A New World (Gamer, Book 1) (10 page)

"We are going to have to face them," Harry
says. "If we don't face them now then we are going to be stuck
here."

Axel's grip on her bow tightens slightly, but
she says nothing. She nocks an arrow and looks to Harry.

"Let's do it."

They walk towards the edge of the small
clearing that makes up the respawn zone and steel themselves for
the fight that is about to begin. There seemed to be only three
wolves at the beginning, but more and more have joined the crowd
and the two players can hear the breathing of the beasts only a
short distance away.

A wolf jumps from the woods and leaps onto
Harry. One strike is enough to take his health down to three
quarters and another, which seems incredibly fast, takes the gauge
down to halfway.

An arrow collides with the beast's skull and
it turns angrily with the arrow sticking out from its head. The
beasts are tough and of a level much above Harry and Axel. It is
only together that they can manage this difficult challenge and it
is going to take everything they have in them to defeat the
opponents that are coming their way.

Harry smacks the beast around the ears with
his stick and spins around it to break one of the animal's legs. It
hobbles back and another wolf jumps from behind a tree to slam into
Axel's chest, sending her to the ground. She stabs it in the neck
with her sword and pushes it to the side as Harry finishes it
off.

Four wolves jump from the woods and spring
onto them. For a moment there is merely death and killing as the
players take significant damage in their war on the beasts. It's
not long before they are fighting side-by-side as the last of the
wolves tears into them, taking their health right down to the
limit.

Harry steps forward and cuts the legs out from
underneath the beast. Axel shoots over his shoulder in a daring
move that takes the creature straight in the eye as Harry comes
around behind it to smash a hip bone.

The monster falls to the ground and there's a
sudden silence. They look around into the woods and hear nothing,
yet the expectation is there. Something will come soon and when it
does pain will be inflicted.

A black portal opens up behind them and
several wolves jump through. The security of the respawn zone is
lost and the two humans run for their lives as they charge into the
woods and down the path.

The trees fly by as they run and the howls of
the wolves behind them get louder and louder. There is more than
just the single large pack of wolves running behind them chasing
them. Now and then a wolf will pop out of the woods in a grayish
streak. The players are outnumbered and they know it.

Harry and Axel run through a clearing and
sprint across to the other side. They both arm themselves with
ranged weapons and fire back now and then to hold the wolves off.
The strategy proves to work well and gains them a little bit of
distance.

A big beast jumps in front of them and Harry
slings a stone into the creature's side. It is enough to knock it
down, so they can leap over its gray form and continue their
sprint.

Three minutes later, they run into a grassy
field with sparse trees here and there. This is the starting zone
and they still have a solid hour plus run ahead of them.

Still, they have covered quite a significant
distance for their time running, which could be put down to the
amount of fear that is running through their systems and the desire
not to die.

They run as quickly as they can. After another
getting far enough out of the trees they both look back and find a
rather unpleasant surprise behind them.

"Lots," Harry gasps.

Thirty-five of the beasts of all different
sizes and shapes are charging after them. It's like a small army of
gray chasing them across the field.

They look ahead and Axel points towards a
small farm in the distance. Harry doesn't respond, but changes
direction and charges towards the building in the hope of finding
someone who may be able to help them.

They entered through the front gates and find
the place empty. It's clearly abandoned, but, considering what's
coming, maybe that is a good thing.

They rush to the barn and sprint inside. There
is a second story inside the building where the farmer kept his or
her hay. They both charge to the ladder and climb to the top,
spinning as the first wolf catches up to them.

They fire down on it and it dies from two
arrows and a well aimed stone.

Harry and Axel continue the fight as wolf
after wolf charges through the door and into the barn. It's not
long before six of the creatures are snapping and biting at them,
one of them even trying to climb the ladder in a show of
intelligence that is concerning.

Beasts jump and snap up at them as they fire
down again and again and again, using up precious ammo as they
fight to keep the high ground.

Eventually, one of the gray monsters catches
Harry's foot and pulls him down into the pack. Axel jumps down with
her sword and they end up back to back with wolves circling
them.

They fight their hardest slashing, cutting and
jumping around the vicious swipes and bites of the animals as the
fight gets even more desperate.

Harry hacks and slashes with his Pig Sticker
2000 and Axel does a fair job of chopping away at the enemy.
However, in the end the numbers prove too much for them and they
are pulled down by the wolves to be torn apart by their
jaws.

Darkness fills their visions and, in the heat
of their agony, they die.

*****

They awaken from their deaths to the noise of
growling around them. It seems that the wolves have managed to
chase them down to the respawn site with incredible speed. They are
surrounded completely by the enemy and there is nowhere to
go.

They slowly get to their feet and draw their
weapons. The beasts stand still staring at them, not moving to
attack. Harry edges close enough for Axel to hear him.

"What are they waiting for?"

"No idea. But have you looked at where we
are?"

"Not yet. Hold on a second."

Harry opens his map and has a quick look.
They're not so far away from the NPC they need to talk to and
through the magic of one death have skipped over approximately an
hour's worth of running. It's an exceptional result and if they can
only get through the beasts around them then it's quite possible
they can complete the quest.

A large portal opens behind the creatures.
They step aside. There is a loud howling and then something huge
jumps through to land in front of Axel and Harry.

