I stared up at Natalie, her long blue hair in a messy bun. Her gray eyes were fixed on my face, as she placed the head gear on my head, “So what's virtual reality feel like?”

She paused for a moment placing her index finger against her chin, “Well…”

I raised my eyebrows waiting for the answer.

“It's kinda like a dream. Diving feels like falling asleep, and when you log out it is like waking up from a really intense dream,” she said finally.

I nodded, “Okay, cool. Dreaming doesn't sound too bad.”

She gently pushed me down till I laid flat on my back.

She gave me a small wink before saying, “See you on the other side.”

The head gear turned on, and everything went black.

“Welcome Seraph Lance to Dead Zone Online. Please enter your character name.”

I opened my eyes as the robotic female voice called out. A room of pure white surrounded me, a stark contrast to the darkness. In front of me was a prompt asking for me to enter a name. I tapped on the empty space and a holographic keyboard appeared below the prompt. Taking a second, I thought hard about what my name should be. In the past when I played video games I'd pick something like Mike Oxmall, but this felt different. It wasn't all fun and games. My entire life was riding on this opportunity.

I started to slowly type on the keyboard and when I finished the blank space now read Azrael. The angel Of death. It felt right. It felt like me. My name, Seraph, means angelic being, so why not an angelic being of death. My intent was killing people. Well other players, not actual people, and when it came to Natalie, I became her saving grace.

I grinned and pressed enter.

The robotic voice spoke again This time saying, “Thank you Azrael. You will now enter Dead Zone Online. Enjoy.”

Everything went dark again, almost as if I just entered an endless abyss. After several seconds a bright light appeared in front of me. I immediately began walking toward the source, and as I got closer the light got brighter. Eventually the darkness faded away, turning into a bustling city. Players ran all about, shopping, chatting, and heading for adventures unknown. I looked around at the rustic place. The war torn area looked like something out of a movie. I spun in a slow circle taking it all in. Everything about this world overwhelmed my senses.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned to face the source I found Nat. In all her beauty she stood before me, but instead of wearing a t-shirt and jeans she was decked out in a black military style uniform with body armor. On her hip sat a holstered pistol. Her blue hair fell to her shoulders and her eyes and lips were lined heavily with black makeup.

“Hey recruit,” she said playfully as she flashed me a wide smile.

“Uh hey. How did you find me so fast?” I asked.

She shrugged, “I'd recognize you anywhere. Anyways, come on, we've got a lot to do.”

“You got it. Lead the way.”

We began walking and she led me down a street that went right through the center of the square.

“So where are we?” I asked.

She gestured to the surrounding area, “This is the main hub. Here all players can come and intermingle, purchase, sell, and find new quests and bounties. This is also the starter location for new players, and it comes with a small tutorial. You however will be skipping that and jumping straight into your faction.”

I looked at her confused, “Why would I skip the tutorial? Also faction. Why a faction?”

We turned down an alleyway and crossed to another street heading toward a giant gate.

“You have to join a faction to participate in the event, so you'll be joining the Death Stalkers.”

“The Death Stalkers huh. Sounds evil and sadistic,” I retorted.

She looked at me and raised her eyebrow, “You'd think, but it fights for a good cause. They again I could just be biased. None of that matters though, because you don't get a choice. You go where I go. Now let's hurry up before it gets dark.”

I stopped and stared at her, “What happens when it gets dark?”

She turned and looked at me and said with a serious tone, “In the wasteland? Very bad things.”

We reached the outskirts of the city just as the sun began to set. We maybe had two more hours of daylight left. I wanted to press the matter, but I trusted Nat to keep us safe. Natalie stopped for a moment and pulled out a compass. Looking down at the small green object she began slowly turning until she found the direction she was looking for. Without a word of warning, she hastily made way for the nearby tree line with me close behind.

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She rounded a set of large boulders, and just behind them was a large object obscured by some type of camouflage netting. Nat grabbed two fists full of the netting and pulled it away. The object underneath was a beat up UTV. Without hesitation Nat hopped into the driver's seat. She inserted the key and brought the engine to life.

“Come on Seraph we have to go,” she said motioning for me to get in.

I nodded and took up residence in the passenger seat. Once I was seated and buckled up, Natalie reached into the back seat and pulled forth an AR with some sort of scope on top. She held the gun out to me and I gave her a questioning look.

“Take it. You never know what type of situation we'll find ourselves in once we exit the safe zone,” she said, pushing the rifle into my hands.

I took the gun and looked it over before saying, “Natalie, I don't even know how to use this.”

“It's simple. Flip that little switch down there, aim, pull the trigger. That magazine has thirty rounds in it, so make ‘em count,” with those words she put the vehicle in drive and we were off.

