TAKE ON ME [Survival LITRPG Apocalypse]

There was no loot for Loo. She watched the other kids holding their Copper Coins, her shoulders slumped.

Tom almost reassured her with the prediction of more loot, but he stopped himself.

Holy shit, there probably will be more loot. Which means more monsters.

The reality hit him hard. He shook his head to regain focus. "We should probably get moving if we plan to walk. It's only going to get colder."

"Not like it's warm in here anyways," Amber said, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her breath came out in small clouds, dissipating in the chilled air.

Without electricity, the once marginally warm basement had lost to the cold's inexorable creep.

Hana snatched Bo's hideous bardic cap and, with a theatrical flourish, put it on his head. "Guess it's time to get serious then!" she declared, sparking smiles and chuckles among the kids.

Bo slowly pulled the cap off his head with two fingers, a self-deprecating smirk breaking across his face. He stuffed the cap into his back pocket, and shifted gears into what Tom called 'Work Bo', which was all business.

"Last night I sorted out the essential gear into nine piles," said Bo. "Those four piles are for the adults. The other five piles are for the kids. Each pile has winter gear and blankets. I found some spare backpacks too. Pick a pile, and let's get loaded up."

As they gathered and loaded the essentials, a popup appeared in Tom's vision. A collective gasp escaped the group.

[Warning: Dungeon Level Increase Detected.

Attention brave souls! Your nearest Dungeon has ascended to Level 2. Beware, for it now possesses the ominous power to obliterate all humanmade structures within its domain! Caretaker Purge.]

A loud crack echoed through the air, followed by the shattering of glass. The walls and foundations of the house began to tremble. Fresh cracks meandered through the basement floor and spread through the walls to the ceiling.

Hana cursed as she thrust her missing arm toward the wall to steady herself, and instead stumbled to one knee. Bo leaped over and helped her to her feet.

"What's going on!" Loo's panicked voice rang out. "Is the house collapsing?"

Dust showered down on them as more cracks appeared in the ceiling.

Family members shouted around Tom as the house groaned and snapped. His heart raced as he watched Amber dodge debris falling from the ceiling.

"OUT! Everyone, out the back door!" Bo's commanding voice cut through the chaos. "Grab the rest of the gear! Tom, help me move the pool table!"

In a flurry of movement, Hana and Kate shepherded the children to snatch up as much gear as they could. Finn and Loo were jostled around in the chaos.

Tom and Bo worked swiftly, dragging the pool table away from the door. Hana passed their gear to them with her left hand. Kate's blood-stained golf club was lodged under one arm, the two baseball bats under the other.

The cacophony of creaking and tearing intensified, and large chunks of the building crashed around them. Tom's heart tried to climb out of his chest. He flung open the back door; monsters or no monsters, they had to get out. "Let's go! Out, out!" He grabbed Loo and pushed her toward the door.

They stumbled out into the backyard, trampling through several inches of solidifying snow. Bo was the last person out, gripping his backpack and another one of his golf clubs.

The families gathered by the boundary fence, as far as possible from the collapsing house. Most of them rummaged through their backpacks and bundles for extra layers, shivering in the freezing air. Only Bo and Hana were still. They held each other and stared at their dying home.

No one spoke. Tom's breath turned into frosty crystals in the air. The Robinson's home and possessions disintegrated and sank into the ground, like a sandcastle swallowed by quicksand. It took only minutes.

The freezing air was heavy with sudden silence. Everyone huddled together, wrapped in blankets.

Tom glanced up and down the street; it seemed all the houses had met the same fate.

Our house is probably gone too.

In his mind, Tom wandered through the rooms he and Kate had decorated. The coffee-colored bathroom tiles which had witnessed many playful bath times. The wooden picture frames in their living room, which used to show babies and toddlers with ice cream on their faces, and now showed the Damascus children at Disney World, or throwing water balloons in the garden, or receiving certificates at school.

Their shelter. Their safe space. The place where they raised their children.

All of it was gone.

No one spoke.

Bo broke away from the group. He paced through the yard, plowing furrows through the snow, and taking random swipes at it with the golf club.

Stolen novel; please report.

Hana was an ice-covered statue, staring at the empty patch of ground—the only patch without snow. There were no signs a building—a family home—had stood there only moments earlier.

Kate plonked her stuff down and placed an arm around Hana's shoulders.

