The pressure from the gun lessened and was pulled back.

I could hear the man take a step to the left. “Have a seat.” He said, his voice low and cautious. “Anyone else out here with you?”

I shifted my weight back onto my heels, leaning away from the flames and getting my feet under myself. I sat down on the ground, scooching back and getting a good look at the man in the flickering firelight. He was not an attractive man. Hair and beard were unkempt and tangled with bits of grass and leaves sticking out. His clothes were an odd mixture of animal furs and regular clothes. The jacket, a tan duster, stood out in stark contrast to the rest of his attire. It was stained with fresh dirt but well-made and looked like it had a held up well to hard use. Draped across the shoulders was a ragged cloak of some brown animal, and across his chest, the grey fur may have once resembled a vest. Pants were also a patchwork of hides and furs that were tattered around the edges and nearly hid the fine leather of boots. His eyes were feral, someone used to hearing noises in the night and knowing what they were. The smell was the most striking thing about him. Wet fur mixed with the body odor of someone that hadn’t showered in a week. Unpleasant, but manageable if I didn’t breathe through my nose.

“I said, is there any else out here with you?” the man repeated slowly. He kept the gun, a short barrel shotgun, leveled on me, and took a seat on a small log at the edge of the firelight.

“What? N-no. I’m out here by myself,” I stammered.

The stranger eyed me up and down, spitting off to the side.

“Looks to be me like you’re a long way from home. Wander off from your caravan? Maybe missionaries or homesteaders? Trying to find the rest of your group?” he asked.

“No. Like I said, I’m out here by myself. I’ve been wandering around for a while now out here and when I saw your fire, it seemed like a good place to stay until morning.” I reminded myself that appearances can be deceiving and though this man smelled like he believed a layer of dirt would fend off diseases, he did seem to be wanting to help. Homesteaders and missionaries probably came through here all the time and I could attest to how easily one could get lost out here.

“Well, I can’t in good faith let you go bumping around in the dark.” He said. I could see his calloused hands loosen their grip on the gun and his expression was more relaxed. “Wouldn’t be very Christian of me, and I guess a little bean pole like you isn’t going to go hurting no one.”

My mouth quirked, I was trying to not take offense at any of that.

“The names Lowell.”  He didn’t offer to shake hands but did lean the gun against the log beside him. He was looking at me expectantly.

“Um. My name’s Taylor. Pleasure to meet you?”

Lowell gave off a low chuckle. “Yes. Likewise, I reckon.” He paused again, looking at my clothes and six-shooter. “Not with another group and clearly not from around here.”

I wasn’t sure if Lowell was talking to me or just to himself.

“Where did you say you were heading?” Lowell asked.

I didn’t see any reason to lie and always subscribed to honesty is the best policy.

“I don’t know,” I said. I thought for a second, remembering the video games I had recently played. “I’d like to find a town or village, I guess. Some supplies would be helpful.” I was woefully unprepared for this world, and a town should be able to outfit me for whatever was coming up next and hopefully provide me with some more information too.

Lowell grunted.

“There’s a town not too far from here,” he said. “I can point you in the right direction in the morning. I have a cabin a couple of hours from here and it’s about a half-day past that to town. Let’s rest up here for the night. I’m sure all that wandering around has made you tender.” He chuckled again to himself. “I’ll cook you up something nice for breakfast in the morning.” He settled back down to the ground, leaning back against the log. His eyes still tracked on me, but his head dipped down to his chest.

As warm and comforting as the fire was, I couldn’t relax. My mind was racing and trying to catch up on everything that had happened so far. I didn’t know where I was. And if Marv was to be believed, I didn’t know when I was. The odds were high that I had traveled back in time. This guy looked like he walked out of a frontier movie from the 1700s and I didn’t think I had ever seen a forest like this before. The lack of city lights, sidewalks, or hiking trails all reinforced the idea that I had been sent back in time.

Lowell’s breathing deepened, becoming steady and he started to snore.

“Marv,” I whispered. “Marv, do you know anything about this town or when we are? Anything you can tell me about this guy would help too.”

