He did not want to make the same mistake as the wood elf. Already, the dead monsters turned into a puddle of goo that split apart and became two, smaller monsters.
“We need a magical attack!” Corey shouted.
“Run!” the wood elf screamed again. “I will cover you!”
The exclamation caught Corey off guard. The sentiment and the emotion behind it was beyond odd for a computer program. It almost sounded…human.
“Shut up, fool,” Corey replied as he unfurled a scroll and summoned a level six wind elemental. It was the highest-level spell he could cast and it worked. The original three Homunculus were no match for the vortex arms of the elemental. They spun in the creature’s embrace, and their bodies shattered against the trees.
“Double damage!” Corey shouted. The monsters were unable to regenerate. Corey sprang forward again, this time, with his sword of lighting.
An arrow caught one of the short, nasty things squarely between the eyes. Corey laughed as he slashed, cutting the gray body neatly in half with one stroke. The shock value of his sword kept the goo-pile from forming another beast. He stabbed both piles neatly as he watched his experience points rise a full five-hundred points for the double-damage attack and the quick kills.
He turned to the spot where he last saw the wood elf and found Thornbark standing over a still form.
“Do you have a regen spell?” Corey asked.
“Yes, but we may need it.”
“We need it now. Use it.”
“On this guy?”
“Yes, on this guy. He was willing to die for us.”
“I think he is dying for us,” Thornbark replied. Corey glared back. “OK, OK,” Thornbark relented.
The wood elf was in rough shape. He held up his hand, and shook his head. “No,” he said. “Save your resources for the quest.
“We don’t know your name,” Corey said.
The elf fixed them both with an odd expression. “I have no name,” he said.
“What clan are you from?” Coey asked.
“I…I am from Uyghur clan,” he replied.
“The what?” Corey snickered, the “‘Wigger’?”
“No,” Thornbark said quietly. “It’s pronounced ‘we-gur’.”
“Huh?”
Thornbark turned to Thuglar, pulling him aside while the elf quietly died. “They are an ethnic group in China,” Thornbark said. “My girlfriend’s grandmother is Uyghur.” When Thuglar just stared back, bewildered, Thornbark gave his arm a small shake. “They don’t name game tribes after real groups, remember? People get mad.”
“So what? Someone’s gonna get some angry emails.” Corey shrugged off Thornbark’s hand and searched the wood elf’s body. He retrieved the dirks. “Now, these are nice,” he said. “Exceptional class, +5 attack speed, double chance for criticals.”
They headed into the forest towards the glowing triangle on his map. “Let’s get this damn cup so we can wake up in the real world,” Corey said.
Chapter 11
Dante followed Holly through the narrow passage between the horror show on the other side of the wall and a bewildering array of wires, pipes, conduits and devices Dante did not recognize.They barely had room to walk straight, and many times, they had to turn their bodies sideways to pass metal boxes with blinking red and amber lights. They lit their way with the flashlights on their cell phones.
“We need to find an exit,” Dante whispered. They could still hear commotion on the other side of the wall as people rushed to find them. They could not make out the voices, but they did sound angry and frantic.
“Working on it,” Holly said, worry curling the edges of her voice for the first time. Her phone buzzed. “What the hell,” she said. “Are you playing games?”
“Of course. The game is called ‘let’s not get arrested at work.’ I’m pretty sure we’re at least fired.”
“No,” Holly replied, turning to show her cell phone screen.
“Stop six paces ahead,” the text read.
“Not me. Must be Martin. Why he chose to impersonate Virgil is beyond me.”
As Dante spoke, another text came through. “Not Martin. Virgil.”
Icy rain ran down Dante’s spine. “He’s taking the joke too far,” Dante said.
The phone buzzed again and the text appeared, “The Steward of the Realm does not make jokes. Hurry.”
“What?” Holly said. She turned the phone back around. “Oh, my…” she trailed off. “This…”
Buzz, “It is Virgil. Heed me.”
