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  Congratulations, you have been offered an opportunity to quest in the Broken Lands.

  Objective: cross a quarter mile of open plain to reach the cairn.

  Reward: 400 XP

  Accept: Y/N

  “Everyone seeing the message?” Kurtis asked.

  “Yep/Absolutely,” Tae and Gabriel replied.

  “We need to go forward.”

  Tae looked over. “The short path?”

  He nodded.

  “But there are way more monsters and fighters that way.”

  “We don’t have time and we need the XP. Besides, it’s the fastest route.”

  “It’s also the most dangerous one,” she countered.

  Kurtis knew she was right, but he was running out of time and so was Gabriel. Besides, more monsters and participants meant more kills, more potential experience points. He stood there, listening to the other bickering, feeling his essence, his health points slowly slipping away. A voice, a very soft voice that wasn’t Nadine whispered in his ear. The voice, a young boy that sounded an awful lot like his son, reminded him that in the Melee it was every person for himself or herself. “Self-interest and survival are all that matters,” the voice said. “The other two, Tae and Gabriel, aren’t blood. They have embraced the Melee with the fervor of converts and will turn on you when the opportunity presents itself.”

  Kurtis closed his eyes, realizing that the Melee was trying to corrupt him. Instead of listening to another word, he mentally selected the shorter route. A digital map flashed that showed the ground ahead and everything that was waiting for them. There were a hundred and eighty-seven participants and eight monsters.

  “Whoa. The hell was that?” Tae asked, grabbing his hand. “Did—did you just select the goddamn quest for us?”

  “We don’t have time to screw around, Tae.”

  “He’s right,” Gabriel said, his head bobbing in regretful agreement, blood dribbling down from the edges of his mouth. “Let’s do what we came here to do.”

  Over Tae’s protestations, Kurtis slid down a short embankment, traversing a reef of dust that was up to his ankles. The reef dipped down into a warren of obsidian walls that were ten feet tall, arranged haphazardly, almost in the fashion of a topiary maze. Kurtis’s HUD reflected a path through the maze. It wasn’t going to be easy, but they were less than a quarter mile away, the cairn rising up over the plain. Kurtis secured his Glock, then checked his rifle on the run, leading the others on a headlong run.

  Gabriel stumbled and Kurtis moved back, throwing an arm around him. The kid’s skin was waxy and death was drawing near.

  “How ‘bout that medpack, Gabe?”

  “I got other plans,” the kid replied.

  “Like dying?”

  Gabriel held his look. “Did you know that human beings are the only species that know they’re going to die. That’s why they invented laughter.”

  “How the hell is that relevant?”

  “It’s not, but I just thought it was cool. I like talking about cool stuff that doesn’t really mean anything.”

  “Me too,” Tae said, overhearing the conversation.

  “Goddamn millennials,” Kurtis grumbled.

  Suddenly a long gun appeared in Gabriel’s hand with a double-drum magazine, along with big black boots on Gabriel’s feet. Kurtis realized that Gabriel was using his XP to buy weapons and gear instead of healing himself.

  “I went all in,” Gabriel said of his gun. “Got 250 rounds in this puppy.”

  “What about the boots?” Kurtis asked.

  “MEM boots,” Gabriel replied. “Stands for micro-electrical motors. Tiny engines down in the heel. They let you jump twice as far as a normal person.”

  Even in his enfeebled condition, Gabriel was able to harness the power in his boots to spring forward. The trio crossed a gulley lit by a low blue hue that was both soothing and eerie. Screams echoed from the maze of black walls that were sixty yards away. Bodies littered the ground in and around the maze. How many? Dozens? Hundreds? Flashes of gunfire were visible; explosions and the anguished cries of monsters and men filled the air.

  Kurtis felt his pulse jump as the shrieks grew louder. But he couldn’t tell if it was out of fear or excitement. He was beginning to take pleasure in the thrill of danger. Every second of life had meaning. No longer was he passing time and waiting to die down in the witch hole. He was alive, truly alive, for the first time in a very long time.

