The words disappeared, and I hesitated before climbing to my feet. I did my crouch run through the basement, then climbed the stairs to the covered back porch. I grabbed the clipboard and got to the last page with my progress.

Farming level 20

Cleaning level 21

Logging level 24

Cooking level 15

Building level 25

Animal Care level 17

Cooking and animal care. Once I bring those two up, I could get this upgrade. After that relief, a different realization hit me.

“Okay, well… I was actually hoping to use it to figure out if the furnace could tun the clay into baked clay.” I glanced out the window, certain it was still light enough to be considered morning. “I need to bake them for half a day, then cook them into bricks for another half day, and…”

And sneak them into the fence while the wolf is out.

That realization made my heart start to pound. It would be the only way. Even if this did work and the clay could be baked by the furnace and then placed in the tool, that would make it so I’d be putting the bricks in the fence an hour or two before they attacked. That would be cutting it close, but the only other option I had was to… not. To not have a fortified fence. That didn’t really feel like an option to me.

Which meant I had to sneak around the wolf creature. Tonight. Right before they attacked. And I had no comfort food.

I glanced again at my sanity that remained at fifty percent. I tried not to focus on the negative. This could still work.

“So, um… yes?” I asked the ceiling. “Is the clay turning into baked clay near the furnace?”

I hesitated, then walked back down into the basement and to the clay at the bottom of the furnace. I cleared my throat. “Is it working.”

I waited for anything, then words appeared.

Information for -25.00?

Y/N

I winced, glancing at my total. 7.21 total points. I had drained so much of it to get the materials for the furnace, but I was not about to feel bad about it.

“I’m… assuming I can go into the negative?” I asked.

We’ll allow it.

“Can I barter again?”

There was another pause.

-23.00

I let out a sigh, then closed my eyes, trying to think. I noticed I’d reached level 25 in building, which meant I could buy the fourth set of clothing for building. That would cost 20.00 dopamine points. And I was getting really close with the logging, too. After downing so many trees, it was impossible not to get close to level 25. I spent a lot of points, and I was about to spend a lot more for information.

More than information, I corrected myself. This is peace of mind. How much would I spend in order to start my plan? To mentally prepare to sneak through the yard with a wolf nearby?

“Negative fifteen?” I asked, not feeling it at all.

There was another pause, then the words appeared.

-20.00

Honestly? That was fair. And the moment I thought it, I knew they would not go any lower. It wasn’t nearly as expensive as the other bit of information. And when I thought of it in terms of currency, it was literally a log cut into boards.

“Okay. Tell me,” I said.

Yes. The furnace works, and the bricks are in place to be baked.

They will take half a day.

There can only be five clay at a time that can be baked.

The words disappeared, and I felt myself sighing with relief. Then I was right. And I had so much stuff to do.

I gathered all the bricks I could carry and dropped them in the fence, taking the blow to my stamina. I ran inside once the forty-five bricks were in the fence, drying off. I took a moment to appreciate how warm it was in here. I wanted to do some more cleaning, but I didn’t want to go outside if I didn’t need to.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Instead, I walked through the first floor, admiring the colors and how much this house had changed. Yes, the brown carpet still bugged me. Yes, the furniture looked like it came straight out of a grandma’s house. But it was beautiful. The junk was gone. The walls were a lovely painted color. It was clean. It hadn’t smelled of mildew in ages.

Killie walked over to me, purring as she rubbed her back against my leg.

“Hey, girl,” I said, leaning down to pick her up. “I had a thought. I need to up my animal care levels and cooking, but it’s raining. I usually just get some levels by talking with Daisy or with you, and I don’t have a cow yet. I want to see if playing with you will up the levels.”

Killie glanced at me with those cat eyes, and I could practically hear the sass coming out of her. My smile was a bit chagrined.

“Obviously I would play with you even if it doesn’t raise my animal care levels. I’ve been so busy doing all these to do lists and having existential crisis after existential crisis. While waiting for the clay to turn into baked clay, maybe we could play a bit?”

Killie let out a soft meow, jumped down, then faced me. Clearly this cat was waiting for me to pick the entertainment.

“Right,” I said, hands on my hips as I looked around. I didn’t necessarily have a toy. In my dejunking of the place, I really hadn’t seen a cat toy anywhere. But that was what an imagination was for.

