“Ready,” I replied, and the world turned black as Dina activated the machine.

I was more prepared for it that time. I barely felt any panic as I waited for the image to materialise in my contacts, but nothing happened. It just stayed dark. I blinked, trying to force the picture to appear, but still, I couldn’t see anything apart from blackness.

Had something gone wrong? The thought came out of nowhere, and anxiety spiked within me. Maybe my contacts had malfunctioned? Or the game had?

“I’m here,” Dina hissed loudly, and I turned in the direction of her voice.

There was a loud rustle of crinkly material close to my ear as I moved. It was strangely familiar, but it took me a couple of seconds to place it. I was wearing a thick winter jacket, a puffy one. I couldn’t see it when I looked down, but I knew that’s what I was wearing. It was the standard clothing option when we started the game.

Relief crashed into me. Nothing had gone wrong, I realised. I was just panicking. Ice Escape always started with us in a dark room. The storage room. We were safe, but that wouldn’t last. We had to get moving.

Instinct and experience took over.

“Okay,” I muttered, stepping in the direction that Dina’s voice had come from. “We need to find the torches. They should be on the shelves somewhere. You search the ones behind you, and I’ll take the ones behind me. If you find any other equipment, just put it in your inventory for now. Once we have the torches and can see, we’ll split everything we found.”

“Got it,” Dina whispered, and I heard the brush of fabric as she turned around.

I’m not sure why I briefed Dina like that. I just always did. We had the same procedure whenever we played Ice Escape, and it started with me telling her where to look every time.

It just worked better that way. The game always started with us being dropped into a random storeroom, and the equipment and weapons were randomised, but there were always torches. They were never in the same place on the shelves, though, and that made it more difficult. I think I preferred it that way, maybe. It made it a bit more panicked and fun at first.

We didn’t even realise there were supplies in the storeroom when we first started playing. We’d just searched blindly for the door and tried to see how long we could last outside without any items, which, shockingly… was not particularly long. The world was too dangerous, the wildlife too hungry.

We died gruesomely a handful of times before Dina bumped into one of the shelves, and a torch rolled off, illuminating the room when it hit the floor. That was a game changer, and from there, we hadn’t looked back. There was so much in that one room alone. Sometimes, there were overpowered guns that helped us clear the first few levels without even breaking a sweat. Other times, the items were less useful. Just a few shields or ammo for weapons we didn’t have yet. It was just luck.

Cold metal brushed against my fingertips as I walked forward, searching for the shelf, and excitement flared within me. I reached out, finding the top of the shelf and resting my palms on the surface before starting to hunt for items. Before long, I found something. It was flat, a scrap of paper, but I grabbed it immediately and shoved it into my pocket. The moment it passed the threshold, it disappeared.

A small, unobtrusive dot appeared in the corner of my vision, but my eyes flicked towards it. My inventory popped up, the bright money symbol standing out against the dark room, and a frown came over my face. I’d only picked up twenty. That wasn’t the normal amount. Usually, we found fifty minimum.

I continued searching the shelf until I found more paper. My fingers scrabbled against the metal as I made sure I’d grabbed it all and stored it in my inventory again. Ninety-six. That was more like it. It wasn’t a particularly high amount, not the most we’d come across, at least, but I was still hopeful. Maybe it was a lucky run.

We had those sometimes. They didn’t happen often, but occasionally, we’d have a game where everything went well. We picked up more money than usual, the weapons were fantastic, and we even got good armour. That was what we needed if we wanted to beat the final monster. We could always restart the game until we lucked out and got what we needed, but that seemed like a bad idea. It was too random. There was no way to know how long it would take for us to get everything, and people would be finishing school soon. The arcade would be too busy.

I started moving sidewards slowly, sweeping my hands across the shelf methodically and shoving items into my pocket until I hit the wall before moving back the other way. Once I reached the far wall, almost tripping when my foot hit the entrance to the underground storage, I leant down and searched the next shelf.

It wasn’t until I reached the lowest one that my hand closed around something I recognised. A grin formed on my face as I lifted the surprisingly heavy torch and grabbed the other one.

