Alexander Oakley was currently doing some late night shopping to buy a present for a dear friend who would be staying in the hospital for the next couple of weeks. They were childhood friends and he wanted to be there for him, unfortunately his part time job and college classes kept his schedule packed. Figuring that his friend would be bored while being confined to bed rest, he would get him some books.

Fantasy and mythology has always been one of their favorites.

He had just finished his purchases and went to a get a late dinner, when he had gotten a text from said friend.

[243, suck it Tongue [https://www.royalroadcdn.com/public/smilies/tongue.png]] -E

[You're such a fucking loser lol]-A

[So, I heard you went shopping, I hope you brought enough peanut butter to go with all that Jelly you have. #Git Gud]-E

[Can't tell if it's all the drugs they probably have you on, or the lack of sleep, but you're 1000% times more annoying right.]-A

[Also, fuck you, that game is trash and takes no skills -_-"]-A

[Nah, whatever they gave me wore off hours ago, I'm just naturally this awesome, also is that why your high score is only 27? Trolololol scrub]- E

[Whatever, I still kick your ass in Smash. Its getting late I'll ttyl. Try and get some rest you big nerd]-A

[Aww, Love you too <333 goodnight]-E

I had just finished texting him when everything went wrong. I wasn't sure who started it, whether they were a man or woman, but a suddenly scream broke out, and before long it was joined by dozens more. A symphony of chaos reverberated throughout the mall. From the balcony of the fourth floor I glanced up and had to take a moment to comprehend what I was seeing, that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, because what I saw was a goddamned Orc straight out of a sterotypical fantasy work.

It was green and by the gods was it mean.

It was 7'5 even with it's slightly slouched position, large bulging muscle that made it look as if it ate bowls of steroid tablets and muscle milk for breakfast. Large tusk stuck out the side of it's mouths with red patterns all over it's body like tribal tattoos. It was holding a large club that was thicker than a man's waist. It let loose a roar loud enough to ring my ears even on the third floor. It then slammed it's tree truck of a club onto the ground and creating a small crater. What followed was pandemonium.

Never before was Alex so disgusted in his life than he was at this very moment. He has never been much of a believer in religion despite growing up in a Catholic household, but he would imagine that the scene infront of him currently was an adequate depiction of Hell itself. People ran in hysteria, pushing and shoving, even trampling each other to escape the beast. Ironically enough, it was the people themselves who were caught up in their panic that caused the most death. That wasn't to say that the Orc was just sitting there idly, oh no, it had killed quite some people, but it was a monster and that was in its nature. Seeing his fellow men abandoning each other hurted.

It might've been useless, but people didn't even attempt to subdue the beast, to rally up and work together. They were more than willing to cast aside their fellow humans to escape. He was shakened out of his trance when he hear a kid's cry. Alex was an idiot. An absolute dumbass of the highest degree. He should've ran away from the monster like everyone else, call the police and leave the rescuing to the professional. It was the smart choice.

Which was why he was running up the fucking stairs and towards the monster. Trying to be discrete as a 6'3 man could be he grabbed the kid can hauled ass. He covered the kid's mouth to stop him from crying and was hiding in the nearby Macy and praying the monster didn't see them. Suddenly he felt something wet lick his palm.

"GAH! What the fuck?"

"Please help my mommy mister! She got hurt by the monster! Please!"

God fucking damnit. The kid was starting to hyperventilate, I had to calm him down somehow. Peeking out from the corner of the entrance he could see the kid's mom now. Unconscious and laying on the floor like a sack of potatoes with her dark hair covering her face. Thankfully the monster wasn't looking his way, it seemed to be raiding the food court across the other side. Giving the kid a hug I turned him to face me. 

"Calm down kid, everything will be alright. What is your name? I'm Alexander Oakly, but you can just call me Alex."

"I'm Richard, Rivera"

"Well Richard, you just sit here and wait for me to come back with your mom, Ok? Don't worry I'm a doctor!"

In training at least, not that I had any plans to tell him that. Afterall, the poor kid was probably traumatized after all this, although he might not be the only one.

"Come now, no more tears, wouldn't want your mom to worry after she wakes up now would we?"

Richard shakes his eye, wiping his eyes on his sleeves and thinned his lips in a look of determination. Giving his head another pat Alex began to crawl to the fallen woman. By this point the fourth floor was entirely abandoned, although there were still plenty of background noise of marching footsteps and screaming to serve as white noise to mask his moment thankfully. Every little bit counted considering he was risking his life.

He managed to retrieve her back to the store where the kid proceed to glomp the life out of her.

"Why isn't mommy waking up Alex? Is she going to be alright? She's bleeding everywhere! You have to save her Doc! She's the only family I have left, you just gotta save her!"

