《No Bug Deal》 1. Entering the Tutorial My husband took the kids to visit his parents, so I was eating dinner by myself when the sky opened up. A cloud of creatures poured out of the jagged crack in the otherwise perfect blue. I freeze, more out of disbelief then fear. The bugs rapidly disperse all over the city. A beetle the size of a car flew to my apartment. Before I realize what is happening a beetle claw slices through the apartment wall and my chest. The force knocks me out of my chair. I think. I end up on the floor one way or another. As I lay bleeding out, I identify the bugs I could. I only knew any of them because of this one video game. Next thing I know, I''m standing in the anthill, the tutorial of that game. The pain completely disappeared along with any blood or evidence of the attack. A health bar floats in the corner of my vision, following my gaze wherever I turn. Glowing letters flash in the center of my field of view. [press space to Attack] The message disappears after I read it. The anthill walls are made of dirt, but each individual grain is so large, bigger than my hand. [press space to Attack] I try to jump. I couldn¡¯t move. I panic, breaths fast and shallow. My breaths came, fast and shallow. [press space to Attack] ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± I yell. [press space to Attack] I take deep breaths. I can¡¯t do anything when panicking. [press space to Attack] It¡¯s Bug Hunting¡¯s opening tutorial. Regardless of how I got here, I need to attack before moving on. [press space to Attack] I growl. I don¡¯t know what it wants. I don¡¯t have a space bar. [press space to Attack] I need to attack to move forward. I punch the air. [press ¡ü to Move Forward] I walk forward into a new hallway. It looks very similar, but the dirt clumps definitely shifted. [Attack the Ant] A dying ant lay on its back before me, legs in the air not moving. A glowing health bar was almost depleted, [Health: 1/200]. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I punch the ant. It doesn¡¯t seems as if I have any affect upon its carapace, but the bug disappears. [Your Attack dealt 1 Damage] [You Vanquished the Ant] [after Defeating a Bug, you will Gain a Skill] I¡¯m really going through the whole tutorial. [Skill Gained: Slap!] I remember this one being really weak. [Slap!: an Unarmed Strike that deals 3 Damage] At least it¡¯ll be helpful in the tutorial. In the next room, buzzes a fairyfly. [Health: 5/5] [some Bugs can Dodge Attacks] [Attack the Fairyfly] I slap the fairyfly. [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] Fairyflies are so annoying. At least this one can¡¯t use magic. I try to slap the small bug, as it¡¯s flying all over the room. [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] I try to slap it again. [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] Again. [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] I hate fighting the Fairyfly. [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] [Your Slap! dealt 3 Damage] I still need to hit it again. [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] [Fairyfly Dodged your Slap!] [Your Slap! dealt 2 Damage] [You Vanquished the Fairyfly] I¡¯m so glad the bugs disappear upon death, I don¡¯t want bug guts all over my hand. [Skill Gained: Magic Immunity] [Magic Immunity: Immunity from all Magic Effects] I laugh. Immunities are the highest tier powers in the game, even killing the boss gives only a one in a hundred chance of gaining an immunity. Magic Immunity is the worst of the immunities, famous for being a bad deal. Albert made a whole video about it. Although part of that was because its always gained late, and it causes you to lose access to powers already relied upon. But it''s leagues ahead any standard skill or even common skill that I might hope to get in the tutorial. I¡¯ll have to ask Albert about making a build centered around Magic Immunity, if I¡¯m alive. If he¡¯s alive. If this isn¡¯t a dream that I¡¯ll forget upon waking up. [there is a Fork in the Path] [press <- to Head Left or press -> to Head Right] The one choice in the tutorial. Albert has worked it all out, you take less damage from the roly-poly if you attack with over seven damage, but if lower, the fruitfly is safer. I head left. The fruitfly takes up most of the room, leaving barely any room for me. Bug Hunting never showed the player, so I guess the room wasn¡¯t designed with an extra person inside. I slap the fly, I really have nothing else to do. The fruitfly feels the most standard of all the tutorial monsters as well, it attacks back and has no weird skills. [Your Slap! dealt 3 Damage] [Fruitfly Nipped you for 0.5 Damage] [Your Slap! dealt 3 Damage] [Fruitfly Nipped you for 0.2 Damage] [Your Slap! dealt 3 Damage] [Fruitfly Nipped you for 0.6 Damage] [Your Slap! dealt 1 Damage] [You Vanquished the Fruitfly] [Skill Gained: Life Force] [Life Force: Regenerate 1 Health when a Bug is Vanquished] Life Force is a great skill, especially in the earlier levels. Especially if this is real life, and I die if my health reaches 0. I don¡¯t want to die. I hope I¡¯m not already dead. Besides Fast Travel, Life Force is my favorite of the standard skills. The next room, the last room, holds a singular bug egg. [Bug Eggs will hatch into Bugs if not Destroyed] [Attack the Ant Egg] Albert always tells me that I can gain an extra skill by waiting for the ant to hatch. I don¡¯t want to possibly die to an ant. I step on the egg, it squishes seemingly easily, squirting out onto my boots. [Tutorial Completed] [Skill Gained: Three Quarters] [Three Quarters: Block 25% of all Damage] Finally. Now I can return home, I hope. This experience is too vivid for a dream, too internally consistent. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m hoping that Bug Hunting intruded into the real world, like one of those stories Sal reads. It¡¯s selfish, if it came into real life thousands, millions would be dead. But I¡¯d be alive. I step through the portal, and look around, to figure out the damage to the apartment. [press space to Attack] I¡¯m in the first room of the tutorial. I look behind me, there¡¯s the egg room, but the egg has regenerated. I try to go back towards it. I¡¯m frozen in place. [press space to Attack] You can¡¯t go backwards in Bug Hunting. You can¡¯t repeat the tutorial either. [press space to Attack] Interlude 1: Albert Albert stabbed the ant. [Health: 0/0] [You have Vanquished the Ant] [Tutorial Completed] [Skill Gained: Fast Travel] Albert smiled, Fast Travel was the most useful skill in the game, and it opened up so many choices to strategize over. [Portal Ignited] Albert walked forward, and found himself sitting in his chair. His computer announced a constant stream of messages. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°skull-finger: i¡¯m at ten out of ten health, got life force first, then slash so i lost less than one health to the roly-poly¡± ¡°42Triangles: This is real¡± ¡°GeorgeTheAlien: get in voice chat now¡± While the messages continued streaming in, Albert joined the voice call on the Blind Bug Hunters server. The messages kept streaming in, so Albert muted the chat. After joining the voice call, the other people welcomed Albert in. ¡°Hey Lake Fly, did you go through the tutorial?¡± George said. ¡°Yeah. What is happening? One second I was working through my email, the next I was in the tutorial.¡± ¡°Bug Hunting came to life. Apparently the sky broke open, and bugs came out,¡± Skull Finger said. ¡°The bugs have been attacking people, killing them,¡± Triangles said. ¡°We should fight them.¡± Albert said, ¡°We went through the tutorial, and as such have skills. Who¡¯s got fast travel?¡± Albert arranged a party to start fighting the bugs, and decided to hunt out a common tier bug. With his party of five, even though they each only had the tutorial skills, Albert was confident in their safety. 2. The Second Time I have no choice but to press space. I attack the ant as soon as I enter the second room. The ant disappears. I wish I could leave here too. [Skill Gained: Slap!] Am I stuck in some time loop torture? Not even a time loop with my family, but inside a video game instead? [Slap! Leveled Up] [Slap! Level 2: an Unarmed Strike that deals 6 Damage] It''s not a time loop. The system remembers my previous time. