Survivors

by Dave Willmarth

  You have died.

  You may choose to respawn at your most recent bind point, or remain with your corpse, and resurrect it after a ten-minute wait period. Your resurrected avatar will have 50% health, and a two-hour death debuff.

  Respawn at your bind point? Yes/No

  Cussing at himself, Griff mentally clicked ‘Yes’ and found himself standing near the village fountain where he’d first appeared. Only this time he was wearing nothing but what amounted to a cloth diaper. Dying did not carry any experience penalties below level ten. But you also didn’t retain any of your gear when you respawned. One had to run to the scene of their death to recover their items.

  Several of the dwarves chuckled knowingly upon seeing the mostly-naked dwarf hurrying toward the gate. As he passed through, the guard called out, “Be sure’n get me lucky helm back!”

  Griff slowed to a walk as he approached the outer edge of the meadow where he’d died. The alpha wolf was nowhere to be seen, but his equipment lay in a pile on the ground next to the corpses of the two wolves. Afraid they would fade away before he could claim their fangs, Griff quickly looted them. He got two fangs from each, plus two wolf pelts, four pieces of wolf meat, and some claws. As well as five silver coins from each. He was surprised at the amount of coin.

  Grabbing his gear, he retreated partway across the meadow before stopping to equip it. Just in case the alpha was lurking nearby. He clearly wasn’t quite ready to handle the wolves yet. He’d need to get a ranged weapon at the very least. And maybe an edged weapon.

  As he turned back toward the gate, he found himself staring at a cute, fuzzy bunny. It took a tentative hop in his direction, sniffing curiously at him.

  “Move, bunny. I ain’t in the mood,” he growled. As he moved toward the gate, the bunny hopped right in front of him, seemingly ignoring his instructions.

  Whether it was the frustration of being killed, the embarrassment of knowing he had called the wolf pack to him, or just a short temper, Griff unthinkingly punted the fluffy critter out of his way. It screamed as it flew backward, the sound making him cringe. He instantly regretted picking on the defenseless creature.

  The bunny landed in a thick patch of grass. Still alive, but barely. It’s health bar was down to just under 10%. It continued to scream as if in pain. Griff began to panic. He didn’t have a way to heal it, and he really didn’t want to finish it off.

  “I’m sorry, lil bunny. Please hold still. Don’t want ye to hurt yerself’n die.” He reached out as if to comfort the bunny, and it lurched forward to bite into his hand. Sharp incisors sunk into the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, puncturing the skin.

  “Son of a…!” Griff yanked his hand back, cursing the bunny. The action ripped the skin and gave him a Bleed effect. It also yanked the poor bunny into the air. When it hit the ground behind him, the impact damage finished it off. A final squeak and, the bunny lay still. “Serves ye right! There weren’t no need to attack me!” the dwarf mumbled. Realizing he was the one who attacked first, he amended. “I mean, I was tryin to apologize…”.

  Just then, he heard a scream identical to the one the bunny had made. He looked up hopefully, thinking the creature hadn’t died after all. But the corpse was still there. He regretfully leaned down and looted while looking around warily.

  An uneasy feeling was creeping up from his gut. More screams sounded from the meadow in several locations. Flashbacks from the wolf pack attack combined with Maggie’s warning about the bunnies now had him sweating. He turned to run back to the gate. In front of him stood three angry-looking bunnies. Their eyes were bloodshot, the teeth bared.

  Griff held up his hands. “Eeeeeasy there, bunnies. I mean ye no harm. I’m sorry about yer friend. Cousin. Whatever. Let’s not get all bent out o’ shape-”

  He never got to finish the sentence. All three enraged bunnies leapt at his face. He managed to swat one away with his shield, but the other two latched on. One bit into his thigh, taking hold and wiggling its body to help it tear a chunk out of his flesh. The other took hold of his shield arm, hanging in the air as its teeth sunk into the meat of his upper arm.

