Glitch Book Two

by Victor Deckard

  I could only guess at why they didn’t charge at me yet. But anyway, I knew exactly what I was going to do. Getting even with them was all I could think of at the moment. Sure, it wasn’t very smart of me to mess with them again, but I was boiling with anger that rendered me unable to think clearly.

  “All righty, let’s do this,” I mumbled under my breath before activating the Acceleration and charging at the two still immobile PKs.

  They both flinched as from surprise and for a moment it even seemed as if they were going to turn around and run away. Still, it never happened. Instead the PKs fanned out and opened devastating fire on me.

  It was no use fighting both the PKs at once. I had to deal with them one at a time. I’d be inevitably defeated otherwise. Croc seemed to be stronger and more robust than Frozen was, so I decided to deal with the former first. Which meant that Frozen had to be rendered knocked out, so to speak, for some time.

  I looked at him and employed the Disarming. Dark energy yanked at the weapon he held in his hands and tore it away from him. Cussing, Frozen dashed in the direction his weapon had been thrown. After taking two steps toward it, he skidded to a halt. Guessed he remembered what had happened the last time. He wasn’t all that keen on getting into another vortex trap. Not knowing what to do, he just stood there glaring at me.

  As for me, I didn’t stand still for a second. Croc fired away in a futile attempt to croak me. My incredible movement speed notwithstanding, a couple of bullets grazed off my sides. My sheer fabric clothes couldn’t provide any protection against them.

  Grating my teeth in sharp pain, I used the Blow to lift Frozen off the ground. He wallowed in the air like some animal in water, his arms and legs flailing. He wouldn’t pose a threat to me for some time. With that done, I set a vortex trap over his weapon so that it overlapped it. Whatever cautions Frozen would exercise wouldn’t fend off his getting into the vortex trap.

  With Frozen out of it, I could turn my full attention to Croc. I turned on the heat, circling around him and alternately discharging my pistols on him. What with the high Fire Rate attribute of my handguns and the lighting velocity of the bullets, I released two ceaseless streams of lead. After the Accelerated ended, I reactivated it at once and cast a glance at my HUD to check on my mana.

  > Mana: 250/800

  I kept on racing around Croc, dual wielding my pistols, firing them alternately. My lame “white” pistols did little damage and the bullets more often than not went wide. I aimed for Croc’s head, yet I my aim was off.

  Some of the bullets pinged off his tough helmet. Only two or three bullets actually punched through it, leaving small holes in it. A few rounds ripped into Croc’s bare throat and the others lashed out at his shoulders.

  Blood fountained from his wrecked neck. His shoulder armor got crazed due to constant bullet hits. Blood also trickled out of the holes in his helmet. Nevertheless, Croc continued to fight as if nothing bothered him. I started to doubt my ability to take him down.

  Suddenly Croc let out with an enraged shout. He was so livid extreme anger saturated his voice. Which gave him away. I realized that I was winning. Croc was losing the fight, which was why he’d gotten so pissed-off. That hyped me up a great deal. My misgivings vanished without a trace as I went on circling around Croc and unleashing a fierce stream of fire on him.

  Eventually, Croc decided to blow me up. He surely remembered my Telekinesis skill, yet he discharged his grenade launcher anyway. Perhaps, he just couldn’t think of any other way to deal with me.

  I employed the Telekinesis psi-power to grab the grenade racing through the air and send it flying back toward Croc. It exploded throwing the player to the ground. I looked at him to see he was now sporting a huge nasty wound on his left side.

  Yet I wasn’t surprised a bit when he stirred. The guy was exceptionally robust. The Acceleration wore off, but I didn’t reactivate it yet. After reloading my pistols, I aimed at the Croc to finish him off. Before I could get off a shot, something struck me against my chest.

  Having turned around, I saw Frozen firing at me. He was still trapped by the psi-power in the air. He wasn’t tried to get down anymore, instead he hovered in the air, holding his pistol in front of him and squeezing one shot after another. Seemed like he’d been firing on me for a while, but it wasn’t until after the Acceleration wore off that he was able to hit me.

