Chapter 7: Hunted
Riley turned back around, his eyes searching the forest for their attacker. Nothing moved and Riley cursed, instinctively ducking down. Another crack followed and the tree behind Riley exploded as something crashed into it at high speed.
“Is someone shooting at us?” Scott said as he helped his sister drag Nermit behind a fallen log. Riley took cover behind his own tree, still not clear of where they were being attacked from.
“We can’t retreat,” Heather said, her face pale. She was peeking around the side of her tree searching the woods herself. Another crack sounded but the bullet must have missed its target.
Riley checked the trail behind him, and he reluctantly agreed. There were open sightlines for twenty yards before there was move cover. That was plenty of space for their unseen attacker to get them.
“Casey!” Heather said.
“On it,” Casey replied, disappearing into her own shadow.
“I know this isn’t the time but that looked really cool.” Scott said, staring at where his sister disappeared from.
“Scott, focus,” Heather said. There was a fire in her eyes that had been missing before. “How’s Nermit doing?”
Scott hadn’t been idle. He had already stripped Nermit from the waste up, exposing a mess of a shoulder. The Nermit’s now blood-stained shirt was being torn into strips for bandaging. “It’s not fatal if we can get a heal on him in the next day or so. Good thing Nermit is our healer,” Scott said sardonically.
Heather ignored Scott’s comment, “Riley, you said you have a healing ability. Can you use it on Nermit?”
“I’m not sure. I need to hit something for it to activate and it’s a passive effect. I don’t think I can modify it,” Riley said.
“DAQ it,” Heather said. “Riley, take over binding Nermit. Scott, draw your bow. We need to be ready for when Casey finds the target.”
Riley and Scott switched places. Riley hadn’t played many real life battle-sims, so his field dressing amounted to ‘wrap it with as much fabric as possible.’ He heard a shout in the forest and both Heather and Scott burst from out of the tree running off into the woods. Riley desperately wanted to follow them, but he couldn’t abandon Nermit.
He waited with bated breath as he heard the sounds of crashing in the trees and then a sudden silence. Casey returned first, “Come on, we need to get outta here,” she said as she sheathed her bloody daggers. She grabbed Nermit lifting him in a princess carry.
Heather and Scott came back soon after. “Back the way we came, immediately,” Heather said in a tone that brooked no argument. There was a tremor in her voice which hadn’t been there even when they were being chased by the horde. “There’ll be more of them coming.”
“More of who?” Riley asked, as he followed them back through the woods.
A voice yelled out from the forest behind them, “You zombos kidnapped the wrong dudes. We’ve been prepared for this day for years. We’re coming for you, and there ain’t no escape or my name ain’t Baron Wally Beanzilla!” More shots rang out from around the forest as a dozen guns were fired at the same time.
Riley instinctively ducked but none of the bullets whizzed by the group. They kept on running and soon lost themselves through the trees. “Who is that?” Riley asked, confused.
“Those were Omnis,” Heather said, grim faced.
“Who?” Riley asked. The group was running at a fast jog now. Casey had handed off Nermit to her brother and stepped into the shadows to scout ahead.
“You know,” Scott said. “Omnis. The so-called God lovin’, gun lovin’, new world nobility?”
“Uh, I didn’t really pay attention to OOP stuff.” Riley admitted, sheepishly.
“Oh, that’s what we should call unmasking!” Scott exclaimed. At Riley’s confused look Scott explained. “You know, 'cause it means ‘out of pod’ but now with the masks on its kind of like the world is the pod. So, without the masks we lose our powers and are OOP.”
“What?”
“Scott, focus.” Heather said, grimly.
“Right, right. The Omnis are like this historical relic. Back when world peace was declared by the United World Government they didn’t believe in the news, thought it was like a trick or something. They’ve been opposed to every major change for the last, like, 100 years. They still work jobs, like NPCs, it’s insane.”
“Scott,” Heather warned.
“I’m getting to it, geez. When the VR pods came out, they decided that they were part of a massive conspiracy to steal everyone’s souls or something. So, the Omnis have been preparing for the day we come for them.”
“Like, for instance, when status screens start out of thin air?” Riley said, realizing. “But we didn’t do this, we just have to explain it to them.”
“Yeah, let's just walk up to the angry men with guns,” Scott said.
“Omnis are the type to ‘shoot first, ask questions never,’” Heather chimed in. “They probably think this is virtual reality and that they’re stuck in pods. Casey said she had tried to say something, but the man attacked her,” Heather shook her head. “Even if we told them about the emergency log out procedures, they wouldn’t believe it.”
