Chapter 03

Vesta sat at the head of the table back down in the ready room. The screens all around the room were tuned to dozens of different channels from around NuValla. She wasn’t really paying attention to any of them. Currently she was watching Spark who was nervously pacing back and forth across the other side of the table.

“You don’t understand! This Girl!” He said stopping and turning towards Vesta. He held out his hands in a pleading motion.

“Yeah, Yeah. A hot girl that you had a date with. You are like a broken record. Dude, seriously did you hear anything that I just explained to you?” She said rolling her neck and letting out a loud sigh.

“What? Oh, about all the being trapped in this world stuff?” He asked looking down at his hands, “Sure I heard you.”

“And that doesn’t freak you out?” She asked tapping her chin.

“Oh, well I mean I’m going to freak out I’m sure, but right now I guess it hasn’t really sunk in.” He said with a shrug. With that Spark fainted. He fell to the ground but not before hitting his head on the strong table that did not budge an inch.

Vesta rolled her eyes and stood up. When she walked around the table there was already a small pool of blood around Spark’s head.

“Dumbass.” She said with a scoff. There were two health serums left in her inventory and she could afford more no question after her recent windfall, so she injected him with one and left him to sleep off his shock on the floor.

Turning to leave she didn’t get very far when she felt her phone starting to vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out to see that she was getting an incoming video call from Finger. With a loud scoff, which the only person around to hear was unconscious, she flicked the phone so that instead of the call being answered on the screen a holographic representation of the annoying little man appeared a few feet in front of where she stood.

“How can I help you this evening, Finger.” Vesta said in a pestered tone.

“I’m calling for Link. He would like to have a word with you.” Finger said tapping his fingers together.

“Sure, I’ve got time.” She said looking back at the crumpled heap that was Spark.

The holographic image of the annoying little man vanished and was replaced with Link’s giant head hovering a few inches above the floor. Link was a dark blue color and his face, besides being very average looking, was lined with brighter blue panels. The lights ran back along the top of his bald head vanishing at the back.

“Hello Vesta. How has the recent changes to your station affected you?” Link asked in a poor attempt at small talk.

“You don’t have to do that. Why did you call?” Vesta said rolling her eyes.

“You mentioned that we still owed you for what happened at the crash site. While I still maintain that I was not aware that the thing was loaded we pay our debts.” He said looking sternly at Vesta.

“Alright. I’m interested.” She said shifting her weight and crossing her arms.

“I thought that you would be.” He said with a smile, “I’ve come across some information. Lake Summerrest is a city to the east. I think that you should check it out. I think it would be highly beneficial for you.”

“That’s it?” Vesta said with a huff, “Check out some random city.”

“I’ve done my part.” He said looking from side to side, “Check out the city. I’m sure you’ll call us even.”

“Alright, I’m up for a mission.” She nodded slowly.

-Mission

-Lake Summerrest

-Link has informed you that there is a site that is an interesting location. He has stated that it would be worth checking out.

-Accept?

-Yes | No

Vesta looked the message over for second but accepted it almost just as quickly. A location was added to her HUD for the city.

“I’ve sent you the location. If I were you, I would be there before anyone else found the place.” Link said and quickly blinked out of existence.

Opening the map, she located the closest rail station to the city. The city was in range of her lower leveled teleport power and it was close enough that she could take Spark with her. As little as she wanted to hang out with him, she also felt that she needed some kind of back up. Besides like Silence said, he was a decent electro-kinetic.

She walked around the table to where Spark laid still unconscious. Kneeling down beside his head she started to slap his face. Soft at first, but harder and harder until he finally woke up. He sat up bolt upright and looked around.

“Welcome back.” Vesta said laughing at him.

“My head hurts.” He said leaning forward head into his hands.

“Yeah, you bumped your noggin on the way down.” She said still chuckling under her breath.

“Make sense.” He said.

“Listen, I’ve got a mission. Could be some nice loot. I don’t really know for sure. You’re not my first choice, but I think I could use some back up.” She said standing up and looking down at him.

“Well I guess I’m not going on my date, so what else am I going to do.” He said pulling himself off of the ground using the table for balance.

“Fantastic.” She said sarcastically having hoped in the back of her mind that he would have bailed.

~//~

It was a matter of hours on the train blasting across the country side before they made it to Lake Summerrest. They had to pass right through Axiscore and it seemed as always to be slam packed with ten times more people than there should have been. Vesta was happy that for the most part she avoided that hub.

The station where they disembarked was at a small city by the name of Clean Break. The two of them walked down off the platform into a nearly empty street.

“I’m going to have to touch you. Do not read too much into it.” She said stopping Spark from looking around. His head moved around in all directions rapidly. It actually seemed like he was on his game and not screwing around for once.

“Well at least a woman is touching me.” He said with a shrug.

“Thank you so much for making this so much easier.” She said rolling her eyes. She reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

In a bright flash of light and a sound like air rushing through tight space the two of them vanished into the dusk light. Traveling almost instantaneously it felt like they were being pulled around by the back of their eyes. Ten miles away right outside of Lake Summerrest city they reappeared in a pop and new flash of light. She immediately pulled her hand away from Spark.

“Well that was fun.” Spark said.

