“Welcome back,” Kylian said. “You have a lot of things to explain.”
“Right, right,” Van said as he pulled up his interface. In his inventory was the data stick. He selected the data stick and, much to his surprise, all of the contained information appeared in the item window. The list of data was far too long for him to read, but it was clear that, in the game, all of the information was easily accessible without a computer. He quickly pulled up the data connection function of the game. All information was logged into the local computer system—in this case, the haptic pod would store all of the information. There was an external hard drive located in the haptic pod that could store character information if you wanted the option of moving to a different pod and skipping all of the character recovery processes. He transferred all of the information to the external haptic stick, knowing that it couldn’t be accessed remotely due to the anti-hacking procedures built into the USB drive. After that, he shot off a quick message to O’Hara and Neil, informing them of what was going on.
“Any time now,” Bidane growled. “What the hell was all that back there? Why couldn’t we log out in that place?”
Van sighed. “Look, guys, I’m sorry that you’re all caught up in this, but things are a little crazier than you might think.”
“Tell me about it!” Sahara said. “Someone managed to stab me back there, and I actually felt like I was bleeding.”
“Yeah,” Kylian said. “Something really screwy is going on and I need some answers.”
Kenwar rushed into the camp, panting. “Van! Van!”
“Hey, you made it!” Van said. “See? I knew you could do it.”
“I want some answers,” Bidane said.
“We all do,” Kylian said.
Capello strolled back into the scene, covered in blood. “Now that was a fun fight.”
Van suddenly felt completely overwhelmed. He had no idea what to do, and no idea what to say. The information had been sent. Their desperate attempt to extend the mission had been a success. The intel would shed a ton of light on Draco’s operation.
“It’s Sang,” Kenwar said. “As I was running around, I saw her! She looked real hurt, but was able to hide. She had an arrow sticking out of her back—I think she might be dying.
Van’s stomach wrenched at those words. Sang was dying? All thoughts left his mind as he realized the enormity of the decision that he had made. By abandoning Sang, he truly had left her to die. Was this something that he could live with himself over? Just because she was willing to sacrifice others for the mission, did that mean he was justified in sacrificing her? Guilt washed over him and he felt a powerful urge to go back for her. The job was done anyway—the data was safe. What did he have to lose?
“I’m going back,” Van said as he shook his head. “Damn it. I’ve got to go back for her.”
“Are you insane?” Kenwar asked. “You’ll die in there! She’s gonna be dead soon, so we need to log out and tell Neil that we did everything we could before things get bad for us.”
“You can go wherever you want,” Van replied. “But if I leave her now, I’m no better than her. I shouldn’t have left her in the first place. Maybe it was the right decision and maybe it wasn’t. But I can’t let her die.”
“Do you mean she’s going to die for real?” Kylian asked. Van turned to face his team. They were all looking at him with fear in their eyes.
“I’m afraid so,” Van said. “If I were you, I’d log out of this game and find something new to play. This… this game isn’t a good thing.”
“To hell with that,” Bidane said. “Those sons of bitches tied me up! Dolly’s in the hospital for dehydration because of them. I don’t know what’s going on, but I want angry, fiery revenge.”
“Bidane, you should know better than the rest of these people,” Van said. “This isn’t a game anymore. Dying in that zone means dying in the real world also.”
“So?” Bidane asked as she crossed her arms. “Just because it’s not a game doesn’t mean we can just leave our own behind. I hated Sang because I knew she was cheating, but no one deserves to die over a game.”
“Aye,” Kylian said. “And if there really are some murders going on here, it’s my moral obligation as a former law enforcement officer to do anything I can to help. No wheelchair’s gonna stop me from doing my duty in this place.”
“I think you guys are crazy,” Sahara said. “I have this welt on my stomach in the real world. I’m not going in there.”
“I love how brutal this game is!” Capello said. “Just point and tell me who to kill!”
“Not so fast there,” Kylian said. “I’m perfectly fine with risking my life here, but if this dying in-game thing is really true, then there’s no way I’m going to let you in there, Capello.”
“But we’re going to need you for the escape,” Van quickly said. “If we’re running and being pursued by our enemies into regular territory, your fighting skills are going to come in really handy.”
“Fair enough,” Capello said. “I don’t care what I do as long as I get to see some action at some point.”
“You’ll see plenty,” Van lied. At this point, it was way easier to lie than to convince this psychotic fifteen-year-old not to risk his life for funsies. Kylian nodded appreciatively at Van.
“Alright, well, if everyone’s made their decision,” Kylian said, “we best go rescue Sang before it’s too late.”
“Are you guys sure you want to do this?” Van asked. “I can’t ask you to come with me.”
“I’m not doing this for her,” Bidane growled, “or you. I want revenge. They crossed a line with me.”
“Where you go, I go,” Kylian said. “Especially when it’s a chance for me to do something good for once.”
“I’m not going!” Kenwar said as he crossed his arms. “I refuse.”
Van put a hand on Kenwar’s shoulder. “I understand. You’ve gone above and beyond. Just stick around here.” Kenwar let out an audible breath of relief, but said nothing else.
“What about the army?” Kylian asked. “There’s plenty of players who are waiting for orders.”
“And what, we send them to their deaths?” Bidane snapped. “We don’t have time to play around—let’s go.”
“Good luck, guys!” Sahara said. “I’ll be rooting for you!”
Van took a deep breath and moved forward to lead his team back down the mountain. He desperately hoped that they weren’t too late.
Sang gasped as she shifted in the tree. Blood was pouring down her back and her entire body felt as if it were on fire. One of the side effects of the monster attacking her had been numbness. An arrow had struck her in the back, but she hadn’t noticed until the numb status effect wore off, revealing that her hit points were slowly draining. She had only fifteen points left, and after that, she’d be dead. She had managed to climb up in a tree to avoid detection, but the soldiers were everywhere. Without the ability to send messages, nor the mental stamina to try any kind of hacking maneuvers, she was going to die.
She wondered if it was a good thing that she’d be killed in the line of duty. The choices that she had made were too dark, too horrible to consider. Would a short life sacrificed to save the world be better than a long life with those memories always haunting her? Sang coughed a little, watching as her health dropped down another point. At this rate, she had maybe another hour left before she’d be gone forever. Perhaps the worst part of dying was the fact that Van would probably blame himself for her death. He had made the most tactical decision in leaving her behind, and the conversations with the patrolling soldiers indicated that they were still looking for him. At this point, she had to believe he had probably escaped.