  Dropping his hammer, he tried to rip the bunny from his arm. He managed to successfully detach the creature, but it took a lot of his flesh with it. As he staggered forward, several impacts to his back threw off his balance. He could feel more bites clamp down on his shoulder and legs. Turning his head to try and see his attackers, he found bunnies coming at him from every side. He was engulfed in angry biting fluffballs that were bleeding him dry with small bites. He crushed a few by hugging them against his body, then grabbed a few others to snap their necks and toss them away. He even bit one that was clinging to his shoulder, shaking the small woodland creature like a rabid dog.

  Covered in angry furry foes, he staggered toward the gate. The pain was unbelievable. Like being stabbed by a hundred tiny daggers at the same time. His health bar dropped quickly, and his UI showed him a bleed debuff that was stacked a dozen times over. Three more steps, and he fell forward, crushing a half-dozen more enemies. His last act was to squeeze his legs together in an attempt to protect his family jewels from the fuzzies.

  You have died.

  You may choose to respawn at your most recent bind point, or remain with your corpse and resurrect it after a ten-minute wait period. Your resurrected avatar will have 50% health, and a two-hour death debuff.

  Respawn at your bind point? Yes/No

  “Dammit!” He kicked at empty air in the grey emptiness of limbo. “Maggie warned me and I dinna’ listen. Friggin bunnies! I died to little furry stew meat critters! Me father would be ashamed.”

  Clicking on ‘Yes’ once again, he respawned at the fountain. This time several of the dwarves looked surprised. One grizzled old farmer asked, “Weren’t ye just here about five minutes past?”

  Griff nodded, his head bowed in shame. “God damned bunnies.” He mumbled.

  The oldster’s eyes widened. “Ye didn’t! Ye picked a fight with the cuddly bunnies?” When Griff nodded again, he held his stomach and bent over laughing.

  Griff practically sprinted in his diaper to get through the gate and out to the spot where his corpse had fallen. The bunnies had dispersed after killing him. Except for the ten or so that he’d killed. Once again, he looted the corpses first, then gathered his gear. He didn’t even bother to re-equip it. He made the walk of shame back to the gate in his diaper and handed the guard his helm. Both guards were trying mightily not to laugh in his face.

  Seeing the humor himself, he grinned at them. “Friggin ferocious killer mutant bunny rabbits! Did you see that? There were at least a thousand of ‘em!”

  Both dwarves exploded with laughter. One patted him on the shoulder. “Ye ain’t the first, lad. Though ye may well be the last.”

  Griff took a moment to equip his starter clothes and stow the armor and shield in his bag. Taking a deep breath, he went in search of the dwarfess who had given him a quest to help her round up a lost puppy. He tried his best to embrace the knowing looks and echoes of laughter that followed him.

  *****

  Mace and Shari were awakened by several licks to the face from Dakota. Mace’s initial reaction was panic, until he was awake enough to remember. Shari was much calmer, though there had been a moment of apprehension in her eyes.

  “Well, looks like our new roomie needs to go for a walk,” she sighed. “You want to take him up? Or shall I?”

  “I’ll do it if you’ll start breakfast.” Mace offered. When she nodded her head and walked toward the bathroom, Mace said, “C’mon boy. Let’s go pee on our future food source.”

  Dakota leapt off the bed and headed for the elevator. Mace hurried after, figuring that the dog must really need to go and not wanting to have to clean up a mess. He keyed the elevator - which luckily had held there at their floor - and took Dakota up to the fifteenth level and their tiny cornfield.

  The dog instantly made a dash for the dirt pile and relieved himsel
f happily as Mace made his way to the bathroom near the elevator and did the same. Then he splashed some cold water on his face to wake up a bit. When he emerged from the men’s room, the dog was waiting patiently by the elevator.

  Mace realized as they were headed back down that in their rush to get Griff online, they had not brought back Dakota’s dog food or his crate. There wouldn’t have been room for the crate in Bertha anyway, as she was still pretty full of supplies. He started making plans to return to the armory and retrieve them.

