Father rolled to a stop near the parking garage housing all the Hardbody Crustaceans that he had hurdled. Getting the gun was potentially worth it, but there was a whole crowd of them and only one had a firearm. It didn’t seem worth it to fight the whole horde without a weapon only to get a single one.

  There were all kinds of sea creatures in the Reef that he hardly knew. Many runs back, he had been killed by a huge grouper that wasn’t even a checkpoint boss. He still couldn’t imagine fighting that thing.

  Deciding what to do next wasn’t some easy feat. Intelligence and luck couldn’t make choices for him. Whatever happened was still entirely Father’s decision. Fighting a whole horde of sea creatures to get a gun or going to fight a giant grouper were choices that would likely result in restarting at the checkpoint with no benefits.

  The real pain of restarting at the checkpoint was the idea of having to drive back to the Reef. Even with time resetting, Father experienced every minute of each life. There was an odd sense of calm without needing to worry about the concept of ‘wasting time,’ but having to drive back repeatedly would feel like a waste of his patience.

  He was better off finding a route to the Buttress so he could continue his search, maybe find a second checkpoint, and get at least half a step closer to finding his Son. Getting weapons could wait for a run when he knew where to go.

  Father kept driving, moving slowly through the streets of the Reef. Nothing looked familiar, and he wasn’t sure if it ever would. If things went well, he wouldn’t reach run 40 or beyond. Hopefully.

  Street signs gave names he’d never heard and old coral buildings blocked out much of the light on the narrow alleyways. Father wove back and forth, checking and double checking the road signs. After about an hour, and after finally leaving the parking garage, Father pulled up to a red light and found the sign he was looking for.

  “Reef Flat Road.” He smiled and felt some sense of accomplishment until the realization that he had no idea which way to turn dawned on him. It wasn’t as simple as east or west. It wasn’t up or down or left or right. He had been swerving back and forth through the city for an hour, so direction was now meaningless in his mind.

  As soon as the light turned green, Father swore, slammed on the gas, and turned right. The other cars around him seemed confused, especially after seeing such a sexy lobster driving a car. The tires squealed, sending bubbles into the water.

  He nearly lost control of the car for a moment, but calmed down, slowed down, and realized he had definitely seen that portion of the city before. In the middle of the road, Father cranked the wheel to do a full u-turn. His wheels bumped into the median, bounced his car over, and roughly fell onto the other side. Throughout the entire maneuver Father swore repeatedly and clenched the wheel with enough force that he was worried his claws might cut right through it.

  As soon as Father’s back tires drove off the median, a flash of headlights caused Father to squeeze his eyes shut.

  Returned to Checkpoint 1.

  Beginning Run 32.

  Attributes set.

  Strength 5

  Endurance 10

  Agility 0

  Intelligence 20

  Luck 15

  Class set.

  Sharpshooter.

  Father stood in the manager’s office inside Trash Co. and just sighed. He had fully panicked over driving the wrong direction. After getting in so many different fights and shootouts, he died from taking an illegal u-turn.

  “What an idiot,” Father said. He sighed and shooed the isopods away. On his way through the lobby, Father grabbed a handgun and checked his abilities. Instead of wasting all of his ammo this time, he could be more strategic and try an ability on the pigfish that didn’t burn everything.

  Shrapnel Shot

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Ricochet

  Sparkle

  The bullet needed to kill both pigfish without destroying their weapons or the car, so Father decided ricochet would probably be the best option. Sparkle just sounded like a lesser form of ignition, which had used his ammo and destroyed the vehicle.

  As soon as the pigfish stopped, Father aimed one handgun.

  Ricochet

  He expected the ability to be ready, but when Father started to squeeze the trigger, new words appeared in his vision.

  Are you sure?

  Father stopped just short of firing the handgun. “What?”

  Low luck.

  Ricochet requires a minimum of 25 luck.

  Are you sure you wish to activate Ricochet?

  The pigfish scrambled for their own guns. The one in the passenger seat unbuckled and opened the door.

  Yes.

  Father pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through the open window, but missed the pigfish driver’s head. It struck the interior of the car and bounced again and again. Blood burst into the water and created a vibrant smokescreen for the pigfish inside.

