I glanced up at the sky, trying to determine how fucked we actually were.

  Most of the rifts appeared to have opened over the factories and were dropping their seed pods in that general area. That was good. They weren’t close enough to instantly overwhelm us with a full pod worth of Antithesis, and the first wave was almost certainly going to come from that direction.

  “Why’d you stop running?” Jennifer asked. Even though she wasn’t winded, she was covered with sweat. Her eyes darted back and forth, scanning every single road and alley, like she expected something to jump out at us at any second.

  “Just trying to determine our best course of action,” I replied. “I think the first big wave is going to come in from the east. That’s where most of the seedpods are landing. Have any ideas?”

  “What? You’re the Samurai, shouldn’t you know what to do?” Jennifer asked.

  “Oh, I have ideas, but this isn’t a simulation designed to help samurai polish their skills. It’s for normal people to test out their own skills,” I replied. “How would you survive in this situation?”

  Jennifer looked at me for several seconds, then glanced around the area, much slower than before. “We get off the streets--we’re far too vulnerable in these long open streets. We should find a place with a choke point so we can limit how many Antithesis can come at us at once. Preferably some place where we can slam the door if we start getting overwhelmed.”

  “Good, exactly right,” I praised. Jennifer already looked a little better, now that her mind was on surviving and not the Model Threes. I’d have to keep distracting her right up to the fight if I wanted to keep her calm. “Nyx, do you have the floor plans for any of the surrounding buildings?”

  “Sorry, can’t help you,” Nyx replied. When I turned and looked at their avatar, Nyx shrugged. “Well, I can, but I won’t. This simulation is supposed to replicate a civilian encountering an incursion and becoming a samurai. If I gave you access to all your tech and catalogs, it would be too easy for you. Besides, it’s just a game. Do you really want to cheat?”

  “What? I don’t get anything?” I growled.

  “Well, the program does simulate your physical stats, so you’ll be far faster and stronger than most people, but I’m not going to give you any freebies. You’ll have to unlock new catalogs just like everyone else.”

  “Wonderful,” I growled.

  There was no point in arguing. The Antithesis were coming, and we could be in real trouble if we wasted time, so I jogged to the nearest street corner and quickly scanned the area.

  “We won’t survive long if we take cover in one of the cars, they’re far too small to protect us, so our best option is to break into one of these buildings. Which one?” I asked Jennifer.

  The girl carefully inspected the surrounding buildings before finally pointing at a large shipping warehouse off to our left.

  “That one. The main warehouse might not be that great, but that tower section might be an office area, and it’s compact enough that we might have enough time to find the stairs. Getting off the ground floor would give us a serious tactical advantage,” Jennifer suggested.

  Her analysis was dead on, so I didn’t hesitate and sprinted for the nearest door. The door was steel-framed, with security glass inserts, and had a simple wooden sign that read ‘Barrington Electronics, Shipping Office.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Gritting my teeth and hoping the simulation had managed to copy even a small portion of my current real-life speed and strength, I kicked the door just below the handle. The metal screeched, the glass pane splintered, and the metallic frame bent, but it didn’t give way. Not completely.

  “Holy shit,” Jennifer gasped. “Can you do that in reality too?”

  “Language!” I snapped as I backed away from the door, lining up for another strike. “And yeah, I could. I doubt this piece of… junk… door would have survived a single kick if this was real.”

  The second kick caused the door to explode open, scattering the safety glass around the small lobby.

  “Finally, everyone in!” I shouted as I slipped through the door. The area was split into two sections by a long, cheap, prefabricated counter covered in ancient computers, binders, and forms. Instead of spending the extra two or three seconds that would have been required to go through the small access hatch, I just vaulted the thing and made my way into the back.

  The door behind the desk led to a small storage area that appeared to be directly connected to the main shipping floor. There were a handful of shipping containers sprinkled throughout the area, but nothing that would provide serious cover. If the Antithesis managed to break in, we’d almost certainly get overrun.

  “Over here!” Deadbeat shouted. I backtracked and discovered there had been a set of stairs tucked into the corner of the storage area. The others were already making their way up.

  Just as I reached the stairs, there was a crash at the front of the building--the sound of the door being smashed open. Jennifer stopped where she was, halfwayup the stairs, and swiveled towards the noise.

  “Hey hey, hey…” I yelled, snapping my fingers to draw the girl’s attention. “Not the time to panic or freeze up. Get to a defensive area, THEN deal with your fears.”

  Jennifer shook her head, as if to clear it, focused on me, and nodded. As she sprinted up the stairs, I turned and grabbed hold of the nearest shelving unit and heaved. Even with my enhanced strength it was heavy and I needed to put my foot against the wall to get enough leverage to move it.

  A faint clicking noise echoed through the area just when I got the thing moving. The sound of claws on concrete. I glanced at the entrance just as the first Model Three wandered through.

  As the shelving units slowly collapsed, falling like titanic dominos, the creature looked up and stared at me. And stared.

  It didn’t even try to get out of the way when the final shelving unit finally collapsed, crushing the monster and partially blocking the door.

  [System Initialized.]

  [Congratulations. Through your actions you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of the Vanguard, a defender of…]

  “Nyx, turn this shit off!” I shouted as I retreated up the stairs, text filling my vision.

  Everyone was clustered at the top of the stairs. Jennifer and Deadbeat were collecting junk to create a barricade, while Nyx stood nearby. Supervising.

  “Nyx, what was that?” I demanded.

  “You encountered your first Model Three and proved yourself worthy of becoming a Samurai,” Nyx proclaimed. “Congratulations!”

  “Bull… shoot. That thing stood still and let me kill it. A real Model Three could easily have dodged it,” I growled. “That was a stationary target.”

  “Of course it was! Why do you think I deprived you of your catalogs? This isn’t an incursion; it’s a glorified shooting gallery for kids,” Nyx exclaimed. “A lot of people have trouble taking down a single Antithesis even when it stands still like that. It’s actually embarrassing. Don’t worry, it ramps up once everyone awakens.”

  “I don’t care about the difficulty, as long as Jennifer gets what she needs from the simulation,” I grumbled.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve already made a couple tweaks to the program. You won’t be disappointed,” Nyx replied.

  “Right…” I mumbled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the girls start stacking boxes, chairs, and such at the top of the stairs. I sighed and turned towards the pair. “One minute!”

  I jogged over to the nearest desk and toppled it over. It was far too big for me to carry properly, but I could easily drag it. It only took me a couple seconds to move it over and press it against the railings at the top of the stairs. “We want something solid at the top, so the Antithesis can’t just smash straight through. Pile stuff behind to give it weight, but leave enough space so someone can stand behind. This is probably going to be the best place to stop the early rush.”

  Jennifer nodded and immediately started moving items to reinforce the impromptu blockade. Deadbeat just stared at me, disappointingly. “You could have just told us that.”

  “The Threes are already breaking through downstairs,” I said. “No time.”

  There was a crunching sound downstairs, followed by the sound of footsteps. A lot of footsteps. Jennifer paled and took a step back, her hand reaching for her gun.

  I grabbed her trembling hand and waited until the girl met my gaze.

  “Deep breaths, try to stay calm, panicking won’t help you,” I said quietly. “Remember. I’ll be right here, and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She closed her eyes, and after a few long, slow exhales, the trembling stopped. “I’m ready.”

  “Good,” I said with a nod. “Because here they come.”

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