Nathan opened his eyes to see the soldier leaning over him.

“Good, you are awake.”

“What happened?” he asked blearily.

“You went unconscious. The boy is learning the skill too, but he started only a minute ago. We should begin moving when he wakes. We are tasked with reaching the safe area. If one area is considered safe, then that implies everywhere else is not.”

Nathan sat up on his elbows, his memories flooding back to him. He glanced over to see Kean passed out a short distance away. He scanned his eyes further to the Swedish woman. She stood staring up at the cave ceiling, perhaps interested in the large stalactite formations. If Nathan hadn’t ever been in a cavern before, he imagined they would be fairly impressive. But considering he lived just an hour’s drive from Mammoth Cave, the largest cave system on Earth, he’d seen almost as large of ones many times before.

As he glanced back down at her, he noticed her bracelet was glowing. Nathan put two and two together. She and Kean had non-verbally communicated giving them the wristband prompts. But unlike Kean, the woman hadn’t tried opening her interface yet. She might not know how, given that she hadn’t been watching them when they figured it out. He would try to help her in a bit, but first he was dying to learn more about his own interface. It may hold a clue to their situation.

Nathan held his bracelet out, focusing on opening the interface again. The blue rectangle dutifully reappeared, exactly as it had the first time. Nathan reread the system message log, trying to glean any additional information. When he got to the line about activating the nanite injection choker, he froze as he absorbed the implications. Had that said what he thought it said? Nanite injection choker? Nervous dread flooded his body.

Was that the burning sensation he felt around his neck earlier... the sensation of alien nanites being injected into his body? His previous fantasies of easily downloading skills were now replaced by existential horror. He grasped at the collar but it wouldn’t budge despite his best efforts to dislodge it from his neck.

He’d read about nanites in various science fiction books, but as far as he knew, they didn’t exist yet in any practical application. Essentially, the microscopic machines were so tiny they could only be measured in nanometers, hence their name. They’re considered a logical evolution path for technology as electronics continue becoming smaller and smaller to the point of absurdity. They were so common in fiction they became an entire trope to explain any and everything. But to think they actually existed…

Nathan scratched at his stomach. It was itching. He distressingly theorized that it must be nanites under his skin. Now he was itching all over. As he vigorously scratched his scalp, he realized he was breathing hard and his heart was pounding. He paused. He knew he was freaking out.

He took a deep breath to get himself under control, his heart rate still thumping loudly in his chest. The itching had to be his own imagination; he had a similar issue when his cat had fleas. He’d phantom itched whenever he was around the kitty. Even when he knew the fleas were gone, he could still feel them crawling on him.

Chill. Take deep breaths. The nanites are just in your mind. Well, they literally were since he'd felt the pain in his brain as he learned the skill. He sighed as he began itching again. Don't think about it.

Breathe. Breathe. He repeated his mantra as he got himself under control. He could vaguely hear the Japanese man asking him if he was okay so he tried to focus on him. Any distraction would help.

“I’m fine,” he said, doubting his shaky voice was actually convincing anyone. “Just some anxiety. These chokers… they’re putting nanites inside us. It creeps me out.”

“Yes, that is understandable. Nanites must be responsible for gifting us with the Language skill, perhaps altering our brain chemistry?” He probably noticed Nathan’s sick looking expression so changed the subject. “I have not introduced myself. My name is Asahi Haruya. You may call me Asahi.”

The man’s English was crisp and clear, but Nathan had trouble catching the Japanese name. “Uh-ass-hee? Did I say it right?”

The normally expressionless man cracked a smile and repeated his name, enunciating each syllable. “Uh-saa-hee.”

Nathan tried again with only slightly more success based on the man’s reaction. Apparently his new language skill wasn’t very helpful with pronouncing names. Was it even working? “My name’s Nathan, I’m from the United States.”

“Nice to meet you, Nathan-san. I’m from Japan.”

“Do you know how you got here?”

“Unfortunately no. I was in the middle of overseeing a field training exercise when my tent flap opened to the wrong forest. I am a Lieutenant Colonel in the SDF.”

“SDF?”

