DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

Michael Wade knew something was horribly wrong before he opened his eyes.

He'd woken up feeling actually well-rested - which meant eight full hours of sleep. Which meant-

Wait a moment. He'd felt this way before, hadn't he?

A beeping sound filled his head, simultaneously drawing out an internal hatred of the sound, and elation - that was his alarm.

He was on time.

His matress was under him, minus the bedframe he always said he'd eventually get when the budget was there. All four grey white walls of his apartment in the dark gloom of the streetlights out his window. From his one tiny square window.

There was a siren in the distance and a big thump somewhere far off, like a garbage truck had dropped a dumpster.

The sounds of home.

Eyes cracked open, hand reached out and he tapped around, feeling everything he was used to.

He started laughing.

It really had been all just a dream. One insane, absolutely stupid dream. He pulled himself out of bed, feeling real light on his feet. A very faint weight on his chest rolled off as he pulled the covers off him, sounds of glass faintly tapping each other, muffled. But Wade didn't have the presence of mind to care.

The blanket was… lighter than it had been? It felt more like he'd pulled off thin sheets compared to the stuffed cover. He'd done it so much faster than usual he even tossed something off the sheets - Oh, that was his phone. It hadn't been in his pocket, just right on top of his blanket.

He pulled himself up, until he sat on the little mattress.

On the other hand, he felt really refreshed. Like he'd actually had a good sleep. Couldn't have been the case since it was still dark out, which meant his alarm had worked on time. Had he hit the perfect sleep cycle?

His body equally felt nice. Just a very mild amount of pain in his leg and neck, hardly noticeable. In fact when he got up, he felt like he'd had several months of quality food, sleep and general health.

Calculations came up in his head. Maybe he should have nightmares more often then, the results are undeniable. Could take a different kind of mental toll on him, but right now he needed his physical body working at maximum for the next few years until he got out of all this debt.

Well, he'd mull it over work today. He got out of bed, fumbling around for his light switch and realized he wasn't wearing his work clothing. Weird…. He was sure he'd gone to sleep specifically in his work clothing so that he could get a headstart in the day right off the bat. Had he really taken the time to put on pajamas?

He looked down at the fabric. "Just like in the dream." He muttered, voice giving way to a nervous chuckle.

…

He'd never owned these pajamas in his life. So his head got busy with mental gymnastics to justify all of this and avoid a very insane thought.

Wade had been sleep deprived for a while now, anything could have happened. Maybe he bought them a while back and forgot? Or maybe Cathrin had bought them for him a long while back and he'd just never gotten a chance to wear them? Jason's mom would be the type to do exactly that. The Wade siblings had only crashed on her couch and home for a little more than a month, but in that time Cathrin had basically adopted them both as her own kids and treated them the same as she had her own son. It would come at zero surprise to Wade if she'd slipped these pajama sets into his closet at some point.

He put it to the side, and reached down for his glasses, then got out of the bundle of covers he'd thrown off, turned the lights on and went looking for his tossed phone. He found it on the carpet almost immediately.

The phone was flawless. No crack. Nothing like what he remembered it to look like.

Wade gulped, then slowly peeled off his right arm sleeve. Relief came quickly after as he saw no blackness there, no weasel bites either. Just normal human skin.

Maybe his mind really was messing with him, remembering false things. Wade could imagine he'd taken care of his phone this whole time, he was very protective of the few things he owned after all. Could be the nightmare just made him think his phone had cracks on the screen.

Yeah. Don't worry about it. He thought, fully getting dressed then speeding straight for the kitchen. No time to make his bed or anything, he was already late now since he'd gone to sleep with pajamas instead of his work clothing. Rookie mistake. The kitchen had his poison of choice: Caffeine pills. After those, his eyes locked on his Aleve bottle waiting next to his glass of water. One in the morning to start the day, and it would take effect in a half hour, making the early shift manageable for his pain.

Did he actually need it? Frankly he felt like he was already walking around on the effects of three all put together. Maybe he'd accidentally ate a few before bed?

Yeah. That could be the reason. Damnit past me, you had one job. Don't poison yourself.

He skipped on the Aleve bottle today, not trusting if he already had too much in his stomach. He already ran caffeine without food, putting too many drugs might leave him sick, which meant lost wages. Whatever fugue state he was in yesterday must have seriously been bad for him to have this many memory issues.

With his usual gas station clothing on, hat and vest, he turned to the exit and made his way out. Then his phone vibrated.

New text. Wade felt a pit in his gut at the thought of finding an emojii first thing when he took the phone out. Slowly, he turned the screen his direction and pressed the power button.

