Glitch Book One (The Glitch Series)
Page 11
After some time it zipped past overhead, almost touching the roofs with its underside. The entire street got flooded by brilliant purple light for a second or so. I was even forced to squint. Then the object cleared the buildings surrounding me and whizzed away, quickly receding into the night. I stared after it. The object moved almost noiseless and incredibly fast. It disappeared from sight in under three seconds.
Then something flashed and from where the object had just gone to a shaft of purple light shot up into the sky. I goggled at the strange, nevertheless spectacular eye-catching sight. Seemed as if somebody had turned on a huge spotlight and directed the beam upward.
I felt like going over to the source of purple light to find out what was happening over there. Yet I had a gut feeling that other players would convene in that place like a swarm of moths drawn to a bright flame. And there would be trigger-happy, bloodthirsty PKs among them, all right. Confrontation with them would’ve gotten me killed once more. So for all desire to walk over to the shaft of purple light to investigate it, I decided not to. Walking all alone around the bleak dark streets was much better than being wasted at the hands of PKs again. So I turned around and walked in the direction opposite to the shaft of purple light.
A message appeared.
> Warning! The night has just fallen!
I kept on walking forward, trying to find some proper place to hide myself. The moon sent a wash of silver light over the streets. Visibility was pretty good. Only narrow alleyways were enveloped in the darkness. While passing by, I looked into each for either mobs or players lurking inside. Yet I found neither thus far. It was all too quiet as well. Only my footsteps sounded in the otherwise silence.
Nothing happened for a few moments. As I was to learn pretty soon it was just the calm before the storm. Almost simultaneously two thing happened. The first was an unhuman shout muffled by distance. The yell was closely followed by a few more outraged screams. Some of them were dangerously close. And the second was loud footfalls. I looked around in panic, yet there was nobody nearby. But all the sounds were getting under my skin. Although I knew the submachine gun was of no use to me, I involuntarily unslung the it, my fingers tightening around it hard. My head turning in various directions ceaselessly, I still saw no threat nearby but only heard savage yells and barks that made my blood run cold. What the heck was going down?
Finally yielding to pressure, I broke into a run, turning around in the direction of the shaft of purple light. Even possible encounter with PKs couldn’t scare me now.
After some time I got aware of someone’s heavy steps behind me. I looked back to cry out in surprise. No one or two or three but a freaking bunch of some big ugly creatures were on my tail. I could only speculate as to where all these mobs had come from.
The monsters were gaining fast. I employed the Surge and Blow psi-powers at the same time. I had no idea as to how I had managed to employ two spells at once. Guessed all these rapidly escalating events had my thoughts jumbled.
One hundred or so down the street, I realized I’d never make it to the purple shaft. Mobs were respawning all around me. The street was swarmed by mobs having blocked both ways. Where to go? Looking around, I spotted a building with its entrance door wide open. Probably I shouldn’t have taken refuge in the closed confines of the building, yet all these mobs having suddenly popped up seemed to frighten me out of my wits. A few monsters at the entrance door waited for me to get closer to them. I roughly shoved them aside with the Surge and burst in the building.
It was pitch-dark inside. Moon light couldn’t reach in here, what with boarded-up windows. Ferocious shouts came from the street. I couldn’t waste time waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Dashed forward with my arms stretched forward. Three or four meters into the room, I tripped over something and got flattened on the floor. The submachine gun skidded away into the darkness. From the shouts, creatures were inside the house already. Utilizing the Shield, I got to my feet, raced forward, and stumbled again.
I fell onto a set of stairs. The steps lead up. Cussing through my gnashing teeth, I quickly clambered upward on all fours. Somewhere behind my back were growling and clacking sounds as if mobs were trying to snap at me. Once on the second floor, I straightened up and looked around, squinting in the darkness. Yet I had no time for getting my bearings. I dashed in a randomly chosen direction. In a second I bumped into a closed door and kicked it open.
Burst inside. Looked around. It was as dark in here as it was in the corridor. Still, at the far end of the room I managed to make out a boarded-up window with cracks between them through which sliver moon light was seeping inside. I dashed for it, snatched at the rough wooden boards and pulled hard trying to wrench them free. The boards were reluctantly giving in under pressure.
Suddenly, a vicious shout reached me across the room. Looking back over my shoulder, I saw two glowing bloodshot eyes in one corner. There was some creature in the room that I had failed to notice on my having entered! I felt numb with horror. But not for long. Whirling around, I darted for the door. Once I reached the doorway, someone or something appeared in it. I tried to bring myself to a stop in time, yet my momentum carried me forward to bump into the black figure. I felt strong hands or paws grab and shove me roughly back in the room. Thrown off balance, I slumped to the floor.
Husky barks and high-pitched screams reached me. Judging by loud and frequent stomping, no less than ten mobs barged into the room. I was pinned down before I could get up. Sharp pain shot through me as numerous pangs and claws penetrated my body.
It was more than I could bear. I cried out in pain at the top of my lungs. Tried to apply the Surge, yet I had only fifty mana points left – not enough for the psi-power.
Tried to break free hard but to no avail. Mobs firmly held me down on the floor and sunk either their sharp fangs or curved claws, or maybe both, deep into my flesh.
Half a second before I had my health points reduced to nothing and the world went dark before my eyes, I caught a glimpse of a message popping up in the log.
> The player Max Calm didn’t make it through the night! He got ripped to pieces!
THE END OF THE BOOK ONE
TO BE CONTINUED…
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