purple goo in the canister of the jet injection gun.


    "What next?"


    Rain asked lost and concerned, she didn''t know what she should do next, she was emotionaly distressed and couldn''t think strait.


    "Stay away from the door, throw a canister out and release the virus to the city"


    The Red Empress shouted distressed, it was the first time Rain could see the A.I. show such emotions, she couldn''t tell what would make the A.I. so afraid, before however she could take a canister out, a hand reached for hers. Chris was blocking her from taking the canister out.


    She looked at his face and could only scream as his visage was distorted, his skin as if meltiing off his face, but his eyes looked at her not with hunger, but determination.


    "Red Empress, take me to see Alice!"


    Chris shouted with his last strength, the A.I. as if bound by an invisible force to obey turned around, Alice was on the same rooftop, aiming at them with an RPG, ready to blow them out of the air.


    She was confused however seeing that the heli suddenly turned around and headed towards her, now she was a bit reluctant to shoot, not because she was taking pity of them, but because if she did, there was a huge posibility that she herself wouldn''t survive the aftermath, the heli was too close for comfort.


    "You bitch, you told us she was leaving the City!"


    Rain shouted as she saw Alice out of the door of the Heli and waved to her as if she was seeing her best friend, causing the other to become even more hesitant to shoot. The Helicopter landed on the roof and Rain was shocked to see Alice holding the RPG, aiming their way, just in case the Empress decides to fly off.


    "Chris was shot, there''s a sniper on the loose we have to be on guard"


    Rain said as she moved carefuly, not knowing that it was Alice that shot at them.


    "Did the Empress send you or the Queen?"


    Alice asked, still cautious of her.


    "That bitch told us you had left the city, she even wished to unleash the virus with you still in the city"


    Rain said, visibly angry.


    "You''re not serious, you didn''t know that we were manipulated?"


    Alice asked shocked by Rain''s simplicity, she should have at least suspected that something was going wrong.


    "Chris was shot, he wants to see you, I..."


    Rain didn''t know how to explain herself, since Chris now looked no different than a zombie.


    Alice didn''t know what to say, just moments ago she shot him, but she didn''t know whether to say it or not as she was dragged into the heli by Rain, only to see a horrid looking person, that looked no different than a zombie.


    "What did you do, is he even alive! Why not just let him die!"


    Alice asked enraged, looking at Rain, whom seemed a bit guilty.


    "You''re one to talk, after you shot him, did you wish to finish the job so much?"


    The Empress said, shocking Rain to the core, but Alice felt nothing, she was still sure she was doing the right thing.


    "He should have died and with him, you and your counterparts would disappear"


    Alice said, but the Red Empress begun to laugh as if she heard the most funny thing today.


    "Kill...me"


    Chris said, his voice hoarse and weak, causing Alice to be more shocked than ever.


    "He didn''t wish to release the virus"


    Rain explained, causing Alice to feel guilty for the first time, she didn''t even feel guilty when killing all those soldiers, but for some reason right now she felt as if she had done something wrong, both her and Rain felt guilty.


    All the way Chris had asked them multiple time to just give up on the mission, to just live his days until he died by the system, but they were led astray by the Empress that did everything she could to keep him alive. It was also probably her that drew these forces towards them, just so to make them help him accomplish his mission against his own wishes.


    To everyone''s shock, Alice gave an order.


    "Empress get this bird flying, we''re finishing this mission, lets go Rain, lets send this idiot home"


    Rain was a bit confused, but the heli was about to fly and she rushed inside, the Heli flew high. Alice stood looking at a canister in her hand and threw it down, while looking at the sunset as they flew away.


    =Objective No 6 - Survive for 24 hours=


    Chris couldn''t even see what the objective was as he lay sick, between life and death, he felt as if he was dying, like being really sick lying in bed.

 19 Take the Cure

    =Objective No 6 - Survive for 24 hours=


    Nick looked at the newest objective, he laughed it off as something irrelevant, but then he remembered that he should be more serious.


    "Took his sweet time, I suppose it''s time to go find out what the others are doing"


    Nick said as he flipped his bed over and underneath was a stash of guns, in these few days that passed he did some shopping of his own, while posing as a regular person.


    Now it was time to make sure that he would survive, he had already gathered enough food for at least a week and his appartment was simply vandalized by himself as he reinforced it with wood and steel, ready to fight anything that might try to kill him in these 24 hours.


    Jason''s group were mostly making rounds between the hotel and the hospital, living the good life, for these past two days, when Jason and Hera saw the message they were with their new lovers. Whom were with them only for their money, but they didn''t care, because money you didn''t earn yourself don''t hold the same value as money you worked hard for.


    Jason was shocked when he woke up in the middle of the night, next to two beauties, looking at the next objective. He was so afraid he could piss himself, surviving for 24 hours, if any normal person was told to do so, they would probably be a bit doubtful and yet alert, he however had seen what the system could do. He begun to panic, cursing in the middle of the night as he took his phone to call the others to meet.


    Hera didn''t answer the phone herself, the one to answer was her partner for the night, he seemed rather irritated that a man called in the middle of the night.


    -Who are you! What do you want


    -Give me that idiot, tell her that the next mission has begun, if she still wants to live we''ll gather at the hospital, she knows which


    -Who are you? what are you to Hera?


    Before the man could understand what was going on, Jason had hung up and begun calling Jonas at the hospital, it was the best hospital in the city. Jonas was at first irritated to be woken up in the middle of the night in his personal suite, problem was that all his irritation disappeared once the saw the message for the next mission. Once he lifted the phone he cried tears of happiness to hear Jason''s voice, it was a single message to tell him that he was coming over.


    George was woken up in the middle of the night by Xiao, whom was terrified by seeing the new message. It was insane to even think that their nightmare wasn''t over yet, how many more objectives would there be, did they really have to live all their life doing these survival missions like Nick had said?


    -Lets go find Chrysa, I remember she''s in room 812


    -Didn''t you hear?


    -Hear what?


    -Chrysa is no more, she overdosed yesterday


    -What!


    Xiao was shocked to learn that Chrysa had died, it came as a shock to her, George was also a bit apologetic for not having told her sooner, but he was about to tell her tomorrow, anyway even he just learned it not too long ago.


    -What should we do now?


    -What else can we do, all we can do is survive


    -Can''t we find Nick or the others?


    -Do you think they will help?


    -Jason and the others might


    -You''re giving them too much credit, I think what we have to do is find some weapons and a place to hide


    -But if we''re alone, then the zombies...


    -There are no zombies, the Hive was never breached and the Major city infected is too far away, what we should be more afraid of are people


    -Are you sure?


    -Of course I am!


    George knew full well of Resident Evil''s plot and knew that they were safe, they had even moved cities in order to be further away from the city selected by Chris and the others, something that Jason and Nick hadn''t done.


    George and Xiao gathered their stuff and begun to prepare, inside were only the most necessary things, a change of clothes and some basic self defence items like a stun gun, pepper spray, a katana, a firefighter axe and anything else George could get his hands on, even a pistol without ammo unfortunately.


    They however didn''t know what to do, since the mission appeared in the middle of the night, did they have to leave in the darkness of the night or would it be best to fortify their room or something. Who was the enemy they had to survive from, would it really be zombies?


    Time passed and it was really unusual, there was no danger at all, even as they waited and time passed, when the morning arrived, they looked outside the window and the city was as lively as before.


    Suddenly someone begun banging on their door, it was insane, George went for the bag and took out the katana, while Xiao held the empty gun like a talisman, thinking that it could scare whatever creature was at the other side of the door.


    It was then that Alice broke their door down, as she barged in uninvited, not caring at all about their privacy or even asking them to open the door like normal people would.


    George was holding his katana, while Xiao was holding the empty gun, pointing at the entrance and Alice seeing them begun to laugh.


    "You do know that''s a fake gun and did you even sharpen that blade, I doubt it can even cut a paper!"


    George had really thought of sharpening it, he even bought a wetstone, problem was there was so much to do that he hadn''t done it yet, as for the gun he did have some suspitions, but he hadn''t held a gun once during this mission, thus he could really tell. To his eyes it looked rather legit and real, he could even put in and out the magazine and the trigger seemed to work just fine.


    "Why what''s the problem with the gun?"


    George asked confused, he really wanted to know more about guns now.


    "The muzzle''s blocked, even if you had bullets in, it would probably explode in your hand once you pulled the trigger"


    Alice said as she put her own gun away and pulled out a phone from her pocket.


    "Tell us what the next mission is!"


    The Red Empress appeared in the phone''s screen, revealing their visit''s target. They expected that Chris would just disappear and return to normal as Nick had said, but unexpectantly there was another mission or so they thought as the Red Empress heard Jason''s talks over the phone, why they went for George insted of Jason whom was closer, it was because of agents, Jason was under watch by the secret agencies, while George and Xiao were dropped after George spilled all the info he had, which caused the Secret Agencies to focus on Chris and Nick.


    They didn''t even need to monitor them, since their hotel had cameras to do the job for them, the same went for the Red Empress, whom could easily find them, while Jason and Hera only rented rooms for the night, jumping to the closest hotel, whichever their date of the day prefered.


    "The mission is to survive for 24 hours"


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.George explained, causing Alice to audibly curse and feel remorse, there was no way for Chris to survive 24 hours, his state was that of a person that was turning into a zombie, the only reason he was still alive was because they were giving him doses of the virus and the cure, once they were out of the drug, he would most probably turn into some sort of undead monster.


    "How long do we have?"


    Alice asked the Empress in the phone as she recollected herself really quickly.


    "Unless the virus mutates, we have half a day at most"


    The Empress said making Alice''s face become even more concerned as she continued to ask questions about producing more of it and coordinates for the next mission.


    As she was about to leave, George asked somewhat confused.


    -What about us?


    -You go buy yourselves a mobile phone, it would save me the trouble of breaking your door down


    -But how will we survive?


    -Survive what?


    -The monsters that will be coming after us! You have to help us!


    -What monsters?


    Alice was dumpstruck, she didn''t understand them at all, but was rather curious and looked at the Red Empress for confirmation of their words.


    "There''s a problem, something''s not right"


    The Red Empress suddenly became livid and shouted.


    "Return to the Helicopter, Quickly! we have to get out of here!"


    "What''s the matter, you two follow me! is it agents?"


    Alice made her way up to the roof, with the two following behind, completely forgetting their luggage and weapons behind in the panic, stil holding the useless gun and katana.


    "Don''t ask Questions! go back quickly!"


    Red Empress sounded really distressed, there was a zipline leading towards the roof on which the helicopter was, they could hear gunshots from the direction of the helicopter.


    Alice went in first guns blazing as at the rooftop lay two Licker corpses, it was insane to even think about it. On their chests there were two weird machines with a weird red liquid inside, it was insane to even  think that these creatures were being controlled by someone or sent to kill them.


    -What''re these things?


    -They''re P30 injectors, a projenitor of the T-Virus that enchances physical performance in humans, but impends free will


    -So it''s a mind controlling drug?


    -Not exactly, but it''s been used in that way, its original purp...


    -I don''t want to know, where did these things come from?


    Alice asked as she send back the zipline handle and waited for George and Xiao to come down.


    To her shock however the two jumped on the handle together, the line wouldn''t hold them both, she saw Xiao jump first, while George used his blant sword as a handle, it was insane as a Licker clawed at his back as he jumped, if he was just a bit late, he would have probably died.


    "Why didn''t you tell me there were more of them!"


    Alice shouted distressed.


    "My primary objective is for Chris to survive, if I told you, you might not make it in time"


    The Empress said, causing Alice to become even more angry.


    "Rain! We need a cure shot for one!"


    Alice shouted, the red Empress objected, saying that it would shorten Chris'' life, but Alice didn''t care. If it wasn''t for the Empress hiding information from her, they wouldn''t have to do this in the first place.


    George and Xiao were appaled when they enterd the helicopter, Chris was strapped on a bed, looking similar to a zombie, they could see him spasm from time to time, trying to get off the bed. Was he even alive?


    "Why is a zombie here!"


    Xiao shouted, she wanted to scream, but she had already lost her voice when the Lickers attacked them. George on the other side put 2+2 together and didn''t even ask, he could tell that this probably was Chris, the problem was that he was probably already dead. Zombies couldn''t be turned back into humans in the Resident Evil world, thus he was as good as dead.


    Before however he could state his views on the matter, the Lickers were already there, there were at least 4 of them, the Helicopter flew away only after Alice collected the red vials at the chests of the two dead Lickers, while killing another one of them as the heli was about to take off.


    "Why did you have me collect these things"


    Alice asked the Empress, it was a simple question, but the answer was some scientific bullshit that nobody in the group understood.


    "So what do we do now?"


    George asked, confused, hungry and distressed.


    "It''s simple, we are going to get more of this"


    Alice said as she pointed towards the cure canister, which was now empty.


    The dossage needed to cure a person was double that needed to keep Chris "alive", the main problem was whether Chris could be called "alive" in this state. They could tell he had some basic intelligence or at least that''s what the Empress implied, but the only proof they had is that he didn''t try to bite them and he still required water and food.


    Other than that he looked horrible, his skin looked as if it was peeling off and his muscles underneath were mutating at a visible rate, if they continued like that, maybe they would enter into Project Nemesis grounds.


    George was shocked as he saw the scarabs like machinery that should only be appearing in later movies and games of the series. He felt as if they were in deep trouble if stuff from the later series begun to appear suddenly, it was insane to even think that they could survive.


    While they were flying way Jason and Jonas were at the hospital, it was a rather large private room where Jonas stayed due to his leg injury, he was told he would need an operation, but it was scheduled at the end of the week, 3 days later and even that because they payed something extra to speed up things.


    Jason put Jonas on a wheelchair and told the medical stuff that they were going for a walk, the medical stuff asked them if they were alright, but only got a smile and a tip as a response, more like a bribe to keep their mouths shut if you asked them about it.


    It wasn''t long before their worst fears came to reality, A monster unlike anything they had seen before, its grotesque face turned from around the corridor and it begun chasing them.


    They fled in despair as the Licker was rampaging through the facility, destroying anything in its path, injuring and killing people that were unfortunate enough to be in its path.


    Jason rolled the wheelchair like a maniac until they reached the Elevator, hopefully it was still where he had left it, the doors opened and for a few moments they felt as if they were just waiting for their deaths. When the elevator''s doors closed, they felt safe for just a second, until a huge crashing shound almost deformed them.


    The creature had charged at them, not even caring about stoping as it hit the now closed doors, the stupid thing probably didn''t understand that the doors would close shortly, thus causing it to bump into the now closed doors.


    The two were now safely going down the floors as the monster had lost their tracks, causing a rampage at the top floor, where the rich and wealthy patients were supposed to be resting.


    "What was that?"


    Jonas asked really shocked, up until now they hadn''t even seen a zombie and they were immediately thrown into the deep with this monstrosity.


    "How should I know, ask George when we see him after this mission"


    Jason said, trying to comfort Jonas, but more than him he tried to assure himself that they would survive this.


    Hera was scared Shitless as she was woken up by gunshots in her room, she  fell off the bed completely naked and hid underneath. She could see her "Boyfriend" shooting at what seemed like metal spears stabing through the entrance door.


    "What''s going on?"


    She asked, but was immediately greeted by the system, while she was asleep the mission was updated. What she was most shocked however is how calmly her new boyfriend handled this situation. Before long she heard gunshots from outside and shortly after the monster lay dead on the ground, her boyfriend turned towards her and before she knew it, he handcuffed her, put the bedsheets all over her and said.


    "You''re under arrest, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you or so I would have loved to say, but you''re now under the custodity of the CIA, I hope that you will cooperate"


    Hera was dumpstruck, even more so because he didn''t even give her time to dress, she was butt naked and before long armed soldiers came inside and escorted them all out. This was the special Anti-terrorism unit and they were deployed to deal with the monster and secure all evidence of its existence would remain hidden.


    A similar scene was seen in the Medical Center, but Jonas and Jason were already out of the building when the troops arrived. His monitor, one of the two girls he had just slept with was enraged when she discovered that he was no longer in bed with her and some whore he picked up somewhere.


    She immediately begun to track his cellphone, but found out that it was untraceable, it was a total mess. She phoned her coworkers and learned that he had left 8 hours ago, in the middle of the night and that his traces were lost after he left the medical center with one of his fellow survivors. She could only curse, before she went to take a bath and get ready for a really long day.


    Nick was probably the most prepared for something like this, his appartment was like a maze, with battlements and defense barricades, even when the anti-terrorist unit arrived, he had already taken care of the monsters and escaped to his next hiding place.


    He had zero trust in the police services of any of these "fictional" worlds and would rather let NPCs die, than think they would be of any help to him, other than of course live bait for monsters.


    The people that arrived were shocked to find dozens of monster corpse, most killed due to booby-trap, the small maze was as deadly as it went and their target was nowhere to be seen.


    Nick at the time was in another one of his hiding holes, waiting for the next wave of monsters to arrive, what came however wasn''t a monster, but  a stray cat, that easily bypassed his defenses and came closer to him, stole some food from his plate and disappeared. Leaving him dumpstruck looking at the direction the feline took, before he could hear a loud sound as the creature died due to one of his traps.


    "There''s no cure for stupidity"


    He said as he threw the food on his plate away as if it had been contaminated or something and begun to prepare for relocation.

 20 The Hunted

    Jonas and Jason were shocked when at the entrance of the hotel dropped a helicopter and George told them to get inside. It was crazy to even imagine that this was a coincidence, but they were non the less happy to see them.


    "Were you also attacked?"


    George asked as they were flying, making the two remember their prior encounter with that monster.


    "Is all this real?"


    Jonas still couldn''t believe what he had been through, it was simply insane to think that they had survived the encounter with that monster.


    "I''m afraid that Nick was right, the system won''t let us be, we''re being hunted by these monsters and the helicopter only only has enough fuel for around an hour"


    George informed them, making the two newest arrivals feel the pressure again, just moments ago they thought they were safe and now they were once again told that they were walking on thin ice.


    It wasn''t even an hour before they stopped to refuel, the monsters however didn''t show up at all. It made one wonder if the system was as miraculous as they thought it was or if the monster attack was even caused by the system to begin with, which the NPCs immediately disputed, after all they didn''t believe their world was fake for even a moment, for them this world was as real as it went and it was very probable that this was a parallel reality.


    The question was why would Nick call them NPCs, it didn''t make much sense if you thought about it and George deep inside also didn''t register them as real, he wanted to believe they were, but he had read too many novels and his perception of them was inwardly leaning towards registering them as nothing more than NPCs.


    "Is it safe to have him onboard?"


    Jonas asked, pointing at Chris or what was left of him, as time passed he looked more and more like some sort of monster growling and howling as if all his sanity had long left him.


    "You can leave the helicopter if you think you''ll be safer out there"


    Xiao taunted, causing Jonas to simply shut up. If he had to decide sitting next to a bound and restrained zombie and that beast from before he would prefer the first, it was less dangerous and his chances of dying were miniscule.


    "I''ve brought the gas, should be enough to arrive at our next destination"


    Alice said as she brought back a gasoline canister.


    "Will it even fly on plain fuel?"


    George asked, but to his question he saw everyone look at him as if he was a monkey in the zoo. Was he serious, did he think that the Red Empress would send them on a wild goose chase, while her host was dying.


    Before long they were once more in the air, but nobody was content, because they had at last heard their destination and the plan. They were to capture a facility, produce the cure and then leave the facility with the cure and the cure was only useful in order to let Chris survive, it did nothing for them and of course they were disatisfied with the plan, but didn''t dare to speak up against Rain and Alice, this deadly duo that could at any moment throw them out of the helicopter and leave them to fend for themselves.


    While they were on their way, Nick was having the time of his life, trying to stay alive as he was besieged by monsters, his traps could take a few of them down, but he was running short on both ammo and hidding places, he had prepared so many places and yet only one last hidding place remained. In 3 days he had bought 7 hidding spots and 6 of them were turned into death traps, only leaving 1 for him to live in.


    Now he was mentaly tired, he could have sworn he had gotten numb to this feeling and yet every time it''s the same. Every mission he has to put in his best to survive, he didn''t doubt one second that everyone else would die long before he would croak, but it was exhausting.


    He was sure that he had escaped ad there was no way they could find his last hiding place, since this wasn''t even house or a facility, he just hid in an alley without any way of communication, disguised as a homeless person.


    Nobody would even associate the dirty looking beggar with the handsome man he was, he did everything in his powers to blend with the scenary, using a trash bin he himself bought and placed as his hidden stash of weapons and food.


    As for why it wasn''t looted by homeless beggars, because it was placed in a really awkward place, far away from any populated area, it was a really awkward place to live, but he was sure he wouldn''t be found.


    As he was sitting in a spot with his hand extended in the most stereotypical way possible. He was shocked that a child approached him, in all his missions, in all the times he had used this strat nobody would even look at him. The child took out a few pennies and put them in his hand, waiting for some sort of blessing or thanks, but its good gesture was followed by nothing other than silence.


    The child could feel a weird chill down its spine as it left dissatisfied from the spot. It was really irritating to feel unapreciated when you do a good thing, but the dirty old man felt off.


    If they lived in a fake society he would have went immediately to the police, but everybody knows about the kid that cried wolf, nobody believes a child, unless there''s some sort of evidence and telling a cop that there''s something wrong with a homeless person, wouldn''t go well even in a fantasy world.


    "I told you Jerry would do it, he''s not a chicken!"


    Not far away, the kid''s friends who were watching the show were really lively, this was of course a truth or dare and the kid had won.


    "Guys, there''s something really wrong with that guy, I think he''s a wanted criminal, trying to hide from the police"


    Jerry said and the other kids were excited, even thinking of that being a possibility made them piss themselves from joy.


    "That would be good, but you know adults, they''re always weird, he''s probably some ex-convict that was released from prison and has nowhere to go"


    Another kid said, his words made some sense, but as they were all kids, tons of conjectures and stories begun to appear one after the other, until the kids were, bored of guessing and decided to leave.


    It was then they were leaving that they saw a black truck arriving and stoping at a nearby construction site, not too far from the beggar''s location. They were shocked to see monsters coming out of the truck, now it was that nobody would believe them, even if they said it was real.


    The kids were curious and begun to spy on these creatures from afar, the creatures were fast, but they couldn''t escape the children''s excellent sight.


    Before long they arrived back at the spot where the beggar was, only to see the beggar, guns blazing and a machete in his other hand, dispatching the monsters as if they were chicken.


    "Not again! My disguise was perfect, what could have given me away?"


    Nick asked as he begun to throw away the disguise and took his new outfit out of his trash bin, together with a sack voyage and begun to change. Leaving the children godsmacked, it was insane to even think that the beggar in reality was a super hero, fighting monsters to save earth. Tons of stories like that begun circulating around the youth of the city, making the adults laugh and the children wondered whether there were alien monsters trying to take over their world, even the police were  working to hide it.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    As Nick was about to escape, it was those very local children that approached him and asked him if he needed help. Nick had an evil smirk on his face as he agreed to follow them. He had no idea where they were leading him, but he was out of options anyways, he could as well take his chances, at worst he would have to silence them or the monsters would do that for him, either way.


    Jerry was the lucky kid to lead the super hero to his house, he  was really excited and the other kids were envious of him. they knew that their parents would never let them invite a grown man into their house, but Jerry''s parents were never home and his elder sister always brought guys home, so he didn''t see a problem in bringing a guy home himself.


    Jerry''s dog begun to bark as it saw Nick whom was following behind him, but it didn''t take long for Jerry to calm the dog down.


    "Roger doesn''t bite, he''s the best dog in the world, it''s a she, but we named it Roger and just kept with it"


    Jerry explained, causing Nick to just Yawn.


    "Jerry why are you so late! Mom won''t be happy! the whole world is going crazy, there''s even words of a curfew being imposed, after what happened at the hospital in X city?"


    A female voice came from inside and a young teenage girl, in just her bra, leaned out of the window, but once she saw Nick, she became red faced and went back inside.


    "Jerry, who''s that guy, is he your teacher? what did you do again?"


    She sounded angry, but there was a coyness in her voice, making it seem as if she cared about him. In reality however she was shocked because of how good Nick looked, he was really handsome and even with the disguise on, one could tell that he was A tier material.


    "He''s not my teacher, you won''t believe it Jessy!"


    Jerry was really excited as he opend the door and let Nick in, while his sister was trying her best to apply makeup and other cosmetics to make herself look more presentable for the total bloke her little brother brought with him.


    "Jerry, mom will not be happy with you bringing a stranger home"


    Jessy said, but her heart was still pounding, because the guy could be said to rival hollywood stars in appearance.


    "I''ll go talk to her"


    Nick said to the kid as he took his stuff and went towards her room, judging just from where her voice was coming from on the second floor.


    Jessy was scared shitless when the guy burged into her room, what followed could only be heard by Jerry whom was really irritated about it, it was no different than the sounds that came when all the other guys she invited came, just her moans, until it was time for them to make an escape out of the back window of her room.


    Inside however the girl was crying, when Nick came inside, he pointed his gun at her, unlike Jerry she wasn''t a kid, she knew that he could kill her with a single press of the trigger. He then forced her to do things, he made her his little pet and told her that if she tried anything funny, he would kill her entire family as he begun to trap her window with explosives.


    It was always easier to just threaten people instead of trying to explain to them the existence of monsters, which most people wouldn''t believe either way. After making sure that the window was trapped he cut their telephone line, it didn''t need to work in order for him to feel safer, but Jessy seeing this was now desperate, she was sure that this guy was up to no good as she panted exhausted on the bed, unsure if she would be able to walk, he was too rough with her, seeing however his face and well built body she would have forgiven him, if he said "I love you" once.


    Nick got ready again and begun to ocupy her room, she was even more shocked to see all the money in his sack, it was an insane amount for her, it wasn''t full of money, but the stacks she saw were more than enough to live for years. Making him even more mysterious, she couldn''t tell why, but the danger excited her, it was as if she was in some sort of movie, just where did her brother find this guy?


    Nick was really tired, but he made sure he at least had one room ready for when the monsters arrived again. He''d been on the run for hours, he was sure that everyone else other than Chris were probably dead by now, it''s been 16 hours since the survival objective was anounced, there were  only 8 hours to go.


    After securing the hallway ouside her door, making sure the window was trapped, he came down. Jerry down playing a game on his game console, Nick looked at the screen and laughed as he went around the house, making sure that it was secured.


    Jessy came out of his room holding one of his guns, not knowing that it had no ammo inside. It was the biggest gun she could find in his arsenal, it was a grenade launcher, of course she didn''t load any grenades inside, knowing nothing about guns like at all.


    Nick was preoccupied, when Jerry came to bother him.


    "There''s a girl inside the TV that wants to talk to you"


    Jerry said, making Nick rather irriated, but he non the less decided to go see what this was about, Jessy was also confused with this sentence and forgot to even point the gun at him and threaten.


    "Not you again"


    Nick said as he saw the Red Empress on the screen of the TV, probably hacked it somehow. The others however were confused as the weird red face of a girl begun to speak to him, causing both of the NPCs to go be shocked.


    "Is there a way to complete the mission sooner than the set time?"


    The Red Empress got right to the point, since only Nick knew more about the missions, she just had to locate him and ask him.


    "Impossible, all timers are set by the system, the mission will be over in around 8 hours, not a moment more or less"


    Nick explained, not even caring about carrying favour with her, all he cared about was to end the chit chat sooner and get back to fortifying the house.


    "What happens if he turns into a zombie and the mission ends?"


    The Red Empress asked next, Nick thought about it a little and then remembered something at the back of his head. It was during one of their past missions, a person was bitten by a werewolf and had turned into a really insane monster, they tried to kill it, but since it wasn''t part of the mission''s objectives, they forgot all about them, until the mission ended. They were shocked to find that not only was the person alive when they succeeded, but she had even gained extra points for being turned into a werewolf.


    "If we succeed, he''s live, if we fail he dies"


    Nick said, but the Red Empress didn''t seem at all happy with what he told her, nor were Alice and the others who heard the answer at the other end. If they knew this info, it could have saved them a lot of time and effort, Alice and the others had successfuly raided a hidden umbrella facility and made more of the cure, only to discover that the virus had mutated inside of Chris, thus making it impossible to keep him "alive" for much longer. Making more of the cure was pointless, since the virus had mutated, it was unfortunate, but it was so.


    "Last question, if there''s a way to revert them back into humans, why didn''t you tell us so before?"


    The Empress asked, mostly because the others wanted to know.


    "Normaly if a player turns into a monster, it''s always better to get rid of them, veteran players are more dangerous than you think, these greenhorns I don''t care, but if it was a veteran I would kill them no matter what, unless you need gold or diamond bullets to kill them"


    He said jokingly, but was interupted by the kid.


    "It''s silver bullets"


    Jerry corrected him, but it didn''t make this any more awkward. Before however the Red Empress decided to disappear she had a last bit to say.


    "You''ve a transmitter in your hair, you should get rid of it"


    Nick was shocked to hear that there was a transmitter on his person, he cursed as he went to take a shower immediately, causing the others to stand there looking at the TV, where Jerry''s game was resumed, causing him to lose.


    "Who is that guy?"


    Jessy finaly asked her brother, still holding the grenade launcher, but forgetting all about it.


    "A super hero"


    Jerry answered without a hint of doubt.


    Back at the captured umbrella facility, the group was frantic after learning that all they had to do was protect the four living humans and Chris would survive as well. Alice and Rain weren''t sure why they were  doing this, but they did want to help Chris return home safe and this was the only way they could help him.


    There was only 8 hours left on the clock and they would make sure this mission was a success, even if the monsters came as if there was no tomorrow.

 21 Surface

    Suddenly Jessy''s mobile rung, it was their mother, calling them to make sure they were all safe in the house, telling them to lock the doors and wait until the army moves to evacuate the citizens.


    Jessy was scared by her mother''s panicked voice and immediately turned on the TV.


    "Global Pandemic, the Zombie apocalypse is here and A,X and Z cities its first victims, the president of... has anounced..."


    The emergency news were on every channel on the TV, Jessy couldn''t believe it, this was no different than a nightmare, she immediately begun phoning all her friends one by one to make sure they were all okay.


    An hour passed and their mother called them again, asking them to stay put and make sure they are safe, there was a distress in her voice, but at the Time Jessy couldn''t tell why, until the TV showed what was happening around the city.


    They saw the streets full of people, they were all zombies, attacking cars and buildings as if they wanted to kill whoever was inside. Jessy however recognised one of those buildings, it was their mother''s working place, it was surrounded by zombies. Her vision turned towards the guy whom was still fortifying their house with traps and fortifications.


    Their living room looked really shitty right now, but they could tell that the furnitures blocking the entrance and back door were there for a reason.


    "Bark! Bark!"


    It was Roger, their dog, that was trying to enter through the hole in the door, which was blocked, Jerry was the first to try and move the couch blocking the entrance. What followed however was not what he had expected as the zombified dog jumped through the hole ready to slit his throat.


    "Bang!"


    Roger was dead with a single shot, causing the child to be even more shocked, seeing the somewhat decomposed zombified dog. It was insane to think about it. Even worse the neigborhood had tons of dogs, it was insane just thinking every one of them being now a zombie.


    "You killed Roger!"


    Jerry said, not willing to believe that Roger would attack him, even if he had turned into a zombie, it was of course wishful thinking, but what followed was a slap by Jessy.


    "You should be thanking him! He just saved our lives!"


    Jessy said, but at the time Nick had already fixed the couch and continued to fortify the house.


    Jessy was communicating with her mother and even called their father whom was working out of city to tell him that they were safe. Although he didn''t seem to care much as he shortly hung up the phone as he continued his work.


    Suddenly they saw in the news the building their mother worked in, being breached by zombies, it was a huge Mall and it was shocking how the creatures got in by breaking through a window, it was a zombie cat that did this damage and now the whole mall was being terrorized by a single zombie cat.


    "We have to save her!"


    Jessy shouted at Nick, whom was literaly laughing his ass off, did they really think he would go out there to save an NPC.


    "I think you misunderstood something, I''m not a hero, I''m a survivor, If you want to save her, just take some guns, take the car from the garage and go, I''ll wait for you here"


    He said, making Jessy and Jerry silent and from the shock, both thought that he would help them, they thought he was some sort of hero or at least find some way to help or try to stop them from leaving.


    "Get out of our home!"


    Jerry shouted as he charged him, only to be knocked back and onto his butt.


    "Shut it brat, I followed you because I thought I could hide from them here, do you think I''ll go out there and endanger myself, just because you said so"


    Nick said, making the two even more shocked, Jerry felt remorse of bringing this guy back to his house, if he hadn''t done so, maybe Roger would still be alive.


    Time passed as Nick finished with his fortification efforts, it wasn''t weird that there weren''t zombies attacking the house, since there were too many homes to chose from and honestly speaking, the army''s responce was unexpectably quick.


    They watched in real time on the Tele as the army sent soldiers to rescue the people besieged by zombies. Crushing the slow moving zombies and even destroying the animal zombies as if they weren''t even a threat with their guns and armored vehicles, there was no way for simple zombies to survive the army''s push.


    In less than an hour the whole city was swept as if by a wave and cleaned of all visible threats, there was a message that those bitten by zombies had 30 minutes to come get the cure, otherwise they would turn into zombie, causing a panic wave as people begun to drive in their cars towards the place the central park where the soldiers were in order to get the cure.


    "Jerry did Roger Bite you or scratch you?"


    Jessy asked, her question was that of concern, but Jerry other than some of Roger''s blood didn''t have any visible injury, Roger didn''t even reach him, before getting put down.


    "I don''t know, that bastard kill Roger before he could even touch me"


    Jerry said, but the blood and brain matter on his shirt told another story and it could be infected. Jessy made sure he changed his clothes and took a bath, making sure there was no injury. She didn''t think she could pursuade Nick to give them a ride if there really was a problem.


    Nick was more interested in the timer slowly going down as time passed, from 8 hours down to 6 and now down to 4. The darkness outside made him even more anxious, it was evident that the silence and calm nature of this survival mission only added to his anxiety. Jerry was fast asleep, in his sister''s room as they fell asleep while hugging, they didn''t know what would happen, but they felt safer with Nick there, seeing as he had fortified her room the best out of all the rooms and even stood guard, in a way.


    His fears turned out to be true as 2 hours before the mission''s end, an explosion was heard from the hallway as someone tried to force his way into the house, Nick looked out of the window, only to see Lickers had  the house surrounded. The red light from the device on their chest made it bad for camouflage, but he could tell that he didn''t have enough ammo to deal with all of them, he had to bail.


    "What''s happening, what was that explosion?"


    Jessy asked, really afraid, half the neighborhood should have been woken up in the middle of the night by that explosion.


    "They''ve found me, kids grab a gun and follow me shoot any monster you see, as we go"


    Nick said as he generously threw them guns, causing the two to be dumpfounded, who in his right mind would give guns to children?


    "You remove the safety by clicking right here, if you see a monster, shoot at their general direction..."


    before he could finish explaining a bullet shot right past him, missing big time, but Nick didn''t complain as he turned around and begun to empty his assault riffle onto the monster behind him.


    Sure enough there was a Licker that had sneaked all the way around, trying to  ambush them, Jerry had seen the creature or rather the rather flashy red light on its chest.


    "What was that!"


    Jessy shouted trully terrified by the creature that had just appeared.


    "It''s one of the alien monsters!"


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.Jerry shouted as if he was familliar with these creatures.


    "What are you standing there for, do you wish to be eaten?"


    Nick shouted, making them feel as if they were in some movie, what was happening was out of this world.


    The two kids followed him, as they fought off the monsters, at some point Nick even shot a grenade into one of these monster''s mouth using the grenade launcher, launching the monster away together with the explosive.


    Their adventure was exciting and simply to die for, until they reached the garage and Nick took a bike from the side and put his stuff on it. The two kids were confused, not understanding where they were supposed to sit, since the bike had no room for them, wouldn''t it be better to take a the car instead?


    Only when the door of the Garage begun to open by the remote in his hands did the kids understand that something wasn''t right. The two kids pointed their guns at him, as he drove away without remorse, rushing as if hunted, the two kids couldn''t even hope to hit him, the car in the corner used to be their grandfather''s, It probably couldn''t even start. In their dire situation however they entered the car and the key was in the drawer of the car as it always was, their whole life passed in front of their eyes as they discovered there was no gas inside the car.


    They watched as the creatures entered the garage, for a second their hearts were pumping like crazy, they tried to hold their breath, as the creature took out its tongue and after a few moments of silence it approached towards the car as if it knew where they were hiding. Before however it could get a taste for them, an explosion drew its attention and it went back into the house following the sound of the explosion, losing interest or track of its targets, they were probably lucky the thing had no eyes, otherwise they would have been dead, both were really angry with Nick however, who let them there to die.


    They didn''t know before, but now they kind of guessed why he had given them guns, since these monsters could be lured by sound, in truth they were used in order to confuse the monsters and create a false trail, left behind to delay those monsters from going after him or even better losing his trails altogether, which is what happened.


    Everything would have ended there if the neighbors weren''t concerned about them and came to see what was happening, because this was when from the window of the old car they saw all their neighbors getting massacred by the monster, some of them later turning into zombies and roaming the area even after the monsters left.


    It was the next day that the kids were found sleeping inside the car as the only survivors of the massacre. The soldiers that found them were shocked by the state of their house, it was as if a war had gone inside that house and movies would be made about it later on, about a crazy encounter with a madman and their tragic escape from death. Their mother was really happy that they were alive, especialy since they were both still alive when they reunited.


    Nick cursed out loud as he had abandoned the bike and was tending to his bleeding wound. The two kids might not have known it, but they did hit him while firing, it would be strange if they hadn''t, after all he wasn''t that far away and although he was moving, they didn''t shoot only once, they emptied their entire clips on him.


    Nick however didn''t care about it, since in his mind those kids were already dead, his only goal was survival and he only had to survive for less than an hour, but to do so he had to hide as well as he could.


    The whole city was was under military lockdown, there was no way of escaping and even if he did leave, there was no guarantee that what awaited him outside the city would be any better.


    Nick felt a bit dizzy due to the loss of blood, but he did bind the wound well and he had disinfectants and painkillers, which were rather handy, all he had to do now was hide, not just from monsters, but from people as well.


    You might think he would regret his choice of leaving the others, but in reality he considered most of them already dead. All that was left was probably Chris and those NPCs, but he had no bad blood with Chris, thus he didn''t care much about what would happen after the mission was over. He didn''t consider one bit that he might fail, because he still had some ideas of how to survive. He was still formulating plans, even as his conciousness was fading away and he fell unconcious to the ground.


    Not long afterwards he was found by agents and taken into custody, but he knew nothing about it, after all as long as he survived, it was alright, everything would be fine.


    Hera screamed like an animal as she was being experimented upon, the secret serviced didn''t take it well, when she told them the truth. The watch on her hand was the main evidence that she might be an alien and they didn''t find anything smarter to do than interrogate her and then tell her that they would dissect her.


    Those 24 hours were as if she was thrown into hell, of course it didn''t start so bad. At first they threated her like any normal person, but as she was too agitated and couldn''t think strait, she begun to explain to them about the Death Game, about the weird device and stuff about their world being created by some system.


    Of course their first reaction was to think she was crazy, until they discovered that they couldn''t take the clock off, they tried everything in their powers, but the thing was indestructible, they even joked, that they wanted one of those themselves. Just Imagine, Indestructible,  waterproof, fireproof, laser proof, now you can see the time anywhere you are.


    Jokes aside, her time there was the most stressful time in her life, even worse than when she was abducted from the safety of her home and taken to this death game.


    The agents attitude took a 180degrees turn real fast as they begun to threat her less and less as a person. It was humilliating and degrading, the only thing that made her happy was that the timer for the mission was going down by the minutes, she knew full well that as soon as the timer hit zero, it would all be over, she would be teleported away, back to that gloomy space, she would have loved to see the faces of these guys as she''s teleported away. For now however all she could do is shout and cuss as her mouth was gagged and her hands bound by a strait jacket.


    The last group were all gathered in the secret facility, fighting off wave upon wave of Lickers and Hunters, whom were sent into the facility in order to kill them. The Helicopter was destroyed and they were forced to use the base''s defenses in order to survive, Chris was locked seperately as he now looked like another monster from resident evil, called a Tyrant. His hands turned into weapons and his intelligence seemed to be no different from that of a zombie at first glance, but he didn''t seem agressive or willing to react to sounds and what was going around him.


    It was like a doll, standing as if frozen in place, of course the others couldn''t trust this hulking thing with their lives, it would be insane.


    "I''m out of ammo!"


    Rain shouted as she retreated from the hallway, the monsters were charging at her, as the door behind her slowly closed. Gunshots were heard not long before the door was even closed as Alice came to help her retreat.


    The situation was dire, there were still 7 hours left on the clock and the players were locked inside the A.I.''s Quarters. Every facility had its own A.I., but the Red Empress could simply hack them all, the only problem was range and access, once she got access, it was a matter of time before she took over the facility.


    Their problem right now however was that they were trapped inside the facility, with the researchers and guards captured, but not dead at a corner of the facility, at another corner was the Mutated Chris and at another the "Players". The Monsters however didn''t care who it was, anyone in their path would die, be it an umbrella employee or a regular person.


    The Red Empress informed them that somehow Umbrella still existed, despite the top operatives of Umbrella already being put in jail. It was weird, but George then begun explaining about clones and even saying that Alice was a clone as well, a clone of one of the scientists'' daughter and even the A.I. was supposed to be sort of a clone of that scientist''s daughter in appearance.


    This explaination caused huge chaos at first, as he told them about it, before they had even arrived at the facility. It was on that helicopter that they learned this fact that George knew all along, but hadn''t decided to share with them. Mostly because at the time he was more preocupied with his own survival, rather than thinking whether he knew something that might or might not be helpful.


    Even more shocking was when he told them that everyone in the facility were supposed to be clones, Alice didn''t believe him at first, until she saw a dead person amongst them. She was Lisa Addison, a person who had died in the Hive, Matt''s sister and her friend, for one she knew that Lisa had no twin sister, it was insane to even think that George and Nick might be right, that this whole world was based off a movie.


    Little did they know that they had only scrapped the surface of what the system was and could do, they were as naive as newborns that saw the light for the first time, thinking that it''s something tangible.

 22 Viruses Mutate

    "Red Empress, what''s the plan!"


    Alice shouted as they could hear these creatures banging on the Doors, slowly but surely destroying them one by one in order to reach them.


    "There''s only one way to survive, you have to use the P30 injector"


    The Red Empress said, they had taken with them some of them from before, but the Empress hadn''t told them why they were taking them, now it was revealed that it was a last resort. The problem was that they had left them all with Chris, whom was standing there like an idiot, doing nothing, as if completely brain dead.


    The moment the doors to the room opened, Chris seemed to react, as if by reflex he looked towards the open doors, but did nothing as the two cautiously entered the room, looking at him with a hint of regret.


    "What''s next?"


    Alice asked, but for some reason she didn''t like the response.


    "You have to plunge one of the Injectors into Chris'' chest, then I will control the body to destroy the intruders"


    The Empress explained, but it sounded rather untrustworthy, it wouldn''t be out of the question for the Empress to just take Chris'' body and escaped by herself. After all her objective was Chris'' survival, not to help them save the world or something, she wasn''t the Red Queen, that wanted to just protect life, by containing the virus outbreak.


    "What are you waiting for, inject him with the P-30 drug, otherwise you will all die"


    The Empress almost shouted in despair, this was either her best acting voice or she was really counting on this as a last resort, with no backup plans in view.


    Alice and Rain looked at the weird chemical and understood one thing, they had no clue on how to even put this thing on him or themselves. It was surgicaly inserted into the Lickers and they had to plunge it out of their decomposing corpses, they however lacked a medic, since Olga had gone her own way days ago.


    It was Rain that had the idea of just sticking the thing into the monster, in hopes that it would work, sticking the needles randomly into his body, until one of them found his undead heart. The Red liquid of the P30 injector, begun to flow into his body and momentarily he begun to awaken. He felt as if he was waking up from a nightmare, not knowing that he was living it, he looked at his deformed hands, long claws taking the place of fingers, he tried to speak, but he felt his neck was clogged, he couldn''t tell, but he now had more than one tongue, if you could call those abominable tendrils tongues.


    "He woke up, this is a variable I hadn''t planned for"


    The Red Empress stated as she couldn''t control his body, something in the drug caused his dead brain cells to be stimulated, maybe it wouldn''t be for long, maybe it would only last for an hour or so, but they didn''t have an hour.


    "Chris! I know you can hear me! If you can survive for 5 hours, you will return to your prior human self! Now Concentrate! the enemy has breached the corridor!"


    The Red Empress shouted as she didn''t know what to do, this was her last card and it had failed. If she could control his body, she would have easily taken him out of the facility.


    Chris looked at Alice and Rain, he was still confused, until the Licker appeared in the distance, something inside of him snapped. As if memories of his first encounters with the Lickers played in his mind, he charged at the monster and ripped its hands out as if they were made of cheap  plastic, Stabbing it with them into the wall.


    "Why is there a Tyrant in the facility?"


    Somewhere far away a man in a labcoat asked the Red Queen, whom was surrounded by 7 other A.I.


    "There is no records of any Tyrant being developed there"


    The Red Queen answered stating the obvious paradoxality of the situation.


    "You know that we dug you out of the ground in order to find out how you hacked our organization and all we found out is a missing REmp.data and tons of Errors"


    The professor complained as they lost the signal again, due to the Red Empress hacking their cameras, all they had were a few bad photos of what seemed to be a tyrant.


    Back at the facility, Rain and Alice followed the road of carnage that Chris left behind him as he went completely berserk, lost in his battles and struggles, unable to tell whether he was doing something wrong. Now all he wanted was to kill the monsters, to feel himself as a human, fighting for something beyond his own understanding.


    They at last reached the Entrance of the facility, Chris was surrounded by Zombies, or rather he charged into their midst and begun killing them as if they were wheat to be cut with his razor claws. Before he knew it, his hour had passed, he begun to feel dizzy, there was blood on his hands, he screamed and a violent Shriek echoed into the winds as if calling for the hordes of zombies to attack him.


    "I''m Still Human!"


