Endgame

Well here is the third post of one of KaW's longest running stories. DO NOT post here, do not bump the story, I will handle it myself. Don't bug me about new posts either, they will come.
So now, clear your head and let the story take hold in your mind. I'll make a feedback thread after this. To people who've already read the story, the new stuff starts at chapter 10.

 

Prologue
It is the year 2020...
The world has been revolutionized by the invention of real time simulation. It allows a person to play in a simulation, through a different body, in a game environment. Only one such game was created, named The Game. Within a day it became the most popular pastime in the world. My name is Seth and I play the game. This is my story of how my friends and I made it out of the game alive.
When a player first starts the game, he picks a weapon, which will be of much better quality then any weapon you will find for a long time. It can be anything really. I chose a Zweihander, a large, single bladed greatsword. You have the option of having your in-game character look just like you or create an entirely new one.
I chose to use my own appearance. I am very tall, around six foot five. I have short dark hair. My eyes have a strange condition that causes them to change colours. They are never the same color more than two days. I have always been a good strategist; I like to have things work like a well oiled machine. I am usually very calm, although people say I have a tendency to go into a rage when I get very angry. When in this “rage” I have no regard to my safety, and I try to destroy everything in sight. It has only happened once, but it cost me three months in prison: I tried to kill someone who ran over my cat. I have no siblings. My only real friend is my neighbour, Stora.
This is the story from the beginning.

 

Chapter 1
“Game initializing…” The screen read. It was time to start playing the game I had waited so long for. I had already created my character, but hadn’t started to play, until now. I spawned in a room with a closed door. My in game partner Stora was already there, examining the table, which had a few weapons and some ammo on it. I reached behind and pulled put my Zweihander. I grabbed a sharpening stone from the table and scrutinized its edge. “Game begins in 3…2…1…” A robotic voice announced. The door opened into a long corridor, filled with drones, which began to shoot at us. The attack took us by surprise, but they were very inaccurate. Trusting Stora to cover me I charged towards the drones, easily hacking the fragile things apart. The path seemed to have cleared so Stora joined me at the end of the corridor. There was a behemoth of a door there. As soon as Stora went over to the control pad, an alarm went off, and more drones appeared from the direction we had come from. I fired off a few shots at them with the rusty lazer pistol I had found. "C’mon Stora open that door!" I barked. It finally opened, and Stora and I stepped into a giant arena. As we walk into the arena, other teams step in through other doors, a team of two girls and one of two guys.
The robotic voice spoke, “Welcome to the team matchup arena, a Player vs. Player environment.”
“Great, team battles,” I thought aloud. We are supposed to be meeting our hunter squads. Apparently not! A bell rang and we all knew it meant that battle had begun. One of the girls had a dirk (short sword) and the other, a bow and arrow. "You ready" I asked Stora.
"Yep, let's do this" she rebutted eager to get going.
So, I charged, trusting Stora to cover my approach. Thud. An arrow impaled itself in the ground at my feet. Great, that girl can aim that bow of hers. I didn't have much time to consider it, as another arrow soared towards me. I barely had time to put my zweihander up to deflect it. I reached the other girl. Her Dirk may be small, but she knew how to use it. We struggled for a few moments, then I saw in opportunity and took her legs clean off. She vanished, most likely to a respawn room somewhere in the arena. I picked up her Dirk, weighing it in my hands. I noticed Stora was keeping the other girl busy, so I launched the Dirk in her direction. It impaled itself in her ankle... How did I do that? As I pondered it, Stora finished her off with a headshot from her laser riffle. "Nice shot!" she yelled.
I shrugged, "Beginner’s luck".
Ok, two down two to go. The boys, who had started the farthest away, should be near by now. But I only saw one; he had a wide grin on his face and a sub machinegun in his hand. I moved up, finding cover. "Stora cov..."
I heard a shriek and turned to see the other boy had cut Stora to pieces... I could feel my anger rising. Must avenge Stora... Without thinking I charged and leaped at the boy, slicing him in half while taking several bullet wounds from the other. Ignoring my wounds, I leaped, rolled and flung my blade at him. As it soared through the air, the boy looked up, seeing his doom approaching. Then, I blacked out.
I woke up in a small room; the other people looked up at me. A robotic voice announced, "Congratulations to Seth, the leader of your hunter squad, please introduce yourselves"
Silence...
Before I continue, I should explain what a hunter squad is. It's a group of 6 people that fight together.
"Well I'm Seth" I said, “what are your names?”
"They call me The Defender, at your service" The guy with the submachine gun said. He was wearing a black suit, sunglasses and a fedora hat.
"I’m iZ" the other guy said. He was wearing regular clothes, jeans, a t-shirt, and some expensive looking shades.
"Name's Avril, remember it" The girl with the bow and arrow said, rather harshly. Her hair was blond, with a red streak, and she had a small build.
"I’m Rika" the other girl piped in, "Nice sword work Seth”
She seemed very, cheery...
"My name's Stora" Stora cut in before Rika could finish.
"Good to know", I said
I noticed none of us had armor, I decided to fix that soon...
There was a period of awkward silence...
Then a vibration, we all felt it... within us…
"What, what’s happening?" Stora asked in a hushed voice...
"I don’t know, maybe the server is having issues, log out then back in" I replied
"I can't!" Stora yelled.
Then, blackness... When I opened my eyes, the others seemed to have had the same problem as me.
"What’s going on?" Avril asks, always with that tough girl attitude, but sounding a little nervous.
Stora and I looked to each other. You see, we both work in the computer industry, and helped build the game.
"Me and Seth think that our souls and life essence has been trapped inside the game. We had all thought that there may be a glitch, but the developers were too cheap to fix it. Now, because of it, we are stuck here" Stora spoke.
"Well how do we get out then?" iZ asked, in a matter of fact fashion.
"After the completion of the last level, you are automatically logged out. It may be our only chance of escape. Also, there are no respawns, you die here, you die in the real world." I replied
"Well, we better move on" I said "We won't know what's out there, so stay alert" I commanded, gesturing to the only exit.
"Stora and Avril, can you cover us?"
"Sure", they replied
"Ok, Defender you and I go in first, iZ, Rika you follow"
"Ready? Go" I hit the open button on the door, and it slid open with a hiss. Inside was a large high ceilinged room, crawling with zombies.
Great.
Then I explode into action, using the Defender's fire to move towards the first group of zombies, quickly beheading them. Then, the zombies in the back of the room began to drop, picked off by Avril and Stora. After finishing off the rest of the zombies near me, I returned to the others, where we formed a circle around Avril and Stora. iZ, the Defender, Rika and I got rid of any approaching zombies, while Avril and Stora shot those who were standing idle around the room. Within 10 minutes we had cleared the room of zombies. We were all tired so we sat down on the blood strewn floor.
"Great work everyone" I said
Avril went around, collecting arrows from the corpses.
"Let’s see what's in the next room" Stora asked, eager to get out of the gore filled room.
"Agreed" said Rika, also looking a little uncomfortable.
"Very well" I replied "Avr..."I began.
"Coming" she replied.
Taking the same precautions as before, I opened the door and we stepped into a large, dark and empty room.
As our eyes adjusted to the light, we noticed 6 sets of stairs, each leading to an individual platform. Then above each platform, our names appeared.
"I’ll go first" Avril said, as she moved towards her platform.
"Ok, but be careful,” I warned.
Once Avril reached her platform it was encircled in blue light.
"Player name Avril" a voice said.
Then, a small table rose up in front of her. On it was a quiver of arrows.
"Congratulations, enjoy your upgrade" the voice continued.
Avril seemed fascinated by the blue green quiver. Then she pulled out an arrow from the new quiver.
"Poisoned" said Avril, a wicked grin on her face.
As she spoke, two other tables materialized next to the other. On one, was a traveling pack along with a small dagger and laser pistol. On the other was a simple, yet effective Kevlar vest, black with crimson trim.
"Yes!" I muttered under my breath.
As Avril examined her new gear, I mentioned to Stora to check out her things.
Stora's first table held a variety of parts she could use to customize her laser riffle. Her traveling bag was a bit larger then Avril's because it contained a complete toolkit! Stora instantly began to tinker with her new things, not even noticing her pink trimmed Kevlar vest
I mentioned to the Defender "Your turn."
On his table, there was a reverse bladed katana, a traveling pack with a dagger and laser pistol, and a strait black Kevlar vest, to match his suit. His eyes gleamed with anticipation.
"Always wanted one of these" he said as he tried it out.
I mentioned to iZ. With a cold nod, he moved to his platform.
His table held two circular indents, the size of say, iZ’s wristblades. He placed them in and they began to glow. He also got the same laser pistol, blah, blah, blah. His vest had a dark green trim. When iZ’s wristblades stopped to glow, his eyes went wide with fascination. On one of his wristblades, a small laser had been added. On the other, a small device that launched sedative darts had been attached.
Rika went up to her table where another Dirk was waiting for her. This one had a reddish hue to it. When Rika tested it out, the blade lit on fire! Rika's face first showed horror, then excitement. She also got a vial of poison for her other Dirk. Her vest had a deep purple trim. She also got a traveling pack.
Finally, it was my turn!
On my table was a pair of long throwing knives with a razor sharp edge and a serrated edge. There was also a curved hunting knife. I also got a traveling pack. On the last table sat a very thick Kevlar vest, with silver trim. There was also a helmet with a digital screen. There was a small map built in.
Satisfied, I went back down the stairs.

