Sasha gave him a thumbs up, though. “You’re probably right,” she said. She went off ahead of the rest. Since I was the only one looking in their direction and they didn’t know I was there, I saw them for exactly who they were. Harker was shaking his head in mock sadness while Bonbon mimed wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
For his part, Winter_Will didn’t look like he knew what to do. He was terrified, though. It might’ve been a little bit hard to tell since his skin was way paler than most people selected, but the guilty look on his face was unmistakable.
I didn’t know what was about to happen. Sasha was about to give up the only power she had, and when she did her Guild would know exactly how best to sell her down the river.
All four of them went into that room and sat down around a little oval table. I followed, though I had to dart in pretty quickly when Winter started to close the door. I was pretty sure that I could possibly pass through it the same way I had the gate in the library, but I didn’t see the point in risking it.
Everybody was watching her, and she stared at her hands for a long couple of seconds before sucking in a lungful of air and starting. “Have you guys heard of the Nuggets of Death?”
I burst out laughing. She was one step ahead of all of us, just like always. I don’t know if it was because she’d picked up on Winter’s slip-up or not, but something had clued her in that these guys were hardly the pinnacle of trustworthiness and she had thrown up her guard.
Good. Fuck these tools.
Bonbon leaned in. “The Nuggets are a loser guild that’s been shoving noobs around since halfway into Beta. Is this seriously your first encounter with them?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
Sasha shrugged. “I guess I don’t spend a lot of time rubbing shoulders with the likes of them.”
Harker was grumpy, and he didn’t have an issue showing it. “Is that it? I thought you had a bombshell for us. They didn’t kill you, since you don’t respawn in the sewer unconscious. You don’t seem to have lost your gear, and that book you brought back would have been the first thing they’d have grabbed if they could.”
“It was pretty touch and go there, for a while!” she shot back, but Sasha couldn’t hide the glimmer in her eye. She was playing with them. It might not have been the wisest thing for her to be doing, but here she was sitting in what may well have been the lion’s den and waving raw meat beneath their noses.
She told them the story. Part of it, at least. The delay logging in, dodging the ambush outside the Orange zone, the library and then Reboot. She erased all mention of the Divers, swapping them out for random made-up members of the Nuggets of Death and Reezer. It was the sort of lie that a little digging would easily uncover, but right now it worked.
I could see that the others believed her. They weren’t sure why she was making such a big deal of it, but they didn’t suspect that they were getting fed a heaping portion of bullshit.
Which got me thinking. Why didn’t they already know that the Divers had found her? Were they looking for others, too? That might explain it, especially if what Winter_Will had said earlier about something happening to Stringer was true. It would mean that Stringer wouldn’t have been able to tell him he’d found a target in the library, for a start.
All of that was a bridge I’d have to stumble across later. For now, it seemed like this situation was deescalating enough that I didn’t think the knives were out for Sasha in the same way they had been a couple of minutes prior.
Everybody pushed their chairs back and started standing up. Sunday was meant for stockpiling supplies and pushing into the harder zones for salvage that the presence of Zombies during the week made a lot more dangerous to gather.
Harker wasn’t done, though. Not yet…. “Sasha?”
“Yes Sergeant or Corporal, or whatever it is this week?”
He ignored the little jab. “Are you sure there isn’t something else you want to tell us?”
Sasha froze. A touch of deer in headlights snuck into her visage, and she interlaced her fingers hard enough for her knuckles to go white. Headshot’s Absolute Reality engine was incredible, but little details like that would spell disaster if she weren’t careful. “Nope. I’m pretty sure that’s all. Why?”
Bonbon pointed at her from across the table. “I think he figured your story would eventually touch on why you look different.”
Sasha clearly had no idea what she was talking about. I didn’t either. “What?”
Harker didn't look like he had much patience for any more nonsense. "Well, this should be fairly easy to get to the bottom of. When you went through character creation this morning, did you use all of your defaults? You know, red hair, green eyes, all the usual?"
"Of course."
“And nobody tried to run a trace on you?”
Sasha didn’t answer fast enough. I understood the delay, since this was completely out of left field. Still, he caught her flat-footed and, even worse, he knew it. “No,” she croaked, eventually. “At least, not that I know of.”
Harker sneered, and the scar on his face didn’t let one side of his lips move at all. “Must be a bug then, because you're a brunette now."
I was completely lost, at least until Sasha whirled in her place so that she could get a glimpse of her reflection in the blank screen of an ancient CRT monitor that had been removed from an exhibition because too many kids had been allowed to jostle it.
The moment she was aware of her appearance, so was I. It was yet another lesson that Sasha was my filter, but I wasn’t looking at her now-familiar face anymore. Everything was different; cheekbones, lips, chin, dark brown hair and a rounder, less angular face.
The poor girl had no idea whose likeness she was looking at, but I did. I guess I’d been the one that put it there, when I tried to stop the Diver’s virus from running its trace.
She looked like Lori, my ex-girlfriend and the owner of the account I’d fed to the virus to save Sasha…
Chapter 22
Bonbon broke the awkward silence. “So, um… What’s the plan, boss?”