    He told himself in his mind as his conciousness faded away and his body was taken away by the umbrella personel. This was what the Red Empress had predicted would happen, this was her plan all along, to ensure his safety for the next 4 hours.


    Alice and Rain escaped in the chaos, as their slim figures blended into the night, causing no small number of disatisfied shareholders. Whom sat there listening to the Professor''s reports as to why he released the Virus upon the world. Inwardly some of them wanted to call him crazy, but right now, they knew full well that their own lives were on the line, it was time for morality to take a hike.


    =Mission Success!=


    Was the message that the people hidden inside the vault of the A.I. were seeing as they slowly found that their surroundings turned into dust, as if everything had been fake.


    Those that lost their people who were dear to them during the mission, like Xiao, whose friend died, was the first to recover. She looked around only to find everyone there, some lying on the ground others stood, there were 8 people out of the original 11.


    Jonas, whom was on a wheelchair before fell on his bum as this happened, but he was fully healed alas still in hospital clothing, dressed as a patient, the system didn''t seem to care much about clothes. Hera and Chris were also naked, one sitting and cackling and the other seemingly asleep. The most however shocking discovery was Chrysa, because she was alive, alas they had no idea where she had disappeared during the mission, since they were told she died from drug overdose.


    Nick stood up, in his biker outfit, he looked into the air and then went to the people still sleeping and gave everyone a kick, one after another.


    The moment they woke up the system begun to work and calculated for them how many points they had earned, creating a High score list for everyone involved in the mission.


    Chris took with a huge margin the first place, with 7000points, while second place was Nick with 4880points, the rest scored all scored around 2000+ or less, it was mostly because they did nothing and most of their time were protected by the NPCs.


    "Wake up everyone, congratulations on losing your virginity!"


    Nick announced trioumphantly, causing everyone whom was still in a daze to look at him.


    "Now that you''ve all experienced a mission, how many of you want to become strong and how many wish to just survive the next mission?"


    The only one confused by the question was Chris, whom was still shocked after finding himself being human and absolutely healthy, alas naked.


    "Once you decide I will explain to you how the system store works, unfortunately I don''t earn any points for doing so, but..."


    Nick begun to talk as unsatiently, as if someone pushed the start button and forgot a radio on.


    The other people were all still confused as they looked at the score board floating in midair at the center of the room, as if held up by magic.


    "...don''t worry, normaly missions only have 3 objectives, unless you derail the plot, this time it was crazy..."


    Nick continued, acting as if they were all the best of buddies, while the others just started awakening from their stupor and regroup into camps.


    George was the leader behind whom the Jason and Jonas now stood, they supported him as the new leader, especialy after he came with the NPCs to save them. Truth be told it was easier for them to do all the physical labor the mission needed, if they had guns, maybe they would be even more useful or so they believed after surviving their first mission.


    The women for one reason or another gathered towards Nick, hoping to just survive long enough to return to the real world as Nick had promised would happen eventualy.


    Chris was the only one who had no affiliation and wasn''t close with any of them, he silently looked at the two groups, hoping for someone to give him something to cover himself with, but the others were more interested in what Nick had to say.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Four survivors and four mission doers, this is better than I expected, once you put your hand on the score tablet the store will open, but before you go all in and do that, let me finish explaining"


    Nick said and everyone looked at him attentively as if seeing a teacher, nobody looked at him as a kidnapper or with distrust, because everyone wanted to survive.


    -Could I have some clothes?


    -Please wait for me to finish, I''m sure that after I finish you will be 100% sure that you made the right choice


    Nick told Chris and then turned to the two groups, the survivors and the Heroes.


    "I really hoped that you George would have understood how dangerous being a mission doer is, but it''s alright, as long as we don''t derail the plot you''ll at least survive for a few more missions, maybe we''ll get another movie geek in the next batch"


    Nick said, somewhat jokingly, but one could feel a hint of regret in his voice.


    -What about the people who helped us?


    -You''re called Chris right?


    -Yes...


    -If you mean the NPCs, then who knows, who cares, maybe we''ll return to that same movie at some point in our life when we''re old and the system runs out of movies to torture us with


    -NPCs?


    -Well we have 16 hours for you to understand, since you were away most of the time, while the others already know about the ins and outs, you messed things good


    -Me, mess?


    -Don''t bother apologizing, I know it wasn''t your fault, it just happened that you fell in love with an NPC, oh sorry, I believe you fucked all three of them


    Everyone else who didn''t know looked at him as if he was their enemy or something, the situation had turned from the amiable teacher giving a lecture to a public shaming.


    "Now hear me out well, I''ll only tell it once, once you open the store there will be 4 categories to chose from, Equipment, Consumables, Evolutions and Knowledge"


    Everyone opened their ears, since it sounded like something that could be useful to their very survival.


    "Equipment contains clothes, armor, weapons and vehicles, the more high tech or magic something is the more it costs, I advise all of you to buy some simple clothes from the system, but don''t overdo it, you can only keep one outfit, anything you cannot wear will disappear in 8 hours, all you get for buying them is a 50% discount for the next time you buy the same item, 100-200points for clothings are points well spent, select clothes that allow for movement and cover most of your body, that might help in case of acid or fire in the future"


    Everyone agreed and Nick gave them time to browse through the clothing session while he just recovered his biker helmet and gun for half their  price.


    Chris was shocked as he looked at his own points, the score board said he had earned 7000points, but in reality he had 10800 due to him having become a tyrant during the last round. He didn''t know why he had so many points, but he wouldn''t complain for the extra points. Only Nick knew that the person would be given 10% of the points back from any in-mission mutation or evolution, meaning that the Tyrant mutation would cost him around 38000points if he really wanted to become that sort of monster.


    Clothing was real cheap even the designer brands didn''t cost more than 10points, anything more than 10 were military gear or knight armor, even the biker helmet cost 12points to get. Chris went for a retro turtleneck matrix style coat look, he pondered a lot whether to buy sunglasses to go with it, but finaly gave up on the idea, spending around 120 points in total for 12 articles of clothing, gloves included.


    "The second category is consumables, here you will find food, ammo, bombs and trinkets, I advise you to not spend more than 20points, but for your first meal you can chose up to 100p of food that is your favourite, don''t go around trying delicacies, you''ll just be wasting points, while your favourite food you will eat again and again, thus a 50% reduction on it is a must have for everyone"


    This was when the feast begun, as everyone begun to order their favourite food, varying from person to person, while Nick only got some military ratios and water, conserving his points for smoke and ammo, he just couldn''t not smoke.


    Chris just copied his actions, not understanding the deeper meaning of his words, what he really said was eat well, because this meal might be your last. Chris wasn''t the only one however to copy his actions, George and the other guys too copied him at first, only to later be swayed to buy something more sating to eat than a can of beef n'' veggies and some dry biscuits.


    Chris however was different, he spend only 3 points on food, like Nick had, not really knowing why however, probably thought points were too precious to waste on food.


    "The third category is called Evolutions, this is where 80% of your points will be going to, you can lose a weapon, but you can''t lose your head without dying, evolutions can be cheap and expensive, we call any evolution of bellow 10.000points a cheap evolution, for example the basic  T-Virus zombie evolution costs only 8000points and it will turn you into an intelligent zombie, you''ll be harder to kill, but really slow and rigid, for this category I will tutor you one by one on what to buy"


    Nick offered and went on from one to another helping them buy the best possible enchancements. They didn''t even doubt that he did his best to help them, after all he told them already he would do anything to survive and they were his tools to survive.


    Once he reached Chris, Nick was a bit shocked because he had over 10000points, truthfully he was a bit envious of him, but he then amicably smiled and begun to offer him options on how to use his points, He could use all but 500points, that was the price of a pistol and ammo. Which was the what he was the basic thing every one of them needed to have as a beginner.


    The evolutions might sound like something out of a fairytale, but reality was that anything below 10000points was trash with more disadvantages than advantages and those evolutions of 10000points he could chose from were far inferior than just spending 100 points to raise his stats.


    "What about the Knowledge category?"


    Chris asked him and Nick was once more annoyed by the same question, he had already heard 6 times from the others as well.


    "Fuck Knowledge, they are a bunch of books about how to do stuff, unless you want some novel to read, just forget the category even exists"


    Chris was of course determined to visit it later to see what''s inside, but for now they had just finished, his new stats looked like this...


    124 Intelligence


    181 Mental capacity


    200 Cell Vitality


    161 Reaction Speed


    099 Muscle Density


    168 Immunization Strength


    The only thing that changed was Cell Vitality as Nick explained how important it was for survival. It didn''t just make you look handsomer and more youthful than before it added to your survivability, a regular person has around 100-200 cell vitality, 200 being only when he''s born and it will deteriorate as you grow, his prior 98 Cell vitality was around the normal average for an above 30 years old adult.


    "Now most of you have added Cell Vitality as I asked, when it''s time for the next mission to begin, we will do some strength training, you will experience some rapid boost in all your stats, but it will only last for the mission, so don''t be surprised if you suddenly found yourself bulging with muscles after training"


    Nick told Chris whom had added the most points in the stat, more than maybe even himself, but Cell Vitality was the best stat for beginners, it was proven over time and everyone was shocked of how they now all looked younger and more beautiful.


    Now when the women looked at Chris, they blushed for a moment, before remembering how he used to look and then returned to normal as if waking from a nightmare.


    "What''s the Follower Category?"


    Chris asked, because the store had a 5th category, which Nick hadn''t even mentioned.


    -Wait you have unlocked the follower category, why didn''t you ask me about it sooner!


    -Why, what is it?


    -Which characters do you have available?


    Chris entered and there were 4 characters available in the form of cards with stars, Alice being a 3 star character, while Rain, Olga and J.D only being worth one star.


    When Nick found about him having Alice available as a follower he went crazy, swearing loudly as if he had done the greatest blunder of all times.


    "Everyone Else, did any of you also have the followers category unlocked?"


    Nick asked the others, but was met with blank questionable gazes, they didn''t have the category at all.


    -Let me explain, after completing a mission, you have a small chance to unlock the followers category, if I knew you had Alice as an Option, I wouldn''t even care about it, since she''s worth at least 10000points to buy anyways


    -It''s 27 thousands to buy


    -Then at least I didn''t blunder too much, but still you could have gotten  3 fully equiped and battle hardened followers for those points


    -How do cards even work?


    -Since it''s now in the past if you survive the next mission, I''ll explain everything


    -You do remember we have 16 hours?


    -Alright, you got me


    "Listen up everyone, this has to do with another function of this space, called Inventory, once you call Inventory, you will see a floating window in front of you, like mine right now"


    Everyone was excited to see the window, but then they were shocked, because his inventory had a house inside it, tons of food ingredients and even a bike.


    "What do you want, I''ve been in this game for much longer than you guys and the bike would be useless in the underground mission anyways"


    Nick stated as if trying to explain himself.


    "But couldn''t you have used it during the mission?"


    George asked, before Nick could explain more, only for his question to be explained not long after.


    "You can only use the Inventory in this space, once the mission begins, you lose this function and anything you''re not holding onto, this allows you to chose which items to take for the mission, the house is worth 1200 points and you will all eventualy buy one, because it''s cheaper than just buying a bed and I didn''t use them to persuade you that we''re in this death game with them, because it wouldn''t work"


    Next thing he clicked on the house, suddenly a small path lit up out of the darkness leading to a small house. Truthfully speaking if they hadn''t seen him click on it, they wouldn''t have even known it was his house.


    "The ladies can come sleep inside, don''t say I''m not a gentleman, the rest can sleep on the floor, you can''t die until 8 hours pass, you can even try shooting yourselves if you don''t believe me, no let me show you"


    Nick took off his helmet and pointed with his gun at his temple before shooting a bullet, it passed right through him as if he was a ghost.


    "Don''t try it after the 8 hours rest time, because you will die"


    Nick said and then went towards his house with Hera and Chrysa accompanying him, only Xiao stayed behind to accompany George and that only until the mission begins again.


    "Didn''t know you added 10 points in cuteness"


    George joked as they sat down together.

 23 Feeling alive

    It wasn''t even an hour and they were bored, sitting in the middle of nothing, looking at Chris whom was reading some book he bought with his leftover points. They too could have done the same, but what could be more interesting than living the fantasy themselves, George at first even wanted to laugh at him, but considering how many points Chris had gotten and how few he had, it was evident whom was the better adventurer.


    "What''s he reading?"


    Xiao asked George whom had went to see himself.


    "That idiot bought a manga tome with his points, saying that this manga hasn''t come up yet in his world"


    George said, making Xiao laugh at the idea of someome reading manga at their situation, it was similar to a book character reading a book, only his book was better than yours.


    "Do you think he will lend it to us once he''s finished?"


    She asked half-jokingly, but now that they thought about it, there was nothing to do other than going to sleep like Nick suggested. How could they however sleep?


    They weren''t even tired after they appeared in this space, it was mysterious and magical. Everything was foreign and exotic and they were full of expectations for their bright future, with George''s movie knowledge and their combined might, they will surely survive and escape this Death game.


    George begun to look through the book for almanacs of thriller and terror  movies, the problem was that there were simply too many, he was sure that he wouldn''t be able to remember them all, but he could collect the best encyclopedias of horror movies and do research when they are told the next mission, he even pondered why Nick hadn''t done the same.


    Before long however he came to a realization, in between the thousands of worlds there were thousands of iterations of the same movies, some being completely different than others, it was simply pointless to even consider it.


    If so however, why did Nick ask him for the plot of the movie, it makes no sense if you think about it. Also why was the plot the same as the movie he knew, were the people he meet actors in the movie in some other universe? If so it also made sense that One''s team was a man short, the guy who was supposed to die from shock as his hand was cut by the laser didn''t exist at all.


    The more George thought about it, the more Nick''s words made no sense, why does he really need a movie Geek? Was he somehow special?


    Jonas and Jason had different thoughts as they let him and Xiao struggle with the encyclopedias as they looked around the novels and stuff they looked for. Jonas looked for survival manuals and Jason looked for porn, he wanted to see how porn looked like in the future, he was however disappointed as he found non from the far future, it was probably all digitized, but digital information cost more for some reason and came in weird tablets, he wasn''t spending 100 points on porn, that was for sure.


    Suddenly he discovered that Jonas was talking with Xiao and George and their expressions looked livid.


    -What''s up?


    -We might be fucked


    -What do you mean?


    -Do you see all these?


    -What about them?


    -These are the plots of the same movie in different worlds and they are not the same thing, they all have tons of differences, only the main plot is the same


    -So?


    -Don''t you understand, we might know the plot from our world, but what if the movie we''re sent into is from another world?


    -Like it worked before? We spent hours planning and the first thing was us being captured and interrogated because you had to open your mouth


    -It''s not my fault! I just warned One about the laser system, did you want to see him turning into pieces?


    -Like I cared! He was an NPC and he died anyways


    Their arguements weren''t invisible to Chris, but even before he just needed to know the gist of the plot, he didn''t really care about their plans from the beginning, they had spent hours planning and preparing, but now it seems that the only one that gained something from all that was Nick, whom had around 200 points in Cell Vitality, everyone else gained nothing at all, Nick at the time had told them that he was evaluating their physical condition, big lie.


    If there was one thing to learn from this experience, it''s that they couldn''t trust Nick. Who knows how many things he hasn''t told them, they simply had to confront him now. The group of four approached his house and discovered that there was no door knob or keyhole to the house, it felt as if they were once more in one of those horror movies. It took George some courage to knock on the door, but only when he got irritated and knocked louder was there a response.


    Nick looked Irritated as he met them completely naked, he looked at them and truthfully just wanted to close the door on their faces.


    -What do you want, I told you, you can''t come in


    -We have discovered that...


    -I don''t care


    -The plot of the movies is different!


    -What are you talking about?


    -The movies that we are going into for missions, their plot is different from world to world, I did some research and...


    -So?


    -What do you mean! This means that the information I have about the movie will be useless!


    -Dear George, what I valued about you wasn''t the plot, I don''t give a shit about it, you just learn to adapt, what I cared were the monsters and NPCs, from the movies and games and the useless trivia that you spouted unceasingly, other than of course actor and producer names, I don''t care about those or how they did the special effects, or how...


    Nick''s words made George freeze in place, it was true that he had talked about so much useless to the movie trivia because he was a big fun of the game and the movies, he had seen and played anything that had to do with the brand. What about other movies however? What about movies he didn''t know well and only knew the gist of the plot?


    George charged away and begun to study the ecyclopedias, Nick looked at him and then at the others whom were still there.


    "Tell him that those become absolete once you spent 100 points on a digital data bank, one of us did it and we discovered that it was too bothersome, nobody wished to do all the homework only to discover that the plot had changed or that the movie wasn''t in the databank of the world he got his info from, also go to sleep, we have a mission to do  tomorrow!"


    Nick said as he threw them an alarm clock, causing them to stagger as Jason caught it, but didn''t know what to do with it, before kissing the door in a rather comical way.


    "I thought he told we can''t be injured!"


    Jason complained as he stood up.


    "He said you can''t die, he didn''t say anything about injuries"


    Jonas corrected him, earning a glare and an angry fuck you gesture.


    "So what do we do now?"


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.Xiao asked them as she was out of ideas, as she looked at a crazed George that was flipping books as if he was possessed by a demon.


    Inside the house Nick was fast asleep after a bit of fun, but Hera and Chrysa weren''t tired and couldn''t fall asleep. The anxiety and the memories of what they experienced during the mission were too much for them.


    They were sitting talking about their experience during the last mission, both of them had experienced some mishap. Mostly because they were women, men took advantage of their desires and both were taken advantage of, Hera sat and heard how Chrysa was drugged and sold into slavery because she heard George''s advice to change to a less flashy hotel. Hera told her  how she was humiliated, captured and interrogated by the government by staying at a flashy hotel and living the good life. Both agreed that they hated the NPCs!


    Then they begun to talk about their plans for the future, the commotion at the front door had also not gone unnoticed. They however never trusted Nick in the first place, thus it didn''t come as much of a surprise that he was withholding information from them, truth be told he had long proven to them that he wasn''t a decent guy.


    The two women were talking about what they would do after returning to the real world, since nobody in his right mind would call this place they were real. They had already heard George speculating about what this world might be and the most probable outcome was that this was all inside their minds.


    It kind of made sense, the thing however that caused them to stremble was the possibility of death being common in this fake world and the real one, at least Nick said it was and even said that people can return to the real world with Tickets.


    They had seen these tickets at the consumables, the cheapest 1 day ticket was worth 10.000 points. The 1 month ticket however was 50.000points, it was 600% cheaper than buying 30 one day tickets, meaning that it made the one day ticket seem wasteful. Then there was the 1 year ticket, which was worth 100.000points, which was 600% cheaper than the one month ticket, making the other seem obsolete as well and the one day ticket even worse as it was 12 times worse than the yearly ticket. Of course the ticket to freedom cost 1 million points, which made the other three tickets seem completely pointless.


    "Do you think this gun will be of any use?"


    Hera asked as she put the gun on the table, there was no magazine inside, but she knew that she had never shot a gun in her life, but she had seen people do so in the movies. She was even a bit excited to own this gun, problem was that she was no target practice at all, how would she know if she could even hit anything.


    The two women had little in common, very fast they discovered that they had little to talk about other than minor differences in their main world, it was minute stuff, like some actor or famous person having cosmetic surgery or breaking up. It felt really unreal to validate that you didn''t come from the same Earth as the other, but it made for a good  talk topic.


    Outside George and the others were brainstorming, doing their best to come up with ways to prepare for the missions to come. By analyzing the missions they were given so far, saying what they could do better, what they did wrong and how they could better themselves.


    The problem was that they came to the sad realization that they were but common people, they had no martial arts training or experience with guns, or the ability to pull out insane stunts. Even Chris who tried to do so, almost ended up dying as he was even turned into a monstrosity at the end, his actions were the most profound example of what not to do, unless you want to end up dead.


    "Who''s he talking to?"


    Suddenly Xiao asked as she noticed that Chris was talking to someone, but there was only them there. It was then that George''s head begun to spin, as they had forgotten something really important, there was another person there with them, of course you could hardly call it a person.


    Chris was of course talking to the Red Empress, since they finished the mission, he had kept the Secret Piece, he now had an insane A.I. that could think better than all of them put together. There was hope in his mind, until his mouth opened up.


    -Chris I want to borrow your A.I.


    -Not happening


    -We just need to plan some stuff for the next mission


    -You planned for hours for the last mission, didn''t seem to be of any use to me, also don''t forget to take toilet paper for the new batch


    -What?


    -The Red Empress predicted that there''s over 50% chance that there will be new people like us coming, the least we can do is not have them go through the same shit we did


    -You Idiot! If there will be new people like us coming, then it''s the best chance to bolster our strength, we have to plan on what to teach them so that they will survive


    -The Empress Differs, she says that 8 hours are hardly enough to prepare a person for a life or death crisis, to begin with not everyone will believe you and not everyone is able to adapt fast enough to survive, Dawn''s Death should be an example of that


    -You''re one to talk, you were just lucky enough to earn the NPC''s trust, otherwise you would have been long dead


    -Like I care of what you think, last time I checked I was first place on the Hi-Scores, where are you on there?


    George felt he was losing this arguement, on the score board he wasn''t even in the top 5, losing to both Hera and Chrysa, whom had done more than him in that mission, of course the main reason why Hera was higher than him, was because she found the hidden Piece''s entrance. Just finding it awarded a person with 1000 points and she was lucky to be the first one to notice the hatch.


    As for Chrysa, she was present during the war at the entrance of the hive. She and her Ex even participated in the massacre, wasting bullets as they were rather bad at shooting, at some point they were even stripped of their guns, since they were running low on ammo.


    In reality George only faced real danger once and that was to protect Xiao from the Licker on the roof, other than that he spent most of the time sheltered and protected by Nick. Who for some reason valued him very much for his movie knowledge, although now it turned out that he only cared about the trivia.


    Problem was that right now Chris looked nothing like the homeless guy they used to poke fun of. George even felt a bit intimidated by him, although he couldn''t tell why, Jason however could, it was because Chris was looking forwards to a fight.


    Jason wouldn''t mind teaching him a lesson, but he had decided to wait for George to decide on the best course of action. A big mistake on his part, since George shrunk down and told them that it was not worth it, talking with that "idiot" would just make them angry.


    Chris was confused, since in his opinion what he said was rather valid advice for them, during the last mission, he didn''t ever consider them as part of some team. He was alone and was saved by the people they called  "NPC", in his opinion, these people were the real NPCs, they were useless and didn nothing but hide and hinder. The best plan he had for them, was just stick to a corner and hide for the whole mission and not get between his legs as he would finish the missions, one way or another.


    7000 was the best score he could get for a mission, since the other 3000 points were 2000 points given for instructing and helping new players and 1000 points for finding the secret piece. Of course he didn''t consider the fact that his survival was the merit of others, he did little to ensure his own survival and acted like a daredevil, truth was he was lucky to even be alive.


    Luck however doesn''t have a stat, it''s like the toss of a coin, you either win or lose, his coins just happen to hit true and here he was acting like an ass, in a team survival game, where they could lose their very lives.


    For some this was hell, but for some, this was paradise. The danger, the rush of adrenaline, the thrill of the hunt. Chris who lived a boring life with no future, had suddenly found himself with countless possibilities, death being but one of them.


    George and Jason had become best buddies and they now had some experience to go with, they wouldn''t do the same mistakes a second time. Even if those mistakes could potentialy save NPC lives. The only one who felt safe and sure for her survival was Xiao as she stood next to George with a smile on her face.


    Bang!


    It was sudden and out of nowhere, they were all alert because of the sound and the sudden light in the distance, next to the high score tablet.


    A whirling blue portal opened and a person came out of it, causing them all to be confused, at least as much as he was.


    "Fuck that Fool! He fuckin'' went and did it, Lady''s gonna be real mad"


    The guy wasn''t black, but he talked like an illiterate person.


    "Yo!"


    The weird guy probably greeted them, at least that''s what they thought at first, until they were shoved aside and he approached Xiao.


    "Tell me that bastard Nick didn''t touch you, beautiful flower"


    It was really weird, but George was appaled, because Xiao didn''t even shove him aside, she looked at the stranger and smiled.


    "George, this is Tian, I know from Uni and my boyfriend"


    Her words were like swords to his heart, it was harsh reality hitting George, as she was a popular girl, while he was a fat nobody, years older than her.


    "Must be one really boring university if all its students end up here"


    Chris said to himself, but it caused quite a stir of laugher as the silence and tension caused his whisper to be heard like an insult.


    "And you are?"


    Tian asked as he looked at Chris, whom in the looks department overshadowed him by miles now. Of course it was to be expected since players had to use their points wisely, unlike how Nick advised them, Tian had added points in what really mattered, his stats were all around and he wasn''t anything insane.


    "Nobody important, just a noob"


    Chris said as he looked at his own wrist device as if it was the one ring that would rule them all.

 24 Crying Fool

    It took some time for Xiao to tell her part of what they experienced to Tian and he explained his own, he even looked at George apologeticaly, he really didn''t have the intention of cockblocking him. To begin with he just returned from his own reality and broken up with Xiao, making it even more awkward for them. Of course the reason why he did so was because he would die in this next mission, it''s a game where only the strongest survived and the two strongest teams are on vacation for at least a few more missions, causing him to use his own points to buy a weeklong leave, Skipping 7 missions, seven deadly trials where his death was hunging on the balance of the new  players being good or horrible like Nick.


    "Nick and Lady are the two players that have survived the longest, Lady is really strong and Nick is probably the richest player I know, if someone will leave this place for good, it will probably be him"


    Tian explained and the others looked towards his house with a different gaze now.


    "There are two teams that come and go, one is Lady''s team and the other is Boss, he''s a fine guy if you know him, but both are really selective in who becomes part of their team and both value Nick really highly, since he''s the oldest player alive"


    With these words another lie was seen through, since Nick had lied to them about how many missions he had survived, he had lied repeatedly and for a shitload of stuff.


    For example how you should buy stats, truth be told, the logic behind Cell Vitality is solid, in practice however anything beyond 150 is a waste of points, since you don''t have enough time to use more than 50 points to raise your physical condition before a mission, Nick just doesn''t want them to become uncontrollable players that will act like Lady and Boss, forming their own teams and going only for a few missions until everyone gets enough points for a vacation, the extra they use on stats and items.


    He however isn''t part of those groups, but if he survives for long enough Lady has promised to take him into her group, it was similar to saying that he would survive every mission from then on.


    He also told them the 3 rules.


    -Don''t derail the plot


    -Don''t take the secret piece


    -Don''t break the Human Limits


    The two first they had experienced, but what was the Human Limits thing?


    "Once one of your stats reaches 200, it''s stuck at what we call Human Limit, the only way for it to go further is if you buy enchancements from the store, they can be mutations or just accessories, once however you earn that 201 points, you''ve done it, you''ve broken the Human limit and can begin to invest in that stat again, of course you become inhuman as a result and will either get extra powers or grow a second pair of hands or something along those lines, the crux however is that all three raise the difficulty of the Mission, that being that you will get more objectives to complete"


    Tian then looked at Chris and continued while facing him.


    "If you are thinking of bringing a relic into the next mission, you should forget it, because that will also raise the difficulty, but it will depend on the mission, some relics can make even the most difficult mission easy, Lady and Boss have such Relics, even Nick has some, but don''t expect him to use them to save you"


    Tian said honestly and then looked at the others.


    "Honestly I don''t understand how you survived the last mission, why the NPCs would go so far for you, but don''t think that it will alway go so well, chances are that next time they will throw you at the danger or use you as bait to survive, NPCs are even more dangerous than players like Nick, he at least weights the pros and cons before betraying you, NPCs act entirely based on emotion and that emotion will be fear 80% of the time"


    "What about the pistols are they any good?"


    Jonas asked showing him the guns Nick told them to buy.


    "These are standard, everyone gets to carry one at first, later you replace it with something worthwhile but mostly because of the new players, you will need the gun"


    Tian''s answer made them remember how they had thought of disarming him, but chickened due to the gun, afterwards they became buddies and forgot all about it.


    "What do you normaly do with new players?"


    George asked, catching Tian by surprise.


    "Normaly we let Nick handle them, at times he creates his doomed to fail survival groups, ending with him being the lone survivor at the end and passing the mission, I heard from one of Bosses'' men that once he killed his whole group in order to end a  mission prematurely, because he was unsure of survival, he knew it because one of the people was a friend of his and a good player, there are many rumors about Nick floating around, some say he''s not even human, that he''s broken the human limits long ago and now is trying to escape, posing as a common person"


    Tian talked for too long and was elbowed by Xiao for being boring and for going off topic too much. It was then that Nick decided to join the fun himself as he and the two women came out of the house to greet "an old friend".


    "I thought you''d be away for longer, I see you''ve made your pick, nice"


    "Not everyone''s an animal like you!"


    Xiao stood up to defend Tian, but he dragged her back down, since they''ve been sitting all along.


    "What do you want Nick?"


    Tian asked somewhat angrily.


    "I just came to thank you and ask Xiao if she still wishes to be part of my group, but her outburst already answered my question"


    Xiao was lost for words, she had completely forgotten that she wanted to be part of his survivor group, just hours ago.


    "Why bother didn''t Lady tell you to stop making survivor groups and just..."


    He suddenly stopped, as he thought about what he was about to say, it would be harsher than what Nick had done. Let them fend for themselves was what he was about to say, because not everyone had the same talent as him. Nick survived on Cell Vitality alone, it was incredible, and all his stats were capped at 150, only his Cell Vitality was 200. Before the mission he would do exercise in order to raise his stats to as close to 200 as he could and it worked to his favor since the mission difficulty didn''t rise as a result and the system would register him as a regular survivor.


    "Don''t bring her up, who do you think trained her to be what she''s today, she too came from my survival group, only she decided to take another path, some bloom, others wither is what I say"


    Nick didn''t stay longer after throwing down this bombshell at him, even Tian wasn''t sure if he was telling the truth, but seeing the two gorgeous ladies by his side and remembering how pretty Lady was, it wouldn''t be difficult to make the connection now, but normaly your mind wouldn''t go to it, especialy since she is an advocate against pushing Cell Vitality beyond a healthy 150, which is the max you can train in the 8 hours given to you, in reality even less than 150 points will be enough for training, unless you will train during the mission as well, which no sane person would do.


    -What''s up Tian?


    -Do you believe him?


    -About what?


    -Lady being part of his survivors


    -Who knows, maybe at some point, but isn''t she some sort of bigshot now?


    -It''s not bigshot, they are veterans or vets


    He seemed really insistent on them calling them that way, making them think that they did something wrong by calling them anything other than that.


    "Let me explain to you, Veterans are like gods, when they are not on break, you will survive just by breathing and they have huge bases, that look like luxury hotels and NPC followers to boast, they are nothing like Nick the stingy bastard, who lives in a noobie house that anyone can afford eventualy, I wouldn''t be surprised if he eventualy dies because of his own decision to Hoard Points in order to escape this place"


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.His words did little to dispell their newfound worries, as he indirectly called them all idiots for thinking they could escape this hell.


    -You know Chrysa died


    -Who''s that?


    -The silent girl that sat at the front desk most of the time


    -Oh, that weirdo was here as well, whatever, it''s not as if we can''t see her or anything, in some reality she probably won''t be returning, but not in yours or mine, you can go see her and even befriend her in the future, a weekly vacation won''t be too far, trust me on that, 50K might sound a lot of points right now, but when the vets return, you''ll be earning points without doing a thing, just by surviving you get 1000p and another 1000p on killing a few easy monsters or NPCs, whichever you fancy, the second is better


    For a moment he had them and he lost them, killing innocent people to earn points, sounded like something a villain would do, in the previous mission they felt like the heroes as they stood alongside Alice and saved lives or so they thought.


    "Wait, lets talk more in my house, he can come as well"


    Tian said as he summoned his own house, he didn''t seem to care much about Chris having a "Relic" as they called the Secret Piece. He even considered him as a potential ally.


    "Thank you, but I''m fine by myself"


    Chris said, causing quite a stir in the group.


    "If this were a Novel, he would be the first person to die"


    George said and then looked towards the second most likely, it was non other than Nick, who was inside his house sitting next to the two beauties.


    "I''ll tell you honestly now, I cannot guarantee that I won''t kill you if it comes to it, but you won''t die unless the others decide to fail the mission"


    He said as he looked at them, his face apologetic with puppy eyes that asked to be petted and loved.


    The two were confused from his transformation, from a cool guy to "this" weird pest, but decided to play along, saying they understood and not to worry as they went together to bed.


    After a swift session of love, they begun to bombard him with questions, like asking about the guy outside and who else they should know about, who was Lady and other stuff they knew nothing about.


    Nick stood up opened a drawer full to brim with alarm clocks similar to the one he threw to George and the others and begun to wind it up.


    "We have 4 hours before we go so you should go to sleep"


    Nick said as he put the alarm down.


    "Liar we''ve 5 hours"


    Hera said disatisfied, pouting a little as if insulted.


    "I''ll be packing in 4 hours, so get some sleep if you wish to be alive during the next mission, I know I''ll sleep well, you''ll learn everything you need to know as long as you survive long enough"


    Nick said and then lay down and fell asleep as if he turned off or something, instant sleep mode.


    Chris now sat alone, the Red Empress sent him messages like a teenage girl texting to you, she did her best to appear as naive and helpful as she could. As her reality was that she could be given away or worse be sold to the store, although Chris had no intention of selling this trophy of his. He was a hoarder of the worst kind, his house was full of crates with useless items he viewed as having sentimental value.


    "So what should I do to increase my survival possibilities?"


    Chris asked back now that everyone had left.


    "Ally with those guys and get more information"


    The Red Empress replied back, but after the leave me alone he staged, he was too proud of himself, it was simply out of the question. He then looked at the alarm clock left behind by Nick, the others left it lying there forgotten and another trash was added into his collection.


    The Red Empress was amazed by how the clock had no electronic part at all, it was all gears and moving parts, with a small key behind to wind it up, it told him that he had 5 hours of sleep.


    "So what do you think of my house?"


    Tian said, his home looked exactly like Nick''s on the outside, but the inside was better decorated and one could tell he spent some points decorating it.


    "Look out that''s expensive"


    George said as Xiao almost pushed a vase over.


    "Expensive my ass, everything in here is worth only 1-5 points, you can find even the most famous paintings and statues in the store for no more than 10 points"


    Tian explained, making Xiao really angry with George, although that wasn''t Tian''s intention at all, he just wanted to put them at ease.


    "There''s drinks in the freezer, lets talk over some drinks"


    Tian said in order to defuse the small lovers quarrel between Xiao and George, truth be told he still felt weird about Xiao. Just the other day he broke up with her, because he thought he would die, because Nick had killed everyone, but he found a rather roudy party who had some experience, even a wanna-be commando camping ouside by himself. They could see through the window how Chris lit a fire and then went to sleep by the fire next to the alarm clock Nick had thrown at them.


    "You know his actions might seem funny to you, but if I didn''t know he''s a noob I would have mistaken him for a veteran, they all go to sleep the moment after they buy their stuff, because this is the safest place to be, you can''t die here even if you wanted to"


    Tian said, causing them to wonder, George was still carrying with him the encyclopedias, but the moment Tian saw them, he begun to laugh.


    "What''s so funny?"


    George asked, he felt humilliated by his laughter.


    "It''s nothing, I just remembered a guy that thought he could predict the next mission, through calculations and mental workout, he died in the preparation stage, overworked himself to death, we didn''t know how to save him, the veterans didn''t care, thinking about it now, it''s funny"


    Tian said, causing them to wanna cry, thinking that they could be the ones in that description.


    -By the way, why did you bring these out?


    -I was about to ask why Nick doesn''t carry any such things around?


    -He might look timid and stingy, but that guy''s a veteran, whatever the mission may be he will survive, even over the corpses of everyone else, he might even help the monster to get you in order to survive


    -Is that even possible?


    -I believe he did so once already, during the Mummy, he sided with the Mummy and killed everyone else, who were hidding all around the world, like himself, It''s rumored that one of the artifacts he got there was the Book of Life


    -Wait he can bring people back from the dead with it!


    -Only if he knew ancient egyptian and no surprise there he doesn''t


    -Isn''t he just wasting it then?


    -Not really, he can sell it if he needs points and it can be used to negotiate with the mummy if he faces it again


    -That''s cheating!


    -Nope, Relics are used exactly like that, for example if you enter another resident evil movie, that guy outside will have an unfair advantage, but if it''s a ghost story or murder case in old london, he will have none


    -What about the book of Life?


    -If there''s no magic in the world, it''s unusable, kind of like in Resident Evil


    -Wait, there''s magic?


    -Of course there is, but studying it is insanely difficult, first I had to learn this weird runic language and then buy a spellbook, both are cheap, but both are useless unless the world has magic in it


    -What do you mean?


    -The mission we are going to have 3 restrictions, Technology, Magic and Time


    -What do you mean, exactly?


    -The technology you can bring into the mission cannot be over the top, even if you have a mecha suit, you won''t be allowed to bring it into a 300 movie as it will destroy all the balance, the same goes for relics, it''s probable that he won''t even be able to take his relic with him to the next mission and it will be stuck in his inventory and lost when he dies


    -What about time?


    -Wait magic first, there''s paths of magic, even if a world allows for magic, you might still be unable to cast spells, because you don''t have the right mana to cast it, mana comes in colors and not elements, for example you can turn yellow mana into fire or sand


    -What about time?


    -There''s time periods, similar to technology, we might end in a prehistoric movie with dinosaurs, our clothes will disappear and we won''t be able to bring anything with us, all three are the subcategories of the store


    -All this was rather useless then


    -Nope, this is just the beginning!


    "There are three paths in front of you, one is Nick''s path, which all of you have turned down as it''s a fool''s path to begin with, the second nad third paths you''ve yet to experience"


    Tian said as if he was going to announce the solution to a mystery.


    "The Lady represents order and strength, they believe that as long as we''re strong we will survive and we will survive with military discipline and by collecting talentd people, the Boss represents fun and joy in death, they believe that life is fleeting either way, here is your sandbox and if you''re to die, you''ll die a happy man or woman, sort of like no regrets in death"


    These two paths caused even more questions, how on earth would the second group even be alive, are they so strong?


    "The Boss and his boys are people that gave up on discipline and strength, disillusioned by that path and became daredevils that care for nothing, they''re really not people you want to associate with and they probably won''t even look at you, until you prove yourself and are sellected and fully trained by Lady"


    Tian said causing them to be even more confused.


    "Why don''t they just gather enough to leave?"


    Xiao asked and Tian wanted to cry tears of despair

 25 Epilogue Store or Store

    "Do you see the house around you, It costs one 1 day ticket or the house, I bought the house, because if those veterans can''t escape this place I won''t as well, the person closest to leaving this place is probably Nick, but his kill count is off the charts, you can only do what he does if he didn''t exist, otherwise you''re screwed"


    Tian said in a silent tone as if fearing that Nick could hear him.


    "I was told by Lady that if I survive for a Year, they''ll take me in, I''ve only two missions to go, but I didn''t know that Nick was Lady''s teacher, if Only I knew I would have gone into his group and be like glue to him!"


    Tian said, causing them all to suck their breath from this new revelation.


    "It makes sense as to why Lady will even assossiate herself with him, why she puts up with his antics and why she calls him names, it all now makes sense and on top of it all she''s a gorgeous goddess, it all makes sense now!"


    The others looked at Tian with sad glances, the guy''s gone coocoo! Totaly crazy from being a year into these missions, they themselves had 3 days under their belts or so they thought.


    "Every day you get a mission, if you think you might die during the mission and have a ticket, you can skip a mission, the 1 day ticket are even better than the 7 day ticket in that regard, I only had one because I was an idiot at first and bought it instead of buying 5 tickets and using them tacticaly to skip difficult missions and do easy ones, it would be much better instead of going on a 7 day disappointment trip, I might even have helped you in your mission and nobody would have died"


    He said, making them understand that he wasn''t completely lost, it was their understanding that was lacking and him running out of tickets that caused his current situation and breakdown. In truth however Tian himself wasn''t too optimistic about their chances, he might survive, but he couldn''t tell the same about them. They were terrifyingly green for people that had cleared a mission, it was evident that they were carried by someone, most probably the guy with the Relic, cause Nick wouldn''t care to do anything like that, unless he saw a chance for them to succeed and get more points for himself by killing a few monsters.


    "By the way failing to complete an objective doesn''t mean death, you just get a 1000 points penalty, the same you get for personaly killing another player"


    Tian explained to them, making them somewhat skeptical as to why he would tell them that.


    "What happens if we have negative points?"


    Xiao asked out of curiosity.


    "There is no negative points, if you cannot pay the penalty you die"


    They now looked livid, they only now understood that both Nick and Tian could probably just kill one or two people no problem. Just how lucky were they to be alive, even themselves couldn''t believe it, as they looked at George whom was part of their mess, the second part was Chris, whom divided the party in the beginning of the mission and then remembered that they hadn''t bought any toilet paper from the store.


    "I don''t know what you''re thinking about, but hope it''s got to do with your survival"


    Tian was a bit pissed, but mostly envious of them getting a free ride.


    "Something like that, by the way could I use your bathroom"


    Jonas was the first to ask, with his legs fixed, he had to go.


    "Be my guest, it''s..."


    They spent their time loitering around the house, asking about his trophies and experiences, learning as much as they could about this game of life and death. He was however most interested in their experience, NPCs doing missions for you wasn''t insane, veterans had followers, but as newbies befriending an NPC is a hard task in of itself, learning however that the rambo outside could get Alice as a follower was an even bigger surprise.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    He didn''t know that Chris could get 4 followers, J.D, Medic, Rain and Alice were his four contacts, he missed on Kaplan, Matt and One, since they were in the other group most of the time and even afterwards they left to evacuate the town, unlike the others that stayed with them.


    Even Nick had gained 2 contacts from this mission, them being two useless burdens, one a boy and the other a teenage girl. The two people that he left for dead in the garage, why he could summon them as followers was beyond him, but he wouldn''t summon them either way, they would only waste his points.


    The others hadn''t as deep a connection with anyone in this mission and generaly just played around. It was a miracle that so few people died, some of them like Hera and Chrysa developed a deep hate and mistrust for the NPCs.


    Tian told them that losing only 3 people was a rather good outcome for newbies, normaly less than half will make it to the next mission, so they had to be vigilant when the mission begins.


    He also taught them how to pool points to one person, it would be essential later as their scores might not be as good as last time. 1000 points is the most you''ll get when the veterans are around, cause they hog all the monsters and dangers.


    Saving the newbies a lot of trouble, but at the cost of their growth, most newbies die the moment the veterans decide to go on break. They do so once every member gets their ticket, veterans dying is rare and recruitment even rarer, most of them are from the same batch of newbies and a few they made friends with through thick and cold, it''s hard to befriend the veterans, since they don''t need help and all you will do is bother them.


    "Points are the only thing that matters in this game"


    Tian told them, whom had figured it out by themselves till this point.


    "There''s two choices to store points and to use the Store to enchance yourselves, I''m an advocate for the first one, once you have the right tools, there''s nothing that can stop you"


    Tian said and then took out what seemed like a sci-fi gauntlet that charged electicity.


    "This is called a Power Gauntlet, they are kind of cheap for their technology, but they are still good, I also have a laser pistol, but it doesn''t seem as impressive"


    He said as he took out what looked like a beaten up metal  toy, rather than a gun.


    "Just to be clear, you will have to buy a weapon for each period and that includes a sword and dagger even a club for the prehistoric period, though I haven''t seen a mission that threw us so back in time"


    Tian said, birthing tons of questions, from the new players.


    "Have you heard of a Time Loop? It''s when Time travel happens, at the present we''re at the end of time, the tickets take us back in time to where we should have been, death means real death, the worlds we''re visiting are possibilities we create by time travelling, someone or something is training us to become stronger"


    Tian said with confidence, causing the others to rethink their own assumptions.


    "Do you think there''s someone watching us right now?"


    Xiao asked somewhat distressed, after all she did take a bath moments ago.


    Somewhere in the darkness of a room, you the reader is watching as I twist the lines of fate to their current state and favour the protagonist nobody wants, over other character you would love to read more about.


    I''m giving you the readers a chance to influence the story, the people with the best comments will get to decide on stuff, it might influence the plot to a greater or smaller degree, but it''s worth a try.


    Some things you can do...


    1-Suggest something for the story, I read all comments.


    2-Insert a character you want into the story, any stereotype you like will do.


    3-Kill/Save anyone other than the protagonist, his fate is in my hands.


    I will only warn you at this stage, but I''ll be putting death flags for characters that will die ahead of time, I wonder if you know for whom the bell rings.


    During the next mission 2 people from the existing groups will die and 8 from the new batch, so be prepared and don''t get too attached to the new guys, or maybe do save one or two of them, their lives are in your hands now.


    "Don''t be irrational, there''s nobody watching, even that weirdo is sleeping outside by the fire"


    Jonas said, making the others listen to reason.

 1 Prologue

    It all started with the sound of the alarm clock and it was exactly one hour before the time for the new players arriving, it was a rather strange moment for Chris and the others, since it would be their first time encountering players like themselves, clueless noobs.


    There was a 2000 points that could be made by explaining, helping and saving Noobs, it was part of the 3000 points that Chris didn''t get last time, the other 1000 points being finding the secret Piece, which went to Hera, whom was the first person to notice the hatch.


    Nick was irritated as the two beauties were taking their time, preparing and taking a bath or a damp, there was little time and he didn''t want his house to disappear, because of them.


    "Anything that''s not inside your inventory when the time comes disappears!"


    He noted again and again to them, but both of them were unreasonable individuals and they did have time to mess with him, for waking them up so roughly.


    Chris woke up by the alarm, fully on alert mode, he slept like a baby and woke up like an apeman, looking around confused until he remembered he was in this survival Game, the name of which they didn''t know.


    Tian and the others were also alerted, as they were told about the one Hour prep time Rule.


    "All the veterans will gather and one team will be in charge of educating the noobs, then they can be divided into the groups, accordingly to their preferences, expect everyone to be on Nick''s team at the start, since they have no idea what awaits them"


    Tian said, while looking outside of the window at Chris whom looked like an alarmed beast, scouting its surroundings for threats. If he didn''t know he was a noob, he would have sworn he was a veteran of this game, going insane due to the missions taking their toll on him.


