Chapter 2 - It looks like the world is ending

  I stumbled over to Andy's body. He was lying on his back, hands splayed open, eyes staring into the morning sky. It was still morning… it felt like ages had passed since we left the parking lot for this hike.

  "Hey, man?!" I called him, placing my bloody hand on his shoulder. "You alive?"

  "Yeah," Andy breathed out, focusing on me. "It hurts…"

  I looked down over his body. His hands looked like beef bones my grandma used to make stock. And thick, bubbling tissue was swelling out of his stomach. I had to swallow to resist puking again. I pulled out my phone, somehow still left in the pocket of my leggings.

  My face ID didn't work, so I had to use a code, smearing blood all over the screen. And for the first time in my life, I have dialled 911.

  Listening to a phone dial tone, I looked around the clearing.

  There could be more of those things out there.

  I rose to my feet to inspect the treeline better. I walked around while the empty tones of a call sounded in my ear.

  Why is it taking so long? Aren't they an emergency service?

  Everything hurt: my hands were throbbing with pain, my leg was barely holding me upright, and my forehead burned, like I had shoved my head in a beehive.

  I finished three limping circles around the clearing before someone finally answered. The bushes around us looked fine, so I allowed myself to focus on the conversation.

  "911, what's your emergency?"

  "We are in the South Dancy Park, at the last viewpoint. My friend and I were attacked by wildlife, and we need emergency medical assistance." I covered my mouth with my hand. "My friend is severely injured. I am not sure if he'll make it."

  "Let me…" The operator went quiet. "There are no units available."

  "What do you mean?"

  "There are no units available to answer your call; everyone has at least two calls in backlog. Mam, I'm sorry. If you describe to me the injuries, I can try to guide you through the first aid effort, and maybe then he'll last until the team can come."

  "His gut is bulging out of his belly, and both his hands look like they went through a meat grinder. Would you like to guide me through that?!"

  "Oh, wow. Ok, give me a second." I heard some mumbling and typing.

  "Are you googling it?!"

  "Unfortunately, that is all I can do for you right now…"

  I don't need some useless chick to hold my hand.

  "Listen, I can Google it myself, just send someone as soon as you possibly can. We are at the viewpoint clearing."

  "Yes, yes, of course. What is your name?

  "Chloe. Chloe Charleston. His name is Andy. I don't know the last name."

  "Ok, is 650-665 -5780 the best number to reach you at?"

  "Yes, it is."

  "Ok, ma'am. Stay safe, find cover. At night, only make fire if you are in a fire-safe area."

  "Send help before it's night!"

  "As soon as we can."

  I ended the call and stared at the black screen. At my own face. Half of it was covered in blood. I had an ugly gush on the right side of my forehead, and only now, I actually felt it. I turned on the camera and zoomed in on the gush.

  It looked nasty: jagged edges, with some parts of the wound gaping wider than others. Blood matted the hair on my temple, making it clump together in dark, sticky strands. It looked like something that would leave a permanent scar.

  How the hell was I supposed to have a channel with a huge scar on my face!?

  My hands shook, and the phone trembled, making the picture blurry. I felt lightheaded. There was a steady stream of blood still running from the wound down my face and neck.

  "Chloe?" Andy called.

  I didn't want to talk to him. Look at his mangled body… I had my own issues to deal with.

  "Chloe? What… they say?"

  I breathed in, held a breath and released it. I did it two times before turning back to Andy, focusing my gaze on the forest behind him.

  "They will send someone as soon as they can. All teams are busy."

  Andy wept.

  I don't think I've ever heard a sound like that from an adult human. In fact, the last time I heard something similar was when my brother Michael accidentally squeezed a kitten too hard.

  I cleaned my phone's screen by wiping it over my leggings, and opened up a browser. It took me an eternity to look up what to do with mine and Andy's injuries. The Internet was spotty, and the screen kept timing out before the article finally loaded.

  I emptied my backpack on the ground. Every single thing aggressively reeked of bear spray. My eyes started watering again, and I had to hold my breath not to sneeze. I had to leave everything up in a pile and head for Andy's bag.

  I went through his stuff and was severely disappointed. He didn't have any extra clothing, nor a first aid kit. He had a multitool, a roll of ducktape and some ziplock bags full of wires, extra SD cards, soiled cloth and a whole bunch of other currently useless stuff. I picked up a small bottle of my hand sanitizer, took off my windbreaker and my relatively clean t-shirt. It was an oversized cotton sack that worked perfectly to be ripped into shreds for wrapping.

  Holding my breath, I poured some water and then a generous dollop of sanitizer over my wounded hands. I wanted to hiss and wallow, but there was no time for it. I could always fall apart after Andy's wounds were addressed.

