Disclaimer: I do not own Stay Alive or any of it's characters.
Author's Note: Newly improved :]

One.

"Move Jack, before she slices your arm off," A twenty-something told her best friend as they played the newest horror role-playing game.

"I'm fine, Ash." She responded, fearlessly as she dodged the slice.

Nothing in the gaming world scared Jacklyn Elizabeth Kerns - not even the stories that surfaced last May about the 7 people who had lost their lives to a video game villain, both virtually and in real life. They were, after all, just stories. No stories or tales were worth the kind of fear people often put into them, at least Jack didn't think so.

"Aw dammit, I'm out," Ash exclaimed as her character lost its head to a vampire.

"I'm running from this – big bear thing," Jack replied, hastily as her character trucked through the woods.

All of a sudden, the bear-thing caught Jack's character by her ankle and ripped her to shreds. Virtual blood flew everywhere from the gaping wounds in her character's body.

"I was just disembodied by that thing," Jack sighed, her mouse's pointer hovering over the X in the top right corner of her computer screen. "That game blew," she added. Often, Jack and Ash would neglect their work and spend their days testing video games from their respective offices. Ash was an editor at a small newspaper while Jacklyn was in the advertising business.

"Yeah it did," Ash laughed, "But I'll see you tomorrow. I've got some actual work to do"

Jack chuckled too, "Alright - I should probably put the finishing touches on this ad anyway. Later Ash." She clicked the 'X,' turned off her headset, and set it back on her desk. Jack proceeded to finish up the ad she had told Ash about and then headed out of her office. She passed by a few cubicles - a few of the employees sending her a smile or wave - before getting on to the elevator and hitting the 'GF' button.

It didn't take very long for Jacklyn to get back to the apartment she shared with her long-time boyfriend, Alex, and wasn't paying very much attention as she opened the unlocked door and headed inside. She went into the kitchen and was shuffling things around in the fridge when she heard something peculiar coming from the back quarters of their apartment. She stopped what she was doing and stood still.

Real life, subsequently, scared Jack. People evading her apartment to rob her, in particular, scared her. She knew that in reality, you only have one life; one chance to live. She didn't want some asshole to ruin it for her.

Jack set the Pepsi she had been rummaging around for before entering the hallway cautiously. In the aforementioned hallway, there was a table. On that table was a hefty, metal candlestick holder; she grasped this, and held it as if it were a Louisville Slugger. She readied herself for attack. . . Maybe she had been playing video games too much.

Jack entered her bedroom, and dropped her weapon –er, candlestick holder. What she saw not only surprised her, but broke her heart as well. There, in her own bed, was Alex having sex with another woman. He looked up, "Oh fuck... Jackie I'm sorry."

She turned and left the apartment - Jack headed straight for the bar.

----

It was a month or so later when Ash and Jack met for lunch. The latter had something important to tell her best friend and as they were dining on Maine Lobster on that hot, summer day, Jack said, "Ash, I'm moving."

"What? Why?!" Ash questioned, her eyes the size of saucers. Jack could tell her friend was upset and distraught and she didn't have the heart to tell her that the reason she didn't want to live in Maine anymore was because of Alex. Ash had already given Alex more than a piece of her mind and she wouldn't understand if she said she was moving just because she couldn't stand the sights anymore.

So, Jacklyn lied.

"Work offered me a raise if I transferred to New Orleans - I told them I'd take it." It wasn't all a lie - Jack had requested to transfer down to Louisiana and the company had been much obliged. They threw in a few perks, too.

Ash sighed, looking up at her life-long friend, "New Orleans is a long way away."

"I know, but you can come visit me and we'll still have our - um - work," She laughed.

Ash smiled.

---

Jack moved to New Orleans, alone. Her apartment was empty, but it also lacked the painful memories that the apartment she had shared with Alex had held. She was, at very least, grateful for that. In an attempt to make a new friend in New Orleans, Jack went out on the town. . . unfortunately, she found no one and found herself back at her new apartment with creole take-out and a bag of Blockbuster rentals for the night.