Walking to his room, Travis pondered the Sheriff's words, especially the notion of getting stronger. Strength had assumed a significance beyond its intended role—what could that possibly mean? He resolved to discuss this with Clyde upon their reunion.

Contemplating the intuitive sensations he experienced before imminent danger, Travis wondered if there was a connection to what the Sheriff had mentioned. Lucy had attributed this ability to his "cool under pressure" skill, but perhaps there was more to it.

The Sheriff appeared more open to discussing the nature of "the game" than the AI. Travis found himself grappling with a multitude of questions, extending far beyond the obvious ones. Like how could Earth be transformed into someone's RPG fantasy and why was he chosen as the main character?

As he mulled over these mysteries, Travis couldn't help but wonder about the Sheriff's unique ability to interact with his journal and the reason for his awareness that this was, in fact, a game.

One thing was clear: he wasn't going to get answers anytime soon. The advice he just received seemed solid—getting stronger would grant him more control over events, and, if necessary, the ability to extract information from others.

Come to think of it, Torak, the werewolf mage, was the only other being that seemed as curious as he was about their new reality. Maybe he should have a real talk with the mage. That sentence in and of itself would have condemned him to the straight jacket a few months ago, but these days it's a perfectly reasonable line of thought.

He reached one of the smaller buildings, made of trees but not quite a log cabin. More like what a prefabricated metal structure looks like, except this one is made of wood. Now that he thought about it, this place wasn't dissimilar from the buildings Clyde put up with his power.

Upon entering the room, Javy and Gary were bullshitting, but both looked tired. It was still pretty early, but they needed to get some sleep if they were going to catch this infamous night monster.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Travis opened it and saw a middle-aged white man with withered features and skin that looked like it had been sun-dried next to the tomatoes. Otherwise, he looked like any other fifty-something human.

"How can I help you, boys? The boss told me to come over, and here I am."

Javier got up and walked over, "So you're a tracker, eh?"

"I can sometimes find things moving outdoors. I don't know if that makes me a tracker, though. Any more than asking me questions makes you a detective."

In one of those human oddities, it was going to annoy Javier if this old white man considered himself a tracker without something to back it up. Whether that was related to his background as an immigrant or not was unclear.

The man's reply seemed to placate him, so Javy went and sat back down. Travis was willing to give him much more rope than he would have given Gary. Seeing Javy was done, Travis picked it up.

"What can you tell us about the monster then?"

"Not a whole lot, unfortunately. I got called in for the last two, and the same thing both times. Well, not exactly the same. See, two times ago, there was a scream heard from near the lake. A couple of people go to investigate, and all they see is a young fella who apparently was supposed to meet his girl for some fun. Except things went different for him. Lucky for the girl she didn't show. I wonder..."

Travis interrupted him, "the monster, friend, what did you find out?"

"Yes, sorry. So, the boy must have been facing the water, which is opposite of the town. I mention that because if the monster snuck up from behind him, it either had to loop around or it came from the village. Strange if you think about it. Anyway, the boy had holes in his neck, and he was dead. I was called in and found some disturbed bushes that are telltale signs of human or biped movement."

"Biped, that's something that walks like us." Travis gave him the hand gesture that signifies 'we know, go on.'

"That was it that night. A couple of nights later, we had sentries out, and they were armed. This time someone heard a bit of a struggle. One of the men was out near the edge of town on the western side, opposite the farms. It was a full moon, so people thought it a bit safer since visibility was high.

Well, this time there is no scream, just a scuffle, and two sentries come running over. They see their fellow dead, but his sword had some blood on the tip. He must have got the bastard."

Travis looked like he might strangle this guy. One of his favorite lines from a TV show is in the old Dragnet when Joe Friday says, "Just the facts, ma'am." He liked that because he hated rambling explanations.

"Were there holes in this guy's neck?" he asked, holding together his frustration somewhat.

"No, that fella died from a stab wound in the side, but the real killer was the one across his throat. One of the people from here that says they watched a lot of crime shows thinks the side slice was done during the fighting, and the one across the neck was to kill a potential witness. I don't know; I only watched television on the weekends, but that makes sense to me."

"Anything else, good sir?" he was coaxing whatever else he could get out of this guy.

"Yes, yes, I did find tracks this time. They went through the woods for about a mile. Then there is an abandoned trailer park, only a couple of them left, though. But after that is an old water factory. The tracks ended at the water plant."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"And you are sure these tracks were from that night?"

"Yes, I am. There was a blood trail but also very heavy walking, like the thing doing the walking was in pain. Not enough blood loss to cause stumbles, but whoever it was, they were stumbling."

"Okay, sir, I thank you very much. Anyone else in this town with any other information?"

"Not that I know of."

The man went on for a bit longer before he went on his way. Javy had come to sit next to Travis now, and they were thinking. Finally, Travis asked, "Any ideas, Javy?"

“Not much to go on, amigo. We do know a few things, though. If whatever this is doesn't get a drop on you, then there is a fighting chance. It uses weapons but only if discovered. It's probably not some monstrous thing, which is good.”

“I thought that too. Holes in the neck, that's strange, right? I was thinking some type of insectoid, but now we have sword strokes. I'm no M.E., but I'd love to see those bodies, get a better idea of what we are dealing with.”

“M.E.?” Javy asked.

“Sorry, medical examiner, umm, people who do autopsies.”

Javy nodded. Gary looked like he had fallen asleep. Travis knew the thought was getting tiresome now, but he needed a sounding board. Clyde would have suggestions. He thought, fuck it.

