About halfway to the door, the ground disappeared underneath me. At least that’s what I thought had happened, at first. I fell, but I fell upward, crashing into the ceiling. A few feet in front of me, Donut flipped in midair, deftly landing upside down.
In front of me, the very last train car flew upward, and the remaining resident—Mrs. McGibbons—cried out as she also slammed up into the top of the hallway, wheelchair crashing upon her like she’d been dumped face first down into a hole.
My shoulder crunched, but I slammed a health potion before the pain could hit me.
Gravity had been reversed. The elemental had cast the spell, but it hadn’t reached all the way to the safe room door. That last platform, connected by Imani’s magic chain, remained attached to the rest of the cars, and it dangled upward, having dislodged its only remaining rider.
I didn’t look back. I pulled myself to my feet and kept running, but now I was upside-down, running on the ceiling of the hallway. We rushed toward the crumpled form of Mrs. McGibbons, who groaned and rolled onto her back, feebly pushing the wheelchair off herself. It rolled a few feet forward and reached the edge of the spell’s effect. It clattered to the ground. She opened her eyes, and upon seeing that she was now stuck to the roof of the hallway, she started to cry out in fear. Her health was deep in the red.
“I got you,” I said, picking her up. I pulled her over my shoulder like a sack.
Ahead of me, Chris and Imani were ushering the last of the residents into the room. I could see Brandon just inside the door, moving them out of the way. Imani was screaming Yolanda’s name.
Donut took a step toward the door, and she plummeted off the ceiling, also having reached the edge of the spell’s effect. She, once again, landed easily.
“Be careful, Carl!” she called up to me.
“Get the wheelchairs, then get inside!” I cried as I pulled a health potion and shoved it in Mrs. McGibbon’s hand. “Drink this.”
I anticipated where the line of gravity was, and I tried a desperate flip maneuver in an attempt not to be upside down when I fell. It didn’t work. I shielded the crying woman’s body as I landed, once again, in a painful heap on the ground right next to the wooden platform. I groaned and smashed down on my own Heal spell.
Behind me, the rage elemental roared as the spell dissipated. It rocketed down the hall at us, claws raking up stones as it ran. It ran on its four back legs and reached forward with its two forward arms, which somehow made the beast seem even more horrifying.
“Shit,” I scrambled to my feet. Donut hit it with another magic missile before turning and bolting toward the door. Chris and Imani pulled their last resident in.
I ran. The ground shook as if a locomotive was bearing down on me. Ten feet. Five feet. One foot.
I jumped at the door, banging into the frame and ricocheting inside just as the monstrosity’s forward claws swiped at me, missing by millimeters. It squealed in frustration, continuing its forward momentum as it slid down the hallway.
I had a quick sense of déjà vu, of the goblin murderdozer also missing me by inches.
I handed Mrs. McGibbons to Brandon, pulled a boom jug, and returned to the hallway. I lit and tossed it at the backside of the still-turning elemental before I jumped back into the room and slammed the door.
We could hear the monster’s screams through the thick walls. It made a sound that was part pain, part rage, part the end of the fucking world. I knew there was no way I could’ve really hurt it, but I felt a wave of satisfaction at that horrific, penetrating sound.
A moment later, the door pulsed, creaking worryingly as the elemental attempted to get in. It screamed and thrashed and pounded, throwing itself against the impenetrable door with all its might.
“Jesus,” I muttered, reaching down to grab my legs. I closed my eyes, unable to get the sight of Yolanda and Randall out of my head. “Jesus,” I repeated, out of breath.
I turned to survey the room. We stood in what appeared to be a dusty, no-way-they-passed-the-health-inspection chicken restaurant. Big Shot Chicken, the sign said. I’d never heard of it. A Bopca Protector stood behind the counter, looking distastefully at the large crowd.
Mrs. McGibbons hadn’t taken the potion I’d given her, but she still clutched it in her hand. I watched as Brandon helped her drink it down. She continued to cry as her health rose.
Most of the residents were on the ground, weeping for help. They’d been savagely tossed into the room. Imani, tears on her cheeks, was helping them one-by-one to the booths so they could sit and recover, administering healing potions to those who needed them. Donut had saved several wheelchairs, but there was no way we had enough now. Chris, his head low, turned to also help. Donut jumped to my shoulder, and her whole body was shaking.
“Fucking Jack,” Brandon said, growling the words. “He knew. We explained it to him.”
Zev’s message echoed in my head. This was a mistake. Helping these people. All we are doing is hindering our own training and delaying their inevitable deaths. It would’ve been kinder to have left them on the first floor rather than subject them to this terror.
I looked up at the screens.
Time to Recap Episode: 1 hour 40 minutes.
Time to Level Collapse: 4 days, 20 hours.
Remaining Crawlers: 1,033,992
“You saved me,” Mrs. McGibbons said, sitting up on the floor. Ninety-nine years old. I didn’t think I’d ever met anyone that old before. Not a human, at least. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
I smiled weakly. “Of course,” I said.
“Jack was always an ass,” she continued. She made a clucking noise. “Poor Yolanda. She was such a good kid. And Randall. Dumb as a pigeon, that one. But he deserved better than that. At least it was quick.”
“Do you think it’s gonna leave?” Donut asked.
Behind me, the door continued to smash and rock under the onslaught of the screaming rage elemental.
39
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The recap episode started with a close-up shot of Jack’s purple, veined, and uncircumcised dick, huge on the screen. The headline screamed, “Trapped! Meadow Lark and The Royal Court of Princess Donut in Peril!”
“Wow,” Donut said. “Yours isn’t nearly that big. Or oily looking. And it doesn’t have that hat thing.”
If looks could kill, the glare Imani shot at the cat would’ve ripped her in two.
“Goddamnit, Donut,” I muttered before realizing I’d said it. “Not now.”
The screen showed, in slow motion, Jack pulling it out, turning to the wall, and peeing. It switched to Yolanda’s horrified face, then Donut leaping for him, claws out. It showed the arrow piercing him right in the temple, of the player-killer skull icon slowly starting to form over Yolanda’s head, and then the man falling from the platform.
“I can’t watch this,” Imani said, getting up and turning away.
A “See what happens next!” appeared on the screen. Then the show started. As promised, it was a compilation of people getting surprised by bosses leaving their rooms. I noted two different scenes with Krakaren bosses. The shots kept coming and coming, of people getting slaughtered.
I eased back in the chair and took a bite of fried chicken. A part of me registered that the food was downright delicious, but I could barely taste it. Donut sat at the table being lovingly groomed with her new brush by the Bopca Protector. The constitution buff had activated many minutes earlier, but she demanded he keep brushing.