(WORM APOCALYPSE) CHAPTER THREE

“Okay,” Greg said. “So everyone has stats.”

Taylor looked up.

He was staring at his own display with the same fascination he had shown when the Classes first appeared, though even that was subdued by what had happened.

“Stats?” Emma asked.

“Strength, Agility, all that stuff.” He pointed towards his window. “It’s a character sheet.”

Someone snorted.

“You’re seriously calling it that?”

“What else would you call it?”

“A list of, I don't know… numbers.”

Greg rolled his eyes. “That’s what a character sheet is.”

Taylor considered what he was saying.

Greg had a point. The arrangement was familiar enough, with her name, race, level, Class, attributes, and the numbers for her Health, Mana, and Stamina laid out in a way she recognized from games. The difference was that this time, she wasn’t looking at a character on a screen.

She was looking at herself.

“Does everyone have the same numbers?” someone asked.

“No,” another student answered immediately. “Mine are different.”

“How different?”

“Different numbers, I guess. What did you get?”

The question opened another round of comparisons, and within seconds the darkness was filled with people reading numbers aloud.

“Strength twelve.”

“Mine’s nine.”

“Agility eleven.”

“Six?”

“You have six?”

“I guess.”

“What about Intelligence?”

“Fourteen.”

“Mine’s ten.”

“Jesus, yours is high.”

Taylor listened as the numbers were traded back and forth, trying to find a pattern among them.

There seemed to be one, or at least the beginnings of one. The Warriors generally had higher Strength and Vitality, while the students who had chosen Rogue tended to have better Agility and Dexterity. The Crafters seemed to have higher Intelligence as well. Taylor couldn’t tell how much those differences mattered yet, but they were enough to suggest that the Classes had influenced more than just what abilities they received.

Then someone asked the question that had been bothering her.

“How do we know what any of these numbers mean?”

The conversation stalled. Even Greg seemed unsure where to begin, and he eventually glanced down at his own display.

“Probably a scale.”

“What scale?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then how is that helpful?”

“It isn’t,” Greg admitted. “I’m just saying there probably is one.”

Taylor checked her own Strength.

Eight.

It sounded ordinary enough, although she had no idea whether it actually was. Her Agility was nine, her Vitality eight, her Intelligence thirteen, her Wisdom twelve, her Dexterity ten, and her Luck seven.

The display offered no explanation for any of them, leaving her with no idea what counted as an average score, how much stronger someone with twelve Strength was than someone with eight, or whether thirteen Intelligence meant she was unusually intelligent or merely above average.

The numbers attached to Health, Mana, and Stamina were easier to understand. Those were quantities she could actually picture.

Eighty.

One hundred and forty.

Eighty.

At least she knew what those numbers represented.

“What’s your Health?” someone asked.

“Eighty.”

“Mine’s ninety.”

“Seventy-five.”

“Mine’s eighty.”

The answers were close enough that she suspected Health was tied to Vitality, although Taylor couldn’t tell whether the relationship was direct.

“What about Mana?” Madison asked.

A few people hesitated before the answers started coming.

“Thirty.”

“Forty.”

“Sixty.”

“Mine’s zero.”

That earned a few laughs.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any.”

“Then what’s your Class?”

“Warrior.”

“That makes sense.”

Taylor looked down at her own Mana.

One hundred and forty.

Nobody else had mentioned anything close to that, and considering she was a Mage, the reason seemed fairly obvious. The question was whether choosing Mage had given her that much Mana or whether she had already had some sort of aptitude for it before the Class was assigned.

“Taylor?”

She lifted her head to find Madison watching her.

“What?”

“What did you get?”

Taylor hesitated for a moment, then realized what she meant.

“Mana?”

“Yeah.”

“One hundred and forty.”

Madison stared at her.

“What?”

“One hundred and forty.”

Someone nearby whistled.

“That’s a lot.”

“What’s yours?” another student asked.

“Forty.”

Another student called out a number in the fifties.

Taylor’s attention returned to her display. Since Mana was obviously connected to magic, one hundred and forty probably meant she could use more of it before running out. She had no idea how much magic that actually represented, but at least the number seemed useful.

That was more than she could say for Luck.

Greg suddenly laughed.

“What?” 

“Sorry.” He shook his head. “I just realized something.”

“What?”

“If these are actually stats, then we can probably figure out what they do.”