“Self Defense Force. Japan, in the past, had a few restrictions on how we can be militarized so we have a SDF instead of a traditional military like Americans.”

A groan from the side announced that Kean had awoken. The black clad kid sat up and immediately opened his interface. He had a goofy grin plastered across his face. Nathan had to give him props, the teenaged player was handling the nanite information way better than Nathan.

“Did ya see this? There’s a ‘Player Statistics’ tab!”

Nathan opened his own interface. Sure enough, there was a tab labelled Player Statistics right beside the tab for System Message Log. Nathan hadn’t realized the tabs were selectable. He focused on the new tab and the display changed.

[Player D-1423 Statistics]

[Physical: 125]

[Mental: 115]

[Nanite Points: 2]

[Skills: Language I]

He had a character sheet. That was… actually kind of awesome. His inner geek was doing backflips that there was a role playing game theme. He wondered if he had a stupid expression across his face like Kean?

But what did these numbers actually represent? He studied each line in turn. When he focused on Physical, additional text began to expand below it. Similar to turning the screen off or on, he just needed to direct his mind to activate that part of the screen.

[The Physical attribute statistic is a numerical assessment of the player’s average physical abilities. The Physical stat encompasses traits such as strength, speed, stamina, hardiness, reflexes, flexibility, constitution, etc.]

Interesting. So every aspect of his physical abilities were averaged into one stat. Usually in games, stats were abstract representations of how capable the characters could perform certain tasks. Anything from swinging a sword, picking a lock, or even casting a magic fireball. But here, he had no idea how these stats would be useful. Unlike his games, he wasn’t playing with an avatar that needed math formulas to calculate if he’d tripped over his own feet or not. This was his real body.

Focusing next on Mental, the text for it also appeared.

[The Mental attribute statistic is a numerical assessment of the player’s average mental abilities. The Mental stat encompasses traits such as raw intelligence, creative problem solving, pattern recognition, stress management, willpower, mental health, etc.]

The drone said his Mental stat was 114 so why was it showing 115? He wasn’t complaining about the higher number, but it bugged him he had no idea how it happened.

He activated the text description for Nanite Points next.

[Nanite Points, or NPs, are rewarded for performing certain actions or accomplishing certain goals. NPs can be spent to upgrade skills, purchase equipment or provisions from vendors, and more.]

Now it was really starting to look like a game. NPs could upgrade skills which would be key to getting stronger. The Roman numeral in the Language I skill name probably meant it was a level one skill. So there must be a level two version he could purchase with NPs. Would the next level give him access to more languages?

There were apparently vendors as well and he wondered idly what he could buy from them. Food and drink were high on his current list of demands. He was unsure how much his 2 NPs would be able to purchase though. Sadly, their corner of the cave was empty of any type of merchants.

He finally checked out the last stat line, Skills. He only had one so he selected it.

[Language I: (Grants fluency in the five most common languages spoken on the player's home world.) (Gain +1 Mental.)]

[Upgrade requirements for level II: 40 NPs, Mental 120.]

It gave him five languages. He discovered his mouth hanging open and clicked it shut. It would take him years of study to learn five languages, and he doubted he would actually be fluent in any of them even if he tried. But with this skill, he’d done it in five freaking minutes! He wanted to do a fist pump like Kean, but restrained himself. He didn’t want the soldier to think him a doofus. He settled instead on smiling stupidly big.

The other point of interest is that he could upgrade the skill to level two, but it cost a whopping 40 NPs and required a 120 Mental stat. Good to confirm it was possible, but not something of immediate concern since he didn’t meet the requirements yet.

Thinking back on his new languages, he struggled to remember what the five most common languages actually were.

“What languages do you speak now?” Nathan asked Asahi.

“I am not sure. The skill does not explain itself that way. But I believe the five most spoken languages are Arabic, English, Spanish, Hindi, and Chinese… specifically Mandarin.”

“So that’s why I still suck at pronouncing your Japanese name,” Nathan said. “I can only speak those five languages and Japanese isn’t one of them. I figured Mandarin would help in that regard, but maybe not. Or names might be exempted from the skill. Anyway, let me try something.”

