I was stumbling out of bed before I comprehended that I was not outside in the pouring rain chasing after Theo. I was in my bedroom, the red dawn light filling my room. I was panting, glancing around.

“Theo?”

I didn’t know why I said his name. An entire night had passed, and he was running the other direction last I saw him. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I could trust my eyes. My sanity was completely gone last night, and I could have hallucinated anything. But that was only things inside the house, right? The shadows and the whispers I heard trying to freak me out when my sanity was below fifty percent all came from the house. Not outside.

Besides, I distinctly remember hearing that chainsaw. And I doubt very much that I would have hallucinated Theo, who seemed just as confused and bewildered at seeing me as I did at seeing him. He was here. Here in this strange place with me. But where…

The monsters. The monsters across the bridge. Knowing his game preference, he probably woke up in a place full of monsters to kill while I woke up here in a dirty house to clean.

I was breathing deeply, my gaze bouncing around until it came to the ground. The carpet was black. No, wait. That wasn’t black carpet. That was residue from them. I could see the edges of the room had the regular brown carpet. I lifted my steel-toe boots, the sticky substance revealing that yes, they left a residue. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. Last time this didn’t happen. Was this new?

Last time it was an accident, because my alien overlords were still figuring out the ropes and even said the penalties wouldn’t be as severe. I sighed, lowering my boot before stepping out into the entertainment room.

My sanity was at twenty-five percent. That wasn’t great. I’d probably be hearing weird noises in this house if I remained. I needed to wear my nightgown tonight for bed to jump that up to seventy-five percent.

My stamina, too, was at one hundred percent. The grayed out cap at the end of my bar was gone. I wasn’t complaining. It was nice to have a full bar of stamina.

I rushed into the entertainment room, seeing the carpet stained with residue of them. There were parts where there were thin black marks, then bigger pools. It was like someone painted an anaconda black and had it slithering through the first floor.

I ran out the front door, thinking maybe Theo was still here.

“Theo?” I shouted. Again, it felt pointless, but I had to try. I moved around the front of the house, cupping my mouth to help the sound travel. “Theo!”

Silence. All around me the trees were bright orange, red, and yellow. Fall had arrived. I moved to the backyard and prepared to shout his name again when all the air left my body.

The backyard was a complete mess. There were logs, bricks, boards, and broken stone scattered all across the backyard. Both greenhouses had blinking red words above them.

Warning! Greenhouses will be destroyed if hit again!

I flinched, then noticed the fence was completely gone. I would have to rebuild it. The storage unit had words blinking above it, too.

32/100 boards

25/50 stone blocks

12/75 bricks

I let out another breath. They completely destroyed this place. The barn was missing some logs, too. The mess they made was almost overwhelming, except I remembered I had seven days.

Still, after seeing the kind of mess this place was, seven days didn’t feel like a lot. Besides, Theo was here. That mystery above everything had my attention. I wanted to spend a day trying to contact him. I was confident he was on the other side of the river. Which meant I would have to travel on the other side to find him. With the only thing to protect me was my axe.

I let out a breath, glancing toward the river. A lot of the trees had inexplicably grown back last night. More resources at the beginning of the season. I could still hear the river. I wondered what would happen if I crossed the bridge and shouted for Theo.

A whole slew of monsters would be after me. That’s what would happen.

I sighed, then walked back into my house. I ran my eyes over the calendar. There was no unusual weather pattern all week. I was also happy to see I would have another seven days next week before another attack. In fact, the pattern seemed to be two seven days, then two five days, then two four days, before one more three day, all equaling thirty-five days for fall. Considering how badly they destroyed my back yard, I would need those two weeks with only two attacks. Any spare time I would have would definitely be used figuring out how to contact Theo. There was no way he was a figment of my imagination.

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I picked up the phone that was blinking and pressed one.

“They have returned to their origin, considerably weaker after such an attack. They will not return for some time.”

I glanced again at the calendar.

“But they were thorough. They destroyed anything that was being protected, and anything that was partially finished. It is up to you to repair those damages before their next attack.”

“Theo,” I whispered. “What about Theo.”

“Take the time to repair. As always, we will give you a to-do list.”

“Theo! Why is Theo here!”

“This is for the entire week-”

“Are you going to tell me about Theo!”

“-finish before you can go to bed.

“Repair all damages done by them,

“Build a barn,

“Purchase a cow,

“Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building,

“Build and set traps in your foraging area.

“Clean the blackness in the house.

“As an added warning, they have a very keen sense. They have left a mark in your house. If it is not cleaned up by the time they return, it does not matter how strong the fence is. They will be able to break it, and they will attack. Make sure the residue is one hundred percent gone. Once you reach level twenty in all fields, you will also gain the ability to know how clean your house is.”

