For the second time in one morning, John was thinking as he woke up about his pounding headache. A bleary-eyed John had stats in his eyes as he slowly got accustomed to the early morning light, the cold hit his face in a way that was refreshing but would soon be frigid. “Ahh what happened?” John asked no one in particular. Looking over he saw what used to be the Bently but now had some sort of grass growing out of it? No looking closer John could see that it was a vine of some sort. Looking at his family rustling about in the snow John realized he was not the only one who was knocked out, the most shocking revelation was at the top of his peripheral vision was something that looked eerily like something from a game. He had three grey bars

[health 42/45] [Stamina 29/43] [mana 1/11]

besides these odd-looking bars was something that said

[LEVEL 0] [MORE] 0645, DECEMBER 22ND

John looked at his dad who was intently staring off into the sky.

“Hey, uhh guys. Do you have bars at the top of your vision where ever you look?” John hesitantly called out to his family. “Bro I told you this was going to happen. It’s the end of the world, I knew it!” Kyle was talking of his apocalypse fantasies he has, watching all sorts of prepper shows, no doubt influenced by his dad’s stark statements of the integrity of the world when he’s home from tours. “Kyle hush darling, come on let’s all remember we have a service to go too”. Karen their mother tried to usher them to the car only to realize that it is filled with a giant vine in it. “Oh now that just simply will not do, Alexandar why did you give the employees the month off? It’s December and snowing but what about this here, Wendy would have had this dealt with in a jiffy!” Alexandar. looked at her with a softness that is rarely seen in him. “Come dear, let’s go inside; I’m afraid you are going to get a cold out here.” Just as Alexandar. said this the family dog CoCo came running through the dog door a furry fluff ball that was as white as the snow, a pomeranian with sass to go with it. She went and sniffed around, “Come here CoCo.” Karen called sweetly, slowly making her way closer to CoCo to grab her, the boys and their dad still reeling from everything that has happened, not making heads of tails of the situation. Karen was struggling to cope, diagnosed with cancer only three months ago and an aggressive round of chemo has left her less than cognitively aware, even at the early age of 53. The shock of a blue box showing up and being knocked out left her as everyone stunned.

CoCo decided that the Bently with the vine was an interesting thing to look at and explore. Alexandar called to his wife a little more firmly becoming the natural-born leader he was born to be. “Karen stop. Leave the dog and let’s come together to figure this all out.” but Karen was adamant that she was going to get CoCo if it was the last thing she was going to do. She lunged forwards to grab the dog and the moment she was in reach the vine snapped out. SNAP. SNAP. SNAP. three times it sent its vines out, and three times it wrapped itself around Johns’s mom Karen. This broke them out of their reverie and drove the three men into action. Karen was being lifted by the vine as she screamed out in pain. CoCo whimpered and ran away. Alexandar. was the first to arrive as he was trying to get Karen to come with him. “Hold on to me!” he shouted, John and Kyle were shortly behind. John looked around and saw nothing nearby that could be used to help his mom, thinking quickly as his mom was yelling, he was frightened and yet was able to formulate a plan. ‘Wendys shed will have the axe I can use to free mom’ John thought to himself. “Help dad Kyle, I’m going to get a weapon!” leaving his brother and his dad to his screaming mom and a carnivorous looking plant John ran back to the house fifty feet away, his target being beside it in the shed.

Coming up to the door John had the realization that it is locked, it did not make sense as they lived in a gated community with a gated house but reality is seldom what he wanted it to be. All this flitted through John's mind, with the knowledge that every second counted he did not have time to go back into the house and hunt for the keys in his family’s massive estate, taking a few steps back John ran at the door. John was always a strong man, he went to the gym several times a week and ate alot of meat but even he was shocked when the door went flying inward completely off the hinges and into the back wall. Splintered and broken beyond repair, this quickly registered in John’s mind while he grabbed the trusty Husqvarna axe he came to love during the summers he stayed at his parents’ place.

Running out of the estate shed, John ran back to his family where he was met with a grisly sight, blood was running down his mother’s face. Karen was barely able to breathe as she was constricted and forced into the tiny window being torn up by glass as the relentless attack by the vine continued.

“MOOVE!” John yelled, being up close John could see that in lieu of a center console there was what appeared to be a bulb of some kind, where the vines the plant was using all come from. As John was watching the bulb revealed to show teeth that had no place on a plant, incisors 50 along the top and bottom looking like a demented clowns mouth straight out of a horror story.

The tight space restricted the effectiveness of the axe nevertheless John was able to use his quick wits and intelligence to take out the windshield, somehow in record time. Having no care of the vehicle that many would have dreamed to have John’s only concern was his mother he loved so dearly. His heart could not take the screams and he had a singular purpose in mind. To free her. The windshield clear, John to a mighty swing directly at the center of the mouth and hit exactly where he wanted to.

[critical hit. 42 DAMAGE] [Ding. you have killed 1X Harrowing Vine Lvl 3. For defeating an enemy higher level than you extra EXP awarded. 450 EXP]

John struggling to understand forced his questions aside, focusing on his mom he along with his dad and brother carefully extracted her from the car. “It’s okay sweety, Kyle go get the medkit out of the front foray.” Alexandar slowly started to carry her back to the house, comforting her as he went. “I.. I... I love you all” Karen sputtered out coughing up blood.

With those words, she breathed her last breath in the arms of the man she spent her life with. Alexandar stoic and hard, had tears streaming his eyes as he watched his beloved wife pass away. Coming up the steps, Alexandar passed his son Kyle and went inside. John seeing this took his brother and wrapped him in a hug, off in the distance they could hear explosions and gunshots going off but nothing mattered right then and there.

Their mom had died.