Chapter 2

A whole new world

As I was looking around the yard, I heard the whining of a wolf and jumped behind the barbecue. I stayed there for a second, but it sounded like the crying was coming from the other side of the fence. I climbed back up to the top of the fence and peeked my head over. The first wolf that the blackberry bush had grabbed was still alive. The vines were consuming it.

Vines covered almost every inch of the creature by now, and its struggles only seemed to make its situation worse. I noticed some blackberries that were growing on some higher vines and grabbed some. I didn’t realize how hungry I was, and the plant didn’t seem to notice. I watched the wolf for a few minutes while I ate some blackberries. It was kind of fucking awful, actually. Never thought I’d feel bad for a fucking nightmare, but damn. It looked fucking miserable all wrapped up like that.

I dropped down from the top of the fence away from the blackberry bush and made my way around the fence. I was very aware of any other plants I passed. They clearly weren’t just sending monsters to the planet. The fauna was evolving, and that was bullshit! Willow trees were cool as shit, and now they could probably rip my fucking head off! I walked closer to the wolf that was being consumed by the blackberry bush.

The wolf looked like it had been starving for weeks as if the life itself was being sucked from the wolf by the plant. I got a little closer to the blackberry bush, but it didn’t seem as active as before. I know when I eat a big meal, I usually take a nap afterward. Maybe the plant had gotten sleepy?

I grabbed a piece of metal lying on the ground. Honestly, the wolf looked so pathetic. Maybe if I put it out of its misery, I could cherry-pick the kill. How else am I going to raise my level in this new world? Things seemed to have gotten pretty fucking brutal on Earth. Stepping close to the creature’s head, or where I thought the wolf’s head was, and took aim.

I raised the metal piece above my head and slammed it down. It took about four slams to kill the thing, and I actually did get a kill notification. A slightly transparent exclamation mark up in the corner of my vision. I focused on it, and a second after I did, a screen popped open in front of my face. As it did, I fell back and landed on my ass. It startled me. It stayed with me as I fell, appearing as if it was constantly five feet away from my face, just floating there.

Congratulations, you have killed Level 8, Tarzackien death wolf. These wolves are found naturally in the Tazackien region of space. They are primarily pack hunters but can be found in small groups of males that have been rejected from the larger packs. “You have earned 1,000 XP! Kill, get strong, fight for money. These are all hallmarks of a great gladiator. Keep it up, you little killer.”

That was weird. I looked at the message again, and in the corner, written relatively small, was “sponsored by the Slag Corporation.” Yeah, I thought that sounded a little fucking pushy. Now that the wolf was dead, I slinked away from the blackberry bush. It seemed content with its meal and didn’t notice me at all. I walked back toward the house. Looking through one of the windows, I saw the wolf that had been partially empaled and then eaten. There were bird-Lizad things the size of cats all over the corpse. Maybe this spot was too hot now. The smell of a dead wolf would probably bring scavengers. I better get the fuck out of here before something comes along that I can’t fucking deal with, you know, like anything that’s on this fucking planet now, probably.

I grabbed my backpack and headed out. I started walking toward the hills. I thought about how I could get a good vantage point, see how badly this whole place was fucked up. I just needed to find a place that was safe or well safe enough to hold up and wait for the National Guard or whatever government agency would take charge to return some order. Shit was crazy, and people were already dead and probably still dying. I wasn’t trained to deal with shit like this. The best plan had to be to hide and wait. Eventually, the army would mobilize, and shit would get back to normal or at least as close as we could get with the apparent existence of aliens now.

Finally, I saw a grocery store. The glass was all broken, and the roof was half fallen into the building. I was starving at this point. I needed something to eat. Definitely drink, so supply run it was. Before I did that, I had to address the new blinking exclamation mark in the corner of my vision. I focused on it, and another partially transparent screen popped up.

“Level up! You were Level 1, and now you are Level 2. Three stat points have been awarded. You may freely distribute these as you see fit. Kill, get stronger, and fight for money. These are all hallmarks of a great gladiator. Keep it up, you little killer!”

