6 The Team

Walking next to each other, all of them felt weird. "So.. What did you have to say.. uhh Colin?" asked Danny hoping to break the silence.

"It's Conor by the way... And I did have a suggestion." said Conor with an annoyed look on his face. Another group of kids from their school was walking beside them. Most of the kids lived in Parker's Lane, so the street was busy when school finished.

"So Conor, what class are you?" asked Hannah without any hesitation. It seemed like both Hannah and Conor had no fear. "Mage," answered Conor, with his hands stuck inside his pockets.

Hannah was holding an umbrella while she walked. The sunlight wasn't touching her. "Hmmmm.. Well what's your class?" asked Danny, feeling a little left alone.

"I'm a vampire. Thus, the umbrella.." said Hannah smiling at Danny. "Woah.. I'm a hunter." said Danny feeling a little powerless. He felt like his class was nothing compared to the other two. 

Suddenly Hannah stopped walking. Again, it looked like she was anxious. But Conor walked along without a worry in the world. Danny looked at Hannah. 

"Why? Did I say something wrong?" Danny asked. Conor looked back at the girl too. "Hunter? The most brutal class!" yelled out the girl. "What are your plans Hunter! Killing us here?" 

"Eh? Kill who? I just got this power yesterday!" yelled out Danny confused. "What! Do you even know how to use your powers??" asked Hannah in surprise. "Not much, I just  figured out how this thing works!" 

"I don't know much either. I just got these last week!" said Conor who looked relieved, since the two of them seemed like they never harmed a soul.

"What the hell! I've been using this for over a month now!" yelled Hannah. Conor and Danny suddenly stepped away from the girl. "UHH.. You're a pro then!" said Danny. 

They were walking under the shade of the trees along Parker's Lane. One or two cars were parked in the street. They walked halfway, school buses passed by and a group of students were walking behind them.

"No! There are pros who are hunting us though. We need to protect ourselves from them. And did you see the survival mission mister?" asked Hannah from Danny. 

"It was.. take 3 lives!!!" yelled Danny. Hannah smirked at him. "So can you resist your system? If you don't do that survival mission within the time given, you're going to die." said Hannah. 

"What!! But.. To take 3 lives!! Is it human!" 

Danny was going through a headache. If he had to kill 3 people within another week or so, he's going to commit a crime. But what should he do? He had no idea. 

"But what in the name of hell should I do?? What is the goal of doing this??" asked Danny as his hands shake with fear. 

"Boy! We need to kill! We need to survive! We need to level up! That's the only thing that you'll live for, from now on." said Hannah. 

"I had a survival quest last week. I learned how harsh it is within a week. But this game.. this game took me into a world, where I was free. This game is freedom." said Conor as he looked at the shaking Danny. 

"For me.. I had an awful experience. This game is a real pain. Suffering. Death. The cries of pain. My grandfather left me this beautiful system. He died fighting beside me, he died saving me." said the girl with a sorrowful face. 

"I got the system, by touching an artifact, a necklace, cursed with this magical system. This game gave me power beyond imagination. Each time I level up, I feel the true power." said Conor with a cold voice.

"And one more thing. Your system is the most brutal one in this game. Yet the most powerful one. It grants you godly power, strength beyond imagination and as you level up and reach the peak of immortality there's nothing in this world that can stop you." said the girl.

"But what is the goal? What does taking lives mean? And.. how should I level up?" asked Danny. "By taking lives of course. By killing humans or players. That's the sacrifice for that unimaginable power you have within you."

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it Danny. It'll take time, but once you get used to the system, there's no way you're letting it go." said Conor as he reached for his phone. 

Danny was speechless. But he could not resist the power inside him. It was truly amazing. The swords, the missions, he felt like he just added some spice to his boring life. A slight change, to forget your life, and escape into another world. 

Conor checked something in his phone. "What level are you in Conor?" asked Hannah as they walked along. "Level 3.." answered Conor as he placed his phone back in his pocket.

"What about you?" asked Conor back from Hannah. "Level 10." 

"And you Danny? I don't expect much but still?" asked Hannah, smiling kindly. "I'm actually level 1 I think. Hehe.." said Danny, feeling like the puny guy in the team.

"Hahaha.. You must level up.. But please don't kill us.. I think we're friends now?" said Hannah smiling shyly. Danny looked at her in surprise. She called them friends already.

"Yes let's not kill each other." said Danny looking a little relieved. "Yep.. that was my plan. But you can't confirm that yet. So I found out about a spell." said Conor finally showing up his plan. 

"We need a blood pact. A pact binded magic, not to kill each other or cannot kill each other. We're three different classes that should not be hanging out together. But.. I can only trust you guys.. Out there, there's no one in this game that we can trust. It's Saturday tomorrow. Come up to my house, I'll make the pact."

Danny and Hannah thought for a little while. "There goes my morning writing." said Danny remembering his freelancing. "Deal," said Hannah.

