After days of repetition and death after painful death, Father was starting to truly feel the muscle memory kick in. Every movement with the guns was practised. Every trigger pull was efficient. Few bullets missed. He painted Trash Co. with blood.

  Perhaps it was just the maxed out luck, but in his mind, Father was a natural born killer. The Hardbody Crustaceans had messed with the wrong shellfish.

  1st Checkpoint Boss

  Mister Logs

  Father shot twice. The bullets found eel eyes and spurted geysers of blood into the water. He couldn’t believe he had been leaving luck empty.

  The eel pounced, leaping from the shadows. Father stepped to the side and emptied the handguns. Many of the bullets had sunk harmlessly into the eel’s flesh, but enough had snuck their way into his mouth that a cloud of blood flowed out and turned the water murky.

  1st Checkpoint Boss

  Mister Logs

  Defeated.

  Continue or Return to Start?

  Father tapped Continue. His mind already whirled with possibilities. His incredible luck could help any sharpshooter abilities, but they also required some intelligence, so they might not even work without at least some points.

  No strength or agility would make any of those classes difficult to manage, and maybe they wouldn’t even give him any benefits. That would make the choice completely useless.

  There was only one that was entirely focused on luck.

  Choose a Class.

  Brawler - A fast-hitting, relentless fighter with close quarters combat. Adept with martial arts and melee weapons. Brawlers gain abilities through use of different weapons. Favors a mixture of Strength, Endurance, and Agility.

  Athlete - Outrun, outlast, out perform opponents through athletic prowess. Athletes gain a basic set of abilities related to performance. Adept with sports-related gear and all sports-related activities. Favors Endurance and Agility.

  Gambler - A reckless class for those who search for a thrill. Favors Luck.

  Wizard - Spell-slinging master of the arcane. Wizards gain a basic set of abilities to use immediately, but must find tomes or scrolls to unlock their true power. Favors Intelligence.

  Clown - Jokes, humor, horror, and hostility. Clowns, despite their intended nature, are a horror unlike anything else. Adept at Intimidation and Fear, Clowns do not have preferred weapons or fighting styles. Abilities are gained through creating fear in other creatures. Favors Agility and Intelligence.

  Sharpshooter - When seeing the life in your enemy’s eyes is too much, shoot them from afar. Adept with all firearms. Sharpshooters gained abilities through wielding different firearms. Favors Intelligence and Luck.

  Drunkard - When reliving your worst moments and repeating your failures become too much, you can readily enter a drunken haze until your inevitable death. Will automatically result in a ‘Return to Start’ upon death. Comes with one ability. Favors nothing.

  Gambler

  Confirm?

  Father clicked confirm and shivered.

  Checkpoint 1 Reached.

  He looked around, expecting something different. Other than the odd taste of eel blood seeping into his mouth, things seemed pretty much the same as before. Father stuck his handguns into the front waistband of his shorts and went to retrieve the shotgun from the side of the wall.

  It was gone.

  In its place was a deck of cards, some dice, and a single coin.

  Father grabbed each and looked for any tricks or secrets. As far as he could tell, they were simple cards, dice, and a real metal coin that looked a fair bit corroded.

  After opening the pack of cards and reaching for one, Father froze.

  Draw

  Divine

  Call

  At least draw and call seemed like game-related abilities, which really didn’t seem all that helpful for combat. Was divine a verb or an adjective? To use divination? Son’s Mother was into tarot cards, but that was a special deck. It was nothing like playing cards.

  An isopod sprinted through the lobby, tripped, and smacked his face on the ground like he intentionally whipped just his nose into the floor.

  “Pleven?”

  The isopod gasped and lifted his face. Blood drifted from some hole near his beady black eyes. “Who are you?”

  “Just a friend of Mister Logs.” Father tried to reach back and close the door, but all that did was send a whoosh of eel blood into the lobby. “An old friend. We’re not friends anymore.”

  “Oh.” Pleven rubbed at what Father presumed was his nose. “Do you need me to do something?”

  “Yes, actually.” Father stuck the cards in his waistband next to the guns and put the coin and dice into his pocket. “Follow me.”