Nathan concentrated on saying the next sentence in Spanish. “Guess what language I’m speaking?” He knew he was saying the words in a foreign language, but his brain processed them in English. It felt strange, but at the same time it was as easy and natural as breathing. He intrinsically knew the languages, and also how to translate back and forth between them.

Asahi replied back in the same language, “Your Spanish is excellent.”

“This is weird,” Nathan said, this time in Arabic. “Not sure I’ll ever get used to it.”

Kean looked up from his interface, apparently having finished scrutinizing his character sheet in detail. “Speaking lots of languages is savage!” he said in Hindi. The kid then switched to Spanish, “Also, did ya see we gained +1 to our Mental stat from the skill?”

Oh, that made sense. He was so focused on the new languages he’d skimmed that part. “I was wondering how my stat increased,” Nathan replied in Mandarin. “So we can increase our stats by learning skills. Good to know.”

“Are we actually smarter or is it just a number?” Kean asked, trying Mandarin out as well.

“Difficult to say,” Nathan replied. He did think that maybe his thoughts and focus were clearer, but he’d just learned five new languages in about five minutes so that probably skewed his perspective heavily.

Kean nodded. “What stats ya got? The flying saucer said I was at 105 Physical and 134 Mental. Now my Mental is 135.”

“Mine are 125 Physical and 115 Mental after the skill.”

The kid nodded. “That’s grand. I guess I’m smarter but ya are stronger. Our stats still average to the same amount so only the distribution is different.”

Nathan wasn’t sure if the kid was trying to be cocky about his Mental stat or was just making observations. He supposed it didn’t matter. The kid seemed to be handling the situation well enough so Nathan didn’t have any complaints about his attitude. He would take someone with brains over brawn any day of the week if they were going to be together for the experiment. “Sounds like it. It’s good to have people with different skill sets if we are to work together as a team.”

“Yep, I’m a pro Fortnite player so I’m best at shooting and building.” Kean had a self-satisfied look on his face.

“Um, great!” Nathan said, humoring the kid. He had no idea how a shooter game would be of any use, but crazier things had already happened that day. “I guess I’m best at hiking and camping. Probably running too, I ran track back in college.” While his university running days were long behind him, Nathan had kept up with his fitness as well as could be expected. He exercised a few times a week.

Kean nodded attentively. “That’s grand. But seriously, do ya think the stats are real? Like scanned from my real body? It’d be savage if they were.”

“Maybe,” Nathan said, wondering the same thing now. He knew he was probably a lot more physically fit than he was smart relative to other people, so his stats made sense. Not to say he was dumb. He was fairly sure he was above average in intelligence based on how well he did in school, but he was definitely not a freaking genius like his friend Logan. Logan would’ve been like Kean here, super excited about having some game stats and learning new skills instead of worrying about food, water, and survival.

“Grandpa, what stats ya got?” Kean asked.

“126 Physical and 124 Mental,” Asahi said. “That’s after accounting for the Mental stat increase from the Language skill.” The older soldier delivered the information matter-of-factly without any hint of boasting.

Nathan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Both of the soldier’s stats were greater than his own. The guy was elite. Kean may still have a greater Mental stat than the man, but Asahi’s composite total at 250 was way higher than either of theirs at 240. And if the man had 126 Physical at his current age, Nathan had to wonder what he would have scored back in his prime.

He glanced over to the Swedish woman. He wondered about her stats. Unfortunately Language I hadn’t granted him Swedish or any similar languages. If they were to communicate, she would have to learn the skill too. He decided he’d try to convince her to open her interface with hand gestures. He took a step towards her.

He was interrupted by a loud rumble. The floor shook and he stumbled down to one knee, a sharp pain shooting up his leg on impact. Off in the distance, a massive stalactite fell, crashing to the ground in a loud clattering racket.

They’d spent too much time playing around with their languages and character sheets. The first challenge was going to begin whether they were ready or not.

