It’s strange the things you notice when running barefoot through the snow towards a screaming Yeti. Mostly because it’s all so damn obvious.


    The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. My bare feet slapped against the cracked icy ground in time to my haggard breathing. I may have been able to run again, but five years bedridden, an athlete does not make.


    The second thing I noticed was that this was the first VW Bug I’d seen in ages. It’s like one day they just all disappeared from the road and I can’t really explain what happened.


    The last thing I noticed was that the creature was about three times my size. As I got closer it just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.


    “What are you doing?” Caitlin shouted from behind me.


    “I- honestly have no idea.” I was seconds away from the Yeti, about to find out the answer to the question ‘what happens when the dog catches the car?’ If this was some big video game or whatever then I must have skills.


    “Menu!” I shouted, desperation painting my voice like an enthusiastic landlord.


    A system panel appeared. White text on blue. A cheerful pre-recorded voice announced the text to me.


    `“We appreciate the enthusiasm but full system access begins at 6:00 AM EST December 26 Earth time.”


    The yeti seemed to finally notice me. Its giant nostrils flared. Its beady eyes, bloodshot. I flashed back to years and years of playing Dark Souls at three in the morning and tried to roll. It did not go well.


    I threw myself into the air trying to turn myself sideways but my muscles were atrophied and stiff from disuse and aggressive medical interventions. I made it about a quarter of a way through a turn and hit the ground. Hard. The wind left my lungs in an instant.


    It was embarrassing but it saved my life. The yeti smashed the car down right where I was standing. The little bug halved in size from the force of the creature’s enormous muscles. Spikes of metal jutting from the carcass. Heh, carcass.


    I tried to get up but I couldn’t breathe.


    It felt cruel that so soon after being given a second chance it’d be taken from me. And for what, a girl I didn’t even know? My eyes flicked towards Caitlin but she was gone. Smart. At least one of us would survive this. I closed my eyes to finally meet my demise.


    “HUUURUGH” The yeti screamed. I looked up. Caitlin was on it like a goddamn headcrab. Punching it again and again in the eyes. Her goddamn foot was in its open mouth like she was trying to kick its uvula.


    “What the fuck are you doing?” I shouted at her. The burst of insanity induced adrenaline getting me to my feet.


    “I don’t know either!”


    I looked around. It was big. Very big. There wasn’t much around that could be of use. My uncle used to keep guns here but he took them away after I made ONE off-color joke at Thanksgiving.


    “Be right back!” I ran back to the forge.


    “What!? Where are you going?” Caitlin called after me.


    Inside the forge was laid out just like it always was. I scanned the walls and-


    “Yes!”


    A series of hammers hung on the near wall, ordered by size and weight. I grabbed the six-pound sled.


    Caitlin was moving around its face like a monkey. It tried to grab and pull her off but she found leverage at the base of its jaw. It tried to chomp her in half but it didn’t have the leverage.


    I readied the hammer in both hands and ran. I didn’t have a lot of strength these days, but momentum can make up for a lot. I skidded to a stop a few paces away and slammed the hammer into its sternum. The shock rippled through my hands and arms. The hammer bounced like I’d hit an anvil. It flew away from me skidding on the ground.


    The yeti screamed in pain. It shifted its weight to its left leg and tried to kick at me but Caitlin bit. Its. Fucking. Eye. “Holy hell” I muttered.


    The yeti screamed in agony. Its hands raised in giant fists and it SWUNG right at her. Right at its face. It hit Caitlin in the back with incredible force. I heard the crack of a bone breaking. No, many bones breaking. Blood left her like a geyser. She went limp.


    The yeti leaned forward precariously. Stunned from its punch. I circled it, putting it between me and the fallen, ruined car. In a last burst of energy, I lowered my center of gravity and charged the damned thing.


    If it hadn’t punched itself in the damn face. If the ground wasn’t covered in ice. If I wasn’t so strung out on endorphins it wouldn’t have worked. But it did. Just barely.


    He fell over like a tree, slowly at first and then with terrifying speed. He fell right onto the jagged metal of the car. The remains of a door burst from his lower back flinging gore into the air.


    “What the fuck is my life right now.”


    I limped over to its face. My foot was bleeding. I must have stepped on some metal or glass during the fight.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    “Caitlin?” She was underneath the Yeti. Her eyes stared blankly upwards. She didn’t move. Her torso was mostly caved in. Either by the fall of the yeti or its first hit, I didn’t know.


    I’ve always taken death pretty hard. I don’t think I’m afraid to die, the call of the unknown has never felt so scary to me. But the thought of people I care about being off beyond some unknown veil for the rest of my life fills me with a fear I cannot describe.


    It was like that at my grandfather’s funeral. My mother sat me down and told me he was in a better place. But I didn’t care, I would never see him again. Never hear him laugh. Never get a sip of whiskey to help with a cough if I promised not to tell my mother. The feeling of loss was so extreme I couldn’t even cry. It was like a hole had been ripped into me.


    I did not know Caitlin. But I could have. If we survived we could have been friends, lovers, enemies. A whole branch of the future snuffed out in an instant. What was her favorite color? Her worst date? Is she a full-time driver or doing it over the holidays? WHY is she doing Uber on Christmas? So many questions I would never get the answer to.


    I fell to my knees. Touched the side of her face. It’s what people always do in movies. And I FELT something. A spark. Faint but there. Like a static shock that just keeps going. Somehow I knew what it meant. She was alive, if barely.


