Restitution (Haunted Series Book 17)

by Alexie Aaron

  “Oh, I’ve seen that expression before,” Ted assured Burt.

  “Cid said to buy the most expensive armor. I had her hair braided with Mithril to protect her left side. Since you’re here, perhaps you should choose the weapons,” Mike said, getting up.

  “No, you’ve got the idea. I’m going to check out if there is an escape clause in my marriage contract,” Ted said and went to the bathroom.

  “Murphy, damn it, let go of the axe!” Cid shouted at the screen.

  “Why is Mia mostly naked?” Audrey asked Burt.

  “Remember, sometimes these games are programed by nerds who are emotionally thirteen. The closest they are going to get to boobs like that, is by playing a female character and outfitting her like…”

  “A bimbo. But won’t this get her killed?”

  “Oh no, the smaller the clothing, the more powerful the protection. Mike may have overdone it, but I assure you, she will take less damage now.”

  Audrey watched as Cid worked around axe-holding Murphy. He too had on less clothing, but at least he was clothed.

  “Mike, make sure she has on comfortable footwear. She’s tired and in pain,” Burt said.

  Mike nodded and selected a pair of padded boots over the sandals that would have finished the look he was going for. Mia now held a sword similar to the one Sariel had made for her. She had a cape of invisibility and a tiny mace that swung from a belt. This, when held, would become a deadly, full-sized weapon.

  Mike and Cid moved Mia and Murphy out of the armory.

  “Cid, we need to feed Mia. Let’s get them to an inn,” Mike instructed.

  Murphy kept looking at Mia. “You’re in your underwear,” he said, trying not to leer.

  “I am aware. My real underwear covers more,” Mia said through clenched teeth.

  They entered an inn, and Mia watched as platter after platter of food was placed before her. “Maybe I’ll let my controller live.”

  Murphy, who hadn’t eaten in ages, indulged too, wary of leaving the lion’s share for Mia.

  Burt sat down to give Cid a chance to use the bathroom and rest.

  Afterwards, Cid walked around, shifting the muscles in his back. He walked into the barn, and that’s where he found Ted. Ted was staring at his still wife.

  “He looks like the prince standing over Snow White in her coffin,” Cid whispered to Audrey who had followed him into the barn.

  “How could he even think he could have let her go?” she asked. “It would eventually kill him.”

  “Ted’s head has never been in this world. He lived his formative years in the pages of comics and science fiction books. On those pages, there is a lot of sacrifice for the greater good. I balanced my reading with what you would classify as literature, but Ted’s only example of how to be a man of honor were the superheroes.”

  “But his father is an excellent example,” Audrey argued.

  “We males try to make our own way, Audrey. We only see our fathers as competition. Ted’s dad thought he was gay until Mia showed up on their doorstep.”

  “How wrong he was,” Audrey said, watching Ted tenderly stroke Mia’s face.

  Mia put her hand to her face.

  “What’s wrong?” Murphy asked, waving his half-eaten turkey leg.

  “I felt my cheek caressed,” Mia answered, bemused. “It was just for a second, but I’m sure I felt it.”

  Ted walked back in and studied the map of the game a moment. Cid joined him.

  “Jake isn’t going to be on the grid. We have to take Mia and Murphy here.” Ted pointed to the black gate to Ta Prohm.

  “As far as I know, no gamer has been that far,” Cid said.

  “Put yourself in Jake’s shoes. This game, although flawed, is hardly up to his experience level. He would make it with no problem. Perhaps he will have left a message on the wall near the gate.”

  “It would help if we could get inside the programmers’ heads,” Cid said.

  “That’s it!” Ted turned around and addressed Audrey, “I need you to research these two guys. They’re Japanese programmers. Find as much background as you can. Cid and I have to be them to understand their game.”

  Audrey looked at the names Junpei Sato and Botan Kurosawa and thought about the best way to proceed. She would start off with the traditional route, Google, and then take the breadcrumb-strewn paths of the internet until she had everything out there on these two game programming dynamos.