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I kill the Fairyfly on only the second hit, and by then had recovered all my health. [Fairyfly Vanquished] [Skill Gained: Magic Immunity] [Magic Immunity at Max Level] [Skill Gained: Ice Immunity] I guess there really isn''t a way to level up an immunity, especially something like magic immunity where nothing magic at all had any affect. Oh. The portal''s magic. I rushed through the next two rooms, I needed to see that portal again. After crushing the ant egg, I investigate the portal before walking through. It covers the entire tunnel. I sit in the room a while. If I go forward, I won''t teleport. I can''t go backwards. I''ve revised my opinion of gaining Magic Immunity in the tutorial. Magic Immunity is worse than gaining no skill at all. After sitting on the huge dirt grains, which is more comfortable than I expect, I try to stop feeling sorry for myself and figure out what is happening. I don''t know how I ended up here. All I remember is a huge bug attacking. I''d call it a dream, but everything is too logical. I step into the portal, it''s the only thing I can do. Interlude 2: Gerard Gerard was at his parents house with his kids when the sky opened up, and he was sucked into the tutorial. He had only played Bug Hunting three times, but he still could cleared the dungeon. Upon it¡¯s completion, he found himself back at the dinner table with his parents and kids. "Dad, you just disappeared," Sal, his oldest said. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Like my body disappeared? " Gerard asked. "Yep! Where''d you go?" Elly asked. "You know that videogame that mom''s friend, Albert, plays?" A mosquito flew in, the whine having been sized up with it, annoying everyone on the block. Gerard, upon seeing the mosquito had a health bar, decided he must fight it. It only had fifty health, he could attack for eight. As long as it didn¡¯t attack him for more than one damage, he should be fine. "Hey kids, go hide with your grandma, ok?" Gerard said. He didn''t look back. 3. Traveling Through the Tutorial I run through that dungeon again and again, hoping that in this run through something would change. I don¡¯t have much of a choice, it¡¯s either run through the tutorial yet again or sit there. Sometimes I fight the roly-poly, others the fruitfly. Sometimes I even wait for the ant egg to hatch, and followed Albert¡¯s strategy to gain an extra skill. Not that I needed it. I find out that if I stay in the same room as a bug for around a minute, whatever system I¡¯m caught in interprets that as me skipping my turn, and so the bug attacks without me having attacked first. After my whatever-th attempt (the 15th, judging by my level of Slap!) I¡¯m tempted, after having repeated the same thing so often with no way of escape, to let my health run down to zero, but by then I already had the standard immunity (as well as all the others) and so nothing in the tutorial could damage me. I keep myself interested by finding the most efficient skills for each of the bugs I fight, although the intro has simple opponents and as such less different options for strategy. And they¡¯re weak, after just a few dozen repetitions of the tutorial I can defeat all the bugs in two turns or less, including the ant hatched from the egg at the end. Well, except for the fairyfly. I¡¯ve managed to get a skill that increases my chance of hitting, but I still miss two times out of three. I hate the fairyfly. I used to like the tutorial of Bug Hunting. It was simple, easy to understand, and had a minimal amount of required prior knowledge. I can¡¯t argue with any of those points. However, I now dislike the simplicity. The constant instructions, while fine for just the beginning of the game annoy me when I have to see them again and again. But I continue fighting through the bugs. I defeat the ant hatched at the end in two turns, first a skill that does nothing immediately, but triples the damage of the next attack, then my highest damage attack, Slap!. The skill doesn¡¯t level up the fastest, especially at higher levels, but it still levels up, and I gain a level in every run through. I gain Fast Travel for the effort, which in the game is indispensable. But its use in the dungeon is so limited that I hadn¡¯t even known it was possible to use. I open up the fast travel mini-map, and there¡¯s only a dot. Right. I forgot you have to travel somewhere after getting Fast Travel to be able to actually use the skill. I go through the portal and then open up the mini map again, ignoring the [press space to Attack]. The beginning and end room are connected to each other. I teleport to the portal room, and crush the ant egg. The portal doesn¡¯t appear, it¡¯s just a dead-end room. But according to the fast travel map, the beginning room should be on the other side of the room. I hadn¡¯t really paid much attention to how the portal exactly appears before, but now I would. I fast travel back to the first room, and proceed from there. Once I get to the last room, the portal has already appeared. I go through again, fighting the roly-poly instead of the fruitfly to fill out the entire tutorial for Fast Travel. When I reach the last room, I keep my eyes on the wall. One moment the wall is simply a collection of the different sand grains, I¡¯ve decided it seems more like sand than dirt, the next there¡¯s a glowing portal. But the wall must also somehow disappear, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t be able to go through it. For the next few runs through, I use Fast Travel to change up the order I go through. I figure out all the possible orders I can complete it in. If I start in first room and end in the last, there¡¯s thirty-six different routes. I also sometimes teleport to the last room, crush the egg, then later return there again to go past the portal, but it¡¯s less efficient so I do it less often. At some point I make it a goal to go through all the possible paths to complete this, including ones that don¡¯t ¡°start¡± at the beginning, all 960 permutations. I figure I need a goal to work towards, this should take a while and will provide me some novelty. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I get into a sort of mindless rut as I systematically work through all the routes, first all the fruitfly routes, then all the roly-poly, then all the routes with both. I ignore all the notifications, even the skills I gain, not wanting anything to cause me to forget which route I¡¯m on. I punch a bug down, then move onto the next room, over and over and over. It makes me feel like I should take up exercise if I ever get out. After finishing all the routes, I sit down to take a look at all my skills. At first I read through each skill, look at its level and effects, but after doing that for a hundred or so skills I just skim through, looking for good skills I recognize. Sometime I should try out all the skills, but I¡¯ll save that project for later. I try to sleep, not feeling the motivation for anything else, and figuring its probably around time¨C I don¡¯t have my watch or phone on me so I can¡¯t check the time. I lie down on the dirt and try to settle into a comfortable position. Lying there, with my eyes closed, I don¡¯t feel tired. Even after I find a comfortable enough position, I can¡¯t fall asleep or even get tired. And I try. I even go through a relaxing run through the tutorial again (essentially the only way for me to take a walk) and try to fall back asleep. It doesn¡¯t work. Once I accept that I won¡¯t be falling asleep anytime soon, I decide I¡¯ll need to find something to do. I scroll through the different system things to see if there¡¯s anything interesting thing I can do. I figure out I can make combos. Honestly, the combo building feature is one of my favorites in Bug Hunting. I don¡¯t like having to memorize the different patterns for which skills to use together. I much prefer the combo method, do the calculations once, name the combos for when to use them. It makes me feel like I¡¯m making more choices. Mostly I make one move combos, using some skills that are to be stacked with an attack. Mostly Reckless Attack, one that doubles both damage gained and damaged received for the next turn. Because I can defeat all but the Fairyfly in one hit, the only multi-move combo I make is [Freeze] followed by [Slap!], getting rid of the chance to hit annoyance. I¡¯d been using those skills on the Fairyfly anyway, this should just remove a step when I¡¯m fighting them. I go through the portal, ready to test my new combos. I still just slap the ant in the first room. No point to putting any effort into it. I continue ahead to the fairyfly, and scroll through the list of my skills. The interface is awkward to interact with, I¡¯ve found. For Slap! I can physically slap the and that activates the skill, but some skills I can''t physically do the action and as such I have to scroll through the skill list for it and select it, and then watch as this affect takes place. Watching