Jeremy barely stopped talking to catch a breath as we moved upriver, bouncing from one theory to the next while I kept my eyes on the water and the shoreline. When he finally took a breath, I asked him if he could look at the bird I had killed and kept as evidence. The gator corpse was still on the boat as well, but it only looked like a huge gator without the crazy snake tail.

  “Their beaks are solid metal, dude!” he shouted when looking at the bullet bird still stuck in one of the oars.

  “That explains how they penetrated the oar and my shoulder so easily.”

  He started firing questions at me, one after the next. How fast the gator moved, where it struck first, when I noticed banners, how the animals acted before the attacked. He then paused just long enough to connect the dots.

  “Every bad guy has a weakness. Like grass types are usually vulnerable to fire, fire types are usually vulnerable to wind or water…like ice. Water types are usually vulnerable to electricity. Stuff like that. Just think about what an element would probably be vulnerable to, and it will usually be the same weakness on the creature featuring that element. It doesn’t always work that way, but it’s a great place to start.

  “Oh! And some creatures have…like…a very definitive weak point on their bodies. Like a gator can die easily by shooting it right between the eyes. Apparently, those porcupines are vulnerable to gunfire, too. Which is great but don’t get too excited, some animals will completely shrug off a bullet. I bet that turtle would have to be hit perfectly in one special spot or something like that to even do one damage point.”

  Jeremy was definitely in his element. It was like he had been training for this moment his whole life. His voice wavered every now and then, cracking at the edges, but he kept going anyway. He kept on explaining mechanics, weaknesses, probabilities like he could think his way past any fear if he talked long and fast enough.

  “Hey!” he shouted suddenly. “You said sometimes you can’t see the banners until right before you get attacked?”

  “Jeez, Jeremy! Take an adderall. You scared the crap outta me!” I said, grabbing at my heart mockingly. Despite our 10 year age difference, he could always take a light jabbing from his elder.

  “Sorry…sometimes that’s how my brain works.”

  “Yeah. The gator just attacked. I never even knew it was there, but I could see other banners in the water, so it was weird I couldn’t see that particular gator’s title.”

  “I think they have stealth,” he grinned like he had just solved the most difficult riddle.

  “Aaaannnndd…” I made a motion for him to continue with my hand.

  “You can enhance your perception, and you might be able to see them sooner.”

  “I don’t have perception.”

  “It’s part of your wisdom, dummy. And don’t be mad at me. You’re the one who didn’t pick a lineage with good magic. Raise wisdom, and you will raise perception.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Great, so I have to raise yet another stat, immediately.”

  “I mean, only if you want to see those baddies before they chomp!” He made a chomping sound with his mouth then laughed.

  “Hey…shhh…we’re here!” Scanning the area for signs of life, I coasted to where the boats had crashed. Both boats sat dead in the water, engines silent. No residual wakes. Someone had either killed the motors or they ran out of fuel. No other boats were in the area. I didn’t see any threats either, but I wanted to be prepared.

  “Get that A.R. ready,” I said, turning the boat away from the wreckage.

  About half a mile upriver, I noticed the Fontenot brothers’ boat parked on the bank. They weren’t anywhere to be seen. I beached Tony’s boat, shut it off, grabbed my weapons and backpack. Starla jumped out and followed as closely as she could.

  “Stay close. If it isn’t human, shoot it. Got it?!” I whispered.

  “Yeah, man. I think I got it,” he said.

  I glanced back at him. Sweat already soaked through his shirt, hands tight on the rifle in a white knuckle grip. I forced my eyes forward. I couldn't let myself worry.

  We climbed up the steep embankment where I immediately saw two snakes looking the opposite way. They sensed us and moved our way faster than a normal snake could. Jeremy started to mumble complaints, his eyes as big as saucers.

  I stood my ground, waiting for the right moment and beheaded the first viper easily with the machete. The second avoided my strike and went for Jeremy. Grabbing it by its tail, I flung it against a tree. It exploded on impact.

  “Thanks, ami,” he stammered as I put the bodies in my backpack.

  “Those were easy ones.”

  “Aw man…what am I doing out here?”

  “Keep moving.”

  We walked about 15 more steps, when I saw something that looked like a shirt and pants half in a puddle and half out. Unfortunately, as we approached, I discovered what was left of Shaun. He had been torn apart like he had been drawn and quartered. I barely recognized his face.

  Jeremy went over to a tree and dry heaved.

  “Quiet!” I seethed quietly through my teeth. “Don’t you dare hurl right now!”

  He swallowed. If we'd been in a cartoon, he would have made a loud “gulp” sound.

  “Come on, Shaggy,” I said quietly, teasing him.

  “Man, shut up,” he whispered back.

  Just on the other side of the puddle was another body…face down in a similar state as Shaun. It was Joe.

  “Man? Bart? What the hell’s out here?” Jeremy sounded genuinely scared to death.

  Jeremy kept talking, but his words faded into the background.

  I stared at what was left of them, jaw clenched so tight it hurt. My hands curled into fists, nails biting into my palms. No warning. No mercy. Just torn apart for trying to help.

  God, why did you allow these people to get murdered? They didn't deserve this!

  Just ahead, I saw two more banners. Thankfully, they were just rats which were easily dispatched using all my pent-up aggression.

  A notification popped up saying I could level up again.

  “Hey! Watch my back real quick,” I said. I’m glad I did the level up then, because I received a considerable jump in health and stamina. Then, I noticed my defense wasn’t 100% sitting at 35 of 55 points.

  “Hey, what is defense for?” I asked my nerdy companion.