 

Chapter 2
The room we were in vanished and we appeared in a large room with a table big enough for the six of us. There were 4 doors leading out of the chamber. On each wall, there were also two storage lockers, each one with one of our names on it.
"I think this is a…" I began but then a robotic voice cut me off.
"Welcome to your training facility" it said.
"Training facility..." I continued, letting my voice trail off.
"Well let's explore then get some rest, we can start training tomorrow" I said.
"I agree we are all weary" said the Defender.
Two of the doors led into a small bedroom with three beds, as well as a separate bathroom. The other, was a small room with 6 panels, presumably simulators. The last door refused to open, but we were all too tired to investigate. So, put our things down in a room and went to sleep.
My vision swam, I was in a small room...
Blam!
I jolted up and slammed my head against the bunk above mine. Groaning, I rolled off the bunk onto the ground. With another moan, I got up, got dressed and headed out to the main room. Avril was already there, sipping coffee.
"Hi Seth" she said, and rather cheerily at that.
"Hey Avril" I said, rather groggily
"Where'd you get the coffee?" I inquired, beginning to wake up.
"It was in my bag" she replied
"Cool, want to get the others?" I asked, an evil grin spreading across my face.
"Sure" she answered.
I walked into the room, and flicked on the lights.
"Wake up!" I hollered
Thud!
Thud!
I walked out of the room, knowing they would eventually get up. Half an hour later, we were all gathered around the table. We decided to use the simulation room to train individually, then in the afternoon, as a group.
The knife impaled itself in the training dummy.
Not bad I thought...
After a long afternoon of group exercises, I was able to open the last door, where a swirling blue portal awaited.
"Tomorrow we start" I said to the others.
The morning was silent and uneventful. We got up and made coffee, then packed up our gear.
"You guys ready?" I asked. Everyone nodded. I moved over to the door and opened it, revealing the portal "Then let's do this" I commanded, eager for some excitement.
We all gathered in a line and stepped through the portal. We re-appeared in a maze of illuminated caves. I looked over to Stora, and I could already see the nervous look on her face. She didn't like confined spaces, never did, and caves were her least favourite. We took a moment to take in our surroundings. We began to move in the only direction that the tunnel allowed us. The compass in my helmet told me it was north, and that we were coming to a point where four tunnels cross. As we neared that point, I noticed something on the floor. As we moved closer, it became a form, then a figure. My vision enhanced by my helmet, I figured out that it was a girl, and that she was merely unconscious...
"Be careful, whatever knocked her out is probably still out there." I whispered.
More nods. We formed circle around Avril and Stora and moved into the crossway. There we spotted a dozen or so small creatures, with long wooden clubs. My helmet identified them as "gremlins". I quickly threw my knives, scoring two hits. Then, I pulled out my zweihander and got to work. After several minutes of cutting through dozens and dozens of gremlins, we finally killed them all. I turned to the girl. She was unarmed. Her skin seemed very pale, and her ears were pointy. And then I saw it... She had tail, bare except for the hair at the end. To my surprise, my helmet identified her. Her name was Matea.
"Matea" I whispered.
"I’ve heard of her, they say she permanently wrote herself into the game to avoid her less than perfect life" commented Stora. “She plays through the game over and over again, constantly avoiding the last level.”
I examined her head, and found a large bruise on the back of her neck.
"We really need a healer" I said to nobody in particular.
As if on command, we began to hear noises from one of the corridors, but they sounded like someone running, running towards us.
"I'm gonna go investigate, iZ, your’re in charge. Avril, cover me as I move down the tunnel." I ordered.
A nervous expression crossed iZ's face, but after a moment he nodded. As I moved down the tunnel, I noticed my throwing knives had returned to their sheaths. The corridor emptied out into a large circular room. There, surrounded by gremlins was a girl, fending them off with a broadsword. She was short and thin, and had long blond hair. She seemed to be doing pretty well, but I saw a pair of gremlins sneak up behind her, I drew both knives, threw and killed both gremlins. The girl and the gremlins looked up. Knowing any element of surprise had been ruined. I charged, cutting down a dozen or so gremlins. The room was small, and there were many gremlins, so one stroke went a long way. I decided to try and join up with the girl, trusting Avril to pick off any who got behind me. After a few moments of slashing through gremlins, I finally got to the girl. I noticed several herbs and vials of various liquids on her back.
"Are you a healer?" I asked.
She nodded.
"I need your help, me and my friends found a girl farther down the tunnel. She is unconscious, but has a bad bruise on her head."
Again she nodded.
We began to gain ground on the rapidly decreasing amount of gremlins. After about ten minutes, we were free.
"My... My name is Moragana" the girl finally said pausing in between words to catch her breath. "I will help your friend, as you saved my life"
"Great” I reply "She is just down this tunnel.”
As we headed down the tunnel, we began to hear the sounds of fighting and our footsteps quickened.
When we got to the crossway, the rest of my squad had formed a line, blocking the gremlins, coming through the tunnel to the left of where we originally entered. This "line" effectively protected Matea and Stora from the gremlins.
"Good work iZ" I yelled as I took my place in the line.
"What should I do" asked Moragana.
"Tend to Matea" I said, mentioning to her.
After several more minutes of combat we had killed all of the gremlins.
"Let’s move her down there" I said, mentioning to the tunnel where I had met Moragana. "It’s easier to defend, we will post one guard, with two hour shifts"
Carefully, we moved Matea to down the tunnel, laying her at the back of the chamber. "Any volunteers for first watch?" I asked, not expecting any answers.
"I will, I'm sure you all saw more combat them me today" Moragana said.
"Really? Well ok then." I said.
With that decided the rest of us laid down our bedrolls and instantly drifted off to sleep...
I awoke to the sound of movement. I expected Moragana to come pick me for next watch, but instead she had gone over to Rika, and the two quickly spoke in hushed voices. They seemed to already know each other. Then Rika took Moragana's place and quiet returned. I began to doze off again, but then, I saw something, it looked like a tail. Yes, it was a tail! Rika had a tail!
"I must really be losing my mind" I thought. I chuckled silently, then fell back asleep.
The rest of the night was uneventful, and to my surprise, no one came to wake me up to take guard duty. That morning still groggy from sleep, we took a unanimous decision to make coffee.
"Is, is that coffee?" Moragana asked. Then, before anybody could answer, she dashed over and poured herself a glass. "I can make something a bit stronger, it might help wake her up" she continued, between sips of coffee.
"Ok, she'll need all the help she can get. Rika, go help her." I replied.
With a nod, the two girls went off to make the brew.
I took the opportunity to go and make sure everybody had sufficient ammo and no wounds to treat.
In a few moments, the girls returned, with a strong smelling, coffee-like substance. We all formed a semi-circle around Matea and Moragana. She first held the glass under her nose, before slowly pouring it down her lips.
We waited a minute...
Five…
After ten minutes, we were ready to give up, but then, Matea began to stir... Matea's tail shot out from beneath her, and curled itself around Moragana's neck, effectively strangling her.
We all began to move towards the two, but then the tail released Moragana and she fell to the ground gasping for air. Rika went over to help Moragana, and the rest of us went over to Matea. "Give me some room" I say, trying to sound as come as possible. Then, Matea began to speak in a hushed voice. “Where am I?"
"You are in the game" I respond, quietly.
"Wha, what happened?" she continues.
"A gremlin must have hit you over the head" I reply. Her hand goes to the nasty looking bruise on her neck. I seize her wrist before she gets the chance. "Don’t touch it; it will only make things worse." I ordered in a commanding tone. “My friends and I will help heal you. Now get some rest"
She obeys, and instantly falls asleep, so I decide to go see if Moragana has recovered.
"Is, is she alright?" she asks in a raspy voice.
"Yes, how about you?" I reply.
"My throat is a little sore, but I'll manage. I have some herbs to help." she replies.
She goes over and begins to make some sort of tea, so I tell my hunter squad we will be staying here for awhile. I sit on a flat rock and watch my friend rest, wondering if I will ever get out of this.
I was once again woken up to the sound of shuffling. I rolled over and noticed that Matea was awake and trying to get up. I quickly rushed over. "Stay down" I whispered.
"No" she replied. I was taken aback by how determined she sounded.
"Fine, but I'm helping you" I proclaimed.
"No" Matea maintained. She was a stubborn one. With that she attempted to get up. She wobbled and began to fall back. I reached out and helped her to a sitting position. "My, my weapons, where are they?" she demanded.
"I don't know, you were unarmed when we found you." I replied.
“Wait... I remember. After the gremlins hit me in the head, I was in and out of consciousness. I heard them say that they would take my weapons to the Kremlin. My guess is that the Kremlin is their leader,” she retorted.
"I agree we will help you retrieve your weapons. But first, you need to rest." I replied as I handed her a water bottle.
"Fine” she declared, rather harshly, “but don't pamper me.” with that, she thrust back the water bottle and went back to sleep. Satisfied, I returned to my bedroll and caught up with some much needed rest.
When I woke up, I guessed it was around 11 o'clock. I decided to get everybody else up. After a few moments, everybody looked much more awake then this morning, when Matea first regained consciousness. They all gathered around me, and I began to tell them of my plans. "As you all know, along our journey, we discovered Matea. She was ambushed by gremlins, which knocked her out and stole her things. She believes they took her weapons to their leader, the Kremlin. Matea, we will help you retrieve your weapons." I paused, letting my words sink in. "Check your weapons and ammo and have all your injuries tended to by Moragana. We leave in an hour." Matea seemed to be a little dazed, and deprived from her stubbornness. She had merely nodded throughout my orders. I figured the coffee had worn off, but I kept a close watch, just in case. As everyone began to pack up their things, I went over to speak with the Defender. "Can you do me a favour?" I asked.
