Survival Interval: 448

Michael quickly scrolled through the interface pages. Of note, the number of remaining contenders had dropped below 3 million. Not really a surprise since this morning they had been only four hundred contenders away. It was just past 11 and they were already more than 20,000 below. Two and a half days and around 160,000 contenders had already fallen.

Besides for unfortunate people like Hannah who had landed in a difficult area, the battle managers were still dealing with the contenders with the kiddy gloves. Well as far as Michael was concerned. Most of the stuff he ran into was not putting up much of a challenge

Of more concern was his current bolt inventory. He had expended 19 bolts this morning and had only recovered 5 back. It left him with only 15 bolts to begin his challenge of the large office building, since he had to keep 1 perpetually in reserve. Of course with how long it would take him to move through the building, he would likely get quite a few more back before all was said and done. Michael resolved himself and moved up to the front door. Hopefully, whatever was inside could be dealt with, using only his bat.

The front entrance opened up into a large reception room. A desk was set off the far wall. Assumedly in a real office building it would be manned by receptionists, or maybe security. A set of stairs leading both up and down and elevators lined the walls on the left. On the right were a couple of benches and openings for bathrooms. Using an actual bathroom would be nice, if only he still needed to go.

Michael sighed, glancing at the stairs leading down, so much for their being only five levels for him to work through. Presumably they led to a basement. Michael only thought for a moment before deciding where to start. The 1st floor was a good place. Based on what he had seen before entering there were windows every 10 to 20 feet on all five floors visible from the street. Worst case, he would be able to run and jump through one of them. Perhaps that would not get him completely out of harm's way, but at least it would allow him to get outside of the building.

A door in both of the far corners led into the first office floor. The windows all had their blinds down. The room was far more visible than the warehouse he had been trapped in on day 1, but it was still pretty dark. True to office building fashion, the large room was separated by tall aisles of cubicles. However it appeared the height of these cubicles was still 6 feet tall.

“Great another maze,” Michael stated. He did not really care whether anything heard. If anything he would rather them rush out and attack him out in the open. Of course, he was not so lucky. A minute of silence passed. Perhaps the room was empty? Or they were waiting to ambush him. Zombies were not that smart, so it seemed unlikely that some of them would be inhabiting the room. A real shame, he had been looking forward to fighting off a bunch of office worker zombies. Perhaps on the next floor.

There was no sign of the green light, but perhaps the battle managers had done something to keep him from clearing large rooms with a single glance. There was one way to find out. Michael breathed deeply before proceeding forward, bat held at the ready. He glanced into the first office cells. Desks with an old fashioned computer and various officer materials. Mark dunked inside to grab some things he thought might come in handy. Markers to leave written messages, paper, a stapler, and a few other odds and ends. His inventory was not infinite. With the pipe wrenches, food, and water a good 80% of the space was already taken up. The limits were presumptively to keep contenders from taking everything not bolted down.

Michael ended his scavenging after pulling out two 25 foot extension cords. Despite not being particularly quiet, nothing had made a sound other than him, nor had he seen any movement. If anything it unsettled him more. The categories of undead, beasts, and plants could encompass a wide range of possibilities. Potentially, the creators had even mashed things together to fit some pretty obscure things in one of the three categories. While he had not seen anything, he had a feeling he was being watched,or he was just imagining such a feeling. It was hard to tell between a gut feeling and the uneasiness from the unknown.

Michael proceeded forward clearing cubicles as he passed them. It was through one such clearance when he caught the outline. A humanoid creature hiding beneath the desk. The creature reacted immediately. Whether it had been Michael’s gasp, or the shocked expression on his face, the creature had realized that it had been seen.

Only a second had passed from the realization before it had lunged out of the shadows at him while issuing a high pitch shriek, “Wraaaaaaaaaagghhhh.” Michael swung his bat, striking the creature in the side sending it slamming into the cubicle wall. It instantly tried to recover, but his bat was already streaking down. A satisfying crunch reverberated in the room, and the creature slumped to the ground.

[Ghoul; tier 0, deceased]

What lay before him was a hairless blue or gray skinned creature. clothes hung in tatters across its body. The creature’s fingers and toes ended in pointed claws. It had been faster and more durable than the tier 0 zombies he had encountered, but was a step down from the tier 1. The difference was either due to the creature being closer to evolving or due to it being a different species. However, he only had a second to study the creature and think.

The first ghoul’s shriek had apparently clued in the other ghouls in the room that the time for subtlety was up. Michael heard answering high pitch shrieks, “Wraaaaaaaaaagghhhh,” ring out from all corners of the room. Claws scraped against the floor and the cubicles. Several emerged from cubicles nearby, including one he had cleared a bit earlier. Several would be on him in seconds. He was already surrounded.