“Level up! You were level 2, and now you are Level 3. Three stat points have been awarded. You may freely distribute these as you see fit. Kill, get stronger, and fight for money. These are all hallmarks of a great gladiator. Keep it up, you little killer.“Level up! You were level 3, and now you are level 4. Three stat points have been awarded. Kill, get stronger, and fight for money. These are all hallmarks of a great gladiator. Keep it up, you little killer.”

The following message was different. “Title Gained! You have escaped from a situation in which you had no right to. Damn, you lucky bastard. You almost died! Plus two to Luck.” Well, that message would get old fast, not the extra point to Luck. That one was awesome! That damn message on the level Up notification. Fuck, the Slag Company was shameless. But I gained 3 Levels with one kill! Fuck yeah! And I fucking cherry-picked that shit! Okay, so that means I got 9 points I can use. Let’s do this! I said, “Stat Sheet.”

Travis Mullins

Level: 4

Race: Human

Experience needed to next Level: 1,000/1,1080 XP till next level.

Titles: Lucky Bastard (+2 to Luck)

Strength: 16

Dexterity: 12

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 12

Constitution: 12

Luck: 11

“You have nine free points available to distribute as you see fit.” Okay, the first significant change was that I now had a line on my sheet telling me how much XP I needed to get to Level Five. I also had a line that showed my new title. From that last notification description, I’m guessing that titles come from doing crazy ass shit and living. At least I got something from that fucked up-as-hell situation. My body shivered, fuck that! I ended up putting two points in Constitution, two points into Dexterity and then placed my last five into Strength.

I tried to put a point into Luck and 4 in Strength, but it wouldn’t let me touch Luck. So, I just put the 5 points in Strength. More Strength never hurt anyone and left it at that. Fuck yeah! I now had 16 Strength, 12 Dexterity, and 12 Constitution. Hopefully, that would help my foot heal, but I really had no idea. Damn, thing still hurts like fucking hell! My foot had gotten all tingly, and that almost scared me more than my blood-soaked sock.

I looked behind me, and I noticed that I was leaving a splotchy trail of blood as I walked. Aw fuck! If something isn’t already tracking me, it will be soon. I needed to find some way to treat my wounds. I ended up finding everything I needed at the grocery store. I was extra cautious as I walked in, but the place seemed empty. I did see one guy in there at one point, but he was doing the same thing I was doing. We looked at each other for a second and then ignored one another and kept doing what we were doing.

I saw him leave, and I got out of there pretty soon after. At one point, while in the grocery store, a pack of those man-eating fluff balls passed by, and my like-minded companion and I hunkered down as they passed. The rest of my time in the store was nice and uneventful. I’d managed to find an ace bandage to wrap my leg up as best as I could. At least I wasn’t dripping blood everywhere.

I found some socks, flip-flops, and a hoodie. I threw them all in the backpack, with five cans of chili, four water bottles, and the small first aid kit I had made. It was just a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some gauze. Not too great, but it was something at least.

Fitting all that shit in the kid’s backpack was another story. I ended up having to throw most of my blankets and the pillow out to fit everything. I only managed to save one blanket and another one wrapped around my shoulders. I also grabbed a deck of playing cards and a pre-made club sandwich. The fridges were dead, but it still seemed to be cold. I hoped the thing hadn’t gone bad, but bad mayo was the last thing on my mind. After not even one second thought, I stuffed the sandwich in my face. I knew the thing was probably nasty. I hated gas station sandwiches, but damn, that thing tasted like the best fucking sandwich I’d ever had in my life at that point.

I made it about another fifteen blocks before I saw a pack of fluff balls and ducked behind a partially fallen wall. I peeked my head around the wall after a second. As I looked closer, I saw the fluffy balls were bunny-like creatures. They were ripping apart a group of what looked like they had once been people. I quickly ducked into a building near me. The ceiling had fallen in, but I managed to tuck myself behind some debris.

