"There's another wave coming! Get ready!"

For the first time since coming here, Dericka cursed, not caring who might hear it and what effect it might have on morale. Kobe had made a good effort to sound strong and confident, but she could sense the despair in his voice. She felt it too, that dark pit of hopelessness trying to pull her in, the strongest it had been so far.

"More incoming!"

Dericka turned to repeat Kobe's words to the people behind her. Two elderly women looked up, fear plain on their faces even from a distance. Tasha, as usual, gave no indication that she'd heard, completely focused on her task, pausing only to wipe the rain from her face. Just like the other two women, she was soaking wet, short blonde hair stuck to her head. They were on the southernmost edge of the tallest hill next to their campground, huddled around a small pile of rocks, frantically weaving some kind of ropes together to turn it into what she thought would be a makeshift sling. Dericka hadn't understood exactly what they were creating, but she hoped it would help. If they even finished on time.

She held her hand to her brow as she faced north again, looking over their former campsite, shielding her eyes from the rain to better see what was coming. There were at least five dark shapes, perhaps six, surging through the grass with those unsettlingly quick movements. It was hard to tell in the dying light, which was casting long shadows from the bushtrees over the grassy meadow below. The damned centipedes were still far away and moved so close to the ground, it was hard to tell them apart from each other and even from their shadows. She cursed again as she saw how close the sun had come to the horizon, already painting the cloudy sky in beautiful shades of rose and cherry red. Soon, they'd be fighting in the dark.

As the centipedes got closer, she confirmed that there were six in total. Three of them had pulled ahead, so they'd be coming up the slope as separate groups. A small blessing, perhaps, but they hadn't handled more than two at a time so far.

Five black, curled up corpses littered the wet grass around the three men that made up their frontline. Kobe, standing a few paces in front of the others, had been taking the brunt of the attacks. The shin guards, made of centipede carapace, had managed to protect him so far.

To his right stood Jim, his entire body shivering as he clutched his spear with shaking hands. The rain had washed most of the mud and blood off his face, but his jeans and shirt still carried dark stains. The poor man had barely had time to recover from his previous ordeal, but he looked determined.

He won't break. He doesn't want to be seen as a coward. It was a dark thought, and once again she had to push down on the disgust and doubt squirming in her stomach. Had she asked him to stand there because she knew that he might fight to the death? Did it even matter? They were well and truly out of options.

Five paces in front of her, to Kobe's left, stood Dmitriy. She could make out the contours of his muscled back through the wet shirt, heaving up and down with deep breaths. The tall man stood bent forward, leaning heavily on the thick branch he was holding. His fever had broken, but he was still weak. How long would he even be able to stand up, without that piece of wood to support his weight?

If only they'd had more time. Even one more day would have made a difference. They would have been able to gather more Value, or produce another set of shin guards at the very least. Dmitriy and Jim would have been in better shape.

But soon after the rain had started, the water level began to rise. They didn’t understand how it could have risen so quickly. There must have been considerably more rainfall upstream, because the rain hadn't been strong enough here. Whatever the reason, it had kept going up until it exceeded the river banks. And with the water, came the centipedes.

Unlike normal centipedes, these giant insects were somehow aquatic, or at least amphibious. Their many legs had the shape of small fins, though it didn’t stop them from crawling swiftly across the grass. The creatures moved even faster in the water, so they had no choice but to retreat away from their camp as they kept coming out. They had moved up the tallest hill, but the damn things kept giving chase, not wanting to give up. As some of the elderly would move too slowly up and down the rolling hills that covered most of this zone, they again had no choice but to make a stand and fight.

No choice, no choice, no choice. Just an unfortunate series of events, forcing their hand at every turn, leading to the desperate situation they were in now. Three of their number, strong fighters each, were most likely dead in a forest, being devoured by monstrous squirrels. She had tried her best to convince them and warned them countless times. They were all adults, who decided to take a risk in a desperate situation. What more could she have done? Then there was sweet old Robert, who’d died from a bad infection after being bitten by one of the centipedes. How could they have anticipated that creatures would come crawling out of the river to attack them in the dark?

If that’s what she really believed, then why wouldn’t her stomach stop squirming? Why did she feel this constant pressure in her chest, which she just couldn’t get rid of?

