Fragged

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  “Dunno. Hope so.” I replied with a slight amount of nonchalance, “We’re gonna need ‘em if Freddie’s friends stick with him.”

  “Yeah… I reckon we’re startin’ to piss him off a bit, what with us not dying or killing that many folk.”

  “Agreed,” I said with a sigh, my heart pounding away as I waited for Freddie’s force to come through the hole, friendly or not, “wouldn’t surprise me if he threw everything at us after this, whichever way it goes.”

  “That’s what I’d do.” Chad replied with a nod, “Should I call off the Js?”

  “Nah, keep ‘em there ‘til we get confirmation.”

  I was confident that Brendo’s popularity would win out over Freddie’s dictator-esque approach, but there was still this little part inside me that wondered if Freddie was the popular one and if the soldiers were happy to have Brendo gone.

  “Here they come…” Chad whispered, “Calling off the Js.”

  “Good, good…” I trailed off as I continued to aim at the hole, ignoring the fact that the soldiers who were coming through had their arms held high.

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Got eyes on them. Give me the word and I’ll go to work.

  Zoey (Community): Turn your focus over to the main gate, keep your eyes out for a reaction from Freddie.

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Will do.

  “Lookin’ good so far,” Chad said out through the corner of his mouth, “what should we do?”

  “Just keep watch for now.” I almost silently replied, “Once they’re through, get the Freemen to get those walls back up.”

  FrederickTheMasterful (Local): Hope you enjoyed that first wave, Zoey. And good job on snaking my men out from under me, shows what kind of person you are. No matter, that’s what I’ve got friends for. Last chance. Throw down arms, or I’ll throw an unholy Hell wave your way.

  “Did he even give us a chance the first time?” Chad chuckled, “Seriously, from what I remember he just kind of attacked us with trikes.”

  “Maybe he’s talkin’ about that time he went to shoot us?” I replied with a grin as I finally lowered my gun and accepted that the guys who’d come in were genuinely on our side, “Any chance you’d wanna take his offer?”

  “Fuck. That. Seriously, let’s ride this out.”

  “That’s what I was hopin’ you’d say.” I said before turning my attention to the dozen or so confused soldiers in front of me, their weapons on their backs and their hands by their sides, “Head over to Brendo in the main courtyard. Anyone here have a sniper rifle?”

  One of the men raised his hand, a guy labelled only as Bo, “I do, but it’s nothin’ that special.”

  “Doesn’t matter, head up to the roof. You’re gonna help Pete out.”

  Bo nodded and went to run off, but stopped just short of actually moving, “Wait, you don’t mean… Duke?”

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Heh, I’m more popular than yooou.

  I decided to ignore Pete’s message and shook my head, “No, just some loser with a rifle. Duke’s dead.”

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Well… that’s not very nice.

  Zoey (Community): Deal with it :-p

  “So, I take it we’ve got a moment?” Chad asked as the group dispersed and the Freemen went to work repairing our barricades.

  “I’d say that’s fair to assume,” I replied with a big smile, trying my very best to get across just how happy I was that we’d survived that far without actually saying the words, “how come?”

  “No reason,” Chad said with an obviously uncomfortable shrug, “just glad we have a second.”

  It took me a second, but I figured out what it was that was making him squirm, “You’ve gotta pee, don’t you?”

  “Have since I got locked in the resource building… thing.”

  A smile played across my face at that funny little memory before I nodded and rolled my eyes, “Heh, alright, you have one minute, and if you get us killed…”

  “I know, I know, you will be most displeased.” Chad replied as he looked around for a safe place, “See you in two ticks.”

  “I better.”

  As soon as Chad was out of sight, I let the smile fall off my face and started blinking hard. I was so excited, so confident that we might actually win that I’d started hyperventilating.

  I wanted to run, skip, and start shooting shit.

  As happy as I was with just leading, I was starting to get a bit antsy about not being able to at least take pot-shots at a dino before my great team handled the situation.

