Warren stared down the barrels of Boone’s six shooters without flinching. Back in Miami, he’d once faced a patient who was high on meth wielding a knife. The man had taken him and a nurse hostage in the ER while demanding narcotics. Warren had managed to deescalate that situation without anyone getting hurt—hopefully, he could do the same here.
A split-second later, Kassandra appeared behind Boone and pressed the tip of her dagger against his throat. “I’ll take off your head before you can pull the trigger,” she hissed into his ear.
Valentina raised her own rifle and aimed it at the gunslinger. “What the fuck are you doing, dicksneeze?”
“I’m not going back to that void,” Boone spat. “And I’m a quick shot with the gun, girlie. I’ll blow his head off long before you even nick me with that butter knife of yours.”
Warren raised his hands. He knew from his experience back at the resort he could order his minion to lower his guns. But he preferred to try to talk the man down. Especially since he’d need the gunslingers’ help in the future, and he didn’t want to alienate the man permanently.
“I have no choice but to send you back to the void,” Warren said. “It’s how the deck works.”
“Bullshit,” Boone replied, chewing each word. “If you can summon me, then you can keep me out.”
“This is an alien combat deck,” he continued in a calm tone. “It only allows me to summon my minion cards once every 12 hours.”
A spark of doubt appeared in Boone’s eyes. Then the man shook his head. “No way that’s true. We’re going to the town to get my girlfriend and then we’re getting the hell out of here.”
“Sayers Mills has been invaded by an alien army,” Warren continued. “They’ve taken nearly everyone captive, but most people appear to be alright. If we go to town, we’ll only share your girlfriend’s fate. They also have my sister. It’s why I’m running these dungeons—to grow strong enough to save her.”
“They got your sister?” Boone lowered his weapons slightly. “Damn it. I’ve been stockpiling supplies and building my bunker for years, and I get my ass caught out in the open during an alien invasion. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I was expecting a pole shift or maybe a Nazi attack from their secret base in Antarctica…” He trailed off. “This is all bullshit.”
Boone spun his pistols around before shoving them into the holsters on his hip. Stepping back, he held up his hands.
But Kassandra didn’t relent and pressed her dagger hard against his throat until the skin dimpled. A single droplet of blood ran down Boone’s five o’clock shadow.
“Let him go,” Warren said, relieved he’d been able to talk the man down.
“But he pointed his guns at you!” Kassandra replied, a fierce expression on her face.
“I never had time to explain to him what was going on,” Warren said. The timer was about to run out and he wanted Boone to be loyal the next time he summoned him.
“Fine!” Kassandra pulled her knife back and then kicked Boone in the back.
The gunslinger stumbled forward, cursing under his breath.
His friend pointed her dagger at Boone. “If you ever threaten him again, I’ll cut off something you’ll miss far more than your head.”
“Message received, girlie,” Boone muttered. “Message received.”
Before Warren could say anything else, the timer for his combat deck expired, and his minions dissolved into particles of light. A moment later, only he and Valentina remained standing atop the pyramid.
The green beret walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “Holy shit, that was brave, doc. You must have ice in your veins. I don’t think you even flinched when he turned his guns on you.”
He grinned at Valentina. “I may have the ability to order my minions. So, I could have stopped him anytime I wanted to.”
The blond-haired woman frowned before she burst out laughing. “You always have a plan, don’t you, doc?”
“That’s generally the idea,” he said. “Plus, it wasn’t my first time facing down someone in distress with a weapon. Back when I was working in the ER, a man high on drugs took me hostage. Since then, I’ve found that you can talk most people down off a precipice.”
“And if not, you can always order them to drop their weapons, huh?”
“Something like that.”
Valentina pulled off her helmet and shook out her hair. Even with tousled hair and droplets of blood on her face, she was still stunningly beautiful. “What’s the plan now?”
“We explore the room before taking a peek at the next boss.” He gazed around the underground enclosure, looking for anything that might be useful. “Then we’ll head back to the cabin until my combat deck timer is finished. After that, we’ll take on another challenge.”
“Mind if I take a breather?” Valentina didn’t wait for him to answer before dropping her backpack on the ground and then gingerly lowering herself down. She used her pack as a back rest as she sat with her head resting on her arms.
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“Why don’t stay here while I do some exploring?” he said. “As it is, you’ve probably overexerted yourself.”
When she didn’t reply, he turned and began the descent. He was a quarter of the way down the pyramid before Kassandra appeared at his side. Her face was still twisted with rage.
“I… can’t believe he did that to you!” she sputtered. “The next time you summon him—”
“It’s over,” he replied. “There was no harm, so no foul.”
Kassandra stopped walking, her brow pinching and her lips pursing tightly. “I’m not nearly as forgiving as you.”
“Please don’t cause any trouble. If we’re going to retake Sayers Mills, I need all of us working together. If he proves… too unpredictable, I have ways to deal with him.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “But I’m keeping an eye on him.”
Warren smiled at his friend. “I’m glad I have you watching my back.”
His words seemed to catch her off balance. “Really?”
“There’s no one I’d rather have watching out for me than you,” he continued. “And if Boone becomes an unreliable ally, don’t do anything to him until we learn where his bunker is located. We could use a better base than my dad’s old workshop.”
Her mouth opened with surprise. “I never even thought about that. Do you think it’s well stocked? Could you imagine if he has chocolate? I’d give anything for something sweet...”
