The spiral tower remained intact and Gabby felt her face stretch into a grin. No, she yelled in her head. Don't believe it. But she had no control of the giant.
Then it gathered up the black mist in its hands, wrapping it around its fist like cotton candy and held it to its mouth. The eyes in the mist burned in anticipation.
Her chest expanded and air passed across her lips. The sand giant was inhaling the wraith.
As it passed her throat and into her lungs, she wanted to cough, but she couldn't. The sensation was like drowning. And she was held fast to the giant's form.
The giant bent over. Crawling on its knees, pounding its chest to free the smoke. But it was too late. The smoke creature had tricked its way into the giant.
The urge to cough became so great she thought she would explode. When she did, the horrible hacking cough was like trying to free grease from a skillet by shaking it. Nothing she did quenched the burning in her chest.
Bent over on hands and knees, stomach clenched in convulsions Gabby tried to cough hard enough to free it. Only when she wiped the tears from her face did she realize she was no longer in the giant. Instead she knelt on a rough cave floor, full of pebbles and chipped rocks.
One last cough tickled her lungs. She knew it was going to be bad by the way her toes curled up in anticipation.
It came like a cannon and black smoke issued from her lungs in a stream. She gagged as the wraith left her throat.
Ignoring the lingering pain in her chest, Gabby leapt to her feet, pulling both swords.
The ghostly thing tried to envelope her, but she sliced it to ribbons. Her sword cut it like ebony silk and when she was done, the black mist pooled in the low spots of the floor.
Her swords at rest, the mist began to reform. Gabby ran the other way knowing instinctively she'd have to fight it again.
The tunnel had a faint luminous quality to it, as if it were lit from within. It made many twists and turns before it split. Gabby paused and considered how she should proceed.
She had no idea where the others were and even if they were alright. She needed to find them quick. Even if she didn't like them, they were her team, and they had to get through the raid together if they were going to succeed.
Gabby called out and listened with her hand to her ear when the echoes faded. She yelled three more times before she heard a response. It was female and sounded frightened.
Closing one ear and then the other, she determined the direction of the voice and ran towards it with swords drawn. New splits in the tunnel forced her to make quick choices.
It had to be Avony or Mouse, though she supposed it could be another trick. She promised herself not to run headlong into danger if she could help it.
Before she moved, the ground shook slightly and she swore the cavern walls contracted. Fearing a cave in, Gabby sprinted from that section.
Passing a small cavern, loose gravel being kicked alerted her. Gabby crept around the bend, stepping lightly.
A hooded figure loomed over a motionless form on the ground. Puddles of mist wrapped around the figure's legs, climbing them like ivy on a column.
When the hooded figure raised a dagger, Gabby recognized her.
"Mouse!" she yelled in greeting.
When Mouse turned, Gabby saw guilt in her eyes. She reviewed what she'd just seen in her head. Nothing else made sense. Mouse was going to kill the person at her feet.
Gabby moved closer, wondering if she'd have to fight Mouse, when the figure on the floor got to her knees, coughing.
"Avony?" said Gabby.
Her archenemy was helped to her feet by Mouse. The dagger in Mouse's hand had disappeared.
Avony coughed, cheeks pink with effort, and wiped dried vomit from her face. Gabby wondered what the rest of the Evil Dolls would think of their fearless leader, disheveled, and vomit covered.
She might be more appreciative of Avony's current state had it not been for what she'd seen before. Thought she'd seen anyway. Even seconds later she questioned herself as to Mouse's intent.
Gabby could feel Mouse's wide eyes watching her. Was Mouse trying to decide what she had seen?
When Gabby moved to help Avony to her feet, Avony pushed Gabby away. "I don't need your pity," said Avony.
What had happened here?
Mouse's quiet voice trickled in by way of explanation. "The mist wraith had her by the head and was forcing itself down her throat."
Gabby recalled that Mr. Johnson had warned her that everything wouldn't be as it seemed on the raid, even her friends. And by friends, he'd meant her team.
