Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds

by Wade Adrian

  “Yes… though they might consult with me next time before running off.”

  Tim shrugged. “You were busy.”

  Paul rolled his eyes. “True. All’s well that ends well, I suppose.”

  “Hey!” A voice called from the far side of the tree. “You got healers?”

  Claire started that way and raised her voice. “On my way, Bill.” She looked back at Jesse, who was once more a wolf lying in the pile of bones. She was gnawing on one. “Come on.”

  The wolf let out a pathetic whimper.

  “Shove it. You can heal.”

  She returned to her human form and tossed the bone aside. “Fine.”

  Toby scratched as the top of his head as they left. “Man. That was… actually pretty rad.”

  Paul shook his head. “We all came very close to dying.”

  “I know. It was great.”

  The other man sighed.

  Toby took the helmet out of his inventory and looked it over. It had a viking flair about it, pointy on top, cheek flaps, and more leather hanging out the bottom to cover his neck. He held it up and lowered it onto his head like a crown.

  Or maybe Darth Vader.

  One of those.

  A blinking red light caught his eye. The mana bars beneath both Claire and Jesse’s names off to the side depleted.

  “Hey, guys?” Claire’s voice called.

  They started that way, with Tim and Carol hanging back a few steps. She sighed. “Ugh. Going to need a vacation after all this.”

  He nodded. “Sounds good.”

  “I’m thinking a cruise.”

  Their voices faded away as Toby followed Paul, his eyes drawn to the bones they still trod upon. His long cloak still dragged behind him as he walked, but now it flowed over the bones. If this were real, it certainly would have snagged a few.

  Claire was frowning when they arrived.

  “What’s up?” Toby tried to look around her. Jesse was kneeling down with the members of group two and the alternates Toby had sent before.

  Claire shook her head. “Leslie and Wayne.”

  Paul paused mid step. “Can you…?”

  She shook her head.

  His shoulders slumped. “Damn it.”

  Toby frowned. “What about them?”

  “They’re gone.” Paul shook his head. “We have casualties.”

  The mood on the trip back some somber. They weren’t dead, of course. But their accounts were locked out, and thus they were gone from the world of the game. At least for the rest of the week.

  But that’s not how Paul was treating it. He lead them along, stone faced and silent.

  Both groups and the alternates were moving together. Paul wasn’t willing to risk any more losses tonight.

  The church and its thriving town awaited them, bright lights in the dark. The game didn’t use a twenty four hour time cycle, but it somehow seemed appropriate that it was night. And not just because it was pushing ten outside.

  Theirs were not the only losses. One member of group three and another from group four had also fallen. Things were getting harder.

  Dinner had been glossed over, given the late lunch and then the events of the evening.

  Paul collapsed into Toby’s chair within the church. People looked at their inventories, their skills. They had points to spend and skills to augment or obtain.

  But everyone was quiet.

  It was Tim that broke the silence. “It was bound to happen. We knew that going in. That’s why we’re leveling alternates. That’s why we made a guild of people we could call on if worse came to worst.”

  Carol nodded from beside him. “We still have the manpower. We haven’t lost this thing.”

  Paul was the first one to log out. The chair was filled one moment and empty the next.

  Tim scoffed. “Well, I guess we’re calling it for the night then. Everyone be back here at eight. We still have a lot to do.”

  Most of those present nodded or voiced their agreement. They began to disappear one by one.

  Toby sat in a different chair and rubbed at his neck as he looked at the floor.

  “Hey.” Claire’s voice sounded from not far off. “Good work today.”

  He scoffed. “How? We’re losing people.”

  She shook her head. “Not your fault. In fact, if you and Tim hadn’t taken off and ended the event, it’s very possible we all would have fallen there.”

  He shrugged.

  She punched his shoulder. “Cheer up. We’re still alive. That means we’re winning.”

  He moved a bit when she touched him. But he knew she yards away.

  “Why… why did I just move? Why can I almost swear I felt that?”

  She tilted her head. “You too, huh? It’s… kind of like spacial dissonance messing up your stomach, though someone with one doesn’t necessarily experience the other. Your brain is filling in for what it expects. It’s trying to make sense of what it’s seeing, but not feeling. So you react as if you had felt it and your brain sends the same signals. Some people swear they can smell the grass or the rain.” She shrugged. “Sorry. It’s hard to train yourself to act differently in here when things can seem so normal at times. I’ll work on it.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t mind. It was just… strange. At least I understand it now.”

  She smiled. “Cool. Anything else I can answer, or can we go get something to eat now?”

  His stomach growled. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  He was getting downright efficient at removing all the garb. Of course, that didn’t matter next to a professional. Claire was already waiting when he set the gloves and vest back on the station.

  “Does yours have a zipper? Mine doesn’t have a zipper. Takes a minute.”

  “Aw, don’t sell yourself short. You’ll be good at it someday.”

  “Yeah, right about the time I don’t need to do it anymore.”

  “Don’t be silly. You have one at home, too.”

  He did. He had barely considered continuing to play after all this. But he could… assuming they didn’t have to erase his character because of Miller’s monkeying with things. Even if they did, he could make another.