Nathan climbed back to his feet while the floor continued to shake. There were several thunderous noises echoing through the cavern; a disturbing combination of rumbles, crunches, and grinding. Was this an earthquake? Having lived in Nashville his whole life, he’d never actually experienced one. Was it safe to be in a cave during a quake? Looking up at the massive stalactites hanging above them, he doubted it.

“This place is dangerous,” Asahi said, stating the obvious truth. “We must find the safe area mentioned in the interface. Everyone, please follow me.” He then made an additional beckoning gesture for the Swedish player who was without the Language skill. She nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Nathan knew it wasn’t safe here, but he didn’t think it was a great idea to be running around the cave during an earthquake either. He tried to think about why this was happening. Their captors had presented this as a test, a challenge they had to survive. If it was organized anything like one of Logan’s RPG campaigns, then staying still and doing nothing would be a fatal mistake. Inaction wasn’t entertaining enough for the game on a meta level. On the other hand, the aliens could be testing to see who was stupid enough to act rashly; allowing only the cautious and prudent players to succeed.

“Nathan-san, did you hear me? We must go now!”

Nathan blinked and looked at the man who was waving for him to follow. Kean and the Swedish woman were already moving towards Asahi, panic written across their faces. Asahi turned and began running at a careful pace, following the cave wall to their left instead of heading out into the open part of the cavern. Nathan pushed aside his indecision and decided to trust the man’s instincts. He took off in a run after the others.

Another stalactite in the distance cracked from the ceiling and crashed to the ground. All four of them flinched at the noise. If someone was beneath one of those when it fell, they would be crushed under a ton of rock. Even standing close to the impact zone would be deadly if rock shrapnel was flung out as it shattered.

Asahi was leading and the Swedish woman was sticking right on his tail. Nathan fell into step behind Kean in the rear. Nathan’s confidence rose now that they were running in a controlled manner. This was his wheelhouse after all. A decade’s experience in racing competitively came in handy every now or then.

Asahi appeared to be a runner too, as evident by the sensible pace he set. He probably did a lot of jogging in the SDF, either as a fitness requirement or possibly from training recruits. The Swedish woman was also doing well; her running form was smooth and efficient with a practiced air. Nathan really should’ve found out her name but the language barrier and the distraction with his interface had kept him from doing so in time.

It quickly became apparent Kean was the least fit of the group. His breathing was rapid and shallow, and his form was terrible. His arms flailed wildly out of sync with his legs and he nearly lost his balance a couple times. If not for the seriousness of the situation, Nathan would’ve cracked a joke at the ridiculous sight. The kid obviously didn’t have much experience with running. Or exercise in general for that matter.

Nathan could’ve run faster, but didn’t know how far they would need to go. He agreed with Asahi’s judgement that it was better to pace themselves. Plus, the shaky ground made speeding up a potentially ankle twisting prospect.

The cavern was massive. As they continued travelling along the cave wall, he glanced back and saw that the corner they started in had disappeared from sight. There was no new wall visible in front of them either. To their right, only open cave floor without end could be seen. Sunlight continued to filter down from holes and cracks in the ceiling above, but the cavern was still dim enough that his view was limited to only about a hundred yards in any direction. A few more stalactites fell, but fortunately they were quite a distance away.

A new grinding noise made Nathan swivel his head around. He ran right into the back of Kean who had suddenly stopped. He bowled the teenager over and nearly went down himself. He hastened to help him back to his feet. Ahead, the other two slowed and turned back to them.

Kean panted heavily while he tried to speak. “What’s... that... noise?”

The grinding was soon accompanied by a loud crunching noise. With the ground still rumbling and random stalactites clattering to the ground, it was difficult to pinpoint the direction of the new sound.

“I do not know, Kean-kun,” Asahi said.

“Probably not good,” Nathan said. “I say we keep going.”

“Wait,” Kean said, sucking in air. “Let’s… rest… a minute.”

Nathan was about to grant the request, but the grinding and crunching noises suddenly became louder, echoing throughout the cavern.

“We can rest when we get to the safe area,” Nathan said instead. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Hai,” Asahi said, agreeing in Japanese instead of English. “We must continue.”

