The Cutting Room Floor-Rush

I admit the Tale I am working on is not ready. These things take time. This particular thing takes even more time, apparently.

I decided to give you something else instead, something I will never show to anyone who in not a Patron. I will show you a very rough scene that was cut from the very first version of The Game at Carousel before it hit Royal Road. I then started to rework it for the published manuscript, but decided against including it. That's right, this scene was cut twice. I'm not sure if it should have been. It is not edited. Keep your red pens capped please.

Aside from needing a few more drafts before being finished (it was cut very early), it presents entirely concepts that I later decided were just not worth adding at that time. If you see a term you don't recognize, just assume it was taken out. There are a few.

It takes place after The Final Straw II.

The main defunct concept is a "Rush" which is an arcade-like version of a fight with a monster that sometimes occurs when you don't trigger a storyline. Not all monster encounters would result in a Rush. Most monsters would just kill you, but I liked the idea of having encounters that were not 15-chapter commitments and I experimented with this.
I knew I could wait to introduce some of the features I wanted because Project Rewind would give me an opportunity for a mini-reboot after I had my ideas better developed.


Without further ado, here is, "Rush".
____

After having a few classes in a row, we were given some time off to just relax and get our minds right. Because we had something big coming.

A few days later, Todd approached us and directed us to arrive at a school bus that was parked on the property belonging to the camp. Janet refused to go, Bobby decided to go without her. The rest of us reluctantly went. Kimberly didn't want to, but we were obligated. We were assured that we would be safe, and it was clearly something that was expected of us to help us grow as players. They were careful never to give us enough time off that we could grow too comfortable. They were very clear that that was important.

On our days off, we would watch as teams of players would go out for their storylines and would often come back later that day drained mentally. But always cheerful that they didn't have to go out to another storyline for a while. This was a daily occurrence. At night, in the campfire, people would burn their trophies, their monsters' body parts, their slashers mementos, all for hopes of having better luck in their coming storylines. We had yet to learn about trophies, but that would soon change.

The bus said Camp Dyer on the side. It was small and yellow. When we went to load onto it, we were surprised to see that it already had occupants. Half a dozen of the campers were sitting on the bus ready to go. This took us by surprise, but we took our seats anyway. When Todd got on after us, he looked at us and asked, "Are we ready to go?" and all the campers cheered. Todd got into the driver's seat and backed us out onto the road, and we began driving away. Todd explained, "It's a trick we learned. If you bring a bunch of NPC's with you in a vehicle like this, Omens won't try to trigger against you. Still have to be careful, but at least they won't run out in front of the bus. It's a shield."

Approximately 15 minutes later, we found ourselves on a dirt road somewhere in carousel, bumping along on the uncomfortable bus seats. Eventually finding our way to a gate next to a barbed wire fence. The sun had started to go down. We weren't gone long enough for that; it should have been morning, and yet, by the time we got to the end of the road and parked under a tree by the barbed wire fence, it was already dusk. 

Todd explained this; he said, "You know you're getting near a storyline. Sometimes whenever the time of day changes, some things only happen at certain times of day. Other things, well, they change the time of day. Some places in Carousel are always night, some places are always noon. In this place, well, it's always sunset. Come on, we've got to avoid the big house."

He got out of the bus and shut it off. We followed him off the bus, but as I walked along, I looked behind us. 

I asked, "What about them?" 

Todd looked at where I was pointing. The campers that we had taken with us were all still sitting on the bus. 

Todd said, "I don't see the problem. The windows are down." And then he turned and walked back in the direction he was heading. With one last glance back at the young NPCs, I went forward to follow Todd and my friends.

On what appeared to be the backside of the property, there was a large house up on a hill. We weren't going there. I didn't have to guess why. 

