Gamers - Amazon (11 page)

She was so bored by the time they arrived back home, she'd fallen asleep. She woke to an empty FunCar, and Stephan shot her glares every time he saw her in the hallways at school.

Stephan wore an azure blue robe that matched his eyes, though to her, they were lumps of blue paint compared to Michael's. He held a gnarled staff in his hand, the mark of the Blaster class.

Next to him, stood Gabby's arch-enemy, the leader of the Evil Dolls, Avony White. She wore the garb of the Warrior-Maiden, Gabby's preferred class.

Avony had modified the normal priestly robes to a skimpy outfit. She had deleted the sleeves, split the sides so her well-toned thighs were visible, and made her cleavage the centerpiece; all while maintaining her signature look of shiny dead hair and form-fitted joints. Silver bangles and jewelry accentuated her ears, neck and wrists.

Since Avony and Gabby had stopped being best friends when they were just learning algebra, not more than six years-old, they had gone out of their way to oppose each other at every turn.

Their falling out had occurred when Zaela had moved to the area and Gabby tried to bring her into their clique without Avony's approval.

"I doubt it," said Avony. "I heard she got caught exploiting. She was seen going into Bracket's office last week."

Until she had met Drogan, Gabby had thought the third member of their group was the biggest person in the GSA.

Unthar was a behemoth of muscle. Rumor had it that he was training to be special forces, so he could join the fight against the Southlands.

She had heard from Dario that he was cunningly smart, too. From those traits, she would have been pleased to have him on the same team, except that Dario had said he was also pathologically a loner and failed miserably at team games.

Unthar seemed disinterested by her presence, by any of them, in fact, and brooded silently while cracking his knuckles one at a time. A broad two-handed sword was strapped to his back, signifying the Brute role.

The final member of their team, Gabby didn't know much about. She'd moved to the area just last level. Never bothering to learn her name, they called her Mouse.

She had stringy flat hair that hid her face, exotic eyes, and body of a low level boy. Mouse hid behind Unthar, wearing ragged leathers and wielding a jagged knife. She was a Spy class. Otherwise, Gabby knew nothing else about Mouse.

With the others in their chosen roles, Gabby was left with the Blades class.

"Any chance I can get you to trade?" she asked Avony.

Avony laughed, while her hair stayed coifed in a blonde headdress. Everyone else avoided eye contact, clearly not wanting to trade, either.

The Blades class was her worst one. It was built up on the Advanced Neural Shaping skill set. Each time she wanted to perform a move like Two Moon Sweep, she would have to solve a neural shaping problem. The speed and accuracy of her answer would dictate the result of her move.

She would also have to physically perform the move. That part she didn't mind. Though she was much more suited to the hand to hand combat from the Warrior-Maiden class.

Gabby activated her wardrobe and a light chainmail made of tiny silvery links appeared on her. The sense-webs in her skin pushed down on her shoulders giving the appearance of weight to the armor. She pulled the twin curved swords from her back and practiced a few moves.

"Maybe I should trade. You look like a drunk monkey doing the Cat and Cut," Avony remarked.

"I'll be fine. I'm just stiff from sitting in a FunCar all day," said Gabby.

She deleted the helmet that came with the class, opting for better peripherals. She recalled that Zaela had been the Blades class when she saw her recorded projection. A good choice for her.

"Are you ready yet?" Stephan asked. He leaned against his staff more like an aloof fashion model rather than a fierce mage.

Gabby squeezed the floating shield again and the walls turned to sparks. The walls spun around them, slowly gaining speed.

An unfamiliar announcer voice startled Gabby. She was used to hearing Bracket from her years leveling up.

"Welcome." The voice paused as if trying to muster the energy to finish. "To the Asphyxia Raid."

Bracket always attempted in his military voice to project enthusiasm in the announcements. While it usually ended flat, there was an earnestness that made her appreciate Bracket. This voice was polar opposite.

Mr. Johnson's voice seethed with sarcasm and droll boredom, like a cat lying on its side, too bored to kill a dying mouse.

