By the end of the third day, Jessica and I had gained another level to reach 25 while the others were all level 24 and 23. All the same, I felt that the fourth day couldn’t have come too soon. This place had served its purpose, and done it well. We had gotten a few more pieces of equipment and many more rations. We were stocked for at least a month-long journey.

Despite that, I was about done with the grind. The EXP curve had climbed quickly, and two Elites per hour was no longer something that I could consider good EXP. It was fine EXP while needing to rest and recover, but by the third day my leg was in fantastic shape.

I managed to equip one more broadsword for a skeleton warrior, and Richard received an actual shield he could wield as well. There were some EXP UP potions and more stat potions as well, but the bulk of our spoils came in EXP and equipment.

“The Apocalypse started two months ago after midday,” I said, “should we wait a couple of hours just in case of a new development?” I wasn’t scared of whatever bad shit might be thrown at us, but I thought being organized as a group on the street was better than driving on the road. Decisions might change in a moment depending on what happened.

“That’ll give us a few more spawns,” Maria said, “might be more loot.” She, most of all, had become addicted to finding gear. Anytime an item dropped that she could use, she was ecstatic to no end. The Sobek’s Cuirass was the start of it all, and previously, just having that had made her content. She had never realized it could rain loot like this.

Honestly, we had created loot monsters in Maria, Anna, and Richard. Richard played it off well, but I caught him wiping off his shield like it was a new car, and even scraping any mess or gook off it in between fights.

Anna simply waved her gear around whenever she could, and loved to watch the sparkle from the gemstones encased in her magical equipment. I found it hard to blame them though, as I remembered how amazing it felt when I got my first pieces of gear. When you were a havenot, all you wanted was to be one of the people that have.

Time passed slower than normal, and as I waited my skin started to crawl. It wasn’t a particular premonition, but my own feeling of worry and unease. I could still remember the day of the MMRPG Apocalypse perfectly: the exact events and what happened. It made me want answers.

Although I had anticipated that the two month deadline might bring a new challenge, it still made me jump when a system announcement flashed up and was narrated by a deep, male voice.

Greetings survivors! Two months ago we tossed your world upside down, and yet millions of you rodents have survived! Bahahaha, that’s such a beautiful accomplishment, I almost want to shed a tear. You should all be proud of yourselves and how far you’ve come. Because of your strong will and tenacity, I’ve been instructed to provide some cheese for you to nibble on.

I suddenly found myself sweating bullets waiting for it to continue. This was nothing like the other voices we’d heard before. Those were… robotic, lifeless. Those felt like a preplanned message spoken by a machine. The style of past announcements had been part of the reason I believed we were on a schedule, a timeline, but this voice… it caused my skin to crawl.

There was tone, and pitch, it had life. The laugh gave me chills. The way it spoke about us was like we were playthings, insignificant and expendable. It was sociopathic. I glanced at the others only to see similar reactions: wide eyes and brows covered in sweat. Only Thomas looked any different, his face was a picture of raw fury.

Sorry, I lost my prompt! Haha. To clarify… we’re not trying to kill you.

“BULLSHIT!” Thomas suddenly yelled.

You would do well to remember that! You dying is just an unfortunate side effect of the world changing. Now that you know the world is changing, if you die, you can only blame yourself, okay?

The sweet tone of its speech made me want to vomit.

Now that I’ve established we aren’t trying to kill you, the question is: how does this all end? I’m sure you’re dying to know. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you when or what that end is. What I can tell you though, is that there is an end, and if you are strong enough to make it there, death is not what awaits you. You can beat the game! Aren’t you just so happy and thankful?

All you have to do is get stronger. Just kill monsters, kill your enemies, and kill each other! Isn’t it so simple?

Everyone sat there in silence for at least a dozen seconds. We were all waiting for whatever fanatic words were going to come from the voice next. They never did come though… that was the entire message.

“I don’t… know what to think,” Lucas said, “This should be good news… but why do I feel so defeated?”

I tried to calm my nerves and think about it logically. There was information to be gathered from the message. “So, we can beat the game,” I mused aloud, “it’s not just about surviving until the end of our lives. There is an end. It’s great news.” Really, this was about the best possible news we could have received, and yet no one was smiling.

Jessica was frowning, “We have no idea how to get to that point. It could be ten years from now, fifty years from now. It didn’t give any actual time limit.”

“That’s true, but there are regular events. It even confirmed that for us today as well. Maybe it’s one year, maybe it’s five years, but at least it’s not all the fucking years of our life,” I said. Thinking about the effort ahead of us made me tired.

“So we just keep doing what we are doing then—surviving and getting stronger,” Alan said, “That’s doesn’t change whether we had to survive a hundred years or one year. Nothin—”

Maria cut him off. “Not true. It makes a huge difference if we aren’t strong enough when that time comes. I’d imagine we’ll die if we aren’t. Delaying won’t help us if it’s the end-all be-all. You can’t run from it, so we can only face it head on.”

“What does everyone think about the last part of the message?” I asked. “Is that a clue about what the final encounter might be?”

“I hope not,” Richard said, “if it is, then we might end up having to kill each other in the future.”

