We bought the steel nets and the sleeping gas. My HPs were almost full at least. The scratches on my arms had stopped bleeding and scabbed over, making my skin uncomfortably tight.

Laura stood beside me as we surveyed the scene before our cabin and took a deep breath.

"Are we ready?" she asked me and Tobi.

"I feel like we should do a few more things."

I went back into the cabin, grabbed the final rags from the bedsheet and started folding them together to form a thick padding.

"What are you doing?" Tobi asked. I hadn't even noticed that he walked in after me.

"I'm pretty sure we would also be affected by the sleeping gas if we just threw it at the monsters. I saw on TV that if you're in a fire, you should wet some cloth and tie it over your face to act as a filter for the smoke, " I explained as I worked. "So I figured it might work against the gas?"

I wasn't sure that it would work, but it was better than nothing. If we all fell like bowling pins we would be monster dinner in seconds. The overwhelming feeling of uselessness suddenly clutched at my chest. The bedsheet rags fell out of my trembling hands and I felt tears of frustration pool in my eyes. I was not cut out for this.

Tobi bent down and picked up my project.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concern evident on his face. The kid looked like he must have lost some weight since he and his mother showed up on my doorstep. It made me wonder if he had been keeping himself from eating to make the food go further for all three of us. If my memories of being a teen were any indication, they needed a stupid amount of food to fuel their growth and a bucketload of sleep too.

I pushed the thought away. It was a worry for another day.

"I'll be okay, " I said and took a deep calming breath.

"You go outside and take a minute, " he said with conviction that left no room for argument. "I'll finish these masks. I think I can see what you were going for. "

He turned away from me and picked up the sewing kit from the bookshelf. Then he started working on the masks with determined concentration.

That was one tough kid.

I left him there and went outside to find Laura sliding a cut piece of garden hose into the petrol filler of my car. Cloud was still lying on his side, munching on a piece of grass, looking as bored as ever. She turned to the sound of me approaching. The Rabidashers have turned down the screeching and were congregating in a gross pile of rotting fur and saliva. It struck me then that they faintly smelled like meat that had gone off.

"I figured we might try to make some Molotovs with the petrol, " she said and looked at me as if daring me to say something against it.

"That's a great idea. I guess it is lucky that we wheeled the car back when we did," I said.

I was a bit ashamed of myself for not thinking of making Molotovs first. Laura sucked at the hose until the petrol came out and let it pour into the bucket she prepared. The petrol must have gotten into her mouth because she spat on the ground and coughed like crazy.

"I hope that doesn't give me cancer, " she said and gave me one of her rare smiles. "But maybe there isn't cancer in this new world, with all of the regeneration and stuff. "

"Huh," I didn't think about that.

"We have some empty wine bottles?" she asked, as she stood up.

"I think so, yeah." A thought nagged at me. "Wait. I have maybe six more bottles of wine."

"Do you want to empty them?"

"No," I said, grinning. "I have a much better idea."

I ran into the cabin and pulled out the last of my mother's wine from the basement. I wasted no time offering it to the Shop Terminal.

"Jackpot!" I exclaimed, and Laura peeked over my shoulder and whistled.

"Six thousand credits!"

"Oh yeah. This will make it all better."

I hesitated for a brief moment, as the grief I've been pushing down for the past few months flooded at me, but I confirmed the sale anyway. Mom's favourite wine would be wasted anyway if I wasn't alive to enjoy it.

I bought fifteen empty bottles for 60 credits, and I just stood there as they materialised with a light clink. I was officially out of ideas.

Laura must have noticed my hesitation because she gently pushed me away from the Terminal.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"We all need ranged weapons. This close-quarter fighting is not good," she said and started searching through the Shop.

"They are all too expensive," she hissed.

She was right. Even with our newfound wealth, we were as poor as church mice. There were different types of composite crossbows and energy pistols, but they were all in the range of tens of thousands of credits.

She punched the side of the Terminal in frustration. Of course, all that move accomplished was her losing a few precious HPs.

"Fuck," she said through gritted teeth.

"Let me have a look. You go and make the Molotovs."

She rubbed her fist which was quickly turning a pretty shade of purple and nodded. She picked up the conveniently packed glass bottles and walked outside, still cursing under her breath.

