by Arthur Stone
The grenades had exploded into a shock wave of shrapnel. This would have ruptured the bag in multiple places. Some of the loot would have been destroyed, but some would have been scattered about: in the bushes, in the grass, under fallen leaves and branches.
Cheater had never actually measured a spore, but they were under two centimeters in diameter, easily. And most of the other kinds of loot, the good kinds, were even smaller.
He could imagine the scene. In the bushes, sifting through dirt and debris for the seventh day straight, seeking the greatest treasure the Continent has to offer, all the while an elite is sneaking up to devour him now that his smell has had a week to self-propagate throughout the whole neighborhood. Or Executive is taking aim from one of the many hiding places around, having returned from respawn.
Not only did he have to get to the location quickly, he also had to recover the loot quickly. Being no mathematician, he had no concrete idea of how large the dispersion area could be, but it might be massive. As long as he could recover ten percent or so of the loot within a reasonably short time, he’d count himself lucky.
But then Titty Tat had shown up. Tat had a chance at helping him greatly. She was a sensor, after a fashion. But she had not pumped her ability enough to see very far yet. She had to tune in to certain objects, like keys or spores or humans, and she was not able to switch to new objects quickly.
But even with these restrictions, she was the answer to Cheater’s lost loot problem.
Of course, new problems had now arisen. But they were little in comparison.
* * *
They had to abandon the car nine miles out from the city limit. It was a reasonable enough vehicle for travel despite its total lack of adaptation to the realities of the Continent.
But they had to leave it before they even reached the road, never mind the intersection.
It was a stroke of bad luck.
With a string of the worst curses, Titty Tat slammed on the brakes. The car skidded to a stop, accompanied by the pop of punctured tires.
Tat got out without a word and looked around, then addressed Cheater.
“What are the chances the police keep two spare tires in the trunk?”
“Not sure. Probably just one.”
“Hmm. Somebody spiked the road. Now, we have no front tires.”
Cheater was out now, looking for himself. Indeed, both front tires were punctured. They had been compromised as soon as they hit the booby-trapped area, too. Bad luck. Their quick demise was not due to the seriousness of the punctures but by their number.
So Cheater joined Titty Tat to take a look around. Sunflowers on the right, corn on the left. Both waved in the wind, but the only thing visible beyond was the tops of trees where the fields receded into forest. The road took a sharp turn up ahead of them, and that had prevented Tat from noticing the dirty trick until it had been too late. He could see pretty far back down the road, where a couple of young runners were coming at them. They’d arrive in a minute or two.
“Are we close yet?” Titty Tat asked.
Cheater shrugged.
“Like I said, I don’t know for sure. Only a few miles left till we reach the road. Once we do, we have to travel along it until we find what we’re looking for.”
“Going on foot is a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“You see all these runners? We keep, er, running into them. That means they like this road, which means the stronger beasts like it, too. And our weapons suck. Moreover, it’s getting dark soon, and when you have to sleep, it’s a good idea to be far from where the big ones roam.”
“We can cut diagonally through the field. I think that even when we hit the main road we’ll still have to keep trekking that way. So it’ll be a shortcut.”
“Have you ever walked through a sunflower field? I have. I hate it.”
“Then we’ll go straight through it, between the rows of flowers, until we hit the forest. There’s usually a path between fields and forests, right?”
“There we go. Alright.”
“Wait a second.” Cheater pointed at the approaching runners. “We should take them out first.”
“And leave them wallowing in blood on the road? Some powerful ghoul will stumble on their corpses and, as he munches away, deduce the cause of their deaths and start looking for us. Is that what you want? Let just runners keep pursuing us. Their smell will cover our tracks, and that might even trick the stronger ghouls, since they’re used to ignoring the smell of their weaker brothers.”
More cunning advice from the survivors of this world. “Cunning” was too generous—it was simple advice. How had he not thought it up himself?
* * *
They spent the night in a huge bus, which was a first for Cheater. The bus was empty of belongings and remains. Just a shell. It was parked so perfectly in the space that it was difficult to believe it was positioned there by chance. Only the tracks that had scraped along the edge kept Cheater from assuming a helicopter had gently lowered it into place. When the driver vanished, he had left the door open.
The first thing Titty Tat did was close the door.
“Otherwise the mosquitoes will come in. This should help keep our scent contained, too. Help me close the windows.”
“Got it.”
“And get some of that canned food open. I’m dying of hunger here.”
“Why don’t you? I haven’t had decent cooking in a long time...”
“Look, I’m a diehard feminist. So cut the stereotypes.”
“Diehard?”
“Worse.”
They barely had cans of food at all. Up until the very edge of the city, neither of them had thought about food. Thankfully the last-resort gas station was selling canned food even though the power was out. The clerk had been at the mental breaking point, but they didn’t care, as long as the goods were available and unspoiled.
Titty Tat skillfully twirled some cold stew onto a small, sad knife and started chewing.