  With shaking hands, I cleaned and wrapped my own head, making the dressing as tight as possible to stop the bleeding. I almost faded a few times from bright, hot pain, all the procedures brought onto me, and had to take three breaks, to make sure I wouldn't pass out. Blood seeped through the fabric immediately after I had wrapped it around my head, but I hoped it would stop soon, since I didn't have anything else on me.

  When nothing was dribbling down my face, I finally got up on swaying legs and approached the man.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He was pale, and sweat beaded his forehead. He lost his hat somewhere in the battle, and his dirty brown hair stuck to the skull like cooked spaghetti strands at the bottom of a pot. I avoided looking at his stomach for as long as I could.

  "Ok," I told Andy, kneeling beside him. "Let's start with cutting off your shirt."

  "Ok…" Andy said in a shaky, tired voice.

  I worked fast to cut and remove the fabric covering his wounds. The strings and pieces barely held together, but the knife on the multitool was dull, and I struggled with each cut.

  Andy didn't make a sound. He was blinking slowly. Slower with every passing second. He was cold. I checked his neck for a pulse and felt a beating under my fingers. But it wasn't what I would imagine a normal pulse should be like. It felt more like a fluttering of a butterfly trapped in your cupped hands: uneven and weak.

  Everything was blurry in my vision, and it took me a moment to realize that I was crying. And I didn't even have a clean piece of fabric to wipe my face with. Everything was soaked in my blood, grime or bear spray.

  "Andy, you with me?" I asked, wrapping the remnants of his own hoodie around his right mangled arm.

  It was the easiest location to address, because the bone on this one wasn't sticking out. And I didn't even know where to start with his stomach. The wound there wasn't bleeding as actively as his hands, though, so I just left it be for now.

  "Hmmm," he hummed, eyes turning to see my face. "You… called?"

  "Yeah, the emergency will be here soon. You just have to stay awake, ok?"

  "Hmm," he answered.

  I finished with my wrapping and moved around to the other side. I had the remainder of the shirt to use for this side.

  "The craziest thing happened when that thing died," I told Andy, just to fill the silence. I pulled the fabric tight against the exposed flesh, hoping to staunch the bleeding. "It's like a video game. You love those, right? I got a screen with some kind of playing cards, and I chose one to use. That's how I killed the second dino, actually."

  "Cards… Cool. I wish it were heal…" Andy mumbled.

  And that was actually a sound idea. If there were attacking skills, there must be healing skills, too, right? And I had a selection that I closed just before. Maybe there was a useful card among those?

  Finishing with Andy's wounds, I applied a loose wrap around the open bone and stuck a piece of a plastic ziplock with duct tape over his stomach. I made him drink some water and sat beside Andy.

  Just now, I have noticed the burning touch of the Sun on my face. All the sunscreen foundation must have washed off. My phone showed ten thirty. Somehow, I've lost almost one and a half hours. No wonder I felt parched.

  I extended my legs, the ache in my calf almost a background noise at this point. I probably should have wrapped it, too. But I was out of clean fabric and energy.

  Thoughts scattered in my brain, like a bunch of sparrows hopping around the hedge.

  The thought of a scar on my forehead made my eyes burn anew, but the tears didn't come.

  Was I dehydrated? I should drink some water...

  The desire to cry refused to be shoved away. It was so unfair. I was finally getting better at this. Starting to make a profit, bought my own townhouse. I finally had enough to afford decent food in my fridge. And now this.

  Would I need to sell the house to pay the medical bills? What was wrong with this fucking world? Didn't I already suffer enough in this life?

  Andy groaned again, and I looked at his face. He was deathly pale, and his lips were turning blue. I had to do something.

  Right, I was going to look at the cards.

  "Open, status, cards, menu…" I tried different words to get it back in front of me. It wasn't working.

  Then, I remembered the writing on the screen.

  "Deck," I said, and the screen with 1/10 and the [Leap] card came up in front of me. I touched the card, and it turned around, just like the last time.

  The familiar description was displayed on the card surface. I needed to find a way to navigate to the "Notifications". Swiping down would close it… I tried a few things and finally discovered that swiping upwards pulled the notification up.

  Under the "Deal Hand" were three new rectangles. This time, one white and two blue. In the middle of the first white card was a Rod of Asclepius. [Heal] - was writing on the bottom of it. I almost pulled it in right away, but looked over the other two, just in case. The second one was another springing spiral with [Leap] on the bottom. The third one had a rock and a word [Bludgeon] on the bottom.

  While it was appealing to have some kind of attack in my "Deck", bludgeoning wasn't my favourite way to deal with problems. I pulled [Heal] and selected "Yes" to the "Draw into your deck?" question.

