Chapter 6
TD Hunter’s new promo vid was all that got Lynn through the rest of the week. Any time she caught herself worrying about finals or looking over her shoulder, wondering what kind of revenge Elena might be cooking up, she distracted herself with visions of scything through hordes of monsters. Whenever Elena’s cruel words clawed to the surface of her thoughts, she visualized the lists of weapons and monsters in the TD Hunter tactical section, mentally reciting their stats. And, just to be safe, she kept a careful eye out and stuck close to her friends for the rest of the week.
No point giving Elena and her crowd an opening to corner her again.
Finals came and went without any more excitement than the usual betting on who would get caught trying to sneak their LINC into the exam rooms. They busted someone every year, without fail. Lynn never bothered trying, even though she knew people in virtual who could tell her how to get away with it. Unlike Dan, who was a “do whatever it takes” kind of guy—at least when it came to gaming—Lynn had worked hard enough at things that truly brought her joy to know that the rewards of cheating were never worth the cost. She’d rather have hard-won average grades than undeserved good grades.
Much to her delight, one of Elena’s sycophants who was in Lynn’s Algebra class got caught on Friday during their last final of the year. The idiot had at least used an RF shielding bag stuffed up her shirt to hide her LINC—there was one student last year who’d thought wrapping it in aluminum foil would beat the scanners. But the teacher knew what to look for and busted the girl with a single glance. The ninety minute exam flew by after that and Lynn joined her friends afterward, feeling on top of the world.
As they all made their way to the airbus platform, the guys chatted excitedly about a celebratory game of WarMonger they were planning that night. Lynn kept silent, for once not plotting to Larry-crash their Friday night fun. She had better things to do: specifically, take advantage of the sunny evening to wipe out every single TDM around her apartment. She needed to rack up globes, plates and experience for her extended excursion with Edgar tomorrow. She’d already pinged him her address and a time to meet and had gotten “Sounds good. See you then!” in reply.
Her mom wasn’t up yet when she got home, so she sent a message explaining she was going out to “hunt” and rushed to her room to gear up. She’d decided on the way home from school to finally use her TD Counterforce backpack. After all, school was over, they already knew, and what could those harpies do to her now? She took a moment to run her hands reverently over the bag’s sleek, smooth exterior before packing it with hunting essentials like energy bars, sunscreen and bug repellent, then filling up the built-in hydration system.
Since it was sunny and hot outside and she planned to stay close to her apartment building, she dared to pull on one of the TD Counterforce shirts. Not the nice polo, which she couldn’t bring herself to get sweaty and dirty, but a red sports cooling T-shirt with an image of a Hunter from one of the in-virtual ads on the front, while the TD Counterforce logo was splashed across the back. The T-shirt felt awkwardly snug—that is, it didn’t hang like a baggy dress down to her mid-thighs—but she forced herself to not think about it. None of the boys from school would see her in it and most of their neighbors who she might run into were adults who barely ever gave her a glance anyway.
Lynn felt equal amounts of relief and disappointment that the Varg from the weekend before was nowhere in sight when she emerged from her apartment building. It had been almost a week since she’d hunted the area and it looked like the imp population was back up. She expected to find a bunch of Lectas, too, now that they were no longer unknown. But she only found one lurking behind a power pole next to her apartment building. To her delight, though, there were still plenty of attack TDMs. They would put more of a strain on her plate and globe usage but she needed the practice.
She spent over an hour in furious battle, challenging herself on how many monsters she could kill per minute with as little damage as possible. Every second counted and her mind was so focused on calculating trajectories, timing and attack strategies that she barely noticed the few glances people sent her way. Of those she did notice, they barely caused more than momentary self-consciousness. She was having fun and kicking butt. Who cared what anyone else thought?
Of course, not caring what adult strangers thought and not caring what her peers thought was hardly the same. But she had to start somewhere.
By the time her mom called her in for dinner, she was sweaty, tired and thoroughly happy. She’d killed over forty TDMs, had made solid progress toward Level 5 and had picked up another augment that a gremlin had dropped. This one decreased a weapon’s energy use by five percent, which wasn’t much but was certainly better than nothing. She’d already slipped it into her Plasma Pistol’s second augment slot. She and Hugo discussed the math of how much energy it would save her as she trudged into her building and rode the elevator up to her apartment.
When she walked in, her mother took one look at her sweat-soaked appearance and sent her off to the shower. She emerged twenty minutes later, braiding back her long black hair and went to stick her head in the kitchen. She took one whiff of the cooking food and groaned.
“I’m so starved! I feel like I could eat a whole cow.”
“Aaand it hits,” Matilda said, grinning. “As I said, once your body realizes you’re really exercising and it’s not a fake-out, the system starts to work. How do you feel? Not the aches and pains but overall?”
“Great,” Lynn said, smiling. “I mean, I’m sore and tired, but overall I feel really good. Like, full of energy or something.”
“Exercise has its benefits,” Matilda said. “Enjoy them while you’re young. It gets harder and harder as you age. Could you set the table, please?”
“What’s for dinner?” Lynn asked while she got out dishes and silverware. “I don’t know why, but I am craving red meat so bad.”
“Well, you’ll have to make do with chicken, for now. But maybe we can splurge with a nice meal out once we get back your final grades and see how you did.” She smiled at Lynn, who grumbled in response.
“Don’t ruin the mood, Mom. I’ve got three whole months before I have to think about school again.”
“Uh-huh. Just wait until you’re all grown up and have to work for a living and pay bills. Believe me, you’ll miss your carefree school years.”
“Not likely,” Lynn muttered, thinking about her sizable, and secret, bank account. She’d take working for a living over constant bullying any day. Her mother just smiled, though and got back to the topic of dinner.
“Now, when the food is ready, don’t forget to—”
“Eat the veggies first,” Lynn recited, “then the meat then the starches.”
“That’s my girl,” Matilda said. “Also…I know when you tell a teenager ‘don’t,’ they usually do the opposite. But this time I hope you’ll take my advice. Don’t look in the mirror. Don’t get on a scale. Not for a few weeks. It’s healthy for bodies to change slowly and the differences will be subtle, so you can’t look in the mirror every day and pick yourself apart. As long as you keep playing this game and keep your activity up, you’ll start seeing the difference it makes.”
“If you say so.” Lynn tugged at her baggy shirt self-consciously, wondering if she’d ever feel brave enough to wear the kind of body-mold suits elite gamers donned for livestream AR and VR tournaments.
Dinner was sautéed chicken with cheese rice and a side of steamed broccoli, exactly the kind of cheap and easy to prepare dinner that working mothers preferred. Lynn set the table, then grabbed a bag of frozen broccoli to heat up in the microwave while her mother finished the chicken and rice. Normally the broccoli was the part she liked the least. With enough butter it was edible. As the vegetables microwaved, however, and the smell hit her, she thought she’d faint. She wanted broccoli. Lots of broccoli.
“Can I make another one, Mom?” Lynn said. “For some reason, I’m craving broccoli.”
“Let’s make sure your eyes aren’t bigger than your stomach,” Matilda said. “But one more won’t hurt. Lots of things to do with left-over broccoli.”
Lynn got the broccoli out of the microwave, dropped butter into the plastic baggy that held it, then started another. She eyed the steaming bag of vegetables as the butter melted, practically willing it to hurry up.
“If you’d like some broccoli before supper…” Matilda said.
Lynn grabbed a fork and dug in. Normally she’d tip it into a bowl, but she didn’t want to wait. Before she knew it she’d finished the bag.
