Chapter 8

“Really, this is so embarrassing, I always forget something. You look like such a nice guy. There’s got to be a way you can make an exception for me. Please?” Allie said, arching her back at just the right angle for her breasts to push up against the fabric of the thin top she was wearing.

The store manager’s eyes went wide and his skin flushed a deep shade of scarlet as his eyes involuntarily moved down the entire length of Allie’s luscious silhouette.

Clenching my fists into balls, I could hear my teeth grinding inside my mouth as I glared hotly from under scowling eyebrows.

Allie smoothly followed her hapless victim as he led the way, all the while mumbling like a schoolboy in front of his first crush. She sent one warning look at me over her shoulder, as though to tell me to get on with it.

I grumbled under my breath as I pushed the cart up behind them.

“Let me see if I’ve got this right. That’ll be one Remington Model 870 pump shotgun; eight boxes of 10 shells of 12 gauge #4 buckshot; three boxes of 10 shells of 2-¾” slugs; one Ruger M77 bolt-action rifle; 5 magazines of 10 .308 caliber rounds; three boxes of 30 .308 rounds; three Gerber Ultimate-1 serrated knives; one Gerber 17.5” Scorpio Parang machete; 2 cans of bear spray; two Anker LC90 LED flashlights; one box of Briteshine glowsticks; one American Red Cross ultimate deluxe first aid kit; two Caveman elite rain ponchos; and two XL weatherproof blankets. That’ll be a total of $4,226 and 53 cents. Everything on the card number you gave me?”

“Yup, everything on there,” Allie nodded.

The man looked at the pile of weapons on the counter and let out a small whistle. “Wow, Alexia. When you go hunting, you sure like to go all out, huh? Well, you sure picked some great guns. That Ruger M77 is one of my personal favorites. It’s lightweight at only 7 pounds, compact at 38 inches, but still packs a punch with a 10 round magazine of .308 caliber badassery. I could show you a thing or two about it if you’d like..”

Alllie smoothly picked up the bolt-action rifle, popped the magazine in, cradled it against her shoulder, then loaded a round into the chamber. Then she slid the magazine back out, popped the loaded bullet out, and caught it out of the air.

“I think I can handle it, thanks,” Allie said sweetly, stroking the barrel of the gun.

The man simply gaped at her, then nodded numbly. “Err, sure, yeah. Damn, that was great. We should shoot some rounds down at the range sometime.”

“That’d be lovely, Bob. Now, are you sure you really can’t let me take just a couple handguns? You know, as a back-up just in case something happens?”

The manager shook his head. “I’m sorry, Alexia. I’m already doing all I can by letting you buy all this stuff without seeing any ID and just by reading me your credit card information. I really could lose my job over this, you know? As for handguns and assault rifles, even here in Minnesota you need a weapons permit to purchase them. Now, will that be all?”

Minutes later, we walked out of the store, once again armed to the teeth. Alexia’s tactical backpack was brimming with new ammunition, and her rifle was slung across her shoulder, wrapped up in the thick blanket - all loaded and ready to fire, of course.

According to Allie, 100 rounds of .308 ammo - not counting the metal magazine shell - weighs in at around 5.3 pounds. She estimated that 140 rounds was as much as she was willing to take, since her bolt-action rifle weighed in at around 8.5 pounds after installing the included 4x scope. That made for around 18 pounds when all the rest of the gear was added in, and any more would risk slowing her down and draining her stamina too much to be worth the risk.

My own shotgun was similarly rolled up in its own poncho, 6 shells loaded and ready to rock. My backpack rattled slightly with all the shells inside. A can of bear spray was fastened to my belt, right next to my knife. My own gear weighed around 24 pounds. I could easily take more weight, but since my most skilled weapon would be the machete rattling around inside the backpack, I valued speed and maneuverability over more ammo.

Even Allie was of the same mind, since she had repeatedly refused my demand that she allow me to carry half of her ammunition.

“Smooth and easy, see?” she said, winking at me while stroking the rolled up bundle in her arms. She looked like a closet pervert stroking her favorite sex toy.

I just muttered something unintelligible.

“You’re so cute when you’re jealous,” Allie said, hooking her arm on my elbow.

“You’re so cute when you’re jealous,” I mimicked, twisting my face. “Damn fatso, he couldn’t peel his eyes off your ass when you weren’t watching.”

“Oh, I could feel his slimy gaze on me the whole time. That’s alright, we got our guns and now we can go kick some ass.”

I could tell she was trying to sound confident, but I knew it was half bravado, half earnest hope. After all, who knew what horror awaited us for the first stage of the trial?

As soon as we made it back to the theme park, we both checked with the marks on our wrists.

Orb User Tier F

Orb User Level: 0

Mana Orbs: 3

Skill Orbs: 0

Special Orbs: 0

Orb Keeper Charon’s Trial of the Ark is in progress.

Users 75/100

Current Objective: Prepare for Stage 1 (9m 29s)

8 more people had died. It was less than I’d feared. Maybe it was because the rest of the participants had already scattered, and had only gathered here during the past few minutes.

By now, the shopping mall had repeatedly announced that the shops would be closing soon. Most of the shoppers were gone. I still wasn’t sure if this place was real, and if the crowds were actual people. Still, I was relieved because I didn’t want to see innocent people being slaughtered when the first stage began.