Asahi turned and set the same pace again. The Swedish woman followed right behind and Nathan gave Kean a slight nudge to his back to get him moving again. Nathan stayed behind the others, mainly so he could make sure the exhausted kid kept up.

Nathan continued listening to the new noises. The sound contained a rhythmic cadence as it cycled between grinding and then crunching. It was growing louder. The increasing volume and the reverberating echoes caused his ears to hurt like he was at a rock concert. The repeating pattern of the sounds continued to become more distinctive.

Nathan risked a look back and became confused. The far wall was now visible despite the last time he checked it’d been out of view. How was that possible? They were running away from it and the lighting wasn’t any better now than before. He yelled to get the attention of the others but they didn’t hear as they kept moving forward. Nathan could barely even hear himself.

Being careful not to run into anything, he glanced back over his shoulder once more. The wall was… closer? That didn’t make any rational sense. Then he noticed the stalactites in front of the wall breaking off and tumbling to the ground. They began rolling at the base of the wall, adding to the grinding noise. With horrific clarity he understood. The cave was shrinking. The far wall was moving towards them and it was closing fast.

He surged forward past Kean and the Swedish woman to tap Asahi on the shoulder. The man slowed and fixed Nathan with an intense stare. Nathan pointed at the far wall and shouted as loud as he could, “The wall is coming!”

Asahi confusion was quickly replaced with shock when he took in the approaching wall. He shouted, “Run!” This time he didn’t set a steady pace. Asahi raced forward and the rest of them followed. Nathan had no trouble keeping up, but the Swedish woman was slowly falling behind. Kean couldn’t even manage that. The kid had already been gassed when they were running at a slower pace. Now that they were sprinting, he had no chance.

Knowing he couldn’t leave the kid behind, Nathan slowed, letting Asahi and the woman pull ahead. The moving wall was maybe ninety yards away at most. When Kean caught up to him, Nathan fell into step beside him matching his speed. It was excruciatingly slow.

Nathan was barely winded, but he worried about his thirst. Puking had left him somewhat dehydrated and he was beginning to feel light headed. Even considering, he estimated he could still run like this for another twenty minutes before having to slow. Unfortunately, he doubted Kean would be able to last another minute or two.

“You can do it!” Nathan shouted encouragingly over the noise. It was so freaking loud that Nathan wondered if his eardrums would be damaged. He sped up the pace a little, hoping Kean would pick up his speed as well. It was a trick he’d used to help his teammates in races when they were getting tired and slowing down. Usually their competitive spirit would be reignited by the challenge and they would match his acceleration unconsciously. Disappointingly, Kean apparently lacked any competitive drive and slowed down even more, falling further behind. Didn’t he realize they were going to die if that wall reached them? That should’ve been plenty of motivation.

So what could he do? He supposed he could carry him, but thought better of it. Hauling the kid would make for a heroic scene in a movie, but Nathan just wasn’t realistically strong enough. He could carry a person or he could run fast, just not both at the same time. He was too lean, his muscles not built for the task. He’d mostly trained for distance running.

Nathan switched tactics. If nice didn’t work, then he would try something different. “Run you miserable puke! You will freaking die if you don’t pick up this pace! Move your butt… right… freaking… now!”

It must have worked since Kean shot off ahead of Nathan, arms flailing wildly. Nathan smiled. So the kid responded to negative reinforcement instead of positive. Good to know. He peeked behind him and felt a frown replace his grin. The traveling wall was only fifty yards away, half the distance since when first noticed. Massive boulders, stalactites, and other debris formed an avalanche of destruction being pushed forward about ten yards in front of the wall. They would die from that churning rock grinder well before the wall actually reached them.

Nathan dashed forward and when he caught up to Kean, he let the kid maintain a half step lead. If he raced past the kid, Nathan might psychologically discourage him causing him to slow down again. In races, he’d seen the effect happen to runners he passed too many times to dismiss. He’d even had it happen to himself a time or two as well so knew the demoralizing effect well enough.

