by Tom Harem
Chapter XIV
Her avatar disappeared. I was alone again on that arid desert plain where I couldn't see a soul. I even stirred my dick to make sure that all the drops fell to the ground and pushed up my boxers and pants again. Kendra came back soon after, with her body already clothed, and a smile in the corner of her mouth that was unusual.
"Well, let's do this. Give me a few seconds to get ready. I'm not used to talking about myself, not at all. I can start by saying that I'm 22 years old and I'm studying to become a physical education teacher," she said.
"I wish I'd had a teacher so... skilled," I said, smirking.
"Funny, but, anyway, before I regret this... My parents split up when I was five, and I've been living with my dad ever since. My mom... she had serious problems. I haven't spoken to her in years. But, okay, now you," she said, fast, like she was ripping a Band-Aid off her skin.
"That sucks. Would you like to talk with her? To know how she is?" I asked her, "Well, about me? There's not much to say, to be honest. I always lived with my parents until they kicked me out of the house at 19, after I told them I wanted to get out of college. Fortunately, I had a savings account that I received at 18 and managed to stay afloat while looking for a job. Now, years later, I feel like my life hasn't moved on. I live alone in a small house. I got fired just under a week ago. I haven't told anyone about this yet,"
"I thought you were on a vacation," she told me, ignoring what I'd asked her.
"I lied. I didn't want you to think I was useless, you know? I don't know, sometimes I think I wish everything had been different,"
"Come on, James, life doesn't always go the way you want it to, does it? It doesn't mean we can't fight until we reach our goal. I hope you know you're not alone now."
I kissed her before thanking her. Telling her about it relieved me a whole lot more than I thought it would. It was something I needed to release and now I could finally take a deep breath.
Everything was fine until a mind-blowing pain climbed up my leg and spread to the rest of my body. It didn't take me long to feel dizzy, cold and sick.
"Shit," Kendra screamed before kicking a scorpion whose sharp tail was pierced into my left leg, "The poison must be spreading,"
"And....now?" I asked her, losing my breath and sitting on the floor.
"We have to get out of here. I don't have any anti-virus potions. I think only Mimi has one of those. I'll text her in the game. Most likely she'll get the notification."
"What if she doesn't see it?" I asked her, as she was carrying me across the open field underneath the stars that lit the path like torches.
"We better not think about it now," Kendra answered me. For the first time since I'd met her, I sensed a certain fear in her voice. She was worried, and that couldn't be a good thing.
As soon as we got to where we were supposed to be, she laid me on the floor and placed her hand over my forehead. She told me I was burning up and that I should close my eyes. Damn this game' realism. I really felt my body decaying, my limbs losing their strength. I couldn't even close my hand. Even my chest hurt when I breathed. And then the HP dropped. Every minute that passed without being helped; I would lose 10HP. I couldn't believe it. After having fled the city and conquered our first castle, I was going to die there, in the middle of nowhere, only with Kendra by my side and all because I wanted to level up alone to help them? How ironic. She told me that she'd already sent several messages to Mimi and that she was waiting for an answer. I had no more than 10 to 15 minutes available before my HP reached zero. My heart was beating too fast for my breath to keep up. I could barely keep my eyes open. The only good thing about all that was that at least we were in a place where we didn't need to worry about other players or monsters. After all, not even levelling up was a good thing if I ended up dying, wasting the time I had spent doing it.
"She answered! She said two minutes and she will be here. It's going to be okay," Kendra said, smiling at me. She leaned over and kissed my lips, "For good luck,"
Her moist lips wet mine and the fresh breath woke me up a little. I probably still looked like a zombie in her eyes but at least my eyes were now wide-open. I wasn't aware of the time and Mimi seemed to be taking longer than she was supposed to. My HP was already at 40. Damn it. I said status and the table slowly appeared but this time with static lines crossing it and preventing me from seeing the attack and defense power. The poison had already spread to the controls embedded in the game itself. I left the menu without even using my extra points. If I ended up dying there, they wouldn't be of any use, so it seemed a little useless to me.
