Fragged

by Zachariah Dracoulis

“Hey, Chad,” Paul said as we piled into the elevator, “maybe don’t say it’s… you know what I mean.”

  “What? Too easy?” Chad joked.

  “Bitch,” I snapped sharply, “say it again and I will cut you.”

  Chad, along with a few of the others in the group, regarded me uncertainly for a few seconds before smiling and puffing out his chest, “Nah, you love me too much.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t.” Pete light-heartedly warned.

  Again, the elevator fell silent.

  “Heh, nah,” Chad let out amusedly after smiling and turning to face Pete, “you love me too.”

  Chapter Four

  Shockingly, the elevator went all the way up to the floor that it promised, but considering how big the Spire was I put us at barely a third of the way up.

  “It’s like some kinda big… conference room.” Miles remarked as we stepped out of the elevator and started scanning the room for hostiles.

  “Does a bit, doesn’t it?” I replied, trying my best not to sound coarse while at the same time indicating that we were supposed to be focusing on other, more important things.

  Another floor, another magazine drainer. Or is it?

  I didn’t particularly like the uncertainty that that little line of text filled me with, nor did I like the fact that we’d just crossed the halfway point of the room without so much as a glimmer of something trying to kill us.

  “Anything?” Paul asked hopefully.

  “Nothing yet,” Pete replied before I could, “but keep your eyes peeled.”

  It didn’t matter how much we looked around though, there wasn’t a damn thing in that room other than the ostentatiously large conference table.

  And then we pressed the button next to the elevator doors.

  At first nothing happened, everything seemed as calm as it had been since we stepped into the room, but then, out of nowhere, dozens, no, hundreds of little dinos dropped through the ceiling panels.

  “Compsognathus…” Chad muttered while the rest of us shook the tiny little fuckers off as fast as we could.

  “Okay, glossing over why you know that,” I said once I’d punched the last dino off my shoulder, “can you please start shooting?”

  Chad looked at me with an utterly dumbfounded expression for a few seconds before getting hit with a wave of realisation and started firing without saying anything.

  “Watch your shots!” I called out over the gunfire after watching at least a dozen rounds hit unoccupied space, glancing off the floor or wounding the defenceless table.

  “It’s a bit fuckin’ hard, isn’t it!?” Miles shouted back, “Little fuckers move too damn quick!”

  “That sounds like an excuse for being a piss-poor shot!” Pete laughed.

  The fighting would’ve definitely gone on for a lot longer if one of the dinos hadn’t leapt up onto Pete’s face.

  I went to help him slap it off but was stopped just short of doing so as Miles let off a single shot and managed to blast the tiny reptile into a million pieces.

  After that things were kind of awkward between the two of them which was mostly caused by the fact that Pete clearly couldn’t decide whether to crack his biscuit at Miles for shooting so close to his face or if he should thank and compliment him.

  Miles eventually decided for him though by simply saying “You’re welcome.” before returning to the task of exterminating all the dinos in the room.

  We were churning through ammo like a mofo to the point where I’d switched over to my sawn-off so I could save what little DMR ammo I had left.

  I have to admit, though it was supremely stressful, I was actually kind of having fun blasting the little buggers.

  They didn’t give heaps of XP to help build up my firearm skill, sure, but the satisfying crunching and popping sound they made when you got them in just the right spot more than made up for that.

  In fact, I was getting into it so much that I completely missed the fact that the elevator had arrived and was only made aware of its existence when Julian forcibly tugged me in.

  Not going to lie, that annoyed me a bit, but at the same time I wasn’t about to have a go at Julian for helping me.

  So, once the doors closed I turned to face my ‘hero’ and gave him a thankful nod, the fear being that if I opened my mouth I might’ve accidently said something very different from the word ‘thanks’.

