“What do we do?”
Jessica sobbed into Elizabeth’s chest as the two girls sat in the Safe Zone, the three remaining boys standing guard around the edge even though they knew they were supposed to be safe.
“That…that thing just killed Tyler like it was nothing!”
“It’s not like he’s actually dead,” Elizabeth tried to comfort her, “He was just sent out of the Dungeon, just like you said, right?”
“Dammit!” Peter growled, stepping towards the edge of the Safe Zone, “This is ridiculous! We’ve been here for hours! It’s just a stupid rabbit!”
“Pete, stop!” One of the other boys shouted as the boy stepped out of the area, looking around until he spotted the offending monster.
Leaning down, he grabbed a nearby stone, weighing it in his hand, before hurling it at the creature as hard as he could. The others watched in amazement as the rock hit true, striking the rabbit-like creature on the side of the head, sending to tumbling to the ground. Peter quickly turned back to them, a triumphant look on his face as he started to speak.
“There, see? They’re just bunnies with stupid horns on their heads. Nothing to be afraid o-!”
He was cut off as the foot long horn suddenly burst out of his stomach, his face going pale as he looked behind him, the bloody rabbit monster he’d hit yanking its horn out with a sickening sound. Peter immediately collapsed, clutching his stomach as he screamed in pain, desperately reaching for the others as blood sprayed from the wounds.
“H-help me!” he wailed, tears pouring down his face as he tried to move, before the rabbit charged him again, driving its horn into his chest, his pained and scared expression going blank as he coughed up a bit of blood, before collapsing. A moment later, his body dissolved into light, leaving no trace of him except for the blood coating the rabbit monster’s horn, which it promptly started to clear off with its paws.
“NO!” Jessica screamed, “I don’t want to die! I just want to leave this place and never come back!”
“We can’t!” one of the boys shouted, “We’re fucked! The only way out is to complete the floor of the Dungeon you’re on!”
“Shit,” the other boy snarled, “Fuck Pete and his stupid plans! I’m never listening to that asshole again!”
“What do we do?” Jessica wailed, burying her face deeper into Elizabeth’s chest, “What do we do?!”
“Well,” one of the boys muttered, “If I have to die, then I’m not doing it a virgin!”
“What?” the other three said as he stalked towards the two girls.
“I’m sure you all feel the same way, right? Come on, if we’re all gonna die anyway, let’s have some fun first.”
“Dude, no!” the other boy shouted as he tried to block the first, who swung his pipe into the side of his friend’s head, knocking him to the ground.
“Fuck you!” he shouted, “If you don’t want to help, then you can just fucking watch!”
Elizabeth stared at the boy as he continued to approach, licking his lips hungrily as he lifted the now bloody pipe onto his shoulder.
“So, who wants to go first?” he chuckled, the sound cruel and desperate.
“G-go away!” Elizabeth shouted as she tried to scramble back, dragging Jessica with her, “Please, just leave us alone!”
“Not happening!” the boy shouted as he picked up the pace, quickly approaching them as he grabbed Jessica by the back of her jacket, “I think I’ll start with you! You’ve got pretty nice tits after all!”
Elizabeth could only watch in horror as her sobbing friend was thrown to the ground, the boy pulling on her shirt as he tried to rip it off. The next thing she knew, she was standing with the other boy’s pipe in her hand, swinging it as hard as she could at the back of the first boy’s head. The attack struck true, sending him toppling forwards as he gasped, rolling over and landing hard on the ground. Elizabeth immediately dropped to her knees beside Jessica, who was still sobbing, her shirt stretched and a little torn.
“Jess!” she shouted as she tried to pull the girl to her feet, “We have to get out of here!”
“We’re going to die!” the other girl wailed, “We’re all going to die!”
“You bitch!” the shout made Elizabeth’s blood run cold as she looked back to see the first boy staggering to his feet, blood dripping down the back of his head, “I’m gonna make you regret that!”
He charged towards them, Elizabeth flinching back as he swung a fist at her face. Suddenly, the second boy tackled the first, throwing both of them to the ground.
“Run!” he shouted as he tried to pin the other boy, “Forget about me, just get the fuck out of here!”
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“R-right,” Elizabeth gasped, not having realized she’d been holding her breath.
Unsure of what to do, she stuck her arms under Jessica’s back and legs, lifting the girl as she bolted out of the Safe Zone, the two boys still fighting as she ran.
------
“What do we do?”
Elizabeth looked up as she tried to start the fire using the lighter from the small survival kit Peter had handed out to each of them after they’d entered the Dungeon, the two girls currently resting in a small cave they’d found. It was already getting dark outside, so they’d decided to try and find shelter for the night and continue on in the morning.
“Those monsters are still out there,” Jessica sniffed, “They’re going to hunt us down and kill us, just like they did to Tyler and Peter.”
“I don’t think so,” Elizabeth muttered, smiling as happily as she could at Jessica as she got the fire going, “I mean, I ran past plenty of them on the way here, and they all acted like normal rabbits. So maybe…maybe they only attack if you attack them first?”
“You don’t know that!” Jessica shouted, fresh tears running down her cheeks, “We’re already dead! I lied to my mom and dad about where we were going as well! They’ll never find us!”
