Forced Login

by R K Billiau

  You have gained a point in Illugraphy!

  I messed with it more to see if I could get a good lay of the land, but it appeared to only show areas I had been before with the rest covered by a black fog. Seeing the expansive blackness instantly made me want to go exploring. “This is great and all,” Cora interrupted, “but could we please get back to, you know, saving people’s lives? This is the kind of stuff I’m talking about; you’re so damn obsessed with all this video game stuff. Tim was the same way. Ugh. Would you kindly pay attention?” She shook her head in disgust and continued walking.

  I didn’t get it, I mean sure her existence here had been pretty miserable, and she had a lame class, and no food, and poor sleep, but couldn’t she find any of this at least slightly interesting? I closed my map with a frown though and gave her my focus. “Yes, sorry. Let’s get this done.”

  I couldn’t read her well. She seemed to swing back and forth between kinda nice, and super bitchy, and was a real handful most of the time. She probably was going through some depression and the trauma from all these experiences, and this whole place might be a little much for her. But still. Being so wretched wasn’t making the experience any better. For any of us.

  We continued our walk in silence. At one point I opened my map up again, watching as we cut a path through the black fog, revealing sections of green land. It was fun to zig-zag a bit and watch the trail on the map follow. “That’s cool,” Madison said as she caught a glimpse. “Hey, what’s your class anyway?”

  “I got an Advanced class from the way I completed the tutorial zone, I’m a Treasure Hunter. I get better loot drops and stuff from things that have loot, and I have a couple other skills I haven’t figured out how to work yet. Did you play a lot of games back on Earth? You seem pretty at ease with this world.”

  Madison nodded. “Well I taught in a virtual classroom, and you know kids, they are all into gaming, most of them anyway, so I played a bunch of games to stay in the know. It was a good way to relate to the kids, and well, I learned I really enjoyed it. That’s one reason I was so excited to enter this game world.”

  “Didn’t you have any family on Earth? You didn’t resent being forced here?”

  Madison got quiet for the first time since I had met her, the smile on her face slipping. “Well, I had a husband, but he was drafted into one of the corporate armies and sent to the front in Hong Kong. When he came back, he just wasn’t the same. He ended up killing himself and I didn’t have any other family. We were only married a couple years.”

  “Wow, that sucks,” I said tactfully. “I mean, I’m really sorry. I don’t... I don’t know what to say, that is horrible, my uh, condolences?”

  Madison’s smile came back if smaller. “It’s okay, it is what it is. Getting to come here is my chance at a new life. I was really looking forward to a fresh start and putting all that behind me. When I was told I could have the normal beginning everyone had, or could be a System Cleric, I was excited that I could help people in a more meaningful way than being just another cog in the corporate education machine.”

  “What did they tell you about this world?”

  “Oh, not a lot. They asked me about my gaming history, told me about my class and then sent me to the tutorial zone. I might have made it sound like more than it was. They told me not to lose sight that this is a game world and designed for the well-being of everyone playing. They did say one thing I found kind of strange and didn’t really get what it meant. They said I need to remember ‘Intention is everything’.”

  “That’s it? I guess my earlier assumption was right that they wanted people to figure stuff out on their own. Although, having a ‘System Cleric’ at all kind of flies in the face of that.”

  “Not really! I mean other than my skills, I don’t know more than anyone else about this world.” She bounced along on the balls of her feet as she walked.

  “What did you teach, anyway? Not trying to be rude but you don’t seem like any teacher I ever had.” Yeah. Smooth. I would have shaken my head in disgust at myself if she wasn’t watching.

  She barked out a laugh causing Cora and Kai to turn around and look. Madison covered her mouth with her hand. “Yeah, that’s what my husband used to say. I had a degree in early childhood education, and I guess maybe saying I was an actual teacher was a fib. I was a substitute; I hadn’t made it high enough up in the union to get a full teacher-hood. If I could have picked, I would have taught kindergarten, working with those young kids was always my passion.”