“Thorry,” she said, her mouth still part full of vegetables. It had been so hot at first that she’d burned her tongue. But it had been sooo worth it.
“Oh, I approve,” Matilda said, casting an amused eye at Lynn. “I am wondering, though, who you are and what you’ve done with my daughter.”
“It just smelled so good,” Lynn said after swallowing the last bite.
“Iron,” her mother said, slapping her forehead. “Of course.”
“Iron?” Lynn asked.
“You were craving red meat,” Matilda said. “It’s high in iron. So is broccoli. When you exercise you increase the level of red blood cells in your system. That requires iron. So, craving broccoli makes sense, and it’s better for you than a thick, fat steak. All good.”
“Works for me,” Lynn said, taking the next batch out of the microwave. “Um…?”
“Go for it,” Matilda said, shaking her head with a laugh. “But let it cool a bit more and use a bowl.”
By the time they sat down to dinner, Lynn had already eaten three batches of broccoli mix and made a fourth for dinner. She thought there was no way she’d be able to clear her plate, but she ended up eating her chicken, plus some her mom had left over before finally stopping with a burp she couldn’t control.
“I’m sorry,” Lynn said. “I was sooo hungry.”
“Not anymore, I hope,” her mother said, trying not to smile.
“Nope,” Lynn said, then burped again. “Too full.”
“How far did you walk today?” Matilda asked, her tone a bit cautious.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I stayed close to the apartment,” Lynn said. “And I’m not sure. A couple miles I think with all the back and forth I was doing to get all the TDMs.”
“The what?”
“TransDimensional Monsters. The evil invading force set to wipe out humanity. I’m a citizen volunteer, bravely hunting the invading monsters alongside millions worldwide.” Lynn grinned.
“Ah, I see. Very heroic of you, dear.”
“It’s fun. I think I might even get a nice VR system and start practicing some kind of martial art or fighting style over the summer, work on my moves, you know?”
“Hmmm…” Her mother sounded skeptical. “Those are pretty expensive, aren’t they? I know you’re really enjoying this game, honey, and I want to do everything to support you, but…”
Lynn felt a moment of panic. “Oh, I’ve been, uh, saving up birthday money and stuff for a while now. Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to ask you to pay for it.”
A tiny crease formed on her mother’s forehead and Lynn winced. She could have kicked herself for slipping and being so blasé about money. What if her mom started to get suspicious?
“Okay, well, we’ll see. Just please be safe when you’re out, um, hunting, okay?”
“I’ll be fine, Mom,” Lynn said. “Edgar’s coming with me, remember?” The fact that her mom had smiled knowingly when she’d asked about hanging out with Edgar had been irritating. Apparently a guy and a girl couldn’t just be friends these days. But then, her mom wasn’t the type to pry into her love life—not that she had one, of course—so she’d let the smile go without comment.
“Yes, yes, I know. But that doesn’t mean you can throw safety to the winds, young lady. Just stay alert and have fun, okay? I have to get ready for work.”
Lynn rolled her eyes but smiled all the same.
“I’ll get the dishes.”
Matilda smiled back.
“I’ll let you.”
Saturday morning Lynn woke with butterflies in her belly. She lay in bed for a moment, trying to figure out why. She couldn’t wait to get out and spend the day hunting. Today would be a leveling day for sure, maybe even two levels and she was both excited and nervous to face whatever big baddies hung out in that greenway strip of woods. But none of that made her feel queasy. Then she thought about doing it all in front of Edgar and her stomach lurched.
Stupid, cursed, good-for-nothing teenage emotions.
The only thing that made such a thought bearable was the sure knowledge that Edgar would never, ever tease her about it. He just wasn’t that kind of guy. He’d seen what she’d lived through in middle school and high school—what they’d both lived through.
No point dwelling on it, she decided and sat up to get ready for her day.
She couldn’t quite bring herself to wear a T-shirt that would bare her arms. Besides, there were bound to be brambles in the woods, so more coverage was better. She chose a lightweight, baggy, long-sleeve shirt, a pair of jeans and her rattiest pair of tennis shoes. Then she spent time carefully braiding her hair tight to her skull so it wouldn’t get in the way while she hunted.
Funnily enough, it was her dad who’d gotten her into braiding her hair. Her mom rarely talked about her family’s tribal heritage, but her dad was always complaining about how he was jealous of his wife and daughter’s hair and how, if he’d been a “good Viking” he would have had hair to rival theirs. Of course, police uniform regulations prevented it. But he’d joked and cajoled her mom into teaching her a few traditional braids, then had resorted to combing the stream channels for how-to videos on the best hair styles for “warrior women” as he’d called it. Lynn hadn’t practiced the different techniques since they’d moved to Cedar Rapids, so it took a while for her clumsy fingers to remember the right patterns.
She tried not to think about her dad while she worked.
Once she was dressed, she logged onto WarMonger to quickly check some things. Fridays and Saturdays were usually busy days for her in virtual, so she took a minute to do some maintenance on her auctions and reply to her messages. There was one in particular she focused on, a client who still hadn’t made their payment and was ignoring her not-so-gentle reminders. She’d have to do something about that. You couldn’t stiff Larry Coughlin and get away with it. She shot off a message to YodaMaster, figuring he would be her best bet for assistance, then turned to the handful of requests to schedule battles. She ignored all but a regular client. To him she sent the message that Larry was unavailable but might be around later that night.
Before she’d even logged out, a response came back asking why.
Lynn considered before replying. Gamers were as bad a group of gossips as any pop-girl clique. Whatever she said would soon be promulgated through the upper player tiers. Saying she’d been tapped as a beta tester for TD Hunter would certainly up her prestige in the gaming community, but she wasn’t sure she wanted Larry associated with that game. Someone might put two and two together. So, instead, she came up with a generic Larry response that was the perfect mix of impressive, intimidating and secretive.
Larry Coughlin: If I told you, I’d have to kill you and your dog.
After that it was simply a matter of packing her TD Counterforce backpack—she added some extra water and snacks for Edgar, just in case—then heading to the kitchen. She forced herself to eat a healthy breakfast of eggs, yogurt and fruit, even though she really wanted to grab a Pop-Tart from the cabinet. She planned to snack on protein bars all day, so she might as well start out with some good fuel in her system.
It wasn’t time to meet up with Edgar yet, but Lynn decided to go ahead and start hunting anyway. She was still nervous about hunting in front of her friend and figured a good hour warming up would settle her nerves. The space along the greenway behind the last building of the complex still needed to be cleared and she preferred to do it alone in case that Varg showed up and her carefully rehearsed strategy didn’t work against it. No reason for Edgar to be around to see her beat a hasty retreat. Plus, she was very close to leveling and didn’t want to be distracted when it happened.
“Hugo?” she asked as she rode the elevator down to the front doors. “Is there any way to pause the game when you level so you have time to look at your achievement rewards and stuff without being attacked by new TDMs?”
“Unfortunately not, Miss Lynn, short of exiting combat mode.”
“Well, that’s dumb. You should log that as official feedback, by the way. Why splash a big achievement display in my view when I could be attacked by big nasties at any moment? Not to mention asking me to pick a new weapon. It makes me a sitting duck.”
“An astute observation. There are ways to change your leveling notification format, but perhaps in addition an option could be created to automatically exit combat mode when a new level is achieved?” Hugo suggested.
Lynn mulled that over.