"Sure, what did you have in mind?" he answered.
"When we go out to fight the Kremlin, I want you to keep a close eye on Matea. Got it?" I replied.
"Can do Seth" he replied.
The conversation ended. I left. I quickly went over to make sure Matea was in traveling condition. She still seemed a bit dazed, but other than that she seemed fine. I walked over to my already assembled things, pulled out my stone and began to perfect the edge on my blades. Satisfied, I put them back in their respective places, hoisted my pack over my shoulders and stood up. "Let’s do this" I said, loud enough for everybody to hear. They all nodded and picked up their things. I heard two clicks as Stora and the Defender armed their weapons and a faint hum as Avril strung her bow. I also heard a loud hissing noise as Rika slides her dirks in and out of their scabbards. After about five minutes of walking, we again reached the intersection.
"My guess is that the Kremlin is that way I said, mentioning to the tunnel directly in front of us. That's where the goblins came from last time." I thought aloud. "Circle formation."
We began to move down the tunnel, and my helmet began to pick up several heat signatures in the room ahead. "There’s something out there" I said in a whispered voice, "Stay focused."
We reached the entrance of what appeared to be a very large chamber. As our eyes adjusted to the light, we realized that the chamber was crawling with zombies! But these were not regular zombies; they were the zombies of all the gremlins we had killed before! They were faster, and more numerous. They outnumbered us five to one.
"Not bad odds" I whispered. "Now let's kick some zombie ass."
"Make a half circle around the entrance, that way a smaller amount of zombies can attack us at a time." I declared. We adjusted our formation."Ready... Go" I threw a lit firecracker into the mass of zombies. It exploded, setting off a shower of bright sparks. Stora and Avril began to shoot while the rest of us fashioned flashlights to our weapons. There were lights built in to my helmet, so I switched those on. I threw my knives at the first pair of approaching zombies. Then they were onto us. We were actually holding up quite well, with Matea making quick work of any zombies that got past us. Then, it came: a beast of a gremlin in heavy armor. My helmet began to identify it. It was riding a large boar. It seemed to be holding something... A lance! As I noticed its intentions, I was already too late. The lance soared through the air, strait towards Rika.
"Rika!" I yelled, but I was too late to stop it. It came closer and closer. Then, right before the lance penetrated Rika, something shot in front of it, taking the lance in the arm. I quickly realized it was iZ. Rika dropped to the ground to help him."Moragana!" she cried, on the verge of tears.
"We have to destroy it first" I said, "It’s not safe."My helmet identified the creature as the Kremlin, although it was pretty obvious. It also identified its weakness, fire.
I had an idea...
"Rika, Avril come here." I said, trying to sound calm. "Its weakness is fire. Rika give me your flame Dirk, and Avril, give me an arrow." I commanded. They did as I asked. I bring the flaming dirk to the poisoned arrowhead, and voilà, the poison ignites. "here, use this” I told Avril, “And give me your quiver.". I take the dirk and quiver and hand them to Rika. "Light the arrows and give them to Avril. I hear a scream of pain. "Good, it worked" I thought. "Stora, try and kill the boar." I ordered. "Defender, stay here with them, Moragana, go help iZ, but keep your head up." I said. "I'm going to go distract it."
I charged towards the Kremlin, making loud noises as I went. It noticed me, but seemed more interested in the fire arrows flying towards him. So I jumped on the boar’s head, enfront of the Kremlin, and bashed its exposed nose with my zweihander. Then I rolled off, slashing downwards as I went, effectively separating snout from boar. "Keep shooting Avril!" I yelled. Then I slowly ran over to the other side of the chamber, letting the enraged Kremlin and his mount chase after me. We ran around the room for awhile, the Kremlin only getting more frustrated every time I avoided him. I noticed the fire arrows were doing damage, but not enough.
"Avril, I'm going to line you up, aim for the heart!" I yelled. I ran in Avril's direction, then stopped halfway to her. I turned and watched the overconfident Kremlin let his mount claw at the ground, preparing for a charge.
"Now!" I hollered, just before he began to charge at me.
Thud.
The arrow imbedded itself deep in the creature's chest and it fell from the boar, quite dead. The boar was still coming at me. I leaped over it, preparing for a killing blow when I saw a brilliant red flash pierce the beast. It was dead before I hit the ground.
"Nice shooting" I said as I landed. Then, I collapsed to the ground.
When I opened my eyes I seemed to be in the same place I was, but from a lower perspective. My head was propped up against what felt like my bedroll. I looked around and noticed that the others were all sitting around, grim looks on their faces. Avril was sitting next to me, and noticed I was awake.
"Moragana! He's awake" she called.
Moragana rushed over.
"You should take better care of yourself Seth I am pretty sure you passed out from exhaustion." she said "Now drink"
I took a long swig from the canteen she gave me. A sweet taste filled my mouth.
"That should get your energy back up." she added.
"Will iZ live?" I asked.
"The wound is not fatal, but I do not have the supplies to heal the injury, and without proper treatment, he may lose his arm." Moragana replied, a sad tone in her voice. "Also, I am worried about Rika, she seems to have developed an obsession over protecting him" she continued "iZ is resting now, as should you" she added, and then she walked away.
Satisfied, I allowed myself to drift off to sleep.
I woke what I guessed to be ten hours later. I had had an idea while in my sleep, so I called to Stora and Moragana.
"I have a plan for iZ." I said, "But first help me up." Moragana handed me another canteen of the sweet liquid first. Then they helped me rise. The world spun for a moment, but after that I felt fine. "Ok, here's that deal. I think that past that door is a room with Matea's weapons in it. As well as a portal leading to an upgrade chamber. I think Moragana; you will find supplies to help iZ there. Now I want to look at iZ's wound, assess the damage" I proposed.
"Very good idea" Stora said, "but why am I here?"
"Well, if we do have to amputate, I was wondering if you could build a robotic arm for him." I replied, solemnly.
"Sounds like it would be a challenge, one I am up for." Stora announced with an eager nod.
Moragana then led me to where iZ was. As we rounded the corner, I saw Rika there, staring, not acknowledging our presence whatsoever. I looked at the wound and I knew for sure we would need to amputate. The spear had gone clean through, destroying nerve and muscle tissue. All that was left was a gaping hole in his arm.
"Well, unfortunately, his arm is screwed,” I declared, “even if we kept infection out, his arm would be of no use with a hole that big."
I called everyone around me to explain the plan.
"This is the plan: in that room, we will in theory find Matea's weapons. We are going to move iZ in there. You have fifteen minutes to pack your things." I explained.
I already had my things ready, so I went to help Moragana make a stretcher for iZ. In fifteen minutes, we had a rather crude stretcher made and ready to go. "Ok everyone, let’s go, Defender, take the front." I ordered.
As expected, inside we found a pile of weapons. Most of them were rusted, but in the corner, there was a group of gleaming new ones. I assume they belonged to Matea. She rushed over and looked them over, before fitting them into her belt, then she turned to face us.
"Thank you all for helping me recover my weapons, but now that I am healed, I no longer need your help." With that, she darted out the door. We all reached to stop her, but she was too quick. Before any of us could engage in pursuit, the room blurred, and began to shift. Before we knew it, we were in another upgrade chamber! This time however, there were 7 pedestals.
"It's about time," exclaimed Avril.
"Yeah, we earned the upgrade," the defender added.
"Ok, before you get your updates, let's all go to Moragana's upgrade," I said, controlling my eagerness.
Moragana stepped up to the pedestal, and a tank of what I guessed to be anesthetic and a strange looking contraption rose from the ground. Several eyebrows raised then looked at me.
"Ok everyone, we are going to amputate iZ's arm now, but don't worry, Stora is making him a new one, any volunteers?" I asked, grinning at the last sentence.
"I'll help," Rika exclaimed.
"Ok, get your upgrades while Moragana applies the anaesthetic." I proclaimed.
We all returned to our pedestals, but this time, there was no awkward shuffling, everyone knew what to do. "Rika, you'll be helping out so you go first, then you Stora," I commanded. We all watched as the main altar came up. In it was... A book... Must be a special book, because, for the first time in days, Rika seemed awake, and in awe...
"What is it?" Stora asked.
"It's a summoning tome, only a beginner one, but still something I've always wanted." she replied. Then, the next altar rose. On it was a pair of Kevlar pants, to go with the vest. The other altar held a new fully filled travelling pack. Then, her face took a more serious tone. "I'll go help Moragana now."
"Stora, your turn," I said.
She stepped onto her podium and the altar began to rise. On it was a Swiss army knife times 10. It had every tool imaginable on it. There was also a pile of spare parts next to the tool. Stora also got some Kevlar pants, and a new travelling pack.
"Umm... Avril, you go," I said uncertain of whom to pick next.
On her altar was another quiver! This one supplied fire arrows, which I noticed were still poisoned. She also got Kevlar pants and a travelling pack. I mentioned to the defender to get his upgrade. He got a second reverse bladed katana, and a special sight for his M-16.
He also got some Kevlar pants, which he immediately put on, under his suit of course. He also got a new travelling pack.
It was my turn. I stepped up to the podium and waited. Then my altar rose up from the ground. On it was a repeaters crossbow! I had always wanted one of these. I quickly slung the rack of bolts over my shoulder and examined them. They seemed plain enough, but with a diamond tip, for increased penetration. I also got some leg armor, and a curious little disk. It took me some time to figure out what it was for. It was a system upgrade for my helmet. I quickly slid it into the side, and a loading screen appeared. I quickly grabbed my travelling gear and stepped off the podium. Then, unexpectedly, the room blurred, and began to shift again.