"Well.. Better not to die alone. I'm in." agreed Danny as they reached the turn dividing the upper Parker's Lane and lower Parker's Lane. Conor lived in the upper Parker's Lane. Danny and Hannah lived in the lower one. 

"Well this is goodbye for today." said Conor. "Where should we meet up tomorrow?" 

"How about the coffee shop in the town?" asked Hannah looking at the two boys. "Good for me. I'll see you guys there at 7.00 pm in the night then." said Corner as he waved them goodbye, walking up the street. 

Then it was only Danny and Hannah. "So you live here too?" asked Hannah from Danny. Danny looked at her. He couldn't tell her that she lived right next to him. It could be weird if he says that to her, after the day she moved in.

"Yes," answered Danny casually. "Oh nice.. Good to have a friend to walk home with." said Hannah with her usual kind face. 

Danny took a look at his watch. It was almost 2:30 pm. The usual time to take the walk from school to his house was about 30 minutes. It was very hot at noon. If a vampire walks into that sunlight with their body exposed, they would surely die in no time. 

"So.. Are you looking forward to going on a little adventure?" asked Hannah as she walked closer to the group of trees along the road. "Yes," answered Danny again. 

It took him a minute to figure out that he was only saying "yes" to the girl. "So do you like this? Killing things and shit? And what does being a vampire feel like? I think you need to suck blood to live on." said Danny trying to escape the weirdness.

"I do like this a little bit. Feels so powerful. Feels so good to be powerful than the others. And yes. I need to suck blood. That's my survival quest. Haha.." said Hannah, giving out a little chuckle.

"Oops.." said Danny, giving out a little chuckle too. Then they reached their houses. Both of them stopped to say goodbye the each other. "Umm.. It's goodbye then." said the girl. 

"Yep.. I live there by the way." said Danny pointing to his house. "What the hell!! We're neighbors!!" screamed Hannah. She looked like she was happy. 

Danny grinned a little embarrassed by the girl's reaction. "Yep, it looks like it." 

"Awesome!! So.. we can meet up more often.." said the girl, surprised. "Probably," said Danny grinning more.

"Yep. Let's meet up tomorrow night then. Be there at the coffee shop. Goodbye Danny!" said the girl as she waved at him. "Goodbye Hannah!" said Danny waving back at her. 

Most of the houses in the neighborhood were two storey houses, since most of them were families with children. And each of those houses had at least one or two red oaks or silver maples growing in their lawns.

As the two separated in the street, they both entered their houses. 

~ Linda's house ~

"Linda darling.. Are you alright? Are you feeling ok now?" asked Mrs. Houseman knocking on the door of Linda's room. She was worried about Linda, after the incident that happened the day before. So Linda has taken a day off from school.

Linda was going crazy. She was lying down on her bed with her face against her pillow.

"What the fuck is happening to me! Danny isn't even answering the phone! My mom would think I'm crazy if I told her this. Or am I???" 

Each time she closed her eyes, the stats popped up. She had opened her player stats and she had no clue what was going on. She hasn't played a game in her whole life.

< Player : lvl 1 >

[ HP: 100 ]

[ Skills gained : 1 ]

[ Inventory : 1 ]

[ Class : Mage ]

[ Lvl 2 : 100/800 ]

[ Mana : 100/100]

"Danny would've known what it was! He saw the beast!" yelled Linda as she sat there with her messed up hair. "Darling, can I come in?" asked Mrs. Houseman again. 

"Sure mom!" said Linda, without any choice to take. Then Mrs. Linda came in, opening the door. "Oh Darling.. Why are you worried? Are you sick?" asked Mrs. Houseman as she sat down beside her on her bed.

"Kinda mom," replied Linda. "I think I'm having a headache. Let's go to the doctor mom.." 

"Yes dear.. I think we should." agreed Mrs. Houseman as she took her by the hand and helped her to stand up. Mrs. Houseman was a very caring mother. 

It was 10am in the morning and Danny couldn't pick up cause he left his phone in his room. Mrs. Houseman and Linda got ready to go to the city. 

They got in the car and took off to the city. Linda got checked up by the doctor and the doctor gave some sleeping pills for her to drain it off with a little sleep. 

Until her mom bought the groceries, she went to a comic book store to check the new volumes of some comics she read. 

She was going through some manga showcases and suddenly he felt something powerful near her. She looked behind. It was a man with long black hair and two glasses. 

Suddenly, the man looked back at her. There was a shock in his eyes. "Do you need something mister?" asked Linda from the stranger. "No, nothing Mrs.." replied the stranger calmly. Something powerful was emitting from the stranger's surroundings. 

Then Linda quickly took off from the shop. She didn't look back and went straight to the car. Suddenly, she felt another power coming through a dark gap between two buildings.

Suddenly her legs froze. "What is this! What is this feeling!!" 

Suddenly, two arms appeared and grabbed her and covered her mouth. "MMMmmmMmmmM!!!!!" she couldn't move or scream. 

She was dragged into the dark space between the two buildings. Suddenly she felt something going through her heart. Suddenly she saw a bloody arm going through her chest. She closed her eyes.

[ Game over ]