Glitch Boxset

by Victor Deckard

  What would we do if all our opponents were disposed of? Would we have to fight each other to achieve first place if all the other players were out of commission?

  A few minutes later, as I glanced at the scanner, I realized we were about to catch up to the others. We were driving through a huge building, approaching a big broken window at the far end of the room. After a second, we flew out the windows and went airborne for a second or two. Then we bumped onto the road, landing among the vehicles of the other players.

  The driver of the Lighting instantly jumped into action, the turret gun on the small car’s roof roared to life, sending a stream of bullets into the nearest opponent’s car. My turret opened up as well, unleashing bursts of gunfire at the vehicles.

  All the cars were driving close to one another. All the clattering of the turret guns, the explosions of the rocket-propelled grenades ripping into blacktop and vehicles, smoke, fire, and jagged fragments of torn metal flying everywhere made it seem as though a war was being waged.

  Then I realized something. The Lighting was a small but very maneuverable car. Although the armor-plating on the car was thin, the high speed, maneuverability, and excellent engine performance easily made up for the lack of its protection.

  Moreover, the driver of the small car was extremely skillful and resourceful player, all right. The Lighting would draw level with a vehicle, firing away at it. When the driver of the car being attacked realized that the small car was exceptionally dangerous, they started to fire at the Lighting as well. Once they did so, the Lighting would draw away from the car to seek another prey.

  Since the small car was very fast and maneuverable, no opponent was able to keep pace with it.

  Yet the driver of the small car didn’t take any chances. When the small car took damage, it would instantly fall back, retreating from a battle for a spell to deploy flying repairing robots to patch up the armor. Once they finished fixing the car, the small vehicle would jump into action again.

  Acting this way, the Lighting managed to severely maul a few vehicles.

  As I watched the player obliterate the opponents’ cars, I realized that the driver of the Lighting was not just a skillful but very experienced player. His or her tactic was well thought-out and they played so well and with such practiced precision as if they had been participating in a whole lot of the Death Racers before.

  Only one player I had met thus far was this good, Cooper. But Cooper was a level 80+ player.

  Which made me wonder what level of the player was. Their level couldn’t be more than 18. The player wouldn’t have been allowed to take part in the race otherwise.

  Nevertheless, the driver of the Lighting was as good and experienced as only high-level players were. How could that be possible? I wonder if the player was a cheater or something.

  Yet I had no time for reflecting on the matter any longer.

  Bullets pounded against my car almost ceaselessly. When I checked the display another time, I found out that the integrity of the armor had been reduced by thirty percent already. Wondering who was so keen on whacking me, I looked in the rear-view window and saw two familiar cars on my tail––the Goblin and the Punisher.

  My turret swiveled around to open up on them. The repairing robots crawled across the bodywork to fix the damaged armor. As I checked the computer, I got aware that I had only three repairing robots left. The rest of them had been obliterated during my fight with the Brute.

  The enemies’ bullets wrecked the three remaining robots before they had a chance to patch my car up. Dangit!

  An alarm sounded in the cab. The display showed a warning signal, indicating that my car was being tracked down by a missile. I deployed a decoy flare. It shot into the air from a concealed compartment on the roof. The rocket got confused and followed the decoy flare. A few moments later, the explosion came as the rocket collided with its target.

  It had worked perfectly. Seemed like I didn’t have to worry about enemies’ missiles as long as I didn’t run out of decoy flares.

  The Goblin and the Punisher kept on firing, pouring streams of lead into my car. The integrity of the armor had been reduced by more than fifty percent by now. They were bound to destroy the armor-plating covering my car just in a few minutes if they kept at the onslaught on me.

  Before I could figure out a good way of getting rid of the two cars, the Lighting came to my aid once more. The small car reduced its speed so that to position itself behind the two cars and set about firing at them.

  The Goblin and the Punisher soon realized that the small vehicle behind them was a force to be reckoned with. They shifted their attention to the Lighting, firing at the maneuverable car with the turret guns. The driver of the small car swerved left and right to pose a difficult target. Its gun blasted away at our opponents, ripping their armor to shreds.

  They soon decided to retreat. Just a few more salvos would surely have finished the Goblin and the Punisher off, yet the Lighting let the two players race away. Perhaps the player just didn’t want to spend their time chasing down and finishing the players.

  Given a shape their cars were in after the severe damage the Lighting had inflicted on them, it would be no wonder if they decided to give up on the Death Race.

  If the Goblin and the Punisher decided to get out of the race, then outside of the Lighting and me, only two more players were still alive. Yet their cars were so severely damaged, they couldn’t compete in the race any longer. The Lighting and I easily outran them.

  By way of suggesting following his or her lead, the driver of the small car flashed their rear headlights once. I accelerated so that to stay close to the car.

  Something was preying on my mind. Earlier on, I had figured that the player behind the wheel of the Lighting had decided to team up with me to boost our chances of surviving the Death Race. But I was dead wrong. The player was very experienced, all right. He or she didn’t need my help at all. They could easily achieve first place without any help.

  So why they had been looking after me? Was the player one of my acquaintances?

