She had two days left and was still far too many credits short. To make matters worse, she’d picked these woods clean of predator and prey. All that was left was this one monster who'd claimed the northwest corner of her land. He had a frightening Tier 2 floating above his head in red and at Tier 0 that left her shaking in her boots. Or it would of if her cast hadn't kept her right leg from moving. She looked at her babies, their happy faces smiling up at her. They'd tried so hard. All three of them! And it looked like they'd be cut short just at the end of the race. All that blood and bruising. So much had broken. All those times she felt they'd never make it and here was their last wall. The impossible.

She’d kept from despair for so long but this was the final straw. She’d lost everyone. She’d been surviving this bloody-twisted world, afraid not just for her life but for the last ones left that mattered to her. And now a monster beyond comparison stood between her and life. And she was stuck with this damned broken leg! She slid down the wall, tears falling, until she could bury her head into her arms. It was all too much. Every time she rose to the occasion something new came to tell her she’d never make it.

How was she supposed to stand on one leg against a ten-foot bear with fur made of rocks? Why was this world determined to kill her?

Warm breath kissed her cheek and slobbery licks began to cover her face and arms. Koda and Sugarbear didn’t know what was wrong. She cried harder. She already expected so much from them and now she had to pit them against that beast? It wasn’t right. This world wasn’t right. They should have just disappeared with everyone else. Never been asked to do any of this. For what reason did this world even expect them to survive?

The dogs started whining. They didn’t know what was wrong but their owner was crying and she stopped responding to them. She never did that. Their whimpering brought her head up. She hadn’t even seen another person in weeks. There was no other shoulder to cry on. She just had herself. And her dogs she remembered as she glanced at their worrying faces. She had to stand up, again. Hunt, again. Face the impossible, again. What other choice did she have?

~Congratulations! Your Will has reached 5!~

“Oh, shut up you son of a bitch.” She growled as she clambered upward with only one working leg. She’d given up on the crutch a long time ago. It wouldn’t protect her from the pain or the damage being done during the hunts. It just got in her way.

She took a more dignified seat in an actual chair and stared at her empty tea mug. There was no water for the kettle. Her mind reverted to the simpler problem at hand. There was no water for the kettle. She wobbled her way outside to the older part of the house where the last vestiges of her family’s history showed in the architecture. Generations had used this water pump for the kitchen and this generation had started to again. She placed the bucket beneath it and got to work.

No one is ever graceful when staggering around on a broken leg, but Cassidy still managed to keep from sloshing the water out as she brought the bucket around to the kitchen. With that she was able to fill her kettle and see the lovely fact that her stove had stopped working. She stared. No more stove. No tea. How was she suppose to cook her food? There was no more tea. No tea.

She buried her face in her hands and just started laughing. Of course, the propane would run out now. At least she had enough food prepared for a few days but if she survived, she’d need to learn to cook by campfire and—tea. Find out some way to get tea.

Nothing left to distract her, she sat back down, leaning forward in her seat. The bear had to die. There was no tea. That wasn’t important right now. How could she kill the bear? Her eyes wandered over to her tea box. ...Damnit.

She got up and put it in her cupboard. Drawing her dagger, she slammed its point into the table and stared at its glimmering edge. The bear had to die. It had to give them enough credits. They needed it dead. How?

She kept her eyes on the knife’s edge. The usual pattern wouldn’t work. The idea of Koda and Sugarbear anywhere near that thing sent shivers down her spine. But she doubted she’d get close enough for a clear shot at its eyes without a distraction. She needed her dogs and she doubted any of her arrows would make it through that fossilized fur. Well, maybe a Boring Needle, but she wasn’t use to hunting bears. Where was the weak spot that would bring it down? All she could think of were eyes and throat. The eyes were what she’d most likely get a shot at.

She played over the terrain in her head. The bear was actually rarely on her property. The monstrosity lived in a cave just inside the Gloomy Woods. It was at the bottom of a steep incline on her side. Good for her. But ringed around by massive boulders. Bad for her dogs. She really only saw one way for this thing to go. Stalk the bear until it was in its cave then draw it out with some yelling and shoot it in the eye as it came at her. The incline was tall enough, she might get a second shot if she missed and this kept her dogs out of it. She just had to stay calm and focused and she’d make it out of this just like any other hunt. Tier 2 or no Tier 2.

She headed out the next day. There was one left to go. She’d tried to leave Koda and Sugarbear behind but they’d caused such a ruckus she couldn’t bear it any longer and turned back for them. They’d listen to her commands and hold their ground as she took down the bear. If it took her out, they’d… Well it just wouldn’t take her out. She wasn’t going to give it that chance. One shot. Just one. She focused on that as she made her way to the Northwest corner. Nothing filled her ears but birdsong, there was nothing left in these woods. Her dogs matched her Silent Tread and they covered the ground without a sound.

When they got to the area, she and her dogs scouted the woods. Location was key and she couldn’t have them running into it up here, but all was still. She angled their trail northwest and peeked down the incline. The wind was blowing up at them and even she could smell the bear’s heavy musk. He was down there. The dogs froze, waiting for her to draw her bow, but she didn’t. She stood at the edge and prepared herself. Her heart was beating too fast. She couldn’t settle down. She needed the Stillness, she needed the calm to steady her shot. There were no do-overs. She understood that now. Once the bear was in range for her first shot he’d be all over her if she missed. Just one shot. She had just one shot.

She kneeled down and buried her face in Koda’s fur, wrapping her fingers in it. She felt his heart beat against her face. This was just another hunt; just another kill, the steady beat told her. She breathed in his scent and re-centered, her breath calming down to its stable pace. Her dogs beside her, she stood up. They stayed, waiting and she drew her bow and let out a scream. It shook the air and grabbed the mammoth animal’s attention. He lumbered out from his cave to see three invaders atop his hill. With an answering roar he rushed them.

