“Hold on. Almost there.” Alf ducked inside the cave and eased Blix onto the warm stone floor. “It’s okay. We should be safe here. What did you want me to do?”

Silence.

“Blix?” He touched her shoulder. Gave it a tentative shove. “Blix,” he called out, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Her skin was hot and dry. A gurgle rattled through her chest with every breath. No, no, no… This could not be happening. “Blix! Wake up. What did you want me to try?”

Crap! Panic crushed the air from his lungs. His head echoed with a high-pitched ring. His throat was closing up. He couldn’t breath. He had to calm down. Had to think. Slow breaths. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. Slower. If he didn’t get a grip... Acidosis. He needed an inhaler. A paper bag…

His hands were shaking as he tore open Blix’s blood-soaked tunic and used it to wipe the blood from her chest and side. A froth of foamy pink bubbles welled up from a deep puncture wound between her ribs. It wasn’t making a sucking noise. Not exactly. But those bubbles didn’t look good.

Think! He tried to remember his lifeguard training, but what was he supposed to do without ballpoint pens or super glue or duct tape? He didn’t even have a phone to call 9-1-1.

Pressing a hand against the deepest wound, he brought up his game interface and focused on the skills section. First aid, he flung the thought at the interface. “First aid!” he shouted the words out loud. “I’m putting pressure on the wound. Why can’t you give me a healing skill? I’m trying as hard as I can.”

“Hello, Jane? Are you there?”

Silence.

“Jane!” He turned his attention to the class attribute. “Healer!” he called out. “Doctor! Paramedic! Nurse!” Crap… Those were too modern. What did they call healers in the middle ages? “Witch doctor! Plague doctor! Come on!”

He was a geek. He should know this. All his friends played RPGs. Why did he have to be such a freak? He thought back to every anime he’d ever seen. “Water bender! Sylph! Life mage! Nurse Joy!”

He’d heard Brian talking about D&D. His party mush have had a healer. What was it? That dragon-human thingy. Podrick something. Podrick the… “Paladin!” he shouted.

The Paladin class is unavailable to players below level 5.

A thousand thoughts flooded his mind at once, threatening to tip him back into the abyss. No, he could do this. Level 5 wasn’t that far away. And that Podrick dragon guy was supposed to be this lawful, do-gooder, holy healer guy.

He dismissed the dialog with a thought and leaned over to listen to Blix’s gurgling breath. If he left her now, she might die. But if he didn’t do something quick, she would definitely die. He didn’t have a choice.

Ripping a bloody wad of cloth from the unconscious girl’s tunic, he pressed it to the puncture wound and rolled her onto her stomach so that the ground held the makeshift bandage in place.

She’s better off this way. Grabbing his cane, he ran out into the darkening night. Leaping down the uneven steps, skirting the sulfur-smelling pond, racing full speed up the slope. Turning her on her stomach will help her lungs drain. She’ll be fine.

He plunged through the hedge of thorns and pounded down the hill. The moon peaked through the fog, giving the forest a ghostly, werewolf-lurking-in-every-shadow glow. His health was up to 54 now. That should hold him until he reached level 4. He was only 895 experience points away. He could do this.

He ran blindly through the forest, dodging this way and that through the trees. Where where all the monsters when he needed them? He whacked his cane against a passing tree. Come on! He was covered in nice delicious blood. That had to count for something.

The first wolf he’d killed have given him 220 points, but after reaching level 3 the points had dropped to 120—which meant he needed to kill eight more wolves. Less, if they were extra-large deluxe wolves.

Alf cut left as a flicker of movement caught his eye. A shadow darted out from behind a bush and disappeared behind a wall of honeysuckle-looking vines. He crashed through the vines without slowing down.

And ran into a huge pack of wolves.

“Die!” Alf roared at the top of his lungs and charged the two wolves right in front of him. His cane smashed into the snout of the rightmost wolf as he raced between them. Then, sliding to a stop, he turned and delivered a more focused blow to the skull of its buddy as it whipped around to meet him.

Three more blows, and then he ran for the cover of a gnarled old tree and turned. The wolves were coming at him from three sides. Lunges and slashes and snapping, tearing bites, but he kept on pounding. A wolf got its mouth around his left arm, but he jammed his forearm deep between its jaws, taking away all its leverage as he bashed its skull in with his club.

Four wolves down. Their bodies formed a low wall which he used to protect his legs. Five wolves down. Six…

A yelping bark sounded from the rear of the pack. The wolves started to retreat, but he ran down a straggler and smashed his club into it’s spine.

“Come on!” He called after them. “You’re supposed to be monsters. You’re supposed to stand and fight!”

He ran deeper into the forest, attacking everything that crossed his path. A demonic-looking porcupine, a red-and-black frog, a mangy pig-rat the size of a St. Bernard… Finally, after dropping one more demorcupine, he finally reached level 4.

Congratulations! You have attained Level 4 and have been awarded the following:

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 3 Skill Points

He collapsed beneath an oak tree and checked his stats. His experience was at 95/2100. Two thousand more points before he reached level 5. He staggered to his feet, but he was so tired he could barely stand. He placed two stat points into constitution and another point into strength. Energy buzzed through his muscles like five cups of espresso. Not only did it raise his health and stamina, but it raised his faire du canne boost from 24.15% to 29.4%.

Name: Jane

Level: 4

Class: —

Health: 79/225

Stamina: 80/195

Mana: 784/784

Exp: 95/2100

Attr Points: 0

Skill Points: 3

ST: 13

DX: 11

CN: 15

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Combat Skills:

Faire du Canne 7: (Effective Skill: 9.8, Basis: ST+DX, Enhancement: 29.4%)

Grappling 1: (Effective Skill: 1.23, Basis: 2ST+DX, Enhancement: 3.7%)

Crafting Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 1.95, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 5.85%)

He set out at a slow jog through the forest, filling in a new swath of his minimap with each pass. Rats, spiders, demorcupines, a few lone wolves… He came across a few of the smaller monsters, but now that he was level four, they barely gave enough experience to make a difference.

He had to get back to Blix. Had to run faster. He was taking too way long. “Hey!” he shouted into the darkness. “Here I am. Dinner is served. Come and get me!” He plodded to a stop and sagged against a tree, panting like an asthmatic dog.

No movement, no footsteps, even the bugs had stopped buzzing. What was the deal? Had all the monster mommies imposed a curfew?

He turned reluctantly and headed back to the cave to check on Blix. If she was still okay, then maybe he could search another area. If not… He broke into a run, ignoring his aching legs and burning lungs.

A roar sounded right behind him, sending him tumbling to the ground. Scrabbling to get turned around, he looked up and froze.

Leather greaves, steel breastplate and helmet, a two-handed sword that was at least six feet long… It was a giant.