They were rushed inside, and the door closed. It was a house not unlike many others, though possibly on the smaller side. They entered a small mudroom that led directly to the living room. The entrance to the house was on the right side, and straight ahead was a hallway leading to the kitchen. To the left of the room, a stairway led upstairs to the bedrooms. A long couch was placed against the back wall, where four people were seated. Additionally, around four people were standing, and others were stationed at each window on lookout duty.

As they walked in, Gary recognized the homeowner and went to shake his hand. "Vinny, what's going on, man? Thanks for the help before. Who shot that bolt?"

Vinny, an average-sized white male showing slight signs of aging but appearing in good shape, shook Gary's hand and then pointed to a well-built black guy at the front window. "That would be Paul; he took the shot."

Paul, with a military persona evident from his build to his haircut, turned around. "I was trying to hit him in the face, but it was a tough shot." He got up and shook Gary's hand before sitting back down.

"Who's your friend, Gar?" Vinny asked.

Travis had been standing there, trying to get a feel for the people in the room. They looked haggard but had a fire in their eyes.

“This is Travis. Patty and I decided to make a break for it when we were attacked by those little lizard-looking creatures. This guy here saved our lives.”

“Where is everybody now?” Vinny asked.

“Sophia and Thomas are safe at his place. Pat and Mary didn't make it,” Gary said, trying with all his might not to break down. He hadn't had time to grieve his brother and sister-in-law and didn't want to start now when they had so much to do.

Sad faces filled the room, and a few back pats for Gary. Vinny spoke for them all when he said, “We are so sorry, Gary. They were good people and will be missed.”

Gary nodded. Travis broke the silence with a question, he felt compassion for Gary but knew things needed to be discussed. “Why were the orcs coming here? They were targeting this house; it wasn't some random attack.”

This time Paul got up. He motioned for one of the other guys to stand watch by the window, then walked over to shake Travis's hand. “We had sent out a few small groups, 2 or 3 people, to find others in need or to get supplies. One of them ran into an orc patrol and luckily came out the other side.

“Honestly, we got lucky. I was behind relieving myself when two of the big, slow orcs came up on Kasey and Donald. They are both brave, so they stood their ground trying to dodge, which allowed me to come out of nowhere and kill them both. They must have followed us back here, though, because 20 minutes later is when we saw Gary fighting them,” Paul finished.

“Good for you getting two of them, but it's strange they tracked you down. I've killed a bunch of them but haven't seen any kind of retaliation,” Travis said, no accusatory tone evident in his words.

This time Vinny walked over. “We get the feeling that they want to clear out this development for some reason. They have gone house to house up to a certain block. Jose,” he looked around the room and, when he didn't see him, kept going, “a high school kid, super fast and apparently good at hiding. He got pictures of them doing it.

“They send 2 to 3 man teams into each house, and if someone is here, they kill the owner and move on. Paul said they like this place because it has a water supply and is surrounded by woods on three sides.”

As if to punctuate his words, there was a loud noise outside.

“Here they come!” said one of the lookouts.

“How many?”

“Too many to count.”

Travis went over to the window and saw about 15, way more than he had seen together at one time but also far fewer than 'too many to count.' He instantly went into crisis mode. "How many of you can fight?"

Vincent and Paul were trying to calm everybody; Vincent answered, "4 or 5 of us, but if need be, almost everyone here can defend themselves."

"Are there any PCs in this house?" Travis didn't think there was, but he needed to know definitively.

"I am," Paul said. "You are too, right?"

"Yes, and Gary has experience fighting and killing these things, plus I have a secret weapon. I can cut their numbers by half in the right situation," Travis answered. He wasn't going to worry about something as silly as saving bullets when they were being besieged by those murderous brutes.

Vincent and Paul were trying to organize his people when Gary went over and spoke to them in hushed tones. There was some pushback, but it looked like he made his point. Travis was looking out the windows, trying to come up with the best play. That's when Gary called to him, "Travis, what's the plan?"

He looked and saw that the others were listening. "It looks like they are going to try to break through the front while sealing off other exits. Paul, do you have any special spells, skills, or items?"

Paul lowered his head for a second and said a few words, what Travis recognized as an incantation. Then in an instant, he appeared with a regular PC bag over his shoulder. He also had two daggers in sheaths on his hips and what looked like a bandolier of darts across his chest. "Yes, I have a few tricks," he smiled, but his mirth only lasted a second. Then he said, "I fight better in the open and out of sight, but if I have to go toe to toe, I can."

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"Okay, can you get outside and cause havoc from anywhere in the house?" Travis asked him. A couple of people looked like they wanted to argue, but the way Travis commanded the room, they kept quiet.

Paul said, "Yes, without a problem. Are you sure we should split up, though?"

"I am. Wait for my signal, then start to whittle them down. If you can focus on the priests and marauders, but be careful, they are tough. Go." Paul walked upstairs, and one of the windows opened; then he was outside.

While they were talking, the other people in the house moved to barricade the doors, having a system in place. The first attempt to knock it down had just been tried. So far, they were content to close off the back door and windows while the orcs broke in the front.

“Vincent, nominate someone to lead the weakest upstairs. That is going to be our fallback point.”

Someone cut in, “But we’ll be trapped up there!”

“God damn it, we don't have time,” Travis yelled. “You're going to have to trust me. If we get stuck up there, I can get us down. Last time I'm going to explain. Do as I say if you want to live.” He knew that sounded dramatic but he didn't have time to discuss every scroll or potion he had on him.