"There's an omen here up by the big house," Todd explained. "We need to avoid that. But there's something you got to understand about Carousel. Just because you're not in a storyline does not mean the monsters in that storyline stop existing. To the contrary, the monsters are always there most of the time. But they stick to the confines of their lairs. So you just have to avoid their lairs. But that begs the question, what happens if you don't?

"Well, if you're in a storyline and you go into a monster lair from a different storyline, you're good as toast. Don't do that. Stick to the set of your original story unless you have no other choice. But if you come across a monster layer when you're not in a storyline, sometimes what you get is something we call a Rush. Well, we don't call it that. That's just what it's called. Follow me. We got somebody to meet."

He took us further up the dirt road, past a row of trees that were dark as night and impenetrable to our view. Eventually, we found another small dirt path just big enough for a car that wasn't well marked, and we followed down it. 

As we went along, we saw a pickup truck at the end of the road we were on. We walked further and further until we were near it. Behind the pickup truck was an old man wearing a cowboy hat and a neatly trimmed mustache. He looked absolutely panicked when we got near the truck. 

He looked at us and said, "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here," and then he started looking between us and the forest, afraid that something was going to happen.

"What's the problem here, friend?" Todd asked. 

"Ohh, I shouldn't tell you," the man said. 

"Oh, come on. We're friendly around here," Todd said, pressing further. 

"You really shouldn't be here, but oh, it's too late for you to turn back," the man said quickly. "You're going to need these." He lowered down the tailgate of his truck and uncovered a blanket that had been laid out. Underneath it was an assortment of old firearms. There was a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, and several small pistols. 

"Here take 'em," the man said. His name was Levi on the red wallpaper. He was an NPC. "You're going to need these if you want to live because they're coming, and it's all my fault," he said.

Todd instructed us to each grab a pistol or a gun. He gave the rifle to Antoine. 

Todd himself, it turned out, was carrying firearms of his own. I didn't know that because he was wearing a jacket, but he soon revealed both of them. 

"All right," Todd said. "We're not inside of a storyline, so if things start going bad, run back to the bus. Monsters in Rushes will stay within the geographic limits of the Rush. You can die here, but I suggest you don't."

In the distance, I heard a fluttering tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. 

I couldn't tell what it was. It was coming from the tree line, the small patch of woods that separated where we were from the big house up on the hill. To be honest, I was freaking out internally. 

Kimberly hid behind Antoine; Antoine stood ready with his rifle. Anna held the shotgun more confidently than I would have. 

"Don't fire that shotgun until they get close," Todd instructed. Anna nodded. Little did he know that Anna knew very well how to use a gun. Her father had been sure to instill that lesson. But still, she shook. I suppose that all the deer that she killed didn't prepare her mentally for what was about to come.

Moments after the sound began, a sea of blackness started to pour out of the forest. Dozens of small many-legged creatures, the size of Yorkshire Terriers, poured from the darkness, heading straight toward us. 

"When you're out of ammo, hand your gun to me. I'll reload it for you," Todd said. There was a bucket full of bullets in the back of the truck. I wouldn't even know which ones went with which gun, except for the obvious ones.

In the distance, they didn't look real. They looked like puppets. That changed as they got close - they were giant spiders with glowing eyes. 

As we waited for them to come upon us, I wondered how it would be possible for us to kill all of these with only firearms. I would have brought napalm had I known what we would be doing that day. 

But as they got close to us, 100 feet away or so, the man Levi pulled out a spotlight. 

"All right, fire at the spiders in the spotlight," Todd said. The NPC has a trick of his own that will help your aim. As long as you're firing at what he's pointing at, you understand?"

I understood, but still, it was very difficult to believe. 

As the spiders drew near, Antoine was the first to take a shot. A spider he hit with his rifle practically exploded as soon as the bullet hit it. 

And then, it was on. 

Dina was quick to start firing away with her little pistol. She didn't have the smirk that I expected her to, but she did have a look of extreme focus, as if this was the most important thing that she could be doing at that moment. She was completely at ease, and she showed very little fear. 

