The hallway was so dark, I was nearly blind. Pale light splashed across the floor in front of the few open doors on the left side of the hall, but it was so dim that it didn't amount for much. I glanced at Star. The darkness probably wasn't a big deal for her, with her higher stats – she could even have a night vision ability, who knew? – but it was another matter for me.

"I'm going to turn on a light," I warned her. Now that we were in the dark, I didn't dare talk more than a whisper. Even if the light gave away my location, it was better than walking blindly into a waiting monster.

Star's lips pressed together in a tight line, but she didn't object.

I opened my System and tapped a couple buttons. "Lumos," I muttered and hit the flashlight button. The System screen instant shrunk into a golf ball sized orb then it zoomed up to hand a foot over my head. It illuminated everything within fifteen from me in a soft blue light. No matter what way I looked or tipped my head, the ball would stay directly over the crown of my head, so there was never a chance to get accidentally blinded.

Star glanced at me, confused. "What did you say?" she asked.

"Lumos," I said a little louder in delight. It was a trick from my favorite book that I'd always wanted to try. It wasn't exactly the same – I was using a Guide, not a wand – but it was close enough, right? "You know from..." I trailed off, taking in her expression. She obviously had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. I shouldn't be surprised – it was an old book and most Hunters weren't readers. A lackadaisical Hunter was usually a dead Hunter.

"Never mind," I mumbled, grateful for the dark that hid my blush. All the delight from my little guilty pleasure changed to embarrassment in front of an ignorant audience. I cleared my throat and looked around, pretending it never happened.

The hall was in disarray, just like in the foyer. The left side was completely shadowed and impossible to see. On the right, some doors were ripped off the hinges, revealing the dimly lit classrooms inside. Spider web-like cracks spread across the dirty, shatterproof windows. Tables were up ended, chairs were turned over, and several corpses were still visible. These, however, were picked clean down to the bone. I couldn’t see anything science-y inside, like beaker, telescopes, or any electronics in general.

"Are we the first group that came through this building?" I asked. I knew another team had already been to university, but that didn’t mean they came here.

Star shook her head. "No, there’s been at least one other group that I know of. I don't know what their exact task was, but no one would turn down free money just lying there. Old data always sells fast on the market. I don't even know what they do with it most of the time. I mean, a dead teen's cellphone can't be that interesting. But, what the hell?" She shrugged. "We still get paid, anyway."

I hummed in acknowledgement. If another group had already been here, it meant that finding something valuable enough to sell was a little harder. Okay, a lot harder – if we found anything at all.

Star motion to the left, where the sunlight from the classrooms on the right didn’t reach into the rooms. "Since you need a light and already have it on, why don’t you check out the dark rooms? I’ll check out the rooms on the right, and we rendezvous in the middle." Even whispering, she sounded chirpy.

I nodded. It made sense. Her vision might be good enough that she didn’t need a light. It was also possible that my light was disturbing her, she was just too nice to say anything.

Gripping my sword, I walked over to the first room. I couldn’t sense anything inside, but then again, my Hunter senses were not that great yet. Cautiously, I walked through the open door.

Unsurprising, it was a mess inside. The large white board on the front of the room was hanging by a corner, the messy remains of a past lesson still vaguely visible. Heavy tables were upended and the chairs were broken and pushed against the far wall. A pile of clean, discolored bones sat in the corner of the room. But it wasn’t just bones, there also remains of other monsters that I didn’t recognize. Seriously, it was right out of a horror book. And I was here for a job. Fun.

Slowly, I walked around the room, searching for something useful. And wasn’t surprised when I didn’t find anything. Just when I thought this room was a bust, I noticed the corner of a dirty laptop half buried under the pile of bones. It was covered in grim, blending perfectly in with the equally grimy concrete floor.

I hurried over and pulled it out, causing the bone pile to shift. The laptop was fully intact, that was a good start. As for whether it was useful enough to get paid, I’d have to wait until we were back in Boulder.

The bone pile suddenly tumbled down and my Hunter senses screamed.

My eyes widened and I jerked back, startled.

At the same time, a round larva, over two feet long, lunged out of the pile. It didn’t have eyes, just a gaping mouth with several pairs of mandibles jutting forward out of the hole. Its mouth closed right where my face used to be before the larvae flopped to the ground. Its white semi transparent skin, tinted blue from my light, bunched and shifted over the obscure black insides. Six spindly legs, all on the front half of the monster and dragging the bulbous back-end, stamped on the ground and propelled the larva forward.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I braced myself and swung my sword, but the awkward angle took power out of my attack. My sword hit the level five larva squarely on the side, but didn’t have enough force to displace the monster. Its mouth attached to my leg bracer like a vice, and it jerked its mouth, trying to rip a chunk off. Its movement was so strong, my leg was almost swept out from under me.