"It's fine Ricky, it's just some scrapes, she'll take up soon and the police will come and get you back home in no time!"

Alex exclaimed with a sense of cheer and confidence he didn't truly felt. The wounds were bad, really really bad, she had sharpels of stone and glass stuck in her from when the monster was slamming his stick everywhere and smashing things apart and her arm was bent the wrong way. Seems she got luck and didn't suffer a direct hit, but still ended up going through a store's glass display. Likely had a concussion too. Frankly, she looked like roadkill in the making. Then there was the matter with the police showing up and the question of if they could even manage to kill this thing. Where did it come from? How did it get here? Why was it even here in the first place? Why now?

All these thoughts raced through his mind as he carried her to the back of the store. Going behind one of the counters he managed to find a pair of scissors. Grabbing some nearby things to get some makeshift medical supplies, he took a deep breath as he prepared himself to treat her wounds. He sent the kid on watch for help out on the balcony, there was no chance the monster would see him there and he wouldn't have to see the full extent of the damages it did to his mom. There was no time to wait for help that may or may not arrive. Washing his hands with a bottle of hand sanitizer he found on the counter, Alex emptied out his thoughts as he hyped himself up to prefer emergency treatment. 

Taking the pair of scissors he cut away her dress, taking special care for her broken arm, and accessed the wounds. He imagine this was what someone would look like if they picked a fight with a blender. She was littered with small cuts everywhere, but that wasn't a cause for concern as they barely bled, the real issue was the 4 large shards of glass sticking out of her. One in her side, and one on her upper right shoulder two and bicep. He grabbed the needle he found and heated it up with the lighter.

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When it was red hot he decided to let it cool before pouring it with the hand sanitizer. He hoped with the double sterilization he could reduce any complications that would most certainly occur after his impromptu surgery. Using a piece of clean cloth he gently cleaned her the area around her side before removing the shard. He had to work fast as it started to bleed immediately. Taking his prepared needle he proceeded to stitch up the wound. Alex didn't have suture threads so he had to make due with normal ones. After what felt like hours of intense concentration he finally finished her side. It wasn't the best job ever with the lack of specialized tools, but it would have to do until he could get her to a hospital with an actual doctor.

Getting into his flow he managed to finish her shoulder in half the time. It was her bicep that slumpted him and made him almost grab his hair and shout in frustration. The glass pieces were near her brachial artery. If he didn't remove it then he couldn't patch it up and stop the bleeding, if he fucked up then he'd have to tell the kid he just become an orphan. Even if he successfully removed it, how was he supposed to stitch it close? The two pieces was not clean cut and had intersected at a perpendicular angle making it infintely more difficult. His hands started shaking as he thought of the consequences of his failure. Biting his lips he wondered if he could just carry the woman and run down to the garage and drive her to a hospital. The monster didn't seem interested in them. Surely he should leave this to the experienced? 

His eyes wandered before a glint of light beamed into his eyes. It was the lighter. His father's lighter. A memento his father left him. The one man he looked up too the most. The man who died to save others. 

It woke him up like a slap to the face. What the FUCK was he thinking? Was he really about to give up? No, he refused to give up. Wasn't this what his trainning was for? To save people? He wasn't going to run away like a little bitch when the going got tough. He couldn't freeze up! The mere fact that he even entertained the idea of not trying his best to save a dying woman just so he could push the responsibility to someone else was appalling. Worst yet, it was a disgrace to his father's memory. He took one final glance at the lighter before a firm look took over his eyes. It's pointless on pondering about what would happen if he failed, because he simply won't.

Thanks Pops

His hands steadied with his heart and he went to work. Deciding to take a different approach he started sterilizing and heating up the scissors. Stitching simply wouldn't work in this situations. He had to cauterize it. The blades had ever so slightly gained a tint of red when he stopped. He stuffed a scarf in her mouth to make sure she didn't bite her tounge, before cleaning the wound as best as he could he removed the glass and started. With short 1-2 second burst he repeated tapped the hot metal to her arm, shearing the flesh close. She woke up mid way, thankfully her screams were muffed by the scarf and Richard was nearby to calm his mother down and explain the situation.

She was in no position to move so carefully got her to laid down in the dressing room benches with some jackets as a blanket to keep her warm. The poor woman was shivering like a wet cat, but at least her condition was stable enough now that there wasn't much worry that she would kneel over on us.

I got Richard to keep an eye on the monster for me while I went to save more people. We worked a simple system of using hand signals and vibrant shirts. Fingers to show how many stores away the Orc was, red meant danger, green was safe. Simple, but effective.

And it was damn well the most dangerous game of Red Light Green Light he's ever heard of.

