1.13 - Desireto


 

I can admit when someone is better than me at something. Kai is a way better driver, especially when it comes to driving fast. Most of his money in game doesn’t come from quests or mercenary work. It’s racing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a racer in real life. I don’t think I ever asked him what he does. He’s never asked me either, we never talk about what we actually do at work.

“Kai, what do you do for a living?”

“Do you mean what I do for work?”

“Yeah.”

“Weird question, I work for the parks and recreation department. I’m not super high on the totem pole but I’m hoping to move up. Right now I spend most of my time trying to get money to upgrade the facilities.”

“That’s cool, cities need more parks and recreation. I’m not just saying that either. We really don’t have a lot of third places in our cities anymore.”

“What’s a third place?”

“Somewhere that isn’t work or home where we can socialize with others. It might be a bar, a rec center or even a local park. But since COVID we lost a lot of those. Everyone is so isolated now.”

Kai doesn’t get a chance to respond, he slams the breaks and swerves the car. There’s a loud thud as we come to a stop and something slams into the door on the driver’s side. The two of us take a moment to gather ourselves. Kai is nervous so I take initiative to step out of the car and see what we hit. As I make my way around the car, I keep my finger ready to squeeze the trigger on whatever we hit. I cover my face with my hand when I realize that we hit a person. At least they’re breathing and a quick scan tells me they’re an NPC.

“What do we do,” Kai asks when he finally gets out the car.

“Put him in the backseat until he recovers.”

“Thank you, my friends,” the NPC suddenly sits up. “I needed help and you arrived right on time,” the man speaks in a broken French accent meaning he’s a refugee. “My name is Remy,” he stands and introduces himself as if we didn’t just smash into him going over 100 miles per hour.

“I know where this is going,” Kai says to no one in particular.

“I’m glad you helped me, but my people are in need of help,” Remy says as if the words hurt him. “We were being brought to freedom in Astro City. But our captives have taken a different path. They intend to sell us into slavery. Will you help?” The familiar sound of a quest being added to my log plays.

“Daamin is going to be so annoying that we’re late,” I sigh.

“What can we do? It’s slavery. We have to do the right thing,” Kai agrees. He turns to Remy, “take us to your people?”

I hadn’t thought about how strange it was to see a forest in the badlands when trees are so rare around here, or the entire world really. Luckily Remy does what every escort NPC does and provide backstory as he takes us further into the woods. This forest was protected by a billionaire named Christopher Phillips Evans III who truly believed in protecting the Earth’s natural resources. He felt that humans could live in harmony with nature. He was cornered outside of a new eco friendly apartment complex he opened shortly after announcing a run for mayor; several of his enemies participated in stabbing him to death. A real Julius Caesar moment, capitalized by the fact that his enemies split all of his wealth afterwards. The forest was named after him and kept as a monument and landmark for Astro City, but also a reminder of the dirty little secrets for those in power.

“We’re getting close,” Remy alerts us, as the quest updates.

“Alright, should we just run a gun stun,” Kai asks.

“Yeah we can do that,” I confirm.

Kai and I have been teaming up so long we name our combat moves. Gun stun is a generic term for a plan where I run in and catch them off guard. Guns, and smoke grenades. Meanwhile Kai hacks their systems. Everything from tech implants to cellphones and even AI assisted weapons. I gun, he stuns. Usually it’s for enemies we don’t think will put up much of a fight. Remy stands still as Kai and I prepare, occasionally stretching his arms out in the shape of a T.  

“Kay had the nerve to complain about nobody beating her game or playing it the right way when she’s still got NPCs hitting the T pose,” Kai laughs.

“She’s insane right?”

“Yeah, she should be in jail when this is done.”

“Playing basketball in Pelican Bay.”

“23-hour lockdown.”

“Never see the light of day.”

“Chill out, if we laugh too much they’ll find us,” Kai tries to hold back a laugh.

I watch as Kai launches his drone into the air. It silently flies above the tree line until it’s out of sight. He manages to locate the targets and ping the location back to me. I head out into the woods, as Kai feeds me information. 37 captives, six handlers, all armed, two with AI assisted weapons, three with tech implants and one guy trusting his own body and aim. I approach them from behind and follow for a while. The captives are chained together like a classic chain gang being led through the woods. One of them spots me and I motion for them to stay quiet.  

I link up with Kai’s drone giving me a top down infrared view of the area. Phones begin to ring from the handlers causing distractions and signaling the start of our plan. I roll out a few smoke bombs clouding everyone’s vision except mine. I move through the smoke as if it’s a top down shooter. I make my main target the man with no implants, Kai can’t do anything to help with him. It’s easy to sneak up and fire a silenced pistol shot through his back. A man shouts in pain before dropping and I know Kai has taken out his implants which means less guns are in play. I smash my gun into the face of a woman before blasting a round into her head. Another shout means the second with tech implants is down. The smoke starts to clear and I take cover.

“Give me an update, who’s left?”

“Two guys but their guns are useless,” Kai sounds calm.

