Gamers

by Cambry Varner

  “You ever joined them?” Naomi had rolled onto her side, listening with interest so intent that it made Sally uncomfortable.

  “No, I’m not a sociable person.”

  Sometimes Sally heard Darcy and her friends laughing down the hall and wondered what was so funny. She thought about going to join them, but never could get the courage to do it.

  “I’m the same way,” Naomi said, interrupting her thoughts. “I stay in my room a lot after school. Sometimes, when my brother has time, he takes me to the park.”

  Sally grimaced at the thought of going to the park. Why go outside when you had TV, internet, and videogames? “I didn’t really go outside much. Definitely not to parks.”

  “I never had much use for the park either,” Naomi replied. “He thought it made me happy to go, so I went to make him happy. Do you have any rations? I’m a little hungry.”

  Since Naomi mentioned it, Sally realized that she too was feeling peckish. “All my rations were in my backpack. Sorry.”

  “What’s your Survival skill?”

  “It’s a plus two.”

  “That might be good enough. Can you look for some berries or roots for us to eat.”

  Sally shook her head. “I’m a city girl. I wouldn’t last an hour in the wilderness unless I had a stocked mobile home and wi-fi. I wouldn’t know what to look for.”

  “But your character will,” Naomi said, rolling onto her stomach with her chin on folded hands. “Stop thinking about what you couldn’t do before and start thinking about what you can do now. Haven’t you noticed that you know and understand things that you didn’t before coming to this world?”

  Thinking about how Darcy knew how to cast spells and how Sally became an expert with the rapier, she looked at her other skills. Sneak was at a generous +6, while Acrobatics was at +4. Sally knew that sneaking worked, so decided to try some tumbling to get a feel for how to use a skill she wasn’t familiar with in real life.

  Stretching out her arms, Sally tipped to her side and performed a perfect cartwheel. Excited, and to see if she could, she stood on her hands with legs together and toes pointed towards the sky. She maintained this position for nearly a minute before gracefully righting herself. Before the Incident, she couldn’t have pulled off anything more dexterous than rolling over in bed.

  “I’ll be right back!” Sally said, feeling a burst of confidence and dashed into the woods at a speed that amazed her.

  She could see the trees clearly to avoid running into them, and the roots stood out against the dark grass, so she didn’t trip on them. For the first time since this crazy nightmare started, she was having fun. It was the same excitement she experienced when starting up a brand-new game on the weekend with ordered pizza and soda on the way. Just for the joy of it, she did a forward flip over a log and then cartwheeled between two trees with entwining branches. Maybe there was a good side to being in this world, after all.

  Then she realized that Darcy and Mina likely weren’t having any fun being held captive by bandits who call themselves Cut Throats. Okay, playtime was over. The least she could do was find some berries while they waited for Naomi’s ki to recharge, but it was easier said than done. Despite having low-light vision, she couldn’t find anything safe for consumption. Blueberries were clinging to a vine, but tell-tale white specks on the leaves told her intuition that they weren’t safe to eat.

  At last she realized that she had found what she was looking for: berries with dark sinks as large as walnuts. Her character’s intuition was that they were not dangerous, so she popped one in her mouth and moaned as the sweetness spread across her tongue. Yes, this would do nicely. Gathering all the ripe fruit that she could into her pockets and the crook of one arm, Sally reckoned she had more than enough to feed Naomi and herself.

  A twig snapped.

  In an instant, Sally was on her feet with the dagger in hand, scanning the trees around her. The sound came from the west, but nothing was there. Or at least as far as her low-light vision would let her see.

  She felt eyes on her, like the clothes on her body. “Hello?”

  Silence. It hung in the air, permeating the darkness around her. She listened for any movement, another twig snapping, the rustle of bushes, or the creak of a branch. But there was nothing.

  It was not the Cut Throats. She didn’t know how, but Sally knew it was not them. All the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she swallowed. “Hey? Hello?” Sally called again. “Answer me if you can hear me! Don’t hide and jump out at me like a slasher from a movie.”