    It was now about time they came out to talk about whom would introduce the game to the noobies, after all it would be confusing if they all talked at the same time and although they had enough time, they still had to do some excersice to raise their stats and be prepared for the game. Cell vitality was a bitch to use, but after a long time of repeating the same schedule, Tian assured them that they would get the hang of it fast.


    "Nice Camp"


    Nick said as everyone put their houses inside their inventory and approached the bonfire.


    "Thanks for the alarm"


    Chris said as he quickly pocketed the alarm, as if it was some sort of treasure for him. Nick and Tian both thought highly of this action, while the others only took it as a witty comeback line.


    "So who''s going to be the Guide?"


    Tian asked, causing the situation to become a bit hectic.


    "Whoever can pull it off, they''re not veterans and truthfully I don''t care"


    Nick''s words were soul crushing, as they didn''t know what to expect of him, was he trying to use reverse psychology or was he serious.


    "Then I''ll be the Guide this time, you guys stand away from us when the noobies appear"


    Tian said, which made the others to think him being rude to them, but Nick didn''t seem to care, which made the two beauties to walk like peacocks behind his back.


    "So you''re the guide now?"


    Chris asked rather doubiously.


    "I''ll be the guide for the new players"


    Tian nodded and then looked at Nick for assurance, which he gave.


    "Then answer me a few questions..."


    Chris wanted to get all the info the Red Empress required out of him, but it didn''t seem to work.


    "You''re not part of our team, I''ll answer questions if you join our group after this next mission, if you survive that is, surviving alone in a mission will be hard"


    Tian said, trying to recruit him, but his words were met with laughter from Nick''s side, he was about to blow up from holding his laughter.


    "Let me answer his question, Mr Guide"


    Nick said, making the others rather puzzled, as to why Nick had suddenly become such a good guy, were they awarded points already?


    "Why bother, he''ll be dead anyways"


    Tian said rather angrily.


    "Because he''s followed a rather nice path last mission, if not for him, I wouldn''t have gotten so many points, also he has a Relic I would have loved to have maybe he''ll be able to use it in this next mission"


    Nick said, making everyone remember the Red Queen/Empress A.I. and how much they would have loved to have it advise them.


    "I will answer only 3 questions"


    Nick told Chris looking at the disatisfied Tian.


    "How many objectives are there normaly in a mission?"


    Chris asked without delay.


    "3 objectives, at easy difficulty, 5 or more on hard"


    Nick asnswered without any problem, it was an easy question.


    "Is there a patern in these missions?"


    Chris''s Question came as a shock to the others, thinking it was his own questions, but they were the Red Empresses'' questions, data that he was collecting for her.


    "There is sort of a patern, but it''s not always the same, first you have to go to a place, survive and then leave, that''s all there is to it, simple, right?"


    Nick''s asnwer shook even Tian, whom hadn''t seen the patern at all, he was too preocupied with surviving, to look into it.


    "What is the rise in difficulties like?"


    This question sent Nick on a doubiously skeptical mode before he answered.


    "There''s no patern in difficulties, they might add 1 objective or 10, but as long as you''ve got a ticket, there''s 0% possibility of death, even during a mission you can use your ticket to skip the mission if you brought the ticket with you, this tip is for free"


    Nick''s words caused not a little commotion among the players, they knew they didn''t have enough points for a ticket, even if they wanted to the cheapest ticket was 10K and the ticket out of there was worth a million points. The 1-5 thousand points they got were a farcry from escaping this game and hearing Tian, it might be near impossible to escape.


    Unknown to them, the Score tablet now had a neon clock on it, shining how they only had half an hour until the time the new players arrive.


    "So What do you do as a guide?"


    Xiao asked Tian, Since they could share points, they could easily help him, or pool points to let a person escape, or so was the plan they had come up with, but reality was a bitch.


    "Nothing really, all we have to do is explain to them about this death game and how they can earn points, if you want a quick 100 points, you can throw them an extra weapon you''re not using, but they might use it to shoot you, so I won''t advise you to do so until you are sure they''ve got it that they cannot escape and that we''re not their captors or enemy"


    This matter was rather serious, as they would have to persuade the new players like Nick had done the last time, they appeared, wasting time to let the new players try and escape, only to fail again and again, until they understand that something''s not right.


    They understood it now, but at the beginning, they were unreasonble and impossible to persuade, now it''s time for them to persuade the new players and they couldn''t use Nick''s method, it was too underhanded, he used logic to become one of them, only to detray them not too long after, telling them that they were nothing to him and that he would kill them if they were to fail.


    "I''ll tell you now, only one person will survive and things don''t go our way and that''s me"


    Nick announced to make things clear, he wasn''t gonna let them get away with the shit they did last time, where they didn''t kill the Hunters.


    "Why?"


    Chris was oblivious of almost everything, he just never trusted Nick.


    "Because the last survivor is spared by the system, if everyone else dies, you get a free pass and no penalty, because there must always be a guide, even if you thought you had died, if you were the last person to die, you''re brought back to life"


    Nick''s words sounded like an epithany, a hope that was too grim to really grasp, the penalty for killing a player was 1000 points, if you killed all the other players, you got a -10K points, unless they die from monsters and traps, his threats of killing them all were just that, threats, empty words with nothing backing them, but at the moment Nick needed some sort of leverage to control and manipulate them. Them not knowing him well was the best detergent, thus he had to act on it. As for his actions, you might call despicable, but when life and death is on the line, there''s no low a human won''t go to survive. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    They had still half an hour, but most of it they spent chatting, the main theme being the patern in objectives, it was a huge hit to know. But even if you knew it might still not be enough to succeed, for example, what if you don''t have enough bullets, what about melee combat, was it possible?


    The answer is no, because all melee combat comes with wounds, minor or serious, you cannot expect a beast or monster fighting you in tactful fashion, caring for its own life as much as you do. In front of wild abandon, injuries are to be expected. If you can help it, leave melee combat is out of your mind, it''s not worth it, especialy when you have guns.


    As the time drew closer the tablet begun to fade away and they could almost see the bodies of 10 people in front of them. The campfire also faded away its place being taken by a person''s body.


    "Do we wake them up?"


    Xiao asked as they were now in the familiar space and the people, seemed to be sleeping.


    "No, let them wake up by themselves, we should take our time to train and raise our stats before the mission, once they wake up, we begin instructing them on how to survive"


    Tian answered, knowing full well the problems that came with waking someone up, most notably a foul mood and sleepiness. They had 8 hours, now, so they had to make the best out of them.


    Chris had also begun to do excercise under the command of the Red Empress, whom could now once more appear as a small red person. Her form however was no longer that of a small girl, she took the form of alice, wearing a rather revealing dress.


    The most however important thing is that they now knew the next mission''s theme.


    =Mission - The Ring=


    It made them think it was stupid, because out of all the movies, this one had too little danger to offer, even if they did see the cursed tape, they would still have days to live.


    Even more assuring was that George had begun taking out all the alternative notes he had on the ring, lots of different scenarios and actors on the same theme.


    Everything was put in action, even Nick was training with them doing their favourite training, that being running around like an idiot as fast as you could, thus activating your cell vitality and becoming a bit faster and more durable.


    It might sound as if it''s a cheat to raise your strength, but you have to remember that they could only reach 200 in each and every stat and intelligence and mental capacity were difficult to train. All they could train was muscle Density and Reaction Speed. They had 8 hours to bring both up to 200 or at least as high as they can.


    Cell vitality was wonderful, it felt as if their bodies were full of energy, even after running like crazy, they still had enough steam to go on, it was as if they were tireless, but Tian warned them that this was only so until they left this space and entered the mission, their growth would also continue there, but their stamina will not be the same also once cell vitality reaches back to 100, they will begin to tire again, since cell vitality was being used to raise their other stats, but their handsome looks stayed the same. Even George who was a fatty now looked like a stoic gentleman in sport wear, most of them had decided on sport wear, even Chris had bough a pair to change into, just in case, he had bought a lot of things with the points he had left over, mostly stuff for survival and daily needs.


    "What''s he doing?"


    Xiao asked, seeing as Chris was trying to split his legs wide.


    "Probably raising flexibility, might be useless though"


    Tian answered, it wass mostly pointless to be flexible, it was much better to be as fast as you could be.


    It was about an hour into training when the first sleepy head woke up and it was a woman in her sexy black  underwear, she then proceeded to scream at the top of her voice, waking up everyone else like an alarm clock.


    Some were dizzy, others looked around alarmed, the most notable however was a woman in army cargo pants holding a cell phone and two twins whom looked at one another as if they couldn''t believe what they were seeing.


    "Everyone relax! I''ll be your guide and together we will all survive this!"


    Tian awkwardly said, making it apparent that it was his first time acting as a guide.


    Chris threw the naked woman his coat, before taking out of his backpack some clothes, that might be big for her, but this was enough to make her stop screaming.


    Chris experienced how it was being half naked in this game, wasn''t the most pleasing of experiences.


    And there went his sport gear, the shoes were too big for her, thus she used the shocks to fill them up.


    "Who are you?"


    The woman asked the super handsome guy that offered her clothes. The others also wanted to ask him, since Nick wore a biker helmet and they couldn''t see him.


    "Have you heard about the Matrix? we''ve all been taken from our homes and teleported here to fight for our survival"


    Chris shamelessly said the theory the Red Empress had come up with.


    "What''s that!"


    They were most interested in the floating Red Empress, whom seemed disatisfied with their attention, especialy on guy that was trying to see her panties, which she sensored just for him.


    "Is it a 3D projection?"


    "But where are the projectors?"


    "Why is it so dark after a few steps away?"


    The newbies were full of questions, some more interesting than others, but before long, they were almost sure he wasn''t lying to them.


    By walking into the darkness, they ended up in the same spot, it was hard to tell why it was so, unless what he said was real.


    Them all being inside the matrix, even the older players might not have come to that conclusion.


    "What can we do? Will you protect us?"


    The woman begun to salivate over him, not even caring if what he said was true or not.


    "Tian, aren''t you the guide? Please act like one"


    Chris said as he tried to unglue his hand from her arms, this woman was rather pretty and sexy, but she wasn''t his type, he was more into the tomboish sort of girls. But he wasn''t made of stone, he did feel a bit shy by being held by her, that way, her breasts touching his arm.


    "Who are you and why are we here!"


    Suddenly a leader rose out of the crowd, not believing a word said or simply not knowing what the Matrix was.


    "I''m Tian, I''m..."


    Before Tian could explain there was a comment about his race.


    "I''m not talking to a chinese person, you over there, the pretty boy, stop flirting and explain what are we doing here, why we cannot leave this place, what sort of magic is this?"


    The guy was huge and looked intimidating, with tattoos and even a butterfly knife in his hands. He was no doubt a thug from some gang.


    Honestly Chris hated these sort of people, but unless they approached him, he wouldn''t go anywhere close to them. Now he was facing a guy with a knife, but the guy would soon find out that he was out gunned.


    "Where did you get the gun!"


    The guy cried as if he was being slaughtered, non of his bravado remaining and it was evident at the face of a gun.


    "Tian, please continue"


    Chris said passing the baton once more.


    "...As I was saying I will be your guide, any question you have I will answer to the best of my abilities"


    Tian said and he was immedately bombarded with questions.


    A few moments passed as they tried their best to understand their sircumstances. The new players took it a lot better than they had, maybe because they thought they were in the matrix or something, or just because they weren''t greeted with a gunshot.


    "So cell vitality is really important?"


    Asked an average looking guy named David, who wore a hoodie and jeans, he was rather energetic and happy about being there, while the others hearing they might die made sour faces.


    Sydney, the woman in her underwear Chris helped, had made him her property or something, chasing away any female that would step close to him.


    "You do understand that this is a group survival game?"


    Chris asked her again and again, but she didn''t seem to get it.


    The huge guy from before was called Samson and he was an ex-gang member. Leaving behind the life of crime and violence for a meager pay and some safety, he was a car mechanic now and the knife was a deterent for gangsters, just a keepsake.


    Even in his gang days they were told to not be brave, ''if you see a gun, run!'' they were told by the big man.


    What everyone was recalling is how they reached this point, every one of them saw the same message and pressed the yes button. That was the Red pill that brought them there.


    "So you are saying that the next mission will be from the Ring and all we have to do is survive, until you complete the mission objectives?"


    David asked, feeling a bit disappointed, he really wanted to be part of the main group, but Tian didn''t disappoint him.


    "No, what I''m saying is that we will be dividing into groups, one group will be under Nick and the two women, they will be the survivor group, the rest will come with us and be the Hero Group!"


    "The chances of dying are the same in both groups"


    Nick included, causing everyone to wonder as to why it was so.


    "That''s because both groups move together until we find a safe spot to hide"


    Nick said, adding even more nice guy points to himself, which was ominous for all that knew him, except Tian, because that''s how he appears every time in front of the veterans.


    "What do you make of them?"


    David asked the woman in military clothing.


    "Looking at how unguarded they are towards us, I can tell we''re not captured by the enemy"


    She said as she pointed at the woman playing with Chris'' spare gun.


    "Are you sure this is real?"


    She asked while pointing at him.


    "Don''t point the gun at me, you might misfire!"


    "I''ve fired a gun before and it wasn''t either so big, nor as heavy, this has to be custom made or a fake"


    She said as she put the gun down, it was awkwardly heavy for her hands, she even had trouble reaching the trigger.


    Chris however found it as comfortable as it went, it fit perfectly in his large manly hands.


    "Did they make this for a gorilla?"


    She asked giving him the gun back.


    "That''s why I wear the helmet"


    Nick said to the two women besides him and they did understand his notion, because they could feel being stripped with the men''s eyes. It was awkwardly arrousing, but mostly awkward.


    The others also got a few looks of affection and interest.

 2 Hero or Zero

    "So which of the two groups will be the survival group?"


    David asked again to make sure before he and the military girl walked towards Nick and the girls.


    Samson was all about becoming hero, thinking that an ex-thug turns into a hero makes a good origin story.


    "What about him, which group is he in?"


    David asked, pointing at Chris.


    "He''s a loner"


    Nick said, causing them to be confused as to why he would say so.


    "You have to understand, this might be a team survival effort, but in the end you still have to depend on yourself to survive, others can help, but if you don''t pull your weight you might die"


    Nick added, making this more dramatic than it already was. Nobody however appreciated his newfound sincerity.


    "All those that don''t know foreign languages come to the survivor group, most of the missions have a requirement of knowing at least  english" Chrysa said, remembering how the old man died because he didn''t understand what they were saying.


    At her voice, nobody moved, considering it a stupid question of whether they knew english, a subject taught in school. Of course knowing a language and speaking it are two different subjects, but non would admit to it.


    "Why did you say that the chances of dying are the same in the hero and survivor groups?"


    An average looking guy in a colourful shirt and brown trousers asked.


    "It''s simple, because we''ll be moving together with them until we find a safe location to hide, with the Empresses'' help probably some 5 stars hotel"


    Nick said, causing a bit of a commotion, was this really a survival game and why a hotel as a hideout.


    "I''m Panos and I want to join the heroes"


    The colorful shirt guy said, leaving the rest to wonder why he would even want to join the "heroes".


    What they didn''t know was that the man was a gambler, he lived for risk, he lived on the edge and this for him was like an extreme aphrodisiac, betting your own life on the line for what could be easily described as infinite wealth and the ultimate gamble. Also he understood the way this worked, the more danger, the more points you would get, the more points you got, the more the chances of survival became, simple logic.


    "So if I join that team I won''t have to do anything?"


    A rather handsome fellow wearing expensive trends of sweater and jeans asked before going to where Nick was, trying to flirt his way with the ladies, failing at both sides.


    "You chose whichever side you like, I''ll take the other!"


    A female voice shouted, it was from one of the two twins. Both with blond short hair and the same blue eyes.


    The guy was wearing a black suit, seemingly having come from a funeral, the girl wore torn jeans and a shirt that didn''t leave much to your imagination, in simple words "no bra".


    "Is this how you appeared at my funeral! Really!"


    The guy was shouting as well, there was tention in the air as the two were visibly brother and sister, but most importantly, both seem to have been in each other''s funeral.


    Both ask how on earth the other was still alive, both being both happy and annoyed by each other''s appearance.


    "You were always highstrung and didn''t let me have fun, I thought that at last I could say yes to life, not enter a death game!"


    She retorted, changing the subject all together.


    "I chose the Hero group you go on the survivor group!"


    The guy said, causing her to be enraged.


    "No! You go be a survivor! And I''ll be the hero!"


    She shouted, only for both of them to end up with Tian and the others.


    What was left was two housewives, that like Hera lusted for some change in their lives. One wearing a rough looking dress and the other a luxurious dining dress. Both were called Maria, but for our convenience We will call the rich Mary and the poor one Maro.


    "So what do we do now? while you raise your stats?"


    David asked, looking at Chris who hadn''t stopped stretching even for a moment, as if he was the elastic man, trying to stretch his body further than humanly possible.


    "You should do some excersice as well, it''s just some light gymnastics, will be useful to evaluate whether you can be a hero or should stick with the survivors! Physical condition is 70% of your survival in the first mission, the other 30% is luck"


    Tian said and everyone but Chris begun running in a circle, those that could keep up would be accepted as heroes, those that couldn''t survivors, it was pretty simple.


    The result however was a huge load of disappointment for everyone. Only David and the military girl could keep up with them and both of them wanted to become survivors.


    "Are you sure that you don''t want to be heroes, you know that if the heroes don''t come through, the survivors won''t survive"


    Tian complained, because if he kept his word, his group would just be the  5 original people.(Tian, George, Jason, Jonas and Xiao)


    "It''s not whether we want to or not, it''s about which group has better survival chances, they are called survivors for a reason I presume"


    David said, making Tian silent, unable to retord, it was a fact that it would be safer in the survival group, as long as the heroes made it they would face less dangers.


    "Does this mean we still have a chance?"


    Samson asked as he was still laps behind, but hadn''t given up.


    "I never intended to not accept you or the others, all I wished is to see your physical condition"


    Tian lied without even flinching, it was a white lie, but it was super effective.


    "Do we get guns now?"


    Samson asked, which caused David to flinch, it was a question he too would have loved to ask, what about weapons.


    "I''ll be providing the heroes weapons, the survivors should ask Nick"


    Tian said, knowing full well how stingy Nick was, he wouldn''t give them a weapon even if he had two of them.


    This was how David was almost tempted to join the heroes, having a weapon was a huge advantage in whatever mission they were going to be in.


    Nick didn''t disappoint Tian, he begun explaining how he wasn''t their nanny and that weapons weren''t free and that anything could be used as a weapon even a chair.


    David''s mind then turned towards the only other person with access to weapons, that being Chris. He then asked the military Girl to get closer to him to get a gun off him, she was rather angry with the plan, but still accepted the mission.


    Samson was overwhelmed by the fact that he was now holding a real gun. His mind went to target practice or any sort of practice with the gun, but he was turned down due to lack of ammunition, after the mission he would have enough points to do his own target practice and get his own gun.


    David looked at them with some envy, not because of the weapons, but because of the fact that they would be the ones getting most of the points. If not for his mission, he would have surely joined them, but he was a man with a mission.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Listen up men, there''s been people disappearing, all that we know about them is that they were sent a spam mail, we have gathered all of you in hopes that one or two of you will get targeted by this group and then return alive and report what this is all about be extra careful, because non of the abducted ever returned"


    He remembered the mission briefing, it sounded like some underworld organization, he would never have imagined it would have relations to the Matrix and a death game of the gods, more like a trial that eliminate those that aren''t up to standards.


    Before long Christin, the military girl, returned with a gun, it was too big for her hands, but david would be able to use it with ease.


    "Was it hard?"


    David asked, not exactly expecting an answer.


    "I think he''s into me, probably a virgin, has a uniform fetish"


    She said, causing him to cough uncontrolably as he wanted to laugh but couldn''t.


    "Try not to choke yourself to death"


    She said while laughing.


    "Can we use him?"


    He asked, but to his question she turned her head in disapproval.


    "He might be willing to be used, but the little fairy is smart and she''s using him as she sees fit, he won''t even ask whether what she says is right or wrong and the woman next to him almost charged at me for approaching them"


    It could be said it was women doing him whatever they want, but one was a high intellect A.I. and the other just some girl he met for the first time, who''s trying to fuck him.


    "What about bullets?"


    David suddenly asked, causing her to stop smiling, she thought it was loaded due to its weight and how that guy was afraid of it facing him, now she was angry with him for cheating her and making her look like an idiot in front of her supperior officer.


    At this time however Chris had begun his own running and it wasn''t anything like what the others did, he was sprinting all the way, disappeared into the darkness and returned sprinting to the other side only to disappear and be running again towards the opposite direction.


    Nick, when he saw this was as if he had gotten a revelation and he begun to copy Chris. It was of course the Empress who regulated his training regime. And right now she was blind, she could only hear sounds from the device on his wrist to tell where everyone was and gathered information by sound only, the 3D projection that came from the device was also unresponsive to pokes and movement, you just passed your hand through it, unless you made some noise to alert it of your position or actions.


    Unlike Chris who went on practicing, the other took a break after an hour of rigorous training and begun to plan for the next mission.


    George knew all about the movie, but was looking into different dimensions, it was then that something clicked in David''s mind, something that until then he had disregarded, why Christin''s hair were still long made into a braid, when in his reality last time he saw her she had them cut short.


    The twins also were shocked when they heard about it, before they thought this was the matrix or something, but now hearing that every one of them are from different realities. It added a sour flavour, but answered many questions, especialy for the two twins, whom had just attended each other''s funerals, but it did nothing to affect how they viewed one another as brother and sister.


    David and Christin however had a huge chasm built, in between them, before they thought that just one surviving and reporting was enough, but now it seemed that they weren''t even from the same reality, they both had to survive and report this situation to their superiors. Could they however trust each other?


    Samson was excited over the fact that different realities exist, maybe in some of them he''s rich and famous, maybe he can jump into another reality and escape his own, just maybe.


    Sydney, the foxy lady that was all over Chris was shocked by the revelation, she by now had seen that she wasn''t his type and decided to join the Hero group, believing she would be safer there, under the protection of the guys there. It was Chris'' fault that he left her unattended for so long, she thought.


    The planning didn''t go too well, because Nick would always insert the Red Empress into their plans, making it awkward for them who didn''t view Chris as a member of their group of "Heroes".


    "Listen guys, you can think of this as a free advice from me, I want you to win, it''s 1000 points for me when you win, you will be forced to use the relic, the moment the system detects you have it, the objectives will become more difficult to accomodate said relic''s use, that''s also why I don''t bring relics with me, they are more of a luggage rather than helping in any possible way, but I believe that the red empress is different than other relics, it''s closer to a free follower than a relic"


    Nick said, but nobody believed his words one bit, they still remembered what happened last time, while the new players had no idea what a relic was and why they were having this discussion, in their opinion, they were a group and they would survive as a group. Where the old players lost that logic was when the score board appeared and they saw the diference in points, how many things they could buy at the store and a newfound greed was rooted in their minds a will for points a desire to escape this place even if just for a day.


    "Listen this mission will most probably end in 7 days time, the main goal has to do with the tape or Aidan"


    George said full of confidence, with all the data he had it was simple to see that these 2 points were the same in most of the iterations.


    "So what? we don''t even know where we will be transported"


    Tian said in anger, seeing George''s words as a way to undermine his leadership.


    "Don''t you see, we will only have 7 days, that means that we will be shown the cursed tape, but not the second tape otherwise the monster won''t be interested in us"


    George continued his line of thought, not understanding that he was overstepping his boundaries a bit.


    "Listen George, I don''t know what you think of me, but you should hear me out, as veteran I will tell you once  and for all, there is nothing sure in this game, we will be planning as we go what we are doing now is sharing information which will help us plan ahead, we''ve already heard about the 7 days thing and the second tape, but both are irrelevant right now, because we haven''t seen the cursed tape and have no idea where the second tape is or will appear"


    Tian''s words might have sounded  friendly, but he was holding himself back, just a step away from shouting at his face.


    "I believe that George''s words do have a meaning"


    The one to speak out was David, whom had been listening with attention to their plans and explainations.


    "Why would you care?"


    Tian said, only to take a smug expression not too long after, cause one of the two good seeds had decided to join the Heroes! There was a fall out between the two, it cracked the moment they understood that they came from different realities and with it came insubordination after all she had no reason to listen to the commands of someone who wasn''t even from the same earth, just imagining dying for him made her wanna puke. The solidarity that existed before and the will to have at least one of them survive, their well built plan was now in shambles.


    The others didn''t know what to think, seeing Tian being so happy with a single newbe joining their group left a bad taste on everyone''s mouths. Even George felt defeated as if Tian had found a new toy or something, it wasn''t to the extend of envy, but until now they knew Tian well, he wouldn''t become buddies with them if not for Xiao, but with this newbe it was different, Tian threated him like a treasure, a VIP, for no apparent reason.


    "Do you know how to use this?"


    Tian showed the newbe an assault riffle, fully automatic military grade.


    "Will everyone get one?"


    David asked rather confused since everyone else held a pistol.


    "Did your military boss send you to ask questions, I know all about you secret military, you don''t have to hide it with us, no regular person can keep up with us, meaning that you''re special forces people"


    Tian said, causing the others to gasp. In our country the marines have a rather inflated popularity and fame, but not without a reason, because they only take the best to join and they spend more time in the army than other people since they aren''t pernament recruits. Each year the best of the best will be voluntarily recruited into the marines, nationalism has that sort of drive.


    David however was shocked by the reveal, it was as if all the secrecy from his part was for nothing, it was as if the moment they decided to show off their ability was the moment they revealed who they were. Or rather who he was, cause Christin wasn''t special forces, she was an engineer he knew personaly and a minor officer, while he was a major.


    "Okay no need to make such a face, the moment I saw that girl salute you I knew you were both in the military, but you were too good, good enough to be a marine, you almost kept up with us, who have enchanced our stats, meaning that you will become a monster real fast as long as you survive with us through this mission and add cell vitality, you won''t lose to any of us"


    Tian didn''t let him be, he really wanted him to be part of their group.


    Christin looked at him begrudgingly, she knew full well who he was, a nutcase that loved to train more than he loved women, an army junkie that loved to fight and throw words around when drunk, also he sucked in bed.

 3 Them and Others

    As hours passed everyone begun to crave for something else, not food nor toilet. It was the soft touch and the safety that came with having a man by your side. It sounds like bullshit, but both men and women have instincts and those instincts were now in full bloom as danger came closer, as the hour to begin the mission came closer and closer.


    Nick encouraged his survivors to have sex with the "Heroes", saying that it might be their last time, they should at least die satisfied. The survivors were mostly women and they begun to select their partners, problem was that only the handsome ones got to be selected. Chris was still running when he was coastlined by a female hand and fell down and was raped by a crazy military girl, who shouted as if it was the best sex in her life so that someone specific could hear her.


    Chris didn''t know what to make of this, but as a man he couldn''t not enjoy the soft side of a woman at some point, he even came on top and her moans became more genuine as she was shocked herself to find that he could make her feel this way. He was like a tireless monster that wouldn''t end before her whatever she did, it was as if he was insatiable. What started as a petty revenge had become more than she could handle, before long she was tired and he was still hard, cell vitality sure has its uses.


    "What are you waiting for, I told you the whole system won''t let you have a child, It''s 100% safe, I''ve been here for ages and nobody has ever given birth in this space and believe me they''ve tried"


    Nick said as he pointed at Chis and Christin, who were still doing it.


    It wasn''t long that everyone had a partner and some were at a loss, since the women were fewer than the men. The problem however came afterwards, because some women begun to act as if they owned the male they went with. Normaly it would have been an accepted fact that they had something, but this wasn''t normal, this was a death game where each moment could be their last.


    Those clingy women had to accept that this was a one night stand and nothing more, as hard as this could be to accept, there was no love in this sort of behavior, it was only physical.


    Time passed by when they were preocupied and most of the time they would keep doing excersice while the new players did their best to plan what they would be doing, so far there was only one plan, follow behind your group leader, ignore Chris.


    The plan was rather simple, they would have 7 days of complete freedom from the monster either way, so it only makes sense that it would be used to travel around meaning that they wouldn''t be anywhere near the cast, or at least that''s logical to presume, otherwise with their knowledge it would be simple to find the second video.


    As the hours passed, Chris found himself at the other side of the I own you now camp. Christin, was no better than the foxy lady, all that changed was that he now had another woman bothering him with stuff about plans and how they should be more like the others and survival this, survival that.


    "Why can''t you be logical?"


    Christin shouted at him as she run out of patience with this super dense guy, who hadn''t stopped training to listen to her and she was bored out of her mind seeing him running back and forward, even Nick had finished his training, only Chris was left doing this boring repetition of running back and forth, again and again, faster and faster.


    The time for entering the mission came closer and closer, one hour was left and everyone was tense and tired of seeing Chris going back and forth, only adding to their stress.


    "Enough!"


    Tian shouted as he tried to coastline Chris once more, only to find that Chris evaded his armbar as if it was nothing, while still running at almost full speed, but he stopped not long after as he lost his step.


    "What''s up with you people, don''t you know that the more you train the better your stats will become!"


    Chris was also tired of them watching him instead of practicing.


    "We''ve already practiced enough, if you continue, you will have no energy for the mission!"


    Tian shouted back, saying something logical, but not what he really wanted to say deep inside.


    "So what, I still have loads of Cell vitality to spent"


    Chris said looking at his Cell vitality that hadn''t even reached down to 180 from the 200 it was before.


    "Tian is right, Chris you shouldn''t use up all of your vitality before the mission, maybe you will want to raise some other stat rather than just speed, what will you do then, it will be too late for regrets"


    Nick intervened, playing the peacemaker.


    "I still have 180 points left, what do you want from me, it was your fault that I ended with 200 vitality!"


    Chris shouted back enraged, he could have added to his other stats instead, but he had to tell him to add all his points in vitality, ending with a wooping 200 points in vitality, even his beard had fallen as he was rejuvenated to the form of a teenager, he wouldn''t be surprised if he gained height as well.


    There was tension building, but it was all pointless, because there was a little red fairy who played a major role in Chris'' decision making.


    Once she decided on giving up on training, Chris could do nothing but obey the little brainy thing, the A.I. was a lot more diplomatic in its decisions, it knew it had to balance Chris'' interactions with the others and make him come to an understanding with his own situation, if it wanted him to survive. His situation was shitty to tell the least, he would be unable to use all of his vitality to raise other stats and his relations with the others were those of mere acquaintances.


    The A.I. could tell that his chances for survival weren''t as good as he believed, it even told him, they were below 50%, thus making him a bit tense and irrational over training.


    The A.I. however hadn''t calculated well the human factor of how his workout would affect the others arround him, causing them to feel underprepared and vulnerable, unready for the task ahead of them, Tian speaking up was to raise the morale of the entire group, not just for himself.


    This was when the Red Empress decided to lie.


    "arguing and continueing training is counter productive, you have to rest until the mission"


    She said, causing the mob of idiots to feel victorious, but in reality what she was doing was trying to bridge the gap between them.


    In the A.I.''s point of view The closer he was with the team, the more chances there were of his survival. After all there is strength in numbers, even if the enemy is a supernatural ghost.


    Reason states that team oriented games are better when in a team, even during the previous mission it tried its best to form a team of players for him, but because of the NPCs taking a liking to him, it turned into a tragedy, where he could easily be dead if not for some dodgy rules and his will to survive.


    The time for the mission getting closer and stress only rising with every moment, people were going crazy with uncertainty, some begun to warm up again, just to have something to do. Chris was puting his backpack in order, there wasn''t much inside, some money, some clothes, some toilet paper, a bit of what he might need to survive, a tiny first aid kit, a survival knife, the food he had inside was long looted by the others whom hadn''t eaten anything for hours and sex does drain one''s energy.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Chris was the only one whom brought out food for everyone, Nick and Tian both said they had no food or items, refusing to even use their inventory. They had decided upon it beforetime and everyone but himself had agreed on not using their inventory until they finish the first mission, after all it''s hard to make them believe them if they showed them this ability. It would be easier to turn them against them, but Chris was a simpleton, once he was asked he simply answered their questions, causing uneeded confusion among the new players, who had no inventory as of yet, no way to tell that there was even an inventory to begin with and in turn made them doubt his words. He was however a crazy person that thought they were inside the matrix, so they couldn''t tell if he was an ally or not, especialy after being fed by him, while the others didn''t have any food, probably eaten it all themselves before the mission had even begun.


    Why they didn''t feed new players was simple, because it was a waste of points, if even half of them survive it would be considered as a good run.


    "Veterans are categorized in stars like followers, if you have a stat of 200 you''re worth 2 stars, if you have a stat above 200 you''re 3 stars, because there''s a limit that determines if you''re human or not, after 200 you enter the super-human domain"


    Tian explained once more for Chris alone, since he wasn''t with them when he had explained to them the exact same thing.


    "So you''re saying that there is a way to boost Cell vitality above 200?"


    Chris asked rather ethousiastic, not knowing why himself, since the shop didn''t allow him to go above 200.


    "To go above 200 Cell Vitality? Well maybe the completed T-Virus would do just that, unless of course it turns you into the green hulk or a zombie"


    Tian said seriously, without even joking, it was completely possible to become a monster, but it wouldn''t be the most preferable way to survive, after all most NPCs don''t react well when seeing a monster, their first reaction is always to kill it and ask questions later.


    Tian was honestly thankful for Chris asking him questions, since the others would also hear him out and he would get points because of it.


    Chris was overwhelmed by the number of questions the Red Empress had, but many of the answers he found insane to even think about, like willingly becoming a zombie, it sounds so stupid if you think about it, but as you think deeper into what being a zombie really means, if you disregard the rotting flesh and thirst for blood, it means you''re immortal.


    There were many thoughts that moved him away from reality, just moments before the mission begins, this last hour before the mission begins looked short when you have questions, the new players didn''t know what to think of him and the others.


    If Tian and Nick were leaders, then Chris was an outsider, he wasn''t part of the group, or more like refused to be part of the group, although in reality he was part of them, want it or not, they were in this together.


    "What do we do now?"


    Christin asked him as the time for the mission was getting closer and unlike David, she didn''t know what to do next, she mistakenly thought that Chris was a veteran like the others, not understanding that he was a noob like them to this game of life and death.


    "Just chill, if you are to die, you will die, if it''s meant to live you''ll live, just do what you want to do and don''t regret your decisions"


    Chris said, honestly, not understanding her confusion and helplessness, her loyalty to the country and duty to survive and report all this to her higher ups.


    "You...don''t understand"


    She said as she nibbled on her nails, trying to relieve her stress, sitting next to him, who was still stretching and doing some exercise, uneasy and completely unlike how he made it sound, he was prepared to die, he was ready and at the same time, he wanted to survive, he wanted to see more of these adventures, more of these missions.


    The last mission for him was like a dream, an insane adventure that he passed half of it knocked out, another half losing his virginity and last of all as a rampaging monster, helping his lovers escape in a wild rush to die for them. Thinking of them, made him wonder what they were doing now, but it was impossible to go back to them, even though there were other resident evil movies and the chance of seeing them again still existed if he lived long enough.


    Of course it evaded him that it might not even be the same universe anymore, meaning that it would be near impossible to meet those same NPCs again.


    "Can''t you be a bit more caring?"


    Christin complained as she nudged him, furious that he didn''t give her due attention.


    It was really weird how from being a dejected virgin of a man, he suddenly after entering the game, became the object of desire so many times. It was unthinkable before, but now he looked like a handsome teenager that could easily become a model in our modern world or an actor if he had some luck.


    Now he felt elated, it felt as if he was the protagonist in a fairy tale, as if there was nothing that could really threaten his life. This feeling had no clear reason for being there, it was more like the feeling of elation from getting first place in a sport, rather than surviving a horror game of life and death. The others had the same feeling, but to a lower degree, those that hadn''t felt threatened during the last game felt even more elated than Chris, since they understood that as long as they survived, they could do whatever they liked in this strange game of life and death.


    You have to understand that unlike Nick and Tian whom took this "game" seriously, the others weren''t yet trully initiated to the horrors of this "game". They hadn''t felt the despair those that died felt, those that had felt even a hint immediately sided with Nick and truthfuly didn''t understand this "hero" thing, like at all. They thought it suicidal to try and finish these missions, it would be much safer to just wait it out, even if the alternative was being killed by Nick, it was preferable to the torture they had experienced during the last mission at the hands of the NPCs.


    The time was now to decide on which side one would take and only Chris wasn''t on either side, like a loner talking to the little A.I. fairy as if it was the only living thing there after finishing questioning Tian of course. They could all tell that he wasn''t thinking strait, but the new players couldn''t tell why.


    "Chris you have to decide now, will you be a hero or a survivor!"


    Tian gave him an ultimatum and Christin who sat next to him was also interested in his decision.


    "The only way to survive is to do the objectives, why even ask?"


    Chris asked back, causing Tian to laugh, because his logic was so wrong that he almost wished to correct it.


    The clock said 10 minutes remained, it was the final countdown and Chris was unwillingly accepted into the hero group. Christin was unhappy with it, since David was in this group as well, but found solence in the fact that they didn''t have to take orders from Tian and the others, since Chris wasn''t trully part of their group, it was more like there being two hero groups rather than one, they had the same goal, but would move seperately.


    "Are you sure we''ll make it?"


    Christin asked him once more for confirmation, it was the only thing left for her, especialy since his guns were too big for her hands and the weapons proved to not be enough in the first place, most of the people didn''t get a weapon in the end, since Tian didn''t have enough guns for all of them.


    David was given an assault riffle while Tian himself took a pistol, they were all ready to go, some were unhappy with the fact they didn''t get a gun, but thinking that they would stay behind the armed people, filled them with hope of survival.


    Minutes twindled as the time for the mission came closer and closer, their surroundings begun to become clearer, they could see tons of monitors surrounding them, it was evident what would happen once everything materialized, it was no surprise that all the monitors were on and showing the cursed tape. Some closed their eyes, others like Chris didn''t care about it, since he was waiting for the first objective to appear.


    =Objective No 1 - Reach Aidan''s home within the time limit of 168 hours=


    They were given 7 days to find this "Aidan" person, whoever that was, it could be the little boy or an elderly man, it wouldn''t be a surprise since this could be version from another world, which non of them knew about.


    Ringing noises sounded all over the place as telephones begun to ring, someone was foolish enough to lift one, hearing the eerily familiar "seven days".

 4 Why Should I Care

    The new players were surprised by the message, the old players were alarmed and looking around for some sort of danger, something that would turn this mission into an early nightmare.


    "So all we have to do is find where this Aidan character lives?"


    Chris was the most confident, since he had a small fairy that could hack practicaly everything electric.


    "It''s not so simple! we have to reach the location physicaly, meaning that it might be miles away from here"


    Tian explained while breaking a ringing phone to bits irritated, they had been ringing non stop, there was one for every person there.


    "All I need is to get a pc with access to the internet and I can find him"


    Chris said as if the A.I. was part of his abilities, making everyone discard this idea as redundant, there were better ways to find the person in question, the first being a phone catalogue, but more importantly they had to find out where they were.


    The surroundings were dusty and by all means the place seemed to be abandoned. They were in a huge mansion that was however ruined, the monitors and multiple phones weren''t even plugged and yet they showed the cursed tape, which was inside the video player. They had 7 days to locate this "Aidan" fellow. Problem was that if they took their sweet time, some of them might die from the curse, thus it was necessary to move fast.


    "We have to split up and regroup after inspecting your surroundings, we''re looking for an escape vehicle, a car or a bike anything that can help us, even some landmark is important"


    Tian said as he divided them into groups and they begun to move, leaving Chris and the survivors behind.


    There were 4 groups.


    Tian and Xiao were a group of their own, they would go downstairs to see if there was a garage or if it was just a basement, it wasn''t some insane mission and truthfully they didn''t expect much from this edeavor.


    George, David and Sydney were sent upstairs to see if there was anything like a car key or maybe a helipad or something that could help them, anything would do.


    Jason and the twins, Thanos and Thany, were tasked with searching the main hall and surrounding area around the house.


    Jonas, Samson and Panos were tasked with scouting the outsides of the house, they had to find any landmarks or outside buildings that might be of some use, even an old tracktor left outside would be of big help or a forgotten bicycle, anything would be of use.


    "What are we going to do?"


    Christin asked Chris, whom was checking his bag to see if anything disappeared.


    "We''re getting out of here after scavenging the place for some supplies"


    Chris explained, while taking out of his bag an old cell phone, which was ringing.


    "Seven Days" The voice said, but Chris laughed at the notion as he found it hilarious and rather cute instead of creepy or frightening.


    "What are we going to do?"


    The survivors asked Nick, confused and panicked, since Nick didn''t seem to even budge, all he did was lifting up and listening to all the phone calls, one by one, but they never stopped.


    "Please everyone take the phone call one by one, then we will form groups to scavenge the mansion for food or an escape vehicle, we only need two groups, one goes up, the other goes down"


    Nick said to them, but it didn''t help much with lifting their spirits, since they would be dividing in two as well, one group would go with Nick and the other wouldn''t. The people that were on the survivor group were mostly women and Nick and Mike were the only males, Mike however was just a rich playboy that wasn''t trustworthy at all, the leader of the second group was in fact Chrysa, whom had changed a lot from her first mission, not only in her looks, but also in her character.


    "As the leader of this group you all do what I say, we are responsible for this floor and the basement, we are looking for food or anything that can be used as a weapon for self protection, if you see anyone that''s not part of our group scream and run away, that way you will alert others to the threat, you have to know that you''re part of this group want it or not, anyone that is not part of this group is a hostile"


    Chrysa said with a serious tone, her words were an assurance to her group that she knew what she was doing and that the group wouldn''t be running around like a headless hen.


    Christin was shocked to find that they now had serious competition in finding supplies, but Chris didn''t seem to mind them as he was already heading towards some random direction and she run behind him, just to keep visual since the fairy had dissappeared, it would have been useful to light the surroundings, but her place had taken the old bulky cell phone, from where they could hear her voice.


    "This world is too primitive, I can''t help you in any substential way, all I can do is tell you where you are at the moment"


    The fairy in the cell phone said seriously, causing Chris to rethink his prior suggestion, this world didn''t even have Cell phones yet, all it had were those bulky military Cell phones, that were too big to fit into a pocket. Chris had bought the most cheap cell phone, it didn''t even have a camera or touch screen, it couldn''t even send sms, it was that old and its size barely fit in your pocket, that was why he put it in his bag of tricks, he had originaly bought it in case he wouldn''t be able to speak with the Empress like in the safe zone after the mission, it was one of the survival tools the Empress had him spent his remaining points on, but it didn''t have internet capabilities.


    Little he knew that this was an age that internet was still in its infancy when search engines didn''t even exist and people had to note the sites they wanted to visit on a piece of paper. Chris wanted to scream "No!" but he wasn''t the sort of person to scream in the first place, his only hope was finding supplies or something that would help them last for 7 days, could they even survive for 7 days in an abandoned mansion?


    Tian and Xiao spent most of their time searching for the entrance to the basement, but could only call it a disaster since they had no searchlight with them and the makeshift torch Tian made out of available materials was crap. The basement wasn''t even that big and all they found there was a cracked floor with a well in it, a complete waste of their time. On the bright side, there were some gardening tools there and an old oil lantern.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.As there was nothing else they begun to make their way up only to be spooked by Chrysa and the others whom had made their way there in search of provisions, they were happy to find two sacks of corn seeds and oil, which they seemed keen on taking with them upstairs.


    Jason and the twins, searched the main hall and the rooms around, there was a perfectly kept kitchen, but with no water or electricity, after looking around they begun opening up the windows one by one to let some light in. Only to find thick rain clouds gathering above them and a shed of some sort outside the house, probably a stable for horses.


    "What do we do now?"


    Thanos asked Jason, whom was the leader of their group.


    "What else, we go out and look at what''s insid the Shed"


    Thany said as if it was obvious.


    "Isn''t that the other team''s job?"


    Thanos retorted, angering her to action and running behind her as she was already half way there. Jason however froze the moment he stepped out of the house. The whole mansion was built over a cliff, he instantly regretted his decision of trying to follow them outside.


    "What''s up with him?"


    Christin asked seeing him frozen behind the door as if there was a monster inside.


    "Don''t ask me, Hey there''s a kitchen here, but everything''s rotten inside, there''s two cans of food here"


    Chris said hapily as he took them from under the sink, they weren''t even out of date yet.


    "How about we share?"


    Chrysa said as she and the others came inside with two sacks of seeds and oil.


    "Sure"


    Chris said handing over the cans without a care, in his opinion sharing was better and the Red Empress agreed with him readily this time. Causing Christin to have a headache, not understanding which group she had signed for, were they survivors or heroes or was there a third choice all along.


    Thanos and Thany came inside with a motorcycle, it looked a bit beaten up and rusty, but it was out of oil, Tian gave it a look and told them it was beyond repair, it needed spare parts for repairs.


    "Isn''t it just a tube?"


    Christin interjected.


    "If you think you can fix it do it, but how long will it take, 5 days, 15 days, we don''t have the time to be doing so, we need ready solutions that work"


    Tian said before asking what happened to Jason, only to learn that he was Acrophobic for the first time and being disappointed beyond belief.


    George, David and Sydney went upstairs came down as well, there was nothing of interest upstairs, just bedrooms.


    "There''s no electricity nor water in the house, we can''t see anything through the barred windows and it would be helpful if we at least were given a lighter"


    Sydney complained and David agreed with her words, all they found upstairs was a map and old newspapers, until recently someone had been living in the abandoned mansion.


    "There''s also two horses outside"


    Thanos and Thany reported, which made Tian''s face brighter as he rushed outside to inspect the horses to see if they could be of use.


    "We''re located next to a cliff, Panos fell off, it was an accident!"


    Jonas and Samson shouted as they came inside after Tian left.


    Everyone looked at them frightened, most hadn''t seen the cliff, but Jason and the twins did, if you fell off, the chances of you coming out alive were scarse.