  His eyes twinkled with malice. It was as if he could feel death approaching, and he was calmed by the sense that it was okay to feel this much rage, this much eagerness to let out his inner demons and take it out on those who deserved it. Maybe the Melee was a blessing in disguise. Maybe he’d found his true place in this world after all. Kurtis charged ahead, fearless and wanting the fight to get started already.

  “We’re doing it!” he shouted to the others. “We’re going to make it!”

  He was laughing, delirious, down to 4 Health Points and that’s when it happened: the ground suddenly exploded in front of him and up jumped the first monsters.

  15

  Battle Met

  The earth mushroomed up, pumice stinging Kurtis’s eyes. Gabriel slid into the back of him and Tae crashed to the ground. Enormous, pale hands appeared out of the hole in the ground, pulling up bulbous bodies.

  The monsters, and there were two of them, rose up to their full height, revealing shiny heads with slavering jaws attached to bloated, pulsating abdomens. The things walked on five legs that were well-muscled, the heads crowned with a series of bony knobs out of which protruded yellow antennae that rotated in every direction.

  “What the hell are those things?” Kurtis asked.

  “The brood,” Nadine answered. “The spawn-spinners, what some call the mighty mothers, the creatures that give birth to other, lesser monsters.”

  Stats appeared on Kurtis’s HUD:

  Species: Mater Monstrum (2)

  Level:2

  Class:Monster

  Health:9/10 – 10/10

  Abilities: A brood monster capable of birthing offspring that contain millions of parasitoid phorid flies that can resurrect the dead.

  “How much are the big ones worth?” Kurtis asked.

  “50 points,” Nadine replied.

  “The small ones?”

  “25.”

  As if on cue, the monsters’ abdomens ruptured, showering the ground with blood, pus, and seven lumpy objects that were shrouded in some sort of gruesome amniotic sacs. The gruesome material that was in the sacs, the monsters’ offspring, stood unsteadily on spindly legs and shrugged off the sacs. Bellows and whinnies went up from the newly birthed monsters as they searched for prey. Several seconds of silence stretched between the trio and the monsters and then the beasts, mother and offspring, began ticking and clicking, moving spastically along the ground, walls, and ceiling.

  “Run!” Kurtis shouted.

  Kurtis was happy to gain more points and opened fire, blasting away at the monsters. His bullets punched holes through the spawn. -2 Health Points! -4 Health Points!

  Eight spawn were mortally wounded, falling in stages, like toppled trees, and as they collapsed into the pumice, their bodies broke apart, releasing swarms of black flies. The mother monsters howled their displeasure. Suckered appendages shot out of the sides of the monsters and Kurtis had to dive to the ground to avoid being struck. He landed on his belly in the pumice, coming face-to-face with another participant, a dead woman in her forties who was missing both legs. Kurtis saw a grenade launcher at her side and a backpack that was still slung over her shoulders. He hunted through the backpack and found a single, silver-grey 40-millimeter grenade.

  Clutching the grenade, Kurtis used every ounce of remaining energy to muscle himself back up. Gabriel was kneeling, firing his rifle, spitting bullets from the double-drums, mowing down the monsters’ spawn, everyone gaining points for killing the smaller beasts, but unleashing thousands of black flies in the process. />
  With the fresh kills, Kurtis only needed another 50 points to be able to purchase the Ragetag, but he was down to 3 Health Points and barely able to function.

  In his weakened state, his legs gave out. He tripped and lost hold of the 40-millimeter grenade, which went rolling sideways. The grenade came to a stop at the foot of Gabriel, who picked it up. Kurtis dropped the tomahawk and swapped out a magazine in his assault rifle, using it and the tomahawk to push himself up.

  Kurtis gimp-ran past the others, dodging or stepping over the dozens of dead bodies that carpeted the ground. He stopped upon noticing that the ground in front of him was trembling. He held up a hand to stop Tae and Gabriel and the three stood silently, like statues, watching a vortex appear on the ground at their feet. A vortex began spinning clockwise, sucking down the pumice, so large that the trio wouldn’t be able to move around it.

  “We can jump it,” Tae said.

  “I definitely can,” Gabriel said, pointing to his boots.