“Maybe, but you might not want to leave combat mode right at that moment. What if you’re in the middle of fighting a monster and want to finish killing it? Plus, you can’t equip globes and plates without being in combat mode, right?”
“That is correct, Miss Lynn.”
“Okay, well, for now please warn me when you calculate I’m about five monsters away from leveling. That’ll give me time to disengage from any sticky situation before it happens. And, now that I know, I can always holler at you to take me out of combat mode if I need to.”
“Hollering will not be necessary, Miss Lynn. I can assure you I have excellent audio sensors.”
“I meant—oh, never mind.” Lynn gave up and instead focused on her overhead map as she exited the elevator. There weren’t too many monsters right around her building, considering she’d wiped them all out only last night. She’d start along the greenway, then, and leave the few here for when she needed some easy pickings.
She exited her apartment fully armored and stealthed. She wanted no surprises. It was easy enough avoiding the TDMs between her and the greenway and the one ghost who tried to sneak up behind her. She didn’t even slow to deal with it, just let it follow her until she’d reached her destination, then spun and sliced it in half right before it reached her. By now she could judge the most common TDMs’ distance from her by the volume of their telltale noise.
Creeping carefully behind the last apartment building by the greenway was perhaps more caution than she needed. But being back there, even in daylight, had her adrenaline up, and she felt better being cautious. The summer insects were not as loud as at night and she heard enough ominous clicks and rustlings from the woods to make her glad she would have a friend along when she explored them. She spent the next half hour taking out the entire row of imps along the back side of the building, along with their irregular ghost and gremlin guardians.
Despite her trepidation, though, there wasn’t a single hint of the Varg.
At the end of the line of air conditioning units, Lynn stopped and turned, propping her hands on her hips and glaring down the long strip of grass between the apartment building and the greenway. Well, that was anticlimactic. Maybe they really did only come out at night?
Lynn pursed her lips. She didn’t want to come back out here in the dark, not after working up the courage to track the Varg down…
“Trouble, Miss Lynn?” came Hugo’s voice in her ear.
“Not really. Well, sort of.”
“Pray tell, perhaps I may be of assistance.”
Lynn couldn’t help a lopsided grin.
“You know, you sure are nosey for a service AI.”
“Not at all. I am simply programmed to recognize situations where I have the potential to provide a service that falls within my purview, and your current behavior indicates confusion and uncertainty.”
“Okay…well, I was hoping I’d run into that Varg again so I could wipe the floor with it. But it looks like it’s not around. The tactical info on it said they normally come out at night.”
“Yes, indeed, Miss Lynn. However, might I also point out that you are fully stealthed? Perhaps the Varg is less inclined to show itself during the day for anything less than a blindingly obvious target.”
“Huh, good idea, Hugo. I didn’t think of that.”
“I do try, Miss Lynn.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t let it go to your head.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Lynn snorted and turned in a circle, eyeing her surroundings. She had a clear avenue of escape behind her. She stepped away from the closest air unit, giving herself plenty of space to maneuver. Then she checked her health, her armor and her weapon. All good to go.
Okay. Time to show that Varg who was boss. And try not to die in the process.
“Hugo, empty my stealth slots.”
“Done, Miss Lynn.”
For a moment, nothing happened.
“Come on,” Lynn muttered. “Come and get me you flea-bitten piece of trash…”
As if on cue, snarling echoed in her ears and she spun, looking for the source. By the time she remembered to check her overhead map and saw the red dot careening toward her through the dark strip that represented the greenway, it was almost too late. She spun toward the trees just as the Varg burst out of them and bore down on her like a howling freight train.
For the tiniest moment, Lynn froze.
Then she threw herself to the side, dodging the monster with only a hair’s breadth to spare. She struck out with her Nano Blade as she fell, catching the creature in the side as it rushed past. Her triumph only lasted a split second before the ground gleefully reminded her that gravity still worked. She hit with an oomph as her “Lynn brain” gibbered in shock. Fortunately, her Larry instincts didn’t need her brain’s permission to get the job done, because without any conscious thought, she rolled with her momentum and scrambled back to her feet facing the Varg.
The TDM, of course, wasn’t at all impressed by her amazing feat of athleticism—amazing, at least, for a sedentary gamer who had previously avoided any unnecessary physical activity. It simply turned on a dime and dove back toward her, making her yelp in alarm and start slashing in a figure eight in front of her. The Varg made no effort to dodge, simply absorbing the damage as it bore down on her, biting at her with a mouthful of fangs as long as her palm. Her display flashed again and again with damage. This time, she kept her cool instead of panicking and stumbling about. She skipped backward, moving in a circle to try to stay ahead of the monster, all the while stabbing and slashing at its big ugly face.
“Approaching fifty percent health, Miss Lynn.”
“Equip new plates,” she gasped, still slashing. If she’d had more breath, she would have delivered a blistering barrage of scandalous Larry insults along with her Nano Blade strikes. Instead, she had to settle for cussing the stupid Varg out in her head.
Three more rolling dodges and innumerable curses later, Lynn was down to her last twenty percent health. She had no idea how close the Varg was to biting the dust. The smart thing to do would be to disengage and make a break for it. Dying would get her nowhere but an hour wasted while the “cold chill of death” debuff wore off.
She considered the consequences.
Then she mentally flipped her finger at the consequences and doubled down on her strikes. Time to do a stress test and see what kind of Larry craziness she could pull off.
A second later, she nearly ran into an air conditioning unit as she dodged another strike by the Varg. She managed to avoid a collision and instead put the unit between her and the monster. For some reason, that made the creature pull back, which was odd because none of the other TDMs had ever treated physical objects—trees, bushes, benches, cars—as if they were there. They simply moved right through them. Whatever the reason, it gave Lynn a split second to equip fresh plates and take in a lungful of air before the monster redoubled its attack by lunging around the side of the unit. Lynn kept circling, keeping the waist-high unit between her and the Varg. To her delight, she discovered she could reach over the unit to strike at the Varg’s head without it reaching her. It only took a few more moments of furious attacks before the monster finally exploded into a cloud of sparks.
Lynn stabbed her Nano Blade up toward the sky, breathing hard but relishing sweet victory.
“HA! Take that you worthless piece of hairy junkrat!”
“Congratulations, Miss Lynn! An excellent battle indeed. You are on the cusp of leveling, by the way. Well within your five-monster limit.”
“Right, thanks for the heads up. I’m under ten percent health too. I need to walk off some of this damage. Full stealth, please. I’ll stick to places I’ve already cleared and hope nothing nasty comes calling.”
Panting, bruised and with her whole body throbbing, Lynn headed off slowly around the building back toward her apartment, keeping a sharp eye and ear out for monsters. When she arrived back at her building’s entrance, she snuck between the clueless imps she’d left alive there and put the doorway at her back. All she had to do was snipe one of the little guys and leveling would completely refill her health. She made sure she was at one hundred percent for armor and globes, then shot the nearest imp with her Plasma Pistol. It exploded and her leveling screen popped up, prompting Hugo to begin his usual spiel. Her health bar zipped up to full and she felt the tension leave her shoulders when nothing immediately jumped out and tried to eat her there in front of the lobby doors.
Lynn listened to Hugo with half an ear while taking stock of her inventory. There was a satisfying pile of extra plates and globes as well as a new item, something that looked like a capsule full of red liquid. That must be the Oneg Hugo had mentioned at the beginning of the game. Achieving Level 5 had given her five of them. She would have to do a little research to find out exactly how much health they revived and what monsters dropped them as loot. Fortunately, in addition to the new supplies, her max health and power had increased by twenty percent.