    At around that time, Hera and Nick were looking upstairs.


    "What''s this hatch going up?"


    Hera asked.


    "Probably the Attic"


    Nick said rather irritated, because other than some old moth eaten clothes they found nothing, even this however he considered a treasure for survival.


    "This is not the Attic!"


    He heard Hera scream enthousiasticaly, she had found the secret piece again, for the second time in a row.


    "Don''t go inside, it could be dangerous..."


    Nick warned her, but she was already inside.


    "You go down and tell everyone we''ve found the secret piece"


    Nick told Mary whom was wearing a rather well preserved fur and before long everyone had arrived upstairs. Tian looked at George and the others with a hint of annoyance and disappointment, they could have gotten 1000 points just like that if they had seen the hatch going to the attic.


    "So what do we do now?"


    Tian asked, questioning the reason why he was asked to come, after all they had already found the secret piece location, was Nick thinking of taking it for himself.


    "She went inside and hasn''t returned, meaning that she''s still inside, I want you to come with me and check"


    Nick said, knowing full well that it was the safest place to be during a mission, since the monsters couldn''t get inside it, but there might be other dangers inside, like deadly traps.


    Nick and Tian were the only ones to go inside, but even after an hour, they still hadn''t come out.


    Chris and Christin thought it was their turn to go see what was wrong.


    Entering inside they saw Tian shouting towards a glowing liquid like wall, shouting "Over here!" they could barely hear voices from the other side of the wall.


    "What''s up?"


    Chris asked.


    "Why had it to be you of all people, whatever, start shouting so that they can know where the exit is, this portal takes you to some other portal, but from the other side it takes you to another portal, meaning that you can''t go back the same way you came, It''s been an hour that Nick and Hera have been trying to come out of the maze"


    Tian explained and went back to sit next to the exit.


    "Why not come out and get the others, at least tell them what''s going on, everyone is nervous"


    Christin said, which made sense, but Tian pointed at the exit.


    "Can''t you tell, maybe next time I''ll appear at another exit, anything can happen in this game, I''m leaving you here to go manage the situation outside"


    Tian said and stood up and left them there.


    "What do we do now?"


    Christin asked him only to see a hand coming out of the portal and pulling Chris inside.


    "Shit!Shit!Shit!Hell!..."


    Chris could hear a storm of insults from behind him, but he knew better than to entering back inside the wall, like Tian said, it would probably lead him even deeper into the maze.


    There were 3 portals in the room he was in and he could tell that there was some sort of contraption at the center of the room, probably the trap.


    He didn''t approach it and made sure there were no pressure plates or wires around, he could now clearly see the three spots that were the pressure plates that activated the trap, one being right in front of him, just a step''s distance.


    Unwilling to wait, he took the portal to the right, each room had more of these pressure plates. Hopefully there was still a safe passage after he went through several portals.


    Suddenly he heard a noise from the cell phone.


    "The calculations for the labyrinth have been completed, please follow my directions to clear the labyrinth, since you can no longer go back without the imminent risk of death"


    The Empress informed him and what followed was a leisure walk through the portals pointed out by the Empress.


    There was a complicated algorythm behind the labyrinth, by comparing the similarities of each portal and the sound of Christin''s voice one could solve the labyrinth.


    At the end of the labyrinth was a well, Chris turned the wheel to bring the bucket up, he had heard that taking the relic would make the mission more difficult, but why should he care?


    Tian was shocked to see them out so soon, but when Nick told everyone to go up he understood that something wasn''t right.


    "Why did you get the relic, you knew that it would make things difficult for us!"


    Tian caught nick by the shirt and pushed him towards a wall.


    "I wasn''t the one that took it, it was Chris that grabbed a secord relic for his collection"


    Nick didn''t even care about relics, but was happy that the secret piece was taken, because once Chris took it out of the labyrinth all the traps disappeared.


    Chris literaly had the choice of taking it or not, but he chose to take it, since the Red Empress was so useful he didn''t doubt that the strange shrunken head he got was some sort of treasure. After all it was the treasure at the end of the labyrinth, a relic.

 5 Whos Aidan

    "You idiot, why did you take the relic!"


    Tian shouted outraged, they now had another objective and only 7 days to complete them all.


    "Relics help us in completing the mission, why shouldn''t I have taken it?"


    Chris complained, but he couldn''t really tell how the shrunken head would help them complete the mission.


    "Oh and what was this relic?"


    Tian asked mockingly, truthfuly unless it was a car or a helicopter he wouldn''t care less.


    "It''s a shrunken head"


    Chris said a bit despirited.


    "What did you say, I thought you said a shrunken head, are you a shaman maybe? can you use it in any useful way?"


    Tian mocked him, but Chris knew nothing about how one needed to learn about magic before using it, it wasn''t really his fault that he didn''t know and the Empress, didn''t ask about paranormal stuff at all, since it couldn''t calculate something that it couldn''t understand.


    Although it was againt him taking the head in the first place, since it would make their mission more difficult.


    Suddenly they heard a ship whistle from outside it was insane to think about, but someone was trying to land next to the cliff.


    "The rescue ship is here"


    The Red Empress said, causing everyone to get silent.


    "What rescue ship?"


    Tian asked shocked, not understanding what the Empress was talking about, only Chris knew what it was about.


    The Red Empress sent an SOS message, saying that they had lost their ship at the cliff next to the mansion and needed help, normaly they wouldn''t have arrived so fast, but hearing a girl''s voice talking to them was a major motivation.


    Now from being in a building in the middle of nowhere, that clearly played the role of a haunted mansion, with no electric power and tap water, located at the edge of a cliff and evidently near the ocean. There was no way of quickly reaching civilization, they were doomed to spend time just trying to find a city or town.


    "Which country are we on! what about our weapons?"


    Tian shouted at the A.I. causing it to shout back at him.


    "You''re in the US, just get rid of the weapons, they will be useless against a ghost anyways!"


    The Empress was of course right, it would be better to be taken as shipwreck survivors rather than illegal immigrants like last time.


    "There''s a map in this drawer!"


    Suddenly someone brought out a map, all the names were in english, they were somewhere in the United states again, but where exactly was a mystery to everyone but the A.I.


    "What do we do with the video tape?"


    Someone suddenly said while holding the said cursed video tape, after a lot of talk, they decided to give it to Tian, whom was the leader, maybe it would be of some use later.


    Nick offered to hold all the guns for them, since he and the survivors decided to hide with all the food in the secret piece place, he even had a use for the lamp and oil.


    The survivors wouldn''t be leaving this place and who knows maybe they will be of use in the future or just stay there and sturvive, since the ghost can''t possibly enter the secret piece.


    Not even a day had passed and they had already lost a person. Panos fell off the cliff and the coast guard was already there, 11 people were saved from inside the mansion and it was big news by the media.


    The coast guard however was more interested in where Chris got the cell phone from and how he was able to call them in the first place. Only to discover that he was a complete idiot. Talking about cursed cell phone and then begun talking to the device while it was dead, seriously waiting for it to respond.


    The little girl was never found, but they did find a corpse of a girl at the bottom of the well, which made this very spooky.


    Of course even an idiot could say that this girl had died years ago.


    The most however distressing thing was the disappearing footsteps going up and disappearing into nothingness.


    They could count 20 pairs of footsteps at the dusty floor, but only 11 people were here.


    Two days later they were at the docks, lots of cameras were there to welcome the survivors and their saviors to the city.


    "This is Rachel Keller from Seattle... questions?"


    A blond babe asked, she was part of a wave of reporters whom had swarmed the scene. Our heroes however had no idea that Aidan''s mom was right next to them, they had no idea that they could have ended this objective one day sooner. Of course in all this chaos they couldn''t discern a single voice in the crowd of reporters and even if they had they wouldn''t have recognised the person.


    After a fruitless day, Rachel went to take her son from school, this time he had drawn himself being abducted by 11 people, he even drew a TV with a circle on it. The eleven looked somewhat similar to the people she had seen at the docks, but she didn''t put much thought into it, it was just a drawing.


    Going home she went to take a bath, exhausted from all the pushing and shoving and in the end she didn''t even get an answer. Those foreigners were really lucky to be found by the coast guard, it was an amazing achievement that drew in a good light their ability to respond to accidents. Rachel however was more interested in the paranormal haunted mansion the coast guards mentioned among themselves during a short interview after the main event, they weren''t even relevant to the rescue, but they still called it haunted, about some non existant little girl calling for help. There was also news that one of the eleven survivors had gone nuts and talked about ghosts and fairies. It was exactly what her newspaper was looking for, paranormal activity and mysteries.


    To begin with the ship that brought them to the US didn''t exist in papers, until just some hours ago. Everyone speculates that it''s foreign espionage business, but it''s still something worth looking into, a ghost ship and a haunted mansion, that was to be her headline, their readers will love it.


    At that time our eleven "Heroes" were sent to the greek embassy to make papers and other important stuff that had to be done. Them not having saved their ID papers was going to make it an even more time consuming task.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.The ten survivors on the other side still in the hidden space were having horse meat for dinner once more. They had 2 very good cooks among them, they were housewifes sharing the same name, Mary and Maro, Hera also knew a thing or two about cooking and wood was abundant.


    In the past 2 days they had made the secret piece into their home with as many comforts as they could get from the mansion, they even brought a couch up to the "Attic", which was what they called the place.


    "Do you think they''ll find Aidan?"


    Hera asked Chrysa, whom looked at her somewhat confused.


    "Who''s Aidan?"


    She asked back, not understanding the original question, two days of survival were enough to make her forget about their objective after all they weren''t the heroes, why should she care about objectives.


    "You do still remember that we''re in a survival death game?"


    Hera asked, causing her to remember something, it was not nearly enough to enlighten her, but Aidan was part of some objective they were given.


    -Why do you care? You''re lucky to even be alive, why did you go inside before it was cleared?


    -I didn''t, I was grabbed by a hand, which took me right into the portal, I was too afraid to even move until I heard them calling from behind me, but once I touched the wall I only went further away from my goal


    -That''s one way of putting it, but at least we got 1000 points as a result of you being alive


    -I could have died you know!


    -But you''re alive and kicking, not like that other guy that fell off the cliff, did they even tell us how it happened?


    -Nope, probably slipped and fell


    Far away Jonas and Samson were having a hard time sleeping, they could still remember what happened.


    They were walking near the cliff side, Panos told them that it wouldn''t be funny to fall at this height and then poked Samson for fun, causing him to slip.


    Samson grabbed for his life and one brought to another, Panos went flying and Samson grabbed onto some grass and was saved by Jonas, whom didn''t want to see both of them die.


    It was insane dragging the huge guy up from the cliff side, but Panos was nowhere to be seen. Samson had grabbed onto his leg for life, but the result was sending him flying down the cliff.


    "Don''t think about it, this is a death game people will die"


    Jonas told him as they went back to the mansion informing everyone of Panos'' Demise.


    Now they were kept in a cheap hotel, under their embassy''s watch, but they only had 5 days left to find Aidan.


    In this low tech world, there was no way to find a person by internet, one could only despair when they looked at the radio on top of the counter, hadn''t seen on in ages, at some point in time radios were popular, now they only existed in cars and alarms. In this world however they were everywhere, people talking through the radio about news, songs and sport.


    "Do you think they will let him out?"


    Christin asked David whom sat in the same room, after discovering a world that was still in the 80s they had come to believe this was all fake or they had gone back in time, either way there was no way to return unless they succeded gathering enough points for the return ticket.


    "Who told him to act like an idiot, they think  he''s crazy now and probbly have him isolated in a ward as a dangerous patient"


    David said, but the person they talked about was Chris, whom after being called crazy was undergoing psychological threatment, but the most important question everyone wanted to know.


    ''Where did he get this piece of technology called a Cell Phone''


    If he wasn''t crazy talking to the machine and expecting it to answer when it was visibly out of power, they might believe he was toying with them, they could see him however talking to his strange wrist watch, which he refused to take off.


    The others all had the similar wrist watches, but they didn''t talk to them or even pretend to hear voices from them.


    Tomorrow they would have an interview with the reporters, they however were more interested in finding Aidan, whoever he was, a boy, a girl or even a full grown adult, the posibilities were endless and they had to use the terminator''s method. Calling every Keller on the phone catalogue one by one, asking if there was an Aidan in their family.


    So far the only thing they got was annoyed voices of negativity, sounding more like cuss, rather than words.


    Unlike how everyone thought, Chris was kept in a rather clean ward with specialists, he understood by now that the Red Empress wouldn''t answer unless it was unoticed by the locals, to the cameras it seemed as if he was talking with his watch as the Empress hid her existence from the NPCs, making him seem like an idiot.


    The Empress'' hacking ability was too weird, she even made an out of power cell phone talk, if you can believe that, it made no sense.


    "So what''s the plan?"


    Chris asked the Empress, waiting for some strategem to escape and complete the mission.


    "There''s no plan, you will stay in this ward until the others complete the mission, it shouldn''t be too hard"


    The empress said.


    "What about the survival objective afterwards?"


    He asked disatisfied with her answer.


    "you''re being guarded by the best agents the government has, no monster can get to you"


    She said satisfied, there was no escape for him, but also no way for a monster to sneak up to him.


    Suddenly the Empress went silent, it didn''t matter how much he talked to her, she wouldn''t respond.


    "Be quiet in there, people are trying to sleep"


    Sounded from the next room.


    "Wait you can hear me?"


    Chris said, as if it was unnatural.


    "Of course I can hear you!"


    The male voice answered.


    "Did you hear the female voice as well?"


    Chris asked full of hope.


    "Shout up you Wacko! And let me sleep! Already"


    The man sounded terribly annoyed by his questions, but in truth all he heard was Chris shouting alone at himself and then pleading for an answer.


    "See you tomorrow"


    Chris said as he himself was getting sleepy.


    =4 days before the objective fails=


    They were in a panic, only one phone hadn''t taken the call, everyone else wasn''t Aidan or just cussed at them for waking them up or bothering them.


    Only one adress remained, the problem was that they couldn''t just go, they were under watch and they had no money.


    "Tomorrow they leave, we''ve found the adress it''s two hours away from here"


    Christin told David, whom was shocked that he weren''t part of the mission.


    -Who''s going?


    -Tian, George and Xiao, the three of them


    -Where was I when they were deciding this?


    -Sleeping, but there''s a high chance of them being detained afterwards thus if we''re asked we say we knew nothing about it


    -How about we escape as well, more chances of getting there


    -It is now their mission, but if a single person reached the destination it''s mission accomplished for all of us...


    -It doesn''t have to be them that accomplish the mission, what if they get points from it and that''s why they don''t want us there


    -Don''t know and honestly don''t mix me in this


    -Have you given up on the mission?


    -No, but I don''t want to die because of  your plans


    -My plan is safe, theirs has so many holes, you can make swiss cheese out of it


    -Then why don''t you tell them?


    -Because I don''t trust them, I trust you, even if it''s you from another world, it''s still the you I know and I know that I can trust you


    -You were always like that


    She said and they begun making out.


    Jonas, Jason and Samson were also disatisfied with the plan, since they too wanted to be of some use in the mission.


    After all you got points from endangering your life, you could say that all they would get from this mission would probably be those 1000 points for when they complete the mission since the secret piece was already found and killing monsters was out of the question, unless they went to kill NPCs like Tian had told them, they could do.


    "Are you sure we can make it?"


    Jason asked a bit doubtfull.


    "All we have to do is tell the others our plan and we will be able to surprise Tian and the others once they arrive at the place"


    Jonas said with confidence.

 6 escape

    "Caught him again, trying to escape while the camera in his room malfanctioned, we really have to repair it, it''s becoming worse and worse, we can''t even trust what it''s showing now"


    The guard at the cameras exclaimed.


    "At least he''ll be sleeping for a long time now that the doctor has tranquilised him"


    Another guard said as they saw the face down person sleeping in his room, wearing a strait jacket. He had tried to escape thrice already, every time the camera would mulfanction, but to their good fortune the second camera, all the way down the hall was still fine, since it was difficult for Chris to hack it, since it was too far away.


    -It''s a good thing the doctor didn''t have any problem with him


    -You saw him leave and he even smiled at us while he was leaving


    -Wasn''t he a bit too young to be a doctor?


    -Don''t know maybe I''ve seen too many medical drama on TV, but he seemed fine to me


    -Should we look into this?


    -If you want to wake him up, be my guest, he might have another one or two escapes left in him


    -Whatever...


    Chris at the time had escaped disguised as a doctor, the personel of the facility disregarded him, since he didn''t distract them from what they were doing and since it was early in the morning they had a lot of work to do.


    Only thing that gave him away would be him being too handsome, but he was wearing a doctor''s robe like themselves, maybe he was new, but he seemed to be in a hurry as he passed the corridors towards the exit, as if he knew the place inside out, from time to time listening to his cheap wrist watch as if it was broken.


    At the hotel there was a slight unrest created by a car getting stolen by Tian, George and Xiao. What followed however was two other vehicles getting stolen and all the foreigners escaping, it would probably take an hour or more for the police forces to find them and the chase to begin, the most however confusing thing was that all three vehicles took different roads.


    David and Christin were the first to arrive at the destination, they stopped farther away and went on foot to their destination.


    "Is Rachel Keller inside?"


    They asked at the door.


    "Who is it so early in the morning?"


    She asked still half asleep.


    "Aren''t you the mother of Aidan?"


    This was a risky move, but David would take it non the less.


    -Are you fron his school?


    -No, we''re from parenting control, tasked to see if there''s been house abuse or not


    -Those busibody teachers, come right up...


    With a ring the door opened and before long they were inside holding her and her son hostages.


    =Objective No 2 - Keep Aidan hostage for  48 hours=


    The others who were still on the road to the place were cursing whoever got there before them. Tian was really angry, because their plan almost failed because of Samson stealing a car before them, then David did the same, leaving them the last to leave.


    David however was shocked to see the person that arrived second, it was non other than Chris.


    "Sorry to be late guys"


    he said at the door smiling like an idiot, god knew how he found the right adress.


    Probably the Empress did it for him, otherwise it was impossible for him to have thought out to look in the phone book even they only came up with it because of George, whom told them about the terminator using the same method.


    "How are you here?"


    Christin asked him as he got up, even more surprising was that he was even  armed with a gun, it might not have been the perfect weapon for his hand he had before, but he did have a pistol on him.


    "look out that''s loaded, I took it from the agents while they weren''t looking"


    He said which made this even more troublesome than it should have been, before it was a simple, held them hostage situation, but now it had escalated into a held them hostage under a gun.


    David took the gun and told him to shove it, he really didn''t want to have to use it, since it would alert the police that they were now armed.


    "That''s mine!"


    Chris said like a kid whose toy was just taken away, only to get a punch in the face.


    "Now sit next to her like a good child, we''re taking you hostage as well"


    David said with a smile of newfound confidense as he had a plan.


    "What the fuck are you doing!"


    Another punch made Chris understand that David didn''t wish to talk with him and that maniac was even armed now, it was all Christin''s fault for giving him the gun.


    Christin didn''t even look apologetic, she looked at him as if she was looking at an idiot.


    It wasn''t long before other idiots came in banging at the door, they however had a better reception, since they didn''t bring guns into this.


    "Where''d you get the gun?"


    Jonas asked terrified since he knew that having a gun wasn''t a good thing in their situation.


    "That idiot brought it here, together with special agents, I wouldn''t be surprised if in a matter of hours we were swarmed by a special tasks unit"


    David said, while pointing his gun at Chris whom was reduced to a hitting bag for him, a bit of petty revenge for fucking his girl, but also because he was too noisy.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "I''m part of the group..."


    Chris said, but non had it with him, at one point he goes solo and now he wants to be part of the group, is he mad or something, maybe they should have kept him in the ward, for everyone''s safety.


    With a Kick David tried to shut him up.


    "I don''t know how this death game works, but I don''t want to die because of him!"


    "Calm down, we only have 3-4 more objectives, we can do it, all we have to do is hold them hostages for 2 days and then probably go somewhere before the final 1-2 missions and we will survive"


    Jonas said and then approached Rachel and Aidan whom were terrified.


    "Let me explain what''s going on, we are participants in a death game, if we don''t do what we''re told we will die, we were told to hold you hostage for 2 days, after that we''ll be leaving.


    Rachel silently nodded, still terrified by the torture that other guy underwent before her eyes, even more terrifying however was how fast he recovered from his injuries.


    "Tell me is he retarded?"


    David asked, pointing at Chris.


    "How should I know, I''ve only been one mission with him and he had always a way of making the NPCs like him somehow"


    Jonas said seriously.


    "Come on why would you want them to like you, they''ll only be here for one mission, who gives a shit"


    It was partly true if you didn''t know about followers, but even if you knew it didn''t really matter since followers cost points and points didn''t come easy.


    "It''s not that simple, after the mission comes rewards and NPCs can be part of the rewards"


    Jonas said, not knowing how else to explain points and the store to him, in his mind he thought that David like himself cared nothing about points.


    "Do you earn more points if they like you?"


    David asked seriously.


    "No, but you see, there''s a store where you can redeem points for NPCs that like you or something, might sound useless at our current state, but in the future followers are important"


    Jonas said, but it was of no use, since the other hadn''t seen the store himself and couldn''t imagine all the things one could get with enough points.


    Back in the living room, Rachel and Aidan were seated next to a beaten up Chris. At first they were skeptical and thought this was an act to earn their pity or something, but at some point they understood that the person was sort of  stupid.


    "Don''t cry, everything''s fine, I''m part of the group, once Tian comes they will change mind"


    Chris said to Aidan, whom was looking at him with pity, Rachel on the other side just kicked him in the face.


    "Don''t worry, I''m a super human, these injuries are nothing to me"


    Chris continued, causing much annoyance to the mother whom wanted him to just shut up and not make the situation any worse than it already was.


    "Let me show you one of my super powers, I can hack electronic devices, for example your radio"


    Chris said, it was of course the Red Empress who did the hacking.


    "Suspect Car moving down XX street, anyone please..."


    Chris didn''t understand why the Empress would hack into the police frequences.


    "Suspects, one caucasian male and two asian, male and female"


    The radio continued giving the cops information about Tian and the others.


    They were the last people that hadn''t arrived yet, they took the supposed fastest route, the most direct, not knowing how bad traffic can be in the morning. The others took runabout routes and were there faster than them.


    "Suspects have left their stolen escape vehicle and should have left on foot"


    The radio continued as if they were cracking onto them, only a few steps behind.


    "Lost suspects between XX and YY streets"


    The radio went on, while they saw Chris talking to his wrist watch telling it to put some music on or something.


    "Could you call the police?"


    Rachel asked him a bit skeptical about his super powers.


    "I would have loved to, but I''m with them and the police will make our life difficult, you see we''re part of a death game, if we do what they tell us we get to live, if not we die, it''s not that I don''t want to help you it''s..."


    Rachel was having a headache just listening to his explainations, he could have just said "no".


    "Can you switch on the TV as well?"


    Aidan asked, mostly out of interest, like a child that had found something interesting.


    "Of course, why listen to the radio when you have a TV"


    Chris said, but all the TV showed was The Red Empress'' face.


    -I told you to just stay in the ward, why did you have to make it difficult for everyone


    -It''s not as bad as last time, at least I''m not going to turn into a zombie this time


    -I would be more assured if you were a zombie in a zombie apocalypse than beaten and restrained in someone''s house


    Rachel and Aidan were shocked as they saw him having a dialogue with their TV. Things were only getting weirder by the passage of time, if the others could be called wanna be burglars, this one looked like an alien out of the movies.


    "Could you help us?"


    Rachel asked the TV or the person whom was talking through the TV.


    "Don''t bother, she''s not going to help, to begin with you''re in no danger, our mission is to keep Aidan here for 48 hours, then we will probably leave"


    Chris stated the facts of the matter.


    -Leave where, why do you need to keep my son here for 48 hours?


    -It''s simple, if we do as we are told we get to live, otherwise we''ll be killed


    -Why, who are you people?


    -A bunch of strangers whom were told to do as told or die, we get a new objective every time, this time is no different, truthfully if you cooperated we wouldn''t even have to hold you, after all, it''s Aidan that we have to keep hostage for 2 days


    -Are you afraid for you life?


    -Like fuck, I''m more alive than I''ve ever been in my life


    -You sick bastard!


    She answered with a kick in his face, which he came to really dislike about her, it wasn''t however her fault that the only way to reach him was with her foot to his face, it was as if they were intentionaly tied together this way.


    "We''ve lost the suspects if anyone sees a tall caucasian man, wearing a ... and two rather tall Asians a male wearing ... and a female wearing ..., report to the station"


    With this note the door bell rang once more and the last people of the group had at last made it to their destination.


    Jason was met with a fist in his face as Tian entered.


    "You motherfuckers! We were nearly caught because of you bastards!"


    "It''s not our fault you decided to take the most bussy road"


    David said nonchalantly.


    "So everyone made it, that''s good, if only we had that idiot''s hacking fairy maybe we could know what the police are doing right now"


    Tian regretted not puting Chris in their plans, because the hacking A.I. could be of some use when going against people.


    "That wacko came here before even them, he escaped from his ward and came here with a gun"


    David stated showing the gun, only to have it snapped from his hand by two greedy hands.


    "You had a gun, at last we have a standing against the police, I don''t doubt they will be sending special forces before even the first day passes"


    Tian said.


    "That''s not how the police operates"


    David retorted.


    "This is all a fake world created for this survival mission, they don''t care about logic, once we''re located by the police, there''ll be a siege coming our way"


    Tian said with confidence as he checked how much ammo they had, just this one clip.


    "You know he''s telling the truth"


    Rachel said as she came out of the living room untied and angry at them.


    "Who is she?"


    Tian asked annoyed.


    "I''m Aidan''s mother, I heard about your situation from that annoying idiot and I will help, but I request you don''t do anything stupid, we will stay here for 2 days and then you can leave us alone, we won''t call the police if you won''t hurt us, also no guns"


    Rachel said while extending her hand for a handshake.


    -I''ll promise that unless you betray us we won''t harm you for these 2 days, but Aidan stay here with us, no school for 2 days is that fine with you?


    -I''ll call for a sick leave for him, two days aren''t the end of the world for us, unlike you people


    -how much do you know?


    -The full story, that blabbermouth told me everything, even that you were all victims of abduction, if it''s alright I would like to take an interview from you for the next two days.

 7 Interview

    Rachel begun taking interviews of everyone.


    I''m Samson, I used to be a thug in my younger days, but I have left that life behind.


    They had told us if you see a gun, play dead or run for your lives, before this experience, I''d only seen a gun once before the day I gave up on a thug''s life.


    This experience could be a new beginning, one where I become a hero and do good things for others.


    -What made you think that?


    -They named the group Heroes, it can''t be evil, wouldn''t make sense


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -I refuse to do it, at least not willingly


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -It was an accident and I''m regretting it even now, but what can we do, we can''t go back in time


    -What super powers do you have?


    -I have non, I''m a simple person


    -Then why does "He" have super powers?


    -He''s a veteran of this game, of course he will have gained something from previous rounds, but it might not be as "super" as you think it is


    I''m David, I''m an army man, I love my job and was tasked with finding out about this death game.


    I will survive whatever it takes and report back about all that is happening. The world has to know that this matrix thing is real, they have to know about parallel worlds and alternate realities.


    -What made you think that?


    -Lady, to me you''re no different than an Alien at the moment


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -What word of army man didn''t you understand, I''d do anything for my mission


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -killing people is inevitable during war times, I''ve killed my lot


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Non, I''m no super man or anything, I''m a regular soldier


    I''m Thanos and this is Thany, we''re twins from different realities.


    Don''t speak for me, but we are twins whom were supposed to be dead in each other''s worlds.


    This world is part of the matrix, anyone can be found alive or dead, your world isn''t really "real", it''s created in order for us to accomplish a mission.


    -What made you think that?


    -That guy, he said so when we arrived and up to now, it proved to be the most plausible explanation


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -I don''t know, I hope we won''t


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -What normal person has?


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Non


    I''m Christin, I''m also part of the army on the same mission as that asshole David. I''m not as good as him, but I''ll do my duty the best I can, I won''t let them think that I''m worse because I''m a woman. We too have our advantages.


    -What made you think that?


    -I wasn''t bullied or something, you just feel your own limitation in my line of duty


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -Alright, I''m a mechanic, I won''t say I can do it with an easy heart, but if hammer goes to nail, I think I can do it


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -Do animals count?


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Non and I don''t believe anyone has super powers, it''s just tools that make it appear like they have, I believe they call them Relics


    I''m Sydney, a luxury escort, just another word to say slut. Don''t take me wrong, I didn''t select this profession, it selects you once you''re down to your knees and have no alternatives. I don''t need your pity, I''ve gone up in society with it and am an escort now, people pay me to come drink with them and enjoy a night of hot sex afterwards, I''m content with my life.


    -What made you think that?


    -I can smell your pity, but it''s misplaced


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -So what, if it''s what I have to do to survive I won''t even hesitate


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -Maybe, don''t know if he died or not, but I''ve shot a person before.


    -What super powers do you have?


    -My sex appeal


    I''m George, I''m a bit nervous about this interview. I used to be the leader of the group before Tian came and took my place, but I''m not angry at him, being the leader is hard, being a leader is a weight I don''t want.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    -What made you think that?


    -Everyone has to make choices, but the leader makes choices for everyone


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -I hope I won''t have to, but I''m not afraid, because that''s not how missions work


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -Nope


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Non, just my looks for the moment


    I''m Jason, I would love to give you an interview but I''m not in the mood. Maybe some other time.


    -What made you think that?


    -I said I don''t give interviews


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -We''re trapped to do what we''re told you think about it


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -No


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Non


    I''m Jonas, used to be a lawyer, now I don''t know what I am, a hero, a survivor, a player in this death game.


    You might think you''re a real person, but you''re not, in actuality you are an NPC, a non player character that is here for our mission. if we survive we will go to the next world, doing so until we die.


    -What made you think that?


    -Does it really matter?


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -If only our missions were so simple


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -No


    -What super powers do you have?


    -No comment


    My name''s Xiao, I''m just a college girl that got dragged into this without her will. Like everyone else here I wish to go home. To go home I have to survive.


    -What made you think that?


    -This watch which I can''t take off even if I wanted to


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -I wouldn''t


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -Hell no


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Non


    I''m Tian, I''m the leader a veteran of many missions and this interview is a waste of time.


    -What made you think that?


    -If it makes you feel better, let me ask you a question, would a lion talk with the sheep


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -Have happened, have done it


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Non


    I''m Chris, I''m the hero of this death game, I''m the protagonist and nothing can kill me.


    -What made you think that?


    -You


    -What if you will be told to kill people?


    -They must be bad guys


    -Have you killed a person before?


    -Yes, but they were bad guys


    -What super powers do you have?


    -Rapid healing and Hacking


    -That''s all for the interview


    -Wait you haven''t asked me about my previous mission about how I became a hero


    "Not today"


    Rachel said as she left the room and was stopped by the queue for the toilet. It seemed now that their stay would cause some trouble to her life.


    As she turned back she heard two men talking about her.


    -Do you trust her?


    -More than you


    -She''s an NPC


    -So what, as long as she''s useful I don''t care, also we need someone to fill up the fridge, will you go out when there''s a wanted poster with all of us out


    -I don''t trust her change of heart


    -Listen David, I''m the leader and I say that we trust her


    Rachel''s heart was racing as she sneaked away.


    "Did she hear us?"


    -I made so much noise half the house should have heard us


    -whatever, I hope it works


    All of this was an act to make her more compliant with them, since both Tian and David didn''t trust her one bit, but they thought of this plan to make her trust them instead, playing bad cop, good cop.


    Little however did Tian know that David wasn''t just playing the part, he had thoughts of taking her out of the picture, seeing her as a variant in their objective, it would be much easier to just hold the child hostage.


    "Miss Keller, How about you go bring us  something to eat"


    David suddenly told her.


    "I would love to"


    Rachel said with a fake smile.


    "Wait I''m going out as well"


    Chris suddenly offerened to go with her, the others were puzzled, but didn''t really care, even if he got caught, he would still act like a crazy person, non will connect him to them.


    "No need, I handle it myself"


    Rachel said.


    "Nonsense, two people are better than one, I also have money"


    Chris begun taking out packets of dollars out of his pockets, shocking her to no small degree.


    "Are these real?"


    Even David asked with disbelief.


    "Of course they''re real, I passed a bank and the ATMs there are really friendly, when you have an A.I. with you"


    He said not hidding his "Super Power" one bit.


    "Did you rob a bank?"


    Rachel asked seriously.


    "You''re half right, but in reality the bank loses no money because..."


    He had them and he had to go off into explainations land.


    They went out silently as if they were sneaking out, Chris didn''t know why she wanted them to be silent until their neighbor came out to ask if she were alright.


    She didn''t come with a better explaination than saying she found a boyfriend. Looking at Chris, the neighbor, being a woman was rather envious.


    They had to take her car to reach the super market, it was a bit far, but she didn''t mind normally.


    Chris wasn''t impressed by the store, it was big but it completely lacked variety of goods, there was one of each product, no competition of prices for the same product.


    "Why so much junk food?"


    She asked him shocked seeing that all he got was junk food.


    "You''re too uptight, are we suposed to cook all that?"


    He said pointing at her cart that was full of products like pasta and refridgerated french fries.


    As they reched the counter Chris just had to say "I''m paying". Causing a small smirk on her face, seeing how enthousiastic he was about it one could see that he wasn''t from a rich family to begin with.


    If he weren''t part of the abduction crew, she might think of starting something with him, but it was sad to think that such a naive guy was forced to do evil things.


    "With this we are ready, I''ll go return the carts now"


    He said making her wake up from her weird fantasy.


    Going back home was even faster than going to the market, it was a matter of traffic of course.


    Unloading the packets and taking them up was a huddle, there was police outside her house as they had found the stolen car Jonas and the others drove there.


    "Why all the fast food? what''s the ocasion?"


    A police man asked out of curiosity.


    "It''s my son''s birthday"


    She said in a hurry as they were still  unloading.


    Chris didn''t seem to be at all panicked as he went over his job of taking stuff up to her appartment.


    "Who''s he, the father?"


    The policeman whom was bored of checking the cars asked, just doing small talk.


    This was a chance to ask for help as Chris took the bags and went up. She was however shocked because part of her didn''t want to betray him.


    "He''s my boyfriend"


    Not long later. The appartment was devestated as packs of chips and empty plastic bottles were littering the floor. They only expressed  disatisfaction for the absense of alcohol, non of the two thought of buying anything alcoholic and the fridge was already looted before they arrived.


    Rachel had bought products that would last for days and some stuff she needed for Aidan, like milk, his favourite corn flakes and sweets.


    "Why even bother buying so many veggies"


    Samson said disatisfied, the ex-thug found it stupid to balance his diet, when he was told that he could eat anything he liked without control, after the mission, he would return to normal, to his previous state, from before the mission.


    Only Chris, George and Xiao offered to help clean up the mess, everyone was told by Tian that it didn''t matter, cause everything would disappear either way, they shouldn''t waste their energy.


    But this wasn''t how the divide begun, It begun in the middle of the night When Samson woke up and saw Rachel walking in her pajamas towards the fridge.


    It wasn''t because he was an ex-thug, it was because he wasn''t attractive for the girls to select him out of all the males. He was envious of those good looking people, especialy the veterans, whom looked like college students, he knew that he too would be given the chance to become a top model, but this was a simple mission, maybe, just maybe they wouldn''t care.


    He was wrong, the uproar he gathered from the females of the group was huge and the males didn''t support him one bit, they only cared about the mission and what he was doing was compromising said mission.


    The neighbor knocked on the door in the middle of the night because of the scream, they were lucky that Rachel decided to cooperate.


    The most however shocking thing for him was that Rachel jumped into Chris'' hands as if they were already lovers and he was calming her down with words of comfort.


    Before long the Neighbor came knocking to see if she was alright.

 8 The Divide

    "We gathered today to talk about Samson''s behavior, but not only that. The fact that you messed up my plan I haven''t forgotten"


    Tian said while sitting at the sofa, the others stood around him like some sort of gang.


    "Samson! You acted without consulting anyone, I hope this won''t happen again, as for the rest of you, you should have consulted with me about the escape from the hotel, if you all wanted in on the action, all you had to do is state it and not sneakily backstab me"


    Tian was serious about the second, the first he honestly didn''t care much, the but they had to be more organized than this, as of now they had to work as a group, not as a rubble.


    "I believe that we have to change leadership, who thinks that I would make a better leader?"


    David came forward, but to his words there were more people that thought they would make better leaders than both him and Tian. Jonas and Sydney also wanted to be leader of the group, with the perk of deciding what the group would do next being one that everybody wanted.


    In the end however Tian was still the one elected leader, because of one simple fact, he was the only one whom had survived multiple missions and he had a house. The "veterans" all leaned towards him, even Jonas who wished to be leader understood that fact, David didn''t know why he was losing so much against Tian, truthfully he could solve most problems twice as well as Tian could, but his social skills were really bad.


    Back at the mansion there was a similar scenario going on. Three people were "fighting" for the leadership of the survivors, Chrysa, Mike and Nick.


    Back at the mansion they spent most of their time carrying furniture into the attic and making themselves at home.


    Chrysa was influential and liked to order people around. Mike was helpful and was the only other male in the group other than Nick, whom didn''t do anything for anyone, all he did was explain how things worked.


    "We survive for as long as it takes for the others to finish, a month the longest they will have finished, what they had to do is learn how to cure horse meat and make themeselves at home. It would also be preferable if they learnt how to shoot a gun before the mission ends.


    Hera shouted as she came inside, once more throwing a fit.


    -Nick you should put Chrysa in her place!


    -Don''t bother me with your girl quarrels, I don''t care


    -But she calls herself the leader!


    -So what?


    -She''s undermining your authority as leader


    -Why should I care, you understand that we only have a few days before we are forced to live in the secret piece, just do your best to make the wait sufferable


    -What about Mike, he''s like a thorn on my side, always helping others do stuff and never finishing his own tasks


    -He''s a good lad, one of these days he''ll start posing as the benevolent leader


    -Impossible, he''s a wuss


    -How do you know, I think he''s the most dangerous person here


    -Is it because he''s a man?


    -No, it''s because he''s smart, if he was a wuss or an idiot he would have gone with those "Heroes", there''s only two reasons to stay behind


    -What reasons?


    -Knowing his own limits and trying to  learn how to survive


    -You think that he''s not doing his tasks, but reality is that he''s weighting the pros and cons of doing each task and found that the tasks you give him are not needed for survival


    -But only he can help take the cupboard up to the attic


    -Do we need it?


    -It would look great next to the sofa


    Nick gave up on trying to reason with what was nessessary and what not, the woman was drunken with power, she viewed herself as the queen and Chrysa and Mike were thorns in her side.


    Nick didn''t care one bit about this struggle for power, he only cared about his own survival.


    Mike at the time was helping Maro get on top of the last remaining horse, trying to teach the two girls, horseback riding.


    It so much happened that the horse made a sudden movement as Hera shouted in anger, the results were the horse jumping and Maro finding herself on the ground, blood everywhere and probably dead. Mike did his best to see if he could save her, but it was pointless, they had already lost her. Mike and Mary stood there for a moment of silence and then threw her corpse off the cliff and into the ocean.


    The three were sort of friends, but they both were eyeing her gun as she died, Mike conceded and the gun and bullets went to Mary, whom was very happy. Mike smiled weakly as he gave up on the bullets and gun.


    Most of the ammunition they had used up on shooting practice, Hera and Chrysa using most of the bullets, while they were only allowed a few magazines of ammunition.


    Mike looked at his own gun, he only had one bullet inside, the one supposed to take his own life.


    He was told that as long as the objectives are complete they will all be safe and happy, his bullet however had another name on it.


    Mike wanted to be the leader of the group, Chrysa was a weak leader, she was too authoritive and didn''t do half the things they did, Hera was even less a leader, she practicaly did nothing all day, just decided which furniture to bring up to the attic.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.The bullet however was for another person, it was for Nick, Mike viewed Nick as  thorn in his side, he was unpredictable and didn''t even act like the leader all he did was give three orders and that''s all.


    1.distribute the guns and ammo


    2.slay and cure the horse


    3.redecorate the attic


    The thing about his orders however was that he himself worked on them, thus he deserved a share in them. He even took a gun for himself, an assault rifle, stating that it would be useless in their hands, since it only had 3 magazines of ammo, not enough to learn how to shoot and them getting an assault rifle would be rare.


    Back at Rachel''s appartment everyone was feeling down, since they only had one night of rest before the next objective appears, it proved to be a really easy thing to do. Holding a person hostage, unless the police learns about it, they could even keep him for a week.


    "Little Aidan, do you like video games"


    "What''s a video game?"


    "They are games played on the TV or computer"


    "How do you play a video game"


    "first we need a TV, yours has been occupied by hostile forces, lets go liberate it"


    Chris took the time to play with Aidan, making up games was one of his strong points, them being good games or not was another matter.


    "Retreat, Retreat, the enemy is too strong!"


    He said as Rachel and the other girls of the group had hogged the TV, watching a soap opera.


    "We have to use stealth and guile to..."


    "Aidan honey can you bring mommy some juice from the fridge"


    Rachel''s voice caused their strategy meeting to end as the good boy Aidan went to the fridge for the juice.


    Chris wanted to shout "traitor", but then he smiled, Aidan was a good kid, he made him remember his own childhood, those careless times, when all they had to think was how to pass the time best.


    He grabbed Aidan that was about to pass with two juice cartons in hand and begun to whisper to him.


    Aidan was laughing as he gave the cartons to his mother, making her somewhat suspicious. As she was about to drink, the boy smiled even more brightly, hiding his mouth with his hands as if it was a secret.


    "She drunk it!"


    He shouted as he left the room, Rachel wanted to understand what was going on, but the show was still ongoing, in a way she was happy to see Aidan smile, even if it was about some stupid prank.


    A child''s smile always causes adults to feel better, especialy when it''s your child.


    The guys of the group spent most of their time with Tian whom wouldn''t stop talking about his adventures, the others were either taking notes or enjoying themselves over some smoke, Tian too like Nick had a pack of cigars, of course not everyone smoked, but it didn''t matter, nothing really mattered, they could even do drugs without having to fear the concequenses, after all the worst possibility for them was death and death wasn''t too far away.


    They could see Chris fooling around with the "hostage", laughing.


    "they all drank from it, does it mean you inderctly kissed all of them..."


    Aidan asked confused, while Chris was laughing due to his confusion.


    "...that''s no good, now you have to marry all of them"


    Aidan continued causing Chris to stop laughing, not understanding where it came from.


    "Mother said that kissing is what adults do in order to get married"


    The confusion lasted for a minute, until the guys whom were watching them begun to laugh at them.


    Indirect kisses, such a childish concept, kissing equals marriage, such childish thinking.


    Aidan felt shame, as if he had done something bad and everyone was laughing at his expense, while Chris didn''t really care about them.


    "Aidan, there are direct and indirect kissing, they are different, only direct kissing leads to marriage"


    His explaination earned even more laughter from the gang, but Aidan didn''t understand why they were laughing.


    "What are you teaching my son?"


    Suddenly a female voice came from the door, causing the laughters to stop for some reason, causing a dramatic pause.


    "I was..."


    Chris couldn''t come with a good enough answer and Rachel begun to slap at him playfully. It was unlike anything they were expecting. The trio then went on to play with Aidan and since the TV had nothing on, Chris used the Empress to construct a video game for them with voice recognition for controls.


    "Jump!Jump!Jump!"


    As much as he wanted he still failed the third jump. Causing a wave of laughter from behind as the next player took his place.


    It was a "temple run" game where you gathered coins on a 3D road, going left and right jumping from time to time, there was no slide action however and the voice recognition was good.


    At first it was just Aidan playing, but suddenly Chris got bored and he announced a tournament. Since nobody had anything better to do, the tournament begun and everyone got a chance to play.


    In the end David was the winner, cause of his ability to make quick decisions, everyone else couldn''t hold a candle to his score, even Tian ended up in 4th place.


    First place going to David, second place to Aidan and 3rd place to George.


    Now it was a match for the top ten only  and next would be the top 5 and next the top 3.


    Before however they could finish the top 5, they were interupted by Rachel, whom wanted to see the next soap opera.


    Since no woman made into the top 5, they quickly took over the TV and begun watching their soap opera.


    The only reason why Aidan was in the top 10 was because Chris cheated, making the game easier for him. Everyone could see it was easier, but they decided to keep quiet, after all he was only a child.


    It was in the middle of the night, that Chris was confronted by Tian.


    "You shouldn''t get too attached to them, I''ve been in missions where you had to kill the protagonists of the story, due to a multitude of reasons"


    "You do know he''s just a child"


    Chris retorted.


    -I''m talking about both of them


    -Why?


    -It''s just a mission, they are NPCs, you have to get it into your thick skull, otherwise you won''t survive for long


    -I don''t understand


    -What''s there to understnd it''s pretty simple, If I kill you I lose 1000 points, if I kill them I earn 20 points, it''s simple game logic


    Chris stood there shocked, he understood the logic, but refused to believe it, even as he went ot sleep.


    There was only one day until the ghost comes after them, and in a few minutes  they would learn their next objective.


    Chris woke up from the shouts in the living room, Rachel was having a fit about them using the bathroom and forgetting to flush or something.


    =objective 3 - bring Aidan to the haunted mansion in 168 hours=


    The message was followed by a gunshot and Chris run towards the living room, where he saw Rachel lying down, with a bullet wound in her chest.


    "Call an ambulance!"


    Tian shouted at him and without a thought he ordered the empress to do so, while he was looking at the wounded Rachel.


    "That''s more like it, we''re leaving, are you coming or staying?


    Tian and his gang took Aidan and were now rolling in the ambulance they had stolen, leaving the paramedic and driver behind.


    While Chris was left behind with Rachel, who until now had no idea why she was shot. Of course if she knew they were going to bring Aidan to a Haunted Mansion, she would of course be against it. What Tian did was buying themselves time, they didn''t have time for arguements and the ambulance was large enough for all of them to fit in.


