I feel a pit growing in my stomach as I wait for the archived feed to buffer. You would think it being almost 2050, this wouldn’t be a problem. Well, I guess streaming video in 32k resolution is pretty data intensive. It would probably help if I would upgrade from my basic 1.5 terabyte/s internet package, but if the Department of Cyber Security didn’t download info packets from everyone’s devices every millisecond, 1.5 terabytes would be plenty. Oh there it goes. Now let’s fast forward to where I was counting the bottles.

I watch Zijde get to his feet, and stumble over to me, “What is it your doing over here?” He's slurring so bad I can barely understand him.

“I’m just counting the bottles Cap’n. What are you doing?”

“How many our we at huh?”

“F-Five and a half… *burp*... bottles.”

This seems to shake Bheki out of his drunken stupor, “HAH, is that all. I could drink at least one more myself.”

He picks ups the partially drained bottle, and puts it to his lips. As he drains the rest of the bottle Zijde puts a hand on my shoulder to get my attention… and for balance. “Utah, I don’t feel so great…”

“Hell, I bet not Cap’n.’

“No, I feel like I’m not very attractive. I haven't had any luck romantically here lately. Am I really that bad looking?”

“Hell Cap’n! You’re a great looking guy, you don’t have anything to worry about.”

“It’s just the last couple times I’ve undressed they don’t seem interested. Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t know, I ain’t seen you naked.”

Without missing a beat, Zijde starts stripping. I start to panic as he gets to his pants. There's no telling who is watching! I turn my feed off as quick as I possibly can.

‘Player has hidden feed. Press play to skip feed downtime’

Ah fuck… I know I have to continue… but what happened while the feed was out? My cursor was hovering over the play button as I steal my self to see what happens next. I really hope I didn't lose it. it takes me a few moments to figure out what I'm looking at, but once I figure it out I can’t help but burst out laughing at what I see.

I decide that the world has to see what I’m seeing. After I resume the feed, I look back over to Zijde and Bheki. Bheki is sitting down playing the drums in the corner. He is amazing at it to. Which is incredible since he has never played any drums before. Zijde is standing on the table with both his pistols in hand. He’s fist pumping to the beat of the drums and doing some kind of drunken jig on the table. All he has on is his hat, so he’s just dancing around in all his natural glory, and let me tell you, that glory is swinging all over the place. I just can’t believe that he hasn’t fallen of the table. I look around to try and count the bottles, but I just give up. I am way too drunk, and there are far too many bottles. I look at the one in my hand, it looks like a 12oz beer bottle filled with tequila. I shrug my shoulders and throw it back, finishing the bottle. At this point I barely feel the burn as that golden nectar goes down my throat. I jump up on the table and start to dance to the beat.

I couldn’t stand it any longer. Oh my god… this is beyond embarrassing. We both are barely staying on the table, and Bheki is horrible at the drums. The whole situation is a drunken mess. Why didn’t I just leave the feed off… I guess that’s why I was so unfortunately popular last night. I start thiking about what this means long term... no publicity is bad publicity my ass…

Bheki keeps drumming faster and faster, and Zijde and I are dancing harder and harder. This keeps up for a few minutes, and just before the situations culminates into a mess, we hear a bottle getting knocked over outside.

It’s almost eerie how fast the all three of us stop to look at the door. The mood was shattered in just a moment, and we were ready to fight anyone that came through that door. Well, attempt to fight them I guess. I see Zijde swaying horribly as his hands tighten around his pistols. Bheki is even worse off. He’s been trying to stand up for about since he heard the sound. Is he still wearing his pistols? I realize at that point none of us ever disarmed ourselves. I mean Bheki took out the pistols on his back so he could sit, and Zijde is well… naked, but each one of us still have weapons on us. Hell, I notice that I didn’t take anything off. Now that I think about it, why do I feel so on edge? I still have on both khukris, four pistols, and the blunderbuss… did I ever reload that?

*Crash*

The door was kicked in and five men pilled in through the door. Each one was wearing tight fitting black outfit and carrying a musket. Behind them, a familiar face struts through the door. The grin she’s sporting is enough to make my blood boil. The cocky grin on her face tells me I'm either dealing with someone overconfident or dangerous.