  And then I heard something.

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Anyone else hear that?

  Zoey (Community): White rabbits? Jefferson Airplane?

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Yeah.

  Stone_Eagle307 (Community): Anyone know where it’s coming from?

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Everywhere. He must’ve set up speakers.

  Stone_Eagle307 (Community): Brendo says it’s psy warfare. He reckons we should take cover.

  I’d just finished reading Miles’ final message when, out of nowhere, the unmistakable roars of at least two rexes rocked through the forest, one at the rear of the compound, one at the front.

  “Oh, that dickhead…”

  Chapter Nine

  “I need those steggies up at the gates, now!” I bellowed as I ran through the compound toward the main gate, “Where’s Chad?”

  I was met with shrugs from everyone except Brendo, who simply looked confused and asked “Shouldn’t we be covering the back too?” as I came to a stop with him and the rest of the thirty or so players that were sort of milling around the compound.

  “We need to focus all our fire on one at a time.” I replied between pants while at the same time trying to listen out for the sound of huge bodies smashing through the trees over the blaring music, “If he’s planning on throwing his big guns at us like you’ve said he will, we have to assume that that means we’re goin’ up against armoured dinos.”

  “Armoured dinos?” Paul asked with a weird mix of panic and excitement in his voice, “Shit, I haven’t seen an armoured rex in ages.”

  “That’s because they’re pricks of things to tame,” Miles replied, “and they’re even harder to control once you armour them. They get all… confident.”

  That’s right about the time when the ground started to rumble and another ear-splitting roar rang from the front of the compound.

  “The Js are coming!” Chad shouted as he ran over from wherever it was he’d been squatting, “They’ll join up with the others in a couple of minutes.”

  “Good.” I breathed with relief, “Brendo, get your men aiming up at that gate, Chad, get ours into the buildings, but have them ready to come out if we get the chance to nab one of the rexes.”

  “You’ve got it.” the two replied in unison before going to work.

  Brendos men were the first to get into position, forming a square, dropping to a knee, then aiming at the gate while our Freemen scrambled in all their nude glory into the buildings that surrounded them seemingly at random.

  “This is gonna get interesting.” Miles chuckled as myself and the other Fighters got in a line, aimed up at the gate with our mix-matched weapons, and struggled to hold back our smiles.

  “This is fuckin’ insane is what it is.” Paul clarified, “Seriously, seems like only yesterday Chad and I came roarin’ out of the forest in a ute to find Zo here facin’ off against a rex.”

  “What, solo?” Brendo asked with genuine surprise.

  “Mmhm,” Chad chimed in as the rex at the gate started slamming its body into the only recently repaired wall, “barely spawned, next to naked, and ready to kick some fuckin’ arse.”

  Both Brendo and Miles shot me inquisitive looks, as well as a couple of Freddie’s former men, and I realised I had but one option.

  “They’re embellishing.” I said, hoping with no small amount of pride that my apparent unwillingness
to defend Chad and Paul’s tale would only further convince everyone that I was the hardened hero the two were claiming I was.

  Egotism out of the way, the rex had finally managed to smash its way through the wall, stumbling slightly as it shattered the last of our defences.

  We went to open fire, but stopped as we were collectively stunned by the discovery that we weren’t just up against armoured rexes.

  Freddie and company had gone all-out, sending players, Freemen, and Rabids, all armed to the teeth and charging around the staggered rex toward our firing line.

  “Focus on the players!” I roared, “Chad, get the Js and the trikes to go for the rex!”

  There was a slight delay as a bunch of Brendo’s men watched on in shock as they were charged by club-wielding Rabids, but once I fired off the first shot everyone else kicked into gear.

  My finger felt like it had a rubber band in it, with the way it kept pulling itself back to the trigger, and while I could definitely feel a few clicks and pops here and there I was grateful that my body was starting to take over, leaving my brain to focus on important shit like where my next target was and waiting for the sound of the rex coming through the back wall.