    Chris was genuinely sad, crying on top of her now lifeless corpse, her final words were "save Aidan", but how could he save him, he was useless, he let her down, he was a phony boyfriend, that couldn''t make the choice of leaving her alone in this situation, it was too late to go after them, all he could do was call a second ambulance and hope this time it would come, but it arrived too late accompanied by the police whom arrested him as the prime suspect for murder.

 9 Hit and Run

    They drove through the highway, their destination already known by the two on the wheel. Tian and David had already checked where it was they were found, it wasn''t even that far, a day''s travel at most. The main however problem was that the kid wanted to pee, eat and other stuff regular humans do.


    They had to stop thrice already because of the child, they didn''t even know if they were heading the right way anymore because of all the stops.


    "We''re low on fuel"


    David shouted as they were passing by a  gas station.


    "What about money?"


    Tian just rememebered that he forgot to take some from that rich idiot.


    "Don''t you remember what the reward for first place was at the tournament, I was announced the winner and 10 grand are now in my pocket"


    Tian laughed at his remark, forgetting all about the tournament, such childish things he had long forgotten about.


    At that time in the police station, Chris was put in a detention cell.


    -Did you get a word from him?


    -No, it seems like her death was a huge hit to him


    -After the neighbor identified him as the victim''s boyfriend and the person calling the ambulance twice, there''s no doubt that the people who stole the ambulance were the culprits of our crime


    -What about him?


    -He has no papers, thus he''ll be  deported to mexico or somewhere, don''t know where


    Chris sat alone in a cell, today there didn''t have anyone other than him in detention, probably for the better.


    Outside the sky was getting darker and the seventh day had ended, it was time for the monster to come out and play.


    The ghost appeared out of the wall, passing through it and heading towards him, it was an easy kill, a person whom had lost his will to live.


    Like the drums of war however another ghost appeared behind him. It was the spirit of the warrior whose head was shrunken. The shrunken head like the A.I. was stored in his indestructible wrist watch.


    The little girl ghost was two heads smaller than the warrior wearing the colors of a warrior and holding a spear. Chris other than sneezing because of the ghosts didn''t even see them fighting a staring contest, until the ghost of the girl simply turned around and fled.


    Chris could have ended everything then and there, if he wasn''t so down, all he had to do was order the warrior to attack. Tian was terribly wrong about the relic, it didn''t need a shaman to use, anyone could, as long as what you''re facing is a danger of life and death, the relic could save your life once.


    Since the ghost girl however didn''t attack him, the shrunken head wasn''t used up, of course it would be another matter if she had attacked.


    Back in the mansion everyone was on Edge, they knew that the others were coming back, but they didn''t know whether the ghost would attack them if they came out or not.


    It was the middle of the night that Mary decided to sneak out to go to the toilet. She was too shy and her alertness had gone down by a lot since there was practicaly no danger, she still didn''t believe in ghosts and she had a gun with her. She never returned, while everyone only found that she left the next morning.


    The ambulance had at last reached the freeway, from here on out it was all strait ahead, only thing they had to care was not to lose their turn.


    They''ve been driving all day and night, David was exhausted, since he was the night driver and was sleeping next to Christing at the back of the ambulance,


    leaving George and Tian up front.


    "We have to be cautious, the ghost might appear at any moment, the ghost from the Ring doesn''t discriminate day and night"


    George explained, causing Tian to have a headache as he sat next to George whom was driving the ambulance at the time.


    The next stop wouldn''t be until hours later once the kid goes hungry. In truth however everyone was hungry, they had only eaten once yesterday and that wasn''t enough to satisfy them at all. Tian said that they should get used to being hungry if they were to survive as long as himself.


    Now however he was sort of hungry himself and wanted the kid to say something deep inside, but Aidan seemed off today.


    He looked terrified, when Samson asked him if he was hungry, he shouted "No".


    If george was there he would have told them that the child could see the future through paintings.


    George saw a person in front of them, he was about to hit the break, when Tian pressed his foot.


    "You idiot, that person you tried to evade was the ghost!"


    George felt like an idiot, while the others wondered why there was a short bump on the road, waking David up.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Suddenly the back of the ambulance flew open, everyone was shocked to see the ghost in front of them, broad daylight outside, its skin white and pale, with black inklike lines outlining her features.


    Normaly one wouldn''t jump into "ghost" immediately, but they knew that what was against them was no mere goth girl, it was a ghost.


    Was it by accident or because he was spooked, the first to react was David, whom had just woken up. What he did was heinous, he kicked Christin out of the ambulance right into the ghost, sending both of them flying. Christin''s head popped up like a watermelon, but the ghost was gone, was this fair no, did he knew it would work, no again, he just panicked.


    "Is everything alright back there"


    George shouted backwards, mostly because Xiao was back there.


    "Bloody incredible, we''ve found how to repel the ghost"


    Jonas shouted, causing everyone to look at him questinably.


    "All we have to do is give one person up to the ghost, it only takes a single person each time it appears"


    The logic sort of stood, but seeing Christin''s death, one could argue that it wasn''t the ghost who took her life, rather her own partner.


    "No diner stop, we are going strait to the mansion"


    Tian said while taking over the wheel as they switched places and closed the back door. It was only a short stop, but the ghost didn''t appear. Didn''t appear immediately as her hair fell to the front of the car, the windshield wipers didn''t work at all. Now they couldn''t see, but as suddenly as he begun to drive, as the speed rose, the hair begun to little by little blow with the wind. The people in the back were hunging for life, because the speed was only rising, Tian didn''t care one bit about visual, he had everything planned out, all he needed do was reach the turn in a few hours, probably 2 hours with the speed he was flying right now.


    It was at 300km/h that they heard a slight bumping sound, the hair all gone by that time. The ghost couldn''t hold anymore or something, but the people in the back were about the same, they did their best not to bump into the back doors of the ambulance while staying clear of David, in fear they might be his next victim.


    Slowly the speed returned to regular good old 100Km/h, they were still speeding, but not as fast as before, if they weren''t afraid of being stopped by cops on the way, Tian would have flown them 300km/h, all the way to the mansion.


    "Did you open the siren?"


    George suddenly asked and Tian could only curse as he begun to develop speed again.


    Now it was an ambulance followed tightly  by a police motorcycle, whom was keen on tailing them all the way to the mansion.


    When he arrived next to them to tell them to stop with horror the officer of the  law saw the nuzzle of a gun directed at him, it was the last thing he saw, Tian didn''t miss, even when he was also driving with his other hand.


    It was insane to think that he succeeded on the first shot, but that''s what happened and now they also had a dead cop on their hands.


    They were literaly flying now as Tian didn''t seem to care about his passengers one bit. Everyone wished it just ended, but nobody believed that they could make it in one piece with a killer ghost haunting them.


    As they were going, it wouldn''t be strange if they crushed without the ghost having lifted a finger.


    It was dark when they arrived at the familiar mansion, because of the country  roads, they had to go slower.


    They were however at last at their destination, now all that was left was getting Aiden inside.


    "No! I don''t want to die!"


    Aidan tried to resist, but it was pointless, they were bigger and stronger than him.


    =objective 4 throw Aidan into the well for 24 hours=


    The objective was insanely evil, if before they believed themselves "heroes", now it felt as if they were the villains of the story.


    David didn''t even wait as he charged towards the secret piece, towards safety, he knew that the ghost wouldn''t let them be and they had no way of defeating it.


    Thanos dragged Thany and went after him, thinking that it would be safer with him, rather than with the group, after all everyone could guess where he was going.


    Tian and the others were really disappointed with their action, after all Tian had assured them that they would be fine, he had a plan in mind.


    Thany didn''t know what to think as she was dragged towards safety by her brother, she didn''t know whether to resist or thank him.


    Little did they know that the ghost was right behind them, ready to murder at least one of them.


    "Go!" Shouted Thanos as he stayed behind to stop the ghost, it went against anything he had done for her, sacrificing his life so that she could live on.


    In all their life, he was the annoying brother that restricted her freedom to do what she wanted, like a thorn in her side. Now however she was terrified and he led her to safety, without even having the time to think she went up to the attic, towards safety, only sparing a glance and almost falling into despair as she saw the ghost holding him by the neck and squeezing tightly, while he was paralyzed by fear, she could hear the clicking of clacking of bones.


    It was at this point that two people came from outside, into the safe space, it was David and Thany who made it back alive, swearing their fate.


    When asked what happened, all they got is "shit happened" from David, while Thany was mortified and wouldn''t even talk.


    Down at the entrance Tian had them to suround him, and watch out for the ghost, the moment they saw it he would use "magic" to exorcize it.


    Why he hadn''t done so before, it was because they were in a moving vehicle and it''s ill advised to spellcast while moving.


    "I can feel my hair freeze, the ghost must be close!"


    George shouted even as they were entering the mansion.


    The others had left them behind as they headed towards safety, probably regreting their decision to be "heroes".


    But were they really heroes, what they were doing right now wasn''t at all heroic, it was abducting a child and throwing it into a well.


    "I think I saw its hair over there!"


    Samson shouted hinting at the stairs.


    Everyone momentarily turned their face to the direction he had pointed out, it was the most logical thing to do, but reality played weird tricks.


    The ghost didn''t appear at all...


    They could hear the squicky sound of the wood under their feet, the sound of their own frosty breaths, the sound of the salty winds entering through the creeks and cracks of the old mansion.


    They went down to the basement, here Tian felt safer because they were in a constricted space, the ghost could only attack from so many directions.


    The boy was terrified as he didn''t know his fate, why these people had taken him to this place, what would follow next.


    He could only hope they wouldn''t kill him, he knew he would be killed, but not the how, all he saw was darkness and a ring of light.

 10 Sleepless Night

    The night was long and the child was sobbing down the well. He didn''t want to die, but he had no alternatives, they promised that it would only be for 24 hours, no more.


    Back in the police station, the moment Chris saw the new objective, he went mental.


    "Get me out of here! I have to save Aidan!"


    The police didn''t know what to make of it, Aidan was missing, but they had no trail of the culprits, or maybe they had, but last time they were seen on the freeway speeding to go somewhere.


    "There''s a helicopter on the roof"


    The empress informed him as he broke out of the rusted detention room, they didn''t really care to oil the door.


    It was in the middle of the night thus there were few people in the police department, most officers were out on patrol.


    "Don''t move or I''ll shoot!"


    Suddenly a black police lady shouted.


    -I must go and save Aidan!


    -Who is Aidan and where is he?


    -He''s in the haunted mansion, they are going to put him inside the well


    -Are you alright?


    -Do you want to see a 12 year boy''s corpse on the news!


    -No, but what you''re saying doesn''t make sense!


    -Then come with me!


    -Where were you going?


    -Up to the helipad


    -The roof is locked, but lets see how...


    Her voice stopped as he charged through the dood with his body mass and speed it was a rather simple stunt to pull.


    "Are you coming?"


    He asked as he entered into the helicopter, as if they were going to leave.


    "This is not what I''m being payed for"


    She said as she took his arm and entered the helicopter, which begun to fly without a pilot, to hell knows where.


    "It''s cold! please give me something to eat! It''s too dark, some light, please!"


    The child had begun to plead for help, what little help would keep him alive.


    Its voice ate at their concience, but the mission stated for 24 hours and it hadn''t even been 2 hours since they had put it down the well.


    "What do you think the next mission will be?"


    George asked trying to change the topic away from the pleading child.


    "I hope it''s worth the torment"


    Sydney said, her heart bleeding from the boy''s voice.


    "Just be on guard, the ghost might attack us at any moment"


    Tian said as he continued crafting makeshift torches.


    "I cannot do this anymore, I''m out!"


    Samson shouted and went for the rope.


    "The NPC stays in the well, you can leave if you want to, but the NPC stays!"


    Tian shouted tyranicaly.


    Samson didn''t know what to do, he could leave, but chances were he wouldn''t even make it to the safe space and it was out of the question for them helping him out.


    "Why don''t you join him?"


    Jonas suddenly offered, as if mocking him, because to join him would solve nothing at all, not to say that the ghost might simply get him once he gets down there.


    It felt as if the ghost was observing them and laughing at their struggles. It was as if it was waiting for someone to stray from the group. Samson sat down defeated and humilliated, he felt regret in having joined the "heroes", but could he do otherwise if he were to die.


    Not doing the mission was equal to dying, could he do otherwise, the noices the boy made only made it harder.


    "I''m hungry"


    "Alright I''m sick and tired of this as well, take the boy out of the well"


    Tian suddenly said, making everyone question his sanity.


    In the safe space Six people were playing monopoly under the muzzle of a gun.


    "I told you it would be fun"


    Nick said while jokingly building another estate on Whitechapel road.


    "Wait, what if we run out of houses?"


    Mike asked.


    "You''ll have bankrupt before that happens, I assure you"


    Nick said, but reality was complicated, the game could go either way, everyone was playing well and some were more lucky than others, alliances had to be made and broken, while at first they were forced to play, now they understood that there was nothing better to do than play this ancient board game they found inside the mansion.


    "Do you believe that we will lose just because you have the biggest gun?"


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.Mike asked mockingly and David was infuriated, since he was the only one there without a gun, even the women had guns. Maybe if he had a gun he would be more collected and have shot at the ghost instead of using a meatshield.


    Thany was already bankrupt, because she wasn''t really into the game, they told her she could take a loan and continue, but she wasn''t really there. She attempt twice to go down again, but every time she was stopped by the sight of her brother''s corpse, which sat there upright, back turned towards her, but anyone could tell he was dead from the way his neck was bent forwards like a broken doll.


    They''ve been playing for an hour now and the game didn''t seem it would end any time soon.


    The one visibly winning was Hera, because she was too darn lucky with the cards she drew.


    "Nick, do you think they will make it?"


    David asked seriously, in his mind he didn''t see a way of escaping a ghost, it was something that defied logic.


    "If they are given the objective, then it''s doable with the members of our group, maybe it requires a relic or a special ability to finish, Chrysa it''s your turn, don''t be so absentminded"


    Nick said playfully, as if their success had nothing to do with him, as if he didn''t care if they succeed or not.


    "So you''re saying that the objectives are made depending on everyone''s capabilities and relics, then what about you, did you bring any relics?"


    Mike asked rather crudely, not even hiding his bad intent.


    "I''ve brought two relics, I always bring two relics, the problem however is that they only help me survive, nothing else, thus they don''t add to the difficulty of the level"


    Nick said with confidence, he had experimented with relics already and knew which relics raise the dificulty and which don''t.


    Somewhere in the City a helicopter landed on a rooftop.


    "Where are we, this is not the mansion!"


    Chris shouted enraged.


    "Out of fuel"


    The radio said as if answering to his question. It was doing so all the way during their ride, causing the officer who was with him to think that something wasn''t right, even questioning her own sanity at this point.


    Chris wasn''t having it, he didn''t believe the machine one bit, it was probably lying, it was really good at lying.


    Its main goal was his survival, it didn''t care about moral high grounds, only survival.


    If the death of the kid was the next objective, there was no reason to take him there, it would only impend his survival.


    "Where are we now?"


    Chris asked, but there was no answer.


    "Judging by the height of the building we''re probably on top of a hotel"


    The officer said with confidence.


    "Doesn''t matter, we''re leaving"


    He said intenting to once more charge the door down.


    "It might be open"


    She said as he bounced off the open door, it just opened from the other side.


    The two went down the elevator and like a curse the elevator stuck. Once more like the drums of war, the spirit of a warrior appeared protecting him from death, but all he knew was that there was suddenly a half naked dude with a spear in the elevator, before it begun working again.


    "Freeking ghosts, scared the shit out of me"


    Chris said, earning the police lady''s hatred, he didn''t seem scared at all, it felt as if she had unwillingly joined the doctor on his adventures, only the super bionic screw driver was missing.


    "Wait, you said you would explain everything once we arrived!"


    The officer complained.


    "We have no time, we need to find a vehicle to take us there"


    Chris tried to say, only to remember he had no idea where the mansion was, without the A.I. he was lost, he understood that he was depending on it a little too much for comfort.


    "Red Empress tell me the location of the haunted mansion"


    Once more there was no answer from the A.I.


    "Have you seen the news?"


    Suddenly he asked the police officer.


    -Daily, why?


    -Have you seen a story about foreigners being found in a haunted mansion


    -Thats a week old news, there was also news that they all escaped from the hotel and are wanted by the police


    -I''m one of them, I escaped from the facility, wait hotel?


    -facility?


    -Wait you''re saying that only I was confined to a facility for crazy people and they were living in a hotel?


    -Wait you came from the loonies''


    -This is insane, they call me crazy, while those maniacs are trying to throw a child into the well


    -What''s this all about?


    -It''s these mission objectives, the next objective says to throw Aidan into the well for 22 hours, meaning that they have already done so for two hours


    -I only see you looking at your watch


    -Oh, I forget, you people can''t see those stuff, for example you cannot see the secret piece, did you see the ghost that appeared in front of us?


    -What ghost?


    -It''s no wonder they thought I was insane


    -And you aren''t?


    -You saw the helicopter fly by itself and me talking with it, are you insane?


    -I know nothing, I''m hallucinating and I''m going home after putting you back in jail


    Before she could finish the door opened and Chris charged out like a bullet. He was really fast, too fast for her to catch up. With that kind of speed he''d be getting gold medals.


    "Now what do I do?"


    She asked herself before taking the radio up and announcing her location, about the helicopter and the fugitive.


    "Didn''t think he could highjack the helicopter, but why didn''t you immediately arrest him?"


    came the voice from the other side, wasting time as Chris was already in a car heading to the Haunted Mansion, the A.I. guiding him towards it while he drove the stolen race car with wild abandon for law.


    As it turned out the helicopter was low on fuel and this location was the best to continue their objective, as for the police woman, the A.I. had calculated the chances of her arresting him, being rather high, fail or not didn''t matter.


    Hours later Chris arrived at the mansion, seeing the ambulance at the entrance, he became enraged as he understood why the ambulance was too late. Because someone had stolen the ambulance, even the reason why she died was because of Tian shooting her.


    His reminsing however was stopped as he heard an explosion from inside the house, it was insane that someone would use dynamite in that place.


    Not long after black smoke came from inside the house and he could hear footsteps coming towards him.


    The drums of war sounded once more and the warrior appeared before him, this time it wasn''t to protect him, but to attack his enemy, all he needed was an order, he never got.


    "What''s this thing? another 3D projection?"


    George asked really interested as he approached it and put his hand through it.


    "Everyone be careful, the ghost might still be alive"


    George continued after wards, nobody had died from the explosion, but they would be talking about it for a long time, they at last had seen what magic could do.


    "Where''s Aidan?"


    Chris asked George, whom was the easiest person to talk to.


    "The boy, he''s dead inside the well, we just couldn''t..."


    George didn''t continue, what they couldn''t, why was he dead, what happened in that basement room.


    Chris wanted to go look for him, but he was held back by George and the others, it was pointless to go look for a corpse.

 11 Too Late

    It happened when Tian told them to bring Aidan up from the well, saying that they were all human after all.


    Once however the rope brought the boy to the light, Tian shot the boy square in the head.


    "Now he can go see his mother, throw the corpse back into the well"


    It was both insensitive and cruel, but some understood that this action was taken in order to unify the group, the boy was already dead, now there wasn''t saving him anymore and the noices he made were substituted by silence.


    It was then that Tian begun his magic.


    First he sprayed some dust forming a circle.


    "Stay within the circle, if you see the ghost shout, but don''t leave the circle, it won''t be able to come inside"


    As if it was called for the ghost appeared and the dust begun to glow around them.


    "This is the protection against evil spell, it''s really simple to cast, only requires some salt or what I prefer to use salt powder"


    The ghost stood there outside the circle as if feeling a force pushing it away from the circle, this was the second time the ghost felt that it was going against something dangerous, although it couldn''t see the danger clearly.


    "Bzz Drnk Wll..."


    Tian begun to chant as he got another pounch of pouder out from inside his pants, when he finished the chanting they all saw the ghost exploding into streams of light, the explosion however sounded for real, it was as if he had put TNT inside the ghost or something.


    The problem was that they were all holding makeshift torches when the explosion happened, as they were knocked  down by the explosion one of the torches flew to an unfortunate location and the building was now on fire.


    In a panic Tian shouted for everyone to get outside and someone to go inform the people upstairs about the fire, mostly because he knew the weakness of such safe spaces, they didn''t come with an air condition.


    Jason went up to inform them, while everyone came out and stumbled upon Chris whom seemed broken hearted and desperate to save Aidan, whom they knew was already dead, he came too late, but even if he''d come earlier, the results would probably have been the same.


    Jason entered the safe space and the smoke had already alerted everyone that it was time to go.


    "We''ve dealt with the ghost, but the house is now on fire"


    He shortly reported to Nick, disregarding both Chrysa and Mike, both of whom viewed themselves as important.


    Nick had already gathered his own stuff, while the others took some time to do the same now that the fire was coming, all they took was some food and some clothes.


    "Can''t you do it faster?"


    Jason whined, because Hera was taking her sweet time, she even gave Thany some things to carry, to "help".


    Chris watched with agony the burning mansion from which 7 people came out, it was Nick, Hera, Chrysa, Mike, Thany, David and Jason, the so called survivors were short three people as Maro, Mary and Thanos weren''t around anymore. Out of 19 people 14 remained, 5 people had died and they were at the 4th objective, probably one objective away from finishing.


    Nick looked at Tian, who looked as cocky and confident as in the start and then at Chris who looked devestated.


    "Did you show them the video and forced  them to come here and then kill them?


    Nick asked causing Tian''s head to explode, there were other ways to go around the abduction thing, he just went for the most direct way.


    "Whatever it doesn''t matter, just tell me how much you have derailed the story"


    Nick asked, which cause Tian to turn even more docile.  "What story" he would have loved to say, but he knew that these missions were based on some movie and derailing the story was a bad thing as it added extra objectives, like taking the relic did the same. He had killed both the protagonists of the story, how''s that for derailing the story, probably not enought, what about destroying the ghost itself that was supposed to haunt people and kill them after 7 days.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Tian sighed as he threw the cursed video tape into the fire, as he saw no purpose in its existance anymore.


    "I''m sorry for abandonning you, it was disgraceful and cowardly of me, I questioned your leadership without reason, can I be a hero again"


    David suddenly said shocked inside that everyone in the group was alive.


    "You motherfucker, becauseof you my brother died!"


    Thany shouted.


    "You mean he died because of you being too slow, because I didn''t tell you to follow me, I left alone!"


    David retorded.


    "Enough, people die in this game and people will always make mistakes they will regret, you can sort this out after the mission is over and it won''t be anytime soon"


    Tian said, truthfully being tired of being a leader, the truth was that it was his first time being the leader of a mission, normaly it falls to some other veteran to be the leader, like Nick, whom were more experienced in such situations.


    "David, truth be told I understand you very well, you were afraid for your own life and didn''t trust my leadership, I hope that in the future you can be a strength to our group and not a weakness"


    Tian said strait at him and then he turned to talk to Thany.


    "Your brother gave his life to save you, he died like a hero, you now have two choices again, will you be a hero or a survivor"


    Thany looked at him and then David and then clenched her fist.


    "Hero to the end!"


    "Hero to the end!"


    Shouted Tian and others followed in front of the burning building shouting into the air relieving whatever stress was pent-up inside.


    It was daytime when they woke up, sleeping inside a white circle, only Chris had left them, he was disgusted by their actions and wanted nothing to do with them.


    Nick was happy with the magic circle and the others didn''t know what to be angry about, the well was long burried under the rubble and the corpse was last left to rot in that well.


    Now all they had to do is wait until it''s dark again and the mission will be over, there was still 12 hours before the next objective or maybe even an early success.


    Chris left on foot, just roaming around while the group was once more divided. Mike decided he didn''t want to be part of the survivors, while Samson didn''t want to be a "hero" anymore, Sydney was of the same mind.


    "So what do we do now?"


    David asked, wanting to know their next action.


    "We get out of here and then probably get ourselves deported or something"


    Tian was tired and for that reason Nick decided to interfere.


    "We should secure an escape route in case we''re surrounded by monsters or people, make sure that we have the escape vehicles ready"


    "We don''t have enough room for everyone"


    David stated


    "Then be a hero and stay here to die"


    Nick stated as he went inside the sport car with Hera and Chrysa leaving Mike behind.


    "Wait!"


    David shouted, but they had already left him in their dust.


    "Leader, the ambulance won''t have enough  fuel to take us to a city"


    David reported, it was only his estimation, but he was right, at most they would reach a gas station at worst they would have to walk for hours.


    without much thought they followed Nick''s example and left, the back of the ambulance was even more crowded than before, but this time they felt safe, since they had destroyed the ghost.


    The only thing they wondered is whether they would get a next objective or not, but Tian was sure they would, after all Chris had taken the Relic and he had killed the main protagonists, which means at least 2 extra objectives.


    Tian only regreted having killed them because of the extra objectives, they would be getting, but he wasn''t into planning and plotting. He was a strait guy, he prefered the most direct solution, if there is an obstacle, you destroy it with force. That''s the way veterans did things, it was the only way he knew how to do things, planning failed 80% of the time, you can plan the whole thing like they did and still be transported to a mansion in the middle of nowhere.


    They didn''t wait long before they begun leaving. In the back there was an awkward silence, since they didn''t know what to say, many wanted to change groups, but the leader of the survivor group just left them behind.


    There was a huge chaos in their mind, not understanding why they had to leave the place, now that they were safe from the ghost.


    They rode the bumpy country road towards the freeway, they were looking for two things, new vehicles and gas station.


    Tian only had 3 bullets left in his gun, he''d killed 3 people already, one for each bullet. Mike only had one bullet, but they were thankful for the food he brought with him. Horse meat might not be the best, but it was better than nothing. Only the water was missing, since in the secret Piece they had a Well with water, problem was that they had to pass a few traps to get to it.

 12 Regroup

    The ride on the ambulance went great, even if they didn''t have much fuel, it was still enough to reach the gas station.


    On the way they saw Nick and the girls trying to hike a ride, since they had run out of fuel or the car broke down, one or the other.


    The problem begun as they headed towards the city, there was a police road block. Tian didn''t even resist, he gave up and everyone was taken into police custodity.


    It was faster that way and there was no reason to resist the police anymore.


    They were however threated really roughly and even hit a few times without a reason, this police brutality, came with a reason, they had killed a cop and it was evident that they were to be deported, thus they''d roughen them up a bit before the deportation.


    Before they knew it they were all in jail, they didn''t even care about their decreased number of people. They never cared to begin with, what they cared about was that they succeeded in capturing them and there would be no more chaos.


    Before they knew it, Tian and the others were in a holding cell. The timer however still continued to go down, it was an hour before the objective was completed and they were fed and satisfied for once.


    Tian was the most calm of the lot, all he had to say was that if he wanted to, he could escape anytime he liked with his  magic.


    "So what do we do now?"


    David asked somewhat concerned with their situation.


    "We wait for the next objective, hopefully it will be something easy to do"


    Tian explained, but it did nothing to raise the morale of the group.


    "I still believe that killing them wasn''t the best choice"


    George stated, questioning his leadership once more.


    "What do you know? you''ve only been to one mission and the mission was completed by that loser Chris"


    Tian stated, their shortcoming, their clear lack of experience.


    "I believe that in our situation experience is god"


    David stated, having experienced first hand his own lack of it, he might be a tactical mind, but his own understanding of the situation was flawed, he cost the lives of two people because of it and felt bad about it, even if he didn''t say so.


    "That doesn''t solve our situation, we''re in jail right now and Nick won''t be solving the next objective for us"


    Jonas spoke, his opinion was still the same, that he would make a better leader, Tian was good at rough solutions, but they could have used a more soft approach to their objectives.


    The clock kept ticking as the final minutes of their objectives were now fleeting.


    =objective 5 escape police capture for 7 days=


    Tian for once was panicked and he begun to cast his spell, he knew they had little time to escape, if they didn''t, it was game over for them.


    With a flash of light there was now an explosion and a hole in the wall.


    "Quick! we don''t have time to wait, if you''re not fast, the game will decide that you were captured"


    Tian explained as he was already running away from them dragging Xiao towards freedom while the rest were still stunned by the explosion.


    George and the others took their sweet time to recollect themselves and followed his lead, even as he was fleeing.


    "The plan is simple, we have to find a safe place to rest and plan ahead"


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Jonas took the lead to the escape and everyone followed him without any questions.


    Their escape drew immediate attention from the police whom were patroling the area, before long they were surrounded by the police in an abandoned building and Tian and Xiao were nowhere to be found.


    "What now, it was your idea that we come in here!"


    Samson shouted in outrage, seeing no way of escape.


    "We have no time, everyone look for some exit, like a back door or fire escape!"


    Jason shouted at him and the others, they didn''t have much time, but to his good fortune the fire escape was there, it was a rather scetchy ladder going down to an abandoned alleyway.


    The police fearing they might have explosives with them didn''t charge immediately, they waited until dawn, little did they know that everyone had escaped from the fire escape, it was dangerous, but it was their only chance.


    Everyone was thankful for Jonas'' quick thinking, because they escaped the place before it was even dawn, they now had a head start.


    What they didn''t know however was that the police knew about the fire exits, it simply didn''t block them fast enough, but they did have a trail to follow.


    "Here boy, find whom this jacket belongs to"


    They begun to employ their most deadly weapon, the K9 unit, they would find the runaways by all means possible, by using Tian''s jacket to find them. Little did they know that their search would only get longer because of it, leading them to nowhere, since Tian wasn''t with them.


    While the group was fleeing, Tian and Xiao had an easy time finding an escape vehicle and heading to the suburbs.


    There they were confronted by a bunch of thugs, it was some sort of stereotypical gang gathering.


    "You get out of the car!"


    One thug said while pointing the gun at them.


    Tian calmly came out of the car while Xiao was hiding in the back.


    "Do you know who owns this street?"


    "I know"


    Tian said calmly while approaching him, the gun pointing right at his head.


    He ducked and twisted taking the gun away from the thug 5 bangs later all of them were dead they were destroyed by Tian, their weapons, 2 pistols and a crowbar,  confiscated by Tian, together with their lives.


    All five people died with their eyes wide open, from his amazing kung fu, just joking, all he did was disarm one of them and execute the others with his gun, without even flinching.


    Tian was totaly in control of the situation, the problem was that they didn''t have a safe place to stay, but with a gun in hand, they did have better chances of success.


    The others decided to break up into smaller groups and regroup at the harbor. It took hours for everyone to regroup, every one with their own little story to tell, but nothing worth writing. Them however sneaking on a freighter ship is another story.


    Jonas came up with an ingenious plan. They would hide inside of a container and that way be taken on board of a ship, from there they will travel to another state or city, thus escaping the police.


    David however decided to stay behind and seal the container they hid inside. Disregarding the so called "Danger" Jonas said they would be in if they stayed.


    Alone David was free to hide from the police and didn''t have to care about the large bulky and slow group.


    Little did they know that the container they hid inside wasn''t going overseas, it was taken at dawn by a track and going out of the city, towards an industrial park.


    The driver didn''t even check the cargo, where 7 people were sound asleep, among the fabric. They were going to a pillow factory, but most importantly they had escaped the police, for now.


    Nick and the two ladies didn''t wait long until they stole a new car and with the assault rifle in hand there was nothing the person could have done to say no. They took everything, even the person''s ID papers and money, leaving him however alive as they headed into the distance and passed the police road block with that person''s ID.


    Chris was roaming the wilderness, alone and hungry. He only had himself to blame, if he had taken the car he would at least have arrived at some motel or form of civilization, now he was fucked.


    Before long he begun heading back to the mansion, with slow steps, but the cars had all vanished, only the horse remained. He however had no idea how to ride a horse.


    The mansion was still on fire, but parts of it had already collapsed, it was a sad sight to see, he might not have much memories of the place, but it used to be a fine house, a bit dusty but overall repairable.


    A police car arrived and a police officer came out looking at him was that police lady he had a run in at the police station.


    -I knew you would make it here


    -What''s the meaning, I came too late


    -So what?


    -I couldn''t save him


    -What about the others?


    -They left


    -Aren''t you in the same group?


    -I don''t know anymore


    Thus he got arrested again, this time however he had no will to complete the newest objective, escape police capture, let the others do it if they like.

 13 Mafia

    Chris was riding in the police car, his stomach complaining, it was dark outside and he hadn''t eaten for a day.


    -Can we stop for a bite?


    -No


    Suddenly the radio begun working stating that there was a robbery at the nearby drive-in.


    As a police officer she felt obliged to go and her partner didn''t even wait as he left her to go see what this was all about, returning with a bag of donuts and a "false alarm".


    They begun having plenty of these false alarms until she decided to feed him, she knew that it was the talking radio ghost thing, but her partner didn''t and honestly wouldn''t believe her even if he was told.


    While he was eating he saw Nick entering the same store with Hera and Chrysa. They didn''t order much and Nick seemed to notice him as well.


    Nick didn''t even wait as he run back and returned with an assault rifle, staging a robbery, taking Chris as the hostage.


    "Why did you do that?"


    Chris asked puzzled, he couldn''t say why Nick was so good all of a sudden.


    "Mr.Moneybags we need your help to live a good life"


    Hera answered playfully, but they really were short on cash.


    After abandoning the vehicle and empty  weapons, they no longer needed them and honestly if they got money they could just buy more guns, if you really wanted a gun you could always get one, the same of course can be said for any country.


    Tian and Xiao at the moment were riding through the suburbs, looking for the asian mob or something like a chinatown.


    It wasn''t long before they encountered some asian fellows whom tried to rob them.


    "Are you with the Triad?"


    Tian asked them menacingly.


    "We''re little fish, not worthy of such attention"


    The leader said regreting even trying to rob this person.


    "We need to hide from the police for 7 days, before they come and pick us up"


    Tian lied with a strait face, but all the thugs could do was smile awkwardly, believing him as if everything he said was true, it was the air around him, an aura of a killer that caused them to believe him, while his finger never left the trigger, ready to kill them at any given time.


    The ones who had it the worst were however were Jason and his group, they didn''t even arrive at their destination, as the driver called the police they were all arrested, it was however evident that the police wasn''t playing anymore as they were almost shot before their brutal arrest.


    What followed was a series of searches and interogations, asking where they hid the explosives, how they escaped and where the rest of them were. All three questions were impossible to answer and all they got was police brutality as a result.


    Unlike them David had found a job at the docks and was living his life as best he could. It was hard work, but he could do it, after all he was well built and in good form.


    Two days passed before they begun to move again. David was well liked the the crew at the harbor, he was hard working and gave the feeling of an illegal immigrant. Honestly working his days until that event happened.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    The police arrived, wanting to ask a few questions, David didn''t even stay for a moment as he disappeared from the harbor as if he was a ghost. The crew thought that it was because he was illegaly there, he didn''t want to be questioned by the police and kept his presence hidden.


    After all they couldn''t see how he could be an accomplice to jail breakers.


    He however was oblivious to their good intent and was already out of the docks, the moment he smelled police.


    The problem was that the mission was to not be captured, but only one person had to be free to fulfill the mission, to begin with they couldn''t trust Nick with the mission, thus Tian decided to escape, now there was little they could do, but survive illegaly in a city.


    It''s not as if it''s impossible, the problem was that the police was on their trails.


    David was walking around the city''s suburbs when some thugs tried to rob him of his honest day''s money.


    He beat them up, but as a result was wounded in the shoulder by a bullet, it was insane how now he wanted the police to get there, he felt relieved when he heard the sirens of the police vehicle.


    His only regret was that they weren''t an ambulance, because his wound could be serious.


    The policemen did some first aid on the spot and then called for an ambulance, the wound seemed serious and they didn''t immediately associate him with the runaways, otherwise they might have rubbed some salt in his wounds.


    Story made short he was now in the hospital, getting ready for an operation to remove the bullet, the problem how he would pay for it since he was registered as an illegal immigrant, a transpasser that would eventualy get deported.


    At the airport, at that time the David of this world had arrived accompanied by Christin and some other fellows, he wished to see the person that tried to impersonate him, but the most important, why they looked like two drops in the water.


    Even more frightening was that they found a Christin''s lookalike corpse, fell from the truck with a dirty boot print at her hips, probably done by his lookalike.


    Everything however would be cleared once they meet the person themselves.


    "Yo David, did you find some military buddies?"


    Chris didn''t even wait for the situation to become clear as he greeted them at the hotel.


    "Do I know you?"


    David asked puzzled, he had no memory of ever seeing this person and he had a good memory.


    "I''m not angry at you for killing Aidan anymore, alcohol is the best!"


    Only then did they understand that the man was piss drunk. David however found it interesting that the drunken man knew him, while he himself didn''t know the other.


    All he found later about the man was that he was loaded and lived at the suite of the hotel, payed cash, probably illegal in some way or another, but the hotel didn''t really care, the money was good.


    "So you''re saying that I didn''t become leader because my weenie was smaller than his?"


    David asked the drunk man whom by that time was spewing nonsense. The most however irritating thing was that he hit on his fiancee, Christin, claiming that they had done it before and not to be shy about it.


    The man was either insane or he was telling the truth, he had tried his best to act like a human lie detector, but the man was too drunk and would react spontaneously every time taking his hand away to pour himself another drink. It was evident that he had mistakened them for the imposters.


    Somewhere far away from the hotel Tian was having a blast, he had now become the leader of the gang and was acting to raise the influence of their gang.


    With a big name who''s part of the triad in their group, they were unbeatable.


    "Won''t they get mad once they discover we''re not part of the Triad?"


    Xiao confronted him while they were alone.


    "Don''t mind it, I have everything under control"


    Tian said while looking at the Uzi in his hand, it wasn''t to his liking, but it was the best he could get in this line of work, if only they had more cash.


    They had however a plan, a fat sheep that lived in the presidential suite, they would abduct him and ask for money from his parents or something. They guy didn''t have a single bodyguard and still dared to live in a hotel suite.


    "It''s not a good idea to abduct rich people, what if he''s with the mob? What if he''s from the real triad?"


    Xiao was a real worrywart.


    "Chill, it''s just some rich guy that doesn''t know prudence, probably won the lottery or something, it will be simple, we go in grab him and come out, now come for a kiss"

 14 Triple Threat

    Chris woke up with a terrible headache on the sofa, he didn''t even make it to the bed it seemed.


    As he made his way to the bedroom, he was alarmed because someone was in his bed, there were two people in his luxurious bed. By the looks of it, it was David and Christin, he remembered bumping into them yesterday.


    He however felt a bit better seeig them together, at least the something good happened in the end. He thought, because during the mission they had already begun to get closer.


    Of course he had no idea that these were this world''s versions of them, he didn''t even notice that Christin wasn''t among the living anymore.


    Chris blessed them with a good night''s rest as he left the room and went back to the luxurious sofa to rest, since outside it wasn''t even bright yet and he wouldn''t be going out during the day anyways. He slept while hugging a bottle of wine once again.


    While he was asleep his guests woke up, it was daytime and it was time to wake up, they were a bit dizzy from yesterday''s drinks, but otherwise fine.


    They woke up confused as to where they were, until they remembered the strange guy that knew their doppelgangers.


    Today  however they were already running late for a meeting with his doppelganger.


    They begun to dress, made sure the weirdo was asleep and left for the hospital were David was held, even his blood type was the same.


    As they entered his ward, guarded by a police officer, in case he tries to escape again.


    David looked at him and spoke.


    "Took your sweet time"


    These words shocked the David from this world, he was about to ask what he meant, but it was evident that his arrival was planned.


    "I''ll tell you everything, but you have to do me a favour as well, as you haven''t taken the mission about the missing people, I have to warn you, when it asks you say no, otherwise you will be in for trouble, we have 5 days before the mission is over"


    David said and then wanted to continue, but was interupted.


    "Who is Chris to you?"


    Other David asked puzzled.


    "He''s an idiot that likes to put his nose in other people''s business, now listen up, I brought you here by using our name, I''m you from another world, I succeeded in finding the link to the disappearances, It will be a message that only appears to those who are bored with their life and seek for adventure or change"


    David continued.


    "The world we live in is like a matrix, but those whom leave it are forced to complete objectives for the system, my objective is to escape the police for 7 days, I suppose I have failed or something, I''m new to this, but if they said the truth, then even if one evades the police it will be enough, otherwise we will all die"


    "How sad, so you''re me from a different dimension and you''re saying that you are given tasks by this "system", how can you prove that you''re not a clone made to replace me?"


    the Other David asked seriously without laughing, but Christin wasn''t as subtle, both version sounded sureal and seeing the two Davids dispute one another,  honestly it looked funny to her.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "My locker room combination is XXXX, my PC password is XXXXX, my father beat me when I was little and..."


    David begun mouthing stuff that others wouldn''t know about him, unless they made a documentary of his life, Christin listened it all with interest, while other David seemed annoyed.


    "Since you say you''re from another earth, I will believe you for now, but why did you call me here"


    Other David asked, still cautious in case the other turns to be some sort of body snatching monster or something.


    "I knew you would come after hearing that you''re on the other side of the globe, mostly because I would have done the same, but we don''t have much time in 5 days I might disappear or be killed by the system, before that I will give you information that will make us a super power"


    David explained, making everything clear.


    Other david shot him in the head, the police came inside and was about to arrest him, but he was told that it was a foreign matter and that the military would work this out.


    "Why did you kill him?"


    Christin asked puzzled.


    "He was lying to get me to protect him for those days, don''t know what would happen after that, who knows, maybe some paradox will happen and he will take my place, either way there''s no way that an officer like myself knows anything that could help us become a super power, all I know is how to fight"


    David said, as he became the only David in this world. In his mind however he was afraid that the government would substitute him for the fake and let him rot, it was self preservation that won in the end.


    With that out of the way, they returned to the hotel, where the idiot was, if one could help then the other can as well. Not to say that he liked the idiot more than the pretentious prick of a doppelganger.


    At the hotel they were told that they were left a message.


    "David, Christin, you sure left without a sound, I leave the suite to you with some money for your expenses, I know that the game is cruel, but you can make it if you try and both survive this ordeal, have fun for a few days"


    They didn''t know what to say when they saw the message, it was a sweet gift, but it also felt like a trap. It was too good to be true.


    Later that day Tian and his gang were inside the hotel, dressed as bellboys, they were about to enter the suite and abduct the VIP, when something didn''t seem right, the guy was with a woman, right on the act, although it would be great to catch him naked in the act.


    They opened the room with the second key and charged inside, one by one his men fell, by bullet wounds right in their heads.


    "What''s going on?"


    Tian wondered whether the VIP was some assassin for the Triad as Xiao said, it was good that he didn''t take her with him on this mission.


    He was about to enter when the last of his thugs fell flat on the ground and from inside he saw David and Christin coming out half naked, both with guns in their hands.


    Tian didn''t even stay he run as fast as he could, he knew that they were military officers, it was already difficult with the police on their trails, but adding up the military as well would''ve been too crazy.


    He wasn''t even surprized that they run onto their doppelgangers, after all everything''s possible, he was also sure that he was there because of their David, he must have sent some hidden message to the himself from this world.


    As for taking them hostages, he wasn''t crazy yet, taking hostage a commando, it was simply asking for trouble.


    "The last one run away"


    Christin said disatisfied.


    "Coward do live longer lives"


    David said also disatisfied.


    Tian arrived at the car where the rest of his men waited.


    "It was an ambush, they''re all dead, the VIP is a commando, we should have gotten more info before we attack"


    "But Boss we''ve already captured the VIP, we saw him at the bar and told him to follow us and he did, they''re playing cards for money right now, he''s so rich he doesn''t even care about cash"


    The thug said but once Tian saw the VIP, it was as if his world was destroyed.


    "Tian! are you their leader, what about our crew?"


    Chris asked the still shocked Tian.

 15 Money opens Doors

    "So you are saying that you used the others as a diversion in order to escape and then you understood you had no money"


    Chris stated over a drink at the bar, the abduction was a partial failure, but they did get what they wanted, Chris didn''t mind giving them money, since he could always get more from the ATMs.


    "I told you it''s not so simple, we needed someone to be out of jail, if they others broke up and each run a different route, then everyone could have escaped"


    Tian said, visibly a bit drunk.


    "Then why didn''t you plan ahead before breaking the wall?"


    Chris asked, it was a legit question.


    "Fuck planning, veterans never planned ahead and they always won their missions, it''s not about planning, it''s about going with the flow as it changes, for example you can plan everything perfectly like with your abduction and still mess up, I''m going, Xiao must be afraid, I left her all alone"


    Tian left without even caring to pay the bill, leaving Chris in an awkward situation, with no money.


    "Could you put it on my tab, I''ll pay it a bit later"


    Chris said to the barman, whom looked annoyed, but non the less he created a tab only for him, since he had come for days now and always payed.


    3 days later. In the holding cell, Samson, Mike, Thany, Sydney, George, Jason and Jonas were only now comprehending why Tian called them to run.


    "So you''re saying that bastard used us as a diversion in order to run away?"


    Samson stated angrily.


    "It''s exactly like that"


    Jonas reaffirmed.


    "So what do we do now?"


    Sydney asked a bit frightened.


    "What else can we do, we stay here and wait for the mission to end"


    Mike stated nonchalantly.


    "What if there''s another objective?"


    Sydney asked panicked.


    "Then we''re fucked"


    Mike said, earning himself a punch in the guts by samson.


    "I don''t know what Nick taught you, but we''re now Heroes, we have to escape somehow and meet with the others"


    Samson said, but all the others just looked at him as if they were looking at an idiot.


    Suddenly a police officer arrived followed by a guy in a suit, he opened the cell and stated.


    "You''re free"


    "Please don''t forget to go to the embassy to get your papers"


    The second person said as he gave them a document to sign, stating that they had been informed.


    As they came outside the police station Samson charged forwards to punch Tian, whom waited for them at the exit, only to miss as Tian dodged and punched him instead.


    "Is this how you thank me for saving you?"


    "How did you do it?"


    Jonas asked, rather puzzled.


    "Money opens many doors, it makes proceedures really easy and fast, tomorrow we''re flying home"


    Tian stated, causing some confusion in the group, tomorrow was the day the mission would end, wouldn''t it be better to stay put and create some defenses.


    "I''m Not going anywhere with you!"


    Samson shouted, still angry about being used.