Casey returned, interrupting the conversation. “I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want first?”
“The good news,” Riley said.
“The good news is the way ahead is clear.”
“Okay, what’s the bad news then?”
“There are maybe twenty of them following our trail. All of them armed.”
“Bob my Ross,” Heather said, cursing softly.
“That’s too many to fight,” Riley said. He had his shield strapped to his right arm ready to defend the group, but he really didn’t want to find out if it could stop a bullet.
“They’re following our tracks,” Casey said. “If we slow down and move carefully, we might be able to lose them.”
“And if we don’t lose them, they’ll catch up to us in no time,” Scott shook his head. “We can’t risk it.”
“Casey, is that stag still ahead of us?” Riley asked. He had an idea. It was a simple plan, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be effective.
“I can check. But my power’s running out. I don’t think I can Shadow Step many more times without a break.” Still she left disappearing into the shadows. The group continued running back down the trail. They were moving a lot faster this time more worried about the threat behind them than the potential threat of running into a monster. Casey soon returned, confirming the stag was still there.
As they approached where their trail circled around the stag the group slowed. They moved carefully as they deviated from the trail they had been following previously. Riley felt like their hunters would be upon them any moment but still he moved methodically. Heel, toe, heel, toe. Taking care not to step on any twigs or disturb any plant life. The group circled the opposite way around the stag than they had previously finding cover in some low bushes. The group hid and they waited.
Riley checked on Nermit but he didn’t look like he would be waking up anytime soon. Even with the groups points pooled together they didn’t have enough to buy a healing potion. Their boots had wiped out the group’s funds. They had been short-sighted thinking that they wouldn’t need any potions with a healer on hand. They hadn’t been prepared for Nermit going down.
Before too long the hunters arrived. They were following the path Riley’s party had taken almost exactly. Each member of the group was armed with a gun of some sort. Some had rifles with scopes while others had a pistol in each hand. None of them were wearing any masks. Riley didn’t know if they had taken them off or if they had somehow managed to get out of the tutorial without picking up a mask. He shook his head, this whole thing seemed so stupid to Riley. All he wanted to do was go up and talk to them, to explain that they were trapped too. This was the rest of their raid group. The people they needed to team up with to clear this dungeon. They should be on the same team, not being hunted by them.
As more and more of the group appeared Riley started to doubt his plan. If they found their real trail Riley would have doomed his party. He held his breath as the Omnis came to where they had moved off of the path.
The Omnis paused as they started searching the area around where the trail went cold. They soon found the path Riley’s party had taken their first time and started following that. Riley released the breath he had been holding. Now was the part which required some luck.
Casey shook her head, “It’s not enough. They’ll miss the stag at this point.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Riley said. He still held out hope that perhaps if they had a chance to cool down, they could still salvage the situation. “I don’t know if I can’t watch this. It feels too much like murder.”
“It’s not murder,” Casey said, hotly. Her hands gripped tightly to the daggers in her hands. “They shot Nermit first.”
Riley opened his mouth so say that this felt different than PVP but Scott stopped him, shaking his head. Riley remembered the bloody dagger Casey had returned to the group with. He shut his mouth.
“How many Shadow Steps do you have left, Casey?” Heather asked.
“One, maybe two.”
“In that case everyone get ready,” Heather said, grimly.
“Why, what are you about to do?” Riley asked, as he grabbed Nermit. With no ranged options available to him Riley felt useless in this situation.
“Something stupid,” Heather said. “Stay hidden.” She raised her hand and pointed towards the back of the last hunter. A bright blue bolt of energy flew out of her finger a moment later cracking on the head of the hunter dropping her immediately. The attack didn’t go unnoticed and shouting immediately followed. No one had seen where Heather’s attack had come from but now the Omnis knew they were in the area. It was only a matter of time.
“What was that?” Riley whispered.
Heather ignored him. “Come on… come on…” She was waiting for something. The Omnis were spreading out, searching the forest nearby. They were approaching their hiding spot and Riley readied his shield and sword, dropping Nermit. He wasn’t about to run abandon his party, even if that meant dooming Nermit to the rest of their fate.
Suddenly there was shouting from the back of the pack of hunters and a man was tossed through the air to thwack against a nearby tree. The man was dead, pierced in a dozen places. The stag had made its appearance.