“Oh, uh, I just read a lot of books. On history.”

But as he gazed down and they moved on, it wasn’t just one person who remained a bit confused. There were three.

Lott.

Sarah.

And Magnice, who couldn’t remember reading books that mentioned any of this. He threw those words out only because they made the most sense. He tried to recall anything related to amusement parks. Somehow, he knew there were waterparks and circuses. All he could see in front of him now was that roller coaster, in all its glory, shiny and new, with a little white FTP logo on the side.

But that wasn’t possible.

His head ached the moment he tried to dig deeper.

As they walked on, Bue hopping over and ducking around metal beams until she stood in the center of a wide and massive ring lying on its side, triumphantly laughing as Slooky followed behind her. They ran around, dodging and competing against one another, making amusement out a ruined park once dedicated to it, turning a Ferris wheel into a playground.

In the distance, something blinked, blowing air out through its nose in a rush, disturbing the dirt around it. Not often were there humans wandering about.

It growled low, calling its friends.

After all, it had been quite some time since they had grown hungry and these targets smelled good.

Fresh.

Soon enough, three others joined it and they headed down, branching off in different directions.

Snap.

The sound of something breaking in the distance made Sarah turn her head. As Exel, facing the other way, shouted out that Slooky and Bue were acting like children, the two of them still racing around, Magnice and Lott both heard the same thing she had. They scanned the surrounding area carefully.

And there it was.

Stealthily moving along the path of rocks. Blending in, but with their eyes focused on the prey. Off to their other side, on the same hill, another headed their way in the same manner.

Like those of wolves, stalking, hunting their prey.

Just before Sarah could call out to the others to return to the group silently, they had already grown quiet.

Slooky cursed under his breath. Just twenty feet away from where he’d finally caught up with Bue, who’d slowed considerably, was the third animal in the pack. Lips curling up as it growled, crouching low, creeping forward with its shoulders hunched. Predatory.

There hadn’t been any official names made for the creatures produced from the last war. Biological warfare had wreaked havoc on the ecosystem like nothing else could. Somehow, the most mutated of animals were the ones who survived.

Slooky had seen these particular ones before. The sleek coats, resembling that of a tiger, mentality of a wolf pack, blending in so seamlessly with the surroundings until they were right in front of their prey. They were the color of the dirt and rocks.

Saliva dripped down to the ground as their teeth shone from inside their mouth. A second row of teeth lay right inside the first, but retractable, much like their tongue, so they wouldn’t bite it accidentally. A fifth leg, right at the base of the ribcage, made the gait of the animal strange and tilted if they used it while walking. But, as it crept forward, the leg was tucked up against their fur, barely visible.

Slooky took a shaky breath in as he moved slowly, right up next to Bue. As someone who’d never met any of the unnatural creatures of the real world, it was startling to her. She gulped, unable to break eye to eye contact with the growling beast.

Reaching into one of the pockets in his backpack, Slooky knew by touch alone which item he encountered. As he touched the one he wanted, he pulled it out behind him, ever so slowly.

Any movement and that starving thing would pounce. They were already far too close for comfort.

He winced as the pin made a noise, saw the twitch of the ear and the gaze draw over to him. As he glanced down at the legs, he saw the muscles tense up as it lowered the slightest bit closer to the ground, adjusting its weight to make the perfect jump.

Just as it was about to leap, he threw the canister at its face. It yelped, surprised, at first, to be hit in the face, and then, again, for another reason. The canister exploded upon contact, filling the space between them with a thick smoke and a tiny crack of an explosion.

Grabbing Bue’s elbow, he turned them around and they raced back toward the group, to meet up with Sarah and the others, only letting go of her arm when he was sure she was steady on her feet.

“Get me a rope!” Slooky called out when all that remained were the last fifty feet.

Behind them came the pounding of feet on the ground. When they turned, it approached slower, meeting up with the other two already closing in on them. One of its eyes had a nasty gash, but in turn, it had become angrier by the injury, turning to the side, keeping its good eye on the targets.

“Here.” Exel pulled a bundle of thick braided rope from his bag.

Dropping down next to it, Slooky slung his own bag off of his shoulder, rifling through it until he produced a bottle. Magnice scowled upon seeing it. Not too long ago, he saw that bottle as a Slooky-pain-management-system. At least, this time, he hoped it was for the other purpose that had been mentioned.

Thankfully, Slooky was dousing the rope, rather than his throat, with the alcohol like a madman before rifling through his bag again, tipping it over once he saw how close the tiger-like creatures of the wild were getting.

“Slooky, what are you doing?”

“Fire. We need fire!” It was all he said in reply as he picked things up and tossed them back into the bag, searching for the one elusive item he needed, all while muttering words under his breath. “Never let me leave the house without it… where is it?!”

“Well, this isn’t going to go well,” Exel said dully, looking away from the approaching danger.

“What?” Bue asked, turning around, only to reach over and frantically tap Sarah’s arm.

They all glanced to the other side, to their escape. Only, it wasn’t one any longer.

“There’s four.”

The largest of them prowled closer, a rumbling coming from its body. Scars, a second set of eyes atop its head, and with not just five, but six feet touching the ground, it was a new sight to behold. One a bit scarier than the others.

At least for most of them.