 

Chapter 3
When my vision cleared again, we were in a white room, a training room, like the one we were in before the first level. There was only one noticeable difference: the central table was more, rectangular. Then the others materialized behind me and iZ appeared on the table.
"I gave him the anaesthetic; I will be ready to amputate in a few moments. You don't have to watch." Moragana said softly.
I was never a fan of medical procedures, so I went over to our dorm and put my stuff down. I crossed over to the other room and found the same simulator waiting for me, so I set up some target practice for my crossbow. When I came out of the simulator, I went back into the now empty main room. The only one still there was Moragana. "So how'd it go?" I asked.
"Great she replied, no problems at all. Rika is watching over him. That anaesthetic was some pretty strong stuff, so I give him at least a day before he wakes up," she retorted, her tone neutral. "Oh, and Stora wanted to see you about something," I nodded and went into the other room, and found Stora tinkering away at the outline of an arm.
"Ah, there you are Seth," Stora said.
"Is that the new arm?" I inquired.
"More like a stroke of genius. I have all the basics, plus more. He can adjust the sensors to increase the power of the arm, or shut down any feeling of pain. Also, you know how he had a wristblade?" Stora explained. I nodded, so she continued. "Well I took it apart and have turned his whole wrist into a weapon! His update was a bunch of parts for his wristblades."
"Very good work, when do you think you'll be done?" I asked.
"Tomorrow morning, in theory," she answered.
Happy, I left Stora to her work and went back to my room.
The next morning, I decided to get things moving again, so I called everyone to the main room. Moragana guessed iZ would not wake up for at least another 5 hours, so I sent everyone to the sims to practice with their updates. I stopped the defender on his way to the sim.
"I noticed you haven’t used your katana yet, any reason why?" I inquired.
"I had envisioned using two, and now I do" he answered with a shrug.
"Try and focus on that today. Ok?" I said
"Sure" he replied, then he hit the activate button on the sim and dissapeared. Before heading into the sim, I checked on iZ and Stora. Satisfied, I set some more crossbow practice up.
This time: moving targets. After I got out of the sim, Stora was waiting for me. She showed me the arm, which looked finished. "Good job Stora," I announced, stunned at how fast she had made the arm.
"Thanks, it's almost done, can I borrow your helmet?" she inquired.
"Sure, why?" I said, handing it over to her.
"I am going to use its design to make iZ be able to control it" she continued.
"Right, I had forgotten about that detail. You have been working on that for awhile, you should take a break." I commanded.
Rika and Stora decided to hit the sim. I was rather tired, I wanted to get moving, but iZ would need at least a day to recover and another to train... This was going to be long... Felling sleepy again, I decided to take a nap.
I felt a jolt, another. Someone was trying to wake me up!
I jumped up; knife in hand ready to take on my assailant. I blinked a few times and realized it was only the Defender. “Yes?” I inquired, obviously annoyed.
“Its iZ, he is waking up,” he shouted.
Not even bothering to answer, I ran out the door and found everyone gathered around iZ’s room.
“Moragana and Stora are still tending to him, but they said you could come in,” announced Avril.
I just kept on going, acknowledging the statement with a nod. I opened the doors and stepped into the room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed while Stora fitted the synthetic arm onto his “stub.” iZ looked very pale, and there was no hint of emotion on his face. I first went over to Moragana. “How is he doing?”
“He is recovering rapidly, should be back on his feet by tomorrow. But I think the new arm creeps him out,” Moragana explained.
“Great, I want him training by tomorrow.”
“Don’t go too hard on him Seth; he’s been out for almost a week!” Stora exclaimed.
With a shrug I walked over to iZ, to check on him myself.
“How are you?” I first asked.
“Fine.”
“How does the arm feel?” I inquired.
“Fine”
“Oh you’ll love it!” Stora exclaimed, always so positive, “Knives, lasers, darts, rotating lazer machineguns, force fields, everything!”
He smirked a little after hearing that one.
"Nice," I said with a laugh. "Well I'll let you rest up. The sooner you're feeling up to train, the sooner you get to try it out."
With that, I walked out of the room.
The next few days were rather uneventful. iZ was making a quick recovery. Every day we followed the same routine. Train alone, train as a group, then rest. Moragana was also teaching me the basics of her practice. After three days of recovery, iZ felt up to a little action. He, Stora and myself set up a blank training simulation, to teach him how to work his new arm. First Stora showed him how to bring out the wristblades.
"It’s quite simple, just think of how you would bring out your old wristblades, and the arm will to the rest." She explained. "The rest of the system works the same, just think the command. And let the arm do the rest. Don't fire anything yet, just bring them out."
And that he did. Wristblades, rocket launchers, all manner of things appeared and disappeared into the arm. I quickly set up a few targets for iZ to shoot at.
"Ok, today try one weapon. Shoot all the targets, then you’re done." I commanded.
iZ quickly brought out the rocket launcher and fired 3 tiny missiles at each of the targets.
"Heat sensing" iZ declared.
"Cool"
For two days iZ trained alone and with us. Moragana said he was fully recovered, and I decided it was time to go. "Pack your things, we're moving out" I commanded. Everyone seemed eager to get out of the facility, so we were ready to go very quickly. We walked over to the portal room and stepped trough.

 

Chapter 4
We re-appeared in what looked like a half covered coliseum. Stora seemed very pleased to be out of the caves. Moragana put down her backpack and rushed over to the edge, looking at the view. I was just happy to be out of the damned training center. I noticed a slight disturbance in the air; I assumed it was a leaf, blown by the wind. I was very quickly proven wrong, when a red tip soared trough the air above my head, heading towards Moragana. Before any of us could react, it pierced through her, sending her toppling over the edge of the cliff. I looked ahead trying to distinguish our assailants. It didn't take long to find a tall figure, with long hair swirling in the breeze. There were three others with him, all armed. iZ primed his laser cannon, Stora loaded her laser riffle and I sent a clip of bolts in their direction. I think I got one of them in the leg, but they were still far, so it was hard to tell. I re-loaded as I got closer. The leader’s spear had re-appeared in his hand, and he took aim at Rika, who was flipping through her summoning tome. I whipped out one of my knives and launched it at his outstretched arm, and it hit as the spear left his hand. His aim was off, and the spear flew off the ledge. I had finally finished re-loading my crossbow when Rika joined me behind the rocky outcrop I was using as cover. The one farthest away from me, which my helmet identified as Fred, quickly drew and launched five knives towards Avril, who was busy lobbing burning arrows at the enemy. The defender noticed, and took all five of them in the chest, his vest seemed to deflect most of the knives, but one stuck. With a grin the defender pulled it out and threw it back at Fred. They both drew two swords, Fred short swords, The defender, his reverse bladed katanas and charged at each other. Trusting The defender to be able to defend himself, I moved towards their leader, Meteor. He had regained his spear and met my attacks with a series of twirls and jabs. This guy was good. We spared for what seemed like an eternity, neither of us managing to land a good blow. It was then that another person joined in the battle. She rushed out the tunnel closest to me, armed with a fine longsword and together we managed to drive Meteor back. I looked back to my friends for one second before hearing a slash from behind me. The guy I had hit in the leg with my crossbow had tried to sneak up behind me, but the girl, known as Irin had saved my life. “Thanks,” I mumbled, dumbfounded. It was then that Rika’s summoned creature; a giant German shepherd rushed past us, and chased the remaining assailants away. Irin and I ran back to the rest of my squad, who all raised weapons at her. “Geez she saved my life, show some respect,” I joked. “Everyone, this is Irin, Irin, this is iZ, Stora, Avril, Rika and The defender.” After everyone had introduced themselves, we rushed to the ledge Moragana had been knocked off, and saw not only her body but a figure trying to drag it away. Stora fired her rifle at him and he fled. I wanted to know more about who was responsible for the attack, so while everyone else rested, I went to go check the body of the guy Irin had killed. He was identified as Mike, and had short blond hair. He had a poisoned sword in his hand. I also found a bow and some arrows, also poisoned. I guessed they were his. I opened the search interface and looked up Mike’s name and player code. He was affiliated with a band of mercenaries, led by none other than Meteor. Well that answered that question. That’s when I heard a cry of “Run!” from behind me. Before I had a chance to turn around, the whole world seemed to be blown to oblivion. I made for the only entranceway close by, the tunnel Meteor had used to escape.

