<02:01 PM>

 

The scene is something no one should ever see, a scene of carnage and chaos, people fighting and screaming, many unknown creatures about, at this point all of us simply run as fast as we can, away from all of this, I don’t want to see any of this, others don’t want to see any of this. We all agreed to run to the nearest house of one of us, which will be mine, I hope those two aren’t here right now otherwise it’ll just complicate things, I can hear people screaming everywhere, this is like hell itself, and I don’t want to be in it.

 

#####

<02:03 PM>

 

It took awhile but we’re all here, I mean it’s pretty clear being in a house won’t completely protect us from what’s going on outside, but like there’s time to think about other options. Mark seems pretty tired, while Gary is only a little tired.

“Damn, seems like becoming a kitsune doesn’t help with my stamina much” She said while sitting down on the sofa, all of us did really.

“Kinda weird how there are no stamina stats in the system” Gary said, seems like after everything she still think about game-related things, seems like my parents are not here right now, that’s good to know.

“Alright, so what the heck do we do next?” Mark suddenly opened up with a pretty difficult topic, I honestly have no idea, I just want it all to stop, this whole thing, if it could’ve been a dream then that’ll be great. Gary pick up her phone and look at it, probably searching for something.

“Doesn’t seem like there are any news or announcements at this point, probably still trying to recover themselves from this whole thing, which is absolutely crazy and seems like everything will go downhill from here” Gary said in less than enthusiastic tone.

“I don’t know what to do” I said to them, I’m not exactly someone who think things through, I know that.

“Yeah at this point we can’t really do anything, maybe it’s best for us to enjoy just the small time of peace we have here” Mark suggested, honestly I can’t think of anything else better than that… but I don’t my parents to be home, I actually hope they won’t be back for a while.

“Ah right, this is your home right Elena? Do you have any snacks around?” Gary suddenly asked, I have a bunch actually, gonna need some comfort food living here.

“Yeah, it’s in my room, I’ll go get some for us” I said that and walk up the stairs, and up there is a door to three rooms, those two doesn’t even live in a same room like a couple do, seriously.

*Open*

My room doesn’t really have much going for it, a pc, a few shelves for storing stuff, air conditioner, bed, just regular stuff, the color scheme is quite dark admittedly. Anyway time to get the snacks I have, some chips should be enough. After I’m done with gathering them I go downstairs and lay the snacks on the table.

“Quite a lot of chips I’d say” Gary said as she take a look.

“Ah, I almost forget, is there any soda?” Mark said, I think I have some in the fridge.

“Yeah, do you want me to go get them for you?” I replied.

“Would be great if you could do that” She said, so I walk toward the kitchen and open the fridge, picking up some drinks and walk back, putting them down.

“Alright, with this it’s time to sit back and-”

*Ring*

“Hold up” Mark’s phone suddenly ring up, who could’ve called at this time? Awkwardly because of where her ears is she have to hold the phone somewhere above her head.

“Hello?... Ah, Thomas! Are you alright!?” So Thomas was the one who called her, well, it’s good to know she’s fine. Gary hearing this also tensed up a little, anticipating at whatever Thomas is telling Mark.

“So you’re safe, that’s good… yeah we’re fine over here, not sure about the other groups… your mom is changed? That’s wild… pffff, a loli? Seriously?... We’re at Elena’s house right now… really? Is it that bad?... alright, I’ll watch out for them, at this point we’re just having some snacks and waiting for things to calm down… wait you’re trying out dresses? Chris as well? That’s hilarious!... Okay, I’ll check on other groups as well, just try to make sure Chris is fine okay?... Yeah we’ll stay safe for you as well, don’t worry about a thing… good luck to you too… actually that’s not a bad idea, let’s go with that instead of hoping things will go well… yeah, see you later” Seems like the conversation between them is over and Mark put her phone away. She seems quite relieved.

“Yeah she’s fine with Chris at her home, seems like her mother got changed as well… damn it feels so weird referring to Thomas as a girl” Mark said and rub her temples during her remark, yeah it’s certainly awkward knowing that some of us have different gender than before, in fact these two are in the same boat.

“Yeah no kidding, not to mention we got changed as well… now that I think about it why did some of us changed so differently from each other? Do you think there’s a reason why?” Gary said. Well I don’t really have any idea as to why I turned into a vampire, and I’m scared that the reason is something more incomprehensible and terrifying than any of us could imagine.

“I don’t know, maybe that story have some clues… hey it actually got updated today” The story that use the same system? I wonder how come they have identical system… 

“Is there any clue?” Gary asked.

“Not really, the story did talk about other commands we could use aside from [Appraisal], and apparently I forgot we could just use [Status] to see our own instead of [Appraisal], that was bad of me” So more system stuff abound.

“Really? What is it about?” Gary asked with enthusiasm, I don’t think I could be in such a mood during time like this.

“Hmmm, from the look of things, about that class section in our status page and our hidden stats, whatever those are, honestly it’s somewhat complicated and I don’t think we need to worry about it much, at this point we should worry about ourselves more than game mechanics existing in real life” Mark replied, unusual for her to say something like that that’s for sure, the again the situation at this point is so serious I don’t think any of us even have a thought of anything silly.

