Bones clacked against the trashcan lid on Matt’s back. Phalanges reached from the darkness, grabbing at his arms, shoulders, head. The skeletons shoved him forward, crowding, flowing in from all directions.

“Don’t engage them!” Fallyn yelled.

What?! thought Matt. Then he realized his heads-up display hadn’t activated. “Uh…” Matt responded, then carefully raised his swords above his head. He held the weapons high with both hands, above the ebb of skulls. He felt like a jungle-movie adventurer fording across a stream.

Fallyn’s staff-light rocked forward then back as the skeletons shoved her. The wizard stood firm, black tactical vest, purple parachute pants, and brown hair streaming back, away from the gathering power.

Matt took careful sidesteps toward the light and his friends. Clinking bones continued to pressure his back and stroke disconcertingly down his sides. He jerked his head away from a touch at his ear.

“Wiggles?” Val panicked. “Where’s Wiggles?” The beaver wasn’t with her in the spotlight.

Kurtis flared his orange ears from her side; they poked through his silvery colander hat.

“Wiggles?” she called again.

Matt inched closer, pushing into the car-length of skeletons between them.

“I’m going to start moving,” Fallyn advised steadily.

“Wiggles?”

Fallyn and her staff-light jerked towards where they’d spotted the stairs. At least Matt thought they were in that direction. The skeletons between Matt and his friends were dimly illuminated, a slow-moving crowd fading with the limits of Fallyn’s light. The stairs were pure darkness—wherever they were.

Matt hoped they were going in the right direction. He edged forward with careful slow steps, hands still above his head. He instinctively knew that if he fell, he’d get trampled.

“Wiggles, where are you?”

Shit, where’s that beaver?

Three rows of skeletons stood between Matt and his group, pressing in on them as Matt tried to worm through. He shook off a hand that grasped at his neck, jerking his arms down instinctively.

Shit.

He caught himself, midway through the motion, after elbowing a nearby skull. Matt raised his arms and held his breath. He prayed that didn’t start combat. Matt let the air out in a slow hiss, gazing into a pair of empty eye sockets. They jostled two inches from his face.

“Wu-wu-wu-wu-wu.”

The skeletons bent left and right, disturbed by the beaver below.

“Wiggles!” yelped Val with relief. She bent to pat his head and almost toppled from the shoves of the skeletons.

The beaver stopped in the spotlight, sheltered between Val, Kurtis, and Fallyn. He stood on his hind legs and waited. Val’s tiara refracted the light. Wiggles held a white branch in his mouth—no, that was a bone. “Ch-ch-ch-ch.”

Red text flared above the skeletons that were visible.

“Run,” Matt whispered. “Run!” he yelled.

Matt pushed through the crowd of grasping skeletons in the direction he remembered the stairs. A long scratch sliced down his bicep. The clawing finger bones now drew blood. Searching limbs gashed his neck. Matt glowed blue as Rapid Regeneration began its work; the sparks dimly reflected off of bone and steel. He shoved back with his arms taking on more damage.

“Ah, hell,” Matt muttered, transferring both swords to his left hand, then making a triple snap.

The skeletons were too thick, pressing in on all sides, an endless army from the dark. Matt pushed forward, feeling the itching pain of new cuts. He gripped his swords properly, then Blood Slashed ahead, creating an opening. The red X hung bright against the blackness, like the embers of a fire.

“Come on!” he called.

Kurtis, Val, and Fallyn, with her staff-light, darted into the void. Val drew her bow and landed an arrow in an empty eye. It throbbed, dimly purple, but did not deter the enemy.

“Not fair,” Val complained.

Then a skeleton burst into light, dripping with white flames. It continued to press towards them, shoving the other skeletons, unperturbed by Kurtis’ attack. The flames licked upward, illuminating more of the room. Matt could see the stairs again, fifteen feet ahead.

“Wiggles! Body slam!” Val commanded.

“Wu-wu-wu.” The beaver hustled forward, leaped, and then heaved its mass into the rib cages of the bone figures.