Dericka jolted as she realized the centipedes were already starting to crawl up the hill. This was no time for doubt and self-pity. There had to be something more they could do. Should they retreat after all, catch up to the group that was moving slowly a few hills further down? There was a small chance the centipedes would stop their pursuit. But then also a larger chance that they’d have to fight in a much worse position… No. Better to face the damned things head on.

There was one other thing, but she’d been stuck on it, indecisive. There was a not unlikely scenario that they’d have several wounded at the end of this. They’d need a Fixer Upper to eliminate the risk of further deaths due to infection later on. But even if they managed to channel all of the kills to Kobe, which was nigh impossible in this chaos, they’d be short by…

No more time. She had to make a decision. Gritting her teeth, she called out to the three men in front of her.

“Use your Value! Increase your Durability and Strength! We’re going to need it!” She noticed how Kobe stiffened for an instant and wondered what that meant. Jim looked over his shoulder and gave her a nod. Dmitriy didn’t give any sign that he’d even heard her, continuing to lean on the thick branch he’d carried up the hill. Had he already allocated it?

No time to find out. She followed her own advice, allocating 10 of her paltry 12 Value to bring her Strength from 5 up to 7. With that increase, she might just be able to break through the centipedes’ carapace.

She heard a grunt from Dmitriy and then she saw the first centipede moving towards Kobe, lifting its head and moving its long feelers around. He moved without hesitation, swinging his spear like a baseball bat to knock the creature to the side, then stepping on its head. But as he got his spear in position to stab at it, two more centipedes were already surging towards him.

Dericka wiped the rain from her face, then firmed her grip on the spear, knees slightly bent, ready to move forward. Should she go now? Her heart was pounding in her ears, nearly drowning out the incessant pattering of the rain.

“I have it.”

It was Dmitriy’s husky voice, the man somehow already out of breath, lifting his massive branch onto his shoulder and then over his head with great effort, to swing it down like a club. Kobe stepped away right on time and then there was a wet thudding sound mixed with a satisfying crunch as the makeshift club hit the ground. The centipede was flailing and squirming weakly, its midsection so thoroughly crushed that it shouldn’t pose a risk anymore. Dmitriy didn’t pay it any more attention, going back to leaning all his weight on his oversized stick, gulping for air like a drowning man coming up from the water.

Kobe was already kicking at the next of the massive insects as another struck at his leg, failing to bite through the shin guards. Jim ran forwards to step on the downed centipede, stabbing at it, as Kobe moved to do the same with the remaining one. She saw how the muscles in his arm tensed, the wet, dark skin seeming to gleam in the evening light as he stabbed straight through its head in one smooth motion. Jim was less successful, giving up on the spear after several failed attempts and moving on to stomping its head instead, but then the next three centipedes came up the hill, rushing towards them.

Jim cursed and made to turn, but Kobe stepped forward quickly and started to fight them off, sweeping his spear from left to right. He was moving like an athlete, strong and precise, definitely faster than before. It had to be an increase in Stats, and she felt a pang of worry as she wondered whether he might have spent all of his Value, then chided herself. She should focus on helping them instead.

When the squat, balding man had finished stomping his foe to death he came in to pull another one away from Kobe. The contrast in movements was stark, Jim appearing clumsy and slow, already looking tired, panting, while Kobe flowed gracefully from one strike to the next, face focused. Jim failed to deflect the centipede’s strike and screamed in pain as it caught him right below the knee. Kobe turned at the scream, which allowed another one to snake up his left leg and he had to quickly grab it next to its head to keep it from biting him.

Dericka looked to the right, saw Elza standing there, frozen, eyes wide, arms shaking and then she was rushing forward, pushing down on her own fear. Jim had fallen to the ground, gripping the centipede, but it was moving its body up, scratching at the man’s skin with its strange, triangular legs. As she moved to help him, she caught a glimpse of three more centipedes emerging from the water next to their old campsite. She cursed again and as she couldn’t get a good angle for a stab or a swing, she kicked at the centipede instead, which wasn’t helpful as long as Jim had a hold on it. He realized the problem and pushed it down to the ground so she could stand on it and then she was stabbing down, wooden spearpoint skittering off the tough, wet carapace. She moved her other foot on top of the centipede as well to keep it in place, a shiver running through her body as she felt it squirming desperately and heard its legs scratching at the ground. After two more failed stabs she decided to turn her spear around and smash down with the flat end.

“Watch out!”