Her dogs ran forward. She’d forgotten to stop them! Her hand wavered as the beast drew near and she tried to call them back. They met him halfway and began to dance in his way. Sugarbear was quick on her feet, dodging his massive paws. He stalled in his path rather than rush through in order to deal with these annoyances. Cassidy took her chance. A Boring Needle slid through her fingers, but the bear's attention had wandered and he lowered his head to snap at Koda just as the arrow slid past. She caught her breath but drew another.

Nothing was going as planned but at least that meant she had a second shot. Breath in and out. This one hit his eye right as the bear swiped at Koda and threw him against a boulder. She was already running when she heard the sickening slap. But the bear hadn’t stopped. The arrow just glanced off his eye like it was nothing. Sugarbear jumped between them, continuing her dance and missing each swipe by millimeters.

The bear had given up on grabbing Sugarbear when Cassidy reached Koda. Instead he rushed past Sugarbear toward them. Cassidy ran forward and tried to do the same as Sugarbear in some mad desperation. He hit her like he hit Koda and she collided with the ground. He was on her before she left her daze, but Sugarbear hadn’t given up. She grabbed him by the hamstring and with unbelievable strength, managed to bite through his fur. He growled and began to turn again right as Cassidy came to. As always in these situations, her dagger was already in hand. She lunged under his jaw and dragged it back and forth as if it were a serrated blade. Metal and rock chipped away together but before either bear or girl could comprehend the changing situation, she’d cut through his fur and opened his arteries.

She lay right under the blood as it sprayed over her and her injuries. There was no way to tell how much damaged he’d done to her side when her entire body was soaked in red. She rolled away from his fallen body, the pain a small thing compared to her last week, and walked toward Koda. He’d tried to get to his feet sometime during the mayhem, but fallen after a few steps. She examined his body and Animal Mastery: First Aid was able to tell her everything. He had five cracked ribs. The bear’s claws had torn right through the muscles on his side, hitting bone and immobilizing him. It was likely he’d bleed out while she carried him even if she didn’t already have a broken leg. There was no space for emotion here. Without a thought she dumped the points she’d been saving into his Resilience and picked him up. Her leg meant nothing at this point. She trudged up the hill and Sugarbear guarded them the whole way home. She just kept telling him to breath, over, and over again.

By the time they were home, everyone was a bloody mess and she could barely feel his breath coming in and going out. Numb now, she grabbed as much poultice as she could and gently covered his wound. The gashes bled too much for it to stick. The world had been spinning for a while now but she just let it twirl as she pressed a towel against his wound and wrapped him as tightly as she dared.

It was only Sugarbear’s soft licks that brought her back. She began crying, but black spots were filling her vision. She cut away her useless shirt and did the same to herself as she’d done for Koda. There was no time to get water for either of them. She passed out right there.

She woke up the next day, the last day, to a pain she never thought could get any worse. She didn’t want to move; she just wanted to die. Nails on tile, Sugarbear had heard her groans and stood worrying over her. Cassidy remembered Koda and turned to worry over him. She dared not mess with his bandage but she checked his breathing and took his pulse. It was steady and had grown stronger over the night. Whatever was happening in this world, she was instantly grateful. Those points she’d given him in Resilience had saved his life. For now. It was time to add up and see if she had what she needed to get them all past the Initiation. She went over her credits and stopped breathing. Forget four’s and six’s. That bear had given her a seventy-five credits! A picture of that scary red Tier 2 floated in her mind before disappearing. An arrow in the eye hadn’t even stopped that thing. But that’s not what mattered anymore.

They would make it! She just needed to figure out some way for them to get to the alter in the basement and they would make it.

She couldn’t relax. She’d just fall asleep again and who knew when she’d wake up? She might miss the deadline! Thoughts whirling, she looked at Koda. Moving him down those stairs was dangerous. Each step would be jarring. That’s if she could even pick him up again. She’d managed to carry him through the woods yesterday but she doubted a repeat of that was possible. Her thoughts moved again. The last thing she’d carried downstairs with a broken leg… her head swiveled to the mattress. If she could get him on the mattress, she could slide him down! Not the half-havoc original way she’d done it, but this time pulling from the front to keep it steady and smooth. Or as smooth as anything was when it came to stairs.

She stared back down at her brave friend. A red tinge had started spreading through his bandages again. It wasn’t healthy to move him, but she’d forever lose him if she didn’t. Steeling her soul, she bent down to lift him. Her strength had grown from dragging corpses. Six-foot deer weren’t light, but the tears in her side and an unbending leg made this torture. She was prepared though, and she didn’t let that slow her down. With all the gentleness she could manage she carried him to the mattress and lay him down. He was silent the whole way. For all this difficulty, next was the hard part. She positioned herself in front of the mattress and pulled it towards her down into the basement, feeling the gashes in her side tearing with the effort. None of that mattered anymore. It all came down to reaching that altar. With an ever-steady hand, she pulled that mattress down the stairs and dragged it to the altar, blood running down her side and Sugarbear dancing anxiously beside her.

The black spots were back and she had trouble focusing but she kept coming back to the original purpose. She needed to use those credits. She didn’t strategize or even think. She just pulled up her Companions’ Attributes and added credits to whichever three were highest in each of their sheets till they reached five. A quick glanced showed nothing was below two. She was about ready to fall back on that mattress when she remembered herself. She pulled up her own Attributes and had enough presence of mind to be surprised to see everything was either at five or almost there. Those endless trials were at least good for something. She raised the rest with a smile and for once was glad to hear that voice.

~Congratulations! You have survived Initiation...