The group followed it until it joined the main gravel road. One direction led towards the cabins they tried to find yesterday and in the opposite direction was the campground.
From the back of the group, Bob could see that everyone’s mood was improving. The beauty of the mountain forest was helping them forget the stress and chaos from that morning. It reminded them why they had come in the first place.
Walking steadily, Bob shifted the heavy sledgehammer from one shoulder to the other. Once he had it settled, he felt a hand slip into his. He looked to see Tami beside him, smiling.
“This is nice,” she said softly. “It really is pretty here. You can almost forget about everything happening.”
Bob tightened his grip on her hand. “This place has always helped me feel peace.”
They walked in silence enjoying each other's company. The group had spread out as they walked at different speeds enjoying the beautiful scenery. The scenery and the peacefulness of the mountains had lulled them into a sense of security.
Bob and Tami remained at the back. They could still see a few of their friends ahead of them, but George and Kent were out of sight, likely leading the way. Bob couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d look odd arriving at the campground with everything they were carrying from the cabin.
There was a gate at the park boundary, about halfway to the campground. Before they’d left, Bob had told everyone they’d stop there for a break. As he and Tami rounded a bend, the gate and a wide meadow came into view. The group had stopped. Everyone was standing still, staring ahead at something out of sight.
The shift in posture from when they were walking told Bob enough, whatever they were looking at had killed the good mood.
Still holding Tami’s hand, he led her forward. When they reached the others, he finally saw what had captured their attention, and his mind struggled to comprehend it.
A herd of deer lay in the meadow. That part was normal for the area. What wasn’t normal was that they were all dead. Bob could see that the deer bodies were bloody and covered in open wounds.
Bob’s stomach turned. Something large—very large—had torn through them. Yet it didn’t look like a predator hunting for food. The bodies were untouched beyond the carnage. Mutilated. Left behind. None of them looked eaten.
George turned to them. “Whatever did this… it’s not something I want to run into while we’re walking.”
Bob stared at the meadow, jaw tight. “We need to get going and stay closer together.”
Alice glanced back at them. “Well, some of us weren’t lagging behind to have a moment with their girlfriend.”
Tami bristled. “He’s not my boyfriend. We were just enjoying the walk.” Still, she couldn’t hide the blush on her face.
Bob gave her hand a quick squeeze before addressing Alice. “Alice, I get it. Things are stressful and everyone wants to go home. But let’s try to have some patience. We’re all in this together.”
Alice shrugged and looked away, mumbling something that sounded like an apology. Tami gave Bob’s hand a reassuring squeeze, then squared her shoulders and walked over to Alice, slipping an arm around her and whispering quietly. Bob hoped they’d work out whatever was bothering Alice. Tension among the group was the last thing they needed.
Dave stepped up beside Bob, still staring at the meadow. Though Dave had been a part of their friend group since high school, Bob had never been able to read him quite as easily as George or Kent.
“You see something out there?” Bob asked.
Dave didn’t answer right away. “You tell me. We can see the deer in the grass from here, right?” Bob nodded his head. “Their bodies are sticking way above the height of the grass. So if the grass is the same height across the whole meadow…” Dave grabbed the grass next to him. “How big would they have to be for us to see that much of them?”
The grass Dave had grabbed had grown to mid thigh. Bob looked back at the scattered deer bodies. The grass only seemed to cover their legs, maybe half their bodies at most. He couldn’t tell if the grass had been trampled or if the deer were simply that massive.
“I can’t tell for sure,” he said, “but I think you might be onto something.” He turned to scan the group. “Hey, Kent—come look at something.”
Kent joined them, and Bob relayed Dave’s observation. The others listened in. Kent narrowed his eyes at the scene. “I think you’re right. But I’d like to get a closer look to make sure.”
Bob nodded. “Same. But I only want a few of us to go. Kent, Dave, George and Blake—you guys okay checking?”
They exchanged glances before George answered. “Yeah, I think we can do that. If whatever did this was still around, we’d probably know by now.”
Bob replied. “Be safe. And hey—if this is like a video game, don’t forget to grab the loot.”
George cracked a grin. “Now that’s a better joke. Keep going and maybe you’ll be as funny as me.”
Dave beat Bob to the response. “No one’s as funny-looking as you.”
Laughter broke out among the group. George looked stunned. Dave wasn’t much of a joker and this coming from Dave had shocked George speechless.
“What?” Dave said with a grin. “They were all thinking it. I just said it.”
More laughter followed. George, not used to being the butt of a joke, just turned and headed toward the nearest carcass, Kent and Blake right behind him. Dave looked back at Bob and shrugged. “You know you were thinking it,” before hurrying after them.
As the three crossed the field, Bob’s grip tightened on the sledgehammer. He moved the rest of the group back into the shade. No reason to stand in the sun, and no reason to stay in the open.
***
Kent trailed behind George and Blake, with Dave bringing up the rear.
