“Do you know of a safe spot for us to hide while Eric and Hestia deal with… that.” Ash asked the older, matronly looking woman.

  “N- No, I barely step beyond the camp borders. I’m just looking after the children, mine” she gestured to two young boys “and the rest”.

  “Okay, perhaps we should shelter near those ruins, wait for this to settle down.”

  “But, what if they… What if they don’t-”

  “We have to trust that they will.” Ash responded, making herself sound more confident than she was. How was she being the mature one in this situation? She didn’t really know.

  Still, she took Livey by the arm and guided her towards the overgrown stone masses. Some of the vines had been cleared away near the wooden buildings, but further back, much of the crumbling structure was swamped by the jungle. She was reminded of ancient South American civilisations, and old trashy movies where these kind of places were filled with poisonous dart traps and other contraptions out to get them. She wouldn’t put it past a game dev to follow those kind of tropes.

  So, she was careful as she approached the stone structures, reasoning that if they weren’t actually going inside, she’d probably be relatively safe. She led the group past some vines where they were both sheltered by the ruins and obscured by the jungle.

  “Okay, we should be fairly well hidden here.”

  “Here? In the jungle? The came from the jungle, girl. What if they can see through these plants like a snake spots a mouse!” Livey didn’t sound impressed, and maybe she had a point, but she also wasn’t coming up with any other ideas.

  “Look, this is the best I can come up with. I’ll try and keep watch on the edge. You all stay back and be as quiet as you can. When everything is clear, I’ll let you know.”

  “Fine. As long as you’re in front,” Livey hissed back. Ash tried not to judge the scared woman’s reaction, but she was feeling pretty disheartened.

  Ash slid her way back through the foliage, emerging just enough so she could see the half-built structures through the brush. That was when she glimpsed it, a flash of green though a half-finished doorway. It whipped past, huge and scaled with a tail flicking behind it. What was it, some kind of dinosaur? Or, perhaps… That notification about the skeleton she had fought yesterday had said it was a ‘lizardman skeleton’ was this… the real thing? There hadn’t been a jungle zone with lizard-men in the previous game, but she had seen other interpretations of the fantastical race in other games. They were typically, faster and more naturally armoured than humans. She did not fancy her chances with one, especially as weak and ill-equipped as she was right now.

  Suddenly, a young man rushed out from one of the wooden structures, running straight for the patch of jungle to the right of her. Then it was there, the hulking mass of green scales and muscle leaping out after him. In two great bounds it caught up with the man, who tuned and raised an arm to defend himself. It did little to stop the obsidian axe.

  The man cried out in pain as his arm was half severed and pushed back until the stone edge scraped over his face. The lizardman completed the motion then twisted, brought the weapon back up in a backswing and the man collapsed in a splatter of gore, his scream swiftly silenced.

  Shit shit shit. Ash thought, backing away. Livey better not be right about these things seeing through the jungle.

  The creature perked up, as if sensing something. Its eyes traced the jungle and seemed to focus directly on her.

  Shit.

  It started forward and Ash turned and fled, knowing there was no hope of outrunning the creature but desperate to try anyway. She realised she was running straight for Livey and the children and jerked sharply to the left, away from the ruin wall and deeper into the brush.

  Pushing through the leaves drained her feeble reserves extremely quickly, her stamina running out fast. Her weak, tired limbs struggled to continue. A crash from behind her signalled the creature’s abrupt entrance into the jungle and a surge of adrenaline kept her moving, past the leaves, around a thick tree and-

  Slam!

  She rammed straight into another stone wall, scraping her arm as she stumbled alongside it, wiggling around a vine and continuing on. She glanced behind her and started as she saw it emerge from the brush, stopping to eye her behind the vine she just passed. It was too big to get past, the barrier of stone, vine and tree thin enough for her but not its bulk.

  I have a moment to breathe before it finds a way roun-

  Its axe flashed and the vine split in two, the creature casually stepping through, almost mockingly, eyeing her as if it was saying ‘You really thought that would stop me?’

  Ash squeaked out a scream and kept running, through another tight patch of vines that she knew would only hold it for a moment before it was on her.

  That was she saw it, a thin, short gap in the stone next to her, maybe just about big enough to crawl through. She didn’t think, she just ducked down and surged inside, crawling as if her life depended on it.

