It took time for me to recover, but I must have completely distracted the camp behind me with that fire. The subsequent explosion probably did its best to completely destroy cohesion at the end, and thankfully, the fire was not moving in my direction. Hell, The wind was to my face at the moment as I walked back, but that was good for anyone trying to track me. I decided that I was not even going to log out. I was taking my shit and running to the edge. As I walked toward my base, I had already lined up a call with the same people to pick me up and take me from there.

I took some time and walked in areas where it would be harder to track me, but I would not slow down my hike. I was tired and sore, and the excitement of the battle wore off. The trek back was a day's walk, and I noticed I ran for a bit in the wrong direction. I wanted to stop and look over my notifications but decided against it. I needed to be alert and watch out for predators and ambushes. My ears were up, and I was listening to the sounds of the forest and the insects.

The forest was quiet. Walking all day, I heard nothing, and my sleep bar was close to bottoming out. But there was nothing that said you died when you were sleep-deprived, just like in real life. I continued moving, knowing I would need to take a break once I got out of this forest, only to recoup my real-life body before diving back into the game.

My forced walk went through the night, and I took off my night vision goggles when the light came out. I watched and continued to walk. This was boring, but I also knew that I could be ambushed at any moment, fraying my nerves as I watched every tree at the same time.

After hours and hours of hiking back, I finally started to notice my own markings for the area I was in and adjusted. I was going in the wrong direction a little and was too far east-facing, but not enough to matter too much. I started to walk past traps, and soon, without further incident, there was the Valley. I lay down and checked the area, but no one was there, and I sighed with relief. I wanted out of Saints Forest badly. I needed out and would find out how much I had made. I know I earned a good amount of federation credits after this one, but I would have to pay what I owe to the bounty office to get back into compliance with my previous missions, too.

I found myself looking forward to Ura and Nyava. I did not know enough about Emily to really care, so I was hoping to take some time and learn about things inside the ship. I could not wait to learn more. Ever since Amber clued me in, I have been having a blast learning in the game.

There was nothing in the valley either, and I was surprised as I got up and headed toward my cave without further incident. I yawned, feeling the forced march through the forest over the last day in order to stay ahead of the repercussions of the East Saints Forest gang. I did not want to get involved, and I took my time walking up into my cavern, which was still nicely stocked. I had a slight urge to leave some things here and continue, but I saw the captive in the makeshift prison and decided against it. I wondered if I came here in the main universe, would this be here?

It was a question I had to ask myself, but with the smell from the machine slowly starting to come up, I did not wait. I took down the door and grinned at my captive, “Come on, we are leaving. I pissed off a large group, and I do not want to be around for the fallout if they catch up.” The next moments were not much time in cleaning up the camp of my supplies and tools, and as we finished, I looked out into the valley and smiled.

No one.

All of this was going wonderfully, and I could not have asked for a better result. I took everything that I could with Ka’ Tar and started to move. There was some cooking and various things that I did not take with me, and whoever found them in the future could have them.

Then I looked at all the traps and grinned; whatever, I did not have time to disarm the traps, and I guided the criminal slave out with me. The Valley was quiet, and I started to move around traps with full backpacks. We were in a hurry and headed out of the forest. Ka’ Tar was not happy, but I really did not give a fuck what she thought as I moved toward the edge of the forest.

Walking in the forest with a heavy pack was annoying, but the sun came down as we reached the edge of the forest. Everything was going great, and I brought out my tablet and ordered the pick-up from the company. They dropped a waypoint, and it was a kilometer west. I put the tablet back into my bag and put on my night-vision goggles. I started to work my way there.

It was going all to plan, and I did not like the feeling I had.

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This was a video game. In a Virtual reality world, this was not supposed to be so damn easy. I felt like there should be something to try to get me as we left. That was the feeling I had, and it was hard in my head. I reached a position not far away when I started to hear something. I was not sure what it was, but I heard something just above a whisper, and my skin got goosebumps.