  Pleven stood on his toes to look at the dead receptionist, but seemed completely unphased. He stopped outside the police car and pulled on the handle. “Where are we going?”

  “That doesn’t bother you?” Father said, nodding back toward Trash Co.

  “What?”

  “The blood. The dead fish.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “You should’ve seen the hallway. Someone killed all of my coworkers. Good thing I was late. I just decided I’d take the rest of the day off. No one can tell me not to. You know?”

  “Sure.” Father sat inside and unlocked Pleven’s door.

  The isopod climbed inside and sat in the seat that was far too big for such a small creature. He kicked his legs, which barely made it over the edge of the seat.

  “You don’t like your coworkers?”

  “I do.” Pleven started poking at the radio. “All the good ones weren’t here when the murders happened, I guess.”

  “Good luck.”

  “I’ve been told.” He pulled the actual radio mouthpiece off the dashboard and clicked the side. “Is this thing on? Any big booties in the trench?” He let go, then gasped and pressed it again. “Over.”

  Father snatched the radio from Pleven. “Maybe let’s not do that. I’m not actually a police officer. We don’t want more attention than we already have.”

  Pleven snorted. “You’re not an officer? Really? In those shorts? I can spot an undercover police officer from a mile away.”

  Father thought of making another comment, but couldn’t imagine what it might accomplish. He put the car in drive and pulled away from Trash Co. before Pleven could start connecting any dots.

  The isopod watched eagerly out the window. “Where are we going?”

  “The Reef.”

  “The big city? Ooh! Wow! For what? Some undercover work?”

  There wasn’t any harm in lying. “Yes. I need to find a gang.” It was only partially a lie anyway. Father chuckled to himself. Debating the morality of lying when he had just killed so many people seemed utterly ridiculous.

  “Oh, a gang!” Pleven reached for the radio again, but Father slapped the isopod’s hand away. “I know a gang! I can tell all your friends about it.”

  “We have to keep this operation a secret.” Father turned out of the trench and onto the highway that would take them to the Reef.

  Pleven reached up and flicked on the switch to turn on the police lights. Red and blue painted the kelp on both sides of the highway.

  “Might as well,” Father muttered. He slammed on the gas. “Let’s get there in record time.”

  Pleven braced his hands against the door and center console and started screaming.

  It was easily Father’s fastest trip to the Reef. He turned the lights off as he hit the bridge and drove casually into the city.

  He rolled through town, listening to Pleven point out every little thing. The isopod was rather active and scatterbrained. Every little thing pulled his attention in a new direction.

  When Father finally stopped outside the parking garage, Pleven bounced in his seat.

  “We’re here? Do I get a gun?” The isopod’s beady black eyes searched Father. “You don’t even have a gun. Where’s your gun?”

  “Right here.” Father tapped his claw against his waistband.

  “Your gonopod?”

  “No, no. Why do you know what that is? No.” Father reached into his shorts and pulled out a card.

  “That’s not my card,” Pleven said.

  Father sighed. All of his guns were gone. Gambler was turning out to be more frustrating than interesting or entertaining. If the abilities were anything like he expected, he would be dying a painful, humiliating death.

  He had wanted to get the gun from the Hardbody Crustacean in the parking garage. There was a chance it was better than anything he had before. Unfortunately, getting the gun now would just make it poof into confetti or something.

  Luck clearly didn’t stop him from making a mistake.

  Father quickly turned to Pleven. “Have you ever used a gun before?”

  “Yeah.” The isopod moved several arms to mimic holding a gun. “Shooting bottles in the backyard.”

  “Great. Perfect. We’re going to go stop these Hardbody Crustaceans and take their gun. You get to use that.”

  Pleven shook his head. “No, not interested. Hardbody Crustaceans are too serious. They won’t take killing some of them lightly. I don't want to be hunted for eternity or strung up and battered like some cod. I thought it was a different gang.”

  Father rolled his eyes and opened the car door. “Fine. Stay here. I’ll handle it.”

  “Without guns?”

  “Yes.” Father pulled the deck of cards from his waistband.

  Draw

  Divine

  Call

  Father pulled up the ability information as he walked across the street, slowly heading toward the group of Hardbody Crustaceans inside the parking garage.