Vincent didn't hesitate. He appointed someone to lead everyone but 5 people upstairs. Travis was happy that there were no kids here, most of the people remaining either didn't have kids or hadn't made it.

Travis called Clyde, “Clyde, we're being besieged in a house. I need you to come here and stay close so we have an escape if we make it.”

Clyde was saying something, but only Travis could hear it. Then he replied, “Yeah, bring all of them and be ready. If you see just a straggler or two with your vision, take them out; otherwise, hold up in the car. Good luck.”

Vincent just looked on, not understanding what was going on. The three other people with him were pretty scared. Vincent looked to have an axe like Gary had the first day they met.

Boom! The door smashed open in the front. Travis had given marching orders to those that remained 10 seconds before. As the door smashed open, an orc brute came crashing in, falling to the floor from the impact. Gary had his back to the living room wall, making him invisible to anyone coming through the door. The orc's head was about even with Gary when it fell, and he brought his axe down and exploded its skull like a watermelon.

Two more orcs rushed in, and Travis showed his secret weapon; he pulled and fired three shots. Two of them struck orc heads, and they both fell. Now three huge bodies blocked the small hallway the orcs needed to traverse.

Another two orcs started to head in when something grabbed them from the back and pulled them. Then a marauder poked his head in. He had a small shield, thinking that the others had been hit with arrows or, at worst, magic. The orc started to charge in when Travis shot through the shield and hit the orc in the neck. Silence followed for the moment. Everyone just stared at the man with a working gun. It might as well have been magic. Vincent just muttered, “How?”

“I honestly don't know. We can figure it out when we are clear of here. You,” Travis points to the guy with the crossbow, “take over my position and fire at the first thing you see, then call me.”

“Where are you going?” they all said in unison.

“Nowhere far, Gary, hold your position. If one of the short ones with a staff comes, take cover and call me. They use magic.”

Travis ran upstairs to get a better look. He told the people hiding in the room that everyone was okay and to remain there. Then he looked out the front upstairs window. He saw three dead orcs out by the street and another two with wounds. That would be eight total hurt or dead. He ran to the back and looked out the window. Where was Paul or the priests?

That's when he heard the sound of a thunderstorm strike downstairs. The heat was so intense that he felt it on the other side of the house, upstairs. He pulled his gun and walked to the end of the stairs looking down. All he saw was blackened carpet and smoke. He called out, “Gary, you okay?”

That's when he got a twinge of danger, and he rolled to his left out of view. Not a second later, there was a bolt of lightning that flew upstairs, hitting the ceiling and blowing a hole in it. Travis poked his hand out and fired two shots. He reached into his bag and grabbed a lightning conductor potion.

Apparently, the principles of magic in this game were based around the four elements. There would be fire, lightening, ice and earth based offensive spells, defensive, but also various ways to protect against these things.

It was supposed to make the drinker almost impervious to lightning for 30 seconds. He downed it—God, it was gross—and ran down the stairs. If Gary or someone else was injured, he had to hurry with a healing potion.

As he ran down, he peered through the smoke. A lightning blast shot through and hit him in his side. The force knocked him on his ass, but the actual bolt fizzled into nothing. He fired two shots towards the direction it came. He had one more bullet in this clip, so he fired another, then pulled his sword.

He was at the bottom three steps by now and jumped down into a roll. There was one priest on the floor dead. Out of the right corner, near where the couch used to be, he heard a grunt before there was an axe coming down towards him.

The sound of his sword meeting this strike was nothing like in the movies. Americans always comparing things to movies even in dire circumstances. Travis was on one knee, which helped him withstand the force of the blow. When the orc moved his axe up again, Travis brought his sword along the marauder's thigh. If this was a brute, it would have been a clean strike, but as he made contact, the orc kicked out with his other leg and hit Travis in his chest. He fell back pretty hard and was stuck between a chair, the wall, and the orc. He also lost his sword from the impact.

He tried to think quickly; this was a faster orc, but it was still slow comparatively. As it raised the axe for a killing blow time seemed to slow down. Travis thought about his gun and how he wished he had reloaded it and then kept it in his off hand. He would have to practice using a sword in his right but while keeping his trusty Beretta in his left. This all went through his brain in less than a second.

Surprise, surprise, the gun appeared in his hand fully loaded. The bag and journal were full of surprises; he just wished he knew them all so he could plan accordingly. Not only were his two MC special items full of surprises, but they would grow with Travis. Meaning that it was possible for them to gain abilities based off of what the MC needed them to do. This time the bag was able to transfer what he thought of to his hand, but also in the state that he needed it in, which was loaded. If he didn't have the clips in his bag it wouldn't of worked.

The axe head was just a couple of feet from contact when Travis shot straight up; the bullet went through the handle and into the orc's jaw, stopping the blow from ending the game for Travis. The orc fell dead with a look of shock on his face.

He rolled out and got up. As he did, he felt the feeling of a rank-up. For the first time, he didn't just blow it off. Travis needed to focus more on the game; he knew he had said it, but this time he meant it.

Unfortunately, he couldn't focus on that now but he was happy that it happened. He looked around for everyone else or more orcs but couldn't find anyone. Someone yelled from upstairs, “Is everyone okay?”

“I don't know yet, stay up there; I will let you know.”

***