  My attention was diverted from Croc only for a second, yet he instantly took advantage of it and fired his grenade launcher. I was thrown to the ground, regretting not buying some stimulators. They would’ve really come in handy right about now. As I was getting up, I noticed the second grenade flying toward me and turned on the Shield. Pain racking my entire body notwithstanding, I managed to concentrate on the approaching grenade and send it back.

  My accuracy was lacking. The grenade detonated some way away from Croc. If he took damage, then it must have been superficial since the player didn’t show any signs of being injured.

  I glanced at Frozen. The Blow had already worn off. The player raced toward his weapon, weaving his way from side to side for fear of stepping on a vortex trap he was sure I’d set somewhere. He didn’t have the slightest idea about the vortex trap that I’d set near his weapon. Frozen was surely going to trigger it if reached for his assault gun.

  And this was exactly what happened. After the player tried to snatch up his gun, he accidentally set off the vortex trap and was hoisted up in the air.

  Croc still lay prone on the blacktop, firing at the power dome. I glanced at my HUD.

  > Mana: 135/800

  One after the other, I administered two shots to myself. They restored two hundred and fifty mana points each. This done, I dashed over to Croc and opened fire on him once again. Once the Shield ended, I activated the Acceleration.

  Croc didn’t discharge his grenade launcher any longer. Either he didn’t have any more grenades or he didn’t want run a risk of being exploded once more. He struggled to his feet, took aim, and opened up with his assault rifles. Yet he couldn’t hit me; not only because I circled around him too fast for him to take careful aim, but also because he was completely exhausted. The assault rifle trembled in his hands and he was barely able to stand himself.

  Taking another bullet to his head, Croc lowered his rifle. Holding it with his right hand, he took a stimulator from a pocket on his vest with the left one. It revealed the decrepit state of his HP to me.

  I had to thwart his attempt to treat his wounds. I used the Disarming. Yet it didn’t work out the way I’d expected it to. His assault rifle was yanked away from his hand, but the stimulator wasn’t. Guessed only weapons could be subjected to the psi-power.

  Croc was in a haze for a moment, seemingly unable to come to grips with what had just happened. As for me, I came up with an idea. What I was going to do might be too hazardous and hairy, but I was eager to do it anyway.

  I burst into a run and crashed into Croc, knocking him down. The momentum carried me forward as I tripped over the player before plumping on top of him. I straddled him pinning down his arms with my knees. He strained to break free but to no avail.

  I pointed my pistols at his head and set about firing at him almost at point blank range. With every single one of bullets hitting his helmet, it took only a couple of seconds to finish the player off. The PK went still and quiet. Lots of various loot appeared all around him on the ground. His mask was totaled. Huge holes with jagged edges revealed the player’s gory mutilated face.

  I got to my feet, staring at the spread-eagle body before me. I could hardly believe my eyes. Hooray! I made it! I’d whacked Croc!

  However, it was too early to greet my victory with glee since Frozen was still alive. Croc had revived in a nearby Resurrection Pod and was surely racing over here to his pal’s aid. So I had to deal with Frozen before Croc made it over here.

  The Vortex Trap was no longer active. Frozen slumped to the ground with a loud plop. I wasted
no time activating the Acceleration and dashing over to the player. I unleashed devastating gunfire on him as he strained to get to his feet. As soon as he would stand up, another bullet would slam against the player, whipping him to the ground. In the end, he gave up trying to get up and just crawled on his stomach toward his weapon. I employed the Telekinesis to shove it even farther down the street.

  What happened next amazed me a great deal. Frozen rolled over on his back, sat up, and put his hands in the air. Then he shouted, “All right, you won! I surrender! I give up, ya hear? Don’t shoot! Don’t kill me!”