“Richard! Have some decency.” I’d never heard Anna reprimand him, let alone anyone.

“What? I’m just saying what everyone’s already thinking. Kill each other is a pretty clear indication of player versus player combat.”

“It’s fine. It was something I was going to bring up as well. Your point is valid, but I’m going to choose to believe it means it in the sense of survival. If you have to kill someone, if it’s you or them, then do so,” I said. “As of right now, we are operating under the premise that we’ll be party members till the end of days. Does everyone agree?” It was a hard thing to talk about, but letting that sort of thought brew was not good. If we started looking at each other as future enemies, we would grow apart, or even sabotage each other.

Everyone agreed without any reluctance; well, everyone but Thomas who didn’t speak. He hadn’t said anything at all. His face was still a mess of fury. “Thomas, do you agree? Party members no matter what?” I knew he was upset, but I needed him to say it for my peace of mind and probably the others felt the same too.

“I agree,” he said.

“Good then. We’re all in this together and we will continue to prioritize each other’s strengths and growth. We can’t make it to the end alone, so we have to work together.” That was as good an incentive as any.

“Doesn’t anyone care who was talking in that system announcement?” Thomas asked, and no one had an answer. His tone seemed hostile, but it seemed to me to be a foregone conclusion that we couldn’t figure that out.

“What can we do even if we knew?” Alan asked, echoing my thoughts. “Snap out of it. I know you’re pissed; I know you want answers. Survive, and get them.” No one else could say those words to Thomas without the potential of him blowing up. I’d never seen him angry before.

“I’ll do more than that if I make it to the end…” I didn’t need to guess what he meant.

“Good, I’ll join you when that time comes.” Alan patted him hard on the shoulder. “Let’s get going?” Alan had diffused the situation pretty masterfully if I was being honest.

“I’m driving!” Richard said while breaking into a run for the Escalade.

“No one but you wanted to drive anyway,” Anna laughed. As I watched the mood lift, I felt encouraged by the amazing people around me; maybe things were gonna be okay.

We squeezed into the Escalade, which was a little tight and prepared to leave.

“Take as much time as you need.” I told Richard while laying back. With the AC on, this was one of the few times you could feel like the world hadn’t gone to shit. There was at least a seven hour drive ahead of us, and that wasn’t including any hiccups.

“Might be a bit rocky to start; sorry in advance!” Richard called over his shoulder, and then a moment later the entire vehicle rocked up and down. He was driving over the median while snaking his way towards the highway.

It was indeed a bumpy ride for the better part of ten minutes as Richard skirted past all the encounters that he could. There were still almost no signs of regular monsters in the area, so the theory that monsters didn’t spawn around dungeons might be true. Through farming Elites, we had gained a tremendous amount in these four days.

As much as knowing that someone or something was using us for entertainment pissed me off, it gave me a renewed hope. There was something to aim for, other than simply surviving. There was an end: one day we might be free of this hell. What that left of the planet afterwards I couldn’t know.

“Best case we get there near sunset, worst case it’ll be late at night,” announced Richard. Presumably our progress depended on how hard it would be to move down the highway, and judging by how many abandoned vehicles I could see up ahead, it wasn’t going to be a simple cruise.

Cars were packed up back to back, and Richard had to drive nearly off the highway, and sometimes on the grass bank to get through. We moved slowly, but it was still better than walking. Not only that, but as we traveled, we saw more other people than I was expecting.

Over the course of the first two hours of our drive there were multiple groups on the highway, some moving towards Rotterdam and about an equal number moving the opposite way to us.

It was after five hours, and after Richard had said we were more than halfway to the city, that we passed a number of alarming sights. There were several True Believer signs along the road warning of the Rapture. They gave the impression that Rotterdam was where the cult had its base, which would be a nightmare for us if true.

We also passed other signs and painted billboards intermittently through the journey: some were warnings to stay away from the True Believers and another in red paint said: Turn Back Now. Stay Out of Rotterdam.

“This is gonna be a headache, isn’t it?” Maria sighed after seeing the sign.

“We’re going in, whether the True Believers are there or not,” I said. “We’ll do our best to avoid them if possible.” Even if this was their main base, Rotterdam was huge, and the chance that they were stationed all around it was unlikely. It seemed to me that avoiding the cult was a real possibility.

Our plan had already been agreed. We were going to get close to Rotterdam, spend the night outside the city at a safe distance, and then move into the city during the morning. From there we were going to get our bearings and start making progress.

Ahead of us would be days of careful maneuvering through Rotterdam, and we couldn’t be sure if we’d even find a single person alive. None of us had seen what a big city like this was going to throw at us either. Still, we needed to try.

I felt a growing anticipation as we drove on. It was like I was being driven to the frontlines to participate in a war.

“About an hour or so left,” Richard announced, “this is the road I always took to see my brother. We’ll be able to turn off like five minutes before the city and it should be good to stay the night on a side street. There’s a few houses there, too.”

As we got closer to the city the sun set and Richard turned on the high beams. Despite the dark, we were setting a good pace because the highway here had been cleared of cars. No one speculated on why all the cars were gone.