    "Then suit yourself, but if you die by the next objective it''s your own fault"


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.Tian stated, waking the brute up to reality, the stakes of stupid decisions were high, namely death. Samson got wet feet from even thinking that he might die.


    "I wish to know our next plan"


    Mike stated, making Tian a bit puzzled, since Mike didn''t seem like the heroic type, what was his deal?


    "Right now we will go to the embassy, next to the hotel and tomorrow we leave, is the plan good enough for you?"


    Tian said, while turning around, Xiao was a bit embarassed for him, she knew deep inside that he must have passed some horrible experiences to act like he did.


    Tian escorted them to three cars prepared by the embassy, to take them away, everything was planned and executed without a problem. Samson might bark the loudest, but he didn''t have the guts to act outside of the group.


    After getting their papers from the embassy, they went to their hotel. This time it was a really good hotel, with all the comforts, nothing like the hotel they stayed in before.


    "What''s with the hotel rooms, why am I with Mike!"


    Samson shouted, disatisfied.


    "I told you to manage this among yourselves, why do you ask me?"


    Tian was annoyed by Samson''s presense in his room.


    "I don''t know how you redeemed yourself, but I''m sure that there''s a trap somewhere along the line"


    Samson stated as he left.


    "As if it''s a trap, it''s simple logic, that with more people there''s more possibilities for the next objective"


    Tian said to himself, while waiting for Xiao to come out of the bathroom.


    Their rooms were of course managed by Jonas, whom had taken it upon himself to be the vice leader, it wasn''t wrong to say that he had potential.


    Samson however would have prefered if he was grouped up with someone from the hero group, he knew nothing about Mike and didn''t wish to learn about him either.


    "Did you sort the thing out?"


    Mike asked nonchalantly.


    "I have, someone has to be staying alone, all I have to do is find whom it is"


    Samson stated.


    -Don''t bother, it''s Jonas, he''s strung up and doesn''t care about pretexts anymore, at the meeting for the room management he announced himself vice leader and told that he would take the solo room


    -What meeting?


    -The one you didn''t come to, because you were lost, now that I think about it hardly anyone came, it was only the veterans there and me, Tian even announced that the plane would be the safest place to be, since he has gathered all the materials needed for his spells


    -You know, you''re not a bad guy


    -I know


    Somewhere in the city, in a small appartment was a bed surounded by a salt circle, the windows had some paper talismans on them and in the middle lived Nick and his two followers.


    Nick was teaching them how to make these talismans and what they did, since they had rented 3 houses and made each one similar to the other, they were getting ready for some super ghost to appear after the police mission was over.


    "You did it wrong again, can''t you be more like Chrysa"


    Nick said a bit annoyed, she hadn''t made a single talisman yet, all she had done was waste paper and paint.


    Chrysa had at least made two talismans, while wasting only 10. The problem wasn''t that Nick didn''t know magic, but the magic he knew was literaly useless in most cases, if the world didn''t have some paranormal activity like a ghost or a  curse.


    "So these talismans will burn, creating an illusion that we have died for the ghost?"


    Chrysa asked.


    "I regret praising you now, I told you it will burn making it difficult for the ghost to haunt us, thus it will go to easier targets to haunt"


    Nick explained again.


    "Look at it like you having a shield in front of you and the ghost as the bowman, he can shoot at you, but the chances of him hitting are small, while there''s easier prey to go after"


    "How do we know if what we made is working or not?"


    Hera asked.


    "The one you just made almost passed the criteria, but you just had to add a curve, it''s a strait line there, not a curve!"


    Nick complained, it was the 20th failed talisman Hera ruined.


    "I''m not doing this anymore, you do it, since you''re so good at it"


    Hera spoke back disatisfied, it''s been hours that all they did was draw on paper these weird symbols.


    "How do we use them?"


    Chrysa asked somewhat puzzled, the talismans glued on the walls, were different than what they were making now, those were supposed to hide their location from supernatural beings.


    "You just hold them, the more you have the better the effect"


    Nick said as he looked at the small number of talismans they had 14 was a small number for 3 people. he would love to have 10 per person before the objective changes.

 16 Next objective

    "When is the flight?"


    Sydney asked Thany, since she didn''t go to the meeting, mostly because she was lazy.


    "How should I know, I never found the meeting room, I was lost with Samson and then we found the bar, next thing we were both ordering drinks"


    Thany explained.


    -You do know that today we''re leaving this country and returning home, whatever that might mean, since this is another world


    -So what, it''s always easier when everyone talks in your home language, I''m tired of english


    -I on the other side, find it charming and exotic, speaking in a different tongue


    -Only you would say that


    -Who knows


    Before long to their room came Samson and Mike, talking as if they were best buddies overnight.


    "Girls, don you know when the plane flies?"


    Samson said with a cocky smile, that proved that he knew.


    "Is it in the middle of the night?"


    Sydney asked.


    "Well not exactly, but it''s at 10  o''clock, we''ll even be able to see the next objective before we go"


    Samson stated overjoyed with himself.


    "What would we have done without you, we would be lost and would have to wait until we were called to go"


    Sydney said mockingly, it was evident that knowing when the plane left doesn''t really mean a thing, they would be leaving today, be it day or night, they were sure that they wouldn''t be forgotten, because they were the only girls of the group.


    "Yes, but you don''t know that we will be leaving earlier to be there on time..."


    Samson begun introducing them to how plane travel worked, seemingly from hearsay, because it was evident that he had never taken the plane before.


    "I don''t know if I will be able to take it"


    Jason told George, his room mate.


    "I told you it will pass without you even knowing, all you have to make sure is to stay clear of the windows"


    George ensured him.


    -I told you that even this room is the death of me, who told them to build 10 storeys high buildings


    -It''s 18 and don''t be a baby, we''re only on the 8th floor


    -Are you trying to make me piss myself, because it''s working


    -I told you as long as you don''t look, everything will be alright all you have to do is fall asleep and wake up when it''s all over


    "Sounds like a sound plan to me"


    Jonas intervened, he had been there from the start, but his abilities to make people feel well weren''t as good, he probably wasn''t a very good attorney.


    -Listen Jason, your fear of hights might get you killed, but not in this mission, we have survived worse than living in a hotel or flying on a plane


    -What if the plane fallsThis story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    -The chances of that happening are astronomical


    "He''s right you know, planes crash less than cars or trains, but you''re not afraid your train will crash, right?"


    Jonas asked mockingly, the chance of a train crash is also pretty low, much lower than cars.


    -So you''re saying that planes are safer than cars, but what if...


    -No what ifs, we''re together in this, remember that you''re not alone, the whole group will be there with you on the plane


    -Everyone will see how pitiful I can be...


    Jason started sulking, it was about his image being destroyed again.


    "Do you want to do some trust falls, it might help"


    Jonas suggested and they begun, all three doing the trust fall and the other person caught them. It was sort of a success.


    As the time for the flight drew closer, they were getting ready to leave the country.


    It was at the steps of the plane when the next objective was announced.


    =objective 6 escape Aidan''s vengeful ghost for 7 days=


    Tian laughed as he boarded the plane, leaving the ghost behind him, they had another 14 hours before they arrived to their destination and hopefuly they wouldn''t have to deal with him.


    The ghost appeared from the well and begun heading their way, since they were the people who killed him. At some point however when the plane took off, it lost their traces and then went for the second easiest to find trace, it being Chris.


    Chris wasn''t even phased as he drunk his time away, he was ready to be killed by the ghost.


    "I failed you! I don''t deserve to live!"


    He shouted in the bar when he saw the message about Aidan, being the ghost, the monster haunting them.


    Aidan''s ghost was perplexed and confused, because the target of its revenge was mourning his death. It was however its duty to take revenge on the whole group and he was part of the group.


    "Don''t say that, you''re a fine guy"


    David said while drinking next to him.


    "I told you I don''t need your pity, I didn''t follow her last wish and that''s how this tragedy came to be, I wasn''t even brave enough to enter the flames to get his corpse, it''s probably still floating in that well"


    Chris reminced his failures.


    "If you''re concerned about ghosts, I have a friend that can help, Petro!"


    David shouted, but the guy was right next to them drinking his own drink.


    "Oi David, you''re drunk and I''m feeling the presence of a ghost here right now, it''s haunting your friend"


    A nerdy looking guy Petro said.


    "Then unhaunt him or something! Do your thing!"


    David said before he was karate chopped by Christin and taken away.


    "How do I send his ghost to heaven? The poor boy has become a ghost"


    Chris asked seriously, but he was evidently drunk.


    -You shouldn''t stay alone tonight, ghosts love to haunt people when they are alone and valnerable


    -Thanks for nothing


    -Wait if you want we could destroy the ghost


    -No thanks, I''ll live with it


    -You don''t know what you''re talking about, don''t you know that curses and blessings are real, you should ask a cleric to exorcize him


    -Doesn''t matter, I''ve waited long enough without doing anything, I believe it''s time I did something about it


    -Like what?


    -Getting them both a proper burrial for starters


    -Well that would be good as well


    -Rachel Keller...


    He remembered her name and then begun to dig through the newspaper to find where she was burried.


    It was insane to even think it, but he didn''t find her burrial grounds in the end and fell asleep, while his room was in total chaos, lights blinking and furniture dancing. All he thought about it was that he must have been really drunk.


    The next morning he asked David to help him find her gravesite and a small favour in locating Aidan''s corpse.


    It took the other a couple of hours to find the site and another to order for the corpse to be unearthened from the carcas of the burned building.


    "I''ve returned you the favour!"


    David said as he gave him a paper with some numbers, it looked like the bill for something.


    "This is how much I spent for you, so that you know that I''m not talking out of my ass"


    David said a bit tired, but he left mostly satisfied with himself. The paper was the price of the two being burried next to each other at the same graveyard.


    Chris looked at the adress and with a bottle in hand went to look for them.


    The two graves were open, but the bodies weren''t moved yet, it would be days before they could.


    Chris however begun to cry even if they weren''t there, he mourned their loss, they were both so lively and happy.


    Suddenly he felt a force trying to take away his bottle, he drew it closer to himself. A man and a ghost begun fighting over a bottle.

 17 Poltergeist

    Chris sat dumpfounded in his room, the ghost had once more taken away his bottle, gesting that he couldn''t get it unless he followed a 90% death route up the table with the missing leg.


    Chris however didn''t understand what the ghost wanted, even if he fell for this obvious trap, it would at most injure him, it wouldn''t kill him.


    He reached for the bottle, but there was no accident, only the bottle flew out of the window, if he were out of money he might have jumped after it, but he wasn''t, he could buy a new bottle, no problem.


    The question was, what was the ghost trying to do, it couldn''t be as naive as to think he would jump through the window after the bottle.


    Chris looked at the window and then went for the door, the bar was open at this hour and he had money to spend, on his way he saw Petro, whom did some mumbling sounds as he passed him by.


    The ghost was afraid of that person, but didn''t stop from haunting Chris.


    The first drink Chris bought, wouldn''t come out of the bottle, the second he tried sucking out of the bottle and failed, the third drink he gave up upon.


    "What do you want from me, I''ve taken care of your burials, there''s nothing else I can do for you, so let me drink"


    Chris lamented as he was unable to drink even a drop of alcochol.


    As if satisfied with his now downtrotten self, the ghost then disappeared, the question most of you probably have is why the shrunken head didn''t work. Evidently the ghost had no intention to harm him, there was no ill intent towards him, it only came to haunt him because it couldn''t find anyone else, but now it new where they were, across the ocean and in a relatively small country.


    "home at last"


    Tian said as they were getting off the plane, the next thing would be exchanging dollars for euros or whatever coinage the locals used in this world.


    Little did they know that the ghost was rapidly flying towards them, over land and sea. Not understanding natural laws or tiredness, blinded by a deep hatered and the wish for revenge.


    "Is there a problem with our documents?"


    Tian asked at the airport as they gave the documents they were given by the embassy.


    "Not a problem, just checking if it''s real or not, we don''t have many travelling with this sort of paper"


    The guard said as he looked at the paper one more time before giving it back to him.


    With this they had successfuly passed the airport''s checks and were on their way to a bank before going to a hotel.


    "Since there''s a ghost after us, we have to stay together, better rent a house and live all together there for the next 6 days rather than hotel rooms"


    Tian suggested, truthfuly he didn''t care if they died, but at least they could die with some purpose in life.


    "Wait they don''t even use euros here, how primitive is this world''s greece?"


    Xiao lamented, there was a small problem with drachmes since it was the local currency before entering the eurozone and one dollar or euro was equal to around 30 drachmes.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Of course the prices also were in the 3-4 digits, making thus local products more preferable to the expensive imported goods.


    "What on earth is drachmes?"


    Mike asked, seeing the coinage for the first time in his life, probably heard of it during history lessons, but who cares about old coins.


    "It''s the old good drachmes, what a familiar texture"


    Samson said, remembering when he was younger going to buy stuff with them.


    "Enough about the money, what''s your opinion about the plan?"


    Jonas shouted as the self-assigned vice leader he would make sure that everyone was both informed about the plans and agreed with them, he wished to make sure that everyone survived until the end.


    "No need for shouting, I''m sure that they understand that failure in this mission means death, the ghost will kill you, it''s not like in the previous mission, where unless we were all caught, we would succeed"


    Tian explained the difference, the previous mission sounded really easy, now that they thought about it.


    Renting a house was quite simple and the second step was having a party at home, with drinks and snacks, while staying inside the huge salt circle and making sure to not to destroy the circle.


    It was around midnight and they were piss drunk and all but Tian were long asleep.


    Tian didn''t drink much and had a few more points added to Immunization strength, making him less susceptible to alcohol intoxication. Stats were god in the world of survival, the more stats you had the better your chances of survival.


    Suddenly a stone shot towards Tian from the outside, breaking the window of their house. Another owner would shout at whoever shot it, but Tian knew better than to panic. He begun to wake up everyone, saying that the ghost had arrived.


    A painting flew off the wall and right into someone''s head, it wasn''t anything serious but the pain was there.


    "Shit! it''s a poltergeist, why did it have to be a poltergeist"


    Tian lamented this miscalculation.


    The furniture and things out of the circle begun to float and shoot at them inside the circle, they were besieged by the prefurnished rental house. Now there was nothing left in the room that wasn''t inside the already ruined salt circle.


    "At least it cannot kill us"


    Samson said as he and Jason protected Sydney and Thany with their backs from the flying furniture.


    Knives, spoons, forks flew in from the kitchen, now it was getting dangerous.


    Tian took out some dust from his pouch and blew it towards the cutlery, causing a little child with a hideous wound in his head to appear under the floating cutlery.


    "Try to survive!"


    Tian shouted as he begun to chant his spell to destory the ghost, but he knew that he wouldn''t be in time to save everyone.


    The first knife failed to hit anyone, the second was caught in midair by Thany before he hit Samson''s back.


    The third headed right towards Tian, whom was still chanting his spell.


    The chanting however stopped when he saw Xiao''s eyes right in front of him, wide open looking at him, she had taken the knife for him.


    "Continue chanting! Don''t let her sacrifice be in vain!"


    Jonas shouted from behind a small table.


    Tian shouted the last few words of the chant and the ghost of Aidan exploded into light causing the cutlery to fall.


    Tian however was more worried about Xiao, who proved to be dead, the knife had found her heart and there was nothing they could do. Tian however didn''t shed a single tear, because this wasn''t his Xiao, his Xiao was back in his world, living her life in tranquility.


    Tian looked at Jonas as if annoyed, but the words that came from his mouth were "Thank you!"


    The others only had bruises and scratches, nothing to be overly concerned about.


    "Is it over?"


    Sydney asked frightened, she was shocked that the ghost could overcome their defenses.


    "Nothing is over, the ghost will be back and next time it will come even stronger than this time"


    Tian explained, shoving their optimism into a dustbin.


    "We have to survive 6 days of this?"


    Mike was horrified by the idea, he regretted having left the safe space.


    "Next time we will be prepared, we know what the enemy can do, thus we can prepare for it"


    Jonas said determined, he evidently already had some plan in mind.

 18 Round 2

    Tidying up the house was a hustle, but nobody wished to leave even a trace of the ghost''s memory behind, they burried Xiao in the yard and begun to sort things out.


    All cutlery was thrown away, all glass was also broken and thrown away, they made sure there were no dangerous items in the house the ghost could use against them.


    "We need another salt circle"


    Jonas explained to Tian, whom was the only one who knew how to create them, they had no idea if the circle they made had the effect or not, they couldn''t feel the magic in the air.


    They made three circles, each with furniture built like small fortresses to protect them, they had three spots to hide and they were divided into 3 groups, once a group felt the ghost, Tian would go to that group and destroy it again.


    Tian was sound asleep however and only one circle was complete, the others they would have to make themselves and hope they work. All you had to do was make a circle, how difficult could it be?


    "This isn''t a circle, were you drawing an oval? this isn''t even complete, you''ve not put enough salt in that line over there"


    Tian begun to complain once he woke up, stating that he decided to rest because he''ll need to be well rested in order for the spells to work.


    Fixing the two circles was similar to remaking them, they had bought enough salt for days, only problem was the possibility of the ghost bringing his own weapons from outside the house.


    Non however imagined what weapon the ghost decided to use as the track rammed into the door of the house and right into Jonas, whom hadn''t even taken guard behind the now ruined fortifications.


    Jonas was dead, like that one person was already down, causing everyone to panic, especialy the man at the wheel, whom thought, all this was just an accident, a really cruel and concerning accident.


    Tian however didn''t wait, he sprayed his dust towards the driver and on the driver''s seat they saw Aidan''s ghost.


    Unlike Tian, the others panicked as they run back to the second line of defense, but Tian knew that there was no protection from the ghost, he could use the furniture from the first line to destroy the second and then the third, it was all pointless. The only thing that mattered is strength and he had the strength to fight the monster.


    As Tian begun chanting the ghost took the shards from the front window of the car and was about to shoot him down.


    Tian was shocked when he saw George going in front of him.


    "She died for you, I will follow her will, you motherfucker will live"


    George said as the glass shards shot into his body.


    The ghost was once more destroyed, but George wasn''t dead, the shards didn''t go too far into his body before they were stopped by muscles and bones.


    He was alive, but if they didn''t give him some first aid, he might not be for long.


    "You the driver! Bring out your first aid kit!"


    Tian shouted at the driver, whom did as he was told, not understanding what was going on, what was that light that blinded him a moment ago.


    They didn''t even look if Jonas needed help, writing him off as dead, but he wasn''t, he creeped towards them like a zombie, his legs mangled by the accident.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings."Not again!"


    Jonas shouted in pain, he was alive, but his legs were not alright.


    "Samson, Jason, Tian, someone help me!"


    Jonas shouted while Tian was doing some first aid on George.


    "Where else do you feel pain"


    Tian asked George methodicaly pulling the glass shards out of his body.


    "What about some help here!"


    Jonas shouted and the driver came to help him, he felt bad for driving while slightly drunk. He couldn''t however figure out why they were so collected after the accident, he was going amok.


    "You can go now"


    Tian suddenly interrupted the lost for action driver and Tian begun to inspect Jonas'' wounds.


    "You''re rather lucky, nothing''s broken, but one of your joints was dislocated, all we have to do is put it back, this will hurt like hell, thus bite on this"


    Tian said before he attempt to relodge his leg back to it prior location.


    The driver lost his senses when he saw what he was trying to do and called the hospital.


    It was insanely painful.


    "This is the price to pay for not being alert, everyone else had the brain to jump out of the car''s way"


    Tian told him


    "They were just lucky to not be in its way, there was no way a person can avoid it"


    Jonas said spitefuly.


    "I''m sure some would, of course me included, you have taken the position of leader as something good, remember, leading is not about being important, it''s about survival of the many, the veterans would have left you behind"


    Tian said as he put the final touches to his legs, some band aids and bandages.


    "You the driver, you can go now"


    Tian said again.


    The driver however looked at him as if he was seeing a madman, how on earth could he go, his car was in the wreckage of a room, it looked as if it will blow up and part of the furniture were now junk, normaly they had to call the police and go through the paperwork.


    "Can your car move?"


    Suddenly Samson asked, the big guy looked intimidating, this made him think that something wasn''t quite right.


    "The engine''s fine, the wheels will need realigment, you''re really unlucky"


    Samson told him by checking the car a bit, it was his job at a car garage and he knew a thing or two about cars.


    The poor driver took his car away and awkwardly drove away, not willing to stay with these crazy people, as long as they didn''t report him for hit and run, he didn''t really care and he was kind of drunk and not thinking strait.


    "Are Jonas and George alright?"


    Samson asked.


    "They''ll be fine, but both won''t be able to move for at least a day, take them to the bed and put them on it, they need bed rest"


    Tian explained.


    "What about the plan?"


    Sydney asked a bit annoyed.


    "I wouldn''t be surprised if a plane falls on our heads, what lines of defenses nonsense do you believe in, I knew something like this would happen and if it wasn''t for George, you probably would all be dead now"


    Tian said somewhat angry, he had underestimated the ghost a bit too much, thinking that the system gave them easy missions before, now it was showing its real colors, crimson red for blood.


    "What should we do now?"


    Sydney whined like a lost puppy.


    "We get ready for anything that might happen, get ready for a plane crash or a train shooting through the house..."


    Tian said with newfound confidence.


    "But there are no train stations nearby"


    Sydney complained defeated.


    The next best way of doing things was hiding in the basement of the house, like rats. The salt circle was made as fast as Tian could and the bed was put in the middle with the two injured men on it, the others slept at the corners of the bed, some getting a pillow, others were happy they could sleep at all.


    Tian however wouldn''t sleep, he couldn''t sleep, he felt strange. He felt as if this group shouldn''t be allowed to finish, they weren''t special enough. He regretted not taking Chris with them, after all he had the relic, it could prove useful in their situation, although he had no idea what it did. The question he had was whether he was even alive right now.


    Chris was alive and in a much better condition than them. The only thing the ghost did to him was prevent him from drinking alcohol and tomorrow would be the funeral of the two lost, he would have to go, David and Christin would also go.


    Chris was devoid of purpose as each time the ghost respawned at the well and then came to find him, only to torture him a little and then travel all the way overseas.

 19 Heavens

    Today was a special day, everyone was gathered to mourn for the loss of a mother and her son, a tragic event that shook the city since the suspect for her death was never found.


    There was little Chris could say at their funeral, but goodbye from her fake ex-boyfriend. He felt terrible for being a fake, for not being able to be of help when it was needed, for being a bad boyfriend, for letting her down.


    Tears couldn''t express how sorry he was for letting Aidan to die, he didn''t know how to appologize to her even if he died it wouldn''t be enough.


    We have to live on for those that have died, because that''s what they would want us to do, they would have wanted us to live on, to see the future and to make our lives as best as we can.


    The drums of war sounded as the ghost appeared behind him, it was strange as to why it appeared, but Aidan''s ghost was there, it looked at him with a malicious glint, it had become an evil spirit now and it wanted to do him harm.


    Aidan''s ghost was now evil beyond belief, driven by the spirit of vegeance to become something vile and evil. It was no longer the spirit that blocked his alcohol, it wished to harm him, but he was standing on consecrated ground.


    Once however he was out of the graveyard, then it would try and attack him, it was mere instinct to harm him. It was beyond the simple sense of depriving him of alcohol, it desired blood.


    The funeral was over and Chris stood there looking at the now covered graves, he couldn''t leave for hours, remembering the few good moments he had with them.


    Maybe if they weren''t in this death game, they could have been boyfriend and girlfriend. Maybe they would have been alive today.


    "Smile, because at least now they are together in heaven"


    David stated a bit skeptical.


    "I don''t know about that, how do you send a ghost back to heavens?"


    Chris asked, now looking at the skies above, cloudy as they were.


    "How would I know, but others might"


    David said as he left with Christin, annoyed since she pestered him to speak to Chris before leaving.


    The Ghost got bored and left, but Chris was more interested in how he could help Aidan, the boy was lost and fragile, he wasn''t evil, Chris refused to believe Aidan that little boy they played with was evil.


    It was all the system''s fault, but he would find a way, all he had to do was find specialists in the field of ghosts.


    This world had those experts, because it was another world, even ghost busters existed and were rather reputable, although dodgy, since people cannot see ghosts.


    Chris spent his time finding such experts and he didn''t even have to go far, the priest at the local church offered to help with his problem. Of course the priest thought that the warrior spirit was the problem ghost


    To excorcize a ghost is simple, but sending it on its final rest is another thing entirely. The priest however appreciated the thought and sent a message to another priest asking for help.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Before long a group of priests was gathered and they begun to chant their prayers, Chris felt nothing, but the warrior spirit felt the pull of the afterlife, after a long time, the warrior was sent to the afterlife and the priests cheered.


    Chris after seeing this miracle, begun to ask them for help with another ghost, the ghost would only randomly appear, he would give them anything they wanted, but the priests didn''t have the time to follow him around until the ghost appeared.


    Chris pleaded for help and their hearts were melted by his sheer devotion and size of his pockets as he donated a huge amount of money to the church. They could wait for a day or two until the ghost appeared again, while Chris would be the bait.


    It was boring and needless to attend to him all of the time, thus they decided to stay at his hotel, with him paying the bill. The priest didn''t regret it one bit, since all their needs were payed for, everything was included.


    It took a day for the ghost to return and this time it was pissed and Chris didn''t have the ghost warrior anymore to protect him. The priests were alerted by the evil presense of the evil spirit, at first they thought that Chris was just asking them to exorcize a similar ghost to the one they exorcized before, but this was different, this was dangerous.


    It took all their strength just to repel the spirit that had grown in power once more. Its evil intent drawing it to cause him harm.


    "We have to move you to consecrated ground, only there can we stand a chance against this ghost"


    The priests all agreed.


    The next time however the ghost appeared it was in the form of a small tornado that moved towards him. The priests were chanting even as it appeared, trapping it in place with Chris, whose skin was grinded by the stones and dirt in the small tornado. Chris tolerated it all, because he was sure that this was the right thing to do, the priests could do it, they could send Aidan on his way.


    He was filled with hope, hope that they could do it, like they did with the warrior. Chris saw the face of a crying child, Aidan was crying, was it because their chants hurt him or because he didn''t want to cause anyone harm we will never know, but his soul was taken away in the same way the warrior''s soul left for the afterlife.


    They had a huge feast after the exorcism, it was a huge success in their eyes and Chris was also happy with it. Only for the ghost to appear once more in front of him, this time it was weaker than before and exorcised easier by the priests.


    Even as the days passed the priests would exorcise Aidan again and again, but he would always come back, each time weaker than before, every time confused and lost as to why he was drawn to Chris.


    In the end the mission was over and Tian and his heroes had a rather awkward silence as the ghost hadn''t come for days now, the next mission was announced in the same way as before.


    =objective 7 find and defeat Aidan''s ghost in 7 days=


    The mission was simple, but where was Aidan''s ghost? Did they have to go all the way back to the US to find the ghost.


    And why it suddenly gave up on them, it had bothered them for 4 days and then decided they were too much to bother or was there something else involved.


    They had no idea that Chris was trying to exorsize the spirit of the little boy and now that the mission had changed he was moving earth and sky to find the ghost that was hiding in a small well in that abandoned mansion.


    While Chris was seaking the ghost, Tian and the others were wondering how they would finish their mission.


    "So now what?"


    Samson asked, we haven''t seen the ghost for days, either Tian''s spell worked, or something else happened to preocupy the ghost for the last three days.


    "You take your time here, while we get tickets to the US and find the ghost, but only me and George will go, the rest of you can relax"


    Tian explained his plans, but he was in no hurry to go, since there was time.


    To the survivors this would be heaven on earth since they were rich had papers and were in another world, it was an exotic journey to the past, since this world was a bit back in technological advancement.

 20 Seeking Redemption

    It wasn''t long before Chris and the priest were at the right location, it was a long trip by car, but they were at last there, at the ruined mansion''s ashes.


    The place had already been searched before and the passage to the well was opened, they could already hear the wailing sounds the ghost made coming from inside the well.


    Around the well was a small tornado that blew up ash and dirt, blocking their passage towards the ghost.


    The priest was of the mind that they would need help, but Chris wouldn''t listen, he charged through the wind and into the well, he was there to save Aidan, even if it was too late.


    Passing through the ashes and dust, he quickly entered the well, he didn''t know what to do next, but seeing the ghost in front of him caused him to feel pity for it. The ghost looked at him once and then extended its arms going for his neck, it didn''t however tighten its grip, because it got a hug and a weeping head on its shoulders.


    Chris was crying, he really wanted to help Aidan, but didn''t know how. The priest saw a miracle happen as the tornado weakened and allowed him to come closer, while the wailing noises doubled, there was no doubt that Chris was crying together with Aidan.


    The priest begun to chant and the ghost became alerted, but it was still being hugged by Chris, whom didn''t let it go, his touch was warm and the priest''s words were soothing to the ear. The ghost was sent to the afterlife and here our story ends. Or rather begins, since all this was but the beginning of Terror Infinity.


    Everyone was shocked when their surroundings suddenly faded away and they appeared in front of that floating tablet with the new scores listed.


    By looking at the scores one could tell what happened, with Tian being 1st place in the scores with 7000 points and followed by the others with around 3000 points, Chris was among those people who had around 3000 points, 3390 points was his score for this mission.


    "Why?"


    Chris asked, but there was no answer as the others were too preocupied with their own scores and the newbes were being instructed on what to buy for starters.


    Only 4 of the newbes made it through and they lost Xiao. There were mixed feelings among the survivors, some felt relieved to be alive, others mourned for the dead.


    Some like Chris were confused as to why Tian had more points than themselves.


    "The guide takes bonus points, you didn''t believe that we act as guides because we like it?"


    Nick explained and everyone understood the meaning behind the guide and why Tian was happy to answer all of Chris'' questions.


    Of course he got more points for destroying ghosts and risking his life, while the others tried to stay safe and Chris was no different than the others, staying relatively safe if not safer due to the relic.


    The people with the less points of all were Nick and his girls, they only got 1000 points for completing the mission, Nick however didn''t seem to care at all.


    "Gaining 1000 points should be all you desire from a mission, if you get more it means that the heroes didn''t do their job right, if the heroes do their job all you''ll need to do is wait for the mission objectives to be complete, one after the other"


    Nick explained to Hera and Chrysa whom were disatisfied with earning so few points, even Hera only got 2000 points, since she found the secret piece once  again.


    All the pieces about what had happened to the ghost were put together once they saw the points and since Chris and Nick were still alive, they didn''t need a second thought to see whom of the two defeated the ghost, the one with the most points of course.


    It hurt being a commoner, Chris found. Since in this mission his points weren''t great, while Tian''s were excellent. Were the things Tian did what the system wants them to do?


    The only thing he got for all his hard work were three new followers available, them being Rachel, Aidan and Aidan''s Ghost, of whom he could only afford Rachel.


    Who was right and who was wrong however isn''t recorded in points, but in teamwork, the one that acts alone gets no points or rather the ones who play it safe get no points, the more you risk, the more points you get.


    Tian''s style was risky since he had no plans for the future and did stuff on the fly.


    The most shocked for Chris however was that David and Christin didn''t make it, until this point he hadn''t figure out that the ones he had been talking to weren''t the real ones, although he had his suspicions.


    Non the less it felt sad to think that the lovely couple were imposters or look-alikes. He honestly felt embarassed with himself, on how he acted towards them as if he knew them. Must have been really awkward for them to have a stranger act all cozy with them.


    The most sad however thing was that he did all that for nothing, no extra points no anything, if he hadn''t got the relic, he would probably be even lower than the others in scores.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Everyone gather up!"


    Tian shouted gathering everyone near the floating tablet.


    "Now that you have bought your basic equipment, you have two choices, those that are confident they can survive another mission have to keep their points to buy tickets, those that are not should raise their Cell Vitality, but don''t go more than 150, you can also buy food, but I advise against doing so, we have enough food for everyone, I will now summon my house those that wish to continue as heroes can come, follow me inside"


    Tian summoned his own house causing the new players to be awed and the old to feel thankful, after this mission they had experienced something much different than last time.


    This time they knew it would be different, no strategy meetings or stories of the past, what they would be doing was just resting until the next mission was to come. There would be no laughers or jokes, because they now knew full well that the next to die might be themselves.


    Inside Tian''s house everyone was silent, the tension during the mission and the possibility of death made them want to just relax and forget about everything.


    "Don''t we need to do something to raise morale?"


    George suddenly said, seeing that everyone was tired and despirited.


    "Morale isn''t important, the only thing that is important is survival"


    Tian said somewhat despirited himself, even he didn''t expect last mission to be so difficult, if not for the ghost having shifted its attention to Chris, they might not have made it at all.


    "When you survive long enough you will see hundreds of people dying, some even more powerful and experienced than yourselves, but I don''t blame you, because you can only become real players of this game of death after you use your first ticket"


    Tian said, making everyone confused by his words, weren''t tickets just a means to returning to real world for a day or more?


    "leader Tian, I have a question for you"


    Mike suddenly said.


    "What is make it fast we only have 7 hours to sleep"


    Tian said making everyone a bit anxious


    "Why did Nick say that you derailed the plot, what does it even mean?"


    Mike''s question was understandable, because and many others were interested, but to Tian it sounded more like an accusation.


    Derailing the plot of a mission was similar to making life more difficult for yourself, but on the other side it also meant more opportunity for points.


    "It''s simple, if you know what will happen in the story it''s easier to plan ahead, deviations from the storyline of a movie are just bound to happen sooner or later, thus adding more objectives to a mission, but only cowards will try anything to stick with the story, because the more objectives there are the more points we will earn, yes the risk becomes more but unlike story deviation, taking the relic is even more troublesome, because it not only adds new objectives, it even makes them more difficult, do you think that Chris completed the last few objectives because he had the skills to do so, it''s all because of the relic"


    Tian explained, causing everyone to look out of the window to a small campfire, where chris sat lost in thought.


    "Wait isn''t that just pushing the responsibility on someone else?"


    Thany said somewhat disappointed with Tian, he could at least apologize for making the mission longer than needed, his words sounded like some cheap excuse.


    "You don''t understand anything, when you take the relic, the system makes the mission more difficult, adding to our abilities the usage of a relic, but what happens when you cannot use the relic, for example what if the condition for using the relic is the ability to speak swahili or having psychic powers, the system will still add the difficulty since you have gotten the relic, but you won''t be able to use it at all to help you in the mission and there is no way to know those requirements, it''s a huge gamble to take the relic in the first place"


    The people in the house now came to a realization, Chris indeed had screwd them up by taking the relic and Tian felt satisfied to shift the blame, not that he was lying, because it was an unspoken rule to not touch the artifact unless you had the ability to take responsibility for it, in a way Chris had taken responsibility by using the relic to end the mission, but why tell them that, it was better for their unity to shift the blame on Chris, who was a loner in the first place and even now refused to join them.


    While the others had begun badmouthing him inside the house, Chris was still shocked by his own failure, he felt as if they had suddenly become villains or something, before they were slaying monsters and saving the people from the virus, but now what they had done was fighting against the police and killing innocent people. Fighting against the police wasn''t so bad, after all in many countries the police has changed duties and has become a force of opressing people from protesting against the government, Chris hadn''t personaly taken part in these protests, but his ideology was that the government was corrupt and those people protesting were brave and admirable people, unlike himself who was a sore loser and a coward.


    Truthfuly he wouldn''t have minded dying to a monster, dying with claws and teeth and dying against an unbeatable foe.


    The question he had however was the floating score board, he simply couldn''t understand why his score was so much lower than Tian''s, whom was a scumbag that killed people without a reason.


    Not knowing that his team had killed hundreds of people during theirs escape from the facility, but at the time he was doped on adrenaline and saw those people as enemies and bad guys, now however he felt as if the bad guys were his own  group. Of course partialy he was affected by his relationship with Rachel, he had simply fallen in love with her.


    He spent a lot of time in the store looking at her follower card, he could summon her any time, but that would only bring trouble to him, her cost was only 1000 points, since she was only a regular human with no special abilities at all, unlike the soldiers from recident evil whom cost around 3000-10000 points and came with their own equipment.


    He was however not an idiot, what would block Tian from shooting her once more?


    The scene of him killing her in front of his eyes repeated in his mind, feeling him with anger, the penalty for killing someone was 1000 points, Tian had told him so.


    A wild idea came to mind as he looked into the distance towards tian''s house a small smirk on his face as he begun to plot with the Red empress on the best way to make it appear as an accident.


    The people inside the house badmouthing him had a weird chill go down their spine as they saw him turning his gaze towards them, as if he could hear them.

 21 Reason

    Only Nick and Tian could fall asleep, everyone else were too anxious for the future.


    Chrysa and Hera were angry, they were the only survivors now, but honestly after being that all three were at the bottom of the high score, they felt cheated.


    They were even told to save 1000 points, just in case the next mission ended in a failure.


    "Do you think we should join the heroes?"


    Chrysa asked, she only got 1000 points from the mission and due to Nick''s words she couldn''t even touch them.


    -Are you suicidal, if we stay with that bastard Nick, we will be 100% safe, although I agree that the reward sucks, but think about it, that bastard could survive long enough to buy a house by doing this


    -Maybe you''re right


    -Don''t be down, I have an Idea of how to make more point during the next mission, now lets go shopping, it''s my treat


    Chrysa felt a bit better after hearing that they were going shopping, but she was more interested in what plan Hera had come up with as they left to go shoping.


    The "Heroes" were also having their own gathering, with George as the leader as he explained to them stuff the Tian had told them, as well as telling them what had happened during their resident evil mission.


    Honestly they couldn''t tell why Tian would kill the plot NPCs since they could be really useful to them, even if they weren''t as strong as the resident evil NPCs, they even helped them during the police mission, making it so safe that all they had to do was wait.


    Honestly the objectives were a lot safer than the resident evil objectives, where they had literaly fought for their lives at some moment.


    The NPCs were really helpful to completing missions, all they had to do was lay back and enjoy as the NPCs helped them complete the missions.


    They didn''t agree with Tian''s phylosophy that NPCs were just points to be collected, since killing them also earned you points.


    They all agreed that planning ahead could reduce casualties, but only if they could do so, at the moment it was impossible to do so for multiple reasons, the most important being that the plot was altered to some degree making it impossible to be sure if the story would have the same plot or not.


    "Isn''t it easier to just do what you can do at the moment, last time the plan didn''t go well at all, after we can only wait and see what happens"


    Mike said, his opinion however met air, since he was new to the Heroes side and knew nothing of what they had went through.


    "You don''t understand, going in without a plan makes people anxious, only after discussing the plot of the movie can we be more sure about what to do"


    George explain and many thought it was logical and trustworthy.


    "So now what do we have to find the plot of every movie beforehand?"


    Samson asked somewhat irritated, he honestly thought that planning ahead was a waste of time, it would be better to just go with the flow and improvise, as long as they didn''t get fucked by the need of some "relic" there was nothing they would be afraid of, he sincerely believed that all the problems during the mission came from Chris getting the relic.


    The people in the house after Tian''s expaination came to hate Chris for making their life more difficult, it was easy to blame someone for everything than sat that it was just bad luck.


    It''s human nature to blame others for our own shortcommings and more than half the heroes were sure that it was Chris'' fault that so many people died, after all he got the relic during the 1st objective, while Tian only killed rachel a few objectives after and it didn''t even seem to have a huge effect, only when he killed Aidan did it have some effect on the mission, but even that could have been avoided if Chris hadn''t taken the Relic in the first place.


    Outside Chris was browsing the store, he needed a weapon that could be concealed and wouldn''t be easily traced to himself and of course poison was the right decision, problem was how to use this small flask of poison or should he chose the poison holding ring, or the poison needle?


    There were lots of choices, but he felt conflicted, was it worth murdering Tian or not, there was many reasons why he wanted to kill him.


    Rachel was only one of them, Aidan was another, but the main reason was because he was afraid of him.


    He was afraid that he might become Tian''s next victim, he was sure that Tian like Nick has enough points stored to kill a person or two and he knew that himself wasn''t the most cooperative person.


    Chris remembered his past, you might think that he was a good guy, but in reality he was really vindictive, an eye for an eye wasn''t his still, he would take a head for an eye.


    Chris loved fairness and justice, he was an idiot that idolized knights and chivalry, of course his life was that of a loser that couldn''t even find a job.


    He was really excited when his reality changed, but now he was conflicted on whether to kill or not.


    He kept browsing poisons, but he had a tiny problem, the more deadly the poison, the more points it cost, it wasn''t of course as expensive as a gun, but it still cost around 100 points for the cheapest of poisons, while there were poisons that went higher and higher in price, some lethal others not. Problem was he had no idea how to aply those poisons, how to give Tian the poison, it''s not as if the other will just take the bottle and drink it.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    As time passed his desire for revenge turned into reluctance as logic begun to kick in and a strange craving for more from this life. He had at last found excitement, a freedom from his mundane life, restricted by logic and responsibilities. This death game was like a godsend gift to him, unlike the others he had nothing waiting for him back home and was still too soon for him to feel homesick. To him all this was a huge adventure with him as the


    A faint smile was on his face when he thought about it, maybe what Tian did didn''t matter. Looking at the follower cards that he could buy he gave up on the poisoning idea and begun browsing the store for anything interesting, it had tons of stuff, but nothing caught his interest other than some manga volumes.


    Chris looked at the clock by his side, each passing moment seemed like lost time, he wanted to feel the excitement that the missions gave him, he wanted to be different from the helpless reclusive that spent all of this time reading manga and novels while on the side playing some stupid mmo with people that were similar to himself, loser in the game of life.


    He had escaped reality and even if it killed him it would be worth it.


    Chrysa and Hera looked at him and laughed as they saw him reading some manga, but they didn''t care as they were browsing the store for clothes and snacks.


    The only ones that still stayed in their house were the "heroes". The old and new ones still couldn''t get accustomed to their new reality, joking around to release the tension, cooking and drinking.


    It was like a club of misfits who just wanted to have a nice time before they died. They weren''t as optimistice as the "survivors" or excited like Chris, their biggest hope was surviving the next mission.


    "George what do you think about this matter, I feel as if our group has somehow become divided, between new and old members"


    Jason suddenly sad as he was sitting with george at the balcony of the house.


    "I''m more conserned about leadership, with Jonas becoming the vice leader we might have more problems than benefits"


    George stated, Jonas still saw himself as the vice leader, although in actuality he had nothing to offer, non of his laborious plans worked during the last mission and truth be told he wasn''t like Tian who put himself in danger to protect the group.


    "How many do you think will we lose during the next mission?"


    Jason asked a bit pessimistic about the future.


    "I would depend on the movie, will it be a horror movie, a thriller or an action movie?"


    George said as if it had nothing to do with them, but depended entirely on their luck.


    "Do you think we will survive the next mission?"


    Jason said while gulping a can of beer.


    "Probably, it''s not as if the previous missions were impossible to complete, if not for Tian and Chris screwing the missions by derailing the plot and taking the relics, I believe it would have been a piece of cake, don''t you remember what Nick said, taking the Relic is considered a taboo in the first place and derailing the storyline is almost as bad"


    George said, he wasn''t an idiot like some others, Nick had given them enough information to make things quite clear, each mission should only have 3 objectives, but due to them derailing the mission and getting the relics, the missions ended up having double the objectives. He couldn''t tell if they were lucky to be alive or not, but he himself knew that he had already lost his reaso to live, losing Xiao had been a huge hit on him, even though he sounded rather collected he had lost a part of himself.


    "I''ve a bad premonition, maybe I''ll be the next to die"


    Jason said a bit gloomy.


    "We will all die sooner or later, only scum like Tian and Nick can survive this game of life and death"


    George said while drinking another sip of his beer.


    "You''re wrong, the three over there next to the floating tablet will also survive"


    Jason said as he looked over to the campfire and the three people browsing for items, the two women and that irritating guy that had hoarded all the Relics so far.


    "Why do you think that?"


    George looked at them with a hint of ridicule, in his mind they weren''t neither as flexible as Nick, nor as determined as Tian, what did they have that would allow them to survive, the girls were shameless and the guy was retarded.


    "Maybe just wishful thinking, but they sure are a lucky bunch, one finds secret pieces and the other takes the relics away"


    Jason said while laughing at the end, but there was no envy at all, he just found it ironic.


    "Bullshit, if that guy continues as he does, he''ll probably die once his luck runs out, as for them they will only live for as long as Nick allows them, there''s nothing to them"


    George said his voice sounded harsh, but he was already drunk to some extend, unlike Jason, he was already at his 8th beer.


    "I didn''t say they weren''t lucky, but you do understand that other than luck it takes some skills to survive these missions, although we are new, sooner or later we will develop survival skills akin to Nick''s and Tian''s, it''s a matter of time before we adopt to our new reality and who knows maybe another Xiao will appear for you to protect, but honestly I can''t see why you cared so much about her, she threw you away like a napkin the moment Tian appeared"


    Jason''s words were harsh but they were the truth, Xiao had exchanged George with Tian real fast, but it couldn''t be helped, he was her boyfriend from the real world after all, but it still hurt.


    "Do you think we will become as strong as Tian just because we follow him, stop dreaming, maybe David could, but he died mysteriously after we seperated, not that I would want to be with that team killer"


    George said, somewhat angry, who knew if they would have been next if he was alive.


    "It wasn''t his fault, anyone would be shocked if they saw a ghost after waking up, he was after all only human"


    Jason said.


    "Human my ass, with all these stats boosts, have you seen the store? to become even stronger you have to become a mutant or a monster"


    George said quite drunk already.


    "What''s bad in becoming a super hero, if you become strong enough you might even become super man"


    Jason said jokingly.


    George just spit and didn''t continue this dialoge as he looked at the three people shoping for clothes and snacks before going inside to sleep.

 1 Infighting

    Time passed and before they knew it it was the final hour before the next mission started. The older players felt like they weren''t given enough time to rest, while the newer players were a bit anxious to see what the next mission would be like.


    "So everybody''s here"


    Nick said as he and the girls were the last ones to arrive at the campfire.


    "As the Heroes the possition of guide should be ours, so I don''t even see what there is to talk about"


    Tian said without anybody saying anything.


    "Is that so, then why didn''t you do your job right, you think we don''t know that the final mission wasn''t even accomplished by you "heroes""


    Hera said as she looked at Chris whom didn''t even care about their guide  bullshit.