Sasha tore her gaze away from the other woman’s face she was wearing and nodded, “Good question. I think we’ve been sitting on our hands too long. If we’re not careful, the whole Guild’s going to get out leveled, and fast. I don't know about you guys, but I desperately need some salvage. Something tells me were going to come across an awful lot of stuff that needs building or repairing in the week ahead, and if we don't get the raw materials now, we’ll regret it.”
Harker and Will looked interested, and I didn’t like that. Winter_Will did something that made a spot on the map about ten blocks away thrum with a visual cue. “The usual spot, then?”
The target was a couple of blocks into the Orange zone, right down the main street and then south.
Sasha shook her head. “Let’s skip the Orange and go right for the Red. I don’t like that we’ve slipped into a routine. It’s dangerous, and the fact that we can say the ‘usual’ spot and we all know where that is bothers me.”
“She’s right,” Harker agreed before there could be more protests. “The more dangerous the destination, the more valuable the rewards.”
“Good,” Sasha said. “So that means we’ll acquire some transport and head in. Winter, what archetype did you pick?”
“Scientist?”
She made a face. “Really?”
“I thought we might need it.”
Sasha turned her palms up, trying not to offend him. “You do you, just like we’ve always said. You guys don’t owe me anything. I’ve always been grateful for your presence, but if things go bad or you start to feel like you’ve got other allegiance, I get it. All I ask is that you give me a heads up.”
It wasn’t subtle, and for a long moment I wondered if one of them would take that space to come clean. I was watching Bonbon the closest. Harker had said earlier that she was just fifteen in real life, and aside from that, s
he’d already proven herself to be the most impulsive of the Eternals.
Nothing. Nobody flinched. There weren’t any shared, guilty glances or pointed rejoinders. It was a decent attempt to appeal to their better nature, but I didn’t think it had worked.
Sasha gave up waiting for a reply and pressed on. “Okay, so if we’re all in then, let’s do the dealership smash and grab and loot our little hearts out. That means that Bonbon, you’re going to cover us from above. Harker can either stick around and cover our ass while we go in or cause some trouble on the PVP side of things, if somebody wants to tangle with us.”
“What about me?” Winter asked.
“You can come in with me and do some sciencey things in the direction of whatever tries to kill us, I guess."
Bonbon was the only one that looked eager to carry the plan out, but Harker’s face was even more dour than usual. I’d just been introduced to these guys, but even I could see that this guy was a downer. He better be an ass kicker in combat, because right now I was wondering why Sasha had added him to the Guild in the first place.
Although, come to think of it, there probably wasn’t a huge queue of people waiting to be part of a conspiracy during their leisure time that would basically guarantee them a jail cell, once everything was said and done.
Harker grunted and said, "I'll stay with you two. Everybody grab your gear and whatever else you think you might need. Just remember, we’re down a medic since Smashfoot isn’t logged in yet.”
“Crap,” muttered Bonbon.
“We're just going to have to be more careful than usual.”
Winter raised a pale eyebrow in the direction of the ceiling at the suggestion. “And we aren’t usually very careful at all.”
Sasha agreed. "Damn straight. Ideally, I'd like to get in and out of the Red zone as fast as possible. If we can stay under the radar, grab whatever we can and not fire a shot, I would be overjoyed. I don't think it's going to go down that way, mind you, but without hope we are but empty vessels, right?"
Harker waved a hand at himself, and then extended the gesture to the rest of the room. He carried it a bit farther than he needed to, and I cocked my head in confusion. Had he just included me in that? I knew it had to be a coincidence, but I was still unnerved by it. “We are all,” he said, “empty vessels at the very best of times, my dear. Hope changes nothing.”
To my ears, it was ominous. All Bonbon heard was ‘run into the other room like a kid on Christmas morning and bring back Sasha’s rifle,’ which was exactly what she did. She bounded back in with a huge grin on her face. “If you want me to watch your back from some random sniper perch, you’re going to let me borrow this bad boy, right?”
The request painted Sasha into a corner, and she knew it. It was a weapon more attuned to someone who had the sort of skills in which Bonbon would be investing. Telling her that she couldn’t have it wouldn’t make much sense, not unless she wanted to make waves.
“All yours,” Sasha told her. “I think you’ll like it. It works pretty well, though you’ve got to remember that it’s a one-shot type of thing. That might be nothing new to you, being a sniper and all, but it took me some getting used to. I had to work with what I had.”
Bonbon gave the side of the rifle a kiss. “I love it. Custom ammo?”
“I modified some ultra-lithiums. They really pack a punch.” She reached into the front pocket of her coveralls and extracted five of the wired rounds before setting them in front of the sniper. She pointed at a lever on the side which I’d assumed let the rifle break down for cleaning. “Pump this hard to force more air into the canister. Don’t do it now or you’ll bust a seal, but after you shoot crank this ten or twelve times and you’re good to go.”
Bonbon's eyes went wide. "Awesome! Thanks! I’ll do you proud, I promise.”
“Make sure you do, Bonbon.”
