by Dante Steel
“He?” Gary interrupted.
“Yeah, definitely a he,” she said coolly. “I kept my arms up so he couldn’t bite my neck, so he began to crush me.”
“Your chest is vulnerable,” Gary said angrily.
“Yes, well, that potion—”
“You could’ve been killed!” he shouted.
“Yeah, if not for…” Elena took a deep breath. “If not for Olivia and Nicoletta.”
“Don’t mention it,” Olivia said.
“I won’t,” Elena muttered.
Gary was incensed. “Elena, you’re in the game now. You can’t just act as if you’re invincible. You aren’t!”
“Thank God you didn’t see me on the ground,” she muttered. “My ribs had nearly been caved in from him squeezing me so hard.”
“Elena, I’m not fucking joking. I’ll tie you up—”
“You will do no such thing!”
“Anyone can tie me up,” Olivia said, raising her hand.
“Not now,” Gary snapped.
“Seriously?” Elena yelled. “My God, what is wrong with you?”
“Elena, they’re just worried about you,” Nicoletta said calmly.
“Not Olivia.”
“If it weren’t for her, you would be dead,” Nicoletta said. “Right?”
“Maybe. Yeah.”
“None of us want you to die,” Nicoletta said.
Elena jerked away. “I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.” She stomped off.
Gary chased after her and grabbed her arm. She whirled on him, ready to slam her fist into him, and he lifted himself up easily out of harm’s way.
“Can we talk a minute?” he asked desperately.
“I would rather not.”
“After my parents died, I didn’t understand it then, but I… I did a lot of reckless stupid shit. I ran out in front of cars to cross the street. One time, a car was inches from hitting me. Some other crap too. It was only later that I realized that I was tempting fate. I wanted to die. I was suicidal. My parents were gone. Life was different. I couldn’t handle all of the changes, so I wanted to die, too.”
“Are you saying—”
“I’m saying that’s what I went through,” he said carefully. “And I want you to know that whatever you’re going through, you aren’t alone. I sure as hell felt that way, but you better not, because I will do whatever it takes to make sure you don’t feel that way.”
She crossed her arms. “How are you going to manage that?”
“Well, I don’t think using my powers to undress you will work.”
“No, I’m not Olivia,” she said coolly.
Gary shrugged sheepishly.
“Wait. Did you do that with Olivia?”
“Not exactly. I just lifted her skirt.”
“Oh my God. Seriously, dude?”
“It was her idea, and it helped me to figure out how to move stuff with my mind, so it was kinda important. It wasn’t just for shits and giggles, and it was with her consent because like I said, it had been her idea.”
“You two are made for each other,” Elena muttered.
“I was hoping you would think that all of us are made for each other,” he said, the closest he had come to saying how he truly felt.
“Dream on,” she snorted. “I don’t want anything to do with your den of evil.”
“According to some, our having sex before marriage is evil,” he pointed out.
“You can’t have a marriage with three girls!”
“Who says we’re ever getting out of here? And if that’s the case, why not have marriage as we want it?”
“I don’t want it like that, and I don’t want to share you, and we sure as fuck better get out of here.” Elena looked ready to punch through something again.
“Hey, guys?” Nicoletta called. “I hate to interrupt, but it’s looking like we have company.”
Gary glanced farther south and muttered a curse.
“Oh, shit,” Elena said. “How many do you think there are?”
“A horde of them, and if they’re that far away, and we can see them, they have to be moving fast, and—”
“There’s no telling how many there are,” she finished.
“One nearly killed you,” he said.
“We can’t handle this many.”
“We have to,” Olivia said coming over to them.
“We need a plan and fast,” Nicoletta said, on Olivia’s heels. “We can’t run. They’ll chase us, and we aren’t fast enough.”
“I have no ideas,” Gary said.
Elena threw up her hands. “Great. Fine. I’ll stay in the front and punch through as many as I can.”
