Sally took one last look at the drab night sky, before telling her newly created zombie to stay put out in the shadowed grasses. Last thing she needed was someone coming in and making things awkward. Well, more awkward than they were about to be.

With a short hum to herself, she spun the blade around in her hand, and stepped into the dimly lit Dungeon. Brickwork of reasonable quality, the entrance opened up to a small room currently devoid of much other than a chair and table, perhaps where the guard would have sat in worse weather - or during the day.

How odd for there to even be a Player out this way. It was confusing and brought questions riding just above the level where she wanted to carve out the rest of the place for any other scrap of tasty brains. Barely.

Down a narrow staircase where lanterns lined to walls, their lights turned low, and then into a wider chamber with two doors on either side.

Some manner of living arrangements, with all the usual clutter you’d expect. Most importantly, there were a few occupied bedrolls.

People sleeping and unaware of her presence.

Heartbeat bounced around in her ears as her grip tightened on the dagger. Quietly, she plucked the nearest lantern from the wall.

With a twist of the nozzle, it bloomed into brighter light.

“Wakey-wakey, very friendly face here!”

Havoc broke loose as the gathered Players tried to clamber from their bedding, unsure as to what was going on. The first few who clocked what was standing at the doorway immediately drew weapons.

Looked like four in total - which she should have guessed. A whole Party.

Young man on the left, messy hair and glasses. The wand he was holding tightly and long robes made him look like a spellcaster.

Tall woman back corner, who she almost confused for being an elf. Long blonde hair tied back, a stern expression on her face, but also a caster - healer, maybe?

Back right had a buff man with short red hair, the patchwork leathers missing the metal plating he’d probably usually be wearing. Scar across his forehead like someone had already taken his brain before she had arrived. Shame.

Last was another woman, younger and shorter, with black pigtails and hands gripping at a large axe that seemed too big for her. Still looked half asleep, and not wanting to be at the forefront of whatever this new drama was.

“Sally, I’m a Player - before you ask.”

Their healer caught hold of her tongue first, and her eyes narrowed. “An undead Player? Sounds unlikely. This is some trick.”

Warrior grunted and got into a more ready position as if he was going to charge at her. “If you are a Player, then where did you come from? No games.”

Sally clucked her tongue. “Dropped in at the fort at night, then battled through the pass.” Had it been nighttime? Her memory was cloudy with the joy of eating well for once.

He rolled his eyes in response. “Mind crafting a better excuse?”

“Those from the fort haven’t been seen for months,” the one with glasses explained. “We thought them lost.”

“And hoped they’d stay that way,” the warrior once again grumbled.

Sally licked her lips and realized she should have cleaned up before engaging in conversation. “Bad blood between you and those at the Fort?”

“Nothing that concerns you.” The healer shook her head.

“On the contrary, I happen to be friends with some of them… so I want to know if you’re enemies or not.” She was secretly hoping they were.

Pigtails tilted her head. “Who are they?”

Crossing her arms, the zombie shrugged. “Why should I tell you?”

The warrior was clearly losing his patience. “You woke us up first! And where is Brian? He didn’t see you on guard?”

Ah, the inevitable question.

“He’s dead!” The healer opened her mouth in shock, now unfocused and seeing their Party was a member short and the notifications sitting there giving the game away.

Sally pulled a face. “He was already like that when I got here! C’mon I didn’t want to turn this into a bloodbath.”

Energy washed over her as the healer cast a skill. Nothing… painful. Not even awkward, really. She tilted her head to the side and waited for an explanation.

“Should just kill her,” the warrior grunted, stepping forward with his sword to eye her up. “Player or Monster, she is still a murderer.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Glasses shook his head. “Opal will want to see her. This could be an opportunity to learn something… assuming she cooperates.”

“Can I just go back to sleep?” The younger girl yawned and placed her axe against the wall. “Maybe this is just a weird dream. If it is, then you stink, Jason.”

“Hey!” Glasses rolled his eyes. “This is serious if Brian is dead. She could be an assassin sent from the fort… or worse.”

Sally wrinkled up her nose. “If I were an assassin, you’d all be dead already. You think a killer wakes you up to chat before eating your brains?”

Perhaps she had walked into this one, though. People tend to be rather prickly after you kill off their friends. She could understand that - if someone threatened the Outsiders, she’d be all teeth and stabbing… but there was information in these four tasty heads that was more important than a buffet.

Plus, how could she explain to the others that she had met more Players still living, then ate them all? Some of their trust wasn’t exactly rock solid already.

“Suspicious, sure, but we can’t discount your crimes.” The healer stepped up with the warrior. “I suggest you tell us all you know, and we might spare you so you might meet our leader.”

“Oh! There’s even more Players out here.” Sally drummed her fingers on the side of her belt. Now this was getting interesting. Those in the Fort had thought themselves the last remnants, but that must not be the case.

“How did you find yourself to be here, zombie?” The woman tilted her head.

