Chapter 3 Human Nature, Survival of the dumbest

“What in the freaking hell is going on? I expect some answer buddy!!!” the guy cried out loud in an angry voice pointing his finger at me threateningly.

I calmly looked at him then punched him with force in the stomach making him double over, losing his breath. Apparently he became brave when no monsters were seen and seemed to hold an air of arrogance about him.

“Brad!” the girl yelled and rushed to his side grabbing him protectively in both arms while he was wheezing double over.

“Why did you do that?” the girl demanded in an angry tone glaring at me.

I whispered with an angry growling quiet voice, enough so they both could hear me,”so help me god, if you two do not shut up right here and now, I will leave your asses here and let you deal with those creatures on your own. Got it?”

The girl with sudden panic in her eyes shuts up, then with understanding nodded once.

Julie observing, but not saying a word had anger in her eyes, glaring at the couple. I whisper sternly to the group, “First things first, I have no idea what is going on, I am in the same boat as you folks as far as information goes”.

“As to what comes next, you all need to keep as quiet as possible, as we do not know exactly what we are dealing with, but from what I have seen, these creatures appear to come from a fantasy MMO I used to play”. I pause and think for a moment.

“Did either of you see a screen appear in the air in front of you?”I ask the couple. I knew Julie did as she said so, and her appearance changed, but these folks did not seem effected yet but I had to make sure.

“No.....no I didn't......what screen? answered the girl.

“Brad?” I look at the guy who is still somewhat doubled over and glaring at me.

“No....no screen” he shakes his head and seems to be visibly calming down a bit.

I sigh to myself, take a deep breath then say “ok, look here, none of you seem to have any prior combat experience, am I mistaken?” I look the group over, as each shakes their head no. I continue, “we are in this together whether we like this or not, and I am not going to abandon you, but by all means please follow what I say to the letter if you want to live. If you pull a stupid prank you are on your own”

With that I look at each of them, inspecting their facial expressions, Julie looks anxious, but nods quietly. Brad has a look of disgust on his face and looks away, while the girl, shows obvious signs of relief, nods as well, still clinging to Brad.

“Ok lets do some quick introductions, names and occupation so I have an idea what we have to work with here, I will go first”. I say quietly

“My name is Scott Smith retired Marines of 20 years”. I say to the group then look at Julie.

“My name is Julie Matterson, 30, single, employed as a receptionist, but taking night classes to become a Nurse”. She says glancing a shy look at me. I sigh What is with that look now.

I look at the girl, seeming to be in her twenties, with obvious colored blonde hair, her roots showing dark, big brown eyes, stands at about 5' 3” with a huge pair of breasts that verge over D into the DD area. who looks surprised at first, then straightens up releasing her hold on Brad “Hi my name is Cindy Horn, currently I am employed as my boyfriends secretary, teehee.”,she giggles.

I sigh again Oh boy what have we got here, bird brain, ditzy and all tits I think to myself. I nod at her and smile weakly then look at Brad.

Brad, is an average looking guy in his mid 30's, about 5'10' tall, thick black hair, brown eyes, with a well trimmed mustache, wearing an expensive looking blue suit with a black tie and looks like he has been recently gaining weight, but not overly, signs of a beer gut forming, looks at me, then lets out a loud breath as if this is all very inconvenient for him, “My name is Brad Sanfield, of Sanfield and Sanfield law firm of which I am a senior partner, obviously I am a lawyer.” he says somewhat arrogantly, as if to prove his importance.

Ok jackpot, I hit paydirt on dumb and dumber, one is stupid by nature and does not realize the situation he is in, and the other well never mind........what a perfect match they make.

I glance a look at Julie and see her looking at me trying to hold back her laughter at seeing the annoyance on my face.

“What is so funny girl?” Brad asks of Julie with apparent annoyance.

Julie just shakes her head and looks away, still trying not to laugh. I too, find this somewhat amusing but the situation calls for seriousness right now and I keep that in the forefront of my mind, any second now we can come under attack and die.

“ok so we have a lawyer, a secretary, a soon to be nurse and an ex-marine, based on that I think it will be appropriate if you all follow my lead, that ok with you Brad? I ask looking directly at him and asserting chain of command from the get go so as to avoid any future confusion.

He glares at me then, “whatever man...”, he then again looks away. Then suddenly, “hey wait the fuck up!, Ex-marine of 20 years? How the hell? You do not even, look like you finished high school you punk, trying to pull a fast one on me here? Who the fuck are you kidding punk? He blurts out loudly.

I jump at him and slam my hands over his mouth pushing him to the ground with force slamming is head to the ground dazing him. Both girls jump back look on with frightened eyes at the scene.

Fuck me, dammit I forgot my appearance changed sigh

“God damned it Brad, use that gray matter of yours, you dumb shit. You realize the situation we are in don't you yet, you keep yelling out like some stupid drunken asshole.” I growl at him quietly. Then I lean in very close so only he can hear,”so help me god, you put my life in danger one more time, I will kill you myself, got it?” I then sit up with my hands still over his mouth, and look in his eyes, and see fear now there, and he nods slowly.