“Light,” I whispered, giving Dina a couple of seconds to prepare herself before pressing the button.

The room was illuminated at once, and I stood quickly, pointing the torch into the corners and making sure there was nothing in the storage room with us. It didn’t happen often. It’s a glitch or something, apparently. It came from an update about a year ago. After that, monsters just sometimes appeared in the first room as soon as we switched the torch on. The devs were working on it, but nothing had changed yet.

“I think we’re good,” Dina muttered, her head whipping from side to side as she checked.

I peered into the dark corner of the room, needing to make sure, before letting out a soft sigh.

“I don’t see anything,” I confirmed. “Here.”

“Oh, thanks,” she said, taking the other torch from me. “Did you find anything good?”

“Mmm,” I said, pulling up my inventory again and scanning through the items I’d picked up. “I got a fair bit of money, a handgun, two grenades and… oh, nice! I got share pockets!”

Dina’s grin widened.

“Equip it!” she cried.

I focused on the glowing image of a pocket in my inventory, waiting until the menu popped up.

“Okay…” I said slowly. “Have you got the request?”

Blinking away the inventory, I scanned the room again, paranoid that there could be something hiding behind one of the shelves. The one on Dina’s side of the room had a metal back, but it didn’t seem to be leaning against the exposed brick wall. I attached the torch to the mount on my shoulder and slipped my handgun out of my pocket, gesturing for Dina to continue speaking.

Her eyes widened, and she pulled a long rifle from her inventory as she watched me edge toward the end of the shelving unit.

“Yeah, it’s just come through,” she said, her voice slightly tight with tension as her grip tightened on the weapon. “I got some good things too. Some money, thirty-two, a rifle, and a shield, but I might drop it.”

I leapt around the edge of the shelves, raising my gun as my eyes scanned the dusty, empty space. A sigh slipped out of my lips, and I sagged back against the wall, being careful not to put too much weight on it. Not all of the shacks were as strong as they looked at first.

“We’re safe,” I said.

“Oh, phew. I was terrified for a second there,” Dina replied, pressing a hand against her chest as she held the rifle out to me. “Here.”

“Thanks,” I grinned, taking it from her and passing over the handgun I’d been clutching. “I know it isn’t your favourite, but…”

“Don’t worry. There might be a good one in the bunker. Do you want the shield, by the way?”

I hesitated, pulling up my inventory again and flicking to examine Dina’s items. It was so much easier to do that instead of just getting her to pull out the item and examining it myself. Share pockets was one of my favourite equips in the entire game. The shield wasn’t anything special, though. Its stats were fairly low, and it was bulky. It was one of the annoying ones that didn’t autoequip. I’d need to physically be holding it each time I wanted to use it, and that would make using the rifle harder.

“No, it’s okay,” I said. “But might as well keep it. It might come in handy.”

Dina pursed her lips as she considered it.

“Fine. But I’m dropping it the moment I find a better one.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Great. The bunker is over here, by the way,” I told her, pointing towards it with my foot. “I almost tripped on it when I was searching the shelves.”

She let out a soft snort.

“What a way to go that would have been,” she joked. “Okay, do you want to open it or shoot?”

I hesitated. It made more sense for Dina to be the one to open the hatch. She could easily use her gun one-handed if needed, but the rifle was less easy. Dina was weaker, though. The hatch was always so heavy, and if she took too long opening it, I wouldn’t be able to get a good shot on the monsters underneath. If there were stairs rather than a ladder, we’d be mauled before I even had a chance to sight them.

“What do you think?” I asked, causing Dina to laugh.

“Move back,” she instructed, pushing the sleeves of her grey snowsuit up. “I can do this.”

“Are you sure?”

She looked up at me, raising an eyebrow.

“I managed it easily last time,” she pointed out.

That wasn’t quite true. She had been able to get the heavy metal doors open faster than she usually did, but she’d also almost dropped them on me. It was partially my fault. I shouldn’t have been standing in the way of the doors, but I didn’t think they would fall to the ground. They didn’t normally open that much.