myself affect the world with just a tap of a button is how I thought I imagined magic, but I also imagined magic to have a sensation that this lacks. At least my combos list is shorter than my skills, so there''s less scrolling on a non-physical screen. I select my "Fairfly Attack!!!" combo and then the fairyfly attacks me. It only attacks if I use a skill that''s not an attack, the dodge seems to take its action otherwise. Albert would have known this already, of course. But I''m the one who''s stuck repeating the tutorial cut off from the world so I have to learn the mechanics on my own. [Fairyfly Attacked for 0 Damage] When my turn comes, a force takes over my body and I slap the bug, which promptly disappears. I ignore all the messages and stare at my hand. I did not expect that. Hopefully me using skills is the limit of this videogame forcing my body into action. I think I can handle my body moving without my conscious thought if I am the one who chooses it. I continue on to the roly-poly, and use the combo of one skill I made for it, to move the skill from the ridiculously long skill list over to the sensible combo list. My hand shoots forward and into the roly-poly. [Your Pierce dealt 20 Damage] [You Vanquished the Roly-Poly] I don''t think I could have done that with just my hands, just reach into the bug like that. Roly-polys have some armor. I guess that is an upside, even if there''s nothing else. I can now force my body into doing things that I don''t have the skills for and may be physically impossible. Interlude 3: Albert Albert flinched at the sound of the rifle fire. "So, do you have any suggestions?" the general asked. "I think I still need to get closer. I probably won''t be able to help you, guns and other military weapons aren''t a part of the videogame." "Surely the bugs have weak points or something? I thought you were supposed to be the expert at this game." [Cowboy Beetle. Health 400 out of 400] the system announced. The armored car Albert and the general were riding in must have gotten closer to the bug. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "You haven''t done anything to it," Albert said. "We''ve broken through its armor. Carapace? It looks pretty injured" "Ah. I just meant¨C" Another round of rifle fire cut off Albert. "I think its dead now," the general said. "Can we go closer? I want to check if its still acknowledged by the video game system." "Yes. After the confirmation of the kill comes in. We''ll have to walk to get any closer, though." "Has its body not disappeared? I suppose that tracks. I really don''t think I''ll be able to help you fight against the bugs in this manner, an entomologist should be better. But I still want to investigate more for my own purpose, if that''s alright?" "We''re both working towards the same purpose, even if you go about it in a very different way," The general turned to talk to someone on his walkie-talkie, then told Albert "They''ve declared the bug dead if you want to check it out now." "Sounds good! Wait, what time is it?" "1640, why?" "I''ve got an interview scheduled in twenty minutes. This was supposed to be a quiet job." Interlude 4: Gerard Gerard and his bug-hunting partner Alisa fast-traveled to the bug. It was an uncommon bug, a mosquito. Alisa had calculated out the risk of them dying before the bug, less than one in a hundred. The fight started out normal, trading blows. Gerard and Alisa supporting each others skills, with hundreds of bugs of practice in working together. When the mosquito was down under a hundred health, one or two rounds away from the end, the mosquito landed its bloodsucking move on Alisa, a critical hit. 4.78 damage. Alisa was down to 4.6 health. Gerard and Alisa attacked the mosquito, bringing it down under ten health, one hit away from the death. [Critical Hit!] [Mosquito Bit alisa for 4.65 Health] [alisa Died] Gerard watched as Alisa¡¯s body crumpled to the ground. She died. Gerard froze. He didn¡¯t break out of until the mosquito attacked him. He attacked back killing the bug, regenerating his own health. If Alisa had held out one more round¡­ The police showed up at some point, and asked Gerard to describe what had happened. He managed a summary. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Alright, you can go home. We¡¯ll take care of everything here,¡± a police officer told Gerard. Gerard left the scene, and wandered through the city. He passed by a BBQ restaurant that Alisa had shown him. She ate or got takeout there all the time, it was close to her house. Gerard walked up to the front door of Alisa¡¯s house. He rang the doorbell. Gerard looked at the roots of the oak in Alisa¡¯s yard. The dirt around the roots were bare, without grass. The door opened. Alisa¡¯s husband looked at Gerard, ¡°Gerard! Can I help you with something?¡± Gerard opened his mouth, he needs to say something. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come in and sit down?¡± Alisa¡¯s husband said. Gerard sat in a chair at the dining room table. Alisa¡¯s two kids were playing with legos in the adjacent room. ¡°You don¡¯t seem too good, what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Alisa died.¡± The kids stopped playing and froze. ¡°We were fighting a mosquito. Over a ninety-nine percent chance of success. It got two critical hits in a row on Alisa.¡± One of the children started crying, her father went over to comfort her. Gerard left. He walked the hour to his parents house. To his house. When he arrived, he pushed open the door. ¡°Dad! You¡¯re finally back!¡± Elly called from the kitchen. Gerard started crying. If he died, his children couldn¡¯t turn to Jessica, she was still missing. He needed a safer job. Gerard closed the door, and collapsed in the entryway. 4: Gaining Skills The fairyfly disapears. [Fairyfly Vanquished] [Skill Gained: Magic Immunity] [Magic Immunity at Max Level] [Skill Gained: Acid Skills] I don¡¯t know how much longer I can stand this repetition. I¡¯ve gone through these same rooms more times than I can count. I take breaks, although there¡¯s nothing to do in those breaks so they usually end up short. I can¡¯t even sleep. I finish the run, now gaining skills with the ¡°poison attribute¡±. I hadn¡¯t used all my skills yet, and now I¡¯m getting new skills more often. I don¡¯t want to try using all my skills now, if I try I¡¯ll gain so many skills in the meantime that I will inevitably lose track of which I¡¯ve done and which I haven¡¯t. It feels weird to procrastinate when I have literally nothing to do, but yet I run through the dungeon time and time again, setting new milestones to start my run through of all the skills at. When I max out all the standard skills, when I have all of the different skill type skills, when I complete fifty runs in a row without gaining a new skill. But just as I max out all the standard skills I gain Magic Skills, and that once again increases the amount of new skills to gain. Gaining all the skill type skills was a stupid milestone to start trying to use my skills after, because it guarantees I¡¯d be getting new skills right after. My streak was at thirty-seven completed runs without a new skills, I kill the fairyfly. [Skill Gained: Ice Poison Spike] ¡°Damn¡± I¡¯ve started swearing since being trapped in here, only the words I might have let slip out beforehand. But I say them all the time now. Practically the only things I say. I take a break, scroll mindlessly through my list of skills. It¡¯s a lot. I scroll as fast as I can, and still I get bored scrolling through the skills. I¡¯ve never had near this many skills before. I don¡¯t think anybody has. