Frank, Maria, and Rina walked down the hallway towards the dungeon proper. Everyone was visibly relaxed compared to a few hours ago. Bill waking up was a weight off everyone’s shoulders in multiple ways. Frank led his two companions to the first enemy of the floor.

Dapper Two Piece Suit Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Strength

Level 1

It stood twenty feet past the point where the hallway opened up into whatever was ahead. Frank couldn’t tell, there wasn’t anything in sight besides the floor, and the wall behind him. It didn’t really matter anyways.

“Maria, head to the right and flank. Rina, you’ll get one shot with your sling in before I engage.” Frank told them, then headed to the left enough to give Rina a clear shot.

The stone whipped by, narrowly missing the suit, but much closer than Rina’s efforts last time. Frank stepped in quickly, striking out to force it to engage him. He didn’t want to risk the suit turning on Maria and having to rush to save her.

He kept it careful and cautious. The level one suits were all fairly competent fighters, so the ones that got improved combat potential were dangerous. He carefully worked through the suit’s defenses, the fact it could easily overpower him limiting what he could actually do without risking a broken wrist, but not preventing him from gradually seizing control.

The careful dance ended suddenly. Rina had stepped forward and, when Frank forced the suit to take a step back, tossed a rock at it. The suit must’ve understood through some means the danger posed by that projectile, because it hurriedly took another step back to avoid it.

Frank took advantage, not letting it regain a defensive posture. Without the leverage to bring its strength to bear, Frank was able to block a swing with his shield rather than dodge, and he used the moment that action gave him to remove the suit’s sword arm at the elbow.

“Maria, finish it off.” Frank told her, as he kept its attention. She hacked at the now mostly helpless enemy from behind, finishing it off with one blow.

Dapper Two Piece Suit Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Strength(Level 1) defeated. Maria awarded 75 EXP. Rina awarded 50 EXP. Frank awarded 75 EXP.

Frank nodded to Maria, then turned to Rina. “What made you decide to throw a stone there?”

Rina frowned a little. “It just, I thought it seemed like a good idea, to throw it then.”

Frank looked at her. He could tell she was worried she had messed up. She had, as it happened. “Specifically then?” he asked her.

“Yes.” she said, quietly. “I thought that it didn’t have any good options if I did.”

Frank looked her straight in the eyes. She looked down at his gaze. “It was a good call, and a bad one. You threw your stone at the perfect moment. I respect the idea. But are you particularly accurate with your tosses? You may hit the target nine out of ten times, but if you miss one out of ten, and you inadvertently hit me, or force me to dodge out of the way…” he trailed off. “That’s not an acceptable risk right now.”

“Oh.” Rina said turning away. Frank could tell she hadn’t taken being criticized well. He was more thoughtful than anything else, though. The fact she had solid intuition in combat, potentially, raised his estimation of her more than a little.

Frank didn’t wait around though. There was no drop, so he simply returned back to the starting room.

“Lets reset it. This’ll be the routine until you two are too fatigued to help out.” Frank said. “Grab your stuff so we don’t lose it.”

Bill moaned again. He had barely moved since they left. His pack was still on his back too. With the amount of vitality he must have had to recover from that blow, Frank knew he didn’t need any treatment to recover. So he just let him suffer. The pain might help him ground himself.

Everyone hopped in and out of the dungeon, Bill begrudgingly, and Frank immediately motioned Rina and Maria to follow him. The next two fights couldn’t really be called such. Rina successfully hit an armour with her sling, causing it to fall over. Frank and Maria didn’t let it get up. Then, in the next fight, Rina’s sling missed, but she had time to throw one by hand after, and that stone hit. A repeat of the previous instance ensued.

They fell into a pattern after that. Suitably cautioned by what had happened to Bill, neither woman got overly confident or hasty. Rina soon recovered from being chastened, and they mowed through encounters for several hours, long enough for both Rina and Maria to level up twice.

Eventually, Rina was running out of gas, and Bill’s headache had begun to subside. Frank halted the activities. Bill was functioning. It was time to have a chat, and time to make a final decision on what to do with him.

“Maria, Rina, could you leave first? I need to talk with Bill.” Frank said.

Rina nodded and left immediately. Maria hesitated, giving Frank and Bill a cautious look, but left as well. Frank and Bill were alone. Bill was still struggling a bit with his headache, but he was functional.

“What exactly do you think is going on?” Frank asked him, point blank. “Explain clearly what is happening and why you think it is happening. You nearly died because you were not taking your own safety seriously. What is this situation to you?” Bill looked at Frank, standing up. The aggressive tack that Frank had taken rankled him. Already aggravated by his aching head, he lashed out in response.

