I noticed that I had been remembering a lot of my dreams lately, which is odd because usually, I'd forget them within seconds of waking up. Maybe it was all of the excitement of living in this game or maybe I was subconsciously memorizing my dreams so I could check for any tampering from the Traveler. Whatever the reason, my nights felt eventful. Not exhausting, I still woke up with plenty of energy, but it felt almost like I was preparing myself even when sleeping.

In my dream, I had been training Anne. Saris was there, telling me how to train her. No matter what I did, she wasn't improving. I would look to Saris who just shrugged in a way that said 'it's not me, it's you.' There was a pounding on the door and voices shouting, asking if we were ready yet and I knew they meant ready to fight. I kept telling them to wait a bit longer but that only made them louder. Eventually, the shouts got so loud that I couldn't hear myself speak anymore and the bangs were so strong that the door started to crack and splinter. Finally, the door burst open and I woke up.

Anne was already awake and in the kitchen. I felt slightly embarrassed to be such a late sleeper but wasn't sure how to change the habit, so I pushed the thought out of my mind. I smelled the lovely scent of food and drifted towards it. Anne had made us each an omelet and some toast. The fridge didn't have any drinks, so we took more water from the tap and I thanked Anne for the food as I sat at the table and started to chow down. It was delicious and I complimented her on the food.

"I found a lot of good spices and cut up some of the cheese and the rest of the deli meat," She said nonchalantly. "Omelets are pretty easy."

"Best one I've had, for sure."

Anne's cheeks reddened slightly and she mumbled, "Thanks" before continuing to eat her food.

"So, what's the plan exactly?" I wasn't sure how she wanted to cover the map other than some sort of zig-zag pattern.

"I figured we'd head northish and just kinda move past the map's boundaries. We'll eventually cover the map, assuming it's not too big. What do you think? I know it's not a great plan, but I don't have anything better."

I thought for a moment, "Neither do I. Hopefully, we'll have some luck."

"Hopefully."

Washing the dishes after breakfast, I realized that my habits had shifted. When living alone in my apartment, I had let the dishes pile up, telling myself that I would save on my water bill. Living with Saris for a week had gotten me into the habit of cleaning up after every meal. He never said so, but I think it's sort of respecting the other players, acknowledging that it's not their fault that we're all here and while we might fight against each other, there were certain things that you do or don't do as a general courtesy for one another. Cleaning up after yourself was one of these things. We were still out to kill each other, but that didn't mean we had to leave trash lying around, expecting others to clean it up for us.

Before we left, I turned my phone on to give everyone an update on what's going on. My mom had left me a text, telling me to stay safe, be more careful and to keep in touch. I wrote a quick message back to say that I would. Sidra's text to me was very rambly but she was just confirming what I had told her and ended with "What are you gonna do now?" I responded:

I'm gonna keep going. There doesn't seem to be a way out of this, so I'm committed to going through it, like the bear hunt song!

The song, 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt,' came from a book that my family had when I was a kid. It was all about not avoiding problems, but facing them head-on. I had insisted that Sidra sing it to me almost every night since my mom was kind of tone-deaf and my dad refused to sing without music playing loud enough to drown him out. Sidra got sick of the song quickly and ended up recording it so I could listen to it whenever I wanted to. Still, I had wanted the concert, not the album. Sidra would probably roll her eyes at the reference, but that's half the fun of being a younger brother.

After checking on Tommy and Michael's chat, I added my update. They were now knee-deep in a debate that they occasionally got in; is pineapple on pizza the greatest thing ever? Or is it a sin against humanity? I loved all pizza, so I was somewhere in the middle and never really cared much to get involved. Michael was pro fruit and Tommy disagreed.

My phone buzzed and I saw that Sidra had texted me back:

First off, they end up running away from the bear once they find it. Second, you need to stay safe! BE SAFE! And Third, I HATE THAT SONG!

I smiled but responded seriously:

I'll be as safe as I can be. I know you'll worry but try not to. At least not too much. And don't think you can't talk to me about normal things too. I don't want to miss that.

