They were a kitchen divided in half—literally. Colt, Sarah, Cindy, and Nate owned half of the kitchen and half of the food and supplies. The other half was Bill and his group. After Nate broke down his proposal, they agreed on one thing: They didn’t have to like each other or work with each other past basic survival needs. This was a simple yet oh-so-complex proposal by Nate.

Colt waited for Bill to reject it, then try to take what he wanted.

To his shock, he didn’t.

Not for a second did Colt trust the guy, but Bill simply agreed. Then they started to make plans—Nate and Bill went through the supplies and divided them evenly. Bill's people took Chef as their responsibility as well, though he noticed they didn’t cut him free from the zip-ties.

Two factions in one little kitchen. It wouldn’t last for long. Bill was going to strike when he thought he had an undeniable advantage.

But Nate bought them time. Colt would take advantage of Bill’s hesitation and push for levels—maybe try to see where the boss was. At best, Nate gave it a couple of weeks before they simmered back to a boil, and things finally erupted as they would. By then, he figured, they would at least have a better grasp of the situation and could take steps to undermine Bill. Paired with strategic and consistent leveling, it would let them make a plan. It all just hinged on letting Bill get too far ahead.

“Jimmy is his weak link,” Colt said as he helped divide out their rations in the walk-in fridge.

The place was cold, and they’d been there for an hour. They carefully counted which food was theirs and then portioned it out to determine how many meals they had until they starved.

“Yeah, I thought as much, too,” Nate counted up some meat—putting it aside and scribbling a note on his sheet. “We’re looking at around fourteen days before some of the vegetables go bad. The protein will last longer in the freezer at three meals a day. Maybe about a month with some nutrition issues at the tail end. We can stretch longer, too. If we’ll be fighting all those days, it’ll get hard.”

“Then we aim to get out of here in two weeks before a fight with Bill. Talk to Jimmy and get him to our side, too. He’s less likely to attack if it’s only him and Logan against the rest of us.” Colt chose not to mention Donny. Although he was sure Bill would cut him free, the man was still walking around pretending they were in dinner service. With more levels, he wasn’t a risk.

“Draw out the conflict and escape before anyone is hurt. It’s easy in a war zone to forget your humanity. Glad we’re not doing that here. You’re a good man, Colt. It takes a good man to see why I said what I did and agree. Wish I’d taken the time to get to know you before something like this happened, but I’ll take it now, I guess.” Nate mumbled as he made another mark on his paper.

Colt gave a nod and scratched the back of his head.

The way before something like this happened. Yeah, when Donny had ruled over them all with an iron fist. Now, he was a shell of his former self. That, more than the dungeon, really got under Colt’s skin.

The dungeon was a place of adaption. Adapt, and you thrive. Failed to adapt, and you would die. Chef was broken and refused to let go of the past that was gone, so he was just as good as dead. And Colt would learn from that example. He’d change and become more than he had been. This would be the catalyst to let him transform into the person he’d always dreamed of.

After dividing and counting food, Cindy, Sarah, Nate and him sat down to eat. It was a simple meal. Vegetables with meat and some bread on the side. Picked by Nate to maximize nutrition and the lifespan of the ingredients they had on hand. Not fancy, but still tasty. They had seasoning and were cooks, after all.

Colt patted his belly and laid down—watching the other half of the kitchen. They huddled together. They had made a meal, too. And their meal was one which came straight from the menu—full of flavor and fat, throwing out any concept of when things would go bad—prepared by Chef himself. Say what you wanted about Donny, but the man could cook. While Colt liked his meal, theirs smelled better by a mile, and he found himself wishing to steal a bite.

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He turned away. Time passed. Before he knew it, his eyes were fighting to stay open.

It was hard to sleep despite the exhaustion.

The fighting. The adrenaline of battle. The new world. All of it weighed heavy.

Nate asked Cindy to keep watch and said he’d take a second shift. That left Colt’s only job as trying to go to sleep. In his makeshift pile of clothes and towels, and with the heavy thoughts churning through his head, it was a tall order.