I can take them out, in a straight forward rush but I don’t get the chance. Slowly the shackles begin to fall from each of the prisoners. Kai seems to have set them free. The slavers attempt to fire their guns but it’s no good. When they realize nobody is able to stop them the captives swarm them. Fists and feet pummel the men, the NPCs are taking them out with everything they’ve got. The quest updates again as Kai arrives with Remy.

“Thank you, my people have been saved. We do not have much but take these as a token of our appreciation and a token of appreciation from our people, a token of appreciation” Remy repeats variations of the same line several times before he reunites with the captives as bracelets appear in our inventory.

“They gave us friendship bracelets,” Kai rolls his eyes sarcastically, but equips the bracelet.

“That’s stupid. What are we kids,” I laugh as I equip my matching bracelet.

The bracelet is mostly black beads, hand carved and a little jagged. There are a few other beads that each seem special. A yellowish bead with a flame burning inside. A green bead with a lightning bolt that flashes. A green stone that holds some kind of plant fossil. Lastly a blue stone with bubbles floating inside it. It’s a really cool bracelet, would be a shame if I didn’t wear it.

1.12 - Stand By Me



I feel a hand on my face as I come to, it’s Kai again, looking sad and sitting next to me. He’s rubbing my cheek as if I’m a dying grandmother in a movie. I thought I was supposed to be dropped somewhere at random when I died, but if that were true Kai wouldn’t be here.

“Hey, what happened,” I struggle to ask.

“You got knocked the fuck out man,” Kai responds jokingly as he wipes a tear.

“I thought I died.”

“No, Kay says you don’t die if you lose during a mission, you just respawn. Tournament counts as a mission. Thought I lost you.”

“Is that what made you cry?”

“I wasn’t crying.”

“I saw you wipe a tear away.”

“No, you didn’t,” Kai punches me.

“Dude, I can see tears on your face right now.”

“Okay, so what if I was crying? Is crying over someone you care about really that bad? I thought you died. You didn’t respawn right away; you didn’t vanish to some random part of the world. When you did respawn, you were just passed out for three hours with a single HP. Sorry, I was worried about you. Maybe Kay is right, you’re an asshole.”

“I didn’t say it was bad. I just never thought anyone would cry over me. I was more shocked than anything,” I try to console him.

“Well don’t be, I’d hope you would cry over me too.”

“I don’t know, I don’t cry much.”

“Because you bottle up all of your emotions, then you explode by doing things like shooting Kay until you need to reload.”

“Okay, she’s a trash human being. I get where you’re coming from, but you’re starting to sound like my therapist.”

“Didn’t know you were going to therapy.”

“I stopped.”

“Of course you did, because it’s so hard for you to lean on other people. You’d rather your emotions eat you alive from the inside because you’re a lone wolf. I get it, you’ve got trust issues but so does everyone. That doesn’t mean you get to ridicule someone for displaying how they feel.

This is getting really intense. It’s starting to feel like a shitty LitRPG where the author does a ton of emotional dumping in the early chapters after they realize nobody has a reason to like the character. I’m not good with emotions. Sometimes I feel like the only emotions I have are anger and sadness. I can’t read other people’s emotions well; I can’t even read my own most of the time. Kai seems like he just always knows what is in everyone’s heart. I don’t see the good in anyone until they show me it’s there, but he believes everyone has the capacity to do good. I wish there was an awkward silence but all I can hear is Kai breathing angrily through his nose trying to pretend he’s calm.

“Do you remember how we met,” I ask him.

“Yeah, we were playing Travian. You were an asshole. You kept raiding my city. I didn’t even have an army until you started doing it over and over again.”

“Then two of my cities got wiped out and I didn’t raid you for a while. You sent me a message when you found out saying that you knew how it felt, then sent me supplies.”

“You apologized and invited me into your guild. I remember. What’s the point of this story,” Kai seems annoyed.

“I don’t know. Just trying to show that you’re the one who understands emotions and I’ve always been motivated by accomplishing goals. I don’t know, whatever” I struggle to sit up due to the game’s fatigue system. “I don’t know what any of this has to do with me almost dying.”

“We’re past that. Why do you want to keep every conversation surface level? I’ve known you for almost twenty years at this point and you try to keep me at arm’s length like we’re not friends. I cry over the possibility of losing you and you want to play it off as a joke. As if we aren’t even friends.”

“We’re friends,” I quickly answer.

“Are we? Because when a friend worries about you, promise not to make them worry about you again. You don’t make a bad joke.”

“We’re best friends. You’re my best friend. We’ve never met in person, probably never will, but you’re my best friend. Hands down.”

“You’re more than a friend to me. Don’t ever be afraid to lean on me.”

Kai gets a call from Daamin and patches me in, “glad to see you up Sleeping Beauty. Princess Charming waited next to you for two days,” Daamin laughs.

“You said three hours,” I nudge Kai.

“Whatever,” he rolls his eyes.

“I hate to interrupt you two love birds but I need you get back to the amphitheater,” Daamin sounds proud. “I’m about to get us that first piece of code.”

