Level Zero

by Jaron Lee Knuth

  “But they're just code!” he screams, his frustration pouring out of his avatar.

  I'm about to argue with him yet again, but to my surprise, my group is the one who yells back at him.

  “You gave them the ability to become more than that,” Fantom says, flashing a quick smile at Cyren. “They may have started as 'just code' but they've like, surpassed that, yo. And now it's like, out of your hands. They've taken control of their own lives.”

  “You think it's so terrible that they're holding us in here, just to protect themselves?” Ekko asks, his entire body shaking with lag. He points at Cyren, still frozen inside solid rock and asks, “What do you think you're doing to her, right now?”

  Grael's lips open, but his teeth don't unclench. His eyes dart from one of us, to the next, desperately searching for a target for his frustration. I watch as the anger fades, his shoulders drop, and his jaw loosens.

  “I want you all to leave.”

  “Fine,” I say, “but the only way we're doing that is if we take her with us.”

  He shakes his head and waves his hand in the air. The rock around Cyren softens, and her body falls free from the wall. I catch her before she collapses to the floor, and her arms wrap around me, tightening into a hug. I hold her for too long, and Ekko places his hand on both of our shoulders.

  “Come on,” he says. “Let's go.”

  Fantom turns to look at Grael and says, “You could come with us, yo. You're like, the only one who has a high enough Level to survive in the desert zone. You could give us the chance that we need to like, reach that doorway or whatever. It would only take one of us to go through it.”

  Grael looks at the floor and says, “If you want to embark on some kind of suicide mission, that's your own foolish decision. But I don't play with groups. I'll stick to playing solo.”

  It hits me then, that this bitter old player is exactly what I could have become if it hadn't been for Cyren and the rest of my group members. They've taught me that there's something more important than my own pursuit and that sometimes there are things worth the sacrifice.

  We all walk out of the circular cavern together, but as we do, Grael yells after us. “You're going to die out there, you know!”

  I turn around and say, “I'd rather die trying, than die hiding.”

  “You'll be dead either way. You'll all be dead.”

  I smile as I remember Xen's words, and I recite his preaching as best as I can. “Living together is just as important as dying together, so we should accept both with the same enthusiasm.”

  I don't wait for Grael's reaction, turning and leaving with the rest of the group. But when we reach the broken bridge, another one forms, allowing us a simple exit. I'm not sure what his magical gesture means, and I don't care.

  The walk back out of the winding tunnel is quiet. Fantom is moving slow, her feet dragging behind her with each step. Ekko stays by her side, making sure she doesn't crumple to the floor when no one is looking. I stay next to Cyren, unable to let her go.

  When we emerge from the mountain, the sun is high overhead, shining bright. The snow flakes are no longer falling, and we can all see out over the entire game world. We stop, letting the view linger for a moment.

  “It really is amazing,” I say.

  Fantom nods and says, “I can understand why they're fighting so hard to keep it, yo.”

  “They're not fighting to hold onto the world,” Cyren says. “They're fighting to hold onto themselves.”

  101001

  On our way back down the mountain we only come across one group of NPCs, a large mob of yetis. Our Levels are high enough now that we slaughter them all in under a minute. Even Fantom takes out three of the hairy beasts, but when we're done, she collapses into the snow. We all race over to her and find her laying on her side, curled into a ball and breathing heavy.

  “I just like... need a second.”

  “Are you sure?” Ekko asks, sliding his arm under her to help her up. “I can carry you.”

  She lets out an annoyed sigh and uses his arm to lift herself out of the snow. Once she's upright, she shoves him away. “I'm like, fine. Let's just keep moving, yo.”

  I watch her carefully the rest of the way down to the hill zone, but she appears okay. She stares at her feet, placing one in front of the other, stumbling momentarily as we make our way down a small pile of loose rocks. I want to believe she can make it, but something tells me that she's putting on an act.