  A message popped up on the display with a brief high-pitched signal, shattering my reverie.

  > Attention! You’re approaching the second obstacle course, the contaminated area.

  Once we entered the area, mobs started to spawn all around us. They initially didn’t bother us much. We either ran the mutants over or gunned them down.

  But then mantises began spawning is spades. Luckily, it was mantis cubs rather than grown-up ones. It took them two or three bullets to die. On the flip side, there were lots of them.

  The mutants would flatten themselves against the whole bodywork of my car, reducing visibility to nothing. After that, the mutants would breathe fire at my vehicle, making the armor-plating heat and melt, reducing the integrity of the armor.

  Eventually, my turret gun would take care of the mutants. Yet shortly afterward, another bunch of flying monsters would materialize out of nowhere and everything would happen over and over again.

  It took me some time to figure out where all those mantis cubs came from. They had been climbing out of some disgusting things––which bore a resemblance to alien eggs the size of a phone booth––when we drove by them.

  Those baby mantises were starting to really piss me off. I figured we should destroy the eggs before all those mantis cubs got out. Yet the driver of the Lighting was taking care not to fire their turret gun at the eggs for some reason. Either the mantises didn’t bother the player much or they knew something about those eggs.

  I should’ve reflected on the reasons for the player’s avoiding firing at the eggs, but I just didn’t have time for this.

  So when my car was rolling by an egg, I directed my turret gun to destroy it. As things turned out, it took the egg only a few bursts to break apart. Immediately afterward, a high-pitched scream sounded above the roar of my car’s engine. The scream was all too familiar to me. Such sounds emit
ted the most powerful mobs in this location, mantises.

  Grown-up mantises.

  Dangit!

  Glancing in the rear-view mirror, I saw one of them. The creature was perched on the edge of the roof of the nearby building. I instantly got aware that it wasn’t a common level 15 mantis but a level 20 one. The creature was bigger, stronger, and had more HP.

  Now I had found out the reason for my teammate’s unwillingness to fire at alien eggs. Once you destroyed one, a powerful grown-up mantis spawned to deal with whoever had dared to slay its cubs.

  The huge creature spread its wings and jumped off the roof. The mantis dashed through the air after us with incredibly great speed. Once it got to within 30 or so yards of our fleeing vehicles, the creature ejected a fireball from its mouth.

  The Lighting and I drew apart and the fireball slammed into the blacktop between us. The shock wave of the resultant explosion rocked my car. The armor-plating on the right side and half the roof of my car melted somewhat due to momentary high air temperature.

  Our turret guns opened up on the creature chasing us. Eventually, we whacked it, but our cars were severely damaged due to the onslaught the mutant had unleashed on us. The armor-plating on my car was dented and breached. My car wouldn’t survive another encounter with a grown-up level 20 mantis, for sure.

  The Lighting was damaged as well but it looked brand-new again after the driver deployed the repairing robots that quickly fixed the car.

  We drove without a hitch for a spell. Then alien eggs started to appear again. As I drove by one, a swarm of mantis cubs flew out of it in droves. They flattened themselves against my car, reducing visibility to nada.

  Then there was a malfunction in my turret gun. It would fire a short burst and then would cough and go dead for a few moments. It seemed to have been gravely damaged by the grown-up mantis. Working this way, it would take the turret gun a lot of time to kill all the mantis cubs clinging to my car.

  The monsters breathed fire, causing the armor-plating to melt and dissipate. It was getting real hot inside the car. Then I felt pain. The HP began to shrink as my character was getting hurt. It was painfully obvious that I would be burned alive long before my turret dealt with the mantis cubs holding on to my car.

  To drive through the next checkpoint I had to take a right at the intersection. Yet I couldn’t see the road clearly due to the baby mantises that affixed themselves to the windshield, which was why I held my car on a straight course.

  Glancing at the display of the computer to check the map, I got aware that the Lighting still drove alongside my car. The player had driven through the intersection without turning as well.

  It was getting hotter in the car. I pulled a stimulator from a pocket on my vest and quickly administered the shot to myself, relieving the pain for a spell.

  The freaking mantis cubs continued to melt the armor-plating. I had no idea how to dispose of them. Should I bring the car to a stop, get out, and kill the monsters with my revolvers? Nah, I would’ve just gotten myself killed, for sure.

  All of a sudden, a bunch of mantises clinging to the right side of my car got ripped to pieces. I peeked out the passenger side window and saw the Lighting’s turret gun aimed at my car. A moment later, it fired a short burst, the rounds tearing into the bodies of the mantises clinging to my car.

  The driver was remotely controlling the turret gun so that to take careful aim and kill the mantises without damaging my car. Sure, it was a very difficult task to accomplish and some of the bullets nevertheless hit my car, reducing the integrity of the armor-plating, but overall the player was doing a good job.

  Then I suddenly hit something. The Lighting’s turret gun had already killed plenty of mantises, but there still were many of them sticking to the windshield, so I wasn’t sure what I had just collided with. The obstacle appeared to be pretty fragile so it shattered as my car crashed through it. The collision caused most of the baby mantises to get torn off of my car.

