Finally, he said “Atomic Massacre”, and Boothe lead his group up to the front.
Victor handed him a dossier and a supply box, then said, “Good luck,” before waving them out of the room.
The locker room down the hallway was filled with the other cells, preparing and discussing their plans. As soon as Scarlett saw Lucas, she marched up to him, hand out.
“I think you owe us $100,” she said.
“Huh?” Lucas replied, looking at her confused. “Do I know you?”
“Don’t play with me,” Scarlett said, her eyes narrowing. Boothe walked up and stood silently behind her. Lucas’ eyes rose and met his.
“Oh yeah, I remember you two. Driving that junker Falcon. How can I even be sure you made it to New Wichita before me? There’s no way to know really.”
“We passed your car, out of gas on the side of the road,” Boothe said.
“I didn’t run out of gas,” Lucas said with a chuckle. “Must have been somebody else. Anyways, I don’t think there’s really any way of knowing which one of us made it to New Wichita first. Let’s just call off the bet and be happy that we both made it safe.”
Scarlett groaned in disgust. “You’re a lying sack of crap. You know that we…”
“Let’s go,” Boothe interrupted. “It’s just a hundred dollars. He’s not worth it.”
“It’s not about the money,” Scarlett said. “It’s about this guy, with his dumb face and his dumb car, not admitting that he got beat.”
A flag appeared in the middle of the room.
Scarlett challenges Lucas to a duel.
“I don’t have time for this,” Lucas said. “We have a mission.”
Lucas declines the challenge.
“Not just a liar,” Scarlett said. “But a coward too.”
“Come on,” Boothe said, pulling Scarlett away. “We need to get ready for the mission.”
“That’s right,” Lucas said. “You need to control your woman, Boothe.”
In a split-second, Scarlett’s fist slammed into Lucas’ face and sent him sprawling to the ground.
“Oh shit,” Boothe said, expecting this to turn into a brawl. He wasn’t sure how good he would be in a fistfight. Lucas’ team looked much stronger – one a huge man with a minigun strapped to his back and the other a small but muscled figure with a bandolier of grenades strapped across his bare chest.
Scarlett stood over Lucas, unafraid.
Then, instead of fighting, Lucas simply stood up and said, “You’re going to pay for this one day.” Then he and his group walked out of the locker room and down the hall.
Boothe breathed a sigh of relief, but Scarlett was still angry and ready for a fight.
“Let’s go,” he said. “Forget those guys.”
She followed him back to Cthulwho, who was rummaging through the supply box.
“You two quite done?” he asked. “We have things to do here.”
“Yeah, I’m done,” Scarlett said. “That guy just makes me so mad.”
“Take it out on the bandits,” Boothe suggested.
Cthulwho pulled equipment out of the box, handing them each a medkit, some ammo, frag grenades and smoke grenades. Then he gave each of them a small earpiece. “I think we can communicate through these,” he said.
Boothe slipped it into his ear.
Microphone detected. Voice chat enabled.
***
I adjusted my headset, pulling the microphone down in front of my mouth. Text on the screen scrolled past quickly, containing all the conversations in the locker room around Boothe.
“Uh,” I said, speaking into the microphone. “Hello?”
“I can hear you,” Paul said in reply, his voice coming through my earphones. “I didn’t even know this game had voice chat.”
“Hi,” a girl’s voice spoke shyly. “Can you hear me?”
Scarlett.
“I hear you,” I said.
“I hear you too,” she replied. “Hi Boothe.”
“Hi.”
“Alright you two,” Paul said. “Back to the game.”
2
“What is our target?” Scarlett asked.
“Emporia,” Cthulwho answered. “You ever hear of it? It’s about 20 miles east of here.”
“Nope. Never heard of it.” She turned to Boothe and asked, “You?”
“Huh?” Boothe said. “Sorry, what?”
He hadn’t been listening to the words at all. Just the sound of her voice.
“He’s never heard of it,” Cthulwho said. “There’s not much information here. It says the camp is just north of the highway and to expect a mixture of human and mutant bandits - around 15 of them.”