“True enough, anyway I guess we’ll just wait in here patiently?” Gary said as she’s inspecting her horn. Now that I think about it did any part of me changed? I think at school some of them said my eyes turned crimson red, so there’s that, there’re also my fangs, did any other part of me changes? Maybe I should look at myself in a mirror later.

“I mean that’s our plan from the start, of course if Elena’s parents came back we shouldn’t overstayed our welcome, in fact” Mark said as she’s glancing at me, what is she thinking?

“What is it?” I nervously asked her.

“I’m sure your parents will be fine if we have a sleepover at Thomas’s place right?” Mark said to me with a smile… I mean I doubt they’ll care about me that much to care about me going to someone else’s place, I think it’s fine. 

“Yeah, I doubt they’ll care much” I replied.

“You’re not kidding with us right?” Gary asked me.

*Nod*

I simply nodded, and Mark do the same. 

“I’m sure things will settle down a little after a while… hopefully, and we’ll go to Thomas’s place with all of this stuff of course” Mark said while eating some of my snacks, Gary also did the same but didn’t say anything at this point.

“Okay but when do we actually go there?” I asked.

“Eh, we could go right now if we wanted to, but I’ll rest here for a while, maybe half an hour” Mark casually stated, I guess we’ll wait then, taking our time and hopefully nothing bad will happen.

“Guess I’ll do that” I replied…

… Is the rest of our time here going to be a long awkward silence?

“Ah, I just remember something, I have to called the others as well to make sure they’re okay” Mark thankfully breaks the silence and pick up her phone and, along with putting the earphone in her big fluffy ears, call others.

“Alright Zoey… H-Hey are you okay!?... Leah is what!?... Is she in any serious danger?... Ah Hugo, how is she?... Okay that’s good, thought something bad is going on there, Zoey is still quite a nervous wreck huh?... Yeah, seem like the situation now just make her condition worse, is Cooper fine?... That’s good to hear, where are you by the way?... Got it… Thomas and Chris are both fine, Gary, Elena, and I are all fine as well, by the way do you know if the situation outside any better?... No?... No need to apologize… Hm? Did something happened!?... What is it? Why do you sound like you see a ghost?... Excuse me!?... That doesn’t sound like someone who was changed… Is she fine with you sharing me this?... I see, but what is she doing?... Okay…… Why did you let out a gasp? What did she do?... Really? That’s good to hear!... And she’s gone before you can say anything, well it doesn’t really matter for me, as long as everyone is okay… yeah you should go into a secure building somewhere… good luck to you then, I’ll call others as well… yeah see you soon” That’s quite a long conversation I’d say.

“What happened there? Sounds like a lot is going on” Gary asked.

“We’ll talk about that later, I should call the other group as well” Mark replied and began call other numbers.

“Maya are you alright?... That’s pretty darn risky, are both of you alright?... Is coming back down going to be safe?... Alright, I’ll put my faith in you then, I can confirm that… 9 of us is safe and sound for now, I think Eric, or Lunia I guess, and Sophia will be fine considering their reaction to this whole thing, so 11 of us are safe, or 13 if both of you are counted as well… all that’s left is Aniyah, Lilian, Adam, Gavin, Tyler, and Kevin… now that I think about it did you see Kevin when we were running?... What!? That’s no good… I’ll call for him later, you both stay where you are if possible, or get into somewhere safer, good luck to you in that regard, I go check on others… be safe” Mark is very tensed during these phone calls, seem like it’s a bunch of bad news.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“No time for that, I have to call Kevin… Kevin! Where are you!... Whew! Thought you were a goner with no one around to help, guess I was too worked up for nothing… Just stay safe okay? See you later” We’ll that was way shorter than the rest.

“Seems like he’s fine” Mark said. From the sound of it Kevin run away by himself, but managed somehow, at least that’s how I interpreted it.

“I think I’ll try giving them calls as well” Gary said as she pick up her phone.

“All that’s left is Aniyah Lilian pair and Tyler’s group” Mark said to Gary.

“Alright, hopefully they’ll pick up… Aniyah, is your pair alright? Most of us are fine at this point… Okay… Where are you?... Good to hear… Nothing to add really, we’re just making sure everyone is safe… Tyler’s group need some check up… Okay then, good luck” Nothing important from the looks of it, she quick call another number.

“Tyler!... From your tone of voice seems like there’s nothing to worry about… Oh come on some of us are worried about you okay?... Okay then, guess I’ll end the call here… well good luck to you either way” Seems like this one is also rather uneventful.

“So how did it go?” Mark asked.

“Nothing important at all, they’re all safe right now for sure” Gary replied.

“That’s good to hear, well then after we’re all probably rested up, let’s go to Thomas’s house, I’m sure some of us have been there before, it’s a bit far and the state of the world is completely shit right now but we’ll make by!” Mark declared our current objective. I’m not sure if we’ll managed unscathed, but it’s better than staying here for long that’s for sure.