  The hills are more of the same. We destroy a pack of wolves made of steel and fall into a trap of loose ground set by some mole-men. The tiny men take a while to kill, but only because there's so many of them, and they're hard to hit when they keep tunneling underground.

  A giant spider tries to stop us in the forest, successfully snaring Cyren in its web. After splitting the creature in two, its body releases a hundred babies that we're forced to fight. When we're done, we cut Cyren free and move on. A random encounter with some undead bears is the only other thing that the forest throws at us. We reach the city by nightfall.

  “We should find a vehicle,” Ekko says as we pass our demolished delivery truck near the highway that circles the city.

  “Agreed,” Cyren says, “but we need to be careful. The quest NPCs have been wandering around the zones. Just because the city is meant for low Level players, that doesn't mean we can walk right through it. There could be anything waiting for us in the streets.”

  “So where are the civilians?” Fantom asks. “If they're running the show...”

  “The civilians and the quest NPCs aren't working together,” Cyren explains. “As far as the quest NPCs are concerned, the civilians are no different than the players. They may not be a target, but their deaths are meaningless.”

  “Are the quest NPCs that arrogant?” Ekko asks. “Or are they that ignorant?”

  Cyren looks sad as she says, “It's their programming. It's what they were told to do. It's all they know. Just like the players. The civilians were just there to toy with. Lives that could be thrown in front of bullets without a second thought.”

  I think about my own interactions with them and bow my head in shame.

  “But the civilian NPCs don't have everything figured out either,” she continues. “Their plan is far from foolproof. The way that the quest NPCs reacted to their freedom should prove that. Like I said, our memories got wiped clean every time the world was rebooted. They're still learning, still trying to figure out the source code and how best to use it to their advantage. But it's only been three days without a reboot. We're all still new. We're all just... children.”

  “You're more than that,” I say, and Cyren smiles.

  The road is completely empty, only periodically marked by signs of destruction. Blown up cars. Missing hunks of pavement. The occasional body of a long-dead avatar. And we only see this under the glow of the streetlights.

  We walk about a half a mile before I spot a vehicle that looks like it might still be operational. It's a four-door sedan that's crashed into the median between the lanes. One of the headlights is destroyed, but the hood looks only slightly bent, which means the engine still runs. Probably.

  I point out the car to the rest of the group, and we all cautiously approach it, weapons drawn. Ekko and I keep our guns pointed at the car as Cyren opens the driver's side door. With a fling of her arm, the door swings open, and the body of an avatar topples onto the ground. Cyren covers her mouth.

  “It's a civilian.” She glances into the back seat and says, “There's a whole family.”

  “They must have been trying to escape the city,” Ekko says.

  Cyren runs her fingers across the bullet holes in the car door. She shakes her head in a single quick movement, throwing the thoughts off, then grabs onto the avatar and drags him from the car. We all step up to help with the rest of the bodies. Ekko goes for the backseat. I can see the pain in his eyes as he pulls out the avatar of a child. His body flickers from the lag, and the NPC fall
s back onto the seat. The struggle with the body makes it even harder for him, so I set my hand on his arm.

  “Let me help you.”

  I pick up the small boy and set him on the ground. Ekko stares at the digital body for a moment, then turns away. I hold the driver's door for Fantom, but I see her holding her stomach and wobbling in the street.

  She looks at me and says, “You can drive,” and then with a smile she adds, “but just this once.”

  Cyren rides shotgun, with Ekko and Fantom in the backseat. I grab hold of the key in the ignition, hesitate for a second, then twist. The engine roars, and the single remaining headlight flashes to life in front of us. We all take a breath and let the relief flush through our limbs. I put the car in reverse and back out onto the empty street, turning us around so that we're facing the city. I don't want to try and cross back over the median, so we drive down the wrong side of the highway, uninterested in the rules of the road.

  It only takes a few minutes before our headlight hits the signs that mark two exits. One reads: DANGERWAR CITY - 1 MILE, and the other reads: DEATHSAND DESERT - 3 MILES. Ekko points out the exit for the desert, but I pull into the other lane, headed back for the city.

