Chapter 7

  “Lucky Strike!” Virginia brought the harpoon down on the back of the Stitch Beast’s neck. She remembered Blood Drinker’s Bane hitting something hard buried inside the last Stitch Beast just below its head, which is what had finally killed it. She was hoping the harpoon would work just as well if she aimed it right, activating her Lucky Strike ability to help. She felt the pressure in her muscles from ability activating, and the harpoon dug deep into the back of the Stitch Beast’s neck, black Ichor pouring out and splashing onto the asphalt. The beast went still for a moment, and then frantically shoved itself backwards, the kids in the car forgotten in favor of dealing with this new threat.

  Virginia glared at it, berating herself. She’d missed, and she remembered why as the Stitch Beast shuddered as it turned on her, its throat bulging and constricting before the bones of its skull split apart, black ichor pooling under it as its second mouth revealed itself. From inside the car, the screaming from the kids resumed after the brief pause when the beast had pulled back.

  Right, I forgot it did that. The spot was a bit back from that head, mouth whatever, not the other one. Virginia glanced down at the harpoon in her hands, briefly considering discarding it for Blood Drinker’s Bane, before bringing it up defensively once more. Okay, third time’s the charm for the harpoon, and if I don’t get it this time, I’m just going to chuck this stupid thing in the lake.

  The Stitch Beast launched itself at her and Virginia caught its new split mouth on the shaft of the harpoon, afraid for a second that the fiberglass would snap under the beast’s strength, but it held, the twisted ring of mismatched teeth grinding against it ineffectively. Virginia stumbled back a couple of steps, but managed to keep her feet this time, expecting the movement after seeing the previous Stitch Beast do something like this multiple times.

  Getting her feet planted again, she leaned back against the beast. With her new points in Strength, she found it if not easy, at least very possible to hold the Stitch Beast back. Taking a chance, Virginia took one hand off the harpoon, grabbing Blood Drinker’s Bane from her vest. The Stitch Beast took advantage of her weakened grip to shove forward, pushing the shaft of the harpoon back against her chest roughly. Virginia let out a hiss of pain, which turned into a muffled scream at the Stitch Beast did something she’d never seen the previous one do. One of the ichor dripping flaps of its former head clenched and then twisted inward, raking her arm with the teeth and fragment of its jaw still attached there.

  Gritting her teeth, Virginia reached around the beast, stabbing it with Blood Drinker’s Bane in what she really hoped was the same spot as last time. “Lucky Strike!” Like before, she felt her muscles clenching under the pressure of her ability, shifting her stab, the tip of Blood Drinker’s Bane digging deep into the Stitch Beast’s side before smashing something hard. The beast stumbled backwards no longer pushing back against Virginia, before going still, and then beginning to fall apart, the black threads holding it together quickly splitting one after another.

  You have gained the skill: Polearms! Polearms is now Level 1!

  Letting herself relax, Virginia winced as she inspected her arm. Fresh blood dripped out of the gash on her arm, mixing with blood, mud, and ichor already caked on. It hurt but she could still use the arm, and no new effects had been added to her sheet when she glanced at it.

  Health: 172/220

  Mana: 5/170

  Conditions: Bruised, Filthy, Blood Drenched, Grace Period

  Making her way over to the car, she dropped down onto her knees next to the shattered window, trying not to make a face as a fresh coating of Stitch Beast ichor was applied to her legs.

  “Hey, are you alright? Did it hurt anyone?” Virginia resisted the urge to grab one of the blankets out of the back seat to try and wipe some of the caked-on filth on her off, focusing on the kids huddling against the opposite side of the upside-down backseat. Mark stared at her, his breath still coming in quick and terrified gasps. A small female face peeked out from under one of his arms, staring at Virginia with wide eyes. Virginia thought about using Analyze on the little girl, but held off for now, staring at Mark as he managed to calm his breathing down enough to force out a response.