  If he wanted to.

  Jesse waved from her station. “Where you guys headed?”

  “Somewhere not here.”

  “That’s my favorite place.”

  He took his wallet out of his bag and stuffed it into his pocket. He’d had about enough of everyone else flipping the various bills, even if he didn’t have much of a choice in being here at the moment.

  Of course, he could leave whenever he wanted. All he had to do was let Tobin Ironblood die. Then he could go home. Be done with all this nonsense.

  The parking lot was still brimming with unmarked black cars. In fact, it seemed like more had shown up. The feds seemed to considered Miller a real threat. They probably wouldn’t take kindly to Toby throwing the proverbial match, no matter how little they understood it. They knew he was part of it. That things hinged on him.

  “This is me.” She waved at an older sedan. She used a key to unlock it, and reached across the open the other doors.

  He climbed in and pulled the door to as Jesse climbed into the back. Claire started the car and took a minute to get out of the packed parking lot. “Might have to park at the motel, yeesh.”

  Jesse raised a fist in the back seat. “Ding a few of them. Fight the power.”

  “Easy to say that when it’s not your car.”

  “It really is.”

  She rolled her eyes. “So, what sounds good?”

  Toby shrugged. “I dunno.”

  Jesse clapped. “Ooo. Sounds like catfish.”

  Claire nodded. “It kinda does.”

  Toby had to admit, they had good taste in catfish. They sat in one booth in an otherwise empty establishment. It was late, after all.

  This place seemed to understand “Cajun” was a flavor, not an excuse to burn the patron’s tongue. At lea
st, that’s how he had always understood it. Some places didn’t make a distinction.

  “You’re being awfully quiet.”

  He looked up to see Claire and Jesse both looking at him. Claire had spoken, but Jesse seemed to be in agreement.

  He shrugged.

  Claire shook her head. “Tim isn’t wrong. We can still do this, and losses were bound to happen.”

  “Sort of killed the whole ‘fun’ angle.” He pushed a hushpuppy around his plate. For all this places understanding of cooking catfish, they managed to bungle bits of jalapeno into the hushpuppies. Just plain ruined.

  Jesse shrugged. “It did. But that just means we need to find it again. I don’t know if we can do this all down in the dumps.”

  “Right.” Claire nodded. “That’s probably what Miller intended from the start with the permadeath thing. He gave us a goal he thought was improbable, and just heaped impossible on to wear us down.”

  “He probably didn’t think we’d make it to level twenty, let alone in two days. Game isn’t designed that way.”

  “We’re doing exceptionally well. We’re on track despite a few setbacks. And it’s not like Wayne and Leslie are dead. They were still in the room with us. They just can’t help us inside anymore.”

  He frowned. “And what happens when it’s one of you? I’m not expendable, so everyone is supposed to go out of their way for me. But I don’t want to be surrounded by corpses, or swapping out new team members every day. I like you guys.”

  It was a dour thought… be he looked up to find the two women smiling.

  Claire shook her head. “I don’t think you’re giving the rest of the team enough credit. They’re all good, or at least decent people. None of them will let you down.”

  Jesse grinned. “But it’s nice to hear we’re not just piles of meat to hide behind, too.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”

  “So are we.”

  Claire nodded. “Uh-huh.”

  “But don’t let Paul hear you saying that sort of stuff. The emphasis is on you to make it. Not all of us. But obviously he would prefer it if we did.”

  He could understand. It was a logistics problem. Numbers to be broken down. It had to be if it was a problem they were going to solve. “How many people do we need?”

  “For the raid?” Claire shrugged. “Twenty four. Four full groups of six.”

  Jesse ran her finger around the lid of her massive cup filled with orange soda. “We’re still up four people, but that does mean we’re getting low on how many fuck ups we can make. We’ll need to be more careful, for sure.”

  He nodded. “I’ll do what I can. But I also want to see you there at the end with me.”

  Jesse smiled as she stood up. “Back in a minute. We should probably head back soon.”

  “Right.” Claire nodded.

  Jesse gave her a few pointed looks as she walked away. Claire shrugged in response.

  Toby lifted an eyebrow. “What’s all that about?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Toby bussed the table while they waited. It certainly didn’t look like anyone else was going to get around to it, the only visible staff were in the kitchen.

  Jesse returned a few minutes later and raised an eyebrow at Claire.

  “What?”

  Jesse’s face melted into a mask of disappointment. “Oh you suck.”

  Toby glanced back and forth. “I’m confused. Did I miss something?”

  “Yes.” Jesse nodded. “And you’ll probably be confused for awhile at this rate.” She pulled her hood up as she opened the door. It wasn’t exactly cold outside, but it was chilly enough with the wind blowing.

  Claire’s parking spot was gone when they got back. The otherwise nice lady Toby had come to know cursed like a sailor as she drove across the street and parked in front of the motel. She continued to grumble as they climbed out of the car and made their way across.

  Toby didn’t say anything. He was afraid to. He glanced aside at Jesse, who just shrugged.

  Claire and Jesse headed for the elevator while he turned down the hall leading to the pit. His things were there.

