“The end result is the same,” I snapped before someone else could add yet another thing to worry about, “we’re dead, stuck on the edge of Liennam.”
“C’mon, Zo,” Chad said, clapping me around the shoulder as he did, “ain’t like you to give up, especially when we’re so close.”
I wanted to say something snarky, but I honestly didn’t have it in me.
My brain was warring with itself, I wanted to give up and just shut down, while the other part of me wanted desperately to figure something out.
Normally the two would just cancel each other and I’d end up just pawning the responsibility off on to someone else, but that didn’t seem like it was going to be much of an option, especially seeing as neither side of my mind would back down.
“Fuck it,” I practically announced, causing everyone in the room to jump, as I finally buckled and decided to have the best of both worlds, “we charge.”
“What?” Julian asked before blinking weirdly.
“We charge.” I repeated with a shrug.
“But that…” the clearly entirely confused Julian trailed off as he looked around the room at each of us, “that’s not one of the options.”
“What are you talking about?” Pete scoffed.
“It’s just… that’s not… it’s not…”
“Okay, so you’ve broken Julian,” Brendo chuckled as he watched Julian struggle before turning his full attention over to me, “how do you mean ‘charge’? You can’t mean-”
“I mean we run out,” I interjected flatly, “same thing we did to get here. Half of us will go left, half right, then we just push for the buildings.”
Paul tilted his head at that, “Why?”
“Because if they’re in the buildings, like I think they are, then they’re probably in the top few floors, meaning that if we get to the base of the building…”
“They won’t have a line on us,” Miles finished with a knowing nod, “why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because it’s not one of the options!” Julian practically shrieked.
“Do you just want me to knock him out?” Pete half-joked.
“But it isn’t,” Julian insisted, clearly slightly calmer than he’d been before, “it’s not supposed to… I’m just saying that we should be going the other way.”
It was at that moment that I started feeling like Julian was somehow piercing my mind with his doubt, like some kind of intensely driven worm.
And then Pete took the choice out of my hands.
Chapter Seven
With Pete having just charged outside it quickly became clear that it was do or die time.
So, not wanting to land in the latter category, I ran, hooked left around the corner of the camper’s hut, and ran up the hill at full ball with the others in close tow.
At first I thought we’d gotten lucky and that the shooters had gotten bored and left, but then we started getting shot at again and it became clear that the guys had ‘horny teenager desperately trying to get in their crush’s pants’-like patience and determination.
“Third floor from the top!” Paul called out, bringing my attention to the source of at least some of the gunfire that was being rained down upon us.
I didn’t look for too long though, instead having to turn my attention to the packed street that I’d found myself on.
There were dozens of cars, hundreds even, lining the long strip of road, and they were doing an absolutely brilliant job of keeping us away from our goal.
Not one to accept defeat, I started sliding across the bonnets of the cars, ignoring the sparks that lit up the spaces behind me as I tried to throw in a few zigs and zags into my desperate running and vaulting.
Thank fuck that the shooter was out of practice or, at the very least, was struggling to focus on all the moving targets because otherwise I’m not sure we would’ve made it to the safety of the brick wall that made the façade of his building.
“I’m getting tired of asking…” I muttered with a little laugh, “but is anyone hit?”
“All good here.” Pete replied after everyone else had shaken their head, “Should we go up then?”
“No.” I said before anyone else could speak, “We’re pushing for the Spire. No more distractions.”
“Are you sure?” Miles asked, “I mean, not to agree with Pete’s insatiable, almost pornographic bloodlust, but it might be an idea to make sure we don’t get shot in the back.”
“I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Chad interjected, “these guys seem pretty freakin’ focused on the water’s edge, probably just pick off players coming to the shore all day, Hell, the guy in the hut and the guy up there are probably mates.”
“Agreed,” Paul added with a nod, “he’s either looking for someone else to shoot or fortifying himself up there and getting ready to lay us out the second we get to his floor.”
“Exactly,” I said before the conversation could get hijacked again, “these guys clearly have a lot of explosives, and I’m kinda done pussyfooting around.”
Brendo smiled at that then chuckled, “I can’t believe you just said ‘pussyfooting’ without giggling.”
“I can be serious…” I trailed off before scrunching up my nose playfully and shaking my head, “Never mind, that’s funny. Anyway, back on track, I think we should keep moving into the city.”
“You don’t think that’s gonna be dangerous?” Julian asked.
“Fuck yeah it’s gonna be dangerous,” I scoffed with a grin, “but that’s gonna be half the fun, isn’t it? Besides, the longer we leave it the higher the chance that we’re going to end up getting caught up in some longwinded, incredibly annoying adventure or hijinks, and I’ve just about run out of patience for hijinks.”
“‘Hijinks’,” Brendo murmured amusedly, “another funny word.”
I decided not to pay that one, and instead turned to Pete who looked ridiculously eager to get to the shooter, kind of like a puppy with a steak hanging over his head.
“What?” Pete asked semi-aggressively before seeing my expression and toning it down a bit, “I mean, ahem, what?”