“Yeah, we’re on the way,” I end the call.

“So, I was out for two days and sent somewhere random,” I ask.

“Yeah, but I didn’t want you to freak out.”

“How did you find me?”

“You know how games have debug menus and you can do all kinds of cool stuff with them?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Kay’s is a remote control, and I might have borrowed it.”

“Can’t believe she gave it to you.”

“She didn’t but she did make pickpocketing a skill in game.”

“I love you man,” I look at Kai but he looks away.

“Love you too,” he stutters over his words, but I don’t make fun of him for being emotional, I learned my lesson.

“How far are we from the amphitheater?”

“Couple hours, remote let me choose where you’d drop.”

“You want to drive?”

“You fine with a pink Maserati?”

“Absolutely.”

1.11 – World Martial Arts Tournament


The Mississippi Canyon is not exactly a canyon. Technically it’s a deep and narrow valley, it just isn’t nearly as deep as something like The Grand Canyon, in fact we can just drive through it. Kay really undersold the vastness of this thing. It’s wider than it is deep and we still haven’t come across any hidden pieces of code as we’re driving through but she assures us we can’t miss it.

“Hey, there’s an arena or something up ahead,” Daamin calls calls over the group chat.

“I see it,” Kai responds.

“It’s an amphitheater, you uncultured lunatics, and you may want to stop there,” Kay seems excited.

As we approach the amphitheater massive stone columns come into view. It’s more Roman Coliseum than anything else. The sound of our cars is drowned out by shouting people inside. The only obvious thing to do is enter and see why there are hundreds of people shouting in the middle of nowhere. Inside there’s a square made of stones where two people are fighting. A woman with long black hair and purple tights dodges swings from a large man with blue colored tribal tattoos covering his pasty chest, reminding me of every roided out gym guy I’ve ever seen. The only thing missing is the backwards hat.

“I always wonder what tribe white guys belong to when they have tribal tattoos, or even Mike Tyson,” Kai can’t help but voice his displeasure. “I mean, why not get a tattoo of your own culture? The Cracker Barrel logo, a casserole dish, a propane tank, an AR-15, Calvin pissing on a Ford logo, or even a Confederate Flag.”

“Now who’s doing the ranting,” Daamin whispers in my ear, causing me to stifle a giggle.

“So how do we get the code,” I cut Kai off to get back on topic.

“Easy, you win the tournament, just make it through three rounds. They get harder as you move on. No other players just NPCs” Kay acts as if we’ve done this before.

“A tournament,” Daamin seems both shocked and disgusted.

“Yes, a tournament,” Kay puts her hands on her hips.

“You really are a fraud. You said you worked hard on this game. But the first piece to winning is a tournament.”

“What’s wrong with a tournament?”

“There’s always a tournament,” Daamin throws his hands in the air.

“No there isn’t,” Kay argues.

“Actually, he might be right on this one,” Kai interrupts.

“It’s a unique idea,” Kay refuses to back down.

“You want me to name them? Because I can,” Daamin offers.

“You actually don’t have to do that,” I interrupt.

“Oh no, I have to do this,” Daamin puts a hand up to silence me.

“Kai, stop this. You hate his nerd rants,” I plead as Daamin takes a deep breath.

“No, I want to hear this one,” Kai smiles.

“Yu Yu Hakusho,” Daamin gets started.

“Never heard of it,” Kay stares at him stone faced.

“Dragon Ball, Pokémon, Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, Sword Art Online, Final Fantasy IX, The Boy Who Fell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fairy Tail, Yu-Gi-Oh, Ultimate Muscle, Bobobo-bo Bo-bo, One Piece, Naruto,” Daamin pauses to catch his breath.  

“Don’t forget Kirby,” Kai adds fuel to the fire.

“Motherfucking Kirby had a tournament arc and you’re telling me you came up with this idea all by yourself,” Daamin asks as Kay stands shocked.

“How did you know Kirby had a tournament arc,” I whisper to Kai.

“Saw it on Twitter once,” he laughs.

“You’re an asshole,” Kay looks at me.

“I didn’t even do anything,” I argue.

Kai puts a hand on my shoulder, “just let it go.”

“But, it was Daamin.”

“I know,” Kai nods his head. “Just go win the tournament.”

“Alright, I got it.”

I head down to the ring and spot the tunnel that says competitors. We could sit and watch different NPCs fight forever but of course there’s no line for players. I wonder just how many people have competed in this tournament or even know it’s here. I step through and I’m placed in the ring instantly. I’m suddenly shirtless wearing a pair of Indiana Pacers basketball shorts and my same high-top sneakers. I expected to have some super good-looking abs like every video game and anime protagonist. Instead, I look like Daniel Cormier when he went up the heavyweight division. The skill, stamina and strength are there, but so is all the fat. I could have stayed in the real world for this. Just go to the pool shirtless when teenagers are out and give myself a complex, didn’t need to do it in front of my internet friends. They don’t know about your crash diets or emotional binge eating. C’mon, you’ve lost a lot of weight, be proud of yourself. This is the ideal male body; you may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks.