"I'm done," Tobi said and handed me a thick mask with ties for securing it to the face. It was a bit rough-looking with big uneven stitches, but it looked like it would work.

Makeshift Facemask (Common)

A simple face mask repurposed from a bedsheet, designed to filter out gas and protect the lungs. Made by a beginner sewist. Wet with water before using.

"Wow, Tobi," I said. "You work fast. Also, you managed to get it to a Common quality. Good job. "

The boy just shrugged. "I took a sewing class at school last semester. It would have been neater with a sewing machine, but I think it will work fine."

I agreed. "They will serve their purpose. Now, let's see what we can get."

We spent a few minutes sorting through the neverending list of items. Finally, something caught my eye.

Steel-tipped Whip (Common)

A durable whip with a steel-tipped end, designed for precision strikes and enhanced impact.

"What do you think, Tobi?" I asked. "It's practically a bargain at 700 credits."

"For you, maybe. I don't like weapons, " he shifted his feet uneasily. "Besides, I think I would whack myself in the face if I tried to attack something."

"I don't like them either, but your mom is right. We have to have something that deals some damage. And keeps you away from claws."

He thought for a few seconds. "What about those darts that you blow through a tube or something? The poisoned ones."

I bought the whip for myself and then typed his vague description. Sure enough, there was a hit.

Blowgun (Common)

A blowgun that launches small darts with a simple breath, for short-range attacks. Equipped with an easy reload mechanism straight from the user's inventory.

"Short range is better than no range, I guess. And only for 200 credits! That's cheap as chips, at this point," I said and looked through the related items. There was a pack of 100 darts that looked to be the same design as the blowgun, tipped with something called Xelthar neurotoxin. They were a bit steeper in price, at 600 credits for the whole lot.

And just like that, we were 1500 credits poorer, but feeling much more secure to continue with the plan. Like all of our plans so far, it was pretty stupid. It had to work though, because it was so stupid.

Laura had come inside with the bottles filled halfway with petrol. We showed her what we had scored, and she nodded.

"What about me?"

"You have the slingshot," I said. "We don't have the money for anything fancier."

She approached the Terminal once again and typed something in the search bar.

"What do you think of this?"

Weapon Upgrade Kit (Good)

Enhances your weapon's damage and accuracy, providing a moderate boost in performance for more effective combat.

"I figured there might be something like that in the shop. it makes things appear out of thin air. So I thought it might have something to add to the weapon."

"Good thinking Laura. And it's in our budget, 1500 credits," I said and confirmed the purchase. Just like that, half of our credits were gone.

A palm-sized metal box plopped on the floor before us, with a big red button on top of it that just begged to be pressed.

The three of us exchanged looks, and Laura grabbed the thing off the floor and pressed the button. The box started unfolding until it became a flat square about a meter square in area, and as thin as a sheet of paper. Then it spoke, making Laura almost drop it in surprise.

"Please place the weapon to be upgraded," a disembodied voice said, coming from all around us, or maybe inside our heads. It was a female voice, but it had a computer-like quality, the kind you heard in cheesy hacker movies from the early 2000s.

Laura placed the metal sheet on the coffee table and then pulled her toy slingshot and the ammo from her inventory. We all stepped away as soon as she placed her weapon in the middle, lest it explode on us or something. Fortunately for us, the sheet just wrapped itself around the toy like aluminium foil around a packed sandwich, and for a second glowed a subtle green light.

SlingShot FunBlast: Auto-Return Edition (Good)

Now with enhanced tension and precision, this slingshot packs a stronger punch, increasing pellet speed and range, while the auto-return mechanism ensures faster reload times within a 7-meter radius for continuous fun!

The newly upgraded slingshot seemed more... substantial if that made sense. It was still the same electric blue colour, but the material upgraded from cheap plastic, to that hard stuff kitchen appliances were sometimes made of. The ammo looked bigger too.

Laura grabbed the slightly deadlier weapon and looked rather pleased with herself.

"Let's load these bottles with some fabric and let's get this started. We have prepared long enough."

"Ugh, we're going to be out of bedsheets," I whined.

"Just buy some more, Mrs. Moneybags," she quipped and we got to work.

Name: Diana Mond

Age: 25

Class: Homesteader

Level: 1, 90/200 exp

Strength: 4

Constitution: 6

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 4

HP: 54/60

Energy: 26/60

Points to distribute: 0