“You seem distracted.”
“I’m just worried about getting slaughtered is all,” Pete responded in a way that didn’t at all imply that he was trying to convince me to let him go have his fun, “but if you think we’ll be fine, I’ll trust your judgement.”
It was at that moment that I realised I had two choices.
One was pretty obvious, let Pete go nuts and do what he wants while we waited around for him to finish.
Two, tighten the leash slightly and get him to redirect that pent-up murderiness into something more helpful to our cause.
“We’ve got a plan,” I said, having made my decision after a few seconds of staring at Pete blankly, “we’re moving for the Spire, and that’s final.”
Pete went to argue, stopped, looked at Miles, who clearly wanted to see him get reamed out, then sighed and nodded, “Okay, it’s up to you, boss.”
Honestly? I was pretty freaking surprised that worked, and I’m pretty sure that that was a feeling that was shared with most of the others in our little group.
With that being said, I quickly composed myself, nodded, and gestured for a nearby alley, “We’ll cut through there, see if it comes out on the other side of the building, and then we’ll figure out where we’re going from there.”
“And if there’s trouble?” Julian asked somewhat boldly.
“Well, thank you, Julian.” I replied as exaggeratedly as I could.
“Why? What for?” Julian practically stuttered out, looking around at the confused faces around him in the obvious hopes that they could somehow explain what I was going to say next.
They couldn’t answer though, and what with me being a little bit evil and all, I decided to let Julian stew in his concerned state for a while before finally letting a breath that made him jump, “For offering to take point, of course. Now go on, we haven’t got all day.�
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“You have to be joking…” Julian trailed off, “I mean, I’m the least equipped of all of you.”
“Exactly,” I said with a nod, “and that’s what makes you the perfect candidate. You have the least to lose.”
I was sure he’d be absolutely fine, I just wanted to take a little jab for fun, and it wasn’t like I was going to let him get gunned down the second it became inconvenient to let him keep going, but there wasn’t a reason for me to tell him that.
“Can’t someone else do it?” Julian asked desperately as he slowly inched his way towards the mouth of the alley, occasionally sneaking a look between me and the shooter above us.
“I’m sure someone else could do it,” I replied with a shrug after gesturing for the others to follow, “but I’ve asked you to do it.”
“Why though?”
“Honestly, dude,” Paul interjected light-heartedly, “it’s in your best interests if you just stop talking.”
“He’s right,” Chad added, “Zoey could make your life a living Hell. Just be grateful that this is all you’re going to have to do.”
“But this is just crazy!” Julian shouted as quietly as he could.
“Not as crazy as threatening you at gunpoint after you’ve saved her arse,” Pete joked somewhat pointedly, “that one’s really hard to get over. Is there anyone around the corner?”
Julian swallowed hard as he finally reached the alley, before taking a good few seconds to compose himself then practically lunging out in front of the alley, stopping for a moment, then jumping to the other side.
“Well?” I asked when it became clear that Julian wasn’t going to give up what he saw freely.
“It’s clear,” Julian breathed out in relief, “sorry, my brain wasn’t doing the mouth words thing.”
“The… mouth words… thing?” I chuckled, “Alright, if you’re sure your eyes are doing the see thing, let’s move.”
And with that we rounded the corner and started pushing our way down the dark and narrow alley with me up the front despite the fact that I thought I’d made it pretty clear I wanted Julian taking point.
Didn’t matter though, our trip through the alley was rather uneventful.
It was what happened when we got out onto the other side that things got interesting again.
Chapter Eight
As anyone who has ever played a game will tell you, it’s when you start feeling safe that the system tries to fuck you.
It’s almost a supernatural thing.
Most of the time it’s not even a case of you getting cocky and overextending yourself without thinking, in fact it’s usually something that players will swear blue blind was absolutely unavoidable.
For instance, in some cases you end up running into a group of enemy players, and in others you simply end up making a stupid mistake like walking off a building or dropping a grenade at your feet.
Regardless of the cause of death or game over though, it’s the game’s fault and in no way the player’s.
Keep that in mind for what I’m about to tell you.
“Looks like it’s clear,” I whispered as I peeked around the corner of the alley and saw a completely barren street, “I reckon we see if there’s a way to cut through those buildings. If not we’ll just stick to the shadows and keep on keepin’ on.”
“As long as you’re sure…” Julian muttered from the middle of the pack.
I didn’t pay Julian’s uncertainness any mind, and neither did anyone else in my little party, before pushing across the street as fast and as low as we could.
For a few moments there I was convinced that we’d done it, that we’d actually made it and we were going to get to the Spire with no further interruptions, but then I heard snarling to my right and froze.
At first I just stood there, staring straight ahead with the others, though I did eventually build up the courage to turn and look at what it was that had literally appeared in the middle of the street just a few dozen feet away.
“Not this thing again…” I muttered as the large, green-eyed monster stared me down, paying little to no attention to the others around me.
“What’re we gonna do?” Paul asked out through the corner of his mouth.