  FrederickTheMasterful (Local): What say you we get some Fat Boy Slim up in here? Right Here, Right Now.

  “What’s with the chat?” Paul asked, clearly trying to take his mind off the battle, “Where’s his megaphone?”

  “I’m guessin’ he’s trying to hide his location,” I replied with a grunt as I fired off another shot and took down a Rabid right as Freddie started playing the song, “now, if you wouldn’t mind, get your head back in the game.”

  +1 Firearm Skill

  Firearm Skill: 14/100

  Level Progression: 170/200

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” I muttered as I started to panic and, as a result, my aim started to suffer.

  I was still hitting my targets, but I wasn’t getting the kill shots I was going for and I was burning through my ammunition like a motherfucker.

  “Move back for the main structure!” I called over the gunfire, “Keep shooting!”

  Without saying a word, the entire group followed my order, shuffling back while at the same time firing at the encroaching force.

  The enemy wasn’t stopping though, and even with the rex preoccupied with the Js and the trikes, we were having a hard time holding them back.

  They were losing troops faster than we were, and we’d all but filled up the World chat with deaths, but they had much larger numbers than us, especially with all those NPCs.

  And then I got an idea.

  “Chad! Use the Freemen!”

  It took him a moment to catch my meaning, but when he did he couldn’t help but grin.

  There was a slight delay, giving Freddie’s men enough time to get right in the centre of the buildings, and then the compound was filled with naked, screaming men and women as our Freemen came running out of their hiding places.

  Freddie’s force had no fucking idea what to do, and as meat smashed against meat and our Freemen starting wrestling weapons away from the enemy troops we eased up our firing for fear we’d hit our own.

  We were suffering losses, sure, and we’d have to get more Freemen, but as I watched a group of Freemen climb up and start forcibly taming the rex I felt this sort of certainty that we were going to win.

  And then the rear wall fell.

  Chapter Ten

  “Brendo!” I called over as I scrambled around the main building and took aim at the fracture in the rear wall, “I need some men over here, now!”

  The rex at the rear of the compound was smaller than the one at the front, but it was still massive, and armoured to the point that the few shots that I fired at it simply deflected off the smooth metal, leaving not so much as a scratch.

  “Brendo!” I roared after turning my focus to the players who were dressed like barbarians and started firing on them, catching one in the ribs and sending him toppling over.

  +1 Firearm Skill

  Firearm Skill: 15/100

  Level Progression: 180/200

  +1 Firearm Skill

  Firearm Skill: 16/100

  Level Progression: 190/200

  I went to call a third time, but stopped as a detachment of Brendo’s soldiers came running over and started shooting, dispatching at least a dozen troops in the time it had taken me to get one, using the tighter chokepoint to their advantage.

  We were holding up pretty well, but then the rex recovered and turned its armoured head to face us, his teeth bared and his rider aiming at us from atop his back.

  I prepared to get trampled or eaten, but was instead left to shit myself as, with no warning whatsoever, the bloodied and heavily wounded rex from the front gate bounded over me and the soldiers, the Freemen rider screaming something unintelligible as they rammed into the smaller rex.

  “Keep focusing on the players!” I practically whooped as the rexes went tumbling back through the hole, crushing a good couple of Freddie’s troops as it did so.

  Stone_Eagle307 (Community): We’ve got players surrendering at the main gate.

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Confirmed. What do you want to do?

  My first instinct was to yell ‘No mercy!’ but the saner, less bloodthirsty part of my brain managed to suppress that urge.

  Zoey (Community): Get the Js to disarm and move them to the resource building.

  GeriatricSuperHero (Community): KK.

  Zoey (Community): Miles, get Brendo or someone to get the message out that we’re accepting surrender. Somethin in the local chat.

