Hell Difficulty Tutorial - When Hell Freezes

Every muscle in my body seems to tense as I take it all in. A game. I got put into a fucking game. My heart is beating so fast it feels like it's going to explode. Even as people run into me, pushing past to get to safety, I can't look away from the gruesome scene ahead.

Aren't wolves supposed to be starting monsters? This thing is fucking terrifying. Don't get me wrong, I like hardcore games, but this guy is dying a horrible, painful death right in front of me, not even 30 feet away.

I hear High-Vis shout, "Oh fuck… move goddamnit!" over the other screams.

I can't look away, the blood is still flowing, how can there be this much blood?

The roaring in my ears gets louder as my breathing quickens and my thoughts fragment. My heart's pounding—it's too loud, too fast. Am I about to have a heart attack? What should I do? I need a weapon—no, I need to hide, I— 

The wolf shakes its head again and rips out a chunk of the man's neck, his eyes still and lifeless. It scarfs the neck meat down and raises its head, eyes flicking between fleeing figures. I can feel it in my chest as a deep rumbling growl begins to emanate from it. I freeze up, my breathing slowing to a glacial pace, and as its gaze washes over me, a tingling sensation erupts over my entire body.

I can't run. I feel like I'll die if I do. Fuck! Not like this! What am I even—its eyes pass over me and the tingling lessens as it tracks somebody running to my left. 

BANG BANG BANG BANG

I watch as two scarlet holes appear on the wolf, one on the shoulder and one on the stomach. It yelps as its leg gives out from under it, falling off the hood and out of view, yelping again when it hits the ground. Two of the windows on the bus behind the wolf shatter and people start screaming louder.

My ears are ringing from the gunshots and my headache is back with a roaring passion, but it seems to have snapped me out of my stupor. Quite a few people seem to have decided the bus is safer and try to shove into it, creating a small and desperate crowd outside the door.

I whip my head back towards the High-Vis man, and the other wolf that's already running across the clearing towards him. He's standing frozen, eyes wide and jaw agape as he stares at the bus across the highway. He flinches when I shout, "Behind you!" But at least he's looking back as I start running to my car. He's got a gun, he'll be fine, he can help the people by the bus, I can't. 

I look over into Mateo's car as I pass it but I don't see him. I'm still feeling off-balance from my concussion, so when my ankle rolls in a divot in the grass, I lose balance and fall into the side of my car, bruising my ribs, throwing me onto the ground, and knocking the breath out of me. 

That wolf had a nametag and a level, so this has to be some kind of fucked up game, but everything feels real. Way, way too real. That doesn't make sense. None of this makes any sense. Someone screams out in terror and pain—I need to get inside my car, now.

I pull myself up and use the car as support to get to the driver's door, falling onto the seat. The door won't shut all the way for some reason, so I just leave it. Why did the High-Vis man not shoot anymore? Did he run away? Should I?

Reaching behind my seat I fumble around for an item that may or may not be there. 

BANG BANG

Maybe he didn't run, it sounds like somebody has started shooting near the bus. That's good, hopefully they can take care of the other wolf. 

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

There it is. I pull my brother's aluminum bat out of the back. He always forgets to take it out of my car after going to the batting cage.

BANG BANG… BANG

"Pause,"

I didn't think that would work but it didn't hurt to try.

The people by the bus on my right are screaming bloody murder, and so are the people in the other bus, but the shooting has stopped. That wolf should probably be dead now, right?

If this is actually some kind of video game, and the wolves had a level, I might have one too, right?

"Level," I say. 

Guess not.

"Menu," 

"Character," 

"Settings," 

"Help," 

Nothing is working and it's starting to piss me off. What kind of game doesn't offer any help?

"Quests,"

"Quest menu,"

"Tutorial,"

"Tutorial!"

"TUTORIAL!" I scream in frustration, not caring if I sound crazy.

Fuck this game. What kind of game doesn't even have a tutorial? If I ever meet who put me in here, I'll kill them. I'm wasting time and I feel ridiculous. I wonder how my brother reacted?

Anyways, assuming that it was the High-Vis man who killed the other wolf, he can't have many bullets left, unless he has another mag. Should I… Should I go and finish off that wounded wolf or something? It only got hit twice, but there's no way it's running around with a busted shoulder, right? If I can finish it off now I might get some XP or unlock a way to see my level, oh and it won't be able to attack anyone else or bring back more wolves, which is always a plus. It's risky as hell though, I'm not confident this bat will be enough to take it down unless it's already pretty fucked up. 

I'll just have to take that risk though, because if this is a game, then wolves will probably end up being the least of my worries. I need to get stronger to find my brother. 

I pull myself up and out of the driver's door and glance around. Across the median down the highway, the man's body is still on the car. Stepping over a fallen section of the median I look down the grassy lane. As suspected, the wolf isn't at the base of the car where it had fallen.

My breathing and walking slow as I approach, step-by-step, bat at the ready. The smell hits me pretty bad—thick and metallic, it makes me want to gag but I force it back. Blood drips from the car forming a puddle of stained red grass. The grass past the puddle is streaked with blood. Darker droplets of blood that must have come from the wolf create a trail to the back of the car.

I hear commanding shouts and crying coming from the bus on my left and faint growling ahead of me behind the car. The people in the bus to my right are still screaming. Stepping around the pool of blood I continue forward at a glacial pace. My heart is beating wildly in my chest, even with how slowly I'm breathing, and I feel that tingling sensation again, but it doesn't matter. The wolf doesn't notice me as I round the corner.

It's leaning on the opposite side of the car on the fender, ears down and right leg dangling as it growls at the nearby bus. Very much alive. It starts sniffing the air, and it feels like all my muscles tense at once. I begin to step forward, as slowly as I can, raising my bat to strike its head the moment I get in range. The wolf suddenly growls and whips its head back, starting to turn towards me on its non-injured leg. My heart skips a beat in my chest as I lock eyes with it, but for a split-second it seems to look past me. 

[Suppress Presence - Level 2 > Suppress Presence- Level 3]

What the fuck is this? I ignore the small notification that appeared in my vision and see its eyes are already starting to focus on me, so I scream out as I plant my foot and swing the bat down with all my strength. It yelps in pain as it tries to put weight on its injured leg but It's not able to avoid the blow to its head. It falls onto its wounded side, yelping when it hits the ground, and the people on the bus start screaming again. Thanks for the help guys.

The wolf is struggling to snap at me and get to its feet, so when I swing again I have to slide a leg back, nearly getting my ankle bitten, and continue the swing with less strength. I hit the wolf on the side of the head which stuns it and knocks it back on its side. I take the advantage to bash again, and again, and again, until the wolf finally stops twitching. Its head is bloodied and raw, white bits of skull visible under destroyed flesh and fur. I'm heaving for air when a notification appears in my vision.

[You have defeated a Wolf - Level 1]