After hearing the strange growling, I turned around to see this ugly beast. The best way I can describe it is that it looked like a hairless gorilla with bumps all over its body, almost as if it had been stung by 100 bees. Worst of all, it had the face of a pug. Actually, the more I thought about it, it was more skinny and nimble, but still terrifying. I'm going to call it Fugly—the ugly fucking creature.
This one might be a juvenile, considering its size. I can't even imagine what a full-grown adult one would look like. I'm about to shit myself just thinking about it.
The creature started walking toward me slowly. In that moment, I had a few options: either A) I could curb stomp the little bastard, or B) I could run for my goddamn life.
Now, since I'm an insane person, obviously, I chose the most obvious option—run for my goddamn life! So I sprinted like hell, feeling as if the devil himself were chasing me—which, honestly, might have been a better situation. But as I ran, I realized I was in the middle of nowhere. No oasis in sight.
"God dammit, where the fuck am I? Curse you, Fugly!"
I turned around to check how far Fugly had gone, and then I saw it... it wasn't that little motherfucker anymore—it was its mother. Absolutely massive. This thing looked like it could destroy a regular gorilla with ease.
I kept running, pushing myself harder, until I finally saw another oasis in the distance. But wait—what was that weird structure? Who cares! I just kept running, focused on survival.
As I got closer, I realized it was some kind of house—or should I say, a bunker. And standing outside was a man dressed in armor, wearing a mask and a hoodie... or was it a hat? I couldn't really tell. He pulled out a bow, and with one shot, he took down the goddamn gorilla-mother.
He looked at me for a moment, then calmly walked over to the gorilla and looted it, which, surprisingly, was just a pelt. Within seconds, a swarm of weird flying creatures swooped in and snatched up the carcass like vultures.
I yelled out, "You're my savior!"
He glanced at me and said, "Yeah, well, looks like you're a level one noob. If you weren't, you'd know better than to run like that. Not that it would've mattered. You're lucky I'm one of the kind ones. There aren't many of us left in this world."
"Wait... there are other people out here?"
"Yeah," he replied, "but most of them aren't so kind. Come inside, I'll tell you about the rules. And I think I have some tea."
"Wait, you have tea?"
"Yeah, dumbass. I've got tea."
"Do you have hot water?"
"No, dumbass. I just put the cup outside in the goddamn sun and let it heat up."
I followed him into his house—or bunker, I should say. Once inside, he told me about the different clans in this world, how most of them aren't friendly unless you're a "friend of a friend." He mentioned a group of loners who run outposts, usually built around oases, where they build settlements.
"And that monster you were running from?" he added. "That was a big version of the level one monsters. They're easy to kill, even if you're weak. All you need is a rock. The first person to die to one of those was named Nigel. We call them 'Nigels' now because of him. He was only five years old, so it wasn't surprising that he didn't make it."
"So you're telling me I could've curb stomped that little bastard?" I asked, half in disbelief.
"Yeah," he shrugged, "but it's getting late. The monsters come out at night, so we should probably hit the bunks."
"Wait, you have bunk beds? How can there be bunk beds in a post-apocalyptic world? You've got tea, bunk beds, and a nice little home here."
"Don't think too much about it," he said. "I'm a level four, after all."