  No response. Only the weight of unseen eyes on her. Without losing her grip on the dagger, she began walking. “Alright, I’m going. Sorry for bothering you. Goodbye. Sayonara. Adios.”

  She kept walking, forcing herself not to run. Isn’t that what happened in horror movies? You start running, and the monster begins chasing you? Or you run right into the slasher and he’s waiting with huge machete or chainsaw?

  Gradually, she felt the chill of being watched leave her. She took another long look around but saw only darkness and forest.

  She hurried away, and it was a struggle not to run.

  ***

  Eyes zeroed in on the spot between the shoulder blades of the retreating half-elf. Fingers pulled the string taut until it the bow that held it creaked. The tip of a white arrow gleamed in the moonlight.

  A tongue touched an upper lip in a thoughtful motion. One beat, two beats, one more and the half-elf would be out of range.

  A third beat passed and the white arrow lowered, and the string relaxed.

  You get to live one more day. A gift from me to you. Use it wisely, hon.

  Chapter 7

  Escaping and Trespassing

  The manner in which Sally returned, often turning to look behind her, alerted Naomi that something was wrong.

  “Are you being chased?” her companion asked.

  “No, I—Jesus, I don’t know,” Sally said, as she swept the area with her eyes. “I think someone’s out there, and it’s not Cut Throats.”

  “Were you attacked?” Naomi’s body looked tense as if she was readying herself to take action if needed.

  “No, but someone was watching me.”

  “How do you know it was a person? It might have been an animal.”

  “No, it…It was a person.” Sally couldn’t put her feeling into words as it wasn’t exactly like being watched. It was as if she was being studied like a rat in a maze. “How much longer do you need to rest?”

  “Twenty minutes, and I’ll be good to go.” Naomi popped a berry into her mouth. “Hmm! These Gumdrop Berries are delicious! Try some!”

  “How do you know they’re called Gumdrop Berries?” Sally ate another berry and then understood why. It tasted and had the texture of sweet flavored gum.

  “You have to collect these for a quest, but I didn’t know they tasted this good,” Naomi said, helping herself to another.

  Eating the berries with Naomi made her calmer, and Sally began to wonder if there actually had been a watcher. Perhaps it was something her frightened mind and adrenaline conjured up. What she needed to do was concentrate on saving Darcy and Mina.

  As soon as the berries were gone, she looked around. “Done resting? We should get going.”

  “One sec,” Naomi blinked. Her eyes focused on a character screen Sally couldn’t see. “Yep, all eleven ki points are back. Let’s go.”

  ***

  “Please, God, don’t let them kill me,” Darcy could hear Mina whispering.

  The Cut Throats had taken Darcy and Mina through a set of heavy doors lined with brass and down stone steps into what had once been a large cellar. A wall had been knocked out to make space for cells. They shoved the two of them inside, wrists still tied, and slammed the door shut with an ear-piercing clang. Once the Cut Throats guards had left, Darcy tried to peer around for a way out through the bars and cursed herself for being human. It was dark, with a distant torch down the hall serving as th
e only light source and Sally, with her low-light vision, would have been able to see clearly. Hell, being a Rogue she might have been able to maneuver these ropes off her.

  “Shut up,” Darcy grunted as she looked down the long hall outside of their cell. With her hands still tied, Darcy was prevented from casting spells, but hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case for long. “Mina, you need to break the ropes.”

  “I’m trying! I’ve been trying!” Mina wailed, almost falling over from where she sat against the wall.

  If she started rolling on the floor like a weeping toddler, Darcy might break the ropes on her own to throttle her. “Then you have to Rage and break the ropes. Get angry! Get pissed off!”

  “I’m too scared,” Mina cried.

  “I’m scared too! I’m scared you’re going to get me killed because you won’t get it together!” Darcy kicked the bars, which gave a metal thunk in protest. “I never thought I would end up getting killed like this, because of a crybaby!”

