By the time you finish reading this sentence, your brain is already gone.
Jennifer slammed her book onto the desk and planted both hands on its surface.
She leaned forward until her face was only inches from Dante’s.
Her bright eyes narrowed into playful crescents.
A cunning smile appeared on her face and made her look like a fox that had just cornered its prey.
“Hey, Dante!
Low Shoulder is coming to Derry this weekend.
Everyone says they’re an incredible band.
Want to go with me?” She blinked her large blue eyes at him.
The excitement in them was impossible to hide.
Several boys sitting nearby immediately turned toward Dante.
Their jealous stares struck him like searchlights.
“What does she even see in him?” one of them muttered.
Dante remained sprawled against the back of his chair.
He lifted his eyelids and glanced at Jennifer before giving an exaggerated shrug.
“Sure.” He stretched out the word with an expression that made it seem as though he was doing her a tremendous favor.
“I’d probably start growing mushrooms if I stayed home all weekend anyway.” “Then it’s settled!” Jennifer clapped her hands before he could change his mind.
“Yeah,” Dante replied.
The dismissal bell rang a moment later.
The quiet classroom instantly exploded with movement.
Chairs scraped against the floor and lockers slammed in the hallway.
Conversations rose from every corner as students rushed toward the doors.
Everyone poured out of the classroom in small groups as though the school had caught fire.
Dante joined the crowd and took his time walking through the main entrance.
After leaving the school grounds he shoved his hands into his pockets and started down the familiar road leading home.
As he walked his thoughts returned to the ridiculous circumstances that had brought him into this world.
In his previous life Dante had been an ordinary law-abiding citizen of the twenty-first century.
He had never committed a serious crime or offended a supernatural being.
He had not discovered an ancient artifact or received a mysterious inheritance.
He had simply gone to the bathroom without checking whether there was any toilet paper.
Somehow that humiliating mistake had ended with him being transported into another world.
Whenever he remembered the reason behind his transmigration he felt a powerful urge to look toward the heavens and raise both middle fingers.
Of all the dramatic ways a person could leave their original world he had apparently drawn the bathroom incident.
Over the past several years Dante had gradually uncovered the truth about his new reality.
This was not an ordinary world.
It was a massive collision of American horror movies.
The town where he lived was Derry, Maine.
It was the same seemingly peaceful community haunted by an ancient creature that often appeared as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
Fortunately Dante had never encountered Pennywise.
He intended to keep it that way.
Farther south was Camp Crystal Lake.
Travel brochures described the area as peaceful and beautiful.
Dante knew better.
An undead mama’s boy wearing a hockey mask had turned the lake and its surrounding woods into his personal hunting ground.
Jason Voorhees had been killed more times than Dante could count.
That never seemed to stop him from returning.
Colorado had the Overlook Hotel and its long history of driving isolated caretakers insane.
Woodsboro, California seemed to suffer another series of masked murders every few years.
Then there was Elm Street in Springwood, Ohio.
Sleeping there could attract the attention of a burned killer who murdered people inside their dreams.
Dante could only imagine what property values were like in that neighborhood.
Who would willingly buy a house in a place where taking a nap could get them butchered by Freddy Krueger?
The more Dante learned about this world the more his head hurt.
Thankfully fate had not abandoned him completely.
Just when he began to believe surviving adulthood might be impossible his System had finally awakened.
“Open the System panel,” Dante whispered.
A translucent blue screen appeared in front of him.
[Name: Dante] [Gender: Male] [Age: 18] [Main Quest: ???] [Inventory: Ebony & Ivory, Sterling Silver Cross] [Abilities: Eidetic Memory, Sun-Blessed Constitution, Charm] [Pet: None] [Achievement: Ghost Hazard — Caused a ghost to trip over you three times] [Gold Coins: 999] [Basic Draw: 1,000 Gold Coins for ten draws] [Standard Draw: 100,000 Gold Coins for ten draws] [Premium Draw: 1,000,000 Gold Coins for ten draws] [Mythic Draw: 100,000,000 Gold Coins for ten draws] Dante stared at the bare panel and sighed.
His System was almost offensively simple.
It had no artificial intelligence and no mission guide.
There was no beginner tutorial or helpful assistant explaining how anything worked.
It did not even provide proper descriptions for most rewards.
To survive in a world filled with slashers, demons, ghosts, and ancient monsters he could only save his allowance and exchange the money for Gold Coins.
