It took Colt a few moments to stop panicking and sit down. He accepted a glass of wine, he didn’t know who handed it to him, but he drank it in one gulp. It felt better. He never thought wine would have taste, but this made his nerves strong.

“We are all people like you,” the grown man, who introduced himself as Akira sat beside him. “This is Elise,” he pointed at the blond girl, who just gave a weak wave at him while grimacing. “That is Talon and that is Three. She calls himself Three, I don’t know why.”

Talon was the loud mouthed brat. He gave him an angry glance then marched away. Three just sat in the same place, not looking at him.

“Do you know who did it?” Colt asked. He tried to think. He had no memory of the how he tried to log in. All he remembered was how he wanted to play the game back again.

“If I did I wouldn’t be here,” Akira said, grabbing a glass himself. “I woke up and then there was a wolfish creature in front of me killing a man. I tried to attack him, but he dodged my attacks easily. That’s when I realized I had no skills I previously possessed.”

“Three years of grinding gone to waste,” Elise spat. “I was supposed to be the Queen of the Northmen. I should be conquering the land of the giants not getting chased by some fucking wolf!”

“Easy with the tongue sweetheart, we all are in a bad place right now. Which is why we need to think of a way to get out.”

“Would have been easy if the logout button was here,” Talon tapped his arm, then started punching it. “Dammit! How did it come to this?”

Akira ignored him and turned to Colt. “Where was the wolf when you last saw him?”

“He chased me till the hills, then I jumped, and ran back to the town. But he will come, I’m sure of it.”

Everybody was silent at that. Elisa’s wineglass rattled, Talon nervously scraped the edges of the door, and Akira looked down on his fists.

“We have a chance,” he said. “It will be four against one.”

“And at least one of us will die,” Elise snapped. “Who will that be?”

“The one with the worst luck,” Akira said. “But for now we need three things - a proper leader, weapons, and hiding spots to ambush the killer. Anyone up for being the leader?”

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No one raised hands. Colt wasn’t in the mood to. He had done more raids than he count, and he had won more than two thirds of it without a single death in his squad, but now shit was real. He was fighting for his life. And the people around him weren’t NPCs.

“Since no one is volunteering, I will be the leader,” Akira looked around. “Any objections?”

There was none. Talon just gave a grunt. “We all want to get out of here alive man. I would even elect the mute girl if she was going to offer us a clean escape.”

She’s mute?

Talon looked at Elise, who didn’t speak a word, and never looked at anyone.

“What about the weapons?” Colt asked.

“We’ll need to improvise on that,” Akira looked outside. “Who is familiar with this town?”

“I am,” Colt said.

“Then you should know where weapon stocks are kept, at least the location of the blacksmith, or the military quarters. These are good places to scout for weapons.”

Colt nodded. “I could show the way.”

“Perfect. We will travel in a group. Even if we are ambushed, we will have a better chance of surviving.”

“This is all assuming there is only one killer in a wolf mask,” Elise muttered. “What if there’s more than one?”

“Then we will be running as a group,” Akira walked to the door. “It won’t hurt-”

Colt’s hand vibrated. He as if something inside was wiggling to come out.

“What the hell was that?” Talon had opened his palm.

Colt looked around. The others were looking at their palms too.

Then something flashed in front of his eyes, and the familiar notification screen appeared, but this time it was dark grey.

“It appeared!” Talon screamed, and poking it around. “Come on, come on, where’s the fucking logout button? It is supposed to be here-”

The screens crackled, and a new text appeared in red writing.

Event 1: Survive The Big Bad Wolf

Preparation Time: 3 Hours

Event Occurrence: Nightfall

Event Duration: Night To Morning

“What the hell does that mean?” Elisa snapped. “I don’t need an event! I need to get out of this damn game!”

“I don’t think that’s an option,” Colt muttered. No matter how hard he tried to deny the reality it was true. He turned to Akira, who gave a grim nod. He was right. Their virtual reality fantasy game had turned to a death game.

“No, I don’t want to play a survival game,” Talon tried punching the screen, but it only frizzled and appeared back again. “Please, just let me out!”

“It won’t do any help Talon,” Akira kept a hand on his shoulder. “I guess we all know what this means. The wolf will appear at night, and it will come with the intent to kill us. But there is a good news in everything. We have three hours to prepare and scour for weapons. And we also have time to prepare a plan - a good ambush. We better take advantage of those three hours to the fullest.”

Talon grunted, then swapped away the man’s hand and marched to the exit. Akira sighed, then followed after him. Colt looked at the two girls. Elisa was scrutinizing him with those bold blue eyes of hers.

“I guess the guy’s right,” she shrugged her hands. “It’s time we defended ourselves.”

Colt looked at Three. “What about her?”

Three raised her head and looked at the two of them. Then she silently stood up before walking out of the bar.

“Poor girl,” Elisa muttered as the doors closed. “She must be traumatized.”

Colt looked at the frizzling screen on his palm.

“She isn’t the only one.”