The black screen lit up, and he saw a message from Bob.

Got u truck tomorrow. @5am half shift

There was nothing else to the text. He'd been kept in suspense on if it would be a full shift or half shift, turns out it was a half again and he'd be unpacking shipment and inventory before the store opened. Fine, it would probably lag into a semi-full shift and Bob would forget to clock it to his work hours again as usual. He took a breath, confirmed back on text, mentally got the idea of emoji's off his head, and started to leave his apartment behind.

He nearly ripped the doorway off.

Normally, the doorway was slightly tilted against it's sagging hinges, which meant it would take a bit of pull or push in order to open it. So each time he'd open it, he'd need to brace a bit and pull hard.

It swung out so fast this time, he thought it had been fixed without his notice. But no, the inside was all fine, as in still broken-fine, and the doorway was just as lopsided as it had always been.

Had he just gotten… gotten stronger?

Being so alert and feeling so refreshed was jarring. That's all. That's why he was feeling so weird and good.

Some part of him knew he should check himself. Plenty of ways to test, he could go back to his room and look under the covers he'd thrown aside, see if there was anything there that shouldn't be.

But another part deep within was resisting, holding onto normality. He'd been in a nightmare, the idea that it had followed him into the real world wasn't something Wade was prepared to handle right now. He didn't have time to go back into the house and investigate anyhow. That's what he told himself, and he followed through with it, locking the door before going down the stairwells.

The elevator, as usual, was broken down and waiting for maintenance.

Wade went out for the long walk, easily compartmentalizing it all with each step taken. The gas station was ten minutes away. He used to do it in under two minutes with a bike, but that got stolen in the first month he had it. They'd cut through his bike chain.

Wade had paid good money for that chain only to see it completely fail at the only job it had.

If he were honest with himself, he was more pissed at that than the actual bike being stolen. At least the bike had provided one month of use and benefit, the chain had been just a straight expense without any return.

Since then, he'd vowed not to waste a single dollar more on bikes. All he had to do was wake up a little earlier.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Phone showed he was two minutes late as he walked through the empty dark streets.

Should he run? He never ran anywhere, that was usually a one-way ticket to making his limp flare up for the rest of the day. But on the other hand today he just felt… good. Like really good. He had energy, he felt alert, caffeine was hitting his system with an extra dose of hello, and he hardly had to limp at all.

He started bouncing on the balls of his feet, testing with each step. The pain was there, just muted. Almost like he was finally healing. He really shouldn't aggravate it.

But on the other hand, he didn't want to be late. "Fuck it." He muttered, then bent down and started running in a jog.

He moved fast. Way faster than he remembered his jogs being. Not as fast as he'd been sprinting around in his nightmare, but fast. This was a good two steps faster than normal.

He leaned more into the run, putting more energy, feeling his speed pick up.

How was this possible? It was so… effortless. And he wasn't even running at full speed yet. The pain started to flare up but now it was reaching only what he'd expected to feel in the morning.

And all at once he was already there, a minute early. Slightly winded, so endurance remained as it was before, but the sheer speed had picked up.

Inside he went, the little bell chimed as his coworker sat behind the counter and twiddled his thumbs. They locked eyes, shared a set of finger guns as per tradition, and Alden got to work grabbing his stuff from the backroom, officially clocking out without a word shared.

Wade didn't talk or waste time chatting usually, and he was always on time for his shift. To most other coworkers, that made him extremely likeable. And for graveyard shifts that was the single best thing any employee could be.

Alden had told him horror stories of his relief sleeping in, leaving him in the gas station working overtime since the boss would rip him a new one if he left. So anytime his shift was scheduled with Wade being the relief, he could actually plan to go to places for that day.

People came and went outside, filling up their cars or taking a smoke. He had to chase the usual suspects, hooligans and so forth. No one tried to rob anything that night, nor piss over the walls. A bog normal night - other than a hispanic couple who'd come in and couldn't quite speak english.

A bit of pointing and tapping things got the messages across up until the husband turned to talk to his wife and Wade just understood what was said. In fact, when he answered back to point out what the deals did and didn't include on their item choices, he found himself speaking fluent spanish.

They lit up and started roasting him slightly over holding back on them, but generally were all smiles.

Well, he did know a bit of spanish here and there from high school. He was just feeling fresh about it. Yeah.

Outside it started raining. Pitter patters all over, making people flee for cover. There'd be a lot less walking into the store now, that's just how it worked.

All through his shift of trying to stay busy, was a chill in the back of his neck.

But Wade feared what would happen if his hunch was right. He kept quiet, distracting himself through the shift, clocking out for lunch when everyone else had breakfast. Up until it was eight in the morning, when he walked in.