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.After checking a few random skills throughtout the skill list, I finally reach the bottom. I click through the few skills at the bottom, then get up to do a few runs more. I get through twelve runs with no new skills, and so I start the thirteenth run through. I¡¯d long given up teleporting around the tiny tutorial area, so I head straight to the ant and hit it. [Skill Gained: Magic Fire Light Ray] ¡°Crap¡± I¡¯m not going to stall this time, I know that soon enough I¡¯ll get a run long enough¨C [Max Skills reached. Choose a Skill to delete] I never knew there was a maximum. I scroll through my skills, pick a random one. Overheat. I don¡¯t think I ever used it, I won¡¯t miss it. [Overheat deleted] I continue on. As I mow through the bugs I think about the deletion of the skill. I could have chose the Standard Immunity, try to skip all my turns, it would take forever. Magic Immunity. I should have deleted Magic Immunity. If I gain another skill, I should reach the maximum again. As fast as I can I kill bugs. I don¡¯t see what skill I gain, but my skill list gets brought up, asking me to delete one. The scroll to find Magic Immunity is torture, the slow scroll, leaving me to my thoughts. If this deleting Magic Immunity doesn¡¯t change something¨C I¨C I don¡¯t want to think about it. I select [Magic Immunity]. [Magic Immunity deleted] I go forward, and crush the ant egg. I can¡¯t hold an extra skill anyway. The portal lights up, I step forward controlling my breathing, my arms shaking. I close my eyes and take the step through the portal. Chapter 5: Getting Oriented Stepping through the portal, the scenery shifts. Earth. Some steel beams, next to shovels. I¡¯m standing in dirt. A construction zone. It¡¯s dark. No people are around. Night. I¡¯m on Earth. I¨C this is the best outcome going through this portal. And I¡¯m not laying on the ground bleeding due to a bug attack, as I feared in one of my scenarios. I need to find my husband. I pat my pockets. No phone. If I find someone, I can borrow their phone. That¡¯s something people do. I exit the construction site, onto a familiar street. The coffee shop across my apartment. And the tattoo parlor next to it. The construction site is where my apartment used to be. The street is empty, at whatever time of night this is. I turn a corner. The liquor store has its lights on. I push the door open, the little bell jingles. The store clerk sits at a check-out right next to the door. ¡°Do you have an ID?¡± she asks. I stand frozen for what feels like a minute. ¡°Phone. I want to use the phone,¡± I say. She sighs, and hands me a phone. It¡¯s corded. I didn¡¯t know they still had those. I hold the phone in my hand and stare at the number pad on the wall. I don¡¯t know my husbands¡¯ phone number. I always just use my cellphone. I punch in the only phone number I know, my own. I hold the receiver to my ear, and listen to the dial tone. ¡°Hi! You¡¯ve reached Jessica¡¯s voicemail. Please leave a message, I¡¯ll try to get back,¡± I hear my recorded voice say. I hang up. The clerk turns towards me ¡°Are you alright? You can stay in the store if you need.¡± It takes me a while to respond. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I have anywhere¨C Albert¡¯s apartment. I¡¯ll go visit him.¡± I leave the store. After I¡¯m halfway down the street, I realize I should have thanked the clerk for her help. On the way to Albert¡¯s I only see one other person walking. Even the cars are sparse. I space out while walking, and find myself already at Albert¡¯s apartment building. I walk up the stairs to Albert¡¯s floor. I ring his doorbell, and wait. He¡¯s probably sleeping. It seemed even later than he normally stays up. I get nervous and start pacing. I ring the doorbell again. I take a deep breath and ring the doorbell repeatedly; Albert will understand. A woman opens the door. She¡¯s wearing pajamas, her hair is a mess. ¡°You¡¯re not Albert.¡± I say. ¡°Sorry. Sorry. Do you¨C Is Albert there?¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t know an Albert.¡± ¡°This is his apartment, I¡¯ve been hundreds of times,¡± My apartment building is now a construction field. ¡°At least he used to.¡± ¡°Oh. I¡¯m not¨C¡± she says, ¡°Wait, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Jessica Olmhoft. Sorry for waking you up.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you come in? Albert Thomas told me to call him if you ever came by.¡± I sit at her kitchen table while she paces with her cellphone in her hand. She must reach the voicemail, because she starts leaving a message. ¡°Hello, this is Lynn. I¡¯m the person who moved into your apartment. You told me to call if a Jessica Olmoft showed up, and she just did. I¡¯ve lost the photo you sent me, but I think she matches.¡± Lynn hangs up the phone. ¡°Well, that¡¯s all I can do now. Do you want to borrow my phone or something? You seemed to come here in quite a hurry.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know any phone numbers. Maybe, could I borrow your computer? I know my email login, I could try to email my husband.¡± ¡°Of course, let me sign in for you.¡± She takes a laptop from on a desk and hands it to me, open to a web browser. I sign into my email. My inbox is full of spam, mostly from the same four companies. I compose an email, put in my husband¡¯s email address, and then stare at the blinking curser. I don¡¯t know what to say. I keysmash. Anything to get rid of the blank draft. What do I say in an email to my husband? I¡¯ve never emailed him anything besides files. ¡°Hey, I think I just disappeared for a while. Well, I¡¯m back now.¡± That won¡¯t do. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I check the date in the corner of the computer. September ninth. It was May last I knew. And I¡¯m not sure I could explain what happened. I turn towards Lynn. ¡°I know I probably sound crazy, but in May I seem to remember huge bugs coming out of the sky and attacking. Was that real?¡± Lynn freezes, unsure of how to respond. The phone rings, she picks it up. I hear her half of the conversations, the ¡°Hello?¡±, ¡°Yes this is,¡± ¡°Yes,¡± then ¡°She¡¯s sitting right at my table.¡± Lynn hands the phone to me. ¡°Hello?¡± I say. ¡°Jessica? Is that really you? Where are you? I¡¯ll come pick you up. Wait. My old apartment, of course.¡± ¡°Albert! Yeah, it¡¯s really me. I guess you missed me, then,¡± I say. ¡°Where were you? Hold on a moment¨C I¡¯m getting in the car¡± I hear him giving his address¨C old address to someone. ¡°I¡¯ll be there in half an hour. Okay, so where were you all this time?¡± ¡°As far as I know I was in the tutorial for Bug Hunting, like, I was fighting those bugs in that little anthill,¡± I say. ¡°Yeah, but after that, where were you?¡± Albert asks. ¡°After that? Wait, you believe me?¡± ¡°You played Bug Hunting, of course you went through the tutorial.¡± He acts as if this is self-evident. ¡°Jessica? You still there?¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just processing,¡± I say. ¡°I feel like this conversation would be better in person.¡± ¡°Fine. Fine.¡± Albert says, ¡°But you¡¯ve got to talk about something.¡± ¡°Well, you moved. We could talk about that. What¡¯s your new place like?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a house in the suburbs. You¡¯ll probably like it, the realtor kept talking about its ¡®curb appeal¡¯¡± ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°You¡¯re always commenting on how cute the houses are. Even when you¡¯re driving and supposed to be focused on the road.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cause they are cute! And I was at a stoplight. But maybe if you¡¯re just going to complain about my driving, maybe you should just drive yourself.¡± ¡°I would, but alas, the government will not let me. Someone decided it¡¯s too dangerous to drive if you can¡¯t see. Something about needing to know where the other cars are before they crash into you?¡± ¡°Hey, how did you get someone to drive you over here so fast? Especially if you¡¯re in the suburbs. You got a girlfriend or something?¡± Albert laughs. ¡°No, I¡¯ve been too busy. I now employ a driver full-time to take me to all my functions.¡± ¡°How did that happen? Never mind, it¡¯s the middle of the night! Do you usually go out driving at three in the morning?¡± Lynn calls out ¡°It¡¯s four thirty!¡± I had forgotten about her. ¡°And thank you so much for helping me out. I¡¯ve had quite a day. I¡¯ll try to figure out some way to repay you,¡± I tell Lynn. I hear Albert laughing over the phone. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure she¡¯s properly rewarded for helping you out.¡± At the same time, Lynn says, ¡°Just get your friend to repay me, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°I guess you two have some sort of deal worked out or something. I just feel bad about waking Lynn up this early,¡± I say. ¡°Why are you up at four thirty in the morning, though? Your sleep schedule must have gotten even worse while I was gone. You full-on nocturnal now?¡± ¡°It¡¯s less consistent now. Some days I stay up ¡®till three, other days I wake up at three,¡± Albert says. ¡°And apparently your driver keeps up with this schedule. And you¡¯re always talking about labor conditions.¡± ¡°She works less hours than I do,¡± Albert pauses. ¡°She¡¯s only on today at this time because, what was it? I woke up early to get some work done before¡­ Oh! I have an early morning flight scheduled. Usually she¡¯d be off at this time.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got a flight? Shouldn¡¯t you be going to the airport?