Taylor frowned. “How?”

“Testing.”

The word made several people look at him.

Greg gestured towards the darkness around them. “Strength is easy enough. See how much you can lift. Agility, run around. Dexterity probably has something to do with coordination. Health is obvious.”

“Wisdom?”

“Magic-related stuff, maybe?”

“And Intelligence?”

“Thinking?”

Someone rolled their eyes.

“Very scientific.”

“I didn’t say it was meant to be.” Greg looked down at his window again. “We don’t need to understand everything right now. We just need to figure out enough to keep from doing something stupid.”

That was harder to argue with.

Taylor looked around the group. The fear hadn’t disappeared, but the numbers gave everyone something concrete to focus on, and the conversation had gradually shifted from what had happened to what they could do now.

It took Taylor a moment to realize that nobody was talking about Mr. Gladly anymore.

She couldn’t blame them. There was only so long they could stand around thinking about what had happened, especially when they still had no idea what was going to happen next. Even so, his blood was still on the floor, and she could see it whenever she looked down.

She wondered how long it would take before they stopped noticing it.

“So what does Level mean?” Madison asked.

Greg’s attention returned to his display. “Probably experience.”

“Experience doing what?”

“Whatever the System wants us to do.”

Someone groaned. “That’s helpful.”

“I’m working with what I’ve got.”

Taylor checked the top of the window again.

Level: 1.

Every person around her had apparently started at the same level.

That made sense. None of them had actually done anything since arriving here, so there was no reason for their levels to be different.

A chime interrupted the discussion, drawing every head towards the sound. Taylor expected another message to appear, but the translucent windows simply vanished.

Several students immediately looked around in alarm.

“Where did it go?”

“I didn’t close mine.”

Greg stared at the empty space where his display had been. “Maybe it just disappeared.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Taylor waited, but nothing followed. There was no new instruction, no explanation and no countdown, leaving them standing in the same darkness with no indication of what was supposed to happen next.

Someone swore.

“So what now?”

Nobody answered.

The darkness stretched in every direction, with no walls, ceiling or obvious end to the floor beneath their feet. They had already spent what felt like hours here, although Taylor had no idea how much time had actually passed.

“We can’t just stand here,” Sophia finally said, her tone sharp.

“Why not?”

Sophia glanced around the darkness. “Because we don’t know where we are.”

“That hasn’t stopped us so far.”

A few people laughed uneasily, but the response did little to ease the tension spreading through the group.

Taylor understood the point. The Class selection had been frightening, but at least the System had given them rules to follow. Now those rules were gone, leaving them with no idea what was expected of them.

They could wait and hope another message appeared, or they could try to find a way out. Neither option seemed particularly appealing.

Taylor turned, searching the darkness around them.

There was nothing to see.

She started to turn back when something caught her eye in the distance, and she stopped.

A small shape stood far beyond the group, surrounded by blackness. At first, she mistook it for another translucent window, but it was too far away to make out clearly, and unlike the displays they had been given, it seemed to be standing somewhere ahead of them rather than floating in front of anyone.

“Wait.”

The people nearest her turned.

“What?”

Taylor pointed. “There.”

Several students followed her gaze, staring into the darkness as they tried to make out what she was pointing at. The shape was too distant to identify, and for several seconds nobody seemed willing to guess.

Greg finally narrowed his eyes. “What is that?”

“How should we know?” someone muttered.

Someone took a step closer.

The shape remained where it was, and as Taylor followed, its outline slowly became clearer. It was larger than any of the windows they had seen before, and the longer she looked at it, the more she realized that it wasn’t floating in the air at all.

It was standing on the ground.

Taylor took another step.

A door.

A simple white door stood by itself in the darkness, with no walls around it, no building and no corridor leading towards it.

“What the hell?”

Nobody laughed.

Taylor stared at it. After everything that had happened, its relatively ordinary appearance made it more unsettling. It looked like something that should have been attached to a house, an apartment or a classroom, anywhere except an endless black space with twenty-eight terrified teenagers standing in the middle of it.

“Was that there before?” Madison asked.

Taylor tried to remember, but she couldn’t be sure. She had been too focused on her status screen and everything they had been discussing.

“Does anyone know?”

Nobody answered.

Greg stepped forward, staring at the door. “Maybe it’s an exit.”

“Or a trap.”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Could be.”

“Then do we go to it?”