They had managed to save two dozen people. There were some close calls and moments were the monster was so close he'd have to hide for long periods of time, but he rescued most of the people on his level. Although they weren't all in good condition. Some were merely unconscious. Others were already dead or wouldn't make it past the next hour it seemed. Regardless he patched them up as best as he could and made sure they were as comfortable as they could be. It was the most he could do, but at least their bodies would remain intact for their families and not destroyed by that monster.

It was after an hour of hard work he had he managed to reach the final person. A middle aged man with a rather round build and greying hair. He was stuck under some rubble and had passed out. A glance at Richard showed him raising 3 fingers and a green shirt. He had around 15 minutes before the monster came around. He worked as quickly and quietly as he could. The man regained consciousness and helped dig himself out making everything much easier and faster. It was almost done, this was the last man, they could finally all escape and say goodbye to this nightmare. It was when he just walked out the store that he saw something that made his blood freeze within his veins. The green was replaced with a blood red. He immediately stopped and was planning to sneak back in the store when the man continued forward and they bumped into a display that crashed onto the floor. It was in this moment that he knew. 

He fucked up.

And judging by the echoing roar that quickly followed, he was about to be fucked up. He roughly shoved the man back into a corner of the store out of sight, ignoring his pained moan, and ran. He Hauled Ass like it's never been hauled before!  Thank God that his reaction was quick, giving him a large head start. Alexander Oakley considered himself to be pretty damn fit. Working out and practicing multiple martial arts from a young age gave him a strong body. One could even say his physical abilities and fitness was exceptional even! However that didn't seem to be helping him much in his current situation.

He was drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. The strain and stress of carrying men and women repeated back and forth with his life on the line and performing emergency first aid and surgeries, knowing their life and death depended on him, had taken a lot out of him. He couldn't keep up his pace for long, and if it wasn't for the fact that he had a head start and the creature was so far away when it saw him he would already be dead.  

 He had to think of something quick. Dodging into one of the store and use the surrounding obstacles to slow it down? No, it could smash it's way through and he doubted even the walls could slow it down much. Hide somewhere it couldn't reach like one of the ornaments from the ceiling? No, there's no guarantee it could hold his weight and the Orc would probably just throw a fucking bench at him and knock him down. Running away wasn't an option, neither was hiding. Guess there was only one option left open to him. 

Fight.

His mind made up, he slowed to a stop with his back facing the glass balcony, and faced the beast. It was like staring down an incoming train. This was probably the stupidest thing he's ever done, right after trusting Chris with his phone unlocked and logged into facebook. The best case scenario if he messed up even a little bit would still end up with him being crippled for life. He took a deep breath before getting ready. 

His eyes homed in on the beast as everything seemed to slow down in his vision. He felt strangely calm, there was no fear or hesitation, no need to wonder the consequences of it he didn't pull it off, after he just won't fail.

Right Pops?

He mentally counted down as the distance between him and the green beast shrunk.

5.

150 feet left.

4. 

It seemed to have abandoned it's club somewhere. All the better for his plan.

3. 

100 feet, he could now see it's bloodshot eyes, more crimson than white.

 2. 

Alex lowered his stance as he braced himself.

1.

It swung it's left arm at him and attempted to pulverize him. Key word here being attempted.

0.

He stepped in close to the Orc with his right foot near it's left. Hooking his right arm under it's left armpit and around it's thick neck, he pivoted on his foot and took a step with his other leg so that he was facing the balcony. With a small heave he tossed the monster through it and launched it off the fourth floor.

It was a bastardized Judo hips toss.

The Orc's sheer weight and momentum ensured that it crashed hard impaled through the chest by metal racks. It struggled for a while, but even it's immense vitality couldn't save it from blood lost and the physical trauma of the fall. 

It worked? Holy fucking shit it worked! He couldn't believe he pulled that off!

"FUCK YEAH!"

He screamed himself hoarse and laughed like a kid on drugs. Now that the monster was dead he could get those people and himself some proper medical attention. Who knows, maybe he'll get a highscore of 244 and rub it in that smug prick's face. Some bed rest sounds great about now, he has had enough exercise for the rest of the year, thank you very much.

When others frozen in fear he dived in the danger zone to save anyone he could. When others hid like rats he sneaked pass the monster to retrieve the injuried behind enemy lines. When others ran he marched forward. He stepped up to the challenge. And while he may be bruised and tired, looking back at the people hiding in the Macy's and knowing that they were alright, and it was because of him. He felt good. He did something great today.

And it seemed as if the System agreed because it was at that moment the Orc breathed it's last and he got a whole bunch of notifications. He was given a choice. It would most likely determine his future or lack thereof. Any smart man would've taken the second option. He took the first without hesitation. After all Alexander Oakley was never a smart man.

Two roads diverged, he took the one less travelled by, and that made all the difference. The Road Not Taken.