Stepping through the portal, Kantala started shivering almost immediately. It was winter in the Hokkaido prefecture and standing under the shade structure at the bus terminal provided little protection from the elements. Akaigawa was a small tourist village just a few miles from the ski resorts on the island and yet still rural. Walking from the bus-stop toward the center of town she passed a small canal that irrigated farms in the summer.

Rygor’s family owned an Onsen, or hot-springs hotel about five-miles down the road. She could have chosen to jump straight there but since it was out in the woods she wanted to get a feel for how accurate those zombie rumors were.

Crunching her way through the snow she hummed to herself. She had visited Japan last summer as part of a family vacation. The beaches on the northern island of Japan were a blissful escape from the winter hell that was Toronto.

Akaigawa had been a side trip but since they were in the area, she wanted to visit her online friend, Rygor. His real name was Takahashi Riku and they had been playing Champions together all year. Getting to visit her friend on the other side of the world was a blast and while the two of them had been good friends beforehand, staying with his family for a week had made them closer than ever. One thing she came to appreciate during her time there was the tranquility of rural Japan. Walking through the abandoned streets reminded her of the times where she and Riku-san had hung out in the garden while his oba-chan made them refreshing summer treats.

The one thing that didn’t belong here in the village was zombies. And after walking about a hundred yards she started hearing the moaning of the dead. At the end of one of the street blocks was an entire pack of regular shambling zombies. These were pretty run of the mill undead so Kantala took her time and nonchalantly strung up her bow.

Finally, she unloaded a volley of several arrows at once towards the pack and charged them. She could hear the zombies behind her attempt to keep up but she is extremely fast on her feet, even in the somewhat icy streets. Thoomp! Another four zombies spat up blood and phlem as she blasted them with another set of arrows. Each of the arrows was magically lit with fire as it left her bowstring and the smell of rotten burning flesh nearly made her gag. Eyes watering, she continued the charge and slid under the legs of one of the zombies as it reached its spidery thin arms towards her, trying to rend her apart.

Past the pack of zombies, she looked back and saw more of them gathering to chase her but they were no match for her speed now she was out of the village. Out in the open she could run around any zombies that tried to get in her way. About a mile later she caught her breath. She ran pretty much the entire stretch past the last several snowy fields and over several irrigation bridges.

Ahead of her was a snowy hill where the Takahashi family lived. Sadly, just like herself, Riku-san was the last of his family. Kantala remembered being so ecstatic when Rygor had logged in to Champions to say that he was leaving to play ARO. She had jumped up and down and hugged him while he’d stood there, baffled. Just a few days earlier she’d also been approached by Terrazon, Inc. to join their new beta testing for the game. Both of them could enjoy the game together.

Or so she had thought. It had been a week of bliss before the end of the world came. Kantala still remembered the news coming in from that time. People panicked on the streets as cities burned and nukes flew. Then after that all the news outlets went down. Most people lost power and were forced from their homes. Some survived as mutants but most didn’t make it.

She stopped going to her engineering job and retreated deeper into her gaming world. Since she lived with her family she kept them fed and clothed and tried to help the others in their tower apartment as best she could. The power to her VR and their flat still worked perfectly, despite the fact that power systems were shut down in the rest of their high-rise. They could stay there indefinitely and Kantala could go out on her avatar to obtain whatever resources they needed.

But her family refused to see reason. They went out on their own and tried to help some of their friends in one of the suburbs but never returned. Kantala found their half-eaten bodies later that week at the end of an alley. Thinking about it again nearly brought tears to her eyes. She hoped that this time she wouldn’t be too late to save Rygor.

The snow stopped falling and as the night closed in on Akaigawa, the temperatures plummeted. Although she was more resistant to the elements on her character, she wasn’t immune. She noticed her stamina bar starting to dip. She would need to seek out shelter soon but she wasn’t quite there yet. Instead, she ran short stretches up the old highway towards the Onsen. The forest was achingly beautiful and she could see billions of stars here since the night sky was untouched by any manmade light. Growing up in the city, she’d grown fond of the few times her family had been able to escape to the backwoods in Canada. Being out here was a similar feeling – like the forest had a life of its own.

She reached the circular drive leading up to the Onsen and a feeling of nostalgia washed over her despite having been here during the summer. The way that the old architecture of the hotel seemed to speak of a different, simpler time appealed to her sense of aesthetic. However, right away she could sense that not all was right. A prickling on the back of her neck alerted her to the danger she was in. Seeing nothing for the moment, she pressed ahead before the sense of dread could overwhelm her.

