??’s PoV

“The taint seems to be localized in one area.”

“We should be done with it and just wipe the city clean.”

A rebuking voice said “Then how will we know that the forbidden knowledge hasn’t spread? As in the past so shall it be now. We will find all sources of the taint first. When we're sure all the tainted ones and their followers are accounted for then we will eliminate them all at once.”

The same voice said “Why bother? This time looks only to be a tiny speck.”

“Surely your memory isn’t that faulty? You remember the time when we missed one of the followers? The knowledge died, however once the follower realized our presence she constructed an illusion that was able to escape our gaze. One does not need to know the forbidden knowledge to gain benefit from it.”

There was a scoff of disagreement saying “A minor annoyance. She is no threat to us.”

“There are some no longer among us because of this so called minor annoyance. Knowledge of our presence with a tainted one who is alive could spell our doom. Do your jobs and be vigilant. Find and mark them so that we can quash it’s spread. Go, fulfill your tasks!”

The room rumbled with the sounds of “Yes Mistress!”

Charlotte's PoV

After she had assured Gwen that she was feeling well Charlotte was left alone. Well, except for the corpse in her basement. The corpse that she was extremely angry with. Charlotte didn't even know it was possible to be angry at a corpse, yet somehow Jim made it a reality.

She was still half hoping that the little gameplay she had just experienced was a hallucination. Snorting to herself she thought of how out of place the word “gameplay” was.

The craziness had escalated to the point where shotgunning down demonic looking creatures in the streets was reduced to the term “gameplay.”

Getting her phone out she called her brother with her fingers crossed. Be a dream! Just a weird and creepily accurate dream!

When her brother picked up he said excitedly “How did you do that! We were talking one minute and you just disappeared!”

Her stomach sank. Not a dream. Damn, did that mean these monsters were actually roaming out in the city? And it was her fault? How in the world was this even possible?

Then she noticed the text in the corner of her vision.

“Next wave in 6 hours 49 minutes and 32 seconds. Do you want to start early? Y/N”

Before she could screw up again she covered the mouthpiece on her phone and picked the no option. But the countdown timer did not go away, only the prompt wishing to know if she wanted to start early. Lore! What about the lore of this stupid game? She had to figure out what was coming next.

Going back to the earlier question she answered “I’m not sure how it happened, but it looks like it's going to keep happening. What's the storyline of Doomed Earth II?”

He snorted and said “The whole storyline is one paragraph about demons coming from the netherworld to conquer Earth. Seriously the entire storyline is summed up in one paragraph on the back of the box. The plot is so paper thin it makes the old Mario games look like fictional masterpieces.”

“What about the protagonist? Why does the character move from one level to another?”

Laughing he said “To kill more demons! Seriously that’s all there is too it. All of it takes place in one city as the so called hero mows down every last living thing in front of him."

She said hopefully “So this ends once all the demons are dead?”

There was a few seconds of silence when her brother said reluctantly “Actually at the end of the game we learn that portals were starting to open in other cities. Which leads into Doomed Earth III. That game you do move from city to city.”

Shit shit shit. Not good. Stupid video game companies and their cliffhanger garbage stories. Dammit, she needed to figure out how to delete this thing. Was that even possible? And with the timer constantly ticking down it would force her to keep playing this sick game till the end. Then all of Earth would experience what was happening here. She couldn't let that occur.

Again she looked at the corpse. Giving in to temptation she gave it a few well placed kicks.

Worried her brother asked “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Everything's fine. I want you to stay indoors till I can come get you. I have a few people at my house who might be able to help. You still have your rifle from grandfather, right?”

“Of course. I would never give it away.”

Charlotte smirked and said “And how does wifey feel about that?”

Triumphantly he said “For years she has been telling me to get rid of it. But with this I totally get enough points to win the argument!”

“Okay. Just stay safe. If I come over I’ll fill you in first. Goodbye.”

After hanging up she realized Gwen mentioned that she had heard her fall and had stood by her side. Now that she had crossed off hallucination that meant she was in two places at once. Again she looked at Jim. She remembered back to when the doctors said he was in a coma and how she didn’t believe it. Was this it? While he was somewhere else his body stood dormant?

Thinking about it more and more it seemed to add up. Charlotte bet that if she wanted to she could get the question about starting the round early to pop up again. Once she thought it a familiar prompt appeared.

"Do you want to start early? Y/N"

The little bastard. Making sure to hit “no” again she started putting the final pieces of the puzzle together. Now that she thought about it FF3 had a cheat version. She snorted. Looks like she solved the silver mystery. But why did her game have her fighting here and not in a different world?

Looking at the title of the game she realized it said “Earth.”

How bad could her luck be? Seriously, did that mean that any other game would have been safe? And there wouldn’t have been demons popping up in her city? How many people were dead because of her actions?

Her hands were trembling as she tried to compartmentalize the guilt. First she would see to her family’s safety. Then she would think of how in the world she could atone for her sins.

Scarlet

Scarlet was bored out of her mind. She was watching from the shadows as Forrest was addressing the council. It was so hard to pay attention when all the incentives of stalking were taken away. Watching someone for a week waiting for the perfect time to strike? Easy. Listening to boring windbags when there was no stabby time at the end? Difficult. Very difficult.