“I’m open to suggestions…” I murmured back, “but I honestly think that it would be in all of our best interests if we just…”
My words escaped me as I noticed that the creature was flickering as it had before it disappeared last time, and, while it was obviously staring at me, it wasn’t moving whatsoever.
“What’s it waiting for?” Miles whispered.
“Look at its chest,” Brendo said with slightly more volume than the rest of us had used after clearly noticing what I had, “it isn’t breathing.”
“So?” Julian hissed, “It could still attack us. We should go back.”
“No, it’s not just not breathing,” I said as assertively as I could while moving towards the creature that obviously wanted to rip me apart, “it’s not moving at all. Its mouth isn’t moving, its sail is perfectly still, and look… there’s a bit of drool right there, in the corner of its mouth, that isn’t moving.”
I got within five feet of it before Chad came up behind me and grabbed me by the arm, “Still, better not get too close.”
I was convinced that he was worried about nothing, but I gave him a nod and planted my feet anyway.
And then it snarled again and I damn near leapt out of my skin.
“Wait!” I shouted, grabbing Chad as he went to run away, “Look, it still hasn’t moved.”
It hadn’t, not even in the slightest.
“What… the Hell?” Pete muttered as he came over and joined Chad and I in inspecting the flickering monster.
“Maybe it’s glitched out?” Paul suggested as he, along with the others, finally grew some balls and stood with us.
“Which means it could attack us at any moment.” Julian warned fearfully, “C’mon, this isn’t a good sign, we should get out of Liennam.”
I couldn’t hear Julian though, not really, he was as good as background noise as I looked over the increasingly interesting find.
“It clearly wanted to stop us from getting any further,” Chad said confidently, “which means that either we’re a lot more important than we think we are…”
“Or someone’s controlling it.” I finished concernedly.
“Or something.” Pete half-joked before turning somewhat serious, “Is there a chance that the game’s actually out to get us?”
“Nah,” I replied as convincingly as I could, “I mean… No… right?”
Miles, having clearly thought the question was levelled at him, shrugged, “Couldn’t tell you, but it does kinda seem that way, doesn’t it? Like something wants to keep us away from the Spire, but not so much so that it’ll actually kill us.”
“Exactly,” I said after giving Julian a slightly sideways glance, “like something wants us to turn back.”
“Heh, like that’s gonna happen!” Chad laughed.
“Yeah,” I chuckled, making sure to not let anyone know that I kept looking between Julian and the monster like they were somehow connected, “it just makes me want to head there more.”
“Then why’re we fuckin’ around with this thing?” Brendo asked with a grin.
“He’s right,” Paul said with a nod, “either it’s gonna attack us or it’s gonna disappear, whichever it is I reckon it’s gonna be for the best if we just keep movin’, you agree, Zo?”
It took me a few seconds to realise he’d asked me a question, but I managed to successfully play it off like I was too busy looking over the creature with a dry “Guess so… C’mon, let’s roll on out.”
And that’s what we did.
Plain.
Simple.
A little bit boring.
Chapter Nine
I wish I could say that the final leg of our journey to the Spire was interesting, but the truth is that it was boring.
Really fucking boring.
The good news was that I was free to distract myself with thoughts about that weird frozen monster thing, as well as how bizarrely uninterrupted our walk through the most dangerous place in Thren was.
It was like the game had sort of given up with the whole ‘Leave this place!’ routine and had instead opted to just let me do what I was going to do.
That bummed me out a bit if I’m being completely honest.
Don’t get me wrong, I was kind of tired of constantly getting beaten down whenever I managed to get ahead, but the idea that everything I’d done was coming to an end felt so… heartbreaking, especially seeing as the city was supposed to be impenetrable and packed to the brim with players.
Again though, there was a part of me that was tired, and I was pretty freaking eager to get to the Spire and have a ‘Job Well Done’ sticker plastered on my chest.
And that’s when I figured out why it was I didn’t feel at the top of my game.
It felt like an ending.
There was no thoughts in my head about what would come after the Spire, regardless of if we made it to the top or not, and it was kind of like I’d become really one-track minded in that that’s where my brain stopped.
Top floor of the Spire or death.
Either one meant game over for me, and for some reason that was utterly terrifying.
“Fuckin’ big, ain’t it?” Pete laughed, pulling me out of my head as we came to stand in front of the Spire, “Bet that if you jumped off you’d die halfway down of starvation.”
“Shock,” Paul clarified, his voice indicating that he was absolutely dumbstruck, “you mean shock.”
“I was exaggerating,” Pete light-heartedly snapped, “but yeah, you’re probably right. Shock.”
I decided that I was free to zone out of their conversation for a while, and took the opportunity to really take in the Spire.
It was amazing to say the least.
The structure and the various banners and statues that covered the building mostly followed a red, black, white, and purple colour scheme with the exception of the large, menacing, unknown but obviously carnivorous dino skull that sat above the doors to the building, both of which appeared to be made of solid gold.
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