I had enough batteries that I had her play with my light for a bit. It wasn’t a laser pointer, though, so Killie played with it a little before she got bored. The biggest hit was the crumpled-up to-do list. It was almost therapeutic to crumple that list up and toss it to my cat. She batted at it, meowing as she chased it around. I smiled, following her around, stealing it from her on occasion. Killie enjoyed it far more than I thought she would.

The hours passed. I felt the same amount of dread as I usually did while doing something that wasn’t on my to-do list. A part of me was screaming at me for playing with Killie while I had a to-do list to complete. The other part of me tried to calm her down and assure her that I was working on the to-do list. I was at a bottleneck with those bricks.

Playing with Killie did help my animal care, and I was delighted to see the two hours I spent with my cat rose my level to eighteen. I wasn’t about to tell that to Killie, though, and I was smart to check it on the clipboard when she was off catching the ball.

Eventually it was time to gather the baked clay and stick it in the tool. I sacrificed some of my stamina to quickly do that in the pouring rain. I was imagining the seven days I would have at the start of the fall season. Seven whole days to replenish my food, to upgrade the things I need to. It would practically be a vacation! As long as I survived tonight.

But… I would. I was trying not to be overly optimistic, but I learned something else with my conversation with the male. These farming games rarely ever ended. If anything, I only ever got bored and put it away for a few months or a year. Or two. There was never any firm end. No big, final quest to finish. No end tape to run through. Sure, farming games ‘ended’ with the storyline, but… they kind of lasted forever. Forever cleaning, forever organizing, forever farming.

Sure, I got a penalty for staying out in the rain with no stamina. I lost a day and didn’t recover half my stamina. That hurt, especially so close to their attack. But I had a feeling my alien overlords wouldn’t force me out of the game. This was a binding contract between the three of us, whatever contract that meant. A contract I knew I needed to play the game long enough to figure out what it was.

As soon as the hauntings started upstairs, I scooped up Killie and barricaded myself in the bathroom. I had no comfort food, which meant I needed to protect my fifty percent sanity as much as possible for when I had to leave to put the bricks in the fence.

I remained in the bathroom, closing my eyes. Ignoring the sounds, or giving logical explanations for why they were acting like this. It kept my sanity in check for most of the evening until I heard those footsteps. Try as I might, my only logical reasoning was that the murderer was still in the house, and I was not prepared to see what would happen if I opened the door right as the murderer walked out.

Despite all my talk about how this game might only end if I let it, that was when I was playing with my cat, not huddled in a bathroom waiting for a murderer to pass by.

I was proud of myself that I only lost perhaps ten percent of my sanity. With the murderer gone, I slowly got to my feet, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

“Alright,” I whispered to Killie. “Wait in here. I need to put the bricks in the fence.”

Killie stared at me as I opened the door. The nice thing about the bathroom was it was right next to the back door. Against my better judgement, against everything screaming at me to stop, I grabbed the latch and unlocked the back door.

I didn’t allow myself to think too hard about it. I had five spots in my inventory that had the remainder of my food, and five empty spots for the bricks. I did not have that much food left. I was really anxious for it to already be tomorrow, not just because they were attacking in a few hours. Now that I knew what would happen at the end of each season, I was going to prepare for it. Part of that preparation was to make sure my storage was upgraded. I needed more space.

My mind was wandering. Almost dissociating. How could I be thinking about tomorrow when I needed to focus on the now. Now, being that I was slipping the last brick into my inventory.

I crept away toward the fence. The rain masked my steps, but it also masked the wolf’s snorts and quiet snarls. I froze completely when I saw the wolf inside the fence, sniffing around the dumpster.

I backed toward the covered porch again, not daring to breathe. Rain was masking my feet. I could use this to my advantage. The wolf was by the dumpster, so I should go on the other side of the house. The other side where… where I was ignoring the beer cans by my bedroom window. The ones I was pretty sure were left by someone at night.

Which one did I want to possibly run into? The wolf? Or the creep?

I let out a breath. Information. I could… check to see… if there was someone by my window. That would be a great discovery, because… because…

Because I would rather face the creep than the wolf. There was only a slight chance I’d run into the creep. A guarantee I’d run into the wolf. Simple logic was ruling me.

I eased past the covered back porch, then crept over the storage room. I waited at the edge, then popped my head over the side.

No creep. Perfect. I used the opportunity to sprint a little ways to the fence, unloading the bricks into it. The wolf was still on the other side of the house. I let out a breath, checking my stamina to make sure I was still alright.

The words above the fence shifted. My eyes snapped to them, holding my breath. Then, to my horror, new words appeared.

0/20 shattered glass