  “We’re getting close,” Kai barked from ahead. “Be on your guard.”

  I zoomed out my mini-map to max and kept a close eye on it. “Got it, I’ll let you know if I see anything pop up.” Paying better attention to my surroundings, I saw that the forest we had been in had thinned out. There was a glade up ahead and realized then my mini-map showed a large group of something that was moving. “Heads up, looks like we’ve got a lot of mobs nearby, can’t tell what though until we get closer.”

  “There’s that word again,” Cora said. I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed or disgusted. “What the hell is a mob?”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but Madison beat me to it. “It’s old school gamer talk for ‘mobile’. It means an NPC of some sort.”

  “That term is horribly offensive!” Cora said. “Calling people NPCs is hate speech!”

  Kai screwed up his face in exasperation. “No, she means the actual term NPC not the slang term. Non-Player Character, a creature or being controlled by the game.”

  Cora huffed. “Well, whatever, just don’t use that term around me. It’s still offensive.”

  “Can we focus please? Hudson just means that there are possible enemies nearby. That’s what you need to be concerned about,” Kai said. “We should Stealth in and check it out. You two stay here okay?”

  “Fine,” Cora said. “I hope it’s not more zombies.”

  It was more zombies. A lot more. “It looks like 12 of them down there,” Kai said, coming out of his Stealth crouch. “But we know Madison died a bunch of times, and Austin is probably in this trap too, so where are all the rest?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe there is a limit to how many times the System can turn someone into a zombie?”

  “Maybe. Or maybe something worse is going on.” Just then I noticed a bright light coming from the center of the glade.

  “What’s going on now?” I asked as I ran through the trees to get closer. The rest of the group followed me and as we got to the edge of the tree line, we had a perfect view of the center of the glade where the zombies were milling about. A loosely bipedal form appeared and slowly came together, pixels swirled around to find their places and soon formed a man in Hunters Garb... was that? It was! Jake stood there, a bewildered look on his face that turned to one of horror as the zombies honed in on him, biting and tearing.

  We watched as they ripped him to shreds and feasted. He had no time to scream before the end, it was so quick. “That... was not nice to watch,” Madison said somberly. “I had that happen, and it was terrible to go through, but the brutality of seeing that...” her words failed her.

  Kai and Cora watched in sullen silence. “Tim,” Cora said. I hadn’t put two and two together until she said his name. “If Jake’s spawning... Tim must be at the cave.”

  Kai punch his fist into the dirt. “I knew we should have gone back! I should never have let you talk me into coming here!” he yell-whispered at Cora.

  “How is this my fault!? You thought it was a good idea to come and look for Austin too!”

  I felt like I needed to get a better look at the area where the respawn point was and moved away from the tree line taking a few steps to the side, when a System message popped up.

  Congratulations! You have increased your Subconscious attribute!

  Congratulations! You have increased your Hunch skill!

  Well that was new. Besides the Death Tunnel, my Hunch skill had never gone off. “Guys! There’s something h
ere!” The two arguing paused long enough to look at me.

  “What do you mean there’s something here?” Cora asked.

  “I have a skill-”

  “Not this again! We aren’t playing with your dumb map or whatever this time, whatever it is can wait,” Cora spat. The look of disgust on her face could melt steel better than jet fuel.

  “No, it’s nothing like that, it’s a skill that tells me when there is treasure nearby.”

  Cora rolled her eyes. “Treasure? Everyone could be dying and you want to go treasure hunting?!”

  Madison stepped up to Cora and raised her hands in a gesture of peace. “Cora just let him talk, maybe this is something useful to us or the tribe.”

  “NO! This is a stupid game thing and I...” her words trailed off as Kai put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Cora be quiet,” he said. She opened her mouth to say more, but the look on Kai’s face made her shut it. Kai gestured for me to continue.

  “Okay first off, I have a skill called Hunch that tells me when something, a treasure I would guess, is nearby. I find it odd treasure would be in the same place as Tim and his merry band of walking dead, so what I’m thinking is, maybe it’s his treasure. Maybe he has something hidden around here that helps him with the undead or whatever.”

