Alexander palmed his leg and looked at the clock.

00:05:37

He had spent the time resting as much as he could, summoning up a hot shower and a soft bed. It was the best sleep of his life, but all the while that clock reminded him of what was to come.

He also gorged himself. During his time in this home, he was able to get any food he wished for. He ate steak, lobster, and even caviar, and he washed it down with wine, soda and beer.

When the clock read five minutes, he began to do some stretches. His body was still incredibly sore, even though it healed faster than it ever had. The stretching hurt, but at the same time felt needed. Finally, when the clock hit zero, the white room went away.

He jolted when he found himself in some sort of airship. It had eight seats, each of them filled with other similarly shocked people of all ages and sizes. They were all strapped down and the ship was moving chaotically. He looked around furiously until he saw Terra.

"Hello and welcome to the final part of the tutorial. You will be dropped off at a base and will defend the objective until you all die. Once you die, you will wait in the white rooms you were at before until the rest of your party dies. I will give no information about where you will be or what will come for you. Your stats and abilities are now listed in your character menu. To bring it up, simply think of it. Goodbye for now." And with that, Terra was gone.

The other members started to look at panels invisible to Alexander, so he followed suit by thinking of his character screen. It popped up. It was a large square, with a 3D picture of him in the top left corner, his stats directly beneath it. He started reading his stats.

Strength (STR) 35 +0

Dexterity (DEX) 17 +0

Constitution (CON) 20 +0

Intelligence (INT) 57 +0

Wisdom (WIS) 18 +0

Charisma (CHA) 5 +0

Willpower (WIL) 13 +0

Perception (PER) 28 +0

He looked at the numbers confusingly, but then he saw a message pop up.

The stats you have been given are based on your percentile compared to your race. Once you level something past 100, you will be beyond any human outside of the game.

Alexander thought for a moment. Outside the game... He then tried searching for any skills he might have.

You have no skills. Try new things to gain some!

Alexander took a moment. Nothing? He thought back and realized it was true. He never did anything with his life. He didn't try to learn any skills outside of school, he never participated in clubs, and he didn't care about much other than doing enough to get by and playing video games. Suddenly, shock spread in his system as he realized he might be out of his depth.

After steeling himself, he looked over at his group members, who also started to look around. Above each of their heads was their first name. Thinking back, Alexander never picked a name. But before anyone started speaking, the airship they were on jostled around horribly and landed with a hiss. Then, the back opened up and started to lower to the ground. But before anyone did anything, a voice rang throughout the ship.

"I am commander Volt of Terra's forces." A tall, grizzled man smoking a cigar stepped out of the cockpit. He wore a military uniform that had a tesseract insignia on it, the symbol of Terra. "I've led you all to where your tutorial will continue; it's that base right outside. There's a shop inside to buy equipment, but other than that you won't have much. I won't tell you anything specific, but I will give some advice to you lot. This is not just a game. Do not treat it like a game. By any of your definitions, this is now fucking reality. It's a scary and chaotic place out there, and most of you will either regress into safe spaces or leave the game for as long as you can take it. Good luck." Some members of the group tried to speak up, but all the seatbelts came loose at once, and commander Volt just pointed outside.

The group straggled out and struggled to look up as the airship left, its engines flying snow everywhere. As Alexander walked out onto the snow, he could barely keep still. His feet were practically screaming in pain, and the whipping winds stole any warmth his body could produce. He started to shiver violently, as did the others, so they all rushed to the building, a timer appearing as they did.

Countdown until mountain lion attack 01:00:00. Enemies left– 10.

The group collectively sighed in relief as they barged in, the heating in the building soothing their worries.

A tall Filipino man began first, stepping onto a chair. "My name is Brandon, as you have already seen. I used to be special forces for the United States navy, and I will guide you all on surviving for however long we can."

"What was your ID number?" Another man spoke. He was just as tall, white, and covered in brown hair and tattoos.

"1401762198. And who are you, Peter?" The Filipino man responded quickly.

"I was a marine." Peter said slowly, looking at him up and down. The other members began to show worry, but then Peter showed a wide smile. "Glad to see I'm not the only grunt around here." Peter then walked up to Brandon and gave him a firm handshake.

"You two done with your dick waving contest?" A woman responded from across the room. Her name read Jade, and everyone turned towards her. "I'm nobody, but I'm good with a knife. It looks like there are four men and four women, an equal team. That probably means that this team has a diverse assortment of skills, too." Jade wore black pants and had a black leather coat. Her hair was a dark-red color with streaks of brown, and her eyes were piercing.

"I agree. Terra probably arranged this group purposefully. Everyone probably has unique skills and experience" The group turned to the man speaking. "My name is Steven. I used to be an IT guy, and I went to school for AI development." Steven was a short and slightly chubby man, with curly brown hair and thick glasses.

"Well, my name is Sarah." A woman spoke up. She had on jeans and a flannel, and had wavy blonde hair. "I used to be a professor of biology, but I'm afraid I'm not any good with… combat."