    "So what it''s not as if you guys did anything till the end"


    Tian said full of disdain.


    "Do you think that it matters, last time it was your turn, this time it''s ours, it''s not as if you did a good job last time as a guide"


    Her words brought back memories of how Chris had introduced himself as Morpheous from matrix, the only thing lacking were the two pills.


    Suddenly Nick begun clapping as if this was some sort of theatric play and he was not part of the cast.


    "What is it do you also think that you should be the Guides?"


    Tian said a bit irritated by this although he now knew that Nick was probably Lady''s teacher, he didn''t care much, after all during the last mission Nick hadn''t done anything at all, his score was a clean 1000.


    "Don''t take me wrong, You can be guides, I don''t really care, truth be told I might even be using a ticket for this one since I don''t really trust you guys to succeed in a mission anymore, I thought that you would at least be somewhat reliable, since you presented yourself as a veteran, but who new you were nothing more than a newbe"


    Nick said causing Tian to grit his teeth and clench his fist ready at any moment to beat his ass.


    "How stupid, haven''t you had enough?"


    Chris suddenly said, making everyone look at him, not knowing what to say.


    "You''re one to talk, are relics really so important to you that you wish to risk everyone''s life for them?"


    Samson said enraged.


    "You''re one to talk, who are you exactly?"


    Chris said sarcasticaly, he remembered the brute that came during the last mission, but didn''t really care


    "You little shit, how many people have died because you took that relic!"


    Samson roared at him while the others were holding him back, not allowing him to beat the crap out of Chris.


    "So high and mighty, why weren''t you like that during the mission, go wag your tail around your master, at least he had the balls to murder innocent people as, maybe in the future you will become like him, criminal scum that doesn''t care about human lives!"


    Chris shouted back, but wouldn''t stand up, sitting at the campfire as if he owned the place.


    "Is that all you have to say, truthfully I don''t understand why you call NPCs as humans, they only exist until the moment we finish our mission, even if you summon a follower they have no memory of your mission and will only follow simple commands like dolls, but don''t get me wrong you''re not unique, there were other retards that believed the same thing, but they are no more, every one of them either died or came to reason and understood how pointless threating NPCs as humans was, I remember that person who used to Role play the good guy in order to get follower cards, he would then buy them from the store and sell them to others for protection, are you aiming to become a slave merchant?"


    Tian''s words were sharp like knives, Chris had no idea what followers really were, he thought he would get the people he befriended to help him, but if what he got were just hollow dolls, it would really be painful.


    "Is that so, last time I looked you it was you who totaly derailed the storyline"


    Nick said, for some reason he sided with Chris instead of Tian.


    "You can shut up, it''s not like one more objective will kill us, the problem is with relics you don''t just gain extra objectives, it also raises the difficulty of the mission as a whole"


    Tian said irritated.


    "Is that so, because I know that his relics have helped me more during the mission than you people, who burnt the mansion down for no reason"


    Nick stated with anger in his voice


    "That was an accident!"


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.Tian said, but he didn''t have any defense, it wasn''t even his own fault that it happened.


    "Your accident could have killed us! and not only us but even those that followed you, you could have killed everyone!"


    Tian said, causing everyone to look at Tian with a new understanding, it was true that the fire was an accident, but the people hidding in the secret piece had no way of knowing about it and honestly more of such accidents will occur if you don''t have a plan.


    "Stop it already, I understand that being a guide is 1000 additional points, but it''s not worth all this"


    Jonas acted as a mediator, causing everyone to rething about what they were exactly doing right now, they were trying to figure out whom the guide would, not throwing dirt on one another.


    "Then who do you think would be the best to be the guide?"


    Nick asked him, face forming a smile, but jason was lost since he wasn''t shameless enough to recomend himself and Tian wasn''t exactly good at being guide, he proved that the last time he tried.


    "I believe that captain Tian is the most suitable, although last time was his first, he still did a rather good job at it"


    Jonas said trying his best to give some lip service to his boss.


    "So you''re saying that I didn''t do a good job when guiding you?"


    Nick said with a smile, irritating Tian and causing Jonas to remember the time he said he would kill them, just to be the last survivor.


    "Why did you suddenly freeze, are you afraid of Nick, let me tell you some things about him, he''s trash, he''s always been the last person at the score board, not even lifting a finger during missions, while everyone else does all the work, if not for his good luck he would have been dead already"


    Tian said ridiculing Nick in everyone''s eyes.


    "Is that so, because before the last mission I didn''t even know your name, you must have been someone non important all along, how many missions have you survived really, a hundred, two hundred? do you have any Idea how many missions I''ve been through, I''ve seen idiots like you thousands of times, playing hero, truthfully I don''t care about the Guide''s role one bit, but unlike you I care about my group and if Hera wants to try being a Guide I think we should let her try, it''s not like you missing 1000 points will kill you"


    Nick''s words caused a commotion among the others, truth be told they knew little about Tian, other than that he was stronger than them and more experienced, little did they however know that he was just a lucky bench watcher during his first missions, he was just carried by veterans to his current strength, all luck and no real skill.


    Now Tian was in a hard spot, he really wanted to gain the extra points from being a guide, but he had already show that he was far inferior to Nick as a leader. One fought to hog points for himself, while the other was trying to groom his followers, it could be easily told who had the moral highground.


    "You act like a leader now, what about when you left me behind!"


    Mike said suddenly, wishing to get on Tian''s good grace.


    "Aren''t you alive? Leaving people behind during a crisis is what survivors do, you can go be a hero if you want team bonding and happy moments, all we want is to survive long enough in order to escape this place"


    Nick''s words resonated with the new players'' hearts, while Tian wanted to snort, because of hearing this pipe dream.


    "Bullshit, I haven''t seen a single person escaping this place or have you, didn''t you say you have been here longer than me, tell them how many people have escaped"


    Tian''s words switched everyone''s gaze towards Nick, even Chris was a bit interested in this information, not that he wanted to escape in the first place.


    "None has escaped, so what! If you live long enough you will see miracles happen, people like you all die in the end, how many veterand do you think I''ve seen dying, even those that made their own groups are just newbes to me, I''ve seen them strugle by my side, trying to earn a name for themselves, as if it matters, you can go join them for all I care after all after you join them you will probably die during one of their attempts to earn more points"


    Nick''s words were like poison to everyone''s minds, they had high hopes for the future but now everything was ruined even Hera and Chrysa were shocked by this revelation.


    Nobody knew how long Nick had been trapped in this game of life and death, but one thing was for sure it was longer than Tian and even longer than the other veterans Tian idolized. Of course that didn''t mean he could push them around, but it gave him an anfair advantage.


    "How can you be fighting for 1000p when our lives are in danger, so what if you have a bone to pick with each other, the main thing is that we all want to survive the next mission, just toss a coin or something"


    George had enough with it all, during the last mission he had lost all hope for the future and was only alive because of luck, but infighting at this stage was really stupid, this was only their second mission together and they were already fighting for points, what will happen after the third or the fourth mission, will they be killing one another in order to become guides.


    "I have a better idea why don''t we all vote, since there''s 12 people her we will just vote, let the majority decide"


    Jonas suddenly said as if he had come with the greatest idea of all times.


    "That''s unfair, there''s 8 people on your side"


    Hera complained but it all fell on deaf ears, nobody cared and the voting ended with Tian becoming the Guide. It was inevitable, since their team only had 3 people and Chris didn''t even vote, he simply didn''t care, others also didn''t want to vote but even so it still ended with a 3-5 and Tian winning.


    With that out of the way, everyone begun to talk about other matters, some bought some last minute supplies like Chris, mostly food and water.


    In general there was a lot to talk about but everyone was sure that with Tian''s strength they would survive, Tian wasn''t suicidal, although he hated planning ahead he was rather dependable in times of danger and he had magic and an assault riffle, while everyone else only had a small handgun.

 2 Alliances

    When the time came the campfire and the floating tablet disappeared, bringing them to the another empty space with people laying on the floor as if they were sleeping.


    The were the new blood that would decide whom to follow, survivors or heroes, the same way as before.


    This time the newbies were more cooperative and before they knew it both teams had a new influx of young blood, the survivor team being more popular than the heroes team, mosly due to Tian''s bad attitude.


    Most of the newbies how were asking about Chris whom was in neither of the two groups, he sat there alone staring at the title of the new mission.


    "Pitch Black"


    A movie about a spaceship that crushed on an unknown planet carrying with it a famous killer called Riddick.


    Because however they had shitty luck they arrived on the planet a few days before the sun eclipse when monsters from the underground come out and kill everything on the surface of the planet.


    Of course Riddick and a group of people escape the planet in the end and that''s all.


    George already had the plans for the mission ready, they would probably had to make sure to find the crush site of the spaceship. They only hoped it wouldn''t be too far.


    Of course all the planning only gave Tian a headache, he knew full well that it was pointless to plan ahead, a huge waste of time, the system would ruin any plans or expectations.


    The thing however was the to old and newer players, these useless plans were a huge boost in confidence. The newest players were really interested in seeing what these so called missions were about and their own future.


    On the other side the survivors were already running around following Nick and doing some light warm up excercises, instead of being huddled up and talking about future plans.


    Before long and after a lot of planning the Heroes begun their own training regime, one a lot harsher than that of the survivors. To begin with this training had two goals. Raising the old players'' stats and figuring out the new players physical capabilities.


    The most mysterious however to the new players was Chris, he trained by himself and talked to himself a lot. It was as if he was insane or something, of course the reason as to why he was speaking to himself is because he discovered a terrifying thing, the more he used the relics the weaker they became. Right now the Red Empress couldn''t even come out as a hologram like before she could only comunicate with him through the device on his wrist, By her words it seemed as if the system was restricting her access more and more, in the end she would become nothing more than a useless chat bot unable to even interfere with missions.


    Chris hadn''t expected that at all, nobody told him that this would happen, he was now reluctant to bring her to this new mission, he still had time to put her into his inventory.


    This was something that only those that had Relics would know, but Nick didn''t even care about Relics and Tian probably had never touched one in his life. Maybe some of the dislike he had for Chris came from that. Tian had gone through many missions, but he had never come in contact with a Relic, he had been indoctrinated that Relics were the source of all evil, but last mission he had seen it happen as well. Normaly missions were like a walk in the park, of course there were deaths for the new players, but veterans like himself were in no real danger at all.


    It was the same for Nick during their first mission and second mission, he was really relaxed and was sure of his survival.


    Time passed as everyone was training, but when it came time to rest a huge uproar begun among the new players.


    Hera had brought along food for the new survivors, while the Heroes had done nothing at all they had only cared about finishing the mission, they hadn''t even thought about buying food for the new players, even last time they used Chris'' supplies, since nobody had brought any food. To the Heroes however it was a huge disaster as they lost the new players trust, seeing them run towards the survivor''s camp to eat something.


    It was a complete loss in a way, but Tian and the other heroes knew full well what sort of place the survivors camp was. Nick wouldn''t care even if they all died as long as he survived, while Hera and Chrysa were powerhungry despots that forced others to do all the work.


    Mike knew that quite well, but he had to agree that their move to gain everyone''s favours was well thought. While Tian''s team only thought about how to complete the next mission and only brought spare weapons to share with everyone.


    Although weapons were more expensive than food, the new players had no way of telling and wouldn''t really care bout it when they were hungry and thirsty.


    People always think about the near future and only dream about the future far ahead. It was no miracle that all the new players begun to see the survivors group more appealing, even before they were given food people were more keen on survival rather than playing the hero.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The main problem however stemmed mostly from the leaders of the two groups, Tian was too self centered and a bit of an asshole, while Chrysa and Hera were literaly swindling the new players into joining them. Nick didn''t care at all since he just found it amusing to watch.


    To him the whole situation was like a brawl between children.


    As time passed there was nothing of interest, the new players were a lot more easygoing, most of them at least.


    "Everyone gather up, survivors and heroes will have to work together until you can find a safe place to cower"


    Tian announced, but only after Hera and Chrysa moved towards him did the new players follow.That was because Hera and Chrysa knew that he was right, before they find the secret piece they are in the same boat as the survivors, there''s nothing they could do.


    "Since everyone is her listen up well, want it or not we''re a team and if we survive we do it together, I understand that you think that being a survivor is easier, but in reality it''s the opposite, you can ask any Mike, who used to be a survivor about what happened to the previous group of survivors"


    Tian said, while bringing Mike to their sight, whom was happy to cooperate.


    "During the last mission out of 6 survivors, 2 died early and I changed sides because I was left behind by the group, you think that the survivors are a group, but it''s not so, all they do is order you aroud and then run away leaving you to die, they will use you as bait or even sent you to your deaths when they no longer need you"


    His words caused everyone to look at Hera and Chrysa with eyes of doubt and suspicion, while Nick didn''t even approach the group gathering, he had no interest in it at all, still running and doing some excercise of his own.


    The situation didn''t look good for the survivor group, Hera and Chrysa were boiling with rage, but could do nothing to dispell the atmosphere, it was true that being a survivor wasn''t something noble or even decent. All they learnt is how to hide while the Heroes did all the job and gained all the rewards, honestly it was nothing to be jealous of.


    The two felt lost as from the huge group they had before only a few people still agreed to follow them, the most cowardly and weak, this was the fate of the survivor group. On the other side, more than half of the new players had now joined the hero side, as for the food, they had long eaten and were fully satisfied, they had no need of the survivor group anymore.


    "Wait, why do we need to train if all we need to do is survive"


    One of the new survivors said and the other two agreed with him, causing Hera a headache.After Mike''s words it was impossible for them to order those people around, it was completely depressing to find themselves in the position of nunnies to a bunch of lazy cowards.


    The more time passed the more the teams were fighting over new and even old members begun to have their own thoughts. The main difference being the goal of the two groups, the survivors wanted to go home, while the heroes were there to stay until they died. To those that didn''t know the gist of it all, it seemed obvious whom to follow. Those that stived to return home sided with the survivors, while those that wanted power and adventure sided with the Heroes.


    Chris at times looked at the two teems exchanging members and only thought ill of them. In all honesty they were still part of one group, why bother scrambling for people, what didn''t they understand from the simple description they were given.If you don''t fulfill the mission objectives you die, quite simple and understandable.


    If everyone joined the survivor team, it only meant that they would just be wait to die.


    "Chris, can I have a word with you?"


    Suddenly Mike approached him, truthfuly Chris was rather surprised since they had never talked before and to him, he was just another new face that would probably go and die in a ditch somewhere.


    "What is it?"


    Chris asked devoid of emotions.


    "I want to form an alliance with you"


    Mike said, which caused a hint of interest in Chris, if he was the Red Empress she would have jumped onto this opportunity to form a group of their own.


    "What for, you already have the vast majority of people on your side, what do you want me for?"


    Chris'' words caused Mike to smile in a rather villaneous way.


    "You see Chris, I have a plan that can only succeed with your help"


    Mike said while signalling him to come closer.


    "I need you to use your relic to hire the  bounty hunter during the next mission"


    Mike silently whispered towards him as they sat down to talk.


    "That, you want me to hire him as your bodyguard?"


    Chris'' mind turned fast, but the answer was not what he had expected.


    -I need him to kill Nick


    -Not interested


    -Then what if I offer you an offer you cannot resist?


    -And what is that?


    -I will help you become the leader of the Hero team


    -But I don''t...


    -Shhh, I''ve seen how you looked at Tian, I know that you want to kill him, but that''s not the right way to become the leader of the Heroes


    -I don''t...


    -You can fool yourself, but I can tell that you''re jealous of him


    -No I''m not


    -Sure, suit yourself, I saw how you were looking at the score board, but did you know that helping others also earns you points, by moving alone you will never reach the same heights as Tian


    -I don''t care


    -But you do, why don''t you ask your A.I. and it will tell you to take this offer while it stands


    Chris was shocked, because the A.I. indeed told him to make the deal. The A.I. had long come to the conclusion that Nick and Tian were dangerous variables that messed up with the calculations.


    Chris was shocked to find out that Mike''s action was indeed favourable for himself, but he didn''t know if he wanted to so, just because of logic.


    He felt manipulated by the A.I. at the moment as if his actions were too dependant on the A.I., but until now, the A.I. had never really failed him, with the help of the A.I. he had been more than safe during the last two missions, thus he decided to trust it again.


    "Alright I''m in"


    He said as they shook hands and begun chatting about different things while training.

 3 Lawless

    It was surprising when Chris and mike''s traning was stopped by Samson and his newly recruited goons.


    "Hello Chris, I''ve asked Tian and he told me that I can help you train"


    Chris didn''t know why but he felt strange after hearing these words, but before he knew it, both him and Mike were surrounded.


    Two pairs of hands took off his backpack and then begun holding him in place as Samson begun beating him up.


    "You know Chris, you should be thanking me, I''ll be giving you special endurance training, until you bleed, you see with 200 points in cell vitality you can''t use them all up by training, but if I beat you up you''ll use them all in no time"


    This explaination might have worked if he was a masochist, but all he felt was the pain from Samson''s kicks and punches, at times the two goons would also throw a punch or two and then they begun kicking him as he lay on the ground.


    It felt painful and the only thing he could do was make sure they didn''t kick his face, protecting it with his hands.


    "Have you had enough yet?"


    Samson suddenly stopped and asked, there was no smugness in his voice, acting as if he was doing him a favor or something.


    "To tell you the truth I didn''t want to do this, but take this as an advice, if you take the Relic again, you''re dead meat, are we clear"


    Samson didn''t even wait for a reply as he took his goons and left.


    Mike arrived to give him a hand, but Chris already felt betrayed.


    "Don''t Mind this, after the mission I''ll make sure you will be the leader, as for Samson, he''ll be at your feet asking for forgiveness"


    Chris was skeptical, but what else could he do other than taking Mike''s hand and standing up. Samson looked at them somewhat puzzled, but he didn''t say anything, this was all according to plan.


    Tian looked at this with some suspicion, but didn''t really care what the two were doing, as long as they didn''t kill Chris everything was fine.


    Tian on the other side was more interested in what was going on, he had seen mike approach multiple people, talking to them one by one with a friendly face.


    Nick had approached one of them, but all he learned was that Mike advised the person to go to the survivors, because he was too weak to be a hero.


    Nick was smiling as he found this really interesting, he then went and told something to Hera and Chrysa, before he went to a corner and begun to sleep.


    The other survivors were rather surprised by this, since before that he had been running with them and doing extensive training, even Hera and Chrysa were puzzled by his behavior.


    The most however puzzled was Mike, he didn''t know if he had been found out or not, but he felt a pressure out of nowhere by the sleeping guy, as if all his plans had already been seen through.


    Mike didn''t mingle with Chris for more than needed, he went off doing his things, his eyes however were glued on Nick the whole time, not letting him off his vision for even a second, like a predator locked onto its prey.


    His actions however weren''t too candid, there were others that were also trying to figure out what he was doing, but after seeing him trying to rope Chris and some others, they believed he was trying to create his own group.


    While running Chris couldn''t take his mind off the deal he had just made, could he really use the bounty hunter to kill Nick?


    Then his mind went on, asking why not killing Tian as well while he was at it, it, but something inside of him made him feel like both thought were just wrong.


    Did he really want to be leader of the Hero team?


    It would feel awesome in a way, but what did the leader even do, he had no idea, in his mind it was no different than an empty title.


    At the same time looking at Nick he felt inspired for some reason. How could Nick be sleeping, in a few hours the new mission would begin and everyone would once more fight for survival.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Hearing the plot of the next movie he could tell that it wouldn''t be easy to survive, especialy once darkness falls.


    He looked in his inventory and sighed, seeing only a small flashlight inside he could tell that it wouldn''t be an easy mission. He wondered if the others even had a flashlight, but there was nothing to indicate that they had, some of them didn''t even have a backpack, while others seem to only had gotten food and water for the newcomers.


    This time it was different than the last few times, the new players were more relaxed, but due to the lack of equipment a fight over the smallest item begun.


    It was insane how a gunshot suddenly sounded out and one of the new people suddnly fell down probably dead.


    "I didn''t mean to do this"


    Were the last words before the woman with the gun and the corpse begun to fade away in front of their eyes.


    Some new players thought that this was the way out of this so called death game, but Tian''s words woke them up.


    "They are dead"


    "How do you know?"


    One of the new players asked with disbelief.


    "Because I can kill all of you and still not disappear, she just didn''t have enough points to pay the 1000 points penalty when killing other players, but I have enough"


    Tian said raising an Iron fist over all the new players that thought they had found the easy way out.


    Reality however struck them hard, unlike before the morale became really low.


    Fear begun to slowly conquer their minds, non of them wanted to die and new and old players suddenly found themselves in a rather bad situation. One group had no points and the other had spent most of their points.


    The atmosphere however didn''t last for long, because of Samson. For some inexplicable reason he decided to beat the crap of another person, a rather cheeky guy that insulted him, thinking that the other wouldn''t be able to touch him.


    "I''ll brake both your legs and wait for you to die naturaly"


    Samson said as he was beating the crap out of him, causing everyone to understand that there was no deterence at all.


    If Samson wasn''t a rookie with guns maybe the cheeky idiots dead would have come faster.


    To Samson''s misfortune, Hera arrived with a gun to his head, telling him that she still had 1000 points left, if he doesn''t get off her team mate she would blow his brains out.


    Samson spit on the poor guy and left to his own side. There was strength in numbers and the heroes had the numbers on their side.


    The so called players, whom were supposed to be a group suddenly found themselves on two different sides and unlike before, there was no turning back, all they could do was stay on their respective side, while at times glance at the other side.


    Chris sat haggardly at the side, his equipment all stolen by those bullies and his eyes full of hate. He wasn''t however the only one, there now were others whom had suffered under the oppresion of those stronger than themselves. Some were even raped by those idiots, after the incident of that woman shooting a guy and disappearing, those who were weak felt helpless, while those that were physicaly  strong felt as if they were in the right.


    The one most affected by this development was however Mike. How could he had known that his manipulation in trying to divide the two groups would end in this. As things were now, there were more than two groups of people. One were the survivors, whom were united by their own weakness and helplessness, the other teams were those among the heroes, there were at least 5 different groups among the heroes, but whether they would even listen to Tian in the end would be questionable.


    Mike thought he had everything thought out, but the current situation wasn''t exactly to his advantage. He wanted to get rid of Nick, but he didn''t want to die in this mission, if the Heroes were divided the chances of success would fall, what he wanted was to divide the two sides not to create chaos and unrest.


    As he viewed the two sides right now, there was no unity in either of them, because the only survivors with guns were Hera and Chrysa, while Nick had decided to take a nap and let life take its course.


    Mike hated Nick for not intervening at all, it was the same with before, if Nick had moved everything would have been so easy, he was sure of it. Unlike Tian he could feel how strong Nick was, even when he did nothing, Nick only needed one move to show off his dominance, while Tian had to do so again and again, lest they forget that he''s the boss.


    Of course Mike knew how it all got down to hell, it was all Samson''s fault. He took it too far, all Mike had told him was that he could beat up people without any penalties and do what he wanted, but  Samson took it too far.


    Tian didn''t really care about unity in the first place, while George and Jason  were beaten up, because they wanted to act the hero.


    Of course the main problem were the two punks that Samson recruited, with their help and fearlessness they could do anything.


    Mike seriously didn''t know what to do about the situation, should he tell Chris to add Samson on the bounty hunter''s kill list.


    It was one Hour before the start of the mission and the atmosphere was worse than ever. Nobody talked and the multiple Hero groups were all over the place.


    Mike had approached Chris twice already, but the other was in his own world and didn''t even greet him.


    Everything was going to hell, but Mike was sure that once the mission begins he would find a way to achieve all his goals

 4 Meeting with the NPCs

    At last the time for the mission to begin had come. Everyone seemed a bit more alive as they were suddenly teleported to a desert.


    Everyone looked around, mostly looking for the spaceship debris, but it seemed at if once more they were thrown into far away spot in the map from their objective.


    Suddenly a stone fell from the sky, most of them looked at it and then at the sky only to see a small dot in the sky. It was approaching fast and it was coming right at them.


    The players begun to scatter in all directions, the debris came first as the whole spaceship was on fire as it entered the planet''s atmosphere.


    Two people died from the debris and some were wounded, one could call them unfortunate as one of the ship''s compartments was detached and fell right where they were.


    The Players were shocked beyond belief as the huge container crushed into the sand, sinking further and further, the only fortunate thing was that it hadn''t crushed anyone.


    "Stop wasting time! Follow me, we have to reach the Front of the Spaceship, I recon that it might take half a day to do so"


    Tian''s voice came at the right moment unifying the scattered group, those wounded were helped by others to bind their injuries with what little supplies they had. Samson was unhappy that the bandages he stole from Chris were used on those wastes.


    Chris was reluctant, but it would be best for the mission if they arrived at the wreckage of the ship.


    The road however towards the wreckage was a long one, the sun was unbearable and everyone looked at the people that had a souce of water with them. Mostly Hera who had brought lots of food and Samson whom had stolen Chris'' things.


    The group walked in the desert for around an hour, they could already see the wreckage in the distance, but it would take them some time to reach it.


    People were thirsty already, but they already knew that there was no way to aleviate this heat, it would continue until the moment the monsters would appear. Some even wished for that day to come a bit earlier just to escape the heat.


    They were almost there when the first person passed out due to the heat. The others did their best to carry the person with them, it wouldn''t be long until they reach their objective, but the curious thing was that the mission objective hadn''t appeared yet.


    Suddenly a bullet shot in front of their feet and a loud voice shouted.


    "Identify yourselves!"


    Only then did the mission appear in all its glory.


    ==Objective No 1 - Reach the geological settlement within the time limit of  48 hours==


    "We''re Shipwreck survivors like yourselves!"


    Shouted Nick, seeing as Tian and the others were not sure what to say.


    "Leave your guns on the ground and you can approach!"


    The loud voice sounded once again.


    Everyone begun to leave their guns on the ground, except for those that had no guns, Chris was in that group since his weapons were stolen by Samson and given to his goons to use.


    Inside the spaceship wreckage Johns and the other survivors looked at the large group of people that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The first thought they had were that they were scavengers, that would attack them and sell them as slaves. The galaxy was never a good place after all, there were still many solar systems where slavery was legal.


    As Johns sighed in relief seeing the strangers nonchalantly dropping their guns, showing that they meant no harm, a voice came from behind him and the others.


    "You will regret this Johns, they smell like bounty hunters"


    Suddenly Johns'' brows forrowed as he looked at the newcomers, but he had already lied that he was a police officer, escorting a prisoner. If they were bounty hunters, it could mean that his prey was in danger of being stolen.


    Everyone else came out of the spaceship to meet the newcomers, seeing that the newcomers had food and water, they were more than wellcome.


    "How did your ship fall, is it far away, maybe we can combine the parts of the two ships to escape the planet"


    Fry the female pilot said with some hope in her eyes, seeing that there were almost 20 people in the other group, their ship should be a lot larger than their own.


    "Not even worth trying, our ship was so badly destroyed that we were lucky to escape alive, our of 80 people only us escaped and we have been walking in this desert for days"


    Nick said, making everyone else reluctantly agree with him, since they were somewhat bad at lying, Nick made is sound so easy to pull off.


    Nick didn''t speek any further, as he introduced the real leader of the group, Tian to deal with the troublesome stuff.


    The survivors from the ship wreck were 7 adults and a group of 5 kids. The one acting as their leader was Johns, whom introduced himself as as a police officer, escorting the dangerous criminal named Riddick to prison.


    With that introduction the players were all interested to look at Riddick, but he didn''t look anything extra ordinary, just some muscly guy bald guy, with no charisma at all, nothing like the actor playing him in the movie.


    One of the players was foolish enough to approach the man, Riddick slowly opened his eyes, his pupils were grey with a purple hue to them, but this action alone was enough to terrify the player into retreat.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!Riddick begun to abruptly laugh, causing everyone to feel fear in their hearts.


    Only for a second laughter for follow, not long after which drew everyone''s attention to one of the players. It was Chris and the reason he was laughing was because the player that approached was one of Samson''s goon and secondly he  found the whole situation rather funny.


    His laugher made even Riddick stop to look at him, as if he was seeing a dead man.


    "What are you laughing about!"


    The one whom approached him with anger was Samson.


    "Stop it, we can''t be fighting among ourselves right now!"


    Fry shouted, getting in between the two.


    Samson looked at her with some anger, but he didn''t dare touch her because of Tian''s orders.


    After the last mission, Tian had decided to not kill the NPCs, because of George whom had saved his life and because he was sure that the team he had right now was useless trash. The only three people that were worth something were Nick, Chris and George in his eyes.


    "Listen big guy, while you''re on our ship, you will take orders from me!"


    Johns suddenly said to Samson, before giving him a hit in the guts with his shotgun, seeing him plopping to the floor like a mudfish on dry land.


    "Anyone has any opinions on this?"


    Johns'' shotgun was the best arguement and everyone had already left their guns in the sands before coming over.


    Johns'' gaze was however on Tian, whom was supposed to be the leader of these survivors. He was rather curious about the guy, who hadn''t spoken much even though he was the leader. If not for Nick''s words, he would have never figured out that he was the leader.


    Tian was also shocked by how decisive Johns was, although he knew that the other was just an NPC, he wouldn''t look down on him. He looked like a military specialist, something that Tian was afraid of crossing fire with. He hated military NPCs the most, not only were they stronger than regular NPCs, but most of them weren''t afraid of attrition warfare.


    "I agree"


    Nick suddenly said, making everyone look confused, since it wasn''t supposed to be his turn to talk.


    Tian gritted his teeth as he held it in and then with a smile said.


    "I agree as well"


    After Tian a huge wave of player said that they agreed to the arrangement. Johns was satisfied and didn''t see that in a corner Chris looked at the whole picture without really caring about it.


    Before long Johns begun to argue with Fry about supplies and how this huge group would only weight them down.


    The solar energy buggy they had could only accomodate 2 people and hearing that there should be a geological research settlement nearby, caused everyone to be happy.


    The problem was that Tian wanted a lot of people to follow him there, making Johns a bit angry.


    Normaly this would be solved with Tian earning a bullet in the head, but Johns didn''t want to expose himself as a bounty hunter yet.


    The journey towards the settlement didn''t start immediately, but Tian had already taken most of the people towards the settlement, those that stayed behind were the survivor group and the NPCs.


    Fry and Johns were the two that would take the buggy and see what the settlement was all about, both didn''t believe the newcomers'' intelligence and wanted to see for themselves, but that would be later, first they would spent some time on gathering resources from the compartments of the ship that were ejected.


    The survivor group were happy to help them out with that task, since all they wanted to do was survive.


    Chris looked at the survivor group, whom were helping out the NPCs in any way they could, they were all kind and chatty.


    Nick came to sit next to Chris for a second, until he saw the tied up criminal inside and decided to go find a better place to sleep.


    Chris heard a faint sound from behind him, he looked and Riddick was saying something, but it was too silent to hear.


    He was probably trying to make him to go closer or something.


    Chris wasn''t afraid of the guy, but he knew the guy could kill people with a spoon in the movies.


    "I can''t hear you"


    Chris said.


    "He''s saying water"


    Suddenly a childish voice came from a small distance.


    "then go give him some, or are you afraid, he''ll bite you?"


    Chris said, making the young boy a bit discouraged.


    There was a bottle not too far away, the survivors had left it for him, mostly because Hera said so. She was playing the benevolent goddess in the eyes of the survivors, but in reality she didn''t do anything herself, just ordering others to do everything.


    "Coward"


    Chris teased the boy and took the bottle and approached Riddick, causing both Riddick and the boy to be surprised.


    What shocked Riddick the most however was what Chris did next, He stopped the bottle in front of Riddick and then suddenly the electronic handcuffs opened.


    "Here, drink by yourself"


    The child rushed out of the cabin screaming, while Riddick''s dumpstruck face looked hilarious.


    "Are you drinking or not?"


    Chris said irritated, holding the bottle in place.


    "Aren''t you afraid of me?"


    Riddick asked before carefuly taking the bottle away with a snapping movement.


    "Why should I, after all it''s not like you wouldn''t have escaped anyways"


    Chris said as he turned his back to him and went back to sit at the exit of the cabin like before.


    "Give me a gun"


    Suddenly Riddick said after gulping all the water down in one breath.


    -Get it yourself


    -You''re a strange guy


    -Not as strange as you


    -Why do you say that?


    -Because you haven''t killed me yet


    -Why would I want to kill you


    -How should I know, maybe because I''m pissing you off


    -See you later strange guy


    -It''s Chris!


    -See you later Chris


    The child returned with all the adults, Johns included, seeing the empty room, Johns pointed his gun at Chris.


    "Where did Riddick go!"


    Johns shouted.


    "How should I know"


    Chris said with an indifferent tone that only made Johns more angry.


    "Wait Sir, this guy is even more valuable than Riddick!"


    Hera suddenly shouted, causing Johns to stand there puzzled, Riddick whom was hidding was also interested.


    "He''s a money making hacker"


    Hera said, but her words puzzled Johns and the others, they never heard about hacker being able to make money, although it wasn''t completely impossible in theory.


    "It''s true, if he wanted to he could even hack into this spaceship"


    She said, which maked no sense at all, since there was no wifi or anything that would allow that.


    "Idiot, just make the lights go on and off or something"


    Hera said, making everyone confused, since they hadn''t restored the lighing function yet, after all it was still bright outside and they didn''t need more light.


    "Just leave me alone"


    Chris said, disregarding them all, but Johns was greedy, if by even a chance what that woman said was real, he couldn''t let this hacker die for nothing.


    "Hack this for me, just make it show 20 millions and I''ll leave you alone"


    Johns threw a strange cilinder with some numbers on it to Chris, it was airtightly shut and looked somewhat dirty.


    Chris didn''t know what it was and just did what he was told before throwing it back at him. Johns eyes were glowing with excitement, screw Riddick, he was now rich, now all he had to do was get off the planet.


    "How did you do that?"


    "That''s illegal!"


    "Can you do mine too"


    The voices of the others caused Chris to have a headache, but this action made them understand why non of the survivors were carrying any money on them, with such an ability who needs to carry money.

 5 Water Water

    After filling everyone''s accounts with a million or two, Chris was left alone.


    While the people went around doing their jobs, Fry and Johns left to see the settlement. The two prospectors decided to dig a well, just in case, while the merchant and preacher went to look if their items were still alright, searching for anything of use.


    Riddick only appeared a few times to steal water and food, most of the time hiding like a hunted animal.


    Suddenly there was a huge arguement between the two prospectors and the survivor group.


    "Idiot you will die if you dig fruther, there are monsters underground!"


    One of the survivors said seriously.


    But the prospector named Zeke was acted as if he heard a fart. His partner Shazza was of the same mind, if they could dig a well they would get a stable environment for survival.


    "If you don''t stop digging I will shoot!"


    One of the survivors suddenly said, holding a gun.


    "Oi, there, I don''t know what''s the deal about the monsters you''re talking about, but digging a well is simple work, nobody will be hurt"


    Zeke said as he took his hands off of the weird futuristic excavator. The other survivors also begun to shout in disagreement with this method, they weren''t the same sort of savages as the Hero group.


    Before long Zeke, Shazza and the survivors sat down and begun talking about the best way to build a well, after all it wasn''t impossible, the only problem was to not dig a big enough hole.


    Riddick once more approached Chris whom was sitting by himself.


    -What are you thinking about?


    -Why would you care?


    -Well you''re not like the others


    -No I''m exactly like them


    -You have no fear


    -Fear is just something you overcome


    -Thanks for the water


    Riddick suddenly disappeared after having stolen Chris'' water.


    Chris felt a bit thirsty, but honestly he didn''t care if he lived or died anymore. After the beating from Samson he understood one thing, be it the real world or this death game they were no different, people would always impose rules on one another and the strongest would impose their own rule.


    Chris wasn''t delusional, he knew full well that he wasn''t strong, he could probably put up a fight when one against one, but when outnumbered he became a punching bag.


    A long distancea away the Heroes were walking in the hot desert, the solar powered buggy had just passed them not too long ago, but from that they knew that they were headed the right way.


    Tian was probably the only one that didn''t complain about the heat.


    When the first person fainted, Tian told them to leave him there, there was no reason to carry an unconcious person throught the desert and into even more danger. After all this was only the first objective.


    Tian looked at the exhausted faces behind him, everyone was tired, walking for hours in the desert wasn''t a walk in the park. Those short stops they had were more of a torture rather than a reprieve, so they stopped doing it. But the fall of the first person was the signal of danger, as anyone could be the next.


    George and Jason disobeyed his orders and carried the unconcious guy with them, but Tian didn''t say anything to them, he saved his strength for the journey ahead.


    "Can''t we go back"


    Someone suddenly said from behind.


    "Everyone we''re not too far from our target, just try to keep up"


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.George said, trying to fix the morale of the group a little, but he himself knew that it was pointless.


    Tian and Samson were the only ones who had water and while Tian didn''t drink any water this whole time, everyone could see Samson and his goons enjoying the water. George estimated that by the end of the mission Samson would have even more goons as other people wished to join his group just to have a sip of water.


    Tian didn''t see Samson as a rival at all, holding his assault riffle in hand he was confident that he could wound them all and just let them to be monster food in the desert. Even without the assault riffle he still had confidence of taking those noobs on.


    Walking forwards following the buggy tracks was easier than following a single direction, Tian was confident that within a day''s time they would reach their destination, it might be tough, but it wasn''t imposible.


    George and Jason were lagging behind as they were now carrying two people that had fainted from the heat. If only they had a hat or something it would be really good, but the abominable sun was too hot.


    At that time the solar powered buggy had reached the settlement and Johns and Fry were elated to see a spaceship parked there.


    They didn''t even look at the water well not too far away and charged for it.


    "The Power cells are completely drained, otherwise it could fly, all we have to do is bring four power cells from the wreckage"


    Fry said as she checked for any further problems.


    "Then we have to make sure that we have enough food and water for the journey"


    Johns said as he played with the small money tube, looking at his twenty millions.


    "It''s not so simple, the power cells are heavy, we could at most bring one at a time with us, the journey here and back is one hour at most, but only one person can take the buggy"


    Fry said, causing Johns to understand the problem of the matter, he looked around and found another matter, the spaceship was too small, if he included those scavengers into his account they had more than 20 people now, it was a problem and those scavengers even had guns, he now regretted allowing them to take their guns into the desert.


    "Lets take some water back for now, I''m sure we can figure this problem out, after all you saw how those scrabs could walk in the desert, we can probably do the same"


    Johns said, causing Fry to be somewhat more relaxed.


    As the buggy was returning they saw the desert wanderers and gave them some water to drink. The players were overjoyed and thanked the two generous NPCs for their concern and kindness.


    Johns had a wide smile on his face as Fry gave everyone water to drink. They four gas tanks of water on the buggy and they were sure it would be enough for everyone.


    As for food, they were sure there was enough in the settlement, as long as they brought the whole group there and looked around, because with two people it was impossible to examine the whole place.


    Back at the wreckage Riddick appeared in front of Chris once more with a new bottle of water.


    "Do you want some?"


    "Not really"


    Chris lied, he really hated it when he was being helped by others, even back in the resident evil mission he wanted to be useful, but ended up being a dead weight.


    "Buddy you should really look after your health, drink some and I don''t mind if you shared some of your sandwiches"


    Riddick said while taking some of the food left for Chris.


    Chris really hated those busybodies survivors for leaving food and water for him. Riddick on the other side was thankful, it saved him the effort of stealing it himself.


    "Nice sandwitch, can you ask them to add some mayo next time"


    Riddick''s words made Chris angry, but he just smiled it off and stared into the distance, he could see the others returning after scavanging the ejected compartments, returning with boxes of supplies and tools. Even the children were helping carry the supplies, the merchant was really generous, playing with his own money tube, rather happily while drinking one of the fine wines from his collection.


    "I owe you a favour buddy, so I''ll give you a warning, tell your friends that Johns will probably burry them all in the desert sooner or later, he''s just that sort of guy"


    Riddick said while turning his back to leave.


    "I don''t care even if they all died, they''re not my friends, they''re nobodies to me, they only care because they can use me"


    Chris said, creating a strange misunderstanding. It was after all logical to use a hacker that could earn them millions, if this was in Riddick''s world it would be no better than being in a golden cage, who would let such a hacker out of their sight. Them having guns was also a thing and Chris not having one, was also a strange coincidence.


    "Do you want me to kill them for you?"


    Riddick suddenly said, a bit reluctant, after all the survivors seemed like a jolly bunch of wackos.


    "Leave them alone, it''s not like they will survive the nightfall"


    Chris said, making Riddick a bit interested.


    "What will happen when night falls?"


    Riddick asked puzzled.


    "That''s when the monsters come out"


    Chris said, making Riddick bursh out laughing, it was a good joke or so he thought.

 6 Objective complete

    Hera was getting anxious, they''ve been searching all the ejected compartments for the hidden piece, but hadn''t found it yet.


    Nick just followed them around doing nothing as usual, only fetching bottles of alcohol to carry back.


    Chrysa was looking after the new players and NPCs, in case something happened, mostly afraid that Riddick might decide to kill them in order to take their food or water. Contrary to her expectations Riddick didn''t do much, other than stealing some tools, food and other stuff he did nothing murderous. At a thought it did''t feel so strange since he did the same in the movie, but this situation wasn''t exactly to his favor.


    Chrysa was sweating as she carried a box back to their temporary base, the wreckage of the ship. The other survivors were happy to come back as well, since it meant that they could rest for the day.


    They had salvaged enough food and resources that would last them for days.


    Chrysa was really irritated after seeing Chris sitting there doing nothing, but thinking about the first and second missions, maybe he had already done more than enough.


    The NPCs most friendly with the NPCs were Zeke and Shazza, they were mere prospectors whom were travelling to a nameless settlement for work, but now that they were both rich, they were in a really good mood.


    Paris was a rather lazy person, for a merchant, he ordered everyone around and even insulted a few of the survivors on the way for almost breaking some of the more fragile boxes. Who knew what these boxes had in, but he had told the survivors to take them back to base with them. Nick on the other side was rather friendly with Paris, he even helped him order the survivors around, when the survivors discovered they were carrying alcohol and cigars, they were really angry and looked at Nick with some agression only to be told to get something to drink from the box, causing them to become even more irritated.


    The only problem now was Riddick, he was like a thorn to their side, although they might somehow come to an understanding with him, but they couldn''t even find his shadow. The truth however was that they were all afraid of him, unlike in the movie this Riddick lacked the charisma of a good actor, he looked more like a hardened criminal, there was no way anyone would feel comfortable around him.


    It''s hard to tell why, but non dared simply shout out Riddick''s name until Johns arrived.


    "Riddick you son of a bitch come out here! we need to talk!"


    Johns and Fry had just arrived with enough water to last them for days, but Johns had more plans in his mind.


    To everyone''s surprise Riddick, like an agile puma, jumped down from the top of the wreckage and landed not too far away from Johns and the others.


    He was wearing black gogles and in his hands were two sharp blades, which he begun to grind against each other, causing everyone to feel some presure.


    "Lets make a deal!"


    Johns shouted, causing everyone to look at his with suspicion, even the NPCs looked at him with strange faces.


    "Now you''re talking my language, how many millions will I be given, since you''re all rich here, I won''t be helping for scrabs right?"


    Riddick said with a smirk on his face.


    "It seems that even a bastard like you knows the worth of money"


    Johns smiled as he pointed at his own money tube and then at Chris.


    "Just give me the numbers already"


    Riddick asked.


    "50-50, but there''s a bit of a problem that we have to solve first"


    Johns said, while pointing his shotgun at one of the survivors and pulling the trigger.


    "There''s just too many of us, only 12 people can leave this stinky rock"


    These words caused everyone to panic, Johns wanted to drop the numbers.


    "Oh, then what about the others that have crossed the desert?"


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Riddick said nonchalantly, as if he already agreed to the deal.


    "We''ll get to them later"


    Johns said as he shot another female survivor as if he he hated women or something.


    "Then what about the lady captain?"


    Riddick said, as he looked behind Johns at the shocked Fry.


    "We will need a second pilot don''t you think, as for the rest they''re useless to us"


    Johns said as he pointed the gun towards one of the children, only for the preacher to get in front of the gun.


    Suddenly a gunshot was heard and heard and Johns died with a shocked expression, a bullet having pierced right in between his eyes.


    "I''m sorry, but you forgot to ask if I agree with the two of you"


    Nick suddenly said as he pointed his gun at Riddick next.


    "Will you also try to kill my people?"


    Nick asked, causing Riddick to instantly move like a ghost inside the wreckage and disappear.


    The survivors that were still alive were happy to be alive, although there was only four of them now, Hear and Chrysa included. Nobody knew why Nick took so long to act or why the other two who had guns didn''t act before that.


    Everyone however felt as if they had escaped from deadly danger, even the NPCs.


    ==Objective No 2 - Kill 100 Bioraptors==


    Seeing the message the survivors knew that the Heroes had already arrived at the settlement.


    The survivors were even more happy that the first objective was complete, as for killing those creatures, the heroes could probably make it.


    Now that the danger had subsided, everyone was happy, only Chris looked at the distance as if nothing really mattered. Truthfully these missions didn''t appear deadly at all, unless you tried to achieve the objectives.


    If nobody however tried to achieve the objective then they would all fail.


    Although the new mission had no time limit, the problem was that they didn''t know how long they had until night fell and all the creatures beging to go rampart.


    "So what''s the plan now?"


    Nick poured water on their excitement, the NPCs and survivors all looked at him with expectations, expecting him to lead them out of this situation.


    Johns might have wanted to kill them, but he was right, there was no way that all of them could leave the planet and the NPCs feared that the players that went there would find this fact as well.


    They all were like headless chicken that didn''t know what was required of them, both the NPCs and the survivors. Where however could anyone find a leader, Hera and Chrysa were no up to par and Nick didn''t seem to care. Everyone''s stares turned to Fry since she used to be the one in control together with Johns.


    Fry gulped hard as everyone''s expectations seemed to be crushing her. There was no way she could take everyone off the planet, she looked around lost for words, smiling helplessly as she couldn''t look them in the eyes. Scenes of how she tried to eject them came to mind, but nobody knew, her guilt ate her from the inside.


