Trapped

Swoosh! The sound of an arrow flying past me was heard. What bad accuracy. I think as I quickly turn around and slash the person who had missed his shot. He cries out in pain, crumpling on the ground. Hmph. I thought bitterly, serves you right. "You okay back there?" Asks Robert, our leader, while finishing off two men in one powerful blow. I silently nod, quickly finishing off my opponent with a quick slash to the neck. A few feet away, another man was about to attack me until an arrow penetrated through his head, and he fell in front of me, dead.

"Be more careful with your surroundings next time, Rose." I nod my head towards the archer with keen eyesight, Rachel, as a small, silent thanks before moving on with our raid. I stop near a specific house outside a window, waiting patiently. Suddenly, a bag is thrown out the open window and lands in front of me. I grab the bag, a few seconds later, Ralph jumped out the window, landing softly next to me. "Is that all?" I ask him. He nods, and we both dash towards the other two. They spot us and I signal that we're done with the raid, they both nod and join us shortly after. We all escape from the enemy's base.

✧✧✧

The door to our hideout burst open with a laughing Ralph. "I can't believe they were so clueless as to what was coming for them!" He exclaimed. You see, we live in a world where we there are shortages of everything. We literally have to raid others in order to keep our resources in check. Our group consists of four people:

Ralph: Honestly, he is a pretty good looter, but sometimes he gets annoying when his ego inflates after a raid. Other than looting, he's pretty skilled when it comes to fighting and swordfighting. He prefers to fight with his fists than using a weapon, besides, he's used to improvising his own weapons when he feels his opponents are tough.

Rachel: She's great with ranged weapons, especially bows. She's our attacker from the shadows and has keen eyesight. She's pretty good at deceiving her opponents, I would not like to get on her bad side at all. Rachel is our group's "ray of sunshine" since she's very bubbly and positive.

Rose (Myself): I'm a skilled, silent assassin, great for handling daggers and knives, (Although I prefer using my hatchets) always ready for anything and everything. I'm great with wiping out a number of opponents. I'm sure they all know I'm a key factor for raids.

Robert: He's our leader, probably stronger than the three of us combined. He specializes in swords and hand to hand combat. He's the mastermind behind our successful raids. He's pretty cool once you get to know him.

I don't really remember how and when we formed our small group, but I'm glad we did. These people feel like family to me. "All right, good job on the raid everyone, it went smoother than I anticipated." Robert's voice broke me out of my thoughts. We all did a small cheer to congratulate ourselves for the successful raid. "Tonight, we managed to score a week's supply worth of food, some extra weapons, and some fuel for fire on the cold days. Good job team!" We all decided to call it a day, after all, raids were never easy.

I woke up next morning to a soft thud sound. I quickly get up and grab the dagger I keep under my pillow. Silently sneaking through the hall, I follow the direction where the sound had come from. The sound of a clatter of a fallen utensil immediately tells me there's someone—or something— in our kitchen. I was about to head there until a hand wrapped around my mouth. Before I could react, they quickly whispered, "Shh, it's me, Ralph. Something broke in, let's meet with the others in the back." I quickly relax knowing who it is.

"What broke in?" Before he could reply, a low growl was heard from the kitchen. I decided I'd ask questions later, for now, we needed to get out of here. I quickly grab Ralph by the arm and drag him towards the backdoor quietly, as to not alert whatever creature was feasting on our kitchen. A sigh of relief left my lips when I saw Rachel and Robert waiting for us near a tree.

"I'm glad we're all safe, but there's a creature in our hideout. I don't know how it got there, but I suspect it's a tamed beast sent by one of our enemies." Robert stated before adding, "We'll have to move quickly and quietly if we want to defeat that thing."

"Uh, I'm not sure we'll have to be quiet... Looks like the creature found us." Rachel stated, pointing behind us. I didn't get the chance to turn because I had heard the creature pounce and, out of instinct, I spring away before he could attack. I gasped, there were more. It was a pitch, black creature, it looked like a shadow with glowing, red eyes. Three more were running our direction.

Rachel quickly shot at the one that had attacked us while Robert and Ralph decided to go for the trio. I was about to join in when suddenly, something landed right in front of me. It looked just like the other creatures, but this one had wings. This was not looking good at all. The beast im front of me roared and sprang forward to attack. I instinctively threw my dagger at it and rolled away as the creature screeched loudly in pain. It wasn't till a few seconds later, I realized what I did. Idiot! That was the only one you had! You didn't even grab your hatchets from your room! I mentally scolded myself, quickly dashing away before the creature even had time to recover. I had a good head start, but the thing recovered faster than I anticipated. I ran in random directions in hopes of misleading it.

After a while, I had finally lost it. Unfortunately, I also lost my sense of direction because I had no idea where I was. I saw a cave not too far, so I decided to go in, who knows, the creature might be flying around looking for me.  I collapsed as soon as I was in the cave. No way was I going to explore it. Just a quick break. I told myself, then try to find your way back to the others. At least that's what I had in mind, until something caught my attention. The cave was dark, but I know I saw something. I looked closely into the darkness, then I saw a faint glow of green. Curiously, I stood up and walked towards the strange glow, getting swallowed by darkness. As I approached, I noticed it was a medium rectangular light. Wait... No, it was a glowing rectangle, but it was engraved on the rocky wall of the cave. Curiously, I reach out to touch it, and immediately I am blinded by light.

✧✧✧

I awoke with a slight headache in a bright area. Bright area? Weird, I was in the cave... Confused, I focus my eyes to adjust to the light and see I am in some sort of room. Suddenly, all my memories flood my mind.

Rachel, Ralph, Robert, and I had bought a game from a garage sale. Not knowing what the game was because of the missing box and the white game disk, we decided to try it out at Robert's house, since he lived alone. Once we arrived at his house, we quickly set up the gaming system and started the game. We waited for it to load. Not a title screen was shown or anything, instead, a question appeared: Do you wish to be part of this world? Your memories will be wiped. And below, two simple options: Yes. No. None of us took the question too seriously, so Robert went ahead and pressed on Yes. We heard a voice say, "You will now be trapped inside this world with no memory of how you got there. Good luck remembering to find a cave to exit the world you are about to be trapped inside. Don't worry, you four will remain as a group."

It all made sense now, I can't believe we were trapped inside the stupid game we had bought. I silently gasp, but the others are still trapped. I look at the same TV I last saw before we all got into this mess. There it was, that same question. Do you wish to be a part of this world? Your memories will be wiped. Will I really leave them behind? I took the controller and pressed the button, hoping to remember. Yes. I shut my eyes tightly as I heard that same voice, "You will now be trapped inside this world with no memory of how you got there. Good luck remembering to find a cave to exit the world you are about to be trapped inside. Don't worry, you will be spawned near your three other friends to help them out with their battle."

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