“You know what, we have time, let's head back. Get Clyde out here, and if we have to do the investigation tomorrow night, we will. Bueno?” Javy was surprised he asked, but the MC's confidence was growing in the capable man.

“Sounds good to me, el jefe. You going to tell the sheriff.”

Travis said yes and headed out to do just that.

He let them know that he would be back with a party member more capable and would find this monster tomorrow night. A suggestion that they should batten down the hatches tonight and stay inside was also offered.

The three-man team headed off back to their base 30 minutes before nightfall. It was only about an hour or two back to the base, though, if they hoofed it, which they planned to do.

Everyone except Gary was pissed that they waited so long to head back, they wasted so much time, but Travis really wanted to let Clyde be his number two back at base, which meant being the leader while he was gone.

It became more apparent seemingly every hour that they needed Clyde's magical, expertise might be too strong, but compared to everyone else's knowledge he was an expert. He also was the most knowledgeable person about how games worked before things changed, and he had useful spells to boot.

I'm sure he was enjoying using his trusty lieutenant skill, which boosted his charisma when he was without Travis at the base, but duty called, and they needed him.

Javy was ahead of the group scouting out as they walked. Travis had to hush Gary more than once as he kept trying to talk as if they weren't walking through an ominous land at night.

Nothing about the outskirts of Columbus, OH, should be ominous, but things weren't as they should be anymore.

As they were walking, Travis saw Javier drop down to one knee and hold up his hand. Not the same exact signal used in the US army but one pretty damn universal. Gary had been chastised and wasn't talking at the moment luckily.

This game and the skills the players had were unlike many fictional worlds. Skills were not taught or explained in much detail, although anyone with an HQ help upgrade could learn a decent amount.

Still, it forced players had to experience their skills and abilities in order to learn how to use them. That happened now to Travis as he dropped to a knee and focused on listening with his normal hearing sense and looking with his God-given vision. Something else was happening though.

He could feel some other sense, a 6th sense if you will, try to reach out. It was like a radar or sonar beacon stretching out from Travis in the center. It was very faint at first, until he noticed it and tried to focus more.

Almost a minute had passed as the MC did this. While he was, Javier was adjusting his eyes and using his innate skills to see anything moving. He learned a trick as a young boy; one that helped him play hide-n-seek type games, but which could be just as effective when used for adult purposes. If you stared at an area for a time, then casually looked away, anyone hiding would see an opportunity to move.

It was a very niche skill that would only come to fruition in very specific circumstances. As an adult, though, he found more than once that it did work. Javier had more chances to find people hiding close by at night in his Mexican village then most people would.

Obviously, you needed a sense someone was hiding in an area, or you just picked what would be the best hiding place. You peered into that area and truly tried to see something. If the person or, in this case, entity was hiding good enough though, you never would.

That's when you should shift your body and start to look away, as if you were resigned to the fact that no one was there. You had to sell it. You couldn't jerk your head one way then the other. The person hiding had to get a sense of confidence that you were giving up on seeing them in that position.

Javy had done this twice to no avail, but this time he thought he saw something, but when he looked, nothing was there.

At the same time, Travis got his senses to stretch out a good 20-25 feet from his central position. As he did, he felt something tug at his perception. It was in the same direction that Javier was looking.

As Javy looked away, Travis paused, feeling an unease at the extent of his range but unable to discern its source. Normally, his instinct would be to look in that area, but he trusted Javy's actions. The unease persisted, but he hesitated. Javy, however, suddenly jerked his head back, spotting the slightest movement.

Anxiety rippled through Javy and transferred to Travis, who instinctively pulled out his gun just as Javy readied his bow. The two of them fired almost simultaneously, unleashing a storm of bullets and arrows at the spot where the movement had been. Gary, following orders, attempted to get a better angle to see what they hit.

After a tense few moments, Gary reported seeing nothing there. Travis commanded him to watch the surroundings, while instructing Javy to move in from his side. Travis's commanding tone, a manifestation of his Major Porter persona, was both assertive and effective.

They investigated the area together, finding nothing. Javy, drawing on his upbringing in cartel country in Mexico, had sensed movement out of the corner of his eye before Gary reported, and he suspected their attacker went vertical. Knowing that this thing had faster reflexes then they did he was careful not to give it up yet. Walking around the area and searching he discreetly readied his bow. Then, when he had the best possible angle and could cover a retreat to the nearest tree he pointed up and fired.

Travis, whose perception power so far only had horizontal senses, saw Javy's shot and reacted with gunfire. They heard a semi-human scream as the arrow struck the creature. They got a good look at it now, and as the the half feral vampire jumped to a nearby tree to make its escape 5 bullets hit it in the side and thigh. The projectiles alone were not enough to stop the abomination, but it did arrest its momentum, causing the thing to fall to the ground. Landing awkwardly, its left leg from the knee down was behind the upper leg and shattered in numerous places.

Within seconds, the three-party members stood over the mangled former human, now a half-mindless husk and half-intelligent vampire. The harsh rules of the game for new vampires meant that if they didn't feed once a day, they'd turn mindless and eventually seek out blood instinctively. In some parts of the world, anti-vampire groups were already forming, hunting down these horrible creatures.

Here, in a small wooded part of Ohio, three humans looked on at the pathetic and disgusting former human writhing on the ground. While it looked back up at them with hate, disgust and most of all... hunger.