One Minute to Midnight Read Online Free Page A

winding serpent stretching
from leather grip to tip.
    "My axe showed up, and now I have a
long red beard, too. What about you guys?"
    "I'm in a maroon robe with power
jewels around the shoulders and wrists, and running down the front
in a straight line. They're glowing, and I can feel a weird energy
running through me, like electricity. Seriously, this is weird. A
plant that was dead on my windowsill a few minutes ago just came
back to life. It stood straight up, and bloomed a pretty red
flower." Tony said.
    "Well, it looks like we have heals for
this dungeon! What do you have, Willy?" Scott asked.
    "I'm wearing a leather armor vest, a
cloth shirt, leather pants and boots, and a minute ago I jumped at
my wall, kicked off of it, and did a double back flip. My eyesight
feels way better. I can see a bird sitting on a fence post a mile
from my house through the bedroom window. It just took flight. Oh
yeah, my in-game crossbow and quiver of bolts is also sitting in
the corner of the room." Willy said.
    He picked up his crossbow, and hefted
the weight as he turned it in his hands. It felt more magnificent
in real life than he ever would have anticipated. The crossbow was
crafted from elderberry tree wood, and was decorated with ornate
iron plates on each side. This crossbow could fire three shots at
once, and although he had a quiver of bolts, Willy knew
instinctively that his shots would never run out, and he would
never need to reload. Just like in the game.
    "One second, I’ll be right back."
Willy put down the phone, aiming his weapon at a telephone pole
outside. Without nocking a single bolt, the weapon fired three
straight shots, each of them sinking into their target in a neat
vertical line, one atop the other.
"Boys, we are experiencing real magic in our time, and I appear to
be my hunter now. I say we roll with it and go take down this big
spider bitch!" Willy said.
    In twenty minutes, the three were in
front of Willy's house looking at each other in amazement, grinning
like little children in front of a large pile of Christmas
presents.
    "So, how do we get there? The park is
like six miles away, and if we walk it'll take until after dark."
Willy asked.
    As if on command, a huge black
warhorse with glowing red eyes, and breath that reeked of sulfur,
trotted around the corner to stand by Scott. As he nodded and
mounted up, a large jade green dragon landed next to Willy, and
then a white and black striped tiger with plate armor padded up
next to Tony. It had orange eyes that glowed like a Halloween jack
o' lantern. He purred at them, and bowed so that Tony could mount
his massive back.
    "Transportation! Let's go do this!"
Willy said, and they all high fived each other. Will took to the
sky following above them as he surveyed the land.
    On the horizon, where the park used to
be, was a large dark storm cloud stirring above the black castle.
The sky was turning purple as this cloud spread for miles in a huge
radius outside Baldwin Park. Lightning flashed as they drew closer.
People in the city had run inside, and now peered out their windows
like timid rabbits as the three warriors passed.
"Hey Scott, do you think we can die in real life by doing this? I
think we have the powers we do in the game right now, I can feel
it. But if we get killed by the end boss or her hordes, do you
think we’ll respawn, like in POW?" Tony asked.
    "I don't know, but I suspect you
better be on your A game with heals. Willy and I will keep them off
you, but don't stop healing us. There's no damage meter out here to
show you how bad we've been hit like in the game." Scott said. He
glanced over at Tony with raised eyebrows.
    "Gotcha, don’t worry, I've never let
you down yet." Tony said. "We must be getting close."
A shambling ghoul stumbled up the street toward them, lurching and
jerking. Scott rode up next to it and with one cleave, knocked its
head into the gutter as its body fell limp in the street. Five more
of his friends joined him, and