Matt followed up with another Blood Slash, carving a path.

“Aaaaaaaah!” Val swung the ex-caliper in a diagonal arc with both hands. It clinked against a skull ineffectually. “Damn it.”

“Slapchop!” Fallyn said. “I can’t and maintain this light.”

Val disappeared the metal teardrop and then Slapchopped, followed by Kurtis. Matt Blood Slashed. They were almost at the stairs.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Body slam!” Val called.

Wiggles leaped and cleared the path.

Matt stepped onto the first stair, pivoted, and then Blood Slashed the skeletons behind. The stairs were like the subway: cement with a railing in the middle. He was on the right side; his friends were on the left. He bounded up three steps, then checked behind him again.

The skeletons were ascending slowly. One stumbled, then fell. It was swallowed by the crowd. The skeletons pressed forward atop it, as if nothing had happened. Their shadows lengthened and shortened; the light bobbed as Fallyn climbed.

Matt scampered to the top of the stairs. There were two heavy green doors at the top with rectangular steel handles. Matt pulled. The door in front of him shook but wouldn’t open.

Shit!

Matt tugged on the handle. It shook again and would not yield. The skeletons were halfway up the stairs. Another one fell, unacknowledged. The crowd of bones poured in from the blackness.

Shit, shit, shit.

Val pulled on the left door. “I’ve got skills.” She shrugged and strode through.

Fallyn held the left door open, illuminating the entrance. Her fervent eyes said, ‘hurry.’

Kurtis followed Val while Matt hopped the railing.

On the other side of the door, there was light and it was quiet—too quiet. Caged glass spheres hung along the walls and emitted a cool glow. There was a fireplace with no fire in it, a desk, chairs, several bookcases, and a single white door. The floor was still cement, but it was warmed by a large red area rug.

Matt watched the closed green doors nervously.

Kurtis grabbed an iron poker from the fireplace and fed it through the handles. “Saw that in a movie.” The cat-man shrugged.

The light in Fallyn’s staff faded and her hair settled on her shoulders.

“Shouldn’t those be, sorta bursting open or something?” Val asked. “I’ve seen movies too.”

Kurtis shrugged again.

Matt continued to watch the doors: green, unmoving. A white paper sign, stating ‘Danger: Do not enter,’ was taped to the one on the left.

“Is that Comic Sans?” Fallyn said, cocking her head.

“They wanna make sure we know it’s serious,” said Kurtis.

A crash sounded from across the room. Matt jumped.

“Wiggles,” Val scolded.

The beaver had toppled a small side table with the bone he was still carrying. He scurried on all fours, investigating the room. It looked like some sort of study meets sitting room and—despite the rich tones of the rug and wood furniture—there was a sterile coldness to it.

“We should keep moving,” Matt said.

“It’s your quest,” Val acknowledged.

“Wait a sec,” Fallyn said. She had moved to stand over the desk and was flipping the page of a notebook on its surface.

“What is it?” Kurtis asked.

“I’m not quite sure…”

“Can you grab it and read later?” Matt urged.

“Alright,” Fallyn agreed.

This place was too empty and he wanted to get away from that door. “My quest made it sound like we’re looking for a lab,” Matt said, “or at least someplace that has potions.”

“So not here, or back there?” Val thumbed towards the green doors. Her bow was slung over her right shoulder.

“Yeah,” Matt confirmed. “Guess we go this way.” Matt nodded towards a white door—the only other exit.

Leading the way to that door, Matt couldn’t help but think that it could have been an ordinary door inside someone’s home. But those homes and that planet no longer existed. Anger and sadness tussled in his core.

Matt turned the silvery knob and cautiously pulled towards him, opening the door just a crack. He peeked through; it looked to be an empty white hallway. More of the caged lights hung along the right side.

Matt turned back and caught Fallyn’s concerned glance. “Looks clear,” he said quietly, then drew the door open fully.