We spent the time cautiously examining the crowd around us, looking for other participants of the trial. Though Allie adamantly opposed the idea, I was still open to forming an alliance with the right people. After all, there was strength in numbers.

Allie, on the other hand, was trying to spot the survivors from the last trial. We were certain that several veterans of the trial were on the prowl, hunting down other humans to harvest their mana orbs.

Even amongst the trial participants, Allie and I stood out. Most of the others were wearing casual or fitness clothes, and I couldn't spot any real weapons among their belongings. Some held bats, pipe wrenches, or hammers, but most just stood there, oblivious to the horrors that were about to descend upon us all.

I wanted to speak out and say something, but Allie wouldn’t let me. I could understand the reason, even if I didn’t like it. There were mana orb hunters out there in the crowd, and we didn’t need to draw any more attention to ourselves than absolutely necessary.

Still, after a few minutes, a young couple approached us.

“Hi, I’m Steve, and this is my wife, Susan,” said the man. He was about 6’3 though rather slim at around 220 pounds. He had blond hair and green eyes, and greeted me with an honest smile. He wore dark jeans and a long sleeve sweater. He was also one of the few people who at least had an improvised weapon. He held an aluminum baseball bat in his hands.

“Hello,” Susan greeted. She was a pretty blonde with green eyes and freckles on her cheeks. She was just a little taller than Allie, probably around 5’8. She was wearing white linen pants and a red wool jacket. She didn’t have any weapons, and I barely held back my frown at that.

“Hey,” I said, nodding back. “I’m Kaizer, and this is my girlfriend, Alexia.”

Alexia nodded to them but didn’t say anything, and I feared her reticence to talk would make the atmosphere awkward. I was quickly proven wrong.

“I told you it was him!” Susan cried out, clasping her hands before her chest. “You’re Kaizer Lee, right? We were cheering for you during last year’s championships at Oslo. You looked so handsome and dashing! We were hoping to see you again during the upcoming Olympics, but..”

Susan trailed off uncomfortably, but Steve picked up where she left.

“Anyway, it’s an honor to meet you in person. You and your girlfriend make such a great couple! I have to admit, I’m more than a little jealous.”

“Idiots,” Allie muttered as she whirled on her heels and walked away.

Susan flinched at Allie’s words, and Steve stared after her with a woodenly smile.

“Please, don’t mind her,” I said in a low tone. “She’s just very tense about the upcoming trial. You know it’s about to begin in under 6 minutes, right?”

Steve nodded. “Such a cruel game, I don’t know how we became mixed up in all of this. Still, we’re going to give it our best shot.”

“Then where are your weapons?” I blurted out, unable to hold back the question burning in my mind this whole time.

“Right here, Mr. Lee,” Steve said, showing me his aluminum bat. It had clearly seen better days, scuffed and dented on one side.

“That’s it?” I said incredulously.

“I may look like this, but I was 3rd batter for my High School’s varsity team. It was hard enough to convince the store employee to let me have this damaged item for my Tommy jacket.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Do you even have any idea what we’re about to face?”

Steve scratched his head. “Not really. Do you?”

I scowled as I struggled over what to do for a moment, but then took hold of Steve’s arm and drew him closer.

“I heard from a person that survived one of these trials. He had to face swarms of murderous wasps, giant mutated spiders, and all sorts of other nightmarish creatures. Almost everybody out of the 150 who participated in his trial died.”

“You mean they were logged out, right?”

“Logged out?” I repeated slowly.

“Yeah, from this virtual reality simulation.”

“What?”

“That’s what this is. The aliens have come to take us with them to their planet, but only the worthy ones.”

“Then what about all the dead people on the list?” I said, scowling.

“Oh, they’ll just get returned to their old lives, safe and in one piece,” Steve said, patting me on the back. “You didn’t think this was all real, did you?”

“Didn’t you see what Charon did to the man who asked just a simple question?”

“Theatrics to set the mood,” Steve replied.

“What about the woman whose breasts he nearly crushed in his hand? Did that look like a benevolent alien to you?” I pressed.

“Well, eh, he’s quite the actor. He just wants us to perform at the peak of our abilities,” Steve said hesitantly.

“Forget them,” Allie called from behind me. “I’ve seen this before. They’re in complete denial. They’re also already dead.”

Steve’s face drained of all blood when he heard Allie’s words, and Susan began to sob quietly.

“Look, Steve,” I said, grabbing him by the arm. “Any minute now, a lot of people are going to die. Now, I suggest that you go find yourself a real weapon by any means possible. If not, then at least try to run and hide as soon as things get ugly.”

Steve seemed to wilt with every word I spoke, until I could feel him shaking like a leaf under my hand.

“Steve?”

“This.. this is all real?” Steve said slowly.

I nodded grimly. “As real as it gets, as far as I can tell.”

“It.. It can’t be. Then how.. How..”

Susan kept sobbing in the background, while the bat slipped from Steve’s nerveless grasp and rolled along the floor.

“Steve?”

He was gone. He couldn’t even hear me anymore. He just knelt on the floor, huddled with his wife as they shook in each other’s arms.

I opened my mouth again, feeling guilty even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. However, that’s when I heard Allie’s voice next to me.

“It’s time.”

I checked with my orb marking.

Orb Keeper Charon’s Trial of the Ark is in progress.

Users 74/100

Current Objective: Prepare for Stage 1 (3s)

She was right. We were out of time.