“So, start talking.”
“Huh?”
“Come on, Cheater, you can drop the act. What do you need me for? What is this interesting site we are heading towards, and what are you paying me a thousand spores for?”
“A thousand’s not really that much.”
“Not much? Are you playing around? I could work the corner all night and not even get five percent of that. Not that I’m some great beauty, but still, that’s insulting. What sort of fetish do you have that you’re willing to pay a whole grand?”
“I had a bow in my last life that cost several thousand.”
“Quit gloating.”
“That wasn’t even the most expensive bow.”
“I know how much that kind of weapon can go for. And I also know that novices never have that kind of grape. Plus, you’re male. It’s not as easy for you to earn it on the streets here. Hey, quit looking at me like that!”
“I’m not even looking at you.”
“No, no, I understand that look. Don’t like what you’re hearing, do you? Well, what else is a newbie girl supposed to do? You guys have it tough, but we girls have it tougher. Biology is against us, Cheater. The System gives us weaker stats than men, and it’s hard for the weak to survive here.”
“It’s hard everywhere.”
“Especially here. So come on, start talking.”
“You’ll see for yourself as soon as we arrive.”
“Stop dodging the question.”
“OK, OK. We’re going to a place in a thicket, with thick grass, foliage, and bushes. Spores are scattered all over, peas too, and even better things. And we’re going to collect it. You said finding things was easy for you.”
“How’d it get there?”
“There was a cache there. Mine. I hid a bunch of things there and set up a mine underneath them. A certain evil player killed me and tried to loot my cache, but the explosion took him out. Meaning the loot went everything.”
“Of course. But you’re sti
ll not telling me.”
“What? I just did!”
“You’re paying a thousand, eh? Then how much is there, in total? Can’t possibly be a thousand. You’re level eleven. You’re hiding something.”
“And you’re not? We’re not married, you know. We don’t have to share all our secrets.”
“Don’t mention marriage again.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t. I don’t need romance. Plus, you’ve been walking all day in ninety-degree-heat. Your scent is, well, not exactly a turn-on.”
“Look who’s talking. You can relax. I don’t want to pursue romance with you. I have a girlfriend. A woman I love. And I’m not about to abandon her. So keep your precious chastity.”
“Chastity? Why the hell should I keep that? You’re still bluffing. Newcomers don’t have girlfriends, and especially not ones they’re unwilling to trade out. They get the cheapest whores, and that only once a month. Also, why won’t you join my party?”
“Look, like I said, I’m in a party right now and unable to leave it.”
“Always hiding things. What’s the catch here, Cheater?”
“No catch.”
“You’re still hiding something. But you still have my interest. So why should I go with you?”
“You’re interested in that thousand spores.”
“No. I mean, yes, that’s interesting, but you’re more interesting. You have Heroic Humanity at level eleven. How’d you pull that off? Where’d it all come from? Since you’re such a hero, you probably aren’t trying to harm me, right? Not that you really could do anything. Besides maybe giving me to the moles so they could farm me. But I only have two kidneys, and I’m just level 17. Want some vodka?”
“No.”
“I do.”
“We have to get up early.”
“I could drink a liter of this stuff and still get up, but I just want a couple of sips. Are you sure you don’t want any?”
“I said no.”
“Alright. So how’d you get your Humanity so high?”
“Same place I got the thousand spores from.”
“This is one huge bush you’re beating around.”
“How are we going to sleep? What I mean is, do we take turns on watch?”
“What do you think?”
“I think we can do without a watch. If younger ghouls find us, it’ll take them so long to get in here that we’ll have plenty of time to wake up to the noise. If it’s a bigger ghoul, well, having a sentry won’t even help, with the weapons we’ve got.”
“You’re pretty smart for a level 11. But what if humans show up?”
“If they’re bad, their levels will be higher than ours.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve heard there’s no real point in turning evil until level 13 or so. Otherwise your evil gets you killed too often. And you and I won’t be able to take a pack of thirties down.”
“You don’t sound so sure of that.”
“What about you? Are you sure of that?”
“Me against a level 30 is like a kitten versing a bulldog. I doubt your chances are better.”
“Even a level 100 can be taken down with a bullet to the head,” Cheater replied, wishing to dodge any inquiries into his history of killing high-level players.
“One hundred? And, so that’s how you pumped your Humanity to heroic levels.”
“What do you mean? I was just saying. Nobody’s even close to level 100, come on.”
“You may equivocate when you talk, Cheater, but you talk a lot. And women are very good at reading between the lines.”
* * *
The sound of shattering glass sliced Cheater out of sleep. It was so close, it sounded as though his very eardrums were shattering. Something huge, angular, agile, and heart-stopping stood in front of him, gurgling triumphantly. Without a moment’s hesitation, he snatched a short sharpened piece of metal he had made before going to sleep from his sleeve and activated Smile of Fortune.