Kantala crept inside as quietly as possible. The tatami mats gave slightly under her shoes. She felt guilty committing such a faux pas as walking into a Japanese building wearing boots – and muddy ones at that. However, something about the danger she’d felt outside hadn’t abated when she’d entered the old building. If anything, her Spidey senses tingled even more. Her daggers were out and in hand. While her bow was her weapon of choice it would do her little good in close quarters if she had to fight inside the bath house.

It took her a few minutes of stealthily creeping through the Onsen to come to the realization that no one was home. None of the lights were on which was definitely a bad sign. Kantala knew that he had still had power here up until recently. It was one of the things that the Survivors had received as the main perk for being beta testers. Terrazon Inc. took care of their own.

Realizing that he might be hiding out here somewhere, the first thing she had done was go straight his room. She found his VR set lying next to his bed. There was trash still in the trash can and some crumpled up gaming magazines in the corner. He’d been here recently although she found out his bed and pillows were freezing cold to the touch when she lay down on them. In fact, the whole building was starting to let a bit too much of mother nature in. While the Onsen ran on geothermal drawn from the ancient hot springs, it was reliant on electricity to power the distribution systems that kept the entire building warm in the middle of the winter.

On a whim she fired up his VR. Maybe there was a message or something. She’d never done this before and wondered if she could even access his VR given the fact that she was already in game. Amazingly, it worked and she entered a white room with Rygor. “If one of the Survivors gets this message, I’m hiding out below the Onsen in the old basement. There is a trapdoor beneath the kitchen that is locked. The password is Haruka-oba-chan,” the message cut off. The name was Riku-san’s grandmother.

Kantala’s sixth sense was going crazy again and she realized she’d been a fool to put on a VR headset in a potential hostile territory. Tearing it off her head she lunged up and drove her dagger into a zombie that had leaned over to try to take a bite out of her. “Raaah,” she screamed as she mashed its face to a pulp with the dagger. That was too damn close. Unfortunately, her screams had drawn more attention and she heard more activity throughout the house. She had a feeling it wasn’t Riku-san’s family either.

Fortunately, she had a pretty good idea of where the kitchen was and the beauty of Japanese homes was that the walls were not exactly thick. Seeing zombies coming down the hallway in both directions she chose to make her own exit and slashed through the wall in front of her. Dashing through the next room she cut open the wall after that and looked around. Amazingly her sense of direction had been pretty good. She was in the kitchen. There was a zombie in the pantry but its back was turned to her. She only had a few seconds before the other zombies caught up. Drawing her bow, she took a deep breath to steady her nerves and lined up the shot. Not wanting to light the Onsen on fire she chose a different arrow. Thunk. Her thousands of hours of gaming practice didn’t lead her astray. The arrow had critically hit the zombie and drove the arrowhead through its brain and out the other side. It slumped to the floor.

She pulled aside the carpet on the floor, revealing a trap door. It appeared locked from the other side. “Rygor, it’s me Kantala. The password is Haruka-oba-chan,” she yelled. The zombies knew she was here and she didn’t want to risk the fact that he might not be anywhere near the trapdoor. Knowing that she might not even get an answer, Kantala drew her dagger once again and prepared herself. She wasn’t the best in close quarters but she’d be damned if she was going to go down without a fight.

Kantala could hear the shuffling of many zombies outside the kitchen. They hadn’t gotten there yet but things were about to get ugly. The slam of a wooden door startled her and she whirled. It’s was Riku-san. “Come on,” he urged her. He looked weary but vigilant and more than a little dashing in his old work uniform. She wasn’t sure why Japanese men wore suits in their own houses but it was pretty endearing. “Hayaku,” he said fiercely. She could see the worried look in his eye. Nodding her head, she moved down the ladder, sliding past him as he fastened the trapdoor and locked it.

She caught her breath at the bottom of the stairs. They were in what looked to be an old basement, lined with concrete. It was surprisingly warm down here and she realized they must be relatively close to the geothermal springs. “What are you doing here, Sarah-san?” Riku asked.

“Rescuing you, silly,” she said cheekily.

He smiled and tried to hold in a laugh but couldn’t. “It looks more like the other way around, though,” he replied.

She nodded. “True but I have something that might change your tune,” she said holding out a portal key. It was something she and Deathberry had been working on – a way to open a portal in an entirely new place. “We just need to set this down and away we go.”

Riku bowed and smiled back at her. Awkward. They were better friends that that, she thought. She stood up and hugged him close. She knew she was breaking a bunch of Japanese social norms but right then she didn’t care. Apparently, neither did Riku. He hugged her back fiercely and looked like he wanted to say something more.

“Save it,” she said. Kantala knew that they weren’t out of danger yet and their friends needed them. “Let’s get you back to the bunker and get you in a new VR. We need Rygor. Our friends’ lives are in danger.”

Riku pulled back from her. “Ok, let’s go.”