“Doesn’t look like it…” Esmay answered Press, before looking to Simon and shrugging. “Don’t know. But it scared them off, regardless. Could’ve attacked us, but it didn’t.”
	Her face fell at Strauss’ words and got a better look at the cut on his arm. As narrow as it looked, blood seeped from it.
	“This is real, then, to some extent,” she muttered, thinking aloud. “You wouldn’t have felt that if it was [i]just[/i] a game, right?” Panic tried to push its way through her as she watched Strauss cut his sleeve. She inhaled, doing her best to shove it back down. There was no use in panicking. It wouldn’t get her anywhere.
	[i]That wolf didn’t attack us,[/i] she thought on the positive side, [i]so maybe not [u]everything[/u] in this game world’s out to get us.[/i]
	[b]“Why would it matter if it hurts?”[/b] Alex’s insensitivity made Esmay glare at him. [b]“All that matters in games such as this is that we simply enjoy ourselves.”[/b]
	“You think so?” Esmay's brows rose. “How about I jab you a few times?” She held her knife up with the offer. “We’ll see how much ‘enjoying’ you’d be doing when you’re limping behind us ‘because it hurts’ and get eaten by who knows what.”
	She shook her head and ran her free hand down her face. She turned her attention to the surrounding woods, searching for any dead branches on the ground she could carve into a point. Or perhaps a treasure chest or a traveling merchant who didn’t have murder in his eyes. Anything that might be or hold a better weapon.
	[b]“It’s not a video game. We’re in purgatory.”[/b]
	“If [i]I[/i] was wearing those shoes,” Esmay glanced to Sarah’s inappropriate footwear with as sincere of a grin as she could, trying to keep the mood light, “I’d say that, too.”