It was Kobe’s voice, loud and urgent, making her snap her head around, but then she cried out at a sharp flare of pain in her left calf. It was agony, like a kitchen knife slicing through her flesh and knowing that it must be one of those horrible things biting into her made it so much worse. Instinctively realizing that moving her feet away from the trapped one would be bad, she twisted her upper body around, swinging her spear behind her. She screamed again as she swung and she was shocked at how foreign it sounded, raw and bestial, like it couldn’t have ever come from her.

The spear connected, knocking the creature off for a moment, but then it came right back. Before it could get at her again, Dmitriy was there, lumbering forward with heavy steps, eyes looking through her, like he was barely aware of his surroundings. He lifted the massive branch up to his chest, then lunged and let himself drop forward so that he landed right on top of the centipede, which didn’t stand a chance against the thick branch coming down with Dmitriy’s full body weight behind it.

Jim had gotten up and limped over to help her with the final centipede that was still squirming underneath her feet. As soon as they finally managed to crush its head, Dericka let herself drop down to the ground with a wet squelching sound. The soil was starting to get muddy. There was a deep cut in her calf, staining her beige chinos with blood. She began to tear at the bloody cloth, hissing through clenched teeth from the pain, but then Kobe crouched down and started helping her.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I fucked up. I had to grab one and the other got away from me so fast-”

She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, showing a strained smile.

“You did great. It would have gone a lot worse without you." A short pause. "You looked like a real warrior, you know.” She let out a soft chuckle, followed by another hiss of pain as Kobe pulled the cloth around her wound.

It wasn’t over yet. They had two wounded already, three if you added Dmitriy. Their situation had quickly gotten worse. Had she made another mistake? Shouldn’t she have known that Elza would be useless? Why had she put her there? But she didn’t know, couldn’t have known.

She closed her eyes, trying to focus on solutions. To change her approach, she tried thinking of the creatures as simple bugs. What was the best way to deal with bugs? You’d normally put out a trap, lure them with food, then poison or electrocute them. But luring them away with food wasn’t going to work, she’d seen them moving straight past some roasted rabbit meat by their campfire.

If they were normal bugs, they’d just stomp them to death, which they were sometimes doing now as the spears were ineffective. They’d need hammers, or clubs, or rocks at the very least to crack their tough chitin. She opened her eyes, intending to ask Tasha about the progress on the sling, but then Kobe spoke.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

He sounded desperate. She hadn’t even noticed that he’d finished tying the rough bandage around her leg. Jim helped her up and then she could see the reason for all the cursing. While another three centipedes were nearly starting up the hill, a new group had emerged from the water. It was the largest mob they’d faced by far, at least eight and perhaps as many as twelve.

They stared down in shocked silence for a moment, then Jim grabbed her by the shoulders, looking into her eyes with an anguished look on his face.

“If I don’t make it, please, find my daughter. I need to know that someone will take care of her.”

“Oh my god! Are we going to die?” Elza’s voice made her look over. The woman was breaking down in tears.

“Nobody’s going to die today.” Dericka said with more confidence than she felt. She turned around and called out to Tasha’s group.

“How much longer?”

“One is finished!” Tasha ran over, dragging the thing behind her.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

It was a large stone, a bit smaller than a bowling ball, with lengths of plant fiber woven into a web of knots around it. There were two loops of rope extending outward, each around the length of an arm, which were apparently meant to swing the rock around.

While Kobe tested it out, Dericka’s mind was racing again, knowing this wouldn’t be enough. What options did they have? Stay and fight. Retreat and likely fight somewhere else, from a worse position. Or they could split up and… Hope the centipedes all went after the smallest group? Her stomach turned at the thought.

She wasn’t good at these coldblooded cost-benefit analyses, at weighing the odds of bad consequences against even worse ones. She was better with people.

She looked around again, taking stock of the situation. It was already dusk, the last embers of light dying on the horizon as the rain kept pelting them from above. Kobe was still staring down at the centipedes with a dark look on his face, while Jim was grimacing, pacing anxiously, looking over at her every few seconds. Somehow there was only a slight limp to his walk. The centipede bite must not have gone so deep.

Elza was openly crying and backing away from the edge. She might break and run away. Tasha’s eyes were wide, having only now noticed the amount of centipedes that were approaching, no doubt starting to realize the desperate situation they were in. Dmitriy was still lying on top of his branch and the corpse of a centipede, starting to push himself up, slowly and with great effort. He was going to need help.