After turning off my phone, I spent some time moving the couches and tables back. I didn't expect to come back here. No one showed up, trying to enter the house during the night but that didn't mean that no one would come sometime today. The spare room, where I had trained Anne, was definitely emptied by someone from this game; my gut told me as much. They would be back eventually and I didn't want to be found; I'd rather be the finder.

The moment I opened the door, a sword sliced me from the left side of my chest, down to my belly button. It felt like everything was going in slow motion but I couldn't react any faster than normal. I saw and felt the cold metal rip open the skin behind my thin tee shirt. Hot blood gushed out of me as I cried out in pain only to feel the relief of Anne's ability kick in, healing me almost instantly. The next moment, my sword and shield were out and I swung my sword but hit nothing. The attacker had backed away, retreating to her partner.

I had seen these two before. The girl stood holding a long sword that was dripping with my blood. She had stained some of her pink shirt with the red liquid and it made her look like a serial killer. She smiled malevolently under her blue hat that held most of her hair, releasing the rest of the blonde locks in the back as a ponytail. Standing next to her, was a large man that looked like a lumberjack; tall and bulky. His sword looked more like an oversized meat cleaver but I had known him as Mustache Man because the handlebar mustache was the only hair on his face, save for his thick eyebrows.

That didn't seem fair. These two were together in the last cycle. Why couldn't I find Demi? Or Saris? Shoot, I'd even settle for us to find May and I didn't even know her. And yet, these two jerks find each other no problem? Where's the justice in that? I was the one that won the last cycle, shouldn't I get some special request or something? I guess I did find Anne but come on! Where is Demi?

Realizing that my attention was on the rant in my mind and not on the fight in front of me, I changed my focus. I would have to complain later. The last time I fought these two, I had Saris and we both ended the fight wounded. I had gotten a small burn and he had a few shallow cuts but there were also some close calls. Back then, they had been more interested in Saris than me and I wondered if I was ready for this fight. I put my doubt out of my mind too; no room for distractions, I needed all of my attention on them.

"Have you seen a girl with blue hair?" Anne shouted from behind me. I didn't think this was the right time to do this but I didn't really know if we would ever get a better time with these two.

To my surprise, the woman spoke. Her voice was silky smooth but a bit lower in tone than I expected, "We saw a larger team with someone like that near the school."

"Where is that?" Anne pressed.

Ponytail smiled, "If you survive the next few minutes, it's South of here, on the Western side of town."

"Okay, thanks!" Anne said cheerily. "Xander, don't die. Just kill these nice people so we can go find May."

Ignoring Anne's comment, I considered what to do but Mustache went to attack before I had a plan. He rushed towards me with his blade held high in the air. Since Saris and I previously took them on, I knew how they worked; they attacked as a team. One would attack and the other would look for an opening when the attack missed or was blocked. I took a step back, just inside the house, preventing Ponytail from getting around my defenses. It also made it difficult for Mustache man to attack, his blade would hit the top of the door frame before hitting me, so he would have to readjust his attack. This didn't deter him and he slammed his cleaver-like weapon down. As expected, he hit the top of the door frame but, while it did slow the attack, it couldn't stop it completely. The blade splintered the wood and continued coming down at me. I backed away but almost too late. His sword caught the neck of my shirt and ripped it down the middle, exposing my not-so-impressive chest.

Luckily, I kept my wits about me and I stabbed at the large man. He took a step back, turning his right side to me, making himself a smaller target but I managed to pierce his arm at his right bicep, just below his shoulder. Seeing the opportunity this gave me, I used my ability to extend my sword. The blade's length grew nearly five times its normal size and went straight through the man's chest. He vanished and I froze for a moment, thinking that had been too easy. The sword's blade had shot forward but I hadn't felt any resistance. Ponytail seemed to be as shocked as I was but recovered quickly. She shoved her hands toward me and flames erupted from them, flying at the house. I moved, hiding behind the safety of the wall and avoiding the fire but I could feel the heat. The house smoked but didn't catch fire, not yet.