 

Chapter 5
The explosions seemed to be over, so I walked back to the tunnel’s entrance. The entire ledge had been blasted away, separating me from my squad. Fantastic. They must have gone down the tunnel at the other end, because I could not see them. The sudden change in landscape had thrown off my map, so there was only one way to go. I assessed my ammo and provisions and guessed I had about ten days to link up with my squad and beat the level before we all ran out of food.
≡≡¥≡≡
Meanwhile, the rest of the Hunter Squad, now led by The Defender, believed Seth dead. They too continued along their tunnel. No one spoke, and when they arrived to two separate tunnels, made the unanimous decision to rest. Watch duty was set up, but no one got any sleep anyways.
≡≡¥≡≡
I slowly rose and blinked the sleep from my eyes. I must have dosed off. My helmet told me it was early morning, but all felt the same. Today was my second day in the tunnels. I gathered up my things and lazily trudged down the tunnel. I came to a junction of 3 different tunnels. I examined each one, and to my surprise, felt a slight breeze coming from one of them. I chose that one, hoping to get to the surface, where it would be easier to notice both enemies, and friends. There was a barely distinguishable incline in this tunnel, and the faint glow emanating from the walls seemed brighter. My ears soon began to pick up muffled sounds of fighting coming from up above the tunnel. At first I slowed down, but when my helmet only identified two heat sources, both players, I increased my pace. I emerged into a large cavern, filled with large stalagmites. In the center of the room two figures fought in an interesting display of hand-to-hand combat. I quickly recognized Matea as one of the fighters, but the other was unknown to me. For some reason, my helmet did not identify her, the whole system had been bugging out recently. At first I approached with my weapons up, but when I saw two piles of supplies next to them, I realized they were just training. I lowered my crossbow and stepped out from behind the stalagmite I had been using as cover. They both sprang backwards, pulling out a weapon and aiming it at me. “Oh, it’s you again,” Matea hissed as she lowered her weapon and mentioned for her friend to do the same. “What the heck are you doing here?” Matea inquired.
“Well, my squad were attacked by mercenaries in the coliseum, and someone ended up blowing it to smithereens. I was left on the opposite ledge,” I explained. Matea’s friend was chuckling before I finished my sentence. “What?” I angrily asked.
“Looks like you’ve pissed off Zant, and do you know which mercenary group attacked you?” She questioned.
“Yeah, it was Meteor’s gang, but who is Zant?” I replied with a question.
“Local nutcase and explosives expert, must have hired Meteor to take us out, and thought we were with you.” She retorted. “You see, we have been trying to kill that maniac for the past two weeks. We got close a few times, but he always managed to escape.”
“Matea, if I’m not mistaken you’ve “beaten” this game several times correct?” I inquired, changing the subject.
“Yes, why?” She asked.
“Then you must know the map of this level pretty well; do the two edges of the coliseum link?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“Because if you do, I’ll help you kill Zant”
“Fine let’s go, follow me.”
The conversation was evidently over, but I was happy with the results. Both Matea and her friend strapped on a massive amount of weapons and we set off.
≡≡¥≡≡
The hunter squad was also on the move again. They followed a tunnel that had a very small incline to it. By evening they had broken free of the tunnels and had arrived at the surface. There they decided to look around for a place to spend the night. They found a small, abandoned bunker, as well as an old abandoned military jeep. Although the jeep had almost completely fallen apart, Stora went to work trying to fix it. The rest of the squad set up a crude camp and tried to get some rest. Little did they know that they were not the only ones trying to get some sleep…
≡≡¥≡≡
As we walked the tunnels, there was little conversation, but I did manage to learn the identity of Matea’s friend. Her name was Des. After about an hour of walking, we arrived to a crossroad. There were two tunnels there, one going up and one going down. “The one going down will lead us back to the coliseum” Matea said.
“But we’d have a better chance of seeing them if we got to the surface,” proposed Des.
“I agree, plus, I think that’s what my squad would do,” I agreed.
We started down the new tunnel and soon came to yet another fork in the tunnel. One went to the left and the other to the right. A slight breeze was coming out of both tunnels.
“Now what?” asked Matea, evidently mad about me choosing to go Des’s way.
“Hmm…. Lets’ go left,” I proposed
No one had any other suggestions, so we went that way.
After what seemed like an endless walk downwards, we came to a large chamber. The tunnel ended there and the air was fresh. Looking around I noticed a natural chimney in the rock. This was what had brought in the fresh air.
“Told you it wouldn’t work,” Matea said with a smirk.
“Wait, there’s a ladder over here, it goes upwards,” exclaimed Des. “It goes up into the rock, I think there might be a door there.”
“Wait, I'm detecting several heat signatures up above, we should try and use stealth to take as many out before they notice us. Grabbing one of my throwing knives, I climbed up the ladder and felt around for some sort of door handle. Finding the latch I grabbed it and pushed open the hatch very slowly. There were two sentries guarding the entrance to the room, but they had their backs to me. I unsheathed my other throwing knife and threw them at the sentries. They both went down without a sound. I signalled to Matea and Des that the path was clear and they joined me in the bunker. Des turned over one of the bodies and examined it. These are bandits, plenty of em in this region. “Are they armed?” I asked?
“Yes, they all carry a riffle of some sort,” Replied Matea. “How many of them are there left in this bunker?”
“There should be six of them, two at the exit, and two at the entrance of each room.” I elaborated. Matea pulled a small pistol out of her vest and Des, a revolver, which she promptly attached a silencer to. I readied my crossbow, hoping it would be silent enough to go un-noticed. Because the guards in the rooms had a view of each other, we would have to take them all out at the same time. While Matea and Des took aim at the guards across from us, I crept over to the other two guards. Matea and Des fired and the other guards went down. One of them made a dull thud as he hit the ground causing both guards to look the other way. Seizing the chance, I quickly dispatched them with my crossbow. Matea and Des had already taken out the entrance guards, leaving the bunker to ourselves.
≡≡¥≡≡
For the hunter squad, a very long and tedious night was about to begin. The Defender was on watch when the first of them appeared. Dozens and dozens of zombies, most armed with some sort of firearm came pouring out of the bunker. The Defender was too busy trying to keep the creatures at bay, but the sound of combat awoke the rest of the squad. It was very difficult to see the zombies in the darkness. Avril’s flaming arrows seemed to be the most effective against the zombies, until iZ found the flamethrower attachment for his wrist. The combination of the two kept the zombies far away, leaving a chance for Rika to open her summoning book. After a lot of page turning Rika managed to summon harmless globes of darkness over the zombies. They had absolutely no effect. The sound of a heavy machinegun startled everyone in the area, including the zombies. Stora had managed to fix the cannon on the back of the jeep and she beaconed for the rest of the squad to take cover behind it. Rika turned a few more pages and found the incantation for an orb of light. As soon as the orb appeared, the zombies began to disintegrate. With the field clear, Rika checked everyone for wounds. The Defender had a nasty gash on his arm, but everyone else was unharmed. As Rika tried to remember what Moragana had said, she heard a thud. Looking around, she saw something on the ground next to her. It was Moragana’s backpack! Rika approached it with caution, unsure of how it had gotten there. Inside she found medical supplies and a book of instructions for various medical procedures. She had The Defender patched up in no time after that. Just as everyone started to come down enough to try and get some more sleep, a blood red sun appeared on the horizon.
≡≡¥≡≡
I tried to find a light source while Matea and Des looked for anything of importance in the bunker. Finding a cord, I pulled it, lighting a small bulb, and the room. It wasn’t enough, but it would have to suffice. Matea and Des returned with a few supplies and various munitions. I let them keep it; I wanted to stay on the same schedule as my squad. With that done, we left the bunker, and at last emerged to the surface.
≡≡¥≡≡
Within an hour, Stora had managed to start the jeep, and the rest of the squad got in. Unsure of where to go, Stora took the squad as far away from the bunker as possible. They came upon several more bunkers, but didn’t go near them.
≡≡¥≡≡
The world we emerged into was very different, in that, we were surrounded by bandits. The three of us exploded into action, taking any cover we could find. There were bandits armed with long knives waiting for us around corners. One almost got to Des, but I got him with my throwing knife. For every bandit I killed, two more seemed to take his place.
≡≡¥≡≡
The hunter squad began to hear sounds of battle, and headed towards it. The defender got on the turret while the rest of the squad readied their weapons.
≡≡¥≡≡
After what seemed like an eternity, I began to hear a new sound, an engine. Before I knew it, a jeep flew over the bandit’s heads, guns blazing. It was my squad! I tried to signal to them, but almost got my hand shot off for trying. I slowly made my way over to Matea and Des. “My squad’s here, we should try and make a run for it.” I explained. They both nodded. “Ok… Go!” I jumped from cover and charged towards the jeep. That’s when I heard shots coming from behind me. Des was standing over Matea, her blade bloody, shooting at me. She apparently gave up and started climbing up the ladder leading to the roof of the bunker. I tossed my throwing knife at her, but it was more out of anger than actual throw. I didn’t dare look back until a blood red spear tip impaled itself into the ground next to me. Meteor and his gang were on the roof of the bunker shooting at us. Thud. I had run into the side of the jeep, without noticing. “Seth! You’re alive!” exclaimed Stora.
“Yeah, yeah, no time, get us outta here,” I yelled, pointing to Meteor. I didn’t have to ask twice. I hoped onto the back of the jeep with the rest of the squad. “Defender, focus your fire on the roof of that bunker,” I ordered, “the rest of you, clear a path, were getting out of here.” I poked my head into the cabin, where Rika and Stora were, “Rika, can you summon a force field around the car?” I asked.
“I can try,” She replied, stunned to see me.
As we approached the line of bandits, they all seemed to be projected backwards by some invisible force, most likely Rika. Everyone strapped themselves in, while The Defender covered our escape with the turret. I pulled the pin from a smoke bomb I had found in the bunker and tossed it behind us. Then, our surroundings seemed to disappear, and started to change…