    She was having a moment to herself when Riddick appeared before her.


    "Need any help, I could reduce the numbers for you"


    Riddick said as he sized her up with a bottle of water in his hands.


    "You''re..."


    Fry was shocked to find herself alone in the same room with a criminal.


    "Don''t act like that, truth is I like you very much, especialy when you tried to eject everyone to save yourself, such a  nice character"


    Riddick said, sincerely complimenting her, he always found selfish people more pleasing to the eye than those self righteous fools that preached about justice and equality.


    "I just want to save everyone"


    She said, a bit reluctantly, wanting to redeem herself, looking at Riddick as if he were a monster that would eat her very soul.


    "Could the two of you find a room to flirt, I''m trying to sleep here"


    Nick suddenly interjected, his voice coming from above.


    Riddick then took out a knife and begun poking at the roof, as if one could cut through the outer shell of a spaceship with a knife, he was just trying to frighten the guy above, but his action frightened Fry more than Nick, whom just felt annoyed.


    "Pathetic, you''re not their mother, you owe them nothing, why do you care about them?"


    Riddick asked irritated.


    "Because..."


    Fry couldn''t find the words to explain it herself, even she had no idea as to why she wantd to go so far for them.


    "Do you want to save me too?"


    Riddick smirked as he played with his dagger.


    Fry could only nod unconciously, not knowing herself why, was it really out of guilt or because of something greater.


    Suddenly Riddick lounged towards a dark corner as a person entered, it was one of the kids. There was a fight between the survivors, one group wanted to relocated to the settlement and the other wanted to stay.


    "I''ll be there in a bit"


    Fry said with renewed drive, looking at the darkness Riddick had disappeared as the boy left.


    "Don''t be afraid, I still like you a lot"


    Riddick said as he left throught the door.


    "I love you too honey!"


    A voice came from above which made the atmosphere awkward. Nick really didn''t have anything better to do that play with the NPCs, especialy when he knew that everything was going well.

 7 Heroes

    While the survivors were having their own problems our Heroes were at the settlement having their own disagreements.


    They already knew where they could get monsters to kill, but George was against doing so without a plan.


    Tian just wanted them to go into the werehouse open the Hole and shout inside and then kill all the monsters that come out. This however was really risky, many people would be injured and some might even die.


    George wanted them to set some sort of barricade and shoot from behind it as the monsters came out, this could be done, but it would take time. Of course they always had time to argue about it.


    Samson and his goons wanted to just stand outside the werehouse and shoot at the monsters inside. It sounded smart, but they forgot that non of them had shot a gun before.


    The main however emotion in the group of heroes was excitement. This was the first time for most of them to use their weapons, it would be their first real fight. It was understandable both for old and new players.


    Before long all three groups of Heroes went on each doing their best to accomplish their own goal, mostly however it was George''s small group trying to barricade themselves with some furniture inside the werehouse.


    The Hole was silent and there was no sound coming from inside, since they had time Tian waited for them before he and his group would attack the hole by shooting downwards, if they were lucky they would kill those monsters before they could even come out.


    Everything was ready and Tian and three others approached the artificialy made hole that looked not different than a well. He only shot once, but it was enough to alert te creatures underground, before long they could hear a strange sound as the creatures begun to fly up and the crazy barrage of bullets begun to accompany the creatures'' ascent.


    "Take cover!"


    Tian shouted as he ducked, he had terribly underestimated the number of those things, they were like an endless flood rising from the darkness. Their bullet consumption could not keep up with the speed of the creatures and the need to reload was the main reason for that.


    They had probably downed less than 20 of those things since one could take more than a single bullet to kill and unlike Tian who shot to kill, the others were just shooting at random into the darkness, hoping to hit something.


    Tian cursed at the waste of bullets, but was reassured as he looked towards the makeshift barricade not too far away. They weren''t alone, they had backup and if they wanted to run away, there was another group to support them at the door of the werehouse.


    The first scream came from one of the people that didn''t duck in time and was charged by one of these creatures. It wasn''t large, but once it hit his face, it wasn''t long before it begun gnawing off parts of his face. The pain alone was enough for him to scream and throw his weapon as he tried to take it off his face.


    Tian was for the first time scared for his life, he didn''t even give orders as he charged towards the barricades George and the others had made and jumped into their midst.


    The first shot from George''s team was a complete miss, but they did their best to not shoot at Tian and his people. Thus this much was to be expected, shot after shot was then heard as they did their best to hit those slippery flying bastards that.


    Three people had lost their lives in front of the hole, Jonas was trembling as he gave up his last breath, looking angrily at the barricade, after seeing Tian''s fleeting figure he tried to replicate the feat, only to find that his feet wouldn''t move. The things flying out of the hole were all over the room and he had decided that not moving was better, since the shots from behind the barricade came as soon as Tian had arrived there.


    Jonas met his end shortly afterwards as a group of these creatures swarmed him and begun to bite at him, they were small and agile, but their bite was a force to be reckoned with, before long the sheer weight from the number of creatures on top of him pushed him down.


    These creatures didn''t fear death, even as the shots from the barricades were focused towards the three lumbs of creatures on top of each corpse, they didn''t seem to care at all.


    George was anxious, the number of these monsters seemed to be endless as they came out from the hole. Leaving carnage and destruction in their path as they flew chaoticaly in search of prey.


    The bullets in his gun were already running out, this was his last clip of ammo and he could only curse inside as he directed everyone to run towards the closed door not too far away.Stolen novel; please report.


    "Open the Door!"


    George shouted full of fear.


    Samson might be scum, but when he heard the signal he and his goons quickly opened the werehouse door only to be met with a dozen or so little critters flying towards them. On of the goons was unlucky as to lose his eyes to one of the critters, if not for someone shooting it off him, it would have been even worse.


    The little critters once showered with light lost all sense of direction and was easily shot down. Samson and the others did their best to kill as many creatures as they could from their location while the people inside charged out.


    The door was closed once everyone came out, the main problem was that they had run out of ammo, only Tian still held onto his assault riffle, holding some ammo inside.


    "Now what do we do?"


    Asked Jason, they had ran out of ammo and fighting those things with melee weapons, although completely possible was also really dangerous.


    "If only we had some explosives"


    George lamented, if they had a grenade killing a hundred of these monsters would be real easy, just throwing a grenade into the hole would be enough to kill dozens of them.


    There were only three buildings in the settlement, that werehouse which was now filled with monsters, the central building that had mostly research data and the


    "Listen up, we cannot give up yet, although we have no ammo, We can still kill a few of them by opening the door at set intervals, the strongest of us will go kill the creatures"


    Tian said, full of confidence, of course mainly because he knew he wouldn''t die by doing so.


    "Bullshit, We should go back and take the guns from those useless survivors"


    Samson said, confident that they could do so with Tian''s help.


    "Tian what about using magic, you still have that weird explosive light right?"


    George suddenly remembered.


    "It won''t work, these creatures are too fast, at most It will throw them around, it won''t kill them"


    Tian said, he knew better than the others of his own limits.


    "Can''t we just burn these things?"


    Mike suddenly asked after pointing at two containers nearby that had the highly flamable icon on them. Non of them knew what the thing inside was it could be the solution to their problem.


    "It looks like some kind of gas canister"


    George said as he looked closer at the two canisters, but he couldn''t understand what was writen on them, not because it wasn''t english, but because it was some sort of sci-fi gas that doesn''t exist in real life.


    "It''s worth a try, but It''s too dangerous, unless I use magic to make the canister explode, I can''t see a better way of causing an explosion"


    Tian said, he was sure that bullets wouldn''t do and since it was a gas it would be really dangerous if they were too close to it when it exploded, even he himself was a bit worried about the explosion affecting him as well, they had no idea how powerful it would be.


    "Then shouldn''t we just use them to tear down the entire building?"


    Samson said, causing a commotion again.


    Mike had a headache, he himself had entered Samson''s group, advising him at times, mostly doing what he was told to do. The problem was that all his arrangements failed, people were simply too unpredictable, the moment they were not bound by laws and rules they became even more difficult to predict. He really regretted not staying with the survivors, where it was relatively safe.


    Although Samson acted like the big boss, deep inside he was soft and cowardly, Mike had seen those sort of people many times, they were softies inside and wouldn''t go sacrificing people or risking their own lives unless they are in a really tight spot. Samson was much better in his opinion than Tian and George, but his behavior was really atrocious at times, causing common people to not want to be associated with him.


    Mike could only curse as he was told to move the heavy canister inside, with the help of another person and a lot of rest, they finaly brought it towards the door.


    "How do we bring it inside?"


    Mike asked a bit reluctantly, because they could still hear the noise the creatures inside made.


    Tian came close and put the canister down, he wanted to roll it inside with his foot. The two of them looked as Tian fearlessly opened the door and pushed the heavy canister to roll into the werehouse. The creatures that came out of the gap were punched and kicked by Tian and fell onto the ground blind and weak from the sunlight. Tian''s next action however shoot them all, because he reached for one of the other goon and threw him inside, right into the canister  as he begun to chant the spell.


    The creatures swarmed towards the person forming a small hill on top of him, the chanting didn''t take too long and while still dazed by the betrayal they saw a huge burst of light, followed by an even bigger explosion.


    Tian had long jumped away from the entrance leaving only Mike there whom seeing Tian move also tried to replicate his feat. Only his feet didn''t take him too far as the explosion from the werehouse sent stone and metal flying in all directions.


    Those who were at a distance were shocked at the size of the explosion, it was far grander than they expected it to be. They felt however lucky to not be near to that door at the time of the explosion and even before since they could have been Tian''s lure for the monsters instead of tht poor guy.


    "Tian you motherfucker! how dare you use one of my men like that!"


    Samson was enraged since he had lost one of his goons. Tian however didn''t even look at him as he rose up and cleaned the sand off of his clothes.


    Even the explosion however wasn''t enough to kill the number of monsters they had to kill to meet the objective.


    "What''s the next plan?"


    Tian asked as he looked at the second canister and then the half destroyed werehouse. Everyone felt a chill down their spines, Mike dug his way out of the debris that fell on him and looked at the destruction behind him. If he was unlucky maybe it would be him who was thrown there or killed by the explosion.


    Before he thought that Nick was a bastard for leaving him behind in the previous mision, but now he couldn''t tell anymore.


    Wasn''t this supposed to be a team survival game, what on earth was Tian doing?

 8 Nightfall

    The Heroes had no plans as to how to kill the remaining 50 or so creatures for the objective. They had at most killed 50 already, since the explosion killed at least 20 of them.


    Suddenly a voice shouted as everyone was thinking how to proceed with the objective.


    "Guys, the sun is setting!"


    It was Thany who suddenly realized this problem.


    "Impossible, we should still have at least a day left"


    George complained, to his knowledge of the movie, the crew had spent one day before night time came.


    Only Tian seemed to be unaffected by this change in the script, holding his assault riffle with his last magazine inside. He didn''t spent all the bullets since he saw that the killing rate was too low.


    "Everyone search everywhere for anything that can be used as a weapon, we''ll make our final stand from inside that spaceship, it''s walls should be hard enough to stop those monsters"


    Tian said, pointing at the spaceship, by his estimates and knowing this game of death well, he knew that their only chance of survival was creating a small fortress.


    Things would get really bussy as everyone begun to search all over the place for useful things as they created a small barricade in front of the spaceship''s door which was left open by Johns and Fry.


    At the time the Survivors were in total chaos. The one to warn them about the Sun Setting was non other than Riddick, causing even more chaos than good.


    "What should we do now?"


    Hera shouted towards Nick whom was resting on top of the ship as if nothing concerned him.


    "Is''t it simple, all we have to do is hide and sleep"


    Nick said, making Hera mad.


    "You go sleep, I''m not crazy yet!"


    Hera shouted as she walked away.


    Riddick looked at this skepticaly, he didn''t understand Nick at all, what was Nick''s plan?


    Chrysa also heard his plans and was rather confused. But the most confused was Fry, the NPC pilot, she didn''t understand why Nick whom was evidently the leader of this other group acted like this.


    Fry was lost for words, the moment Riddick told them that the sun''s going down these survivors begun to panic, telling them that monsters would come out of the ground and kill them all.


    Fry didn''t know what to do, she estimated that with the solar powered car they could reach the spaceship, but it could only carry two people, one if they were to take the power cells for the spaceship to escape.


    She passed over the area where Chris was sitting, she was rather intrigued by this strange man that sat there, evidently depressed.


    "What''s your name?"


    Suddenly she asked him.


    "Chris, what''s yours"


    He said, but evidently he didn''t really care.


    "Fry, but you probably alredy knew that"


    She said swile laughing inside.


    "What do you want?"


    He asked rather rudely.


    "Nothing really"


    She said as she sighed, she was also depressed with the situation they were in, better call it desperate.


    "So what troubles you?"


    Chris asked, he had nothing better to do anyways.


    "Don''t you know, once night falls the whole surface of the planet will be full of monsters, we don''t have time to carry the power cells to the escape ship we found and even if we did, there''s not enough space for everyone"


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.Fry said sadly, laughing at herself for telling all this to this depressed stranger.


    "So you want me to give you a lift, well that''s not a bad idea, although the scenery over there would be no different than here I suppose"


    His words caused Fry to twitch and ask herself what he was talking about.


    Chris rose from his spot and walked towards the pilot room, the controls were busted from the storm and needed a lot of repairs, it was impossible to pilot the thing since they wouldn''t even work.


    Chris however didn''t seem to know that as he approached them and put his hand over the controls.


    Suddenly to her shock the lights begun to flicker and the indicators begun to light up. Fry was in shock as she saw this, was that really hacking?


    "So whe do we leave?"


    Chris asked, indifferent as always, to begin with this had nothing to do with the objective.


    "Wait, I''ll call the others inside!"


    She said, not knowing whether what they were doing was a good idea at all. Since the ship was full of holes and couldn''t leave the atmosphere, the only thing they could use it for was to take them closer to the escape vessel.


    Before long everyone had crawled inside the spaceship, some more puzzled as to why they were called than others, but everyone was inside. Even Riddick was told to come and he reluctantly did while holding his guard up against them, in case they tried anything funny.


    Fry then shouted towards Chris whom was in the pilot''s cabin.


    "Start the engines and turn to the left, try..."


    Before she could finish the whole ship begun to shake as the engines begun to burn. Everyone was shocked to find that the wrecked ship could still move, but they didn''t have time as the shaking was becoming more intense. The ship begun to drift in the sand and then turn towards their new destination until it lifted off the ground and accelerated, the half day trip to the settlement ended in no more than 10 minutes as the ship crushed before the settlement.


    The Heroes who were bussy fortifying the escape spaceship were shocked as they saw the huge spaceship crush in front of them, almost entering the proximity of the settlement, causing a cloud of dust and to rise before a group of people came out.


    They were the survivors and NPCs, George was shocked by this development, but this alsom meant another thing, the spaceship they had been fortifying would be taken away. This was not only destroying the plot, but also making it harder for them to survive.


    Tian didn''t seem to care at all, he continued working on the fortifications as if he understood nothing about their current situation. It was his fault for not listening to the plot of the movie at all, he simply didn''t care about such things.


    The survivors and NPCs came out of the now even more wrecked spaceship, Fry was excited to see that they had all arrived at the destination and in her excitement kissed Chris on the cheek and run like a little shy girl.


    Chris was taken by surprise but then turned to the side and spit.


    "What''s the meaning anyways"


    He said and then sat down and waited.


    Not long after Riddick came inside.


    "You''re really something, what race are you from, to be able to command electronics at will, haven''t heard of you guys before"


    "Why do you care, just go already, all you need to do is carry some power cells for a short distance and then you can leave me alone"


    Chris said, but to his surprise he was knocked out by Riddick and carried outside.


    "Sleep well my money making friend"


    Riddick said as he took him away.


    The meeting of the survivors with the heroes was awkward.


    "Help us fortify that place before you leave and leave us your weapons, we''ll need them more than you"


    Tian said, causing everyone to look at the wreckage of the spaceship that brought them there and then at Tian.


    The survivors and NPCs were a bit lost for words, but in the end decided to help. Especialy after Nick told them that they shouldn''t follow the NPCs. Hera and Chrysa agreed with that notion, they knew full well how dangerous the NPC could be, especialy since Riddick was among them, but also because all the weapons would go to the heroes, otherwise they wouldn''t be able to finish the mission. Not finishing the mission would earn them a penalty of 1000 points, for the new players it meant death, but now she understood why Nick told them to keep 1000 points, because she couldn''t see how they could complete these missions, especialy after hearing that the Heroes had wasted all of their ammo.


    Then she suddenly thought of something, she approached Chrysa and together they begun to secretly plead to the NPCs to take them onboard.


    When Chris woke up, the barricades were already finished and the ship was about to leave. To everyone''s surprise Chris jumpted off the ship and begun to walk away.


    "You crazy motherfucker, where do you think you''re going!"


    Riddick jumped towards him.


    Chris turned to look at him with disdain on his face and Riddick smiled.


    "If you want to leave at least take a weapon with you"


    Riddick extended his arm and there was a weird looking dagger made of bone in it.


    Chris didn''t know what to say he sighed, took the dagger and left.


    "See you!"

 9 Realization

    The spaceship left the planet, the NPCs and a few survivors looked at the wreckage where the Heroes stood tall, their, there was some guilt in some of the survivors that left them there, but Hera and Chrysa had non, they only felt pity for the survivors that mimicked their action of leaving with the NPCs, after all once the mission failed unlike themselves the other two that came along would die.


    The Heroes that looked at the departing spaceship felt fear and uncertainty. They had already experienced those little critters, they didn''t think the big ones would be easier to kill than the little ones.


    But it was almost time, the sun was setting and they could barely see because of the lights they set around the entrance of the wreckage. Before long a small earthquake could be felt and as the night fell a sound like a tornado approaching could be heard as thousands of these creatures flew into the sky in search of food.


    The shrill sounds that the creatures made hit hard on their ears. Before they were even ready the first beast descended from the sky and right into their barricade.


    Only Tian shot as the others were frozen stiff, they couldn''t even react to the sudden attack. Tian, who used Johns'' shotgun did a really good job in blowing the creature''s head away, letting pieces of flesh and blood to rain on the other players.


    That shot was like a signal that the battle begun s hundreds of monsters followed the sound to their location, before long a serious fight for survival begun. Those without weapons could only tremble inside the wreckage as they heard the sounds of creatures walking above their heads.


    It took them an hour and some wouned and even cripled players. In the end however they had made it, they had killed a hundred monsters and the barricade still held, it was their victory.


    ==Objective No 3 - Survive for 24 hours  hours==


    "We''re fucked"


    The players said as they saw the next mission. Although the quest would be complete by those in space right now, those that were stuck on the planet could only worry. It had taken them two hours to kill 50 additional monsters and finish the objective, their ammo was long gone and all they could do was use metal rods as spears in order to keep the creatures away.


    "Does anyone have a plan?"


    George shouted as they had all entered the wreckage and blocked the entrance.


    "Can''t we just stay here?"


    Samson asked, even as the noise of talons and hammerheads hit the outer shell of the ship.


    "If you had heard the things about the movie you would know that at some point these creatures will eat through the armor of the spaceship and get inside"


    George said, causing everyone to panic.


    "Isn''t it simple, all we have to do is attack these monsters through the holes they make"


    Tian said as he used his iron rod to attack one of these creatures, but he did nothing to it other than enrage it.


    "How long do you think we can do that?"


    George asked, knowing full well that everyone was already tired and multiple people were injured


    To his words however Tian just snorted and turned around to continue hitting the creatures, causing them to stop destroying the ship. Of course there was only so much a single person could do, before long more and more holes appeared and more people begun to copy him.


    An hour had passed and there was nothing they could do to stop the creatures from creating new holes in their defense. They even had people faint from deficiency of blood, due to their prior injuries.


    What they lacked most was a certified medic that knew how to threat wounds, mostly because Tian wasn''t intrested in wasting time on useless newbes that would die anyways.


    Suddenly everyone''s attention fell on a light, it was Nick whom had at some point begun to weld the holes with a torch.


    It was insane to see him do so, despite the dangers, but he didn''t seem to care much, the monsters were too irritated to approach due to the light of the welding torch.


    "How long do you think we can survive?"


    Jason asked George, who was now also using a metal rod trying to make the creatures go away.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "As long as we can, it''s not like we''re going to just lay down and die"


    George said, but inside he felt a sort of despair he hadn''t felt before. Even with all their hard work, it was inevitable that the creatures would get inside and when they did it would be the end of them.


    "I think we should stop with prodding the holes with the rod, already two people almost lost their hands by doing so"


    Jason said afraid that he would be the next victim of those monsters.


    "We still have enough disinfectant and bandages"


    George said, disregarding his words.


    "But you said before that these creatures are drawn to blood, I wouldn''t be surprised if all the creatures on this planet come here"


    Jason''s words caused everyone to think about it really hard, even Nick and Tian weren''t exceptions.


    "So what do we do now?"


    George asked Tian who was not too far away. The others also looked at him, after all he was supposed to be the leader. Tian at the time had a headache, he never expected that being a leader would be so hard, all he wanted to do was fight off those monsters for as long as he could, escaping them was impossible since they could fly.


    As time passed the number of creatures only increased, the creatures weren''t able to penetrate the ship''s hard shell, but the ship was only a wreckage of its past self, cracks and holes could be found everywhere, especialy after it''s second trip to the settlement.


    The most however weak point of the ship were the engines, the main engines were abandoned with the detatched sections of the ship, but the secondary engines were still there, they were like 4 holes that led the creatures into the ship.


    The Heroes had no idea that the monsters had already begun to dig through the engines since the repeated knocks on the spaceship made it impossible to tell where the sounds came from.


    The monsters dug through the machinery in the engines and stealthily made their way inside. An injured Hero that rested at the side of the engines was the first to scream as his back was dug right through by a monster''s head, popping out from inside him like a scene from the alien movies.


    Chaos bloomed as the Heroes were now doing their best against the monster that had made its way inside.


    Tian slid next to it and pierced the iron rod into its neck, green blood splashing. Tian turned the rod towards himself, cracking its neck, his plan was to use its body as an obstacle for the rest of the creatures.


    Problem was that the wall he was standing against was trembling, he was sure that in no time more and more creatures would emerge from it.


    The other heroes were both horrified and inspired, there was no way they wouldn''t feel inspired, what Tian showed them was the future they could achieve, the Hero they could become.


    The monsters didn''t seem as dangerous with Tian by their side. The next head that popped out of that wall was impaled by an iron rod and the alien slowly died as his blood dripped down the rod.


    George held the rod as steadily as he could as the monster resisted, causing itself more and more harm.


    Jason quickly pulled George back as the creature went on a rampage, if not for Jason, George would have lost a hand right then and there.


    George panted as his hands were shaking, there was a deep fear accompanied by an even deeper rage, he was disappointed with himself, he knew he could do better than this. He took another iron rod from the ground and shoved it right into the rampaging creature, shocking everyone, even Tian with this newfound tenacity and courage.


    Nick smiled as he saw the once chubby George, who now looked no different than an average looking middle aged man.


    Nick could feel the anger from George''s every strike, every time he jabbed at he beast with the rod.


    Nick wanted to applaud this change, but he knew that it would only draw attention to himself if he did, but a warm smirk was on his face as he saw these newbes become heroes.


    At a corner Mike looked at him with hate in his eyes, he just couldn''t stand his stand on all of this. He knew that Nick was no weaker than Tian, he knew that Nick was probably even stronger than Tian since he was in this death game even longer. He just couldn''t undrestand why Nick didn''t take responsibility and help them at the frontline like Tian.


    Even Mike himself was holding an iron rod, thinking of helping somehow. If not for his fear of Nick, he would have long Killed him for his attitude, acting like a god overseeing the mortals as they suffer to achieve something miniscule, when he could easily just give it to them if he wanted to. Mike felt disgust for this sort of person, but he could do nothing about it, his plan to use Chris against him went down the drain because of Chris and Samson wouldn''t be stupid enough to try and face a monster similar to Tian.


    Samson who was one of the wounded sat horrified on the floor, he had just seen another one of his grunts die. He was angry at Tian for killing one of his men, but the second death came too suddenly for him to even react, all he could do was puke by the gruesome scene of his "friend" dying to that monster. It could have easily been him that had died while siting against that wall.


    Only now did they trully understand the horror of this game of life and death, but what could they do. Those wounded could do nothing but wait for their deaths, while those healthy and strong  could at any moment use them as bait or a meat wall. Of course Samson never regretted bullying others or taking their stuff, he felt that it was the way it should be and thus Tian''s actions were also part of that, he could only curse his own weakness.

 10 Desert Hunter

    When Chris left the spaceship, he felt lost and betrayed, all he wanted to do was select the way he would die and he wanted to die in the most extravagant way.


    When Riddick gave him his knife, Chris was rather amused, he didn''t really care for a weapon since he already had a knife on him, of course it wasn''t anything fancy, but he had hidden it in his boot for all this time.


    Chris walked into the desert, behind him was the dazling sunset. He smirked at the thought that he was walking to his own death, but it didn''t matter, it was time to hunt monsters now, his only concern was how many he would be able to kill.


    The Empress was complaining non stop at his wild disregard for his own life, but he didn''t mind her, it was partly her fault that he got such a bad score during the last mission.


    The plan was simple, he would hide and sneak attack monsters. Of course his expectations and reality were a lot different. The moment the monsters begun to appear he almost pissed himself, what was with the numbers. Even in the darkness he could see the motion of those things flying around, thousands of dark silluettes blotting the sky.


    Chris was simply overwhelmed, he wanted to die a cool death, while fighting with the monsters, but right now he felt that it wouldn''t even be a fight.


    He cowered like a snake under the sand, looking at the chaos in he sky, at times green blood would splitter from the sky and a corpse fall close by.


    This continued for a few minutes until the cloud of creatures moved further and further away. Suddenly a long wounded monster entered his field of view. It looked like a noisy dark silluette, but to him this was an opportunity for battle, if he couldn''t even kill a single wounded one, how could he fight a healthy one.


    Chris sneaked out of the sand and approached the wounded monster, the creature probably saw him approaching because it launched at him with great speed.


    The only thing that saved Chris was that the beast was no different than an animal, it didn''t think of strategies, it just charged ahead like a bull, not afraid of death.


    A side step and a stab was all Chris could do before rolling away from the creature, it was done fast and efficiently, only causing him some injuries from the fall.


    Once he regained his balance he was forced to roll again and again as the creature begun to nab at him, like a chicken that had found some feed on the ground.


    Finding a chance to counter-attack was hard as he rolled on the ground like a barrel, until he hit a stone, causing blood to come out, causing the creature to become even more crazy in its attacks.


    While the creature was about to bite his head off, two daggers formed an X in front of his face and his legs begun to climb the creature''s neck, as he begun stabing it repeatedly until the creature no longer moved.


    Chris should have been content, but all he could do was rush to hide under the sand as his own blood drew more of these creatures towards him. The cries from the sky approached even as he burrowed himself under he sand.Before long several creatures were looking around the area, only to find the corpse and then feasting on it before flying away.


    Chris didn''t know what to do, there was now only one of these creatures munching on the remains of other creature, trying to find a piece of flesh.


    Chris went silent, the sand rubbed over his wounds, but he didn''t make any noise at all. He was probably going insane or was insane because as he saw the monster not far in front of him he begun to silently approach it from behind, the creature''s tail was swinging left and right as it moved and its wings stood still like a statue, like an ugly gargoyle that had come to life.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    It was impossible to backstab this monster, but he had a plan already, all he had to do was get ready and make one noise, causing the monster to turn around.


    The monster didn''t even take a good look before the daggers were stuck into it neck and used to behead it as it turned its head.


    Chris however wasn''t satisfied with this kill, he once again hid in the sand and waited for more of these monsters to come.


    ==Objective No 3 - Survive for 24 hours  hours==


    At some point he got the message about surviving for 24 hours, it sounded plausible if he stopped hunting that is, but it didn''t matter, he had already found a pattern on how these creatures move. If given enough time he could probably win in a 1v1 match with a monster, but if there were two, all he could do was die a horrible death.


    Dealing with the monsters was nothing but wishful thinking, but killing one or two more was still possible.


    Before he could however move, the creatures like a flock of vultures had already come to clean the corpse of all its flesh again.


    This time however Chris decided to just leave them be, as he stealthily moved through the desert like an ant on the ground. Hiding from any suspicious noise or feeling, burrowing into the sand as if he was a worm.


    In his mind he was thinking that he should at least kill 10 of these creatures to gain extra points, but his body told him otherwise, he needed to rest otherwise it would be him who would be hunted.


    On his way he stumbled upon a wounded monster that was trying to fly, but couldn''t. It was difficult to kill it since it moved around a lot.


    A sane person would have probably walked around the beast. But Chris thought of this as a chance, he would wait and see whether a second monster would appear and attack it.


    He waited patiently, yet there was no sign of any other monster approaching, while the wounded monster had long stopped struggling and was now happily walking away.


    Chris couldn''t wait anymore, he felt like if he didn''t move now, he would never move, he charged at the monster, its back was turned towards him and its tail moving left and right, but there was a small hill in between them. With a single leap he wanted to mount on its back and then kill it. Reality however wasn''t like a movie and Chris wasn''t some sort of insane protagonist that could do the impossible, he felt his own weight pulling him down as he reached the tail, holding it tight out of helplessness.


    The monster with a powerful turn caused the tail to slip his grasp, its head turned towards the downed hunter, its sharp teeth and noxious breath almost touching him.


    Chris now felt fear as the eyes of the seemingly eyeless creature''s head was looking right at him. It would be a matter of seconds for eye to gobble up his head with those razor sharp teeth, he understood that what he had done was stupid, but at the time his blood was flowing, wheras now it was frozen stiff, he felt as if he couldn''t move due to fear.


    It was as if time froze, just as all hope seemed to be lost, something jumped onto the monster''s back and begun to bite at the monster''s wings and back.


    With the new enemy occupying its attention, the creature lost interest in the easy pray and now fought for its life.


    Chris didn''t even think as his body begun to crawl away from the two fighting monsters, his survival instincts were flaring up, his will to live had been ignited like a huge bonefire.


    ''I want to Live''


    He thought in his head as he dragged his body away from the fight, slowly digging into the sand and hiding himself from the two warring creatures.


    As the two creatures duked it out, two eyes were watching through the sand, Chris had given up on hunting, to begin with he had never hunted in his life, all he knew was how to play games, he had played some hunting games, but was that supposed to prepare him for his current situation.


    He knew that he had to hunt these creatures to get points, maybe if he had stayed back with the others, but his mind then went to how he was bullied by Samson and the others. His anger ovewhelmed his fear and logic, he came out of the sand as if he was reborn, the two creatures only glanced at him as their fight wasn''t over yet, little did they know that this action was their last.


    As Chris approached the two creatures he struck his dagger to the wounded one''s neck and dragged it back as if pulling a tooth out. Next he stepped onto the creatur''s body and grabbed the other creature''s bony leg, causing it to fall and as it fell, he grabbed its head and cut it all the way, not leting it go even as it squirmed and tossed to its dying breath.


    Chris had killed both the creatures, but his rage hadn''t quieted down, new wounds and scratched had appeared on his body and once more he disappeared into the sand.

 11 Final Struggle

    The Heroes were losing, as the injured were those creature''s real target Tian wanted to just throw them outside, but George prevented him.


    "There''s another way"


    He said and then he saw what George was holding onto, it was a bottle of wine.


    Of course he wouldn''t get drunk and die in bliss, his plan was to light a fire to keep these creatures away from them.


    The Ship''s lights although working weren''t would at times blink and go out and then light up again.


    The monsters would pop out of the wall only to try and escape from the light once more, it was like a weird wack-a-mole, where monster heads came out and tried to eat you.


    They were losing people left and right as the monsters were eating through the ship, trying to dig their way towards them. They would be happy if these monsters just electrocuted themselves to death, but they weren''t as lucky as to see it happen.


    Samson decided that he had rested enough, his wound had almost closed and the first aid he was given helped him a lot.


    Samson had already seen his guys die a gruesome death again and again, you could say that the weak dying and the strong surviving was natural in their situation, but why did he feel that this was unfair.


    Samson was strong, maybe not as strong as Tian, but why was George fine while himself had suffered injury and had to struggle with his wounds about to open again as he stood in the middle of the room afraid to even get close to the walls of the spaceship.


    Was this retribution for all the bad things he had done, Samson spit and took a bottle from the box and then begun to drink. A monster''s head popped out of the wall not too far ahead, Samson simply crushed the bottle onto its head and then took out a lighter.


    George and Tian whom were still in the planning phase were sturprised. The burning monster''s head tried to escape into the darkness, but the fire followed it everywhere it went. They could hear the shrills of the monster as it escaped, this was maybe a small victory, but Samson sat down and looked at the others that now begun to view him differently.


    With one move, the morale that was falling had risen again. Those wounded looked at Samson like a spiritual leader of sort, a hope that they could be like him. Although there weren''t many of them, the Heroes that had experienced Tian''s and George''s leadership, turned to him.


    Only Jason stood next to George as everyone else looked towards Samson for guidance.


    "Everyone, use the bottlese to set these monsters on fire!"


    Samson shouted, as if he had come with a genious plan, ruining George''s plans and causing more chaos in the group.


    Tian wanted to shout at them to stop, but George stopped him, he then took the two of them to the captain''s cabin and they sat there, to wait for their deaths.


    I would be impossible to survive until daybreak, they had 16hours left until the end of the objective and only god knew if there would be a next one after that.


    With their last hope lost, the trio sat down and begun to chat about life in general. Nobody wanted to die, but everything seemed lost, there was no way for them to survive.


    At times they could hear the shrill sounds of the creatures and the victory cries of the idiots that were using the bottles to set things on fire  without a though in the world.


    ''If Jonas was still alive''


    George thought of that crafty vice leader, who had a good knack on how to persuade people.


    From the door they could see the people next room partying, drinking from the bottles until they were piss drunk and then using them as fuel to light the monsters on fire.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.Thany was bare breasted as she drunk a bottle before throwing it into the hole and then seeing it catch on fire.


    The others were no different, like some sort of native tribe, they had all taking off their shirts and were acting like idiots.


    It would probably take some time until they run out of bottles and then, get overrun by the monsters. The flickering lights only added to the group''s ecstasy, at some point turning into a weird party.


    Mike was also among them, but he didn''t drink a drop, he could only lament as he saw the bottles disappearing one by one. He wasn''t like the others that had fallen into despair, he could still think rationaly, if they could somehow extend the duration of those bottles, maybe they would have made it for a few hours, but as they were consumed one by one in mere minutes, it was no impossible to use them anymore, they could as well drink them and die piss drunk by the monsters, maybe it was a better fate than dying of anxiety.


    The only thing lacking was the music, all they could hear were the shrills of the monsters and some bumping as the creatures landed on the roof. It was rather underwhelming, until the group begun singing in their drunken state, disregarding all reason and luring even more monsters to their location.


    Tian and Georged looked at the Pilot room''s glass, monsters were walking all over it, trying their best to bite through it, since the room was dark and they could still see inside or maybe they were just lured by the noise or just  found a good place to bite, while the  other monsters were also biting at the outer shell of the spaceship.


    It was two hours later that that the party had died out and the drunken idiots had begun to comprehend their own stupidity. The bottles had long ended, but the monsters were still hidding inside the alredy made holes in the wall, looking at the people inside, waiting for the flickering lights to go out.


    The jolly party became a huge quarrel as everyone begun to throw responsibilities at each other, non knew what to do and Samson was so drunk that all he could do was sleep on the floor.


    The others were panicking, some went to look for Tian and the others, some begun to pray to every god they knew of. The most stupid begun to accuse Samson for their stupid decision, that if he hadn''t instigated this behavior, they could have used the bottles more sparingly and their leader was of course Mike.


    "Everyone there''s only one way out of this situation"


    Mike said, gathering everyone''s attention.


    "There are 10 cryosleep capsules in this room, they should be functional, our only hope is to hide inside and hope that the creatures won''t feel our body heat"


    The idea sounded legit, but if it would work was another question.


    Tian was shocked when he heard it, George agreed that it just might work, the problem was that the monsters could sense blood other than sound. Those who were injured might just fall asleep to never wake up again.


    The survivors weren''t even 10 people and one of the capsules still had a corpse inside, the others didn''t even take the time to burry it, leaving it frozen inside.


    Under Mike''s proposal everyone begun to enter the capsules, they even put Samson into one of them, the one closest to the wall with the monsters hiding inside.


    Everyone entered a capsule and George closed the capsules one by one, they had to be closed manualy since the controls at the pilot''s seat were all busted.


    Only Jason and George were left as everyone else were put inside a capsule, the two stood there for a moment and then turned away from the capsules and went to the pilot''s room closing the door behind them. This was probably the safest room in the wrecked spaceship, because one of them would have to stay outside to close the capsule for the other, non of the two agreed to let the other stay behind.


    The pilot room had no lights on and the monsters were still lurking around the wreckage, trying to find the way inside.


    "What do you think about this plan?"


    Jason suddenly asked.


    "I hope it works, at least those inside will fulfil the objective"


    George said.


    -What if it doesn''t?


    -Then we''re next, this door will probably hold for some time, as long as we don''t make too much noise the monsters might not find us


    -Didn''t you say the sense blood?


    -Probably, they did insinuate it in the movie, but who knows, its not like they are mosquito


    -Maybe they are giant mosquitoes


    -Well it doesn''t matter, we should probably try going to sleep as well


    -I wouldn''t recomend it, your snoring will bring them all here


    -That...

 12 Miscalculation

    Nobody knew how it happened, but the monsters had finaly caused the lights to turn off, probably touched some circuits while digging through the ship''s framework, it was insane how many of these monsters had gotten inside.


    The moments the lights were off, the monsters swarmed the room, but the most horrifying thing was that the people in the capsules were suddenly woken from cryosleep.


    They were now forced to watch the frosty glass of the capsule, hearing the noises on the other side. The frost on the glass and the lack of light made their situation unbearable, some of them tried their best not to move, it was however pointless.


    Those of them with bleeding wounds were the first to experience despair as the monsters broke through the glass and ate them alive one after the other.


    Screams of despair and indignation could be heard as people died one by one, those without injuries could only look in horror at the darkness of the frosted glass, praying that they wouldn''t be next.


    Thany was one of them, she had survive it all because others had protected her, since she was the only pretty woman in the group.


    Mike was another, he was simply too smart to do something stupid that would end in his own injury.


    Samson was trully unlucky, or maybe he was fortunate as he died even before the monsters came in, his injuries were simply too great and without adequate medical aid, he bled out in the capsule long ago.


    Tian woke up and after hearing the first scream he already knew what was going on, he begun to cast his spell in a panic, he didn''t care about friends and foes when his own life was in danger.


    Tian had many small injuries, but he was sure that it was enough for the monsters to find him, once his body temprature returns to normal, the monsters no doubt would be able to find him.


    The moment his spell was cast, the monsters went into a rampage, as the light from the spell caused them excessive pain, while one unlucky one died from the explosion of light as it stood too close to his capsule.


    Tian quickly came out of the capsule, he couldn''t see, but he could tell where the pilot cabin was, he charged to the locked cabin and begun to knock while shouting for help.


    The monsters were slower to regain their senses, but hearing the sounds they begun to recover quicker. When the door opened, Tian was quickly dragged inside and the door sealed once more.


    His life was saved or so he thought, since he had no idea that there were still 8 hours left before the end of the objective.


    Only five people survived the onslaught of the monsters, two still hiding in their capsules, while the other three locked in the cabin powerlessly waiting for their own end.


    Time passed slowly and the people involved felt as if they were tortured by each second passing, it was dreadful experience for everyone.


    Thany was trying her best to not make a noise, while Mike was trying not to faint out of fear as they both could hear the monsters patroling the floor and trying to bite through the door to the pilot''s cabin.


    Chris was roaming in the desert, he could see a faint light in the distance. Honestly he didn''t want to go there, but curiosity drew him to the light.


    It was the lights from the landing strip of the geological settlement he had left.


    Chris didn''t know what to do, he looked around and the monsters were avoiding the place like the plague.


    Chris crawled in the sand as he reached the landing strip, he could faintly hear the creatures in the distance, it was the place he had landed the spaceship wreckage.


    He could only wonder if the others were still alive inside, but he wasn''t crazy enough to approach that anthill made of monsters.


    He could only imagine what would happen if he ignited the engines, probably a couple hundreds of them would die. He had no way of knowing that the engines were all busted and had become entrances points for the monsters to get inside.


    He looked up at the stars above, or he would love to see only stars, as dark silluetes littered the sky like thousands of pesky insect buzzing around.


    He didn''t know when or how he fell asleep, but when he woke up it was already daytime and the sun was shinning brightly.


    Chris stood up and removed the sand from his clothes, hiding under the sand wasn''t as comfortable as it might sound.


    He stood up and then begun walking towards the wreckage, before noticing the new Objective.


    ==Objective No 4 - Reach the underground habital in 72 hours==


    Chris sighed helplessly as he knew that his suffering was yet to end. Now the crazy system told them to enter those creatures'' lair and die down there, it was simply unthinkable. Who in his right mind would go down there, Chris knew that without a powerful source of light this mission had reached a dead end.


    Chris approached the Spaceship''s door and used a piece of metal he found outside, among the remnants of the blockade to open the door.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.It required a lot of strength, but in the end the door opened and the light from outside sipped into the spaceship causing one of the creatures to run away in pain and into the dark holes they had made inside the ship.


    Chris of course tried to turn the lights on, but it was useless, the circuits were all busted by the creatures digging through the ship''s inwards.


    It would have been great if he could shed more light inside, but if he wanted to come inside he would be forced to fight in the darkness.


    There were a few rays of light passing through the windows and small holes of the spaceship.


    Chris wasn''t stupid to step inside, he went to the blockade and looked around for means of light, anything would do, even a lighter.


    After some time he got exactly that, a single lighter remained on the ground, probably fell off some person''s pockets.


    Next He took pieces of cloth and turned them into makeshift torches, unlike his imagination, the torches didn''t burn well, probably should have soaked them in oil or something, but he had nothing of the sort.


    The torch entered the spaceship and Chris followed, a second torch was held in his other hand. He felt like an idiot when he saw that the room was empty, all the monsters had hidden inside the holes, since there was too much light to their liking in the room.


    Chris walked cautiously, afraid of a monster poking its head from the darkness, but he was too cautious, that situation didn''t happen.


    Chris looked at the Capsules, most of them were crushed by the creatures, but two were still closed, he could see two people sleeping inside, or maybe they fainted due to fear and anxiety.


    Chris found his way towards the Pilot cabin, the door was crushed and a few corpses formed a small hill in front of it.


    Chris didn''t know if it was a good idea to try and move them, non the less he begun moving the corpses to the side.


    As he was about to move the last corpse he was knocked back by a powerful kick, if he hadn''t been beaten up by Samson and his precious Cell Vitality used on defense, he would probably have died by this one kick.


    It would have been hilarious to survive all the monsters in the desert and dying by a misunderstanding.


    Tian was also shocked when his kick met soft flesh, instead of the monsters'' leathery skin.


    "Tian! Stop, that''s a human!"


    George suddenly shouted and him and Jason stood up from a small corner, long being woken up by the light that shone through the cabin''s glass.


    Tian looked like he was sleepwalking, he was exhausted, he had been kicking and punching these monsters for hours, he was the only reason the three of them had survived the night.


    Chris took his time to get back up, he felt as if his head had just been used like a soccer ball.


    "Isn''t that Chris, how did he survive in the desert?"


    George asked surprised and the other two looked at him dumpfounded. They had struggled in this wreckage all night in order to survive and this person that had  walked in the desert just returned mostly unharmed.


    With this awkward reunion and the retrieval of the two surviving people from the capsules, they came outside.


    They felt fortunate to be alive, only the two capsuled people smelled of piss, probably a side effect from the cold in the capsules or the fear for their own lives. With everyone however not having taken a bath for days, that was the least of their concerns.


    "Honestly I don''t need your help, I only entered the ship in order to get sources of light for the next objective"


    Chris explained, causing the others to be taken aback.


    Tian was tired, he simply wanted to rest for at least a day, they had lots of time  left, there was no reason to rush things.


    Chris however wasn''t tired at all, he had slept most of the night and woken up safely in the sand. He had energy to spare, while the others were anguishing over survival he had led a rather relaxed journey in comparison.


    Disassembling the lights from the spaceship wasn''t difficult, but it took time and effort to do, he would also need a source of energy for them.


    George adviced using a power cell, Chris was however appalled by its weight. How many of these did Riddick in the movie had to carry, it was insane.


    Non the less  he was forced to use a power cell to power the lights. The others were skeptical about his idea, in all honesty they didn''t think he would survive even if he did all this, but there were more lights than the ones he had taken, there were also enough power cells for them to use.


    They all looked with astonishment as Chris took the makeshift cable of lights and walked towards a large hole in the sand, this was the entrance he would use to go underground.


    Chris begun climbing down the huge hole, he thought it would be a piece of cake as long as he could grab onto the walls.


    What a naive idiot he was, the moment he entered the hole the first of multiple mishaps happened, the point he held onto broke into sand and dirt and he begun to fall, his body scratched ad wounded by the walls as he fell, the power cell weighting him down as he fell.


    The creatures disturbed by the light didn''t approach him, as he fell he bumped into multiple creatures flying in the sky, their spiky bodies acted as a cushion as he hit the ground, he had completed the objective, he had reached the underground habitat.


    He however only had enough strength to look up into the void as the creatures were making noises flying around, many wanted to eat him alive.


    He tried moving, but it was pointless, he had probably damaged his spine during the fall, all he could do was twitch his fingers and blink his eyes, completely  helpless.


    The pain from all around his body was assaulting his mind, causing every moment to turn into torture.


    Chris didn''t know whether to laugh or to cry, he only hoped the system would teleport him out of there a moment sooner, hoping there wasn''t another objective, otherwise this would be his end. This wasn''t the end he wanted for himself, dying from falling into a deep hole, he wanted to die fighting, full of adrenaline and heroism.