Sasha pulled a little pistol out of her pocket. "This thing’s useless, though. Even if we had some ammo for it-“
“Which we don’t,” Harker said.
“-it wouldn’t stop a puppy from chewing on my shoes. Have we got a rifle I can use or something?”
Bonbon took a big revolver, complete with a holster from around her waist and handed it over. “Fair’s fair. Here you go. All loaded up and ready to go.”
“I appreciate it,” Sasha told her. “I’ll return it when I find something else. As I said, I’d be pretty damn happy if nobody had to pull the trigger in the next few hours.”
So would I.
Chapter 23
They headed out. I was sure that normally by almost 11 in the morning they’d have a room full of gear, but the login issues had hit them hard. Transport was essential for the Survivors. Headshot was a pretty exact re-creation of the world, which meant that there were some pretty intimidating distances to overcome if you wanted to make the most of the environment.
Travelling on foot was bad enough when you were just trying to get from point A to point B, but it was impossible to move salvage and gear without transport. I imagined that, just like everything, different guilds had different tactics. Some of them would hit the obvious; military bases, police stations, shit like that. They’d certainly get an early advantage, but possessing hardware like that would make them a prime target of other guilds for the rest of the day.
Besides, if they wanted to make use of an APC or a tank or something crazy like that, at least one of the players would have to sink a whole bunch of points into piloting skills. And if they wanted to keep using it, they’d need a constant supply of a different grade of fuel and specialized ammunition. That meant a lot of infrastructure that they didn’t have, and trying to guard convoys and stay near resupply was a massive disadvantage.
I was sure that some guilds preferred the mobility of motorcycles, while others decided that their time in the game was nothing more than an opportunity to test out the hottest new car, shoot the baddest gun or wear the latest fashion.
At least until the Zombies got them…
Sasha had already made her preference known. A standard van would give them plenty of room for equipment. It could take a beating and, if they could find one that still used diesel they could cook up their own fuel. Even better, they were nondescript. Park a van around the corner and nobody cares. Park a tricked-out 4x4 or a modified Humvee, and you've got the whole neighborhood trying to decide if you were worth taking a shot at.
Harker took point and led them out a side entrance out of the Museum. After him, it was Sasha, Winter, and then Bonbon and me. I was trying to keep an eye on all of them at once, though I wasn’t sure if I could do anything even if I did catch them making a hostile move.
Actually, that was one mystery I could solve right now. I lashed out with one foot and tried to trip Bonbon. I made contact with her at least, but it was like kicking a brick wall. Worse, since this particular brick wall was walking. Her shin caught mine, and it was me who had to catch myself against the wall at our side or risk taking a tumble.
Great. Not only could I not hurt them, but the Eternals could shoulder me out of the way without any effort at all.
Perfect.
Bonbon kept right on going, admiring her shiny new rifle. I shadowed her as we made our way east three blocks and then went north. We didn't meet anybody. Hell, we didn’t even see or hear anyone.
I could tell that the Eternals were thrown off by the quiet jaunt. They were all ready for opposition, but it simply wasn’t happening. Even Bonbon had enough situational awareness not to start a conversation about it, but she was itching to ask where everyone was.
At least it was bright, now. Trying to peer into an endless stack of shifting shadows had been getting old. It was pushing noon by the time they finally finished casing the dealership. There was a brand-new Mercedes van in the window that had caught their eye, smack front and center in the showroom.
That was about the only thing that would fit their requirements. If they wanted, they were going to have to make some noise
to get it.
Sasha’s eyes were drinking in everything around them, and I was trying to do the same. I didn’t see anything unexpected.
Bonbon unsnapped and then unfolded a grappling hook from her belt. It was a cunning little device, and that was when I worked out that the work of an engineer was perpetual. Once your guild had cracked certain schematics, they could be built the next week without researching them again. She turned and threw it on to the rooftop behind us, snagging an outcropping and hoisting herself up quickly.
Once she was in her sniper nest, I saw her flash a thumb’s up to Sasha. She didn’t see anything dangerous, which meant the coast was clear.
In theory. If she could be trusted…
Now that they were ready to swing into action, Sasha reached over and rapped Harker on the shoulder in a prearranged signal. He’d elected to go with them to the dealership, and he was a combat archetype. That made it his responsibility to get them in and get them out.
Harker was ready. I got the impression that he was pretty much always ready for just about anything. Nothing that had happened so far had seemed to surprise him or catch him flat-footed, and that was a problem. At least, it was going to be if the Eternals had been compromised.
She and Winter followed his lead. I got to see how well-oiled the Eternals machine could be. Each of them was carrying exactly what they needed to breach the dealership. Sasha carried her trusty ax in one hand and a container of diesel in the other in case they needed to fill their quarry up before they drove it off the lot. Winter_Will clutched a crowbar and Harker had his big assault rifle, for when the lead started flying.
It was a shame. If they’d just been able to play the game for what it was, without the background noise of revenge and conspiracy to cloud their fun, they’d have all been perfect for each other. It was a shame that it wasn’t meant to be, but as they split off to do their individual jobs in perfect unison, I couldn’t help but see what they could have been.
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