  “Usually, defense is your body’s natural ability to prevent harm. You can enhance defense with armor, but you are just wearing normal clothes, so no protection there.”

  “Okay, but every time I check my stats, it’s never 100%.”

  “Then you have a weak spot or a curse. I know that sounds weird, but sometimes a curse will do that to characters.”

  “I don’t have a curse that I know of.” I thought for a long moment. “I wonder if my burn causes some sort of defense vulnerability. Like a tear in armor would.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Can you help me guide my hand over my blister on my back? I’m going to try and heal it real quick.”

  “Weird, but ok.”

  I asked him to lift my shirt up in the back. I reached back there, and he held my hand directly over the blister. “How big is it?”

  “Like the size of a softball. Gross.”

  “Ok…here goes nothing.” I said as energy flowed into my hand. I could feel my skin repairing itself.

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  “Eww…it busted.”

  “Quiet,” I admonished. I kept the magic flowing for another couple of seconds until my health bar finally filled all the way up.

  “Finally!”

  “What?”

  “I have full health for the first time since that dang turtle shot me.”

  I pulled up my character sheet to see if that helped my defense.

  After tying both rats onto my backpack for looting, we pressed onward.

  The air felt heavier with every step, like we’d wandered into deeper gravity. My skin prickled, and my grip tightened on the rifle without me realizing it. Again, there was no evidence of life anywhere around us, but I had the instinctual feeling we were walking into a trap.

  “Stop. Don’t move.” I reached back and gave Jeremy a ‘stop-short’ like my mom used to do in the car when she stopped even though I was wearing a seatbelt. Jeremy not only stopped, but he held his breath too.

  “You can breathe, just do it quietly.”

  I scanned the area. Something was definitely watching us, but I couldn’t see it.

  I saw the fireball right before it hit us. “Get down!”

  I physically grabbed Jeremy and pulled his 6’2” lanky ass down. Jeremy didn’t care how much he swore, so he laid out a line of expletives that would make a LitRPG author blush.

  I grabbed my A.K. and eased up to the edge looking in the direction of the origin of the fireball. Over a giant turtle’s head was a blurry banner. As the turtle pulled its head back into its shell to fire again, I aimed right for the sweet spot. I pulled the trigger, once, twice, then a third time.

  I saw sparks come off the top of the shell from what appeared to be two of my shots, but I am pretty sure one of the bullets hit its mark.

  “Hey. You okay?” I asked Jeremy.

  “No!” he seethed at me, head shaking.

  “You’re fine, you big baby. I think I hit it once. I used to be an ace shot, but I missed twice. I need you to help me kill this thing. So, pull yourself together and shoot it.”

  “Oh man, oh man, oh man!” he complained as he rolled over into a prone position. He fired several rounds while I took shots with my Glock. The turtle fired another fireball at us, but it went way too high blowing up on a tree behind us.

  “Good thing its aim sucks. Keep shooting it! I’m reloading!”

  I grabbed another magazine and reloaded.

  “I’m out!” he said, then rolled over to reload.

  I popped back up and took aim and saw the turtle moving our way. Fast.

  Since neither of us were good shots, I decided to fight it head on. I wasn’t running from this one.

  It stretched its neck out as quickly as a snake striking at me, mouth agape, 1000+ PSI bolt cutter shaped jaws ready to break my bones.

  I dodged and swung the machete down as hard as I could on the neck. It made a weird gasping sound and sucked its head back in.

  It charged me and slashed at me with its claws, thrashing wildly. Trying to do whatever physical damage it could without its mouth. I chopped at its claws. It scratched me a few times, but I was not backing down. I felt like I was facing off against a 300 pound boulder with an attitude. I chopped and chopped to no avail. For all my effort, I had barely managed to do more than a papercut's worth of damage.

  I think its magic finally built back up, because it fired at me point blank range. I didn’t have time to dodge and took the full force of a fireball to my thigh. I followed through my swing and connected with its neck again. My machete stuck and I hopped out of the way.

  It couldn’t pull its head back in due to the huge blade blocking it. It tried and tried, then opened its mouth wide to take another chomp at me. I heard a gunshot and witnessed the head fall to the ground.

  “Yes.” I was hurting, but I was curious what I could get from the menace.

  I thought about it for a minute and considered the items to be worthless for the time being.

  “You okay?” Murray shouted as he ran towards me.

  “I’ll be okay. Durn thing got me pretty good.” I took the time to put my hand over my leg and start healing myself. “Scan the area for any more threats. While I heal up.”

  “Okay. Okay. I got this.”

  “Great shot by the way!”

  “I know right!? How much experience did you get?”

  “40 points. The other points were wasted I guess. Gimme a second.” I guess I couldn’t talk and heal at the same time. Focusing all my attention back to healing, I consumed all my magic in just a few seconds, but my leg was still injured. I would have to continue to level up my healing magic.

  “Starla, come here girl and gimme some of dat good lovin.”

  The masked cutie hobbled over and went to work. She was able to get me to within a small sliver of full health before she apparently was out of magic too. “Good girl,” I said as I scooped her up and started scratching behind her ears, noticing she had leveled up to level 2.

  We weren’t out of danger yet, so I set her back down and said, “Let’s move. I have a feeling we’re going the right way.”

  As I walked past the huge tree where the turtle had staged its attack, I saw a body entangled on the other side of the tree. The vines wrapped around the unconscious Steven Green weren’t random. They crossed my neighbor's chest and arms too tight, deliberate like someone had taken the time to make sure he wouldn’t move.

  Someone or something had done this.

  Something intelligent.