I didn’t bother looking for anything poetic about that red dawn light. Instead, I threw the covers off myself and ran outside to make sure my upgraded tool was fine.

It was. But the boards, the firewood, and the clay that I left on the back porch because my storage was too full were torn to bits. I went to my knees, trying to mold the clay back together, but it didn’t work. It was contaminated, and refused to meld together. The wolf had destroyed everything that wasn’t under the protection of the storage room.

Losing that clay hurt. Enough that, even though they were coming tonight, I spent a few moments on my knees staring at nothing. Half a day gathering resources wasted. It did not bode well for my mood today.

I got to my feet, numbly going through my morning routine. Once farming and egg gathering were done, I left for the riverbank. The pang of losing that clay still tore at my soul, but I needed to focus. It would take an entire day to make glass. The sooner I found sand, the better. And the only way I could think of where it would be is by water.

I went to the river, allowing myself to shed a tear for the lost clay before focusing on the task at hand. I got to the river and crouched down, seeing the words above the resources. I could only find clay and stone. I tried lifting them around to see if I could get to the bottom, but it was just packed mud underneath. I stood up, hands on my hips, as I stared at the riverbank. I then glanced over and saw on the other side of the river was the sandy beaches I was looking for.

I let out a groan. At least I knew where the sand was. It was just a matter of getting it.

Maybe I could swim it. Was I a swimmer? I actually didn’t know. I started walking toward the water, feeling the coolness hit my toes. This was the time of experimentation. I walked forward, the water getting deeper and deeper.

Something weird was happening around the corners of my vision. It was like smoke, starting at the corner of my sight. I kept pushing forward, and the further I got, the more the smoke covered my vision until it was completely gray.

As my vision returned, I found myself back on the banks of the river. I placed my hands on my hips, giving a sigh. Fine then. I couldn’t swim. It was a weird way to show that.

I chopped down a tree and grabbed one of the logs. I tried to place it on the bank of the river and angle it toward the other side, but this river was at least two logs wide. There was no doubt about it, though. I needed to build a bridge somehow.

Maybe this followed the same logic as the chicken coop. What if I could buy the bridge and then build it here? It was worth a shot.

I ran back to the house, keeping an eye on my stamina. I lost a small sliver with running, but I needed to start making that glass.

I flipped through the clipboard to the building section. There weren’t many that weren’t grayed out. But I found it, letting out a sigh of relief. Bridge. 30.00 dopamine points.

“I’m starting to think you guys really don’t want me finishing my to-do list anytime soon,” I mumbled. I glanced at my dopamine total. 22.32. Not bad.

I grabbed a board from the storage room and placed it in the dumpster, moving quickly past the scene of the crime of the other shredded boards. I then bought the bridge and hurried back to the river.

There was a ghostly outline of a bridge as I put on what I had of my building outfit and saw the words above the water.

0/4 stone bricks

I leaned over, gripping my knees. There was a moment where things felt too overwhelming, but then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“It’s okay. Quinn, you’re going to be fine. The fences are finished. You weren’t going to finish repairing all the damage today anyway. You’re going to be fine. They cannot hurt you.”

With that, I sacrificed more stamina to run back to the house to check the clipboard. There, as an option to buy, was a pickaxe.

After dropping more boards into the dumpster, I bought myself a pickaxe. It was a rusty one, no doubt I could upgrade it as soon as I got 0/1 firewood and 0/2 stones, but for now it would work.

I ran back to the river, then tried breaking up stones. I kept an eye on my stamina, and I couldn’t help but notice it took a far larger chunk with every swing. It was like my axe before it was upgraded.

The words above the resource changed from stone to broken stone. That was probably all the hint I was going to get. Though, I didn’t necessarily think this through. I should’ve taken the intact stones to the house before whacking them.

I picked up the stone and walked back to the house, holding the broken chunks in my arms. I dropped the resource, then ran back to the river, picking up another stone. The morning turned into afternoon by the time I had four stone blocks cooking in the tool.

Until I could get the stone bricks to the river, I had some time to kill. I looked around, figuring out what exactly I needed to do. The storage area could be upgraded. That was going to take a ton of time, what with it needing 0/100 boards at the start. Since I couldn’t store boards on the back porch, I’d probably start placing them in there. In a way, it was storing them. Just a bit more permanently.

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

I walked into the covered back porch and glanced at the clip board. Cleaning was finally at level 15. I went to check out what clothes to buy, but the clothes were grayed out. At first, I thought it was because I didn’t have enough to buy it, but there were words written over it.

Cannot buy this until garage is upgraded

Huh. Odd. So, I would need to upgrade the garage. Maybe I should spend some time fishing so I could keep leveling in my cooking. So many things to upgrade. I was curious.

I almost decided right then to do more fishing when I paused. I wouldn’t have enough room in my storage area. And I wasn’t sure how much room I would have to cook, either.

I entered the storage area and pulled out a pile of six boards, sticking them into the upgrade part of my storage area. At first I panicked, thinking the wolf might get these too, but remembered the days I spent upgrading the brick tool and the wolf never touched it. It would be fine where it was.