It didn't take long before we exited the woods, and entered an open field. Natalie jerked the wheel to the right, and we skidded on to a gravel path. We traveled along this path for a long while. All the while, the light from the sun grew dimmer.

“Hey, Nat, how close are we to wherever we're going?” I asked, breaking the silence.

She called out to me over the rushing wind, “Not far. Also a heads up, when we're around other people we need to call each other by our character names.”

“You got it, Tyranny,” I responded sarcastically.

She glared at me from the corner of her eyes.

I held up my hands in defeat, “Okay, sorry.”

I furrowed my eyebrows as something zipped past my head with a snap.

“What was that?” I asked.

Nat looked in the side mirror and her eyes went wide.

“Get down!” she shouted, as she grabbed my head and pushed it down.

Right after a hailstorm of bullets began impacting around us. One round hit the mirror on my side, shattering the glass.

“Fuck! What do we do?” I screamed.

Natalie pulled out her pistol and aimed in the direction of our attacker. She pulled the trigger several times, and I heard another motorized vehicle veer off and crash before exploding.

She turned back around and looked at me, “Pick up at the rifle and get ready. More are coming.”

If I didn't shit my pants before, I would now. She wanted me to shoot at people, while they shot at us.

“Seraph!” she yelled, “We don't have time for you to shut down! Pick up the rifle and get ready!”

I took a deep breath as I picked the rifle up with shaky hands. Turning around, I braced the gun against the back of the seat and aimed through scope. In the distance I could see two vehicles fast approaching, each with a group of four occupants. Sweat began forming on my forehead as I anxiously awaited the coming attack.

Natalie called out to me, “Shoot, Seraph, shoot!”

I swallowed hard and took aim at the closest target. Slowly squeezing the trigger, I waited for a bang, but nothing happened. Looking down, I realized the gun was still on safe.

“Shit,” I hissed, as I flipped the switch.

“What?” Nat questioned.

Before I could respond another wall of bullets began raining down on us. I ducked down behind the seat praying for salvation.

“Goddamn it Seraph, if you don't kill them they'll kill us!” she groaned angrily, “Now pick. Them or us.”

I stared at her for a moment, then nodded. I popped back up bracing once more. This time, however, I returned fire. I took a couple of shots, and only hit the ground in front of the assailant. Gritting my teeth I adjusted my aim up, and pulled the trigger again. This time my round hit the passenger in the chest, and he fell back into his seat.

The assailant took aim and this time their bullets impacted the back of the UTV. Natalie hissed and jerked the wheel left, nearly throwing me out the vehicle. I shook off my shock and began shooting again, nearly unloading the remainder of my rounds. One of them caught the driver in the neck, and he fell against the steering wheel. Their UTV turned and flipped. It rolled three or four times before landing upside down and exploding.

I took aim at the second vehicle, ready to expend the rest of my ammo, but they veered off course and disappeared into the tall grass.

Breathing heavily, I turned around and sat back in my seat.

“Holy shit, that was fucking crazy!” I said, as the adrenaline began to drain from my body.

“A rush huh?” Natalie asked with a grin.

I nodded, “Oh yeah. A huge rush.”

She lightly punched my shoulder, “Good job loser.”

I gave her my best smile, and asked, “So who was that?”

“A competitive streamer who has a stick up their ass because I was chosen to compete in the squad competition. He and his crew have been harassing me for weeks,” she said, gripping the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white.

“Well that's fucked up. Why doesn't he just leave you alone?” I asked fury rising inside me.

She shrugged, “He wants me to back out, so he can take my place.”

“Fuck th…” my statement was cut short as Nat ripped the e-brake and turned the wheel.

We lost traction and skidded across the gravel as a vehicle came flying out of the tall grass. We narrowly avoided colliding with them, and as soon as we drifted around them Natalie turned off the brake and slammed on the gas. Up ahead I could see city lights, but we still had a ways to go.

I could feel my anxiety beginning to rise again, and it only grew when Nat placed a grenade in my hand.

“I'm going to let them pull up beside us, and when the time is right throw this into their UTV.”

“You want me to do what?” I asked nervously.

She didn't answer. She just let off the gas, and a roar began growing in my right ear. When I looked over my shoulder I could see the group closing in on us. My eyes grew wide and I pulled the pin from the grenade and held it tight.

“Wait for my command.” she spat.

My heart rate picked up as they got closer and closer.

“Steady,” she said, “Steady.”

“Nat they're right there!” I screamed.

“Now!”

Without hesitation I turned and lobbed the green ball. It collided with the front of the UTV and exploded. Nat pressed the gas, and we began zooming down the dirt path once again. When I looked back, I saw that there was nothing but a fiery heap.