“You will be quiet and wait for me,” I said, turning to Ka’Tar. She nodded, but I Did not need her to. I got my assault rifle into the firing position and started to move forward. Then I heard it breathing ever so lightly.

It was slow and cool, but the person was very close. I switched to my knife instead of my gun, and I started to look and follow my ears while trying to be quiet. Then, I noticed a drag mark in the dirt near some foliage.

Found them.

It was a foot sprawled out, and it was an ambush. I don't know if they knew the position of where I was supposed to be picked up, but this was not quite there. They were off by a couple hundred feet and looking the wrong way. Actually, I don't think this was for me as I crept up behind them and found their body. I looked down at the person; they were breathing slowly and waiting.

I pulled out my handgun, aimed it at them, and contemplated what to do. Was this a bounty hunter or a criminal? I waited and watched as I thought about it. I could kill this person, but that did not mean I would get out ahead. This could have more people, and I bit my lip. Instead, I watched and waited, trying to quiet my breathing.

Time was faster than I thought, and I started to hear the pickup. The person looked up as the Van to pick us up arrived.

My gun met their temple a second later, and they froze as they were about to change position. “Criminal?” I asked, my voice cold.

“I—I am a bounty hunter?” the voice said, making it a question, and I winced. I did not have time for this.

“You have others here?”

“Yes, two more waiting for criminals to catch.”

“Awfully questionable decision for that. Tell your people to stand up and stand down without their guns, and I will let you live.”

The person opened their mouth, but I shivered. Something in me just pulled the trigger.

PHHHST, the gas of the silencer, was all that was heard in a short distance, and I froze. I did not care for the bounty; I just wanted to know if they heard my killing the guy. I reached down, picked up the gun, and smiled.

5mm rifle with a scope. It seemed Every one of the gangs here carried a 5mm, and I moved.

When I got to Ka’ Tar, my ears were straining to hear anything. “Move to that Van, Go, Run.” I snapped my order to her, put away my handgun for my assault rifle, and started to chase after her. I could see the guy p[opening the door as he noticed us suddenly running from the forest toward him. He quickly jumped back inside as we started to reach the van. Then I heard it.

BANG!

I saw a bullet hit the van and the sound of a Richochet from the van. A second later, I heard another, but I made sure to turn to the side a little. The whistle passing by my right ear made me shiver even as I ran. The side door was wide open, and I dove inside and smashed into Ka’ Tor inside. The Van lifted up into the air, and the door closed.

“DID YOU BRING ME INTO A BATTLEFIELD!” The Driver snapped.

“YOU FUCKING CHOSE THE LANDING POINT!” I snapped back as I put down my gun. “There was a fucking ambush waiting here for us, and I killed one of them just before running here. Good thing, I think there were only two, but I think they picked up spots near the forest entrance before ambushing Bounty hunters as they entered the forest.”

I looked at the man as he turned suddenly, and I was tossed into the passenger seat. “Sit down. You never know if they have something that can shoot us out of the sky. I am not dying for a small pickup,” the guy turned, and I noticed his red skin as I grabbed the seat. He continued to fly back and forth. I held on tight as the collared slave in the back bounced around with my stuff.

Finally, he stopped and sighed, “We should be in the clear. We are two kilometers away from Saints Forest. The other Forests are much more common to try and shoot down pick-ups. I only brought this lorry because it was Saint's forest. Now, Do you want to return to the office or our place to pick up your things?”

I moved around the seat and sat down. “I will pick up my stuff and have you guys help me bring it to the bounty office to offload,” I told him, feeling relief as I settled in.

“Perfect. I am glad you chose our company. We are also sorry we chose a bad location. It happens from time to time. We choose random unmarked locations to do stealth pick-ups and drop-offs, and sometimes you pick a bad location. The nature of randomness and the Criminals are incentivized to pick you off when you're leaving or entering the forest.”

“I understand that,” I said, leaning back with feeling, and my eyes felt heavy. But not yer, no sleep for me yet and I found myself relaxing but making sure that if the driver attacked me. I would get the drop on him first.