It was a day like any other, depressedly sitting in bed waiting for something to grab his attention longer than the passing tick of his watch.

  “F…u- hhhhhhh-ch,” he wasn’t happy.

  He had gotten turned down at another interview, it wasn’t his fault that girl was crazy obsessed. Who knew helping somebody could screw you over I sure didn’t, why did I do that again.

  Don’t remember, I was too sleep deprived that night.

  “Whatever, not like I needed that job anyway… maybe my other applications will get approved. It's not like one person dedicated to smearing your reputation could ruin al—l your chances.”

  Some afterthought, he really shouldn’t have helped the poor girl. Who tries and successfully gets a reverse harem anywho. I was gonna be just another mark on the list.

  “Why would she go for me anyway?”he wasn’t that good looking, the only good thing going for him was that he was somewhat tall and fit. Nothing after that particularly stood out enough to warrant that sort of obsession. Tom didn’t know whether to think she really liked him or she hated him. He kinda tuned out her ranting around the five minute mark.

  “Maybe I could get into the fast food industry, I make decent pizza. Or I keep afloat with odd jobs and favors like I have been for the last 3 years?”

  Not a great idea, but as the old flickering basement light of the house he was in told him.

  He would have to make a choice and dedicate himself to it at some point.

  Getting up and moving he wormed his way out of the sleeping bag, and got to making himself scarce. He could stay and chat but this particular occupant was going to talk for longer than he thought he could handle.

  Making his way through half a normal routine he slung his backpack over his shoulder and went out.

  The morning dawn hit him like a particularly annoying packet of puckerbrush, I should have stayed in my rural hometown.

  Making his way down the street he snagged an apple from the nearby tree as he passed the floral maniac. Tom really needed to find a better thinking spot the walk from his normal housing spots to here always ate up his morning energy.

  Not like he had any right now but coffee wouldn’t help he always found it too bitter.

  His thinking spot was the perfect combination of shade and car noises which being none at all. Moving with practiced motions he scaled a fence and went through a bush. And under the cracked wall of an abandoned building to finally make it to a small pond in the middle of civilization. The water was unsafe to swim in and looked like glue but the noise level here was tolerable. Anywhere else and he would have to deal with people and that was not ideal at the moment.

  Just a little legal trouble, no need to call the cops.

  None of their business what he looks like, or his current wanted status for evading the police.

  The girl had way too much money to spend and not enough cents ha ain’t I a riot.

  He had managed to get one of his connections to ask somebody online to manage the issue while he was in hiding, he didn’t trust the cops on this one. She had too much pull in the right places and more than enough blackmail to make it happen.

  Better yet who has connections with the local gangs like that, I don’t have the time and I literally don’t have a job right now. If I was in a novel she would be the female lead. Every male in the local area with power is chasing after and they somehow all work together. Whenever she needs something, of course.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  She was too well entrenched, and too charismatic to have anybody look at her in the way he wanted them to.

  “It is such utter bull, I got two maybe more inner monologues left before I gotta get a move on.”

  The sky was hazy and smelled like car exhaust, and the sun glared down at the inhabitants like you would a particularly big pile of dog poop where you had just stepped.

  Luckily he had managed to pawn off his pets to somebody he could trust before he went on the run like this. He was gonna have to head to Glarkigtin street and make his way to another state, local gang activity had picked up a little too much for his taste.

  In no way did Tom think he would ever have a normal life after this.

  How would he, after the most well known celebrity on Verna wanted him captured while his ‘rival’s wanted his head in a him sized box in the ground.

  “This is my second day of almost no sleep, I’m better off digging a hole and waiting for somebody to fill it after I crawl inside.”

  …

  Hours later making his way through another packed street of people with the reflexes of your average sleepy college student. He had made the way to where he wanted to be, a cafe with a buffet.

  Now to convince the people manning it that he didn’t want much.

  He made his way to the back and knocked on the door.

  “Hey sir this is not the entrance,” a hazy figure spoke.

  “Yeah I know, could I maybe interest you with helping me and doing your good deed for the day?”

  He wasn’t too happy with his delivery this time but hunger and heavy eyelids did not help him. But maybe he would get lucky this time and somebo-

  “Sir have this it’s all I got on hand sorry,” the figure had held out something in their hand.

  He grabbed it and thanked them and moseyed on to another location to repeat this strategy until he had a satisfactory amount to eat today.

  Every person blended together these days, maybe his eyesight was degenerating, what fun to ponder. He was already down on his luck after that first big win today. Tom did not acquire much in the way of nom, but it was enough for now. Better yet that first big win was the most important part of the day. Part of his strategy to deal with the lethargy was to combat it with something he felt a modicum of happiness in.

  Winning, it was never sweet and usually it felt temporary.

  But it beats losing.

  He dug into the bagel and fries he managed to snag and saved the nutrient bars for later. He could steal some dry pasta from a store but that risked getting caught on camera.

  “The age- this is good- .. of technology. My phone still works and has service so I should check the news in the area before getting out of this area in a couple days,” Tom thought about it and decided he should.

  Hopefully nothing too crazy before I get a move on. I need to grab supplies for my next move.

  Opening his phone he greeted the latest in politics, bakery closes down, manhunt for a Tom Sm- wait.

  [People Go Missing in Bay Area Mysteriously]

  Clicking on the article, he was brought to a diagram showing the uptick in missing people in the area.

  “Shi-ck targeting…. people alone, disabled or teenagers with some elderly reporting feeling an eeriness of being watched,” that's not great I fit one of those demographics and with how skinny I currently am, maybe two.

  Maybe he would get lucky and he was too smelly to get grabbed.

  “My luck isn’t that great,” Tom muttered.

  He would have to keep a lookout for suspicious people more than usual, or even just regular people. That would not help his sleeping schedule considering his next location to sleep in was abandoned but still had power.

  He jumped to his feet and started power stumbling toward the shopping district.

  “Time for some five-finger discount shopping, hope nobody minds it's first come first serve today,” he hoped there was still some good stuff today.

  Bicycles blew past him as cars honked and turned on the street.

  He managed to make his way across the crosswalk without getting pasted on the side of a car. Or a truck, you could never really guess with people these days.

  Honestly if becoming a wanted fugitive made him pay less attention to his phone, these so called ‘functional’ people should do it as well. Who cares though, he is not staying in this area long anyway not with whatever is happening going on.

  Brushing past people, and snagging wallets he made his way to a nearby vendor selling various bits and bobs. At the end of the day most of these things weren’t worth much, except the knife he had been eyeing. That might be worth something to the right person, Tom decided he would keep it on him for a few days at least until he made it out of the range of kidnappings.

  It’s not like he would be targeted soon anyway he was in the middle of the shop-

  [Welcome to the Dungeon]

  [Enjoy your Exploration]

  [To get out of the dungeon you must complete it if you do not there is no exit]

  [Choose your Class, Race, and Equipment]