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Chapter 15: Level 5 -- A Chance To Fight Back

"What kind of monster do you think it is?" Hayden asked as he loaded the gun. I winced, as the gash in my stomach was still bleeding and aching. Fortunately, if the level was completed, it would be fully healed, and it wasn't bleeding too much.

"It reminds me of the vague monsters that people make in games that are meant to be cheap and scary, but not much else. In fact, every game so far has pretty much been like that."

"Is that a good thing?" Rey asked as we all began jogging out of the hallway.

"So, you shoot in real life?" I asked Hayden.

"Yeah, yeah I shoot in games and in real life," Hayden said and winked at me. He glanced down. "You ok by the way?"

"I'll be fine," I said. "Let's just rescue Blake and Austin, and focus on the next steps then."

"What's up with you and Austin getting injured? Could've sworn the game has it out for you," Rey said, and I gave a quick scoff.

"It's cause they are the ones taking the most risk. You just jumped out there to save the kid. Commendable, but stupid." Hayden said as we kept moving. I rolled my eyes, however, at the same time, he did have a point. I wasn't exactly thinking, it was all very instinctive. Now I was injured, Austin was going to try and beat the creature unarmed, and it was a mess.

Blake's screams echoed across the hall. We followed the direction and entered a double door, running straight into a basketball court. Blake was in the center of court, and the monster was circling around him. I turned and spotted Austin on the right, slowly standing up, wincing.

"Austin!" Rey called out . "We've got a gun!"

"Don't shoot! You might hit Blake!"

"We're going to have to draw that thing away from Blake." I said. "How confident are you in your shot, do you think you would miss me."

"Lady this is a shotgun, I don't mean to alarm you, but aiming is not the main feature here, it's to inflict as much damage as possible to a wide range as possible."

I stared at the shotgun, then at Austin who slowly walked up to us. The monster was still circling Blake.

"Why hasn't it attacked us yet?" Rey asked.

"We're not in the fighting range," I said, and winced again.

"Are you ok?" Austin asked.

"Like you care," I snapped.

"Woah, ladies and gents please, keep the riff raff down," Hayden said, staring at me and then at Austin. "Let's just focus on, you know, getting Blake out of there alive."

"Whenever I step into the range, it first tries to stab me with those long arms, if it doesn't reach then it starts to run towards me, and barreled me like a bull," Austin said. "It flung me to the side, which was where you guys found me."

"Well, once it barrels towards someone, someone else can take the shot, and another one of us can get Blake out of there," I said. "Rey, you're the fastest runner – can you fetch Blake?"

"No, let me run away from the barreling monster instead, I think I can dodge," Rey said clapping his hands together.

"That's my man, I'll take the shot, Vera, you're wounded so Austin – grab your nephew."

Austin nodded and I gave him a quick glance before staring down at the floor. What he said was finally sinking in, and I couldn't help being snappy. But Hayden had a point, we could focus on our issues later. Right now, we needed to save Blake.

Rey slowly walked closer and closer to the monster. The creature stirred, then suddenly shot forward towards Rey. Rey jumped to the side and Hayden fired the gun. It struck the creature, sending it catapulting to the other side of the room. Hayden aimed again and I spotted Austin and Blake were already back to the other side of the room. It was quiet.

"Are you kidding me? One shot? That was it?" Hayden said.

"I suspect most people wouldn't shoot it so accurately in one go," I said. "I think you got in the maximum hit points which was enough."

Hayden slowly walked to the monster, aimed the gun and fired. "Alright, well then," Hayden slowly walked backwards, not taking his eyes off the monster. "Let's go. You still ok to walk?"

"I'm fine," I said as I pulled my shirt up slightly. It was still bleeding slowly, but in reality it wasn't too bad.

"When did that happen?" Austin asked.

"When she was trying to rescue Blake," Rey said. "Can't trust us, aye?" Rey walked next to me as we all turned around and quietly headed back.

"There was a fire exit down those stairs, what do you want to bet the door is now open?" Hayden asked. "Let's go and fight it out there."

Hayden still kept the shotgun in his hands, aiming properly as they were slowly walking through the corridor.

"I'm sorry Austin, I messed up – I messed up," Blake whispered at the back. "I sneeze. I was so stupid. I sneezed, and it heard me –"

"It's ok buddy," Austin said. "I was the one who messed up."

I glanced at Rey and stopped as we reached the door again. Rey opened it and we all walked down. Sure enough, the door was glowing green. I practically sprinted through and took a deep breath as I could feel my stomach healing. I lifted my shirt. It was no longer there.

"I'm gonna go take a nap," Hayden said slapping his hands together.

"I'm gonna go exploring," Rey opted.

"Blake, can you wait in the lounge? Get some rest –"

"I'm not tired," Blake said.

"Just some rest, ok? Just – I need to talk to Vera."

"Actually, I was hoping to explore with Rey –" I said. I took a step towards the direction Rey headed, but Austin took hold of my arm and I froze.

"What is it Austin?" I asked.

"I'm sorry," Austin said. "I messed up."

I glanced at Austin. "I got injured trying to rescue YOUR nephew. And you just assumed we didn't try to do anything. I shouldn't have even gotten out of the locker."

"I wasn't thinking."

"No you weren't," I muttered. "But what happened, it couldn't be helped. It was a freak accident, Blake messed up. He sneezed right as we were hiding."

"He's twelve –"

"So? He could've gotten us all killed," I snapped. "So next time you decide to get mad at us, maybe put some thought or find out the context. I didn't sign up to risk my life for some kid, but I did it anyway. And that was the thanks I got?"

Austin glanced at the ground. "I'll talk to Blake, explain to him the risks. Are you ok?"

I swallowed. His tone was soft, not exactly what I expected. I knew Austin was probably in shock, and it was in the moment. His reaction was somewhat understandable, but then again, I was frustrated myself. Angry. But it wouldn't help to stay mad at him – or not too long anyhow.

"No, I'm not, I want to get out of here. I hate being here. I hate all of this."

Austin nodded. "We're gonna get through this."

"Damn you."

"What did I do now?"

"I want to stay mad at you, but you're making it so hard."

The corner's of Austin's mouth twitched slightly and I shook my head.

"Just, I can't lie to you. Blake is a liability, but he is also a kid, he doesn't deserve to be here, but he's going to have to grow up really quickly, especially just for now. You can't be so soft on him."

Austin crossed his arms.

"We were really lucky today, but that's not a guarantee for the next level."