I groaned from the painful pressure and stabbed down into the larva’s bulbous white head. It let go, but it somehow wasn’t dead. Instead, it aimed for another bite.

"Ha!" Throwing my weight behind it, I stabbed down again, this time aiming for the dark mass inside the slinking white skin. The larva collapsed, clear liquid leaking from the cuts.

[+ 8 EXP]

[You have Leveled Up!]

I sighed, both relieved to win the fight, and to finally make it to level six. I had a feeling I was going to need all the help I could get. Especially if we kept searching rooms separately like this. I tapped the dead larva with the tip of my sword and thankfully the System accepted it as touching the carcass. The monster vanished in a light show only I could see, leaving a single drop orb – a vial mucus. Yummy. Wait, where did the vial come from? The System?

My thoughts shattered when I heard a loud sound behind me. I turned, ignoring the throbbing in my left leg, sword at the ready.

Star appeared at the door, her weapon also drawn. She paused at the sight of me and looked around the dark room. “I heard – are you okay?” She asked softly in confusion and walked over. "I could have sworn I heard fighting."

Well, she was right, but there wasn't a carcass as proof. Nor could I tell her that it disappeared. "Nope, just a pile of bones," I bluffed and pointed to them, scattered across the dirty concrete. "I found a laptop under them, and I guess I made too much noise when I pulled it out." I lifted the laptop, trying to distract her.

It worked like a charm. She took it from me and examined it. "Nice find. It's still intact. Not even the screen is damaged." She carefully closed it and handed it back.

I put it away in my Items Bag. "How much does that get me?" It wasn't until that moment that I didn't actually know what the client's task was – I never read it, just the contract I made with Star's group to come with them on the task. God, all these little 'learning experiences' were going to be the death of me – physically and financially. If I survived all my newby mistakes, I'll have a wealth of knowledge.

"Fifty dollars for intact computers, and fifteen in partials – as long as there's at least half the laptop left. Any less, and the client doesn't want it."

I nodded slowly, understanding. Basically, it came down to whether the client could extract data or if they could only part it out.

"If you're good, then let's go," Star walked out.

I followed her, limping a little from the bruise left by the larva's bite.

The farther we went, the darker it got. Something was blocking the windows on the left side of the hall, cutting off what little light there was. Even Star had to activate her light. The smell, musky, moldy and heavy, got stronger too. The air was so thick, it was hard to breathe. There was also more damage and decay on the building, crumbling walls and random broken pipes hanging from the ceiling.

Neither of us had much luck with finding things either. After five rooms each, Star scrounged up two laptops and I found a partial laptop – the screen was mostly ripped off, but the bottom was still intact. We also killed a couple more larva monsters. Star was too aware of what I was doing even though we were in separate rooms, there was no way I could convert the monster I killed into drop orbs and bluff about not fighting. Star, herself, wasn't interested in parting out the larvae either – bugs were obviously not her favorite.

"I think that's a set of stairs up ahead," I whispered, motioning to the black hole up at the end of the creepy hall. There was a sliver of light from somewhere ahead, but it wasn't enough to get a clear sight. "That might be a good way up, especially since we cleared the hall." I glanced at her. "Do you think the others found a staircase too?" There was no telling if the way up we found – given that there was a staircase – was safe, so having another option was best. But the only person I was friends with on the Guide messenger was Star, so I couldn't contact the others and ask myself.

"Maybe. I'll check in a minute after we know for sure," Star said, narrowing her eyes to try to see better. "Let's explore these last rooms first." She motioned to two remaining, one on each side of the hall.

"Right," I whispered and walked to the room on my side of the hall.

Something scurried around in the pitch black depths inside. I could hear it, but I couldn't feel the monster nor did my light reach far enough inside from my location. Seriously, these larva monsters had some sort of cloaking ability – they were hard as hell to feel, even when they were right next to me. At least they were weak enough that I could handle them.

I gripped my sword tight and stepped around the open doors, ready for anything.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling behind me as the walls shook. Several large utility pipes fell out of the hall ceiling, clattering to the ground with deafening bangs. The pipes hit the open doors behind me and smashed them shut, ramming into me hard enough to throw me painfully to the ground. The force almost knocked my sword from my stiff fingers. A cloud of dust covered my face as my mind reeled in shock. The ceiling collapsed?! Was the whole building going to fall on me? Was I going to get buried here?

Through the adrenaline thick blood pounding in my ears, I could hear the sounds of tiny feet scurrying around me. Many feet. A jolt went down my spine. There was a lot more than one monster in here. Heart stuttering, I pushed up ... and looked right into the gaping mouth of a larva.

*****

Ria Moore

E Rank

Level 6

EXP to Next LV 41

HP 57/63

MP 73/73

Strength 13 (+2)

Magic 17

Constitution 13 (+2)

Agility 17

Perception 14

Intelligence 16