Three of the cursed creatures were already coming up the hill, the other, massive group following behind at a good distance. Too many for them to handle. Morale was low. They’d almost certainly be overrun. Dericka grimaced as she forced herself to the logical conclusion. In these circumstances, it would actually be better to retreat, hoping for the small chance that the insects wouldn’t continue to chase. They might also break into smaller groups during the chase. There were only bad options, but the least bad one would be to move.

She looked to the south, searching for the smaller group that had the children with them. They would have to be at a good distance by now, two or three hills over, probably behind that hill with the boulder-

Her eyes widened as a reckless plan suddenly emerged. Not giving herself any more time for doubt, she decided to go with it, calling out to the group.

“Heads up! New plan! We retreat, over to that hill, behind the boulder!” She pointed as heads snapped around to look at her. All of them had the same question in their eyes, she thought. Was there hope? Her voice was as loud and confident as she could make it, eyes set with determination.

“Elza and I will-” She paused, put some weight on her left leg and corrected, grimacing.

“Elza and Tasha will support Dmitriy. Kobe and Jim protect our backs. The rest, just move as quickly as you can!” The words came out crisp and clipped, her tone urgent, leaving no room for questions or arguments.

“Get moving! Now!” She strode over to Elza, who was looking confused, grabbed her by the arm and pushed her to Dmitriy’s side, draping his arm over her shoulder. Tasha was supporting the other side, and under Dericka’s guidance, they started down the hill.

The two elderly women had gotten a head start, not hesitating to follow Dericka’s instructions. She limped behind, half stumbling down the hill, followed by Dmitriy and his two supporters. Kobe and Jim were in the rear, throwing nervous looks over their shoulders, ready to turn around and fight at any moment.

She tried not to think of what she was asking of the two men, the risk she was putting them in, focusing instead on pushing through the pain and moving as fast as they could. They had to get there before the second group caught them. There would be one more hill to cross once they made it through the valley below.

“Keep moving! We need to go faster!”

For a short while, nobody spoke, and they could hear only the disordered sounds of their messy descent. Most of them were steadily panting from the exertion, every now and then grunting with pain as they put too much weight on a wounded leg. The wet, squelching sound of their feet tramping through the increasingly muddy ground was interspersed with occasional louder splashes and curses as people slipped.

Their procession made its way down the slope like that, a group of panting, grunting, limping people moving in a hurry, desperate to survive, until there was a curse from behind.

“Hold them back and I’ll come in and smash-” It was Kobe’s voice. The leading centipedes must have caught up to them.

“Don’t stop! They’ll catch up to us!” Dericka shouted as she felt people slowing down and looking over their shoulder, digging her nails into her spear and clenching her jaw with frustration.

She picked up some sounds of protest from Dmitriy and quickly moved to get behind him, pushing at his and the supporting women’s back as she spoke.

“The best thing you can do now is to keep moving, Dmitriy! You don’t have a weapon. They’re faster than you. They can handle three centipedes.”

Elza and the two elderly women needed no encouragement, running ahead. They got into a steady rhythm again as they traversed the flat valley, but Elza and Tasha started to struggle as they reached the next slope and began to move uphill. Dericka looked over her shoulder and let out a sigh of relief as she saw Jim and Kobe coming up behind them. They took over to support Dmitriy and they made a push to reach the top of the first hill. Dericka kept glancing back but it was too dark to spot the other group of centipedes. If they were lucky, the creatures would have given up, but she wasn’t betting on it.

“Mind letting us in on the new plan?” Kobe said as they crested the hill. He seemed to be the only one not completely out of breath, the others gulping for air, looking ready to keel over.

“The boulder.” Dericka answered, speaking quickly as she tried to catch her breath. “They never… Spread out.” She had to stop speaking and motioned with her hand instead, making a fist that moved diagonally down to hit the palm of her other hand.

His eyes widened.

“You want to… Squish them with it?”

She nodded, still panting.

He squinted at the large rock, sitting near the top of the slope of the next hill.

“That’s… a really big boulder.” Then he nodded. “It’s worth a shot.”

She moved to the front, calling out again to keep moving toward the next hill as she pulled and pushed at people. Their descent was even messier than before, stumbling more than running down the hill, people panting and cursing and wailing with exhaustion. Dericka herself slipped and rolled down a good distance, groaning in pain as she came to a stop, calf burning. She just waved off the people trying to help, motioning to their destination as she got up and pushed herself to keep moving.