"She should be here any minute. Hang in there." Kendra told me.
"It's not like I can do anything to last longer..." I told her, and as soon as I finished, I spit blood on the cloak that was warming me up.
"You can use one of the HP bottles. You will get two extra minutes,"
"No, I can't. Take this," I said, and I handed her the potion, "You're going to need this more than I do,"
"Shut the fuck up. You're not going to die here. You've only been in our group one day, but you've helped us a lot. You may not understand, but your presence gives all of us strength. Especially Emma, or do you think she'd have the courage to leave town if it wasn't for you? She's putting her hopes in you. Don't think you'll let her down," Kendra told me and punched the ground.
"I... Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know I was that valuable," I answered her and tried to wink but I'm pretty sure I just looked like a troglodyte when I did.
"You're an idiot. Don't talk. Mimi's coming and you'll be fine in no time," she said and laughed. In doing so, a dimple arose on her right cheek.
I wanted her to kiss me again, but she didn't. Mimi showed up a minute later. I already had my life at the dark orange bar, and she hurriedly put a brown bottle in my mouth. The bitter liquid descended my throat and in a few seconds my strength was restored. It was as if nothing had happened. I was as good as new. I even got up and pretended to run in the same place just to show them I was okay.
"How the hell did you get stung by a scorpion, may I ask?" Mimi asked me, looking serious, her eyes half closed and the lines separating her cheeks from her nose accentuated.
"I was trying to level up by myself..." I was answering her, but I couldn't even finish before she interrupted me.
"What if you died? What would you do? What would we do? We're a team. And you, Kendra, didn't you stop him?"
"I wasn't even here. When I arrived and heard him battling, I ran over and helped as much as I could. Mimi, he just wanted to level up to help us."
"We can't afford to take a chance like that. These aren't the other games where you can save and if you die, you'll go back to the same place," she said, squeezing her fist, "I just...We've already lost several colleagues. I don't want to lose another one,"
"Do you think if I go back to level one, I'm just going to quit?" I asked her, as I got up, "No way. I promised I'd help you, and I plan to. Whether at level 4 or level 1."
"You're not the first one to tell us that, you know? Most don't play anymore, and the others have moved on."
"I don't like to be compared to others. Either you believe me, or you don't," I told her, grabbing my sword from the ground, "The other girls should be here any minute now, right?"
"Yes, a few more minutes and they should arrive," Kendra replied, "Isn't it better to find a city where you can rest and get your HP back? At least before we face another castle,"
"No. I can handle it. Besides, I trust you," I told her, "I will just drink a 20hp potion and it is like I'm as good as new," I added.
I drank the last potion I had. My HP went up to 40 and stayed there. I had to handle whatever was coming at us with only 40 life.
Chapter XV
The rest of the girls showed up around the agreed time. Only Emma arrived ten minutes later, saying that she had forgotten to wash her clothes and had to run to the laundry downstairs. From what I could tell, she lived in one of th
ose student-only buildings. Everyone asked me if I was okay and what had happened. I ended up having to explain and emphasize that there was no problem and that we would be able to knock down one more castle before needing to heal.
"Are you sure?" Jany asked me.
"Yes, of course. We just have to work as a team," I told them and smiled, "Come on, don't make those faces. Just a few hours ago you were talking about how easy it had been,"
"It was, but what if we're unlucky?" Emma asked me, "I... I don't want you to go back to level one, you know?"
"I know and I'm not going, okay?" I answered her and pulled her into it. Her hip touched mine and she snuggled up against my chest.
"Well, everyone has at least two bottles of 20HP, right? Except for him who's already used both of them. Save them because it might come in handy," Jany said, "Let's get going. If I remember correctly, there's a small town raised by players around here," she said.
"Can players create cities too?" I asked her.
"Yes, if they're level 8 or above. All they need is enough money to construct buildings. The more the city grows, the more appealing it becomes and the more players it attracts. Especially if it has a market and a rest home,"
"I see. Haven't you ever thought about creating yours? One day?"