Anna was steady, waiting for the spiders to draw near for her to use her weapon, which was much more close range than ours. 

I fired my gun at whatever spider I could see in the spotlight, their eyes glowed back at me, reflecting the light. I managed to kill one, but it didn't explode the way that Antoine's had. My gun was less powerful, and another factor intervened.

"OK, here it is," Todd said after we had killed a few spiders. Out of the forest, a larger spider started to come. The spider was easily as big as a golden retriever, much bigger than the others, it was also faster and quickly made its way toward us. 

"OK, Antoine, give your rifle to Riley." 

He did, as instructed. 

The NPC pointed his spotlight at the giant spider.

"Anna, I want you to kill any of the small spiders that get close. But, Riley, I want you to try and shoot that big spider," Todd said.

I took my aim with the rifle, eyed up my shot, and pulled the trigger. I hit it somewhere in its carapace, but I did not see any noticeable change in the spider's behavior. It might have paused for a bit, but it continued coming forward. 

"Now, Camden, take the rifle, fire at the spider." 

Camden did, just as instructed, firing upon the spider, causing a little bit of a hesitation, more than mine did, but still the spider walked freely toward us. 

"Now, Kimberly, take the rifle." 

Kimberly was a shaking mess; she might have fired three shots the entire practice. But when instructed, she did take the rifle. She pulled out the gun and fired at the spider. I honestly couldn't even tell if she hit it. 

"Now hand it to me so I can reload."

Kimberly was quick to be rid of the rifle, and Todd had impressive speed with it. He quickly moved rounds from his hand into the chamber of the gun or whatever part has. Then he handed the rifle back to Antoine. 

The spider was getting close, now 15 meters away. Antoine took aim and fired. The first shot blew off two of the spider's legs; his second shot cracked its exoskeleton in a way that caused strange green fluid to ooze out from its underside , and his third shot stopped the spider in its tracks. All the while, Anna was blasting small spiders to smithereens with her shotgun.

As they got close to the group, we continued to pick our spiders until eventually, they stopped coming. We might have killed hundreds in total. It wasn't difficult; they came straight for us, and they were easy to kill. Easier for some than others. Kimberly complained that she didn't get one kill. That was the truth; she didn't get any.

"So what did you just learn?" Todd asked as the last of the spiders stopped wiggling. 

"That Antoine's good with a gun," Camden said. 

"And that his high mettle helps him kill things," Kimberly added. 

"That's it," Todd said. "Antoine has a higher mettle than you right now. Not that much higher, but still higher comparatively. He's going to be better than you at everything that requires a show of force like using a gun. Your shots did damage, not much, but they did do damage. His shots were always better. See that large spider out there is about the same level as you, and his grit was a three. Then either Kimberly, Riley, Camden, as a result, your ability to kill it was, well, practically 0.

"However, Antoine has a mettle of four. Comparatively, he has a higher mettle than the spider had grit. His gun was able to do more damage, even the same gun hitting the same spider was able to do more damage each time he hit it. This is an important lesson in figuring out what your place on the team is. In time, you're going to learn exactly how difficult it is to step outside of your role on the team. 

"But for now, let me tell you, if you have a gun, make sure Antoine's carrying it or Anna, possibly. If you're in a fight, smart people with high savvy should be making plans; strong people with high mettle should be doing the fighting. And anyone who has neither should be hiding," he said, looking at Kimberly.

"Well, thank you for your help," Levi said. "I don't know what I'm going to do about this every night they come. If it wasn't for you, I would have been overwhelmed." 

"No problem," Tom said. "Glad to be of help."

We loaded back into the bus, leaving the guns behind because apparently, we wouldn't get to keep them anyway, and made our way back to camp. Luckily, the NPC campers were in a good mood still, acting as if they hadn't just been abandoned on a bus for an hour. Todd promised to get them ice cream, but he never did, and yet they didn't seem to notice.