Black suit, jet black tie, sunglasses and the entire getup. Expensive tailoring, clearly custom fit. The little bell rung as the demon from Wade's dreams walked through and shook his umbrella clean of water, before folding it in. Sharp features looked up, scanned around the room until they caught Wade in the crossfire.

Like the goddess had told him. He'd come looking for Wade.

That man walked right up to Wade, taking off his sunglasses, cleaning them slightly with a small microfiber cloth from his pocket before hanging the sunglasses there too.

Wade stared at him, keeping his gaze neutral. "Welcome, how can I help?"

A smile cracked on the man's features. Slightly sharp teeth. "Come now, Mike, amigo, my friend, my pal - why so formal? You're acting like I'm here looking to buy your soul or something. Trust me, not in the business anymore."

Wade stared the man down, retail smile turned up to ten. "I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure that's in stock."

The butler's own smile faltered for a moment, "Don't tell me you've forgotten all our quality time together?" He brought his hands up and mimed strangling something. "Eh? Eh? How'd it feel?"

"I'm afraid I don't quite know what you mean, sir." Wade said. Head tilting exactly a few calculated inches, retail smile worn like his armor.

Zinny scoffed, "Mike, Michael - can I call you Mike? Mike my friend, my little champion of chaos." He slipped behind the counter like an eel, one arm wrapping around Wade's shoulder, bringing him closer. "Can't tell you how much it warmed my cold little heart to know someone finally tried to strangle that pint-sized discord menace. Oh what I'd give to be in your shoes that day. Actually, I know exactly what I'd give and it's got way more zero's attached then I'm comfortable with - But I DIGRESS~" His free hand was midway through crushing an imaginary windpipe, then he let go as if getting himself back under control, the hand once more smoothing out the spiked hair like a nervous tick. "So, now that I finally have a co-conspirator to work with, how about we talk some business? Get to know each other, share some coffee and tea, or whatever you mortals here on earth like to do."

"I'm not sure what you're speaking about sir, but we can't have customers on this side of the register as company polic-" Wade said, before a gloved finger snapped right on his mouth, cutting him off.

"Ah-ha-ha, I see what's going on. But I'm on a time crunch, so how about we skip all the crying and sad little realization noises here and go right to the good parts." The white-gloved finger rapidly tapped between both their chests for dramatic effect. "You, me, scheming together like best friends, her divine pain-in-my-ass dead in some ditch and all is good in the world."

This was Play's butler.

In the flesh, here in the real world.

A slow terrified squeak came out of Wade's throat.

The butler sighed, hands pinching his nose. "Fine, fine, pop open that stats menu. Let's get your personal 'oh-no it's all real' moment out of the way already." He rolled a finger at him, as if asking to move things along faster. "Time's ticking and I've got divine toast to butter. No really, our mutual pest wants fresh baked buttered toast this morning. Gotta drop by the bakery right after this. So, things to do, busy schedule and all that."

"This can't be happening." Wade muttered.

"Look, buttercup, it's happening." Zinny said, rolling his eyes. "Faster you get on the boat, faster we get to the actual fun parts I sacrificed my beauty sleep for." The man spun Wade around, hands over his shoulder, waving out to the dawn beyond the glass windows of the gas station. "And I mean future strangling, just to be clear here, not your… ahh 'charming' little reenactment of 'The Hero's Journey: The Part Where They Say No.' So how about you just say your favorite five letter word here and we move on from all this, sounds good?"

"I don't know what wo-"

"'Stats.' The word is 'STATS.' S-t-a-t-s. What, you want me to write it down for you or something? Go on, say it. Lot to do today Mikey, toast, stock trading, plotting brutal revenge, brunch, maybe visiting a few new friends for some new business openings, you know the drill."

Zinny spoke through it so fast Wade didn't know if the shock of the moment was what was giving his trouble processing or if the man really did talk like he was trying to sell him seven cars and twelve different loan plans out of new york.

The butler continued to ramble, mostly pacing around the shop now, talking about Play's stuff and the prices for it all.

Wade stayed shocked in his little corner of the world. Until his head rebooted properly. One thought helped guide him forward. One single thought: He could have power.

Power to change his life here on earth. Power money couldn't buy. Magic, skills, enhanced body - And he didn't really have a choice did he? If this was all happening, him pretending it wasn't would change anything.

For a moment, Wade felt like the world itself held its breath.

"Stats." Wade said, half knowing what to expect, half expecting nothing to happen, all of him on the edge of both worlds.

The blue textbox appeared in front of him.

On earth.