The forest was soothing, the soft greens and browns loosely embracing so that dappled pools of sunlight painted the trail before her. Ace hefted the backpack again. This was the point where the straps were starting to dig into her shoulders, and she was left wondering how much she really wanted the extra credits. She let out a laugh that was swallowed whole by the forest around her.
“Let’s be honest, it’s not about the 500 credits... though 25,000 credits is a nice bonus. That’ll pay for some programs to make the cube not so cramped.” If her other, passive ways to get money did well while she was away, then she might even shell out for a dimension doubler. The techs said it was stable enough for small bubbles and having another place to go would be amazing. However, she knew herself. “I wonder what type of weapon I’ll get. And the land. Would there be a respawn point there? Maybe a hidden area with modern luxuries?” One of the other games had done it, allowing modern-day people the amenities they wanted as they were cowboys, rustlers, and saloon gals in the Wild Western Winds. She sighed, thinking about what she would want, and like magic daydreaming took the edge off the pain.
A branch cracking in the woods stopped her. Gripping the bear spray, she looked around to see if there was anything she could fight with. Wood, wood, more wood, a few branches, leaves, pebbles, and a rock too heavy to lift. The sound grew louder. A snuffling started up as well. A bear tumbled out of the woods and onto the trail in front of her. It was small, around ten kilograms. A tiny cub.
“A good start to xp,” Ace stated, sizing it up. In this case she would be able to grab it and bash its head against a tree. There was also the chance she didn’t need to mace it, which would let her save her weapon. She looked to the rock, then back to the cub. It sniffed a pink flower and sneezed, then looked up at her. Stumbling forward it came closer. “Come on little buddy. There you go. Keep coming.”
She’d have to be fast. A front grab would place her arms within biting range, always a bad thing with apex predators, but aiming for the back legs would need speed she wasn’t sure she had. She waited. Waited... Finally, the cub was next to her, sniffing at the bottom of her backpack.
Ace bent down, snatched the back paw of the cub, and slammed it headfirst into the rock. It let out a yelp of pain as it hit, then thudded to the ground, stunned. After a few seconds it began to cry out, squalling in pain and fear.
“Dammit. No one shot.”
She stepped closer to the bear, wary that it was going to turn on her, but either it was still confused about what had happened, or not thinking due to the pain. Another grab of its back legs and Ace put all her momentum into swinging. A crack sounded. The cub stopped crying.
*2S xp gained, 1R xp gained* Bear cub killed
“What’s the ‘S’ and ‘R’ for? And only three? Ouch.”
She looked to the lifeless body of the bear cub. Blood leaked from its head, nose, and mouth. Looking closer, she could see a massive dent in the side of its skull where it had caved from hitting the rock.
“A meager start and not worth farming. Way too few points for the possibility of getting my arm chewed off.” She looked at the fur and the meat for a wistful minute. “Pity I don’t have a knife.” Without any way to dress the meat or skin the pelt, there was nothing else to do with the carcass. A little time was spent listening to see if mama bear was going to make an appearance, but the presence of bird trills and tweets noted that the way ahead was clear. Ace adjusted the backpack to a better position, made sure she had the bear spray ready, and then took off down the trail.
While there wasn’t any way to tell how much time had passed, the trail was kind enough to provide markers and she easily passed by another one kilometer. Now the woods were even darker. The small bits of sunlight from before were gone and noises that kept her pulse jumping rose in intensity. A long howl rippled its way through the trees.
“Finally.” It had to belong to the wolf/tiger creature Romeo talked about. Ace did a quick spin, trying to see if there was anything to use as a weapon besides her bear mace. Over to the side was a broken branch, but this was a worse place than before. At least at the earlier part of the trail there had been that large rock. Moving the canister to her right hand, she shaded her eyes and looked about her. None of the trees caught her attention, and the trail itself had nothing out of the ordinary. There was a small part of the cliff jutting out, a few meters up, and that’s what she chose to focus on. “Come on, couldn’t you have flashed something on the path for me?”
It would be annoying, she saw, tracing how exactly she could get up there with the backpack on. Her best bet was a slight incline to her right that had several tall trees nearby. Climb up that a bit further than where the cave was and she’d be able to fall diagonally. It would also take both hands. Locating an outer pocket, Ace slipped in the canister.
“Maybe not gracefully, but that shouldn’t matter.”
With that acknowledgment she left the trail, stomping her way past flowers, vines, and smaller trees. Hanging from the left, she used the rough trunk under her hand to pull herself up the incline. Then she grabbed hold of the tree on the right and pulled again. Bit by bit she left the ground behind her. About ten trees later she was stopped, breathing hard, and eyeing how to get to the cave. It was below her, and landing on the ground in front of it would require a bit more in reflexes than lassoing the railway stairs with cables. Gritting her teeth Ace pushed off the last tree, sprinted as she was falling downwards, and made the landing area with a few millimeters to spare.
*4P xp gained, 1R xp gained * Woiger Den discovered
“Yes!” she whispered, pumping her fist. Then she gagged. Her eyes watered. There was a rank, sweet smell coming from the cave. Another howl sounded, and for a few minutes she worried about where it was in relation to her, but then she realized something important; it wasn’t coming from before her.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
She slid the backpack to the front, pawing through it and hoping that she could find the flashlight. After feeling a mossy rock, another mossy rock, and a third (non-mossy) rock, she finally felt smooth plastic under her fingers. The solar-powered flashlight. Slowly, taking care not to jostle it, she pinched and drew it out.
