by Arthur Stone
There had been one. Claw. But he was unable to hide the party when it was in motion, and he failed to hide them when stationary that first night.
No sense remembering the party members who are gone. There was no relying on any abilities to hide them from hostile eyes. Most of them even had low levels, which made them stick out like so many sore thumbs. Many enemies would detect the players.
From great distances.
For nearly an hour now they had been riding through the twilight. They had not needed to fire a gun for the entire ride, which was encouraging. Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps Roach’s ability worked better than Cheater thought. The wind blew from the west all day long, and perhaps it carried some smell betraying the imminence of a reset to the east, scaring all of the gray spirits there. Of course, the convoy was moving east.
But Roach’s skill had a serious cooldown. They could not hide behind it forever. While they were moving, it might not even have any effect—depending on the wind. Sooner or later, they would have to use their weapons to clear the way. Every shot, of course, was a loud signal calling everything in the vicinity for dinner.
Many would come running.
So what was March hoping for?
How could such a weak party break through where a tank regiment could not? He was so confident. But then again, that was how he always was.
It was strange to see everyone else willing to follow him despite the fact that they knew none of his plan’s details. Were murky rumors really enough? He didn’t even look the part of a mysterious superhuman. More likely, the dreams of grand rewards blinded their better judgment.
Cheater was going along with them, of course. March had promised him a great deal. Including the exact thing that Cheater needed right now.
He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. The alcoholic’s top ability must have been pulling one over on other people.
He wasn’t a gift from the System. He was a curse.
* * *
The car hit a particularly large bump, shaking Cheater out of the sleep he had somehow managed to fall into despite the rough road. Suddenly, the shaking diminished intensely. As if they were no longer driving off road.
Under the canopy of the truck, though, it was so dark he couldn’t have seen a white elephant standing right in front of him. Outside, it was dark as well. Only Fatso’s silhouette could be seen against the dark horizon out back, as he sat ready to shoot at anything that tried to assault the convoy from behind.
Cheater turned to look out a hastily-crafted peephole in the tarp. Nothing was visible save the shapes of the trees against the night sky. A building flashed by, it seemed. Perhaps something else—but it was angular, not organic. If it was truly a building, this was likely no longer a gray cluster but a standard one.
The engine’s sound changed and then stopped entirely. Once his ears let him hear the silence, he realized the whole convoy had stopped.
The chat blinked. March. Form a circle. Cheater and Tat, scout the area. Make for the building on the right side of the road. It’s about a hundred yards behind us. If anything is amiss, return immediately to the convoy. Do not engage.
Cheater moved towards the back of the truck and nudged Tat. “You awake?”
“Yeah. I’m heading out.”
“Thank the gods they didn’t pick me this time,” Roach rejoiced from somewhere in the gloom.
As Cheater was about to jump down, Fatso clapped his shoulder and hung something on his vest. “Flashbang grenade. Good for blinding things. If you need it, toss it and close your eyes—or better, cover your eyes with your hands. It’ll deafen you, but not too badly. What’s important is it’ll let you see the area. Of course, get out of there as soon as it hits. As long as the infecteds attacking you aren’t the highest level, you’ll have a good chance of breaking away.”
Cheater nodded silently and jumped down, then waited for Tat. “Has your ability improved?”
“Why would it have?”
“Use it as much as you can. To look out for infecteds.”
“I’m aware. No need to boss me around.”
“Take it easy. March named me first, so I’m the lead this time.”
“I’m fine. Just haven’t woken up all the way yet. Dreams still in my head. Don’t worry about it.”
“I was napping there, too. Come on, let’s get this done. Try to make zero noise.”
Cheater didn’t know why he said that part. It was obvious to anyone above level zero. They trekked back down the road, following the tracks left by their three sizable vehicles. The convoy was far from silent when it was on the move. Everything nearby could have heard it.
Meaning that scouts had a strong likelihood of running into threats. Still, Cheater doubted they had been left alone. March had probably given someone covert orders to cover them. The Janitor, for example.
Why they should scout out the building, though, was unclear.
But March knew more than he did—and he had been repeatedly told to obey March’s orders without hesitation. If anything happened, it was on the boss.
That was why he was boss.
The night was so dark that it took a few minutes for Cheater to realize they were walking on pavement, not dirt. It had seen its fair share of trouble, but many of the potholes were patched, so it had been a pretty smooth ride. Trees covered the road from both sides, easily visible against the thick clouds. How far the forests extended beyond the road, there was no way of knowing. But they seemed thick enough, and that was comforting. Anything that came at them would undoubtedly make some kind of noise to tip the duo off.
For now, it was quiet. Only the crickets’ chirping and a solitary distant frog gave music to the night. Cheater tried to walk carefully, avoiding all sound with each step. Perhaps enemies in the area had been aroused by the convoy’s noise, but they would certainly react more hungrily to the sound of human footsteps.
Something rustled in the thicket. Cheater and Tat stopped. His hearing told him the girl was aiming her machine gun at the noise. “I don’t see anything,” she whispered.
