"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave for five minutes longer."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher (1803 – 1882)

Milly and Xavier ducked behind the giant Kapok tree that grew at the edge of the jungle, its twenty-foot diameter enough to hide them from the monster’s sight. The Kapok towered over the Castle of Glass and bathed the jungle understory in dimly shaded light.

Monkeys scrambled for shelter high in its branches and flocks of birds erupted from its canopy as the monster chased the three fleeing employees, a sadistic smile plastered on its misshapen face.

“Shit, Milly, that’s an ogre! Dumb as a brick, but tough as nails. And those idiots are leading it straight towards the Castle!”

“They…they’re lawyers at Legal Eagle,” Calista stammered, her voice trembling. Despite the oncoming monstrosity, she still crouched protectively over the injured man “They were grieving and then got into the firm’s liquor cabinet and…and…”

“And decided to do the stupidest fucking thing imaginable,” Xavier finished angrily. “Because alcohol and adventuring is a winning combination. God damned fools just got themselves killed, and they’re about to take us out with them.”

A scream echoed across the jungle as the older man with the monogrammed sleeves slipped on the wet undergrowth and tumbled to the ground hard, the ogre only a few strides away.

“Kyle, my ankle!” screamed the man, as the heavy thumps of the ogre grew closer. Kyle looked over his shoulder and his face went white. “Oh, god!”

“Henry!” Kyle shouted with alarm. He slowed his mad dash for the lobby to turn and to help the elder.

His third lawyer—the woman in pink—didn’t slow, her face filled with absolute terror.

Henry tried to stagger to his feet, reaching out for Kyle.

The ogre reached him first.

Milly watched in horror as the ogre swung its club at Henry, striking the old man’s back. He was hurled away, pinwheeling through the air until he slammed head-first into a rubber tree fifty feet away. He crumpled to the ground, neck snapped at an unnatural angle.

I-I just watched someone die. Oh god, all it took was a single hit. One wrong move that could be me. I-I don’t want to die!

She expected intense fear to paralyze her—the same fear that now held Calista in its grasp. The woman’s gaze kept flickering between the ogre, the lobby, and the injured man, but her feet remained glued to the soil, unable to move.

Yet it was not fear that found its way to her heart. It was a flicker of courage, fueled by a flare of white-hot anger. She looked behind her, towards the lobby and her fleeing coworkers.

Those…those cowards! Why won’t they fight? This thing will kill them all if it reaches the lobby.

“Those complete fools,” Xavier snarled as he pulled spear after spear from his inventory and lined them up against the tree. He motioned for her to do the same. “Why’d they have to fight it head-on? And why’d they have to lead it back here! There must be a hundred ways to kill that thing with a little preparation. Damn it, what I wouldn’t give for a conveniently placed trip line or pitfall trap right now.”

A pit fall trap? Xavier, you may be an elite gamer, but most people don’t think that way. They…oh god!

As her removed his last spear, the ogre reached Kyle. The monster snatched the man by the collar of his blue shirt and lifted him effortlessly into the air.

“No! Someone help me!” Kyle screamed as the ogre leaned his club against a tree and smirked at his prey. The towering creature grabbed the man’s head between two meaty fingers and squeezed.

Kyle’s screams abruptly ended as his skull was crushed.

Smiling like a toddler, the ogre licked blood and brain from its fingers before he grabbed Kyle’s feet and slammed the dead man against the ground again and again, until all that was left of the lawyer was an unrecognizable pile of meat and bone.

That what will happen to me—and everyone else—if I don’t focus. So focus, Milly!

“Xavier, wh-what’s the plan?” she asked as she grabbed three of Xavier’s spears. “We can’t let it get to the lobby.”

He scanned the battlefield, spotting two Ramón trees on opposite sides of a narrow path.

“Okay, remember those goblins we ambushed in the gully? Same strategy—lure it between us, bombard from both sides, and keep moving. The tree on the left is yours, I’ll go right. Keep your distance, or we’ll end up like those guys. Got it?”

“Got it,” she confirmed, feeding her fear into her angry flame.

She broke from cover, dashing for her tree. She reached it without the ogre noticing and hid behind its narrow trunk. Xavier reached the other a moment later and picked up a rock to lure the monster in their direction.

Unfortunately, Calista’s scream quickly scuttled their plans.

Milly poked her head out from behind the tree and saw the ogre staring straight at the crimson hair woman, licking its lips in anticipation. Calista was helpless—as frozen as a deer in the headlights.

The ogre dropped Kyle’s bloody corpse and stalked towards the helpless woman and the man she was still trying to protect.

“Fucking Calista Gale!” Xavier shouted in intense anger, trying to reposition as the ogre stomped its way through the jungle. He adjusted his position to strike the ogre’s back. “Why’d we have to get stuck in a death game with such a useless bitch!”

A bitch? She may be a bully, Xavier, but she doesn’t deserve to die. No one deserves to die.

She pictured the men’s broken bodies lying in the jungle, and she shuddered.

Especially not like that. And Calista showed me kindness this morning. She has her faults, but she may not be as bad as I thought.

She gazed into Calista’s eyes and saw her crippling fear.

She’s terrified. I need to help her. Damn it! I can’t let her die!

“Calista run! Damn you, run!” she shouted as she leapt from her cover and hurled her first spear, its flight powered by her enhanced strength and agility. It struck the ogre’s chest and buried deep into its flesh. The ogre roared in pain and twisted its attention to Milly.

“Damn it, Milly! What the hell are you doing!” shouted Xavier. “I wasn’t ready yet!”

Milly ignored him and threw her second spear into the ogre’s left calf muscle, trying to slow it down. It roared in pain and stumbled on the damp undergrowth, granting her the precious few seconds she needed.