But Sally had her mind elsewhere. She was building blocks, but wasn’t sure if the foundations were stable yet. Something about how Sanctuary had been settled was making a noise in the back of her mind, but she needed a smarter opinion on the matter. That said… everyone would be asleep right now.

Sanctuary originally had a temporary memory for remembering Player data - the true power of that world was Chuck able to convert that into something permanent. That’s what allowed people to come back to life… but the temporary memory lasted a week. If that was the case here too, Chuck might be able to resurrect the people killed seven days before the world transferred over.

A huge leap of an assumption there - she’d have to prod the man tomorrow and see what he thought.

“Huh?” Her eyes went back to the conversations he was ignoring. “Oh, I came from a different System world.”

The group exchanged glances but the verdict looked to be they didn’t believe her. Which was a shame as they were looking more like cartoon versions of food than people the longer they kept her here.

“We’ll leave you to Opal tomorrow. He can decide what to make of you.” The warrior bared his teeth, clearly more inclined to try his luck.

“Nah. Boring.” Sally shrugged. “If you’re not going to talk, then I’m going to go back to my friends.”

Glassed shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

She flipped him off and turned to walk back to the stairs; her face instead pressing against an invisible wall half a foot behind her. “Oh. I hope for your sake this is a fully encompassing containment, and you haven’t just trapped me down here with you?”

“Correct.”

Her stomach thought that was a shame. “And you can keep this up indefinitely, even while you are sleeping?”

The healer exhaled through her nose. “Also doesn’t allow damage in or out, nor does it allow you to communicate with the STAR Chat.”

A pout. Even Cross was too far away now to use her zombie-connection to prompt him to do anything. Without being able to contact Poppy or Claude… she truly was at their mercy.

She turned and shrugged again. “Guess I might as well get some sleep then.”

“Be thankful I didn’t cleave your head off,” the warrior said, scowling at her as he slowly returned to his corner.

“You’ll die first,” she murmured. She’d make sure of it. While the others stood around with apprehension, not quite willing to go back to bed that soon, Sally went and sat in the corner of her magic cage and rested her face on her knees.

Was worth it, she couldn’t lie to herself. Even if she had lost control and killed them all in a burst of furious hunger… she probably wouldn’t feel bad about it. The only thing more satisfying than a Player brain was one from a Player who wasn’t going to come back.

Lanterns dimmed, but her crimson eyes glowed and continued to watch the group as they settled back down in silence. Clearly communicating with each other using their Chat.

[Skeleton Key] didn’t have enough normal daggers to be able to cut through stone like butter yet, so digging her way out the bottom wasn’t on the cards. They’d let their guard down soon enough, she was sure of it. Couldn’t keep her locked away forever… and as soon as it dropped, she’d send a message to the group and try to kill her way out.

[Sally: Hey, pup.]

[Sally: Hope you’re getting the sleep you needed.]

[Sally: Ate some brains and have been arrested.]

[Sally: Probably get out of it at some point, but…]

[Sally: Non-zero chance I die and come home.]

[Sally: Something I want… but I’d never forgive myself.]

She puckered her lips and sighed. There was the answer for why it didn’t feel right here. Where were the Outsiders? Her family and friends were what made fighting for Sanctuary such an important battery for her ambition. The people she had befriended here were great and grounded her desire to save worlds… but it just wasn’t the same.

A last glance at the figures tucked in, and she gave in. Sleep would be a good idea if she needed the energy tomorrow.

With a semi-happy stomach, she found no issue drifting off. Level up could wait until she knew what they planned to do with her - it was always good to pull a last-ditch new skill out of nowhere to save the day.

Darkness filled the small Dungeon for a few more hours before the sun rolled around and the light of morning filled the cracks.

Birdsong woke Sally before the shuffling of metal and leathers drew her dreamless mind back to the reality of her situation. She groaned and turned to see the four suiting up in their armor.

“Judgement day, murderer.” The warrior had a wry grin on his face, and an itchy sword finger.

“I actually have a pretty full schedule.” She yawned and pushed herself up to her feet. “So if we could wrap this up quickly, that’d be neat.”

“You have no say here.” The man stepped up to the outside of the invisible prison, his face contorted in anger. “Wretched worms like you should grovel. Be thankful that I will soon put you out of your misery, undead bitch.”

Sally narrowed her eyes. The man had clearly woken up on the wrong side of his bedroll. She wouldn’t instigate him further - it might make his brain taste worse. Before she could give him a more neutral response, a sound made her pause.

The eyes of the group went over to the doorway, and she turned at the sound of slow footsteps coming down the stairs. They drew their weapons and started to prepare spells. Sally’s breath caught in her throat.

A darkened figure stepped into view, backlit by the sunshine pouring through the top of the Dungeon. Crimson electricity arced around his body, as two pits of bright red bloomed behind round glasses.

“I heard someone talking shit about my queen,” Theo said, lifting a large warhammer down from his shoulder.