“I can set up a line of fire to greet them,” Nicoletta said. “But what if they jump over it?”
“Olivia, can you maybe lift the fire to make it hit them?” Gary asked.
“I can try.”
“Okay, that just leaves you as the only one without something to do,” Elena said.
Gary nodded. “I’ll think of something,” he assured her, although he had no idea what, and they had run out of time. The first of the vampires was nearly on them.
Nicoletta set up a long line of fire. Elena had already punched through the first vampire that had gotten through before the fireline had been made. Her fist went clear through the chest, and the vampire turned to ash as she smashed her fist through a second’s chest. Ashes rained down.
Gary struggled to find anything that he could do to try to affect the fight. Some of the closest vampires hadn’t been able to slow down and raced right into the line of fire, the literal line of fire. Most of the others tried to jump over, and Olivia lifted the fire to at least singe them, but several more were getting through, and Elena could only handle so much.
Using his power to control and move things was fairly second nature to Gary, but he had always used something that was material, something he himself could pick up. Moving the fire took several tries, and at first, he kept trying and having the fire fly through the air slower, but that wasn’t helping any because the vampires were so damn fast, and then one was right in front of him, his silver fangs flashing, and Gary was up in the air, flying.
Shit. Elena was on the ground. She was fighting hard, and Nicoletta was getting surrounded, her and Olivia both. Nicoletta had added a circle of fire around them to help keep the vampires at bay. For now, it was working, but—well, duh. Just like that, Gary knew what to do.
He could pick up physical items much easier than something more intangible than fire. Instead of bringing the fire to the vampires, he should take the vampires to the fire.
Sometimes, it was as easy as KISS. Keep it simple, stupid.
Gary was able to telekinetically lift no more than two vampires at a time, but he threw them into the fire and held them there long enough to start to turn to ash before grabbing another two. The pile of ashes around Elena was impressive, almost resembling volcanic ash, and Gary shuddered. He hoped they wouldn’t have to worry about that volcano erupting, but that was a potential worry for another day.
Just when Gary thought that they were making progress and that the horde of vampires had to be winding down, Gary realized that more and more were coming yet. A seemingly endless horde.
“They’re vampires, not zombies,” he muttered. “This isn’t fair. Fuck you, Haru. You’re doing this shit on purpose. I didn’t see one fucking vampire the entire time I was here alone, and now we have to face all of this? I call bull fucking shit on that.”
On and on they fought. Gary tried to keep the vampires away from the girls as best as he could. He couldn’t help noticing that there was less and less power with each of Elena’s strikes. It didn’t matter, though. Her metal was enough to cause the vampires to die, and that was good enough for him. She even kicked one back, and its head snapped back as it turned to ash starting from its stomach and moving outward, the ashes flying back away from Elena. Damn. That was sick to watch.
The fires all ar
ound them gave illumination to the vampires, and Gary almost wished he couldn’t see their faces. That siren had been terrifying, but the vampires were even more so. They might not be zombies, but they were just as ugly, as decayed. With a face so pale it almost glowed in the dark, eyes set unnaturally far apart, his veins darker and visible, the creature was one of the ugliest Gary had ever seen before. The vampires had black veins like the siren, their skin stretched tight over their bones, and their teeth were all razor sharp, at least a hundred in their overcrowded mouths. Being bitten by one would leave twin puncture marks. No. It would tear out your skin and leave you in agony as your skin and muscle would be ripped away. Hell, they might have enough strength in their jaws to bite clear through bone.
Gary wasn’t about to let any of them find that out.
Just then, Elena cried out. One of the vampires had managed to bite her arm. Gary yanked the vampire away from her, but the vampire’s teeth were too imbedded in her arm. Elena was jerked along as well, connected to the vampire’s teeth still. Gary had to yank out the vampire’s fangs one by one to free her. He tried to send those teeth as missiles to attack the other vampires, but that didn’t work. He quickly defanged the vampire, and Elena smashed its toothless mouth with her other arm. Her injured arm hung by her side.