  When my Deck displayed again, I was finally able to read through the card description, and my stomach churned.

  Universal healing. The body restores to its most common state, mending torn flesh, knitting broken bones, and purging toxins from your system. Consumable. It can be applied to yourself or any willing target.

  Consumable means single-use, right?

  I rubbed my temple with layers of caked blood and winced when it pulled on my forehead wound.

  I should use it on Andy. And remain in my current condition: injured, in the middle of the forest and with an ugly scar. Who knows what else is out there in the forest? Would Andy be able to deal with it, even if he were at full health?

  This wasn't a simple decision.

  I ate an energy bar and drank some water. Then used a napkin and a sanitizer to clean the cut on my leg. It was just a superficial cut. But the edges were jagged, and the skin felt warm. Google said that could indicate an infection.

  Thankfully, no more blood was seeping from under my headbandage, and I felt somewhat better after some food.

  Trying to keep myself occupied, I limped around the clearing one more time. There were no more lizards around, but I felt unsafe, so high upon the hill, exposed for everyone to see…

  I pulled the tripod out of the dead dino and searched for the camera that Andy must have dropped into the bush when he was attacked. I found it caught on the redwood root, crumbled to pieces. Another $600 down the drain.

  Everything just crumbled around me in less than an hour. Unable to restrain myself, I threw the useless piece of plastic on the ground and stomped on it with my healthy foot until there was nothing but black shards all over the dusty soil.

  Exhausted, I sat by the tree.

  Should I call someone else? I opened my contact book and scrolled through names. I had acquaintances in the city nearby from my time as a server. Tish lived maybe two hours' drive from here. I couldn't imagine her helping me out of the situation like this, though. She shut herself in the bathroom while I was pulling the dead mouse from under the coffee machine. And I wasn't that tight with anyone else. It was hard to make friends working eighty hours a week. I closed my contacts in irritation.

  Almost subconsiously, my fingers navigated to something that soothed me over and over in the last few years - social media.

  The connection was spotty, but the first story uploaded on my screen, and it made my blood run cold. It was a recording from Veronica, another fitness influencer we did a collab with last month. The video was from a grocery store. The woman wasn't narrating, how she usually did; you could only hear heavy breathing and distant screams. And the grainy picture showed short green humanoid monsters with spears rounding up a grandpa in the bread aisle. The grandpa had a gun pointed at the closest monster. His hands were shaking. From fear or just old age, or both. He told the creature that only reached his chest height to back off. But the monster continued advancing. And before he could pull a trigger, an arrow from somewhere further ahead pierced his chest.

  I closed the reel.

  Was it happening everywhere? Veronica was living in San Diego. I was almost at the border with Oregon. So it was definitely in the entire state.

  I opened the camera app and zoomed in on the dead dino's body, taking a few pictures. The lighting was off, and the angle barely captured its size. I got up and started a video, moving closer towards the dead monster. This was a better angle. Andy's leg came into frame.

  What was I doing?!

  I closed the app and deleted the video, lowering myself by Andy's side.

  The clock showed eleven a.m., and my battery was getting low. I opened the call log. The 911 call was marked at nine twenty. Where were they?!

  I picked up a bottle to give some water to Andy.

  Maybe he had someone to call who could help?

  His breathing was shallow, skin clammy.

  I bit on the inside of my cheek, trying to suppress a scream. This was so unfair. I will have to use my healing card on him, won't I? And live the rest of my life with a mangled face.

  "Andy! Andy!" I shook him gently on the shoulder, and he opened his eyes. His gaze was unfocused, just an empty stare into the sky. "Can I call someone to come help us? Any friends?"

  "Mommy?" Andy called in a weak voice and closed his eyes again.

  "Well, shit…" I swore as I went through his backpack in search of a phone. I used his face to unlock the screen and searched the log, finding "Mom" at the very top. I pressed call.

  "All circuits are busy. Please try your call again later." An automated voice said in my ear.

  I sat back on my ass beside Andy. It was hard to breathe, like my chest was collapsing on itself.

  It was time to figure out how the single-use card worked.

  "Deck," I said and touched the [Heal] card. It turned around to the description. I had no idea how exactly this worked, but the last time skill had activated with the word and a prayer. So I put my hands on Andy, said "Heal," and imagined his multiple wounds getting better.

  The image of the card disintegrated in front of my eyes, as if the pixels lost the force that was holding them together. My vision cleared.

  Andy gasped loudly and jerked under my hands.

  "Man, that was a wild dream," he rasped, getting up. "What am I wearing? And why are you covered in dirt?"

  "Not a dream, Andy…" I said, sitting back and straightening my injured leg. "It looks like the world is ending."

  Chloe's Deck (1/10):

  1. Blue Card: [Leap]

  Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.