Matt opened his eyes and found himself back in the town of Glassglo. The good news was there was no one around, the bad news is that there was no one around, which was a strange thing seeing as this was the center of trade in the area, making it crazy that no one was around.

No players.

No Npcs.

He started to look around when he was shoved back and held there in a hug that felt like iron bands had been wrapped around his body. He looked over his shoulder and found himself staring at Willow’s blue hair, and he smiled. “You don't know how hard it is to not be able to touch you when I am out there, to help you when you are hurt,” she whispered softly, her head on his shoulder blade. He was about to answer her when Monica walked over and laid a hand on her, Willow looked up and into Monica’s eyes.

“He might not understand, but I do,” she said softly. “For so many years I wanted to do nothing more than to touch him, have him hold me, but he was married, the temptation was there but I could not act on it.”

“At least you knew it could be done-”

“That makes it worse, knowing you could do it, but daring not for fear of losing everything.” Monica closed her eyes. “I am a selfish woman, I wanted Matt all to myself, once she died one of the first thoughts that ran through my head was how he was now available, I felt like a horrible person.” she took in a shaky breath, “it took me some time to realise Taylor was not going anywhere, even in death she was still in his heart, he would always love her, once I figured that out it was easier to cope with, though I knew his heart would never fully belong to me I contented myself with half of his heart.” she smiled, “I suppose this is not so different,” she reached out and wiped a tear out of Willow’s eye. “I just need time to learn to share, ok?”

“Ok,” Willow sniffled, before breaking out into a half laugh half choking sob. “We aren't that different you and me are we?”

“What? No, we couldn't be more different, especially seeing as you aren't even real-” Willow was about to say something to that when she noticed the teasing smirking expression on Monica’s face. With a smile, she shoved Monica in the shoulder with the ball of her fist, a soft push that caused her to take a step back.

And it was lucky that she did.

The bullet struck the metal grating ground of the city floor throwing up shards of metal and sparks. Monica dove one way behind a shop, even as Matt and Willow dove the other way. Matt slid down against the wall, he was glad he was in the game and not in real life at the moment, he could still feel the pain from his wounds, seeing as it was a safety feature so you would know you were hurt in real life, but since he was not actually moving the pain was more bearable.

He unslung the bag full of weapons and pulled out two assault rifles, an smg, and two pistols before handing the bag over to Willow. She also got kitted out, and passed it back to Matt, who held up the sack for Monica to see, she nodded at it and he tossed it through the air across the street to her. As it flew it got struck by a bullet, causing it to spin and lose half of its contents in the street between them. There was still enough for Monica, but that shot would have been very difficult to pull off.

He was now sure that if he were to poke his head out the last thing he would see would be violet eyes staring at him through a scope, surrounded by a messy array of blond curls. “Risa,” he growled. “Why is she attacking us?” he asked.

“She's still in the game Matt,” Willow answered, “It is highly likely she is also infected with the virus.”

“Can you get it out? Like you did before with that other guy?” Matt asked, as he leaned the but of a rifle out to see if she was still watching them. The stock shattered into a million wood splinters as the sniper bullet tore through it.

Well, it looked like she was still watching.

“I have to get close enough to touch her,” she said, sliding a clip home into the smg she had in her hands. “But Matt,” she looked at him, pulling the bolt back with a satisfyingly meaty thunk. “We don't have time for this, the A.I. knows we are in the game, there is no way it can’t know.” she said, “Meaning I have to get working on hacking into the core systems like yesterday before it can get something to stop us.”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“How can it stop us, I need to know what I will be fighting to prepare for it.”

“It is still bound by the programming and rules laid out in its creation, it cannot actively target any one player or group of players. It is also unable to ban players without the player breaking one of the game’s rules.” she looked over at Monica who was holding her rifle close to her chest. “It can, however, start an event, and spawn monsters and npc’s for said event.”

“So, we are going to get hit by waves?” he asked, to this she nodded. “I am pretty sure hacking is against the TOS, can she ban you?”

“No, I am technically an Npc, she could delete me, but only if she had access to my main files, which are in your head, so no.”

“How long do you need to free Risa?”

“Contact with her for 30 seconds would work,” she responded, pushing herself up to a crouch position.

“And for getting into the files?”

“About five minutes.” he was about to respond to her when a notification popped up in his field of view.

Siege of Glassglo even starting in 2 minutes 50 seconds.

Players must defend Glassglo from the encroaching horde.