  I ceased fire. Not because the PK begged me to do so, but because my pistols had run out of ammo. I kept my eyes peeled as I reloaded my handguns. Frozen had realized that he wasn’t able to defeat me on his own. So he decided to give up. Yet I wasn’t stupid. I knew he was stalling. He waited for his partner to show up so that they could attack me again.

  I didn’t bother to say anything. Once I reloaded my pistols, I replied with two salvos to Frozen’s head. The biker helmet snapped, blood bursting from the crack. The PK tumbled sideways and went still, dead. Loot dropped from him.

  I could barely believe it. I’d just dealt with two PKs on my own! I felt like pumping my fist in the air. Actually, I did.

  However, it was too early to greet my victory with glee. The two PKs were surely on their way over here to catch up with me before I could relieve the bodies of their previous characters of armor and weapons. So I had to hurry.

  I looked this way, then that. The PKs were nowhere in sight. At least for the time being. I leaped over to Frozen’s body clad in my biker leather outfit. After stripping the body down to underpants, I changed into the “blue” biker outfit. Yet the helmet was completely demolished. It could barely provide any protection so I stowed it away in my bag to repair it later on when I figured out how the repair mechanics in this game worked.

  I accidentally glanced at the face of Frozen’s character. It was completely missing. There was a soft pulpy gory mass instead. It was so vivid and detailed I recoiled from it. Had it not been a virtual reality I might’ve even gagged. Still, the game’s realism notwithstanding, my game character didn’t seem to be capable of retching.

  Frozen’s big duffel bag lay nearby. I unzipped it. Inside were cooked food, several stimulators, rifle and pistol ammunition, and “green” medium armor, which Frozen had had on before changing into my biker outfit. Frozen’s duffel bag was more spacious than mine was so I put all my stuff into it and shouldered the duffel bag. Then I gathered up all the resources and looked around once more.

  Frozen’s assault rifle was lit up in purple color. Me being a Warlock, I couldn’t wield assault rifles. But I’d never found any unique, “purple”, items so I decided to get a closer look at it.

  > Name: Predator

  > Weapon type: Assault rifle

  > Rarity: Unique (purple)

  > The player’s required level: 7

  > Damage: 35

  > Accuracy: 90

  > Fire rate: 950

  > Magazine size: 50

  > Elemental damage: None

  > Special qualities:

  > 1. An under-barrel grenade launcher:

  > Damage: 100

  > Effective fragmentation radius: 2.5

  > Magazine size: 5

  > 2. Your reloading speed gets increased by 50 percent

  I slung the rifle across my shoulders and ran over to the second body. I picked up both my pistols named Screamer on my way to the corpse. I got on my knees before the Croc’s carcass, took all the useful items –– cooked food, pistol ammo, stimulators –– and put them into my duffel bag.

  This done, I stripped armor off the body, took Croc’s primary weapon –– excellent “blue” assault rifle having pretty good stats –– and got to my feet, scooping all the loot in both my arms and hugging it to my chest, and looked around. The two PKs still didn’t show up.

  I carried all the stuff over to the vending machine, which was nearby, and sold everything I didn’t need, namely all the “white” stuff, Frozen’s “green” medium armor, and the PK’s weapons, including Croc’s “blue” assault rifle. Spared only the Predator. Although I couldn’t use it, it seemed to be wrong to sell such a rare item. Maybe I’d find practical application of the rifle later on.

  It took me a moment to decide what to do with the two “white” pistols. They proved to be quite useful. On the other hand, I had both the Screamers to my name. After comparing the stats of the former with that of the latter, I found out that while the Fire Rate attribute of both was the same, in all the other respects the Screamers were way better than the “white” pistols. So I sold them without a second thought and holstered the Screamers.

  With this done, I bought a few vigors and checked my crystal. I had about ten thousand bucks left.

  After that, I got into the street and looked around. The bodies were stripped down to their underpants and beside them lay scattered few trifles like rifle scabbards, pistol holsters, my old bag, and some rifle ammo.

