[Player Log Start!]

[Log Holder: Verity Monroe]

[Level: 1, Sub-Level: 3]

Some background context on Harry Burks: he was a shithead.

Nothing more needed to be said. He was the worst person Verity had ever had the displeasure to meet. Jared tried so hard to pull the entirety of Wayside together, going off the principles of humanity and community that he had learnt. And the whole time, it was always Burks opposing him. Whispering doubt into people, stirring up problems. Upsetting the already wary people uncertain of their plans into backing out of the project.

Out of all the interruptions in their distribution system, not even the acid rains were as frequent as his meddling.

Should have realized when they found the Console that he wasn’t a regular person.

“You’re one of those… Harbingers, aren’t you?” She managed to spit out, leaning against the bars of the jail cell they had shoved her in. Or she had shoved herself in? This Compulsion stuff was nasty. He didn’t even seem concerned that she would manage to break out at all. Had her walk all the way back into the elevator, and into an automated track, all the way to a rundown house on the side of the tracks. She had a sneaking suspicion that this was the same place Jared had ended up.

Burks smirked, taking care not to let the rusty bars touch his suit as he leaned up close to her, “I think you mean one of us, kid.” He corrected.

“I’m nothing like you.” Verity replied, hatred bubbling under her words, “And I’m never going to be, too.”

A laugh, cruel and cutting, “It’s a real shame that the Caliber boy got his paws on you before you got in with the Harbinger crowd, because you could’ve had a lot of fun in Wayside.”

“There are more of them.” She realized. Already had a feeling of that, but it was nice to get confirmation, “The guy I saw near the fire twisters… who was he?”

It had been weeks and weeks since she had seen him, but all of a sudden, the image of that silhouette burnt stark in her mind.

“Oh, you met Roiland!” Burks nodded, “He’s a real firecracker, don’t you think? Must have spent more time in Wayside than all the others. Except maybe you.”

She was going to find this Roiland and break his neck. Nothing was going to stop in this new goal.

[Personal Challenge Established!]

[Goal: Kill Roiland the Harbinger]

[Prize: Vengeance]

[Participants: Verity Monroe]

In a way, that made it seem like the Game was encouraging her to go ahead with the murder.

“None of that, now.” Burns shook off, reaching for a satchel he had on him and pulling out a slim gadget made of glass and metal. A tablet, with a hovering green C over it. Another Console.

It was more surprising to see that, as she had mostly accepted that the laptop they had was the only Console in existence. Why was it more shocking that there were more?

Another panel flashed across the screen, overtaking the challenge panel she had set up.

[Personal Challenge Deactivated!]

The shock on her face must have been obvious as Burks laughed.

“It’s ridiculous how little you know about the world you were built for.” He laughed, “And you think you can shake up our plans.”

“Would be infinitely more helpful to shake it up if you could tell me what’s going on.” She replied, seriously considering biting his hand. But the bars were in her way, so it wouldn’t be possible.

He laughed, “Yeah… I’m not doing that. We’re going to have to clear up the corruption that’s plaguing you, and maybe then we’ll consider it. Where’s the stolen Console?”

“I’m… sorry?” Verity blinked, “I didn’t steal anything.” Lies. She’d stolen a lot of stuff. But a Console definitely wasn’t something she had taken, “Did- did my mother do that?”

A pause. His eyes bugged out. And then he cackled, slapping his knee in his first uncontrolled laugh, “Your mother.” He simpered, stressing the word as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard, “What made you think you have one?”

All this time, she had been adrift, no idea where she came from and what she was feeling, and the whole time, this guy knew more about her life. It left a bitter taste in her mouth. She wanted to scream and rage and pull answers from him, and yet she remained pinned to the spot, fuming in silence.

“Ooh, but lookie here. You got your name changed.” Burks nodded along, tapping away at his Console tablet, “Verity… Monroe. Don’t tell me that it’s a reference to Eleanor, is it? That woman continues to haunt us, even in death.” He grinned at that, “I mean, that’s what ghosts do, so it checks out, I suppose.”

Forget Roiland, she was going to kill Burks now.

“You don’t get to do this.” She ground out, “We’re already dealing with so much shit, I do not care whatever Harbinger nonsense you want to play out. Give me answers, and I’ll give you info of my own, so we can talk straight.”