When the flames stopped coming, I ran out, ready for another burst of fire with my shield held high. Instead, she leaped at me with her sword and ferociously attacked. I extended my shield with my power to ensure I wouldn't be hit and I was able to avoid getting cut. Quickly realizing that her attacks were doing nothing, she pointed her hand at me and flames burst out of her hand again. The heat was intense but my shield remained cool and kept me from getting burnt. I steadied myself, moved closer and pushed my shield, bashing it into the blonde's face, cutting off her fire. She was holding her nose and I took that moment to twirl around, slicing through the woman and she vanished a moment later.

I looked down and became painfully aware that my shirt was ruined. Strange how that was my first thought, but I liked that shirt. Plus I was more than a little self-conscious of how I looked underneath. Still, I didn't want to look uncool around Anne. I decided that I would just have to ignore my discomfort.

It was then that I realized that the chills were gone. I hadn't realized it earlier, probably because Ponytail and Mustache were waiting for us to come out and had caused them to linger. The lack of goosebumps was a cozy, safe feeling and I called out to Anne so we could get moving. She had gone deeper into the house and when she came out, she had two glasses full of water in each hand and a large grin on her face. We hadn't found any water bottles, but this would do for a while. At least we'd stay hydrated. The best part was that we had a lead on where May would be, but I had other things on my mind.

"Where were you? I could've died!"

"There was only one left. I thought you'd appreciate a drink."

I sighed, pushing my anger back "Just, try not to leave me alone in a fight, okay?" I let the topic go when I saw her nod. "You ready?"

Anne handed me one of the cups, "You bet!"

"I just have one question. Which way is South?"

Anne's eyes bugged out, "You mean, you don't know? Who doesn't know how to tell North from South?"

"Hey! It's not like I was in the scouts or anything."

"You don't have to be a boy scout to know this stuff."

I crossed my arms, "Fine. Where do we go?"

Anne froze for a moment and looked around. "That way," she said pointing.

"Now, hold on."

"What?"

"They said that May was near the school, which is South from here but West of the town, right?"

"So?"

"So, we came from the town, that way." I pointed in the opposite direction that Anne had just pointed at. "When we arrived, we were facing the back of the house."

Anne's face turned pink, "Maybe the town wraps around the forest."

"You know it doesn't. We got a pretty good view from the roof, yesterday." I pointed at her, accusingly, "You don't know where we're going either, do you!"

Anne put her nose in the air, "It was a test."

"A test?" I narrowed my eyes.

"You passed," Without meeting my gaze, she quickly walked past me and I followed, shaking my head.

I was having doubts that Anne should be taking the lead. If she didn't know where we were going, she should say so. But I suppose I wouldn't be doing much better. We were trying to make as straight a path as we could, heading back to town, and I didn't think there was much concern for finding our way. However, we did run into a few steep hills and decided to go around them, rather than risk falling and getting hurt, but I was confident that we had managed to get back on the path to town. Once we arrived, we would head to our right to find the school.

After a couple of hours, or what felt like it, we finally reached the edge of the forest. We were back in town but I didn't recognize anything. I didn't even see the tall apartment buildings that we had been on yesterday. Instead, we were overlooking a business section of the town, several restaurants and shops visible from where we stood. Taking to the sidewalk, we headed west, or at least our best approximation of west. Despite not being sure of our direction it was comforting to not feel chills and I was able to relax and enjoy the walk more than yesterday.

We saw a lot of shades walking around, but most of them were either going in or coming out of buildings. Their ghost-like forms and silent presence have always creeped me out. I suppose if they made noise, they might be even more alarming, but it just seemed so unnatural. Their presence was a reminder that the real world was still spinning normally and knowing that they couldn't hurt me should put me at ease, but they were just so unsettling. I shrugged off my jitters as we walked through a row of them. I'm sure I would get used to them with time.

"Hey," Anne said, stopping at an intersection, "Let's go in here."

I looked where she was pointing, "The mall? Do we really have time for that?"

"It'll be fine. Besides, you need a new shirt." She said pointing at my ripped shirt. It wasn't covering my front at all, but I wasn't comfortable enough to just go without a shirt on; everyone would laugh at me. I also didn't want to just flip the shirt backward because that would just show how uncomfortable I was. "And I would kill for a soft pretzel," Anne continued, breaking me out of my self-consciousness.

"If someone's there, we might have to."

She shrugged, "As long as it doesn't get on my food. Come on, let's go!"