The sound of another access panel opening made them jump and collide. Their eyes met for a moment and Holly arched an eyebrow. Dante smirked and shrugged his shoulders. She turned away.
Pushing past the panel, they stepped out into an empty hallway of the same black walls and slate gray floor of the upper floors.
“Virgil, where are we?” Dante asked. His cell phone buzzed.
“Exit of the dungeon,” Virgil replied.
“He thinks we’re playing the game,” Dante said.
“No time to wonder about that now,” Holly said, looking up and down the hall.
Dante’s phone buzzed again. This time, it was a file transfer. When he opened it, a standard game map appeared on his phone screen, except in it, the corridors represented the 18th floor of the Plexcorp sub-basement.
“This is starting to freak me out,” Dante said, brushing past Holly.
“Starting to?” Holly said, “I’ve been freaked out since the brains in jars.”
“Fish tanks, more like,” Dante corrected, giving a cocky sniff. He picked up his pace without needing to look to avoid the fist that swiped at his back.
They hurried down the hallway to a T-junction and Dante headed left towards the glowing triangle on the map. Virgil led them to a red-colored door marked ‘Emergency Exit.’
“You open that,” Holly said, “and all hell—”
Dante slammed both palms against the crash bar and the door swung open with the creak of disused hinges. No alarms sounded.They rushed into the stairwell and ran up the stairs.
“Hope you’re up on your cardio,” Dante said.
“Nope,” Holly said, three stairs behind him.
“Me either,” Dante replied, noting they were both losing their breath on the second landing.
They reached the sixth sub-basement floor and encountered the steel bars of a security barrier.
“Shit,” Dante said. “Everything below the sixth basement must be that wacky stuff.”
“Looks that way,” Holly said reaching for the bars.The gate was locked tight.
“Virgil?” Dante called. As if casting a spell, the gate latch clacked open and they pushed through.
Virgil was oddly silent on their cell phones. Dante noticed the camera on the wall as he pushed through the emergency stairwell door. His phone buzzed again, but this time, it wasn’t Virgil.
“Where u go?” Martin said. A string of at least ten frantic messages suddenly came through after that. “I see you now,” the last message read. “Get to lab. NOW!”
“I know where we are,” Dante said, and hustled down the side corridor to the main hallway. The virtual reality lab was at the end. Dante looked over his shoulder at the elevator at the far end of the hall. Every step it did not open, he counted lucky.
It took two swipes of on the keypad of the lab door before it opened. Holly held her breath.
Dante pulled Holly into the lab and pulled the door closed behind her. The latch locked with the mash of Martin’s index finger on the enter key.
“You’re controlling the door manually?” Holly asked.
“Yeah,” Martin said. “When I hacked those cameras, I saw what you saw. We’re sitting on top of a major trade in illegal human experimentation.”
“So?” Dante said. “We all just got fired anyway. If that’s not true, I quit anyway.”
“Dante…” Holly trailed off, a fallen look of disappointment on her face.
&nb
sp; Martin just shook his head, and Najeel said nothing. He hammered away at his keyboard looking as oblivious to the outside world as ever.
The door buzzed. Martin turned one of his monitors towards Dante and Holly with a grim expression on his face. Outside, three security goons wearing black fatigues and bulletproof vests stood outside the door. All wore side arms. When their passes didn’t work, they made frantic motions to one another and seemed to argue.
“Can you get sound?” Dante asked.
“No, for some reason,” Martin replied.
One of the security guards pounded on the door with his fist. He put his face close to the door and shouted.
“Dr. Boussaid, send out your developer and the cloud manager. They are under arrest for entering a restricted area!”
Martin moved with frightening speed. He was on his feet and across the room before Dante and Holly had time to react. He kicked the door with his heel.
“Show me a badge and a warrant, bring the police or get the fuck out of here!” Martin shouted. His breath came in ragged waves. He shrugged his shoulders, limbered up his arms and moved his head around in circles like a boxer.
“Martin…” Dante said.