  “This is getting exhausting,” Paul heaved with a laugh, “don’t get me wrong, I’m having fun, but…”

  Paul didn’t have to finish his sentence for me to understand what he’d just realised. All he had to do was make a somewhat confused expression at the ground and tilt his head as he thought.

  We were getting physically exhausted.

  Playing a computer game.

  At our desks.

  Don’t get me wrong, I’m fully aware that you can start to get a bit huffy and puffy when you’ve been holding your breath in a horror game, but both Paul and I, and probably the others, were feeling like we’d just run a bloody marathon.

  Then the game went ahead and interrupted my train of thought again.

  Bet those guns are starting to feel pretty hungry about now, huh? Bet you’re wishing you used a few more melee weapons here and there? But don’t worry, you’re going to like this next floor. Or will you?

  “Is he gonna keep ending these text blocks like that or what?” Chad chuckled nervously after he’d pushed the elevator’s button.

  “Yeah, I kinda want the direct threats back,” Brendo said, “none of this ‘or’ crap.”

  “Just get ready for a fight, alright?” I snapped slightly harsher than I’d intended to, “We have to be getting close to the top.”

  I’m not sure if it was the stress or the adrenaline or simply the fact that I wanted to keep focusing on what was happening with Paul and I, but the others seemed pretty happy to just take my small outburst in stride.

  “Anyone need ammo?” Pete asked seriously.

  “You got any for this?” Miles replied, showing Pete his gun as he did.

  “Yeah, I can probably spare a few rounds.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “Anyone else feel that?” Brendo asked, drawing all of our attention as we waited for the elevator to plummet, “That cold chill in the air?”

  “What are you…” I trailed off before noticing the grin Brendo was giving Pete and Miles, “Oh, yeah, I’m pretty sure that feeling is ‘love’.”

  “You guys start with that shit and I swear to the nine divines I will kill us all.” Pete said with a sternness I hadn’t heard since the time I’d threatened to kill him.

  The elevator was quiet for a few moments after that, but then Paul let out a little giggle.

  “What?” Miles snapped.

  It took Paul a second to compose himself, and it wasn’t until he said “Pete’s embarrassed.” in an entirely too sing-song voice that I knew why.

  With that the elevator fell silent, and I mean dead silent, as we all waited for Pete to react.

  Honestly? I accepted that there was a pretty high chance that Paul had just killed us all.

  And then Pete laughed.

  He laughed his freaking hole out.

  I was about to join in on the outburst, but then we reached our floor and the doors opened, revealing a fully stocked armoury with tables and walls laden with guns and ammo.

  We were naturally suspicious, to the point where we didn’t so much as step out of the elevator as we cartoonishly tiptoed out into the gun-lover’s Heaven.

  I was right about to accept that we were safe when a notification popping up made me damn near jump ten feet in the air.

  Stock up. You’re going to need all the help you can get.

  “You heard the man,” I said once I’d gotten over the initial shock, “gear up.”

  Chapter Five

  Before long we’d all gotten enough ammo to take on a voracious horde of Muties, and the others, includin
g Julian, managed to find some armour similar to mine in both style and colour.

  “Feels weird…” Julian trailed off as he tested the weight of the rifle in his hands, “I should be using some barely useful bow, not a beefy semi-auto.”

  “Well, tough,” I replied after seeing Pete fill his bag with a variety of grenades, “we’re gonna need all hands on deck if we’re gonna get through this.”

  “But why do we have to get through this?” Julian practically moaned.

  “Because the boss says so,” Chad interjected, “and even if it’s the death of us, what the boss says goes. Understood?”

  Julian seemed somewhat taken aback by Chad’s return to supporting me, but quickly composed himself and nodded before going off to find a sidearm.

  “Do you really think this is gonna be the death of us?” I asked once Julian was out of earshot.

  “Maybe,” Chad replied with a shrug, “but I have to admit that it’s been a ton of fun so far.”

  “I agree,” Paul said, coming over from where he’d been debating switching his gun in for a solid looking combat shotgun, “even if this does end bloody, at least we’ll have gotten a solidly good time out of it.”

