It was time to move down, check the bodies, and complete the quest. I felt my heart rate and adrenaline start to pump as I put aside my sniper rifle and felt like I had lost a little of myself before going into this battle. It was an odd feeling, but I backed out of the crack and needed to check on the enemies. I rushed out and grabbed a couple of extra magazines that I had prepared for this.

I quickly moved out of the cave, jumping down the cave's giant steps till I hit the bottom and started to walk carefully through the path. The precarious journey was quick, and I was at the vines. I carefully stepped out, revealing myself for the first time to the potential enemies. With my hesitant step outside, I looked around in the morning light and saw only the remains of a battle before me.

Looking around, you could tell that all the enemies had been injured or killed, and I heard a couple of groans. Checking my earlier blindspots, I found no one even approached a hundred meters from me. It was a show of force in my positioning that made me smile. Still, I heard the groans of some of the enemies, notifying me enemies were still alive.

I turned my attention to checking all around me and the foliage while stepping away from my cave. I was out in the open and moved around a couple of traps I laid earlier. I heard more groans as I moved forward towards the first groaning man, and I pointed quickly at his head with my rifle, setting it to single fire, and placed a bullet between their eyes, ending their misery.

The groans of that person suddenly ended as I reaped their life, and I moved forward, smelling the stench of charred meat. I specifically didn't try to smell it and paid more attention to my ears, listening to soft rustling in the distance near the forest line.

There was someone still moving out there, and my senses peaked. I moved deliberately forward as if I didn't know where they were, but I kept my eyes where I heard the soft rustling. I turned and blasted a fresh hole into another suffering attacker, and the person did not take the bait to bring their gun to the ready. I felt an itch that the person might be aiming at me now.

I hated the feeling and heard the soft rustling again as I neared another groaning woman. The armor she wore had a hole in it, and she was gasping for air. I could hear the rasp of her lungs as the blood filled them. What a fucking amazing amount of realism this game brought. It was a game, though, and I chanted that in my head as I made it look like I was going to open a new hole in her skull when I heard it.

In the corner of my eye, just by where a tree was with some foliage covering part of the root, I saw a barrel start to peek out.

Caught you!

I snapped over and aimed at the rifle, looking down the sights, and my ears pressed against the top of my head as I turned my gun to burst fire. I pulled the trigger, and three shots blasted out of my rifle, and the gun before me fired up in the air. I started to run forward as I noticed the person get up suddenly. It seemed I missed my first shots, and I pulled the trigger while aiming at them again. I heard a cry and more rustling in the trees as the person continued to flee.

The chase was on, and I ran into the trees only seconds behind them. I didn't know if there were more, but I didn't think there could be more. I saw green blood on some nearby plants and chased after what I thought would be their blood. I must have hit them because I saw blood on various plants as I chased them into the forest, and it wasn't as deep as I heard a scream.

“AHHHHH~! IT FUCKING HURTS!” A feminine scream echoed out, and I ran forward and found a green-looking woman hanging up in the air, dangling by a foot captured in one of the tree traps I learned about on the computer. I smiled and walked forward, seeing a bullet wound in their clave. She wasn’t going to make it far on that leg, even if she wanted to try to make it far.

“FUCKKK~!” She screamed, and I walked up to her and silenced her with a pistol in her face as I looked around.

“How many came to attack me?” I asked bluntly, “Be careful, and don't be loud, or I will silence you,” I said, my voice cold as ice.

The green woman went cross-eyed, looking at the pistol aimed at the center of her head. I could see the tears starting to pour onto her forehead as the blood was dripping down her leg toward her torso. To make things more fun for her, I caught her by the injured leg; it seemed instead of the good one.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I wonder how much pain she was in?

“We, We were like, fuck, it hurts, I can't even remember, please,” She started to plead.

“I don't give a fuck; give me a number, bitch.”

“Twenty-five! We were like twenty-five,” She cried, pain laced in her words.

“Now, tell me a reason I shouldn't just shoot you and claim your dead bounty over your alive bounty?” I continued while looking around. I saw her pale as her mind rapidly spun to think of an answer.

My ears were perked up, listening for any sound, and I hated that my quest had not been completed. I thought of another question for my captive quickly, “How many people survived your foolish assault here?” I asked.

“I saw Tracy running, too,” The green woman said, “I didn't see anything else.”

I looked at her as I listened around and I wanted to curse. Did I fail my quest?

