To say they were in a bad situation was putting it mildly. Sarah, whom Erik had been counting on as a scout, was forced to ride on his back as Erik trundled his way through the underbrush, heading in a straight line away from the Death Wall. Any plans he’d had for actively hunting or completing objectives were out. He didn’t want to complain—he didn’t think it would really help—but it stung more than a bit that Marcus’s recklessness had cost them a day of progress. That was assuming they didn’t end up dying because they couldn’t outrun the Wall, though Erik found himself less and less worried about that possibility with every passing hour.

It wasn’t until they broke out of the tree line to find themselves on the shores of a swamp that he realized how long they had been walking.

“Let’s take a break here,” he told Marcus. Sarah didn’t move from her perch on the arch of his back, folded up into the raptor version of a cat loaf as her head swiveled around, doing her best to stay on task.

“Do you think we’re safe from the Wall yet?” Marcus asked. “I keep getting slower the longer we walk.” Erik turned his head to check his debuffs again.

Debuffs:

Fractured Jaw:

Bite force reduced by 30% for the rest of the day. Continued use could cause further damage.

Fractured Hip:

Walking speed reduced by 28% for the rest of the day. Continued use could cause further damage.

Walking on his injured hip was slowly increasing his speed debuff. Erik was beginning to suspect that the Wall didn’t move every day, which made sense. Everyone spawned on the edge, and if the Wall were constantly closing in, the entire game would be about running from it.

“Maybe,” Erik said, sitting back inside the line of trees and staring out at the swamp, contemplating its murky waters. “Hey, Marcus,” he said, and the T-rex turned to look at him, dry blood crusting his entire jawline.

“What’s up?” Marcus asked. The Rex’s rumble, which automatically accompanied his speech, carried a questioning lilt that would’ve made Erik smile if he didn’t have a beak.

“Why didn’t you get silenced by the Cerato when it used that roar on us?” Marcus looked at him blankly, and not for the first time, Erik noticed how stupid Rexes looked when you stared at them head-on.

“His thick skull probably resisted it,” Sarah chirped, snapping her teeth together in irritation.

“What are you guys talking about?” Marcus asked.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“That Ceratosaurus had a silence effect on its roar. That’s why Sarah couldn’t communicate with us when she ran from it.”

“And it’s why Erik couldn’t tell you not to run in like a—”

“Sarah,” Erik cut her off, and she fell silent, but he could tell she was still simmering on his back.

“Now that I think on it, you were unusually non-verbal,” Marcus said.

“Yes, and due to that silence catching us by surprise, Day 3 is a bust. You’re both hurt too bad to do any more walking, let alone fighting,” Erik said, letting the first hint of his frustration slip through. “It’s my job to take the beating, Marcus. My role. I love you, man, but what you did today was crap. You can’t pretend not to know better. You know exactly how tanking works.”

“I thought I had him,” Marcus muttered, looking away.

“Well, you didn’t,” Erik said, stressing the last word. “If there had been two of them, Marcus, we’d all be dead now. The tournament would be over for us.” Erik forced himself to stop speaking and refocused his gaze out on the swamp. It wouldn’t work to sit here and try to lecture Marcus—that was a surefire way to turn him stubborn. Erik suspected it was that attitude, more than anything, that had kept Marcus from going pro. Even if he was a good player, which he was, no one wanted someone on their team they couldn’t depend on. In a more neutral, less accusatory tone, Erik added, “We don’t know what we’re up against out here. We have to play it safe, always. We have to trust each other.”

Silence met this statement, but Erik caught the barest hint of a nod from Marcus, and he hoped this incident was enough to rein in his ego, at least a little.

“Do you suppose that was one of those bosses the announcement mentioned? The ones that were added to the game today?” Marcus asked.

“No,” Erik said at once. “I think it was just a regular old mob. I think when we meet a sub-boss or a boss, we’ll know it.”

As if to emphasize his point, somewhere far into the swamp’s interior came a roar. It wasn’t the low growl of a predator but a high-pitched shriek that scraped at the ears, amplified somehow as if the sound were passing through a megaphone with the reverb cranked all the way up.

It went on for several long seconds, and when it stopped, all three of them shivered. There was something primordial in that call. Something that made Biopoints, mutations, and cash prizes feel very far away.

They stayed there for what was left of the day, out of sight, with Erik making a brief trip back into the jungle to locate another plant to eat. Then the three of them topped off from the nearby swamp water, which was not a comfortable experience psychologically, even if they knew the water wasn’t real and wasn’t likely to make them sick. Even the fact it tasted like perfectly clean water did little to make Erik more comfortable drinking it.

When the sun set and darkness fell across the world, they sequestered themselves back in some undergrowth and did their best to remain silent. This was trickier now that both Erik and Marcus were a bit too large to hide easily, and Erik suspected it would become downright impossible after one more growth stage.

After darkness settled properly, the swamp came alive with the sound of insects and frogs—buzzing, hissing, croaking in a cacophony that seemed engineered to drive them crazy. Toward the end of the last hour of game time, those sounds died entirely, replaced by the sloshing of something massive passing through the water nearby.

Whatever it was had only just receded, the sound of the frogs starting up again, when the notification came and the countdown began. Erik’s senses began to fade one by one in preparation for removing him to the hub.

Day 4 is going to be a big win for us, he thought before the now-familiar pop sound left him briefly in total darkness.