Cheater listened and hesitated. “Something small, probably. Like a hedgehog.”
“A hedgehog? More like a horse!”
Without answering, Cheater continued to listen attentively and became more and more convinced that he was in the right. It was something tiny, but confident in its invulnerability and thus abandoning of all pretenses at stealth. More and more noise it made, without fear of detection.
Still, Cheater was terrified of what the noise might bring.
After a few minutes, the source of the menacing rustling began moving away.
“Let’s keep going.”
“Yeah. I guess it really was a hedgehog,” she agreed at last.
So they proceeded, freezing at each rustle and snap, until they reached a place where the vegetation on one side of the road died out and revealed the same angular structure Cheater had seen through the peephole. Now, he could see it much better, but that did not lead to any new conclusions. It was about thirty feet tall. He could not determine any of its other dimensions, not even approximately.
The higher a player’s level, the better that player could see in the dark. But not even a level 40 had night vision.
Cheater and Tat had little hope of making anything out.
We suck as scouts.
After walking a few steps along the side of the road, Cheater nearly slammed his nose directly into a wall. It was six feet tall and felt like concrete. A thread stretched along the top of the barrier—likely barbed wire.
The chat blinked again. March, of course.
Why the silence? What do you see?
Cheater hastily chugged out an answer.
A building. Unlikely to be residential. There’s a perimeter wall with barbed wire.
I see you, and the wall. You’re just mulling around. Keep going and you’ll encounter the gate. Janitor is covering you, but if you see anything, come right back. We don’t want a war he
re.
Cheater’s nerves calmed when he heard that cover was indeed provided. Perhaps the gloom held unseen terrors, but it also held a monster that was on their side.
March was right: a gate lay up ahead. This scouting trip seemed more and more like a farce. What was the use of scouting when you couldn’t see three inches in front of yourself?
Even his nose did its best to hide from him.
At last he switched on the flashlight he had bound to the left of his gun. It was a meager light source, at best. To narrow of a beam—but enough to illuminate a target for a shot. For a number of seconds after activating it, his eyes refused to see in its light.
As soon as they had adjusted, Tat made matters worse by switching on her own.
She mocked his face. “You didn’t say I couldn’t turn it on, boss.”
“We’re nearly just as blind with them,” Cheater answered as he scanned the area.
This crossing really was a circus. What party embarks on such a mission without night vision for everyone? Even if the moon were full, it would be reckless not to use them. With a sky this cloudy, that recklessness was multiplied.
He pointed the beam at the gate. “Whatever you do, don’t shine your light up. A beam dancing along the tops of the trees will be visible to the whole area. Come on.”
They entered the gate. A parking lot with several cars lay beyond. At the far end, there was a massive trailer with a tent covering. As he passed it, the smell of dead flesh made Cheater wary. But it was soon revealed to be a false alarm: Just a pile of cleaned human bones scattered on the pavement.
It was disheartening, but still an ordinary sight. Nothing particularly scary. It even calmed Cheater’s nerves a touch. If infecteds were lurking around here, they would gravitate to places with such attractive smells. As it was, none had rushed out.
No, they wouldn’t be here. Infecteds’ keen hearing would have detected the convoy passing by. They would have left the area.
Tat shone her light on the wall of the building. “Looks like some kind of office building. Why would there be an office building in the middle of the forest? There’s not even a city or town nearby. What is this, NSA headquarters? I think that—”
The world would never know what Tat thought. She stopped short and spun, violating Cheater’s last order as she covered the tops of the trees with a bright beam of light. With a scream, she flew back and slid along the pavement as a blob of darkness crashed hard into her flesh.
Cheater leaped back and hastily aimed at the strange threat. The light of his tactical flashlight hit something incomprehensible, some beast tearing into the screaming girl with sickening flesh sounds. But it was not a blob darkness. It was something lighter, something more material. It had fangs, and claws, and spikes, as if it were an elite. Yet it was no larger than a reasonably big dog.
Its nightmarish, angular head turned towards Cheater, grinning from a face that was split nearly from one side to the other by a massive mouth. A narrow tongue flickered between its rows of fangs like a snake’s tail.
Despite the length of time the ensuing fight will take to describe, everything happened in a matter of seconds. Time stretched long, and while Cheater was unable to see the whole picture, he did grasp many terrifying details.
His finger began pulling the trigger as the creature was in the air, flying at Cheater. He immediately activated Tranquility.
Of course Smile of Fortune was a more familiar ability, but he had no idea how luck could possibly save him from a creature that would cover five yards before he could pull the trigger a second time.
The wide-mouthed monster blinked in surprise and stretched out on the road just one step from its next victim. Then his finger finished the pull. He fired again and again, driving bullet after bullet into the creature.
Even in such a tense situation, Cheater kept his ammunition in mind. He shot strictly at the creature’s head, or at least at the front of its body. The area around its hind legs had been immobilized for several seconds by his ability. All movement besides Brownian had stopped. He had no idea what might happen to a bullet entering that sphere; it wasn’t worth the risk.