It flickered on, and Ace felt very grateful for those few minutes she’d charged it.
“You won’t last forever,” she whispered, sliding her backpack around and taking a step. “But you’ll last long enough.”
Footsteps echoed through the cave as she crept further and further. A narrow point forced her to exhale to pass with the backpack, but she managed, keeping the light on in front to make sure she didn’t fall and twist an ankle. It wasn’t far before the smell became thicker. The light moved up and down to be sure of the path, but then she caught something on the ground. She steadied the flashlight.
There was a body lying on the floor. The clothing was darkened and soaked, sticking to the bloated body, with the only part still looking new being a pair of brown hiking boots. A putrid pool of liquid grew outward from underneath, a ring of mold or mushrooms surrounding it, and where the head should have been only the white of bone stuck out from dead and decaying flesh.
“I wonder who you were.” Ace looked around the cave. Usually, when a game set up a find like this there was information appropriate to the environment nearby. A holo-tape, a journal, even an ID card. Or there would be worthwhile loot. She shined the light around the room. In the back corner was a mound of soft soil, but that was it. No information, no items, no loot. “Well. Wasn’t this a fun waste of time.”
She looked over the corpse again, holding in her breath, and shaded her eyes. Nothing. The flashlight flickered.
“Right, time to go. I can always come back when this thing is fully charged.”
She went back down the tunnel, which was about four to five meters, and stopped at the outside of the cave to put away the flashlight. The wolf-tiger hybrid was below her on the trail. Both tails were upright, the wolf one close to wagging as the tiger one swished back and forth, and it buried its face where she had been walking earlier. Sniffing. Licking the ground. Ace looked around. The two places she could fight at were here, outside the cave, and on the trail down below. The inside wouldn’t allow her much room to move around. The outside though... she might be able to keep knocking it off and hurt it that way.
“HEY! UP HERE UGLY BASTARD!”
The creature took off into the undergrowth, out of sight. Ace frowned.
“What the hell happened to aggro?” she muttered, looking to see where it had gone. Trees, rocks, and trail. “Shit. Did I spook it?”
Wind rustled the greenery around her. After a few minutes even the birds came back, the natural equivalent of enemy music fading away.
“Dammit. Might as well start walking again.” She made her way back down tree by tree, using the same ones that had helped her get up the slope but starting from the middle this time around. Slide, grab, slide, grab, slide... and with a crunch of leaves, twigs, and rocks, back into the forest. The canister made another appearance.
Her eyes swept the trail as she continued. Passing another trail marker and wondering if the hiking boots could have been cleaned, she froze. There was a hint of movement ahead, and as she watched there came a feeling of being observed in return.
A step backwards prompted another howl.
In front of her were a pair of yellow eyes. Up close she could see more details about how the two creatures were fused together. The body of the creature was most like a wolf, but the fur was striped orange and black. Romeo was right about the teeth.
She took another step backwards.
Fangs stuck out in almost every direction. A large pink tongue came out and licked the side of its muzzle. The wolf tail at the back was straight out and slightly raised. The tiger tail waved back and forth.
“Fuuuuucck,” breathed Ace, not daring to blink or look away. Another step backwoods and a twig snapped beneath her heel. That was the trigger. The wolf/tiger barreled forth and she sprayed it right in the eyes. It snarled. Flashed teeth. Leaped at her again and then the two of them were sprawled out on the ground, a headache drumming through Ace’s head. “What the—?”
She put a hand up to where it was hurting the most and felt her horns. The hybrid staggered to its feet, hissing and growling.
“Trust me, I didn't like that either,” muttered Ace. She shook the can. Maybe a few more seconds of spray left. If she was lucky. She looked up to see it charge her again, slashing as a tiger would, and she twisted to the left, a sharp pain radiating from her arm.
“Damn it!” Blood was pouring down her right arm. “Fucking high-level monsters!”
It came at her again. She grabbed the canister as if it was a rock and slammed it forward into its face. The front trigger area squelched into the creature’s right eye. It stopped, screaming in pain and pawing at the wound. She grabbed the broken tree branch, lifting it up and slamming it on the hybrid's head. It slumped to the ground so she did it again and again, beating its head with the branch. Finally it broke, and she hunched over, hands on her knees and desperately gulping down breaths.
*15S xp gained, 15R xp gained* Woiger killed
“Haha!” she shouted, her voice echoing around her. She regretted that as it amplified her headache. “Fuck you, I win!”
Right at that point her arm decided to flare up, a reminder that she hadn’t escaped the fight unscathed. In fact, now that her adrenaline was fading away, she could feel the fight in several other areas, most notably a stiffness in her left ankle and general aching all over her body. The bottoms of her feet were also throbbing from fighting barefoot.
“Damn I want this pelt,” she said, walking around the beast. There was no way she'd be able to drag it to Briny Breeze though, it weighed way too much. “Maybe I can find a person in town to come out and skin in.” That would depend on who survived the apocalypse and how far back it had happened. The fur though... she’d gone through Wild World: Start loving all the skinned clothing she’d been able to make, and this pattern was perfect with the texture of a wolf pelt and the coloring of a tiger.
She left the bear spray where it was lodged in the thing’s eye. There was nothing left.
“VICA. Show xp.”
Ace’s CORPSE: Level 1 (62/100 experience points needed to level up)
Current XP Status:
17S, 17R, 4P
“VICA, close.”
She groaned as she hefted the backpack again, then started walking the trail again, determined to get to town and find an overlooked beer. And someone to skin the damned creature for her.