“Fifteen?” Boothe said. “How are we supposed to take out fifteen guys by ourselves?”
“How many did we take out at the Epic Center?” Scarlett asked. “It was close to that, right? With a little planning and surprise, we can do it.”
“We better get going,” Cthulwho said. “Maybe we’ll get extra points for being the first to return victorious.”
NEW MISSION: Emporia Bandit Camp
Eliminate all hostiles at the bandit camp in Emporia, KS.
Reward: $900
Cthulwho and Scarlett both clipped a medkit to their belt and pocketed a grenade as well. Boothe slipped an extra medkit into his vest, along with a smoke grenade and a flashbang. After they had all taken the supplies they needed, there were still several grenades and medkits left in the bag.
“We can store them in the car,” Scarlett said. “My trunk has quite a few inventory slots.”
“Yeah it does,” Cthulwho said with a grin.
Scarlett narrowed her eyes and shot him a look. “You want me to lay you out like I did Lucas?”
“No,” Cthulwho said, the smile disappearing from his face. “Sorry.”
So Boothe picked up the supply box and they headed back to the elevator that led up to the bar above. Another group rode in the elevator with them - a thin robot with a large drill on one arm, a female mutant with four arms and skin the color of sea water, and a huge man with an even larger rocket launcher strapped to his back.
“You’re Atomic Massacre, right?” the man asked.
“Uh, yeah,” Boothe answered. “How did you know?”
“You’re at the top of the rankings.”
Boothe, Scarlett, and Cthulwho exchanged looks.
“How?” Scarlett said. “We haven’t done any missions yet.”
“I guess because of the Epic Center?” Cthulwho said. “I mean, we did go above and beyond there.”
“I’m Hugo, leader of Chaotic Decay” the man said, shaking Boothe’s hand. His giant fist completely consumed Boothe’s.
The elevator stopped and the other group stepped out into the noisy bar.
“Good luck on your mission,” Hugo said, giving them a slight nod before he walked away.
“So we’re the best cell in the organization?” Cthulwho said. “That’s pretty awesome, right?”
“It means all the others are going to be gunning for us,” Boothe said. “I’d rather have started at the bottom and worked our way up.”
“Somebody has to start on top, right?” Cthulwho said. “Might as well be us.”
“I guess. It just feels weird.”
They walked through the bar, down the street, and to the parking lot where the Falcon was waiting for them. Boothe put the supplies in the trunk. There was still plenty of room there to store anything else they might find in Emporia. When he shut the trunk, Scarlett was already in the passenger seat.
“I guess I’m driving?” Boothe asked.
She nodded. “Let’s just keep that as the default. You drive. I shoot. It’s a good system.”
“I like the car,” Cthulwho said. “I should buy one for myself sometime.”
Boothe drove out of New Wichita and headed east towards Emporia. The highway was empty and still in decent condition. It was much smoother than the roads around Perry had been,
like this road was not often used. The land to both sides was flat and empty, so that Boothe could see for miles in every direction.
“This game feels a little unfinished, don’t you think?” Cthulwho said. “Like why is it so empty out here?”
“Have you ever been to Kansas?” Scarlett asked. “This seems pretty realistic to me.”
“I don’t know,” Cthulwho said. “I wish there were just more things, you know? Like why do we have to spend twenty minutes travelling to the quest location? What am I supposed to do, just sit here and watch Boothe drive in a straight line? Why can’t we fast-travel there or something? I mean, I only have so many hours that I can play every day and this feels like it’s wasting them - just sitting in a car instead of fighting bad guys.”
“It’s not about fighting,” Boothe said. “It’s about immersing yourself in a world. Just lean back and let yourself be absorbed by the atmosphere. For the hours you’re playing, you’re not in Austin at your computer anymore - you’re in the wasteland, trying to survive and make the world a better place.”
“It’s boring,” Cthulwho said.
Scarlett shrugged. “I don’t mind. It’s kind of nice. Calm before the storm and all that.”
