Clint gathered all of his things from his desk, and sent an email telling Bonnie goodbye. A few seconds later she returned his email expressing her dismay at the company’s attitude and gave him her contact information.
The two employees came to his desk to escort him off the premises. They were large guys and they looked as if they were prepared for trouble. Cling quietly walked between them. He laughed internally as the two men nervously looked at each other. What did they think he’d do, go crazy or something?
They led him out of the door and watched him closely as he stood out in the parking lot. Clint stretched and took in a breath of fresh air. The sun shined brightly down from a crisp blue sky. He smiled. So that is what the sun looked like.
A few minutes later he was joined by Cooper. The slightly younger man gave him a wan smile as he stood beside him. He wiped a hand across his brow and jammed his hands in his pockets.
Clint looked back and saw four large employees staring at them through the glass doors of the building.
“So I see you had an escort too,” Clint said, shuffling his feet.
“Yep, guess they didn’t like it too much when I sent them an email saying that you and I were the ones that worked on that project,” Cooper sighed.
“Guess not,” Clint looked up at the sign above the door then back to Cooper, “I’m not really surprised I was fired. This was bound to happen eventually. I’ve been a ‘disgruntled worker’ for a while and I think Roger was looking for an excuse to get rid of me. The email I sent him about how I was being treated was just what he was looking for.”
“I’m not too surprised I was fired either. Believe it or not, I was actually planning on leaving in a few months anyway. Don’t let this get around, but a little publishing company in the area accepted my novel and it went to print a few days ago. They have high hopes for it so I’m working on a sequel.”
“That’s great! I wish I could do something like that, but I’m a numbers dude.”
“You could, if you wanted. If my novel didn’t work out I was actually planning on going back to school and take some classes so I can get into the VR field. I hear they’re looking for people to write quests for VRMMOs.”
Clint smiled. Working for a VRMMO? That would be awesome. He would love to work for Mindsplosion, the company that created Unexplored. He didn’t know what he would do exactly, but whatever it was, it would be awesome.
Clint and Cooper spent a great deal of time talking about gaming and adventuring in Unexplored under the watchful stare of the four employees behind the glass doors. Cooper mentioned Clearwater, elves, and a “cool group of adventurers” that sounded suspiciously like Cleave, Tarka, and Krug.
“Was one of the adventurers you met named Cleave?” Clint said, feeling a moment of trepidation. He didn’t want to reveal his character in game, but he didn’t think it could cause too much harm.
Cooper’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, I did. Why do you ask are you...?”
Clint nodded and grinned.
“No way, that is freaking awesome. I’m Larukel.”
Clint laughed. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. That squid girl, Muriem, and I have been hanging out since you guys came to the Lren camp. She lives in the area and we’ve been talking offline the past couple of weeks. We’re gonna meet up at a little convention a local club is putting on for Unexplored players. You should come. It’s in a week. It’s a little too late to get tickets, but if I talk to the club president he’ll probably let you and your friend in if you’d be willing to do some grunt work for the con.”
Clint and Cooper talked a little more about the game, revealing that Tarka lived in the area as well. They conversed until they started to feel uneasy being stared at by their escorts.
Clint got into his car and called Mary. She picked up on the second ring.
“Clint, what’s up?”
Clint told her about the events that transpired that day and about Cooper and his character in Unexplored.
“Holy crap, so you quit?” Mary’s voice rose an octave.
“Yeah, I was finally honest with my boss and he fired me.”
“It’s about time. That place was horrible. You and that Cooper guy did all that hard work and your boss stole it.”
“That’s corporations for you.”
“Not all business are like that. You need to find one that at least treats you decently.”
“I will, at least I hope I will. I have some money saved but if I don’t find a job in a few months I won’t be able to pay my rent.”
“Don’t worry. If things get that bad you can always crash on my couch. You should come over now and hang out anyway, there’s this new horror movie out on ClassicPics and it’s awful. I want to watch it with someone who can appreciate bad movies.”
“Sure, I can do that. Hey what do you think about the convention? You want to go?”
“That sounds like fun. You’ll have plenty of time now that you’re not slaving away at that crappy job.”
They talked for a few moments before Clint hung up the phone and started his car. He headed out of the Madeline corporate parking lot for the last time, firing a rude gesture at it before turning onto the main highway.
Clint didn’t know what the future would hold. It was unsure, but that was life. All he could do was sit back and enjoy the ride.
The End
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Crisis at Clearwater - A LitRPG Virtual Fantasy Adventure (Book 2 Unexplored Cycle) Page 23