I tried the chicken strips and fries first. With the remaining chicken meat, I cooked up some chicken and veggies. I then made more tomato soups. I was out of onions, which was needed for the potato soup. Perhaps that was a greenhouse upgrade. Either way, it didn’t matter. I used a lot of the potatoes for fries, anyway.

Theo returned, placing the stones at the base of the greenhouse before sitting across from me at the fire, his back to the house.

“So?” he asked.

“I don’t want to lose a whole day. It’s as I said before. In another few hours, I’ll switch out the tool with the broken stones, then tonight I’ll need to switch out the stones for the bags. I really need that glass to finish up the barn.”

He smiled. “Alright. So when you finish putting in the last thing in that thing over there tonight, should we do some scouting?”

I glanced at my wolf timer, trying to figure out how much time we would have when all was said and done. “There’s a good chance we will meet up with the wolf when we try to get into his territory.”

Theo shrugged. “Then we die. Honestly, this is an exercise to get you to start using all the resources at your disposal, and that includes your life.”

I scrunched my nose, still feeling that unsettling feeling. “Okay, look. I will die tonight-” my brain sputtered at the casual way I said this, but I pushed forward, “-as long as you promise to contact the alien overlords. It should be a male and female. Brother and sister.”

“Brother and sister, huh?” Theo asked, poking the fire with his sword.

“Yeah.” I watched as he kept poking the fire as I watched the tomato soup pop into existence.

“Why have they taken an interest in us?” Theo asked.

“I don’t know. It’s why I think having you help might solve why we’re here,” I said.

Theo sighed, then sheathed his sword and stood up. “I’m going to grind, see if I can level up. I will… talk to the sky while doing it,” he said.

I failed to hide my smile. “If I’m going to die tonight, I need you to talk to the sky.”

Theo snorted. “Alright. I will meet you here at sunset.”

I put in some more of the tomatoes into the pot. “Thanks, Theo. I’ll see you here at sunset.”

Theo turned around without giving the house so much as a glance before he made his way to the river. I kept my focus on the fire, knowing I didn’t have enough food to fill the hour. I probably should have gone fishing. But then again, I only had enough potatoes for one fish and chips. I was kind of annoyed the barn took glass. That really threw a wrench in making food.

I was done with the fire. It was still going with a lot of time left over, and I did my best to stand up and walk away without feeling bad about it. Firewood, sticks, and matches were not a scarce resource. I could survive wasting a bit of fire.

Instead, I gathered all the lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes and moved into the kitchen to the chopping station. I made the first basic salad and was halfway through another one when a glow appeared around me.

All levels reached twenty. Upgrading…

Upgrading…

I held my breath, excitement swirling through me. I lifted off the ground a bit before dropping down again, the light disappearing.

My eyes darted around, seeing this new upgrade. When I focused on my bars, they zoomed into my vision and I saw both my sanity and stamina at one hundred percent. When I peeked my head over to see the ground while wearing my cleaning outfit, a blinking number came into focus.

House 53% cleaned

I then popped my head outside, looking at the tool with a timer above it, counting down.

3:58:45

3:58:44

3:58:43

I smiled. That would make it a lot easier to be prepared to switch out the stuff right when it was ready. It seemed to relax me as I kept chopping the salad.

I had three base salads that I took into the storage unit. I sprinkled some foraged food on the three salads to make them a bit more complex, but I assumed I could add more once I had it.

Once the cooking was done, I double checked my list again and knew what I had to do. With the sun in the sky, I needed to get some cleaning done since I wasn’t going to do it tonight. Because I’d be dead.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I was on my knees, scrubbing the entertainment room. I was perfectly content with doing this the rest of the day. What’s more, my cleaning itch was scratched as I watched the number in the corner of my vision tick up.

53% cleaned

54% cleaned

55% cleaned

So. Satisfying.

Since I was gearing myself up to do this all day, I started scrubbing harder, using more of my stamina to make bigger scrubbing marks and going through it faster. I could spare the stamina.

When I was almost done with the entertainment room, I went through the back door and broke ten stones right as the timer ran out. I pulled the bricks out before shoving the broken stone in. I then dropped the bricks into the fence, seeing 0/5 stone blocks were needed next before I dropped the rest of the bricks into the storage unit. I let out a sigh. Despite the storage unit losing half its contents, I really did want to get this thing upgraded. Those last three days of the season were a beast, and I wanted to have this place well stocked.

Tomorrow, once I had the last glass in the barn, I would stockpile bricks and stone blocks. I would recover from this attack, and I would be prepared for the end of fall.