  Mike checked the game clock. There had been a programmed rest period built into the game. He knew this was for the well-being of the gamers. There had been a lot of public outcry after several gamers died of malnutrition and dehydration. Controlled rest periods were suggested by a panel of critics, and it seemed like Sato and Kurosawa had bowed to this pressure.

  Mia stood up and looked at the screen.

  Using the controls, Mike put her two hands together and brought them to her cheek. She understood and tapped Murphy on the shoulder, and they headed upstairs to find a place to rest. Mia took the bed, and Murphy rested across the doorway. Mike looked over at Burt and asked.

  “Was that your idea?”

  “Yes, Murphy was headed to the bed. I think you overdid it with the Mithril, Mike.”

  “Maybe. Remind me to make myself scarce for a few months after this is over.”

  “You can’t be worried,” Burt started and clarified, “Once Ted explains the superior armor to her, she will be grateful.”

  “I bet you, when Mia finds out I dressed her, she will make Ted’s attack look like a bitch-slap.” Mike pulled out his wallet and took out a ten dollar bill.

  “You’re on,” Burt said, putting a ten on the table.

  Audrey walked over and laid her ten down on Burt’s side. “Mia’s changed,” she said.

  Cid and Ted put their money on Mike getting beaten, which didn’t make Mike feel any better.

  “Well, if she breaks it,” he said, tenderly touching his healing nose, “she buys it.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mia moved around the dark room. She shook Murphy awake, putting her hand over his mouth. He grabbed her hand and flipped her on her back. He was on top of her, his axe close to her neck.

  “Murphy, it’s me,” she said. “I’m growing tired of this.”

  “Sorry,” he said, getting off of her and helping her to her feet.

  “No problem,” Mia said, shaking it off. “We need to leave here before this rest period is over. I think the inn is going to be full of gamer avatars and enemies. It will be a bloodbath down there soon. Let’s go out the window.”

  He nodded.

  “Mia and Murph are on the move,” Burt reported, sliding out of his chair so Cid could take over.

  Ted fanned his fingers a few times before he nodded to Mike that he would take over. He watched for a few minutes, giving Mia enough lead as Burt suggested. He saw her look over her shoulder a few times.

  “Cid, watch the roofline.”

  Mia couldn’t let go of the feeling that something was moving in the darkness, just out of sight. She heard what sounded like scratchy skin and scale against the stone of the temple walls. “Murph, do you hear a faint scratching sound?”

  “I thought there was no sound in these games but what the players could hear?”

  “That’s coming from a gamer’s point of view, and not an avatar,” she said. Mia stopped. “Why is it so dark?”

  Murphy moved to her and put his back to hers. They moved this way through the tight streets until they came to a courtyard.

  All hell broke loose. They were attacked by player-generated avatars.

  “These aren’t computer foes,” Mia yelled. “They won’t be predictable.”

  Murphy decapitated one. “But they are easy to kill,” he said.

  Mia stabbed one, and the avatar held on to her weapon. She put her foot against the avatar and pushed it off her sword. It stopped, drank something and came at her again. She let Ted take control of her, and after only taki
ng one hit to the thigh, she defeated him. Another bruiser picked her up from behind and mauled her breasts with one hand as he tried to carry her off. She twisted in rage, releasing her from his grasp. She sliced off his balls before slicing his legs off at the knees. She was mad. Fortunately, Ted was in control. She stabbed and sliced her way to Murphy who was pinned down by another behemoth. She tapped the bruiser on the shoulder and took up a defensive stance.

  “Effing gamers,” she said, drawing a knife out of her boot. “I bet they don’t feel up your crotch. I’m sick and tired of…”

  Mia was silenced by the large, snake-like dragon that moved out into the courtyard. It moved quickly and swallowed the big avatar whole.

  Murphy took advantage of the digesting dragon and cut it in two. A dozen avatars crawled out of the dead beast, including the behemoth. They looked at Mia and ran towards her.

  “Now look what you’ve done!” Mia yelled and started running.

  Murphy caught up to her, and the two worked their way towards the black gate.