Fuck.
Hoping she wouldn’t mind, Gary, who remained flying, managed to fly Elena over to the other two ladies. Nicoletta’s fire still burned, but before, she had been adding more length and heat to them. Now, they were just burning on their own. She was burned out.
Honestly, so was Gary. He landed by the women, hoping that by not wasting energy on flying, he could telekinetically move the vampires that much more easily.
But the vampires were still coming. The horde wasn’t dealt with entirely.
“Is this every last one of them?” Nicoletta asked.
“I doubt it,” Gary said. “It’s too early in the game.”
“Vampire War,” Olivia muttered. “This is just one battle in the war.”
“This is insane,” Elena said. “If I get my hands on Haru, I’m going to kill him.”
“You and me both.” Gary killed two more vampires and then gave Elena a potion.
She drank it, and he couldn’t see what it did, too intent on killing vampires two at a time.
“All right. Let me out of here,” she said.
“No,” Gary said. He was sweating from both the fire and the battle.
“Nicoletta, dim the fire in a spot so I can get free,” Elena begged.
“No. Vampires will get in.”
“You guys, we have to fight!” Elena said.
“We are,” Nicoletta argued.
“I’m not!”
“I can fly you out,” Olivia offered.
“Don’t,” Gary started, but Olivia was already holding onto Elena. She brought Elena down outside of the fire. The two collapsed instead of landing on their feet, and the vampires descended on them.
Fuck!
Gary didn’t care if he was tired. He dragged vampires to the fires five at a time instead of lifting them into the air. He did his best to bring them down faster and faster, and Nicoletta was throwing out a few small fireballs, pitching them like she would a softball. Her aim was decent even if the size of the fireballs were tiny. They were enough to cause the vampires to burn, and that was good enough for him.
Gradually, the cluster around the two girls were all dealt with. Although fifty or so vampires remained, they dashed off.
“Fuck me,” Gary said as he rushed over to check on Elena and Olivia. “If that was just one battle, I don’t want to take part in the war.”
Chapter Fourteen
The vampires were so fucking impossibly fast and strong and devastating. Gary could hardly believe what brutal killing machines they were. He hadn’t seen a ton of vampire movies or read a lot of vampire books, but he knew the drill about them. The garlic, the sun, the coffins… Seeing them in real life—well, in the game that was now his real life—that was insane and terrible. Gary hoped he would never see a single one again, but he knew that wasn’t going to be the case. Vampires were here to stay, and it wasn’t a good thing for them. Not at all.
Gary had been appalled to discover Olivia had been hurt. She had landed awkwardly on her ankle, and a vampire had nearly yanked her arm clear off. Nicoletta had held Olivia still, and Elena had wrenched the arm back into place. Gary had winced at the terrible sound of bone on bone. Olivia hadn’t made a sound though, and she sat back up, tenderly moving her arm but swinging it faster than Gary would’ve thought she might’ve.
She shrugged. “I had my arm pulled out of the socket before. It happens. It’s not easy for me to push it back in by myself. Thanks, Elena.”
“Don’t mention it,” Elena said stiffly. “But, ah, thanks for letting me out of the fire.”
“Thanks for keeping most of them at bay.”
“You could’ve flown back.”
“I wasn’t about to fly with my arm hanging like that,” Olivia said. “Besides, like I would’ve left your side. Give me a break, girl. I know you hate me—”
“I don’t hate you. I just don’t want you to touch my boobs.”
“Can I touch your ass then?”
“No.”
“Come on. You just thanked me for helping you.”
“No.”
“Man, what does a girl have to do to get some love around here?” Olivia gripped.
Gary grinned but knew better than to say anything.
“We need to find a town,” Nicoletta said. “Pronto.”
“I need to be heading off,” Olivia said, sounding regretful.
“I do too, but they need a place to stay that’s safe. We can’t leave them here all alone. What if another horde of vampires comes?”
