by Jack Crosby
The problem for him was he was using a one shot gun. The pistol had anywhere from eight to ten rounds before overheating. From my belly, I looked up and put one right between the eyes. He dropped like a sack of shit and this got an even bigger reaction from the crowd.
The announcer man was stunned. “Down goes Shelby the pirate! He’d been with us for five tournaments and won’t be missed at all.” I didn’t hear what he said next as my oculus went off, signaling my next level. Freaking A, that was sweet.
I was eagerly waiting my next test. The energy from the crowd was filling me with all sorts of excitement. That quickly went away as I was attacked from the sky. Talons slashed out at me, getting me in the back and putting me on the ground yet again. I looked up to see my attacker was a wasteland hawk. Shit and double shit.
Wasteland hawks were fast and agile. There was no way I’d get a shot lined up against this one. Normally in the game, I’d use a grenade and explosive of some sort but due to a certain digital vixen, I wasn’t carrying any. Nope, all I had were my pistol and my dagger.
My dagger – a brilliant idea hit me. As the hawk circled around and prepared for his next attack, I put the gun away and grabbed the knife. Waiting for the right moment, the hawk came at me, zigging and zagging. Knowing at the last second he’d need to line up a straight shot to me, I thrusted the dagger upward and skewered the bird at the last possible second. Nothing quite like seeing an impaled hawk that close to your face.
Another tone from the oculus, and another level gained.
I pulled it off and let it fall to the ground. By now, the place was electric. The announcer man confirmed this. “For the first time tonight folks, an entrant has made it to the final round. Experience points double and any loot found is free to keep.”
Behind me, an arena employee yelled over to me. “GrimmsReapers, you get a five minute break to reload or anything you want to do.”
That’s just what the doctor ordered and I quickly went back to the waiting area and found a seat. Not two seconds later, Ali rushed in. “Well done, you’ve made it to the rookie tournament boss fight.”
Boss fights were my bread and butter. Sometimes I had issues with the regular gameplay areas when there were too many targets. But if you gave me one single target to focus on, I’d get the job done in no time. “Do we know what the boss is?”
“Who knows what Cyrus has pulled out of the B.O.R. for us tonight?”
I pulled up the oculus to see what all I’d gained. Level six was a great feeling. As much as I wanted to bask in my good fortune, the rest period came to an end too quickly. The admin in charge of keeping me on the move came back in and signaled for Ali to head back to the stands. She gave me one last squeeze on the shoulder and left.
Alone with the admin, “Not too shabby for a rookie, huh?”
“Nope – it’s a pity you’re going to die in the next round though.”
Well that wasn’t encouraging at all. “Now why the fuck would you say that?”
He just shrugged it off like it was nothing. “How many damn rookies could possibly beat the Red Lady?”
Huh, I thought the boss would sound more intimidating. “The Red Lady? “Is that supposed to be scary or something?”
We were almost back out to the arena. “They call her the Red Lady because she bathes in the blood of her opponents. That’d scare the shit out of me, if I was you.”
Well when he put it like that, holy shit, that scared the fuck out of me!
System Break: Sabotage
Standing out in the center of the arena was the boss fight. The Red Lady, an opponent I’ve never faced before. She was wearing a cloak with a hood that covered a good portion of her face. Stuck in the ground was the top of her spear, which was as long as her, ready to do battle. She looked a bit shorter than me, but I learned a long time ago never to judge an opponent by its looks in a video game.
I fired up my gun and put my goggles on. It was go time. The moment the final bell rung, the two of us were on the move. She charged me, as it appeared she was a front line fighter with a high attack. I moved out of position, firing off a round or two as I retreated away. Fortunately I was well away from her when my gun overheated. I had a big enough advantage in spacing to overcome that.
She was on to my game plan. Knowing that I’d be back in the game by the time she could reach me, she stayed put and began to twirl her spear in some sort of impressive display. The crowd was oooohing and aaaawing over the movement and I had to admit, I was taken aback too. Not really sure what to do myself, I bent down and watched.