She would have expected Avony or Unthar to pull something like this, but not Mouse. Then again, maybe Mouse was a plant by the LGIE, or they'd bought her off. She questioned all of them now, even Stephan, who might want to enact some vain revenge for her snub.
"Let's find the boys and get out of this area," she said.
Gabby sliced up the wraith that was forming at their feet and thought about offering Avony a shoulder, since the head Evil Doll seemed to still be affected by lingering coughs, but decided her comment had been warning enough.
They found Stephan soon after, sitting on a ledge, firing mini-bolts of frost from his index finger. The wraith was frozen in a globe of ice, slowly seeping through it as Stephan made a new layer.
"Any ideas on Unthar?" Stephan asked.
They shrugged and shook their heads.
"Try yelling?" Gabby offered.
"Might as well," he said.
The four screamed Unthar's name at the top of their lungs, though only two really made much noise. Avony could only muster a high pitched squeak, and Mouse just made a louder whisper.
After two or three cycles of yelling and listening, Unthar strolled into the cavern.
"Any problems with your wraith?" Gabby asked.
Unthar's only acknowledgement of her question was a cutting glance.
"So," Stephan began. "Did everyone see the same cut-scene?"
They confirmed their similar experiences, though none of them could agree on its meaning or what they should do next.
"We need to find this giant in the caverns and kill it to release the wraith, our true enemy," said Stephan. "We need to go further in to find it."
Avony, who appeared more recovered from her intimate encounter with the wraith, offered her own explanation.
"I think these giants are wrecking the land. Like the huge pit the one had dug and the wraith represents the power to stop it. We need to accept the wraith so it can help fight the giant," she said.
It appeared she was trying to convince herself as much as the others, as doubt wracked the leader of the Dolls. Gabby also understood then why Avony hadn't beaten back the wraith. She had tried to inhale it, and would have succeeded except for Mouse's intervention. She wondered why she would have done such a foolish thing.
Mouse raised her hand as if she were too meek to interrupt. Gabby wasn't sure she bought the act after the scene in the cavern.
"Just yell it out," said Stephan. "We don't do hand raising in Neversoft High."
Mouse looked at her hand like a traitor.
"The wraith is our enemy," she said. "The wraith tricked its way into the giant and that's why he attacked us and is dead. We have to find our way to the wraith's lair to kill it."
Stephan nodded his head as if he were weighing her words. He shrugged eventually.
"Any thoughts from you, big guy?" Stephan asked.
Unthar looked like he'd rather eat a rattlesnake live than answer, but then a strange grin settled on his lips.
"I think I'm stuck with you idiots until the end of this silly exercise. I've got enough points to make it into special ops as long as I don't get killed, so don't frag this up for me."
Unthar crossed his massive arms and leaned against the wall, letting his eyes half-close.
"Well," said Stephan. "That was informative. What about you Gabby?"
"I agree with you all, partially. I think the giant
was tricked into breathing in the wraith and we're still in the giant and we've got to track it down and kill the wraith so the giant will live," she explained.
"We're not in the giant, Gabby," said Stephan. "We're in the caverns. We walked into its mouth, but that led into the ground."
The others agreed with Stephan, except for Unthar, who had clearly given his blanket disagreement.
"It's a game. Why not be in the giant? It would make sense with the cut-scene," said Gabby.
Avony shook her flat blond hair that moved like dead arms. "When is a giant ever good? Don't all the games have giants to kill?"
"That would be some poor metagaming," said Gabby.
"Poor metagaming," stated Avony incredulously. "You were metagaming about Mr. Johnson's intentions earlier?"
"Metagaming, good," said Gabby. "What you just said was total frag bait."
Gabby regretted it as soon as the words had left her mouth. Stephan shook his head disapprovingly.
"Come on, girls," said Stephan. "The rest of us guys can't have you two tearing apart our team."