  Miles didn’t reply, which I was grateful for, and while I knew I could’ve written something myself, the guys at the back of the compound were still being pretty vicious, and me and Brendo’s guys were struggling to hold our ground as it was.

  Without trying to seem as murder-horny as I’m sure I came across as, I started whooping as I put down more and more of the Rabids and enemy Freemen.

  +1 Firearm Skill

  Firearm Skill: 17/100

  Level Progression: 200/200

  Level Up!

  Special Trait Point Awarded!

  Level Progression: 0/250

  Surprise_Ur_Dead (Local): Surrender now and you can join us, thrive with us. You’ve already lost teh battle. WE’v got yur dinos. Wev’e got Freddie’s old soldiers. Join us before Freddie gets you killed.

  Typos aside, I had to admire Brendo’s people skills.

  Well, sort of, it was actually kind of annoying.

  What? I was finally having fun after getting the chance to shoot some people, and with Brendo’s little speech and the fact that people just stopped firing I’d lost the opportunity to do that. I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t cross my mind to just start shooting at them again, but I managed to be a good little non-sociopath and accepted their surrender.

  God, being the ‘good guys’ was so boring.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Nice job,” I said as I led those who survived the rear assault to the centre of the compound, “surprised they gave in so quickly.”

  “Really?” Brendo chuckled before gesturing to the gory display that littered the compound near the main gate, “Dozens of dead players, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were at least a hundred dead Freemen and Rabids. I’d probably have called it quits too.”

  “Heh, true.” I replied, admiring the testament to what we were capable of, before letting my attention fall onto Chad and Paul who were chatting over by the main building, “Can’t believe we managed it.”

  “I can.” Chad said proudly as I strode over and gestured for Brendo’s men to join him and Miles, “We’ve always managed to beat the odds.”

  “Like this though?” I asked with a laugh, “Seriously, we put down a lot of people today. A lot of well-organised people I’ll add, and the only way we managed to win out was by having Brendo use his influence to get Freddie’s guys to join us.”

  “Speakin�
� of…” Paul trailed off somewhat ominously, “Where is Freddie? I didn’t see his name pop up in the list of dead.”

  “Eh, probably scurried off to some hole,” Chad said with a shrug, “who cares? I doubt he’ll be a problem any time soon.”

  “Think again.” Paul said as the unmistakable sound of heavy tyres skipping along found their way to my ears, “Everybody move!”

  In an act of utter stupidity, I spun around and looked for what had freaked out Paul and saw that, along with dozens upon dozens of people scattering, Freddie’s truck had drifted to the mouth of the compound’s main gate, what was left of it anyway, where he sat, revving his engine.

  I think he must’ve shouted something, but I couldn’t hear him over the sound of his engine or the panicked shouting that filled the compound.

  Then the rig started to move, and I mean move, hammering its way right toward the main building where I stood, watching on with confusion in place of fear as the truck’s nose drew nearer and nearer.

  “Get the Hell out of the way!” Miles roared, snapping me back to reality and making me leap out of the way like a freaking ballet dancer right as the truck and its trailer crashed into the lobby, the hard wall on the other side stopping it in its tracks, leaving only about a quarter of the trailer sitting out of the doors.

  Cautiously, I walked over to the doors and peeked in, only to have to jump out of the way again as a very clearly injured Freddie stumbled out of the cabin and started shooting at me.

  “You fucked it up!” he practically shrieked, “We could’ve taken over, Brendo! Do you know what we could’ve done if we’d taken the Metois’ place?”

  I’m sure Brendo would’ve responded with something witty, but then something… unexpected happened.

  Turns out that Pete took his personal safety seriously, very seriously, and what that meant was that, before the fight, he’d decided to take some of those claymores that he was supposed to spread throughout the compound and placed them in the lobby.

  While that’s all well and good, despite the fact that I wished Pete’d at least told us, what it also meant was that if something big, say a big rig, were to come crashing through the building it’d end up damaging the claymores.