Looked around. Nothing suspicious caught my eye. I chose a direction and set off glancing back over my shoulder from time to time.
I soon chanced on a computer terminal on my walk. Design-wise, it was almost identical to the vending machine I’d recently used to buy the stimulators and handgun ammo.
After I neared the computer terminal, a holographic display popped up. Three lines were brought up on it.
> Available quests:
> 1. Delivery quest
> (Show: Yes/No)
I tapped the “Yes” button and the page refreshed.
> Available quests:
> 1. Delivery quest
> Goal: Deliver a package to Outlaw’s Lair in 30 minutes.
> Reward:
> 1. Experience points: +300
> 2. Money: +1500
> (Do you want to accept the quest: Yes/No)
I accepted the quest. A metal box materialized on the ground in front of the computer terminal. The info on the monitor vanished to be replaced by a new line.
> No quest is available at the moment!
A message popped up in the log.
> The delivery quest has just begun! Remaining time: 29:59
The countdown kicked in. So where do I have to carry the package over to? I looked at the crystal to consult the map. A golden star caught my eye instantly. It was located on the part of the map that was still covered with mist, which meant I hadn’t been there yet. I let my gaze sweep across the map to find the green triangle representing my character. It was far too away from the golden star. The star was at the farthest end of the city. I wonder if I’d be able to bring the package over there before the time was up.
I walked over to the package on the ground. Looked it over. Two handles were on either side of the package. Leaning over, I took hold of the two handles and tried to lift it off the ground. I was actually able to accomplish it. However, the package turned out to be awfully heavy, way heavier than I’d expected.
I struggled to bring it up to the chest level. This done, I toiled down the street, my legs already worn-out. The Fatigue attribute decreased rapidly. Once it shrank to zero, I felt completely exhausted. My hands could no longer hold the package. It slumped to the ground.
It was painfully obvious that without a vehicle I would never be able to deliver the package over to another end of the city in time. So I decided to let it go. There was nothing I could do about it.
I left the package on the ground where it’d fallen and walked away. When reached the intersection, I looked this way, then that, chose a random direction, and move on. After a couple of minutes, a new message appeared in the log.
> Take note, your package has been intercepted!
Although it was me who’d accepted the quest, it seemed that everyone could finish the quest. I looked at the map once more. A new symbol was now marked on it, a small white square. It quickly advanced on the golden star. The player who’d taken the package was probably riding in a car.
I praised myself for having ditched the package, for it seemed like once one player accepted a delivery quest, all the other players got a notification about it and they could see a blip on the map, indicating the package’s whereabouts. After that, the hunt for the package began. I would’ve surely been murdered had I not gotten rid of the package.
If I’d still had my buggy, then the hunt for the package would’ve turned into a helluva car chase. Participating in such an event would’ve been extremely dangerous. Yet it would’ve had to be a terrific fun anyway. This made me wonder when I would acquire a new vehicle.
Sure enough, if one had a car, they had to maintain it, constantly keeping it in proper condition and filling up its gas tank when necessary. On the other hand, owning a car, one could avoid some obstacles along the way. Say, if PKs suddenly showed up and assaulted you, you could hop behind the steering wheel and take off.
Moreover, if I’d had a car, it wouldn’t have been much of a problem to get through the previous night. I only would’ve had to tool around and run over mutants. That brought me to reflect on something. An idea that just crossed my mind was pretty good so I decided to think it out.
After half an hour or so passed, a message popped up in the log.
> Your package’s been delivered by another player! They has gotten the reward.
I wasn’t upset by the message the slightest bit. I had to take some time and think out the idea, which had occurred to me earlier on. If it was actually possible for me to carry my scheme out, then it’d be way easier for me to ward off all those nasty monsters swarming the city at night. Still, to do that I surely had to gather up lots of various resources. Where could I get them all?
All of a sudden, a vile high-pitched scream sounded overhead. Something huge cast its huge shadow over me. There was no need for me to look up to know I was being hunted down by a mantis!
Switching on the Acceleration, I burst into a race. Fortunately for me, the winged creature failed to keep pace with me. Little by little, I was putting more and more distance between us. That seemingly pissed the monster off and it began to spit out fireballs. One of them slammed against the blacktop nearby. The fiery wave would’ve covered me had I not turned on the Shield in time.
The Acceleration wore off. I could‘ve reactivated it, yet I didn’t want to waste mana if not necessarily needed. Besides, I was racing along a house, which stood two-story high. All its windows were boarded-up, but the entrance door was open. If I hid myself inside, the mantis might not be able to enter the building and might decide to leave me alone.
I barged into the building and quickly looked around. The room I found myself in contained no furniture whatsoever. At the far end of the room was a set of stairs leading up to the second floor. I decided it wasn’t such a good idea to get up there and raced across the room to huddle up in the far corner of the room instead, straining my ears to hear what was going on outside.