They grew quiet then and stayed that way until Boothe’s goggles highlighted a small group of structures to the north of the highway.
“There,” Boothe said, slowing the car and pulling to the side of the highway. He pressed the magnification button on the side of his goggles and zoomed in. Enemies were highlighted in red and listed at the top right of his vision.
“I see six bandits right now. Two guards are up in watchtowers. There are likely more inside the buildings. Seven houses total.”
“What’s the plan?” Scarlett asked. “It’s going to be hard to get close without them spotting us.”
“There are no towers on the north side,” Boothe said. “We could spend a few minutes driving around the place at a distance and approach from the north, where we might be able to sneak in unnoticed.”
“More time sitting in the car?” Cthulwho asked. “No thanks. How about I just blast the guy in the south tower from a distance.”
“How far away can you hit him from?” Boothe asked.
“Like fifty yards or so.”
“Maybe we should wait ‘til the sun sets,” Scarlett suggested. “Dark will give us more cover. It’ll shouldn’t be long.”
“Ugh,” Cthulwho groaned. “I’m done sitting around doing nothing. Let’s just go.” He started walking directly for the camp.
Scarlett sighed and followed him, giving Boothe an eyeroll.
They stopped about one hundred yards from the camp, and crouched low to the ground. Boothe watched the guards, who were looking in different directions. Two other bandits and a mutant with skin that looked like tree bark sat around a fire between the buildings, eating something from a large pot. The bandits hadn’t noticed them yet, but all it would take is for one of the tower guards to look over in this direction.
“This is dumb,” Boothe said. “We have no cover.”
“Why are you so scared of getting hurt?” Cthulwho asked. “You get shot, you use a medkit, no big deal.”
“Yeah, and if I get shot twice?”
“Then you die,” Cthulwho said. “You’re supposed to be having fun, not sitting around waiting and planning. It’s just a damn game Bran.”
He hated that phrase - Just a game. Paul knew that he hated it.
“I am having fun!” Boothe said. “I want to keep having fun. That’s why I don’t want to die!”
“I got it guys,” Scarlett said.
Boothe hadn’t even noticed that she had left them behind. She was almost to the guard tower now, her cloak pulled up around her head. She climbed the ladder, her motions silent and fluid. The guard at the top leaned against the railing, his eyes turned away from her. She raised her hatchet and slammed it into the back of his head, then reached around and covered his mouth with her hand, guiding his body to the floor.
“Did they see me?” she asked, hiding behind the railings inside the watchtower.
Boothe looked over at the guard in the other tower, then at the group gathered around the cooking fire.
“Everything looks normal,” Boothe replied.
“I’ll take the other watchtower,” Cthulwho said. “You move up to assist Scarlett.”
Boothe nodded, running towards the tower where Scarlett hid.
Stealth (70%) - SUCCESS!
The buildings offered enough cover that Boothe could sneak up to the guard tower without the bandits around the fire seeing him. Scarlett slid down the ladder and the two took a position behind one of the houses.
“There’s going to be more inside,” Boothe said.
“Yeah,” Scarlett agreed. “Keep an eye on the doors and windows.”
“I’m in position,” Cthulwho said through their earpieces. “Guard in tower two is down. I have sight over the whole camp from here.”
“Good job,” Scarlett said. “Okay. Are you guys ready to get this party started?”
Boothe nodded.
“God, yes,” Cthulwho said.
Scarlett pulled the pin on her frag grenade and gave Boothe a little smile before tossing it in the middle of the fire where the bandits were circled.
3
“What the hell is that?” one of the bandit’s said, jumping up from his seat just before the explosion tore him and the other enemies apart, splattering pieces of them all over the sides of the nearby buildings.
Four kills. Their experience point rewards popped up, but Boothe had long since stopped paying attention to those messages.
“Nice!” Cthulwho said over the headset.
Lights switched on in several of the houses, and a figure appeared in the window across the street. Boothe took aim with his new assault rifle, and fired a three-round burst. With the stock pressed up against his shoulder, there was barely any kick. The shots fired in quick succession, shattering the window and slamming into the bandit on the other side. He fell backwards, dead before he hit the ground.
