by Isaac Stone
The heat of the barrel added to that of the blazing sun. The sun rose over the trees and dried the moisture from last night. I could still see the tracks in the perimeter where the commandos left their boot marks. They hadn’t expected the submachine gun, but now they were aware I had one. At least they didn’t know about the second submachine gun Tommy had with him.
“Over here, sir!” I heard Grom whispered and turned around to see him at the edge of the temple entrance, covering us with sporadic fire, doing his best to keep things lively. The find stone carvings were pitted from the gunfire directed at us by the commandos.
I scooted back in his direction with both guns. I knew Grom could keep the commandos at bay with his rifle, but they still outnumbered us. Should the Germans try a full assault, we wouldn’t stand a chance of survival.
I felt two hands on my legs and the sergeant pulled me inside the temple.
Once on my feet I saw, he and Tommy stand there with their weapons. They had the entrance covered, but there was only one way into this temple. We would be trapped if the commandos made it across the perimeter. It was urgent that we get out of the place, but they had a clear shot from their side of the forest.
“Sorry about your friend, sir,” Grom said to me in a low voice. “I was snapping my boots under the trousers when I heard the shots. I saw him go down. It was a clean shot, at least he didn’t suffer.” Grom looked down and saw with relief I had two guns with me.
The revolver began to vibrate and this only meant one thing. The VR team wanted to talk with me right away. I was a little surprised, as the Sandstone Gems team had allowed events to play out when I was in their game world. I decided to talk to them. If it messed up the narrative, so be it.
The cover slipped right off the handle to reveal the illuminated screen. It was Rhonda with a big frown on her face.
“The guys want you to pull out,” she told me. “Hit the red panic button and they’ll start the phase transfer to bring you back. Shouldn’t take long.”
“What is the big deal that I need to leave right away?” I asked her. “And does this whole talking to my gun thing ruin the game? I’ve got two NPC’s standing right next to me, how do I explain this and keep in character?” I knew it was an extraneous question given how they wanted me to eject, but I needed to find out.
“Oh, for Christ sake,” she told me. “Just look at them, will you?”
I turned to Grom and Tommy. Both were frozen in mid-expression. I walked over to them and passed my hand in front of Grom’s face. He didn’t even blink.
I ran to the door and looked out. The German commandos were moving across the perimeter, guns ready. However, they were frozen in place. Everything was frozen. Even the birds that scattered into the air were stopped in midflight.
The game had stopped. Except for me, everything was halted. Now I understood how they could communicate with me and not mess up a scenario. Odd, this hadn’t happened when I was in the last scenario. Oh well, different company.
“The VR team shut everything down so I could talk to you,” she explained.
“I’m not doing it, Rhonda,” I told her. “I can still exercise that option, can’t I?” I knew a few things about the contracts I have signed and they couldn’t make me bug out unless my health was at stake. In which case they were obligated to pay me the full sum.
“Look,” she responded. “No, they can’t make you jump out. But you should.”
“Is there some issue with my physical body in that chair?”
“They didn’t tell me anything.”
“Then too bad, I’ll see this thing through. I’ve lost Howard and that was bad enough. You want me to beta-test this and by god I'm going to see it through.” I snapped the cover over the communicator on the revolver’s handle. Yeah, that felt good.
Instantly, the game resumed. Grom blinked and turned to my direction. Even Tommy looked a little fazed, but just the same as he did before.
“The damn Jerries are coming across,” I told them. “I counted fifteen total this time from the door and we’ll be trapped like ferrets in a hole if the reach the other side of that perimeter.”
Grom went over to the door and looked out. Gunfire echoed from the outside and I saw a chunk of stone bounce off the floor. They knew exactly where we were located.
“Doesn’t look good, sir,” he told me. “Do you have any ideas on what to do?”
I glanced around the temple. Light streamed in from the top because it was built to have openings that would make it easy to see in the daytime. The sky openings were protected by stone cupolas, which kept out the rain. Other than those, I could only see one opening into the temple.
“You would think there was another way out of this place,” I said as I ran around the inside and felt on the walls. I reasoned there might be a door that swung open if you found the right lever. But, unlike in the old serials, there were no secret passages. So much for Republic Pictures.
All three of us tried for a few minutes, but we couldn’t find a thing. It was obvious there was only one way in and out of the temple and we’d taken it. Damn.
I glance out the door. The commandos were halfway across the perimeter and had their guns leveled in our direction. They didn’t appear to have prisoners in mind.
Now I understood why they team wanted me to pull out. From where they sat, there didn’t appear to be anyway for us to survive this encounter. The Germans had us held up inside a temple with only one entrance. All they had to do is keep us there, walk up to the temple and toss a few grenades inside. At that point, the game would be over for all practical purposes.
But I wasn’t about to give up.
“Sir,” Tommy said to me, “I want you to know I am honored to have served under you.” He and Grom looked glum and no one would blame them.
I still had one more plan.
Tommy,” I announced to him. “That submachine gun of yours is loaded?”