Greg turned back toward the group, though his words were directed at the person who had asked the question.

“Where else are we supposed to go?”

Taylor glanced behind them, following the question to its obvious conclusion. There was nothing there either, no doorway, no light and no sign that the darkness ended anywhere.

For all the uncertainties surrounding the door, it at least gave them a direction to move in.

A girl near the back swallowed. “Could we just stay here?”

Several people looked at her, and she gestured helplessly at the darkness.

“We don’t know what’s behind that door. Maybe staying here is safer.”

She had a point. They had no idea where the door led, and nothing had appeared to tell them they had to approach it. There was no countdown, no warning and no threat hanging over them.

For all they knew, they could stay exactly where they were without anything happening.

“How long?” Sophia spoke up again.

The girl frowned. “What?”

“How long do you think we can stay here?”

Nobody answered. Sophia’s gaze moved around the group.

“We don’t have food. We don’t have water. We don’t know where we are, and we don’t know whether this darkness even has an end.”

“We could be rescued.”

“By who?”

There was a bare hint of anger in Sophia’s voice, and the girl fell silent.

Sophia was right about one thing. They had no reason to believe that someone outside this place even knew where they were.

The door could be dangerous. After what had happened to Gladly, Taylor had no reason to assume anything connected to this place was safe.

Still, they had already learned that the absence of a warning didn’t mean there was nothing to fear. The System had never told them that failing to choose would kill someone. They had discovered that only when Gladly died.

Now they were facing another choice without knowing the rules.

“What if we’re supposed to wait?” someone asked.

“For what?”

“Another message.”

Taylor glanced at the empty space where the System’s windows had been. “What if nothing comes?” she asked.

The student didn’t answer.

Greg rubbed the back of his neck.“I don’t think we have enough information to know whether the door is safe.”

“That isn’t exactly encouraging.”

He looked at the door again, continuing undeterred. “But we don’t have enough information to know whether staying here is safe either.”

Taylor found herself nodding. Those were her thoughts exactly, and wasn’t that a surprise? Apparently, there was finally a day when she and Greg Veder of all people were on the same wavelength.

“We should go to the door,” Madison said.

A boy shook his head. “We don’t know what’s on the other side.”

“We don’t know what’s behind us either.”

Taylor watched the exchange.

Nobody wanted to be the first to approach the door, and she couldn’t blame them. But standing there forever wasn’t going to give them any more answers.

“I think we should go,” Taylor said.

Emma looked at her. “Why?”

Her attention returned to the door. “Because we can’t stay here forever.”

Emma opened her mouth, then stopped as if considering her words. Finally, she asked, “What if we’re supposed to stay here?”

Taylor glanced at the darkness surrounding them. “Then why put a door over there?”

Greg nodded slowly. “She has a point.”

Someone scoffed. “You don’t know that.”

“No, I don't,” Greg admitted. “But she's right. I don’t want to spend more time standing here waiting to find out whether we starve to death.”

The word made several people shift uneasily.

Taylor’s stomach chose that moment to remind her that she hadn’t eaten since lunch.

She ignored it.

“We could stay,” Madison said, looking around the group. “But we’d still be guessing. At least if we go through the door, we’ll learn something. Whatever it may be.”

Finally, Greg took a step forward.

The sound of his shoe against the floor carried strangely through the darkness. He stopped after a few feet and looked back at the others.

“Well?”

No one followed. 

Greg sighed. “I guess I’m going first.”

“You’re the scribe,” someone called.

Greg glanced over his shoulder and sent the person a withering glare. 

At that, a few people laughed, and for a moment the tension eased.

Then Greg started walking again.

This time, Taylor followed.

She wasn’t sure whether that made her brave or stupid, and right now, she suspected there wasn’t much difference between the two.

The others began moving as well, slowly at first, until the group formed a loose line heading towards the door. Taylor kept her eyes on it as they approached, watching the white surface grow larger against the surrounding darkness.

Greg stopped a few feet away.

There was no handle, no way to open it and no way to see through it.

He looked back at the others. “Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Before anyone could stop him, Greg stepped forward and walked straight through the door.

Taylor stared.

He had disappeared.

Then his voice came from the other side.

“Guys?”

Taylor exchanged a glance with the person closest to her before looking back at the doorway.

Whatever was beyond it, Greg was still alive.

She took a breath and followed him through.