It looked like I had found myself in an old music shop. There were twisted and broken instruments all over the ground. I sat there as quietly as I could, listening. I waited till I didn’t hear any more noise from the rabbit creatures. Now, I love Monty Python, but I never wanted to meet a fucking blood-sucking bunny in real life. That’s just not right. I decided to look around the music shop a little to see if I could find some kind of weapon. I needed something to protect myself. That urge got much stronger after what I’d just been through recently. I honestly was really wishing the wolf hadn’t taken my charcoal poker. That had been a great weapon.

I dug through the broken and twisted piles of instruments, trying to make as little noise as possible. I ended up finding a fucking bandleader’s baton. You know that thing, the guy who doesn’t play shit but has a whistle and walks in the front of the band uses. The baton had a large metal ball on one end, and the other end came to a point. It looked like it was the best thing I was gonna find, so I grabbed it.

I returned to where I could see the street again and noticed the rabbits were gone, so I made my way onto the street again. The rabbit creatures had definitely taken off. They hadn’t left much behind, either. I walked over to the corner where the fluff bunnies seemed to have been enjoying their meal, and there were only a few indicators of what their meal had been. A few ripped items of clothing and small bits and pieces of flesh lay in a puddle of blood that soaked the concrete.

I think I saw an ear. Yep, yeah, that was definitely an ear. I bent down and, with two fingers, touched the blood. It was still warm. I almost started crying. I don’t really know why. I didn’t know these people, but I thought about the millions of people who thought they’d just survived a massive earthquake, lucky to be alive, and then to be brutally murdered by what looked to be Monty Python bunnies. Well, that was just a little too fucked up for me.

I was sitting there lost in my thoughts when I heard something, or maybe it was better to say I heard someone, a soft, “Hey you.” I lifted my head up and looked around. There it was again, “Hey you.” I looked around and found the speaker. It was a man. His head was poking out of a doorway across the street from me. When I met his eyes, he waved at me to come over.

I decided, what the fuck? I might as well check it out. I definitely had to be cautious, but that’s the second human I’d seen all day. Seems like we were few and far between now. Shit, how many of us died? How many of us are left? Wait, that’s the same fucking question. Travis, damn it.

I approached the man, and he started to wave more frantically. “Come on, man. What the fuck do you think you’re doing? If you’re caught out in the street by any of these monsters, you’re fucking dead! Are you stupid or something? Come on, get in here!” I stepped it up to a slight jog, made it to the door, and slid myself inside after the man, closing the door behind me.

I turned around and immediately got punched in the face. A second punch followed right after. It kind of felt like I got hit in the face by a kid. Don’t get me wrong, like a middle schooler, but fuck that. I could eat punches from middle schoolers all day. I didn’t seem to be giving the man the response he was looking for. He seemed a little shocked that I didn’t go down from his sucker punches.

That surprise quickly turned to anger, and the guy picked up a baseball bat that I hadn’t noticed was leaning up against the wall. I was still in shock. I hadn’t been punched in the face much in my life. So, I was still taken aback by the man’s actions. I was trying to work out an appropriate response to the situation when the man swung the bat back and then whipped it forward right at my head. I did not react fast enough, and the bat slammed into the side of my head. That fucking hurt. Now I was mad. I had anger problems when I was a kid, and it took a lot of work to get over that, but when the dude hit me with a bat in the face, I lost it. I just hit my breaking point.

I stared at the man in shock. It was the end of the fucking world, and this douchebag had decided to hit me with a fucking bat to the face! Fuck this asshole! So I punched him in the face! I didn’t really think about it. I just hit the guy as hard as I could. It felt like punching a block of cheese, and not like cheddar, more like Brie. My fist just kind of went into his head and got stuck there.

The man’s eyes went wide, then glazed over. He dropped to the ground. Fuck, he was dead! Then, an exclamation mark started blinking in the corner of my vision. I mentally clicked it, and a notification popped open.

“Congratulations, you have killed a Level 1 Human. Humans are weak, short-lived creatures, very fragile. They have a tendency to break easily. They are also prolific breeders. Humanity can be most closely compared to pestilence or infestation and often tends to strangle planets they live on until the planet dies. 200 XP awarded. Kill, get stronger, and fight for money are all hallmarks of a great gladiator. Keep it up, you little killer.”