Another headshot, and yet another.
The gun clicked, its magazine empty. At that moment, something large and dark moved on his right, lit by the flashlight Tat had dropped.
This is not a good time. Cheater was caught with his pants down.
Stepping away from this new threat, he pointed his unloaded pistol at it as his other hand went for his hatchet. The light revealed a terrifically ugly ghoul face—and Cheater relaxed.
He knew this face.
Janitor had been pointing his machine gun at the writhing creature, but immediately lost interest in it and scanned for new threats. Obviously this one was dead, then.
Still, Cheater reloaded with maximum haste. He trusted the quasi’s professionalism and skill, but he did not trust the Continent.
Where one creature lurked, there were often others. The sounds of his shots had carried far on this quiet night.
Personal victory: Gray Hound defeated. Level 35. During this battle, you showed strong Reaction, Willpower, Accuracy, and Luck. +194 progress points to Reaction. +136 progress points to Willpower. +122 progress points to Accuracy. +68 progress points to Luck. Note: No Humanity points or penalties are given for gray creatures! Note: You killed your first gray creature! Bonus +150 distributable primary stat points. Note: You, a weak player, dealt fatal damage to a gray creature without assistance. That was a great victory. Congratulations! Bonus +5 distributable meter points.
Several flashlights flickered along the pavement as the rest of the squad rushed to the scene. Cheater crouched down by Tat and realized that Janitor’s “surgical services” would not be necessary. The creature, small as it was, had known its business. Her neck was so torn up that he could not discern where exactly her head was still attached. The girl was still alive, but there was little left in her but agony.
Little left, not nothing left—because players were not normal humans. A human would have immediately gone unconscious and died. Immunes could hold on until their final breath.
Usually. That depended on the pain, their will, and their level.
“Easy, Tat. It’ll be over soon,” Cheater said, gazing into her eyes.
She tried to say something in response. But her lips faltered, and then her eyes rolled back in her head.
Cheater rose and turned. “Button, Tat needs a revive.”
“Her icon hasn’t gone black yet,” the priestess objected.
“It’s about to,” Janitor confirmed, then stood over the carcass and whistled. “Cheater, Cheater, Cheater. You’re full of surprises.”
“What’s wrong?” Cheater blinked.
“Everything,” the quasi replied, unhelpfully.
March also stood over the beast.
“I told you there was just one. And only a small one. Just like I said.”
“You also said you weren’t certain,” Janitor protested.
“This is the Continent. You can never be certain of anything.”
Cheater was watching them talk, back and forth. “Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what’s going on? Can I get a clear answer for once?”
March insistently held out a can of beer. “Here, you could use this.”
“I’m sick and tired of your beer. I need an answer. Did you intentionally set us up? Send us here knowing the gray was here? You sent me and Tat to die?”
March shrugged as he punched into the can himself. “You could say that. You didn’t die though, you know. We didn’t have a choice but to send someone. You’re the weakest and most inexperienced of us all. With you two, the beast would have felt less threatened. And so it did.”
“What?”
March pointed at the creature. “Do you know what that is?”
“Yes. The system log told me.”
“It’s a gray hound. One of the grays.”
“I figured.”<
br />
“All kinds of gray creatures roam the gray clusters, but their numbers are not so great. In fact, they are so low that you might consider gray clusters uninhabited. Still, being spotted by a hound like this is quite a bad event. They don’t like to attack first, but they will pursue you for days on end. With their impressive speed and endless endurance, they almost never give up. It is difficult to notice when one is tailing you. They are excellent at hiding. Even a good sensor can miss a gray hound. That’s only the hounds. Even Tat could detect the other species, if only from a short distance. Well, this one was tailing us. We picked it up somewhere along the way. Now, these creatures have some kind of link among them, among the pack. Telepathy, perhaps. Or their own chat system, who knows? A hound tells the pack that prey is here. A few hours later, you’re beset by a mob of them. Such a traumatic ambush, you know, that even trade caravans can perish under the pack. To them, we’re not caravan. We’re a light snack. So we only had one option: kill the hound before it brings the pack. But on its own, it will not attack, just follow. If you start hunting it, it will hide, or back off. You’ll only lose time. However, as smart as the hound may be, it is still only a beast. And a carnivore. It’s always hungry. I did not react when I first noticed it. So yes, I set you up. Players don’t like to explore alone, and the gray likely know this, so sending only one of you would be suspicious. But a pair of newcomers? That might be too tempting. We gave you a flashbang grenade, you remember. You should have thrown it immediately—it works wonders on grays. Then Janitor would step it. Sadly, this hound turned out to be quite a nimble Jack, and not as careful as we thought. It swallowed the bait and the fishing rod whole. I know you’re upset with me right now, but try to see the bigger picture here. We just pulled a nasty splinter out of our ass, and it cost us nearly nothing to do so. A successful conclusion to an episode that could have become our demise.
Cheater looked around dumbly, especially at Tat, and nodded. “Yes. It was a success. But I really want to punch you for it, anyway.”
