“It was you!” A familiar, masculine voice shouted, dragging Jeb’s attention to the far side of the Safe Zone.
“Crap.”
It was the dude with the shaved head and the big, bushy beard, along with the severe blue-eyed lady with the bow. The two of them looked worse for wear, covered in blood and superficial wounds. They were also alone, the rest of the crew seemingly dead or gone.
Between Jeb and old redbeard was a huge pile of pilfered goods. All the weapons, medicine and food they’d stolen from him, and more besides. The Fairies weren’t paying a lot of attention, so they just grabbed….everything.
“You stole all our gear!” the brawny man shouted, spittle flying out of his lips, vein bulging on the side of his head. “Men died because of you!”
A manic giggle bubbled out of Jeb at the complete absurdity of the hypocrisy.
Old redbeard did not take kindly to Jebs’ giggle, lowering his head like a bull and charging, axe drawn.
“Whoops!” Jeb turned and started stumping away at full speed, aiming for the covered pits, using his spear as a makeshift crutch.
Clomp, clomp.
“aaaAAAAAARGH!”
Clomp, clomp.
It was a close race between the seasoned warrior and the cripple. Jeb had to cover about ten feet, while redbeard had roughly two hundred to clear.
He almost got him, too.
The man’s Body must have been raised well into superhuman territory, because Jeb felt the axe whiff past his spine in less than three seconds as he pole-vaulted over the pit-trap, tumbling to the ground on the other side.
Redbeard’s next swing turned into confused flailing as the ground gave out from beneath him.
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You are now level six!
Jeb pushed himself to his feet….foot, leaning on the spear as he hopped closer to the pit. Let’s see if you get levels for subduing people…but I doubt it.
“Redbeard? Buuuuddy? You okaaay?” Jeb said, peering over the edge of the pit before sucking in a breath through his teeth. “Ow, that looks like it hurt.”
Jeb had packed the spikes in there nice and tight, and redbeard had gotten one through the eye and neck.
And groin.
Yikes. Well, at least we’ve got a proof of concept with a charging boar. Pit still looks plenty usable…and I’m standing on the wrong side of it. Any minute now a stampede of Kruskers were gonna come through here, and Jeb needed to be inside the Safe Zone.
“Don’t move!” Came a woman’s shout.
Jeb’s attention was drawn up, making eye contact with the icy blue eyes of the woman with an arrow drawn, bead on his heart.
“Well, this is awkward.”
“Don’t move,” she said in a more subdued tone as she approached, shuffling toward the pit to glance over the edge.
Jeb didn’t really get a chance to inspect her the first time they met, other than her eyes. He’d thought she was older when they first met, but that seemed to be a result of the stress and the grime.
Mid-twenties, probably?
She had natural strawberry blonde hair and freckles under the dirt, soft cheeks and a slightly pointed chin.
Her figure was concealed behind a layer of padded armor, but judging by her forearms, it was…athletic.
Jeb wasn’t quite able to read her expression as she looked in the hole, arrow still aimed at his chest.
It seemed like a mixture of relief and hopelessness, Which Jeb found odd, until he considered the circumstances, breaking down the situation in his head.
Pretty girl in a group of guys, biggest meanest guy there lays a ‘claim’ on her. At the same time, biggest meanest guy is also the best shot at getting out of the impossible test alive. And now he’s dead.
Relief, and hopelessness.
“I really need to get on the other side –“
“Shut up.” She said, raising the bow again and glaring at him, eyes crazed. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Ummm…”
“I’ll tell you what you’ve done, you just killed our best shot at getting out of here! George was level thirty-five! He was the closest thing we had to someone who could kill the Boss!”
“He wasn’t my best shot of getting out of here,” Jeb said, waving his hand dismissively.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you right now!” She said, nostrils flaring as she tightened her grip on her bow.
Jeb breathed in, burned Myst, then siphoned energy out, forming a scissor-shape with the orange power and closing it around the bowstring.
The bow’s arms exploded outward, whipping the remaining string across her face and sending the arrow tumbling into the grass. She reeled backward, landing on her ass, hand clasped over a bloody nose.
“Your bow’s busted,” Jeb said, limping around the hole and back into the Safe Zone.
Chapter 3: Hunting is Supposed to be Unfair
***Jessica***
He’d done something.
She didn’t know what, but in that instant, she knew he’d done something.
George was scary, sure, but he was a definable threat. If he got mad, he’d cut you in half with his axes. It could be avoided by avoiding the axes… but what this man had just done…she couldn’t perceive it at all.
Myst. That trait no one focused on because those that did started seeing things, and no one wanted to be physically weaker than everyone else in exchange for going slightly crazy.
The man’s found some way to use it.
She held her hand over her bleeding nose. The string had put a gash up the middle of it, emerging above her right eyebrow.
She could probably still take him… She was level twenty-two with