 

Chapter 6
Although all seven of us appeared in an upgrade chamber, the vehicle we had been riding in had vanished. As usual, Avril advanced to her podium first. There she received a new bow! However, there didn’t seem to be any arrows with it. When the arrow shaped lazer flew off into the gloom, I realized that it was a lazer bow. As armor, Avril got a helmet, very similar to mine. Next went The Defender. On his table there was a massive circular object that resembled a wristwatch. However, after The Defender played around with it a bit, a massive energy shield sprung from it. It resembled a tower shield as oppose to a spherical and was greyish in color. He also got a helmet, etc. Next went Rika, on her table was, a bigger book, probably an advanced summoning guide. She too got a helmet and so on. iZ stepped up next, but instead of a podium, a robotic arm came down and made some modifications. Stora went next; she got a huge variety of lazer weapons. Next went Irin, her sword received some sort glowing emerald, probably enchanted. She also got a set of light armor. It was my turn, on my podium rested two hand crossbows, and a variety of ammunition. Tranquilizer darts, poison darts, and regular darts among them. All I got for armor was a software update for my helmet. Before the installation was complete, the room changed.
We found ourselves in a large hangar similar to the one we had just left, but instead of seven podiums, there were seven massive computer screens.
“Welcome to The Game Store System, for every kill, you get GamePoints, which are used to purchase weapons, armor and enhancements separate from upgrade chambers. You have all received 50,000 Points as well as the kills you’ve already gotten. Game stores are scattered throughout all levels of the game,” announced a robotic voice.
“Awesome!” I exclaimed. My total balance put me just short of 125,000 points. “Hey Stora, do you think you could get us a new set of wheels? I asked.
“Of course, do you think 100,000 points is gonna be enough?” She replied
“Oh, it doesn’t have to be fancy, just something that has room for all of us.” I suggested.
After that I went over to my screen and started to browse the available weaponry. I was looking for something with a bit more penetration, if we had to fight something armoured, my crossbow would be useless. I didn’t find anything that pleased me, so I decided to look at armor. There I found the Argon armor, some of the best armor in the game. Designed to reflect back any projectiles, it was virtually impenetrable. But at a price of 250,000 points it was also just a dream, at least for now. Finding nothing else I decided to go check out upgrades. There, I found a few things that I thought were worth it. I got a repeater attachment for my crossbow, letting my use it more like a machine gun, and upgraded my standard ammunition to diamond tipped bolts. That should give me the penetration I wanted. In the armor section, I managed to find plates of the reflective armor that I could add to my current armor, for a much cheaper price. Satisfied, I left my screen to go see what my squad had gotten.
I went to go see The Defender first. He had gone heavy on the armor! He had purchased a huge armoured suit with a white visor to protect the face. The rest was painted jet black. He also seemed to have sold his M16 and opted for a heavier machinegun. “Wow!” I exclaimed, “How much did all of this cost?”
“The suit cost 200,000 Points and 50,000 for the gun, and this is the cheapest version of the set,” He replied.
“Wow! Where did you manage to get all those points?” I inquired.
“While you were lost we spent a night fending off a horde of zombies, I started with 175,000 points and got 25,000 for my M16. I took a loan for the gun.” He explained.
“You can take loans?” I inquired.
“Yeah, it’s in the “others” section, but…” The Defender began to explain, but I was gone before he finished his sentence. I rushed back to my screen and found the loan section. I considered the possibilities, but decided to wait. I took a look at the Argon armor and found what I was looking for. I added it to my upgrade sequence. That way I would gradually receive parts of it through upgrade chambers.
Happy, I went to see what Stora had managed to get us. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. She had somehow managed to get an old military supply truck. She had already removed the tarp and added a machine gun turret to the rear. She seemed to be working on the engine of the vehicle, as there were plenty of parts surrounding it. “Hi Seth” She said, sliding out from under the vehicle. “Managed to get this baby used for 100,000 Points, and after the new engine is in she’ll run like new,”
“Great job!” I replied. “What do we have as far as firepower goes?”
“Well, turrets like the one you see there are cheaper than I thought. I also got a front mounting turret for forward firepower. Still haven't put it on yet,” She eagerly explained.
“Great” I answered. I decided to go check on iZ next.
I found him fiddling with a massive gauntlet mounted on his good wrist. I guessed it was a flamethrower. I was right as a trail of fire leapt from it. I noticed that both wrists had very similar looking plating. “Hey, what’d you get?” I inquired.
“I got this flamethrower gauntlet thing for my good wrist and a grenade launcher for the robotic one. The grenade launcher uses slow-time grenades. I also upgraded the armor plating on my armor and arm, but when I get enough points I'm hoping to get the V12.” He explained. Before I continue should explain that the V12 armor is the heaviest armor in The Game offering the best protection from all weapons.
“Really? Isn’t it like 300,000 credits?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah, I’ll get there eventually. I still have 50,000 credits,” He replied.
“Cool, well good luck with that,” I said. Next I went to check on Avril.
When I got to her screen, I didn’t see her. That is, before she suddenly appeared right in front of me. She was wearing some strange looking armor. “You like it?” She asked.
“Yeah, but what is it?” I inquired.
“What do you think it is? It’s clearly a cloaking suit!” She annoyingly replied.
“Awesome, but it looks expensive. That all you get?” I questioned.
“That, and this,” She said as she pulled a long, high quality dagger from her belt. She disappeared again after that, so I went looking for Irin.
I found her toying with a very large sniper rifle. “Hi Seth!” She exclaimed.
“Hey, that’s a nice gun you got there,” I said.
“Thanks, it’s all I had enough to get but now I can contribute to long range battles.” Irin explained.
“Yeah, that’s great! Have you ever used one before?”I asked.
“No, but it can’t be that hard” Irin replied.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” I answered, deciding to go find Rika.
When I got to her screen, I found a cat sitting there before it morphed into Rika. “Hi Seth!” She said. She was wearing some sort of glowing necklace. “It’s a shape shifting pendant, before you ask, it lets me turn into any creature, I’ve encountered before.”
I wasn’t exactly sure how that would be useful in battle, but I said “Great” anyways.
Happy with my squad’s purchases, I went back to Stora and helped her work on our transport. After another half hour of work, it was done. When everyone was in Stora’s area, the room lit up and the hangar door opened. We all got in the transport and set off.
We found ourselves driving through a dense jungle. We were surrounded by massive trees which blocked out most of the light. The air was so humid that after a few moments, my helmet had fogged up. The hum of several cicadas was constantly in the air, giving an eerie feel to the jungle. The Defender had bought a radio and set it down on the ground. The music did nothing to lighten the mood. After another few hours of driving we stopped to set up camp. “Hey, Avril could you scout the area around us?” I inquired.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she replied as she hopped off the truck and vanished into the undergrowth. While she was gone we set up a watch schedule and got a fire going. Within the hour Avril had returned. “Not much around us found a few dead wolves, looked like they had been torn apart by something,” She explained.
“My guess is that the zombies got them,” Suggested Rika.
“Yeah, keep an eye open on watch then,” I said. It was getting dark so everyone decided to go to bed. We did not sleep long. I guessed that about an hour after nightfall they came; hordes and hordes of zombies. I had been on watch when it all started they poured out of the trees and took me by surprise. Luckily the truck wasn’t far and I managed to get to the turret before they did any real damage. I yelled out to my squad for them to wake up. And within moments the defender was beside me, protecting us with his shield while mowing through zombies. I saw a group of zombies moving really slowly and guessed iZ was up. He soon joined us at the truck Irin had also sliced her way through and was setting up her sniper rifle. Avril was also on doing her part, several corpses lay at behind the throng of undead. Pulling out my repeater crossbow I set out to find Rika and Stora who had still not made it to the truck. I found them surrounded by zombies using my zweihander I cut my way through and beaconed for them to come. We slowly fought our way back to the truck. Once there Stora started it and fought our way out of the clearing we had chosen as a campsite. Rika managed to summon a pile of rocks to slow the zombies. We eventually reached a series of large white buildings. “Welcome to the training center,” Said the robotic voice.
“It’s about time,” Said The Defender. A large door opened and Stora drove the truck into the building. The building had the same layout as all the others except that there was a large computer screen in one corner. I assumed it was a Game Store. We all unloaded our things and then almost everyone rushed to the screen. I knew there would be a long wait so I checked out the sim room. More scenarios and monsters had been added, but I decided to save those for a group exercise. I started up a stealth mission hoping to practice with my hand crossbows. I ran the sim quite quickly, using tranq darts and a throwing knife to clear my way through the mission. Once I was done the screen was free so I decided to take a look. The battle in the clearing had given me 75,000 points leaving me with 100,000 points in total. I looked through the weapons section and found a rather interesting sidearm. It was a gauntlet, similar to the ones iZ had, but this one launched arcs of lightning at its target. The price was 100,000 points, and I couldn’t resist it. After I purchased it the screen asked what armor affiliation I wanted. I scrolled down and found reflective armor plating. Luckily it was included because I was flat out of money. The gauntlet appeared and I put it on. Then I went to get some much needed sleep.
The next day everyone spent the morning practicing individual scenarios, while the afternoon was spent honing our skills as a team. As far as upgrades went, The Defender had paid off his debt and Avril had purchased a power upgrade for her suit allowing her to stay cloaked longer. At the end of the day we were all tired and decided to get a move on the next morning.