“We’ll have to dig up the soil around it. Two or three people with spears.” Kobe called out as they reached the start of the final slope up.

“Good idea!” She was so glad he was directing them now, barely able to get any words out, feeling like she could start vomiting any time.

They’d made good time crossing the muddy valley, but once they had to go uphill again, the group slowed to a crawl. People were reaching the end of their stamina.

“Shit! They’re coming for us!” Someone called out, she thought it was Jim, but could barely tell over the pounding of her pulse in her ears. Against her better judgment, she turned to look, and her mouth went dry.

At least a dozen centipedes, clustered together, surging down the hill like a black wave of inexhaustible machines. She thought she could hear the chittering of their legs and claws over the sounds of the rain. There were cries of alarm, but at least it got them moving again, a mad rush up to the boulder, fitter people helping the weaker ones up.

Kobe ran up and started digging first at the bottom of the boulder, then drawing a furrow in the ground straight down the slope.

“Get behind!” Dericka said, quieter than she wanted, unable to give more force to her voice. “Dig it out and then start pushing!”

She was at the very back of the group now, using the butt of her spear to make up for her injured leg as she pushed herself up the final stretch. When she made it up to where Kobe was, she began digging at the muddy soil as well, looking up to see people clawing at the mud around the boulder, coughing and wheezing with exhaustion as they worked. Another glance back and she cursed as she saw the centipedes already starting to come up the hill. They were running out of time.

“We have to start pushing!”

“You get behind the rock, I’ll hold them off!” Jim had come over to her, spear in hand, Kobe not far behind.

“No! It’s too heavy. We need both of you to push. I’m no use up there” They paused, looking at each other, then at her.

“Go and push! Shout when it starts moving and I’ll jump out of the way.” Again, they hesitated.

“There’s no time! Go!” Then, finally they went.

After a final bit of digging, Dericka was satisfied the rock should follow the furrow as it rolled down and she turned to face the mob of insects speeding up the incline. She felt sick at the sight of the roiling black mass of carapace and sharp limbs, just wanting to run away. It would be less than ten seconds before they reached her.

“Hurry up!” She tried to scream, but her voice was weak, the sound drowned out by the screams and grunts coming from behind the rock.

“Fuck! It’s not moving!”

“Another push! On three! One, two..” More sounds of exertion.

“Put any remaining Value in Strength!”

“Another push!” A few people were roaring now.

Seven seconds left, maybe. Her instincts were screaming at her to move away, to run toward cover. But she knew that if she moved to the side, the centipedes would follow, and the rock might miss most of them. Her pulse was pounding in her ears, her whole body shaking with fear and adrenaline.

“Use the spears as levers! Yes, like that, three at a time!”

“One, two, heave!” More grunting, and a wet sound. The boulder, finally coming loose? A prickle of hope. The insects were almost on her. It was too late to run at this point. She bent her knees, legs shaking.

“Yes! Now one final push! One, two, three!” A loud sucking sound, that could only be the massive boulder, finally pulling free. .

“Dericka! Jump!” It was Kobe, roaring at her, but she was already moving, feeling the boulder coming down behind her. She made to leap to the right with all her strength, but her injured calf flashed with pain as she slipped slightly on the wet footing. She clawed urgently at the ground to crawl away as she landed out of position, then there was a push on her left leg, a massive, crushing pressure, before it went numb. Still pulling weakly at the ground to get away, she heard shouts and people were running past her, saw Kobe swinging the rock held by the ropes to smash a centipede into the ground just a few paces away from her. What was happening? Had the boulder not crushed them?

Kobe kicked at another centipede, pulled the rock free, swung again, and then Tasha was by her side, holding her arms.

“Dericka. Can you hear me? Stop moving.”

Dericka hadn’t realized that she was still moving. Looking down at her arms, she noticed they were shivering.

“What happened?”

Why did her voice sound so weak, trembling? She should be sounding confident, she had to-

“It worked. Just a few got away, Kobe and Jim already got them. But… You’re injured.”

She heard something in Tasha’s voice and looked up at her face. There were stripes of mud on the side of it, slowly being washed away by the rain. The woman’s soft features were usually not very expressive, often appearing bored, but now emotions were plain on her face. She looked concerned, certainly, but there was something else, stronger. Grief, perhaps? Or was that pity?