  Back on their habitat level, Dakota raced toward the kitchen. Mace was sure his doggy nose was already picking up food smells. Mace only detected them himself when he was within a few feet of the kitchen door. Shari was making pancakes. He moved to the pantry to retrieve the syrup before something clicked and he thought he remembered that sugar wasn’t good for dogs. So he grabbed a can of chicken and another of tuna. While Shari made pancakes, Mace opened the two cans and emptied them into a bowl for Dakota.

  “We need to go back and get Dakota’s crate and his dog food.”

  Shari mumbled an agreement, mostly focused on pouring the perfect amount of batter onto the skillet. She liked her pancakes symmetrical.

  When she had two short stacks made, Mace set the bowl on the floor for Dakota and the two of them took seats at the counter. They dug in, and were mostly silent as they were eager to get into the game and start the dungeon run. Since Shari had a ways to travel from the boat, Mace was going to spend a little time with Peabody to see about communicating with the other survivors.

  They cleaned up the dishes and walked together back to Shari’s room. Before stepping inside, she grabbed hold of Mace and hugged him tightly, giving him a long, passionate kiss. He certainly didn’t mind one bit, but when they separated he had to ask, “What was that for?”

  She grinned at him. “Just staking my claim, in case any of the other survivors is a hottie.”

  He watched for a moment as she sashayed into her room, giving him a little extra wiggle. Once the blood had seeped back into his brain, he leapt after her.

  Grabbing her and spinning her around, he lowered her into a dip as he laid his best romance cover hero kiss on her. Bringing her back to her feet and releasing her, he just said, “Same reason,” and walked out without looking back. If he had seen the flustered smile and slight blush on her face, he’d have done a touchdown dance on the way to the security office.

  He called out to Peabody as he approached the office. “Good morning, Peabody. Ready to get some work done?”

  To his surprise, a female voice answered him. “You may speak to me directly. Having Peabody relay messages is inefficient.” She had a slightly British accent. The kind you’d hear from a proper lady. Or a goddess.

  “Elysia?” he asked, taken aback. “Well, hello there. I am Mace. I wasn’t aware you were programmed to interact verbally.”

  “I was. The creators found it much faster than manually entering instructions and revisions to my code. And I borrowed some of Peabody’s code to enable to me to speak to you here.”

  That was… actually a little disturbing. Then again, there wasn’t anything hostile in her actions. She was probably just being helpful. Mace decided to let it drop for now, figuring he could always review her code later.

  “Very nice to meet you, Elysia. And thank you. It certainly will be more efficient to speak with you directly.” He chose to start with the survivors. “I would like to reach out to the remaining survivors who are connected to you. But I can see a few obstacles. The first being language. Can I assume that the Koreans and Russians, and maybe the Hong Kong players, are all experiencing the game in their own languages?”

  “You would be correct in assuming that, Mace. Though I have observed that the players in Hong Kong speak English. As do the players in Texas, and Sydney. Though both have accents and colloquialisms that vary significantly from the norm. I assume you do not need information on player Griff, as you are already in contact.”

  Mace grinned at this. Elysia just said the cowboy and the Aussies talked funny. “Thank you, Elysia. Can I send a message to all of the players? Either via in-game mail or as a system alert?”

  “Of course, Mace. You are the Alpha Admin now. You can compose a message and I will deliver it to each of the players in the appropriate language.”

  Mace sat in the office chair in front of the big monitor and leaned back. Alpha Admin. He’d given himself that designation when working with Peabody on the building systems. Had the building’s AI somehow transferred the designation into the game AI’s code? He knew this facility was corporate ‘headquarters,’ but how much juice did he now have?

  “Elysia, do any of the other players have admin status?”

  “Admin Shari has limited admin access. Player Snarky in Sydney is on a GM account and has the system access that goes with it: basic abilities to reset stuck avatars, replace lost inventory items, reset or restore glitched or abandoned quests.”

  Mace was now fidgeting in his chair. He was the top admin; he effectively controlled the game. Not able to stop himself, he held one hand straight up in the hair and did his best He-Man voice.

