“Far away,” the Dragon repeated as it looked up at the sky, “but here now. There is much to do and much to be done. Salvation is at hand, but so rests the darkness.”
“How? How can we defeat Draco?” Sang asked. “What does this equation in my head mean? Is there some way to take this entire network down?”
The Dragon smiled and opened its mouth to speak, and… suddenly, Sang was inside the haptic pod again. She gasped as she felt the system disengage and the tubes pull themselves from her skin.
“Pod deactivated—we hope you had a fun time!” the AI said as the pod slowly opened up.
“Agh!” Sang gargled as she realized how dry her throat was. She sat up, still holding the gun that had been in her hand when she’d crawled into the contraption. She was incredibly disoriented, though, and had no idea how long she had been in there.
“Easy there, cowgirl,” Neil said as he pried the gun out of her hand. She fell forward as she tried to stand up, only to be caught by O’Hara.
“There’s an Other; we gotta… talk to him. I need to…” she mumbled as she felt her stomach begin to turn. “Oh, I need to throw up.”
“Easy, easy!” Neil said as she began to dry heave a little. “You’re alright!”
“Man, what happened? There was a Dragon and it was talking,” Sang whispered.
“Yeah, well, we got the greenlight that you could both be pulled out without getting killed, so we took the opportunity,” O’Hara said.
“Man, I can barely walk,” Van said as he stumbled out of his own pod. No one was rushing to his side, however. He hit the ground hard and crawled a few inches forward before giving up and just collapsing fully onto the ground.
“Help… help Van,” Sang said as she slowly began to stand up on her own.
“Van’s not the problem—you are,” O’Hara said as a full medical team rushed to grab her. “You’re lucky to still be alive. We gotta get you under a scalpel immediately!”
“I’m cured!” Sang said. “The aliens, they cured me.”
“Right, right, down you go,” Neil said as he shoved an oxygen mask over her face as they threw her onto a gurney.
She felt the oxygen pumping into her lungs and realized that it was spiked with something. Her eyes opened and closed for a few moments until a dark, dreamless sleep overtook her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Van groaned as he hobbled towards his cot. Everyone had been so excited that Sang was alive that literally no one was around to help him get to his bed. He could barely walk on account of having been motionless for almost 4 straight days. He felt so sick to his stomach, in fact, that he was regretting every single step that he took. Truthfully, he didn’t mind the fact that everyone was all over Sang—but he couldn’t help wishing there were more help to go around. Sang needed the help, though, he knew... just in case that alien was simply pulling a fast one over on her. They’d have to be thorough in checking to make sure that she wasn’t still near death because of that pod.
“There!” he grunted as he collapsed into his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He’d made it. He couldn’t believe the last few hours of his life. They had passed so quickly, but offered a rush that he’d never experienced before. The thrill of battle, the excitement of being on the literal edge of death... it was all beyond anything he could describe. All of his time gaming had been missing that one crucial part of the real survivalism experience: the fear of actual death. Not character death or a re-set. Any time he’d had to battle a Devil Bear or a Skeletal Fiend, he’d always known that he’d pop up on the other side of the world, with no real lasting consequences other than the loss of gear. While that had created a sense of avoidance in him, it had been nothing like the experience of actually being at risk.
The emotions came in waves, he discovered as he stared up at the ceiling. On one hand, he felt an intense wave of fear and almost existential terror at the thought of being on the brink of death at any minute while inside of the game, but on the other hand, he also felt the elation of accomplishment. He felt the adrenaline involved, and as he reflected on how he had cleverly screwed Trefor over a few times, he realized how fun it had all been. Maybe fun wasn’t the right word. There was something… primal about being locked in a life or death struggle. And while he certainly didn’t like the feeling of being inches away from death at any moment, he also knew that it had all made him feel more alive than anything else he’d experienced in the past.
He hadn’t asked for this kind of thing, and he would never have signed up for this kind of adventure if he’d known that he could be inches away from death... but having come through it, he felt so much stronger.
“Knock, knock,” said Agent Neil as he strolled in. “Don’t mean to interrupt your nap, but we gotta talk business.”
“Pull up a seat,” Van responded, unable to even lean up.
Neil grabbed a chair and slid it next to the bed. He put one foot on the chair and leaned forward. “You did good getting our girl back. Real good.”
“She’s a friend. She came back for me, so there was no way I’d leave her behind.”
“Yeah, well, doesn’t change the fact that you could have,” Neil said. “All those threats were empty; I legally couldn’t shoot you, you know.”
“If I were motivated by your threats, I would have turned on you guys when I had the chance,” Van muttered.
“I can appreciate the fact that you didn’t turn on us. At some point we’re going to need to get a full report out of you, but that’s not why I’m here right now.”
“Is it to kill me?” Van muttered. “Cause I really would prefer it if O’Hara shot me instead. I like her more.”
“Ha. Nah, I ain’t here to kill you,” Neil said as he sat in the chair. “I’m actually here to make good on our deal. The job was to make sure that Sang stayed invested and got through her mission. And much to my surprise, you actually kept your end of the bargain. Now, I’m sure with these startling developments, you want nothing to do with these stupid pods. Draco will probably be on you the moment you get back in-game, and Sivlander’s been deleted, so… you probably don’t want to get back in there. And to make matters worse, since you’ve been swept up in this whole stupid thing, you’re gonna be debriefing with every branch of government for the next five weeks, telling them every detail and getting asked the same asinine questions each time. But I got good news for you. You took care of Sang, you kept the deal, and even she admitted to wanting to make sure you landed on your feet well after all of this, so I’ve got an offer for you.”
“An offer?” Van repeated.
“Yeah, a buddy in the FBI owes me a few favors and he happens to specialize in witness protection. Now, you’re definitely not a wanted man or anything, but he specializes in setting people up in good homes, with good jobs and in nice locations. You keep your name and credentials and stuff, but you get a new lease on life. We throw some money in your bank account, and bam, you’re good to go. Of course, I gotta smuggle you out of here cause the brass would throw a fit if they found out you were part of this and weren’t getting debriefed, but the reality is that Agent Sang’s got enough information for everyone.”
“Why? Why would you make me this offer?” Van asked.
“Honestly? Because of what you did for Sang. She’s alive because of you. O’Hara and I were genuinely surprised when you went back for her instead of trying to log out. And I’ll level with you here: if Sang had died because of this operation, well, it would be me and my partner who would have taken the heat. And that heat would have cooked us both. I owe you.”
“I wasn’t saving her for—”
“I don’t care what your reason was. I reward my friends. So, do you want this? Or what? You want some cash instead? Ask and it’s yours.’”