“What? You think I wanted to get fucking smoked in the head? Or what?” Bill replied defensively, grasping the gist of where Frank was going.

“What, you expect me to believe you just got a little ahead of yourself? This is life or death. So, what had you so confident you thought to jump in and risk your life?” Frank responded.

Bill didn’t have an immediate response. He grimaced in frustration. Then he swore loudly. “Fuck!”

Frank waited patiently. Bill took a breath and went off.

“God this is such fucking bullshit. Everything about this. I fucking knew. I fucking knew that shit was going to go down. Writing was on the wall. School shootings, fascists, anti-fascists, all that shit. It was so obviously unnatural, created. I fucking prepared for it. Fucking boxed, learned ju-jitsu, jeet kun do, all that shit. I ran a goddamn fucking marathon just to make sure I could. Then this shit all happens right after I get cleared to start working out again.”

Bill looked at Frank. “I fucking knew it. I fucking prepared. I did everything I fucking could. I had a fucking safehouse with supplies. I get fucking tossed over here a thousand miles away. I’m a crack shot with a rifle, you know? Except guns don’t work. I coulda gone pro in MMA. Everything has a fucking medieval weapon.”

He was borderline shouting at first, but his volume gradually lowered to conversational as his own loudness and animation exacerbated his headache.

“I’m fucking sitting on my couch, just before I leave for a job interview, and this shit all goes down. Out of commission for three months with an abdominal strain because I fucking sneezed too hard. All that work I did, I was right and it didn’t fucking matter.” He sighed.

“I’m fucking struggling through the woods with only the dress shoes I’d just bought. I meet you. Some fucking dweeb looking guy with a quarterstaff. Fat, out of shape, and doing just fine. I figure I just got unlucky. If he’s fine I’m obviously fine. Of course that’s not the case but like fuck.”

He looked down. “I fucking prepared for this. And it’s all fucking useless. I’m still just as fucking helpless in the collapse as I was before. Everything is fucked and it’s nothing like I thought it would be.”

His rant finished, he sat back down. Thought he hadn’t answered the question, Frank thought he had him figured out at least a little. It reminded him of himself, when he was still with Victor and Garret. He’d felt like he had a destiny then, like he was a big deal. Then the red carpet got pulled out from under him. Bill may have had his moment. “What are you going to do now then?” Frank asked him.

“I don’t fucking know. Die? Seems to be what’s happening to everyone else.” Bill said glumly.

Frank let him stew. It was funny, in a sad kind of way, how Bill’s basic insecurities mirrored his own. How they both felt like they should be able to do more with what they had available to them. The fact that there was another human going through something similar to what he was, when he was a time-traveller, was grounding.

After a few minutes though, he decided to reset and get everyone back together.

“Bill.” Frank addressed him.

“Yea?” Bill asked, his tone conveying there was something he wanted to hear.

“Head out so we can reset the dungeon.” Frank said.

Bill rubbed his forehead with his hands, took a deep breath, and then disappeared. Frank followed.

***

Hugo woke up quite suddenly. Ghulam just had enough time to move out of the immediate vicinity of his face, so that the man didn’t wake up with a shadowed figure looming over him. Ghulam shushed him preemptively, hoping that would prevent him from making a racket.

Hugo was a bit lethargic, fortunately, and he slowly sat up.

“Who’s there?” he asked, quietly.

“It’s Ghulam.” Ghulam replied in a low voice. “Stay quiet, it is not safe right now.”

“Ghulam? That’s you? Is it, those things?” Hugo asked, his voice confused.

“I wish it were. No, it is people we must worry about.” Ghulam said. “I fear that we may both be in danger.”

Ghulam liked Hugo. The man loved his daughter nearly as much as Ghulam loved his. They had very little else in common, but that was enough for them to be on good terms. His wife used to always try and one up Hugo’s, since they frequented each other’s dinner parties.

A momentary sadness welled up, but he quashed it ruthlessly. Hugo was a simple man. Ghulam needed to be out of here quickly, and Hugo could guide him. He spun a quick story that he thought would get Hugo moving.

“Your daughter has already fled to try and find a way to help you. You’ve been unconscious for days, and well, if you remember what happened to you, that happened to everyone. The power’s out. Every car anyone’s tried won’t start. People are missing. Most people are. Things are going bad.” Ghulam said in a hushed and worried voice.

“Maria? She’s okay?” Hugo asked, centering in on the point Ghulam hoped he would.

“She was this morning when she left with three others to explore.” Ghulam said.

“She left? What about Angelica?” Hugo asked.

“I haven’t seen Angelica. I’d be happy to help you search for her. Prisha is still missing as well.” Ghulam said sadly. He didn’t need to fake the tone.