I could think again. And with thought came strategy. Three items. I could have three items. What did I need? What was the most important thing for survival?
Fire. I needed fire. But how?
I didn't have a lighter in the house. I was a builder, not a smoker. I had matches, but they were probably in a drawer somewhere, and I didn't have time to search the entire blueprint of my house.
What else?
A weapon. Something to defend myself against… whatever else lived out here. The wolves from my dream? The roar I'd heard?
I thought about the tools in my workshop. Saws, drills, nail guns. Most of them were useless without power. But some were simple, brutal, and effective.
My hammer. My Estwing. It was more than a tool; it was a part of me. I'd used it to build my house.
I'd used it to defend myself in my dream. I focused on the image of my workshop in the blueprint, on the pegboard where my hammer always hung.
[Item Detected: [20 oz. Estwing Claw Hammer].
[Durability: 95/100. Special Properties: Perfect Balance, +5 to User Competence.]
"Materialize," I said, my voice stronger now.
The blue light shot out again, and my hammer appeared in the snow next to me. I picked it up. The weight was familiar, comforting. It felt right in my hand. I was no longer just a freezing man in a field of snow. I was a freezing man with a hammer.
One more item. What would it be? A knife? A rope? A shovel? I needed so many things. But what was the most versatile? What could I use for both survival and defense?
My Maglite.
A big, four-D-cell Maglite, the kind that cops used to carry. It was heavy enough to be a club, and the beam was bright enough to blind anything that got too close.
And it was on the kitchen counter. I'd been using it to look for a dropped screw under the sink the night before I… well, the night before.
[Item Detected: [4-D Cell Maglite Flashlight].
[Durability: 78/100. Battery Life: 62%.]
"Do it."
Pop. The Maglite appeared. I snatched it up, my heart pounding. A jacket, a hammer, and a flashlight. It wasn't much, but it was a hell of a lot more than I'd had five minutes ago.
And then I remembered my feet. My shoes, cheap sneakers I'd bought at a discount store, were soaked and frozen. My toes were numb, a dangerous, dead numbness. I was going to lose them if I didn't do something fast.
My boots.
My Red Wing work boots. Steel-toed, waterproof, insulated. They were sitting by the back door, right where I'd kicked them off. I focused on them, a desperate plea.
The blueprint flashed red again. [BUILDING CODE VIOLATION! Maximum number of materialized items (3) has been reached. Please dematerialize an existing item before proceeding.]
Of course. The fine print. I had a jacket, a hammer, and a flashlight. Which one could I live without?
The jacket was keeping me alive. The hammer was my only weapon. The flashlight… it was a weapon, too, but it was also a light source. In this endless twilight, that could be crucial.
It was a shitty choice.
A choice between bad and worse. I looked at the three items lying in the snow, my meager arsenal against a world of ice.
This was the game, then. A constant, rolling inventory management problem from hell. Every decision mattered. Every choice had a cost.
I had to choose. My toes were screaming at me, a silent, numb scream. I couldn't lose my feet. A man can't build a house without feet.
"Dematerialize the flashlight," I said, the words tasting like defeat.
The Maglite flickered, dissolved into a wireframe, and vanished with a soft pop.
[Item dematerialized. Cooldown initiated for [4-D Cell Maglite Flashlight]: 30 minutes. A new item may now be materialized.]
Thirty minutes. A lot could happen in thirty minutes. I didn't have time to waste. "My boots," I said, focusing on the image of my Red Wings.
[Item Detected: [Red Wing Insulated Work Boots].
[Durability: 92/100. Special Properties: Steel Toe, Waterproof, +10 to Cold Resistance (Feet).]
"Materialize!"
Pop.
My boots appeared. I ripped off my frozen sneakers and socks, my feet pale and waxy. I pulled on the thick, dry wool socks I always kept tucked inside them and then forced my numb feet into the boots.
The warmth was immediate, a wave of relief so profound it almost made me dizzy. I could feel the blood starting to flow back into my toes, a painful, pins-and-needles sensation that was the most welcome pain I had ever felt.
I stood up, my new boots solid and secure on the frozen ground. I had a jacket, a hammer, and a pair of boots. I was alive. I was armed. And I was angry.
I looked at the floating blueprint, my only connection to the life I had lost, my only guide in this new, terrifying existence. "Okay, you son of a bitch," I said, my voice low and steady. "Let's play."
The blueprint pulsed, a calm, steady blue. [Quest objective updated: Find or create shelter before core body temperature drops below critical threshold. Recommended course of action: Walk.]
I picked a direction.
It didn't matter which one. In a world with no landmarks, any direction was as good as any other. I held my hammer tight, the cold metal a familiar weight in my hand.
The wind howled, a lonely, mournful sound. But for the first time since I'd woken up in this frozen nightmare, I felt a flicker of something other than despair.
I felt like a man with a job to do. And I was going to do it. One step at a time. One frozen, miserable, determined step at a time.