  “What are you doing, yo?” Fantom asks.

  “We need equipment,” I say. “The desert is going to be hard enough as it is. If we have to fight NPCs that are that far out of our Level range, we should at least have the best equipment.”

  Cyren is looking out the window, and when she speaks it's almost as if she's talking to herself. “If we have to fight NPCs in the desert, it won't matter what equipment we have. We'll be dead.”

  Her words hang over us, ominously festering in the silence as I pull onto the exit ramp.

  “Be careful,” Ekko says. “The city is the main connection for all the zones. There could be anything on these streets.”

  I open my map and locate the nearest equipment shop, which is only five blocks away from the exit. I'm relieved we don't need to go deep into the downtown area. I push on the gas pedal a little harder when we're on a clear road, watching the empty businesses flash by us. The streets appear abandoned, but every once and awhile I see a scurry of movement between buildings, or I catch a glimpse of a shadow passing over the top of us. The city is occupied, they just aren't showing themselves. Maybe they're learning they can't respawn. Maybe they're learning death is permanent. Maybe they're scared.

  When we reach the equipment shop, I see that it's designed to look like a twenty-first century store that sold groceries to the public. An OPEN sign glows like a beacon in the window. The parking lot is lit up by tall lamps and is full of scattered carts. I see a few random vehicles, so I pull the car in between a large pickup truck and a minivan, hoping that our sedan won't draw attention if it's amongst other vehicles. I shut the engine off and stuff the keyring into my jacket pocket.

  “Let's make this quick,” Fantom says.

  We all nod and open our doors. I'm only parked twenty yards from the front of the store, but we all jog to the entrance. The automatic doors slide open, revealing the same metallic, single room as the other equipment shop. A holographic screen appears in the middle of the room, displaying our buying options. After the dragon's death, our inventory is full of Koins, so one-by-one we all purchase the best equipment we can.

  Fantom buys a fire upgrade for her sword. She sells her shield now that she can't use her other arm, but I talk her into buying some decent armor. She becomes wrapped in glowing-blue translucent plates that hover inches away from her kimono.

  Ekko buys more grenades for his rifle and an upgrade that makes the already obscenely-sized gun even bigger. What was once an assault rifle with a myriad of attachments, now looks like some sort of giant ray-gun. With a multitude of barrels and chambers, the cannon looks too heavy to lift, but Ekko slings it over his shoulder without a problem.

  I spend all of my money on the most powerful upgrade the game offers me for my pistols, maxing out the damage value on them. I choose not to accept the visual upgrade and keep them looking like old revolvers.

  Cyren doesn't buy anything, because the system won't allow Level Zeros to hold Koin or alter their load-out. Her avatar is always the average Level of everyone in the group, keeping her our eternal equal.

  After we're done shopping, I feel a little better about our chances in the desert. When we open the door, revealing the parking lot outside, we're prepared for the worst, but everything still appears quiet.

  “I was expecting another army of like, goblins or whatever,” Fantom says. “Or like, some more centaurs ready to shove their spears through us.”

  “Maybe we got lucky,” Ekko says. “Maybe they don't know we're here.”

  We all step out in a group, our weapons drawn with our backs to each other so that we're facing every direction. Every direction but up.

  101010

  The sound of the the battle cry is heard first, giving us only a fraction of a second to look up and see the creatures dropping off the roof of the grocery store. I'm not sure what I'm looking at as they drop on top of me. All I see is a wall of metal reflecting the light from the street lamps in the parking lot. I see an ax swinging for my head, and that's when my reflexes finally pull the triggers on my guns.

  There's a hollow explosion of empty metal as the things on top of me get blasted off, and when I climb to my feet, I'm given a chance to visually consume what's happening around me. Ghostly suits of plated armor standing ten feet tall, keep pouring over the edge of the roof, each one swinging an ax that's even bigger than its body.