“Just what you know,” Marv said in his hushed tone. “Try focusing. You should be able to see his level. That will tell us more information about him.”

I smiled to myself hearing Marv use the word ‘us’. It was comforting having him thinking of us as a team. Now I just had to figure out what he was talking about.

“How does that work?” I asked. “What do I do?”

Marv sighed. We may be a team, but his resigned lecturing tone made it clear that it was a partnership of necessity.

“Just as you can view yourself differently,” Marv said, “you see the world and the people in it a different way as well. Look at the person you wish to view and focus. You will see their stats and skills. There are of course exceptions. Some beings can mask their attributes, age, and even their species. If their level is too high, you may not be able to see anything about them,”

“There are other species?” I asked incredulously. I was suddenly worried that I might have to be on the lookout for orcs or uplifted bears.

“What are they teaching kids these days in school?” Marv said to himself. “What species are you?” He asked, directing his voice at me.

“Human?”

“Close enough,” Marv said dryly. “And what species is a horse?”

“Equine?” I asked, adding after a short pause. “Equine Domesticus?”

“Equus Ferus,” Marv corrected in his tone of superiority. “But you get the idea. If you look at a horse, it’s not going to say ‘Species Human’. Now concentrate. Focus on bringing up his stats.”

I did as Marv instructed, focusing on Lowell. I tried to squint a little bit, but that only caused everything to get fuzzy. I let my eyes cross, but seeing two of him didn’t help. Widening my eyes did nothing, it just let the smoke from the fire get into them causing me to tear up. I sat back dejectedly.

“You’re not doing it right,” Marv said disappointedly.

“Any guidance or tips to would be great,” I shot back.

“I’m just an enabler.”

I wasn’t going to let Marv frustrate me. I could figure this out. I looked at Lowell again imagining that I was controlling a mouse and moving it over him like I was in a video game. I felt silly doing it and was about to give up when a red bar appeared over Lowell’s head. Success!

His health bar was full and significantly larger than mine. In my peripheral vision, I was able to see an additional overlay. Focusing on it, I brought it to the front.

Name: LOWELL

Level: 13

Race: Human

Class: Outdoors Man

Morality: -2

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Status: Afflicted

Skill Set:

Tracking +2, Hunting +3, Cooking +2, Survivalist +5, Marksmanship +1.

“Marv, what does afflicted mean? And morality?” I asked, trying to make sense of everything I was reading.

“It could mean a variety of things. Afflicted is a status effect and could be because he is diseased, has lice, ticks, ringworm, athletes foot, or—in this guy’s case—maybe a combination of all of them. Morality is a little trickier. It exists on a scale of -10 to 10. 0 is neutral. A newborn baby would be zero. If that baby accidentally shot you, then its morality would still be zero since it doesn’t understand the difference between right and wrong. To have a negative morality you must understand what you are doing is wrong and do it anyway. Inversely, if you are doing what society deems is right, then you will have a positive morality. For example, giving alms to the poor would put you into the positive.”

“So people with a negative morality would be evil and those with a positive would be good?” I questioned.

“What is good and evil?” Marv asked philosophically while I groaned inwardly. Ancient philosophy had been my least favorite class in college. “If you steal someone’s money is that evil? What if you call the stealing ‘taxes’? Is giving someone food good? Even if it means they won’t be able to find food for themselves when you leave?”

“Okay, I get it,” I said. I was going to have to be careful about making judgments on people.

“Let’s take it a step further,” Marv continued, not listening to my protest. “If one never knew that jaywalking was a sin would their morality suffer for doing it? Or if they didn’t know that loving their neighbor was a blessing, would they go positive? Now, what if someone was to tell them that one was wrong, or both of those things were wrong. What if he believed one was and one wasn’t.”

“Yes, yes. It all sounds very complicated. What does it mean?”

“It means, it’s complicated, dipshit,” Marv said shortly.

“Any ideas on how Lowell’s morality went negative?” I asked. I always knew the subject was complicated. Morality, truth, good vs evil, and how one knows which is which had been the focus of many lunchroom debates in high school, and though I may not have won many of them, I also hadn’t lost all of them.