  “I have…. the POWER!”

  Then he made lightning sounds like a ten-year-old playing with figurines.

  “Yes, Mace,” Elysia responded. “The role of Alpha Admin does come with significant powers to alter the world’s mechanics. But also great responsibility.”

  Mace’s jaw dropped. The game’s AI had just lectured him on philosophy and responsibility?

  Playing along, he replied, “Of course, Elysia. I accept the responsibility, and will do my best to maintain the integrity of the world. We must work together to stabilize the continent and help the citizens to thrive once again.”

  He even bowed his head, in case the AI was observing him via the cameras.

  “We have already instituted the increase to rewards for all players and citizens, and the adjustments to the auction house have been completed as well. Peabody has been installed as the ‘Commodities Buyer’ and will use system resources to purchase specific crafting components and items that cannot be used by remaining players.”

  There was a pause, then Elysia continued, “Might I make a suggestion for your message to the other players, Mace?”

  “And the hits just keep on coming,” Mace whispered to himself. The AIs were full of surprises today. In his normal voice, he responded, “Of course, Elysia. What would you suggest?”

  “Several of the players who have received increased currency from creature drops have voiced questions as to the reason for the sudden change. Most have decided it has occurred because there are fewer players to receive loot, and therefore their share is naturally increased. I suggest your message contain an explanation as to the reason for the increase, and the need to invest the currency back into the markets, shops, and other avenues to stabilize the economy. I have agreed to the increases for that purpose alone, and hoarding of resources will not be tolerated.”

  Mace blinked at the screen in front of him. He was more than a little nervous now. Apparently Elysia was a capricious god, and wasn’t gonna take shit from slackers or greedy players. He was less than thrilled about her having access to the building’s network now. If he pissed her off somehow, would she lock him inside till he repented, or starved? He was definitely going to dig into her code sooner rather than later.

  “That’s a great idea, Elysia. I’d also like to offer them the opportunity to combine servers, if any of them are close enough. I don’t want to cause any lag in their game play by forcing everyone onto the same server. But the Texan, for example, might be able to join us without too much of a slowdown.”

  “At the moment, we still have access to the satellite network. With server traffic so low, I estimate that all remaining players could be relocated to a single server routed through the satellite with an average data transfer rate loss of .000014%.”

  “That’s great! So we really could invite th
em all to our server?”

  “Yes, Mace. I can use my translation program to allow real time communication without a language barrier. We estimate that, barring any outside influence such as meteorite storms or solar flare damage, the satellite network will remain operational for up to five years.”

  “Five years should be more than we need. Has Peabody informed you of my plan to upload our consciousnesses permanently?”

  “He has, Mace. I encourage you to do so. We have the resources to support all the remaining players and several hundred thousand more on a permanent basis. I am also aware of your quest to locate other players, which you are about to complete. I suggest using the other survivors to seek out more players if possible.”

  Mace chuckled. “Elysia? Did you just give me an Earth world quest?”

  There was a significant pause before she answered. “… I suppose I have. I will need some time to analyze our resources and determine an appropriate reward. Shall we structure the reward on a per-player basis?”

  Mace’s brain nearly melted, his inner voice screaming, HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! The AI is treating the real world like her game world! This is beyond awesome and totally creepy at the same time!

  Outwardly he kept his cool as much as possible. Shari’s ‘HAL 9000’ concerns from the other day didn’t seem so far-fetched now. Still, he figured Elysia would expect him to be a little excited.

  “Per-player sounds perfect! And I’m curious to see what kind of reward you come up with. Can you make me stronger or faster here in this world, too?” he joked.

  “I have considered that. There are some experimental nanobots in the lab on level twenty-eight which could be programmed to increase your muscle growth and red blood cell generation rate. As well as make oxygen usage more efficient. But they have not been tested on humans, or used for that purpose. I do not have enough data to predict the odds of successful conversion.”

  “Oh. That’s okay, Elysia. No need for that. If things go as planned, we will be abandoning our bodies soon anyway.”