3 Trapped

Alex was forced awake early in the morning by the sound of knocking on his door and blood-curdling screams. Only a few hours passed since that dreadful encounter, and he was still intoxicated for the most part. Nonetheless, he was now sober enough to realize this wasn't a dream.

A panic-stricken, yet feminine voice echoed behind the door "Please! Open up! Is anyone in there!?!? They're going to get me!"

Unaware of the situation outside his room, Alex opened his door and noticed a young woman who had forced her way into his room before shutting and locking the door.

She had long dark hair which was tied up into a ponytail and matching dark eyes. Her pale skin contrasted her dark hair perfectly. She was of average height and weight, but she was noticeably busty.

Her partially ripped clothes were blood-stained and half revealing her undergarments. Tears flowed from her eyes, watering down her makeup and causing her comely face to look distressed. She sunk to her knees with her back to the door and sobbed without saying a word.

Alex, finally getting his bearings in order, could still hear numerous screams from outside. Though most kids went home to their families for the holidays, there were still a few who stayed at the dorms. Briefly reflecting upon memories, he realized a party had been thrown in the evening by the dorm residents for the holidays, which he wasn't a part of for numerous reasons. The primary of which was his fight transpired at roughly the same time.

"What the fuck is going on out there?" he shouted while shaking the woman's shoulders.

"…" she strived to speak but failed to do so.

She stared at Alex in the eyes before quietly muttering the phrase "monsters" As if she were afraid the very monsters were outside the door and could hear her.

"Monsters?" Alex questioned her sanity, but as he thought about it, the scene of the small green creature came back to haunt him.

"What do you mean monsters?" he shouted aggressively "shhh! They're in the hallway!" she whispered in a panic-induced voice.

The next moment he could hear monstrous growls at the door which preceded a violent pounding of it. The woman shrieked in panic.

Alex covered her mouth with a hand and whispered, "I don't know the situation outside, yet we'll fight them one at a time. After three seconds, I'll open the door, you lure one inside, and I'll shut the door and snap its neck."

The woman shook her head and sobbed, "I can't! I don't want to!"

Alex didn't have time to argue with this woman; the door could come down any minute. He backhanded her across the face and snapped her out of it.

"Do you want to live, woman? Then do what I fucking say!" he screamed at her at the top of his lungs.

She was shocked that he hit her, but at the same time, she nodded her head and moved into the position he planned for her.

As he moved into place to open the door, "one… two… three!" he exclaimed before opening the door slightly.

There were three goblins on the outside banging against the door with primitive clubs and tools. They gazed upon the frightened female in the doorway with lust as they clambered through the hole fighting for the first one through. Alex remained out of the goblin's sight while standing behind the door.

Once a single goblin passed through, he slammed the door shut and locked it. The lone goblin had already started its chase of the female but turned around after hearing the door's noise and the screeches of the goblins now locked behind it, only to be taken down by Alex immediately.

Alex grabbed the goblin around the waist from behind, lifted it into the air, and spiked it into the hardwood floor with a suplex. The goblin was knocked unconscious by the impact. Pinning down the goblin for safe measure, he grabbed its stone ax and began to smash its skull with the primitive weapon.

Alex needed only a single strike from the ax to split the goblin's head apart. Grey matter, bone, and blood spilling all over the hardwood flooring, forming a small puddle. A short message once again appeared in the bottom left-hand corner of his vision.

[You have slain a goblin and gain 23 xp].

Alex was beginning to get the feeling that he was trapped in an RPG, as he had often played video games in his spare time growing up. Outside of his athletic activities, that is. Nonetheless, this was reality now; he could no longer deny the fact. Staring at the goblin with its skull bashed in and his bloody stone ax, he moved behind the door once more.

The woman, still in shock at the sheer violence she had just witnessed from another human being, momentarily forgot to get into position. It wasn't that she hadn't seen such brutality; after all, she had witnessed what the other goblins had done throughout the dorm before hiding in this room. Nonetheless, she didn't believe a human being was capable of such savagery.

Alex glared at her, "psst! Hey woman! Get into position!"

With those words hissed at her, she returned to reality and calmed herself before going towards the door. At first, she was frightened at being bait, but now she was even more frightened of Alex after witnessing what he did to that goblin just now. She wouldn't easily disobey him at this point.

Alex once more opened the door slightly ajar, and the second goblin came running in, quickly trapped just like his comrade. He was marginally quicker than his companion as he immediately noticed something was amiss after seeing the smashed skull of his compatriot. The goblin reared its ugly head just in time to witness Alex swinging the blood-stained stone ax at his head.

He dodged quickly and charged at Alex with his crude stone dagger. Rather than let it get close, Alex push kicked it in the stomach thrusting it into the wall, quickly following up with a deadly strike to its skull, crushing it just like the one before.

[You have slain a goblin and gain 23 xp]

once more, the message entered his peripheral vision. So this was reality now? Suddenly the words of the old vagrant entered his head The end. 'The end has come.' He shook his head, trying to reacquire his focus, now wasn't the time to think about such things. Two goblins lie dead in his dorm room, one with its brains battered on the floor, and another lying against the wall with its head smashed apart.

"One more," he muttered before moving back into position.

The woman recovered from her shock much quicker this time and got into her place with a more determined face, a faint thought crossing her mind 'maybe I can survive with this guy's help.'

Alex opened the door for the third time; once more, the goblin rushed in like a horny fool towards the young woman. Before the goblin could even react, its head exploded from the impact of the ax being swung towards its head with full force by the young man wielding it.

[You have slain a goblin and gain 23 xp]

the familiar message appeared once more. However, this time, another note appeared

[Your skill in 1H Axes has increased to 1]

Alex briefly took notice of the change in messages before looking at his hands. His adrenaline began to wear off, and he started to realize the sheer brutality he had inflicted on the three goblins. His adrenaline-fueled state had brought him a brief moment of clarity; now that his moment of clarity had faded, he began to shudder at the vicious murders he had just committed. However, his mind began to rationalize the events that had transpired. Just as the human psyche often does when presented with a moral dilemma.

'Does killing goblins classify as murder?'

He thought to himself as the woman attempted to defuse the tension in the room. As Alex stared at his blood-stained hands that wielded a primitive stone ax marred with gore, she steadily approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him as he was visibly distressed.

His reflex took hold as he flinched and backed away from the woman before coming to his senses. A bitter smile formed on the woman's face as she thanked her savior.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to frighten you. My name is Emily. Thanks for…"

she cut her sentence short and motioned around the room. The gesture was self-explanatory. Alex turned his head away from the woman who thanked him and sighed as he attempted to regain composure.

"You can call me Alex." He stated bluntly as his mind shifted from the corpses that lie still in the room.