  Trembling, Mina bowed her head low and sobbed. It was pathetic to see a large, muscular woman break down, and Darcy felt the stirrings of guilt needling her. She didn’t want to feel guilty as she believed her words and emotions were justified. Yet, her Wisdom score was forcing her to see that Mina was in the middle of a breakdown and shouting and berating her was only going to make it worse.

  Kneeling on the floor beside Mina, she said, “Look, stop crying, alright? I’m sorry. I—I don’t handle frustration well. Sally keeps telling me that one day I’m going to run my mouth off at the wrong person and get my ass kicked.”

  The barbarian sniffled, breathing hard, and Darcy wished she had a tissue or at least had her hands free to wipe away the tears.

  “I don’t know how to Rage,” Mina sniffed, “I have never been in a fight in my life. I don’t like confrontation.”

  Darcy sighed, thinking of other classes Mina would have been better suited for. “You should have created a Bard and stayed in the back with the Cleric to buff and debuff.”

  “What’s buff and debuff?”

  Once again, and not for the last time, Darcy wished her hands were free so she could bury her face into them. “Buff strengthens the party and debuff weakens the enemy. Haven’t you ever played games before?”

  “Well, yeah!” Mina said, almost offended. “I’ve played Monopoly, Sorry, Life, and Clue on family nights.”

  Now it was Darcy’s turn to be offended. “Those are kiddie board games! I meant real games on PC or console.”

  Mina blinked. “We never owned a gaming console, and our computers were for homework and school assignments only.”

  Was this girl from another planet or some bizarre mutant from the underworld? “Not even a Vita? Or a Switch? What about tablets?”

  Mina shook her head. “Mom and Dad limited our time on the iPad, and we only used it to watch movies and kids’ Youtube.”

  “Oh, sweet Jesus in the Manger. Are you serious? You’ve never gamed?” This was inconceivable. How was it possible to live a wholesome life without video games in it? “What about tabletop RPGs?”

  “What are those?”

  With her mind blown, Darcy sagged against the wall. All her life she had played games. Like Sally, Darcy had upgraded consoles as they were released. They had gone through the early Nintendo phase and invested in both Xbox and PS4, along with upgrading a PC. While Sally stuck to her consoles, however, and played single-player games, Darcy had focused on tabletop RPGs and branched into MMOs when she was introduced to them by a cousin. Games had been her social outlet and her core focus outside of school and family. Imagining her life without games was impossible.

  Then that brought up another question. “Why were you so interested in playing Shadow’s Deep if you aren’t gamer?”

  The barbarian woman sighed and inclined her head. “You’re going to laugh at me.”

  “I won’t,” Darcy promised. “C’mon, tell me. I really want to know.”

  Mina shifted, trying to get comfortable, which was hard with only her feet and legs free. “Alright. There’s this boy…”

  “Oh God, please, say no more.” Darcy rolled her eyes. “You’re one of those…”

  Mina’s brows rose. “One of what?”

  “Girls who only play games to hang out with a boyfriend or get a guy to notice them. Let me guess. You met a boy who’s really into Shadow’s Deep. You thought if you got into it too, he’d notice you. Am I right?”

  Mina glowered but stayed silent. If Darcy didn’t know there was a coward behind that scowl, she would have been scared. The Barbarian woman looked mad enough to tear heads off. Darcy was about to apologize but then froze, an idea forming.

  She twisted her lips into a smug smile. “And I bet you lied to him. You told him that you played the game too.” Then a realization came to Darcy and her eyebrows rose high. “And that’s why you were in such a hurry to learn how to play, isn’t it? Because you want to impress him right away.”

  “Shut up,” Mina said, her face turning bright red. “I really wanted to play…”

  “But with him!” Darcy said, rising onto her knees. She couldn’t tower over Mina, the Barbarian was too tall, but she was able to bring herself eye level. “God, I hate girls who play games to get guys! It makes us female gamers look bad! Do you know how many times I’ve been asked if I played games to find dates? Or if I’m a lesbian. I am a lesbian, but I shouldn’t be labeled as one because I’m a girl who likes games. And it’s because of girls like you!”