Listening with only half an ear she wondered if maybe she could find that guy who wanted to kill her when they returned to King’s End. Maybe she could peel off and try to give him a visit? Surely Forrest would be fine.

“What? You associated with the woman from the merchant circle? Treason! Treason I tell you!”

Scarlet started fantasizing about what she could do to the man if she had the time. Maybe if she only had a few seconds she could give him a good cut to the abdominal area and let him bleed out for days. But what if he gets a minor healing potion to recover? Could she find somewhere to put him so he wouldn't be able to get any help?

“Not only did Forrest keep her secret from us, but his actions directly provoked Jacksberg into attacking us!”

Maybe she could just gag the man and tie him up somewhere? It would have to be a place where no one would look. She would have to improvise because moving a body that far was just too much effort. Especially when they were still squirming. Maybe an attic or a basement?

“Seize him! He will pay for his crimes! Perhaps we can use him as a bargaining chip when Jacksberg comes for their vengeance!”

But what if she had people chasing her? Did she really want to only give the man a couple minutes worth of suffering? That was too easy a death. It’s really a shame that most of her slow acting poisons were back in Xalross. Scarlet always thought that using poisons was a crutch, but it’s too bad she didn’t listen to her teachers more.

“Scarlet! Scarlet! Little Help?”

Blinking her fantasy dissolved as she finally took full notice of what was going on. As a malicious smile started to form on her face Forrest yelled “Don’t kill them! Just help me get out of here!”

Annoyed she watched as Forrest used his unstrung bow as a quarterstaff. Spoilsport. Still a little stabby was better than no stabby. And who knows? Optimistically she envisioned meeting the man who wanted to kill her again. Surely if all the councilmen had injuries a gut wound on a commoner might go untreated, right?

Unsheathing her daggers she prepared to put the plan into action.

Charlotte's PoV

Charlotte was exhausted. She felt a lot more bold about this trip when she had her full armament plus defences to match it. But the damn things took several shots to the chest to kill. Her beefed up game shotgun could kill them in one hit most of the time. But that was then and this was now. Unfortunately without her armor she was a soft target. Once she got a little too overconfident and one of the demons burned through most of her thigh.

It was terrifying. Watching as part of her leg disappeared with the popping and sizzling of flesh was something she never wanted to experience again. But thankfully Maria came along with them to retrieve her brothers family. Even after her injury was healed the smell still remained. She doubted she would ever forget that smell. Charlotte was so thankful to Gwen, Davis and Maria. Without them this would not have been possible. The weight on her shoulders felt heavy. Once this was over she had so many debts to pay.

Looking at the corner of her vision she saw the countdown timer only had 30 seconds left.

“Thank you. Thank you so much for helping my family. I have to go. Please keep them safe.”

As the final few seconds counted down Adam rushed over to her and said “Please Auntie don’t go! Don’t leave us!”

Sighing she bent down and embraced him and said in his ear “It will only be a short while. Be safe.”

Closing her eyes she saw the counter reach zero. There was that shifting sensation and she opened her eyes again. To her horror Adam was still with her! What? How!?

Confused Adam asked “What happened? Where are we?”

Charlotte gulped and said “I think you got transported with me. I don’t understand, this shouldn’t happen. My body should still be back at my house.”

Instinctively she started patting her pockets to find her phone, but it wasn't there. Yeah, that's right. Different body means no phone.

Trying to keep her voice down she said “Do you have your phone on you?”

Nodding Adam handed it to her and she called her brother.

The phone picked up on the first ring and a female voice said “Adam! Adam!”

Damn. She was a screecher. Trying to calm Adam’s mother down she said “He's fine. Breath girl. breath .”

Panicked she said “What? Charlotte? How am I talking to you? You're asleep.”

Regretfully Charlotte said “I’m sorry. I didn’t know this would happen. Don’t worry, I will take care of him. We will be back soon.”

She couldn’t stomach the sobbing on the other end of the line so she hung up. Then she said to Adam quietly “Stay down and follow me, Okay? No noise.”

Adam solemnly nodded. Charlotte brushed her fingers through the young boys hair. If she lost him she would never forgive herself. Ever. She wouldn’t be able to face her brother. To give his son a chance at life and then cruelly take it away?

Shaking her head she realized that if Adam didn’t come back, she wouldn’t either. Getting up Charlotte focused harder than she ever had before. Attention to detail. She had it. No mistakes, no gambles.

Silently Charlotte started walking towards the direction of the blue glow.

Milly’s PoV

Milly knocked on the door for the fifth time.

“Please! Someone open up! Help!"

Knocking again she yelled “I have a lot of money! I can pay! Just let me in!”

With panic she regretfully looked through the window.

It was the perfect freezer. The perfect chest freezer that opened up like a box, and it was on sale too! She had the advertisement in her pocket.

Why did the ad say the store was open when clearly they were not! This was an emergency!

Annoyed she kicked the corpse of one of the red demons that had several bullet holes in it. Kerry seemed to be following her around for some reason. It saved her potions and he seemed to know where a lot of customers were, so it worked out well.

Milly muttered sadly “What's going to happen to my food?”

Standing next to her Kerry said incredulously “Seriously? This was all about a freezer?”

She huffed. What would he know?