He checked it. “Full clip, sir.”
“What about you, sergeant?” I asked Grom.
He checked his rifle. “I’ve got five shots left.”
I snapped a fresh magazine in the submachine gun and dropped the carbine into Grom's hands.
“Grom, I want you to cover us. Tommy and I will run out there and unload the moment they reach the steps. We still have the high ground and, so long as we can surprise them, will sweep those steps clean. Hold them off for a bit, and then we let them come in through the door.
"We’re going to make those book burning bastards sorry they ever picked a fight with His Majesty's finest!” I walked over the door, feeling damn impressed with myself, and made sure the magazine was firmly in place. Once glance out the door told me they were at the steps.
By now, both of my men were at the entrance to the temple. Although they weren’t in visual range, I could hear the commandos’ footsteps on the stones as they ascended to our level. They took their time, as the Germans knew we were in the temple. I could feel the tension in the air as the other two waited for me to give the order.
Sweat dripped down my back and soaked the shirt I wore. I lowered the submachine gun and waited. I could hear the commandos as they rose up the steps. The steps exited to the main level of the city not a hundred feet away from where we stood. I peered around the door to the temple and waited. Just a few more seconds. The tension from where I stood clouded the air and I could feel it from the other men. This wasn’t something foreign to either man and they lived for this moment, even if it might be their last.
“On three,” I told the men. “I will take the lead.” I looked down at the wooden stock in my hand and remembered how the gun tended to rise up when it was fired.
Two more seconds. I could hear the commandos three rows from the top of the platform. The sound of men who talked in German was low, but audible.
“One, two,” I began. Three!”
I ran out to the front of the steps with Tommy right behind me and opened up with the submachine gun. I
could hear Tommy’s boots on the stone as he ran behind me. I saw the faces of the commandos as I squeezed the trigger on the submachine gun. It opened up with a burst of death. It was joined behind me by Tommy’s own submachine gun and the careful gunshots of Grom’s rifle.
The first row of German commandos fell apart as the bullets ripped into them. The dropped their guns and fell down the stairs, some of them colliding with the ones who came up from behind. I saw two more run up and go down from rifle shots. I could hear Grom’s gun blast away from outside the temple. He’d moved out of the doorway and fired in the direction of the commandos.
Tommy fired two more bursts with his submachine gun and then stopped. I backed up as a third wave of commandos crawled up the stairs and into my range. They knew what was in front of them and weren’t about to take any chances.
I managed to get two more. The others were popping up and shooting in my direction. We needed to find a better position. I had to tell the men to rally around the back of the temple so we could find a better place.
And why wasn’t Sargent Grom covering me? There were more crawling over those steps, we needed to get out of the way!
“Tommy! Sargent!” I yelled, “Let’s get the hell out of here; we can’t hold all of them off!” I turned around for a second to see why Tommy didn’t respond.
One of the shots from the commandos had gone through his head and killed him instantly. I could see the remains of his skull as it lay on the ground next to the motionless form of the sergeant. It took a lot more to kill the big man, but his body had bled out by now. There was a three-foot pool of blood around Grom.
I cursed and fell back to the side of the temple, firing away as I went. Grom and Tommy may have been computer NPC simulations, but they’d been with me on this trip. Serves me right for pitting a few level 1 mates against higher level opponents in a stand up brawl. I couldn’t stop it now, I had to find that box and claim victory.
I fired off another burst at the commandos and managed to get one. It didn’t matter they swarmed over the stone platform. I would only be a few minutes and they’d have me. Damn!
I turned and put my foot into empty air. It was a pit or well of some kind. I almost recovered my balance, but the submachine gun tossed it off. Before I could pull back, the weight of the gun had yanked me into the pit. I fell down it and bounced off the sides on my way to the bottom. By the time I hit the curve, ten feet down, the gun was lost to me. I heard it rattle down the sides. I felt a wave of pain shoot through my skull as my head struck one of the sides of the pit and the world went black.
I was back on the mountain. Howard sat next to me on the bench and drank coffee.
“Howdy,” was all said to me.
“How can you be here, Howard?” I said to him. “The damn Nazi’s killed you a few minutes ago. I mean, your computer-simulated image was killed. The one I hadn’t seen in ten years. Wait a minute, you didn’t even remember these moments we’d had on the mountain after the first game ended.” Now I was confused.
“There’s only one explanation I can think of,” he said to me. “You’re in an unconscious state and this is all a dream.”
“If that is the case,” I told him. “Where is my physical body?”
“Still in the chair.”
“So what you’re telling me is that I can experience so much virtual pain that my VR body, in all its Cary Grant form, can pass out.”
“Makes sense to me.”
“Okay. That means I’m having a dream inside a VR game with my virtual body.”
“Draw your own conclusions.”
“That it some messed up shit,” I told him. “Was this supposed to happen?”
At which point the world went black again.