  “Is it dead?” He asked, craning his neck to try and look behind Virginia to where the Stitch Beast was lying in a pile of dismembered parts.

  “Yeah, yeah it is.” Virginia nodded, trying to give as comforting a smile as a girl covered in various shades of blood was capable of. “I killed the monster.” Virginia felt that strange sense of familiarity again, the underlying feeling of resonance she’d felt when she chose her Template and again when she’d seen the sign for Hope Falls. The words from the first Depths Screen that had appeared in front of her back at the lake, ran through her mind.

  You can stand against the monsters of the Depths.

  ***

  The little girl’s name was Norah, Virginia learned, after she’d helped the kids out of the back seat, grabbing a worn blanket as she did, with Mark’s nervous permission. The worn comforter didn’t do a great job of cleaning off the filth that was caked on her but based on how nasty the blanket looked when she was done, it had clearly done something.

  “So, town is only a mile away?” She asked Mark as she wiped off her arms, having already gotten her face as well as she could. The boy had told her that he, his sister, and his dad were from the nearby town of Hope Falls and had been on their way back to town after spending the last couple days camping. Norah had been asleep in the back seat, and Mark almost asleep in the passenger seat, when their dad had startled them all awake by shouting when a blue screen appeared in front of him while he was driving.

  The ensuing panicked trip to the side of the road had been mostly without incident, although an unseen rock on the road’s shoulder had blown out a tire on the family’s car. Mark said his dad had dismissed the blue screen quickly and told Mark to ignore it and stay with his sister, while the Miller father had gone into town to get a tow truck from one of the only garages in town. Mark had, as expected of a fourteen year old boy, not ignored the blue screen, and immediately started poking at it as soon as his dad disappeared down the road. It was at this point in the story that Virginia learned a couple interesting things.

  “But, yeah, so I found my character sheet, but I didn’t pick a Path yet or anything, so it doesn’t DO much, right? Just shows me my name and that I’m a human, and how old I am, super basic stuff for a magic glowing blue alien screen, right?” Mark spoke quickly and quietly, his eyes darting around, watching the woods surrounding the road nervously. Virginia frowned, debating grabbing another blanket from the back of the car. “What about your template?” She remembered having her Template listed on her sheet as soon as she’d seen it. Granted, she remembered her character sheet showing drastically more than what Mark was describing. Not only had she seen all her stats, her health and her mana, but she’d also started with several abilities on her sheet even before she’d chosen her Path later. She thought back to Survivor’s Will automatically kicking in and saving her from the breakdown she’d been about to have, while Mark frowned at her, shaking his head quickly.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “My what?” Mark stared at her suspiciously, before his eyes took a strangely distant look, like he was staring at something only he could see.

  Which, as it turned out, was exactly what he was doing. Apparently, other people couldn’t see your character sheet, even while you had it pulled up to look at. Virginia assumed the same was true for any Depths screen. “There’s nothing for a Template. Just my name, race, age, and a section for Path that’s glowing. Like I said, I haven’t picked one yet.” His eyes came back into focus on Virginia as he presumably closed his character sheet. “But you have, haven’t you!? That’s how you killed that monster, right?” The boy took a step closer to her, the fear on his face getting covered up by excitement. “What’s your name? What are you doing out here?” Some of the excitement faded, as he seemed to remember her appearing in the woods, covered in gore, and his expression flickered back to nervousness.

  Virginia opened her mouth to give an automatic response, then hesitated. For the first time, she thought about how her story would come across to a normal human. That she was a character from a movie, brought to life by an evil clown and his buddies, to fight monsters that were also brought to life by an evil clown and his buddies, sounded… a little crazy.

  Okay, more like a lot crazy. But if he and everyone else already saw the Depths screens, and… She trailed off, shaking her head. As crazy as the truth might come across, she couldn’t think up a lie to tell him that would explain where she’d come from. Before she could respond however, a quiet voice cut her off.