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll cancel it. I¡¯m on track for over fifty hours this week anyway. I¡¯ll text my assistant to clear my schedule for the next few days. You¡¯re here, talking to me!¡± ¡°An assistant? I¡¯m getting the sense you may no longer be a computer engineer, with a driver, an assistant and a house in the suburbs. You get cast in a movie while I was gone?¡± ¡°No, no. How do I describe what I do now? It¡¯s a lot of different stuff,¡± he sighs. ¡°I guess I did get cast in a movie, sort of. I¡¯m narrating a documentary. I¡¯ve become a bit of a celebrity, I¡¯ll have you know.¡± ¡°What for? You shouldn¡¯t joke with the person who clearly doesn¡¯t have the best sense on reality. I think you¡¯re in a Sunset Boulevard situation. You remember how that ends?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not¨C I¡¯m famous because of Bug Hunting. Turns out all those hours I put into it really paid off.¡± Albert paused. ¡°I should be almost there. I¡¯ll hang up, call my assistant about clearing my schedule, and then I should be there. That¡¯ll give us some both a bit of time to think before moving on to whatever conversations we¡¯ve been putting off.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I say. Albert hangs up. I turn towards Lynn. ¡°Albert should be here soon, then I¡¯ll be out of your hair. Thanks for helping me at this hour. I don¡¯t know what I would have done otherwise.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll make a good story, at the least. And it gives me an excuse to call off work.¡± I must have been looking guilty, because Lynn continues. ¡°My work¡¯s chill about it, and it¡¯ll be nice to have a day to myself.¡± I nod. I sit down, I had been pacing while on the phone. The doorbell rings. Lynn gets the door. Albert¡¯s standing there, holding the door frame. I can hear him breathing. ¡°Albert! It¡¯s Jessica,¡± I say. ¡°It¡¯s really you!¡± He makes his way towards me, walking around here he used to have a table. He walks straight into Lynn¡¯s end table. ¡°Damn,¡± Albert says. ¡°That¡¯ll leave a bruise. Should have realized there¡¯d be different furniture in here now.¡± I stand up and walk over to Albert. ¡°I guess we should go and let Lynn get some rest,¡± I say. Albert nods. ¡°Yeah, we should.¡± He turns towards the center of the room, ¡°I¡¯ll have my assistant get in contact with you.¡± Once we¡¯ve left the apartment and are in the hall, Albert asks ¡°Can I hug you?¡± ¡°I guess.¡± He wraps his arms around me, squeezing me tight. He mumbles under his breath. Albert releases me from the hug. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the car.¡± Chapter 6: Home We go out onto the dark street. A limo sits parked outside the building, waiting with lights on. ¡°You didn¡¯t mention your car was a limo,¡± I laugh. ¡°You really have a different vibe going than when I left.¡± Albert runs his hand through his hair. ¡°I know. I decided I had to buy a car, and on an impulse bought the limo. It¡¯s more conspicuous than I¡¯d like.¡± We sit in the back of a car, there¡¯s a wall between us and the driver. Albert takes a deep breath. ¡°So. Where were you?¡± Albert asks. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you how I think I remember it, but I don¡¯t know what actually happened. It was May, Gerard had brought the kids to visit his parents. I was eating lunch, the sky looked like it split open and huge bugs poured out. One attacked me¨C I think I was dying. And then I was in the tutorial for Bug Hunting. Let me tell you, I now have opinions on that place. And then I was in a construction zone, that used to be my apartment. I wandered around a bit, realized I don¡¯t know my husband¡¯s phone number, then went to your apartment.¡± ¡°How long were you wandering? Where were you? You¡¯ve been gone for months.¡± ¡°I think the months were in the tutorial. I got Magic Immunity, and the tutorial kept looping.¡± ¡°That¨C actually makes sense. The portal, it was originally designed to loop¡­¡± Albert trailed off. ¡°I suppose I should fill you in on the past months, huh?¡± ¡°On May 18th, at 19:48 UTC, the sky split open. All around the globe, people saw a tear in the sky from which gigantic bugs pour out.¡± Albert says. ¡°That¡¯s the encyclopedic answer, anyway. From my perspective, I was just suddenly in a new location. I was standing when I had been sitting, and a voice was telling me to ¡®Press space to attack.¡¯ I ran through the tutorial, and once I finished returned to my desk. My notifications were going off, as you can imagine, since everyone who had played Bug Hunting went through the tutorial. It took a while to get the logistics worked out, but I got a team together and we went out and hunted a few bugs. ¡°I was busy that first while, eventually I figured I should probably put out some guide for the newly awakened, as I was one of the better informed about Bug Hunting. But first I felt I had to learn about the current situation, anyway, it distracted me for a while, it wasn¡¯t until two days after that I realized you were missing. ¡°I texted you once cell service came back, but you didn¡¯t respond to my text for a while, and so I tried calling, when you didn¡¯t pick up I called Gerard. He didn¡¯t know where you were, but at that time he had also just woken up. ¡°Once Gerard returned to your apartment he found the building had been attacked. Right at your apartment. He ran in, and looked around. He called me after, told me there was blood on the floor. I¨C at that time I feared the worst, assumed you were dead, maybe to the tutorial. But as I learned more I couldn¡¯t figure out why there wouldn¡¯t be a body, and so decided you must be alive Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°But things you should know about how the worlds changed. I¡¯m famous now. It¡¯s now a job, being a Hunter, killing those bugs. You could do it in your free time if you want. Decent pay, I made sure of that. Gerard was a Hunter for a bit.¡± ¡°How is Gerard?¡± I ask. ¡°He didn¡¯t take your death well.¡± he sighs. ¡°We should go to his house, he¡¯d never forgive me if I kept that you¡¯re alive from him longer than necessary.¡± Albert presses a button, and speaks over an intercom to the driver. ¡°Can you take us to Gerard¡¯s place?¡± ¡°Where is Gerard living now? I saw that our apartment¡¯s under construction.¡± ¡°His parent¡¯s place,¡± Alberts sighs. ¡°Don¡¯t be shocked if he reacts oddly to seeing you, he¡¯s not been good with dealing with emotions.¡± ¡°I know.¡± I smile. ¡°He doesn¡¯t have much practice, he keeps them wrapped up tight.¡± We sit in silence the rest of the ride. When we arrive, Albert takes out his cane and we head to the front door. He takes out a key and unlocks the door. ¡°You¡¯ve got a key,¡± I raise my eyebrow. ¡°I babysit the kids occasionally.¡± We head inside. Albert doesn¡¯t turn on the lights, so I can¡¯t see anything while my eyes adjust from the headlights of the limo outside. ¡°Gerard? You awake?¡± Albert asks. After no response, he whispers to me, ¡°It might be better if you¡¯re not right where he can see you when he wakes up, maybe hang out in the kitchen?¡± ¡°It¡¯s dark enough that he won¡¯t see me from here.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Albert heads over to the couch. ¡°Let me sleep,¡± Gerard mumbles. I recognize his voice instantly, in the tutorial I had tried to remember his voice but never could. ¡°Gerard¡­¡± I whisper under my breath. ¡°This is important, Gerard,¡± Albert says. ¡°I finally got to sleep. And I get up early. It better be.¡± ¡°It is. Are you fully awake?¡± ¡°Awake as I can be.¡± Gerard says. ¡°Okay. I found Jessica.¡± ¡°Where? Her body?¡± Gerard is shook. I¡¯d only heard him this distressed once before, when Carter almost drowned. ¡°She¡¯s alive, she¡¯s alive.¡± Gerard stands up. I think he leans on Albert, but in the dark I can¡¯t make out details. ¡°Where is she? Is she alright?¡± Gerard stumbles towards the entryway I¡¯m standing on, and flicks on the light. I blink from the sudden brightness. ¡°Jessica?¡± Before I can respond, Gerard collapses to his knees sobbing. I sit down next to him, and we hug. ¡°I missed you.¡± I say. ¡°There were so many times I just wished I could talk with you.¡± Chapter 7: The Joe-Pye Weeds are in bloom After minutes of sitting together, Gerard calms enough to speak coherently. ¡°Do you want water or dinner or something?¡± he asks. ¡°Sleep,¡± I say. ¡°I haven¡¯t slept in ages.¡± Albert stands up from where he was leaning and grabs his cane. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to get settled, then. I¡¯ll come back later today or tomorrow to discuss some stuff.¡± After Albert leaves, I give Gerard my hand to help him up. ¡°Speaking of sleep, were you sleeping on the couch? Is there not enough beds here for everyone?