Del turned on his laptop and connected to the internet. He checked on several websites looking for jobs in the credit card industry. It took him close to two hours, and he was getting frustrated. There was nothing. He was getting thirsty.
Next to the motel was a small liquor store, and he decided to make an alcohol run there. He left his room and walked next door. At the liquor store, he grabbed a six-pack of beer and a pint of rum. Del wanted to buy more but his funds were running low. His mind was still mushy but when he walked back to his hotel room, he spied a black SUV parked across the street. It had black tinted windows. He thought it was odd seeing a car like that in this part of town.
Del felt somebody was watching him. Walking faster, he moved into the motel and quickly entered his room. He wasn’t sure why he felt this way but it seemed somebody was in the SUV and they’re tracking his movements. He was breathing heavily, and he stood for a few minutes at the front of his doorway and listened to the door. Moving toward the rough, ugly brown drapes, he looked outside. He didn’t see anything that looked suspicious.
He shook his head and dumped his alcohol on his table. Grabbing a beer, he opened it and took a long drink. He felt better. His laptop was still on with his screen saver on the screen. He shook his head. He should have hid his computer before he left. He burped and sat down. Del glanced at the time; he knew he had several more hours before he could see his daughter.
He sat on his chair and logged into his laptop. He scanned a few more job websites and didn’t see anything promising. He gave up. He couldn’t see anything that he was qualified for or wanted to do. He became despondent. He grabbed another beer. His mom always told him to work for the government but he knew that those jobs take a long time to get and he felt that he couldn’t pass those difficult tests. He clicked onto another job site. His computer suddenly turned off for a second and then came back on. Del shook his head. His laptop never did that before.
“What the hell?”
Something was wrong. He felt it at the pit of his stomach. He finished his drink and grabbed another beer, he decided to do a scan check for any virus or spyware. Afterwards, he also performed a defragmentation on his computer. There was no viruses.
Laying on his bed, he closed his eyes and then he awoke. The time was nearly three o’clock, and he thought he could see his daughter tomorrow; he was too drunk right now. He looked over to his stash of alcohol and realized he drank all his beer. He wondered how he fell asleep. He must have black out.
Del decided to play Striker Blast. He clicked on the icon and went into the gaming world. When his screen opened, he was in a different place. The barracks looked different. He was in a small city with warriors and military people all around. The Battle Sergeant was at his usual desk. He was dressed in a different uniform with more metals on his shirt. He appeared on the top of the screen.
The Battle Sergeant said, “Welcome new recruits. You’re now entered in the new Elite battle class Marine. We welcome you to the new Macros base. Also, with your new class, you get a new type of enforced shields and also a new type of guns and ammo. Head over to the service supply depot when you’re done looking around. And we’ll get you suited up for your next mission.”
The Battle Sergeant disappeared. A chat box came up. It was on the left of the screen and semi-transparent.
The chat box read, “Hello Del, we like to welcome you to this new area of the game. We had a representative of the Striker Blast game talk to you. We invited you to a prototype of a game in progress. We want you to Beta Test it. You could earn money if you if you decide to play. If you’re interested you have the business card.”
Then the chat box disappeared. Del was intrigued. He walked around the new base which looked nothing he saw before. The city was more futuristic with bright lights and other new areas to explore like a sci-fi bar with pictures of beautiful robotic women serving drinks to an arcade with old 2d arcade games. He walked to the new supply depot. The soldier behind the counter was a gorgeous redhead woman.
The soldier said, “What do you need marine? If you want to buy some guns and ammo your came to the right place.”
She winked at him. Del clicked on the weapons. The guns also looked futuristic with a fascinating name like machinetech blast or alien destroyer. There were all sorts of blasters, lasers and submachine guns. Yet, the prices of the weapons were too high for the money he had on hand. He barely had money to buy ammo.
He also scanned the armor. The gear was also advanced with headgear and armor for the chest and legs and all the prices were too high. Del shook his head. Even though he was awarded for destroying the alien nest and finished the storyline, Del barely had enough money.
Del was back to being a beginner. He also thought the monsters and creature of this new part of Strike Blast this game would probably were probably more powerful than he was. So, Del calculated and bought the best pricing rifle and armor that he could buy with his money. He equipped them. He clicked on the story line module.
The Battle Sergeant appeared and said, “A whole year has gone by and we destroyed the alien monsters in the planet Zeno, but the creatures had powerful allies who was ready to wage war against Earth’s conglomerate. We have a have a new mission for you.”
A prompt appeared. It read, “Are you ready new recruit? Yes or No?”
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Del clicked on the Yes button. The screened changed and showed a map of planets and space. Battles lines were marked in red and missions he could start with were glowing in bright white lights. He noticed Earth’s solar system were under attack by a horde of aliens. The battle lines were getting closer to Earth.
The Battle Sergeant appeared and said, “You got to help us, new recruit. We are losing the battle and we need you to strike a blow. You need to go to the next galaxy and stop the killings there on Prime planet. We have a civilian outpost there with scientists trying to create a new formula to destroy the creatures and weapons. Are you ready?”