"Yes... It's my dream. A peaceful city, without fighting, where everyone is welcome," Emma replied.
"Predictable," Jany replied, "Owning a town takes work. It's not something that catches my eye,"
"I'd love to! I love the strategy part behind it. I'd make sure everything was in the right place," Mimi replied, rubbing her hands and smiling, "But I still have 5 levels ahead of me. Let's hurry up. Now I'm excited,"
"You shouldn't put those ideas in their heads, you know?" Carly pointed out to me, when the rest of them had moved away, "It's not that we can't get there, but, you know, we can also may not get out of this cesspool,"
"They deserve something they can believe in; don't you think?" I asked her.
She didn't answer me.
Chapter XVI
We kept walking across the arid desert. It was pitch-black. I couldn't even see their legs. Minutes went by and nothing happened until minor buzzing arose, rising up until they resembled steps, each time closer to us.
"You're listening to this, right?" I asked them.
"Yeah, get ready." Jany said and grasped her ax firmly, "Well, it would be nice to have a fire wizard on our team. Then we could see what we were dealing with."
"Let's go over there. A high spot will give us an advantage." Mimi said and pointed to a slope, a few meters from us, three times the size of Jany.
"She's right. We have to run for it," Carly said, also with the spear next to her body, such as a barrier between her and whatever was coming.
We rushed to the slope. There was almost no room for everyone on it and we were forced to lean on each other.
"At least it's not sunny," Kendra said.
"That's nice..." Jany said sarcastically, "Can you see anything?"
"No..." Emma answered, clinging to my arm even tighter. I could feel her fingernails poking into my skin.
"They're close. Be silent." Mimi ordered.
We all shut up. Booted men, a few yards from us, walking in circles, searching for us. One of them kicked a stone and, in the silence of the night, we only heard it bounce off along with the gnashing of their teeth. Even far away their bar floor smell at the end of a night reached us. The smell of vomit, piss, dirt, all mixed up. They didn't seem to care about their own smell, but for us it was agonizing. I had to cover Emma's mouth before she threw up and handed over our position.
"Where the hell are they?" One of the men asked, "I'm sure I heard some kids talking."
He had a hoarse voice, like he'd spent a lifetime between alcohol and cigarettes. It was strong enough for Emma to cling even tighter to me. Her breasts flattened against my chest and her hot breath warmed my neck.
"I don't know, I don't know. Did they get out of the game?" A younger boy asked. I couldn't see him, but I could hear the sword he dragged across the floor.
"We would have heard or noticed something; I think. Why the hell did the boss tell us to play this game?" The older man asked the other, "This is a young man's thing. I don't understand any of this,"
"The boss heard that it's possible to make good money from this," the younger boy replied, "I'll tell you how to play and then you kill the players. It's easy. You'll get used to it," he added.
Unlike the other man, he had a soft, even eloquent voice. The kind of voice that can persuade someone to do things they had never thought they'd do before.
"At least I can't be arrested here, can I? These new inventions have their advantages," the man said, "why do we do this at night instead of during the day? I don't see anything ahead of me. Fuck."
"It's too risky in the morning. There are more groups. If we get caught, we have to start all over again,” the young man said, "do you think the boss would like that?"
"No. I don't want to lose another finger. Somebody must be around here. We can't come back empty-handed," he said.
It was getting harder and tougher to keep quiet. The temperature was dropping; our knees were shaking, and we were clenching our fists to withstand the temptation to grit our teeth. We could've just left the game, but not only did we want to know who they were, but we were also afraid of leaving someone behind. Jany had told me it was impossible to leave the game in the middle of a battle. We stayed unscathed, hoping they'd give up after all. But that didn't happen. They kept looking for us. We waited for minutes that felt like hours, on that hill, hoping they'd leave. Most likely we could even defeat them, but we couldn't afford to risk it. We didn't know their level and, above all, wanted to avoid losing HP in unnecessary battles. And battles with other players didn't even give XP.
Emma couldn't hold it together and coughed. They were already going back, but they still heard it. They came back quickly.
