Chapter 2: The Hunter

"Oi…” someone tapped Ned on the shoulders as he groaned, the pain had subsided, even with his eyes closed, he had felt everything that had happened.

At certain point his body had lost all feeling as he lay on the toilet floor like a rag doll. It was frightening and downright embarrassing. Ned groaned again as he slowly flipped onto his back and above him he saw a blonde-haired boy looking down at him.

“Oh…you’re alive,” said the boy, Ned however couldn’t get quite a layover of his face.

He blinked twice as his vision came into focus and finally saw the face clearly. Another circle, he thought, today seemed to be his day for running into circles. He had run into three and all three of them studied in the same class as him. He thought of a conspiracy that might be being played behind his back but he dismissed it quickly with a chuckle.

“Hey man, you’re fine, right?” said Garfield Hurst.

“No, not really,” said Ned.

“Do you need me to take you to the infirmary or something?” asked Garfield.

“I’m not fine, but I will be, you don’t need to bother,” said Ned.

“Well…” said Garfield as he extended his right hand. “Get up off the floor.”

Ned grabbed the hand and he was lifted, “Thanks,” he replied.

Garfield nodded and moved over to a urinal to do his deed. Ned leaned against the wall taking in slow deep breathes when he spotted his phone lying on the floor. He knelt to quickly pick it up and then leaned back against the wall. He closed his eyes for a moment as his body for some reason felt exceptionally weak. He looked at his phone and a red battery symbol showed up.

“Great,” muttered Ned as he pushed the phone into his pockets.

He heard the tap turning on as Garfield washed his hands and then he again turned to Ned, “You’re sure you’re alright, right?”

“Yeah I’m fine.”

Garfield nodded and was about to walk out the door when he suddenly turned. “Have we ever met somewhere before?”

Ned chuckled briefly, he had of course been in the same class as Garfield for the last year and the first week of this year, it seemed however he had done too well a job in the role of the observer. He had observed a great deal but never had he made his presence felt.

“We go to the same classes,” said Ned with a weak smile.

Garfield’s eyes widened. “I knew it,” he said excitedly, “You’re Edward Caesar aren’t you, you go to the chess club and all.”

This time it was Ned’s turn to be surprised. “How do you…how do you know that?”

“Oh come on, we go to the same class,” Garfield said as he coughed a little. “Is it really that surprising?”

Garfield seemed to have felt Ned’s disbelief so he decided to gloss over, “You do attend the chess club communes right, you’re a member?”

“Not a member but yes, I do attend,” said Ned and Garfield came rushing over and put a hand around his shoulders.

“Great…you can introduce me to Justine,” said Garfield and Ned’s mind went blank, he had never expected this.

“Justine Wilford?” asked Ned again to clarify.

“Yes,” answered Garfield. “She looks so serious and cold, it’s such a turn on.”

Ned couldn’t believe he was having such a conversation with one of the three circles in his class, what was up with this weird turn of events.

“Are you serious?” he blurted out.

“Oh absolutely,” said Garfield as he forced Ned out of the toilets with an arm around his back, weighing down on his backpack. “Just tell me if you need any help with anything at all, but just introduce me yeah.”

Ned could say nothing else other than, ‘Yeah’ and Garfield gave a clap on Ned’s back causing him to stumble forward and then leaving behind a cheeky grin the blonde boy ran off. Justine Wilford, he thought of the girl but then quickly erased it from his mind, it was true, she had a certain charm. Perhaps Garfield was a ‘masochist’, and a smile turned up at that thought. Suddenly in front of him the blue figure appeared again and yet again he walked through it before getting another great shock. He turned around to see the familiar blue figure floating in front of him.

“Alpha Eye,” said Ned sighing and then he quickly looked around, the area surrounding the toilet exit was completely abandoned, there was not a single soul there save him.

“Welcome player Thunderbird to Future World.”

Suddenly his vision blurred and then it reappeared and in front of him in blue words much akin to the Future World logo was ‘Welcome’.

“Your AR Matrix has been assembled and installed,” said Alpha Eye and Ned grimaced.

“I noticed.”

Suddenly in front of him in the same place where Future World was a symbol popped up, a winged cloud with two tails.

“Please choose your class,” said Alpha Eye, he appeared more emotionless than before noted Ned.

Ned not really understanding what to do, tapped down on the winged cloud and his hand felt a jolt like a spark of electricity and it disappeared.

“You have chosen the class Sky Razer, one of the more agile classes in Future World, Sky Razers are masters of the skies from which they fire down volleys of shots to obliterate their target,” said Alpha Eye.

Ned was amused, it seemed just like class selection for MMORPGs but then he suddenly froze.

“Wait a second, choice, I could choose the classes, why didn’t I see other choices?”

“You must scroll to see your choices,” said Alpha Eye.

“Well I could think of a better time to say that piece of information,” said Ned indignantly. “Take me back to the class selection, I want to go through the information.”