Dericka made to push herself up, wanting to get to her feet, but she felt dizzy and Tasha held her down.

“No, stop moving. You’re injured, Dericka.”

Her calf? She knew about that. It was manageable, she just hoped it wouldn’t get infected. She craned her head, trying to look back, but it was difficult from her position, still lying flat on her stomach. Tasha put her hands on Dericka’s cheeks, steering her head back.

“Better if you don’t look, for now.” Her voice was soft. There was definitely something like pity in it, the kind of delicate patience that was normally reserved for people who were very ill.

More of the group were crowding around and the few faces she could see in the dark showed widened eyes, hands cupped to mouths, people turning away. How bad could it be?

She tried to think, but it was slow, like pushing through mud. She closed her eyes, trying to focus, but she felt faint and tired, so tired. What had happened, again? She’d jumped but slipped and then…Oh. That pressure on her leg. It could only have been the boulder. A wave of horror came over her that jolted her awake, her breathing speeding up as she imagined the kind of damage that would do.

She opened her eyes, looking around, trying to focus on something else. Her bile was rising again and she swallowed to keep it down.

“The centipedes?”

“All dead. We can’t see any more coming. For now.” That was Kobe. He looked fine. None of the others looked injured, except for Jim who’d taken another wound to his arm. She couldn’t see Dmitriy.

She closed her eyes again. They had failed. She had failed. They had no way to heal the injured, most if not all of their Value spent just in order to survive. The camp would have to be abandoned, in fear of more centipede attacks. Not that there was much of value there, anyway. But where could they go? What would they do, if more people soon came down with a fever?

She corrected herself. It would just be the rest of the group, not including her. She was a cripple now, if she’d even live through the night. Her exhaustion and dizziness were already coming back, stronger now, and she felt like embracing it.

“I’m sorry…” She whispered.

There was no response and instead there were gasps all around. That made her open her eyes again, and it took a while for her addled brain to process the text in front of her.

Congratulations! You’ve been identified as part of a potential Party.

Would you like to activate the Party system and join the Party? Note: if you opt out, you will not be able to enjoy the rewards benefits of the Party System.

Congratulations! For being one of the first Parties formed, your Party has gained 250 Value!

Congratulations! For surviving a beast wave without any losses, your Party gains 200 Value!

Elect a leader to make use of your Party Value!

There was an option to get more information on how they’d been identified. It listed a number of criteria, including a minimum number of ten people, having stayed together for at least ten days, spending most of their time within a one mile radius of each other. The group had at least fifty kills between them, which was lowered from a benchmark of one hundred and fifty, because they had crafters as part of the group.

Feeling like her focus was fading, unable to think through all the implications, she simply confirmed with a ‘Yes’ to the first pop up .

Congratulations! You have formed a Party, together with 11 other people!

Elect a leader to make use of your Party Value! Please cast a vote for anyone in your group.

People had started arguing in the group, but she had trouble following the heated exchange, only picking up bits and pieces.

“She’s the obvious choice.”

“What if she doesn’t make it?”

“We don’t have the time to argue about this!’

“She’s the one I trust.”

The next pop up came and instead of names, it showed her images she could browse through, depicting each member of the group clearly. It even included the two young girls as potential candidates. Again, not able to really think it through, struggling to stay conscious, she indicated Kobe.

He was suddenly right in front of her then, or had he been there already? He was squeezing her hands tightly, almost hurting her. She noticed his worried, questioning look, his mouth moving, and then she realized he was asking her something?

“Are you still with us?”

She nodded.

“Listen to me. Once we elect you, you’ll have to go into the menu and order a Fixer Upper immediately. It’s really important. Can you do that?”

She frowned, confused. Oh right, the healing device. She needed it.

She nodded again.

“She's still fine! Submit the votes!” He called out to the group.

Another pop up.

The voting has concluded!

It showed three pictures, one of her, with ‘10 Votes’ pasted over it, one of Kobe with one vote and another of Dmitriy, also with one vote. Then, a series of notifications popped up.

Congratulations! You have been elected! As Party Leader, you will have full control of the Party Settings and will be able to make purchases with Party Value.

Unallocated Value: 450

There were a number of other notifications, including a lot of additional information about the Party system and the settings she could adjust, but she could already feel the darkness closing in.

With her last bit of mental energy, she ordered a Fixer Upper 2000, then promptly passed out.