Michael had to bash one’s head in almost immediately before he was backed into one of the cubicles. He leapt on top of a desk, and what greeted him was a frightening sight. Ghouls were scrambling on all fours on top of the cubicles. So much for only having to worry about the ones coming through the cubicle's entrance. Now was not the time to conserve his bolts. This was perhaps one of the most dangerous situations he had found himself in. He did not know how many there were, but it was more than ten.

Michael slammed his bat down on another ghoul approaching from the floor. However, the ‘damn thing’ raised its arms intercepting the strike. One of the arms was snapped practically in half. The bone had been completely severed although skin allowed the practically severed appendage to hang. The ghoul was knocked back, limp arm bouncing about, but Michael’s attention had already shifted. His left arm departed sending a bolt into the face of the closest ghoul scrambling from on top of the cubicles.

Michael was only able to note that the ghoul’s body was falling before his attention was drawn to two ghouls inside his cubicle. His left hand rejoined the bat and he delivered a crushing blow to one. Once again the creature had tried to block or dampen the blow with its arms, but its positioning had been off. Michael was sure it would not be rejoining the fight.

The other ghoul with a broken arm swiped with its clawed fingers at Michael’s leg. Michael swung his leg back to get out of reach, but the claws tore through fabric. A pulse of crippling force surged from his leg. The only sign that the creature had cut into his calf. It was only a flash, but Michael was off balance and was not able to move his body in time to prevent him from falling off the desk. He was just able to get a leg under him to prevent fully crashing into the floor instead his shoulder slammed in the cubicle as he righted himself.

The wall shook but easily held. The wounded ghoul had to crawl over the desk to reach him, which was likely the only reason Michael recovered before the creature was on him. Michael’s bat arched up, cracking the ghoul on the chin, sending it staggering back. Michael had to shoot two bolts to down a new ghoul that had entered the cubicle, bringing it down. A gold 3 crown coin blazed out before streaking into him.

Michael hardly had the time to appreciate the gain. Another mighty swing finally brought down ‘broke arm’. This time a white orb appeared. Michael sensed the ghoul leaping down at him from above. He dived out of the way just in time. After a second to right himself, he sent two bolts at the new threat. The second took it through the eye.

Michael was already moving. Up and out of the cubicle. Already several more ghouls were closing in from above as well as others from the ground. Michael needed to move or he was done for. Several ghouls were approaching from his right, but Michael still chose to go that way because even more were approaching from the left. It took 3 bolts to bring down the two. A fourth, fifth, and sixth were required to take down another one on top of the cubicle in that direction.

Michael was running low on bolts, but he could not afford to get hold up for an instant. A clump of ghouls were hot in pursuit. Several more crowns streaked into him as he passed their bodies. In seconds he was back into the front entrance reception room. The ghouls scrambling over the cubicles had fallen behind leaving only four a couple steps behind him.

Michael turned on a dime. Left arm shooting up. He had lost count of how many bolts he had left, so he expended them until he got to the last one. There had only been four left. Two of the four ghouls were dropped. Michael slammed his bat across both ghouls. They both blocked the strike with their arms. Bone cracked but the arms held together. Both ghouls were forced back a step.

Michael did not hesitate, his next swing struck one down, and he moved onto the next. This ghoul took two more swings. One swing broke through the ghoul’s defenses snapping both of its forearms. The second caved in its skull. Another gold coin flashed into him. Two more ghouls were already upon him. They were fast, and Michael could not afford to use his bracer, which would result in him losing the item. It was difficult, but Michael could manage if there were only two of them. A dozen or so swings later, and the last of the ghouls was struck down. Michael received another coin, and a second white drop.

Michael was too frazzled to immediately appreciate the drops. His eyes darted side to side as he turned clearing the area. The room was clear, so Michael quickly snagged the white drop before retreating near the front door. Last thing he needed were some more ghouls to emerge from the next level or from the basement. It also assumed he had finished off all the ones on the current floor.

Michael checked his log. “Fifteen!...” he exclaimed. He had taken down 15 of the creatures. Sure it had been lucrative, netting him 8 coins and 2 stat points, but it had not been an easy battle. Easily as or more dangerous as the situations he had faced on day 1. The ghouls had been clever and calculating. If he had not seen the first one hiding under the desk, he might have gone deeper into the middle of all of them. He might not have made it out of that.

Thinking about it caused Michael to run the creature’s name by the encyclopedia. Something that had not occurred to him with the wasps, hounds, or zombies.

[Ghouls: Intelligent nocturnal undead with fangs and claws that can cause momentary paralysis. Known for feasting on corpses and their extreme aversion to sunlight.]