¡± Gerard laughs. ¡°We have enough beds now. It¡¯s¨C I sleep better on a couch.¡± ¡°You never slept well on a couch before.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wake up to an empty bed.¡± Gerard says quietly. ¡°Is there an open bed I can use?¡± ¡°Yeah. Yeah, where we usually sleep when we¡¯ve visited.¡± I borrow a pair of sweatpants from Gerard to use as pajamas, and fall asleep while Gerard calls off from work. I wake up with Gerard sitting in the bed next to me, reading a book by the light from the window. ¡°It¡¯s nice to be back,¡± I say. ¡°Sometimes, when I was stuck in there I thought that my life on Earth had been a dream. But I¡¯m back now.¡± ¡°You¡¯re here. It¡¯s not a dream,¡± Gerard says. He put down his book. ¡°Do you want breakfast?¡± ¡°Sure. I haven¡¯t aten in months.¡± ¡°In months? Where were you?¡± ¡°I was stuck in the Bug Hunting tutorial. Albert mentioned you were a hunter? So I assume you also went through the tutorial, then.¡± I get out of bed and into the kitchen. The microwave clock shows it to be past one. ¡°I did. I¡¯m not a hunter anymore, though.¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°How was the tutorial for you? Like, being suddenly teleported to a fight fictional bugs?¡± ¡°I just followed the instructions. I was a bit disoriented at first, but once I figured out that just tapping the air counted as pressing space, I made it through.¡± Gerard looks through the cabinets. ¡°We don¡¯t have much besides cereal. We¡¯ve got bagels, I might be able to fix something up with that.¡± Of course. Gerard always adapts to whatever situation he¡¯s in. ¡°Cereal is fine.¡± Gerard pours us both bowls of raisin bran. I shoveled the cereal into my mouth without saying anything. I put my bowl in the sink after I finish, fitting it between other bowls from cereal or oatmeal. ¡°Did the kids already go off to school?¡± I ask. ¡°I assume so. I usually work early, so they¡¯ve gotten good at getting themselves there.¡± Gerard says. ¡°I haven¡¯t told them yet, I haven¡¯t told anyone. I don¡¯t know how to. You were dead.¡± ¡°They should get home from school soon, right? We¡¯ll tell them then.¡± ¡°In about an hour.¡± I smile. ¡°Great. Want to go for a walk?¡± ¡°The Joe Pye weeds are in bloom.¡± ¡°I suppose I missed the basswood flowers. I¡¯ll have to wait almost a year now,¡± I say while we head out the door. ¡°I harvested some. There¡¯s enough for a few cups of tea,¡± Gerard says. I kiss him. ¡°Thanks.¡± We don¡¯t talk much on the walk, just point out animals, plants, license plates, or interesting cracks on the sidewalk. When we get back to the house, Gerard checks his phone. ¡°Albert called. I guess I should call back,¡± he says. ¡°Put him on speaker,¡± I kick off my shoes. ¡°I¡¯m going to need to buy a phone soon.¡± ¡°Your phone is in one of my drawers.¡± Albert picks up. ¡°Hey Gerard¡± ¡°Hi Albert, you¡¯re on speaker,¡± I say. ¡°Jessica!¡± Albert says. ¡°Great, how have you been holding up?¡± ¡°Pretty good, we just went on a walk.¡± ¡°Got any plans for the rest of the day?¡± ¡°The kids are supposed to get back from school soon, so telling them.¡± ¡°Well, if either of you need anything feel free to call. I do have a question for you Jessica, how did you get out of the tutorial?¡± ¡°I reached the max amount of skills, so I had to delete one.¡± ¡°And with magic immunity out of the way, of course!¡± The door opens, and Gerard¡¯s parents walk in. ¡°Gerard? You here?¡± his dad, Cole, asks. ¡°Did you get off work early?¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m here. I¨C I didn¡¯t¨C¡± ¡°Jessica? It¡¯s nice to...¡± Gerard¡¯s mom, Iona says. ¡°Iona dear, that¡¯s¨C sorry Gerard,¡± Cole leads Iona out into the main area. ¡°Oh. Jessica? Well, would you look at that! She is here!¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m back!¡± I say. Gerard¡¯s still holding the phone, with Albert on the call. ¡°Well, I was just calling to say I¡¯ll be stopping by tomorrow to talk about some Bug Hunter things, but I¡¯ll leave you to it for now.¡± ¡°See you tomorrow,¡± I say, as Gerard ends the call. ¡°It¡¯s wonderful that you¡¯re back,¡± Cole says. ¡°I know Gerard must be glad.¡± I nod and smile. Gerard¡¯s parents are nice, but I never know how they expect me to respond. Gerard did not inherit their communication style. Chapter 8: After School Snacks When waiting for the kids to come home, I prepared them a snack, ants on a log made with wilted celery. Cole comes into the kitchen after talking with Gerard. ¡°There¡¯s something you should probably know before the kids come back from school. It would be better to have this conversation with Gerard, but..¡± Cole trails off. ¡°When the bugs initially attacked, millions of people died, including your sister, Elizabeth. Gerard adopted Calvin.¡± I nod. ¡°Elizabeth died? What happened?¡± I ask. It won¡¯t feel real unless I know details. And it needs to feel real, otherwise I might forget it happened. ¡°She was attacked by a bug. She was at work when the bugs first appeared, and it crushed her. I¡¯m sorry Jessica.¡± I nod. ¡°Thanks for telling me.¡± I go back to putting raisins on the celery. Elizabeth died. Bet-bet. I¡¯m reading Elizabeth¡¯s obituary on my phone when the door opens and Elly runs in. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I turn my phone off and wipe the tears off my face. ¡°First!¡± she yells. Carter comes in slightly after. They take off their shoes and bags and come into the living room. Calvin and Sal enter the house, chatting. Elly rounds the corner to the kitchen, and reaches up to the cabinet. She freezes. ¡°Mom?¡± Elly goes out of the kitchen and drags Carter back in. ¡°I¡¯m back,¡± I say. Carter looks at Elly. ¡°We thought you were dead,¡± he says. Elly runs up and hugs me. Calvin and Sal come into the kitchen. Calvin stares at me. ¡°I was just stuck for a while, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Stuck how? You were gone the whole summer!¡± Sal says. Calvin runs off. ¡°I don¡¯t really know. I was in the Bug Hunting Tutorial.¡± I say. Sal nods. ¡°I made a snack for you guys,¡± I gesture to the peanut-butter covered celery. Elly takes a handful, the chewing sound making the silence more awkward. Gerard walks into the kitchen. ¡°Where¡¯s Calvin?¡± he asks. ¡°He went to his room,¡± Sal says. Gerard nods. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to him,¡± he says quietly. ¡°So, what have you been up to?¡± I ask my kids. It takes a few moments before Carter responds. ¡°I¡¯ve started knitting,¡± he says. ¡°I was trying to finish that blanket you¡¯ve been working on.¡± Elly then starts describing her plans for a science fair project, and I feel like things could get back to normal. Chapter 9: Questions About Mechanics I wake up with Gerard clinging on to my arm. I gently wiggle free, and slide out of the bed. I walk into the kitchen, Calvin eating a bowl of cereal and Sal eating a granola bar. ¡°Hey, do you want me to drive you to school or something?¡± I ask. ¡°No, we¡¯re good.¡± Sal says. ¡°You sure? I don¡¯t know how many of the bugs are still running around, but I don¡¯t want you to run into one of them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s safe now. There¡¯s no bugs in cities anymore,¡± Calvin says. ¡°We like walking anyways.¡± Sal says. I go back into the bedroom, to see if I can find my phone. Gerard is sweating and shaking from a nightmare. ¡°Hey, hey. It¡¯s alright.¡± I shake him awake. Gerard grabs my arm and holds it tight. ¡°Jessie. Jessie,¡± he whispers. ¡°I¡¯m here, Gerard. It was just a nightmare.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t. You were gone. Alisa died. It¡¯s not just a dream.¡± I sit with Gerard while he calms down and tells me about his dream. About seeing Alisa collapse to the ground in front of him, about waking up and I¡¯m gone or a dead body next to him. Once he¡¯s finished we sit in silence for a while. ¡°Do you want some coffee?¡± I ask. ¡°Yeah. That sounds good.¡± I put a pot of coffee on. The kids left while I was talking with Gerard. I walk around the house while waiting for the coffee to finish. It¡¯s got a lot more clutter than I¡¯ve ever seen in it before, with books, craft projects, and video game consoles lying around. Gerard¡¯s in the kitchen by the time the coffee finishes, and he pours us both a cup. ¡°Did you take today off as well?¡± I ask. ¡°No. Wednesdays I always have off. My coworkers insisted on it. They wanted me to start going to therapy then, but that probably won¡¯t happen now.