“Wooo, take it off big daddy,” Kai shouts from the crowd.

“What the fuck,” I mumble under my breath.  

Leave it to Kai to think trying to make me blush at a time like this would be a good idea. I don’t get to shout back at him before I’m sent flying by a boot to the face. Correction, a barefoot to the face. Standing before me is Ryu from Street Fighter even I recognize him. No, this is off. His gi is a cream color not white. He’s got skull tattoos on his arms, the hand wraps are blue instead of red. He’s also got brown hair instead of black. This isn’t Ryu, this must be legally distinct Uyr. Daamin might be onto something about Kay being a hack and a fraud. No, he’s absolutely right about it. Uyr brings a foot down towards me and I roll out of the way, the stone where I had just been sitting cracks under the pressure of his foot. This is insane. I’m supposed to be shooting people and hacking robots not participating in death matches, because that’s what this is.

“Daamin, what’s Ryu’s weakness,” I call out while trying to dodge punches.

“Spiders,” Daamin shouts back.

“Look a spider,” I point in the opposite direction.

Uyr panics, and gives me a chance to push him out of the ring. A horn plays symbolizing my win of the first round. Really glad I had Daamin on my side for that one. There’s no time to waste as my next opponent enters the ring. I’m left a little confused as a man wearing a yellow suit with way too many buttons enters the ring to challenge me. I don’t know why he let 2001 Steve Harvey dress him but I’m not going to waste time trying to figure. I connect with punches to his chest and head, but he doesn’t give me much pushback and it’s clear he’s taking a beating.

“I object,” my opponent shouts while jamming a sheet of paper in my face.

“Daamin, explain,” I call out to the crowd.

“He’s a Phoenix Wright rip off. An attorney who solves mysteries and shows up in the Marvel vs Capcom games but this guy’s hair and suit are off.”

“How do I beat him?”

“Just beat him up. He’s a lawyer, not a fighter.”

I take Daamin’s word and just start laying in punches on Fire Bird Wrong, it doesn’t take long for the horn to sound signifying another win. I’ve got one more to go. My next opponent doesn’t make themselves known leaving everyone including the NPCs confused. Slowly the temperature begins to rise and a red glow covers the ring as if the sun was crashing down on us from up above. A man made of flame floats in from the sky. As he gets closer, I have to shield my eyes from the glow. I can’t make out a face through the flames only pieces of armor that seem to be made of molten lava. There’s no chance for me to attack. When the flame shoots from the ground flings me into the sky I don’t feel the heat, I don’t feel any panic. Is this what they call an out of body experience? It almost feels like I’m watching someone else being throttled into the sky towards their death. Suddenly I’m free falling backwards towards the ground from I don’t even know how high. The red glow covers me again more flames shoot down on me from above this time. The flames slowly face away revealing only my opponent now, his hands burning the flesh on my chest with such heat that my body doesn’t comprehend it enough to feel the flame. I hear the cracking of concrete as my back hits the ground and everything starts to go black.

1.10 - The Big Dog


The first piece of code is about half a day’s drive according to Kay. It’s located in a place called the Mississippi Canyon. Game lore says it was previously the Mississippi River, but dried out due to global warming. We split into two cars with Kay and Kai riding together and me riding along with Daamin. We’re in agreement about beating the game, but not so much the reasons why. He’s been quiet the entire ride so far which is odd for him. I keep expecting him to tell me about SWAT Kats, Homies in Outer Space, or some other random piece of pop culture from our childhoods that I filed away in a section of things that don’t matter. There has to be something he wanted to say because he insisted I ride with him despite Kay wanting to. Despite calling her a hack and a fraud while threatening to eat her, she likes him. At least more than she likes me or Kai.

“How do you think we’ll get the code when we get here,” I try to make small talk.

“Probably something unoriginal from the movie Strange Days,” Daamin pauses. “Another cyberpunk classic.”

“I never asked, why do you know so much about movies and cartoons and everything else?”

“It’s how I learned English. My parents are immigrants from Nigeria and India. Neither speaks great English but it’s the only way the only language they both know,” Daamin goes quiet and doesn’t say more.

“I can sense you’re mad at me. Why don’t you go ahead and get it off your chest?”

“What do you know about me?”

“You’ve been playing games with us for the last three years; I know a lot about you.”

“No, you actually don’t. You know my personality. You know things I enjoy but do you really know about my life?”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“What do you know about my real life?”

“I know you’re twenty-six, dropped out of college and want to be a streamer but haven’t given it a shot yet. Oh, and you just told me about your parents.”

“That’s it,” Daamin shrugs.

“The passive aggressive thing isn’t you. That’s Kai’s thing. Just say what you feel. I’m a big boy, I can take it.”

“You might want to go home but everyone doesn’t have a wonderful life at home. Some of us only have real freedom in this game.”

“I don’t have a wonderful life at home.”

“Do you have Leukemia?”

“What?”