With more room, I did more fishing. Not because I needed them, but because I needed to level up. Cooking was at level 7, and I needed more experience points with that.

I returned in the late afternoon to see the stone blocks finished. My wolf timer told me I still had a few hours. They would arrive tonight, and it was important to get as much done as possible. I had checked the calendar. After tonight, they would come in four days. Then in another four days. Then in three. I had a bad feeling those three days would be busy.

Turns out, carrying one brick was the equivalent of carrying two stones from the river. I don’t know how the math worked out, but I no longer applied actual logic to anything going on here.

Didn’t matter. I needed to clear out some space in my storage room anyway. I downed a couple of soups before lifting the brick and moving it toward the river. I felt sweat forming on my forehead and my breathing turned laborious. I dropped it in the ghost of a bridge, and there was a solid square rock that formed at one of the corners of the ghost bridge.

Three more to go.

I had the conflicting feeling of pain at using so much food to get three more stone bricks toward the river, but on the other hand, I needed the space. Tomorrow morning, I would do more cooking. Besides, I needed to raise my cooking level.

On the last stone brick, I was walking in the dark. I did not have the option of using the flashlight, since both my hands were busy trying to carry it. It did not make me comfortable at all, even though I kept looking at the timer and knew the wolf wouldn’t be here for another hour.

I dropped the final stone into the ghost bridge, and watched it shift.

0/50 logs

I stared at the number, then glanced around at the trees near the river. Perhaps my project of cutting down trees from the river to the house would be finished sooner than I expected.

I chopped down one tree and stuffed the six logs into the bridge. I would have done more, but my stamina was dangerously low, and I wanted to keep something.

I sighed, shining my light over at the sandy bank on the other side.

“Soon,” I said to the sand. Hopefully before they came in the next four days.

I heard the cracking of twigs on the other side of the river. My heart dropped to my stomach as I shone my flashlight in the direction of the forest. They shouldn’t be here yet. At least… I was pretty sure they shouldn’t be here. I tried to see what was making that noise, but I saw nothing but forest. Trees and logs that…

That bush on the other side of the river just moved. My flashlight was trained on that bush, waiting to see if it really did move, or if it was a figment of my imagination. Surely the night was playing tricks on me. There is no way that a bush could-

The bush rose, then eight stick-like legs appeared, scuttling around as its jaw opened, revealing razor sharp teeth.

My back was to the creature before I fully comprehended what I was seeing. Whether figment of my imagination or real, I was not going to stay and find out.

Halfway back to the house, nausea hit me so hard that I collapsed on the ground in a fetal position, moaning. Stupid stamina. Why is it necessary for running?

I spared a moment coughing on the ground, thinking about what I just saw. That was a monster. A small monster, no doubt, but still a monster. I wasn’t sure if it was a figment of my imagination, but a horrifying thought hit me. I didn’t know what was out there, and I was about to build a bridge. I hadn’t stopped to think about the implications of any of this. If I made a bridge, if there were darker creatures out there…

I let out a shuddering breath, then climbed to my feet, already feeling the tears on my cheeks. I walked as much as my lack of stamina could allow, the house coming into view.

Should I build a bridge? It was the thought that plagued me the entire walk. Something that made me deeply uncomfortable. Something I didn’t know the answer to.

I glanced up at the house. There was fifteen minutes before the wolf came. I did not want to be in the house right now. That monster took a small chunk of my sanity, and I didn’t know if I could be in the house right now.

Instead, I gathered the last bits of clutter from the garage and placed them in the dumpster. The garage was finally decluttered. I glanced at the glowing words above the garage as they shivered and changed.

0/10 stone bricks

That was going to take a lot of stamina. Though, maybe it wouldn’t, considering the brick tool was a lot closer to the garage than it was to the river.

I glanced toward the direction of the river, the question of whether I should build a bridge returned to me. Did I have a choice? Maybe there was a sandy bank on this side of the river, but I would have to go exploring.

Could I use that time to explore? Maybe that was a decision for when I knew how long my to-do list was tomorrow.

I didn’t have any stones, or I would have started making those stone bricks now. My thoughts returned to my dilemma of whether to build that stupid bridge. It wasn’t something on the to-do list. Maybe it was something that would have been specifically requested by the alien overlords.

“A little help. For my own sanity,” I whispered.

They didn’t answer. I didn’t expect them to. Instead, I wandered over to the front porch, looking out among the darkness. The front porch was still a dilapidated mess. The dead hanging plants were almost sad. Despite the haunting aspect of this house on the second level, I had grown to love this old home. It had a charm to it in the daytime, and after a really good exorcism, it fit the cozy aspects quite nicely. I wondered if the lawn was going to get mowed or something. If I could plant flowers on the path leading up to the front porch. If I could plant proper hanging plants.

My wolf timer turned red and blinked. I didn’t dare waste any sanity as I slipped into the house to wait for their attack.