After her bonus display disappeared, she was delighted to see a new weapon selection pop up. Sweet.
One of the weapons she’d seen before: the Particle Dragon. Her second weapon choice, however, was a new melee weapon, the Plasma Blade. It had a bit more reach than her Nano Blade and instead of a kukri shape, it looked more like a short version of the Japanese katana. Like her Nano Blade, it had a cutout along the length of the blade that made it look more like a toy than a lethal weapon of war. Unlike her Nano Blade, though, it used a slight amount of power for every hit. It compensated for the energy use by inflicting fifteen percent more damage. She’d take that. She loved getting into close combat, so she chose the Plasma Blade over the Particle Dragon without a thought.
Next to pop up was a new achievement screen she hadn’t seen before.
“What’s this, Hugo?” she asked, eyes scanning.
“Why, how exciting, Miss Lynn! I am pleased to congratulate you on achieving the highest Level 5 kills dealt to damage taken ratio in the game. Your damage sustained per TDM you fight is remarkably low.”
Lynn didn’t reply because her eyes were riveted on the shiny new augment slowly rotating in her display.
“H-hugo. Take me out of combat mode.”
“Certainly, Miss Lynn.”
Her Plasma Pistol morphed back into a baton and her combat icons disappeared as she drifted over to take a seat on one of the shaded benches beside the front doors, her attention riveted onto the newest toy in her inventory. It wasn’t just some generic augment. It was a rare named item called “Skadi’s Glory.” The name echoed in her mind, bringing back memories of her dad’s storytelling. She couldn’t remember the exact details, but she thought Skadi was a famous hunter goddess in Norse mythology. The item itself was a personal augment and it looked like a large silver brooch etched with a beautiful twisting design. Lynn could make out what looked like the head of a wolf amid all the decoration.
Its appearance wasn’t what riveted her attention, though. It was the fact that its augment ability permanently increased all her personal stats by fifteen percent. Health. Armor. Detection. Stealth. All of it. That was huge. She’d have to double check with Hugo, but it sounded like the augment would grow with her, increasing her stats proportionally every time she leveled. There was a second benefit listed as well, something about a unique skin.
Eager to find out what it was, Lynn hopped over to her inventory and equipped Skadi’s Glory in one of her three personal augment slots, then she selected her skin customization screen.
Her jaw dropped at what she saw.
Instead of the generic helmet, chest piece and elbow and knee pads she’d worn before, she now looked completely different.
She looked…magnificent.
If she ever happened to be reincarnated a hundred years in the future as a space Viking, the Skadi armor would be spot on. It was a seamless blend of ancient and modern, with overlapping, scalelike plates across her shoulders, arms, chest and thighs, reinforced by larger solid plates in the most vulnerable areas. It was all black, but each plate was edged in ice blue that blended nicely with her electric blue weapons. Blue geometric designs decorated the chest and curved around the collar and shoulders to give the ensemble a distinctly Nordic look.
She couldn’t have been more pleased.
“Hey, Lynn. How’s it hangin’?”
Lynn jumped in surprise and grabbed for her baton out of pure instinct. Then she saw who it was and relaxed.
“Ugh, Edgar. You scared me to death. Don’t sneak up on people like that.”
Edgar shrugged.
“You gotta maintain situational awareness, bruh. At least, that’s what Ronnie’s always yelling at us when we’re in PVP.”
“Sounds like Ronnie.” Lynn laughed and scooted over on the bench to make room for Edgar.
A quick bit of subvocalization closed down her TD Hunter app so she could see her friend unhindered. Like her, he was wearing baggy clothes—jeans and a navy T-shirt advertising a football team she didn’t recognize. She wondered if he wore them for the same reasons she did. In their school, having anything less than hard sculpted muscles was an invitation for bullying and ridicule by the “pretty” crowd. He didn’t act as self-conscious as she often felt, but maybe that was simply because he was good at hiding his emotions.
“I didn’t know you liked football,” she said, for lack of anything else to say.
He shrugged again.
“I don’t. My dad used to play when I was little, before AR sports got big.”
He fell silent and Lynn shifted uncomfortably. She’d never asked him about his family. Having a…complicated family history herself, she knew how awkward it was to be asked a question you really didn’t want to talk about, so she’d never pried.
“Um, I hope you like the woods,” she finally said, desperate to fill the silence.
“Heh, you kidding? I love the woods. We had a patch on my grandma and grandpa’s farm back in Utah. Nice little creek running through it. Paradise, I’m telling you.” He grinned at her horrified look. “What? You afraid of a little woods?”
“No, of course not,” she huffed. “I just don’t like what comes with it. Heat and sweat and mud and bugs. I’d rather look at pictures.”
Edgar kept grinning.
“Never bothered me.”
And indeed, it didn’t seem to, at least not the muggy heat and bright sunshine. Despite the beads of sweat along the line of his close-cropped black hair and the little trickle that had carved a path down his bronze forehead, he seemed as chipper and happy—actually more chipper and happy—than she’d ever seen him at school.
“Humph. Well, then I’ll tell all the mosquitos to go suck on you.”
“So, that’s how it’s gonna go, huh? You fight invisible monsters while I fight the real ones?”
This time Lynn couldn’t help grinning back at him.
“Seems only fair. You’re a bigger target. Better bait.”
“Maaaan, you’re ruthless, girl!”
“Hey, somebody’s gotta save the world from this monster invasion. You’re just doing your part as my backup.”
“Your backup, huh? Well if I’m gonna sacrifice myself, you better tell me about this game that’s got everybody tied up in knots.”
So, she did. She was a little shy about it at first, but Edgar oohed and ahhed in all the right places as she showed him how her baton transformed and how the augments worked. He whistled appreciatively when she showed him her skin with the new armor on it, which made her grin. She even introduced him to Hugo, who he thought was hysterical. By the time she was done, he was more than eager to see her in action—which happened to be exactly what she was most nervous about. But she reminded herself that she had monsters to kill, loot to collect and levels to achieve. She didn’t have time for nerves.
“Well, wanna get going?” she asked.
“Heck, yeah. I can’t wait to murder me some mosquitos.”
They laughed and stood and Lynn led the way toward the greenway. Keeping in mind Hugo’s warning, she double checked that everything was at one hundred percent and that she had her Plasma Blade equipped and ready. It had the highest damage per hit of any of her weapons, plus used a fraction of the energy of her Plasma Pistol. According to the Counterforce’s monsters index, she might start encountering Ghasts soon, the upgrade of ghosts, and she wanted to be ready for any close-quarter surprise attacks.
“Hey, Edgar?”
“Yup.”
“Um, you should probably stay a good five or six feet away from me. Some of these TDMs attack out of the blue and I have to spin and dodge a lot. I don’t want to hit you by accident.”
“Sure thing,” he said, angling to put a little distance between them. “Any chance you can leave your screen projection on, though? You’ve got me all hyped up now, I wanna see these critters.”
“Oh, um, okay. It might be a little hard to see in the sunlight, though. It’ll look better once we get into the woods.”
Hugo projected her display without her having to ask and while she and Edgar walked, she pointed out the closest dots on her overhead map and summarized her attack strategies for each type of TDM. After that, she had little time for conversation because she left the area she’d already cleared and started getting stalked by ghosts and rushed by gremlins. Edgar moved back more to give her space and she lost track of where he was, focusing instead on her enemies and her attack technique.