  “You can, but I can’t,” Kurtis said, gasping for air like a drowning man.

  “Get a medpack.”

  “I don’t have enough points to do that and get my Ragetag.”

  “Yeah, well, you might not have a chance,” Tae said, pointing. “Look!”

  One of the mother monsters was visible, rising up behind the wall. Long strings of green drool dripped from its mouth. The abomination hissed and spat, unfurling its suckered appendages, sickle-like hooks emerging from the ends, ready to strike down the trio.

  The monster’s mouth opened.

  Kurtis and Tae took aim.

  The monster’s head and the tentacles speared toward them.

  That’s when Gabriel shrieked and threw something at the beast.

  The 40-millimeter grenade he’d recovered after Kurtis dropped it. The beast snapped at the grenade and Kurtis fired his rifle, striking the grenade, causing it to explode with a pyrotechnic flash that sent the trio flying sideways as if they’d been swatted by the hand of God.

  “Congratulations,” Nadine said, Kurtis’s HUD shining like a dashboard on a luxury car. “You have killed eight spawn and one level-two monster and gained an additional 250 experience points. You now have 950 experience points, enough to acquire a Ragetag.”

  Kurtis’s HUD showed that they were only two hundred yards away from the cairn. It was on the other side of the black walls, but between their position and the cairn were ninety participants and two monsters. They would have to fight their way through them to finish the quest. There was only one way they’d be able to make it and only one way for Kurtis to heal himself: the Ragetag.

  Kurtis stared at the images of the Ragetag on his HUD, including the bronze-colored Soucouyant battle suit. He mentally moved a cursor over the Soucouyant Ragetag.

  “Please confirm selection of the Soucouyant Ragetag,” the prompt said.

  Kurtis selected yes and he was suddenly gripped by a powerful force. Unable to move a muscle, he stood still, his body cocooned by a warm, golden light as the Soucouyant battle suit was constructed by what seemed like the hands of invisible craftsmen.

  His HUD reflected that he would be fitted with what was called a neuro-gauntlet that would enable him to drain the energy from any monster or participant.

  First came the bronze breastplate, a section of armor that appeared out of thin air. This was snugged over his upper body. Next followed armor for his legs, arms, a flexible piece that went around his neck, and finally the black battle helmet with a smoke visor. Lastly, oversized metal gloves formed around his hands, gloves that would be good for battering things, Kurtis thought, and platform boots snapped around his feet. He was wider and taller, over eight feet tall. Another prompt appeared with instructions on how to utilize the gauntlet’s Exsubo, the application that Nadine said could drain the life essence out of participants and monsters. It was also the only way to fully revive Kurtis, to help him fully regain all 10 of his Health Points.

  “Are you ready, Kurtis?”

  “I’m barely able to breathe, Nadine,” Kurtis said, as he was down to 2 Health Points.

  “All the more reason to activate the application.”

  “How long does it last?”

  “Approximately four minutes.”

  A box appeared on his HUD with what looked like a rubber button marked “Soucouyant.” Kurtis surmised that as soon as he tapped that button the four minutes would begin.

  In all the excitement, Kurtis had forgotten about Tae and Gabriel. They were waiting on him, eyes wide, watching him acquire the Ragetag.

  “I totally want one of those,” Tae said.

  “Well, get ready to get some points, sister,” Kurtis replied, pointing to the wall. “’Cause we’re about to go through hell.”

  A partially translucent machine appeared out of the ether next to Gabriel. It resembled a jet ski and was large enough to hold two people. “Just used up my last XP,” Gabriel said, patting the machine. “It’s called a wave sled.”

  “What does it do?” Tae asked.

  Gabriel shrugged. “Dunno. But you’re driving.”

  “I’ll lead the way,” Kurtis said, running toward the wall while mentally slamming the holographic rubber button marked “Soucouyant.”

  16

  Resurrection

  A timer dinged on his HUD: 4:00:00 as Kurtis brought his mighty fists back and smashed into the black wall.

  A cone of vivid, amber light encased him and it felt like someone had injected a wonderful drug into his veins. He was instantly clear-eyed and clear-headed, lighter than air, capable of anything. The wall collapsed in front of him, shattering in pieces as Kurtis screamed a battle cry.