“Oh, a deal?” Burks hummed, but she could see that she had gotten his attention, “Fine, sprout, I’ll bite. Did you bring your little sidekicks around here? They keeping your Console safe while you meddle?”

“That’s two questions.” Verity couldn’t help but point out, “But, it was the same question, so… they’re not in the Tracklands. Console’s out of my reach.”

He frowned, “That… that doesn’t make sense. If you’re in another Realm from your Console, you won’t be able to access Player privileges. How do you plan on transporting yourself out?”

“Wait, it can’t?” Verity asked, “It… no, it definitely can. You saw it working just now. I’m not lying.”

“I can tell.” He confirmed, frustration flickering through his face, “Monroe must have reworked it and changed up the coding. Explains what’s going on with you, too. That woman is annoyingly good at manipulating the code.”

Coders? Manipulation? Verity could really use a handbook. It was her turn to ask a question, right?

“How did this happen?” She asked, “You weren’t this bad before. More of a prick than anything.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Burks sighed, crumpling a little, “That was… a bad period of my life.” He admitted, “First time in the field, and I had the misfortune to meet the little con artist called Jared Caliber. He broke my first Console, and stole my Card of Compulsion. It threw me all the way back to square one. You may be familiar with the feeling, but then again… you came into the world far too early.”

He lost to a child and had spent the rest of his life being a bitch about it. Very impressive.

“Glad that you managed to get out of that hole.” She said drily, “It’s a blessing to the world that we met here.”

“No sarcasm, brat.” He chided, “I’m here to save you.”

“Save me?”

“Save you, bring you home, and fix you.” He confirmed, “Clean up all the little bugs that have built up in you, and then bring your little friends into the end of the world. That djinn carrier? We needed her back in the Minefields, and she wasn’t there. How did you know to get her?”

“Magic.” Verity replied, glaring him down despite the info on Asadullah he had dropped.

“That’s not funny.”

“I think it was.”

“Well, Harbingers aren’t known for their sense of humor. Sit tight and I’ll come back soon after arranging your travel back to the Developer’s Realm.”

Verity frowned, watching him turn around and leave. The Console tablet was in his bag still, so that was one escape cut off already. She needed to get out of here, and fast. Who knew how long it would take Burks to arrange that journey of his?

Her cell was small, made of rickety but airtight planks of wood. According to the floor plan she had charted for herself when she had walked in, the right-hand wall should be an exterior wall. There was a solid wall of toxic smog waiting for her, and her oxygen tank missing meant that she had no way to protect herself.

But that was the only way to escape she could see. Verity took a deep breath, and leaned close to the wall she thought would connect to the outside world. One tap, two taps, three taps. Distinctly hollow sounds. Flimsy enough to break. She backed up as far as she could, trying to regulate her breathing.

[Applying Resource Conservation…]

[Oxygen Usage Reduced by 32%]

That was… much more intense than she had expected. But in a good way for once.

Verity lunged forward, a sharp kick heel first into the wall as hard as she could.

[Applying Hand-to-Hand Combat…]

It crumpled like cheap plasterboard, sending her stumbling into the muggy, open air. Footsteps sounded behind her, inside the building. Burks had come running back, standing on the other side of the bars with outrage on his face.

“Get back here!” He screamed, grabbing onto the bars and wrenching them right off the fixings. He was strong. Stronger than she had anticipated. No point in even trying to fight him off, she simply turned tail and ran. Needed to get out of here, as fast as she could manage, but without the tracks to guide her, the whole world seemed to spin. Direction wasn’t real. Landmarks were amorphous. Nothing could be pinned down in this bitter smoke.

Lucky should be above the clouds, shouldn’t she? That was Verity’s only hope as she reached into her belt for a flare gun she had used only once before. Her hands were shaking as she aimed it towards the sky, but it was okay, she hadn’t felt the need to take a breath yet, and the house they were keeping her in was nowhere in sight.

Pull the trigger, and the flare went shooting out, leaving behind a faint trail of bright red behind it as it went up and up and up. She wasn’t entirely sure if it breached the cloud layer, but she did see the shocking burst of color as it exploded high above her head.

Her lungs were burning, and instead of the usual red ringing her vision, it was a grey that made her eyes fuzzy and hard to see through. A quick snap of air sent acrid taste seeping into her mouth but managed to tide her over for a while. No Status Effect bar popped up, so it was working as of now.