They were close to the greenway when she spotted her first new Delta Class monster. She recognized it from the monster index and she stopped at max visible range to consider her approach. The creature was a Grumblin, the next level up of a gremlin. According to its tactical support information, it was highly aggressive and with a much higher attack than gremlins, but like gremlins, it was weak on defense. Additionally, like gremlins, it was more vulnerable from behind.
Switching to her Plasma Pistol, Lynn circled around it, keeping an ear out for sneak attacks. She lined up her targeting reticle carefully on its back, then did a double tap and a third—two rounds to the body, one to the head. The two rounds to the body had the usual effect of temporarily paralyzing the target, but she missed the headshot. She wasn’t even sure how effective they were in this game anyway.
The Grumblin was still for a moment then turned and charged her. She gave up finesse, back-pedaling and firing round after round as fast as her shots would cycle. Good thing she didn’t need to reload. Most of the rounds were striking the Grumblin, but it kept coming until it was on top of her, slashing at her armor and making her display flash red. She dodged and juked, trying to stay out of reach for a few seconds while she switched to her Plasma Blade. She was only partially successful, but at least once she had her blade out and started laying in on the stupid thing, it didn’t last long.
By the time it exploded into sparks, Lynn was sweating freely, though whether from the exertion or the adrenaline surge she wasn’t sure. She knew none of it was real, but at every red flash of damage she’d taken, she could imagine the feel of the Grumblin’s claws raking across her new armor. She was breathing hard and her blood pounded in her ears as she rested her hands on her knees for a moment to recover.
“Hey…Hugo…you sure Mr. Krator was making a…game and not a…exercise regime when he designed this thing?”
“The two are hardly mutually exclusive, Miss Lynn.”
“Humph.” Lynn glared at the grass, then pushed upright. She caught sight of Edgar a dozen feet away and at her glance he gave her a huge grin and a double thumbs-up. That improved her mood and she felt slightly more charitable toward a game that was basically tricking her into getting into shape in order to win. It wouldn’t be so hard if all she cared about was staying alive, rather than her competitive stats. But where was the fun in that?
She collected her loot in the form of ichor. It seemed like a paltry offering compared to the trouble she’d gone to, but she felt better when she saw the amount the Grumblin had dropped completely refilled her power bar after all those rounds she’d pumped into it.
Satisfied, she turned and waved at Edgar, then headed off again. There were multiple paths that cut through the greenway, made by the feet of various residents over the years crossing from one apartment complex to the other. The closest one she knew about was near the corner of the building she’d already cleared behind earlier, so that’s where she headed. On the way she told Edgar about the sounds TDMs made and said she was keeping an ear out for any new sound that might be a Ghast trying to sneak up on her from behind. Though she didn’t tell Edgar, she was also keeping an ear out for another Varg’s growl. With her new Plasma Blade and Skadi’s Glory, she felt much more confident she could take one on without almost dying in front of Edgar, but you could never be too careful.
As they entered the much cooler shade of the woods, however, a Varg wasn’t the scary thing she found. Fortunately, she saw and heard it about the same time it detected her. She recognized it as a demon, the upgrade of an imp. The only good thing about it was that it didn’t charge aggressively the second it saw her. Beyond that silver lining, everything else about it sucked—for her at least. It was armored on its heavy-set shoulders and chest, which meant shots to its center of mass weren’t going to be very effective. The claws on the thing were massive, each one easily longer than her palm, though it only stood about as tall as she did herself.
After pointing it out to Edgar and warning him back, Lynn stood there and considered her options. The demon eyed her right back and she could swear the thing was sizing her up. She shifted from side to side and its gaze tracked her as if it knew exactly where she was and was only waiting for its chance to pounce. Goosebumps popped out on her arms, despite the heat. Stupid, creepy little lowlife.
She had less maneuvering room in these woods, so she decided on a frontal assault like with the Grumblin. This time she would be prepared to dodge and switch weapons. Switching to Plasma Pistol, she set her feet, bent her knees slightly, aimed and started pouring fire into her target. Like the Grumblin, the demon seemed to be momentarily stunned by the onslaught, but then it charged. When it got close, she switched to Plasma Blade and was able to dodge and swipe at the monster as it charged past her, much like a matador at a bullfight. It turned all too fast, however, and was on her again in a second. She gritted her teeth and took the damage, stabbing and slicing while backing up as best she could on the uneven path. It took longer than the Grumblin to kill and by the time it disappeared her health was in the yellow despite all her armor.
Lynn relaxed and let out a breath, then tensed as her display flashed red. What the heck? The demon was dead! That’s when she heard the sibilant hiss behind her and she spun to stab the attacking Ghast in the face. She’d read up on these buggers too and like many TDMs, it seemed they were more vulnerable to the rear. Unfortunately, they had heightened detection and so circling them only made them spin to keep their ghostly, tentaclelike arms at the front. TDMs weren’t “real” though, no matter how real the game itself felt.
Lynn had already decided on a tactic to try. Instead of backing up and continuing to slash as the Ghast chased her down, she jumped straight through it, spinning as she did to keep slashing at its now exposed back. It reacted quickly, spinning to face her, but she simply jumped through it again, continuing the onslaught with her Plasma Blade. After the third time she jumped through it, it finally exploded into sparks, which was fortunate because she suddenly felt dizzy to the point of nausea. She wobbled, foot catching on a root in the path and was saved from toppling over by Edgar’s unexpected helping hand.
“Whoa, there, wonder woman. You okay? That was seriously epic.”
“Yeah,” Lynn panted, shaking her head to clear it. Did she have vertigo or something? She’d been spinning plenty fighting TDMs for the past couple weeks and after that first day or two it rarely bothered her unless she was dehydrated or hadn’t eaten for too long. “I’m gonna sit for a sec. You thirsty?”
“Uh, sure. Sorry, didn’t think to bring water or anything for myself.”
“No worries, I brought an extra water bottle and energy bar for you.”
After she gathered her loot—three plates from the demon and two globes from the Ghast, not to mention plenty of ichor—she exited combat mode and they sat on a nearby log to eat and drink. Lynn felt better almost right away, so she chalked the dizziness up to not taking care of herself. She needed to remember to resupply in the real just as much as in the game. Now that she was sitting, her body reminded her that she was not, in fact, a superhero but an average, out-of-shape teenager.
She told her body to go stuff it.
Before they set off again, she took a moment to replace her plates and globes, then used one precious Oneg capsule. To her delight, it took her health from twenty percent up to full. If she was going to meet more demons, Grumblins and Ghasts in these woods, she would need it.
Hopefully some of these higher strength monsters would start dropping some good augments for her to use. After a quick apology to Edgar, she also switched her display back to retinal projection. In the close quarters of the woods, she needed every edge she could get and she was able to react quicker and attack more accurately when she saw things as through a tactical helmet rather than hovering in front of her.
Since the display was gone, Lynn felt a little guilty, thinking Edgar might get bored, so as they delved deeper into the woods she started asking careful questions about his gaming with Ronnie and the rest. It was a safe topic and Edgar seemed to enjoy joking about how seriously their three friends took it all. Lynn was able to clear the lower-class TDMs they encountered almost without thinking, but whenever she met one of the stronger monsters, she waved to Edgar to let him know and focused her full attention on every second of her battles, her mind busily tracking patterns and noticing little details that would help her in subsequent fights.