“Have you ever teleported before?” Vesta asked.

“No, why?” He asked looking at her questioningly. Before either of them could say another word, he doubled over and wretched onto the ground.

“There it is.” She said with a giggle.

“Thanks for the heads up.” He said clearing his throat.

Vesta said nothing. She turned towards a sign on the side of the road that said, Welcome to Lake Summerrest.

The city rose into view riding alongside the shore of a lake. The buildings were small along the outer part of the city but as they approached the lake towards the center, they began to get larger. There number one fact about this city was that no one was living there. There did not seem to be an obvious reason why the buildings were dilapidated and empty.

“This looks like it’s going to be full of rainbows and sunshine.” Spark said clapping his hands together.

“Yeah, I don’t really like it much either.” She said shaking her head and walking off towards the city.

The main strip towards the highest buildings of the city was a deselect empty six lane highway. There were cars abandoned through the streets. There were also… bodies. Everywhere that Vesta and Spark looked they found bodies littering the streets.

Vesta approached a car that was at one point filled with a small family. The driver’s side door was ajar and the person who had been driving was pulled out onto the road. All that remained was bone with a few traces of flesh that were very old.

“From the looks of these bones these bodies have been her for over a year.” Spark said checking the bones on the other side of the car. The window had been smashed in and it was clear that something had made its way into the vehicle and after it was finished, whatever it was, had made its way out the back window leaving a circular hole. The glass splintered and curled outward.

“Where did that come from?” Vesta asked. She noticed that there were several components missing from the vehicle.

“What do you think I am,” He said but stopped, “Was outside of the game?”

“If I had to guess,” Vesta said standing up and walked around to the front of the car, “Frat boy just trying to make it through college.”

He gave a little snort and walked around to join her at the front of the car. Looking around he joined her in leaning against the hood of the weathered hunk of vehicle.

“I am a medical examiner. I’ve been through eight years of graduate school and I haven’t been a frat boy in several years.” He said crossing his arms over his chest.

“Bullshit.” She said flatly.

“I shit you not.” He said with a smile and took a few absentminded steps forward swinging his arms.

“Why are you such an asshole all the time?” Vesta asked.

“I was playing a character, and it’s a part of me that I have to suppress at work.” He said with a shrug.

“Does this mean you’re going to stop?” She asked.

“Not in a million years. We’ve left that life behind and taken over this life wholly.” He said with a nasty smirk.

“God, I hate you.” Vesta said with a huff. She turned and stalked off towards the tallest buildings.

Spark followed behind her in toe. They walked down the street keeping to the center of the road for the most part. There were a few hours before dark and Vesta thought that they may only get to scout for a little while. They would go back to the town where they departed the station and come back the next morning.

A sound caught Vesta’s attention to her left. She stopped and ducked down behind a concrete divider. Spark saw her moved and did exactly the same thing dropping down beside her. They both peaked their eyes over the top of the concrete to try and see what was making the noise.

“What the hell was that?” Spark hissed under his breath.

“I don’t know why don’t you jog over and take a gander?” She said pointing at the shadowed entrance to a parking structure.

Spark didn’t say anything. Instead he just flipped her the middle finger and turned to look into the shadows. There was another sound. It was like metal scratching on the concrete. In a burst of movement someone shot out of the parking garage. He stopped just outside of the shadow in the sunlight and turned from side to side. It was like he was scanning the way that his head moved slowly.

“What the fuck?” Spark mouthed.

Though his words came out silently and were nothing more than lip movements the man scanning the road stopped. His face snapped towards where Vesta and Spark where hiding.

His mouth opened, and he let out a horrible roar of anger. His human voice was overlaid with some kind of metallic, robotic, machine like growling. The man broke into a run towards the two moving unbelievably fast.

“What the hell is that?” Spark demanded. He sprang to his feet. The attacking man lunged over the concrete barrier throwing himself towards Spark. With a backward leap Spark knocked the man down to the ground with his forearm.

“I don’t know but it does not seem friendly!” Vesta yelled. She tapped on her visor and the scanning system activated. She scanned the man that was attacking Spark.

-Minion

-Nano-Work Zombie Scout

-Level: 10

-HP: 200

-Energy: N/A

-Nano-Work Zombies have a unique ability that allows them to continually act without the need for energy. They do not quit. They are relentless.

“Level ten Nano-Work Zombie.” Vesta yelled to inform Spark.

“I figured that it was a zombie.” Spark jumped to the side as the zombie tried to bite spark.

The zombie snapped loudly at Spark’s arm. In retaliation Spark kicked the zombie in the neck. It dropped to his knees. The creature reared his head back and screamed a metallic hiss that burned both Vesta and Spark’s ears. The grabbed their heads and dropped back away from the zombie. Spark threw out his arm and short a thick bolt of energy into the chest of the zombie.

The sound that he was emitting silenced in an instant as the zombie dropped forward onto his face. Thought they had stopped him, it wasn’t only a sonic attack. There was a stomping down rush of movement coming from the parking structure from which the first one came.

-You have initiated a City Mission

-Killing the Nano-Work Zombie Scout has alerted the population of Nano-Work Zombies.

-Kill 100 Nano-Work Zombies

-You have automatically accepted this mission.