The Hero

“Two more reps to go Jerry!” [George]

Jerry’s muscles flexed and quivered underneath the weight, before buckling and giving in. George quickly grabbed the bar and lifted it back into place.

“I told you it was too much weight, you need to ease up. You’ll just hurt yourself if you try to increase weight so quickly.” [George]

“Bah, I *pant* figured I could handle it.” [Jerry]

Jerry sat up and took a long draw from his water bottle before turning to George and grinning wide.

“Good to know you can actually spot me though with such tiny arms!” [Jerry]

“Tiny arms? I don’t think anyone actually needs arms the size of tree trunks. I’m perfectly proportioned, and I can even turn my head more than 20 degrees!” [George]

“Who needs to turn their head? A real man always looks forward!” [Jerry]

Jerry chortled loudly, drawing rolled eyes from those that knew him and strange stares from those that didn’t. George only chuckled.

“Well let me know before you try to up your weight like that again, Atlas.” [George]

George turned and made his way back to his office as Jerry called back.

“Will do George, have fun pushing paper!” [Jerry]

George waved back and opened the door to his office. Running the gym took a lot of paperwork, but the rest of the work was worth it. He truly enjoyed helping out the gym members and working with his staff. George had clear rules and guidelines, but was otherwise a very affable and friendly guy that both staff and gym members adored.

He sat down in his chair, sighing deeply before getting to work. Not five minutes in, he felt his phone buzz and looked at the caller ID.

‘Here we go again’

“Hey Aly.” [George]

“Hi there honey bear! I so need to talk to you! So you remember Jessica was talking to Jake at the party, right? And that skank Marissa just walks up and—“ [Aly]

George was impressed with himself for making it that far before completely tuning Aly out. Not that he didn’t enjoy chatting with her on occasion, since she did have some rather funny anecdotes. Most of the time it was like chewing cardboard and hoping she finishes whatever she was talking about quickly so he could get on with his life.

“—right?!” [Aly]

“Of course, totally!” [George]

“I knew you’d agree with me, so after that she—“ [Aly]

After dating Aly for nearly two years, George was very good at pretending he was paying attention. He truly liked Aly, but neither of them had said the dreaded “L” word yet. Which was for the best, because neither of them felt that deeply for each other.

“*sigh* Well I should let you get back to work…though you should really hurry up and quit. You would do soooo much better as a private trainer!” [Aly]

“Probably, but I really enjoy what I do now.” [George]

“I know, but you really can’t do it forever, you have to move on sometime!” [Aly]

They’ve been having this argument more and more often lately. George was beginning to get sick of it, because he felt satisfied with his life right now. He was never one for the life of luxury, so the pay he got now was plenty for him. Aly would never be satisfied with anything less than the best though. They came from two different worlds. He grew up dirt poor but with a loving family, while she grew up filthy rich with a family that hardly spoke to each other. He asked her out because she was pretty and fun to be around, but the longer they’ve been together the more he felt he needed to end things. Unfortunately, they ran with the same crowds, all of who would never let him live it down if he broke up with her. They were even pushing for him to propose! Which Aly would likely accept if he were rich enough to support her. Another reason not to move on to “bigger and better things.”

“This isn’t really going anywhere, so let’s just talk about this later, alright?” [George]

“Fine. We’re still going to the party at Jason’s right?” [Aly]

“Of course.” [George]

With that, George smiled for the first time in the conversation.

Music blared out of the speakers while dancers twined together sensuously. George smiled and tipped his drink back.

“Come on guys, let’s dance!” [George]

George called back to his large group of friends. They started with George and his buddies in crime from pre-school. From then on more and more people migrated in and out of his group. Some came for the popularity that came with being associated with George and his friends. Others loved how many parties they managed to get into.

Moving onto the dance floor, George flailed to the music. He was an atrocious dancer, and loved it. George hardly ever felt embarrassed, enjoying the reactions people gave when he was silly or stupid. After an hour or so of goofing off he moved off the floor and sat heavily onto a nearby couch. The party was at a huge mansion on the outskirts of town, so they got to be as loud as they wanted with plenty of space. The guy who owned the place had enough people working for him that clean up didn’t really matter, so his place had parties nearly every week.

He reached his hand towards his glass but stopped, looking at it oddly. Wasn’t it shaking a little too much?