  “Stop yelling at me!” Mina’s teeth nearly glowed white as she bared them. She pivoted her body to face Darcy, her broad body almost bursting with fury.

  “I’m not yelling. I’m telling the truth,” Darcy said evenly. “But you wouldn’t know that because you are a liar!”

  “Don’t call me that!” Mina snapped.

  “Are you mad!?” Darcy yelled.

  “Yes!”

  “Then Rage, goddamn you! Rage and break the ropes!”

  Mina’s eyes darkened from both fury and fear and she opened her mouth wide enough to stretch her lips across her teeth and let out a strangled cry. Arms and chest growing taut, her muscles bulged, straining the hide armor. Then her arms were thrown upward with a torn rope around one wrist. Darcy’s cry of joy turned into a strangled gasp as Mina’s large hands closed around her throat and began throttling her.

  ***

  With her low-light vision seeing further than Naomi’s human eyes could, it fell to Sally to keep a watch on their surroundings. In case the Cut Throats patrolled the river, the plan was to go upstream for half a mile along the bank before moving into the adjacent foliage until they got to the waterfall.

  When they finally found the river, Sally was surprised by how deep it was. The water was about as wide as she could throw a knife and deep enough to cover her; they might need to swim at some point, but they wouldn’t get in the water just yet.

  “You might need to scout ahead of me,” Naomi explained. “Your Sneak skill is higher than mine.”

  Sally didn’t like the idea of going it alone. “Let’s just stick together in case we come across something unexpected. Isn’t your Sneak as good as mine?”

  “Yeah, but you’re the one with the Sneak Attack. You can do a lot more damage ambushing them than me.”

  “I rather not attack them by myself,” Sally said dryly. “They’ll kick my ass before I can touch one of them.”

  “No, they won’t. Not if you surprise them,” Naomi said with an impish grin. “If you surprise an enemy, you get a free action round while they are stunned. They can’t move until after you take a turn. And since you’re a Rogue, you’ll automatically do bonus damage.”

  Sally blinked, thinking back to the bizarre moments she was paralyzed when the Cut Throats surprised her. “What happens if we get surprised?”

  “The same thing. We can’t move until after all the enemies have their turn, which would be pretty bad for us, I guess,” Naomi admitted.

&nbs
p; Despite accepting the theory that her ambushing an enemy might work, Sally insisted they not split up and with Naomi behind her, went upstream with watchful eyes and pricked ears. Twigs and low-hanging branches—which were silently brushed aside—tugged at their clothes. Fortunately, there did not seem to be any Cut Throats in this area and nor did they see any boats. Yet, Sally didn’t relax her guard until they arrived at the waterfall. The water fell from twenty feet in an opaque curtain of constantly moving water that would hide any cave.

  It was easy enough to run to their destination, but to actually arrive was terrifying for Sally. Many times she was tempted to let Naomi go it alone, but knew she would never forgive herself for turning back.

  I can do this. It’s no different than dealing with skeletons and kobolds. And I have a level five player with me. We can handle this together.

  They were close enough to the waterfall that the roar of water would hide any sound they made. Crouching low behind rocks, Sally peered over the top of the stones.

  “I can go ahead and see if the cave’s there,” Naomi said, eyeing the waterfall.

  A new worry pricked Sally’s heart. “You think he was lying? After everything I told him?”

  “I don’t think so, but you can never be too careful. He might have forgotten some details,” Naomi scooted around the rock. “Be back in a sec.”

  She was off like a shot, darting along the bank and traversing through the water with barely a sound. Ducking under the surface, she became a pale shadow passing beneath the water like ghost, until she finally disappeared altogether. A minute passed, then two minutes. Sally counted the seconds in her head and couldn’t decide if she should wait longer or go in after Naomi. Before Sally could make up her mind, the girl burst through the surface, startling her.