“Unfortunately, that is not possible, you AR Matrix has already begun remodeling to adhere towards your class.”

At the words ‘not possible’ Ned felt very irritated but the part after that made him feel uneasy.

“Remodeling?” he asked and then he felt the first-hand effects as the area around his nape heated up.

Ned groaned as he put his hand to that area and sure enough it was heating up.

“Please wait, the changes are being processed,” said Alpha Eye and it got even hotter, Ned closed his eyes and grit his teeth as the nape of his neck was being burned, he quickly pulled down his hand as it got too hot and then it cooled down at which point Ned gave a sigh of relief.

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“Your AR Matrix has been remodeled, Sky Razer has been chosen, you have also received the title ‘Progenitor’, you may now add other people to the game.”

“No thanks,” Ned said. “The less people know about this game, the better.”

“That is your choice player.”

Alpha Eye waved his hand and three screens popped up in front of him. One had a character model surrounded by boxes and information regarding him beneath it.

Name: Edward Matthew Caesar

Displayed Name: Thunderbird

Status: Progenitor/Alive

Class: Sky Razer

Rank: Gun Novice (0/150)

Health Points: 54/54

Armor: 2/2

Skills:

Weightless (Active)

Cooldown Time: 15 seconds

An ability to make the body weightless for a short duration of five seconds. During this period the player’s agility is increased by four points. This is added as a buff. The points return to normal once the skill ends.

Buffs:

The Firstborn (Permanent)

As a player that has received the status of progenitor, the player gets a permanent +1 to all their status points. This increase once your rank upgrades by +1 for each rank upgrade.

Stats:

Strength (STR): 12 (+1)

Agility (AGI): 16 (+1)

Dexterity (DEX): 15 (+1)

Intelligence (INT): 14 (+1)

Attribute Points: 0

The second screen seemed self-explanatory to him and there was something in the inventory as well. He clicked on the item ‘Rusty Iron Pipe’ it said, the most beginner of weapons. He tapped again on it and it suddenly appeared in his hands. Yes indeed, he was holding a rusty iron pipe.

“Oh…” he said as he swung it. “Are you sure this is augmented reality?”

Alpha Eye answered, “Yes, reality has been augmented, therefore it can be called augmented reality.”

Ned pushed the iron pipe back into the inventory when Alpha Eye spoke, “I will now explain to you the three interfaces, interface one is your profile interface, it includes all information regarding you as a player, interface two is your inventory interface and it contains all the items and equipment you currently own, interface number three is the shop, it has not yet been opened, you must become a ‘gun fighter’ to open the shop, do you have any questions.”

Ned frowned as he thought over all the information he had been given, “Not one that I can think of at present, wait what about health points and armor?”

“Your health points are the amount of health you have, once it is depleted you die, in game and you AR Matrix will be removed, armor is what the opponent must break to damage you.”

“Oh, pretty self-explanatory then,” said Ned nodding.

“Then I shall continue,” said Alpha Eye. “I shall hand out your tutorial mission, in tutorial mission you have three lives, if you die three times during tutorial your AR Matrix will be removed and your memories will be erased, once the tutorial ends, you only have one life, dying once equates to having your AR Matrix removed and your memories erased.”

“Now then your tutorial mission, a warning, other new players will have this same mission, you must race to complete.”

In front of Ned’s eyes popped up the tutorial mission much like three interfaces, and the mission interfaced covered the other interfaces.

Mission Brief: Your mission is to find and eliminate Rocksplitter. Rocksplitter, a player of Future World will divulge events concerning Future World to concerned authorities ten hours from now. You must find Rocksplitter and eliminate him before this happens.

Mission Objective: Find and eliminate Rocksplitter

Optional Objective: Find the information on Future World Rocksplitter is going to present to the authorities.

Task Rewards: 75 Rank Points, Tutorial Pack, 3 Attribute Points.

Failure: Your AR Matrix will be disabled for 24 Hours.

Players on Mission: 4

Warning! A hostile player has entered your core space!

There was a beep and the accompanying voice came without warning. Shocked he looked at Alpha Eye who didn’t appear to have spoken. He felt something smash across the back of his head and he toppled in pain and shock. A -25 appeared in his vision which he guessed to be his health dropping. His vision swam with colors as he turned to face his assailant. There were tears in his eyes and through the bleary stare he saw an outline. He had enough information to make an educated guess, one that was spot on.

“Trent!” exclaimed Ned.

“I knew he had sent it to you as well,” said the boy above, his face twisting into a smirk and the scar on the edge of it twisting horribly like a snake.

The boy looked frail like a stick everyone sane would be afraid of him because he was positively psychotic. Ned recoiled in fear clambering back.

“Where are you going?” leered Trent pushing him down with the head of the iron pipe, his abnormally long arms coiled around the pipe like a snake.

“Just let me go,” said Ned. “I didn’t even do anything.”

“Let you go and you find Rocksplitter,” said Trent twisting his head to the side.