I see she’s average height, 5’ 8” or so, and she is very fit and appealing to the eye. Her brown hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she obviously takes care of herself by how clear her skin is. The thing that catches my eye the most though… her tight fitting, bright purple tank top.

She puts a hand on her hip as she scans the room. Her eyes settle on our chest full of silver, “Ah, just what we were looking for. So, I was slightly worried about trying to take it from you, but it looks like you all can barely stand. I assure you, this isn’t personal. We’re just broke, and I see an easy way to remedy it. So, are you gonna let us have it? Or…”

I see her eyes settle on my shoulders. I guess she sees my blades and pistols. She quickly looks at Bheki and Zijde, and laughs, “Well, besides for your… well-endowed captain, you both are armed to the teeth. Well, I guess saying the captain is unarmed isn’t quite true.” She gives the captain a seductive smile, “If there are no hard feelings after tonight, I would love to sample an NPC.”

I feel a moment of panic as she says NPC. That was one of the three things that could get you perma-banned from the game. Making NPC’s aware is the number one rule Rio Grande imposed on players. Although, the acrynym doesn’t break that rule. It could technically mean anything. I look at Zijde and he is hiding his pistols behind his back like a little kid in trouble.

Zijde’s face is twisted into a grimace of disgust, “Why don’t you go choke on a big fat cock.” He turns to me and gives me a shit eating grin. I realize he’s looking at me for affirmation.

Bheki finally gets to feet and holds up a finger to us, “Hey, that’s what Utah said to me…”

The girl seems to be utterly confused, “Yea, that’s more or less what I was offering, but I’ll be taking your chest first though. You'll have to wait at least a night honey.”

She motions to the two closest men to go grab the chest. None of the guards are actually pointing their muskets yet, and they all look kinda bored. I guess robbing three dangerously inebriated people would seem pretty easy. As they pick up the chest I start to panic. What is the best way to stop all this? Shit, it feels like my thoughts are trudging through mud… why, why tequila? I love you so much, but this is how you’re gonna do me---”

Zijde raises both pistols while laughing maniacally, “How about you all choke on a cock?”

He glances at me with a crazy looking smile, and all I have time to do is raise my eyebrows. Just before he pulls both triggers, I worry if there is any way he could hit them. It's hard to even think about how drunk we are. My anxiety is abrubtly replaced with amazement as both lead balls slam into the skulls of both men.

The guards aim their muskets at Zijde as the chest falls to the ground. As the silver spills out, it distracts them just long enough for me to start reacting to this mess.

I jump up and kick Zijde with both legs just as they fire, trying to push him out of the way. Somehow all three shots miss, and I roll over, pullng out my blunderbuss. They all freeze for a second as I cock the hammer.

*Click*

Notification

Well, I guess I didn’t reload it. It takes me longer than I'd like to admit to I look up to all of them staring at me, with a predatory gleam in their eyes. It’s reminiscent of wolves encircling a small animal, but these wolves have made a slight miscalculation. The small animal they’re encircling is a honey badger, and you know what they say about a honey badger, honey badger don’t give a fuck.

They all bring start bringing out knives as they close in on me. I feel a rush of adrenaline as I go to grab my blades. I feel my hands wrap around the checkered handles, and I hear the satisfying scraping of metal against leather as I pull them free. I hold both knives to my sides as I wait for first person to make a move.

As the first person lunges at me with a knife, I try to cripple his hand... by cutting it off. But I am way too slow, and I hit his bicep as his knife slices down my other forearm. The sudden pain radiating from my gash almost causes me to drop my right blade, but I'm just drunk enough to power through it. Although, his knife hitting the floor an the pitch of his scream tell me he is quite sober. My blade chopped completely through his bicep and almost severed his humerus.

Notification

His arm is clearly useless by the way it’s dangling at his side. As I see the blood, I start to feel it. I feel the blood high enhancing my drunken bliss.