  I was glad that the group was starting to come around to my way of thinking, even if it was only Paul and Chad saying something about it.

  Miles and Pete were patching things up, Brendo was becoming more involved with the group, and Julian… well, Julian seemed to be mostly hanging around the periphery, watching us and waiting for something that it seemed only he knew about.

  “Fuckin’ Hell, Pete,” Brendo scoffed as Pete grabbed some C4 from one of the far tables, “you tryin’ to level this place or what?”

  “Just preparin’ for every eventuality.” Pete replied dismissively while continuing to go about his business.

  There was a part of me that wanted to tell him to take it a bit easy with the explosives, but at the same time I’d seen enough movies and played enough games to know that that was a great way to guarantee we’d need a bunch of boom-boom and not have it.

  “As long as he can cover us, I don’t care.” I said, giving Pete a nod as I did so, “How we looking?”

  “I’m good to go.” Miles replied from beside the elevator that would take us further up the Spire.

  “Alright then, everyone form up on Miles when you’re good and loaded up.”

  It took another few moments of umming and ahhing with their weapons, but everyone eventually moved over to the elevator and hit the call button.

  “Wonder why they would let us get all this stuff after we used all our stuff…” Paul muttered as the elevator reached our floor and the doors started to open.

  “Well, that might have something to do with…” I trailed off after turning around and seeing what waited for us in the elevator.

  A big, nasty, red-furred Bearie sat in the elevator, staring out at us with its jet black eyes as it heaved in anger.

  “This…” I squeezed out past a gulp, “this could be a problem.”

  Chapter Six

  Proving that it knew no chill, the Bearie charged out of the elevator right as we dove out of the way, its weighty body and spikes making short work of the tables and weapon racks as it barrelled through the armoury with an almighty, bellowing roar.

  “Run or fight!?” Pete shouted over the roaring as the Bearie crashed into the far wall and turned back around.

  I was frozen, my brain wasn’t working, but then Chad grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the elevator, snapping me back to reality.

  “Run it is then,” Miles scoffed as he and the others piled into the elevator and mashed the button, “thanks for the heads up.”

  “What did you expect me to do?” Chad replied as the doors slipped shut right as the Bearie started charging.

  “I don’t know, maybe say the word ‘run’?” Miles replied bitterly.

  “Alright, alright,” I interjected before the cattiness could escalate, “ease off, Chad was just doing what he felt was necessary.”

  “Exactly,” Chad confirmed with a nod, “besides, it’s not like I pushed the button or anything, I waited for y’all to get in.”

  Miles went to respond to that but was cut short as the elevator jerked to a halt and the sound of crumpling metal echoed up the shaft.

  “What the Hell was that?” Paul asked as if one of us knew.

  Really shouldn’t have left that Alpha Bearie alive…

  The elevator dropped about a foot and then locked into place there as the Bearie below got a better hold of the metal.

  “How long will the brakes hold?” I asked as we slowly started grinding downwards.

  “I’d give it a few seconds, max,” Pete replied, “we need to get the Hell out.”

  No one had to ask ‘How?’ before Brendo had gone ahead and shot out the ceiling hatch’s locks and gestured for me to come over so he could boost me up.

  Without saying a word, I climbed up his hand and bashed the hatch until the final few pieces of metal that kept it in place broke free, causing it to swing open and damn near take my head off.

  Not wanting to cause a fuss with Pete or Chad, I went ahead and climbed up first, getting to the top of the elevator as soon as we got dragged down another few feet.

  “C’mon!” I barked as I reached down into the elevator, ignoring the fact that the Bearie had just let out a roar that vibrated my body so much I peed a little.

  Paul was the next one up, then Chad, then Pete, and so and so forth until we finally pulled Brendo out and were able to start pulling open the doors that Chad had spotted.