Furious ear-piercing screams and the sound of wings flapping came from the street. Thin shafts of light seeped into the room through the cracks between the boards. The mantis was swooping by the windows, its huge winged silhouette blocked the light out for a moment.
The creature made no attempt to enter the house through the open door. Maybe the mob was too big to fit. I wondered about the durability of the windows. What if mantis tried to break through them? Would the mob able to squeeze through a window? Probably not, seeing as how windows were smaller than the entrance door was.
Contrary to my expectation, the mod wasn’t all that keen on leaving me be. The mob was so near and yet so far to get its quarry. Perhaps, it made the mob ticked off. I felt anxious. Time to conceive a backup plan in case the terrifying monster got inside.
Looked around once more. Checked all the rooms. A back door was nowhere to be found. I decided that if the mantis got in here, I’d employ the Acceleration and split the building as fast as possible.
New vague sounds came from the street. At first, it was just an incomprehensible din. It was getting louder and closer and soon I realized it was a vehicle approaching the building. It wasn’t long before the rattle of an engine was so loud it nearly drowned out the mantis’ infuriated screams. Due to the boarded-up windows, I couldn’t see the vehicle, yet I was certain that the car had pulled up in front of the building.
Then a heavy machine gun roared to life. The mantis let out with a shrill cry. It was in pain, for sure. Seemed like I ran into the player who had been slaying mantises in front of me some time before. The last time I’d come across the player, they’d had no way of knowing someone had been nearby. This time I’d also best not come into sight. When he or she dealt with the winged creature and drove away, I’d come out of the building.
The battle didn’t last long. The player surely had a lot of experience in killing mantises. I loitered on in the corner quietly. No more sounds came from the street. The player was in no hurry to drive away. They probably were
in the process of gathering the loot dropped from the mantis. Those level 15 mobs had to drop pretty valuable items.
All of a sudden, the machine gun rattled to life once again. Whom was the player firing at? It wasn’t long before I found out the answer. Heavy rounds broke apart the boards of one window. At first, I supposed the player had just accidentally gotten off a burst on the window. They might’ve noticed another mob nearby and started to discharge the weapon before swiveling the machine gun to have their foe lined up in iron sights, which was why some stray bullets demolished the window.
Still, almost immediately my theory was refuted. Rounds kept zipping through the broken window to smash into the far wall, cratering and splintering it. The player was firing at exactly what he was aiming at. There was no doubt about it now. But how had he or she learned that somehow was in the building?
The player must have spied the mantis fervently beating on the boarded-up windows and realized that someone had hidden inside the building. After dealing with the winged monster, the player had decided to take care of whoever holed up inside the house. They must’ve been fully aware of the player having a low level, otherwise the player probably didn’t have to run away from the mantis to hid inside the building.
But how had the player known where exactly I was inside the house? The building wasn’t that small, yet the player was firing almost exactly on the corner of the room where I was seated at. Which meant that they had somehow known my exact location. Maybe the player had some gizmo to pick up nearby players.
Anyway, I got myself in a bit of a jam. What to do? How to extricate myself from this in one piece? Or just to make it out of here alive? It’d be a shame if I got killed now that I’d had some gotten some levels and acquired good items. Didn’t want to lose all of those.
The machine gun kept on releasing long fierce streams. I flattened myself on the floor. Rounds whizzed over me. Some of them dashed so close to me I felt a rush of air on my skin. Seemed like the bullets couldn’t penetrate concrete as the player was aiming only at the same broken window. So the bullets couldn’t catch me. At least for the time being.
But at the same time I couldn’t get to my feet for fear of being peppered by heavy gunfire. Still, I could crawl on my stomach. But in which direction? Trying to get out through the door was out of the question since I’d be dead once I showed up in the street. I wasn’t sure if trying to get up to the second floor was a good idea either.
Suddenly, the gunfire ceased. The player might've been reloading their terrifying weapon. I couldn’t help but take advantage of this.
Jumping to my feet, I quickly looked around, still being in doubt. What to do? Should I race toward the entrance door to get out of the building or take the stairs up to get to the second floor?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a rocket-propelled grenade barreled through the broken window from the street. I had barely managed to get out of the way before the grenade barreled past where I’d been a moment ago.
The powerful explosion shook the building. The shock wave hurled me through the air to smack against a wall. As I tried to get up, plaster bits rained down on me from above. My whole body hurt. Luckily, I sustained superficial injuries due to my ballistic vest having born the brunt of the explosion. I checked on my vest.
> State: 69/250
I used the Biokinesis to heal up my injuries. It took me a couple of seconds and some mana to do that. When I was about to dart forward toward the entrance door, another grenade dashed through the window. I created the Shield that ceased to exist the moment the grenade slammed into it. But the power dome accomplished its task just fine as the resulting explosion inflicted little to no damage on me.