Eventually, his eyes closed, and the darkness seeped in.

Eventually, he got some much-needed rest.

Then, eventually, he woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs, carrots, and onions—prepared by Sarah. His eyes shot over to the other side of the kitchen, which was missing Logan and Bill. Jimmy came over while Colt got a plate of food from Sarah, gossiping about how they woke up bright and early and bee-lined in for the dungeon.

They left him behind to watch Chef.

The competition had begun. Already, they were running into the danger presented by Bill over-leveling. Hours had passed since the start of this reality shift, and the ‘class pending’ was quickly looming in the future. If Colt had to guess, he had about eight or so hours and whatever that meant would happen.

“Listen, we need a plan,” Colt said as he finished his food. He looked at his allies, now that Jimmy wandered off: “Bill is leveling too quick for being in a group. I think one of his skills is letting him get the lion's share of experience when they fight.”

“I noticed his high level, too. Didn’t know what to think. Inspect didn’t show me any skills, though.” Sarah answered.

“It must be my Skill’s higher level. He has this skill called ‘Leech,’ and it’s the only thing that makes sense. I don’t think we can go out as a group of four. Not if we want to keep a lead. Even if they were leveling equally, any experience split from the kobolds would only be divided between Bill and Logan. We need Cindy to gain levels, too.”

Cindy listened and listlessly poked at her eggs.

She’d tried talking to Bill last night before bed. He’d brushed her off, calling her ugly, and told her to get out of her face. A traitor and a slut, in his exact words. She ran back over to their side, crying. Since then, she’d fallen back into the same sullen mood as yesterday.

It sucked.

But overall, it was better for Bill to further push her away. It kept their advantage with numbers. Maybe Jimmy wasn’t working with them, but given time, Colt felt he could bring him over, too. Then, it would be five versus two. Not counting Donny.

“What are you proposing? We split into twos, too?” Sarah asked.

“No. You three go together into the dungeon. I’ll go alone.” Colt said.

“Not happening. We don’t know what’s in there; we’ve barely explored. What would you do if you ran into a group of seven Kobolds? You’re a higher level, but that doesn’t make you invincible.” Sarah argued.

“She’s right. Group fights are unpredictable. Numbers like that are deadly. No matter how trained you are,” Nate added.

Colt understood their argument.

They were thinking practically. Thinking like two people used to fight in the reality they’d lived in before. He’d had his fair share of scuffs in school, too. But that was far from them. He hadn’t trained in martial arts and hadn’t served in the military.

But this wasn’t the same world. It wasn’t the same reality they’d grown used to. This place had levels, skills, and experience. Among them, he was the highest level, and if Bill continued to grow at the rate he’d suspected he would, Bill might as well be going into the dungeon alone. To compete, Colt had to take this risk and go alone.

All Colt had to do was trust himself.

That had been how he’d lived his entire life. Only trusting in himself. People lied; people had agendas. Things were safer when you were your only friend.

But with Sarah and Nate… His feelings already started to shift. Dangerous, maybe, but after the handful of battles, he felt something. A small something. But something.

He shoved it down, knowing that to lead these people out, relying on himself was a no-brainer.

“I can do it,” Colt promised them. “I have to do. And it’s what I will do. I know I could die. We could all die. But if I’m going to die, I’ll do it on my own terms.”

Sarah argued more. Nate tapered off after seeing his resolve, but Colt dismissed them and eventually got them to concede. This was something he was going to do. After committing and letting Sarah argue as much as she wanted, he got prepared and went ahead.

This time, as he went through the kitchen, he let his gut guide him. The brief pull of what seemed right to take, that invisible thread of intuition informing his decision—he packed away three chef knives, in addition to his sword, making a makeshift belt to hold them in place.

Given his skill’s ability to let him throw the knives, they could be useful. If he encountered multiple kobolds taking one or two out before they could get to him would drastically help.

With a quick goodbye to the others, he made his way out of the kitchen.