John sat outside the warehouse shivering in the afternoon sun. His body felt numb, hands trembling as he pulled his duster tightly around himself.

  “You did the right thing Boss,” Truffle said lightly, nudging him gently with his snout. “She’s gonna live because of you.”

  “For how long?” He replied in a low voice. “One card won’t get her through the gate. Killing her would have been more merciful in the end. I’ve given her a few days of pain at the most, assuming she doesn’t get killed in some horrific way by the mobs… and I’ve lost that card.”

  Truffle sighed, nuzzling his way underneath John’s arms and laying his heavy head on his lap. John recalled a time not so long ago when the pig’s entire body took up a similar amount of space. He’d grown so much from levelling up. How much bigger would he get as the game went on? John wondered if he’d eventually turn into an orc. Then he imagined the appalled look on Anne’s face if she could have seen her precious little teacup pig the way he was now.

  Anne…

  He missed her. She’d have known exactly what to say in this situation. Though she’d probably have been more torn up about it than he was. He’d have had to comfort her, but perhaps that would have been better. Perhaps that would have provided enough of a distraction for him to take his mind off it.

  The girl’s screams still rang in his head like a church bell. Images of her agonised face as he pulled her out of the machine. Mangled legs hanging limply from a child’s torso. It was… he paused as the threat of tears stung the backs of his eyes.

  Without warning, he suddenly found himself remembering the day the gates arrived, vivid images swirling through his head. He’d tried to convince Anne to come with him through one of the gates as they’d stood in the street watching their apartment disappear. She’d said, “What if whatever is through that gate is… worse than death?” at the time he’d denied it, he was so shocked to hear her speak that way, to act as if suicide was better than whatever was on the other side of the torii gate.

  Now though, after all this, he wasn’t so sure.

  Skill: Trauma response activated.

  “You know Boss,” Truffle began, interrupting his spiralling thoughts. “A wise man once said there is no hope in death. It was you, you were the wise man. I heard you say that to Mistress right before the world changed and you were right. I’m sure she’ll tell you the same when we find her.”

  “We won’t find her,” John whispered, then clamped his mouth shut as realisation struck.

  “Of course we will Boss,” Truffle said, childish optimism lighting up his voice. “She’s out there, I just know it.”

  Somehow, the pig’s light-hearted and hopeful outlook struck a nerve with John and he felt himself clenching his fists as he struggled to contain his outrage. After all this time how could he not see? How did he not realise that she wasn’t coming back?

  Skill: Trauma Response has failed to activate.

  Rebooting system…

  “For fuck’s sake Truffle she’s dead!” John yelled, an overwhelming wave of anger and frustration coursing through him. “Don’t you remember? She was shot. She died protecting us. She died… protecting me.” His voice trailed off and he felt the floodgates begin to open.

  System rebooted…

  Skill: Trauma Response has evolved into…

  New skill:

  Trauma Nullification

  Skill: Trauma Nullification has mutated, unlocking an additional skill.

  New Skill:

  Emotional Dampening

  He felt faux calm washing over him, a gentle wave of warmth that came instantaneously. It was infuriating.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Screw this stupid game!” He shouted, looking up at the sky as he imagined the trillions of viewers potentially looking down on him. “Emotions are human god damn it, but I can’t even have those thanks to this fucking system.”

  His words died off in his throat and he found himself staring down at Truffle, his heat was comforting.

  “Did you mean it?” The pig said in a small voice. “Is she really?...”

  “Yeah,” he replied softly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you like that it’s just…”

  “It’s been a tough day for both of us.”

  “That’s no excuse. I’m supposed to look after you and-”

  Truffle began laughing suddenly in a sad way, interrupting John’s apology. His voice was a mixture of a low chuckle and a broken squeal.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “It’s just, Mistress asked me to look after you,” he replied, eyes glistening. “A few days before the gates appeared. You were at work; she said you’d been having a hard time and told me that we had to look after you.”

  “There were talks of layoffs,” John replied, “I was worried we were going to lose the apartment.”

  “Well, at least that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about anymore.”

  “That’s true,” John said with a slight laugh, “if there’s one good thing about the apocalypse, it’s got to be the absence of rent.”

  They both laughed a little, but it soon died down and the two sat in silence staring out across the blood-soaked camp which was strewn with goblin corpses.

  “Did you see it?” Truffle said after a long moment.

  John looked at him quizzically.

  “Did you see Mistress get shot?” Truffle asked, a tremor in his voice.

  “Not exactly,” John sighed. “She pushed us through the torii gate right? As I fell through I heard a gunshot. That cop had her in his sights. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”

  “So she still might be alive then?”

  “Truffle,” John began, “there’s no way. Even if the bullet didn’t kill her she-”

  “But there was one space left in the gate right?”