“Cover me!” Scarlett said as she slid around the corner.
Boothe sent his drone to get a better view of the place. He wished that they had given him time to get a layout and enemy placement before they started the fight, but it was too late for that now.
A bandit rushed out of a door nearby, spraying machine gun fire towards Boothe. He quickly ducked back behind cover, bullets tearing through the wood of the corner he hid behind. His drone floated above, watching the bandit as he moved forward. Then a burst of air hit the bandit. His muscles locked up, his body stiffened, and he fell forward onto his face. Boothe flipped the switch on his rifle to single shot, spun around the corner, and put a bullet into the bandit’s skull.
Scarlett had gone inside the house that Boothe hid behind. He watched her on the drone’s camera screen as she moved from room to room, systematically checking corners and clearing them. Through the upstairs windows, Boothe saw more bandits, ready to ambush her.
“There’s one on the upstairs landing,” Boothe said. “Two more taking cover in the bedrooms - one on the left and one on the right.”
“Can you take one?” Scarlett asked.
“I can try out my drone’s new laser.”
“Sure,” Scarlett said. “It’s just my life. Great time to try out new abilities.”
“I’m pretty sure it’ll work,” Boothe said.
“I’m glad you’re pretty sure. I’m heading up on three, two, now…”
Gunfire erupted from inside the house.
Boothe sent the drone through the window of the upstairs bedroom, where his target bandit hid. The shattering glass drew the bandit’s attention, and Boothe’s drone fired its laser. A red line shot out of the barrel on the side of the drone and pierced directly through the bandit’s shoulder, making a clean hole in his clothing and flesh.
“Ah shit!” the bandit exclaimed before spinning and firing his
pistol at Boothe’s drone. The shot hit, spinning the little robot in midair. Boothe watched as the camera in the bottom of his vision helicoptered wildly out of control.
“Get out of there,” he ordered the drone. “Sorry Scarlett. I wounded him, hopefully the distraction will help.”
“Thanks, I got this!” she replied and more shotgun blasts echoed from inside the house.
“Two moving towards your position, Boothe,” Cthulwho warned.
Boothe’s eyes had been focused on his drone’s camera feed and he hadn’t noticed a bandit with a shotgun running towards him. Behind the bandit was a mutant with strange fleshy lobster claws, roaring in anger.
They should have planned better – shouldn’t have split up. There was just too much happening in too many places for Boothe to keep track of. In the bottom corner of his vision, the drone steadied itself and hovered out of the window. The bandit continued cursing and firing its pistol, but all of his shots flew wide.
Down on the ground, one of Cthulwho’s air bullets cut across the sky and slammed into the lobster-clawed mutant. The creature slowed for only a moment, and then seemed to shrug off the effects, continuing its charge forward. The bandit in front fired his shotgun, blasting apart a chunk of the wall that Boothe hid behind in an explosion of splintered wood.
Boothe peeked out and fired a three-round burst from his carbine. The shots ripped through the bandit’s chest, tearing a hole all the way through him. He fell forward onto his face and slid across the dirt. The lobster-clawed mutant slammed its hooved foot down onto his back as it continued lumbering forward.
Boothe kept firing, shifting his aim slightly up to the mutant’s torso. One of the shots hit the mutant in the chest, right where its heart should be, but it didn’t fall and continued towards him, strings of saliva hanging from its mouth as it screamed in white-eyed fury.
“I got guys closing in on me!” Cthulwho said.
A yell of anger came through the headset from Scarlett.
Then all thoughts of the welfare of his teammates was gone as the mutant fell upon him, knocking him to the ground. Notifications popped up, showing the deaths of more bandits and mutants, but Boothe could only focus on the one on top of him. The mutant sat on Boothe’s chest, holding him in place while it jabbed its huge lobster claws down at his face. Boothe thrashed and dodged, trying to get his rifle barrel up towards the mutant.
Apocalypse 2020: A Wasteland LitRPG Page 14