  The doors were already at waist-height, so I’m sure you can imagine how difficult it was for us when we dropped another foot.

  “Get this fuckin’ thing open!” Brendo growled with a tenacity I hadn’t heard him use before.

  “Tryin’ my be-whoa!” Miles exclaimed as the door finally opened, causing us to all almost fall flat on our arses.

  We quickly recovered though, and just in time to make a daring escape as the elevator got dragged down to the point where we had to go on our toes in order to reach the next floor.

  “Up, up, up!” I shouted as we all did our best to pull ourselves up onto the next floor, not bothering to look around as we did so.

  And then the elevator finally gave way, tumbling down the shaft with the Bearie apparently still clinging to the bottom, roaring all the way until an explosion shooting up towards us caused it to fall silent.

  “Fuckin’ Hell…” Pete chuckled as we watched the space we’d just been occupying get licked by flames, “I mean, it could’ve been worse, but still… Fuckin’ Hell.”

  Good job with that Alpha Bearie, but I’m sure that you’ve wasted a good deal of what ammo you could salvage. Hope you like getting brutally ripped to shreds.

  For a moment, Hell, a nanosecond, I was worried, and then I realised that that was the first time we’d diverged from the path.

  We did have ammo, which meant we were more than ready for whatever the floor we’d found ourselves on could throw at u-

  “Oh, titty-shits…” I muttered as I finally looked around at the oddly vegetation-heavy level we were on, “course it had to be motherfuckin’ raptors…”

  Chapter Seven

  Don’t get me wrong, I was confident that we had the skills to take on a few raptors in head-to-head combat what with all the guns and ammo we had, but somehow, on a floor at least thirty storeys above the ground, we were in their hunting grounds.

  “See that movement?” Pete asked as we all took a knee and aimed into the maze-like jungle ahead of us, “Gotta be at least two dozen of the fuckers in there…”

  “How many do you think we can take?” Julian asked concernedly.

  “All at once? Maybe two or three,” I replied, “any more than that and we’ll get a nice, close look at their teeth.”

  I probably could’ve said more, but the truth is we all knew exactly how smart the raptors were and just how quickly
they could tear us to pieces if we didn’t get rid of as many of them as possible ASAFP.

  Then Pete went ahead and decided to do something totally surprising.

  That’s right, he started tap-dancing!

  Seriously though, I probably should’ve known that he was going to start lobbing grenades into the densely packed mini jungle.

  “Jesus Christ!” Chad yelped as smoke, stun, and frag grenades started going off all over the place, filling the air with the screams of injured raptors as their bloody limbs were thrown all over the place.

  “Open fire!” I ordered over the explosions before firing blindly into the trees and smoke myself.

  It was a flawed plan in a lot of ways, but it certainly seemed a lot more effective than simply waiting for one of the raptors to get through Pete’s explosive jungle of death.

  With that being said, I’m fairly confident that there wasn’t a whole lot they could do to escape, you know, because of the near constant explosions.

  Did I mention that there were explosions?

  Anyway, a good long while of shooting without landing very many shots later and we’d practically cut down the jungle, leaving nothing but a few severely wounded raptors to limp around as they slowly bled out.

  “Damn, dude…” Paul muttered after we’d all gotten to our feet, “that was a bit excessive, don’t you think?”

  “Nah,” Pete replied with a confident smile, “I reckon I used just the right amount of force. C’mon, elevator’s on the other side.”

  I didn’t really like the fact that Pete had taken over, but I quickly disregarded it as the adrenaline getting to him and strode after him, doing my best to avoid looking at the smoky, bloody corpses of the raptors as I did so.

  Weird… I was sure the smartest creatures in Thren, yes offence, would surely be able to outwit your dumb arse. Ah well, it’s not like you’ll be able to rely on your brawn on the next floor, it requires a third grade understanding of shapes.

  “What do you think he meant by that?” Chad asked after nearly tripping over a broken tree.