  “That depends on if you counted as a person,” he replied. “You’re a contestant right? You levelled up, you have a card. Surely you counted.”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” he said, raising his head and staring intently with sparkling eyes at John. “There’s still hope. I just know she made it; she had to. We need to find her, Boss.”

  “Truffle I don’t think…” He began but trailed off. The look in the pig’s eyes, pure, childish optimism. Would it be right to shut that down? They all could use a little hope in these dire times, surely. “Just don’t get your hopes up.”

  “I won’t,” Truffle replied, but the tone in his voice didn’t fill John with any confidence that he’d heed his advice.

  As they drifted into further silence, enjoying each other’s company that sombre way that a man sits with his pig, lamenting loss. A notification popped up in John’s user interface.

  Quest Complete:

  Post-Apocalyptic Farming

  Objective:

  Investigate the goblin camp 1/1

  Reward:

  50 shards

  50 shards, John thought with a dour smirk, closing off the notification and shaking his head. He slapped his cheeks and rocked backwards slightly.

  “Anyway, we should probably go and check on the others,” John said with a heavy sigh, lifting himself off the floor.

  Agnes had moved the kids into the chief’s tent soon after they’d been freed. The girl was laid unconsciously on a plush bed, truly a sight to behold.

  “How’s she doing?” John said as he pushed the stringed, skulls, which acted as a door, aside.

  “Better I think, deary” Agnes replied. Her wheelchair was positioned right up against the bed and she tended to the child with a cool scrap of clothing she was using as a cloth. The other kids were scattered around the room, dazedly sitting on the floor and staring into space. They’d been through a lot; it was only natural that they’d suffer for it.

  You will not take my humanity.

  “Looks like the card worked,” John said, staring with gloomy intrigue at the girl’s body.

  Her legs and arms had been replaced by some kind of robotic limbs. It looked freaky, like the aftermath of a fight scene in The Terminator.

  “That card saved her life,” Agnes said with a smile, “you saved her life.”

  “Yeah,” John replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “But for how long?”

  Truffle had explained the card’s powers to John just after he’d pulled the girl from the mincer. He’d said that it was something called Handy Android, a card which replaced the user’s limbs with reinforced robotic parts. As with all cards, the explanation was pretty vague but Truffle had correctly guessed that it would seal the girl’s wounds on her legs and lower torso when it replaced her limbs. It was a lucky find really, and not the kind of card that John was particularly interested using for himself. He was already worried that his humanity was slipping away thanks to his ability to acquire skills, the last thing he wanted was to speed up the process.

  Still, he might have been able to trade the card for a better one at the kiosk. Now he’d never know.

  “Thanks for helping us with the goblins, Granny,” John said earnestly. “But it’s time for us to hit the road.”

  “Where will you go?” She asked.

  “Canberra, I’ve got a hunch that the torii gate is around there somewhere and we’re running out of time to reach it.”

  “It’s not.”

  “Excuse me?” John said, raising an eyebrow at the elderly lady.

  “I started out that way, deary,” she replied with a shrug. “There’s nothing there but death.”

  “Shit!” John swore, “do you happen to know where it is?”

  “Nope, but our leader is getting close.”

  “Your… leader?”

  “We have a camp mister,” a little boy said, he seemed less traumatised than the rest. John recognised him as the boy Agnes had been trying to save.

  “Charlie right?”

  “That’s right mister, you should come to our camp. The Captain will be able to help you. He and Grandma helped me.”

  “Charlie!” Agnes scolded, “you can’t just go inviting strangers to the camp. What did I tell you about safety protocols?”

  “But he helped us.”

  “It’s fine,” John said with a passive wave of his hand. “I don’t want to impose and besides…” He trailed off, not wanting to disclose that he had no desire to get attached to a group of people who would likely be dead in the next few days. He was better on his own, it was safer that way. Just him and Truffle.

  “No, deary,” Agnes sighed. “Charlie’s right, you did save them and I could use some extra muscle on the drive back anyway.”

  “I really don’t think-”

  “Can we go, Boss?” Truffle asked, padding the ground excitedly. “Maybe someone there has met Mistress Anne.”

  “Well,” John said, taking a moment to properly think things through. On the one hand he didn’t really want to get roped into their problems. On the other, if these people had come from different starting locations around Australia then he might be able to collect enough information to make a new guess at where the gate was. If he was lucky, someone there might even have a lead on another card. “Fine, I’ll help you get the kids back to your camp but I’m making no further promises.”

  “Yay!” Charlie shouted gleefully.

  “Road trip!” Truffle squealed, joining in.

  Agnes simply nodded her gratitude before proclaiming, “then I guess we’d better get this show on the road.”