When you wake up with a ghoul drooling over you, you use every option available to you.
He jerked into the aisle as he blindly shot out the hand gripping the blade. There was no time to think, to observe, to evaluate, to weigh. Only time to do, or die.
Cheater landed in the aisle, grabbed his pistol, and whirled. He was prepared to be face-to-face with the monster, even nose-to-nose.
But the beast had fallen face-forward onto the seat the man had only just escaped. The grumbling had stopped, replaced by loud convulsions. It was dark, but not dark enough. By the rhythm of the beast’s movements, Cheater knew it was dead.
A beam of light blinded him, accompanied by a terrified shout.
“Get down! You’re in the way!”
“Calm down! And put the gun down before I end up shot!”
She was confused. “Cheater! Do what I...”
“Don’t worry, I already took it out.”
“Took out what?”
“I don’t know. That! We only have one flashlight: The one you’re holding.”
Tat finally stopped shining the torturous beam in his eyes. She approached the monster, whose convulsions were quickly dying down.
“Holy hell. Look at those heels. This one’s a trampler, Cheater. And a big one at that. Near the thirties. Holy hell!”
Alert: Personal victory: dangerous infected destroyed. Level 33. Chance of valuable loot: 100%. Congratulations on a perfect, clean kill with a single blow. You have received 5 distributable base stat progress points. +39 progress points to Speed. +7 progress points to Agility. +148 progress points to Willpower. +48 progress points to Reaction. +21 progress points to Stealth. +79 progress points to Luck. +36 Humanity points.
Cheater shook his head.
“Level 33.”
“How do you know? Oh wait, I see it too. I can only imagine how big your message was.”
Titty Tat bent down over the beast and gasped again.
“No way. You hit it in the sporesac. Straight in the middle. Right between the lobes. How are you still alive? The seat’s and the headrests are torn to pieces, and you haven’t even suffered a scratch.”
“My sleeve is torn, and my forearm hurts a bit,” Cheater noticed.
The girl looked up from the carcass and at his arm.
“That’s just a scratch. How did you do that? He should have destroyed us both. Our guns wouldn’t have even bothered him.”
“Not quite. As long as you hit the vulnerable points, even a rifle like ours can take down a trampler. As long as the bullets are full metal jacket. Otherwise the trampler’s skin is too strong.”
“Stop it, you hear me? Tell me what happened!”
“What do you mean?”
“You have zero chances of killing a beast like that. But you killed it, less than a second after it woke you up. How?”
“I just got lucky.”
“Really? That’s a hard pill to swallow.”
“What else do you want me to say? It broke through the window, I jumped away and threw my blade at it, and I happened to hit its sporesac. Sometimes, you just get lucky.”
“Something smells fishy.”
“That stew wasn’t the greatest, but it was beef, not fish.”
“No, people don’t get that lucky.”
“Bush-beaters like me get that lucky and more. Come on, it’s time to go. I’ll gut our new friend here. We’ll eat later. One ghoul found us, so there might be more on the way.”
Chapter 13
Life Seven: Haystack Needle Magnet
Cheater lay by a bush at the highest point of the hill and watched the road running at the lowest point. He remained still for a whole minute, hardly breathing.
Titty Tat was soon fed up with the lack of excitement.
“Hey, you asleep?”
“No.”
“How long are we going to lie here like this?”
“What’s wrong with it? Haven’t walked enough today?”
“Fair point.
It’s hot out, and we’ve gone at least ten miles. But how much longer are we going to lie here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does, then?”
“I drove through at night. And in very poor health. Oh, and there was a fricking downpour. Cats and dogs. I couldn’t see a thing, and what I could see was on a night vision screen, which makes things look quite different. So I’m trying to orient myself. See that truck over there?”
“Well?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think that’s the one.”
“That’s where your spores are? Bad spot, right on the highway like that. Visible from all sides, and the monsters love roads.”
“No, that’s not the place. Just a landmark.”
“So is it far?”
“Like I said, I’m not sure it’s the same truck. Can your sense abilities reach beyond that forest over there?”
“What for?”
“If you can see another road back there, it means we’re close to the scene.”
“Hmm, how can I explain this... I’m not a sensor, really. My ability isn’t as helpful. We have a second sight, yes, but only within a small area. More for looking for items, not like a full sensor. I can’t even reach those bushes over there, never mind the forest.”
“No problem. We’ll check the old-fashioned way. First, let’s head back to the dump.”
“Why?”
“You want to charge ahead? This area is too exposed, like you said. But if we circle around the dump, the sunflowers start back up. See the corner of the field over there? We can get all the way to the forest that way. I know you don’t like sunflowers, but it won’t be for long.”
“Pretty smart for a level 11, like I said.”
“You get your brains back at level 10.”
“Nope.”
“Uh, yeah. Everybody says that, and I’ve experienced it myself.”
“Then why are there so many idiots with higher levels? Some people get their smarts back, maybe, but most don’t.”