“For now, let’s just rest a bit,” Elizabeth sighed as she shuffled over to her friend’s side, petting the crying girl’s head, “It’s okay. We’ll make it out of here, I promise.”
The two remained silent for a while, Jessica with her head in her arms, Elizabeth watching the fire burn. After a long time, Jessica spoke again.
“You’re not trying to seduce me, are?” she chuckled weakly.
“No,” Elizabeth laughed, “I might be gay, but you’re not my type.”
“Ouch,” the other girl sniffed, a slight smile on her lips as she looked up at Elizabeth, “If I were, I’d probably date you in a heartbeat, though. You really are the full package.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re pretty, smart, athletic, kind and friendly,” Jessica sighed, leaning up against the wall of the cave, “I mean, pretty much all of the boys at school have had a crush on you, and a few girls as well.”
“How do you even know this?” Elizabeth said flatly, “You haven’t been stalking people again, have you?”
“It isn’t stalking,” Jessica huffed, “I just like learning gossip and checking people’s posts. It’s not anything as creepy as stalking.”
“Sounds like stalking to me,” Elizabeth replied, chuckling as Jessica pouted at her, “But whatever, let’s have something to eat, then you get some sleep, I’ll take first watch.”
“Okay,” the other girl nodded as they each pulled out a granola bar from the survival kits, eating them slowly.
------
“Seems like I was right.”
Elizabeth laughed as the two made their way over the hilly fields, watching as the rabbit monsters seemed to mostly ignore them, one occasionally looking in their direction and then running away if the pair got too close.
“I still don’t trust them,” Jessica muttered, hiding behind Elizabeth as they watched a particularly fluffy rabbit hop away from them.
“You don’t have to,” Elizabeth chuckled, “Look, let’s just find the way out so we can go back home. I’m sure Peter and the rest have reported what happened by now.”
“I am so getting grounded when we get home,” Jessica sighed, “It’s going to suck so much!”
“Same,” Elizabeth muttered, thinking about her mother and father, and how the disappearance of her older brother had affected them.
Shaking her head, she looked up at the sky, watching as fluffy clouds moved lazily across the bright blue sky.
“You know,” she hummed, “If it wasn’t for the weird horned rabbits, you could think this place was from Earth. It’s actually really beautiful here.”
“Oh, come on,” Jessica laughed, “Don’t start turning native on me, Beth. I’d lose my mind if you started growing a horn out of your head.”
“Why would that…you know what, never mind,” Elizabeth chuckled, “Let’s just keep going. I think I see some trees over there, so we can rest for a while in their shade.”
“Yeah,” Jessica replied quietly, the two walking towards the distance, “Hey Beth?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“For what?” Elizabeth asked, looking at her friend in confusion.
“For saving me back there, when Dylan was…trying to hurt me.”
“Oh, of course,” Elizabeth smiled, pulling her friend into a hug, “I’ll always do my best to protect you.”
“You sure you’re not trying to seduce me?” Jessica laughed as she hugged the other girl back, “Cause you’re doing a really good job of it.”
“And moment ruined,” Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head at her friend as they smiled at each other, “Come on, let’s get moving, otherwise it’ll be dark before we even see the trees.”
------
The pair crouched behind the tree as they stared at the rabbit.
It was at least three times the size of any of the other monsters they’d seen so far and had three horns jutting out of its head instead of just one. It was also lounging in front of a large wooden door, cleaning itself with its paws. Looking at each other, the two girls slowly backed away, creeping between the trees as quietly as they could until they reached the edge of the small, wooded area.
“What do you think that thing is?” Jessica asked.
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth shook her head, “Maybe the boss rabbit monster?”
“We’ll never manage to beat it if we have to fight,” Jessica sniffed, looking like she was about to start crying again.
“Maybe…maybe we don’t have to?” Elizabeth asked, trying to think of a plan, “Wait, don’t we have abilities or something? The screens said we got two when we first came in here, right?”
“Yeah,” Jessica sniffed, “I never bothered checking mine cause we had the boys with us.”
“Let’s both look now,” Elizabeth smiled, “Status.”
Name: Elizabeth Audrey Sanders
Level: 1
Experience: 0/100
Health: 160/160
Mana: 40/40
Stats:
Strength: 5
Vitality: 6
Dexterity: 7
Intellect: 8
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 5
Free Points: 0
Skills:
[Throwing lv 1]
[Stealth lv 1]
“What Skills do you have?” Jessica asked as Elizabeth read over the screen, “I have one called Taming and another called Enhancement Magic. I don’t know what either of them do, though.”
“Throwing and Stealth,” Elizabeth muttered, “I wonder…”
Elizabeth focused on the two Skills on her Status screen, smiling as the two new screens popped up, explaining what she’d done to her friend. The two quickly read over the descriptions, Jessica groaning as she sat on the floor.
“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked.
“This Skill, the one called Taming,” the girl muttered, “It lets me make a contract with a monster to have it fight for me.”
“That sounds pretty useful,” Elizabeth hummed, sitting beside her friend, “But you don’t like it, right? Because you’re-.”
“Because I’m scared of the rabbits, yeah,” the other girl interrupted her, “So that’s one Skill that’s useless to us.”
“Maybe not,” Elizabeth smiled, making the other girl look at her in confusion as she stood back up, holding out a hand to help her friend back to her feet, “Come on, I have a plan.”