Good he understand now, I hope. I think to myself somewhat satisfied. I pull my hands slowly away form his mouth and move back into a sitting position away from him, then motion at the girls to come closer.

“Now, as I was saying, earlier I asked if either of you saw a message pop up in the air, which you did not,but Julie and I did and for some reason we have been reverted back to our younger selfs.” I pause listening to the ludicrous story I am spewing out. It sounds unreal, but it happened and I have accepted that. “ I am actually 41 years old, tho I may not look it, you can believe I am, as for Julie well she is older than her appearance as well, but not for me to say.” I glance at Julie who smiles then looks at the other two.

“Yeah I drank some kind of liquid then a screen appeared, and then intense pain. Before I knew it, I was like this. At first I thought it was all a dream, but the pain said it was not.” she explains to the other two.

“Wow really? Some kind of fountain of your drink maybe? Oh gosh, that would be really neat, we could make a fortune off of that stuff teehee. right Brad?” she looks at him all proud.

“Yeah babe, right” Brad sighs.

I look at her with an incredulous look, then shake it off.

“No, I..” Julie starts to explain, but I interrupt her and give her a stern look.

“In any case, the two of us have been changed by what is going on and it seems you two have not been effected in that way, at least not yet,” I finish my explanation.

“What do you mean not yet?” Ask Cindy suddenly, her mood and demeanor changing completely, as if this was a completely different person. Even her voice sounded....more intelligent?

Hohoho what have we here, is she playing Brad? I thought to myself. Even Julie looks surprised at the outburst. The only one not picking up on it seems to be Brad who seems to still be brooding.

Seeing the looks she is getting from Julie and me, she suddenly realizes something, then,”teehee”.

Ahh just as I thought, she had me fooled for a while there. I raise an eyebrow at her, then shake my head. She just smiles.

“You all wait here, I am going to go check on things outside, I will not be long”, with that I creep silently thru the store back to the entrance to survey the area. It seems less monsters are moving around having moved to another location probably. I glance up to the 2nd floor and see no monsters. On the ground floor, 4 goblins were walking along heading slowly our way, but not noticing me yet. I move to the opposite side of the door to see the other end. Not too far is the exit to the West side. If we can make it out, and then head to the North parking lot to where my Truck is, we may be able to escape. We would have to run like hell once out in the open, but there is also no knowing what is outside waiting for us.

Wait this store must have a delivery entrance in the back, also a place where they can empty their trash. I think to myself, then look at the old woman laying before me. I move close to her and begin going thru her pockets, to see if I can find any keys on her and find two sets. One seems to have a car key, house key and a few others,with a remote for her car on it. The second set had multiple keys with colored rims around the top of each key. Smiling to myself, I pocket the store keys and make my way back to the others.

“Ok folks I think I may have found a way out of here, but there is no knowing what is outside waiting for us if anything.” I say in a low voice.

“If we can get out of this hell hole what are we waiting for? “ demanded Brad in a hushed voice.

“Like I said I just found a possible way out, and there is no telling what is out there. We have to be cautious, and be wary of enemies all around us right now, ok Brad??” I look at him with mixed expressions, this guy was really pissing me off.

“Brad honey, why don't we do as that nice marine guy says for now, ok honey?” Cindy takes Brad's hands into her own and looks at him with a hopeful smile fluttering her big brown eyes while drawing his hands to her breasts.

He sighs,” fine”.

I laugh inwardly boy has she got this guy eating out of her hands or what?

I put my finger to my lips to motion for silence, then move towards the back, motioning for the group to follow me. We silently move towards the rear of the store looking back at the entrance to make sure no monsters come in. We approach a door at the rear of the store. It is locked, I put the club down against the wall, taking the keys out of my pocket, I try various keys till one fits, I unlock the door slowly and quietly. With a slight click it unlocks, I wince at the sound but no helping it.

I test the door knob again and it moved freely showing it is now ready to open the door. I slowly and as quietly as I can start to open the door, trying to gain a vantage point to see into the room we are about to enter.

Brad suddenly rushes forward knocking me to the ground and sending the door flying open as he rushes into the room. Then, with a look of bewilderment appearing on his face, sees the exit sign over the door to the back wall and runs towards it, only to find it is locked.

“Hurry up and bring the damn keys!” he demands in a loud voice.

“HRRUHHH!”

Brad stops, then looks to his left where the sound came from. With a pale face, he withdraws as far as he can into the door,” oh shit” he simply says.

Standing up from behind one of the many stacked boxes in the warehouse room, comes two Hobgoblins forth, both eyeing Brad with evil expressions, drool coming out of their mouths. One had a club, while another sported a rusty looking long sword.

The girls enter the door and stop just as suddenly, with shocked expressions at the sight of the two Hobgoblins.

I push the girls back and close the door quickly, locking it behind me. You are on your own Brad.