  I pondered for a second. Should I bother with gathering all that unimportant stuff to sell it? Didn’t looked like I was going to make a lot of money out of it. Before I could reach a decision, I heard the patter of rushing footsteps on the blacktop.

  After a second two players turned around a corner. They looked different. It even took me a moment to recognize them as the PKs. They both wore light armor, which seemingly was pretty cheap and of poor quality. More to the point, their faces were no longer concealed by skull-designed balaclavas, helmets, or whatever. It was only when I looked at the players’ nicknames above their heads that I recognized them.

  The PKs no longer held dangerous-looking assault rifles with attached under-barrel grenade launchers. Now the players were armed with small submachine guns, which looked rather harmless.

  As for their levels, both players had them dropped. Croc was now level nine while Frozen was eight.

  They came to a stop thirty or so yards distant from me. Their eyes swept the street. After learning that I’d already relieved the bodies of their previous characters of any useful items, Frozen uttered something under his breath. I couldn’t quite make out his words, yet I was pretty sure that he’d cussed.

  After that, both players rested their eyes on me. I regarded them curiously. What amazed me was the vast difference in age between them. While Frozen was 14, if that, Croc looked much older. Perhaps he was 30 or even older. How come had they been playing together? Did a 30-year-old and 14-year-old get along very well?

  Another thought struck me from out of the blue. Maybe they were no friends but brothers. At least that could account for their constant playing together. Maybe Croc looked after his little brother in this cruel game or something.

  The PKs remained immobile. They glared at me hatefully. Nevertheless, they weren’t eager to engage me. There was no hurry to launch a shootout on my part either. Still, I was ready to defend myself if I had to.

  Only then did Frozen noticed his “purple” rifle Predator across my shoulders. He took a wary step forward toward me and brought himself to a stop, his eyes never leaving the rifle. Finally, he looked at me, his eyes smoldering.

  “You there,” He made as if he was going to call me names, but he reasonably held his tongue in time. After a moment, he spoke up again. “Hand me my rifle, will ya?”

  “Who’s gonna make me?”

  Frozen was taken aback by my sarcastic jest as if he hadn’t expected me to confront him so boldly. His face turned red with anger.

  “Give me my rifle, now!” He snarled. “Or else–– Or else–– Just gimme it, ya hear?”

  “Or else what?” I teased him. “What if I won’t?”

  Frozen was completely dazed and didn’t know what to do. He hesitated before answering, “Then–– Then–– If you give me the rifle, we’ll leave you alone.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatev.”

 
Frozen finally realized that I wasn’t scared of them. He mumbled something to himself. I didn’t even bother trying to make out what he’d just said.

  By that time it was obvious that the PKs weren’t intent on having another run-in with me. Figures. I wasn’t up shit creek without a paddle any longer. I could handle myself now and both the players were well aware of that.

  Although I remained poker-faced, showing no sign of any expression whatsoever, I was delighted with my achievement. Perhaps I should’ve refrained from making smart-ass remarks, but I couldn’t help it.

  “With your “purple” piece gone, you ain’t so badass, are you?”

  Frozen grunted something incomprehensible and made to charge at me, but Croc held him back. He then stepped in front of his short-tempered brother.

  “Listen, bud,” Croc said calmly and almost amiably. “It was really hard to get that rifle. We had to beat the crap out of a raid boss thirty times in a row before it finally dropped the rifle. Hand it over, would you? Let’s make peace. We killed you, but then you killed us, retrieved your armor and weapons, and sold all our stuff. So we’re even now, right? Just give him his rifle and let’s forget about all this. Sure, we ain’t gonna become friends after everything that happened between you and us, but at least we won’t be picking on you anymore. Sounds good?”

  At first, I wanted to consent to his proposal and hand the Predator over to the player. But I had a sudden urge, which I couldn’t resist at all, to defy the player.

  “Tell you again,” I said in a cold voice. “Wanna get your piece back? Try and take it away from me!”