After living as cheaply as possible for several years he had finally managed to obtain a few things that might keep him alive.
Ebony and Ivory were unquestionably his greatest rewards.
The twin pistols possessed terrifying potential.
Carrying two enormous handguns around town would also attract more attention than any ordinary eighteen-year-old wanted.
The Sterling Silver Cross was much easier to conceal.
Dante looked at the number beside his Gold Coins.
“Only ten more dollars.” Once he converted that money he would finally have enough for another ten-draw.
“I’d better get something useful this time,” he muttered.
“A little extra protection would be nice when half the country seems determined to murder teenagers.” He dismissed the panel and looked toward the sky.
The setting sun hung above Derry like the pale face of a corpse.
Its weak light offered little warmth as shadows slowly stretched across the road.
Dante quickened his pace.
“I’m home!” he shouted after stepping through the front door.
His voice echoed through the quiet house.
He kicked off his shoes and headed toward the downstairs bathroom to wash his hands.
A gentle voice soon came from the kitchen.
“Dante, go upstairs and tell your sister dinner is ready.” The woman speaking was Sarah Connor.
She was Dante’s mother in this life.
When Dante first learned her name he had nearly jumped with excitement.
For a brief moment he thought he had been transported into the world of The Terminator.
He had even imagined Arnold Schwarzenegger walking through the front door in dark sunglasses and announcing that he would be back.
That fantasy collapsed when Dante discovered his father’s name.
John Connor.
In the movies John Connor was Sarah Connor’s son.
In this world John was her husband.
His parents had apparently become victims of an unfortunate naming coincidence.
Dante dried his hands and headed upstairs.
He stopped outside his sister’s bedroom and gently knocked on the door.
“Lily, dinner’s ready.” A faint sound came from inside.
The door slowly opened and revealed Lily Connor.
She stepped into the hallway and looked at him without saying much.
For some reason Dante had recently begun feeling uneasy whenever he saw his sister.
There was nothing visibly wrong with her.
She spoke normally and attended school.
She behaved the same way she always had.
Still an uncomfortable sensation stirred inside him whenever their eyes met.
Something felt different.
Dante had spent hours trying to understand the feeling.
He could never identify its source.
“Mom’s waiting,” he said.
Lily nodded and followed him downstairs.
Dinner passed without incident.
Afterward Sarah took Lily outside for an evening walk.
That left Dante and his father alone in the spacious kitchen.
John stood at the sink washing the dishes while Dante dried them.
After putting away the final plate Dante wiped his hands and turned toward his father.
“Dad, I need a hundred dollars.” John’s hands stopped beneath the running water.
He slowly looked over his shoulder.
“A hundred dollars?
What do you need that much money for?” “There’s a concert this weekend,” Dante answered without hesitation.
“I asked Jennifer to go with me.” He placed special emphasis on Jennifer’s name.
“I can’t embarrass myself in front of a girl.” John gave him a helpless smile.
He turned off the water and dried his hands against his apron before leaning back against the counter.
“You know your mother controls the family budget.” Before he could finish Dante smiled confidently.
“Inside the false bottom of the living-room vase.” John’s smile disappeared.
“Behind the base of the chandelier in the guest room.” His father’s eyes widened.
“And between pages thirty-six and thirty-seven of the world atlas in your study.” Dante folded his arms and looked at him with a smile.
“What do you think Mom would do if she discovered those?” John stared at his son in complete silence.
A few seconds later he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.
“Would two hundred be enough?” he asked immediately.
“You shouldn’t embarrass yourself in front of your friend.” Dante’s eyes lit up.
“That should cover it.” He accepted the money and slipped it into his pocket.
He hummed cheerfully as he turned around and left the kitchen.
John watched his son disappear up the stairs.
“When did that kid find all my hiding places?” he muttered.
“I need somewhere new before he cleans me out completely.” He shook his head and returned to the dishes.
Despite his complaint an affectionate smile remained on his face.
Dante entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him.
He tossed the money onto his desk before sitting down and summoning the System panel.
He separated ten dollars from the stack and held the bills in one hand.
“Convert.” The money vanished in a faint flash.
Ding!
[Gold Coins: 1,000] Dante leaned forward as anticipation filled his eyes.
These Gold Coins had taken far too long to collect.
In a world filled with supernatural killers another useless reward might eventually cost him his life.
He brought his hands together and silently prayed.
This time he desperately needed the System to give him something he could actually use.