“Look at that,” Michael exclaimed. He could have just run outside since it was still daylight to escape. Good to know if he ran into them again. Michael also did not miss the note about their attacks causing paralysis, so that is what had happened.

Michael checked his leg. The pant leg had a couple of gouges through the material, but his leg had little more than a serious scratch. It had not even dropped him a point in HP. Still paralysis, what a frightening thing to go up against. Good thing he had put a lot of points to increase his speed and reaction time. With just that little scratch he had been frozen for half a second. What if the wound had been deeper, or he had faced a stronger ghoul? Michael shivered at the thought. Another near miss, he had not even been aware of at the moment. He considered how to alleviate the issue for a minute.

Increasing toughness was the most likely option. It might help him resist weak paralysis attacks entirely, or decrease their duration at the very least. Strength was a far less likely option, but the concept of powering through seized up muscles did occur to him. The idea was out there, but not inconceivable. The question was would two points in toughness make enough of a difference, or would doubling down on his strength and his speed the better option.

Michael considered the options. After several minutes, he scowled. He would not be happy, regardless of what he decided. Whatever, he thought throwing both points into strength. They likely would have no effect on resisting the paralysis, but the ghouls had proven more resistant to his strikes. Two more points in strength might just be enough to make them more manageable. His reactions and speed had not been too bad. Killing more ghouls with his first strike was likely the thing that would help him the most.

Michael moved toward the front door. He had not given up, but he was done for the day. He had a pretty good idea where the green drop would be now. It was likely in the basement since the ghouls did not like the sunlight. It was clear they were the drop’s guardian, so it made sense to put it where they would be the least affected.

One thing Michael was sure about, was that he was not about to enter the basement, until his bracer had spawned some more bolts. Sure he would spawn a bunch throughout the day, but Michael was thinking about starting again in the morning. It was the longest he could afford to wait for bolts to respawn.

For the rest of the day, Michael would grind around the area, before hunkering down for the night. He could only hope that the ghouls strength did not advance by too much over night.

True to the thought, Michael grinded for the rest of the day obtaining an additional 3 stat points. He threw them all into strength giving him 20 strength in total. Five more points in strength should make the ghouls easier to deal with, provided they had not all evolved over the night.

Michael decided on a single story restaurant to hole up for the night. It was easy to clear out the cashier, waiter, and cook zombies, and it led him to discover as many crackers as he could take. Michael refilled his inventory. No reason not to, and the crackers would likely go pretty good with the soup he already had.

Michael scrolled through his interface pages. The day had been productive netting him a host of coins and an additional 7 stat points, but he was still disappointed in being forced to take a step back. However, he had been taking it in stride.

On the contender page he saw something that made his heart ache. Hannah Smith, the woman he had run into mid morning had not made it. Her name was faded with a line through it. If that was not enough of an indication? Next to her name was the word deceased.

Michael had no way of telling when it had happened. He had left her a good 9 or 10 hours ago. She could have died at any point after that, but he could not help but feel that perhaps if he had escorted her back things might have ended up differently for the considerate middle aged woman. Just like him, she had probably joined the survival battle to give her and her family a hope for a better future. Only for her to suffer, what was likely a gruesome end.

A gruesome end that awaited most of the contenders. Phil, Becky, Michele, Vince, and Shen. Their names were grayed out, but they were all still alive. How much longer before one of them, or he himself met his end. Other than Vince, Michael felt that he would feel another wave of sadness if any of them fell. Even Shen who had not said a single word to him. It was a bit strange since at most he had spent half an hour with any of them, but in them he saw himself and others he had known throughout his lifetime. People hoping for a better future, who were forced to risk their lives.

The whole thing was a bit messed up, but perhaps things were better than they were 500 years ago during the last realm-wide war, which had resulted in several worlds becoming uninhabitable for the foreseeable future. Then tens of billions had died, and the realm had been pushed to the brink. The factions had come up with the idea to unite out of necessity, choosing to line behind a ruler selected from a battle very much like this one.

They were on their second realm ruler now, the second succession battle occurring several decades before his birth. Several decades before that, was when battles like this had come into existence. A messed up form of entertainment considering that the creators could make this entire virtual world. Why did they need real people like him to participate?

Perhaps the real stakes made it more interesting for the rich and powerful? Regardless, while Michael thought the whole thing was messed up, he was also thankful for the opportunity. What would have become of him, if he had not taken this gambit, Michael hated the thought. At least till the moment he fell, his dreams would remain alive. At least here he could experience things he would have never gotten the chance to, otherwise.

Michael set up a bag of plastic cups for his pillow, and leaned back. It might take him a couple of hours to fall asleep. All the while he would be forced to ruminate in the guilt and think about the future sorrows he had yet to face.