Stan died next. Guard was alone. Again. He ran around the building with the fleshshredder in constant tow. The enormous monster pounded after the player, stomping on the dead bodies of the mutants, that didn’t disappear yet, mashing and grinding them into the pulpy gory mass, blood, flesh, bones, brains, and cranial fluid all blending together to form a revolting, nauseating mush covering the floor.
The player successfully avoided all the monster’s blows so far. Nevertheless, I was certain that it was just a matter of time before the boss got him. Just one precise hit could easily snuff Guard.
The player discharged his weapon from time to time, the shotgun booming, the buckshot blasting huge hunks out of the monster’s body, spraying the walls with blood-covered flesh and yellowish pus. Yet the boss seemed to take little damage. Its wounds healed over extremely fast as its HP regenerated constantly.
There had to be a vulnerable spot somewhere on its body. But where exactly? Where had Guard to fire to deal critical damage to the fleshshredder?
One blast from the Guard’s shotgun caught the monster in the face, blowing half of it apart, but it didn’t seem to bother the monster a bit. Its head got reconstructed in no time. So firing the fleshshredder in the face did little damage to the monster as well.
I remembered that boomers had blisters, their vulnerable spots, appearing on their bodies only once in a while. Perhaps the same held true for the fleshshredder. Maybe one just had to wait for a vulnerable spot to pop up?
Yet I didn’t notice its body undergo any changes thus far. The boss didn’t seem to have any vulnerable spots at all. However, there had to be a way to take that ugly brawny sonofabitch down, for sure.
As I watched Guard ducking the monster’s blows, I was racking my brains to puzzle out the solution to the riddle. I carefully observed Guard trying to gun the monster down as it was doing its best to smash the spry player with its drills.
Then it struck me. I finally had it figured out. I finally found a way to bring the fleshshredder down.
The problem was that I had no way of tipping off Guard about the solution. I had no means of communication with him. All I could do was watch him play and hope that he would ultimately figure out a way to kill the monster by himself.
That never happened. Guard just kept running away from the boss and occasionally glancing back to discharge his shotgun at the monster. It stood to reason. The player had no time for lingering around and carefully watching the boss to puzzle the problem out. If he’d stayed immobile for a mere second, the fleshshredder would’ve instantly taken advantage of it and crushed the player. Which was why Guard was constantly on the move. He just couldn’t pay attention to details, the way I had at the moment. So he failed to find out the fleshshredder’s vulnerability.
In the end, the boss got him. The monster swept one grinder, catching the player in the chest. The player was hurled across the room and smacked against the far wall. Before Guard recovered, the monster leaped up to him and swung another drill, smearing the player across the wall.
Before everything went dark before my eyes, I caught a glimpse of a message popping up in my HUD.
> All your group members were slain! You didn’t make it through the night!
THE END OF THE BOOK TWO
TO BE CONTINUED…
Glitch Book Three
Chapter One
It was quiet the following morning. As usual, most players perished during the night and they didn’t reconnect to the game yet. I took full advantage of the temporary calm to look for the loot.
I wandered around the city, entering dilapidated buildings. Soon I found a few pretty good uncommon, “green”, items, namely level 5 leather armor set and two level 7 pistols.
Sure enough, after I’d revived in a Resurrection Pod, the thought crossed my mind that I should find the house we’d held out in last night. It’d be great to retrieve my rare, “blue” biker armor set. More to the point, Stan and Guard might drop by the house to take back their stuff. I desired to meet them again.
My combing the city and constant consulting the map all morning long notwithstanding, I was disappointed to never find the building. In retrospect, I should’ve marked the building on the map to easily find it in the morning. I couldn’t tell for certain why I hadn’t done this last night. Perhaps I was up to my eyeballs in dealing with the mobs swarming the building, so I couldn’t think of anything else.
I kept on roaming the deserted streets. The sounds of muted gunshots reached my ears every now and then. Yet they were too far off to bother me.
After making a right turn, I reached a four-way intersection. What I saw up ahead caused me to come to an abrupt stop.
There was a car in the middle of the crossroads. A big fifty-caliber machine gun was mounted on its roof, the black gap of the gun’s muzzle pointed in my general direction.
I’d gotten so used to various predicaments and dangers lurking around every bend in this game that my reaction was instant. I activated Shield and leaped to the side, out of the line of fire, yanking my pistol from its holster.
Still, no gunshot sounded. The turret gun didn’t swivel to track me but was still pointing at where I’d been standing a moment earlier. The driver wasn’t in the car, for sure.
But where they had gone? I quickly looked this way, then that. Perhaps, he or she was in one of the nearby buildings. But why would they ditch their car in the middle of the intersection instead of pulling up to the curb near the building they’d gotten in?
Then another thought struck me. I hadn’t heard any sounds of an engine as I’d been walking over here. It meant that the car had been sitting here for a pretty long time.