CHAPTER NINE
I was at the bottom of a well, or whatever the pit was supposed to represent. I opened my eyes and could see sunlight stream into the opening. This was the pale light of afternoon, not the morning light I’d experienced earlier. I stayed still and listened. There was no way to tell how many hours elapsed since I fell down the well. No sounds came down it. The commandos were either waiting for me to emerge, or they’d moved on to another target.
My body hurt. I could feel the pain throb in my head. Why had the game designers put this part in the game? Surely, if you fell down a well, you were supposed to be dead. Done. Game over, you come out of the scenario and prepare to start over again. So why have my body survive the fall? Did they really think this added level of realism would help the narrative? I could be down here with a broken leg or something.
I forced myself up to a sitting position and looked around. Just as the rest of the lost city, there were no bones, dirt or any other form of animals around. The designers didn’t like filth and unclean situations. This I reasoned from the general condition of the city and the bare perimeter around it. Maybe they were so focused on the literal pain in my ass that they couldn't be bothered with some of the scenic details.
The submachine gun landed three feet from where I sat at the moment. It was busted and in no way fixable. The wooden stock was ripped loose from the rest of the gun. The magazine was still in place, but bent at a strange angle. I doubted the gun could be used again without a fabricator taking more time than it was worth.
I waited a good half hour and felt over my body to see if there were any more breaks or busted parts. From what I could tell, there was none. I still couldn’t tell what this pit was built for, but right now, it didn’t matter. I wanted to get out and find the missing courier box.
The logbook was still in my shirt, so I pulled it out and had a look in the pale light. The character sheets for Sargent Grom, Private Tommy and Howard were gone. Chamistra’s was still there, thank God. My own showed a number of injuries and reduced capacity.
I managed to climb out of the pit two hours later. By then, the sun was on its way down. I couldn’t see any of the commandos when I stuck my head up over the ledge, but there were empty shell casings all over the floor of the city. The building was marked from the scrapes of gunfire and I could see the other signs of the men who’d crossed the area around the well, muddy boot prints and plenty of dried blood.
I walked slow over to the steps and looked down. There were no dead bodies from the commandos I’d shot earlier in the day, but there was a lot of dried blood. I assumed the Germans left with their own dead and wounded. At least this was how the game was organized.
Tommy, Grom, and Howard were still in place. I could tell the bodies were searched. The guns were gone and any sort of ammunition taken as well. Right now, I didn’t know what to do with the bodies. I would think of something.
I found my canteen and a few supplies that were still in the camp. The commandos took everything else and trashed whatever papers I’d left in my tent. There was nothing of value to them, but it appeared to me they were in search of something.
The sun was on its down soon enough and I decided to find out where the commandos went. Right now, it seemed to be the best course of action. The logbook gave me no further clues as to where I could locate the courier box, so I had to assume the Germans had it.
By now, most of my aches and pains were gone. Too much reality in this game would make it unplayable, so they made my character heal up in a hurry. This wasn’t what I expected, but it beat the experience of a slow death by hunger or shock at the bottom of that pit.
My uniform was ripped in many places. I didn’t care at this point, as all the scratches and bruises were healed. My pistol was still in its holster and remained intact. I thought about pulling it out and using the communicator built into the handle. Right now, I had no desire to pull out of the game, but I intended to give Rhonda my opinion of leaving the well uncovered in the game scenario. I decided not to use it and went in search of the commandos instead.
By the time it was dark, I decided that tracking the Nazi Commandos was not a good idea. I lost their trail after the first hour and spent the remainder of the time trying to pick it
back up. The way the city was designed was without a wall around it. There was any number of ways the commandos could leave anytime they desired. All they needed to do was walk across the perimeter and they’d be back in the forest. I decided there was no further reason to follow them.
The moon was the only illumination provided. The stone buildings were far enough apart to make them easy to avoid by the light of the moon. I tried to remember the way I’d taken when I went in search of the commandos, but I found myself lost several times. At least it was easy to use the logbook to follow the way back. It was readable in the moonlight and the map of Virkya expanded to allow me to see the entire landscape.
The moon created a bizarre scene as the buildings glowed in its light. The various couplings carved out by artists long dead were still easy to see, but not as vibrant. I wondered about the mental state of the designer who came up with this place. I’d seem my friends gunned down by Nazi Commandos. I’d killed quite a few of the commandos myself. So how was I supposed to respond to the architecture around me? At least I hadn’t been around Grom and Tommy too long. I still had a certain distance between their memories and myself. Perhaps this was part of the game. Become too attached to an NPC and you could lose all interest in the overall game.
I found our camp around midnight and took an inventory of the supplies. The other submachine gun I found behind Tommy’s tent, left behind by a carless German Commando. I had enough food and water to last three days. Beyond that, it was hard to say. If this character body were designed to resemble a real one, it wouldn’t last much longer beyond the water running out. I still had the pistol and could use it to hunt with in the forest. My only problem was that it only had a few more clips of ammunition and it wasn’t a good hunting weapon. The service revolver was built to kill people at close range, not shoot deer at a hundred yards. It wouldn’t be much good if I went after game with it.