Slooky took one glance and let out a breath, all while cursing whatever forces of the world kept that one alive after all this time. After all, it wasn’t easy to forget a unique face and body like that.

When he was twelve, that sight haunted his nights.

It was then that he found the item he’d been looking for. Tossing the rope toward the three, it wiggled through the air, spinning around before it landed in a curved line at the feet of the creatures, startling them back a foot as it touched one of their paws. Curious, one stepped forward, sniffing.

When nothing happened, it took another step forward. Slooky held up his hand as it growled, unconcerned with the scent at its feet.

Flick.

Click.

Whoosh.

He tossed the lighter at the rope accurately, flames shooting up where the alcohol had touched. The one who’d stepped across the rope yelped and backed off, flames caressing its paw and front. Wary, the others backed off with careful steps. Thinking the prey might have more of that strange smelling item that could become unbearably hot at any moment, they retreated, leaving the one behind as they trotted up the hill and away, nursing their wounds.

“Now what?”

They turned to meet the eyes of the last predator, slinking closer with a giddy step, thinking it had them cornered, flames at their back, their only way forward, right into their grip.

The first to move was Lott, handing Magnice over to Exel carefully before stepping forward.

“Lott, hold on…”

She ignored Sarah and continued forward with confident steps, reaching down to snag a chunk of a broken tree lying across the ground. Recognizing the movements coming its way, of prey fighting back, the animal snarled and raced forward the remaining distance to meet her.

Lott stopped, hand at her waist.

Waiting until it got close enough, with a burst forward, she reached it, just before it pounced. Her arm swung out in front of her, hitting the snout with the piece of wood. It whipped back to her almost instantly.

But she was ready.

Had been since she realized they were surrounded. Though it was different from the normal animal, she wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with hunting for a meal.

The blade she’d had hidden at her waist made quick work of the animal, and it collapsed to the ground, not even knowing what had ended it.

Short.

And to the point.

There was no need to prolong it, no need to make it suffer.

Rules of a hunt, embedded in her from a young age, remained strong.

Lott retrieved the blade embedded in its skull and sighed. The others ran over to her in a rush. Sarah immediately checked her for injuries, even as she knelt down next to the animal. Without missing a beat, Lott moved right in to cut it open.

“Woah!”

“Uh…”

“Lott?”

“What?” She asked, turning to glance at each of them, the guts now visible as they spilled out. “We need to eat, right?”

Gagging, Bue turned around, unable to look at the sight. She shook her head as if she could erase what she’d seen with that repeated motion. Slooky’s chin seemed to disappear into his neck as he grimaced.

“Uh, yeah, but…” Exel started.

“When’s the last time you ate?”

None of them had a response for her. Each of them had been pushing off their own hunger in order to reach safety, or any semblance of it. The greater distance, the better. Eating, well, it may have been necessary, but with survival came a bit of hunger. They were all expecting it. At least they had bottles of water with their bags to quench their thirst.

As Lott unattached her sleeves from her uniform, she dug in, doing that which a hunter would. She moved with precision, a dark circle of an achievement stood out on her upper arm. Exel took notice of it.

“Is that a hunter achievement?” he asked. “It’s detailed.”

“Grew up by the woods. Hunting with my…” Lott’s voice trailed off briefly, her blade and hands pausing with it. “Hunting is much easier in Fallacy, believe it or not.”

She got back to work, not realizing the look Exel was giving her. One that whispered she was insane. He’d gone for the hunter achievement, had the circle, the basic blade and arrow design. It didn’t have a hatchet, antlers, or hooves. The sharp teeth around the edge? Nope.

Even getting the basic circle had taken ages.

Years.

The hardest achievement he’d earned.

And Lott was calling it… what?

“Did you say…. easy?”

“Yeah. Don’t you think so?” Lott looked up at him briefly.

Exel opened and closed his mouth for a moment.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, definitely.” He nodded, closed mouthed, accompanying a thumbs up.

His dispirited reply caught her attention and she glanced at him again, watching for a few short seconds before returning to what lay in front of her.

Looking a bit lost, Exel stood there, his face one of crisis. An internal one.

“That’s gross,” Slooky commented, watching Lott’s every move with wide eyes. “What… what is that?”

“Liver.” Lott held it up his way. “Want some?”

“Nope.” Slooky’s voice came out lifelessly as he shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

Bue patted his shoulder upon seeing his pale face.

“You’re lucky you’re not watching,” he muttered to her.

“Why are you?”

“Can’t look away. Ugh.” He gagged, putting a hand up to his mouth. “Nasty.”

Pursing her lips, she didn’t bother to reply, and just took in the landscape before her, keeping an eye out for anything else that might head their way. If he wanted to get sick, that was entirely up to him.

In the distance, a group of eight, travelling in the shadows of the rocks to stave off some of the heat and the others they’d run into earlier, they looked at the device held in their leader’s grip. A blinking dot grew ever closer to their location as they moved. They were nearly there.

And when they reached the empty cave, devoid of everything living, they didn’t turn back. They knew what weapons and tricks they held. A cave with a seven-foot entrance and a shield that only covered five?

They boosted one of them up to grab the rocks overhead and slip inside. It was easy work to take down the code for the shield, as all were programmed the same.

Their blades glinted in the light of day as the targets became entirely visible.