Bo slowed his pacing. He cleared his throat. "We have several hours of daylight still, and we can't stay here. We'll freeze. And those monsters may have heard all the noise." He shouldered his backpack. "It's time to go."

Tom made sure his coat was tightly zipped. "Let's stick together, stay alert, and keep quiet. If we see any houses left, we'll check for cars, phones, or maybe guns." He grabbed one of the baseball bats from the ground.

Hana tried to zip Finn's coat one-handed.

Finn rested his hand on hers. "It's okay, Mom." He pulled the zip to the top, his chin resting on its collar.

Hana tried, and failed, to smile. She turned to the rest of the children, injecting positivity into her voice. You know, I always thought of our families as a pod of orcas. If we look out for each other then I know we're going to be okay."

Hana patted Finn on the shoulder as they, Bo, and Tess started walking through the snow toward the street. Kate gathered her golf club, baseball bat, and the other kids, and followed closely behind.

Tom brought up the rear, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. His gaze darted back and forth between the barren patches of land where houses once stood, and the foreboding patch of woods they had walked through in the night. Now, the concrete road was gone too, leaving only a frozen dirt path.

As they walked down the street, Tom's mind wandered to worst case scenarios.

What if all the houses in the world are gone? Where am I gonna take Kate and the kids?

Numerous monster tracks were scattered across the snow-covered path, with two distinct types: large three-toed prints with sharp claws—Tom assumed they belonged to the Trolls; and the more common flat-footed prints from the Headless creatures. The adults maintained a protective perimeter around the children as they moved between the various tracks.

"Wait." Kate held up a hand, her eyes narrowing as she pointed further down the street.

After a few moments, Tom could see a young White couple running toward them, yelling and waving their arms at the group. It was Blake and Bridget Hess, a newly married couple who had recently purchased their first home in Raintree.

The two groups ran toward each other, Bo frantically motioning for the couple to lower their voices.

"Hey! Keep it down!" Bo hissed as they reached them, scanning the surrounding forest for any signs of approaching monsters.

Kate turned to Bridget "Are you okay? Was anyone hurt?"

Blake replied, "no, but our house collapsed!" He was a tall and lean man in his mid-thirties. His sharp, jet-black hair was slicked back, and there was a faint shadow of stubble on his jawline.

"What about monsters?" Hana asked. "Have you seen any? Were you attacked?"

Blake and Bridget exchanged confused looks.

"Attacked?" Blake fumbled for words. "By . . . monsters? C'mon . . . "

Hana held up her stump.

"Oh my God!" said Bridget. "We need to get you to a hospital!" Her petite frame seemed even smaller in her distress. A stray brown curl escaped from her large ponytail, which bounced as she moved.

Bo told them about the attacks at his home.

Blake continued to give Hana and Bo skeptical looks, despite Bo's explanation and Hana's missing arm. It was starting to piss Tom off.

"Blake, there isn't time for this," said Tom. He scanned the treeline anxiously. "Run down the street a ways, you can find tracks all over if you have to. They're called Headless and we've fought them a few times. We've seen other things which are even bigger."

"Wait, what?" said Amber. "What things?"

Oops.

"Later," said Tom. "We need to keep moving and stay quiet."

He turned back to Blake and Bridget. "Did you guys pack any supplies or anything?"

"No!" said Blake.

Bridget was pale. "There was an earthquake. We heard screams, so Blake said we should hide in the basement—"

"There was nothing we could do to help!" said Blake.

"We spent the night there—"

"Then the house fell apart and sank! Supplies? Ha! We were lucky to grab our coats!"

A movement in the woods caught Tom's attention.

As one, a group of Headless creatures emerged in every direction from the cover of the trees.

They were already surrounded.

"Fuck," was all Tom could say.

Tom's heart raced. Four [Level 1 Headless Pygmy: Dungeon Born] took the lead; their twisted, grotesque, many-mouthed forms somehow even more disturbing than the two larger [Level 1 Headless Marauder: Dungeon Born] figures that followed.

"Do we run?!" Blake said, shuffling backward in the snow.

"You do what you want, but I doubt you'll get far," said Bo. "We're not running."

Tom positioned himself at one end of the group, opposite Bo, who gripped his golf club.