They moved slowly, each step deliberate. The silence hung heavy over the meadow. The stench hit them before the bodies came into view.
It was worse up close.
The nearest deer lay twisted and bloated, its eyes glassy and bulging in frozen terror. Flies swarmed the sticky, dark blood pooled beneath its flank. The grass around it had been crushed—not in a pattern like fleeing hooves, but flattened by something heavier.
Kent crouched beside the carcass, frowning as he studied the deep claw marks raked across its ribs. “You seeing this?” he muttered.
George gave a grim nod. “Whatever did this… didn’t eat. Just killed. And it’s big. Bigger than anything that should be up here.”
Kent leaned in closer, careful not to touch the body—just observing the damage, spacing between the claw marks, gouges in the soil, even the angle of the kill. “I don’t know of anything that could do this kind of damage.”
He studied the track prints trying to identify them but the ground was too torn up. Suddenly, a message blinked across his vision:
- CREATURE: UNKNOWN
- LEVEL: ???
- STATUS: ???
- LOOT: ???
- NOTES: LARGE PHYSIC AND CLAWS CAPABLE OF VIOLENT IMPACT AND RENDING.
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NEW SKILL LEARNED: IDENTIFY (RANK 0)
IN UNFAMILIAR LANDS, UNDERSTANDING IS THE FIRST STEP TO SURVIVAL. WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW CAN KILL YOU. GAIN LIMITED INSIGHT INTO CREATURES, ITEMS, AND PEOPLE. ACCURACY IMPROVES WITH RANK. KNOWLEDGE LEARNED INCREASES WITH WISDOM STAT AND INTELLIGENCE STAT.
The glowing text blinked into view as if projected into his mind; silent, cold, and utterly out of place in the blood-soaked grass.
Kent blinked. “Uh… guys? I just learned a skill—Identify.”
“Seriously?” George leaned over. “What did you do?”
“I don’t know. Just... paid attention, I guess.” Kent reached out and laid his hand on the deer’s flank trying to use Identify.
- CREATURE: FOREST DEER
- LEVEL: ???
- STATUS: DEAD
- LOOT: ???
- NOTES: LIFEFORM RESEMBLES KNOWN DEER SPECIES BUT EXHIBITS SIGNIFICANT ABNORMAL TRAITS: EXTREME SIZE, IRREGULAR MUSCULATURE, AND UNKNOWN BIOLOGICAL ALTERATIONS. VISIBLE TRAUMA CONSISTENT WITH VIOLENT IMPACT AND RENDING CLAWS.
Another window immediately appeared after the first.
QUEST RECEIVED:
- ALL THE LOOT
“I just used Identify—and I got a quest too,” Kent said, yanking his hand back.
George nodded. “I got it also. Bob is not going to believe this.”
Blake tore his gaze away from the treeline. “What Happened? What did you do?”
“I touched it.” Kent reached out and touched the body again. “Loot.”
Nothing happened.
“That would have been too easy.” Kent muttered.
They poked around the body, trying to figure out the interaction for the looting function—tapping, pushing, anything they could think of—but nothing happened.
“No prompts. No drops. Weird,” George muttered. “Looting is a thing based on that quest.”
“Maybe looting doesn’t mean the same thing we think it does.” Blake offered.
George just stared at him. “What else would it mean?”
Blake just shrugged then turned to scan the meadow.
“We should head back,” Dave said, eyes scanning the treeline. “They’re gonna get nervous if we’re gone too long.”
They turned to go, and halfway across the meadow, Blake suddenly slowed.
Kent’s hand dropped to his axe. “What is it? Movement?” His eyes darting around looking for what had caused Blake to pause.
Blake shook his head, eyes wide. A moment later, Kent saw a new message pop up as Blake shared his notification.
NEW SKILL LEARNED: STEALTH (RANK 0)
TO BE SEEN IS TO BE TARGETED. TO BE HEARD IS TO BE HUNTED. MOVE WITH INTENTION, OR DON’T MOVE AT ALL. +1% INCREASE TO MOVEMENT WHILE HIDDEN.
George groaned. “Come on. Now he’s sneaky and you’re Sherlock Holmes. What do I get?”
Kent smirked. “You get to be eye candy, I guess.”
Dave chuckled as they pressed on, quickening their pace.
They’d learned something, just not what they wanted. And out here, in this strange new reality, knowing could be important.
Shadows in the grass suddenly felt deeper. Darker.
***
As they rested in the shade, the group passed around water and whatever food they had on hand. Bob took a long sip, then finally allowed himself to check the notifications he’d been ignoring:
STRENGTH +1
VITALITY +1
CHARISMA +1
LEADERSHIP RANK +1
Strength made sense—he’d been hauling that heavy sledgehammer the whole way and had considered dropping it more than once. Pride kept him going. The leadership bump also tracked; he'd been guiding the group since they left the cabin.
But Vitality? Charisma? Was he healthier now? More charming? He frowned, wishing—again—for a guidebook or help menu. Something to make sense of all this.