“These guy aren’t security, they’re mercenaries,” Martin said. “I’ve known about them for a while. I thought they were just retired mercs that fascist Strohner hired. Given that illegal business, it all makes sense now.”
Holly went for her phone. “I’m calling the cops,” she said, then swore when she discovered she had no signal.
“They shut down the cell phone repeaters almost immediately,” Martin replied.
Dante added, “Wifi must have kicked in when we got past the restricted levels. That means Virgil has control over the secure WiFi. We still can’t get the outside world.”
“Virgil?” Martin asked. He was distracted by the pounding on the door.
“This is your last chance,” the security goon said.
Martin kicked the door again. “This is your last chance,” he said. “Don’t make me come out there.”
Dante watched on the screen as the lead goon laughed. He couldn’t tell what they said to each other, but the other team members laughed as well and drew their pistols.
Holly moved closer to Dante, close enough that their shoulders were touching. He reached a protective arm around her and Holly swallowed hard.
“One Marine Corps medic against three Army Rangers?” the goon said. “Come on, Martin. Don’t be a fool. Just give up the two nerds and you and Boussaid go free.”
“Asshole,” Martin said, face inches from the door. “That’s ‘Dr. Boussaid,’ and you didn’t read my records careful enough. I was a Recon Marine with two tours in Afghanistan and three in Iraq. Then I became a Medic. We eat rangers for snacks before fucking their mothers.”
“Martin, what are you doing?” Dante hissed.
“What I was trained to do. Get on that keyboard and hit the F9 key when I tell you.”
“The what?” Dante asked. Martin whirled.
“Do what I say and we might live. Don’t, and it’s just a matter of time before they find an override or bring down some equipment to pry that security door open. Then, it’s 50/50 we end up brains in jars.” Martin turned to Holly. “I need you to make sure Dr. Boussaid stays safe. He might panic.”
Holly and Dante complied. Martin positioned himself by the door opposite its opening direction. He took a deep breath, bent slightly at the knees and nodded his head. Dante mashed the F9 key, and the door slid open instantly.
Dante was raised on action movies. He loved fight scenes. What happened in the space of five seconds was a fight scene, but it was nothing like any move he had ever seen. Most of it happened too fast for his shocked mind to register.
Somehow, Martin snapped the first man’s arm like a green stick. The man screamed and dropped to the ground. A pistol clattered to the floor, spinning like a top. Martin struck impossibly high with his boot. The next man let out an ‘ooof’, then his neck snapped back as he flew backward into the hall. The last of the three had time to react to the meat grinder that headed his way. He brought his pistol to bear on Martin, just as the small ex-Marine squatted down and prepared to strike. Dante could see that it was already too late. He thought Martin would certainly be shot, but the goon’s eyes widened and his aim shifted past Martin.
The man fired just as Martin’s foot connected with the pistol. The goon recovered instantly. Clothes rippled like flags in the wind as the men fought for what seemed like ages. Martin rocked back on his heels, blood smeared across his upper lip and cheek. He recovered, then the man crumpled to the floor choking and holding his neck. Martin kicked him hard in the stomach for good measure. He rose up on the tips of his toes, about to do something clearly lethal when Holly screamed.
“Stop! Don’t kill him!” she sobbed.
Martin turned to her with wild eyes and she rocked back on her heels with the look of a frightened rabbit. That’s when Dante realised someone was still screaming. Boussaid lay on the floor, curled into a ball. Martin’s face softened as the wildness left him.
Martin quickly dragged the groaning and incapacitated men into the hall, making sure to disarm them all. He administered a few rough kicks for good measure before coming back to the lab. Dante locked the door behind him by pressing the F9 key again.
“Where’s my backpack?” he muttered as he pushed Dante away from his workstation and rummaged under the desk. He emerged with an army-issue pack. “Help me, damn it!” Martin said, making eye contract with Dante. To his relief, Martin looked human again.
They turned to the hysterical engineer. Holly crouched down over Dr. Boussaid, who kicked and spasmed on the floor, holding onto the arm of his white lab coat that was rapidly turning red.