“Calista, get out of here!” she shouted, dashing to Calista’s side. “It’s going to kill you.”

“I-I…,” Calista stammered in absolute terror, her eyes fixed on the ogre. “I-I can’t…I can’t…move.”

Neither could I when I faced that goblin. Come on Calista, you can do this!

“Calista, you have to get moving, or you’re going to die!” she said harshly, grabbing her bully by the shoulders. “Pick up your feet and run!”

“But…he’s hurt,” Calista protested, hovering over the man below her.

She’s not just afraid. She’s paralyzed by the decision of whether to abandon him to save herself.

Milly glimpsed down at the man’s face and her heart dropped.

I-I don’t think that’s a decision she has to make anymore.

She knelt at her side and pressed a hand to the man’s chest. Her palm flashed with blue energy, but the magic rolled over him like oil on water. She knew what that meant. “Calista, he…he didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”

“But he begged me to save him,” Calista stammered in disbelief. “He had a wife. A newborn…”

The ogre roared again as Xavier hurled two spears, piercing its back.

I need to help him. I don’t have any more time to be nice.

“Get out of here, Calista,” she ordered impatiently, lifting the woman to her feet. “I need to help Xavier, and you’re in the way.”

“I…I can’t…”

Sorry Calista. I can heal this later.

Milly slapped Calista hard across the cheek. A brief second of shock, followed by a flash of anger appeared in Calista’s eyes, enough to break through her fear. For the first time, she was glad to be on the receiving end of the woman’s anger.

She gave the woman a shove towards the lobby. “Go!”

She turned and ran back to Xavier, who was desperately dodging between the trees to keep out of the ogre’s reach, his enhanced agility allowing him to dance away from the blows.

The anger in Calista’s eyes faded as she watched Milly charge back into battle, replaced by a sense of admiration. “Th-thank you, Milly,” Calista muttered, though Milly was too far away to hear it. Calista ran for the lobby, as a touch of bravery took root in her heart.

“Milly, I need a little help here!” Xavier shouted as he ducked behind a boulder, dodging the ogre’s blow. The monster slammed its fist against the stone, and it roared in outrage as it broke a knuckle.

The second Milly was in range, she threw her spear into the back of the ogre’s right leg, causing it to fall to one knee with a deep, outraged roar.

He jumped out from behind the boulder and threw another spear, catching it in the shoulder. The ogre found itself trapped between bombardments, and, in its stupidity, couldn’t decide whether to target Milly or Xavier…

Until Milly threw a spear into the ogre’s back, and Xavier came up empty handed.

“Shit! Milly, I’m out!” he cried, as he darted behind the boulder, his inventory open to retrieve his rusted sword.

“Ah…goddamn it,” she swore, as the ogre turned its attention to her.

It reached for her in a blind fury, its chest and back a pincushion of spears as its blood spilled onto the forest floor.

She threw her last spear and fled through the jungle, retrieving her war hammer from her inventory as she ran.

Branches snapped and rocks crumbled as the bulldozing beast grew closer by the second. Its meaty hand shot out to grab her, but Milly swerved behind a rubber tree an instant before the blow fell. The ogre’s fingers collided with the rubber tree’s trunk, and two of its fingers broke. It roared in pain and outrage, deepening its anger.

She didn’t slow down and she didn’t look back. Scanning the jungle, her mind whirled as she tried to find something—anything—that could stop the monster’s relentless assault.

Her eyes fell upon a thick tangle of vines growing between two banana trees.

What did Xavier say about a well-placed trip line? That could work.

“Xavier! There!” she shouted, running straight for the space between the banana trees.

“I see it!” he shouted back. “Go!”

The ogre’s grasp was inches away from Milly when she reached the vines. She could smell the stench of its armpits, but she stayed focused on the path ahead.

She jumped, and her enhanced strength and agility launched her over the three-foot-high vines with an inch to spare. She struck the ground on the other side hard, and her foot slipped on a wet fern, causing her to tumble.

The ogre charged straight through the vines, reaching for its now-helpless prey with a hungry look in its sadistic eyes.

As it reached out, its feet became tangled in the vines. With a surprised grunt, it lost its balance and crashed to the ground. Milly had to scramble backwards to avoid being crushed by its thick skull.

Xavier was on top of the ogre in an instant, slashing the ogre’s flesh with expert sword strikes. He struck blow after blow to the ogre’s back and limbs, trying to open a path to its throat.

The ogre bellowed in rage, and he found his opening.

Or so he thought.

“Xavier, look out!” Milly shouted as the ogre’s flailing fist caught the man square in the chest as he drew back for the final blow. He was hurled backwards into a tree and collapsed to the ground.

She didn't stop to think. She scrambled to her feet and, with all her strength, swung her war hammer straight into the ogre’s nose, shattering it. Its angry cry caused leaves to rain down on them from the canopy above as she sped away, leading the monster away from Xavier.

I have no spears left, and I can’t fight it up close. It’s going to catch me any second and, when it does, I’m dead.

She glanced over at Xavier, and her heart dropped. He was desperately trying to get to his feet, but collapsed back down, hand pressed against his ribs.

Shit, what do I do now?

The Non-Canonical Aftermath:

“I’m not dead,” whines the dead-man beside Calista.

“Here, he says he’s not dead yet,” Calista says to Milly in a British accent.

“Well, he will be soon. He’s very ill,” Milly insists.

“I’m getting better,” asserts the definitely-dead-man.

“No, you’re not. You’ll be stone dead in a moment.”

“I think I’ll go for a walk,” answers the totally-definitely-dead-man.

“You’re not fooling anyone you know.”