  “Wow, did you see that?” Cid exclaimed. “That dragon was out of this world.”

  Ted shook his head. He hated what Mia had experienced. He rethought a lot of the actions of players, including himself. There was a male dominance to these games, although females did play them. Gamers tended to play as male. No one wanted to prance around half-naked while trying to beat the game. These avatars usually were secondary characters. He had played a female before. His reasoning was, if you were going to have to look at something for fifty-two hours, it may as well be a hot woman. Now that he was married to one and saw firsthand how her sex was used against her, he had changed his views.

  Cid had Murphy tapping the walls again. A chamber opened up, and he and Cid took Mia and Murphy into it.

  Mia ripped off a piece of Murphy’s shirt and tied it around the wound on her thigh. She leaned against the wall and slumped down, exhausted.

  “Mia, we have to keep moving,” Murphy said.

  “I’ve had it. You go on without me.”

  Murphy looked down at her. His violet avatar eyes glinted as he bent down and pulled Mia up over his shoulder.

  “Wait, give me some dignity,” Mia pleaded.

  He put her down, and she grabbed him from behind. She wrapped her legs around him, and he carried her piggyback.

  “Well, that’s a new move,” Mike commented.

  “Don’t look at us, dude,” Cid said. “That’s the two of them improvising.”

  “Mia’s tired and hurt. I want to bring them out,” Ted voiced.

  “What about Jake?” Audrey asked, looking up from her laptop.

  “Jake is dead. My wife is still alive, but I don’t know how much longer I can keep her that way,” Ted said.

  “I appreciate your concerns, but I think Mia will suck it up and continue,” Burt said.

  “Dude, get your head in the game. We have spiders…” Cid called out.

  Murphy dropped Mia, and she put her back to his as they were now surrounded by the largest CG spiders Mia had ever seen. Ted reminded her that she had an invisibility cloak. She turned around and wrapped it around both of them.

  “Where did they go?” Ted asked.

  “Must be a bug in the system. They are invisible to the player too.”

  Murphy moved into a corner and turned around and looked at Mia. “They aren’t moving us.”

  “Maybe they can’t see us,” Mia said.

  Murphy pulled her in for a kiss. He waited. “Nope, they can’t see us.”

  “Watch it, buster. I’m a married lady,” Mia said, pushing at him.

  Murphy looked at her. “You don’t look like a married lady, or feel like one,” he said, moving his hands where they shouldn’t be.

  Mia pulled a knife out of her boot. “Cut it out or I’m going to geld you.”

  “What’s the harm, Mia? It’s only a game,” he said.

  “It’s a very real game, and you’re not acting right,” Mia said, very worried. She decided it must be the cloak. She would have to take it off. It meant facing the spiders, but she didn’t want to lose her friendship, or husband, over what Murphy was intending to do.

  Mia took off the cloak and tossed it. She motioned, pointing to the doubled-over Murphy, that he was crazy. Mia sliced her way through the spiders, pulling a dazed Murphy behind her.

  “Murphy’s moving strangely,” Cid said. “He keeps… OMG, Mia kneed him.”

  Ted stood up.

  “Sit down, tiger. She needs you battling the spiders,” Burt said. “She took care of the problem. The cloak must have caused Murphy to become a standard, horny avatar.”

  “I’ll keep him at a distance until we’re sure he’s back to normal,” Cid said.

  Cid regained control, and soon the pair were free of the spiders. Murphy tapped on walls while Mia sliced open the barrels that lined the walls. She found gold and a bottle of elixir. She drank half and gave the other half to Murphy. The wound disappeared on her leg, and the ghost could now stand upright.

  Mia picked up a bag of coins and shook it, looking at the screen and all but mooned them.

  “Dude, she wants you to buy her some pants,” Cid said.

  “Coming right up,” Ted said. He moved her quickly to the armory and bought her camouflage skins, consisting of pants, shirt, jacket, and a quiver of arrows.

  Mia kept the boots with the concealed knives. That knife was all that had saved her from becoming compromised by the game-affected Murphy.