  She pulled her legs inside and kept going, this was it, it was too small for the creature to reach her-

  A sharp pain tore through her leg, a claw slicing through her flesh. It was going to grab her, drag her out and tear her apart. She jerked away, launching herself deeper along the crawlspace. The pain scythed down her ankle, the talon slicing deeper before she finally pulled free, tumbling forwards into a small, dark chamber.

  Her health was down to 1 again, the slice in her ankle almost enough to finish her. This was getting ridiculous. She needed to find something on her level to fight, not keeping getting jumped by things that could almost one-shot her. Then again, with just 3 Hitpoints that would be pretty much everything.

  She noticed the bleeding status and quickly pulled off her shirt again, tying the other sleeve around the injury this time. Now both would be bloody, but she didn’t want to risk triggering some kind of infection condition by re-using a bandage.

  That done, she risked peeking over the lip of the crawlspace, immediately jerking backwards and loosing balance as she saw the creature’s great eye staring down at her. It snarled, surged back, and then its clawed hand swung into view. Ash toppled to the floor, just as something flashed overhead, clattering against the far wall.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Had it just… thrown something at her? In that case, she was lucky to have fallen. A slight scratch from that thing would likely have ben enough to finish her off. Ash decided against chancing another look, especially as she could still hear the creature’s raspy breaths and its occasional hiss of anguish from the other end of the tunnel. A few long moments passed. Ash’s heart pounded. There isn’t a way for it to get to me here, right? Then, finally she heard the sound of claws scraping over bricks, gradually fading away. She wasn’t sure but she had a horrible suspicion that it had climbed up over her, searching for another way to reach her.

  She began to examine the room she was in more closely, the dim light from the crawlspace behind her barely enough to distinguish the shape. It was roughly square, empty aside from a flat table like stone surface on one side and another flat stone in the corner, thick stone slabs lined the walls leaving no obvious other entrance to the space.

  She examined each of these stone shapes, and finally slumped down on the large flat stone, choosing the side that was furthest from the small opening. All was quiet. She couldn’t hear the creature anymore. Hopefully it had given up and left.

  Just how long should I wait here? She thought. Minutes? Hours? Her limbs were weary from the exertion, her skin scraped and bruised, even her bones felt like they ached. It would have been overwhelming had she not been living with near constant levels of pain for most of a year now. She wished she had access to some of those painkillers the nurse would give her. She leant back against the cool stone and closed her eyes.

  There was a faint but distinct screech from above her, muffled through the thick stone walls.

  Was it getting closer? She worried, but then a sudden notification popped up to the side of her interface.

  You have contributed to slaying 1 Level 4 lizardman warrior.

  Contribution totalled as 3%. You received 15 exp.

  You have levelled up. You are now Level 2. You have 1 stat point available.

  She hurriedly pulled up her stat sheet. Her maximum health had doubled, and she now sat on 4/6 points. Looked like levelling still didn’t fully heal you in this game, just gave you whatever Hitpoints you gained. Her maximum focus had doubled too. She noted the single stat point she could assign, but felt too weary to make a decision now. The immediate threat had gone. Though… Something out there had killed the lizardman. She should let the rest of her health recover before she stepped back out.

  She wondered if she should try and log out of the game. She tried pulling up the menu. Nothing happened. She checked her stat sheet. Nothing there either. Nothing obvious on her interface. Eventually she gave up and just sat on the stone, closed her eyes, and waited. She didn’t quite sleep, but she drifted, her thoughts swimming.

  It took over half an hour, or so it felt, for her health to recover. She spent most of that in a half-awake daze, only coming to when she noticed the health bar registering as full.

  Ash blinked, coming back to alertness and sitting up. She definitely felt better. The scrapes and soreness melting from her body. She decided to cautiously go and see what had happened back at the settlement. She put her overshirt back on, both sleeves now stained red from her injuries, and wriggled back through the tunnel. She wound her way back through the jungle, following the trail of hurriedly trampled foliage, and back to the clearer area. She saw no sign of Livey and the children when she passed the spot she left them, but no sign of a scuffle either.

  She initially saw no movement from the wooden buildings, but when she got closer a large gathering was revealed. What looked like it could be the whole settlement’s population was gathered in a central area next to the half-burned main building. Several people were lying on the ground, groaning as others tended to their injuries. Others lay unnaturally still, clothes bloodied. Not everyone had made it through the attack.

  She recognised Hestia and Eric, as well as Livey and the children. Eric was having his arm bandaged by another settler but the others looked unhurt.

  Hestia looked up and noticed her. “Ash! You’re okay!”

  “Yes, just about.” Ash called out, hesitantly stepping closer.