“I’m going to check out the next room,” he said. “Want to come with me?”
“You don’t even have to ask,” she said, beaming at him. “I’ll always have your back.”
Together, they continued down the stairs of the pyramid, passing by spots where bullets had carved out deep divots in the stone. They soon reached the sandy floor before setting off toward the far wall.
Warren set off across the room, and after a few minutes, he reached yet another rusted iron door. Like the others, this one looked like an exact copy. And once he managed to pry it open, it revealed yet another eerily familiar hallway with flickering lights.
It was almost like someone had copy-pasted different elements into this dungeon. At first, the thought seemed ridiculous, but the more he considered it, the more it made sense. He was dealing with an alien civilization capable of harvesting souls and creating combat decks. Making a dungeon out of reusable assets was probably child’s play to them.
Once inside of the tunnel, he allowed Kassandra to take the lead. As they moved closer to the next room, a chill began permeating the corridor. After a few more steps, his breath fogged in the air. Were there different biomes in here?
The tunnel opened into another massive room covered in ice. Sparse trees sprouted from the frozen floor, their branches laden with snow. In different locations throughout the room, rocky outcrops erupted from the floor. Above them, the roof was obscured by thick, leaden clouds.
A gust of wind sent a flurry of snowflakes swirling around him. and he rubbed his hands together to stay warm. When they returned to face the boss of this room, he’d have to bring one of his dad’s old jackets. He didn’t want to fight a protracted battle in the freezing cold wearing only a T-shirt.
Warren scanned the room, searching for any sign of the boss. After a minute, he spotted movement among a copse of trees. He watched as what could only be described as a moosetaur emerged from the vegetation.
The creature had the imposing body of a moose, but where its head should have been was a human torso. And on top of the torso, which included human-like arms, was the front half of a moose’s body, including tiny, shriveled legs ending in hooves. The beast looked like a Lovecraftian nightmare brought to life.
Kassandra twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Why can’t we fight something cool, like vampires? Why is it always these weird monsters?”
“Do you mean the sparkly kind of vampires?”
“No!” she exclaimed, her words echoing across the room. Her eyes went wide, and she lowered her voice. “I mean the cool ones, like in the old movies. You know, with the big fangs and pale skin.” She lifted her fingers in front of her face to make the symbol for big teeth.
Warren chuckled before copying her motion. “You mean big teeth like these?”
She slapped his shoulder playfully. “You know what I mean.”
Warren smiled and then turned his attention back to the moosetaur. As he focused his gaze, a name plate appeared above its head reading ‘Wendigo, Level 3’.
He raised his brow slightly at the name. He’d seen quite a few representations of wendigo in the media, and they looked nothing like this misshapen creature. Obviously, the aliens were taking quite a few liberties with Terran flora and fauna.
Now that he’d scouted the next area, he turned back toward the tunnel. He wasn’t sure if his next step should be to attempt the level 3 dungeon boss or to try to farm some challenge monsters in the open world.
They’d barely defeated the last boss, and he worried this one would be even more dangerous. But then again, it wasn’t like the Mongrel Orcs he’d faced at the resort had been particularly easy. Plus, down here he probably wouldn’t run into any aliens.
“We’ll return here tomorrow morning,” he said. “But I want to come up with a better plan this time.”
Kassandra ran a hand through her dark hair. “Like what?”
“Maybe we could use some traps or explosives,” he said. “I bet Valentina would have some good ideas on how to ambush the boss.”
His friend smiled, flashing her perfect white teeth at him. “Why not just use your sword again? You looked pretty amazing dueling with the crocodile headed guy.”
“Did you see that?”
She nodded. “I caught glimpses while I was trying to avoid that giant guy. There were a few times I thought he was going to squish me flat.”
“I just got lucky that I added a point to melee weapons.”
Kassandra gave him a long look. “I think it’s more than that.”
He didn’t know how to respond, so they traveled in silence as they returned to the tunnel. After walking a short distance, they emerged back into the room with the pyramid. At the door, Valentina was waiting for them, her helmet held under her arm.
“What’s up next?” Valentina asked, her eyes shining with excitement. “Let me guess. Is it a pack of grizzly bears that shoot bees out of their mouths? Or maybe three headed demonic deer?”
“Close,” Warren said. “It’s a moosetaur.”
The blond-haired woman’s brow furrowed. “What in Jesus’s name is a moosetaur.”
“Kind of like a centaur,” Warren said. “Only it has the body of a moose, the torso of a man, and then the head of a moose head.”
“Shit balls.” Valentina said, shaking her head. “Are the aliens just mashing together stuff to make monsters? Are they all crazy?”
“Who knows how it works?” He shrugged. “All I know is that we’re coming back tomorrow to clear the next dungeon boss. I was hoping you could provide some ideas on how to beat it. Do you have any more explosives?”
She pressed her plump lips together. “I still have two grenades left. And I have a big chunk of C4, but it’s not great as a weapon. Oh, and I found a ton of Tannerite back at the cabin.”
Warren raised his eyebrow. He vaguely recalled his sister mentioning the explosive when they were fleeing the city. But he hadn’t seen any on the property. It must have been stored with the hidden guns.
“We’ll figure something out later.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of water. He then handed it to Valentina. “Drink up, because it’s a long hike back.”