I took another look at the vehicle. What a car it was! It wasn’t a decrepit buggy that a novice was given in the Training Location. No, it was a wonderful vehicle covered with thick armor. The car had tough-looking windows, which were probably bulletproof, thick bull bars protecting its front and rear from collisions, huge––oversized even––tires, and the dangerous turret gun.
Why would the driver ditch such a masterpiece? It didn’t look all that damaged. The car sported only a few small dents and scratches on its bodywork. At first, I guessed the driver might’ve run out of gas, but then I thought that it was hardly the case. It surely required a lot of effort and time, not to mention plenty of various resources, to craft such a vehicle. So the player wouldn’t have tooled around in it if they hadn’t had enough fuel, for sure.
My curiosity having gotten the better of me, I started for the car, vigilantly looking around, ready to jump into action if needed.
Through the windshield, I saw the empty cab. Nobody was inside the car. Figured. After I forged a tad closer to the vehicle, I noticed the driver’s-side door was open a crack.
A single muffled gunshot echoed through the street. Out of instinct, I ducked my head. I wasn’t being fired at though. After looking around to make sure nobody was nearby, I strode up to the car.
The open door kept bugging me. Why would the driver leave it open? It wasn’t all that sharp thinking on their part, what with carjacking and all.
What if it was some kind of trap after all?
After some hesitation, I reached out and slowly pulled the door completely open. Bending over, I peered into the interior of the car, hoping to figure this puzzle out. The car had its engine idling. I examined the dashboard but didn’t notice any warning lights. Moreover, the fuel tank was almost full.
So the car was filled up with gas and seemingly didn’t sustain severe damage. Nonetheless, the driver had decided to leave his or her car behind. They hadn’t even bothered to close and lock the driver’s-side door. How come?
I wasn’t sure what to do. On the one hand, I felt like jumping into the car behind the steering wheel and taking off. On the other hand, stealing was wrong, right? Sure, it was just a game, but I still didn’t feel up to jack someone’s car.
After giving the matter some thou
ght, I decided not to steal the vehicle but just to check it out. Sooner or later I’d get to create my own car, so I guessed it was a good idea to examine this awesome masterpiece to get some tips on crafting a vehicle.
After climbing in the car and settling in the driver seat, I laid my eyes on the dashboard. It had a lot of assorted gauges, instruments, and switches. The steering wheel had a row of buttons along it as well. There was also a computer built into the dashboard.
I checked the computer to see a rough sketch of a car. Just below it was a message saying, “The vehicle’s integrity is 97 percent.” There was a button “Show more” nearby. I tapped it to learn that it was the bodywork of the car that sustained 3 percent of damage. All the other parts of the vehicle––the engine, wheels, and the turret gun––were completely intact.
After playing with the computer for a spell, I learned that in addition to the turret gun, the vehicle had a few other useful hidden devices and weapons.
Then I noticed a key protruding from the ignition, which made me wonder if I could drive the car. I took hold of the steering wheel and pressed the gas pedal lightly. The engine hummed gently and the car slowly rolled forward. After making sure the car was fully functional, I applied the brakes, bringing the car to a halt.
One question was still preying on my mind. Why would the driver leave his or her fully operational car behind? Perhaps he or she might’ve gotten disconnected from the game for some software error. Or maybe the driver had climbed out of the car for some reason and gotten themselves killed during the night.
Either way, it was already morning in the game, so the driver would soon reconnect to the game to retrieve their car, no doubt about that. Which was why I had to decide whether I should jack the car or not ASAP.
As things turned out, the problem worked itself out.
Somebody yelled. I looked up to see a player emerge from an alleyway about a hundred yards in front of me and to my left. It was a girl wearing her raven hair long. She raced down the street, bearing down on the car, an angry look on her pretty face, her hair blowing in the wind.
When the girl saw me behind the wheel, she grimaced and shouted something at me. I couldn’t quite make out her words, yet I guessed she ordered me to get the heck out of her car. Four small but dangerous-looking flying drones materialized out of the air above the girl. She played as an Engineer.
When she got to within thirty or so yards of the vehicle, I saw the girl’s stats above her head.
> Name: Christine
> Level: 13
Her nickname was red-colored. The girl turned out to be a PK. And while she was a level 13 player, I’d had my level dropped down from 8 to 7 due to my having died last night.
I’d better not engage Christine. Given I had either no good armor or weapon, my chances of taking the girl down were slim. To surrender wasn’t a very bright idea either, considering the color of her nickname and an awfully enraged expression on her face. She might croak me even if I were to give the car up to her.
That settled it.
I slammed the door shut and jammed the accelerator all the way down, causing the car to lurch forward. The vehicle picked up speed surprisingly fast. Christine got out of the way.
As I passed the girl, I caught a glimpse of her pretty face contorted with pure rage. The car dashed up the street so fast Christine soon disappeared into the distance.
I marveled at the awesome vehicle as I drove on around the city, maintaining an average speed of sixty or so miles per hour.
Unlike the run-down, unreliable buggy from the Training Location, the girl’s car drove without any issues, easily picking up speed. The engine hummed softly as the tires rustled on the blacktop.