  “Ginny.” Norah, the little girl who was apparently Mark’s baby sister, a description she’d made a face at, but otherwise remained quiet since crawling out of the car, spoke up. Her expression was oddly calm compared to her brother’s constant twitchy glances, and she looked up at Virginia with wide brown eyes in a steady gaze that made Virginia feel slightly unsettled.

  “She’s Ginny.”

  Mark rolled his eyes and shook his head. “She’s not ‘Ginny’, dumbie, ‘Ginny’ isn’t real.” Virginia reached out and cuffed the back of the boy’s head absently. “Don’t call people names.” Virginia froze as she realized Mark was staring at her in bewilderment. She pulled her hand back and shook her head. “Ah, sorry. I’ve been working with a bunch of kids every day for the past couple weeks, and that was just kind of a habit.” Awkwardly tucking her hand behind her back, she quickly tried to change the subject. “Who’s Ginny?”

  Mark continued to stare at her, answering slowly. “She’s just a character from a dumb movie that Norah saw.” Virginia felt that same sense of resonance in her chest, and she had a pretty good guess just what ‘dumb movie’ Mark meant.

  “And the character’s name is Virginia, no one even calls her Ginny in the movie. Not that it matters, because this isn’t either of them. This is…” The boy said again, looking at Virginia expectantly. Virginia considered for a moment, and then shrugged.

  “Ginny, actually.” Folding the filthy blanket, she draped it on the side of the overturned car, winking at the little girl, who smiled back excitedly. Turning back to Mark, Ginny put her hands on her hips and smiled at him. “Although you’re right about the movie being dumb.”

  ***

  Ginny was pretty sure that Mark had decided she was crazy. The boy hadn’t stopped staring at her like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask her more questions or grab his sister and flee into the woods. Opting not to give him time to do either, Ginny tried to refocus him back on his story.

  “Okay, so how did you go from looking at your character sheet in your car, to hiding from a Stitch Beast in the back seat of your now upside-down car?” Mark hesitated before responding, clearly still considering grabbing his sister and just booking it. After a few seconds, he continued.

  “Well, that was the monster. The, uh, Stitch Beast, I guess?” The boy glanced over at the ichor coated pile that was the Stitch Beast’s remains and swallowed heavily. “But that was later, after that clown showed up.” Ginny’s eyes widened. “That clown? Do you mean Tryn?” She stopped and looked around, half expecting the skeletal-looking clown to appear at the sound of his name.

  Mark shrugged uncertainly. “Um… I don’t know. He didn’t like, give his name. He just appeared in the driver’s seat and told me I was going to die.” Ginny frowned and let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, that’s him. His name is Tryn, apparently.”

  The look Mark was giving her reinforced the idea that he thought she was crazy, but he continued anyway. “Right, well, he just… appeared in the driver’s seat a little bit after dad left.”

  “He was in the back with me.” The little girl, Norah, chimed in at this point, and Mark frowned at her again. “No, he wasn’t, Norah. He didn’t even talk to you.” The little girl glared back at her brother, squeezing the stuffed bear she’d been holding onto the entire time. “Yes, he did! He was mean, and he said I was a bite size snack for the monsters that were coming.” Her lip quivered a bit, and Ginny crouched down next to her and tried to smile comfortingly at the little girl.

  “Hey, you’re okay. He was just being mean because he’s a clown who can’t make anyone laugh cause he’s not funny, so he’s mad all the time.” There was a slight prickling of unease along the back of Ginny’s neck, and a certain sense of nervousness that her Survivor’s Will seemed to ignore. She got the feeling that continuing to make fun of the Ravager clown might have consequences, not just for her, but for anyone near her, and she quickly tried to change the subject.