Without delay, she stopped her exhibition and slowly began to circle me. The more this went on, the more I felt like prey to a much more calculating predator. Not one to wait around, I got back to my feet and circled around as well. Every so often for fun, I’d fire off a round at her just to disrupt her movements.
Then it came. No more fooling around, she was ready to end this.
I’m not sure why, I holstered the gun and grabbed the dagger that had been gifted to me from the Oracle. Her spear tipped crashed down just as I brought my blade up to block it. The two metals connected, sending a cascade of sparks on to the arena floor. The crowd ate that up.
I looked up and saw my opponent for the very first time. Her raven black hair was tied back in a ponytail under her hood. Freckles were scattered across her face and her ice blue eyes were focused on my dagger. She pushed away, but not so far as she couldn’t whisper to me without everyone hearing her words. “You are the chosen one, are you not?”
Seeing how low she kept her voice, I mumbled back, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
It was like she was making a rash decision in her mind as she took in the dagger again. When she came to, her face spoke of someone who was about to do something very, very stupid. “You’re too under leveled to beat me, so trust me and you’ll live.”
What was it with powerful females telling me to trust them and live? “I think I’m…”
Well there was no time to finish my thought. She brought her spear down towards my head and I was pretty sure that my game was over. Instead, at the very last moment, she diverted the spear away and grabbed me with her off hand. A quick hush went over the crowd, eagerly anticipating her killing me.
Nope, with me helplessly dragged along, she ran. I heard Ali scream my gamer handle, Vector not GrimmsReapers, but Red was booking. Plus she was powerful. She easily handled the guard to the exit door and anyone foolish enough to get in our way as she rampaged through the Neon Underground. On our way out, I saw the concerned face of Ira from up above looking down. I mouthed the word help to her, hoping she’d be able to get some.
We exited the digital black market and were back out in the B.O.R. And it was a bad time to be out there too. Raid vipers were on the move, breaking through the surface with their deadly abandon. “We need to seek shelter!”
“Raid vipers don’t threaten me.” She kept pulling me as we entered the danger zone. Never in all of my life had I been as afraid as I was at that moment. My life was in her hands and she was going right into the fucking fire.
All around us, the monsters from below burst upwards, getting close, yet never hitting us. I had my eyes closed tight, hoping by the time this ended, I’d still be alive. Then the chaos all stopped. In fact, so had we. When I reopened my eyes, the raid vipers were behind us and I was in a different part of the B.O.R. For some ungodly reason, she’d brought us to Coffin Cliffs – aka the pirates’ territory.
I had once ventured into Coffin Cliffs before defeating the pirates in hopes of taking on the optional side quest early, but man, I wasn’t into the hours of level grinding needed to accomplish that, so I scrammed. Fast forward, here I was, a rookie in the game and my new ‘ally’ decided this would be a great detour. “Are you fucking crazy?”
“Shhhhh!” Her finger was up to her lips and her eyes were scouting. “This is as safe as we’ll be until the time is right.”
So s
he made us wait there in silence until it was clear no one was coming. That’s when the interrogation started. “You carry the Oracle’s chosen blade. What are you, an algorithm? A hack? Tell me how we’re rising against Zeus Industries.”
Hell, this was hard. Ali specifically said not to mention the fact I was a player to anyone. I had no idea who this girl could be, but I was nervous not having the right answers might get me killed. “It’s hard to describe what I am. Suffice to say, I’ve met with the Oracle and she gave me this dagger.”
The girl’s hand snatched my wrist up, quickly. Before I had a chance to stop her, she was reading through my oculus. Her expression said it all. “This can’t be,” she said as shock began to well up in her voice. “You are a player?”
That was the cat jumping out of the bag in a hurry. “Whoa, whoa, I don’t know what you’re-”
“Under your current level it has listed ‘player’ and your designation is something I’ve never seen before. You are a player,” shock had replaced with awe, “and you’ve entered our world.”