Bridget seemed paralyzed by fear. She and Blake stood, frozen, in the center of their makeshift formation. Blake's wide-eyed gaze locked onto the monstrous creatures in disbelief.

"Use this." Kate tossed the extra bat to Blake and kept the golf club for herself.

"Bo, you get the ones on the left. I'll handle the right," Tom said. He stepped forward, and Kate moved closer to him. Now that he knew what it was, he recognized the reassuring presence of Kate's healing [Regeneration Aura] washing over him.

Tom glanced over at Chloe, who already had a laser focus on the largest [Level 1 Headless Marauder: Dungeon Born].

"Remember what you learned from your information sheets," Bo called out. "Use your abilities!"

"Your what?" Bridget said, seeming to snap out of her trance.

"But stay safe!" Tom yelled.

"Right!" Amber chimed in, gripping her poker tightly.

Tom and Kate frowned at each other.

The monsters charged.

Tom swung at the nearest Headless Pygmy, his bat finding its flesh.

Bo's golf club whistled through the air, holding another creature at bay.

Off to Tom's side, a vocal Headless Marauder spiraled into erratic shrieks and panicked circles. The second Marauder sped toward the group, from a direction where neither Tom nor Bo could intervene.

Oh God! Oh fuck!

The creature bore down on Loo.

Tom was about to abandon his position and rush to her rescue.

Out of nowhere, Tess delivered a slashing blow with her new Sword across the creature's giant tongue, sending it reeling.

"Thank you, Tess!" Tom called.

As the creatures and the families fully merged, Bo and Tom effectively held the attention of two Pygmies each, maintaining their defense without getting bitten.

The Marauder that Tess had slashed now paced in front of her, testing her with its probing and slashing tongue. However, Tess remained vigilant and out of its reach.

Blake, Bridget, Hana, and most of the children were huddled within the protective perimeter. Finn looked like he wanted to charge in and help, but Hana held him close.

The first Marauder—previously feared by Chloe—broke its fear and ran at the group, only to be subjected to Chloe's [Fear] spell once again. It writhed and screamed.

Kate fully unleashed on the Pygmies around Tom, her gore-covered golf club slicing through the air.

"We can do this!" Bo shouted, his voice strained.

The creatures—though deadly—were slow and ponderous in their movements.

Amber crept behind the two Pygmies facing her father.

Tom delivered a smack to one of the Pygmies, and it doubled over.

Amber's eyes lit up. She lunged forward, lightning fast, and stabbed the Pygmy in front of her. It gave a squealing roar and pulled away, pulsing blood.

"Amber!" Tom yelled.

Kate whacked the other Pygmy.

In the center of the formation, Finn pulled against his mother and tried to push her arm away. Blake and Bridget held each other, their expressions full of fear. Bridget occasionally let out a scream when a creature got too close.

Amid the chaos, Hana's voice broke through. "Do something, Blake!" she shouted.

Blake stared at the bat Kate had given him and slowly raised it, as though he'd only just noticed it was there. Taking a deep breath, he ran forward and swung it at a Pygmy beside Bo. The blow was feeble, but the creature stumbled back.

The battle raged on. They held the creatures at bay; however, Tom was growing tired. It was becoming evident that they needed additional damage to bring the relentless creatures down.

Tom yelled to Tess, who was facing off against her larger Headless foe. "Call targets!"

Tess nodded.

After a few seconds, Hana yelled. "Tess, I see it!"

"I see it too!" Chloe shouted.

Tom looked around the battle and saw a shimmering skull floating above one of the creatures.

Chloe and Hana exchanged a glance. With synchronized actions, they unleashed their magical abilities on the larger [Level 1 Headless Marauder: Dungeon Born]. Hana's [Sickness] spell took hold; the monster swayed unsteadily on its feet. Chloe followed up with her [Migraine] spell, further debilitating the creature as it faltered, clutching its torso.

Seizing the moment, Tess unleashed a slashing strike across the creature's body. Its skin easily parted, and blood fountained out, bathing the snow like a crimson painting. The Marauder emitted a high-pitched scream. It turned to retreat, before collapsing onto the ground, twitching in its final moments.

A blinding light flooded Tom's vision. His brain felt like it was experiencing lag, momentarily freezing the world in place. He had only a moment to try and comprehend what was happening, before the light intensified and consumed everything in its path. A surge of energy pulsed through his entire body like an electric shock.