A whimper escaped me as I glanced down at the blackened carpet. It was everywhere. Those alien overlords really were placing a lot of emphasis on me leveling up to 20.

The phone gave a click, and it seemed to bring me back to the present.

“Theo! What about Theo! Why is he here?” I demanded.

There was no answer. Just the tone indicating that the other line had hung up. I stared at the calendar again. Seven days. I had seven days to recover. But I didn’t want to recover. I wanted to forget all of this and march over to the other side to find Theo. But I wouldn’t last a day on the other side.

I sighed, looking at the long to-do list on the paper. I needed to get started. Cleaning and the fence were my two top priorities now, but I also needed to raise my levels. And I needed to start now.

I got my repaired reflective vest and dressed in my building outfit before walking outside, getting to work cleaning up the logs, bricks, and placing the broken stone into the tool to reforge them into stone blocks. Once it was all cleaned up, I started my morning routine. It wasn’t much. I checked the greenhouses to see that indeed all the plants were withered and dead. I pulled them all out and fixed the broken soil boxes. I dipped into my reserve of fertilizer and soil, hoping I could find some replacement for this stuff. I did the same in the second greenhouse, feeling tired. Everything now felt like a distraction. Something to get finished fast so I could go to the other side. To figure out why Theo was here. Could he come over to my side? Clearly from what I saw last night it was far easier for Theo to come here. Would he try it again?

As I finished fixing the soil box in the second greenhouse, the questions came back to me. Almost too much to process. It all boiled down to why? Why was he here? Granted, I still didn’t understand why I was here. Now it wasn’t just why was I here, but why did my alien overlords decide to bring us both here? Why did the memories always have us together? Why was it us?

I bought more seeds, as everything in the greenhouses were destroyed. Also, since the greenhouses had been attacked so hard, the produce would take days to grow. I had some uncooked tomatoes and potatoes stored away, so I wasn’t completely destitute, but I was again glad I had a solid week to recover.

I went to get a potato from the storage room when I noticed the same blackness on the ground of the storage unit. My heart sank as I pulled out my flashlight and shined it around. It wasn’t as bad as the greenhouse, but the inside of the storage unit got hit.

“No,” I whispered.

If I had to guess, almost half of the stuff I stored in here was destroyed beyond saving. Splintered firewood, crumbled bricks, and shredded sticks. I tried to hold in my gasp, thinking that would make it not as bad, somehow. I stumbled in, my light bouncing around. The place I was having such a hard time updating because it was so full found itself almost half as empty.

I groaned, but steeled myself. The punishment was harsh. A little too harsh. But I also had seven days to recover.

I gathered some of the destroyed bricks and dropped them into the dumpster, just to check.

+.01

You know what? It was better than nothing.

I gathered all I could into my inventory and unloaded a lot into the dumpster. I did another trip like that to get the last of the ruined stuff out of the storage before remembering I had come in here to get a potato to plant.

I cut up the potato and planted it into the first greenhouse. If I was serious about this, I would need sand. Those greenhouses needed to be repaired, because I needed food fast. Needed as much as I could build up my stash again. And to get it fast, I had to start making glass.

I went over to the chicken coop, glad to see it in one piece. When I entered the coop, though, Daisy was nowhere to be found. Everything in my body froze.

“No,” I whispered again. I stumbled forward, aching. “No!”

I saw it, like it was supposed to be some sick gift. A raw chicken wing and chicken breast floating an inch from the ground, waiting for me to take.

“NO!” I glared at the ceiling. “Bring her back! You can’t kill her! You promised!”

There was a pause, then words filled my vision.

We just promised Killie wouldn’t die.

“Bring Daisy back! Now!” My heart couldn’t take this. Killie poked her head in to see what was going on.

“Please!” It was so desperate. I hated sounding desperate. I wanted to sound in control. Ready to bargain. But I wasn’t about to bargain Daisy’s life. I was going to demand it. “I need her back! Let her not able to give eggs for a few days or something. Let me figure out some way through my animal care to get her better. But do. Not. Kill. Her.”

There was a pause, then I blinked and Daisy was on the ground, clucking. I started to sob, grabbing my chicken and holding her close. Information in my mind told me she wouldn’t lay eggs until I found a certain medicinal plant while foraging. The relief made the sob escape. Daisy was clucking, flapping her wings as I kept hugging her. I eventually let Daisy go, and she stumbled a bit, but soon righted herself.

I covered my face and tried to contain my sobs, but I couldn’t stop. I could handle almost anything except for anyone to harm my little animals.