It worried her that Mr. Johnson was making the announcements and not Administrator Bracket. She suspected the Raid was not going to be fairly run. The start time and team selection added to that fear.

"To prepare you for the uber-competitive world outside your protected school." The smirk was evident in his words. "Reality feedback has been set to max levels."

Avony and Stephan gasped, clearly disturbed by the news. Max levels meant pain feedback would make the Raid feel as dangerous as it looked. Having an arm cut off by an opponent's sword would feel as real as if it actually happened. Max pain levels could, though rarely, cause death.

Unthar barely acknowledged the others' distress. If he were truly trained for special operations, then he probably had experience with max pain.

Gabby was surprised that Mouse made no worried noises. She seemed to be studying them intently. The Spy class was very suited to her.

"Leaving the game," Mr. Johnson continued. "Will result in immediate forfeiture of all LifeScore points."

This news was greeted with the shouts from the rest of her team. Only Gabby wasn't surprised.

"And game death will result in your character being ejected from the game and, guess what, immediate forfeiture of all LifeScore points." Mr. Johnson seemed to be enjoying his role of the announcer.

"They can't do that." Avony stomped her foot. "We've worked our whole lives gaining those points. It's not fair this game is all or nothing!"

"When I get out of here," said Stephan. "My parents are going to take this up with the LGIE."

"Mine will, too," said Avony.

The group devolved into murmurs of disbelief.

"What does it matter," said Gabby when their complaints tapered off. "If you leave the game or die you'll--" Gabby almost said
disappear,
but she caught her self and finished. "--miss getting into University."

Avony, Stephan, and Unthar glared at her, as if she'd taken Mr. Johnson's side. She wished she could tell them about what she'd learned from the Frags, but that would be impossible under the constant scrutiny of Mr. Johnson. They'd be able to know everything she did or said in the game.

From behind them, a tiny voice leaked out. "If we don't move soon, we're going to fail, anyway," said Mouse. "We're losing ground by the minute."

Mr. Johnson chuckled, his dry mocking amusement floating down upon them like ash.

"The goal of the raid is--" He paused for dramatic effect. "--for you to find out what the goal of the raid is. Good luck!"

Before any of them could even flinch, the walls burst into a blinding brilliance, and then dissolved around them, revealing a rocky desert. Gabby turned as the heavy crunch of rapid footfalls approached.

She had only moments to register the massive blade before she leapt away, avoiding an early exit. The sword impacted the ground, exploding sand and bits of soil in all directions.

Gabby rolled again, slipping under a giant boot and then back on her feet, sprinted away. She made for an outcropping of rocks as the giant lumbered after her.

She spied a hole in the boulders and dove in, scrapping up her arm and slamming her knee into a rock. Pain swam through her vision, making it blurry. Knowing she didn't have time for pain, she pushed herself further into the hole as a fist barely missed grabbing her.

Seconds later, a giant eye peered into the hole. The eye had a rough bumpy quality. Gabby could sense a grin forming on the creature's face. It was forming a plan.

Her heart sunk in her chest. Avony was probably cheering the giant to take her out as she escaped the area. Glad to be finally rid of her old enemy.

At this point, stuck in the hole with a scheming giant waiting outside to crush her bones, Gabby really wished she could start the level over.

Chapter Thirteen

Squished inside the hole, Gabby let a trailing thought remind herself that she actually wasn't here in a desert. Instead, she was probably sitting in the middle of the school gym. The eye-screens and sense-webs just made it seem real. That and the horrifying consequences of failure. Even though part of her understood the absurdity of her situation, she forced herself to focus on the Raid as if it were real.

And if what the Frags had said was true, then her life was in danger. Nevermind that she had no interest in feeling the equivalent of two giant-sized fists squeezing her guts out.

Gabby wanted to pull out her twin swords in case she needed to stab intruding fingers, but the confined space didn't allow movement.

She hated being stuck in the hole and not knowing what was going on. She needed to see, even if it meant the giant might grab her. Gabby pushed herself forward on her butt, keeping her legs cocked in case she had to lunge backwards.

At the entrance, the giant was no where to be found. Gabby unsheathed her swords and crawled from the hole.