The woods weren’t thick, but there was enough underbrush between the trees that Lynn took every opportunity to lure her targets onto the path before engaging. One particularly stubborn demon she had to go off-trail to take out. She ended up jumping sideways straight into a bramble patch. Her jeans kept her from getting too cut-up, but she had to pause after the demon and its accompanying Ghast were dead so she could pick thorns from her pant legs.
“You know, you’re pretty good at this.”
Edgar’s comment took her by surprise and she looked up to see him grinning.
“For a girl,” he added with a bit of mischief in his smile. “I think Ronnie has no idea what he’s missing out on.”
Lynn forced herself to laugh, though her throat felt distinctly dry.
“Oh, I don’t know. These sort of ‘bloody’ games aren’t really my thing.”
“Huh. Could’a fooled me. You look like a natural.”
This time Lynn’s face heated uncomfortably and she was grateful for the shaded gloom of the woods around her. She muttered something about “luck” and got back to brushing off her jeans.
“No, seriously, Lynn. You’re really good at this,” Edgar persisted. “Heck, I couldn’t do half the moves you’re doing and you’ve been playing this for, what, a few weeks? Here, I took a vid of your last fight, so I could show you. Don’t worry, I promise I’ll delete it as soon as I show you, if you want,” he rushed to say at her horrified look. “I wanted you to see yourself in action.”
Lynn was torn but eventually gave in to Edgar’s coaxing and exited combat mode for a minute to watch the video he messaged her. To her complete astonishment, it wasn’t as horrifyingly embarrassing as she’d expected it to be. In fact, it was kind of cool. Obviously you couldn’t see what she was fighting, but it wasn’t hard to imagine the invisible enemy that she dodged and lunged at. Her movements looked controlled. Purposeful. Not exactly graceful or flowing, but at least she didn’t look like an insane mime flailing incoherently. Well, at least until she jumped sideways into that thorn bush. That was honestly pretty funny, even if it had hurt like the blazes. She really should start doing some of those training walkthroughs on the TD Hunter app. She needed to improve her form. Who knew, she might eventually get good enough to look pretty impressive, at least to other Hunters who could see her space Viking armor and the monsters she was annihilating.
When the vid was over, she couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t reveal more than she wanted, so she simply shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. Pulling the guys’ chain as a group at school felt very different than hiding the truth from Edgar specifically. It felt disingenuous. But if she admitted she’d been hard-core gaming for years, she’d have to admit she’d been lying about it all this time. He was such a loyal, honest kind of guy, what if he decided she wasn’t worthy of his friendship anymore?
The silence stretched on, so Lynn said, “Thanks for showing me. It’s kinda cool, I guess. But I still look pretty silly. Definitely delete the vid, if you don’t mind. I’d rather not show up on some ‘AR gaming fails’ stream or something.”
“No worries, Lynn. I already deleted it. I just think you’re selling yourself short. You ever think about playing WarMonger? I know Ronnie is a jerk about it, but I wouldn’t mind playing with you if you wanted to hang out sometime.”
“Oh no. No, no, no,” Lynn said, raising her hands in protest and shaking her head vigorously. Her adrenaline had spiked at the mere suggestion. “That’s really not my thing. Besides, I have to focus on getting hours in for TD Hunter. They picked me to beta. They expect feedback, you know?”
“No worries. Just a thought.”
“Yeah, thanks but no thanks,” Lynn said. For some reason, Edgar seemed disappointed. She couldn’t fathom why. He wasn’t that into gaming anyway. Maybe he was desperate for a break from Ronnie? “Well, uh, I’d better get back to hunting. I’m hoping to hit Level 6 today if I can.”
“Sure thing. I’m right behind you.”
She’d taken some damage from that last demon—she still hadn’t figured out a good method of attack—but it wasn’t enough to justify using Oneg, so she decided to walk it off by exiting the greenway on the opposite side and walking along it behind the Heathers apartment buildings. That would give her more room to maneuver and avoid stronger TDMs while she walked off the damage. She and Edgar chatted about summer plans while they walked. He was starting a part-time job on a landscaping crew next week. Lynn was happy for him, since he seemed to really enjoy the outdoors, but inside she was cursing her luck, since it would mean he had less time to be her hunting buddy.
Walking along behind the Heathers apartment buildings, Lynn found plenty of weaker TDMs that she took out easily. She eased up on armor and globe use, trying to build up a stockpile from ghosts, grinder worms and crusher worms, the upgrade from the smaller grinders. The crusher worm was, thankfully, slower, but its “vulnerable” spot was about as vulnerable as the most heavily armored part of grinder worms. Even with her Plasma Blade, it took twice as many hits to kill them and her legs were starting to ache from all the dodging and leaping she’d been doing for the past few hours.
Once they’d made it to the end of the Heathers apartments along the greenway, they took another break for water and protein bars. Lynn asked if Edgar wanted to take a break to go grab a burger or something, but he shook his head.
“I like being outside,” Edgar said, pulling out a pack of gum and offering it to her. When she shook her head he popped in a stick and masticated it slowly. “We don’t have any green spaces near where I live. ’Sides, we need to get you leveled, right? If you’re good, I’m good.”
Lynn laughed and commented that she wasn’t really “good,” just stubborn as a mule. She wanted to go back into the woods and work back down toward her apartment building, now that her health was back up. She still needed to figure out how to effectively kill demons without taking so much damage and she needed the extra experience points higher level TDMs brought. Plus, she wanted more augments. She’d collected a few so far that day, but their bonuses were all very small, hardly worth bothering with. Stronger monsters meant better loot.
As if the TDMs had heard her thoughts, she spotted a demon as soon as she and Edgar went back into the woods. They weren’t following any particular path, just picking their way through the thinner underbrush. She’d filled back up on plates and globes before she’d re-entered the woods, pushing her stealth and detection to the max and it seemed she’d spotted the demon soon enough that she wasn’t yet in its range. It wasn’t looking at her, just glaring malevolently through the trees at the nearest apartment building.
Based on what Hugo had told her, she knew TDMs couldn’t hear her “normal” sounds, but she tried as well as she could to move through the trees stealthily as she circled the demon to get behind it, leaving Edgar where he was to watch through the trees. She didn’t have much luck being quiet, since she had no real woodland training. But she got behind the demon without incident and without detecting any accompanying Ghasts. After looking around and making sure she had some room to move, she crouched in a ready stance and started firing, pouring as many shots into its unarmored back as possible. It spun to charge straight toward her, ignoring trees and bushes as if they weren’t there—which they weren’t, to it.
This time, though, when it was close enough and she switched to her Plasma Blade, instead of standing her ground and meeting it head on or trying to dodge to the side without getting caught by its swift slash, she took a chance. The only damage she’d ever taken was from its claws and teeth, both of which struck her at roughly shoulder-level. The demon’s large, ugly, taloned, feet never seemed to do any damage. So, she ducked the first attack and rolled through its legs. Literally through them since they were insubstantial.
Her roll was awkward and slow and she wasn’t sure what to do with her Plasma Blade. She tried to hold it out to the side so she wouldn’t squash it. But even so, she was able to come up on one knee and pivoted in a backward slash that resulted in a red flash of damage on the demon while she completely avoided the demon’s swipe.
The demon, of course, turned right around and came back at her, claws slashing. She barely had time to get to her feet and reset in a crouch, ready to roll again. The maneuver left her dizzy, but she managed it three more times, each feeling a little more natural until she was able to get in two strikes at the monster’s back before it was out of her reach. After her fourth attack, the demon burst into a shower of sparks. She let out a gusty sigh of relief and plopped down on her butt right there in the leaves.