  Paul was the only one present. He was sitting at the center looking up at the projections once more. He glanced over when the door opened.

  Toby waved. “Just need my bag.”

  Paul turned his eyes back to the screens.

  The bag was where he had left it. He slung it over his shoulder and turned, but stopped and turned back.

  “How we doing?”

  Paul shrugged one shoulder so little Toby barely saw it. “Could be better.”

  “I guess.” Toby nodded. “But it could be a lot worse, too. We’ll just need to be more careful going forward.”

  Paul shook his head. “It was Tim being reckless and running off with you that saved us. Hard for me to tell him he needs to straighten up and fly right when he’s the reason we’re still in this at all.”

  “I think we all did our parts.”

  Paul scoffed. “Sure. Maybe.”

  “I mean it. Even those who didn’t make it. They knew their jobs, and they did them. From what Jerry said in there, that wasn’t a normal event. You can’t plan for things you’ve never seen.”

  “That’s exactly what we have to do. It’s only going to get worse from here. He co-opted the worst raid in the game to use against us. If he can swing this sort of danger out here, I can’t see a snowball’s chance in hell of us making it through there.”

  “That’s fair.” Toby sat down and looked up at the numbers and charts. They kept moving and playing across the wall.

  Miller had access to everything, and he had been part of the development. How could they hope to out think him?

  “Uhh… hmm.” Toby scratched at his chin. “When did Miller get fired?”

  “About ten months ago.”

  “Okay. Have you only been in testing mode since then?”

  “No.” Paul shook his head. “We’ve been modifying things the entire time.”

  “Have you… added anything since then?”

  “Sure. Of course.”

  “So those are things Miller doesn’t necessarily know about, unless he went looking.”

  Paul’s eyes shifted about as he considered it. “Maybe.”

  The door opened to reveal Jesse and Claire. “Hey, you ready?”

  Paul inclined his head toward the door. “Go on. Get some sleep. We’re not beaten yet.”

  “Of course not. We’re stubborn as hell.” He hopped up and made for the door. Paul seemed to be lost in thought.

  Claire leaned aside as she shut the door. “What was that about?”

  “He’s not happy, but he’s more mad at himself, I think.”

  She frowned. “He couldn’t have seen that coming.”

  “I know. Tell him that.”

  Jesse shook her head. “He’ll be fine in the morning. Let him ponder it out.”

  Toby nodded. “Did what I could. His mood seemed to change a bit.”

  “See? Nothing to worry about.”

  Claire didn’t seem convinced as she shook her head.

  Toby really wasn’t either.

  Toby stopped outside the door to the same room. Claire was only one door down again. Well, of course. Same rooms. He didn’t know where his head was. Jesse walked on by, stopping on the other side three doors away.

  He opened his door but glanced up when Claire waved at him. She was looking down at Jesse’s closing door.

  “Umm.” She shrugged as she looked back. “I just wanted to say…” She turned her key card over in her hand a few times. “Have a good night. I know it’s been a long day. And tomorrow might be as bad, or worse. But…” She shook her head. “That’s it. Try to not think about it, okay? I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Okay. Thanks. You have a good night, too.” He pushed the door open. “If you need anything, you know where to find me. And you have my number.”

&
nbsp; “Yeah.” She nodded. “If I need anything.” She opened her door and closed it again behind her.

  Well that was weird. He wandered into his own room and shut the door behind him.

  “Stupid stupid stupid.” Claire’s voice carried softly through the wall.

  He scratched at an ear as he wandered in and put his things down. Was she blaming herself for today? What more could she have done? She kept her own group alive and well. Granted, they were down two members at the time, so maybe it was easier. And Jesse and Paul could help some, but the healing was still on her. The other team did their best, and it just didn’t measure up.

  If anything, he still felt like the failure was his for not ending the event fast enough. He should have just destroyed that stupid book.

  He made sure his phone was charging before showering and crashing as he had the night before.

  15

  The clock was his enemy. He saw it several times that night as he awoke, tossing and turning.

  Doubts ran through his waking mind. He tried to banish them and sleep… but they followed him to that shadow realm.

  He found himself among the zombies again. They begged and pleaded for forgiveness even as they tried to murder him. He had no weapons. No armor. It was not Tobin Ironblood that faced them, but Toby the scrawny print shop employee.

  And yet, their pleas were preferable, really. The voices behind began to speak accusations instead. He was too slow. Too weak. Foolish. Ignorant of the world.

  Unable to save them. He dreamed himself powerful when he was nothing of the sort.

  The worst part was… they weren’t wrong.

  He had never been a person of wealth or means. He wasn’t strong, or particularly capable. He was nobody. A face in the crowd. Yet he sought outlets, worlds where he might be something more to hide how weak he truly was.

  His feet stopped. He didn’t see a point in running. He turned to face the creatures moving in his wake. He was not surprised at their faces. He had recognized their voices. Tim. Carol. Amos. Jesse. Paul.

  Claire.

  All of them rotting away, shambling to reach him. All of them giving voice to raspy accusations.

  He stood before them, just waiting for them to catch up. He spread his arms wide.