“I have Leukemia. Not the Roman Reigns kind either. I’m not that lucky. I spent most of my adult life on and off disability. I can’t work, I didn’t get the chance to finish school. I’m fucked up. This game is freedom to me. Even a nap in this game is amazing because I don’t wake up in pain. I’m 26 and I’ve had a stroke. I don’t have to worry about if my eyes are going to be working perfectly when I play this game. I could live the rest of my life in this game no matter how short it may be. You want to go home, fine, but did you think about what would happen to the game when you went home? They’re going to shut this whole thing down. I can try to find another game I love as much. But I can do so much here that I haven’t been able to. I’ve been able to devote hours to learning a skill without putting it down for six months because things got bad. I can run a business; I can travel to places that look like the real world. This game is better than real life for me,” Daamin slams his fist on the steering wheel before speeding up.

“Is it terminal,” the words leave my life without me thinking about them.

“No, but it keeps coming back. I beat it, have a few good years and it comes back. I beat it again, and it’s right back. I’m tired of fighting. I don’t have to fight anything I don’t want to here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t make me sick. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“I know that. I don’t know how you feel going through what you do. But I feel for you, because nobody should go through that. I feel sad for you because you’re my friend. I’m sorry, because I still want to beat the game.”

“Why? I’m still going to help you because you and Kai are my friends. But, I just need to know why.”

“Because people’s lives shouldn’t be altered on the whim of a psychopath game creator. Right now, nobody has a choice of if they want to be here or not. We’re just here. If we beat the game, people can go home, but if others want to stay I’ll fight for that right,” Daamin doesn’t respond to me. “But when we get to the real world, I promise I’ll come visit you. Call you every day if you want, and I’ll make Kai do it too. You know I will,” Daamin finally gives me a slight smile.

“If I stay in the game, will you still come visit me?”

“When the PTSD wears off.”

“Fair enough.”

1.09 - Ready Player Four


I take a seat across from The Creator with Kai and Daamin backing me up. We’re going to try this my way now. The Creator pouts and stares at me without saying anything this time, which is a good thing.  

“My name is Alexandre; you can call me Alex, Andre or Dre. I’m sorry I shot you earlier. I couldn’t keep up with you and it seemed like the best choice. These are my friends Kai and Daamin. We just need answers to get out of here. Can you help us with that?”

“Will you let me go if I answer your questions,” she’s bargaining, good.

“Of course,” Kai answers before I can.

“If we’re being held in the game for ransom, why did you say we can get out if we win,” my first question.

The Creator doesn’t answer, but Daamin speaks up. “Not only is she lying, she trapped us in here. I’ve seen a lot of anime, read a lot of manga, manhwa, even some LitRPG. She’s the villain here,” I try to calm Daamin but he keeps going, “She wanted people to play the game. That’s it, if more people played the game, it wouldn’t have to shut down because they’d make more money. She did it. You want to go home, she’s the reason you can’t. Look at her, I see it in her eyes.”

“Did you trap us in the game,” I ask but get no response. “Did you trap us here,” I ask louder.

Kai slaps the creator, “did you trap us or not!”

“I did it, I admit it. I did. The whole thing, I did it. It was all me.”

My head spins with ideas as to why someone would trap people in a game. A game where people have died and can’t come back. A game where people are fighting through actual sci-fi nonsense and she just did it without a care in the world. Nobody stops me when I blast her with my shotgun. I only stop when she’s lying on the ground and I’m out of rounds. I should have thought about it before I fired, but my body just moved by itself. Now we’ll be stuck in the game forever. Sure, I can survive but this isn’t how I want to live my life. I want to get married and have some kids. Be filthy rich in the real world.

“Good thing you had that set to stun,” Kai puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, good thing,” I laugh awkwardly.

“Thought you killed her,” Daamin asked.

“Yeah, good thing I didn't, "I force a smile.

“Wait,” Kai smiles, “you thought you killed her didn’t you.”

“No.”

“Yes you did,” he laughs.

“I did not.”

“You totally did,” he laughs harder.

“Finally did something unpredictable and instant regret,” Daamin shrugs.

I sit far away as Daamin takes a crack at questioning, “let’s start with your name and please remember I can just bite your head off.”

“My name is Kay, short for Kaeleigh,” she actually seems terrified.

“Great Kay, why did you trap everyone in the game?”

“I wanted people to play the game. Really play it.”

“There’s over two million unique players that log in every week. More during events.”

“Yes, but nobody really plays the game. They just screw around. I worked hard on the game. Nobody has ever seen the ending of the game. There’s so many side quests that I worked on but people just replay the same ones over and over again because they make the most money that way.”

“Why is it so important for you to have people play your game one way. Isn’t it enough that people enjoy it and get to live out some of their wildest dreams,” Daamin asks.

“But I worked really hard on those quests. I did research for them. I made sure things were scientifically accurate. I created hundreds of unique NPCs that can only be seen in quests. There’s quests that branch out in dozens of different directions and almost nobody ever sees them. Do you know what it’s like to pour your heart into a creation and have nobody appreciate it for anything more than a space filler? It’s like working on the greatest painting ever and nobody appreciates it for being a great painting, they just care that it matches the color scheme of the room.”