    This stupid video game shit. My class. Fleshmancer. The pop-up said I could heal people. I focused, trying to find some deep well of energy within me. Focused on that sensation of a spark. Even tried a meditation technique my ex-fiance taught me. Nothing. None of it did shit.


    “MENU!” I shouted to the world, to the system to anyone who would listen.


    The same pop-up window as before appeared.


    “We appreciate the enthusiasm but full system access begins at 6:00 AM EST December 26 Earth time.”


    The spark was getting fainter. If that was her life force, the only assumption I could make, she was almost gone for good. I took a deep breath. I had an idea. A really bad idea


    “Hey system! I would like to report Game Master Kna’lu for chea-”


    Time stopped.


    – Opening private channel with Game Master –


    – GM Kna’lu has joined the chat –


    – Patrick Douglas’ name has been changed to Snitch –


    GM Kna’lu: Hey buddy what the fuck. I thought we had a deal.


    Snitch: I need your help.


    GM Kna’lu: Oh you have some nerve. Listen here you little shit. I am not going to be blackmailed by-


    Snitch: I’ll do whatever you want, just tell me how to use my skills.


    GM Kna’lu: Wait what? That’s what this is all about? You saw the announcement you’ll get the tutorial in like 10 hours.


    Snitch: I don’t have 10 minutes. She’ll be dead by then.


    GM Kna’lu: Okay I don’t know if you’re aware or not but just over 6 billion people have been either turned into mobs or killed by mobs. This is a drop in the ocean, my friend.


    Snitch: I don’t care. She’s right in front of me. Please.


    GM Kna’lu: Okay look, I can’t activate your skills early. Not even I can go that far. But Game Masters do have the discretion to nudge the odds in our favor IF we think it’ll lead to a compelling storyline when the players arrive.


    Snitch: What does that mean?


    GM Kna’lu: It means you need to build something here. A town, a dungeon, a weird sex cult. I don’t care. Right now this zone is pretty much empty except for the poor idiots who got teleported here during the population rebalance. Promise me that and I’ll put her in stasis until the tutorial.


    Snitch:...


    GM Kna’lu: You still there?


    Snitch: Yeah okay. Just save her.


    – Private Channel with GM Kna’lu has closed –


    – You have received a new quest! –


    Time resumed. I had a nosebleed. My foot ached. I still had my hand on Caitlin’s face. The spark was weak but it had stopped fading.


    I didn’t know the extent of this stasis thing so it was probably best to get her inside where it was warmer, safer.


    The yeti was HEAVY. Thankfully I only had to move its head to get her free. I found a metal pole in the shed and dragged it over. Slid it between the two of them and slowly levered it up. I didn’t have anything to hold it, so I had to brace it with my shoulder to free my arms. The biggest challenge was moving her. I was afraid if I did it wrong she’d tear in half.


    I don’t know how long it took. But I lost feeling in my hands and feet. An inch at a time I worked to save the life of a woman I have never truly spoken to.


    It’s funny I remember chickening out of being a bone marrow donor because I was afraid of the pain. The recovery time. They’ll find another match, I told myself. There are so many people in the world. The country. But here there was only me.


    With a grunt, I finally dropped the head to the ground. Caitlin was on a makeshift sled. Just a wood pallet tied to some rope. I took the rope and finally dragged her inside.


    The warm air made my limbs tingle, then burn. I worked them as best I could. Going through a series of physical therapy exercises my PT taught me a few years back. A couple of dynamic stretches and a whole lot of rubbing.


    With difficulty, I managed to get Caitlin up onto the couch. Covered her with a blanket. The stasis seemed to stop her from bleeding but that didn’t keep the blanket from immediately soaking through. Nothing to do about it though.


    I added some fresh wood to the fireplace, the smell of smoke helped to cover up the smell of blood, sweat, and fear.


    I caught sight of myself in the dining room mirror. A ghastly sight. Covered head to toe in blood and chunks of yeti. I needed a bath.


    I trawled over to the bathroom and finally felt the exhaustion hitting. The second the water turned on I collapsed into it. I blacked out. When I came to, the tub was overflowing. Water, an ever-lessening shade of pink as it ran out of the old-style claw foot and into a drain on the floor. I decided to let it keep running. Let the evidence of today wash away into whatever remained of the drainage system.


    I finally had a chance to think. A yeti. A fucking yeti. And what had the Game Master said? Six billion people dead. It’s such a devastating number it almost seemed meaningless. Seventy-five percent of the earth’s population gone in the span of minutes. Then what about my family?


    I got out of the bath and limped naked to the forge. The Taco Bell bag still lay there. Artifacts from a different era, only a couple of hours old. I fished around the desk and found what I was looking for. My phone.


    I put my thumb on the print scanner, hoping, as the screen came to life. No signal. Whatever had happened either they were blocking our signal or the local cell tower had been destroyed. Most of my family was spread out across the country. Nearest would be my older brother, out in the city. But that was hours away even by car. Not like I can walk the distance.


    I turned the phone off. Just in case we lose electricity. Then I picked up the Taco Bell and picked up where I left off. It might be the last time I ever have fast food after all. I placed the quesadilla against the hot stones of the forge and it began to sizzle.


    I settled in and had my final meal of the earth I''d known all my life. Whatever the future held it was governed by beings and rules I didn''t understand. Things that I needed to understand. And who knows, if this was a game maybe it could be beaten. But they said we''re NPCs. Then who are the players? I tried to clear my mind and just enjoy the food. It was going to be a long enough night as is.