Chapter 11

He blinked the blackness from his eyes and saw large buildings surrounding him. Players were spawning all around him. They were all getting used to their new bodies and flexing their hands and legs. Everyone had different colored clothes on and he made a mental note of the closest blue players. Looking at the surrounding players he saw there were no red players and assumed they spawned in another city. When he looked to the sky he could see a timer.

Non-combat timer: 00:00:10

It was stuck on 10 seconds, he assumed it would be that way until everyone had spawned in. He tried to move forward but some invisible force was keeping him in place. He could turn on the spot but as soon he tried to move away from his current location the force blocked him. Scanning the crowd for any of his team he couldn’t find any of them. And with horror he realized they were not in Breau. He thought back to the Dean and Isabel rushing into the warehouse. Suddenly, the reality of it all hit him. He wanted to cry, but no tears would come.

A voice spoke out of the sky.

There has been a minor change to gameplay. All deaths will now be permanent. In here and in the real world.

Cries of shock and horror rippled through the crowd around him. Everyone looked at each. Luca tried to speak, to shout, to beg the closest not to come to him and give him a chance. But no words came out of his mouth.

A siren echoed through the sky, and time started ticking down.

Luca could feel the adrenaline starting to pump through his veins. Feeling around on his body, he found his knife and unsheathed it. It was a large bowie knife and he grasped it tightly. He opened his map and saw they were in a city named Jerla. Up north there was only ocean, but on the eastern, western and southern ends there were exits. Not too far from the Southern exit there was a forest and he made a mental note of it.

With no sure way to find his teammates now, he looked at the surrounding buildings and searched for a vantage point from where he could possibly see his friends.

Another siren sounded through the air.

00:00:03… 00:00:02… 00:00:01…

The timer flashed red for a few seconds and Luca could feel the force around him releasing him.

The square erupted into a giant brawl, Luca kept his eyes on the nearest building and charged straight through the door. He frantically searched for something to lock it with. An old wooden chair was behind a desk and he took it and propped it up against the door handle.

A loud bang sounded against the door as someone tried to bash through it as well. Seeing the stairwell behind him, he quickly started running up them. Counting the floors as he went. When he reached the fourth one he ran into the nearest room and looked at the window.

Carnage. People were stabbing each other, some already had firearms and were taking shots at everyone. Even some teammates have turned on each other in the frenzy. The thirst for blood and panic had taken control of the crowd and there was no way of stopping it.

Then, he saw a streak of blonde hair in a blue uniform. Ana. Scanning the area around her, he quickly spotted Carlos with her and Turner. They were heading toward a single story building with a flat roof and entered it. Good they haven’t turned on each other yet.

Slowly backing away from the window, he quickly made his way down the stairwell, just pausing at the final corner to make sure no one got through his temporary door lock. He was safe. He opened the door back into the bloodbath that was going on in front of him. He quickly spotted The flat topped building and started running. Shots were being fired and people were screaming in agony.

As he entered the building he saw it was a store. He yelled out their names, desperately to find their location.

“Over here!”

He saw Ana’s head pop out the backroom.

“Thank goodness you guys are still fine.”

They allowed him to enter and quickly closed the door behind him. They found themselves inside a storeroom. On the shelves were plenty of food and water.

“Quick look for something to carry all of this in.”

Emile picked up something from the ground and said, “Something like this?” In his hands were three backpacks.

Lucas eyes lit up, this is a great start. “Perfect!”

They loaded as much water and food into the backpacks until an error popped on screen.

Your inventory is full.

As they explored the storage room, Carlos found a back door but when he tried it, it was locked.

“Look for something thing, maybe we can get the hinges out,” Turner suggested. The party scavenged around the room and Emile found a large fire extinguisher.

“Will this work?”

“Perfect,” Turner replied. He took the extinguisher from Emile and started bang the hinges, slowly loosening them until he could peel them off. The door swung inwards and fell on the ground with a bang. Luca stiffened, and waited for someone to come charging in, knife at the ready.

Gunshots were still being fired into all directions and people continued to run, looking for safety.

“We need to get out of the city.” Luca announced. The party nodded their agreement.

They rushed out as a unit, Luca in front as he looked for the southern end of the city. He spotted two tall towers.

“There! That must be the city gate.” He leaped forward into a sprint, and the others followed. It was a cobblestone floor and he could feel gravel crushing underneath his sneakers. For the first time he took inventory of his clothing. He wore a plain blue hoodie with jeans and sneakers. So much for protection.

A man with blood running from his head jumped out in front of Luca, without a pause he leapt at the man taking them both to the floor. He drove his knife into the side of him and stabbed him repeatedly. After the man had died, his side in a fleshy mush, Turner pulled him off.

“He’s dead Luca! We have to move! He’s dead!”