“I want you to think about all the people that have died and will die because of this.”

“They don’t really die,” Kay seems ashamed to say that.

“Then what happens?”

“They lose their memory of the last 48 hours and are dropped at a random location in the game world.”

“First Johnny Mnemonic then Log Horizon do you have a single unique idea in your brain?”

“I’ve never heard of Johnny Mnemonic.”

“But you’ve heard of Log Horizon right?”

“Not even once.”  

“Whatever. You sit here while I go talk to my friends.”

Bad cop, psycho cop and scary cop is way more effective than good cop bad cop. Daamin got some good information. I’m glad people aren’t actually dying but the who situation is still messed up.

“What do we do,” Kai asks.

“I vote we beat the game,” I cast the vote.

“Nobody is dying, not our business,” Daamin sticks to his opinion.

Kai takes a deep breath, “there will be other games we can play. Let’s beat it.”

Daamin throws his hands in the air but doesn’t argue. The three of us approach Kay, “we’re going to beat your game. Explain how or I’m going to start shooting again,” I hold up my gun.  

“Start talking,” Kai tells her when she doesn’t answer me.

“Okay, so the first thing you need to do is collect the four pieces of code fragments hidden in the game,” Kay starts.

“That’s Ready Player One, but let me guess. You’ve never seen that either,” Daamin says sarcastically.

“Ready Player One had three Easter Eggs, and I have four code fragments,” Kay smiles.

“Oh, so now you’re a movie expert. You’re a hack, a hack, a hack and a fraud,” Daamin starts.

“If I was a hack why do you keep playing my game? You love it don’t you,” Kay argues but stops talking when Daamin lets out a growl and shows his teeth.

“Kay,” Kai starts. “We get the code fragments then what?”

“You need someone with a high enough hacking and engineering skills to combine them into a cure that can be dispersed to everyone,” Kay continues.

“Alright, how do we disperse it,” I ask.

Kay smiles and evil smile that lets me know she has too many dark thoughts, “you have to defeat 300 floors of security at AutoSoft. From the top floor, you’ll need to upload the cure to a satellite.”

AutoSoft is a corporation located in the center of downtown. It’s a massive building that towers over everything else. They’re also one of the main security providers for the businesses in the city. Soldiers, drones, robots, and everything else that shoots. It’ll be a pain to get up there. Then there’s the need for someone with a high enough skill. This is going to be a pain.

“Can I go now,” Kay asks.

“Why would you think you can go now,” I ask.

“Because you guys said I can leave if I told you how to beat the game.”

“Then you started talking about hidden keys.”

“Code fragments asshole,” Kay shouts.

“You really have to stop calling me an asshole.”

I get a notification that Kay has been added to our party, “now you’re in the group and can’t leave unless we all vote to kick you out,” Kai smiles.

“Where’s the first key,” Daamin asks.

1.08 – Johnny Mnemonic


“Alexandre, you’re a classic man. I didn’t think you had it in you. I mean, you’re way too predictable and by the book. I thought maybe you’d go crazy and do something like, join a cybernetic boxing league with no implants. But when you snap, boy do you snap,” Daamin looks at my tied-up hostage in a combination of pride and surprise. He slams the back door of his van where we’re storing her for now.

“I just wanted to talk and one thing led to another,” I’m not exactly proud of what I did.

“Yeah but now you’ve got the creator in your control. Do you know how much power that gives you?”

“I’m not really out for power, I just want to go home.”

“Home,” Daamin seems confused. “Why do you want to go home?”

“Because that’s where I live, and all my stuff is there.”

“But you can live however you want here, have anything you want. What’s out there?”

“Can’t live in a game forever, there are real people out there.”

“Kai and I are real people.”

“The three of us could just meet in the real world if we really wanted to.”

“Things aren’t always that simple,” Daamin seems annoyed.

There’s a long silence, and it’s obvious neither of a us sees a point to debating the issue. Kai will have to be the tie breaker because neither of us have any intentions of changing our opinion. When Kai finally gets back to camp he nearly faints after realizing that I’ve kidnapped the creator of the game. He panics sometimes and it’s always a joy for me to see. Sometimes I do things just to make him panic. We bring him up to speed on our debate about ruling the game or going home.

Kai thinks for a moment, “there’s no reason we can’t do both. But before that, we need answers.”

“So who’s going to do the interrogation,” Daamin asks.

“Well, you’re the scariest Daamin, but you can’t ask straight questions without being distracted. Dre can ask straight questions but he doesn’t get angry, just disappointed so I’ll do it.”

We take seats on the ground as Kai prepares his tools of interrogation. The whole thing is kind of funny. He said interrogation but it’s clear that he meant torture. He’s nearly floating and gathering tools and weapons as well as making a list of questions.

“Alright, Daamin, bring our hostage here,” Kai points to a chair. “Make sure to just growl and sound like a scary crocodile man.”

“Got it,” Daamin heads towards the van.