“Well shit,” he growled, Willow’s face set in a hard mask. “Alright, get Risa, protect Willow for five minutes, we got this,” he said with more confidence than he felt. “So we will all need to move, cause a distraction so she cannot focus on one of us,” Matt said.

“Are you crazy?” Monica called out from the other side, “That bitch is a dead-eye shot and you know it.” she scowled at Matt”And we don’t even know how far away she is.”

“Judging by the sound I would say she is around fifty meters away,” Willow answered, sometimes Matt forgot what she was, but in moments like this he was glad she was an A.I. that could make calculations like that on the fly.

“So, 160 ish feet, now, how do we do that before we get turned into swiss cheese?” Monica asked.

“Wait,” Willow said, her face lighting up. “Did you stable Stanly?” she asked, referring to the small reptilian dog monster that Matt had gotten for Monica.

“No, I just logged out,” Monica said, her face confused. “Why?”

“Ritha hounds have a unique way of protecting their young,when a little one is hurt they can excrete a gas that causes uncontrollable twitching of muscles if breathed in, it is how the small one’s survival in this world, though they lose the ability to do it as they grow.” she smiled, “A good player would never attack one, they would simply attempt to capture or to avoid it, But I doubt Risa is thinking straight right now, we will need to get close, then you will have to order it to attack her one you can see her, I will rush in and hold my breath while I get her back to normal, Matt, we will need cover fire.”

Matt hefted an assault rifle in each hand, his raider’s smile plastered on his face, seeming to cast it into shadows that were not there a second ago. “Cover fire coming right up,” he growled, and without another word he rolled out from behind the shop and into the street, pulling both triggers with a sadistic smile as he sprayed bullets in Risa’s general direction.

It worked, somewhat.

A bullet didn't hit him however the force of it passing just over his shoulder gouged out a good chunk of flesh. He winced, but only pushed forward, Monica and Willow following him at full sprint. He caught the site of blond curls in the wind and saw the sun shining off of the scope but before he could do anything about it Monica yelled at the top of her lunges; “ATTACK!” pointing in Risa’s direction, A small greenish blur of speed flew out of seemingly nowhere towards the sniper.

Stanly never got to her target.

Risa turned the gun and in a single smooth movement targeted the little animal. A single shot rang out, the small Ritha hound rolled, the upper half of her torso gone, splattering blood and bits of green scales everywhere like Christmas decorations gone horribly horribly wrong. Matt heard Monica take in a breath of shock, but he didn't have the time to comfort her over the loss of her digital pet. Putting in more speed than he ever had before he rushed the last twenty feet, watching in seemingly slow motion as she turned back his way. She reached up, pulling back the bolt and releasing the still steaming casing of her last round, sliding it home and lining it up with his chest.

She pulled the trigger.

But no shot rang out, no pain blossomed in his chest.

Her gun had jammed.

His first real conversation with Willow sprung up in his mind: “I am assuming that the more points in a skill line for say a weapon the better it aims and the more damage it does?”

“You would be assuming wrong.” she smiled, there was a little maliciousness in it. “As you gain points in a particular skill line, which you do by using said item or weapon, you will hit certain milestones, at these milestones in the skill line you will receive perks, these include things like less weapon degradation meaning they need to be serviced and repaired less, and making the weapon less likely to jam and misfire.”

With a vicious snarl, he slammed into her, batting the rifle away with the but of his own. As he did so he couldn't help but notice the glassiness of her violet eyes, like she was not really seeing this, not really comprehending what she was doing. He brought the stock of his gun down towards her head, but she moved it last second causing the butt of the gun to slam into the ground, causing a dent to form in the metal flooring of Glassglo. Her legs snaked up behind him, locking around his head, and rolling him backward, bringing her to the top. With deft moves, she pulled a knife and plunged it down towards his chest.

For the second time that day he snatched a person’s wrists, stopping them from sheathing a knife in his chest. This time, however, he had backup. Monica swung her rifle down like a baseball bat, striking the woman across her back, causing her to arch her spine and neck up. Willow took this opportunity to grab her around the neck with a single hand and using momentum she picked the other woman up off of Matt and slammed her bodily into the ground with a weighty thud.

Risa only struggled for the next thirty seconds.

“What?” she panted still held on the floor by Willow, “What the hell is going on?” she got out around the hand at her throat.

“Where the fuck should I start?” Matt wheezed, still laying on his back, staring up at the blue sky...