  Draw

  Pull a random card from the deck and use the corresponding ability.

  Ability cannot be canceled upon drawing a card.

  Father wasn’t sure about that one. Having high luck would likely play a major factor in drawing decent or even helpful abilities, but being forced to cast something that could cause harm to himself seemed like the kind of gamble he wouldn’t want to make.

  Divine

  See a path forward.

  Read the fortune of yourself or another creature.

  It was vague, but potentially helpful. If he knew what was going to come, he could avoid taking serious damage. It would be beneficial in his fight against Doctor Holo.

  “Hey!” A catfish thrust a finger at Father. “Who invited this soft-shelled bitch?”

  The blue crab pulled the odd gun from his waistband and waved it carelessly. “You lookin’ for trouble, old man?”

  Call

  Match an attack directed at you.

  Must be attacked before sending equal damage back.

  That really was a gamble. Father could probably kill a lot of people with that ability, but he had to survive the attack first. Choosing gambler with a high endurance would probably work if he focused only on using call.

  “Are you listening, old man?” the blue crab shouted. He walked to the entrance of the parking garage and held the gun up with one claw.

  Before all of this began, Father would’ve looked at the blue crab like he was intimidating. Maybe he would have even considered him cool. Now that Father knew far more about guns, he could tell the blue crab was an idiot.

  Draw

  Father pulled a card from the deck. It practically offered the card into his claw. He flipped it over and looked at a simple white card with a red line running up the center.

  It had one word across the top.

  Laser

  “Oh.” Father felt a ping of energy in his arm. He quickly pointed his claw at the blue crab.

  A thin red laser shot from the very tip of his claw and easily punctured the blue crab’s head and scorched the distant coral.

  All of the other Hardbody Crustaceans shouted and charged toward Father.

  Draw

  A quick look at the card just showed a giant pink cloud.

  Cotton Candy

  “What could that possibly do?”

  The same ping of energy made Father aim his claw like some beam of lethal cotton candy might shoot out.

  The catfish ran up with a machete raised. Father’s eyes went wide at the gleam of the sharp blade.

  He felt another ping as the ability activated.

  The catfish smashed a blade of cotton candy onto Father’s head. It deformed over Father’s head before dissolving into the water.

  “He’s a witch!” The catfish swung a fin instead.

  Father was too shocked about the transformation of the deadly blade into cotton candy to dodge or counter. He took the full force of the catfish’s punch directly to his nose.

  Call

  The catfish stumbled back with blood oozing in a red stream from his nose. “A witch! Boys, get him!”

  Father took a step away as a baseball bat swung through the water. Some other claws and fins smacked him, but nothing with real force. To fight, he would need to gamble again.

  Draw

  Rainstorm

  Father looked up. He was barely outside of the parking garage, so he could only barely see the distant surface of the ocean. When the ping of energy in his arm signaled him that the ability started, Father couldn’t see a thing. Maybe the sky above the ocean got darker, but none of that really mattered.

  A crab kicked Father between the legs.

  Call

  Father fell to his knees, but so did the crab.

  Something clicked behind Father.

  “I’ve never used one of these,” Pleven said.

  Father ducked and covered his head.

  Pleven released a brief stream of bullets. It lasted only a split second, but the damage was thorough. The spray had killed three fish and a crab, and covered the parking garage with bullet holes.

  Father pulled another card from the deck.

  Draw

  Sword

  He swapped the deck into his left hand. As soon as he felt the ping, a full arming sword appeared in his claw. His first swing slapped the flat end against a fish face. He whipped it back and chopped deep into a crab’s shell before the sword got stuck.

  Father yanked and nearly pulled the crab off his feet. It was a game of tug-of-war that resulted in crab blood pouring into the water. Meanwhile, other Hardbody Crustaceans found weapons and beat Father.

  Call

  Call

  Call

  He finally pulled the sword free, and with a little flash of light, the weapon disappeared. Father immediately reached for another card, but found the container empty.

  Recharging . . .

  Please wait.

  “Watch out!” Pleven shouted.

  A baseball bat cracked across Father’s face. Another kick hit him between the legs. The Hardbody Crustaceans swarmed.