Mouse's head turned sharply at Stephan. "I'm a girl, too."
Stephan's eyes widened. "My apologies," he stammered. "I...um...you kinda look like..." The words lay across his lips like a dead fish.
They waited in pure unfiltered silence for a long while, glancing at each other, not making eye contact. Gabby closed her eyes and tried to imagine what Zaela was doing then. Hopefully slaying some big bad wraiths and scoring major points.
Then the walls convulsed violently, throwing them to the ground. The horde of wraiths came right after.
Chapter Seventeen
They hadn't picked a good spot, Gabby realized immediately. There was only one exit from the cavern. Their only boon was the defensible cubby they had been resting in.
The wraiths flowed in like ink dropped into water. Mouse saw them first and squeaked a warning. They came in waves. Gabby got her weapons out first, chopping them in criss-crossing slices. The neural shaping problems were still awkward, but with the constant onslaught she wasn't required to do much more than Two Moon Sweep.
They formed a line and annihilated the wraiths as rapidly as they came. Gabby worried about the numbers of them. The mist pooling at their feet seemed to be reforming already and new wraiths were coming into the cavern every second.
When Unthar brought his massive sword around for a clearing cut, his elbow rammed into Gabby's side, knocking her off balance.
"Hey, watch it! I'm on your side," she said.
Soon after, she heard Mouse and Avony arguing about room to swing. Only Stephan seemed to be escaping the cramped fighting space by standing on a rock and firing cold blasts over their heads.
As the wraiths started reforming around them, causing them to slice out in other directions, they were interfering with each other even more.
Unthar didn't even bother to watch out for the others as he swept his blade around at waist height. Gabby and Avony, the two nearest the mammoth Brute, had to dodge more than once to avoid being hit.
The wraiths didn't seem to be doing damage to them, but Gabby's arms were growing heavier from swinging the blades.
When Mouse stepped on her foot, and she nearly got her head taken off by Avony's roundhouse, she knew they couldn't stay in the cubby.
"We've got to get the frag out of here," Gabby yelled over the grunts and blasts. "We're going to wear out eventually and these wraiths will overwhelm us."
The others shouted their agreement.
"Finally, some teamwork," Gabby mumbled under her breath.
"Unthar, can you lead us out?" she asked, unsure if he'd take direction from her.
He nodded, grudgingly. Gabby had to duck another swing from the Brute.
"Guard your breath, swing carefully, and keep moving. We've got to get our distance from these things. They're reforming as fast as we're killing them," said Gabby.
Unthar didn't wait for a signal and jumped into the wraiths, making broad strokes with his weapon. He almost let the bulk of them get behind him he moved so fast, but Gabby and Avony filled in the space with their blows, giving Mouse and Stephan time to bring up the rear.
The whole tunnel was filled with the wraiths. Gabby was glad she'd gotten them to move, otherwise they would have died in the cubby and lost the game.
Gabby gasped for breath as they fought their way through. The others labored for air, as well.
She felt like the tunnel was pressing down on them. She desperately wanted to get out and into fresh air.
Still fighting, Unthar was beginning to tire. His swings were getting slower and more wraiths were getting through to Avony and Gabby.
From behind, Mouse and Stephan were keeping their backs clear. The cold blasts provided a temporary barrier and Mouse dispatched any that got past.
The effort and the lack of air were getting to Gabby. Black spots started forming at the edge of her vision. Her arms shook with exhaustion, but she kept swinging.
Her dizziness was affecting the neural shaping calculations and her Two Moon Sweeps were less effective. Avony seemed to be doing even worse on her side. Gabby had to help her to her feet more than once.
Gabby sensed the whole group beginning to fall apart. Unthar waved his sword around drunkenly, hardly killing any wraiths now. Avony's kicks barely came above her knees and Stephan's blasts sputtered.
The wraiths sensed their weakness and rolled in at double their previous speeds.
"Come on!" she yelled. "Only to the end of the tunnel! Then we'll be out."
