"Run!!!"
"RUN!!"
A cacophony of cries could be heard alongside the noise of reinforced concrete collapsing. Tens of people were running through corridors glowing with red lights. Cement dust and concrete fragments fell from the roof, muddling their vision.
~Rumble~
Suddenly, the floor shook. It was harder than ever before and a wide longitudinal crack soon spread, severing the path of the people.
"The floor is cracking! We can't go there!"
A man shouted as he came to a halt before the edge of the floor. Peeking from the side, one could see the tens of more floors underneath. It was evident that this was a multistory skyscraper.
"How do we get down?! We can't just stop here!" More people came to stop at the edge, tears and dust present on their faces.
There were women, children and old people in the mix as well. Some of them injured, some fine and some were bleeding.
And among these people stood a young man seemingly in his early twenties.
'This is not looking good. Just where is the disaster rescue department?' Arthur looked past the corridor where the emergency exit was located.
That was the location they were aiming for ever since the earthquake started, but they were simply too late.
"Dammit! Why didn't I log out early!" Arthur cursed his choices.
~TREMBLE~
The earth suddenly shook once more, knocking everyone off their feet. The floor couldn't stay intact and finally fell.
~THUD~
Arthur and the rest could barely hold on to their wits as everything happened too fast. Fortunately, their fall was short, and the floor got stuck on a beam underneath it.
"Emmy! NO!!!" A Woman shouted upon seeing her daughter slip out of her hands.
"Mommy!" The little girl cried as she slid down the tilted floor.
The others watching were left horrified but couldn't do much being stuck holding onto their positions. If they did anything, they might just lose their grip and fall down as well. As much as they wanted to help the poor woman and her daughter, they weren't courageous enough.
They could only close their eyes, unable to watch the little girl fall to her death.
"AGH! Haa… Haa… Haa…" But then, the cry of death they were expecting wasn't heard.
Instead, they heard a grunt of pain and loud breathing
"Huh?" The tightly closed eyes of the people opened as they saw the scene below them.
"Emmy!?" the woman saw her daughter alive and felt a rush of emotions.
"WAIT! Don't come forward!" But just as she was about to run forth to get her daughter, the woman heard a shout.
The shout had come from none other than Arthur who had the little girl in his arm. The little girl was too shocked to say anything and was frozen in fear, which helped Arthur in keeping hold of her.
Arthur only hoped that she didn't start panicking.
"B-but! But my daughter!" The woman cried out.
"The ledge won't be able to hold any more weight. If you come forward, we will all fall." Arthur warned, his eyes gesturing toward the cracked concrete.
If one looked closely, they would see that the concrete itself had broken into two parts, and the only reason it was still holding on was because of a steel rod that was inside it. The steel rod was badly warped, and it was hard to tell if it could last any longer.
The woman shivered upon realizing that she had almost doomed herself and her daughter.
"I-I'll swing her over to that side. Two of the men should grab her from there." Arthur said while pointing with his little finger.
He couldn't move his whole hand since it was clutching the little girl.
"We'll go over, just hang on!" a couple of strong men in the crowd shouted.
The area that Arthur had pointed towards was actually just the open door of an apartment. The outer wall of the apartment that was along the corridor had collapsed, allowing one to go around and come out through the entrance door.
"Mommy's coming, Emmy! You just stay put!" The woman called out, trembling nonstop.
While the men came to the apartment door, Arthur took a look at his own condition.
"Fuck!" Arthur cursed under his breath as searing pain spread through his left shoulder.
His eyes turned to gaze at the source of the pain and witnessed the long steel rod piercing through his shoulder and coming out under his collarbone.
This was the only reason why Arthur had managed to grab the little girl. He wasn't just hanging from his left hand, but rather his entire shoulder which was hooked onto the steel rod of the floor.
"I won't be able to last long like this. The pain is already starting to increase…" Arthur muttered to himself while his face turned red.
The flickering red alarm lights only made it look that much darker, almost as if his entire face was bloody.
When the floor had fallen and tilted, Arthur had slid forwards as well and tried to grab onto the little girl who had also slid down. While he managed to hold on to the girl, he had gotten himself greatly injured.
'My shoulder blade is probably shattered.' Arthur thought. 'At least, I'll still be able to play Morpheus Online. Good that I don't need full control of my limbs to play it, or I'd be penniless after this.'
But after thinking about this, he felt like laughing at himself.
'Even at the edge of death I still feel compelled to make money… is this really what I set out to do?' Arthur couldn't help but question himself.
"HEY!" A shout snapped Arthur out of his thoughts and he looked over to see the men standing in the apartment door.
"Swing her over! Quick!" The woman shouted.
"Okay!" Arthur lowered the girl a little while holding onto her hand, hoping that she wouldn't move.
Thankfully, the girl was still frozen in fear, allowing Arthur to execute the move smoothly.
"Got her!" The men said.
"Emmy!" The woman took the little girl into her arms, tears pouring out of her eyes like an endless stream.
The people smiled at the touching scene but then heard a cracking sound.
~KACHA~
"Shit! He's falling!" The men standing at the edge noticed Arthur going down.
The man in question had an unwilling expression on his face as he fell down. Swinging the little girl had loosened the steel rod from the concrete and his added weight had made it fall off completely.
'I was so close… just two more objectives left and I would've finished the epic grade quests. Just the cash from one of the reward equipment would have been enough for me to live and eat freely for a year…' Arthur's mind was still filled with the game he played every day.
Even at the precipice of death, he couldn't let go of the goal he had set for himself; getting himself out of poverty and becoming a wealthy tycoon.
Morpheus Online was his path to doing that, and now that very path had led him to his doom.
'If I had just logged out a minute earlier, I would have already escaped through the emergency exit.' Arthur regretted, but it was all useless now.
Dust and debris accompanied his fall, while the ground beckoned him to enter its embrace.
Arthur closed his eyes, accepting his fate while a few tears leaked out from the corner of his eyes, leaving a shimmering trail in the air.