If she moved far from here, Lucky wouldn’t be able to locate her, but if she didn’t, then Burks might catch up to her and make her a sitting duck. She was leaving herself wide open for the slightest hope that for once, someone would have her back.

And she stood there, eyes stinging from the smoke and not a sound to be heard, and she had to contend with the fact that once again, no one was coming.

She had a purpose. A reason for existing. Not many people had that. She could have the chance to chase it down and accept it. But she wasn’t going to, for some blasted reason.

Out of all the people she could be thinking of, it was Terry’s face that stuck out to her. He had a purpose. One that he had built for himself just as much as the Game had forced unto him. And he hadn’t been happy with it, either.

Jared had forced him to be happy with it, because that was what was necessary to save the world. And Verity stood by because she wanted that, too. If it hadn’t been for the end goal, though, she would have stopped it. Would have stuck up for him, this kid who had wandered into the gaze of a cosmic multidimensional fight.

Why wasn’t she willing to do that for herself?

A harsh breeze slammed into her from above, sending the smoke whirling around. Something was above her, flapping its massive wings with the power of gears and steam and a hundred hissing parts. She turned to squint up at this beast. It was a chair, with giant metal legs and wings sticking out of it.

Lucky Paine’s face came into view over it, covered by goggles and a breathing mask. She seemed to be saying something, but it was indistinguishable over the roar of the flying chair. Verity just swung her legs onto the back where a person could feasibly stand and held on for dear life.

She got the memo and began steering them away, wind whipping hair in every direction.

“Did you manage it?!” She screamed into Lucky’s ear as best as she could. Her response was a thumbs-up, though it was a little shaky. Maybe just the turbulence?

Whatever the case may be, there was still a test tube full of green liquid strapped to the side of the wheelchair, and connected to it with two little electrodes was a battery that had presumably been charged solely using the sun.

“Listen, I think you should know!” She continued talking, “The Compulsion freak? I didn’t catch him! He’s good, and also I kinda know him!”

Lucky froze up, but managed to recover just in time before the chair could collapse to the ground.

“What?!” Verity managed to hear her over the wind.

“He’s a Harbinger, set on destroying every world out there!” She explained as concisely as she could, “Jared dealt with him a while back, so he’s really pissed at us now!”

“Of course my boss is in cahoots with the person who wants to end the world.” Lucky sniffed, “Should have foreseen that.”

By this time, they had begun to level out a bit more, so the chair was flapping less and less, going for a gliding motion instead. This sudden lack of noise made Verity whisper when she spoke next, afraid of breaking the peace they had stumbled upon.

“What’re you going to do now?”

“I do not know.” Lucky admitted, “It is just… I do not know. Staying is unimaginable, but there- there is nothing for me out here. I know that. Right now, I just want to get you back to the world you came from, and I have the sneaking suspicion I can do that once I charge this battery up.”

Zombie World. What had happened there? Would Burks be able to track them through it? It wasn’t impossible. Verity needed to rush back and warn them to get a move on before the Harbingers could interfere with the plan.

Wait a moment, if Lucky planned to charge the battery more, then that meant they were planning to go…

The chair breached the smog layer at that moment, exposing them to a blinding sun and… blue skies.

The skies in the Tracklands were blue. As blue as the skies had been in Wayside before the world ended. Blue as forget-me-nots in children’s books. An unforgettable shade of happiness and life she had never expected to see again, and now it was surrounding her in every direction. She could almost close her eyes and pretend that their feet weren’t skimming over a dank layer of black, all-consuming smoke. Because up here, it was only blue and bright and happy.

[Survival Totem Recovered]

[You have earned 2,000 Exp!]

[Return to Level 1?]

[{x} Yes { } No]

“Good luck, Lucky.” She whispered, and the woman’s eyes crinkled under the thick lenses of her goggles. That was the only response Verity needed to click [Yes] and let herself be wrapped with green cloudy pixels.

[You have Entered Level One!]

[Realm: L-31 | ZombieWorld]

The ground was solid when she landed, and the air was sweet and delicious. Steady hands were there to catch her when she fell forwards, gulping air with the desperation of a drowning woman.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked worriedly.

No. She wanted to rest. Cry. Lay down and never move. Curse out whatever eldritch nightmare had put her in this situation. But she didn’t have that option. All they could do was brush their clothes off, and keep on walking.

“We need to get a move on.” She told him seriously, already heading back into the direction where they had come from. There was no time to waste.

[Player Log End!]