  The bullet flew out and passed right by Father’s head. It left a small trail of bubbles that quickly vanished.

  Father held his breath and just waited.

  The driver’s door opened, allowing more blood to drift out from inside the car. A pigfish stumbled out with multiple bleeding wounds. It tried lifting its handgun, but its fins just fell limp at the side.

  Father walked up, pressed his gun against the pigfish’s head, and fired. He let the fish fall to the ground as he watched the other side, waiting for the second cop.

  The pop of gunfire made Father flinch. He dropped low, squatting beside the dead pigfish. Three more shots fired and passed through the cloud of blood before the second pigfish revealed itself.

  However the bullet bounced inside, it seemed to have mostly missed the second pigfish. Whether that was just through the lack of luck that Father had or how the pigfish had opened the door, the cop only had one bleeding injury somewhere near its shoulder. With the number of times the bullet had bounced inside, it seemed impossible for it to have missed all but one time.

  Father dropped lower and rushed to the side of the police car as the pigfish opened fire. Bullets whizzed by, leaving little trails through the water. Father felt the hot sting of a wound in his abdomen, but his endurance kept it from crippling him. Without the bonus attributes, Father doubted he could withstand a single bullet. He wasn’t sure how anyone normally kept going after being struck.

  When the pigfish’s gun was finally empty, Father popped up, aimed, and fired. The bullet passed through the pigfish’s teeth and out the back of its head.

  To even get to 25 luck, Father would need to sacrifice all of his endurance and strength or a portion of his intelligence. Or some combination of it all. The only thing that made sense was that higher luck would give Father more favorable bounces because it still seemed that ricochet worked correctly even without the right luck score.

  Father looted both officers, then stood outside the car and waved his claw through it to dispel some of the bloody cloud. Much of it had already washed away, but not enough for Father to willingly sit inside.

  It took another few minutes before the car was somewhat clean enough to get inside. There were nicks and holes all over the inside where the bullet had bounced off. Parts of the windshield were chipped and entire sections of the steering wheel had fallen off. It was still in better shape than when he had burned the interior.

  Father started his drive back to the Reef. Instead of dreading the commute or thinking about anything he would do upon arrival, Father spent the drive thinking about why he panicked over driving the wrong direction. Why was it such a big deal? Why do an illegal turn? There was a reason they were illegal, as he had found out.

  Maybe it wasn’t panicking. Maybe starting over was just easier. He had made a mistake and instead of trying to fix it, he just got to take a step back and restart. It probably wasn’t that simple, but he wasn’t a psychiatrist and he didn’t have the patience or time to see one.

  “Reef Flat Road,” he said, reminding himself. “A left on Reef Flat Road.” A left, in this case, was north. That would only matter if he came at the road from a different angle, but it was a t-intersection, so that probably wasn’t going to be an issue.

  For his 32nd run, Father’s only goal was to find the Buttress. Learning about a second checkpoint that would eliminate the drive would be a great bonus, but he needed to do one thing at a time. Sometimes simple was best.

  Reef Flat Road.

  Through the fancy Crests.

  Down the hill.

  Mister Logs had no reason to lie, so Father just hoped the directions would prove useful. He had already struggled enough with Reef Flat road. His confidence in himself wasn’t the best at the moment.

  But did it matter? He’d figure it out. On this run or the next. Confidence was earned, just like he’d taught his Son. Pretend until it’s true. Force yourself into acting confident. Father had already made it through so many battles after a lifetime of calm.

  Maybe he didn’t need to convince himself. He’d made it to the Reef on his own. He’d beaten Mister Logs a handful of times.

  He could do this.

  Father stopped at the same stoplight. He took a deep breath. It was all fine. There was no reason to panic.

  Father looked into his rearview mirror out of habit. A police car stopped behind him. The two pigfish inside looked worried as the driver spoke into the radio and the other typed away at some dashboard computer.

  Father looked at the computer on his own dashboard. He didn’t know much about police cars and hadn’t thought much about it. He tapped at the screen. It asked for a password.

  “Yeah, that makes sense.” Father turned his attention back to the mirror. His eyes flicked between it and the red light. As soon as it turned green, he would—

  The Reef police lights flashed.

  Father put his car in park. “I do need more ammo.”