  Murphy looked over at her, ashamed. He ought to have been able to control himself. He would, however, remember what Mia had felt like for some time to come.

  Audrey handed her research to Burt to look over. He handed it to Mike and then approached Ted and Cid. He sat down between them and told them about Sato and Kurosawa. “These guys are old school programmers. They came up through Bandai Namco Games and branched out on their own. Audrey has found out that Sato’s marriage took a hit because his income took a nosedive when he lost his investors. As a result of this, beta testers of this game have found that no female avatar will make it to the end of the game.”

  “What about Kurosawa?” Ted asked. He had Mia disguising herself as a nun to get by a line of soldiers.

  “He is known for his adaptable software. What worked once will not work again,” Burt reported.

  “We need to rethink this,” Ted said as Mia and Murphy ran around the corner, and the black gate could be seen for the first time.

  Mia stopped and looked up at the spiked parapet surrounding the gate. On one of the spikes was Marvin the Martian’s helmet.

  “He went that away,” she said and walked through the gate and off the computer monitor.

  Before Cid could stop him, Murphy followed Mia into the void.

  Ted sat frozen. Mike put a calming hand on his shoulder.

  Mia walked back in from the gate with Murphy on her heels. She shook her head.

  “Thank God. Can you hear me, Mia?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “What’s on the other side of that gate?”

  Mia held up her hand, her fingers shaped like a zero. She tapped the gate and then stomped on the ground and smiled.

  “It’s a black emptiness, but the ground is solid,” Mike said.

  Mia angled her head.

  “That was Mike talking,” Ted said. “The programmers must have not finished the road to Ta Prohm. It appears on my map, but the road does not.”

  Mia nodded. She pulled her hands in and gradually moved them apart. Then, she held up her wrist and looked at a watch that wasn’t there. She stopped and made a church with her two hands.

  “She’s asking how far it is to Ta Prohm?” Mike interpreted.

  “At a steady pace, two hours. But, Mia, you would be moving in solid blackness the entire time. We will not be able to see you until you reach the temple,” Ted informed her.

  She held up her hand. She seemed to be consulting with Murphy. She nodded and confirm
ed the time by holding up two fingers.

  “Two hours. Mia, come on in. Let’s call this journey quits. I’m afraid for you and for Murphy. You said his personality changed under the cloak. What will happen in that darkness?”

  She waved her hand around in a circle.

  “She wants to know everyone’s feelings,” Mike said. “Mia, honey, I want you to come back in. Jake will find his way back. He’s industrious.”

  Mia nodded and waited. Burt leaned over to the Mic and said, “I have every confidence you’ll make it, but it’s not my life on the line.”

  Audrey leaned in and said, “One of the programmers has a vendetta against women. I would not put it past him to have something horrible waiting for you. Come in, Mia.”

  Cid patched himself in. “Mia, you and Murphy have come this far. Ted and I can’t help you out there. Personally, I would say for you to go for it. Murphy is your greatest asset. If we don’t see you move across that screen in two hours and five minutes, we will open the portal.”

  Mia nodded. She turned and discussed this with Murphy. He had climbed up and brought down Jake’s property and handed it to her. She looked at the helmet and out into the darkness. She turned to the screen once more. She lifted her fingers one at a time until she had eight fingers showing. She pushed them forward. She took one away and shook her head. She pushed eight once more towards the screen.

  “Mia says there are eight of us PEEPs, and she will return with the eighth,” Mike said.

  Mia touched her tattoo and looked at the screen. Ted knew she was promising to return to him. She turned and walked into the darkness with Murphy.

  “Set your clock, Cid. Mia appears in two hours or we pull her out,” Ted instructed. He got up and walked out into the barn to see his wife.

  “She’s doing fine, Ted,” Tauni said. “I’ve started an IV. Her muscle response is good.”

  “Thank you for caring for her. She’s my world, Tauni,” Ted said. “Right now, she’s wandering in empty black space, headed for the temple of Ta Prohm, searching for a ghost who used to reside in our computers. I can’t help her right now.”