Well shit. The cat was out of the bag now. “Yes, you got me. Unfortunately, you’ve taken me away from the one AI who can help me, Ali.”
“Oh her.” Did they know each other? “As many times as she’s failed in her constant struggle against Zeus, it doesn’t surprise me she resorted to bringing a player over.”
I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but I wanted to know more about my abductor. “So, who are you? Why did you whisk me away like that?”
She pulled up her own oculus and showed me the screen. Her name listed was Zoe and her distinction was GITM. Pointing to the acronym, “What’s that mean?”
“Ghost in the Machine – I’m an anomaly that the makers never fixed. I don’t believe they expected me to gain sentience.”
Man was this all confusing, almost like the plot to an early 1980’s sci-fi movie or something. Except this was no movie; no this was all very real. “Okay Zoe, you still haven’t answered me as to why you absconded with me.”
“The Oracle didn’t tell you?” Tell me what? Obviously my confusion spoke for my silence. “She told me to wait for the one who held that dagger and get him as far away from the Neon Underground as possible.”
“Then why didn’t she tell me that?”
“More than likely you would’ve stayed if you knew it was about to be raided by shock troopers.”
A cold feeling entered my stomach… Ali! Ira! Looking at my oculus, they were no longer on my allies list. Instead, the only name was Zoe.
Location: Binary Cove
My friends were more than likely killed, or whatever happened to the creations that lived inside a game. Either way, it certainly didn’t look good for ‘em. It was weird, too. I mourned for them, but I also realized just how royally fucking screwed I was. I was out in the B.O.R. with a complete stranger, one who in turn was an anomaly in the game. Shit.
There was only one thing left to do. “I’m going to the abandoned power grid. It’s my job to beat the game and that’s the first dungeon.”
“Are you insane?”
She said it was such fervor that it had me questioning myself for a second. “If Zeus Industries was behind the attack and knows about you, they’ll know that’s the first place you’ll want to go.” Then to make matters worse, “You’re also woefully under leveled, as I stated before.”
I didn’t really need that to be pointed out. “I’ll get to the required levels by the time I get there.”
“Not alone you’re not!”
It seemed to me we were at an impasse. Neither of us looked like we were ready to give the argument to the other. It was also hard because she was basically cloaked in reddish-orange armor from head to toe under the cloak. She was quite the intimidating scene, hence the nickname Red Lady I assumed!
Still, “I’m doing what I need to do. I’m not sure whether to thank you for saving my life or to be pissed at you for fucking things up, but either way, you have my gratitude.”
She slammed her spear head first into the ground. “If you’re all about making foolish choices, at least let me give you an alternative that could prove fruitful.”
“Go on.”
“There’s a place that populated when I came to be, another glitch in the game that no one knows about. It was where I came into existence.” She paused but I motioned her to keep going, I’d get bored quickly if we didn’t get to the point. “There is an enemy there called a wayward son. They populate between levels fifteen and eighteen, so between the two of us; we can get you leveled up quickly.”
Hmmm, this could be a good idea. “Where is this place at?”
“We head south of Coffin Cliffs and towards Binary Cove.” She softened her features. “This will delay us a bit, but it will also mean by the time we make it to the abandoned power grid, those shock troopers might be on the move again. It all works in our favor.”
There was a point to her logic. I wasn’t about to admit it out loud, but I appreciated the assist. With a plan in place, we left the safety of our hiding spot and ventured just slightly into the B.O.R. We were still close enough to the cliffs to not have to worry about raid vipers; no the biggest threat here was raiders and pirates.
Sure enough, on cue, we both dropped to the dusty ground as a bolt was fired at us. I looked up, with my sniper sight activated to see where it came from. Above us, on the second to last peak in the cliffs were two figures. Each was packing some serious firearms.