I turned my attention to the hanging woman and looked at the ground, and I saw a lack of a weapon on her. I didn't like that, and I saw both her hands were free. Why was I risking the fact that she might have another weapon? I moved forward, and then I heard a noise. There is more rustling nearby. My ears twitched, and the green woman cried, “Please, don't kill me; I really don't want to die,” She begged.

My ears were twitching, and I could hear movement. It wasn't in the immediate area, but-

“Please, I will do whatever you want; collar me and send me back to those work camps, Please,” She continued to beg, making it hard for me to hear, and I wanted to curse.

“Shut the fuck up, let me think about it,” I snapped instantly, and the woman started to sob.

I didn't blame her for the sobbing, but I could still hear someone moving, and I was seriously contemplating killing the hanging bitch to better listen to the other movement. I doubted it was an animal after all the loud explosions in the area, and I heard them coming closer. It was odd, though; the sound was getting closer, but it was like it wasn't at ground level quite right. It-

My mind caught up to my ears, and I looked up and turned my body toward the source of the sound.

I saw it just in time as the person was just in sight through the trees. They were on a branch just behind another tree and were bringing up a rifle. It seemed this person had been getting themselves up in the tree, and that was the rustling of leaves I heard, and my eyes widened as I saw them bring up their rifle, aiming it at me. I could tell they were seconds away from shooting, and my rifle was slung at my chest. My pistol was not ideal, but it was already in my hand, and I pointed at them as they noticed I noticed them.

It was a chain of each other noticing that the other noticed them, and my finger stroked the trigger. I didn't aim, and I didn't have time to. As I leaped back toward the nearest tree for cover, I started to shoot my pistol in their general direction as fast as I could, emptying the clip as I panicked.

I couldn't die!

My mind was filled with this thought, and I emptied the clip in their general direction in seconds. And I pulled up my rifle on instinct to stop it from hitting my body as I ran. My ears were no longer flat against my head as I tried to listen for if they were chasing me. After swinging around it, I crashed against a tree, making sure I was against cover as I tried to listen even harder.

Fuck, my heart is beating hard and thumping in my ears, and I put my handgun in the holster before pulling up my assault rifle into position. My ears quickly perked up, and I listened for any noise, only to hear a groan and the green woman sobbing. “Please, Tracy, Help me,” I heard her cry.

“Shut the fuck up, Heli, I swear that bitch is fucking omniscient.” I barely heard a feminine voice whisper and realized in my haste for cover that I was far from that green woman. I dove past at least six trees to get to where I was now, and I was just out of sight of them. The woman must have thought I ran off farther than I did in a panic, and I moved out carefully and saw it.

I didn't even think that much as the woman wasn't cutting down her friend. Instead, she was looking out, and my rifle snapped into position, and my thumb hit the fire rate to full auto. I pulled the trigger, and I felt my assault rifle start to bark. My ears flattened, and I felt my tail swish behind me, all while the woman got hit again and again. I could see that her armor held up for a second before deep red blood erupted from her as I hit her again and again.

It was a stunning display of aim from me as I felt the assault rifle hit my shoulder again and again. I felt like everything was slow for just the briefest moment before everything sped up, and I watched as the woman collapsed, and just behind her, the green woman lay with fresh bullet holes.

I stopped shooting and moved forward toward them in a rush. The woman I was shooting was coughing up blood, and I shot her more than five or six times in a short time. I didn't even notice that I had compensated for the recoil almost on instinct, which was odd. I had not done much shooting except in my previous games. Those felt so much different from this game, and I watched as the woman died.

I turned my attention to the green woman who was living in my trap just minutes ago. Maybe even seconds ago, as my sense of time felt off right now, and she was coughing blood, looking up at me. I could see the wish to beg me more to live in her eyes, but I didn't even know where to start treating her if I wanted to save her, and I could tell she died before I even made a decision on whether I wanted to save her or not.

Now, I felt odd. I felt fucking weird as I watched two more NPCs die, and it felt fucking real.

It's all a game.

It's all a game.

It's all a fucking game.

“Fuck!” I snapped, “It's a fucking game, it's a goddamn game.” I snapped once more, reassuring myself as I watched two NPCs die, and it felt real.

I turned and walked away, and I went to put the other NPCs still struggling on the ground, waiting for death out of their misery. I placed bullets in each of their heads and listened for any more. I knew I was distracting myself from my other thoughts as I went around cleaning up the battlefield.

When I put a bullet in the last dying survivor's head, I got a series of notifications.