Chapter 28
The Base
The abandoned base was the picture of desolation. But as soon as they entered, a mob of screaming Infected came out of nowhere, climbing over abandoned cars and buildings to get at the two newcomers.
Leo was so scared his first shots went wild. It was all he could do to not turn and run. You can do this. It's just a game. Just a game. If you die here, it's fine. He took a deep breath to steady his shaking hands.
They're faster than you, kid. So stand and fight! He remembered a no-neck Sergeant from the other distant future shouting at him. But this wasn't strictly true. He suppressed a hysterical giggle, thinking of the old joke about two men running away from a bear. I don't have to be faster than the bear. I just have to be faster than you.
He forced himself to take a deep breath and shoot with care. Headshots were the only thing that took these Infected down.
VR guns weren't exactly like real ones, but they were surprisingly similar, jolting his hands with each shot. Five dead Infected later, Imp informed Leo he'd leveled up in shooting virtual assault rifles.
There was a moment of panic when he ran out of ammo. He poked Surge at the edge of his vision and pulled out his combat knife. Everything around him slowed down. He got caught up in a desperate dance, trying to avoid their attacks while stabbing their heads. Surge wore off, his life force went down quickly as Infected tore into him. His green life bar shrank rapidly, turning yellow, then red. In the background, Gavin/Jason was dual wielding his pistols, taking down an Infected with every shot.
Then, finally, there was welcome silence—Imp informed him he'd leveled up in using VR knives. And the words Blade Master appeared on his gaming screen next to Surge.
Jason/Gavin went to the dead Infected and searched their bodies for med kits and ammo. Leo/Joseph did the same.
Leo/Joseph touched the bodies. Although he couldn't feel anything, bullets and med packs automatically appeared in his inventory. He activated three med packs to bring himself back to full health, then he struggled with his assault rifle. “How do I reload this thing?”
“Raise it over your head,” Jason said.
“Seriously?” Leo raised his gun. There was a clicking noise and his gun now held 20 bullets he'd taken from the dead infected. “I have Blade Master on my screen. Does that mean anything?”
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“You suck! I know people who've been trying to get Blade Master for months. You have to kill twenty infected with a knife in less than a minute.”
“Does it give me anything?”
“You get bonuses when using a knife, and if you get a second knife, you can dual wield.”
“Great. Let's do this.”
***
Hours later, Leo felt like he'd been through the meat grinder, and then clubbed by an army of angry ogres. The first thing he did, when they finished gaming, was run to the bathroom and throw up. He stayed there, taking deep breaths, waiting for his body to stop shaking. Then he drank some water, swirling it around his mouth to get the vomit taste out.
The VR world wasn't quite like the real one, but it was close enough for his adrenaline to kick in big time and his body to relearn fighting skills that had kept him alive in his previous future. By the end of the mission, his game character had leveled up five times, and he'd become an Ultra Blade Master, able to duel wield the two blades he'd taken from dead infected. He'd used Demon Drop candy, also taken from dead infected, (the only known way to strengthen and evolve the alien parasite in his character's brain) to turn his Surge skill into Maximum Surge. Maximum Surge was like Surge, but the time dilation effects lasted longer. He'd gotten good enough with the knives that he used them most of the time, saving his gun for emergencies. His strategy had been simple. Visualize the Afflicted that had killed Shawna, and act accordingly.
In addition, Imp informed him he'd leveled up multiple times in VR knife fighting, VR shooting, and had gained 7 Demon Tears for four hours of gaming. He now qualified for the character class Fighter. Swordsman/Common. If he couldn't do better than that, he'd kill himself. Fortunately, he had weeks to improve.
Jason knocked on the bathroom door. “Leo, are you okay?”
“Fine,” he croaked.
“You were amazing. I couldn't have done the base run without you.”
“You did pretty well yourself,” Leo said, studying himself in the mirror. A twelve-year-old boy in a torn, stained shirt looked back. Something about the boy's eyes was different, tired, frightened, but also frightening. It felt good to be killing stuff instead of hiding from it, even if only in a game.
“Your mom wants you to go home right now. Says your dad's working another late shift. She has to go to work, and she doesn't want to leave your brat sister by herself.”
“I'm coming,” Leo said. He left the bathroom. “Sorry I killed your girlfriend.”
“She wasn't my girlfriend, and she did turn into one of them and tried to bite my head off, so there wasn't much choice.” Jason handed Leo his pack. “Before that, I never would have thought to stab that Boss Infected thing's feet.”
“People don't think of feet as a weak point,” Leo said. “But if you hurt someone's feet enough, they tend to stop fighting.”
“Sorry about my brother. He lied about jailbreaking the game. All the good stuff is still digitally covered.”
“No big. We should do this again sometime,” Leo said, taking his pack from Jason.
Leaving Jason's house, he jogged home, feeling physically and mentally drained. Thoughts of the game-play going through his mind.
Mom made spaghetti.