“My guess is that he drinks. He has some idea that drinking is bad, but he does it anyway,” Marv said a little sadly. “But that’s just a guess. It could also be because he bathed 5 years ago and drowned the fleas living in his hair and it still gnaws at him that he caused their death.”

Lowell’s morality, or lack there off, was a cause for concern, as was the affliction. I hoped that it wasn’t contagious. The last thing I needed was Small Pox or the plague.

I yawned, feeling the day and night of the adventure catching up to me. I looked over at Lowell whose breathing had remained steady, while I had had my conversation with Marv. Every now and then he would mutter something in his sleep. It was difficult to make out the words but it sounded like a recipe or how to prepare something for roasting.

It was getting hard for me to keep my eyes open, and with the fire close by to keep me warm it would be too easy to drift off to sleep. I didn’t completely trust this place and needed to stay awake to keep watch.

~~~

It may have been Lowell’s constant muttering, mixed in with the chainsaw sound of his snoring, or the adrenaline rush of everything that had happened so far, but I never achieved a deep sleep. The wind blowing branches against each other, or the sound of wood sap snapping extra sparks from the fire would bring me out of any light slumber I managed to fall into. Not enough to where I would open my eyes, but enough to make me slightly aware of what was going on.

During one of these moments, I felt a different type of change to the night. I listened for a couple of minutes, not hearing anything. No snoring, or even breathing. It was that lack of sound that gave me cause for alarm. I cracked one eye open to see Lowell standing over me. He was wrapped in his furs and his eyes were feral. He gripped a pitted and rusted knife the size of a hack saw so tightly his knuckles were white around the handle.

“Whoa! What the hell?” I heard myself scream in shock. I attempted to scramble backward but was pinned against the log I had been leaning against.

“Sssshhhhh,” Lowell hissed, eyes glittering hungrily in the firelight. “Fear spoils the meat. Just relax.”

I kicked out in a panic, catching Lowell in the shin. It felt like my foot smacked into a brick wall and Lowell didn’t even seem to notice. Desperately I flailed my arms around me, trying to grab on to anything that would work as a weapon. One of the logs from the fire was within reach and I took hold of it, throwing it up into Lowell’s face.

Lowell raised his knife hand to block it and the embers exploded in a shower of sparks and soot.

I rolled to my hand and knees, using the distraction to crawl away. The big man’s foot came out of nowhere and connected with my stomach. It knocked the wind from me and sent me flying five feet across the campsite.

My head snapped back against one of the logs and my health bar flashed red, decreasing from 10 to 9. Pain radiated out from my stomach and shoulder. I couldn’t catch my breath and at least one rib was bruised, if not broken.

A weapon, I needed a weapon.

Lowell was stalking closer again, crouched slightly to anticipate my movements and his knife was ready for whichever way I tried to bolt. I had never been much of a fighter and I knew that I couldn’t take Lowell in a stand-up fight, even if it was hand to hand. Hell, I would have had trouble taking him even if our situations were reversed and I had the knife. I needed an edge. Another stick, a rock, anything. Glancing to my right I saw the dark gleam of the shotgun that Lowell had left leaning against the log. Perfect!

I lunged into a roll, my arms reaching out for the gun. My fingers wrapped around the stock and I only fumbled a little, getting my finger past the guard and onto the trigger. I rotated, bringing the gun up to my shoulder and taking a bead on Lowell.

I wasn’t fast enough.

Lowell had covered the distance to me in under a second and he grabbed the barrel of the gun, yanking on it with more strength than I gave him credit for. His effort pulled me to my feet before the gun was ripped from my hand. Lowell tossed it back across the campsite and glared darkly into my eyes.

“Enough of that,” Lowell growled, grabbing my shirt with his free hand and holding me in place. “You are going to taste all bitter now,” he said dejectedly. “Better if you just keep still now so I don’t make this any worse than it has to be.”

I wasn’t sure how it could get worse. Dead was dead. I should have asked Marv if respawning was an option. I brought my eyes up to meet Lowell’s, letting my hands drop to my sides. At least I could go out like a man. I squared my shoulders. Adrenaline was making my heart pound, but my mind was calm. I hadn’t given up yet, I just needed to even the odds.