As soon as he finished the thought, the world began to shake.

“Earthquake! Get down!” [George]

Following his own advice, George immediately went down, just as the windows blasted apart, pushing glass into people who weren’t fast enough to get under cover. Keeping his head down, he heard screams echoing around him. He kept his head up a little so he’d be able to see if something (or someone) started to fall on him. After a while the shaking slowly stopped, and he jumped up and pulled out his phone.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’m calling 911! Anyone who can move, help anyone stuck under debris!” [George]

A couple of people moved quickly to do what he asked, which lead the others to follow suit. Looking at his phone, he dialed 911 and got nothing. Apparently they couldn’t get a signal. Cursing, he tried to think of a plan just as he heard a strange scream coming from one of the open windows. Twisting his head, he watched in horror as small green monsters jumped on one of the people hit by glass. They bit and tore into his flesh, leading to his horrified screams as he was slowly eaten alive. George, as well as a few other people rushed forward to stop whatever those green creatures were.

The others fell on to one of the creatures, while George went onto the other. Spotting a chair, George grabbed it, held it over his head, and swung it with every bit of power he could manage into the creature’s skull.

Critical Hit!

George staggered, staring wide eyed at the small blue box that appeared in front of his eyes. Just as quickly as it appeared though, it faded. In its place was the sight of a horde of green creatures with small swords and spears. With the monsters close by taken care of, he spun around, looking for somewhere they could make a stand. Not seeing anywhere better, he figured the stairs were their best choice. Aftershocks might be a problem, but the creatures running at them were more of a threat. George moved towards the stunned crowd.

“Everyone either grab one of the wounded, a piece of furniture, or a weapon! Move the people upstairs and barricade the bottom of the stairs with furniture! We have more of them coming, move!” [George]

Active Skill: Rallying Cry - Learned!

George’s voice shocked them back into reality and they moved quickly to comply. A few were too shocked or too distraught to move, but he didn’t have the time to deal with them or whatever stupid windows kept popping up. Grabbing the leg of the chair he broke over the monster’s head, he quickly helped the others move larger pieces of furniture to the growing barricade. Hearing the creature’s screaming coming closer, George and the others helped people climb over the barricade and hide upstairs or stand ready to attack the creatures. The creatures came in a wave and tackled the barricade. Luckily they were small creatures so they didn’t have enough power to do much of anything. The creature’s then started to climb over the barricade, where some of the more courageous people stood with him to meet them.

The first monster popped above the barricade, only to be knocked back down by various makeshift weapons. More and more began to make it to the top, only to be pushed back. Eventually their sheer numbers started to overwhelm them. Those that stood at the barricade, in their fear, ran, froze, or started beating the monsters for all they were worth. Not having time to deal with the runners, George screamed.

“We’re twice the size of these little green shits, let’s kick their ass!” [George]

Rallying Cry Activated!

Ignoring the window once again, George ran forward and started stabbing the creatures with his broken chair leg. Seeing how little it was doing, he started grappling with one of them for its weapon. Unable to hold off a human’s greater strength, the monster lost its grip on its spear.

Active Skill: Disarm – Learned!

‘These windows are going to get me killed. Go away damn it!’

As soon as he thought those last words, the window disappeared. Doing his best to ignore this, he used his new weapon to stab viciously at every goblin he could get near.

Weapon Skill: Spears – Learned!

‘Go away!'

The window once again popped out of his vision and he was free to continue stabbing. Occasionally a window would pop up saying that he scored a critical hit, but he quickly forced the windows away with a thought.

The others followed his lead, disarming the goblins they could reach and using their weapons against them. Some were cut by the goblins, but their poor strength didn’t help them much. They did, however, have very strong jaws. One of the goblins on the top of the barrier jumped towards a defender and sank his teeth into his neck. Screaming, the defender dropped to the floor trying to tear it off before the others killed it and pulled it off. The defender’s screams echoed in the large mansion, causing those that hid to cower further into their corners. The remaining defenders continued to hold off the creatures, until the tide of monsters finally began to slow down.

As it did, the creatures finally decided it would be better to retreat, and charged back outside.

Sitting down heavily, only one thought came to George.

‘What in the fuck just happened?’

Title Earned: Leader

‘Oh fuck off you damn window!’