“He… he picked up the gun,” Holly stammered. “I couldn’t stop him.”
“Doctor,” Martin said, kneeling down beside Boussaid. “Doctor!” Martin said again, lightly tapping Dr. Boussaid on the cheeks until annoyance registered in the prone man’s eyes. “There ya go. Come back to me now,” Martin said, pulling open his bag that parted neatly in half to reveal a fully-stocked medical kit.
“What the…” Dante said.
“I always carry this,” Martin said as expert fingers assembled needed tools. “It’s my security blanket. Helps with my PTSD, knowing there’s always a med kid available. Who knew it would turn out like this?”
Martin pinned down Dr. Boussaid’s arm with his knee and ripped open the sleeve, making the slender man scream louder. He swung a hand up and slapped at Martin’s bloody face.
“God damn right, Doctor! You keep fighting! We’ll get you fixed right up!” To Holly he said, “Hold him. He’s freaking out.”
“Oh,” Holly said, grabbing Najeel’s arm. “I’m so sorry, doctor.”
Holly’s voice seemed to bring him back. “Mother?” he said.
Martin laughed as Najeel’s brown face, turning pale, darkened again, this time with the flush of embarrassment.
“Oh, no,” Najeel said. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? You saved my life, Doctor. I will never forget that,” Martin said.
“But I screamed like a girl,” Najeel replied.
“Hey!” Holly exclaimed, tightening her grip on Najeel’s arm.
“Bullshit,” Martin said, examining the bullet wound. “I got news for you. Most men scream when they get shot. I’ve seen enough to know that. Don’t make a damn bit of difference how tough you are. But let me tell you something,” Martin continued, meeting Najeel’s eyes. “You rushed into battle without thinking of yourself and you saved my ass. You’re as tough as they come. They took a gouge out of you, though,” Martin said.
“I can see that,” Najeel replied, examining his wound with great interest. “It doesn’t look too bad, after all. Is that muscle?”
Martin laughed as he injected the wound with anaesthetic and began to stitch it up. “Yes it is. Are you sure you’re not a Marine
?”
“No,” Najeel said, his face falling as his eyes looked off somewhere far away. “When I was a child in Iran, men with guns came to my door and took my father away. These men at our door, they are the same. They must be stopped.”
“Huh,” Martin said, “That’s pretty much the same reason I became a Marine.”
Dante thought he saw the two men smile at each other. It was so brief, he may have imagined it.
A voice came over the public address system. “And so the war of the Lesser Realm begins. As above, so below,” Virgil said.
“Oh, no,” Dante said.
“What the hell was that?” Martin asked, looking up at the ceiling as if to find an answer there.
An alarm blared, and the lights dimmed, replaced by a blue flashing strobe at all four corners of the room.
“The halon gas alarm.” Holly exclaimed. “Shit! Are they trying to smoke us out?”
On Martin’s monitor, the wounded men in the hallway collected themselves painfully and hurried toward the exit.
“I will release the poison gas,” Virgil said. “If the Minions of Mylos in the Lesser Realm attempt to attack any of the Noble Four or their allies, again.”
“Dante?” Martin asked, finishing up with Najeel. Holly placed a rolled-up spare lab coat under his head as he lay glassy-eyed on the floor. “Can you tell me why a game character seems to be talking over the public address system?”
“I can answer that, friend of the Noble,” Virgil said, this time over the speakers attached to Martin’s workstation.
“By all means,” Martin said, folding his bulging arms across his chest. “Please do.” He shook his head, frowned and winced.
“Your face,” Holly said.
“Yeah, I took a few punches,” Martin replied.
“Yes, adventurer of the Lesser Realm,” Virgil said. “You are a great warrior, and I see that you have a noble heart. It is unfortunate that you cannot cross into my world.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Martin said.
“I think I get it,” Dante said. “I think… I think Virgil is one of those…brains.”
Holly shivered, face white. She sat down and Martin’s workstation.
Realm of the Nine Circles: A LitRPG Novel Page 10