Ned froze over, “You got the same tutorial mission.”

He looked for Alpha Eye but the AI had all but disappeared and Trent that twisted snake was one of the four players competing to find Rocksplitter.

“I’m killing you,” said Trent. “Less competition.”

Ned scrambled back and using the edge of the back racks he stood and then he ran. There was an angry screech from Trent as he heard a loud metallic bang. Ned however didn’t turn back and ran for his life. He was running in no direction, he just wanted to escape from Trent. He heard footsteps behind him closing in.

‘Why me’ cried Ned in his heart as he shrugged his bag off his shoulders and turned, he saw the long-armed frightening looking boy closing in with the rusty iron pipe raised above his head. Ned whipped the bag around and planted Trent across the chest and he took off running again. He ran straight past the grass fields and into the boys’ changing room. He got in cubicle and locked the door and then tried to slow his breathing down. Then he heard the footsteps again and dragging metal sound. He gulped as he tried to minimize the noise. He lifted his legs and placed it on the toilet seat and the leaned back as far as he could from the door.

“Are you in here,” came a playful voice and Ned unknowingly gulped and the voice erupted into a laughter.

“I can hear you.”

Ned’s closed his eyes scrunching them tightly and a word appeared in his mind. Suddenly his door to his cubicle was kicked open with such great force the top hinge shot out but Ned jumped up with such precise timing and he latched with both hands onto the top of the cubicle frame and with both legs kicked out. With a thud and a scream Trent was sent flying back, the rusty iron pipe in his hand was flung away and it skittered across the floor. Ned banged against the wall and landed on all floors. Ned didn’t give it much thought, he opened the inventory and pulled out his rusty iron pipe, in one swift moment he whipped it out onto Trent’s head and he saw Trent’s life gauge dropping, it was nearly empty. Trent screamed as he tried to stand up but Ned kicked him back both in fear and agitation and he swung the rusty iron pipe across timing it with Trent’s loud scream and it whacked across Trent’s temple and the screaming stopped, replaced with a deafening silence. Ned stood there holding the rusty iron pipe and gasping as he looked down at what appeared to be a dead body in all aspects. He watched the health gauge drop to empty and a sign displayed over ‘Dead’ it read accompanied with a skull and crossbones symbol. Ned moved over and gently prodded the body and it didn’t move. He suddenly felt nauseous and chucked the rusty iron pipe back into the inventory and ran out of the changing rooms. He ran onto the grassy fields when he tripped over having caught his legs on something. He fell face first on the grassy fields and quickly scrambled around to get a look and once again he saw Trent, this time however there was no humor on his face, only fury.

“What!?” Ned exclaimed. “Why…why aren’t you…”

“Idiot, did you forget about the tutorial rule?” asked Trent with furious smile.

“You’d have to kill someone in tutorial mode three times,” said Ned as he thought back to what Alpha Eye said and he bit his lip as he looked Trent who balled up his fist.

“You’re going to pay for killing me asshole,” said Trent and kicked Ned in the gut and a -5 appeared in his vision, he saw the depletion of his health gauge. “I forgot that we had three lives, scaring the shit out of me…fucking piece of shit.”

“I’m going to kill you and then stand guard over your body and then kill you again until it’s three times and maybe I’ll kill you again, to get rid of you permanently.”

Saying that Trent kicked again and another -5 appeared in his vision. Then he went to pick up the rusty iron pipe tangled between Ned’s legs. In fright Ned kicked out and his kick landed right on Trent’s chest who stumbled back.

“Little–.”

But Trent was stopped by Ned full on tackling him, there was a clear look in Ned’s eyes as his survival instincts kicked in and they struggled on the grass.

“Let go,” growled Trent trying to push Ned away but Ned clawed on like cat trying to find any inch of Trent he could do anything hurtful it.

He bit Trent in the arm and its reply was a furious screech and a backhand across Ned’s face and he watched life gauge drop by another three. He had less than a third of his health now but he struggled furiously and he saw Trent’s life gauge dropping. Ned somehow came around Trent and finally had him in a chokehold. The nails on Trent’s spindly arms raked across his thighs but Ned realized with somewhat joy that he was in terms of pure strength stronger than Trent and tightened his grip around Trent’s neck.

“You fucker…!” gasped out Trent. “I’ll murder you…I’ll…do…in your entire fam…”

Trent’s life gauge could barely be seen, as it dropped further and finally Trent stopped struggling in the chokehold. He couldn’t believe it, he had killed Trent a second time. Ned kicked Trent off and he looked down at the lifeless boy and felt no pity in his actions. He turned to run away again when he spotted Trent’s rusty iron pipe. He quickly put the pipe into his own inventory, depriving Trent off his weapon. He wouldn’t kill Trent again as soon as he woke up, he couldn’t take his chances and so he ran the other way this time past the changing rooms. From a distance he turned and saw Trent wake up and then there was a loud roar but Ned was already far away.