Congratulations you have killed 1 player and assisted in another. You gained 600 exp.

Total spendable experience: 600 exp

Luca allowed himself to be dragged off and took the lead again. Ahead the towers came into full view and he saw the open gates. A large group of viridian green players were busy pushing them closed. Luca urged himself to dig deep and he could see his stamina bar depleting.

“Come on stupid legs!” He yelled at himself. The gates were closing but not quick enough and the party slipped through as they locked behind them.

They heard shouts behind them and gunshots firing into their direction.

“To the forest!” Turner yelled. “They won’t chase us too long.”

Luca could see other parties around them also running towards the forest. They approached the forest line quickly and burst in between the trees. Footsteps could be heard all around them as people were running deeper and searching for a hiding place.

Luca saw a few trees bunched up together ahead of them, “In there, that will provide enough cover to regather our senses!”

The group followed and they crashed through the bushes into a small clearing. Another party crashed through on the other side. They wore white colored clothing. Everyone drew their knives at the same time. The man in front of the group yelled something threatening in another language.

Luca held his arms up and resheathed his knife. “No fighting right? We leave you and you leave us. Just give us a minute to catch our breath.” They were only three and two frightened women peered out on either side of him. The man seemed to understand and he slowly put his knife away. They wore golden yellow shirts with a small Japanese flag on their sleeves.

“Luca what are you doing?” Emile whispered under his breath. “We can take them!”

“Oh shut up Emile,” Ana said and pushed past them, she took off her back and took out three water bottles and three food parcels. “Here, take these. Stay on that side of the clearing and we’ll stay on this side, okay?” She motioned to the side of the clearing. The three frightened players slowly picked up the food and drink and walked over to the side of the clearing where they indulged on the parcels and whispered in hushed voices.

There was shouting going on in the forest and shots being fired every now and then but overall it seemed to quiet down compared to the city.

“What’s the next move cap?” Turner asked.

“Who voted me the leader?” Luca laughed.

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. “We’re all fine with it,” Ana said.

Luca sighed. “Alright then. I was thinking we could start looking for dungeons and try to gain some exp to upgrade our gear while finding a proper place to set up camp. But we need to move further away from the city.”

They got up and started moving. Ana brushed against his arm, “See, always a man with a plan.” She gave him a sly wink.

“Watashitachi o hanarenaide kudasai.” the man said behind them. Luca looked over his shoulder and saw him standing up and walking towards him. In broken english he said. “Please, no leave.”

Emile looked at Luca, “No, we are not doing this.” He turned to the Japanese man, “No, sorry, you need to find your own team.”

“Wait Emile, what have they done to threaten us, we could use more people.”

“We don’t know them Luca, they will kill us in our sleep!”

“Then we keep watch until we trust them, and if they turn on us, then we kill them.”

Emile sighed, “Fine, but if something happens, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Ana walked up to the trio and embraced the two girls. Luca shook the man's hand and they understood they were accepted. Emile threw his arms up in the air and stormed off.

They followed and made their way south through the forest, much more slowly now, listening for the faintest signs of life. There were crunching leaves everywhere but no one crossed their paths.

Luca opened his map and saw there is a village directly south of them but assumed everyone would be going there so they took a route around the west of it. They walked for a few hours until they saw a mountain reaching over the tops of the forest trees and took another break.

“There should be river to the east of here. The players must have all gone to the village.

Sitting down, Luca could hear rustles in the leaves and chirping in the treetops as the forest started to come to life again. Luca spotted a small white creature hopping from treetop to treetop. It was completely white with long hare-like back legs. The creature had long ears and wings on its back, and two monkey-like front paws with opposable thumbs.

“What is that?” Luca asked.

“It’s a Flauvil,” Ana said, “Very common in the forests. But usually they travel in packs and they have a nasty set of teeth. So I wouldn’t suggest messing with it. It might have its pack nearby.”

Luca heeded the warning and continued to be awestruck by the fascinating creature.

“Come on, we need to find a place before it gets dark. I can assure you, it will start getting bloody again when the sun goes down.” Luca said grimly. Luca and his party gathered their belongings and moved back into the forest. He plotted a pathway straight south to the river and followed it. They only came across the odd creature and where a party has previously walked through but made no contact.

When they reached the river, they followed it back west away from the village and found a secluded spot where they could setup a defense and wait out the night. We are not getting any sleep tonight. Luca thought.

He cut through the brush and they found a covered spot between two large trees.

“What about there?” Turner asked, “We will be protect from 3 sides and they only have one entrance.”

“Sure, we’ll camp here for tonight.” He gestured to the Japanese team what they have discussed and motion to the area they were standing in.

“Well, let’s hope for a peaceful night.” Ana said and dropped her bag. “Peaceful. Hah.” She laughed to herself.