“You did,” I agreed, carefully moving out of the way of where the doors would fall just in case they swung open, and Dina dropped them on my foot again. “Okay, you get the doors?”

Dina shuffled around, attaching her torch to her shoulder too, so she could hold her handgun in one hand and wrestle with the hatch with the other. I watched her, trying to keep my breathing under control.

It felt silly. I’d played Ice Escape hundreds of times, if not more, but the moment when the doors fell open, and the monster or monsters below attacked was always terrifying to me. I should have been used to it; I knew that. It was part of the fun of the game, after all, but it still scared me.

I did enjoy it too, obviously. I wouldn’t keep going back to the arcade if I didn’t.

“Ready when you are,” Dina muttered, her grip tightening on the handle.

As always, she gave me a few seconds to pull myself together before looking back at me. I took a deep breath, lifted my rifle so I could stare down the sight at whatever waited below, and nodded.

The moment the hatch was pulled back, a scream came from below. I barely had time to see the short, scuttling legs scrambling up the stairs towards us before I fired.

“Four,” I called to Dina, hoping she’d be able to hear me over the gunshots.

The eight-legged spider-like creatures rushed towards us, clambering over the bodies of their fallen kin as if they were nothing. Blood sprayed away from them as our bullets found their marks, and in seconds, the world was quiet again.

My ragged breathing was too loud, I realised as I counted silently. If we managed to get to ten, that meant there were no more monsters down there. The cunning ones never spawned there. It was always the big ones that rushed at us rather than waiting in the shadows until our guard was down.

I got to eight before another screech came from the darkness, and something flew towards us. I barely had time to lift my gun before the airborne creature exploded into a puff of feathers.

“You’re welcome,” Dina said snootily before bursting into laughter. “Now we’re even after you saved me from being savaged from that bear thing.”

A stuttering giggle escaped my lips as relief crashed into me.

“I wouldn’t exactly say we’re even,” I argued. “I still had time to stop that one, but the bear literally had its teeth around your neck.”

Dina sighed heavily.

“Fine. Next time, I’ll wait until you’re about to be mauled to death, and then I’ll step in.”

I laughed, the sound coming out more evenly.

“You don’t need to. Actually, I’d prefer it if you stepped in before my snowsuit gets ruined.”

She cocked her head.

“No,” she decided with a wicked grin. “I don’t think I will. Now, down you go. I’ll follow you.”

My heart jumped in equal parts anxiety and excitement, and I squatted, pulling my torch away from my shoulder before letting out a low whistle.

“Damn, this place is huge,” I said.

Dina leaned down, staring into the hole.

“Really?” she asked. “Do you think it’s another hospital? Did we finally find it again?”

The anticipation in her voice was evident, but I was torn. The underground hospital we’d found was incredible. It was an entire network, a building even bigger than our hospital on the island but completely underground. It stretched out so far, and there was so much loot in there.

We found countless guns and equips. So many heal packs too, but nothing came of it. An overgrown dog with bony spurs jutting out of its spine had made the laundry room its home. We didn’t even notice it at first. We were too distracted by the many clothing options scattered around the room. Some were so rare that I’d never seen them before, and I haven’t seen them since.

I was busy trying to decide whether the defence buff or evasion buff would be more useful to me when I saw it, and for a moment, I was rendered silent. All I could do was stare at the beast as it frothed at the mouth. Then I screamed, and seconds later, both Dina and I were dead.

Before we found it, I thought the hospital was a myth. There had been rumours about it, but that was all I thought it was. I never dreamed I’d get to see it with my own eyes, and I still don’t know what we did to trigger it. Perhaps it was just luck. Or maybe it was entirely random. I wasn’t sure, but I longed to find it again. We’d be more prepared that time. We’d know there were monsters there.

“I don’t think it’s the hospital,” I said slowly. “But it’s definitely more than just a bunker.”

“Go on,” Dina urged. “Go down!”

Moving slowly, I started to edge down the stairs, straining my ears to pick up any sound that shouldn’t have been there. If there were spiders and that bird there before, there could be more. There probably would be. I couldn’t let my guard down. We needed to get to the final level, and that meant clearing out all of the monsters and not dying.