“Dre, go sit in your car, turn the high beams on and stay out of the way.”

“I feel like I could be of some help.”

“Keeping them blinded with your high beams is a big help.”

“How does that help?”

“Look, this isn’t your strong point. You can’t give off anger. You’re too repressed. Get lost, watch from your car.”

“Really Kai?”

“Really Dre.”

I take a seat in my car and turn on the high beams. Kai squints through the light and gives me a thumbs up. Daamin sits the creator down and Kai walks around her in circles, trying to make a point as Daamin stands like a menacing body guard, snarling and snapping his jaw as the creator cowers. Maybe I’m not scary, because I shot her and she’s more afraid of them than she was me.

“Who do you work for,” Kai starts the interrogation.

“Nobody,” The Creator answers.

“Did you make this game?”

“Yes.”

I’m annoyed as she refuses to give Kai any pushback. I’m way more intimidating than Kai. Especially short and skinny Kai. He’s still wearing a skirt and is getting better results than I am. Every so often Kai will turn around and give me a smile, he’s just showing off.  

“Why did you trap us in the game,” Kai asks.

“I didn’t I was going to shut the game down. I started getting extortion letters,” The Creator starts.

“From who,” Kai doesn’t pause, completely unphased.

“I don’t know but I couldn’t afford to pay them, so I decided to shut the game down, so they trapped us all here until the game is beaten.”

“It’s an MMORPG they aren’t meant to be beaten just suck money from the players for all eternity,” Daamin can’t help but get involved.

“Oh my God it talks,” The Creator panics.

“Focus,” Kai slaps The Creator sending the mask tumbling to ground.

We’re the first ones to get a look at The Creator’s face. Chubby cheeks, ghostly pale with blue lipstick. Blonde hair with shaved sides, a red slim braid above each shaved patch and a full pony tail of platinum blonde hair. A red star tattoo covers her right eye. She’s clearly got a rock and roll look she’s going for but honestly, she’s not exactly pulling it off. It looks more like she’s trying to copy an older sibling.

“Why did you choose a twelve-year-old as your avatar,” Kai asks in his normal voice.

“I’m 48, this is my face,” the creator seems offended.

“Yeah, and this is my body,” Kai responds sarcastically.

“Will you just let me go? Where’s the asshole who shot me,” she starts to shout again.

“Tell us how to beat the game,” Kai demands.

“Okay, there’s a virus in the game. It infects players with tech implants. It causes psychosis and eventually death. It’s been spreading since the start but it’s got a low infection rate. However, since we’ve been stuck in the game it’s been spreading a lot faster. Players are getting more violent towards each other and NPCs. Eventually the whole thing will just evolve into a free for all,” The Creator seems upset.

“Stop,” Daamin shouts and puts a hand up.

“What?”

“You sure you made this game,” Daamin puts a hand on his chin.

“Yeah.”

“Then why did you just give us the plot to Johnny Mnemonic,” he asks.

“What is Johnny Mnemonic,” Kai asks.

“Why don’t you ask our guest,” Daamin responds.

“I don’t know what that is,” The Creator argues.

“Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 movie starring Keanu Reeves, Ivan Drago and Ice-T. Johnny is played by Keanu and works as a transporter. He’s secretly carrying the cure to a disease called Nerve Attenuation Syndrome that’s spreading around the word. Different tech companies want the cure so they can use it to make money but he manages to spread it through electronic signals,” Daamin pauses. “So you’re going to tell me you created a Cyberpunk game where the goal is to cure a virus and you never heard of Johnny Mnemonic?”

“I never heard of it,” The Creator stares at Daamin.

“Don’t lie to me,” Daamin is clearly getting frustrated.

“I never heard of it!”

“Kai, get her before I beat her ass. I believe in equal rights and lefts,” Daamin is right in front of The Creator now.

“Daamin, go somewhere and chill out,” Kai pulls him away.  

“No, she’s playing with us,” Daamin shoves Kai.

I’m forced to leave the truck to stop the two from bickering and leading to a full blown fist fight. The creator starts yelling about how I shot her again and the whole thing is off the rails.

“Guys, stop,” I separate the two. “We need to regroup.”

“We need to beat her copyright infringing ass,” Daamin shouts.

“I’m running this interrogation,” Kai argues.

“Team meeting, in the van, right now,” I start to pull them away.

“What if I run again,” The Creator shouts after us.

“Then I’ll shoot you again,” I respond.

“Asshole!”

“That’s exactly where I’ll aim.” 

1.07 - How to Get Away with Murder (and kidnapping)



The desert town is filled with beggars made up of players and NPCs. One thing about this whole situation is it turns out cyberpunk isn’t so fun when everyone suddenly has to live it for real. NPCs envy the players who have more money than they do; it only makes sense the game is built to make us rich. But the players aren’t all rich. Some who just started new characters don’t have anything, there are people who chose to have characters without a lot of money. Players envy NPCs because they seem to have all the connections and unlimited supplies. Trucks show up to deliver goods to restaurants on schedule with no contracts. It was all background ambiance before but now it’s a meaningful element of the game. Clothing and ammunition stores now have to wait for the inventory to restock. Most people like me didn’t think to put any skill towards crafting when everything could be bought so easily. Guys like Daamin did it because they were really into the role-playing element and wanted to impress other people like them.