"I took karate lessons for a while growing up, and I kept up with exercise regularly in my life." Another woman spoke up. She was almost as tall as Brandon and had a fit body. She wore gray shorts and a shirt. "My name is Jenny, and I'm a yoga instructor as well.”

"I'm only really good with a bow." The last woman spoke up. She had on black boots, a camo overall, and a camo sweatshirt. She also had on a bright orange hat, and she spoke with a southern accent. "My name's Kate, I could probably do some long range support."

"Ok, so at least most of you can do stuff." Brandon started after nodding to Kate. "But what about you, kilt man?" Suddenly, all attention was drawn to Alexander– he turned bright red.

"I don’t know,” Alexander stuttered. “I don’t really have any cool skills. I was a college student going for general education and was trying to find my passion. And my name is Alexander, so please call me that."

Brandon looked at him up and down. "All right Alexander, can you do anything at all?"

"Well I got an Intelligence score of fifty seven, so maybe I could formulate a plan?"

"Hmm, probably not. Just because you can read doesn't mean you know anything about combat. Still, does anyone have an intelligence score equal to or above his?"

Sarah spoke up. "Mine is eighty nine. I used to be top in my field." No one else spoke up, however.

"Ok, well first things first, this isn't a game, just like the commander said. You may logically know it is, but right now it sure doesn't feel like it. When action happens, and you all see blood and death, you're gonna go into shock. We need to mitigate that." Brandon started.

"I agree." Followed Peter. "I can be front-line with special ops over here. Jade, you said you were good with a knife, would you mind joining us?"

Jade shrugged in agreement.

"Ok, so we can have us three up front near the entrance. Kate, could you go to the roof and do recon and sniping for us?" Brandon continued.

"Sounds good to me, but where the hell do I get a bow?"

"Right here." Steven went over to a counter with a computer terminal. He typed some stuff in, then turned it to show Kate. "It will cost you some money though… around fifty credits. What do you all have?"

"I've only got fifty..." Kate said with a sigh.

"Ain't that a coincidence." Brandon chuckled. "I've got one hundred of these credits. Ok everyone, buy what you need and let's get into place."

The next hour was a blur to Alexander. He felt totally out of place. All around him people were buying weapons, meditating, prepping for combat, building a shield generator, and generally looking busy. But he just stood in silence.There was a plan in formation, but Alexander was just shrinking further into himself. He was lost, and all he could feel was dread.

Steven and Sarah were attending to a shield generator Brandon had bought, and Alexander stood by them in case they needed anything. They didn’t.

The timer went from five minutes, to one, from seconds, then none. And when that damned clock ran out, a bell sounded. The fight was on.

Alexander was looking out a window as the other two kept a close eye on the shield generator. Outside he saw only the snow fluttering about– but then he heard it. In fact, everyone did. It was a massive, guttural roar that reverberated throughout the air. Alexander's mind shook as he suddenly felt very small.

They came all at once, but the fighters outside were in position. Peter had a spear and was in the front of a triangle formation. On his right was Jade with glowing dual knives and to his left Brandon with a broadsword. They covered the entrance but were outside the shield generator field, which enveloped Kate up top with Jenny as her guard.

Instantly, Kate started showering the beasts with arrows as the trio outside held their ground. Not much hit, as the lions were shifting around vigorously, but eventually one arrow found its home in the right eye of a lion. It dropped over.

The other lions, disturbed by this show, charged. Peter held three at bay himself. Jade dodged a flanking attack. And Brandon was working on finishing off one. It was a ferocious dance of death, and Alexander was frozen solid.

After a great deal of effort, Jade managed to strike an artery in a lions neck, bringing it down, while Brandon caught his lion off guard and decapitated it. All was going well until one of the three lions pressing down on Peter suddenly leaped forward and snapped his spear in half. He leaped back as the other two instantly came to his aid. Peter shouted out.

"Kilt fucker! Get me something!" Time froze as he saw the expression on Peter's face. He realized at that moment that no one else could do it. The two scientists were horrifically busy keeping the generator active, and Jenny couldn't leave Kate unprotected. This was a task solely for him. And that's when he felt it. He felt his heart beat.

Something deep within took over for just a few seconds, allowing him to move despite his whole body trembling. He fumbled his way over to the shop, grabbed a basic sword, and almost tripped his way outside. The cold instantly shocked him, but the adrenaline was just enough to propel him towards Peter, haphazardly handing him the weapon.

Peter thanked him with a nod, and Alexander saw the appreciation in his eyes. The trio then charged forward and repelled the main force of lions. But before Alexander turned to head back, he heard a growl. He slowly forced himself to look, and saw a lion, with an arrow in its eye, stir to life.

His mind finally realized what had been bugging him. When Brandon had decapitated that lion, the number on the top of the screen went down by one. Currently, there were eight left. And with that one Jade cut down...

The trio did not notice, but Sarah sure as hell did. He caught a glimpse of her. Her eyes said sorry. He knew the scientists would not help. He was alone. Alexander was frozen completely still, almost pissing himself, as the lion moved up towards him. Now inches away, it roared as it rose into the air, claws glimmering in the sunlight.