When Avony gave her a questioning stare, Gabby offered a nod and a smile. Gabby didn't know if the end was soon, but she had to give them hope so they could keep going.
The group tightened their moving assault and snapped out of their stupor. The wraiths continued their frenzied assault as if they thought their prey just might escape. It seemed every ounce of oxygen was being sucked from the room.
Slicing a wraith into silk ribbons, a shout erupted behind her. They'd broken through the wraiths.
The team sheathed their weapons, tired from the constant swinging, and sprinted away from the wraith horde. The air tasted clearer immediately and its freshness gave Gabby new energy.
When Avony, who'd not yet recovered from her previous bout with the wraiths, tripped over an upthrust rock, Gabby helped her to her feet.
Avony muttered, "Thanks."
Their legs weren't as tired as their arms, except for Avony, so they ran for as long as they could. When Avony grew tired, Gabby gave her a shoulder to lean on.
Cutting through a chamber filled with stalactites, they stumbled upon a body in light chain facing the floor in a stretched pose.
Stephan rolled the boy over with his foot.
"That's Jacob," he said.
Gabby knew the boy, but not well. Since they didn’t compete against the boys, they didn't bother to get to know them unless they were dating material. Jacob had a hook nose and always wore the digital fashions three months old.
Avony got down on her knees and put her face over his mouth.
"I don't think he's breathing," she said.
Gabby poked the boy's body with her foot. It was like pushing on a bag of flour.
"Is he really dead?" asked Mouse.
Unthar surprised them all by laughing. "It's just a game. You all are such fools."
Avony shook the body. "I'm not sure. He feels dead to me."
"They probably brought in a corpse from the morgue and put the Jacob skin on it to freak us out," he said. "I've seen much worse in a horror immersion."
Gabby shuddered. Horror immersions were sick games that upped the gore factor to realistic and disgusting levels.
"Maybe," Avony said, clearly unconvinced.
Gabby didn't like hanging around the body, and Unthar's ghoulish grin as he pushed on the body with his foot bothered her.
"We should get moving, the wraiths could still be pretty close. We're not that far away yet," s
aid Gabby.
The others nodded and then continued their journey, each of them visibly affected by Jacob's body. Except for Unthar, who had resumed his aloof demeanor.
Chapter Eighteen
As the team came to splits in the tunnel, Stephan led them left and right, claiming he could sense direction within the game. None of the others had the strength to argue, so they followed his lead.
After about two hours of traveling, they entered a massive cavern. Sensing Avony's complete exhaustion, Gabby called for a break. Plus, she didn't want to chance any new encounters while they were tired.
They camped in the tunnel and rested. While they waited, Gabby caught Avony studying her.
Gabby was used to the proud eyes, high chin, and general look of self-importance that always was forefront in Avony's demeanor. What she assumed was doubt crept across her former friend's face.
"I need to stretch my legs," Avony announced. "Gabby, can you come with me?"
When Gabby hesitated, Avony continued. "Strength in numbers. My legs are still too tired to defend myself."
"Sure," the words stumbled out of Gabby's mouth, incredulous at Avony's sudden change. "I could use some stretching myself."
They walked back up the tunnel, doing idle stretches along the way, clearing the acid from their muscles.
When they were a little ways away, Avony checked the tunnel as if she was worried they were being followed.
Then she moved up close to Gabby. Too close by Gabby's personal space standards. When Avony reached out to take her hand, Gabby had to restrain the urge to flinch.
"Avony?"
Avony massaged her hand. Gabby wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Gabs," she said. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me back there when were escaping the wraiths."
"Um. Sure," Gabby said.
Avony continued to massage her hand, glancing up furtively. Gabby wondered if Avony was working up the nerve to kiss her, which didn't make sense at all.
"I really thought we were going to die," Avony said. "Knowing that we'd both lose LifeGame and never see each other again, made me realize how much I missed you."
Gamers - Amazon Page 11
