The girls hadn’t made it back yet, giving me a moment to look around the dense forest that once again surrounded my newly re-rundown shack.

I’d spent so long clearing those trees, me and Nolan anyway, not to mention the fact that I’d really only just got the house the way I liked it.

And then there was Monster Mash.

Send me back to level one, roll back my stats, Hell, destroy my land and dilapidate my house, fine, but the son of a bitch had put my glorious van back to her rust bucket state.

I’d have probably roared at the sky if I hadn’t been stopped by my phone reappearing in my hand, L-UP! already open and showing my ‘new’ stats which were, in a word, frustrating.

ALISTAIR GRAY

Level

1

Human

Hunter

Progress 0/1000

ATTRIBUTES

STR

8

DEX

7

TGH

6

SPD

5

FRT

5

STA

4

INT

7

LCK

8

There was a part of me that was curious about what the state of my resource screen would be, but at the same time I wasn’t sure I could handle much more disappointment.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to think about it for too long as Liz and Millie appeared with a dull crunch in the snow a few feet from me, similarly dressed down to nothing but their underwear.

“Please tell me one of you slipped me something,” Liz muttered as she and Millie looked around the dark forest, “I promise I won’t be mad or anything. It’s funny. Look, ha-ha!”

“I was going to say the same thing…” Millie trailed off, her thinner figure succumbing to the cold much quicker than Liz as their eyes finally fell on the shack, “That’s not home, is it?”

“It is,” I sighed, my breath fogging the air so bad I couldn’t see the girls for a second, “this is what she looked like before I started fixing her up.”

“And how long did it take you to fix it up?” Liz asked desperately.

“Not too long,” I replied, “but that was before we…”

It was strange sensation not being able to talk about what had happened with Nimda, like some amped up version of butterflies in my stomach, but it was clear from the girls’ faces that they knew what I meant.

“C’mon,” Millie said, turning for the shack, “let’s get inside before we freeze to death.”

Liz and I were quick to follow her lead, stopping only when Millie failed to unstick the door.

“Would you mind?” Millie asked with the best smile she could muster, gesturing for Liz to give the door a crack.

Something inside me knew that it would be a futile effort though, a feeling that quickly got proven as the freshly weakened Liz, too, failed to get the door open.

“There’s a trick to it,” I said, slipping between the two of them and grabbing the door handle, “it’s like a security feature.”

“Yeah, like smashing the windows out in your van makes it harder to steal because there’s broken glass in it,” Liz scoffed, cuddling up to Millie in a bid to try and warm up, “just hurry up, would you?”

It took me a few tries, but I eventually remembered the subtle lift, pull, twist, push motion that forced the door open, spurring the girls to barrel through me on their way inside.

“Close the door!” Millie cried out once we were all in, apparently unaware to the fact that they’d made me stub my toes on the raised doorframe.

Deciding to keep my boo-boo to myself, I pushed the door shut, cutting off the steady stream of wind and snow that had been whipping its way in.

“Damn…” Liz trailed off, looking around the tiny space, taking particular interest in how the ovenless, fridgeless kitchenette spilled into the living area, “this is where you lived?”

“This is where we live now,” I corrected, looking at the rolled up single mattress in the corner and the small throw rug in the middle of the room, “and yeah, it sucks ass.”

“It really does,” Millie agreed, “you’d almost be better off living in a trailer.”

“I think a trailer would be bigger than this,” Liz pointed out, “should we just get a trailer?”

“May as well put up a big sign saying ‘Ghouls eat free!’ out front then,” I replied after handing my phone to a confused Millie, “it’s a good idea, don’t get me wrong, but with Ghoul activity out here, a trailer is just begging for trouble. Besides, trailers don’t have these.”

“Have what?” Millie asked right before I moved the rug out of the way, revealing a hatch, “Oh… What’s down there?”

“Bath for one thing,” I said, grabbing the rope handle and lifting the wooden hatch, “better place to sleep for another. If memory serves, there’s a fireplace as well.”

“Sounds safe…” Liz trailed off as we huddled around the dark hole, the angled ladder invisible from the third rung down, “but the other option seems to be staying up here and freezing to death, so lead the way.”

I hesitated for a moment, pretending that I was looking around for a light as I did, before inching my way over to the ladder.

Needless to say, I was uneasy about descending into the dark hole, even with the knowledge that it was more or less safe down there, and I was even less enthusiastic as I started the shaky climb and was reminded of just how unstable the ladder was.

My first time down I’d whistled a cheerful tune, but I wasn’t really up for Liz mocking me while I tried my best to use my core strength to keep the ladder level.

I hit solid ground pretty quickly though, the concrete room only being about fifteen-by-fifteen foot with a hole in the wall for the cheaply made ‘fireplace’, if you could call it that.