After that, I wasted no time getting out of the building, because it would’ve been a suicide on my part to stay inside.
Once outside, I saw an armored car idled in front of the building. Or more specifically, it was an enormous combat four-wheeled vehicle protected with thick armor. This huge iron monster had two big guns mounted on it, a heavy machine gun on the hood and a grenade launcher on the roof. Windows were covered with armor plates with long thin openings for observation or firing weapons through.
A male player was behind the steering wheel. Seemed like he hadn’t even bothered to get out of the car all the time. Though I couldn’t make out the player’s level probably due to his being in the car, I was certain it was much higher than mine was, since he’d managed to build such a vehicle and successfully slay the scariest mobs in this location, mantises.
I cast a glance at my UI.
> Mana: 150/500
I had enough of that magic energy to employ the Acceleration. After that, I’d have only twenty mana points left. Which wouldn’t be enough for anything. Mana was scarce during fight sequences. It might be the case due to all of my psi-powers having been upgraded maximally. On the other hand, I might not need to squander such great amounts of mana when fighting players having the same level as me. Anyway, I’d have to buy more vigors and store them up when I dropped by a vending machine next time.
All these thoughts flashed through my mind within half a second. Utilizing the Acceleration, I burst into a race, having chosen a random direction. The machine gun clattered once again. Heavy rounds dashed past me. However powerful, the gun seemed to be rather inaccurate, for no bullets hit me yet.
I then heard the engine revving up. There was no need for me to look behind myself to learn that the vehicle was gaining. Even with the Acceleration activated, I couldn’t get away from the car. I gnashed my teeth in frustration. Seemed like it was time to prepare myself for another death.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted a subway entrance nearby. Without a second thought, I headed for it, having no way of knowing if I’d be able to actually make it there alive.
I ran as fast as I could, legs pumping. The roaring of the engine was so loud as if the vehicle was already within no more than two yards of me. Two or three rounds burrowed into my back. A sharp twinge shot through my body, having me to let out with a yell. My HP reduced nearly by fifty percent.
Luckily, I was actually able to make it over to the subway entrance and in a second was already racing down the stairs. Once on the platform, I looked around. All the lights were out so the most part of the room was plunged into the darkness. A pile of litter lay a little way away from the entrance: carton boxes, wood planks, rags, you name it.
I burrowed myself into it, flattened myself on the cool floor, and pulled rags and carton boxes all over me, hoping my chaser wouldn’t be able to notice me. This done, I stilled myself and set about watched the entrance. I didn’t bother to draw my weapon since it was arguably no good fighting him. It was way better to run away and hide from him.
I waited for time to elapse. Minutes went by tediously slowly. Waiting for the PK to descend the stairs was even worse than running away from him, scared. I had to resist urges to crawl over to the entrance and looked up to learn where the player was. He might’ve waited for me to peek around a corner to discharge his rocket launcher on me. So I gathered up all my willpower and forced myself not to move.
Some more time passed. Mana had recovered up to fifty percent by now. Now if the player were to descend the stairs, I could employ the Surge to thrust him on the rail tracks. After that, I would run up the stairs and try to hijack the PK’s car.
More time went by. The player was still to show up. Mana was slowly regenerating by itself. It already replenished up to seventy-five percent. Now I could use the Blow on the PK to immobilize him for thirty seconds were he to descend in here. It would give me a good head start.
However, the PK still didn’t show up. Mana had already replenished fully, which allowed me to use the Shield and then the Acceleration if needed.
The wounds on my back hurt and bled. The wounds weren’t severe, yet my HP was slowly decreasing. I wasn’t all that keen on spending Mana in case the PK finally descended and noticed me. Yet I could d
ie if I didn’t stanch the flow of blood.
There was no need to see a wound in order to heal them up. So I just concentrated on the painful sensations in my back and activated the Biokinesis. Slowly but steadily the pain faded away, the flow of blood got checked, and my health no longer reduced. Immediately afterward, I turned off the Biokinesis. Taking care not to produce much noise, I reached for my bag, doing it real slow so that the movement didn’t attract the PK’s attention were he to turn up at this exact moment.
Gripping a few pieces of cooked meat, I pulled them out of the bag, brought my fist to my mouth, and chewed on the tasteless food. This fully recovered my HP and sated the hunger that was starting to bother me.
Then I looked at my UI.
> Mana: 442/500
I had plenty of Mana left after having used the Biokinesis. But the PK still didn’t show up although it was fifteen or so minutes since I got in here. What was taking him so long? Maybe he hadn’t been that eager to slay me and already driven away from here? Either way, I decided to wait a mite longer.
After a few more minutes passed, I couldn’t take it anymore. Time to take action. I didn’t ascend the stairs in case the player still waited for me in the street. Instead I decided to wander around the subway for a spell to get some experience points, what with Crayne having said that it was a good place for getting a few levels.
Glitch Book Two Page 4