The health bar above Lowell popped into view, still showing full health and one significantly larger than mine.

Lowell gave a yellow-toothed grin at seeing me realize that the end was inescapable. He raised the knife to my throat, taking his time and visibly savoring each moment.

Lowell’s eyes suddenly widened in surprise. He let out a grunt and staggered back a half step. His health bar dropped 6 points in a flash, even as the gunshot echoed around the clearing. His eyes moved from mine to look down at the six-shooter aimed at his gut, a bit of smoke coming out of the barrel. He sneered contemptuously and rushed forward, not caring about a clean kill anymore. He merely wanted me dead.

There wasn’t time to raise my arm and aim properly. Lowell was too close and inside my guard to point Marv directly at his heart. Instead, I rotated my wrist as much as I could, guessing at the angle to hit him in the head. I squeezed the trigger again, offering a silent prayer that I didn’t miss. Lowell's arms were outstretched, his grimy, claw-like fingers, just a hands-breadth from my throat. Marv fired and took Lowell under the jaw, the bullet exiting the back of his head.

Lowell stopped cold. Eyes tracking me for a moment. It was clear that he didn’t know that he was already dead. The health bar above him flashed empty and the big man crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.

My last ounce of strength gave out, and I crumpled to the ground next to him. Breathing hard and barely able to believe what had just happened.

Marv suddenly spoke in an overly cheerful voice that sounded like a telemarketer’s script.

Congratulations! You have just ended the life of a human. Bonus added for your first kill. Bonus added for the creature’s affliction.

Congratulations! You have reached level 2. Stats have been adjusted accordingly.

One unassigned skill point available.

Attunement increased by 1.

“Still with me, Marv?” I asked, concerned. Marv’s voice had been the same, but it hadn’t sounded like him. The last thing I needed now was inconsistencies in my telepathic gun.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Marv said, his tone reverting to its normal cadence and demeanor. “You know you could have done that sooner. I was right there the entire time.”

“Hush. I need to think.”

“Does it hurt?”

I ignored Marv. I tried not to look at the creature that was once Lowell, but he was hard to ignore. The embers were still burning and only made everything eerier. I’d never killed anyone before. I never had anyone try to kill me before and I was almost positive that Lowell was planning on eating me. Disgusted shivers ran through my body thinking about what Lowell had planned for me. Wasn’t even any spices on hand.

My body ached and exhaustion was starting to set in, but I couldn’t fully rest with a dead body lying next to me. I grabbed the corpse by the foot, braced myself, and dragged it away from the light. Lowell was heavier then he looked and they didn’t call it dead weight for nothing.

I felt good to walk back to the light and heat of the fire and I took a moment to warm myself back up. The wind rustled the leaves and shrubs outside the clearing and now that the danger had passed, the nightlife of the forest was returning. An owl hooted in the distance and the yipping of a coyote or wolf, I wasn’t sure how to tell the difference, echoed around the trees.

The firelight created a circle of safety, but outside that seven-foot radius where I sat, I couldn’t see anything.

I knew that when you blew the back of someone’s head off they weren’t going to walk it off, but the way Lowell had sneered after the first bullet to the gut made me not so sure. Who knows what an afflicted could do. Lowell was laying out there in the darkness and if was going to turn into a zombie before dawn, I had no way to see it coming.

I could only ignore my fear so long before going back into the dark, and dragging the body back. I didn’t bring him all the way to the campfire, but just far enough so that the light allowed me to keep an eye on it.

It’s like when you see a spider. As long as you can see the spider, everything is fine. The moment you look away and the spider vanishes is when you need to worry.

I threw two more logs onto the fire before sitting down. Dawn shouldn’t be too far off and I could keep watch till then. Tomorrow I would try to find the town.

I would just close my eyes a little bit.