 

Chapter 7
Meanwhile, in another yet very similar training center, another hunter squad was gathered around a table. On the table was the corpse of a girl, with a massive hole through her chest, as well as several other minor injuries. A shadowy figure moved around the table drawing symbols and making preparations for the ceremony to come. At last it was done, and the man began an incantation. After a good ten minutes of complicated syllables the corpse stood up with a groan and maniacal laughter could be heard throughout the building. At last the man spoke: “Now go forth my minion and rally the undead of this place to our cause!” The ritual complete, the man fell to the ground in exhaustion.
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After everyone had packed up, we all loaded in the truck and got going. It was a long, uneventful morning, but all of that was about to change. The truck came to a sudden halt after almost crashing into a large pile of boulders blocking the path ahead. We could have simply used the truck to blow the up, but the noise would have attracted… Unwanted attention.
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On a hill almost a mile ahead of the boulders, the man in the suit smiled. He issued a series of short commands through his headset, and a large sniper rifle appeared. It was a similar model to the one Irin had purchased, except that it did a lot more damage. His preparations complete, all that was left to do was wait for the right moment.
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I decided to use some of the various equipment I had purchased the other day to move the rocks out of the way. I had bought some “silent charges”, basically completely silent explosives. Everyone retreated to the truck but me, the detonator only had a certain range. I raised my arm and began to count down from three. I never made it that far. All that I remember from that point on is the pain.

A lot happened after I was shot that day. First, a zombie rushed towards me with almost superhuman speed, before falling lifeless to the ground before me. Then, I could feel something stir inside to me..
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Believing the shot to be a kill, the sniper smiled, turned and left to find transport.
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At first, the shot confused the rest of the hunter squad, but after they saw Seth go down, total chaos ensued. Stora passed out, Rika screamed and Avril burst into tears. The Defender practically flew to Seth’s side, and had created a bubble shield around them, just to be safe. The wound was bad, but could have been much, much worse. Had Seth not had his arm up when he was shot, he would have been dead. The bullet had passed through his arm, leaving only bone all the way up to the elbow. The bullet had then continued its path of destruction, passing through the chest plate. However, upon close inspection, the armor had stopped the bullet. A shiny gold glint could be seen through the centimetre deep hole in the armor. By the time The Defender had finished examining the wound, Rika had arrived. She began to dress the wound when now skeletal arm shot out and began to strangle her. The Defender quickly pulled Rika from its clutches. They both stared confusedly at the arm, knowing that Seth was unconscious. “Rika just stem the bleeding we’ll deal with the rest later,” Ordered The Defender. After the wound was sealed, The Defender cautiously switched Seth’s lighting gauntlet to the injured wrist. “I don’t think the bullet went through his chest, so it shouldn’t be fatal,” said Rika. She fumbled around with the bag and pulled out a rather large needle. The Defender gave her a strange look. “Its morphine, should help dull the pain,” She explained. The Defender gave her a slightly worried glare but allowed her to inject Seth. To make matters worse, the squad was about to get some… unwanted company. A combat chopper flew overhead and the noise alerted the undead of the forest. “Zombies!” Exclaimed iZ as they flooded out from the woods.
“Everyone form a circle around Seth” Ordered The Defender. Once everyone was in place, he activated a dome shaped force field around the group. They tried their best to fend off the horde, but a few eventually got through to Seth. When they did reach him, they were surprised to find him, or at least a part of him fighting back. Seth’s injured arm shot out, passing through one zombie’s chest, instantly killing it, then turned and electrocuted another. Although they did not comprehend it, the group appreciated the help. Little they know, the beast that possessed Seth’s arm was growing in power. The “skeletal” infection had now spread past the gauntlet and was now visible.
The group was unable to fend off the zombies for much longer, so they ran. With the Defender covering them, Rika and Avril dragged Seth back to the truck and they sped off in the direction of the shooter.

 

Chapter 8
I found myself stumbling through a mist, and there, I saw the vague outline of a man.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“They call me Mancer,” replied the figure.
“What do you want with me, why are you here!,” I yelled confused as to what was happening.
“Well, I originally wanted to devour your soul and use you as a weapon, but thanks to your reflective plating I'm stuck in your arm,” explained Mancer. He seemed very blunt. “So I guess we’ll have to compromise.”
“Wait… where am I?” I inquired, still very confused.
“You’re in your mind… probably talking to yourself while unconscious,” elaborated Mancer. “Look neither of us really wants to be in this situation, but I'm not leaving until you give me your soul or find me a new host.”
“Well then… what do you suppose we do until then?” I asked.
“Well your wrist weapon is stopping me from advancing any further, but I still have control of your arm. Before I try to take over someone else, I need to regenerate, remove the tips of your gauntlet and I will be your greatest weapon, stealing the souls of all that stand in your way,” Suggested Mancer.
I wasn’t really in any position to agree, so that’s just what I did. “Very well”
“Now until then I strongly recommend you regain consciousness and get back to whatever you were doing, you should not feel any pain in your arm,” And with that, the figure vanished.
I still had plenty of unanswered questions, but I decided to follow his advice.
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Back in reality, Seth was finally coming to. He did so rather normally, for someone who had just spent the last half hour talking to themselves. He merely opened his eyes, took a look at his injured arm and said, “Well that don’t look healthy.” Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, he got a hug from Stora and was assailed with questions from both Rika and The Defender.
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“Seth! You’re ok!” Exclaimed Stora.
“How’s your arm, can you move it, does it hurt?” Demanded Rika.
“Do you remember anything? Inquired The Defender.
I chuckled and said “Good to be back”
“This must be your hunter squad, looks like a decent group of people” added Mancer.
“My arm is fine Rika, it doesn’t seem to hurt at all,” I replied, not wanting to disclose Mancer’s existence. “And no Defender I don’t remember much, only the trajectory of the bullet, but I bet if we went back to where I was shot I could probably figure out exactly where the bullet came from.”
Upon hearing that I was ok, everyone hopped back into their positions on the truck and we turned around and sped back in the direction we had come. Once we arrived, I decided to re-create what had happened. After hours and hours of tedious work, I managed to single out an area where I believed the shooter to be.
“The shot, was fired from that ridge,” I said, pointing to a distant bump in the land.
“Are you sure someone could hit you from that far away?” Asked Irin.
“It would be near impossible for an amateur, but for someone with experience, it would be a slice of pie.” I replied.
Upon reaching the hill, it was clearly evident that the sniper had been hiding here. The most obvious sign was definitely the large sniper rifle perched on the edge of the hill. I slowly approached it, checking to see if it was booby trapped and without moving the gun, looked down its sight. “He was definitely here,” I declared. The sight was aimed exactly where I had been shot.
“Hey Seth, come and take a look at this!” Exclaimed Stora. I began to follow her when I noticed a slight glint in the grass to the right of the sniper. It was the bullet casing. I picked it up and examined it in my hand. There was a logo at the back of the bullet and upon closer investigation, my greatest fears were confirmed. The logo would easily be recognized by anyone on my squad. It was the logo of the company that created the game, and it meant that they were trying to kill me.
“How interesting, I guess we have something in common,” Said Mancer.
“What do you mean?” I inquired.
“Well I'm the computer hacker responsible for the complex ability making system in the game. You see my ability to take over souls was never supposed to be a part of the game; I invented it myself and decided to publish the software. It became so popular so fast; the makers of the game could do nothing but to adopt it.” Explained Mancer.
I decided to keep my findings secret from the rest of my squad for now; they had worse things to worry about.