“I didn’t say I was leaving now, did I?” Olivia flew up high into the sky and glanced all around. “Ah. Over to the east. I’m not sure if it’s a town, but it’s something worth investigating.”
“Lead the way,” Gary said.
Still flying, Olivia lead them. She and Nicoletta had drunk potions, and Gary gave another one to Elena and drank one himself. He didn’t want to waste his potions, but they were up against vampires. They had to stay at peak shape if they were going to survive this.
And they would survive this. Games were meant to be challenging but beatable. No one would want to play a game that was unbeatable.
As they headed along, they killed a few bats and some strange alligator-type creatures that were made of sand. Gary was grateful for that because they were easy kills, easy experience points.
Experience points. He hadn’t even checked after the vampiric battle, and he almost didn’t want to know how many levels he had gone up because it had to be an insane amount. He’d check later, once they were settled.
After a little bit of traveling, Elena called, “Thanks, Olivia and Nicoletta. For not abandoning us.”
“Never,” Nicoletta said, giving her a hug.
“She gets a hug?” Olivia joked.
Elena sniffled and waved Olivia down. The three girls all embraced, and it was touching and sweet, and Gary, for once, didn’t get a hard-on. He was just glad that they were bonding, that they were friends.
Olivia marched with them afterward, occasionally flying up to make sure they were still heading for it. As it turned out, the spot was a bunch of ruined buildings. Several houses had been partially burned.
“Hey, there’s a book here,” Elena said. She handed it to Nicoletta.
Nicoletta set a small fire in her hand and gave the book to Olivia to read.
“Blah, blah, blah… Nothing interesting… okay, here we go. ‘The war has started in earnest, and Momma is scared. She cries every night. Daddy went off to fight. I don’t think he’ll come home. The United States has fallen already. We will next. We all will fall to this terrible darkness.’”
“So we aren’t in the US,” Gary said.
“Where are
we?” Elena asked.
“Does it matter?” Nicoletta countered. “It’s not as if we can change this world back to what it had been before.”
“I don’t know.” Gary pointed. “Over there, I found a lost ocean. If we’re in Europe, that must be the Atlantic Ocean. Maybe we’re in England.”
“Still not sure it matters, but keep reading,” Nicoletta said.
“‘South America has fallen. Australia. They say down south, Antarctic, is still alive and has light, some. Some light. It’s not like they have lot of light there. The nuclear waste zone…’ Hold up. Nuclear waste zone? There’s no way in hell there’s actually radiation in the air for you to breathe, is there?”
“Haru wouldn’t,” Gary started, but then he hesitated. Would he have?
“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Elena said. “There’s bats and other creatures. They wouldn’t be able to survive radiation poisoning, and it’s not as if they have three heads. We should be fine.”
“Okay, good. Although you would look hot even if you had a third boob,” Olivia joked.
Elena just rolled her eyes, but she did smile.
Gary grinned. Progress maybe.
“Read on,” he urged.
“‘World War Four has destroyed the world. New creatures have taken over. They’re strong and so fast. I think they’re vampires, but no one wants to call them that. We have no choice but to move underground.’” Olivia slammed the book shut. “Well, no shit, Shirleys, oh, and Sherlock. We haven’t been able to find any towns because the towns are underground. This barren wasteland is just a barren wasteland.”
“Let’s go find us a town,” Gary said with a grin.
Olivia kept the book, and they didn’t have to go far until they found a large rock with worn indentations forward and back as if the rock had been moved countless times. Elena slid it to the side, and sure enough, there was a hole inside.
Gary insisted on going first. Elena, of course, joked about him wanting to protect them, but it was the truth. He felt obligated to keep her safe, to keep them all safe. He didn’t want anything to happen to them. They all meant so much to him. He would even die for them.
The hole dropped him onto stairs, and he climbed down. Eventually, the darkness gave way to flickering torches at even intervals on the tiny pathway. The stairs opened into a large room.
