When daylight came, the weather wasn’t really that different from the previous night. The chill hadn’t gone away, though the fire had ebbed. Brad had retired and fallen asleep beside a hollow log while Blondie sauntered around the leftovers of the bonfire, a gun in her hand as though ready for a fight.
Brittany had no idea what the girl was worried about. The area looked safe to her, and her senses didn’t tingle like they used to in the Lost Zone. Also, she didn’t think that the Leviathan would follow them here, guessing that it couldn’t really get out of the forest. She hoped it was stuck inside the Lost Zone, for better or worse.
The sound she made as she got up drew Blondie’s attention.
“About time you woke up!” Blondie remarked as she went ahead and tried to wake Brad up. The guy just groaned in response. “We need to get to Sariel quickly and hope we find only weapons there and no trouble.”
“You expect to find trouble?” Brittany asked, frowning.
Blondie harrumphed. “I expected trouble when the game was on par with its normal course, but I have begun to expect more since the world reset, bringing in new rules, many of which don’t make sense yet.”
“Good point.” Brittany agreed. “It’s like the game itself has changed.”
Blondie shrugged. “But it seems the Lost Zone retains most of the dangers.”
“Hopefully, Sariel doesn’t.”
Sariel was a city rumored to be a dwelling in the caves. Most of its housing, stories told, were delved deep into the surrounding mountains. It had one entrance, a testament to the fact in the game’s ‘About Cities’ section. The gates were closed to them, yet there was a hint that they could be opened. A huge black lever presented itself to the side, attached to a thick gray wall that connected the gates to the rocky terrain of the two mountains on either side. Brittany had no idea whether she wanted to risk pulling the lever.
According to the original game, Sariel could be accessed by pulling the lever, upon which a guard would answer and open the gates, in response to a loud and shrill alarm. The welcome had been much more friendly and jovial then. Now, there seemed to be nobody in sight, yet there was a dangerous feel in the air that she couldn’t shake off.
“What do you wish to do?” Brittany asked her companions.
“We have to go inside,” Blondie answered, clearly indecisive. “There seems to be no other way in.”
“Nobody to answer either.” Brad pointed out. “No guards to welcome us.”
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“Game’s changed, Brad,” Blondie corrected him. “New rules, new settings. We don’t know what we’re going to find here. Hopefully, just weapons and ammo.”
“Hoping nothing has changed too much inside.” Brittany said, stepping forward rather hesitantly. Her eyes fell on the lever and, immediately as if she had seen something monstrous, she felt a tremor run through her body. Something was definitely amiss here. As she stepped forward, all she could think was that someone was watching her every move.
The atmosphere tensed around her. Even Blondie spoke in whispers, she who was always loud.
Brad seemed uneasy, looking hither and thither for any sign of activity, even hopeful if it was anything to go by his visage.
As far as she was concerned, it would be better if nobody was inside. This was their best chance of getting the weapons they needed to survive in the game. Even if nobody was inside, the Weapons Quest indicated that Sariel possessed a rich armory. She hoped that the game indicators were right, otherwise their entire trip here to this place had just been a waste of time.
Now, it wasn’t like she hadn’t explored the world before and had nothing to gain on such adventures, but right now, the game had changed so much that it had begun to feel unpredictable. Besides, the old rules seemed to make it easier for characters to survive. There had even been friendly monsters who would sometimes ally with you and provide you safe passage. Now, every monster she had met was hostile. Especially those she had met at the Lost Zone. Creatures were bound to get crazy in there. The darkness and the Leviathan combined would make them go insane. Yet still, they took no leave of the forest. Then again, the area was famous for not letting anybody leave. They were likely among the few who had not only survived the Lost Zone but managed to get out of there intact.
Pulling the lever down, Brittany watched as the gates creaked open inward to see the city entirely in ruins just like the game had said. But what surprised her more was that the city looked as though it had been preparing for some kind of space mission.
A couple of tall spires jutted out of the mountainside opposite here, its top sporting a circular launching pad, large enough to send missiles flying into the sky. She looked at the changes in the town with a mixture of admiration and shock.
“Damn!” she mouthed. “What kind of place is this?”
Blondie appeared beside her. “Looks like some kind of control station.”
“Control station for what?” she asked, sounding clueless.
“Maybe something to do with whatever they were sending into the sky, I guess,” Blondie replied. Blondie had the same confused look on her face when she looked around.
“Now what?” Brittany questioned.
Blondie turned to her and said, “Let’s go find some weapons.”
As they stepped forward and almost passed through the gates, they heard loud shrieks coming from the mountainsides.
Alert and terrified, they looked upward and saw a swarm of bat-like creatures descending down upon them, their bodies running with blue lines of what seemed like electric current.
Threat Detected
A horde of Lightning Bats are approaching. Do you wish to proceed?
Yes | No
They didn’t even have time to react to the prompt. Brad let out a string of expletives as the creatures descended upon them.
Brittany took out her knife and prepared to attack while Blondie and Brad got their guns out. As the creatures closed in, she wished she had some potent weapon that could actually help her fight.
“Screw this game!” she cursed and leaped into the air, slashing her way through the flying and zapping birds.
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