(WORM APOCALYPSE) CHAPTER FIVE

Objective Complete.

Requirement: Survive for 5 minutes.

Status: Complete.

The words remained suspended in front of Taylor, translucent against the forest, while several feet away, the last living goblin lay sprawled on the ground. 

It twitched once, and Sophia raised the rock she was holding before bringing it down again. The impact produced a heavy, wet thud followed by the sharp crunch of bone, and the goblin finally stopped moving. For several seconds afterward, nobody said anything.

Sophia remained where she was, bent slightly forward as she caught her breath, the rock still hanging from one hand. Blood covered one side of her face and much of the front of her clothes, while her chest rose and fell rapidly from the exertion.

Taylor stared at her, unable to reconcile the girl standing in front of her with the Sophia Hess she had known before all of this. There was something almost manic in her expression, along with a strange gleam of satisfaction that made Taylor uncomfortable, although she couldn’t entirely blame Sophia for looking relieved after what they had just survived. Even so, Taylor had never seen her like this before, and she certainly had never seen Sophia beat something to death with a rock. 

The silence that followed was broken only by Sophia’s ragged breathing and the distant sounds of the forest settling after the chaos. Before long, someone started crying, while another whispered a curse, looking sick as they stared at the bodies scattered between the trees. However, the majority remained where they were, staring at the bodies scattered between the trees as though they were waiting for someone to explain what had just happened.

Taylor understood their reaction because she was struggling with the same thing herself. They had entered the forest with twenty-eight students, and she had no idea how many of them were still alive. She could have started counting, but the thought of finding out how many people were missing made her stomach turn, so she looked toward the goblin she had killed instead.

It lay several feet away with its crude weapon discarded beside it, and seeing the body brought back the memory of those few frantic seconds when it had come for her. Her hands had been shaking so badly that she could barely hold her weapon, yet somehow she had managed to kill it.

She had expected killing something to make her feel something other than fear. It was the first living thing she had ever killed, after all. Maybe it was because the goblin was a monster, or maybe she was simply becoming desensitized to everything that had happened since the system appeared, but Taylor felt nothing.

She was exhausted, though.

Calculating rewards.

Rewards are being consolidated according to individual participation and performance.

Reward distribution will follow.

The notification drew everyone’s attention away from the bodies, and several students moved toward Sophia almost immediately. Even Taylor found herself taking a step in the same direction before stopping. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to stay close to the person who had kept them alive or had simply followed everyone else without thinking about it, but either way, it made something clear that had probably been obvious to everyone else already. Sophia had taken control during the fight.

While everyone else had been running for their lives, Sophia had fought, moving through the forest with a confidence Taylor hadn’t expected under the circumstances. She attacked the goblins whenever they came within reach, and there had even been several times when she could have kept moving and left someone behind, yet she stopped to pull them out of danger anyway. By the time the fighting stopped, most of the dead goblins were hers.

Taylor had killed one, while Emma had apparently managed to kill one as well. The rest of the survivors had either avoided the creatures or had simply been lucky enough to make it through without killing any themselves.

Taylor looked down at her own window and read the words again.

…individual participation and performance.

She frowned, wondering what the system actually meant by that. It had given them an objective and was now measuring what each person had contributed toward completing it, but Taylor had no idea what it considered important. Was killing a goblin worth more than surviving without killing one? Did taking damage matter, or did protecting someone else count as participation?

She had no way of knowing, and the next notification appeared before she could think about it any further.

Participation assessment complete.

Reward: Stat Point (SP) ×1

Stat Points may be allocated to any attribute.

Allocation is permanent.

Taylor stared at the notification for a moment. The reward seemed to be based largely on how many goblins someone had killed, though she had no idea what else the system might have considered. Either way, she had been given a Stat Point that she could put wherever she wanted, and once she spent it, the change would be permanent. Compared to everything else the system had shown them, that was something Taylor could actually understand.

