' Status Window ' Reagan thought inwardly.
A holographic game interface - like system window appeared. A green colored system window only Reagan could see it. It had the following details.
[ STATUS WINDOW ]
NAME: Reagan Greywoods. TITLE: None
RACE: Human. LEVEL: 1
HP:10. MP:0
[ STATS ]
STRENGTH: 2 STAMINA: 4
AGILITY: 3 INTELLIGENCE: 7
DEFENSE: 5 FATIGUE: 1
[ SKILLS ]
NONE.
' Anytime I look at these stats, I wonder if am weak or average.' Reagan thought
' System Notification '
Another window popped up. It had the following details.
[ QUEST ]
TOWER ENTRANCE
YES: 666 666 667[ ]
NO: 666 666 666[ ]
Total no of players 1 333 333 333.
' Am I really the only one who haven't chosen? If I choose YES, we will all enter the tower and I can't guarantee my survival. Besides I don't know how long it will take to clear the tower. I can't leave my family alone. I reached 19 on the first hour of the new year meaning among my siblings am the only player.
If I choose NO, then the massacre will happen again. Although we are 10 km far away from the nearest tower that doesn't mean we are lucky that we might survive. What should I do?'
His thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a female teacher.
" Good morning" She greeted
" Good morning" the whole class replied.
" Take out your mathematics books, and open the topic calculus" said the teacher while writing the word MATHEMATICS, CALCULUS and the date on the white board. The class then proceeded.
[ 4:00 pm ]
The long day has ended due to the curfew. The school bus is not taking anyone back home due to restrictions. The sun is almost approaching the horizon. Flocks of birds gathered in the sky flying home. The students are all matching outside the school gate. A massive gate painted black, red, green and stripes of white sandwiched. There are men in their military uniform and guns standing besides the gate. As they walked out of the gate, Reagan tried searching for his siblings. He caught a glance of Telvin with friends and then searched for his sister. She was in a party of girls talking and laughing. He looked for Brian only to find him with his girlfriend
" It's gonna be a long journey " he muttered
[ Home ]
After almost a two hour journey, he finally reached home. He changed his clothes and dropped himself onto the bed to relax. His ankles had began to hurt. He lazily woke up from the bed and sat at his study area to do his homework. It's a small place besides the bed. When 7: 00 pm reached he went and had his dinner. At 8:00 pm he got on his bed and falled asleep
It's 8:00 pm now only four hours remaining before the month ends
[ MIDNIGHT ]
Reagan woke up from his sleep from the loud explosions outside the house. He drew the curtain to check out what's happening. What he saw made him realize the current situation. There are crimson dungeon like gates like those in the games. Out of the gates came monsters pouring out. There were different kind of monsters. A six feet tall ant with glossy red hard exoskeleton reflecting the fires that run rampart across the street. White furred lycanthropes and two feet green goblins holding wooden clubs and daggers. They had sharp pointed elongated ears. They cackled as they dropped dead bodies after they mercilessly killed.
The building he was on suddenly collapsed due to explosion. He passed out immediately.
By the time he woke up, his ears were ringing, his eyes were blurry and he was dizzy. His sister's voice managed to break through the ringing.
" Reagan! Reagan! Wake up! " His sister's voice echoed in his ears.
His vision managed to become clear and he caught his sister's face with blood spattered and tears rolling down the cheeks.
The sounds of ambulance siren and the crackling of the fire mixed with her sniffles. He woke up from her laps when he heard the sirens
" Where is mother?" He urgently asked.
Sniffle sniffle sniffle sniffle
" Mom" sniffle "is injured they are taking her to the hospital"
Although they were poor his sister managed to get an ambulance because of the influence of studying in an army's school.
Those words echoed in his ears. Their mother was injured that an ambulance had to come? How bad was the injury? What was he even doing when she was injured? Questions filled his head. He struggled and managed to wake up although having severe injuries. He had five broken ribs and his right hand fractured. He couldn't care less about the injuries only one thing was in his head, ' I have to find mother.'
He came out the almost wrecked apartment with blood oozing out of his head. Outside was terrible. The neighbors were holding weapons ranging from machetes to goblin's weapons. They were busy killing the monsters in order to survive.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sounds of gunshots echoed in the middle of the night. A police happened to be nearby the area. Monster's bodies lay waste on the ground. All that didn't matter to him. His eyes searched for the ambulance and he located it. Their mother was carried on a stretcher by the paramedics while Telvin followed behind crying.
Immediately he spot them he approached them.
Upon reaching a paramedic saw him trying to enter the back of the van.
" Are you a family member?" The paramedic gently asked.
" Yes" he replied trying so hard to hide the wheezing.
The paramedic allowed him to enter together with Laura. Inside was Telvin, a paramedic and his mother who has an oxygen mask.
The silent journey to the hospital began.
Upon arrival the mother was hurriedly taken to the ICU.
The three siblings silently sat at the forms on the hallway near the ICU room waiting for the doctor's news. An hour passed immediately and the doctor came out with a worried look.
" What happened to mother? She will be okay, right?" Telvin asked after seeing the worried look of the doctor.
"Your mother has suffered abrain damage and hypoxia. She is a comma." The doctor broke the news.
Why? Why didn't I chose Yes. If only I had chosen mother wouldn't be in this situation. All because I was selfish and didn't want to leave mother's side.
Regrets filled Reagan's head. He slowly walked of the hospital. He didn't care if he will get attacked by the monsters. He just wanted to clear his head. He sat at the form outside the hospital. He was lost in thoughts of regrets when he was suddenly attacked.
The wolf's paw swapped him like a fly sending him crashing on the nearby tree.
Thud!
His back hit the trunk of the tree.
Crack!
The impact broke another rib. He coughed up a gulp of tree. The started gasping for air and felt dizziness.
Growl! He could hear the wolf but barely see it
' It hurts. Am I going to die?'
He saw his life flashing. Only one thing kept appearing in his mind, his mother. There is no way he's gonna let all those memories end there.
' Sorry mother, your son will be heading off '
With that he thought,
' Notification.' The window appeared.
By now the wolf was dashing towards him ready to rip off his throat. Before the fangs reached the neck, he said
" YES"