Their feet tapped lightly along the hard floor. Matt wished they were silent, not knowing what was ahead. He spied a series of closed doors, white like the walls, but the hallway remained empty.

The first door they came to opened onto a library, containing shelves filled with books—and a glowing one for Fallyn. The next six rooms, however, sent chills down Matt’s spine. Each one was practically a copy of the others: stainless steel slab in the middle, strange silvery instruments for cutting and prying hung along the walls. Matt shuddered, thinking about what might go on in there.

The last door in the hallway was painted slate gray and its handle was rectangular like the ones on the green doors. There was no paper sign to warn them away, and there really wasn’t anywhere left to go. His taunt was somewhere in this tower and he was damn well going to find it.

Matt slowly opened the gray door to reveal a single-wide stairwell that zig-zagged up an unknown number of floors. After a cautious pause, he led the group inside. They climbed up and around, and then entered the next floor.

Another white hallway stretched forward, but this time there was only one other door. Matt paused in front of it and wished it had a window. It was painted white but had a rectangular handle like the stairwell and the doors to the basement.

“I guess we go in?” He wasn’t sure why he was whispering. The hallway was empty. The entire previous floor had been empty. Still, Matt felt wary.

Val gave him a smile and a thumbs-up. Then Wiggles held up a closed fist in imitation.

Matt gripped both swords in his left hand and pulled the door handle with his right. His heads-up display immediately flashed.

Fuck. Matt pushed the door closed, unsure what had triggered combat. That can’t be good.

“Matt?” Kurtis said slowly, ears flared.

Wiggles sniffed at the door. Then the door began to push open. Fallyn slammed her bodyweight into it, pressing with her back, eyes wild with panic. Kurtis quickly moved to join her.

“Sorry?” Matt said and readied his weapons.

“I don’t think we can hold this,” Fallyn gasped, as she and Kurtis jolted forward an inch.

“Visitors…” a male voice cooed through the crack, and then followed up with tongue clucking.

“We’ve got this!” Val said.

“Let him in,” said Matt.

“Three, two, one,” Fallyn counted. Then she and Kurtis darted to the left.

The door burst open. A green-haired lanky man in a white lab coat leaped through. It said ‘Frank Stein’ in red letters above his head. He was Level 14 and a gold border edged his health bar.

“You’ve intruded on my work!” Frank accused, pointing at Matt. Then a hail of empty beer mugs followed his finger.

Matt’s health plummeted to half. He gasped, entire body burning with pain. What the fuck?

Pale green light surged around him and his health spiked up almost a quarter. Matt drew in a ragged breath as he added Rapid Regeneration and Basic Heal to the spell from Kurtis. Those things freaking hurt.

Frank lunged towards him, wielding a strange saw and a wickedly curved knife. They’d seen similar instruments on the walls of the previous floor. Matt Blood Slashed a glowing X. The enemy mirrored the motion, then followed up with a horizontal slash that caught Matt’s exposed biceps. Twin afterimages lingered in the air. Matt’s arms kept bleeding.

“Agh,” he let out, clenching his teeth against the sting. His health line ticked down—it continued to tick down—as his arms bled.

“The lab is not accepting visitors at this time,” the green-haired man said. “But it is accepting subjects.” He grinned showing off a row of pointy teeth.

What is it with this place and sharp teeth?

The lab coat began to drip with white fire, almost invisible in the bright hallway. Then an arrow sprouted from Frank’s shoulder. He yanked it out and tossed it to the floor, clattering.

“Oh, are you interested?” The voice was sickly sweet. Frank turned towards Val and Kurtis.

Matt activated Shadow Flurry and Blood Slashed as the dark shards whirled around him. Frank turned back and ripped the saw across Matt’s neck, biting a ragged wound. Matt grabbed at his neck, sword clacking to the floor. Blood welled between his fingers.

A conduit of fire and lighting exploded from Fallyn’s staff, connecting with Frank Stein in a swirling column. The enemy stomped directly towards it and slashed across all three of Matt’s friends. Their health bars plummeted.

Matt’s vision tinted red.