*Slash*

I jump back, clutching my stomach. I’m so drunk that I let myself become engrossed with the blood from his arm. As I look down, I see a long gash running across my stomach just above my navel. It take a second, but the blood pours from the wound. This sends the rush to a whole new level. The high is so violently euphoric it almost brings me to my knees, but then I acclimate to the it. I don’t feel the effects of the tequila in the slightest. I don't feel pain. All that's left is an extreme clarity and euphoria that leaves time moving slower. It's slow enough I notice how the throbbing veins in the closest man's neck make an X on his throat. Which is immensely satisfying to cut through with my khukri. The spray from the blood enhances the euphoria just a bit more.

Notification Notification

I feel the sensation of a blade slicing down my back, but the lack of pain allows me to spin around with all of my strength to hit the next man in the chest. I barely feel any resistance as the blade passes through his ribs at least six inches. As I jerk the free I see the copious amounts of blood you’d expect from cutting into the left side of a man's chest. I don’t know if it’s partly because of the alcohol or if the threat on my life is just more than usual, but I have never fallen this deep into the rush.

Notification

Ok fuck these notifications. It’s taking away from the experience, from my pleasure. After I turn them off, I take a moment to center myself. Next thing I know, I see a flash of purple just before my thigh is slashed wide open. Again, no pain, but I can tell she almost hit my hamstring. She almost crippled me.

The other guard rushes passed us to keep Bheki busy as he fumbles with a pistol. She thinks she sees an opening, so she tries for my achilles tendon, but I come down with my blade. Just before I can cut her arm off, she spins around dodging my blade completely. Before I can attack again, I see another knife come out from her sleeve. She stabs at my left pectoral and all the arteries underneath, but I raise my arm, catching the blade in my forearm. I actually feel a pretty significant burning as the knife scrapes against my bone, but all I can really focus on is hurting this woman in front of me.

Since the knife is in my arm I jerk my arm back, causing her to stumble. This leaves her chest wide open, and I kick her hard enough to snap ribs and send her flying. I hear more bones snap as she collides with the wall. I look back just in time to see Bheki finish beating a man's face in with a broken chair leg.

After the man was for sure dead, he looks up to see how we were doing. Zijde is looting a pistol from one of the corpses, and I’m just trying to catch my breath. Bheki points past me with a frantic look, “Utah, pistol!”

I turn around to see the determined bitch propped up on one arm, pointing a pistol at me, “How the fuck are you fighting like that? How can you stand? You don’t even seem drunk anymore.” She spits out a glob of frothy blood onto the ground, punctured lung... “You fucker, you killed me. You made me waste my first death.” She screams in frustration, “Well if I lose mine, then you’re sure as hell going to lose yours.”

As she pulls the hammer back, I lunge at her with every bit of speed and power I could muster. I surprise myself with how fast I close the distance, but I can see I’ll never make it.

*Gunshot*

I’m not sure... but I could almost swear I could see a metal ball fly through the air towards her head. Well, I know I can see the blood splatter as the bullet rips through her skull. The arm holding the pistol goes limp just before she pulls the trigger. Seeing how I'm not about to get shot, I try to stop myself but it's impossible. I am moving entirely too fast to do anything but crash with some semblance of grace. I land just past her body and start rolling until the wall stops me. I feel the wood splinter as it struggles to stop my momentum. It takes me a few moments to orient myself, but once I do, I see Zijde smiling at me with a smoking gun.

Before either of us can say anything I hear two more men burst through the door. They both open fire on Zijde, but the shots somehow just graze him, leaving long gashes. i'm pretty sure I just saw those bullets to.

As I'm getting to my feet I see one man go for Zijde and the other straight for Bheki. I grab my khukris to go help them, but I hear even more pattering of bare feet on the deck. That's at least two more. I decide Bheki and Zijde are big boys, and go to take care of whoever is on the deck. As I turn towards the door, I see the carnage that we caused. I see the silver, the gun smoke, and the corpses… but what catches my attention more than anything is the blood. I feel a new, more intense wave of euphoria, but for some reason, it seems to be stunted. Like I'm holding it back. Without another thought, I let go...

Before I really know what’s happening I start to see a red haze. Then I start to lose control, which scares me at first, but the more I lose control, the better I feel. Then I give in, losing myself and all control.