"We know you're there," the older one said, "I'll get you, here I come,"
"Have no mercy. They may have decent items," the youngest said.
We couldn't even see their faces. The night covered everything. We were out of options. They already knew where we were, and they were moving closer.
"We must fight," Jany whispered.
"How do we do that if we can't even see them?" I asked.
"I always forget that there are rules of the game that you don't know yet. If we decide to fight, this terrain turns into an arena and lights come up to enlighten the whole place. It'll be like daylight. Now we just have to hope they're weak."
"I doubt that. They're too confident," Mimi replied.
"We better get down the slope and get ready," Carly said, "We haven't had a fight against other players in a while. Be careful,"
"Wait, hold on. Emma and I better stay here. By the time they see the arrows it'll be too late," Mimi said, "All you have to do is distract them."
All it took was us to go down the slope and take about five steps to the right for the place around us to be illuminated. The men's shadows faded, and we finally got to see what they looked like. Not too different from the idea I'd formulated of them. A level 5 young man, with glasses, scrawny, with a black robe and a steel sword and an older man, already bald, with tattoos on his muscular arms and a hammer in his hand. Unlike the boy, he was only level 4.
"He must already have magic. We better keep some distance from him," Jany said.
"We attack the other first, is that it?" Carly asked, with the spear already horizontally.
"It's the best. We don't need to attack him straight ahead. Just distract them enough for the girls to shoot them. He should be able to maneuver that hammer with ease. We can't afford to be hit," she added.
"James, you better stay behind on this one," Kendra told me, "Better safe than sorry,"
"No way. I can handle it, don't worry. Now let's go,"
Chapter XVII
A light circle surrounded
us, almost shoving us into each other. The men were less than 20 meters away from us. The boy with glasses remained serene while the older one laughed, saliva dripping through the holes he had between his yellow teeth. Despite the cold, he didn't even have a sweater. He had a hairy chest and a scar from the nipple to the navel. Who the hell would include a scar on their avatar? Either he had one in real life and wanted to stick to it, or it was his way of showing that he wasn't there for fun.
"Let's do this. I want all your items and maybe I'll let you survive," he said. The level five boy tweaked his glasses.
"We're not giving you anything!" Carly screamed.
"What did you say, you little brat?" The man shouted, lifting the hammer above his head and dropping it. As soon as it hit the ground, all the soil around us trembled as if an earthquake had raced through the place, "you'll be the first to be eliminated," he added.
I stood in front of her. I wasn't going to let anyone touch her. Not her or any of the girls. The youngest boy continued without smiling or even moving.
"Let's go," Jany said and we started running towards the man.
He looked surprised; he closed his mouth and lifted the hammer once more. We didn't stop. He wavered his hand and tried to hit Kendra, who was the first person to reach him. She used the spear as a shield, but the man was too strong. She was tossed to the ground and dropped the spear mid-air. She lost 20HP.
"Damn it. Will you girls help or not?" Jany yelled at Emma and Mimi. They had their arches ready but hadn't fired yet.
"Do you think some arrows will stop me?" The man said and laughed, attempting to hit someone else with the hammer.
It was impossible for us to get close to him like that. Kendra stood up with a sore hand and holding the spear with her left hand. His laughter lingered in our heads and replayed like an endless echo. Jany made her move single-handedly. The man swung the hammer straight to her face, but she strayed at the last second and slammed him with her shoulder. And even though she did, the man merely took a step back. He spat on the floor and laughed in her face. He punched her in the face and when he was about to hit her with the hammer, I blocked him. Although I used my sword to stop the hammer, I was aware that I was not going to last long in that position. Not only was he stronger than me, but the sword was about to break. As soon as Carly dragged Jany out of there, I backed off and the hammer hit the ground where my feet once stood and opened a crater. I took a breath of relief before bending my legs and getting ready for another one of his raids. He had not yet moved when two arrows broke through the gray sky free-falling toward him. He looked them in the eye, with no fear, not even trying to sway.