The Classes had been choices, but they still felt abstract. Her abilities were mostly unknown, and she had no idea what being a Mage actually meant beyond the large amount of Mana displayed on her status window. This was different. A Stat Point meant she could become stronger, and Taylor understood the value of that even if she still didn’t understand the system.

Taylor glanced toward Sophia.

Several classmates were still gathered around her, and judging by the way they kept looking at her, it was already becoming obvious who they expected to lead them. Taylor couldn’t blame them, since if she had to choose someone to protect her right now, Sophia would probably have been her choice too.

She would probably receive the highest reward as well, which gave everyone another reason to stay close to her.

Taylor knew that. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it, even though staying with Sophia was probably the wisest choice she could make right now.

It wasn't that Taylor hated Sophia. At least, she didn’t think she hated Sophia herself. What she hated was everything Sophia had come to represent, just as she hated what Emma represented alongside her. Those feelings were still there, tangled up with years of memories and hurt, but Sophia had just saved their lives. Taylor couldn’t pretend that meant nothing.

Her eyes returned to the reward window.

One Stat Point.

It wasn’t much, but it was hers.

Taylor had spent the last five minutes fighting for her life against something that shouldn’t have existed, watching people die around her, and the system had reduced everything she had done to a single point. She wasn’t sure whether that was disturbing or useful, although she suspected it was probably both.

She had spent most of her life being powerless, so she knew exactly what that meant, and she knew what happened when there was nobody strong enough to protect you.

Taylor looked toward the others again.

Sophia was already talking to someone, her voice low and commanding as she explained something about the goblins. A few people listened closely, while others checked their wounds or moved through the trees in search of anyone who might still be alive.

They were probably going to stay together.

It made sense. If another attack came, being surrounded by people who could fight would give Taylor a better chance of surviving, and after what had just happened, she wasn’t about to pretend that going off on her own would be safer.

Still, she couldn’t rely on them forever.

The system had rewarded her for what she had done during the fight, while Sophia had been given far more opportunities to earn rewards simply because she had done more. Taylor didn’t know whether that was intentional or merely how the system happened to work, but either way, the result was the same.

She needed to become stronger.

Her eyes dropped to the single point waiting to be spent.

Strength.

Agility.

Vitality.

Intelligence.

Any of them could make her stronger, yet she didn’t know enough about the system to decide where the point belonged. The fact that it had given her something that could permanently increase her abilities without telling her how those abilities actually worked bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

Taylor closed the reward window.

She needed information about the Classes, the attributes, and whatever abilities the system had given her. If she was going to survive this, she needed to understand what she could actually become capable of.

Her eyes drifted toward Sophia again.

For the moment, staying with the group made sense. They needed each other, and Taylor could admit that much after what had just happened. She simply didn’t want to spend the rest of this ordeal standing behind someone else, whether that meant Sophia, Emma, or Madison, and hoping they would be strong enough to keep her alive.

She had spent too much of her life letting other people decide what happened to her, and she wanted that to change.

Taylor moved away from the group. Her ribs hurt with every step, and dried blood clung to her clothes, but she kept walking until there was enough distance between herself and the others for her to think without having to listen to their voices.

She could feel eyes following her, and she knew without looking that Sophia and Emma were among them.

Taylor kept her eyes forward.

She didn’t know what the next objective would be, how many more people would die, or whether the system would ever let them go home. What she did know was that she had survived the first test, and for the first time since this had begun, she had something she could actually build on. 

Another chime sounded.

Tutorial Phase II: Complete.

Tutorial Phase II Completion Reward: Stat Points ×5.

Tutorial Phase III commencing…

The notification remained in front of her for several seconds before disappearing.

Five more points.

Taylor stared at the empty space where the words had been, and for the first time since arriving in this place, the fear inside her was accompanied by something else. She still had no idea what the system wanted from them or what would happen when the next objective appeared, but she finally had something she could work with.

Taylor looked down at her hands.

Whatever came next, she would survive it.

She had to.