  “Maybe he does,” Madison said, “but I haven’t seen anyone else come through the spawn point, wouldn’t there be more than just your one friend spawning here if Tim was attacking the tribe?”

  This gave all of us pause. “I suppose so,” Cora said. “Maybe it was just a hunting accident or something...”

  “If Tim has a treasure here, we should try to find it and take it from him,” Kai said. “Whatever it is.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” I agreed.

  “Great, but how do we find it?” Madison asked.

  I thought back to my time in the Death Tunnel, how my Hunch skill had gone off but had also given me a sense of direction to follow. Then Madison’s words came back. ‘Intention is everything’. I thought about how I manipulated my mini-map, and my larger map, then intentionally thought about my Hunch skill, and imagined it giving me that same feeling. After a moment of concentration, I could feel the pull.

  Congratulations! You have increased your Conscious attribute!

  Congratulations! You have increased your Hunch skill!

  “I’ve got it, I can feel where it’s at.” I lifted my finger and pointed right into the heart of the glade, right in the center of the horde of zombies.

  Chapter 16

  “Don’t tell me you’re going to go in there,” Cora said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you only think something is there right? You didn’t have some sign flash in front of you that said ‘ticket out of this hellhole over here’?!” She stood with her hands on her hips as if daring me to counter her.

  “Well, my skill is telling me something is there. I don’t know what it is, but the descrip-”

  “Screw your stupid skill!” Cora raged at me. “You keep treating this like it’s a joke, some game, how many times do I have to tell you? This. Is. Life. Now. I will not risk hurting myself over some imaginary thing that may or may not be there.”

  “But Cora,” Madison said “this is a game world. Yes, it’s our life now, but it’s a world created by people and AI, managed by AIs and designed to be engaging and fun.” Her smile was charming, but it was like waves crashing against a rock for all the effect it had on Cora.

  “Whatever. You people act like you know what you’re doing, but I know you’re just faking it. I say we go back to the cave; we’ve seen enough.”

  I held my ground. “You can go but I’m going to figure out a way to get this treasure.”

  “Who do you think you are? Some hero? The chosen one?” she demanded. “You’re just an idiot. Tim could attack everyone there. Everyone could be suffering right now and it would be your fault. We need to go help them!”

  “Then go, you’ve already said my skills aren’t helpful. I am done talking with you about it. I don’t know what your deal is, but your attitude is terrible and I am ready to be free of it. You don’t know any more than anyone else and you’re not even willing to try to figure it all out. Just go.”

  Congratulations! You have increased your Emotion attribute!

  Cora gasped as if I had slapped her. “Kai, you can’t let him talk to me like that! Tell him to get back in line!”

  Kai googled at her like she had snakes coming out of her nose. “What are you asking me for? I don’t tell Hudson what to do.”

  “Fine then, let’s go, he can stay here and play his little game. Madison, would you kindly come with us? I’m sure our Chief will be interested in meeting you.” Her tone offered no room for debate.

  “Sorry,” Madison said, an exaggerated smile on a cocked head, “but, I don’t like you all that much, and I would rather stay and help Hudson. I want to see what his skill discovered.”

  Kai nodded. “I’m staying too.”

  Congratulations! You have increased your Connection attribute!

  “You people are insane. I can’t believe how selfish you all are being!” Cora shouted again.

  “You are free to go Cora, encouraged even. But if you’re not going to, either help or shut up,” I snapped. “The last thing I want is your shrieking to bring the whole horde down on us.”

  “Shrieking!?” she shrieked. “You arrogant son of a-”

  “Damnit Cora!” Kai’s temper exploded. I was a little nervous. “Just be quiet and let us think. This whole time you’ve been intolerable. If you don’t want to get sent for spawn, then just shut the hell up!”

