“Come on Red. You have more than enough points.” He whined at her through the voice chat. He’d been complaining to her for days, and she had no way to make him understand. She didn’t want them back. Didn’t need them. They slowed her down. They were dead weight.

Every night, when she was returned to the Hub, she walked, and walked. She ventured to the edge of her map to find there was no edge. She walked through forests bathed in the light of a million stars.

“You can’t win this thing by yourself.”

Win? Surviving was winning. She was winning every day. She walked. Soon the night would be over and she would go back. She would wake up and she would be strong, fast, dangerous.

She got the notification, Day 5 was beginning. Had she really been winding her way between these trees for 8 hours?

5

4

3

2

1

Pop

She opened her eyes. She was back. She stood, stretching her muscles, loosening them. She clicked her teeth in satisfaction. First, she would hunt.

Red set off at a brisk trot, her red hide standing out sharp against the dusky green of the fog covered hills, the occasional patch of deciduous trees giving her some cover. As the sun rose it cast everything in a burning orange, the heavy fog making it seem like the world was on fire.

The annoying voices of her teammates, begging to be revived, couldn't reach her here. They were stuck back in the hub. Watching. Watching as she survived, as she won. She was already bigger than most others. She had spent her points on growing, and mutating. She hadn’t wasted them on dead weight, and today she would win some more.

She found their tracks in the damp soil, just as the sun had risen high enough to vanish into the overcast sky, turning the world gray. She recognized the tracks as belong to PCs

People, players, weaklings.

The words mingled in her mind, and for a moment she hesitated, confused. Caught between two ideas of herself. A person, fragile, soft, and scared and a raptor, fast, strong and hungry.

This game is messing with your head.

The thought was distant, disconnected. She considered it and she felt on the verge of… something. Some kind of understanding, but the near clarity was lost as she heard them in the distance. The squawk of prey. The grumble of weaklings too stupid to stay quiet. Her lips peeled back to show her teeth and her confusion was washed away as purpose reasserted itself.

With rapid steps she dashed through the fog, unseen and unheard. She found them, squabbling amongst themselves. Not grown, not a threat.

She killed the raptor first. It never even had a chance. She landed on it from above, crushing it into the ground. A few quick bites had been enough to finish it off. The rex died next, trying to run away. A single bite had done it.

The triceratops faced her, but it was weak. Indecisive. Untested. She crushed it’s head in her jaws and it turned into a boneless toy. She ate until she couldn’t, and she set off again. Looking for the next prey.

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She found more. More just like them. Weak, small. She sneered at them.

There were others, big. Much bigger than her, but they were not people. She avoided them easily.

Get a grip.

She stopped again, looking around as if searching. There was nothing, no one. She carried on until she found a giant raptor. Not like her, feathered and tall. It had a beak and powerful talons.

They fought. It was the hardest fight of her life. She was faster, but it was stronger. She had ripping claws, and it had a beak that could tear her apart. As she dashed in and out, narrowly escaping being crushed or bitten time and time ago, accumulating small wounds. Inflicting damage that seemed so inconsequential against such a large beast. She had never felt more alive.

It went on and on, until the sun was high overhead and the fog was beginning to burn off. It grew slower, it’s feathers coated with blood. She felt herself weakening as the wounds accumulated. Which one of them was going to give first? Which one of them deserved to be alive?

She attacked again, this time she gave it her all. She launched herself unto the giant raptors back and planted her teeth in its neck. The feathers felt wrong in her mouth, like she was trying to eat something she shouldn’t, like rocks or dirt. She persisted, despite how they seemed to cushion her teeth. She felt blood ooze into her mouth as the creature screamed and thrashed, trying to throw her off despite its weakened state. She bit harder, her jaw compressing into it came into contact with something solid.

The spine

She ignored the voice and redoubled her efforts until with a great crack the creature's struggles ceased and it tumbled to the ground. The dead weight of its fall threw her off in a way the living creatures hadn’t managed. She tumbled, but sprang to her feet.

Notification:

Ornithostratos defeated:

Team Unbreakable has defeated its third sub-boss.

Rewards:

Unique Sub-Boss Mutation Token awarded to: Red (only participant)

120 Evolution Energy Awarded to: Red (only participant)

25 Meteorite Fragments Awarded to: Red (only participant)

Notification:

Team Unbreakable is now #10 on the Leaderboard. Congratulations!

Red shook her head back and forth, trying to shake the windows out of her vision before she remembered. She gave her head a quick, deliberate shake and both windows closed. None of that mattered. It was all just noise.

She looked over at the large corpse. Her once mighty enemy looked sad in death and something like joy surged through her. She had done it. She had fought something so strong, and yet it was her who had won. She would prove that she was worthy. That she deserved to be alive.

She tore chunks off the monster, though her stomach was still mostly full. It didn’t matter. She left the prey behind and ran on, following the incline of the hills downward. The fog was mostly gone now and she could see sunlight shining off water in the distance. She was thirsty, and maybe there would be more interesting things to fight in a swamp.