I pulled out my pistol and crouched behind a rock. “I don’t know if my range will be enough. You’re just a short range righter, huh?”
Zoe nodded, disappointed. “Unless we can get close, I am of no use in long range situations.”
Two more bolts hit the rocks we were using as a shield. I didn’t think getting close was an option. Between the blasts, I looked up and through my scope, fired off towards the target. Due to the limited range on the gun, it went way wide. “Yep, we’re screwed.”
Or were we? It took a minute to survey the terrain, but I saw a broken down car with a turret gun on top just a few meters from where we were. My dad had been an auto mechanic and I had learned a thing or three from him, so maybe, just maybe…
Taking the situation into hand, I tapped on Zoe’s shoulder and pointed to the wrecked car. With my intentions clear, I took off, hoping she’d follow. I slid in safely behind it as two blasts hit the ground harmlessly. A few seconds later, Zoe was ducking in low too, just avoiding taking a hit from our sniper friends.
I was already at work analyzing the issues. She went to say something and I held up a single finger, asking for silence. At our current position, the raiders were well enough to let us be, so I had a bit of time to work with. This old model car had the engine in the back, so it was easy to work with and not worry about getting into the crosshairs of those gunners. One quick look told me the spark plugs were toast. I pulled them out and gave them the once over.
“Damnit, I wish we had something that gave off electricity. That’s all we’d need to get this thing going.”
Zoe flipped off her cloak, revealing her body armor. She took the breastplate off and underneath was a power supply. “Break that open, it should work for what you need.”
I took my dagger and hit the box with the pommel. Sparks flew and I jammed it to where the spark plugs usually went. With only a matter of seconds to do it, I ducked down and slid into the driver’s seat, hoping no one would take a shot. They must’ve not been prepared, as I made it safely.
I stuck the blade into the ignition and turned. The engine choked once and I gave it one more hard turn. This time, it roared to life. Looking back, “Get in!”
Zoe shed the rest of her armor and got in. She was super-hot, something I hadn’t really been expecting I guess. With her in the car, I shifted it into gear and hit the accelerator. Two blasts deflected off the roof of the car as we sped forward into the B.O.R.
I wasn’t about to leave without giving these two s
omething for their trouble. Against probably better instinct, I swerved the car back and forth as I raced towards the ledge they were perched in. Using some fancy driving, I skidded the car sideways once we were close and popped up through the moonroof. The turret was right behind me, but there wouldn’t be a need for that. I lined up my gun with the scope and put them both down with two well-placed shots. Unfortunately they fell backwards, so there’d be no looting of the bodies.
“That was… impressive.”
It was pretty awesome, wasn’t it? And to top it all off, my level increased to seven. How sweet was that? “With that taken care of, what do you say we head to Binary Cove, my lady?”
She reclined back in the seat. Her curves were accentuated by the tight green shirt she was wearing that was tucked into black, stretchy pants that looked like yoga pants hot housewives and college coeds wear. Still, there was no time for ogling. I reversed us out of the kill zone and brought the vehicle back into drive as Zoe began to give me directions.
After driving for a bit, the terrain began to change. Storm clouds filled the distant sky and the dusty ground was replaced with wet rocks and what looked like seaweed. I slowed the car to a stop as we reached the end of the road. From the top of the cliff we’d reached, I looked out and saw for the first time a body of water in this digital world. “I’ve never made it to this point in the game.”
“Welcome to your first optional dungeon. To get to my spawning point, we need to venture through Moonlight Cave. I didn’t mention that, did I?”
“Fuck no, you didn’t mention that!”
There was no remorse in her. “Either way, it’s important you can defeat these trials. I mean, this dungeon is only rated at level ten, so it should be well within your reach.”
Still, I wasn’t a fan of surprises. This whole fucking thing had been one giant surprise. “Fine, we go. But you’re helping me.”
“Oh no, I’m just a guide in this. You’ll need to level up on your own.”