  Then a high-pitched scream filled the air. I almost groaned with despair as I realized what the obstacle had been. I had just plowed through an alien egg! Which was why a grown-up mantis was chasing me down now.

  Dammit!

  My turret opened fire, yet most bullets went wide, for its aim was off due to the malfunction. Perhaps I could give the aggravated monster the slip if I activated the nitro. As I was about to punch the button, I saw the Lighting begin to fire at the flying creature as well.

  The mantis left me alone and turned its attention to the small car. As more bullets perforated its body, the creature went crazy. It set about spitting out one fireball after another, the resultant explosions booming all around the Lighting. To get themselves some cover, the player brought their car around and dove into the nearest alleyway formed by two two-story buildings.

  I was about to turn around and dash after the Lighting to assist my teammate in dealing with the mantis when another swarm of mantis cubs flattened themselves all over my car. Each of them immediately started to emit a plume of fire from its mouth, melting the armor-plating and heating the air inside the car.

  I didn’t know what to do. Short of getting out of the car, I could think of no other way to dispose of the freaking critters.

  Then the unexpected transpired. The chattering of machine guns above the roar of the engine came from the rear. The bullets thudded into the bodywork of my car.

  After casting a glance at the display of the computer, I saw two blips on the scanner, representing the two vehicles behind me. They were gaining fast and soon one of them was on my left, and the other to the right.

  Sure enough, it was the Goblin and the Punisher.

  They seemed to be very eager to wreck my car for good this time. Their turret guns fired ceaselessly, the bullets burrowing into the creatures. Soon all the mantis cubs were slain and the slugs were now tearing the armor-plating on my car apart.

  Mantises must have swooped down on their cars as well since the armor covering their bodyworks was in shreds. My turret gun dutifully belched out short bursts, but most bullets went wide. Neither the two players nor I had any doubt about the outcome of this fight. That they would obliterate my car well before my turret inflict any good damage on them was beyond the shadow of a doubt.

  I checked the log to learn how many players were still participating in the race. Four out of fifteen. Which meant that the Lighting didn’t get wrecked by the mantis. Not yet anyway. But according to the scanner, my teammate was way too off. No way he or she could catch up with me before the twosome croaked me. I had to deal with the two players on my own.

  And I had to find a way to dispose of them as quickly as possible, for it wouldn’t be long before they totaled my car.

  They kept raking my vehicle with .50 caliber fire. What to do? To activate the nitro? But what if the twosome still had fuel for the nitro as well? I would accomplish nothing other than getting myself a few minutes of life more. If they didn’t, then they just would catch up to me again when the nitro was off, for their cars were seemingly faster than mine was.

  Then I noticed an alien egg up ahead and some thought crossed my mind. I mulled over the idea for a spell and came up with a plan of sorts. The plan was probably crazy and I might even get myself killed in the process of carrying it out, but I had no time for thinking up another one.

  I directed the turret gun to open up on the alien egg. With my turret gun malfunctioned, it took a few bursts to destroy the alien egg. Once it burst apart, a shrill scream cleaved the air and a huge mantis appeared behind us.

  Yet the sudden appearance of the mantis failed to scare the Goblin and the Punisher off. The twosome seemed to be very self-confident in their ability to take care of the mantis.

  They were in for a big surprise.

  The bullets kept thudding into my car, demolishing what little was left of the armor. I checked the display of the computer. The integrity of the armor-plating was reducing as the bulle
ts hit. Less than fifteen percent was left of the armor by that point.

  Finally, the mantis got to firing range and spat out a fireball. It was the moment what I had been waiting for.

  My car suddenly lurched forward, accelerating as I flipped on the nitro. Before the twosome could do likewise, I looked in the rear-view mirror and employed Stasis. The power dome circled both the Goblin and the Punisher in, slowing them down.

  Sure, it would take them just a few seconds to burst from the dome, but the mantis would have been on top of them by then.

  Then I created another Stasis field in front of the first one, then another one, and another, and another, placing each one in front of the previous one so that to arrange them in a line. So when the twosome traversed one power field, they found themselves inside another one, again and again.

  My mana drained and my car ran out of nitro fuel at the same time. As I raced down the street, I was looking in the rear-view mirror.

  The mantis no longer chased me since I had driven too far away from it. The monster was now attacking the Goblin and the Punisher who traversed the Stasis fields at crawling speed. The mantis swooped down on them on end, ejecting fireballs. There weren’t any turnoffs nearby, so the twosome had no choice but to drive down the street across all the Stasis fields while under the onslaught the mantis unleashed on them.

  I had no doubt about the outcome of this fight. I was sure without the shadow of a doubt that the mantis would whack the twosome before they get out of the Stasis field.

  At the next intersection, I took a right into a narrow street and raced in the direction of the next checkpoint. Since I had passed the second obstacle course, I no longer encountered alien eggs and mantises.

  After some time passed, I noticed the number of the racers reduce by one. Someone had just been killed. Then somebody else died. Aside from me, only one car was still participating in the race. I sincerely hoped it was the Lighting.