I panted heavily. Sweat soaked through my clothes, making them stick to my skin. The game was over now. But it must have lasted an hour— an hour of non stop sprinting, dodging, and baiting a monstrosity far beyond my comprehension. This whole game was like something out of a nightmare— out of several nightmares, stapled together. I sat down, panting, relieved. At least it was over.

In a weird way, it felt good. I had won— not just the game, but my own objective— I had kept everyone alive. Well, everyone except for…

I hadn’t even gotten his name. It occurred to me then; he died, and I didn’t even know him. I looked over to where his body was— the front of his shirt was ripped open by alien claws, visible even from here.

“Why— why did you do that?” The girl shouted, much to my shock.

“Why did I do what? Save you?”

V meandered over, hands in his pockets, whistling as his eyes traced a stat screen I couldn’t see.

Her face twisted up at that. “You didn’t even score it. What the hell is your game?”

“I don’t have a game! I just don’t want any one to die!”

She paused. Then she laughed. She continued laughing as she cupped her face in her hands. “You came here to do that? To save all these people? What did you pay to get here?”

“I wasn’t trying to get here at all.” I replied.

“You— you’re not even here intentionally?” She laughed harder. “And you’re content to just give all the points away.” She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling with a puff. “You guys are a team?”

“Yes, we are.” V said, before I could reply. She looked between him and me.

“I want in. You’re all here on accident?”

“Well, they are.” V replied. I nodded.

“Hold on.” I said, walking over to the blue haired mans body. Even if he was an asshole— he tried to score the monster and potentially kill half the lobby— he deserved a proper burial. I stared at the cage in the center as I crossed the game’s stage— but there was nothing there. The black cube was like a hole in reality— I couldn’t even hear sounds that indicated the monster had come out of there.

If it wasn’t for the footprints torn across the stage, I would start to question whether it was real at all.

I stopped a few feet away from the blue haired mans body as he— he puffed out a breath of air, turning and stretching his arms. His shirt was torn to bits, three lines cut down his torso. There were wounds there— it had drawn blood, but it wasn’t like he was cut in half, and before my eyes, they were closing. At a visible rate, his flesh knitted itself back together. What the hell, was he a super human?

“Are you alright?” I asked him, reaching out a hand. He looked at me, somehow managing to be condescending from the ground, before pulling himself to his feet and dusting himself off.

“I’m going to need new clothes.” He clicked his tongue, walking away without so much as acknowledging me besides that hateful stare.

“Shit.” I said, walking away. I thought I was going to have to bury that asshole… somewhere. But he was fine. V wasn’t kidding about this place selling superpowers. His wound would have killed anyone else here. I turned, spinning away, and returning to my group.

“So, whats the plan?” The girl asked. “I’m Ana, by the way.” She didn’t reach out to shake my hand or anything, simply stating her name and beginning to walk back towards the mall. I looked to V, who shrugged, and then I followed.

“What do you mean the plan?” I asked.

“You can’t just keep all this going the way it is. We need to establish authority, help everyone get tokens, form teams…” She began counting off tasks on her fingers. “If you want to keep everyone alive, they will all have to participate the game. Not just be victims to it.”

I nodded at that. I had seen what enhanced stats could do— the way that man outran the monster, the way he tanked a hit from it and lived.

“How do we get stats? They’re available at one of the shops?” I asked.

“Yeah. The candy shop.”

“Candy?” I asked. “You’re telling me the store that sells superhuman enhancement is the candy store?” I groaned. “The arcade gives you game like powers. The candy store gives you super human enhancement. The dojo is on some enter the matrix style bullshit. This place is messed up.”

“Just wait until you see the apothecary.” V said.

“The apothecary?” I asked. “In a mall? Shouldn’t it be, like, a pharmacy now?”

V nodded. “The buildings all change with time. Except the apothecary. Sells potions, medicine, elixirs of immortality. All the usual fixings.”

“Wait, immortality?”

“That’s a stretch.” Ana said. “It stops you from aging, sure, but immortal? I’ve seen three of those ‘immortals’ die.”

“Three? How many does your family have?” Willie asked.

“My family? Oh, no. They weren’t from my family.” She said dangerously.

“We need a list of the shops and everything they sell.” I said, cupping my chin.

“I’ve already started updating mine.” V said, pulling a book from his backpack. A hand written notebook, scrawled with page after page of information.

“Updating? You already had one?”

Ana pulled out a similar, if smaller, book from her own bag. “Every Family has one. Since we’re in a team now, do you want to swap notes?” She asked V.

“Once we’re inside.”

“But wait, you have to update them?” I asked.

“The shops update with every game. They offer new abilities, items… everything.” V said.

“Ah, I see…” I replied, fiddling with my tie. “Then, we will get everyone in the game to work together and update the shops tonight. If we send a couple people to every shop, we can be done before the next game with ease.”