  Cora’s mouth snapped shut. Finally. Then, like the sound of death’s scythe reaping a harvest she whispered. “You wouldn’t dare. You threaten me, psychopath?” The look on her face could wilt plants. It was like nothing I had ever seen. Vitriol distilled to its purest form. She looked at each of us, then seemed to collect herself, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. “Fine, forget it. I’ll do what you want.”

  I hesitated before speaking again, taken aback by the change in her demeanor, it’s like she could flip a switch. “Ooookaaaay..... I think what we need to do is lure them out somehow, we could try it a couple ways. One, we try to lure them out one by one and destroy them, that would get us some nice XP but it would take a while. Two, we create a big distraction for them to follow as a group. Either way, it’s one more spawn point removed from the death trap.”

  “Do we get a say or are you thinking out loud?” Cora spat.

  “You get a say. I don’t want anyone hurt or sent to spawn, and we need to factor speed in somewhat, so I want to hear anyone’s thoughts who has some.”

  “Then I say we create a big distraction,” Cora said. “The faster we can get done the better.”

  Kai nodded in agreement. “Any other time I would be all in for taking them out and having time to level up my skills, but I agree that we should try to be quick.”

  “I have little preference, but I’ll help in whatever way you need,” Madison chimed in.

  “Okay, that settles it,” I said. “As much as I would love to get skillups and XP, I agree the quicker will be better. My thought was to have one of us go grab their attention, and when they have it, run off, pulling the huge zombie train.”

  “Well, uh, that’s an interesting idea,” Kai said “but, what does that person do once they have this hungry horde of hostile undead chasing them relentlessly all over the landscape?”

  “Have you seen what the wildlife does when they see the undead?” I asked. “Because it makes the non-attuned KOS seem like a mild annoyance. I think the undead are like anathema for anything living here, so all you’d have to do is make it to the herds,” I waved my hand toward the plains, “and let the bison take care of the zombies for you.”

  Congratulations! You have increased your Conscious skill!

  Kai looked at the zombies, then looked out across the plains. “That’s.... actually
not a bad idea…”

  “Actually? What? Did you doubt me?”

  “C’mon kid, I’m just messing with you. Okay, who will be the distraction?”

  “Ah, well I think I need to stay because of my looting skills, and I want to see if it levels up my Hunch skill,” I said. “Kai, you’re the fastest and have the most Stamina, you get to be the distraction.”

  “How did I know you would say that?” he asked. “Can’t argue with the truth, though. I’ll do it.”

  Startling everyone, Cora spoke up. “I’ll come with you. I can Stealth better than you, and I can watch your back if you need it. Then you can take me back to the cave and I can be with some normal people.”

  “Yeah, take her with you,” I said. Madison laughed, and Cora gave her the stink eye. Well, the stinkier eye.

  “Okay Cora, you come with me. Stay in the tree line by where we will exit, when I catch up to you, try to keep pace with me, but drop into Stealth if you need to.”

  “Fine,” she said and left without another look.

  I reached out to shake Kai’s hand. “Be safe man, avoid unnecessary risks, and if you die, well, maybe I’ll see you right away,” I said, smiling and pointing towards the spawn point.

  Kai just laughed and left to meet up with Cora. “Damn,” I said. “Cora is a pain in the ass.” Madison smiled at me and cocked her head to the side.

  “Yeah, Cora is a little rough around the edges. I had students like her, they can be tough. I found if you stay positive, but firm, you can win them over. Although, maybe not right away.”

  I grunted in reply, not sure if I wanted to win her over. I watched as Kai ran towards the horde of zombies. As soon as they saw him, they turned like a magnetic attraction arms reaching for him in stereotypical zombie fashion. The horde crept after the Martial Artist, and I kept thinking he would turn around and start leading them away, but instead he picked up speed and I watched him leap across the distance in a powerful kick, right into the first zombies chest. He blew the zombie back through the others like a bowling ball, knocking down more than a few. Maybe even a strike’s worth. That was cool. I had to admit, being combat oriented didn’t seem so bad.