“Want to toss the mattress down?” I called up the ladder.

“The mattres-oh, the thing in the corner?” Millie asked.

“That’s the one,” I replied as Liz came to the mouth of the hatch with the rolled up lump, “better than the ground.”

“Arguable.” Liz chuckled weakly before dropping the mattress down the hole, resulting in it getting jammed between a rung and the ceiling.

“Of course…” I murmured to myself, the mass of fabric and whatever the mattress was stuffed with doing a good job of blocking out what little light I was getting.

After a moment of jimmying though, I got the mattress loose and let it fall to ground with a loud thud.

“Alright,” I said, grabbing the base of the ladder, “you can come on down now.”

“You’re sure?” Millie asked, “There aren’t any rats or anything?”

“Not that I can see.” I replied, deciding to keep the fact that I couldn’t see a damn thing to myself.

Millie was still a bit nervous despite my empty assurance, though Liz on the other hand was more than ready to get out of the cold and descend into the pit, all but falling into the hole as I did my best to keep the ladder stable.

“Goddamn,” Liz muttered, her teeth clattering together, “at least it’s better than up there.”

“Not by much.” I replied as Millie reluctantly made her way down, our phones still in her right hand, “Want to see if you can find some matches or something?”

“You got it.” Liz said, nodding fervently as she did, before pulling out her phone and searching the room.

“No rats, huh?” Millie remarked after handing me my phone.

“I’m not hearing any squeaking.” I said innocently.

“Looks like fire’s ready to go,” Liz pointed out, crouching in front of the pit and shining her light over the pile of logs, paper, and kindling in it, “and here are the matches.”

“Think it was..?” Millie trailed off before looking upwards and raising her eyebrows.

“Maybe,” I replied, “might have even left us a little something in Monster Mash.”

“We can only hope.” Liz remarked as the fire roared to life, illuminating the room and revealing an old but clean blanket and a pillow in one corner, a large circular bathtub made of what looked to be brass, and a cauldron-looking pot, “And look, no rats.”

“Doesn’t look like it, no.” Millie sighed, “Still though, this place feels a bit like a tomb, doesn’t it?”

“Well now it does, yeah,” I chuckled after grabbing up the mattress and giving it a good flick to unroll it before letting it drop in the corner near the blankets, “if you guys start feeling dizzy or something, don’t keep it to yourself. I’d hope the flue is mostly functional, but I don’t want to die in our sleep.”

Millie nodded at that, having climbed up the ladder and pulled the hatch down, “Anyone else thinking a bath feels like overkill right now?”

“Yeah,” Liz agreed as she brought over the blanket and pillow, “after… Point is, I’m pretty sure we’re all clean.”

“Agreed,” I said, “besides, I think it’s fair to assume none of us want to go up there and start scooping up snow.”

“Fuck that.” Liz scoffed as Millie took the wall side of the bed, “Go on, you in the middle.”

“You’re sure?” I asked.

“Course I’m sure,” Liz replied amusedly, “wouldn’t be fair if only one of us got cuddles.”

It was always strange hearing Liz talk about cuddles and ‘smooches’, not so much because we weren’t affectionate, just that she was kind of… gruff most of the time.

“If you insist,” I chuckled, shuffling in next to Millie who, bless her soul, had pretty much fallen asleep, “warm enough?”

“Getting there.” Millie sighed as Liz draped the blanket over us and she lifted and raised her head onto my arm, “If you get uncomfortable-”

“You’ll probably already be asleep and I’ll be able to move.” I interjected with a smirk before giving her a little kiss on her cheek and Liz climbed in beside me, “Enough room?”

“Barely.” Liz scoffed, “But I’ll make do. Had a lot worse back home.”

“You mean back during the Potato Famine?” Millie lightheartedly mocked.

“A, that was, like, 200 years ago,” Liz pointed out somewhat bitterly, “and B, that’s Ireland, you racist git.”

Millie yawned happily, clearly very pleased with herself as she rolled over to face the wall, “Same difference. See you in the morning.”

Liz went to argue but was halted by a yawn of her own, giving me no small amount of relief as an argument that would’ve gone through me was swiftly avoided.

At first I was confused as to why Millie would goad Liz like she had, but when I saw that the proud Scot was well and truly on her way to sleep I realized it was to take her mind off the rough situation.

‘Tough love’ I guess.

It wasn’t long after that realization, that I started to drift off as well, the welcoming warmth emanating from the fire doing a good job of lulling me into an almost primal sense of security.

I was jolted awake a few times as the logs popped and cracked with the heat, sending small sparks out of the pit that faded to nothing before they hit the ground, but after a few minutes of subtle, sweet snoring from the girls I was out like a light.