Del clicked on the button to start and the screen changed. He saw a flight of ships flying through space. Then it showed him inside a ship and sitting next to him with other soldiers. They all looked like NPC players. He could tell they’re NPC players because they didn’t health status bars over them. Regular players had status bars hovering by them. Del also observed the NPC players all had heavier guns and armor. They nodded to him. The screen changed and a reddish brown planet appeared.
The Battle Sergeant said, “Since you are a new recruit, we don’t expect you to be in the front. You have to earn your stripes. The monsters are a lot stronger than you encountered. Stay in the back.”
Del didn’t argue. He was ready, and he wanted to just start fighting to get more money and experience.
The space marine next to him said, “Hey new grunt, I hope you hold your own. We don’t want to hold your hand. You have to forget what you had learnt before.”
A prompt box opened. It read, “Respond? Yes or No?”
Del clicked on Yes. He wrote, “I can hold my own.”
The marine nodded with respect. The marines next to him stood. They moved to portals located at the end of the ship. Del was not sure what they were doing.
“Follow me, Grunt,” a space marine said. The marine moved toward this portal and stepped inside. He smiled and then he disappeared.
Del was next. He stepped inside the portal. A glass sphere surrounded him and then he was thrusted downward. He saw the darkness of space and then he saw his capsule fall down toward the planet. It shook and rumbled. At his feet, he saw intense fire building up on the capsule but it didn’t affect his health. The capsule struck the ground, and he was let out. It was only ten seconds but the view Del saw on his screen made him awed at the detail and complexity of this new section of the game.
Del stood on a long stretch of sand dunes. The other marines were waiting for him. They nodded and started to march down a sloped. Del was on the back of the group. He watched his back and made sure nobody were going to attack. He noticed the sky was a deep crimson, and the sun was high in the sky. He saw swirls in the far distance.
The marine said, “Those are mini tornadoes. If you get caught he those storms, you would be ripped apart.”
Del understood and stayed away from those storms. The tornadoes were creating a dark fog filled with sand. It was getting hard to discern what was in front of him. Del used his sensors to follow the marines but there was something wrong with his machines. It couldn’t show all the marines.
The NPC marine said, “New recruit, don’t try to use your sensors. The atmosphere messes up with our sensors. Just follow me. If you get lost, shout out where you are. Keep your eyes peeled.”
A winged creature came out of nowhere and attacked them. Del yelled in fright in his chair. He was about to fire his guns when the marine before him shot the creature. More winged leathery creatures came at them. It was hard to see them in the gloom. He took out his old trusty rifle and shot at the monsters. He scored several hits but the wing creatures didn’t die. He took out his rocket launcher and shot at a mass of creatures. The beasts exploded in a mass of blood and entrails coating his screen with blood for a few seconds then the screen cleared.
“Good job newbie! Good shooting,” the hardened marine said.
Del felt like he passed some type of test.
Another marine said, “Ok Marines enough talking. Our destination one click southwest from here. We all have a map of our destination. Okay, stay sharp.”
They started moving forward. They were attacked several more times by more winged creatures and also large rock monsters. Only his rocket launcher killed the creatures. The NPC marine’s weapons were amazing. They killed anything that came close to them with large cannons, fire blasts and magical thunder.
They traveled up a high sand dune. The gloom of the sand storms dispersed and Del could see far away in the distance. He saw their destination on the valley below. It was a small city with squat gray buildings. Over the top of the city was a clear dome.
The Marine Lieutenant said, “Okay soldiers, we will go into Astro city. We got to go into D section. It is marked on your map. The dome is still intact. So the atmosphere should be still intact. Got that. recruit, we need to get you better armor and weapons. We will find the supply depot and set you up.”
They moved down the slope toward the city. They reached the valley and saw lizard creatures blocking their way. The monsters attacked them.
“Okay, Marines,” the Lieutenant said, “we need to get to the city. We need to destroy the creatures.”
They ran shooting at the monsters, destroying and killing. Del was leveling up slowly. He saw on his stats that he gain several levels. The screen said, “Update.” Del clicked on it and the game stopped. Del moved most of his new points toward strength and health. He saw another new section called magic. He added some of his points toward magic.
It seemed the Marines were letting him level up. He resumed the game. They reached the outer doorway to the dome. The Lieutenant produced a key, and a door opened. A light shot out and blinded them for few seconds.
“Access granted,” a ladies voice said.
They walked inside. The door closed behind them. It was very quiet and dark. The street lamps didn’t work. The marines turned on their flashlights on their helmets. The city was deserted.
The Lieutenant said, “There should be one hundred people, civilians, scientist and soldiers at this command post. We need to find any survivors and information. There should be guns and armor near the supply area. Let’s go there first.”
They walked down the street and walked along several paths. Nothing attacked them. They stopped at a round metal building. They entered the structure. Lights came up as soon as they walked into the interior. Del saw thousands of weapons and armor.
Del said, “I can’t use any of most of these weapons.”
“Yes. But you level is high enough for most of the ammo and armor.”
Del equipped the lowest level guns, ammo and armor that he could use.
“Are you ready, recruit?”
He clicked on the yes button.