But once I got halfway down the stairs, that thought escaped my mind. All thoughts left my mind, really. I was too overwhelmed by the sight before me. I was standing on the top floor of a building, looking over the balcony. Someone must have planted an indoor garden in the centre long ago because it was now overgrown and wild.

Either that or nature had started to reclaim the land that had once been taken from it. Both options seemed likely. There were vines danging all the way from the cracked roof to the bottom floor so far below. They wrapped around the pillars supporting the balcony opposite me, leaving only the smallest sliver of white visible between their dense leaves.

“Wow,” Dina breathed, walking towards the edge of the balcony and standing beside me. “What was this place?”

I pulled my torch from my shoulder, sweeping it around the huge space. The beam didn’t even reach the far walls, but the ceiling above was splintered and let in some light. Plants plunged into the room through the cracks, and snow fluttered through some of the larger holes, creating constant movement throughout the open room.

It made me feel on edge, and I hated it. My gaze darted from side to side, seeing nothing but snowflakes. Still, I couldn’t look away. I felt like there was something there. Something that I was missing. A bird, maybe. The one that had flown up the stairs at us was white. Others like it could be hidden amongst the snow, and there was no way I’d see them. Not until they flew at us, at least.

“I don’t trust that,” Dina muttered, eyeing the snow suspiciously.

“Me either,” I agreed.

“Was this a hospital?”

I hesitated before answering. There was something about it that looked vaguely medical. Even with the rubble and dust that lined the floor around us, it looked somewhat clean. The walls were originally white, and the ground too. I shone my light around the room again, searching for anything that would confirm our suspicions before pausing.

“It was a research lab,” I said slowly. “Look over there.”

I pointed towards a sign that hung from the opposite balcony. It was bowing under the weight of vines and age. Some letters had fallen to the wilderness below, but enough could be read.

“What’s biological warfare? And why is there a lab for it?”

I stared at the words too, searching my brain for any information that would help. I knew what the words meant separately, obviously, but I couldn’t work out how they could be connected.

“I don’t know,” I replied, a creeping feeling starting to settle over me. “But I don’t think we should be here.”

“What?” Dina asked, spinning towards me. “Why not?”

I looked around again.

“I’m not sure. I just… have a weird feeling.”

Dina pouted.

“I don’t want to leave, though. I bet there’s so much good stuff here!”

“Yeah…” I started.

She was probably right. If we were in a lab, there would be some good loot. We’d never found one that big before, but we’d stumbled across smaller ones, and they always had a lot.

“We could just stick together, and if we see anything, run,” she said, her eyes wide and pleading.

“That might work…”

“Plus, don’t you want to know what the sign means?” Dina asked, her voice growing slightly louder as she sensed my defences were crumbling.

I really did. I found biology fascinating, and there was something about the place that unnerved me, but it also intrigued me.

“Fine,” I said, causing Dina to do a quick happy dance. “But we’re not splitting up.”

“Of course,” she said as if it was a stupid suggestion and not something we did most of the time.

It was the easiest way to cover ground quickly, especially in the earlier levels where it was rare we’d come across anything we needed two people to bring down.

“And we need to keep an eye on the centre of the room,” I added.

“Agreed.”

“And…” I started. “If we find anything really weird, we just leave.”

“Oh,” Dina said before seeing the firm expression on my face and sighing. “Alright. But what counts as ‘really weird’?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know. But we’ll know it when we see it.”

Dina heaved another sigh.

“Fine. I’ll keep my eyes open for anything that just seems… weird,” she said, her tone making it clear she would much rather just rush in.

That was the way she always wanted to do it. She much preferred diving in with no firm plan and just seeing what happens, but then she got so frustrated if she was repeatedly killed. It was better to find a middle ground. To go slow and take time to work out what to do and where to go before it was too late.

“Thank you,” I said genuinely.

Dina just rolled her eyes at me, but a smile played on her lips.

“It’s nothing,” she said. “So… which way do you want to go?”