Murray’s place sat a few blocks inland on Breaux Street. I took off at a jog, cutting through side streets and hopping fences, barely even breathing hard before his house came into view.

  Maybe I knocked a bit hard, because his mom shouted at me through the screen, “What in da world, Bart? You gonna break my damn door, boy.”

  “Sorry, ma’am. Is Jeremy home?”

  “You know dat boy always home. He be in his room with dem damn video games.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Can I come in please?”

  “Is dat a coon?” She asked as she opened the door for me.

  “She’s house-trained, I promise. She won’t get into anything.”

  “It’s your ass if she do, son. She is a cutie doe, cher. Eh-eh.”

  “Thank you!” I said as I walked to Jeremy’s door.

  When I knocked, Jeremy shouted, “Mom! I said I would come to eat after this game!”

  “It’s Bart. Open up!” I heard two deadbolt clicks and a chain lock slide open. “Jeez, Jeremy. Enough locks?”

  “Yeah. Sorry. Mom doesn’t like to knock,” he said, followed by a nervous laugh.

  “Ok. This is important, man. I need you to take this seriously. Ok? That game I was talking about on the phone earlier today?”

  “Yeah…did you bring it?!” He rubbed his hands together like a fly on a hot dog.

  “It’s not a game. It’s real life.”

  “Very funny, man. Make fun of the gameh. I see how it is.”

  Jeremy suddenly jerked his head back as if someone flicked a booger at him, “Good God man, you look like Cap’n America!”

  “My point exactly. I’ve grown. Magically. Look, have you ever known me to make fun of you and your gaming or your lifestyle or,” I shook my hands exasperatedly, “anything important?”

  “Nah,” he said, stroking his chin. “I guess not.”

  “Okay,” I said, dragging a hand over my short hair. “I woke up yesterday, out in the middle of nowhere, and there were words floating in my vision. It started with a warning, then stats...levels...enemy information...quests. All that stuff."

  His smile faded as I kept going. I told him about the swamp, the animals, the boat crash, the gator, the deaths, the sheriff bleeding out on the boat. By the time I finished, the room felt smaller, and Jeremy wasn’t smiling anymore.

  He chuckled nervously to break the silence. I didn’t.

  Suddenly serious, he said, “This is messed up, man! Out of all the people in the world to get special powers and they’re gonna happen to someone like you? Um. No offense.”

  "None taken. So, you believe me?”

  “You sound crazy, but I can see you believe your story. I don’t know, man. I’m curious. I’ll admit that! Okay. I feel inclined to at least listen until you give me some more proof. Can you make, I don’t know, like a fireball or something?”

  “No. I can’t do that. Listen, Jeremy. Bottom line…I need you to go with me. I need you to go out there to the swamp and help me find my dad and any other survivors.”

  He laughed loudly this time, “Me? No way, no how! You crazy. I ain’t no hero, Bart. What the hell am I gonna do out there? My black ass don’t go to no swamp! Do you want to feed me to those…those things?! I’m not bait, dude. No sir!”

  “Come on. I don’t want to use you as bait. You are THE expert on all things gaming, and I am stuck in some kind of gaming system thing, and you know what all this stuff means. I need you as a guide. Consider yourself my little paper clip thing on Windows.”

  “That’s insulting. How dare you compare me to Clippit.” He laughed.

  “See! You even know the name of it! You're perfect. I need you, bro! Come on!”

  “Ok. But if I die, I’m coming back as a zombie, and I’m going to eat your brains!”

  “Deal! Does your dad have any guns?”

  “Ami, this is South Louisiana. Who doesn’t have guns.”

  “Does he have like an A.K. or A.R.?”

  “Probably 3 or 4 of 'em. He’ll be mad if I take one though.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Blame me. Get a rifle and a handgun. Oh! And plenty of ammo. Meet me outside. And be quick…we have to go.”

  Murray’s long legs made him look like a runner, but before we made it halfway to the marina he was holding his side and breathing like a kid with asthma, sweat already darkening his shirt. "You need to get outside more, buddy." I smiled looking back at him.

  We stopped, Jeremy immediately dropping to a squat with his elbows on his niece breathing heavily. Two police cruisers idled near the dock, lights still spinning. The stretcher tracks and blood stains the only evidence the ambulance was even there.

  As I got walked over to the cars. One of the deputies came around with his hand on his gun and called to the other deputy.

  I raised my hands and told Jeremy to do the same. “We’re armed, but we are not the bad guys here!” I shouted

  “Bart Cash?” the deputy asked, still gripping the butt of his service revolver in its holster.

  “Yeah! I’m Bart Cash. I’m the one who called y’all.”

  “Where’s Tony Fontenot? Dat boat o’ der is his boat.”

  “He’s still out there…hopefully. His sons are currently looking for him. Check out the Hummingbird, you can see my route. You can see where I just came from. I need more help out there. There are several people missing and several others who are hurt or maybe even dead or dying!”

  “Why don’t you come down to the station and give us a statement?” the other deputy, a thick boned lady, asked. I had never met either of these deputies and they didn't know me.

  “I don’t have time for that! I need to get back out there and help.”

  “Why are you carrying those rifles? What’s really going on out there, son?” the first deputy asked still on edge.

  “Sir, if you would please call it in. Call in helicopters. Call in the Cajun Navy. Call the frikin’ National Guard if you want. But if I don’t get out there, more people might die.” My eyes flicked from one deputy to the other, then to the rifles slung over our shoulders. My pulse ticked up. If they decided to stop us, this was about to get messy.

  I had an idea. To Jeremy I said, “Give me your phone.”

  He handed it to me. “Here,” I said to the officer holding the phone with two fingers like it was some sort of bomb. “I’m not lying, officer. We gotta go. Get the number off this device, and I’ll keep it on me. We have a hand-held radio too. We gotta get out there and back before dark. You know we don’t have that much time..it’s already 2:50pm.” I said calmly looking at the clock on Jeremy’s phone.

  The officer stared at the phone for a long second, then handed it back after texting himself. He exchanged a look with his partner. She raised her eyebrows. Finally, he stepped aside and jerked his chin toward the dock.

  “I can’t believe they let us go!” I told Jeremy as we ran to the boat.

  “Charisma, bruh!” Jeremy said.

  “See! I knew I brought you for a reason!” I said, smiling at my new guide. “Let’s get a move on.”

  With that I started Tony’s boat and headed back to the danger zone.

  I received a notification that I had completed the quest.

  "Heck yeah! Only 25 more points to level up again,” I said to the air.

  “Huh?” Jeremy asked.

  “Not you…the system. It gave me a quest to recruit you. I just got the notification that I completed it, getting 100 experience points.”

  “Nice…you used me for XP.” Jeremy let out his contagious laugh.

  “Yeah…I guess I did. Anyway, I don’t know how I got that quest or how to get a new one.”

  “The system seems to react to either what you say or what you think, right? Try saying, ‘New quest’.”

  “New quest, please.” I added the please, because…well…that’s how I was raised.

  “Did that work?” Jeremy asked and I told him about the quest I got.

  “Nice!” he said.

  “Not nice. 14 men went out today. The new quest says there’s only six left to rescue. That means eight are probably dead.”

  “Damn.”