¡± ¡°Why not? It definitely seems like you¡¯re still dealing with the affects¨C¡° ¡°We can¡¯t afford it. We ran through our emergency savings quickly, I wasn¡¯t working and even moving in with my parents was somewhat expensive because we needed to buy beds. My coworkers had found this support program for people who lost spouses to the bug attacks, and they had some group therapy I was going to try out, but I don¡¯t qualify for that anymore.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I¡¯ll get my job back or get a new one, and we should be able to afford something for you. Who knows? I might end up scheduling some sessions for myself. I don¡¯t think spending that long in that anthill could have been good for me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll look into it, once we¡¯re financially stable again.¡± Gerard says. ¡°And hopefully once there¡¯s less of a shortage of therapists.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to that. What¡¯s your current job?¡± ¡°Construction. The bugs caused a lot of property damage in the first round, so there¡¯s a lot of demand. And like every field, there¡¯s a shortage of workers.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I nod, and drain the last of my coffee. I take Gerards cup and put them in the sink adding, in with the kids¡¯ bowls. I should wash those later. ¡°You mentioned you had my phone,¡± I say. ¡°I¡¯ll go get it.¡± Gerard returns, my phone in hand. The case is scratched up. The phone is dead. I plug it in, and leave it to charge while I wash the dishes. The doorbell rings. ¡°That should be Albert,¡± Gerard says. ¡°He texted to say he was going to stop by around this time.¡± I ask Gerard to get the door while I start putting away the dishes. Gerard puts aside the laundry he was folding and welcomes Albert in. ¡°Hey Albert!¡± I say, ¡°So I¡¯ve been thinking since yesterday, two days ago? And I¡¯ve come up with some questions to ask about how the video game has ported over.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t answer why it happened. That¡¯s for philosophers, theologians, and scientists to puzzle out.¡± ¡°Nothing like that. More mechanics.¡± ¡°Those I can answer, or can figure out.¡± ¡°Okay, so the bugs kill people. How does that work? Do you get injuries and die relative to your health or..?¡± ¡°If you¡¯ve been through the tutorial, it engages through the video game system entirely, you just get the messages of the attacks, very few affects. If the health runs out, the bug hunter dies. For people who haven¡¯t been through the tutorial, it attacks them like a giant bug. They get injured and then things progress normally from there.¡± ¡°Oh. Okay.¡± I stare at Albert¡¯s feet. ¡°We can go sit down in the living room.¡± Once we¡¯re seated, Albert asks ¡°Do you have any more questions about mechanics?¡± ¡°If my health bar decreases, then do I just get random injuries if the bug doesn¡¯t physically attack?¡± Gerard enters the room, ¡°No. You¡¯re perfectly healthy from a health of ten, all the way down to a fraction above zero. At zero you drop down dead.¡± ¡°Right.¡± I remember Gerard¡¯s nightmare. I turn towards Albert. ¡°I think that¡¯s all the questions I have for now. I¡¯ll probably find more later. But you mentioned you had something to discuss with me.¡± ¡°I have a job offer for you,¡± Albert says. ¡°You mentioned you maxed out the amount of skill. I had to look into that actually, I hadn¡¯t realized that was still a thing. But because of that, you¡¯re probably the most powerful Bug Hunter out there. And well, I do sort of manage the Bug Hunter¡¯s Guild, and having someone on who could take care of any bug¡ª you think you could handle a boss?¡± ¡°Probably. I have all the immunities but magic. I think I could get a really high damage output as well.¡± ¡°That would be really helpful. We haven¡¯t had to fight a boss yet, but a Swamp Darner showed up in Cuba. It¡­ we lost a lot of bug hunters. Having someone like you on call would be great for that. We don¡¯t have a lot of strong hunters, and I don¡¯t want people to be forced to push themselves further than is safe.¡± ¡°I could do that. I don¡¯t know what fighting a bug is like, out in the real world. I should also have you help me figure out good combos sometime. But I think being on standby is something I could do.¡± ¡°I was also wondering if you would be willing to do some shifts just clearing some of the higher level bugs. The stronger hunters are overworked. I was thinking maybe one or two day shifts somewhere in the country.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t travel for work,¡± I say. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you the details¨C do you have your phone yet? Or email or something?¡± ¡°Yeah, my email address I have access to. At least the gmail one. My phone is charging I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll work yet.¡± I say. ¡°I¡¯ll think about the job.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need to get the cell plan back on your phone, reactivate it or get a new one. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ve reassigned your number,¡± Gerard says. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve got your email; I had planned to print out the job offer that we got written up for you, but I forgot. I would have had to send it to Gerard. Sending a job offer to a woman¡¯s husband seems kinda wrong.¡± Albert says. I laugh.¡±Yeah, that would seem very old-fashioned misogyny.¡± The door opens and Sal and Calvin enter. ¡°Oh, hi Albert! It¡¯s Sal. Could you help me with my math homework?¡± ¡°I was just about to leave, you could ask your mom to help.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re better at it!¡± ¡°Most of the problems you solve yourself when telling me what steps you took. You could try doing that with your mom,¡± Albert says. ¡°I could. But you can actually explain things.¡± ¡°Ask your mom for help. If you can¡¯t figure it out, you can then call me, ok?¡± Sal nods. ¡°Ok, fine.¡± ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t have any more questions Jessica, I should get going. I¡¯ve got some meetings I¡¯ve been putting off.¡± ¡°Have a good rest of the day then! Good luck at those meetings, I guess,¡± I say. I don¡¯t know what meetings he has. ¡°Oh, I won¡¯t need luck. Good day!¡± Albert leaves. Chapter 10: Questions About the Contract I read the job offer the next morning after cutting up some cantaloupe for breakfast. After opening the document and seeing that it¡¯s 43 pages, I get out a notebook and start writing stuff down. The job seems simple in premise, I have to travel around the country fighting bugs primarily to get the spots recognized for Fast Travel, so that if there¡¯s some emergency I can get there fast. And the more I read about it the more I understand why Albert wants me to have this job. It makes sense¨C I could really be in a position to save lives here. Despite my idea that I was not a person who travels for work, I was considering taking this job. I reach the section on ¡°Compensation.¡± I wish the kids good luck at school, then call Albert. He doesn¡¯t pick up. I copy down the pay. Albert calls me back. ¡°Hi Albert. I¡¯ve been reading through this job offer you sent me.¡± I say ¡°And? What do you think?¡± Albert asks. ¡°Is the pay right? Almost a million a year?¡± ¡°Base salary. You¡¯ll likely end up getting more, with all the bonuses and such. If you¡¯re effective as I think you¡¯ll be, you¡¯ll save the guild more than we pay you.¡± ¡°Huh. Really?¡± ¡°Really.¡± Albert says. ¡°Look, I¡¯ve got a meeting going on, do you have any other questions about the contract right now? ¡°Not now, no. I haven¡¯t finished reading it yet.¡± ¡°Alright. You can call or text me when your ready to discuss.¡± After he hangs up, I finish reading through the document. Gerard is still at work, I had convinced him to go back in today. I think I¡¯m going to have to take it. I could really help people with this job. I search up how much the bugs have killed. It¡¯s difficult to find. There¡¯s plenty of estimates of the millions who died initially. But after that it¡¯s harder to find data or even estimates. Besides the data on Bug Hunter death rates, which is freely available. It¡¯s over one percent a year. And if Albert is right, I could help with that with this job. I sigh and close my laptop, and go out into the living room, where Cole and Iona are playing bridge. ¡°Hey,¡± I say. ¡°Hi Jessica,¡± Iona says. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hey Jessica. How¡¯s it going?¡± Cole asks, patting the spot on the couch next to him. I sit down. ¡°I think I¡¯m getting used to being back. Thanks for letting us stay at your house.¡± ¡°It was the natural solution. And it¡¯s been nice having more activity in the house.