The two leading players had covered a lot of ground; they were already fifty yards ahead of them. Nathan felt bittersweet about that. Asahi was a soldier, and an officer at that, so why was he leaving the kid behind? Perhaps he felt taking the Swedish woman to safety was his duty and trusted Nathan to see to Kean. The woman appeared perfectly capable of making it on her own though. They unfortunately didn't have the luxury of discussing the situation anymore. At least Nathan could be happy the other two were likely to make it.

He noticed the two players veered away from the wall at a slight angle, changing their direction out into the open area of the cavern. Could they see something ahead he couldn’t? Nathan pulled up beside Kean and then pointed out to the middle. They could at least cut off a little distance to the others if they angled out too. Nathan veered slightly away from the wall and Kean went with him. Nathan checked behind again and the wall was about forty yards away now. The rolling rocks in front of it probably at thirty.

He felt a wave of fear. At the speed they were going, they weren’t going to make it. He’d known it for a while, but now he was certain.

He could still make it if he sped up, he thought to himself.

No, he couldn’t leave Kean. He clamped down on the selfish idea. He wasn’t going to abandon anyone.

Even if it means dying too?

The thought came unbidden. He swallowed hard, his parched throat making the task difficult. If he hadn’t already been running, he was sure his hands and legs would be shaking with fear. He was terrified. This wasn’t a game. They were actually going to die. Die for real.

They didn’t both have to die.

Just no. He would stay with him, drag or carry him if he had too.

You know you won’t make it if you do, you’re not an idiot.

It didn’t matter. He knew he would never forgive himself if he left the skinny kid.

Kean was beginning to slow down again, his face beet red with sweat pouring off his chin, as he made horrible gasping noises. He was already beyond his limit, most likely running further than he’d ever done before.

The rolling rock avalanche was twenty-five yards away.

Nathan screamed at him, raw terror lacing his words, “Don’t stop! Run faster damn it!”

Kean tried to pump his legs faster, and did so for about three steps. Then he stumbled, falling face first against the rocky ground.

Nathan skidded to a halt and dashed back to his side. He had no choice. He didn’t hesitate; there was no time. He lifted, picking up the teenager from under his armpits. He slung the kid’s gut over his left shoulder in a fireman carry as he had seen on T.V. He’d never actually done it before, and wasn’t certain he would have succeeded if not for the inhuman strength provided by his adrenaline fueled terror.

Then he began to move, running as fast as he could.

Compared to others his age, Kean was short and skinny. But to Nathan who was carrying him right then, the kid was heavy; his dead weight even more of a burden than he feared. Nathan had only been moderately tired from their ordeal so far, but now with each step he could feel the burn in his legs deepen. His dry throat was tortured with each gasp of air. He wouldn’t last long.

Then he was given hope as the far wall came into view. A large archway set beautifully in the middle, suggesting an entrance to a passageway beyond. Asahi and the Swedish woman were headed straight for it. Nathan adjusted his course slightly and aimed for it too.

He kept pushing as hard as he could while hauling his charge. With Kean on his shoulders, he wasn’t able to look back. He tried not to think about it. He focused on nothing else but putting one step in front of the other. He could no longer even hear his own ragged breathing over the rumbling cacophony of rocks behind him. His legs felt like agony, and every breath brought pain.

His vision was blurring yet he kept going. He blinked his eyes a few times to focus them again. He was dismayed by how far still to go. Over forty yards left. He wouldn’t make it; he couldn’t even feel his legs anymore.

His attention shifted as he noticed the lone form of Asahi sprinting towards him. The soldier had seen their situation and come back to help. Oh thank God.

Then Nathan’s foot struck a solid rock, and he tumbled forward spinning out of control. He felt Kean spilling off his shoulder as Nathan’s head struck the ground. Everything went black for a couple seconds as he regained his senses.

Oh God, he’d killed them both.

Then he felt himself being picked up. He was tossed like a bag of potatoes over a shoulder and then they were moving. It must be Asahi.

Then a sudden horrifying realization swept over him. If the soldier had him… who had Kean?

“No... not me,” Nathan struggled to say between gasps. “Take… the… kid.” He knew his words wouldn’t be heard over the thunderous noises, but he spoke them anyway. He also knew, deep in the pit of his stomach, that it would already be too late.