  “Stop! Wait there.” Came a commanding voice from the centre. A tall man stepped out of the crowd, sporting a half grey beard and a thin cloak. He also seemed to have the same pale green-tinged skin as Hestia. “This is the girl you mentioned before? Ash?”

  Hestia nodded and the man turned back towards her. “I hear you were discovered in some ruins nearby, just before the attack here. There is no ‘Ash’ here among the settlers and I do not recognise you. Who are you, and more than that, what sickness are you bearing?”

  “I…” Ash hesitated, the man didn’t seem to be overtly hostile but she sensed some firmness behind his words. He doesn’t suspected me of being behind the attack does he? Ash thought. She decided to focus on the truth for now. “I don’t remember anything before waking up in the tunnels below that stone well thing. I… I’m not sick, though I do have a ‘withering’ status effect. I suspect that’s why I… Look unwell.”

  “I see. Withering.” He stroked his short beard. “I have not encountered that before. If only…” He glanced back at the lifeless bodies. “But our healing specialist was lost in the attack. Without her… There is no way to try and remove this… status. And I cannot risk it spreading. There should be another group with a healer arriving in a week, but until then I cannot allow you to stay in the village.”

  “What? Stavos!” Hestia gasped “Look at her! She can’t survive out there on her own!”

  “What can I do Hestia, what if what she has spreads!” The leader, Stavos, replied.

  “She seemed to do fine against that Lizardman before!” Livey chimed in. “It ran after her into the jungle, almost led it straight to me and the children! I thought she’d be dead for sure!” She cried “What did you do with it, girl? Strike some nefarious bargain? Maybe she’s working with them!”

  “What? No, it almost killed me! I found a crawlspace to hide where it couldn’t reach me. I… I think it tried to go into one of the ruins and died there. I only know that because I got a bit of contribution experience.”

  A few people glanced wearily towards the ruins. “I see.” Stavos continued. “Look, I can’t let you stay here, but I won’t just abandon you. This is a frontier settlement, so everyone contributes. I’ll give you a few supplies to keep you for a day or two, but I can’t spare much more, not with these losses and the risk of further attacks. If you want more, you’ll need to find something useful to trade for it.

  He spoke to a few villagers and the gathered up a few things, placing them a good six paces in front of her before retreating. It looked to be a cloth blanket, a waterskin, a loaf of the dry bread and some scraps of material for bandages. “If you don’t want to stay nearby until the healer arrives, we can give you directions to the nearest other settlement. It is a good week of hard travel. Do you understand?”

  Ash nodded. She knew it was just a game, but the people here were just… so real. She couldn’t help feeling hurt and ostracised. She blinked, flighting to hold back tears.

  “If you need help or to trade, just stand on the edge of the village and call out, we’ll come to you. When the healer arrives… We’ll see if we can come to a better arrangement. Now, I’m sorry but please take these supplies and go.”

  Ash hesitantly stepped forward and picked up the items, clutching them to her chest. Then she turned to leave. Before she took a few steps she heard the sound of someone hurrying up after her

  “Hestia, don’t touch-”

  “Oh, hush Stavos. I’m just escorting her out. I’ll be fine.”

  Hestia fell in step beside her. “I’m sorry dear, I really am. Stavos is a good leader, but he can be a little… overly cautious.”

  “You’re not worried about catching… this?” Ash gestured at herself.

  “Oh, no. as a specialist we should be more resilient to things and besides. Eric grabbed you and he’s not withering up so I think I’ll be fine. Do you need help finding a place to shelter? Maybe I could put a rope in that hole we pulled you from?”

  “Oh… I guess I will need…” she trailed off. “Actually, I think the place I hid from that lizardman will work for a bit. It is just a week, right?”

  “Yes, hopefully. That was the schedule they predicted, but practically it could be 6 days it could be 9. You never quite know how the journey will be,” she said, sounding apologetic “But seriously, I know Stavos is gruff and all, but he won’t actually let you starve. If you run out of food, just come ask. Once you’re healed, it will be good having another specialist around.”

  “Oh, thanks.” Ash forced a smile. But realised she had reached the edge of the jungle. “It’s okay though, I’ll be fine going from here.”

  “Oh, well if you’re sure. We do unfortunately have a lot of repairs and other work to do. That attack was pretty devastating... We lost a… few good people.” Her voice choked and she gestured at the body of the young man Ash had seen the lizardman kill earlier. “And I should carry poor Benson to be cremated with the rest.”