They inched out of the bedroom, crouching low, each holding a wooden coat hanger like a baton. Gideon scanned the dim interior of the chamber as they walked out into the main room and another sound of shattering glass cut through the air.

  He halted instinctively, eyes narrowed as he saw the figure rummaging through a series of cupboards in the small kitchen at the far side of the chamber. The figure was male, perhaps a little shorter than Gideon and with a bulkier build. His hair was

  “Shit!” the man said, dropping another jar onto the floor as he turned around.

  He saw Gideon and Mia crouching down and holding their coat hangers, then smiled broadly.

  “Hey? You guys got any food. I’m frigging starving and this place has got nothing.”

  Gideon untensed a little, standing to full height. “You’re another lottery winner?”

  The other man nodded. “Of course. Did you think there was an alien in here rummaging around the kitchen looking for food.” He frowned. “The could be looking for food, I guess, but I figured they’d be chowing down on human brains or whatever. Drinking our spinal fluid not looking for Pop Tarts.”

  Gideon and Mia approached the other figure and Gideon extended a hand. “Gideon,” he said shaking the other man’s hand.

  “Doinkmaster,” he replied, moving over to shake Mia’s hand as she introduced herself with a look of mild confusion.

  “What did you say your name was?” Gideon asked.

  “Doinkmaster Supreme. It’s the one I chose for the Great Hunt. Guess I’m stuck with it now even though the Hunt is pretty well screwed.”

  Mia frowned. “That’s ridiculous.”

  He shrugged, still grinning. “It was a bet. I borrowed some cash to enter the lottery and if I won, the deal was I had to use that name. So, here I am. The Doinkmaster!”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  She shook her head, still baffled. “You don’t have to actually use that name though, do you. I mean, you can call yourself anything you want. It’s just the name you chose for the Hunt.”

  “Yeah, but I figure this whole thing’s gonna be shown on the feeds, so I’d better just stick with the name to keep things simple.”

  Gideon snorted at that. “You honestly think they’re gonna be recording us? We’re not even on Artemis and the earth is under attack.”

  “Doesn’t mean the Ministry won’t try to make a buck out of it. We’re still in echoes aren’t we? We’re gonna be able to level up, gain new skills, ether, all that shit. So why wouldn’t they record it. They record everything else, so why wouldn’t they do the same thing during an invasion.”

  Gideon frowned. As much as he hated to admit it, the other man had a point. The people of earth were obsessed with the Great Hunt and the Ministry did everything they could to push new footage to the feeds as often as possible. That had become harder and harder over the years, so they’d been forced to invent more and more extreme contests and events to keep the viewers interested.

  A planetary invasion would make compelling viewing, however things went down, so the Ministry would of course capture the whole thing and push it out through the feeds.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you,” Mia said, looking over the discarded packets and shattered containers all around the kitchen, “but there’s no way I’m calling you Doinkmaster.”

  She looked up at him, squinting. “I’ll call you Red.”

  He pointed a finger at her. “Because of the hair, right?”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “Yes, because of the hair. It’s a hell of a lot better than Doinkmaster.”

  He seemed to consider the matter, chewing on his bottom limp for a few seconds. “Okay, you can call me Red. Actually, you can call me whatever the hell you want. It’s not like I can stop you.”

  Gideon stepped forward, motioning toward the doorway he presumed led to the exit.

  “Now that we all know each other. We should think about getting out of here. We need to—”

  “Get to the transit station,” Red supplied, nodding. “Jesus, you sound just like the chick in my head. I get it already. We’re soldiers now. We’ve got a super important mission to get on with. First, I need some food. I’m starving here!”

  “Fine,” Gideon said. “You keep looking for food while Mia and I try to find us some weapons. Catch up once you’re done.”

  Red offered a casual salute, turning back to the kitchen cupboard he had been plundering. “You got it, boss!”

  Leadership +1

  Mia and Gideon moved over to the main door. Before opening it, Gideon turned around.

  “Hey, Red? Did you come through here?”

  Chewing on something that looked like beef jerky, Red shook his head and pointed the dried meet towards a corridor leading off to the right.

  “There’s another door down that way. Leads to the chamber where I woke up. Nothing else down there though.”

  Gideon nodded, opening the main door and very nearly getting his head lopped off as a scything claw raked out at him and Mia, accompanied by a demonic screech.