 

Chapter 9
“Looks like we have company,” Said Mancer.
“Zombies, and lots of em are coming out of the woods!” Yelled iZ.
“Get the truck blocking the way up to the hill. iZ I want you on the turret, Irin get on the ridge and snipe. The rest, support, iZ,” I calmly explained. It was time to have some fun. As I began to load my crossbow, I felt a jerk of pain sear through Mancer’s arm.
“That’s sniper is still loaded you know, I could make good use of it. Just pull the trigger when I tell you to,” Ordered Mancer.
I didn’t have any other bright ideas so I went over to the sniper. There was only one clip so Mancer would have to time his shots well for maximum effect. Once I had a firm grasp of the riffle, Mancer’s arm swerved the gun left and right finally settling on an area near some boulders, where zombies were pouring out.
“Shoot”
Making almost no noise, but with incredible recoil, the riffle let loose. At least four zombies splattered to pieces, bits of organs flying everywhere. I chuckled: this was gonna be amusing.
“Shoot”
Another three dead. I focused all of my attention into what I saw through the scope, ignoring the sounds of battle around me. This time I aimed the shot myself and fired. A row of zombies were decapitated. There seemed to be no end to the horde. I checked back to my squad, and they seemed to be doing alright.
“Roll over now!” Boomed Mancer.
His sudden interruption startled me and I jumped to the side, just as an arrow impaled itself where I had been standing moments ago.
“Seth they have a leader, look on the boulders!” Yelled Stora frantically.
I aimed my scope at the boulders and gasped. Moragana’s animated corpse was directing the zombies.
“Someone you know?” Chuckled Mancer.
“Yeah, she used to be in my squad before she got killed off,” I hissed.
“Heh looks like you’ve pissed off a necromancer,” Retorted Mancer
I aimed my riffle directly at her, but I hesitated before I took the shot. But, some invisible power forced my finger to pull the trigger. I stared, rooted to the spot as Moragana flew backwards, into the horde of zombies. “Damn!” I cursed. I kept scanning the area around her when Mancer’s arm suddenly jerked the gun upwards and I fired the gun. A zombie had managed to scale the cliff, but now lay in pieces in front of me.
“Pay more attention next time” Demanded Mancer.
Once again, I aimed at the boulders and to my surprise, Moragana’s corpse had risen once again and was staring right at me. She raised her bony finger and pointed in my direction. I quickly tried to take the shot, but lucky for me, the sniper was out of ammo. I put the sniper down behind me and picked up my crossbow. Looks like the hunter has become the hunted.
“Stora I need backup!” I yelled.
“Hang on Seth, I’m coming!” She replied.
As she approached, I pulled out the case of grenades I had bought previously. Repetitively pulling the pins, I dropped all four off the cliff face into the mass of zombies that had begun forming at the bottom. Stora had arrived and began unpacking a strange device. It was not until she added wheels to it that I understood what it was. She had a little remote controlled vehicle.
“This aint time for fun and games,” I said with a chuckle.
“Just give me all of your explosives,” She ordered.
“Fine” I pulled a pipe bomb and the remaining silent explosives out of my bag and gave them to her.
She pulled out a roll of duct tape and skilfully strapped all the explosives to the car. She wired them all to a small timer and pulled out the controller.
“Wow,” I said, understanding her plan. “Can I drive it?”
“No,” Replied Stora with a grin.
She set the timer and the car sped towards the ledge. It flew off and time seemed to slow as the car fell towards the ground. Time ran out mere seconds before the vehicle would have hit the ground. In an ear-splitting moment it was all over. All that remained was a massive crater. But, the explosion had taken its toll on the cliff too. The edges began to crumble and I decided it was time to get outta there.
“Stora, Irin, let’s go!” I ordered. “We’re breaking out of here!”
We sprinted towards the vehicle and everyone hoped in. As we sped down the hill we encountered little resistance, as most of the zombies had pulled back to the ledge. Our escape seemed to be sealed when we ran over a crawling zombie. We were travelling so fast that the vehicle flipped and soared through the air.
“Brace f!” I began to say before the wind was knocked out of me.
When I regained consciousness, I was surrounded by a veil of fog. The truck was nowhere in sight. I could still see a vague canopy, so I guessed I was still in the forest. I made sure I had no broken bones, and found that Mancer’s arm was bent at a very strange angle. I tried to establish contact with him, but to no avail. Suddently, I saw a figure approaching through the mist. “Hello Sethy” cackled a voice. “It’s good to see you’re well, oh I'm sorry did you hurt your arm?” It was Moragana. She had somehow survived the blast and had found me before the others. “You abandoned me you know that day I fell. You left me to die,” I heard between bouts of maniacal laughter. Although she had found me before the others, I had woken before then and still had my weapons on me. I brandished one of my throwing knives and focused on where the laughter was coming from. With a little help from my helmet’s targeting system, I tossed my knife and the laughter stopped. Moragana was down but definitively not out. I bullet bounced off of my chestplate without leaving a dent. Moragana was soon upon me with her greatsword, and we quickly became locked in combat. The fight was going nowhere until Moragana jabbed at my chest and by sheer luck, hit the hit the bullet imbedded into my armor. The bullet erupted through the armor and into my chest. I doubled over in pain. “Ha, now you will feel the pain I felt and that I continue to feel now. She raised her sword above my neck and I waited for death to come. It never did. I think I may of blacked out, for when I awoke, Moragana had her back turned to me and was attacking a little girl. The girl was losing and Moragana was enjoying toying with her. Her interest gone, she swatted the girl with the broad side of her sword and she flew back. I became filled with a sudden hate for the creature that Moragana had become and charged at her. Upon pure instinct I rammed Mancer’s arm through her chest, aimed at her heart, and Mancer took over the rest. Within moments Moragana’s corpse went limp and Mancer let it drop to the ground. I noticed that my arm was no longer bent or broken.
“Thank you” Said Mancer.
“Why so?” I asked
“Well as you saw, I was injured on the fall. Moragana’s corpse was being possessed by a demon. Although the souls of the living can replenish my energy only the souls of demons can regenerate me,” Explained Mancer. “Although you my friend, seem to be injured yourself. It looks like the bullet hasn’t pierced any organs, and is still partially in your armor. It’ll hurt but you won’t die from it,” He continued.
“Great. Any ideas on where everyone else is?” I inquired.
“Actually yes. You fell out of the truck while it flew through the air and the truck kept going. It should be north from here.” Detailed Mancer.
I noticed something lying in the ground near where I had fallen. It was my crossbow! I guess I had landed on top of it since it was practically broken in half. I decided to get Stora to try and fix it. With that I gritted my teeth started off in a northern direction trusting my helmet to guide me through the fog.

 

Chapter 10
Meanwhile, the rest of the hunter squad was licking its wounds. The vehicle had been badly damaged during the fall and Stora was working hard to fix it. The Defender had broken his arm in the fall, and Irin had an arrow in the leg. Rika was very busy tending to the two. Avril had suffered a mild concussion from the impact and was recovering. iZ had survived the crash with only cuts and burns helped Rika and Stora out as best he could. Morale was low since Seth had once again gone missing. Stora was in the process of re-attaching the front mounted machine gun when a figure stumbled through the mist. “Seth!” Shrieked Stora. Both her and iZ rushed over. Seth was barely breathing. “Rika get over here!” Ordered iZ. Rika arrived with her medical kit, with The Defender not far behind.
“It’s the bullet in his chest,” explained Rika, “Something pushed the bullet farther, past his armor. The pain must be excruciating. iZ find me a magnet and be quick about it. Stora fetch some provisions.”
“I know where to get a magnet,” Said The Defender. My shield generator uses a powerful electromagnet. It should be easy enough to remove.”
“Good,” Said Rika. And so all able bodies set off on their task, in a desperate attempt to revive their leader.
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“Who are you?”
I am Seth, leader of my squad, slayer of the Kremlin
Clank! The defender pressed the heavy magnet to Seth’s chest.
“Who are you?”
I think back and try to remember who I was and I see clips of memories of a different person, one that I cannot seem to relate to.
Ping! The bullet slammed into the surface of the electromagnet, followed by a squirt of blood. As Rika slowly removed the electromagnet from the reflective surface of the armor, she paused to consider what she thought was a dark spec in the overcast sky. “Must be exhaustion,” she thought. As she turned the magnet over, she gasped. There sat the bullet, the logo clearly visible.
Stora gasped, “You know what this means right?”
“Yeah, it means the creators screw up and they’re trying to run damage control,” growled The Defender.
That was the moment Seth decided to wake up.
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I opened my eyes and looked around at the shambles of my team. Then my eyes settled on the glint of the bullet as it sat, still drawn to the magnet. I took some time for Stora, Rika and The Defender to realize that I was conscious again. iZ was the first to notice that I was awake.
“Welcome back Seth,” he said as he walked over. Then his eyes settles on the bullet. “Well that certainly isn’t a good omen.”
“Guys we got company!” Yelled Irin. I was glad to see that despite her injury, she still retained her excellent vision. The threat of danger seemed to snap everyone else out of their haze.
“Stora, how’s the truck doing?”
“I managed to fix the main weapons systems and stabilize it, but it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon,” elaborated Stora.
“Good. Irin what are we up against?”
“Looks like a giant hawk of some sort, but it sure doesn’t look friendly,” she explained.
That worried me, we had three injured and very low training against air targets. We were just gonna have to wing it. With a grunt I heaved the large device off of my chest.
“Seth in no way are you fighting this one. You can man the turret in the truck with Irin,” ordered The Defender.
In all my stubbornness, I tried getting up. That’s when I knew he was right, pain seared through my chest and I fell back against the decking of the truck.
“Let me at least fix you up Seth, you’re in terrible shape,” said Rika.
“I’ll fix my generator up in the meantime. I want you to be able to use it if you get into trouble,” elaborated The Defender.
We had less time than we thought we did. I had barely managed to drag myself over to the turret when a dark shape descended on us.