Thomas looked at the new AI code they expected him to merge with the AI guide before the operation. It would normally be a trivial job, except this was the special patient.

  The one who wasn’t supposed to live.

  He examined the code, looking for a way to disable it without making the damage too obvious. He noted it was supposed to deliver routine reports to a Dr. Richardson. That was easy. He quickly rerouted it to Dr. Simmons.

  “He can cover that up,” thought Thomas.

  But then there was the entire issue of the AI handing out advice, complex decision trees that Thomas did not have time to trace and alter.

  “It would be too obvious, anyway,” he thought.

  Then an idea struck him. He laughed out loud at the idea. One of the other programmers looked at him curiously, but he ignored him.

  He reached into the maturity level of the AI and tweaked it backwards. It would normally match to the level of the person who was playing so they could bond, but if you made the age disparity wider…

  “About sixteen,” he thought, smiling. “And we’ll just increase the amount of memory suppression, so he doesn’t know where he is or what’s going on…”

  And it was done. “A few minor adjustments to the bot he’d already created and it would return the game body to the Hygieia game world dungeon, reset the parameters to normal values, and no one would be the wiser.”

  * * *

  There was blackness and then a dim light. I opened my eyes, surprised to discover I was standing. I felt disoriented. Wasn’t I lying down? Memories slid away and I couldn’t remember.

  I was standing in a small glade. Low bushes surrounded it with larger trees behind. I could smell pine. A sudden whooshing sound and I heard a thud. I looked to my left towards the sound and saw part of an arrow. I turned further back and realized it was sticking into a slender white tree behind me. I followed its direction back to the source. Two men were standing about fifty feet away. One of them was nocking an arrow and slowly drawing back the enormous bow…

  “They are shooting at me!” I thought.

  I dropped into a crouch as a second arrow sailed over my head.

  I looked around for any cover. The tree behind me was too narrow and as the bowman drew out a third arrow, I started running down a narrow path I could see off to my right.

  A feminine voice boomed in my head, “WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TAEA!”

  “What the hell is going on? Something is inside my head!” I thought.

  “I AM YOUR ASSIST…”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Shut up!” I heard myself yell.

  “Sheesh! GUIDE ASSISTANCE OFF!” the feminine voice announced with a pout.

  I looked towards the two men.

  “Why are you shooting at me?” I yelled. Another arrow landed right at my feet. I could hear laughter. There was a path to my right. I ran for it, hoping the bowman’s aim would remain terrible.

  “Idiot! You missed him again!” said the man next to the bowman.

  I heard a thump, and a moment later, an arrow slammed into my shoulder. An intense wave of pain shot through my body. I staggered as my vision blurred for a moment. The pain was worse than anything I had ever felt. Tears welled in my eyes.

  “An arrow has hit you for 10 points of damage, Health below 50%” said a deep male voice in my head.

  “You can shut up too!” I thought. “I must be going crazy!”

  “COMBAT STATUS CANNOT BE SHUT OFF. COMBAT STATUS NOTIFICATIONS MINIMIZED AT USER REQUEST.”

  I staggered onto the path and hobbled forward, trying to put distance between me and my attackers. I was now partially hidden by the bushes. Before another arrow could fly, I was in the trees. If I could find a place to hide…

  “Dammit! That hurt!” It was the voice of the bowman.

  “How could you miss him three times!” the second voice bellowed. It had to be his companion.

  “I was missing deliberately! I wanted some practice shooting at a moving target. And that smack you gave me means I only clipped him instead of a clean shot. Now we have to catch him before he reaches town or some other predator catches his scent and finishes him.”

  They were both yelling, but I could hear the sounds of feet coming in pursuit.

  The path ahead turned, but I was already becoming unsteady on my feet. There was a large log ahead. I tried to jump over it and missed. I fell on the other side. Pain shot across my body as the arrow snapped off. A wave of agony washed through me. I curled up into a ball. Tears rose in my eyes.

  “You have sustained 2 points of falling damage, Health below 45%”

  “You have sustained 1 point of bleeding damage, Health below 35%”

  “Make the pain stop,” I thought, “Please just make all the pain stop.”

  “PAIN INHIBITION SET TO MAXIMUM,” said the heavy, masculine voice.

  The pain vanished. Ahead of me, I could see another large log. This one was hollow. I grabbed the broken arrow piece and crawled towards the opening as the sound of branches moving on the path got closer.

  When I heard footsteps approaching, I was mostly inside. I curled my legs, pulling them into the trunk. Boots landed on the top of the large trunk I had failed to clear and then on the ground just past me. I stopped breathing as I heard them pounding down the path away from me.

  Unsure if they would come back, I forced my way forward, inching further into the log until I was sure my body was completely inside.

  My body had gone strangely numb. My thoughts remained clear, but I could feel a dampness in my shirt as my life blood kept slipping away.

  I heard voices. The men were returning.

  “Look, we need to go after him.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t want to get too close to town with the guardian stone in my pack. We don’t know if it will magically return.”

  “OK. So, why did you come back here?”

  “To hide it, of course. Someplace near the clearing where it will be easy to retrieve.”

  “OK. Where?”

  The voices were nearly on top of me again.

  “You have sustained 1 point of bleeding damage. Health below 30%”

  They stopped. I didn’t breathe. Then I heard a rustling and a thump.

  “Look, I’ll take it out of my pack and we can hide it in the rocks next to the large white tree just outside the clearing.”

  I heard a low humming sound.

  “Listen,” said the bowman. “Sounds like another arrival.”

  His companion shouted. “Hurry! We can gank this one and then hunt for the body of the other one afterward. You sure he’s gonna die?”

  “Yeah, I missed the neck shot, but that wound is fatal. Just a matter of time. And if he pulls out the arrow, it will go even faster.”

  Footsteps pounded away.

  “And no fancy shooting this time. Quick and clean.” That was the man with the stone.

  I sagged and drew in a ragged breath. I spent a few moments just trying to decide what to do when I heard the humming crescendo and then a scream. It cut off quickly.

  “Another victim,” I thought.