  The other participants were either engaged in battle with each other, or startled by the exploding wall, but they quickly recovered. Bullets began pelting Kurtis, who blinked, expecting to die, shocked to see that his Ragetag suit was impenetrable to small-arms fire.

  “GET BEHIND ME!” Kurtis shouted to Tae and Gabriel, using his body to shield them. Kurtis began throwing punches, breaking bones, shattering skulls, doing great damage to the myriad Level 1 fighters, racking up some serious XP.

  Two men in urban camouflage fired a flamethrower at Kurtis, who knelt over Tae and Gabriel, shielding them. When the men repositioned themselves, Kurtis picked up a discarded assault rifle and hurled it at the flamethrower. The barrel punctured the fuel canister, setting off a fiery explosion that consumed the men and several other participants. His HUD continued to update, recording the fresh kills and the additional XP, Nadine congratulating him on the carnage.

  Kurtis told Gabriel and Tae to get down on the ground below him. Then he selected the Exsubo, the application that could drain the life essence out of participants and monsters. His suit began whirring and visible rings of plasma began scything out in every direction. The plasma struck the other participants and two monsters visible in the distance. The participants and monsters couldn’t move. It was as if they were in suspended animation and then their features began to age. Their life essence was being drained. Skin shriveled and bones became more prominent and a stream of golden light, the essence of the participants and monsters, filled the air, filtering back to Kurtis, sucked up in his battle suit. Kurtis watched, dumbstruck, as his Health Points began to increase. He was back up to 5 Health Points, then six! It was working!

  The timer was down to 2:58:00 as Kurtis led the way forward. Tae and Gabriel followed on their jetski-like machine. Kurtis felt invulnerable, able to drain the life out of anything he aimed at. Men, woman, and monsters doubled over before him and in sixty seconds, he had carved a path through the middle of the battlefield, killing 48 participants and two Level 1 Monsters.

  Species:Homo Sapiens (Evinrude, Kurtis)

  Chattel:9 mm G17 Gen-5

  Health:10/10

  Level:1

  Class:Fighter

  Kills:81

  Vitals:BP – 129/80; T – 99.04f; RR – 17bpm

  XP:1431

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nbsp; The trio arrived at the cairn, a collection of enormous, roughly hewn rocks that were stacked on top of each other. There were bodies of other participants and monsters on the ground. They’d fought and died here at some point in the past and their weapons, a motley assortment of melee-style weapons, littered the ground. “Congratulations,” Nadine said, “you have succeeded in your quest in the Broken Lands and acquired 400 experience points.”

  Kurtis grabbed a crudely made polearm off the ground (which was added to his chattel) and used it to pull himself up the cairn until he was standing on its peak, a horizontal slab of what looked like granite, flecked with bits of gold. He held the polearm up in both hands, staring dispassionately at the hundreds of bodies lying scattered across the ground they’d just covered. A valley of death, Kurtis thought.

  He was back at full health when the timer sounded and the Ragetag suit vanished in a plume of golden dust. The euphoria he felt with the Ragetag ebbed and Kurtis was left standing on top of the rock without any weapons aside from the polearm and the Glock, which was still tucked in his pants.

  “We did it,” he said, looking down at Tae and Gabriel. Tae was holding an enormous sickle, and Gabriel held a war hammer. “We won, we finished the quest.”

  Tae and Gabriel didn’t respond. They were too busy pointing at the bodies lying in the dust. The bodies that were now being swarmed by the black flies released by the brood, the spawn of the mother monsters.

  Tae looked up. “Kurtis?”

  “Yes.”

  “I hate to be that person, but remember those things we killed? The monster babies? The brood? Well, they’ve released those black flies.”

  “And?”

  “And the flies have kinda resurrected the dead.”

  Kurtis looked up to see the bodies of the dead participants jerking up to their feet. Next came the monsters, planting their oversized feet, pushing their bodies up. A menacing yellow light glowed in the eyes of the participants and monsters. They began marching toward the cairn like an army of zombies.