Still puzzling over the notifications, Bob didn’t notice the others returning until Kent and Blake crouched beside him, sweat still clinging to their brows. The rest of the group gathered close, sipping water and listening.
“The deer are huge,” Kent said, wiping his hands on his pants. “I’ve never seen anything like them. Two, three times the size of normal deer. Maybe even four.”
“So… they’re elk?” Bob asked, trying to make sense of it.
Kent shook his head. “No! They’re deer. Just—elk-sized. Or bigger.”
Bob turned to Blake for confirmation. Blake nodded grimly. “And they’ve been dead a while. Starting to bloat. I’m surprised we can’t smell them from here.” He wrinkled his nose at the memory.
Kent continued, his tone more serious now. “They weren’t killed for food. Just torn apart. Blood and gore everywhere. And there were huge claw marks, whatever hit them, it hit hard.”
Bob felt a chill pass through the group.
Kent hesitated, then added, “Also… we each got a message. A new quest.”
That earned a few raised eyebrows.
“A quest?” Alice asked, arms crossed. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” Kent said. “It’s called All the Loot. But there wasn’t anything out there besides the bodies. No prompts. No drops.”
Jill gave him a look. “Wait—is this because we were making fun of George? A quest about loot right after that?”
Without saying anything more, Kent knowing that no one would believe him just opened his menu and shared the notification.
QUEST RECEIVED:
- ALL THE LOOT
Silence fell as everyone stared at the floating message in front of each of them.
So Looting was real.
Looting, like in video games, was an actual mechanic. Some of the group had already suspected it and talked about how it would work. The message about dungeons really got Kent going on the subject of loot but this was the first real confirmation. Now it seemed that they just needed to figure out how it actually worked.
Silence settled over the group. They sat or stood in small clusters, eyes drifting toward Bob. He realized, with a jolt, that they were all looking to him, waiting for direction. Expecting him to lead.
Bob stood slowly. He wasn’t sure what to say, his thoughts still caught between the brutal scene in the meadow and the system messages floating in his mind. But one thing was clear: they couldn’t stay here.
“There’s nothing we can do with the deer,” he said, gesturing toward the distant meadow. “It doesn’t change what we need to do. Let’s move before something shows up looking to scavenge.”
He half-expected resistance, someone to push back, to argue about what they’d seen. But no one did. Heads nodded. Quietly, people started packing up. Once everyone was ready, Bob took a steadying breath and addressed the group again.
“Alright. We still don’t know much, but let’s stay closer together this time. I know I spread out earlier too,” he admitted. “George and Dave, you take the rear. Kent and I will lead up front. Let’s keep a good pace so we can get to the campground and back before dark.”
Again, no objections. Just movement. Acceptance.
Bob exchanged a look with Kent, then started walking toward the park gate. When they reached it, he pulled it open and turned to George. “Leave it open. We’ll close it on the way back.”
The pace was brisk. The memory of the deer, their glassy eyes, the clawed ribs, the silence of the meadow, clung to Bob like fog. He wanted to get some distance between them and the meadow.
The weight of the sledgehammer dragged as Bob carried it, ready to use it at a moment's notice, but he didn’t slow. Nerves were high through the group as hands gripped handles of the various items they were carrying. Everyone was on edge eyeing the forest. The beauty and tranquility were gone. Worry and fear of the unknown was in every shadow and noise.
Kent walked beside Bob, and for a while, neither of them spoke. Then, gradually, whispered conversation returned.
They talked quietly about the system. They discussed skills, stats, quests. “It seems like we are getting skills and stats based on what we are doing.” Kent stated as they walked. “Do you think we can learn anything if we do it enough?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Some things seem to make sense but others don’t. Like I don’t understand how my Charisma would increase just from walking.”
They discussed everything they could think of related to this new system and how it seemed to be working. Kent even brought out a notebook he had taken from the cabin and wrote a few things down.
He was trying to create a guide of some kind. He thought it might help with his quest Seek the System.
Kent had already learned how to toggle his stat display, check quest progress, and even noticed that his quest had quietly updated after their discovery at the meadow. They talked it through, but the logic behind the quest progression still eluded them.
Neither of them brought up the deer. Not yet. Bob didn’t want to say it aloud, but something about that scene had deeply unsettled him. It didn't look like the deer even had time to run. Whatever hit them had come fast. Too fast.
Kent didn’t press the topic. He seemed more focused on the system. His energy was back, the kind that came from discovery. To Kent, this was a game coming to life. And that excited him.
Bob didn’t share the thrill. He liked playing games, but for him, it was just a way to escape and now that it was real the enjoyment was gone. All Bob could think about was how he died in those games. He always died a lot.
They had kept up a faster pace, the unease giving their steps a quiet urgency. As they rounded the final bend, the campground came into view, splashes of color against the green and gray of the forest. Tents. Cars. Civilization.
A ripple of relief spread through the group.
They weren’t alone out here.
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