I went for a spin in that sick car, tooling around the city and enjoying the driving for a while.
I encountered mobs from time to time. Some of them leaped onto the road right in front of the car. I ran them down pulverizing them in a haze of crimson. I killed other mobs with the turret gun by pressing one button on the steering wheel. My experience bar was steadily filling as I received experience points.
After some time, there was a ringing sound inside the car and a message popped up on the screen of the computer that said, “A level 15 mantis is detected!” Before I had a chance to do anything, the display showed the live feed from one of the external surveillance cameras situated all over the vehicle. I looked at the display to see dilapidated buildings passing by and a huge winged creature dogging the car. The mob clearly stood out against the sky.
Another message appeared on the screen, “Do you want to activate the automatic firing? Yes/No” I pushed down the “Yes” button. The turret hummed as it swiveled around to zero in on the target. Then it roared to life, unleashing a devastating barrage into the critter.
The slugs ripped into the mantis, tearing big chunks of flesh out of it and spraying blood everywhere. The mob’s HP shrank extremely fast. The creature didn’t even get a chance of reaching within firing range before it was all over. I received around three hundred experience points.
The dead mantis tumbled to the ground. Something dropped from the mob. The thing was highlighted in blue. The items of rare, “blue”, rarity were scarce, so I pushed the brakes and spun the steering wheel, flinging the car around in a tight U-turn.
I gasped as the car rose to two wheels and wavered on them for one sickening moment, teetering on the brink of upending. But then the vehicle thudded back down on all four. I yanked the steering wheel again and once the vehicle was turned in the right direction, floored the gas pedal.
I came off the throttle and brought the car to a stop near the item. It turned out to be a pistol. There we go!
After opening the driver’s-side door a crack, I leaned out and picked the pistol up. Its stats appeared in my HUD.
> Name: Mantis slayer
> Weapon type: Pistol
> Rarity: Rare (blue)
> The player’s required level: 10
> Damage: 120
> Accuracy: 75
> Fire rate: 1000
> Magazine size: 20
> Elemental damage: None
> Special quality: Increases the critical damage by 50 percent.
I couldn’t handle the pistol just yet. But it wouldn’t take me long to level up to 10, all right.
I floored the acceleration, tearing off.
As I drove around the city, the turret gun dealt with the level 15 mantises––the strongest mutants in this location––without any trouble whatsoever. My experience bar filled rapidly.
When I reached an intersection, I caught a glimpse of a beat-up buggy coming from my right. The driver, a young guy, of the oncoming vehicle managed to reduce his speed and bring his buggy around my car, avoiding a collision.
He should’ve run away. Instead he did something altogether different. In the rear-view mirror, I saw him turn around and give chase to me, opening up with a machine gun mounted on the hood. The player seemed to be a novice, what with his having confidence in his ability to deal with me. But in reality, his crappy vehicle couldn’t keep pace with me and his machine gun having an extremely low Accuracy attribute failed to hit my car.
I could’ve easily given him the slip, but I didn’t. Instead I slowed down so the player could catch up. I looked at the display, which showed the feed from the rearview camera. The rusty baggy was gaining.
Once it was within firing range of my turret gun, it swiveled around sighting and let loose with a long burst. The slugs punched holes in the bodywork of the buggy, ripping fragile armor to shreds.
The player finally realized that he picked a fight with a wrong guy. He hastily turned his rusty heap, its armor quite ragged now, and drove off. I watched him disappear in the distance.
I could’ve easily caught up to the player to finish him off if I wanted to. But I didn’t. Never saw the point in mindless whacking newbies.
Christine’s car was awesome, a
ll right. While driving in her vehicle, I could fend off not only level 15 mantises but also other players.
Yet something was eating away at me. I felt bad about stealing the car. I remembered having my own buggy stolen. Sure, it’d been such a worthless vehicle, but I’d nevertheless been very sorry about the loss.
All the vehicle’s qualities notwithstanding, I didn’t feel all that comfortable. The driver’s seat was pulled too close to the steering wheel and I couldn’t seem to adjust it. Moreover, the computer was placed almost up to the driver’s seat.
It was obvious that when crafting the car, the girl had adjusted the interior for her own benefit. Since I was bigger than the girl was, I couldn’t make myself comfortable in the cab.
The girl must have spent a lot of resources––not to mention time and effort––to craft such an outstanding vehicle. If I was upset for having my buggy jacked, then Christine must have been crushed by the loss of her car.
Which was why I decided to return the car to the girl. She was a PK and she’d been beside herself with anger the last time I’d seen her, so I would surely run a risk of being killed on sight. So be it. At least I would have a clean conscious.
The snag was that I totally forgot where the intersection was. I was driving around the city, trying to get my bearings.
I came across another player once. He had wheels as well. The vehicle was pretty big, covered with thick armor, and armed with nasty turret guns. The car looked familiar to me. It wasn’t long before I realized that I’d already met this player the other day. It was the guy who had slain mantises and then would surely whack me had I not managed to give him the slip in a subway.
Glitch Boxset Page 23