She climbed on the rocks to get a better view, hoping she could move quick enough if the giant came back. The rocks were in the center of a depression. A dusty pond lined by reeds nestled behind the rocks.

All around her, rolling dunes were visible like waves on a tan ocean. The sky was a cloudless pale blue, stretching out in every direction.

There was no sign of the giant nor of her team.

"Great," she mumbled. "One minute into the raid and I'm already teamless."

A glint of reflected sunlight made her spin around. Unthar crested a ridge with the giant trailing behind him, sand spray kicking up at each step. Unthar would never be able to outpace the giant for long.

Before Gabby could wonder where the rest of the team was, Stephan and Mouse appeared behind the giant, chasing him. Bolts of frost flew from Stephan's staff, freezing the giant momentarily before he broke through, while Mouse was throwing daggers.

Even with the ice slowing the giant, it was still catching up. Unthar would be caught soon.

Then the nearby sand exploded as Avony burst from a hidden spot and ran right under the giant's nose, kicking it in the knee on the way past. It swung its sword, missing Avony and then hesitated as it decided which prey to pursue.

Unthar yelled a challenge and the giant decided to forget the girl in the skimpy outfit. Not wanting the rest of the team to have all the fun, Gabby leapt from the rocks and headed the giant's way.

Unthar faced the giant, blocking the huge sword swings with his own, much smaller, sword. The sounds of metal on metal rang out across the rocky sand.

Focused on Unthar, the rest of the team unloaded their most devastating attacks. Gabby lunged in and sliced the giant's thigh using the Angry Cloud maneuver. The blades seemed to slice through without doing much, but she'd been slow solving the neural shaping problem and that was probably the reason.

The giant seemed unphased by the others' attacks as well, shrugging off deep blows and Gabby knew they were more practiced at their class.

Unthar swiped impatiently between blocks, barely getting his sword up in time.

Gabby paused. Something about the giant bothered her. She remembered the bumpy profile of its eye.

"Don't just stand there," yelled Avony between flying side-kicks. "We've got to keep our damage up."

Gabby watched as Unthar's blade went through the thigh of the giant. Bits of sand blew out the side and when the blade was through, the leg repaired itself.

"It's a sand giant," Gabby yelled.

Avony dove over a side swipe from the giant. "We know that, you ninny."

"No," said Gabby. "It's made of sand. That's why our attacks aren't doing anything."

"She's right," Stephan yelled from the top of the dune. "But how do you kill a creature made of sand?"

Unthar continued to block the giant's blows, still making hurried strikes between blocks, clearly not believing Gabby or Stephan. If they couldn't figure out how to stop the giant soon, Unthar would wear down and then the giant would be loose on them.

Gabby wiped sweat from her forehead, smearing dirt across her arm. "I could so use a bath right now," she muttered. "Wait. That's it."

She ran toward the rocks, screaming obscenities at the giant. She kept yelling different sand-related insults until the giant noticed her. "Hey sand giant! Do you pound sand?"

The huge lumbering creature stopped its sword down thrust and glanced in her direction.

"I bet you pound sand every night!"

The sand giant ignored Unthar's cut through its leg and moved to intercept her.

"What are you doing?" Avony yelled.

The sand giant was quicker than Gabby thought, and she had to use a speed buff to keep ahead. She led it around the rocks, toward the pond.

"I bet you have the smallest sand--" Gabby's words caught in her throat as she rolled under a sword swipe.

As she approached the pond, she realized her mistake. Once she hit the water, she'd lose her mobility and be an easy target. Gabby prepared to leap when a blast of cold went by her and froze a narrow path across the water.

The ice wasn't thick, so it cracked under her steps, but she was able to make it a good ways across before the giant hit the water. Gabby didn't dare check behind her to see if her plan was working, instead focusing on balancing on the thin shaft of ice that threaded across the pond.

Bursting through the reeds on the other side, Gabby spun around with her swords in a crossed block above her head.

The giant waded through, slowly disintegrating as it crossed the pond. Stephan funneled his frost into the pond, freezing it around the giant.