  “Okay, so, after the clown left, what happened?” Mark shrugged again, shoving his hands in his pockets. “He said some stuff about humanity needing heroes, and fighting monsters, and then just vanished again. I kept looking at my character sheet and waiting for dad to come back.” He gulped and glanced around nervously. “Then something slammed into our car.” Ginny nodded, glancing over at the pile of dismembered limbs and black ichor. “The Stitch Beast.” Mark shifted uncomfortably, notably not looking at the pile of dismembered limbs and black ichor. “Yeah, if you say so.”

  The boy hesitated before continuing, and when he did, his words came out in a rush, the memory clearly making him nervous. “I couldn’t really see it, it was just this… shape, and it hit the car hard enough to send it sliding on the shoulder. Norah started screaming, and I still couldn’t see it, and…” Mark started hyperventilating as his words came faster and faster, and Ginny held up her hands placatingly.

  “It’s okay. Deep breaths. See, it’s dead? Totally dead.” Ginny pointed over at the pile of gore, and Mark looked over. His breathing slowed slightly, but his face took on an unhealthy green tinge. Ginny thought she was going to have to dive out of the way of the kid losing his lunch all over her sneakers, but after a moment, he swallowed heavily and seemed to get a grip on himself.

  “A-anyway. It, um, hit the car again after that even harder, and the whole thing flipped over when it slid into the ditch. After that it kind of pushed at it some and pressed against the windows, but I guess it couldn’t figure out how to get inside. I wasn’t sure if it was even still there, or if it wandered off, but I was too scared to get out of the car.” Mark took in another deep breath and glanced over at what was left of the Stitch Beast. “I guess it was just waiting though. Then you showed up.”

  Ginny nodded at him. There were a couple questions his story raised, but rather than get into them, she felt like it would be better to get the kids away from the area. The appearance of a second Stitch Beast at the car had dashed any remaining faint hope that the one she’d first run into was unique. If there were more of them, it was only a matter of time before another one wandered by.

  “Okay, you did a good job. You were both very brave.” Ginny glanced between the two children, giving them the smile she’d used as a counselor at Camp Muddy Paws for the kids there. “Now, it’s still not safe yet, so what we need to do, is we need to go into town.” Norah frowned at her uncertainly. “To find my dad?”

  Ginny hesitated. If there were Stitch Beasts in the area, then the odds of Mr. Miller making it to town safely were… not great. But I don’t know anything for sure. Their dad might be a policeman, or a soldier, or some kind of crazy outdoorsman hunter type. You know, the kind of person who could fight off a Stitch Beast that ambushed him in the dark without warning. Biting her lip, Ginny nodded at Norah. “Yes, to find your dad, and to get to someplace safer.”

  The little girl still looked uncertain. “But what if he comes back and we’re not here?” Ginny smiled her camp counselor smile again. “Well, we’ll walk along the road, so if he’s coming back with help, we’ll see him.” Norah nodded reluctantly, and held out a hand to Ginny, the other still squeezing onto her stuffed animal. Ginny shifted the harpoon into her other hand, and took the little girl’s hand as she rose up from the crouching position she’d been in to talk to the kids at eye level. As she did, she felt the muscles in her back shift uncomfortably, and she let out a slight hiss of pain. While she hadn’t been injured nearly as badly by the second Stitch Beast, she also didn’t have enough Mana to cast Run it Off! again, so she was still feeling incredibly sore.

  She glanced at Mark to see if he was ready to go and saw him staring back at her silently. He hadn’t said anything when Norah had brought up their dad, but the look on his face made clear that the same thought that had occurred to Ginny earlier had also occurred to him. Ginny reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Hey. We’ll find your dad.” He stared back at her doubtfully, and she nodded. “I mean it. I’ve already killed two of those things, they’re not that bad. They’re just scary.” Seeing him look unconvinced, she added, “Besides, you said town is less than a couple miles away, so he probably didn’t even run into anything.” Mark nodded slowly and fell into step beside her as they started walking down the road, still not looking convinced.

  Ginny didn’t blame him. She wasn’t convinced either.