¡± I nod. For a while, I watch Cole and Iona play their card game, before leaving and going on a walk. I wonder through the prairie for a few hours just looking at plants and little bugs. I wouldn¡¯t have thought I would enjoy alone time after those months of alone time, but if I¡¯m seeing interesting I don¡¯t mind. I also enjoy watching the bugs even if I¡¯ve spent too much time with bugs lately. But the small ones wiggling on plants or crawling on the sidewalk are different. Small, and within their ecosystem. When I get back home, Gerard is back from work and washing dishes. ¡°You¡¯re back! You came back,¡± Gerard says. He takes of the gloves and hugs me. I reply ¡°Yeah, I just went out for a walk. It¡¯s really nice out. How was work?¡± ¡°Tiring. But the bills must be paid.¡± ¡°I looked through Albert¡¯s job offer today. I¡¯m thinking of taking it, and if I do you won¡¯t need to work,¡± I say. ¡°I really don¡¯t think our financial situation is stable enough that one income is a good idea,¡± Gerard says. ¡°It¡¯s almost a million dollars each year.¡± ¡°Oh. I wasn¡¯t expecting that. Bug Hunters usually don¡¯t get paid that much, a decent wage, but not that much.¡± Gerard pauses. ¡°This is just Albert trying to help us out isn¡¯t it? He should just offer the money straight then, instead of dressing it up as a job.¡± ¡°It sounds like that¡¯s what he thinks a fair rate is. Gerard, I¡¯ve reached the max number of skills. When Bug Hunting was just a video game, I don¡¯t know if anyone reached the max after they raised it. And if these bugs are killing people, it would make sense to pay someone who can easily kill them.¡± ¡°Just how good are your skills? What would it take to kill you?¡± Gerard asks. ¡°Apparently anything that kills a normal human. But for a bug to kill me, it would take a lot. They¡¯d have to have a magic attack to even begin with, but even then it would take a lot of hits. Maybe hundreds, I haven¡¯t looked into it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a relief,¡± Gerard says. ¡°But are you still sure you want to accept this job? It sounded like it was a lot of traveling.¡± ¡°It is. But it¡¯s also a lot of money¡± I say. ¡°I could really help with this, it sounds like. Someone needs to deal with those bugs, and it sounds like I¡¯m the best one for the job.¡± Gerard nods. ¡°Okay. That makes sense. If you wouldn¡¯t die, then you should do it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll prioritize our family. I can¡¯t go from the months in that anthill and then ignore my family. But I will need to travel. I¡¯ll make sure I¡¯ve got a good amount of time at home.¡± Gerard nods, and turns back to the dishes. By all logic this is the right choice. I can still have time to spend with my family, while solving the money problem we apparently have, and making the world safer. Why do I feel so hesitant? Chapter eleven: My First Day as a Hunter On my first day as a hunter, I wake up early. I stay in bed until Gerard wakes up. We get ready and send the kids off to school. Gerard hugs me as I leave. ¡°Good luck today. Come home safe.¡± ¡°I will.¡± I say. I know I shouldn¡¯t promise that. I drive Gerard¡¯s sedan to the office Albert sent me to for my first day of work. I¡¯ll need to buy him a new car, this one can¡¯t even fit everyone. I show up to the building, and walk up to the front desk person. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m a new Bug Hunter. I think I was supposed to come here?¡± I say. She pulls out a small packet from underneath her desk. ¡°If you fill this out, you¡¯ll be all registered and then I can walk you through the next steps.¡± I nod and take the packet. I find a chair and start filling out the forms¨C standard sorts of stuff, name, address, social security number. Then I get to the page about death benefits. I know why it¡¯s there, and it is very relevant to the job, but for me it¡¯s just more annoying paperwork to do. At some point, a women in a really nice blazer and skirt starts standing around the office, she talks to the person at the front desk, then just stands there waiting for something. I finish filling out the packet and hand it in to the person at the front desk. ¡°Alright, so if you¡¯ll now pull up the app, if you can get to the registry page.¡± ¡°App? Which app? I haven¡¯t bothered to get a new phone yet,¡± I say. ¡°You haven¡¯t registered in the app yet? I keep saying they need to stop assuming this is common knowledge. Once you get your app and get registered in that, come back here and I can finish your registration.¡± I take a quick breath. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure me not having a phone right now wasn¡¯t supposed to be an obstacle today. Albert knows I don¡¯t have a phone and still told me to come here.¡± The women who was just standing around speedwalks over. ¡°Are you Jessica Olmhoft?¡± How does she know my name? I nod. ¡°Yes, I am.¡± ¡°I¡¯m so sorry for the confusion. I¡¯m Callie Henderson, I¡¯m going to be your partner.¡± From there, Callie helps me get my employment paperwork actually filled out, and introduces me to what I¡¯ll be doing for the job.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. After a quick tour around the space Callie looks at her phone for the time. I look at my watch, it¡¯s 3:15. ¡°How much longer are you free for today?¡± she asks. ¡°I was planning on getting back home around five, why?¡± ¡°It was a long shot, anyway. I was hoping we might be able to get a start on the traveling part of the bug hunting, but we can fight one just in this city today and fly to a different city for tomorrow.¡± She pulls up her phone. ¡°There¡¯s one just half an hour away we can go kill, you up for it?¡± I nod. ¡°I guess so.¡± While riding in the car towards the bug, Callie started asking me questions. ¡°So, from what I¡¯ve heard, you¡¯ve got a crazy amount of skills. This bug will probably be below your pay grade¨C it¡¯s a ladybug, I could probably handle it myself, but it¡¯ll be nice to have something to base off of.¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather start with an easier one as well, I don¡¯t have the best combos set up or anything. And it feels like I haven¡¯t played Bug Hunter in a year.¡± ¡°Well, lucky for you, I specialize in strategizing and such. I studied Albert Thomas¡¯s strategy guide so many times when he first came out with it. I used to want to work on improving it and such, but I¡¯ve realized those people don¡¯t actually spend any time fighting bugs practically. But this job should be good. I can help you with setting up combos and such.¡± I nodded, then looked out the window. There seems to be more traffic than I remember going into downtown. We take an off ramp that I don¡¯t remember being there, and go around the city. We quickly come to a blockade, Callie shows something on her phone to an officer, and we get let through. ¡°It¡¯s good that this bug is weaker, I guess, because it falls under my license. Do you have one?¡± Callie asks. I shake my head. ¡°We¡¯ll have to get that worked out soon. But having bugs on your record will help, even if it¡¯s just the ones my license covers.¡± She parks on the road, and points to the median, where the ladybug is situated. It¡¯s about as tall as a tree. And I hadn¡¯t noticed the bug until Callie pointed it out. Callie walks with purpose towards the bug, and so I follow suit. At some point , we get in range and the fight starts. [Health: 500/500] suddenly appears in the corner of my vision, I¡¯m startled and jump back. ¡°You okay?¡± Callie asks. ¡°Yeah. Just startled,¡± I say. ¡°You want to attack first?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I choose one of my attacks. Poke. It immediately kills the ladybug. I didn¡¯t realize it was that leveled up. ¡°Huh.¡± Callie says. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to be that fast.¡± ¡°Neither did I,¡± I say. ¡°I haven¡¯t used Poke much. Just scrolled and hit it.¡± ¡°I need to get a list of your abilities and levels. I guess that can be a task for tomorrow. If we fly somewhere we could do it on the plane.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve got a job where I¡¯m flying for like, a day trip.¡± ¡°Yeah. It feels so wasteful, but logically it makes sense. But also you¡¯ll fly less once you have more places you can teleport to.¡± We get back in the car, when we reach the blockade Callie rolls down the window. ¡°It¡¯s all clear,¡± she says. ¡°Already?¡± the officer asks. Callie nods. ¡°Yup. ¡®Twas a quick fight.¡± When we get back to the headquarters, Callie gives me a packet with a bunch of information; our itinerary for tomorrow, general goals, her contact information.