“That was epic!” Edgar said, winding his way through the trees to get to her.
“I think I really need to practice my front rolls,” Lynn said with a laugh. “It feels really awkward and I don’t know what to do with my sword hand while I’m rolling.”
“Practice makes perfect, right?” Edgar said and reached down a hand to help her up.
She stood, subvocalizing to Hugo for a battle report to make sure her own assessment of her tactic was correct. It was. She’d taken no damage at all. Of course, she was covered in dirt and leaves, had several new bruises from rocks she’d rolled over and generally felt beat up. None of that mattered amid the triumph of her discovery, though.
The triumph didn’t last long, as the Ghast she’d known was bound to be around somewhere chose that moment to attack from behind. She managed not to smack Edgar in the face with her Plasma Blade as she spun, but she did end up almost running into a tree and stubbing her toe on a root before she could kill the stupid TDM. She was starting to really hate the stealthy ones. Her annoyance was assuaged when she saw it had dropped an item. It was a generic personal augment which boosted her overall stealth by five percent. Not bad. She equipped it to use until she found something better.
Their progress back through the woods was slow but productive. Lynn got plenty more practice improving her roll attack. It still made her feel dizzy to roll through the demon, but it was worth it to avoid all damage.
At one point nearly halfway back to her apartment, she stumbled on something super weird. It was a double circle of TDMs, with crusher worms and gremlins staggered in the outer circle and a wall of demons and Grumblins standing shoulder to shoulder making up the inner circle. It appeared on her overhead map much like the circle had near the lake at the Heathers complex. Being a higher level now, she could see them from farther out than at the lake and she stopped as soon as she saw them, not wanting to get close enough to attract their attention.
“Hugo, could you project my display?” she subvocalized.
“Certainly, Miss Lynn,” Hugo said.
“Hey, Edgar, take a look at this,” Lynn said and waved her friend over.
“Whoa. That’s a lot of monsters. You gonna tackle that bunch?”
“Are you kidding me? It’d be suicide. Even if I charged right through them to attack their backs, then I’d be completely surrounded. They’d make mincemeat out of me. I’m just wondering…does it look to you like they’re guarding something?”
“Yeah, it kinda does,” Edgar said. He chewed gum for a bit, scrunching up his face and looking at the display. “It’s hard to see into the middle of them all, though. I can’t tell if there’s anything in there or not.”
Lynn had her suspicions. Just because she couldn’t see more TDMs in that circle didn’t mean they weren’t there. Maybe there was some high-class monster in the center?
“Hey, Hugo, do you think the app would glitch again if I got close?” she subvocalized.
“While I admire your spirit of scientific inquiry, Miss Lynn, I would not advise it. Remember, if you can see them, they can see you, or at least they might. Stealth is not always foolproof and some higher-class TDMs employ their own stealth as well. All you need is for one to target you and then the game is up, as the saying goes.”
“Yeah.” She stood there for a moment, weighing the risks. Finally, she decided to let it go. If she died, the penalty debuff would reduce all her stats to half and she’d be basically crippled. She didn’t want to lose an hour of gaining experience just to satisfy her curiosity.
“Come on, Edgar. Maybe when I’m a higher level, I’ll come back and check these guys out.”
They gave the odd cluster a wide berth, then continued clearing the greenway. Unfortunately for her kill to damage ratio, both Grumblins and Ghasts had attacks that reached close to the ground, so she couldn’t use her new roll-through technique on them. But Grumblins were slower than demons and she got better at the back and forth dodging to avoid their most powerful slashes. Ghasts she was starting to truly hate. She didn’t like the damage she took jumping through them to kill them quickly from behind, but she couldn’t seem to back up fast enough to stay away from them either.
They were nearing the point along the greenway that was closest to her apartment building when Lynn got the unknown TDM alert on her display and in her ear from Hugo. Unfortunately, the unknown was parked right in the middle of a thick patch of brush, so she couldn’t circle around to get a better idea of what she was walking into. With all the loot and experience she’d gotten from her first unknown, though, there was no way she was going to leave this one be. So, she equipped her Plasma Pistol, stood at the very edge of her detection range, then started pouring fire into it. No sooner had the first bolt left her pistol’s muzzle than she was inundated by return fire, the red bolts streaking out from a thick patch of brush. She jumped back, nearly running into Edgar, who immediately stepped off to the side to give her room to fight whatever invisible thing she was trying to avoid.
Several paces back, she finally seemed to leave the monster’s detection range and the fire ceased. Lynn took stock while grumbling to herself under her breath.
“I do not believe that TDMs technically have mothers, Miss Lynn and even if they did, they do not have the correct anatomy to accomplish such a feat as you describe.”
“Newsflash, Hugo,” she subvocalized, “when people curse under their breath, it’s not so you can critique their style.”
“Understood, Miss Lynn, I was simply pointing out—”
“Unless you have something constructive to tell me about this unknown, then shut it, will you?”
“Ah, of course. It is a probable Delta Class-3 or 4 and possesses a significant ranged attack.”
“No duh, Einstein.”
“No other details could be ascertained in the brief time your battle system had to analyze the target.”
“Surprise, surprise,” Lynn subvocalized. She could no longer see the sparkling mist that represented her target, but she’d kept her eyes fixed on the point in the brush where the bolts had come from. “Hugo, can you mark the point I’m looking at as the bogie’s probable location?”
An aiming reticle appeared right on target and she looked away to double check her armor and globes. She switched out a few of each that were nearing depletion, then checked her health. The bar had been full before she’d run into the unknown and now it was down at ninety percent. The unknown had gotten off five or so shots in the few seconds she’d been within range, which did not bode well for her ultimate survival. On the other hand, it was nearing dinnertime, she was exhausted and she still had Oneg to use in a pinch. If she was outmatched and ended up dying, it wouldn’t ruin her entire day.
“Hey, Lynn, you okay?” Edgar asked from his spot off to the side. Apparently she’d been standing there glaring at nothing for long enough that he’d gotten worried.
“Yeah, I’m good. I just found a really strong unknown and I’m deciding the best way to attack it. I might end up dying, but hey, no pain no gain.” She shrugged.
“That’s the spirit!” Hugo said in her ear.
“I’m sure you’ll totally kick its butt,” Edgar offered, his expression one hundred percent sincere.
“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” Lynn said and made her decision. She had no idea how much damage this monster could sustain, so in a straight firefight, her chances probably weren’t good. Based on the last unknown she’d found, it would probably be more effective to charge in and stab it to death with her heaviest hitter, her Plasma Blade. Not that she wanted to rush into that thick brush, but it was that or give up on a pile of experience and rewards for ID-ing another unknown.
“All right, you miserable bastard,” she muttered. “It’s you or me. Let’s do this.”
She charged. Within a few steps, the unknown reappeared in her targeting display and she immediately started shooting as she ran. Right away her fire was returned and her vision flashed a rhythmic red as she took hit after hit. She bore down on the sparkling mist, but as she neared, the entity began to retreat.
“Oh no you don’t!” Lynn growled, executing a swift weapon change. She lunged for her enemy, stabbing and slashing with the same moves she used on Grumblins. The mist flashed red with every strike and she could only hope she was doing significant damage and not simply glancing off an armored front. She was taking steady damage herself and figured she could only keep this up for another twenty or thirty seconds before she had to back off.