  I watch one of the blades barely miss Cyren, and the ax splits the pavement, causing a long crack to chase her as she back flips out of the way. Another one attacks Fantom, and she's able to block his attack with her flaming sword, but the impact knocks her backward and she slides on her feet nearly ten yards. Ekko is the only one succeeding in his attacks, keeping the armored giants at bay with constant flashes from his new cannon. Bullets no longer fire from the barrel, replaced by red blasts of light. Each one strikes one of the suits of armor, knocking the massive body backwards, but never actually puncturing the metal.

  I'm too distracted, watching my group members with a slight panic in my stomach. Another suit of armor leaps from the top of the grocery store, and its ax slams into my back. The force is so strong that it doesn't feel like I'm slammed to the ground. It feels like the ground slams into me.

  I feel the blade lift from my back, and I suck in a breath as I roll over. The suit of armor is looming above me, its ax raised above its head, ready to bring the blade down in a final strike.

  Luckily, I've been keeping a tighter grip on my pistols. I raise both of them and hold down the triggers, taking full advantage of my pistol's upgrades. The cylinders on each revolver spin wildly, letting loose a stream of automatic gunfire that tears into the suit of armor. Holes blast through the NPC's avatar, and it falls backward like a tree, slamming into the ground with a sound like a car crash. I get up onto one knee and fire at the other ghostly suits of armor. One at a time they drop, only to be replaced by another leaping from the grocery store roof.

  “Get the car!” Ekko yells, still firing.

  Between him keeping the NPCs knocked back, and me finishing them off, we keep the line of attack far enough away for Fantom and Cyren to make a run for the car. I hear the engine roar behind me, and the tires squeal out from the parking spot. The four-door sedan spins around and comes to a stop right next to Ekko and I. The passenger side opens, and I back myself through the door, still holding down my triggers and mowing down the wall of metal stomping toward us. Ekko gets in the back seat, and Fantom kicks the gas pedal to the floor, steering the wheel with her one good hand.

  I look at her and ask, “Have you got this?”

  She doesn't look at me. She just narrows her eyes and says, “Oh yeah. I got this, yo.”

  The sedan jumps a curb and turns onto the street in front of the grocery store. I watch the suits of ar
mor try to chase us, but their metal bodies can only move so fast. I allow myself to breath, but it's premature.

  As we turn left onto the road heading back toward the highway, I hear the horn of a semi-truck coming from the right. It's trying to slam into us, but Fantom takes the corner sharp. We end up right next to the truck, and I look up to see that its hauling a flatbed trailer. On the trailer stand twenty disfigured men shaking short swords in the air. It takes me a second, but I soon realize their grayish-green skin is because they are half-frog.

  The slimy creatures leap from the truck, their long legs dangling behind them as they fly through the air toward our car. One lands on the hood and stabs his short sword through the windshield, directly at Fantom. She lets go of the wheel and yanks on the seat reclining lever just in time to fall backward, out of the blade's reach. I lean over and grab a hold of the steering wheel, trying to keep our car from careening into the huge wheels of the truck next to us.

  Another creature lands on the roof of the car, but Ekko fires upward, punching holes through the ceiling with the red blasts of light from his rifle. I hear the frog-man's body go rolling off the back.

  The creature on the hood of the car dislodges his sword from the windshield and slashes again, this time shattering the glass inward. Tiny fragments spray across us all. Fantom leans forward and grabs the steering wheel as I see the barrel of Ekko's rifle shove past my cheek. The gun blasts toward the frog-man on the hood of the car, deafening my left ear.

  I hear another thud on the roof, and the car bounces again. Ekko manages to shoot the frog-man on the hood, knocking him free of the car, and then turns his attention back to the roof. As he does, a short sword breaks through the ceiling and stabs his left shoulder. He grits his teeth and fires straight up. The frog-man goes flying from the top of the car, leaving his sword stuck through the roof.