"Whoa! That is one big wolf!" Harry cries in
shock.

Axel is right by him and her facial expression
shows the same level of feeling. The monster is three times their
size and twice as thick. It’s big enough to devour an elephant and
still have room to fill its stomach some more.

The beast howls to the sky and lightning
cracks in the distance. Our two players set themselves for combat
as the monster readies itself for its assault.

The wolf charges forward and they both dived
to the side. Its big, yet it is not fast.

It spins on its huge legs and bites out with
its big maw. It catches Harry in its mouth as he tries to jump away
and chomps him in half. He immediately dies and then respawns very
close by.

Harry looks over at Axel in shock as the
realization that they are in a trap that may just be the end of
their game time. If the beast doesn't stop attacking and the wolves
just wait for them to respawn then it won't be long before they run
out of gold and that will mean that they're out of the game for
good.

With a new look of seriousness on their faces,
they turn as one and rush the big wolf. It whips out at them with
its paws and bites down at them with its teeth. However, they roll
underneath the creature's attacks to strike out at its joints with
their weapons. It cries out, but barely hobbles as they run
straight between its legs. They come around back and begin firing
away as the boss wolf slowly turns.

An arrow strikes the huge monster in the face
and it roars loudly. Lightning crashes down around them and Axel is
hit in the head by a blast of electricity.

She dies and reappears a second later lying on
the ground just a few feet from the wolf.

"Are we hurting it?"

Axel doesn't answer. She just continues firing
her bow from her prone position. Arrows slam into the creature's
face, but they are either slowly pushed out or fade away as the
beast heals.

Realizing that they're not going to be able to
end this fight through attacking the creature, Harry runs towards
the edge of the circle of wolves.

The smaller beasts bite at him and swipe out
with the paws and he is sent rolling back with some painful marks
on his chest. The wolves watch him eagerly and he realizes that he
will not be leaving that way.

He looks to his gold bar. He has only ten or
so deaths left before he's out of the game.

Harry glances at Axel, who is fighting off the
wolf with her bow, and she shakes her head. She hasn't got any
ideas either.

Harry cries out and rushes the boss. He tries
to attack, but this time the wolf is ready and bites him in half.
He dies and another few coins disappear.

He comes back to life with a look of anguish
on his face that is compounded as the monster dominates him on the
ground.

When Harry comes back to life again, he rolls
out of the way of the incoming attack and slashes out at the
beast.

Axel dies again and again after that and Harry
has to throw himself over her to get her out of the death
chain.

The beast seems to be getting smarter and
smarter and has realized the little game that it needs to play to
kill them off. All they need to do is lose all of their money and
they are out for good. The wolf probably doesn't realize that, but
it’s doing a good job of it regardless.

Harry dies again and comes back to life,
forcing his stick upwards at the same time into the creature’s
face. He hits it in the nose, but the creature barely stops moving
to allow Harry to get out of the way.

They come together and desperately look for a
way out. The wolves surrounding them are like an iron fence that
they can't get through. There is no way that they can outrun these
creatures and that is if they could even get through them. Both
know that the game is over and they're out - for good.

Harry looks up to his gold bar and it pops
into view. He is down to his last few gold coins. Unfortunately, as
his level is now much higher than when he first entered the game,
he losses gold at a quicker rate and as Axel is no doubt higher
than him, she will also probably be nearly down to
nothing.

Harry charges forward and grabs hold of the
wolf's leg. It tries to fling him off, but he manages to hold
on.

Axel bursts past and leaps into the air,
slamming her sword down into the beast's shoulder. She uses it to
yank herself up onto its back and reaches down to grab Harry's
hand. He gets up on to the beast, which tries to buck them off and
holds on for dear life.

"I'm going to try and break through the
crowd!" Axel yells.

Harry just holds on, grabbing Axel around the
waist and praying that he survives whatever she has
planned.

She slams her sword down into the beast's neck
and yanks the sword left, forcing its head to the side by pressing
the weapon into the nerves between the discs of its upper
spine.

She gets lucky and the beast howls in agony
and turns in the direction she wants at the same time.

She presses hard, feeling for the bones and
pushes forward. The creature heads in the direction she wants,
howling and screaming all the way as lightning crashes down around
them. She pulls out her map with one hand and holds on to her sword
as she navigates towards the NPC that completes the
quest.

A single translucent man standing in the
distance comes into view and the wolves that are running beside
them go into a frenzy. They howl and bite at the two players in an
attempt to rip them off and Axel screams as her leg is torn by the
sharp teeth of a hungry looking wolf.

They come into range of the NPC and she slams
the sword in as hard as she can. She yanks it out and stabs down
again and again as the beast howls before falling off and yelling
at the NPC to tell her where to go next.

The instant the NPC opens its mouth the big
wolf boss and its subordinates burst apart in a rainbow of
different colored lights.

Harry falls to the ground, rolling straight
through the NPC and ending up lying on his back. His breathing is
hard and there's blood running from his legs and back in small
pixilated globs of red. Everything about him right now speaks of
great pain and tiredness. He has gone through the blender, and
unfortunately, there's more to come.

"The last part of your journey starts here,
brave adventurers." The NPC intones.