The problem was the thing kept retreating. It even started dodging side to side to avoid her swipes and she had a heck of a time keeping up with it through the brush. Branches tore at her clothes and she caught more than one faceful of leaves as she used her free arm to try and clear herself a path. Her Plasma Blade handle was starting to feel uncomfortably warm. She gripped it tighter in her sweaty hand and kept swinging, trying to gain some ground on the retreating mist.
And then she ran into a tree.
She bounced off the solid trunk and fell backward on her butt, landing awkwardly on the slender omni-polymer of her Plasma Blade. She felt something snap beneath her, her AR display went blank and then she smelled smoke.
“Holy—” Lynn yelled and rolled away, then scuttled backward away from the smoking and sparking Plasma Blade. To her horror, a tiny lick of flame appeared where the weapon was touching the dry bed of leaves. She froze, knowing she should do something but in too much shock to think what it was. That was when Edgar appeared, bulldozing through the undergrowth like a mountain bear and started stomping on the Plasma Blade. It was soon pounded quite thoroughly into the dirt and he finally stopped attacking it.
“You okay, Lynn? I, uh, heard you yell and couldn’t see anything, so I just came running…”
“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Must’ve been some weird equipment malfunction. I mean, I did run into a tree, but I’m pretty sure I’ll heal fine from that.”
Edgar sucked in a breath through his teeth in sympathy.
“Yeah, you got quite a bump on your forehead, there. I think the tree won that one.”
That startled a reluctant chuckle out of Lynn and she finally took a deep breath and let it out as the adrenaline of her fight started to fade.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Now help me up will you?”
He offered her a hand and she groaned as she got to her feet. She was definitely going to have some bruises tomorrow.
Lynn walked over to her poor, abused Plasma Blade and poked it with her toe, feeling a sick pit form in her stomach. Nothing happened, so she bent and gingerly picked it up. It was snapped in half and the two halves were partially melted at the breaking point, their form halfway between a blade and baton. It still felt unusually warm. Definitely some kind of malfunction, but what had caused it? Her falling on it because she was a moronic klutz? Probably. Edgar’s stomping hadn’t helped, she was sure, but it had already caught flame by then. It was not going to be fun explaining this to TD Hunter’s technical support team.
Speaking of technical support…she took off her AR glasses and examined them. There were a few scratches, but other than that, the impact with the tree didn’t seem to have damaged them. That was a relief since they were probably way more expensive than the baton she’d broken.
She tried to bring up her LINC menu to restart the app and felt the sick pit in her stomach drop down between her toes as she realized that her LINC was unresponsive. Her fancy, new, custom LINC that Mr. Krator had given her. But what had happened to it? It didn’t look damaged. Maybe it had gotten jostled in all the ruckus? All she could do was go home, re-sync with her old LINC and hope that TD Hunter technical support was understanding.
“Well, I guess we’re done for the day,” she sighed. “I think I broke my LINC.”
“Man, really? I’m sorry, Lynn. That sucks.”
“Yeah. But at least it means I can take a shower and get out of these sweaty clothes.”
Edgar laughed.
“You look like you went a couple rounds with a mountain lion, Lynn, I’m telling you.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny.”
“I’m serious! Just wait till you get home and look at yourself in the mirror.”
Lynn rolled her eyes but couldn’t be mad, not at the easy humor in Edgar’s face. Then she looked down at herself and gasped. He was right. She was absolutely covered in dirt and leaves and there were several tears in her baggy shirt. Plus, the shirt was thoroughly soaked with sweat around her arm and chest area and she suddenly became acutely aware of how it clung to her curvy frame. Edgar didn’t seem to notice—at least not in the way males in general had always seemed to notice and been unable to keep their eyes off her chest ever since she’d hit puberty. Even without that, though, she felt even hotter and itchier than ever and had to resist the urge to cross her arms over her chest to hide it from view.
“Look, let’s just get back to the apartment, okay?”
They trudged out of the woods and through her complex, all the while Edgar spinning a more and more ridiculous tale about the supposed mountain lion she’d wrestled. She let him do it. He seemed to think it was hysterical.
“Why, Miz Raven. Are you quite all right? Are you in need of assistance?”
The elderly voice took Lynn by surprise and she looked up to see Mr. Thomas coming out of the apartment complex’s activity center. He looked quite alarmed and when his eyes flicked to Edgar, his expression was wary.
It took Lynn a second to realize what was going on and when she did, her face blazed with embarrassment.
“What? Oh—Ohhhhh, no, no, no, Mr. Thomas, I’m fine, really. This is my friend, Edgar Johnston. He’s been hanging out with me while I’ve been hunting monsters in the greenway. Remember, you said to take a friend if I was going in the woods?”
The old man visibly relaxed and he smiled.
“Well, if I’d known your excursion would be quite so harrowing, I would have advised you to take multiple friends.”
“See?” Edgar said and nudged her in the ribs. “I told you. Mountain lion.”
“I beg pardon, young man?”
“Nothing,” Lynn jumped in, wanting to escape the situation as quickly as possible. “Thanks for checking up on me, Mr. Thomas. I appreciate it. Those woods are just thick with brush and you know TD Hunter is pretty physical. I’m going home to clean up now.”
“A wise decision,” Mr. Thomas said and his eyes seemed to twinkle with good-natured humor. His gaze also didn’t drift down to her chest the way she’d come to expect from men and she felt a rush of gratitude.
“Well, see you around, Mr. Thomas,” Lynn said.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, young man,” the old man said and tipped an imaginary hat with his boney hand.
“You too, Mr. Thomas,” Edgar said with a respectful nod.
They continued on and once out of earshot Edgar chuckled.
“I’m gonna hafta start calling you ‘Lynn the Mountain Lion Wrestler’ or something.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Lynn said in her most intimidating tone.
“Yeah, I guess it don’t quite roll off the tongue,” Edgar said, chewing gum and looking at the sky for inspiration. “How ’bout ‘Lynn: Warrior Princess’?”
“No.”
“Lynn Queen of the Wastelands?”
“Oh, shut up.”
“For real, though, you were awesome today,” Edgar said. “You actually make me want to play once the game comes out. I wasn’t gonna, cuz I’m getting this job and everything. But if you play with me, I think it’d be maxed-out fun.”
Lynn pretended to grumble a little more, but inside she glowed. It felt so good to finally share something she really loved with a friend who wasn’t just an avatar in virtual. As long as Edgar didn’t ask any more awkward questions about how she’d been picked as beta, it would be great.
When they reached the entrance to her apartment building, they both stopped and stood for a moment in awkward silence. Was he waiting for her to do something?
“Well, uh, see you around, I guess?” Edgar said and stuck his hands in his pockets, slowly chewing.
“Yeah,” Lynn said. “Um, thanks a lot for hanging out with me today. You probably saved me from starting a forest fire or something.”
The joke felt weak but Edgar threw his head back and laughed. He had a booming laugh, like a bass drum. It was good to see him so expressive compared to how guarded he’d always been at school.
“Maybe next time we’ll find some critter for you to wrestle,” he said after he’d taken a breath. “You could always start with a stray cat and work your way up.”
Lynn mock glared at him.
“Get out of here.”
Still chortling, he waved and turned to go.
“Ping me when you get your stuff fixed,” he called over his shoulder. “I’d love to be there when you take out that last one you missed.”
“Yeah. I’ll let you know.”
Not wanting to stare awkwardly after him, Lynn turned and trudged into her building. She was thoroughly worn out, her legs ached and now that Edgar was gone, the sick feeling in her stomach was back. She really, really hoped the TD Hunter people weren’t mad at her for breaking their equipment.