It’s a real world that we all have to adapt to now, but everyone isn’t great at bartering, and it doesn’t help the NPCs aren’t idiots. They’re out to get the best results for themselves not the players. A few players have built their own shops out here in the badlands, but some have tried to take the NPC shops. Things aren’t any better in the city so there’s no real place to run and hide until everything is over. No matter how far you go, it’s always the wild west.

“No! Stop,” someone shouts from an alleyway.  

I don’t want to play the hero. That’s Daamin’s thing, but the shouting keeps getting louder and nobody else seems to be doing anything. Another shout and I realize that I’m going to have to do something. I head toward the shouting and find myself in the middle of a standoff. An NPC man on the ground surrounded by three players. It’s a robbery.  

“Let him go,” I make myself known.

The three turn to face me and laugh, they’re looking for a fight. I’m outnumbered but I’ve got a higher level so maybe I can get out of this. The NPC starts to crawl away only for one of the players to fire off a quick shot and put an end to him.

“What the fuck,” the words fall out of my mouth.

“It’s fine, he wasn’t real anyway,” one of the players responds to me.

They don’t even try to fight me, they laugh and walk away, stepping over the corpse. They don’t even loot the body of the man they were trying to rob. They killed him, just because they could. I lean against a wall and slide down until I’m sitting, staring at the NPCs body. I keep expecting it to fade from existence as it should, but it doesn’t. The body stays there, unmoving as if it were a real corpse. I know it’s a game, but they’re just killing for no reason. It isn’t like before; these NPCs don’t come back. In some ways, they’re more human than we are now.

A few quick zapping sounds draw my attention to the corpse. There’s now a person draped in a dark cloth with a white smiling cat mask. They’re working, performing surgery. I can’t see their face, but they look like they’re working hard. I stand to see what they’re doing, and it’s surgery for sure. They’re adding pieces of metal pulled from their inventory. Eventually they stop, admire their work and take a step back. A few moments later the man sits up and looks around.  

“Thank you both,” the man thanks us. “There are still good players.” The man stands up and begins to run as if nothing happened to him.  

“What did you do,” I ask the person.

“Nothing that a person with enough skill couldn’t,” they answer, and I recognize the voice.

“Hey, do I know you from somewhere?”

“It’s a big game, I don’t think we’ve met.”

“No, I really know you.”

“You must be mistaken,” they start to walk.

“Let’s talk for a second.”

“No,” the person takes off into a sprint.

I wouldn’t usually chase a person who didn’t want to talk but none of this is usual. I keep trying to figure out where I’ve heard that voice. Then it hits me, I heard the voice in the same place I saw those robes. I’m chasing the creator. They’re just wandering around the world healing NPCs when they could be helping us get home. I run harder when I realize who I’m chasing, but they’ve clearly got some bonus stats in parkour. I can’t seem to catch up no matter how hard I run. At a few points it seems like they flicker and almost vanish before returning further up ahead.

As we reach the outskirts of town, I’m tired, I never had to run so long in the game before. Part of me feels bad for what I’m about to do, but I know this is my only chance. I stop running and equip a sniper rifle that’s set to stun. I line up my shot and squeeze the trigger. There’s a flash of light and a scream before they roll to the ground in pain.

I finally catch up and stand over the person, “sorry I had to shoot you.”

“You dickhead,” they fling sand at my face but come up short.

“I know, but you could have just talked to me.”

“You shouldn’t go chasing women around you nincompoop, you caveman brute.”

“You’re not very good at insults.”

“You shot me!”

“It’s not even a flesh wound. Just a stun wound.”

“You shot me! You jackass!”

“I feel like you’re being a little dramatic here.”

“You hillbilly asshole!”

“Alright, now you’re just being mean. I think it’s cool you created the game, but you really need to chill out. I’ve been shot before, it doesn’t really hurt much, especially on a stun. That was just a grazing wound anyway.”

“You know I’m the creator?”

“Yeah, you’re kind of wearing the same robe you were wearing when we all got trapped here. Unique robe, pretty obvious.”

“I killed the creator and took it.”

“You just admitted you were the creator.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Wow, okay,” I’m in shock. I didn’t expect someone who made this massive game world to act like a kid. “I was just thinking we could help each other. You don’t need to try gaslighting me. Everyone can go home and it’ll be all good.”

“Why would I help you? You shot me!”

“Well if you’re going to keep crying, I guess we’ll just do it the hard way.”

“We’re not doing anything.”

“Sorry about shooting you twice.”

“You only shot me once.”

A quick pistol shot from the hip puts them to sleep. I want to look behind the mask but leaving it alone might gain me some trust. A snap of my fingers and a few moments later my El Camino starts to head to me. I roll the creator into the bed of the truck and start to head back to our campsite outside of town.