Once everything was in order, I went back and kept cleaning the entertainment room. At first I didn’t want to eat anything, but it was getting way too close to give up on. So, I ate one of my freshly made soups and kept going. I waited for the sheen to appear in the entertainment room before I opened the door to my bedroom.

Of the all the places that were attacked, the living room was definitely the hardest. They must not have found too much interest in the bedroom, as there was just a thick line from the bedroom door to the hallway door. But I kept scrubbing, kept watching that beautiful, beautiful number tick up.

78% cleaned

79% cleaned

80% cleaned

Killie walked in batting a torn paper ball, and we bopped the paper back and forth.

“So… hi,” I said to the ceiling. “I’ve instructed Theo to try and contact you.”

Silence. Killie gave me a look before going back to her hunt of the wadded-up paper.

“It is rather strange that you’ve been contacting me and not him. True, maybe he just doesn’t know, but… there’s a purpose, right? You’ll be talking to him now, too?”

More silence. I finished up the bedroom, entering the hallway with my flashlight. Even with the sun in the sky, this part of the house never seemed to get any sunlight. It was also hit a lot worse than the bedroom, but I was close. So very close.

“And if you don’t contact him… that’s clearly a clue. One I don’t have an answer to yet.”

I kept scrubbing, getting closer and closer to the kitchen. It was getting darker, not just in the hall, but also everywhere else. Theo would be meeting up with me soon.

98% cleaned

99% cleaned

100%

House is cleaned.

I sighed, then dunked the brush into the bucket. There was a part of me that would be terrified that I’d missed a small spot somewhere obscure that I would have to search through the whole house to get. I’d been meticulous, though, so I was glad it all paid off. I pulled out the list just to get that final boost of dopamine.

Repair all damages done by them

Build a barn

Purchase a cow

Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

Build a trap

Set trap in your foraging area

Clean the blackness in the house

I tucked the list back in as I walked outside. The sun was heading toward the tree line, and I had an hour left on the tool. I placed my hands on my hips, glancing around. I could always store more clay and stones. Or fishing. Maybe both. I had time.

Barn, cow, greenhouses. Three full days to get it all done. I was confident. So confident I was okay with dying to see what happened.

The storage room was filled with a collection of stones and clay. I even spent the rest of the time waiting for Theo by the river, fishing.

When it got dark, and the wolf timer had about forty-five minutes left on it, Theo came out of the bushes, brushing himself off. His clothes looked a bit more torn, and he had various scratches on his body and face. Also a particularly nasty bruise on his face, but he smiled when he saw me.

“Fishing?” he asked, crossing the bridge.

“Fish and chips help my sanity. And I need meat.”

“Cool,” he said, glancing in the direction of the house, even though he couldn’t see it through the trees. Once he got on the other side of the bridge, the cuts turned into scars, and the bruise looked like it received a few days of healing. No doubt they would return once he crossed the bridge.

I finished reeling in a fish. “I’ll go switch the blocks with the glass. We should be ready to go. I don’t think I’ve reset any of my traps, so I’d like to check those.”

Theo nodded. “Sounds good.”

I got up, brushing myself off as we headed toward the house. “Did you talk to the sky?”

Theo glanced at me. “Yeah.”

“And?”

Theo shrugged. “Nothing.”

I let out a sigh. “Just keep trying?”

“I mean, that’s fine. But what if you are the only one who can talk to them?” Theo asked.

“Think about it, Theo. These are the beings in charge of this whole thing. They have all the answers. They’re the ones who have taken our memories. I for one want to know everything I’ve forgotten before I can settle here.”

“Or bust your way out of here,” Theo said.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t mind that,” I said.

“Don’t blame you. If I had to clean my old childhood home, I’d want to leave, too,” Theo said.

I shook my head. I wanted to say how beautiful it was, but I doubted Theo could find anything beautiful about that home.

We fell silent as the house came into view. I moved the stones out of the tool. Theo helped place five in the fence as I moved the rest into the storage unit. It then requested 0/3 shattered glass, which I happily provided.

The fences were done. The house was cleaned. Now all that was left was to finish placing the glass into the greenhouse, and I will have repaired all the damages. But the thing that gave me the most relief was I was safe. They could not break through the fence, and it was all but guaranteed that I would have another week of recovery without them destroying everything again.

“Okay, the wolf is supposed to appear in about twenty-five minutes,” I said. “I want to reset some traps before…”

“Before we die?” Theo finished. I flinched, which made him chuckle. “It’s just a game, Quinn.”

“Is it?” I asked, glancing around as we headed into the forest. “I haven’t played any game like this. Not this realistic.”

Theo shrugged as he pulled out his chainsaw. “Come on, Quinn. Let’s go reset your traps, then track down this wolf’s lair. Or die trying.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then nodded.